The light of passion
The first ti I'd encountered the origin text's special power had been yesterday, when Olivia had handed it to on the plane.
When I took it, I'd been able to see the future.
It had felt like a really vivid dream, or an extrely specific sixth sense. Things that were probably going to happen had raced through my brain like a jolt of electricity.
In that dream, I'd refused to take the origin text, believing soone like shouldn't accept it casually.
Olivia had been perplexed, but she'd kept the book and returned to her normal duties... But then our plane hadn't made it to France. Olivia had been attacked and wounded by sobody onboard, and we'd made an ergency landing at a nearby airport.
And—soone had stolen the origin text. "I was wrong."
Not accepting the origin text had been a mistake. I regretted it fiercely, and the next thing I knew, I was back on the plane. Olivia was standing in front of , and once again, the origin text was firmly in my hands.
At first, I hadn't understood what had happened. I'd asked Olivia if she was all right, then checked the ti with Nagisa, only to find out that no ti had passed at all.
I've returned to the past, I thought.
When I thought it over later on, though, I realized I hadn't ti traveled—I'd just seen the future.
In other words, when the origin text's bearer wasn't sure what to do about a major decision, it would show them the futures that would result from their various choices. Since it was similar to the Oracle's clairvoyance, I deduced that I'd basically been borrowing Mia's power.
I imdiately thought, I shouldn't tell anybody about this yet. If it was information I should share with Siesta and Nagisa, Mia would have told so to begin with, and she hadn't. She hadn't even told Olivia. She probably thought I
should be the only one to know about this power. Therefore, since Mia was the text's rightful owner, I respected her wishes.
I had one other concern, though: It was possible that even Mia wasn't aware of the origin text's true power. If so, I wasn't even sure I should ask her about it. As a result, I'd decided to take a little more ti to observe the book closely.
I'd walked around with it for a while, but nothing odd had happened. I'd experinted by hesitating over a minor choice, trying to see any futures related to it, but the origin text's power hadn't activated. Either it would only show futures related to major turning points, or I wouldn't necessarily be able to use it whenever I wanted.
The next ti the origin text had shown the future had been last night, after I'd argued with Siesta and talked with Bruno. The turning point had been whether I would et with Stephen or Nagisa. I'd chosen the forr and let go of the origin text. I'd tried to protect the detectives' ordinary lives by choosing a transient peace. I don't have to tell you how that went.
—And so...
"I'll do it over."
On that dark road where I'd t Scarlet, in a gap in space-ti, I made my decision. However, strictly speaking, I was returning from the future to the present. I'd cancel the potential future where Mia and Siesta were sniped by an assassin and choose another one.
Right at my feet, the path forked in two. On one route, I t Stephen and gave the origin text to the ssenger from Another Eden, but I'd already seen where that would end up. As a result, I now chose the route where I went to et Nagisa instead. Besides, in that first future, Nagisa had told sothing:
When you're not sure what to do, look at .
I'd put my trust in those words now. Nagisa had run to the fallen Siesta at the end of that future. This ti, I'd chase after her.
"I'll start over from here."
I started down the second route. Soon, light enveloped , and the next thing I knew, I'd returned to the previous night.
That ans the story starting now happened right after I'd parted ways with Bruno at the pub.
This is the world where I didn't answer that call from Stephen, and chose to et Nagisa instead.
"...Sorry to keep you waiting. Brrrr, it's cold."
It was a starry winter night, and we were in a park with a view of the illuminated Eiffel Tower.
Huddled up in her coat, Nagisa arrived at our eting spot. I was waiting for her with my collar turned up against the cold.
I told her I'd t Bruno and summarized what we'd talked about. From my perspective, this was the second ti I'd done this, but that was inevitable. When she heard I hadn't managed to persuade Bruno not to attend the ceremony, Nagisa sighed. "I see... Still, we could have talked about this at the hotel. It didn't have to be here."
"If I went back to the room now, Siesta would just be griping about ." "Huh? How did you know? —Wait, ignore that, she's not doing anything of
the sort."
Her eyes were darting around way too much. She'd been the one to tell about that in the first place.
"Sure, she was a little angry, but I think she was more bewildered than anything." With a little smile, Nagisa told what Siesta had been like right after we'd fought. "'Why won't my assistant understand?' she said. 'I'm only doing my job as the Ace Detective.'"
"...True. She's probably in the right, here. I'm wrong."
"Wow, that's unusual. Want to hurry back and apologize, then? I think she'll forgive you pretty easily."
"I can't do that." Nagisa looked perplexed, so I explained. "I want her to get it wrong, too."
Siesta's sense of justice was too correct. She wouldn't hesitate to keep fighting to protect the world and the people around her, no matter the personal cost. She'd tried to go to sleep forever once—twice—to that end. Now that the disasters had finally ended, the chain of tragedies had halted, and the world was at peace, I wanted her to throw that approach away.
"She was becoming more and more like who she used to be, wasn't she?"
So Nagisa had noticed, too? My sigh ca out misty white as I gazed at the distant tower.
Two weeks ago, when the Federation Governnt had summoned us, and Noel had requested that she beco a Tuner temporarily, Siesta had begun to revert to her old self.
Once she'd learned about the unknown crisis, she'd agreed to beco a proxy Ace Detective. After that, she'd t Ms. Fuubi, rembered events from when she was a Tuner, and encountered soone who resembled an enemy she'd once
fought. Picking up her musket again had reminded her of the sensations of being on the battlefield, and she'd asked Charlotte to do maintenance on the weapon for her.
