Tantei wa Mou, Shindeiru - Volume 9 - Chapter Pr

A prologue from the future

“This is the Sacred Relic I found.”

In the room at the top of the clock tower, Mia Whitlock, the Oracle, pointed to a reddish-brown ritual implement on the desk. Siesta, Nagisa, and I all took a good, hard look at it.

“It looks just like the one Noel gave us.”

There was another item on the desk: the bronze-colored ritual implement Noel de Lupwise had brought to our agency the other day. Both items were pyramid-shaped; the only difference was their color.

“You saw where this was in a prophetic dream, Mia?”

“That’s right. I went on a journey to find the ‘Doomsday Clock’ that appeared in my dreams, and this Sacred Relic was buried at its foot.”

A prophetic dream. Ordinarily I would have dismissed something like that as a dumb idea, but if the Oracle had seen it, that made a big difference.

“Would you mind if I went over what we know so far?”

Olivia—the Oracle’s personal assistant, who was currently dressed as a waitress—brought in black tea for four.

“In short, the object Master Kimizuka brought and the one Madam Mia found are both ritual implements known as ‘Sacred Relics,’ which may house memories the world has lost. Is that correct?” she asked.

“Yes, based on what we experienced three days ago,” Nagisa told her.

“It certainly seems that way,” Siesta confirmed.

We’d first realized that either the world had lost certain memories or that humanity’s collective memory had been rewritten during the Ritual of Sacred Return three weeks ago.

Bruno Belmondo, the Information Broker, was the only person who’d realized something was wrong with the world. He’d sounded the alarm, alerting those of us who were basking obliviously in apparent peace, and had left us a legacy: a note on which was written the words “the Akashic records,” and this old, bronze-colored ritual implement.

When I touched that object, I’d recovered fragments of those lost memories, including the keywords “Singularity” and “the Akashic records.” Siesta and Nagisa had also regained some memories, and the three of us had resolved to unlock the world’s hidden mysteries.

Then, three days ago, whether it was coincidence or fate, Mia Whitlock had gotten in contact with us. Like us, she’d obtained an artifact that held some of the world’s lost memories. Siesta, Nagisa, and I had departed for London, which was where we were now.

“I couldn’t do anything about it on my own. I’m glad you and the others are here, Boss.”

Mia gave a relieved sigh, and Siesta smiled. The Oracle couldn’t foretell global crises the way she used to, but she still worried about the world.

“We didn’t even know these things were called ‘Sacred Relics,’ though.” I glanced at the two objects on the desk.

“I’m only calling them by the name that feels right to me. Still, Kimihiko, can you really see lost records of the past just by touching these?”

“Yeah. It feels a bit like it did when the origin text showed me possible futures.”

“Is that because you’re the Singularity?”

“Uh… Maybe? I don’t really know.”

Apparently, I was something known as the Singularity. The Singularity was the power to distort the world, or the turning point of history—something like that. The last Sacred Relic I’d touched had told me that I’d once been burdened with that sort of role.

Why had we forgotten that? And why did our memories still seem to add up, even though we’d lost some of them? It was as if there was someone forcing everything to make sense.

“But you still remembered everything besides the term ‘the Akashic records,’ right, Kimihiko? The things that happened with Rill, for example,” Natsunagi said.

“Yeah.”

The brief but vivid and extraordinary days I’d spent with the Magical Girl. No matter what else I forgot, I’d never forget those.

“Come to think of it, Mia and Rill grew closer right around then.”

“…What are you talking about? We’re not close at all,” Mia said, averting her gaze.

“Hmm? But when I invite you to play games with me online, sometimes you say you can’t because you’re on the phone with a friend. Isn’t that the Magical Girl?” Siesta asked.

“Y-you’re wrong! Rill’s not my friend! I just said it that way because it was easier!” Mia hastily waved her hands in denial. She and Rill had gotten along poorly way back when, and apparently she was embarrassed to admit that their relationship had improved. What was she, a child?

“It makes me happy that my precious junior has a new friend, you know. Although I guess it does also make me feel a bit lonely.”

“…Hmm? You’re jealous over me, Boss? That’s actually a little exciting.”

“Madam Mia, your nose is bleeding.” Olivia held out a tissue, and Mia hastily pressed it to her nose.

