He never expected the phrase "smoking is harmful to your health" to come back around and hit him personally. After dropping him off at the designated hotel, Rei drove away in his white RX-7 without a second glance.
Ritsu stood there watching the car disappear into the distance before withdrawing his gaze. His hand slowly tightened around the handle of his suitcase as he headed toward the hotel, pulling out his phone to call Gin. He wanted to confirm whether his new identity had been arranged properly.
"Gin, I've arrived in Tokyo. Is everything on the MPD side prepared?"
"I already had Caymus handle it. All the procedures were completed according to your requirements. You just need to report in."
The corner of Ritsu's lips lifted slightly, his mood clearly brightening. He took the elevator to the hotel's top floor and entered the innermost suite. After unlocking the door with his keycard and shrugging off his black trench coat, he asked slowly,
"Does Caymus know my identity?"
"I only told her your alias."
"Mm. I'm not ready for people to know Augier and Onizawa Takashi are the same person just yet. Maybe I picked up a bad habit from Vermouth, but sometimes being a mysterious figure isn't so bad."
Rather than getting angry, Gin let out an amused chuckle. "Heh. Don't pick up too many bad habits from that woman."
"Understood. Though the disguise techniques I learned from her really are useful."
Ritsu set his phone on the bathroom counter and turned on speaker mode. At the same time, he opened the cosmetics kit inside his briefcase and carefully began covering the cross-shaped scar on his face stroke by stroke.
Gin took out a black handkerchief and wiped the blood from his Beretta clean. After hearing Ritsu's words, he shot Vodka a glance, then lifted the phone to his ear with a faint laugh.
"Vermouth told me your disguise skills have surpassed hers over the past year?"
"Yeah… why? Want me to disguise you sometime and take you on a tour through the MPD?"
Gin was honestly a little surprised by how much Ritsu's personality had changed. Though they hadn't met in person over the past year, they had remained in contact.
He knew Ritsu had accepted a new mission assigned by that person and had secretly expanded the Organization's influence throughout Central Europe.
Not a single moment of that year had been wasted. Not only had he expanded the Organization's reach, he had even used "Macallan's death" to seize part of Rum's authority. To thatperson, this entire game had undoubtedly ended in overwhelming victory.
"I don't like places like that. I still have business to handle here. We'll meet after you return to Japan."
"Alright. See you when I'm back."
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Gin had barely parted his lips to mutter an "Mm" when the line already went dead.
His brows furrowed slightly in displeasure. 'Augier really was becoming more and more… Hmph. Whatever.'
Now that his status was effectively equal to Gin's, Ritsu felt secretly delighted after ending the call. He looked at himself in the mirror. The cross-shaped scar had completely vanished, and even water wouldn't reveal it.
This was a special liquid cosmetic he had spent an entire year developing. Not only was it waterproof, but it also felt perfectly natural to the touch. Unless someone used the specially formulated remover designed for it, the makeup wouldn't come off at all.
Of course, the product had its limitations. It only worked well for disguising small areas; applying it over larger sections was inconvenient.
Ritsu stared at his scarless reflection for a moment before taking out a pair of gold thin-rimmed glasses. Once he put them on, his entire demeanor appeared far more refined and scholarly.
Though combined with white hair and crimson eyes... Yeah, refined wasn't exactly the word. He looked more like a complete scoundrel.
Pushing open the bathroom door, he laid his suitcase flat across the soft carpet and pulled out a neatly folded black dress shirt. After changing clothes, he grabbed his briefcase and headed out.
Standing outside the hotel, he hailed a passing black taxi. Crossing his long legs elegantly once seated in the back, he adjusted his glasses with gentlemanly poise and said politely,
"Sir, please take me to the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters in Chiyoda."
The middle-aged driver naturally warmed up to such a polite passenger. Looking at the white-haired young man through the rearview mirror and noticing his remarkably handsome appearance, he chuckled cheerfully.
"You're a very handsome fellow, sir. Heading to MPD headquarters… are you a police officer?"
Smiling, Ritsu replied, "Yes. Today's my first day reporting there."
"It's an honor to drive an officer like you, hahaha!"
After exchanging a few pleasantries, the taxi fell quiet. Ritsu skillfully ended the conversation and turned his gaze toward the rapidly passing scenery outside.
Returning to Tokyo again left him with rather complicated feelings.
He had once left this city under a different identity. He never expected to return here again wearing yet another one.
Playing a new role was never easy. The thing Ritsu hated most was looking into mirrors, yet disguises made it impossible to avoid.
No one would enjoy seeing their own face become something unfamiliar.
In truth, Ritsu's facial features hadn't changed much. Aside from becoming sharper and more mature after losing the last traces of baby fat, the biggest changes were his hair color and the cross-shaped scar.
As for the scarlet eyes, that wasn't a natural change in eye color. He wore specially made contact lenses crafted from unique materials. Once worn, they looked completely natural and caused no damage to the eyes.
These too were a new invention Ritsu had developed for disguise purposes. If something like this were mass-produced and released onto the market, it would probably make an enormous profit.
"Officer, please take care."
Seeing they had arrived at the destination, Ritsu pulled out a ten-thousand-yen bill from his wallet, told the driver to keep the change, and stepped out of the taxi.
The familiar building before him looked almost unchanged from six years ago. He never imagined he would one day return here. Or return to the familiar yet unfamiliar First Investigation Division.
With his striking white short hair, Ritsu entered the Metropolitan Police Department and easily found his way to the department responsible for processing employment procedures. He noticed the elderly officer who used to handle things there was gone, replaced by a female officer who appeared to be around thirty years old.
"You are Onizawa Takashi-san, correct?" After checking the ID photo, the female officer came to one conclusion:
Onizawa Takashi was even more handsome in person than in the picture. The photograph couldn't capture the aura he carried; only meeting him face-to-face could.
She never expected the MPD to gain such a handsome officer. And his rank was already Inspector! A twenty-five-year-old Inspector truly had limitless potential.
"Yes. I'd appreciate it if we could finish quickly. I still have some matters to take care of."
"Of course, Inspector Onizawa!"
Holding his police ID once again, Ritsu flipped it open and looked at the photo inside.
'Hmph. Somehow, I really didn't look like a good person. What kind of proper police officer dyed their hair that color?'
After putting everything away, he didn't rush upstairs to report in. Tomorrow would be his official first day.
Walking outside, Ritsu pulled out his phone and searched for nearby motorcycle shops.
It was about time he got himself a vehicle.
He raised his right hand and hailed another taxi. Then disappeared from the front of the Metropolitan Police Department.