Chapter 42
With such a major incident at school, the instructors, school leadership, and higher-ups had barely slept all night, all thinking about how to smooth this matter over—at least to save face for the Police Academy.
Usuha Izuki had slept well, and when he woke up, he found that Matsuda Jinpei had sent him an email asking if Hagiwara Kenji had encountered any trouble at school.
Too lazy to type after just waking up, Usuha Izuki directly called him.
Matsuda Jinpei answered instantly: "Samukawa? Finally awake?"
"Mm, saw your email." Usuha Izuki pulled open the curtains and leaned against the window to look at the scenery below. "What do you want to ask?"
"When we contacted yesterday, Hagi wasn't in a good mood. I was wondering if you knew something." Matsuda Jinpei said directly.
The system was shocked: [So Hagiwara was that angry yet didn't complain to Matsuda about you... What an absolutely wonderful person!]
Although Hagiwara Kenji indeed hadn't complained to Matsuda Jinpei about anything, childhood friends who grew up together could easily sense when something was off emotionally. Plus, Matsuda Jinpei wasn't brainless—thinking about what could happen at the Police Academy to make the usually cheerful Hagiwara Kenji feel this bad...
The "Black Screen Aura" didn't even need to act; Matsuda Jinpei directly locked onto Usuha Izuki.
If it were someone else, they'd probably confess to Matsuda Jinpei and apologize, saying they'd upset Hagiwara Kenji and promising it wouldn't happen again.
But Usuha Izuki was different. He opened with: "He didn't tell you? The expelled Toyota came to school and attacked me yesterday."
"It's Honda..." Matsuda Jinpei knew what the person's name was, since encountering a student expulsion right after becoming an Assistant Instructor was too unusual, and Hagiwara Kenji had mentioned it to him. "Wait, this was yesterday? Why didn't he tell me!"
Usuha Izuki said calmly: "They're still discussing disciplinary measures. Higher-ups want me to forgive him, so it's probably in the confidential stage."
Matsuda Jinpei wasn't so easily fooled and felt like something was still being hidden: "Is there anything else?"
"He said he suddenly understood you and wanted to punch me."
Matsuda Jinpei: "......"
Alright, he roughly understood what happened—that kid Samukawa Shinryu had put himself in danger, right?
After confirming that Usuha Izuki was indeed fine, Matsuda Jinpei hung up speechlessly.
System: [Ah, you're just brushing off Matsuda Jinpei like that?]
Usuha Izuki said righteously: [I didn't tell a single lie. What's the problem?]
[But you obviously skipped the part that made Hagiwara Kenji angriest...]
Usuha Izuki argued confidently: [Since Kenji didn't tell Matsuda himself, it means he doesn't want Matsuda to know. As his friend, of course I should respect his wishes.]
System: [......]
This proves that no matter how socially confident you are, you shouldn't make friends carelessly, or you'll pick up someone like Usuha Izuki.
Usuha Izuki didn't care whether the system was speechless or not. After washing up, he went to the cafeteria for breakfast.
Hagiwara Kenji was already there, still in his usual seat, but unlike before when he'd wait for Usuha Izuki to arrive before eating together, he was already silently eating bread by himself.
After getting his food, Usuha Izuki sat across from Hagiwara Kenji with his tray and said directly: "Matsuda thinks your mood is off and asked me what happened."
Hagiwara Kenji: "..........."
Matsuda really knows how to cause trouble!
Originally Hagiwara Kenji wanted to give Usuha Izuki the cold shoulder to see whether the other would just go their separate ways from now on or actively try to mend their friendship, which would help him judge the other's thoughts. But Matsuda Jinpei directly gave Usuha Izuki an excuse to start talking...
Hagiwara Kenji didn't pretend not to hear and responded normally: "What did you tell him?"
"I mentioned yesterday's attack and that you wanted to punch me."
After a pause, Usuha Izuki asked: "How about punching me an hour after eating?"
Hagiwara Kenji was both speechless and amused: "Since when do we negotiate about this?"
Just as Usuha Izuki was about to say something, his phone rang.
He frowned, not very willing to answer, but saw it was a call from the overly dramatic real estate agent from when he rented his apartment.
Unless absolutely necessary, this agent would never contact him, so Usuha Izuki was somewhat puzzled, wondering if something had happened. Originally planning to call back after finishing his conversation with Hagiwara Kenji, he thought about it and decided to answer directly: "Hello?"
"Uh, terribly sorry to disturb you, Samukawa-san." The agent's voice was trembling. "I don't know if you're aware... oh, you definitely wouldn't know. It's like this—someone discovered a body on your balcony and called the police. The police asked me to contact you, hoping you could come back to assist with the investigation."
Even Usuha Izuki was stunned for a moment: "...Alright, I understand. I'll come over shortly."
Hagiwara Kenji vaguely caught a few key words and was very concerned, unable to help asking: "What happened?"
Usuha Izuki hung up the phone with a thoughtful expression: "A body appeared at my place. I need to ask the instructor for leave."
Hagiwara Kenji: "...???"
Originally wanting to have a good talk with Usuha Izuki, now there was no need to talk. Forget eating breakfast—after hastily stuffing down a few bites, Hagiwara Kenji quickly brought Usuha Izuki to find Instructor Onizuka.
