Accomplices in peace
"Mia. Here."
After that, while Siesta and Nagisa were chatting with Rill, I took a certain object from my bag.
"…So you brought the origin text." Mia reached out with a hint of relief to take what I was holding.
"Why did you give this to me?" Before I handed it to her, though, I had some questions.
When Olivia had given me the origin text on the plane, she hadn't said much about their reasons. Why had Mia entrusted it to me, when it was something ordinary people weren't even allowed to touch?
"If I said I'd seen it in a dream, would you be angry?" Mia looked up at me, forcing a smile. She wasn't joking around, though, and she didn't seem to be trying to dodge the question.
"I can't see the future or predict global crises now, but for some reason, I was sure I had to give that book to you. I woke up one morning and thought, 'If nothing else, I have to protect that future.'"
Had it been a prophetic dream, or the Oracle's sixth sense, or some inevitability based more in fact than either of those things? If Mia herself didn't know, I couldn't press the issue.
However, I'd have to know the truth someday. This wasn't a hunch; the thought was founded on a kind of certainty.
"Mia, I'm sorry." I didn't even know whether apologizing was the right thing to do.
Mia looked puzzled, and I just handed her the book.
"—This is…" The moment she took it, she gave me a startled look. She'd realized that it was a fake.
I had to keep my eyes on her, at least. I waited for the Oracle's verdict. "I see. So this is your answer, Kimihiko."
Mia was the first to look away. She drew a deep breath, then hugged the false origin text to her chest and returned her gaze to me. "All right. If this is your choice, I'll accept it."
As Stephen had said, Mia had picked up on my plot, and chosen to ignore it.
She wasn't agreeing or disagreeing. She only seemed to be praying that this would be the correct future.
"Have you mentioned anything to Boss?"
"…No, not yet."
I hadn't intended to tell the detective about this wish, this secret, myself.
"You should talk it over. Most trouble between a couple is due to insufficient communication."
"Since when are you a romance guru?" I retorted.
Mia gave me a little smile. "Either way, I'll respect your decision. Let's make sure this ceremony succeeds." She held out her hand for a handshake.
As I reached for it, I realized that something was off.
Make sure this ceremony succeeds. Since the origin text was a fake, "success" in the truest sense of the word wouldn't be possible. Mia had to know that, so why…?
"I'm like you. I prefer stories with happy endings." There was a hint of melancholy in Mia's smile.
"—I see. You too."
Did she know where the real origin text had gone?
Stephen already made contact with Mia… Actually, he'd probably met with her before he'd seen me, and he'd tried to negotiate the transfer of the origin text at that time. Had Mia hesitated, then entrusted the origin text to me instead?
The Oracle had weighed the options, too. Flawless justice that didn't balk at waging war or making sacrifices, or peace based in a compromise that allowed evil to exist: Which should the world choose?
"Yeah, Mia. Let's do this together." Mia and I shook hands.
Why hadn't I talked this over with the Ace Detectives? Because for all of us, it was something that went without saying.
In this moment, we were accomplices.
Soon after that, Olivia came to pick up Mia, and the two of them and Rill went off to see another group of acquaintances. The former Tuner who'd traveled the world might not be a good communicator, but she seemed to know a lot of people anyway.
Then Nagisa, Siesta, and I were the only ones there.
When one of us seemed about to make eye contact with another, both would look away. We all knew we'd argued and failed to find common ground; that was why the mood was so awkward. We also understood that this fight had been on a different level from our usual arguments.
"Haaah. There's just no helping us, is there? Geez." Nagisa cracked first.
Sighing, she turned to me. "Kimihiko, what are you going to do about you- know-what?" Just in case, she lowered her voice, very conscious of the people around us.
"You-know-what" was a maneuver the three of us had been setting up in secret ever since we'd arrived in France. After hesitating, I told her, "Let's cancel it."
Nagisa's eyes widened a little. "If I asked you why, could you tell me here?" "…I don't think so. I have an idea, though."
