A journey to foretell the world
Three days passed. During that ti, Siesta, Saikawa, Charlie, and I all brainstord ways to wake Natsunagi up.
Stephen, her attending physician, had already washed his hands of the matter. He'd said sothing to the effect that there was nothing else he could do, but that didn't necessarily an there was actually nothing that could be done, period.
Working on that assumption, Siesta nad an expert who could step in for the Inventor, and we decided that she and I would go find him right away.
However...
"Say, can I order a snack?" Next to , Siesta was holding an in-flight nu.
I never imagined she'd drag onto an airplane the day after we got discharged from the hospital...
"They're expensive, so no. I told you to buy sothing at the kiosk, rember?"
"What could I do? That trouble on the train made us get there at the very last minute. And it was mostly your fault, Kimi."
Siesta's apathetic eyes fixed on . Sorry, but if you're going to hang out with , you're going to get dragged into random trouble. Did she forget about that?
"Still." Siesta gazed at and shifted the conversation to sothing else. "It's been a long ti since the two of us were on a plane together, hasn't it?"
We were currently cruising at ten thousand ters aboveground. This was how I'd t Siesta on that fateful day four years ago.
"Yeah. There's no telling how many planes I rode with you after that." "We racked up an unbelievable number of frequent-flyer miles, didn't
we?"
Rembering those three years, we both laughed a little.
Today, we were bound for New York. In order to et a certain person, and attend a certain council, we were globe-trotting for the first ti in a year.
"Are you really okay to travel, though?" I asked her again. She'd been injured worse than I had, but she'd left the hospital and boarded the plane as soon as she was able to walk.
"Yes, I'd like to hurry a bit."
"Yeah. Both for Natsunagi and that council." I followed up with a question about one of our objectives. "And? What is this Federal Council, exactly?"
The Federal Council—Siesta had asked to accompany her to a eting of all the world's Tuners. The council was apparently held at random locations as needed; it would be in New York this ti, and since the Ace Detective was a Tuner, Siesta had an obligation to attend.
"In simple terms, it's a place where the twelve Tuners et and talk whenever the world has reached a major turning point." As Siesta answered, she was nibbling on a long, thin chocolate snack. When had she bought those? "When a new global crisis is looming, they decide who's going to handle it. Since the 'primordial seed' crisis has passed this ti, I suppose there'll be a postmortem report on that as well."
"I see. So you'll be reporting your achievents as the Ace Detective, huh?" From what I was hearing, it sounded as if we'd be the highlight of this conference, in a way. ...Still, eting in person in this day and age made them seem like a pretty old-fashioned crowd.
"Are you nervous?"
"I'm shaking from excitent." "Literally, it appears."
You try getting dumped straight into a massively important discussion that's going to determine the future.
"Well, there'll be plenty of people you know there. Like her, for example." "Oh, Ms. Fuubi? Yeah, I'd wondered how you two knew each other. I
never figured it'd be this, though."
After the hijacking four years ago, Siesta had handed Bat over to Ms. Fuubi. They'd been connected before I was even aware of it, comrades who protected the world from the shadows.
"So will Mia be there, too?"
"That's a good question. She's never attended before."
True, it was hard to picture a hobody like Mia attending such a tense eting. Co to think of it, Ms. Fuubi had said she'd never t the Oracle.
"Then you an people are allowed to skip this thing?" A council that predicted the way of the world seed like it would be pretty uptight, but...
"All the Tuners besides have a quirk or two. Not many of them are good at getting along with others."
"You make it sound like you're normal or sothing."
Siesta only sipped her tea, acting as if she had no idea what I was talking about. You just brought your own teacup on board like it's nothing.
"Still, the one we're going to et is probably the most troubleso mber of the group."
...Right. There was another reason we were headed to New York and attending the council.
"The Vampire—Scarlet," I muttered.
Siesta gave a small nod. "You know him already, don't you?" "Not that I particularly want to see him..."
Even among the Tuners, the Vampire was a heretic. I'd sensed sothing fathomless in his sharp eyes, which seed to take the asure of everything. He'd also hinted that there was sothing between him and Siesta...
"You're acting as if sothing unpleasant happened. Did he pick on you?" "...He was just sort of creepy. Never mind that; you really think Scarlet
knows how to wake Natsunagi up?"
The Vampire was the person Siesta had said we'd need in order to awaken Natsunagi. Pinning our hopes on him, the two of us had set off for the Federal Council, which he'd be attending along with the other Tuners.
