City Series:Volume7a Chapter6

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…

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