The next morning, Fujino got up early, washed up, styled his hair to look more mature, and prepared to welcome his hundred thousand... ah, no, his campus life.
But just as he was about to change into his school uniform and head out, he froze.
Where was his school uniform?
It seemed he had sold it to a younger student for a few thousand yen as a spare.
Damn it!
With no other choice, he put on the suit vest he usually wore in the silence, habitually told the empty air, "I'm leaving," then drove the Ford Taurus he had inherited to school.
"Oh no! I'm late!"
After parking in the lot, just as Fujino was about to step through the school gates, a hurried female voice came from behind him.
He turned around, looked back, and—bang!
By the time Fujino came to his senses, he had already collided head-on with a girl with shoulder-length brown hair.
"What the hell?"
Fujino rubbed his tailbone and complained in pain.
Looking up, he saw that the girl had already gotten up and was bowing to apologize to him. "I'm sorry, Teacher Hiratsuka!"
"Huh?"
Fujino paused, feeling that the girl before him looked somewhat familiar... Suzuki Sonoko?
"Huh? Huh?!"
Suzuki Sonoko raised her head and looked around for quite a while. After being bewildered for a moment, she shouted at Fujino, "You're not Teacher Hiratsuka!"
"Obviously I'm not!"
Fujino retorted, then added mischievously, "But you can call me Mr. Fujino if you want!"
"Oh, oh, oh, oh!"
Suzuki Sonoko nodded eagerly like a pecking chicken.
But after taking a closer look at Fujino's features, she found him kind of handsome and immediately became excited. She then asked, "Mr. Fujino, are you a new teacher?! How old are you? Where do you live? Do you have a girlfriend?"
Well, Fujino already looked older because he was worn out mentally. Though he was only eighteen, he probably looked to be in his twenties.
"What are you two doing here?"
At that moment, a mature woman's voice came from inside the school gates.
Fujino turned and saw a woman in a suit vest and red tie walking toward them.
As she walked, she asked Suzuki Sonoko, "Suzuki, don't tell me you're late again?"
The teacher named Hiratsuka interrupted Suzuki Sonoko's lovestruck interrogation.
Sonoko could only glance back before leaving reluctantly.
After Sonoko left, Hiratsuka Shizuka turned to examine the kid who looked like a colleague.
A black suit vest, a red tie, glasses, and a somewhat haggard expression. Good lord, if she had not known better, she would have thought he was a newly transferred colleague!
And they were even wearing the same outfit!
Thinking that the kid had decent taste, she finally said, "So you must be Fujino-kun, the one who doesn't show up for half a year at a time?"
Fujino nodded, not knowing what to say.
She asked in confusion, "Where's your school uniform?"
Fujino answered calmly, "I originally wanted to say I lost it, but I like telling the truth. I actually sold it."
"Huh?"
Hiratsuka froze, the corner of her eye twitching. She suppressed the anger in her heart and clenched her fist, her face darkening. "I didn't expect you to be this honest. I thought you just didn't want to come to school, but you actually sold your uniform too... Come with me to the staff room, Fu~ji~no~"
"Yes!"
And so, Fujino was dragged to the staff room by this violent beauty.
Inside the staff room.
"So this is why you haven't been coming to school? You actually went off to become some kind of detective. At your age, you should be focusing on your studies."
Hiratsuka Shizuka had a cigarette between her lips. Just as she was about to light it, she searched around but could not find her lighter...
Then, with a click, Fujino held out a flame to her.
Hiratsuka Shizuka paused. Only after lighting her cigarette did she ask in surprise, "Why do you have a lighter?"
Fujino: "..."
Seeing that Fujino had nothing to say, Hiratsuka Shizuka rubbed her forehead, took a deep breath, and instinctively lectured him. "I really don't know what you're thinking. You skip class every day and fool around outside. Don't you think you're letting down the parents who provide for your education?"
Fujino's cheek twitched... Good lord, did she not do a background check before lecturing people?
After letting out a long breath, he said flatly, "Actually, I'm an orphan."
Hiratsuka Shizuka: "..."
Her pupils widened slightly, and the cigarette slipped from her fingers onto the desk, scattering sparks... It took her a moment to hurriedly pick it up.
"Sorry..."
After extinguishing the cigarette, she apologized softly, guilt in her voice.
"It's fine. I'm used to it already!"
Fujino said with a smile.
In the end, she could only pat Fujino on the shoulder with guilt in her heart. "If you have any difficulties, come find me."
Just like that, Fujino finally got through dealing with that strange Japanese teacher.
After Fujino left, Hiratsuka Shizuka found Ran and asked about Fujino.
"Teacher Hiratsuka, do you mean Senior Fujino?"
Ran thought for a moment before slowly saying, "Senior Fujino may not come to school because his parents passed away a year ago... His grades used to be very good, but after that happened, he repeated a year because of his absences and rarely came to school after that."
"When I went to Senior's home yesterday, he seemed to be troubled over some kind of case commission."
"I see..."
It seemed she already understood what had happened.
If that kid was an orphan, then everything made sense.
Did he usually skip school because he had to work to earn living expenses... With such a thin, frail body, his life must be difficult... Maybe he was even bullied by delinquents outside school...
Thinking of this, she felt deeply guilty about the words she had blurted out earlier.
For some reason, she felt like she had become an unforgivable villain.
After Ran left, she held back the tears welling in her eyes and shouted in the manner of a passionate teacher, "I absolutely won't allow you to be expelled!"
In the classroom, Fujino sat by the window, listening to the middle-aged teacher on the podium babble away in incomprehensible nonsense, and could not help sneezing.
"Feels like someone's cursing me?"
Fujino muttered to himself. Before he could recover, a voice sounded by his ear. "Ding! Detected that the host has completed the mission. System reward has been issued!"
As soon as the words fell, Fujino understood that he had finally escaped the fate of being expelled.
It seemed that woman named Hiratsuka had done something.
He nodded, feeling emotional.
Though she smoked and liked to poke at other people's wounds, she really was a good woman.
Recognition from Fujino.jpg
He then opened the Profession System that had just bound itself to him.
A lonely light screen floated before him, displaying the basic attributes of his professions.
Name: Fujino Current Profession: Main Profession: Detective: Beginner (100 reputation points remaining until the next advancement) Secondary Profession: None Profession Skills: Full-time Detective (Solving cases and completing commissions grants additional reward money and reputation) Detective Time (Beginner: No one can interrupt your deductions for 60 seconds while you are reasoning) Current Remaining Money: 1,053,100 yen (can be exchanged for ten Profession Balls)
Judging from the description, this seemed to be a very simple system.
By spending money, he could obtain Profession Balls. Profession Balls contained all kinds of professions, as well as some strange items.
After binding a profession, he could gain exclusive profession skills. By completing related tasks and activities, he could earn reputation. Once his reputation reached a certain level, he could obtain profession points, which could strengthen profession skills.
As for Profession Balls, they also had different qualities: white, green, blue, purple, and gold. The minimum quality needed to obtain a profession was a purple Profession Ball.
At present, one Profession Ball cost 100,000 yen, and one purple-or-higher reward was guaranteed in every hundred Profession Balls.
In short, this system required spending money—and a lot of cash!
Recommending a friend's book...
Before you continue