Chapter 145: Chapter 2.3
"Elder Brother" is tempting, too
"Thanks for the ride," I told Noel, climbing into the waiting car.
The interior of the shiny black luxury car was roomy enough for me to stretch my legs out. They even had champagne back there, although since it was only ten minutes from here to the hotel, it wasn't like we'd have time for a drink... Or so I thought, but Noel held out a glass to me and said, "Please have some." I guess I'll do that, then.
"Of course I'd come to pick you up. You're an important guest."
Noel was as doll-like as ever, and her expression never changed much, but she was smiling gently. I wished the other government officials would take a page from her book. Siesta and Nagisa too, actually. They'd just straight-up left me.
"Besides, I'm the one who's grateful. Thank you very much for rescuing me—
Brother."
I spit out my champagne.
"Oh! Are you all right? I'm sorry. Did it not suit your preferences? Driver, take us to a vineyard at once—"
"It's fine; just head for the hotel. You don't have to harvest grapes or let them age or anything." I mopped up the spilled champagne with my handkerchief. "Did you call me your brother, Noel?"
"Um, did I say something strange?"
Basically everything you said was strange, yeah.
I regretted impulsively running my mouth at the airport now. What scared me the most was that she might call me that in front of Siesta or Nagisa.
"I seem to have offended you. I'm very sorry." Noel bowed her head respectfully. "Would this do, then?" She gazed into my eyes. "Bro."
"Ngh." I had a heart attack and collapsed.
"Are you stupid, Kimi?"
Even Siesta was showing up in my head. I was terminal.
"Heh-heh. I'm sorry. That was a little sister joke. Forgive me, please." Noel did her best to keep her usual serious expression from slipping, but from time to time, she kicked her feet a little. She might not have known she was doing it.
"Now then, Mr. Kimihiko."
"You're going back to calling me that already?"
"Could we speak about that other matter for just a moment?"
Apparently, we were done joking around. When I heard the phrase "that other matter," only one thing came to mind. "You mean Bruno?"
That mystery letter which had been sent to our agency a few days earlier: The world's wisdom is about to perish. We'd promptly shared that information with Noel, but we hadn't discussed it in detail yet.
"The thing is, we know almost nothing about it, either. We haven't looked into it enough yet."
"...I see. No, there's no helping that. It isn't technically a job for the Ace Detectives."
Siesta and Nagisa's initial orders had only been to get through the unknown crisis and make sure the Ritual of Sacred Return was completed. This business with Bruno was a curveball.
"If Bruno really is in danger at the ceremony, though, our detectives won't just stand by. They won't care about the specifics of their roles or missions." We'd just talked about their resolve in the plane on the way here. "What about you,
Noel? Do you have any suggestions for ways to protect Bruno?"
"Yes. Frankly, I think it would be safest to cancel the Ritual of Sacred Return entirely... But practically speaking, that would be difficult. The Federation Government wants to host the ritual, burn the origin text, and bring about world peace as soon as possible."
Noel had told us as much the first time we'd met her: They planned to put a permanent end to the world's disasters by burning the origin text and returning the Oracle's power to the gods.
"It's really true? If we complete the Ritual of Sacred Return, global crises will never happen again?"
That might be something Mia, who possessed the origin text, would understand instinctively. As someone who wasn't directly involved, though, I could only take that statement as hearsay.
"...Yes, there's no mistake." Noel's eyes wavered slightly. "It's corroborated by several millennia of records. If the Ritual of Sacred Return is completed, you and the detectives will never be dragged into global crises again."
When I heard Noel's words, I had the feeling I knew why she had hesitated.
If it was "corroborated by several millennia of records," the Ritual of Sacred Return had been held before. If they were trying to hold it again anyway, that probably meant... No, that wasn't important now. She'd told me what I wanted to know. For now, I just said, "I see," and went on. "Could we just have Bruno stay home, then?"
People were attending the ritual by invitation, so he had to have the right to decline.
"I really would have preferred that. However..."
I knew where that sentence was going. Bruno must have refused.
An understandable choice, given his position. He was the one who'd asked Siesta and Nagisa to fight the unknown crisis, so the danger to himself must not have been enough of a reason for him to leave the battlefield.
"It would help a lot if the enemy's demands were a bit easier to understand, at least." We would have had room to negotiate or put together a strategy, then. However, the messengers from Another Eden wanted something specific from the Federation Government, but we didn't know what that thing was.
"...As a matter of fact, I've heard a rumor about that." "Really?"
"Yes. They say the officials of the Federation Government once hid a certain important secret in Pandora's box. At this point, no one knows what it is...
However, the messengers of Another Eden may have managed to find out."
