After the sports festival officially ended, two months slipped away quietly like sand through fingers. The cherry blossoms by the police academy training ground had already withered. The pink and white petals turned into spring mud, replaced by the elegant fragrance of gardenias, flowing quietly in the summer evening breeze.
Compared to when school first started, the students did not have to spend too much time on basic courses anymore. Instead, they began to have opportunities to go out on internship tasks and even follow seniors to participate in case investigations.
Today was Saturday. It was originally supposed to be a rest day, but the few troublemakers of the Onizuka class could not stay idle. As soon as they heard Instructor Onizuka announce an urgent field assignment, the six of them, led by Date Wataru, volunteered and quickly headed to the destination—a riverside park near Beika Town.
他们 squeezed into the van provided by the police academy, crossing the streets at a surprising speed.
"Speaking of which, I didn't have time to ask about the details just now, so I don't even know what kind of case happened." Matsuda's curly hair shook messily due to inertia. "I heard it's pretty urgent."
Morofushi Hiromitsu guessed, "Could someone be fighting with weapons?"
"Maybe someone reeled in a corpse."
A deliberately gloomy voice suddenly cut in.
Gojo Satoru propped his cheek with his hand, his red eyes half-squinted. "For example, an old man fishing accidentally found a fragmented head in the river or something..."
"Are you some horror story radio host!" Matsuda complained. "If it were really such a serious incident, it wouldn't be our turn as interns to go over."
"That's right," Furuya Rei agreed with his statement.
"Hey, hey, don't get too excited, you guys," Date Wataru said seriously. "For ordinary citizens, no big news is the best news, right?"
Hagiwara Kenji did not join their discussion, only holding the steering wheel steadily with his long fingers, his eyes focused intently on the road ahead.
Five minutes later, except for Gojo Satoru who followed slowly at the very back, the other five rushed to the destination like arrows leaving a bow string.
In the end, the scene they saw was...
"I've had enough! I can't live like this anymore, I'm going to jump into the river!" A middle-aged woman leaned against the bridge, shouting with red eyes.
"Why are you jumping, I want to jump too!"
The man who was clearly her husband shouted back, pointing at the river water.
"..."
So they came all this way just to break up a couple's fight?!
Although it was far from the scene they imagined, handling and mediating disputes among citizens was also a part of police work. They quickly adjusted their mindset and split up to take action.
Date Wataru was responsible for dispersing the onlookers, while Furuya Rei and Morofushi Hiromitsu persuaded the emotional husband. "Sir, please calm down first. If there's any problem, we can talk it over slowly."
"What is there to talk about!" The man waved his arms. "She just knows how to complain every day!"
At the same time, Matsuda Jinpei stood behind the two of them, crossing his arms with a dark face. His already sharp facial features looked even more intimidating at this moment. "Are you sure there's nothing to talk about?"
The man shrank his neck unconsciously, his voice dropping a bit. "Uh... this officer..."
"Hmm?" Matsuda snorted from his nose, making his knuckles crack.
"I, I get it..."
On the other side, Hagiwara Kenji and Gojo Satoru were responsible for persuading the wife. Under Hagiwara's gentle words, she sobbed and began to talk about her daily family chores. Hagiwara nodded in response at the right times, occasionally inserting a few sincere words of comfort. Although Gojo Satoru didn't say much, just relying on that face was enough to bring a soothing effect.
"...So that's how it is," the woman's voice became much calmer. "Actually, it's not a big deal, just caught up in the heat of the moment..."
"Friction is inevitable between husband and wife." Hagiwara handed over a handkerchief for her to wipe her tears. "The important thing is to understand each other."
Gojo Satoru pulled a piece of konpeito candy out of his pocket like a magic trick. "Eat something sweet, and your mood will get better~"
The woman froze, then took the candy gratefully. "You guys are really too sweet, Officer..."
Not long after, the emotions of the couple completely calmed down. The husband scratched his head and apologized to his wife, and the wife also admitted she was overreacting a little. When the two walked away arm in arm, they didn't forget to turn back and bow to thank them.
"Seriously..." Matsuda sighed. "Is this the urgent incident? I thought I could at least catch a thief or something."
Date smiled and said, "After all, there aren't that many cases every day."
Gojo Satoru deeply agreed upon hearing this. During these two months of interning as police academy students, the number of murder cases he heard about wasn't even as many as what happened in just two episodes of Conan.
Turned out the crime rate in Beika Town only soared because of the death god Kudo Shinichi?
Since the matter was resolved, the group was not in a hurry to go back to school, but took this opportunity to stroll around instead.
"The air here is very fresh, no wonder so many people come to visit." Date laughed and patted Matsuda, who was still feeling gloomy. "If Instructor Onizuka hadn't sent us over, we wouldn't have seen such a good scenery, right?"
"Yeah, actually the instructor's temper has become much better than when school started," Morofushi Hiromitsu said. "Could it be because our class won a lot of medals at the sports festival last time, making him proud?"
