As a Police Officer, I'm Always Worrying About Something - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Six Years Before the Ke Yuan

In just a few days, Chinai’s first break from police academy arrived.

After mentioning she planned to start driving lessons, Miwako and Yumi chimed in, saying they’d love to learn too.  

With Kenji Hagiwara’s permission, the three took Chinai’s car to the designated meeting spot.

As they got out of the car, Yumi looked at Jinpei Matsuda and Kenji Hagiwara standing nearby and said, “Wow, Chinna brought along two handsome guys!”

Chinna glanced at Yumi and replied, “The one with permed hair is senior Jinpei Matsuda, the one with long hair is senior Kenji Hagiwara.”

Yumi immediately lost interest.

Constantly teaming up with Chinai and getting caught in various antics, Yumi dramatically announced she was done with love from now on.  

Her long list of mischief included: sneaking out at midnight to a convenience store, “sampling” snacks in Miwako’s dorm room, hiding manga in the dorm but getting caught by Chinai, who insisted on sharing; slacking off during runs and getting caught, etc.

Kenji waved to Chinai as she got out of the car. “Good morning, little Chinna.”

“Good morning, Kenji-senpai, Matsuda-senpai.” Chinai introduced the two behind her. “This is Sato Miwako and Miyamoto Yumi, my friends from police academy.”

“Good morning, seniors,” Miwako and Yumi greeted them as well.

Kenji grinned while Matsuda just gave a lazy nod and muttered, “Yo.”

He seemed surprised to be called “senpai.”

“Hey, Hagiwara-senpai,” Yumi asked curiously, “I heard last year there was a time a compact car crashed into a truck, the bumper got stuck, and you jumped your car over it?”

As she spoke, Yumi held one hand in the air while the other gestured the motion of a car soaring from left to right.

“Haha, it wasn’t that dramatic,” Kenji laughed. “The situation was urgent, and we had no choice. Little Jinpei here even got a cut on his handsome face.”

Then Kenji went on to explain the car’s kinetic force and demonstrated some impressive driving techniques. As Chinai got in the car, he asked Miwako and Yumi beside him:

“Speaking of which,” Kenji suddenly remembered, “Chinai has unusually sharp hearing, doesn’t she?”

“Sharp? Try freakishly sharp!” Miwako teased.

“Exactly! She can hear things from really far away, maybe she’s a robot.” Yumi joined in.

From the other side, just about to get in the car, Chinai suddenly turned her head. “Hey! I heard that trash talk!”

“See?” Yumi shrugged, “Freakish hearing.”

After a whole day of lessons, Kenji suggested dinner.

Miwako and Yumi politely declined, saying they hadn’t done anything to earn it, and Chinai said she only casually brought up the idea.

But when Matsuda snapped, “It’s just dinner, not an execution,” Chinna gave in. Miwako and Yumi stayed behind, and Kenji drove Chinai off himself.

Kenji parked and pointed at the shop outside. “This place was our fiv— I mean, the three of us’ favorite back in the academy. We’d hang out here often.”

Matsuda got out, closed the door, and tried to distract Chinna from the slip-up. “Well, maybe we’ll run into someone we know.”

Chinai pretended not to notice. “If we run into senior Date, I’ll have met all the legends from your batch!”

And wouldn’t you know it, they entered the restaurant and ran straight into Wataru Date and a blonde woman.

After greetings, they moved to a private room. Once seated, Date cheerfully patted Chinna on the shoulder. “Thanks for looking after Matsuda and Hagiwara, Fujimine.”

“Hey, hey, Captain! We’re not such a mess we need her to look after us!” Matsuda protested.

“Oh, really?” Date smirked. “Heard the two demolition squad stars love to smoke—even on scene.”

Matsuda fell silent, likely remembering Date’s fearsome hand-to-hand skills from academy days.

While Matsuda, Kenji, and Date reminisced about police academy days, Chinna struck up a conversation with Natalie Raimann.

Interestingly, no one mentioned a certain blond, dark-skinned guy… or a certain boy with cat-like eyes.

The meal went delightfully well, and Chinna even managed to get Natalie’s email. Chinna liked her kind personality a lot.

But all the fun led to one problem—they missed curfew.

Looking at the tightly shut gates of the academy in the distance, Kenji scratched his head. “Sorry about that, little Chinna. Forgot you’re still a student…”

“No worries,” Chinna waved it off. “I’ve climbed this wall so many times, one more won’t matter.”

“Looks like a pro.” Matsuda, in the passenger seat with arms crossed and sunglasses on, struck a cool pose.

“Didn’t you sneak out just as often?” Kenji chuckled. “Want me to drive around back? I remember that part’s easier to climb.”

