Chapter 41: The Sniping

“...Could it actually be Yan Shuangying himself?”

Vermouth lowered her binoculars and whispered to herself.

Previously, she had disguised herself as Masami Hirota, waiting for Sherry to appear so she could apprehend her on the spot. However, when Gin unexpectedly showed up instead and took control of the situation, she realized something was amiss. At first, she assumed it was likely a mole within the police working with Sherry, playing both her and Gin for fools.

But later, Vermouth felt that Sherry lacked the nerve to target Gin, and the matter likely had nothing to do with her. Consequently, she began to ponder who might be pulling the strings. Then, she thought of someone connected to Sherry who might be capable of coordinating with the police to strike at the organization—none other than the man in Beika Town known as the "half-man, half-ghost, master of marksmanship," Yan Shuangying.

Following this, Vermouth suspected that the people sent to investigate Tottori Prefecture during this period might also be linked to Yan Shuangying. Thus, when the organization arranged for the task, she did not do it herself but used a middleman. She tasked the Wakaguchi Group with the job, thinking that if they could eliminate the investigators, all would be well; she would simply find an opportunity to kill the Wakaguchi boss and return to report her success. If the boss were killed instead, it would be no great loss; she remained safe behind a layer of separation and would still have a valid excuse to offer the organization.

*Buzz—*

The earpiece she wore emitted a static sound; the bug planted in the Wakaguchi boss’s office had been destroyed. Fortunately, Vermouth no longer needed it. She pulled off the earpiece, let it drop to the floor, crushed it under her heel, and stood up, ready to leave.

Before departing, she cast one last glance through her binoculars at the windows of the Wakaguchi Group’s building. She caught sight of a familiar figure staring back at her, holding a very recognizable sniper rifle—the same model frequently used by Korn and Chianti!

It was Yan Shuangying!

Are you kidding me? She had to use binoculars just to see inside the office! How could he possibly know she was here? Did his vision or range of perception match the reach of her binoculars? At such a distance, not even Rye or Gin could land a shot with a sniper rifle! Could he really be confident enough to attempt a kill from this range?

Although Vermouth didn't believe Yan Shuangying could pull off a sniping feat at this distance using Korn or Chianti’s rifle, the moment she saw him—and before her conscious mind could even process the thought—her body instinctively dove for cover. Then, she heard the sharp whistle of a projectile followed by the sound of shattering glass.

A bullet had struck the wall hanging in her hotel room. Had she not ducked, that shot would have shattered her skull.

A dark shadow passed over Vermouth’s heart. She was at least two thousand meters away from the Wakaguchi building. Yan Shuangying hadn’t even been holding the rifle when she was observing him; he had pinpointed her location, raised the weapon, aimed, and fired within the few seconds after she lowered her binoculars.

To execute a precise, two-thousand-meter-class shot instantly with a rifle not even optimized for such extreme range—this was not a skill that could be honed casually. Not even Gin or the defected Rye could necessarily achieve this level of marksmanship... Who on earth was this guy?

Vermouth gathered her things and retreated, staying strictly within the blind spots of any potential snipers. She had no intention of remaining. Now that her position had been compromised, she couldn't help but wonder if she had triggered some "ghostly" rule of death, causing this man to "teleport" to the foot of her hotel in the mere moments after she looked away. Even though she knew it was impossible for anyone to cover such a distance so quickly, she still fled with the utmost speed, a lingering sense of unease gnawing at her.

***

After eliminating the Wakaguchi boss, Ren Wakaguchi, Nara Hikaru determined that no further useful information could be gained here. Just as he was about to leave, he felt a faint sensation of being watched. He quickly gauged the direction of the gaze and grabbed a rifle from the pile of weapons carried by Koshimizu Natsuki, who was standing by the elevator—likely the rifle belonging to that thin man or that woman—intending to see what was going on.

Through the scope, Nara Hikaru spotted the woman who had just lowered her binoculars. Unfortunately, the moment he locked onto her, she turned and noticed him, leaving him no time to adjust the rifle and forcing him to fire on instinct.

...It was a pity; such a hurried shot was clearly lacking.

If Nara Hikaru had been given one more second to aim, he was certain that woman would have died, her brains splattered.

"Too bad, her reaction time was decent," the man in black with the dual pistols remarked with a hint of regret.

Koshimizu Natsuki, who hadn't approached the window, raised an eyebrow. "I don't know if 'her' reaction time is fast, but I do know the police response time is quite quick—"

"The sirens are getting closer, coming from that bar earlier. It seems someone discovered the two Wakaguchi members you killed and called it in. Now that they've heard the sound of your sniper rifle, they're heading straight here to investigate."

The former high school detective took the rifle from Nara Hikaru and stuffed it into the large bag she was carrying, seemingly without any effort. At the very least, Koshimizu Natsuki managed to carry the heavy gear while still holding her tape recorder, looking entirely unbothered. People in this world, provided they exercised, generally had impressive physical capabilities—even a high school girl who had been out of school for a while. This did not, however, include a certain high school boy who kept getting knocked out.

"Let's go," Nara Hikaru said calmly.

He had a premonition that the Black Organization would strike again. As long as they continued to operate within Tokyo, they would eventually leave a trail. He could afford to make many mistakes, but they only had to make one.