City Series:Volume7a Chapter2

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…

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