Editing City Series:Volume4b Chapter 12 (section)

===Part 3===

'''7:41 PM

The snow was slowly accumulating without melting.

Shoui and Yuuki slowly descended the stone steps of Osaka Castle.

Neither said anything.

They walked without speaking a word.

The snow on the steps crunched below their feet.

They walked horribly slowly.

They took their time as they walked.

A Dog God followed them while wagging its light brown tail.

The two people and one animal silently descended the stone stairs.

But they finally reached the bottom.

They walked a while longer and found the cherry trees alongside the moat.

Cherry blossoms.

Shoui came to a stop below the trees with snow accumulating on their branches.

Yuuki also stopped.

As did the Dog God.

Shoui spoke without looking anyone in the eye.

“Yuuki, will you remain a Killing Holder as long as I’m by your side?”

Yuuki did not answer.

But her silence was enough of an answer.

So he said more.

“If I leave…will you have no more need to call yourself a Killing Holder and will you go back to being your old self?”

“…Why did you remember the past?”

He was answered with a question that led to everything.

He looked at his right hand.

That arm was made from the flesh of the ogre and Yamashita Gihei.

He clenched the fist.

“Because there is a debt I must repay.”

“…”

“I might end up going far away.”

“Is that so? Then I will quit being a Killing Holder.” Yuuki’s voice held no emotion. “If I’m no longer a Killing Holder, I won’t have to hurt myself any longer.”

“…”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

She said that, but another voice overlapped it:

“…No.”

It was her own voice.

But it meant the opposite of what she had said before.

“!?”

Shoui looked over in surprise.

And she looked toward him.

The Dog God stood between the two of them.

It stood on the puffy shoulder of Yuuki’s blouse and it opened its mouth.

“No…”

With its head lowered, it once again spoke with Yuuki’s voice.

When she heard that, surprise and then panic filled her face.

“Wh-what are you saying!?” / “It’s true!”

She took a breath.

“You’d be nothing but trouble if you stayed with me!” / “I’ve been waiting all this time…”

Her will and her words did not match at all.

But Shoui understood which one was right.

So he did not hesitate.

He embraced her.

She struggled in his arms.

“…S-stop that!” / “Hold me.”

And…

“Let go!” / “Don’t let go.”

He did as her will said.

She hit his chest over and over.

But the blows were incredibly weak.

That was when he realized something.

Her head was hitting his shoulder.

…''I’m taller than her.

That was different from 2 years before.

So he brought his left hand to her cheek and lifted her face.

Yuuki looked directly into his eyes.

She watched him with tears welling in those eyes.

She opened her mouth a little.

The words escaping her lips and her will coincided.

“Please…” / “Please…”

A breath.

“Will you protect me now…?” / “Will you protect me now…?”

The tears fell from her eyes midsentence.

And they would not stop.

Her vermilion false eye was wet with tears.

He noticed her cheeks had grown a little red.

And a single white line ran down from her right eye to her cheek.

It was the scar from Yamashita Gihei’s slash 2 years ago.

“…”

He said nothing about the scar.

Instead, he pulled a folded paper bag from the hidden pocket in his pants.

“Did you leave this for me, Yuuki?”

She nodded and reached out from within his arms.

Her slender white hand took the bag and opened it.

She pulled out a red bandanna.

After a tearful sniffle, she showed it to Shoui.

He gave a small nod and lowered his head.

She reached out and wrapped the bandanna around his forehead as if to hide the scar there.

She stood on her toes to reach around and tie the back of the bandanna.

He once more embraced her slender body.

Her face was close.

He removed her glasses with his right hand.

She closed her eyes.

And he kissed the white scar on her right eyelid.

He licked away the tears remaining in the corner of the eye.

“It tastes like blood…”

Hearing that, she nodded and lowered her head once more.

She smiled a little and tearfully called the name of the boy she had waited for.

“Shoui-kun…” / “Shoui-kun…”

Her tearful voice rang out quietly.

And the Dog God on her shoulder began reciting Words.

They were her Words.

[[Image:City_v04b_453.jpg|thumb]]

''The winter cries out frigidly

''Someone cries in loneliness

:''They speak words yet nothing is said

:''They speak Words yet nothing is said

::''They simply wait for the ice to melt

::''They draw near and never give up

Shoui firmly nodded at those Words and looked up into the snowy night sky.

White flowers blossomed and fell through that dark sky.

He strongly and deeply embraced her below his prophesied flowers.

“I…”

He hesitated over what to say.

But he took a breath.

He gathered strength in his arms and spoke to only her.

He spoke his own Words that were the answer to everything.

“I won’t give up either.”

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