🚨 Limited Time Offer! 🚨
Hey readers! I'm running a special flash discount on this fanfic, but there's a catch—it is only available for the first 5 people! 🏃💨
If you've been waiting for the perfect time to unlocked this fanfic, this is it. Don't miss out!
Witnessing his roommate gripping the blanket until his knuckles turned white, his bangs drenched and clumped together from cold sweat, Satoru Gojo fell into deep thought.
He didn't pry any further, merely nodding. "Then... goodnight?"
"Goodnight..." Hiromitsu Morofushi murmured softly, curling into a defensive, insecure posture as he drifted back to sleep.
Gojo watched him for quite a while, only turning his gaze away once he heard steady breathing resume. Even if Hiromitsu didn't say it out loud, Gojo could vaguely guess what his dream was about.
I'm afraid it's still inseparable from the scene where his parents were murdered all those years ago.
Psychology experts once said that childhood experiences form the source of dreams, and adult dreams are nothing more than childhood memories in disguise. Thinking about how Little Hiro had lost his parents at a young age, endured countless hardships to infiltrate the Organization as a mole after growing up, only to meet an untimely end...
He really is a child of tragic destiny.
As Gojo sighed with emotion, he checked the activity log sent by his AI double, Shiro. It had been a full day since that guy took over his main account, and he wondered if any trouble had been stirred up.
"Ate ten pieces of cheesecake at noon... discussed business with the visiting Head of the Nakajima family in the afternoon... successfully signed the contract..."
After rapidly skimming through the records, Gojo felt relieved. Fortunately, everything was progressing smoothly.
One thing worth noting was—if an emergency cropped up that required his personal intervention, the moment his consciousness shifted, this avatar would collapse straight onto the ground like a pushed domino, and no one would be able to wake him up.
...If he ever ran into a situation like that, would he have to fabricate a fragile, sickly persona for himself?
But with a combat prowess capable of completely thrashing the instructors, 'physically weak and delicate' doesn't exactly fit the description.
The black-haired youth lay on the bed, his eyes glowing with a faint, eerie red light in the dark night. If his Daifuku back home saw this, it would probably puff up its fur in sheer terror.
Let's not think about that for now. The avatar's physical stamina ultimately couldn't compare to his original body; getting more rest was always a good thing.
Gojo gradually entered a state of sleep, completely missing the faint notification chime from the system.
[Updating... 20%... 50%...]
[100%... Ding! System update complete. The Manga Forum feature has been unlocked!]
After an unknown amount of time, a sliver of faint light seeped through the gap in the curtains, like milk diluted by water, hazily coloring the corners of the room.
At 4:00 AM, there were still two hours left before morning drills began.
Gojo glanced at the alarm clock by the bed, completely unsurprised by the current time. After becoming the family head, he had consistently woken up earlier than a rooster and slept later than a dog, causing his biological clock to alter. He didn't even need an alarm; he would naturally wake up right on time.
Opposite him, Hiromitsu Morofushi still seemed fast asleep. Feeling a bit bored, Gojo habitually opened the system panel to look around. He expected it to be the same old thing, but a brand-new change seemed to have appeared.
"Manga Forum?"
Seeing these words, he immediately focused his full attention. After all, this forum was tied to one of his "clear conditions." Namely, the "Popularity Points" distinct from Impression Points.
Back then, the system had stated that "Satoru Gojo" would be inserted into the Detective Conan manga of a parallel world as a brand-new character, and would be evaluated by the readers of that world. As the host of the system, he needed to accumulate a whopping one billion character popularity points. As for how exactly popularity points were calculated, he wasn't entirely clear yet.
Wait, didn't the system say the manga forum wouldn't unlock until Conan's Year One?
Right now, Shinichi Kudo was still a bona fide elementary schooler, let alone how much time remained before the Jet Coaster Murder Case that opened the main story. So, how was this manga being drawn?
Upon raising his query to the system, Gojo received an explanation.
