Spring had arrived. According to the calendar, it had technically been spring for a while now, but when you’re Japanese, it doesn’t feel like spring until you’ve seen cherry blossoms in full bloom.
It was late March. On a blue tarp spread out under a cherry tree in a big park, I popped the tab on a can of beer. I was still twenty and not yet sure whether I really enjoyed this harsh flavor, but figured I could use it to wash down the recent rash of bitter memories.
“…Mm…… Haaah.”
I looked up at the sky and gazed at the cherry blossoms.
Spring was finally here. But maybe there was also some psychological reason I felt that way. A week had passed since the resolution of the Great Cataclysm. The ice had melted, and the long, long winter was over.
The Ritual of Sacred Return that had set all this in motion had been just two months ago. However, since I’d relived the stories of the Magical Girl, the Vampire, the Assassin, and the Phantom Thief during the journey to find the Sacred Relics, it felt as if I’d been traveling for a lot longer.
Reloaded had lost the legs she’d once run on. Scarlet hadn’t been able to protect his kin. Fuubi Kase had killed someone precious to her with her own two hands. And a certain nameless, faceless man had vanished, still holding on to the sins and pain of the human race.
And yet, I was sure those stories weren’t just about loss. What would we try to find on the other side of what we’d lost? It was a question we’d ask ourselves as we walked through the bright, dazzling light. That had to be the kind of story they’d been for their central characters and for me.
“We’ve finally come this far.”
We’d reached the end of an act. We’d been wounded, but the Great Cataclysm had died down and the detective was awake. I’d reached the goal I’d been striving for.
“…………”
The beer I’d been trying to drain tasted even more bitter than I’d expected.
“What are you getting all melancholy for?”
I was gazing up at the sky and cherry blossoms when a girl’s face interrupted the view. She had white bobbed hair and a cool, angelic look. It was Siesta—or rather, her doppelganger Noches.
Needless to say, I hadn’t gone flower-viewing all by myself. A big group of us had been here since the afternoon, and by now, we’d been eating and drinking for three hours… But…
“It really is pretty awkward being the only guy.”
…everyone else on the tarp was female.
A drunken Charlie was lying with her head in Siesta’s lap. Mia and Rill were fighting over who was going to eat the last dango, and Nagisa had been dragged in to mediate. Next to them, Saikawa was groaning about Noel: “Another younger heroine? Why…?” Since when had my life been filled with nothing but women?
“That’s quite the extravagant worry for someone like you to… Never mind, forget I said anything.”
“You basically said it all already. ‘For someone like you to have,’ right?”
The corners of Noches’s lips curved up, and the next moment she said, “That isn’t why you’re looking glum, though, is it?” It was almost like she’d read my mind.
“…I thought I was managing to keep my expression pretty neutral.”
I had been thinking, deep down, whether it was really okay to say this was the goal. Could I turn this peaceful flower-viewing party with my friends into a symbol of our happy ending? If I’d started looking gloomy without realizing it, I guess it was because I wasn’t really sure.
“You brought back both detectives. You even saved the world. Haven’t enough of your wishes come true?”
She was right; I’d gotten what I’d wished for. Both Siesta and Nagisa were alive, and we’d managed to save the world from a major crisis. This was the sort of ending I’d been searching for all along. But…
“In the end, the Akashic records were restored, and the world came under the control of the System’s programs again. That means both the bugs and the viruses—the global crises and the enemies of the world—will turn up again someday.”
Basically, everything had gone back to the way it was. For that reason, it didn’t feel as if I could call this the goal and say we had our happy ending just because my wish had come true.
“You’ve probably seen way too much.”
“Yeah. I ended up seeing, hearing, and knowing all sorts of things.”
I’d seen the moment that so many people’s wishes had failed to come true. The endless cycle of war and sorrow that was still happening all over the world. Malice and sin. Behind my eyelids, I could see the forms of people suffering from all of these things. Their voices lingered in my ears. The world was still brimming with unfairness.
“But you’re all the ones who will overturn that with your wills, aren’t you?” Noches said with a smile that made it look like she was testing me.
“…You’ve got that right.” I returned her smile with a wry one of my own, then chugged what was left of my beer—for real this time.
“Kimizukaaaaa! Something’s kind of weird here!” Someone grabbed hold of my arm, hard. “This girl’s younger than me! Isn’t that completely ridiculous?!”
Trembling with outrage, Saikawa pointed at Noel, who was drinking tea. Noel cocked her head, a puzzled expression on her face. I mean, yeah, what else would she be?
“Well, she can’t help it. Why don’t you give up on the ‘younger character’ slot and focus on holding down the ‘idol’ slot?”
“No, no, nooooo! If I’m not the youngest, everybody will stop spoiling me!”
So that was what she was after, huh? I was pretty sure I was still spoiling her plenty, though… Saikawa looked up through her lashes at me, a pleading look in her teary eyes. Actually, this wasn’t a bad look for her, either.
“Sorry, Noel. A weird idol is picking fights with you, huh?” I turned to Noel—just as Saikawa attacked me with a head-butt. Noel was kneeling politely, a cup of tea in one hand, as she gazed up at the flowers.
“Is this your first time seeing cherry blossoms in Japan?”
“Yes. I finally managed to see them.” Noel glanced at me, a faint smile on her lips, then looked up again. “I’ll look at them for as long as I can. Enough for Grandfather as well.”
“Oh, right.”
As the sky grew darker, shifting to night, I looked up at the cherry blossoms with her.
“Hey, somebody grab a towel or something! Mia spilled all the drinks!”
Geez. And here I thought we’d managed to wrap up everything nicely.
“Ngh! I went to the trouble of coming outside, but stuff like this just keeps happening. Why…?”
When I turned, I saw Mia on the verge of tears. The casual skirt she’d worn just for today was soaked. As usual, she was just as unlucky as I was.
“Oh, honestly! You’re such an idiot. Come here.”
“…Having you take care of me is humiliating, Rill.”
“Rill will beat you up.”
Their relationship was the same as always. You couldn’t tell whether they got along well or not at all. However, at the very least…
“You’ve also got some kinako powder on you from the dango.” As Rill wiped Mia’s lips with a handkerchief, her expression seemed a lot softer than it had when we first met.
“Hey, Kimizuka! Are you for real?!”
“Haaah. What now?”
As I was thinking, No matter what happens, it’s not gonna surprise me, Charlie said, “Yui, switch with me.” Then she hauled me up by my shirtfront.
“……! Hey, how many have you had?!”
Charlie seemed to have had way more than a few drinks; her face was flushed, and her eyes were unfocused—but her expression was definitely angry. She started shaking me. “Answer me! Is it true that you kissed Ma’am to wake her up?!”
Time stopped.
“…Siesta. You told her?”
Why the heck would she tell Charlie of all people?
But Siesta was drinking black tea as if this had nothing to do with her. Saikawa looked dumbfounded, and the despair on Mia’s face made it seem like the world was ending. When I glanced timidly at Nagisa, she’d frozen up completely, facial muscles and all.