Noel told me it was a rumor she'd first heard only after she became a government official. The enemy had learned about an important secret the Federation Government had kept hidden for ages, and was threatening them.
"What should I do? How can I protect both the world and Grandfather?" Noel murmured. There was something almost self-deprecating about the way she said it.
That worry was based in her complicated position. First and foremost, as a Federation Government official, she needed to have Bruno—a former Tuner— fight the unknown crisis. After all, that was the system of justice they'd built for this world.
However, Noel had another relationship with Bruno. He was family. If she treasured that relationship, of course she'd want him to stay away from the ceremony.
"Bruno's presence in your life is just that big, huh?"
"...Yes. Grandfather was my only ally, and my only family."
Then, quietly, Noel began to tell me about herself. Fifteen years ago, she'd been born into the Lupwise family, which was of French nobility, with ties to the Federation Government. However, the head of the family had fathered her with one of the maids. Noel's mother was promptly run out of the mansion, and both her father and his legal wife had distanced themselves from Noel's birth.
"The Lupwise family always treated me as someone who didn't exist. No one spoke to me or answered my questions. Not my grandparents, or my parents, or my older brother, or even the servants. In that house, I was invisible."
"And Bruno saved you from that?"
Noel gazed out the car window. "Yes," she said, smiling very slightly. "One day ten years ago, Grandfather rescued me from that house. I'd never spoken with anyone before, but he gave me language, and taught me how to smile and how to get angry. I was invisible, but he made me human again."
Noel and Bruno's relationship wasn't something I could make sense of on my own. There was a decade-long bond between them that only they could understand, just like the one I had with the detectives.
"However, I've been on my own again for the past year."
Noel's voice was low, but it reached me without being drowned out by the noise of the traffic.
Three years ago, Noel had begun to work as a Federation Government official in place of her older brother, who'd disappeared. Last year, Bruno had formally
dissolved their relationship, and she had left the Belmondo family entirely.
"I'm sure the real reason he schedules dinners for the two of us every once in a while is that... Hm?"
Noel's cheeks deflated, and her lips got narrower—because I was pinching her cheek.
"He taught you how to smile, didn't he? You're supposed to do what your parents taught you."
"Mrph," Noel said.
I pushed the corner of her mouth up. "Let's try talking to Bruno one more time." When I let go, Noel stared at me, surprised. "There may still be something we can do. Some way to protect both the world and Bruno. We'll think about it together a little more."
Right now, Noel couldn't afford to lose Bruno.
As she wavered between her mission and self-interest, she seemed like a mirror reflecting a certain someone else.
Mission Start
Soon after that, the car reached our destination.
I parted from Noel, walked into the hotel she'd reserved for us, and took the elevator up.
It was a luxury resort hotel, the kind we'd never have been able to stay at as a rule. When I knocked on the door of a room on the thirty-fifth floor, Siesta opened it. "Oh, you're finally here."
"...You're a heartless fiend."
"I am not. I just believed that no matter what trouble you got into, you were bound to come out victorious, so I went on ahead to the hotel."
Geez. It's all in how you phrase things, isn't it?
I went inside, dragging my suitcase. Our room turned out to be a suite, with a living room that was separate from the bedroom. The detectives had been having their afternoon tea in there: Snacks and a teapot were set out on the table.
"Huh? Are you staying here, too, Kimihiko?"
When she saw me wearily grab a chair and sit down, Nagisa blinked at me. "Yeah. I told Noel it was fine to put us all in the same room."
"Gosh, I feel threatened."
"Don't squirm when you say that." "I didn't!"
As we were having that fun conversation, Siesta brought me a cup. "You're having tea, too, aren't you, Kimi?"
"Oh... Nah, water's fine." I picked up a plastic bottle of mineral water that was already sitting there.
"...I see." For some reason, Siesta looked a little disappointed. She sat down next to me. "Kimi, have you been drinking? You smell like liquor."
"I just had a glass in the car on the way here. Noel offered." "And you always tell me not to drink."
That's her own fault. After all, drinking has helped this detective blow it before.
"Wait, you saw Noel? Does that mean you talked about the Bruno thing?" Nagisa asked, tossing a chocolate into her mouth.
"Yeah. She said he's still planning to go to the ceremony."
"...I see. Then we really will have to make thorough preparations before the Ritual of Sacred Return."
"That's probably the whole reason Noel came to us about this. It sounds like they haven't been able to contact most of the other Tuners."
As Siesta said, at this point, the Ace Detective was the only former Tuner who specialized in combat. And even that was only true of Siesta, not Nagisa.
"Hm? What?" Siesta noticed my gaze and tilted her head. "I just sort of wished we at least had Charlie here." "She's on a different mission right now."
