Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 7 Chapter 2 (section)

== 2.01 Youko Part 2 ==
"It looks great."

The only department store in town.

She stopped at the makeup booth only because an employee called out to her on the way to the optometrist shop. Tempting her while speaking about the new spring color campaign, she managed to put a lipstick on Youko, who was standing dazed in front of the mirror. It was a liquid lipstick.

"…"

Fearing to look directly in the mirror, she gazed around herself, fidgeting. There were other girls with the same school uniform around. They all had fun trying makeup.

She gathered up the courage to glance in the mirror.

"Ah, umm… I-I'll take this. Please."

Averting her gaze, she reached toward a lipstick of a plainer color. But now that she looked at it, it was the kind that had shining powder on it. It definitely didn't suit her at all.

"That one would fit young girls better. Thank you."

Apparently she was glad to sell anything. The young woman clerk gave her a business-like smile.

"Dear customer? You've forgotten your belongings here."

"O-oh, I'm sorry!"

She'd left her huge leather suitcase on the counter, so she came back in a hurry. It was a classic-style suitcase that also didn't fit her high-schooler image. The high-class leather surface also had hooks and a folding rack on which to place the suitcase. 

Exiting the cosmetics shop as if running away from it, she sighed in front of the escalator.

"I used up my money…"

She used up all of the money she'd planned to use to purchase contact lenses.

"But that can't be helped. Since I have no money I'll just give up this time."

While she'd muttered this, she mentally sighed in relief. She came there resolved, but she felt that suddenly wearing contact lenses was too big of a hurdle for a girl as plain as her.

She could simply use her credit card, but she made an excuse for giving up. Youko left the place just like this.

A pleasant spring wind was blowing. She felt as if even that wind asked her ''done already''? in a disappointed voice. She turned her back to the main street near the station.

"It really doesn't fit me anyway. But it's actually not that strange, relatively speaking…"

The entrance to the department store was a glass door. Leaving her leather suitcase on the ground, she checked her reflection with the lipstick.

She changed the angles of her face, and got somewhat excited. She also tried parting her bangs that hid her face and removed her glasses.

There was a dull noise.

"Ouch…!"

"Ah, I'm sorry! Are you alright?"

Since she looked at her own face happily, she hadn't noticed the high schoolers coming through the exit. They were the girls inside the cosmetics shop just now. They were apparently so enthralled in their own chatting that they hadn't noticed Youko standing in front of the doors.

"I-it's fine! I-I'm sorry!"

She blushed and put on her glasses. Rubbing her forehead that had bumped into the glass door, she averted her eyes. She was embarrassed at having gotten overboard like that.

Picking up her suitcase, she left with a past pace. "Is she really from our school?" she could hear a voice from behind.

Pulling out a tissue in order to clean her lips, she put her hand inside the other pocket. Her cellphone fell to the ground. Along with her metallic device, a small strap attached to a small doll also fell and bounced on the asphalt.

"S-sorry, Loci-chan!"

She hurriedly picked it up. Her cellphone was secondary.

The doll looked like a round, plastic-like insect with a transparent body and two large, folded scythe-like legs. Although there was no wind, it still cluttered.

Youko relaxed only for a second, but then sighed at her own pitifulness.

"I'm worthless, huh… Will I ever defeat the Demon Lord like this?"

[[File:Mushi_Uta_7_p137.jpg|thumb]]

She spoke to the doll.

There were many passersby in the dusk-time street. The profiles of the students or company workers waiting at the bus stop were dyed in orange. Youko passed by them with a downcast face as not to let them see her lipstick.

"Oh, thinking about it—"

While walking, she turned back toward the bus stop. She saw a bus approaching.

"I once created a Spirit Zone inside a bus as well. I think it was the mental pollution one, where if you sit in a certain seat you hear the voice of someone from your memories… Since there's something much stronger of that sort behind the mountain I forgot about it. But, well, it's not a big Zone, so it's fine to let it be."

She spoke to the doll in her hand. Obviously there was no reply.

Youko returned the cellphone to her pocket and walked with her suitcase in hand. Despite her wearing lipstick, she was still the same old plain Youko that didn't cause any heads to turn.

Although this was the largest road in the town, there were not many cars.

The area suddenly became dark.

Turning back, she saw the radio tower overlapping with the setting sun. A large shadow fell on Youko.

"This isn't the time to complain. I have to create many more Spirit Zones."

