BONUS CHAPTER#1
Gin had called them both in today—he was planning to introduce Vermouth to Ouzo, and also… subtly check in on Ouzo's psychological condition.
But remembering his own analysis from earlier, Gin decided maybe it was best not to rush things.
The organization was already short on people. And among the few they had, some were probably rats. Ouzo and Vermouth were both not only highly capable, but—more importantly—their backgrounds checked out, and they were loyal enough. Gin didn't want anything to happen to either of them.
It was safer to let them meet and interact first. See how it played out.
In Gin's view, there was no irreconcilable grudge between Ouzo and Vermouth. Judging from Ouzo's past behavior, he didn't seem to know Sherry as well as Vermouth believed.
…
They sat down in the shop.
Gin didn't bring up any psychological evaluations. Instead, he pulled out an assassination file from his briefcase, tossed it onto the table, and looked at Jiangxia Tongzhi:
"This is the latest target. Eliminate him without attracting media or police attention. Thoughts?"
Jiangxia glanced at the file. The "you" in Gin's phrasing made him glance at Vermouth beside him.
Seeing her totally uninterested, he reached out, dragged the file closer, and opened it.
Pretty standard stuff. A few pages of introductory material. The target's photo: middle-aged man, receding hairline, squinty eyes, wide nose, wiry frame, business suit. Surrounded by bodyguards.
According to the intel, his name was Shigehiko Nomiguchi. A politician.
Nomiguchi had some transactional ties with the organization—money and power stuff. But now, he was in hot water: a bribery scandal had broken out. The organization had been pretending to help, putting on a show of support, but had already made backup plans—if he couldn't escape the scandal, they'd quietly kill him before he got arrested. That way, he wouldn't have a chance to spill anything in prison.
Gin had originally planned to work out the plan himself and only brief the rest right before the job—to avoid leaks.
But now that they were all here, it felt like a waste not to use the time. So he decided to clue Ouzo in a bit early.
…
Jiangxia spotted the name Shigehiko Nomiguchi and was a little surprised that Gin would so casually reveal something this high-level in front of them.
Then again, Nomiguchi might be a councilman, but he wasn't exactly a shining beacon of justice. He'd worked with the organization, which meant he didn't have any strong anti-crime backbone. And even his driver, it turned out, was secretly one of their people.
So the kill itself wouldn't be hard—the tricky part would be hiding the organization's hand from both the media and the police.
On the flip side, if anyone did leak this file, it'd be a big red flag for Gin… and maybe a way to smoke out a mole. That he was willing to share it now showed he still trusted both Ouzo and Vermouth.
Jiangxia read for a bit, then stroked his chin, putting on his "serious operative" face:
"I heard Nomiguchi doesn't like detectives. If anyone around him brings them up, he starts scolding or lecturing... Makes sense, if he's tangled with the organization. Could be his way of self-preservation."
"In that case, even people close to him probably avoid detective-related talk. Which makes it harder for me to approach via social manipulation. So I'd have to look for chances in public—during scheduled events, for instance. Then I could scope out the location ahead of time and maybe create a little accident... like a car crash, falling object, gas explosion..."
Gin nodded approvingly. That was more or less the direction he'd been thinking too.
Although—"doesn't like detectives"?
Gin was pretty sure that line wasn't in the file.
"You investigated him?" he asked.
"Nope. Just overheard a lady looking for her cat ranting about him once." Jiangxia leaned on his hand, looking thoughtfully reminiscent. "He's arrogant. The kind of guy who really makes you want to get to know him better."
That last bit... was a little suspicious.
Vodka, who'd been quietly listening, froze for a second.
Then he mentally rewrote "get to know him better" into "get to know the people around him better, so those people will suddenly snap and twist off Nomiguchi's councilman dog head," and it all started making a lot more sense.
Having cracked Ouzo's "true meaning," Vodka calmly took a sip of tea.
Just now, he'd genuinely thought Ouzo sounded like one of those bright-eyed youths who keep cheerfully trying to befriend cold, standoffish strangers. But now…
…This yinbi is terrifying. No wonder people keep getting played like fools. Vodka quietly clenched his fist under the table. He had to stay vigilant—drop his guard even once around Ouzo, and he might be the next corpse!
While Vodka silently had a mental breakdown, Gin had already moved on to fine-tuning the assassination plan.
Gin's usual method was brute force—bomb the area, shoot and scoot. But with sensitive targets like this, he could be subtle when needed.
After finalizing a rough outline, he looked at Jiangxia:
"Don't leave Tokyo for the next few days."
"Got it," Jiangxia said. Then paused. "Wait, am I part of the hit team?"
Judging by Gin's tone up till now, Jiangxia had figured this was one of those "let you observe and grow" years. Chill mode. No team assignments. Maybe even slack off a little.
Gin didn't answer directly. Instead, he said:
"Ryoko Naito is a regular client of yours."
"Huh? Oh—yeah." Jiangxia blinked, thrown off by the sudden name drop. It took a moment to remember her.
Right, Ryoko Naito. Lady with the British Shorthair cat that liked to run around. She often came to the agency with "my cat's missing again" commissions. Honestly, Jiangxia always felt like her cat wasn't exactly the most energetic creature…
Wait a second. "Regular client" and "detective agency" in the same sentence—was that normal? Did detective agencies have regular clients?
His thoughts began to drift, but he yanked them back on track.
Now that Gin had mentioned her… was Ryoko Naito connected to Councilman Nomiguchi somehow?
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 36/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*