Chapter 10: Second Playthrough (5)
【——Homura Akemi joins the chat group——】
[Homura Akemi: Everyone, I've transferred schools, and I even told Kaname that I came from the future, and she actually believed me!]
[Homura Akemi: I'm so happy! I'm a magical girl now, and from today onwards I'll be fighting alongside everyone.]
[Homura Akemi: But... can I really help everyone? My body is very weak, and my magic has no offensive capabilities; it can only pause time and store things...]
The girl was clearly very agitated, and she sent out several messages in quick succession.
Rei Furuya quickly typed to congratulate her first, then explained that Subaru Natsuki and Shinpei Amagawa were currently in a very dangerous, tense, and busy period, and might not have much time to be online recently. He told her that if she had any questions, she could ask him directly, as he was relatively free now and usually online.
Perhaps it's because of their age, perhaps because of their experiences, perhaps because of their personalities and intellect, or perhaps it's because of their natural police aura, but the three teenagers in the group all have some degree of dependence and trust in Furuya Rei.
In addition, Furuya Rei is now the most relaxed and safest person among them. Whenever any of them suddenly has a problem and asks for help in the group, Furuya Rei is usually there and can quickly provide a good solution and promptly discover problems that they have not noticed. As a result, everyone now subconsciously comes to the group to talk to him about the problems they encounter.
Rei Furuya smiled and said it was no problem at all, after all...
[Isn't it only natural to ask a police officer for help when you're in trouble?]
The other three teenagers looked at his profile picture, at his overly handsome and stylish blond hair and dark skin, at his baby face and droopy eyes, and didn't dare to say what was on their minds.
And now, regarding Homura Akemi's combat strength...
[Rei Furuya: In your world, can real-world weapons also work on witches?]
[Homura Akemi: Sure, actually I'm thinking of using a golf club or a bow and arrow as a weapon, or... a kitchen knife? But I'm a little afraid of knives...]
[Rei Furuya: If it works, that makes things easier. The most powerful weapons in modern times are, of course, firearms. They don't require particularly high physical strength or stamina, and your abilities are just right to counteract the uncontrollable dangers and carrying difficulties of firearms.]
[Homura Akemi: Oh right! I'll go search for how to make a bomb right now!]
[Rei Furuya: ...You're doing this yourself? Are you good at this?]
[Homura Akemi: My hands are pretty dexterous, right? Because of my heart condition, I've been bedridden, so I sometimes sit in bed and make little things myself. And even if I fail, it's okay, I can just pause and run away again. My family is fairly well-off, so it should be fine! *fist pump*]
[Rei Furuya: Wait, don't do anything rash.]
[Rei Furuya: Fine, I'm fairly familiar with bombs, I'll teach you how to make one.]
[Rei Furuya: Actually, bombs aren't the first choice. If your companions have melee-type characters, be very careful when using bombs, otherwise they can easily affect those around you.]
[Rei Furuya: My initial suggestion was for you to prepare some ranged weapons, like guns.]
[Rei Furuya: Do you have any gangs or terrorist organizations around? Tell me the situation, and I'll help you analyze where their hideouts are. Then, stop time and go check their armory. Rather than letting those people use dangerous weapons to endanger national security, you can use them all to fight the witch.]
[Rei Furuya: When the battle begins, first stop time. Then, when you're the only one able to move, slowly take out guns or rocket launchers and fire until you've used up all your ammunition before releasing time. To others, it will appear as if the enemy has been instantly overwhelmed by a barrage of bullets and artillery fire. This combat effectiveness shouldn't be much weaker than other people's magic, right?]
[Rei Furuya: Homura, your abilities are not weak. There is no power in this world more powerful than the magic of time and space.]
Homura Akemi was stunned, then suddenly realized what was going on, and became excited.
[Homura Akemi: Okay! Thank you so much, Mr. Furuya! I'll go prepare now! *spins happily*]
[Rei Furuya: Okay, be careful. If there's any danger, immediately stop time or reverse it.]
After flipping through the records, Natsuki Subaru slowly typed out a question mark: ?
Are you afraid of knives, so you can use bombs, guns, and rocket launchers?
Wait a minute, isn't it a bit odd that magical girls are paired with modern firearms like long guns and short cannons?
And Mr. Furuya, aren't you a police officer? How come you're so skilled at this kind of thing?! This is way too much to be tortured or interrogated!?
And why is everyone acting so normally? Even Shinpei strongly agrees with the suggestion to get the gun.
Could it be... that he's been away from the normal world for too long?
Natsuki Subaru, now in another world, fell into deep thought.
So, the abnormal one is actually me?
*
late at night.
