Editing City Series:Volume4b Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 3===

'''3:35 PM

The Nanba family home was extremely large.

Four footsteps could be heard in a winding hallway in the single-story house.

An old woman servant holding a lantern took the lead.

Osaka 1st Special Duty Officer Saki Seiji followed her.

Tokyo 1st Special Duty Officer Ikemaru Takahiro followed him.

The old woman walked silently and the two boys’ footsteps reflected off the low ceiling and narrow walls of the hallway.

The first to speak was Takahiro.

“How far are you taking me?”

“You’re our enemy, but you showed up to meet Souichirou without an appointment. Pipe down and follow her.”

The hallway turned to the right.

The old woman carried the light on ahead as her feet almost slid along the floor.

Saki glanced up at her and then looked back at Takahiro.

“What the hell are you even doing here?”

“I want information. Information on cherry trees that blossom in winter and on this family’s connection to the Aoi family.”

“I can’t tell you anything about the Shinkage style, but was what I told you before about the cherry blossoms not enough?”

“What am I supposed to do with the vague information that cherry blossoms bloom during battle? And more importantly,” continued Takahiro. “Where is Osaka’s Chancellor?”

“You are here for information, aren’t you? Follow her.”

The two of them followed the leading light.

Saki asked Takahiro a question while watching he light sway like a firefly’s light.

“Are Nakamura Hisahide’s actions what will determine whether or not you’ll be our enemy?”

“No, I serve someone else,” explained Takahiro. “And unless that person once more makes an enemy of Osaka, I will remain a mere tourist.”

Saki’s bitter smile deepened at that expressionless comment.

“A mere tourist? You destroyed Inuyama Station in Nagoya as well as a hotel and the Modified Purple Electricity Style dojo here in Osaka.”

“Then are you going to arrest me?”

“I would if I had anyone who could restrain you.”

Takahiro smiled bitterly at Saki’s way of thinking. The two of them slowed their pace as they caught up with the old woman.

“How very accommodating of you.”

“That’s just how desperate we are.”

The hallway continued upwards.

They saw a narrow stairway before them.

Takahiro frowned.

“I thought this was a single-story house.”

The old woman in the lead answered him.

“It is an old house.”

“It’s an old samurai mansion,” added Saki, almost cutting off the old woman.

He glanced back at Takahiro and continued in a whisper.

“Sorry, but…”

“What?”

“If you have any questions about this house, ask me rather than her.”

“Why?”

“The Nanba family has a long history you aren’t familiar with.”

“Are you saying the Kusanagi family that protects the emperor wishes to keep its distance from others?”

“If you can accept that line of thinking, then let’s go with that.”

Saki walked on ahead as he spoke.

The steps were short and steep.

It was 17 steps.

At the top, they found a hallway with sand walls.

They walked down it and soon came to a turn.

The long vertical slits in the wall were entrances to hidden rooms.

Takahiro commented on them.

“Is Osaka’s Chancellor up ahead?”

“Do you doubt it?”

He touched the wall as he walked.

“Terribly heavy emotion has built up in here. It is a powerful emotion, much like fear.”

“Well, of course,” answered Saki without looking back. “Some of the possessions and bodies of those killed in the disaster two years ago are stored here.”

“Why here? Possessions of the dead should be-…”

“Some people wish to continue fighting even after death. When it’s against that ogre, anyway.”

“Even after death…?”

He soon received his answer.

It came from the old woman.

“The young master’s prosthetics were created from them.”

“You mean…?”

Takahiro started to ask more, but Saki tapped his chest.

It was a sign not to ask.

Takahiro fell silent and Saki sighed.

“That’s just how it is.”

“Can you really allow that?’

“They wanted it themselves. …And that’s why Souichirou has to seek battle.”

“But…”

Takahiro’s voice deepened in doubt, but Saki tapped his chest again.

“We’re almost there. This will clear up all your confusion.”

The old woman followed the hallway to a dead end.

The gap between the wall and the column suggested the dead end was another door to a hidden room.

“I see.”

Takahiro watched the old woman walk up to the dead end wall.

That was when something strange happened.

She was absorbed by the wall and vanished.

“…?”

The two boys approached the wall in question.

Takahiro stepped past Saki and gently touched the wall.

It was a normal solid sand wall.

“You get it, don’t you?” asked Saki.

The old woman’s lantern was fallen at Takahiro’s feet and he asked a question as it illuminated him from below.

“Was she a ghost so dense that not even a Word Master like me noticed?”

“That old lady always served Souichirou, but she was attacked by the ogre when she was out picking edible plants in the mountains. She’s lived here ever since.”

“Is that why you insisted I not ask her anything?”

“Someone mysteriously vanished for three days after speaking with her. They probably got dragged away by her,” explained Saki. “The problem is that she didn’t seem to be trying to hurt anyone.”

