Chapter 109 Reliving Old Dreams
When Matsuda and Hagiwara returned to their alma mater, they only showed their police IDs and said they were there to see someone, and the gatekeeper let them in.
The first step of the plan went very smoothly!
"Ah... I miss it so much!" Hagiwara opened his arms, feeling the warm spring breeze brushing against his cheeks and fingertips.
Not far away, a group of police academy students who were training ran past in a flurry. The air seemed to still carry a familiar scent: the fragrance of flowers mixed with sweat, a testament to their restless youth.
This scene made Matsuda sigh, "Time flies! It's been more than seven years since we graduated. Back then, you and I were one of these young lads."
No one can stay 22 forever, but every year this school welcomes batches of 22-year-old police academy freshmen. Year after year, they graduate, work, become seniors, become superiors... and there is never a shortage of newcomers.
"Jinpei-chan, how about we go find Instructor Onizuka first?" Hagiwara suggested.
"good!"
The two searched their way through the familiar campus, silently comparing each step with the scenes in their memories. The reality before them filled in the blurry images and even the blank spaces that had been washed away by time.
But perhaps their memories were playing tricks on them, they inexplicably felt that something had changed, and some minor details just didn't add up. For example, the little shop that sold fried noodles and bread seemed smaller; the stone sculptures under the dormitory building were gone, replaced by small flower beds; the teaching building seemed to have been renovated as well, the classroom doors were a darker color, and the walls in the corridors had a different style...
The two of them found the instructor in the office without much trouble.
Seeing his two former "prized students" who used to give him a headache suddenly visit, Onizuka was puzzled: "Hagiwara, Matsuda, what brings you two here today?"
"Instructor Onizuka, we're on leave today. We just happened to be passing by and thought we'd drop by to visit you!" Hagiwara greeted them warmly and familiarly, pulling out a few packs of cigarettes and handing them to them. "These are specially bought for you."
Onizuka was touched to see that these two mischievous students still remembered him. He waved his hand and said, "I quit smoking a long time ago, you can keep it! But you've come at a bad time, I have to go to class soon."
"It's alright, it's alright, you go ahead with your work. We haven't been back for a long time, so we just wanted to wander around here a bit." Hagiwara saw the instructor out with a smile.
After the instructor left, Matsuda said, "It seems like Old Man Onizuka is alright, and everything here is normal; there's nothing unusual. Shall we go find the guy who beat up the Superintendent General?"
"Jinpei-chan, how do you plan to find her?"
“The instructors will definitely keep this a secret, you’ll have to ask the students! Look! There are a few girls coming over there, it’s up to you.” Matsuda patted his childhood friend on the shoulder and pushed him forward.
Hagiwara appeared in front of the girls unexpectedly. When he saw Matsuda hiding in the corner and laughing, he couldn't help but curse that damn curly-haired guy in his heart!
The girls were slightly surprised, and one of them, with sharp eyes, exclaimed, "Hey? Isn't that Officer Hagiwara from the Virginity-Exploding Class?"
Hagiwara silently marveled at his unexpectedly high level of public recognition. He then took the opportunity to inquire about the work of the Superintendent General of Police. The girls hesitated for a moment, but still told him everything: "It's said that the boy's name is Kumagai Jun, and he's currently in solitary confinement. Several of his friends have also been grounded."
Hagiwara thanked him, blinked, and said, "Don't tell anyone about this; it's a little secret between us!"
Hagiwara and Matsuda were very familiar with the solitary confinement cell, because they were frequent visitors there when they were in police academy.
The two found the place easily: seven years had passed, and nothing had changed.
Before Matsuda could take his next step, Hagiwara stopped him: "Jinpei-chan, are you really planning to climb in through the outside window?"
"What else can we do? Picking locks will definitely get us caught, and stealing keys is easy to get caught too. Climbing through windows is so much easier, don't we used to do that all the time?"
Unlike this time when they were looking for someone, the two usually used the excuse of climbing through the window to deliver things to each other, such as cell phones that couldn't be used during confinement.
Matsuda went first, walking around the protrusion on the exterior of the building to the back of the solitary confinement cell, and casually knocked on the glass.
Confined to a dark room to reflect on his actions, Kumagai saw a person "suspended" outside the window and thought he was hallucinating. He rubbed his eyes hard and found that the person outside had become two.
Kumagai opened the window as if he had seen a ghost, only to realize that they were standing on the windowsill. He looked up and asked, "Excuse me, what's going on here, you two?"
"Kumagai-kun, is it convenient for us to come inside and talk?"
Kumagai nodded, watching the two warily. Suddenly, as if his memory had returned, he shouted, "Eh? Aren't you Officer Hagiwara from the Virginity Breaker Squad?"
Hagiwara nodded with a wry smile: Goodness, I've really become a household name!
Kumagai suddenly tensed up, his expression turning serious: "Senior, is there a bomb here?"
Hagiwara and Matsuda exchanged a glance, barely managing to suppress their laughter.
