The Assistant's New Journey (Rewritten) (Discontinued)

Tanmoshi x Shikimori (not so special) chapter: By Notzinger

Hello, this is what my friend Notzinger did and I hope you give him some feedback in the comments, let's roll
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Matryoshka Doll
“Who even are you guys?”
I asked when Siesta brought two strangers back to my apartment.
Or can I say strangers? They wear the same uniform as us. I’ve probably saw them before around the school, maybe know their names, but unfortunately, there are way too many couples to distinguish them.
Classmates. A simple, casual response.
After Nagisa took her job in the Tuners, Siesta lives a life of a normal girl. While we still assist her, we are now just some normal teenagers in some normal school, nothing’s special.
Which leads us to here. My bad luck always leads us to random problems, making us using detective skills. Or, maybe just Siesta. Because remember, I’m still an assistant. I prefer it to be that way.
After an awkward silence, one of them decided to speak up.
“Are you… Kimizuka? Assistant of the detective?”
I don’t think Siesta knows how to hide your identity. I’m well known in this city for finding cats, maybe catching drug dealers, maybe kidnappers, and a well-known face in the police station. She is not. She’s just Siesta.
“Correct. Siesta, you should probably learn how to hide your identity next time.”
“Are you dumb?”
Anyways, what’s the matter, Izumi? I spoke his assumed name. I mean, this is a very well-known couple in the school. The prettiest girl in the school, and someone who has a pretty bad luck as well, just like me. His luck is all given to the best girlfriend ever.
And even if you don’t know who these people are, you can still assume they are a couple. Not because of automatic assumptions, but because of how they look. Matching bags, holding hands, matching hats, etc. If you can see that obvious fact, you are a normal human being.
“Oh, so you know me. You know this girl too right?”
“Shikimori… right? You guys have never spoken with your first names, always the family name.”
“Correct. So anyways, do you know Nekozaki? From our school?”
“Ah, certainly. The girl in the volleyball team.”
“She went missing two days ago. She wasn’t in school, neither at home, neither at any of the places we suspected.”
That’s another cat we have to find, Siesta. I whispered to her ears. {“Neko” in “Nekozaki” means cat}
“You are so disrespectful, assistant.”
“Call me by my normal name, please.”
“Ok, Kimi.”
I invited them to the living room, and the only person left who hasn’t spoken yet, spoke.
She shows a smile, so charming that it can defeat anyone in five seconds. If she showed that smile to her boyfriend outside, they will think Izumi is the luckiest man alive.
“At the first day when Nekozaki didn’t went to school, I saw a doll at my desk when I came home.”
And she takes the doll out of her backpack. A simple, wooden doll, with a small note inside.
“Assistant, isn’t this a Matryoshka doll?”
Matryoshka doll, or stacking dolls. Inside a Matryoshka doll is another Matryoshka doll, just smaller. And inside the smaller doll is an even smaller doll, and so on.
Except this time, there’s only a doll. With this size, this is the biggest, or the first doll, in a set of probably seven dolls.
“May I see the brand?”
Oh well, I was wrong. This brand only makes stacking dolls in a set of five, at least that’s what Siesta told me. I’ve never seen this brand before, nor do I have enough interest to even research about this brand. It’s a normal set of dolls, no more.
“Inside the bee nest hides some bread.”
I read out loud.
“Assistant, I crave some honey bread.”
“Me too.”
“Izumi, it’s not the time to crave this stuff.”
At this point, Siesta seems really confused. Is she genuinely thinking about this riddle, or is she just confused because she isn’t getting her honey bread?
“Assistant, what’s inside a bee nest again?”
“Honey? Oh wait… hold on.”
“You got my idea.”
Do you mean… Hachimitsu? Izumi was asking, his voice is slowly getting more terrified.
The next minute, we are at Hachimitsu’s house. And little did we know, we found the second doll, given by Hachimitsu.
“What does this have to do with the bread in the sentence?”
“Shikimori, this is why.”
