Chapter 1.2

The maid dances in the dead of night

"I see. So you met Mia, too."

Siesta and I were in the back seat of a car, on our way to a certain

destination.

Mia Whitlock was the Oracle, one of the twelve Tuners who protected the world. She had the ability to foresee major turning points in history. About a week ago, in search of a way to bring Siesta back to life, Natsunagi and I had flown to London to see her.

"Yeah, we talked about you a lot."

I remembered the conversation I'd had with Mia, who was apparently Siesta's junior, that day. How SPES had come to possess the sacred text and the resolution Siesta had made behind the scenes—

"Are you angry?" Siesta asked without looking at me. "I hid so much from you during those three years."

…She really had. She'd hidden the true nature of the enemy we were fighting, for example. She'd called herself the Ace Detective but hadn't

explained what it meant. Her friendships, too. She'd never told me any of the important stuff.

"If there was a reason you needed to keep it a secret, then I could never be mad. But…" I could feel Siesta turn to look at me. "Sacrificing yourself— that's the one thing I can't let go."

I wanted to tell that to both detectives, not just this one.

"…You're right," Siesta said quietly, and returned to gazing out the window at the setting sun. "Still, who'd have thought Mia would be in Japan?" Shifting gears, she smiled. "I haven't seen her in a year."

Last time a future she'd predicted had changed, Mia had visited Japan to confirm it in person. This time, the Ace Detective had come back to life, and the world had reached a major turning point; there was no way the Oracle wouldn't come to observe it.

"And you think Mia may be able to explain Natsunagi's current state?" "Yeah. At the very least, she should know what's happening that I don't

know."

That was why we were on our way to talk to her. About a week ago, on top of that clock tower in London, Mia and Natsunagi had a secret conversation. We were in a car bound for a certain location where we might find Mia and learn what they'd discussed.

"But, Siesta, are you okay?"

Siesta cocked her head as if she didn't know what I meant.

"I mean, you did just wake up, and we're already on the move…"

I'd realized quite late I'd brought Siesta out here without giving any thought to her physical health.

"I haven't deteriorated so badly that I need you worrying about me, Kimi," she murmured with her eyes closed. Apparently I'd been worried for nothing. "Besides, there isn't much time."

"True." It couldn't be much longer before Seed made Saikawa his vessel. "Can we go a little faster, SIESTA?" I asked our driver.

The girl sitting behind the wheel shot me a glance in the rearview mirror. "I don't appreciate being ordered around by you, Kimihiko."

It was the former maid-type SIESTA; she'd come back with the original Ace Detective. Her body had been returned to Siesta, though, which meant this one was brand new…

"What's the matter? Have you been captivated by the new me?" SIESTA

asked with a straight face, registering my gaze.

"I mean, you can tell yourself that, but you don't look any different."

The girl was still identical to Siesta. The only differences were the maid uniform and the fact that she wasn't wearing a hair clip.

"Yes, because this is 'me.'"

Up until a little while ago, a mysterious doctor, based in SPES's laboratory, had been repairing SIESTA. Did that mean he was the one who'd made this body?

"Unfortunately, my current design isn't meant for combat. However, now that both my body and heart are mechanical, I wouldn't have minded being a fighting maid robot," SIESTA went on. As she spoke, her expression in the rearview mirror didn't change.

"The 'mechanical heart' bit doesn't make sense to me," I told her. "All else aside, there's no way anyone who can make a wish for somebody else is just a machine."

She'd wanted to save her mistress, even if it meant going against orders. If her heart was capable of a contradiction like that, then it was definitely the real thing.

"Right, Siesta?"

"…Yes. I never thought you two would surprise me so much." Coming from her, that was a frank admission of total defeat, but she seemed to be smiling as she said that. "We'll have to think of a name for you, then."

Siesta's eyes focused on the driver's seat. True, SIESTA should probably have a new name, both to celebrate her new life and to make it easier to tell the two of them apart.

"You'll name me?"

Stopping the car at a red light, SIESTA blinked at us in the rearview mirror.

Siesta leaned forward from the back seat and slipped a moon-shaped hairpin into SIESTA's pale silver hair. "Your name is Noches," she told her.

For a girl who'd been weighed down with a daytime moniker up until now, that did seem like an apt new name.

  The truth of that day, the last wish

"It's been a week, huh, Mia?"

The person we'd hoped to find was there when we reached our destination, and I heaved a sigh of relief.

"You really have no manners, do you? Telling me you want to see me out of nowhere like that…" Sweeping her pale blue hair back with one hand, Mia Whitlock glanced at me. She was wearing the shrine maiden outfit she always wore when performing her duties. "I believe we'd agreed that I would contact you if there were any developments."

Along with the matter of Natsunagi, I'd asked Mia for a certain favor. I wanted her to keep an eye out for the world's next crisis…for Seed's appearance. I knew it wouldn't be that easy, but I'd turned to her anyway, trusting that it would help me find Saikawa.

"Sorry. The situation's changed a bit."

With a few meters between us, I faced Mia. Behind her, Japan's capital city spread out as far as the eye could see. This was the observation deck of the nation's tallest radio tower; just like her clock tower in London, Mia Whitlock had been conducting her duties in a place where she could look out over the city.

"…It's just you?" As Mia spoke, she gazed out the windows at the urban landscape bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun.

