Volume 4 -A Chapter 9 (1/2)
1:03 PM
A bullet train traveling west from Nagoya would arrive in Osaka after two hours.
Taeko and Saki had left Nagoya at noon, so they were currently halfway between Osaka and Nagoya in both time and distance.
Taeko took up an entire double seat on the right side of the aisle with the Dragon Emperor's fist resting on one of the seats. Saki sat in one of the opposite seats while writing something in the memo book he had taken from his attaché case.
Taeko faced the train's window.
The scenery below the winter sky was the concrete wall of the elevated track.
They were pa.s.sing through the mountains of Oumi and about to enter the Koto region, so Lake Biwa was located past the wall.
However, Taeko was not looking at that scenery.
She was looking at the reflection of herself and Saki who sat across from her.
”What are ya doin'?”
”Going over everything that's happened. I need to have some predictions before we get back to Osaka.”
”Predictions?”
”About what the Tokyoites are thinking.”
”Aren't they tryin' to destroy Ixolde? If it's completed and creates the strongest Rhythm, the east-west power balance will s.h.i.+ft westward pretty quick.”
”Unfortunately, we don't plan to use the Flame High even if we do make it.”
”…What are ya talkin' about? No one actually believes yer presentin' it to the Mountain.”
”Don't be stupid. Whether you want to call it the strongest Rhythm, Yamata, or the Flame High, it isn't like a normal Rhythm.”
”…What do ya mean?”
”The Mountain and the Emergency Teachers are hiding the truth of the Kinki Riot from us, so there are some records we can't view even as part of the Officers. But our uppercla.s.smen managed to piece together the half-erased technical doc.u.ments and historical records to figure out what Techs Tokyo's Chancellor used during the Kinki Riot.”
”And the Ixolde Word Accelerator is goin' to create that?”
Saki cut her off.
”Just listen. The Flame High used to be called a Heavy Rhythm, but that's because they didn't understand how it worked. After some tests, we've figured out the theory behind it.” He took a breath. ”It creates music with a Tempo overwhelmingly faster than any currently existing Rhythm.”
”How much faster?”
”To use your Thunder High as a comparison, it would complete eighty sequences in the time yours took to complete just one. That's twenty-eight times faster than the Break High which is the current fastest. It's so fast you can't think up your Words fast enough. And…”
”And?”
”Its flames spread.”
Taeko moved for the first time when she heard that.
She faced Saki who closed his memo book and faced her.
”I guess I can tell you why we have no intention of using the Flame High after creating it.”
”Oh?”
”The biggest problem is that we couldn't determine what Rhythm the Osaka Chancellor had used at the time.”
”There aren't any records of that?”
”They're vague. It says he 'used a Rhythm without using a Rhythm'. Can you decode that?”
Taeko thought for a second.
”That can wait. It's an even bigger mystery than the Flame High's mechanism.”
”Right? Anyway, having a trump card against Tokyo was of political importance, so some years back, Osaka's Chancellor's Officers used the remaining records to build Ixolde.” He sighed. ”But two years ago, there was an accident during a preliminary experiment.”
”…The ogre?”
”Yes. A mistake in the word acceleration caused one of the machines on the double helix pathway to burst into flames and produce an ogre. Simply put, that ogre was a failed creation of the Flame High.”
Saki put the memo book in his pocket and lightly struck his left palm with his right fist.
”From that, we learned about two of the Flame High's powers. One, it can perfectly pierce any object. Its ultra-high speed Tempo creates a vibration that can 'eat' both the Lives composing an object and even the Rhythm techniques we create.”
”And the other one?”
”The spreading flames I mentioned before. …Anything the ogre set on fire would utterly burn away. The great speed of the Flame High intoxicates and steals the Lives making up the object.”
”Do you know why Souichirou took on mechanical arms and legs?'
”Ya don't mean…?”
”I do.” Saki smiled a little. ”His right arm caught on fire during the first battle, so he immediately chopped it off. And…he adopted prosthetic arms and legs for the next battle. That way he could purge them and attach a new one if any of them caught on fire.”
”So it's a Rhythm that pierces the opponent's body and burns them away? …That really is different from our Over Rhythms.”
”Do we really need a Rhythm that brings certain death to our opponents? Either way, it isn't something anyone wants to master.”
”I see…”
”The Flame High is too dangerous. We know that all too well. The only reason we're making it is…”
”Politics, right?”
