Mushi Uta:Volume 12 Chapter 3

3.00 OPS2 Part 1

Why had he been watching others fight from afar?

There were several reasons.

There was also a proper reason he was watching “that scene” and doing nothing else.

“Among everything I’ve seen, this was for sure the most boring.”

He was at the closed down shopping district. And visible from afar—

Was a large swarm of caterpillars.

No, a “large swarm” was too lukewarm of an expression. Even while swallowing the capital’s buildings, this tidal wave of caterpillars kept increasing the range of their encroachment. It was as though a filthy, dirty giant was crawling on the ground, advancing while eating the earth itself.

It was the same when the unleashed Shinpu encroached Akamaki City.

He was at the neighboring Higano City at the time.

“Never thought I’d feel nothing at all while watching Shinpu—Diorestoi struggle for his life like that.”

Standing atop an abandoned luxury car, he mumbled. Being fanned by the blowing wind, his red hair and the hem of his jacket blew behind him. Flickering heat and white smoke leaked from his mouth shaped in a bold smile.

“And he pissed me off so much before. Meaning I’ve grown up since then.”

“Well, that was two, three years ago.”

Saying this was a boy who stood near the luxury car. He then added with a sigh,

“Don’t worry, since then you’ve grown into an old man in many different senses.”

Slender and petite, his appearance was young, with distinguished large pupils. Whether he said he was in middle school or high school, both would make sense. The hairpin holding his hair was the kind you’d see a lot on Halloween, an accessory shaped like a pumpkin monster.

“…Sexual harassment…”

A girl in her late teens standing next to the pumpkin boy mumbled this.

She dyed the area around her eyes black and on her head was a black tulip flower. Including the scarf around her neck, she was clad in all black. Since she was dressed like she was in some sort of horror movie, even her gloomy mumble had a punch.

“Yeah, he’s done a lot to us. We should sue him sometime and get a lot of money.”

“I’ve written it all in my diary… evidence…”

They were the only people in the shopping district.

The government-issued evacuation order reached even Higano City. Since this evacuation was of an unprecedented degree and almost hysterically forceful, no one could imagine the financial damages it would cause.

“Still, though, can the SEPB beat those caterpillars alone? I heard Kakkou’s gone missing.”

“He’ll come out soon enough. It’s a fight against the Original Three, after all.”

A laughter spilled from the man’s mouth with some flaming sparks.

“Then—there’s no way that bastard won’t come out.”

Kakkou wished to fight against the Original Three.

There was a reason why Kakkou, who only thought about his own survival, turned out like this.

That reason being—the same reason for the man to be watching this battle from a distance.

The Gothic Lolita girl muttered.

“…Fuyuhotaru…”

“Ah, so Fuyuhotaru-san’s also there. If Kakkou-san and Fuyuhotaru-san were to join hands, they might actually win.”

“Haha. Like saying that you’d be strong if you had two kings in shogi? I think it just means more weaknesses.”

The boy raised a brow at these words, but he soon appeared to lose interest. He crossed his arms behind his head and leaned against the luxury car.

“Now that Miguruma Yaeko’s unconscious I thought this was our final chance… but in the end, Sleeping Beauty wasn’t in the Underground Fort.”

“We haven’t finished looking everywhere though. Let’s go look up the remaining places.”

“Eh? We just came up back to the surface, are we diving in again? —Look here, now that we’ve looked so much and found nothing, don’t you think Miguruma just took her long ago and hid her far away? And if not that…”

The boy’s tone of voice dropped.

“It means that Sleeping Beauty—doesn’t actually exist.”

“…”

The man grinned. The air surrounding him sizzled.

“No need to get angry. I mean, it’s natural. I only know very little because I took no part in the battle that made her Sleeping Beauty. And everything about that fight sounds fishy as well.”

“I ain’t angry in the least. I just remembered a bit.”

“What, exactly?”

“—‘Was there really a Mushitsuki like that?’”

A smile remaining on his mouth, he leapt down from the luxury car.

“Everyone who got involved with that woman would say the same thing.”

Turning his back to the pumpkin boy and the Gothic Lolita girl, he started walking.

“Wait, where are you going. To the toilet?”

“I told you, I’m going down. Down here’s also connected to the Central Headquarters’ Underground Fort. A place meant for gathering Fallen, simply called the Prison. I’m going there as long as Miguruma doesn’t wake up.”

“…Our last break…”

“Don’t exaggerate. All I’m doing is go visit a past acquaintance.”

“Exaggerate? Haha, so that’s what waking up that girl is all about.”

Not even turning back, his jacket was grabbed by the boy. As though unable to bear it anymore, he pointed at Akamaki City being swallowed by Shinpu.

“Are you really going to leave Shinpu unchecked like this? I’d only taken a little peek, but the scale’s too different this time! Even with Kakkou-san it’s doubtful whether they can win… if they lose, who knows what the world will come to? —No, that’s irrelevant. Aren’t you getting excited, seeing that? Rather than imitating a mole, wouldn’t monster extermination be a lot more fun?”

“If you wanna go, have at it. Not gonna stop ya.”

Not minding the boy, he kept walking, dragging him behind.

“I said this before, but I’m not interested in the least. Neither about the world nor the Original Three.”

“Honestly…! You’re only thinking about that past woman! You really aren’t interested in this fight now?”

“My head’s full of nothing but her.”

A scene from the past revived in his mind.

While the night sky was overflowing with comets, she hugged the worst disaster and fell asleep—

Ever since then, his “present” was frozen.

“I’m obsessed. I have to see her face as soon as possible.”

It was a bit like falling in love. However, it could also be termed as the exact opposite emotion—

The force pulling on his jacket increased. The Gothic Lolita joined the boy.

“Ugh! If you say Sleeping Beauty’s so interesting, you leave me no choice but come along too! How dare you play with my pure heart!”

“…How dare you…”

As he walked while dragging these two, he felt the presence of a person ahead.

This shopping district was supposed to be empty.

However, hiding behind the shadows of power poles, a small figure looked at them.

“Hey, we’re being watched by someone. —Heeey, you there, if you don’t run away, this scary mister will play a prank on you? Oh no, sorry, I mean a caterpillar’s gonna eatcha?”

As the boy called out, the figure twitched.

“Oh, they ran.”

The figure ran away noisily. However, soon they changed the orientation of their body.

“Ah, they came back. And they’re coming here, too.”

From the fact they shook so much while approaching, it looked like some sort of punishment game.

“And now they’re holding something they pulled out of their pocket.”

The boy kept narrating every single thing.

Appearing in front of them was a person clad in a bizarre hoodie. As petite as the pumpkin boy, the only part of their face that was visible were teary eyes. For some reason many of the hoodie fasteners were closed, hiding even the person’s mouth. The hood looked like a lop-eared rabbit.

“…A love letter…?”

The Gothic Lolita girl mumbled. Lop-Eared presented a single slip of paper.

The man received the paper and opened it. He read its contents silently.

“—”

When had he last been so shocked?

At the very least, he couldn’t remember any such occasion since the night of the meteor shower.

Raising his face from the paper, he glared into Lop-Eared’s eyes.

“Ha—”

A small flame spilled from his mouth.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!”

The three petite teens looked at him laughing out loud in astonishment. Lop-Eared shook so much they looked just about to faint on the spot.

“—I really hate this.”

Finally stopping laughing, the paper in his arms burnt down and scattered. “Hey, show it to me too!” the pumpkin boy protested.

“I’ve got no interest in the ‘present’. You deal with that by yourself. —You’re not tryna meddle with me and drag the past out into the present, right?”

Being glared by burning eyes, Lop-Eared trembled.

“Still, you’re amusing.”

He grasped hard the head of Lop-Eared who was about to dash off at any moment. Looking again into those teary eyes, just like the paper said—they looked familiar.

“Alright, come along.”

Spitting this, he started walking again.

The one surprised at these words was the pumpkin boy.

“Eeeeeh?! W-wait a minute! They’re coming along? I never heard you say that! You were always telling people ‘suit yourself’ and stuff like that!”

“…Unfair…”

“It’s alright, this person’s our guest.”

“They’re probably not even a Mushitsuki, right? I mean, I’ve never seen such an anxious Mushitsuki before! 100% a liability! —Shit, I’ll spread the word! I’ll gather up some especially troublesome brawler-types, gang up on you and bully you!”

“You can call whoever you’d like, but tell them this.”

There was something he felt from a while back.

That he was nothing more than—a “survivor”.

He was someone who lost a battle he should have won and kept leading an unsightly life.

“If you come, you’ll probably die—that’s it.”

Sleeping Beauty exited the stage and Lady Bird died.

Even Kakkou who was fighting right now probably had only little remaining time.

The “survivor” among the dwindling numbers of Rank 1s.

And the flame devil.

He had various names—but was called Harukiyo.

3.01 OPS2 Part 2

Inside the gloomy underground path, the walls were so clean that they could serve as mirrors.

In this space wrapped by silence several footsteps echoed. Seeing that the elevators and doors they passed from time to time made no move, apparently this facility lost all of its functions.

