Chapter 19: Graduation was a complete victory, Zero! ...

Most tourists gathered in the square to redeem today's event prizes, leaving many of the park's attractions neglected.

Rei Furuya reacted quickly, grabbing Ryusei Kitagawa and jumping onto the Ferris wheel as if a savior had descended.

The slowly rising hull blocked several lingering gazes.

"That was close..."

"Hiro's eyes are terrifying."

They both breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at each other, laughing out loud.

Their faces were flushed with a thin layer of red, but only half of it was from the chase they had just had.

Their partners knew perfectly well what was going on.

Their clasped hands had somehow become intertwined, and the two sat side by side on one side, watching the Ferris wheel slowly rise.

Dusk enveloped the surroundings in a tender glow.

The temperature difference between their palms gradually disappeared.

But Furuya Rei's body temperature was too high, and a thin layer of sweat rose up when he grabbed Kitagawa Ryusei.

After sitting there for a while, Furuya Rei broke the silence: "Ryuu, I haven't had a chance to answer that question yet."

Kitagawa Ryusei blinked in confusion: "What's the problem?"

How come he doesn't remember this?

Before he could think it through, the person in front of him suddenly leaned closer, and their breaths touched once again.

This time it wasn't the corner of her lips; the warm touch lingered on Kitagawa Ryusei's lips.

First, it was gentle, a fleeting touch that separated them, only to intertwine again the very next moment.

No longer content with just a superficial attempt, Furuya Rei tentatively parted the other's lips and teeth, her movements gentle and light.

"Hmm!"

Without being given any chance to react, Kitagawa Ryusei instinctively grabbed the attacker's clothes on his shoulder, his beautiful knuckles curling up and turning white from the force.

His other hand was still tightly clenched.

The hand resting on the back of the neck blocked all of the young man's escape routes, revealing a hint of toughness that was completely different from the gentle actions of its owner.

My rapid breathing, along with the surrounding air, made me feel viscous.

Opening his eyes, Kitagawa Ryusei saw a young man against the setting sun, his eyes lowered, his light gold eyelashes gleaming and trembling with his movements.

The sound of my heart beating resonated throughout my body.

It makes people forget their most basic instinct: breathing.

Only when the last bit of oxygen was exhausted and breathing became erratic did the tangled breaths separate once more.

He subconsciously raised his face, wanting to chase after the departing warmth.

Rei Furuya lowered his head, and their foreheads touched.

“That’s how you coax your boyfriend,” the young man replied in a slightly hoarse voice, his fingers resting on the other’s fair neck, feeling the other’s heartbeat. “Has Ryusei learned it?”

The crisis of having his lifeline pinned down and his heart pounding like a drum in his chest screamed together. Kitagawa Ryusei looked up, his eyes filled with misty tears and defiant defiance: "No."

"Then let's learn it again..."

As the Ferris wheel passed its highest point, there were no fireworks, no starlight.

But when Kitagawa Ryusei saw the spreading sunset, he thought—

The moonlight must be beautiful tonight.

...

...

The Ferris wheel couldn't stay suspended in mid-air forever, and the outstanding students from the police academy knew that while they might escape, they couldn't hide forever, so they had been waiting at the exit since early morning.

When the two came out, they saw four tall, burly men standing there menacingly.

Tourists around carefully detoured to avoid the area, fearing they might attract the attention of criminals.

Kenji Hagiwara borrowed a baseball bat from somewhere and had Jinpei Matsuda, whose expression was the most intimidating, hold it and tap it against his palm from time to time.

"Ahem," seeing them come out hand in hand, Matsuda Jinpei spoke first, setting the tone for the upcoming "interrogation": "Confess and you'll be treated leniently; resist and you'll be punished severely!"

Those standing behind him, including Date and the others, all nodded in agreement.

Rei Furuya's eyes widened instantly, a row of black lines appearing on his forehead as he expressed his utter bewilderment: "You guys are making a huge fuss over nothing!"

Kitagawa Ryusei stood quietly to the side without saying a word.

He doesn't really want to talk right now.

My lips were a little numb, and upon closer inspection, they were also a bit swollen, as red as rose petals that had been touched by dew, so I could only cover them with my sleeve.

Even though forces are supposed to be mutual, Furuya Rei was completely unharmed...

So let the culprit debate with the group of scholars all by himself.

Kitagawa Ryusei, harboring resentment, turned her still-feverish face away, avoiding the probing gazes of these people.

Although he had never eaten pork, Kenji Hagiwara had seen pig migrations before, and he immediately noticed something was wrong.