She pressed her lips together, watching me steadily. It was as if she suspected I was trying to cover something up… No, I think she was worried by that possibility.
"All right. That's fine." Surprisingly, Siesta was next to speak. "Remember what I said at the hotel yesterday afternoon? We're letting Kimi give the orders this time."
"I thought the fight last night had reset all of that."
"I'm not a child, you know. I don't let my emotions control me. Are you stupid, Kimi?" Siesta pouted.
"Huh? Am I remembering yesterday wrong? When we got back to the hotel from the bar, all the way until we went to bed, you kept fixating on the fact that you'd fought with Kimihiko and getting mad, then depressed, like a little kid."
"Nagisa, that wasn't necessary." Siesta gave Nagisa a long, even look, then turned back to me. "Let's assume this conversation has evaporated from your memories, Assistant."
"Yeah, it's gone. I don't remember a thing, so don't worry," I joked. Siesta smiled. "I want to see the answer you've found for this story."
She held out her left hand to me. Was this a "Let's make up" handshake? If so, that really was way too childish. Ignoring her hand, I gave her a wry smile instead.
"The ball's about to start," Nagisa said, looking around. The tables had been cleared of their drinks and refreshments, and couples were standing here and there in the open space, chatting.
"And? Which of us will you dance with, Kimihiko?" Nagisa asked, pressing me to choose.
Would I dance with Siesta, or with Nagisa?
"It's not like I can't dance with both of you, is it?" "But it matters whose hand you'll take first."
Geez, this was a tough one. As I was stressing out over the world's hardest
question…
"Sorry. I have a previous engagement," Siesta said. She turned away, gown flaring. As she did, she glanced at me, and the corners of her lips rose very slightly. Maybe this was payback for last night.
"She really is a kid." I shrugged, turning my back on Siesta. "…Oh, she's dancing with Mia, huh?"
"Lame. Don't immediately check to see who she's dancing with." Nagisa retorted, dragging my eyes back to her. "Were you worried her partner might be another guy?"
"Not even possible. I'm not in middle school. I'm not even in high school anymore."
"Hmm. Well, as long as you understand that."
Yeah, we were all adults. When I looked at Nagisa, dressed to the nines, there was no way I could think otherwise.
Then the music started, and the ball began.
Nagisa and I gazed at each other. I gently took her hand. "We're the only ones left. Want to dance?"
"Hmm. By process of elimination?"
"…Sorry; that was the wrong approach. May I have this dance, Nagisa?"
Nagisa smiled, then leaned in toward me. "The other way's fine, too." She was wearing heels, so her face was right in front of mine. Her beautiful red eyes watched me steadily. "As long as you'll look at me. Even if it's only for now, or when you're not sure what to do."
The result of searching for the credits
After the ball ended, just before seven, we all relocated to the venue for the Ritual of Sacred Return.
It was a large, oval hall with a retractable roof, built to accommodate several thousand people. That and the screen at the front made it look like a concert venue.
"Your seats are this way."
The hall was about a third full.
Noel led Nagisa, Siesta, and I to our seats in a row near the back.
"I hope you enjoyed the ball." Noel took a seat beside me. From this point on, she'd just be attending the ceremony like the rest of us.
"How does it look? Has anything weird happened?"
"No, not particularly. Security is being kept very tight as well."
"I see," I said, nodding. Everything was going smoothly so far. However, if something was going to happen…
"The rest depends on the Ritual of Sacred Return, then," Siesta said, gazing at the stage at the front of the hall. There was a large, white pillar on the stage, with firewood piled in front of it as if they were planning to have a bonfire. Was that going to be used in the ritual? It was almost like an altar.
"It should begin in about five minutes," Noel told us, checking the time.
When I looked out over the hall, I spotted Bruno sitting in a seat toward the front on the right, near a door. Troops under the direct command of the Federation Government—a force known as the White Suits—were stationed around him. Although they weren't Tuners, they were an elite group that had helped to resolve conflicts and incidents all over the world. They'd been stationed here to protect Bruno.
