Tantei wa Mou, Shindeiru - Volume 5 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue

A week has passed since then. 

By school standards, the summer vacation was over long ago, and I had been skipping classes that had already started. Thus, according to the calendar, autumn has already arrived. 

However, the sun shining through the window was still hot, and the glare of the late afternoon sun made me close the thin curtains of my wardroom. 

"Hey, are you listening to me?" 

I hear a voice that’s rather husky for a woman on the phone. 

Needless to say, it's the red-haired policewoman, Fuubi Kase, who seemed to be calling my cell phone a lot lately. Maybe she just likes me. 

"I'm listening. I heard I’m going to be honored by the police as a super high school student who saved the world." 

"I never said anything about that." 

Guess not. 

"It's about SEED." 

Fuubi-san sighed in exasperation and brought up the subject of the?world's enemy?that we defeated a few weeks ago. 

"I guess that big tree he’s sleeping at is a little special after all." 

She was referring to the tree that engulfed a fashion building in the center of the city. It has been pointed out that the giant tree where SEED was sealed might contain atoms unknown to mankind, but…it seemed that the investigation has taken another step forward. 

It's a story that I personally wouldn’t be able to handle, but it’s not irrelevant to the?Famous Detective?who once fought against the?Primordial Seed?. If so, I had a feeling that one day, we wouldn’t be able to ignore it. 

"Yggdrasill." 

Fuubi-san uttered this loan word. 

"What's going on all of a sudden?" 

"It's the name given to the tree, the object of observation.” 

I heard a puff of cigarette smoke coming out of the phone. 

Yggdrasill, also known as the cosmic tree in Norse mythology, was said to encompass the nine realms, including the world in which we humans live. Would we humans continue to live in harmony with that plant? And what effect would it have on humanity? 

"I'm sorry, Fuubi-san, but my friends will be here soon." 

It's not a question I could answer right away. 

Looking at my watch, I tried to hang up. 

"Huh, I never thought I'd hear you say that." 

"Well, I guess people do change one day..." 

When I said that, I heard an unusually good-humored exhale from the phone. 

"See you later." 

"Yeah, say hi to the ?famous detective ?." 

Fuubi-san hung up the phone without telling me the specific name. 

Then, just then. 

At this seemingly perfect timing, the door to the hospital room swung open with a bang. 

"Siesta-s~an! I've come to visit you…you’re here too, Kimizuka-san?" 

The person who came in was the world's most adorable idol, Yui Saikawa. She smiled as she compared the girl sleeping in the bed with me standing beside her. 

We’re in a private room of the hospital where Stephen, the?Inventor?, is the director. I’ve been visiting Siesta, the famous detective sleeping there, since this morning. 

"Business as usual. Whenever I come, this guy is there too." 

The blonde girl who came in after Saikawa also sighed as she looked at me with her arms crossed. That’s weird, we were supposed to be friendlier recently for some reason. 

"S-sorry, both of you! I'll put it on the side table!" 

The last person to enter the room was a girl carrying a fruit basket, Nagisa Natsunagi. She had since been officially discharged from the hospital, and was thus able to visit her friends. 

"Thank you, you three." 

And so I thanked the three of them for coming to visit Siesta. 

Natsunagi was at school, Saikawa was working as an idol, and Charl, in between her various jobs, had come to visit Siesta. 

"Erm…?" 

But when Saikawa tilted her head curiously, the girls, for some reason or another, looked at each other in confusion or dismay. 

"Why are you thanking us just because we came to visit Ma'am, Kimizuka? What are you, Ma'am's…?" 

Charl looked at me and then at Natsunagi. 

"Kimizuka, you haven't come to school at all. You've been hanging out with Siesta." 

Pointing at me, Saikawa and the others complained about me. 

What are they being mad about? 

"Isn't it part of my job to look after my partner?" 

I said as I looked at Siesta sleeping in her bed. 

Siesta had been asleep ever since. Nothing seemed to have changed for the time being much, and the growth of the?seed?seemed to be under control. 

Someday, I’d find a way to destroy the seed that had taken root in her heart, or an alternative, and wake her up. That’s my wish, and the goal of the story is to wake her up. 

"Partner, huh." 

I noticed that Natsunagi was looking down at me. 

"What?" 

"Nothing~" 

That's unreasonable. 

"…Fufu." 

Natsunagi smiled as she stared at me, ran her fingers through her shortened hair, and finally broke her gaze. 

This is what we've been doing since Siesta went to sleep. Some things definitely changed that day, but there were also things here that’d never change. I would think I was stepping into a new everyday life that's not lukewarm. 

"But we're almost out of time. We have to leave now." 

Charl said, looking at her watch. 

We’re going on a trip later. 

"It's so exciting that the four of us are traveling together!" 

Saikawa spun around on the spot, excited at the thought of the three days of travel ahead. 

"It's not like we're going out for fun, though…" 

The purpose of this trip was an invitation from the?Federal Government?. 

There's going to be some sort of advisory meeting regarding Natsunagi's decision to follow Siesta's lead and become the?famous detective?. We decided to go along with her during the September holidays. Incidentally, it seems that the conference will be held in Singapore. 

"I wonder if there's a good time to wear my new swimsuit…" 

"You're the most excited person I know…" 

I stared at Natsunagi, feeling déjà vu. 

"Wouldn't you like to see me in my swimsuit, Kimizuka?" 

But I was sure I didn’t get to see her in her swimsuit on that cruise ship after all. 

…If there’s a chance, yeah. 

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to have fun for a day or so." 

I said, and Natsunagi beamed like the summer sun. 

"Okay, everyone, let's get going!" 

And Saikawa stretched out. 

"We'll be back, Siesta-san!" 

She waved to Siesta and left the hospital room. And then, 

"Ma'am, I'll definitely come back when I get back home! What would you like as a souvenir? Meat? I'll buy lots of meat!" 

Charl spoke to Siesta in the same tone as ever…but then gave a little forlorn smile, and kissed Siesta's right hand before walking away. 

"I guess I'm the only one you barely saw after all." 

Natsunagi also looked at Siesta's face and muttered. 

"We had so much more to talk about, so much more to fight about..." 

The only time Natsunagi was able to see Siesta again was at the last battle. It seems that having two Famous Detectives in this world is a lot harder than I imagined. 

"But, we'll definitely meet again someday, right?" 

Natsunagi's lips tighten with a determined expression. 

Siesta and Natsunagi had met six years ago, and again a year ago. 

I sincerely hoped that one day, I could see them together again. 

"I'll…we’ll make sure to wake you up again. So wait for us." 

Until then, the will of the famous detective is mine to carry on. 

Natsunagi promised Siesta, took one look at me, and left the hospital room. 

"Singapore, huh? You and I have been there before, haven't we?" 

I recall such a distant memory. That time, I remember, we had fun at the beach and the casino …but as usual, we were also involved in a terrible incident. It’s the same old troublesome experience, a nostalgic tale, and one that I hope I never have to go through again. 

"…But well, maybe someday, you know." 

We’ll go somewhere together. 

I remembered that we had promised each other in New York, while watching a musical. 

"Well, I'm off." 

I was the last one left, looking at Siesta's comfortable sleeping face. 

The next time I would see her would be in four days, I said, feeling a little regretful. 

There was no reply, of course. 

The detective is already— 

—No, that's not it. 

Yeah. There's really no need to be sad, no need to be anxious. 

Because the detective is not dead, not anymore. 

After all, she's just starting a long, long siesta.