Editing City Series:Volume3b Chapter 7 (section)

===Part 1===

By the time Akira arrived at her apartment, night had already fallen over Hong Kong.

After checking on the destroyed workshop, she had walked to the Yard and to the inn at which Gunmal was staying.

The Yard’s base had received her with silence.

She could tell someone had been there just a few hours before, but she had found no one there. Gunmal’s inn had also been empty to the point that it was a mystery who had been staying in which room.

She was currently walking back to her own home without using an umbrella.

The clouds violently swirling through the sky kept her from telling the exact time, but the darkness descending from that sky had nearly grown as deep as it was ever going to.

She looked north as the rain hit her.

She could see the mountains of the Kowloon Peninsula beyond the shortened buildings.

Dark clouds were falling from directly above them. The ink black clouds were soaked with rain and the night.

A closer look showed some brightness on the bottom of the clouds.

The lights of the Chinese mainland were reflecting off of them.

“…”

After watching that for a while, Akira looked straight up.

Dark clouds wandered above Hong Kong as well, but they remained entirely dark.

She realized what was causing that difference, so she hung her head and remained silent.

She was soaked with rain, but she said nothing and trudged forward without running.

The next thing she knew, she had finished climbing the stairs to her apartment.

The corrugated plastic roof was audibly trembling from the rain.

Her soaked shoes produced wet squishing sounds as she walked down the corridor.

She soon arrived before her own room, stuck her key in the knob, and unlocked the metal door.

She opened the door, stepped inside, and closed the door behind her to cut off the sounds from outside.

She could now only hear the pitter-patter of rain on the roof.

“…”

She silently took a step from the entranceway to the empty kitchen.

But that was as far as she got.

With a small sigh, she fell to her knees.

She hung her head, bent over, and placed her hands on the floor.

Then she gave a much deeper sigh.

At the same time, the bathroom door beyond the kitchen opened and bright light shined out.

Finally, Gunmal stepped out.