A dark figure quietly ran out of the police academy dormitory, using the cherry blossom trees as cover to reach the wall. With agile movements, the figure scaled the wall and landed outside the academy without alerting anyone.
He glanced back one last time at the police academy under the cherry blossoms, his upturned blue cat eyes peeking out from under his black hoodie, his gaze filled with both apology and determination.
The moment he turned around, the last trace of hesitation on his face vanished completely, leaving only a chilling resolve.
He slowly walked outside, and with each step and each passing second, his gaze grew sharper, completely leaving the cherry blossoms and the police academy behind.
"Hiro." Furuya Rei suddenly spoke, his resolute and cold expression suddenly breaking down as he turned around in shock, causing his hat to fall off his head.
"Z, Zero?!" Morofushi Kagemitsu practically jumped up on the spot, his voice cracking as he stared wide-eyed at his childhood friend who had somehow appeared there.
The blond, dark-skinned youth stood quietly in the darkness where the moonlight couldn't reach, almost blending into the darkness, making it impossible to see his expression.
"Zero, when did you get here?!" Morofushi Hiromitsu took a step back and then suddenly took a few steps forward, waving his hands with a dry laugh while stammering an explanation, "Um, I, I actually just couldn't sleep last night and wanted to go out for a walk to clear my head. And, and, I accidentally dropped my toothpaste in the toilet, so I wanted to come out and buy a new one..."
The young man's voice grew softer and softer until it disappeared completely.
"sorry……"
The reason why zero is here now is quite obvious.
He thought he had successfully deceived his childhood friend, but the result was clearly exactly what the other party had expected.
Yes, he always forgets that the more he knows Zero, the more Zero knows him.
Zero might understand him better than he understands himself now.
"But, but I don't want to..."
"Hiro." Rei Furuya slowly emerged from the darkness, calmly meeting his childhood friend's gaze. "If I don't interfere with you doing dangerous things this time, will you still not interfere with whatever dangerous things I do in the future?"
"Of course not!" Morofushi Kagemitsu retorted almost instinctively. Zero would experience so many dangerous things later on, how could he just stand by and watch without helping?
But he stopped mid-sentence.
Morofushi Kagemitsu: "..."
Rei Furuya couldn't help but laugh.
“So, Hiro, let me be with you. Let me face the killer with you and solve this problem together,” he said.
*
On the third night after returning to the past and starting the second loop, Rei Furuya caught his childhood friend who wanted to sneak out and solve the case by himself after getting information about the murderer.
On the fourth day, Tomoyuki was successfully apprehended. The evidence of the murder of the Morofushi couple was irrefutable. In addition, he himself confessed to the murder in a mad manner and even said that he was still by Morofushi Kagemitsu's side and had watched him grow up. Morofushi Takaaki put the man in handcuffs and arrested him.
Rei Furuya had already asked the instructor for leave. Standing next to him, Hiromitsu Morofushi looked at the murderer who killed his parents and left him with a huge psychological trauma. His expression was somewhat dazed, but the terrible expression he had shown every time he thought about this matter before was gone.
Even though they hadn't asked for leave, Date Wataru, Matsuda Jinpei, and Hagiwara Kenji had come out with him and surrounded Morofushi Kagemitsu, placing their hands on his shoulders to give him strength.
Looking at the four of them, Furuya Rei finally felt relieved.
He succeeded, Furuya Rei thought, he successfully stopped it once.
This means that the malice of the world and the manipulation of fate can actually be overcome, as long as one is careful enough.
As long as he works hard enough.
*
Rei Furuya didn't sleep last night.
The fifth day of returning to the past to start the second playthrough.
That is, the day Rei Furuya died in his first playthrough, which is a very crucial day.
That afternoon, during the Onizuka Squad's first pistol training session, instructor Onizuka Hachizo nearly died when he instinctively tried to save a maintenance worker who had fallen from the roof.
Moreover, since the student who hid the bullet had been expelled three days ago, if Instructor Onizuka were to have another accident today, they would not have any bullets to shoot the rope hanging from his neck and rescue him in time.
Rei Furuya wore his noise-canceling headphones askew around his neck. After quickly shooting his target and getting a perfect score, he turned around and looked at the instructor and Jinpei Matsuda, who had disassembled his pistol, arguing noisily.
Nothing unexpected happened until the end of get out of class, except that Matsuda Jinpei got a good scolding.
That's understandable, since Rei Furuya repaired the roof overnight, so this dangerous incident wouldn't have happened in the first place.
He successfully defeated the world's malice for the second time.
*
8 PM, rooftop of the police academy's teaching building.
Matsuda Jinpei, whose injuries had mostly healed, clicked his tongue impatiently and helplessly, then excitedly threw a punch at Furuya Rei's face.
