Tantei wa Mou, Shindeiru - Volume 5 - Chapter 12

The three warriors. 

Betelgeuse let out a cry of pain and reeled back. It was the pain caused by a large wound in its right paw—Hel's cleaving red blade had shattered the monster's scales. 

"This sword is specialized to cut the cells replicated by the?Primordial Seed?." 

On the scorched battlefield, she turned and said, lowering the tip of her saber. 

She has fiery crimson eyes beneath her long glossy hair. She’s dressed in a black and red cloak-like military uniform, just as she did when I met her a year ago. 

"Come to think of it, that sword was used to kill Cerberus back then…" 

I recalled back to the night I first encountered Hel a year ago. Back then, the saber wielded by Hel decapitated the?Android Cerberus?with a single blow. 

"And my own heart too, you know." 

That night, Hel's brainwashing ability was used against her by Siesta, losing her heart to her own blade. 

"It was originally entrusted to me by Father to prevent a rebellion among my people." 

Hel narrowed her eyes at SEED, standing beneath the giant monster which stood slumped and unconscious with a hole in its stomach. 

"I never thought I'd be pointing this at the Father." 

There was a large cut on SEED's neck, beneath the shattered armor, that hadn't fully recovered. Who inflicted that wound…that was the first question she had to ask. 

Days ago, there was a fight in an abandoned building. While I was asleep, there was a girl who fought for her life. And now, the presence of this girl in uniform in front of me brought me more than just additional fighting strength—it brought me so much hope. 

"You're alive, Natsunagi." 

I muttered to myself, my voice trembling. No, it wasn’t just my voice. My legs were shaking to the point that they could buckle at any given moment, and then I involuntarily fell to one knee. 

Nagisa Natsunagi is alive. She’s alive. 

"It's too early to be relieved." 

But the girl in the military uniform approached me, sheathing her sword, 

"I am here, but not my master—Nagisa Natsunagi." 

Her red eyes narrowed as she calmly told me this reality. 

It is not that Nagisa Natsunagi was revived, so she said, 

"Also, while you can continue to think about Master, I wish for you to look at me now." 

Hel knelt down, put her fingertips on my chin, and we stared at each other at close range. 

"—Hel." 

A white-haired detective, who was standing nearby, watching the exchange, calls out to the girl in the military uniform. 

"Yo, it has been a long time, famous detective." 

Then Siesta and Hel, who had just stood up, glared at each other. 

A year ago, they were at each other’s throats, and here they were again. 

"Hel, why are you here?" 

Siesta wanted to know Hel’s intentions to help…no, there's more. She wanted to know what miracle revived Hel, and how, 

"I took orders from Father. Surely you will know what I mean." 

"….! That ringing in the ears…" 

I remember the low bell-like noise I heard at the Tower. Mia did not react at all, while Siesta and I were the only ones to experience that phenomenon. …. It must have been because we both had SEEDs sleeping in our bodies. It must be because the?seeds?were inside us. 

"This physical body of Master's is temporarily in a dormant state due to a fatal wound. It is a form of self-defense reaction as triggered by Father's?seed?." 

"Plant dormancy…I see…" 

The trivia from a book I read some time ago flashed in my mind. Hibernation is a defense system of organisms, including plants, to minimize their own energy consumption and maintain a minimal level of vital activity. For example, as is known from the hibernation of bears and moles, when an organism’s life is threatened by sudden changes in the environment, it tries to resist by sleeping for a certain period of time. 

And that dormancy system might have been implanted within Natsunagi through the?seed?, in the name of survival instincts. It’s likely that Natsunagi, who was fatally wounded by SEED's attack, probably unconsciously shut down most of the body functions, including her brain stem to preserve her life by minimizing energy consumption. 

"Speaking of which, Siesta too…" 

Looking back, a year ago, Siesta too survived an attack by Chameleon by stopping her own heartbeat and putting herself into a state of suspended animation. I wonder if that was also an application of the?nap?system. 

"And so, at Father's command, the seed sleeping in my body began to awaken again." 

Hel added while placing her hand on her chest. 

I too heard of the command of the?Primordial Seed?, and it resonated with the Seeds scattered around the world. Natsunagi (Hel) was no exception to this, and the Seed buried within her body had moved her body once again and driven her to this battlefield. 

—But, 

"But now, your heart," 

Siesta stared at Hel's left chest with a pained look. 

Yes. The?nap?had barely kept her alive, and the?seed?gave her incredible resilience; Natsunagi's (Hel) heart was still beating— 

"Before that let’s do something about this." 

Hel said as she looked forward. There was a monster trembling with rage, its survival instincts threatened by its dire injury. Betelgeuse drooled and let out a low growl, catching the three of us with his invisible eyes. 

"If you want to shoot those red bullets, you need to destroy those hard scales first…now then, what shall we do, famous detective?" 

Hel deliberately asked Siesta who was standing next to her. 

"I don't think you and I are going to get along after all." 

Siesta, on the other hand, didn’t give Hel a second glance and sighed hard. 

Nevertheless, 

"But please, Hel, I want you to open a path for me." 

Siesta requested her former enemy for help. 

Hel's eyes widened for a moment, as if she had been caught off guard…but she quickly reverted to her usual expression, 

"Hm, I guess it does feel good to be requested by you." 

The corners of her lips were raised in satisfaction. 

"…Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to play nice with you." 

Yep, the two of them hadn’t made peace, much less become friends. 

The enemy of the enemy is the friend—the white and black girl who clashed gun and sword faced the monster together. 

"So, what do you want me to do?" 

I ask, watching their big backs, thinking it's about time I joined the conversation. 

