Disclaimer: Detective Conan is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
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00:52
It had been almost three hours since lights out. Lying in bed with the blanket pulled tightly around him, Ritsu stared wide-eyed at the ceiling.
That's right. Because he had trouble sleeping in unfamiliar places, he ended up with insomnia on his very first day at the police academy.
Thinking about how he had to get up in five hours, he felt a wave of despair.
'Should I just get up and pull an all-nighter reading… or stay under the blanket and keep counting sheep?'
Just as Ritsu let out a heavy sigh, he heard faint noises next door in the otherwise quiet dormitory.
And it wasn't just from one side, both the rooms to his left and right were making sounds.
If the people living there weren't Rei and Jinpei, Ritsu probably wouldn't care.
But since it was those two… something suspicious had to be going on.
He quietly slipped out from under the covers. Ritsu liked sleeping shirtless, so he grabbed the police uniform he planned to wear the next day from his desk and buttoned it up. After waiting for the noise to fade, he carefully opened the door.
The footsteps were heading toward the stairwell.
Ritsu followed cautiously and soon heard movement from above, they were going upstairs.
The door leading to the dormitory rooftop was locked.
At that moment, Jinpei, already dressed in his uniform, pulled two paper clips from his pocket.
With the first one, he straightened the larger loop twice until it became a thin metal rod. The second one he bent into the shape of a torque wrench to act as leverage for the lock.
Rei narrowed his eyes while watching Jinpei's skillful lock-picking and commented dryly,
"You don't happen to have a criminal record, do you? Like burglary or something?"
"I just like tinkering with things," Jinpei replied. "Ever since I was a kid, I've loved taking stuff apart. I've dismantled all kinds of locks and I can put them back together perfectly."
'A demolition-loving husky,' Rei thought.
Earlier, he had noticed one of Jinpei's teeth was broken. Maybe he got punched by his family after tearing the house apart.
"Okay. It's open. Let's go."
After the two stepped onto the rooftop, Ritsu, who had been following them, saw the iron door left wide open.
'They're breaking rules and still don't even close the door…'
He didn't go up. Instead, he sat on the stairs and tried to estimate how long their fight would last.
Personally, he didn't believe that boys resolving things with a fight could really fix conflicts or strengthen friendships but somehow, he felt Jinpei might be that type.
If they didn't say everything they wanted and vent their emotions, their relationship would stay stuck in this terrible state, like a volcano ready to erupt at any moment.
On the rooftop, the two had already assumed standard boxing stances.
Their legs were positioned diagonally, left foot forward, right foot back. Their left shoulders faced forward, shoulders level. Their fists were clenched with the fingertips tucked against the palms.
"Ready?" Jinpei asked.
"Of course," Rei replied.
The moment the words fell, Jinpei slid his left foot forward and stepped in with his right. Using his waist as the pivot, he twisted his hips and drove his shoulder forward.
His bent arm swung inward in an arc.
A clean, textbook hook.
Hooks were powerful and notoriously difficult to block.
Rei immediately bent his knees slightly and used his upper arm and shoulder to absorb the right hook.
But Jinpei's attack didn't stop.
He was the type who only knew how to press forward.
Another punch arced from left to right, targeting Rei's unguarded side. Being slightly shorter, Rei moved to his right to create distance and prepare his counterattack.
There were many techniques in boxing, but Rei's favorite was the jab, a punch that relied on speed.
He bent forward slightly. His left heel lifted, his right foot pushed off the ground, and he lunged forward with his left leg as his right followed.
Just as Jinpei showed a flash of surprise,—
Rei's punch shot out.
The sharp jab struck Jinpei square in the face. The impact forced him to stagger back two steps before regaining his balance and widening the distance between them.
"Didn't expect this," Rei said with a grin, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth. "Someone who can still stand after taking my punch."
Jinpei grinned as well, maintaining his stance.
"Heh. A cool line like that should be my line."
Unruly as ever, he didn't bother wiping the blood from his mouth. Feeling one of his teeth loosen, Jinpei turned his head and spat out half a broken tooth.
Then he glared at the blond in front of him and shouted.
"YOU DAMN BLOND BASTARD!"
Sitting on the stairs, half asleep, Ritsu lazily yawned.
'These two are taking forever…'
Hopefully they'd still be able to walk afterward.
BAM!
A heavy punch slammed into someone's cheek.
The pain still didn't stop them. The pride of youth wouldn't allow it.
"I don't know why you hate me," Rei shouted, "but I'm going to become a police officer! So I won't let you interfere with me or my friends!"
'That kind of talk again…No wonder I hate it,' Jinpei thought.
Baring his teeth, he laughed.
"Exactly that! It's that stubborn, police-loving attitude of yours that annoys me the most!"
"What nonsense are you talking about?! Didn't you enter this school to become a police officer too?!"
01:26
The rooftop finally fell silent except for the sound of heavy breathing.
'Did it finally end?'
Ritsu stood up, one hand in his pocket, and quickly walked onto the rooftop.
Both of them were lying on the ground.
Approaching calmly, he said,
"The bathhouse is closed right now. If you get your clothes dirty, there's nowhere to wash them."
Rei hadn't expected Ritsu to be there. He tried to sit up but realized he had no strength left.
Seeing the hand extended toward him, he smiled, grabbed it, and was pulled to his feet.
"It's fine. The uniform I washed this afternoon should be dry by now."
Jinpei, on the other hand, hadn't expected someone to secretly watch the fight, especially someone he ranked second on his list of people he disliked.
He had no strength left for another fight. That blond guy hit even harder than he did.
'Damn… I wonder if my hand will still be able to hold chopsticks tomorrow.'
"Let's go. I'll walk you back," Ritsu said.
Watching the two leave together, Jinpei clicked his tongue and muttered something under his breath.
Instinctively, he reached into his pocket, only to remember his phone had been confiscated by the instructors.
'Seriously… those two have no class. Just leaving me here like this.'
Maybe he should just sleep here.
He silently cursed the number-two person on his annoyance list. Kids these days really held grudges.
"Not leaving?"
"…?"
Hearing no footsteps, Jinpei opened his eyes and saw Ritsu crouching slightly with a hand extended toward him.
Even in the dim light, Ritsu's azure eyes were strikingly clear.
When Jinpei didn't respond, Ritsu explained calmly,
"If I helped you back first, Rei would throw a tantrum."
Caught red-handed, Jinpei stammered,
"W-what are you explaining for? You're so annoying."
He still acted tough, but the faint happiness in his heart was real.
He grabbed Ritsu's hand and stood up with a push of his waist.
"I'm not going to say thanks."
"You don't need to," Ritsu replied. "I'm taking you to the infirmary."
Jinpei draped his arm over Ritsu's shoulder as they slowly walked down the stairs toward the medical office on the first floor.
He secretly glanced at the boy beside him, the underage kid three years younger than him.
'…Tch.'
'Looks like I'll have to remove someone from my "annoying people" list.'
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