Chapter 42: Ten Playthroughs of Save Files (13)

May you all have a bright future and a promising future.

After saying that, Onizuka Hachizo saw Furuya Rei cry.

The blond youth remained silent, seemingly unaware of what was happening, simply staring wide-eyed as tears streamed down his face.

While Onizuka Hachizo was shocked and wondering if he had said something wrong, his finger involuntarily pressed the shutter and took this photo.

That's Rei Furuya! The top student at the police academy! The undisputed number one in all subjects at the police academy! The incredibly serious and dedicated Rei Furuya, no matter what the situation! The Rei Furuya who could still laugh even after being scolded countless times for his foolish antics! Has anyone ever seen him cry?!

"Furuya...?" Onizuka Hachizo finally snapped out of his daze, put away his phone, and stammered as he walked over to the blond youth, jokingly trying to appease him: "Eh? Wait? No way? So you really don't want to part with your instructor, Furuya? You're so reluctant to let go that you're crying?"

"What?" The other four people also noticed something was wrong. They turned around and instantly showed an incredulous expression as if they had seen the world being destroyed. Then they hurriedly approached and began to ask questions.

"Zero?!"

"Jiang Gu...?"

"Wait a minute, did Furuya actually cry from being moved to tears by graduation?!"

"Really? It's just graduation, it's not like we'll never see each other again, what's there to cry about? No way? Zero, you really cried?"

The five people frantically tried to comfort him, but Matsuda Jinpei seemed to have come to cause trouble.

"...Ugh, so annoying! I wasn't crying!" Furuya Rei wiped away his tears with one hand and shoved away the curly-haired head that was trying to peek at him with the other, almost laughing in exasperation. "These are tears of joy! It's because Matsuda's curly hair flew into my eyes!"

Matsuda Jinpei: "...Don't you want to listen to what you're saying?"

“Zero…” Morofushi Kagemitsu was so shocked by his childhood friend’s tears that half of his soul seemed to fly out of his body. He subconsciously reached out to wipe away his tears.

Furuya Rei turned his head away from his hand, then turned around and buried his face in the blue-eyed youth's chest, so that no one could see his expression and his uncontrollable tears.

Morofushi Kagemitsu put his arm around his shoulder and gently stroked his head with his other hand. He looked up and smiled at the five worried people: "Sorry, sorry. I'll take Zero aside to calm down first, otherwise Zero might run away in a huff."

After hiding behind a tree with his childhood friend, Morofushi Kagemitsu looked down at him with concern and asked, "Zero, it's alright now, there's no one else here. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Don't worry, it's not a bad thing... No, I'm so ashamed I can't face anyone, ahh I want to die..." The blond youth's ears were completely red. He finally raised his head and gritted his teeth as he roughly wiped away his tears with his sleeve. "Damn it, why did I cry? And in that situation, everyone saw me. It's so embarrassing."

Looking at his eyes and the smile on his face, Morofushi Kagemitsu couldn't help but smile too: "Because these are tears of happiness."

Zero may have become accustomed to sadness and pain, and even when faced with the most desperate situations, he will not break down and cry.

But these hard-won tears of happiness are so unexpected and hard to control, aren't they?

The blond youth's eyes were still moist, and the corners of his eyes were even a little red, but he nodded and gave him an incredibly bright smile.

"Yes! Just now, we succeeded." He said seriously, "The second save point has appeared. We won't start from scratch again, and Hiro won't forget everything from before."

"We did it!" he repeated with a smile.

Morobuchi Kagemitsu was stunned.

Two seconds later, he suddenly covered his face, chuckled softly, and choked back tears, saying, "Honestly, I'm starting to feel like crying too..."

Finally, finally we succeeded.

He no longer had to worry about forgetting everything, or that all his efforts would be in vain.

There's no need to worry about him being abandoned by Zero without knowing anything, and then helplessly and desperately seeing his corpse in different ways.

He finally stood truly by Zero's side.

As agreed, Zero will never be left alone again.

He will definitely protect Zero.

*

Even at 8 p.m. when the whole class had a dinner and drinks together, Matsuda Jinpei was still laughing at Furuya Rei for crying during the graduation photo shoot.

However, he didn't actually show the photo of Rei Furuya crying to anyone else.

With veins throbbing on his forehead, Furuya Rei started pouring alcohol into Matsuda Jinpei's phone, trying to delete the photos. Then, with encouragement from the others, the two started a drinking contest.

Seeing the lively scene over there, the other students sitting next to them couldn't help but laugh.

The female students huddled together and whispered about the five most prominent figures in their year.

"Furuya is really amazing. She's always been at the top of her class, and she's also very pretty. I like her a lot."

"But he's a gorilla."

"Blonde hair and dark skin are the best! I even saw his abs during training! He's so handsome! The contrast between his cute droopy eyes and baby face is even more captivating!"

"But he's a gorilla."

