As I was searching the gloomy abbey, I overheard the faint sound of voices in conversation. I followed them and eventually saw two figures facing each other across a table in what seemed to be a dining hall.
One was an old woman wearing a mask. The other was a young woman in a black veil. I couldn’t see either of their faces, but I knew them both: Ice Doll, the Federation Government dignitary, and Youkaki, the Revolutionary.
I would have liked to know what those two were talking about, but for now, I backtracked so they wouldn’t notice me. For personal reasons, I particularly didn’t want to meet Ice Doll.
“You’ve really done it now, Kimihiko Kimizuka.”
She’d spotted me instantly. Her tone seemed two degrees colder than normal.
“I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.” I raised my hands casually in surrender.
It was clear why Ice Doll was mad: The other day, she and the other government officials had gone out of their way to come to Japan in person and ask me to shut down the Great Cataclysm—something I’d screwed up big-time. She might even know Abel had stolen the power of the Singularity from me.
“I won’t make excuses. Boil me, stab me, roast me; do whatever you want.”
I went over to Ice Doll and Youkaki. There was a chessboard with a game in progress on the table between them.
“If this goes on, Abel may well destroy the world.” For now, Ice Doll didn’t bring up my crime. She moved her king. “Now that the enemy has control of the Akashic records, I would imagine he can operate any weapon in the world directly, without going through others. The Revolutionary here has been working in the shadows all this time to prevent that from happening.”
“You think Abel’s forgotten his goal of creating a new world and is going to destroy it instead?”
“Either that or he may simply wipe this island off the map. All the people who would hinder the establishment of his new world are gathered here.”
…True, most of the Tuners were here right now. As far as Abel was concerned, this would be a great chance to eliminate them all in one stroke.
“Now then, Kimihiko Kimizuka. What will you do?” Ice Doll asked, continuing her chess match with the silent Revolutionary. “You created this monster. How will you deal with him?”
She was telling me, in no uncertain terms, that I had to reap what I’d sown. That was how I was supposed to take responsibility for my crime—and I didn’t really have the right to refuse.
That said, why was Ice Doll here? Why had she been lying in wait in this particular spot? She must know that Siesta was up ahead and that I was trying to go to her. In which case, this wasn’t just an ambush, but a threat.
“It’s simple.” I spelled out my answer clearly. “In that case, I’ll just break the Akashic records. I won’t use just two bullets, like last time; I’ll smash them to pieces so Abel can never misuse them again.”
There was a moment of silence, then Ice Doll spoke. “You too, Kimihiko Kimizuka? You would use such a simplistic approach…?”
From that “you too,” I guessed the Revolutionary had given that same answer earlier.
“Without the Akashic records, the Tuners won’t be able to use the power of the System, either. There’s no knowing what sort of enemies of the world may appear in the future. Will you be able to stand against them, even without your wills?” Ice Doll pressed. “Do you understand what sort of future lies beyond the destruction of the world’s natural principles?”
“Even if there is no absolute truth, I think people can decide things for themselves.”
After all, wasn’t that the point of people’s “wills”?
“I really wish you’d get it through your skull that clever rhetoric won’t save the world,” she snapped.
“Geez, that’s pretty harsh.”
That said, I understood Ice Doll’s logic.
If another powerful enemy of the world appeared someday, would the heroes be able to fight it without the power of the System? I’d relinquished the nature of the Singularity, so by rights, I wouldn’t even be able to join in that fight. I’d be a bystander. I probably wasn’t even allowed to give my two cents on the matter. However…
“Can’t you look at it this way? Aren’t the Akashic records, that set of absolute standards, what separates good from evil to begin with?”
Justice and malice only existed because of the scales that balanced them. It was what separated Tuners from the enemies of the world. Invisible borders had always divided us. And so… “If the Akashic records are gone, won’t enemies of the world stop manifesting, too?”
It was a deduction that fell short of the Ace Detective’s skills, that of a perpetual assistant.
