In Los Angeles, America, Furuya Rei sat at a vanity in a Hollywood dressing room, watching Vermouth chatter away, momentarily at a loss for what he should be doing.
Three days ago, Furuya Rei had received the message: [Los Angeles, America, Vermouth/Glenlivet]. "She’s handing my assessment over to Vermouth? What is the relationship between Vermouth and Glenlivet? I need to investigate Vermouth’s operational style first." According to information on Chris Vineyard, Vermouth’s persona, she was someone who thoroughly enjoyed life, yet she was also a hidden viper; everyone who had a public connection to her ended up dying in accidents. Furuya Rei knew he had to make Vermouth interested in him; only by piquing her curiosity could he proceed to the next step.
However, he was unaware that Tamazawa Shuxin had already made his stance clear to Vermouth, which led to Furuya Rei’s training becoming unusually absurd and difficult.
Upon arriving in Los Angeles, Furuya Rei followed the address provided by The Organization and took a taxi to the exterior of Vermouth’s villa. No sooner had he pressed the doorbell than he felt a gun barrel pressed against his lower back. "Are you that pretty boy Chris has been keeping? This is clearly mine and Chris’s love nest, you bitch!" Furuya Rei was baffled.
"Excuse me, sir, but are you mistaken? I am simply a new assistant hired by Ms. Chris. Here is my business card, Ange Dan!" Furuya Rei held his hand up, his fingers pinched around Ange Dan’s card. The man took the card, and Furuya Rei heard him chuckle behind him. "Turn around." As soon as Furuya Rei turned, he saw the barrel pointed at him. With a "pop," a rose shot out from the muzzle.
"Well prepared, aren't you? Pass. Come in!" Furuya Rei realized immediately: "Vermouth!"
Vermouth dropped her disguise right in front of him. "What a stunning disguise! How did you do that?" Furuya Rei finally understood why Vermouth was so hard to track—because she was impossible to find. "So, Lady Vermouth, what is my mission?" Vermouth replied in a soft, lingering tone, "Well, what is the mission? Mmhmm, you'll find out tomorrow."
With a wink, she headed upstairs. "Oh, by the way, your room is the third one on the left on the second floor!" Furuya Rei moved his luggage in and searched the room for any hidden items. Just as he was about to sleep, movement echoed from outside the window...
Back to the present, Furuya Rei yawned. "Am I not just here to be a human shield?" There was a pipe next to that room that one could climb up, and all night long, Chris Vineyard’s fanatical fans had been scaling the walls. To avoid drawing attention or complicating matters, he had to handle them lightly. Furuya Rei collected his thoughts and noticed Vermouth getting up to head to the film set. Furuya Rei followed her.
He watched as Vermouth dodged the director’s groping and the sabotage of her peers, ultimately focusing all the heat on him. Furuya Rei realized her level was higher than his; currently, he was only using legitimate means, and he couldn't extricate himself. Vermouth drifted away gracefully before his eyes. "Dan, I hope you have a fun time!"
That night, Vermouth sat on the sofa reading a fashion magazine with classical music playing on the phonograph. Two glasses of red wine were set on the table, as if she were waiting for someone. *Click.* The door opened, and Furuya Rei stood there, covered in blood. "Hunted down by Jersey’s underworld, how pathetic!" Vermouth set down her magazine, picked up a wine glass, and swirled it at Furuya Rei with a look of disdain and regret that he hadn't died. She downed the wine. Furuya Rei finally realized the assessment had started long ago.
"I haven't lost yet, Lady Vermouth! Perhaps we’re about to start an exciting and romantic escape tonight!" Vermouth understood immediately, and a bullet arrived right on cue. She tossed the car keys to Furuya Rei. He looked back at her with equal ambition. "Look at this, isn't it like 'The Fast and the Furious'? Maybe you could turn this into a movie one day—the hero and heroine racing through the night to escape the Mafia!" Vermouth retorted, "You learn fast, but how do you know I didn't have a backup plan?"
*Boom.* A wave of heat rushed past Furuya Rei's back, and suddenly, Vermouth vanished. Furuya Rei scrambled out the back door, hearing the roar of a sports car and a single parting line: "See you later, Dan!" Furuya Rei saw two underworld factions outside the villa and decisively ran to the garage. Only a motorcycle remained. "Damn it, no time!" And so, Furuya Rei spent three days and three nights drifting through Los Angeles on a motorcycle.
