Volume 4 -A Chapter 11 (1/2)
4:15 PM
The Osaka Hilton hotel's sky lounge gave a view of the city of Osaka
Two people viewed the colors of that city: Hisahide and Takada
Hisahide stared at the silhouette of Osaka Castle visible in the distance
”Sorry the day you arrived is already the big day of Ixolde's activation, Takada”
”I don't mind I never was interested in Rhythms”
The Dog God on her shoulder spoke for her as she sipped at a teacup
Hisahide faced her fro he wanted to say, and sighed
”You really stick to your own pace, you know that?”
”I aht?”
The question was directed to Taromaru who replied in a quiet, bell cricket-like voice
”A Dog God lives by devouring people's indecision, hht? Has he ever gotten along with anyone else?”
”Yes Just today, he ran up onto someone else's shoulder for the first time”
”…Eh?”
”You're the one that asked Why do you sound so surprised?”
”Oh, well, y'know?” He scratched at his hair ”There's really someone else like you in this city?”
”Yes He is trying to play his role…and he's far more indecisive than you or me”
”Was he good person?” he asked while sipping at his tea
”Yes Although he did stare at my butt”
Hisahide immediately spat out his mouthful of tea
”H-he what!?”
”Hisahide-san, please don't spit out your tea You scared Taromaru”
”Y-yeah, but more importantly…”
”I've said I can read other people's Lives, haven't I? Well, I could read his even more once Taromaru possessed him”
”He still has souts to admire your ass without permission”
”You used to always look at h”
”That's because a girl's all about the breasts, not the ass”
”If you say so”
That was all Takada said before taking another sip of her tea
The waiter brought over a new pot of tea and a cake, so she pulled out her fork while speaking again
”But he was an interesting person”
”By looking at your ass?”
”Inthat He was indecisive about soabout it on his own I was jealous of that”
”If you ask me, someone who can't make up their mind is just weak”
”Then I guess I'm fundamentally weak too”
”Would it be conceited of me to say that's why I'll always protect you?”
”No, you're working quite hard there, even if it isn't as much as between Takahiro and Hijiri”
”I'uy you've taken such an interest in”
”You can if you want He's the one the Nagoya Chancellor brought with her” She took a breath ”He is a key person I could tell after prophesying his future”
”His future?”
”Yes, I read his kotodama, but… What's the matter?”
Hisahide brought a hand to his forehead
”Ahh… I do want to go out with you, you know?”
”Yes, and I said that was fine”
Takada held out her right hand to show the golden ring on the er
Hisahide looked to the silver ring on his own right hand's er
”You weren't thinking at all, were you?”
He sighed when she and Taromarou on her shoulder both tilted their head
”Well, I guess this is destiny too,” heTakada to recite the prophecy she had seen
She briefly hesitated and looked to Taromaru
Taromaru erased all intonation from his voice and seemed to squeeze out the voice so only Nakamura could hear
A white flower blooms in the darkness
An eins in the fire
A ness
A king saves him
A queen laments him
A sage resigns himself
Fall into indecisiveness while looking to another's path
Choose your own path and hesitate
The true path lies in the past
His expression changed upon hearing it
He looked Takada in the eye and voiced his own prophecy
A red flower blooms in the darkness
An eth
Huness
A soldier saves the king
A woman becomes the queen
A sage reminisces
Run without looking to another's path
Choose your own path and sprint
The true path lies in the future
His lips then uttered so else
”That prophecy is the flipside of mine”
”If so, he is the soldier ill save you and ”
”You're one scary girl Are you planning to drag him onto our side?”
”No He is a key person because he is indecisive”
”He does not have his own rails…his own Words Whether he saves you or not will likely be highly dependent on what happens now and on his own indecision”
”So he's just wishy-washy? He can't take a stand about his own destiny?”
”No, that isn't it”
”Then…”
”He is hesitant because the possibilities presenting thereat”
She smiled at his silence
”I understand because I was once crippled by indecision and closed off the possibility of beco a Tuner, Buster, or Rhythm user”
”Takada”
”Yes?”
”Between uy?”
She answered with a slight smile
”I think the one that can draw out his possibilities to their fullest is the better guy”
”I see” Hisahide checked his watch ”Okay, I guess it's about time to head out”
”Are you really forgoing the original plan and descending to the sewers from this hotel's basement?”
”Yeah, it's looking that way Osaka's Chancellor's Officers seeoya Chancellor, so they've already set up souards”
”Thataction to beco?”
Nakamura nodded and smiled at Takada
”Well, I'll be king by the tioya”
4:51 PM
Ixolde's underground control roo for Ixolde's activation in two hours' time
The elites of Osaka's Science Club Alliance were speaking only the necessary words andbetween the electronic equipment lined up in the control room Theirmore than a portion of the overall machine known as Ixolde
It was a powerful illusion
Two people in the control room's entrance viewed it from close up
One, an eyepatched boy, faced forward as he spoke
”Compared to the emptiness of the celebration outside, this rooy”
The tall boy standing next to him nodded
”I really don't fit in with the Student Council and those VIPs I was right to leave partway through”
”You've never fit in anywhere”
They both laughed bitterly at that and Souichirou said more with that atmosphere intact
”It seeoya…didn't work out”
”That Fourth Alaruards around the Hilton earlier just in case, so we have confirmed Nakamura Hisahide, Ike odd about this”
”One of the guests there is a girl nai? Not sure how to read her name And…word of this just reached me”
Saki pulled out his attaché case and pulled the memo pad from inside it
He opened it and read through it in a businesslike manner
”According to the scout unit, the Nagoya Chancellor and the Tokyoites entered the Hilton together at 16:23, but they had a little so extra”
”Extra?”
