Mushi Uta:Volume 13 Chapter 3

3.00 OPS3 Part 11

They came to a city about a two-hour train ride away from Kurobishi Town.

Ayukawa Chiharu was the one who led Shiika’s group to this region.

According to the girl who was once Sanbikime—Aria Varei—she sensed Sanbikime’s scent from this town.

“Definitely here.”

Chiharu turned to Shiika and the rest and said this.

Namie and Lucifera raised brows and looked around them.

“Will Sanbikime really be in a place like this?”

“Being here means—that Sanbikime is someone in here?”

It was an international airport.

This airport was home not only to international air routes that went abroad, but also domestic airlines that connected to the country’s important cities. Obviously, there were many people there, and the lobby Shiika and the rest were in was packed full.

Nanana looked around her and spoke.

“This is an international terminal. You don’t mean to tell us that Sanbikime felt that C was in pursuit and decided to flee abroad, right?”

“Eh.”

Shiika turned to Nanana.

“I see… so Sanbikime thinks like humans.”

She hadn’t thought of it, but now that the possibility was raised, it made sense.

Until they came there, Chiharu had told them about when she made Kakkou into a Mushitsuki.

Sanbikime themselves no longer had any personality. They would simply parasite on people nearby those that had delicious dreams and copy their personality.

Inciting the person they parasitized, Sanbikime would eat delicious dreams.

However, Sanbikime themselves had cursed their own duty—

Lucifera’s cellphone rang. She spoke while reading the mail sent to her.

“Since this is the lobby for arrivals and not departures, I believe they’re not trying to run away.”

“But if they’re not running away… are they waiting for someone?”

Shiika tilted her head, but no one could answer her.

The people going through the spacious lobby were varied. There was those who dragged carry-on bags after them, and also those who welcomed the new arrivals. Even just counting the airport workers, tour guides moving from the reception counters, janitors cleaning the floor and store employees carrying luggage on trolleys, there were too much people.

Shiika could do nothing but watch all these people.

Sanbikime was somewhere in this sea of men and women of all ages.

However, no one knew how Sanbikime currently looked.

“Chiharu-san, can’t you narrow the source of the scent or something?”

“Sorry, but any more than this is…”

As Chiharu shook her head, another ringtone resounded from Lucifera’s hand.

“If the scent’s not moving, we can ignore those moving about. We can narrow it down to any passengers staying here or maybe the staff.”

I see, that makes sense.

Shiika and the rest ignored passersby and those who just arrived from flights and looked among those sitting on the benches or staff in the lobby.

Only Shiika, Chiharu, Aijisupa, Namie and Lucifera arrived there to find Sanbikime. Their other comrades also came to the airport, but they were watching Ebina Yuu—Erii—outside the building.

“Ah, that woman looked over here! Might be her?”

“She’s staff, she just glanced at us because we’re standing dab smack in the middle of the lobby.”

“That man that passed just now turned to look at Chiharu. Isn’t that suspicious?”

“Those eyes were just saying ‘oh, what a cutie’. He did look at Chiharu-san, though.”

“Aria…”

Once they started looking for anything at all, everyone in the lobby looked suspicious.

Not giving up, Shiika kept looking around, and—

“…?”

Her eyes were drawn to a certain place.

She could see a small head sitting on a bench from behind.

Judging from the height, this child was probably in the latter grades of elementary schools. She could tell nothing more. Since she was looking from behind the face wasn’t visible, and because of the backrest she couldn’t even see what they were wearing.

There were two empty seats on both sides. And it remained like that ever since Shiika’s group arrived there.

“What is it, Snow-san? Found someone suspicious?”

Being asked this by Lucifera, Shiika stealthily pointed toward the child she got curious about.

“I-it’s that child.”

“Hmm? Where… oh, that one. Do they look like Sanbikime?”

“T-that’s not it, I just wondered where are their parents.”

“Snow-san… this isn’t the time to worry about something like that, you know.”

Lucifera was shocked, but there was a ringtone indicating a new mail received.

“…Let’s go check it out for the meantime.”

Probably ordered this by her mistress, Lucifera reluctantly approached the bench. Shiika and the rest also followed her, coming in front of the child.

Shiika now saw he was a boy. He was playing with a portable game console. His casual outfit consisted of jeans and a sweatshirt and he wore headphones.

Unheeding of Shiika and the others watching him, he was focused on his game.

She could see nothing suspicious about him at all.

“S-sorry, it’s just a normal boy…”

Perhaps he was waiting for his guardian who was returning from some international flight. Thinking this, Shiika apologized to everyone and turned. However—

“—Aria?”

Chiharu suddenly asked the boy.

“Eh?”

Everyone else spoke together.

“You’re Aria, right? —Yup, no mistake about it.”

As Chiharu approached the boy, she leaned down and looked at his face.

“I finally found you.”

Meanwhile, the boy didn’t even change his expression.

However, his fingers—stopped on top of his console’s buttons.

“’This is the worst option from what I’ve hypothesized—”

Raising his face, the boy was expressionless. He looked at Chiharu and removed his headphones.

“’Did you recall me, Chiharu?’”

“…!”

Shiika and the others gasped.

Chiharu smiled.

“Your tone sounds somewhat stiff. Is that your personality right now, Aria?”

“’You know already that I don’t have any personality.”

The expressionless boy spoke in an adult tone. It was a bizarre sight.

“If you’re calling my tone stiff…”

“’If you’re calling my tone stiff…’”

Chiharu and the boy spoke at the same time.

Speaking to the surprised Shiika, the boy continued.

“’It means that this boy has a stiff tone.’”

“Right.”

Chiharu grinned at him again.

They reunited here, in the airport lobby, where multitudes of people passed and the announcements of landing flights echoed.

Ayukawa Chiharu as well as the elementary schooler with headphones—Aria Varei—reunited.

One of the Original Three, Sanbikime.

The monster said to give birth to Fusion-Type Mushitsuki was right there—

“I-is that boy really Sanbikime? One of the Original Three is right here…?”

The boy looked at the shuddering Lucifera with a side glance.

“Eek…”

“It’s fine, don’t be scared. Aria’s a good person.”

Chiharu spoke with a smile, but it was the boy himself who denied her words.

“’Are you still saying that sort of stuff…?’”

The boy spoke and exhaled his breath. It looked like he was sighing.

“But something’s strange. Is the one speaking now the boy? Or Aria?”

“…”

Chiharu asked this, but the boy was silent.

Shiika looked at him attentively.

She felt no fear, unlike Lucifera. This completely normal elementary schooler didn’t look like someone dangerous and there was something else she was curious about.

“E-err, nice to meet you, Sanbikime—sorry, Aria-san.”

Shiika bowed and spoke.

“Or maybe, err… should I greet that boy instead?”

“…”

The boy said nothing in response. He only looked back at Shiika’s eyes expressionlessly.

Chiharu raised a brow.

“Hey… aren’t you acting a bit strange?”

Right, Shiika also thought about this.

From what Chiharu told them, although the person that served as Aria’s host was troubled by a hunger for dreams, it had no major effect on their mind and body.

But the boy in front of them was—

“’—Chiharu. Why are you here, after all this time?’”

Chiharu apparently also noticed that something was out of place. She stopped smiling and furrowed her brows.

“Aria…?”

“’Revenge? Maybe you want to kill me because I’ve taken your precious brother…’”

“N-no! Hey, listen, Aria—”

“’Can you wait a little, though?’”

Cutting off Chiharu’s words, the boy spoke.

“’The person I’m waiting for will soon be here.’”

“Huh?”

“’I’ll eat his dream. So—you can do whatever you’d like after this.”

Chiharu gulped.

Before the paling Chiharu could say anything, Shiika went on the offensive again.

“You can’t!”

“’You… from the smell, you’re a Mushitsuki of Elvioréne?’”

“You can’t create any more Mushitsuki—definitely not!”

“Right, Aria! You don’t actually want to do this, either!”

However, the boy still remained expressionless.

“’This time alone there really is nothing I can do…’”

Looking at the other party’s eyes, but his mouth moved mechanically. The words spilling from this puppet-like boy were ones he was terribly tired of.

“’He’s coming here soon.’”

Everyone was puzzled.

“He?”

“’This boy’s best friend. He’s coming back to this country.’”

The boy raised his face and looked at the timetable for arrivals.

