"Huh? 'The Instructor Slayer'?"
Jinpei Matsuda looked up from his beef bowl, a stray grain of black pepper clinging to the tip of his nose.
"Yep~" Kenji Hagiwara sat down opposite Satoru Gojo and Hiromitsu Morofushi, tray in hand, a teasing smirk playing on his lips. "I heard from the guys in the next class that the whole academy is whispering about it. Having taken down two instructors back-to-back, Hisano-kun, you're practically the man of the hour."
The black-haired, crimson-eyed youth propped his cheek on one hand and poked at the creamy mashed potatoes in his bowl with a spoon. "Sounds like a third-rate villain from a morning drama," he complained.
Sitting nearby, Furuya Rei spoke up, his grayish-purple eyes flashing with an analytical glint. "Seriously, though... Hisano, how exactly do you train? Instructor Fujii's spinning kick could dent a steel plate, yet you caught it effortlessly."
Gojo put on a deeply troubled expression.
"Sigh..." He let out a long, heavy sigh, pressing a hand to his forehead as he spoke in a solemn tone. "This question has plagued me for a very long time."
Curious, Furuya asked, "Why?"
"Probably because I was just born invincible."
"..."
A ticking cross-vein popped on the blonde youth's temple, while Hiromitsu Morofushi burst out laughing.
Gojo added, "Actually, there's nothing special to it. Just being a bit faster, a bit stronger, looking a bit cooler..."
"And having a bit of a thicker skin," Matsuda chimed in dryly.
Far from being annoyed, Gojo deliberately dragged out his words: "Eh~ The one with the thick skin is clearly Little Matsuda, right? You keep picking fights with me every day even though you can't win."
"What did you say?!"
Seeing Matsuda on the verge of exploding, Hagiwara quickly held him down. "Calm down, calm down! Fighting in the cafeteria will get us penalized with laps!"
Furuya Rei rubbed his temples and sighed. "Honestly, you two are such toddlers..."
Hiromitsu Morofushi thoroughly agreed with the sentiment.
To redirect the line of fire, he asked, "Hagiwara-kun, how come you aren't eating with the girls today?"
"Hey, I need to bond with my bros too, you know~ Besides, distance creates beauty. A casual chat every now and then is enough; I don't want to be branded as some cheap, flirtatious guy."
Ignoring Matsuda's half-moon eyes, Hagiwara shifted the topic, his tone turning sincere. "Come to think of it, Furuya-kun and Morofushi-kun are both really handsome—definitely the type to be popular with the girls. There's a mixer this weekend during our time off, want to tag along?"
Though neither harbored much interest, they didn't reject the offer outright, mentioning they would play it by ear.
Hagiwara smiled. "It's bound to be lively." He gave Gojo a crisp wink. "Plus, with our 'Instructor Slayer' present, we definitely won't run out of things to talk about."
However, the slayer in question instantly wilted upon staring down at his empty tray. Even his usually defiant stray hairs seemed to droop. "How bizarre... My creamy mashed potatoes suddenly vanished!"
That was the most delicious dessert among the sparse sweet treats the cafeteria offered. Moreover, it had sold out within two minutes.
Furuya Rei's corner of his mouth twitched. "Didn't you eat it yourself?"
Looking at the brooding, black-haired youth, Morofushi couldn't help but chuckle softly. He smoothly slid his own untouched portion of mashed potatoes across the table. "Here."
Gojo's face instantly transformed, looking as if life had been breathed back into him. "Little Hiro is the best—!"
Matsuda's eyes widened. "Hey! Morofushi, don't spoil him!"
Gojo tuned him out entirely, swallowing a massive mouthful as he closed his eyes in pure bliss, his cheeks puffed out.
"What does it matter?" Morofushi offered a gentle smile. "I couldn't finish it anyway."
Having cleared out Hiromitsu's portion, Gojo still felt unsatisfied. He caught sight of the pristine, untouched creamy mashed potatoes on Furuya Rei's tray and began to grow restless.
"Don't even think about it." Furuya Rei calmly shifted his tray in the opposite direction.
Gojo stared at him with wide, puppy-dog eyes, his striking red pupils swimming with sheer longing.
"..."
Furuya Rei pondered for a moment, seemingly changing his mind. He relented helplessly, "Fine, I can split half with you."
"Woohoo!"
Gojo happily extended his spoon, only to be hit with a pause button halfway through. He watched open-mouthed as Furuya Rei, with lightning speed, shoveled the entire portion of mashed potatoes into his own mouth in one go. Furuya then methodically wiped the corner of his lips, flashing a downright demonic smile. "Ah, truly delicious."
Recalling the previous hamburger steak incident, Gojo realized this was blatant, calculated retaliation.
"Furuya-kun, aren't you a toddler yourself?!"
Kenji Hagiwara: You two, do you still remember that you are the freshmen representatives who tied for first place on the entrance exams?
Then again... compared to a flawless, rigid overachiever, having a Furuya-kun and Hisano-kun with this much human flavor is far more reassuring. He curled his lips, thinking to himself.
