"So the reason they targeted me was because they thought I had something my parents left behind." Tangze leaned against the headboard with his arms folded, spinning the toy gun in his hand. "Then why specifically send me to Tokyo? So I could 'disappear' plausibly?"
Tooru Amuro silently handed him a photograph. It showed a small detached house engulfed in flames, fire roaring high enough to swallow the entire building. The moment Tangze focused on it, a suffocating sensation crawled up his throat.
This was Tang Ze Zhao's home.
"On the third day after you left Kyoto, your house caught fire."
"Looks like they already turned the place upside down." Tangze crumpled the photo in his grip. "So your mission is to find those things from me too?"
"Yes."
Tangze fell silent for a moment and looked away. "...Then I'm afraid I can only disappoint you."
"That's good." Tooru Amuro smiled without any pressure. Even if Tangze truly possessed something, he could not possibly hand it over casually now.
And his current work had not yet reached the point where technical materials needed to be transferred. What he needed to do first was follow the trail and use Tang Ze's case to find the organization's moles within Public Security and politicians of questionable allegiance. Second, he needed to assess just how important Tangze was.
...For example, whether he was important enough to be worth trading a deep-cover agent who had infiltrated them for years.
"So they... I mean, my parents, how did they..." Tangze hesitated for a moment before finally asking.
"A laboratory accident." Tooru Amuro lowered his eyes, silently hardening his resolve. "Dangerous materials leaked accidentally while they were working in a high-risk laboratory, and they both died unfortunately."
Teacher Elena had died the same way, mysteriously killed in a so-called laboratory accident. Her two daughters had then fallen completely into the organization's control. Forget rescuing them; he had not even had a chance to make contact. All he knew was that Teacher Elena's younger daughter was a teenage genius scientist working at one of the organization's laboratories.
And then there was Tangze. It all felt like an endless cycle. What had happened to Teacher Elena's family seemed to foreshadow Tangze's hopeless fate.
He would not repeat the same mistakes. He would save this child.
"An accident..." Tangze let out a cold laugh, inwardly speechless at the organization's perfunctory and crude method of silencing people.
Why not just shoot them eight times in the back and rule it a suicide?
"So I found a way to take on the task of watching you." Tooru Amuro, who had gotten the position entirely through luck, spoke with utter confidence. "You're very unsafe right now, and you've already been attacked. I'll do everything I can to stall for time, but the other group watching you is unpredictable. I can't stay by your side at all times. You must be careful."
So stop playing house with the kid upstairs all the time. Kazami and the others have to investigate the internet while constantly burying new stories, and they're really running out of time. Stay obediently in the shop. Rye is an excellent sniper; if you keep running around outside, something will happen.
Tangze pretended not to understand the hidden meaning at all and instead asked, "Then what can I do to help you?"
"Describe everyone involved in your entire case." Tooru Amuro focused, his tone turning serious. "The people you clashed with, the woman you saved, the officials involved in your interrogation, the thugs who beat you in detention... Everyone. Try to remember, then describe them in detail. Like me, they may all have been sent and arranged by someone. If we don't identify the source, neither you nor I will be able to resist."
Tooru Amuro slightly exaggerated the severity of the situation and portrayed himself as another helpless person being coerced alongside Tangze, hoping Tangze would take this matter seriously.
"Okay." Tangze nodded solemnly as well.
That reasoning was a little forced, Mr. Furuya, but whatever. Just treat me as an easily fooled child. It's not a bad thing.
"I'll make arrangements and prepare a way for you to escape." Only then did Tooru Amuro relax slightly and get to the point. "There may be some accidents and confusion, allowing you to plausibly slip out from under my surveillance. Someone will guide you step by step and help you live under a new identity. It won't be easy, so give me some time. But please believe me."
Tooru Amuro reached out and pressed a hand on Tangze's head. "I'm your guardian. I'll protect you."
This was the second time he had said those words, but their meaning was entirely different from before.
"What about you? Your mission is to find something from me. If I disappear, what will happen to you?" With his head pressed down by Tooru Amuro's hand, Tangze asked softly.
"Don't worry about me. Adults have their own ways." Tooru Amuro rubbed the strands of hair in his palm.
Tangze guessed what he was thinking. At most, he would dump the blame on Shuichi Akai, some other unlucky liquor, or simply give up. There were more than one or two useless people in the organization anyway. At worst, Bourbon would lose a layer of skin; one failed mission would not cost him his life.
Unfortunately, if Tangze's guess about the power of cognition was correct, his importance in the organization's eyes was probably far greater than that. If they truly lost track of him, this Japanese Public Security undercover agent would be beyond saving.
Luckily, he had no intention of escaping at all.
Thinking of his plan, Tangze smiled.
The outcome would certainly be good, but for the plan to succeed, Tooru Amuro absolutely could not know about it.
Hopefully, when Furuya Rei discovered the truth, he would get a little less angry for this reason.
"I told you, stop touching my head all the time." Tangze shrank his neck and slipped free from Tooru Amuro's evil grasp.
For some reason, ever since he had brought it up, Tooru Amuro seemed to deliberately go against him, always eyeing his head whenever he had the chance. What a terrible adult.
Tooru Amuro felt they had exchanged enough information for now, and they could slowly discuss more details later. He rolled up his sleeves and stood. "You haven't eaten dinner today, right? I'll make something simple in the kitchen. By the way, what should I call you now? Akira?"
Considering that the "middleman" in the forum posts had always called him by name, Tooru Amuro wondered whether he should switch to that nickname as well and close the distance a little.
"...Forget it." Tangze was actually unaccustomed to people calling him by his given name. After all, his full name in his previous life had been Tangze. If someone directly called him Akira or Zhao-jun, he definitely would not react in time.
Besides, no matter what relationship Tang Ze Zhao had with him or where he was now, Tangze did not want to take away his name. Tang Ze Zhao should be left with at least something that belonged to him.
"Just call me Tangze, Mr. Amuro." Tangze raised his head and looked at the low ceiling of the attic. "There's only one Tangze now. There will never be another."
The Sera family's family tree was truly stained red from top to bottom. A whole family of martyrs...
He wondered if he would get the chance to save the Miyano sisters too. Shuichi Akai did not have many relatives left for him to bring misfortune upon.
Tooru Amuro, who had been about to head downstairs and turn on the stove, paused. Seemingly misunderstanding something, he reached out and covered Tangze's eyes.
"Remember to come down for dinner." Tooru Amuro turned away, refusing to look at Tangze's expression, and hurried downstairs.
Tangze, suddenly having his entire face covered: ...
Did Tooru Amuro think he was crying?
Realizing that, in the eyes of this undercover agent who loved to imagine things, he now seemed even more weak, small, and helpless, Tangze—armed with cheat powers from head to toe—could only sigh.
Ah, as long as he was happy.
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