"Originally, it indeed had to wait until Conan's Year One to open... but after discussions among our higher-ups, we concluded that the plot of the host blending into the police academy is also quite a selling point, so we opened an additional forum channel for you."
The system said rather cheerfully, "The Conan author in that parallel world will supplement a manga depicting Furuya Rei's police academy days in the future, and the host's avatar will join as a new character. Of course, in the eyes of those readers, you are a completely native character of the Conan world, without the slightest sense of incongruity."
"The higher-ups said we can use this opportunity to fleece more popularity points, so they adjusted the forum timeline slightly. Think of it as a legal backdoor."
"Oh?" Gojo asked in his mind, "Can the popularity points of the avatar count toward mine as well?"
"It's slightly against the rules, but it doesn't exceed a reasonable margin of operation. The Time-Space Administration Bureau can validate it," the system answered humanely. "After all, there are still numerous similarities between the avatar and the original body."
"Looking at it this way, popularity points and impression points are very important to your side, huh?"
"This... I'm not too clear either," the other party admitted honestly. "As a system, I only have one duty, which is to bind with the host and serve the host. As for why popularity points are needed, perhaps only the higher-ups know."
Perhaps they function like some high-dimensional beings, converting these values into energy required by the universe? Gojo thought for a moment, then couldn't be bothered to delve deeper.
"So that means right now, I'm debuting in the Police Academy Arc manga under the identity of 'Hisano Nozomi,' right?"
"Exactly," the system said. "This manga was born under the premise that Furuya Rei has already debuted in the main Conan story and accumulated a fanbase. Its primary purpose is to supplement the stories that occurred during his police academy days."
"To put it in one sentence—" Gojo summarized clearly, "An spin-off manga about the police academy is suddenly inserted into the middle, under the premise that the readers of that world have already read hundreds of chapters of Conan?"
"Yes. And due to certain differences in the parallel world, apart from Furuya Rei and Hiromitsu Morofushi, the readers do not recognize the remaining characters, and the concept of the 'Police Academy Five' hasn't appeared yet."
Hearing this, Gojo's eyes lit up.
No concept was great. Five people was too lonely; a group of six meant smooth sailing all the way! This made it much more convenient for him to fish in troubled waters. Splendid, truly splendid.
Having no other questions for the time being, he directly opened the forum page.
What met his eyes were several different sub-boards labeled "Manga Serialization," "General Chatting," and "Fan Creations." The system informed him that user posts from all over the world would be aggregated on this forum through big data, and it would filter out the more meaningful and representative ones for him to read.
Gojo first tried opening the "Manga Serialization" page. Just like what was common in his past life, the author's profile first materialized before him.
"Gosho Aoyama... who the heck is that?!"
As expected, it really was a parallel world. Next came the detailed description regarding the manga.
"Wild Police Story: The Police Academy Past"—The timeline of this piece is set seven years prior to the main Conan story, and can be viewed as a supplementary prequel.
After finishing the fragmented descriptions, the beginning was a gorgeous colored title page. With the police academy and cherry blossoms as the background, it featured a group photo of several individuals dressed in blue uniforms, including Furuya Rei. They all had different postures yet stood very close together, heavily embodying the style of a Shonen Jump manga.
The guy to the right of Hiromitsu Morofushi, the one with his black hair tied in a low ponytail, sure looked familiar... Shoving his hands in his pockets, he looked incredibly smug. Better watch out or someone might beat him up.
Huh? Wait.
Isn't that exactly the face of his own avatar?
Gojo stared at the colored manga panel, patting his own soft cheek. Because the art style had shifted from 3D to 2D, he hadn't reacted immediately... But judging from features like the red ribbon behind his head, the lollipop clamped in his mouth, and that smirk containing one part playfulness, three parts arrogance, and five parts nonchalance, it was undeniably the avatar himself.
Making a grand debut on the title page of Chapter 1, and drawn so flashily? Excellent, looks like his spot as the sixth member of the police academy was locked in.
Gosho Aoyama, you really are a good man!
-----------
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
10 Reviews = 1 Bonus chapter