Singapore: a hot, humid country where it feels like summer all year round. Right now, the four of us were in one of its commuter towns.
"My, that looks delicious!"
We were sitting in an eatery that faced the street, and a pleasant wind was blowing through. Across from me, Saikawa energetically clapped her hands together over her lunch. "Thanks for the food!"
From what I heard, it had won a star in a world-famous restaurant guidebook, but it was in a place resembling a food court on the first floor of an apartment building. Apparently, that was really common here. It reminded me how different cultures could be.
"Haaaah. Lunch. Finally." Charlie shot me a cranky look across the table. "It's incredible how just having a certain someone around can ruin our plans."
Grumbling about how it was a total nuisance, she started slurping her pork noodles.
She seemed to have a problem with the fact that I'd accidentally caught a
pickpocket on our way to the eatery, and dealing with it had taken up time. "Easy, easy. We're still ahead of schedule. No harm done." From the seat next
to mine, Natsunagi tried to calm Charlie down. She was smiling a bit awkwardly.
The reason we'd come to Singapore was because of a conference with high- ranking officials from the Federation Government that was scheduled to take place at six o'clock that evening. There, they would address Nagisa Natsunagi's appointment as a Tuner. They were going to hand down a formal decision about whether it was appropriate to make her the new Ace Detective.
"It could end up being a tough debate. Let's recharge while we've got the chance." Telling myself that as much as the rest of them, I stabbed a big piece of chicken with my fork.
"The Ace Detective, huh…?" Natsunagi gazed into the distance. She was probably mulling over the many nuances of that title. If a new Ace Detective was being appointed, it meant that someone else had stepped down from the position.
The name of that person was Siesta.
A month ago, Siesta had retaken her heart and joined our final battle against Seed, the world's enemy. Ultimately, through the sacrifice of our former enemy Hel, Seed had been sealed within an enormous tree, and our long story had come to an end. —Or it should have, anyway.
After that fight, certain circumstances had forced Siesta to fall asleep, and she'd been asleep ever since. Even now, she was in Japan, napping. We'd decided not to bring the curtain down on this tale until we found a way to wake her up.
"We're just getting started, aren't we?" Next to me, Natsunagi slapped her cheeks with her hands, psyching herself up.
True, there were things that we'd lost, and things that had changed. But we'd managed to hold on to a few things, too.
"Kimizuka? Is something wrong?" Natsunagi tilted her head, looking puzzled.
The wind blew, ruffling her hair softly. She had cut her hair short.
I felt as if I'd caught a glimpse of her other face, the one that had once lived inside her.
"Nah, I was just thinking beautiful girls look great with any haircut."
"…Have you always been the type to say things like that without blushing, Kimizuka?" she asked in a small, weak voice.
"I figured out that everything goes more smoothly when I'm honest."
The former Ace Detective was the one who taught me that pacing was important. Anybody could see that exacerbating problems by saying things I didn't actually think, or not saying what I did think, would just make people hate me. Most of all, it wouldn't help anyone who was involved. I'd learned as much over the past several months, through several various incidents.
"In that case, Kimizuka, compliment me, too!" Saikawa said, raising her hand and butting into our conversation.
"I don't get what 'in that case' means here."
"Oh, come on, Kimizuka. Idols are constantly hungry for approval."
"They shouldn't say things like that with a straight face."
Well, never mind. Pacing matters here, too.
Gazing steadily across the table at Saikawa, I complimented her on everything I could think of: the nails she'd clearly put a ton of work into, the hairstyle she'd tried out for the first time, her new shampoo, and the scent of her perfume.
"…Oh, yes, I see. U-um, thank you very much…"
"Hey, Saikawa. Why did your face tense up? And why did you scoot your chair back a bit?"
That's weird. I complimented her because she told me to. This is way too unf
—
"No, getting turned off by that is completely appropriate," Natsunagi said with a look of disgust before I could give my usual sigh. "That's just freaky. A girl gets scared when you're paying that close attention."
"But a detective's assistant has to be able to observe people, right?" "We're telling you not to do that with girls!"
Natsunagi and Saikawa clung to each other, saying "That's really scary," and shooting me cold looks.
