Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 13 Chapter 4 (section)

== 4.01 OPS3 Part 16 ==

She heard that this dome was purely meant for sports events.

The dome that the SEPB used as a tentative base two days ago was a commercial complex. As such, it was located in the city center and had lodgings and hotels attached to the building.

Shiika and the rest and Mushibane as well as the combatants including Kabuto all saw the night sky from inside the dome. The moveable all-weather dome ceiling was open wide, and the twinkling stars looked down on them.

“So we have 4 hours remaining to our time limit of 48 hours, huh.”

Aijisupa was the one who muttered this. He looked around all the Mushitsuki on the artificial grass.

They were all members of Mushibane as well as reinforcements of low-levelled combatants brought from the SEPB by Kabuto. Together they were almost 300 people.

“Never mind the quality, but we’ll probably never gather these many Mushitsuki again.”

“It’s thanks to Kabuto and Halensis-san, who’s still gathering comrades…”

Shiika also looked around the many people just like Aijisupa. Many of the Mushitsuki she could see were already tired.

Obviously.

In order to be able to stop the space debris that was about to fall at any time now, they spent ten hours in rehearsals.

Failure was not an option.

Focusing on that, even the longstanding enemies Mushibane and the SEPB combined forces, albeit only temporarily.

Kabuto approached Shiika.

“I’ve had contact from Operations 1 and 2… but frankly, none of them are in a good state.”

Operation 1. The annihilation of Super Class 1 Rank C hiding in the Underground Fort.

Operation 2. Awakening of Sleeping Beauty conducted by Harukiyo’s group.

All of them threw themselves into battles they couldn’t afford to lose, just like Shiika.

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t worried about that.

“I see…”

Shiika’s expression became clouded. The girl called Terasu, who was leading Operation 1, looked very strong to Shiika’s eyes. She even said that she’d defeated Kakkou once, so Shiika could do nothing but believe in her.

She didn’t know much about Harukiyo, the man in charge of Operation 2. From what she could hear of the rumors calling him the devil of flames, she couldn’t imagine him failing.

“Meaning, all Operations are in similar situations.”

Aijisupa spoke calmly. His arms that bore terrible burns were now being healed by Chafer.

“So it does.”

“Kabuto-san… I know this is pretty late, but thank you so much for gathering SEPB people. Still, is it really fine? There are so many of them…”

“Yeah, all of them are low-ranked that were on standby, so there’s no problem. I got permission from Miguruma, too…”

Saying this much, Kabuto cut off his words.

“I-is something the matter?”

“No, speaking frankly, I’m also a bit worried.”

“…?”

“Until now Miguruma was completely passive about defeating Oogui… even so, she’s awfully cooperative with this Operation. You could say it’s natural given the situation, but still…”

“Well, no use worrying about it now. Rather than Miguruma, we should focus on what’s in front of us.”

Hearing this from Aijisupa, Kabuto put his hand on his chin and thought. “True,” he said, nodding.

“I agree.”

She wondered about Kabuto’s worries, but Shiika felt the same as Aijisupa.

Anyway, Shiika and the rest were probably going to face a difficult challenge now. Although their preparations were quite thorough, if they got distracted everything might come to a waste.

“Err, I’ll go check how the others are doing.”

Saying this to Aijisupa and the rest and leaving, Shiika approached the transport van parked at the very edge of the grounds.

“E-excuse me.”

Opening the baggage door, she hurriedly entered.

The closed space illuminated by small lights had a girl hugging a small boy.

“We’re doing it soon.”

They were Chiharu and the boy housing Sanbikime.

“Yes… this boy—doesn’t seem to be doing well.”

The boy’s condition was obvious at a glance. He was sleek with sweat all over and his breathing was rough. He was apparently unconscious, but his face was grimaced in pain.

“That girl called C.J. came here just before. It’s dangerous so I had her evacuate, though.”

“That girl…”

A person who’d been destined to become a Mushitsuki by Sanbikime, Aria Varei. She recalled how that girl was willing to save a complete stranger although she was covered in wounds. Shiika heard that thanks to Chafer and the emergency services, her life was saved.

“She was a strange girl. She’s cute but has a sharp tongue, yet when we spoke she felt tense… she told me that she has a hard time speaking with pretty people. She gave me her handmade cookie.”

Apparently Chiharu liked her. She spoke while smiling.

“Also, once I told her what happened she said to thank you.”

“Thank me for what?”

“For not turning her into a Mushitsuki.”

Shiika was surprised, but thinking about it more, it was obvious.

