Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 7 Chapter 4 (section)

== 4.00 Akatsuki Part 8 ==
After the "dead-reviving cherry blossom", a few days passed.

Receiving Akatsuki's report, the North Central Branch couldn't change their stance of staying silent and watching. That was because the information he'd obtained was but a fragment of the enemy's capabilities. They appeared to not plan any move until they fully grasped the enemy's identity. After Akatsuki's wounds have been treated and he was returned to town, they didn't even dispatch a new member.

''They'll just wait for me to return… and then abandon the town as if nothing happened?''

It went without saying that Akatsuki was furious.

Until he came to town, there was only one Fallen that could be called a victim of the incident. But with Orion's defeat, the dispatched members were targeted one after another.

The day after Akatsuki and Ako had seen three Mushi die at the dead-reviving cherry blossom, three students were taken to the hospital. They were judged to be Fallen and they were taken by the SEPB. Since they weren't even members, they were thought to be the victims created by Akatsuki's investigation.

As long as they didn't spur the enemy there'd be no victims—

Perhaps the North Central Branch was thinking like this.

"It's certain that something's going on in this town. They understand this but still abandon this town…"

Going up the school stairs, Akatsuki spat angrily.

The time Akatsuki had to leave pressed ever closer.

Once he left the town, perhaps it would become peaceful again. But that was merely on the surface, and behind the scene surface someone's plan was moving along. Nobody in town had noticed this, and the North Central Branch pretended not to notice. —Wasn't this going according to the enemy's plan?

"I have to drag out the enemy somehow."

They needed to drag out the enemy who had been planting traps in town and capturing Mushitsuki.

There was a high possibility that the enemy had Mushi sensing abilities. When Akatsuki brought out his own Mushi, the enemy apparently avoided him.

Rational and bold.

They even seemed to be toying with the SEPB.

"So that means my only chance to fight the enemy would be when a new Mushi is born… but there's no way I could do that."

It was impossible to foretell when a Mushitsuki was born.

"How does the enemy know where Mushitsuki are being born in the first place? Are they a type never seen before? —No, before going that far, the very fact that so many Mushitsuki are being born here is strange… wait, I also thought the same when I'd just come here."

He sighed, opening the door to the roof.

The one who called him there held a digital camera as always. Her profile filming the peaceful scenery was dignified, fitting the journalism club president.

Haemori Ako opened her mouth without even looking at him.

"So you're here, club member Akatsuki."

"Yeah. I also have some business with you."

After the Dead-Reviving Cherry Tree, Akatsuki had been apprehended by the North Central Branch. He obviously hadn't revealed the fact that Ako was with him there.

"You may speak first."

He was already used to Ako's strange way of speaking. He came close to the fence and sat on the ground.

"I'm leaving the town soon. I have to go back to where I was before."

The words came out more naturally than he'd thought.

"I see."

Ako's response didn't look surprised. Perhaps she'd anticipated this from the start.

"…I'll be lonely."

Yet she mumbled in such a tone as indicated by her words.

Akatsuki also looked at the town's scenery and smiled.

"You're fine now. I saw you walking with friends this morning."

"Yup. Thanks to you. You sure like meddling."

Apparently his club president had seen through her club member. So they probably revealed that Akatsuki had spoken to them.

"Say, Ako. The dead-reviving cherry footage… give it to me."

"I cannot do that."

"It's dangerous. You already know my organization hides that sort of thing."

"Didn't I tell you from the start? I'm betting my life on being a journalist."

"It's not all fun and games. This isn't something to make light of…"

He got up and asserted. If Ako still refused, he'd just forcibly grab her bag and erase the records.

Ako lowered her camera. She looked at Akatsuki with sad eyes.

"Have you asked anyone about my past nickname?"

He was confused at her suddenly changing the subject. He wordlessly shook his head.

"—Haemori Ako, the Demon Lord."

"…!"

"I got carried away. I didn't use any mysterious power like Mushitsuki… but I mistook my path as a journalist and hurt many people. Every time people would come to hate me and fear me… so they called me that."

