Chapter 54
Usuha Izuki made excuses to get away from the organization, planning to return to the Police Academy.
The implication in Vodka and Morofushi Hiromitsu's words was that this time it was best to provide on-site guidance—people had to appear, and he couldn't be somewhere unknown like last time. Though they were too lazy to ask, they were probably still concerned about what he was doing on weekdays and wanted him to make a choice between the organization and his unknown part-time job.
Considering the charity gala's location, expanding [Universal Navigation] with the Police Academy as the center, it was outside the range, so he'd have to leave school anyway. Meeting with them wasn't impossible.
The question he needed to consider next was how to take leave from the Police Academy.
Personal leave... it was a bit hard to find a reason. According to records, Samukawa Shinryu was an orphan, so excuses like "grandfather died, grandmother died, need to go back for the funeral" wouldn't work.
Even the orphanage director was dead. He was all alone, self-sufficient, standing perfectly fine in front of the instructor and saying he needed leave for family matters—it wouldn't make sense no matter how you looked at it, unless another corpse appeared at home. But that would be troublesome and being called by police for questioning would also be hard to escape.
That left only sick leave.
But the Police Academy had an excellent infirmary internally. Ordinary sick leave wouldn't require leaving campus—he'd either rest in the dorm or the infirmary. Serious illness might affect classes or even graduation.
Things like fever—Hagiwara Kenji wouldn't feel comfortable leaving him alone at home and would definitely suggest he go to the school infirmary for easier care... such sweet troubles.
A broken bone would be a good reason, but it would also affect the organization's mission.
Usuha Izuki finally couldn't help opening the system store to see if there were any convenient items for faking illness to take leave.
The system was delighted. Even if it couldn't sell the expensive Body Double Puppet, selling other things still earned commission—better than nothing.
Since signing with Usuha Izuki, this guy relied on daily lucky bags for compensation, plus rarely encountering situations requiring emergency item purchases, so he disdained the system store and hadn't bought a single item! If the system only relied on commission for income, it would have starved to death.
Now there was finally some progress. No matter what he bought, as long as he started buying and discovered it was indeed useful, he'd develop dependency in the future...
The more the system thought about it, the happier it became, enthusiastically promoting: [I think this fracture patch is good—apply it and you can fake the appearance of a fracture. It actually shouldn't affect you sneaking out by climbing walls. There's also this allergy medicine—after taking it you'll sneeze constantly and can only stay indoors. Or look at these stomach blood pills—after taking them you'll be diagnosed with gastric bleeding, but you'll recover after lying down for two days...]
Usuha Izuki glanced at the prices.
While not exactly expensive—Samukawa Shinryu could farm it back in half a week of suspicion values—compared to the few suspicion values he'd worked so hard to farm from the organization today, it felt a bit like a loss.
From a cost-performance perspective, he hadn't seen anything that made him particularly excited or feel he absolutely had to buy. He was even considering standing up the organization.
What status did they have to make him pay points out of pocket to do missions?!
Learning of Usuha Izuki's thoughts, the system couldn't help becoming sarcastic: [If you need to be extremely excited to buy anything, for you that would only be free things. If you can't afford it, just don't buy it.]
Usuha Izuki paused thoughtfully: [Did you learn this sales talk from luxury stores? You know, where customers enter and salespeople act aloof with an attitude of "don't bother me if you can't afford it," then customers, to save face, impulsively buy lots of things to prove themselves, just to see the salespeople's servile behavior afterward and feel great...]
System: [......]
You could tell? And why do you seem so experienced! What strange things have you been learning about usually!
[I regret to inform you that I'm the type who, when looked down upon, simply doesn't buy from that store and turns around to leave. I won't give them the sales performance.] Usuha Izuki wasn't angry, just found the system's desperate attempts to sell things rather pitiful, sighing, [You should try a more normal marketing approach next time.]
System was shocked: [Ah? Not buying anymore? Then what are you planning to use for leave? Don't tell me you're really going to break your own leg?]
[Use sincerity.]
System: [......???]
When Usuha Izuki returned to the Police Academy, he happened to encounter Hagiwara Kenji finishing his work and wanting to go out for dinner with Matsuda.
Seeing Usuha Izuki return, Hagiwara Kenji was surprised: "Didn't you just take leave today?"