"Although Furuya can be overly serious and make people a little nervous and scared, he is actually very easy to get along with. He is serious about everyone and will immediately help anyone who is in trouble. This feeling of being able to do anything is so reliable."

"But he's a gorilla."

"...Never mind, let's move on to the next one."

"Morofushi is so incredibly kind, and those round, upturned cat eyes are so cute. His smile is absolutely captivating."

"But he's a gorilla."

"Moreover, although Morofushi looks gentle and mild-mannered, he is actually very tall and muscular, which makes people feel very safe."

"But he's a gorilla."

"What really touches my heart is his personality. He's gentle but not indecisive, and he's very meticulous in everything he does. Plus, he's very caring. I heard he's an amazing cook. That's wonderful..."

"But he's a gorilla."

"...Next one."

"Where's Hagiwara? Actually, I really liked him at first. It's rare to find a man who's so handsome, tasteful, and funny. Don't you guys like him? I clearly remember everyone crowding around him during the previous matchmaking event?"

"But he's a gorilla."

"Hagiwara-kun is indeed someone most girls have liked. After all, no matter what trouble you have, you can always find a solution by asking him, and he's so easy to get along with. Who wouldn't like Hagiwara-kun?"

"But he's a gorilla."

"I love Hagiwara's smile the most. Actually, I was really nervous and not good at socializing at first, but whenever Hagiwara was around, I never had to worry about awkward silences. I wasn't afraid to force myself to talk about topics I didn't like, and I wasn't left out. It's really amazing, isn't it?"

"But he's a gorilla."

"……Next."

"Matsuda's face is really handsome. Unlike Furuya's refined handsomeness, his handsomeness has a dangerous and sharp edge to it, a bit like a delinquent. But he's so handsome, waaaaah... Okay, I admit I like this kind of bad-boy dangerous man!"

"But he's a gorilla."

"Actually, I think Matsuda's personality is very cute. His easy temper and straightforwardness often make me imagine cats. I actually feel that he is the easiest person to get along with among the five."

"But he's a gorilla."

"Although I am sometimes intimidated by Matsuda's aura and dare not look him in the eye or speak to him, I can't help but laugh whenever I see him joking around with others. Our peaceful police academy life these past few months would probably be much less fun without Matsuda causing trouble."

"But he's a gorilla."

"...Next one."

"Ida is really tall, I heard he's two meters tall! He's muscular but not overly so, just looking at him gives you a huge sense of security. No matter what danger he faces, he can definitely subdue the criminals and protect everyone in an instant."

"But he's a gorilla."

"Moreover, Date's sense of justice and protectiveness is really strong. His leadership and affability are also amazing. He is very serious about his work, but not to the same extent as Furuya. It makes people want to rely on him."

"But he's a gorilla."

"Hey! But! Date-kun was already quite tall. If she had prepared herself mentally from the start, even if she turned into a gorilla now—"

"But he has a girlfriend."

"...Never mind, let's drink."

The boys at the next table almost died laughing.

"I originally thought the girls would seize this last chance to confess, but I never expected it to turn out like this, hahaha—"

"But why do girls care so much that they're gorillas? It's normal for us guys to be crushed by the huge difference in strength and not be able to face it with a normal mentality, but shouldn't they scream and like it even more because of that?"

"Because of that, because the gap is so large that it almost transcends species. When faced with such a powerful and perfect being that is not human, it is difficult to feel admiration, right? Because you know that it is impossible, you worry from the beginning and then give up."

"Yes, anyone would be shocked by the amount of training they put in, right? After learning what they've done, it's enough to make you think, 'Wow, is this really something a human can do?' To be honest, I can't even feel envy or jealousy; all I feel is admiration."

"That's right. Now, as soon as people from other classes hear that it was done by the five gorillas from Onizuka Class, they instantly find everything, no matter how outrageous, to be normal."

"But I remember it wasn't like this at the beginning. In the beginning, Hagiwara would often go on blind dates with those girls. Every time, he could call out a lot of beautiful women. I was so envious."

"Ah, I know, it started after Furuya started getting into trouble. After that, the five of them got more and more outrageous, eventually evolving into gorillas and creating an incredibly terrifying gap between them and all humans. Or rather, they're almost at the point of becoming superhumans. Why did they even become police officers? They should all go to the Olympics!"

"...It must be tough being friends with the top student in the police academy. So is that why we can't be friends with Furuya-kun? Ahhh, I really want to get promoted in the police academy too. That's breaking records, right? So cool! Their careers will definitely be super smooth afterward, right? I feel like they'll go from police academy rookie (gorilla) to police force rookie (gorilla) in no time!"

"Forget it. Think about how many horrific cases they've been through in the last six months. Are you sure you could have survived in those situations?"

"...Let's drink instead."

The five people who all heard it: "..."

So why are we so fixated on the word "gorilla"?

Wait, have all five of them already been deregistered?