City Series:Volume7 Layer 5

Layer 5: Wind

11/15/1998

13:20

The end of summer break was approaching fast, so I punched as much as I could behind the school and then took a break. I grabbed a bamboo broom from the janitorial supply closet and swept up the causes of personal dissatisfaction littering the ground at my feet.

The next thing I knew, the West Wind was floating next to me. She must have just flown down here because she flipped around and landed. She gave a puzzled look at the students I was sweeping up.

“Oh? Those aren’t leaves. And I got my hopes up after hearing a broom. Are you going to burn them?”

“They’re not bonfire fuel. Watch what you say.”

“If you say so. I would rather avoid the smell of cooking meat since I’m on a diet right now.”

“Must suck flying through the air in fall then.”

“That’s just what I do. Don’t you have things like that too?”

She smiled, turned around, walked a bit, and sprang up into the sky.

Her skirt fluttered as she slowly ascended and I instinctually crouched down to try and get a better look. Unfortunately, it turned out the wind wouldn’t flip up a wind’s skirt. My only hope was to awaken my own psychic powers!

Out of nowhere, someone hit me from behind. I looked back to find you standing there in exasperation.

“What are you doing? Was that the West Wind? Did she have something to say?”

“She sure did.” I crouched down again, looked up into the distant sky, and tried to sound as refreshing as I could. “This is just what I do.”

Author Comment:

The West Wind appears.

When I try to draw the moon, I picture a manga-style moon, so I wonder if everyone has their own image of the winds as well.

Record 75: Each Season Has a Color

08/03/1998

8:34

Midday was sweltering during the summer, so it was best to only do things at morning and night.

I finally started showing up at school in August. I passed through the gate and walked by the spiraling path lined with trees.

“Yeah, I’m definitely feeling very sleepy.”

My sleep-deprived mind recalled the video I had watched the night before.

“The One-Armed Exterminator of the Toxic Hell visits Beast Prison 1999. Why is it in those movies they always wash their shoulders so thoroughly in the shower scenes? Don’t they have other body parts?”

No, that wasn’t why I was sleepy.

I had stayed up so late watching a show discussing the results to the Battle of Babel preliminaries being held in Osaka. I’d been so busy I had a bunch of recorded episodes piling up, so I was in my room playing the videos since the end of last month.

Thanks to the Great Canopy covering the planet, we couldn’t launch satellites, so Babel had been developed as a broadcast tower to send people’s voices to the entire planet. Under the management of some corporations and the Emergency Teachers, high schoolers across Japan were engaged in a PR battle in Osaka in order to win the right to send out the first broadcast.

“I might’ve taken part if I wasn’t in the Chancellor’s Officers.”

I felt just a bit jealous when I thought about everyone getting in on all that excitement in Osaka.

But it wasn’t that big a deal. I was protecting Tokyo.

I nodded and looked out ahead to see a baboon of a boy lying on the path up ahead.

“Huh, that almost looks like the Professor. But what would he be doing lying on the ground here?”

He didn’t respond. He was looking up into the sky with his eyes rolled back in his head, the corners of his mouth curled upwards, and his teeth showing.

A solid kick got him moving.

“Oh, hey. So someone finally noticed me, did they? I was so bored and tired I ended taking a nap here, but no one noticed.”

“They probably noticed you and decided they were safer pretending they hadn’t. So how long have you been uglying up the scenery here?”

“Three days maybe? I thought I was a goner when it rained and now I’m too hungry to move.”

I had no choice but to reach out a helping hand.

“Here, eat this.”

“So it’s true what they say about idiot’s not realizing how pathetic they are. And since you’re an idiot, I will explain this as plainly as possible: I want you to punch something extremely hard.”

I punched him extremely hard.

“No, not me. Try hearing me out first next time. Are you ready? Ready or not, here it comes: I tried to use the scientific principle of guts to open the back of the third tree over there, but the lever inside was rusted in place.”

Hm. I looked over to see one of the tree trunks had been opened to reveal a metal pull-down lever on the inside. It was currently in the “spring” position.

“The student council asked me to switch these trees to their summer colors. Painting them would cost a lot, so I was wondering if there was a simpler but more exciting solution. So I checked around and – wouldn’t you know it? – there was! This was constructed in the Meiji era, so it’s pretty old.”