"Mm, but after wandering around outside, I felt there wasn't anything I wanted to do, so I came back."
Hagiwara Kenji's heart suddenly ached: "............"
Locked up in the Police Academy for a week, finally able to take leave and go out—others would have gone wild with fun, but Little Shinryu actually didn't know what to do... How lonely must he be.
Though Hagiwara Kenji had known before that Samukawa Shinryu's life might be a bit bleak, seeing him previously take leave every week and encounter cases every week, plus refusing to go to gatherings with him and leaving school to do his own things, he'd vaguely developed the illusion that Samukawa Shinryu was quite busy. Now this statement of "wandering around and finding nothing I wanted to do" suddenly blew away that layer of fog, and Hagiwara Kenji regained the correct understanding.
So Hagiwara Kenji extended the invitation again: "Want to come find Jinpei with me?"
Usuha Izuki hesitated and shook his head: "No, I want to rest... I ate a bit too much."
Morofushi Hiromitsu had washed him two plates of grapes. Because this variety was so delicious, he'd accidentally eaten them all and really wasn't hungry at all now.
Hagiwara Kenji wasn't upset about being refused but rather felt relieved, thinking that at least Little Shinryu had eaten a meal before coming back, so it wasn't like he'd wandered around with no interest in doing anything.
However, before long, Hagiwara Kenji realized his relief was premature.
He had dinner with Matsuda Jinpei on Friday night, so he hadn't noticed anything yet. The next day when he returned to school and went to find Usuha Izuki for breakfast, he was surprised to discover the other person hadn't taken anything and was just sitting across from him watching him eat.
Hagiwara Kenji hesitated: "Aren't you eating breakfast? That's not good for your stomach."
"I suddenly don't have much appetite." Usuha Izuki said very calmly. "Anyway, there's no training today, so it doesn't matter if I don't eat."
That was true—if there was training, not eating breakfast would mean energy couldn't keep up with consumption and he might faint from hunger. Without training, he could be a bit willful.
But Hagiwara Kenji still convinced Usuha Izuki to at least drink a bowl of porridge.
Usuha Izuki obediently drank it.
Then at noon, when Hagiwara Kenji continued asking Usuha Izuki for a meal, he found Usuha Izuki again didn't plan to eat.
"I already ate."
Hagiwara Kenji expressed doubt: "What did you eat?"
Usuha Izuki was silent for a moment: "I drank porridge."
"That was breakfast!" Hagiwara Kenji couldn't be fooled. "What's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?"
Usuha Izuki shook his head: "Nothing much, just a bit tired."
Hagiwara Kenji: "......?"
Wait, you went out of school for just one afternoon yesterday and came back—what exactly did you do that could tire you to the point of not wanting to eat?
Or did he mean mentally tired?
Hagiwara Kenji was confused but still convinced Usuha Izuki to eat a rice ball.
This situation continued until Tuesday, with Usuha Izuki looking like he had no appetite. Hagiwara Kenji worriedly mentioned it to the instructor.
He seemed to binge eat on Friday, but these past few days couldn't eat anything—wasn't that a bit strange?
This made Instructor Onizuka worried too, so he came to ask Usuha Izuki if he was feeling unwell physically and whether he needed a checkup.
"No, I think there's nothing wrong with my body." Usuha Izuki said. "I just..."
Instructor Onizuka tensed: "Just what?"
"Encountered some issues and want to be alone quietly." Usuha Izuki said straightforwardly. "Can I take leave this afternoon to rest in the dorm?"
If it were other students saying this without proper reason, using such an incredibly melodramatic excuse to take leave, Instructor Onizuka would definitely transform into a hair dryer and scold them bloody.
But the person saying this was Samukawa Shinryu, so Instructor Onizuka couldn't help thinking more about it.
How could Samukawa be melodramatic? Samukawa must have encountered a very serious problem to want to leave!
How did one trip out of school make him like this? Was he dragged into some strange case? He hadn't received similar reports... But listen to this phrasing—"encountered some issues" but unwilling to say what issues. It should be something he couldn't tell them, seemingly something he'd been troubled about from the weekend until now...
Instructor Onizuka felt Samukawa Shinryu's personality was actually a bit arrogant and he wouldn't waste energy on useless things. For him to be troubled this long, it must be something very important.
It seemed like he'd never seen him troubled about anything... Wait!
