Furuya Rei: "..."
All he knows is that during his tense confrontation with Rye Whiskey, the organization didn't get any useful information, and the informant was shot by an impatient Gin.
In retrospect, he was glad that he had arrived in time to stop Rye Whiskey's desperate attempt to steal his head by delaying the Organization member who had stated that Morofushi Hiromitsu was not an undercover agent.
Even after learning that Rye Whiskey was FBI, he was still shocked, and even more so, he was in a cold sweat: the FBI is capable of shooting a fellow undercover agent to get to the top!
But it sounded like the organization was sweating too...
"But," He quickly focuses, "the FBI didn't do it because they exposed themselves as undercover agents."
Wasn't it because he exposed himself as an undercover agent and defected, and is still being hunted by the organization to this day?
According to Morofushi Hiromitsu, the organization would have turned a blind eye to the discovery that Rye Whiskey was an undercover FBI agent, right?
"Ah," Morofushi Hiromitsu said, "this-"
He paused again and again, his tone complex and slow as he reminded Furuya Rei, "Mr. Moroboshi said, 'Even if you tried to assassinate that gentleman..."
He paused, providing a quiet afterthought.
No, that's not true.
Furuya Rei: "..."
Furuya Rei was quiet too.
No sound is better than sound.
"However," Morofushi Hiromitsu added, "the FBI didn't assassinate that gentleman, but only attempted to investigate him and arrest him."
'Only'.
"Then they should have more or less achieved something, otherwise the organization wouldn't have kicked the guy out," Furuya Rei tried to keep his tone normal, "probably investigated the information about that gentleman."
"You haven't told me this before... is there anything else you can tell me?"
Undercover agents and undercover agents don't share 100% information with each other, and too close a connection can lead to death in the line of duty together. Furuya Rei knew about this, and could accept that Morofushi Hiromitsu hadn't told him about this, but was concerned about the information that hadn't been told yet.
There must be something that has not been told.
Because: "Neither you nor the FBI seem to have approached Mi-"
Furuya Rei rephrased, "Neither has any intention of approaching that gentleman through 'Messiah'."
Sooner or later, they all realized that the organization knew about their undercover status, and that they themselves could pry into information with a certain degree of impunity, and were secretly prying into secrets in silence.
However, none of them tried to find Ichijō Mirai and directly questioned the codename member, who was now occupying a very high position in the organization.
There must be a reason for that.
"Ah," Said Morofushi Hiromitsu, "this,"
Very familiar, he hesitated again, and answered slowly.
"It's because..."
If blood is an all-encompassing shade of gray.
Then 'Messiah' is the gray that spreads out from the gray, at first tainted with the gray color of blood, but the more it spreads, the more it shines, obviously a bad personality, but a soul that shines like a ruby, a white that originated from the gray, witnessed the darkness, and grew out of it.
'Satan', on the other hand, is black.
Spreading out from the gray, like a piece of paper, he was left to be scribbled on at a young age, deprived of the right to grow, deprived of the right to have a normal outlook on life, appearing to be a human being, but an ignorant beast, whose release from the noose around his neck would result in a hellish bloodbath unacceptable to the organization.
It was a natural disaster in human form.
When faced with him, everyone returns to their original identity, not 'FBI', not 'police', not 'programmers', etc., but vulnerable human beings.
With one exception: 'Messiah'.
No matter how abnormal or beastly Satan is, or even how he may arouse the uncanny valley effect in ordinary people at certain moments, in the eyes of Messiah, he is always his relative and an equal communication partner.
"Maybe I still feel guilty," said Morofushi Hiromitsu, "because the organization didn't take me away, but took him away, leaving him without a normal life."
Even if it wasn't even one of them that was at fault, not the child who was taken away, not the child who was left with his parents, but the Organization.
But human beings, as creatures, have some kind of survivor's guilt.
"It's a complex emotion."
"To complicate matters further," he trailed off, "Satan is a beast on a leash."
"...I don't know who holds his leash, nor do I know if his emotions at seventeen, the first time he produced a bloodbath, were the elation of his own successful mission, or if there was so much as a hint of frustration, if he stared expectantly at his loved ones with blood all over his body, asking for a rewarding hug."
It's easy to guess who the 'leash' is.
"But I know that 'Messiah' has a leash, too. It's 'Satan'."