“’We’re going to meet with him for the first time.’”

“…!”

“’In my humble opinion, he’s very cool. The kind of man even other men fall for. This boy also trusts him and respects him more than anyone. They met many times until now, spoke and played together and cultivated their friendship. —Online, that is.’”

“If he’s that important…!”

Shiika called loudly without thinking. Other passengers focused their gazes on her.

“Then you really can’t turn him into a Mushitsuki!”

“’Yes, it’s just like you say. But you know, things are different from how they were until now. The boy I’m possessing right now—is a very good guy.’”

The boy Aria spoke of.

Meaning, the boy speaking expressionlessly and mechanically they were currently looking at.

“’Too much of a good guy, really.’”

“What do you mean?”

“’After feeling guilt about the hunger he felt for his friend’s dream—he stopped thinking of anything.’”

Everyone gulped.

“I need to get out of this boy as soon as possible. If not, it could be too late. And for that—for the first time, I’m going to eat that boy’s friend’s dream without hesitating.”

“…”

“’His friend’s quite the manly guy too. After I sent him a fake mail requesting his help, he immediately came literally flying here.”

“—You can’t.”

Chiharu grabbed the boy’s shoulders. She spoke with a serious expression.

“Aria, this is really wrong… if you eat his friend’s dream, this boy really will break. I know this—and you actually know it as well, right?”

“’I couldn’t think of any other way. After I separate from this boy, you can take your revenge on me or whatever you’d like. So for now—‘”

A ringtone echoed.

Smiling, Chiharu turned to Lucifera.

“It’s alright, Aria! There’s this really smart girl. I’m sure she’ll think up something good!”

By a smart girl, she was probably referring to Lucifera’s mistress.

“R-right. There should be some other way!”

Shiika also expected some strategy of avoiding this—

However, Lucifera had a stiff expression after seeing the mail.

“—That’s fine, she says.”

Chiharu’s smile froze.

“If we get more Fusion-Type pawns, our prospects of defeating Oogui increase—she says.”

Chiharu was speechless.

“N-no way…!”

Shiika also wanted to argue, but—

“’It will end up happening either way. I mean, no matter how much we resisted, fate never let us go. It will obviously be a situation where we must do so—”

“We won’t let this happen!”

Shiika desperately opposed this.

“Ever since I heard Chiharu-san’s story, I’ve been thinking. Aria-san says that they must always give birth to Mushi, but there should be a way to avoid this! This time for sure—”

“’It’s useless—‘”

Shiika and the rest startled and looked at the boy.

A lone streak of tears fell down the corner of his eye.

“’It’s always like this. Even now, look—‘”

While shedding tears, the boy looked ahead.

And it wasn’t at Shiika or Chiharu’s face.

The boy was looking at the airport staff hurrying around the lobby.

“…?”

As Shiika and the rest followed his gaze, they saw the staff acting abnormally.

“D-dear passengers, you must evacuate this place immediately!”

“Please exit through the automatic doors at the front and get—”

Not even using the intercom announcements, the staff shouted and rushed away from the reception counter.

“A landing plane has lost control and is heading here—”

As the staff shouted, the confused people of the lobby froze in place.

“’—It always ends up like this.’”

At the same time as Aria Varei shed tears and spoke in a self-deprecating voice.

A powerful vibration that shook the entire airport assaulted Shiika.

3.01 OPS3 Part 12

Shiika saw a vortex of light and felt an impact.

The vast lobby was first drowned by bursting lights of pure white. All the electric systems perhaps shortcutting, the fluorescent lights on the ceiling burst, the electric bulletin board raised sparks and the LED screen on the wall shut down.

Next, there was sound.

A roar suddenly shook the lobby, blowing away not only their eardrums but their entire bodies. And it approached the lobby in less than three seconds—

“…!”

Shiika and the rest in the lobby witnessed this horrible sight.

Appearing from the return gate—were not the passengers carrying their luggage.

It was a gigantic white whale, its entire body injured and its bones peeking out—

Not that, either.

“’Please forgive me already…’”

Aria’s whisper was drowned in the noise.

It wasn’t Moby Dick.

What Shiika saw was the remnants of the large airplane that appeared by destroying the building.

The airplane’s radome nose was already crumpled beyond recognition. Rubbing against the asphalt, the surface that was supposed to be pure white was scarred dark red and the walls were torn away, exposing the bulkheads within.

“—!”

Due to the sounds of impact, all screams rising the lobby were just felt as soundwaves rather than being heard.

Both ceiling and floor—every part of the structure visible—was blown away by the approach of the gigantic fuselage.

Shiika and company were a moment before becoming victims as well—

But then the fuselage broke.

It was because it crashed into the airport not straight, but a bit slanted. The front impact broke down the radome, but the impact from the side broke the fuselage in half.

Inappropriate thoughts rose to Shiika’s mind, reminding her of a sausage snapped into two. Shiika and the rest standing frozen in the lobby now really were in the cross-section of the building.

“—”

Due to the fuselage breaking, the tragedy’s erosion ceased.

The cross-section of the fuselage was pure dark.

However, seeing the scene made visible through sparks momentarily lighting it, they all froze.

The inside of the broken plane had stuff dangling from the ceiling—countless oxygen masks. Similarly, an avalanche of luggage poured from the compartments opened in the ceiling. And within the dark space with its broken lighting there were passengers moaning in agony.

What on earth happened—

Why did an airplane, supposed to land on the runway, lose control and crash into the airport?

She understood it in her mind.

However, there were the debris, the broken fuselage, and the passengers groaning in agony that she could see. Also—due to the sounds of the screams and sparks reverberating in her ears, she was unable to move a single finger.

I-I need to pull myself together especially when something like this happens—

Shiika’s sense of duty urged her.

There’s the other Mushibane members as well, right, I need to be like Rina—

However, unlike what she was thinking, she couldn’t move her body at all.

A fire apparently started. She couldn’t see its source, but thick smoke was engulfing the lobby and the fuselage.

“Aijisupa! Find the fire and extinguish it! I’m also counting on you to erase the smoke!”

The lone voice of reason echoing in the lobby of tragedy brought Shiika back to her sense.

It was Namie. She rushed to Shiika, pulled out a handkerchief and put it to her mouth.

“Fuyuhotaru, you take Chiharu and Sanbikime and evacuate to a safe place. We can’t allow them to get hurt from secondary damages.”

Saying this, Namie’s tone was soft. As if saying there was no need to worry.

She pushed Shiika’s shoulder and turned around, her long hair waving.

“Lucifera, you call our comrades outside and secure the route to a safe place! Coordinate with the staff and prepare as many stretchers as possible! Try and rescue as many of the injured as you can until the firefighters and ambulances come here!”

“R-right!”

Going past the lifted airport floor, Namie leapt into the broken plane.

“Why—are you so—”

Shiika, who remained standing frozen there, leaked a shaking voice.

Although Shiika was used to Mushitsuki battles, even in her eyes what happened here was abnormal. It was an unreasonable hell with no ally or enemy, but simple bloodshed.

How should she call this sort of situation—

“’Is it the thing called fate…?’”

A small shadow passed next to Shiika.

“’I knew it… it always turns out like this in the end…!’”

The headphone boy—Aria Varei—started dashing toward the dark fuselage.

“Wait…!”

Shiika’s legs finally listened to her. She wanted to go after Aria, then turned around.

“Chiharu-san, you go somewhere safe…!”

Chiharu had no response. Until just now she was shocked just like Shiika.

While going past the concrete fragments along with Aria, they entered into the plane—

It was a space filled with smoke and groans of pain.

All lights were gone and it was gloomy inside, but she could see many seats collapsed. She could hear a child crying from somewhere, and several passengers tumbled down the fuselage in a clear state of panic.

“Get a hold of yourself! Guide the unhurt passengers outside!”

She could see Namie helping get up the passengers that were woozy from the impact.

“’C.J…!’”

Pushing through the dark corridor, Aria looked around him. Shiika desperately followed him.

“’Where are you, C.J! You should be somewhere near!’”

The name he repeated was probably that of the boy’s friend he spoke about before.

“’C.J’—”

As he reached the back of the plane, Aria walked ahead, then went speechless.

Shiika was the same upon seeing that sight.

