Chapter 21: Tequila
The Tanaka family case made the news early the next morning.
However, the citizens of Beika didn't seem to care much. Such murders happened every few days in Beika Town—they were used to it.
It could only be said that Beika was a stage for those who didn't value their lives.
At the Beika Department Store, Natsukawa visited for the third time.
The first time, he spent over two million yen, which scared the manager so much that he came out to assist personally.
The second time, he spent less, but only compared to the first time.
This time, the manager was still with him, but it was a different one.
Natsukawa had a good impression of the previous manager, so he asked, "Where's your previous manager? I haven't seen him today."
The manager hesitated for a few seconds, but seeing Natsukawa's slightly displeased expression, he said, "Uh, Manager Tasaki just passed away yesterday."
"He was murdered by his wife. When I saw them before, they were such a loving couple. I never imagined that Manager Tasaki's wife would kill him because he wouldn't let her keep a dog."
Natsukawa: "..."
It was quite outrageous, but in Beika, it seemed barely acceptable. After all, there were even more absurd reasons for murder. For a dog, it could be considered an almost legitimate reason to kill someone.
Even compared to Gotham City, Beika was something else. The reasons were obvious.
"It's such a pity. Manager Tasaki seemed like a very responsible person."
That's what he said, but in reality, Natsukawa had only just learned that the manager's surname was Tasaki.
"No need to accompany me. I'll look around by myself. I'm just here to buy groceries today."
"I see. Then Mr. Natsukawa, please look around. If you have any questions, just have someone call me. I'll be in the manager's office." The new manager hurriedly left.
Having just taken over this position somewhat temporarily, many things hadn't been handed over properly, requiring him to handle them personally.
Natsukawa watched the manager leave—he didn't want anyone following him today.
The things he was buying today had a special purpose, not just cooking ingredients.
He needed to buy some materials for disguises. Although these things were relatively common, they might not be available in ordinary supermarkets, so coming to the department store was the best choice.
The department store's food section was on the first floor, and because Natsukawa arrived late in the morning, there weren't many people. He only occasionally saw women—men were relatively rare here.
The defining characteristic of Japan was that men were the breadwinners while women stayed at home, resulting in a large number of housewives.
These housewives were quite surprised to see Natsukawa—a young man not at work at this hour, but shopping at the market, seemed unemployed.
However, some sharp-eyed women noticed that Natsukawa's clothes weren't cheap, leading to a different reaction.
Ignoring these stares, Natsukawa continued selecting his disguise materials.
Disguise was an essential skill for any spy. Good disguises allowed for long-term infiltration, and this was precisely his specialty as the spy 'Twilight'.
In this world, only the deceased phantom thief, Kuroba Toichi, could rival his disguise skills.
Natsukawa wasn't exaggerating—even Vermouth and Yukiko Kudo couldn't match his level of disguise, at least in terms of detail.
Furthermore, his acting was unparalleled. Even the wives, children, and parents of the person he disguised as would have difficulty recognizing him.
The combination of these two aspects constituted perfect disguise.
At the checkout counter, Natsukawa handed the cashier the groceries from his cart.
Besides a bunch of disguise materials like potato starch, tapioca starch, and wheat flour, there were also some real food ingredients.
His refrigerator was already empty. It had to be said, Anya had quite an appetite. Thankfully he was quite wealthy.
Just as Natsukawa finished paying and was about to leave, the cashier stopped him.
"Sir, our manager asked me to give you this."
The cashier placed a coupon in Natsukawa's hand.
Natsukawa: "???"
Another travel coupon?
The last travel coupon he received took him to Shikishima, but he didn't get to see any beautiful beaches or relaxation—instead, he couldn't sleep well at night.
But it wasn't all bad.
For example, his relationship with the Mouri family improved significantly. He made a lot of money selling the gold information. And he learned that the Organization had a drug production base in Chiba Prefecture.
Thinking about it, it seemed pretty good.
"Thank you!"
The sales clerk bowed deeply. "We should be thanking Mr. Natsukawa for trusting our Beika Department Store. This voucher should have been given to you last time—it was our company's oversight, and we are truly sorry."
It turned out that Beika Department Store had a rule: for every purchase exceeding one million yen, a travel voucher was given, and the destination was different each time.
Natsukawa examined it carefully—it was a voucher for a hot spring hotel, also a family package.
Looking at the validity period on the voucher, it only needed to be used within the month.
Natsukawa wasn't sure exactly how long the timeframe was in this world.
However, he didn't ask. It was nothing to him. After all, he was wealthy enough not to care about such a small gift from the department store.
Leaving Beika Department Store, Natsukawa went to Frank's mansion.
With the Mantendo press conference approaching, his plans could proceed.
"Where is he now?"
As soon as Natsukawa entered the living room, he saw Frank sitting intently in front of the computer, headphones on, his eyes glued to the screen.
The "he" Natsukawa referred to was, of course, Tequila from the Organization.
