Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 5 Chapter 4 (section)

==4.01 Daisuke The Last==

The rooftop of the elementary school collapsed with a rumble.

The instant the snow falling from the sky touched it, the concrete-made surface distorted as if it was paper, broke and crumbled down.

"…Kh!"

Daisuke immediately lifted Chiharu, jumping on top of the debris. Fusing with his checkered beetle, he used his enhanced leg strength to evade the rushing rocks and fragments of snow.

Akatsuki also stretched out his body to protect Senri. Even while slipping off the surface broken into two he kept embracing her as he shot down the masses of concrete and snow with laser beams.

Kabuto was the one to protect the gravely wounded Kasuou and Nene who was healing her. Using his large rhinoceros as a shield against the debris, it flapped its wings to push back the falling snow.

Ubuki also weaved her way flying between the snowflakes, controlling two tentacles to cover up for other people.

The death throes of Mushi who couldn't oppose flew about the collapsing closed school.

The bodies of the Mushi who tried to escape the snow creating the destruction and yet still touched by it ruptured. Other Mushi were rolled up and crushed as if by an invisible hand, scattering their bodily fluids. Every time the Mushi lessened in numbers more members of the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau collapsed.

"No way, can Oogui possibly… ''use the abilities of all Minion Type Mushitsuki''…?"

Strenuously protecting himself, Akatsuki raised his voice.

Daisuke clenched his teeth.

Oogui's ability was being able to use the abilities of the Mushitsuki she had given birth to—

Daisuke, who had fought Oogui time and again, knew of that fact. He had confirmed that fact several years ago – during the time he fought alongside a certain lance-wielding girl. But that girl was also not at his side right now.

"You were not able to tell about it to anyone until now, right Daisuke-chan? Although you knew about my ability you haven't revealed it to anyone…"

Using the wings of a Mushi perched on her shoulders, Oogui floated in air.

Still holding Chiharu, Daisuke aimed his handgun at Oogui. The bullet shot from the muzzle emitted vicious flames and pursued her in the air.

Yet before hitting it touched the purple snow, scattering apart as if exploding. Only a small gust fluttered Oogui's coat.

"It was because you knew that if the organization desperate to defeat me just like the East Central Branch will come to know of this, it might begin a hunt against Minion Type Mushitsuki…"

All people there gazed at Daisuke with shock.

"D-Daisuke?"

Even Chiharu looked up at him from his arms.

"That's why you were unable to do anything despite seeing me countless times, right? That's why you were unable to reveal my ability to anyone, right? You thought that if it becomes known that I give birth to Minion Type Mushitsuki and that they keep me alive… it would increasingly cause more fights between Mushitsuki—"

The pouring snow only increased in vigor. The school building was already about to lose all form and turn into nothing but ruins on the hill. Akatsuki desperately shot his lasers, evaporating the snow hailing above the heads of his comrades.

And yet members' Mushi were showered by snow fragments they were unable to fully protect against and were being destroyed. 

Although the combat personnel were aggressive until now, it all turned around in no-time.

The closed school became hell just by the ability of the Secret Class Rank 1 Mushitsuki Fuyuhotaru.

"It must have been vexing. You kept shouldering this all on your own and kept hesitating all on your own… But only you knew the fact it's impossible to destroy me—"

Daisuke exerted power to his hand gripping the handgun.

Each and every word of Oogui stabbed into his chest.

"No, you actually also know the only way to destroy me, right?"

While the destruction-producing snow was pouring down, she smiled cruelly.

"If you turn your precious Shiika-chan into a Fallen – or perhaps kill her, then even you alone should be able to destroy me."

The freezing, crushing blow smashed Daisuke's heart.

"Until now you have turned countless Mushitsuki into Fallens, and you have even let Rina-chan die, so does that mean only Shiika-chan is special?"

It kept snowing violently.

His comrade Mushitsuki desperately resisted the vortex of destruction.

