That's the Reason You Robbed Vodka?

Ichijō Mirai: "I see."

The oppressive feeling in the car dissipated as if it had never existed.

He absently leaned a little closer to the window, glancing at the dark brown peeper-proof film on the window, and said casually, "That's still the same as what I said."

It was the same thing he'd said to Gin, that those guys were no longer members of the organization, but from now on, actual 'police officers'.

Anyway, they couldn't protest, and they got Vodka cane's approval.

"I was right, and Gin still insists that they're members of the Organization, and he's angry at me for taking out so many of them," Ichijō Mirai said, even more diffidently, "I've been wronged."

"Never mind, I'm not going to argue with a guy who doesn't smile by nature."

He graciously let Gin off the hook and smiled again, looking over at Vodka, "I've cleaned up so many undercover agents for the organization, I'm a pretty outstanding newcomer, aren't I?"

"Right?"

Compared to before, Vodka was much firmer this time, and gave a very decisive reply at the first time, "Very outstanding."

Outstanding in the wrong direction, and scary, especially when staring at someone with red eyes.

It's a little creepy, reminiscent of a fox staring at a crow with meat in its mouth.

Not much, just a little bit of terror that makes the crow flutter its wings and run away.

"Ahem," Vodka said, suppressing her real thoughts, "here's our destination."

The car slowed to a stop in front of a house.

It was a long way from the place where death knock had happened, almost halfway across Tokyo, and most of the lights were out at the moment, each house not too close to the other, with large patches of grass and greenery in the front yard, and potted plants scattered along the railing at the front door.

It looked upscale.

Vodka opens the car door and gets out, rummaging around under the potted plants in front of the door for a moment, and explains, "For convenience, the keys to the landing sites are nearby, so if you can't, you can just turn them over."

But Ichijō Mirai was seriously injured.

It was too terrifying. Vodka seriously suspected that if he dared to say 'find a way to get in', the other party would just shoot him.

Ichijō Mirai pushed open the car door and got out, noting that Vodka had to rummage through a third potted plant to find the key to the front door.

He narrowed his eyes and casually closed the door, looking up at the detached villa in front of him, "It's big and convenient."

As long as you don't shoot, kill someone inside, the neighbors won't notice.

The unspoken words were left unsaid, and Vodka didn't hear them, but he did hear the focus of the compliment from the newcomer: convenience.

What would such a dangerous man find convenient?

He shut up discreetly and opened the door without a word, "I opened it, do you want the key, or do you want to put it back?"

"Put it back," Ichijō Mirai wasn't too concerned, "I can go in and out, I can go right over, it's too much trouble to open the door."

"Is it safe here?"

"Very safe," Vodka replied again in the affirmative, "The neighborhood is full of rich people, some of them are too arrogant to pay much attention to their neighbors, and the ones who do are smart enough not to mess with you."

"And they won't call the police."

He stood in the doorway without moving, only recalling: "The medical kit should be in the cabinet in the living room, and the location of the key, medical kit, and so on is roughly the same in each location."

I was afraid to follow Ichijō Mirai inside.

Ichijō Mirai just ignored it as he pushed the door open and walked in to take a look, then turned back just in time to catch Vodka vaguely sighing in relief, "That means the keys are mostly kept under potted plants?"

"Uh... the third potted plant?"

The tone was a little light, like casual conversation.

The Organization's key was under a potted plant, and coincidentally, Ishida Eiko also put her key under a potted plant, also the third potted plant... Coincidence?

Or...

"Mostly under potted plants," Vodka replies, "they're the most common and unobtrusive, and most of them are deliberately placed outside the landing site, not if there's already a place to hide the key." 

In short, there must be a place to hide your keys outside the door.

A potted plant is a relatively unobtrusive and common option for hiding keys.

As there was nothing new to suspect, Ichijō Mirai nodded, "OK."

"I'll go in first then," he bids Vodka farewell, "Let me know if you need any help."

"Whether you have a guy you want to kill, information you want to pass on, or a confession you're too shy to make, let me know."

He added, "Daily tasks like confession will cost extra money."

Vodka: "..."

What codename member's daily task is a confession!

He dares to say, "Okay."

Ichijō Mirai, however, didn't wave goodbye first, adding, "Also, I have a favor to ask."

He wanted to try out the 'automatic deduction of Japanese currency after five minutes of its arrival' mechanism, to see if he would be deducted if he stayed for five minutes with someone else's money.

Vodka: "?"

If you know it's an 'ungrateful request', don't say it out loud, okay?

He rejects it outright with righteousness: "Go ahead."

Ichijō Mirai: "You're Japanese, so you don't carry rubles, but you do carry Japanese currency, right? US dollars would be better."

"Can you lend me some money?"

Lend, lend money?

What? Didn't this guy just rob a bank?

Vodka, having witnessed this guy go through the bodies and take the contents of the wallets of the previous houses just after they'd been killed, was now at a loss, "What?"

Ichijō Mirai insisted on the principle of having as much money as you have guts, and made a solemn request for a loan: "Lend me a hundred million dollars first."

"I'll pay you back later."

...

...

...

The villa was empty.

Ichijō Mirai put the medical kit and the active phone on the coffee table, and rummaged through the alcohol and gauze inside.

He dabbed some alcohol on the gauze, lifted up the hem of his shirt, and casually slapped it on the wound to disinfect it in a perfunctory manner, playing a love-it-or-leave-it game.

As he was disinfecting, he couldn't help but sigh, "Ugh."

"No ruble even so, why do not carry dollars."

"It's fine if you don't carry dollars with you, but why don't you even carry your bank card? I finally met someone who told me the bank card password in time."

"If you don't carry a bank card, why do you only carry half a million yen?"

Ichijō Mirai sighed again, "I don't care if there's only 500,000 yen in my wallet, I can find it myself, right?"

"I found a box in the car, and it contained nearly 100 million yen. But the guy rushed over, shouting about missions and orders, and was not willing to lend it to me at all."

"Are we still colleagues? You won't even lend me 100 million yen. We don't have any comradery at all."

"Right, Gin?"

A voice finally came from the phone on the coffee table.

Gin said coldly, "That's the reason you robbed Vodka?"