City Series:Volume7A

Character Intros

Sarah: Unknown if that is her real name. Has a sloppy and careless personality.

The ace of San Francisco’s City Hall Health Department. Works in the west and the east with Beretta, her pet three-tail fox.

Bendaughter: Time-telling Sein Frau of San Francisco’s clocktower. Calm and slow-going, but her job is to sing at the top of the hour. Was Sarah’s friend before being repaired, so they have known each other a long time.

Sarah’s Friends: Sarah’s friends from work. Usually make fun and help out.

SF Info: San Francisco is a city in the US West Coast state of California.

Just as important a West Coast city as Los Angeles and its history goes back to a Spanish colony in the 18th century if you don’t count the indigenous era. It officially became US territory in 1846, so it is a relatively young city.

The climate is warm and the natural environment leaves little room for complaint, but since it exists in a mountain range, it is a hilly city, which has led its functional areas to be concentrated in just one portion of the city.

One of the city’s famous sights is the world’s first cable cars developed in response to the city’s terrain. The line was opened in 1873 and continues to run in the city despite the business having declined over time.

Also, a time-telling Sein Frau sent over from England at the end of the 19th century continues to run there, although she has needed repairs in recent years.

San Francisco’s biggest problems at present are the Godquakes that will strike the city on a whim. The entire world is wondering how they will prevent these quakes that occur when a dragon attempts to emerge from underground.

Singlehorn and Grand Mam: Sarah’s Dislord Boss and the old lady who lives at City Hall. Unnecessarily full of life.

World Map

Virtual City – DT

A high-speed city boosted 100 times. Learn the truth of the plus and the minus.

Image City – SF

Draw it out and everything’s easy here.

Is it just me or are there barely any humans?

Zenon City – Tokyo

The stars and the wind. Butts and boobs. Bait and you.

Paradoxes are the standard in this nameless city.

Noise City – Osaka

Naniwabushi requiring a lot of endurance.

A city of internationally violent students.

Aerial City – London

Books and nonhumans and an inspector and a cat.

Lots of excitement in the pages.

Panzerpolis – Berlin

Plain but with lots of High Organs and cat bullying.

Working hard to unite the east and west.

Closed City – Paris

Today’s 1st Journal or Letter.

City of knights fighting in Heavy Barrels.

Tune Bust City – Hong Kong

Singing and dancing causing lots of damage.

Still a lot of British influence.

Information:

An impulsive map of the city’s we have seen.

This world has a lot of localized and individualized elements, but it generally follows the same path as the previous worlds that have repeated countless times. How far can this world get while remaining intact?

[Translation Note: This is an illustration novel, so every single page is an illustration with a small amount of text. I can't exactly upload the entire 150-page raw novel here, so I have instead given a short text description of the illustrations in square brackets. That said, the illustrations are the real heart of this novel, so I highly recommend tracking down the illustrations yourself if possible]

Prologue: Painting

1999 summer

Page 1

[Sarah is sleeping]

[Sarah hits her IZUMO-brand alarm clock]

Morning comes early in Image City San Francisco.

I was out last night drinking, singing, dancing, and partying with my friends, but my alarm clock starts ringing at 4 in the morning.

Such an awful sound when you haven’t even gotten 3 hours of sleep.

I don’t really have a choice, so I stop the clock with a good whack and try to wake up as cheerfully as possible.

It’s about time for my first job of the morning. I don’t have time for breakfast, which sucks.

Page 2

The calendar shows it’s late September. Summer is going to be over soon.

I decide to invite everyone to the beach after work today and get dressed.

It’s already half past four, but it’s still completely dark outside.

[Sarah looks unhappily at the darkness out the window]

But of course it is. I’m in charge of the eastern sky and here I am still at home. I should probably get going before City Hall calls.

And once I’m done, I can grab some breakfast on the beach in my swimsuit.

[Sarah gets dressed]

“Right?”

[Sarah looks to the floor while brushing her hair]

I say that to Beretta who’s playing with my Disdemon wings, but he of course doesn’t understand and tilts his head at me.

He’s like a symbol of a carefree life.

[Beretta, a three-tail fox looks up at Sarah from the floor.]

Page 3

Okay, I’m all dressed.

I grab Halifax, the IZUMO-brand Mouse Device you could say is my weapon or the tool of my trade.

After shoving Beretta and a disposable Grid Seeker in my coat pocket, it’s time to head out.

My job is to redraw the city’s night as morning.

[Dressed and equipped, Sarah leaves home]

Once outside, I find the air is so much chillier than yesterday. A familiar coworker sends me some information: “Hi, Sarah. I’ve heard your territory will be given the autumn paints starting tomorrow.”

I see. I run down the slope, push Beretta back into my pocket, and leap. I dive into the city night.

Part 4

[Sarah flies into the moonlit sky above the city]

I open my fantastic wings in the city’s night breeze.

They’re Disdemon wings.

Heaven and earth both hate these black and gold wings, but I think they look great in the city lights.

I soar to my workplace as if dancing in the wind.

Page 5

[Sarah readies her tools in the sky]

My workplace is the in the sky.

I have to redraw that sky from night to morning.

I stab the Grid Seeker into the sky canvas to set up the masking.

I roll out Halifax to redraw the messages of the Lives in the area I have defined. I have to redraw it into a morning sky.

Message Open.

But just as I’m about to start, I notice my mistake.

Uh, oh!

[Close up of Sarah’s shocked and sweating face]

A part of the sky isn’t contained by the masking!

If I redraw the sky now, that part will stay night.

That’s not good.

I must have positioned the Grid Seeker wrong.

A careless mistake.

There isn’t time to head back home and grab another Grid Seeker, but this is going to mean more than an apology and a fine.

What do I do?

Pages 6-7

[Beretta reaches for Sarah’s wing]

[Sarah pulls out a feather]

It hits me when Beretta reaches from my pocket to play with my wing.

The very next moment, I pull one of the gold and black feathers from my wing and Bust it with Halifax. I create a spare Grid Seeker.

I immediately stab it into space and it stays put.

This is working. Now for the real Message Open.

Everyone is preparing for autumn, but I love the summer. Unfortunately, summer will be over soon.

So I draw out a blazing summer morning.

I draw such a bright morning my fantastic wings pale in comparison.

[Sarah redraws the night into the morning with Halifax]

I draw it all at once!

Page 8

After doing one of my best jobs for the year’s last summer morning, I spread my wings and fall.

[Sarah falls toward the city with a big smile on her face]

Now, time for breakfast on the beach in a swimsuit!

Page 9

When I look into the sky from the beach, I see one of my feathers sticking into the year’s final summer sky.

My wing misses the feather, but I’m sure I’ll have grown a new one by next summer.

Surely.

[In casual clothing, Sarah points up at her feather in the sky for her two friends (one with a prosthetic arm) to see]

The end of image.

Finish

Kawa-Commentary

Prologue: Painting

I’ll be giving a lot of pointless commentary here.

• Overall

This was actually a trial chapter published in Dengeki hp before SF was serialized. That’s why some of the details differ from what comes later. For example, this one said “Image-City” at the top of each page’s frame.

• Page 1

Sarah generally sleeps on her side since she has wings.

There are beds on the market designed for winged species to sleep on their back, but differences in everyday habits mean few people buy them. (Hospitals have that kind of bed for winged species to rest in after abdominal surgery.)

Beretta isn’t in the bed with her because his actual bed is in the hall. He still comes to sleep in Sarah’s better-heated room when it’s cold.→See Chapter 6

The clock is an IZUMO product. In Japan, IZUMO was absorbed by their branch company IAI after a scandal in 1999, but the IZUMO brand remains in use overseas.

• Page 2

The view scrolls through the room to match Sarah’s movements, but you can see a bit of a sofa below the window in panel 3. Beretta is in the room now, but is that because Sarah opened the door, or because Sarah always lets him in after getting up? I feel like it’s the latter.

• Page 3

SF (in real life) is a city with lots of slopes, so its residential areas have a lot stairs and hills. The lines you can see on the road in panel 3 are for a city train or a cable car. Sarah is actually drawn there below the dialogue, but can you actually see her?

Sarah and her coworkers work under a leader who assigns them different parts of SF to redraw. Sarah does the sky and he might do a part of the city itself, for example.

• Page 4

Sarah spreads her wings. They usually only look like 2, but it’s actually 6 with 3 on each side.

She is flying toward the bay and you can’t see the clock tower tree, so that must be to the north. She likes working over the ocean because no one complains if she does a half-assed job, but she might also just like how it feels to fly.

• Page 5

The Grid Seeker and such are only used for big jobs, so we won’t be seeing them again after this. Oops.

This infodumps a bunch about her equipment and how she does her drawing, but Halifax and the rest are all IZUMO products. That is a famous corporation that also makes Rhythms and Devices, so they have a partnership with the SF City Hall. Sarah also personally prefers IZUMO products.

• Pages 6-7

That’s the Golden Gate Bridge you can see at the bottom.

That thing at the lower center of Page 7 is the Grid Seeker.

• Page 8

She jumps down. That’s SF’s coast, but the sunlight and the quantity of plastic greenhouses visible in the city below means this is the east side. The clouds floating low over the city below are because of how chilly it is in the morning.

• Page 9

This beach is the same one you could see on the previous page. Sarah’s two friends are already shown here, but I feel like Army (Kawakami Nickname for the one with a prosthetic arm – the other one is Plainy) would need to waterproof her arm before going to the beach…

Anyway, that’s how SF begins.

Chapter 1: Drawing

2000 spring

Page 1

• Shopping

[Sarah and an elf woman walk with a map of San Francisco in the background]

In America, it’s said spring arrives in San Francisco first.

But the way the people on the streets are dressed and the magazines for sale at the bookstores don’t say spring at all.

Those of us in the City Hall’s health department are still being issued winter paint and Beretta still has his winter coat while he’s curled up in my pocket.

But while I can see my breaths below the white midday sky, my friend remains cheerful any time of year.

She lives in Central’s Hyper Ben and plays a song at noon and three every day.

Page 2

• Tree

I say goodbye to the other friend I was window shopping with.

Then I take flight.

I fly towards history’s largest clocktower, which is carved out of a giant cherry tree, to visit the friend who lives there.

[Sarah flies toward a giant tree with a clock in it, waving goodbye to the elf woman whose silhouette waves back from the foreground]

I hear the sounds of a clock and a physical voice coming from there.

The aged and somewhat out-of-tune voice is coming from a hole halfway up the trunk.

Pages 3-4

• Bendaughter

My friend is a mid-era Airam-type time-telling Sein Frau named Bendaughter.

She was built as a cousin to the three sisters who tell the time inside Aerial City – London’s Big Ben.

Her primary equipment are her voice and Le Artemis, the Harp Device she combines with by splitting half her body away.

[Bendaughter is combined with and playing Le Artemis]

• Face Up

[Bendaughter looks up]

She was sent to San Francisco about a hundred years ago.

She was the first person in the city I spoke to after arriving five years ago.

Page 5

• Senseless

People wanted her to produce the kind of music that would delight the bourgeois, but her voice is aged and out of tune.

When I decide to leave, I pick up Beretta who was sleeping on her lap and turn around, but she only smiles at me.

[Bendaughter smiles while Sarah leaves with Beretta in tow]

Of course, she’s an old type of Sein Frau, so she has no emotions. The smile is just an action.

Page 6

• Think

Sometimes I think about her while at work.

[Sarah rests her head on her desk with Beretta curled up in a bed on the desk]

It looks to me like she’s been sitting there for a century without any kind of emotion, but-

[Sarah opens her eyes and, to her shock, sees Beretta holding a screw]

Where did that screw come from!?

Page 7

• Closed

During my lunch break, I hurry to the cherry tree to return the screw.

[Sarah lands inside the tree and finds a “closed” sign]

I find her gone along with her base.

Was she removed and dismantled?

This is a bit of a problem.

I mean, it’s so sudden.

Page 8

• Lunch

A few days later, things are feeling a little more springlike, but I’m still feeling really dark and depressed. I complain to a friend about my bad mood during lunch.