However, in front of the unbelievable gap in destructive power, the Mushitsuki of the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau lost their Mushi and became Fallen.

''Shiika—''

Shiika's reserved smile rose to Daisuke's mind as he bit his lips.

Should he destroy Oogui and stop the phenomenon giving birth to endless Mushitsuki?

Or should he just keep thinking he doesn't want to lose Shiika and challenge her even knowing he couldn't win?

Daisuke has yet to decide—

"You said you have defeated Diorestoi, but… that thing was nothing but a single fragment. As long as he has a medium he can split himself into several bodies—"

"…!"

Daisuke was shocked at this unexpected truth. 

But the anxiety in his chest was affirmed by a certain understanding.

''The fragments of Diorestoi—''

He was suspicious ever since hearing those words from the disk handed to him by Ebina Yuu. 

He was able to destroy Shinpu far too easily—

"It's not enough to defeat us Original Three, right Daisuke-chan? Neither your strength – nor your resolve." 

The falling snow turned into a blizzard.

The vortex of destruction rushed toward Daisuke.

"…UOOOOOO!"

Akatsuki howled. The full-powered laser beams he shot out annihilated each and every flake.

Yet the snow was too fierce.

It slipped through the torrent of laser beam and changed the terrain.

"Incinerating the ability's '{{furigana|flame|target}}'. —'{{furigana|Fire|Shoot}}'!"

Senri pointed to the front, raising her voice. The falling snow was evaporated midair.

"'Fire'! 'Fire'!"

She raised two fingers, then three fingers, finally intercepting the blizzard with her palm fully open. Pillars of flames appeared one after another, swallowing the shards of snow.

Even the pair's powers were not enough to bring the overwhelming destructive power of the blizzard under control.

The snow slipping through the gaps of attacks was knocked off by a mass of concrete thrown vigorously from the back.

"UORAAA!"

Even while vomiting blood, Kasuou used the claws made of solidified mist to skewer pieces of debris and throw them at Oogui one after another. "Kasuou…! You're not fully healed yet…" Nene tried to restrain her, but she didn't seem about to stop. She kept flinging the debris supplied to her by Ubuki.

"Kuh…!"

Kabuto was also desperately trying to blow off the snow using the wings of his wounded rhinoceros beetle. A large amount of bodily fluids spurt from the body of his Mushi that had been hit by the earlier lasers.

The mixed combat personnel of Central Headquarters and the East Central Branch were desperately trying to protect themselves. Even while they were hurt and one person fell after another, they all resisted the destructive power of the snow without giving up.

"''Fufu''… I can finally have my meal."

Oogui's rainbow-colored eyes watched a single girl through her round sunglasses.

They went through Akatsuki and the rest who were desperately facing off against her.

They went through Daisuke who stood still.

—And the rainbow-colored eyes perceived Ayukawa Chiharu.

"…!"

Chiharu's shoulders twitched in Daisuke's arms.

She raised her face slowly as if enthralled by the rainbow-colored eyes.

"Chiharu!"

Even Daisuke's voice didn't reach her ears. She stuck out both hands and separated herself from him.

"You have recalled your dream from five years ago, right? You came back to this town because of that, right, Chiharu-chan?"

The large swallowtail butterfly covering the night sky flapped its wings. The blizzard increasingly grew in intensity.

Chiharu's wet eyes looked at Daisuke.

"Daisuke…"

Behind his sister's back, inside the purple blizzard, Oogui made an ecstatic smile.

"So, Chiharu-chan. Will you tell me your dream?"

''Don't do it, Chiharu—''

Daisuke wanted to tell her, but no words came out.

Chiharu's sorrowful eyes made him freeze in place. Her regret at failing to protect him five years ago and her sense of guilt for causing him to suffer even now made large tears flow out of her eyes.

"I wasn't able to protect you… I did my best but I failed – and turned you into a Mushitsuki."

Grimacing while she seemed liable to start wailing at any moment, Chiharu let out a hoarse voice.

