Editing City Series:Volume3a Chapter 4 (section)

===Part 2===

Hong Kong’s municipal office was in the Kowloon administrative district.

The old brick building had one major characteristic: it did not trust the people.

That was immediately obvious upon entering. The counter between the lobby and the clerks was covered with ten centimeter thick bulletproof glass colored blue so no one could see inside. The exchange of documents was carried out through a small hole in the gap between glass and counter.

Similarly, all fifteen of the data lookup computers in one corner of the lobby were thoroughly chained down.

Gunmal and Akira were at one of those computers looking up some information.

“Don’t blame me for that one. Rin told me to ask you for help with this kind of thing. I didn’t mean any harm.”

“Anyone would view that as harmful, you pervert!”

Akira’s Device leaned up against the desk and she looked over at Gunmal.

“Don’t give me that angry look,” he responded. “And who are you calling a pervert? Well?”

“You. Think carefully about what you did.”

“Fine, but you explain yourself logically first.”

“You entered my room without permission and watched me sleep. And while I was naked too. How about that?”

“Hmm. You sure do like to argue.”

“What!? You’re the one that asked me to explain it!”

He gestured with his hand as if to say he understood.

“So to not be a pervert, instead of watching you sleep, I should’ve touched you?”

“No! That makes you even more of a pervert!”

She raised her wings in anger and Gunmal gave an exaggerated show of being flustered.

“Th-then what am I supposed to do?”

“Don’t force your way into my room! Your very first step was wrong!”

“I couldn’t help that. And I didn’t force my way in. The doors just opened on its own. They have a way of doing that when you break the lock.”

“You just casually confessed to something insane, didn’t you?”

“Don’t worry about it. I made sure to give your landlord a present.”

It was now Akira’s turn to be flustered.

“W-wait! What’s this about my landlord and a present?”

“Since I’m a young man visiting a young woman, I thought I should at least bring a box of sweets and give a quick greeting.”

“Wait. What kind of greeting?”

“Just that they’d probably be seeing a lot of me from- ow!”

A powerful elbow jab sent Gunmal tumbling from his chair.

“Owww! What’s wrong with seeing you naked? It’s not like it hurts you or anything. Besides, your breasts were pretty bi-…”

“Don’t say that so loudly!”

She frantically covered his mouth and looked around to find everyone in the large lobby – whether in flashy casual clothes or business suits – was looking at the two of them.

“…”

They likely all had their own thoughts on the matter.

While looking at Akira and Gunmal, they all sighed and then returned to what they had been doing.

Akira frowned at the Live Message that came with that sigh.

“Um, we really drew a lot of attention just- hyah!”

Akira shrieked, grabbed her palm, and drew back.

Meanwhile, Gunmal wet his lips with his tongue.

“Looks like you used too much oyster sauce to season your breakfast. And are your hands dried out?”

“No, they are not! And what was that all of a sudden!? You really are a pervert!”

“A pervert? That’s just being rude to my gourmet spirit.”

He then sighed and continued in a tone that made it clear he was ready to end this.

“Besides, you didn’t refuse when I entered your room.”

“I can’t refuse when I’m asleep!”

He crossed his arms and thought deeply.

After a while, he announced his conclusion.

“I see. So if you’re asleep, I have a blank check to do whatever I want.”

“No, you don’t, idiot! I know you can read my Live, so pay more attention!”

“…”

“What? Do you have something to say?”

“You had better remember thi- ow!”

She kneed him.

He fell from the chair again and she turned aside to pretend she did not know him.

…''Why do I have to deal with this idiot?

Gunmal would be able to read her exaggerated thought.

“Rin really is shoving extra work onto me.”

“What’s wrong with this? Getting data on my brother is part of the investigation, isn’t it?”

The Maldrick family had sent over data on J-Gun the night before, but they still needed the data from his life in Hong Kong.

That data was in the municipal office’s databank, so someone had to visit the municipal office when it was open and sit at a computer like they were doing.

“If we don’t have time, we can always ask Rin to get it for us, though.”

After a few more comments back and forth, they began the search.

“That just leaves the address… Hey, Gunmal. Why did you decide to gather the data? This may not be the best way to put it, but you could have left it all to the Yard.”

“I want to finish up the job my brother left for me.”

“What job?”

He paused for two or three beats before answering.

“Destroying his Device.”

He said it lightly while holding out the envelope with J-Gun’s address written on it.

She took the manila envelope.

“Why would you destroy his Device?”

He gave a fake-sounding groan of thought, suddenly looked her in the eye, and spoke too quietly for anyone but her to hear.

“To put it simply, because people will die.”