Since the emergency lights were on, the supply of electricity should have kept going. It served as proof that the new “master” of this massive maze was still definitely breathing.

A certain corridor deep inside the underground of Higano City.

Walking there were seven people of various appearances.

A young man dressed in a jacket, and an androgynous boy who wore sailor uniform. A girl dressed in Gothic Lolita fashion followed by a tall, blonde woman and a person wearing a hoodie that had bunny ears. There was also a girl wearing a triangular hat sitting while hugging her knees on a trolley, as well as the bearded young man pulling it, so from the side they might have looked like some sort of circus troupe.

“I’m already tired of underground dungeon delving. Can we find any treasure chest?”

“…I want an antidote…”

“Need toilet, toilet.”

“It’s your turn, old man.”

“Hey! Who’s an old man? And why is this my turn anyway, please hold it in until we find the next prison. —You too, Witch-san, please give me a break and walk on your own already.”

“How rude! How rude! Old men who verbally abuse ladies should go to hell!”

“Hey! You’re still a teenager. Haa, we will need to procure some food soon.”

The corridor was so narrow only three people could walk in it side by side. As for its length, it seemed so long as to seem infinite; anything ahead was just swallowed inside the darkness.

“…!”

Being at the very rear, Lop-Eared fell down.

The jacket-wearing man came back there, grabbed the hoodie’s collar and pulled. Lop-Eared nodded, apparently thanking him.

“Hey, Harukiyo. Let’s leave this kid behind already.”

The sailor uniform boy, Kusezaki Ume, spoke.

“…A liability… and another mouth to feed… a freeloader…”

The girl clad in Gothic Lolita fashion, Sakaki Haruka, mumbled curses.

“If you don’t like it you can go back. I don’t remember tellin’ any of you to follow me.”

The young man in a jacket, who was hiding his right cheek with many tapes—Harukiyo—spoke this, then went back to the road. He walked ahead in large strides.

Discontent and grumbling came at him at once.

“I even gave up on playing with Shinpu to come here. No way we’re going back at this stage. —Well, in hindsight it’s a disappointment to be just walking here for an entire day like this.”

“Bummer…”

“Fuck you.”

“It’s boring, it’s boring.”

“Shuddup. I’ll burn you, old man.”

“Hey! Same goes to you. I have said nothing, though.”

Inside the line of those complaining, the only ones who knew Harukiyo for a long time were Ume and Haruka. With the blonde girl, the witch hat girl and the bearded man, their relationship was just one where they tagged along because they felt like it. Leaving Ume and Haruka aside, he didn’t even know how the abilities of the other three worked. —The remaining person, Lop-Eared, was just a companion he’d met for the first time the other day.

Harukiyo knew long ago that his companions would get angry.

However, the angriest one there was Harukiyo himself.

“I’m pissed off…”

Special Class Rank 1, Harukiyo.

He became known as the leader of a third-party force comparable to the SEPB or Mushibane, consisting of few elite members.

However, that faction didn’t actually exist. Harukiyo went where he pleased, and the Mushitsuki that got interested in him and moved along with him just happened to be strong. —Well, there was also the fact that any weak Mushitsuki who appeared in front of Harukiyo got turned into Fallen.

“I’m the angry one here. Can’t you be a little thankful to us?”

“Right, right. We just wanted to grant our comrade’s wish. Go to hell.”

“Might! Beautiful!”

“—I told you, we’re not comrades.”

As Harukiyo turned around with blazing eyes, everyone there twitched and their faces froze.

“Idiot…”

“Stop it, Witch-san. ‘Comrades’ is the word Harukiyo hates the most.”

“I-I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

“My only rule’s that anything interesting goes. It doesn’t feel like we’re comrades sharing some sort of goal.”

“I’ll seriously burn you, old man.”

“Hey! But I supported you.”

Clicking his tongue, Harukiyo faced forward again.

Belonging nowhere and never getting too close—

Although Harukiyo always lived like this, lately he’d been called a lot by another name.

Ooenma, the leader of the Annihilators under the direct control of Central Headquarters’ Vice-Deputy.

Meaning, he was Miguruma Yaeko’s lapdog.

This was what it meant for someone to not care about their appearance.

Even while pretending to be the pet of someone he disliked, disgracing himself, and obeying the SEPB’s orders, he kept waiting for a chance—

And the time for it finally came.

Shinpu’s unleashing, as well as—C’s unexpected ascension to Rank 1.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Harukiyo threw away his mask as an Annihilator. Now that Miguruma Yaeko was unconscious, she couldn’t move what he looking for to another location.

Now Harukiyo returned being a lone Mushitsuki without any obligations, and started moving to find what he wanted for many years now.

Even so—

“I knew it, it’s definitely in Akamaki City’s Underground Fort, right? We haven’t gone to the deepest layer where C is. Using common sense, wouldn’t she hide something so important deep?”

“I’ve already gone through there. For an entire year.”

Harukiyo spat.

Having pretended to follow Miguruma Yaeko’s orders, he’d fully investigated all the Underground Fort’s important facilities. She was probably aware of his goal. However, even considering this, he couldn’t grasp even a single clue.

And then came the chaos created by Shinpu. Harukiyo, who waited for this chance, realized this was the moment and went around all areas of the Underground Fort he hadn’t investigated, and yet—

It ended in failure.

What he wanted was not in Akamaki City’s Underground Fort. He had to conclude that.

Following this, Harukiyo came to this isolated facility.

The place commonly referred to as the Prison.

Its vast size rivalled Akamaki City’s Fort.

“Still though, still though, this is a facility for isolating Fallen, right? Why’s nobody here? Did they all evacuate?”

Asked this by the trolley-riding witch, Harukiyo answered curtly.

“There were barely any Fallen here in the first place.”

“Eh? Then what’s this huge space for? This is a waste of tax money!”

“Might be an estimation that there’s gonna be a lotta Fallen? I don’t give a fuck about Miguruma’s plans.”

“Hey, Harukiyo. This is a bit hard to say at this stage, but…”

The sailor uniform boy, Ume, wore a bitter smile. He scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“Haven’t I told you that we already investigated this place too? Maria-san was with me, too.”

The Caucasian woman nodded in agreement. She was wearing the blazer of some high school.

Ume was right.

It wasn’t just there. They’d already gone and searched through every facility managed by the SEPB.

However, they could never find her.

Harukiyo’s objective—Sleeping Beauty.

“…”

This chain of failures brought a certain discomfort within Harukiyo before he noticed.

Something was weird—he was missing something.

This intuition brought Harukiyo to this place.

“I can accept that she wasn’t in the Fort’s deepest layer. Because they wouldn’t be able to respond if anything happened while leaving her right next to C or Shinpu. That being said, they wouldn’t hide her too far away, either.”

“And so she’s in the Prison? Certainly looks like a fitting place, but still.”

Following Ume saying this, the triangular hat girl and the others also looked puzzled.

“At first, sure, at first. But isn’t it impossible for us to fail to find it after looking for so long? With Harukiyo’s information network and Maria’s sensing abilities, as well as my own fortune-telling. We can even find a tyrant’s secret stash together. It seems too simple so I won’t do it, though.”

“What about the possibility it’s being hidden by the ability of a powerful Mushitsuki?”

“…It can’t be…”

“Haruka’s right, old man. That would cause all sorts of contradictions. First of all, using someone so strong just to hide Sleeping Beauty is odd. Also, if there was a Mushitsuki that strong, we would’ve never missed them. Because we’re always secretly watching battles between Mushitsuki in order to not miss them. When we do find them from time to time, we use some vague pretext to have Harukiyo go test them.”

Right, Harukiyo always paid attention.

Even watching the battles between Mushitsuki was for the reason Ume said.

Because he was so high-strung, he could assert this.

SEPB, Mushibane, and wild Mushitsuki.

None of them had the kind of Mushitsuki who could hide Sleeping Beauty from Harukiyo. At the very least no one had the kind of ability to be able to perfectly conceal her like that.

Ume sighed.

“If we couldn’t even feel their presence, they’re quite something. I’m pretty sure no one like that exists in the SEPB—and even if they were in Mushibane, I don’t think we would’ve missed them.”

“I see. However, this does not mean there is no answer to that contradiction, right?”

The young man pulling the trolley spoke while rubbing his short, unkempt beard.

“What about, for example—if there’s a traitor among us?”

“…!”

Everyone walking there gasped. They began feeling tense.

Any feeling that this was a nice walk vanished, and everyone started checking the others’ expressions.

“…”

Harukiyo erased his expression.

This was certainly—not outside the realm of possibility.

“W-wait a minute! So this means—”

Flustered, Ume looked around everyone’s faces.

All the remaining others also stared at each other nervously—

And then changed expressions as if on a signal.

They grinned.

Ume wore a smile like a crescent moon.

“—It’s super amusing.”

Haruka, Maria, Witch, and the bearded young man all sneered, looking happy.

“Nice one, old-man. This is such a heart-pounding situation.”

“Uwa, uwa, it’s possible if I lie about my fortune-telling! I’m too suspicious. This is so fun.”