[Sarah and a friend speak over lunch]

[They both look up in surprise]

Then I hear a cheer.

It came from the central street.

Wondering what it is, I forget all about my lunch and put my curiosity ahead of my work.

I take off running first and then take flight.

What could this be?

I’m curious because it was such a joyful cheer.

I shove Beretta, who is playing with that screw, in my pocket as I go.

My feelings and my body are both racing.

[Sarah runs off panel]

Page 9

• Meet Again

Below the large cherry tree, a fully repaired Le Artemis and Bendaughter are being lowered from a truck.

[Sarah holds Beretta who holds the screw and a crowd is gathered around Le Artemis and Bendaughter]

She was remade into an Aileppoc-type which means she should have emotions now, but her eyes are still closed as if in sleep.

I can hear the workers’ confused voices.

“Why won’t she wake up?”

I know exactly why.

I just have to pull Beretta from my pocket and snatch that screw away from him. It’s a part of her.

Page 10

• Compliments

After she was carried up to her clocktower base, the screw was inserted inside her and her eyes opened.

She shouldn’t have had any memories after that complete overhaul, but she still looks me in the eye and says two simple words.

“Hello again.”

[Bendaughter opens her eyes and speaks]

• Smile

[Sarah smiles]

Could her memories have been stored in that screw? If so, did her old version leave that with Beretta?

No, that doesn’t matter.

All that matters is that I can hear her music again.

Pages 11-12

• Sakura

She sings.

“It is already 5, but I will play my spring song anyway.”

To celebrate our reunion, I spread my wings and soar up where I can see her and the cherry blossoms.

At the same time, she begins to sing and play her harp. The Tone Cargo amplifies that music to an Octave of 3 million.

I can see her voice and the music.

So I redraw the sky with the colors of night and a touch of sunset. To celebrate the coming of spring…

[Bendaughter sings]

I paint to the music!!

[Sarah flies and paints the sky with cherry blossoms around her]

Page 13

• Dive

[Sarah dives down from the sky with Bendaughter in one arm]

That completes my job.

She can separate from Le Artemis now, so I have her put on her shoes and do a bungee dive down from the clocktower.

Okay, now for some flower viewing, some drinking, and some karaoke!

Page 14

• Night flower-viewing

The cherry blossoms mark the arrival of spring.

The blossoms fall while she sings. This probably counts as her birthday.

But she’s still out of tune at some pitches, so maybe that had nothing to do with being old.

Oh, dear.

[Bendaughter sings below a cherry tree while Sarah and her two friends sigh]

The end of image.

Finish

Kawa-Commentary

Chapter 1: Drawing

• General

This was the first serialized chapter. That makes it the first real chapter, so I introduced Benny (my nickname for her) who I had been planning to include at some point. One detail not revealed in the story is that Gleun went along for the ride when the new Benny was brought over from England.

Also, the giant cherry tree was sent over from DC when SF was founded to solidify the ground against the city’s frequent earthquakes.

• Page 1

That’s a map of San Francisco in the background, but it’s supposed to be the cover of an in-universe paperback. Oh, and look at the publishing company.

Sarah’s winter outfit becomes the standard from here on. Her friend Elfy (Kawakami Nickname) isn’t a coworker but a friend who lives nearby. She should be quite a bit older than Sarah.

That’s her hair Beretta is reaching for. A young mystical fox’s love of fluffy things was touched on in Paris as well.

• Page 2

This is the city when looking south. The Hyper Ben cherry tree was built on the south end of the city, so it should cast a large shadow on the city. I wonder if the people living in the shadowy area get a sunlight tax reduction.

This is a really small detail, but that is Sarah’s shadow on the boutique’s second floor on the left. It definitely isn’t the aftermath of something crashing into the wall there.

• Pages 3-4

Benny doesn’t seem to be facing the entrance Sarah used, but her base can actually rotate and move out onto the terrace, so she will sometimes rotate around inside there depending on her mood(?). It’s probably weird to have something so big moving in a dark place like that.

• Page 5

Nothing much to say about this one.

• Page 6

Here we get a look inside the City Hall. Sarah’s chair is turned to the side because she can’t have the back behind her with her wings. She is righthanded, so most her tools are on her right side.

• Page 7

At this time, Benny’s hangar had rails like this. They were removed after her repairs for ease of maintenance. The rails were mostly to send her out onto the terrace when she sings, but they were also used to turn her around and move her during maintenance.

• Page 8

Lunch with Plainy. As you can probably tell from the spoons, Sarah is eating a homemade lunch and Plainy is eating a convenience store lunch. Plainy is a human but wearing the same uniform as Sarah, but that is because the SF City Hall has a basic uniform that can be modified for wings or extra arms. They don’t discriminate.

• Page 9

The explanation on the interior of the container has some misspelled English, but it was built by Arcs RDC which you might recognize from Hong Kong. The company’s Hong Kong HQ was moved to England where it was rebuilt(?).

• Page 10

Just some close-ups, so nothing really to say.

• Pages 11-12

It’s cut off on the page, but there is an elevated highway at the very bottom. The musical notes are in perspective because Sarah is drawing them.

• Page 13

This chapter’s bungee is from the clocktower toward the city. It’s hard to see, but there is a lake on the bottom right. That is a reservoir for the big cherry tree and also part of the forest park surrounding the tree.

• Page 14

Army doesn’t have any color… The English for this page’s title was in my dictionary, but is night flower viewing really a thing overseas?

Chapter 2: Sense

2000 summer

Page 1

• Lunch Time

In the US, the pre-summer rains reach SF first.

So today it’s raining and I have the day off. Bendaughter has taken up a lot of Japanese habits of late and she’s treating me to some lunch at the clocktower.

We chat while watching the rain fall.

She suddenly mentions that this happened five years ago too.

[Sarah and Bendaughter drink tea at a Japanese tea table in the clocktower]

Page 2

• 5 Years Ago

Yes, that’s true.

Five years ago, I watched the rain from here with the old emotionless version of her.

It’s an old story.

She uses that story as a jumping off point to ask where I met Beretta.

I decide to tell her that story.

[A younger Sarah sits in the clocktower with Bendaughter seated at her harp with her eyes closed]

Page 3

• A Job Shortage

It happened on a rainy Tuesday five years ago. (Not sure why the day of the week matters.)

It had been raining all day and I had just finished my shift at an accessory shop on the beach. I trudged back to my cheap apartment while complaining about my troubles finding a decent job. And then from somewhere…

[An exhausted Sarah walks through the rain outside a shop on the beach]

• Turn Around

[Sarah looks over her shoulder]

I heard a cry.

I looked over to see a dilapidated house.

Page 4

• Interest

[Sarah peeks around the corner]

• Frolic

[An old woman pets a three-tailed fox]

I checked behind the house and saw and old woman comforting a three-tail fox that kept crying without opening its eyes.

She said hello and served me tea.

It was non-American black tea.

My eyes fell to the fox on the table.

“He’s the only one I couldn’t find a home for.”

I noticed the art for the fox’s coat was incomplete and it had rough, simplified eyes. It was a very positive first impression.

Page 5

• Start a Challenge

The fox was rolling around a pear for fun, so I tried slicing the pear with my Device.

But the pear was too hard and the young fox couldn’t bite into it.

I thought about it for a bit.

“Do you think he could eat it if I changed the pear’s art?”

I tried and the fox stopped paying any attention to it at all.

That didn’t work.

“If you have the artistic skill to get him to eat the pear, I can hire you to do some work,” the old woman told me.

[Sarah waves a knife Device to paint a pear on a plate held by the old woman. The fox lies down and ignores it]

Page 6

• Punch

The next day

[The fox punches at the pear]

I visited that house again and drew a pear.

• Kick

And the next day

[The fox kicks the pear]

• Sleep

And the next day

[The fox sleeps next to a flowery pear. Sarah looks on in annoyance]

• Disregard

And the next day

I kept changing the art, but it never worked.

[Sarah sighs while the fox ignores a hairy pear]

The fox keeps ignoring the pear more and more. Drat.

Page 7

• An Amicable Settlement

I went to Bendaughter to complain.

She was preparing to sing a summer song when I arrived.

It fit the season and was sung in her cute voice that went out of tune at some pitches.

[Sarah sighs]

• Suggestion

[Bendaughter sings from a book]

But the song fit the season even if her voice was out of tune. Yes, it fit.

[Sarah presses her fist against her hand in realization]

Page 8

• Consent

The next day, I changed my way of thinking and changed the way I drew the pear too.

I had been trying to draw it as accurately as possible before, but now I drew a simpler and more edible pear.

It was still accurate, but it was an art style that fit a fox too young to have a full set of teeth.

The fix finally began eating the pear, looking almost exasperated.

[Sarah and the old woman smile and watch the fox eating the pear]

Pages 9-10

• Draw Album

That all happened 5 years ago.

Instead of cheaply asking the old woman to give me a job, I took the young fox.

Five years have passed since.

[Sarah greets Bendaughter with snapshots of various memories in the background]

I love old stories.

I’m sure I’ll make a ton more in the future.

But that’s for the best.

It means I’m keeping busy in my own way.

Page 11

• Foreigners

But there is one thing I didn’t tell Bendaughter.

Three days after taking in the fox, when the long rain finally ended, the old woman suddenly disappeared.

When I went to visit her, I found another old woman and a young woman there instead.

I asked them something I hadn’t asked before: the old woman’s name.

The young woman looked at my wings in a nostalgic way and gave me the answer: Beretta.

[The young woman (Rosetta) stands with the old woman (Mallette)]

[A close up of the fox]

That was when Beretta opened his eyes and gave a quiet cry upon seeing me.

Page 12

• The End of Rainy Season

The rain let up while I was talking and reminiscing.

Time to head back into the city.

There isn’t anyone in that workshop anymore and it’s waiting for someone to rent it out, but I will never forget it.

[Sarah and Beretta stretch in the sun and Bendaughter holds a tray of tea cups]

That place gives you a nice view of the ocean and the sky and it’s near the city.

One piece of personal classified information is that I want to rent out that house and live there myself one day.

I hope no one else rents it before then.

Wouldn’t that be something?

The end of image.

Finish

Kawa-Commentary

Chapter 2: Sense

• General

A story from Sarah’s past. After learning from the last two chapters, I finally decided on a format.

One thing not revealed in the story is that the Knight Striker woman Follett Missel traveled with the old and young women from France and was sightseeing around SF.

• Page 1

Benny is redecorating inside the hangar. She loves Japanese things, but the reason why is revealed in Ch. 5. I wonder what Sarah thought when she saw that 2nd wall scroll with her name on it. The 3rd from the left says Beretta.

• Page 2

A comparison to the previous page. Benny herself was created about 100 years ago, so her details have been repeatedly restored. That’s why she has small scale modification plans on the walls.

Those things on the left and right of the page are sound boards that prevent her music from hitting the concrete walls and sounding like a live concert (that word has nothing to do with the City concept of Lives this time).

• Page 3

The coast in the rain. The building is built on the edge of a cliff, but as you can see from the terrace on a later page, the ground below it has been dug out to give it a hangar. The sign on the roof says McWild with “Master of Sein Frau” below it. (Is the word “of” right there?) It is an automaton maintenance workshop.

• Page 4

Nothing really to say here. The tea isn’t British either.

• Page 5

A portion of the terrace roof is made of a transparent material.

The knife Sarah has here will be used a lot later on. It’s an IZUMO product and easy to obtain at her hometown (see Ch. 7, 8), so she brought it from home. IZUMO worships the wind god, so they are good luck for a winged species. That is part of why Sarah loves their products.

• Page 6

Nothing really to say here either.

It really doesn’t matter, but am I the only one that think Western pears taste more like persimmons than Japanese pears?

• Page 7

Benny is reading a songbook here.

The bookmark marks her favorite song. She gives a few suggestions and the City Hall chooses one of them for her to sing. Sadly, the City Hall has to try and choose one that limits how out of tune she is.

• Page 8

Another straightforward page.

• Pages 9-10

There are about 10 background photos related to the characters and background.

