What am I supposed to do now?
“U-unforgivable.” Charlie was still tightly gripping my shirt, and her shoulders were trembling. “You’d better give them back. You’re going to give Ma’am’s lips back!”
“…Huh? Wait, what, you’re not—? Don’t even think about—!”
Then a drunk Charlie fell on top of me—and I don’t remember much after that.
“I feel like I had some sort of bad dream.”
I’d gone to the nearby river by myself to sober up a bit and was now leaning on the railing of the bridge, gazing at the cherry trees blooming on the riverbanks. The cherry blossoms at night when they were all lit up gave a completely different atmosphere.
I had a vague feeling that Charlie had done something completely insane to me, but I’d forgotten about it. Or rather, I wanted Charlie to forget about it. When she sobered up and remembered what she’d done, I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to escape without serious injuries.
“They’re really noisy.”
Not just Charlie, but all of them. How could they get that loud and giddy over a simple flower-viewing party? …Good grief. I sighed, but at the same time, a faint smile crossed my lips.
“Maybe I’ll go easy on them and call it ‘lively’ instead.”
I’d told Noches that we hadn’t reached our goal yet. Still, it seemed okay to be proud that we’d managed to protect a place where we could laugh together like this.
“What are you smirking about?”
Something cold pressed against the back of my neck.
When I turned around, wondering what it was, Nagisa was standing there holding a can of chuhai.
“I came out here to sober up, you know.”
“This is for me.” Leaning against the railing next to me, Nagisa started to gulp down her chuhai, looking kind of mad. Once she’d drained the whole can, she glared up at me. “Kiss demon.”
Unfair.
“I haven’t done anything to deserve getting called names for. That thing with Siesta ages ago was unavoidable. I worked pretty hard to avoid it, too.”
At the very least, I’d desperately tried to defend my own lips…or I was pretty sure I had.
“…Nothing I worked up the courage to do even came close to that.”
Nagisa muttered something under her breath, then heaved a long sigh.
“All your happiness will escape if you keep sighing,” I told her.
“Then take responsibility and make me happy for a while, Kimihiko.”
Nagisa went quiet, gazing at the cherry blossoms glittering in the dark. In that case… I gazed out at the flowers alongside her. We stood there in silence for a while, feeling the pleasant night wind on our skin.
“How’s Ookami doing?” I asked when the time seemed right. He’d been hurt badly during his fight with Ice Doll in the Mizoev Federation the other day.
“His wounds are serious, but they think they’ll be able to release him from the hospital soon.”
“Oh yeah? What do you suppose he’ll do now? Go back to the Security Police?”
Or would he be the Enforcer? The Federation Government had ceased to function after that business the other day, so there was no telling what would happen to the Tuner system.
“It doesn’t sound as if the Inventor has regained consciousness yet.” Siesta came up to stand on my other side, holding a nonalcoholic chuhai. She’d apparently managed to escape the party, too. “Same goes for the Hero and the Revolutionary. Although apparently none of their lives are in danger at this point.”
“…I see. If they do wake up, we’ll need to ask them about what happened.”
As it turned out, we still didn’t know the truth of the Tuner hunt. Ice Doll had continually denied any involvement in it, but if that was true, then who had been behind the attacks?
“I guess nothing’s really over yet, then, is it?”
Sure, my wish had come true. I’d retaken the detective, and the world had gone back to normal. However, an unseen threat still remained. We couldn’t relax completely just yet.
“That’s true… But Kimi, aren’t you forgetting something?” Siesta asked, looking slightly put out.
“What? Is this about you making me work at your detective agency for free for months?”
“It’s fine if you forget about that entirely.”
No, it certainly wasn’t.
Siesta cleared her throat, shooting me a glance out of the corner of her eye. “I mean, you know. You said you had something important to tell me once this incident was over. Remember?”
“…Oh. That, huh?”
She meant the promise I’d made to her in the hotel bar, right before we left for the Mizoev Federation. I’d gone and said something that seemed like a death flag, but we’d managed to scrape through safely.
“About that, Siesta.” But just as I started to explain—
“I—I think I’ll head over there!” Stepping away from the railing, Nagisa turned to go.
What on earth was she picking up on? Her expression was stiff, and she gave a stilted laugh that didn’t extend to the rest of her face. The sight made me burst out laughing.
“E-excuse me?! Here I’m being considerate, and you—!”
“…! No, I’m sorry. It’s just—that totally wasn’t what you think it was.”
Something about it had just seemed completely hilarious, and I stifled my laughter, feeling like a jerk the entire time. Nagisa stayed angry, while Siesta gave a wry smile and sighed.
“Sorry, Siesta. I guess this still isn’t the time.”
I really had tried to say something back then. What I’d wanted to tell her, something really important, had been on the tip of my tongue. It could wait a little longer, though. Now wasn’t the time. The right moment was bound to be just a little further in the future.
“That’s fine,” Siesta said easily. “I’ll wait as long as it takes. After all, you two gave me that future.”
She was smiling. A cherry blossom petal flitted right past her cheek, falling toward the river.
“I’ll be able to look forward to tomorrow and the tomorrow after that, every single day.”
Someone had once said that what made cherry blossoms beautiful was that they didn’t last. That their beauty was in their transience and ephemerality.
Somewhere in their hearts, everybody knew they’d get to see these flowers again next year. This shining moment of fleeting beauty would come again next spring.
But what I wanted to do was follow the petal that had just left its branch, all the way to its destination.
Of course, there were no guarantees about next year. There was no telling how long I’d be able to see that shine. Still, I wanted to chase that fleeting ephemeral glimmer forever and ever. And so—
“Want to head back and have one more drink?” I asked the other two if they’d stick with these ordinary days just a little longer.
“I’m all for it! Let’s go buy more liquor and snacks, then!” In high spirits, Nagisa spun on her heel and set off. The noisy—um, “lively” flower-viewing looked set to go on for a while longer.
“It’s not like I can drink anyway.”
Meanwhile, Siesta pouted. It looked like her past failure was getting to her. She seemed to have the wrong idea, though; by “one more drink,” I hadn’t necessarily meant something alcoholic.
“Could I get you to make me some of your special-reserve tea?”
For a moment, Siesta’s eyes widened, then she smiled softly. “You’ve become a lot more aware of your place as an assistant, haven’t you?”
“Finally, after seven years,” I joked, and we set off after Nagisa. “Siesta, you chose the Singularity of your own accord that day, right?”
She must have seen through to this nature of mine and chosen me to make her own job easier. Or maybe it had been the mission of successive generations of Ace Detectives. Either way, since she’d found me up there above the clouds and decided to keep me with her as her assistant, I wished she’d trust me a little more.
“The Singularity? What are you talking about?”
But Siesta tilted her head, playing dumb.
“It was just plain love at first sight. That’s all.”
My mouth dropped open, and I stopped in my tracks. Siesta glanced at me and gave a little chuckle, then started walking.
It took me a long, long time to chase after her.