Huh?
From the very beginning, Furuya Rei's brow furrowed when he heard the first sentence, and when he heard it, he couldn't help but interrupt, "'Leash'?"
That doesn't fit Ichijō Mirai at all.
The Ichijō Mirai that Furuya Rei remembers can be described as 'spirited' and 'a proud son of nature'.
...Although he was a leader in terms of exasperation, it was for this reason that he was the most popular.
But that's also why he seems to be a born rebel, and he can do anything impossible with an easy, bright smile on his face, with no weaknesses at all.
Morofushi Hiromitsu: "That's what Mr. Moroboshi said."
"He met 'Messiah' after 'Satan' passed away," He organized his words, 'At that time 'Messiah' was probably on police duty, and was intentionally approaching the FBI, but his tactics were very different from those at the academy, and hardly resembled a police officer, but rather, like-"
"Like a desperate, rampaging criminal."
"From the beginning, he wasn't trying to infiltrate the FBI under false pretenses, he was angry with the FBI, tasting death, walking on the edge of death more than once, and even smiling while being sniped with a sniper's rifle."
"Mr. Moroboshi believes that 'Messiah' was in a strange state: a living person who appeared to be dead."
"He believed that 'Messiah' had a sense of belonging only to 'Satan' and not to the Organization, but... he did not act against the Organization,"
That's odd.
'Satan' is so important to 'Messiah' that he can even take it out on a purely victimized party like the FBI, he can slip a bunch of them around and play with them, so why hasn't he taken any real action against the organization?
Even if 'Satan' didn't die because of the organization, he could still be as angry at the organization as he was at the FBI?
It was strange, and Akai Shūichi had a suspicion about it, but he wasn't sure.
Even if he wasn't sure, he realized that Ichijō Mirai would help him in small ways, but not in big ways, such as sharing information about that man directly with him.
This was one of the reasons why Akai Shūichi didn't ask Ichijō Mirai directly about the organization's secrets.
Another reason is: after joining the organization, you don't need to worry about your identity. Now that you can't find the secrets, you can only seek help from others... Isn't that too much of a waste?
Ichijō Mirai doesn't like waste.
He also apparently had no sense of belonging to the FBI.
The reason Morofushi Hiromitsu doesn't ask Ichijō Mirai directly for secrets, and doesn't take the initiative to meet up with him when he learns the truth, as if he doesn't know, is simple: he probably, probably, maybe, probably, should have known why Ichijō Mirai didn't just go ahead and take out the majority of the Organization's members.
Which, as it happens, all the cadets know.
"You should be impressed with Mirai's performance at the academy," Morofushi Hiromitsu said, "no matter how hard the training was, even when he was on the verge of reaching the limits of the human body, he still looked relaxed,"
"He doesn't have the normal physical reaction of muscle soreness the next day."
"He has no sense of pain."
And: "He fed Matsuda a very effective painkiller."
Furuya Rei remembers all this.
"There's also something about his personality," Morofushi Hiromitsu once again stated what everyone knew, only stopping short and picking up on his own speculation, 'He and 'Satan', probably grew up in a very closed place with very little contact with the outside world."
"There are a lot of places that could be called 'closed', probably some remote mountain villages, but there are very few that leave traces whenever there is human activity, and the organization has very few places to choose from."
"I spoke to Mr. Moroboshi, and he told me that 'Messiah' suffered a serious injury while in New York, in a car race."
While recalling Akai Shūichi's reply, Morofushi Hiromitsu relayed, "But it wasn't long before it reappeared, before Mr. Moroboshi's injuries were completely healed,"
"Mr. Moroboshi's exact words were, 'If I hadn't seen him injured, I would have thought he had never been injured when we met again'."
Coincidentally, "We don't think we've ever seen him hurt either."
To be precise, Ichijō Mirai had never been seen recovering from an injury like a normal person.
Throughout, he was alive and well.
Furuya Rei thought for a moment and replied, "Because he has no sense of pain, he can move around normally even when he's injured, so he can hide it without a trace, right?"
"But you say that as if you have another opinion."
Morofushi Hiromitsu did have another opinion.
He asked, "What has the organization been searching for all this time?"
Of course, it's in search of immortality... wait...
Furuya Rei suddenly hesitated, feeling bad, "You're not going to say..."
