Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 8 Chapter 3 (section)

== 3.00 The Beast and Momo Part 4 ==
The atmosphere of the city was changing.

On the surface it looked as peaceful as always, but it looked like there was an unstable disturbance beneath the surface.

He knew the reason for this.

"Mark Hunting… so it happened here as well."

Brought by Momo to the crossroads in front of the station, he stood in a daze.

The most conspicuous of all was the billboard. It used to have the advertisement for the huge hit, the pop song based on Coatl Head. However, someone somehow ripped it apart, leaving cracks in the shape of large claw marks on it. They put up scaffolds in order to repair the board.

Even among passerby who turned to look at that damaged billboard no one wore that symbol anywhere on them.

The stores on the side of the road ran out of all relevant products.

The marks on power poles and wall were painted over or perhaps scraped off.

"In just a couple of days… it changed this much?"

He felt a chill at the country's sudden transformation.

Only a couple of days passed since the first report of the heinous crimes targeting and attacking Coatl Head, commonly called the "Mark Hunting".

Apparently, many people who either drew the symbol or possessed it ended up suffering serious injuries. The perpetrators haven't stopped with humans, but even destroyed the medium of the symbol itself.

These crimes were not done by a single perpetrator. It spread all over the country as if on cue.

Also, until now there wasn't even a single "Mark Hunter" caught, shockingly. The only ones caught by the police were criminals influenced by the Mark Hunting to make copycat crimes or else people taking advantage of the opportunity to run wild for fun.

The fact the criminals were not caught also turned into a topic.

The mysterious phenomenon of Mark Hunting—

It started spreading through the entire country with the same vigor as the original marking fad had.

"…Momo?"

He turned toward the girl that was supposed to be next to him.

Tanaka Momo stood in the middle of the road, looking around her. With a horribly anxious face, she ran her eyes around as though looking for something.

"Why…?"

Just as she mumbled this, Momo suddenly ran away.

"Momo!"

It was useless calling to her. He followed her.

Momo stooped in front of a book shop. She dug through the books on its shelf.

"—It's not there…"

Biting her lips, she kicked the ground again.

Next she stopped in front of a large building. The wall, colored uniformly in dark blue, looked like it was recently painted.

"…Not here."

"Momo…!"

He desperately followed Momo who once again ran and rushed into a back alley. Yet his body grew weak and his knees were about to give up.

"Kh…"

Putting strength into the legs that were losing their sensations, he ran.

Momo went past the alley and started heading down a small hill. Seeing the fences of the small vacant house, she stood there calmly.

Rushing to her, he looked at the fence while standing next to her.

"…"

The entire fence was dyed by a black spray.

Also seeing red lines, he knew that Coatl Head was hidden underneath it. Someone apparently assaulted the mark with color.

"Daiske…"

Looking slowly to his direction, he could see large tears welling up Momo's eyes.

"It's gone…"

"Momo?"

"There's no more Coatl Head anywhere… They're all disappearing…"

A stream of tear ran down Momo's cheek.

Seeing her depressed face, he was startled. He put his hand to her forehead.

"You have a fever—"

Before he finished speaking, Momo leapt into his chest. Burying her head in his chest to hide her tears, she wrapped both arms around his back.

"There were so many…! Plenty of Coatl Heads no matter where you looked…! Now there's not even one…!"

"What's wrong, Momo?"

Hugging back the girl's head, he asked.

He knew that Momo was really into the marking fad.

Even so she was overreacting to it. Was she losing her cool due to the fever as well?

"It's just a fad, right? I know losing something you like is sad… but you don't have to cry this much."

At his words Momo just shook her head vigorously. Leaking a sob, she wouldn't speak. Having no choice he stroked her head and didn't say anything until she calmed down.

While he was hugging the girl with his listless arms, he felt a sudden déjà vu.

Casually glancing around, he finally noticed something.

"Ah?"

Power left the legs that supported the weight of two people. They both collapsed on top of one another in front of the fence.