“Interesting,” Youkaki said. It was the first time I’d heard her voice. “Regardless of what he may be now, those are the words of a former Singularity. There’s no guarantee that a future like that won’t come to pass. What do you think, Ice Doll?”
She’d left the decision up to the icy official.
It took Ice Doll a full fifteen seconds to speak. She had likely been silently communicating with the other government dignitaries.
“Go.”
In effect, she was giving me permission to abandon the Akashic records.
My course of action was set. However, that would have to wait until after I’d saved the detective. Siesta came first.
I walked past Ice Doll and Youkaki.
“How do you intend to awaken the Daydream?” Ice Doll called after me.
“I’ll give Siesta’s will what it wants. Her wish is to live as the Ace Detective. I’m just going to remind her of that mission.”
Just like before, when I’d been trapped by Abel’s code of loss and Nagisa had seen through to the truth: that I wanted to go back to being the detective’s assistant. When she’d talked to me and met me again “for the first time.”
“I see. Will it really be that easy, though?”
I stopped in my tracks.
“There are twelve Tuner positions,” Ice Doll continued. “Only one person can be the Ace Detective. At present, Nagisa Natsunagi holds that post. I hear that, by some coincidence, she is also asleep right now. Which girl do you intend to acknowledge as the Ace Detective?”
My breath caught in my throat. I knew I’d been avoiding that question.
When asked to choose between the girl and the world, I’d chosen “the girl.” However, there were actually two girls: Siesta and Nagisa Natsunagi.
I’d been purposely vague all this time. I’d said I was saving the girl, but I hadn’t said which one. Of course, I planned to save them both.
“You know from prior experience, don’t you? You’re aware of what happens when you try to make it so two Ace Detectives exist at once.”
It was a bitter memory. Siesta had once given her life to save Nagisa; then more than a year later, Nagisa had returned Siesta’s heart to her and gone to sleep. After that, Alicia’s heart had awakened Nagisa, but the effect of the seed had put Siesta to sleep again. The two Ace Detectives had never been able to exist together for long.
In other words, Siesta and Nagisa Natsunagi couldn’t live in the same time or place.
“That is how the position of Ace Detective has been since ancient times.”
“…You people put them in that position, and then you talk like that?”
“We have nothing to do with it. All final decisions are made by the Akashic records.”
Ice Doll went on to explain the process by which Tuners were chosen. What it all boiled down to was more evidence that two Ace Detectives couldn’t exist at the same time. But there was no point delving deeper into that topic right now.
“Which of them will you choose as the Ace Detective?” Ice Doll asked me again.
This time, I had to pick one: Nagisa Natsunagi or Siesta. Which of the two girls would I let live as the Ace Detective? However—
“I’m not obligated to tell you that.”
—I knew I was just taking my frustration out on her, but I didn’t want to talk about this with the same people who’d made the Ace Detective do their bidding all these years.
“I see. In that case, I promise that whatever decision you make will be of no concern to us. In exchange—”
“I know. Leave the world after that to me.”
I left without so much as a glance behind me.
Climbing higher through the abbey, I found a private room with a balcony. In the room was a bed, and in the bed lay a girl, her hands folded on her chest, fast asleep.
“Siesta,” I called.
She didn’t answer.
I didn’t see the doctor who said he’d carried her up here.
“Geez. I can’t believe you can sleep through something like this.”
I gave her a wry smile. Siesta looked comfortable, breathing slowly and peacefully.
Thunder was rumbling outside, and the Tuners were locked in combat with the world’s worst enemy. When people thought about the end of the world, they probably visualized a sight just like that.
“Okay, how should I do this?”
Come on, Siesta. What should we do? It sounds like the world allows only one Ace Detective at a time.
Siesta, what do you want?
What is it you truly wish for? What’s genuinely important to you? What is your will…your heart, searching for? What can I give you?
“Siesta. I—”
And then I gave her my answer.