After being unable to see anything, other aspects of the body's acuity skyrocketed.
The instructor in the car intentionally shifted speeds, sometimes driving at breakneck speeds, sometimes driving slowly, and sometimes passing through characteristic spots such as speed bumps and gravel roads.
Anyone who knew Tokyo well would be able to tell roughly where the car was traveling, but Ichijō Mirai knew nothing about Tokyo, except for its culture, which he understood in the sense of "if you can't beat it, join it".
He listened quietly.
Inside the car, the sound of breathing was very distinct, undulating and overlapping rhythmically, and then there was a change in the sound of breathing as Onidzuka Hachizo said, "Half an hour is up, and from now on, people will be randomly ordered to go down."
"The first person to go down,"
He didn't say his name, "you."
But there were fewer people, and Ichijō Mirai could tell from the commotion that the first person to go down was Matsuda Jinpei.
The car didn't stop, it just slowed down a bit from high speed, there was a slight sound of movement, and Onidzuka Hachizo said, "Take the cell phone."
"The cell phone has a locator, it's your proof of clearance, if you lose your cell phone, you'll fail."
"You can check your cell phone when you get to a safe place, it will have the identity of the most wanted person you have been assigned to and your mission."
There was another tap on the shoulder, and a final admonition, "Be careful when you jump."
The door opens, and the wind whistles in the air.
Ichijō Mirai heard Matsuda Jinpei pause at the door for a couple of breaths, breathing heavily, and then jump without hesitation.
The sound of bodies hitting the ground and tumbling was lost to the car as it resumed its breakneck speed, and silence returned to the interior of the car.
Fifteen minutes later, Onidzuka Hachizo spoke again, naming Morofushi Hiromitsu, "You."
He repeated the precautions he had already explained, pulled open the car door, and instructed one last time, "Be careful when you jump."
The door opens and closes again.
Ichijō Mirai listened to the sounds outside the car without moving, and heard the sounds of ordinary citizens shopping.
After about ten minutes, the car slowed down a bit when it passed a quiet place, and picked up speed when it passed that part of the path.
Onidzuka Hachizo said, "I just passed the police station."
He whispered, "Some of the officers were dropped off at a fixed location."
Ichijō Mirai auto-translated: His drop-off point is fixed, near the police station.
The police station is a very dangerous place for criminals, and the vicinity of the police station is even more dangerous, so it's only natural that some of the police executives who wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible set his drop-off location and put him near the police station.
Just...
With the power of your police force, isn't the neighborhood of the police station no different from an ordinary residential area?.jpg
As a weak and innocent police cadet with a strong sense of morality, Ichijō Mirai swallowed his comment and responded with a short, "Uh-huh."
If he responds too much, he's afraid he'll spit.
But Onidzuka Hachizo clearly misunderstood the short response, and the car fell into an even more somber silence.
It was fifteen minutes before he spoke again, "We're at the drop-off point."
"Here's your cell phone."
The first two cadets got out of the car with very little noise, and Onidzuka Hachizo made a point of reminding them to be careful when getting out of the car. Ichijō Mirai hadn't paid much attention to it, but it was only now that he realized why he had to make a point of reminding them not to take off their blindfolds.
Onidzuka Hachizo had no intention of removing the blindfold.
He only grabbed Ichijō Mirai's hand and shoved a cell phone into it, "I've already told you what to do."
"...This training program may be particularly difficult for you."
For someone whose parents were killed by criminals, pretending to be a criminal could be quite an uncomfortable training program.
"But you have to get over it."
Onidzuka Hachizo grasped Ichijō Mirai's hand hard, clenching it tightly, "You know what you're aiming for, and you must overcome."
He let go and said in a deep voice, "Pay attention when you get off the bus."
The door opens and the wind hits him again, this time with a vengeance.
Ichijō Mirai put his hand on the door and could feel the shaking darkness, the moving car, and the wind, but he didn't stop. He rolled out of the car into the wind, curled up and rolled over on the ground just in time to ease the momentum, and then reached down to pull off his blindfold.
The instructors' car is already far away, surrounded by unfamiliar streetscape, the drop-off point is near the park, there is no street light, the people are more sparse at night, no one found him, only a dim silence.
A system alert popped up: [Mission 'Disguised Criminals' detected.]
Instead of refreshing in the unimportant lower right corner, the alert appeared directly in the center of Ichijō Mirai's newly reawakened vision.
A line popped up that read.
[You are a righteous person with a strong sense of morality, and even though there are those who scoff at this, you know that those who scoff are black people with no sense of morality and no say in the matter.
Disguising yourself as a criminal is a very difficult task for you, as you think about your parents all the time during the disguise, and if you succeed, you will be reminded of the criminals who killed your parents without any punishment, and if you don't succeed, you will be reminded of the criminals who didn't get the punishment they deserved.
There is more than one criminal.
Taro Yamada was not the only one who killed them, but also everyone who knew about it.
This is a chance for the enemy to crush you, and for you to crush the enemy.
You must be the winner.]
The darker prompt pauses for a moment before a new one pops up.
[Mission Requirements: Pass.]
[1-Star Criteria: Be active for fifteen days without being arrested by the police while in possession of a cell phone.
2-star pass: Impress some police cadets, instructors, police, and citizens outside of the basic pass.
Three-star pass: Impress some people beyond the basic pass.]
In addition to that, there's a line filled with blocking symbols: [Five Star Criteria: ***]
Below that is a small, light hint: [How far can you go while following the rules of the game? This is unknown.]
The last hint is: [Please choose your goal.]
Ichijō Mirai skimmed over the criteria, fixed his eyes on the five stars listed separately, and selected them without hesitation.
[Are you sure you want to choose [five stars]?]
[Friendly reminder that five stars are difficult and limit the number of times you can read the file.]
Limiting the number of readings is the biggest threat.
But...
[Tokyo, neighborhood, house-to-house sweeping, licking bags, police arriving, police shouting, police too scared to sneak in.jpg]
Ichijō Mirai briefly remembers the quality of the Neon police and, faced with the harsh conditions of limiting the number of times he can read the file, makes a very difficult choice for a second, "OK."
A friendly reminder disperses, followed by a successful choice and a reward.
[You have chosen [five stars].]
[Reward: Red camp.]