Frank was highly skilled, having secretly installed surveillance and tracking devices on his target.
"Just left Tokyo's range. The tracking and surveillance devices can't reach too far yet—only within Tokyo's vicinity," Frank said, pressing a few keys before putting down his headphones.
The monitoring equipment would now enter standby mode, alerting them when the target reappeared within range.
The two went to the table.
Natsukawa placed the materials on the table and began preparing the disguise mask.
"How's the situation? When's the best time to act?" Natsukawa asked as he added water to the potato starch.
Potato starch and tapioca starch were ideal for making disguise masks, as they were elastic. Adding some pigment could mimic skin tone. For darker complexions like those from Osaka or Amuro Tooru's tan, a suitable amount of darker pigment could be added.
Of course, they could also use food coloring—it was odorless and very convenient, but the amount had to be carefully controlled.
Frank watched Natsukawa's movements and slowly pulled out a notebook.
"This guy's name is Tequila, a codename member of the Organization, specializing in illegal transactions. Lately, drug trafficking is his main business."
Natsukawa hummed in agreement, glanced at Frank, and gestured for him to continue.
"You seem to have known this codename all along—not surprised at all."
"Surprised? But I'm a spy. Isn't it normal to keep my emotions hidden?" Natsukawa chuckled, glancing at Frank. This guy had recently started suspecting him of having other intelligence sources.
How could that be? He knew all this thanks to his excellent Detective Conan knowledge from before his transmigration.
He vividly remembered Tequila, that unfortunate soul. He'd only been on screen for a few minutes before being sent flying by a bomb, and to make matters worse, he was killed by mistake. Who could he complain to?
The Organization was probably completely bewildered—this was utterly random. Tequila was just unlucky.
But it was also Tequila's own fault. Why did he have to conduct the transaction at someone else's press conference? Wouldn't this have been avoided if they'd just met at a coffee shop?
"Really?"
Frank stared at Natsukawa for several seconds, trying to discern something, but faced with the expressionless spy Twilight, he could only give up.
"Of course. Intelligence is something that can get me killed if I'm not careful. I don't easily work with new people, and as an intelligence dealer, you should know this very well."
Natsukawa chuckled and added, "Besides, what kind of relationship do we have? If there's money to be made, we'll make it together. We'll only cheat outsiders if there are problems."
Intelligence partners weren't easy to find. If he and Frank hadn't grown up together and could completely trust each other, he would definitely be a lone wolf like other spies in the underworld.
In the underworld, regardless of whether someone was an assassin, spy, agent, thief, or any other profession, the most important thing before taking action was to gather intelligence, so the importance of intelligence dealers was self-evident.
If the other party had ulterior motives, it was easy to plant false information, causing someone to die without knowing why. Therefore, the selection of intelligence dealers was of paramount importance.
Frank clearly understood this as well.
"Alright, you pass." Frank shrugged, changing the subject, and continued, "Tequila just left Tokyo, apparently to make a deal in a place called Tsukikage Island. It's a small island within the Tokyo metropolitan area, with a permanent population of about five or six hundred. It's a small island village, similar to Shikishima you went to before, just with a larger population."
Tsukikage Island is actually connected to the Organization?
Natsukawa paused.
He thought the drug deal on Tsukikage Island was just a small-scale operation, but he didn't expect it to involve the Organization.
Frank continued, "Besides, Tequila will also be making a deal with Director Tsugawa of the Beika Library tomorrow night at seven. Do you want to—" Frank gave Natsukawa a knowing look, "—want to go see what the deal is about?"
Then he pulled out a file.
"This is the file of Tamada Kazuo, an employee of the Beika Library. If you want to go, you can borrow his face."
Natsukawa nodded and took the file.
Since it was a drug deal, he definitely needed to observe Tequila's behavior.
This was very important.
He had already made a plan to replace Tequila on the day of the Mantendo Games launch event.
Tequila didn't have a public identity—at least Frank couldn't find one. He could only use tracking and surveillance to observe Tequila's style of operation, so that there wouldn't be any problems when disguising himself as Tequila.
The file contained photos of Tamada Kazuo, as well as information on his interpersonal relationships and personality traits.
Natsukawa needed to study all of this carefully.
Fortunately, memory was one of Natsukawa's greatest strengths, so this wasn't difficult for him.
"Looks like I have a lot of masks to make today!" Natsukawa sighed slightly, somewhat helplessly.
Disguise masks weren't easy to make. To make them truly lifelike, every detail must be precisely controlled, down to freckles and tiny moles.
Frank asked, "It's just Tamada Kazuo, isn't it?"
"Of course not." Natsukawa shook his head. "I also need to disguise myself when tracking him. After all, he's a formal member of the Organization and needs to be respected."
He needed to make a couple more disguise masks for random passersby, just in case.
[End of Chapter 21]
If you enjoyed this chapter, leave a Review!
P*atreon/Soulforger (advanced chapters)
Buy me coffee - ko-fi*com/soulforger01