Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 8th Episode 30 (section)

=== Part 1 ===

Light rained above the midnight coastline.

One after another, the stars in the full sky drew lines of light as they fell to the surface.

The Perseid meteor shower.

In this night of falling stars, a girl’s voice echoed as though singing.

“Mari—”

Standing on the sandy beach with her two legs, Ichinokuro Arisu looked up at the sky. Grasping her rod shining in silver in both hands, the upper half of her body was covered by a pattern emitting silver light.

Arisu’s lips moved on their own, speaking in a different person’s voice.

“Arisu—”

Borrowing the body of her best friend, the girl who clung to her while supposedly having lost her life once—Hanashiro Mari.

Glowing wings flapped from the tip of the spear held by the one body with two personalities inside of it. These twisted, sharpened and became a spearhead spreading silver scales.

“Let’s check our answers—”

Arisu and Mari’s voices overlapped. Her trademark ponytail floated in air, and the blowing scales whipped off the sand on the coast.

Next to Arisu who readied her Morpho butterfly-transformed-spear were her reliable comrades.

The strongest Mushitsuki of the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau, Kakkou, aka Kusuriya Daisuke. Arisu’s partner who was stronger than anyone was clad in a dark coat, holding a large automatic pistol, and stayed at her side even now.

Wearing a bold smile and hugging his knees atop the sand was the flame devil, Harukiyo. Next to him also waited a girl hugging a thick book to her chest—the Librarian.

Kasuou, the girl of elegant facial features filled with fighting spirits was also there. The bat-winged girl who underwent her training for the sake of love, Isa Himeko, was also there. A self-proclaimed fortuneteller with the ability of past viewing, Kurisaka Ayuyu, was there as well.

The veteran combatant who controlled explosions, Aki. Arisu didn’t know his real name. He was leading some several dozen Minion-Type Mushitsuki.

Also—

“Arisu…!”

“Arisu-san—”

Wailing and nearly crying at the road near the coast were Saionji Ena and Kujou Takako.

These two were Arisu’s important friends who went to Horusu Seijou Academy middle school just like her. For their last summer vacation of middle school, they came to a place that had recreation facilities and an observatory in order to watch the meteor shower.

These two were not Mushitsuki.

Although they were being protected by the Mushitsuki and musician Yomori Neiko, they were completely unable to understand what was happening and were apparently confused.

The silver pattern on Arisu’s body encroached her right half as well.

“Now, Arisu—”

Her mouth opening on its own, Mari’s voice spoke.

“Tell me your answer.”

She looked up at the sky of falling stars.

More than a hundred Mushitsuki also looked at the same thing.

“Will you reject me? Or perhaps—”

Floating in the sky was a beauty in a crimson coat.

No—

Appearing there drawn by Saionji Ena’s dream was an inhuman, supernatural appearance.

One of those who ate boys’ and girls’ dreams to birth Mushi, the Original Three.

A monster in the shape of a woman with a gigantic swallowtail butterfly hiding the meteor shower at her back.

Arisu and the others called it—Oogui.

“Will you accept me and show me the continuation of my dream?”

“Will you tell me about it as well?”

Moving her lips that were red as if by a lipstick, Oogui whispered at her ears.

“I am interested. —How will you respond to the Morpho butterfly’s ghost?”

Oogui’s hair floated as if fanned by the wind. Her long limbs were raised toward the water horizon.

The scales pouring from the gigantic swallowtail butterfly hanging in the night sky whirled around Oogui’s fingertips. Starting with that, another gust of scales and another were created, slowly increasing in numbers.

The starry sky was covered in glowing whirlpools.

“After all, Ms. Ghost—you have no reason to fight against me, right?”

The coastline was wrapped in countless howls.

Whirls created by Oogui burst, transforming into Mushi with blurry outlines.

It wasn’t just around Oogui. The number of Mushi created in the entire night sky—was probably in the hundreds. These troops of purple Mushi that varied in shape and size filled the coastline to the brim.

“…!”

Arisu gritted her molars. Her arm gripping the spear unconsciously put more power in it.

She knew it.

Even if she brought a hundred allies, it was impossible to be at an advantage against Oogui.

That was because Oogui’s ability was—

“Why—is there the same Mushi as mine?!”

