Chapter 27
By the time Hagiwara Kenji heard the new rumors about Samukawa Shinryu, it was already evening.
He went to ask the person involved: "What's the situation? I heard you publicly declare in front of everyone that you'd show a certain someone what's what in interrogation class?"
Usuha Izuki: "..........."
Although he had done it intentionally, the way this message got passed along... how they came to this conclusion, the process was truly incomprehensible.
Though Usuha Izuki didn't answer, Hagiwara Kenji had already continued on his own: "This is too ridiculous. There's no way you'd say something like that. Everyone doesn't believe it, thinking the message got distorted in transmission. If you wanted to show someone what's what, would you actually say it out loud? You'd die without knowing how."
Usuha Izuki: "...You really understand me."
Hagiwara Kenji smiled: "We're friends, after all."
Caught off guard by this direct hit, Usuha Izuki fell into silence.
He had thought Hagiwara Kenji was just taking extra care of him because of the life-saving debt, and it was normal for this social butterfly to be friendly with everyone, but it turned out he already considered him a friend?
Being able to become friends with him even while under the "Black Screen Aura"—Hagiwara Kenji's mental fortitude was really too strong.
Since he wasn't speaking, Hagiwara Kenji didn't mind.
Hagiwara Kenji had long known that Samukawa Shinryu always liked to keep things to himself, and he also knew that compared to kindness, Samukawa Shinryu was more accustomed to facing others' malice and suspicion. His sudden declaration would definitely make Samukawa Shinryu uncomfortable.
But Hagiwara Kenji felt that being accustomed to malice wasn't something worth praising. If possible, he hoped Samukawa Shinryu could also experience what the world that other people normally lived in was like.
He couldn't control others, but he could at least start with himself, right?
Hagiwara Kenji smiled as he gazed at his newly acknowledged friend: "Am I being presumptuous? Doesn't Little Shinryu consider me a friend?"
The young man who always appeared calm, as if he could face any hardship with composure, who had remained unfazed even when mistakenly arrested by the police, now looked down under his gaze. Hagiwara Kenji could only see his thick, long eyelashes fluttering gently like butterfly wings.
"...Of course you're my friend."
After Hagiwara Kenji left, the system popped up to warn Usuha Izuki.
[The essential effect of "Black Screen Aura" is to forcibly trigger emotions, accelerate thoughts, and expand imagination. The better your relationship with someone, the worse the "Black Screen Aura's" effect becomes. Since Hagiwara Kenji already considers you a friend, the number of times rationality overcomes emotion will increase more and more, until eventually there might only be a sinister filter effect left, with people close to you being completely unaffected! Pay more attention to keeping your distance from others!]
Usuha Izuki had originally been somewhat troubled—he really hadn't expected to gain another friend—but as soon as the system spoke, his rebellious phase kicked in and he immediately found his position, speaking righteously: [What do you mean by saying all this? It's not like I'm someone who enjoys stabbing friends in the back.]
The system didn't believe a single word: [...Hehe, right, you're a good person who likes to act heroically. I believe you, okay? But I still have to remind you that important characters have point weights. Making Hagiwara Kenji suspect you more would be the most efficient and rational approach.]
[I know. Don't worry, if it doesn't work here, isn't there still the organization?]
[...You're even helping the organization catch traitors, successfully demonstrating your value and gaining considerable trust. Where does it look like you're trying to farm suspicion values?]
Usuha Izuki sighed: [That's where you don't understand. I did enjoy myself a bit in the organization, but I can't really slack off completely! For example, in planning routes and finding people, I usually perform particularly reliably and professionally. If I suddenly drop the ball at a critical moment, wouldn't Gin have to wonder whether I did it on purpose or by accident?]
The system thought about it and found it reasonable, filled with admiration: [Brilliant, absolutely brilliant! Then I'll wait for your performance!]
The organization didn't give Usuha Izuki a chance to perform for now. Instead, the next day in class, Samukawa Shinryu farmed another wave of suspicion values.
The Police Academy curriculum covered many subjects. Although there were theoretical classes, practical training was more important.
Even though over 95% of Japanese police never fire their guns at anyone throughout their entire careers, often only using them for intimidation, the required shooting classes still had to be taken.
Although gun licenses were very difficult to obtain in Japan, gun control had many loopholes that could be exploited. It was common for military enthusiasts to craft guns from various parts themselves, so it was hard to say all students were starting from the same baseline.
Because the shooting range had limited space with only a few targets, only a small number of students could shoot simultaneously each time, while the rest watched from behind, so everyone basically knew each other's skill levels.
Shooting class was too dangerous. Not only was Instructor Onizuka extremely busy, afraid of accidental discharge somewhere, but Hagiwara Kenji, as Assistant Instructor, was also incredibly busy, constantly correcting others' stances to prevent injuries from recoil.
Onizuka's class wasn't large—ten at a time—so it was soon Usuha Izuki's turn.
Instructor Onizuka instinctively stood beside Usuha Izuki, planning to observe his skill level, while other students also instinctively slowed their movements, focusing their attention here.
Instructor Onizuka said: "First, inspect the weapon..."
Usuha Izuki had exchanged firearms expertise for the Samukawa Shinryu identity.
Unfortunately, because Samukawa Shinryu had been placed in the red faction, he still hadn't touched a gun until now. Finally getting this chance, standing in front of the target, hearing the key word, his body was like drought meeting sweet rain and moved on its own eagerly.
However, after the gun spun fancily around his wrist for half a circle, Instructor Onizuka's gaze sharpened.
Usuha Izuki quickly restrained his body's instincts, flipped his hand, grasped the grip again, raised his other hand as well, and according to what he'd learned at the Police Academy, began the weapon inspection procedure again.