The top right photo has Sarah standing on a post for winged species to rest their weary wings during a flight. It can be hard to land on the city’s roads with all the traffic, but most of the houses’ roofs are difficult to land on too, so these posts are erected at an interval of 100 yards. My idea is that they’re built as a set with three levels at different heights.

Oh, and Sarah is glaring at a pear on the left there. Like she can’t believe what her altered art turned it into.

• Page 11

The old woman’s handbag is on the table, but Beretta’s head blocks it from view…

• Page 12

Let’s ignore how Benny never stops trying to give her visitor more tea and instead focus on how Sarah’s sleeveless straps go on to become her tie. Compare this to Page 1 and you should be able to see it.

Also, one of her skirt’s straps is undone so Beretta can hang onto it. It’s kind of amazing how Beretta manages that…

Chapter 3: Comicalize

2000 autumn

Page 1

• Rest time

[Sarah and Beretta at the office drying off with a towel and a heater]

In the US, the hurricanes hit San Francisco first.

With the seasons changing and fall approaching, the City Hall’s Health Department is getting busy. Our job is to redraw the city to its original state, cleaning it up.

I guess you could say we return the city to its proper form. Today’s job is repairing the girders for the elevated highway. The Lives went wild partway through, creating a big bird and a commotion.

“Haven’t the ley lines been awfully disturbed lately?” I note on my way back to the office where the Health Department is abuzz with energy. We’re already discussing tomorrow morning.

A hurricane makes landfall tonight. The rain is already blowing against the windows.

I dry my hair and use a heater before dozing off a little.

Page 2

• Up

After sleeping for about 2 hours, I wake up to find only Beretta is still around.

[Extreme close up of Beretta]

• Middle

Beretta looks unusually large while balling up paper and playing with it on my desk.

[Beretta plays with a ball of paper]

I have a very bad feeling about this and then a fist strikes my low blood pressure head.

• Long

[A fist hits Sarah’s head. Beretta looks confused]

For some reason, strange sparks leave my head.

That normally wouldn’t happen.

Which can only mean…

Page 3

• Comical Taste

I turned into a comic while I slept!?

[A more cartoony Sarah stares in shock at her reflection in the window]

The City Hall is entirely silent. I look out the window and see only a few lights on in the storehouse across the way. My reflection in the rainy window shows I have cartoony proportions. Who the heck redrew my art style?

It is currently 10 PM. I hurry back to my room and grab Halifax, but it’s still in a realistic style. I head out into the city, dragging along Beretta who is now the size of a large dog relative to my size.

Page 4

• Run to Colleagues

The city is full of evacuating people. They are moving quickly on the guidance of the authorities.

[Cartoony Sarah asks a man where to go and runs toward the clocktower tree.]

But where is everyone? That thought causes a crudely drawn question mark to appear over my head. That makes me look dumb, so I ask someone from the Yard where to go.

“The base of that big cherry tree was designated a shelter. You should check there first.”

Okay, let’s get going.

Page 5

• Peep into a Floor

It’s already 2 AM.

[Cartoony Sarah peers down over the edge of the panel]

In the rain and wind, I dive down through the skylight and find the clocktower is really busy.

The broadcast department is hooking up a bunch of machines and cords to Le Artemis.

• Welcome

They’re probably amplifying the city broadcasts with the harp to use this place as a central broadcast station.

Bendaughter walks over with some drinks and hands me a coffee and something to eat.

“Even sounds can be drawn in this city, so they say the plan is to remake the amplifier into a virtual Grid Seeker launcher and use its sound to make the images.”

I see. All I got from that was it’s too complicated for someone as dumb as me to understand.

[Bendaughter carries a tray full of drinks with an overhead view of the crowded clocktower interior as the background]

Beretta circles behind Bendaughter.

Lightning strikes immediately afterwards.

Page 6

• Dash

Oh, no. What happens to the broadcast equipment if lightning hits the tree trunk?

And I think I’m the only one who can protect it.

[Sarah’s silhouette runs through the rain and lightning]

• Tenacity

But the realistic Halifax is too heavy for me right now.

Nevertheless, I work hard until lightning appears in the sky overhead.

[Cartoony Sarah struggles to fly with Halifax]

• A Surprise Attack

My life flashes before my eyes.

My past memories are crystal clear in my head.

So many wonderful memories.

[Cartoony Sarah holds a cartoony hand to her lips]

• Cup Nooooodle!!

Yes, like the flavor of the cup noodles I was eating earlier.

Goooodbyyyyyeeee!

[Cartoony Sarah weeps while picturing the steaming cup of noodles]

Page 7

• Dislord

Someone’s drawing saves me from cup noodle death.

I open my eyes to see Singlehorn, the Dislord Health Department Chief.

“Why are you here instead of doing your job, Sarah?”

My job? What job?

“Fool. Don’t you realize your current art style means a lightning strike would only show your skeleton for a moment? Our entire department was redrawn in the same style and sent out into the sky to assist you.”

[Singlehorn glares down at Sarah with lightning striking in the background]

Then he hands me a stronger version of Halifax.

“Why did you leave while I was in the storehouse retrieving this? I left you a note saying to stay put.”

Yeah, well, I didn’t see it, okay? But he had modified Halifax and explained the situation to me. Simply put, I’m supposed to summon the morning.

Page 8

• Get Ready

• Singlehorn

Everything’s ready.

Le Artemis and Halifax are connected with a cable and boosted. Everyone is singing.

[Close up of Singlehorn’s face]

• Piping

[Close up of the cable connection]

• Teammate

[Coworkers smile and give a thumbs up]

[Cartoony Sarah stands confidently with Halifax in hand and Bendaughter sits at Le Artemis]

Time to go!

Page 9-10

• Draw Cool Night

Bendaughter makes it sound so simple.

“Okay, take care of the sky for us.”

And how can I say no to her?

I open my cutely-drawn wings in the blowing wind.

I fly through the wind and rain to join my winged colleagues drawn in the same art style.

Then I take my position at the very top.

I hear Bendaughter’s morning song through Halifax.

“Okay, let’s get this done quick.”

[Cartoony Sarah uses Halifax to draw away the storm. Other winged workers do the same in the background]

We attack the night!

Page 11

• Appreciation

We all celebrate in the late summer sun the next day.

Singlehorn still insists he left me a note.

“I swear there wasn’t a note when I woke up.”

I turn to Beretta for confirmation.

“Right?”

[Normal Sarah wears a swimsuit and speaks with Singlehorn on the beach]

• Memo

I see Beretta pull a paper ball out of my coat pocket and start playing with it.

Don’t tell me…

[Sarah sees Beretta holding a paper ball]

Page 12

• Sightseeing

A pet’s mistake is the owner’s responsibility, so I was made cartoony again. Everyone played with me before throwing me into the ocean.

• Puffing at Sea

[Cartoony swimsuit Beretta floats in the water with swirly eyes while her non-cartoony friends watch]

“Don’t worry. You won’t sink with that art style.”

That’s not the issue here, you know?

Why do these things always happen to me?

The end of image.

Finish

Kawa-Commentary

Chapter 3: Comicalize

• General

In America, the hurricanes apparently actually come from Mexico. It’s starting to be a problem in Japan too, but paved areas with large elevation differences will have all the water flow downhill when it rains, flooding the lower areas. I wonder if they have that issue in SF.

This chapter showed the City Hall and more of how Sarah lives her life.

• Page 1

Sarah’s workplace. There is a whiteboard on the other wall covered in printouts of typhoon countermeasures and listing each worker’s post.

Compared to before (Ch. 1), the monitor is now flatscreen and LCD. The desks are for work, so they have a slanted portion with a stopper at the corners to keep equipment from falling off. It’s hard to tell with Sarah in the way, but there is a cardboard box under the desk with a 16-bit system, a basketball, and other things inside. Those are cleaned up in Ch. 5.

• Page 2

The top of Sarah’s desk, but there are bottlecap figures in front of the bookend. The idea is they’re from a series called the Dark Dance Showa Series and she is only missing Gachon out of the four rare ones: Gachon, Comanche, Nanchatte, and Sheeh.

• Page 3

The building visible past Sarah’s reflection in the window is the storehouse. See the lights on there? Singlehorn might just be in there searching for Halifax’s upgrade parts after leaving Sarah a note.

• Page 4

Originally, Sarah’s eyes had much bigger highlights, which made her look like a frog. The two lines Sarah travels along on the ground in the middle are a cable car track.

• Page 5

A view from above the hangar. Benny covers them up, but the normally hidden guiderails and such can be removed from the base and brought to the door. The turntable is meant to hold things in place during modification and can’t be removed. Going clockwise, the personnel distribution inside the room is the supplies (food, etc.) on the upper right, meetings and planning on the right, an audio booster using a b6809 generator on the bottom right and bottom left, materials on the left, and a break area on the upper left. Each area has a whiteboard set up to check the progress of the work and provide a map.

The things gathered around at the center of the room are sound boards and Benny’s personal things are piled up in front of the board on the upper left.

• Pages 6-7

Not much to say here.

• Page 8

The IZUMO name can be seen on Benny’s upgrade parts, but the idea is that IZUMO does built-to-order manufacturing of strengthened versions of existing parts. They are powerful since they come from Japan, the home of Rhythms, but they aren’t custom parts and can thus be attached with work like that seen on page 5. The same is done for Sarah’s Halifax, but it still needs to be reinforced with some tape.

• Pages 9-10

The hilly city in the background has some pretty large elevation differences.

The writing on the tape for Sarah’s spray gun tank says “FINE!”.

• Page 11

Not much to say here, but Singlehorn’s front arms come from the front of his sides, so they aren’t always visible in this kind of pose.

• Page 12

Not much to say here either.

Chapter 4: Classic

2000 winter

Page 1

• Walking

[Sarah walks through the city]

It’s Christmastime.

Even in the US, the holiday spirit arrives in SF first.

After all, that holiday spirit is represented through the art style.

These days, the Christmas trends are all retro.

It was on Christmas about 100 years ago that work began on building the clocktower. This was apparently the mainstream art style in SF at the time.

Bendaughter was brought over from England and she was finetuned while the largest tree in the city was chosen and remodeled into the clocktower. The work didn’t end until spring.

That’s why most of the city looks so retro this time of year.

Some of it takes some doing, but we can get past that with one simple phrase: “It’s Christmas.”

Page 2

• Friend

[Closeup of an angry woman]

I arrive on the top floor of the clocktower and start to enter Bendaughter’s room, but she runs out and hides behind me.

“What is this?” I wonder as an angry friend and Singlehorn appear in front of me.

[Bendaughter hides behind Sarah]

• Singlehorn

[Closeup of an angry Singlehorn]

Page 3

• Anger

[Angry Singlehorn]

• Dispute

[Yelling Sarah]

• Ummmmmm

[Frustrated Singlehorn]

• In Triumph

[Smug Sarah]

I asked what was going on and learn the City Hall wanted to do a Christmas interview.

It is true she gained emotions this year and can hold a real conversation.

But does she remember the past? She remembered me, but what about 100 years ago?

She apparently didn’t want to answer questions about that.

• Ah…

[Singlehorn stares at Sarah]

• Beretta!!

[Beretta climbs onto Bendaughter’s shoulder]

Page 4

• Get Out of Loudness

Singlehorn takes a look around the room.

He sees the Japanese on the wall scrolls and partition curtains and decides to say something.

“Do as you wish. I have to greet some visitors.”

He must not have been thinking about the same thing as me.

I don’t get it.

Still, I drag Bendaughter outside with me.

It’s snowing a bit.

Beretta chases after us wearing Bendaughter’s hat.

[Sarah and Bendaughter leave through a partition curtain]

Page 5

• Overlook

[Sarah, Bendaughter, and Beretta in a hat walk through the snow to a ledge overlooking a building]

Bendaughter looks a little down, so I take her with me toward the busiest part of town.

We arrive at the city’s local museum. It should have things from 100 years ago.

I tell Bendaughter that.

“My memories from back then aren’t very clear. They’re so vague.”