Unlike the broken front, the back had definitely suffered comparatively less damage—

Or so she estimated, but it was a complete mistake. Probably before crashing into the airport, a single wall had been destroyed and something had sunk into the passenger seats—a thick metal pipe of a transporter crane.

“He’s not breathing! Lend me a hand!”

Hearing that voice, both Shiika and Aria startled.

The crane’s arm coming from the wall pulled off several seats, and someone had been pinned under it.

He was a blond boy. He was unconscious and his pale face looked languid.

“—”

Aria looked at the headphones rolling next to the blond boy.

It was the exact same kind as those Aria was currently wearing.

“’Is that you—C.J…’?”

“Help us!”

Several people, perhaps those from the surrounding seats, were trying to rescue the boy already. Middle-aged men, old men and girls, all of them were struggling against the crane’s arm. A woman crying her eyes out nearby was probably the boy’s mother.

Shiika rushed to the collapsed boy and tried helping the people lifting the crane.

However, Aria made no move.

Aria was—smiling.

“’—Haha.’”

Suddenly losing all power, he kneeled on the spot.

“’Here, look… it always turns out like this… trying to save him is useless.’”

Seeing the boy whose breathing stopped, Aria giggled.

Lines of tears streaked from his eyes and Shiika startled.

“Aria Varei—Sanbikime…”

Chiharu said that it was Sanbikime inside this headphone-wearing boy.

And he himself had also acknowledged that.

Even so, that boy Shiika was seeing was shedding tears for another person—

“You’re crying despite being one of the Original Three…?”

Oogui.

Shinpu.

Those beings who lived only to target people’s dreams and feed on them were the Original Three.

Shiika believed this without a doubt, so this scene came as a shock to her.

This one was different from the other Original Three—

“His lungs are being crushed, he can’t breathe! If we don’t hurry it’ll be too late!”

One of the people trying to save the boy shouted this.

Shiika came back to her senses and tried joining the people lifting the cranes, but—

“Eeek!”

She startled as someone grabbed her ankle.

“He’s probably not breathing anymore…! More importantly, save me instead…!”

A man wearing a suit was collapsed at Shiika’s legs. Perhaps another victim of the crane, he was bleeding from his legs.

“The blood won’t stop…!”

“Eh—but…”

The man’s wounds didn’t look all that serious to Shiika’s eyes. Only a part of his clothes turned red. She though the boy was in much more of a precarious state—

As she looked to Aria, he held his head, looking pained.

“’I have to eat his dream… but—shit…!’”

“Hey, you…! I’m telling you to save me already!”

“—”

Shiika hesitated.

Should she respond to the man’s request for help?

Or should she save who she thought needed it?

That momentary hesitation made the bleeding man screech.

“—Gya!”

The man fell backwards as if blown back. His head bumped against the wall and he fainted.

“Eh…”

Surprised, Shiika looked next to her.

There was a girl taller than Shiika there—and unless her eyes were playing tricks on her, the girl took a splendid pose as if she’d just kicked a soccer ball now.

She was one of those who helped saving the boy. She wore a white dress, red boots and for some reason, a thin cardigan was hanging on her shoulders, with her arms outside of it. It was hard to judge whether she was a middle- or high-schooler. Her wet hair clung to her face so it was hard seeing her expression, but Shiika saw a glance of her mouth with protruding canines.

Turning toward all the others present who sank into silence, the girl breathed out.

“Come on.”

She poked her finger against the crane’s arm.

All the passengers exchanged glances. They nodded and resumed the rescue activities in unison. Seeing them like this, the atmosphere inside the plane so shocked by the accident changed. More and more passengers with soot-covered faces gathered and joined the efforts.

“…Wow.”

While also helping the work herself, Shiika looked at the girl wearing a dress.

Seeing her actions, everyone’s hearts were united. Even foreigners who couldn’t understand her managed to hold back their fear by their will to save the boy.

This isn’t something I can do—

Shiika had neither the charisma that grasped people’s hearts nor the leadership qualities that gathered people.

She could never become Mushibane’s past leader, Tachibana Rina.

She knew this since long ago, and yet—

“…Fuu.”

The girl suddenly stopped her work and breathed again. Shiika though she was wearing a bold minidress, but she actually had short pants underneath. She brought out some wrapping from her pocket and put its contents into her mouth.

It was a cookie.

“…”

Crunching the cookie, she was about to go back to work—and then noticed the crouching Aria.

She used her index finger to beckon him to her.

“—”

Aria grimaced in pain—but wiped his tears. He came next to Shiika and helped the work.

“’Shit… if this was how I originally was, I could easily slip past this…’”

“Sanbikime-san…”

The one who was the most hated enemy for Mushitsuki, one of the Original Three, now stood next to Shiika.

However, that member of the Original Three had his face twisted in agony and was trying to save a person’s life.

“’Once more I can’t do anything except eat this person’s dream, then…!’”

As if spitting out something he was accumulating, Aria groaned.

Then, along with a heavy vibration, the crane’s arm faintly moved.

“It’s… moving!”

“Just like this! Keep going! We’ve pulled it out!”

“Hurry up, someone help him breathe!”

The thick smoke-engulfed fuselage suddenly became noisy. —The amount of smoke lessened probably due to Aijisupa taking care of the fire’s origin and then clearing up the smoke through controlling the airflow.

“…”

Panting, Shiika and Aria stood there, stunned.

The boy pinned under the crane’s arm was finally rescued.

Seeing the crewmen who happened to be present perform artificial respiration, Aria mumbled to himself.

“’He’s saved… really? No, it’s too early to say…’”

“H-he’ll definitely be saved. Outside we have Nanana’s—”

“’There’s no way… after all, this far I always had to eat their dream—wah!”

The cookie girl grasped Aria’s head from behind.

Looking down at the surprised Aria, she grinned.

“’W-what is it… sorry, it was my bad, saying this was impossible.’”

As he sounded embarrassed, the girl ruffled his hair.

“E-err, thank you very much.”

Shiika bowed at the girl.

She heard from Chiharu about the fate of Fusion-Type Mushitsuki being born.

And the being called Sanbikime always suffered from it.

However, they apparently finally managed to avoid tragedy this time.

They succeeded in no small part thanks to the girl in front of Shiika.

“I know it’s odd for me to thank you but, well, it’s thanks to you that—”

Shiika tried speaking, but then noticed something odd.

She couldn’t see the cookie girl’s expression well. It was because her wet hair clung to her face.

But what was it that wettened the girl’s hair in the first place?

It was—an abnormal amount of sweat.

“Err… this might be rude—”

She felt her voice shaking unconsciously.

Now that the smoke was cleared, she could see that the cookie girl’s dress also changed color with the sweat. Not only that, but her cardigan sleeves—were dripping blood.

“—Are you hurt?”

“If there were two seriously hurt people, they’d hesitate too much about who to save… and once that happened, they might become unable to save both…”

The girl showed her sharp canines and smiled. Unlike her expression, however, her voice was terribly weak.

“’Hey—‘”

Aria’s expression changed. He was staring at the girl’s right hand.

She probably picked it up after saving the boy.

“’Hey! Why do you—you’re a woman, so why do you have it!”

The cookie girl was gripping headphones.

The exact same headphones as those Aria wore.

“I’m a man… I was just born in a woman’s body…”

As if begging for forgiveness, the girl’s expression twisted—

And vanished from Shiika’s sight.

“’AHHHHHHH!’”

Looking down at the girl who collapsed as though her strings were cut, Aria shouted.

“—”

Seeing the back uncovered by the cardigan now, Shiika felt herself grow pale.

She was covered in blood. Perhaps part of the wall that broke down upon collision with the crane, several sharp metal fragments stabbed into her. It was such a grievous wound that it was a miracle she managed to hide it until now.

That girl was, in fact—C.J. She possessed the dream that drew Aria to her, and had the sort of indominable spirit that allowed her to hide her own fatal wounds to save the boy. Regarding the confusion in gender, there were apparently some circumstances behind it.

As the girl lay there unable to move even a finger, Aria looked down at her and held his head.

Next to them, Shiika had definitely seen it in the fuselage filled with chaos.

“…”

The blonde boy that was saved thanks to the cookie girl started breathing again. He coughed painfully, and his crying mother clung to him.

“’It really does turn out like this… in the end, this is my fate…’”

Aria clenched his fist. He kneeled next to the girl.