He'd reached his limit after being followed by Rei Furuya since after school, even to the bathroom. Let him give this blond bastard a good beating and wake him up!
The final result, of course, was that Matsuda Jinpei was beaten up by Furuya Rei, who was gradually relaxing, very happy, and even a little excited, resulting in a crushing defeat.
Rei Furuya, on the other hand, defeated the world's malice for the third time.
"Your smile is disgusting." Matsuda Jinhei rolled his eyes as he lay on the ground. "So, are you relieved now? You've been so nervous this week that even the class president noticed something was wrong, and Mr. Kei and Hagi were very worried about you too."
“That’s enough, isn’t it? You’re really too tense. You need to relax and rest now, Zero,” he said.
"Yeah, I'm sorry to have worried everyone so much, hahaha." Furuya Rei laughed and fell to the ground with his arms outstretched, lying on the rooftop floor with Matsuda Jinpei, watching the stars twinkle in the sky.
The bright stars in the dark night sky were like his growing hope.
However, it's not time to relax yet; we have to wait until the sun is fully up.
*
Going back in time to start the first month of the second playthrough.
The next crucial moment that Furuya Rei had anticipated based on all the previous intelligence had finally arrived, so he once again focused all his attention.
Although the flow of time is different in different worlds, in the past month in Furuya Rei's world, no one around him has died.
Homura Akemi's progress is going very smoothly. She has become a very powerful force among the magical girls, successfully saving others from danger on several occasions. Her relationship with the others has improved rapidly, and everyone believes that she has returned from the future and that they will eventually overcome all difficulties.
Subaru Natsuki and Shinpei Amagawa were still very busy, but they did not trigger another death rollback.
The girl named Homura Akemi seems to have brought them the love and hope that belong to magical girls.
So, I suppose we can get through this ordeal involving the class monitor safely?
After the class monitor safely survived today's ordeal, Furuya Rei told him everything. Tomorrow was the weekend, and the other party could immediately go see his girlfriend. This was the perfect plan.
"One! The battle is over! The victor is Date! Next up, Furuya!"
Rei Furuya, who was already wearing protective gear, responded and got up to walk towards the tall young man standing in the center of the dojo.
Just after being defeated and achieving a ten-game winning streak with Date, Matsuda Jinpei, panting, punched his shoulder as he passed by him and said fiercely, "Damn it, I still lost to the class president. Zero, you'll beat that devil, right?"
Rei Furuya looked over at the class president, who was called "the devil."
Date Wataru is nearly two meters tall and not bulky at all. He ranks second in every subject except for Furuya Rei. At this moment, under the powerful aura of his ten-game winning streak, he is indeed like a demon, scaring everyone else into not daring to speak or make any noise.
Of course, this excludes Matsuda Jinpei, Hagiwara Kenji, and Morofushi Kagemitsu.
"Go for it, Zero! I'm betting a small shop's fried noodles bread on you!" Matsuda Jinpei shouted.
"Then I'll bet the class monitor I'll win with a pineapple bun!" Kenji Hagiwara laughed heartily.
"Go Zero!" The well-behaved Morofushi Kagemitsu didn't participate in the "gambling" but just cheered loudly for his childhood friend.
Surprisingly, Furuya Rei lost to Date Kou for the first time.
Instead of being happy, the victorious Date Wataru even started scolding Furuya Rei on the spot.
The reason is simple: Furuya Rei lost because he was soft-hearted and suddenly stopped attacking at the crucial moment, which was due to his knee injury from fighting Matsuda Jinpei.
To be honest, Matsuda Jinpei's strength has been increasing rapidly ever since he started training with Furuya Rei. Date Wataru almost lost to him. In his attempt to win, he overdid it and injured his knee. He didn't believe that the perceptive Furuya Rei hadn't noticed.
This kind of lenient fighting was infuriating enough, but when Date Wataru remembered his father's situation and became worried and angry, he immediately started to lecture Furuya Rei about his father's situation, scolding him that he must never be soft-hearted towards criminals in the future and must never be careless when facing any criminal.
The atmosphere suddenly became awkwardly quiet. After calming down, Ida Wataru immediately regretted his harsh attitude.
But Furuya Rei wasn't angry. Instead, he turned around and shouted at Matsuda Jinpei, who was standing there dumbfounded, "That's right! Hey! Matsuda, did you hear that?!"
Matsuda Jinpei: "???"
Matsuda Jinpei was taken aback, then flew into a rage: "You bastard, how long are you going to keep worrying about that?! I don't care, you have to pay me back for the fried noodles and bread if you lose!!!"
Date Wataru: "..."
Date Wataru smiled helplessly: "You guys..."
