Whiskey Squad, Assemble

[The School Days of a True Neutral Whiskey in Chaos]

(Originally titled "Those Years I Spent Making Up the Numbers in the World of Detective Conan")

The protagonist is a true member of the organization. He indirectly saves the Police Academy Five, though the only guarantee is that they won't die.

Shouguang Zhibai, male, twenty years old.

A top student who had just graduated from Caltech with a master's degree and was about to land a job in the organization's laboratory thanks to his academic credentials, he was inexplicably bundled off to the police academy by his own boss, as an undercover agent for the organization, no less.

Shouguang Zhibai didn't understand, and was utterly shocked:

Sir, do you remember I'm a researcher who graduated in computational and neural systems? I'm a total weakling when it comes to martial arts!!!

And why, as someone who grew up in the organization and is black to the core, do I have a red-side whiskey codename? It's so unlucky!

Isn't Black Whiskey a good name? Gold Whiskey would work too. Even Blue Whiskey would be better than Red Whiskey!

Nooooo!

The moment Shouguang Zhibai stepped through the gates of the police academy, he got tangled up with a broken System, and the door to a new world swung open: livestreams, forums, secret identities, and... a shop only the System could use?

At the same time, after stepping out of his dorm in the middle of the night because he couldn't sleep, Shouguang Zhibai happened to break up a fight and ran into five very strange guys. Thus began a chaotic academy life.

Shouguang Zhibai: System, why don't you seem like the ones in novels?

System: Dear, that's because this isn't a novel.

Shouguang Zhibai: System, why does everyone look at me like I'm their dead first love?

System: Dear, maybe you're living in a novel.

Shouguang Zhibai: System, I want to recruit them all into the organization.

System: Dear, please think of your friend Jinpei, whose hair has turned white.

Shouguang Zhibai: System, can I bring the guy who almost died back to the organization?

System: Dear, please think of your fellow recruit downstairs, who's heartbroken and wailing in agony.

Shouguang Zhibai: System, I told you I was the organization's best HR, right? Now everyone's become one big family.

System: Dear, your family is about to break the law.

Shouguang Zhibai: Huh?

System: The booze you're selling is watered down way too much, hey!

Shouguang Zhibai: I can't hear you, thanks.

After several years of life that were chaotic, topsy-turvy, and downright apocalyptic, the world, already completely off the rails, reached its true beginning.

Watching the world suddenly fall into temporal disorder, Shouguang Zhibai didn't panic in the slightest. "System, you're up!"

"Dear, what service would you like?"

"A complete package of secret identity save files, damage immunity, and cheat powers!"

The thoroughly tamed System eagerly took the earnings from its livestreams, opened the shop, and ordered the most expensive bundle without hesitation. "You got it!"

-- And so, in the first year of the Conan era, the liquor company gained a massive whiskey squad.

They spent their days goofing off with the Whiskey Squad's leader, obsessed with making fireworks and giving the neon city one dazzling display after another.

System: Those aren't fireworks, they're bombs! Show some respect for the bombs that show up in every movie each year!

Whiskey Squad Leader: No, bombs that don't hurt anyone are just fireworks.

Whiskey Squad Deputy Leader: Turning the bombs K brought in into fireworks is hard too, you know!

K, the newest member of the Whiskey Squad, exploded with rage and punched them each once. "...That's enough, you idiots! At least don't say that right in front of me!"

Whiskey Squad Leader: (smiles) (leaves)

"Another lovely day in the neon city," the passersby sighed as they watched fireworks bloom in the sky.

[Blurb written: 2022.5.4]

[A few things:]

- The protagonist is a true member of the organization and does not switch sides at the end.

- The Police Academy Five all join the liquor company, and they all get whiskey codenames.

(Note: This is the version of the Police Academy Five where the class representative is dating someone.)

- The red side wins, but the liquor company won't lose.

- According to the outline, Black Hagi appears briefly in the later part of the story.

- This is a crossover, with a few characters from ID:INVADED, Durarara!!, and Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens. They're all just background characters.

- There may be a few too many original characters, but they're all minor characters.

- The Police Academy Five enroll in 1998, and the Conan era begins in 2005. The dates matter.

- More to be added...

Theme: Know the white, keep to the black. When it comes to right and wrong, black and white should remain indistinct: though you understand, act as if you do not see.