Raising a voice of astonishment was Aki.

He was a Minion Type Mushitsuki and could control lapis lazuli leaf beetles with an explosion ability. A purple-colored Mushi with the exact same shape was floating in air.

“Hehe…”

Protected by her own created army, Oogui narrowed her rainbow eyes.

“It’s not just my Mushi… Why are there so many Mushi I know here—”

Daisuke opened his mouth next.

“She can control copies of the Minion Type Mushi she created. —That is Oogui’s ability.”

“What—did you just say…?”

The agitation and shock included in Aki’s voice soon spread to his comrades. Most of them were Minion Type Mushitsuki—meaning, those made into Mushitsuki by Oogui.

Oogui could control all the abilities of those she turned Mushitsuki—

Arisu knew that, having had fought Oogui before.

Just like Daisuke and Kasuou, Harukiyo and the Librarian also had no reaction to that, so perhaps they also knew. Neiko, Ayuyu, Himeko and the rest looked surprised, but these Special Type Mushitsuki’s fighting spirits did not dampen.

However—

It caused a great deal of unrest among Aki and his comrades. Their commander Aki himself froze in place, and their unity was lost in front of the overwhelming difference in power.

Arisu bit her lips hard.

If this was the real leader of Aki’s group, Rina, who one of the strongest Mushitsuki, she was convinced she’d stand up even against that cruel reality.

It was a happy mistake that Aki and his comrades came there in place of Rina. However, at the same time it created a huge risk. The more people were there, the more chances chaos would spread among them.

“You guys! Calm do—”

Arisu tried raising her voice before it became a full-blown panic—

“—Arisu!”

The pattern on her face encroached the right half of her body.

Arisu’s consciousness was pulled away and Mari’s personality robbed her body.

Arisu—became Mari.

“Will you tell me your answer?”

Mari asked, using Arisu’s mouth.

“Tell me, quickly—”

She knew that Arisu couldn’t let her friend Ena become a Mushitsuki to protect her.

However, this meant—

It probably meant Arisu was rejecting the very existence of Mushitsuki, wasn’t she?

So did Arisu think even of Mari, another Mushitsuki, as something that shouldn’t exist?

“—Mari!”

The silver pattern receded toward the left side.

“I know that. But—”

Mari’s consciousness distanced itself—and Arisu’s personality came back to the body.

“Let’s start from your answer, Mari.”

The silver pattern transformed by the Morpho butterfly fought to steal Arisu’s body.

“My answer first…?”

“Yes, exactly. What do you want to do now, Mari?”

“T-that—”

[[File:Mushi_Uta_Bug_8th_p077.jpg|thumb]]

“I’ve asked many people about you until now, Mari. There were many people who spoke about you as the scary Hunter, and some people said that you left me the Morpho butterfly to steal my body. Some even doubted you existed. Only Daisuke hadn’t decided anything, and was always watching over me, but to be honest—”

Arisu smiled.

“I always—wanted to talk with you like this. Even though we promised to meet tomorrow, you—”

''—See you tomorrow.

The next day after this promise, Mari left this world due to her illness.

More than a year passed since then—

And Arisu was finally able to be reunited with her friend.

“Thank you, Mari. For keeping your promise. —I feel like I finally met you.”

“…!”

“So I wanted to hear this directly from your mouth. —I can believe your words.”

“Y-you’re planning to pick your answer after hearing mine!”

“I won’t do that, picking my answer after hearing yours.”

Arisu spoke calmly.

No, she didn’t even know if she was speaking with any voice.

Arisu and Mari’s conversation was passed between the two of them. In a world where only they existed and no one was able to interrupt them, the two girls faced each other, entwining their fingertips—

“I won’t… do that.”

Arisu repeated.

“—”

Mari couldn’t reply.

Arisu wasn’t the kind of person to wait for her opponent’s move in the game of rock paper scissors. Her best friend Mari knew that better than anyone.

“I—my answer—”

Mari’s voice distanced.

Arisu slowly opened her eyes. Apparently, she’d closed them at some point.

“I’m waiting… Mari.”

Mari was apparently undecided.

Mumbling whenever she tried saying something was Mari’s habit. At such times, Arisu would always wait for her friend to open her mouth.

