Tantei wa Mou, Shindeiru - Volume 7 - Chapter 1.5

 A thousand worlds, one wish

“Hurry up or I’ll leave you behind, Assistant.”

We were on a mountain path, long after sundown. Siesta was climbing the stone stairs ahead of me, but she turned halfway back to glance at me.

The meeting with Noel de Lupwise had ended about two hours earlier. I’d met back up with the detectives, and now, for some reason, I was sweating my way through a nighttime hike. I hadn’t gotten much exercise lately, and it was hitting my legs and lower back pretty hard.

“Why are we doing this, anyway?”

“Well, we promised we’d make our first shrine visit of the year today, didn’t we?” Siesta said. She was wearing a formal kimono that was mostly white, and there was an ornamental hairpin in her pale silver hair instead of her usual clip.

True, we’d made plans for a shrine visit last night at the detective agency. The Federation Government’s abrupt summons had changed those plans, but now we’d returned to our original goal. We’d just passed through the famous thousand torii gates and were heading for the shrine beyond them.

“I wasn’t picturing anything this serious, though.”

If we were just paying a visit to a shrine, there was a perfectly fine hall of worship much closer to the entrance, but Siesta had said “That would be boring” and started climbing the mountain. In a formal kimono. Ignoring the cold.

“Don’t assume I’m a normal woman.”

“Yeah, no normal woman would say that.”

Siesta smiled and started walking again.

“Still, this place is pretty creepy.”

I knew it was sacred ground, but all those torii gates and fox statues made it feel ominous. Granted, it would probably seem a bit different during the day.

“People do say that torii gates might connect to eternity and the afterlife.”

I wasn’t able to immediately process the two words Siesta had said.

“That’s this world and the next world. In other words, the realm of the dead might be just beyond those torii gates.”

“Give me a break. Horror’s not my thing.”

… Besides. I didn’t really want to hear Siesta talk about that stuff.

Siesta seemed to have figured that out from my expression; she smiled wryly and apologized. “Maybe it wasn’t the realm of the dead. Maybe it was some fantasy parallel universe. There are as many other worlds as there are torii gates.”

“That sounds like something from a picture book. Maybe I would’ve been able to enjoy it when I was a kid.”

As we were talking, soft footsteps padded up behind us. “Listen! I keep telling you to wait for me!”

When I turned back, there was Nagisa. She was also wearing a formal kimono and traditional sandals, and her expression was half-angry, half-tearful. I’d been walking pretty slowly, but the distance between us kept widening.

“Geez, it’s all red.” Having managed to catch up to us, Nagisa sighed, rubbing the place where the thong of her sandal ran between her toes.

Walking was probably going to hurt her. Sighing, I offered Nagisa my back. We wouldn’t have to worry about how we looked to others here anyway.

“Huh? You’ll carry me?”

“I can manage three minutes max.”

“You’re a pretty unreliable hero.” Laughing, Nagisa climbed onto my back, and I felt the softness and heat of her body. Once she was situated, I started walking slowly.

“………”

Someone was giving us a pointed look.

“What’s the matter, Siesta? Aren’t you going to go?”

“…Not that it matters or anything.”

Siesta’s answer didn’t quite match my question as she walked on ahead in a huff. Her shoulders slumped a little.

“Siesta’s cute like that sometimes.” Nagisa smiled next to my ear. I agreed with her just a bit, although I didn’t say so out loud.

Taking breaks now and then, we kept passing through those endless torii gates until we finally reached our destination. There was a small shrine and yet another torii gate; the moonlight gave them a mystical feeling. From that open space, we could look out over the city.

“Mm-hmm. I knew it. Even if we had to push it a bit, this was worth the climb.” Tucking her hair behind her ear, Siesta smiled at the view.

“It’s kind of late for this, but I’m embarrassed that I took that piggyback offer now…” Nagisa mumbled, then went to stand beside her.

An illuminated torii gate and two girls in formal kimonos at the peak of a small mountain, under a starry sky—a scene out of a fantasy.

I hung back slightly to take it in.

…No, it wasn’t the scene I was focused on. It was those two. I gazed at the backs of the girls who’d just agreed to be temporary Ace Detectives.

A little while later, Nagisa and Siesta seemed to notice that I was being oddly quiet. They turned around, almost in sync. I shook my head, telling them it was nothing.

“You’re both planning to participate in the Ritual of Sacred Return, aren’t you?”

I’d told them what I’d heard from Noel on our way up here, but apparently I hadn’t needed to. Someone had relayed that information to them while they were going through the procedures for becoming proxy Ace Detectives.

“Yes—there’s going to be a ball, isn’t there? We’ll get to wear evening dresses! I can’t wait,” Nagisa said.

And then there was Siesta. “I hear there’ll be a banquet after the ceremony. Of course I’ll go.”

“Your reasons for participating have nothing to do with the actual event.”

Of course, the main event was the burning of the origin text, but there would also be a ball and a banquet to entertain the guests. Apparently, the ceremony really was meant to celebrate the resolution of the Great Cataclysm as well.

“Before that, though, we’ll have to resolve that ‘unknown crisis.’”

“Right. In just two weeks, hm…? We’re going to be busy.”

Siesta drew a quiet, deep breath, and Nagisa stretched emphatically.

Ideally, we’d neutralize the threat before the Ritual of Sacred Return, which was meant to symbolize the achievement of peace. I’d promised Noel we’d contact her at our discretion whenever we made any progress.

But was it going to be possible to get it under control in just two weeks? In all the previous global crises the Ace Detective had tackled, we’d had to fight for several years and make many sacrifices. Besides, the current detective hadn’t been involved with the world for quite a while. Would we be able to make up for that in such a short time frame?

“Every building with a light on has someone in it, doesn’t it?” Nagisa said, out of nowhere. She was gazing at the city. “In every life, there will always be pain and sadness, and nights when people want to scream that they wish tomorrow wouldn’t come, but…I’d like to be the sort of person who can reach out and help them through it. Because once, someone saved me that way,” she said, reminiscing.

“Yes, let’s do it. We’ll save people, towns, big cities, nations, and then—someday, we’ll save the world again,” Siesta declared, focusing on the distant future.

The air was crystal clear here, at the top of a mountain on a winter night. As the two women looked at the lights of the town, the spotlights that shone on the torii gates dimly illuminated their shapes.

“Oh, I see.”

It wasn’t like how it had been before.

There were two of them here now.

Two grown, living detectives were here. In that case, I was sure…

After that, we made a late first shrine visit. We tossed coins into the offering box beyond the torii gate, bowing and clapping twice before the altar. Then we put our hands together and prayed to the gods.

Worries and prayers. Wishing “I don’t care how you do it, I want you to help me.” Way back when, I’d only had one wish: I’d wanted to wake Siesta from her eternal slumber.

In order to make that forbidden wish a reality, we’d left on a dazzling journey. We’d given up many things in exchange, and yet we’d made it through the Great Cataclysm to arrive at a miracle. The sleeping detective had awakened and come home to us.

Now we had these peaceful days, where the world didn’t even need the Tuners anymore. We’d won. We’d overcome every sort of global crisis and injustice. So what was I wishing for now? Just one thing.

Let the detectives who saved the world live quietly and happily from now on.

That was the last thing I’d told Noel, and now I silently said it again as a prayer.