Yet not even heeding the pain of the fall, he widened his eyes.

"Is this—the place where Kirari… and Momo picked me up?"

It was the day he ran away from the SEPB, fought a monster by the riverside and bled to death.

That time, he was collapsed on that fence.

When he was resolved to die, Tanaka Momo appeared in front of him. Just as she noticed she was gazing at his heavily wounded body, she chanted while drawing a strange symbol on his forehead.

''—Coatl Coatl Para Emile.''

At that time he knew nothing about Coatl Head, so he just remembered feeling confused.

"I see… it was night so I didn't notice it at all."

Perhaps that was why Momo's charm at the time had the best possible effect.

His life was saved—and his heart as well.

Although his life was about to end at the same, he received a continuation in the form of normal, daily life.

"That mark behind the fence… did you draw it, Momo?"

He thought she'd drawn it as commemoration for their meeting, but he was apparently wrong. Momo shook her head in his embrace.

So it was probably just a simple graffiti drawn by someone.

Yet even that Coatl Head at his back surely contained irreplaceable feelings.

"I see… so that mark had been watching us from the beginning…"

What a mysterious fad.

No—it was a fad, but now it was vanishing.

It was a simple charm where you drew a weird symbol and made a wish.

Coatl Head.

Perhaps the ever-close dusk of this marking fad was right before his eyes.

This large trend vanishing like that might resemble the sun sinking in the west sky in front of him—

"Daiske…"

Inside his arms Momo raised her face.

Her teary eyes and cheeks being red was perhaps due to her fever. Warm breaths leaked out of her lips slightly illuminated by the sinking sun.

"Ever since we first met… I liked you."

He wasn't surprised.

However, for some reason he wore a wry smile.

"I'm—"

He ran away from everything, so he knew he wasn't worthy.

He knew that he had too little time left, and that it was too much happiness for him.

Yet now that he was weakened to the very limits, he didn't even have the power to suppress these feelings.

"I'm not sure when I started feeling like this…"

He weakly brought Momo's face closer. He intended on using all of his remaining power to express the deluge of his emotions.

Their lips gently separated in front of the Coatl Head that had been painted over.

How long had they been hugging wordlessly?

Momo started mumbling by the time when the surroundings started to darken.

"Don't go anywhere, Daiske…"

He smiled.

"I decided now. I'll stay here forever."

Momo smiled, relieved.

"Say…"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember the secret we've talked about before?"

"The Mushitsuki that disappeared at the substation…"

"Yup. But there's actually something more."

"More?"

"Yeah. If Coatl Head is gone, that Mushitsuki will appear again."

Momo continued.

"If that happens, I'm going to be killed…"

"Why?"

"I dunno…"

"…"

"She said that this Mushitsuki should have never been born. A girl with a suitcase told me that."

Momo's words were vague and abstract. Perhaps her thinking was dulled due to her fever, as her face also looked somewhat vacant.

"She said many people were scared of that Mushitsuki. I think I'm one of those people, too… I'm really scared."

He held her closer.

"If you're in danger, I'll—"

''Save you''—he wanted to say this, but Momo's lips blocked his mouth.

Separating her face, Momo returned her usual, bright smile.

"You won't even be a match, yeah. Mushitsuki are super strong."

"Really… I see."

He smiled wryly. He didn't know if he'd even still have the power to support Momo by tomorrow.

"So the most important thing is to run away, yeah."

"Where?"

"How about the place you came from, Daiske?"

"It's possible that no one remembers me anymore…"

"You have me. I'll write your name on your forehead again, yeah."

"Stop with the oil-based paint…"

Smiling at each other, Momo once again hugged him tightly.

"You don't have to protect me."

"…"

"In exchange… if that Mushitsuki comes out again, let's run away together, yeah."

"Sure… let's run away together."

At some point they decided on running away.

Making this small promise, the first stars twinkled above their heads.