"...Kumeru?"
Compared to the others' names, Kumeru was a less common liquor name, so when Reiko Shimizu repeated it, her face held only the confusion of someone reading unfamiliar syllables.
"Ah, yes." Tangze nodded encouragingly. "You can think of it as... a code name."
Reiko Shimizu gripped her wrist tightly and stared wide-eyed at Tangze, who stood before her with an expression that had completely changed in style, as well as the other gunman who had appeared at some point with a mask covering his face. She wanted to say something, but bit down on her lower lip.
Tangze glanced at Hoshikawa Teru, who silently held up his gun, then flashed his teeth in a smile. "What, are you surprised I have a 'helper'? You didn't seriously think you could control me so easily, did you? You've been within range this whole time."
Tangze claimed he had been kidnapped by them, but everyone knew the situation had been deliberately arranged by Tangze. Tangze's strength was never something a fledgling criminal gang like Soichiro Miyama's could control.
But just in case—mainly in case his identity was accidentally exposed rather than in case he accidentally encountered danger—Hoshikawa Teru had followed closely behind Tangze all day.
Compared to such a minor issue as protecting his safety, the team had naturally been arranged that way because Akechi Goro's disguise used Hoshikawa's appearance. But to uninformed people like Reiko Shimizu, it meant something entirely different.
"By 'code name,' you mean... you, you have some other background too..." Clutching the wound on her wrist, Reiko Shimizu could only reach that conclusion.
An unknown nobody had no need for a code name, and someone who did not need to hide their identity had even less need for one.
Though she had never heard this so-called code name