“Not surprising when you had to get them all from one screw.”

Only after saying it did I realize how tactless that had been. To try and smooth things over, I invite her to take a look inside as a guest.

Page 6

• Museum

[Sarah, Bendaughter, and Beretta in a hat look at a museum exhibit]

It’s a big place inside. Big and cold compared to the snow festival going on outside.

There are a ton of exhibits, including dragon fossils and actual airships.

It all proves this city existed long before I was born.

I lose track of time.

Pages 7-8

• One

[Sarah tries to find Bendaughter]

I also lose track of Bendaughter.

Where did she go?

And I’m supposed to be the one showing her around.

[Sarah approaches a corner while a confused man approaches it from the other side]

Someone appears from the side. A Japanese man. Would it be insulting to call them anime people?

He speaks to me in awkward English.

“Excuse me. Do you work here? I am lost.”

• Two

[Sarah apologizes to the man while walking away]

Sorry, but I don’t work here. And I’m lost too.

I tell him as much and then move deeper into the museum.

[Sarah and Beretta in a hat run through the museum]

Beretta leads the way in Bendaughter’s hat.

He has good instincts at times like this, so I know to follow him.

• Finish

[Sarah and Beretta in a hat skip through the museum]

After turning a few corners, I find her.

She’s standing in front a large picture frame.

After I spot her, she turns toward me with a worried look on her face.

[Closeup of Bendaughter turning toward Sarah]

“I’m in this photo.”

Pages 9-10

• The Past

I look and see it’s a group photo taken 100 years ago.

At the base of a giant tree, several people are lined up in front of a preliminary build of Bendaughter.

I notice a few things of interest, so I polish up the photo.

[Bendaughter and Sarah look at the photo]

I was right.

I recognized someone on the left side of the photo. That four-armed man is a somewhat younger Singlehorn.

Dislords live far longer than humans, so he must have known her for a century now. Long before I was born.

I also focus on the Asian man on the far left of the photo.

Everyone else is facing the camera, but he is facing Bendaughter.

And he looks familiar.

Page 11

• A Calling Card

[The man from before (who looks a lot like the man in the photo) holds out a calling card with Singlehorn behind him.

• Tear

[Bendaughter sheds a tear]

Before I could continue my thought, I was given the answer. It was that Japanese man from before and Singlehorn.

“His great-grandfather worked with Mr. McWild to construct her 100 years ago. He was an excellent transfer student.”

The man greets us and hands a calling card to Bendaughter.

[A closeup of the calling card saying:

Classified City – Kure

Souun Clock Store 28th Generation

Fujiura Tetsu]

• Merry X’mas

Did that tear come from her memories?

But something in there must be the real reason behind her love of Japanese things and that hat Beretta currently has.

Do I have something like that inside me?

Can I create something like that inside me?

I don’t know.

But I feel like going outside. The festival must be getting really exciting by now.

I also have a feeling Bendaughter will be willing to do an interview with my friend and Singlehorn now.

What will I do?

For now, I think I’ll enjoy a Merry Christmas.

[Sarah and Beretta look up into the snowy sky with Bendaughter and Fujiura’s silhouettes in the window behind them]

The end of image.

Finish

Kawa-Commentary

Chapter 4: Classic

• General

Benny’s past. The art style is the same one used for the Osaka game’s backgrounds, but with no perspective to make it even more storybooky. For some reason, this is one of my more favorite chapters overall.

And for some extra information, Fujiura-san was accompanied by a pair of bodyguards, Kujou Kugiri (from the Osaka game) who joined GASAS to help out and her leader Ikeda Kouichi. They greeted Singlehorn while they were there.

• Page 1

You can see IZUMO and its rival company HANKO in the background. They both had scandals in Osaka during 1999, but they appear to be recovering.

• Page 2

Plainy’s post is in the office. Army works in maintenance and Sarah works on site. They think of themselves as a single team when they work on a job.

• Page 3

The Hyper Ben clocktower doubles as an observation platform, so after playing in the park below, you can eat dinner at the restaurant there. Sarah can sometimes be seen dropping down out the window, so that must give the diners quite a fright.

The background here is the lobby for those facilities and a simplified lobby for visiting the new Benny. There is also a vending machine and a bulletin board with notices from City Hall.

• Page 4

Benny’s floor tends to have a Japanese style out of respect for her rights. Or rather, for her tastes. That curtain being pulled back is meant for a hot spring, but she has it because the thick material makes it work as audio equipment. You can find the same thing in Benny’s hangar.

• Page 5

The museum was originally just the main building, but a left annex was built and then it continued to grow from there. It’s a common enough thing in the real world too. It’s also built to let in as much natural light as possible.

And if you look at the footprints on the upper right, you can see Sarah is walking pigeon-toed…

• Page 6

It’s covered up, but there is an LCD panel on the wall showing an explanatory video. And if you look to the right of Sarah’s leg at the bottom, you can see an old aerial ship model.

As a side note, this background was based on the Tsukuba History Museum I helped out at back home. (I helped build and maintain their steam train and Tamamushi-gata Hikouki.)

• Pages 7-8

The background already looks a lot like an abstract painting at this point, but I’m going to stay strong and provide some commentary. Panel one shows the exhibition booths. Panel two has explanation LCD panels and counters. They use headphones. Panel three has a transformer(?) and such, so it must be the safety area with a fire extinguisher and decorative plants.

• Pages 9-10

We have proof Benny didn’t always wear glasses!

I think she damaged her eyesight by reading her songbook in such a dark place. And she just kept using them as a habit after her upgrade. That would mean she could have preserved her eyesight by not reading any books, but could she really stay put for 100 years without reading?

• Pages 11-12

What, you expect me to make a joke here?

Chapter 5: Perspective

2001 spring

Page 1

• Gadget Box

[Sarah looks through a box]

In the US, the pre-spring season of dust and pollen arrives in SF first.

The Health Department is always dealing with the weird, suspicious, and indescribable things people bring in and we also work outside of the office a lot, so the place tends to end up a mess. That’s why we need to clean it all up from time to time.

We do this big cleaning job every three months.

I pull a variety of things from the cardboard box under my desk and line them up on the floor.

Oh, a 16-bit console.

Before you know it, my friends and I are trading stuff.

In the distance, I see Singlehorn getting after someone who was rocking out with a broom guitar. A common enough sight. I just don’t want to get caught in the crossfire.

Page 2

• You Nuisance!!

I had let Beretta roam free, but he returned in the afternoon.

He has a lump on his head.

While I wonder what happened, he tries to grab a broom and head back out.

Sorry, but that’s too heavy for you, buddy.

I hold up a paintbrush I hope can make a decent replacement.

[Sarah in an apron and holding a broom looks down on bandaged and weeping Beretta]

Beretta skillfully grabs it and swings it around.

Is it a weapon? I really don’t know what’s going on here.

He falls over while swinging around the brush. He sheds tears as wide as his eyes, but then he starts pushing at my feet.

He wants me to go somewhere.

Page 3

• Walk for Thunderbird

Fine. I leave the cleaning to a friend and tie the brush to Beretta’s back.

I follow him through City Hall.

People are cleaning everywhere. I wonder if he’s headed to the cafeteria, but apparently not.

He takes me to the storehouse outside. That’s also an entrance to some underground ruins.

Below City Hall is a layer of the city’s accumulated memories. Dragon bones and such are excavated there on a daily basis. The manager of that section is a shaman known as Grand Mam who worships the dragon bones like they’re a god’s bones.

[Beretta, with paintbrush on his back, leads Sarah with a map of the City Hall as a background]

And Beretta has an enemy: the Thunderbird, a lightning god incarnation that Grand Mam keeps as a pet.

[Thunderbird has a very simplistic and cartoony design]

Page 4

• No Guard

I’ll admit its art style is silly, but a three-tailed fox shouldn’t be picking a fight with a divine incarnation.

But Beretta is ready to go.

[Sarah watches as Beretta and the Thunderbird glare at each other]

• Acho!!!!!

He warms up with the brush in one hand.

He’s all ready for round 2.

Go get that bird!

[Sarah cheers Beretta on while he throws a bunch of punches with his tiny arm]

• You Lost

Another loss.

[Sarah sweats while the Thunderbird pecks Beretta into the ground]

Page 5

• Underground

I place weeping Beretta on my head and go underground.

Grand Mam appears to me.

“Oh, Sarah. You don’t visit often.”

“Just taking a peek. Got any more pictures?”

“Plenty more. But more than that, I feel that god must have guided you here. I have so many great things to show you. Come with me.”

[Grand Mam and Sarah head own dark stairs by torchlight]

Don’t know what she’s talking about, but I follow her down the stairs while looking at the sketchy wall painting.

SF’s memories are down here.

Whenever things happen, they become a part of the city’s memories and seep into the ley lines.

Oh, wow. Beretta’s tears are flowing down my neck. How much water does this bastard have inside him?

[Close up of Grand Mam and of Sarah protesting all the tears flowing from Beretta on her head]

Page 6

• …Who?

We reach an area where the walls are covered by fragments of memories instead of wall painting.

If you scrape away at the stone, you can see all sorts of truths.

[Sarah points toward the wall]

• Strike Molester 1937

[A young woman breaks a bottle over a man’s head]

“Hey, is the good-looking woman in this memory you, Grand Mam?”

“What is she doing?”

“Hitting a drunk with a bottle at a bar.”

“No, that wouldn’t be me.”

I silently call her a liar while we walk deeper in.

Page 7

• Realizing Thunderbird?

I see all sorts of things.

That has to be Grand Mam healing this big bird’s wound.

The man next to her is probably her husband or someone.

[Sarah views an image of a big bird on the wall while Grand Mam keeps walking]

Grand Mam calls back to me.

“What are you looking at?”

“Probably a boring old memory. For the person who made it, anyway.”

“Then ignore it.”

“Probably for the best,” I reply before wiping off the wall memory and following after her.

Then I see dragon bones.

Page 8

• Near

[Sarah and Beretta look over at a dragon skeleton in the wall]

This floor is set up so the dragon skeleton looks no larger than a framed painting at first glance.

• Far

[Sarah is now standing in front of the skeleton, looking tiny in comparison]

“Look, Beretta. It’s the magic of perspective!”

I’m delighted, but Grand Mam’s tone is calm.

“Then get to cleaning that from whatever distance makes it a workable size for you. Dig it out and you’ll see the dragon’s memories instead of the bones. The memories of it soaring through the sky.”

I see. So that’s how it works, huh?

Page 9-10

• Blooming Ancient Sky

I use perspective to clean the large dragon skeleton at a reduced size.

I don’t have Halifax with me, so I use a smaller portable Device to scrape away at it.

I can’t make the perspective work if I focus too much on it, so it’s surprisingly tricky.

I have to convince myself that the illusion of its smaller size is in fact real and then I start using the brush Beretta brought to really get to work.

I know the dragon must be soaring in the sky on the other side of this bone and rock surface.

[Thunderbird watches as Sarah carves away the surface of the skeleton, revealing a more complete image below]

I carve it out as a painting!

Page 11

• Ho~

[Grand Mam watches Sarah sigh in satisfaction]

That was a great experience.

Maybe Grand Mam was right about heaven guiding me here.

• Yo~?

[Grand Mam notices an angry Singlehorn approaching behind Sarah]

While I laugh over the drink Grand Mam gave me, guidance from the opposite of heaven creeps up on me.

• Heee~!

[Grand Mam leaves as Sarah and Beretta weep with Singlehorn behind them.

“Why aren’t you cleaning, Sarah?”

Page 12

• Work Overtime

The “guidance” I received to the head was a lot heavier than Beretta and I’m stuck cleaning all alone after everyone else went home.

Darn, where did that friend I asked to clean for me go?

[Bendaughter carries in a wrapped bento, Sarah cleans the floor with a lump on her head, and Beretta weeps with a lump on his head]

“You don’t get anyone’s help.”

Oh, is that how it’s going to be?

But Bendaughter gave me a Japanese box lunch through the window.

That may have been my first bit of happiness all year. Anyway, that’s all for now.