“I-I see. No one would want to become a Mushitsuki…”

“No, it’s not that. She said that she didn’t mind that one bit. That as long as this boy ended up not suffering, it wasn’t an issue.”

“Eh…”

“But, rather than that… since this boy resisted it so much, then her becoming a Mushitsuki would definitely make him suffer even more, so she’s going to resist with him—that’s what she said.”

“…”

“She said she wouldn’t become a Mushitsuki even at the price of her life. She’ll go away for a while, waiting for the boy’s condition to improve… it doesn’t have anything to do with distance, though.”

Chiharu and Shiika. The two girls exchanged glances and smiled.

“So cool.”

“Yup.”

What a reliable girl. It was a bit of a pity someone like her didn’t become their ally—but Shiika felt reassured for going against it at the time. If the girl herself didn’t want to become a Mushitsuki, then she shouldn’t.

“I’ll definitely do it.”

Chiharu looked down at the boy in her arms and spoke calmly.

“I’ll definitely get Aria from this boy.”

“…Yes.”

Chiharu’s role was extremely important.

She would definitely manage to do it. With this conviction in her heart, Shiika went out of the transport van.

Next, she looked up at the spectator seats.

What she could see there—wasn’t the audience illuminated by the lights meant for night games.

There were megaliths of all kinds packed together.

“Nanana.”

Shiika went up to the spectator seating and found Akasegawa Nanana.

The billionaire girl sat all alone among these megaliths. While waving her cane, she absently gazed up the night sky.

“What’s wrong, Nanana?”

Nanana gave no answer to Shiika’s call.

All around her men in working clothes moved busily and hurriedly. They were conducting inspection work on the megaliths lined in the spectator seats—swarms of metal boxes.

These were large amounts of storage devices, control panels, cooling devices and the generators needed to make them work.

Erii’s receptable.

Shiika didn’t really understand how it worked, but apparently Erii had converted her personality to a vast amount of digital data. In order to pass it from the space debris, apparently they needed lots of such devices.

“Any information about Operation 2?”

Nanana suddenly spoke.

“Eh? Oh, yes. Apparently it’s not going great…”

“I see, so she’s not awake yet.”

She, probably meaning Sleeping Beauty.

“The night she fell asleep… there were so many shooting stars. Did you know? I’m talking about the Perseids Meteor Shower.”

Nanana smiled happily.

The Perseids Meteor Shower—

Shiika didn’t know about it. Without even looking at her titling her head, Nanana erased her smile.

“She’ll wake up soon.”

What was Nanana thinking about as she looked at this starry night?

“And yet again a star will fall…”

There was barely any time before the remnants of the artificial satellite fell.

Shiika felt that Nanana held strong feelings for the girl referred to as Sleeping Beauty, whether for good or bad.

“You’ve been helping us a lot, Nanana. I’m sure—that you’ve also helped Sleeping Beauty-san a lot, right?”

“…”

“Thanks, Nanana.”

Nanana said nothing.

“I’m sure that Sleeping Beauty-san’s going to say the same thing to you as well.”

Leaving these words behind as Nanana stayed unmoving, Shiika tried leaving.

“…Please.”

She turned back hearing a voice behind her.

“Never show me again—a sight as horrible as that night of the meteor shower.”

Nanana’s face was hidden in the shade of the storage devices so she couldn’t see it well.

“Definitely.”

Nodding clearly, Shiika turned her back to Nanana again.

As she came back below, the many Mushitsuki were already assuming their positions in preparations to stop the space debris.

[[File:Mushi Uta 13 p275.jpg|thumb]]

Confirming that Shiika came back, Namie, who was at the center, raised her voice.

“There’s less than ten minutes until the projected time of the debris crashing down! We spent ten hours on rehearsal, but let’s confirm everything one last time!”

Her well-carried voice spread among the Mushibane and SEPB combined forces.

“The one who’s going to stop the debris is Aijisupa! He’s going to use his steam to act as a cushion against the impact, soften it to not let it get destroyed! But he’s obviously unable to stop it all by himself. That’s why we’ll all support Aijisupa’s steam from the surface! Aijisupa’s going to stop the debris, then we’ll stop it all together!”

While everyone confirmed their strategy again, Lucifera approached Shiika.

“Lucy-san?”

“Snow-san, I need to talk to you...”

“The debris is heading here—or more precisely toward the landmark carried by Erii’s fragment!”

Next to Namie stood Erii who was in the form of Ebina Yuu.

Expressionless like always, she looked like she was gazing at empty air.

