Chapter 6: Second Playthrough (1)
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"Hey! You blond bastard! Let's fight!"
Amidst the agony of a bullet piercing his head and the lingering effects of death, Rei Furuya heard a familiar phrase.
As his vision gradually cleared, he saw again the arrogant and lively young man with curly black hair.
Same time, same place.
He successfully returned to where he started.
It was still under the cherry blossom grove, but instead of lying quietly on the ground, lifeless and stained with blood, Matsuda Jinpei was standing in front of him with a provocative smile, saying things that were just asking for a beating.
"Alright, let's fight!" Rei Furuya gritted his teeth, raised his fist, and charged forward. "You curly-haired bastard!!!"
As agreed, I'm going to give you a good beating right now, you bastard!!!
"Bang!"
The falling cherry blossoms danced in the night sky, then scattered in all directions because of the two fighting.
Rei Furuya: "Matsuda! Can't you change your personality—this utterly self-centeredness and complete lack of consideration for teamwork?! Do you know that's a fatal flaw for a police officer?!"
Matsuda Jinpei: "Huh? That's why I can't stand your cop-loving attitude! And what I do is none of your business! You blond bastard, who gives you the right to lecture me? You know nothing, yet you act like you know me perfectly well. What are you doing?"
Rei Furuya grabbed his collar fiercely, raising his fist but unable to bring it down.
Yes, by what status and from what standpoint did he lecture Matsuda?
They are just two strangers now, even fighting because they can't stand each other, not the two friends who will laugh, trust, and joke around in the future.
No matter how angry or concerned he is, the current Matsuda would not understand at all; he would probably even find it inexplicable.
Furuya Rei looked at Matsuda Jinpei, who had suddenly broken free of his restraints and jumped away, now eager to punch him again. He looked at Matsuda Jinpei, his eyes burning with fury as he glared at him. Then he remembered Matsuda Jinpei lying motionless on the ground, covered in blood, his face pale, his eyes gradually dimming, and him falling silent.
After a moment of fear and lingering shock, Rei Furuya quickly calmed down.
He caught Matsuda Jinpei's punch, instantly knocked him to the ground, and pinned him down by twisting one of his hands behind his back.
“Okay, that’s true. But since you can’t stand how serious I am about being a policeman, then you can’t stand how arrogant you are about being unable to beat me, right?” he said.
Matsuda Jinpei was stunned.
Matsuda Jinpei suddenly sprang into action.
"You're asking for it!!!"
The two started fighting again, but it was clear to everyone that Matsuda Jinpei was being completely outmatched. The difference in their strength was so obvious that they didn't seem to be at the same level as each other.
Occasionally, Furuya Rei would get punched a couple of times, all aimed at his face, showing that Matsuda Jinpei was truly furious.
Furuya Rei only stopped when the curly-haired youth was almost unable to get up.
"Alright, that's enough for tonight. If you want to fight again, wait until you're healed before you ask me. I had a great time today." He reached out to the disheveled, curly-haired youth on the ground. "Let me take you to the infirmary to help you get your medicine."
"Who needs your help!" Matsuda Jinpei slapped his hand away, gritted his teeth and stood up. He wanted to hit him again, but he knew that continuing would be useless.
So all he could do was hurl a harsh threat: "You blond bastard! Just you wait! I'll beat you into a pig's head someday!"
After saying that, he tilted his head and spat out a knocked-out denture tooth, which made him even angrier. He then turned to leave.
"Wait, you're so badly injured, you can't handle the wound on your back by yourself, can you? If you don't need my help applying the medicine, should I go and call Hagiwara over?" Furuya Rei said from behind.
Matsuda Jinpei: "???"
Matsuda Jinpei suddenly turned around: "Are you crazy?! What's wrong with you? Why do you know so much about me?"
Rei Furuya stopped: "..."
Matsuda Jinpei frowned: "Do you really think I'm a fool? You mock me and provoke me while holding back during training. You know so much about my personality, background, and even the people around me. You even know so much about my fighting moves and habits. Could it be that you..."
Rei Furuya's body tensed instantly, his eyes slowly widened, and a storm raged within him.
Could it be that Matsuda discovered I am...?
"Are you someone my bastard dad knows?" Matsuda Jinpei asked, his face full of suspicion and disdain. "Hey, blond bastard, you wouldn't happen to be one of my dad's former students, would you? So you're here as my 'senior' to lecture me?"
Jianggu Ling: "..."