The end of image.

Finish

Kawa-Commentary

Chapter 5: Perspective

• General

This ends the first half, so I’ve more or less shown all of SF’s techniques and characters now.

Overall, you could maybe call the rest the Earth Dragon Arc.

• Page 1

That’s the contents of the cardboard box I mentioned in Chapter 3. Nothing worthwhile in there…

• Page 2

Her desk has changed to one with a built-in drawer. To be economical with space and allow in as many workers as possible, they put their personal belongings in the lockers you can see behind her. But that takes up space by the window and allows dust to build up…

The whiteboard in the background mentions where to receive wax and such. You might be able to make out on the bottom left that Sarah was designated team leader starting at 3 PM.

• Page 3

On the City Hall map, Main Street is located at the top. Past that (not pictured here) is the annex Sarah’s group works in and the storehouse seen in Chapter 3.

The storehouse they visit this chapter is at the bottom, but it’s location right next to the City Hall means it was there all the way back when the City Hall was first built. The underground ruins were there first, so when the City Hall was built, they built a storehouse and pavilion to preserve the things that came from the ruins. Then they built the annex as the city developed and grew.

• Page 4

I don’t think I have anything to say. I think panel 2 was originally him making practice swings.

• Page 5

That’s more like graffiti than a wall painting. The indigenous people of SF have an old history and a lot of their culture still remains. The wall paintings take the form of the city’s memories and prophecies, but those ones you can see at the top are a…prophecy (I guess?) of the Showa Series mentioned before. You can’t see them all, but there are four lined up there.

• Page 6

A lot of women hitting people with dangerous weapons in 1937…

• Page 7

It’s hard to see behind Sarah, but the Thunderbird art has a woman covering her face and a man fallen onto his rear.

This Thunderbird form gathers the wind in his wings after taking flight and explosively releases the wind to launch himself long distances like an artillery shell. His white feathers are for attitude control when he does that and he also has canard wings. You could call him an avian dragon since he can freely summon lightning, but he finds his life in his current form easier. He might prefer to be with the people than worshiped by them. He’s a god of the people.

• Page 8

The circle on the frame is the center and the dragon is actually drawn further to the right, but it wouldn’t fit in the panel and was trimmed to this position.

• Pages 9-10

The dragon being carved out here is an ancient fossil, not the Earth Dragon that appears later.

Later on, Grand Mam goes further in and sees wall art drawn by the ley lines that tells her the time for the dragon’s activation is nigh.

• Page 11

If the title of each frame felt just right to you, I’m guessing you’re an Ultima fan.

• Page 12

Benny’s bento here is a prototype for Chapter 6.

The cloth wrapper’s pattern and the size should be enough to know she eats Japanese food.

Chapter 6: Restoration

2001 winter

Page 1

• So Cold

[Sarah grabs the doorknob while shivering with a blanket over her wings and head]

It’s midwinter. In the US, the frigid winds reach SF first.

Winged species have a hard time sleeping with a blanket over us since our wings get in the way. That’s why we all rely on our room’s heating at night.

If you want a pleasant morning in the winter, you need a blanket, warm air, and a humidifier so you don’t dry out.

Or that’s the theory anyway.

What is with today? The heat is running, but it’s freezing in here.

I realize Beretta isn’t around and my room’s door is open.

That bastard went somewhere, didn’t he?

Hey, Beretta.

Page 2

• Discover

There he is.

[Sarah watches in shock as Thunderbird pecks Beretta into the wall]

• Turn

That solves one mystery.

[Thunderbird turns toward Sarah with a paper floating in the air over his head]

• Evacuation

But why is that thing here too?

[The paper lands on Thunderbird’s head]

Page 3

• Devil Words

On closer inspection, Thunderbird has a letter from Grand Mam on his head. I try reading it.

[Sarah has question marks over her head with the floor below her, Thunderbird, and Beretta transformed into the letter of Japanese writing]

Sorry, Grand Mam, but Japanese is way, way too hard for me.

Actually, why is it in Japanese? You let a weird movie influence you again, didn’t you?

Anyway, I’m pretty sure that clockmaker named Fujiura is still in town researching Bendaughter.

I’m off today, so I’ll have him read the letter for me.

Page 4

• Running

Beretta follows me.

I don’t know how he learned to do it, but he put on his own healing charms.

It’s not fair that everything a small animal does is automatically cute.

Thunderbird follows me too.

Beretta looks back and then takes off running.

[Sarah runs with Beretta covered in bandages and Thunderbird zooming past them both]

Page 5

• Arrival and Lose My Breath

The address I was given is a single house in the city.

I pause for a breath before ringing the bell.

No, I need two or even five breaths.

I’m worn out – downright exhausted. I shouldn’t’ve gone for a run before eating breakfast.

I look over to see Thunderbird is doing just fine.

Apparently gods don’t get worn out.

[Sarah and Beretta try to catch their breath on the sidewalk while Thunderbird stands triumphant atop a post]

Page 6

• Smile

[Bendaughter smiles, holding a bag]

I look over and see Bendaughter approaching.

I ask her what she’s doing here.

“I get him to look at my body parts.”

Really not the kind of thing a girl should be saying in public first thing in the morning.

But when I see the bag she’s carrying, I realize it’s more than just that.

I start to think I might know what’s going on here.

• [Title covered up by Sarah’s head]

[Sarah looks at Bendaughter’s bag]

Page 7

• [Title covered up by Bendaughter’s angry steam]

Meanwhile, they’re at it again behind us.

I try to stop them and get pecked in the butt.

Wow, that hurts.

I have a new appreciation for Beretta’s toughness if he’s dealing with this all the time.

[Bendaughter angrily chases after Thunderbird. Sarah stars in shock at the shreds of paper in her hands]

Wait, he tore up the letter.

Page 8

• Proposal

[Fujiura and Singlehorn step out of the house]

Just as I’m trying to figure out what to do, Fujiura and Singlehorn make an appearance.

Was this Singlehorn’s house?

Fujiura looks to me with an “oh dear” look on his face.

“Is something wrong?”

For some reason, Bendaughter answers him.

“Her letter from Grand Mam is all Japanese and torn up.”

“That sounds bad.”

You actually understood what she meant?

[A box of bandages]

But Fujiura calmly removes a healing charm from Beretta’s head.

“What if you broke apart and duplicated this and then repaired the letter with your art?”

Oh, he’s pretty sharp.

Page 9-10

• Cure the Letter

I duplicated the charm, reinforced it, and then got to work repairing the letter.

[Bendaughter holds the repaired letter. It says: “Hello, everyone. While underground, I discovered notification of a coming Godquake. Basically, a dragon will be waking up and causing an earthquake. Take care of Thunderbird for me. Feed him twice a day and make sure he can sit in the sun for an hour each day. Buh-byyyyye.”]

I draw it whole again!

Page 11

• On the Way Home

[Sarah looks over her shoulder carrying bentos with Beretta on top, an octopus hot dog in her mouth, a bandage on her butt, and Thunderbird following her]

I got him to read it for me and figured out more or less what it meant. I see. So a Godquake is coming.

According to Singlehorn, our Health Department and the rest of the authorities will eventually need to calm an Earth Dragon somehow.

I learned a lot today.

I learned fried oysters are called Kaki Fry in Japanese.

I learned Grand Mam probably isn’t coming back up to the surface for a while.

I think about all this, get some breakfast from the box lunch Bendaughter made, and head home.

Page 12

• Parents?

Once home, I find another letter.

This one’s from my mom.

Today must be letter day or something.

I tilt my head, wondering what this is about with Thunderbird and Beretta who has a bald spot from the healing charm ripped from him.

[Sarah looks at a letter with Thunderbird and Beretta]

Looks like I’ve rented out a new member of my family here.

What am I supposed to do with that bird?

The end of image.

Finish

Kawa-Commentary

Chapter 6: Restoration

• General

This chapter is a turning point. At the beginning, it was decided this story would be 10 serialized chapters and a final chapter for the book, but thanks to the popularity of Tokyo, which was also being serialized in Dengeki hp, SF was put on hiatus for one chapter. The schedule wasn’t changed after that, so one of SF’s 10 serialized chapters ended up only being in the book. In the end, I made the second Hong Kong chapter the book-only one and put this chapter in the magazine.

The second Hong Kong one is good from a character perspective, but I decided this one was more important since it’s a turning point from a story perspective.

• Page 1

Beretta is an animal, so he sleeps where it’s cool in the summer and where it’s warm in the winter. I bet he sleeps in Sarah’s bed during the winter.

• Page 2

You can probably tell from the hallway structure, but Sarah’s apartment has a lot of space. But it looks like Beretta must be sticking out of the other side of that wall…

You can’t see it here, but Beretta’s food dish and bathroom are drawn at Thunderbird’s feet.

• Page 3

You can see the full text on the two-page spread later on. That’s surprisingly good handwriting…

• Page 4

SF is a sloped city and even its shopping district is on a slope. That’s a bakery on the left and a café on the right.

Sarah’s shoes have high heels with a gap in the sole. They’re made of a flexible material so they can probably function like jumping shoes.

• Page 5

The house is built on an elevated slope, so it must have a really solid foundation. I’ve seen some actual houses like that and they have small ditches next to the stairs and such to allow water to drain.

I touched on this in Chapter 3, but to prevent flooding, I think the city’s ditches must have a river at the bottom of the surrounding hills to drain into.

• Pages 6-7

The background is just an ordinary house. If I had had more pages, I think I would have shown Thunderbird pecking Sarah in the ass.

• Page 8

The background is Singlehorn’s house. The decorative fence past the door is dented behind Fujiura-san (you can see a bit of a shadow). That’s because Singlehorn sometimes hits it when he enters his house.

Also, bandages are called plasters. I originally wrote Band-Aid in English, but I looked it up later and found out that’s wrong…

• Pages 9-10

You can see the shadow of the big cherry tree on the upper right of the background, but that means this house is located pretty high up. There are also other houses drawn down below, but they’re completely covered up.

• Page 11

I don’t really have anything to say here, but do they do octopus hot dogs overseas?

Also, you’ll notice Beretta planning to surreptitiously get that bento open to eat its contents.

And at this point, the fried oysters are already gone.

• Page 12

Sarah is standing in her apartment’s hallway. Based on the background, it looks like she’s on the 2nd or 3rd floor, but since winged species often leave by flying out the window, they tend to live on higher floors. But that probably frightens the people living on the lower floors…

Chapter 7: Rest

2002 spring (HK)

Page 1

• At port

[Sarah walks by the ocean with a suitcase, Beretta, and Thunderbird. Singlehorn yells at her over the phone]

I’ve mysteriously found myself visiting Hong Kong this year.

Okay, maybe “mysteriously” is overselling it. It’s just for a personal matter and a work matter.

The personal matter is that my mom told me to visit because she’s moved from the New Territories to New Hong Kong Cave.

The work matter is to request assistance for the upcoming Earth Dragon Godquake coming up. And to gather information on the similar incident that happened in Hong Kong five years ago.

I wasn’t sure how to get started and called SF from the port, but Singlehorn chewed me out.

They’re apparently in a real hurry back there. Grand Mam returned to the surface and they’re going to hold a meeting after she gets something to eat and takes a bath.

I sure wish I could get some food and a bath instead of just looking after her pet.

And while I’m at it, I might as well ask for a drink, more food, and a down blanket.

Page 2

• New Cave of Hong Kong

A large part of Hong Kong collapsed when an Earth Dragon was activated there in ’97.

It was activated in order to revive heaven after its destruction during World War Two. It was supposed to carry the surface resources into heaven.

I don’t know all the details since I moved away in ’95, but I know the general story thanks to the letters from home and the cable transmissions.

The incident was caused by a Nein Engel man born to a human and an angel. It was his sister who stopped his plan prematurely. She used the power of music, weapons, willpower, and people.

Also, Hong Kong Cave, the big hole people once dug in Hong Kong Island, was remade into New Hong Kong Cave and became a main base used by the people.

