"...Get some proper rest first. We won't let anyone disturb you casually, and during this time, please don't make contact with anyone. For safety reasons..."
"I understand. Other than Akai himself, I won't speak to anyone else."
"Mm. Good that you understand."
James nodded. His gaze passed over Rena Mizunashi's hospital bed and landed briefly on Curacao, whose eyes were tightly shut as she remained unconscious. Only then did he close the ward door and look at Shuichi Akai, who was standing outside.
"It's still too risky." Perhaps considering the poor soundproofing of the room, he lowered his voice. "If you fail to draw out the people coming to rescue her this time and instead make Gin suspicious of her, this pawn will lose all usefulness."
"Even if that happens, we still have Kumeru." Shuichi Akai answered calmly. "Even without this incident, her younger brother came looking for her in Tokyo. Her situation was never safe to begin with."
"Their situations are different, after all..." James shook his head, but seeing how confident Shuichi Akai looked, he ultimately said nothing more.
Shuichi Akai offered no further explanation, but he understood what James meant. He also understood that James had refrained from elaborating out of consideration for his position.
After Shuichi Akai's exposure and defection, the FBI had effectively lost its precise grasp of the organization's specific operations.
Kumeru was an excellent backup option, but because of Tangze's unusual identity and potential intelligence value, Shuichi Akai had not disclosed every piece of information he possessed to the FBI.
—Subsequent events proved that his cautious choice had not been wrong. Tangze's depth of knowledge in Cognitive Science far exceeded all expectations, enough to drive anyone mad.
To the FBI, Kumeru was an uncontrollable variable, while Rena Mizunashi was an easily manageable target.