"How about this one?" Kirigiri picked up the next file.
Johnny Earp – DSC #000
"This guy's famous. He's American." I immediately flaunted my knowledge. "He's the only private detective in Japan that's authorized by the police to carry a gun. Well, I don't know much about the circumstances myself, other than that the police and the FBI made some deals... Apparently, while he's here in this country, he's a 'law enforcement official', not a detective."
"I know him as well."
"Oh, really?"
"He taught me how to fire a gun in America."
"Ohhh... Wait, huh?! You know him personally?"
"I don't know if he remembers me, though."
"I can't believe there are people who just know a Triple Zero... Look at his picture! He looks like Brad Pitt! He's so cool! You should introduce me to him!"
"He normally lives in New York. Can you speak English?"
"Uhhh..." All I could do was go quiet with nothing more than that to say.
"I didn't know he was a Triple Zero."
Kirigiri set down Johnny's file, and picked up the third.
Rei Mikagami – DSC #000
When she opened the file, the blank résumé was glaring. There was no headshot. There was no gender identified, and the age was unknown. There were few solved cases listed, but each and every one of them was a bizarre crime that had captivated detectives and mystery maniacs the world over. For example, the murder at Road Hill House in England, or the Great Lakes serial dismemberment murder case that spanned Canada and the USA—cases that even I had heard of.
"We can't draw any conclusions from these files." Kirigiri put it straight back onto the shelf. "There isn't even any contact information. Do you think we could perhaps get one of the employees here to call them for us?"
"Nah, they can't do that. Employees can't be a direct go-between for detectives and clients. But we could go to the counter and leave a note for the detectives there."
"It can't be helped." Kirigiri toyed with her braid, looking displeased. "But I believe the Triple Class may be too extraordinary to be the sort of detective we're looking for."
"So should we try looking at the Doubles?"
"I suppose."
We picked a bookshelf at random. Double Zeroes have a zero for their secondary specialization, and a zero for their rank, to show that they are the highest level detectives. Their primary specialization isn't a zero, so you just have to look for them within each section of the shelves, or you won't be able to find them. As if wandering through the forest of detectives, we walked and gazed at countless files.
"I heard there are about twenty Double Zeroes."
"That's quite a few."
"But that kind of talent is one in three thousand, right? If you think of it that way, Triples and Doubles really are both out of our league." I sighed heavily.
After that, we took about an hour and picked out seven Double Zero detectives. Particularly those who had been first registered more recently.
Is one of these people really going to be someone who took part in a Duel Noir?
We moved to the reading room, and looked through the case summaries in the files. But, of course, it wasn't recorded whether or not any of these were a Duel Noir. All we could do was decide which seemed likely to be one.
"I guess they don't show direct contact info for the Doubles, either."
"What should we do?" Kirigiri asked, leaning forward and peering into a file in the seat next to mine.
"All we can do is leave a note."
The Detective Library was incredibly analog. Even now, in the age of e-mail, they expected us to leave a handwritten note. Kirigiri and I worked together to compose a memo to the Double detectives. The contents were incredibly simple. We thought that would draw their interest more.
"I would like to know something about the Victims' Catharsis Committee. I request to get in contact with you. -Yui Samidare"
"That should do it."
I left the memo at the counter, and went on to leave the Detective Library.
"Well, let's head home, Kirigiri-chan."
Kirigiri nodded, and followed after me. We passed through the gate, and stepped out onto the street, wintry wind blowing. We walked together to the bus stop to wait for the bus.
"You don't live in the dorms, do you? Do you commute from your family's house?"
"Yes. Granddad has been looking after me."
"Huh? What about your mom and dad?"
"They're both gone," said Kirigiri, looking down the road.
"...Sorry for asking a weird question." Actually, didn't she have a complicated reaction to the subject of her grandfather before? Maybe I should just lay off on talking about her family.
The bus came, and just as we had done on the way there, we sat next to each other. Partway through, Kirigiri pressed the button to get off.
"The next stop is closest to me."
"Okay. I'll let you know right away if any of the Double Classes contact me."
Kirigiri simply nodded once, not even saying goodbye before she got off the bus.
—What a difficult girl.
But she was a very honest girl, I thought. Her earnest singlemindedness towards the detective lifestyle couldn't be explained away by a mere sense of duty. She had a pure love for the job.
The view outside the window had already started to get dark. I got off the bus at the shopping district, and walked the rest of the way home. Scattered Christmas trees adorned the streets.
It was almost Christmas. And before that, the final exams for the semester. After that, it would be winter break.
Was I going to be eating chocolate cake by myself for Christmas this year, too?
