Disclaimer: Detective Conan is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
----
The convenience store sign was still flashing.
Beside the passenger seat of the van, Ritsu crouched quietly, keeping watch on the situation inside the convenience store. At the moment, he had no clear idea what was happening inside, and rushing in recklessly was definitely not an option. All he could do was wait for Morofushi and the others to arrive.
As for the criminals responsible for providing backup outside, they probably weren't in the immediate area of the convenience store. They were most likely stationed at the intersection up ahead. Their task was likely just to report when the security transport vehicle arrived nearby.
About five minutes later, three men wearing exaggerated floral shirts appeared within Ritsu's line of sight. A group of girls followed behind them. The way they swaggered down the street was certainly eye-catching.
But it wouldn't arouse suspicion. They all looked young, and besides… their staggering, swaying steps clearly looked like they were imitating drunken people.
Ritsu blinked twice. It was the first time he had seen Hiro like this.
It was actually kind of amusing.
The three of them made a subtle hand signal, indicating for the female police cadets to wait nearby. They would go in first to draw attention, while Ritsu would lead the girls inside later to subdue the criminals.
"Get ready. We're going in."
"Three… two… one!"
Bang!
"Hello there!"
"???"
The armed criminals inside were startled by the sudden intrusion. When they looked closely and realized the newcomers were three men who smelled of alcohol, seemingly bar hosts, their sloppy, unserious demeanor didn't resemble police officers at all. The criminals relaxed slightly.
"Whoa, no way?! Is that a gun?!"
Hagiwara removed his sunglasses and shouted in an extremely exaggerated tone as he stared at one of the criminals.
"What are you scared of? It's obviously just a movie prop!"
Jinpei sneered, chewing on a blade of foxtail grass he had somehow found.
Morofushi, still wearing his sunglasses, excitedly walked up to the criminal and said with enthusiasm,
"Hey! What movie are you filming? Let us get a cameo too!"
"Huh? No, this isn't—"
The criminal clearly hadn't expected something like this to happen and froze in confusion. Jinpei even pushed his luck further, pointing at the shotgun and saying he wanted to play the role of a detective.
The man holding a baseball bat, who was responsible for communications, picked up his phone and whispered to his boss,
"Boss, three really weird guys just showed up. What should we do?"
"There are only three of them. Don't bother with it, just kill them."
Just as the man was about to relay the order, a commotion erupted outside the convenience store entrance. The girls, disguised as ordinary pedestrians, excitedly shouted.
"No way, are they really filming a movie?"
"Seriously? That looks fun!"
"We want to be extras too!"
Amid the chaos, Ritsu, who had blended into the crowd, rushed straight toward the two criminals holding shotguns. In a split second, he used the eye-gouge technique, striking both of them in the eyes before they could react.
He didn't apply too much force, though. His main objective was to seize the guns.
Meanwhile, Morofushi ran toward the convenience store's storage room. Seeing the lock on the door, he quickly opened it. When he saw Rei and Date standing inside, he smiled.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Zero, Class Rep!"
"Hiro!"
"Y-you guys, how did you—?"
Morofushi grinned.
"Of course we came after seeing the Morse code from the sign and decided to catch the criminals. But not with strength…"
"With numbers!"
Inside the convenience store, the female police cadets used the arrest techniques they had just learned to easily subdue the criminals.
The two criminals Ritsu handled had it the worst, both of their eyes had been injured from the strikes.
"I see… So you had the police academy students gather here disguised as customers?"
Date couldn't help twitching at the sight before him.
"Sigh… Tomorrow we're definitely getting scolded by Instructor Onizuka. There'll probably be punishment too."
"Well, we just did the same thing your dad once did, right?" Jinpei said, glancing at Hagiwara as a reminder.
The reason Hagiwara had chosen this rescue plan was to play it safe. But he also wanted to tell Date the truth about what had happened back then.
After explaining the real story, Hagiwara gently pressed his fist against Date's left chest and said with a smile,
"So that kneeling back then… wasn't begging for mercy."
"It was because of this, Class Rep! Your dad had a policeman's heart that didn't want anyone to get hurt, and that's what drove him to do it."
"So… that's what really happened."
Date lowered his head.
He remembered how his father had desperately held onto him that day. It was he himself who had looked at things too one-sidedly, misunderstanding his father all these years.
A hero, yet treated like a coward by his own son.
"I…"
Just then, the sound of police sirens approached.
Someone had called the police on the way over, and officers arrived quickly, immediately arresting the criminals and taking them away. They even learned that the group belonged to a yakuza organization called the Nisan-kai, though these particular men were only peripheral members trying to boost their achievements with a big job.
Instead, they had been arrested on the spot.
After returning to the dormitories and taking another shower, everyone went to bed early, thinking about how they might get scolded the next day.
And from that day on, Wataru Date began sticking a toothpick in his mouth almost all the time except when eating, sleeping, or bathing.
He did it to imitate his father, and make himself look a little more intimidating.
Time passed quickly, and before they knew it, the end of the year had arrived.
----
December 30.
After finishing their nighttime training, all the students of Class Onizuka returned to the dormitory building, preparing to shower and sleep.
As usual, after taking a shower, Ritsu returned to his room and pulled out a physics book to read.
But something felt different tonight.
The rooms on both sides of his were unusually quiet.
At that moment, the school rooftop, now the regular gathering place for their group of six, had become the meeting spot again.
Except tonight, one member had been intentionally excluded.
Jinpei picked the lock in just a few seconds. His lock-picking skills were getting more and more impressive.
Jogging over to the edge of the rooftop, he leaned over the railing curiously.
"So how are we celebrating Ritsu's birthday?"
"Tomorrow is New Year's Eve," Wataru said. "And the school gives us a holiday. I already called my family and told them I won't be going home this year."
Kenji rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Ritsu-ya doesn't seem to have any obvious favorite things. If we really had to say… does liking Calpis count?"
"We can't seriously give him Calpis as a present, right? Pass, pass. That's way too ordinary."
Hiro recalled celebrating Ritsu's birthday before. Even though Ritsu always said it wasn't necessary, he still looked secretly excited and happy each time.
But whenever they asked what he wished for, he never told them.
So they had no idea what to give him.
Rei thought for a moment and suggested,
"How about we all chip in and buy him a ring that suits him? His hands are pretty nice, he'd probably look good wearing one."
"A ring, huh? Not bad. It'd also give Wataru a chance to practice for his future engagement," Kenji teased with a mischievous grin.
"Hey, how did this suddenly turn into that? Graduation is still a long way off. Besides, I'd rather have a stable job before thinking about marriage," Wataru said awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.
He hadn't told his friends yet, but after graduation he actually hoped to introduce them to his girlfriend, Natalie Kuruma, someday.
"Alright, it's settled then," Kenji said. "Tomorrow we'll split into two groups."
"Hiromitsu will borrow the school kitchen to make the cake."
"Zero and Jinpei will decorate the rooftop."
"And the class rep and I will take Ritsu-ya out to buy the ring. We'll use the excuse of helping the class rep choose an engagement ring, that way we can naturally get Ritsu's ring size."
"Got it."
"We should head down now," Hiro added. "If Ritsu starts looking for any of us, he's smart enough to figure things out."
----
Attention, Dear Readers!
Do not give this story any Powerstones!
Instead, submit your memes HERE!!
For 10 memes submitted here, I will publish bonus chapter!
Let this story fade into obscurity and only those who seeks PEAK shall find them.