Chapter 19
Jinpei Matsuda knew perfectly well why Kenji Hagiwara went to the police academy.
Because Matsuda Jinpei was also very concerned about whether Samikawa Shinryu could get into the police academy, he couldn't wait to ask Hagiwara Kenji as soon as he saw him.
"You're back? How did it go?"
As he spoke, Matsuda Jinpei glanced at Hagiwara Kenji's expression.
Well, his expression was subtle, and it was hard to tell what was going on. After all, the impression that Han Chuan Shenliu gave people, whether he got into the police academy or not, was quite intriguing.
Kenji Hagiwara sat down with a serious expression and pondered for a moment: "Hmm... there's still a pretty good chance."
Matsuda Jinpei was shocked: "Really? What did the instructor say?"
"Do you remember Fukagami's answer to why he wanted to be a policeman?" Kenji Hagiwara asked.
Matsuda Jinpei nodded: "I was deeply impressed. Don't tell me the instructor was moved by that answer and felt a sense of responsibility and desire to save a young person who might go astray. This isn't a Japanese drama..."
"Well, that might be a little bit of a reason, but the main reason is something else."
Kenji Hagiwara's expression became even stranger.
"The instructors are worried that if Han Chuan really becomes a criminal in the future, and reporters interview him about why he turned to crime, he might say that he once wanted to be a policeman but wasn't accepted into the police academy. The pressure from the police academy would be immense, and they would become infamous negative examples, ruining their reputations in their later years. So the pressure is huge..."
Matsuda Jinpei: "...Isn't the instructor thinking a bit too far ahead, worrying too much?"
This was truly an unexpected reason; even if Matsuda Jinpei racked his brains, he couldn't have come up with the instructors' wild ideas.
Is it really necessary?! Even if Han Chuan Shenliu doesn't seem like a good person, he hasn't actually done anything wrong. Why are you already imagining his police academy reputation after he's caught committing a crime?!
Even though Matsuda Jinpei was often influenced by the "shadow of the conspiracy" and had some negative thoughts about Samikawa Shinryu, he still couldn't understand why the instructors thought so badly.
The reason is actually quite simple. First of all, it was the first time the instructors had met Hanchuan Shenliu, so they didn't have a preconceived good impression of him, nor were they resistant to the "behind-the-scenes halo".
Secondly, the instructors had too many things to consider, and being police officers, they had even more to think about when they saw someone who made their DNA feel like a criminal inmate. The more they thought about it, the more pronounced the "behind-the-scenes aura" effect became...
The thought of bearing the responsibility of whether the world might produce another master criminal makes them feel immense pressure.
Fortunately, there's no need to give an immediate conclusion on whether it passes or not; they can hold a meeting to discuss it, which at least gives them some buffer time.
Although Bo Yezaki did not ask, he could roughly understand the struggles of the police academy instructors.
Because system notifications kept flooding the screen...
To make a careful decision, the instructors even investigated the acts of bravery mentioned in the resumes—and then discovered that the people who were rescued were actually Kenji Hagiwara and his teammates.
Instructor Onizuka suddenly understood why Kenji Hagiwara had been at the police academy that day: "Were you gathering information for him?"
Kenji Hagiwara, though embarrassed, showed a hint of relief, as if he had finally come out and stopped pretending: "Yeah, after all, you saved me... But I didn't do anything favoritism, I was just asking around, I didn't break any rules, did I?"
Instructor Onizuka's gaze was subtle: "You didn't break the rules, and you've become much more obedient now. Did being thrown to train with the new recruits have an effect?"
"It definitely has an effect. I realized my mistakes a long time ago, otherwise I wouldn't be able to get back to my post now."
Kenji Hagiwara is now absolutely incapable of making the mistake of saying something like, "Even if you wear a bomb suit, you'll at most have a whole corpse left," and he's behaving exceptionally well-behaved.