“If we’re going by the element of surprise, then I’m the suspicious one, since I suggested this. There is also the fact that my abilities are the least known here.”

“Me! Me! I’m traitor! I’m most strong!”

“…Isn’t Harukiyo also an option…?”

“In case any of you are tryin’ to deceive me, let me just say this now.”

Harukiyo turned toward the line and spat.

“If you do that, I’ll letcha decide whether you prefer yourself medium rare or well-done.”

His blazing eyes glared at everyone. They should have known based on their acquaintance so far that this was no empty threat.

Therefore, it had the opposite effect.

Those glared by Harukiyo just sneered happily.

“Tch.”

Just giving them threats was useless. He clicked his tongue and kept walking.

Originally, each and every one of them was powerful enough to easily play around with the SEPB assassins sent after them. Also, they were a gathering of weirdoes of the kind that didn’t want a boring death but wouldn’t mind an amusing one. They had no concept of betrayal in the first place. If they wanted to be enemies on a whim, their rule was just to go and do that.

He allowed them to accompany him only in order to find his quarry as quickly as possible.

As long as Miguruma Yaeko wasn’t there—

“Sorry, I got a message from Miguruma Yaeko. On the line reserved for Harukiyo’s Annihilator job.”

While pulling the Witch on the trolley, the bearded man spoke. He had no cellphone, and no other communication devices could be seen anywhere.

“What, so that hag didn’t kick the bucket after all?”

“…Smiley hag…”

“—What’s she said?”

Harukiyo grimaced.

So he didn’t make it in time—

Although he tried searching in any possible way, he wasn’t able to escape from Miguruma Yaeko.

“Apparently they managed to annihilate Shinpu on the surface.”

“Wow, they won. Since Kakkou-san and Fuyuhotaru were fighting together I did imagine they wouldn’t lose so easily, though.”

Ume smiled casually, but his expression froze at the young man’s next words.

“And in this fight—Kakkou has apparently become a Fallen.”

A heavy silence befell the underground corridor.

A complete stillness wrapped them, as if the temperature went down by several degrees.

Ume wore a strained smile.

“No way…”

His mumble permeated the silence.

“There’s no way he’d become a Fallen… right, Harukiyo? You said that Rank 1s are all ‘immortal’, right? Then even Kakkou-san…!”

“Kakkow? Who that?”

“Seriously? Seriously? I was so proud of myself because I once managed to barely escape from that demon… was it really that bad of a fight?”

“I’m having our comrades—sorry, our acquaintances—that are still above surface collect evidence, but there doesn’t seem to be any mistake.”

“I know—Miguruma did something to him! It’s obvious! She actually feared Kakkou for being a Fusion Type! Otherwise there’s no way Kakkou would become Fallen! Right, Harukiyo?”

Tears welled up Ume’s eyes as he clung to Harukiyo. The latter violently stroked the head of the former.

“You really liked him, didn’tcha.”

“Harukiyo…! You did, too!”

“I gave up on him long ago. —Ever since that meteor shower night.”

At least as much as I gave up on myself—

He added this in his heart and tore away from Ume.

“Let’s head to the next area already. We’ve got not time.”

Although Shinpu was defeated, the fight shouldn’t be over yet. While the SEPB focused on the next battle, they should be able to move freely.

While walking in a fast pace, Harukiyo scowled.

“Well, that’s one less reason to hurry, though…”

Kakkou.

He’d clashed against that man more than once or twice.

However, the battle he recalled at the moment was that of the night of the meteor shower.

“If you’re useless, only I can do it—”

As Harukiyo mumbled to himself, the bearded man called to him again.

“Harukiyo. There’s still more.”

“Ahn?”

“The SEPB’s switching their strategy to the annihilation of the newly-designated Super Class Rank 1, C.”

Harukiyo clicked his tongue while walking.

“I realized it was C’s fault Shinpu got loose, but she became a Super Class Rank 1, eh. —If she’s a Rank 1, it means… ha, I’m so happy I have some more accomplices.”

“As the first operation of annihilation.”

The bearded man’s voice was dyed with immense tension.

“We will be told the location of our quarry—of Sleeping Beauty.”

Harukiyo stopped in place.

“—”

As he turned around, everyone’s shoulders twitched. Harukiyo had no idea what kind of face he was making right now.

“What was that?”

“I was sent the coordinates. Let me confirm on my GPS. The coordinates are—”

Telling him where Sleeping Beauty was hidden?

Harukiyo was supposedly being used by Miguruma in order to gain that information and Miguruma was supposed to control him by hiding him. Yet now she of all people was about to give him Sleeping Beauty.

What was Miguruma Yaeko’s goal?

Harukiyo instantly realized it.

“…So that’s how it is.”

“No way—”

Ume raised his voice. He apparently also noticed Miguruma’s aim.

“She wants to take Sleeping Beauty—and put her in place of Kakkou-san…?”

No mistake about it.

There should be no other reason.

“In this current situation… she’d probably happily replace Kakkou.”

Harukiyo grimaced in anger.

“If she’s the same as she was before, that is.”

This was the kind of woman she was.

Harukiyo knew this very well.

And Miguruma Yaeko as well—

“This is Miguruma’s final message. She told us to deal on our own with the likely uncontrollable Guardian.”

“What does she mean by a Guardian? —Huh?”

As the Witch got out a device and fiddled with it, she widened her eyes.

“I made sure of those coordinates or whatever—and looks like it’s here.”

The Witch pointed at their feet.

“It’s a bit far… but it’s inside the Prison.”

Harukiyo widened his eyes.

Ume grimaced and held his head.

“What the hell… doesn’t that mean we’ve been dancing to Miguruma’s tune all along…? What’s going on? Harukiyo…!”

“Maria, Witch. You really feel nothing?”

As Harukiyo glared at them, the blonde woman and three-cornered hat hurriedly shook their heads.

“No! No!”

“I’m being serious, I’m being serious! My fortune telling’s got nothing… this is the first time that’s happened!”

Sakaki Haruka and the bearded man exchanged glances.

“Guardian…”

“This probably means there’s a Mushitsuki protecting Sleeping Beauty. Being able to hide from us means they are quite the monster.”

A monster?

Was it really true, in the end?

The sense of discomfort born within Harukiyo just kept on swelling.

He felt as though he had all the hints and yet was unable to find the answer—it was this kind of a bad premonition. He also felt angry at still being unable to escape from Miguruma Yaeko’s grasp.

Even so.

“—We’re going.”

Harukiyo stepped forward.

Behind him, Lop-Eared once again tripped where there was nothing at all.

3.02 OPS2 Part 3

What should he tell Sleeping Beauty once she woke up?

He’d been thinking about it for a long, long time.

And yet—he found no answer.

“Oh, another transmission from the surface.”

The bearded man spoke.

“As one of the operations to defeat C, our actions will be named as Operation 2. Also, she says to please complete our operation within 48 hours. How should I reply?”

The facility called Prison that was located underground Higano City.

It was a simple place. Corridors of standardized length as well as a standardized number of rooms crowded together. Harukiyo felt like rather than a jail, it could be called an ant colony.

“Just ignore her, bearded old man.”

“Hey! My beard is really sexy. —Understood. I shall even send back something fitting like a love confession.”

Harukiyo and his several companions were walking through the Prison’s corridors.

Ume, who had a hairpin of a pumpkin monster. Sakaki Haruka who wore Gothic Lolita fashion. Witch, who rode a trolley and wore a pointy hat. The suited man, Santa Claus, who pulled that trolley. Maria, who had long, blonde hair. Finally, Lop-Eared, clad in a hoodie worn low.

They were merely companions, not Harukiyo’s comrades. Since he’d never even investigated their names, he only used nicknames for some of them. Ever since they ended up knowing each other, it was the kind of relationship where they just somehow went along with Harukiyo.

“Ah, that good-for-nothing freeloader nuisance fell again.”

Ume turned back. Lop-Eared stumbled, rubbing hurt knees.

“Seriously, Harukiyo. Let’s just leave this kid behind. I mean, it’s going to take us a lot of time just to get to the coordinates Miguruma sent us.”

Harukiyo ignored Ume’s complaints that he sounded for the umpteenth time already. He called out toward Lop-Eared who was sniveling in fatigue and pain.

“Hey, get up already. If it’s tough you can hitch a ride along with Witch.”

“Eh, wait…! Wait, please wait! Is that kid a boy? A girl? If he’s a guy, I’ll die of shame if he rides along!”

“I’d also like to avoid any more weight here. Please change with me, Harukiyo.”

“Idiot. If it’s too much trouble just throw it away.”

“N-no, no way! Don’t throw me! I’ll die if you leave me in a place like that, you know? Are you fine with that?”

“C’mon, you’re being heavy in a lot of senses. Honestly… just ride your broom already.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! If I kept flying all the time I’ll die of overwork!”

“You sure are a handful, Witch-san. Now I understand why you were bullied in school.”

“S-stop it, stop it! Do not speak of that in front of Harukiyo…”

“At least our relations with her are good. Her abilities are too varied that I can’t understand ‘em though. —Hey, if you’re hurt, we’ll have Witch heal ya.”