The time where Ako showed her true face was short. She soon restarted the camera and started filming the town again.

Even hearing that she'd been called the Demon lord, it didn't feel real to Akatsuki.

She always talked about her delusions. She was quick to get depressed and recovered even faster, and repeatedly sought for material in a frenzy. Contrary to her loose sense of reality, she gave advice to Akatsuki and brought him kindness.

That was the kind of girl she was.

Akatsuki couldn't think of her as a Demon Lord.

"I won't make that mistake again. Since I'm a journalist, I need to keep filming. And there are things I left undone."

"But—"

"Member Akatsuki, have you not left things undone, too?"

With the camera pointed at him, he fell silent.

"How does the organization you belong to accept the changes in this town?"

"…It's definite that the enemy is hiding. But as long as we don't provoke them we won't have many victims. If I leave town, as long as nothing major happens, I believe there will be no further investigation."

He hesitated, but told her the truth. He didn't want to threaten her, but he thought he had to let her realize how dangerous holding the footage was.

Also—if Ako spoke of the secret organization's existence, no one would believe her.

Ako was an irreplaceable friend, but looking objectively he could only reach that conclusion.

"I see. I have no time."

"Huh?"

"These last few days, the Demon Lord started moving. I haven't grasped a clear method yet, but it looks like they're entering the final stage to inflict fear upon the world."

The conversation flew to another topic yet again. Akatsuki burst without thinking.

"So this isn't something that a normal civilian can do! And we basically know that the enemy is a Mushitsuki using a never-seen-before ability—"

"Those who are in the journalism club don't mistake the truth."

Ako suddenly spoke harshly.

"Are you saying normal people are different from Mushitsuki like you? Isn't that the same as normal people looking at Mushitsuki like monsters?"

"It's not the same! Since we have special powers, obviously there will be people afraid of it. So we have to use our powers, right?"

"Thinking that normal people and Mushitsuki are different is part of the Demon Lord's plan to distort the truth and inflict fear on the world—"

"This isn't what we're talking about now!"

This wasn't the time to talk about Demon Lords or conspiracies or whatever. Akatsuki simply didn't want to involve Ako in any danger.

"Club member Akatsuki."

Yet Ako wasn't moved in the slightest.

"I do not think of you as special."

Through the camera, the girl's eyes looked at Akatsuki directly.

"You're simply you. Right?"

"…!"

"Saying that you're different than me is very sad…"

Ako walked with a dignified posture next to the frozen Akatsuki.

"Come with me, member Akatsuki. There's something I'd like to show you in the club room."

"Huh…? Wasn't the room taken?"

"I got it back while prez was sick. We cannot avoid getting disbanded, but I couldn't let you go without even once setting foot into your own club room."

"Oh… you didn't really have to."

"I'll ask this again. Do you not have things left undone here before you leave?"

Ako stood in front of the entrance. The lens of the turned camera gazed at Akatsuki.

"—There's only one way to draw the Demon Lord out."

Akatsuki widened his eyes.

"A method that both of us need to be resolved to. That's why only we can do it, and we can't go back. Only those with the courage to accept the truth can stand against the Demon Lord."

Courage to accept the truth—

It was what Akatsuki lacked before coming to town.

Rina had mistaken her way, without acknowledging that her way of fighting was false. She lost herself in revenge to Kakkou and couldn't even look ahead.

He noticed that he was standing in the same path Rina had trodden in before.

Akatsuki had to choose another way. He couldn't keep chasing after Rina's ghost and pursue the road that killed her. He had someone important waiting his return.

"I'll do it."

Akatsuki nodded.

The enemy in front of him now wasn't Kakkou.

It was an invisible enemy that produced many Fallens.

To defeat them, he would cling to any possible small wish.

"You're a member of the distinguished journalism club, after all."

The girl smiled, satisfied.

"Even the Demon Lord cannot stop our club activities."

The ex-Demon Lord Haemori Ako's loud proclamation of victory was carried by the wind blowing on the rooftop.