While my final conclusion was that I never should have taken up the guard request, my calculations fell off on other finer details as well.
The sole right I won in my negotiations with old Wakui—it was the right to invite a capable person to help me out on the job, but it wasn't long before I came to know I wouldn't be able to use it as I wanted.
"My apologies, but our office will not be able to accept that request."
While still listening to the important points of the story, the head of the agency, Kyouko-san, went beyond polite to respond in a tone as if it was someone else's business.
No, it really was someone else's business.
Kyouko-san only has today—not only that I made a request the other day, she had completely forgotten who I even was.
To her, every client was a first-time customer and a first-time meeting—the more you tried to act like a regular, the more embarrassing it was.
Naturally, I should have been fully aware of that, but when I actually tried experiencing it, it was a considerable shock. I felt like cold water had been dumped on me. Even if it was only over the phone, that tone and that reaction notified me Kyouko-san 'really' had forgotten.
That being the case, being shocked wouldn't get me anywhere—the reason Kyouko-san declined the request wasn't particularly because I was a 'first-time customer'. If she did that, the forgetful detective would end up declining every case, and she would never be able to set up an enterprise.
"W-why is that? We'll properly pay your regular fees. Your reward. Your wages. Your money."
"… Please quit repeating money like that. Is that all you care about?"
She said coldly.
Personally, I thought I was matching Kyouko-san's interests, but it seems I was acting too familiar as a first-time client over the phone—this sense of distance was difficult. For her to even doubt my character, I did the full rounds to a peculiar feeling.
"This is not a problem of money. It is the official regulation of our agency… generally speaking, we are only able to accept requests that can be completed over the course of a day. Requests that carry over day after day are mainly declined."
"Ah…"
That's right. I forgot about that.
Rather than a sales pitch, the 'We'll solve your troubles in a day!' on her business card was an indication of her demerit.
Once the day carried over, forget the truth of the case, Kyouko-san would even forget it happened, so no matter the incident, she had to resolve it 'within the day'—in that case, with a job that could take half a year at most, without even listening to the details, she could only turn me away at the gate.
This was my overeagerness. If Kyouko-san, who had become a turning point in my life rivaling Wakui Kazuhisa, would guard alongside me, it would set my heart at ease, or so I thought it was a nice idea if I did say so myself. As truth would have it, it seems I said something completely absurd.
In the first place, the thought that a great detective on Kyouko-san's level would be confined for an entire half year was exceedingly self-absorbed, or rather, self-centered—I wouldn't blame you if I thought I got on my high horse, thinking we'd become close after making a single request.
"Is that so, then my apologies… sorry for taking your time."
Discouraged, and more embarrassed than that, I was about to hang up the phone, but,
"Oh, no, well, no need to be in such a hurry. Oyagiri-san, was it?"
I was stopped by none other than Kyouko-san.
"I cannot accept a request on those conditions, but that doesn't mean I can't help you out in the slightest. Of course, you can consult with me if you wish."
"Huh?"
"Now about that money… no, when there's a troubled person before me, it would desecrate my character as a detective if I were to be so cold as to be bound by trivial office regulations. I'm aiming to be a cheerful, fun, endearing detective."
At the point she started off by bringing up money, I had to think she was distant from cheerful, fun, and endearing, but… if I had to say, I had a bad feeling the exchange rate would be high.
In the first place, great detectives never had an image of 'cheerful an fun'… just what sort of thing could the concrete image of a detective Kyouko-san was setting out for be?
"The Okitegami Detective Agency is not a bureaucracy. It is the urgent care center of the detective agency. We must do things quickly, so if there's something that can be done quick, we're quick to do it."
While it may have been a reliable statement, there was nothing more bureaucratic than the urgent care center… no, this wasn't the time for such idle exchange.
If she was going to help me, there was nothing I could want more—I had made such a grand gesture to old Wakui, if I ended with, 'my lead turned me down,' it would be far too uncool.
