Tantei wa Mou, Shindeiru - Volume 8 - Chapter 2.3

 A past that’s gone with the wind

“Not fair…”

All I could see was blue sky, and the ground under my back was hard. I lay spread-eagled, my breath misting white. I’d had no idea sprinting would leave me this worn out.

“Rill’s doggy is pathetic.”

Someone leaned over me.

It was Reloaded, the winner of the two-hundred-meter race we’d just run.

Rolling her eyes, she held out a bottle of water she’d grabbed from the vending machine. I took a swallow from it, then flopped back onto the ground. Sending my jacket out for cleaning was going to be a pain.

“Is it normal to collapse after only two hundred meters?” she asked.

“What else did you expect? I’ve barely attended any gym classes, ever.”

Plus, I was wearing a jacket, trousers, and leather shoes today. Of course I could barely run in those.

“Well, Rill thinks you were faster than average, maybe. Not as fast as Rill, though.”

Rill’s expression was so cool and composed, she might as well have just stepped out of the shower. Come to think of it, she had mentioned a track team.

“Rill’s primary event isn’t track, though.”

“And you’re still that fast? Take those skills international, ASAP.”

Rill smiled, then held out her hand. I sat up without taking it, then crossed my legs. Rill sat down next to me.

“So what was the point of that?” I asked.

Why were we here in the stadium? She couldn’t really just have wanted to hold a track meet for two.

“What, it’s not okay to run the two hundred for no reason?”

I wouldn’t say it wasn’t okay, but it wasn’t normal.

“You seem like the type who’d get a late-night phone call from a girl and answer with What do you want?” Rill went on.

“Yeah, that ticks Natsunagi off sometimes.”

“It sounds like you two get along well.” Rill hugged her knees, smiling wryly.

I’d thought I was giving her an example of the opposite. Where had that logic come from?

“………”

For a while after that, neither of us spoke. Still hugging her knees, Rill gazed absently at the distant sky. It was bright blue, with clouds streaming across it. She always worked like crazy; this was the first time we’d ever relaxed this much together.

“A minute ago, you said that track wasn’t your main event. You were a pole-vaulter, right?” I asked. The point of getting together today had been to learn more about each other. She’d already heard about me at the florist. That meant it was her turn. Besides, she’d probably brought me here because there was something she wanted to tell me.

“Yes. That’s all in the past, though.” Rill gazed up at that endlessly clear blue sky. “Rill may not look it, but she used to be a pretty famous athlete. She always placed first or second in tournaments back home.”

“Back home” probably meant the country Rill was from. She was only in Japan for work.

“Rill tended to jump around between interests, but this was one thing that stuck. It was part of her life, really, and she kinda thought it was something she’d always do.”

“You’re incredible, Rill. I don’t have anything I can brag about.”

“Then why do you sound like you’re bragging right now?” Rill scowled at me. Our eyes met, and then we both grinned.

“I don’t know much about the sport, but I bet you could get back into it, easy.”

She’d just given me a vivid demonstration of how strong her legs were. Besides, over the past two weeks, I’d seen how phenomenally athletic she was. That wasn’t just because of the magic shoes.

“Two years ago, there was a big tournament,” Rill began. “Tons of people came. It was an event that could make or break our futures and our lives in the sport, but Rill wasn’t really nervous. She just wanted to win—against her.”

“‘Her’ who?”

“Remember what Rill said? In every tournament, she placed first or second. When Rill placed second, that girl was always first.”

So Rill’s rival?

“We were pretty close…in a way. We went to different schools, and we only met at tournaments and things. Rill says we were close, but it was more that the other girl insisted on starting conversations.”

Rill was talking faster, and she scratched at her cheek in embarrassment. This was new.

“So your goal was to beat that girl at the tournament.”

“Yes, and it was probably her goal as well.” Rill reminisced about her rival. “We never talked about the tournament, but Rill knew it was on her mind. For both of us, it was the most important event there was. But then…” Rill bit her lip. “She wasn’t there. Rill won, but she didn’t win against her.”

I didn’t ask why she hadn’t come. I was sure Rill was planning to tell me.

“The night before the tournament, she died while she was out on a practice run.”

The wind turned cold.

“She was murdered,” Rill said.

My eyes were drawn to the flower she’d set nearby. It was a white lily, the one she’d bought at the florist earlier.

“Did they find her killer?”

That was a bad habit. It wasn’t the sort of question anybody should ask first thing. I’d even warned Siesta about that once. Who’d have thought I’d start doing it?

“They know. They haven’t caught him, though.”

Rill gazed into the distance, eyes narrowed.

