On how PhDs become human evil

"Who's the detective idiot?! You delinquent minister!"

As if on cue, Shinichi Kudo burst through the door that Bai Jie had just closed.

"I could hear you insulting me, Minister, right at the door. What's with this detective idiot?!"

“Before you complain to me, I hope you can explain to me why you slept through the first class this morning, Kudo,” Bai Jie laughed. “Your mother asked me to take good care of you, which is why I became a teacher here. But you actually slept through my first class. Can I assume you fully understood what I was teaching?”

(Holy crap! The first class today is the minister's class!?)

Shinichi Kudo immediately panicked. He was indeed a top student, able to get first place in the whole school even while sleeping in class, but that was history. At the very least, if he didn't listen to Bai Jie's class, he would definitely fail the exam!

"Miyano, you didn't even call me!"

"I called you, but you were sleeping like a log, and I couldn't wake you up. There's nothing I can do."

Shiho Miyano flashed that mischievous smile that Shinichi Kudo knew all too well. Shinichi didn't even need reasoning or evidence to know that this woman's so-called "waking him up" was nothing more than a light pat on the shoulder! There'd be no way that could wake someone up!

"Oh right, Kudo, I took a picture of you sleeping in class and sent it to your mom. She replied to me saying she'll be back to talk to you soon."

"You're absolutely a demon!"

Shinichi Kudo could not rise again.

Seeing the great detective's expression of utter despair, Bai Jie and Shiho Miyano exchanged a knowing glance. Sure enough, teasing the great detective every day would make them feel very comfortable.

........

"Speaking of which, Suzuki told me something before. Her husband has sent another challenge to Kid."

Halfway through lunch, Shiho Miyano suddenly spoke up, and upon hearing this, Shinichi Kudo's face immediately stiffened—he had already anticipated his upcoming schedule.

After taking a sip of barley tea, Bai Jie asked, "Explain in detail, Miyano."

"Suzuki Jirokichi, an advisor to the Suzuki Group, built the world's largest airship and placed the Lady of the Jewel Sky on it, issuing a challenge to Kaito Kid through the newspaper—that's the gist of it," Shiho Miyano explained. "The reason Suzuki told me about this was that he hoped we could become the guards of that jewel—just like always."

It should be noted that quite a few people know that Shinichi Kudo is Conan Edogawa. Besides Shinichi Kudo's parents, Professor Agasa, Shiho Miyano, and Kaito Kid, even the Metropolitan Police Department and the Mouri Detective Agency know this now.

Back in the Conan Edogawa era, Shinichi Kudo had helped Jirokichi Suzuki fight against Kaito Kid on several occasions. So after he turned back into Shinichi, whenever Jirokichi wanted to challenge Kaito Kid, he would immediately bring Shinichi Kudo and the Kamen Rider Club along, making them practically the Suzuki Group's go-to jewel guards.

However, in reality, only Shinichi Kudo actually worked seriously. Bai Jie and Shiho Miyano always slacked off and did nothing, doing their job openly and honestly.

"Well, so I'll leave it to you this time, Kudo. Go and have a good fight with that thief."

"That's enough, you two! I'm always the only one doing the work. You should at least contribute something!"

“But seeing how seriously you and that thief are fighting, we really don’t want to interfere,” Bai Jie said with a smile. “It wouldn’t be good if a third party got involved in a duel between rivals, would it?”

“I share his opinion, great detective, this is a duel between the two of you.”

Faced with their explanations, Shinichi Kudo, with tears welling in his eyes and deeply moved, roared, "You two, just say you want to slack off!"

Section 352, paragraph 2. This should be @Kiryu Sento.

After routinely driving Shinichi Kudo crazy, Bai Jie and Shiho Miyano took a sip of barley tea with great satisfaction.

Seeing how carefree the two of them were, Shinichi Kudo could only helplessly purse his lips and sit down. The three of them had known each other for more than two months, and Shinichi Kudo and Shiho Miyano had known each other for almost a year, so they knew each other's personalities very well.

Although they say they'll let Shinichi Kudo do all the work alone, when it really comes down to it, Shiho Miyano and Haku will help out. For example, they'll give him clues to solve the case or help him arrest the criminals, or they'll come up with some small inventions that will help solve the case.

