Disclaimer: Detective Conan is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
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A heavy rain had fallen that morning, leaving the sports festival grounds muddy and soaked.
The trainees, covered in grime, all rushed back to the dormitory bathhouse to wash up before hurrying to the cafeteria for lunch.
The students of Onizuka's class were no exception. However, just as they finished eating and the rain stopped, Ritsu and his group were about to head back to the dorms to rest when they were suddenly called to the staff office by Instructor Onizuka.
Knock, knock.
After politely knocking, they stepped into the small office, barely ten square meters in size. Sitting behind his desk, Instructor Onizuka leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed, smiling as he saw them.
"So, you're here."
"Old man, interrupting our lunch break like this is pretty excessive," said Jinpei, leading the group, glaring with half-lidded eyes. He was the only one who enjoyed bickering with the instructor.
"Hmph." Onizuka chuckled and looked at them. "You've probably noticed other instructors have been filing complaints, right? Lately, the bathhouse and locker rooms have been way too dirty…"
At that point, the six of them, all sharp observers, immediately realized what he was getting at. Could it be that the instructor had called them here because...
"So, until the sports festival ends. This entire week, you six will be responsible for cleaning the bathhouse every day!"
"Huh?!"
Hiro cautiously spoke up, "In-Instructor Onizuka… isn't that a bit too much…?"
Onizuka let out a light laugh. "Too much? This is just giving you a chance to atone for all the trouble you usually cause."
"Trouble?"
"You think the school doesn't know? Fighting in secret, falsifying reports afterward, dragging classmates to a convenience store and causing a scene with local staff… The most outrageous part was the car chase and you even wrecked an important vehicle my friend had entrusted to me."
He paused, his cheeks turning slightly red as he muttered, "And using a handgun without authorization…"
"Hey!" Jinpei couldn't hold back his temper anymore and shouted, "That was to save you, okay?!"
Onizuka coughed awkwardly. "Anyway, I'm ordering the six of you to clean the bathhouse and locker room for this entire week. If you slack off even one day, I'll have you expelled. Got it?"
Noticing the bandages wrapped around Ritsu's hand, Onizuka added, "Sasajima, you'll supervise them. No need for you to participate in the cleaning."
"…Got it."
As they were about to leave, Hiro noticed a stack of documents on the desk. The top page had a photo printed on it, a cute girl with twin braids and a bright, cheerful smile.
She… looks so similar.
"That's the girl reported missing in this district yesterday. We've been asked to assist with the search," Onizuka explained, noticing Hiro's expression. "What? Do you know her, Morofushi?"
"N-no… I've just seen her on the street before," Hiro forced a smile. "I'll go start cleaning, Instructor."
"Make sure it's done before tonight's bath time, understand?"
"Yes, sir."
With a heavy heart, Hiro left the office. The girl on that document looked strikingly similar to his childhood friend. Was it just a coincidence… or had that person appeared again?
After retrieving cleaning tools from the supply room, the group rolled up their pants and got to work. Looking at the muddy mess covering the floor, Ritsu, standing outside to supervise, used his uninjured hand to hold a hose and rinse away some of the dirt.
"Ah! Why is the bathhouse this filthy?!" Jinpei complained.
"Can't be helped," Wataru explained. "The rain got every class covered in mud. And the sports festival couldn't be postponed, even with this terrible weather."
"By the way, the class flag was designed by you, right, Hiro?" Rei said, suddenly remembering. "It looks really cool!"
"Thanks," Hiro said with a smile. "But honestly, using cherry blossoms for a police academy design feels kind of cliché."
Jinpei immediately untied the class flag he had been carrying everywhere and spread it open with both arms, making a dramatic "Ta-da!" sound effect.
The deep blue flag was decorated with pink cherry blossoms. At the top were the words "Onizuka Training Class," and in the bottom right corner were the names of the instructor and assistant.
But the main highlight was the four bold white characters in the center: "Blossoming Sakura!"
