The next morning, when Siesta and I visited Stephen’s clinic as promised, the first thing we saw was the shattered glass of the front door. Exchanging a look, we leveled our guns.
Moving cautiously but quickly, we headed to the exam room we’d been in yesterday. We nodded to each other, and the moment I opened the door, Siesta pointed her gun into the room—but unusually, she froze up as if startled. I hurried into the exam room as well.
“Stephen…!”
The Inventor was there, sitting against the wall with his arms and legs splayed out. He was covered in blood, his head slumped over. A ferocious slash ran from his chest down to his abdomen, leaving his white lab coat dyed dark red with blood. Even from a distance, it didn’t look as if he could possibly be alive.
“Who on earth could have done this?”
The first possibility that came to mind was the boy who’d shown up with a pistol the day before.
I really couldn’t see a kid like that being able to create such a horrific scene, though. And most importantly, Stephen’s wound wasn’t from a bullet.
“Assistant,” Siesta called. She’d run over to Stephen right away. “He’s still breathing.”
“—Seriously?!”
I went closer, careful not to step into the pooled blood. Siesta checked Stephen’s pulse, then gave a small nod. He was alive.
“Of course, it’s dangerous to leave him like this, though. We have to get him treated, fast.”
“Yeah, let’s rush him to a hospital…”
That said, this was a hospital. The genius doctor we could always rely on at times like this was lying on the floor right in front of us. What could we do…?
“Assistant, shh.” Siesta put a finger to her lips.
Straining my ears, I heard faint footsteps. I turned around warily to see a row of men in dark suits.
“The Men in Black, huh…?”
There was probably a system in place that made sure they’d come running automatically if something happened to Stephen. Bruno had had a similar sort of insurance.
“I guess we’ll just have to leave him to these guys.”
“Yes. They must have an agreed-upon place to take him at a time like this.”
I stood up, and Siesta quickly followed suit.
However, just before we left the exam room, she gazed at the top of the messy desk for a few seconds. Among the papers was a sketch that looked like the plan for a city.
“Siesta?”
“It’s nothing. Let’s go.”
She gave a slight shake of the head, and we left the room with heavy footsteps.
After leaving the clinic, Siesta and I returned to the hotel where we’d spent the night and settled down in the practically empty lounge to discuss the incident.
“…How could we ever have imagined something like that would happen?” Sinking deep into the chair, I let my head hang back and gazed up at the ceiling.
Would Stephen be all right? Was there anyone out there who could treat him in the first place? If I was remembering right, Stephen had mechanized certain parts of his body. They probably hadn’t taken him to a regular hospital.
“Siesta, what do you think of this incident?”
Who had attacked Stephen? What had led to him almost getting killed?
“There are no security cameras, so all we can do is figure this out through deduction,” Siesta said, thinking back to the scene we’d just left. “It rained last night. There were many different footprints at the crime scene, but it should be easy to identify the ones that belonged to visitors from yesterday evening.”
“So you think the crime happened last night? That would mean the Men in Black got there awfully late.”
Stephen must have made arrangements that let him contact the Men in Black immediately if his life was threatened. Yet Siesta and I had arrived before they did.
“That does seem odd, yes. In terms of possible causes, the Men in Black could have been dealing with a problem of their own.”
“It’s hard to think that would be a coincidence. What’s your profile of the criminal?”
“The clinic’s front entrance was violently destroyed, so the criminal mustn’t be someone he knew. Ordinarily, I’d suspect a robbery…but I really can’t imagine your average thief getting the better of Stephen.”
“Meaning…the criminal was skilled enough to fight a Tuner on equal terms or better. And you think killing Stephen was the true objective?”
What the heck was going on? In the half day that had passed since we’d left the clinic yesterday and returned this morning, someone had almost killed Stephen…
“Assistant, phone.”
It was only once Siesta said something that I noticed my smartphone on the table was ringing. Frankly, given the circumstances, I didn’t really feel like picking it up.
“It’s probably a girl.”
“Just who do you take me for?”