A week ago, Charlie had been on the fence about attending the Ritual of Sacred Return, and she'd ultimately decided not to come. Her reasons hadn't been pessimistic, though: The agent had picked up another important mission.
"What's she up to now? Even you don't know, do you, Siesta?"
"Right, but that's how it should be with Charlie," Siesta said, gazing into the distance. I sensed a little pride in her profile.
Exactly. Charlotte wasn't just an agent who tagged along after the detective anymore.
"I wonder if Yui's running around getting ready for her overseas performance," Nagisa murmured, checking her phone. Come to think of it, the concert was the day after tomorrow.
"By the way, I just sent her a text asking 'What are you doing now?', and she replied with 'Please don't act like you're my boyfriend.'"
"Geez, Yui. Ouch."
After we'd talked about that for a while...
"So, Siesta. What are we going to do now? Either way, I think we should talk to Bruno a bit more."
"At this stage, we should probably set up safeguards to minimize the damage in case there really is an attack during the Ritual of Sacred Return." Gazing at her smartphone, Siesta started to go over our course of action.
"Huh? Wait, we haven't filled our assistant in on this maneuver yet, have we?"
"I have one other piece of insurance. Or maybe I should say I'm working on something, but...I guess it doesn't have to be now."
"Hey, you two. Quit messing around with your phones and let me in on this."
Granted, there had been one very recent incident where everything had worked out much better because the whole team wasn't on the same page, but...
"Well, if it comes to that, I've got an ace up my sleeve, too." "Oh, yay. I'm happy for you."
Siesta, it actually hurts kind of a lot when you dodge the subject like that.
"But listen, we may need to designate someone to call the shots," Nagisa said.
True—no matter how we strategized and planned, it would be pointless if we couldn't make prompt decisions when it counted.
"Why not our assistant?" Siesta suggested unexpectedly. Both Nagisa and I weren't sure what she was getting at.
"Nagisa, you and I were the ones who decided to reclaim our authority as Tuners, attend the Ritual of Sacred Return, and take on the unknown crisis. That means it's Kimi's turn. We'll let him have the right to make the final decisions and give the orders," Siesta said, poking my cheek with her fingertip several times.
"This is proof that you trust me, right?" I said. "You're not just shoving all the responsibility onto me, are you?"
As I tried to smile, several texts came in on my phone. "...Oh, I see."
For a brief moment, I made eye contact with each detective. The mission was already underway.
Eden's messenger
When the sun had descended another thirty degrees... "How pretty! It's like we're in a movie!"
From the little boat that was sailing down the river, the townscape seemed to
be dissolving into the sunset. Drinking in the view, Nagisa gave a blissful sigh. After relaxing in our hotel room for a bit, the detectives and I had decided to see the sights of Paris on a cruise down the Seine.
The excursion wouldn't quite take an hour, and we'd be able to see the Eiffel Tower and the Pont Alexandre III from the water. However, due to a certain situation, the tour was due to be discontinued soon, and we'd just barely gotten to enjoy this cinematic scenery.
"I've been through so much that could have been straight out of a movie—I'm sort of sick of it," Siesta mused. She stood on the deck with us, a wine glass full of juice in one hand. As she'd said, we'd starred in all sorts of movies, from spy- action flicks to science fiction B movies, and of course detective films.
"The only genre that never showed up was romance."
"True. That might have been the leading actor's fault, though." Both Nagisa and Siesta gave me significant looks.
"Not fair." That seemed the best moment to lodge a complaint as I drank my wine. Its astringent taste made my mouth sting a bit; like coffee, the flavor had a surprising depth to it.
"You're all quite grown-up, aren't you?" Noel murmured, gazing at us. She was the one who'd arranged this exclusive tour. "It's clear that you've experienced many things I couldn't even imagine, gotten through them, and formed a special relationship only the three of you can understand."
The three of us looked at each other. We were all wearing different expressions. Siesta's was prim, but there was pride there as well. Although Nagisa appeared satisfied, her smile wasn't entirely joyful... I wondered what my face looked like to them.
"I wonder what your relationship would be called in Japanese. I don't think it's a 'three-way standoff'... Oh! A 'love triangle.'"
"Let's get down to business." Blocking out the ominous phrase Noel had just dropped, I turned to look at the other individual who was present. "You really won't excuse yourself from tomorrow's ceremony, Bruno?"
The old gentleman was standing a little apart from our group, wine glass in hand, gazing out over the river. Noel had called him here as well.
"Yes. You know I mustn't make you stand on the battlefield while I sit reading in the shade." As we'd heard earlier, Bruno meant to prioritize his own mission. "If I yield to the enemy now, I'll disgrace the name of justice. I will not submit to any threat."
"Grandfather..." Noel gave Bruno a concerned look.
