Tantei wa Mou, Shindeiru - Volume 8 - Chapter 1.6

 Solving the mystery will wait until after the heroine race

And so the detective and her assistant’s slightly different day came to an end. It wasn’t as if anything major had changed. Even if it was just a small mutual adjustment right now, though, if it managed to head off a major breakup down the road, it was massively important.

“Thanks for today,” Natsunagi told me as we reached the station. “Can I ask you out again sometime?”

“Yeah. Although, we’ll start seeing each other at school again in two weeks.”

“Huh? Seniors only have to come to school if they want to after New Year’s, remember?”

…Come to think of it, she was right. I had so little interest in school that I’d forgotten.

“Actually, Kimizuka, what are you planning to do after graduation? Are you going on to college, or will you get a job?”

“Natsunagi, don’t talk about the future. I want to be a kid who never has to contribute for a while longer.”

“This isn’t some distant future. It’s just around the corner.” Natsunagi gave an exasperated sigh.

Apparently, I couldn’t get out of taking a good, solid look at reality.

“You’re going to a private university on a recommendation, right, Natsunagi? …That was shrewd.”

“Well, I’ve been keeping up with my studies during the past three months. Unlike you.”

Natsunagi had an excellent point, and it shut me right up. If I had to say, I’d just lost my motivation. Our fight with Seed was over, Siesta had fallen asleep, and my reality had abruptly gone flat.

To me, “reality” wasn’t school, tests, and work. It was the extraordinary that I’d found after that encounter at ten thousand meters. Now that it was over, I couldn’t visualize myself wanting more “normal” in my life.

“Does that school you’re going to have general entrance exams?” I asked.

“Huh? Yes. I’m pretty sure they’re in the middle of February.”

Natsunagi had been in the same situation as I was, but her eyes were still fixed on her own future. In that case, I should also—

“Um, Kimizuka? Do you hear something?” Natsunagi rose onto her tiptoes, peering into the distance.

I did, in fact. Loud voices… More like screams. There was also a loud noise that seemed to be chasing them—was that a motorcycle? By the time I put it together, a big black bike had already charged into the area in front of the station. Impulsively, I pulled Natsunagi into my arms to shield her.

“Oh, you smell kinda nice. And your arms are so rugged…”

“Good, sounds like you’re fine.”

Releasing Natsunagi when it felt safe, I faced the motorcycle’s rider. The biker removed her large helmet, and very familiar orange hair spilled around her shoulders.

“Hello, Reloaded.” I glared at her.

“What exactly are you doing here?” she snapped. “Rill said to meet her at eight.”

She probably meant the Pandemonium patrol. I hadn’t told her I was going for sure, though.

“How did you know where I was?”

“By magic, of course.” Reloaded twirled her staff.

“Meaning GPS, right? When you grabbed my phone to enter your contact info yesterday.”

“Huh. So you’re not stupid. Well, took you long enough to notice.” Reloaded tossed me another helmet. “Get on. We’ve already got a big, scary monster on our hands.”

“That’s the second one today, if we’re going by the date. The enemy’s keeping busy.” My head drooped, but I took the helmet and started to put it on.

“W-wait just a minute. Kimizuka, what is this? Explain.”

One of us hadn’t managed to process the situation yet. Natsunagi’s eyes were shifting from me to Reloaded and back; she looked confused. Come to think of it, these two hadn’t met before.

Checking to make sure there was nobody nearby first (although the disturbance had attracted some attention), I explained to Natsunagi in a low voice, “This is Reloaded. She’s a Tuner like you, Natsunagi; her position’s the Magical Girl. …Stuff happened, and I ended up becoming her pet.”

“You’re her pet? What stuff happened, exactly?”

Well, that was a long story.

Then as I was about to introduce Natsunagi to Reloaded…

“You’re the new Ace Detective, aren’t you?” Reloaded turned sharp eyes on Natsunagi.

Instantly, I felt the air go cold.

“Rill’s heard the rumors. They said there was a Tuner who’d been given a conveniently empty position, even though she had no special powers. It’s always a huge pain when the world loves someone for no reason, isn’t it?”

At the Federal Council a few months ago, Reloaded had said something similar to Siesta. She’d said she didn’t like people the world loved, the type who used luck and connections to make miracles happen, the rules be damned.

Moments after their meeting, Natsunagi was getting that spite in full force. She flinched back, then scowled. But then…

“Come to think of it, Charlie said something similar to me when we met for the first time.” She took a deep breath and changed tacks. “Say whatever you want to me now. Someday, I’m going to yield solid results. I’ll carry out my mission as the Ace Detective.” That was a promise.

But what specifically did Natsunagi mean by “mission”? Was it defeating some new enemy of the world, or was it making that wish of ours come true?

Reloaded seemed to be trying to figure out what she meant, too. She narrowed her eyes. “Right. Well, it’s none of Rill’s business.” The Magical Girl turned on her heel, closing the conversation for now. And then… “Anyway, Rill’s taking him with her.”

The next thing I knew, she’d grabbed me by the back of my collar and set me on the motorcycle behind her.

“Huh?!” Natsunagi reached out.

“Rill’s borrowing your ex-boyfriend,” Reloaded told her.

Then she sped off at full throttle.

The bike drove right past Natsunagi.

“Hang on,” Reloaded told me, gripping the handlebars. I grabbed her waist. As everyone on the street watched, the bike roared away. The speed limit might as well not have existed, and the horns of oncoming traffic fell on deaf ears. Reloaded zigzagged between lanes, like we were in an action movie.

Geez. Are Tuners all like this? I was annoyed for a second, then remembered that the Oracle was the complete opposite. Even at the Federal Council, the two of them had fought. No surprise, if their personalities were this diametrically opposed.

“You’re clinging pretty tightly.” Reloaded suddenly seemed to notice me.

I was just desperate not to get thrown off.

“Are you the type who pretends to be completely harmless and then sexually harasses people?”

“I was taught that it’s important for business partners to communicate.”

“What have the Ace Detectives been teaching this boy?”

Well, enough of that fun little tangent.

“And? Is it true we’ve got an enemy?”

“Yes, the Men in Black found it. There’s a member of Pandemonium up ahead.”

“The Men in Black take jobs like that, too? They really get around.”

As a rule, the Federal Charter forbade Tuners from helping one another. However, the Men in Black formed a system that any Tuner could use without restriction.

“You really are all about efficiency, aren’t you?” I said. She’d used both the Men in Black and the tool the Diviner had left behind, and now she was using my trouble-magnet disposition.

“Yes. Rill doesn’t have time to stop moving,” Reloaded said. Her tone was casual, and of course, she didn’t turn around.

Maybe the magical girl never stopped running, but where was she trying to go? We didn’t have the sort of relationship that would let me ask that, let alone get an answer.

For now, as her motorcycle cut through the night wind, all I could do was go with her.