*
Furuya Reijin was completely speechless at Matsuda Jinpei's antics, and he denied that his boxing skills came from Matsuda's father's instruction.
Matsuda Jinpei was even more confused after receiving a negative answer, but he firmly refused to have the person who had just beaten him up apply medicine to him.
So, under his incredulous gaze, Rei Furuya followed him all the way up and knocked on Kenji Hagiwara's door at the end of the corridor.
"Hey! You bastard, what are you doing? Stop it right now—"
"...It's already two in the morning, who is it?" Hagiwara Kenji, who was woken up, rubbed his eyes sleepily and opened the door, looking at the two people wrestling in front of him in a daze.
Hagiwara Kenji: "?"
Furuya Rei firmly clamped Matsuda Jinpei's neck in his arms as he tried to stop him, then looked up at the young man with medium-length black hair and smiled, "Hagiwara, you're still awake too?"
Hagiwara Kenji: "??"
"You bastard, shut up and let go of me!" Matsuda Jinpei was so angry and embarrassed that his face turned bright red. He struggled so hard that he squeezed Furuya Rei's face out of shape.
But Furuya Rei was still smiling as he spoke to Hagiwara Kenji: "I brought this guy back. He just got into a fight with me outside and he's pretty badly injured. Could you help him apply some medicine?"
Hagiwara Kenji: "???"
Matsuda Jinpei: "Furuya Rei, I'm going to kill you!!!"
*
After tossing the menacing, bristling gorilla to his childhood friend, Rei Furuya took off running.
But his pace soon slowed down again.
They were all in the same class, and their dormitories weren't far apart.
Rei Furuya stood in the stairwell looking up, but instead of going up, he leaned against the wall and took out his phone.
[—Rei Furuya has joined the chat group—]
Furuya Rei first clicked on the group member list in the upper right corner, and sure enough, found that his information had changed.
[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.]
Rei Furuya looked at the three shocking and chilling pieces of information, brushed his sweaty hair back with one hand, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled.
He started replying to two teenagers in the group who were extremely worried about him.
[Rei Furuya: I'm fine, don't worry, it's not a big deal. The cause of death is easy to resolve, and I was mentally prepared for this kind of thing long ago.]
[Rei Furuya: It's basically confirmed now. My situation is indeed the same as yours. It seems I need to prepare for more rollbacks and deaths.]
Subaru Natsuki and Shinpei Amishiro were both surprised and felt they had expected Rei Furuya's second death loop, but it was still hard to accept when it actually happened.
But they were genuinely surprised that Furuya Rei's emotions were so rational and calm.
It was a peaceful world that was almost certain. He had spent so much time talking and being honest with his childhood friend, and she had accepted him. The world was developing in a good direction, but it suddenly shattered into pieces, and he committed suicide, returning to the very beginning of the save point, starting everything from scratch.
If it were them, they would find it really hard to accept.
Especially the first time, they were both in great pain, confused, sad and panicked.
All I can say is that Mr. Furuya is truly a mature adult and a reliable police officer.
*
Rei Furuya closed his phone and started walking upstairs.
【144】
[All Hidden Formations]
He stood before that familiar door, falling into a long silence.
Actually, he wasn't seriously injured this time, because he was basically dominating Matsuda. He was really angry and serious this time, and the two punches he took to the face only broke his skin and caused a little bleeding, which could be easily fixed with a band-aid.
He also knew that there were no band-aids in Hiro's room, so he had to go to the infirmary to look for them in the end.
But he still knocked on the door.
At this moment, time seemed to rewind to five days ago. All the events that had occurred during those five days flashed through my mind, finally settling on the scene of my childhood friend rushing over in utter horror and desperately shouting "No!"
Then, the tightly closed door in front of him slowly opened, revealing a familiar face that had never experienced anything, looking at him with surprise and confusion.
"Zero? You...you're injured?" Morofushi Kagemitsu, who had just been awakened by a nightmare, was clearly not very clear-headed. He was also startled by his injured childhood friend who appeared at his door in the middle of the night. He couldn't help but step forward and reach out to touch the wound on his face.
"Hiss, yeah, some curly-haired bastard picked a fight with me." Furuya Rei let him touch his wound and laughed, "Don't worry, I won in the end. That guy was in a much worse state than me."
"Ah, sorry..." Morifushi Kagemitsu suddenly snapped out of it, abruptly pulled his hand back, and turned around, saying, "I'll go to the infirmary to get you the first-aid kit!"
"Wait!" Rei Furuya suddenly reached out and grabbed his wrist. "Hiro, you..."