"It's just that there's a possibility. However, while he may not look it, he is an expert on life and death, so he'll have so personal views on human consciousness."
"...I...see?"
The Vampire had a technique that could resurrect the dead, although his revenants were only able to follow their most powerful instincts from their past life. He probably did have an insight into human life and death, their consciousness and souls, but...
"Can we count on a fantasy creature like a vampire?"
"Are you stupid, Kimi?" "You're so unfair."
It had been a while since we last ran through that exchange.
"Vampires aren't the fanciful beings that folklore describes, and they didn't just spontaneously appear sowhere." Siesta took another sip of tea. "Everything happens for a reason. There has to be a cause. You mustn't shut your eyes to those things and rely on convenient words like 'impossible' or 'coincidence.'"
As she told sothing vaguely familiar, her profile reminded of the person I most wanted to et right now.
"To begin with, vampires originated..." But just as Siesta was about to tell about vampires, she cut herself off. "Oh, co to think of it, did you see today's astrology column? Taurus was in the lowest position."
"Geez, could you find a clumsier way to change the subject?" And don't give information I don't need. I'm gonna feel bumd all day now. "Look, don't hide important stuff for no reason, all right? Just give the information I need to know now."
"Well, it's fun to watch you flail around when you don't know anything." "That's the worst reason ever."
Two detectives, twelve justices
After a twelve-hour flight, Siesta and I arrived in New York. After dropping our luggage off at the hotel, we headed straight to the Federal Council venue. "There's shuttle service and everything. They're really giving us VIP treatnt," I said to Siesta. We were in the back seat of the black car that had been waiting for us as soon as we stepped out of the hotel. From the fact that Siesta had climbed in without hesitating, it would probably take us to our
destination.
"They may be treating us like VIPs now, but we might not even be alive in a few hours," Siesta said. I didn't like the sound of that.
"Wasn't the Ace Detective supposed to be the star of this show?" "Subjugating the primordial seed took far longer than it was supposed to.
Besides, we also deviated from the future the Oracle foretold."
"...I see. You an we drastically changed the route, and they may hold us
responsible?"
In the sacred text, the original future that revolved around Seed had ended with Siesta losing to Hel, and Hel becoming Seed's vessel. To head that off, Siesta had appointed and my knack for getting dragged into stuff as her assistant. Little by little, that move had changed the future.
However, the altered route was what we'd lived through last year: Siesta and Hel had taken each other out, Seed had lost both of his candidate vessels, and only Hel's main personality—Natsunagi—had survived.
Siesta had intended for , Natsunagi, Saikawa, and Charlie to defeat Seed. I'd rejected that ending as well, though. I'd sworn to bring Siesta back to life, and now—Natsunagi had sacrificed herself to accomplish that goal, and after all our trials and tribulations, we'd ultimately managed to seal the primordial seed.
...Now that I thought about it, I really had been reckless. As Tuners, no wonder Ms. Fuubi had flipped her lid and Mia had cried. I'd destabilized the world for the sake of my own wish. I'd warped the future, and now Natsunagi was—
"You're as easy to read as ever." Siesta gave a small sigh. "It's all right. Nagisa's going to wake up." She smiled softly. "She may have fallen into a long sleep, assuming she's fulfilled her role. But you know that's not true, don't you? Nagisa Natsunagi isn't a proxy detective; nothing like it. She's not a stand-in for anyone. She's your one and only partner."
As if trying to convey the emotions in her words physically, she squeezed my hand, held it for a few monts, then released it.
"...I see. Yeah, you're right."
Natsunagi had lost her mories, forgotten how to live, and had been tornted by her lack of identity. However, she'd only just accepted her entire past, learned where to head, and finally discovered who she was. And now she was going to fall asleep forever? Even if Natsunagi was okay with that, I wasn't. I'd kill her twice, once for and again for Hel.
"I've got one correction, though." Siesta looked puzzled. I gazed at her but turned to face forward before I spoke. "You're my partner, too."
She'd said Natsunagi was my only partner. But to , Siesta was also— "—I see." Like , Siesta turned to face forward. As she spoke, we didn't
look at each other. "We're almost there, Assistant."
She didn't say anything more. From the fact that she'd called by my job
title, though, our relationship was the sa as it had always been.
Before long, the car slowly ca to a stop. The rear doors opened, and I climbed out after Siesta.
"This is it, huh...?"
A grand, palatial building stood on the other side of an expansive garden. So this was where the Federal Council would convene. "Is it okay to have a top-secret eting at such an eye-catching venue?"
