Editing City Series:Volume3a Chapter 8 (section)

===Part 2===

“Hey, kid. The meeting’s gonna keep goin’, but what’ll you do? Go after Akira?”

“Well, I have a bit of a thought.”

“And what’s that?”

“To put it in a literary way, my sensible right brain just chopped my impulsive left brain to stop it.”

“Hm. Well, I already knew you were a special kind of person, but how ‘bout you take this more seriously?”

“You sure are rude. What part of me isn’t taking this seriously?”

“Every single part of you as a whole.”

“Yeah, well, each of those parts is taking it seriously individually.”

“Hey, quiet down, you two. …And General, you’re supposed to be our leader, so please take this meeting seriously.”

“See? You just got her mad at us.”

“…”

“…”

“Akira needs to be more honest.”

“At this rate, it might crush her.”

“Really?

“Yeah. Gunmal, what do you want from her? You hate Bustin’ and Tunin’, but you still went to save her.”

“I’m not trying to use her for anything like you seem to be thinking.”

“Really? Then…”

“Then I shouldn’t save her? Well, I have to. I still haven’t gotten the answer I want from her. Not the whole answer, anyway.”

“Answer? What answer?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Just tell me. And if it’s an awful joke, I’ll kill you.”

“What if it’s a funny joke?”

“I’ll make sure you die.”

“Tch.”

“You aren’t honest either.”

“That’s what makes me cool.”

“Fine, fine. …But try to think about this. This is probably the first time Akira’s seen Tunin’ used to take lives. …She may be talented, but she wasn’t able to protect the city from destruction.”

“And even accounting for how nice the Device is, she’s still suddenly found out that her brother has gotten powerful enough to summon an Earth Burn. Man, there are a ton of problems for her here, aren’t there?”

“It’s true Akira has no chance against those Tune Emblems based on what I’ve seen.”

“You sound certain. Do you know something about the Emblems?”

“…”

“Anyway, this city is just filled with mysteries.”

“Oh? Like what?”

“Like why you and Akira’s old man have the exact same scar on the cheek.”

“Hu and I are different people.”

“I thought as much. The glimpses I’ve seen of your Live don’t show any compassion toward Akira and she said she watched over her old man’s last moments with you and Rin.”

“…”

“See? It’s filled with mysteries. So can you answer me this one?”

“…Hm.”

“?”

“It goes back to the Fifth Divine Punishment War twenty five years ago.”

“Yeah, you mentioned that in the workshop. The Fifth Divine Punishment War was a fight started by Hong Kong’s mafia and it was led by a British spy, so it goes back to Hong Kong’s scheduled return to China, right?”

“Sounds like you don’t know what that British spy was tryin’ to accomplish with all that.”

“You don’t mean…”

“I do. There’s an original version of that Tune Emblem and it was created by Lee Hu and Luna Azuel, Akira’s parents.”

“!?”

“Well, a lot happened. Officially, they were makin’ a local destruction Tune Emblem to use in the battles against the Chinese military. But Hu and Luna ended up tryin’ to seal it away. They fought a lot to that end…and they were fightin’ against Huang Daquan.”

“Against Huang Daquan? That big shot of the financial world…and the underworld?”

“They had their reasons. Hu, Luna, and Huang ended up steppin’ into a realm I never could. It was that fight that caused Huang to age all at once like he did and it also made Hu quit the Yard and Luna quit Tunin’.”

“Did Akira and her brother inherit something of theirs?”

“How should I know? But I do know the last thing Hu said after comin’ up to the surface that last time: ‘This city will eventually connect heaven and earth.’ He also asked me to look after the children who would follow him.”

“…”

“I have no idea what’s goin’ to happen to Hong Kong. …J-Gun said you’d be the one to save the city, but make sure you at least protect Akira.”

“Hm.”

“…How ‘bout it?”

“Well, I think it should work out. I am kind to women after all. But only if they’re no older than twenty-eight and no younger than sixteen.”

“If it weren’t for that flippant side of you, I might be able to trust you.”

“Shut up. That’s just who I am. …Oh, it’s this late already?”

“Hm?”

“I was just thinking I should get going to Akira’s place.”

“Why are you goin’ after her now?”

“I thought it would be best to give her some time first. …I like to calculate everything out.”

“It doesn’t look that way to me.”

“That’s cause I was just kidding. …Well, good luck, old man.”