“I see. And it hasn’t been used to change the colors before because it’s rusted in place?”

I activated my Mobilized Writing.

If you throw a punch with belief in your heart, all things will receive the blow in accordance with the conservation of energy.

I tried punching it and all the trees lining the path gained their summer colors.

“Good thing the ink hasn’t deteriorated with time. Anyway, Professor, what are you going to do with the money this saved?”

“To fill my very empty stomach, of course. First, I will-”

I didn’t bother hearing him out. I punched the lever back the other way and sent a barrage into his stomach.

Author Comment:

These stories feature a lot of objects with a trick to them, don’t they? Like the gas lights. I think I like things that are slightly out of the ordinary, like light produced by something other than electricity.

You can see it in Holmes-era England or in the Teito Monogatari movie too, but the depictions of festivals in Natsume Souseki’s Sanshirou really set the mood with the light and the darkness.

Record 35: Someone By My Side

10/03/1997

11:00

The first thing I did after returning from the Mountain was sleep like a log.

When I poured all my efforts into sleeping, today became the day after yesterday and I was kicked out of bed. I looked up to find Nobody in my bed. I couldn’t get back into bed like that, so I jumped out the window and wandered around town. I would be going to school and joining the Chancellor’s Officers tomorrow, but I couldn’t get in the mood right now.

I was wandering near the train station, wondering what to do, when I spotted someone I know.

“Oh, it’s Senpai.”

“There you are. I was worried, so I was searching for you.”

“How did you know I was here?”

“I called you at home earlier and was told Nobody was there.”

“Yeah, my parents went overseas and still haven’t gotten back, so Nobody must have answered the phone.”

“Probably so. I live alone, so when I call home, Nobody tends to answer. Have you ever called your home phone when everyone is out?”

“Can’t say that I have.”

“Nobody will answer,” said Senpai. “But now our Vice Chancellor has returned from training to replace that Nobody. We should celebrate tonight. How about ramen like the night we first met?”

Author Comment:

Nobody appears.

I find English to be a strange language. Or rather, the way it perceives things and twists things is strange. The way it uses words like “never” and “few” is extremely strange to me.

Record 22: Swift as the Wind

07/01/1997

7:01

The first half of our Mountain training was nearly complete.

I had all the fundamentals down and had a general idea of my Mobilized Writing – or felt like I did. We would be leaving the Mountain on the 20th so we could each train however we liked, but then we would return to the Mountain in August.

That’s when we would all have our Mobilized Writing and would battle each other to see who comes out on top.

With the morning cleaning done, I was sitting in the bamboo thicket next to the inn when I felt a fluffy sensation on the arm I had resting on the fallen bamboo leaves.

I looked down to see Daitarou. And if he was here…

“You must be here too.”

I turned around to find you in a light green monk’s robe. You greeted me, sat down next to me, and then leaned against me a little.

“You’ve had something weird following you around, haven’t you?”

“Hi,” the thing said as it passed by in front of us. And eventually…

“Do you know what that is?” you asked me.

“It came from behind, right? And it greeted us? And left? Isn’t that enough to figure it out?”

“Of course it isn’t,” you sighed. You looked up into the sky and then tugged on my sleeve.

I looked up to see the summery South Wind flying south above the bamboo thicket.

Author Comment:

Daitarou is You’s pet, but he gets along well with Me as well.

Maybe Me is like his biological parent and You is like his adoptive parent.

Record 47: First Impressions are Important

01/03/1998

10:24

Chofu’s airport was bustling with activity even thought it was the start of the year.

The Kansai ports were all filled up thanks to the Babel festivities, so the burden was shifted to the rest of the country’s ports. I was at the entrance and I could already see several humongous tankers floating in the sky to the side of Chofu.

“An international incident this early in the year is best avoided,” said Snowy in a furisode. “It is fortunate this airport was empty.”

“It’s a big one, so it’s the only place in Japan where ships can be launched into the sky.”

But thanks to that, we had to help with security.

I looked to Snowy, thinking about how she got so unnecessarily fired up when it came to security, prepping, and combat. For example, she currently wore her furisode off of one shoulder and held a katana in that hand.

