Editing City Series:Volume3a Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 2===

The winged girl went by the Urban Name of Akira.

She was either twenty or in her late teens.

The wings on her back were nothing special.

Hong Kong was British territory and Britain had long been a nation of monsters, most notably in Aerial City – London.

“…”

She said nothing.

Her tied-back hair was the same color as her wings, those angular golden wings moved slightly, and she raised her head.

Below her thick eyebrows, her eyes moved without missing a thing. Her gaze looked far past the empty shopping district street and to the Yard men wielding a variety of weapons.

She could see each of them emitting Lives filled with the Word Color of tension. That pale purple light spilled like sand and floated below the wall of blue.

Akira gave a small bitter smile.

“The general unit is here along with the combat unit. …Did the Searchers try to lure the ''Qinghu'' away?”

…''I feel like a surrounded criminal.

As soon as she thought that, she heard a growl behind her.

It was the tiger.

The eight meter tall tiger gave off a bluish-white phosphorescence.

It raised its front paw as if playing.

“Wah!”

Seeing white claws approaching her, Akira flew to the side and into the night sky. She avoided the wind produced by its claws and danced through the night air that was heated by the shopping district.

Her sharp wings had a single main section which loudly beat against the wind.

She soared.

“Oh! That was close!”

After only two flaps, she had risen as high as a five-story building and she spread her wings behind her. The wings expelled air to bring her to a stop.

She looked down from this height where the smells of the different food stands and restaurants reached her.

She saw the ''Qinghu''.

The beast was large enough to fill the street and its giant yellow eyes looked up at her.

…''This is a big one.

She licked her lips, nodded once, and held up her Device in midair. It was shaped like a short sword, but a quick shake was enough to extend the hilt into a spear as long as she was tall.

“…”

She swung down the spear and took a breath.

“!”

Without warning, she began to rush through the air.

She oriented her body parallel to the ground and raced straight down at the ''Qinghu''.

All she heard was the sound of the air rushing past her.

Her target was its back. When fighting a four-legged beast, attacking from above was safest.

“Take this!”

She twisted her body to lower her downward momentum and thrust the spear straight into the blue back below her.

The sound was identical to that of tearing paper.

She felt a strange metallic sensation entirely different from flesh.

At the same time, the ''Qinghu''’s Live reached her through the spear.

A Live was the flow that gave form to objects, emotions, and actions. Essentially, it was the rhythm of ether.

As a Tuner, Akira could read the ''Qinghu''’s Live.

“Its Octave is 320,000. Over four times what a normal person can control, hm? No wonder I was called in.”

The Live itself was a heavy sound, its Word Color was a mineral gray, and its Tempo was slow.

That information gave her an image. She was able to read the Message expressed by the Live that the ''Qinghu'' was singing.

It was…

…''A building!?

That was entirely different from its appearance as a tiger.

As soon as Akira read that Message, the ''Qinghu'' turned its head to look at her on its back.

“Not good!”

Instinctively sensing danger, she used her wings to fly backwards.

Seeing the glare of those pure yellow eyes and hearing the roar, she landed on the roof of a bookstore.

She kept her eyes on her opponent and analyzed its identity. She thought about the Message she had seen when reading its Live.

The Message in her mind showed a three-story concrete building.

…''I’ve seen that building before. It’s a fancy restaurant in Yau Ma Tei, isn’t it?

The restaurant’s owner would be leaving in about half a month when ownership of Hong Kong was returned from Britain, so it had been scheduled for demolition.

The building had turned into this blue tiger.

“A disturbance in the restaurant’s Live transformed it into a tiger? Hong Kong is a dangerous place these days.”

A smile appeared on Akira’s lips as she muttered to herself.

At the same time, an electronic tone came from her uniform’s pocket. Her cellphone was ringing.

After two rings, it automatically answered and a woman’s voice came from her coat pocket.

“Are you in your usual place, Akira?”

Akira answered while watching the ''Qinghu'' that stared motionlessly at her.

“I am. I’m fighting, but…”

“But what?”

“Rin, can I ask something?”

“What is it? I’m busy with a new a case that just came in, so keep it within forty characters, punctuation included.”

“Why was the general unit sent out against this?”

“Including the question mark, that’s…forty exactly. You really do give the most boring answers.”

“That’s…not the issue here! What if they get caught in the Tuning!?”

“Don’t worry. If that happens, I’ll use my authority to have you take responsibility.”

“That’s not a normal thing to say, Rin.”

“Sorry, but the cell signal isn’t getting through very well. Well, I can leave all this Live-related stuff to our genius Tuner.”

Akira’s shoulders shook a bit at being called a genius. She imagined the expression on the face of her glasses-wearing female boss.

“You’re just saying that to force me to do something again, aren’t you?”

“You’re the one with the dream of using Tuning to send out a giant Death Techno dragon. Think of this as training.”

“I at least have the right to choose how I train!”

“All personal opinions are rejected.”

“Then don’t use people’s dreams to give them a personal reason for doing things! Honestly, how about you come join me out here!?”

As if reacting to her shout, the ''Qinghu'' began to move.

“Ah! Stay back!”

It ignored her protest and leaped upwards.

It stretched out to the front and back and came to crush the bookstore she stood on.