Editing City Series:Volume3a Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 3===

Akira was the first to reach the scene. The tank carrying the young man had activated the rotating police light jury-rigged to the upper armor and it would arrive in another two or three minutes.

“Ahh, all you cars movin’ around in my path? You’d better get outta the way or I’ll move you myself. Got that?”

She heard the General speaking over a megaphone and occasionally heard sounds of crunching metal. That was likely when he had to “move a car himself”.

Akira paid it no heed. In fact, she intentionally ignored it as she worked to organize the site of the blast.

The taxi driver had gotten lucky and survived. He seemed to have been thrown through the windshield when the shell hit.

The middle-aged driver was complaining about the pain, but Akira lightly rapped him on the head.

“Do you have any idea how wrong what you did was?”

“Ow, ow, ow…”

He groaned, but his expression changed the instant he saw her wings.

“W-wah! Why is a Nein Engel out in the city!?”

“Shut up. What’s wrong with that?”

“I-it’s your fault my parents were-…ow, ow!”

“Stop moving. If you don’t quiet down, I can’t heal you.”

She began Tuning the driver.

She rotated her spear around in one hand and touched the back of his neck with her other hand.

“Don’t be afraid. I can’t see your Live if you are.”

With that said, she focused her mind.

When she closed her eyes, she could see it and hear it.

The driver’s Live was sounding out.

Its Word Color was red, its Tempo was quick, and its Message was a state of agitation. Anyone would feel like that after being injured by a shell blast.

She read his Live and its Tempo.

…''Is it “ta ta ta”? Or “ta ta-ta ta-ta”? And then it repeats?

Its original color would be close to orange, but that had been disturbed and grown red and quick.

She suddenly thought of the previous young man.

…''He read my Live, didn’t he? Just how powerful is he? And is he a Tuner or a Buster?

But thinking about it here would not help. She shook her head and focused on picking up the driver’s Live.

…''Got it.

She had picked up that sound and form that could not be expressed in words. It was a lot like a flavor. Some things could not be clearly conveyed no matter how many words one used. But a Live could be expressed with a voice.

To do that, she started by calling out. This was the method her mother had once taught her. It was an ancient Chinese method of calling in Lives and Tuning them known as a Wind Up.

“Oh, you Lives of 120,000 Octave surrounding me. You murmuring of a trembling person. Can you hear my Live?”

She opened her eyes, breathed in, paused, and finally let out her Live.

It began with “la” and its Tempo continued with “la-la la-la”. She accurately and purely sang the driver’s original Live.

The first “la” she gave was a little off, so she calmed down and corrected it. The “la” needed to be a tad nasal.

The Device she held answered her voice and amplified it.

Her wing’s trembled as she sang.

Her voice grew louder.

The Device’s Live quickly expanded as if bursting.

In that instant, she stabbed the Device’s spear blade into the driver’s back.

“!”

In a flash, she felt resistance. The blade had touched the Live core within the driver.

She sent out her Device’s Live to arrange the driver’s Live. The two Lives resonated and blew away the distortion.

It took less than three seconds.

A large tremor ran through the driver’s body and she removed her blade.

“I did it.”

All of the scrapes and bruises had vanished from his body.

There was no mark from the blade either.

Without the distortions to his Live, his body would be in better shape than before the accident.

Akira sighed.

…''Why couldn’t I save that man last night?

She briefly recalled that bloody Buster. Not even she had ever healed someone that badly injured in her work for the Yard.

“Well, it worked this time. Right?”

She tapped the driver’s shoulder and he collapsed from his sitting position.

Normal Tune healing was done using a different form as an intermediary like when she had broken down that ''Qinghu'' into cats the night before.

She had omitted that step here, so the shock of having his Live directly altered had knocked him unconscious.

…''Well, it makes it easier to arrest him for theft.

As she muttered that in her heart, a shadow enveloped her.

It was cast by the tank.

“Hey, the driver alive?”

That dangerous question came from the General.

“Ahh, ahh. My luggage was blown up, wasn’t it?”

That comment came from the young man straddling the tank’s gun.

Akira stood up and looked to the taxi.

It had originally been yellow, but the paint had burned away. It was now pure white and flipped onto its roof. The spirit fuel had likely had its driving force instantly sent in reverse because the trunk had opened like a flower.

“Well, damn. There’s no crane on my Grant, so we can’t get it back without fixin’ it first.”

“That’s fine. I can Tune the taxi too while I’m at it.”

“Tuning, huh?”

Hearing the young man speak, Akira turned toward him.

He gave her a look of brooding hesitation.

“What is it?”

