The Detective is Already Dead

Chapter 84 - 6.1

Chapter 84: Chapter 6.1

The final showdown The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))

After we'd said our goodbyes to Bat, we got back into the car, and Charlie drove off in pursuit of Seed. We focused our search on places he was likely to flee to, such as buildings where the sun wouldn't reach him, then used Saikawa's left eye to efficiently eliminate possibilities.

Finally we reached a big, ruined shopping mall in the suburbs. They hadn't started demolishing it yet; the whole building was covered with vines, and it was dark enough inside that we had to use flashlights, even in the daytime. We walked through the structure, and finally, on the third floor of the parking garage

—we found our target. "...Kimizuka, be careful."

"I know. Natsunagi, you take care of Saikawa."

Since Saikawa was being targeted as Seed's vessel, I had her and Natsunagi fall back.

"Kimizuka... Let's watch zombie movies together after this, all right?"

"Yeah, sign me up for a Prime membership while we're here," I said, bantering with Saikawa.

...Then Charlie and I exchanged glances, and we turned to face Seed. "So you're here."

The garage was littered with abandoned cars, and the enemy stood at the very back of it, a dozen meters ahead of us.

His long hair was a color that was hard to define, somewhere between gray and silver. His characterless, expressionless face seemed to transcend nationality and even gender; there was something that provoked awe about it, something almost holy.

The primordial seed could mimic the structure of the human body, and he seemed to be capable of replicating other organic matter to some extent: He'd cloaked himself in a substance that resembled thin armor. I could see cracks in his neck, though. They might be the aftereffects of his brief exposure to sunlight. His right ear was missing as well. Was there other damage hidden beneath that

armor?

"Why do you expend this much energy in order to fight?"

I'd begun to reach toward my hip, but Seed's dark purple eyes pierced me. "What reason is there for conflict? Think about it. Is it because I am what you

refer to as your sworn enemy? Past enmity? The death of a member of your species? Because this is a suitable place to vent your grudge? Do you intend to take up weapons for such sentimental reasons? It's beyond comprehension," Seed said, in a voice that held no emotion at all.

"Then you're saying you don't want to fight?" Charlie narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out what the enemy was after. She kept her guard up, and her hand stayed on her sword's sheath.

"I never have. There's nothing more pointless than expending energy in futile conflict."

Siesta had written about that in her letter. Seed wasn't actively fond of fighting; he'd only used his subordinates to cause trouble in order to carry out his plan.

"Seed, what exactly are you?" I asked. It was an abstract question, but that had to be something we'd need to know. "All I know about you is that you're the seed of a plant that came from outer space, that sunlight is your mortal enemy, and that you're raising human vessels in order to eliminate its threat to you. That's all. What are you really, and why are you so fixated on your survival instinct that you'd invade us?"

I'm sure he was wondering why I was asking now, after all this. Even so, Seed said, "I made a forced landing on Earth a little more than fifty years ago."

Siesta, Natsunagi, Charlie, or anybody else—I won't let you use any of them as your vessel. Whatever happened, I couldn't allow anyone to be sacrificed for the life of another. I wanted to tell the deceased Ace Detective the exact same thing.

"Oh, is that what this is about?" Seed murmured.

"I finally understand why such a fatal disconnect has occurred between myself and you humans."

"...What do you mean? What are you trying to say?"

I had a bad feeling about this. Some sixth sense told me that the next thing he said would cause a decisive break between us. It was too late to head it off, though, as Seed plunged on.

"You humans fell from the apex of the ecosystem long ago, and yet you refuse to serve as the foundation of a higher species. That runs counter to the laws of the natural world."

Seed was saying that just as mankind had survived by eating other animals, he'd satisfy his survival instinct by using humans as his vessels. His claim was that this was a new natural law.

"Do humans feel guilt when you eat a cow or pig or bird? Do you develop special feelings for each individual life-form? This is no different. I feel nothing about using your bodies as vessels."

"...!" Charlie sent him a sharp glare, and her hand tensed on her sword's sheath.

"You're saying you don't even feel grateful to those who will make you what you are? You don't care who they are or what they're like?"

"Can you humans tell the face of one cow or pig from another?"

With his eyes wide open, Seed tilted his head in an exaggerated way. His neck cracked audibly.

"...Oh, I see." Finally, I understood.

Seed wasn't talking to individuals, to Kimihiko Kimizuka and Charlotte Arisaka Anderson. Just as humans couldn't tell the ants who swarmed at their feet apart, Seed was aware of us only as "humans" in general.

For example, when Hel had run away last year in London, the clone Chameleon had a hard time finding her. Although they'd worked together closely for years as members of SPES, when he'd met Natsunagi again on that cruise ship, he hadn't realized who she was.

Unsurprisingly, his parent Seed didn't normally see humans as individuals,

either. The only thing he paid attention to was whether the subject in front of him was a defective variant in terms of becoming his vessel.

"Now do you understand, humans?" Without even blinking, Seed gazed at the four of us as a unit. "This isn't a matter of good or evil. It's a logical conclusion about the shape nature should take."

In the truest sense of the word, Seed wasn't looking at anyone.

I asked him one final question. "What if we say we'll resist anyway?" "Humans show their livestock no mercy, either."

He's right. I can't deny that.

I drew my Magnum, pointing it at the enemy. "I see. Here's the thing, though: Humans are really bad at knowing when to give up."