"Tamani wa sake demo nonderu daro ka."
"Ano furusato e kaero kana kaero kana~~~"
When the song ended, the alcohol had clearly gone to Rei's head, and he actually felt it still wasn't enough.
As he tried to queue up a second song, Gin expressionlessly glanced at Vodka and gave him a look. Instantly understanding, Vodka rushed over to seize control of the karaoke machine, stuffing in several English songs and dragging Irish along to monopolize the microphones.
Forced into becoming the karaoke king, Vodka inwardly cried, 'I still haven't even had a few drinks yet, damn it!〒▽〒!'
Feeling pretty good about himself, Rei sat down beside Ritsu, slinging an arm over his shoulder as he grinned.
"Macallan, my singing wasn't bad, right?"
For a moment, Ritsu didn't know how to answer. His mind drifted back to a year ago, when he had unwillingly played the third wheel. It had been summer, and Akemi had invited him out for karaoke. Not only had he become a third wheel, he'd also had the "honor" of hearing Akai sing.
It could only be described as earth-shattering and ghost-weeping. In short… that night's nightmare was entirely tied to Akai's singing voice.
It was truly awful. Akai's singing completely shattered his cool and aloof image.
"Compared to Rye, you're basically at the level of a professional singer."
"Of course I sing better than that guy!" Rei said with satisfaction.
Nearby, Gin frowned slightly when he heard Ritsu's evaluation. He genuinely couldn't imagine just how terrible Akai's singing had to be for Rei's level to be compared to a professional singer.
Leaning back against the sofa, Ritsu glanced around the room and asked, "Why haven't I seen Tequila?"
Caymus smiled. "Tequila's downstairs. He's probably lost himself in the dance floor by now."
"…I see."
As Ritsu silently counted the people in the private room, there were only nine in total. 'Could the Organization's forces in Japan really be this limited?'
Then, the door to the room suddenly opened. Walking in was an elderly silver-haired man who looked to be between sixty and seventy years old. His hair was slicked back, he wore a beard, and his black suit made him look like an influential figure worth a fortune.
"Sorry, I'm late."
Irish, who had been singing moments earlier, immediately recognized the newcomer. He hurriedly shoved his microphone into Vodka's hands before striding forward respectfully.
"Godfather, you're here!"
Vodka stared helplessly at the microphone suddenly stuffed into his hand. Left with no choice, he ended up singing solo with two microphones at once.
'Godfather?'
Ritsu studied the old man with interest. 'So this is the Organization member Irish mentioned—the one who adopted him?
At his age, if he's still active in either the Operative Division or Intelligence Division, he's probably one of the Organization's veterans. I'll need to be careful dealing with him.'
"Irish, my boy, haven't you been eating properly lately? You've gotten thinner."
"Haha, I've probably just been busy recently."
Rena curiously leaned closer to Caymus and whispered, "Caymus, who is that?"
"He's one of the Organization's old guard. He rarely shows up, so it's normal you don't recognize him."
Caymus picked up a magazine from the table, flipped to a certain page, and handed it to her.
"His codename is Pisco."
While secretly listening in, Ritsu silently memorized the codename. It was indeed someone beyond the clearance level of his access. If Pisco really was one of the Organization's veteran members, then he probably held plenty of intelligence and leads about the Organization itself.
'If I want to get close to Pisco, it looks like I'll have to start with Irish.'
Seeing the contents of the magazine, Rena showed a surprised expression. No wonder the man had seemed vaguely familiar.
He was the chairman of an automobile company, a major figure in the financial world, Kenzo Masuyama!
As expected, the Organization had its fingers everywhere.
Without changing her expression, Reina quietly committed the information to memory. If CIA agents ever contacted her in the future, she'd be able to report all the intelligence she currently knew.
Ritsu slowly rose to his feet, though instead of heading toward Irish, he walked over to the karaoke machine and sat down. Under Rei's puzzled gaze, he casually queued up several light instrumental tracks, then decisively cut off the Russian song Vodka was currently singing.
After hearing too many tongue-rolling songs, his nerves were practically tying themselves into knots.
"Macallan?"
"Vodka, come here." Ritsu personally poured Vodka a glass of Scotch whisky and handed it over before quietly asking,
"The one who just came in, that was Pisco, right?"
"Yeah. Didn't expect that old bastard to show up too." Vodka cautiously glanced toward Gin before lowering his voice.
"I'm telling you, I really don't like that old bastard. If it weren't for the fact he joined the Organization earlier than me and Aniki, Aniki would've kicked him out of the Operative Division long ago!"
"He's in the Operative Division?"
Ritsu suddenly realized he'd judged by appearances. He had assumed an elderly man like Pisco would definitely belong to the Intelligence Division.
"Yeah. Back in the day he actually did things, but now he just loafs around at his car company every day… tch, completely neglecting his duties."
Vodka looked visibly irritated, even carrying the faintest trace of envy toward the rich.
More likely, he was jealous because Pisco had such a glamorous public image, successful enough to appear in financial magazines.
Ritsu patted Vodka on the shoulder and calmly said, "We're still young. He doesn't have many good years left anyway. If he makes any suspicious moves, you should know even better than I do what the Organization will do."
Vodka let out a sneaky snicker. He had always looked forward to the day Pisco would be eliminated by the Organization. After all, the old bastard knew far too many of the Organization's secrets.
"You're right. Oh, by the way, Macallan, are you going to sing?"
"No. I'm not really into singing."
Ritsu had never really sung before, so he was a little worried that he might actually be tone-deaf. Sure, he had absolute pitch, but that didn't necessarily mean he couldn't still be a terrible singer.
The Organization's year-end party finally came to an end amid drunken chaos. Since everyone had been drinking, none of them could drive themselves home. Poor lower-ranking members had no choice but to crawl out from their warm beds in the middle of winter and rush to the suburbs to chauffeur these alcohol-reeking higher-ups back one by one.
It couldn't be helped.
Don't drink and drive; don't drive after drinking.
Only by obeying these little rules and details could the Organization continue growing stronger and lasting longer.
Ritsu supported the completely drunk Rei upstairs. After fumbling out the key with one hand, he pushed open the door. The inside of the apartment felt much warmer, and perhaps because of that warmth, there suddenly came a loud splashing sound.
"Ze—Bourbon!!!"
"Hey, don't collapse into your own vomit, seriously!"
Alcohol really was harmful.
Even someone with barely any cleanliness obsession like Ritsu felt like he was developing one now. He seriously wanted to just ignore Rei lying there in his own puke, but he couldn't bear the thought of letting his best friend sleep in that environment until morning.
"…"
With a dark expression, he pulled out his phone and snapped a photo as evidence before starting to clean up the disastrous aftermath.
Fortunately, by the time he dumped Rei into the bathtub, his consciousness had started returning. Otherwise, Ritsu probably would've had to experience bathing another person himself.
"Hurry up and wash yourself clean, then go to sleep!"
"…Mm, okay… hic!"