City Series:Volume7 Layer 6

Layer 6: Moon

11/15/1998

23:43

I reflected on how lecturey a day it had been on my way to the convenience store. I selected a drink and a weekly magazine on sale early and stepped outside to see a familiar face.

“Snowy? Why are you carrying a wooden sword and wearing your uniform for once? Out on patrol?”

“Yes, I am patrolling the city. I was guarding the dorms, but I felt I needed a change of pace. A lot of suspicious people have been seen in the city of late. Since you are a triple threat of careless, thoughtless, and brainless, you need to be careful.”

“Yeah, yeah. So who are these suspicious people?”

“The reports I have heard say one is a girl who suddenly stops in the middle of the street to shake her butt, do a little dance, and sing out loud. Another is a girl who carries around a mysterious animal that likes to fish through the trash. Another is a boy who wanders around constantly muttering how much things worry him. Another is a boy who shouts dangerous delinquent slang while roaring along the streets on a motorcycle. Another is-”

“A girl who carries a sword and wanders around looking for someone to cut?”

“Oh, you had heard about that one already? Don’t tell me you are working with her.”

“With her and with all the others, you idiot. Wait, why are you raising your sword!?”

When we faced each other, I heard sudden laughter from the sky.

I looked up to see the moon with its back turned and its shoulders shaking.

Author Comment:

The standard story of him wandering around at night.

Snowy seems to do that a lot too.

Record 36: You Are Nearby

10/03/1997

18:22

I called out to you and then we were off to the ramen shop where Senpai was waiting.

The ramen shop only had counter seats and Senpai was at the seat furthest back with two empty seats next to him.

You sat next to him and I sat next to you. That had sort of become the standard layout for us.

I listened to Senpai’s voice past you and occasionally gave my own input.

After discussing our role in the athletic festival tomorrow, we took a break.

The ramen had arrived. It was just like a nonhuman like Senpai to choose the Moon Viewing Ramen.

Senpai received his first, then you and me, and finally the lab coat guy sitting next to me.

The lab coat guy turned toward me as soon as his ramen arrived.

“Long time no see.”

“Who are you?”

“The trivial details like that can wait. Wouldn’t you find it creepier if a complete stranger came up and introduced himself to you at a ramen shop? That greeting gave you a chance to break the ice by making fun of me.”

“I don’t quite follow, but I do get that you’re kind of weird. So what do you want? If you spoke to me for no reason, then I’m upgrading my assessment of you from ‘kind of weird’ to ‘extremely weird’. And my guess is that upgrade is happening. Congrats in advance.”

“I will be ignoring that, okay? Now. To put it simply, we are complete strangers. We are even in different classes. It seems unlikely we will be able to find a love between us that crosses gender lines. So I’m stumped. What are we supposed to do?”

“My mind is turning toward punching.”

“Excellent choice. Give me a good one here.”

The professor-like boy pointed at the edge of his ramen bowl. I didn’t get it, but 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 punched the bowl and something weird rolled out onto the counter.

“What is that?”

“The non-delicious part of the ramen. The phase transition tells me this is a semipermanent non-deliciousness. In my experience, the problem must be in the stock and the noodles.”

I groaned and punched my own bowl. The same thing came out.

“Did you see that?” said the Professor. “No difference. The only difference between our orders were the extra ingredients, a sign of just how cheap and plebeian the owner is, but the non-deliciousness remained the same.”

“Which means the problem is with the noodles and soup, not the extras! But now that it’s gone…”

“Yes, this is now the perfect ramen. Let’s eat!”

We began chowing down. And surprisingly…

“This is missing something. Is ramen like life in that it requires some imperfection to really enjoy it?”

“Perhaps so,” said the Professor as he cut off a small piece of the non-deliciousness, added it back into his bowl, and tried the ramen again. “Ohh! This is good! Really good! And did I mention good!? What a pleasant surprise!”

We nodded and gave a thumb’s up to the man with a small mustache standing behind the counter.

“Great work, man!!”

He opted to chuck us both out of his shop.

