Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 7 Epilogue

==A Drop==
The sun had set, and the alley was wrapped in darkness.

There was no one around.

Holding her suitcase in one hand, Satou Youko's figure was lit by the broken street lights.

Her contact lenses have fallen out somewhere along with her tears. She wore her black-rimmed glasses, and her face was hidden by the bangs that spread all over upon the loss of her hairpin. Because the wind was cold, she buttoned up her shirt all the way up.

Walking quietly, Youko suddenly raised her face.

She felt as if she could hear Genius's dying scream from afar.

Perhaps it was her imagination.

She again lowered her head and walked in the empty alleyway.

"…"

She saw a small shadow cut through the moon rising in the sky. It was a Mushi.

They were probably the search unit of the SEPB looking for Youko.

Yet although it passed by Youko, who wasn't especially trying to hide, the Mushi kept flying far into the night sky.

Just like before, she once again had a thin presence. Perhaps they wouldn't have noticed her even if they passed through the alley—immediately after she had this silly thought, figures appeared in the alley.

They were two girls. One of them had her eyes hidden by her hair just like Youko, and the other tied her hair using a string instead of a headband and wore triangular glasses.

"I was curious about Kaguya's movements and came to check things… and found something unbelievable instead."

The moment they passed next to each other, the bespectacled girl whispered to her.

Hearing the name of Kaguya made Youko twitch. Was this an SEPB assassin?

"Someone like you would never stop fighting."

For an instant there was a red flash.

Youko felt something eat into her heart. Just as she felt a sting-like sensation stimulate her chest, it melted away in her heart.

"If you ever try to do such worthless things again, the 'fear' will keep eroding you. Vanish somewhere and live your life properly."

Asserting this, the two girls left as if nothing happened.

Youko vaguely wondered what was done to her. Yet since the strange feeling vanished within a moment, she kept walking. She didn't really understand if that was an assassin or not.

She'd be found before long anyway.

She might get killed by a real assassin a minute later.

Thinking about the SEPB's search unit, it would be a miracle not being found by them. And Youko had already used up all of her miracles.

She didn't care.

No matter who found her...

Youko herself didn't know what the future held. She had no place to go to, and no place she wanted to go to.

Yet she thought of leaving town.

Because she failed there.

Anyway, she felt like she had to move to another place.

Even if only the fate of dying by the roadside waited for her, this town had no place for Youko.

Satou Youko.

"The Third Satou-san".

Hero.

Turning around her various titles, she only arrived in the road of loneliness.

She giggled.

She failed, but she had fun.

"Where will I be the Demon Lord next time…?"

Her black-rimmed glasses hid her eyes.

Her face was hidden by her bangs.

Her mask of a normal human hid her vacant dream.

The smiling Demon Lord walked through an empty road out of town.