The 5th anniversary of that is coming up in about two months. New Hong Kong Cave is busy preparing for the celebration.

The excited people are focused on a song that was created at the bottom level of Old Hong Kong Cave.

It’s called the Flight Song and it was sung by the people who dug Old Hong Kong Cave to escape underground when Hong Kong became British territory.

“彼街通天地 That city connects heaven and earth

“墜朝地仰雲 I fall in the morning and look up to the clouds from the earth

“昇夜空謳月 I rise at night and sing with the moon in the sky

“惟望再笑君 All I desire is to smile with you again”

This city connects heaven and earth. It reaches the ground in the morning and looks up at the clouds and it rises into the sky at night and sings with the moon.

But it isn’t smiling yet. The rebuilding is still ongoing and people continue to mourn all that was lost.

[Sarah views the surface entrance of New Hong Kong Cave]

Page 3

• Finding

[Sarah and Thunderbird walk along the street while Beretta runs toward a shop]

But I’m going to focus on my job more than sentimentality or my personal business. I need to visit New Hong Kong Yard, the armed representatives of Hong Kong, and tell them what SF is facing.

• Jumping

[Sarah calls for Beretta while Beretta grabs at a broom hanging outside the shop]

I walk on my feet instead of using my wings. New Hong Kong Cave is full of life. The port was honestly a lot less crowded.

• Holding

[Sarah tries to pull Beretta off of the broom while a flustered shopkeeper emerges]

That’s a souvenir, Beretta.

Let go, darn it!

Page 4

• New HK Yard

I arrive at New Hong Kong Yard.

It was located near the center of the Kowloon Peninsula back when I lived here.

I think I maybe saw it once? I don’t really remember.

But I’m here regardless.

[Sarah and the General greet each other in front of New Hong Kong Yard]

I greet an old man who I’m guessing is the janitor and walk inside.

The nature of my business is, um, how should I describe it?

Page 5

[Rin and Fei inside New Hong Kong Yard]

I’m greeted by the second-in-command and her aide who has a fully prosthetic body and is also her husband.

They hand me a chip ROM of information and even a document indicating their acceptance of our request for information. They seemed awfully well prepared, so I asked about it.

“You must not be aware, but volunteers from around the world are working to help you in SF. Last week, a representative arrived from England and one from Japan arrived just a bit ago.”

Then Grand Mam calls me.

She asks me if they can modify Bendaughter and I ask her why she’s asking me that.

“You’re her guardian, aren’t you?”

Am I? I tell her we can discuss that during my next scheduled check-in call and hang up.

Page 6

• Running Under the Moon

After all that, I leave to see the moon in the circle of the sky.

Then Thunderbird pecks me in the butt.

It really hurts, but it gets me to look down and notice Beretta is missing.

What is he up to this time?

We run around for a while and then I decided to check that souvenir shop from before.

[Sarah and Thunderbird run through New Hong Kong Cave]

• Foreigner?

[Sarah speaks with the shopkeeper from before]

“Oh, if you mean that three-tailed fox, he was playing with the broom earlier, but then he chased after a foreigner who was passing by. I think they went down? You should catch up pretty quick.”

Page 7

• Discover!

I run.

How am I supposed to “catch up pretty quick” when I don’t even know who I’m looking for?

But after running for about 15 minutes and descending half a mile, Thunderbird spots something.

There’s a large golden broom up ahead. No, wait. That’s hair.

And I recognize the person it belongs to.

[Thunderbird notices something]

• Who?

[Beretta hangs onto the end of Rosetta’s hair]

Oh, right. That’s the young woman and the old woman who visited the house where I got Beretta.

Beretta chases after the end of the young woman’s hair and keeps jumping at it but can’t seem to grab it.

After a few attempts, his jump is finally high enough and she turns back. Our eyes meet.

She picks up Beretta and nods at me.

Page 8

• Walking

[Sarah watches Rosetta holding Beretta behind Mallette]

We continue down through New Hong Kong Cave as the people prepare for the coming celebration through the night.

There is a park with a bottomless spring at the bottom level and a stone monument of the Flight Song is erected on the edge of the spring.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

The young woman smiles a little before responding.

“I lost someone important to me long ago. Time for me stopped when that happened. But…people are reborn in this world, aren’t they? So I am searching.”

“Searching for that person?”

“Yes. She is a proud woman with wings on her back who wields a spear, defeats a dragon, and destroys a world. And she is in love with a man who wields a powerful sword and is willing to throw out his social standing and turn a part of his body into metal in order to fight.”

That sounds vaguely familiar to me, so I ask another question.

“Did that woman love to sing?”

The young woman nods.

Pages 9-10

• Sing a Song

We’re 2 miles underground, the celebration isn’t for a while yet, and only the faint moonlight can reach us.

This city still hasn’t found its answer. That reminds me a lot of SF as we face the Godquake.

But even though I left this city, I feel like it is my duty to provide an answer eventually.

An answer to a single question: was there any meaning to all this destruction born of prejudice and misunderstanding?

I’m sure that answer is needed.

In SF, for example.

The young woman sees me lost in thought and gives me a considerate smile.

Then she begins to sing while awash with moonlight.

It’s in a foreign language, but I can still tell what it is.

She twirls as if dancing and sings a song passed down by European knights.

A song of heaven and earth.

[Sarah watches Rosetta sing at the bottom of New Hong Kong Cave]

That which is filled with the blue sky.

That which is covered by the red dirt.

I name thee heaven and earth.

Where the wind howls bravely.

Where the sand dances gently.

I view thee as heaven and earth.

So that no one would grieve again.

That which is endless and cannot be grasped.

That which is vast and cannot be held.

I am with thee.

Page 11

• Drinking Booth

People are drawn in by the singing, set up shops, and a party breaks out.

The people from the Yard, the broom lady, and the Japanese representative (who got here before me) are among the people gathered around me and the young woman.

The Japanese representative is apparently leaving for SF tomorrow, but I have to stop by my mom’s house first. The young woman and her elderly companion are apparently going to Shanghai and then visiting Hong Kong again in two months.

I wonder what’s going to happen. If SF gets through the Godquake alright, I think we should all gather here again. I can also bring the people I know from SF.

Then we can all have a crazy party.

Hm, I feel like I’m forgetting something. Eh, I’m sure it’s not important.

[Sarah drinks with a crazy party going on in the background]

Page 12

• This is Bendaughter

Hello, I know this is sudden, but this is Bendaughter.

We can’t seem to contact Sarah.

Singlehorn is calling her every five minutes like some kind of stalker, but she isn’t answering. We need to discuss modifying my harp, so this is kind of a problem.

[Bendaughter is flustered, Singlehorn rages with his phone, and Army shrugs]

Everyone held a vote and the majority guessed she started drinking and forgot all about this, but who knows what really happened.

Oh, dear. Oh, dear. What ever am I going to do?

The end of image.

Finish

Kawa-Commentary

Chapter 7: Rest

• General

The 1st Hong Kong chapter. It wasn’t revealed in the chapter, but Follett Missel, who was working as the two women’s bodyguard, was ordered by NUSIF (New US AIF) to meet with Gleun who was also in Hong Kong. She lost bigtime in poker and had to travel to the New Territories’ entrance by Heavy Barrel.

• Page 1

Hong Kong Cave was dug from the top down. The structures you see right off the ocean surface are the coastal areas like Wan Chai. The direct tunnel flooded and led to a lot of deaths during the collapse in ’96, so a memorial was erected at this airport.

• Page 2

New Hong Kong City deals with the modern Geofront issues of air and water with a large ventilation facility and a continuous pump system. The heat rising from the ventilation facility and the sea breeze deflected off of the shield panels in each direction create a spiraling updraft that makes it dangerous for aircraft to approach. Only large and highly stable aerial ships and smaller transport aerial ships with skilled pilots land here.

Water falls like waterfalls inside, much to the delight of tourists, but that actually is a way of reducing the internal heat. The humidity is sent upwards by the updraft and reduced by the internal shielding…is my idea of how it works. Instead of directly sending air down, it’s distributed behind the shield panels in each direction and sent to the underground area from there. Directly sending it would create a lot of suction that would cause powerful winds.

The foundations of all these things existed at the time of the collapse, but they later strengthened it using a lot of the technology used in Germany to build Germania.

• Page 3

They are walking through the innermost part of the interior circle, so you can think of it as the main street.

A lot of the signs are seen from the back here and most of them are for food.

• Page 4

The Yard only uses the main street floor, so it’s really just one tenant among many in a giant building. Crime is naturally low in the immediate vicinity of the Yard, so a lot of nonhuman shops and shops selling valuables are found there. But the bigger shops that prefer to protect themselves do not establish themselves nearby, so it’s only the smaller shops owned by ordinary people found here.

There are a lot of signs here, but the one on the upper left is the Human Meat Bar that was seen in Hong Kong. It still serves nonhumans and does money changing, sells stamps, sells precious metals, and sells blood.

The altar right by the entrance is a memorial for the victims of the Hong Kong Collapse.

• Page 5

Anywhere with a view of the sky is prime real estate, so this means the Yard is in a good location. The streamers on the air conditioner overhead have emblems drawn on them to further cool the air. There is also a memorial tablet by the window which I think is for someone both of them knew. That’s why there are two incense sticks.

• Page 6

Thunderbird can supposedly understand human language, but I’m not so sure that’s true. It may be more like he gets the general gist of what you want to say than actually understanding the language.

• Page 7

No commentary necessary here. This is a habit of Beretta’s seen in Chapter 1 too.

• Page 8

It’s drawn abstractly, but the inner walls are reinforced in various ways and spells are used to set up air conditioning shields that keep the humidity out. Neighbors will jointly fund the creation of hanging banner spells, but I think a lot of them have the emblems written on the back and a local store advertisement on the front.

• Pages 9-10

With New Hong Kong Cave’s 5th year coming up, they will begin by decorating the bottommost level’s square. On the left page, the spring’s water is flowing out from the bottom left, making a full circle of the square, and then taken up to the top level for the people who can’t come all the way down here.

The large LCD panels set up at a few levels are saying “business is booming” in a variety of languages.

• Page 11

It doesn’t really matter, but Thunderbird seems to dislike drinkers. That probably means he’s a diligent person deep down.

And that girl behind Sarah is Japanese Representative Kujou Kugiri. She uses Kotodama, so she wears gloves just to be safe.

• Page 12

Since Army is here, she must be on the team in charge of modifying Benny.

Chapter 8: Atelier

2002 spring (HK)

Page 1

• Spoil for a Fight

[Sarah views an aerial ship flying overhead. A terrified Beretta wields Sarah’s knife Device against an angry Thunderbird]

In the world, hungover mornings come to Hong Kong first.

I’ve been drinking and partying for about a week and I’m getting sick of it, so I guess it’s time to visit my mom like she wanted.

I take a Hong Kong Cave flight to the broken peninsula.

On the way, an aerial ship passes us on its way to Hong Kong Cave. Is that a German one? Are they here to support SF too?

Beretta and Thunderbird are fighting on the deck.

Beretta tries to grab my knife, so I place a guard over the blade and hand it to him.

I wonder what’s going on at my mom’s place.

I’ve barely called since I said I would make a living with my art and left.

I wonder if she’ll have accepted that choice when I visit this time. I am getting by fine with my art, after all.

Page 2

• On My Way Home

It’s been so long since I walked through the New Territories.

When Hong Kong was so badly damaged five years ago, the people evacuated to the New Territories and a lot of them stayed.

My mom worked at the City Hall back then, so she led the evacuation of the nonhumans living in Hong Kong.

But I left Hong Kong before all that, so I don’t know much more than that.

It turns out government workers and hopeful artists tend not to get along and the artist will be the one to leave if they have the drive.

Even when I started worrying about it, she would say “you’d just get in the way, so don’t you dare come back” which pissed me off all over again.

That’s just how these things work out sometimes.

She said she had moved from the temporary housing to an actual home in the New Territories, so is that where I’ll be “going home to” from now on? A weird thought since I never actually lived there.

Not that it matters.

