Editing City Series:Volume7 Layer 9 (section)

===Record 30: The Time Will Eventually Come===

'''09/02/1997

'''20:11

I was back at the Mountain.

You and I were the only ones that got off at the mountain station where people pretty much never got off. The others had apparently arrived during the day, so we could see lights on at the dorm higher up the mountain.

You turned toward me with Daitarou on your head in the lights of the unmanned station.

“Looks like Snowy is already here.”

“It does,” I agreed before thinking a bit.

Only those with the best results in the first half of the training had returned for this second half. The next three weeks would be nothing but fixing up our technique and being tested.

The problem was the tournament on the final day.

That was an exam to test the combat skills needed for the top positions.

You were allowed to use weapons, so injuries were always a possibility.

“You aren’t participating, right?” I asked.

“I plan to aim for the 1st Special Duty Officer spot with my writing and some light practical skills. But you want to be Vice Chancellor, so you have your work cut out for you. I heard Snowy wants the same position.”

“That’s gonna be a pain,” I muttered while walking through the station building and stepping outside.

I noticed a few people were walking our way from the Mountain dorm.

I wondered who that was, but then you pulled on my hand.

“Don’t look. I think those are regrets.”

“Regrets from when? Last year?”

“I don’t know,” you replied while we tried out best not to view our surroundings. We talked about all sorts of things while we walked, but something was nagging at me the entire time.

I still didn’t know my Mobilized Writing. Yeah, it still eluded me.

But I knew more or less what it had to be: my fists.

“If you throw a punch, all things will receive the blow in accordance with the conservation of energy.”

That was the general idea of the power. That punching power had saved me and other things I cared about when it really mattered. I could wield that power without fear.

But knowing the general idea didn’t mean I could use it freely.

When it worked, it was perfect. When it didn’t, it didn’t work at all. It was either 0 or 100 with nothing in between. How did I have to punch something to make sure I could use it?

“Hey.”

I looked up, thinking that was you, but it was a regret.

By the time I realized I’d been caught, my fist was already moving.

I placed my incomplete Mobilized Writing on my fist to avoid the regret.

'''If you throw a punch, all things will receive the blow in accordance with the conservation of energy.

“Nothing?”

It failed. My fist passed through the silhouette and its shadow tangled around my arm.

''That’s not good,'' I thought in a strange calmness, but then you grabbed my arm.

“Stay strong!”

Your urgent voice was followed by your Mobilized Writing.

'''The motivation behind words is transformed into heat.

Power passed from your words to my fist. That helped me stay strong. I clenched my fist tighter and felt like I was gripping a great power in my hand. In other words…

“I believe I have real power here now.”

Those words told me the simple condition behind my Mobilized Writing.

What did I need to do when I threw a punch if I wanted to use my power?

“Now I have my answer: I must have belief in my heart.”

'''If you throw a punch with belief in your heart, all things will receive the blow in accordance with the conservation of energy.

The punch landed.

'''Author Comment:

This is when the protagonist first used his Mobilized Writing.

My idea is that the Mountain training is a bit different on each mountain.

The Kantou Mountain is generally for the Tokyo region, so the Kansai Mountain will do things differently.

And I think the more you drag around your regrets, the more insistent they become.