Editing City Series:Volume4b Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 4===

'''7:48 PM

A small figure with a stole over her shoulders stood from the seat to Shoui’s right.

It was Takada Seigi.

She moved to the aisle and stood between Shoui and Nakamura.

She looked to the darkness out the window rather than either of the boys.

“This is a crossroads. With the current possibilities, you can become king if you survive here.”

“Takada.”

Hisahide’s somewhat irritated voice responded to Takada’s gentle one.

“Are you trying to stop this showdown?”

“What if I am?”

“The thing about guys is, we want to be the strongest. Can you really stop that?”

A short silence followed.

Hisahide remained motionless, Takada did the same, and Shoui followed suit as he watched them.

–''Shoui – Hear Tech – Auto-Take – Listen – Hit.

Shoui heard a quiet whirring noise from behind him.

It was Yuuki’s MD stopping.

Beyond Takada, Hisahide’s MD had also stopped playing its Rhythm.

The Rhythms they used to fight had stopped.

That brought a certain thought to Shoui’s mind.

…''Is the battle over?

But then he realized something.

The Dog God had not voiced that thought.

…''?

Puzzled, he looked back over his shoulder.

The Dog God was still hiding from Hisahide as if dangling from his shoulder.

The small light brown animal was suspiciously looking behind him.

That was of course where Yuuki stood.

The Dog God was frozen in place watching her.

…''What does that mean?

The thought remained trapped inside Shoui and did not come out.

Instead, he heard Takada’s voice from her Dog God.

“Shoui-san.”

He quickly looked forward when she spoke his name.

She looked up at him with her dark eyes.

She reached for Taromaru on her shoulder and held his small body in her hand.

As she rubbed the Dog God’s throat, she opened her mouth.

“Please. Convince the Koto Chancellor to leave and then leave with her.”

She smiled a little, but when Shoui gulped, it had more to do with hearing her voice directly for the first time.

He thought about her voice, what her words meant, and what it meant to do as she said.

He recalled a portion of the prophecy she had recited.

:''A king resents him

:''A queen smiles at him

:''A sage resigns himself

…''Is that referring to now?

As soon as he asked himself that, Hisahide opened his mouth again.

“Wait, Takada. …Do we really have to rely on him?”

“That is the best way of hurting the fewest people.”

Takada turned her back on Shoui to face Hisahide.

Hisahide glanced over her shoulder to Shoui and sighed in exhaustion.

“I see you didn’t use your physical voice for me…”

With a dull expression, Hisahide sent his direct killer intent Shoui’s way.

“To be honest, I don’t like how you’ve taken a liking to someone weaker than me.”

“Are you still saying that kind of thing? Nobody likes a jealous boy.”

“That may be, but I want you by my side.”

Those words rang in Shoui’s ears.

He reflexively looked into Hisahide’s eyes.

Rather than clashing, their gazes seemed to melt together.

…''He’s the same.

Shoui did not even need to think about what about Hisahide was the same.

He suddenly found his body relaxing.

He lost the will to fight and felt oddly fulfilled.

So he fearlessly accepted Hisahide’s gaze and prepared to turn his back.

“…Yuuki.”

Just as he said that…

–''Shoui – Mind Tech – Auto-Take – Detect Killer Intent – Hit!

A gale-like presence slammed into him from beyond Takada and Hisahide.