"Even though I'm your older sister… Even though I knew that once you become a Mushitsuki you'll definitely suffer… Sorry, Daisuke—"

Each and every of her words stabbed Daisuke. What had Chiharu felt when she was trying to protect him five years ago – and how much had she regretted being unable to do so?

The voice she was wringing out expressed these feelings.

"Even now you're so wounded… and you suffer like that, and all of it–is my fault."

''Bump'', his heart throbbed.

Even the agony he felt right now, anything and everything—

Was brought by the cruel fate he shouldered as a Mushitsuki.

"…"

Daisuke slowly raised his arm grasping the handgun.

He directed its muzzle at his one and only sister Chiharu.

A bullet was rotating rapidly inside the muzzle fused with the jaw of the checkered beetle. The flames born from the frictional heat burned the snow around.

Having the gun pointed at her, Chiharu made a relieved smile.

"And so I thought when I turned you into a Mushitsuki—"

 The pattern of the checkered beetle fused with Daisuke rustled.

Eating his dream whole, the Mushi's power derived from it converged inside the handgun.

—Why was he a Mushitsuki?

He thought about this not once or twice.

He was made a Mushitsuki without his knowledge and thrust into battles he didn't want to participate in.

Why did only he have to be so hurt? Why did he have to fight so much? Why did he have to lose so much?

There were times he was unable to sleep because of the hatred messing up his mind.

There were times he succumbed to his urges to destroy everything because of his murderous impulse towards the one who made him thus.

And the one behind turning Daisuke into a Mushitsuki was right before his eyes—

Chiharu appealed to Daisuke.

"I knew that after turning you into a Mushitsuki, when I meet you again… You would ki—"

"There were times when I thought I was better off dead."

Daisuke said, interrupting his sister's words.

Every time the pattern covering Daisuke's body increased its glow, something important was shaved off the depths of his chest.

"There were many times I thought about how painful battles were, how my wounded body was aching, and how tired I am of losing things… and about why I'm trying to live so desperately."

The opponents he had fought so far rose to his mind.

At times they were unknown Mushitsuki, at times they were Mushibane, and at times they were his supposed comrades of the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau.

What dropped from his wounded arms brought back memories.

He made Anmoto Shiika, a Mushitsuki who harbored the same dream, into a Fallen by his own hands.

There were also times where Daisuke was estranged from people who thought of him as their friend and let them lose their lives without saving them.

He saw Tachibana Rina lose to her Mushi and breathe her last in front of his eyes.

"There were many times I gave up thinking it's all because of me being a Mushitsuki. There were also times I thought of stopping in place thinking it's the fault of the one who turned me into a Mushitsuki."

The eyes of the checkered beetle that was fully fused with Daisuke's readied gun were dyed blood-red. Eating Daisuke's dream, it embedded its powers to the bullet rotating inside its mouthpart.

"—But that's wrong."

Chiharu made a surprised face in front of him.

Daisuke was smiling.

"I found someone important to me, Chiharu."

What Oogui said was completely right.

Anmoto Shiika, the girl who was made a Fallen by Daisuke's hands and then revived again.

They both reunited not as Mushitsuki but as Kusuriya Daisuke and Anmoto Shiika. They met normally and spoke about their dreams. Even now he couldn't forget the warmth that came from holding her hand.

He wanted to meet up with Shiika again.

He wanted them to reunite not as Kakkou and Fuyuhotaru, but just like before, as a normal boy and girl.

Shiika was someone special to Daisuke.

And it wasn't just her—

"I haven't simply fought, gotten hurt and lost many things. I fought by my own will. To make my dream come true."

The pain engraved to Daisuke brought not only suffering.

And it didn't mean that the people who've left him were erased of his memories.

All of them left something important inside him.

"If you hadn't protected me five years ago… I would've been unable to be hurt, to fight, to lose. And my dream would've ended right there."

