The brilliant rays of the setting sun were fading, and as the sun dropped completely below the horizon, a hazy black and gray came upon us.
The shameful traitor has returned.
Kenji Hagiwara came over the wall, and before he could jump, he was met by several eyes that had been watching for a long time.
They came from trees, corners and walls, like cats in the dark, with eyes that seemed to glow with an eerie light.
In the tree was Matsuda Jinpei, sitting cross-legged on a branch with his back against the trunk, taking the lead with the question, "What have you been doing?"
In the corner was Furuya Rei, almost blending in with the dark wall, the sky under the hazy blackness, only his eyes were bright, as if in a state of prey, and blossomed with the startling brightness of a cat seeing a mouse, "What have you been doing on the sly?"
By the wall was Morofushi Hiromitsu, who was not too far away, did not seem to come to squat on his own initiative, and seemed to be on the lookout, at this moment, helplessly poked a breath, and the third initiated the questioning, "What did you and Date-san do on the sly?"
After a pause, added a fourth question, "What are you doing secretly with Date-san behind our backs?"
This is also a kind of betrayal.
So the first two questioners looked back in unison, and their eyes, which were a little bright in the evening, stared at them as well.
The first questioner, Matsuda Jinpei, was the first to speak quietly: "Don't question for that asshole who wasn't there!"
"...Speak up and get beat up!"
"Where did he go, do you know?!"
Furuya Rei, the second questioner, nodded her head, and her tone of voice was also a bit ghostly, "You and Mirai-san are very close."
Maybe you know Ichijō Mirai's escape point.
Kenji Hagiwara: "..."
He sat on the wall, tempted to just roll back over and pretend he never came back, but only moved a little, and the Matsuda Jinpei in the tree shot him sharp eyes, and he had no choice but to stop and raise his hands in surrender, "I'm going out to meet my sister."
"The Disguised Criminal thing was such a big deal," He said euphemistically, "that my sister came over overnight and almost flew right into the police academy..."
'Almost' indeed.
If Kenji Hagiwara hadn't been near the fence, spotted it in advance, and stopped it in a panic, the police academy's fence would now have a heavy tire track on it, or even have collapsed.
The reasons given by the police may fool the public, but not Kenji Hagiwara, who is also a member of the police force.
Matsuda Jinpei: "..."
He instantly tightened his sitting position, palpitating, and realized something was wrong, "Wait, why did you 'just' happen to be near the fence?"
"To keep Date-san company," Kenji Hagiwara said, repeating, "Disguised Criminal is such a big deal that the news from last night's operation is starting to be broadcast not only in Tokyo, but everywhere else as well,"
"Wataru's girlfriend heard about it and called the instructor to ask about Wataru."
In fact, there is no restriction on cell phones in and out of the academy, as long as you don't break the rules, play with your cell phone during training, or run away from the team during training, or sneak out in the middle of the night, you can use your cell phone to contact your family or go out to relax after training.
But this year is special, since Disguised Criminal, cell phones and freedom of movement have been banned.
Naturally, Date Wataru's girlfriend couldn't reach him, and was worried because she couldn't, even after hearing from the instructor that Date Wataru was fine.
Right now, she's in Tokyo.
"Date-san went to look for her," Kenji Hagiwara explained, "Anyway, weren't they planning to suspend training for a while in the last few days due to people staking out the neighborhood of the police academy?"
The others didn't respond to that.
Up in the tree, the single Matsuda Jinpei leaped forward and almost fell, he fumbled to steady himself and dazedly caught the key word, "Wait, what did you say?"
"Girlfriend?!" ⨉3
They were shocked, "Is it really a girlfriend? Wait, whose girlfriend?"
"Who? Date-san?!"
Date Wataru, who looks like an honest and mature guy with big eyebrows, has a girlfriend?!
Kenji Hagiwara: "...Yes."
He said: "Don't worry, he won't spend the night out,"
"There's no training today, the instructors might check the dormitories, we agreed to meet at six, we've just met, he ran out of toiletries and is at the convenience store, I came back to check the situation first."
Thank you. I regret it.
The others at the academy caught on to the fact that the amazing Date-san, who has a girlfriend, would be back in a few minutes.
Probably in ten minutes at the latest.
Their eyes locked for a moment, and Morofushi Hiromitsu asked, "Are we still going out as planned?"
"Go," Matsuda Jinpei gritted his teeth, "I don't know why that guy is looking for Date-san, but since he's looking for him, if we're looking for him, we'll have to go out and watch for Date-san,"
"It's a long night. Go!"
"I think, with Mirai-san's style," Furuya Rei said his thoughts truthfully, "as unbelievable as it may be, he may know that Date-san is at the convenience store and go straight there."
It's as if he knew beforehand.
It's incredible.
But Ichijō Mirai often seems to have the ability to see things before they happen.
Morofushi Hiromitsu raised an eyebrow, "Okay,"
He politely asked Kenji Hagiwara to turn it back up, "Turn it back up, Kenji-san, you're coming with us."
"These two guys won't let you go."
Kenji Hagiwara could see it in their expressions as he flipped back and landed lightly, inquiring with some confusion, "What's Mirai-san up to now again?"
I can't believe I'm being hunted down.
'Again' is good.
Morofushi Hiromitsu went out over the wall, and thought about how to describe in simple terms, 'two words that easily took the hate value of his classmates', "Mirai-san said that the two of you climb over the wall, and asked if the two of them wanted to climb over the wall."
He landed on the ground and added, "On the first floor, asked in a voice that could be heard throughout the school building,"
"There are instructors in the school building..."
Kenji Hagiwara: "..."
Furuya Rei came out over the wall and added slyly, "I was on the top floor, and it was a little deafening."
Matsuda Jinpei was the last one, and instead of going down the tree, he made an assessment from the tree, intending to go straight over it, while adding, "The whole school building went silent."
He gritted his teeth a bit, "One of the instructors closed the windows on the third floor."
Kenji Hagiwara again: "..."
That really should be hunted down.
He let out a dry cough so as not to burst out laughing, when suddenly, he heard a crisp 'pop' and felt the wall in his afterglow light up all of a sudden, so he subconsciously looked up.
There was a flashlight light inside the wall.
The light struck Matsuda Jinpei, who was about to climb over the wall, and he was so surprised that he froze like a frog and almost fell out of the tree.
The light from the flashlight came from the second floor of the school building near the tree.
Ichijō Mirai's friendly voice greeted him, "Hello, Matsuda Jinpei-san."
"Are you going over the wall? Are you really going over the wall? Wow, Matsuda Jinpei-san is going over the wall."
It's not that loud.
It was just that the damn sound could be transmitted very far, not very far, really not very far, and compared to the murderous aura that suddenly rose from Matsuda Jinpei, it was pitifully small.
A block away, a few passersby sniffed in bewilderment, just in time to witness the cadet's breach of the temporary rules by climbing over the wall.