Youko loved this town.

It was nice and peaceful, and the plain Youko felt right at home. If she didn't stand out there would be no trouble and she'd live safely. She'd seen how bright the capital was in TV every day, but even if she admired it, she never thought of actually going there.

Yet the Demon Lord had even such a town in their clutches.

After noticing this fact, Youko had to do something.

"But I get the feeling there're people searching for me lately…"

Mumbling to herself, a motorcycle passed next to her. The one gripping the handlebars was a jacket-wearing girl. Her face covered by a half-helmet was one familiar to Youko. Perhaps humming to herself, her mouth was slightly open.

"Could Orion have possibly noticed me?"

The Hornet the girl was riding was gone. She'd found out that the person who was known as Orion worked under a certain organization long ago.

Youko shook her head.

"No, if I'd been noticed then the Demon Lord would act. No matter how many them there are, I don't feel like being defeated by a mere subordinate. If that happens… well, it wouldn't really disturb me, but it'd be a bit annoying. Would she help me if I spoke to her?"

Thinking about it, she couldn't do that.

The opponent Youko was fighting was the Demon Lord and her subordinates, like Orion.

She couldn't do something unnecessary and gain more enemies right now, no matter how low the possibility was. If they wanted to search for Youko, then let them. If they really stood in her way, she could just take care of them then. As long as she was in town, Youko had the initiative no matter what.

"Becoming the Hero and defeating the Demon Lord sure is hard…"

Youko stopped in front of a national hospital. Entering the normal ward, she spoke to the receptionist.

Walking around the hospital full of patients and visitors, she saw a familiar middle-aged woman.

"Hello."

"Oh, thank you for always coming."

Stopping in place, they conversed about such things as the weather and school, making small talk.

"And you're the only one that keeps coming to visit… I never heard about you from her, but you were probably good friends."

Youko raised her face, and glanced at the woman with wet eyes.

The eyes behind her glasses rippled like a vast ocean.

She was able to ascertain her emotions. Sadness and fatigue were mixed in with gratitude to Youko. But Youko's eyes didn't stop at that. Peeling off the armor known as feelings, she saw through the depths of her heart.

There were impatience and resignation.

She smoothed it over with a smile and hid it with a firm voice, but Youko was able to see through the woman's real emotions.

"I believe she'll definitely get better. Don't give up and do your best."

She was bad at looking people directly in the eye. Hanging her head again, she cheered up the woman.

The woman looked surprised for a moment. Yet she quickly softened her expression. "Thank you," she said and nodded. Hearing the words she wanted to hear the most, she was relieved.

When they said their goodbyes, the woman raised her face as if suddenly noticing something.

"Oh, how unusual. You're wearing makeup today."

"Oh, umm, I was at the department store earlier and…"

She ended up speaking loudly without thinking. She felt gazes from the people in the hospital. She covered her mouth and cast her glance down.

"Don't overdo it, but… you should try a bit more makeup. It's really pretty."

Complimenting her, the woman left. Youko bowed slightly and started walking again.

Now she realized that she'd forgotten erasing the lipstick. Feeling as if the people around her all looked at her lips, she covered her mouth with her sleeve on the way to her destination.

The sickroom she came to was a large, individual room in a certain facility. "Right, so that was her name…" she recalled the name of the patient when she saw the name tag on the door.

She entered. Inside the dreary room was a single girl on a bed. Imposing machines were installed on the walls, and the girl was connected to artificial breathing equipment.

The girl, with her eyelids shut close and not moving a muscle, was a student from the same school as Youko's.

She got into an accident, but while her life was saved, she had yet to regain her consciousness. The woman Youko met just now was the girl's mother.

Youko sat in the chair and took her cellphone out of her pocket. She put the doll attached to the strap along with the cellphone next to the girl.

"Good. Your complexion looks good today too."

Peeking at the sleeping face of her classmate covered by the breathing mask, she smiled. Although she'd gotten much thinner during her hospitalization, her complexion was good.

Even so, it didn't change the fact that her classmate was in a highly unpredictable state. Since she was in danger many times in the past, they couldn't remove her life support.

On top of the bed Loci began to move.

Stretching its round body and separating from the strap, it looked at the classmate's face.

—Just as Youko had forgotten the name of her classmate, the other girl had definitely forgotten Youko's. She was dubious whether or not she knew her name in the first place.

They had only been in the class together one time. They had spoken only once.