Author Comment:

His first encounter with the Professor.

The Professor already knows who the protagonist is at this point. Not because he’s famous but because he caught the Professor’s interest.

It feels like ramen shows up a lot in my stories.

Record 41: Making a Friend

11/05/1997

20:10

The first school festival of my high school career was coming to an end.

The lumber used for making decorations, walkways, and curses was sprawled out and stacked up in the middle of the central schoolground. I noted how much heat it made, held my warmed cheek, and sat on the grass.

The speakers on the school building began to play a super fast version of Turkey in the Straw and everyone surrounded the fire and began moving in a circle. With several hundred of them holding hands and spinning real fast, they had to be breaking the sound barrier, right?

The wind roared, the ground was torn up, and a few of them were launched outwards, but they were all really into it. I had been so worn down by all the guard duty and assistance I had given over the past few days that I was starving for all sorts of things. I had just been kicked out of the rundown Officers’ living room after you said something to me.

Another three people were launched from the circle and crashed into the school building.

Ugh, I just wanted to sleep.

The swirling heat lit up the sky with a reddish coloration, but I could still see the moon there.

I looked back down to see the dancing and spinning students didn’t have enough people to complete the circle anymore. They were probably missing one boy, but I had no intention of joining them. To be honest, I was just too tired.

I considered lying down in the grass and took a look around to find a butt conveniently located right next to me.

That sounded like a good reason to forget how sleepy I was.

The butt wore a uniform I didn’t recognize, so I considered what my options were. With one of our students, I might could get away with prostrating myself and apologizing, but with a student from another school or even another city, there was that whole concept of “political pressure” to worry about.

Then the butt girl turned toward me with her glasses reflecting the firelight.

“You aren’t going to dance?” she asked.

“What about you? They’d welcome you even if you are from another school.”

“I’m not a boy, so no thanks. Besides, how would you even join them if you wanted to?”

“Good point. Now, would you mind facing the other way forever?”

“Wh-why would you want me to do that? Sounds suspicious to me.”

“How rude. There’s nothing suspicious about it at all. I just want to look at your butt.”

That earned me a sudden blow from behind. I looked back to see you and Senpai standing there.

“Do you ever stop being stupid? She was raised in a classy family back in Yokohama, so she isn’t like you.”

“Oh, so she’s a real lady, is she? Explains why she has such a nice butt- ow ow ow ow ow ow! My arm’s not supposed to bend that way!”

Lady ignored me while you put me in a joint lock. She looked to you and Senpai instead.

“You’re the Chancellor’s Officers people I’m supposed to meet with, aren’t you? I will be joining you next week. Tokyo’s Chancellor’s Officers really do have a different style. I could tell who you were right away.”

“You couldn’t tell with me- ow ow ow! My neck doesn’t bend any more than that!”

“Shut up. I told you to go meet her and then you forgot just like I knew you would!”

My rotated head could see the schoolyard. The dancing and spinning group now had enough people for some reason.

My head got bent at an unnatural angle while I wondered why that was.

That let me look up into the sky where the moon had mysteriously vanished.

Author Comment:

His first encounter with Lady.

Lady comes from Yokohama, but I generally think of Yokohama, Ginza, and Kobe as being more stylish. Even if it isn’t true. In the Tokyo world, the nights are lit by gas lights and that gives things a retro feel, I guess?

Record 68: Repeating It Forever

06/19/1998

23:01

On a clear-skied evening in the rainy season, you and I took a telescope out to the school roof for a moon viewing. The astronomy club had a base camp set up on the roof, so we bought some of their food plus some basic supplies like a tent and warm clothing. We also got a coupon for next time and a guide to good moon-viewing spots. Finally, we laid out our mat and set up the telescope.

The moon in the sky wasn’t quite perfectly round. You gave Daitarou a dango next to me. And…

“Hi. Do you have a moment?”

I turned around to see Professor there. He shined a flashlight on his face up from below.

“You see, I have invented something extremely pleasurable and I was hoping to show it off to-”

He suddenly disappeared. I gave you a puzzled look, wondering what had happened.

