Editing City Series:Volume3b Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 1===

A week had passed.

It was noon on June 23 and Akira was walking through the lobby of a large hospital in Hong Kong’s Kowloon district.

She wore a new Yard uniform and a new spear Device hung at her waist.

She and her clothes were completely unharmed.

She had been hospitalized ever since the day of Hong Kong’s destruction.

In addition to her broken wing, she had apparently cracked her ribs at some point. She had been more passed out than asleep when she had been brought in, so she had not noticed at the time. However, she had received a few large-scale Tune treatments before she woke up.

The female Tuner doctor who had treated her had spoken to her when she had woken.

“You were lucky.”

And…

“You received good first aid and the General ordered us to give you top priority above the other injured. Your wing will be as good as new, so you should thank the people who brought you here.”

Despite the harshness of the doctor’s words, they had not included a sharp Live.

Akira had shrunk down on the bed and smiled bitterly.

The doctor had stroked Akira’s wings.

“I didn’t say it was wrong. Of everyone I treated, your injuries were the worst.”

The woman had added “Aren’t you glad?”, which had made Akira shrink down even further.

She was happy to be released from the hospital, but more because she could leave than because she had recovered.

As she walked through the lobby, she saw the conspicuous white of bandages here and there. Most of the patients in the hospital were surgery patients.

Also, she felt their eyes on her.

“…”

She thought they were curious looks at first, but they were not. Their Word Color was a pale red and their Tempo was faint but heavy.

These were Lives of hostility.

Their weak but definite presence shocked her.

When she turned around, the humans and Glossolalians standing or sitting in the lobby all looked away.

The Lives of hostility vanished, too.

None of them were looking at Akira.

She bit her lower lip and turned toward the hospital’s main entrance.

She spotted a small shop to the side of the large glass doors.

There was no one working there.

She stood in front of the shop and looked around, but there really was no sign of a clerk.

“Maybe because it’s noon?”

She tilted her head and checked through the pockets of her uniform’s coat.

She felt some change.

She intentionally rattled the coins around so everyone around her would know she was setting them on the counter and she reached for the newspaper rack.

She noticed something once she prepared to choose one.

“These are the only ones?”

There had always been dozens of different papers put out every day, but there were only six today.

They were printed only in black and red, so they lacked their usual ambition.

She grabbed the paper she always saw in the Yard and then she walked off.

While opening the newspaper, she opened the glass door with her fingertips and stepped outside.

The clear sunlight illuminated her body and the blowing wind seemed almost too perfect.

Something was wrong.

This was not Hong Kong’s usual light and wind.

“But that couldn’t be.”

She lightly shook her head as if she did not want to accept something.

However, the changes could be clearly seen. The cityscape visible from this central Kowloon hospital had grown shorter and the outlines of collapsed buildings were clearly visible even in the distance.

…''There’s no smoke or heat created by people.

As her gaze moved south along the Kowloon Peninsula, she noticed the city’s shadow growing narrower. When the Earth Burns had ascended, they had torn into the east and west sides of the peninsula.

These were the scars left by those Earth Burns.

“I can’t believe this.”

After making sure there was no one else around, she let her shoulders droop.

She sighed and continued walking.

This was close to her apartment in Mong Kok. It was just far enough to finish reading the newspaper by the time she arrived home.

She looked down to the paper in order to fill the time and she read the headline on page one: Ripples in the Relationship between Britain and China.

''The transformation of Hong Kong and restoration of heaven has been called the Sixth Divine Punishment War. China has placed all blame on Britain, but Britain is denying all responsibility. There reasoning is as follows:

''・This incident was a terrorist act committed without the knowledge or approval of the state.

''・Hong Kong is still British territory, so it is none of China’s concern what happens there. Even if Hong Kong is moved to heaven, it does not change the size of Britain’s territory, so there is nothing for other nations to accuse them of.

''・If anyone in China can confirm heaven’s state now that Hong Kong has been transformed, Britain will allow them to investigate.

''・And if any Chinese were harmed in Hong Kong, Britain wishes to apologize and is prepared to provide any appropriate compensation requested.”

…''I see.

“They handled that well,” muttered Akira.

Britain was clearly reacting after the fact and there were slight contradictions in their statements, but they had found a logical escape route.

“No matter how many people died, they were British citizens, so this will be handled as a domestic British issue.”

If heaven was restored, their souls could be saved.

It was a rough method, but…

“It’s all they have.”

It was because their methods looked a lot like a sudden accident that everything was progressing with ex-post-facto approval.

There had been too much political pressure to act out in the open from the beginning. No matter how noble their goal might be, they could not drive out the people living in the city and obliterate such a vast area of land.

“So it only works because Britain is prepared to stand their ground and argue their case. And if Britain denies responsibility here…”

Rin had already predicted the next ceremony. And even if that ceremony created the metal element Earth Serpent that would carry the rest of the land to heaven, Britain would be able to argue their way out of it in the same way.

…''Who thought up this plan? My brother? Or Huang Daquan?

As she pondered that, she flipped to the second page of the newspaper. What she saw written there depressed her.

The headline read, “The Number of Victims is Enormous”.

''Number of Victims: Dead – 600,000. Seriously Injured – 1,300,000. Missing – 800,000.

''Lost Land: Hong Kong Island and 70% of the Kowloon Peninsula.

''Total Damages: An estimated 69 billion HKD (and still rising).

“This is like the result of a war. …These numbers don’t feel real at all.”

…''If you include the areas outside the city center, Hong Kong’s total population was about five million, wasn’t it?

More than half of that had been affected. At least one in eight had died and one in two or three had been otherwise harmed.

…''Was this all part of their calculations?

Even long ago when their family had all been together, her brother had talked about restoring heaven and had researched the issue.

And his method was exactly what Akira had always wished to do: sending out a dragon.

“So he beat me to it. What a shame.”

Her voice was light, but her expression was stiff. She remembered what her brother had said on the night the dragons had taken flight.

He had said the following about Hong Kong’s destruction:

“That is reality.”

She bit her lower lip as she thought about what that meant.

She heard several airplanes flying by far above her lowered head.

“…? Things have gotten a lot louder since I was hospitalized.”

…''Well, it’s an emergency, so there’s bound to be a lot they have to do.

With that thought, she crumpled up the newspaper, threw it to the ground, and kicked it.

She saw Mong Kok’s shopping district up ahead.

That was her home.

Or it should have been.