"'Messiah' could have accessed important secrets of the organization if he wanted to, and could have assisted the police of various countries in destroying the organization, but he didn't do it." Morofushi Hiromitsu inquired again, "And now that the Organization is apparently treating 'Satan' like a hot potato, the Organization could have just eliminated 'Messiah' disguised as 'Satan', but the Organization didn't do that either."
"Why?"
*
"Then I'll leave now, don't come back to me, I'm really afraid that the police will misunderstand."
"By the way," Ichijō Mirai inquired, "have you ever considered killing me?"
Gin looked up in surprise, "What?"
He looked like a fish in an angler's hangout, wary at the sight of a hook, "You always say the unthinkable."
"I don't think so," Ichijō Mirai mused, "but it seems that the organization is very afraid of me now, isn't it? Even me."
There was a pause, and he tilted his head sideways before suppressing the loud scoffing into a smaller, less noticeable one, "Even my classmates and coworkers that I care about, you guys can tolerate that, like you're afraid I'll go crazy if I get a little excited."
That's true.
The Organization was afraid that Ichijō Mirai would go crazy, not only afraid that he would go crazy, but also afraid that he would use the opportunity to go crazy, afraid that he would open his eyes and swear something like, 'Because the crows cawed thirteen times today, it's bad luck, and I suspect that the Organization is manipulating the crows to secretly badmouth me, and I get angry, I don't care, I'll go crazy!' and all that crap.
"With all that fear," Ichijō Mirai looked away as if nothing had happened, pretending that his current smile wasn't a smile and that he hadn't felt Gin's stare, "I would have killed such an uncontrollable bomb."
He said casually, "The organization's thinking about it, right? I'm actually pretty easy to kill."
It's true.
In non-game mode, Ichijō Mirai is easy to kill, and he only has one life.
Once the organization starts hunting him down with all its might, he'll barely survive one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten years, killing a hundred or a thousand of the organization's pursuers, and then repaying the favor by providing some of the organization's top executives with a thrilling wake-up call in the morning.
But it's better than Ichijō Mirai as a gamer!
Ichijō Mirai's advice was sincere.
Gin's response was a cold, "Oh."
He was so cold that he looked like a concrete corpse that had been dumped in Tokyo Bay for ten years, "You want to toy with the Tokyo police and make them think that you're a detective who is being hunted down by the Organization after realizing its existence?"
"It's not necessary, it's really not necessary."
Gin didn't discriminate in the slightest, but simply stated the facts, "You'll only be pretending for a few months at most, before your true colors are discovered."
Probably because he couldn't stand it, got playful, and moved his claws stupidly.
But: "Even if they find out, no one will say anything, just like your police academy classmates."
It's a little hard to say the words 'police academy classmate', it's a bit of a slur on the police.
The police were trash, but not as trashy as Ichijō Mirai.
Gin has a subtle sense of sadness: the organization is even less guilty!
He ignored the clutter and stated the facts, "So you don't have to play games, just knock on the door, say exactly what you want to do, and you'll have the same effect you've had after a year of pretending to be in the police camp."
Huh?
Ichijō Mirai thought about it, and then thought about it again, ignoring Gin's personal emotions, and was a little surprised, "You mean, I could jump ship to the police as a codename member?"
"Aren't you afraid I'll actually defect? It's a good way to clear your name."
Gin: "..."
Some people don't know what they're talking about. Even if 80% of the world's convicts were to turn over a new leaf, there's still no way for one of them to become white, right?
He put it succinctly, "You defected."
"If you do defect, the organization will suspend its activities for three months to express its sincere congratulations to you."
Ichijō Mirai: "."
"If you go any further, it'll be a personal attack," He waved his hand lazily, "Never mind, bye-bye."
As Ichijō Mirai turned around and walked slowly down the middle of the alley, Gin called out to him again, "Alsace."
Ichijō Mirai turned around.
Gin lit another cigarette, his tone was light, "Other people might be confused about whether they're going to heaven or hell when they die, but you don't need to think about it at all, do you?"
"Don't think about things that have nothing to do with you anymore, such as the absolute impossibility of death."
Suddenly, he put out his cigarette and flicked his tongue, "…I am not encouraging you to kill others, nor am I encouraging you to create some hell-on-earth pictures. Don't give me a thoughtful and eager expression, you bastard!"