Akai Shūichi: "…"
His brow throbbed again, like the beating of a heart, somewhat uncontrollable.
After two or three beats, he suppressed it and calmly said, "Executioner."
"I want to know who the member of the organization that carried out the mission in the Haneda Kōji case was."
Ichijō Mirai wrote it down in a memo, "Okay, I'll let you know when I've investigated, but as for now..."
There's no way to investigate. Just ask Gin later.
Anyway, Gin was a kind person who didn't smile by nature and liked to raise an eyebrow once in a while, and Ichijō Mirai knew that this kind person with a good temperament would definitely answer his questions.
He paused and looked at Akai Shūichi's headset.
Akai Shūichi's headset was ringing, softly at first, like a bad signal, and then a human voice.
It was Jodie's voice. "Operation successful."
The complexity in her voice was diminished by a layer of electronic signaling, "We caught the killer."
"...What's the situation on your end?"
"Someone just reported sniper fire in New York, Mr. Akai, you..."
The FBI has caught the killer.
"It's still early in the day," Ichijō Mirai looked out of the church and smiled at the half-darkness of the sky, "It seems that the FBI lady is not a cautious person, and boldly provoked the killer."
"I thought she was a more stable, will be a board to protect the hostage, according to the plan described, never make risky decisions, I did not expect is also a like fire in the chestnut of the dangerous molecules,"
He reached out and tapped Akai Shūichi's headset to turn on the comms, "Don't worry, Ms. Jodie, Mr. Akai is fine."
"He's just," Ichijō Mirai added after a natural pause, "I think, he needs to go to the hospital."
"Next time, Ms. Jodie, I hope it's you..."
Akai Shūichi sidesteps Ichijō Mirai's hand, and the headset's communication status naturally cuts off, "She'll get the wrong idea."
The voice that came out of the headset was actually Ichijō Mirai's voice, and said something like 'Akai Shūichi needs to go to the hospital', Jodie would misunderstand that Akai Shūichi was seriously injured.
"I'm telling the truth," Ichijō Mirai shrugged, "I really think you need to go to the hospital."
He stood up, still smiling, "Because of that drink."
"I didn't mean to spice it up, but..."
But, Akai Shūichi drank Ichijō Mirai's blood.
Ichijō Mirai had taken a drug, and the blood contained the effects of that marvelous drug.
So, will Akai Shūichi have any health problems after taking the blood?
That drug has a high probability of death.
Ichijō Mirai didn't say it out loud, but only laughed: "Besides, you didn't let me finish. Next time, it's her I want to see."
If Akai Shūichi had let him finish, he would have said something like a careless warning to Jodie not to give up her meeting to a coworker, or he would have been offended.
"But the next person you'll see is me," Akai Shūichi said lightly, "because of cooperation."
Because Ichijō Mirai was going to tell Akai Shūichi who the codename member on the mission was.
"Cooperation doesn't necessarily require a meeting," Ichijō Mirai said, "and besides, by the time I get around to investigating, you may have already passed away, unfortunately."
"Then I'll have to warn you again to go to the hospital and see a doctor."
"Of course, a visit to the hospital may also be met with some classic laboratory scenarios," He patted the blood on the hem of his coat and looked sideways beyond the church, "your colleagues are arriving."
"I have to go, bye."
Akai Shūichi heard nothing but silence.
Whether or not his coworkers arrived, he didn't stop Ichijō Mirai from stepping outside, "See you next time,"
And, "Thank you."
"Thank you?" Ichijō Mirai repeated, unable to stop himself from grinning back, "Thank you for what, for accepting your proactive disciple who bit the dust?"
"For helping me investigate my father, even if you had nothing to do with it," Akai Shūichi stood up, "For providing the clues that helped the FBI catch many vicious criminals,"
His eyes fell on the middle-aged priest, "This priest committed...?"
What kind of criminals?
Hearing himself named, the priest, who had been looking down, lowered his head even more, as if he were trying to burrow into the ground.
"Ah," Ichijō Mirai looked at him casually, "I don't know him well, I met him on the Internet."
"I posted a request for help, and he probably thought I was some kid from the neighborhood, and was eager to help me, so here I am."
As if reminded by Akai Shūichi, he nodded his hand several times on his forehead and shoulder respectively, "Thank you very much."
There was still blood snaking from his right hand, and following the movement, there were a few spots of red that had solidified on Ichijō Mirai's shoulder and forehead, with the spot on the forehead being the most obvious.
It looked like some kind of torture mark, but only like that.
Ichijō Mirai was clearly not concerned.
Akai Shūichi's eyes fell on the reddish color, remembering the way he arrogantly showed the way to the sniper bullets, and suddenly spoke, "You're strong."
It was a rare compliment, and even rarer was the tone of the statement, Akai Shūichi wasn't giving a compliment, he was stating a fact, Ichijō Mirai's footsteps paused and he thought seriously for a few seconds, "Is this some kind of trick to stall me?"
"But it worked, you managed to stall me for a few more seconds."
Akai Shūichi didn't stop Ichijō Mirai from leaving because he knew the FBI wouldn't be able to catch him, and Ichijō Mirai didn't care much about being delayed because the FBI wouldn't be able to catch him.
