Editing City Series:Volume7 Layer 3 (section)

===Record 46: Cheerfully, Cheerfully===
[[Image:TOKYO_049.jpg|thumb]]

'''01/01/1998

'''9:29

It was New Year’s. January 1. The start of the year. Call it what you like, but I got up early, killed some time, and then left home.

I walked to the neighborhood shrine.

After climbing the long stone staircase, I entered the small shrine grounds without many other people around. Barely anyone was here for their New Year’s shrine visit yet.

But I knew one of the people here.

“What are you doing here, Professor? Hoping to purify yourself?”

“What’s this? This is the last place I expected to run into an impure idiot like you. Were you looking for the purification popcorn they sell over there?”

“That’s clearly pigeon food, moron. Also, I dread to think what kind of year I have coming when you’re the first person I meet on New Year’s. Fix this.”

“You can rid yourself of that stress by throwing some change toward the god in the little hut over there. The more you hit him with, the more he loves it. Very unscientific, if you ask me.”

“I don’t see what’s so unscientific about someone being into SM, but I also don’t care, so I’ll let it slide this time. Anyway, what are you doing here?”

“Just taking a look at the Sein Frau. I assume you know that the old Sein Frau that sleeps underground here only emerges on holidays.”

“I didn’t know that, actually. And I live here.”

The monkey gave me a curious look.

“How do you not know when she’s a national treasure that was even used as the model for Kanda’s Sein Frau? You are clearly lacking in the brains department.”

“No brains is better than whatever kind of brains you’ve got. Besides, I’ve been burned by national treasures before. We went to view a living national treasure for a field trip last year, but it turns out he only comes out of his burrow at night. What was even the point?”

“Can we get back on topic?”

I nodded and the Professor stuck a hand in his pocket.

He pulled out a 3cm piece of wood.

“This is a part of that Sein Frau’s frame.”

A pair of guard priests immediately grabbed him by the arms and dragged him out behind the shrine. A while after I watched him go, I heard strange screams from behind the shrine. He eventually reemerged, fixed his collar, and pulled a diagram from his pocket.

“And this is a top-secret copy of that Sein Frau’s design.”

A pair of guard priests immediately grabbed him by the arms and dragged him out behind the shrine. A while after I watched him go, I heard strange screams from behind the shrine. He eventually reemerged, fixed his collar, and pulled a screw from his pocket.

“And this is a piece of that Sein Frau’s heart.”

A pair of guard priests immediately grabbed him by the arms and dragged him out behind the shrine. A while after I watched him go, I heard strange screams from behind the shrine. He eventually reemerged and fixed his collar.

I spoke up before the thief could say anything more.

“Don’t you really need to return that heart screw?”

“Not necessarily, actually.” He pulled an envelope from his pocket. “Read this.”

“Sorry, but can I burn it in the fire over there just in case it has a bomb or some other booby trap inside? Also, this isn’t a love letter from you to me, is it?”

“I am unfortunately a lifeform that crosses the boundary of sex in order to reproduce.”

“Wow, really? I thought for sure you were the result of lightning striking some weird mud.”

Meanwhile, I pulled a letter from the envelope.

“Is this from that Sein Frau?”

It was a simple letter. It said she wanted to leave.

“So did you swap out the part of her closed heart that kept her from moving?”

“I imagine she is enjoying the New Year’s film festival in Shinjuku right about now.”

“But why did she send you the letter?”

“It was actually just lying on the ground and it somehow ended up in my hands.”

A pair of guard priests immediately grabbed him by the arms and dragged him out behind the shrine.

'''Author Comment:

An automaton story.

This is linked to the story of Kanda’s automaton.

Japan’s automatons are briefly touched on in the Osaka game.

They’re mostly viewed as machines or tools and no one wants them to have a personality.