"It's fine. Civilians never notice this place." Siesta strode toward the building.
"What, is it behind a magic barrier or sothing?" Three paces behind her, I stepped into the palace's spacious front hall.
"Twelve Tuners in total... Right now, I know about half of them."
As I climbed a long staircase, I counted the Tuners I'd t so far. There was Siesta, the Ace Detective; Ms. Fuubi, the Assassin; Scarlet, the Vampire; and Mia Whitlock, the Oracle. Plus Stephen Bluefield, the Inventor, the one I'd just t. Also, although I only knew of him, the Phantom Thief; he'd stolen Mia's sacred text and was now doing ti deep underground sowhere.
"You've been involved with other Tuners, too," Siesta said, glancing back briefly.
"What do you an? Is this going to be one of those Saikawa was actually 'the Idol,' a Tuner kind of punch lines?"
"From the fact that Yui's the only acquaintance you can think of, you obviously don't have many friends."
Hey, mind your own business. Charlie counts, too.
"Well, it's more that you were involved without being aware of it. You'll et them right after this," Siesta told , opting not to explain any further now. "More importantly, maybe I should tell you about a few of the mbers you should watch out for."
"Yeah, it would be nice if I could brace myself." I'd had way too many heart-attack-inducing surprises during that three-year journey, so I was grateful for the offer.
"Right. The particularly dangerous ones are the Magician and the Enforcer." We'd reached the top of the stairs and were walking down a long, red-carpeted hallway. Siesta continued her explanation. "The Magician is a witchlike old woman who almost never leaves the forest. They say she once
used a certain secret art to destroy a whole village. But that power is the reason they made her a Tuner."
"So it's possible to beco a defender of justice even if you've committed cris?" They'd probably decided her secret art would be useful in protecting the world, but...
"That's a tough one... Still. From the perspective of what 'cri' ans, the Enforcer has definitely killed more people than any other Tuner."
"That's pretty unsettling. The Tuners are the world's guardians, right?" As Ms. Fuubi and Scarlet had demonstrated, apparently you couldn't just call these people "heroes" and leave it at that.
"It depends on how you define 'justice.' In fact, the job assigned to the Enforcer is the execution of criminals who can't be judged in the outside world."
"...So, a 'necessary evil,' huh?"
It was true that there were cases that the law couldn't settle adequately. Apparently, the Enforcer was an antihero who cleaned up the aftermath from the shadows.
"Right. He lurked in the shadows, carrying nothing but an enormous sickle, which he used to cut down criminals. In terms of pure combat skills, he's up there with the Assassin and even the Vampire."
"The Magician and the Enforcer, hm? I'd rather avoid getting dragged into any unnecessary... Whoops."
Nope. If I say any more than that, I'll jinx myself.
As I hastily clapped a hand over my mouth, we ca to a set of doors that was larger than the others.
"Listen, Assistant." Siesta shot a glance. "From this point on, don't think the common sense that has worked for you before will still apply."
Yeah. I could see that from what she'd just said and from the Tuners I'd t so far.
We exchanged nods. Then she pushed the doors open with both hands— and in the large room beyond them, we saw...
"What Rill is trying to say is—how co the Ace Detective is allowed to do whatever she wants when the rest of us can't?"
"Huh? So you're jealous of her, and you're pitching a fit because you want to get your way all the ti, too?"
A girl had jumped up onto a long table. She was holding a black cane like a weapon...and glaring at Fuubi Kase. The redheaded policewoman was slouched in a chair, smoking a cigarette and gave an equally intense scowl.
The girl on the table looked quite a bit younger than the Magician, and the weapon she was holding didn't seem to be the Enforcer's sickle. In that case, this thoroughly unreasonable kid was—
"Who do you suppose she is?" Siesta looked puzzled.
What, you don't know, either?
Then she really wasn't the Magician or the Enforcer? "—This is sacred ground. Lower your weapon."
Just then, a chill that made my insides feel airborne assailed . It felt as if soone's hand was raking the pit of my stomach.
Siesta and I, and the pair who were arguing, all looked toward the owner of the voice. A middle-aged man was sitting on a dais in the depths of the room. He didn't blink at all as he spoke. "The day's leading players have arrived. Co, let the council begin."
With one last glare at Ms. Fuubi, the girl on the table returned to her chair. "Co on, Assistant."
Aside from us, there were six heroes at the long table.
The council to determine the world's future was about to begin.
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