He stealthily moved over, and taking advantage of the blond youth's inattention, he pushed Kitagawa Ryusei's shoulder and started running, shouting as he ran, "Yay! Hagi saved poor Ryusei-chan from the vicious Kofuruya! Jinpei, you cover the rear!"

Rei Furuya, whose base was raided in a flash: "..."

Still bewildered and disoriented from being pushed around in the wind, Kitagawa Ryusei: "..."

He blinked slowly, stood opposite Rei Furuya, and conveyed a signal with his eyes: Oh, it seems like I've been taken hostage.

Will you save me, Mr. Zero?

Finally, the hostage and Mr. Zero, who was "held hostage," were forced to squat in the corner, trying to exchange a belated confession for a chance to survive.

"When did this happen?" Matsuda Jinpei asked fiercely.

Rei Furuya, with his fluffy golden head drooping, said, "On the day of the sports meet."

"What?! You managed to keep this a secret for so long!" Kenji Hagiwara exclaimed in disbelief.

"That's so mean!" His tone changed, and he pitifully accused, "Kariguchi and Ryusei have a secret! And they want to ostracize all of us!"

If he were in a relationship, he would definitely announce it to the world within three hours of confirming the relationship!

Despite the passionate and eloquent accusations, Kitagawa Ryusei remained unmoved, at most feeling a little guilty.

He poked Furuya Rei's lower back with his index finger, who was squatting with his head in his hands like a suspect, signaling him to answer quickly.

Rei Furuya returned with an innocent look in his eyes.

It seems there's no room for argument.

They looked at each other in silence, and then at their friends who were faking smiles, they both gave up resisting without prior arrangement.

As the enemy retreated and their morale waned, the group pressed their advantage. Kenji Hagiwara was the first to pounce, pinning down two despicable individuals, and roared, "Go! Punish them!"

*

Although the class monitor secretly skipped the race behind everyone's back, and two other guys secretly cheated right under their noses, half of the group, who were all single yesterday, suddenly turned against them overnight.

But this won't affect anything.

At most, in order to eat an extra bowl of rice, I would have to forcibly separate those two who were always secretly sticking together from time to time!

"Sticky couples are so annoying!" Matsuda Jinpei scratched his head in frustration.

Time dragged on until autumn, and my police academy life was coming to an end.

Graduation won't wait for young people who aren't ready to enter the workforce.

Rei Furuya, as an outstanding graduate, had just finished speaking and was still on the podium.

Bored while waiting under a tree not far away, Kitagawa Ryusei held up the cherry blossom badge in his hand and examined it in the sunlight. The graduation certificate in his hand also had a police insignia.

...It hasn't been long, yet he's already able to accept his police identity without any reservations.

"Xiao Liusheng!"

Someone was calling his name.

Kitagawa Ryusei looked up and saw Hagiwara Kenji waving in the distance, running towards them with an exaggerated expression.

Several female classmates followed behind him.

The police academy girls ran as fast as anyone else, closely following the black-haired youth, almost grabbing his clothes several times.

"Hagiwara-kun, don't run!"

A girl lunged forward and subdued the man with a single move, while several future policewomen quickly surrounded him in perfect coordination.

Kenji Hagiwara stubbornly clung to his clothes at his chest, desperately trying to dodge, his face filled with unwavering defiance: "There really aren't any left! There are only a few buttons, and I can't just give away this one at the chest!"

"Xiao Liusheng, save me!"

The young man, disheveled, was surrounded by a group of excessively strong girls, his eyes filled with terror.

"..." Kitagawa Ryusei swallowed hard, quietly took a step back, and offered remote moral support: "Good luck, Kenji-kun..."

Kenji Hagiwara: "..." *sobs*

The tenacious second-year graduate student managed to save his second button and coaxed the female classmates away.

Finally, he sighed, "Although it's impolite to disappoint a lady, there's only one Hagi, not enough for everyone to share."

"You're clearly enjoying yourself," Kitagawa Ryusei thought to himself.

Thinking this, he saw the young man's amethyst-like eyes scanning his neat row of buttons, stroking his chin as he said, "Little Liusheng, I have a good idea..."

Kitagawa Ryusei's internal alarm bells rang wildly, and he retreated again: "...And I have a bad feeling."

Half an hour later, Furuya Rei jogged over from the podium to give her boyfriend a big hug, only to see a row of guys standing in neat rows with expressions of anticipation.

The outstanding graduate abruptly stopped, casting a questioning glance at him.

Sandwiched between Hagiwara and Matsuda Jinpei, Kitagawa Ryusei spread his hands to indicate that he was forced into this situation.

His poor coat, missing all its buttons, was hanging from its owner's arm, performing a self-deprecating act.

The young man was wearing a white shirt, with an innocent expression and helpless eyes.