When he finally returned to Hollywood to see Vermouth, she was surrounded by crowds, completely unfazed by the previous events. The real clown was himself. Yet, Furuya Rei showed no anger; instead, he looked as calm as usual, his expression smiling and gentle as he inquired after Vermouth with elegant concern.
"Chris, your cold still hasn't cleared up, why did you come out alone? I was entrusted by Ms. Sharon to look after you; this makes me feel like I’ve been very derelict in my duties!" "Wow, Chris, your assistant is so thoughtful!" "Chris, your assistant is truly dedicated!" Everyone praised Furuya Rei. Vermouth played along with his act. "Yes, so Dan will attend the celebration banquet tonight in my stead. I’ve been missing my mother, and I need to go home to pray for her tonight!"
Furuya Rei had been countered. He attended the banquet that night for Vermouth, another battle of social maneuvering. This time, however, he successfully extricated himself, learned a bit of camouflage, and managed to frame the assistant director who was most interested in him. From then on, Furuya Rei stayed by Vermouth’s side. From being tricked at every turn in the beginning to engaging in tit-for-tat exchanges later, they reached a consensus on spending The Organization's budget, and a new phase of development began.
In Maryland, Furuya Rei disguised himself as a low-level boss in the local underground. An hour later, Vermouth was set to trade with the leader. His mission was to steal intelligence while creating a diversion and destroying the location. When he left after securing the data, he was blocked by the arriving leader. Hiding in a corner, he heard, "Vermouth says there’s a rat here!"
Furuya Rei realized Vermouth had backstabbed him again, but he was used to it. He kept his expression neutral. Having spent so much time with Vermouth, he had learned an important skill. Furuya Rei shot himself in the arm and walked out. "Boss, it’s the FBI! He snatched the files and ran toward Florida Town!" He pulled out a forged FBI badge. The leader did not doubt him and gave the order immediately.
"Go search Florida Town! Kill him on sight, destroy the files!" Furuya Rei took the chance to run in the other direction and successfully rendezvoused with Vermouth. He pressed a detonator, and an explosion roared behind them. "I didn't expect you to make it back alive!"
Furuya Rei didn't reply; he just drove away. "Vermouth, good luck!" Vermouth only watched as a group of figures that shouldn't have been there emerged from the flames of the explosion, and the sound of speeding cars closed in. "Fuck! The FBI!"
That night, Vermouth had her own 'Fast and Furious' chase with the FBI and nearly ended up in a prison cell surrounded by them. Inside Furuya Rei’s car, he spoke: "Ryan, withdraw the team!" Vermouth watched as Furuya Rei skillfully mimicked the voice of Reinhardt Moss. "It seems this was all planned by you! I didn't expect even I would nearly get caught in it!" Furuya Rei was very humble. "It’s all thanks to Lady Vermouth’s tutelage. If you hadn't accidentally exposed me so many times, I wouldn't have learned so quickly!" Vermouth smoked a woman's cigarette and said indifferently, "Bourbon Whiskey, that is your codename."
Furuya Rei was about to reply when he saw a message on his phone: [Italy, 10:00 PM / Glenlivet]. "Bourbon, I hope you have a pleasant time in Italy!"
At 10:00 PM in Italy, just as Tamazawa Shuxin had sent Scotch to the FBI, he heard Macedonia knock on the door. "Lord Glenlivet, Bourbon has arrived!" Tamazawa Shuxin let Furuya Rei in. "Bourbon, it seems you and Vermouth get along quite well. Vermouth speaks highly of you!" Furuya Rei retorted in Vermouth's own style. "Of course, Vermouth forced me to face armed underground factions many times, which benefited me greatly. Before leaving, I even gave Vermouth a gift."
Tamazawa Shuxin seemed to see the dark aura behind Furuya Rei; there was a hint of the villain about him. Meanwhile, Tamazawa Shuxin observed Furuya Rei’s current state. He was airtight. Unlike Morofushi Hiromitsu’s gentle and refreshing demeanor, Furuya Rei was very calm, yet he exuded a touch of ambition. Seemingly thinking of something else, Tamazawa Shuxin’s brown pupils contained the determination to claim his prey, which spread to the corners of his eyes while remaining cold and indifferent. He let out a wicked laugh. "Bourbon, can you snipe?"
"Fuck! Lord Glenlivet could have anyone, and he uses you, this clumsy rookie!" Daifuno yelled at Furuya Rei for his abysmal sniping technique. "You’re so bad! It’s already been a week, and you haven't improved at all. How did you even join The Organization? Pull anyone off the street, and their sniping would be better than yours!"