I need to make my initial greeting casual enough to show off that I’m an adult now and to avoid letting any of the bad blood between us show.

[Sarah, Beretta, and Thunderbird walk down a street lined with rundown houses]

Page 3

• Smiling Standoff

“Hi, mom!”

[Sarah walks in while Gleun and Follett stare at each other in the foreground]

Page 4

• Self-Deceived?

“…”

[Sarah stares in shock as Gleun and Follett turn toward her]

• Gloomy Doubt

“Mom?”

“Do you have the wrong place?”

[Sarah blushes as Gleun and Follett sweat]

• Abashment

“I don’t think…”

“…we are who you are looking for.”

[Sarah smiles with her finger on her chin while Gleun and Follett sweat even more]

Page 5

• Butcher…?

We all sweat awkwardly until my mom steps in.

“Yes, yes, yes. What is it now?”

Charging in dual-wielding knives to greet me after seven years? What is this old lady thinking?

“I was in the middle of preparing dinner, silly girl. And then the British Representative and French Representative showed up to ask me some questions. Why are you all glaring at each other?”

Oh, they’re here for that too. I really appreciate it.

“You see, that idiot of a girl finally decided to pay her mother a visit.”

This I appreciate much less.

On the other hand, having guests might make this easier. I can avoid a serious discussion with my mom.

Even if that is only delaying the inevitable.

[Sarah’s mom steps out with two kitchen knives, shocking the other three women]

Page 6

• Constructive Negotiation

Seeing my mom’s home for the first time is a weird feeling, but we settle down in the living room to chat.

The records of the Earth Dragon incident in Hong Kong can be found in Hong Kong Cave and the New Territories.

“And once we have all the necessary information, we can all head to SF.”

The national representatives are splitting up the work between them and getting started on preparing for the Godquake.

“Your mother’s experience should help with the evacuation of the ordinary citizens.”

I ask what their Combat Styles are and they say Energy Gunner and Knight Striker. If that glaring when I first arrived had turned into actual fighting, this house wouldn’t have survived, huh?

I hear my mom’s knives hitting the cutting board in the kitchen. That sound really takes me back and makes me think about my old analog art supplies.

Page 7

• Chance?

[Thunderbird sees a butt]

It’s time for dinner.

• Spatia? Spatia?

[Thunderbird approaches Follett from behind]

But Thunderbird attacks the Knight Striker’s butt as she’s carrying in the food.

• Out of Impatience

“Gwoh!”

A woman shouldn’t scream like that.

[Thunderbird pecks Follett in the butt]

Page 8

• Go Bankrupt!

Anyway, the dishes broke, the food went everywhere, and we stretched Thunderbird vertically.

“Oh, god. I’m so sorry. How can I ever repay you?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure those dishes were cheap.”

“They were, but only because my pay comes out of the Hong Kong people’s taxes. And what do we do about dinner now?”

“Taxes? Dinner? Oh, dear. We need to do something about this.”

Would we not need to do something if not for the taxes and dinner part? But whatever.

Beretta has the solution.

[Sarah and her mom squish Thunderbird, Follett stares at a broken plate shard in shock, and Gleun tries to help]

Pages 9-10

• Special Dinner

Time to show off my art skills.

This should show off what I do for a living better than trying to explain it.

I’ll resurrect our dinner with the skills mom used to say were worthless.

[Sarah repairs their dinner with her knife Device while the others applaud]

It’s a pleasant surprise!

Page 11

• See You Later

[Sarah and her mom sigh while the other two leave, Follett argumentatively and Gleun pleasantly]

The next noisy morning, the British and French duo leave, one of them smiling and the other arguing.

They say they’re joining the rest of their parties and then heading to SF.

I sigh once they’re gone.

“Mom, I never would have imagined your job and the things you did would be helping SF and me.”

“You’ll just have to work your butt off to try and outdo your spectacular mother.”

You’re supposed to compliment your daughter there, not yourself.

“But you have a reliable partner now, don’t you? That fox that brought you what you needed when you needed it. What was his name again?”

Page 12

• Is He Quite [covered up by Thunderbird]

I look over to see that “reliable partner” is setting a new losing streak record.

“Re…liable?”

Don’t repeat it as a question now, mom.

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. You’re here for a few more days, right? Make sure to go say hello to your father.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

I’m pretty sure we’ll get into a fight and I’ll storm out well before those few days are up. But I guess that’s fine in its own way. Maybe?

[Sarah’s mom points over at Beretta collapsed and bandaged below Thunderbird]

The end of image.

Finish.

Kawa-Commentary

Chapter 8: Atelier

• General

This is the chapter original to this book. Lots of new characters in this one, huh?

• Page 1

They’re aboard an aerial ship taking them to the center of the Kowloon Peninsula. It has an altitude restriction, but setting up an atmospheric shield is a pain so it probably doesn’t have one.

The ship in the sky is the German Geheimnis Agency’s latest aerial cruiser. It’s a two-hull ship and the left side is the front. The stern of the two hulls is left a bit open to increase its turning ability. A Babel Gun can be attached to the center, but it’s currently detached. It’s colored pitch black, but outside of another country’s airspace, it would be rendered invisible by its illusion spell stealth. It’s currently flying while showing off the majority of its outline.

• Page 2

The New Territories have a lot of places that are more like rows of barracks than a city and you can see that in the vast hilly areas of the real city. (I’ve heard it’s been redone quite a lot nowadays.) The power lines have reinforcement charms attached to make sure the power supply doesn’t get severed. The ditches look like they’ve been maintained to avoid tragedy when it rains.

The second building from the front on the right is a home made from a scrapped bus. They’re working hard to live their lives.

• Page 3

The houses are generally made by setting up pillars, placing a roof on top, and attaching walls to the outside, but the poor foundation means they often collapse. That’s why they use lightweight materials for the walls and roof. As a bonus, that also makes the construction easier.

This house uses thick pillars, which should be unusual compared to the others in the area.

• Page 4

Nothing really to say here…

• Page 5

This house has its own kitchen, but that is because Sarah’s mother’s job requires her to entertain a variety of guests. She’s an influential person in town. The kitchen equipment was scavenged (stolen) from the destroyed part of Hong Kong, but that’s why it’s really nice for being in these barracks.

The trashcan in the back even has a bag inside. Her mother must be the fastidious type.

• Page 6

The living room. The ceiling shows a tarp covering the gaps in the roof to keep rain out. A drying rope is hanging from the lintel because things left to dry outside tend to get stolen. That thing hanging down at the upper center is a type of windchime that uses an emblem to cool the room with its ringing.

There is also a bookcase in the back and you can see some books on it. That’s a picture frame you can barely see near the top of Beretta’s ear with an incense stick standing up with it.

• Page 7

In an area without electric lights, I think it would feel like your neighbors could spy on you if their house was close by. That’s what the curtains are for.

• Page 8

A perfect example of a page with nothing to say about it.

• Pages 9-10

The shelf on the right was seen on page 5 and the cupboard on the left was seen on page 6. A waterproof mat is rolled up at the bottom of the wall, but that is placed under the wall to fill the gap between it and the ground. That keeps water out, but it’s also a sanitary defense since the ditch flows by outside.

But based on the amount of food, I feel like they’re going to be fighting over it…

• Page 11

Follett is pointing and shouting at Gleun because she has to head back to Hong Kong in her Heavy Barrel after losing more money gambling the night before.

• Page 12

There is a single vertical black line on the border decoration near the binding on the right. I asked Ya-san (Editor’s Note: He means Satoyasu) what that was and he said it was Thunderbird’s leg. Sexy…

Chapter 9: Artists

2002 spring

Page 1

• Keep Regular Hours

[Bendaughter sits up in bed after waking up]

Good morning. I know this is sudden, but this is Bendaughter.

Today, I am staying in the lodgings for SF’s Earth Dragon Godquake Countermeasure Committee.

They say the dragon will activate during the day today, so everyone has gathered here to deal with it.

My harp is being modified so they can create some kind of Super Something Cannon.

I don’t get it myself, but its power is supposed to be its selling point.

But those modifications mean my harp has been removed from the clocktower I call home.

It is a shame I can’t spend the night there…

Oh, I just fell asleep.

Sorry.

Page 2

• Box Lunch

When I head out, the City Hall people bring in some breakfast.

They say it is for all the international visitors.

They generally head into the city to eat, but most everyone has been evacuated from the city with the Godquake happening today.

“All this food costs an awful lot, you know?”

I receive one of them too.

It contains fried oysters, salad, and bread.

I recall that Mr. Fujiura loves fried oysters.

He calls them Kaki Fry.

[Bendaughter views the fried oyster on her fork]

Page 3

• Confabulation

[Follett, Singlehorn, and the German representative (Bermark Eins) speak while they eat]

I decided to take a break and find Singlehorn speaking with the German Representative (who commands an aerial ship) and the French Representative (who pilots a Heavy Barrel).

“To maintain air superiority, I would like a force that knows this city’s skies and can freely move through or stop in the air,” said the German.

He wants help from the winged species more than aircraft.

“We may have been able to do more if our Agency wasn’t so terrified of Death Techno.”

According to Singlehorn, Sarah would be the best person for that job, but she ran into trouble during a layover on her flight back from Hong Kong and no one knows where she is.

Page 4

• From Around the World

Breakfast time is over now.

The trash goes in the trashcan.

I go to the park’s trash area while speaking with the French Representative about Sein Fraus and about her teacher who travels all around the world.

The other representatives accompany me with their own trash.

I end up speaking with the British woman, with whom I was already acquainted, and the Japanese girl.

We wait our turn for the garbage truck while holding our own bags of burnable trash.

The four of us discuss all sorts of things.

They apparently all met Sarah in Hong Kong, so we talk about Sarah’s drinking and her mother.

The British woman has apparently been “making a killing” playing poker at the camp during the night.

“Once she gets back, we should all go out to eat together. I found a great British restaurant here.”

[Gleun and Kugiri stand in the park]

Page 5

• Go Nowhere Meeting

Then everyone is called to a meeting.

We still have some time until the Earth Dragon’s activation, but they want to hear our opinions.

The international representatives double-check their roles with Grand Mam.

“If that happens, you need to go all out and hit it with a good ‘wham!’ ”

“I really think a ‘bam!’ would be better than a ‘wham!’.”

“No, wait. You aren’t taking into account the job we have to do afterwards. You need more of a ‘f-fwam!’ there.”

[Grand Mam and several men hold a meeting over a map]

It doesn’t look like they are getting anywhere, so I and the three representatives with me exchange exasperated looks.

“No, you need to go for a ‘kaboom!’ there!”

“Good point. Give it a nice, painful ‘boom!’ ”

“Yes, that’s right. Go for a, um, uh, you know, like this!”

Like what?

Page 6

• Remodeling

Meanwhile, it’s time for the final adjustments to my main body, so a City Hall person comes to speak with me.

“What vocalization do you want for creating the bullets? Something with a lot of destructive power would be best.”

“Like what?”

“You know, like those noises you make at the midpoint of your song in the morning. Especially those F notes that are terribly out of tune.”

“Am I being bullied?”

At any rate, she wants me to shout something that stars with an F note.

“How about ‘fried oyster’?”

“You plan to defeat the dragon yelling that?”

The City Hall person doesn’t seem to like it, but she jots it down on the paperwork.

“Fffffffried oyster!”

You don’t have to extend the out-of-tune note like that.

[Bendaughter thinks in front of Army with her modified harp in the background]

Pages 7-8

• Jump

[Bendaughter, Army, Plainy, Gleun, and Follett sit around a table chatting. Gleun is smiling and Follett is angry]

We have some time leftover, so we all gather together again and talk about Sarah.

“I hear she’s gone missing.”

“She isn’t a bad person, though.”

“She isn’t bad, but she has problems.”

“Maybe she does, but I can forgive any nonhuman that isn’t a Werecat.”

“Oh? But I’m a Werecat.”

“British Werecats are particularly unforgivable. Especially ones who are good at poker.”

“You got taken to the cleaners last night, didn’t you?”

