Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 14 Prologue (section)

== Prologue: 0.00 Shiika The Last ==

Shedding blood from her brow, Anmoto Shiika wore a smile.

She knew it would end like this.

She was fully aware that ''once all of the fights were over''—they’d lower the curtains in this manner.

Anmoto Shiika was so small, yet held such vast power. It all started in a situation much like this—and she knew this would reach the exact same conclusion in the end.

“—So this makes us the only survivors.”

The boy facing against Shiika muttered this calmly.

His face was smeared with blood and his legs shook with fatigue, yet his right hand unerringly grasped a large automatic pistol and aimed it at Shiika.

He was covered in so much wounds it was a wonder he was alive.

Upon seeing him, what Shiika felt—was relief.

It was finally going to be over.

How many battles had he survived this far?

How many enemies had he defeated, and how many wounds had he accumulated?

Shiika herself was also the exact same.

And yet, even these painful, long days of battle—would finally end here.

“Right.”

As Shiika grinned at him, a white shadow rose next to her.

It was the Mushi holding Shiika’s dream within it.

Another Mushi landed atop of the boy’s held gun. It transformed and fused with the pistol in a split second.

“It’s finally over… I can finally put an end to this—”

The boy’s face, wet with fresh blood, twisted. He looked to be smiling.

Hearing how his wrung-out voice was tired, tears rose to Shiika’s eyes.

“Yup, finally…”

These two smiling Mushitsuki were watched over by the destroyed townscape and the piles of broken high-rise buildings. The city’s lights illuminated both of them, yet there were no cars or people around.

This scenery looked like some illusion, but it was neither a vision nor a dream.

What one arrived at the end of a long dream—was cold, hard reality.

“I—we came all the way here…”

“We almost gave up many times, but managed to get here…”

Above the boy’s head, a glowing snowflake appeared.

It fluttered down slowly, approaching the gun held by him.

The girl and boy stared at each other.

This silence, that was as though only the two of them existed in this world—was torn by loud gunfire.

The gun held by the boy spouted fire and the unleashed bullet pierced through Shiika’s Mushi.

“—!”

Grimacing, Shiika bent back. Her Mushi was blown to smithereens, became fragments of light and scattered.

She felt a sharp pain and an uncontrollable sense of emptiness.

However, there was also—happiness.

As Shiika was assaulted by these two conflicting emotions, her eardrums were shaken by a disharmonious, ear-grating cacophony.

The boy’s gun, touched by the snowflake, was crushed by some invisible force and broke down.

Death throes of the two vanishing Mushi echoed in the destroyed city.

This cry that felt like it would constrict her chest was the scream grieving for a dream that would never come true—

And it was also the voice singing of a small dream that was never going to give up.

“—”

The boy grimaced and dropped to his knees.

As the two Mushi were annihilated, their Mushitsuki collapsed to the ground.

“…!”

Shiika and the boy reached out to one another.

Their fingertips touched.

The last time their fingers touched was just a few months prior.

Even so, it felt nostalgic—and warm.

The boy surely felt the same as Shiika. She could tell from his smile.

When they could finally feel each other’s warmth, their eyes started to rapidly lost their light— 

And then it vanished completely.

Their fingers still intertwined, the two fell to the ground simultaneously.

While Shiika felt herself being wrapped with relief and a sensation of loss, memories and feelings surged forward as a wave in her mind.

An omen of having her Mushi killed and becoming the living corpse called a Fallen.

Her life flashed before her eyes with these death throes of her dream.

“…”

Her rushing memories made her recall everything that led to this stage.

Why was this sort of conclusion reached?

Why had she—chosen this conclusion?

With that memory, Shiika fully lost her consciousness.

Shiika and the boy who held the same dream.

They both became Fallen of their own will, and put an end to it all.

This was…

The final destination that the two Mushitsuki chose for their dream.


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