The Detective Is Already Dead, Vol. 1

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“Charlie…”

Dazed, I looked up at the aircraft hovering in the dark sky.

The rotor blades of the armed helicopter created ring-shaped ripples on the ocean.

In the open door, Charlie was holding a machine gun, and in the pilot’s seat was—

“Hey, it’s been a while, you damn kid! Finally decided to turn yourself in?!” Ms. Fuubi was using the helicopter’s loudspeaker to mock me.

“Anybody with eyes can see I’m the victim here!”

When I objected, Ms. Fuubi pointed at something on me.

…Oh. Fair.

A violation of the Firearm and Sword Possession Control Law. For the first time, she’d caught me red-handed. Geez, she’s talking like she’s a proper police officer or something.

But wasn’t she the one who just brought out a military helicopter?

“It’s fine if I do it! I’m a cop!”

I’m not so sure about that. Also, quit reading my mind.

Seriously. Don’t make me smile. Don’t reassure me; don’t make me feel I’m not actually all alone yet.

“Ghk… Damn, you…”

I heard a growl that seemed to come from the depths of the earth.

Still bleeding, Chameleon got to his feet unsteadily. His narrow eyes were bloodshot, and he was gazing at Charlie and the helicopter that hovered in the night sky.

“It’s been a long time, pseudohuman. I never wanted to see you again.”

“Oh yeah, I recognize you…!” Chameleon’s manners were slipping. This was probably what he was actually like.

“You too, Kimizuka. I thought I really wouldn’t be seeing you after this, but…”

“…Tch. Were you planning this right from the beginning?”

Wipe out the enemy with force. It was a pretty Charlie-esque way of doing things.

Having sensed the enemy early on, Charlie had promptly gotten off the ship and returned with more firepower. Probably could’ve talked it over with me first, but… No, we’d never wasted time on that. Siesta used to give us hell for it, too.

“…Still, I’m glad you came, Charlie.”

Who’d have thought the day would come when Charlie would rescue me, after all this time?

“Hmph! You can’t possibly have expected me to just shut up after a little girl like her spoke to me like that.”

“Uh, you two are the same age.”

I see… So Natsunagi’s words lit a fire under Charlie as well. I bet even Natsunagi herself wasn’t aware of it, but there was something about her—

“Okay, Kimizuka, you stay back! It’s my turn now!” Charlie called. She leveled the machine gun that was mounted near the door, taking aim at the pseudohuman again.

Too bad, huh, Chameleon? When that girl’s got a weapon, dragons and tigers are no match for her.

“Go on, let’s see you dance!”

With a one-liner like that, it was hard to tell who the villain was as Charlie began spraying the deck with bullets.

“…Ghk!”

Even with those injuries, Chameleon managed to dodge agilely. Every so often, he’d swing his hardened “tongue” and knock bullets away.

“Rgh! You insolent—”

It was an air-to-ground battle.

But Charlie had the stronger position.

Chameleon had his hands full trying to block the bullets raining down on him, and all he could do with his unrivaled weapon—his tongue—was defend. Faced with a never-ending storm of lead, he had no choice but to desperately run around the deck.

“Kimizuka!” Abruptly, Charlie shouted to me in a voice loud enough to be heard over the gunshots. “I hate you! I hate your guts!”

Oh, you do, huh? Well, the feeling’s mutual. Sorry, but I’ve never even considered trying to get along with you.

“But… But! You were the one Ma’am chose! It wasn’t me—it was you! So as much as I hate you…I just have to leave it to you! If the woman I loved chose the guy I hate more than anyone, then—I have no choice but to trust you, don’t I?!”

Her scream was like a prayer.

She didn’t let her tears show. Instead, a rain of bullets poured down from the sky.

I was sure Charlie was trying to grant her teacher’s final wish.

“Kimizuka! This time, let’s make this mission a success together!”

Yeah, I know. Trust me—I know.

I was planning to do that all along.

“Rraaaaaaah!”

Possibly because she didn’t want to waste the time it would take to reload, instead of relying on the door gun, Charlie picked up new weapons one after another, mounting an unbroken attack on Chameleon.

If she kept pushing like this, we could win.

As I stayed under cover, I was starting to believe, but—

“—Enough.”

—when she changed weapons, there was a slight pause in the attack.

Chameleon slumped, leaning forward—and abruptly vanished.

“Charlie! Watch out!”

“Huh?!”

The next instant, the helicopter tilted dramatically.

“Ghk! He got us!”

From what I could see, the rotors were fine…but something was leaking from the body.

“…Fuel, huh?”

A fluid that seemed to be gasoline was dripping from the vicinity of the engine, falling onto the deck where we stood.

