Editing City Series:Volume8a Chapter3 (section)

===Aoe’s Board Mode: In DT’s Central Detroit District===

'''<Aoe’s Over Reload>

After switching to Sight Mode, Aoe was already running. When switching to Sight Mode while moving, his sense of sight and hearing were stimulated first. He still couldn’t keep up with his body’s senses.

His eyes saw an alley between wooden houses flowing backwards.

His ears heard his own footsteps echoing behind him.

It took 3 seconds for their voices and images to link with the senses of their PC Bodies.

Once they did, the sensation of his running traveled across his entire body.

Yuo was still seated on his right shoulder and he was running.

He was now actively running as part of Sight Mode instead of passively running as part of Board Mode.

Within those actions and movements, he saw window after window opening around Yuo on his shoulder.

'''<Yuo: Target Dummy Data Object: Range Set: Run>

Bluish-white light drew a grid pattern across the entire surface of the cloth she held.

'''<Yuo: Ranged Effect: Elemental Change: Mineral Conversion: Run>

'''<Yuo: Ranged Effect: Shape Change: Solid: Run>

The grid pattern moved and both ends of the cloth curved. The cloth formed a pair of solid arches.

'''<Yuo: Ranged Effect: Position Definition: Coordinate Input: Run>

She pulled the arches onto her shoulders. The cloth was still floating, but it stayed in place. The excess cloth in the middle acted as a rest for her back.

'''<Yuo: Ranged Effect: Texture Change: Keyboard: Run>

'''<Yuo: Ranged Effect: Internal Function Change: Keyboard: Run>

Keyboards instantly appeared on the two cloth arches.

'''<Function Generation: This matches the Keyguarder function with 98% accuracy. Is that correct?>

She slapped her palm against the Y button displayed in the air.

The large keyboards became shoulder armor.

“What the hell kinda magic trick is this!?”

“It’s not a trick! It’s a technique!”

Yuo crossed her arms and placed her fingers on the keyboards covering her shoulders.

She began typing rapidly and she sent out a Text.

'''“Faster!”

Emblems of light noisily appeared from her arms, hands, and fingertips.

Download.

The light scattered and her hand movements changed. They moved more, more smoothly, and more accurately.

The quiet sound of typing came from her fingertips.

Green light began to flow around her. The light formed letters. The letters formed long strings and the strings drew out circular orbits that rotated rapidly around her like something from a planetarium.

“That certainly is flashy.”

“It’s called a Celestial Program Activator. It’s a high performance technique that allows for high-speed processing and parallel processing, but it’s so complicated I’m the only one who can use it anymore. I’m uniquely skilled, Senpai.”

“I see, I see, I see. That’s a good girl. I’m so happy for you!”

“A-are you trying to tick me off!?”

He smiled bitterly at her response.

“Wh-what’s so funny?”

“Nothing. I was just noticing how little you’ve changed.”

“How little ''I'' have changed?”

She trailed off after that, but he didn’t pursue the matter.

After 5 seconds of staring at her glowing character strings, Yuo hit the “approve” key on both keyboards.

“Senpai, I’ll be providing back up from behind you!”

All the strings orbiting around her shattered.

And she hopped down from his shoulder.

A gentle wind blew in and she flew behind him.

She stopped while floating in the space behind his right shoulder.

She continued typing on her shoulder keyboards, met his gaze, and smiled.

“Don’t worry. I won’t leave you. My coordinates are locked to yours.”

“And what if I’m caught below a collapsing house?”

“Not to worry. I can shift my coordinates away from you with a cursor key and button combo. You can enjoy being buried alive on your own.”

“Is that so?” he sighed, raising his head.

His running feet would bring them behind their opponent soon.

“So what do we do?”

“I want to see who this is, so move as close as you can get.”

She hit the approve keys again. The character strings gathered in midair and took on a certain form: a yellow triangle of about 3cm.

She grabbed it out of the air and held it out to him over his shoulder.

He looked to the triangle held between her slender fingers.

“What is that thing?”

“Why, it’s a freshly-made program trigon. This one is dangerous and requires some real guts, so I don’t want to install it myself. Just eat it or have your Mouse eat it.”

“Dangerous? Guts? What are you having me eat?”

“You’ll see once you eat it. Oh, and ask your Mouse to remove it when the time comes. Also…it looks like you haven’t given your Mouse a name. That could be inconvenient.”

Aoe looked to the Mouse on his shoulder. He realized this was his first time really looking at him. He had mostly ignored the cartoony Shiba Inu until now and the dog stirred now that Aoe stared directly at him.

Aoe spoke to the small Shiba Inu.

“Your name will be…Monkey.”

“…Senpai.”

“Monkey is the natural name for an ambitious man’s servant. Right?”

The Shiba Inu looked him in the eye and nodded his head.

“I don’t like that he agrees… But anyway, a Mouse provides Word Mail and program support, but they can also turn into an ordinary-sized animal, so take good care of him.”

“Mh,” he nodded, placing the trigon in his mouth and biting into it.

Just as he noticed it felt like sand in his mouth, it melted away into nothingness. He detected a strong flavor that seemed to exit through his nose.

“I know this flavor.”

“Yes, it’s the miso ramen from the Boss’s place we used to visit back in high school.”

“You never did stop using a fork there, did you?”

“I practiced using chopsticks after returning to DT, so the owner won’t laugh at me anymore.”

“Mh,” he nodded, pouring more strength into his feet to approach the knight.

Then he leaped into the Other Page airspace above the city.

'''<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>