However, although he has returned to his post, it is still a bit different from the important position he was given right after graduation. It is obvious that the senior members of the explosives handling team still have some psychological trauma towards him.
But having psychological trauma is actually a good thing. Many people become psychological trauma to their colleagues, but they are already dead. It is only because Kenji Hagiwara is still alive that such strange treatment occurs.
Instructor Onizuka said a few words to Kenji Hagiwara with satisfaction, and then said with emotion, "I know you are capable. Don't worry too much. Perform well, and you will be able to return to the front line sooner or later."
Kenji Hagiwara readily agreed, then said, "But the instructor didn't come here to see me, did he?"
“…Yes.” Getting back to the main topic, Instructor Onizuka’s emotions visibly subsided. “You’re even helping Hanchuan gather information, so you must be quite familiar with him. What kind of person do you think he is?”
Kenji Hagiwara had already prepared his answer: "He is a person who is easily misunderstood. No matter how suspicious he may seem, he has no criminal record. I am willing to believe that he has not done anything illegal, but I will not force others to believe him as I do."
Although he did have some unpleasant associations because of Hanchuan Shenliu's occasional shocking remarks, he was also willing to believe that Hanchuan Shenliu was a good person.
Samukawa Shinryu had always lived under this prejudice, and Hagiwara Kenji couldn't even imagine what that kind of life was like.
To break free from long-standing prejudice, Han Chuan Shenliu is already trying to save himself! He's working hard to pass the police academy entrance exam! If we don't help him now, what if he fails the civil service exam and goes down a path of no return?! He'll regret it for the rest of his life!
The instructor asked some more questions, and after hearing that even renting a house required the help of police officer Kenji Hagiwara, he fell silent.
well……
Renting a place is already so difficult, finding a job is even more difficult, especially since I'm an orphan with no family to rely on.
Hanchuan Shenliu has already failed the police department exam once. If he fails again, he will probably have no savings left. No one will lend him money, and the only ones willing to lend to him are loan sharks, which would be even worse.
Once a person loses their money, nothing is surprising.
Do they really know that the other person is already in such dire straits, yet they still force them to break the law just to survive?
People who have been to prison have the opportunity to start anew, so why can't they give Kankawa Shinryu a chance as well?
Perhaps Hankawa Shinryu really will become a good policeman.
So, after a fierce internal struggle and a lot of persuasion and rebuttal among the instructors, Usui Yasaki finally received his acceptance letter from the Metropolitan Police Department Police Academy.
The system was even more nervous than Usuha Saiki, and upon seeing the notification, it almost burst into tears of joy: [It actually succeeded even without turning off the "Shadow Aura"!]
Bo Yezaki also sighed: "Indeed, there are still more good people than bad in the world. Luckily, I wasn't trying to gain their trust or goodwill, or I would have felt guilty."
[So you won't feel guilty if you keep raising suspicion levels...]
No, I still feel a little guilty.
The system didn't quite believe it. It suspected that Usoppai would feel no guilt no matter what stats he racked up, and would blame the system, claiming that he was just an ordinary worker following orders.
Ever since discovering that this guy wasn't an ordinary person before, the system has become a bit suspicious, often wondering what he did in the past, and is already inclined to think that he's not a good person.
If the system weren't excluded from the calculations, the doubts it contributed would have flooded the notifications.
In any case, Usaku Saiki finally achieved his goal, and invited Kenji Hagiwara and Jinpei Matsuda to a celebration banquet.
Because of certain etiquette rules for visiting, Kenji Hagiwara and Jinpei Matsuda always bring their own ingredients when they visit. They even cook together, without letting Saiki Usaba do all the cooking, rather than having all three of them squeeze into the kitchen together, like a team-building activity.
If there's anything noteworthy, it's that neither of them would allow Usakabe Saiki to take the knife.