"Well then, Kyouko-san, specifically speaking, what do you have in mind…?"
"Yes, well in the first place, you can't call bodyguarding a detective's field of expertise… I don't have the confidence to involve myself in rough affairs. There's no surprise twist I was actually a Kungfu master or anything of the sort."
Not that I was expecting anything like that to begin with.
"However, even so, I think it's possible for me to provide adequate advice. While it may be presumptuous for me to advise someone serving in the field, a pro in their own regard, perhaps I can give the sort of inspection of the guard site that can only be given from a detective's perspective."
A detective's investigation—right, that was what I had originally been expecting from Kyouko-san. Even if she didn't guard Atelier House with me for an entire half year, at least the first day—or perhaps, if I could indulge myself, she could periodically check to see if there were any holes at the scene, any openings in my guard, that would be enough.
"It would be a huge help if you could do that for me."
"I'm just glad I can be of service—by the way, in that case, would that mean I would receive half a year's worth of guard reward in just one day?"
"O-oh no, that's probably pushing it. I think you'll be getting a day rate."
"Is that so… well, I was only joking."
That was a joke?
She didn't accompany it with nearly enough joy in her tone for that, but… I was beginning to suspect that rather than being firm with money because she was in charge of the finances for her own agency, this person just acted gentle, and she was simply that greedy.
Perhaps that she used her superior intellect to act not as a swindler but a detective was this world's saving grace.
"Well then, if you'll accompany me to the scene at a later date…"
"There is no need to wait for any later date. Will today, right now not work?"
When it came to taking action, Kyouko-san was speedy—today, now? I thought I'd make an appointment over the phone, meet her directly, and discuss the specifics—the terms of employment old Wakui presented and such— and that's why I called her in the morning, but to think she would start moving immediately on the request she just accepted today.
Even if it was bad for a case to cross dates, I'm pretty sure she'd be able to manage without too much hassle if appointments straddled different days, but—when I heedlessly began thinking along those lines, the thought struck me it might be to prevent double bookings.
If my reservation met up with someone else's she accepted on a different day, and she forgot when she booked both of them, there was no way for her to set precedence—in that case, perhaps she took a stance it was better off for her to work within the scope of her memory.
The fastest detective—and the forgetful detective.
"But if it's going to be now… I'll have to establish contact with Wakui-san."
"Just leave those formalities to me—setting aside the fact I am the forgetful detective, I think we would be better off examining the state of Atelier House as soon as possible. While I don't have any definite basis, when I was hearing your story, I felt a somewhat unrestful air—"
"An unrestful air, is it?"
"Yes… thought I can't say it's anything concrete."
However, I feel it's dangerous to take Wakui-san's notion of hiring security because he's undertaking his final job at face value—Kyouko-san said.
"The clients do lie, after all."
"Of course, Wakui-san himself might not be aware he is lying. Perhaps he sensed some unrest with his sensitivity as a framer, a so-called bad premonition—if he just wished to strive for perfection, instead of hiring temporaries this time around, he should keep security guards employed on a regular basis and all."
That definitely made sense.
For a framer on old Wakui's level, apart from his grand culmination, in his standard work as well, shouldn't he keep security in mind—yet this time specifically, that he strengthened it should be seen as him sensing some sort of risk.
If I had Kyouko-san reason out the reason to push his way through, taking in unreasonable conditions to hire me at urgent notice—I think it would make my job considerably easier to do.
"Yes… I think I can prove useful in that regard. If can I speak with Wakui-san directly and listen to the circumstances—that is a detective's field of expertise."
"… But he is an elder of harsh temperament, so if you try forcing it out of him, he might fly into a rage.He might end up screaming you out."
"Ah, I don't care about that. No matter how he screams, no matter what reckless words fly, in the end, I'll have forgotten it by tomorrow."