“Just the usual nonsense I’m sure. Okay, Daitarou, say ‘ah’.”

You were entirely focused on feeding dangos to your pet. I had nothing else to do but view the moon. And…

“Hi. Do you have a moment?”

I turned around to see Professor there. He shined a flashlight on his face up from below.

“You see, I have invented something extremely pleasurable and I was hoping to show it off to-”

He disappeared again. I looked to you and you waved your hand to tell me not to worry about it.

I figured you were right and waited. And…

“Hi. Do you have a moment?”

I punched him away without turning around. The idiot bounced along the concrete roof and then rolled a few times before stopping. This time, he didn’t disappear. So I asked my question.

“What is this about? You won’t like what happens if you don’t answer me.”

“That may be the worst late-night greeting I have ever received. As for what this is about, I invented this.”

The Professor pulled something like a flashlight from his pocket and showed it to me.

“The principle behind it is complex, but to dumb it down much too far, it makes light collide with light to locally push back the light. The progression of the world is made from the audiovisual combination of light and sound, so shining this light on a location will reverse the timeline in that location.”

“So what happens if I shine it on something and wave it?”

“The target will be accelerated by the strength of your waving of course. Why even ask something so obvious?”

I shined it on him and waved it. He disappeared and I finally had some peace and quiet.

I sat down next to you and heard some very specific noises from the science room on the first floor: shattering glass, breaking desks, test tubes and electronic devices crashing against the wall, and the science club members’ screams.

“Hey, what is all that about?” you asked.

“I punched an idiot trying to get in the way our moon viewing.”

I noticed the moon had descended a bit below the sky. I shined the flashlight on it, but it didn’t move back.

You checked the flashlight in my hand.

“Its Phlogiston Tank is empty.”

Author Comment:

Replaying time with light.

I feel like I have a lot of stories that link light and shadows to time.

Record: 83: Suddenly

09/15/1998

22:49

The cleanup of the bomb shelter was really starting to come together.

The whole monster thing from before had been solved, we all had our own private rooms, and we were all busy making those rooms a place where we could relax. The fighting over who got what room was intense. I didn’t see why it mattered since they were all underground, but according to the girls…

“If you aren’t on a corner, it feels like people are eavesdropping on you from every direction.”

When I told them they were way overestimating how much anyone cared about what they did in private, they kicked me really hard. No mercy from that bunch.

I walked to the exit, noticing all the luggage and trash still sitting around in the hallway. Senpai had told me to check on the guest room he had prepared before I left, but I couldn’t quite remember where that was located. It wasn’t like we had any real visitors, so I figured that could wait until tomorrow and checked to make sure all the hallway lights were working instead.

The place was surprisingly spacious inside. I had heard the civil engineering club had taken some measurements and taken out a wall. Would we eventually have a whole martial arts training ground in here? Oh, and an open-air bath would be great.

But the problem was we had to consider who would be using the place next.

It was currently September. We had joined the Chancellor’s Officers at about this time last year. This year’s Mountain training apparently hadn’t gone well and some placings were being shuffled around at the lower levels, but the top placements hadn’t changed. Lady and the Boss had said they would be leaving in a few days for some retraining, but that was something they were doing on their own.

In a way, I guess that shows how peaceful Tokyo is. No one had been badly hurt, no major mistakes had been made, and there hadn’t been any real trouble.

Then I saw a group carrying large work bags and wearing construction helmets turning the corner up ahead. They had to be the civil engineering club from the engineering school. The third year leading the group ran up to me with his work bag in hand.

“Excuse me, but we’re lost. We were just considering making a human sacrifice to pray for our escape.”

“Yeah, that’s a common tactic. But I would hate to lose a member of the team, so I’ll show you the way.”

I pointed behind me.

“Go that way and you’ll reach a dead end.”

“I see. So the other way leads to the exit, does it? Thank you. Is there anything we can do for you?”

“Open a hole only I can find in the wall to the room three down from here. That’s the girls’ bath.”