"I'm glad your ''real master'' looks good after all this time."

She spoke to Loci with a smile.

The small Mushi raised its face, shrieking.

She first met the girl now sprawled on the bed during early winter. She'd been called to the roof, so she remembered how cold it was without a jacket.

Being the daughter of a counselor, Youko was sometimes asked for advice. She almost always refused, not being a professional, but there were times she was being pressed so hard that she couldn't refuse. Her skill didn't matter to them; Youko simply pretending to give them counseling would serve to relieve them. 

Youko's special skill helped at such times.

She could read people's emotions better than most people. —It was just a trivial skill not worthy of any pride.

Youko herself didn't think of it as anything remarkable.

She knew she had obtained this ability only because she—who was completely transparent and plain—found other people to be admirable, no matter what small of an action they took. From her point of view, even someone moving their fingers was overflowing with individuality. This ability could be said to be borne out of her complex.

Even if she had no technique or specialist knowledge, it was enough to relieve those who came for advice. And as she kept pretending to psychologically assess them, the more her classmates heard about this and came to seek her help.

The girl sleeping in the bed was one of them.

Unable to deny her, Youko had opened up the rack and placed her suitcase on it like the usual, starting the analysis. She used that tool only because her counselees would feel calmer if she used something that seemed professional.

Her classmate had a radiant aura. She had told Youko that she'd fought with her parents over her wanting to go live by herself in the capital after graduating school.

Using her aforementioned technique, Youko had analyzed the girl.

She had noticed that there was something that she'd never analyzed before hiding in her. Thinking she should confirm this, Youko advanced the counseling process.

And Youko was finally able to draw it out.

And then—a monster appeared.

She learned that this monster was known as Oogui only later. In front of the shocked Youko that couldn't even understand the unfolding events, "something" had been eaten from the other girl.

A dream.

Youko finally understood the meaning of what she'd drawn out of the girl.

The girl had become a Mushitsuki.

Youko had become scared and had run away.

Reading her father's notes she had realized the connection between the Demon Lord and Mushi, and spent her days being afraid of them. Even so, one day—she herself had summoned her fear with her own counseling.

Shaking with fear and guilt, she couldn't get out of the house for a few days.

Finally showing up to school, Youko found out that the other girl had gotten into a traffic accident immediately after receiving Youko's therapy. The shock of becoming Mushitsuki caused her to be at a numb state and she passed the road despite the light being red.

Although she was still alive, the girl had entered a coma. —On the day of the accident, no one knew that Youko and the girl had met on the roof.

Hearing that she was reaching a critical state, Youko gathered her courage and went to visit her.

Youko, who was troubled by fear and guilt, couldn't be blamed by the sleeping girl.

Instead, appearing in front of her was the girl's Mushi. It looked like a pretty insect, but the shocked Youko stumbled on the spot. She thought it was going to eat her in revenge.

Yet in contrast to her fears, the Mushi clung to Youko. —Did it think she was his second host since she was there when it'd been born? Having these naïve thoughts, she felt her fear slightly lessening.

Youko soon realized that was only her conceit. Through the white Mushi—a mere "clone" of its "real body" hiding somewhere—a powerful hunger was transmitted to Youko.

It wanted to eat.

He apparently couldn't get the dreams of its unconscious host. The small Mushi had apparently clung to Youko to gain nutrients.

Mushi really were scary.

But by obtaining a Mushi that would listen to her, a certain thought rose to Youko's mind.

Using this Mushi, wouldn't she be able to strike back even against the Demon Lord who struck her heart with fear?

Although it was a complete coincidence, Youko had gained this—the only weapon that could eliminate the fear planted within her heart.

From that day Youko had obtained the way to resist the Demon Lord, and thus became the Hero.

"I'm scared, but I'll do my best. Don't give up… let's fight the Demon Lord."

Grasping both hands, Youko encouraged her sleeping classmate.

Giving "nutrients" to the real body through Loci, her classmate's situation was not merely preserved, but even improved. How meaningful was the connection between host and Mushi?

Youko's fight would erase her sin of turning the girl into a Mushitsuki.

She came to visit that girl occasionally to encourage herself every time she was about to lose against her fear of Mushi. Coming there allowed Youko to regain her will to fight.

"Let's go, Loci-chan."

The white Mushi connected to the strap and Youko turned her back to the bed. Almost as if having forgotten it possessed its original host, Loci followed her orders.