The world's wisdom is about to perish. We still didn't know who had sent that letter. Either way, the unknown crisis wouldn't happen here. I'd shut it down by making that contract yesterday.
"Is that Mia sitting over there?" Nagisa pointed at a seat in the front, a special bench that stood out from the rest.
I couldn't see clearly from this angle, but I did make out something like the Oracle's costume sticking out past the edge of the seat. There was a figure standing nearby; from its height, I assumed it was Olivia.
"Yes. The Oracle has a special part to play in the ritual."
"Oh, that's right… Aside from us, though, there are hardly any Tuners here."
As Nagisa said, the only other Tuner I saw was Rill, over in a reserved wheelchair space. Naturally, Fuubi Kase, the former Assassin, wasn't here.
"True. The Men in Black are guarding the venue and its perimeter, but no other former Tuners are in attendance."
The Men in Black were a large organization, and they'd once worked as handymen for the other Tuners. They always wore dark suits and sunglasses; even now, we didn't know any of their real faces. However, the idea that they were protecting this place made me feel a little safer.
"Stephen really isn't here, is he? There was something I wanted to talk to him about…" Siesta said.
I actually knew where Stephen and quite a few other former Tuners had gone.
I couldn't say so here, though.
After a couple more minutes, we heard the low sound of a bell.
"It's starting."
Noel faced forward. That bell had signaled the beginning of the Ritual of Sacred Return. Over our heads, the roof opened to reveal a starry sky. Then, a dozen masked, costumed individuals filed in through two doors near the front of the hall.
"Those are government dignitaries."
It was impossible to tell their ages or genders. They seated themselves in a row at the very front, beside Mia.
Technically, Noel's title qualified her to be up there, too. However, she'd told us that she'd acquired her position suddenly through hereditary succession, and due to her lack of experience, she was only ever assigned servant-type work.
Several of the officials rose to their feet. One blew an instrument that looked like a conch shell, while two others walked to the stage and lit the stack of firewood. In front of the pillar, pale flames began to climb into the night sky.
For a little while, the hall was silent. Then someone I knew very well stood up: Mia Whitlock, the girl in the Oracle's costume. She and her servant Olivia ascended the stairs together, and she began feeding the sacred texts she was handed into the flames.
"After this ritual, Mia will have completely lost her abilities as the Oracle, correct?" said Nagisa. "…Will that really be enough to end all disasters? She'll burn the origin text, returning her power. What if she does all that, and then there's another global crisis? I'm not sure that doing this guarantees we'll be all right."
As she spoke, the flames crawled across several more volumes of the sacred text.
"Yeah, the Ritual of Sacred Return has been performed several times throughout history, and the results have been self-evident," I answered for Noel. "Not that peace will be permanent," I added.
Nagisa's eyes widened.
"…So you noticed, Mr. Kimihiko." Noel gave a small nod. She seemed vaguely resigned.
Yesterday in the car, Noel had said that the effects of the Ritual of Safe Return were guaranteed by several millennia of records. If the ritual had been held in the past, the world should have been peaceful already, but we'd instead run into all those global crises.
It was likely that this was a cycle, something that had been repeated for the past several thousand years. Why did they still need to hold this ritual? Why
didn't they learn? And if all of this was true, why had Noel been able to declare that our peace and safety would be guaranteed? It was because—
"There's a limit to the peace the ritual brings, isn't there?" I asked.
"Two hundred years," Noel said, gazing at the distant white smoke. "After a Ritual of Sacred Return is held, there will be no global crises for at least two centuries."
Two centuries. At the very least, the next disaster wouldn't happen for another two hundred years.
Essentially, the safety of people living in this particular era was guaranteed. "It may be a fleeting peace in the grand scheme of the world, but it is a lasting
peace for humans."
Another disaster was bound to occur someday, but not before the end of our natural lives. Had the world done this over and over for thousands of years?