“You do know dressing like that makes you look like you’re in the yakuza and itching for a fight, right?”

“This is for security purposes. I must show that I am prepared to wield my weapon at any moment. With so many different countries’ ships here, I must stay focused and ready to fight.”

“Can I ask something?”

“Go ahead.”

“I get that you like working security, but is that because you simply like the responsibility of the task or because you’re hoping things go south and you get to beat someone up? Or maybe both?”

“That is a difficult question to answer.”

“…It really shouldn’t be.”

The look on her face told me she didn’t understand what I meant at all.

Then Lady walked by behind us.

She was wandering around in a white dress for some reason.

“Hey, Lady. How are things on your end?”

“Eh? Oh, I’m doing fine. The dogs and cats being too loud is the only real complaint I have.”

Snowy held her sword and looked to Lady.

“Come to think of it, how did you like it?”

“Oh, that. Thanks. I’ve never gotten such an impressive one before.”

I frowned at their conversation.

“What are you thanking her for? Never gotten such an impressive what? Were you two doing indecent things behind my back!? Out with it! You don’t want to anger me, do you!?”

“What is your problem?” said Lady. “I’m just talking about her New Year’s card.”

“How can a New Year’s card be ‘impressive’?”

“You know the ones that have the red Hinomaru shooting out a bunch of beams behind it? She handwrote ‘I offer my thanks to the Emperor’ on top of that. Oh, and the ‘to’ field gave me the title of ‘patriot’. My grandmother said it reminded her of her childhood.”

“I printed off more than I needed, but I couldn’t throw them away when they mentioned the Emperor. I sent them to all of the teachers, committee members, and Officers. I even sent one to you. Did you not receive it?”

“No, I definitely did not not not not not! Did you get my address wrong maybe? There may be a family somewhere in Kantou that’s either really confused or overjoyed right now.”

“Huh?”

Snowy titled her head while you walked toward the entrance in a track suit.

“Is Lady here? We have a lot of work to do now! Get your keyboard ready in a hurry!”

I looked to the port just in time to see a giant whale ascending into the sky.

Author Comment:

The Chofu airport appears.

Snowy’s father is a colonel in the military. She hates giving the impression her accomplishments are due to nepotism, so she seems to keep her distance from him. Still, his influence on her is undeniable.

Record 63: So Very Much Trouble

05/23/1998

13:52

5th period had begun, but we had left school and gone into town.

It was a very windy day. The spiraling wind seemed to rule over the traffic circle in front of the Itsukaichi Line’s Nishi-Akiru Station.

I sat on the traffic circle’s curb and played with Daitarou who you had placed on the ground. The Boss was working on his motorcycle nearby and Lady was tuning the clock in the center of the traffic circle. Other Officers were scattered around in their uniforms.

We had nothing to do while the south wind blew in the pre-rainy season heat.

“God, I’m bored,” said the Boss. “Snowy alone would be enough to deal with an illegal school takeover. So why are there so many of us here?”

“They said I had to go because I’m his superior. What about you?”

“I had to do maintenance on my girl here either way. It’s not like I would learn anything in class anyway.”

“It’s so like you to not just say you think class is boring. I think that’s most everyone else’s reason. Senpai isn’t here since he and the daytime don’t get along.”

“What about the 1st Special Duty Officer?”

“When Snowy stalked off with her sword drawn, she followed after her with a bowling scoresheet. My guess is she’ll be back with the sheet filled in with strikes. I doubt Snowy would settle for just a spare.”

“The only question is how many pins there are, huh?”

I looked up to see what Lady was doing and saw her with her keyboard connected to the tall clock, headphones attached to the keyboard, and her butt swinging to an unheard beat. She was really getting into it, but it looked weird as hell when you couldn’t hear what she heard.

I sighed.

“Why did this illegal school takeover have to be an underground school when it’s so damn hot?”

“They’re calling it the 51st D School now, right? It’s an evil railroad research school working for an evil railroad research committee, so they probably wanted something close to the station so they could fight the good railroad research committee.”

“Yeah, maybe so. But what makes a railroad research committee good or evil?”

“The good one has a commander who gives unreasonable orders and the evil one has four unreasonably idiosyncratic generals.”