Instructor Onizuka asked quietly: "Just now, were you trying to inspect the weapon one-handed? Who taught you that?"
This wasn't like spinning a pen. A loaded gun had weight, uneven weight distribution, and an irregular shape. It was completely different from arcade shooting games. Someone handling a real gun for the first time would have difficulty using it as skillfully as their own limbs.
With that move just now, an ordinary person would have dropped the gun directly, let alone spin it back.
Because he was wearing the ear protection required for shooting, the instructor's voice sounded muffled. Usuha Izuki could have completely pretended not to hear, but he still calmly answered: "My hand just slipped."
Instructor Onizuka, starting to contribute suspicion values: "..."
I'll believe you're lying!
Even if you told me you often play shooting games at arcades, or that you'd played with 1:1 scale gun models, that would work! Although there's a difference from real guns, for someone with talent, that could indeed be a reason, but this "my hand slipped"...
—Don't I deserve you putting a little more effort into fooling me?!
Instructor Onizuka felt indignant.
Although Samukawa Shinryu initially gave Instructor Onizuka the impression of being dangerous, after actually interacting with him for this period of time, what he felt more from Samukawa Shinryu was arrogance.
He didn't fit in, made no effort to integrate with the group, didn't care about being misunderstood by others, never explained, and didn't care what others said.
He seemed to live in another world, where the grudges and emotions of this world were just drama on a screen, not worth spending even a bit of mental energy on.
Actually, with Samukawa Shinryu's capabilities, even if he were completely shrouded in black rumors, as long as he spoke up, people would still be willing to approach him—dangerous yet powerful people had a strange charisma.
Like the cannibal doctor Hannibal in movies, who even while imprisoned made the police officer heroine Starling both fearful and dependent, ultimately escaping together to wander the world—this kind of thing didn't only happen in movies. Serial killers having admirers was no longer surprising.
The arrogant attitude of treating laws as nothing and viewing everything with cold detachment gave such people excessive freedom and carefreeness.
And this temperament would indeed attract some people who were tired of following rules but didn't dare break free from their shackles.
In Instructor Onizuka's view, Samukawa Shinryu had only chosen to stay in this side of the world because of that strange, seemingly competitive reason from his interview.
He might not care about justice, nor about anyone, which was why he was indifferent to many things, but this conflicted with his demonstrated heroic behaviors.
Instructor Onizuka had considered that perhaps Samukawa Shinryu only did what he felt he should do rather than what he wanted to do—the type where morality makes up for insufficient rationality.
Therefore, what he worried about most was that someday, Samukawa Shinryu, with no other attachments, might suddenly see through everything completely and realize that caring about that answer was actually the greatest constraint of his life...
If it really came to that, how could they make him continue staying on this side?
Because Instructor Onizuka had fallen into anxiety, even when Samukawa Shinryu fired all his bullets and hit the bullseye perfectly, causing students to gasp in amazement, the instructor couldn't muster any enthusiasm.
After all, having seen that gun flourish earlier, plus Samukawa Shinryu's excellence in all other subjects, Instructor Onizuka had already assumed this guy would definitely be great at shooting. Seeing these results didn't surprise him—it was exactly as expected.
"Mm, don't get cocky. There was a senior of yours before who also hit all bullseyes on his first try."
Hagiwara Kenji smiled and responded: "I know, you mentioned it before—that senior who now runs a detective agency, right?"
"Right, that's him. What I wanted to say was..."
Samukawa Shinryu turned around, wanting to yield the target to the next person, but the moment he turned, his pupils suddenly contracted.
He charged forward and tackled the unsuspecting Hagiwara Kenji to the ground.
Since this was during the handover gap, the sudden gunshot was particularly jarring.
Instructor Onizuka immediately realized there had been an accidental discharge. After confirming Hagiwara Kenji was unharmed, he sternly demanded: "Who was that just now?!"
"Little, Little Shinryu?" Hagiwara Kenji watched as Samukawa Shinryu silently got up and extended his hand to pull him up too, feeling inexplicably tense. "I'm fine, you spotted it very quickly, really, I'm perfectly fine..."
Samukawa Shinryu's somewhat long bangs hung down, obscuring his expression, but even so, anyone could feel the murderous aura surrounding him.
He silently removed his own ear protection, placed it on the now ear protection-less Hagiwara Kenji, then turned to look at the crowd.
Instructor Onizuka wanted to prevent a bloodshed incident and tried to stop him, but was suddenly grabbed by Hagiwara Kenji, who whispered:
"Trust him."
Instructor Onizuka hesitated for a moment.
Samukawa Shinryu, angry because Hagiwara Kenji had nearly been hurt, seemed more dangerous now, yet paradoxically seemed more like someone living in this world rather than his usual detached observer self.
Perhaps... he really should trust him a bit more? After all, his gun was already out of bullets...
If he could still restrain himself at this moment, then he could feel at ease...
Samukawa Shinryu had already locked onto the person.
He walked over.
Samukawa Shinryu's voice was like icicles under winter eaves, carrying a piercing cold.
"The instructor said gun muzzles shouldn't be pointed at people, right?"
He took a step forward, and that person took a step back.
"Do you know what I want to do right now?"
The person retreated until there was nowhere left to go. The pressure and fear, like a tsunami overwhelming everything, forced him to make a very irrational decision.
Samukawa Shinryu stopped in his tracks.
Before him was the muzzle of a gun that had fired only one bullet.
The young man lowered his eyes to look at the gun, and his usually cold, indifferent face suddenly curved into a slight smile.
His tone became very gentle, like persuasion, like temptation.
"Fire one more shot. This might be your last chance to fire a gun."