Editing City Series:Volume3a Chapter 6 (section)

===Part 2===

It was a clear day, so the midday sun looked white as it shined straight down from the heavens.

On this day, areas normally filled in shadow received direct sunlight.

This was true even in Hong Kong Cave.

On the sixth floor down, the sun lit up an old residential area with a good view of the blue sky.

No Nein Engels lived on this floor.

The floors near the surface were abandoned ruins.

Nevertheless, a Nein Engel with six wings stood in front of one house on the edge of the hole.

It was Double Lee.

“…”

Without speaking a word, he viewed the plain embedded house and sighed.

He then slowly pulled a Device from his coat.

It was the Device called ADs that J-Gun had made.

He placed it against the rusted metal door.

“Word Accel. Oh, you Live of 8,000 Octaves.”

He emitted a small Live.

“Ha.”

He produced a low but definite voice.

The Live responded with a slight metallic sound.

The door opened.

He put ADs away and impatiently pulled the door the rest of the way open.

He took a step inside.

There, he saw a small entranceway and a small kitchen.

Dust was piled up on the sunlit floor. The thickness of the dust showed years had passed.

Double Lee remained silent.

He entered without removing his shoes and left footprints in the dust.

He looked down and saw no tracks other than his own.

As soon as he noticed that, his expression distorted a bit.

This distortion was different from anger or a smile.

“…”

He looked back up and to the kitchen sink.

There was a discoloration in the dust where water had dripped from the faucet.

Other than that, the dust was entirely undisturbed.

Sun shining on a sink covered in a thick layer of dust was the perfect imagery to make the place feel truly abandoned.

He looked away from the sink and faced forward.

He walked and his footsteps sounded a bit muffled due to the dust.

He opened the door in the back of the kitchen to reach a fairly large living room.

It had a proper sofa and table. If it was cleaned, it could be used to entertain guests almost immediately.

If not for the dust, the room would have looked like someone had lived there quite recently.

The bright light from the window washed over him as he looked around the entire room.

His gaze suddenly stopped at a certain spot.

“…”

[[Image:City_v03a_189.jpg|thumb]]

An upright piano was placed in one corner of the room.

It was covered in white dust and a picture frame sat on top of it.

He picked up that small wooden frame and he spoke.

“I’m home, I suppose.”

There was too much dust to see it properly, but the frame contained a photograph of four people.

The two standing on either side were likely the parents.

The quiet-looking mother was smiling and had a few wings, but there was not a wing to be seen on the father whose fearless smile twisted the scar on his cheek.

They were an unbalanced pair.

So were the two children standing between the parents.

One had several white wings that looked too large for him, but the other only had two small wings.

The child with two wings was clinging to her mother. If her expression had been visible, it would likely have shown her fear of the camera.

The rest of the family was probably smiling at that.

But in the present, Double Lee did not smile as he looked at it.

“You were so attached to mother, so why did you flee to the surface?” he asked the photograph. “Even if father’s death was near, you still could have saved mother. With Tuning…or with the secret meaning of the Flight Song.”

He sighed.

“It could have been you instead of me.”

He hung his head and looked at the floor in silence.

That silence was broken by a voice from outside.

“Double Lee! Are you in there!?”

It was Genius’s voice and she sounded somewhat uneasy.

“Double Lee! Fei is calling for you!”
He ignored her second call as well.

He gently set down the picture frame and wiped the dust off with his fingers.

With the dust gone, the Nein Engel girl came into view.

His gaze met the frightened gaze of that girl from the past.

He gave a bitter smile that did not reach his eyes.

That must have been enough because he gave a large nod and called outside.

“Genius! What is it?”

In the time it took him to take a breath, his expression reverted to his normal, composed one.

“Double Lee!? Are you there?”

“Yes, I am. You say Fei is calling for me? I’ll be right there.”

He immediately began to walk.

His pace was calm and he quickly walked through the kitchen and out the front entrance.

“Oh.”

As soon as he left the dim room, the bright sunlight reached him. He felt the heat in his wings more than his skin.

It took several seconds for his eyes to adjust.

Once they did, he saw Genius standing in front of him.

She looked relieved to see him and she sighed.

“I’ve been visiting all sorts or ruins these past few days.”

“These are not ruins,” he corrected. “You say Fei is calling for me?”

“Yes, he wants to know the details for the Necromancy. …And he seems to want to put together a plan to bring everyone out of here before the second repatriation ceremony today.”

“I see.”

“We’re counting on you. You’re the only one Master Huang told everything to.”

“Only me, hm? Master Huang seemed very attached to my parents.”

“Your parents? Not to you?” asked Genius.

“I was only talking to myself,” he assured her with a bitter smile.

She frowned and he showed her his usual expression.

“We have to help Fei prepare, don’t we? We should hurry. It seems someone is looking for him.”

“Eh?”

“I would guess it’s only someone from the Yard with odd tastes, so we can probably ignore it.”

“But… How are they searching for him? He’s never revealed his name in his work and he lost his memories in the Customization process, right?”

Double Lee smiled bitterly before answering.

“It may be a connection from before he lost those memories.”

He took a breath.

“Genius, have you ever hated someone? Have you ever used that as your own driving force?”

“Eh?”

“I think that is why Fei altered himself like that and why you are going along with everything without trying to protect J-Gun.”

“…”

She fell silent with a heavy and stiff look on her face.

Double Lee laughed and started walking.

“No need to give me that frightening look. …I think everyone has something like that. I do, you do, Fei does, and even Master Huang did.”

And…

“There is nothing wrong with it.”

He did not hesitate to jump into the giant pit of Hong Kong Cave.

He spread his six wings.

The white wings briefly let the sunlight wash over them, but they soon sank deep into the shadows of Hong Kong Cave.

Almost like a flower sinking into some watery depths.