Meeting My Childhood Friend in the Syndicate

[Main story complete. Extra chapters in Part 5 complete. Bonus chapters will appear from time to time.] [Cover art credit: Ya Dou Cha] [Check out my completed work, Matsuda-kun's End-of-Life Hotline, in my author collection.] [Check out my upcoming work, Matsuda, Please Take Your Place as Boss.] [My new story, The Saniwa Hagiwara Is Looking for Love Too, is now underway. Pairings: HagiMatsu and ZeroHiro.] Hagiwara died. Hagiwara came back to life. But when he woke up, he found himself on November 8, the day after his childhood friend died. ...The news replaying on TV and the unread messages piled up on his phone nearly crushed him. Worse still, several of his other closest friends died one after another. Gritting his teeth, Hagiwara signed another contract with System 996, the System that had brought him back to life, and returned to the past. Unfortunately, the earliest point he could return to was November 8, when he woke up. He couldn't save his childhood friend. But to save his other friends, Hagiwara made a decision: in this life, he would go undercover and take on the liquor factory. = Matsuda died. Matsuda was brought back to life. Not only had he lost all his memories, he'd even turned into a high school student! System 007, who bantered with him like a comedy duo, declared righteously: Only high school students can save the world! So go save the world, my Host! But before saving the world, Matsuda looked at his empty assets and grumbled, "Shouldn't we deal with the problem right in front of us first? Like, how am I supposed to survive with no money?" And so Matsuda worked part-time to support himself while attending high school, all while saving the world. He caused his former colleagues to stare in shock by saying his name was "Kanagawa Matsuda," and later made a young detective question his identity, but Matsuda didn't care. He was just an ordinary high school student now. What ordinary high school student would get mixed up with a dangerous organization like the liquor factory? ...He spoke too soon. To save the world, he had to get close to the root of all the trouble: the extra bottle of whisky at the liquor factory. Matsuda: "...Fine, I'll go undercover too." With 007's help, Matsuda successfully infiltrated the liquor factory and met the extra bottle of whisky. But why did this bottle give him such a strangely familiar feeling? And 007 told him that this whisky was his childhood friend, who was supposed to have died. = After meeting each other at the liquor factory, Hagiwara and Matsuda were both confused about why the other was alive and there, so they held a discussion with their respective Systems. 996: It must have been the evil organization! They took Matsuda away on the Ferris wheel, made it look like he died, and erased his memories. That's why you were widowed for three years, Host! 007: It must have been the evil organization! They took Hagiwara away before the explosion, made it look like he died, and erased his memories. That's why you spent four years as a widower, Host! Hagiwara and Matsuda thought that made perfect sense, so they secretly swore: I will get my childhood friend out of this damned organization! #HagiMatsu pairing #When Matsuda banters with the System, they bring up jokes from other anime, but they don't really affect the plot #There's a lot of Persona 5. That's because of the jokes about the curly-haired high schooler #The characters' intelligence is limited by the author's intelligence. Please don't pit them against each other. #I revise the story irregularly. Feel free to point out bugs or continuity errors, and I'll fix them (but I won't change things that are intentional). #There is OOC characterization. This is essentially a silly story where I let loose after being inspired by Gintama. I didn't overthink it. If you think the plot is really unreasonable, feel free to point it out, and I'll consider making some changes. Upcoming story blurb below If time could be turned back, Matsuda would absolutely have turned around and walked away the first time he met Dazai. Who could have guessed that this guy would leave such a huge mess behind? Matsuda: Thanks for asking. I'm in Yokohama, and I'm exhausted. All he'd done was hold a red scarf for a certain dark, muddy guy for a little while. Then, in the blink of an eye, he saw the guy leap from the top floor in the boss's office. Matsuda stared in shock. "Didn't you say you were going to deal with your kids fighting? Why did you suddenly decide to jump off the building?!" Matsuda couldn't understand why this Mafia boss had suddenly decided to jump, and he understood even less when the late-arriving Executive Chuuya finished cursing out his boss, then suddenly jumped off the building with him. Wait, is jumping off buildings some cherished tradition of the Port Mafia...? And why did you take me with you?! He really didn't want to get involved in the love-hate drama between Yokohama's criminal organizations. He still wanted to live! Oh, Chuuya had an ability that kept him from dying in a fall. Well, that settled it... No, it didn't! Even if you can't die from falling, don't just take people with you when you jump off buildings! Anyway, since Chuuya couldn't see the former boss's body at the foot of the building, he had no idea whether the former boss, who'd jumped without warning, was actually dead. But the Port Mafia couldn't go a day without a boss, so Chuuya slowly turned his gaze toward Matsuda, who was holding Dazai's red scarf, one of his belongings. Chuuya nodded and made an important decision. "I've decided. You're the one!" Matsuda: "...Me?" Chuuya: "From now on, you're the new boss!" Wait...Wasn't that decision a little too hasty? Matsuda pointed at himself, his eyes widening in shock again. I'm going to be the Port Mafia boss...? Seriously? What? So when Dazai entrusted him with the red scarf, he meant for Matsuda to succeed him and take over the Port Mafia?! Well, I'll be. So this red scarf is some kind of token of succession? It's already seen two bosses off. Will it see me off, too? With no supernatural ability of his own, Boss Matsuda was forced into the role by a certain dark, muddy guy's machinations. According to the former boss, Dazai, Matsuda had enough of a Mafia aura that no one would question him as boss. And if anyone still objected, no problem. The capable Executive Chuuya would handle all the dissenters! But seriously, forget how he got teleported from the Ferris wheel to Yokohama. Is it really appropriate for a former police officer like him to become a Mafia boss? And why does being a Mafia boss also mean he has to save Yokohama? Also, what's with his two close friends in the neighboring Special Abilities Department and Armed Detective Agency? Why did everyone stop being police officers? Upcoming story blurb 2 below A new Saniwa arrived at the citadel. The new Saniwa's surname was Hagiwara. They said that before the Time Government came knocking, he had been a dark, ghostly man wandering all over the world. But that's all right. Why couldn't a ghost be a Saniwa? The sword men, who were Tsukumogami, took this in stride. The new Saniwa was sociable and soon got along with everyone, even the flowers and plants at the citadel. The only troubling thing was that the Saniwa's memories seemed unstable. A month after taking up the post, the Saniwa went for a walk outside the citadel and came back with a seven-year-old child. Once back, the Saniwa promptly fell asleep without offering so much as half an explanation about the child. When the Saniwa woke again, he looked at the child he'd brought back, thought for a long while, then suddenly realized, "Did I give birth to you?" "?" The seven-year-old child, Public Security undercover agent Hiromitsu Morofushi, who had taken APTX, smiled like a black lotus. "Yes, that's right. You gave birth to me." The Public Security agent regretted it soon enough, because his classmate really believed that nonsense and treated him like his own child. Morofushi: "..." Oh well. As long as you're happy. One day, the Saniwa took his seven-year-old "child" out for another walk. At the end of it, he asked Morofushi with a grave expression, "Little Hiro, would you mind if I found you a stepdad?" Morofushi glanced at the curly-haired man who was supposedly his "stepdad." "..." Oh well. As long as you and your childhood friend are happy. Then, one day, the Saniwa regained all his memories. The Saniwa looked at his "wife," then at his "child." Could he still pretend he remembered nothing? Saniwa Hagiwara sighed. "Ah, I'm so happy!" Theme: Time can be turned back, but we endure through all ages