Chapter 76: A certain girl’s recollections
How many months had it been since the fire?
"—Where was this place again?" I murmured to myself. The room around me was completely white and empty.
My parents had died, and the religious group they'd formed around me had broken up. After that, since I had no relatives, some organization that claimed to take in orphans had brought me to this facility. Did the significant echo to my voice mean that this was another basement room?
"I wonder if they're going to kill me."
I had the vague idea that they might. For example, maybe they said nice- sounding things about taking care of orphans, but they were actually monitoring me because of my special abilities, and they planned to get rid of me once they'd observed me enough. Either that, or this place might belong to a different religious group, or I might have been kidnapped and locked up by a criminal syndicate.
At this point, though, that didn't matter. My power hadn't been able to save the people who were close to me. On the contrary, many people's lives had been ruined because of me. In that case, it was only natural that I be punished.
If I'd had a solid sense of mission...if I'd had strength, or courage... Would it have changed the outcome? If so, I was sure God had given this ability to the wrong person.
"—Intruder! She went that way!"
Suddenly, in the distance, I heard an anxious shout. Was it one of the adults who'd brought me here?
"Sorry, but I can't leave her to you people."
Then footsteps and another voice, a girl's voice, came closer to my room. I heard gunshots. Apparently, the girl was the intruder. Could this girl be a grim reaper who'd come to take my life? ...I hoped she was, really. After all...
"There's nothing I can do anymore."
All my ability did was steal others' futures, their potential. It just broke them. In that case—
"In that case, want to try using that ability to protect the world instead?"
Just then, a clear voice suggested the exact opposite of what I'd had in mind. Then she destroyed the wall of that white room with a single gunshot, stepped in, and held out a hand to me.
"Mia Whitlock—I want you to come fight the enemies of the world with me." That was how I met Boss.
"Nobody told me I'd be this busy..."
Finally finished with my duties for the day, I slumped on the room's sofa.
By then, that other day felt like the distant past. On that day, the Ace Detective had taken me from the mysterious facility where I'd been kept under house arrest. Now I was living in a room in the tallest clock tower in England.
"How many more books do I have to write anyway?"
I'd been moving my right hand practically involuntarily for hours and hours. It felt hot, and it throbbed with a pain like tendinitis.
Here, my job was to use my ability to prophesy global crises, then write them all down in books known as "sacred texts." From what I'd been told, generations of people who held the post of "Oracle" had been doing this job since antiquity. Now it was my job, and I was carrying out my duties, although I wasn't used to them yet.
"You sound pretty tired."
I wasn't sure if that was meant to be gratitude or a dig at me as it came from the cell phone I'd tossed aside. It was a scheduled contact from the individual who'd set me up with this job.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I'm incredibly tired. Thanks to you, Boss."
"My, my. Such sarcasm toward your seniors," my caller said, teasing. She'd only been a Tuner six months longer than I had, but she'd told me she was my mentor, and she'd looked so proud of it that I'd given in and called her that.
"Once again, how is everything? Have you gotten used to your new life?"
"...Yes, finally, after close to half a year," I told her, heading out onto the balcony with my phone.
"Are you dissatisfied? I thought you might be."
"Did I sound like I was?"
Well, this job was rougher than I'd expected it to be. Sometimes, I got so tired
I wanted to pitch the whole thing...
"Still, it's a great help to me that you accepted the position," Boss said with surprising candor. "Remember that global crisis involving SPES that you made an exception and told me about? I can infer the links between the fragmented facts in the sacred text and keep the damage to a minimum. That means you're definitely carrying out your duty of protecting the world." Her voice was kind. Even though according to the sacred text, the fate she bore was harsher than anyone's.
"...I see." Boss's straightforward words made me feel awkward and shy...but even so. "Yes. I think this life is a hundred thousand times better than my old one, too."
I didn't have to be stubborn with someone who was several thousand miles away.
"This job will make the best use of my ability. I'll be able to use it to benefit people. Someday, I might even be able to save the world. And so..." I drew a deep breath, gazing out over the panoramic view from a hundred meters up. The city seemed to be dissolving in the evening light. It was a sight I never could have seen when I'd been shut up in those underground rooms, and I tried to take it in now so I'd never forget. "Thank you for giving me this view," I told the screen.