The detective says confidently, holding a paper. I’ve once said that I wished the detective was wrong, just once. Thank goodness she was wrong once, but I still count on her deductive thinking.
“Breadcrumbs leads a blue pigeon to their nest.”
“Hachimitsu, how’s the bread?”
“Micchon, not bad. Anyways any updates on Nekozaki?”
“Meh, we just have some dolls, that is apparently clues to where Nekozaki is?”
“So like the breadcrumbs of Hansel and Gretel…” Hachimitsu is still chewing on her after-school snack. I hope when your mother comes home you cleaned up your mess.
“Hachimitsu? I asked her, just to clear up the suspicion. You’re the closest person to Nekozaki, right?”
“Maybe, maybe. Best friend, sure, but closest? Nah, I think she’s closer to someone else.”
“Opposite-gender?”
“No. Probably Kamiya?”
“Who’s Kamiya?”
“Nekozaki’s teammate in the volleyball team, Shikimori joins in. She has some problems with having friends for over a year, so she only has me, Nekozaki, and Kamiya as best friends, and if you count the boys, Izumi.”
“Don’t forget Inu…”
We can hear someone sneezing from a really far distance.
Siesta has been listening the conversation this whole time. I don’t think she knows everyone in the school, heck, I don’t even know who is Kamiya.
“Kamiya…”
The platinum-haired detective suddenly realized something. I never knew what’s in her mind even though I’ve been with her for seven whole years.
“Wait, isn’t she the captain of the volleyball team? The one with… the blue hair?”
“Correct.” Hachimitsu is still chilling with a dreamy mind, sipping a cup of tea. There’s your lost sister, Siesta.
“Then what’s up with the blue pigeon?”
Then it hit me.
“Didn’t we just learned about Alec.. Alect.. Amectro.. something about a blue pigeon?”
“Alectroneas, or blue pigeon, Izumi jumps in. There are a bunch of species. Did you slept in the class or something?”
Absolutely correct.
“But... Siesta goes on with her statement. Does the blue pigeon mean something scientifically, or symbolically? Or does it mean Kamiya?”
Symbolically, pigeon stands for faithfulness, peace and forgiveness.
Scientifically, I have no idea. I went in something called a daily life with Siesta and isn’t used to it yet.
But why specifically blue pigeons?
That’s what me and Siesta spent the whole evening discussing about, not to mention she cleaned three Katsu curry meanwhile. How big is her stomach?
“Kimi?”
“Wow, you rarely call me by that name.”
“Does Kamiya likes pigeons by any chance?”
“I have never met her before, and also where did you get that set of tea right there?”
“And a set of dolls, same brand as the ones we found.”
“Shall we just ask Fuubi?”
“She’s probably in the Tuners right now. They also said to not call the police, a red flag, but… is there a secret about the cat?”
“Shichon, you’re disrespectful.”
“I kinda like that name.”
This detective. Why is she looking so adorable when I called her by that, it was supposed to be a mock.
“Should I wear a red ribbon tomorrow?”
“Sure, I mean I like girls with rib-“
“Caught you.”
“Why does everything got to be out of context anyways…”
And after a long night discussing with no progression, we just sleep. Together of course, all of my cash is spent on food to feed the detective, so we share the same bed. I’m used to it anyways.
Except for the fact that she has a really bad sleeping position. She kicks me so much, turns around constantly, showing her dreamy face. Did you not sleep enough during the two years you left me?
Sleep deprivation. Not something I’ve never experienced before, but there’s a ridiculously high chance I will be sleep deprived if I sleep with my companion.
Coming to the fridge, I pull out some cold coffee, and make myself breakfast. It’s 4.am whatsoever, I doubt I can sleep more without getting myself late for school. All because of your fault.
“A.. another doll?”
I quickly took my backpack, and look for the size of the dolls. This one was… smaller, except it wasn’t in the order. This seems like the fourth doll of the set.
“Kimi, what are you doing.”
“You take off that gun right away, I’m not a thief.”
“Haha, anyways what’s that doll? Isn’t it my doll?”
“Um, I am not sure, isn’t it with the set of tea?”
