Chapter 9: Second Playthrough (4)

"Furuya, can you tell me more about the future?" Kenji Hagiwara whispered to Rei Furuya during their meal. "Tell me more about Jinpei. He won't go into details; he's definitely hiding something!"

No matter the time, especially during small group activities like meals, there is never anyone else around Furuya Rei.

In school, students are always wary of being "special" and try their best not to get involved with "special" people.

Rei Furuya is quite unique, so he usually only has those four friends around him.

Or to put it more strictly, the four of them are even more conspicuous and special than Furuya Rei, and Furuya Rei was "corrupted" by them to some extent.

Rei Furuya was very familiar with Kenji Hagiwara's attitude when he sat down and chatted with him, but...

“Yes, but…” He turned to look at the young man with medium-length black hair, “Does Hagi really believe me?”

Even Kenji Hagiwara was taken aback when someone he had only known for a short time suddenly called him by the affectionate nickname "hagi."

Then he saw a flicker of understanding and disappointment in Rei Furuya's eyes.

Kenji Hagiwara had a bad feeling, but he also knew that trying to brush it off with a smile would only make things worse. So he thought for a couple of seconds and his expression gradually became serious.

"To be honest, I still don't feel like it's real. I feel like you guys are joking, but it doesn't feel like a joke either," he said. "At least, Xiaozhenping's appearance didn't seem like he was faking it."

"Well, I do believe what you're saying is true, but I just can't fully accept it yet."

Kenji Hagiwara smiled and winked at him.

"Give me a little more time, Furuya. I really think we can become very compatible friends."

Rei Furuya sensed his seriousness and his expression became somewhat moved.

"What are you two whispering about here?" Matsuda Jinpei sat down opposite the two, holding breakfast, and narrowed his eyes. "Are you talking badly about me?"

Kenji Hagiwara blinked innocently: "Hahaha, how could that be?"

Rei Furuya nodded seriously: "Yes."

Matsuda Jinpei: "..."

Hagiwara Kenji: "!!!"

Rei Furuya continued earnestly, "Hagi, Matsuda died twice. Once he died in an explosion while avenging you, and the other time he ran over to fight someone but got distracted and was ambushed."

Hagiwara Kenji: "???"

Matsuda Jinpei: "..."

Kenji Hagiwara lunged at his childhood friend in disbelief: "What's the difference between you getting distracted and ambushed while you were fighting and me not wearing a bulletproof vest to defuse a bomb?!"

Matsuda Jinpei: "...So I'm already reflecting on my actions!!!"

When Morofushi Kagemitsu and Date Wataru walked over, the childhood friends were arguing noisily, while Furuya Rei watched the scene with a happy smile.

After having breakfast together, the five of them got along even better, chatting and laughing as they walked toward the teaching building to prepare for class.

502 is the classroom where the Onizuka class usually has their theory classes.

Rei Furuya's seat was in the second row right in the middle. His deskmate to his left was Jinpei Matsuda, and Hiromitsu Morofushi was behind him on the right. Kenji Hagiwara sat by the window, while Wataru Date, who was almost two meters tall, sat at the very back.

"Hey, I'm telling you, you don't really need to come to class to listen to this stuff, do you?" Matsuda, the student next to him, suddenly poked Furuya Rei's arm and whispered to him while the teacher on the podium was lecturing and turning around to write on the blackboard.

Rei Furuya sat up straight and listened attentively to the lesson, but glanced at a certain curly-haired man, then shook his head slightly, signaling with his eyes, "Don't talk to me during class."

However, Matsuda clearly wouldn't back down; in fact, seeing his overly serious demeanor only made him more rebellious.

He not only continued to poke Rei Furuya, but even raised his voice a little: "Hey, hey, hey, I'm asking you, why are you taking this so seriously? Aren't you bored sitting in this classroom with us listening to this stuff you already know? You know even more than the drill instructor, right? Don't you get bored listening to him lecture? Blonde-haired Professor—"

The teacher on the podium patiently snapped the chalk in half, and the students around them were already watching the two of them.

Knowing Matsuda Jinpei's personality well, Furuya Rei could only sigh helplessly and lean closer to whisper to him in order not to be kicked out by the teacher in the first class.

"Because sitting in a classroom like this, basking in the sunlight, attending class without worrying about when my classmates might die, is the life I've always dreamed of. How could I possibly complain about it?" the blond-haired youth sighed softly.

*

Matsuda Jinpei was so shocked by Furuya Rei's words that he spent the whole morning in a daze. He didn't cause any trouble during the classes and didn't even doze off.

The meaning behind those words was so heavy that it was hard for 22-year-old Matsuda Jinpei to imagine.

