Chapter 45 - 1.2

Chapter 45: Chapter 1.2

The enemies of the world and the twelve shields

"The Tuners... So that's what this is about..."

"Huh? You knew about this, too, Kimizuka?" Saikawa asked; she'd noticed my grave expression. "What on earth are the Tuners?"

"No idea."

"Don't act as if you know anything ever again." The young idol was suddenly very cold.

"This world is under near constant threat."

Ignoring the witty repartee Saikawa and I had going, SIESTA went on with her explanation.

"These crises strike regularly, and sometimes several happen at once. In an effort to combat them, an international organization has secretly appointed individuals known as 'Tuners.' "

Someone created to face the world's crises... Now that she mentioned it, I got the feeling Siesta had said something like that once. Something about how she existed to protect the world. About having that sort of DNA.

"There are twelve Tuners scattered across the globe. They are assigned various missions to handle global crises, and each occupies a different position." As she counted, she folded her fingers down, one by one. "Phantom Thief, for example. Oracle. Assassin. I'm told there's even a Magician and a Vampire."

" 'Vampire'...?" What kind of job is that? I can't imagine what sort of work they'd do.

"Since they serve as a bulwark against threats to the world, many historical perils have been averted." SIESTA went on, explaining clearly. "Nuclear war, climate change, pandemics, impact events. In some cases, humanity itself has been the source of the threat. In others, as with SPES, threats have come to this world from elsewhere. Either way, the Tuners have always fought these crises from the shadows."

"Then without them, the world would have been destroyed and we just never knew?"

"That's right. It's even said that one of the twelve held back the King of Terror who should have attacked in 1999." SIESTA listed a major prophecy by Nostradamus that had once rocked the world to its foundations, as if it was just one possibility among many. "The world line on which we're living now may actually be a future that was rewritten by the Tuners."

"Don't tell me... Are you saying it's actually possible to change history?" "Declaring that what can't be observed doesn't exist is the height of

arrogance. Besides, you know of one such case personally, don't you, Kimihiko?"

I searched my memory for something applicable and came up with... "— The sacred text."

It was the book Hel had told me about a year ago, the one that held a record of the future. Could its author have been someone who actually knew the future?

...No, I couldn't afford to take things that far off topic right now. More importantly, now that I knew about the Tuners, I could put together one thing from what SIESTA had said so far with near certainty.

"So Siesta was a Tuner, then."

SIESTA affirmed my guess wordlessly, by taking a sip of tea.

Siesta had been one of the twelve Tuners who saved the world—and her position had been ace detective. Her mission had been to bring SPES to heel.

She'd never said a word about it. However ... "..."

Charlie was biting her lip, and one look at her profile told me it was true. Siesta had talked about fighting the enemies of the world almost as if it was a mission she'd been given, but there had been something much larger behind it.

"That said..." While I was still thinking, SIESTA went on. "Last year, when Mistress Siesta died, the seat of ace detective became vacant. Since then, no one has been in charge of subjugating SPES."

"What are the other Tuners doing? They could take over for her."

"It's not like SPES is the only global crisis," Charlie said. "The other eleven Tuners have jobs of their own to do."

"I see. So SPES isn't the world's only enemy..."

Then even as we spoke, some other threat was heading for the planet...and someone else was fighting it?

"Returning to the subject at hand...," SIESTA said, looking at Natsunagi. "If nothing changes, it's likely that you will be named as the next ace detective."

"...! I...will?"

Natsunagi hadn't been expecting that, and her eyes widened. New novel chapters are published on

"Nothing's settled yet, of course. However, you do have the former ace detective's heart, and you've taken up her will. You can also take full advantage of powers ordinary humans don't have. Many will feel you have what it takes to fill the position."

I see. So Natsunagi hadn't just inherited Siesta's heart and her will. They thought she had the capacity to make the most of her power as well. But...

"Siesta won't speak through Natsunagi anymore."

During that battle with Chameleon on the ship, Siesta had borrowed Natsunagi's body to appear to me—and then she'd vanished. It hadn't been a miracle or a deus ex machina development. She'd loved teasing me, and she'd shown me a transient daydream.

"Yes, I'm aware of that. And so"—SIESTA turned back to Natsunagi—"in Mistress Siesta's place, let me ask you, one more time: Nagisa, do you really intend to inherit the ace detective's will?" She was testing Natsunagi's resolve.

