Editing City Series:Volume8b Chapter17 (section)

===Aoe’s Continued Sight Mode: In DT Castle===

'''<Aoe’s Over Reload>

The rooms lights were off and darkness surrounded Aoe.

The faintly lit scenery was visible out the window.

Light raced toward heaven from the tip of the tower sticking up into the dark southern sky.

Aoe held his right hand toward that light and started to remove the bandage covering that hand.

<Senpai?>

A window opened below him. Yuo had her bare back to him atop the waves formed by a light green dress.

He unwrapped the bandage from his arm and looked to his upper arm.

A scar ran through the front and back of the arm. The split in the skin had already filled with white scar tissue.

So he removed the medical charm from his chest as well.

He revealed the scar left by Algo and Daikatana and rolled up the charm.

“It’s still leaking blood. Just like you would expect of a wound tying you to someone else.”

He spoke to himself while viewing the scar on his chest.

The white line ran from his left shoulder to his right hip, but most of the blood had been absorbed by the charm, leaving only the scent of medicinal herbs and a bit of the oozing blood.

He tossed the balled-up charm in the trashcan next to the bed and looked to Yuo.

“Sorry, I got distracted. As pathetic as it sounds, I’m starting to get nervous about this.”

<You sound irritated, Senpai.>

“Maybe something is weighing on my mind, making me distractable.”

Yuo got up in the darkness and approached him.

<What’s weighing on your mind?>

“You know I’m seeking the strongest Plus power, right? I want to be able to understand and surpass my opponent’s anxiety and fear using the fists I can trust in.”

<Yes, I have heard bits and pieces of that several times so far.>

“I managed to trust in my fists when I rescued you, but I still don’t know how to understand how other people feel. I mean, I can’t read people’s minds.”

He recalled a piece of data: the message in blood from Daikatana he has seen just before passing out from injury and hunger.

“But in his final moments, Daikatana told me to think of you if it bothered me I can’t read people’s minds.” He scratched his head with a troubled tone to his voice. “So maybe I’m thinking about you a little too much.”

He looked up to see her looking back at him.

He could see her sweaty skin in the darkness, showing him she really was looking right at him.

She tilted her head once before choosing her words carefully.

<U-umm, well, Senpai?>

“Yes?”

She looked up a bit and thought about what to say.

Eventually, she scooted toward him on her knees.

<Th-the thing is, I’m not sure what your problem is. You already know what Daikatana was talking about! You already know how to know what people are thinking!>

She took his hand and held it to her chest.

He felt her pulse. Her somewhat rapid pulse.

<Why do you think my pulse is racing so much when I’m still running on subprograms? Because you’re touching me, right? And…that’s because I thought I would feel warmth rather than fear if you touched me, right?>

“Mh,” he grunted as she opened a window.

<So you already understand me! You can think about me and understand me just like Daikatana said! You just haven’t noticed it yourself!>

<Listen,> she said in a new window. <It may be difficult for a Plus person like you, but Minus people like us can do this from people’s words alone. We can never truly know someone else, but that’s why we do our best to imagine who they must be and think about what they must be thinking!>

“B-but that’s the Minus way. A Plus person like me can’t do that.”

Hearing that, Yuo looked to his hand on her chest.

<You can do the same thing by looking at me, listening to me, and touching me.>

She nodded, turned toward him, and said more.

<Plus people must learn what other people are thinking in the same way as us. But instead of imagining everything from their words alone, you use all the information in the real world to imagine who they are on the inside.>

“So the strongest power can be found in the Plus or the Minus? You just have to believe in yourself and…”

<Yes, and throw your fist while thinking of your opponent. That may be the best way of putting it.>



'''<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

Aoe smiled bitterly at that. He laughed out loud and scratched his head.

“That’s the answer? Really?”

He looked at Yuo tilting her head in the nude and continued with a sigh in his voice.

“So it all comes down to thinking about your opponent first and foremost?”

He had some exasperation in his voice, but Yuo smiled instead.

<Yes, I believe so.>

That smile made Aoe consider the relationship between the Plus and the Minus.

<That would mean she is thinking about me too.>

Yuo blushed when she read the window floating above him. He only realized his thoughts had appeared in a window when he noticed her blush. He spoke to her while she hung her head and tensed her shoulders.