She left the hospital, dragging the suitcase behind her.

"When had I created the last Spirit Zone?"

While walking the national road, Youko mumbled to herself.

Reaffirming her duty to fight the Demon Lord, she felt brimming with motivation.

How many times had she fought ever since meeting Loci? Youko had named the special places created by these fight "Spirit Zones".

The Spirit Zones were the territory Youko protected, a symbol of her resistance against the Demon Lord.

Every time she created a Spirit Zone, she felt as if she was erasing the fear inside her little by little. She was willing to risk herself for that.

"Maybe we should create a new one soon."

Turning around at an almost empty street, she went toward a residential district.

With her resolve numbed, she had to fight. If she came back to her senses she'd be scared out of her wits. If Youko's way of fighting failed she would actually allow the armies of darkness to grow.

She didn't want to have such scary thoughts for even a second.

But she was the only one who could accomplish it. She alone knew of the Demon Lord's identity and possessed the power to fight against her.

So unlike with the contact lenses, she couldn't run away from this.

"Yup. That's much scarier than wearing contacts… oh, maybe it's the same, though."

Muttering to herself, she entered the residential district.

In the street where there were many old houses, it turned dark. The sun was sinking.

She saw a middle schooler walking in front of her. Confirming there was no one around her, she grasped her suitcase.

"Let's do him, Loci-chan."

Pulling out her cellphone, she removed the doll from the strap and put it on her shoulders.

Loci started moving. While emitting a creaking-like sound, it stretched its rounded body. With its tiny legs clinging to her uniform, it stretched its tiny scythes once like it was yawning.

Youko hastened her pace following the boy.

Parting her bangs, she widened her eyes.

"…?"

Probably on his way back from school, the uniform-clad middle schooler noticed Youko. Looking at her coming toward him in puzzlement, he tried turning to the side to let her pass.

"He's in range, Loci-chan."

It happened immediately after Youko's murmur.

Loci's body riding on her shoulder was covered in a faint glow. With its compound eyes glowing in red, Loci spread white particles around.

The particles glowing in pure white flowed between Youko and the boy's legs. At the same time a sickeningly sweet smell wafted in the air.

Above the shining carpet the boy's expression changed. All light was gone from his pupils, and he stood in place as if stunned.

Now standing in front of the boy, Youko acted quickly. She removed the rack from the suitcase in her hand and unfolded it.

Youko put the trunk on the rack. She grabbed the handle and let it fall to the side, turning the bottom of the suitcase to the boy.

"What's your name?"

Hearing the question coming from Youko—a complete stranger—the boy answered "Ryou" obediently.

Youko narrowed her eyes and opened the suitcase.

The lid opened with a ''click''. Two shelves popped out of the suitcase using springs, with the top one holding out a white box toward the boy. The bottom shelf was rotatable and had all sorts of dolls and materials packed on it.

The hand of an antique clock decorating the very top of the shelf started moving.

The effective time of the hypnotism wasn't long. She couldn't waste even a second.

"Ryou-kun. I'll put one doll here. That would be you."

She took a doll modeled after a boy and placed it in the center of the empty box. The boy nodded. 

"Now we will create the world you desire."

Inside the space filled with white particles, Youko and the boy faced one another. With the remodeled suitcase separating them, it felt like the flow of time was stopped.

"What's your favorite thing? A cool car? A beautiful building? Some fun game console? Or something more athletic?"

Looking in the boy's eyes, Youko switched material after material with flowing movements.

She had practiced this alone thoroughly. Changing the dolls and the materials, she didn't waste any time and made no mistakes. 

The boy's eyes responded to something. A soccer ball.

''Got it—''

Youko widened her eyes further. It was finally showtime.

"So you play soccer. Where's your position? Here? Or here? You have teammates, huh? Here's the goal, too. Look at how many people are watching! Even your mom and dad came to cheer you."

The empty box was loaded with materials one after another. She didn't simply place them down; confirming them one by one by the boy's response, she assembled the small world like raging waves.

"Miniature Garden Therapy"—

It was the psychological treatment method her father specialized in, while also being what Youko had once mimicked to use on her friends.

Originally she would have the patient themselves assemble their own world and analyze that, looking at their box from the side.

But the current Youko couldn't have it be so slow.

"Where's the match being held? A large stadium? Oh, it's overseas? There's an Italian flag."