“Thanks for the unscientific explanation there.”

I heard an electrain slowly approaching.

The Itsukaichi Line’s downward slope came into this station, but so did the upward portion. There was only one track here, so it switched at the station.

The track made an electric sound as the electrain approached. Lady stopped wiggling her butt like a cute weirdo and looked to the electrain.

“Oh! The South Wind and the Whirlwind are arriving at the upwards platform! I’ve never seen that before! It’s so cool!!”

With her headphones on, she spoke unnecessarily loud while only trying to talk to herself.

The South Wind brushed up her short hair, said something to the Whirlwind, and alighted on the roof of the electrain’s front car.

After watching the wind in a blue coat sit down on the roof, the Whirlwind in a white kariginu passed through the chain link fence and flew into the sky over our heads. After spreading a fan and spinning around, the wind blew out.

I shut my eyes against the wind and she was gone by the time I opened them again.

I figured she had gone to summon the rainy season, but then I saw two people descending the station stairs: you and Snowy. Snowy kept swinging her sword in a testing manner and making confused grunts while you raised a scoresheet covered in butterfly marks.

“Hey, listen up, everyone! I have big news!” You took a breath. “I just heard someone actually shout ‘curses!’ for the very time in my life!”

Okay, yeah. I see how they’re evil now.

Author Comment:

Nishi-Akiru Station is known as Akigawa Station nowadays. Its name was changed when it was given its current form.

I think the old name has more character, though.

You can see Snowy proactively heads out when there’s trouble. The protagonist only does it if he feels like it. With the Boss and Lady there too, you can really tell everyone is trying to kill some time.

Record 51: But I Hesitate

02/14/1998

20:05

I accidentally got in on the latest fad of “catching a cold”, so I visited the science room that doubles as the science clubroom. The science room uses the adjacent chemistry room as a drug room so they can run a black market of student-made drugs late at night.

“I’m less worried about the ‘black market’ part as I am the quality of the doctor,” I said to the Professor when I saw him seated in front of me.

He nodded, pushed his glasses up his nose, and looked me straight in the eye.

“What have we here? So even the apes are visiting doctors in Tokyo these days?”

“Shut up and give me my medicine. You have one that will heal me right up, don’t you?”

“They say a cold is the source of all illnesses, so logically speaking, you should take every medicine we have. How does that sound?”

“No, thanks. Just give me something normal.”

“We have one you snort and one you heat with a lighter and inject into a vein. Which one would you like? I guarantee you they will both make you feel much, much better. And I beg you to take it where I can watch.”

“You should probably rewrite the sign out front to say ‘street price’ instead of ‘standard medical fees’.”

“Oh? Do we have an arguer? We do, don’t we? Then you get the one that goes up the butt. You’ll feel like you lost something afterwards. It’s made from wasabi harvested from an utaki on a full moon. That stuff is great for the butt. Really, really great.”

“What’s so great about it?”

“It stings on the outside and stings on the inside. For a clinical trial, I forcibly tested it on a cat in the courtyard and hoo boy was it effective.”

“You’re the one who messed up the vice principal’s cat!?”

“That is another way of putting it, yes.”

I made sure to punch him. He is not who I needed to be speaking with when I’m sick.

I looked to the partition curtains on the left and right.

“This place looks like a hospital. Do you get girls here too?”

I pulled back one curtain and saw you with half your clothes off.

“Hey! Wh-what do you think you’re doing!?”

“It’s called peeping. And I warn you, I am unmovable when I get stubborn. People do call me crazy strong, after all. With an emphasis on the crazy.”

“Why don’t you ever make any sense? Are you here to fix your broken brain?”

“Wow, that’s not a very nice thing to say. Also, what are you doing here when your parents run a pharmacy?”

“All of our medicine has caught the cold that’s going around. Even Daitarou is collapsed on his back.”

“I see.” The Professor approached. “So you need some medicine, 1st Special Duty Officer?”

“Y-yes. I’ve been chilled since last night.”

But you have so much fat in your boobs and butt, I thought when you glared at me while holding your clothes close.

“Why do I get the feeling you just had a really rude thought.”

“No, no. Of course not. You’re imagining things.”

