The Detective is Already Dead

Chapter 63: Prologue, continued

"The helicopter's here!"

On the coast road, the orange sun was beginning to rise.

Spotting the aircraft in the sky, Charlie turned, shouting toward us.

"Thank goodness. It made it in time..." Sighing with relief, Saikawa sank weakly to the ground next to me.

"Natsunagi, gimme a hand!"

"All right. On three: One, two, three!"

Working in sync, Natsunagi and I gently picked up the wounded girl and moved her to an open space. The helicopter was here to transport her to a hospital.

"—Once again, are you people stupid?"

As Natsunagi and I carried her along, the girl in question looked at us coldly. "You're worrying too much. I'm only a robot."

The source of that flippant comment was an ace detective with pale silver hair

—or rather SIESTA, who'd been created by equipping the detective's body with an AI.

However, her artificial heart had just been badly damaged in combat, and we'd arranged to have her sent to a certain special facility in the hopes of repairing it. We'd managed that with the help of the redheaded policewoman currently in handcuffs.

"You've got a hole in your heart. Just be quiet and do what we tell you."

"Yes, but Kimihiko, when you manhandle me like this, I break out in goose bumps all—"

"Oh, hey, just listen to all that energy you've got! That's great!"

It's seriously impressive that she can be this caustic with a straight face. Now, I wonder which detective she takes after? I made eye contact with Natsunagi, and we gently lowered SIESTA to the ground. We just had to wait for the helicopter to land.

"Kimihiko, here," said SIESTA, whose head was resting on Natsunagi's lap. I crouched down, and she took an object out of the folds of her clothes, then

slipped it into the breast pocket of my jacket.

"SIESTA?" I pressed my hand to the pocket and felt something hard. What in the world—?

"It's from Mistress Siesta." Her smile was so gentle you'd never have believed she was a robot. "She told me to give this to you once the four of you had accomplished your tasks. I'm told everything you need to know at this point is in there." Softly, she put her hand out, placing her palm over my left breast pocket.

"...I see. So this is still part of your job?"

"Yes. And this is the end of the future Mistress Siesta predicted."

Right, this was as far as it went. Up until now, we'd been on the route Siesta had envisioned.

She would sacrifice herself to pin down a powerful enemy, then make those of us she'd left behind focus on the future by working through our issues. Yeah, that had been truly brilliant direction. It was just like her: the girl ready to resolve incidents before they even happened. But in that case...

"From now on, we'll do this our way."

Sorry, but I'm pretty fed up with being manipulated by Siesta all the time. "Kimizuka, your face looks really evil right now." Natsunagi smiled a little,

while SIESTA rested in her lap.

"I seem to remember you saying you'd be my accomplice."

"...Ngh, well, I guess I can't deny that." Natsunagi looked away. On her cheek, I could see the tracks of the tears she'd just shed.

"SIESTA..."

"It won't be long now."

Saikawa and Charlie came over to kneel beside us.

"Yes, I'll have myself repaired and return someday. More importantly..." As the girls watched her with worry, SIESTA looked straight at them. "Please take care of Mistress Siesta."

That vow we'd made had been her wish as well. Even if, in a way, it meant betraying her mistress. "Yeah, leave it to us. Someday, I swear—"

"We'll bring Siesta back to life." Natsunagi spoke over me firmly. "Yes. I leave it in your hands." SIESTA gave one last soft, relieved smile.

I'll say it again: The detective is already dead. I refuse to let it end there, though.

This is the incredible tale of how we'll transcend the detective's last wish and

overturn the future she planned.