Editing City Series:Volume7 Layer 2 (section)

===Record 65: It Can Be So Hard to Notice===
[[Image:TOKYO_033.jpg|thumb]]

'''05/27/1998

'''21:30

We have a problem. Some weird thing has taken over a dorm room.

Me, the Professor, and Snowy are in the B3 hallway lined with doors to the accelerated rooms for exchange students. The Professor holds a stethoscope against one door.

“Yes, it certainly has been taken over by some weird thing. I suspect it may also be suffering from liver disease.”

“Would cutting it with a sword help?” asked Snowy.

“The problem is this isn’t a physical thing.” The Professor pulled out a record-keeping camera. “So I’m not sure it actually can be cut.”

“Probably not. I questioned the students and they said it first sounded like something was crawling around the room. They tried to ignore it at first, but then the room’s colors started to change and then they there was the whole window incident.”

“What window incident?”

“The three residents woke up this morning to find themselves hanging from the art room’s 3rd floor windows. They had been stripped of all their clothing, they were all sprawled out on their backs, and they all had ‘loser’ written on their stomachs in ink. Pretty incredible, right?”

“Are we sure it wasn’t some kind of punishment game?”

“It wasn’t that. After trying to peep on the girl’s dorm last night, we were sent on a no-rope bungee dive from those same windows, so their alibi is airtight. The crime must have happened in the really pleasant part of the early morning.”

“You two are always up to something, aren’t you? Anyway, there must be something here that did all that.”

Snowy took a look around the area. The “keep out” tape drew out barrier emblems and talismans on the walls, ceiling, and floor. With a pentagram, hexagram, magic circle, Arabian number circle, Mexican angry face, and Tsuru-san wa Maru-Maru Mushi, we had to be protected from pretty much anything. It was honestly pretty cool.

After viewing all that, Snowy suddenly opened the door.

There was an endless expanse of stars on the other side.

The wind blew, so we were nearly sucked inside. No, we nearly fell inside. The wind roared.

“Whoa!”

Snowy and I grabbed at the doorframe to avoid falling in and also grabbed the door that had opened the other way. The “keep out” tape whipped in the wind and I shouted behind me, telling the Professor to help shut the door.

But he was too busy snapping photos with that camera.

“Yes, I do like the look on your face. This will make an excellent record of what happened, so say cheese. Now, how about another one?”

Bastard. After we got the door shut, I punched him once. That seemed to knock some sense back into him.

“This truly is a weird thing. I estimate about 80% of what has happened was meant as a feint against us.”

Just then, the door opened from the other side.

You emerged with Daitarou in your arms. 

“What are you three doing?” you asked while letting Daitarou hold your finger in his mouth. “I entered through the window everyone was talking about, but there was nothing inside.”

“Huh?”

We quickly checked inside the room and there really wasn’t anything there. It was just a normal dorm room.

But we never did find the window you said you had entered through.

'''Author Comment:

The poster on the right side of the illustration lists 5 rules for enjoyable battling: “Do not use modern weapons. Go all out when you fight. Never show an opening. If they show their back, make your move. Sniping is a valid tactic.”