Unfortunately, although Kenji Hagiwara and Jinpei Matsuda both believed that Saiki Usuba wouldn't kill anyone, seeing him holding a knife made them inexplicably break out in a cold sweat and feel very uncomfortable. To maintain harmony, they could only take turns doing the chopping vegetables.
However, the one in charge of cooking is still Usaku Saiki.
After they ate at Usoya Saiki's cooking last time, they were absolutely blown away, and they were much more eager to freeload this time.
"Shinryu is amazing!" Kenji Hagiwara praised enthusiastically. "She can even cook such excellent home-style dishes!"
Usoya Saiki readily accepted the praise: "It's something you get from practice."
Kenji Hagiwara & Jinpei Matsuda: "..."
They fell into an eerie silence for a moment, then resumed their lively chatter.
They understand very well that as long as friends get along well, that's enough. If others don't care, their sympathy and pity seem unnecessary.
The system couldn't help but say: "[So you're such a good cook, yet you insist on having Morofushi Kagemitsu cook when we're on missions, and you never lend a hand...]"
【I was doing this for their own good. They were already under a lot of stress. Everyone felt more at ease with Jingguang cooking. If I had to cook too, I was afraid the pressure would give me stomach problems. Besides, I told them they could order takeout or eat out, but they insisted on staying home as much as possible for safety reasons!】
The system sarcastically replied: "Well, you're quite considerate."
"That's right, I know exactly what sustainability means. They need to have time to relax throughout the day!"
While eating, Kenji Hagiwara was discussing the start of the police academy semester when he suddenly remembered something: "Speaking of which, people used to make little cookies or something and give them to their classmates..."
Matsuda Jinpei hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.
Before Matsuda Jinpei could lodge a protest, Usui Saiki had already given a calm reply.
“I would like to, but I’m more worried that they’ll think I’m trying to poison the police academy and wipe out all the police talent, causing a generational gap in the police force.”
"...It's not that bad, there's no way to poison someone so inefficiently," Kenji Hagiwara added. "Let's wait until we have some classmates we get along with."
Hanakawa Shinryu's self-awareness is heartbreakingly clear...
Soon, the day arrived for the start of the Metropolitan Police Department Police Academy.
On this day, countless police academy freshmen who saw Hanchuan Shenliu for the first time experienced the same hallucination.
"Yumi? What's wrong?" Sato Miwako looked at Miyamoto Yumi, who was blocking the doorway, with a puzzled expression.
“Miwako…” Yumi Miyamoto murmured without turning her head, “Maybe I was born to be a police officer…”
Sato Miwako was puzzled: "Huh? What nonsense are you talking about?"
Yumi Miyamoto exclaimed excitedly, "Because! The instant I saw someone, I had the feeling that this must be a criminal! Is this the legendary sixth sense of an elite detective?!"
"Huh? This is a police academy, where did this criminal come from?"
Sato Miwako, bewildered, walked past Miyamoto Yumi and glanced inside.
Her gaze was instantly drawn to the young man with short, dark blue hair. She forgot everything she had just said to Miyamoto Yumi, and only one thought remained in her mind.
...I might be a genius cop too!!! I have that intuition!!!
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Police academy freshmen: Am I a genius?!
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Matsuda Jinpei: This isn't a Japanese drama.
Yes, this is the world of anime (or 2D).
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The backend system discovered that the moderators had deleted many comments mentioning that man from World War II, so I appealed for them all... Sigh, the moderators are way too sensitive.
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P.S.: Officially, it's stated that Miwako Sato is one year younger than Rei Furuya, but here I've assumed she's one year younger.
Actually, I feel that normally she should be two years younger than Rei Furuya, because police academy starts in April and October. Miwako Sato was 21 when Rei Furuya (who was 22) and the others graduated, so she should still have half a year left before graduating from university, so the earliest she could graduate would be April of the following year...
After all, police academy only lasts 6-10 months, not a year per class. If you're a year younger, you should graduate a year later. University graduation time is fixed...
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