“I bought it for fun.”
“You should keep the cash to save for another mattress, Siesta.”
“Anyways is there any Sencha?”
“You’re into green tea now? I have no idea, go find it, I’ll treat myself some coffee.”
What even is she thinking?
I sat in the table while waiting Siesta to prepare us breakfast. According to the not-so-accurately-followed calendar that we prepared, this is a rare day that Siesta has to do the housework instead of me. So, at the very least, I can just relax.
“Sausage, scrambled eggs. Here you go, you wash the dishes.”
“Are you serious.”
That’s why I said it is a not-so-accurately-followed calendar.
“Anyways, let’s read the paper inside.”
Is this meant to be not followed from the original order of biggest to smallest, or is this just a coincidence?
“Tatsu tori ato wo nigosazu” {Parting birds doesn’t muddy its tracks}
“Oh wow, that song is being a trend all across social media.”
“That’s really out of context, Siesta.”
I mean, most of our talks always go in an out of context direction.
“You really want something in context? I think the parting bird here is Nekozaki.”
“What does the sentence mean again? Never leave a mess?”
“At the very least, we know that Nekozaki isn’t at home.”
“That is so obvious and unnecessary, but ok.”
“And Kimi, today I have some stuffs to do at the reading club, even though I hate it. I keep getting flirted by those creeps there.”
“Just leave the club or something.”
“I can’t, I still haven’t finished my books yet. Your job, stay after school for the volleyball session, and investigate Kamiya.”
“Is she even involved?”
“Just ask if she likes pigeon and anything Neko-related.”
“Pigeons and cats?”
“Pigeons and Nekozaki”.
“Stop calling Nekozaki a cat when, it gives me headaches into knowing who’s who.”
“It’s time, you’re going to be late, come on.”
And she just runs away, not at a lightning speed. She has to save her flying shoes and lightning speed, because remember, we went into something called a daily life. Or not exactly a normal life, but at least we live like normal human beings now, except when Nagisa needs anything from us.
I’m no longer the assistant of the detective, I’m just the assistant of a detective. She actually wanted me to just guide Nagisa to take over her job, but I stayed with my one and only companion.
So I trust everything she does.
Words from someone who got investigated
“Oh, Izumi, how’s it going?”
“Hi, Kamiya. By any chance did you found a doll that seemingly resembled like this?”
He showed a Russian doll, slightly smaller than his hand. A typical stacking dolls. I’ve seen a few in some of my relative’s house, just, never this kind. I’ve never seen this brand before, heck, I don’t even know if this brand exists.
I just invite Izumi to my house, and heat up some leftover cheesecake. My parents abandoned me with a pile of money and this house, so I live alone most of the time, unless there is some of my friends who come living with me for a couple days.
“Nekozaki went missing since Wednesday.”
“Hold on, what?”
She hasn’t joined the volleyball session last time, so I have a reason to concern.
But something is off. Izumi says that Nekozaki went missing, she isn’t at school, neither at home, and her parents don’t know. And the exact same day, I got a delivery from someone, under the name of “Neko”.
So I showed Izumi the delivery, a black box from the mysterious person at the day Nekozaki went missing. It was left untouched.
Izumi carefully opens it. And the third doll was found, with the inside as a souvenir photo of me, Nekozaki and Shikimori.
He asked to keep it so he can give it to the so-called “detective” that he is hiring, while also stated that Shikimori doesn’t call the police because she believes we can do this ourselves. This girl, she hates asking for help that much?
I simply declined.
“So Kamiya, do you like pigeons?”
And now, I am currently on the rooftop, with someone I’ve never seen before. A student. He introduces himself as Kimizuka, and is investigating the missing of a student in school. Probably the detective that Izumi is hiring.
“I don’t have an obsession with it, but I do like pigeons.”
“So it makes sense that these papers mentioned the blue pigeons.”
He showed me three more dolls, each one is bigger than another, with the same design as the gift. And he can tell I was surprised.
“Can I just grab my backpack really quick?”