I was clearly flustered, so you sighed and looked aside just long enough for me to activate my Mobilized Writing.

If you throw a punch with belief in your heart, all things will receive the blow in accordance with the conservation of energy.

I punched out your cold.

Your shoulders shook just once and you looked up at me.

“What did you just do?”

“Nothing at all.”

“Liars never prosper, you know? As thanks, I’ll send you some medicine that doesn’t have a cold.”

“I don’t need any,” I said before saying goodbye to you and doing more stupid stuff with the Professor.

After we made a promise sealed in blood to have an official showdown later on, I went home.

I found a package from you in my apartment’s mailbox.

I opened the package in the elevator while it descended upwards and found a single chocolate bar from the supermarket.

“What kind of medicine is this?”

Author Comment:

The protagonist never did get his medicine, but maybe that’s for the best.

Record 4: A Voice Calls

02/27/1997

6:52

Last night, the partner of the woman who gave birth to me – who I guess you would biologically refer to as my father – made a sudden announcement.

“We’re traveling overseas to live there the day after tomorrow. Bye.”

How was I supposed to take that when I still hadn’t gotten back the results for my high school entrance exam?

Is that what they mean when they talk about the instability of life? I had no choice but to express my teenage instability by wandering the streets early in the morning.

Then I realized the sun hadn’t risen even though it really should have by now. That meant it was still night.

What was going on?

I looked for a switch string hanging from the sky, but there wasn’t one. I wondered what to do about this when I arrived at a ridiculously long road running alongside the railroad and through some vast fields. I sat on the guardrail and heard a train crossing the mountains from the direction of Oume.

It was right on time.

At least they’re doing their job, I thought before hearing a pair of footsteps.

I looked over to see the East Wind in a white coat and the Morning Wind in a kariginu walking this way.

The Morning Wind had a female form and she twirled around with her geta sounding on the asphalt.

The East Wind walked past me and then looked back.

“Hurry it up, would you?”

The sun immediately rose.

Author Comment:

I never put it in the story, but the protagonist’s parents work government jobs.

I don’t know if they get along with their son or not, but they do seem to trust him.

Record 8: I Still Don’t Get It

03/18/1997

12:41

Climbing to the school rooftop after graduating felt weird.

But I had come here a lot in the past.

There was only one thing on my mind: what would things be like in high school?

For example, when Tokyoites like us went to other cities, we would start to use our own name. That was because we needed other people to recognize us in those other cities.

“Will anything like that happen in high school?”

I faced forward and heard some footsteps climbing the emergency stairs to the roof.

The footsteps reaching me through the afternoon wind were very familiar.

They were my footsteps.

The hurried footsteps vanished when they got near the roof and then started rising from the bottom again.

They gradually grew louder and stronger.

Then they became yesterday’s footsteps and stopped.

I didn’t hear them again after that. Because…

“My footsteps won’t be climbing those stairs again tomorrow.”

I nodded, stood up, and walked toward the stairs.

“Oh? I should have known you would be here too.”

I saw you climbing the stairs.

Author Comment:

I think everyone ends up meeting their various past selves at this time in their lives.

Record 110: Shake It All Off

02/15/1999

2:00

I held the apartment building’s automatic door open with my foot and waited for Snowy to arrive.

It was a winter night, so the wind was freezing. I heard that wind speaking from the sky.

“The moon is engaged in self-harm.”

I looked around but there was no on there. But I did hear a quiet whistle and some geta footsteps from the wind.

“I was too late to stop it, but I can keep a watchful eye to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

The voice was gentle and carried the scent of bamboo grass.

Instead of searching for the voice’s owner, I looked to the sky. Sure enough, the moon was missing some of its roundness.

But the heavenly bodies changed their form by waxing and waning like that, so surely it could return to normal at any time. So why didn’t it?

“To avoid the trouble a full moon would bring.”

Hearing a voice, I looked down to find Snowy standing in front of me.

“I saw the note explaining the basics. And the Night Wind told me what you said to yourself. Where is she?”

“I put her in the bath. I left the water on, but don’t shut it off. Even if she reaches her half-life, she shouldn’t be able to move while in running water.”

“Understood. But I will cut her down if necessary. Is that fine?”

