"Is that so?"
Akai Shūichi said, "I didn't realize it was the first time the famous Messiah-san had complimented a woman, I thought you were a seasoned gentleman, wouldn't it be the first time you've had dinner with a lady as well?"
"Don't you," He inquired, "even have a girlfriend?"
Ichijō Mirai: "..."
Akai Shūichi wasn't being sarcastic.
Or rather, he was mocking, but instead of intentionally making up questions to mock, he brought out the questions and surprise he already had, and expressed his questions in a calm tone.
The doubt is real, and the aggressiveness is real.
So much so that Ichijō Mirai wanted to take out a black notebook and ask Akai Shūichi's name again.
Instead of answering, he asked, "I thought you were a lady who would be too curious and decent to ask such a personal question, much less in public."
There were only two people at the table.
Excluding the messenger who was trying to retreat silently, there were only two of them within a range of ten meters around the table, so it wasn't really 'in public'.
But Akai Shūichi didn't refute it, he moved his gaze to the greenery on one side, and caught an imperceptible bit of black in the lush green and the brown color of the branches and trees.
It was the black of a listening device.
"I also thought you were a decent gentleman," Akai Shūichi said lightly, "not to point things out directly, but to conceal them unspokenly, to save face."
There was no rebuttal.
Not just 'in public', not even 'lady', Akai Shūichi didn't retort, not only didn't retort, but even said 'having dinner with a lady for the first time', something that acknowledged his current status.
It seems that he had the audacity to invite people under the name of 'Miss FBI' and admit that he was 'Miss FBI'.
Ichijō Mirai wanted to laugh.
And as soon as he wanted to laugh, he gave a big smile without stinting, "Ah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry for making a bad impression, beautiful lady, it's my fault."
He lifted his hand to hold down his right chest cavity, and pretended to lean forward slightly to apologize, "Next time, I will definitely aim for your decency, and never let a beautiful, kind lady with long, golden hair have the slightest bit of embarrassment, and it's really my rudeness to make you feel uncomfortable,"
"However-"
Even though Akai Shūichi really does have long hair, it's more than a little disgusting to say a compliment in a serious manner.
Disgusting in the sense that it hurts the enemy a thousand times.
Confronted with Akai Shūichi's openly cheeky and calm expression, Ichijō Mirai changed the wording to hurt the enemy a thousand times, but also smiled without any difference and said, "Wouldn't the FBI suspect you after hearing such an intimate conversation?"
As long as they weren't the ones being victimized, the FBI, who were listening with their ears pricked up on the other side of the wiretap, would have thought that the conversation was overly relaxed and intimate, like a pair of friends who had known each other for more than a decade and were chatting easily and flirting with each other.
For Akai Shūichi, that judgment was not good.
"Five minutes," Akai Shūichi says, "and our conversation is delayed by five minutes with Jodie as a relay, during which time she edits any conversations that aren't suitable for other people to hear directly for us."
He didn't go into too much detail about how the editing was done, but there were only a few ways to change the recordings, so Ichijō Mirai didn't ask any further questions, and only responded slowly, "So Ms. Jodie is here too? It's no wonder, although she entrusted you to come to her appointment, but after all, tonight's conversation is about her important privacy, she really should listen to it herself, not through others."
"Entrusted me with her appointment?" Akai Shūichi said lightly, "I thought it was me you were supposed to ask."
Yes.
Regardless of whether Ichijō Mirai had invited Akai Shūichi or Jodie to meet him, it was only Akai Shūichi who had come to the appointment.
This is something that Akai Shūichi has proven with his actions long ago.
That's why Ichijō Mirai had already sent out a phishing message, but then withdrew it and sent it to Jodie with a different wording.
It doesn't matter whether you catch a fish by hanging a worm on a hook or by using an electric stick, because that's the same fish you're going to catch, right?
Ichijō Mirai smiled again at Akai Shūichi.
He didn't answer right away, but turned his head sideways and looked in the direction from which the footsteps had come.
The messenger was returning, and just as he had left, he was tiptoeing back, as quietly as possible, almost as if he had stuck a sign above his head saying [This is a passing mushroom] to warn tourists not to pick it and do it harm.
The mushroom carries a tray, and when it comes to the table, it puts on a smile in the manner of a restaurant emissary, and sets down two glasses of wine.
