Tantei wa Mou, Shindeiru - Volume 5 - Chapter 15

The story of the happy swallow. 

I was in a deep, deep, light. 

There was a light so blinding that it pierced my eyelids even when I turned my face away, even when I closed my eyes. 

In the past, I was born as an alter ego of a girl, an existence so vague that it could vanish at any moment. That girl—Master, had been physically weak since childhood, and as a way to escape the pain of her treatment, she created me inside herself. 

I was confined to the world alone, my knees tucked in as I shared half of Master's pain. But what I could not stand more than anything else was the ‘light’ that my master created. 

It was a smile as dazzling as the summer sun. She was able to smile like that because I shared half of her pain, and I hated, really hated Master who got to chat happily with her friends without knowing that. 

—But then one day, the time came when we swapped roles. 

‘Your name is Hel, code name Hel.’ 

And so the first voice I heard after I awoke in this world was from the?Primordial Seed?. 

My name is Hel. 

Code name—Hel. 

It called me by name, and I was recognized as somebody. I felt as if darkness had appeared in the light. But for me, the coldness of that darkness was more comforting than anything else. 

"You have a mission. To protect your people, destroy the world.’ 

SEED said that, and handed me a book. 

"Is destroying the world what I am supposed to do?’ 

"Destroying the world is what we do.’ 

And while I tilted my head, SEED…Father, told me so, 

‘Your one task is to survive, no matter what.’ 

Looking back on it now, it may have been just the first words of a tentative plan to realize Father's plan. It was just a convenient way to use me as a vessel one day. 

But at that moment, a certain feeling overwhelmed me. It was a bond that gave me the will to continue living in this world. So I began to destroy the world, following a book that would later turn out to be a prophecy called the?Bible?. 

“I know this is not justice.” 

I told myself, and still wielded the red treasure sword that Father entrusted me with. 

This is good, so I thought. In that dazzling light, I clung to the stain of a single black drop—hoping that by doing so, this existence would be recognized by the world, by Father. If my mission was to be an enemy of the world, then I would live only for that purpose. 

The only thing I miscalculated was that I had somehow come to cherish that light that I should have hated above all else…and I cherished Master, whom I should have hated. Having realized this hesitation and weakness created the current battlefield, I could not help but give a bitter smile. 

"—No, when did it happen?" 

Since the beginning, my relationship with Nagisa was that we were two sides of the same coin, a mirror reflection. 

Jealousy was the opposite of love. 

"I am still alive." 

The golden eyes of the?Uroboros?look down at me from afar as I fall to my knees. 

That's the embodiment of Father's survival instinct. If that was the case, would my words from the outside world…not reach Father unless I drop that head? 

"You still stand? Do you still want to give me some blood?" 

The snake coiled in midair, its red tongue flickering in the air. Surely it was aiming to absorb my blood, which contains Father's DNA, to gain more power. 

"I do not want you to get the wrong idea." 

I stabbed my saber into the ground and got up, using it as a support. 

I did not know why I could still stand, why I could get up. Apparently, the snake did not know either. Well, it is to be expected if it is just instinct with no memory or emotion. 

But she did say it. 

"I was ordered by Father to survive." 

My apologies, but that was the promise. 

I held up the red sword that Father gave me and ran toward the enemy that reigned beneath the great tree. 

"Do not worry, Father, you do not have to do this anymore. Your initial instinct for survival has been fulfilled." 

I sliced through the thorns attacking from the surface with the sword as I ran towards Father, who stood there unconscious. 

Already, the armor covering the?Primordial Seed?was almost completely shattered, and cracks had appeared on his body. Its eyes were blind, and I could not tell if its remaining ear could hear. I called out to the person who has lost all consciousness and emotions, that seemed to be waiting to wither away. 

"What you wanted to leave behind is certainly alive on this planet! The sapphire eye, the ruby sword, the lead heart –they are all on this world!" 

The?Androids?were not the only things Father left behind on this planet. 

There was a sapphire eye that could look into the hearts of men. 

There was a ruby sword that glowed with flames of passion. 

There was a heart of lead that would not break even in death. 

All of them were supposed to be the things Father wanted to protect. 

"—The ears to hear those words are lost." 

At that moment,?Uroboros?swung its tail towards me, ripping through the wind. 

The snake smirked at me, but then its golden eyes widened in surprise. 

The attack that aimed at my heart stopped just before it reached my left chest. 

I did not need to explain why the attacking blade stopped right before me, or exactly who stopped the attack. 

"The survival instinct you insist on exists on this planet as love that protects your children! That alone shall never die!" 

That must be the essence of the?Primordial Seed?'s initial survival instinct. 

It was the name of an emotion that Father himself had lost long ago. 

"…! Such unnecessary, imitation …!" 

The?Uroboros?glared at its host for a moment, and then, when I was only a few meters away, it intercepted me with its massive fangs. As a result, my body was thrown far backwards, as the blade of my saber met the enemy's fangs. 

"…I guess I was a little too reckless." 

