Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 8th Episode 30 (section)

=== Part 3 ===

Spreading roars, the gun fused with the checkered beetle spit fire.

The recoil made sand leap from Daisuke’s feet, and the surface of the water’s edge was blown away in a circle.

“You sure haven’t learned your lesson, Daisuke-chan.”

The sneering Oogui’s round sunglasses reflected the lights of the night sky.

Forces of more than a hundred purple Mushi were hit by the unilateral firing of Daisuke’s launched bullets. Fire and lightning, all kinds of special abilities, were counterattacked by Daisuke’s gun and scattered.

However, in that time, Daisuke’s form vanished from the surface. His entire body glowing in a green pattern, the boy leapt, and while crushing the Mushi that blocked his way using his fist, he moved by leaping from Mushi to Mushi.

“—WOOOOOOOOH!”

Daisuke howled. Finally closing in on Oogui, Daisuke swung down his green-glowing fist toward her.

However, the moment before he hit, the purple Mushi jumped between them.

Along with an impact like the hit of a meteor, Daisuke’s fist blew the countless Mushi to smithereens.

“—Tch.”

Daisuke’s attack against Oogui was blocked just a step before hitting and he landed back on the beach.

“Hehe… I will fight all of you boys and girls after I have my dinner.”

Oogui’s rainbow pupils scanned the surface. Her eyes were settled on—

“—”

Saionji Ena. The girl who was being protected by Neiko along with Kujou Takako, now shook.

Oogui’s goal was to eat Ena’s dream. If she managed that Ena would become a Mushitsuki and Oogui would leave. That would mean the complete failure of those gathered here to protect Ena and to defeat Oogui.

The large crowds of Mushi filling the night sky began falling toward Ena.

“Don’t you fucking look down on me, you stupid insects!”

A large earthquake shook the beach.

Sand was blown away and the sea surface was evaporated. And—the purple Mushi were all instantly torn without any remains. 

“No matter who comes near the great Kasuou, be they friend or foe, they’re getting themselves a new asshole ripped!”

The blond girl clad in a white long coat, Kasuou, howled. The black mist covering the girl with her sparkling blue eyes produced countless claws, knocking off the pursuing Mushi one after another.

“Mitake… Anneliese-san?”

Next to Ena, Takako raised a voice of astonishment. She probably thought that Kasuou, who’d infiltrated Horusu Seijou Academy as a monitor, was just a normal classmate.

“I fucking hate it that I’m suited for defense, but I’ll hold back just for today.”

Kasuou smiled elegantly at Ena and Takako.

“I don’t wanna admit this, but my ability’s much stronger when I devote myself to guard! I won’t let them touch even a single hair of yours! —ORAAAA!”

The flashing of the claws repeated alongside these war cries erased the purple Mushi. Further fulfilling their role to form a protective wall against the surroundings, they blocked the invasion of the pressing Mushi.

“Leave support to me! I’ll lower the number of enemieees!”

The bat-wings girl, Isa Himeko, shouted. She raised her index finger, thumb and little finger on her right hand, then held it aloft it as if she was a baseball player. A green-colored mist burst from her legs like a geyser. The spiraling mist became a green millipede.

“Yaaa!”

Himeko swung her right hand.

The intangible millipede ran through air, splitting its body midair. The many dozens of small millipedes struck the enemy Mushi like a shotgun.

The Mushi produced by Oogui raised a scream-like howl. Mushi captured by the millipedes lost their control and began attacking their comrades.

“Yaaa! Yaaa! Yaaa!”

Every time Himeko swung her right hand and then her left hand, many millipedes were shot into the air. Chaos sprouted between Oogui’s produced Mushi.

Even more attacks pursued the Mushi troops that had their advance blocked.

The small shadows falling down along with the meteor showers all exploded at once. The rain of explosive attacks dispersed the Mushi one after another.

“Now! Attack!”

It was Aki. Obeying the orders of the boy controlling lapis lazuli leaf beetles with explosion abilities, his comrade Mushitsuki began the counterattack. They started fighting against the Mushi created by Oogui’s scales, whether on the surface or midair.

“Nene! Leave Ena and Takako to Kasuou and start treating the wounded!”

“I know…”

Neiko who was next to Ena and Takako nodded at Daisuke’s command.

“Kororo! —You understand, right?”