“Oh, nothing. It’s just that my suspicions were true.”

…''Huh? What does he mean by that?

She tilted her head and he shook his hand toward her.

“Sorry, sorry. It’s nothing. More importantly, can you really fix that pile of junk?”

“I can manage. It is inorganic, after all.”

Despite what she said, this would be a bit tricky.

It would have helped if it had been moving, but the taxi’s Live was unchanging and settled.

Tuners could transform and fix Lives that were changing or distorted. That made it easy to Tune living things, moving things, or anything in the process of being destroyed.

But there was nothing she could do about a Live that had settled in its distorted state.

…''I have no choice.

“Stand back a little. I’ll use a Discord Bomb.”

She pulled a black rod resembling a pencil from a hidden pocket in her tight skirt. When it exploded, it shook and slightly disturbed the Lives in a five meter radius. That created an opening for Tuning, but it was not the easiest thing to use.

It would affect unrelated Lives as well.

“Now, then.”

Just as she prepared to set up the Discord Bomb, a voice reached her from above.

“Hey, are you going to destroy it?”

“This only disturbs the Live.”

“Then I can help you there.”

“What?”

She looked up and saw the young man standing on the tank. He held the oblong bag he had carried on his back.

He stepped along the gun and jumped down.

He landed surprisingly lightly next to her and pulled out the contents of the bag.

His gloved right hand held…

“A Device?”

The young man turned toward her and smiled.

“Yeah, you can call it that.”

“Are you a Tuner? Or are you a Buster?”

“Neither. I don’t like letting people see my Live.”

Akira saw a brief grim look on his face when he said that, so she avoided asking any further.

“Can you really help me disturb the taxi’s Live?”

“I should be able to manage that.”

He gave a casual nod and approached the taxi with the Device resting on his shoulder.

“…”

He tapped his shoulder with the Device and observed the taxi. He crouched down, peered into the crushed inside, and commented, “Wow, you got this thing good.”

“Heyyy! Kid, you okay?”

“General, be quiet.”

She had no idea when the young man would destroy the Live, so she kept her spear at the ready.

“Hm.”

He nodded and lightly tapped the taxi’s chassis.

A small sound came from it.

In an instant, the taxi burst.

It was a solid sound.

“!”

The young man had not used his own Live.

He had not used the Wind Up that Akira used or the Over Up that was the standard for Tuning and Busting.

He had only used the sound of tapping the taxi’s chassis.

He had instantly amplified the Live of “tapping” and used that as a great power.

The Live constructing the taxi flew through the air. Its Word Color was a yellow mixed with scarlet. Its tempo resembled the engine sound that the Live just barely remembered.

…''How can he do that while ignoring the basics of Tuning and Busting?

But Akira did not have time to think. She quickly breathed in and released her Live.

She created a random Message in her mind and released it as an indescribable Live.

It had originally been a car, so she decided an energetic Tempo would be best. It was a Tempo filled with staccato.

…''Okay!!

She nodded, and rotated her Device. She used the blade to scoop up the scattering ginkgo leaf pattern Lives and placed her own image on top of them.

“Oh, you Lives of 80,000 Octaves floating around me. You notification of a machine. Can you hear this?”

She sang her own Live that began with “la”. It was an energetic song that sounded like small balls bouncing about.

It took only five seconds for the Message to gather together.

The raised tip of her spear trembled and the surrounding space briefly shook.

A moment later, a very, very high pitched sound rang out.

That meant it was done.

The Live had taken its new form.

“Oh?”

The young man’s voice was filled with surprise.

His surprise was warranted because the flipped taxi at her feet was now a yellow dog.

It had originally been a taxi, so it was as tall as a child. However, it must have been a newborn because it sat at her feet and begged for attention.

“That’s amazing. That’s definitely worth some praise.”

“Why are you acting like this is so strange?”

“Well… Tuners normally create something that can attack. Like a tiger or wolf.”

It was true Lives were more easily influenced by powerful images like killer intent or intimidation.

“I thought you’d be making something more violent and dangerous.”

“Yes, well, I am a genius.”

Wondering if he had been making fun of her, she looked his way, but he was not smiling and he watched the dog with a serious look in his eyes.

…''Oh, was he really praising me?

Immediately following that thought, his expression changed.

His eyebrows rose a bit and he formed a small, masculine smile. It was almost as if…

…''Can you really read my Live?

But he did not answer her question. Instead, he crouched down.

“I’ve seen Tuning plenty of times, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone make a dog like this. Is it really alive?”