He loaded his handgun with all of the feelings he received since becoming a Mushitsuki.

He switched his aim from Chiharu – to behind his sister, to the jeering Oogui.

"It's not your fault, Chiharu. Thanks to you I'm now able to see the continuation of my dream."

[[File:Mushi Uta 5 p337.jpg|thumb]]

He then spoke clearly.

"Thank you, Chiharu. Thank you for protecting me."

—The raging tempest slackened its intensity.

In Daisuke's line of sight Chiharu and Oogui changed their expression contrastively.

Oogui erased her joyful smile—

And Chiharu—

"—Yeah."

Still shedding tears, she smiled radiantly.

"Since I'm your sister it's obvious."

Turning around, Chiharu spoke proudly toward Oogui.

"See? My brother is a strong, good kid who's kinder than anyone."

Oogui slightly grimaced.

"—My dream's already fulfilled. Because Daisuke forgave me."

The silhouette of the swallowtail butterfly covering the night sky distorted. Cracks appeared in the large eyes on its wings.

The blizzard of scales lost power. 

Being "rejected" by the owner of a dream…

That was the biggest weakness of the Original Three—

—The air vibrated.

The bullet gathering Daisuke's whole might and dream was ejected out of the checkered beetle's jaw.

Tearing through ground, breaking through the curtain of falling snow, the flame-wreathed bullet hit Oogui squarely.

"…!"

Her body was covered in sprays of blood. Her right arm smashed by the bullet and the flesh starting from her shoulder to her chest was gouged out. Her rainbow-colored eyes were open wide.

The blizzard ceased.

The massive swallowtail butterfly in the sky was starting to disappear into the black clouds.

Among the Mushitsuki who raised their heads expectantly, only Daisuke alone grimaced.

"Is it… still not enough…!"

The bullet shot by Daisuke.

It was originally supposed to possess enough power to annihilate Oogui, but wasn't able to fully repel Fuyuhotaru's snow. It had lost much of its power before hitting her.

The rainbow-colored eyes glared at Daisuke gritting his teeth.

"How many times will you interrupt my meals, Daisuke-chan?"

With strings of blood dribbling from the corners of her mouth, Oogui made a twisted smile.

"—As expected you have become somewhat of an eyesore."

Daisuke's knees folded and he fell on the ground.

"Daisuke!"

Chiharu hurriedly rushed at him. Losing his grip strength, the handgun slipped from his hand.

"If you once again stand in my way the next time – then I'll not go easy on you, you know?"

Showing him an expression she had never made before, Oogui's body was enveloped by a purple mist. Starting from her legs upwards her form was vanishing into the starry sky.

Akatsuki and Kasuou prepared to stop her from escaping.

However—

"Incinerating… 'Flame's' exterior—"

 "Senri!"

While trying to point at Oogui, Senri's arm lost its strength and slumped down.

It was probably due her overusing a power she wasn't used to. Akatsuki supported Senri who was exhausted and covered in large beads of sweat.

Until the very last moment Oogui completely disappeared, the rainbow-colored eyes stared at Daisuke.

She was gone and Daisuke hanged his head.

"Daisuke…! Daisuke…!"

As he raised his face, Chiharu supported his shoulder.

He was finally able to look at the face of the sister he had been reunited with after five long years from up close for the first time.

Different from how she was during the time of elementary school, he thought that she grew taller and even her face looked more adult-like.

Yet seeing her worry for him and cause a commotion was completely unchanged from that time.

"…I'm fine… You're a worrywart as always…"

Seeing Daisuke putting a brave front, Chiharu smiled while crying.

—When he opens his eyes a new battle would begin. 

He would keep fighting by his own will.

He would keep getting hurt while spending his days on nothing but fighting.

So for now—

"I'm not a worrywart. It's normal."

Chiharu said in a carefree tone just like five years ago.

Only now—

Enveloped by a nostalgic warmth, Daisuke surrendered himself to pleasant sleep.