Ichijō Mirai didn't care much about being delayed because the FBI couldn't catch him, not to mention the fact that the FBI is still outside the church, and they couldn't catch Ichijō Mirai even if they broke into the nave right now.
They all know this.
So they don't care about the FBI outside the church.
As the FBI cleared the perimeter, Akai Shūichi, no longer hearing the silence, but hearing some light footsteps hurrying, said, "Why did you enter the police academy?"
This was the most puzzling thing to Akai Shūichi after he had gotten Ichijō Mirai's origin.
It is known that 'Satan' and 'Messiah' are twins, but their paths are different.
It is also known that 'Satan' betrayed 'Messiah' and joined the organization.
Known: They were out of touch for a long time, and Messiah didn't realize when Satan was lost, but only recently, when the dust had settled.
Obviously, Messiah entered the police academy after Satan's separation.
One of them went to the organization, the other to the police academy.
Why?
Is it because before confirming Satan's death, Messiah had a serious desire to be a good person, to be normal, to live under the sun?
Or did he join the police academy with a purpose?
Emotionally, Akai Shūichi wanted to favor the former, but intellectually, he preferred the latter.
He looked at Ichijō Mirai.
Ichijō Mirai also looked at Akai Shūichi and fell silent.
Can he say, 'Although I've always been a human being, I've always acted in a way that challenges people's blood pressure, and I'm a bit of a dog, I really don't like being a well-dressed dog, and I joined the police academy because the organization's extended family, which is a beautiful, kind-hearted, and nice atmosphere, couldn't stand it anymore and kicked me out'?
...No.
Of course not.
It's too humiliating to be kicked out by the organization when they can't stand it anymore, isn't it!
And it might even inspire the FBI!
Ichijō Mirai rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes twitching, "Hmm..."
"It's boring."
"For me, the darkness was boring, like stagnant water, entertaining myself every day and teasing people, and it got boring after a while, so I got curious about the light and gave it a try,"
"But," He said with great sincerity, "the Japanese police couldn't."
"So I came to the FBI."
"The FBI was okay, not great overall, but you and Jodie lived up to my expectations, and I thought it was pretty funny."
Because it's boring.
Akai Shūichi dissects this reason and finds it reasonable: Ichijō Mirai is on vacation in New York, so it must be even more so in Japan.
After a while, this kind of life gets boring, and to get the nerves going again, you need something new and dangerous, like racing cars, or extreme sports, or joining the police academy.
Only, this reason...
When he joined the academy, Satan was apparently still alive.
But now, even if New York and the FBI did give Messiah a thrill, a thrill, a thrill, how long would it last?
In the case of Satan's death, this nerve-racking pleasure is like foam on the surface of the sea, which dissipates like white, misty smoke as the sun rises.
Perhaps, in the dead of night, he would feel the coldest loneliness due to the loss of his nearest and dearest.
From the moment of Satan's death, Messiah's goal changed, and the blood of the dead began to well up inside him, burning with a black flame in pursuit of vengeance and death.
...Working with this man is like boarding a rickety ship, where you must get what you want before it sinks, or else you'll be taken to the bottom of an unfathomable sea.
Akai Shūichi's expression remained unchanged, "Thank you for your answer,"
Then he asked, "How can I contact you?"
He could have contacted Ichijō Mirai, like the two races, like today.
But it was only when Ichijō Mirai showed up first that he was able to follow the trail to him, and in the end, it was Ichijō Mirai who took the initiative.
Akai Shūichi was asking how he reached out to Ichijō Mirai.
Ichijō Mirai thought for a moment and threw over a cell phone, "Contact."
He threw it with his right hand, so the phone was stained with blood from the soaked fabric. Akai Shūichi took it, paused, then punched out a string of numbers with his left hand, dialed, and hung up when his own phone rang.
"I put my name on it," he said, taking a few steps forward and handing his cell phone to Ichijō Mirai, and then his own, "Akai Shūichi,"
"Your name?"
"Huh?" Ichijō Mirai swept a glance at Akai Shūichi as he took the cell phone, fixing his eyes on the wound on the palm of that left hand, "Really go to the hospital, the wound seems to have affected you,"
"To your Savior, your Messiah, your Rabboni, you actually have to note names?"
"A very poor way to provoke," He commented.
"You're not trying to determine which name I identify with more, are you? I don't agree with any of them."
While speaking in denial, he smoothly took Akai Shūichi's cell phone, casually noted [Main], and naturally began to exit the call screen, tap into his address book, find Jodie's contact information, and record it on his cell phone.
And then, even more smoothly, she started checking her text messages and photo albums.
Ichijō Mirai is very righteous: NPCs are offering their cell phones, so if you don't clean them up, you're still a moving company type of player?
No!
Then he saw himself.
He saw the Tokyo news video in Akai Shūichi's photo album, and looked at himself, who had blithely swooped into the bank and saved lives at the same time, and said, "Wow."
Ichijō Mirai was impressed by his red eyes.
He watched the video once more with satisfaction and tossed the phone back, "Not bad, you're very devoted to the Lord."
"Goodbye."