“You wanted somewhere you could get reborn… you’ve told me this before…”

Aria’s body was wrapped in a faint, azure glow. He slowly opened his mouth wide.

“’It looks so, so tasty—and it’s exactly because I have these thoughts at such a time that I’ll never be forgiven…’”

Seeing that Aria brought his widened mouth closer to the collapsed girl—

Without thinking, Shiika slipped between them.

“…!”

As Shiika held the girl’s head in an embrace, Aria glared at her.

His expression of anger didn’t seem childlike at all—it really was monstrous.

“’Move aside—“’

“…!”

Shiika shook her head.

Aria grabbed Shiika’s clothes and tried pulling her away. However, he was awfully weak, completely unlike a supposed Original Three monster.

“’Don’t stand in my way—on whose authority do you intend to kill her—‘”

“…!”

Shiika shook her head again.

No words came out. Instead, she started crying at some point.

“’What am I supposed to do, then! Are you telling her to leave her to die?! It’s better to become a Mushitsuki than die!”

“…!”

“’What can you do, then! Are you telling me you can—save her?!”

“—I can’t…”

Shiika bit her lips.

These were tears of frustration and chagrin.

Knowing neither shame nor honor, she spoke what she already knew since long ago.

“I can’t do anything…!”

As the surviving Rank 1, she couldn’t become a replacement for Kakkou.

And she couldn’t become like her magnificent friend Tachibana Rina, either.

Far from it, even if she just tried acting as a single Mushitsuki, she couldn’t save anyone.

Because Shiika’s power—could do nothing but destroy.

“I can’t save anyone…”

Smoke started filling the fuselage again. The passengers started clamoring.

A small presence appeared behind Shiika.

“Sorry for being late, Snow-sama.”

Hearing this innocent voice in her ears, Shiika nodded.

“—However.”

The moment Shiika mumbled, their sight literally dispersed.

“…!”

Even the faces of the surprised Aria and the other passengers vanished like mist, and the next moment—

A bright light filled their sights.

“—”

The wounded cookie girl.

Shiika who held her head.

As well as Aria.

All three of them retrieved their forms in the airport’s arrival lounge that was filled with light.

Namie and the crewmen were busy guiding the passengers out of the broken fuselage. But what surprised Aria wasn’t them—but the state of the lobby from how it was a few minutes ago.

Many doctors, nurses and paramedics rushed around the scene of the accident. The passengers were being carried outside on stretchers one after another, and the crucially injured received treatment on simple beds installed on the spot. Large movable lights illuminated the area.

Even as Shiika cried, she held the cookie girl’s head.

“My comrades can definitely save her…!”

Seeing the perfect acceptance state developed in the lobby, Aria groaned in shock.

“’Why… how, all this… it’s almost as if you knew this would happen—‘”

Saying this, he gasped.

Noticing that Shiika and the others appeared in the lobby, several people rushed to them.

Seeing one of them, Aria grimaced.

“’—Chiharu… I see, you knew this…’”

Akasegawa Nanana appeared as well. She also brought Lucifera and other Mushibane members with her.

“Come here, a few of you! It’s urgent! I’ve even arranged for lights for Chafer, so work already!”

“I’m not one of your fucking employees, Akasegawa!”

Even as he cussed, the Mushitsuki boy who had heling abilities sat down next to the cookie girl.

“O-oh, what a cutie… looks like things are really bad, though.”

Seeing her comrades arriving, Shiika lost all strength. She was relieved and tried leaving the girl.

However.

Someone grabbed Chafer’s shoulders from behind as he was about to begin treatment.

“W-wait a minute.”

She was Lucifera. While looking at the cellphone she held in one hand, she asked in a mutter.

“H-has she already been turned into a Mushitsuki?”

Shiika looked up at Lucifera’s face with surprise.

“If she’s not one yet—Sanbikime-san, hurry up and make her a Mushitsuki already.”

“—!”

Shiika was speechless.

Lucifera didn’t remove her eyes from the cellphone. —No, she tried not meeting Shiika’s eyes.

“We must defeat Oogui. If a Fusion-Type Mushitsuki is about to get born here, they will become indispensable fighting power. They might even go beyond Kakkou or Sleeping Beauty.”

“Lucy-san…?”

“Allow me to state this clearly. There’s no guarantee Mushibane alone can beat Oogui. Reason being, you’re our strongest fighter, Snow-san, and your ability—”

Lucifera found it difficult to speak further, so she stopped. She continued as though forcing it out.

“Can be used by Oogui as well.”

“…!”

Perhaps surprised at Lucifera’s words, the gathered Mushibane members’ expressions were beyond unexpected.

Because only Shiika was surprised, while everyone else just bit their lips.

“Eh…? Y-you guys—”

“If we get more fighting power, our chances of winning will increase too. All the more if it’s an ability Oogui doesn’t have!”

No one there denied Lucifera’s words.

Seeing the expressions of Lucifera, Nanana and some others, Shiika noticed.

“—Y-you thought this all along?”

Her mouth moved on its own.

“All along… you didn’t think we can win…? Against Oogui…”

“…”

“Finding Sanbikime as well… was because you wanted more allies…?”

Of course not—

Shiika wanted to hear this chain of words the most of all, but it came from no one.

Not even from Namie or Aijisupa, who left the rest of the evacuation efforts to professionals.

It felt so heavy.

Shiika had never felt this kind of heavy impact before.

“No one… believed in me…?”

“No!”

Namie denied it.

“We do believe in you, Fuyuhotaru! It’s just that—”

“It’s just lip service, right?”

It was Satou Youko who suddenly cut off Namie’s words.

“By adding a Fusion-Type Mushitsuki as an ally, you might win against Oogui. And it might cause less Mushibane victims as well.”

No one there should have noticed the presence of this girl sitting on a suitcase until now. She was a girl with so thin of a sense of presence—but she was always next to Shiika.

As if gouging the doubts and anxiety born in her heart.

As if seeing through their black hearts and drawing them further into the darkness.

“You know this well—so it’s odd using trying to save just a single person, right?”

Satou Youko wore a casual sneer.

“No, rather than paying lip service… aren’t you just being selfish?”

Selfish.

Right—

Shiika agreed.

Thinking about it as Mushibane’s leader, there was no choice in the first place.

So for Shiika to feel like going against that now—it was nothing more than simple selfishness.

“As the SEPB, if we focus on fighting Oogui—as well as C—we do want the strength of a Fusion-Type Mushitsuki.”

Saying this was Kabuto, the SEPB combatant.

“And speaking personally… also as a power to go against Miguruma Yaeko.”

Even the SEPB, who were enemies to Mushibane, wished for the birth of Mushitsuki.

There was no longer any doubt.

Having the cookie girl become a Mushitsuki was definitely the right answer.

And what Shiika wished for—was the wrong answer.

Looking at Aria, he grimaced in pain.

“’It can’t be helped, if no one will stand in my way… I will probably eat her dream.’”

Unable to resist his own hunger.

That was the Original Three.

They had no other choice.

“You know it’s not just fighting power being born here…”

Shiika looked at the cookie girl.

If she became a Mushitsuki—she’d be very strong.

Although only briefly, she saw the girl’s strength that assured her of this.

“You know she’d be a Mushitsuki…”

“—!”

Several people were agitated.

However, the right answer wouldn’t change.

If there were a hundred people there, a hundred people would go against Shiika.

Any people other than that—didn’t currently exist. If Kakkou or Tachibana Rina were there, what would they have done? Would they go against Shiika as well?

Clinging to these delusions was undoubtedly part of Shiika’s weakness.

“I know that… but… but…!”

As she shed tears, Shiika recalled the face of someone who was completely irrelevant to this place.

Kusuriya Daisuke.

He wasn’t a Mushitsuki—but he approached Shiika also not as a Mushitsuki, thinking she was a normal girl.

She promised she’d meet him again.

“But—I hate it…!”

Unable to withstand it, Shiika started crying.

If she let a Mushitsuki be created her—if she had no choice just to reach the right answer…

Shiika felt like it would mean crossing a line.

“Right now, we’re the ones deciding whether she should become a Mushitsuki… and not the Original Three…! But making a Mushitsuki just for our sakes—”

Growing too excited, her voice became shrill. Shiika groaned.

