Chapter 52, Twelfth Week (1)

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You have started your twelfth playthrough.

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

As he offered his sincere blessings, Onizuka Hachizo took out his phone and snapped a photo of the five outstanding police academy graduates in front of him.

After the flash went off and the photo was taken, he stared blankly at the still image on his phone.

Why does Furuya's expression seem a little strange?

Onizuka Hachizo looked up at Furuya Rei across from him, whose smile had returned to normal, then looked down at his phone again.

The blond youth in the middle of the photo, whose neck is being embraced by Ida Ko, is also smiling. The smile isn't strange, but it's completely different from the incredibly happy and radiant smile he had before the photo was taken.

The blond youth in the photo, captured in a fleeting moment, looks like he suddenly feels a little sad.

*

"Instructor, instructor, it's the last day of graduation, can I borrow your Mazda for a bit? It's the last time~" Kenji Hagiwara shamelessly launched into his charming act.

Onizuka Hachizo, who was about to leave after taking a group photo with them but was stopped, was speechless.

“But I’ve already returned that car to its original owner,” Onizuka Hachizo said.

"Huh?!" Kenji Hagiwara was struck dumb, and instantly deflated. "What? So fast? That's a shame. I was hoping to at least take the Mazda out for a spin with everyone on the last day."

They all knew that the Mazda was temporarily left with the instructor by one of his police friends who had died in the line of duty, to be returned to his daughter when she grew up.

“Yes, because she also got into the police academy and will be a freshman next year.” Onizuka Hachizo said with a relieved smile, “That child is very diligent and obedient, definitely easier to manage than you guys.”

“However, when Miwako drove the car away at noon, she told me that when she came over to touch the car in the morning, she was severely scolded by a curly-haired police academy student, and then she was invited in by a blond, dark-skinned police academy student to watch the graduation ceremony…” As Onizuka Hachizo spoke, he realized what was going on and his eyes suddenly turned sharply to Matsuda Jinpei, who was stiff beside him.

Matsuda Jinpei turned around and strode forward: "Haha, that's strange. Where did Mr. Jing and the blonde teacher go? Where did they get surrounded by girls who like them?"

Kenji Hagiwara was so amused by this amazing coincidence that he burst out laughing.

“We’re quite destined to meet. If she becomes a police officer someday, we might run into each other again.” Kenji Hagiwara asked curiously, “What’s her name?”

"Miwako." Hachizo Onizuka said, "Miwako Sato."

*

On the quiet rooftop, the black-haired youth and the blond youth sat side by side, leaning against each other, looking at the scenery below.

Nearby, downstairs, are all sorts of graduates coming and going, marking the end of their police academy life; in the distance, the setting sun slowly sinks below the horizon.

"Zero, did you just come back from the future?" Morofushi Kagemitsu suddenly asked softly.

He turned to look at his childhood friend leaning on his shoulder, and saw his golden eyelashes tremble and blink twice before his dull, dark purple eyes gradually regained their sparkle.

"……Um."

This question seemed to finally awaken the blond youth who was immersed in his own world and thoughts, and he began to calmly explain to Morofushi Kagemitsu.

"Sorry, I was a little distracted. There were some things I hadn't fully figured out from last week."

"The second save point was created when we were taking graduation photos, Hiro. We did it! You don't have to worry about forgetting everything anymore."

"Furthermore, I also received a reward for completing the game that allows me to revive. There's probably one revival slot per save point, and I plan to use it after everything is over."

"This is the second time I've failed and returned to graduation day. This is the third time I've experienced graduation and taking graduation photos. At that moment, I think I didn't completely control my expression and left some not-so-good photos. I'll have to find a chance to delete them from Hagi's phone later."

"Both Plan A and Plan B failed. Whether we kept it from them and worked together to minimize the butterfly effect so we could save Hagi on November 7th, or we told Hagi most of the things and worked with him, even if we listed all the bombs we encountered, new problems would still arise and we would fail."

"But it's okay, I knew the system wouldn't let me off so easily. I don't know which is harder, the game after the second save point or the first. And after these two saves, I've basically figured out which direction the system wants to take, but I still don't quite understand the specifics..."

Two promising police academy graduates sat on the rooftop of their school dormitory, leaning against each other and whispering unbelievable things.

At that moment, no one knew that they had already given their all just to "survive".

And no one will know yet that they are doing something big that will save the world.

*

What do you think about in the last few seconds before you die?

Kenji Hagiwara was thinking, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

I'm sorry, Furuya. You tried so hard to help me, but I still failed.

I'm sorry, Jinpei, I've died in front of you again. It seems I can't keep my promise to become a policeman with you.

I'm sorry, Mom and Dad, I've caused you to bury your child. I really haven't been a good child who puts your minds at ease.

