Tantei wa Mou, Shindeiru - Volume 5 - Chapter 24

Surely the buzzer will ring thrice. 

After that, we left the police station to discuss the?Phantom Thief?Arsene… But Siesta completely trampled on that idea. 

"Looks like we're seated here." 

Siesta and I sat down side by side in the theater. Somehow, we were now in a theater at Broadway, watching a musical. 

"We really don't have time for this, though." 

"You can't always find the answers you want in a hurry." 

Siesta said calmly, looking down at the brochure in her hand. 

I wonder if there's any significance to the fact that she made this decision. 

"Well, it's been a while. I think it's been two years." 

Siesta then mentioned a certain memory. We'd been to this theater before, at Siesta's invitation. 

"We didn't get to enjoy it properly that time because of the terrorist attack on the theatre though." 

"So this is a do-over…after all, we’ve always been getting into trouble." 

"Mostly because of you." 

And we bantered off before the show. 

Two years had passed since then. 

I'm sure we promised to make it up…but a year later, I realized that it was an unfulfilled promise. Another year has passed since then, I never thought it would come true like this. 

"So, what do you think? In the past year, have you grown into a mature man who is comfortable with musicals, other fashionable cultures, and places?" 

"Well, I'm eighteen myself. I don't get nervous in formal situations, and I'm pretty good at escorting women." 

I said, brushing off Siesta's probing question. 

"In the past year, I've been able to go shopping and out to dinner with girls, playing pool and going to casinos on vacation, even taking them out to bars." 

"…Yeah. It doesn't matter to me what kind of woman you've grown up with." 

It seemed I stepped onto a minefield, for Siesta's mood became blatantly bad. 

"It was a joke. To tell you the truth, it’s just Natsunagi, Saikawa, and Charl." 

After Siesta and I parted ways, I spent my days in lukewarm water until I met Natsunagi. 

"But I'm sure I gained a lot of experience." 

I said, Siesta looked at me and nodded. 

"Well, so be it. We’ll first wake up Natsunagi, and when things settle down, we'll meet again." 

We had this conversation while dreaming of such a future. 

"Do you want to go out somewhere together?" 

"—Yeah, sure." 

The buzzer rang, indicating the start of the performance. 

"It's nice to see a real musical." 

Three hours later, we left the theater, and while we walked back to the hotel, Siesta stretched herself. The crescent moon was high in the sky, far beyond her outstretched hand. 

"It was interesting to see how awkward you looked watching the two leads kiss so intensely." 

"Don't read into it for your own amusement. Don't look at me, look at the play." 

"Ah, you were right. I couldn't see your face in the dark." 

That was an unfair trap… 

Siesta raised the corners of her mouth slightly and walked three steps ahead of me. 

"But we’ve to go back to Japan soon, don't we?" 

"…Yeah, I'm worried about Natsunagi, too." 

We couldn't meet Scarlet in the end, and we didn’t have a clue to wake up Natsunagi. Siesta is right, we should go back to Japan tomorrow. 

"……" 

"Assistant?" 

I suddenly realized that Siesta was standing in front of me, peering into my face. 

"Have you been thinking about the?Phantom Thief??" 

…As expected, the famous detective had seen through me. The story Fuubi-san had told us continued to still haunt me. 

"Yeah, I was wondering how the guy who was supposed to be in jail managed to carry out terrorist attacks on people all over the world." 

As Fuubi-san and Siesta said, even if?Phantom Thief?Arsene really had the ability and skill to manipulate others, it would be difficult for him to display that power while in prison. 

"That's true. If he could control the prison guard who supervises the prison, he could have easily escaped from the prison at that point. I can't think of any reason why he would control a stranger from around the world in this way." 

Yes, Arsene's actual scheme to involve others seemed like a very roundabout way of doing things. If escaping from prison was the sole goal, there were more efficient ways to do so. There is a big discrepancy between what Arsene could do and the actual results, and that’s the greatest mystery of this case. 

