Matsuda Jinpei turned around and walked away, as if he had made up his mind.
Morofushi Hiromitsu took him by the shoulders and dragged him back, "What's wrong? Why are you leaving?"
Anyone could ask this question with a straight face, except Morofushi Hiromitsu, because he was the closest to Ichijō Mirai, so close that he had a few secrets that no one else knew, and knew Ichijō Mirai the best, knew his character.
"Why are you leaving?!"
Matsuda Jinpei was shocked that Morofushi Hiromitsu was able to ask such a question with an air of nonchalance, "Don't tell me you don't see that this guy's going to misbehave!"
It's bad luck to stay, and it's probably going to be bad luck with blood pressure and gnashing of teeth.
So why don't you just wind up and get the hell out of here?
"Well, I can see that," Morofushi Hiromitsu said calmly, 'but we can't leave, can we, there's only the choice between 'answering questions voluntarily' and 'being answered voluntarily'."
Even if Matsuda Jinpei turned away, Ichijō Mirai would grab him by the ankles and pull him back with a smile on his face.
At that time, Ichijō Mirai's cheerful expression, tone of voice, and even strands of hair that smelled of relaxation were all part of Matsuda Jinpei's high blood pressure, part of the torture.
It would have been better to skip this part and take one less round of damage.
Matsuda Jinpei: "..."
"You're so skillful."
He sat down next to Ichijō Mirai and rubbed his hair in annoyance, "Tsk, don't put on an innocent and sincere face as if you're hurt by the fact that you turned away without a second thought... you're the one who's trying to be mean!"
The road was long, the place was empty, there were a lot of people, if a row of people sat together, it would take up a space of three or four meters, Matsuda Jinpei did not choose the farthest seat, but sat down close to Ichijō Mirai, and when sitting down, he also lifted up his hand on his shoulder, and pressed his shoulder downward with his elbow.
Morofushi Hiromitsu sat down on the other side of the table, and turned his head as the others sat down as well.
Furuya Rei has some of the same victim-esque vigilance as Matsuda Jinpei, sitting down with a bit of 'I'd like to see what you're going to blabber on about' suspicion.Date Wataru sits down as he surveys the surroundings, his brow furrowing for a few seconds before loosening up.Kenji Hagiwara is looking at Matsuda Jinpei and sighs helplessly, noticing that Kenji Hagiwara was watching Matsuda Jinpei sigh helplessly, and noticed Ichijō Mirai's gaze, and he smiled.
These police cadets are normal human beings, and even though they have all kinds of 'unknown pasts', they've only become tougher and better, and they're taking more determined steps towards the light, and they'll become excellent police officers in the future.
...except for Morofushi Hiromitsu, who doesn't change his face when it comes to 'Satan'.
Ichijō Mirai looked at everyone's expression carefully, and his shoulders were pressed by Matsuda Jinpei.
"First of all, a normal human being with a normal outlook, a strong sense of morality, and a legal bottom line would not ask the question you did," he said, 'Only someone who doesn't have all of those elements would ask such a question, just like a normal person wouldn't ask another person, 'Do you think I'm a normal human being?' but would simply acquiesce to the fact that he or she is, and would not be able to think of doubting that at all."
Matsuda Jinpei said, glancing at Ichijō Mirai again, "But in your case, it's normal to ask that kind of question."
Ichijō Mirai asked, "Why?"
"Even if you suddenly stood up right now and hit a dozen wheels on the road, and then laughed and insisted that we hit the wheels as well, saying that we'd compete to see who was the champion," Matsuda Jinpei said, "I'd still think it was normal."
"Your behavior is somewhat colorful, and it's not at all strange to add a bright touch."
He was rather euphemistic, "On the contrary, it fits your old image, very 'Kujō Mirai'."
Ichijō Mirai thought for a few seconds, and then a few seconds more, before giving a look of realization, "Oh, you're calling me a psychopath."
"No!" Matsuda Jinpei quickly retorted, "I'm not, don't take the opportunity to write down 'On such and such a date, a certain student insulted me' and then avenge yourself, that's clearly distorting my meaning and slandering me!"
"It's not that you're childish!"
"It's just..."
That is, Ichijō Mirai did engage in a lot of whimsical behavior, some of it was on the good side, some of it was on the bad side, and some of it was hard to tell what the nature of it was.
