Indeed, they had never been seen before. Nana had been feeling drowsy while organizing things and had accidentally tugged at a framed sketch. With a soft tearing sound from the portrait, before Nana could even feel the heartache, they fell out from the layer between the sketch.
They had never been discovered before.
They looked like paper letters used by a child when learning English, painted in colorful colors that could be spelled out in any way to amuse a child.
The texture of the cardboard—it was of high quality, yet so thin—that it had gone unnoticed even after being smashed into the portrait for so many years.
Among these scraps of paper, some still bore traces of being stuck together with double-sided tape, while others had been separated due to the passage of time. Nana could not distinguish which were words and which were merely individual letters.
She carefully sorted through them, then stared fixedly at these inexplicable letters. After pondering for a long time, she still couldn't quite understand what they meant.
Two words: LIVER, LADY, three letters: R, B, N. There were also two more, clearly hand-drawn I's and S's.
Under the Light, their colors were so vivid.
..
Two cars crossed the finish line almost at the same time.
Almost simultaneously.
However, for these two masters of driving, the victory and defeat were clearly defined.
Amuro curled the corners of his mouth slightly and raised an eyebrow toward Gin from a distance. However, Gin was not the type of person who couldn't handle a loss; his gaze swept lazily over the blonde-haired youth, he admitted candidly, "You won this time."
"You make it sound like I'll lose next time," Amuro retorted lazily.
Gin ignored him.
"However, since I won, can I make a small request?" Bourbon closed the car door, pushing his luck.
Gin gave him a cold glance, then leaned slowly against the car body, feeling the comfort of the wind blowing against his face, said casually, "Speak first."
The Blonde-haired youth slightly curved his eyes and brows. "I would like to.. ask for some advice.."
He stepped forward a few paces and leaned closer to Gin, his greyish-purple eyes clear and appearing quite harmless, his gaze shifting to stir subtle ripples within him: "Regarding your experience in close-quarters combat."
Gin: ……
It seems this fellow is truly dwelling on it.
-----------------------
Author's Note: Expected error.. Akai hasn't had a chance to come out yet..
He will definitely come out tomorrow!
Chapter 69 Chapter 65 Bourbon smiled meaningfully: "You.."
Gin stared speechlessly at the fellow before him who was taking advantage of the situation, feeling a rare sensation of a headache.
It had truly been a long time; normally, he was the one who gave others headaches and made them too afraid to speak out.
Under Gin's cold gaze, Amuro Tooru showed no sign of backing down; in a way, he was indeed quite formidable.
The Silver-haired youth could not help but fall into deep thought: although those who are able to go undercover and become members with codenames all possess extraordinary qualities, aren't some people a bit too prominent?
However, despite his deep contemplation, his vigilance remained absolute; as Amuro Tooru took another step closer, his body instinctively shifted into a defensive stance.
Gin raised his eyes to look at Bourbon, the meaning in his gaze hovering somewhere between an inquiry and an interrogation.
Bourbon stopped his next move, following the lead.
Their distance was already very close, so close that it almost made Gin frown—however, perhaps due to some inexplicable sense of leniency arising from the former having defeated him once, he did not frown after all.
The Silver-haired youth was slightly taller than Bourbon, his Western mixed-race features were even more pronounced, making his frame slightly larger than Amuro's.
At this distance, if the two were to make eye contact, the latter would certainly have to lift his head slightly.
Thus, Amuro Tooru raised his head slightly.
Greyish-purple eyes met Green eyes; his master was somewhat surprised that this green lake was not as cold as the rumors suggested; the clear green shimmered brilliantly under the sunlight, while simultaneously harboring a hidden sharpness.
It was the kind of sharpness reminiscent of the smoke and steel of battle.
But it wasn't as cold as he had imagined.
He even saw a hint of confusion beneath the calm expression of the owner of those Green eyes, as well as—
—his own reflection in those Green eyes.
Before he could even react, Gin had already frowned.
In an instant, the reflection on the frozen lake was shattered into small fragments; even though the general scenery could still be discerned, it was no longer as clear and pellucid as before.
Amuro Tooru felt a strange sense of regret.
"You want to know that much?" Gin clearly interpreted his silence as something else. The Silver-haired youth reflected on it from his own perspective, thinking that wanting to learn something wasn't a bad thing.
—Especially after that failed teaching experience with Nana, Gin suddenly felt a sudden urge to prove that her teaching process was not at fault.
—The one with the problem was Nana.
And besides—
The Silver-haired youth thought tolerantly: This guy is my subordinate after all; it's rare that he wins, so it's best to give him some encouragement.
Just as he was about to speak, he suddenly realized that Amuro Tooru had casually leaned one hand against his car. The two of them were already so close that the latter's arm had partially encircled him, creating an indistinct kabedon.
Even for someone as obtuse as Gin, he couldn't help but find this position far too intimate.
So, the words that had just reached the tip of his tongue were forced back down, replaced instead with: "What are you doing?"
I'm a little tired," Bourbon said innocently, his greyish-purple eyes narrowing slightly in a display of laziness, making it seem as though this man, who had just been racing with him with such vigor, truly was showing some signs of fatigue. He said deliberately, "You wouldn't be so stingy as to not let me touch your car, would you?
