Tantei wa Mou, Shindeiru - Volume 9 - Chapter 2.03

  The mummy’s call

After the lecture, Natsunagi and I left the university. We stopped by a European-style sweets shop and bought a cake, then made for the hospital where Siesta slept. Naturally, we were going to celebrate her birthday.

Joined by Noches, we ate the cake, and talked about old times and laughed together…but I didn’t think these days would go on forever. None of us there thought they should, either. This wasn’t the happy ending we were looking for.

After leaving the hospital, I’d split up with Natsunagi and was walking home by myself when I got a text. It was from Saikawa.

“Could you come to my house now?”

Something about her message made me feel uneasy, so I promptly caught a taxi and headed over. After half an hour or so, I reached the house, and Saikawa let me in.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it today. It was Siesta’s birthday, but work was just too busy…”

“I figured. I just got a message from Charlie that said pretty much the same thing.”

Charlotte Arisaka Anderson traveled all over the world as an agent. Even now, she was probably fighting around the clock in some unfamiliar place for the sake of justice.

“I want to see her, too. How long has it been now since she left Japan?”

“Well, that’s the life she lives. In a sense, you’re the same way, Saikawa.”

Both Charlotte and Saikawa were following paths they believed in. I was sure Siesta was happy about that as well.

We’d been walking down the hall as we talked, and now Saikawa beckoned me into the living room.

“So what did you need?”

In response to my question, Saikawa set a large paulownia-wood box on the table. “Someone sent this to my house today.” As she spoke, she lifted the lid of the box—to reveal a mummy’s right hand.

“What the heck is that?”

Frankly, even the idea of taking it out of the box was awful. It was a withered hand, severed at the wrist. It looked a lot like the hand of the undead mummy I’d seen at the park the other night.

“I don’t know who sent it, but it was shipped to me personally.”

“It must be from a vampire.”

Right now, Elizabeth seemed like the most likely candidate. Why would she have chosen this way to get in touch with Saikawa, though?

“What do you think, Mr. Scarlet?” Saikawa said unexpectedly.

I looked around in a panic, and then—

“You have good instincts, sapphire girl.”

A man in a white suit sat in an expensive-looking rocking chair in a corner of the room, sipping from a wine glass. The way he seemed to appear and disappear out of nowhere was a product of the wings the Inventor had given him that erased his presence.

“However, I do not think my transparency is so flimsy that your sapphire eye can see through it.”

“Oh, it has nothing to do with this eye. I center myself and look with the eye in my heart—my mind’s eye!” Saikawa said, sounding like a martial arts teacher.

“Anyway, Scarlet, what are you doing here?”

“It was you who formed this alliance,” Scarlet said with an irritated look. That must have meant he was planning to help us. “The mummy’s hand was no doubt the Necromancer’s doing. Do you have any ideas as to why she would send it to you, sapphire girl?”

“…Actually, there is something that’s been bothering me a little.” Saikawa’s expression turned serious. “A little while ago, during a project for a TV show, I met a girl who said she was my fan. She had a serious illness and was constantly bedridden. She reminded me of my former self, so I gave her a ring. As you’d expect, the jewel wasn’t real, but it was a pretty ring set with a sapphire-colored stone, and…” Saikawa’s eyes fell to the mummy’s hand.

The fourth finger of the hand wore a rusted ring with a blue stone.

“Saikawa, don’t tell me this mummy’s hand belongs to…”

“I don’t know. The ring may just look similar.”

“In the first place, did that girl pass away?”

“I don’t know that, either. I’ve asked some people who might, and I’m trying to get in touch with her.”

…I see. Either way, the enemy had definitely sent this to Saikawa with malicious intent.

“Saikawa, are you okay? Um, emotionally, I mean.”

“Yes. I made a promise to that girl. I told her that as long as she supported me, I’d keep singing and dancing and shining. I’d shine brighter than the stars, brighter than the sun, and I’d clear all her melancholy away. That means I’ll never turn gloomy,” Saikawa said, still smiling.

“…Right. Scarlet, what do you plan to do next?” I asked our new ally. The situation was still murky, but it was likely that Saikawa would be targeted. What was our next move going to be?

Scarlet gazed steadily at the wine glass in his hand, seemingly deep in thought. “Hmm? Oh, I was just wondering what vintage this wine was.”

“Give me back the time I just spent waiting,” I groused.

Scarlet ignored me and drank his wine, looking satisfied. His face, though… I’m not sure how to put it, and this may sound confusing, but he looked like an ordinary human.

“Shall I sing a song? Listening to music while you drink makes liquor taste even better.”

“Saikawa, is that something a high school girl should be saying?” I forced a smile.

“No need,” Scarlet said, without turning a hair. “I stopped listening to music quite some time ago.”

“I…see.” Saikawa backed down, sounding a bit defeated.

“Well, no matter. For the moment, you guard the sapphire girl tomorrow,” Scarlet ordered, getting the conversation back on topic.

“Me? Just so you know, if we end up fighting vampires, I won’t be much help.”

“Do not speak so boldly of your own incompetence. Have you no shame?”

That really was a good reason to scold somebody; I couldn’t even complain he was being unfair.

“Sorry, Saikawa, but I guess that’s how it is. Starting today, I’ll be staying here so I can guard you. Your bed’s gonna be kind of cramped, but just tough it out.”

“Kimizuka, were you even listening? Nobody said anything like that.”

They hadn’t? If I was going to be guarding her around the clock, I thought we’d have to share a bed, but if Saikawa was against it, then that was that.

“It’s been a while, but I guess we’ll do that again.”

Saikawa looked puzzled.

“I’ll be Yui-nya the idol’s producer.”