Kurisaka Ayuyu, the girl with the star sticker on her cheek, smiled while thrusting out both hands ahead. She had covered the entirety of the coast with a dome-shaped liquid membrane in order to not let Oogui escape.

Daisuke nodded and turned his gaze.

“Arisu!”

Kasuou and Himeko, Ayuyu, Neiko, Ena Takako, Aki and his comrades, as well as Harukiyo and Librarian—all people on the beach looked at her.

However, she was unmoving.

The girl they’d been waiting for—Ichinokuro Arisu—was not there.

“…”

It was Hanashiro Mari there.

Mari, body fully clad in a silver pattern, stood like a statue while holding her spear, unmoving.

All of the people there didn’t know the existence called Mari.

There was only one girl who knew Mari in the truest sense of the word.

Therefore—

“I’m…”

''Arisu.

Thinking about it, everyone there believed she was Ichinokuro Arisu.

The being called Hanashiro Mari was gone, she was able to escape the fear of death—

Mari could declare herself to be Arisu now, burying the personality of this body’s owner.

That was the answer Mari chose.

The sole method that would allow her to escape the fate of death and grant her dream to keep living—

“—No.”

Daisuke moved his eyes back to Oogui.

“Looks like you’re still Mari.”

Mari widened her eyes.

“How did you—”

“Arisu said she’d answer after you. So use your mouth to clearly say the answer.”

Daisuke asserted, readying his gun.

“I’ll hold out until your finish your answer comparison or whatever.”

Gunfire roared, and the blazing bullet erased several Mushi.

“Bastard, how dare you try to become Arisu and fool us right now!”

Mari turned back, her shoulders twitching.

“Hanashiro Mari!”

While shooting down Oogui’s Mushi assaulting, Kasuou shouted.

Mari became speechless.

“Hanashiro Mari-san…!”

Neiko, who used her ability to heal the wounded, raised her face. She looked straight at Mari’s face.

“Kakkun stands little chance to finish everything if he’s fighting alone. What will you do, Hanashiro Mari-san? *grins*”

“Don’t worry, Mari-san, until you find your answer I’ll keep fighting and fighting, taking care of at least some of the enemieees!”

“Hunter!”

Everyone who flung themselves into this mortal combat called Mari’s name.

They shouldn’t have known about her.

Nobody should have known about her existence, and yet—

“You have made so many friends, Ms. Ghost.”

Even Oogui looked down at Mari with a calm sneer.

“Hanashiro… Mari?”

“Are you the person Arisu-san told us about? Her friend?”

Even Ena and Takako called her name.

Mari’s heart throbbed.

When she was alive, this violent heartbeat was a sign for an incoming seizure. Along with her heartbeat quickening, the fear she supposedly threw away in the past was revived.

Right, fear.

Right now, Mari couldn’t understand the events around her—

“Why—”

Even as Daisuke tried facing Oogui again, he was repelled by all the Mushi cutting in. Although shedding blood from his head, he landed and stood on the beach as if nothing happened.

Kasuou who was protecting Ena and Takako leaked groans. Her mist was being shaved little by little by overwhelming long-range attacks.

“Why…!”

Himeko, who focused her whole power on attacking, was desperate in dodging the attacks of Mushi running on the beach. She’d already last one bat wing and counterattacked with her millipedes while her arms and legs were covered in lacerations.

Ayuyu, Neiko, and Aki were involved also in bitter fight. Other Mushitsuki comrades were also injured and being healed by Neiko.

“Why are you all calling my name…!”

In this battlefield full of screams of rage and Mushi howls, Mari’s shout echoed.

However, no one turned to look at her.

They all faced Oogui, their faces full of belief.

“Why are you all… calling my name now!”

They were all called there by Arisu.

They were supposed to be there for Arisu.

Therefore—Mari would become Arisu.

Now that she tried to bring out that answer, they all believed in Mari’s existence and called her name.

“I’m…!”

''Ichinokuro Arisu!

She wanted to shout this, but no words came out.

If she became Arisu, she could keep living with them.

Forever.

Without suffering from illness.

Just like Arisu did—she could live while surrounded by many people and laughter.

“I’m—”

However, if she did that—what about “Hanashiro Mari”?

She would lose her witness, Arisu, and not even one person who knew Mari when she was alive would remain.

No one came.

No one knew her.

In the prison known as loneliness, she recalled her own form living there forever and shuddered.

“I—am—”

She should have been fine with that.