They were two freshly made cocktails.
A cup is bright bright red, the glass is half an arm's length highball glass, covered with a layer of thin, like cotton silk as hazy veil things, light veil is also intertwined with very fine silver wire, from the position close to the mouth of the cup has been hanging down to the base of the cup, in the light of the light, is emitting a light fog of ice cubes.
There is also a glass is a darker green color, highball glass is smaller than the red wine close to one-third, transparent glass periphery frozen irregular ice cubes, wine is very thick, with a texture similar to milk, light halo into the only shake out of a piece of green, the only thing that can be penetrated only ice cubes, emitting a light fog is more dense.
When he brought the glass, the messenger first discreetly looked into Akai Shūichi's eyes, handed over the green glass, and then handed the red wine to Ichijō Mirai with the whispered words, "This is for both of you."
The tone of his voice seems to say, 'You can't beat me up if I'm so spineless, can you?'
It was a completely different attitude from Akai Shūichi.
Ichijō Mirai looked at the messenger and then at Akai Shūichi, and smiled again when he realized that it was very subtle to see these two opposite attitudes in his vision at the same time.
Akai Shūichi raised his eyebrows, lowered them again, and said lightly, "As a gentleman, you at least have one thing going for you: smiling from time to time."
"I can't help it," Ichijō Mirai replied, "there's always something that makes me smile, and I'm afraid no one can resist, so why don't you?"
He reached up and tousled his white, crinkly hair, and in the process drew his fingers along the sides of his mouth, asking the messenger politely, "Why don't you smile, sir, do you think I'm not funny?"
The messenger froze as he fumbled with his pockets, "Wha-"
"And," Ichijō Mirai asked, glancing at the red wine, "why do you put his wine before mine, do you despise me?"
He spoke with a smile and a gentle tone of voice, and any messenger from a normal restaurant here would think he was a good-tempered gentleman who could take a joke.
But the messenger obviously didn't think so.
Visibly, his body tensed up, his supposedly soft face almost stiffened into a ball of uncompacted clay, his tongue stiffened to the point where he couldn't speak, and he could only stare for a few seconds in blankness, looking helpfully at Akai Shūichi.
Akai Shūichi didn't look at the messenger, as if he didn't receive the signal of help, but his eyebrows twitched, "It seems you're not in a good mood lately."
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so happy to have fun.
"This drink has become quite famous in the bartender's realm lately, as it is sufficiently eye-catching," he lifted his chin, signaling the messenger to move, "Light it."
The emissary moved immediately, continuing the action of touching his pocket, and pulled out a lighter, carefully igniting the veil of red wine.
The moment the fire appeared, a layer of orange color spread on the veil, which was so pale that it was almost like a mist, quickly reflecting the wine and lighting up the silver threads on the veil, and the whole glass of wine seemed to burn like a flowing blood, or a blood-splattered fire tree.
The light of the fire reflected on Ichijō Mirai's face, and he held his head up, blinking slowly for a few moments without speaking.
Akai Shūichi spoke, "Go down and serve the steak first."
The messenger carefully glanced at Ichijō Mirai, but did not observe any inclination, so he retreated with a mushroom.
"It's flashy stuff, but it's eye-catching enough," Akai Shūichi spoke up again, commenting on the glass of red flaming wine, "At certain angles, the red would look like hot blood against the flames,"
"I think you'll like it."
Ichijō Mirai focuses on the point, "Sake, it's for drinking, isn't it?"
This drink...is obviously not suitable for drinking, is it?
"Yes," Akai Shūichi said calmly, "I thought you'd have no problem drinking it even if it was sulfuric acid?"
Oooh.
Ichijō Mirai stood in awe, "I didn't realize you had so much faith in me, may I ask where this incredible faith came from?"
"Is it-"
He shifted his eyes downward, looking across the white tablecloth and table to the vicinity of Akai Shūichi's stomach, "You were obedient enough to actually go to the hospital and have something checked out?"
"I did check out something very interesting," Akai Shūichi inquired smoothly, locking eyes with Ichijō Mirai and pointing vaguely, "...is it the results of the organization's research?"
"It's unbelievable, yet very convincing."