He gave a powerful nod and beckoned his team over. He gave a few instructions with hand gestures and around a dozen civil engineering experts readied their drills and whatnot.

“That’s some heavy-duty stuff.”

“The trick here isn’t making the hole – it’s making sure no one else will notice the hole.”

That opinion told me he was a real, trustworthy professional. We smiled, shook hands, and parted ways.

I kept walking and turned the corner they had appeared around when I heard a voice from behind.

“Please check on that room there. It is for visitors.”

Oh, so that’s the place, I thought, looking to the room on my right. The sign on the entrance labeled it the guest room. But there wasn’t any kind of furniture inside. Only a window on the back wall giving a view of the night sky and clouds.

“What kind of visitors are we getting?”

I looked through the window and saw the moon rising into the night sky.

Author Comment:

The bomb shelter from before is being remodeled.

I think having a secret base is fun, but large buildings will have a big boiler facility in the basement, which can feel like a base if you sneak in.

Record 104: Passing By

01/10/1999

19:39

Today, we rode out to Tachikawa in the Boss’s car. The Boss, you, and I went around the department stores buying various foods for the new year, but…

“Everyone likes different things, so another fridge would be nice.”

It took us until nightfall, so we ended up with more to carry than expected. We had to hurry before the parking lots closed.

We rushed below the streetlights with the winter moon in the sky.

An Osaka tourist map was among the things I was carrying.

“I was thinking of visiting during spring break. I want to see Babel. One of our friends will probably be going too.”

“I’m trilingual since I know the Osaka and Nagoya dialects, so I can show you around,” said the Boss.

You gave an interested nod.

Then I heard three voices from the ground. They were our voices.

“I really hope we have the time. I would love to go to Osaka.”

“What about the others? I’m going if everyone else is.”

“Hold on. My car’s weight limit is lower than you would think.”

I looked down curiously but only saw our shadows there.

“What was that?”

You tilted your hand and looked to the ground and then the sky.

I looked up too and saw the cold moonlight.

Author Comment:

Talking about Babel.

This touches on the Boss’s origins too, but he isn’t entirely from Kansai. I think that is why he had an easier time going to Tokyo.

Record 21: Is It Impossible?

06/17/1997

22:30

I figured out how to leave the Mountain dorms at night. Our room was on the second floor, but I just had to jump out onto a tree branch sticking out from the forest nearby.

I decided to sneak out again tonight. I traveled through the trees for about 5 minutes before I could look down and see the training ground. I sat on the usual cedar tree branch and sighed. The scene below was covered in the shadows the forest cast in the moonlight. The occasional buildings rose up above shadows like islands floating in the ocean and the clearings looks like dark shadows.

Just as I was wondering where to go next, something landed on my head. It felt like a cushion, so I grabbed it and found it was a four-legged animal. It was Daitarou.

Did that mean you were here? That seemed surprising to me. You weren’t that much of an outlaw. I looked up and saw a familiar face seated one branch higher. It was Snowy.

“What, you ran away too? I thought you were more of a rule-follower.”

“My roommate started talking on the phone. I felt awkward staying because it felt like I was eavesdropping.”

That likely meant you were speaking with Senpai.

“That’s awfully considerate for you. Is this part of that new individualism fad?”

“I decided I want to get by on my own. And that means not getting in other people’s way.”

She looked to the moon and gestured for me to take care of Daitarou.

“Long ago, someone told me I would have a lonely deathbed. Just like my mother.”

Author Comment:

It looks like Daitarou gets along well with Snowy too.

I think Snowy likes small animals but isn’t confident she could look after one. The usual recipe for spoiling one.

Record: 78: I Look to the Moon

08/19/1998

20:05

It was summer. And it was cold. The A/C in the Officers’ living room on the 3rd floor of the central school building had completely broken, but the Boss and the Professor had worked to fix it. And now…

“Below freezing is impressive.”

I viewed the nighttime hallway. The Professor, the Boss, Snowy, you holding Daitarou, Lady, and I all sat in the frosty hallway. The Professor looked to the door behind us.