For this reason, although Shinichi Kudo was very dissatisfied with the two men's behavior of insulting him, he only complained a few times and then let it go.

"Speaking of which, Minister, shouldn't our department's activity report be submitted by now?"

Shinichi Kudo suddenly mentioned it.

Every club has the task of submitting club activity reports regularly. This is usually a very simple thing. For sports clubs like the soccer club, training sessions can be used as reports. For literature clubs, they can write a few book reviews. But this Kamen Rider club seems to have no club activities at all.

"What are you talking about, Kudo? Aren't we doing club activities every day?" Bai Jie said matter-of-factly.

"Huh? You do it every day? How come I didn't know that?"

"Isn't your crime-solving just another activity of our club?"

Shinichi Kudo almost choked on his water because of what Bai Jie said.

Solving cases counts as club activities? While Shinichi Kudo does encounter one or two cases almost every day, ranging from locked-room murders to simple puzzles and finding lost items, treating this as club activities seems a bit...

"Speaking of which, aren't we the Kamen Rider Detective Club? I'm the detective, but where's the Kamen Rider?!"

Because enemies such as the Evil Road Formula and Bugster have appeared in recent years, the existence of Kamen Riders who protect the citizens is no longer unknown as before. Instead, they have been intentionally brought into the public eye under the arrangement of the government. The first to be exposed were Hojo Emu and his friends, followed by Tomari Shinnosuke, Shotaro, and Philip.

The others either live abroad year-round, have been missing for a long time, or are traveling all over the world and cannot be found at all. So far, the only Kamen Riders exposed are Hojo Emu and his group.

Incidentally, although Bai Jie was also exposed, only insiders knew about it; outsiders were unaware.

“Kamen Rider, huh, that makes sense…” Bai Jie stroked his chin. “Find an opportunity to take Shotaro and the others’ belts and display them. If anyone comes to inspect Kudo, you can temporarily become Kamen Rider.”

"Hey, hey, hey, Mr. Shotaro will be crying, won't they?" Shinichi Kudo said, embarrassed.

Because the process of growing from a child to an adult was completed at Narumi's office, both Shinichi Kudo and Shiho Miyano knew Shotaro and Philip, and knew that they were Kamen Rider W who protected Fuuto many years ago.

"Besides, would they even be willing to lend it out? The belt is very important to Kamen Rider, isn't it?"

"It's alright. Anyway, no enemies have appeared recently. Even if they do, there are Hojo Emu and the others to hold them off. If we encounter any fools, we can just let them transform into invincible players and charge through them."

Even in Bai Jie's eyes, who has lived through the entire new decade, the invincible player's strength is comparable to that of the many knights, ranking first or second. Putting aside its basic data abilities, the key is its invincible ability, which is simply too bug-like.

Besides, even if there were a chance that an enemy appeared that even an invincible player couldn't defeat, there would still be Bai Jie, so it's just a belt and it doesn't matter at all.

"That's perfect. I just asked the club union, and the deadline for submitting club reports is next Friday. Before then, please organize your recent case-solving experiences."

"Hey, are you trying to kill me with work? Just looking at the last week alone, I've solved over fifteen cases!"

"I didn't say you had to organize everything, what's the rush? Just organize a part, like puzzles or finding things. We can't expect you to hand over something as big as a murder case, okay?" Shiho Miyano rolled her eyes at him. "As for the belt, I'll leave it to you, Captain."

Shinichi Kudo is in charge of the detective reports, while Haku is in charge of the Kamen Rider belts...

"Wait a minute, what are you doing, Miyano?" Shinichi Kudo noticed a blind spot. "Are you the only one with nothing to do? Are you trying to slack off again?"

"Okay, great detective, if you're willing to give me the latest LV bag, I'll help you process the detective report, how about it?"

"Why don't you just rob someone? Besides, why did you buy so many bags? I've never seen you use any of them. You've wasted so much money."

"I agree with you on this point, Kudo. To be honest, I don't know why my family members like to shop so much."

Neither Shinichi Kudo nor Bai Jie really understood why women loved buying clothes and bags so much, even though they just left them gathering dust in their closets. If that was the case, they might as well not buy them at all.

Regarding the two men's incredibly straightforward and masculine thoughts, Shiho Miyano sighed softly: "Kudo is one thing, but how did you manage to get so many wives, Captain? It's amazing that anyone would want someone with your personality."