Even if he knew everything, it would be difficult for him to imagine just how much Rei Furuya had actually borne.

Because that guy obviously didn't tell them everything in detail, glossing over a lot of his hardships and pain, such as his undercover work in that dark organization... He would even deliberately stir up trouble to lighten the mood.

I have a general feeling of unease.

"Hey, does what you said before about sparring and training with me every night still count?" Matsuda Jinpei suddenly said.

Rei Furuya, who was packing up his books to go out for lunch after class, paused for a moment, turned around and looked at a curly-haired young man covered in injuries, and raised an eyebrow slightly.

Matsuda Jinpei: "..."

Matsuda Jinpei: "I meant after my injuries have healed!!!"

Rei Furuya couldn't help but laugh: "Of course, then I'll trouble you with defusing the bomb."

Matsuda Jinpei, with dead fish eyes: "Do you still need me to teach you?"

Rei Furuya shrugged: "I'll go through the process. I can't just suddenly know how to do it. Anyway, I learned it from you in the first place."

The curly-haired youth and the blond youth huddled together, whispering and laughing playfully.

Kenji Hagiwara, leaning against the seat next to Hiromitsu Morofushi, couldn't help but tease the two, "Their relationship has suddenly become so good; even as Jinpei's best friend, I'm a little jealous."

Morofushi Kagemitsu, who had been silently watching Furuya Rei for almost the entire morning, couldn't help but smile upon hearing this and nodded, saying, "Yes."

After saying that, he couldn't help but sigh softly, "If only I could remember that too."

*

The initial friendships between students often begin largely because they go out to eat together.

The five of them naturally walked together at noon to go to the cafeteria for lunch.

While the other three were talking, Furuya Rei quietly slowed his pace and walked over to his childhood friend who had unknowingly fallen behind.

"Hiro, what's wrong?" Furuya Rei called out to him. "You've been spacing out all day."

"Ah, it's nothing." Morifushi Kagemitsu snapped out of his daze, instinctively denying it, but then froze when he met the blond youth's gaze.

Seeing the expression on his childhood friend's face, he could no longer hide it from him.

Yes, Zero has already been honest with him about such things. If he were to keep his own secrets to himself, it would really be going too far.

"Actually, I've been thinking about how I can help you." Finally, he confessed to his childhood friend, "Also, Zero, you said that the guy who runs the laundromat outside the school, Motoi, is the murderer who killed my parents..."

“Let’s tell the clues to Gao Ming and have him investigate,” Furuya Rei said first. “It will be a month before we have time to go out and investigate this case, so why don’t we tell the relevant clues to your brother Hiro and let Gao Ming, who is a police officer, handle this case.”

He was lying; he was just a little afraid that Hiro would get too excited about the case, lose his composure and rationality, and thus put himself in danger.

The image of the young man with upturned blue cat eyes rushing headlong into the exploding inferno flashed through Rei Furuya's mind once again.

In the past, he might have agreed to let everyone work together with Hiro to solve the case themselves, so that Hiro's inner demons could be better eliminated.

But now he's more afraid that his fellow police academy students might get themselves into irreparable danger while investigating the case on their own, and then someone else...

*

In the end, the task of capturing the murderer was left to Morofushi Takaaki.

Although Morofushi Takaaki is far away in Nagano, he is a family member and a person directly involved in this case, and he is fully capable of coming to Tokyo to participate in the investigation.

During the phone call, Morofushi Takaaki also mentioned that he would find time to visit his younger brother, Kagemitsu, at the police academy, and also inquired about his childhood friend, Zero, and whether he had made any new friends at the academy.

With mixed feelings, Morobushi Kagemitsu hung up the phone.

He really wanted to catch the murderer who killed his parents, which was one of the main reasons he became a policeman.

But Zero's point is also valid; it would be better to leave this to his older brother, who has already become an excellent police officer, rather than to him, a student who has just entered the police academy and is still in closed training.

and……

Morofushi Kagemitsu knew his childhood friend so well. Although Zero didn't say it, he could still sense the blond youth's excessive anxiety about their safety.

He couldn't really help Zero anyway, so he didn't want to make her even more worried and anxious because of his situation.

That's it. Morofushi Kagemitsu tried to slowly convince himself to let go of this inner demon, just like how the murderer who killed his parents was eventually caught by his brother.

But no matter how much he tried to convince himself, Morofushi Kagemitsu still had nightmares when he went to sleep at night.

The bloody, terrifying shadow that killed his parents still haunted him through the night, and in his dreams, he always turned into a weak child, powerless to resist...