“That’d make us the same as the Original Three…”

She felt that someone got agitated again.

Even while saying all this, she knew.

She was a coward.

“I understand… that I’m selfish… but I hate it…!”

Not only was she selfish, she was raising a tantrum.

She was acting without any responsibility, choosing a wrong answer based on emotion.

However, she had the feeling that if she suppressed those emotions, they were going to go past the point of no return.

“—You should elect a new leader.”

Once again, it was Youko who spoke suddenly.

“If she doesn’t prioritize the organization first and foremost, isn’t she a failure as a leader?”

The atmosphere froze.

“Fuyuhotaru-chan… if you want your selfishness to prevail, you should quit Mushibane.”

C’mon, don’t be there, come over here—

Satou Youko’s kind smile looked to her as if she was beckoning to her.

“…”

Shiika hugged the cookie girl’s head and grimaced.

Shiika didn’t have the makings of a leader—she knew this from the very beginning, but it now turned into a situation where she had to acknowledge this.

With Shiika there, the very organization of Mushibane itself would collapse.

She would destroy the people that her friend entrusted to her care by her own hands—

“—Step away from Fuyuhotaru, Satou Youko.”

Taking this unexpected action was Namie.

She stood in front of Shiika as if to protect her from the other girl.

“Namie-san…?”

“Sorry, Fuyuthoaru… I’m so sorry…!”

Namie turned back to Shiika, biting her lips.

“Once again, I couldn’t see anything but the battle ahead…! I’m so pathetic…!”

“Even if can’t stay in the Mushibane that Rina left behind—”

Aijisupa approached Shiika and spun his body as well.

“It’s still my job to stay at your side.”

“A-are you insane?”

With Mushibane members to her back, Lucifera’s face froze.

“Are you going to betray Mushibane in such a situation?”

“I won’t let you turn this girl into a Mushitsuki. If you say you don’t allow it, that’s what happens.”

“Chafer. Once you finish the minimum amount of treatment, you step back too.”

Shiika was confused at Namie and Aijisupa’s sudden actions.

“Namie-san, Aijisupa-san, I don’t really—”

“I thought about doing this later, but this might be a good opportunity.”

Kabuto spoke while crossing his arms.

“Fuyuhotaru, why don’t you join the SEPB—the East Central Branch?”

“Eh?”

Along with Shiika, everyone there looked at Kabuto.

“We won’t let Central Headquarters have you. We at the East Central Branch have been talking about this before; to have you join us not by capturing you, but formally become our ally. —If you leave Mushibane and become a SEPB combatant, we’ll forget about that girl.”

Lucifera looked flustered.

“W-what are you saying… Snow-san will leave Mushibane? Letting the chance for creating a Fusion-Type slip away? And what’s more… for her to join the SEPB? W-what on earth are you all talking about!”

“—”

It was just like Lucifera said.

Shiika couldn’t immediately understand the reality created by her own actions.

The Mushitsuki that she thought were all her allies moments ago now became her enemies.

All because of Shiika—

Although the Mushitsuki were finally all united, they were going to split off again—

“Come here, Chafer.”

“Hey, this is—pretty bad!”

Chafer’s anxious-dyed voice echoed in the lobby full of tension.

“The light… no, it’s—”

The lights illuminating the lobby showed a bizarre change.

“…!”

Shiika finally noticed it as well.

The lights—were moving.

They were bending and curving, morphing and changing their shape.

Small balls of light were gushing out of the sources of illumination.

Looking more closely at them, they were swarms of butterflies—and had the letter C on their wings.

“C—”

As she mumbled this, Shiika recalled that their battle against C had already begun.

3.02 OPS3 Part 13

The electricity consumed by this powerful illumination split from the machinery and assumed shape.

A nude beauty glowing in gold.

There were four of them. Each commanded an endless swarm of C butterflies.

Shiika and the others, as well as the emergency workers were all completely frozen in front of this situation—

A ringtone echoed.

Lucifera gasped and looked at her cellphone’s screen.

“—She’s aiming for Sanbikime! Protect the boy!”

Lucifera screamed, but it was the enemy who moved first.

One of C’s duplicates created by her ability—the electric fairy—flew. While creating a surging thread of electrical discharge between the machines on the floor and around, she stretched both arms toward the boy wearing headphones.

In comparison, the various Mushitsuki around acted one step too late. It was because they attempted to activate their abilities all of a sudden.

As a result, the person to move against C’s surprise attack was a girl who wasn’t a Mushitsuki at all—

“…!”

Leaping to Aria while risking herself and rolling on the floor was Ayukawa Chiharu.

In the space of a second, the golden fairy reached where Aria was, crashed against it and scattered.

“’C-Chiharu…!’”

“You can’t create any more Mushitsuki, Aria…!”

The girl who now hugged the headphone boy to her was crying. Although until then she showed no extreme emotions, Kakkou’s sister now raised her face and turned to Shiika.

“Right, Shiika-chan!”

It was her first time to see Chiharu’s emotions on full display.

As she saw Chiharu hug the boy serving as Aria’s host and shout her throat out, Shiika thought to herself.

She’d probably made Kakkou into a Mushitsuki at the time because there was no other choice.

But now other choices still remained—

“Yes!”

Looking Chiharu in the eyes for the first time, Shiika shouted as well.

The electric lump that burst and lost its shape now swelled atop the floor. It was recovering its form as a fairy.

“Looks like Operation 1 is also having a tough battle. Having C’s abilities reach so far means that…”

Aijisupa stood in front of Chiharu and Aria to protect them. He reached with both arms toward the assaulting golden fairies.

The moment before the fairies touched Aijisupa, he snapped his fingers loudly.

“—!”

There was a violent sound like striking a wet cloth.

As well as a golden radiance bursting in a radial pattern.

The leaping fairies were instantly vaporized, becoming particles of light spread in the lobby. These too were instantly boiled away by vapors, though. Shiika didn’t really understand the principles behind this, but apparently he used his steam to disperse C’s duplicates.

“Guh…!”

Aijisupa grimaced in agony. His hands were scorched and raising smoke.

“Aijisupa-san!”

“Leave battling to me.”

The hairband boy erased his expression again and raised his burnt arms high.

“But there’re too many uninvolved people here. Take Sanbikime and run.”

“Yes, let’s hurry!”

The one who took Aria from Chiharu and carried him was Namie.

“Escaping the airport’s our first priority. Chafer! You say here, you have to save that girl. Got it?!”

“All the light sources for my ability are broken, though—alright, I’ll do it, don’t glare at me like me!”

“W-we cannot allow you to do this. —Members of Mushibane!”

While staring at her cellphone, Lucifera spoke in a shaking voice.

“With the situation being what it is, we need to beat Fuyuhotaru’s group by force and create a Fusion-Type here!”

“…”

Shiika’s face stiffened. The Mushibane members in the lobby were the same.

“If we do that, Oogui won’t be able to use Fuyuhotaru’s power and we’ll gain a powerful ally. Sanbikime will end his role and might return to the neckless, so everything will end well!”

“Lucifera, you little…!”

Glared by Namie, Lucifera grimaced. Her arm holding the cellphone shook.

“Right now, we should be able to beat Fuyuhotaru easily… she’s not going to use her powers because she won’t hurt the people around…!”

Exactly so.

Lucifera was apparently acting out someone’s plan, but that person was right.

Shiika’s ability was about to become a major obstacle for their fight against Oogui. If they killed Shiika that problem would be gone, and if Sanbikime birthed a new Mushitsuki then they could create an ally on par with Kakkou.

It wasn’t just killing two birds with one stone.

It was the right answer such that no one would even think of any other option.

“—”

Even so—the Mushitsuki of Mushibane Mushitsuki couldn’t even move.

Even the one commanding them, Lucifera herself, put enough strength into her fist holding the cellphone that she was about to break it. Was her gritting her teeth like that out of opposition to the one issuing her orders, or perhaps—was she irritated at herself for being unable to move despite this being right?

Shiika looked at her Mushibane comrades.

Many things happened between them, but these Mushitsuki accepted Shiika, ate with her and slept with her.

Thinking back, not only did Shiika not help them at all—but rather felt like as someone who couldn’t even peel vegetables properly, they helped her much more than the other way around.

And now their eyes looking at Shiika—were full of doubts.

