My Deal with Bourbon

A new member with the codename Yuki Tree has recently joined the organization.

At first, Bourbon doesn't pay much attention to the news. He's just a newcomer. There's no need to investigate him, and doing so might alert the enemy.

It isn't until a few days later, when the organization assigns Bourbon to a mission with the newcomer, that he realizes just how wrong he was.

His gray-violet eyes fix on the young man standing before him, smiling faintly. Those sharp features are so familiar. His long black hair is tied back in a ponytail and draped over his chest.

“Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Yuki Tree.”

A pleasure to meet him...?

Bourbon can't help but sneer.

He reaches out and takes Yuki Tree's well-defined hand, feeling the hard calluses on it.

“I'm Bourbon.”

“I know, Bourbon.” The other man still wears a composed smile. Bourbon glances at their clasped hands, making sure he's squeezing hard enough to cause pain.

“You don't have to squeeze so hard. Let's make a deal, Bourbon,”

Yuki Tree says.

“A deal between you and me.”

[That old friend destroyed him, and now has buried him with his own hands.]

Amuro Tooru once had a childhood playmate. But when the Miyano family of doctors moved away, the other boy disappeared too.

He tried to track him down, but it was as if the boy had vanished from the world. No matter how much he asked around, he couldn't find a single trace of him.

Amuro Tooru thought he would never see that old friend again. He never expected him to show up at the Black Organization after Amuro went undercover there.

He suspects his old friend's motives and scrutinizes every interaction, yet can't help remembering the warmth and happiness they shared long ago.

If he could, Amuro Tooru would hope that his old friend wasn't an enemy. And if he really was an enemy, Amuro would hope he could pull him back from the abyss.

Is there still time? Can he still save him?

But Amuro Tooru never expected that when he tried to save the other man, the man would turn around and stab him, betraying the bond they once shared.

Love and hatred both grow wild as weeds, while pain burns like a raging fire, testing Amuro Tooru's will and faith.

To keep his identity from being exposed and protect his country and its people, Amuro Tooru has no choice but to put the other man on the elimination list.

He dealt with him with his own hands.

And buried him with his own hands.

But in the end, Amuro Tooru discovers that the other man had been on his side all along.

His old friend was never his enemy.

[Looking back, his old friend is gone forever, dressed in white like the full moon. Yet it was all a dream, a life lived beneath the light.]

Reader's Guide:

1. Zero is the top; happy ending, with a bad-ending extra after the main story concludes, so choose whether to read it.

2. Out-of-character, heavily altered plot; original timeline distorted; all the Police Academy Five survive.

3. Everyday romance mixed with a chaotic plot. No logic or need to think too hard. Includes stream-of-consciousness and clingy romance, but no System or cheat powers.

4. At its heart, this is an old-school story of “I thought you were undercover, but you betrayed me, only to discover that you really were undercover after all.” Written to satisfy my own cravings.

5. Please read the author's note in Chapter One for content warnings and settings.

Theme: Light will ultimately overcome darkness