"Zero? What's wrong?" Morofushi Kagemitsu turned to look at him blankly. "I'm out of medicine here. You need to go to the infirmary to get the first-aid kit, okay?"
Jianggu Ling: "..."
Rei Furuya stiffly released his grip, but a flawless smile appeared on his face: "Remember to take a few more Band-Aids, Hiro, I'll need them later too."
The smile on Rei Furuya's face slowly faded after everyone left.
The blond youth leaned against the wall, then slowly slid down to the ground, finally curling up and shrinking into the darkness in front of the door, wrapping his arms around his body and burying his face completely inside.
Yes, of course Hrio doesn't know; he doesn't remember anything.
Everything... started from scratch.
*
"Hahaha, so it was you, Jinpei, who started the fight first?" Hagiwara Kenji laughed exaggeratedly, but his hand steadily applied the medicine to his youngest son. "And you got a really good beating? That's so embarrassing! And you even had your dentures knocked out, it's hilarious, hahaha—"
"Hagi! Whose side are you on?!" Matsuda Jinpei instantly exploded.
"Okay, okay, of course I'm on Jinpei's side, but I don't think Furuya-kun seems like a bad person." Hagiwara Kenji applied medical tape to the gauze on the wound.
"You yourself said that he was easing up the water while training you, and when you refused to let him apply the medicine, he even brought you to find me..." He suddenly paused, "Huh, how did he know we knew each other? Even if he saw that we were on good terms during the day, would he even know my dorm room number?"
“Who knows? That guy is just so strange,” Matsuda Jinpei said. “I even suspect he was a student my bastard dad used to teach. Otherwise, how could he know me so well? He even knows my fighting moves and habits so well. Maybe he even went to the dojo and asked other people there…”
"No, no, no, that's unlikely. If someone so conspicuous appeared over there, there would definitely be some kind of reaction from us." Kenji Hagiwara denied it without hesitation, and put the first-aid kit away.
He put on a serious expression and said, "Besides, if he really wanted to know, he would definitely ask me, his best friend and childhood friend, first, right? But I've never met him before. He has such a distinctive and handsome face. I would never forget it if I saw him even once."
"Tsk, why do you keep praising that blond bastard?" Matsuda Jinpei said, annoyed.
"Well, this is the first time I've met someone who's just as handsome as Kojinpei, whether it's his looks or his fists. He's also the student representative who entered the police academy with the highest grades ever, right? Isn't that amazing?" Kenji Hagiwara said seriously.
"I'm leaving!" Matsuda Jinpei stood up abruptly, and before leaving, he turned back and gritted his teeth, saying fiercely, "I will definitely defeat that blond bastard! No matter who he is, how dare he be so arrogant and provoking me? I'll knock all his real teeth out!"
Matsuda Jinpei suddenly got stuck.
"What kind of expression is that? It's disgusting!" he said with a look of disgust.
Kenji Hagiwara cupped his face and smiled brightly: "Really? I was just thinking that Jinpei seems to like him quite a bit. That's rare. Maybe they can become good friends in the end."
Matsuda Jinpei gasped, "Huh?! Are you serious? Are you kidding me! Who would be friends with that blond bastard?!"
He turned and left with a disgusted expression, still cursing as he returned to his dormitory.
Matsuda Jinpei had never suffered such humiliation.
Are you kidding me? Isn't that blond jerk taking things a bit too seriously? He's acting like a drill sergeant, like he thinks he's a teacher or something.
Even his bastard father never disciplined him like this! But that guy immediately launched into a tirade, accusing him of being arrogant and self-centered, lacking teamwork skills, and scolding him for being impulsive and arrogant, always rushing in to fight whenever he didn't like something, without ever considering the consequences of injury or even accidental death...
What? That guy is exaggerating a bit too much, isn't he? He's been in so many fights since he was a kid, and when has anything really happened? The most he's ever lost a tooth was in high school, but he, Matsuda Jinpei, has always been the one who came out on top... It's just today, today is the worst beating he's ever gotten.
Matsuda Jin lay flat on the bed, reached out and touched his missing tooth, clicked his tongue in annoyance, and thought about how troublesome it would be to find time to get it fixed.
He turned to the side and closed his eyes, the image of the two of them fighting under the cherry blossom tree flashing uncontrollably through his mind.
That stiff, serious, blond bastard who looked like a teacher from who-knows-when was indeed very strong, a fact he wouldn't deny.
Although I really dislike that guy, I don't truly hate him.
