"See you tomorrow, Enomoto-san."
Azusa Enomoto withdrew her worried gaze from the attic and looked at Tooru Amuro, sighing.
"You two must have had a fight today, right? Kazawa-kun didn't even want to come down for dinner. You better explain things properly to Kazawa-kun later, Amuro-san." She wasn't stupid and naturally noticed the tense atmosphere between the two during the day, but many conflicts were not for outsiders to interfere with — she could only hope that her reliable and eloquent handsome colleague would communicate well. "See you tomorrow, Amuro-san."
After Azusa Enomoto left, Tooru Amuro slowly changed out of his uniform, standing at the bottom of the stairs, headache pounding as he stared at the tightly closed door.
He couldn't expose the organization's information, couldn't reveal his own identity, and still had to dispel Kazawa's hostility and fear — it was truly no simple task.
A gentle "knock knock" came at the door. Kazawa, sprawled like a salted fish on the bed, suddenly snapped upright, quickly straightened his posture, adjusted his expression, and then answered, "The door isn't locked."
When Tooru Amuro pushed the door open, what greeted him was a black muzzle aimed straight at him.
Kazawa Akira, eyes calm but hollow, was curled at the foot of the bed, holding a sleek black pistol directly pointed at the door.
"Everyone's a liar. Mom and Dad were, and you are too." Kazawa no longer had the intense emotions from the day, only empty eyes. "'What a guardian should do'… it's a joke."
Amuro's heart softened seeing Kazawa's state.
The guardians of this kid had indeed always been unqualified.
He looked closely at the hands gripping the gun. Without responding to Kazawa's mockery, he took a step closer and said, "You haven't fired a gun before, right? Put the gun down, it could hurt you."
"Don't come closer!" Kazawa immediately gritted his teeth, lifted his upper lip to bare his teeth, trying to look fierce and cruel. "Stay away from me."
His arms were tense, veins bulging on the backs of his hands with the tight grip. Amuro noticed the bandage on Kazawa's wrist and recalled helping wrap his wound in the attic a few days ago, feeling even more helpless.
"Relax, Kazawa, I don't intend to hurt you." Amuro raised both hands to show he was harmless, stepped closer, preparing to grab the gun, "I'm sorry for not telling you about your parents' death earlier, but please believe me, I mean no harm."
"I said, stay away!" Kazawa shouted, fingers tightly on the trigger. Amuro had to stop moving forward to avoid provoking him further.
Though his posture showed Kazawa didn't know how to hold the gun properly, the safety was off and it could fire anytime. Amuro had to avoid any extreme outcome.
Does Kazawa know how to use a gun? Of course.
But when it came to acting, Kazawa was serious — his acting skills, which failed to work during the day, were now starving to shine. Naturally, he had to play the part without flaw.
"You're all working together, right? Framing me, making me confess, then assigning you to watch me… Do you find it funny that I'm asking you for help, telling you my troubles?" Kazawa truly sneered. "What do you want me to do? Just say it. Don't keep playing these games."
Watching Kazawa's excitement, Amuro weighed his options carefully.
Kazawa's emotions were clearly out of control. If Amuro accepted Kazawa's suspicion as Bourbon and directly demanded "hand over the data" or "tell me what your parents researched," he could quickly get the answers he wanted, maybe even the secrets the organization was after.
But this would completely destroy the trust between Kazawa and him, making it impossible to get any more information. In Kazawa's eyes, Amuro would become just another conspirator in the framing.
So Amuro decided to stick to the prepared plan.
"…I am watching you, but I'm not working with those people." Amuro moved slightly closer without showing it, "Your parents and I are both unwilling players, not good guardians. But we want to protect your feelings the same way. Your parents entrusted you to me. Sorry, I can't take you away, but I won't let them hurt you."
That was a lie.
Amuro only guessed Kazawa knew his parents had a secret contact but not who it was.
He planned to claim that identity and wrap the morning's conversation as part of the message transfer — a must for Bourbon's mission and the best way to lower Kazawa's guard.
"I don't believe you." Kazawa's arms stayed tense. "If that's true, why didn't you say so earlier?"
Kazawa really knew there was a contact communicating with his parents but didn't know who, or else he would have said "you're lying" instead of "I don't believe you."
Feeling like he had won the bet, Amuro breathed easier.
"I said, we're both unwilling." Amuro feigned a sigh, "I'm not the only one watching you. They don't trust me, telling you directly would put us all in danger."
His words were half-truths and half-lies. Considering the other watching group was led by Black Rye Whiskey, he had no hesitation shifting blame — he just wished the blame could be bigger.
Kazawa stared at his face, like he was waiting for something.
Amuro stared into his eyes, noticing a flicker of hesitation and looseness. He knew they had reached a critical point.
Kazawa had never met the secret contact directly, but they did have regular communication.
Based on this, after the daytime conflict with Kazawa ended, Rei Furuya quickly contacted the Zero Squad to trace all of Kazawa Akira's contact methods — phone, emails, social media, forums — anything with regular or periodic interaction was checked.
Finally, the poor exhausted subordinates helped him locate a suspicious anonymous forum account.
Earlier that day, the account posted another meaningless message, sharply raising suspicion.
Amuro now had to say something to convince Kazawa he was that person.
"The weather is nice, I like spring, hope all is well, I'm sorry." Amuro repeated the message they found, then added hesitantly, "Akira."
That was Kazawa Akira's Romanized name "Akira," also the signature on every post from that account, which was why they pinned down the suspect.
After he said this, Amuro raised his guard to the highest level, waiting for Kazawa's reaction.
If he failed to gain trust, the gun in Kazawa's hand could seriously injure him.
Kazawa slowly lowered the muzzle.
Just as Amuro was about to smile, Kazawa suddenly raised the gun again and pressed it against his own chin.
"Goodbye." Kazawa smiled victoriously and pulled the trigger.
Amuro felt his heart shrink sharply, blood freezing for a moment.
"No!" Amuro reflexively lunged at Kazawa, trying to push away the gun in his hand, not caring that a close-range bullet could also harm him.
But once he grabbed the gun, Amuro froze.
Kazawa, pushed backward by Amuro's sudden move, hit the back of his head on the wall and hissed in pain, quickly loosening his grip and clutching his head.
Amuro looked down at the gun he grabbed.
It had been modified — the paint job was perfect, and unless closely examined, even Amuro, who had handled many firearms, wouldn't notice, but no matter how real it looked, it was just a toy gun that could only shoot BB pellets.
"...Kazawa Akira!" Amuro said his name slowly, watching Kazawa laugh wildly.
That damn kid had already believed him, but still had to shoot him to test his reaction!
"Hahaha, scared?" Kazawa grinned childishly. "You scared me first. I spent the whole afternoon afraid someone would suddenly break in and drag me away, or just sink me in Tokyo Bay..."
"Smack!" Amuro slapped the top of Kazawa's head, making him hurt and shut up.
…Was there really a "middleman"? Of course not.
Kazawa's source was none other than Akai Shuichi himself, right in front of his face.
The account Amuro found was Kazawa Akira's anonymous forum alt, using a scheduled program to post a message to his parents every month — a letter he wrote but could never send.
Kazawa, with a prankster's triumphant smile, sat up straight again.
Now Amuro had a new skin, a new role relationship, and finally could start exchanging some deep info.
Nobody lost. It was a win-win, right?