She and I were the only ones here, and there wasn't a single person in the gallery, either… In other words: "If you're looking for Siesta, she's not here now."

When I said that, her shoulders flinched a little. I knew even without asking that had been her biggest reason for coming to Japan.

"We got dragged into a little incident on our way here. Siesta's getting it sorted out."

"So, nothing's changed there." With a small sigh, Mia turned back to me. "And? Why are you actually here?" Her straightforward lilac eyes bored into me. From this point on, lies and evasions wouldn't be tolerated. That was just how I wanted it, though.

"Well, there was something I wanted to check on." I took a few steady breaths then asked my question:

"Natsunagi's heart is what brought Siesta back to life, right?"

Siesta and I had come to that conclusion without even talking about it. One

year ago, when Siesta had lost her heart and her life, her body had been put in cold storage and preserved in suspended animation. That meant just one piece was needed in order to truly bring her back to life: her heart.

Siesta had used the power of her "seed" to transfer her own consciousness to her heart. So if it were to be returned to her body… If her body and spirit were linked again, then Siesta would come back to life. The idea itself was simple enough.

However, there was one major issue: The all-important heart was in Natsunagi's body. When Natsunagi had fought with Siesta as Hel, her heart had sustained damage, and she'd attacked people indiscriminately in London, trying to find a replacement for it. The heart she'd finally found had been Siesta's. If Natsunagi were to lose it again, she'd—

"That's right." Mia looked at me. There was no change in her expression. "Nagisa Natsunagi picked up on that possibility. She asked me, if she died and the heart were returned to its owner, whether the Ace Detective would come back to life."

Then I'd guessed right. Back then, Natsunagi had already braced herself. She'd thought that her death might revive Siesta.

That was why she'd made that promise to me last week in London: "I'll get Siesta back, no matter what I have to do."

No matter what she had to do. Even if that meant sacrificing herself.

"And you didn't stop her, Mia?" I squeezed my fists until I felt my nails dig into my palms.

"No."

"—Why not…?!"

"Well, I mean—!" Mia's protest echoed in the observation deck. "That's what happens when you change the future!"

Her shoulders were quaking. She was angrier than she'd ever been, and she was crying harder than I'd ever seen her. With tears rolling down her cheeks, she raged at me, or maybe at herself. "No matter how hard the choice is, if there's a wish we really and truly want, we—"

…Oh, I see. That was what I'd asked Mia to do. I'd asked her to help me revive Siesta, to help me find a new route that would make it possible. And these were the consequences.

A year ago, Siesta had died, and her heart had kept Natsunagi alive. Now Natsunagi was dead, and her heart had brought Siesta back to life.

Route X had been the only one that could bring about the miracle I'd wanted, and this was how it ended.

"I guess I made you do it."

That was true for both Mia and Natsunagi. There was no way I could blame either of them.

"No matter what you sacrifice, no matter what price you pay, keep working to get that wish of yours." Those had been Bat's last words to me.

I'd thought I'd braced for the worst long ago, but what I'd resolved to do was swallow that seed. To offer myself, basically. Even if the seed took part of my body or a few years of my life, if it made it possible to revive Siesta, I would've been glad to make the sacrifice.

…But I hadn't realized Natsunagi probably thought the same way. I hadn't noticed just how badly she wanted Siesta back, nor did I pick up on her passion.

Natsunagi had met Siesta six years ago, long before I had. Then Seed had stolen both their memories, they'd encountered each other as enemies, and finally, they had parted in death.

However, that separation had been a result of Siesta's devotion to Natsunagi. Natsunagi had wanted to relive her life, to experience going to school, and Siesta had used her own heart to make that wish come true. When Natsunagi retrieved her memories of the incident, she'd resolved to save Siesta even if it meant sacrificing herself. There was nothing unnatural about it.

"Nagisa smiled. She seemed relieved," Mia told me, wiping her tears away again and again. "She wasn't originally intending to die, of course. Even so, she said she'd finally be able to do the job she needed to do as a detective. That she'd be able to repay her debt to both you and Siesta."

"...!"

That wasn't right. Natsunagi wasn't the one who hadn't repaid her debt. It was me.

"I asked Nagisa if she wasn't afraid, if she was really all right with this. And she said…" Mia gazed out the window, into the distance. "She said she was only returning what she'd borrowed. That this was the correct route."

"That can't be. Why the hell would I want that future?"

"Yes. I didn't think it was correct, either. How could I?" With her eyes on the sunset, Mia spoke quietly. "That choice couldn't be the right one. At the

very least, I knew that it wouldn't be the future you wanted, Kimihiko Kimizuka. You'd tried so hard to persuade me, and and you did. I wanted to help you… And if this was the result, after all that, I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to hit me. And yet," she went on, "I couldn't deny Nagisa's choice. Her passion."

A single tear rolled down Mia's cheek.

Had she cried like this a year and a half ago, when she'd failed to stop Siesta's gamble?

"I don't know how to face Boss. I betrayed her wish and prioritized Nagisa's. And so—"

"—That's wrong."

Just then, a voice that didn't belong to either of us echoed throughout the observation deck. Mia turned around. Her gaze focused on a spot right beside me.

"It's been a long time, Mia."

The two heroes, the Oracle and the Ace Detective, reunited for the first time in a year.