I found myself in a comfortable darkness.
It enveloped me from head to toe, gently insulating me from the outside world like a cradle.
A long time ago, I’d hated dark places.
I had been alone in the world since I was born. I’d been physically frail, and a hospital bed had been the only place I’d ever belonged. Sent to a facility that claimed to be developing new medicines, I’d been put through lots of painful clinical trials. The dark treatment room, where natural light never shone, became a symbol of my trauma.
Maybe the fact that I was able to find comfort in darkness now was a sign that I’d grown up. Proof that I’d outgrown my past self. My trauma. Something I should be proud of. That thought almost made me want to stay here longer.
“Really?” someone asked. Or maybe I asked myself.
No. It wasn’t.
This darkness seemed like something artificial. …Though darkness had always been equally heartless to all of us.
“What am I doing in a place like this?”
Who had I been with just a second ago? Why had I come to a place like this?
“I shouldn’t be here.”
That, at the very least, I was sure of.
I stood up. I couldn’t stay in the darkness. After all, long ago, a certain boy had taught me there was a dazzling light outside.
After I’d walked through the darkness for a while, I found a large door. Wondering whether it would take me outside, I twisted the knob and opened it.
The door led into the living room of a certain house. When I turned around, the darkness that had been there a second ago was nowhere to be seen. Had I abruptly returned to reality? If so, where was I?
Not in Japan, at least. The living room was decorated in a British style, and a pretty young woman sat on the sofa, a badge marking her as a member of Parliament gleaming on the lapel of her suit.
A few moments later, an elderly woman brought tea and cookies for two out of the kitchen. She seemed to be the young woman’s mother, and as soon as she sat down on the sofa, they began chatting companionably. As I watched them, my head gradually grew clearer. I knew these two.
“—The Bennetts.”
Right. I’d visited this house once, but I’d been in a different body back then. The young detective and her assistant had also been with me.
“Um, excuse me!”
Steeling myself, I called out to them, but they didn’t seem to hear me. Apparently, they couldn’t see me, either. All I could do was watch their conversation.
After a short while, the daughter said, “I should be going,” and got ready to leave.
“Wait!” I shouted, telling her she mustn’t go.
Somehow, I knew this would be their final conversation.
My voice wouldn’t reach her, though. I couldn’t grab her hand. I rushed after her. The front door opened, I went out—and the scene changed again.
“This is…”
It was a deserted back alley at dusk.
The daughter from earlier, Daisy Bennett, was lying face down.
A slash ran from her back all the way to her chest, and the pool of blood around her was slowly growing bigger. There was nothing anyone could do to help her now. Still, I looked around, trying to call for help—and then I noticed her.
“Oh. Of course.”
A girl was standing there, all alone.
Her eyes were vacant, and she wore a military uniform. She was standing stock-still, holding a knife.
“I’m sorry.”
I held out a hand to her.
She was my other half. Her sins were my sins.
I reached out with both arms, trying to embrace her, sin and all—but my arms cut through empty space. The girl in the military uniform had vanished, gone to a place I could never reach.
This was a world of the memories of my sins.
“What are you trying to do, Abel?!” I screamed.
But by then, I was back in that dark space.
“…Ow!”
A sudden pain lanced through my right arm. When I rolled up my sleeve, I saw a wound I didn’t remember getting.
I knew whose work it was. I’d been trapped by Abel’s code, after all. Was this wound the guilt I’d felt? Was our enemy planning to kill me this way?
“I won’t lose to you.”
As if I’d stand for that. This time, for sure, I’d keep fighting until this will of mine burned out.
The next thing I knew, countless doors had appeared, floating in the darkness.
I’d open them all. No matter what sort of pain was waiting behind them.
“My feet won’t stop moving.”
I cast a word-soul curse on myself.
I am Nagisa. The Ace Detective Nagisa Natsunagi.
Leaving the cradle of darkness behind, I set off toward another door.