“No, Kumagai, don’t be nervous. We’re here to ask you something else.” Hagiwara gestured for the other person to sit down and talk.
"What would you two like to ask?"
"Kumagai, was it really you who hit the Superintendent General that day?" Matsuda asked.
A look of surprise crossed Kumagai's face as he stammered, "So that person really was the Superintendent General!"
Now the two were even more bewildered. Matsuda asked in shock, "You didn't even know the other person, and you dared to attack?"
Kumagai, his face flushed, protested, "That's not how it is! We didn't mean to hit anyone. I just wanted to tell the Superintendent General the truth. But... but when I ran over, my movements were too forceful, and they thought I was going to attack them..."
"So you got caught and locked up?"
"I broke free and rushed to an officer to explain. But I lost my balance and tripped, and then... but..."
"You tackled the Superintendent General?!" Hagiwara exclaimed in surprise: How is this plot getting more and more surreal?
"Senior, you've misunderstood! I was the only one who fell. I fell right in front of that officer; he didn't have time to dodge me, and I heard he broke his toe..."
The two men exchanged bewildered glances upon hearing this result. Matsuda then asked, "Kumagai, what is it that you absolutely must tell the Superintendent General?"
"Because the police ignore armed criminals!" Kumagai answered through gritted teeth. "I encountered a guy who had a gun, but when I reported it to the instructor, he told me to leave it alone. So I'm going to make sure everyone knows when the Superintendent General comes to inspect!"
"I heard you also made flyers?" Hagiwara asked.
“I didn’t! It was just a portrait of a prisoner that I drew, and I wanted to show it to them.”
Matsuda squinted and thought for a moment, then asked, "Kumagai, where did you meet that guy? It's only been less than a month since school started, and we're still in the closed training phase. Even if that guy is incredibly bold, he wouldn't dare to walk around the police academy with a gun, would he?"
Kumagai's face flushed red again, and he stammered, "I sneaked out of the bar..."
Matsuda frowned: "Sneaking out for drinks during closed training, you've got some nerve! Do you know you could get expelled?"
Kumagai shouted angrily, "Senior, how can you be like those people?! Of course I know I broke the school rules, but that guy broke the law! I admitted my mistake, apologized, wrote a self-criticism, and was put in solitary confinement. But what about him? He's still at large! Why should I be the only one punished? Shouldn't catching him be the more important thing?"
Matsuda paused, speechless for a moment. Hagiwara tried his best to calm the police academy student down: "Kumagai-kun, of course we know you're a very righteous person. Could you tell us the details of what happened?"
Kumagai licked his chapped lips, composed himself, and said, "That was the second weekend after we came to school. We'd all been cooped up for over ten days and were really getting restless, so a few close friends and I made plans to go out for drinks that night. We were afraid of being discovered, so we waited until the dorm lights were out before heading out, and it was past 11 when we got to the bar. About half an hour later, a guy came into the bar. I don't know why, but his aura was very unusual. As soon as he appeared, the group of people who had been laughing and drinking fell silent. I thought he was there to cause trouble, so I went over to check on him."
"And then you discovered that the guy had a gun?"
"That guy looked menacing, with a scar on his right arm. He was short but very strong, like a bull! He glared at me fiercely when he saw me coming, cursing under his breath. A classmate saw this and pulled me away, saying we should go back," Kumagai recalled the scene. "But how should I put it? I just felt he was suspicious, his mental state wasn't right, like he'd just taken drugs. I saw a bulge on his waist and asked him what he was hiding in his clothes. He laughed and told me to feel it myself. As soon as I reached out, that guy suddenly punched me, swelling up half my face. But I was certain, he was definitely carrying a gun on his waist!"
"And then what?"
"The people at the bar stopped him in time and kept apologizing and paying us money. Because we were in a hurry to get back to school, we decided not to pursue the matter for now and to tell our instructors when we got back."
“But then the drinking won’t be a secret anymore, right?” Matsuda said.
"Yes, but we had no choice! We couldn't just let that dangerous individual run rampant. Actually, the instructor was quite nice at first, praising us for handling things properly and not making a big fuss, and saying he would contact the police to handle it... But when I asked him again, the instructor changed his attitude, saying I was mistaken and there was no gun at all. I didn't believe him and wanted to see evidence, but the instructor threatened me with disciplinary action. Senior, please believe me! It was definitely a real gun!"
"You just touched it, didn't you?"
"No, I also saw a small part sticking out. It couldn't be a toy gun or anything like that, and the weight is wrong too!"
"You really are a fearless newborn calf!"
Japan has extremely strict gun control, and even with a gun license, handguns are not legal. But what does this have to do with the Ministry of Public Security?
"Don't worry, we'll find out what happened," Matsuda said, pulling his utterly shocked childhood friend away.
"Wait a minute... Jinpei-chan, didn't we come here to find out if the Superintendent General was assaulted? Why did you give Kumagai that kind of assurance?"
Without turning his head, Matsuda replied, "Hagi, I've changed my mind. I want to grab that bull and see whose fist is harder."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com