shwaz

Hm?

Schwarz, welcome.

Master.

Master.

Charlie, Schwarz has told me what good work you do.

Oh?

By the way, please push my schedule thirty minutes.

What for, may I ask?

I have to speak to the Chief Emeritus of my Public Security Bureau.

Th-This is... oh, I-I see.

Schwarz, come.

Oh?

Charlie, since you're here, let's have you go work out some of the formalities with my secretary. He's good with these sorts of things.

Alright.

Charlie.

What is it, Chief?

Siesta's in your hands now.

...Right.

Cronin had his rebellious streak, but he came in handy. This replacement is worse by a country mile.

Good help is hard to find, Schwarz.

With some training, he'll prove useful.

Maybe.

How old were you when you came to kill me? Do you still remember?

Twelve-years-old, Master.

Yes, right, twelve.

A twelve-year-old assassin. Hah! If you didn't give up on your own, I'm afraid you really might've gotten me.

As I've told you, the child assassin is not an uncommon tool.

It's very effective at lowering the target's guard.

I know all that. Thanks to you, I can spot a killer at a glance.

Take that fellow over there in the swimsuit. The way he's looking every which way, wearing those sunglasses, he's a killer.

He's untrained. And I think he's just scouting the women.

Oh?

I would say so.

Looks like my kill-dar could use some calibration.

You have me for that.

But aren't you leaving?

...Do you not want me to?

Quite the opposite.

Schwarz, there's a question that's been troubling me for years now.

What is it?

Your future.

I don't think you need to worry about me at all.

That's exactly why I'm worried.

I often think of you as an extension of myself, like a third arm. There when I need, and no trouble at all when I don't.

Charlie said something similar not too long ago.

It's my choice, Master. And I think there's nothing wrong with it.

You gave me this life, and even if you sent me away, I wouldn't leave.

*Sigh*, what a stubborn girl you are.

I watched you grow. The others may not understand you, but I know you truly do believe there's nothing wrong with that life.

*Sigh*.

I always thought of you as another daughter, Schwarz.

Yes.

When I talk to the movers and shakers of society, they always complain that even after all hope for their children, they're always disappointed when they don't follow the paths they've designed for them.

And at times like this, I always think to myself: 'I'm so lucky. I have a daughter who, despite our strained relationship, is in all ways the spitting image of a wealthy young girl they speak of, and a daughter who I need not worry about in the slightest.'

I have no such worries.

And so you could comfortably turn your energies to the development of Siesta.

Indeed. That's how I once thought.

But I've grown tired, Schwarz.

The new city is nearly complete, and the people will be able to move in as soon as the formalities are settled.

I told that Rhodes Island Doctor that Siesta would not perish from the face of this world.

But what I didn't tell the Doctor is that the Siesta in my heart is already long gone.

The Siesta I promised to Barbara, the Siesta I built for her... I'm abandoning it, in the end.

There's... nothing you could have done.

No, that one would have had a way. That's a person who always has a way.

After Barbara passed, I made the construction of this city my one goal. I did everything to achieve it.

And now, for such a simple reason, I give it up.

I can't accept it, Schwarz.

Master...

You know, there's been a thought plaguing my mind.

The idea that if I can't do anything for this city, if I can only abandon it to its fate, then I should go down with it. That I wouldn't be able to live on anyway.

So when the migration to the new city is complete, I will bring a chair out here, by myself, and sit on this beach, where I made my promise to Barbara. I'll face this sea, where I buried her.

And that will be my end.

No, Master. I won't let you.

Haha, rest assured, if I'm telling you about it, it means I'm not actually going to do it.

You can't... for the Lady's sake.

That's where you're wrong.

If there's another reason I can't die, it's you, Schwarz.

The Lady doesn't hate you so much.

It doesn't matter. All is well at this point.

What's more, I don't worry much about the future of my girl Ceylon. I got lucky with that daughter. She'll have a good enough life. I give her what she wants, and that's enough.

But you, I worry about you.

Parents always want the best for their children.

Only the most rotten old man would keep his children chained to his side, keeping them forever under his control.

But me, I'd rather die while you're off living your own life with no time to visit me at all.

My own life...

And your life can't be Ceylon's life.

That's not the way of the world, Schwarz.

One can have a goal to strive for, but that goal can't be another person. I, as a father, don't want my daughter to suffer through that.

Do you know why I had you go with Ceylon to that Rhodes Island company?

Not to protect her?

That was one reason, yes. But you've seen how capable they are.

I spoke with their leader, and they won't have Ceylon doing anything that dangerous. More than sending you to look after her, I'm counting you to keep an eye on them, to make sure they don't do her wrong.

The reason I'm sending you, and more importantly, the reason I'm exercising my authority as a parent...

I don't understand.

I am laying a path for you that you will not like.

That is why I am sending you to Rhodes Island.

They may welcome my daughter into their fold, but you are different, Schwarz.

Do you know why?

Because I am accompanying the Lady?

Correct. No matter the company in question, they will always want someone willing to follow orders. But you? You have never served them.