The helicopter was flying significantly lower than it had been earlier. If they didn’t get that altitude back, there was no telling when it might crash. However, Chameleon had completely camouflaged himself, and we couldn’t see him. If things were like this, then…

“Rgh! I can’t even tell whether I’m hitting him or not!”

Charlie kept attacking indiscriminately with the machine gun, but she didn’t seem to be landing hits. In the cockpit, Ms. Fuubi was gripping the control stick, desperately trying to right the leaning helicopter.

Dammit, once he gained the advantage by going invisible, we couldn’t even touch him.

How were you supposed to fight someone you couldn’t see? If Siesta was here, what would she…?

“Ha-ha. Now your attacks won’t hit me! Not even that ace detective could touch me!”

The enemy was still invisible; his triumphant voice was the only sign of him.

…Never mind that—what had he just said?

Even the ace detective hadn’t been able to touch him?

Had something like that happened? How did I not know about it?

“I can see it in my mind’s eye even now—that damnable girl yielding to me in humiliation!”

Oh. I see now.

It was this guy.

It was him. What happened to Siesta was because of him.

I’d finally found her mortal enemy, in the truest sense of the word.

And yet for some reason, my mind still felt calm. I had no emotions now.

All I had was the mission to annihilate SPES—to annihilate this monster.

Until that was done, I wouldn’t stop moving.

“…! You killed Ma’am!” Charlie’s angry shout echoed over the battlefield.

Yeah, I get it. I know how you feel better than anybody.

But, Charlie, right now, you need to look at me.

I brought two fingers up to my lips, gesturing.

“Kimizuka? —Okay. All right.”

I assume you understand that I wasn’t blowing a kiss.

So. Let’s end this already.

It’s time to slay this monster.

“I’ve also been thinking it’s about time this woman quit smoking.”

“…Yeesh. Fine, do what you gotta.”

Charlie ignited the cigarette lighter she’d taken from Ms. Fuubi, then let it fall.

…Onto the deck, which was covered in the leaked fuel from the helicopter.

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

Fire blazed up all at once, burning the whole area around Chameleon.

Naturally, I was in range for some damage myself. But I’d always been planning on going down with this guy if I had to.

“H-hot… G…gonna…”

Apparently, his skin’s color-changing function didn’t work in that harsh environment, and Chameleon’s shape materialized again. He was surrounded by a pillar of fire, and he’d fallen to his knees, his long tongue hanging loosely.

“Time to die.”

Then there was one dull gunshot.

With all her immeasurable emotions behind it, Charlie pulled the trigger.

“^_____! Gaaah!”

With an inarticulate scream, Chameleon spat up blood.

The bullet had pierced his hardened “tongue,” and it fell to the deck with a clunk.

However, I could see the torn-off tongue began regenerating from the root again, and I headed toward the raging flames. Then I picked up the “tongue,” which had a tip as sharp as a blade.

“—! Dammit, damn, I’ll—”

The reptile in front of me was saying something.

“K…kill. You…too…shame…fully…like that…ace…detective…”

Ah. As long as that tongue kept regenerating, this thing would keep talking, huh? In that case—

“^_____! Ghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

I slashed through Chameleon’s newly regenerated tongue, using the one I’d picked up.

This is a blade. A double-edged sword you grew yourself.

I struck again and again, shouldering the thoughts of so many people: my former partner, her comrades, the ones who’d inherited her last wish.

“Stuh…stoooooooooooooooooop!”

Ha, as if. Maybe you should have a taste of what you did to us.

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

If you’re going to regenerate over and over, I’ll just cut through it every time.

Don’t ever speak again.

“Aa… Aa, aaaah…”

By now, the noises from the thing in front of me didn’t seem to mean anything anymore.

But my right hand didn’t stop. I hadn’t done enough yet.

Bleed more, more, more.

Bleed enough for Charlie, for me, for Siesta.

Please, I’m begging you. More, more—

“—Please just die already.”

I had no idea how many times I’d lopped off that tongue. Telling myself this was the last time, and praying that it would be, I raised the blade high, and—

“……!”

While the blade was still above my head, the ship lurched violently, and in the next instant—

“Not…yet.”

By the time I noticed, it was too late.

“…—!”

Chameleon’s long tongue was wrapped around my torso. I hadn’t cut through it completely yet!

“Change…of…venue.”

Then he slammed the long “tail” he’d grown into the deck.

“Ghk…!”

The burned, fragile planks fell away, and Chameleon dropped down to the deck below, dragging me with him.

“Dam…mit!”

Our midair battle lasted just a few seconds.

I was still holding the remains of that hardened “tongue,” and I shoved it into Chameleon’s mouth.

