Walking Through Beika, Relatives Keep Falling from the Sky

This story will be going premium on Wednesday, July 19, 2023, with a ten-thousand-word update at that time. The pairing is HagiMatsu, with Hagi and Matsu switching. Check out my completed gen-fic stories: “Officer Morofushi’s Career Change Plan” and “Matsuda-kun’s End-of-Life Hotline.” Check out my new serial: “Reuniting with My Childhood Friend at the Liquor Store,” pairing HagiMatsu. One day, Officer Furuya was denouncing someone with great conviction: “Damn FBI...” Matsuda: “That’s my brother.” Officer Furuya fell silent for a moment, then changed tack. “That bastard KID...” Matsuda: “That’s my younger brother.” Officer Furuya moved on to someone else. “Damn GIN... Wait! GIN isn’t your brother, is he?” Matsuda remained calm. “Oh, right. He’s my maternal uncle.” Furuya: “...” Matsuda, how many relatives do you have? = Matsuda had lost his memory. Faced with the boy claiming to be his childhood friend and asking over and over, “Do you remember me or not?”, Matsuda resolutely decided to go back to England with his mother to visit family. Of the thirty-six stratagems, running is best. As for childhood friends, he’d run away first and deal with them when he got back. But when he arrived at the airport, a string of comments suddenly appeared in front of him: [Officer Matsuda was so handsome as a teenager!] [I never imagined this would become official canon.] [Let’s congratulate Officer Matsuda on joining the Akai family!] [It’s Shukichi! The future shogi champion! Teenage Shukichi is so good-looking too!] Matsuda: I’ve lost my memory, and now there’s something wrong with my brain? Matsuda thought for a moment, then looked at the boy who had come to pick him up and asked, “You’re the youngest son of the Akai family? The shogi genius?” Shukichi nodded. “That’s me. But calling me a shogi genius is definitely too much praise.” Matsuda: “The shogi part isn’t important. Anyway, have you seen any weird writing?” Shukichi looked at Matsuda’s T-shirt, which had “cool, badass, and totally awesome” printed on it in English, and hesitated. “...I guess?” Matsuda relaxed. “Oh. So my brain’s fine. This must just be an English thing.” This really isn’t an English thing, Brother Jinpei! = Years later, Matsuda was once again asked by his aunt to look after a child, and he saw the comments again: [The two of them standing together really have a brotherly vibe.] [Hahaha, they’re cousins now.] [They look so alike.JPG] Matsuda: “Why does my brain work sometimes and not others?” The future famous phantom thief, who was only seven at the time: “Huh? Are you feeling okay, Brother Jinpei?” = Matsuda accidentally stumbled upon a transaction by the Organization, and unexpectedly ran into GIN. [Oh no, oh no, I can’t watch, Jinpei!!!] [Red versus black, but Matsuda is at a complete disadvantage.] [Nooo, Gin, don’t touch him!] Who would have thought GIN would merely glance over, then leave with his underlings? A little while later, Matsuda received an anonymous text on his phone: [Don’t take this road next time. Even I won’t be able to protect you if you do, even though I’m your uncle.] Matsuda: “Huh?” The comments went crazy too: [Jinpei’s family... He has an awful lot of relatives...] = Later, Matsuda discovered the System that played comments in his head. Matsuda: Stare System: Just say the word! I can make everyone in Beika Town related to you by blood! Matsuda smiled. “Thanks, but there’s no need.” = On November 7 of a certain year, an explosion sounded from inside an apartment building. [Noooo! Holy crap, did I just hear an explosion?!] [Hagi, ] [No way, are my two explosion experts going to die again?] A handsome face appeared on the screen. Matsuda propped his face up with one hand and said, “Don’t panic. Hagi’s just blowing up the kitchen.” Comments: [???] Why is Officer Matsuda breaking the fourth wall and talking to us??! = Warnings: Akai doesn’t have much screen time, Kaito doesn’t have much either, and neither does Gin. The main focus is on the police academy group! The romance will develop whenever it does. The one fate has in store is Hagiwara. They confess in Chapter 37. The secondary pairing is Rei and Hiromitsu. Their romance will be covered in the bonus stories in my author profile. There’s angst in the middle and later sections, but the ending is happy. 