Editing City Series:Volume2 Chapter 1 (section)

===Part 3===

Amon jumped up at the warm sensation surrounding his right hand.

He tried to catch his breath as he looked at his right hand and found a slender white hand on his own.

“…”

He looked up and gently Overrode the feminine hand.

He found a girl there.

She wore the clothes of an office worker and looked like the quiet type.

She was kneeling on the floor and looking worriedly toward him with her eyes closed.

“Are you okay? It sounded like you were having an awful nightmare.”

“Sorry,” he tried to say.

However, he found he could not speak properly. His throat was too dry.

His scratchy voice made the girl smile.

“Don’t be sorry for having a nightmare. …Oh, you need some water, don’t you?”

He nodded.

She slowly let go of his hand and stood. He saw her approach the bedside table which contained a tray of breakfast likely meant for him.

She poured a glass of water from the pitcher on the tray.

“Here.”

He gulped down the entire glass in one go and belched.

“My, how rude.”

He ignored her bitter smile and let out a deep breath. After some Verbal Self Control, he felt his body had finally calmed down. Only then did he remember where he was and more thoroughly Overrode his surroundings.

He was in Scotland Yard’s nap room. It was a fairly large room, but it only contained bunk beds covered in white sheets. He had been sleeping in the bottom bunk closest to the entrance.

…''Last night…

He had been taken in directly from Jonathan’s brewery and suddenly thrown into an interrogation room. After being questioned like he was the murderer, he had been told to stay put in here.

The cement wall was covered in the color of mildew and it was a little damp. The only light came from the skylight. The atmosphere of the room may have been part of what had given him the nightmare.

He nodded and faced the girl standing next to the bed. She wore a hairband in her soft-looking blonde hair and she still had her eyes closed.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Klausl.”

Amon scratched his head at the uninformative answer. Still smiling, she gently held the tray out to him.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You looked like you were suffering.”

“It’s nothing.”

He took the tray and picked up the spoon, but then he stopped.

“Was it that obvious I was having a nightmare?”

Her smile vanished and she nodded.

“Yes. You said ‘help me’ again and again. You were clearly suffering.”

“I see. …Sorry.”

“Instead of apologizing, please eat.”

He looked up in thought when he heard that, but he soon began working at the food on the tray with great intensity.

He focused on eating.

He continued making a racket for a while and Klausl asked him a question.

“How does it taste?”

He did not answer. He was not the kind of guy who could make small talk like that. He simply continued eating without saying a word.

Klausl watched him, sighed, and gave a vague comment.

“Breakfast today was made by the Yard’s #1 chef.”

He had a reflexive thought about that.

…''I see. That explains why it’s so good.

But…

“Oh, thank you very much! I was the one that made it!”

Amon just about spat out the food in his mouth, but she ignored that and happily folded her hands.

“Thank goodness. You were a sudden guest, so I wasn’t very confident.”

“Don’t read my Open Words.”

[[Image:City_v02_059.jpg|thumb]]

He just barely managed to get those words out.

“But you won’t answer me otherwise.”

She was right about that.

It bothered him that things were not going like normal.

“Don’t get so excited just because I said your food was good. Are you not very smart or something?”

“My, how rude. I’ll have you know I have a Level 2 government worker license.”

“That isn’t what I meant. This is a more essential issue.”

“Oh, so you admit I’m skilled?”

“Hold on. Are you making fun of me? I’m Death Wish Amon, you know?”

“I’m not sure what you mean. You seem like a perfectly normal demon to me.”

His expression grew stern.

“Can’t you see I don’t have any wing-…”

He trailed off when he looked at her closed eyes. Without opening her eyes, she gave him a completely innocent smile.

“…”

The sternness immediately vanished from his face and an exhausted sigh left his mouth.

Without saying another word, he resumed eating. He ate more slowly this time.

After a while, he finished everything on the tray.

“Are there seconds?”

“Sorry, but no.”

Klausl took the tray he held out and simply smiled.

“You are entirely different from what Fir and the others said about you.”

“What did she tell you?”

“I only asked what you had done, but based on that, I thought you would be a scary person. I heard you singlehandedly destroyed a mafia group two years ago and-…”

“Don’t talk about that.”

He cut off her words, but her smile did not waver.

She did not seem remotely frightened. In fact, she almost looked relieved.

He glanced over at her and felt uncomfortable.

But then…

“Oh, you still eating?”

Amon and Klausl turned toward the casual voice and found Fir standing in the nap room’s entrance.

Amon snapped at her before she could say anything.

“Fir, what’s this about you telling her all sorts of things about me?”

“I only told her the truth. She could find it all for herself if she checked the Yard’s files.”

Fir did not sound remotely bothered by what she had done and she turned toward Klausl before continuing.

“What surprises me is that you came here on your own, Klau. Not many people would want to bring Amon food on their own after hearing what he’s done.”

“I thought it would be okay. I really did.”

Hearing that, Amon clicked his tongue, shook his head in annoyance, and faced Fir.

“So why are you here? Did you bring me dessert?”

“Oh?” said Klausl. “But your breakfast had an orange with it.”

“I wasn’t serious!”

He shouted angrily back at her, but caught himself and applied Verbal Self Control. Meanwhile, he heard Fir trying to suppress laughter.

“Looks like things aren’t going your way, Amon. But that’s not surprising. Klau’s the one person in the Yard who can actually hold a proper conversation with the Inspector.”

“The Inspector, huh? We’re really digging up my past today, aren’t we?”

He took a breath.

“Fir, hurry up and tell me what you want. Are you detaining me? Am I being interrogated again?”

“Someone would almost think you’d had some bad experiences in the Yard.”

“Maybe that’s because I have.”

“Hmm. Then do you not want to see what I’m holding here?”

He looked at her outstretched hand and Overrode a piece of paper there.

“We’re doing a word investigation of Old Jon’s shop, so we don’t want you going in there until the results are in. This tells you where to find the apartment the Yard’s prepared for you. Look.”

The paper contained a simple map, a room number, and some other information.

…''I’m supposed to live there?

He Opened his doubt and Fir laughed.

“Don’t worry. It’s a normal apartment and it’s not too far from the shop,” she explained. “Well, that should settle it. And I was the one to find the room, so you’d better not complain.”