Editing City Series:Volume4b Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 1===

'''11:05 AM

It was less than ten days until New Year’s Eve.

It was winter.

The morning was nearing its end, but the cloudy day was terribly cold.

Shoui continued to move below the clouds.

He stood in front of the training post he had attacked so thoroughly the day before.

He sighed deeply in front of that single piece of wood sticking up from the ground.

The sigh carried a Tempo similar to relief and it refused to blend into the winter air even as it floated whitely in it.

He gently held out his left fist as if to sweep his sigh away.

He hit the training post.

He could see the marks from the previous day’s attacks.

He had thrown those punches to confirm in which direction he was headed.

And after making those marks, a thought had occurred to him.

…''What is it I lack?

It was not strength.

He had that.

Similarly, it was not willpower.

He had that too.

In that case…

…''Is it Words?

–''Shoui – Savate/Gym/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Combination – Hit.

The sudden series of blows somewhat expressed the Dis-Worder boy’s thoughts.

A constant rhythm of harsh and intense sounds accompanied it.

Shoui recalled the prophecy Takada had sung for him.

The prophecy had changed form as time had passed.

A changing prophecy and a boy without Words.

When he combined those two ideas, he suddenly realized something.

…''Maybe it isn’t that I don’t have Words. Maybe they’re just in constant flux so I can’t grasp them.

He tested that theory.

He turned a bit to the side and used a Rhythm toward empty air instead of the training post.

–''Shoui – Cold High/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Freeze Strike – Hit.

He threw a punch that carried frost even whiter than the winter air.

People normally had to listen to a Rhythm to use that technique, but Shoui could use it if he found it necessary.

…''What does that mean?

He remembered what Saki Seiji had said about the Osaka Chancellor during the Kinki Riot.

…''He used Rhythms without using a Rhythm.

That had likely been similar to Shoui’s Rhythm mechanism.

But if he was to oppose the Flame High…

…''What kind of power should I seek?

He did not know.

So he tried out what he did know.

He first considered using the Flame High, but abandoned the idea.

That was due to the memory of that unknown fear lingering in his mind.

He tried something else.

–''Shoui – Kusanagi/Boxing Tech – Multi-Take – Sever Strike – Miss.

He could not produce Kusanagi.

“…?”

He did not know why.

The Words needed to produce Kusanagi was a single tone. There was no detailed Message and it had no MD.

But Shoui could not produce it.

The method he used for Over Rhythms did not work for Wind Rhythms and Heavy Rhythms.

…''If my Words were in constant flux, I should be able to use those.

He lacked something.

If he was missing something, he would not be able to use those Rhythms.

And if he was missing something, he could not protect her.

…''It isn’t Words.

It was something stronger than Words that could control his power.

Something that surpassed his Words that were in constant flux.

Something to make full use of his power as a Harmonist and those ultra-fast Rhythms.

Something to release Kusanagi with a single voiced tone.

“…”

Shoui sighed.

At the same time, he heard an animal cry.

It came from the house.

“…?”

It was the same voice as the previous day.

It sounded a lot like a distant dog howling. It contained a melancholy tone and carried into the distance.

Next, the sounds of bamboo swords came to a sudden stop in the dojo building to his left.

–''Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit!

“!”

A sharp will oozed out of the dojo’s first floor.

It was a powerful killer intent. Instead of a mere threat, it was pure intent to kill.

Shoui frowned and faced that direction.

He was also curious about the animal cry from the house, but he was more interested in the oddity closer to him.

He walked toward the source of the killer intent.

Most of the dojo’s first floor was a wood-floored practice area and it had small windows to let sunlight in. He peeked inside through one of the window’s facing the open-air training ground.

–''Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Confirm Situation – Hit.

He saw the large Kendo dojo.

Wooden swords and real swords hung on the walls and Shoui had a view of two Kendo courts positioned longwise to him.

The locker rooms were on the right while the entrance, reception area, and stairs to the second floor were straight ahead.

There were around a dozen people in the dojo at the moment.

–''Shoui – Sight Tech – Take – Confirm People – Hit.

They were all students wearing Kendo outfits.

They all held wooden swords instead of bamboo swords and were facing the main entrance.

Their gazes were sharply focused on the entrance.

Shoui also looked in that direction.

He saw a surprising person in the wide entranceway.

It was Tokyo 1st Special Duty Officer Ikemaru Takahiro.

He wore a three-piece suit with a white scarf over his shoulders.

He was entirely relaxed without a hint of timidity.

That was the polar opposite of the dojo students who were brimming with killer intent.

…''What’s going on here?

Before he could even finish that thought, he heard Takahiro’s voice.

“Send out Osaka’s Chancellor. I visited his home, but they said he was not there.”

It was an arrogant demand and one of the dojo students answered him.

“Souichirou-san isn’t here! Come back later.”

“I am well aware of that.” Takahiro’s expression did not change in the slightest. “I have already confirmed that Osaka’s Chancellor has not left his home since he was carried there after the battle at Prefectural #2.”

“Then why are you here?”

Takahiro answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“It would be impolite to suddenly destroy his home in search of what I am after.”

He took a breath.

“You have two options.”

He removed the black leather glove hiding his right hand.

He raised his index and middle fingers to indicate the number two.

“One, ask the Nanba family to let me meet Osaka’s Chancellor.”

He lowered his middle finger and left the index finger up.

“Two, your brutal defeat at my hands will show the Nanba family just how dangerous it is to ignore me.”

“…!”

The killer intent grew.

But Takahiro did not mind.

“I have no interest in crushing the Nanba family just because they are too stingy to let me meet their next leader, so this kind of threat would be the best way to show how serious I am.”

As soon as he said that, all of the dojo students moved at once.

Around a dozen sets of killer intent and footsteps focused in on Takahiro.

The raised wooden swords looked a lot like a bamboo thicket.

But Shoui saw Takahiro slowly sigh behind the thicket of wooden swords.

Tokyo’s 1st Special Duty Officer extended his right hand to the side with some slight inertia in the action.

The wooden wall next to the reception desk was there.

As soon as his white and fairly slender hand touched it, he spoke to the wall while ignoring the killer intent directed his way.

“Lay down.”

That settled it all.