Chapter 41
When Usuha Izuki returned to his dormitory, he found Hagiwara Kenji waiting at the door.
He asked the system mentally: [Has he been giving me suspicion values recently?]
The system quickly searched: [Yes, over 1000 values total in the past two hours.]
[...Hmph, I knew it.]
As expected, Usuha Izuki remained very calm and approached naturally: "How long have you been waiting?"
Hagiwara Kenji seemed to have been lost in thought and only reacted when Usuha Izuki approached: "Not long. Where did you go? Why aren't you resting properly?"
"I wasn't injured." Usuha Izuki opened the dormitory door and let Hagiwara Kenji in. "The instructor called me to discuss Narita's matter."
Hagiwara Kenji: "...It's Honda."
Previously called him Yamada, now it's Narita—either he completely doesn't care or it's deliberate!
Usuha Izuki went with the flow: "Right, Honda's matter."
"What did the instructor say?"
"Honda might try to use mental illness as a defense. If I'm willing to forgive him, I'll get the best assignment after graduation."
Hagiwara Kenji's eyes widened: "This is the instructor's idea? Asking you to forgive?"
"I suspect it's from higher up."
Usuha Izuki tossed a letter he'd been holding to Hagiwara Kenji: "After all, this counts as a Police Academy scandal. Even if the instructor wants to enforce justice impartially, the higher-ups still want to suppress it... If the instructor really wanted me to forgive, he wouldn't have shown me this."
Hagiwara Kenji frowned.
He was no longer a child and clearly understood that even the police profession had unfathomably dark aspects, with bureaucracy everywhere. He just hadn't expected to see it at this time.
No, accurately speaking, when Honda fired the gun last time and was only expelled, that was already seeing the signs.
With complex feelings, Hagiwara Kenji opened the letter Usuha Izuki had brought back.
This was an anonymous tip letter.
The letter reported that Honda had bullied a student to suicide during high school, but due to lack of evidence and the school's cold response claiming the student had poor psychological resilience, Honda and his followers received no punishment. They only became more restrained afterward, spending more time studying—which actually helped him get into a good university and even want to become a police officer.
"Since Honda had already been expelled when the letter was received, the instructor didn't pursue it. After this incident happened, he gave me this letter." Usuha Izuki said thoughtfully. "Although I already knew he engaged in school bullying, I didn't expect it would go this far."
Hagiwara Kenji had been reading the letter with his head down, but hearing this, he looked up in surprise: "You already knew?"
"There were his neighbors and former classmates in our class, so I heard some things."
Usuha Izuki said in a detached tone: "It's really great that this kind of person couldn't become a police officer."
Hagiwara Kenji unconsciously crumpled the letter, then quickly smoothed it out.
Usuha Izuki naturally didn't miss his small action: "What about you? You came here because you have something to tell me, right?"
Hagiwara Kenji looked at him with complex emotions.
Having spent time together, he understood Samukawa Shinryu more and more. Sometimes comparing with his first impression, it felt like a lifetime ago.
When they first met, he felt the other had an aura extending two meters, was very unapproachable, and had a dangerous temperament. Looking now, that impression was really unreliable.
Samukawa Shinryu actually had a somewhat slender build—completely unclear where he got the strength to flip someone twice his weight. Moreover, carefully observing his appearance, he looked very young, and people would believe he was just starting university.
But somehow, once out of sight and relying only on memory, he could only imagine a tall, mature young man... completely first impression leading, an image deduced from temperament.
Now Samukawa Shinryu sat in the chair by his bed. Although talking to him, he looked down without making eye contact, just casually stroking his watch.
Originally Hagiwara Kenji felt heavy-hearted, but seeing Samukawa Shinryu like this, his emotions relaxed.
"Are you angry?" Hagiwara Kenji unconsciously asked.
Samukawa Shinryu still didn't look at him: "I'm not angry. You're the one who's angry."
"Hah..." Hagiwara Kenji sighed. "Indeed a bit angry, but I think my anger is justified. If I guessed wrong, I'll apologize... Were you deliberate?"
Samukawa Shinryu finally tilted his head slightly toward him: "What do you mean?"
"Honda. Did you deliberately have his neighbor relay that message to provoke him into coming after you?"
Samukawa Shinryu finally looked directly at him, those ominous dark red eyes focusing on him as he answered calmly:
"Yes, I was deliberate."
With his guess confirmed, Hagiwara Kenji felt it was indeed so: "So you were dissatisfied that he was only expelled and wanted to use this method..."
He pressed his knuckles against his brow in pain, breaking eye contact with Samukawa Shinryu.
"No wonder you said people who cross you would come find you themselves. I thought it was just an exaggeration, but it was actually true... This counts as entrapment, doesn't it..."
"If you're dissatisfied, you can report me and see how others would sentence me." Samukawa Shinryu's voice carried a hint of coldness.
"Huh?" Hagiwara Kenji lowered his hand and glared at Samukawa Shinryu. "I am indeed dissatisfied, but not because of that—what good does inciting others' hatred toward you do? Didn't you consider that he might bring something other than a knife, or even use covert methods like poison?"
Speaking, he reached out and grabbed Samukawa Shinryu's uniform, pointing at the torn area: "Here, if he had cut deeper, by the time I arrived I'd only be able to try stuffing your intestines back in!"