"Maybe it's because we haven't caused much trouble during these two months," Furuya Rei thought for a moment. "Since those few cases before, it has been quite peaceful, and the instructor can't find any fault with us."
Matsuda lamented, "It's exactly because it's too peaceful that I looked forward to today's urgent task!"
"Little Matsuda feels bored too, right?" Gojo Satoru said with a regretful tone. "If Tokyo Tower suddenly blew up with a boom, that would be something worth watching."
"Wait, I didn't say I wanted to see a terrorist attack!" Matsuda didn't take his words seriously, just pulling a baseball bat out of the backpack he carried with him, weighing it in his hand. "Speaking of which, I originally thought I would run into criminals, so I specially brought a weapon."
"Oh?" Hagiwara's eyes lit up. "Does little Jinpei have other bats and baseballs?"
"I do have them, why?"
"Look, there's a great empty space in that nearby field," Hagiwara proposed. "Since it's still early, how about we play some baseball?"
Furuya Rei and Morofushi Hiromitsu nodded, and Date Wataru also expressed no objection. Only Gojo Satoru deliberately turned the corners of his mouth down, making an expression between troubled and guilty. "I think it's better to go back to school and play basketball."
Hearing this, Matsuda Jinpei's eyes rolled. "Could it be... you're saying this because you don't know how to play baseball?"
"H-How is that possible!"
Seeing the black-haired youth's rare panicked look, Matsuda was delighted and got an idea. "Don't worry, it's a simplified version of baseball. Trying it won't hurt. If you can beat me, I'll buy you dinner for a week, how about that?"
"Hmm..." Gojo Satoru showed just the right amount of hesitation. "Then what if I lose?"
Matsuda announced with full confidence, "Then you have to call me 'Matsuda-senpai' for a month!"
Unexpectedly, Gojo Satoru agreed readily, "Fine, don't back out."
Matsuda: "..." No, don't you need a little mental struggle?
Did this kid really know how to play baseball... but he had never seen him play at school before!
Furuya Rei reminded, "Matsuda, I advise you to think it over more..."
"No need!" Matsuda had already walked over to the empty space with big strides. "Come on, Kuno! Today I'll show you what a real pitcher looks like—"
However, as the game progressed, his smile gradually disappeared.
"Crack!"
The crisp sound of the bat making contact with the ball echoed across the empty space. The white ball drew a perfect arc, flying far away to the other end.
"Little Matsuda is struck out~" Gojo Satoru lowered the bat, smiling. "Looks like I can have a good meal tonight."
Matsuda's shoulders slumped. "Damn it... how could this happen..."
Who knew this guy really knew how to do everything! This was way too cheating, right?
"Oh, it's not embarrassing to lose to me," Gojo Satoru lied with a straight face. "If I hadn't thought being a police officer was more interesting back then, I might have entered Koshien."
"Who would believe that!"
Listening to their bickering, the remaining few looked at each other and shook their heads helplessly.
"Right, we have to get our ball back." As Hagiwara spoke, he jogged over in the direction where the white ball had flown out.
Unexpectedly, at the same time he picked up the white ball, he suddenly heard a little girl's crying voice.
"Waa... it's all Shinichi's fault for kicking the ball into a strange place..."
A little girl with a slightly angular hairstyle stood not far away, looking at the water tap ahead with teary eyes.
A boy of a similar age to her was messing with something next to the water tap. "Don't cry, Ran, it's going to be fine!"
That water tap was probably broken by a soccer ball kick, and it was continuously spraying water. The water flow was visibly getting bigger and bigger, and the girl's tears could not stop along with it.
Hagiwara walked up and gently patted her little head. "Don't worry, let me take a look."
"Eh?" Mori Ran looked up in surprise, teardrops still hanging from the corners of her eyes.
Hagiwara looked at the boy next to the water tap and spoke, "Hey, kid... how can you let your girl cry?"
Hearing this sentence, the boy froze, staring straight at him.
Hagiwara took the white ball from his hand and precisely blocked the gap in the water tap. The water flow stopped abruptly.
Mori Ran widened her eyes. "Wow, big brother, you're amazing!"
Seeing that Hagiwara had not returned for a long time, the remaining five people came over directly to find him.
Matsuda shouted, "Hagi, what are you doing?"
Gojo Satoru, however, noticed the comments that suddenly appeared in mid-air.
Ahhh, it's little Shinichi and little Ran! Both babies are so cute!
So the police academy group met them this early? Beika Town is really small lol.
Wow, this should be a classic scene! I have to leave a comment to mark it.
Hagiwara is so gentle, crying, a manifestation signed by ten thousand people to give the handsome guy more screen time.
I thought it was an independent side story, but it actually connects with the main story's protagonists? Shocked.
Needless to say, this part was the plot where the police academy group met Shinichi and Ran for the first time. Just a short while ago, he was still complaining in his heart about how the death god Kudo Shinichi caused the crime rate in Beika Town to soar...
And now he just ran straight into the main person?