Tantei wa Mou, Shindeiru - Volume 5 - Chapter 7

Plant city 20XX. 

"What is…this…?" 

A tad later, Siesta and I recovered from our mysterious ailment and rushed from the Tower to the scene. However, the sight before us made me stand still. 

We were on the streets under the setting sun, there were long, thick plant roots that could only be described as giant?feelers?, wrapping the buildings in the area. A large number of vines grew atop the elevated tracks and there appeared to be a passing train caught in them. People rushed for cover, traffic accidents everywhere, and smoke and flames were rising. 

"Assistant!" 

And at that moment, I felt a strong impact from my body. 

"…?" 

The next thing I knew, I was lying on the asphalt, and Siesta was on top of me. 

And right after, a pedestrian signal collapsed next to us. A mysterious plant wrapped itself around a pole. I should have thought of why there were so many traffic accidents around us. 

"What's going on here…?" 

I got up with Siesta's help and took another look around. The ground's ripped apart, plants wrapped themselves around buildings. Traffic lights and signs were wrecked, and there were many people who abandoned their vehicles. The city's overrun by plants …or rather, by the?Primordial Seed?. 

"Assistant, there." 

Siesta pointed urgently. A single?feeler?attacked a young man who had failed to escape and wrapped him up. The?feeler?then dragged the man away. 

"Siesta, go after him!" 

What's the enemy doing, abducting civilians? 

SEED definitely wasn't one who would attack humans directly, but… 

"We can't get there in time if we go at this usual pace, Assistant." 

Siesta pulled me by the hand and started running, eventually running up the outside stairs of a nearby building. From a high vantage point, she observed where the?feeler?was headed. 

"That's…." 

The tallest commercial building in the distance was pierced by a huge tree. Atop the building was a large, swollen, ripe fruit-like object. 

"Yui Saikawa is in there." 

Siesta pointed to the top of a building in the distance, peering through binoculars she had somehow obtained. 

"Inside that giant?fruit?is Yui Saikawa, along with several other civilians trapped." 

"Are they safe?" 

"They appear limp. Maybe they're unconscious." 

"…But now we know where to go." 

"Those trapped civilians are most probably…nutrients. It's absorbing them to groom the vessel Yui Saikawa." 

I see. Grooming the vessel…or repairing it, huh? 

Saikawa was injured in the battle a few days ago in a way that SEED could not have predicted. SEED must be desperately trying to restore the damaged body and make it sturdy. Maybe it's the final phase. 

"Siesta, let's hurry." 

We knew what the enemy's planning, and where our friend's at. In that case, there's no time for us to sit on the building stairs and watch from afar. 

"We need to hurry to Saikawa—" 

As soon as I said that, I felt my body float away. 

"Assistant!" 

Siesta shouted as she looked down at me, and I finally realized that I was falling. Before I knew it, plant vines had grown from the ground, destroying the stairs. 

"—!" 

I tumbled over, but there's no way I could survive falling ten meters down to the concrete, right? Even though I believed my body was a little stronger because I consumed the?seed?… 

"Hmm?" 

A few seconds later, my body crashed into something, but the impact wasn't as hard as I had expected. I opened my eyes incredulously…and right over there was… 

"Oy, shitty brat, you're never going to lift your head around me now." 

An annoying red-haired policewoman was holding me in her arms with a smug look on her face. 

"…How many hundreds of kilos of impact do you think this is?" 

I gave a wry smile in Fuubi-san's arms as I stared at her face up close. I weigh fewer than sixty kilograms. And considering the impact of falling from a height of ten meters…. 

"Don't underestimate a policeman. I can hold an African elephant in one hand." 

…That's scary. Let's not fight her again. 

"Assistant!" 

A tad later, Siesta landed on the asphalt with a thud. 

This one too is naturally inhuman. 

"Long time no see, famous detective." 

Fuubi-san grinned at the sight of Siesta, but she didn’t seem to be surprised by the latter’s presence. It seemed she already realized that Siesta had revived. 

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you after I died." 

Siesta then apologized to Fuubi-san in a way that only she could say after reviving. 

"Also, I want to thank you for protecting everyone, including Charl." 

And that's what she said too…though she’s giving Fuubi-san a cold stare for some reason. 

"Hmm? Yeah, right back at you." 

Fuubi-san lowered me from the princess’ carry in a scary manner. 

"So, what's the situation?" 

Siesta then asked Fuubi-san again about what's going on in the city. Since she called us all of a sudden, she probably had an idea of what’s going on. 

"Somehow, it just happened suddenly and without warning. A huge tree grew through a building in the middle of the city, and the ground cracked everywhere. Then the plants started attacking people." 

The police are panicking now, Fuubi-san sighed. 

"You think SEED is around here too?" 

I asked Fuubi-san. With all the commotion caused, it’d be hard to believe the enemy isn't at the scene. 

"I doubt it. I don't even know what the enemy looks like." 

"Is it possible that you are the SEED?" 

Siesta stated bluntly. I remember such an incident in London about a year ago, when SEED contacted us by taking on Fuubi-san. 

"Huh, did your deduction skills dull while you were dead?" 

But Fuubi-san laughed off Siesta's comment. 

"If I was really your enemy, I would have killed that shitty brat back then." 

Yeah, that's true too. It seems that she is the real Fuubi Kase. 

"But if that's the case, then what?" 

Siesta then looked at Fuubi-san incredulously. 

"The mission of defeating?SPES?was assigned only to the?famous detective (me)?. The?Assassin (you)?isn’t supposed to assist." 

That's the rule set forth in the Federation Charter. Since there were countless?world crises?, the?Tuners?assigned to deal with them were predetermined. The crisis of the?Primordial Seed?was supposedly entrusted to the?famous detective?. 

"Assist? No. I'm just trying to cover your asses." 

Fuubi-san looked at me and Siesta with a mischievous smirk. 

"But, well, the?Assassin?is having a break for now. Leave the evacuation of the civilians to me, and you guys can focus on rescuing Yui Saikawa and defeating the enemy." 

Then she gave the survival knife to me, 

"I'm going to do my job as a police officer." 

As her red ponytail swung, she said with a confident look on her face. 

"Assistant, let's go." 

At Siesta's urging, the two of us once again headed for Saikawa. Our destination was the commercial building we had seen earlier on the stairs, one that was becoming one with the giant tree. Saikawa is asleep in that?fruit?. We ran past the people who were escaping in the opposite direction, towards the scene. 

"How do we save Saikawa?" 

"I guess we’ll have to climb up the building. I don't know if you can do that." 

"I'm surprised you would even think of something that has a 1% chance of working." 

"Hmm, I guess I should’ve taken that spider guy's ability sometime." 

Siesta said, referring to one of the defeated?Androids?in the past. 

Speaking of which, did Siesta know that I consumed Chameleon's?seed?? It's a double-edged sword that granted me special abilities in exchange for my senses and lifespan. What would she say when she discovered that I consumed the?seed?to save her? Would she be worried, or… 

"Assistant?" 

Siesta, perhaps suspicious of my silence, turns around and gives me a glance. 

"No, it's nothing." 

Let's hurry up, was all I said as I ran to my friend. 

"Yeah, really hurry up. I've been matching your pace the entire time." 

"…I'm starting to think it'd be faster if you carried me instead."