Editing City Series:Volume4a Chapter 6 (section)

===Part 3===

'''7:14 PM (12/18/1993)

At that time three years before, Yuuki Yuuki had just been named the Koto Guardian and had the current Koto Chancellor’s recommendation for being the next Chancellor.

It was a cold and clear December night.

Shoui sat below the eaves of the Nandaimon Shrine’s detached room.

Yuuki sat next to him.

It was the usual situation.

He wore his training outfit of a black T-shirt and his school uniform pants.

She wore her vermilion and white shrine maiden outfit that acted as the Nandaimon Shrine’s uniform.

A night breeze blew through and Shoui spoke while facing forward.

“It’s been two weeks since you last visited me during my night training.”

“…”

Yuuki did not reply, but she did speak.

“Sorry.”

Her unemotional tone showed no hint of apology, but Shoui nodded.

“It’s not like you have a choice. Your grandmother was one of the best during the Showa era…”

“It’s because I’m from Nandaimon.”

“…”

“You were against it, weren’t you? You didn’t want me to become the Koto Guardian.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He sensed Yuuki turning to face him.

“My grandmother told me the day before yesterday.”

That led Shoui to slap his forehead and sigh.

“Why does she have to tell everyone about all the pathetic things I do?”

“She laughed and said there was a ‘kid’ who was afraid I would leave him.”

Shoui let out a sigh of resignation and collapsed onto his back.

He sprawled out on the floor.

…''I can’t believe this.

He pulled his bandanna over his eyes to block his view.

With his vision gone, he was more sensitive to the presences around him.

He heard Yuuki speak without warning.

“It seems you were concerned for me, Shoui-kun.”

“Now that you’ve found out, it just makes me a worrier.”

He pulled his bandanna further down and sat up.

He sighed inside his personal darkness.

“I can’t believe this. Did you visit me to tell me that?”

“You don’t like it?”

“It’s pathetic.”

“Really? This is complicated.”

“What makes it complicated?”

“Because I was glad.”

Shoui froze in place with his bandanna still covering his eyes, but she did not stop speaking there.

“Is it ‘pathetic’ to bring me happiness?”

—''Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Emotional Control – Hit.

Shoui remained silent, so she asked about it.

“Why are you so silent all of a sudden? …Did I say something weird?”

“Yes, a little… How should I put it? You made me a just a little bit extremely surprised…somewhat.”

“What kind of surprise is that?”

He responded to the bitter smile in her voice.

“I never expected to hear you say that… As rude as that may be.”

“Should I have chosen my words more carefully?”

He nodded.

“It’s a problem.”

“Why?”

“I’d been keeping quiet because I knew you had become one of those people.”

“One of those people?”

“…”

He tried to maintain his silence but could not.

“You’ve become someone who can kill people.”

“I see.”

“You know why I have no Words, right? During the Kinki Riot…”

“You don’t have to tell me.”

“I’m afraid of seeing any relatives or people close to me as corpses.”

“I said you don’t have to tell me. I understand.”

“…You understand?”

A small tremor had entered his voice.

—''Shoui – Mind Tech – Take – Emotional Control – Miss.

Something like impatience pushed his thoughts forward and formed his next words.

“You couldn’t possibly understand… I was trapped in the darkness and had to make a friend of the nothingness…”

“Shoui-kun?”

When he heard Yuuki’s voice, the night appeared before his eyes.

She had pushed up his bandanna.

As soon as he felt the night air on his cheeks, she turned his head toward her.

“You don’t cry like you used to when you talk about that.”

“…”

She wrapped her arms around his head and pulled him in from the side.

Confusion filled his mind and he closed his eyes so as not to look her in the eye.

As soon as he did, his head was carelessly pulled even closer.

“?”

And she kissed him.

Surprisingly, it was in a place he could not have seen even with his eyes open: the eyelid.

He felt a light sucking sensation on his eye.

Her glasses tapped against his forehead through the bandanna.

Naturally, neither of them said anything. Enough time passed for a few breaths, but neither of them took a single one.

After that span of time that felt both long and short, she removed her lips.

She embraced him and he kept his eyes closed.

But a slight impatience filled him and he reached for her butt to change the mood.