“Ghuh, gah!”

The tongue that had been strangling my abdomen loosened very slightly. Battered as I was, I managed to get Chameleon pinned under me somehow and let him hit the floor.

“Ow, ow, ow. Dammit, I was so close…”

Where was this? What had we fallen into?

The black smoke that billowed in through the hole in the ceiling made it hard to see, and I couldn’t make out anything clearly. I’d heard Ms. Fuubi and Charlie calling me as we fell, but I couldn’t hear them now.

“First off, I need to regroup…”

I had no weapon, and I didn’t know where I was. I couldn’t fight properly here.

Dragging my leg, I put some distance between myself and Chameleon, who was just as beat up as I was.

“…Wait, this looks a whole lot like I’m running away.”

As I mocked myself in my dimming mind, I tried to figure out why I was still trying to survive after all this.

“…Natsunagi, huh?”

“I won’t die. Whatever happens, I won’t die and leave you behind.”

Once again, I remembered what she’d said.

That’s right. Since Natsunagi made that promise…I couldn’t die and leave her behind, either.

After all, we hadn’t even said good-bye.

When I finally reached the wall, I took another look around.

“Ha-ha, nice. Well done.”

I’d been here just the day before. This place was magnificent and debauched, a seething mass of human desires, a paradise of dreams, or hell—a casino.

A truly fitting location for a final showdown.

“^_____, —you, —kill you.”

Chameleon had regained consciousness. He got to his feet, leaning forward.

My enemy was also torn up, but my hands were empty. I didn’t even have a weapon.

How was I going to fight?

…Not that I actually had any options.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!” Chameleon roared, and the way he looked made me wonder if he even knew who he was anymore.

Come on, bring it.

I stepped forward with my left foot, pulling my right fist back.

My weapon was my body. From this point on, it was mano a mano.

“Wooooooooooooooooooooooooorgh!” Chameleon bellowed, and his long, bloodied tongue flew straight at me.

“Rrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” I tensed my lower body and rotated my hips.

Then, using my right arm, I wound up as far as I could, and—

“—Are you stupid, Kimi?”

I heard a voice.

At least, I thought I had.

But, I mean…there wasn’t anybody around to cut into this fight, was there?

“Hand-to-hand combat with a monster? That’s not just reckless. It’s insane.”

The next thing I heard was a gunshot—and then Chameleon’s scream.

I saw a pool of blood. His long tongue had been sliced cleanly in two.

“There, now that tongue will never be able to attack me again.”

I’d heard something like that before.

Then the owner of the voice leaped in through the hole in the ceiling and landed right in front of me.

I recognized her back. There was no way I could have mistaken it for anyone else’s. Between this and that and the other, we’d barely been apart recently.

Why was she here, though? She’d gotten away on that boat a minute ago with Saikawa. Hadn’t she?

It was a natural question, but a certain theory made it vanish like mist.

I was about to test that theory, but before I could, she turned around.

Then she, Nagisa Natsunagi, said:

“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”

Ah. There it is.

I’d know it anywhere. That hundred-million-watt smile was what I’d wanted to see for so long.

“Yeah. Was that enough of a nap for you—Siesta?”

Those unforgettable three years I spent with you were…

The person standing in front of me was Nagisa Natsunagi. There was no doubt about that.

But.

“It’s been a year since I saw your face. Your eyes look a little meaner.”

What she said made it patently clear who she was on the inside.

“If anyone looks different here, it’s you, Siesta.”

She looked like Natsunagi—but inside, she was Siesta.

Ordinarily, that would have been impossible, but for some reason, I could tell this was that sort of thing.

If there was a reason behind it…

“So you were still in there. In that heart.”

Memory transference is a phenomenon in which the donor’s personality, interests, and preferences are reflected in the recipient after an organ transplant. While it hasn’t been scientifically proved yet, cases of memory transference have been observed all over the world, and Nagisa Natsunagi had experienced it as well after a heart transplant.

Still, even if memory transference is a real thing, all the recipient usually picks up from the donor is their personality, their daily habits, and a few memories.

Right now, though, Natsunagi hadn’t just inherited Siesta’s memories. Siesta herself had taken over. As if the master and servant had switched places.

“You look like you’re thinking something rude again, Kimi.” Natsunagi—or rather, Siesta—frowned just a little crossly. “I’m only borrowing this girl’s body for a little while. I’m not going to possess her.”

Siesta was speaking in Natsunagi’s voice, with Natsunagi’s face.

It felt faintly strange, but even so, I said:

“It’s great to see you, Siesta.”

No matter how it had happened, our first meeting in a year made my knees weak—and I just dropped down onto my butt.