Ichijō Mirai hung up.
Holding the phone in his hand, he stood still for a moment before walking back in thought.
On his way back, he ran into Date Wataru, who, like a newcomer to the FBI with a cautious fear of his coworkers and a desire to please them, volunteered to help the seniors with their dirty work, unloading cups on his desk while chatting tensely with Akai Shūichi.
He's still looking around.
Whether Akai Shūichi saw it or not, Ichijō Mirai didn't know, but he saw what Date Wataru's subtle glances were about: what is this, Ichijō Mirai's new colleague at the FBI? I'm not sure what's so great about it, but let's take a look.
He: "..."
It seemed right, but then again, it didn't seem right, and he subtly stopped in the doorway.
When dealing with criminals, Akai Shūichi was cold, unruly, and without limits, chasing them to the end or begging them for mercy without a look on his face, but when dealing with his peers, he was much gentler, and that gentleness wasn't evidenced by a tone of voice or expression that didn't differ from the norm, but rather by his words and actions.
"The FBI doesn't need agents who work as coffee shop assistants, let alone agents without hands or feet," Akai Shūichi said while looking at other FBI agents. His voice was not loud, but it was clear in the quiet office. "If you don't want to pour your own coffee, our office will have a specialist come to collect cups and brew coffee every 30 minutes."
He further explained: "Some agents who have worked at the FBI and cannot lead a normal life after retirement, or who have experienced major changes while working and cannot lead a normal life, will re-enter the FBI after leaving the agency, but they are no longer agents and are no longer responsible for cases. They are only responsible for cleaning, cleaning the tea room, or brewing, etc."
These people, they're the newcomers' seniors.
"So..."
Akai Shūichi paused and didn't say anything further, only raised his eyebrows, the meaning was obvious: newcomers should keep their tails tucked in, don't start the classic bio-chain bullying behavior with their inflated status just after joining the company, and don't be too arrogant with the seniors.
As he listened, Ichijō Mirai's expression widened into a smile as he leaned against the side of the door, smiling at Akai Shūichi, who was intimidating the newcomers, and the newcomers who were being lectured, as well as at Date Wataru.
Date Wataru was in a state of hesitation: according to the classic biological chain, he's a Japanese, and ignoring his strength, it's true that he'll probably be happily lined up at the bottom of the line by the newcomers to start a career as an FBI agent, but he really wasn't being bullied by his coworkers for helping with the coffee-making process, he was looking for an excuse to run into Ichijō Mirai.
Before he could hesitate to speak, Ichijō Mirai spoke up early, interrupting his overly honest classmate's hesitant speech, "Well, it's half past, isn't it? I heard the sound of a cart, and it looks like the first batch of commissioners to help make coffee have arrived, so is there anyone else who needs help making coffee in order to work? Anyone else who needs help making coffee in order to work? You can get ready to pass the cups now."
As he said that, he gave Akai Shūichi, who was looking at him from the side, a meaningful smile, and teased him: he's deliberately intimidating the newcomers, is he?
No way, no way, how can an 'adult' bully a 'child', that's too much!
Akai Shūichi's eyes came over, paused for a second, and then moved away to Ichijō Mirai's side and back.
He didn't change his face, not even a little bit ashamed of being seen bullying a 'child' in public, he just nodded his head and greeted the commissioner who was carting him down the corridor, and only after greeting him did he look at Ichijō Mirai again, as if nothing had happened, "How's it going, the case?"
In the middle of his sentence, he suddenly changed his expression as if remembering something, and immediately took a big step towards Ichijō Mirai, stopping only after almost forcing his way through the door, covering half of the doorway with his body, and greeting the commissioner once again, "Why are you here, Mr. Logan?"
The commissioner was a very strange man, he looked to be about sixty years old, gray hair, stiff body, walking slowly, when people saw him pushing a cart, it was difficult to determine whether he was struggling to push the iron cart, or the cart was supporting him like a wheel.
Not surprisingly, he was just an old man, but what was strange was that not only was his body stiff, but also his face was wooden, his eyes were cloudy as if they were covered with a layer of mottled frosted glass, and his whole body was stuck, with the sluggishness of a sleepwalker or a network card.
When he heard Akai Shūichi's greeting, he didn't react, still pushing the cart and walking slowly, his eyes seeming to focus on the air in mid-air, and it was only after about four or five seconds that he seemed to hear a sound, stopped, and stared blankly at Akai Shūichi.
After a few more seconds, he nodded, opened his mouth, and spat out a voice as rusty as a machine that had been rained on and not run for ten days or so, "Good morning, sir."