The danger to Bruno had given Siesta an even greater sense of responsibility as the Ace Detective, and our encounter with Another Eden on the cruise ship had made her mission more real than ever... I couldn't help but worry about that. The Ace Detective's justice was too flawless.
"What about you? Did it make you rember old tis, too, Nagisa?" Naturally, Siesta wasn't the only one I was worried about.
Nagisa Natsunagi, the other detective, had also sacrificed herself to save Siesta once. She'd tried to return her heart to its forr owner, to revert the world to what it should have been. She'd said it was because she was only a proxy detective.
"I never forgot."
"...You an you haven't changed at all since then?" The proxy detective who'd sacrificed herself.
"Yes. But listen, I haven't forgotten how kind you were to that ti, either." Nagisa's ruby eyes were blazing brightly. "You got angry, and you cried. I believed I was doing the right thing, and you said I wasn't. All of that makes who I am now. That's why I've never forgotten. I was right and wrong, both at once. I'm sure it's the sa for Siesta," she said.
So my feelings had reached her? Did Siesta rember, too? That was why, like , she wasn't sure what to do.
"You know, Kimihiko, you always did like the detective way too much. You still do." Smiling, Nagisa stepped in closer. For so reason, she put the muffler she'd been wearing around my neck. Then she tied it up and gave it a tug. "Take that!"
"Hey, that hurts."
"Our positions have been flipped pretty much all the ti lately, so I thought I'd remind you who's boss once in a while."
"Yeah. Three years ago, just for that one mont, you were a total sadist."
"J-just for that mont? Oh, co on... You make it sound like I've been a masochist the rest of the ti."
Nagisa looked unhappy with that, but it was way too late to correct the trajectory of her character now.
"Say, Kimihiko?" Her tone turned a little serious again. "What did I look like before?"
For a mont, I didn't understand what she was asking.
In another mont, I realized she ant the old stories I'd brought up earlier. "Your mories are precious to you, Kimihiko. How did Siesta and I smile in
those mories? How did we look when we were angry, or when we cried? How did we shine?"
Of course. The detectives hadn't smiled all the ti.
Our journeys hadn't been all fun and gas. We'd gotten into plenty of dangerous scrapes, and we'd made it through life-or-death situations many tis.
And on the other side, the detectives' faces had been flooded with fierce emotion; they'd looked...
"Kimizuka." Natsunagi called by the na she'd addressed by back then. "Which versions of us did you like?"
I'd... Back then, I'd—
"No, that's not it." Nagisa put her index finger to my lips before I could speak. "Now isn't the ti or the place. I'm not the one you should be saying that to, either."
"...Yeah, you're right. I'll hang on to it for now." Nagisa smiled and gave a little nod.
"Well, should we head back?"
A look at the clock told it was almost eleven. Tomorrow's a big day; we should probably hit the sack as early as possible, I thought, turning around. Out of nowhere, soone caught my hand.
Needless to say, it was Nagisa.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have talked like I knew everything." Her forehead thunked lightly against my back.
"What are you talking about? You gave plenty of strength," I told her. For as long as I'd known her, Nagisa had always said the words I wanted to hear. It was sothing she could do because she never let the fires of her passion die.
"No. I was speaking as the detective earlier. I'm going to say what I really think now." She kept her forehead pressed against my back. "I'm sorry for always making you do the worst parts. I'm sorry for shoving the decisions onto you. Thank you for trying to give us peace."
Her voice was slightly choked up.
"There were things that scared , really. Fighting with my life on the line, long ago. The Great Cataclysm. We're on the cusp of getting involved in all this again now. And you're trying to save , so..."
"...Stop it."
I was in no position to have Nagisa thank . How many tis had her words saved , spurred to act, made look forward? Wishing she and Siesta could live peaceful, ordinary lives wasn't my repaying a favor. As a matter of fact, it was just my own ego. That ant Nagisa didn't owe any gratitude.
"No, that won't do. At least one person has to acknowledge you out loud, Kimihiko. I bet Siesta's clumsy, so I'll say it. Thank you. Thank you for being our assistant, and our greatest partner."
Nagisa's voice, and her forehead, grew warr.
Right now, those tears were what concerned more than anything. "Yeesh. I promised I wouldn't make you cry."
Hel would yell at in my next dream. Turning around, I unwrapped the muffler and rewound it around its owner's neck. "I don't need apologies or thanks. I want you and Siesta to live in peace because...I like you two way too much, that's all. So don't worry about it."
I was aware I was saying one of "those" lines, but I told her anyway. That proved I'd grown up a bit.
Nagisa looked at , startled. Her mouth hung open slightly. Her fingers dug into the muffler a bit as she averted her flushed face and found sothing to criticize.
"That was lousy." Apparently I needed more practice at putting mufflers on girls.
Then, sothing bright caught my attention at the corner of my vision. "Hm. That's pretty." The Eiffel Tower was lit up differently now. Co to think of it, I'd heard it flashed like this every hour after sunset for just five minutes.
"Well, Nagisa? Since you got to see this view, will you overlook the fact that I made you co out in the cold to et ?" I joked, but just as I was about to turn back to her, sothing hot and soft touched my left cheek.
Nagisa had kissed .
"...That's appreciation for all your hard work, all right?" As her lips left my cheek, a hot sigh escaped them.
"A gesture of gratitude from a detective to her assistant, who always does his best. That's all it is. And so..." Nagisa covered her mouth with her muffler. "If you get the wrong idea, I'll half-kill you."
Compared to her usual counterstrikes, that one was pretty weak.
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