There was nothing else for it, so I picked up the phone. When I saw the name on the screen, I immediately hit the button to answer it. “Noel?”
Not because the caller was a cute girl. We’d asked Noel to connect with the government officials, and we’d been waiting to hear back from her for a long time now.
“I’m sorry to be so late in contacting you,” Noel apologized on the other end of the line. I heard her take a small breath. “And I have another apology to make. I’m actually calling about a separate matter. It’s an emergency.”
Her tone made it all too clear that it was bad news. I switched the phone to speaker mode and let Siesta listen in.
“Youkaki the Revolutionary and Full-Face the Hero were attacked last night.”
Siesta and I exchanged a look.
We didn’t need to say anything to each other. We knew it was the worst-case scenario.
“What’s their condition?”
“…Critical. That’s all they said.”
Meaning there was no telling whether they would recover. Just like Stephen.
“I see. Have you already been filled in on the situation over here?”
“Yes, just now. This means that someone has attempted to kill three Tuners.”
A “Tuner hunt” involving multiple simultaneous attacks. In formulating our deduction, we’d assumed that the culprit had been focused on killing Stephen, but this changed everything. We had to think of why all three of them would be targeted.
“In terms of what the victims have in common, the first thing that comes to mind is…they all defied the Federation Government.”
In that case, Fuubi Kase the Assassin would also fit the profile.
Some of the Men in Black would, too.
“Assistant. Be that as it may, it would be premature to assume the enemy is with the Federation Government.”
“Yeah, I know. And that doesn’t answer who specifically did it, either. Does the Federation Government really have assassins who can pressure three Tuners like this?”
“About that, Mr. Kimihiko…,” Noel cut in through the phone speaker. “There is actually a rumor that the Federation Government hires retired Tuners as guards. I may be a dignitary, but I’m only a figurehead, so I don’t know the details.”
…Ah. Tuners who’d remained heroes, without dying in the line of duty or becoming enemies of the world. If we were up against people like that…
“We can’t afford to let our guard down,” Siesta said, echoing my thoughts.
“Right. Let’s contact Mia and the others next.”
Any one of them could become the next target at any time.
For a little while, none of us spoke.
“Moving on, I do have a report about that other matter,” Noel said, changing the subject. That “other matter” was probably the meeting with the Federation Government dignitaries we’d originally asked her to set up.
“In truth, I myself haven’t seen the other officials since the Ritual of Sacred Return. I’m not certain, but I believe all the higher-ups may be in the Mizoev Federation. It was long said to be a fictional nation, but I’ve heard that recently they’ve been rapidly developing it.”
“…Hold up. A ‘fictional nation’? What’s this about?”
I’d suddenly been hit with a phrase that I felt I couldn’t afford to let slide.
“Assistant, the conversation won’t get anywhere if you focus on that, so let’s circle back to it.”
“So I’m the only one getting left behind again?”
That was weird. And just when this sort of thing had been happening less lately…
“Noel, could we go to the Mizoev Federation? From what I’ve heard, it isn’t possible to enter the country unless you’re very well-connected.”
“…I’ll try. Actually, I heard that a passenger ship passed through the waters near there just the other day. I don’t know whether it called in at port or not, but it may be worthwhile for us to file a petition. We could give investigating these incidents as our reason.”
“Right. If they reject it, the Federation Government will practically be telling us they’ve got something to hide.”
This was a threat of sorts. There was a good possibility these were seasoned professionals we were going up against, but they probably couldn’t afford to care about keeping up appearances at this point.
“We’re causing trouble for you, too, Noel. Sorry about that.”
“…No. I really can’t do much at all.” Noel’s voice grew quieter. “Not compared to Grandfather.”
“I seriously doubt Bruno wanted his precious granddaughter overworking herself to catch up to him in a single leap.” I wasn’t trying to cheer Noelle up, just telling her about the Bruno Belmondo I’d known. “I’m sure he would’ve told you that what you try to learn from now on is more important than what you already know. It’s your will that matters most.”
On the other end of the line, there was a brief pause, as if Noel had swallowed a lump in her throat.