As if enchanted, the middle schooler stared at the imaginary soccer stadium. Having the doll in the center completely overlap with himself in his mind was only a matter of time.

"Look, you kicked the ball! GOAL!!! Wow! More and more people are coming to watch!"

Youko caused the soccer ball to reach the goal. As if this was the critical moment, she spaced the human dolls.

Youko's pupils moving like a deep sea found something being born inside the depths of the boy's heart.

By creating the garden, she amplified this something.

"Now look—"

Youko smiled stealthily, revealing the completed garden to the boy.

What she did was unforgivable by the method known as miniature garden therapy.

On top of producing it, she stimulated the feeling hidden underneath, tickled it, brought it up, flagged it, bloated it and tore off the armor of his heart.

And finally, she grasped it.

And dragged it out.

She dangled it in front of the person himself.

"Is this your dream world?"

It could be called a—

"Miniature Garden Assault".

It wasn't just a figure of speech. By creating their world, she was able to bring out the "dream" from the depths of the human heart.

That was Youko's ability as the Hero.

"This is—"

The middle schooler boy's sight was glued to the created miniature garden.

"My dream…"

He imagined his future self playing in an overseas soccer stadium.

—Although she was good at reading people's emotions, this couldn't happen with Youko's power alone.

Trying this power on her acquaintances and without using Loci's power, she wasn't able to achieve any change.

With the classmate that had turned into a Mushitsuki before, she probably simply brought to the surface what she already had in her heart. She would probably turn into a Mushitsuki at some point even without Youko's counseling.

Yet now Youko's power had a 100% success rate with anyone.

This was one of Loci's abilities. —Because it had the ability to temporarily rob a person of their will and make them defenseless, it also brought out Youko's power to its maximum potential as well.

On top of Youko's shoulder, Loci raised a small cry.

The surrounding air started crackling.

''She's coming—''

Pursing her lips, she waited for the arrival.

She could feel on her skin the presence approaching with incredible speed from the direction Loci's head was pointed to.

The sense of tension that seemed to rip her apart arrived at its peak.

"Fufu—"

Purple-colored scales covered Youko's line of sight.

It was as if she swam down the sky.

Or perhaps as if she had been standing there in the first place.

The beautiful woman covered in purple scales landed near Youko and the boy.

"It's you again, my cute Hero?"

Behind her round sunglasses, her rainbow-colored pupils laughed. Her red long coat cut through the space made of white particles.

A shudder welled inside Youko's body.

No matter how many times she'd seen her she couldn't get used to it.

With an inhuman monster in front of them, there was no human who could preserve their sanity.

She was one of the Original Three who gave birth to Mushi—Oogui.

"…"

Simply shivering, Youko couldn't even raise a voice. The same as always.

Oogui giggled and turned back to the boy. She raised his chin with her fingers and gazed at his face with her rainbow-colored pupils.

"Say, will you tell me your dream?"

As if enchanted, the boy spoke slowly.

"I want to… become a professional soccer player…"

The moment he mumbled this, a light flowed from the boy's body.

The light pouring from the boy's body was being absorbed inside Oogui's luscious lips. ''Gulp'', her white throat moved as if drinking something.

"Thanks for the meal."

Oogui's pupils turned not to the boy, but to Youko.

But Youko wasn't focused on her anymore.

"Uh… Uuh…!"

Holding her body, she shivered and cowered.

Behind the boy whose dream was eaten a large monster appeared. Its round body separated to several carapaces floated in air, and its countless sharp legs squirmed. Spheres resembling eyes were lined up on its body, so it was impossible to know where its head was.

It was a Mushi.

Those who had their dream eaten by Oogui became Mushitsuki. Youko had seen this happen in front of her eyes countless times.

"Uugh…"

She gritted her teeth. Inside her mind, the scene engraved in her youth was reborn.

The miniature garden created by the girl with the chaining smile on her last session.

It connected the girl she'd seen in the past to the monsters known as Mushi in the present.

At the same time she'd been cursed by fear.

In order to resist the loathsome, fearsome Mushi—to fight against the schemes of the Demon Lord with the chaining smile, the only way was to fight fire with fire.

"—Loci-chan!"

Stifling the shivering of her body, Youko shouted.

"Eat it!"

Loci.

The thing Youko called for was also a Mushi.

Yet the small thing called Loci was only a clone meant to hide the real form. At times using white pheromones to muddle the senses of people, at times feeling the presence of others—it was the Mushi known as Loci. It only supplemented the real body, using Youko as its host.