“No need, senpai,” Chinna replied. “They fixed up that wall and even made it taller.”

Chinai hopped out, politely said goodbye to Jinpei and Kenji, and with agile ease, climbed over the side wall of the academy.

“Little Chinai’s really agile,” Kenji Hagiwara remarked, slouched over the steering wheel with a sigh.

“She’s probably had a lot of practice climbing walls,” Jinpei Matsuda replied coolly, still playing the aloof guy.

Just as he finished, they both heard a furious voice from beyond the academy wall:  

“Chinna Fujimine! How many times is this now that I’ve caught you climbing that wall this term?!”

“…Was that Instructor Onizuka?” Kenji squinted.

“No doubt,” Matsuda raised a brow. “Getting busted by the ogre himself—what a nightmare.”

“Back to your dorm and write me 5,000 words of reflection!” roared Onizuka from inside. He glared at Chinna, who looked like she wanted to vanish into thin air.

At the semester’s start, he thought things would calm down with a new class. He was even hopeful when a few female cadets joined. But instead, he ended up with the most troublemaking of them all.

“…Yes, sir…” Chinna answered weakly. If only she’d taken Kenji-senpai’s advice and used the back wall—she might’ve avoided the penalty.

“Where were you?” Onizuka grumbled, trying to contain his frustration.

“Um, do you remember when Inspector Megure asked me to help with that statement?” Chinna said cautiously. “The one where I suspected remote detonation and advised bringing a signal jammer…”

She swallowed hard. “Turns out, they actually needed it. So Matsuda-senpai and Kenji-senpai took me out for dinner as a thank-you.”

She peeked up to read Onizuka’s expression. “We ran into Date-senpai and his girlfriend too… and the conversation kind of went on longer than expected…”

‘These rascals graduated and still causing me headaches!’ Onizuka’s scowl deepened.

Chinai took a slow step back, hoping to slip away unnoticed.

“They the ones who brought you back?” Onizuka asked suddenly.

Startled, Chinna snapped to attention. “Y-yes, sir. Matsuda-senpai and Kenji-senpai dropped me off.”

Onizuka arched an eyebrow, vaulted over the wall in one smooth motion, and marched toward the parked car. He rapped firmly on the window.

Kenji—who was still in the car out of concern that Chinai would be punished—was now stunned: *Wait… how did this end up involving me?!*

“Next time you take one of my cadets, at least let me know in advance, you elite officers,” Onizuka growled. “You’re not even my students anymore and yet you’re helping mu student break rules. Really?”

“Haha, sorry about that, Instructor Onizuka,” Kenji chuckled. “Won’t happen again.”

“He’s clearly done this before,” Matsuda said, deadpan. “Don’t lay it all on us, old man.”

Without a word, Onizuka smacked Matsuda on the head. Matsuda just pouted and didn’t argue further.

He waved a hand. “Alright, get going—you’re an eyesore.”

“Yessir~” Matsuda replied with exaggerated enthusiasm. “We’re leaving, we’re leaving.”

“Take care, Instructor,” Kenji called as he started the engine.

Onizuka watched the car roll away with a sigh, remembering how troublesome—but brilliant—those two had been. He scaled the wall again, now thinking about Chinna, Miwako, and Yumi, always stirring up trouble.

‘Guess it’s true—top-tier students are the hardest to manage.’

Unfortunately, that fleeting nostalgia came crashing down as he spotted the empty training field.

His mustache practically stood on end with rage.

Kenji hadn’t driven far when he glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Onizuka climb back over the wall. Just seconds later, a familiar roar echoed across the lot:

“CHIN-NA FU—JIMI—NE!! Reflection’s now TEN THOUSAND words!!”

Halfway through her escape, Chinna froze, despair washing over her. Life suddenly felt gray and hopeless.

*Ding!* Her phone buzzed, jolting her back to life. She opened the message:

Hagi says he’ll help with 5,000 words. That’s all we’ve got. You’re on your own for the rest.  

 P.S. Here’s my email. And if you beg… maybe I’ll do the rest.  

—Jinpei Matsuda

“Waaah! Kenji-senpai is literally the best!” Chinai mumbled as she typed her reply while trudging back toward the dorms:

Thank you, Kenji-senpai! You’re amazing!!! Five thousand is more than enough. And thanks to Matsuda-senpai too!  

P.S. Got your email saved.  

—Chinai Fujimine

“Your 5,000 words have been delivered,” Matsuda said, arms folded behind his head in the car. “No reflection for me—easy life.”

“Aww, is Jinpei jealous?” Kenji teased, nudging him while driving.

“As if. I’m just glad to dodge the homework,” Matsuda scoffed. “Still getting write-ups post-grad? Disaster.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Kenji responded breezily, steering the car back toward the police dorms.