“Eh? Behe. Ehehe, you there, come over here. Let me rub a nice medicine for you. If you rub this poisonous green stuff, any wound will—ouch! Why did you kick me, Maria! Ow, you definitely broke a bone… this is no good. I can’t walk anymore…”

“Fuckin bitch.”

While having small, carefree talk, Harukiyo’s group kept advancing through the Prison.

Sleeping Beauty’s whereabout, indicated by Miguruma Yaeko were in the lowest layer of the Prison.

Although calling it a low layer, the structure differed from Akamaki City’s Underground Fort. There, you could simply reach the bottom by burrowing down, but here the road that connected the lower layers was a gentle slope downwards, so you had to advance in a route decided by order corridors. Yes, it really was like an ant’s nest.

“By the way, you have any idea how long is it going to take to reach the coordinates at this pace? Harukiyo, can’t you just zoom ahead?”

Ume’s important question was given a calm answer by Harukiyo.

“I don’t wanna waste more power than necessary to wake Sleeping Beauty.”

Everyone clamored.

“Seriously? I can’t even imagine an opponent Harukiyo’s so careful about.”

“Ooh…”

“He held back on playing with that caterpillar monster and came there. Otherwise it’d be boring.”

“Also, it’s probably not going to get solved easily even if we got there quickly.”

He could feel his companions puzzled behind him.

“Just like Ume said before, I already went around here with Maria before. But we haven’t noticed anything. If we go there again now, I doubt we’d just find Sleeping Beauty. It’s completely meaningless if we can’t find the reason for that before we reach our goal. It’s odd how Miguruma’s not handin’ out any information other than the location.”

Miguruma Yaeko shouldn’t want to involve Harukiyo in the current fight more than necessary.

Meanwhile, Harukiyo wanted to retrieve what he forgot in the past.

Present and past—as a tacit condition to not cross those two, they supposedly used each other.

And now, Miguruma was trying to drag his past connections to the present—

“Whatever that woman’s trying to do, each and every part of it is evil. The one thing I have no doubt out is that she’s using some unorthodox method to hide this.”

“Then it really does seem likely there’s a traitor among us. Maybe a spy won over by Miguruma?”

Hearing Ume’s words, the party once again got excited.

“…Santa Claus… you’re suspicious…”

“Yup, this Santa old man seems the most suited for this. And he’s not even trying to show his abilities yet.”

“Indeed, I do like mysterious older women… but Miguruma Yaeko alone is someone I would not want to get close to, and that is the honest truth. And speaking of abilities, aren’t you just as suspicious, Witch-san? It’s probably the least understandable ability among all Mushitsuki. You probably fit Miguruma’s tastes.”

“Right, I am the culprit! —I really do want to say this, if it continues being this boring. I mean, it’s not like we’ve shown each other all of our abilities. All of us are suspicious, aren’t we? And those who didn’t come here are also suspicious.”

“You wait.”

Maria cut off the conversation. She pointed ahead and spoke.

“A enemy.”

“An enemy? At a place like this?”

Ignoring Ume tilting his head, Maria grabbed Harukiyo’s arm. She pressed it against her ample bosom.

“Hmm? Squish, huh? Soft?”

Shaking her head at Harukiyo’s doubts, Maria pulled on Santa Claus’s cheek this time.

“…Hey! Why me?”

“Whack! Or maybe… something stinging?”

After Witch said this, Maria pointed at her and nodded.

Harukiyo turned toward the corridor again.

“What, so it had nothing to do with your boobs.”

“If that’s the case, then can you remove your hand already? You two really are pervs.”

Ume spoke bitterly with half-open eyes.

As Harukiyo’s group stood there waiting, a swaying figure appeared.

It was a petite girl. As she walked swaying from side to side, blue electrical sparks appeared at her fingertips.

Harukiyo raised an eyebrow.

“Sure looks like it can sting… but she feels familiar.”

The unknown girl crossed her arms in front of her chest. The moment after a pale light glowed within her open palms, the walls to her sides burst.

Electrical cables that were buried within and fragments of the walls began gathering midair to form something rod-shaped.

“…Electromagnetism…”

“Is she trying to attack us? Also, not like it really matters, but this girl’s complexion sure is bad…”

“Stinging and electromagnetism—right, I remember.”

“Eh, eh, is she your ex or something, Harukiyo?”

The Mushitsuki girl who controlled electromagnetism formed a spear made of iron in her hands. It had a sharp tip and was large enough to block the whole corridor.

“A member of the Annihilators. If I’m not mistaken, she was called Biribiri—”

Before Harukiyo finished speaking, the girl swung both arms.

By repulsing itself from both walls, ceiling and floor, the iron spear lunged ahead as though sliding.

As the corridor was so narrow, Harukiyo and the other had nowhere to escape to.

“Welp.”

Along with Ume’s casual voice, a large object appeared in the corridor.

It was a mirror bug that looked to be more than 3 meters long. The iron spear was sucked into the massive mirror attached to the Mushi’s back and vanished.

Following this, the iron spear then leapt out of the mirror bug and assaulted the girl.

Having her own attack reflected back to her, she tried evading. However, since she had no room in the narrow corridor, her flank and shoulder were grazed by the metal fragments and she collapsed.

“Not yet.”

Ume sneered. Another mirror bug appeared ahead of the flying spear.

“How long can you escape this game of catch using your own attack?”

As he said this happily, he saw Maria next to him glowing in gold and gasped.

“Eh, Maria-san, wait a—you too, Witch!”

Witch brought out a small wooden wand from her hat. She waved it toward the girl.

The next instant, a loud roar shook the Prison.

This violent tremor and roar assaulted the electromagnetism-user girl—

“This is so dangerous! You were about to hit my Mushi as well!”

“I sorry, I sorry.”

“Let me have some exercise. Also, you can spare one, right? You have several, right?”

“Yeah, but still,” Ume replied to her words, sulking.

A large cavern was formed in front of Harukiyo’s eyes. That place was a corridor but seconds ago.

Had she been blown further away or was it for another reason? He couldn’t see the figure of the electromagnetism girl anywhere.

Harukiyo walked in an unchanged pace at the corridor that now became exposed ground.

“I did hear Biribiri got herself killed or became a Fallen somewhere, though.”

“Eh? Then what was this, a ghost? Might be the first one I ever saw! Oh, what a waste. If she was a ghost, I wanted her as a pet.”

“…Shinpu…”

“Oh, right. Shinpu could control corpses, yeah. …Huh? Wasn’t Shinpu defeated, though?”

“According to Miguruma, that was just Shinpu’s personality, and apparently the power itself was absorbed by C. Meaning, this was C’s minion.”

“Oh man, so it wasn’t a ghost. But why C’s bothering us?”

“Don’t wake up Sleeping Beauty—this means C is saying this, right?”

At Witch’s words, Harukiyo unconsciously leaked a laugh.

“Hah. I wouldn’t find it odd for that brat to think so—but this is different. C’s personality’s already long gone. From the time the mist over Akamaki City cleared up.”

The others all looked puzzled, furrowing their brows.

“What do you mean?”

“That mist was like the death throes of whatever humanity remained in C. Save me, save me, if you don’t look here, I’ll vanish… that sorta thing.”

“So C… wanted to be saved?”

Ume bit his lips. It was a rare expression for him.

“Who on earth was she asking help from? —Well, that goes without saying.”

“C’s death throes… or it might be a dying message, but it probably reached its recipient. So that’s why he completely vanished for a time.”

“…Kakkou-san.”

“Didn’t manage to save her, though. Anyway, it’s too late. Whether she was trying to get the culprit to kill her, or wanting to pass along some secret—C had called Kakkou to her.”

Then the mist cleared, and the final part of C’s personality was gone.

Harukiyo came to know of Miguruma’s experiments using C while looking for Sleeping Beauty. He made no attempt to put a stop to it despite being fully aware because he had no reason for doing so.

“C right now doesn’t have the will as before. So it’s impossible for her to get in our way for some emotional reason.”

As Harukiyo sapt this, Maria grabbed his jacket.

“A enemy.”

“Agaiiin? Not really interested if it’s not a ghost, though.”

“Eek! Stop this, stop this. Don’t pull on my hair, Maria! Do-do-don’t shake my head, eeek!”

“Pulling and shaking? Oh, this means it’s controlling something?”

Maria nodded vigorously at Santa Claus.

“…It’s literal…”

Haruka mumbled.

Appearing ahead on the corridor was a swarm of strangely-shaped figures. Computers, monitors, and all manner of electrical devices at hand were gathered to form a human shape.

“A Mushitsuki controlling dolls, huh. Can you tell where the host is, Maria-san?”

“O.K., old man.”

“Hey! Why was that last part in Japanese? Just tell me already.”

Maria gave Santa Claus certain coordinates.

“If C’s standing in our way, it means—that hiding Sleeping Beauty is connected to her.”

His expression unchanging, Harukiyo kept walking.

The swarm of puppets started rushing toward them.

“Because that brat keeps the same orders from before.”