“How much do you think it’s built up inside?” he asked.

“Our bags are definitely buried,” I said. “We might need to consider getting a new room.”

“There’s no point in sitting around here,” said the Boss. “It’ll break soon enough, so let’s go swimming until then.”

“Swimming? Where?” asked Lady.

The Boss pointed to the large pool visible out the window. You and Lady nodded in understanding while Snowy frowned with her bamboo sword in her arms.

“Why can you people never stay focused during an emergency?”

“You don’t want to swim?”

“No, I do not.”

“Oh, yeah. If you got in the water, everyone would find out your chest is-”

Snowy glared at me and I shut up, but Lady turned to me.

“What would we find out about Snowy’s chest?”

“W-well, you would find out how flat it is. Japanese science is impressive, but if water gets inside the external packing type, you lose its blessing. As for what kind blessing that is, now we’re getting into more philosophical questions.”

“Oh? I can’t ignore this slight on science’s honor,” said the Professor. “Snowy, I will solve everything. I will make them bigger such that no one can tell the difference from the outside or the inside. First, I will ask the model club to create the ideal-”

Snowy’s bamboo sword flew with incredible force.

I wasn’t sure what she was so mad about, but she led the way to the pool. It seemed weird that we all had our swimsuits with us already, but I didn’t care once we were all floating in the pool.

We all got in the water that reflected the moon.

Lady removed her glasses and joined you in watching Daitarou swim.

The Professor filled a test tube with the pool water and- Stop, you idiot! Don’t drink it.

I joined the Boss in viewing the back of the central school building. The hallway was dark.

“I really do need to think about getting us a new room.”

“That’s not a job for the Vice Chancellor. I’ll help you search.”

“I can help some too. I have an idea where we might find something.

That last voice was female, so I looked back to see a long-haired girl on the poolside. I viewed the chest and waist of her black swimsuit to try and figure out who this was and she placed a hand on her chest in disinterest.

“They are very real,” she said expressionlessly.

Once I realized this was Snowy, I heard what sounded like a crashing waterfall from the school building. I turned that way to see all the 3rd floor hallway windows had broken and white snow was avalanching down.

Author Comment:

The air conditioner problem is mentioned elsewhere too.

Sneaking into the pool at night is something I feel like we did a lot in my generation, but I bet it’s a lot harder now that they have fences and stuff.

They did something similar in the Osaka game too.

Record 81: I Won’t Look Back For Anything Else

09/10/1998

21:54

The Boss’s car zoomed through Itsukaichi.

“The place is nearly deserted tonight. No one’s jumping out in front of my car.”

“What do you do when they do that?”

“Deflect them with my wipers for 500 points.”

The Boss’s response made Lady lower her eyebrows unhappily. She was practically buried in the daily items we had bought to make the bomb shelter livable.

The Boss checked on her with his celluloid rearview mirror.

“Don’t worry about it. The moon isn’t out tonight, so there won’t be any idiot’s wandering around.”

“Is that how it works?” I asked and he nodded. And then…

“To change the subject, is there something wrong with Snowy?”

“Mentally, yes. But that’s nothing new.”

“I’m being serious here.”

“Oh, I sometimes see her seemingly in pain,” said Lady. “She has a room to herself in the dorm, so no one ever really notices.”

“Leave her be. We can do something about it if anything actually happens,” I said.

The Boss scratched his head and sounded like he was making an excuse.

“That’s true, but it makes me feel like I’m breaking a promise.”

“What promise?”

“You two live in Tokyo too, so you’ve been lectured by your past and future selves, right?”

“Yes, I have,” said Lady. “Like about Yokohama. Another me has even forced me to sit down and listen to a lengthy lecture.”

“Right? My other selves tell me all sorts of stuff I don’t get. Like that the future is ending and we have to go back. I apparently don’t get to see someone die in the future.”

I just about asked if that person suffered from a lung disease, but stopped myself. I might as well have been asking if it was Snowy and as much as I liked gloomy topics, I didn’t want to make someone else the topic of conversation. I decided to stay quiet.

