Editing City Series:Volume7 Layer 3 (section)

===Record 24: Treat Old Things with Care===
[[Image:TOKYO_051.jpg|thumb]]

'''07/22/1997

'''10:27

The first thing I did after getting back from the Mountain was clean and tidy up my room. After a full day of that, I came to a realization.

“Wouldn’t it be faster to just give up?”

Well, that and that my parents hadn’t been back the entire time. The bicycle in the bike parking was all rusted and everything.

That was worrying, but I still took the bike out to go buy some dinner and rent a video to kill some time. A cheap germanium radio hung from the handlebars and I pedaled alongside the railroad not far from home.

The night sky was full of stars. This was around when Saturn or Jupiter would descend to the city, get drunk off cheap shochu, and make a scene.

I heard a voice from below one of the blue summer gas lights.

“Hey, wait up!”

I had a feeling looking back would get me dragged into something unpleasant, so I ignited my own accelerator. But just as I stepped down hard on the pedals, a powerful grip grabbed the luggage rack.

“W-wait! Why are you running away?”

“Oh, it’s just you, Sensei. What are you doing out at this hour? And in a track suit?”

“Um, no reason. I wasn’t jogging to try and lose weight if that’s what you’re implying.”

“What’s your goal?”

“Lose 2kg by August.”

“I meant how far you’re planning to run.”

She gave me quite the lecture. And as punishment, I had to carry the exhausted woman back to her house.

“By the way, Sensei, did you know it’s illegal to have two people riding a bike?”

“I did, but just focus on pedaling. I am only sitting here and the bike happens to be moving at the same time. I am not riding it.”

It’s best not to argue with crazy people, so I shut up and pedaled.

“Ooh, the wind feels so nice. Jogging was worth it after all.”

“This has nothing to do with jogging.”

“Let me have this. Anyway, how were things at the Mountain?”

“They forced us to study and train while living a ridiculously ascetic lifestyle. I barely escaped without being brainwashed into a responsible, hardworking person.”

Then I spotted an enemy up ahead: Snowy.

Her black track suit was the opposite of what you’re supposed to wear when jogging at night and she was swinging her wooden sword around while she jogged.

If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was a threat to the community.

I caught up to her from behind.

“What is wrong with you? Why are you training first thing after getting back?”

“Because I am not like you. Oh, hello, Sensei.”

“Hello. Care for a lift?”

Why was she suggesting something so dangerous?

Fortunately, Snowy must have been thinking the same thing because she shook her head.

“I have a crucial objective to complete. I cannot afford to take things easy.”

“Aiming to be Tokyo Chancellor?”

Snowy answered that with a chuckle and a sidelong glance my way.

“Heh heh heh. He would never guess I am trying to lose 2kg by August, would he? Because I must fit into my yukata. But I also can’t push myself too hard after what happened.”

“What, you’re on a diet too?”

“How did know!? You used some kind of mind reading spell on me, didn’t you!?”

''I wish I could read your mind to know what the hell is going on in there,'' I thought with a sigh. That was when my bike suddenly slowed down.

I also heard a metallic sound, so I looked down and saw all the spokes had burst. I groaned, tilted my head, and saw a sticker on the frame saying “holds up to 3kg past weight limit”.

“Sensei, I thought you said you only needed to lose 2kg.”

Sensei frantically shook her hands side to side.

“I-it’s probably just old?”

'''Author Comment:

I often rode my bike around like this.

Sensei tends to be careless, so she’s being pretty careless with her diet too. Snowy is doing it too, but with her, it appears to be more about keeping her ability points from dropping than it is about her appearance.

By the way, a friend of mine had all the spokes on his bike’s rear wheel break off while he was riding it.

He suddenly dropped straight down just like something from a manga.