I'm sorry, sister. I promised I wouldn't die, but I still died. It's so shameful. But I still don't want you to avenge me; it's too dangerous. For me, revenge isn't the most important thing; I just want you all to live peacefully and safely.

Kenji Hagiwara was thinking about regrets, so many regrets.

He was only 22 years old. He had just graduated from police academy a month ago. Not long ago, he and his talented classmates had jokingly vowed to make great strides in society and become excellent police officers to protect the country and its people. He had also confidently told his family not to worry. He was already preparing a birthday gift for his childhood friend soon. But all of this came to an end with his death.

Whether or not he can start over, for him now, his life has truly come to an end.

"boom--"

Kenji Hagiwara initially thought that the pain of dying in the explosion was terrible enough, but when he came to his senses and appeared next to Rei Furuya in ghost form, and watched the blond youth skillfully take out a gun and resolutely shoot himself in the head, he realized that there were even more painful things to come.

"Wait, Kofuruya?! Stop—"

"Bang--"

The gruesome image of a human head being pierced by a bullet was so shockingly etched into Kenji Hagiwara's wide-open eyes.

This should have been the first time he had seen such a horrific scene up close.

But he had a vague feeling that he had seen similar scenes before, the familiar blond youth and the familiar splatter of blood... He seemed to have seen Furuya Zero die more than once? But when did those things happen?

"Furuya!!!" Kenji Hagiwara suddenly woke up from his nightmare.

Matsuda Jinpei groaned at the noise, but remained drunk and didn't wake up.

Before he could catch his breath, Kenji Hagiwara picked up his phone with trembling hands and opened the memo app. His usually nimble and steady fingers were now cold and trembling uncontrollably. Even so, he quickly typed out word after word on the phone, taking notes on everything he could remember.

Think quickly, try hard to remember. In his dream, he knew he had died once before, but he couldn't recall the events of his previous death; his memory was fading at an alarming rate...

Kenji Hagiwara's fingers moved slower and slower until they finally stopped completely.

The darkness before dawn is the heaviest; even though the curtains are not drawn, there is not a ray of light outside.

The young man with medium-length black hair sat on the bed with his head down, staring blankly at the text on his phone for a long, long time. His fingers, which were no longer trembling and cold, hovered over the keyboard several times, but he couldn't type a single word.

He was fully awake, so the memory of the "dream" almost disappeared, leaving only the day of his death relatively clear, and the feelings before his death were also incredibly vivid.

When he looked back at the notes he had just written, he felt completely unfamiliar with them and had no memory of them at all.

The uncontrollable loss of important memories is both terrifying and extremely distressing.

Kenji Hagiwara took a deep breath, glanced at Jinpei Matsuda who was fast asleep next to him, and quietly got out of bed to leave the dormitory to find Rei Furuya.

This time, he also saw Morofushi Kagemitsu in Furuya Rei's dormitory.

However, even the other party's terrible protectiveness of their child couldn't stop Kenji Hagiwara from "interrogating" Rei Furuya again.

"Kuryuu, you've definitely reincarnated more than three times!!!" he said through gritted teeth.

"Yes, this is the fourth time now," the blond, dark-skinned, baby-faced youth said, blinking his innocent, droopy eyes.

Kenji Hagiwara reached out to pinch his face hard, but was stopped by the other man who raised his hands in surrender.

"Okay, I'll confess, I've actually reincarnated six times already." Furuya Rei sighed, looking like he had completely given up the struggle.

Morofushi Kagemitsu: "..."

Zero, you really dare to say that, cutting the number in half.

However, Zero lied because he was worried about everyone. Zero's protective instincts are indeed getting stronger and stronger. Those who are being protected are both happy and troubled.

Never mind, as long as Zero is still willing to tell him everything, that's fine.

He would never leave Zero alone.

Kenji Hagiwara was still a little skeptical and was about to ask more questions when he saw the blond youth smile and wave his hand.

“Hagi, let’s talk about the specifics when everyone is awake,” he said. “For now, let’s sleep and get some rest. Hagi must be tired too, right? Don’t worry, I already have a plan. Let’s go back and get some sleep for now.”

Kenji Hagiwara was stunned. He took out his phone to check that there was indeed a note in the notebook that said not to tell anyone else. Then he looked up at Rei Furuya and Hiromitsu Morofushi with bright eyes.

"Can I tell Xiaozhenping and Class Monitor now?!" he asked happily.

"Yes, let's all work together this time." Rei Furuya nodded with a smile. "Just like before, if one person can't do it, two people will work together. If two people can't do it, then three, four, five people will. If we work together, we can always solve all the problems, right?"

This is Plan C, which will involve everyone.

Just like the first save point, this time, the five gorillas can also break through the shackles of fate together with incredible faith and brute force.