"Siesta, is there anything else you know about the?Phantom Thief??" 

Until now, Siesta hadn't been willing to talk about such things with me. But now that I had learned of the?Tuners?and had gotten more involved in the otherworld, there was no reason for Siesta to withhold information to herself. 

"Arsene has always been a man of many secrets. I don't know much about him other than what he's capable of as a?Phantom Thief?. But what I do know for certain is that his skills are—" 

Siesta prefaced her statement with some information about the Phantom Thief that I still didn't know. 

"Those who had something stolen from them by Arsene will never be aware of the fact." 

Siesta told me that he was appointed as the?Phantom Thief?because of his unparalleled theft skills. 

Whenever a person had something stolen, he might know something was missing, but not realize what it was. The old me might not have been convinced that such a thing was possible, but the fact was that I had once forgotten the truth of Siesta's death through the?Pollen?. And Siesta, too, had been deprived of her memories of meeting Natsunagi and Alicia. 

These lost objects would disappear beyond the mosaic waves, their owners oblivious to their losses. Was this how Arsene, the?Phantom Thief?, stole away the will and even the heart of others, without them knowing? 

"But still..." 

Then Siesta, who had been silent, called out to me. 

"You're willing to try to solve this. You used to look so uncomfortable when I tried to bring in some work." 

Siesta stood a little taller and patted me on the head. 

"You’ve grown before I realized." 

Siesta gave a forlorn smile as she said this. 

"…Stop." 

I tried to shake her hand off, but my old regrets came back to haunt me, and I lowered my arm. 

Siesta’s right, this matter concerning the?Phantom Thief?wasn’t something that we necessarily had to solve. The fact that Fuubi-san went to the trouble of bringing it up though suggested that she expected something from the?famous detective?, but even so, Siesta wasn’t forced to take on the case. The reason why I'm getting involved in this matter myself is because— 

"I think I’m motivated because this case is special." 

"Special?" 

I nodded, and Siesta ruffled my head. 

…It's time to make her stop, or she'll give me a haircut I couldn’t show to anyone. 

"Yeah. Mia told me that the?Phantom Thief?once demanded from SEED a certain price as a condition for stealing the?Bible?. I was wondering if that price might be the?seed?, and if that’s the key to solving the mystery of this case." 

In other words, my idea was that this case was also an extension of the world crisis related to the?Primordial Seed?. If that's the case, then this case should be taken care of by the?Famous Detective?and her assistant. 

"—I see." 

Siesta then withdrew her hand from my head with a satisfied look. 

"Even so, don’t you think we should have done more before he broke out of jail?" 

Why was I in such a hurry? I had just complained to the other?Tuners?and their supposed superiors. 

"Besides, didn't Arsene get stripped of his position as the?Phantom Thief?? I suppose it wouldn't be surprising if such a measure was taken when he stole the?Bible?." 

"I don't know much about the past year or so, but the selection of the Tuners is ultimately up to the higher-ups, so the decision to keep Arsene alive in prison as the?Phantom Thief?may have had some meaning." 

Regardless of whether it’s the right thing to do, Siesta concluded. 

"But, yes." 

Instead, Siesta tapped me twice on the shoulder. 

"You're able to see things from more angles than before. Let's keep it up." 

"…That's the most annoying compliment I've heard in a long time." 

"That's why," 

Siesta looked at me with her blue eyes, 

"I want you to continue to support Nagisa Natsunagi." 

As she said this, she lowered her left hand from my shoulder. 

I was about to reply to her when she said, 

"Assistant, I think it's time to go." 

"Time…!?" 

We were in a dark alleyway, the sun had completely set. 

Out of the darkness, or as if melting out of the shadows of the lights, the white demon appeared. 

One of the twelve shields that protect the world—the?vampire?Scarlet. 

He turned his golden eyes next to me, as though he was watching his prey, and says, baring his blood-stained teeth. 

"It's been a while—Daydream."