The police unlocked the door to the isolation room.
The group of police officers, four or five in all, appeared to be of various shapes and sizes, some looking a little pale, others relaxed, and the moment the door was opened, they let their eyes peek through and tried to observe Ichijō Mirai with wide-open eyes.
At the head of the group was Inspector Inuo.
He pushed the door open a crack, not surprised that Ichijō Mirai was silently standing in the doorway like a ghost in a horror movie, ready to open the door and kill him, and respectfully stepped back, "Kujō-san."
"Please come out, the police have decided on a specific punishment and reward for you."
Inspector Inuo stared at the ground without even glancing at Morofushi Hiromitsu on one side, "It's already 1:00 a.m., would you like to go to rest first, or eat first?"
"The isolation room is far from both the cafeteria and the dormitory, it's about a ten minute walk."
As long as the end result is not too complicated, ten minutes is enough for a full recapitulation, plus a few details and explanations.
He paused and added, "It's closer to the city."
If the cafeteria and dormitories were too much, Ichijō Mirai could also go downtown.
"The academy instructors took a group of cadets away not long ago," Inuo added, finally glancing sideways at Morofushi Hiromitsu, "but only a few of the slightly injured cadets who didn't tell us about their injuries have left for medical treatment, and most of the rest of the academy is still eating and resting in the cafeteria."
They were waiting for Ichijō Mirai to come out.
It's a kind of silent pressure.
It's worth weighing the effect, and it seems a little light, but there's only so much the cadets can do to maintain their attitude by not leaving as a group.
"Before leaving, the instructor Onidzuka left a rule that all cadets should return to the academy by 12 noon."
The cadets could leave at any time, but the only one whose departure time was uncertain was Ichijō Mirai.
It was impossible for the police to hold a meeting until 12:00 noon, but after the meeting, Ichijō Mirai could be cold-cocked and held for a few more days to check for violations in the training program.
It's a rule that expresses the attitude of the academy.
"You see?"
Will you go to the cafeteria or dormitory, or to a restaurant or hotel in the city, or to the academy's cafeteria dormitory?
Inuo was so respectful that the rest of the police force, no matter what their expressions were, subconsciously became more respectful after a moment's pause.
Ichijō Mirai waved to Morofushi Hiromitsu and casually walked down the corridor, listening to Inuo as he followed his report.
He pondered, "The situation has changed."
The situation at the academy had changed, from one of opposition to one of agreement.
Is this Matsumoto Kiyonaga's role? Yes.
As for where to go...
"Let's go to the cafeteria first," Ichijō Mirai said, locking eyes with Morofushi Hiromitsu, "the students are waiting for me."
Inspector Inuo immediately took two steps forward, keeping his feet to the side of Ichijō Mirai's and his hands respectfully outstretched in front of him, guiding the way ahead at every road junction, "Yes,"
He began to talk about the meeting, "As discussed in the meeting, Kujō-san and all of you have maintained excellent results in the special training program, and as of the suspension of the training program, no one has been caught,"
Because those who fell into the net were like goldfish, Ichijō Mirai was able to catch them as easily as if they were playing a game of fish in a paper net.
"Although there were some minor misdemeanors in the process, such as a cadet instructing someone to broadcast a code word through a TV station, or a cadet rescuing someone from jail, or a cadet threatening and intimidating a high-ranking officer," said Inuo, "the overall situation is flawed, and the police should give proper encouragement to them."
"First, all police academy students who participated in this special training will be listed as 'outstanding graduates'. Upon graduation, they will be directly recruited by the police departments by submitting letters of intent. They do not need to become a guard or go to the police station for internship as usual. Once they graduate, they will become official police officers."
"The best cadets, such as you, Wataru-san who managed to sneak into the police station, and Morofushi-san, etc. etc. etc., whether in the professional or non-professional group, are made up of police officers upon graduation, and can be promoted to the police department after one month of regular work."
Huh?
Ichijō Mirai, who doesn't know the exact transition process of a Neon police cadet into the police force, looks at Inspector Inuo for a few moments, and realizes: Oh, no wonder those Morofushi Hiromitsu guys looked so promising in [FBI Newcomer], that's why!
It's all because of his efforts!
But it's Morofushi Hiromitsu and the others who got promoted and got a raise!