After all, Mari was lonely in the first place.

Even if such a lonely girl disappeared, no one would notice.

Therefore, Mari thought she could easily throw away that name—

“Hey, Hanashiro Mari.”

Among the echoing sounds of destruction, a low voice that almost seemed to be too conspicuous clearly called Mari’s name.

“Ya really think you can just take it back at this point?”

It was Harukiyo.

“Don’t you go and fuckin’ avert your eyes.”

The man with a flame tattooed on his check apparently still had no intention to move. The Mushi that were trying to attack him were being burnt to a crisp by an invisible heat wave.

“You’re the one who’s called ‘em. Everyone here, including me.”

Being gazed by these flaming pupils, Mari gulped.

“I won’t letcha deny it, alright? Ya can’t say it was Arisu, got it? —Hanashiro Mari! Your Morpho butterfly! Your dream that ya couldn’t throw away! All of them summoned us here! Everything happening here is just a bonus on top of that! Don’t you fuckin’ try to take advantage of the chaos to pose as Arisu!”

Harukiyo’s rage became a flaming wind and was blown at Mari. The gale hot enough to scorch her skin raised her ponytail.

“—”

Mari became speechless and stood there paralyzed. She looked up at the battle unfolding underneath the night sky full of falling stars.

This was.

The battle that might decide the fate of the beings called Mushi, involving so many Mushitsuki.

A decisive battle that might turn the world into one where no Mushi were born anymore.

Was this a mere prolongation of Mari wishing for the continuation of her dream?

“Or are you right now the result of your answer?”

The flame devil slowly rose up. With just this movement, the Mushi surrounding him were all burned away at once.

“If so—then name yourself.”

Mari gulped.

“If you’re ‘Ichinokuro Arisu’ who reached her answer, name yourself to all of us.”

The girl who finished her life in the jail-like sickroom, Hanashiro Mari.

The lonely girl who’d remain in no one’s memories, Hanashiro Mari.

She shouldn’t have felt any regret about that lonely name.

Even so—

“—”

She was speechless as though her throat was clogged.

Daisuke averted his gaze from the silenced Mari. The lights of his goggles drew an afterimage in the air as he looked up at Oogui floating in the sky.

“—WOOOOOOH!”

The pitch-black long coat leapt high into the air.

Leaping on top of the flying Mushi, Daisuke charged directly toward Oogui. His face and arms were dyed in blood. If he drew back even once, he would be unable to stop the momentum of the purple Mushi. Since he knew that, he hadn’t received Neiko’s healing even once.

“I’m gonna support Kakkou-san!”

Himeko gave up on defense. Even while getting her shoulders cut by the assaulting enemies, she unleashed her millepedes, impeding the Mushi that stood in the way of Daisuke’s charge.

“Go, Kakkou!”

Aki’s explosions annihilated the Mushi trying to attack Kakkou. His comrades also erased the enemies standing in Daisuke’s path.

The distance between Daisuke and Oogui shortened in the blink of an eye.

This time, he would reach Oogui—

Everyone thought so.

“Hehe…”

However, all purple Mushi vanished from around the bewitchingly laughing Oogui at once.

“Wha…?”

Agitation spread to all Mushitsuki on the surface.

The Mushi born by Oogui vanished one after another as if with a receding wave—

“Have you forgotten already, Daisuke-chan? I have punished you once, have I not?”

The purple Mushi all vanished without a trace.

Purple scales bundled in front of Oogui. These coagulated and formed a single, giant Mushi.

That Mushi, with its body shaped like half a dome that sported seven spots—

Aki leaked a hoarse voice.

“T-that Mushi’s—Rina’s—”

The giant seven-spotted ladybug formed by Oogui with great momentum unfolded its winds.

''Bzzt''—with that shrill sound, the air of the coast was instantly compressed.

Daisuke shouted.

“KORORO!”

“*grin* Understood!”

Ayuyu entwined her hands in front of her chest and made a gesture as though she was squishing something.

The water dome surrounding the entire coast narrowed down its scope. The water film compressed, becoming a cage to envelop Oogui and the seven-spotted ladybug.

“Heh—”

Oogui’s bewitching smile did not falter.

The seven-spotted ladybug flapped its gigantic wings.

Light burst.

An invisible shockwave blew away Ayuyu’s water film without leaving a trace.

All the parts of the ocean that could be seen exploded. Sand rose up, and a surge of overwhelming destruction assaulted everyone on the surface.