Instructor Onizuka was in his office. Now whenever he saw Usuha Izuki with an application form, his brow would furrow, his face full of bitter resentment: "What, you want to leave school again? After yesterday's incident, aren't you going to rest a bit? The principal might still want to see you later."
Although he didn't approve of things like asking Samukawa Shinryu to forgive, he couldn't change the decisions from above. He could only hope to at least protect his student and that everything would develop in a good direction.
Hagiwara Kenji couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Instructor, you should look at the reason for the leave request first."
Instructor Onizuka thought to himself that he'd seen every kind of leave request. With the school currently in chaos over the attack incident and Samukawa Shinryu needing to be on call, any request that should be rejected would still be rejected.
He looked down.
[A murder case occurred at my home. Police asked me to arrive on scene as soon as possible to assist with the investigation.]
Instructor Onizuka: "..........."
I really haven't seen this kind of leave request before!!!
The instructor's pupils dilated in shock, nearly breaking down: "Huh? When did this happen?"
"Just received the call." Usuha Izuki reported truthfully.
Instructor Onizuka stared at those words for a long time, feeling it couldn't be this coincidental?!
When he let Samukawa Shinryu go out, he'd encounter cases every day outside. Now that Samukawa Shinryu wasn't going out, attacks and murders were lining up to come.
If he didn't approve the leave, would the school have an earthquake next?!
Instructor Onizuka painfully picked up his pen and approved the leave, but thinking about it, he felt very uneasy and looked at Hagiwara Kenji.
"Hagiwara, aren't you friends? Go with him and see what's happening. Here are the car keys—drive carefully."
Hagiwara Kenji: "...Alright."
Never mind Instructor Onizuka finding it coincidental—even Hagiwara Kenji thought it was ridiculous.
More than a night had passed since the anger, and Hagiwara Kenji's emotions had calmed considerably. Now seeing Samukawa Shinryu's accident-prone constitution again, concern took precedence.
Just like that, the two who had been in the middle of a fight suddenly seemed to walk side by side toward the parking lot as if nothing had happened.
[See, I told you Kenji is a good person.] Usuha Izuki bragged to the system. [Once he starts worrying about me, he won't stay angry anymore.]
System was paranoid: [Is this also part of your calculations? When did you arrange for someone to be killed?]
Usuha Izuki was silent for a moment: [What are you talking about? When did I kill anyone?]
[The one in your rented apartment.] The system often went dormant to save energy, so it really couldn't guarantee it knew everything Usuha Izuki did. [Isn't having someone die in your own apartment too obvious?]
[...Can your suspicion values be converted to credits? I feel a bit shortchanged right now.] Usuha Izuki complained. [What kind of person do you think I am!]
The system didn't dare say it thought Usuha Izuki wasn't a good person.
[That body has nothing to do with me! I don't know what happened either. Let's go see first.]
Hagiwara Kenji drove quickly. Though not quite to the level of racing, the scenery flying by on both sides and the refreshing wind made the last bit of sullenness in his heart dissipate completely.
He chatted naturally: "Does Little Shinryu have any leads about the case?"
"No, I haven't even visited the neighbors, worried they'd complain."
Due to Japan's custom of close neighbor relationships, it was traditional to visit neighbors with small gifts after moving to a new place—usually homemade sweets or towels as tokens of goodwill. Otherwise, you'd be considered rude.
But it was perfectly normal for Usuha Izuki not to do this.
Just imagining it made Hagiwara Kenji fall silent: "...Mm, your concern is very reasonable."
With Little Shinryu's aura, going door-to-door with greeting gifts—the neighbors wouldn't dare open their doors, and after he left, calling the police wasn't impossible. It might even reach the landlord, who'd ban renting to Little Shinryu.
Considering that police had come to his house this time, who knew what the neighbors would think. Hagiwara Kenji couldn't help but sigh.
Sigh, even wanting to live normally was this difficult for Little Shinryu. His life was hard enough already—he really shouldn't hold grudges against Little Shinryu. Growing up in this kind of environment, having a strange personality was very normal.
Soon, Hagiwara Kenji drove to the building where Samukawa Shinryu's apartment was located.
Originally, Usuha Izuki wanted to go up first while Hagiwara Kenji found a parking spot, but Hagiwara Kenji stopped him: "Let's go together."
Letting Little Shinryu go up alone—what if he couldn't explain clearly and got arrested directly! Better if he went along!
Just as Hagiwara Kenji and Usuha Izuki reached the entrance, someone walking out from inside froze: "Wait, who are you?!"
"Inspector Megure, this is Samukawa-san who currently lives here." The agent was nearby and quickly introduced them.
Inspector Megure's expression immediately changed: "Excuse me, where was Samukawa-san last night?"
Usuha Izuki said very calmly: "Metropolitan Police Academy."
"Oh, Metropolitan Police Academy... What?! Police Academy?!"
Inspector Megure nearly threw out his back.
A plainclothed man standing beside him looked suspicious: "Really?"
Hagiwara Kenji smiled bitterly: "Really. I'm Assistant Instructor Hagiwara Kenji from the Onizuka class at Metropolitan Police Academy..."
Inspector Megure hesitated: "Oh, Onizuka class..."
Hagiwara Kenji keenly caught the subtle attitudes of those around him: "..........."
—Sorry, Instructor. Your reputation really can't be saved.