If the other person hadn't started lecturing us right away, we might actually have become friends... But right now... he really hates people like that...
Matsuda Jinpei thought this in a half-dreaming, half-awake state before finally falling into a deep, dark dream.
*
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry! Please, please forgive me! All my money is here, I really have none left, sob sob sob..."
Matsuda Jinpei stopped in his tracks, tilting his head in confusion for a second, pondering questions such as who he was, where he was, and what he was doing.
It was completely dark. This was a path through the cherry blossom grove next to the police academy dormitory. Ahead was the grove where he and that blond bastard had fought.
It's cherry blossom season now, and the path from the dormitory to the teaching building is filled with pink cherry blossoms.
Oh, he's on his way to an appointment. He and that blond bastard have agreed to teach each other how to defuse bombs, and he'll train himself to become stronger.
He was on his way to the roof of the teaching building to fight that guy... to spar.
"Hey! Say something! I told you to speak! Did you hear me? Are you mute?!"
The sounds of malice and violence, accompanied by punches, kicks, and screams, kept coming. Occasionally, students passing by would glance at the scene hesitantly, but in the end, they would turn around and leave, whether to avoid trouble or to call the instructors.
School bullying in this country has become so common that people take it for granted. Nobody really cares about it. As long as it doesn't happen to them, they can pretend they didn't see it and even consider it part of school training. If something happens, it must be their own problem. Otherwise, why haven't others encountered it?
But Matsuda Jinpei never expected that the situation would be the same at the police academy.
It's not surprising. Whether it was the students hiding bullets during the afternoon pistol training or the four pieces of trash he beat up in the toilet who were slandering the blond bastard out of jealousy, weren't they all police academy freshmen?
Every place has its share of scoundrels.
Corrupt elements within the police force can cause even greater harm to society and others.
Matsuda Jinpei clicked his tongue in annoyance, turned away from the main road leading to the light, and strode directly towards the dark woods.
His expression became even more agitated when he saw the bullies.
Isn't this a coincidence? Except for one stranger, everyone else is an acquaintance.
Matsuda Jinpei grinned maliciously and started to crack his knuckles. He rushed forward and punched the guy who was stomping on someone's head, sending him flying.
Dealing with these few scumbags didn't take Matsuda Jinpei any effort at all; it wasn't even half as tiring as fighting the blond bastard. He was even distracted thinking about how strange the blond teacher had been this afternoon.
After they safely rescued Instructor Onizuka, the man visibly relaxed, his happiness written all over his face. He even went to chat with Hagi about his dark history of taking things apart everywhere. When they met in front of the toilet after school, he made the same frivolous jokes as Hagi, which was absolutely terrifying!
Matsuda Jinpei thought he was going to be late. He should hurry up and teach these guys a lesson before going to his appointment. After the fight, he still had many questions he wanted to ask that person.
There's also bomb disposal; he needs to think carefully about how to teach people how to disarm bombs, because bomb disposal is no child's play.
besides……
"Matsuda, watch out!!!!"
Varied--
"Bang!"
With a sharp pain in the back of his head, his vision going black, and a deafening roar in his ears, Matsuda Jinpei collapsed.
He'd been hit, it was a sneak attack, Matsuda Jinpei thought, and he thought he heard that blond bastard's voice.
"Matsuda?"
Someone carefully turned him over from the ground. Matsuda Jinpei opened his eyes wide. Blood stained the vision of one eye, and black and white dots, like snowflakes, flashed before his eyes, warning of impending collapse.
But that person's blond hair and dark skin were really too obvious.
Even though Matsuda Jinpei's own hand was twitching nervously, he could easily feel how cold and trembling the hand holding him was.
What? Furuya is so scared, how pathetic.
Matsuda Jinpei opened his mouth as if to say something, but couldn't utter a word. He could clearly feel his heart rate becoming unbalanced and his breathing rapidly weakening, so he could only watch as the blond youth gradually revealed an expression of despair and collapse.
"I think I'm going to die," he thought, while the person in front of him was already on the verge of tears.
Matsuda Jinpei hadn't felt much about his death before, but at this moment he suddenly felt some regret and sadness.
To die so easily at the hands of those people in this way violated his promise to become a policeman with Hagi, and also his promise to fight alongside the blond bastard and teach him how to defuse bombs...
He suddenly felt a pang of sadness, realizing for the first time in his youthful arrogance what death truly meant.
His willful death may leave a lifelong shadow on those around him.
"...Matsuda?"