“Kh!”

Mari promptly spouted scales from her spear, cancelling the shockwave.

“Gwoh…!”

Kasuou swelled her own mist. She used a claw to pull Neiko close, protecting her along with Ena and Takako from the shockwave.

“—"

“Uh—”

Himeko and Ayuyu, to whom Kasuou’s claw couldn’t reach, were unable to do anything and were blown away. They were swallowed by the sand and tall waves and vanished.

“Gwah!”

Aki easily flew in air, pounded against the breakwater separating the beach and the road. His comrades also protected themselves in their own ways, but many were unable to defend against the shockwave and were blown away.

“Shit!”

Harukiyo too assumed a defensive position. Spouting crimson flames, he protected himself and the Librarian.

The shockwave pierced the coast only for a second.

The dirt and seawater thrown by the aftershock became a fierce rain on the beach.

Mushitsuki’s groans enveloped the coast—

“WOOOOOOOOOH!”

Daisuke’s howl echoed underneath the sky full of falling stars.

He probably received the full brunt of the seven-spotted ladybug. Daisuke, who readied his handgun while being upside down midair, was covered in wounds all over. His long coat was ripped and cracks ran along his goggles.

However—he managed to get within firing range of Oogui.

He never thought in the first place that Ayuyu’s ability would fully defend against the shockwave. His goal was to weaken it ever so slightly just enough for him to be able to counterattack.

A bombardment sound shook the coast.

Splitting the sea and grazing the seven-spotted ladybug, a bullet wrapped in hellfire hit Oogui squarely.

The upper torso of the woman clad in a crimson long coat exploded with a roar—and shattered.

“WOOOOH!”

Daisuke’s attack did not lose its momentum.

[[File:Mushi_Uta_Bug_8th_p109.jpg|thumb]]

Further bullets pierced the remaining half body of Oogui. These punched through the remains landed into the ocean, raising huge water pillars.

Gunfire continued until Daisuke fell into the sea.

“—Hah! Hah!”

Unable to even assume a safe landing and crashing right near the breakwater, Daisuke stood up vigorously. With water dripping from his hair, he looked up the starry sky.

In front of his eyes.

In the space that several seconds ago had Oogui floating there—there was nothing now.

On the coast wrapped in silence, Oogui’s remains were falling toward the ocean.

Piercing through this silence was Kasuou’s cheer.

“—Fuck yeaaaaaaah!”

However, only Daisuke, Harukiyo and Mari were silent. They stared at the remains of Oogui that were falling into the sea.

“—That’s not good enough.”

Mari mumbled.

As if in reply to her voice—

Oogui’s body falling toward the ocean stopped in air.

“…!”

Daisuke grimaced. Oogui’s body swelled and something purple shot out from the sea surface just like the eruption of a volcano.

Creepily writhing and gathering in the night sky—were a swarm of Mushi, each about as large as a finger. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of those tardigrades covered in carapace clustered together and in the blink of an eye formed a human figure.

Hips, chest, both arms, neck and head—like a video played back, the tardigrades took the shape of a woman. Even regenerating the long hair and the round sunglasses took no more than a few seconds.

“—Have I not already taught you that it’s useless to disturb my mealtime?”

A tardigrade hanging from her index finger, Oogui smiled bewitchingly.

“So this—isn’t enough then.”

Daisuke groaned with a hoarse voice.

As long as the Undying Mushitsuki existed, Oogui could not be defeated—

While knowing that truth, Daisuke bet on this small hope. Kasuou and the rest who achieved victory once couldn’t hide their shock.

“Can we finish this now, please?”

Oogui moved in air as though swimming in the night sky, purple scales gathering in front of her again.

These scales slowly took the form of a seven-spotted ladybug—

“Kuh…!”

Daisuke looked around her.

Including him, his comrades that remained standing were very few. Ayuyu and Himeko both were unconscious, with half of their body buried in the sand.

If they received the seven-spotted ladybug’s attack in such a state—

Only the word “annihilation” came to mind. At that moment, a cool voice echoed.

“Alright then…”

Stepping ahead was the book-hugging Librarian.

The girl walked on the sand, her braid shaking. Harukiyo still gazed ahead without even seeing her off.

“It’s a waste to use your power on that. Can’t you give it a break?”

“Sorry, I already like their story. It would be a waste to not let it continue a little bit more. —Do you remember our promise?”