Takahiro looked at the lantern at his feet.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do they rely on this place?”

“I don’t know. …All I can say is that Souichirou will never betray them.”

Another sound immediately followed that.

“!”

It was a cry.

It was a bestial roar.

A lament containing a large portion of sorrow burst out through the wall.

Saki did not hesitate to push open the wall.

There was a dim darkness inside.

Saki picked up the lantern to illuminate the stairs leading down.

The roar rang heavy and loud as it echoed down the hallway beyond that.

“Let’s go.”

Takahiro nodded.

Saki began descending the stairs.

The animal cry weakened and vanished.

The stairway had exactly 49 steps.

Subtracting that from the previous stairs told Takahiro they were now underneath the Nanba house.

The air gradually had grown chillier as they made the descent and their breath was white by the time they stood on the hallway’s wooden floor.

They were underground.

They were surrounded by darkness and Saki’s lantern was the only light source.

The candlelight from the lantern did not actively light the area, so its faint light only brought their surroundings vaguely into view.

The walls were made from rows of iron bars.

“Cells…”

Saki nodded to confirm Takahiro’s short statement.

His shadow also nodded, and…

“Come.”

He resumed walking.

There were several cells. They lined the hallway on either side and were each about 10 square meters.

They were empty save for a futon in the corner.

“…”

The two boys continued walking.

They passed by four pairs of cells, all vacant.

But as Saki and Takahiro walked past the cells, they heard quiet voices from the darkness within.

They were too faint to make out, but many people were speaking together.

Saki commented on them.

“The residents here are reacting to you. You are a new face, after all.”

“The sad part is I can’t tell if they are welcoming me or not.”

“I know what you mean,” said Saki as he came to a stop.

He had arrived at the end of the hallway.

A set of metal double doors was there.

Several new charms were attached to the door.

“Based on those emblems, those must be locking charms. What is beyond this door?”

“A secret path that comes out through an old well.”

“…? Did you recently seal off that path?”

“Yes. Because we didn’t know what would happen.”

With that. Saki held the lantern out to his right.

The cell to his right contained a great mass of darkness.

It was a person.

He wore tatters of clothes and had lost both arms and his right leg.

His body was held in place by several thick chains attached to the stone wall.

He seemed to be sitting with his back to the wall.

His long unkempt hair fell down over his face, hiding his identity.

Saki stared at him and Takahiro asked a question.

“Who is that?”

As soon the words left his mouth, the sitting boy opened his mouth.

Despite the lantern as the only light source, his ferocious teeth and horribly red mouth could be seen.

He released his voice with a harsh breath.

“Ah!!”

That single tone ran strong and loud.

The cell’s metal bars shook.

The chains bent and a metallic noise spread through the links to color the single voice.

That was not all.

The sound set power in motion.

It was a great power.

The strongest power in the darkness was the light of a flame.

Flames burst out from his right shoulder.

But this was not the fire of a lantern or torch.

Nor was it the flames of a campfire.

It was a burning cascade.

The voice rang out.

The flames burst out.

The flames whirled around and rose up to fill the cell.

As the voice gradually lost its color and grew more plaintive, the flames rapidly burned forward.

A great flaming serpent raced toward the metal bars.

The Word Master beyond the bars held out his hand.

But…

“Stop!”

Saki shouted over the roar of the flames and held back Takahiro’s hand.

A moment later, the voice ended and the flames collided with the metal bars.

The fire burst and brightly lit the subterranean darkness.

A barely audible noise came from within the cell.

Then the fire vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.

The voice had also vanished.

The lantern was once more the only light in the darkness.

The pale light illuminated the cell and that revealed the fire-emitting demon who sat by the wall.

A horribly emaciated face could be seen beyond the unkempt hair.

Takahiro spoke a name when he saw the unconscious face with its closed eyes.

“…Osaka Chancellor Nanba Souichirou.”

“That’s right,” confirmed Saki. “The Flame High is known as Yamata for a reason. It did a pretty good job of swallowing up Souichirou’s Kusanagi. He can’t control his own Words anymore, so restraining the Flame High is the most he can manage.”

“Is he enduring the spread of the flames?”

“He removed his false arms, but it wasn’t fast enough.” Saki sighed. “We quickly got the finest quality divine steel from Hong Kong and remade this cell. …We closed off that door to make sure his fire couldn’t get out if something goes wrong.”

“I see.” Takahiro looked to Saki. “Are you saying I need to use my ''kotodama'' power to heal Osaka’s Chancellor if I want information from him?”

“Your average Tuner can’t heal him and we’d rather word of this didn’t get out. This was the perfect time to run across a Word Master who can destroy an entire building.”

Saki smiled bitterly and pulled a key from his pocket.

It was the key to the cell.

He stuck it in the lock and said one last thing.

“So take care of this, will you?”