Returning the greeting, the geriatric commissioner, as if completing his task, once again stumbled forward like a sleepwalker, pushing the cart straight ahead, turning slowly and sluggishly as he got closer to the office, even though Akai Shūichi stood in the doorway, blocking the doorway, as if he hadn't seen him about to push it in.
Akai Shūichi stepped back and stepped out of the way.
He stepped back slowly, and even though his feet were moving backward, his body was blocking Ichijō Mirai.
Ichijō Mirai was blocked between the wall next to the door and Akai Shūichi, so he couldn't even see the Commissioner's face.
But there was no need to see.
After hearing Akai Shūichi's introduction to the newcomers, hearing the name 'Logan', and hearing the rusty response of the specialist's mumbling, some details that were blinded by 'What is this, the plot, your distinguished player is here, skip, skip, skip, skip, who am I? I don't know, who am I fighting? I don't know, why am I fighting? I don't know, just fight and it's over!', emerged from his clear memory after taking the medicine, shaking off the dust.
-It was the survivor of the tragic destruction of the Tokyo FBI, Logan Ichijō Mirai.
Ichijō Mirai had wiped his lips and become a valued member of Code Name after he'd caught two waves of fish, eaten a hearty meal, and proudly handed the organization an overly generous résumé.
Then he hadn't bothered with the FBI, or the hoopla and feedback the tragedy would generate, or the bait.
Now he knows about the bait: it's alive.
Well... that's about as far as it goes.
It was worse than Gin's condition.
Like Akai Shūichi not so long ago, Ichijō Mirai was as unconcerned as if he had suddenly realized that the back of the FBI uniform needed to be carefully studied, and silently began to finish his hands, the string of his sweater and the white print on the back of the FBI uniform minimizing the overly stark sense of presence.
The cart moved.
Logan slowly wheeled the cart into the office and spoke slowly: "Cup."
His eyes moved like a second hand pressed against a block of iron, and he froze for a moment as he swept over the cups already connected in front of Date Wataru, and then reacted for a few seconds before he spoke again: "Cup?"
Don't you need to make coffee?
Not only was his body and face stiff, but he also spoke with an off-normal stiffness that was supposed to be offensive, but just because it was so off-normal, it sounded like he was mentally ill or something, it made you want to stay away without even being offended.
Coupled with the fact that they'd just been lectured one thing after another, as if having someone help make coffee was a waste of time, the newcomers stiffened and waved, "No, that's not necessary."
"We'll just get it ourselves."
"Haha, don't bother, senpai."
This attitude of avoidance didn't make Logan react, he only heard the instruction not to make the coffee, so just like when he came, he slowly retreated in a stupefied manner and pushed the cart away.
The sound of the wheels of the cart slowly whisking across the ground slowly moved away.
Akai Shūichi instructed the others to go through the files and organize any ideas they had, and then walked out with Ichijō Mirai.
They went in the opposite direction of Logan, farther away from the sound of the slow cart.
"That one was a survivor of a major operation," Akai Shūichi began, "and he's been like this ever since. He's the only one who knows how the operation went down and has seen the enemy, but he can't hear any words about the case like 'Tokyo', and when he does he goes crazy and keeps saying that he's a good boy."
Saying he's a good boy...
It's the same with Master's victim.
"The FBI can't interrogate him, they can't get information, but they can't let him go, and by letting him go, they're not only letting go of the most important clue, they're also letting him die," He looked sideways at Ichijō Mirai, "You should know what case I'm talking about."
"You and 'Satan'..."
"He might get irritated when he sees you."
Said, his eyebrows folded out two traces, "He was originally in charge of this floor, yesterday after the office location, I have transferred him to other floors, but his state..."
I don't think he's listening to his orders, but he's just following his routine.
Logan doesn't seem to be able to listen to people in his head either.
Ichijō Mirai doesn't look away, and responds with a serious, "Uh-huh, uh-huh."
Players are never ashamed.
Even after stealing eight chickens, seven geese, six pieces of silver, five broken bowls, four beds, three shoes, two boxes of clothes, and a child.
Unless caught red-handed.
Now, Ichijō Mirai hadn't been caught red-handed, but he was close to it, and after a few seconds' pause, realizing that Akai Shūichi was still looking at him, he cleared his throat and said in all seriousness, "'Satan' is too much!"
"Actually, I did seriously tell him not to do such things." He was suddenly more willing and proactive than his previous reluctance and the sly stares he gave his classmates every time he realized they were thinking the wrong thing, "But you know, we're not alone, after all."
"I can't be persuaded."
Is that so?
Akai Shūichi was skeptical.