“Ahem,” Zhu Fujingguang stepped forward, his voice gentle and refined: “Zero, to celebrate your outstanding graduation, we have prepared a little game for you.”

Kenji Hagiwara winked at the bewildered blond youth and explained, "Ryusei's buttons are now scattered all over the school. You need to find them and determine which one was once closest to his heart."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Kitagawa Ryusei.

Although she felt a little embarrassed, under the urging of the others, Kitagawa Ryusei had no choice but to finish the last line according to the script: "Um... once it's found, it's yours."

Furuya Rei: "..." His gaze became incredulous, sweeping from Kitagawa Ryusei to Morofushi Kagemitsu, and then lingering on the most composed and reliable class president.

Everyone looked at the sky and the ground, remaining silent.

What is this? I put everyone in my pocket, and everyone kicked me into the ditch??

The school is so big, and the button is so small. If you just put it in any flower bed, do you expect him to use a rake to plow the field?

“Here’s a hint, you blond bastard,” Matsuda Jinpei said, probably because Furuya Rei’s expression was too miserable, and he couldn’t suppress the corners of his mouth as he smiled: “The location was all chosen by Ryusei.”

The area shrank instantly.

Rei Furuya had never found a curly-haired jerk so pleasing to the eye.

Next time we fight, I'll let him have three moves.

The location chosen by Kitagawa Ryusei...

The first thing that came to Furuya Rei's mind was the tree under which he had seen the other person climb over the wall.

As expected.

Watching his childhood friend find the first button under the tree and then head towards the square with a clear goal, Morofushi Kagemitsu followed behind, lost in thought.

"So you've known each other for so long?"

Rei Furuya carefully recalled his experiences with Ryusei Kitagawa and found all the buttons under the wall and tree, in the square, in the bathhouse, and in Ryusei Kitagawa's dormitory.

But the most difficult part is yet to come.

Which one is the one he truly wants?

Rei Furuya reached out and grabbed a handful of blond hair, looking somewhat troubled.

“If you can’t figure it out, you can take it all,” Kitagawa Ryusei whispered in his ear, appearing close by unnoticed. “It’s all yours anyway.”

Even though it was a very pleasant-sounding statement, Rei Furuya looked up and felt that something was off.

The others smiled mysteriously.

Whether it was a hint or a diversion, the class monitor said with a sincere expression, "If it were Natalie, she would probably choose the location for the confession..."

Morofushi Kagemitsu could not help: "I don't know, only Ryusei himself knows the answer."

Matsuda Jinpei continued to fan the flames: "If you can't guess, just give up, you blond bastard."

Giving up is absolutely impossible, absolutely not!

Rei Furuya suspiciously examined each of the five buttons, then turned to meet Ruki Kitagawa's pale, teasing eyes.

As if certain that he wouldn't find it.

He paused, then suddenly realized something.

She really is a little fox.

He put down the button in his hand and sat back in his chair, leaning back casually.

"Just like that, you give up?" Kitagawa Ryusei asked with a smile. "Won't you keep looking?"

He was interrupted halfway through his provocative words by Rei Furuya: "I haven't given up. I've already found it."

From the very beginning, Kitagawa Ryusei said that the button on his heart was his.

Rei Furuya reached into his coat pocket with his left hand and, sure enough, found something that shouldn't have been there.

The black button flicked from the fingertip, flashed an arc in the air, and was firmly grasped in the palm of a dark-skinned hand as it fell.

The blond youth looked at the person in front of him with a smile in his eyes, and raised an eyebrow again: "Although I don't know when it walked right into our trap."

His desire to show off was palpable.

"Huh?? They're going easy on us!" A dumbfounded Kenji Hagiwara jumped up: "Ryuu! You're making our schadenfreude look really embarrassing!"

Matsuda Jinpei agreed, clicking his tongue in obvious annoyance and turning his head away, refusing the display of affection.

"You really won decisively, Zero," Morofushi Kagemitsu joked with a smile.

Having failed to prank his close friend, Kenji Hagiwara was completely dejected. He muttered to himself as he reluctantly took back the button he had lent to Ryusei Kitagawa as a cover.

...

Soon they will be heading to their respective jobs and will no longer be able to stay together like they are now.

Date, Kitagawa, Hagiwara, and Matsuda are all in Tokyo and can occasionally get together, while the other two have yet to reveal where they work.

Everyone tacitly refrained from asking further questions.

Not wanting the story to end there, Date Wataru stretched out his arm, using his imposing height to completely encircle the group, and with a wave of his hand, declared, "Let's go on a trip together!"

"I've wanted to go to Sanjusangendo in Kyoto for a long time!"