I, Aki Tomoya, will not be a simp.

His tone made it sound like he couldn't wait to represent Tokyo University, or rather, their Class 3 of Science, to showcase the glory of Tokyo University.

To be honest, Aki Tomoya was a little amused by his half-baked official tone.

I don't know where he learned it from.

He probably learned it from his father, who worked at a university hospital.

Suzuya is a good person in every other way, and there's nothing wrong with him in other aspects of his character, but it's precisely this aspect that makes people feel uncomfortable.

But this also shows that this person truly harbors ambitions for that so-called white tower.

Otherwise, this person wouldn't have become so popular during their university years.

As the party was about to end, Suzuya came up to Aki Tomoya and whispered, "Aki-kun, the reason I invited you here was actually because I was thinking about your work at UDI."

"...Don't scare me!"

Aki Tomoya was also implicated because the other party wanted to implicate him, who was working part-time at UDI, in a medical dispute that caused his father to lose the election for Minister of Surgery.

However, seeing the playful look in the other person's eyes, I realized that they were just joking when they mentioned it.

Suzuya's father's election as head of surgery this year was ruined by a medical dispute, but they were fortunate that it was resolved well and no major medical malpractice was caused.

Although he still felt regretful about the incident, Suzuya himself didn't seem to care too much about it.

“My father told me that staying in a university hospital now, just having the title of professor is not very useful. How many professors does the University of Tokyo have, and how many of them have been transferred to affiliated hospitals?”

In university hospitals, doctors are divided into different categories.

There are also differences between professors.

It's not just about departments and clinics; there are many other complex things involved.

Suzuya's father was a man of considerable power, but the medical dispute that occurred during the election for head of surgery dealt him a significant blow.

From Suzuya's words, Aki Tomoya was somewhat puzzled as to why Suzuya would say these things to him.

Perhaps sensing Aki Tomoya's doubts, Suzuya smiled and said, "I heard from Mashima-kun that you'll probably stay at the university hospital too. We're classmates!"

Aki Tomoya knew exactly what the words "same period" meant.

However, he still wanted to ask: "There are quite a few of us in the same period. The third year of science has a quota of ninety-seven students every year."

So did he specifically pull him aside to say these things, or did he say them to everyone?

"Actually, I know what you three think of me. Isn't it a bit ridiculous that I'm like this in college? I can't even reach the door of the White Tower here. My father failed to become the head of surgery this time, which makes me want to surpass him even more. But who knows what the future holds? So I'll act as a local lord here for now, like playing house and experiencing it. Even if I can't become a local lord in the university hospital later, I can still look back and remember that I did this in college."

"...Is it necessary?"

"It might seem childish to you, but it doesn't matter. I'm still number one among my peers now. Who knows if I'll still be number one in the future? I want to cherish the days when I'm still number one."

Chapter 268 Contemporaneous Relationship (2/4)

Aki Tomoya didn't say whether he agreed or disagreed with Suzuya's remarks, but he understood from them that Suzuya was a person with a clear conscience.

He's not a bad person; you could even say he has lofty ambitions.

Whether they are on the same path or not, Aki Tomoya is hard to say.

But there's nothing that would cause them to become enemies; they might even become friends, since they were classmates.

If we end up working as medical trainees in the same place in the future, or even in the same place, there's nothing wrong with building good relationships now.

Japan's hierarchical system is not just deeply ingrained, it's incurable.

However, they value lineage and factional affiliation.

Taking university hospitals as an example, each university can be divided into two groups: the so-called Tokyo University faction and Kyoto University faction among national universities, and the so-called Jundai faction and Kyoto University faction among private universities.

Leaving aside the internal power struggles within the university hospital, they generally appear very united to the outside world.

If you come from the University of Tokyo, you are naturally considered a member of the University of Tokyo faction. This is a common situation in fields such as medicine, and it is also common in many other places.

Even within a company, people will assume which university you graduated from.

Just like every place has its own circles, if you graduate from a certain university, you can find the corresponding people and basically find your own circle. Even if you don't actively seek them out, people will come to you.

Because it's the default setting.

For example, regardless of which university hospital it is, in a large company, if someone who graduated from the University of Tokyo just joins, most people will immediately assume that he belongs to a certain faction.

Of course, this is just a general overview; the specifics vary from place to place.

The key point is that one's background is quite important.

