Editing City Series:Volume4a Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 3===

'''7:35 PM

The wind blew.

Osaka had plenty of geographical ups and downs, so the wind would weave through those lower areas.

One such path for the wind followed the Yodo River as it cut through the city east to west.

The wind picked up the scent of the river as it blew along it.

This time of year, it was the scent of a winter river.

The scent of the dried grass along the bank was stronger than that of the water.

It was a dry scent.

A hint of iron was mixed in with the wind.

It was a rusty smell.

The dry wind held that iron fragrance as it blew along the bank of the river.

Shoui and Taeko broke through that wind as they ran.

They soon realized the source of the iron scent in the wind: blood.

“…!?”

They did not even need to confirm it with a Tech.

After smelling it several times in their training at the Mountain, it had permeated their bodies.

Police and ambulance sirens blared in the distant center of the city as if to prove their sense of smell was not deceiving them.

“…Yuuki.”

“Does it bother ya? Ya’ve been hesitatin’ all this time.”

“I’m still hesitating a hell of a lot right now.”

“Do ya take anythin’ seriously?”

“A cool guy doesn’t let anyone see how he really feels.”

“Ya moron. …Why are ya so obsessed with protectin’ girls?”

“That’s simple,” answered Shoui. “Because it’s cool.”

“Do ya want the Koto Chancellor to accept you?”

He did not answer that question.

He picked up speed and saw their destination up ahead.

A school had a wall around it by the riverside and he saw definite destruction there.

The large schoolyard of Private Showa Academy, which was known for both its academics and combat training, was utterly destroyed, one school building included.

One of the southern school buildings had a large hole torn in the front as if a giant mouth had bitten into it.

And the two hundred square meter schoolyard had a large mortar-like hole covering it.

…''Did Yuuki do this?

He ran down the straight bank with that question in his heart.

“Hey! Shoui! Wait up!”

He ignored her.

He ran from the bank to the asphalt road of the city.

In five seconds, he was running through the residential area near the school.

He could see the wall surrounding the school and several vehicles were parked in front of that concrete wall.

“…”

There was a crowd near the main gate.

That was the only bright area, so he could not see past the wall.

He ran closer.

He did not hesitate to cross the road and to jump on top of one of the cars parked in front of the wall separating the school from the city.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing!?”

He ignored someone’s shout and kept moving.

He used the car’s roof to jump toward the wall which was at least five meters tall.

—''Shoui – Gym Tech – Take – Great Leap – Hit!

The boys’ body flew through the darkness.

He flipped through the air to cross the wall in a single breath.

The wind carried an even stronger iron smell now.

By the time he sensed that, he had already entered Private Showa’s grounds.

—''Shoui – Gym/Savate Tech – Multiple Take – Super Landing – Hit.

He twisted his outstretched body to silently land on the schoolyard and then he looked around.

“…”

The large schoolyard was in an even more unusual state than it had looked from afar.

It had been torn into along with the school building and it had transformed into a sea of red sand.

The red came from the clay laid out over the schoolyard, but…

“Why is there sand here?”

He touched the thin coat of red sand covering the ground and found it was cold.

It was even chillier than the winter air.

…''What is going on?

“It’s called an intense freeze drying. This entire space was instantly frozen to get rid of all the moisture until it completely disintegrated. It’s the same technique used to kill former Nagoya Vice Chancellor Yamashita Gihei.”

“Saki-san?”

Saki Seiji, the boy he had met just that evening, stood in front of Shoui.

He looked to Shoui while wearing the student combat coat that was essentially the official uniform of Osaka’s Chancellor’s Officers.

“But what was that jump you just made? It was a hell of a lot better than the one you showed me before.”

“Oh, hi there. Good evening. Um, where’s Yuuki?”

“Hey, do you have a habit of ignoring people or something?”

“I don’t have my own Words, so I don’t want to let in any extraneous voices.”

Saki clicked his tongue at Shoui’s joking answer.

“I should’ve dealt with you before Souichirou showed up back there.”

“C’mon, calm down.”

—''Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Search for Individual – Miss.

He could not find the person he was looking for.

The only people there were the Tuners and Busters carrying Devices on the schoolyard and in the school building.

They were apparently starting to fix the damage with Tuning, so cats and birds would occasionally appear near them.

“…This is horrifying.”

Saki responded to his absentminded comment.

“What? You were taken in by Nandaimon, so didn’t you see stuff like this on a daily basis?”

“It was a long time ago when I saw Suzaku Ver. 40 activate. …So Yuuki did that?”

“Yeah, the Koto Chancellor can apparently use the transmitter installed in Phoenix, her false eye, to really let her opponent have it.”

“Her false eye?”

“The Killing Holder’s vermilion eye. It’s just like Nandaimon to go with the vermilion of the Suzaku.”

Shoui sighed at the boy’s explanation.

“I can’t believe this,” he muttered before pulling his bandanna over his eyes.

“But why are you here?” asked Saki. “Did you really come here to meet the Koto Chancellor?”

“Yes, I did. What about it?”

—''Saki – Boxing Tech – Counter-Take – Strike – Hit.

—''Shoui – Dodge Tech – Take – Swayback – Hit.

“Wow, that was close. What was that for, Saki-san?”

“So you dodged it. I tried to catch you off guard, but mine got the counter judgement.”

“Of course I dodged that. …You’re kind of scary, you know that? I bet you don’t have many friends.”

“Shut up. And get lost. I’m in charge of dealing with this incident, so it pisses me off when someone comes wandering onto the scene.”

“I see. That must be tough. But what do you mean by ‘this incident’?”

“Apparently, the Nandaimon girl took out one of the idiots here at Private Showa, so they wanted revenge.”

Shoui looked around the schoolyard again.

“Girls sure are scary when they’re mad.”

“These things are normally done with a duel between representatives, but Private Showa must have thought they could overpower her with numbers. It only lasted an instant and you can see how it turned out. There were thirty-two serious injuries and five minor injuries, so this is no laughing matter.”

“Where are the injured?”

“They were already taken away in ambulances. Tuners are treating the worst ones in the emergency ward over there. We’re not talking about a landmine race at an athletics festival here.”

At that point, Saki glared at Shoui.

“You aren’t going to follow me to the hospital too, are you?”

“Again! Why are you so suspicious of me?”

“What? My intuition, of course.”

“I appreciate the nonscientific reasoning. Now, um, do you know where Yuuki is?”

“You really don’t listen to people, do you?” Saki sighed. “Besides, what are you even gonna do if you meet the Koto Chancellor?”

“Grab her butt or fondle her breasts.”

“Eh? …What was that?”

“Oh, um, just speaking to myself. It’s been two years since we’ve done anything like that after all.”

“Two years since doing anything like what? Was it just me or did you say something pretty weird just-…”

Saki was cut off by a girl’s voice.

“Hey! Outta the way!”