Furuya Rei looked at Daifuno, who wouldn't stop yelling at him, and truly wanted to blow his head off. He admitted his sniping was bad, but it wasn't so bad that just anyone in the base could beat him. Yet, in the public training base, Tamazawa Shuxin looked at Furuya Rei’s atrocious scores; both those with codenames and those without scored higher than him. "Bourbon, all recent sniping missions are assigned to you!" Tamazawa Shuxin left the scene rapidly, leaving Furuya Rei to listen to everyone’s complaints.
If Furuya Rei’s intelligence-gathering and escape/combat abilities convinced the members, his sniping level made them doubt reality. "Shoot! You've predicted the trajectory, you're aimed, how do you keep missing?" Rinaldi was truly on the verge of a breakdown. "I’d rather go help Giacosa handle the finances than teach Bourbon how to snipe again!"
That was the last thing Rinaldi said before leaving. Everyone knew that usually, when Rinaldi heard about "handling finances," he would rather go on missions for three days and nights without returning to The Organization. One could imagine just how bizarre Furuya Rei’s sniping level was.
Finally, everyone complained to Tamazawa Shuxin, but he didn't state his stance. Instead, he said, "Then let’s play a game of cat and mouse! Bourbon is the cat, and you are the mice!" Macedonia swore Bourbon couldn't hit him, but Tamazawa Shuxin just smiled and said, "No matter how good one's kung fu is, one still fears a kitchen knife."
"This is impossible, I’m so stupid!" That was exactly it—cleverness backfired. Everyone overthought every step, resulting in what could be called "delivering heads." Every time Furuya Rei thought he had missed, they would instinctively step into the path of the bullet, successfully delivering their own heads. In the end, even Furuya Rei doubted if it was his own skill.
"Bourbon, sometimes smart people are deceived by themselves, just like them. Anyway, Vermouth must have only taught you voice imitation; she didn't fully pass on the art of disguise to you, did she?" Furuya Rei hadn't expected his schedule to be under Glenlivet’s control. "Yes. So, Lord Glenlivet, are you planning to teach me disguise?" Tamazawa Shuxin neither denied nor confirmed. "Bourbon, you are still so bold!"
"How so? This is just the ambition a subordinate should have." Tamazawa Shuxin praised Furuya Rei’s acting and his art of inciting hatred internally, but his face remained mocking. "Is that so? I hope this ambition isn't aimed at stepping on me to climb higher!"
Another week passed. Furuya Rei transmitted most of the intelligence back to the Public Security and arrived at Tamazawa Shuxin’s office. "Bourbon, I have a mission for you!" "Go... go to the CIA?" Tamazawa Shuxin watched Furuya Rei’s composure crack. "If you want to return to Japan to attend the police academy and enter the Japanese Public Security, you can, after all, you have a youthful face!"
Furuya Rei didn't even think about it before answering, "I’ll go to the CIA! What intelligence does Lord Glenlivet want me to obtain?" Tamazawa Shuxin shook his head, which left Furuya Rei unable to grasp his meaning for a moment. "If you disguise yourself too much, you’ll never see the base color. Bourbon, I shouldn't have to teach you the principle of using one's strengths to make up for weaknesses. The intelligence doesn't matter; it’s just for the sake of convenience in action. Having an extra card is competitive!"
Tamazawa Shuxin was implying something, and Furuya Rei picked up the thread. "True. Although the headquarters is in Japan and the main enemy is the Japanese Public Security, the CIA and FBI are indeed annoying. Learning a bit more is a profitable deal regardless!" Tamazawa Shuxin nodded. "Your identity information has been sent to you. Your flight is at seven tonight."
"Takaha Kenichi, a reconnaissance talent who just finished the CIA assessment, 25 years old, Oxford graduate, once joined the school's mystery club..." Furuya Rei looked at his own face in the photo—blonde hair, dark skin, and an extra tear mole. Glenlivet was really something to be able to pull this off. "It seems Glenlivet—no, The Organization—is plotting something massive!"
Just as Morofushi Hiromitsu had embarked on the life of an FBI mole, Furuya Rei had also begun his life as a CIA mole. Interestingly, none of the three knew of the others' existence, even though they were all part of the Whiskey group. Tamazawa Shuxin expressed that it was intentional. Three moles gathered together would be a disaster; stay away from Rum and wear more masks—that was the only way to go!