“Although I have some doubts how serious those thoughts about me are.”

<C-could you not tease me after all this?>

“But as much as my thinking about you seems to have put you in the mood...” He sat cross-legged on the bed. “Why am I all irritated instead of getting in the mood?”

She withered under his gaze and produced a window.

<Umm, logically speaking, wouldn’t that mean I’m not thinking about you enough?>

“Good point. So how about you put a little more effort into it. For example, you could directly-”

<One more word and you’ll regret it!!>

Yuo sighed, shoulders drooping.

<Maybe the mood isn’t right, but how about we go ahead and change our settings? Like body reflex and->

Yuo came to a sudden stop.

He wondered what that was about and she scooted closer, apologized, and opened a window.

<Um, it turns out I never changed your management settings. You’re still a criminal.>

“I’m what?”

She held up the window to show him.

It displayed his management settings. All the fields scrolled rapidly by, but her focus zeroed in on one of them.

<Yeah, I was right. You’re restricted from all sexual activities.>

'''“Restricted!? How dare they!”

<Don’t get all worked up over it. Besides, the problem is you for trying to do that as a criminal. …Do you want to see the settings window with all the naughty stuff on it?>

“Mh,” confirmed Aoe, sighing and reading the window over Yuo’s shoulder.

“What does this ‘Highest Allowed Category’ setting mean? The options are hard, normal, and easy.”

<nowiki><I</nowiki> don’t know either. Let’s put that at normal. That should be the standard setting. Oh, and it looks like you’re set to ‘castrated’, so I’ll remove that. I’ll remove the basic morals check as well.>

'''“I was castrated!?”

Aoe’s expression grew super serious.

'''“I was starting to question a rather fundamental part of my being, but that explains it! Castrated!”

<Could you not shout that word over and over?>

<Honestly, your basic stats must be way too high if you could take it this far with that kind of restriction in place.>

He ignored Yuo’s sidelong glance and reached for the window. He checked each of the humanoid icons lined up below the window and Yuo soon noticed.

<S-stop that! I’m not doing any of that acrobatic yoga-like stuff!>

“Why limit our options so soon?”

<We only have an hour and it’s my first time, so we need to stick to the basics.>

“Damn. …Hm, is this where the settings I share with my partner are located? Then what’s this icon of a rotating arrow?”

<nowiki><I</nowiki> think that sets the sensitivity of the jiggle physics subprogram.>

“Then this must be where you switch off the guy’s voice and Body display, this must be the sound effect volume level, and this must be the extra lives setting.”

<Please just ignore all of that. Some people need those extra options, but we don’t.>

Yuo breathed an exhausted sigh and said “this is a real pain” in her window.

<Um, this is important, so can we just check the consent box in the morals section, ignore the entire movement management section, and then Grandload? The subprograms are so businesslike I don’t want to do it that way.>

Yuo opened a new window.

<nowiki><I</nowiki> will now run the link modification program I wrote earlier.>

'''<Yuo: Load Emblem Settings: Program Activation Change: Run>

With a quiet metallic sound, a tremor ran through her body, but nothing more.

However, there was a change on the Load Emblem settings window she opened for him to see.

“All of your settings are the same as mine.”

<Yes. It’s temporary, but our settings are shared. Now to change some of them.>

She switched off the symbol display, voiced expression, and activation notification window settings.

<That eliminates all of the effects during Grandloading.>

“Yeah, it would ruin the mood to suddenly hear shattering glass in the middle of it all.”

He noticed she was still messing with their windows.

“Hey, what’s that ‘shared pain’ setting you’re adding in?”

<Well, you’re used to pain, so I figured you could take on about 80% of my pain.>

“Deal with your own pain. Also, what’s this mosaic filter setting?”

<Well…um…maybe we don’t need to actually see certain parts of me and you?>

“But this is America.”

<Switzerland controls the city.>

“They don’t censor that stuff either. I believe strongly in freedom of expression, so I refuse to use that setting.”

<Just come out and say you want to see it. Do you really have to make silly excuses at this point?>

She hung her head and wordlessly closed the settings window. She breathed a lengthy sigh before speaking again.

<nowiki><I</nowiki>’m no match for your lewd spirit, Senpai. Please do with me what you want.>

She held the settings window in her arms and leaned into his chest.

He embraced her and held her tight.

'''<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>