When she declared it quite indifferently, I had no words to return—still, as the forgetful detective, that forte was definitely a large potential advantage when hearing people out.
In communication, not giving a damn about the other person hating you was practically a monstrous strength—I thought that brazenness ran contrary to Kyouko-san's calm, gentle demeanor, but rather than contrary, perhaps it was two sides of the same coin, and that nature surprisingly gave rise to Kyouko-san's bafflingly strange shows of composure.
"To add onto that, apart from listening to Wakui-san's story, I'd like to see Atelier House itself, the sooner the better."
"? Ah, you're right. If you can see from a detective's perspective if there are any gaps in security as a whole…"
I answered, but it seems what Kyouko-san was about to say meant something else entirely.
From a more fundamental level.
"I think is an underlying factor."
"Factors"
"Yes, the conditions to bring about an incident are all together… I don't think that complex is the best of places."
Not the best of places? What did she mean by that? She sounded like she was speaking off of intuition, but it was unclear where her misgivings were coming from, or rather… far too vague.
"Oh no, I think it's something you've somewhat picked up on yourself—that's why you hesitated to accept the extraordinary conditions he scouted you under, and why you thought to make a request to me."
From what I have heard, that building is an extreme, with an immoderate inclination—Kyouko-san said. While that was also a vague expression, this time, I kinda understood what she was refraining from saying—a high-class apartment complex with nothing but painters' eggs living there, no matter how anyone looked at it, was extreme. It was inclined.
"But is having an incline a bad thing? I think that's something Wakui-san intentionally inclined it towards…"
"When it inclines, it makes it easier to collapse."
Easier for an incident to occur.
The detective said—definitively.
"That is what I mean by underlying factor—offering a living and atelier space to youngsters aiming to be painters free of charge might look like an entirely good thing, but I think it's considerably risky. No choice but to become a painter, excuses don't work, placed in such a situation, sure it may be easier to become a painter, but it becomes hard to become anything else."
"… But everyone moved in because they wanted to become a painter, so doesn't it work out?"
"If the painters' egg fails to incubate, that means it can't hatch into anything. You can't imagine how dangerous that is? They should be left with spaces for excuses, a path to run away."
"I see…"
What Kyouko-san said didn't hit right with me—the problem wasn't evident. What speculation old Wakui made when he erected Atelier House, that idea in itself should be something desirable by youths aspiring to be painters.
"Don't you think youths with a future should have other choices prepared for them as well? Even if a painter has talent, it is fine for there to be the path of not being a painter. That's what I'm saying. Did you get that?"
I did not.
More than that, I felt it was what Kyouko-san was saying that put a hold on youngsters' futures—in regards to old Wakui's nature, I had a mountain of things to say, and I did incur actual damage from it, but was his way of life of pursuing a single path not something anyone could admire?
"Yes, it is because the institution was planned by this Wakui-san that the intention is reflected, however—that's a considerably dangerous train of thought, you know? You can call it narrow-minded—"
Failing to gain agreement with Kyouko-san made me feel somewhat impatient—that was surely because her posture in her pursuit of a strange job like detective had many portions I found myself sympathizing with. She was young, and yet she had her path in life clearly decided, I felt something lose to respect—yet as she sai things so blatantly contrary to that image, while it was just my own selfishness at work, I couldn't bring myself to accept it.
"Of course, until I actually see it, I can't say anything further. All I can say now is that it's easier for an incident to occur at an inclined place, a simple general consensus—there's no guarantee anything will happen. To a detective, preventing an incident is a greater achievement than resolving it—it should be the same for a security guard. There's nothing better than nothing happening."
"Yes, you're right… umm, Kyouko-san?"
Said I. Perhaps I shouldn't have said it, but only wanting to wipe about this hazy feeling of our views not coinciding, I ended up saying it.
"Why did you decide to become a detective?"
Her answer to that question was truly to the point.
"The reason I work as a detective—is to find out the reason I work as a detective."