Tantei wa Mou, Shindeiru - Volume 7 - Chapter 1.3

 Proxy Ace Detectives

Thanks to the Federation Government’s orders, the next evening found us in the city of a thousand temples—Kyoto. We’d spent a little over two hours on the bullet train, and no sooner had we reached our station than a shiny black car had legally abducted us.

“I wanted to have some dango or yatsuhashi first,” Nagisa grumbled. She was kicking her feet like a kid, protesting the way we were being treated.

“Yeah. I was just wishing they’d brought us over in first class,” I said, adding a gripe of my own.

That said, these were demands for our employer.

“We won’t necessarily be able to write it off as a work expense, so no.” Gazing out the window, Siesta spoke like a business owner. “After all, we don’t know whether they’re going to be our client yet.”

By “they,” she meant the Federation Government—the entity who’d sent the carrier owl.

The letter hadn’t mentioned any specifics. They’d just told the three of us to come to this location, at this time, on this date.

“Man. Not fair.” The words were out of my mouth before I’d even thought about them.

I hadn’t been saying that phrase much lately. However, right now, those were the only appropriate words for the situation I—well, technically, the two girls—had been placed in.

What business could the Federation Government have with the former Ace Detectives, after all this time?

We spent another forty minutes in the car before reaching our destination.

Just as the sun was setting, we followed our driver-turned-guide up a gravel path. Before long, an enormous Buddhist temple came into view.

“Isn’t this an important cultural asset?” Nagisa murmured. The building looked like something that would show up in a Japanese history reference book. I was pretty sure it was off-limits to the general public, but our guide gestured straight at the entrance, telling us to go in. Then I realized that all the pigeons on the temple grounds had turned to look at us.

We took off our shoes and stepped into the main temple, where an expanse of hard wooden flooring lay before us. Off to the sides, several dozen masked servants dressed in white stood in long rows.

“…Why do they all have spears?” That seemed ominous. I swallowed hard.

“Assistant, look.” Siesta pointed at the back of the room.

There was a dimly lit Buddha hall back there. The hall enshrined a huge Buddha, and someone was sitting in front of it. They wore the same mask as the servants, but their clothing resembled a court lady’s twelve-layered kimono. Between that and the long hair, it seemed safe to say that this was a woman.

“A Federation Government dignitary, hm?”

She was in a completely different class from the servants who were waiting off to the sides. Even though we’d grumbled on the way here, we now straightened up, whether we felt like it or not. We seated ourselves in a row, kneeling formally, with Nagisa in the middle.

“I apologize for summoning you so abruptly.”

For a moment, I didn’t know who had spoken. Then I realized that the dignitary was bowing so low that her forehead touched the floor. She was apologizing to us?

“Nagisa, do you know that official?” I asked. Nagisa was kneeling formally beside me. This much humility coming from a representative of the Federation Government was extremely weird. All the dignitaries I’d ever dealt with had been much more overbearing, mechanical, and sort of lacking in humanity.

“No, I don’t know her. I doubt Siesta does, either.”

On Nagisa’s other side, Siesta gazed at the dignitary dubiously, but she was the first to speak. “And? What did you want with us?”

“First, take a look at this.”

The masked dignitary raised her head.

In the next instant, a vivid image was projected onto the Buddha hall behind her. It was something like projection mapping that used the uneven background as a screen.

However, what it showed made me want to cover my eyes.

“The corpses of government officials?” I heard myself say. And I hadn’t meant “corpse,” singular. The beheaded bodies of several masked dignitaries were projected on every surface of the Buddha hall as 3D images, one after another.

“At present, Federation Government high officials are being assassinated all over the world.”

…The Federation Government ruled the world from the shadows, and the murderer was only targeting them? If that was really happening, that would be…

“So it’s a new global crisis?” Siesta asked, speaking for all of us.

“Wait, though. Aren’t global crises a whole lot rarer these days?” Nagisa broke in. As she said, no new enemies of the world had appeared on Earth in the past year. As if to corroborate this, Mia’s clairvoyance hadn’t activated even once. In that light, what sort of crisis could the killing of these dignitaries be?

“We view them as an ‘unknown crisis,’ which even the Oracle couldn’t detect.”

That was the name the masked dignitary across from us gave the situation.

“We see the basic problem. Why did you summon Siesta and Nagisa for this, though?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

“I’ll speak plainly: We would like the two former Ace Detectives to investigate.”

Ridiculous. Though this had nothing to do with me, I still almost said that out loud.

And my emotions were justified. Their mission as Ace Detectives was over. Why should the Federation Government get to rope them into something now?

“Take a close look at this,” the official said, and the image zoomed in on a certain spot to reveal—

“Those are tentacle fragments. Not from just any tentacle, either. They’re fragments of the weapons wielded by the pseudohumans you once fought. We believe someone is misusing their power to kill these dignitaries.”

…She was right. More than two years ago now, our group had fought Seed’s pseudohumans. But that battle was over, and so were the sacrifices made to end it.

“Are you saying we haven’t finished cleaning up yet?” Nagisa asked. Was the mission still ongoing?

“No. But given these facts, it is true that when we found these things at the scenes of the incidents, we wished to have the Ace Detective’s help once more. In other words, Miss Natsunagi and Miss Siesta, in accordance with a special measure outlined in the Federal Charter, we would like to temporarily appoint you as proxy Ace Detectives.”

Nagisa and Siesta exchanged looks. Both the reason for this summons and the substance of the request were completely unexpected. Then, for some reason, the two of them turned to me.

“Why do you look more irritated about this than anybody else, Kimihiko?” Nagisa asked.

“…I didn’t know I did,” I said.

Siesta showed me her hand mirror. “See?”

Oh yeah. My eyes looked about twenty percent meaner than usual. How did that happen? …No, I actually knew the answer to that, too. I was just pretending not to.

Even so, for now… “It’s not my decision anyway. What we do is up to you two.”

Siesta and Nagisa nodded, then turned back the official.

“All right. I’ll take this Ace Detective job for you.”

“Mm, so will I. Just temporarily, though.”

Right. They wouldn’t leave a job half done. I’d known this was how it would go.

“We appreciate your help. Take these.” The woman took two notebooks out of her robes. I hadn’t seen those things in a while. Having them would make Siesta and Nagisa Tuners again.

“I’ll get them.”

When the other two started to stand up, I stopped them and got to my feet instead.

I respected their choice—I couldn’t reject their work or how they felt. Even so, one thing just didn’t sit right with me.

“Detectives always put their lives on the line in a fight. Show us you’re serious about this, too.”

Don’t you run. Don’t just give them orders without even showing your face. I won’t allow it. Walking up to the official, I reached for her mask.

The masked servants who stood on either side of us all pointed their spears at me.

“It’s fine.” The official stopped them with two words. “I apologize for my rudeness.”

She removed her mask.

“From now on, then, I will wear my true face with you. There is just a little more that I must tell you.”

Long gray hair spilled over her shoulders, and moss-green eyes gazed straight up at me. I couldn’t see any emotion in her expression, but it was full of dignity.

She was a lovely girl whose face still held hints of childish softness.