Editing City Series:Volume7 Layer 12 (section)

===Record 23: On the Move===
[[Image:TOKYO_181.jpg|thumb]]

'''07/20/1997

'''13:31

The first half of our Mountain training was over.

We had taken the last exams of the first half yesterday.

Our results there would determine if we moved on to the second half and whether we would be in the fieldwork section or the intelligence section.

We had held a yakiniku party last night to celebrate and cooking all that meat had helped reduce our stress, but…

“This stress isn’t going anywhere until we get our results.”

My voice echoed into the blue summer sky. I was geographically at the midway station at the base of the Mountain, so the sky wasn’t all that summery.

I was waiting the 40 minutes for the next train to arrive and you were playing with Daitarou nearby. We both sat on an old wooden bench with a drink ad painted on it. I sat at one end and you and your pet sat in the center.

Daitarou had grown past needing a bottle, so he was eating cat food from your palm.

“Where did you get that cat food?”

“Eh? I got this Träumerei wind music cat food at the Mountain’s office. They apparently give it to the local strays. They also had some moon-dried cat food.”

“Yeah, some of the guys in the dorm were starving, so they snuck in at night and ate that. They were stuck to the ceiling the next morning.”

“That sounds like trouble. Only about 20 of you will make the cut, right?”

“Combined with the girls, we’ll be lucky If even 50 people are still around for the second half. How do you think you did?”

“I managed to answer all the questions at least. What about you?”

“I managed to move around the way I wanted.”

“I see.” You nodded and tilted your head. “But what are you going to do? Rumor has it they’re taking volunteers for Kansai’s Battle of Babel. It might be fun to spend next year there.”

That came out of nowhere.

But some of the guys in the dorm had been thinking of going there. You needed to pass the Mountain’s exam to get into the Chancellor’s Officers, but there were no such restrictions on joining the Battle of Babel.

I considered what I would do.

“I’ll decide after I see my results.”

“So you’re going if you didn’t make the cut?”

“No, I’m not going if that happened. And if I did make the cut, then I’m going, but I can’t go.”

“How convoluted,” you said.

“Yes,” said a voice from the side. “Those who seek a challenge can remain and those who take the path of least resistance can leave.”

I looked over to see Snowy. I was sure she had easily passed the fieldwork exam.

She glanced over at me, you, and Daitarou.

“He really seems to like you, but will Tokyo’s water agree with him?”

“Not to worry. My family runs a pharmacy.”

“I see. So you have safe water.”

“Yes. And we have medicine in case something does happen.”

Snowy glared at me and I averted my gaze. You could say some really dangerous things from time to time.

Snowy reached over and grabbed some of the cat food.

“Whatever the case, make sure you take good care of him. A responsible owner makes for a happy pet.”

I thought she was going to feed it to Daitarou, but she ate it herself instead.

“Not a very strong flavor. Were these snacks really cheap?”

You glared at me and I averted my gaze again.

The train pulled into the station then.

'''Author Comment:

Cat food doesn’t have much flavor, but my friend adamantly insisted it would be edible if you seasoned it.

Not sure why you would care when you should just eat human food.

Based on this conversation, You really seems to live in the moment. I bet she gets dragged around a lot.