"Hey, you're making it sound like I'm unwanted." Bai Jie rolled his eyes at her, annoyed. "Fine, you guys chat, I have to go now. If I'm not back for the afternoon class, you can study on your own."

Upon hearing that Bai Jie had classes in the afternoon, both Shinichi Kudo and Shiho Miyano were taken aback. Shinichi Kudo then asked, "Is there something else going on at Huanmeng Company?"

"Well, the latest game is in its final stages. I'll go over and give it a thorough check to see if there are any bugs. If not, it should be released next week. I'm off."

After saying that, Bai Jie tore open a spatial rift and jumped in.

————————————————————————

Emerging from the spatial rift, Bai Jie found himself in the private office that Tan Zhengzong had arranged for him. To his surprise, however, there was already someone in the office.

"House Emu, what are you doing here?"

Bai Jie asked Bao Sheng Yongmu, who was sitting on the sofa waiting for him.

"Is CR closed today?"

"No, actually, something rather troublesome has happened," Emu Hojo said in a low voice. "Um... it seems that my Kamen Rider power has been taken away."

".......ha?"

Section 353.3. Hosho Emu, you shameful bastard!

The Kamen Rider's power has been taken away?

Looking at Hojo Emu sitting across from him, chuckling awkwardly, Bai Jie suddenly felt a strong sense of disappointment and frustration. "Hojo Emu, you already have a final form, how could your Rider power be taken away? Is your fear of Iron Chicken just for show?!"

Besides, Parad is still by your side, it's not like he can't transform. You've already got a cheat code, how could you get banned?

"Haa~~~~~"

With a long sigh, Bai Jie, his disappointment and regret evident, sat down in his seat: "Let me explain, Yongmeng, how was your knight power taken away? The power of an invincible player is in no way inferior to the Infinite Soul of Sky Temple."

“Uh… actually, it wasn’t the invincible player who was taken away.” Hojo Emu scratched his cheek. “There was another bugster incident before, and Parad and I went to investigate. After we finished dealing with it, we suddenly encountered a Kamen Rider who was different from us. He claimed to be Build and said he wanted to steal my power.”

"Of course I disagreed, but Build defeated Parad in no time. I wanted to go and help, but I didn't because I thought the invincible player was too strong. As a result, he used a bottle to deactivate my transformation and took away my transformation power as well."

Build... If Bai Jie's memory is correct, then it seems to be Kiryu Sento who transformed into him, right?

This rabbit's gotten so arrogant! How dare it come to the set of a senior actor and steal scenes?

"Okay, I think I understand what's going on. I know Build, there must be some hidden story behind this. I'll ask him about it later."

"Really!? Thank you so much, Doctor!"

"Also, I want to remind you of something—"

Just as Hosho Emu was feeling happy, Bai Jie suddenly reached out and grabbed his ear, twisting it without any mercy.

"Ughhhhhh! It hurts! Doctor, let go! It hurts so much!"

Ignoring Hojo Emu's wails, Bai Jie coldly said, "How many times have I told you? Since you have the final form, just use it! Why are you hiding it? Why wait until you get humiliated before using the final form? When did you develop a taste for being humiliated? Now you're suffering the consequences."

"Yes, yes, yes! Senior, you're right, so please let go! My ear is going to fall off... it really is going to fall off!"

"Hmph! I'll teach you a lesson so you won't learn your lesson. From now on, when you encounter an enemy, activate your invincible player mode, got it?"

"I've got it! I've got it!"

Seeing that Hosho Emu readily agreed, Bai Jie finally let go of his hand: "Alright, you can go back now. I still have some things to do—wait, don't go yet."

Just as Bai Jie was about to kick Hojo Emu out, he suddenly changed his mind. He remembered that Hojo Emu was a genius gamer, so that meant...

"Emu, wait here for an hour. I'll fix the bugs in this game, and then you can try it out."

"A new game? Leave it to me!"

Upon hearing about the new game, Emu Hojo immediately sat back down in his chair, revealing an obedient expression that practically screamed "well-behaved."

Without continuing his conversation with Emu Hojo, Bai Jie turned on the computer on his desk and began giving final checks on the upcoming game, the title of which was—Kamen Rider Chronicles Season 2.