By the time the group finished their rowdy dinner, the sky had already plunged into darkness. Since tomorrow's classes required advance preparation, they returned to their respective dorms early to study diligently.
Of course, this excluded Satoru Gojo, who was thoroughly engrossed in a manga volume the moment he stepped into his room.
During a break, he took a moment to glance at the forum. Right, he hadn't checked out the "Fanwork & Creations" section yet. Might as well dive in to broaden his horizons.
With a thought, several thread titles materialized in his mind:
[Drew some HiroZero~ Childhood friends just have to be animal-coded!]
["An Unrequited Love Under the Guise of My Great Friendship"CP: Matsuda x Hagiwara]
["What Should I Do When My Boyfriend Is Always Playing Tsundere"MatsuRei Sweet Daily Life]
["Little Hiro's Observation Diary"HiroNozo Gen Sweet Fluff]
[*"A Heart-Pounding Night at the Training Camp"NozoHiroRei Chaotic Love Triangle Enter with Caution*]
[What If Scotch Met Police Academy Rei: Drunken Cuddles]
[When Matsuda and Hisano Become Roommates~ A 4-Panel Comic]
...Yikes. Some of this content seemed a bit unfriendly to a straight guy.
And only one chapter of the Police Academy Arc has been released, how did you guys manage to brainstorm this much lore?!
Regrettably, Gojo's curiosity was like a persistent cat clawing at his chest, entirely irresistible. He randomly clicked on a fan art piece featuring the group walking side-by-side beneath a setting sun.
"Wow, this is drawn pretty warmly~"
However, after accidentally catching a glimpse of an image that clearly transgressed the boundaries of platonic friendship, he found himself sweating a little.
How should he put it...
When he looked at Matsuda and Furuya tomorrow, he would try his absolute best not to act strange.
Gojo silently backed out of the fanwork section.
Deep into the night.
The moonlight cut through the curtains like a silver dagger, carving a trembling line of light across Hiromitsu Morofushi's face. He knitted his brows unconsciously in his sleep.
—It was that seemingly endless nightmare again.
Blood.
Blood was everywhere.
The wooden floors of his old family home creaked faintly beneath his feet, and the scent of iron saturated the air, thick and suffocating. He hid within the gap of the wardrobe, witnessing his parents collapsing into a pool of blood through the narrow line of sight.
The killer's silhouette was blurred and indistinct, leaving only a pair of cold, piercing eyes visible—resembling a predatory beast lurking in the shadows, slowly scanning the room.
The small child trembled violently, his heart threatening to burst from his chest.
The man suddenly bent down, his bloodshot eye pressing almost entirely against the slit of the wardrobe door. A low, gravelly voice echoed as if rising from the depths of hell.
"Ah, found you at last..."
In the next fraction of a second, the wardrobe door was violently yanked open—
"...!"
Hiromitsu Morofushi snapped his eyes open, cold sweat drenching his back. He panted rapidly, his fingers gripping the fabric of his pajamas over his chest tightly, as though verifying that he was still among the living.
"Dammit... again."
He had originally assumed that with the training being so grueling these past few days, he would be exhausted enough to crash into a dreamless sleep. However, perhaps because the investigation report he reviewed in the records room during the day was still vivid in his mind, or perhaps due to the crime scene photographs the instructors displayed in class... his memories were being continuously triggered.
Even though many years had flown by, his childhood terror remained starkly vivid.
He closed his eyes, attempting to stabilize his racing pulse, but the killer's voice seemed to linger like a phantom near his ear. It was like cancer in his bones, impossible to shake off.
It's only eleven-thirty... Forget it, I'll get up to catch some air.
He rose quietly, pushing open half of the window. The distant training grounds slept peacefully beneath the moonlight. The night breeze carried a slight chill, dissolving a fraction of the suffocating weight left behind by the nightmare.
"...Can't fall back asleep," he muttered to himself.
"Oh? Little Hiro, you're still awake."
At this moment, his roommate pushed the door open and stepped inside. The youth wore a pair of simple white pajamas, his damp, long black hair draped loosely behind his back with a towel slung over his shoulder. Droplets of water slid down his jawline, tracing past his Adam's apple—clearly fresh out of the shower.
Indeed, Satoru Gojo wasn't accustomed to bathing in the communal bathhouse. Fortunately, the academy's shower stalls were partitioned, making it highly convenient to wash up.
Then again, if it were a hot spring, that would be a different story entirely~
"Yeah, just had a nightmare." Hiromitsu Morofushi offered him a smile, though it looked noticeably forced.
"A nightmare, huh..." Gojo repeated softly.
After drying his hair, he walked over to the window to take in the cool night breeze, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Morofushi's nose caught a whiff of a crisp citrus body wash. The scent was incredibly fresh and pleasant. However, the moment its owner opened his mouth, the clean atmosphere was thoroughly shattered.
"Was it a murder scene? The kind where blood splatters all the way to the ceiling?"
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