A loud explosive sound and vibration shook the Prison.

The origin of this explosive sound wasn’t from nearby. It was heard from afar.

“So the Guardian hiding Sleeping Beauty is the same as these guys—a Revived.”

The moment before it attacked Harukiyo who was mumbling to himself, the swarm of dolls lost its shape. They all fell down like a row of dominos and stopped moving.

Stepping on the scattered electrical devices, Harukiyo’s group advanced.

“Woah, it’s hard pulling the trolley over this. Just walk on your own, Witch-san. —Oh, I delivered a ‘present’ to the Mushitsuki controlling these, so it is fine now.”

“…We realized that…”

“You attack as fast as ever, Santa Claus. Tell me how you did it.”

“If you’re a bad kid I will show you someday. Firsthand.”

Going over all the appliances, Ume then directed a question at Harukiyo.

“If the Guardian’s a Revived, isn’t it odd? Wasn’t it just recently that C’s experiment was a success? It’d make more sense saying that they used the hidden Shinpu’s fragment to make them into a Guardian. I mean, even the Annihilators used fragments, right?”

“Nope.”

Harukiyo said.

“Nothin’ to do with either the Annihilators or the Fragments. I wouldn’t let a Mushitsuki who could do that go. Ever since the night of the meteor shower, I’ve been on guard…”

Right, it couldn’t be.

However, Harukiyo still didn’t know who the Guardian in charge of protecting Sleeping Beauty was.

“Old man, look at the coordinates Miguruma said. Should be in your range.”

Receiving Harukiyo’s words, Santa Claus closed one eye.

“No, it’s not in my range at all, but… if I go out of my way it might just work. Well, who is it?”

After the battle between Mushitsuki on the night of the meteor shower, Sleeping Beauty vanished.

The one who hid her was Miguruma Yaeko.

Among all those Harukiyo met, she was the sole woman whose plans he could never read.

“—Can I say something?”

Seeing Santa Claus’s expression as he said this with a bitter smile corroborated Harukiyo’s bad feeling.

Harukiyo came all the way here in order to wake up Sleeping Beauty.

However, some incomprehensible mysteries still remained—

“There is nothing… not only is there no space for hiding something, it looks like nothing more than a corridor.”

Their remaining time was limit.

The time limit of 48 hours given by Miguruma Yaeko—

What would happen, were he be unable to find Sleeping Beauty within that time?

Once again, Harukiyo couldn’t even begin to estimate this result.

3.03 OPS2 Part 4

About ten hours passed since they came to the spot indicated by Miguruma Yaeko.

And they stopped in place for about several hours.

Even so, Harukiyo was unable to get reunited with Sleeping Beauty.

“…”

Leaning against the corridor’s wall, Harukiyo was vaguely thinking to himself.

A space resembling a wall remained only around him. All other parts—the place that used to be the Prison’s corridor—was nothing more than debris with exposed, bare ground.

“She’s here again! The one attacking with sound shockwaves! Kanakana, was it?”

“So stubborn! Goad her into my firing range already! My killer move will strip her naked!”

“…Too nimble…”

“This is bad, this is bad! My fortune-telling says several enemies are coming… Ah! And this rabbit-eared bastard’s sleeping! Wake up and help with something already!”

“Ah, I’m sho sleepy…”

“Maria-san, the real you’s showing.”

“—I very tired.”

“Eh? Eh? Maria wasn’t a foreigner? She wasn’t some noble girl from England?”

“You didn’t know this, Witch-san? Maria-san’s a bonafide Japanese. It’s actually unbelievable that someone fell for her horrible English in the first place.”

“…What a bother…”

Mumbling in an annoyed tone, Sakaki Haruka stretched both arms ahead. On her palm rose a toxic-colored moth—an American moth-butterfly—and its surface swelled like clay.

This clay quickly spread from her arm to her shoulder and from her shoulder to her entire body, forming the shape of a different person after a few seconds.

“I’ll fry ya.”

It was Harukiyo. Whole body wrought in flames, he dashed to the end of the corridor with super speed.

Left behind were the real Harukiyo and his companions.

“Once Haruka-san turns serious, we can rest easy a little. Maria-san, do you think she could capture the enemies?”

“Oh no. Car chase? Play tag?”

“It’s going to take time, then. Your English is horrible, by the way. —Although she’d been doing hit-and-run attacks so persistently, we can’t beat her so easily. She really is annoying.”

“We don’t have time to rest. A new pursuer’s coming soon—is what my fortune-telling’s showing me. They don’t appear to be too strong, though…”

Harukiyo watched everyone making complaints.

“So, about to get any flash of inspiration about Sleeping Beauty’s hiding place?”

Asked this by the bearded man, Harukiyo stayed with his arms crossed, not answering.

Ume sighed.

“We took an entire day to get to Sleeping Beauty’s hiding place but there’s nothing. Still, even if Miguruma just lied to us, we have zero other clues. Harukiyo said something about us missing something, but what is that, then? That’s how it is.”

“Yeah, I’m dead tired too. How about we just call our other comrades?”

Harukiyo glared at her as she sat hugging her knees on the trolley.

“Eeek! I-I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Don’t stare at me like that.”

“I told you, Witch-san, the word comrades is taboo.”

Glancing at Ume who said this, Harukiyo opened his mouth.

“…Ume. You had some sorta technique that let you escape if you were about to die.”

“Oh, he’s finally talking. —Secret technique #15, ‘You idiot, that was only a fake reflection!’; is that what you’re referring to? Right, I can avoid being killed about ten times or so. I made it so it’ll activate automatically.”

“Can you use that on little bunny ears here?”

Other than Harukiyo, all members looked at the kid in the hoodie. Lop-Eared was on the floor, sleeping soundly. Even when poked by Witch’s wand, Lop-Eared showed no signs of waking up.

“…I think so.”

“Then please do so. I dunno what’s gonna happen once I wake Sleeping Beauty.”

Saying this, he indulged himself to thinking again.

However, noticing an evil gaze upon him, he glanced at Ume and his other companions.

“What?”

“We’re just a bit mad, you know? No matter how much you rattle on and on about us not being comrades, what’s up with you ignoring us for this kid who you met only just yesterday?”

“I’m jealousy.”

“If you don’t like it—”

“You can go back, right? We understand that. I’m starting to seriously consider this. Because there has been nothing interesting for a while now.”

As the bearded man said this, his face was already completely sober. The others were the same.

“This isn’t about entertainment.”

Harukiyo himself was already pissed beyond compare.

Had Miguruma Yaeko lied to them?

No—that couldn’t be. His instincts told him this.

It wasn’t just intuition. In his life so far, whenever he achieved such perfect intuition that verged on conviction, it was always while he already had all the needed information. After he figured things out, he realized that he already possessed all the hints.

Miguruma Yaeko said that there was a Guardian hiding Sleeping Beauty.

This Guardian was a Mushitsuki, probably?

However, could a Mushitsuki powerful enough for them to not even feel their presence really exist?

Why did Miguruma not reveal that Guardian’s identity to Harukiyo?

“Then, then, tell us about Sleeping Beauty.”

Harukiyo’s eyebrows twitched at Witch’s words.

“I don’t know about the others, I never heard about her in detail. I only know she’s a woman you’re really interested in… ah, i-it’s not like I’m interested in your past lovers or anything, alright? I’m serious.”

“…”

“D-don’t look at me with these eyes. Really, there’s no way that I have the hots for you… uh, I ended up remembering the time they used a fake love letter and ridiculed me. Someone like me being interested in romance sounds odd, doesn’t it…”

“Haa, isn’t it good you changed? You’d be wasted on that sorta trash.”

As Harukiyo laughed, Witch blushed.

“Eh? Eeeh? R-realllly? I know, right? Teehee, ehehe—”

Pulling down her hat to hide her face, Witch was suddenly blown off to the side.

A shockwave coming from the corridor assaulted her.

Seeing Witch roll away with her trolley, everyone other than Harukiyo almost died laughing.

“Gyahahahahaha! Didja… did you see that? What a perfect arc she flew in!”

“Uwahahaha! Looks like after getting chased by Haruka-san, Kanakana managed to come from the other way around! Bwah!”

“O-ouch, it really hurts…! Please stop laughing! Maria, if you sensed the enemy coming back, you should’ve told me!”

“I sorry, I sorry. Serves you right.”

Ume and the others started fighting against the returning enemy.

“She’s in tatters already. Feels like she just barely escaped from Haruka.”

“Since there’s apparently a new enemy coming, we need to clean up everything before that.”

Sakaki Haruka in her original form also came back.

“…Out of gas…”

Grabbing Harukiyo’s arm, she ran her tongue on it. Harukiyo could feel his ability’s flames getting sucked out by the girl.

“About Sleeping Beauty, eh… it’s just reminiscing about the past, and it wasn’t like she was my woman or anything.”

Everyone turned to look at him while fighting.

“But it’s no longer just a story from the past.”

“It might give us some idea to where they’re hiding her.”

It was no longer just a story from the past—

Maybe that was right. Harukiyo only kept looking for Sleeping Beauty so he could settle the score for a past battle, but despite this—

“Gotcha. Then you might as well listen.”

