Tantei wa Mou, Shindeiru - Volume 3 - Chapter 2.1

5 years ago, Charlotte 

"…U-uu" 

I was at a certain abandoned warehouse. 

I leaned my back against the wall and cried. 

"I’ll be killed…" 

What would the failure of a mission mean to an agent? I couldn’t kill my target, and my life was hanging by a thread. 

"Why, why did it end up like this…" 

Everything, everything? 

"Come on, pull yourself together and stop crying." 

It was all the fault of the white-haired girl, the target next to me, who handed me a handkerchief. 

"! If only you weren’t here!" 

Yes, she's the one I was supposed to kill. 

Codename??Siesta. 

It was my first real battle since joining the organization, and I was so nervous, my heart was about to tear apart. 

Even then, I cornered her in this abandoned warehouse, and the bullet I fired hit the target, the left breast…but somehow she was unharmed. Before I knew it, she retaliated and pinned me. She then gave me a proposal, and this was the situation. 

"You can cry and get angry all you want, but your face is covered in tears. Use this to clean off your snot." 

…She completely ignored other people’s feelings. I was miffed, grabbed the white handkerchief she handed me, and sniveled hard without thinking. 

"It’s a humiliation to be pitied by the enemy…" 

"Fufu, well, you match up against the wrong enemy this time." 

The enemy said so, stood next to me, and smiled elegantly…that girl really infuriated me. 

"…Fine. You can cook or boil me however you like." 

I failed my mission, and I was fated to be eliminated by the organization. In that case, it’s better for me to die by her…. 

"…I don’t wanna." 

I'm still twelve years old. I have a lot of unfinished business. I want to dress up, I want to eat good food. In this line of job, there are times when I need to prepare myself for this, but I still don’t want to die. 

"That's why I said to you.." 

But the white-haired girl said, cupping her knees together, 

"I'll pretend to be dead. That way, you won't be killed by the organization.” 

She repeated the suggestion she made. 

"…But what good does it do for you?" 

It’s humiliating to receive aid from the enemy…but my life might be saved if I went with her suggestion. I felt lost while feeling conflicted. 

"Why do you do such a job?" 

The enemy girl unexpectedly asked. 

"…My parents’ influence." 

I didn’t know how to answer the question, so I just went with the flow of the conversation. 

"My parents had always been soldiers, and also spies. We hardly had time to meet each other…but I always respected them. Their appearances and names couldn’t be shown openly, and people do despise them when they do some amoral stuff. But they’re still protecting the world in this darkness, so I’m so proud of my parents…and also this job.." 

That's what I really believed, and also the reason why I live. 

I would protect this world through my own philosophy. 

"I see. Just like me." 

The target girl looked forward, saying that. 

Come to think of it, I don't know her that well. A lot of spies and assassins investigate their targets. No, they all do. I didn’t do that this time though. I felt that if I was emotionally involved, I’d hesitate when I had to squeeze the trigger. 

"I’m doing this for a certain reason. I can’t be killed by you yet." 

"…I see." 

"But if you’re the same too, you can’t die here." 

"…So you’ll help me?" 

She’s being too good a person. 

She actually reached out a helping hand to someone who tried to kill her. 

"Yes. And after this, I hope you’ll help me." 

"Eh?" 

"This is the condition. I’ll save your life, and as repayment, I hope you’ll occasionally assist me in what I will do.” 

How about it?  She smiled, and stared at my face . 

"…That’s unfair." 

I knew instinctively that she didn’t really need my help. She only gave this condition so that I could accept her goodwill easily. 

In the end, I was utterly defeated. 

"…!" 

And once I thought so, the tears I had been holding back started to well up. 

"Goodness, I don’t have a choice." 

She seemed to have enough, 

"I’ll give you advice so that you won’t make the same mistake again." 

The girl reached inside her own clothes and pulled something out. 

"It’s pretty …" 

It’s a pendant with a blue gemstone. 

The speckless surface reflected the warehouse light shining on it. 

"This is a stone that won’t shatter even when hit with a cannon. Actually, I stuffed this into my left chest…beneath the undergarments." 

I so happen to know someone who’s very proficient at making this,  she flatly stated . 

"I heard that you have good gun skills, so I felt you would hit my left chest without mistake." 

"So you already knew…" 

I was already beyond the point of surprise and said so dumbfounded. And then, she, 

"A first-rate detective will solve an incident before it happens." 

She said, and smiled in a manner that would captivate anyone as she looked at me. 

"…I lost to you." 

That was the moment when I respected her as my master. I would do anything for her?so, 

"What should I start off with???Ma'am." 

Ever since that day, 

Her wish would become my wish.