I showed him the black box. Inside, the doll, and a souvenir photo.
“So it’s not all text?”
“Probably.”
But, by the look of his face, he can tell something was off.
“Kamiya, give me your backpack.”
I did what he commanded. And soon enough, I understood what he was looking.
“Did you guys each had a copy of this photo when you guys took it?”
“Correct.”
“Because this isn’t the same copy as yours. Look carefully.”
He took the two photos to my sight. But there was no difference. Did he just make it up or something?
“The first photo shows the background as the school, in the classroom, but the second one… is interesting. It was taken on the rooftop, exactly where we are standing.”
“Is this where the fifth doll belongs to?”
“When did I tell you there were five dolls?”
I was just guessing. If he found the first four dolls, the fifth one must be here. I have never seen a set of stacking dolls with just four dolls.
“Kamiya… you’re the one who made Nekozaki missing…”
Ridiculous. What is this man thinking of?
He’s just a seventeen-year-old brat.
“… so tell me, wh-“
When he hasn’t finished his sentence, someone came in.
“Shi-chan?” I gasped out loud.
“Assistant, Kamiya isn’t the kidnapper or anything. Innocent till proven guilty.”
“Just call me Kimi.”
So he isn’t even a detective, he’s an assistant of someone else. And I never know that Shi-chan was a detective.
Right after Shi-chan, Shikimori and Izumi joins in. And the first thing that caught my eye, another wooden doll, this time it’s really small. If it’s that small, then maybe it’s the last doll in the set.
I have no idea what they are talking about. But the clues are trying to indicate me, probably.
“Kimizuka, I found the last wooden doll.”
“So it’s really a set of five?”
“Yeah.”
With me being deeply confused, Shikimori just gave me a hug, like a guaranteed it will be ok.
“Interconnectedness between a cat and a grain.”
And then, when I didn’t even realize, my classmate, a perfect, adorable, cute, beautiful, and caring girl, gave me something. It made me through an immense pain, and then when I can’t define time anymore, I slowly relax myself as I fall into the hug of Shikimori.
Two halves, one person.
“Nekozaki?”
I can tell by his face that Izumi is shocked. I have the same reaction as him too. While I stayed calmer, people can’t say I’m not surprised.
“Was she… was Kamiya just a personality of Nekozaki?”
“Like Nagisa and Hel? Not exactly.”
It was then I took all the five dolls, and organized it together.
“Inside the bee nest hides some honey”
“Breadcrumbs leads a blue pigeon to their nest”
Souvenir photo with Kamiya, Shikimori and Nekozaki.
“Parting birds doesn’t muddy its tracks”
“Interconnectedness between a cat, a pigeon, and a grain”
“Blue pigeons probably signifies Kamiya, the cat signifies Nekozaki, and the bee probably leads to Hachimitsu. But the fifth clue is where it really starts getting confusing.”
“Wait, Izumi jumps in, so let’s assume Nekozaki is Kamiya, and Kamiya is Nekozaki, they are connected. What’s up with the grain?”
“That’s… a mystery. Now just take care of Nekozaki, she should wake up in a few minutes.”
And me and Siesta leaves, leaving them still in shock and not understanding what happened. In all seriousness, we shouldn’t have done all of this at a place like school, but still…
“Assistant? Are you ok? Are you still thinking about it?”
“I’m fine, Siesta. I’m completely fine. Just… was the grain… signified the seed?”
“That’s the main problem. We defeated Seed a long time ago, maybe a year or two, and the Tuners should have took care of all of them, so why…”
“So that means that the seed affected Nekozaki and divided her in two, one is Nekozaki, one is Kamiya?”
“Maybe. I have no idea what does every single seed in the world does, anyways.”
But then, an idea stroke into my mind. As hard as it sounds, I still have to tell her.
“Siesta-“
“Give me a second, assistant.”
And as the night covers up the sky, a familiar person also comes.
“Arsene?”
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If you want to know who is arsene, he is a thief that can steal anything without the owner's even knowing, also he can change bodies, well I hope you enjoy this mystery like I did