Just like Shiika herself, their expressions indicated that they didn’t allow themselves any display of emotion despite knowing the right answer.

“—But if you can’t do even that?”

Lucifera’s face changed with a startle. She received new mail on her phone.

“Then fucking save Fuyuhotaru already!”

“Eh…?”

“In exchange—throw away your naïve ideas about Fuyuhotaru or the Fusion-Type that could be created here saving all of us!”

Lucifera, who opened her mouth wide and shouted, instantly wore a smile.

“Make this no one’s fault by your own, make your own calls! It’s your own damn responsibility, choosing to throw away the only right answer! And resolve yourself to beat Oogui with the people gathered here no matter what!”

Lucifera was shouting toward the frozen Mushibane members.

“I’m telling you to brace yourselves for some tough shit, you shithead Mushitsuki! …Is what she says!”

Bursting, golden light overlapped with the voices echoing throughout the lobby.

Two fairies aimed for Aria and were intercepted by Aijisupa’s counterattack.

“Gwah…!”

Seeing how Aijisupa suffered with smoke rising from both hands—

All the Mushitsuki started moving at once.

Turning their backs to all the fairies, they fled.

“I’ve prepared a prisoner transport van with insulation in Terminal 2! Ride that and escape!”

Akasegawa Nanana, who remained in the lobby, shouted. She’d probably prepared it for them to pick up Sanbikime in. As they parted, she wore a displeased expression—definitely because she was mad at Shiika for choosing the wrong answer.

“Don’t fight C’s duplicates head on! Destroy all the walls and ceiling after you pass and bury the path with concrete! All the staff and passengers evacuated already anyway, so this is the right way for you shits-for-brains to escape! You shitheads, all of you are shitheads! …Is what she says!”

Seeing Lucifera shout all that merrily while running away, Shiika thought.

It was obvious that the person issuing orders to Lucifera disapproved of Shiika’s decision.

However, she changed her mind quickly. Although she was furious, not only had she not abandoned her thinking, she even saved Mushibane from falling apart.

It was the kind of human resource that Mushibane didn’t have even now—no, that they needed.

Why was she so stubborn about not revealing herself to Shiika—

She was terribly curious about that.

“Gwah…!”

She heard a scream from behind.

Turning around, she witnessed several of her slower comrades becoming prey to the fairies.

“It’s my fault…!”

If only she did as everyone told her, even her comrades that collapsed now might have been saved.

There was a part of her that had to think that. Even if everyone in Mushibane decided to follow Shiika again.

On the other hand—

“Thank you…!”

While running, Chiharu held her mouth with both hands and cried. Tears were falling from her eyes.

“Thank you, Shiika-chan… For not letting someone like my brother get born again…!”

Chiharu, who should have begrudged Shiika, was thanking her.

The pain constricting Shiika’s chest was not the fault of fatigue from running at full speed.

“I—”

Shiika couldn’t do anything more than biting her lips.

With Namie who was carrying Aria leading at the front, Mushibane ran out of the airport.

The outside was a mess. Many police cars were parked there to keep the customers or curious onlookers away. There were even people who looked like news agencies trying to get the best scoop. Ambulance sirens were also heard from afar. In a few more minutes, the place was definitely going to be under strict guard.

“Shiika-chan! Here!”

On the other side of the transport van, Chouya Nihei was waving his arms. He wasn’t a Mushitsuki, but he was a dependable merchant just like Nanana.

“Nihei-san—”

Trying to head toward Nihei, Shiika stopped in place.

That was because she saw golden butterflies dancing around.

“This’s bad—”

Namie groaned, her voice low.

C butterflies were produced one after another from the lights and cars parked in the terminals. Normal civilians unrelated to Shiika and the rest were getting confused by the events.

The one who moved to avoid tragedy was unexpected.

“—Erii?”

Erii, who should have been in a faraway place along with the Mushibane members, was heading there, her arms spread. From each finger she produced a pale C-butterfly.

Erii swung both arms horizontally.

The ten pale C-butterflies spread all around—

“…!”

It happened instantaneously.

The electric current surging from the pale C-butterflies entangled the golden butterflies—then absorbed them and left in the form of lightning that shot from ground to sky.

Finishing the discharge, crackles of remnant static electricity danced in the terminal that was now empty of C-butterflies.

“She saved us…? Is she our ally?”

Lucifera mumbled in shock, looking at Erii. The other girl was perhaps tired, as she was out of breath and her face was pale.

“We’ll block this exit and stop the fairies. Namie, take care of Shiika.”

“Goes without saying! Let’s go, Fuyuhotaru!”

Aijisupa and other allies stopped at the entrance. Namie dashed out of the terminal.

“Y-yes…!”

Shiika followed after Namie and Aria, Lucifera, as well as Erii.

Police officers stood in their way, but Shiika and others ignored them and passed through.

Within this mess, the existence of Mushitsuki was revealed to many civilian witnesses. But it was after Shinpu caused such huge damages. It was already unavoidable for the entire world to discover about Mushitsuki.

“Hurry!”

Nihei led them to a vehicle about as big as a city bus. —That being said, it resembled a bus just in size, as the walls and ceiling were all covered by thick steel plates and there were no windows.

As they all got on, the door closed without even time to look back toward Aijisupa and others.

The engine roared and the transport van deployed.

“We’re using several similar cars as dummies. Once we manage to escape to the countryside where there are less machines and surveillance cameras and the like, I think we’ll be able to escape… are you all fine?”

Looking at Shiika and the rest, it was natural for Nihei to be shocked.

Shiika, Namie and Aria, who saw the accident from close by and even entered the smoke-filled fuselage, were all covered in black. Chiharu and Lucifera were also tired, while Erii was covered in sweat and shaking.

“Thank you for saving us, Erii…”

“…”

Although Shiika expressed her gratitude, Erii did nothing but glance at her. She soon averted her eyes.

Being in the van was just like getting stuffed into a box. Just like they saw from outside there were no windows and it had no seats, either. The gloomy interior was illuminated only by lights on the ceiling.

“Aria…! Are you fine?”

Chiharu peeked at Aria’s face. The headphone-wearing boy hugged his own body and trembled.

“’I-I already told you, this body’s at its limits already… if I don’t eat a dream quickly, this boy’s mind will break first and foremost…’”

“Come inside me!”

Aria widened his eyes.

“Leave that boy and come inside me just like you did before!”

“’Are you—are you stupid? Don’t say something like that so easily… if you remember the past then surely you also remember that pain and hunger?”

“Yup, I recalled everything. The things you’ve said as well.”

Chiharu hugged the shaking boy.

“One day, one of the Aria Vareis will be able to live without eating someone’s dream—you were the one who said this, Aria.”

“…”

“Do you also remember what I told you?”

“…”

“I told you that you can stay inside me forever.”

In Chiharu’s chest, Aria grimaced. As if withstanding feelings that weren’t hunger—something unbearable—yet his wry smile also looked somewhat happy.

“’So this is your atonement, then… although you’ve done nothing wrong.’”

“I just want my old partner back. That’s it, really.”

Saying this, Chiharu flashed a bright grin.

Ah, so she actually was someone who smiled like this—

Seeing Chiharu’s smile, Shiika’s heart throbbed in pain.

It felt like she was watching a famous scene from some movie with the lead actress smiling like that. She came to realize that this was how Ayukawa Chiharu normally was.

Although she knew she’d suffer her entire life, she was willing to accept one of the Original Three.

And it was an exceptional smile. How much kindness—as well as strength could it hold? It was a resolve Shiika could never even imagine.

“’But that’s impossible… going into another person while I’ve yet to eat any dream might work for someone like Diorestoi, but not me…’”

“Aria? Are you alright?”

“’Sorry… I’m a bit sleepy…’”

The boy hugged to Chiharu’s bosom slowly closed his eyes. Still grimacing as he drifted off to sleep, he was hugged hard by Chiharu as though to encourage him.

“—Conditions—”

“…!”

Everyone including Shiika looked at a certain person.

A bizarre voice suddenly emitted. It was cracked and filled with noise like it came from the radio and the speaker was the girl who sat on one corner of the car while hugging her knees.

“There are—conditions—but my ability—Aria’s transport—possible—“

“Erii!”

Shiika leapt at Erii. The girl who had Ebina Yuu’s face kept facing ahead, not even looking to Shiika. Her mouth was open, but it didn’t look like she was moving her tongue.

