Editing City Series:Volume7 Layer 9 (section)

===Record 100: Even If You Tell Me That===

'''12/23/1998

'''10:37

I realized something while watching the second term’s closing ceremony.

“Oh, god. I’m still single. As single as can be.”

I walked to the train station, thinking of visiting the next town over. The streetside TV installed at the traffic circle there was playing data about Babel.

Babel was the global broadcast tower being built in Osaka. The corporations were letting the students in Kansai use it first.

To earn that right, the students had formed news teams and were competing in sales in what was known as the Battle of Babel.

The best team that survived to the end would get to use Babel.

The tower stood more than 3km tall and whoever stood at its peak would be the first person to speak to the entire planet.

The final battle had been fought at the start of this month, so the winning team was already known. The scary part was that the winning team was led by a transfer student from Tokyo.

But then the adults intervened.

The details weren’t well known, but the corporate dealings involved in Babel had led a team of corporate adults to compete against the winning student team.

That battle began on the 20th of the month. The last day of their activities would be February 20 and the results would be announced on March 6.

The TV was exploding with speculation and rumor.

No one thought the students had a chance of winning. The way the newscaster talked made it sound like they didn’t want to let the student team win. I was probably imagining that part, though.

“This isn’t about me, so I need to stop assuming 2nd place.”

“2nd place?” someone asked from behind me.

I turned around to find Little Boy. He was wearing a black coat of all things. And since he wore his uniform below that…

“On your way to school? Sensei should be there. She’s dumb enough to only start tidying up the library the day of the closing ceremony, so I doubt she’s done yet.”

“I know. You don’t need to tell me that.”

Oh, so he’d already been there? Since he was emptyhanded, Sensei must have brought her own lunch. I didn’t know how she felt about him, but the end result was the same: this bastard was my enemy.

I considered what to say, but he looked to the TV and asked me something.

“Hey, you know that transfer student from Tokyo that’s making a name for himself in Osaka? Is it true he used to be your classmate? I heard he got some good records on the track team but suddenly quit before the tournament.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I looked away from Little Boy to view the TV. It was showing profiles of the student team members. I looked to the name and photo at the top of the list.

“I don’t know a guy with that name. Or with that expression.”

“I see,” said Little Boy. “Then he must have learned how to take things seriously after moving there.”

He walked past me but looked back for a brief moment.

“Just so you know, we Tokyoites only come in contact with the concept of names when we leave the city or find the person we truly need. Because in this city, strangers have no real connection to us. …That means the #1boy who always made you #2 wasn’t necessary for you.”

“Know-it-all. So are you telling me to be #1?”

“Yes. Because if you become #1, then I get bumped up from #3 to #2. I won’t say that again, so don’t forget it.”

'''Author Comment:d

Establishing a small connection to the Osaka game.

This takes place at the same time. If you played the game, you should understand what those dates mean.