He cast a glance at the vehicle he had borrowed. "This guy was lent to me by you, after all."
Gin had an intuition that something was amiss—but upon closer inspection, he couldn't find any hidden dangers, so he didn't pay much mind to such trivialities.
He sneered, "Your stamina really is poor."
Bourbon was slightly stunned, then gave a meaningful smile. "Are you so certain that my stamina is poor?"
At this moment, even Gin, who hadn't previously considered any ambiguous directions, realized the subtle implication. Due to the chaotic sexual relationships among certain high-level members of the Organization and the blessing of having a flirtatious friend and colleague by his side, he was well aware of certain.. methods—he simply saw through them without speaking out.
Gin's mouth twitched violently. In a flash, he reached out to grab someone's shoulder and spun them around, pinning them against the car.
His mind was filled with curses.
He was used to joking around with those guys, but that didn't mean just anyone could make jokes at his expense!
His back slammed hard against the modified supercar, a tolerable surge of pain traveled through his nerves to his brain; the stinging sensation caused Amuro Tooru to grimace. Gin hadn't held back in this strike at all, Amuro was certain his back would be bruised in a while.
Blonde hair rested against the silver-white body of the supercar, with flecks of bright golden sunlight dancing upon it. Bourbon tried his best to ignore the throbbing pain in his back, watching Gin with a composed gaze.
Gin frowned, eyeing him with an inexplicable gaze, a hint of hesitation flickering beneath his calm expression. In terms of emotional volatility, he, the one in the superior position, was clearly not that composed.
However, Amuro Tooru was also having a difficult time; although he maintained a smile on the surface, his heart felt as if it had been turned upside down.
—He also couldn't understand why he had blurted out such a sentence.
—He found it even more incomprehensible that, after saying those words, he hadn't offered an explanation immediately.
And what he found most incomprehensible of all was why, even until now, he had no regrets.
However, as the silver-haired youth pressed his body against him, sunlight spilled through the fine gaps in his silver-haired locks; amidst the shifting light and shadow, this scene felt strangely familiar.
It was not those few instances of brutal combat experiences, but rather something even more, even more..
An even more distant past.
After a long, silent standoff, Gin said coldly, "Don't make unnecessary jokes."
Regardless of Gin's true intention, the words undoubtedly provided Amuro Tooru with a way out. Being a rational and clear-headed man, Amuro nodded and even replied with a smile, "I was just trying to lighten the atmosphere."
Gin gave a smirk, lifting his eyelids slightly without acknowledging him. Then, he slowly released his grip and said nonchalantly, "If you really want to know, send me an SMS later."
Amuro Tooru froze for a moment, processing the conversation between them before realizing that Gin was answering his initial request.
This is truly—
Unexpected..
He thought Gin would have just stormed off with a cold face.
But regarding something that was in his favor—advantageous from any perspective—wouldn't it be foolish not to agree?
Amuro Tooru was certainly no fool. He propped himself up with one hand, pulling a practiced smile onto his face, said in a lighthearted tone, "But I don't know your phone number."
The Silver-haired youth let out a "tsk" sound; he was so good-looking that even this gesture seemed cute. Bourbon thought with a smile as he watched quietly as the youth took out an unfamiliar black mobile phone and began fiddling with it.
A vibration came from his pocket. Amuro, with his arm resting on the car body, used his strength to push himself upright, then pulled a mobile phone from his pocket with one hand. As expected, he saw an SMS from an unknown number.
“My private number.” Before Amuro Tooru could even open the SMS, he heard the low voice of the silver-haired youth nearby: “I won't necessarily reply, but do not disturb me unless it is an important matter.”
Amuro Tooru tilted his head and thought for a moment, asking quite seriously, "What is the standard for what is considered 'important'?"
Gin gave him a lazy glance and said coldly, "It's certainly not what you're thinking about right now."
..
Having been teased with a mix of truth and lies, Gin reflected deeply: Had he been too easygoing lately?
He was no fool, naturally, he could tell that while Bourbon had slipped up at first, his subsequent actions were intentional.
As for Target—
—No matter from which angle you look at it, closing the distance between them was a good thing.
No matter how bold a 'suitor' acts, as long as they do not overstep their bounds, it seems to be considered normal. Furthermore, the general public tends to be somewhat more tolerant toward a 'suitor.'
Even if they aren't tolerant, they would find excuses for certain "unreasonable" behaviors due to cognitive inertia. Thus, in some respects, this actually reduced the suspicion of certain "abnormal" actions occurring.
Especially when one clearly has no intention of taking a Subordinate to bed, one doesn't even have to worry about a crisis of chastity.
A good method.
Gin gave an unenthusiastic evaluation.
Speaking of which, these Undercover agents have indeed had a very hard time.
Thinking about the circumstances under which Akai Shuichi joined the Black Organization, considering Bourbon's current actions, Gin inexplicably recalled his own experiences of being 'seduced' in his youth. A strange sense of sympathy arose within him, for a moment, even the frustration of being teased was greatly diminished.
It's better now; who would dare let him do such things nowadays?