This relationship is semi-transparent; it is by no means necessarily strong, but if one is determined to make it strong, it is usually not difficult.

Aki Tomoya was well aware of Suzutani's sense of belonging to his contemporaries.

Since he's been so frank, Aki Tomoya felt there was no need to hide anything anymore.

"That's right, we were classmates."

Aki Tomoya was aware of this.

With this relationship in place, at least their relationship is worth maintaining.

Some of Suzuya's actions at the university might displease people like Takagi, but in Aki Tomoya's view, there wasn't much of a problem.

Aki Tomoya, Majima Shin, and Takagi Sai—these three are often described as an "iron triangle."

However, in this iron triangle combination, two of them do not necessarily have to completely cut ties with Suzuya like Takagi does.

How to describe the relationship between Majima and Suzuya? They weren't exactly friends, but they were probably classmates with a decent relationship.

Such a relationship is described as a classmate relationship in high school.

In universities, or more specifically in medical schools, they are referred to as contemporaries.

It seems to be the same thing, but two different ways of saying it.

But classmates and peers are definitely different!

High school is high school, and university is university, especially in the medical school.

Most private high schools include a separate statistic in their annual promotional materials showing how many students were admitted to medical school in previous years.

Of course, this doesn't mean that other faculties don't place as much emphasis on their students as the medical school. It's just that the situation is different. This educational system, which places extreme importance on the medical school, ensures that even the most incompetent students have a much higher standard of living than the average person.

"It's getting late, I'll be going now, Suzutani-kun, you don't need to see me off."

"Since you've said that, then please take care."

Suzuya said that, but still politely saw everyone off, including Aki Tomoya.

His reason for seeking out Aki Tomoya wasn't particularly special; it's just that among his peers, Aki Tomoya, despite being very low-key, was indeed far superior to many others.

Suzuya had no intention of breaking up that trio; he only planned to maintain good relations with Majima and Aki Tomoya. The reason was simple: they were all among the top performers of their generation, and it was precisely because they were still classmates that Suzuya considered to be on the same level.

As for Takagi...

Suzuya knew better than anyone that those rich kids whose families owned large hospitals were probably more concerned with factions than their peers.

Takagi's thinking is different from that of people like Suzuya. Others might think that they might end up working in a university hospital, but his family owns a hospital.

That Takagi makes friends entirely based on personal preference, and he's actually more confident than anyone else.

……

November has arrived.

After a month's absence, Aki Tomoya has returned to UDI.

In the previous case, almost everyone who needed to be arrested has been arrested. There are still one or two fugitives, but they are like grasshoppers in autumn, unable to jump around anymore.

Chief Kamikura Yasuo, who has been following the case closely, is now relieved and less worried.

He was actually quite afraid that some of the fugitives might be crazy and retaliate against the forensic researchers in his institute.

Because of this concern, he first asked Aki Tomoya not to appear at the research institute for the time being.

UDI, no matter how worried they are, cannot let it affect normal operations. They just need to ask the security team to pay more attention to whether there are any suspicious people around.

I officially returned here and started taking attendance again on November 3rd, the day marked in red on the neon calendar, during the cultural festival.

However, this national research institution did not give them a holiday. Forensic scientists who work 7K jobs have no normal holidays to enjoy; it's practically a luxury.

On the first day back, the most excited person was none other than Makoto Sakamoto, the clinical examination technician from the middle class.

"Aki-kun is finally back!"

Sakamoto Makoto looked at Aki Tomoya with excitement, inwardly thanking his God that their medical student from the Nakado class had finally returned.

When dealing with the Zhongtang faction, by the end of October, he had probably written down countless instances of how the Zhongtang faction used profanities in his notebook.

"Aki-kun had a good rest last month, which I think turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The director was just worrying unnecessarily!"

At this moment, Yuko Tokai, a clinical examination technician from the Misumi class, said with amusement.

However, Aki Tomoya replied irritably, "Dr. Tokai Rin, look at what you're saying. How idle can a medical student like me be? I asked the director to say a few words about me to the pathology professor in our medical department, which gave me the honor of serving the professor in the pathology classroom. The number of papers I found, read, and translated in a month was simply mountainous!"

He read more papers in a month than he did in his entire previous life combined, and that number will only continue to rise.

We must understand that times are progressing, and medicine is progressing as well.