"There was a time when neither the FBI, nor I, nor Jodie had any idea about the Organization, it was too mysterious, no one knew where it came from or what it was for, but when I saw the report from the hospital, I was completely relieved."
The report didn't contain much information, Akai Shūichi had only consumed a small amount of Ichijō Mirai's blood, not enough to cause a qualitative change, but only a slight change in some of the body's conditions.
But he was able to deduce what would happen to the body of the owner of the blood, so from a report of the examination, he unveiled the mystery of the organization, and found that its purpose was unexpected, but reasonable.
"Eternal Life."
Akai Shūichi said, "When this 'great quest', which only appears in literature and movies, came to my mind, there was not a shred of mystery left in the Organization for me."
There was only a wet, cold sense of the ridiculous.
...Provided that 'immortality' is truly beyond the reach of mankind.
When it was possible to pursue it, and it was a goal that the organization had already achieved, the reality was somewhat absurd, and Akai Shūichi felt a subtle sense of unreality.
This sense of unreality was even stronger than that of Akai Tsutomu, whose father, whom he knew to be so powerful, had disappeared without a trace.
He said, "I have you to thank for that."
The flames were still burning.
Through the flames, Ichijō Mirai and Akai Shūichi looked into each other's eyes, and had the illusion that a blaze was burning in those green eyes.
Unexpectedly, he remembered those tearful green eyes in the fire, and paused for a few breaths before murmuring, as if thinking, "I'd like to ask what you meant by 'Jodie-sama will edit'?"
He had a feeling that the conversation would probably be jammed, with only a few sentences suitable for the FBI to hear.
"I've pre-recorded my voice, and your voice, she'll just replace it with an obvious voice changer and cut us a confrontational conversation more in line with HQ's conception," Akai Shūichi was very perceptive, "Looks like you're impressed with the drink?"
The sense of danger, like a nervous cat dangling in mid-air with its claws flicking, ready to swoop down at any moment, lessened, not by a fraction of a second, but by a tidal wave as they looked at each other, and for a moment, Ichijō Mirai even showed a softer look, which Akai Shūichi could see clearly.
He could also see clearly the short-lived sharpness after the softness.
He maintained his expression without moving, judging: just now, in a moment of staring at each other, through him, Ichijō Mirai remembered someone?
'Satan'?
It's not hard to guess, it's a bonus question.
Even more of a bonus was Ichijō Mirai's smiling question, "What are you thinking, Mr. Akai?"
"I'm thinking," Akai Shūichi said without changing his expression, "that you seem to be looking at this drink a little more favorably, and instead of looking like I've inadvertently pissed you off, you're starting to be satisfied with me."
Ichijō Mirai ignored it and stared at him, "You really didn't think about that?"
Akai Shūichi: "'That'?"
What?
The doubt was real, and Ichijō Mirai nodded deeply, still smiling, "Well, you better not be thinking about something."
He reached out, absently flicking his hand over his glass, and spoke over the crisp sound of the glass, "The member of the codename that handled your father, I've found out."
"Rum."
"His codename," He said solemnly, feeling as if it wasn't the first time he'd said Rum's codename solemnly, "is Rum."
And realized it really wasn't the first time.
It's just that the last time it was a throwaway, and this time it's the truth.
"Gin told me," Ichijō Mirai added, "If you don't believe me, you can kidnap him and ask him,"
"He's in Tokyo, easy to find, wears black all day, seems to like amusement parks, is a workaholic, works almost 24 hours a day, just pull over on the road with some racing skills and say something like, 'You don't want to be held up, do you, Mr. Gin?' Simply threaten him with something like, 'You don't want to be held up, do you, Mr. Gin?' and he'll tell you everything he knows and everything he wants to tell you."
At least with Ichijō Mirai.
Akai Shūichi: "..."
Ignoring Ichijō Mirai's obvious lack of humor, he frowned, "What's your relationship with Gin?"
Would it be a good idea to ask about Gin about Rum directly?
"Probably," Ichijō Mirai mused briefly, "a relationship between a victim, and a coworker of the victimizer?"
"I mean I'm the victim," He added, "Rum has victimized me before, and Gin is intentionally harboring him."
He said it with all seriousness and righteousness.
Akai Shūichi was particularly trusting, and immediately put a mark on it: [Credibility value 0.001].