For example, when you passed the test, you insisted on standing with the last classmate just because 'we are companions', or when you raided the dormitory at night on your first day at the police academy and gathered a few people together to deal with the instructor, or when you turned back several times to help your exhausted classmates during the cross-country run, or to help your classmates in the disguise of criminals.
And then there's the serious 'Furuya-san, you're having a great time', the shamelessly loud reporting of a student who's going over the wall, the slipping of pills without explaining it, and then the innocent explanation afterward.
"Often, as if on purpose, as soon as an image of you as reliable and powerful was built up in my mind, you would shatter it with a single blow and show how unreliable you are," Matsuda Jinpei rubbed his chin with his hand, thinking like a detective, and murmured, "You're a very contradictory person, or so I'd say."
He glanced at Ichijō Mirai and said no more.
Or rather, Ichijō Mirai had a lot of secrets that none of them knew about, so it was like groping their way through a fog, only able to feel his reliability and unreliability with the palms of their hands, but not able to see the veins of these reliability and unreliability with their eyes, unable to get to the bottom of the matter.
Ignoring this, Matsuda Jinpei commented, "You are indeed a normal human being with a normal outlook, a strong sense of morality, and a legal bottom line,"
"But," He shook his finger, "it's more than that,"
"Just like you can't just have rice without chopsticks at dinner, it's never okay to only talk about your serious side, you also have to talk about your evil side, or else you'll have the tendency to intentionally mislead the innocent people who meet you for the first time, and aid and abet the evil."
'First meeting'.
Given Ichijō Mirai's character, by the second meeting, the other person would probably know more or less about this guy's bad side.
If not, then Ichijō Mirai wasn't playing hard enough.
Matsuda Jinpei asked, "Why are you suddenly asking this kind of question? We've expressed it before at one time or another, and it didn't seem to bother you at the time?"
He looked as if he hadn't realized that his words were likely to draw a furtive gaze from Savior-sama.
Normally, Ichijō Mirai would have smiled and stared at him, but now he only thought for a few seconds, "It's okay, aren't humans contradictory?"
There are people who can save themselves by pushing strangers to their deaths when they are in danger, or protect their loved ones even when they are trembling with fear.
There are those who can steal from a naive student without a blush, or hesitate to put their stolen money into the bag of a passerby who is crying because he doesn't have enough money to pay for his medical treatment.
"There are people who are kind and gentle with friends, classmates, coworkers, and even strangers," Ichijō Mirai says, citing one of the most common examples, "but who, when confronted with a close family member or lover, can storm out in a few words, kicking and punching."
He repeats, "Aren't human beings contradictory creatures, and why does my contradiction matter to you?"
Though he didn't say so explicitly, Matsuda Jinpei had obviously paid attention to Ichijō Mirai's reliable and unreliable sides.
"...Ah, that's it, the familiar feeling of high blood pressure, it's really late, but it's here." Matsuda Jinpei repeatedly inhaled deeply and gritted his teeth, "Why else? Because the weather's nice and I'm happy!"
"Morofushi, you scold him!"
Morofushi Hiromitsu: "…"
"Ahem, ignoring some of the probably not-so-important classmates," he coughed a few times, biting down on some of the pronunciation, "probably, because you're special?"
"Did someone say something to you? Something you may not have noticed, or cared about even if I've said it before: you have a very distinctive air about you."
"Some criminals have a certain aura. Even if they have been hiding their identities for many years and living as ordinary people, professional police officers will still instinctively pay attention to them when they pass by them. Some police officers also have a certain aura. Even if they are on vacation wearing only casual clothes, many strangers will feel at ease when they see them facing the police."
"There are also some celebrities, teachers, etc. Many people have a unique temperament, most of which are due to their profession, and some are due to their experience or illness."
The condition is something like autism, stress, etc. Morofushi Hiromitsu is one of those people, and that's why I was interested in Ichijō Mirai from the very beginning.
As the others were still there, Morofushi Hiromitsu was a bit vague, "I don't know about Matsuda, but that's partly why I paid attention to you in the first place."
"Only partly."
Beyond that part, there had always been something subtle, intriguing, and somewhat contradictory about Ichijō Mirai.
It's a sense of detachment that's not too high up, and a kindness that's not exactly a pleasing personality, nor is it a handout, but it's an anachronistic description that reminds me of a 'kindred spirit'.
He also has an independent personality with a strong sense of excessive concern for others.