"I..." Natsunagi's voice was trembling.

"What if...," I cut in. I didn't have a plan or anything. It just seemed too mean to ask Natsunagi to make a decision like this right now. "Let's say that, someday, Natsunagi takes over as ace detective. What would she have to do first?"

It didn't have to be right now. I was simply asking about a hypothetical future.

"Let's see...," SIESTA said. She sipped what was left of the tea in her cup, and her eyes scanned the four of us.

"In that case, I would like you to find the mistake that was hidden in the past I showed you."

Occupation: student, occasional assistant

The day after that, I was at school, sitting in class.

I'd completely forgotten that summer break classes were a thing.

This may seem like it's coming out of nowhere, but I'm a regular student before I'm a detective's assistant, at least as far as society is concerned. The other day, I'd sauntered off on a cruise and gotten kidnapped et cetera on what was supposed to be my break, but...apparently students in their last year of high school don't even truly get respite during summer vacation.

"It's still only been fifteen minutes?" A glance at the clock on the wall plunged me into despair. This class had begun in the morning as a "summer extracurricular," and it had been dragging so slowly that I suspected it might last forever. There was still more than half an hour left before lunch.

"Guess I'll just sleep."

Sleeping is a student's duty. I've heard that sleeping children grow well. Perfect, I was just thinking I'd like to be three centimeters taller. Come to think of it, Siesta slept a lot too. Is that why she grew so well in all those intriguing places?

"...Huh?"

Yikes, was that a shitty thing to think?

I was tired. That had to be it. After all, way too much had happened yesterday.

My seat was at the very back of the room, on the hall side. I slumped over my desk, shut my eyes, and got the inside of my head in order.

Yesterday, SIESTA had told us that the world was protected by twelve Tuners, and that Natsunagi was about to be appointed to one of those positions: ace detective.

If Natsunagi took that role, the first thing SIESTA said she'd have to do was find the mistake. Then she'd filled us in on the details. According to her, there had been a certain error in the footage we'd been shown from last year. If Natsunagi wasn't sure whether to become the ace detective, she could work on finding that mistake first, and decide later. That was the last thing she'd said before she released us.

In other words, what I—or Natsunagi—needed to do now was find some sort of error hidden in the revelations about last year.

"We don't have any clues, though," I muttered, quietly enough that nobody would hear.

...The next thing I knew, the room had gotten kind of noisy. Class had

ended while I wasn't paying attention, and it was finally lunch. I just had to get through two more periods in the afternoon, and then today's extracurriculars would be over. Figuring I'd go grab a convenience store bento the way I always did, I raised my head, and that's when it happened.

"Oh."

I made eye contact with a girl in the corridor—Nagisa Natsunagi. She was probably headed to the cafeteria with some friends; she was with three or four other girls who all looked sort of trendy.

Perfect timing. We needed to discuss our plan of action. I stood up, meaning to set up a time to meet after school, but—

"Still, we fought so much that one time we made up this rule." "So you wouldn't fight?"

"Yeah. The day after we fought, we had to go to an amusement park together."

"Wh-what's the point...?"

"You know: Going to an amusement park together when your relationship's awkward is pretty hellish."

"Ohhh, and since you didn't want that, you figured you'd learn to get by without fighting... And? Did it work?"

"Yeah. Thanks to that, we got into the habit of riding the teacups once every three days."

"Thanks for that nonsensical joke. Extremely funny." Natsunagi raised both hands in an exaggerated shrug of boredom, palms up. These American- style jokes are fun. "And actually..." This time, she seemed to be testing me somehow. "You always seem to enjoy talking about Siesta, Kimizuka."

That remark sounded rather pointed.

"...Nah. I don't want to talk about her. At this point, I have absolutely no interest in her."

"Uh, seriously, it's way too late for anyone to believe that now." Natsunagi waved a hand dismissively, straight-faced. She's got to be kidding. That can't be right.

"Still."

Natsunagi looked away.

"As long as you had Siesta, you didn't need anything else, did you?"

She finally brought up the subject we'd both been unconsciously avoiding.

Her profile looked a little lonely.

"Don't worry about it." I spoke carelessly, hoping to keep Natsunagi from saying what she was about to say next. "Before I met her, I was alone anyway."

That meant it wasn't Natsunagi's fault. Nobody thought she'd taken everything. More importantly, I wouldn't let anybody say a thing like that.

