Editing City Series:Volume3b Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 2===

Gunmal looked up in the seemingly never-ending expanse of Hong Kong’s clear blue sky.

“In another six days, Hong Kong will be returned to China, hm? I wonder if Akira has calmed down some now that she’s left the hospital,” he said. “I kind of want to go to the beach before that final ceremony Rin mentioned.”

He began to walk.

He was in Mong Kok, which had received relatively little damage during the Sixth Divine Punishment War despite being on the coast.

“Supposedly, most of the coastal factories were swallowed up.”

He looked around his surroundings while continuing to walk.

Even if it had received relatively little damage, the scars of destruction were visible all over.

All of the barracks had been crushed as if by a giant foot.

Most of the houses and stores had lost their windows and even the seemingly unharmed buildings had cracks in the walls.

That was enough to prevent anyone from living there anymore.

“Hm,” he muttered as he looked up into the sky.

A round VTOL aircraft slowly moved by far overhead.

Its external speakers were producing words in what sounded like Cantonese.

“An announcement from the government, hm?”

For the past few days, aircraft like that were more common sights in the skies than birds.

Investigation teams, rescue squads, volunteers, and some military from different counties had been visiting and leaving.

A shelter had been set up in the New Territories and a simple airport had been built there.

Some Chinese were leaving to live overseas and some non-Chinese were returning to their homelands.

The residents of Hong Kong were scattering throughout the world.

“The only people still here in central Hong Kong are the doctors, the patients, the eccentrics, and…”

He smiled bitterly.

“Saying ‘and us’ would sound awfully cool, wouldn’t it?”

He sounded fairly pleased with himself and he looked forward once more.

Akira’s apartment building was there.

A white crack ran through the concrete side wall like someone had made a diagonal sword strike.

He looked up at it and whistled.

He approached the side of the apartment with a light step and he quickly arrived at the bottom of the old black metal stairs.

He then slowly climbed a step at a time, while making sure not to make a noise.

“…”

Silence followed for a several seconds, but that was enough for him to reach the top of the stairs without incident.

His tall form stood on the second story corridor, but he had stopped.

His legs had been moving so casually before, but they had come to a quick stop.

Even his expression had stiffened at some point.

The only thing that had not changed was his silence.

His eyes looked straight ahead.

His gaze stabbed into the area of the corridor in front of Akira’s room.

There was trash piled up there.

A tablecloth and glass shards were packed inside trash bags.

Wood pieces of a bed frame and a refrigerator were lying on their side, blocking the corridor.

“Did Akira move? No…I guess not.”

He spoke but soon closed his mouth again.

His gaze moved slightly down.

The corridor floor was wet in front of her room.

The glass shards and scraps of cloth that had escaped the trash bags were flowing with the water spreading across the corridor.

“…?”

His eyes moved toward the source of the water.

“…”

He soon found it: the door to Akira’s room.

Water was flowing from between the door and the floor.

He spent a few seconds staring at that spot.

The light reflecting off of the flowing glass shards grew duller.

They had sunk into the water.

That meant water was continuing to flow from the source.

“Is she training? No, her Live is too weak for that. …Then why?”

He shook his head.

His expression was still stiff and he sighed.

But…

“…”

He remained silent.

He simply watched the movement of what lay before his eyes.

After a few breaths, his legs began to move.

He did not step forward.

He turned around and away from Akira’s room.

“Is she doubting?”

He took a breath and looked to the hand inside his glove.

That was his prosthetic right hand.

Still staring at it, he descended the stairs as silently as he had come.

For once, strength filled his gaze and eyebrows.

But…

“Interesting…”

Without ever looking away from his hand, his lips twisted slightly.

They formed a small smile.