"I'm here." Matsuda Jinpei floated beside his own corpse. He looked at the blond youth who was staring blankly at his corpse, and sighed deeply. "Tsk, what a mess this is."
He stretched out his hand and waved it in front of Furuya Rei, flying around him and floating back and forth: "Hey, Furuya, you blond bastard, blond master, Zero, can you see me? I'm here, over here, can't you really see me? Tsk, I can't hear you at all."
Before Matsuda Jinpei could even think about or study his ghostly existence after death, he was startled by the blond youth who suddenly started beating him up.
"Hey! Zero! What are you doing! You can't kill someone just because you're helping me get revenge! You'll go to jail if you kill someone! I'm already dead, it's not worth dragging your life into this!"
Matsuda Jinpei hurriedly tried to pull Furuya Rei away, but his translucent hand passed right through the blond youth's body.
He froze for a moment, then immediately cursed, frantically circling around Furuya Rei who had hit him.
Then, gradually, Matsuda Jinpei calmed down.
A translucent, black-haired ghost crouched beside Rei Furuya, staring blankly at his angry and fierce eyes, at his desperate and broken expression, and at the blood staining his blond hair.
"...Why are you so sad and angry?" Matsuda Jinpei murmured. "To be honest, I've been wanting to ask you this ever since that night. How come you seem like you've known me for so long? Did we really know each other before? And yet I've completely forgotten you?"
Of course, Rei Furuya wouldn't answer him.
To Matsuda Jinpei's relief, the others finally arrived.
"Quick! Stop him! Don't let him kill anyone!" Matsuda Jinpei shouted at the students and instructors who had gathered around.
However, everyone seemed to be frightened by the blond, dark-skinned man covered in blood and exuding a murderous aura, and for a moment no one dared to move.
Matsuda Jinpei was almost driven mad with anger.
"Zero!" Morofushi Kagemitsu finally arrived and rushed in, grabbing Furuya Rei's fist.
"Well done, Master Jing!" Matsuda Jinpei cheered.
"Jinpei...? Hagi-chan is going to cry? I'm really going to get angry..." Kenji Hagiwara also discovered Matsuda Jinpei's body lying quietly under the cherry blossom tree.
Matsuda Jinpei froze, somewhat unable to bear looking at his childhood friend's expression.
"Furuya, what happened? Tell me, I'll listen carefully." Date Wataru was trying to calm Furuya Rei, whose mental state was clearly off.
Matsuda Jinpei nodded repeatedly: "That's right, squad leader, quickly pull him away and let him calm down!"
However, the blond youth rejected everyone. His eyes were empty and dark, as if he were staring at an unseen void and fate. He said softly, as if he had given up struggling, "It's too late. It's no use. Matsuda is dead."
"Wait? What do you mean? What are you going to do?" Matsuda Jinpei sensed something was wrong and immediately rushed back, shouting, "You bastard, don't do anything stupid!!!"
As a ghost, he was certainly faster than Morofushi Kagemitsu, but as a ghost, he couldn't touch a human, much less stop the other from shooting at his head.
"I will definitely bring Matsuda back." The blond youth made a strange promise to Kenji Hagiwara, who was holding Matsuda Jinpei's body.
"What are you trying to save?! Are you crazy? Stop it!!!" After failing to pull the person away, Matsuda Jinpei desperately tried to block the bullets with his hands.
"Bang--"
"Zero!!!!!"
The ghost's body could do nothing. Amidst a scream of terror and grief, the bullet pierced his palm and went through the blond youth's head.
Crimson blood splattered out, and the blond youth collapsed lifeless into the arms of his childhood friend who had just arrived.
"...zero?"
Matsuda Jinpei froze, his pupils contracted, and he slowly lowered his head to look at the corpse in disbelief.
He stared at the terrifying black hole that was so conspicuously visible on that beautiful blond hair, and gradually felt dizzy and suffocated.
...What? So ghosts can feel heartache too?
Matsuda Jinpei crouched beside Furuya Rei's corpse, quietly waiting for the other's soul to appear and become a ghost like himself.
He'll definitely punch this guy hard and then demand to know why he did it.
But he waited and waited, and the blond ghost never appeared.
*
Police academy dormitory, early morning.
Matsuda Jinpei suddenly woke up from his bed, clutching the clothes in front of his chest with extreme fear.
He gasped for breath as if suffocating, two conflicting memories tearing at his mind in a chaotic mess, causing his face to gradually change from fear and grief to confusion.
"……What?"
"Wait...why?"
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