"You're nice, Kimizuka." Natsunagi's voice sounded muffled. Before I knew it, she'd buried her face in her knees. "It's no good, though. Even when I'm talking to my friends, or you're trying to encourage me, I just can't get that sight out of my head. Of me, taking Siesta's heart—"

She broke off.

The roof was deserted except for us. The only sound was the whisper of the night wind.

Natsunagi's hands had taken Siesta's life.

That was an incontrovertible fact. Even if it had been her other personality that had done it... Even if it had been what Siesta herself had wanted, that wouldn't ease her feelings of guilt. That was what she thought, at least.

"Besides, it wasn't just Siesta. Those other people in London were completely innocent, and I—"

That was another heavy curse that would bind her guilt to her permanently. No matter who tried to encourage her or what they said, she would never forgive herself.

Under the circumstances, there was only one thing I could do. "Grumpy gills."

I ran my index finger down Natsunagi's sailor-suited back.

"Yeek!" Natsunagi gave a cute little shriek that I had never heard from her before, then hastily clapped a hand over her mouth. "Wha, what, wha-wha- wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha!" Her face went so red I could tell even in the darkness. She glared at me, her lips trembling.

"Haaah. Listen, Natsunagi." "I'm not done being mad yet!"

"Huh? Wasn't this one of your fetishes?" "D-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-double-kill!" "There we go. That sounds like you."

"Don't use people's catchphrases to gauge how they're feeling!" Natsunagi pummeled my side. She really was feeling better.

"A long time ago..." As I spoke, I was thinking about those memories from last year. "Ages back, when I lost all hope and just curled up in a corner...Siesta encouraged me."

"You mean..." Natsunagi stopped hitting me.

Yeah, you know about it too. It was back when Chameleon had taken Alicia

—in other words, Natsunagi—to SPES's hideout. I'd completely given up, but Siesta had thumped me on the back and shown me what I needed to do again.

"So I'll thump you on the back or hold your hand whenever you need it, too."

"...Except what you did was run a finger down my back."

...Well, it's basically the same thing. Pretty much.

"For now, you can be discouraged as long as you want." I moved away from the fence, then lay down on my back, right there on the roof. All I could see was the starry sky. "You can order a bunch of takeout and stress eat, or watch sad movies and cry all your tears out at once. You can curse how unfair the world always is and scream a string of obscenities, or if you're the type who blows off stress with karaoke, I'll keep you company till the sun comes up. If none of that is enough to make you stop feeling guilty, then at least let me take half of it. It's not like you're the only one to blame here. I couldn't save Siesta either. So at least...let me carry some of that pain for you."

"Kimizuka..."

Natsunagi looked down at me, almost dazed.

...Hm. Had I made myself look too cool? In that case...

"Well, you know. If I say this, it feels like I'm going to kinda screw myself here, but..." I hesitated, then finally made up my mind and told her. "I'm used to being abused by girls."

That meant carrying Natsunagi's pain for her was nothing. "...Pfft!"

She burst out laughing.

"Ha-ha! Aaah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" "—It wasn't that funny!"

"Seriously, what?! Why did you start confessing your fetishes all of a sudden?"

"...! Look, I was trying! To cheer you up! All right?!"

Rgh, why did it turn out like this? Not fair...

"So you cheered me up by confessing that you're a masochist... Wow, that's not good. You're in even worse shape than I thought, Kimizuka."

"Wha...! Quit! No more laughing! And you're no different!"

"Noooo, I don't think that word means quite the same thing for you as it does for me."

"—! Haaah, I shouldn't have said it... No, okay, that was a lie. I was just going for a laugh, to cheer you up; that's not actually a thing for me..." I sat up, stumbling through a denial, but then—

"I swear, that's so stupid."

With a thump, Natsunagi buried her face in my chest. "Really, really stupid."

She laughed as she said it...and the next thing I knew, she was crying.

She bit her lip, careful not to let any sobs escape, but my shirt was damp with tears.

"Which of us is?"

I knew even as I said it, though.

Whether she was mad, or happy, or laughing, or crying, she always did it with all her might. That was Nagisa Natsunagi's true essence. Her passion.

"You toughed it out really well." Gazing at the distant stars, I stroked her head.

Natsunagi had the red ribbon Siesta had left to her in her hair. "...—, ...—!"

On the roof that night, a torrent of passionate rain fell. Even so, the stars were infuriatingly pretty.