Seeing that it was still early, the two spent some time visiting several New York landmarks together.
Gojo Satoru was in high spirits throughout the trip, photographing every delicious snack and interesting sight he came across. Naturally, he would occasionally drag Akai Shuichi along to take photos with street performers dressed in various mascot costumes.
"Don't be so stiff~ Shu-chan, give us a smile!"
The handsome man with wavy hair managed a slightly strained, rigid smile.
...This cool guy, who was originally a man of few words and ruthless action, was being forcibly transformed into a limited-edition "sunny and cheerful big boy."
Gradually, as evening fell, it was about time for them to head their separate ways.
After spending half a day together, the relationship between Gojo Satoru and Akai Shuichi had indeed improved significantly, and Gojo had managed to fleece over a thousand Impression Points in total. Not wanting to overplay his hand, Gojo Satoru was quite satisfied.
"I had a lot of fun today, Shu-chan," he said to Akai Shuichi without a hint of pretense, clutching a pile of souvenirs.
"...Yeah, me too."
Although he had initially approached "Satoru-ko" with the intention of getting closer to a powerful ability user, such a frank and interesting youth... despite being quite flighty at times, really made it easy for one to lower their guard.
Of course, Akai Shuichi understood one truth—you can know a person's face, but not their heart.
There were undoubtedly many secrets behind Satoru that he didn't yet know... but he was currently too green; even if he did know, it would be meaningless. Thinking of his father again, Akai Shuichi became even more determined to join the FBI.
After promising to meet up again if the opportunity arose, Gojo Satoru bid him farewell.
Once alone, he pulled out his Organization-issued phone to take a look. It seemed someone had sent him an email.
Oh, it was Rum.
The general gist was for him to arrive at the Organization's branch base—which would be his primary workplace in the future—at noon the following day. Two code-named members would be there to receive him.
A string of address followed:
Aurora 8th Avenue, New York, NY 10022
The email was written in a tone used for communication between equals—businesslike and professional.
In the eyes of Rum, the Organization's second-in-command who had served "That Person" since his father's generation, Caesar was still just a child.
However, Rum knew full well that while Caesar had been sent to him because of a mistake, he was still the boss's foster son, not a subordinate he could order around at will. At the same time, he had heard rumors of the strength of the "Six Eyes" and understood the importance the boss placed on Caesar, who was clearly being groomed as the Organization's ace with a very special status.
Therefore, his attitude toward Caesar was somewhat ambiguous. Generally speaking, he focused on laissez-faire management while maintaining a degree of control.
Gojo Satoru didn't care about Rum's attitude; he was simply thinking: "Two code-named members?"
He wondered if they were characters who appeared in the original story; if so, he could fleece more Impression Points. The members sent by Rum to receive him probably held a relatively high status.
"Could it be..."
The following afternoon, New York Branch Base Z003.
Much like how the Organization in Tokyo used a pharmaceutical factory as cover for the research and production of drugs like APTX4869, this base controlled by Rum also used the guise of a software company to secretly conduct various intelligence-gathering operations, such as hacking rival networks and deploying spies or undercover agents.
Naturally, there were also the inevitable assassination and trade missions.
The company's exterior was a rather grand building. Gojo Satoru scanned the surroundings with his Six Eyes and quickly formed a basic judgment of the number of personnel and types of facilities inside. Most of the people inside appeared to be ordinary office workers, but in reality, they were official non-code-named members of the branch. Even the security guards at the door were peripheral members working for the Organization.
Today, Gojo Satoru had changed into the gear most familiar to Mexican criminals.
Blindfold plus black clothes—reassuringly handsome.
However... since he had stopped by a high-end restaurant for some snacks before leaving and had taken a leisurely stroll along the way, it was already three o'clock in the afternoon.
He was three hours late for the appointment mentioned in the email.
In other words, he was "freshly and intentionally" late.