"The color scheme is great!"
"Now I'm actually looking forward to the sports festival."
Squatting down and staring at the last character, Wataru frowned. "Huh? Cat paw prints… and it even smells a bit?"
Jinpei recalled his foolish mistake and clicked his tongue. "I opened it outside to show off to another class, and a gust of wind blew it away… Then a stray cat stepped all over it—with paws covered in poop. I tried to catch it with Kenji, but it ended up like this!"
No wonder both Jinpei and Kenji had their fingers wrapped in bandages, and Jinpei even had a bandage on his face; they'd been attacked by the stray cat.
"Tch. I was going to wash the flag at old man Sotomori's laundry shop, but then Onizuka called us here!" Jinpei sighed as he looked at the still-filthy bathhouse. "Seriously, how long is this going to take? Hey, can we talk about something more exciting?"
He felt like he'd fall asleep if they kept doing such boring cleaning.
While wiping the tiles with a rag, Kenji said, "By the way, Hiro… that missing girl earlier, something seemed off, right?"
Wataru nodded. "Yeah. If you'd just seen her once on the street, your reaction wouldn't have been that strange."
Leaning against the wall, Ritsu absentmindedly rubbed the ring on his index finger with his thumb. By intuition alone, he could tell that the girl must be connected to Hiro's past.
After hesitating for a moment, Hiro gave an awkward smile. "Oh… that girl? She just looks like someone I used to play with when I was a kid. But that girl passed away from illness, so… I guess it got my attention."
Rei tilted his head. "If you knew her back then, doesn't that mean I might've seen her too?"
"No, that was when I was still living in Nagano Prefecture."
Ritsu and Rei, who already knew parts of his past, stayed silent, waiting for Jinpei and the others, who had also investigated the unsolved Nagano case, to push the topic further.
"Sounds interesting! Let's talk about that, anything about it!" Jinpei said with a grin, not disappointing expectations.
"W-well…"
The tragic scene from years ago resurfaced in Hiro's mind, the man whose face he couldn't see, with a goblet-shaped tattoo on his arm, hands stained with his parents' blood. Cold sweat trickled down his face as he forced a smile.
"It's… not really a pleasant story."
"Ah, forget it, I'm done waiting!"
Jinpei had no patience left. Glaring with half-lidded eyes, he said, "Ritsu and the others said we should wait until you're ready to talk, so I held back but I can't anymore!"
He leaned forward, locking his dark gaze onto Hiro. "You're looking for the person who killed your parents, right? And that missing girl might be connected to that case. That's why you've been so distracted, isn't it?!"
Hiro clearly hadn't expected everyone to already know. Clenching his fists, he spoke in a panicked tone, "Y-yes… that's right… but no!"
He frowned and raised his voice, a rare occurrence for him. "This case is something I have to solve on my own. I don't want to drag anyone else into it. If someone else dies because of this…"
"No one's going to die."
"Huh?"
At some point, Ritsu had walked over and stood beside him. Placing a hand on Hiro's shoulder, he said in a steady voice, "We've already gotten through plenty of danger together. As long as the six of us are here, we'll always find a way."
Jinpei smirked, resting a brush on his shoulder. "So just say it already, Lord Hiro. Like I'd ever harm you."
"Pfft."
Hiro tried to hold back his laughter. "'Like I'd ever harm you'… that sounds like something a villain would say."
As expected, Jinpei always managed to hit his weird sense of humor.
To lighten the mood, Wataru stroked his chin and added, "Yeah, that's definitely a line some corrupt official would say."
"Hehe, well, Jinpei is kind of a bad guy~" Kenji teased with a grin.
"Shut up, you idiots!"
Letting out a deep breath, Hiro looked at the companions he trusted completely and smiled.
"…Alright. I'll tell you everything."
"Fifteen years ago… the night that stopped the clock in my heart…"
"…that terrifying night, filled with the smell of rust."
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