“I do things properly. I’ll protect your collection my whole life.”

“Good. Since I’m going to use my full powers for the first time in a while, I should get the world’s best storage.”

“…See ya, Librarian.”

The Librarian raised her book. Although there was no wind, the pages began turning.

“Nihi. If you were to participate as well it would even more interesting, Harukiyo.”

While the Librarian wore a twisted smile, Harukiyo was silent.

Behind the girl holding her back was something like a haze shimmer. A large object appeared in empty space. It was a divine door with the engraving of an angel and a devil.

Another identical door also appeared behind Oogui in air.

Both doors opened powerfully.

“Let me show you my Library Room, Oogui.”

An antique chair came flying from the door at the Librarian’s back. She sat on it.

Meanwhile, appearing from the door behind Oogui—was a large monster. This fanged giant that could appear in some fantasy film hugged Oogui with its thick arms.

“How about a reading session, just the two of us? —Nihi.”

Oogui did not resist. She narrowed her rainbow eyes, looking like she enjoyed it.

The Librarian was pulled by the chair and Oogui by the monster’s arm into the door.

As the pair’s forms vanished on the other side, even the door itself vanished completely.

“You can take this time to recover, to fix your positions, whatever you want.”

Harukiyo’s low voice echoed at this silent beach that now had its enemy gone.

“Even the Librarian’s not going to be able to hold her for long.”

As Oogui disappeared, the seven-spotted ladybug created from silver scales also scattered.

The people who had a narrow escape from death all stood there, stunned.

The first to move was Daisuke.

“—Nene’s safe, right?!”

“Obviously! —Hey, don’t just stand there, get healing already!”

Kneeling from fatigue, Kasuou turned to her back. Since she was used to fighting, she prioritized protecting Neiko, who possessed healing abilities.

Yomori Neiko started. At the back of the girl who began singing in a loud voice, a cricket possessing healing abilities floated.

Considering his own wounds, Daisuke shouted.

“Don’t think about later! Anyway, heal with all you’ve got! Make sure you heal even a single person more as quickly as possible!”

The wounds of the Mushitsuki on the beach were being healed little by little. Himeko and Ayuyu regained consciousness and leaked faint groans.

“Once you can move, reassume your positions and get ready! We can’t tell when Oogui comes back!”

“Wh-what…? What’s that—”

Thanks to being protected by Kasuou, Ena and Takako were safe. Takako was silent as if she remembered something, but Ena wasn’t.

“What’s happening here…?”

“Stay over there.”

Daisuke asserted.

Ena’s shoulders twitched. Seeing her frightened face, Daisuke’s tone changed.

“I can’t protect you if you’re far, Saionji-san. It’s better for you to stay near us.”

“Kusuriya-kun—is that you? Really…?”

“If you don’t want to become a Mushitsuki like you hate—follow what I say.”

Daisuke loosened his mouth with a lonely tone. Yet he soon turned his back, his long coat flapping.

“Harukiyo!”

The pitch-dark demon turned to face the flame devil.

“You—you still don’t intend to act even at this point?”

“Don’t you fuckin’ order me, Kakkou. Wasn’t you who called me here.”

Harukiyo glared at Mari, enraged.

“You lot called me.”

Mari gulped.

“Hanashiro Mari could just pulverize Oogui, right? Just like Oogui said, this battle’s meaningless for Mari. I was called here by you to settle this matter.”

“…”

“However, Ichinokuro Arisu—”

Harukiyo smiled boldly.

“Being taken in by her words and dancin’ with her wouldn’t be too bad.”

An azure light crossed the night sky where the comets were falling.

“…!”

The wounded Mushitsuki on the surface all startled and looked up the starry sky.

A giant door opened in the air again. A blue heat ray broke through the door, raging in the open air, and flew out of the destroyed door along with a purple mass.

It was an object that had a human eye buried inside insectile compound eyes. Several of them were floating in air, emitting a bright heat ray from the eye part.

Appearing from within the door was the one who controlled these countless Eyes—Oogui.

The Mushitsuki standing on the beach all became agitated. Only minutes passed since Neiko started singing. Half of the Mushitsuki collapsed were still down.

However—

Not only the Eyes flew out of the door. Several giants showed their upper torso, clinging to Oogui.

“How stubborn—”

Oogui frowned.

Another door appeared on the beach. The seated girl returned.