”Giving up on what the previous years worked so hard on would be an embarra.s.sment. This has gotten to be a lot of trouble.” Saki sank back into his seat. ”Osaka's 1st Special Duty Officer was said to be the third major base of the Kinki Riot because he held all the information on it, but I can't understand any of it.”
”Will the other two bases not tell ya anythin'?”
”You're talking about the Nandaimon Shrine and the Mountain. They're both too secretive. They're clearly trying to hold us in check, so we decided to present the Flame High to the Mountain right away.”
”I see… Well, that's probably proof that the Mountain and Nandaimon both know the power of the Flame High.”
”It'd be a problem if the students caused another major conflict now that j.a.pan has been split between east and west.”
He sighed.
”It'd be a problem for both of us,” said Taeko.
”Yes. …I get the feeling you'd never hear the end of it from Nagoya's Student Council.”
”The students in my year wouldn't have it too bad. It's the younger years I'm worried about. …If somethin' like that happened, they could even end up joinin' Tokyo's side.”
”I'm surprised you're willing to come back to Osaka with all that local trouble going on.”
”I'm indebted to someone there.” Taeko touched the Dragon Emperor with her right hand while still looking out the window. ”But if that happens, it'll be just like my brother wanted.”
”Oh, the brother killed by the Killing Holder…”
”He went to the Mountain for Chancellor's trainin' that year, but Yuuki Yuuki was given the Koto Chancellor position on the recommendation of the previous Chancellor who was expected to keep the spot. My brother ended up as Vice Chancellor.”
”So he had the skill, but he couldn't outdo her?”
”The Yamas.h.i.+ta family has produced Chancellors for generations. …Due to the eyes of our family on his back and the Ixolde issue, he wanted to turn Nagoya's focus toward Tokyo by defeatin' the Koto Chancellor.”
”But Yamas.h.i.+ta Gihei lost…and the age remained unchanged.”
”I couldn't accept the remains of a loser, so his right arm was apparently buried somewhere at Nandaimon.”
She laughed quietly and Saki said nothing.
”Let's get back on topic,” she said with a slight shrug. ”In yer opinion, who in Kansai could defeat an opponent wieldin' the Flame High?”
”Either Souichirou who has fought a close approximation before…or Yuuki Yuuki the Killing Holder.”
”I see…”
”But what is Tokyo thinking? If they're worried about the Flame High, why didn't they destroy Ixolde when they attacked the night before last?”
Saki crossed his arms.
He looked Taeko in the eye through his sungla.s.ses but seemed to be speaking to himself.
”And there's more. Why did they crush Nagoya?”
”Because we got in their way, right?”
”They didn't crush Gifu or the Koto region on their way to Osaka. They had to have gone through those areas too, so why did they only crush Nagoya?”
”There's only one answer.”
”What's that?”
”They have to be waiting for Ixolde to be activated. That way they can steal the Flame High.”
And…
”They might be planning to attack Nagoya.”
”Ya mean they'll take over Nagoya as a midway point and continue west from there?”
”Yes. If they can rule Nagoya with the Flame High in hand, it'll give them some decent publicity in both the east and the west.”
”But that would require havin' someone who can control the Flame High, right?”
Saki smiled at Taeko's question.
”Nakamura Hisahide said he was going to Osaka in search of a bond with his sister.”
”What about it?”
”Who was the Tokyo's female Chancellor that used the Flame High during the Kinki Riot?”
”Nakamura Midori…”
Tension filled Taeko's voice when she spoke that name.
Saki smiled and nodded at her obvious concern.
”There's no doubting it.” He took a breath. ”Nakamura Hisahide is Nakamura Midori's brother.”
1:36 PM
Students were visible here and there as Shoui carried a Dog G.o.d on his shoulder and walked around Osaka with the girl named Takada Seigi.
They were looking for the hotel at which she had a reservation.
She tilted her head as they walked along the road in front of Nanba Station.
”Was it the Osaka Hotel?”
There were hotels with names like that everywhere.
That name was especially little help in the category of hotels cheap enough for a normal student to stay at them.
”This is quite the problem… I can see why you were searching around since morning.”
Shoui scratched at his head and looked around. The semi-cylindrical Nanba Station was right in front of them and a few phones were located in front of the station's entrance.
”How about you call home to ask?”