“I don’t think it’s quite alive. It’s just a combination of my Message and the taxi’s Message. Once the Live resonance inside it ends, it will return to its original form. And that would be the car.”

That was obvious when she touched it. Its fur felt cold and metallic and the moisture in its eyes looked like glass.

It would be most accurate to call it a dog made from a car.

“Ahem, this is Hong Kong Yard. We’re about to lift the traffic restriction, so could you all get back on the road like normal?”

After that announcement over the megaphone, the cars started down the road again.

They just made sure to stay away from the tank.

Akira moved in front of the tank and looked to the young man while petting the dog’s head.

“But…you’re pretty amazing yourself.”

“Eh?”

“Don’t give me that.”

She looked to the road where the taxi had been. All that remained was the damage from the taxi crashing into the ground.

…''The Discord Bomb would tear into the road too.

Lives normally radiated outward just like sound, but he had made sure only the taxi resonated with his Device’s tone.

…''How did he do that? And he can read Lives too.

She approached the young man and looked at his Device.

“This has some weird writing on it.”

“Yeah, that says Nein König.”

“König? Is that English?”

“It’s German.”

“Let me see that.”

She looked at Nein König’s blade. A relief of two intertwined dragons was engraved near the hilt. That had to be the Wild Emblem of his family.

Just as she touched the blade partially of curiosity, he spoke up.

“Wait. If someone with any power touches that barehanded-…!”

“What?”

A small Live sounded out.

A direct Live with the sharpness of a blade carried into the distance.

Shocked, Akira looked toward the destination of the Live. Past the various stores and even further north than Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok, she saw a group of buildings.

Archs RDC stood at the center of those buildings and Hong Kong’s mountains were visible in the background. They looked small from where Akira was, but they had to be at least one hundred stories tall.

…''No, that’s not possible.

“It could never reach that far.”

Suddenly, smoke rose from that direction.

“Ohh, that’s impressive. You tore into the mountain.”

That comment came from the General who rubbed the scar on his cheek.

Akira felt all color leave her face.

“W-wait! Why are you carrying around such a dangerous Device!?”

“Ah! I told you not to touch it!”

It was already too late.

The young man made a mistake when he spun the Device around to hide it.

With a wind-like sound, all of the glass in the shops along Nathan Road shattered.

The glass turned into a spray of pure white dust.

A moment later, the spray transformed into feathers in accordance with Akira’s subconscious Message when she touched the Device.

The destruction propagated at the speed of sound.

Even the windows of the cars on the road turned to feathers with a well-regulated Tempo.

“…!”

As the afternoon sun washed over Nathan Road, it was filled with a soft white spray like someone had dumped buckets of water over it.

And the process repeated again and again as it moved further and further away.

“Ahh, ahh. That was your fault, Akira.”

“Wait. Don’t use my Urban Name without permission.”

“Oh? Oh? Are you trying to distract me from what just happened?”

“No! I’m used to writing out official apologies.”

After insisting something she was far from proud of, she looked to the young man.

He was a traveler, he used a strange kind of Busting, and he possessed a ridiculous Device.

“Who are you anyway?”

“Come to think of it, I haven’t introduced myself yet, have I?”

“No, you haven’t! You’ve been moving from one thing to another since I met you!”

“Is that so?” he said. “Well, don’t worry. I don’t mind.”

“I mind!”

“Oh, you want to know about me that badly? Have you fallen for- ow! N-not there!”

“I’ll stab you in the gut next time. Now, identity yourself! And you don’t get a choice in the matter!”

“I’m… I’m just a perfectly normal person. …Gwaah! Who jabs someone with a device!?”

“Don’t worry. I used the back of the blade.”

“You can’t jab with the back of the blade!”

The young man finally sighed in resignation.

He lowered his shoulders a little and spoke.

“You can call me Gunmal. That’s only my Urban Name, though.”

“What?”

That was the Urban Name of the man who had died before her eyes the night before.

This other Gunmal turned toward her blank look and narrowed his eyes.

…''Is he reading my Live?

Her heart shrank down.

His expression softened and he apologized before saying more.

“I’m here in Hong Kong to see my brother. But then I happened across a police officer who just so happened to be thinking about him, so I thought I would read a little more of her Live.”

“And you ended up headbutting me? …So you really can read Lives.”

“It’s no different from your Tuning. And if you don’t want me reading your Live, you should be more reserved in your thoughts. They call that Closed Words in England.”

He rubbed the dog’s throat, stood up, and asked her something.

“My brother’s dead, isn’t he?”

“Eh?”

“I saw it in your Live.”

His expression was neither dark nor bright and she still could not see his Live.