“—Don’t take your eyes off of Erii.”

“Eh?”

While looking at her cellphone, Lucifera spoke in a hushed voice to not let anyone around hear her.

“It is odd. To think that Erii—the Mushitsuki called C—would just obediently help us like this… she supposedly hates you very much, never mind if her grudge is deserved or not, and yet she never tried attacking you even once.”

“N-no way… C’s being desperate to not get erased by her own powers.”

“That is exactly it. She had told us that she ran away into that satellite to avoid getting absorbed by her powers… but if so, what is that fragment over there? She was so desperate, yet she was careful enough to hide the fragment to become the landmark near Alpha… that is odd.”

“Although we have a landmark, some calculation errors are bound to pop up. Since it can drop somewhere within dozens of meters, although the government’s surveillance system is watching the debris’ trajectory, the timing of the fall will definitely be mistaken by at least some second! Therefore, we will have Recall use her teleportation abilities to spread a net in the sky!”

Shiika furrowed her brows and looked at Lucifera’s face.

“B-but that’s… it’s for saving herself—”

“Indeed. So it’s just in case—you’re the only one I’m telling this to.”

“Once it touches Recall’s ability in the sky, the satellite will move—and get thrown into the our and Aijisupa’s cushion! As long as we succeed in this, we’ll definitely be able to stop the debris, both position and timing-wise!”

“W-what are you telling me to…?”

“We have no time. If some unexpected happening occurs, we must move to another place immediately. If that happens, you will have to guide everyone as the leader, Snow-san.”

Once that was said, Lucifera went away from Shiika, wearing an innocent face.

“A happening…?”

Shiika mumbled and looked to Erii.

The girl was just standing still. Shiika couldn’t see any suspicious movements like Lucifera said.

Miguruma’s unexpected intention that Kabuto spoke about.

Erii’s true aims that Lucifera spoke about.

There was no way she’d be able to clear these worries just as they were about to handle the falling debris—

“One more minute! …It’s coming! Everyone to positions!”

Namie’s command echoed throughout the stadium.

“—”

Shiika and all other Mushitsuki looked up the night sky.

With no one able to utter a sound, the promised time came.

As a second and yet another second of tension passed—

Who was it that made a voice?

At first it was a small voice of confusion.

Yet it soon transformed into a loud clamor.

“…Is it not coming?”

Shiika’s mumble moved Namie.

“I can’t see anything! What’s going on, Kabuto!”

She heard that they’d be able to confirm the signs of the satellite falling from the sky at the projected time.

But as several minutes passed—there was no change to the night sky.

Everyone there became agitated.

“Ah, we’ve received contact from the observatory!”

Kabuto, who was located further away, put a hand on his goggles and shouted.

“Apparently, a little while ago—the space debris in orbit started decelerating!”

The clamor reached its peak.

“For just a moment, it used its propulsion to move to the opposite direction! It’s apparently going to take some time until it reaches the right angle for atmospheric entry!” 

“What…! How long is that supposed to be, then!”

“About—two hours.”

Hearing these words, the clamor instantly faded off.

The projected time was late.

Which meant—

“It’s going to be right before the time limit…”

Namie groaned in shock.

An unforeseen happening—

Just as what they feared happened, Shiika came back to her sense with a start.

“Erii…?”

Recalling what Lucifera told her, she turned to look at Erii—

“—Eh?”

The girl borrowing Ebina Yuu’s body was crying.

No—it wasn’t the girl borrowing her body.

The profile of the girl standing in place and shedding tears was unlike the time she was called Erii—it was the Yuu Shiika knew.

“Erii! What’s—”

Namie also noticed something was odd after a delay, but went speechless.

Was she Erii or Yuu?

The tear-stained girl slowly opened her mouth.

“Right… I remember… my dream is…”

Looking up the sky, she mumbled to herself.

“I want to save Mushitsuki… that’s all…”

“Yuu—chan…?”

Shiika wasn’t the only one there surprised.

“W-what does this mean!”

Lucifera’s expression changed. Although she was the one who noted Erii’s actions were odd, it apparently went way past even her estimations.

“Why’s Yuu-san’s dreaming right now! We haven’t done anything yet—Satou-san hadn’t used her suggestion on her!”

“…!”

Shiika gulped.

Ebina Yuu was dreaming.

Every Mushitsuki there could guess what this meant.

“She’s dreaming… Meaning, that—”

Namie groaned.

“Oogui’s going to come here…?”

Including Shiika, all Mushitsuki were astonished at this unthinkable happening—

At this overwhelming change in plans.