On top of Youko's shoulder, Loci opened its small mouthpart.

The next instant, a tremor shook the ground under her legs.

"…!"

A large box came flying out of the road covered in asphalt.

More precisely it wasn't a box; perhaps it should be called a coffin made of hardened clay. With its eerie, trembling surface, it covered the entirety of the boy's Mushi and swallowed it.

The Mushi's scream reverberated inside.

Yet the coffin didn't let the Mushi go. Still holding the Mushi rampaging inside, it sank into the asphalt and vanished.

Loci's real body slept deep outside the town. It would grab Mushi using its feelers, which were the coffins, lock it there and take its time to convert it into nutrients.

—A Mushi-eating Mushi.

This was the husk of a Mushi that couldn't eat dreams from its original host.

"Hah… Hah…"

She felt the excessive fear stopping her breath. Youko stumbled down, breathing heavily.

The surroundings were illuminated by a blinding light for a moment.

Until the Mushi inside the coffin would be digested, its ability would affect the surrounding as it tried to escape.

That was the origin of the phenomenon Youko called a Spirit Zone.

Although she stopped the Mushi from escaping, she couldn't seal its ability.

Since Spirit Zone were affected by the abilities, there were also certain triggers. The triggers of each Spirit Zone varied, as well as their effects.

In the pond where a wind-controlling Mushi had been sealed, one could bring forth a storm by stimulating the water surface.

In the Spirit Zone of the mental control type Mushi, falling asleep on the couch would switch you with the person nearby.

In the Spirit Zone of a Mushi that could control inanimate materials, it would breathe fake life into an animal statue when it felt the power of another Mushi nearby.

Deciphering the conditions was hard, so Youko had managed to fully understand only a handful of Spirit Zones.

"Fufu, what are you planning to do by raising this Mushi?"

She forgot about Oogui being there. Raising her face, Youko saw the rainbow-eyed, sneering woman looking down at her.

"What a frightening child. I wonder if you think to eat me someday as well."

Youko's heart skipped a beat. She thought her pulse stopped.

"Fufu…"

Oogui said nothing else. Her form clad in a red coat was engulfed by purple scales and vanished.

Now that Oogui was gone, the middle schooler also started moving. Still absentminded, he stood with a staggering gait and left.

Loci's pheromones still affected him, but he would soon retrieve his normal thinking. The boy would not remember anything from these last minutes. Since he wasn't turned into a Fallen, he also didn't know he was a Mushitsuki.

Yet the boy's Mushi undoubtedly existed inside Loci's main body. After trying to escape, it would someday be completely devoured. And when it vanished, the boy would become a Fallen.

Hearing the engine noises of a motorcycle from afar, Youko hurriedly closed her suitcase. Holding the rack, she turned to the corner of the road.

Peeking from the corner, she could see a Hornet approaching at full speed.

It was Orion. Apparently even the shadowy organization she belonged to had Mushitsuki that could sense other Mushi. Receiving contact that a Mushitsuki was born, she probably came to check on it.

Even if she'd found the boy from now, there was no Mushi. It shouldn't be possible to expose him as a Mushitsuki.

In order to not be found out, she quickly went back home.

When she got back home like always, her housekeeper welcomed her like always. Greeting her simply, she went up to her room on the second floor.

"I'll have to check the ability of that Spirit Zone later."

Opening her door, she entered the room.

After leaving the suitcase on the floor and sitting on it, she finally calmed down.

On the desk, the shelves, and near her pillow. The miniature garden materials occupying each and every surface of the room were all looking at her from above. People and trees, animals and other shapes, all filled the room.

Youko herself had gathered all of these from one of her father's cardboard boxes. They were all her faithful allies. 

"Defeating the Demon Lord is still far away. But—"

Completing a new Spirit Zone calmed the fear inside Youko a bit.

Mushi were scary.

The world would soon be in danger of becoming just like the miniature garden created by the girl with the chaining smile.

And so Youko would face her.

By giving birth to Mushi and letting Loci eat them, she would raise its real body—"Genius".

And before long—

"I have to do my best until I exterminate all Mushitsuki in the country."

She would eliminate the source of fear.

She would kill, kill, and kill Mushi over and over again.

And one day she would annihilate Mushitsuki.

Renewing her resolve, the Hero—Satou Youko—pumped her fist.