Perhaps—if Kakkou hadn’t retired so half-heartedly, it would have remained a story of the past.

Harukiyo opened his mouth.

“I’ve got no parents, siblings, or lovers… well, it’s ‘cause whoever gets close for me dies, for whatever reason.”

He briefly explained the destiny bounding him since his very birth.

As if it was Harukiyo himself who burned down those close to him.

All people trying to approach him were burned down and vanished.

Harukiyo’s entire life was a repeat of that scene.

“I don’t think I’m cursed or anything. Anyway, that’s part of the reason I spent most of the time lookin’ for tough guys who won’t die. That was also when I became Mushitsuki.”

“Oh, I met you back then. I almost died, obviously.”

While fighting the new Revived, Ume lifted his hand happily.

“That’s when I heard about there being a really strong Mushitsuki. After looking around, I found out their name was Hunter, Spear-user and all sorta names.”

Dodging from attacks along with the trolley Witch sat in, the bearded man then spoke.

“Spear-user… I see, so that was Sleeping Beauty.”

“No, that one’s already long dead.”

His allies all stopped in place.

Nearly getting hit by the enemy’s attacks, they all hurriedly kept evading.

“W-wait, wait! What’s up with that? Is Sleeping Beauty dead already?”

“Nah.”

Harukiyo narrowed his eyes. He rubbed the head of sleepy-looking Haruka, who just finished eating his flames.

“Hunter’s dead, but the Mushi remained, possessing a person who wasn’t even a Mushitsuki. A woman who wasn’t just not very strong, but also an idiot.”

“Ha? I never heard about any Mushi that remained after its host died, though. Is Sleeping Beauty that kind of ghost story?”

Following the bearded guy, now Witch also turned doubtful eyes to Harukiyo.

“Once a Mushitsuki dies their Mushi always vanishes. If there’s some trick, reveal it.”

“I’ve heard all that so much that I was tired of it at the time, and I’m also tired of thinking about it myself.”

It was natural for them to suspect this story. Harukiyo himself always was in doubt.

In the end, though, there was no lie or trick.

It was just a certain Mushitsuki who wished for life—and the one who made her a Mushitsuki.

As well as the girl who reached for those feelings, who was an unexpected irregular.

Nothing more than a small defect—a bug—created by the Mushitsuki system.

“But it really happened. Also, since the host was stupid, she joined Mushitsuki’s ranks of her own volition. She even started thinking of saving Mushitsuki.”

“…Saving Mushitsuki… how…?”

The one to ask the most pertinent question was Haruka.

“By defeating the Original Three—”

No one turned back at Harukiyo’s words.

However, he knew that they started listening to his story more seriously.

“Well, a lot happened, I did something like a deal too, and ended up lending a hand. Not just me. Kakkou and Lady Bird too. …If Fuyuhotaru wasn’t a Fallen she would’ve been invited as well for sure.”

“A-all Rank 1s…?”

Watching Witch shudder and groan this from the corner of his eyes, Harukiyo continued.

“We set up a trap and challenged Oogui. There were more than a hundred Mushitsuki there. Apparently Lady Bird had to cancel at the very last moment, though. —There was a major issue then. Oogui’s ability.”

Oogui’s ability. That was—

“Oogui can use all the abilities of those she made Mushitsuki.”

“—”

The bearded youth, Witch, Maria all froze their expressions. Since Ume and Haruka already knew this secret, they were reactionless.

“At the time, among those that Oogui—Elvioréne—had turned into Mushitsuki there was an especially annoying one. The Undying Mushitsuki, who wouldn’t die no matter how much you killed him.”

“Ha? Never dying even when getting killed… is that actually possible?”

“Since the Undying Mushitsuki existed, Oogui was also immortal. Me and Kakkou—and even the second-generation of Spear-user who became a Mushitsuki herself—the three of us couldn’t defeat her. Also, even the Undying himself sided with Oogui.”

“W-wait a minute, wait a minute, I can’t keep up with all of that…”

“We were wiped out. The only survivors were me and Kakkou… as well as Kasuou and a few small fries.”

This was the decisive battle from the past. The night of the meteor shower.

Although they reached for the earnest wish of defeating the Original Three, it ended in an untenable loss.

Many Mushitsuki were lost that night.

“If you were among the only survivors… what about Sleeping Beauty?”

Harukiyo answered the bearded man’s question.

“Her nickname is literal. She’s got the power to make Mushi sleep. So she fell asleep, using that power along with the Undying Mushi.”

Harukiyo’s expression became naturally harsher.

The reason for her to remain asleep even now—he would never accept it.

“She said that Mushitsuki will be able to win their next fight against the Original Three for sure.”

The fight that occurred in the past had without any doubt ended in crushing defeat.

However, despite all they had lost, they were able to grasp a thin string of hope.

Oogui was currently not immortal. No matter how strong she was, now the possibility to defeat her was not zero.

Therefore, never mind Harukiyo, but Kakkou—

“Even I was on the verge on the death and it took a bit of time for my wounds to heal. During that time Miguruma took Sleeping Beauty and hid her somewhere.”

“T-this is quite the unbelievable story I just heard… b-but, if that’s true…”

Forgetting to fight, Witch was stunned. Maria now had more enemies to handle, so she cussed a loud “Fuck you!” at her.

“M-meaning that such a ridiculous Mushitsuki is still alive—and so close by?”

“A Mushitsuki who had attempted to save all Mushitsuki… is this not the best entertainment ever?”

Even the bearded man was like this. Although his face was cold until then, he looked lively now.

Harukiyo clicked his tongue.

“That’s why I didn’t wanna talk about it. That stupid woman’s stupidness would spread to other stupids.”

“What, you’re wrong, you’re wrong! I’m not cheating on you! Harukiyo’s the only one for me… wait, what are you making me say!”

“Die, pipsqueak.”

“By the way. It struck me as odd, but why did that Undying Mushitsuki or whatever side with Oogui? Shouldn’t all Mushitsuki hate Oogui?”

“Because he’s on the same side as Miguruma. He prolly wanted to keep fiddling, defeating and playing with Mushitsuki for all eternity.”

While speaking, Harukiyo felt bothered by something.

He didn’t enjoy getting all sentimental about the past. Once he tried recalling the fight, an indescribable anxiety and impatience welled within him.

“Or, rather than them being on the same side, he was the actual Director of the SEPB.”

“…Eeeeek.”

“…I get the feeling that I heard something I really shouldn’t have.”

Witch and Santa Claus fought the Revived, their expressions awkward.

However, Ume looked displeased.

“Oh boy, I really wanted to be in that meteor shower fight too. Why didn’t you invite me? Harukiyo, you idiot.”

“How many times do I need to say it? With how you were at the time, you would’ve obviously died like—”

As he said this, Harukiyo’s expression froze.

It was a divine revelation—

No, all the hints that were already inside Harukiyo suddenly combined.

“—”

“My grudge will last a lifetime. —Wait, Harukiyo? What’s wrong?”

Harukiyo couldn’t even hear the boy’s question.

Right—

The hints were already there.

“I-I was… so stupid…”

He held his head with both hands.

Miguruma Yaeko.

The Undying Mushitsuki.

The battle on the night of the meteor shower.

C and the experiments using her.

Shinpu who could control corpses.

The Mushitsuki supposedly serving as the Guardian that he couldn’t find no matter how much he looked for them.

And—the Revived.

“I was so fucking stupid…!”

Not only the hints, he already had the answer.

And from long ago.

Harukiyo simply hadn’t noticed it.

He couldn’t—have noticed it.

“W-what is it, Harukiyo! Does your head hurt? Want my medicine?”

“What’s?”

“…Harukiyo…?”

Harukiyo’s companion all looked at him, worried.

It just made him angrier.

Half of it was anger directed at himself.

He couldn’t call anyone other than himself an idiot anymore.

“I’m the stupidest person in the entire world…! I had the answer since forever…!”

Releasing his arms, he raised his face.

Anger caused his hair to stand up, and unrestrained flames spouted out from the corners of his mouth.

As for the remaining half of Harukiyo’s burning anger. It was directed at—

“MIGURUMA YAEKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

His unleashed flames blew everyone away, be they enemies of allies.

“Uwaaaah!”

“Eeek!”

As Harukiyo put strength into his right arm, it became covered in crimson flames.

His eyes blazing in rage looked around him as if searching the surroundings.

He was already able to feel that presence.

“YOU PIECE OF SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!”

Harukiyo thrust his hellfire-clad right arm with great vigor.

Harukiyo found that presence—that subtle twisting of space—because he knew about it.

Because he alone of all people in the world knew about it.

And the only person to know its mechanism and how to dispel it was also just Harukiyo.

Reason being, this was someone from his past. Someone so close to him that they were able to make requests of each other—

“—!”

All the others widened their eyes.

Harukiyo’s thrust right arm tore through empty space.

He stuck his left hand into the hole as well. He tore it open by force.

“Wha…!”

Witch and others raised confused voices.

