Chapter 62 Honeymoon Period 1
Monday, May 9th
The police academy has been open for over a month.
Although the five members of the Onizuka team had some friction in the beginning due to the overly distinct personalities of two of them, they have now become quite close companions.
But this intimacy between friends may have a different meaning——
In the police academy cafeteria, after squad leader Date Kou once again defended Rei Furuya and stood up for him against other students, Hagiwara Kenji said with a smile, "Could it be that squad leader, you like little Furuya?"
A pause: "No need to hide it, I don't particularly care about this."
However, the person being asked was obviously more concerned: "How is that possible! I already have a girlfriend!"
“Eh? …Eh!!!”
Among the crowd whose expressions changed in shock at this explosive news, only Jinpei Matsuda remained completely unmoved, and even gave his surprised friends a speechless look, asking, "What are you doing?"
After calming down a bit, Furuya Rei noticed this and turned his surprise to a different person: "Matsuda, did you know this a long time ago?"
It's impossible that he has a girlfriend too?
Matsuda Jinpei put down his bowl and chopsticks and shook his head seriously. "No, just the fact that he has a girlfriend doesn't really shock me."
Then, he gestured as if he were displaying a valuable collection, and the person he was showing it to was his childhood sweetheart, Kenji Hagihara: "This person is married."
As soon as the words fell, the entire cafeteria fell silent.
Three seconds later, someone gradually reacted: "Huh? Huh?!!!"
For a moment, not only at this table, but all around them were looking at them with excessive envy.
Despite not being the one getting married and still being completely single, Matsuda Jinpei felt strangely confident under these gazes. "She's our high school classmate, now a top student at the University of Tokyo's medical school. She was a detective for a while in high school and solved many unsolved cases. You might have seen her on TV."
Fūya Rei and Morobushi Kagemitsu looked at each other and thought of someone they knew at the same time.
After a moment, Zhu Fujingguang spoke cautiously: "Are you all from Mihua City?"
"Yes." Matsuda Jinpei nodded, "But she's from Karakura City."
This further confirmed their suspicions. Zhu Fujingguang swallowed his saliva, his voice trembling slightly: "Hagiwara, your wife... could it be that her name is "Utahi"? "
"You do know," Matsuda answered again. The curly-haired boy proudly put his arm around his married friend's shoulders, completely unaware that the shocked expressions on their faces weren't because Hagiwara Kenji's wife was a celebrity. "—That was the once-famous JK detective, 'Kaki Hagiwara,' but she took a long break during her senior year of high school and hasn't been a detective since."
Envied by many around him, Kenji Hagiwara finally spoke up at this moment: "Because medical school is very busy, she wants to enter the laboratory of a respected forensic scientist for graduate studies." Speaking of his wife, his eyes were full of tenderness. "But she was already very close to the professor in high school, so I don't think she would have any problem getting in."
Fūya Rei and Morofushi Kagemitsu looked at each other again.
...The thirteen-year friendship has ended.
Holding back the grief of not telling him that his best friend of thirteen years had gotten married, Furuya Rei gritted his teeth and asked, "Hagiwara, when did you get married?"
"Hmm? Not too long ago, just before entering the police academy, during spring break. She finally managed to find a day to register, and I don't know if she's completed the subsequent personal procedures," Hagiwara Kenji replied. "I haven't seen her since April, and honestly, it doesn't feel like we're actually getting married at all."
After all, after they enrolled in the school, they were forbidden to go out for the entire month of April and were almost out of contact with the outside world. Although they had the Golden Week holiday not long ago to go out, the medical student who was self-disciplined and wanted to be independent as soon as possible was so busy that he only answered her call once during the entire holiday.
This information made Furuya Rei and Morobushi Kagemitsu feel a little better, but only a little - if the police academy did not confiscate the students' phones on weekdays and return them on weekends, they would have already called to question them.
…but they can still make calls from pay phones.
·
Nearly seven years have passed since the Hueco Mundo campaign against Aizen.
Five years have passed since the defense of Seireitei against the Quincies.
The Shinigami agents who had experienced both battles had long since returned to their normal lives. The Hogyoku's true nature, responsive to the wills of those around it and unleashing its potential, was also increasingly confirmed, manifested in the dreams of nearly all of the young students around it, including the Wishing Machine itself.
Kurosaki Utsuki had just sat down in the restaurant when the phone call came in.
As a fifth-year student in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Tokyo, she had been busy on internship duty at the hospital all day and was now starving. She really didn't want to get up and go outside the store to answer the phone.
So she hung up without mercy, thinking of calling back later. A few seconds after hanging up, she suddenly remembered that this number without caller ID might be from the police academy.