Normally, she would have moved out of the way and lightly scolded him.

If she would escape here, he could laugh it all off, but…

“Ah.”

She let out a quiet voice and permitted his touch.

With the slight sound of rustling clothes, she lifted her feet from the veranda and snuggled up next to him.

She pressed against him.

Shoui’s heart skipped a beat and he reflexively opened his eyes to look up at Yuuki.

She looked down at him with the moonlight behind her.

Her face was still nearly emotionless and she spoke the first words that came to mind.

“You don’t want to?”

He reflexively sat up and scratched his head.

“Eh? Um, well, how should I put it?”

“You really are stupid. …I prepared myself for a lot when I agreed to be Koto’s Guardian and Chancellor.”

“…Even for placing yourself in a position where you could kill people?”

“Even if I do, I won’t change.”

“Really?”

“Even if I kill someone, I will still be me.”

As soon as she said that, a sudden raindrop fell on his cheek.

…''!?

The raindrop had not fallen from the sky.

It had come from Yuuki’s eye.

She was shedding tears from her usual expressionless face.

“!”

The second he saw the tears dripping down her cheeks, he realized that all of his thoughts had been wrong.

He sat the rest of the way up and faced her.

“…? Shoui-kun?”

He shook his head.

“I just about let an older girl trick me.”

“Eh?”

“You’re afraid, aren’t you? You’re afraid of your current situation and that you might change.”

“I am not-…”

“You have to be. Everything you just said was a lie, wasn’t it?”

He embraced her and removed her glasses.

She closed her eyes as if to keep him from seeing them, so he kissed her eyelid.

“…Ah.”

He heard her quiet voice and tasted some slight saltiness on his tongue.

He sensed that undeniable flavor.

“It tastes a lot like blood…”

His casual comment seemed to act as a signal.

She lowered her head in his arms and she began to cry. She suppressed her voice and her shoulders shook.

She silently shed tears.

Shoui held her shaking shoulders and sighed.

“You’ve always been stupid… You have a bad habit of putting on an act and trying to solve everything yourself.”

“…”

“Were you trying to escape the unease by sleeping with me? …Does your current position scare you that much?”

She raised her head and her expression left him speechless.

The ends of her eyebrows were lowered in the first look of anguish he had ever seen from her.

“Yuuki?”

He quickly pulled her from his body.

Their movements while pressed together had nearly pulled her shrine maiden outfit from her shoulders.

“Nn?”

She sniffed once to suppress the tears and wiped at her eyes.

The tears vanished, but the expression did not. She held that silent anguish inside and asked a question.

“…What’s the matter?”

Shoui realized his eyes were fixated on her face.

“Oh, um…”

He quickly began to pull his bandanna down.

“You don’t want to?”

But those words stopped him.

He saw a smile on her face and she continued without the smile crumbling.

“You don’t want to spend some of your time on me?”

“…Can’t we keep things the way they were? Doing this kind of thing to make up for your fear isn’t-…”

She cut him off with a quiet voice.

[[Image:City_v04a_203.jpg|thumb]]

“Can’t you tell I’m blushing?”

With that question, she let her clothing drop from her shoulders.

With a soft sound, the clothing fell away like a blooming flower.

She gathered the clothing around her chest to hide her exposed skin, but she faced Shoui with a bold look in her eyes.

“If something happens, will you…?”

“Will I?”

“Will you protect me from myself?”

He knew what she meant by that.

If she were to harm someone else, she would be harming herself too.

And to protect her from herself, he would need to be by her side at all times.

He suddenly recalled her Words.

''The winter cries out frigidly

''Someone cries in loneliness

:''They speak words yet nothing is said

:''They speak Words yet nothing is said

::''They simply wait for the ice to melt

::''They draw near and never give up

He nodded but still felt hesitant as he spoke.

“It’s really not fair to show me the prize in advance…”

She narrowed her eyes and smiled.

“Don’t act like you haven’t wanted to see this for a long time.”

Hearing that, he sighed and gave up.

From then on, she had occasionally visited him at night. It had always been on the nights when she left without him to complete a job outside Nandaimon.

It had all happened long ago, but it had made Shoui who he was today.