As Harukiyo forced it open, the scenery instantly changed.

Until a moment ago they were inside a completely ruined corridor.

Now, however, they were dragged into a completely different world.

In this vast space that were lines upon lines of rotting shelves—specifically, bookshelves. Each and every book there was so weathered and moth-eaten that it was on the verge of crumbling to dust.

A vast sea of bookshelves.

And not just that. Wrapped around those shelves were also countless tropical trees.

“—”

As Harukiyo and the rest watched them, the bookshelves started moving on their own. They slid in all directions as if this was some puzzle game—

And a wide space was formed in front of their eyes.

“No—no way—”

Ume was speechless.

Appearing in the created space were two wooden chairs with two people seated in them—

A pair of a woman and a man, their faces deathly pale.

“This is—too much—”

As Ume mumbled this in shock, large tears poured from his eyes.

“They were here all along…? All just to hide Sleeping Beauty—”

The woman seated in the chair wore a fancy suit. However, her hair was frayed and her clothes were old. Her face, once adorned by glasses, was equipped with what looked like mechanical goggles.

And the man also had the same goggles. He was casting his deathly pale face down listlessly.

“Who… are they…?”

The bearded man looked at Ume, confused.

Ume spoke, half-sobbing.

“They’re Librarian-san and the Custodian-san… they were our comrades… Librarian-san participated in the fight of the meteor shower night with Harukiyo—”

“—I told you, they’re not comrades.”

Sparks scattered from between Harukiyo’s clenched teeth.

It was obvious that he couldn’t find the Guardian no matter how much he looked.

And it was also natural for Miguruma to not reveal their identity. If he knew this beforehand, Harukiyo would first go back and kill her.

Because for Harukiyo, these two Guardians were his—

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY FUCKING FRIEEEEEEEENDS!!!”

The howl of the enraged devil reverberated through the otherworldly space full of bookshelves.

3.04 OPS2 Part 5

Harukiyo turned himself into a fireball and pursued the goggled pair fiercely.

The goggles of the woman seated in the wooden chair, Librarian, emitted light. A single book was formed in her hand, and in her other hand a feathered quill pen began writing something quickly.

Above Harukiyo’s head, from the darkness of an unseen ceiling, a gigantic something was falling.

It was a giant, its body more than 10 meters tall. Its bald head sprouted two horns and it held a giant axe in hand.

“Wha…? The hell’s that!!! A monster?”

Witch’s voice of shock overlapped with an earth tremor.

The other goggle wearer, Custodian, raised both arms. His head still cast down, he moved his arms as though controlling something.

A giant tree burst from the floor. Thick branches extended like living beings, assaulting Harukiyo, Ume and the rest to restrain them.

“I won’t let them use you so easily either!”

Harukiyo’s fist boiled the axe swung down by the titan. Furthermore, its lower body exploded, creating a red-hot crater in the surface overgrown with tropical plants.

“UWOOOH!”

Exposed to the shockwaves, his allies were all blown back. All of them took defensive positions and stood up, but Lop-Eared alone rolled endlessly until clashing with a bookshelf.

Harukiyo’s attack only just barely missed the two goggled people. The moment before it hit, the chairs evaded as though sliding on the floor.

“Right, both Librarian-san and Custodian-san were geniuses at creating isolated spaces. If they hid her, that explains why we couldn’t find her easily…! But still!”

Ume showed a pained expression he normally wouldn’t and shouted.

“C shouldn’t have been involved with those experiments at the time…!”

That was true.

That was why Harukiyo neglected to notice this.

He was made to think that the experiments of the Revived started only recently.

“They had Shinpu’s fragments in the first place—so it means that the experiments themselves started way before this!”

Another giant leapt down at Harukiyo as he was shouting in anger. Harukiyo’s casually swung hand struck and a crimson flame passed from the giant’s axe to its arm and from its arm to its entire body, fully melting it.

“No way—”

The speechless Ume gasped upon seeing the pair’s goggles.

“Those goggles! These aren’t normal SEPB goggles… they’re directly attached to their—”

The experiment using C was cute, in comparison. It was obvious from a glance what sort of inhuman treatment Mushitsuki went through previously. These experiments combining scientific technology and Shinpu’s fragments were taken over by C when she absorbed his power.

The bearded youth shouted.

“Harukiyo! I know this isn’t the time, but the SEPB’s asking about Operation 2’s progress…! Soon, the 48 hours—”

“Shut up.”

Stopping moving, Harukiyo widened his burning eyes.

As the Librarian slid along with her chair, she kept writing inside her book in frightening speed. Yet another giant and another giant appeared, and monster birds and the kinds of animals that couldn’t exist in reality were being created.

This gigantic library was the isolated space created by Librarian. Whatever she wrote in here would assume form, turning all imagination into reality.

“I’ll burn every last one of them.”

Harukiyo’s entire body was dyed in deep, hot red. The surrounding air shook with heat and the surrounding shelves were all turned into coal without even burning.

“Don’t dare think it’s all gonna go according to plan, you shitty hag…!”

If he knew the Guardian’s identity beforehand, he would have surely gone to kill Miguruma Yaeko first thing.

However, now that he knew this situation—he had no choice but to beat his past friends. It was all according to Miguruma’s plan.

Now each and every one of her evil schemes made too much sense that it made him sick.

“This is bad, Harukiyo’s gone berserk! We can’t escape anywhere in this isolated space!”

“Eeeeep! I-I’ll quickly draw a magic circle! Cover for me!”

“You hurry! You hurry!”

“I can do nothing in this situation, unfortunately…”

“…I’ll try to offset this as much as possible…”

Ume was flustered. Witch ran around, drawing a line on the floor with her wand. Maria had her entire body glowing and burned away the branches attacking them with light beams. Santa Claus just stood there, while Haruka transformed into Harukiyo again and erected a wall of flames around them. Lop-Eared was panicking.

“—”

Harukiyo approached the two goggled people wordlessly.

Librarian and Custodian couldn’t escape this time. Already the floor all around them was a sea of flames, so they had no space. Even all the imaginary monsters simply boiled away just from touching Harukiyo.

“…I’ve been late coming here.”

He spoke to his pale past friends.

“I’ll definitely get even with that woman—”

Even death or torture would be too good for Miguruma Yaeko.

He couldn’t think of what to do right now, but one day he would definitely take revenge, he swore to his friends.

The result of their curiosity was a long-cherished death. But now that they lost their will and used like toys for experiments—it just wasn’t logical.

“Librarian… just like I promised, I’m protecting your collection. So this is the second promise.”

His red hair floating, Harukiyo whispered quietly.

His silent friends’ faces were swallowed by flames.

“I-I’m done! C’mon, you guys, enter this quickly, please!”

“I-isn’t this too narrow? Afbh, Maria-san, your boobs are too big!”

“Hey! Switch places with me!”

“Fuck you.”

Ume and the rest’s voice were gone as if they melted in the mist.

The grand library was enveloped by such heat that it went past being crimson and became pure white.

Soundless pure flames swallowed everything in sight.

After the flames burned anything and everything and receded like a ripple—

“…”

The grand library was no longer a grand library.

Only the silently standing Harukiyo and the seated, goggle-clad people in front of him remained.

As well as Ume’s group, who stood in shock.

Other than that—there was nothing. Only flattened, scorched earth remained.

“—”

Librarian and Custodian’s bodies tilted and fell.

The chairs they sat on slid at the same time, and the surrounding scenery cracked like glass and shattered.

“He burned away their Mushi along with the isolated space…”

“S-such power…”

“Eeeep, we’re saved—wait, the flames avoided us! My magic circle was meaningless!”

Harukiyo and the rest returned to reality, to a vast space.

It was domed and seemed about as large as a soccer stadium. The gently-curved ceiling looked like it belonged to a giant planetarium.

In the edge of that space were the forms of Librarian and Custodian seated in steel-mesh chairs.

“Was there such a big place inside the Prison…?”

Ume looked around.

Next to him, Maria raised her voice.

“Harukiyo!”

As he glanced at her, the blond woman shook, her face pale.

Maria shook her head to the sides, raising her index finger.

And where she pointed.

Interposed between the two goggled people was a raised platform—

“It’s been a while.”

Harukiyo ignored Maria’s warning and turned to look.

That broad elliptical object looked like a giant egg. It was carefully placed and stabilized on a metal-made, bed-like pedestal.

A silver cocoon.

With a pale light and shiny scales rising from it—its form remained completely unchanged from when he saw it a couple of years ago.

“—Arisu.”

Harukiyo called the name of Sleeping Beauty in front of the cocoon.

When she’d gone to sleep, two boys stood in front of the cocoon.

They were none other than Harukiyo himself—and Kakkou.

Now that he came to wake her up after all these years, Harukiyo did not have that demon at his side.

“No!”

Maria yelled. What had her sensing ability told her about the cocoon? He’d never seen her so scared before. She was shaking all over.

“I’ve been looking for you for so long.”

Harukiyo ignored Maria and smiled at the cocoon.

“Ever since the night of the meteor shower. Always. Ever since then, I wanted—”

Now that what he looked for was in front of him at last, an uncharacteristic sentimentality welled within him.