It's very... like...
Morofushi Hiromitsu paused for a moment as he organized his vocabulary.
Kenji Hagiwara spoke, "It's like playing a game."
"Mirai-san is like playing a game," He was as good-tempered as Morofushi Hiromitsu, speaking with a smile on his face, "and all of us are NPCs in a game that Mirai-san has purchased for you to own."
"Often, it's like there's a layer of glass between you and us, invisible, but tangible, a feeling that's not obvious, but always captured by intuition."
Even Date Wataru nodded hesitantly in agreement, "Today, for example, you had an emergency, didn't you? You left in a hurry, but you didn't seem to think to tell us what happened."
He wondered, "It's instinctive to tell someone close to you when something is urgent, but not so urgent that you can't stay a second longer?"
"Well," Furuya Rei changed the subject a bit, not lingering here, and brought it back, "but you didn't pay much attention to it before, did you, so why are you asking about it now?"
Because it hadn't been a problem before.
Ichijō Mirai seriously reflected on it: I took this place too much as a game, and let myself go too far, not realizing that the other people weren't really NPCs, but human beings.
But...
In reality, Ichijō Mirai's personality is a little different from the one he displays in the game.
If I had to choose a false character, it would be reality, not the game. In reality, Ichijō Mirai deliberately restrained his character, but in the game, he didn't restrain himself too much.
In other words, the root of the problem was not that he was treating this place like a game and showed a gamer's demeanor, but that he already had a gamer's demeanor.
Finding the problem, Ichijō Mirai adjusted his sitting position, "No, it's getting a little difficult."
Everything else can be changed, but how do you change a personality that's made up of too much?
There's no hiding it.
Ichijō Mirai's current theory was that Suzuki Sonoko had not noticed, but had intuited his concealment and disguise, and had subconsciously retained some of it like a small, weak animal being watched by a predator, and had always been a little bit wary and vigilant, which she had not even noticed herself.
The only way to get rid of this part was to give up his disguise and reveal his true personality in front of the tense hostage whose life was at stake.
But Ichijō Mirai's true personality was not one that would make a child feel at ease, and even he himself thought about the blue bar that had plummeted in the first round when he thought about it seriously.
He adjusted his sitting position once more, "...What a mission against me."
Matsuda Jinpei perks up his ears to listen to his self-talk, not quite catching it, "What?"
Ichijō Mirai's gaze shifted over to Matsuda Jinpei's young, youthful face with a vivid, natural expression, and then moved to look at the good-tempered Kenji Hagiwara and Morofushi Hiromitsu.
They looked like professional police officers who were very popular with children.
As he looked at them, he slowly tilted his head, and his eyes became haunted, as if they were emanating the ghostly green light of a wolf, "But, there are specialties in the field."
＊
Katsushika-ku, abandoned factory, 800 meters away.
Morofushi Hiromitsu, with his sniper rifle mounted, saw a robber on patrol through his sniper scope, "I see the robber."
A few meters away from him, at another window, Matsuda Jinpei was mounted there, using his sniper rifle less skillfully, and took some time to find the robber, sounding a bit incredulous, "I can't believe there's really one."
He turned to Ichijō Mirai, "'I accidentally caught a glimpse of a small child being kidnapped, so I hurriedly left without saying a word to track the vehicle, I didn't catch up, but I attached a locator to the vehicle, and located the robbers, and I need everyone's help,' this kind of words that are full of nonsense in almost every sentence, is actually true?!"
Matsuda Jinpei didn't understand, but was shocked.
"Well, that's not the question right now, is it?" Furuya Rei put down his sniper rifle and spoke somewhat contemplatively, "The question is how we're going to get rid of the robbers, are we going to ask the police station for backup or are we going to take action without authorization?"
The wording of his words showed his inclination.
"However,"
Furuya Rei paused, and Date Wataru chimed in, "What should we say if we ask for backup?"
"The hostages could be in danger at any moment, it's an emergency situation," Kenji Hagiwara sighed, "Is that why you told us to wait on the side of the road for half an hour and not to move around, and then broke into the weapons store and stole a box of guns and ammo out of the store all by yourself?"
Morofushi Hiromitsu looked over at the sound of his voice, "I need to check first, dear Mirai-san."
"The six police uniforms you brought over, they weren't taken directly from the officers on duty, were they?"
Ichijō Mirai looked away.