Chapter 90 - Carrot

The person standing in front of you is the son of an excellent and sharp police officer, the chosen policeman who is born to be a police officer, a new member of the organization with a high sense of morality, and the kind Messiah. As long as you turn on the rating system, you will get 100% five-star praise and will never receive any negative reviews from any living person.

Ichijō Mirai said in a serious manner, "A righteous person with a high moral sense."

"'Messiah'."

He reassured Matsuda Jinpei, "I can understand your reasoning for joining the police academy, having been arrested as a murderer, even if it was just a misunderstanding, the veiled glances and whispers of ordinary people are unbearable."

"Like me."

"The first time I was approached by the police while I was on the run, they didn't come to me directly, they went to the neighborhood first to ask around, and I got a lot of subtle stares as soon as I left the house."

It was annoying, so annoying that Ichijō Mirai couldn't stand it and went away sad.

Well, it's sadness, not being surprised by the stupid police.

Matsuda Jinpei: "???"

After the proper consolations of social etiquette, Ichijō Mirai turned his head, "Mr. Wataru, what is your unknown past?"

"You seem to have a problem with some of the waste police."

Date Wataru: "..."

Although he felt that some police officers were negligent, irresponsible, and unworthy of being police officers, when he heard the word 'waste', Date Wataru couldn't help but pause for a few beats and advised Ichijō Mirai, "But they are not waste police officers."

He looked at Ichijō Mirai, who had blown himself up so much that he was speaking as if he were joking in cold humor, and at Matsuda Jinpei, who was squirming to tell the reason why he had joined the police academy, and told the real reason why he had joined the police academy, "My father was a police officer."

"But he didn't deserve to be a police officer."

"When I was a child, I went to a convenience store with my father and we encountered a robbery. He was a police officer, but not only did he not stand up for himself, he groveled to the robber and even begged for forgiveness on his knees, so I..."

Date Wataru said seriously, "I'm disappointed."

Because it's his father, he doesn't say anything too strong, just disappointment, and then says, "I want to be a very different person from my father, I want to be a police officer who can do something."

I see.

"The concentration of 'police personnel can't' seems to be a bit high here," Ichijō Mirai nodded deeply and urged, "then what?"

There's no indication that the mission is complete.

"Then?" Date Wataru was confused, "Then I enrolled in the police academy and met you."

"Why did Kujō-san join the police academy?"

"As I said, I was coldly kicked out of the organization by my shameless superiors," Ichijō Mirai was still serious, "They kept praising me for being a good recruit, having a high sense of morality, and being a good shooter when they were useful, and then kicked me out when they didn't need to use me, and implied many times that I was to blame... shame on them."

Date Wataru: "???"

He took it as joke and didn't buy it at all, "Fine."

Ichijō Mirai looks to Furuya Rei.

Without waiting for him to ask, Furuya Rei spoke up, "I wanted to become a police officer because I wanted to find someone."

"Not a relative, but a person I admired in my childhood..." he hesitated before saying, "a stranger."

Smiling again, he shrugged, "Because of my skin color and hair color, I wasn't very popular as a child, and often got into fights with kids my own age, and that 'stranger' was one of the few people I met who was willing to lend me a helping hand."

It was Miyano Elena.

Not the first, but the most special one. Even today, Furuya Rei can still recall Miyano Elena's light blonde hair and warm smile, the whole person was like gentle sunshine, which didn't burn the eyes, but only adored the light.

"Well, there was a time when I was actually quite radical and bad-tempered, and I couldn't get along with people at all," Furuya Rei looked back and smiled again, "but after I met her, I learned to restrain my sharp thorns."

And instead of stubbornly moving forward, alone, he learned to embrace and laugh.

[Humans have a cooperative nature, it's a racial gift to get through the long darkness...]

[The quest 'Unknown Past-Furuya Rei' has been completed.]

The 'Unknown Past' quest had been triggered five times in total, and now it had been completed three times, leaving Date Wataru and Morofushi Hiromitsu's quests in an uncompleted state, Ichijō Mirai took a serious look at the two NPCs: one was a simple and honest person, and he thought he was being honest, Ichijō Mirai looked at them seriously. 

