Nagi suggested.
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“Will do,” he said, and a young doctor, presumably Dr. Kisugi, came into sight.
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“What are you doing? You aren’t well!”
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“I know!” Nagi said, winking at Shinpei. She left the garden with the doctor.
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Shinpei waved, watching her go.
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He ultimately reported that his investigation of Teratsuki Kyoichiro had uncovered nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing his clients would care about, at least. If he had been an ordinary detective the fact that Teratsuki Kyoichiro had a number of mistresses, each of whom had children, would have been
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noteworthy, but that wasn’t news his clients would care about. Synthetic humans could not produce children, so they were definitely not his. With that in mind, his lovers were nothing but a front to maintain the illusion of his humanity.
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And so he headed back to the hospital.
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This time he did not wander, but went directly to a room-a private room. He could hear girls’ cheerful voices through the door.
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He knocked.
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“Coming!” a girl said brightly, and the door opened.
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“Hello,” he said, bowing his head.
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The girl who had opened the door was wearing what looked like a junior high school uniform, and she frowned at him. “Who are you?”
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“The detective Kirima-san summoned,” he said, politely.
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Nagi called out from the bed, “It’s okay, Naoko.
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I know him.”
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“Oh? Okay then.” Naoko appeared to be a friend of Nagi’s. She dropped her guard, and waved him in, smiling.
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“Detective...you have results?” Nagi asked,
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grinning.
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“You could say that. Never thought you’d be a billionaire,” Shinpei said, shaking his head.
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“What? Detective, you were investigating Nagi?”
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Naoko asked, fascinated.
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Innocently, Shinpei said, “She told me to.”
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Kirima Nagi.
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Nagi was the only daughter of the writer Kirima Seiichi, who had died unexpectedly four years earlier.
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She inherited the rights to all of his works, which, even after his death, were still selling millions of copies a year. Naturally, those rights came with their share of trouble.
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“At first I thought you might be pretending to be sick, and hiding here, but it looks like you really are sick. Unfortunately.”
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“Why unfortunately?”
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“There’s no benefit to being sick, is there?”
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“Exactly,” Naoko said, earnestly. “No matter how rich she is, she’s still sick. Get better soon! I don’t want to wind up too far ahead of you.”
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Her words were said in jest, but there was genuine concern behind them. She was a good girl.
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The three of them chatted for a while about nothing in particular. Eventually, it was time for Naoko to go.
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“I’d better be off, Nagi.”
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“Me too,” Shinpei said, rising from his seat on the bed.
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But Nagi stopped him, “Stay a little longer, Detective.”
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“Oh?” he started to sit down again, but Naoko turned around, halfway out the door, and beckoned to him.
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“Detective, if I could have a moment?”
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He glanced at Nagi, and then followed her out.
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As soon as they were out of sight, Naoko went for him.
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“Detective, are you on Nagi’s side?”
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He thought before answering. “. . .at the moment I am neither friend nor foe.”
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“Be a friend. Please. That girl’s playing it strong, but I think she still misses her father.” Her eyes were serious.
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I’ll see what I can do.”
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“Really? Promise?”
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“Yeah, I’ll try.”
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Naoko was not so easily convinced. She made
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him swear to cut his pinky off if he was lying.
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When he came back in, Nagi was laughing. “So much for being hard-boiled.”
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Shinpei winced. “. . .you heard?” Then he smiled.
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“She’s a good friend.”
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“I know. I’m lucky to have her,” Nagi nodded.
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“Now, to business. . .have you made up a bill yet?”
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Shinpei grimaced. “What are you talking about?”
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“Don’t play dumb. You got my agent fired for embezzling, didn’t you?”
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“I did nothing. I just asked a couple of questions, and he suddenly promised to quit.”
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“So how come a large sum of money...matching exactly what was missing...was transferred into my account?”
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“No idea. Maybe one of Kirima Seiichi’s books had an unexpected reprint,” Shinpei said, sticking to his guns.
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Nagi glared at him for a long moment, but then she sighed. “You’re a great detective, Kuroda-san.” “You think? I don’t mind the compliment, but I’m afraid it takes more than that to convince me,” he
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protested.
✦ ✦ ✦
Nagi ignored him, and asked pointedly, “Why did you do it, Kuroda-san?”
✦ ✦ ✦
Shinpei looked serious but said nothing.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I hate thinking about stuff this way, but were you trying to win me over?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“What if I was? Tell me to scram, and you’ll never see me again.” He shrugged.