In that case…
"That was the right choice."
It didn't matter whether we burned the real origin text or the false one. The world wouldn't gain lasting peace either way. My choice—the choice Stephen's group had made—could prevent the unknown crisis now. It had been the right call.
"There they go," Siesta murmured, watching the ritual.
All the crises that had assailed the world were being consigned to the sacred flames, sublimated into smoke that rose high into the sky.
In the meantime, one of the Federation Government officials rose from their seat and read from a scroll. It was a poem praising those who'd fought to protect the world, one that showed a determination to defend the coming peace.
It wasn't that the words themselves had any value. The poem was in a foreign language, so I didn't even understand all of it, but I closed my eyes and listened. It made me think of the past.
We'd spent those days running desperately; we'd lost so much, but we'd kept reaching out for the wishes we'd wanted to come true. And we'd won. We'd reached our happy ending. All the fighting was over, and these days, no one cried.
"—Are you sure?"
I thought I heard a voice.
Who had whispered those words to me recently? "Kimihiko?" Nagisa was watching me worriedly.
"It's nothing," I said, shaking my head, and just then—
Bang! A gunshot echoed through the hall.
Bright red blood spattered the white pillar of the altar. "Madame Mia!"
A frantic scream rang out—it was Olivia.
Up on the stage, she rushed toward the young Oracle, who crumpled into her arms.
Justice had been defiled by an assassin's bullet. "Enemy attack!"
There was no telling who had been the first to scream those words. A second later, confusion erupted in the hall. The one thing anyone knew for sure was that the Oracle had been shot.
"…Mia."
Up on the distant altar, Mia lay limp in Olivia's embrace. Her shoulder was bleeding. In my mind's eye, I saw the smile she'd given me before the ceremony when she'd told me she liked happy endings, too.
"What's going on?"
Something was wrong. Why was this happening?
My mind had gone into overdrive, but it wasn't giving me any answers. The only words I could find were a complaint, one so stupid I would rather have died than said it aloud: It wasn't supposed to be like this.
"It can't… That's ridiculous…"
No—the future I'd wished for hadn't ended like this. The crises should have been gone.
Who was it? Who had sold us out?
Was it Stephen? That thing in the crow mask? Or had it been— "Siesta, wait!" Nagisa launched herself into a run.
Someone had started moving even before she did.
As Nagisa reached out for her, the white-haired detective had taken off like a shot. Grabbing her musket from under the seats, she rushed toward Mia like a gust of wind.
But Siesta hadn't noticed that she was being targeted as well. "—Siesta, watch out! Second-floor seats, opposite side!"
The thing in the crow mask was up there, leveling a black rifle. Siesta heard me through her earpiece, but by the time she saw the enemy and gasped, the shot had already been fired.
A bullet moving faster than the speed of sound was headed straight for her.
There was no time to dodge. In other words—
"Siesta…!"
A spray of blood bloomed like a flower. Siesta staggered, then fell over without even trying to catch herself.
"...!"
The next thing I knew, I was in motion. I'd started running before I could put my feelings into words like It's too late. Even if I get there, there's no point. I was swimming upstream through the crowd, bumping into people. Everyone was screaming something, but weirdly, I couldn't hear their voices.
It was like the sound had cut out.
I couldn't see anything in color. Then, just as I hit the bottom of the stairs, my sense of balance deserted me, and I collapsed to the floor. I stretched out my hand, trying to reach Siesta's distant, motionless shape.
"Sie…sta…"
I knew. I recognized this scene.
That's right. On that day, just like this, the detective had— "Again…?"
This ending was wrong. I'd been obsessed in my pursuit of a future where things didn't turn out like this. Even so, it was my fault this had happened. I'd gotten something wrong. In that case, I—
" !"
Just then, I saw someone run to Siesta, screaming.
It was Nagisa. The other detective sprinted, driven by her passion. I watched her back until she reached Siesta, then blacked out.