Thinking of this, Instructor Onizuka's heart chilled—could it be! Could Samukawa Shinryu have received recruitment from certain gangs while outside school?! Maybe they even said lots of nonsense like "you're naturally suited for our line of work"!
Samukawa Shinryu could take seriously a childhood comment that he might go astray, all the way to growing up and entering the Police Academy. Now being told similar things by gang members, having emotional fluctuations was normal. Maybe he didn't care about anything else, just cared about this—a childhood psychological wound.
Instructor Onizuka wanted to say something but hesitated.
He wanted to speak but was afraid that probing indirectly would seem like he didn't trust Samukawa Shinryu enough, adding insult to injury to his currently somewhat sensitive heart.
"I understand. Go back and rest." Instructor Onizuka finally said. "You're not missing much anyway with just these one or two classes."
Usuha Izuki nodded: "If you don't see me at dinner, don't worry. I'm just feeling irritated and might just sleep through it."
Instructor Onizuka waved his hand: "Got it. Remember to come back to class when your mood recovers."
Usuha Izuki saluted and turned to leave.
The system was dumbfounded.
[Huh? Huh? You got leave just like that? This works?! Is Instructor Onizuka really such an easy-going person?]
Usuha Izuki was very proud: [I told you, sincerity is all you need.]
He'd suddenly realized that with Samukawa Shinryu's image, taking leave was actually quite easy, since the instructor had psychological trauma and feared new accidents.
[......Your sincerity is directly stating 'I don't want to attend classes anymore, I want leave'?!]
[Just tell me whether it succeeded or not!]
System: [............]
It felt a bit sad. Even in this situation, it couldn't take down Usuha Izuki. When would its system store finally open for business...
After returning to the dorm, Usuha Izuki quickly checked his phone and indeed found Morofushi Hiromitsu's tactful urging emails.
These past few days, Morofushi Hiromitsu was probably afraid he'd run away, so he'd occasionally send him materials, asking how his investigation was going and where he planned to meet everyone.
If Instructor Onizuka hadn't come to find him today, he'd have had to actively request leave. Fortunately, Instructor Onizuka was cooperative enough.
Hastily changing clothes, Usuha Izuki relied on Samukawa Shinryu's physical abilities and directly climbed out the window to escape.
Avoiding security cameras and finding ways to sneak out of school—for Samukawa Shinryu with his full skill set, this was child's play. Soon he successfully ran outside school, about to meet up with the organization members.
The system couldn't accept this reality: [Aren't you afraid someone will go to the dorm looking for you and discover you're missing?]
[......Are you forgetting again that you're the Suspicion Value System? Worrying about this and that all day—are you an undercover agent sent by the Trust Point System?]
System: [............]
No students among them dared to look for Samukawa Shinryu. Instructors would only check the situation the next day and wouldn't go to the dorm to find him. Only Hagiwara Kenji might discover this.
Even Hagiwara Kenji, who considered him a friend, should realize something was wrong if he found the person had inexplicably run away!
After hearing the instructor say Samukawa Shinryu had taken leave, Hagiwara Kenji was indeed very worried, but as an Assistant Instructor, he could only visit his friend after finishing the work at hand.
Instructor Onizuka even said: "He wants to be alone quietly. You shouldn't go either."
"What exactly happened? He won't say anything."
Instructor Onizuka sighed: "I don't know either, just have some guesses... I suspect he encountered recruitment from certain gangs. Maybe something wasn't said right and upset him until now. This kind of thing, he can only figure out himself."
Hagiwara Kenji hesitated: "I'll just ask at the door if he needs me to bring food."
And so, Hagiwara Kenji walked to Samukawa Shinryu's dorm door and gently knocked: "Little Shinryu? You haven't eaten all day. Want me to bring you a couple rice balls?"
No response from inside.
Hagiwara Kenji guessed Samukawa Shinryu might be asleep. Though somewhat worried, he decided to leave without further disturbing him.
But just as he lowered his head to turn around, Hagiwara Kenji keenly noticed something.
He crouched down in front of the door and carefully observed the gap under the door.
The door was locked from the inside.
Samukawa Shinryu never locked his door before—he always just closed it normally.
At this moment, Hagiwara Kenji had a strange premonition.
—Samukawa Shinryu was not currently in the dorm.