Lady only nodded and turned to view the streetlights passing by.

I looked into the moonless sky and suddenly felt the chill of the wind created by the car’s movement.

Just as that made me realize it really was nighttime, the Boss stopped the car.

“Sorry, but a cat jumped out while I was thinking.”

“Really?” said Lady, turning to check the road. She had some weird tastes.

I had no choice but to get out and look across the road. Sure enough, I saw a cat-shaped…

“Brass plate?”

I picked it up and found it had the proper weight and everything and the shape was a lot like a cut-out for a shadow play. The abstract cat plate was a bit bent at the tail.

The Boss and Lady weren’t sure what to do, but I looked up into the sky instead.

The moon still wasn’t out.

Author Comment:

This talks a bit about Snowy, but it also tells us Lady stays in the girls’ dorms too.

The protagonist puts an end to that topic because of the past, but the Boss was asking because of the future.

Record 111: Time to Decide

02/16/1999

17:14

Things were bad. I ran all around Tokyo chasing after Senpai.

I asked the stars, winds, and seasons if they had seen him and made my way to a park in Kanda.

On the way, I called home with one of the red phones on the side of the road. Lady answered.

“Snowy was tired, so she went to sleep. She sometimes wakes up before going back to sleep again.”

I see. I told Lady to take care of you and then gave her this red phone’s number so she could contact me.

Things really were bad. There was no doubt in my mind that Senpai had sucked your blood and probably “eliminated” some Kansai students. The corporations from both Kansai and Kantou must have set it up that way.

After all, Babel would be complete in Osaka soon. That colossal broadcast tower would be the only thing in the world that could send someone’s voice to the entire planet. The internal generator was a largescale reactor that could even extract ether from the ley lines.

Once that was running, Japan’s power balance would shift to the west.

Some adults – I don’t know who – didn’t want that, so they had sent Kansai students to Tokyo. The attack from Kansai had been meant to start some small trouble here.

It had all been small scale stuff before, but last night must have been different. Something we couldn’t cover up ourselves. So Senpai had cut down even the evidence and now he had to be on the run from the corporations. He was the last remaining evidence, so if they could capture him, they could prove the trouble occurring between the east and west students.

“Dammit.”

The moon had risen into the sky while I thought. It was an unpleasant moon. I really didn’t like it.

Author Comment:

A summary of the Babel situation given everything that has happened so far.

The Boss is supporting the Tokyo Chancellor’s Officers all alone at this point, which I think had to be really hard.

Record 13: I Knew It Was You

04/30/1997

19:23

On the way home one moonless night, you turned toward me in a deserted alley.

“We should go to the Mountain.”

“Huh? Are you saying you want to join the Chancellor’s Officers? You want to be with Senpai that badly?”

“It’s not just about that.”

That’s just a more complicated way of saying yes, dammit. You ignored the exasperation on my face and gave a few satisfied nods. Then you inserted a coin in the vending machine on the side of the road.

“So let’s seal our promise with some drinks.”

Did I not get a say in this? Still, I took the drink and opened the pull tab. You didn’t even say cheers before starting to drink yours and looking me straight in the eye.

“Why not do it? You’ve only beaten Senpai once. You might catch up to him.”

“I couldn’t catch up to him even with Mountain training. I only managed to stop that with a punch because I’d never seen it before.”

But she did have a point.

“How about this? If I get into the Chancellor’s Officers, you have to root for me just once. With all your heart.”

“Okay and if I get in, you have to rescue me just once. Also with all your heart.”

We had a deal. I nodded and drank my drink. But the can was empty.

I quickly checked the can and found it was a moonlight carbonated drink. You laughed.

“You took too long to drink it and it ran away.”

I looked into the sky to find it was full of moonlight now.

Author Comment:

I feel like canned drinks show up in my stories a lot too.

Gogo no Kocha went on sale when I was in middle school and buying one on the way home from school was the popular thing to do for a while.

Maybe you could describe that as nostalgic?

Back to Layer 5

Return to Main Page

Forward to Layer 7