Chapter 138: Exposing Aoki Tsukasa’s True Nature

The next day, Aoki Tsukasa arrived at school as usual, strolling in slowly with bleary eyes.

Sora had been unusually obedient the night before. Perhaps his threats had worked: she shut down the computer at eleven and obediently went to bed on time. Tsukasa was delighted—yet, unable to resist, he stayed up poring over medical texts until well past half past twelve.

The Medical Classics skill required twice as much experience as other skills. Although it was only at Level Three, it had already reached an astonishing six hundred experience points—the amount normally required to raise an ordinary skill to Level Four.

But no one should assume that because Tsukasa could raise his other skills to Level Four so quickly, the Medical Classics skill would advance just as fast. His other skills leveled rapidly because after reaching Level Four, he could train them in the Dream Training Room. At present, however, the only way for him to improve Medical Classics was through reading.

The first two levels had been easy enough. Even a single book could provide several dozen experience points at the very least.

But once he reached Level Three, simple medical texts were no longer of much use. The advanced works were difficult enough to understand, and on top of that, they were filled with classical Chinese. Tsukasa was practically studying ancient literature and medicine at the same time. Compared with his other skills, his progress was painfully slow.

He estimated that he would need another five or six days of tireless effort, neglecting both food and sleep, before he could raise Medical Classics to Level Four.

“Ugh.”

With a sigh, Tsukasa rolled his neck. He had been bending over books so often lately that both his eyes and neck were beginning to ache.

What Tsukasa failed to notice was that two delinquent boys behind him were sneaking glances at him and whispering among themselves.

Kindaichi Shishi did not look nearly as fearless as he had the day before. His eyes were now filled with wariness. Staring at Tsukasa’s back, he whispered to Kawamoto Haruta, “Have you finished organizing the information I asked you to gather?”

Kawamoto gave a bitter smile, pulled out his phone, and handed it over.

Kindaichi took the phone, and his expression grew even more solemn.

On the screen was a striking headline:

The Complete Collection of Rumors About Aoki Tsukasa

Kindaichi swallowed hard before looking at Kawamoto. “Are you sure all of this is true?”

“Boss, you went around asking people yourself yesterday, didn’t you? What they told you should have been more or less the same as what I found.” Kawamoto nodded helplessly, watching Tsukasa’s distant figure with fear in his eyes. “That guy really is terrifying.”

Kindaichi glared at Tsukasa’s back, clearly unwilling to accept it. “Even so, it can’t be as exaggerated as you make it sound! Look at this nonsense you wrote!”

“Take a look at this one,” Kawamoto said, pointing at the phone. “Aoki Tsukasa once tried to cut off the fingers of his underling, Maeda Tora, in class. He only let him go because Maeda showed a sincere attitude of repentance.”

Kindaichi snorted. “Is he in the yakuza or something? Cutting off someone’s fingers? This is ridiculous.”

“That rumor has already become one of the most terrifying legends at Wuyang High School. Even if we can’t believe every word of it, it definitely didn’t come from nowhere.”

“Bullshit. It’s obviously made-up nonsense—flying-fish rumors.” Kindaichi said this with conviction, but the hand gripping the phone was trembling faintly.

Kawamoto rolled his eyes. “Boss, it’s called rumors and gossip. Besides, even if that one isn’t true, the rest of the information is probably accurate.”

“Look at this one.” Kawamoto pointed at the screen again. “Aoki Tsukasa came out of the principal’s office after apparently losing his temper inside, and then he tore out nearly every remaining hair on his teacher’s head. There’s photographic evidence. Look at Teacher Matsushita Kazuo—he’s still wearing a hat.”

Kawamoto shuddered. “I heard that whenever Aoki Tsukasa gets truly angry, he shaves the other person’s head completely bald. Boss, I don’t want to become a bald man!”

Kindaichi swallowed. On the phone was a photograph taken by someone unknown. In it, Matsushita Kazuo was clutching his hair and weeping bitterly. Beside him stood the famous goddess of the first-year students, Teruhashi Kokomi, comforting him. She seemed to have been frightened by Tsukasa’s brutality as well, judging by the terror on her face.

And beside Teruhashi stood a group of bald men, all crying as they held their heads. Only a corner of Tsukasa’s cold, stern back was visible in the photograph. He appeared to be walking down the stairs without the slightest trace of mercy.

There was no need to guess. He had probably taken out his anger on his underlings too.

“M-Maybe this is all just a misunderstanding!” Kindaichi clenched his teeth and scrolled through the phone. The next moment, he came across another piece of information that made his legs go weak.

“According to an investigation, Aoki Tsukasa’s parents may be leaders of an underworld organization. A few days ago, they were even taken away by the police for questioning on that account. In the end, they were released due to insufficient evidence. That is also why Aoki Tsukasa is able to run rampant throughout the school without anyone daring to stop him.”

Attached to the message was a screenshot of a news report. It showed Tsukasa in handcuffs being escorted into a police car.

Seeing the dazed look in Kindaichi’s eyes, Kawamoto knew that his boss had finally begun to understand what a terrifying person Aoki Tsukasa truly was. He took back his phone and tried to comfort him.

“Boss, forget about stealing money if we can’t manage it. We can always rob middle school students instead. Why insist on picking a fight with Aoki Tsukasa?”

Kindaichi’s breathing grew increasingly rapid. His eyes reddened, and suddenly he shouted furiously, “I don’t believe it! Impossible! They must have made all of this up!”

“But look at the pictures. How could they be fake?” Kawamoto was beside himself with worry. He had no idea how to make Kindaichi abandon the idea of provoking Tsukasa.

Kindaichi furrowed his brows and ground his teeth. “Do you remember the household survey forms they handed out yesterday?”

“Huh?” Kawamoto stared at him blankly.

“We’ll start with those forms. If we see what he wrote, won’t we know exactly what kind of family he comes from?” Kindaichi slammed a fist into his palm, his face lighting up with excitement. “That bald bastard must have deliberately spread these false rumors to make himself seem powerful by association! As long as we expose the lies hidden among his rumors, everyone else will realize they’ve been deceived by that bald bastard too. Then we’ll raise our arms and call out. Plenty of people will listen to us, and we can take back the position of top dogs at this school!”

“Exactly! There is only one truth! Most of those news stories about him must be fake! He has no connection to the underworld at all!”

The thought of exposing Aoki Tsukasa’s true nature and overthrowing him amid the outrage of the entire student body—and then using the opportunity to rise straight to the top—filled Kindaichi with uncontrollable excitement.

“Boss, it’s ‘to borrow the tiger’s might,’ and ‘raise our arms and call out,’” Kawamoto corrected him, though he found himself thinking that the plan might actually make some sense.

If all of this was merely smoke and mirrors spread by Tsukasa himself to create a nonexistent background, it was not entirely impossible.

The household survey form would surely reveal something. It might be worth taking a look.

“Come on! We’re going to steal the survey forms!” Kindaichi burst into wild laughter, convinced that he had finally discovered the path to victory.

Although Kawamoto suspected it would be useless, for some reason he still obediently followed.

After all, there was always a chance.

And if Kindaichi turned out to be right, then a road to wealth and glory would be lying directly before them!

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