What did I do to deserve this treatment, huh?
"Sheesh. Charlie, it looks like it's two against two here." "Why are you assuming I'm on your side, Kimizuka?"
Even the blond agent, the member of this group I'd known the longest, stared at me in disgust.
"You know, Charlie, your birthday's coming up. Is there anything you want?" "And now you're trying to win me over with presents?! …Actually, why do
you know when my birthday is, Kimizuka?"
It didn't really mean anything. I was partnered with a detective who was really big on celebrating anniversaries, that's all.
"K-Kimizuka actually knows when my birthday is… Wait, why am I kind of happy about that? It's such a stupid little…"
"Yui! Quit doing stupid voice-overs for me!" Using her hands, Charlie messed up Saikawa's hair.
"Sorry~~," Saikawa said, but she was wearing a joyful smile.
I bet watching a peaceful scene like this when you're eating makes it taste 20 percent better.
"You didn't give me a present." Ignoring the two of them, Natsunagi looked at me as if to say something more.
If I recalled, her birthday was—June 7.
That had been right before she and I met in that classroom after school, and
she'd asked me to find the original owner of her heart. "Yours will have to wait until next year."
"You mean we'll be together next year, too?" For some reason, Natsunagi seemed happy. She tucked her hair behind her ears.
Next year. If all went well, we would have graduated high school by then.
What would our lives be like? Would all our wishes have come true?
"Mine is in December, so you have plenty of time!" Saikawa, who'd apparently been eavesdropping, announced in hope for a birthday present next.
"Do you even have anything else you want, Saikawa?"
Just looking at her mansion, you'd figure she already had everything.
"That may be true for physical things, but in exchange, there's, um, something I want to do…" Uncharacteristically, she faltered. Then she glanced up at us. "I'd like to have a birthday party with all of you."
Saikawa hadn't grown up taking that sort of thing for granted, and she said her wish timidly.
"We'll do it! We're absolutely having one!" Jumping up with a clatter, Natsunagi reached across the table and hugged Saikawa.
For a moment, Saikawa seemed startled, then relieved.
One thing had led to another and another and another, but through it all, Natsunagi and Saikawa had become fast friends as well.
"You don't need in on that?"
The awkward blond girl was watching those two from up close, and she kept putting out her hand, hesitating, then retracting it. She didn't seem to have the courage to jump into that circle just yet.
"I'm fine," Charlie murmured softly, as if she'd given up. Even so, she took out a notebook and started to write something into her schedule for some future date.
"…What?"
Oh, nothing. I just thought She sure isn't honest, huh. She's a lot like I used to be.
"Come to think of it, has your birthday passed already, Kimizuka? I would have wanted to celebrate that as well," Saikawa said.
"Kimizuka's is May fifth." "Charlie, why did you answer that?" And, what, you know my birthday?
"Huh. That's Children's Day." Saikawa raised her iced tea to her lips. And then… "By the way, what were you like as a child, Kimizuka?"
That question made the other two look toward me again.
Natsunagi in particular seemed suddenly interested. "Actually, yes, I'm a bit curious about that, too. I only know what you were like after you met Siesta, Kimizuka."
"Yeah, I guess I hadn't talked about my past that much."
My childhood before I left on that journey with Siesta, and my memories from my birthdays—a few fragmented episodes that I'd shut away in the depths of my mind resurfaced for the first time in ages.
"The thing is, I don't have any interesting stories."
Those memories weren't important enough to tell anyone about, which meant that I wasn't going to say anything until someone asked.
"We're not looking for something 'interesting.'" Unexpectedly, Charlie averted her eyes and lowered the bar for me.
She wasn't the only one.
"We just want to know more about you, Kimizuka." I was drawn to Natsunagi's smile and what she said. …Yeah, that's right. It was the same when I first met her, in that classroom after school.
"So tell us." She smiled at me gently.
Now that she'd said that, I had to do it. Hel's "word-soul"—no, Natsunagi's heartfelt words—would inexorably spur me on until I collapsed.
"The story may be a little long, is that okay?"
It just so happened that we had plenty of time before the next item on our agenda.
So, what should I start with?
I began by remembering things that had happened a few years back, one by one.