Editing City Series:Volume6d Chapter3 (section)

===Part 4===

The sky was colored the purple of late evening.

A small field in the mountains sat below the sky as night fell.

A pile of wood sat on the field and a motorcycle with a sidecar was parked next to it.

A young man in black stood on the pile, removing the wood and tossing it away.

A woman in purple sat next to the sidecar.

She had built a stove from the discarded wood and a fire was burning inside it.

A pot of soup was simmering atop the stove.

The fire crackled inside the stove, briefly illuminating their dark surroundings.

She spoke quietly while viewing the light through her tinted glasses.

“No one knows anymore how it got started. The Panzerpolis Project wouldn’t have existed originally. But as the loops continued, it was eventually created to keep the wheel turning.”

“And your memories appear to you as dreams?”

“Yes, but the memories from my thousands of past iterations only tell me how desperate they all were. The dreams are a result of their anxious desire to not fail, to not run away, to not be hurt.” She took a breath. “I intend to create something new. I won’t give up just because I created another loop. None of my past selves could do anything about it, but destiny can be changed.”

“So unlike your past selves, you chose to sleep for a thousand years inside the Sylphide?”

“Yes.” She pulled a card from her pocket – the Hermit. “Back in my world, this was the Wheel of Destiny.”

She heard his bitter laugh from atop the pile of wood.

“Sounds like you’ve changed destiny after all,” he said. “If you failed to fix destiny in your time, what can you teach Hazel now that she’s a Tuner?”

“There is one way to do this and I have already informed M. Schrier via letter. You must stop Tristan before the bombing of Berlin. Not destroy it – stop it.”

“That’s a lot easier said than done.”

“It is what it is. And Hazel’s Beweisen can stop Neue Erde.”

“So you want her to stop the Geheimnis Agency Commander’s heart, killing her? And if the anxiety Lives are building up inside Tristan like you claim, then Germany will end up with some bad Live pollution.”

“But it’s better than another loop.”

He threw down another piece of wood. He threw down a disgusted comment along with it.

“Which is why you slept your way to the modern age, huh? You really want to get history moving again, don’t you? But you know what happens if we don’t start another loop and you get what you want, don’t you?”

“If the loops stop and Hazel does not end up in the past, the last millennium of Germany’s history will collapse from the very foundation. Because it will create a history where the Messiah does not save Germany a thousand years ago.”

“And the world will correct itself to match. Most likely, we’ll all disappear and become someone else. That’s another kind of ruin for the people in the world now.”

He threw another piece of wood.

“Are you okay with that?”

“That is how the world is meant to be.” Lehrer held her knees. “The chaos in Germany a thousand years ago was due to the anxiety that we failed to fully destroy back in ’43. I hated how everyone thanked me for eliminating that chaos a thousand years ago. Because I was only hunting down the trouble we had sown through time.” Lehrer squeezed her arms tight around her knees. “And you know what? I am destined to disappear no matter what happens.”

“…?”

“Without another loop, I will disappear along with this world. And if there is another loop…well, there is only one timeline. If everything is redone, I will be overwritten.”

“You mean Hazel will erase you by following in your footsteps?”

“Yes. In this world’s Lives, the old me will be rewritten with the new me. If Hazel creates another loop, she will overwrite and erase me. So…”

So…

“I can only exist this one time. As irresponsible as that might be.”

She lowered her head and stirred the soup with the large spoon leaning against the edge of the pot. The somewhat brown potato soup swirled inside the pot.

“What was I like last time? Let me guess: I was the second most wonderful guy in the world.”

“Why would I tell you that?” She gave a snort of laughter. “Telling you wouldn’t accomplish anything.”

“Fair enough. Oh, I finally found the secondary cockpit. Don’t move from there while I stand Schwarz Löwe up. How about you prepare your weapon and summon Sylphide? You can control that thing, right?”

“I acquired a weapon earlier and Sylphide is already flying overhead. I have it soaring autonomously outside of detection range while its self-repair function heals a thousand years’ worth of decay. But more importantly…”

Lehrer stood up.

She looked up to see Berger atop the 3yd pile of wood.

She looked between him and the pot at her feet.

“You can make it quick, but you should really eat something.”

“I’m too busy. I’m putting together a connector staff so Schwarz Löwe can wield Gelegenheit, so you just eat your portion.”

“Oh? But the old you always loved my cooking.”

“H-hold on there.” He hopped down, landed, and brushed off his black coat. “You just said you wouldn’t tell me about him, so how is this fair?”

“Women can be selfish when it suits us,” she said bluntly. “But if you insist, I can tell you more. For example, whenever the old you would kiss me, you would reach your arms around to my butt and-”

“Okay, okay! I’ll eat it! I’ll eat, so that’s enough!” He looked upset, clicked his tongue as he approached the fire, and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Hazel’s a little more modest and has a bigger chest.”

“Then you had better take better care of her than me.”

Berger silently sat down and Lehrer sat to his left and looked to the fire.

“I am Lehrer, but she can stay Hazel Mirildorf.”

She picked up the plate sitting next to the stove and reached for the spoon in the pot.

“You don’t like carrots, right?”

She spooned some soup onto the plate and passed it to Berger. She expressionlessly accepted the steaming plate, checked his pocket watch with his other hand, and started eating. He ate quickly.

“Hey, Lehrer,” he said. “Is there no way to keep you from disappearing?”

“Feeling sorry for me? I appreciate it, Berger. There is one way, but it is something I couldn’t bring myself to do. Besides…”

“Besides what?”

“You have no intention of telling Hazel about this. This is something she needs to realize on her own. If she reaches that realization, I am sure she will save me and all the previous versions of me too. After all, all of the previous ones were overwritten by the next one…which is why they can only appear in our dreams.”

“C’mon, you can tell me. If only you were still Hazel. Then I could just bully it out of you.”

“I have questions of my own. Like how you realized who I really am.”

“That was easy. I’d been curious about it since last year. After all, your kiss felt and smelled just like hers. You drink milk with every meal, don’t you?”

Lehrer’s face grew a red different from the tint of the firelight.

“Berger?” She spooned soup onto her own plate with a displeased look on her face. “I have another question too.”

“Yeah?”

“Now, I’ve heard some rumors going around the AIF saying you forced yourself on that girl when she was only 15. Is that true? …What is that disgusted look supposed to mean?

“Don’t ask. That rumor has done some severe damage to my reputation.”

“I see.” Lehrer nodded and blew on her soup before taking a bite.

She sighed, satisfied with the flavor.

“Can I ask one more thing, Berger?”

“?”

“It doesn’t happen to me much anymore now that I’m in my mid-20s, but she’s still young.”

“What doesn’t happen?”

“When Werecat girls are teenagers, they have a mating season from spring to summer.”

“They…what?”

“But girls have their pride, you see. We’re not animals, so we would only let it show in front of someone we have feelings for. And when we do…well, we’re cats, so we only try to tempt them. Do you get what I mean?”

Berger ate his soup without answering.

“If that girl hasn’t done anything, it’s because she’s been working very hard to resist the urge. She has no idea what she should do and doesn’t have anyone she can confide in. Do you get it now? So…”

She took a breath.

“So if something like that does happen, try to be gentle with her.”

Berger set his plate down, paused for a few seconds, and then collapsed backwards like his strings had been cut. He twisted onto his side, turning his back to Lehrer, and flopped a few times on the summer grass.

“Maybe I shouldn’t go rescue that idiot after all,” he groaned lethargically.

Lehrer poured the rest of her soup into his ear.

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