"...He couldn't hurt me." Samukawa Shinryu, being grabbed by his clothes and unable to retreat, could only explain stiffly.
"I was just as confident when I took off my protective suit."
Hagiwara Kenji made a dark joke with no expression.
"You found him distasteful and were dissatisfied with the school's verdict, then said nothing and quietly entrapped him alone. If this time still didn't send him to prison, would you plan to actually get injured next time? Then when I rush over, I'd only see you lying in a pool of blood... Don't you think I should be angry?"
As he spoke, Hagiwara Kenji felt his temper rising again: "God, I never thought I'd suddenly understand why Matsuda beat me up back then... I want to punch you too now."
Hagiwara Kenji angrily stood up and paced quickly around the dormitory, then suddenly spun around to look at Samukawa Shinryu: "Why aren't you saying anything?"
"...A bit surprised." Samukawa Shinryu said slowly. "I thought you were angry that I used such underhanded methods..."
"I know you had your reasons. If there were no cause, you'd actually be too lazy to bother with other people, let alone set up this kind of trap... If he had sincerely repented, none of this would have happened, regardless of what method you used."
Hagiwara Kenji pointed out sharply: "As for his psychological trauma, if he hadn't done these things and had found you to apologize and seek forgiveness, he could have resolved the problem just the same. But he chose to harm you—this was his nature guiding his fate."
"........"
Samukawa Shinryu said nothing, but Hagiwara Kenji, who had become quite familiar with him, could feel the atmosphere around him become much more relaxed.
Hagiwara Kenji asked: "Still angry?"
Samukawa Shinryu seemed to be in a good mood: "I wasn't angry."
"Good." Hagiwara Kenji said. "But I'm still angry. What should we do about that?"
Samukawa Shinryu: "......"
Hagiwara Kenji showed a smile tinged with anger: "I just realized—those words you said the other day about 'I hate people who presumptuously assume what kind of person I am, presumptuously say they want to be friends, then when they discover I'm different from what they imagined, disappointedly say you're this kind of person.' I originally thought you were talking about Sato, but it seems like you were saying it for me to hear?"
"......"
"You don't like deep relationships with people simply because you hate trouble. Your actions against Honda were more about finding him distasteful than avenging others, and since he had dirt on him, you had fewer qualms about acting."
Hagiwara Kenji suddenly began describing his understanding of Samukawa Shinryu: "You became a police officer only because someone once said those words to you, making you somewhat concerned. You don't have much sense of justice yourself, but you don't mind following rules. When social rules conflict with your personal rules, you'll choose your own rules. Personally, I don't think you're a bad person—just somewhat willful. How's that? Am I presumptuously assuming what kind of person you are?"
"...No." Samukawa Shinryu answered. "You always surprise me."
"Surprise how? Surprised I didn't take you for a cold-exterior-warm-heart good person who's always misunderstood?"
Hagiwara Kenji said coldly: "As it turns out, you understand me even less."
After speaking, Hagiwara Kenji turned and left.
The system was dumbfounded: [Huh? Huh? What happened? Did you fight? But why are you so happy?]
[Nothing.] Usuha Izuki was in a cheerful mood. [Killing three birds with one stone—of course I'm happy.]
[...Which three birds?]
[Got suspicion values, struck back at someone I found distasteful, and confirmed that Hagiwara Kenji really understands me.]
[Even if he understands you, it's useless—he's angry. Aren't you going to stop him?]
Usuha Izuki: [No rush. Unlike me, he's a genuinely good person. He'll get over it.]
System: [...I really don't understand you. Do you actually want to be friends with Hagiwara Kenji or not?]
[Of course I do. But if he only 'knows' Samukawa Shinryu, that wouldn't work. Although I don't know how he did it, he seems to have understood the real me. Looks like my plan to have Honda attack me was a bit unnecessary... Oh, but I got suspicion values, so never mind.]
The system couldn't help complaining: [How he did it—with your acting skills, spending time with you and getting to know the real you is perfectly normal!]
Usuha Izuki was a bit unconvinced: [It's not that bad. I think I've improved...]
[Sigh... Is it necessary to make making friends this complicated? And I don't really understand why you chose Hagiwara Kenji. Just because he was the first to say he wanted to be friends with you...]
Usuha Izuki thought about it: [He takes good care of me, and only he calls me 'Little Shizu.' It feels very much like family.]
System: [...??? Why would it feel like family?]
[Because I was too noisy as a child, my family always told me to 'be quiet.' I thought that was my name. Later my family just called me 'Little Quiet'—it was like a nickname. When naming my cover identity, I directly used this familiar pronunciation.]
Usuha Izuki was very moved: [I didn't expect that with the Samukawa Shinryu cover, someone would still dare call me that. It feels so familiar, and he takes care of me like family too. So when he said he wanted to be friends, I thought it wouldn't hurt to try. But I really hate those situations where people get all conflicted after discovering I'm not what they expected, so I set up a test...]
System: [...I think Hagiwara Kenji is a bit unlucky. Should this be said?]
[I also think he's a bit unlucky.] Usuha Izuki admitted. [But this is my first friend. I'll treat him well in the future! Whether you believe it or not, I believe it!]
System: [........]
—Making friends in such a bizarre way, no matter how you think about it, he's not a good person. I really want to send Hagiwara Kenji a dream warning him to "run quickly"...