Editing City Series:Volume8a Chapter2 (section)

===Aoe’s Sight Mode: In South DT’s Dearborn District===

'''<Aoe’s Over Reload>

Aoe could see once more.

He saw a blimp in the sky, he saw the city, he saw the people, and he saw it all in motion.

He and Yuo were the only ones standing still on the sidewalk within the arcade.

Yuo looked down toward the earthen sidewalk once before breathing in and clenching her hands.

She looked up with tension in her cheeks.

“Um, Senpai? Can I ask a personal question?”

“What is it?”

She held her hands up by her shoulder where her ponytail fell.

She tangled the hair around her fingers.

“Um, uh, it’s about what happened 6 years ago for you and 600 years ago for me.”

He suddenly remembered the windows above her head when she was fixing her skirt, so he spoke on reflex.

“Yuo.”

Calling her name sent a tremor through her shoulders.

She looked up with some surprise on her face.

“Y-yes? What is it?”

<She must have already heard that I killed someone.>

He viewed the black border of his window before continuing.

“I am a killer. I possess a deadly power. I am not who I used to be, so maybe discussing old times isn’t the best idea.”

'''<Aoe’s Over Zoom: Full Sight Open>

His more precise view of Yuo showed her shoulders tensing a bit as she started to say something. However…

“…”

No words left her mouth. He stared at her in silence.

<Let’s walk.>

He punctuated that thought with a grunted “mh” and a nod.

He began walking before she even agreed.

She hurried after him and lined up beside him. Her head was lowered and her hands were teasing her hair.

He did not match his strides to hers. Nor did he look her way.

His two footsteps were matched by three hurried ones from her. He chose that moment to speak.

“Do you remember the last time we met? That night when we were interrupted by a phone call and I hurried back to the dojo? When I got there, sis was…well, she was about to be assaulted by a challenger from another school.”

“…Senpai.”

“I won’t say I had no idea what I was doing, but I was not trying to kill him either. I simply hit him with the most force and speed I could manage using the shortest route available to me and he went flying across the dojo.”

“Senpai.”

“The next thing I knew, a GASAS commander was there.”

“Senpai!”

He ignored her and displayed his thoughts.

<How strange. Maybe I have dropped out of the Plus World like Algo said.>

He sighed and wondered what he was even saying at this point.

“Maybe I am meant for this city. Because I have a Minus fist – a fake fist that couldn’t reach the level of the strongest.”

He turned toward Yuo to find she had stopped walking, so he stopped to.

<Yuo, I am a kill->

'''Please stop!

Yuo’s will stopped his thought.

She had tears in her eyes and a green emblem briefly appeared on her right hand.

A loud slap echoed from his cheek.



'''<Aoe’s Over Zoom>

After the noise, Yuo lowered her hand and bent over. She kept her face pointed toward the ground.

“Please stop! I don’t have any answers for you about that!”

The passersby turned toward her shout, but not for long. The people, including the NPC Bodies, soon looked away and kept walking.

But when they were passing by Aoe and Yuo, they would give the two a wide berth, even stepping on the grass between the sidewalk and the road.

The flow of people bent, but it did not stop. Aoe looked to Yuo from the center of the bend.

Her brown hair fell down her right cheek.

And she spoke.

“Did you ask for me as your assistant so you could talk about killing and fakes?”

There was no tremor in her voice.

But her shoulders were quivering with tension and the breath following the words was heavy.

He could tell she was trying to calm herself down. Her fingers reached for the bottom of her ponytail, but…

“Please stop this.”

She clenched the hand into a fist instead.

“I still remember what you told me that night.”

“I told you something then?”

She lowered the fist, nodded, and answered him in a firm voice that suppressed everything she was feeling.

“You did. After I told you the meaning behind my fake last name.”

She then repeated the origin of her last name she had shared with him back then.

“Natas is Satan spelled backwards. That might make me sound important, but Satan is actually the loner among the demon army. …And it’s an appropriate name. Because I was just some kid who lost her memories. But when I said that, you hugged me.” She paused for a moment. “You said that didn’t matter because you would always look after me.” She coughed. “I know that isn’t possible since I’m immortal, but…but…” She took a breath. “Are you telling me those words and all the time you spent fighting alongside me 6 years ago were fake, were a Minus thing, and were nothing but the leadup to you dropping out?”

It was the suppressed emotion in her voice more than the words themselves that silenced Aoe.

He viewed her in that silence.

Her head was lowered and her shoulders were trembling. He stared straight at her.

<What…>

He shook his head and made sure she couldn’t see his window with her head lowered like that.

<What would I have felt if I had only seen that line as text in a window?>

He scratched his head in thought.

<nowiki><I</nowiki> shouldn’t be thinking about this.>

He saw her trying to suppress her trembling.

But…

“Uh.”

She couldn’t manage it.

She held her right hand to her lowered head like she was brushing aside her bangs.

Then a certain color fell to the dirt ground. A small dark circle of dampness formed there. Several more followed.

Yuo didn’t say anything. She only wiped at her eyes while pretending to brush aside her bangs.

Unsure what to do, Aoe scratched his head and looked above her head. There was no window there.

''That did make things easier,'' he thought with a sigh.

Then he heard a sound so loud he could feel the vibration in the air.

The wall of a nearby building shook and the windows rattled.

“…?”

He determined the sound came from the north.

He turned that way and viewed northern DT, down the hill and past the lake at the center.

Black smoke was rising from the short city.

After a pause, the people on the hill raised their voices.

Then an alarm began to sound throughout the city.

Yuo raised her head when she heard the never-ending tone.

She wiped off her eyes and her ears quivered, but she already had strength back in her face.

Her eyebrows were raised in confusion rather than doubt as she stepped up alongside him and looked to the city.

“Mh. Yuo, what does this alarm mean?”

“I-I don’t know exactly. But in DT, an alarm usually means a monster or something has appeared.”

“Dumb it down for me.”

She complied with his request.

“A monster is attacking, so we need to kick its butt!”

'''<Aoe’s Sight Mode has ended>

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