Not to 'we're not the same person after all', but to 'I can't persuade', he blandly said, "Even if you didn't get along at one time, when you were really disgusted, he would surely stop, right?"
The 'disgust' in Ichijō Mirai's mouth, at most, at most, is only 'if someone else had done this kind of inhumane massacre, it would be disgusting', right?
But if it was 'Satan' who committed such a brutal case, that's a different story.
It's a double standard.
After all, they're both twins, and 'Satan' is obviously playing the FBI with his crimes, just like Ichijō Mirai, so it's either his true nature or he's mimicking someone else's, and Akai Shūichi was prepared for that when he first deduced this fact from the clues, and there's not much of a change in his tone of voice when he says it now.
"Haha, really, how come you know better than me," Ichijō Mirai couldn't help but compliment, "That's smart."
He changed the subject when Akai Shūichi raised an eyebrow at the sound of the yin and yang, moving away from the topic that rarely made the player's mind wander, "I just asked Belmode and confirmed one thing: 'Blonde Murderer' is a member of the organization under the codename of Calvados."
When Ichijō Mirai left, Akai Shūichi had speculated that this case was related to the Organization, so he wasn't surprised to hear that, but only looked at 'Messiah', who couldn't even mention 'Satan', but just choked on him and changed the subject without holding a grudge, "So he's a member of the Organization, that's why..."
No wonder she's so crazy.
No wonder it worked.
No wonder they put a nail in the coffin of the task force.
The focus shifted from 'how useless are the police forces? to 'how horrible the organization is'.
"I thought you'd be surprised that I'm still in contact with someone in Division even though I'm in the FBI," Ichijō Mirai said, and after a moment's thought, added, "Well, it's more obvious than not that we're still in contact."
"But can't you act surprised? It'll make everyone look good."
A criminal was sitting in the FBI's seat in a dignified manner, so it seemed that everyone had lost face, didn't it?
Akai Shūichi asked instead of answering, "Are you going to arrest the 'blonde murderer'?"
"Of course," Ichijō Mirai replied, "even for Ms. Jodie."
Jodie?
As soon as the question 'What does Jodie have to do with the case' surfaced, Akai Shūichi reacted, "His second target is Jodie?"
Wait a minute, the target would be Jodie, and he's giving preferential treatment to the bodies of individual young blonde women...
He narrowed his green eyes, "The perpetrator, one of Belmode's men?"
"To be precise, it was Belmode's loaner, who lent her men to Rum," Ichijō Mirai inquired in a cheerful tone." Rum's in New York right now, so how about a new grudge combined with an old one that makes you want to take this rat out and beat him up right away?"
Akai Shūichi stated the obvious: "At least you do."
"How do you plan to catch them?"
"Belmode suggested I wait for Calvados to take out the first target and send Ms. Jodie a teaser letter," Ichijō Mirai tossed the question around, "What do you think?"
"The first target is already being protected by the newly formed regular task force," Akai Shūichi analyzed, 'They're following the normal process of analyzing and studying past cases while focusing on protecting the target,' before answering, 'The first target is already being protected by the newly formed regular task force,' Ichijō Mirai threw the question out, "What do you think?"
Then he replied, "I don't think you'll wait."
He also thought that the task force would probably not be able to hold it.
"But..."
Ichijō Mirai's strength was well known to some of the unlucky FBI agents in charge of the capture, and Akai Shūichi knew it even better, but this time it was different, this time the opponent wasn't just a pudding on the table to be teased like the FBI, it was a prop cake hidden in the shadows.
Besides, if we're going to take care of the first target, we're going to have to deal with the task force.
Ichijō Mirai...
"Don't look like 'If it's a proper negotiation, I'm not sure you can negotiate cooperation when the anger level of the task force investigators is zero, and if it's an improper negotiation, you're worried that the task force investigators are ready to speak up and emphasize that I'm a proper FBI now'," Ichijō Mirai snapped his fingers, "Negotiating in accordance with the rules is too much of a hassle, and I'm very worried when faced with an attitude of being above the law. It's hard not to be tempted to wait for them to come down and ask for our cooperation."
"I'm going to find another way."
"Belmode told me about a New York specialty that Calvados frequents: clubs."
He said, "But it's a criminal club with a threshold, where you have to get a special invitation and pass a test before you can officially join."
"I've been in New York for so long, and they haven't invited me, you think..."
"I'm going to kill, ah no, I'm going to catch some club criminals to fulfill my noble FBI duties, will they invite me?"
Akai Shūichi: "..."
When you hold a grudge, can you please stop insulting the FBI?