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"........." Nagi fell silent for a moment, then seemed to make up her mind. “Kuroda-san. . .I don’t understand.”
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“What?”
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“What I should do. Even if I get better, what kind of person should I be?” Her tone was somewhat disconnected.
✦ ✦ ✦
Shinpei matched it. “What do you want to be?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Maybe a writer? Like my dad? Meet a great guy and get married? Use all that money and start a busi-ness? I don’t know. None of those sound right.” She was completely calm, speaking as though she were discussing the dissection of a frog. This girl was much too smart...she saw the deceit that lay behind the promise of each potential destiny.
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But she had not yet been convinced that she had no future. She may have considered the possibility, but she had no intention of becoming the heroine of a cheap tragedy.
✦ ✦ ✦
Even if she knew the truth, she would probably stay that way.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I don’t believe anyone manages to live a life that
✦ ✦ ✦
‘sounds right,”’ Shinpei muttered.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Not even detectives? You don’t think your job is worth it?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Nah. Detective work’s a dirty business.”
✦ ✦ ✦
He saw himself as an informant, forced to spy on people who should have been on his side.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Really? I was thinking I might want to be a kind of detective. . .” she said, flopping back on her pillows.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Maybe I should reconsider. Kuroda-san, you ever want to be anything besides a detective?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Hmm. . .maybe something like. . .a superhero?” Nagi snorted, “Please.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“No, really. I mean it. Detectives get tied down by all kinds of boring stuff, but superheroes get to solve crimes without dealing with any of that other crap. I wouldn’t mind doing that.”
✦ ✦ ✦
He was half j oking, but Nagi became oddly seri-ous.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Hmm...” she said, nodding. Then she looked up again, eyes glittering. “You should go for it. You’d make a good one.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“But how?”
✦ ✦ ✦
“I’ll sponsor you. You decide the rest!”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Woah,” Shinpei grimaced.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Think about it!” Nagi said, eyes gleaming, lean-ing toward him.
✦ ✦ ✦
“You shouldn’t say things like that so easily.
✦ ✦ ✦
People will take advantage of you.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Screw it; I’ve never been too fond of my money anyway. If it was you doing it, I wouldn’t mind being cheated out of every last yen,” she said, looking him right in the eye. He was reminded again just how young she really was.
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“Nah, I wouldn’t...” he started to say, and then he noticed something was terribly wrong. Nagi’s face had suddenly crumpled, and she collapsed onto the sheets.
✦ ✦ ✦
"...unh!” she groaned.
✦ ✦ ✦
Shinpei’s eyes widened. This must be the pain she had mentioned.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Oh no! I’ll call a doctor...!"
✦ ✦ ✦
He reached out for the call button next to the bed, but Nagi suddenly grabbed his hand.
✦ ✦ ✦
He looked toward her with a start, and she was glaring directly into his eyes, grimacing in pain. Her voice strangled, she rasped, “Really. . .think about it.
✦ ✦ ✦
Please.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Shinpei could say nothing. He just pressed the call button.
✦ ✦ ✦
The doctor came running. It was not Dr. Kisugi, but a male doctor. Several nurses came in as well, and Shinpei was driven out of the room.
✦ ✦ ✦
Even in the hall he could hear her groaning in pain.
✦ ✦ ✦
When he saw the desperation in Nagi’s eyes,
✦ ✦ ✦
Shinpei had realized something. She knew instinctively that she would never be cured.
✦ ✦ ✦
He opened his hand, the hand Nagi had grabbed a moment before. Smoke rose from his palm. It was burning.
✦ ✦ ✦
Because Nagi had grabbed him.
✦ ✦ ✦
There was no doubt about it now.
✦ ✦ ✦
She was experiencing growing pains, but it was not any normal kind of growth. She was evolving. She was definitely one of the MPLS the Towa Organization was working so hard to find.
✦ ✦ ✦
What’s more, he knew her evolution was destroy-ing her body. She was destined for failure, unable to survive the change. She was an evolutionary dead end. No matter what any of her doctors did, she had no future.
✦ ✦ ✦
"..............."
✦ ✦ ✦
He stared down at his burned hand.
✦ ✦ ✦
I’ve done it at last.
✦ ✦ ✦
He had finally fulfilled his mission. He had found an MPLS. It was a huge success for his primary function. Even if she was a broken sample, every MPLS was valuable, worth securing for the research potential.
✦ ✦ ✦
She would be taken to a facility, subjected to countless tests, and after they had finished experimenting with her while she was alive, her lifeless corpse would be dissected.