“Even waking up Alpha—”

“Here! I knew it was Erii! Her personality being erased was a lie!”

Shiika started shedding tears.

Lucifera was shocked as she stared at Erii.

“R-really…? Before getting swallowed by Shinpu’s power, she might have let her personality escape… even if she’s a Mushitsuki, is such a thing possible…?”

“In the first place—I—used as a medium—Shinpu and Mushitsuki—Mushitsuki and the Database—a few Shinpu fragments remained—”

“I don’t really get it… but if we have her, can’t we solve everything? About that Aria or whatever and Alpha.”

Erii answered Nihei’s question.

“Impossible for me here—this is just an imitation of Shinpu—a landmark—”

“A landmark?”

As Shiika furrowed her brows, Namie tore Erii away from her.

“You said something about conditions. If you’re Erii and you say that this form is a fragment, where’s the main body?”

“…”

Erii suddenly averted her gaze.

“So you don’t want to answer? This isn’t the time for sulking—”

“W-wait, Namie-san.”

Shiika had seen Erii act like this many times until now.

Her profile gazing afar. She was always gazing at the same direction.

“You’re—over there? The real Erii, that is.”

Shiika followed her gaze. The others did the same.

“Was there anything there? As far as I know, there’s only the sea…”

“Miguruma already said that C’s personality is gone. So it needs to be a place not under C’s influence that the SEPB had been unable to find…”

“O-overseas?”

Nihei, Namie and Chiharu gave their theories, but Erii made no nod.

“There was no longer—where to escape—on the surface—“

Lucifera also tilted her head, but she suddenly gulped.

“Not the surface… no way—”

Erii looked at Shiika.

Her eyes that had the letter C in them—

“Please, I want you to—bring me back to life—”

Were shedding tears.

3.03 OPS3 Part 14

“An artificial satellite…?”

Peeking into the notebook computer Nihei carried, Namie spoke.

The transport van was still running on the road. Since there were no windows, they had no idea where they were heading, but ever since it left the airport, its engines hadn’t stopped even once.

“No, this is—”

While operating the notebook computer, Nihei’s expression clouded over. A cable extending from the laptop connected to the nearby wall. It was connected to protected emergency circuits, so it should be difficult for C to ascertain their location from the outside, according to him.

“It happened just as the mist covering Akamaki City cleared up. A rocket carrying a satellite to space was launched from the country—but this is… aren’t these reports of it failing?”

“Seems that way. The moment after it was launched, it was hit by lightning… was this your handiwork, C—no, Erii?”

While reading the news report posted online, Namie turned to Erii.

Erii was silent, hugging her knees.

Nihei finished reading the article.

“When the rocket passed through the atmosphere its fuel tank was destroyed and it was confirmed that the vehicle exploded. And they lost all sound transmission just before the satellite was ejected into orbit…”

“—There was no other way—no matter where I ran to—I’d end absorbed by my powers at some point—”

Still expressionless, Erii mumbled this, her voice mixed with noise.

“Erii…”

Shiika touched Erii’s hands unconsciously. She was holding back her tears.

Erii had resisted and was unable to escape something so powerful—but she didn’t give up on living.

No matter what her form was.

Shiika understood those feelings well.

“…”

Erii looked at Shiika, her face lacking any emotion. She awkwardly grabbed her hand back.

These fingers that originally were Ebina Yuu’s were slightly shaking. Feeling that, Shiika felt her chest constrained again.

“But is the satellite itself in one piece? If we go by this article, never mind the failure in launch, hadn’t the rocket itself exploded?”

Erii answered Namie’s question in a voice full of noise.

“It’s space debris—”

It was an unfamiliar term.

Shiika frowned.

“Space debris…?”

“Not even falling under the definition of a rocket or satellite—it’s just trash caught up in Earth’s orbit—”

“H-how are we supposed to get it back? You’re not actually telling us to head into space and get it, right?”

As Nihei was confused, Erii glared at him.

“Other than the experimental Hologram Memory that I’ve uploaded my personality into, one booster remained safe—as well as some little fuel—as long as it’s before it freezes over in the lower atmosphere, we just need to ignite that booster—”

“W-wait a moment. Don’t tell me that—”

Nihei’s cheeks twitched.

“You’re going to drop it? Drop the debris—somewhere on the surface?”

Letting the debris holding Erii’s personality crash down.

She realized how difficult this was based on how everyone there gasped. Apparently Shiika was the only one who was unable to take this in all at once.

“I’ve already started preparations for atmospheric entry—if we let this chance slip away, I’ll never—”

“Eh? Eh? You’re already going to enter the atmosphere again? This is bad, real bad!”

“E-err… what is so bad about this?”

“Isn’t it obvious?! Alright, Snow-san, I’ll explain it simply for you… err, it’s really bad! Now especially when the country’s so chaotic… if something so large falls from the sky, they might think it’s a missile and cause a lot of trouble! Normally you’d announce all over the world about that satellite—wait, where is it even falling?!”

Nihei was flustered to a pathetic degree.

“It’s heading to me—”

Erii explained.

A landmark—

Now the meaning of her words from before was finally clear.

Erii had left a fragment of herself for the part of her even now drifting through space.

“Can’t you do anything?”

Chiharu asked this. She was looking at the girl sitting against the wall.

She was Lucifera. She used another communication cable to connect to her cellphone and was apparently in contact with someone. Probably her mistress.

“Our first priority right now is to defeat Oogui. Not saving Erii.”

Her answer was about half expected. Shiika made no move.

“We’ve fulfilled our goal of retrieving Sanbikime. Now all we need is a mental pollution-type Mushitsuki to force Erii’s fragment out of Ebina Yuu’s body. Afterwards, we’ll need to think a strategy for defeating—”

Seeing that both Shiika and Chiharu’s expressions were completely unmoving, Lucifera cut off her words.

“…You’re not listening to a single word I’m saying, are you?”

“I mean…!”

Shiika snapped at Lucifera, who then sighed.

“I am not Nihei-san, but this is quite the difficult situation. In the first place, can we even survive the impact caused by space debris falling to earth?”

“—”

Erii said nothing, just biting her lips.

“What’s the estimated time of the fall?”

“—In about ten more hours—”

Namie grimaced.

“Just before our time limit…!”

“Stopping Erii’s fall, then having her bring Ebina Yuu back us, and furthermore using her as bait to draw Oogui. As well as giving Sanbikime back to Chiharu-san. —We need to do all this and still defeat Oogui within the time limit.”

Lucifera counted on her fingers.

“This is way past being ridiculous. But you’re still saying to do it?”

Shiika looked back at Lucifera’s face.

She then looked at Namie, along with Chiharu looked at Aria, and looked at Erii.

Those who became Mushitsuki. Those who weren’t Mushitsuki. As well as—those who birthed Mushitsuki.

In all likelihood, never again were all these people going to gather under one banner like this.

“I think that’s why we’re here.”

Shika spoke calmly.

“To save Erii—no, every Mushitsuki.”

Saving Mushitsuki—

Those words looked like they made Erii startle for a moment. Because she immediately lowered her face, however, it might have been Shiika’s imagination.

“…Haa.”

Lucifera sighed again, probably because she’d already anticipated Shiika’s response. She already knew that Shiika was going to reject the right answer of abandoning Erii.

“If we’re doing this—this is actually our best chance now.”

Shiika and Chiharu’s faces sparkled at Lucifera’s words.

Her invisible “mistress”.

Right about now, that person was probably raging against Shiika who went against orders and yet thinking up a new plan. —She’d never met her, but for some reason Shiika was convinced of this.

“In this state of emergency, it’s actually the SEPB who holds the real power over this country. Although it’s obvious that all sides are going to bear responsibility afterwards, it’s also only the SEPB that can get the situation under control. Let Miguruma lay the groundwork to have the government handle other countries. Furthermore, in order for us to act as soon as possible, we need to wait at the capital, where it’s easiest to gather the necessary resources and manpower.”

After reaching that point this much, Lucifera looked at her cellphone screen and went speechless. She spoke after a delay.

“—Let’s have the space debris drop on Akamaki City.”

“…!”

Shiika was speechless too. Everyone there was shocked.

Dropping debris on the capital, where the country’s core was located.

It was a very bold strategy.

