Tantei wa Mou, Shindeiru - Volume 5 - Chapter 10

Till one day we all come home. 

I ran up the stairs and finally reached the door leading to the roof. I shot the lock, kicked the door open, and stepped out. 

"Here too…!" 

The roof was covered with thick branches and leaves, and a canopy of large trees was protruding from the top. I waded through them, heading towards the edge of the rooftop. 

"Saikawa!" 

I looked down a few meters, and saw the giant?fruit?clinging to the wall of the building. From afar, it looked like a distorted half-sphere, but when I looked at it from above, it resembled the cross section of a pomegranate, with Saikawa and the others sleeping inside, surrounded by its spherical reddish-black flesh. 

I made up my mind to jump down toward the?fruit?, which seemed capable of withstanding another human’s weight. Then I managed to land safely. 

"If we cut off this stem…" 

The bodies of the civilians and Saikawa were intertwined with thick stalks of plants that appeared to be transporting nutrients through the stem. I cut them off one by one with the knife Fuubi-san gave me. However, while I was doing so, by trial and error— 

"Give me a break!" 

I suddenly realized that a?feeler?had broken through the wall of the building and was aiming at me. 

Some trunks seemed to have sprouted from the tree that had grown through the building and seemed to act like a defense system meant to deter alien objects. 

"!" 

The?feelers?multiplied into three. I hurriedly fired back one or two shots with my gun…and ran out of bullets. At this rate, I wouldn’t be able to evade the third?feeler?. It’s really a bad situation, or so I thought until I noticed the incoming call. 

"—Thanks for the save, Charlotte." 

A moment later, the third bullet ripped through the wind and knocked out the?feeler?. 

"As expected of you, I guess. You’re at least 500 meters away." 

I deduced where she most likely was from the trajectory of the bullet, and spoke through the wireless earphone while staring at the building in the distance. 

"It’s nothing, really.” 

A few seconds later, the expected person responded. 

"A good sniper can eliminate an enemy from 2,000 meters away." 

This self-deprecating tone was typical of an agent who’s raised by the world's most demanding boss. 

"Charl, you alright? I heard from Fuubi-san…" 

It was three days ago that I heard Charl was in a coma. Fuubi-san was supposed to contact me if her condition had changed though. 

"You think that person’s going to take care of me for three days?” 

…Well that’s very convincing. 

"I can only do this because I'm still not okay yet." 

It’s a self-deprecating voice stating that she’s still unable to move well. 

"Well you sure helped me out here. How did you get to that building from the hospital though?" 

"That girl helped me get here." 

Charl’s probably referring to?Siesta?…Noches. If that's the case, Noches must have told her about the current situation of Natsunagi and Siesta. 

"I see. You should go somewhere safe and rest…" 

"Kimizuka." 

I was about to hang up. 

"Save our friends, please." 

It sounds like a run-of-the-mill line of dialogue and would have sounded more natural if we’re working as a platoon or a team. These words coming from Charlotte Arisaka Anderson seemed so much more important, however. 

"Yeah, I know." 

That's why I summarized all the years of my thoughts into one word, and ended the call. 

"Saikawa, it's time for you to get up.” 

Then I finally cut off the stalk-like connection between Saikawa and the?fruit?and shook her awake. 

"…Kimizuka, san?" 

Saikawa woke up in a daze. 

The ocean-blue eye peeped out of her left eye socket which was not covered by an eye patch. 

"Yeah, Kimihiko of Kimizuka-san's family. 

I said, holding Saikawa in my arms like a princess. 

"You've come to save me?" 

"I'm being helped, too." 

I was saved by Fuubi-san, Siesta, and Charl just now. Apparently, I wasn’t strong enough to protect what's important to me alone. I was just making do with whatever I could get. 

"…You're still the same, Kimizuka-san." 

Saikawa gave a dumbfounded wry smile. 

"That's okay. You don't have to make a punchline every time." 

"You don’t mind if I’m a little more wilful? Once in a while." 

We hadn't seen each other for a few days, and we bantered away but the rest of our conversation would have to hold until we got out of here…once everything’s over. I held Saikawa in my arms and got ready to leap to the ground. 

"Yes, but you don't have to act cool like that." 

And Saikawa clung to me, 

"You've always been cool, Kimizuka-san." 

She muttered something softly, and it vanished with the sound of the wind.