I was a little embarrassed, but it was the sort of thing I'd be able to say now, when I couldn't see her face.
"That smile is completely against the rules, so be responsible showing it to boys, all right?"
"...H-how do I shut this camera off?"
I'd thought those busy, fulfilling, peaceful days would go on forever.
One day, though, after my life as the Oracle had continued for another two and a half years...
"As I've told you over and over, I'm against this." I was talking to the usual person, and there was just a little anger in my voice. "I was all right with deliberately letting the enemy steal the sacred text. But so what if it is a chance to trick Seed? Do you intend to sacrifice yourself, Siesta?"
It was a trap Boss had suggested one day, a way to suppress an enemy of the world known as Seed. Lately, she'd been doggedly trying to persuade me to help
with that plan. Although, the future had been taking a turn for the better, ever since she'd met him...
"I'm not basing the whole thing on self-sacrifice. That part is just insurance.
Call it a last resort." Boss gave a light smile, deflecting my sharp questions. "...Then you really don't intend to die?"
"I'm a detective. I'm merely assuming various possibilities and acting on them, in preparation for the future you see, Mia." She admonished me, but her tone was mild.
"But did you tell him about this maneuver?"
"Who's 'him'?"
...Was I seriously hearing that from the Ace Detective?
"Come on, you're always talking about him. The boy you said you're traveling with."
"Oh, my assistant? I don't think I talk about him all that much."
"Yes, you do, every time you call. What you and your assistant talked about today, and where you went, and what you ate together, and what games you played. You go on and on about all sorts of things when I haven't even asked."
Every time, I'd wondered exactly what sort of report she was giving me, and here she hadn't even been aware of it?
"...Is that right?" Abruptly, Boss's voice went quiet. I thought it was kinda cute; does that mean I lose? "Well, regardless, my assistant has nothing to do with this." Boss had cleared her throat a little, but she'd still decided not to tell the boy about the maneuver.
"If it has nothing to do with him, why won't you tell him?"
"......"
She wouldn't answer that one. Even if she didn't say, though, I could guess. If she was honest with him, she knew he'd try to stop her. Boss knew better than anyone that no one else would accept her resolution.
"But I am the Ace Detective, so..."
She wouldn't yield that point. She couldn't. As long as she was a Tuner, with DNA that helped her fight the enemies of the world, it didn't matter how hard I tried to persuade her. I was sure she'd never change her mind. And really—I'd known that since the first time she had made this suggestion to me.
"Promise me, then," I told her. "Promise you'll fight all the way to the end.
That you won't give up."
My voice might have been trembling. This should go without saying, but I didn't want Boss to die. Still...I just couldn't treat her resolution as a Tuner with
disdain. And so at the very least, even if she did put that plan into action, I didn't want her to give up on living. It was a selfish wish, but I left it in her hands.
"—Yes, I promise." Boss nodded, lightly but firmly. "Didn't you know? You wouldn't think it, but I like perfectly happy endings."
With a cheerful smile, she told me to keep that in mind.
"Liar."
Six months after that, I flopped down onto the sofa face-first and snapped at my now-deceased benefactor.
"I thought you liked happy endings."
I would never get another scheduled phone call from her, I knew—and yet my phone was in my hand.
"Madam Mia, it's time."
I heard a knock; my attendant Olivia was calling me. "...I know. I was just checking the time."
Yes, even if someone close to me died or the world was ending tomorrow, I had to perform my duties. I'm sure the girl who gave me this job would have wanted me to. I silently answered my own question as Olivia helped me change into my costume.
I only saw the future as it was, then silently wrote it down in the sacred text.
That was the one routine permitted to me, and the duty I must carry out. "I'll be back."
After I'd changed, I made my way to the tower's balustrade in order to complete my task.
Bathed in the light of the setting sun, I closed my eyes and cleared my mind of distractions—future possibilities that couldn't really exist.
It was true that I'd failed. I hadn't been able to save my precious benefactor. I hadn't managed to change the future. But if there was just one person in the world who was allowed to commit a taboo like that, it was—
"The Singularity."
He dragged the entire world into things. Would he be able to change what lay beyond the future?
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