...There is no number, so it seems I can’t call back.
After waiting for a few seconds, the other party did not call again. Kurosaki Utsuki covered her face with her hands in grief for three seconds, and then, driven by hunger, she picked up the tablet to place the order.
Ishida Uryu, who had sat down opposite her before her, looked at her with amusement. He saw her poking at the screen again and again, and her expression became more and more relieved. After holding it in for a few seconds, he couldn't help laughing out loud.
"My boyfriend's phone number?"
Kurosaki Utsuki didn't even raise her head: "I don't know, but my intuition tells me that it's not. He shouldn't call me on a weekday."
"Why?"
"Because even on weekends, it's hard to get in touch with him." She shrugged, putting the tablet she'd used to order back where it belonged. "During Golden Week, I went to Hawaii with the professor to attend a conference, so I didn't have the chance to meet him at all. And because of the time difference, I only received one call from him the entire time."
"...You two have a really good relationship."
"Hmm? Are you genuinely feeling this or are you just being sarcastic?" She curled her lips, not insisting on an answer. She changed the subject and asked, "Where were we talking about before?"
Although the last time they met before the restaurant was in the hospital corridor a few hours ago, the last time they chatted like this was last week.
Ishida Uryu pushed his glasses up. "We talked about how you studied for just seven days and got into the University of Tokyo."
"It's not seven days, it's seven months." Kurosaki Utsuki held up her cheek with one hand. "You should know that the flow of time in the Dangkai is different from that in the real world."
Ishida Uryu was stunned: "I know, but..."
Could it be what he was thinking? Could anyone do something so outrageous? Taking advantage of the difference in time's flow to study overtime in that tunnel?
"The flow rate ratio is about one to one per month." Kurosaki Utsuki nodded, confirming his unspoken assumption. "I'm a little embarrassed for my tutor who took time off to help me review, but the exam is coming up soon, and I don't have any other options."
Moreover, other more professional tutors would probably find it difficult to accept a new worldview. Even if she finished tutoring, she would still have to erase the other person's memory for safety reasons. But if the target was Zhu Fu Gao Ming, there was no need to worry about this at all.
"After all, I'm a hero who protects the world. How can a hero desert the battlefield?"
Ishida Uryu twitched the corners of his mouth, and he was in a state of emptiness, thinking, "How could this person be so outrageous?"
But those who rushed into the University of Tokyo with all their might and despite immense psychological pressure were all excited, and even tried to get compliments from him: "How is it? Isn't it inspiring?"
...Ah, yes, yes, yes.
"What are you talking about?" The girl's voice suddenly came from the side, and the two of them turned their heads to look at the same time.
"Shiho, you're here! It's been a while. I thought you were going to cancel." Kurosaki Utsuki waved to the brown-haired girl and naturally changed the subject. "How are your preparations for studying abroad? I remember you were going to the United States. Have you contacted your cousin who's studying there?"
"He's no longer studying in the United States," Miyano Shiho said, taking the seat next to her and checking the order on her tablet. "He's already joined the FBI."
"The FBI, that's really impressive." Kurosaki Utsuki said with emotion, "Then I don't have to worry about you anymore."
"Rather than worrying about me," Miyano Shiho raised her eyes. Although she was teasing Kurosaki Utaha, she was looking across at Ishida Uryu. "Aren't you going to come out and clarify things? The gossip about you and Dr. Ishida has been all over the hospital since you came here for internships at the beginning of the year."
"Eh? With the Dean?" Kurosaki Utsuki blinked blankly, "My relationship with the Dean has finally been exposed?"
Across from her, Ishida Uryu's mouth twitched, and he interrupted her speechlessly: "Are you talking about me?"
Miyano Shiho nodded. "What else? We're childhood sweethearts, both top students at the University of Tokyo's medical school, and we almost interned at the hospital at the same time. We've all shown great chemistry in our previous work. Plus, Utahiki and Dean Ishida have a close, father-daughter relationship, and there were rumors she was the heir to this hospital—now, aren't we just going to graduate, get married, and start working together?"
Ishida Uryu pushed his glasses and subconsciously denied: "No, we are not childhood sweethearts..."
"Is this the important point?" Kurosaki Utsuki looked at him amusedly, fiddling with the Quincy hanging on her chest. "I don't think there's any need to explain. I'm going to study forensics anyway, so I'll stay in school."
She paused for a moment, glanced at the phone she had just hung up, and felt a little guilty.
"—By the way, legally speaking, I'm married."
Ishida Uryu nodded slowly after hearing this. "So, Utsuki, you're already married... married?!" The bespectacled boy's face, which had remained calm most of the time during his internship at the hospital, suddenly became so nervous that it was almost distorted. "Are you with Ryugen?!"
ha?