A simple and honest man, who thought he had confessed the truth and was joking about why he joined the police academy, was not angry and was calmly adjusting his breathing.

A gentle and good-tempered man who was smiling all the time, who had honestly said that his brother was a police officer and that he wanted to help his brother, was now observing Ichijō Mirai while running, and promptly asked: "What's wrong, Kujō-san?"

Neither of these two seem like they'd lie, so why wasn't the mission accomplished? Not enough clues? It's not the right time?

Ichijō Mirai thought for a moment, considering that he was forcing the NPCs to reveal their pasts in an unethical moral abduction, which is not the normal way to play the game, which is to reveal some of the NPCs' pasts one by one as the plot unfolds.

For example, Matsuda Jinpei's father was misunderstood and Date Wataru's father was a loser. These clues are obviously not triggered randomly during a conversation, but should be uncovered logically after encountering some events, so he puts the two unfinished quests under the category of "It's Not Time Yet" for the time being.

When the time comes, new clues will probably appear.

"OK, I understand for now," he nodded deeply, feeling somewhat dissatisfied because he had only completed three tasks, and also felt that it was a mistake, "If I had known earlier to stop and talk, I would have had to run for more than ten minutes, tsk."

He waved, "Bye."

Save file.

The cross-country run begins.

Morofushi Hiromitsu doesn't sprint first, he controls his speed and finds his running and breathing rhythm for a few minutes, catching up with Ichijō Mirai in the crowd, "Most of the students are sprinting,"

He watched Ichijō Mirai's demeanor, "'Ku'jō-san,"

There was a pause before he followed up with a query, "You seem to have experience in cross-country running."

After another pause, Morofushi Hiromitsu couldn't hold back, "...Why do you seem so upset?"

[Quest Series: 'Unknown Past'.

Number of quests triggered:5.

Completed: 0.]

Ichijō Mirai turned his head with a smile, "Where do you see me unhappy, don't talk nonsense, I'm obviously happy all the time, sometimes look for your own reasons, there is no seriously exuding happiness to infect me."

Morofushi Hiromitsu: "?"

He laughed helplessly, "Sorry, I was wrong."

I shouldn't have been so obvious, but I tried it twice in one sentence.

Once it was 'Ku' as in 'Kujō-san', and Morofushi Hiromitsu wasn't sure if Onidzuka Hachizo was too uptight to call him by the wrong name, or if Ichijō Mirai's current name was a pseudonym.

Once it was 'You seem to have experience in cross-country running'.

"They're not going to last much longer if they keep running like this," He changed the subject by looking ahead at the freshmen who were already panting, no longer like owls but like old cows that had plowed a hundred acres, "something's not right."

Kenji Hagiwara catches up, "Could be a muscle strain."

He looked over at Ichijō Mirai, "Hey, Kujō-san, you seem to be in a bit of a..." bad mood?

Before saying it out loud, he responded, "The students don't mean too much harm."

He thought Ichijō Mirai was in a bad mood because of his classmates.

To the students, Onidzuka Hachizo looked like an irritating Yakuza, but to those of them who had been in contact with Ichijō Mirai and had participated in the special evening activities, Onidzuka Hachizo was clearly playing the role of a fierce person, appearing to be targeting Ichijō Mirai, but in fact secretly defending him.

Having discovered this, it was easy to recognize the change in the mood of the students.

"Most people don't really know what they're doing," Morofushi Hiromitsu said in a gentle tone, "It's just human instinct to sympathize with someone who has a tragic past, to be afraid of someone who is mean, to be resentful of one's own failings."

It's like a blindfolded donkey, always walking with its head in the sand, and only walking with its head in the sand.

Cross-country running is so tiring that the first half of the race is fine, but in the second half, when the return journey has just begun, there is a sense of endless exhaustion, where the donkeys can't see the comforting carrot dangling in front of their eyes, and only the feeling of endless death comes in waves.

Ichijō Mirai adds Morofushi Hiromitsu's example, "It's also human instinct to seek help in times of trouble."

[Mission 'Endless Cross-Country Running-①' detected].

[Mission details: I'm dying, the police academy isn't like this at all, someone help me, I'm...I'm dying.]

[Mission Reward: Low-level Painkillers +1.]