“You are a bother for these ladies and gentlemen on a break. Please go back to your room—“

The reappearing Librarian no longer had her glasses, and blood was streaming down her forehead. Her left shoulder was gouged and her arm limped next to her body. Her braid came unfurled and her long hair was plastered to her body by blood.

“Nihi.”

Leaving this sublime laughter behind, the Librarian was sucked inside the door again.

Oogui too was being dragged by the giants back inside. The Eyes floating in the night sky became scales and vanished again.

It was only a matter of time before Oogui got unleashed—

They all probably realized that. Nene’s song increased its intensity and Himeko and Ayuyu rose up, swaying.

“Mari!”

Daisuke and Harukiyo looked at her.

Mari was standing in place, unmoving.

“I know that—”

Her expression crumbled. She bit her lips.

“Everyone needs Arisu—but—”

A sob leaked from the depths of Mari’s throat.

Daisuke’s expression changed.

“Move, Mari!”

“…!”

A black object spurted like a geyser from beneath Mari’s legs. Unable to fully evade this sudden attack, she was swallowed by the impact.

“Uhh…!”

Mari’s body was captured by the squirming, indeterminate object. With both arms and legs spread apart, she was being crucified.

“There’s no way… Oogui shouldn’t be hereee!”

Himeko’s shout brought everyone’s surprise.

The identity of the black object restraining Mari—was a swarm of black tardigrades. These were the exact same Mushi Oogui created when she’d regenerated her body.

The tardigrades crucifying Mari kept multiplying. They became a tidal wave and were trying to cover the Mushitsuki on the beach.

“So you’re here—”

A wave of heat washed over the coastline.

“Undying bastard!”

Harukiyo howled as hellfire rose from his entire body. This fire pillar that was as large as a high-rise building formed a tiger beetle with tusks of differing lengths made of flames.

The large swarm of tardigrades covering the night sky was pushed back by the crimson tiger beetle. The tardigrades kept eating the flames while their bodies were being scorched, contending in midair against the tiger beetle that kept burning them while its body was being eaten.

“—Don’t just decide on your own to gather SEPB members and fight Oogui.”

The tardigrades rose next to the crucified Mari. They transformed into a boy.

He wore sunglasses that had lenses colored differently and had a small braid on his temple. He wore a black suit, completely unlike his appearance that indicated his age as late teens.

This wasn’t the copy of a Mushi controlled by Oogui.

He was the true host of the tardigrades and the one once sought after by Mari, the Undying Mushitsuki—

“This is a rather large breach of the rules, Kakkou.”

Director of the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau, Ichiku Kimitaka, twisted his mouth to a sneer.

Daisuke lowered his body and readied himself.

“And if it is a breach—what are you going to do about it?”

“If you retreat right this instant, I’ll generously overlook it.”

“How kind of you. Even the great Director is going to forgive me breaking the rules?”

“It’s a special case. It’s because you’re a Rank 1.”

“What was that?”

Not answering the puzzled Daisuke, Ichiku glared at Mari.

“Hanashiro Mari. I’ll also give you a chance to choose—between the angel’s potion and the devil’s potion.”

The Librarian’s door appeared in the sky again.

Azure heat rays, flames, lightning and all sorts of attacks blew from within the cracked door. It blocked the roars of destruction and the howls of monsters, shaking the Mushitsuki on the surface. 

Apparently, the Librarian and Oogui being enclosed in the different space was reaching its limits—

“However, a moment before death, you threw away the devil’s potion.”

Ichiku’s pupils sparkled. This inhuman light was piercing Mari.

Mari grimaced.

—''You mustn’t be deceived by the devil camouflaged as an angel.

So the Undying Mushitsuki who told her that definitely was Ichiku Mikitaka. Since his tone of voice was so calm he sounded like a different person, she doubted it until now.

“You came fluttering back down through the Morpho butterfly, so you only have the angel’s potion at hand. —You should have fully drank it.”

“Uh…!”

The tardigrades restrained her even stronger. It took everything she had just to not let go of her spear.

“You can’t shake it off. You keep hesitating, as you’re nothing but the dregs of a dream. In order to retrieve your full powers from when you were alive—the only choice is to take full control of that body.”

Daisuke took a step ahead. Ichiku turned to him, glaring at him with inhuman eyes.

