Editing City Series:Volume6e Chapter7 (section)

===Part 9===

Hazel stood on the RB-21’s windy upper armor, staring east.

She saw a massive black storm there. The clouds highlighted the black dragon’s shape whenever the lightning flashed.

She clenched her teeth, furrowed her brow, and watched how the clouds moved.

And she thought to herself.

…''Why?

“Why would that kind Karlsruhe man do this?”

She shook her head to cast the words from her mind.

She viewed the clouds around her.

The RB-21 had finished escaping, so it was hovering in the sky alongside the German two-hull warship.

She saw Sylphide’s shape in the imperfect circle of the moon overhead.

She sighed while viewing that shape in the sky and the lights coming from the windows of the two-hull ship.

…''This isn’t over yet, is it?

So she gave a single deep nod before turning around.

There were around a dozen people there.

The people seated on the RB-21’s upper armor were the main fighters of the AIF and Geheimnis Agency with the exception of Pale and Heiliger. Noting Berger among them, Hazel’s expression softened somewhat.

''Am I too tense?'' she wondered, taking a step toward him.

Then a shorter person stood up from the sitting group.

The old man in a white coat was Geheimnis Agency Development Division Chief Elrich.

His head was lowered and he kept his hands in his coat pockets.

“Are you ready now? Have you calmed down?”

“Yes. I banished all those unnecessary thoughts from my mind.”

“Then I would like to state my conclusion, starting from what I told you earlier.” His lips bent just a bit as he started to stay something, stopped, and forced it out anyway. “The dragon which has swallowed both the Spacetime Tons and the anxiety Tons will consume the entire world when its Tons collapse. And now that ACBS is on its way. If we are to break free of this…”

He paused to choose his words and Hazel saw a certain color in his Tons.

It was the yellowish-green of a troubled and uncertain kind of consideration.

She viewed that extra-yellowish color while watching his face.

He had strong-willed eyebrows, sharp eyes, and thin lips.

…''He looks like a very reliable person.

But he was currently hesitating even as that reliable side led him to choose his words.

So she made up her mind. She spoke before he could continue.

“You don’t have to make yourself say it. I think this was always how I wanted to do it.”

Elrich raised his lowered head.

She spoke to the surprise and confusion on his face.

“I already know how to break free of this.”

She laughed at Elrich’s shocked reaction and then looked behind him.

Someone in a black coat sat a short distance from the ring of people.

He didn’t look back her way, but she still spoke loud enough that he could hear her.

“When I stopped Tristan, it must have already extracted about a thousand years’ worth of Spacetime Lives – bringing it back to just before Berlin came to be.”

She took a breath.

“So,” she continued, but before she could say more, Berger spat out a comment of his own, his back still turned.

“That’s no reason to believe in some stupid joke, Hazel.”

His tone rather than his words deepened her smile.

She organized her thoughts and resumed speaking.

“Um,” she began. “If my Messiah eye’s Ober Beweisen can identify the Spacetime Lives and I can tune them, then I will appear in the past as the Messiah. Just as a Tuner this time.”

“Well done.” Elrich nodded and took over the explanation. “Of course, you cannot repair such a massive amount of Tons with just Rein König. That is why we must strengthen Rein König and use Sylphide’s Panzer Emblem. It should be possible for the Panzer Emblem’s ether to combine with the Tons emitted by Rein König.”

“Really?” Hazel breathed an impressed sigh while looking up at Sylphide floating overhead. “Then is the only problem whether I am a good enough Tuner to pull it off?”

“Correct. Since you are a Tuner, you must correct the contradictions in history and control everything from the past to the present. And this control must be carefully done because you need to preserve a present day where the Panzerpolis Project happens and where the next you is given a choice similar to the one where you become a Tuner.”

So…

“So I think whether or not you go to the past should be a choice made by you alone.”

“Thank you for your kindness.”

She smiled bitterly and bowed toward Elrich.

He wasn’t sure how to respond, but finally nodded and held his head high.

The bald-headed elderly man seated next to him jabbed him in the hip. That was Intelligence Division Chief Witzmann.

“Since when were you so bashful?”

“Shut up, youngster.”

The bitterness left Hazel’s smile when she saw those two exchanging jabs.

Then she walked toward the others, holding Rein König in both hands behind her and trying to remain cheerful.

She viewed all those people seated below the windy night sky.

Corelle, Coolers, and the various AIF battalion commanders were there from the AIF. Elrich, Witzmann, Müller, Jeanne, and some other deputy chiefs were there from the Geheimnis Agency.

Schweitzer and Lowenzahn were not with them yet. Lowenzahn was still being checked over by the doctor.

But Hazel walked up to the one man who had removed himself from that ring of people.

The black-clad young man sat with his back to the others.