Editing City Series:Volume3a Chapter 1 (section)

===Interlude 1===

The first thing Akira said after returning to her apartment barely escaped her lips.

“Ahh… What a day. I’m exhausted.”

She leaned against the small kitchen wall and checked the clock to see it was three in the morning.

…''No wonder the city’s Lives are so quiet.

The Lives of Mong Kok were so lively during the day, but this late, she could only hear the roar of the sea to the west.

As the sound of the waves reached her ears, Akira leaned her spear Device against the wall.

She gave a long yawn. While releasing that relaxed breath, she moved to the back room.

It doubled as a living room and a bedroom and it was a British-style room with a wooden floor. It contained a bed, a side table, an oddly new TV, a sanxian that she had long played, and a bookcase with a cloth covering each shelf.

She looked to the top shelf of the bookcase.

A picture frame stood there.

“Can you believe it, mom and dad? Someone died this time.”

She called out to the people in the picture as she picked up the frame.

She blew on it to get rid of the dust.

The photograph in the wooden frame showed her family.

Her father was the only human and the rest had wings on their backs.

It seemed to be a very old photo. The young girl clinging to her mother was Akira.

And a boy stood next to that girl.

“If my brother was here, he’d be so mad at me for not saving someone’s life as a Tuner.”

Her eyes turned to her parents.

Her father had sharp Asian eyes and a large scar on his cheek.

She sighed.

“Dad, this is a difficult thing, isn’t it?”

She tried to keep her tone light and she sat on the bed.

…''What would mom and dad say if they were still alive?

With that unanswerable question in her heart, she set the picture frame down on her lap.

She then reached for the TV remote near the pillow.

She hit the power button and the TV in the corner of the room filled with light.

“Is this the case Rin mentioned?”

The news should have been over by this time, but text would appear on the screen to provide emergency information. Currently, white text was displayed on a blue background.

“Early this morning, President Huang Daquan of Archs RDC, Hong Kong’s largest trading company, died. The cause of death was massive blood loss. The knife he was holding upon discovery was confirmed to be the cause. The reason for his suicide is unknown and the investigation is underway. Huang Daquan was the first Nein Engel born in Hong Kong and this incident is expected to influence a number of fields, including the management of the unnumbered Hong Kong Cave.”

“I see.” Akira nodded. “This Nein Engel named Huang left Hong Kong Cave like me. In a way, I’m following in his footsteps. …An Archs has no lifespan or illness, but he still killed himself. …What a shame.”

Huang Daquan’s Archs RDC was the largest trading company in Hong Kong and it performed some special operations.

“Like material support for Hong Kong Cave.”

Akira looked up and out the window.

The south-facing window showed the lights that were opposing the heavy Lives of the night’s darkness.

Those lights belonged to the mainland area of Hong Kong called Kowloon.

“…”

She looked even further up and to the ocean just barely visible beyond the peninsula.

She stared intently at it and saw some small lights on that sea.

The faint lights asserting their presence there were as numerous as scattered flower petals and as small as the holes of an ant colony.

Those lights belonged to the other part of Hong Kong: Hong Kong Island.

That island was surrounded by the darkness and the sea and it had a strange shape.

Its silhouette looked like it had been pushed down on from above until it bent into a U-shape.

There was a simple reason for that appearance: there was a large hole in the center of the giant island.

The lines of light on the island showed the giant pit that measured at least a kilometer across.

That was Hong Kong Cave.

It was not a mere hole. It contained a large community made up of Nein Engels. The authorities of Hong Kong viewed it as an unnumbered zone outside of their authority.

“It’s already been three years since I left there and saw my dad’s death.”

Akira muttered to herself and looked away. After sighing, she lowered her eyes a little.

Her gaze shifted to the picture frame on her lap.

While looking at her family, she suddenly recalled something her brother had often said long ago.

…''I’ll take the Nein Engels to heaven. And I’ll restore heaven!

On her deathbed, her mother had said that restoring heaven was an impossible dream after its destruction in World War Two. But the woman had also smiled and said it would be nice if it did happen.

“It really would be nice.”

Akira smiled and lay on her side.

…''I’m so tired.

She usually slept in the nude, but tonight her exhaustion won out over her usual habit.

She felt like her body was heavily sinking down and a sudden memory of the past returned to her.

It was from when her entire family had lived in Hong Kong Cave together.

Much like her brother, she had spoken of her own dream in front of her sick mother.

Just as she fell asleep, she muttered those same words.

“I wish all Nein Engels and humans could live together like mom and dad…”

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[City_Series:Volume3a_Opening|Morning Section - Opening]]
| Return to [[City_Series|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[City_Series:Volume3a_Chapter_2|Act 2]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>