Awakening in the middle of the night, Morofushi Kagemitsu gasped for breath and hugged himself tightly in the darkness. His pupils were constricted, his eyes were lifeless, and his fingers trembled slightly uncontrollably.

"No... I have to see him... I have to stand in front of him and see what he looks like... I have to, I have to end this nightmare with my own hands..."

"I'm sorry, Zero..."

*

Having made his decision, Morofushi Kagemitsu did not reveal his thoughts to others; Zero, on the contrary, was the person he carefully concealed from everyone.

In any case, he didn't want to involve everyone in his dangerous situation.

He didn't intend to solve everything by himself. He would keep an eye on Gao Ming's situation and would only go over to help Gao Ming catch the murderer at the very end. There wouldn't be any danger.

I'll apologize to Zero after everything is over.

"Did you know? Apparently, six students almost caused a fire by getting into a fight while smoking in a group. Because the incident was serious, they have been expelled." Date Wataru's words suddenly jolted Morofushi Kagemitsu out of his reverie.

Morofushi Kagemitsu was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously turned his head sharply to look at his childhood friend.

Rei Furuya was "sparring" with Jinpei Matsuda while holding a broom. Wherever the two went, large swaths of cherry blossoms flew everywhere. Kenji Hagiwara cheered on his childhood friend who was losing. The three of them were finally subdued by the class president, Wataru Date, who could no longer tolerate them, and then they obediently continued sweeping.

He's probably overthinking it.

Morofushi Kagemitsu quickly put the matter aside; what mattered most to him now were those two things.

First, catch the murderer who killed his parents.

Second, he needs to become stronger and think carefully about how he can help Zero. He can't always make Zero worry about and protect him. Actually, he should be the one worrying about Zero more. He wants to help his childhood friend, even if it's just a little bit.

Fighting against fate is not something that can be done by one person alone; that would be far too painful.

*

After a busy day, Rei Furuya was finally planning to go to bed early tonight, but his plans were interrupted by a sudden accident.

A new person joined the chat group.

Rei Furuya first opened the group member list to check the other person's information.

[1. Subaru Natsuki: From *Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World-*, currently on his eleventh playthrough, and has died eleven times.]

[2. Shinpei Ami: From "Summer Revisited," currently in his fourth playthrough, and has died four times.]

[3. Rei Furuya: From "Detective Conan," currently on his second playthrough, has died twice.]

4. Homura Akemi: From "Puella Magi Madoka Magica", currently on her first playthrough, has died 0 times.

Rei Furuya paused, his expression slightly hardening, his gaze repeatedly checking the two spots: "Magical Girl" and "Zero Deaths".

Clearly, the newcomers this time are in a different situation than the rest of the group.

At least she doesn't have to die to rewind time.

This seemed like a good thing; the newcomer's personality didn't seem to be the troublesome type, which relieved all three of them.

The newcomer wasn't particularly wary, and he was happy to have others to discuss things with, so Furuya Rei quickly learned about her basic situation.

The profile picture of the newlyweds is of a girl wearing red glasses and with long black pigtails.

Homura Akemi, 14 years old, a middle school student, was previously bedridden due to heart disease. She is a very timid and sickly girl with low self-esteem.

After being discharged from the hospital and transferring schools, she was unexpectedly attacked by a witch but was saved by her only friend, Madoka Kaname, and her companions. From then on, she gradually got to know the four magical girls at the school.

However, within a short month, all four magical girls encountered danger and died one by one, including Madoka Kaname.

In the end, of the five of them, only Homura Akemi, an ordinary person who knew nothing, survived because she was well protected.

So, in order to save everyone, and to save her only friend Madoka Kaname, Homura Akemi made a contract with Kyubey and became a magical girl. After gaining the ability, she reversed time and returned to the time when she first met everyone a month earlier.

[Homura Akemi: This time, I met Kaname not as someone she was protecting, but as someone who wanted to protect her.]

[Homura Akemi: Now I've become a magical girl too! I can help everyone, and I can fight alongside you all! I know the dangers ahead, but if I tell everyone and we work together, we'll definitely overcome them! I'll protect Kaname-san this time!]

The three people in the group offered their sincere blessings to the happy girl, hoping that she would become the most special, successful, and happiest person in the group.

After sending the message, Furuya Rei saw the girl in the group chat happily saying that she was packing her things to be discharged from the hospital and that she couldn't wait to transfer schools and see everyone. A smile appeared on his face as well.

Magical girl, what a phrase full of love and hope.

What's more, she also fought alongside five companions, but in the end, she was the only one who survived, which inevitably gave Rei Furuya a sense of déjà vu.

Rei Furuya sincerely wishes that the girl's wish will come true.

If she succeeds, then his chances will be even greater, right?