Amuro Tooru had actually met Jiang Xia and knew he was a member of the organization.
As a busy full-time Officer, he occasionally needed to use peripheral members.
About a year ago, the two had a brief encounter during a mission.
Amuro Tooru felt that if he could remember Jiang Xia from a group of peripheral members, there was no reason for Jiang Xia not to remember a distinctive-looking full-time Officer with blond hair and dark skin.
Therefore, Amuro Tooru felt that Jiang Xia was a big problem.
Most peripheral members were afraid of Officers. How could he possibly come to him for a part-time job, and even refuse to leave after he explicitly told him to go?
...Suspicious, too suspicious.
No matter what, he couldn't let him go before getting to the bottom of it.
Thinking this, Amuro Tooru revealed a gloomy, cold smile unique to villains. He held the gun, approaching with great 壓迫感: "Who sent you? Are you a dog of the Police?"
Jiang Xia: "..." There were too many things wrong with that, but he couldn't point them out.
However, Jiang Xia understood that Amuro Tooru's words were a warning.
A peripheral member, trespassing on Bourbon's territory, such behavior was already suspicious enough.
If Jiang Xia couldn't give a reasonable explanation, Amuro Tooru could kill him on the spot as "an enemy's dog sent to scout for information," and no one would be able to hold him accountable.
Peripheral members without code names were so easily disposed of, they were cannon fodder among cannon fodder.
But fortunately.
Before him was a fake Bourbon.
The chance of him firing was not high.
Moreover, with a ghost in hand, Jiang Xia was not actually very afraid of death.
Or, strictly speaking, as a legitimate Spiritual Medium who had passed TEM-8, he was not afraid of "being killed by an excellent person."
Departed souls naturally carried a layer of resentment, and the target of this resentment was very clear--it would point to the murderer who killed them.
Coupled with the characteristics of Spiritual Mediums themselves, after death, they could maximize the advantages of their spiritual bodies.
In other words, whoever dared to kill a Spiritual Medium face to face, the Spiritual Medium's success rate of seizing the murderer's body would be ridiculously high.
However, changing bodies was very damaging to the soul. And some ghosts would also slip away during this process due to being excessively exploited and their contracts becoming incomplete.
So Spiritual Mediums would try their best to avoid death.
...
But now, Jiang Xia only had one ghost. Even if he was killed, he wouldn't lose much.
Plus, every time he met Gin, Gin would point a gun at him for a while... To be honest, he was already used to it.
Facing a loaded gun, Jiang Xia was in a good mood:
"No one assigned me, I came on my own. I want to find a more stable source of income.
"I used to offend some local hooligans for the organization's missions. They didn't dare to confront me directly, so they kept playing dirty--no matter where I worked, it would be smashed after a while. After too many times, no boss dared to hire me anymore."
Jiang Xia sighed as he spoke: "I can only work in very distant places now, and after deducting travel expenses, my salary is very little, not enough."
...
Amuro Tooru was also someone who often worked part-time.
Of course, his purpose was different from Jiang Xia's: Amuro Tooru had no need for a salary, mainly to gather information.
But the difficulties encountered when looking for a job were actually similar.
When Jiang Xia spoke, for some reason, it was very relatable.
As Amuro Tooru listened, his hand holding the gun unconsciously loosened a little... This peripheral member was too miserable.
However, as soon as Jiang Xia's voice stopped, he suddenly felt something was wrong: "Organization..."
"The organization also gives me very few missions." Jiang Xia shook his head gently, lowering his eyes, "A code-named Officer thinks I have psychological problems and can't be stimulated, so he rarely assigns me work. If I can't find a stable part-time job, I can only sell my parents' house. But that's the last thing they left behind..."
Amuro Tooru: "..." Is it, is it really that difficult?
However, speaking of psychological problems and not giving work...
Amuro Tooru suddenly thought, could this "one Officer" be referring to Sherry?
...
Because of some things from his childhood, Amuro Tooru had a good impression of Sherry's mother.
Therefore, he inevitably paid more attention to Sherry's situation.
Amuro Tooru had indeed heard that in the past year, Sherry had been quite considerate of a peripheral member.
If that person happened to be Jiang Xia...
Then Jiang Xia should not be lying.
Sherry was a researcher and couldn't manage executive matters.
But she was, after all, an important figure, and if she spoke up, it could indeed lead to Jiang Xia not receiving missions.
