[Police Academy Team] Sound Insights

Not contracted. Just writing for fun, powered by love.

The blurb is funny, but the actual story isn't written in a comedic style! (Note from 2023.1.13: At this point, I'm not sure anymore either.)

Five men transmigrate to another world (yes, that's right, this story has crossover elements). I'll be indulging in a lot of personal preferences. The main premise is inspired by the Rusty Lake co-op games.

Before reading, I recommend spending a few minutes watching some Bilibili creators' walkthrough videos to get a feel for the co-op game. Otherwise, you might find the story confusing.

*

It all started when he was a kid, playing a co-op game from the Rusty Lake company with Jingguang. By chance, he also discovered a talent for playing Dance Dance Revolution. After years of lying low in the Black Organization, Rei Furuya, current head of the Public Security Zero Division at the National Police Agency, had finally taken down the criminal organization that was stickier than konpeito. He hadn't even had two proper days off before four best friends, who were sick of living in heaven, dragged him through the night to the neighboring world, then the world next to that one, then the world beyond that, to have a grand old time together! (Not really.)

Rei Furuya, completely in the dark: Wait a second, you! You over there! Just because you've died once doesn't mean you can do whatever you want!

*

There is no difference between times in heaven. Everyone arrived with a blink of their eyes, though some may have blinked more times than others. But this was heaven only in name, an extension of what they had heard it called when they were alive. After all, in this fantastically vast space with its animated kaleidoscope wallpaper, there was no one else besides the four of them.

"So..." Hagiwara Kenji, covered in red tomato ketchup, rested his chin on his hands with a pained look. "How did you guys end up here? Your deaths were a little too..."

He didn't get to finish. A black-haired man with messy curls, also covered in ketchup, whacked him on the head with a loving noogie.

"You've got some nerve saying that!" The man in black, wearing sunglasses, looked vicious enough to scare the youngest of the fallen police officers out of pretending to be deep. He immediately ducked behind the two people with the least ketchup on them.

Hiromitsu Morofushi had a smear of ketchup across his chest. He helplessly raised his hands, half-heartedly holding back Jinpei Matsuda's violent assault. Meanwhile, Wataru Date was completely focused on wiping the ketchup off his head, utterly "cold-hearted" toward his beloved friend who had been dead for years. The contrast between them was as stark as action and stillness.

After a long-awaited scuffle (not counting Hagiwara Kenji), the other three stared speechlessly at the neat and tidy Wataru Date. In the end, Hagiwara Kenji and Jinpei Matsuda, both completely covered in ketchup and utterly resigned to their fate, were subdued by the two strongest among them and reluctantly made the ultimate promise: "We won't joke about our lives again."

Once they'd had their fill of playing and fooling around, and taken turns telling their stories, the four men, who knew each other inside out, couldn't stand being idle and started exploring the place. It didn't take long to conclude that it was a room with no exit and some pretty magical wallpaper.

What were they supposed to do now...?

They decided to return to where they'd started. From a distance, they saw that five chairs and a round stone table had appeared there at some point, along with a man in a gray suit, asleep with his head on the table.

The figure was so familiar that Hiromitsu Morofushi's eyes widened. He was the first to rush over. On the table lay a slightly yellowed scroll, with some words written at the top right.

[Welcome, player "0".]

After cautiously looking around, the four discovered they couldn't touch Rei Furuya, who didn't have a single spot of ketchup on him. They gathered around the troublesome guy, at a complete loss.

Luckily, the unconscious man soon opened his tightly shut eyes. When he saw what was in front of him, a flash of surprise crossed his face.

What the heck! The four saw him wake up and all cursed inwardly in unison:

Have you no conscience? You brought a living person to a place like this!

Rei Furuya didn't react to them at all. He stared tensely at the writing on the scroll, his blond hair starting to stand on end.

The scroll began to display text, almost as if it were intelligent.