It was about time we got back on topic.

“Naturally, I’m curious about this new Sacred Relic, but what’s this Doomsday Clock you saw, Mia?”

“Originally, it was a concept created to demonstrate how things like war and climate change affect the earth’s lifespan. However, what I saw was nothing that tame.”

Mia brought out some photos she’d taken at the site. The place was a sea of vegetation, a jungle where civilization seemed to have died out completely. In the midst of it, an enormous clock monument loomed. This was the physical Doomsday Clock, and its hands were almost at midnight.

“I can tell it’s signaling that the world is going to end.”

“I see. This might be what the White Tengu was talking about.” Natsunagi began quoting the leader of Pandemonium, a past enemy of ours. “‘This world holds several devices for recording its past and future. The sacred tome, the clock of the end, the locked box, and beings like myself. They are there as warnings.’ Mia’s Doomsday Clock really is alerting us to a global crisis.”

She was right. The White Tengu had been trying to deliver some sort of warning about mankind. It had attempted to convey its message through Natsunagi, since she could use word-soul, but Gluttony the Supernatural had killed it before it could finish.

“A Sacred Relic that was buried below the clock seems like it might give us some sort of hint, at least.”

“It does. It looks almost the same as the one Noel left with us.” Siesta picked up Mia’s Sacred Relic, examining it. Just like the other one, it had an indentation in its base.

“They aren’t made to fit together, though. They’re both indented.”

“True. But if you touch it, Kimi, something might happen anyway.”

“What’s this—proof that you trust me?”

“More like a memory of the unpleasant experiences I keep getting dragged into by that predisposition of yours.”

“Hey, you’re the one who dragged me into this,” I retorted. I started to reach out for the new Sacred Relic, but hesitated. Last time I’d been caught by surprise, so I hadn’t had the option of mentally preparing myself. This time, though, we were assuming something was going to happen. I needed to steel myself a bit.

“Still, even if something does happen again, we don’t know what sort of memory you’ll get back, or when it will be from, do we?” Nagisa asked.

Taking a moment to settle myself, I drank the tea Olivia had poured for me. “Right. I might end up remembering what you and I did that one day, Nagisa.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?! And from the way you’re talking, you already remember it, Kimihiko! I’m the only one who forgot!”

“Well, we’d both been drinking. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.”

“You’re totally lying! Siesta was the one you did stuff with after you’d been drinking.”

“Nagisa, the next time you mention that, you’re fired,” Siesta shot back without turning a hair.

“Say, Olivia, have these three actually grown up?” asked Mia. “It feels like their relationship—or rather, their love triangle—has been deadlocked for ages.”

“It’s entirely possible that becoming equals has made it harder for them to move forward, and they’ll simply repeat the same cycle for the rest of their lives.”

After that exchange, I’d finally managed to steel myself for what I had to do. I faced the Sacred Relic Mia had found. “Okay. I’m touching it.”

My fingertip connected with the cold surface of the reddish-brown object.

Something that felt like a painless electrical current ran through me. When people talk about your life flashing before your eyes as you die, I bet this is what they mean. Sound and light washed over me, as vivid as reality.

“…………”

Things I’d seen with my own eyes but hadn’t been able to take to the future with me, and even things I hadn’t been able to see on that last day. I journeyed to the past to reclaim those memories, then returned to the real world.

It felt like a few months, but it was actually only thirty seconds or so. The next thing I knew, the women were all gazing at me with concern. Mia held out a handkerchief, and I used it to wipe my sweaty face.

“What did you see?”

“What came right after the last incident. The Vampire’s story, after the Magical Girl situation settled down.”

“…I thought so. The world started to go strange right about then.”

Mia and the two detectives’ faces clouded slightly.

Olivia brought us more tea, and I took a swallow of mine. “I never knew that guy’s whole story. I bet he wouldn’t have wanted to tell me, either. But…”

Even so, some twist of fate had just landed me in the role of narrator.

I had a duty to relate everything, even the things we hadn’t known. Even the things that maybe we were never supposed to know.

And so, with a silent apology to the man in question, I began. “I’d like you to listen to this. Some of it you already know, and some of it you don’t. It’s the story of a man who lived and fought day after day.”

I was sure he’d be laughing this off in hell.