“Don’t move, Kakkou. If you really wish to rebel against the SEPB, I’ll eat you later, not leaving even a single hair behind. Just wait there quietly.”

“Rebel, you say? The SEPB’s duty was capturing Mushitsuki, supposedly. —Then extinguishing their origin, Oogui, should be a mission of the highest priority!”

“I did order their capture. However—”

Ichiku sneered.

“Ending the existence of Mushitsuki—I don’t remember giving that order.”

“…!”

Daisuke, Kasuou and the rest of SEPB members all became speechless. Aki and his comrades widened their eyes the same way.

“What—did you just—”

“Can’t you understand what I said? The day you understand will come. Blaze Class Rank 1, Kakkou. As well as Harukiyo—as long as you two continue being Rank 1s.”

“…!”

Daisuke turned to look at Harukiyo. The flame devil revealed his hatred, spitting out.

“So you’re giving me that Rank 1 designation bullshit. What an honor. I can’t wait for the day of flammable trash.”

“You also possess the qualifications to become a Rank 1. —Hanashiro Mari.”

Going along Mari’s arm, the swarm of tardigrades clung to the silver spear. They constricted the blade emitting scales.

“In the past, you were supposed to have wished for a new life. At the very least, not defeating Oogui.”

The streaming Perseid meteor shower.

The overflowing roars and impact that broke through the door floating in the night sky.

Underneath the flood of lights in the night sky—

“Right now, what do you wish for?”

The question of the Undying Mushitsuki, Ichiku Kimitaka, pierced Mari’s heart.

 === Part 4 ===

Mari would be able to defeat Oogui—

Sensei had told her so.

“I can defeat Oogui…?”

“It’s just Aria saying that. That you might be able to.”

It was the usual sickroom, where only Mari and Sensei were.

In times where she couldn’t sleep, Mari would often pester Sensei to tell her about Mushi and Mushitsuki.

In this dreary sickroom where time stopped, questions and answers were repeated—

This sight was almost like a small classroom.

“Because you’re strong and have an ability that can do it.”

“My ability…”

“A Mushitsuki that was born of the Original Three and yet can defeat those who are like their parents… Until now, nothing like that appeared. —Perhaps one never should have appeared.”

“…”

“It is a small ‘bug’ created from continually creating Mushi—and because it’s a defect, it will probably never happen again. Mushitsuki like you being born, as well as Aria not falling asleep…”

A defective Mushi.

An ironic Mushi, quite fitting for Mari who suffered from an incurable illness. However—

“So that thing is telling me to defeat Oogui?”

Since Mari was focusing all her efforts on living, Mushi and Mushitsuki had nothing to do with her.

Although she asked such questions instead of hearing a lullaby, Mari herself never thought about getting involved in that bloody world even a little.

“Are you telling me that’s my—duty?”

“I won’t say that.”

“Liar. Then why are you telling me that?”

“I just wanted to tell you to be careful.”

Sensei’s tone of voice was as kind as always, and calm to a stupid degree as always.

“Oogui still doesn’t know about you. She doesn’t know about your power. For us, a mere small bug in the system, we can live peacefully as long as we do nothing. However, if we try and do something—it would probably not end pretty for us. The bug will spread, cracks will become rifts, and the world where it’s normal for there to be Mushi might suffer a fatal effect.”

“…”

“If it becomes like that, someone trying to fix that will definitely appear. It might become a fight against people who’d try to fix the bugs and protect the world where Mushi exist. —If you don’t like it, then you’d better not use your ability.”

“…What do you mean that only I can beat her? That Oogui has a special ability?”

“Oogui has—the power of undying.”

These words probably went out of his mouth inadvertently. Perhaps he was stopped by Aria. She even remembered Sensei clamping a hand over his mouth, his expression shouting ‘oops’.

“Undying…?”

As expected, Mari leaned ahead.

“Meaning, they can’t die?”

“No, to be more precise it’s a bit different, but—err.”

“Hey, tell me. Oogui can use the power of Mushi she’s created, right? Meaning, there’s a Mushitsuki with the power of Undying?”

Mari, who always feared death, couldn’t miss the word “Undying”.

“O-oh no, it’s about time for your examination—”

“Wait! You can’t do that, tell me more!”

Recalling how desperate she was, she now felt even embarrassed.

However, at the same time nostalgia welled up as well.

Thinking about it—she recalled with a bitter smile.

That might have been the first and last time she scuffled with Sensei—