“We can allow no failure. We don’t have the time to gather everything in the kind of countryside area that’s empty of people. Right now, Akamaki City had issued evacuation orders anyway, and the influence of both Central Headquarters and Akasegawa Group is strong. Use whatever you need, whether money or authority. I don’t care about what the fuck happens after—she says.”

No one but Lucifera could utter a word after this unexpected development.

“I’ll start thinking of a proper plan now. Fuyuhotaru-san, you and the rest should rest while you can. Because when you’ll wake up next—you’ll need to stop a comet falling from the sky.”

Saying this, Lucifera turned her back to them. She was talking in whispers with someone again.

Left like this all of a sudden, Shiika was confused. It was ridiculous to tell her to go sleep in this situation.

As she glanced around, unsure what to do, Chiharu approached her.

“…Shiika-chan, can I have a moment?”

“Ah… o-of course.”

She apparently wanted them to talk alone.

Her arm grabbed by Chiharu, Shiika was brought to another corner of the van. It was hard to claim they were alone since it was such a narrow space, but they sat against the wall, shoulder to shoulder.

“…”

Although she was the one who invited Shiika, Chiharu remained silent. She was glancing at Aria’s sleeping face as he leaned against Namie.

Shiika also said nothing.

What could she even tell Chiharu, as the one who turned her brother into a Fallen?

Shiika had yet to find the answer to this.

“—Why?”

Shiika’s shoulders twitched.

“Why did you make my brother into a Fallen…?”

“—”

A penetrating cold assaulted Shiika’s abdomen, not unlike a sensation of falling.

So this moment finally came.

This inescapable blame stabbed Shiika.

“You were so frantic just now—you were seriously trying to protect someone you met for the first time from becoming a Mushitsuki, and yet…”

Chiharu didn’t look Shiika in the eyes. She just kept glaring ahead, grimacing, and hugged her knees hard. Shiika knew from that hoarse voice that the other girl was barely holding back her sobs.

“Wasn’t my brother your friend…? You’re so kind, and yet… why is he the only one you didn’t protect…?!”

She probably held back, but couldn’t any longer. Tears were already streaming down Chiharu’s eyes.

Shiika had certainly claimed Kakkou was her friend. She had no idea how Chiharu knew this, but she apparently believed these words.

“…”

She had to say something. She tried opening her mouth—but no words came out.

“I know—”

Chiharu’s throat finally trembled with sobs.

“I was the one who made my brother into a Mushitsuki… if you hadn’t done that, my brother would’ve died from Maturation… he might have even hurt a lot of people… I’m aware of that…”

Neither the cheerful smile she showed before nor her picture-perfect beauty were there.

This was a girl who lost her own flesh and blood and was crying over it.

“But I hate it… I hate my brother being gone like this…”

Seeing how Chiharu stifled her voice and cried, Shiika finally understood.

Chiharu wasn’t trying to blame Shiika, actually.

—But I hate it…!

The fact she wasn’t allowing her emotions to be influenced by the correct answer was the same as Shiika at the airport.

She was at a complete loss, having no idea what to do with all this sadness that found no outlet.

“Why did my brother… I know… sorry… I’m sorry, Shiika-chan…”

She had to apologize—no, Shiika knew she’d never be forgiven even if she apologized, and yet it was Chiharu who apologized to her.

No. She was actually apologizing to—

“Sorry… I’m so sorry…”

To Kakkou, whom she turned into a Mushitsuki.

Just how much had this girl called Ayukawa Chiharu been apologizing all this time?

Seeing her face drenched in tears, Shiika felt like she could understand her a little.

“I met Kakkou-kun several years ago for the first time…”

Shiika finally started talking.

Chiharu didn’t want any excuse or atonement from Shiika.

Because she thought this, Shiika sat shoulder to shoulder with Chiharu and decided to speak about her past.

“I was about to die and Kakkou-kun pointed his gun at me…”

Chiharu was crying, but what about her? Was she crying or smiling?

She didn’t know what expression she was wearing.

“But we discussed our dreams.”

It was the moment that everything started, as well as when the curtains were lowered.

This was her first time to discuss this clear moment with someone.

“Me and Kakkou had the same dream—”

Shiika’s lacking vocabulary wasn’t enough to explain that day.

But she did her best to convey her feelings to Chiharu.

As she spoke little by little, at some point Chiharu stopped crying.

Shiika became Fallen and for some reason returned to being a Mushitsuki.

She spoke about how she and the grown up Kakkou happened to meet again this last Christmas.

“—This is my turn now.”

Shiika said.

“I’ll wait for Kakkou-kun to come back…”

This was her promise to Kakkou.

A promise just between the two of them that started all these years ago.

“—Shiika-chan.”

Having opened her mouth for the first time in a while, Chiharu’s voice was low.

“Do you like my brother?”

“Eh…”

Glancing besides her without thinking, she saw Chiharu was glaring at her.

“As his sister I do think it’s too early for him for stuff like this, though.”

“Eh, no, I mean… Kakkou-kun’s my friend…”

She thought it wouldn’t be early at all at that age, but said nothing.

Kakkou was an important friend who had the same dream.

The same as her friend, Tachibana Rina.

If they were talking about a boy she liked—

“…”

Recalling what happened at the airport, Shiika bit her lips. She averted her eyes from Chiharu.

“—I’m sorry.”

“I believe that are things that can be forgiven if you apologize and things that can’t be forgiven.”

“N-not that… I’m thinking about when you protected that girl from Sanbikime at the airport…”

Chiharu had called Shiika kind.

That was a misunderstanding.

What rose to Shiika’s mind at the time—

“I’m not kind at all… I did believe he shouldn’t turn her into a Mushitsuki… but there was someone else who came to mind…”

“Someone else?”

“A boy… a person who promised to meet me again despite knowing I’m a Mushitsuki.”

Shiika grabbed her knees hard. She cried and bit her lips.

“Until I meet him again, I want to remain human. If I just let someone become a Mushitsuki right in front of me… I’ll become a monster just like the Original Three… that’s what I thought.”

“…”

“I can’t do anything, and I’m not kind at all… I only thought about myself.”

Although she was Mushibane’s leader, she was unable to do anything leaderlike.

Although she was a Rank 1 Mushitsuki, she wasn’t strong at all.

On top of that she wasn’t kind, she was selfish and she only caused problems to everyone around her.

“So you like that boy, then, huh.”

A gentle sensation stroked Shiika’s head as she looked down.

That gesture, which forgave her childish self-hatred—reminded her of her own estranged sister.

What was her kind sister doing about now?

“Well, I can’t really forgive you for having a boy other than my brother, though.”

What did she want Shiika to do, then?

“These kinds of feelings are the most important of all. Yup, no doubt about it.”

As Chiharu said this, Shiika simply ended up liking her.

—You like who you like. There’s nothing you can do about those feelings.

She was saying the same thing as Shiika’s late friend, Rina.

“What kind of a guy is he? Is he cooler than my brother? Well?”

“H-how do I… I think he’s normal. He’s called Kusuriya Daisuke…”

The hand stroking Shiika suddenly stopped in place.

“…?”

Thinking it strange and raising her head, Shiika saw Chiharu freeze.

“W-what’s wrong…?”

“Kusu…riya—eh? But that’s… what are you saying?”

Chiharu looked extremely bothered. Her twitching cheeks looked like she was smiling.

“Do you know Daisuke-kun?”

“Do I—know him? But… I mean—”

It took more than a minute for Chiharu to regain her cool.

“W-what kind of a guy is he? That boy…”

The stunned Chiharu asked her the same question again.

Shiika tilted her head and answered honestly.

“When I just became a Mushitsuki again, I ended up meeting him… and he was very kind to me.”

Chiharu showed no response.

“We’ve made a promise to meet again next Christmas.”

Shiika’s cheeks loosened.

“I can still do my best because of that promise…”

“—”

Chiharu put a hand on her mouth. As if she was holding back a scream—Shiika had no idea why she was making that face.

“Is everything alright…?”

“—S-sorry.”

Chiharu averted her face, and when she looked back at Shiika—she was smiling.

“You’ll definitely meet again.”

“Y-yes, thank you.”

The meaning behind Chiharu’s expression—

The reason why the smile of Kakkou’s sister looked like it was about to break into tears at any moment—

Became known to Shiika only later.

Notes

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