[ Towering trees ][ Towering trees ]

[ Players' progress has been synchronized ][ Players' progress has been synchronized ]

[ Do you trust the player opposite you? ][ Do you trust the player opposite you? ]

Rei Furuya frowned.

[ Choose "No" ][ Choose "Yes" ]

The four grown men, who had already settled into the chairs opposite him, exchanged anxious looks. They were afraid that choosing "No" might have some unpleasant consequences. But they understood Rei: without knowing anything, what normal person would trust anyone? Unlike them, Rei's side seemed to show only him, sitting in a completely unfamiliar place. For all he knew, he could have been kidnapped.

Rei Furuya immediately realized that frowning might be a bad idea and quickly raised his eyebrows, trying to change his choice to "Yes." But the game didn't change. Instead, it moved smoothly on.

He pressed his lips together.

[ Choose "Past" or choose "Future" ][ Choose "Past" or choose "Future" ]

The four of them froze. The observant Hagiwara Kenji noticed that Rei Furuya seemed unable to see the reversed text appearing on both sides. He could only see a reflection of the black text, so Hagiwara hurried to tell the others.

"What does this mean?" the man sitting at the table muttered, fingers interlaced, as if facing a formidable enemy. He was completely baffled.

Beside him, Hiromitsu Morofushi's eyes shone with excitement.

Along with the black text, a black screen appeared with a human-shaped silhouette on it. Rei Furuya didn't know that beside the screen he could see there was another, inverted screen, with a clear image of himself in the present moment.

Hiromitsu Morofushi had a hunch. He gently swayed his body, and sure enough, the black figure on the screen facing Rei Furuya swayed in sync. Hiromitsu waved, and the blurry little black figure on Rei's screen raised an arm and waved back.

The three people beside him stared at Hiromitsu in shock.

Rei Furuya quickly figured it out.

"So that's the player opposite me. Do these words mean I'm supposed to choose?"

The shadow on the screen nodded obediently, then struggled to make a "2" with its two blurry black arms. Rei Furuya obediently chose "Future." The three men beside Hiromitsu looked on with teasing expressions as he made those ridiculous gestures. Hiromitsu gave them a helpless, sideways glance.

[ Choose "Future" ][ Choose "Past" ]

[ Choose "1" or "4". Please make sure both players choose the same option. ][ Choose "1" or "4". Please make sure both players choose the same option. ]

This time, Rei Furuya moved first. Unsure what the player on the other side could see, he drew a rough "1" in the air for convenience.

He only wanted to finish this ridiculous game as soon as possible and get back to reality. He had no idea how difficult it was for his four friends, who had been dead for years, to look at the "1" and "4" on the other side.

"I think this game is making fun of us," Wataru Date said.

The other three nodded in agreement.

In the end, they went along with Rei Furuya's choice. The screen on their side didn't let them make any complicated gestures anyway.

Besides, the best thing to do was get Rei out of this place as quickly as possible. That was what the four of them thought.

However, what happened next not only raised their estimate of how much this game was mocking them, but also completely changed their understanding of the world.

*

Watching the original sapling grow into a towering tree and burst into tens of thousands of pink five-petaled flowers, he tentatively reached out to touch them.

The flowers moved, just as he expected. Under his touch, each one broke apart into five petals, covering the entire scroll.

The flowers kept breaking apart, and soon spilled out of the scroll.

The blond man quickly stood up from his chair and stepped back.

The number of petals began to grow exponentially, gathering into four piles.

The man blinked.

Four energetic, spirited men appeared before him.

"Yo, Furuya. Long time no see."

"It must have been a rough few years, you blond-haired big shot."

"Little Furuya is amazing! You really brought us back to life!"

"Zero, it's so good to see you."

Looking at the four men who had been silent in his memories for so long, Rei Furuya smiled.

"I guessed it was you guys in the first world, but seeing you in person really is something else."

"Welcome, you players. Congratulations on coming back to life," he said.

Theme: It's okay if you don't have the power to change the world.