I got off the train when it reached the end of the line.
There wasn’t a soul on the platform, which was unnatural. Yet the trains were still running and the station’s automatic announcements still playing. It seemed the systems that operated this station and the town hadn’t stopped functioning even with all the people gone.
“Let’s go, Nagisa.”
I shifted where I was carrying Nagisa on my back, resettling her weight.
“…………”
Nagisa hadn’t woken since falling asleep. She hadn’t so much as twitched.
It had undoubtedly been Abel’s code that erased the other passengers and put Nagisa to sleep. Was it the code of loss he’d once used on me or something like it?
“…You were smiling so much just a few minutes ago.”
Either way, it seemed as if Nagisa’s spirit had been taken to some other world. It was just as Abel had said: She’d gone somewhere and had to find her way back.
“I swear I’ll save you.”
I walked through the station, which was so quiet it didn’t even seem real, then exited through the ticket barrier.
As I’d expected, there were no people in town, either.
Carrying Nagisa, I walked boldly down the middle of the street in the moonlight. It wasn’t as if any cars would be using it anyway. I only had one idea of a place to go, somewhere Nagisa had mentioned during the flight over.
“Come to think of it, I hear Bruno’s house is near there.”
She’d learned about it long ago, when we’d desperately needed the Information Broker’s help and she’d been trying to find him.
“If we have the time, I’d kinda like to meet with him before we fight Abel,” Nagisa had said shyly. Secretly, she’d been counting on Bruno.
Naturally, the Information Broker had lots of hideouts all over the world, and there was no guarantee that he’d be here now. He also didn’t share his knowledge unless it was some kind of an emergency, so I had no idea whether he’d even help us.
Still, the Information Broker always preserved the world’s balance. He watched the scales. If the Great Cataclysm was about to occur right here, wouldn’t the scales of his justice tip in the direction I was hoping they would? Especially now, when the worst enemy in history was actively trying to destroy the balance of the world?
“Nagisa, I think you could stand to gain a little weight,” I said to the sleeping girl on my back.
She’d grumbled that she’d been eating too much lately, but she was plenty light.
“Or will you get mad and wake up if I grumble about how heavy you are?”
If that woke her up, I didn’t think I’d care if it got me double-killed.
I wandered down the dark road for ten minutes, then twenty, until I finally saw a figure up ahead.
At first, I thought it might be Abel but soon realized the silhouette belonged to a woman. Not only that, but it was someone I recognized. I called out her name.
“Ms. Fuubi.”
I’d seen crimson hair floating in the darkness. Fuubi Kase the Assassin was standing there.
“So you’re alive, huh?”
“Don’t just kill me off,” she retorted, giving me a threatening, razor-sharp look. But then her expression softened.
She looked as if a weight had been taken off her shoulders. Where had she gone after the incident with Ryan, and what had she been thinking about? I got the feeling that now wasn’t the time to bring it up.
So instead I asked, “What’s happening in this country?”
What was going on here—or possibly all around the world? Was this the Great Cataclysm?
“People have disappeared; that’s a clear, visible fact. However, as you know, Abel isn’t trying to destroy the human race. He just wants to create and run a new world. This is probably the prep stage of that.” Ms. Fuubi lit a cigarette, took a drag, then exhaled the smoke.
“…‘The prep stage.’ So he’s taken the people away somewhere, and he’s plotting something?” A way to completely control the world. A way to rid it of evil and sin.
“Wait, don’t tell me… Is he planning to puppet everything the human race does?”
Could he do what he’d done to Siesta, for example, and steal the organs that housed people’s will? Then he could control everyone using his codes, managing this world like a machine… Was that what Abel was after?
“What are you doing here, Ms. Fuubi?”
“Taking care of Abel has always been the Assassin’s mission. Though it looks like the higher-ups have given up on that.”
…Ah. So Ms. Fuubi had been watching for the enemy in the spot where the Great Cataclysm was supposed to occur? The Federation Government had nothing to do with this, though, so she must be trying to take care of Abel on her own.
“But it looks like it was useless. No matter what kind of history we’ve got or what reason I’ve got to fight him, he won’t even let me stand on the battlefield, let alone fall in combat. …The enemy’s not looking at me,” she murmured, gazing up at the night sky. The ash from her cigarette silently scorched the concrete.
“But you’re not planning to let that get you down, are you?” I asked. Ms. Fuubi looked at me. “You’re not the type. You aren’t an avenger who obsesses over a single enemy. You’re always focused on what’s beyond that… A hunting dog who never stops glaring up.”
Which is why I want you to leave Abel to us. In exchange, Fuubi Kase, someday in the future—
“—Who are you to say that to me?”
Bang! A hollow gunshot rang out.
Ms. Fuubi was pointing her gun up at the sky.
“…And you fired because…?”
“Because I was damn irritated.”
“Hurry up and get fired as a police officer already!”
Good grief. Here’s hoping.
Still carrying Nagisa, I walked past Ms. Fuubi.
“Do you know where you’re going?”
I stopped, then turned back.
“You know you’ll never find him by walking around blindly.” Ms. Fuubi stubbed out her cigarette in a portable ashtray, then shoved a piece of notepaper into my jacket pocket.
“Honestly, you’re a lifesaver. I didn’t know the exact location.”
Apparently, she’d known where I was trying to go.
“That man won’t help people who only lean on others, though.”
“I know. I’m pretty sure I understand what it’s going to take to save Nagisa.”
Abel’s code had trapped Nagisa in some other world. To save her, I’d need the power to interfere with that world, and the key to that was probably—
“Fine, then. I’ll take over for you here.” Without even waiting for me to finish, Ms. Fuubi shifted Nagisa from my back to hers. “This one’s got a good body for wrapping your arms around.”
“Don’t talk like some middle-aged guy.”
I was starting to get nervous about leaving this to Ms. Fuubi…
“Take this.” Ms. Fuubi tossed me a key to a motorcycle that was parked nearby. Thanking her, I straddled the bike, leaving Nagisa in the Assassin’s care.
“Why are you going so far to help me?” I asked.
Ms. Fuubi glanced over her shoulder at Nagisa’s face. “She did me a favor the other day. I’m just paying her back.”