She seemed to be glaring at something.

“She was killed by an enemy of the world. A horrible supernatural being who kills and eats living things that have outstanding genes. His code name is ‘Gluttony.’”

I recognized that code name—or at least, the word.

“There are seven supernaturals, given the names of the seven deadly sins. Together, they were considered a single enemy of the world.”

The seven deadly sins. They varied a little by country, religion, and era, but from antiquity, the term had referred to seven particular vices that were thought to be the root causes of sin: pride, greed, lust, envy, sloth, wrath, and gluttony. Rill was telling me that two years ago, Gluttony had killed her rival.

“They found a pool of blood on the road where she was killed, but no bones or flesh. Gluttony had eaten every last bit of her.”

All that’d been left was a single running shoe.

“…Did you already know about Gluttony and the enemies of the world back then?”

Rill shook her head. “The local news treated it as a bizarre murder, nothing more, but Rill wouldn’t settle for that. She investigated as thoroughly as she could, but there was no way an amateur was going to find anything…and then nearly half a year later, she met him.”

I gave a questioning look.

“Stephen,” Rill explained. “He told her she had potential and asked if she’d join his organization.”

“So he recruited you for the Tuners?”

I’d never heard that Stephen was in charge of recruitment. However, I’d heard that Siesta had rescued Mia Whitlock, who went on to become the Oracle, from a villainous cult a few years ago.

Maybe the Tuners had been finding other Tuners that way for ages.

“He spoke at length about the hidden side of an untrustworthy world in improbable terms,” Rill told me, thinking back over the conversation she’d had with Stephen. “Enemies of the world, the Tuners, the Federation Government. Rill didn’t care about any of it. It bored her, so she interrupted him with a question: ‘If Rill takes you up on your offer right this minute, will she be able to slaughter Gluttony?’”

“And he said…?”

“The answer was ‘yes.’” Rill went on. “So Rill resolved to become a Tuner so she could avenge that girl’s death personally.”

Rill wasn’t currently holding her magic staff. But her hands were gripping something tightly just the same.

“Is that why you put efficiency first when you take down enemies? So that you’ll get to Gluttony faster?”

“That’s right. However, due to certain circumstances, Gluttony’s no longer considered an enemy of the world.”

…Certain circumstances, hm? I hadn’t known enemies of the world or global crises could be removed from those categories. But Rill was talking like Gluttony was still out there somewhere.

“He’s bound to appear again someday. Until that day comes, Rill will polish her skills, defeat enemies, and show the Federation Government and her colleagues that the Magical Girl is the one who should take care of him.”

Rill’s gaze was resolute.

At the Federal Council early last autumn, Rill had argued with the other Tuners. She’d said the Tuners should each focus on their own missions, that they only needed to do the jobs they’d personally been assigned. …She hadn’t wanted anyone else laying a finger on Gluttony. She’d wanted to make sure she could kill him herself one day.

“I don’t count? I’m helping you with your job right now.”

“Well, you’re not a Tuner. You aren’t against the rules. Besides…” Rill turned to look at me. “You’re the Singularity. If you’re here, Rill’s sure the enemy will show up on their own. As a matter of fact, in the two weeks since you joined Rill, Pandemonium has been everywhere.”

“I don’t want to be that popular with monsters,” I joked.

A smile flitted across Rill’s face, but only for a moment. “You can make fun of me for putting efficiency first; I don’t care. I’ll use my own legs to take the shortest route to making my wish come true.”

She’d switched from calling herself “Rill” to using “I.”

She held out her right hand to me. “I don’t have any more information to bait you in. I didn’t tell you about my past to win your sympathy. I’m just asking you: Please keep helping me.”

Her right hand was waiting right there. I reached out to take it, then suddenly remembered what had happened on Christmas.

Back then, Natsunagi had held her hand out to me just like this, and I’d taken it. I’d told her my left hand was already booked, but my right hand was hers.

Then what about now?

“But if you try to hold everything at once, something precious may slip through your fingers someday. If nothing else, remember that.”

Noches’s words echoed in my mind.

Both my hands were taken. What could I do for Reloaded at this point? I had started reaching toward her, but I paused.

Something dark seemed to ripple in the Magical Girl’s eyes.

“……!”

Right after that, she clutched at her chest.

“Rill!”

She crumpled to the ground, her expression agonized. Her breathing was ragged, and she was pouring sweat.

This was obviously not normal. I grabbed my phone, planning to call an ambulance.

“…W-wait.” She grasped my hand. “A car…will…be here…soon… Just…get in…”

“Rill, stay with me!”

And then the Magical Girl lost consciousness.