Tantei wa Mou, Shindeiru - Volume 5 - Chapter 9

To all living things, all of them. 

In hindsight, whenever Siesta said she had a good idea, it was usually a bad idea for me. But there was no time to complain. 

"I'll be back in ten minutes." 

I turned my back on the battlefield and went to Saikawa's rescue. 

Ten minutes—that is, if Siesta could fend off the enemy's attack for that long. For the time being though, I had no choice but to trust and respect the choice Siesta made to send me out. Besides…I wouldn’t think she’d choose to sacrifice herself now. 

With this thought in mind, I walked through the deserted interior of this fashion building—which just a few hours ago was supposed to be a vibrant center of youth. 

"Can’t use the escalators or elevators, huh?" 

The electricity supply was cut off, and the building was pitch dark. A large tree grew straight up in the middle of the floor, and there were vines growing everywhere. I walked through them and found a staircase leading to the upper floors. 

The building’s eight-stories high. I thought that I could go up to the roof and jump down onto that big?fruit?. I always simulated this in my mind, but I had a headache thinking…about how easy it was to save Saikawa. 

Siesta’s fighting SEED right now, and Saikawa’s held captive by the enemy. The critically injured Charl’s still in the still in the hospital, and as for Natsunagi— 

"…!" 

I knew I couldn’t do much to alter their fates, and there's no point in thinking about them now. Nevertheless, as I ran up the stairs two steps at a time, their faces naturally appeared in my mind. 

I thought I was alone, but then I realized that they were all around me. Before I knew it, there were too many important things in my life. The moment I found find something more important than myself— 

"!" 

I was halfway up the stairs between the fourth and fifth floors. On the landing, I saw a figure crouched down. 

"Are you all right?" 

Perhaps it was a shopper who had failed to escape or a civilian who had been abducted by the?feeler?. 

It's too dark to see clearly, but I reach out to touch its curled back. 

"—Gaa, aaaaah!!!" 

But at that moment, the crouched shadow let out a screeching moan, suddenly turned around, and lunged at me. 

The figure grabbed at me like a zombie, but it’s not as strong as I thought. I knocked it off its feet and put a gun to its head. 

"You." 

At the muzzle was Chameleon, a foe I'd seen many times before. 

"…No." 

But I soon realized it wasn’t the Chameleon I fought before—it's a doll. About a year ago, I encountered SEED at the?SPES?experimental facility, it cut off a piece of itself to spawn a clone—Perhaps this doll had a seed, and while not being as powerful as an?android?, it was by definition a plant, an organism. 

"Forgive me." 

Still, I uttered so and shot the enemy in the head. Then the Chameleon-like doll rapidly shriveled up, as if I were watching a plant wither in fast forward. 

"—I, t." 

And finally, with such a strangled voice, the doll disappeared. 

—it hurts. 

I couldn’t help but think about the meaning of the words left behind. 

Was it the urge to feel pain, to scream in that way, so different from emotions? If the ?Primordial Seed?had no emotions, then the?android clones?created— 

"—Mission, accomplished." 

The voice came from behind me. 

I turned to see a large, sharp claw looming before me. 

"!" 

I dodged it, lost my balance, and caught sight of the attacker. 

"You're still as big as ever, Cerberus." 

The?android?Cerberus was a two-meter tall man with the appearance of a priest. Though this enemy ultimately changed its form into a full-blown beast, just as it did in the past. 

"I'm sorry, but I don't have time to deal with you." 

I didn't hesitate to pull the trigger of my gun and silenced the enemy with three bullets. 

"—I, t." 

Cerberus chirped with a faint voice, but it too was a doll. Normally, this would have been enough to stop the enemy, but it took three bullets and collapsed towards me as if it had run out of steam. 

It was two meters tall, but I could hardly feel its weight, and its body began to wilt while leaning against me. Finally, the proud wolf murmured into my ear. 

"—I want to live.” 

It wanted to live. 

It didn’t say it was in pain. It wanted to live. 

Chameleon, Cerberus, all living things, all of them. Everyone wanted to live, everyone wanted to stay alive, just as I wanted Siesta to revive, just as I want Natsunagi to live. 

"Everyone wants that." 

After all this time, I understood once again the fear of death as an instinct, a fundamental emotion that no one could deny. Even with terms like dolls, plants, androids, this remained a common factor... 

Hel, Bat, even Chameleon, Cerberus, and the clones of the?Primordial Seed?that we fought, they were all like us ordinary humans, terrified of death, angry, and emotional. 

Cerberus's loyalty to SEED, Chameleon's torment towards Natsunagi, and hostility towards me, were clearly emotions. Yes, unlike the?Primordial Seed?, the?android clones?had definite emotions— 

"—No, that’s not it." 

A hypothesis jolted through my brain like an electric current. Perhaps I…or we were mistaken the entire time. 

"So, you're…" 

At that moment, a tremor shook the floor beneath, and my feet wobbled. A fierce battle waged on the outside. There was no time to stop, so I hurried up toward the roof.