Saki scratched his head at Souichirou's question
”Hizaka Shoui He was apparently unconscious and being carried, so I bet he was caught in theWhat should we do? We could always break in on the pretext of saving Hizaka”
”I leave that decision in your hands For today, I' about my personal actions”
Souichirou continued facing the working students and never once turned toward Saki
”But…the shi+nkage Style is here, is it?”
”What? I'd heard the Modified Purple Electricity Style passed down by your fae Style, so is there a connection there?”
”Yes …This means a bond from before my birth has returned to Osaka I will tell you the details eventually”
He still did not face Saki
”Well, even if the shi+nkage Style is here, at least there won't be an ogre this time,” said Saki
Souichirou htly
He nodded
”That celebration up above is such an e Ixolde's remote activation button, but how many of them know that button is a dummy?”
”I wonder what ”
”I have no interest, but I'm sure Iwai Sanzou would know”
”If they actually thought about it, they'd be able to figure it out Live acceleration requires both tiive it a remote control like that”
”The gathered sound will be sealed in the MD located inside the unmanned refinery at the central pocket in the deepest part of Ixolde Only after eli as e”
Souichirou repeated the sa room the day before
Saki rested his head in his hand
”The storage roooing through the e roo a new hole in the schoolyard And where else could they hope to steal that strongest Rhythm from?”
”The only other option is the central pocket three hundred round”
Saki sighed at Souichirou's words and looked to the Babel Gun visible from the control room's
”Ixolde's a tricky thing”
”Froe will be to Kansai if they can steal the strongest Rhythoya”
”And if they defeat you, Kansai will lose its cornerstone”
Souichirou finally turned to face Saki
”Sorry I'raduate soon, and I had hoped to end my term uneventfully”
”Don't be like that I'll follow you for life”
A quiet laugh rang emptily in the air
”This is probably our last festival before graduation”
”I need to make sure I am not burned,” said Souichirou quietly ”I do not want to be the festival bonfire”
With that, he turned around to face the automatic door out of the control room
”I'll be waiting in the lobby, Seiji”
”Huh? You aren't going to watch the gathering of the sound?”
”This will soon be a holy ground meant only for those who have put in so much work here”
”I see”
Saki nodded and sighed
The two boys left everything to those who belonged there and exited the room to prepare for battle
5:43 PM
Osaka was bright and busy on the surface, but there were a few differences below the surface
First, it was pitch black as no light could get in
Second, water calh the sewers
Those two things were always true below Osaka's surface, but at the h below the surface: noise
”What's with this salty-se!? It's up to my ankles”
”They sent out souards, so we had no other choice Besides, my shoes are just as soaked!”
”Yer shoes don't cost nearly as much as mine, ya moron!”
”Ah? Cost? How much could they possibly cost!?”
”798 thousand yen”
”…Okay, I can see why you're mad”
”See?” Taeko sighed in the darkness ”But are ya sure yer ready? I know that glasses guy was real busy, but still”
”Yes, Ike me how to use his charms and the Discord Bombs”
”Are you really gettin' in to Ixolde froround?”
”According to the map Ikemaru had, I need to break down the wall two hundred meters ahead”
”And meanwhile, I create a diversion on the surface? Ya sure ya trust ht betray ya for Osaka”
”I don't h, no one stands a chance against oya and not Osaka”
And…
”Hey,” said Taeko ”What's yer connection with that guy from the Mountain who knew a lot about this sewer's structure?”
”Ya don't have to answer if ya don't want to”
”Iba was my sister's boyfriend's friend”
”…That's complicated”
”Yeah My sister and her boyfriend died after they were betrayed by their teacher, but Iba survived” Hisahide's voice rang in the darkness ”I think Iba s for my-…”
He trailed off and his footsteps came to a stop
”What is it?”
”Look up ahead”
His voice and focus were directed toward the shadows of some metal bars in the darkness
They were arranged like alattice and they ran fro to the floor to block the two students' way
”According to Iba, these have a high-voltage current running through theon E attack Try ignoring the current and bending one of the bars”
”…You make it sound easy”
The Dragon E up
”Dragon Emperor, release protection on the Third Activation”
Before she had even finished speaking, the arhtly and expelled white sht
The sewer grew bright and their silhouettes covered the wall as shadows
A low, heavy noise slowly but surely sounded froon Emperor with a pulse-like Tempo
That was the roar of the Lightning High It was the sound preferred by the lightning dragon
The seall tre below Osaka's surface
Hisahide spoke even as his voice was drowned out