Date Wataru didn't lose, but he still left the ring. After all, if he hadn't wanted to have a match with Furuya, he would have had to rest because of his knee injury right after fighting Matsuda.
"Sorry, Furuya, I got a little too emotional just now." Offstage, Date Wataru sat down next to Furuya Rei. "My dad's affairs have nothing to do with you, yet I took my anger out on you at this time..."
"It's alright, the class monitor is right." Furuya Rei interrupted his apology with a smile. "By the way, we're planning to go shopping tonight, class monitor, do you want to come along?"
Date Wataru was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and reached out to bump fists with him to make peace.
“Okay, let’s go out and have some fun together,” he said.
*
Rei Furuya had told the other three people about this beforehand, so this event was something everyone discussed and participated in together.
As for how to solve this problem, it's not exactly simple, but it's not exactly difficult either.
But since they were a group of organized and planned armed robbers, the four of them made all the necessary preparations and cautiously led the unsuspecting squad leader into action.
The only surprise was that none of their preparations were needed; not a single one was used.
The night passed peacefully; the convenience store was not robbed, and there were no reports of attacks elsewhere.
Rei Furuya was stunned for a long time until the class president, who knew nothing, asked them in confusion what they were going to do when they came out. Only then did he realize that the malice of the fourth world had passed so easily.
Even though everyone else had relaxed considerably, Furuya Rei remained vigilant for another two hours.
But until the five of them safely returned to school and gathered in Furuya Rei's dorm for a late-night meeting, nothing dangerous happened.
That night, Ida learned two things.
First, the case where his father, a former policeman, was perceived as cowardly wasn't what he thought. In reality, his father had discovered a far more dangerous situation, which is why he knelt and begged the criminal for mercy. His father did it to protect him, who was still a child, and to protect everyone in the convenience store at the time…
Second, Furuya came from the future, but all of them from the future died, leaving only Furuya alive.
and……
"You mean, after my death, Natalie... committed suicide for me?" Ida asked again, his voice strained.
Rei Furuya couldn't help but avoid his gaze and whispered, "Yes, Natalie hanged herself at home after learning of your death, Class President."
"Then, her parents also died in a car accident on their way to pick up their daughter's body."
*
Ida Hang talked on the phone with his girlfriend Natalie for a very long time that night and didn't sleep.
He didn't mention those things on the phone, but Natalie still noticed that something was wrong with him.
Therefore, when Date Kou said he wanted to meet her the next day, Natalie agreed almost without thinking, without even asking why it was so sudden.
"I also have a day off tomorrow, so I can come over and meet you at the school gate after you finish school this afternoon." A gentle female voice sounded in the phone next to his ear. "Then, let's go on a date together after all this time, Hang."
"Okay," Date Kou replied softly, his eyes instantly reddening.
The next day, when he saw the blonde, blue-eyed girl smiling at him under the cherry blossom tree outside the school gate, Ida Kou couldn't control his emotions. He rushed up and hugged his girlfriend tightly, even picking her up and spinning her around twice under the cherry blossom tree with a smile.
"Natalie!!!"
Natalie was taken aback by his enthusiasm and actions, and shyly and embarrassedly patted his shoulder to ask him to put her down.
"Navigation—"
Pink cherry blossoms, accompanied by a sweet romantic atmosphere, instantly filled the entire space.
After calming down, the tall, dark-haired young man felt a little embarrassed and quickly and gently put the blushing blonde girl down.
Just as Ida Kou was about to speak and explain, he heard the blond and curly-haired youths who had followed him yell and suddenly pounce on each other, mimicking the way he had just hugged Natalie.
Then, Matsuda Jinpei imitated Date Wataru's earlier move and gave Furuya Rei a princess carry. Furuya Rei was a little stiff but cooperated by hooking his arms around Matsuda Jinpei's neck.
The black-haired youth hugged the blonde youth, and the two of them let out exaggerated laughter, spinning around twice just like the black-haired youth had hugged the blonde girl.
Matsuda Jinpei shouted passionately, "Natalie!!!"
Furuya Rei, blushing with embarrassment, closed his eyes and shouted, "Hayabusa—"
Date Wataru: "..."
"You two—" Date Wataru's face instantly turned red. Enraged, he rolled up his sleeves and rushed over to chase after the two bastards who immediately abandoned each other and scattered in all directions laughing and joking.
Natalie, who was initially surprised and at a loss, suddenly burst out laughing.
Morofushi Kagemitsu and Hagiwara Kenji, worried that she might feel awkward and nervous being alone, went over to chat with her while laughing as they watched Date Wataru sanction Matsuda Jinpei and Furuya Rei.
Natalie watched softly as Date Hana laughed and joked with his friends.
Just as her boyfriend said, he does have a group of lively but very interesting friends.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
