“That’s everything I remembered this time.”
Sitting on the steps near the abandoned building’s crumbling entrance, I gave a long sigh. Since I’d been telling a long story, we’d changed locations several times. Now we were out in the open, under the stars.
“The Phantom Thief, Abel Arsene Schoenberg. So that was the enemy you and the others fought that time, Assistant…,” Siesta murmured, as if she were reminiscing. The earlier Sacred Relics had gradually made me remember that he existed, but my image of him was much clearer now.
“So was he the one who stole our memories?”
Not just our memories; the world’s records as well. Had Abel’s large-scale “code of oblivion” made us lose everything?
“But, Assistant, if that’s true, there’s a good possibility that Abel’s still alive.”
“…Yeah. We may not have finished him off after all.”
In the memories I’d retaken, when I last saw him, Abel had declared he’d come again.
What had happened after that? …I was pretty sure we’d fought. I remembered doing it. All that had vanished from my mind were the words “Phantom Thief,” “Akashic records,” and “the Singularity.”
However, as memories went, a log that was missing vital data wasn’t good enough. I hadn’t remembered settling things with Abel after that in the truest sense of the word.
“…………”
My eyes went to the person in our group who hadn’t spoken once this whole time.
Fuubi Kase. What had she done at the farthest edge of the world, at the very end of things? I’d learned about it for the first time today. I felt as if I shouldn’t have.
Just maybe… For the past year or so, had that sin been what had kept her in prison? The treason the Federation Government had charged her with might or might not have actually happened. Maybe that hadn’t meant anything to Ms. Fuubi, though. Maybe she’d spent a year trying to atone for the crime she’d committed, the one nobody knew about.
…I couldn’t ask, though.
The detective and her assistant proved theories. We could leave relating fantasies to the novelists. At least until she said something about it herself.
“Corners of the world aren’t bad.” Exhaling a stream of cigarette smoke, Ms. Fuubi looked up at the night sky.
Out in the country, there was no light from streetlamps or buildings, but in exchange, there was a sky full of stars.
“We’re here now.”
Siesta was looking up as well.
“We cross the muddy earth; we race across rough seas on boats; we fly on passenger planes at ten thousand meters, incredibly close to those stars. In the end, though, no matter where we go, we’re on the map. We’re always living ‘here.’”
Yeah, she was right. We weren’t redrawing the map. We were walking around on it.
We were constantly continuing our adventure. We had been then, and we still were now.
“Assistant, your phone is ringing.”
“Hm? Oh, I didn’t notice.”
The name on the screen was Nagisa Natsunagi. Mia was probably with her. I hit the TALK button, then switched to speaker mode.
“Hello? Kimihiko? Did you really find her?”
“Yeah. She’s right over there, smoking a cigarette like it’s the best thing ever.”
When I glanced at Ms. Fuubi, she averted her face coolly.
“We found a Sacred Relic, too, and we’ve made some headway on the past. I’ll send you an e-mail about it later, but…brace yourself for various stuff.”
“…I see. Actually, I’m calling because something a little strange happened here, too. Hang on a second.”
Then Nagisa handed the phone to somebody else.
The voice I heard next was a vaguely familiar male one. “It’s been a while.”
“Hey… Is that Ookami?”
There was no mistake: It was Ookami, the former Enforcer. We’d last met…I was pretty sure it was over a year ago.
“Where have you been? And what have you been doing?”
“Nothing to speak of. I’ve lost an arm, after all.”
There was self-mockery in Ookami’s voice. I seemed to remember hearing that Stephen had fitted him with a prosthetic arm, though, and that he had no trouble navigating everyday life.
“What are you doing now?”
“They’ve given me a cushy, quiet, comfortable job as a government bureaucrat.”
“Geez, are you a bad liar.”
There was a moment of silence. “What makes you say that?” Ookami asked.
“As a rule, the security police can’t reveal their identity. I bet you went back to them.”
“…I guess there’s no point in hiding it from you.” Ookami gave a small, wry laugh. “See, even if there are no more global crises, security police jobs aren’t going anywhere.”
“It’s fine if you’re back with them, but why show yourself to Nagisa after so long?”
“Because the Ace Detective called me, of course.”
“Why isn’t that relationship over?” Had those two casually been keeping in touch…?
“Assistant, you don’t have the right to restrict Nagisa’s relationships with men.” Siesta’s cool comeback made me clear my throat awkwardly.
“Sorry, Ookami. Switch with me.” Then Nagisa came back on the line. “Here’s the thing: Ookami may know where Charlie is.”
“…What, seriously?”
Charlotte was currently missing, and since she hadn’t been with Ms. Fuubi, we’d just run out of clues. Who’d have thought Ookami would have one?
“The security police have been keeping an eye on a terrorist group, and Ookami says there’s a good possibility that Charlie is one of its members. He noticed it and contacted me.”
“Charlie joined a terrorist group…?”
It wasn’t just me; Siesta and Ms. Fuubi grimaced, too. What was this about?
We’d been assuming that the Federation Government was involved with her disappearance.
“It could technically be seen as part of a government resistance movement,” Ms. Fuubi pointed out; she was still smoking her cigarette. True, we couldn’t ignore that line of thought, either, but…
“In that case, I think she would have tried to contact us. If someone’s captured her and she can’t, I’d understand that, but…,” Siesta said. That was a fair argument. However, at present, it was still just an armchair theory.
“We’re planning to get more of the details from Ookami, then attempt to investigate Charlie’s movements.”
“Yeah, that sounds good. In that case, we’ll…”
What should we do? We didn’t have much farther to go. The next missing memory piece was probably the last one, and it had to be lying dormant somewhere. Should we look for a new Sacred Relic? But if so, where?
“I had a dream a little while ago.” Mia had taken over the phone. “It was in fragments, but I saw several images. Three ritual implements, a large stone slab, a locked door, and a pyramid-shaped object floating in space. Does any of that ring a bell for you? Kimihiko, did anything in the memory you’ve retaken link to…”
“…Yeah, it does. So that’s what this is.”
A pyramid-shaped object floating in space. That object, which was shaped like the Sacred Relics we’d been collecting, was the System which controlled this world from the outside. In that place, which dominated everything with programs—
“The final lost record is in that control tower.”
I made eye contact with Siesta, and we both nodded. We’d just decided what to do.
“We’ll bring Charlie back for sure.” Nagisa took back the phone. “So, Kimihiko and Siesta…!”
“Yeah, leave it to us.”
We’d depart on one last journey to retake our memories of the Great Cataclysm.