"'Eliminate Racial Hatred'—was that what inspired you to study anthropology?"
"You could say that. I'd always been confused by what happened to me in the past, and what happened to Shiho. I wanted to understand from the root of it all where this so-called 'difference' came from..."
"Then it sounds like you picked the wrong field."
"Haha, my father said the same thing later. But I was a child. It wasn't strange that I couldn't figure those things out..."
Before Vodka even pushed open the door, he heard the relaxed laughter and conversation of two people inside. His eyebrows stiffened.
Rena Mizunashi, following behind him, raised her brows and wore an interested expression, clearly ready to enjoy the show.
She had never doubted Tangze's gift for talking.
Setting aside his abilities and identity, with that mouth of his alone, even if Tangze were genuinely kidnapped and held hostage, she felt the final outcome would be Tangze selling the kidnappers out instead—and the kidnappers thanking him for it.
Still, without exposing any of his hidden identities, exactly how he intended to make Naomi Argento lower her guard and cooperate with his plan was something Rena Mizunashi was very curious about.
The pleasant conversation came to an abrupt halt as the door opened.
Vodka looked at the two people who had somehow moved to sit on the edge of a bed, each occupying one end, and his brow twitched.
Only a few hours had passed. Had they already progressed from poetry and songs to life and ideals...?
His gaze swept across Kumeru's highly deceptive face before he ignored him entirely and stared directly at the pale-faced Naomi. "Have you thought it through? Decided whether you'll help us improve the system?"
This had been the condition he put forward when he showed her