Editing City Series:Volume4a Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 1===

'''6:30 PM

Coastal lights illuminated Osaka Bay in the dark winter night and that bay was visible to the right of a train traveling south.

The limited express train cut through the nighttime sea breeze.

The third car from the front contained only two people.

One was a one-eyed student, Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou.

The other was an elderly man in a suit.

They were both silent and motionless.

Nanba Souichirou crossed his false arms and stared out the window while the elderly man stared at the boy.

A roar cut in through the sounds of the train itself. An airplane was flying low in the sky above Osaka.

It was passing over the train on its way to Kansai International Airpor.t

Its great mass produced a great noise that made its presence known within the train.

The jumbo jet’s lights glided through the sky at what seemed like arm’s reach outside the window.

The roar grew more distant and the sounds of the train returned.

“…”

The two people’s silence continued until the elderly man finally spoke to Souichirou.

“The Sakai Branch dojo is up next…but aren’t you tired?”

“This is my duty. After what happened two years ago, that is.”

“But…”

“Iwai, surely you too haven’t forgotten who it was that fought most valiantly against that ogre created from the failed test activation of Ixolde.”

“…”

“It was gratitude for that and my possession of Kusanagi that led your Houzenji family to support my Modified Purple Electricity Style, wasn’t it?”

He smiled bitterly.

“But someone else might have been able to defeat it more effectively.”

“You are the only one that can slay an ogre as you are a descendent of the Watanabe clan, Japan’s only ogre-busters. Isn’t that why Kusanagi has been passed down by your family ever since the Great Mistake two hundred years ago?”

Souichirou interrupted the old man’s admonishing tone.

“You certainly are talkative.”

Souichirou turned away from the window and calmly crossed his legs, creating the mechanical sounds of prosthetics.

“A certain girl has been called the Killing Holder ever since that time.”

“You mean the Koto Guardian?”

“She can control the Suzaku Ver. 40… Shouldn’t you have asked her to do this instead?”

The man did not reply and silence fell.

Souichirou faced the window once more and he heard another airplane pass by overhead.

“Iwai.”

“Yes?”

“Enough small talk. Tell me why you took the train with me.”

“…Why? What do you mean by that?”

“You are Iwai Sanzou, head butler of the Houzenji family. You support the wealthy Houzenji Group and you control the greatest intelligence network in the Osaka region. Are you asking me to believe you appeared before me for no real reason?”

The elderly butler named Iwai Sanzou twisted his lips a little at that. He formed a slight smile and looked to Souichirou again.

“There is something I wish to tell you and you alone.”

“I see your attempts to make people feel indebted to you are as blatant as ever.”

“Now,” said Iwai while ignoring that comment. “It is about Nagoya.”

“Nagoya? I met with Nagoya’s Chancellor yesterday, but I didn’t hear anything.”

“Of course not. The communications network of Nagoya’s Chancellor’s Officers has been completely wiped out. Without anyone to transport the information, Nagoya’s Chancellor has no way of knowing the details.”

“Hm? Are you saying something happened in Nagoya?”

“Nagoya’s Chancellor’s Officers have been destroyed.”

Souichirou immediately asked another question.

“You haven’t told anyone else about this, have you?”

His expression changed a little as he asked.

It grew tense.

“…?”

Souichirou’s gaze landed on a certain shadow on the coastal road running parallel with the railroad track.

The golden yellow streetlights revealed the shadow to be a youth on a motorcycle.

They were riding alongside the train with the winter night wind blowing their white blouson behind him.

The full-face black helmet expressionlessly reflected the streetlights.

“Who could that be? I am impressed they can match our speed when it is this cold out.”

Iwai Sanzou commented from behind and Souichirou responded by taking action.

Without speaking a word, he stood up and drew the sword at his waist.

“Souichirou-sama?”

“That is an enemy.”

“Why?”

“Ask them.”

As soon as Souichirou said that, the person outside the window moved.

The rider pulled something like a rod out of the motorcycle frame and swung it.

The golden yellow streetlights reflected brightly off of the rod as it grew longer.

It was a metal hexagonal rod.

“Stand back, Iwai!”

As soon as Souichirou gave a shout, light appeared outside the window.

Intense light resided in the rider’s hexagonal rod.

That rod instantly became a bullet of light with a diameter of about three meters.

“Are they firing a Lightning High Rhythm projectile?”

“Not many people can control light on such a large scale.”

“Quiet. Move back through the cars and have all the passengers evacuate to the rearmost one.”

Iwai Sanzou nodded in agreement and immediately took off running.

After seeing the old man pass through the door to the next car back, Souichirou returned his attention to the window.

“Should I hurry?”

The rider had just raised the giant mass of light atop the motorcycle.

The ether being transformed into light and flames by a Rhythm had become a single entity.

The three meters of light had become the same as a wrecking ball filled with intense heat. If it hit the train, the train could derail.

“They’re at that level…and still unnamed?”

As he muttered those words, the light suddenly flew toward him.

“Oh?”

With a calm voice of surprise, he stopped, turned away from the approaching light, and walked toward the next car up.

He took one, two, then three steps.

He also sang the Word used to emit his Kusanagi Rhythm.

''Ah.

It was only that short sound.

Kusanagi was a Wind Rhythm. Unlike the currently popular Over Rhythms, Wind Rhythms had their foundation in the primitive music of ancient times. No MD was needed to activate them and only the bare minimum was needed to be said in order to break through everything.

He swung the sword at his waist.

—''Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Train Car Slice – Hit!

The outside light filled the window and cast Souichirou’s shadow on the opposite wall.

Even so, he silently continued walking and took his ninth step.

—''Souichirou – Kusanagi/Sword Tech – Multi-Take – Train Car Slice – Hit!

While taking his tenth step, his sword moved twice.

The blade calmly drew a large circle in front of him.

It was the gentle motion of flowing water and no strength could be sensed behind it.

The seats, walls, and floor did not intrude the blade’s movement.

It pierced through them all.

A moment later, the light collided with the train car.