70% of the story is locked. If your subscription rate isn’t high enough, just wait a few hours. = Here are the blurbs for my upcoming stories: “Matsuda-kun’s End-of-Life Hotline” After going through multiple loops, Matsuda realized that for some reason, his classmates always liked to call him right before they died. Jinpei Matsuda still remembered that in the first loop, his childhood friend died in an explosion while on the phone with him. Then, four years later, he also died in an explosion. When he opened his eyes again, he was back fifteen minutes before his childhood friend’s accident. He kicked the other guy’s lunchbox away with a flying kick. Four years later, his own lunchbox didn’t arrive on schedule again, but his beloved other classmate called him. “Matsuda, I have a piece of intel. I don’t dare contact Zero directly right now, and there’s no one else I can trust. Could you pass it on to Zero in a few days?” Matsuda: “?” Then he heard the entire story of how his good classmate died in the line of duty. In the blink of an eye, there was a new loop, and that guy Morofushi called him. Matsuda: “Don’t say anything yet. Let me talk.” Morofushi: “?” Matsuda: “Hiro, you’re exposed. Do you need me to come save you?” Morofushi: “???” Wait, how do you know? And in one loop, he received a call from Date and, sure enough, heard about a car accident. When he opened his eyes again, it was a new loop. Matsuda: “Squad Leader, don’t go on patrol. I’ll take your shift.” Date: “...But you’re with the explosives unit?” Matsuda: “It’s fine. I can transfer to the First Division.” After receiving so many calls from people on the verge of death, Matsuda thought he’d end up with PTSD. But in reality, his initial shock gradually gave way to numbness. After all, watching those people live and die right in front of him, then come back from the dead, didn’t seem all that scary. If he could start over and save them after getting a call about their death, why not? Of the five of them, not counting himself, three had already called him before they died. Only a certain top graduate from the police academy was left. Matsuda figured that if nothing unexpected happened, that guy would call him right before he died too. So one day, after receiving a call from a certain blond bastard, Matsuda’s first words were: “You’re about to die, right? If you’re not dead, don’t call me for no reason.” Furuya: “???” This guy wants him dead, doesn’t he? “Pretending to Be a Literary Master with Case-Closed Secret Identities” The System told Nanmu Baili that if he could play three particular roles and complete his missions, he would be able to bring back a beloved fictional character from the dead. Nanmu declared with confidence: “It’s just acting. Who hasn’t cosplayed as a favorite character?” But when he saw the secret identities provided by the System, Nanmu fell into deep thought: Come on, System, show yourself! Explain what’s going on with these three characters! [Ranpo and Hiromitsu] A boy who looks exactly like a certain undercover public security officer, but has a personality similar to that of a young detective. “Mr. Amuro, who do you think I am?” The boy boldly laid bare the truth, yet his eyes held a tenderness all their own. “Don’t mistake me for someone else. I’m not anyone’s replacement. I’m just me.” [Boss Dazai and Matsuda] The curly-haired young man’s expression was calm, his gaze cold. “I’m not the Officer Matsuda you’re talking about.” The other young man’s gaze was heavy. “It feels like I’ve tried a thousand times, all to save one person, but I can’t seem to remember who he was.” The name was on the tip of his tongue, yet no matter what, he couldn’t remember it. At last, the young man sat in front of a gravestone and murmured, “So I was too late. In this world, you left me just like before.” [A certain Mori and Gin] The silver-haired young man, already seated in the boss’s chair, said to another version of himself, “The organization led by that gentleman is already too far gone to save.” “For Tokyo’s better future, and for the organization’s better future.” “Are you staging a coup, Gin?” After staying up all night reading the character profiles and scripts, Nanmu vaguely felt he was about to go crazy. Why did he smell angst? And when he put them into practice, he really did go crazy: What is wrong with all of you?! I’m talking to you, Public Security Princess! I’m wearing your childhood friend’s face right now, so why are you looking at me with such a loving, fatherly expression? And you, Officer Hagiwara! Didn’t you already die in the story? Why are you suddenly jumping out from behind a gravestone? Are you a zombie now?! Gin! Tell the truth. Have you been planning a coup for ages? I haven’t even taught you how to stage one, so how have you already taken out the boss?! Theme: The world is made of data, but friendship isn’t.