"There's no need to worry. Besides, if the messenger from Another Eden is targeting the Federation Government, then even you are in danger, Noel. Isn't that right?"
"Yes, but...the enemy has singled you out by name, Grandfather. I think you should be extremely cautious, and that finding out why they did that is an urgent matter."
Bruno and Noel's worry for each other was putting them in conflict, but no compromise presented itself.
"I think Noel has a point, though." Nagisa broke into their conversation. "Why would the messenger from Another Eden be after Bruno in particular? He isn't the only one who's working with the Federation Government."
She was right. If they were after people who were working with the government and trying to shut down the unknown crisis, the two detectives fit the description as well.
"In the first place, I really doubt your letter was sent by Another Eden's messenger," Bruno said, overturning our premise. "I hear they've never tried to contact the Federation Government by mail. Am I right, Noel?"
"...Yes. In simple terms, they use 'signals'—in the electrical engineering sense—to send their messages to electronic terminals in a language we can understand. But no matter how we try, we haven't been able to analyze that program."
This was giving me a headache, but basically, they couldn't trace the source of Another Eden's transmissions through their logs. Come to think of it, I'd heard something about that earlier... At any rate, the residents of Another Eden had some seriously unfamiliar technology.
"Then the letter was sent by someone completely different." Siesta might have assumed there was a good chance of that all along; she nodded, seeming convinced.
"Yes. However, it doesn't matter who is targeting me. Even after the Great Cataclysm, I haven't let my guard down in the slightest. The light of justice has never been extinguished. No matter what enormous evil presents itself, I'll intercept it," Bruno said, gazing out at the majestic river. Several wild birds flew across the water.
"It looks like rain," Siesta said casually, without even glancing at the sky. "Rain? The clouds don't look that thick."
"Did you see how close those birds were to the river's surface? They were after the bugs; humidity weighs insects down."
Siesta's instincts were based in analysis, and they were usually right. If it was going to rain, it might be a good idea to finish the tour early.
"And my old wound is hurting a little." Siesta pressed a hand to the left side of her chest.
Right after I'd focused on her gesture, it happened. Something else arrived before the rain did.
"—Why can you not comprehend our demand?"
The source of the voice was several meters above our heads, on the boat's mast. Even though there was practically nothing to use as a foothold, a figure in a crow mask and a red robe was standing up there.
"Kimihiko, that's..." "...Yeah. Let's back up."
Realizing more or less what this was, Nagisa and I backed away.
"Federation Government Tuners Respond."
The thing twisted its head ninety degrees. Its voice sounded mechanical, but it was capable of communicating verbally.
"Who are you?" Siesta raised her musket. She wasn't shaken or anxious. She meant to carry out her role, just as she'd always done. However, Bruno gently held up a hand in front of her, telling her to stand down.
"Are you the messenger from Another Eden?" he asked the masked figure, as calmly as he could.
"There is no meaning in your name for us." That sounded like a "yes." And then... "We only want the world's secret."
This messenger from an unknown world was attempting to negotiate with us in a language we'd understand. "The world's secret" had to be what they were demanding from the Federation Government. However...
"You aren't giving us enough information." Noel took a step forward. "The Federation Government isn't rejecting you outright. We simply don't know what you mean by 'the world's secret.' That leaves us with no way to negotiate."
"Why?" The crow-mask bent its neck in the opposite direction. "Why don't you comprehend? Why did you forget?"
The next instant, an unpleasant sound like broken-up static ran through my inner ears. My hands came up to cover them, and I squeezed my eyes shut. When I opened them again, the surface of the water around the boat was littered with dead fish and birds.
"Noel, get back." Siesta stepped in front of her, pointing her musket at the thing in the crow mask. "What do you mean, 'we forgot'? Maybe we never
knew."
"Just try and shoot."
Siesta scowled, but she pulled the trigger. The bullet moved too fast to be seen, but just before it reached its target, it stopped—and abruptly disappeared. It was as if it had been sucked through a dimensional crack.
"Negotiations are canceled."
With that mechanical declaration, the denizen of Eden turned to go. "Wait," Siesta said sharply.
The next thing I knew, a few scattered drops of rain had begun to fall.
"Tell your companions that, as things stand, your request will not be granted.
Tell them to consider their own goals first, then tell us what they are." She wasn't holding her gun at the ready anymore.
However, the detective's words were more relentless and passionate than any weapon. "We aren't currently fighting in the same ring, and we haven't arrived at the same negotiation table. If you still try to hurt this world or my companions, I'll ignore the rule of nonaggression. I will march into Eden or hell, and I will fight. I swear it."
The crow mask's big, black, hollow eyes were fixed on Siesta. However, no words issued from its large beak.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m