5:09 P.M.
5:09 P.M.
Outside the windows on the Moon Temple’s top floor, the sun was setting below the horizon.
I sat in that chair, gazing at the red sky, listening to the music. Just as it seemed to be reaching its peak, it abruptly ended.
The girl who’d woken me up, Niitoki Kei, had picked that piece. She had good taste, I guess. It was certainly a piece designed to wake an audience up.
“But maaan…” I said, still in a bit of a daze.
Niitoki didn’t seem to know who I was, but I knew her. Nagi mentioned her a lot. She’d said, “She’s way better than me. Someone you can really rely on.”
I’d been saved by a girl like that again. I couldn’t win.
Shiro was back to normal, thanks to her. He was still out like a light, lying on his side, grumbling in his sleep.
“Well done, sir,” I thought. “Enjoy your hard-earned rest.”
I couldn’t bring myself to be mad at him.
“Still…”
I looked down through the window.
The doors had opened, and people were streaming in and out. It was chaos. I’m sure folks would start pouring into this control room soon.
What did any of it mean, in the end?
Would this all be boiled down to headlines like “Teratsuki Kyoichiro’s Final Mad Crime: A Product of Extreme Wealth and Loneliness”? There wasn’t one word of truth to that, but perhaps that was what the mastermind behind all of this intended. There were things about him that couldn’t be dismissed so easily, but perhaps it was better that they were.
“But it’s just so unsatisfying!”
I sank deeper in my chair.
I glanced at my watch, wondering what time it was. It was broken. I must have smashed it on something.
“Tch…”
I looked around for another clock, then remembered that my phone had one.
I took it out of my pocket, and it was off. Whoops, I thought, and then realized why. I’d almost certainly turned it off to force me to solve this on my own.
I turned it back on.
Instantly a call came through. What? I thought, and answered.
“Habara here,” I said.
But a voice cut me off.
“Kentaro! What the hell are you doing?”
Nagi’s voice.
“Oh, Nagi? What is it?”
“What do you think? I’ve been calling all day! All kinds of shit’s happening at the Moon Temple, and you said you’d be there!”
“Oh…I get it.”
“Are you okay?!”
“Uh, yeah, more or less.”
“Something happened there?”
“Yeah…but it’s over now. Everything’s taken care of.”
“Did you do it?”
“No, well…Niitoki-san bailed me out.”
“Kei did? How?”
She sounded confused. I wasn’t really sure to how to explain all this, though.
“Don’t worry about it, it’s all over. I’ll explain later. No need for you to come, not anymore.”
“You’re sure? If you say it’s okay, then I guess it is.”
“Who knows if you can take my word for it, ha ha ha ha!”
Nagi sighed loudly at my self-deprecating laugh.
“I was worried, you know. You could stand to take things more seriously, Kentaro!”
“Oh, I do.”
I was tickled pink she was worried about me, but…I didn’t let her know that.
“Kei’s safe, too?”
“Yeah…she left already. Oh, right, Nagi…”
“What?”
“Um, well…”
I felt like that voice was whispering in my ear.
“Why can’t you just tell her?”
“Um…”
“What?”
“Um, well, you see…”
“See what?”
“Um…how’s Masaki doing?”
I sounded so dumb. “Hunh?” Nagi said. “You were just here the other day and ate dinner with him!”
“Oh…oh, right! Ah ha ha ha!”
I let out a hollow laugh.
We exchanged a few more words about where to meet up next, and then hung up.
I felt even more dazed than I had before.
I let out a long, listless sigh.
“I just can’t say it… it just isn’t that easy!”
Maybe I should have gone for the cheap joke? “It’s Valentine’s Day, remember? Got any chocolate for me?” Hmm, not bad…
I looked over at Shiro, where he lay.
“I get it! I do. But it just isn’t that easy, man.”
Shiro’s body remained fast asleep, but his eyes alone popped open, with no light in them. He grinned at me. “I know,” he said.
I sighed again.
“Yeah…” I nodded.
Outside the window, the sunset was almost over. Any moment now, the last light would be gone.
Heartbreaker II, closed.
And as we wind on down the road
Our shadows taller than our soul
Led Zeppelin, “Stairway to Heaven”