Damn it!
Betraying the great Messiah to become the wretched Winner in Life, what a shame!
What's the point of being a serious police officer? Become a serious police officer!
He stared at Morofushi Hiromitsu in disgust.
Morofushi Hiromitsu was listening quietly, and when he received the stare, he was a bit confused, "?"
"What's wrong?" He whispers, "Something's wrong."
You're the problem.
You're the one who only talks sweetly about trust, but when it comes down to it, you abandon the great Messiah and betray the gods you believe in.
During Inuo's lecture, blue hints kept popping up, analyzing the meaning of each half-sentence word by word, simulating the negotiation between the two sides of the police force in the meeting.
There was also a blue tip that appeared from the side of Morofushi Hiromitsu's face: ['Winner in Life' is in doubt... ]
[The brains of some of the police department's top brass are like lemons that have been frozen in a refrigerator for 30 years, they are sour and shriveled, they leave traces when touched, and they hold grudges, they may solicit those ordinary police cadets, but they will not let Morofushi Hiromitsu and the others off the hook, they will take their revenge with a vengeance...]
Because Morofushi Hiromitsu and the others were too good, and because they had a good relationship with Ichijō Mirai, they were regarded as his 'henchmen', and because they were too wary to let Ichijō Mirai into the police system, they would of course take revenge after being stomped in the face a few times.
Without blinking, Ichijō Mirai reached up and waved away the blue prompt, grumbling a bit, "I'm starting to regret this, spoiling the mood."
He pretends not to notice the skepticism, and stares condemningly at Morofushi Hiromitsu, "Morofushi -san, are you happy that you can go straight to becoming a police officer?"
Morofushi Hiromitsu:"...?"
Since Ichijō Mirai was used to Ichijō Mirai's constant nervousness, he quickly replied, "It's not 'directly becoming a police officer', it's after one month of joining the force."
For the professional team, this reward is actually okay, it's kind of a happy reward, but for the non-professional team that doesn't intend to become a professional team, it's like a lucky break.
"It's okay."
Becoming a professional team requires an exam, which may be difficult for others, but for Morofushi Hiromitsu it's nothing, he doesn't really care, but he does care about Ichijō Mirai's reaction, "Don't you think it's a good idea?"
Yes, it's great. Who doesn't like a promotion and a raise.
But instead of a promotion and a raise, the great Messiah was hung on a cross and tortured for a little, little act of rebellion, and the wretched believer became the Winner in Life!
Ichijō Mirai stared at Morofushi Hiromitsu for a few moments, condemning him for having fallen so far as to become an evil classmate of the police, and said to Inspector Inuo, "What else?"
Inuo kept his head slightly bowed, remaining silent when he shouldn't speak, and only speaking when he should, "Two, the police will be presenting several 'honorary officers'."
He explained in a low voice: Because of the emergency news, the citizens of Tokyo were very interested in the so-called 'special training', and there was a lot of talk about it.
There were two sides to the debate.
One was negative, with the lovely citizens of Tokyo and non-Tokyo Japanese people all playing full-on yin and yang, praising the police for being so good that they didn't think there were enough criminals to have cadets disguise themselves as criminals, and praising the police academy for being so good that it's straight out of prison, and that going to the academy is just as much fun as going to prison.
One is positive, countless citizens have praised the ability of the cadets, marveling at their ability to easily siege an illegal organization without killing a single person, and also play a full level of yin and yang, dissing the police can be really powerful, a lot of hard work can not deal with the enemy was actually solved by the cadets, why not just commit hara-kiri so that the cadets can be on the throne.
It's a big controversy in the public opinion.
The police, of course, can't just stand by and watch themselves get called out, so they're going to do what they're supposed to do: bow and apologize.
A police officer has been chosen to bow and apologize, and if the public's anger doesn't subside, there's a buy-one-get-one-free service to hire a councilor who's even better at bowing and apologizing.
And they're going to try to steer positive public opinion, the lesser of two evils, or at least not let 'the police are really useless' be the common denominator between the two.
They want to select a few police cadets to mobilize the public's attention as 'good police cadets' and win their hearts.
If they do it right, they will be able to capture a large portion of the public's attention and become their voice, offering their political opinions 'for the sake of the people of Tokyo' at critical moments.
