"Pfft..."
Rei-chan? Are you serious?
Inside a certain train car in the parallel world, Mei Asano stared at a conversation bubble on her phone, her shoulders beginning to vibrate suspiciously. Her reaction caused a commuting salaryman dozing opposite her to snap awake in a daze.
Catching sight of the high school girl immediately masking her expression, the salaryman scratched his head and closed his eyes to go back to sleep.
"The person upstairs—if Rei changes his name to Furuya No.1, Hisano might just call him Ichigo-chan (No.1-chan)."
"What even is Ichigo-chan? As expected, Zero still sounds a bit better."
"Nozomi-chan is just a natural-born black-bellied troll who loves teasing people, wwww."
"There's absolutely no need to change his name! Furuya Rei is a man among men, the ultimate alpha male—"
Mei Asano browsed through the lines of bullet comments continuously popping up next to the dialogue panels, her fingers continuing to scroll down.
She could barely be considered a newly initiated manga fan. Because of this, she hadn't even read many of the incredibly famous national-level anime and manga series, which included Detective Conan, a frequent topic of discussion among the students in her class.
For Mei, being able to recognize the two poster characters, Conan Edogawa and Ran Mori, was already quite an achievement. Perhaps she could also add a certain wildly popular white-haired man?
He seemed to be called... Satoru Gojo?
A character who could break out of the anime circle purely based on face value alone had standees placed in every street and alleyway; it was genuinely difficult not to have heard of him.
Mei wasn't particularly fond of white-haired characters, so she hadn't actively sought out his related plotlines. However, under the influence of her best friend, who constantly babbled and preached the "Gojo Religion" in her ear, she finally agreed to catch up on the original Detective Conan manga.
Even so, due to her severe procrastination, she had never actually gotten around to it.
Then again, how am I supposed to catch up on such a long serialization?
Just as Mei was fretting over this, a push notification popped up on her phone screen: "Conan Spin-off: Police Academy Arc Special Serialization."
A supplementary prequel...? Might as well check this out first. Since it's a short series anyway, it should wrap up pretty quickly.
After clicking into the manga's title page, she thought of the dark-skinned plush doll another friend had hanging on her ita-bag, quickly realizing who the handsome guy with tea-blond hair standing in the center position was.
Furuya-kun? Or was it Amuro-kun?
Mei Asano bit the straw of her strawberry milk hesitantly as she swayed along with the movement of the train. Is it a story about the police academy? Feels like I won't be very interested...
However, upon seeing the silhouette of the other long-haired youth on the title page, her eyes widened slightly. It was a captive sensation, as if her heart had been directly seized.
He is dancing perfectly on my aesthetic sweet spot!
His exquisite facial features and lazy demeanor combined flawlessly, making him appear completely elusive. For a black-hair and red-eye enthusiast, this character alone was enough of a reason to pull her into the fandom.
Mmh... can't be impulsive. I need to verify what kind of character setting he has first.
Just like that, her idle leisure time on the train was entirely spent on this freshly released serialization.
Witnessing the scenes where Hisano Nozomi slouched up onto the podium with his hands in his pockets, delivered a conceited declaration to the entire faculty and student body, and then flashed a sweet smile at the conclusion of his speech, Mei only snapped back to reality after pressing the screenshot shortcut three times. There was no helping it; who told her to be a black-hair enthusiast and a face-connoisseur?
Regarding certain bullet comments slamming Hisano Nozomi, although Mei didn't want to admit it, the personality of this character she had fallen for at first sight... seemed to be truly atrocious?
However, after learning about Hisano's background, she immediately altered her perspective.
It's completely normal for a solitary genius to be bad at socializing, right? Even if he makes people angry, he can be entirely forgiven!
"I wanted to ask you and Hisano-kun if you could swap places with Matsuda's side?"
In the manga, Hisano Nozomi, who rejected the proposal by shaking his head without a shred of hesitation, lowered his gaze. His eyelashes cast a butterfly-wing shadow over his eyes as he stared at the steaming dishes on the table, appearing to recall a somewhat unpleasant past.
"I want to be roommates with Hiro-kun."
"Because... this is the first time anyone has ever proactively invited me to go to the supermarket to buy ingredients, and then... share a meal together."
"Ahhhhh, this directly stabbed the child until he went numb, qwq."
"Hiromitsu: Oh dear, this is the sensation of a heartache!"
"Zero: 'I really deserve to die' .jpg"
"Nozomi-cub—Mom will accompany you to eat too, waaaah!"
"Rei: Attempts a basic attack. Nozomi: Directly unleashes his Ultimate."
"How could a Todai genius lack friends to eat with? He must be making it up."
"Dying of laughter, he is so obviously playing the pity card to win sympathy, right? I'll leave my words right here: if Hisano Nozomi isn't a villain, I will livestream eating three pounds of crap."
"Ooh, a freeloading clout-chaser has arrived. The person upstairs better keep their word."
"Nozomi-chan is practically an eyelash monster, waaaah! A critical strike to my heart in an instant!"
"Nothing can be done about it, Zero should just go live his life obediently with Matsuda. The Hiro-Nozomi roommate duo cannot be separated! (Shouts loudly)"
Seeing the black-haired youth's downcast expression, ripples of a sentiment named tender affection couldn't help but surge within Mei's heart.
However, within moments, she was thoroughly amused by his operation of falsely offering his hamburger steak while actually persecuting Furuya Rei, and she casually gave a thumbs-up to a mocking bullet comment.
[The Mischievous Hisano-kun: I was wrong, but I'll do it again next time.]
After dinner, the perspective shifted to Furuya Rei's side.
He and Jinpei Matsuda found each other utterly repulsive within their dorm room. Since neither was willing to back down, they agreed to step outside in the dead of night for a duel. Shortly after, the two arrived at the sandy ground bordering the training field.
"To think there's a guy who can still stand perfectly fine after taking my punch... truly surprising."
"Likewise."
"Wow, it's a fight scene—we are saved!"
"The move choreography designed by the author is quite spectacular to watch, not bad, not bad~"
"These two are indeed amazing at fighting, I reckon a victor won't be decided easily."
"I'm a bit curious, since he doesn't want to be a champion of justice, why did Matsuda enter the police academy in the first place?"
"Furuya, quickly use your invincible elbow strike to figure something out! (Tactical lean back)"
The handsome youth with tea-blond hair raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth. "Helping the citizens and protecting the weak is the natural duty of a police officer!"
"Is what Furuya-kun says what people call 'righteous principles'?"
"As for me, I absolutely despise 'righteous principles'."
Hisano, who materialized like a ghost, interrupted the brawl, turning around to discuss the proposition of "who protects the police" with the two individuals present on the scene.
"Eh eh eh, a wild Nozomi-chan has appeared!"
"Hahaha why does he always like to hide in high places? It was the roof before, and now it's a cherry blossom tree."
"Passing by to admire the moon? I think he has a secret crush on Furuya and is secretly stalking him~"
"'This profession was inherently born for the sake of protecting others,' Zero really is so righteous, www."
"Matsuda didn't refute him, even though he clearly has a strong sense of justice himself!"
"Furuya-kun, in my eyes, no one has a mandatory obligation to help others. At the same time, no one exists who doesn't require protection... except for me."
The black-haired youth propped his chin in one hand, stating as a matter of fact, "Because only by being strong enough do you not require protection."
"Are you saying that in your eyes, our strength isn't even worth looking at?!"
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