"Hmm? Well, of course, you can—" 

"Stay where you are so you don't get in the way." 

Come on, that's unreasonable. 

"—Gogyaaaaaaah!" 

At that moment, the roar of the numbed Betelgeuse bellowed. The monster, dragging its injured paw, rushed forward with its huge body, shaking the earth. 

"Goodness me, I thought I had trained it well." 

Hel sighed, put her hand on her saber, and in an instant, she was gone. Literally the next moment, she was slashing at the monster's other paw with her red blade. 

"…What happened to the talk about fighting together?" 

Siesta, who was left behind, let out a frustrated whimper. I hope you'll take this opportunity to understand how I feel. 

"If you're frustrated, why don't you follow me?" 

Hel turned around, looked at Siesta and smirked. 

"…. I think I'll defeat you first." 

Even so, Siesta bounced along and fired a bullet into Betelgeuse's missing scales. 

"With a body this big, one bullet won't do much good." 

"I don't need you to tell me that." 

The two of them bickered away as they continued to fight the monster. 

From an outsider's point of view, it's like two sisters fighting. However, having inherited the same DNA from the same parent through the seed, they might actually be sisters. 

"—Common DNA, huh?" 

I was suddenly reminded of something a year ago, when Siesta and Hel battled on that isolated island. At the end of it, Hel took Siesta's heart and adapted it to her body, but since that heart had been returned to Siesta's left chest by Natsunagi's plan. Whose heart then was in the left chest of Natsunagi (Hel)…and whose heart was throbbing away now? 

"—G-gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" 

The monster's high-pitched noise-like scream bellowed. It unleashed lots of?feelers?at Hel and Siesta, who continued to bicker as they inflicted irreparable damage on Betelgeuse. 

"So, Hel, how are you moving now?" 

Siesta took one look at Hel's left chest while pointing her musket at the enemy. The new heart should be buried there…and it seemed she wanted to know who the donor was. 

"I, or we, are borrowing her life now." 

"….Her?" 

Then, leaving a frowning Siesta behind, Hel dives into the enemy's bosom alone. 

"—So, it is what it is." 

And then I realized a possibility. Since they had the same clinical trials at?SPES?experimental facility, I realized that like Natsunagi, someone acquired SEED’s DNA….I realized who this ‘her’ was. 

"Now you should be a little more obedient." 

Hel finally subdued the monster with sword-fighting no normal human eye could follow, and returned next to me. As I looked at her left chest, I told her a hypothesis that came to mind. 

"Hel, that thing in your left chest is Alicia's heart, isn't it?" 

When I said that, Siesta widened her eyes before Hel did. 

Hel, on the other hand, blinked slowly for a moment, and opened her red eyes that were illuminated with a quiet flame. 

"Yes. We are now kept alive by her heartbeat." 

"…How?" 

Siesta's blue eyes flickered. 

"Why Alicia's heart? Six years ago, she…. " 

In the past, Alicia was supposedly dead after protecting Natsunagi and Siesta in the?SPES?experimental facility. Nevertheless, why’s Alicia's heart in Natsunagi's left chest now? 

"Because she was also one of the candidates for Father's vessel. That's why special measures were taken at that time." 

Hel then recounted the information from six years ago that she learned as a former executive of SPES. 

"That day, she couldn't accept Father's?seed?, and her body died. But as a potential vessel, her organs were a valuable sample—just as your body survived cryonics, her heart alone was left behind in a special environment." 

The explanation reminded me of the?SPES?experimental facility I had visited days ago. Siesta’s will wasn’t the only thing there, Alicia’s will too. 

"Alicia's heart has inherited SEED's DNA. That's why it's compatible with your body." 

Six years ago, at the experimental facility of?SPES?, Siesta, Natsunagi, and Alicia were subjected to drug experiments under the guise of clinical trials. The purpose was clear, to prevent their bodies from rejecting SEED when they would one day become its vessels. The cells of the?Primordial Seed?were implanted in their bodies as antibodies. 

"This is the case. However, this heart was from when she was twelve years old….and since it hasn't fully matured yet, we cannot push ourselves too hard with this body." 

Hel said so, having played an important role thus far. 

"So I cannot say I'm as strong as I used to be…" 

As Hel was about to say this, she suddenly widened her eyes in surprise. Siesta was crying in front of her. 

"I'm sorry, Alicia." 

A single tear fell from her blue eyes. 

"I couldn't save you six years ago." 

Siesta cried as she apologized to Hel's left chest. 

That was her past before she became the?famous detective?. That's the only regret she could no longer revisit. It was because of that day that Siesta embarked on her journey to fight the enemies of the world. 

"I was so weak back then. I couldn't protect you—but." 

Siesta said proudly, her tears still flowing. 

"Not anymore. I won't let anyone take what's important to me anymore. So I want you to fight with me again, you." 

And with that, the detective reached out her left hand to the friend in her distant memory. 

"My name is Hel, codename Hel, and as queen of the underworld, I shall grant you this." 

With that, Hel looked at Siesta in the eye and said. 

"Thank you for remembering me." 

It was the reply of Alicia's last wish. But now Hel informed Siesta of the voice that must have come from the heartbeat in the left chest. 

Immediately after that, the monster that had sunk to the ground bellowed again. As a last stand, dozens of?feelers?grew from its back and swung wildly. But those that were hit by the red bullets flailed aimlessly, unable to attack Siesta standing in front of us. 

"It looks like the story of six years is about to reach its climax." 

"Yeah, let's end it now, all of us." 

And so the black and white girls stood side by side, grasping their gun and sword. 

Was it just me? 

My eyes caught sight of another small back between them.