With his colleagues present, Inuo explained as politely as possible, glossing over some points and adding, "The 'Honorary Police Officer' is still undecided, and will be selected by the police academy, with your personal wishes as the main focus."
If Ichijō Mirai wanted to, he could take the job right away, and greet the crowd with cheers and applause.
If Ichijō Mirai didn't want to be an 'honorary police officer', he could choose the police officer he felt was more suitable for the job.
Morofushi Hiromitsu listened, and looked to Ichijō Mirai, "You..."
He skipped over the option that 'Ichijō Mirai would be an honorary police officer'.
"Who are you going to choose?"
High IQ: 'Honorary police officer', with a bright future.
Low IQ: a political pawn, an acrobat, a monkey.
Ichijō Mirai rolled his eyes lazily, "When you forward the matter of the safe deposit box to Matsumoto Kiyonaga for me, convey this matter by the way."
Matsumoto Kiyonaga was at the meeting, so he must have known.
But when Morofushi Hiromitsu relayed it once, the meaning was clear: Ichijō Mirai was not satisfied.
Upon hearing the words 'do something for me', Inspector Inuolooked at Morofushi Hiromitsu carefully for a few moments without a trace, kept quiet again, and then spoke a few seconds later, "San."
"You're very good, Kujō-san," he whispered, "The police are willing to send you abroad to study Criminology,"
Criminology.
"The University of Maryland, University at Albany, University of California, Irvine and all other schools with good criminology programs, as long as you are interested, the police will apply for short-term or long-term study abroad for you in an official capacity,"
"When you return to Tokyo during your vacation, you can work part-time for Division 1 or the team as a temporary special advisor, guiding Division 1 in solving crimes or the team in closing down black criminal organizations."
"Upon your return,"
Inuo paused for a moment, "You will be the 'Superintendent'."
Superintendent.
'Superintendent', for the professional group, wasn't too enticing, but 'Superintendent' was something very different.
Even more so for the non-professionals, Superintendent is almost the end of the line for the non-professionals, and many non-professionals work their whole lives to become Superintendent in their 40s and 50s.
The next step up from Superintendent is Assistant Commissioner.
Matsumoto Kiyonaga is currently an Assistant Commissioner, but he's getting old.
If Ichijō Mirai had become Superintendent in his early twenties, then...
No matter where this Superintendent comes from, there will be someone who will open the arms of the camp for him, and make sure that he moves up the ladder with ease and prosperity.
And the price, perhaps, is a little deference and a marriage to the daughter of one of his superiors.
That's a big temptation for anyone with big ambitions.
The fact that the meeting was able to decide on this article shows that the opposition is also divided between those who stubbornly rejected Ichijō Mirai, and those who were loosened up by his excellence, and who are tempted to hold on to a young man of ability when the Ichijō family's case is none of their business anyway.
Ichijō Mirai didn't hesitate to dislike him: "Ew, yuck."
He turned to Morofushi Hiromitsu, "Please forward this one again for me."
"...What's the difference between that and snubbing me like a dog and feeding me poison smeared with a layer of honey?"
It's all very tempting, but verbal decisions are verbal decisions, facts are facts, and the specifics of the situation will have to be played out by the internal camps of the police force.
Ichijō Mirai would throw up if he became a police cadet, but if he became a serious police officer and served the people with a smile on his face, he would throw up.
...Although the strength and situation of the Japanese police is such that there won't be too many rare cases of 'police officers serving the people with passion', it's a good idea to get involved in police infighting.
But getting involved in police infighting was something Ichijō Mirai was more than a little disgusted by, and he raised an impatient eyebrow, "Two out of three 'rewards' are punishments that need to be dismissed, tsk."
"Are there any more?"
Morofushi Hiromitsu looked at him, silent as he tried to understand what Ichijō Mirai meant.
The rest of the police officers looked at Ichijō Mirai and then at Inuo, their eyes darting back and forth.
Inspector Inuo's face remained unchanged, "There is one more punishment."
He paused for a moment, moving his lips before speaking, "...Each police cadet is required to write a review."
"...At least half a page."
"..."
A half-page review, and the truth is out in the open?
That's the prize.
That's outrageous.