Generally, Gojo Satoru's sense of time was quite good, but that didn't stop him from acting out against Rum. "Caesar," potentially the most unpredictable person in the whole "liquor factory," was a difficult character who wouldn't simply obey orders.
By now, the other party probably thought he wouldn't show up at all, right?
He surveyed the building from a distance, a mischievous idea forming in his mind.
...
Inside a meeting room reserved for code-named members, a slender man was on the phone.
"Rum-sama, more than three hours have passed, and no one resembling Master Caesar has visited."
"I think... has he stood us up?"
The person on the other end didn't seem surprised, merely saying cryptically, "He should arrive sometime today. You and Curacao wait at the base a bit longer."
"But..."
The call was cut off by Rum, who was in a hurry to end the conversation.
The man sighed and sat down in the office chair, looking very displeased. You see, he had originally planned to head out on a mission immediately after receiving the newcomer, but now those plans were ruined.
This man was a code-named member and one of Rum's trusted subordinates: Pinga.
His code name came from the Brazilian spirit, originally known as Cachaça, a type of cane rum.
Pinga had a reasonably handsome face, topped with a head of light and dark gold cornrow braids, and a pair of dark purple clip-on earrings on his left ear. With a pair of light blue eyes and a fierce gaze, he possessed high-level hacking skills and was also adept at cross-dressing.
Of course, his most prominent feature was his thick lips.
In reality, at his current age in his early twenties, although he performed many tasks well, he was still young and impetuous. He couldn't quite be considered Rum's "confidant" yet; that title was currently just self-proclaimed.
But it didn't matter... he would work hard to gain more favor from Rum-sama and slowly climb the ranks until he reached an indispensable high position in the Organization.
While Pinga was thinking this, he suppressed his impatience and spoke to the woman standing nearby. "Curacao, let's go out and take another look."
The silver-haired beauty with heterochromatic eyes nodded, appearing to be a woman of few words.
Curacao was currently regarded as Rum's confidant, primarily due to her extraordinary memory storage capacity. As long as she used five-colored cards as a memory medium, she could memorize all the data she saw in a single glance, making things much easier for Rum.
Beyond her memory, her physical combat skills were superb, and her marksmanship was equally formidable.
She was close in age to Pinga and bore a slight resemblance to him, leading some to mistake them for siblings. In fact, they were not blood-related; they simply worked under Rum-sama and occasionally acted together as fairly well-coordinated colleagues.
Knowing Curacao wasn't the type to tattle, Pinga began to complain irritably before heading out.
"Honestly, who exactly is this 'Caesar'?"
He didn't know the person's specific identity, but he couldn't stand the way they operated. Rum had mentioned a few things: the guy was arrogant and impulsive, having no idea how to spell the word "humility."
"This is an order from Rum-sama, and he actually dares to be late?" Pinga crossed his arms, indignant. "Does he not even respect the Organization's second-in-command?"
"An arrogant guy like that will sooner or later—"
"Sooner or later, what?"
In the office, a magnetic male voice they had never heard before suddenly and abruptly rang out.
At that moment, Pinga saw Curacao, who was usually very calm, suddenly reveal an expression of surprise... no, of terror.
His pupils shrank as he suddenly realized something.
Pinga turned his head, raising the black muzzle of his gun with the fastest speed of his life toward the man who had appeared behind him at some unknown time, sitting leisurely on the office desk.
"Who are you?!"
Pinga aimed the gun at the man's head. It looked as if the man's head would burst instantly if he made even the slightest move.
Even with a gun pointed at a vital part of his body, Gojo Satoru acted as if it were nothing, greeting them as if they were having a casual chat.
"First time meeting you. Good afternoon, Pinga."
His guess had been correct. These two "one-off" code-named members who had appeared in the Detective Conan movies were indeed highly valued by Rum and were already his subordinates this early on.
Pinga, however, felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.
When on earth did he appear?! I didn't sense a thing! Even Curacao didn't notice...
If that were the case, didn't it mean that if the opponent wanted to kill them, it would be effortless?!