Near Shinko 2-Chome in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, stood a red brick building. During the year Ritsu had spent living in Zurich, the Organization established it as a new base of operations. It was now one of their most important locations in Japan.
In other words, this was an Organization safe house, a place only code-name members were permitted to enter.
He hadn't answered the call from Gin, but the man hadn't complained about it either. Gin knew perfectly well that Ritsu was most likely busy playing the role of a police officer at a crime scene.
After taking a taxi back to the underground parking garage of his apartment complex, Ritsu climbed onto his Kawasaki Ninja H2R, which he hadn't ridden in quite a while.
As a law-abiding young man, he didn't forget to properly put on his motorcycle helmet. After checking the navigation route on his phone and committing it to memory, he slowly released the clutch and headed toward his destination.
Japan was small. The trip from Tokyo to Yokohama only took around forty minutes by vehicle. By JR train or similar public transportation, it would take less than half an hour.
He parked the motorcycle in the parking lot on the north side of the red brick building. Seeing several familiar sedans there, Ritsu removed his helmet in surprise. He hadn't expected so many people to be here today.
Taking an ID card from his pocket, he inserted it into the electronic scanner slot. A cold mechanical voice sounded out. After a series of scans, a password still had to be entered before access was granted. Such excessive caution was undoubtedly Gin's handiwork.
The entry corridor was extremely narrow. Strange graffiti covered the reinforced concrete walls, clearly not the work of any master artist. The lighting was dim enough to be hostile toward anyone with night blindness, though fortunately Ritsu wasn't one of them.
Pushing open the heavy soundproof door, the pounding beat of music immediately made him wonder whether he had come to the wrong place.
The interior featured an industrial-style design, mysterious black paired with gloomy shades of gray. Certain sections even incorporated wire fencing. The bar counter, made from lacquered wood and gray-white bricks, gave off a retro atmosphere. Whoever designed the place had excellent taste.
Under the dim lights, his gaze drifted toward the DJ booth. The moment he spotted that familiar reddish-orange hair, he no longer found the choice of background music strange.
The fact that she wasn't playing rock music was already a miracle.
Acting like a proper DJ, Chianti noticed a newcomer entering the safe house. Remembering why Gin had gathered them here today, she stopped fiddling with the controls and jumped down from the platform, sizing up the man who stood on equal footing with Gin as one of the heads of the Japan division.
That was right, Japan now had two leaders. One was Gin, and the other was the man before her, code-named Augier. If she remembered correctly, he was one of that person's trusted confidants and usually operated in Europe.
Sitting in a booth with a glass of red wine in hand, Rena also noticed Ritsu entering. She unconsciously frowned slightly as she observed the young man dressed entirely in white, a stark contrast to the Organization's usual style.
His white hair was parted in a six-four split. His eyelids drooped lazily over sharp eyes, and a horrifying cross-shaped scar sat beneath his left eye. Perhaps sensing her gaze, he slowly lifted his eyes, radiating a languid aura like a snow leopard waiting for prey to approach on its own.
Not a cat.
A leopard.
With just a single glance, Rena felt an invisible pressure crashing down on her, alarm bells ringing in her mind. This executive called Augier might be even more terrifying than Gin.
"You must be Augier, right? I'm Chianti. Nice to meet you."
Ritsu turned slightly toward her. The madness in her demeanor had faded considerably. It seemed the past year hadn't only changed him.
The fact that she was using polite speech with someone she had just met made him almost suspect this Chianti was an impostor.
"Yeah. We'll probably have chances to work together in the future."
Ritsu walked toward the bar counter. Gin, seated with his back facing him, was slowly savoring the liquor in his glass. Sensing someone sit beside him, he said calmly,
"You're here."
"Yeah."
The only people willing to sit beside him were Vodka and Ritsu, so Gin didn't even need to look to know who it was.
Sitting across from Rena, Rei silently observed everything. It seemed Augier and Gin were fairly close, close enough to be called familiar with each other.
"Help yourself to whatever you want to drink."
"I don't have a Vodka driving for me. I rode my motorcycle here, so I'll pass on alcohol."
"Oh? I can lend him to you."
Sitting nearby, Vodka broke into a cold sweat.
'Aniki, please stop making me sound like an actual chauffeur. I'm pretty capable too, alright?'
Ritsu's expression turned strange. Raising a brow, he looked meaningfully at Gin before saying something that plunged the two men beside him into silence.
"You don't secretly have some kind of weird fetish, do you? Motorcycle chauffeur service... just imagining it is terrifying."
The burly Vodka sitting in the front seat.
The silver-haired Gin riding behind him.
And for safety reasons, the person in the back would have no choice but to wrap his arms around the waist of the person in front.
Just imagining the scene made Ritsu shudder. Even the hand pouring himself lemon water trembled slightly.
Having too vivid an imagination wasn't always a good thing.
"..."
After a brief silence, Gin sneered. "You really have changed a lot, Augier."
"Maybe this is my true nature?" Ritsu shrugged.
Fortunately, nobody else could hear their conversation. Otherwise, he would still have to maintain Augier's mysterious persona. Right now, what he was showing Gin was closer to Onizawa.
"Heh. Only you would know that."
"Yeah."
Footsteps sounded behind him. The rhythm alone made it easy to identify the owner because he knew him far too well.
Dropping several pieces of crushed ice into his lemon water, Ritsu soon heard the familiar voice behind him.
"Augier-san, we meet again. I wonder if you still remember me?"
Wearing the mask of Bourbon, Rei carried himself completely differently from usual. In his hand was a Hemingway Daiquiri cocktail.
No wonder his RX-7 was nowhere to be seen. Apparently, he had planned to come here and drink on the Organization's tab.
Rei still hadn't changed that habit of his. Living off his Public Security salary, he pinched every penny. Ritsu still remembered how he once explained it.
—"That's taxpayers' hard-earned money, of course I have to live frugally!"
But when it came to the Organization, he showed an entirely different face. The undisputed king of freeloading food and drinks.
Thinking about that reminded him of another man, someone with a black knit cap and long black hair...
'Tch.'
His mood instantly soured.
"Of course I remember you, Bourbon."
"That's truly an honor." Rei's gaze landed on the iced lemon water.
"Augier-san doesn't drink alcohol?"
"Personally, I prefer obeying traffic laws. Don't drink and drive, don't drive after drinking."
'What a law-abiding citizen.' Rei sneered coldly inwardly, though he maintained his gentlemanly smile on the surface.
"You're absolutely right. Then let me toast to you. Hopefully we'll have a chance to work together in the future."
"We will."
Gin silently sipped his Bloody Mary. For some reason, he suddenly seemed to recall something amusing, his lips curling into a rare smile of genuine pleasure.
Behind his sunglasses, Vodka squinted in confusion. 'Did Aniki think of something funny?'
"Then I'll excuse myself first. I still have an intelligence assignment to finish."
"Alright. See you around."
Without watching Rei leave, Ritsu stared at the half-finished glass of iced lemon water before asking,
"What exactly are you laughing about, Gin?"
"Just thinking about how the two of you used to spend time together."
What a strange thing to laugh at.
Though after thinking about it carefully, it actually was pretty funny.
They had once spent time together, yet now they were practically strangers. Even their statuses and positions had become worlds apart.
Picking up an ice pick, Ritsu absentmindedly chipped away at the solid block of ice in the bucket. Thinking back to the days he had lived within the Organization under the identity of Macallan, he couldn't help but want to laugh.
'Gin...
If you ever learned that he and I shared another past together, the kind of past you hate most of all, would you still be able to laugh?'
But all of that was already in the past.
Either way, he certainly couldn't laugh about it anymore.
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