When this battle ends
“—I’m beat.”
When we got back to our hotel, I collapsed onto one of the twin beds.
After our confrontation with the Federation Government, we’d worked from Natsunagi’s theory and a few of the facts that Odin had told us to uncover something else about Scarlet’s past.
Feeling as if the weight of it would crush us, we’d taken the car and train back to the hotel. I couldn’t remember much about the trip at all, and I was just happy we’d managed to make it back. We hadn’t even eaten properly, and it was close to midnight already.
“Your jacket’s going to get wrinkled.” We were staying in the same room, and Natsunagi brought over a hanger. “Let me have it.”
“It’s fine. I’ll do it.”
I went over to the rack by the door and hung up my jacket. When I got back, Natsunagi had collapsed face down on the bed.
“You too, huh?” Sounding a little surprised, I flopped onto the other bed.
With a groan, Natsunagi rolled onto her back. “Of course I’m tired.”
Yeah, I’ll bet. Both physically and mentally.
“Detectives have to deal with a lot of painful stuff, don’t they?”
“The truth mostly isn’t pretty,” she said. Meanwhile, I grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge and handed one to Natsunagi. We sat there in silence for a little while. I couldn’t think of any good topics to make small talk about.
After a few minutes, Natsunagi took a swallow of water, then spoke. “I won’t stop, though. No matter how much the truth hurts, I won’t stop being a detective.”
“Yeah, me either.” After all, I’d been destined for a life of nonstop trouble ever since I was born. Even if I suddenly quit being an assistant, my path wouldn’t be one without obstacles. In which case, I’d choose this life.
“Starting tomorrow, things are going to get busy again.”
Now that we knew what we did, there was something we had to do. Golden Week would be over soon, but we might not even have time to go back to college.
“So in the end, it’s just going to be like it was in high school?”
“Right: I’ll be the detective, and you’ll be my assistant,” Natsunagi said with a smile.
That meant, without a doubt, we would once again…
“For tonight, let’s get to bed.”
I would have preferred to take a shower first, but in the end, drowsiness won out. We had to go back home on the first flight the next morning. Just as I was thinking I’d at least change into my pajamas before going to sleep, I heard a bang. It was far too cute for a gunshot. When I turned around, wondering what the noise had been, I saw Natsunagi holding a small party cracker.
“Happy birthday, Kimizuka.”
I glanced at the clock. The date had changed to May 5: It was my birthday.
“…You came prepared.” I didn’t really know what kind of expression to wear at a time like this, and I muttered “thank you” so quietly she might not have even heard it.
“I don’t have a present for you, so I thought I’d at least set off some party crackers.”
“What, you didn’t get me anything?”
“I mean, now’s not exactly the time for that sort of thing, is it?” Natsunagi said sensibly, and popped a second cracker. “Let’s celebrate properly once we’ve gotten this incident squared away!”
“That sounds a lot like a death flag.”
“But pointing that out means it’s not going to work.” Natsunagi grinned. It was contagious; I smiled a little, too.
Just getting a year older didn’t make me feel like an adult. Wishes, egos, pretty lies, and life choices… Life was still littered with things I didn’t understand, but it was past the time when that made it okay to cling to how things were.
That was why I’d make a choice, even if I knew it might not be the right one. No matter what responsibility I had to shoulder as a result. After all, over these past few months, I’d seen lots of people make difficult choices. And so…
“Wait just a little longer,” I murmured to the detective asleep in a distant country.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login