The adventure that started again after a year.
"Calmed down a little?"
I heard Siesta's voice from beyond the bathroom.
"…Yeah."
I, inside the bathtub, sighed as I answered her.
—After that, Siesta advised me that healthy thoughts could only come from a healthy body, and so I was forced to take a bath. But thanks to this, the stiffness that stifled me physically and mentally was lifted, and the fog that had hung over my head began to clear a little.
"You should shave while you're at it."
"Yeah."
"Can you wash your back by yourself?"
"Yeah."
"Don't pee in the tub."
"…Am I a kid?"
I let out a chuckle.
How old does she think I am?
"Well, I don't know how old you are after all."
Siesta sat down, and I could see her back through the polished glass door of the bathroom.
"Boys look completely different if you don't see them in three days, right?"
That's what you told me, so Siesta said, and I remembered.
"Yeah, that's right."
In our case, it wasn't three days, it was a year.
—On this day, for the first time in over a year, Siesta and I were truly reunited.
"But I didn't think you'd still be living in the same apartment as four years ago."
I could hear a little giggle from Siesta, who was in the changing room.
On this day, she used the master key of her?seven tools?to intrude into my house, just as she had in the past.
"…That's my line."
On that dawn, I swore after the battle against Fuubi-san that I would get Siesta back one day.
Of course, I knew it wouldn't be easily fulfilled. That's why I was prepared to bet everything I had. But now, that wish was really—
"You're not?Siesta?, are you?"
The maid appeared in my mind, and I couldn't help but ask.
I couldn't tell the difference between them just by looking at her.
"Are you a fool?"
That nostalgic line darted sharply from the changing room.
"After all this talking, you're still not sure?"
"…Yeah, I guess so."
There's only one person in the world who could chastise me with those words—Siesta, that's you.
So my wish was granted.
However, there's one reason why I couldn't truly be happy.
For this, an irrevocable price was paid in exchange.
"But it looks like you were able to make contact with that girl."
Siesta's voice interrupted me just as my vision was about to be obscured again. Judging from the flow of the conversation earlier, the girl Siesta was referring to must be the maid?Siesta?.
"Yeah. I think I've gotten through all the challenges you gave me."
Siesta, through the maid, gave us challenges and led us to solve our own problems. The only thing that Siesta miscalculated was that we chose a different future from the one she had envisioned.
"Where is the maid?Siesta?, now?"
I asked Siesta, her master. Days ago, when I met?Siesta?at the former hideout of SPES, she seemed to be alive inside a mechanical terminal.
"She's playing a different role now. And I came here after she passed the master key to me."
I remembered that I had returned the key to that laboratory. Did that maid foresee this right from the beginning? Did she know that Siesta would wake up like this?
"Siesta, you—"
—How did you wake up?
I swallowed the question that was about to come out of my mouth.
I didn't need to ask, I knew.
And Siesta herself probably knew that too. That's why she's here.
"So what I have to do now is to save our friends. To do that, I must defeat SEED as soon as possible."
Then Siesta said what she had been wishing for, for the last four…no, six years now.
Before she met me, Siesta encountered SEED on that island. It defeated her there, took away all her memories of the facility, the organization, and her friends. Even so, she never forgot her mission, and spent three years with me, fighting SPES, all to pursue SEED.
At the conclusion of that story, Siesta lost her life, but she succeeded in implanting her heart and consciousness into the body of her enemy, Hel…or Natsunagi. That's why Siesta was able to share her memories with Hel and regain the memories she had once lost.
"I forgot something important."
Behind that thin door, Siesta quietly noted.
"Six years ago, I met Nagisa, and I lost Alicia right before my eyes. I couldn't let that past go."
Her voice sank. But I knew better than anyone else that this was not the end of the story for the girl named Siesta.
"I won't forget anymore. I won't let it be taken from me. I won't be lost. I won't lose. So, you,"
Siesta's feverish voice shot through the bathroom door.
"Just one more time, I want you to be my assistant."
Behind the polished frosted glass, a familiar silhouette emerges.
Four years ago, we had this conversation here.
I did remember turning her down back then. And when I thought of it, I flushed my cheeks with hot water for the last time before answering.
"—Yeah. Please let me be your assistant again."
It's time to get out of the lukewarm water.
"So please, Siesta, help me figure out a way to save Saikawa."
A few days ago, Saikawa, the potential vessel of the?Primordial Seed?, was abducted and taken somewhere by SEED. But if the goal was to turn her into a vessel, SEED wouldn't kill her.
"Yes, SEED has always wanted a perfect vessel. But Yui Saikawa is neither Hel nor me, and there is a high possibility that some preparation is required to turn her into a vessel. I'm sure there's still room for us to help."
"I see, then…"
"Don't worry, I'll definitely save Yui as well."
Siesta assured firmly…but,
"Saikawa, as well?"
Something was amiss with what Siesta said. It seemed as if there were other people to help besides Saikawa… Wait, was she talking about Charlotte? But she's in intensive care right now, and unfortunately, there's nothing we could do about it.
"…Wait."
My heart jumped noisily, and I shook my head, thinking it couldn't be true, but if it's really possible, I would try to cling onto that single ray of hope. After a moment of silence that lasted for what seemed like an eternity, Siesta said the following words.
"I will not give up on Nagisa Natsunagi."
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