I tried to stand up from the abandoned concrete ground, but I could not gather strength in my body, and I fell to my knees. Not much time has passed since Alicia's heart took root in my body. In the first place, this body should have died days ago, and it would normally be a miracle just to be able to stand up like this now. 

"—Ha, ha ha." 

The snake laughed again, as if it is consuming the few remaining emotions it has sucked out of Father. 

"Those who rebel against the rules of life have no right to live again, nor do they deserve to go against their own survival instincts." 

And with that,?Uroboros?roared loudly and attacked me with its poisonous fangs, flinging my body far. 

"Sorry for being late, Hel. I was sleeping." 

This time though, the Assistant boy of the famous detective spoke. 

"As to be expected of my partner, here to help me." 

I dared to laugh at that bold-faced lie, and got up with his help. 

Then I hear a gunshot. The famous detective too seemed to have woken up from her nap, and she stood with her long gun pointed at the?Uroboros?. 

"Goodness, you lot are not hurt, are you?" 

I sighed as I looked at the boy bleeding from his forehead and abdomen. 

"Yeah. I couldn't keep that promise." 

Saying that, he bit his lip. 

—Promise. That must have been the vow he made days ago, when he carried Nagisa Natsunagi on his back in that experimental facility. I won't forgive you if you make Master cry...go die twice over. 

Was that why he was trying to protect Master through me as a proxy? If so, 

"That promise will be valid for a long, long time. So please continue to stay by Master’s side." 

I told him, grasping the red sword in my right hand again, and turned my eyes to the enemy. 

"—Are you going?" 

The boy, perhaps sensing what I was about to do, held me back for a moment with these words. 

"Yes. So you should go to your partner. You're going to need some help." 

"…Yeah, but you're…" 

To my surprise, his eyes were watering. 

Could it be that he felt pity for me, his enemy? If so, this does put a smile on my face, but it was no laughing matter. I hoped his indecision wouldn’t be a hindrance to him in the future…but his partner should be able to educate him about that. With that in mind, I turned towards the?Primordial Seed?once again, only to look back at the boy once more. 

"I’m glad I was born." 

When I said that, his eyes widened for a moment in seemingly surprise, and then he smiled softly. 

I wondered why I wanted to tell him this now. 

And strangely, my mind was not calm. 

"Take care of Master, Kimihiko Kimizuka." 

I called out his name one last time and ran with the wind. 

In the midst of this, my eyes met the blue eyes of a girl with swaying white hair, holding a gun. 

It had been a year since that certain day. 

I asked the two enemies standing in front of me why they trusted each other so much. But at that time, I could not understand their relationship until the end, and I was sealed in the body of my Master. But now I understand…that was what they said. 

"That was a bond." 

I thought to myself as I used the red treasure sword to unconsciously cut off the tail of the?Uroboros?that loomed before me. Finally, I exchanged one last silent glance with the famous detective and kicked the ground hard. 

"This is fine for me, and for her.” 

I chuckled to myself, thinking this might be another form of bond—and that I might be summing up the story a little too nicely. 

At the very least though, I was able to establish a bond with my master…Nagisa Natsunagi in the end. It was to share that with Father, and that was the last mission I had to fulfill. 

"My feet shall not stop." 

Finally, I use the power of?word spirit?to command myself to do so. 

Then the sword in my hand glowed red as if it were burning in response. 

I put the remaining power of the?seed?in my body and my own consciousness into this red sword, and destroyed the?Primordial seed?itself. Surely then?Uroboros?would die out. My feet could not be stopped as I ran forth towards?Uroboros?. 

I was at the foot of the fashion building that the giant tree had pierced. The tree had grown larger, almost completely engulfing the fifty-meter-long building. 

"I take full responsibility for all my sins.” 

The wounds I inflicted on this world could never be undone. 

I ran on the battlefield carrying the weight of all my sins, all the blood I had spilled, all the lives I had taken. 

The power of the?seed?and my consciousness ran through every cell in my body. They were eventually concentrated in my palm and transmitted to the ruby-colored sword. 

"I believe this is love." 

And then. 

"Hel…!" 

With Kimihiko Kimizuka's calling out behind me, my red sword pierced the?Primordial Seed?in the abdomen. 

"Aahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" 

I did not know what this feeling was. 

It was neither anger nor sadness. 

It just could not help but scream. 

I imbued the power that seemed to shatter every bone in my body into the sword I held in both hands, and thrusted SEED into the towering tree before me. 

"—Ha!" 

A small groan escaped from Father's mouth, who seemed to have recovered when it looked up. 

At the same time, he heard the monster's dying voice behind him. 

The last enemy was rotting away at this moment. 

"—Hel?" 

Suddenly, I thought I heard a familiar voice. 

That voice from six years ago, when I was given the name. 

"Yes, codename Hel is here." 

So I responded the same way I did that day, and gave a different answer. 

"Father, let us go back. To the world where we belong." 

It looked up at me, and I wondered if it was my imagination. 

It seemed to be smiling a little, just a little. 

"—Yes, I am a little tired." 

Those were the last words I heard from Father, as if it were a normal human being. 

Slowly, slowly, I closed my eyelids as I fell into his chest.