”Oh, I can't do that. I left on this trip without telling anyone.”
”What?”
”It's sort of a graduation trip and I'm skipping school.”
”Skipping school, are you? …Kids these days sure like to have fun.”
”You understand, don't you? If you were to run away from home…”
…Well, I kind of get it.
He tried to say that with a bitter smile, but…
”I don't have any parents, so I don't understand,” answered the Dog G.o.d on his shoulder.
Takada's expression changed before he could scold the Dog G.o.d.
Her cheerful look clouded over.
”Ah, don't worry about it!”
But it was too late.
The cloudy expression soon produced rain. Tears welled up in Takada's eyes.
Shoui looked around quickly to check the afternoon crowd in front of the station.
…I can't believe this. I hope no one's watching… / ”I can't believe this. I hope no one's watching…”
He panicked when the Dog G.o.d spoke his thoughts aloud.
”Wait! I don't mean that in a bad away! Um…!”
Takada nodded and quickly lowered her head.
”Sorry about that. My emotions burst out without warning again. That was a nuisance, wasn't it?”
”I wouldn't call it a nuisance. Honestly, it just surprised me. …What was that about?”
”People's thoughts reach me through Taromaru.”
The Dog G.o.d licked at the tears on her cheek.
”So I read your memories…”
”Oh, so you saw when I was buried alive and nearly died during the Kinki Riot…”
He smiled bitterly as the girl wiped away the tears with her ring-bearing hand.
”I can't believe this. So this Dog G.o.d is connected to you?”
”Taromaru…no, the entire Dog G.o.d race speaks people's thoughts.”
”I see.”
”But they can't speak thoughts people can't put into words. Instead, they try to understand those thoughts and share them with each other.”
”So the memories and images I briefly thought of were sent back to you through the Dog G.o.d?”
Takada nodded.
”As they grow more and more accustomed to reading someone's thoughts, that person's thoughts and memories…are directly transmitted to me.”
”I can't read your thoughts, though.”
”You probably need to get used to reading them.”
”That's not fair…”
Shoui then realized something and the Dog G.o.d on his shoulder reflexively put it to words.
”You can see my lewd thoughts too?”
”Yes, I can.”
Shoui's face stiffened at her Dog G.o.d's simple answer.
She smiled bitterly while wiping away the tears and then leaned against the station's outer wall.
”You were sneaking peeks at my b.u.t.t and legs from behind before.”
”W-well! They're pretty great! Wait, what am I saying!? Calm down! Agh!”
”…Taromaru is reading all of your thoughts.”
”Wait, wait, wait! That's, um, the thing about that is…”
”You like legs in stockings?”
”Indeed I do. …Wait, no!”
”Don't worry. I understand.”
”That stockings are amazing?”
”No.”
”Th-then, it's something worse? I do have a feeling I was thinking some pretty awful things…”
”I said don't worry. There are people out there thinking even more unbelievable things.”
”That doesn't make me feel much better!”
Takada giggled as Shoui shouted through the Dog G.o.d.
She was laughing even though she had been crying just a moment before.
When he noticed that change, Shoui sighed and let his shoulders droop.
”You're an interesting person…”
”Am I?”
”Yes. This girl I know almost never lets her emotions show.”
”Really? I'm jealous…”
”You are?”
”People used to say I never hide anything I'm feeling or that I'm emotionally unstable.”
”Used to, hm?”
”Oh, right. My memories don't get through to you.”
Shoui looked to the Dog G.o.d named Taromaru on his shoulder. The animal looked him in the eye and tilted his head.
”How smart is this guy?”
”I'm not sure. My cousin said his intelligence matches whoever he's possessing.”
”Your cousin?”
”Yes, he was the one who created Taromaru. He's a Word Master, you see. Taromaru was based on one that was possessing that cousin, but it left him because he found someone to support him.”
”They stop possessing you once you're no longer no single?”
Takada shook her head.
”They possess someone who is indecisive.”
”…Indecisive?”
Shoui placed a hand on his chin in thought and Taromaru spoke his thoughts aloud.
”It's probably not over whether stockings or panty hose are better. That's getting into the perverted area again, which could cause some problems for me. So what could she be indecisive about? It's probably something more pleasant. Something pleasurable…no, that's getting back into pervert territory again.”
”Shoui-san, Shoui-san. I can hear everything you're thinking.”