He felt like it took long, but also as if it was brief.

Since Arisu went to sleep for the sakes of Mushitsuki’s hopes, many things happened.

Lady Bird died and Kakkou became Fallen.

Harukiyo watched all these from afar as a spectator, and kept surviving like this—

“—To kill you.”

Harukiyo widened his eyes with swelling rage.

Seeing him emit flames from his entire body again, Ume and the rest were shocked.

“Eh…?”

Simply by recalling that night’s events, the anger he felt back then was revived within him.

Harukiyo cooperated with the fight against Oogui not for the sake of Mushitsuki.

It was for his own goal. For his deal with Arisu.

Even so—

“How dare you say you’ll make my dream come true and go to sleep like that—”

That was definitely breach of contract.

An illogical betrayal.

In order to settle the score of this past fight, he kept looking for Sleeping Beauty.

Meaning, he wanted to settle things with Arisu.

“I hope you’re not thinking I’m going to gently shake you awake now, eh.”

Anger that was smoldering within him for many years covered his arm in flames.

“W-wait! From what you’ve told us just now, if you wake that girl then the Undying will—”

Harukiyo didn’t care about what Witch said.

To be honest—finding the cocoon was also part of his competition with Kakkou.

Would Harukiyo wake Arisu first?

Or would Kakkou beat the Original Three first?

That was the unspoken rule between those two who once fought together temporarily. He wouldn’t let Kakkou say he wasn’t aware of this.

Before Harukiyo woke up the Undying along with Arisu, Kakkou had to beat the Original Three.

“Kakkou, who protected you and the continuation of your dream, is already gone.”

However, Kakkou collapsed in the middle of his dream.

Therefore, Harukiyo could opt to use his privileges and did not hesitate on swinging his burning arm.

“You’ve lost the bet, Arisu!”

Crimson flames engulfed the cocoon shining silver.

There was a response.

The cocoon suddenly started shaking as if trying to withstand the flames.

“—!”

Harukiyo, Ume and the rest all grimaced.

Loud noises were unleashed by the cocoon and reverberated throughout the entire dome.

There was a high-pitched noise as if something was cracking—sounding like the cocoon itself was in agony.

“Haha! Let’s have another shot, then!”

Harukiyo swung his arm again, but there was no need for this follow-up attack.

The cocoon’s form warped, twisted, and at the moment it started trembling again, it blew away the flames with a rupturing sound.

While everyone watched it, a glowing crack ran through the cocoon.

It became a tear and began to peel fragment after fragment of silver—

“—“

Appearing from within the small hole was a white hand.

It widened the hole and a thin arm appeared. Almost transparent skin that saw no sun for many years now became exposed.

Next appeared a head.

He couldn’t see the face because it was looking down, but her hair was long and its color was thin. The upper half of her body crawled out of the opened cocoon hole. Her stark-naked body was hidden by her hair.

The girl crawling out of the silver cocoon—raised her face.

“Oh, you grew more than I thought.”

Harukiyo unconsciously smiled.

The girl had grown according to her age from when he last saw her. She remained slim but became taller and her face turned somewhat more mature as well.

However, her most prominent feature was her black pearl-like sunken eyes.

These alone looked sleepy and seemed to have lost some of their color from before she went asleep.

“Wow, what a beauty.”

“S-she doesn’t look nice, does she?”

Ignoring Ume and Witch’s conversation, Harukiyo called to Arisu.

“Still feeling sleepy? Should I give you a good morning kiss?”

The girl cocked her head. Crawling from within the cocoon, she stood up on her legs, looking giddy.

In her left hand she grasped a silver stick. It was a rod that served as her weapon.

“D’you remember that Miguruma woman? She’s gonna make you into a replacement for Kakkou, seems like.”

Harukiyo spoke to her while smiling.

As the naked girl whose modesty was protected by her hair grasped the silver rod, it became several times longer in her hand.

A butterfly glowing in silver—a Morpho butterfly—alighted down on her white shoulder.

“It’s ‘cause Kakkou’s a Fallen now. They’re probably tryin’ to use you as a convenient pawn.”

The Morpho butterfly’s body split explosively. It became countless tentacles and started fusing with the girl’s body. Fusing even with the rod, it became a sharp lance with wings on the tip.

Ume spoke timidly.

“Harukiyo…? Don’t you think Arisu-san’s acting a bit odd?”

“She’s probably just not fully awake yet. Otherwise—”

Harukiyo turned around and spoke.

“She’d be on the verge of Maturing, just like before she fell asleep.”

Everyone’s faces lost all color.

“—Run away. You’ll die for sure.”

As Harukiyo declared this, he saw Arisu lowering her body at the edge of his vision. Her entire body glowing in silver, she swung the spear that was longer than she was tall horizontally.

“With this much time passing, I really thought you’d grow up to control your Mushi!”

Still turned around, Harukiyo formed flames at the same time Arisu swung her spear.

Enough scales to fill half of this planetarium-like structure were unleashed.

That impact easily swallowed even Harukiyo’s flames.

“—!”

It really was some years since he’d last felt an attack as destructive as that.

Even the wall of heat wave created by Harukiyo was easily pierced through. His tall body struck the floor, blew back along with fragments from the floor and slammed against the wall.

Memories he’d almost forgotten rose without him wanting them to.

The Morpho butterfly’s silver spear.

When it clashed against him, its destructive power was much stronger than his—

“…Haha! Looks like I was the one who needed to wake up here!”

Wiping away the debris, Harukiyo rose up with momentum, not minding the blood flowing down his head.

“Looks like you grew quite like my taste, eh Arisu!?”

Burning eyes glared at Arisu. A seething battle spirit from when he’d been known as a devil of flame uplifted Harukiyo, but—

“…Harukiyo! Witch got hit!”

Ume’s voice retrieved his reason.

That attack just now involved even his companions. Almost all of them—even Lop-Eared—were unhurt, but Witch alone had a laceration running from her shoulder to chest. Profuse bleeding dyed her clothes and her body was shaking. She was in a state of shock.

“My secret move didn’t make it in time for her…! I mean, this number of people is impossible for me!”

Meaning that without Ume’s ability, everyone would have died from that attack just now.

“Witch should still have some medicine remaining. Rub as much as you can and evacuate.”

Spitting this, Harukiyo faced the silver girl.

She had no expression, but one eye was starting to get dyed by silver. This was a sign of Maturation. Both eyes would get dyed, and once even her hair glowed silver, it would be the end.

“Looks like you miscalculated, Miguruma. She’s not gonna follow anyone’s plans. She’s not the kinda gal for you to use as a pawn.”

While saying this, cold sweat ran down Harukiyo’s cheeks.

The overwhelming strength he could feel from the girl in front of him made him irritated—but he also felt relief.

With this, his dream might finally come true—

The two contradictory feelings of anxiety and relief competed within him.

“This girl—won’t let herself get used by you.”

Sleeping Beauty, Arisu.

The final Rank 1, the Mushitsuki who controlled a silver spear—

Kicked the floor hard, heading toward the devil whose body was clad in flames.

3.05 OPS2 Part 6

Ume was considering how to best reject the reality of what he was witnessing.

What happened was, as far as he knew, impossible.

“No—”

Harukiyo, the flame devil.

No Mushitsuki existed in the world who wouldn’t get scared by hearing that name. He never involved himself with whatever battle there was, but he was a Rank 1 who brought destruction on a whim as though he was a natural disaster.

Comparing him with the other Rank 1s—Kakkou, Fuyuhotaru, and Lady Bird—his existence already approached the domain of a legend.

Ume prided himself on being the one who’d been with Harukiyo the longest.

For him, Harukiyo was always overwhelming in battle.

No one could match Harukiyo.

The flame devil was a special being.

And yet, such a man—

“No way…”

Was covered in blood and held up by a single girl.

His neck grasped by a thin hand glowing in silver, he was being raised to the air with one arm.

Their fight was so fierce it didn’t seem like they were even human—or even Mushitsuki. Even the planetarium they inhabited no longer retained its original form.

“Harukiyooo!”

The flame devil didn’t even twitch upon being called by Ume. With his limbs hanging listlessly, it was doubtful if he was even breathing.

Due to their long acquaintance, Ume knew that he wasn’t just pretending to be defeated.

“—”

The silver girl’s eyes turned to look at Ume and the others.

After casually throwing away a Rank 1, she began to slowly approach them.

Also—

“Aah—”

Next to him, Maria raised a voice of despair.

She was looking toward the already broken silver cocoon.

Slowly but steadily, something black was oozing out from the inside.

It was—a swarm of small, black Mushi.

“No way—the Undying—”

Tear welling in his eyes, Ume sank on the spot.

It wasn’t just Ume. Haruka had already lost all will to fight upon seeing Harukiyo lose like that and crouched down. Witch had apparently lost consciousness due to her grievous wounds, and Maria just stood there, feet paralyzed.

Santa Claus, the bearded man, was just stunned—

“—Operation 2… has failed…”

He only mumbled this to no one in particular.

Notes

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