Threatening Bourbon
Amuro Toji's thoughts churned behind a carefully neutral expression. Two people who look that much alike—the same mold, just the male and female versions. That's no coincidence.
And it wasn't the first thread, either. He'd managed to pry a few things out of Vermouth through casual back-and-forth over the years: Curaçao—no, Korn... that Cointreau had spent the last stretch of years apparently searching for someone. His younger sister, if the rumor held.
Bourbon had no way of knowing how long Cointreau had been in the Organization, and so no way of knowing his age or how long the search had been going on. But he couldn't shake the feeling that a girl who looked so strikingly like Cointreau might very well be the person he was hunting for.
And even if she wasn't—there had to be a connection.
Which means... could I dig up something about Cointreau's identity through this girl?
At that thought, Amuro's gaze settled on Xia Xi, fixed and unblinking, his eyes growing noticeably darker. He slid his right hand into his pocket, fingers brushing his phone, just about to pull it out and message Kazami Yuuya to run a check on her—when the phone vibrated against his palm.
Someone was calling him.
He took the phone out and glanced at the screen. Cointreau.
What a coincidence. Calling me right now, of all times.
Remembering how closely the man had been watching him lately, Amuro instinctively scanned the surrounding area, half convinced Cointreau was somewhere nearby, monitoring him in person.
But he spotted nothing suspicious.
A slight frown. He stared at the caller ID for a long moment, then finally answered.
Once the line connected, Amuro said nothing, letting the silence stretch.
It was Cointreau's voice—gentle, warm, threaded with a smile—that broke it first.
"Hello, Bourbon. What are you up to? How's the plan coming? Get anything useful out of probing the FBI?"
"You clearly know I'm on assignment. So why call and interrupt me?"
"Oh, that would be because..." Cointreau paused, and when he continued, his voice had dropped lower, "you've seen something you shouldn't have."
Bourbon's expression shifted almost imperceptibly. He swept his gaze over the crowd again, more carefully this time—and this time he was certain. Cointreau had to be watching him from somewhere nearby. Otherwise there was no explaining how he'd reacted so quickly, barely a heartbeat after Bourbon laid eyes on the girl.
His eyes continued their casual survey of the people around him, but his voice stayed perfectly level, tinged with just enough puzzlement. "Something I shouldn't have seen? What exactly do you mean by that?"
"Heh." Cointreau gave a soft laugh and ignored the question entirely. "Save yourself the trouble. I'm not inside Beika Central Mall."
The words barely registered before Bourbon understood—and tilted his head back, eyes going straight to the mall's security cameras.
On the other end, Cointreau watched Bourbon's movement through the surveillance feed. "You really are the Organization's intelligence specialist. Sharp as ever."
At this point, Bourbon knew there was no milking this conversation for anything more. He cut straight to it. "So you've actually found the person you were looking for, Cointreau. Congratulations. I'm sure the Boss would be delighted for you too, if he knew."
"He won't know."
"Oh~?" Bourbon's eyes narrowed to slits. "Are you planning to keep this from the Boss? That's not very wise of you..."
He let the words hang. When Cointreau offered no reply, Bourbon had no choice but to push on. "If you want me to keep quiet about it, what's in it for me?"
The truth was, Amuro hadn't intended to tell the Organization about Xia Xi in the first place. One look at the girl and it was obvious she lived her life in the sunlight; unless it became necessary, he saw no reason to drag her anywhere near that world.
All he'd wanted, initially, was to use her—see if he could pull some thread or leverage on Cointreau through her.
But Bourbon the Organization member would never voluntarily conceal something this important from the higher-ups. And now that Cointreau had come to him, perhaps that girl was the crack in the armor he'd been waiting for—a way to break through to Cointreau himself.
Still, Amuro genuinely hadn't expected Cointreau to have found his quarry long ago—and to have kept it hidden from the Organization this cleanly, for this long.
He watches her that closely... she really does matter to him, doesn't she. Could she actually be his sister after all?
A dozen thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant—but against all of Bourbon's expectations, Cointreau had no interest in making a deal.
"I'm not here to bargain with you, Bourbon," Cointreau said. "I'm here to threaten you."
He spoke of threats, yet there was a smile audible in his voice—and that alone made Bourbon's stomach drop.
His eyes narrowed, staring straight ahead. "And how exactly do you plan to threaten me?"
"Look up," Cointreau said. "See the fire sprinkler system up there?"
Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "There's a rather special chemical agent inside them..."