Editing City Series:Volume2 Chapter 4 (section)

===Part 1===

On the second floor of Scotland Yard, the Inspector’s office was under attack from another wave of paperwork. The walkway he had just barely managed to maintain the day before was completely gone today.

More cases seemed to have turned up.

The setting sun shined through the window and reflected off of the white paper filling the room. The room and the paper were dyed in crimson light.

“To think this is how I would get to enjoy the sunset again.”

That annoyed comment came from Fir. She was lying on top of a pile of documents large enough to make a bed and inspecting the papers around her.

Suddenly, she threw away the documents in her hand and Overrode the newspaper that must have been around somewhere. An article covered one entire page and she read it aloud for someone to hear.

“In two days, a total of ninety-one people have died. Rumor says this is the return of Jack the Ripper, but the number of dead goes far beyond that. Some say they have heard occasional gunshots or other odd noises in the city and everyone is living in fear of this unseen murderer. Meanwhile, Scotland Yard has only shown their incompetence by saying ‘the investigation has only just begun, so no comment’.”

She sighed.

“So you really are incompetent, Inspector.”

“Don’t just accept that.”

The Inspector’s voice came from the inside the largest pile of documents in the center of the room.

“I’m so busy dealing with this paperwork that I can’t do any real investigation!”

“You’re going through it all pretty quickly for you. But…I’m sure there will be more deaths tonight.”

“Fir, it is all over if we back down.”

She heard the sound of the man striking a pose inside the mountain of paper.

The mountain surrounding him shook unsteadily and suddenly collapsed inwards.

“Gwaaaah!”

Swallowing up his scream, the mountain collapsed into a hill.

“Honestly, what are you doing?”

Fir sighed, but the Inspector’s arm grew from the paper hill and beckoned her over.

“Fir, dig me out real quick.”

“If you want me to, then answer my question from earlier.”

“You mean what kind of monster that young man is? Why do I need to make a judgment on his race?”

“Because you always get so serious when it comes to him.” She sighed. “Or is it because you’re gay?”

“Of course not!”

The hill sank further inwards, so the internal density of paperwork had to be quite high.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow. Fir, this is getting legitimately bad.”

“Fine then. If you were a zombie, you’d be able to get out on your own when you’re buried.”

She casually stood, but the phone suddenly rang.

“?”

“Wait, Fir. Hurry up and get me out of here.”

“Shut up.”

With that quick comment, she used her excellent balance and agility to walk along the piles of papers and to the ringing phone.

The sound of the bell was muffled, so it had to be buried somewhere.

“Is it around here?”

Judging its general location, she stuck her hand into the sea of paper.

She found it on her first try. Her hand felt the phone’s dial that vibrated as the bell rang.

“Wait just a second.”

She only pulled out the receiver because anything else would have been too much work, but the cord was too short to reach her ear.

She solved that by lying on her stomach atop the paperwork.

“Hello, this is Room 13.”

She tried to sound as cheerful as possible and a voice reached her ear. The voice and what it said covered her skin with goose bumps.

She directly Opened her first thought.

…''Not good!

There was no way the Inspector had missed it.

“What is it, Fir!”

“Amon… That idiot’s gone off somewhere!”

That was all she told him before pressing the receiver hard against her ear.

“Eh? On the way back from the bazaar, he said he’d forgotten to buy something? And a Miss Moyla disappeared too? U-um, Klau, try to calm down a little. You’re at Westminster Cathedral right now, aren’t you?”

“Has that young man vanished?”

“Yes! So be quiet!”

Fir gulped.

The Amon she knew had not been the type to lie.

So where had he gone after tricking the girl named Klausl? What was he hoping to do in this short time away from her observation?

A bad feeling sent Fir’s pulse racing. She nodded several times with the receiver to her ear, but she suddenly frowned.

“After he left you, he went back to the bazaar? Why?”

She paused to listen.

“A bouquet of flowers?”

“What’s this about flowers?”

“Shut up. Amon left Klau…and apparently he returned to the bazaar and bought a bouquet of flowers. But she doesn’t know where he went after that.”

The Amon that Fir knew was not the kind of guy who would decorate his home with flowers.

…''So why?

She soon found the answer. It was something she knew quite well.

Amon had bought the bouquet on his way to a certain place.

…''St. James’s Park!

That park had a lake and a small forest and a change came over Fir’s body as she prepared to say its name.

“No, wait! Don’t get so worked up!”

Before the Inspector had finished his complaint, the air in the room rapidly converged.

The instantaneous gust of wind created a blizzard out of the piles of documents. At the same time, a large amount of fog appeared, wrapped around Fir, and gently exploded outward.

She had Altered.

“!”

With a gentle sound, the wind let up and the flying papers fell like scattered flower petals.

The papers accumulated like snow, but Fir had vanished from the top of the pile. Where had she gone? Only the uniform she had worn lay on its belly.

“Fir, you did it, didn’t you?”

As if to answer the Inspector’s question, the uniform lying on the sea of paper twitched slightly.

The edge of the uniform lifted up and a Siamese cat crawled out.

The cat sat in front of the phone receiver and mewed.

…''Now, what do I do?

The cat’s Opened thoughts had Fir’s tone of voice.

This completely normal looking cat was Fir’s Altered form.

“Having you Alter whenever you get too worked up is a real pain.”

Fir turned toward the Inspector’s voice. The man had somehow managed to sit up from the hill of paper and he pointed at the receiver sitting next to her.

“Klausl is calling for you.”

…''I know.

After Opening that, she used her paws to awkwardly grab the receiver.

She heard Klausl’s voice from it, but Fir could not speak in this form. She could only express her thoughts through gestures and Open Words.

And unfortunately, neither of those worked over the phone.

…''Inspector!

She turned the receiver so it faced the man.

He sighed at her urgent thought. His waist and below were still buried and he brought a hand to his chin in a pose of contemplation.

“Klausl, can you hear me? The young man you are after has likely gone to St. James’s Park.”

He then looked at Fir and Fir nodded.

After some hesitation, he continued.

“There is a memorial in the woods on the west side of the park. …Hurry there! We will head that way, too!”