Kurosaki Utahi looked up at the sky speechlessly: "Why are you still calling your dad by his name? You're disrespectful. Besides, do you really want to call me stepmother?"
"The person is your boyfriend, the one you've been dating since you graduated from high school." Miyano Shiho, who is only eleven years old this year, saw through the truth at a glance. She was mature and wise, not at all like an elementary school student. "It's amazing that you still have time to get married."
"So it's only in the legal sense. I only squeezed out that one day during the spring break to handle the procedures, and I haven't told anyone else about this except the witness." Kurosaki Utsuki explained, "By the way, the witnesses on the application form are Ryugen and a friend of my boyfriend's." Specifically, it was Jinpei Matsuda.
Although he was surprised to see his father's name, Ishida Uryuu thought of another person: "Could it be Kurosaki?"
"...Indeed, maybe my brother hasn't heard of it either."
Not only him, but all her friends were not informed.
The last time she heard about Furuya Rei and Morobushi Kagemitsu was last year. She heard they passed the police officer exam, so they should be attending the police academy now... Eh? Could they be in the same academy as Hagiwara and Matsuda?
Miyano Shiho let out a drawn-out "Hmm?" and shook her head with some regret. "I thought the silver-haired gentleman who picked you up from get off work recently had a chance of getting promoted."
"Ah, you mean Ichimaru?" Kurosaki Utsuki was surprised and explained, "That guy is working for me. Didn't I buy land and build a small apartment two years ago? We started having tenants this year, and he's working as a caretaker there. He also serves as my driver and bodyguard."
This time it was the brown-haired girl's turn to be surprised: "You actually need a bodyguard?"
Kurosaki Utsuki didn't answer, but continued naturally, "And that guy has a girlfriend. Although it's a long-distance relationship where they can only see each other once a year, they are very close."
Every year around New Year's, Matsumoto Rangiku would submit an application to travel to the human world, under the pretext of visiting her former captain. Although the entire Gotei 13 knew her ultimate goal was to meet Ichimaru Gin, the higher-ups always approved her application with remarkable eagerness.
The food was served.
The conversation paused, and Kurosaki Utsuki began to concentrate on eating. After a while, he suddenly heard the girl next to him ask, "Come to think of it, I've never heard you talk about this before. How did you start dating him?"
Kurosaki Utsuki stopped eating and lost herself in memories.
"On the Monday after the Tokyo University entrance exam, I went to the school to complete the procedures for resuming my studies."
Although graduation was only a month away, she had been absent from school for almost a year since the Quincy's departure to Soul Society in late April, and there was a high probability that she would not be able to graduate that year. However, she reached an agreement with the school that if she could pass the Tokyo University entrance exam, the school would allow her to graduate.
She skipped the steps of searching for Hagiwara in school after completing the procedures for returning to school and jumped directly to the most important plot.
"He was being asked by his friends, 'Why didn't you confess your feelings to her?' I felt it would be awkward to show up so suddenly, so I stopped at the corner."
The friend refers to Jinpei Matsuda, and she knew that their conversation at that time was about herself.
"He said at the time, 'Don't you think girls who work hard for their dreams and devote themselves to their beloved careers shine like stars?'"
Kurosaki Utsuki held her cheeks with both hands, and her cheeks flushed.
"But then he denied it, saying, 'It's not a star, Goshi is my sun.'"
"Just watching Utsuki circling the sun like this is enough for me."
·
"—Wow, it's Hagiwara as expected." Date Kou, who had just heard the story of Hagiwara Kenji and his wife from Matsuda Jinpei, sighed from the bottom of his heart, "It's a pity that I'm saying this to you. If that girl could hear it, she would definitely be even more—"
"I heard it," Matsuda Jinpei waved his hand and continued speaking despite the mixed looks from the four people around him. "Just seconds after Hagi finished speaking, Kurosaki came out from the corner and said, 'Marry me, then.'"
In fact, what he said was not the complete version. He probably omitted most of the girl's reactions because he was concerned about the girl's image and that some secret scenes that became beautiful memories between two people should not be shared with others.
The person being proposed to rubbed his chin and smiled happily despite the mixed looks from his friends.
The orange-haired girl at that time was so adorable. No one had ever seen her like that. There were tears in her eyes, but the corners of her lips were raised, reflecting the afterglow of the setting sun outside the window behind her. The scene was so beautiful that it seemed like a dream.
"—Then just keep looking at me."
That's what the girl said to him at that time.
"Let me always be your sun."
Of course, there is also what Matsuda said just now -
"Marry me."
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