Amuro Tooru knew that Sherry's intention should be good. But judging from Jiang Xia's current situation... she had clearly helped in a counterproductive way.
Perhaps Sherry had never lacked money since childhood and forgot to consider this point.
...
Amuro Tooru felt a little helpless when he thought of the daughter of his first crush.
He looked at Jiang Xia, following up on Jiang Xia's previous words: "That Officer only let you take fewer missions, but didn't give you a subsidy?"
He was subtly reminding Jiang Xia to mention this to Sherry--once Sherry knew the truth, she certainly wouldn't be indifferent.
However, after hearing his words, Jiang Xia showed a strange look: "She gave me money, but how can I, a man, let a woman support me?"
After speaking, he looked at Amuro Tooru meaningfully, hesitating to speak: "You wouldn't be..."
Amuro Tooru: "..."
He felt a label that said "Gigolo" was materializing out of thin air, gradually approaching.
The veins on Amuro Tooru's forehead throbbed a few times: "I just asked casually."
Of course, he wasn't advising people to be gigolos.
He just purely felt that it was natural and unproblematic for an adult to give some living expenses to a child she was looking after.
But now, thinking about it carefully...
Sherry seemed to still be a minor.
It was no wonder Jiang Xia firmly refused to be financially supported by a girl his age.
Minors are really troublesome... And he happened to encounter two at once.
...
With Sherry suddenly interjected into the matter, Amuro Tooru's attitude softened a little.
But before agreeing, there was one thing he still found strange: "But what you said, what does it have to do with you coming to me for a part-time job?"
Jiang Xia heard the softening in Amuro Tooru's tone and explained:
"I accidentally saved a kidnapped little girl before, and her father gave me a reward. Through that incident, I found that private Detective seems to be a very suitable profession for me.
"But I can't open a Detective Agency myself, so I can only apprentice at someone else's.
"At that time, I happened to see your advertisement in the Detective handbook..."
Speaking of this, Jiang Xia pointed to the Detective handbook on the coffee table:
"Among all the Detective Agencies, yours is the closest to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.
"This way, it's not easy to be vandalized, and even if someone really comes to smash the place because of me, the Police can arrive quickly, so I wanted to try my luck."
As he spoke, Jiang Xia looked up at Amuro Tooru again: "After entering the door, I realized I had seen you before. Your skin color and hair color are very distinctive... An Officer of the organization should be even less afraid of those hooligans, right?"
Jiang Xia looked at him with an expectant gaze that said, "You can do it, you're capable."
Amuro Tooru: "..."
After a pause, he put away his gun, picked up the Detective handbook on the table, and flipped through it.
There really was an advertisement for the Detective Agency.
He himself had forgotten when it was published.
...
Amuro Tooru actually didn't need to solicit customers, nor did he need to worry about the Detective Agency's turnover--even if he lost money, he could apply for funds from the organization.
He occasionally published advertisements just to ensure that the "Amuro Detective Agency" maintained a certain level of visibility.
After all, as an undercover agent working under an assumed name, Amuro Tooru couldn't become a famous Detective. He could only use the Detective Agency's name to get involved in useful cases.
It's just that Amuro Tooru didn't expect this measure to attract an apprentice looking for a part-time job.
...
Normally, Amuro Tooru wouldn't bother with such things.
But now... Jiang Xia sounded truly miserable.
Especially, a significant portion of this misery seemed to be caused by Sherry.
Amuro Tooru had been taken care of by Sherry's mother when he was little.
Now that Sherry's parents were both deceased, although he rationally knew he shouldn't interfere, since this matter had fallen into his hands and it was just a small favor...
It would be truly difficult not to help.
Moreover, Jiang Xia, as an organization member, was having such a hard time, yet he still thought about honestly working part-time instead of resorting to robbery or theft. He even heard that he saved a little girl.
This kid... perhaps surprisingly had a lot of potential to be saved.
Amuro Tooru struggled for a long time, but ultimately succumbed to the conscience of a red-side individual.
He sighed, looking at Jiang Xia:
"You can come for an internship first. I will pay you according to the normal industry hourly wage, but if any mistakes occur in the process that cause losses to the organization... you understand the consequences, right?"
Jiang Xia was startled.
He actually had several follow-up persuasive arguments ready.
But he didn't expect things to go so smoothly.
Could it be that the red side of this world was more conscientious than he thought?
In any case, as long as the goal was achieved...
Jiang Xia nodded, indicating that he understood.