[Beretta hops onto the far end of the table]

• Drink

[Gleun laughs, Follett is even more angry, the rest have a sweat drop]

“I wonder if that idiot is in heaven by now.”

“Are you saying she’s dead?”

“We sure are calm with such a big event coming up today. I mean, we might die.”

“Have you all said goodbye to your special someone?”

“I’m grabbing some more snacks before we start talking about guys.”

“Oh? I never said a word about it having to be a guy.”

“This is why I can’t stand you Brits!”

[Beretta lies among the snacks on the table and Sarah grabs a drink at the far end of the table]

• Surprise

[Beretta is now on the table in front of everyone, much to their shock or confusion]

“Now, now. How about we eat some more snacks?”

“Huh? What’s this fox doing here.”

“He looks so much like the one we have at home. And I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before.”

“…Eh?”

[Sarah enjoys her drink at the far end of the table]

Pages 9-10

• Why!?

“Whoa!”

[Everyone looks over in shock to see Sarah at the tent entrance]

“What are you doing here!?”

Page 11

• Nod the Head

“I’m not sure what to say. I had some trouble at a layover, but they said there was a transport plane I could take.”

[Sarah shrugs with a carefree smile]

“But they aren’t meant for passengers, so it was going to fly straight here.”

• Holding

“And we couldn’t have the Health Department’s ace all tired when I got back, so I made sure I had some drinks, a bed, and a down blanket before I got on board.”

[Army and Plainy drag Sarah out of the tent]

“Oh, and I’m charging it as a business expense, so I made sure to get a receipt.”

• Yank In

“And then- hey, hey, hey, hey. Are you even listening? Are you? Am I being arrested? Is that what this is?”

[They continue dragging her away]

“Are you going to lock me up?”

Page 12

• Oyster Fritters

Anyway, the Earth Dragon starts up with an altered art style. After beating it up and destroying it, we need to return the ley lines to normal.

The ground quakes and our guardian deity Thunderbird is drawn giant for a preemptive strike.

We need to head out and fight soon.

[Bendaughter and Beretta watch Sarah being dragged away by Army and Plainy with a silly-looking Earth Dragon bursting from the ground and a giant Thunderbird in the background]

“Oh, her breakfast.”

I leave Sarah’s breakfast with Beretta.

Only one thing really matters here: the password is Fried Oysters.

The end of image.

Finish

Kawa-Commentary

Chapter 9: Artists

• General

This is the only chapter with the entire thing told from another person’s (person?) point of view.

• Page 1

The window has two levels and this is the view from the upper window. Since she has to look up at the sun, she must have slept in. The lodgings are at a city recreation facility on a mountain near the big cherry tree.

• Page 2

The background is a box lunch, but I actually researched American box lunches for this and they were quite dynamic. All their delivery boxed lunches were something like two whole sandwiches, an entire fist-sized potato, an entire tomato, and muscat grapes. The whole tomato is probably because it wouldn’t be as fresh if it was cut.

Compared to that, this lunch is quite modest.

• Page 3

They are eating breakfast in the park next to the recreation facility. Follett is the only one still eating because she overslept. Come to think of it, this is a rare shot because it shows the French and German representatives together.

• Page 4

You can probably tell by comparing the background to the chain-link fence on page 3, but this is the other side of the park. A talk with those two is probably about Japan, but I wonder what they’re specifically discussing.

• Page 5

You can probably tell from the light fixture, but they are in a prefab building. As a side note, I sometimes have discussions like this in my planning meetings.

• Page 6

Benny being modified. It’s basically the harp with a shell added on. That keeps the sound from escaping and adding sound reflection boards and other reinforcements increases the precision of the sound. The conversion into another kind of power is done by the external machinery. When she uses it, Benny is surrounded by a canopy that acts like a miniature studio. There is a large cannon on the top, but you can only see the back end of it here… The various maintenance hatches are currently sitting open, but they will all be closed in the end. The edges of the hatches are black because they’re covered by a material that keeps sound from escaping.

• Pages 7-8

A scene in the break tent. There is a cooler full of drinks on the left, but you can see a container of military firearms beyond that. A reference copy of the mission overview is taped to whiteboard. Can you tell where the Earth Dragon will be coming from? And on the left paper, you can see Glean, Kugiri, and “Sarah?” listed as the first group.

But they’re going to gain weight if they keep eating and drinking like this…

• Pages 9-10

The building visible in the back is the recreation facility. With just this image, you would think they were going camping, wouldn’t you?

• Page 11

Nothing to say here. Hmm.

• Page 12

The pattern on the ground below the Earth Dragon is a ley line redirection emblem meant to guide the dragon’s appearance to that point. It’s actually extremely detailed, but it looks more abstract since it’s way in the background.

Is Thunderbird angry because he sees himself as SF’s protector or because chickens like to bully snakes? It’s hard to say.

Final Chapter: Illust Novel

2002 spring

Page 1

• Non Novel 01

[Sarah and Beretta are curled up on the ground with wreckage around them]

Page 2

• Non Novel 02

[They get up to see the ruined city]

• Non Novel 03

[Sarah looks at her knife Device]

Page 3

• Non Novel 04

[Sarah holds her growling stomach while drooling at the thought of a burger]

• Non Novel 05

[She sees a convenience store]

• Non Novel 06

[She picks up Beretta and approaches the convenience store]

Page 4

• Non Novel 07

[Sarah sips a drink and sits with Beretta atop a water tower overlooking the ruined city and the giant cherry tree with several of its branches fallen]

Page 5

• Non Novel 08

[They approach the base of the tree]

Page 6

• Non Novel 09

[Sarah enters the tree]

• Non Novel 10

[Sarah and Beretta look around the hangar]

Page 7

• Non Novel 11

Sarah dives down from the tree with Beretta hanging on]

Page 8

• Non Novel 12

[Sarah stands all alone on a hill with Beretta on her shoulder looking toward the camera]

Page 9

• Non Novel 13

[Close up of the same]

• Non Novel 14

[Sarah lowers her head]

• Non Novel 15

[She lowers it further and Beretta starts to turn toward her]

Page 10

• Non Novel 16

[Beretta shouts in Sarah’s ear, startling her]

• Non Novel 17

[She looks over toward him and thus toward the camera]

• Last Non Novel

[Sarah notices something]

Pages 11-12

• Illust Novel

“Oh, there you are.”

[Sarah smiles, pulling out her knife Device]

Pages 13-14

• Finish

[Sarah runs toward a crowd including all the characters local to or visiting SF]

Hey! Thank you for all your imaging!

Kawa-Commentary

Final Chapter: Illust Novel

• General

Here we are at the last chapter.

When I initially thought up this story, I never could have imagined what would happen in New York…

• Page 1

The broken thing at the bottom is Halifax. I think this is located at the City Hall.

• Page 2

The destruction of the city is partially due to the earthquake, but also due to some large things running wild. The buildings with pieces torn out of them were probably damaged when something fell on them.

And the sky is mostly white with some trails of smoke.

• Page 3

In the background we see a convenience store named Convenience Store… It was built as part of a package instead as an independent building, so it was relatively easy to crush like this. The neighboring building is similar, so it split apart from the weaker connections.

• Page 4

The ruins of the city. The area of torn up ground toward the front is where Thunderbird collapsed onto his side and you can see where his beak fell on the buildings a bit further back. Some of the cherry tree’s branches have fallen off, but since they fell on the hilly region instead of the urban region, someone must have guided them down there.

• Page 5

This is our first look at the cherry tree from this angle. The nature park hall at the base acts as an entrance for the viewing platform.

• Page 6

Inside the tree. The panel on the right is the lobby we saw in Ch. 4. The left one is the hangar. The hangar’s double barrier door is still open because it was left open in preparation for the earthquake.

• Page 7

Diving from the hangar terrace. The nature park is down below. The space on the upper right is a parking lot. What looks like a dead end at the bottom is a tunnel passing below the roots. On the bottom left, you can see two lakes and the path Sarah took on page 5.

On the upper left is the river that supplies the tree with water and prevents flooding. Wave breaking blocks covering the bank are to slow the current enough to avoid rapids at the bottom of the hills. At the far left, a tree root lifting itself from the ground can be seen crossing over the river.

• Page 8

This hill overlooking the city is a short distance from the tree.

The position of the sun says Sarah is looking south, so she would be looking to the Pacific.

The V-shaped hole in the building roof near where the tip of Sarah’s wing falls is Thunderbird’s footprint. (The center line is hidden by the smoke.) You can just barely make out more footprints that show just how fierce a battle it was…or maybe not.

• Pages 9-14

It would be best to stay quiet here.

Anyway, that ends the story. Thank you very much.

Afterword

Here we have a compilation of this series.

You heard me: a compilation. I never even dreamed I would make something like this.

This is thanks to all of your support. Thank you so much.

I also need to thank my illustrator Ya-san for all his hard work. I know a lot of effort went into this one. I also need to thank all the Mediaworks people who were involved.

The first Image City – SF chapter was published 3 years ago. At the time, they didn’t have many graphical projects in Dengeki hp and you could see where SF was in the magazine because the edges of the pages were all black. Now the composition of the magazine is a lot more exciting and you can’t tell where SF is at all. I got through the entire plot I had prepared, so that makes this the end for now. I do have a sequel project in mind, but I don’t think that would be for a while.

Three years ago, huh? That puts it before even Paris.

They had never done anything like this, so it must have been a significant burden on the editorial department. Still, it was a ton of fun. I miss drawing out backgrounds well beyond what was necessary.

Anyway, time for the usual chat.

“Okay, start talking about SF.”

“You got it. Congrats on releasing the compilation. So what does SF stand for? Science fiction?”

“Do you really have to repeat the joke literally everyone made three years ago? Besides, that isn’t what SF stands for. It means ‘Squats and Fukkin (sit-ups)’. Just watch as you bulk up! It’s easier than you ever imagined!”

“Easy sounds good, but how about an upper body workout too?”

“But then it wouldn’t be SF anymore. But anyway, this is getting annoying, so can we get back on topic?”

“Sure. You start.”

“Start talking about SF.”

“Why would you ask the same question as before? I mean, I never got to read the extra chapter for the compilation.”

“That’s because it isn’t done yet. In fact, this afterword will probably be in the book by the time you see it. How about traveling to the future to buy it now? No, I guess that’s asking too much.”

“Yes, it is. And now I’m worried something terrible is going to happen to my Gleun!”

“She’d be way worse off in your care, idiot. Oh, but that means you bought the magazine, doesn’t it? I finally have something to compliment you for. Way to go, you bastard.”

“Now I feel really pissed off, so what do you think I should do about it?”

“I recommend clenching your fist as tight as you can and then punching yourself until you pass out.”

“Okay, let’s ignore this dimwit and discuss the future of SF. This ends Part 1. Sarah put up too powerful a barrier and her ego collapsed, Beretta vanished in a suicide bombing, SF was wiped off the face of the earth, and crushed Bendaughter and Thunderbird are visiting Mount Fuji to offer the prayer of resurrection: ‘Ventra! Ventra!’ But will their prayers be answered? Find out in SF2!”

“Stop inventing an unnecessarily exciting story. And were you even listening? Now I feel like the one moving away from talking about SF.”

“I know all too well that listening to you is a pointless endeavor. I might as well be made of cement right now. Also I just noticed it looks like a fighting game when you write it SF2.”

“It does and I feel like this afterword is getting more and more out of control…”

Then again, when doesn’t it?

Anyway, thank you for everyone involved in SF, whether you worked on it or just read it.

My background music this time was Yusa Mimori’s Chizu wo Kudasai. I personally think Sarah and Beretta are always like that. I’m listening to it right now while wondering: “Who took things at their own pace the most?”

Now, I think the next one should be Tokyo.

October 2002. A chilly morning.

-Kawakami Minoru

Satoyasu Page

And with that…

Thank you to everyone who gave their thoughts in the surveys and whatnot.

SF is finally complete!

Yahoo!

But it doesn’t really feel like it’s over.

That’s kind of SF-y, isn’t it?

But anyway…

Thank you for reading.

Until next time.

-Satoyasu