“Yeah. If I’m not back after 7 days and 7 nights, then go ahead and do it. If it comes that…”

“Yes?”

“Hesitate at least once. That should be enough.”

“Understood.”

Snowy nodded and some other instruments joined the whistling I heard in the wind.

They were a tenor xylophone, a fire bell, and…

“A violin. What a noisy night. The stars seem to have noticed something is up because they are all hanging around at the Torys Bar instead of heading out.”

“I see. Then the cheap shochu place is probably packed full of stars and winds tonight too. That would be the best place to gather some info.”

“Are you about to head out?”

“Yeah. I know more or less what’s going on already.”

Hearing that, Snowy walked past me and into the apartment building.

She sighed with her shoulders uncharacteristically slumped.

“I wonder what Lady, the Boss, and Little Boy will say when they see the letter I left in the living room.”

“Sorry about all this. I never thought I’d be giving you a middle management job.”

“You had no choice. As your aide, it is my job to clean up your messes. And as the Vice Chancellor it is your job to do the same for Senpai. Neither I nor the others could do that. Little Boy’s Mobilized Writing is similar to yours, but he is still too inexperienced.”

“That’s not a very nice thing to say. He’s working really hard, so he’d cry if he heard that.”

I smiled a little and she smiled back before tapping me on the chest.

“Get going. There is no time to spare. Knowing Senpai, the evidence will still be there, but the corporations are good at spreading rumors. Get there before they get their hands on something.”

“Got it. I want to clean this up as much as possible.”

“Using your power?”

“That’s right,” I said as I took the first step outside. I needed to leave.

I heard the nighttime music playing in the distance.

Author Comment:

The protagonist heads out to fight.

This is the first time he and Snowy have worked together like this and they are acting with a mutual understanding of each other.

I think Snowy’s internal chart of the people around her tells her to let him make the decisions about You here.

Record 96: I Had Forgotten

12/19/1998

20:08

After night fell, we left your house and walked through the city.

“How about we grab a drink at the milk hall by the station?” you suggested.

You and Senpai took the lead as we walked down a long road following the railroad.

The Boss was drunk and humming to himself and Snowy was holding her aching temple.

Lady was in high spirits after drinking.

Little Boy had passed out after a single cup.

“Kid’s got some good fuel efficiency,” the Boss laughed.

I agreed and took a look around.

We were surrounded by fields with a scattering of houses. There was a single dent in the guardrail.

Oh, right. This was the place where my past self spoke with my future self last year.

I fell one step, two steps, three steps behind the others and sat on the guardrail.

Once I was alone, I spoke.

“Come to think of it, I met another future me today.”

The wind carried away my voice.

“What a coincidence. So did I.”

I heard a voice from right next to me.

I felt like I could see someone in the very corner of my vision.

I heard a railroad crossing from the mountains toward Oume in the north. A steam whistle’s slow but hysterical sound arrived from the distance.

“I’m stumped,” I said. “I know I can trust my past self, but can I trust my future self too? What do you think?”

“Why would you ask me that? Today, I came to think my power is useless.”

Probably so. I felt the same when I remembered what had happened on your birthday last year.

“But the future self I met today couldn’t dodge my attack. That was honestly a disappointment. I mean, why wouldn’t it be? That means my future self is worse than my present self.”

If you throw a punch with belief in your heart, all things will receive the blow in accordance with the conservation of energy.

When I spun around and threw my fist, it crashed into another fist.

The colliding energies burst and bent the guardrail we were sitting on.

It was a solid blow and I knew he had to have been blown away, so I spoke to him.

“Remember this. I’ll overwrite the weak me you saw today. I’ll make him a fake. Tell me I’ll polish my skills even further. I’ll make the stronger me the real one.”

“Even if that power means losing things?”

“Yes. Even if I lose everything else and hate it so much, I doubt I’ll ever lose this power. It’s the one real thing I have. It’s permeated me to the point I could never forget it even if I tried.”

“I see. Then you remember this. No matter what might happen, that power will be the final thing you remember.”

With that, my past self left. I could only hear the steam whistle on the wind.

Then I realized there were two of me.

My past self was seated next to me.

Author Comment:

Another appearance of his other self.

The rest of the conversation with this other self will be told in Record 97.

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