Therefore, Arisu waited.

She slowly waited for her friend to bring out her answer. Just like she did in the past.

Because it was a tacit promise that they decided between the two of them—

“—Remember, you guys!”

Arisu opened her mouth wide, wringing out her voice.

“What painful memories you’ve had so far!”

Her clear voice echoed through the coast turned battlefield.

“How much you were hurt so far!”

All Mushitsuki including Daisuke turned to look at Arisu.

“All Mushitsuki are fighting, right? Because of that they feel pain and hurt others to protect themselves—they see their fellow Mushitsuki collapse, right? All while thinking that they may be next! It’s always like ever since you became Mushitsuki, right?”

Stabbing her spear glowing in silver into the sandy beach, she looked up the night sky.

“I’m not a Mushitsuki!”

Being protected by the swarm of purple Mushi, Oogui looked at the mortal world below her, sneering.

“Therefore, to be honest—I don’t want to fight.”

Her comrade Mushitsuki all made a stir.

“I mean, it’s really scary! I really want to run away right now! I don’t want to feel any pain and I don’t want to die! That’s obvious!”

This was her truest opinion.

If Arisu was there alone, she would’ve run away long ago.

“But all of you are actually the same, right? You’re scared, you want to run away, you don’t want to hurt and be hurt, but you convinced yourself to do it because you’re Mushitsuki, right? Nothing different from me when I’m not one, right?”

Arisu shouted herself hoarse.

“None of us want to fight! —We want to win!”

She glared at Oogui.

“We’re scared, we want to run away, we don’t want to hurt one another—but there is something we want! Something we want to grant!”

She raised her spear toward Oogui.

“Oogui’s strong and scary! I don’t know what’s going to happen even if we do manage to beat her—but we’ll still win! We’ll keep winning! If we do that, we’ll definitely get what we wish for.”

Arisu’s shout echoed throughout the coast.

“The dream we all want to come true is definitely—waiting for us beyond this fight we won’t escape from.”

The agitation vanished from all Mushitsuki on the beach.

However, they still didn’t put their legs forward.

The first step to participate in the battle.

The person fit for that role was right next to Arisu. She smiled at him.

“Right?”

The boy clad in a pitch-black coat, Kusuriya Daisuke, was silent.

However, just like always—he silently took a step ahead.

His reliable back, that saved her many times, became the frontline of Mushitsuki.

“Are there any people who called me a demon here?”

His low voice made all the Mushitsuki there go deathly silent.

“Someone scared of me? Someone with a grudge? Someone who hates me?”

The demon of the SEPB, Kakkou.

As he defeated more Mushitsuki and created more Fallen than anyone else, there was no one there who wouldn’t be scared of him. The silence enveloping the beach proved that.

“—That’s fine.”

The green pattern on Daisuke’s body emitted a bright glow.

“Just for today, I’ll fight with you.”

Looking up at Oogui, Daisuke asserted.

“Those of you who can imagine me dying here, you’re free to go.”

Until now he only fought with these Mushitsuki and they hated one another.

Although they would never agree with one another, now all their expressions were as one.

They were called by the Arisu, the girl who wasn’t a Mushitsuki, and the most feared Mushitsuki of all stood at the front.

Escaping this place—not even a single person tried to do so.

“Kasuou! Himeko! Aki! You know this, right? You all need to beat a hundred at the very least!”

“As if a hundred’d be enough for me!”

“Yes!”

Kasuou and Himeko responded bravely to Daisuke’s voice.

“Can we really defeat Oogui…? And if we do—what’s going to happen?”

Aki mumbled next to Arisu.

“I don’t know. But, at the very least—”

Arisu smiled.

“Starting tomorrow, no more Mushitsuki would be created. —At the very least, Minion Type Mushitsuki.”

“Yeah… that’s right.”

Aki smiled. That looked like a really happy smile.

“You were always so amazing.”

“Eh?”

“Hunter and Kakkou, and Rina and—”

The boy turned to look at Harukiyo, but the latter waved his arm, looking bored. The flame devil still didn’t seem likely to move.

“You’ve gathered so many powerful Mushitsuki here. When we first met, I only thought of you as someone misfortunate who was being possessed by Hunter’s ghost.”

“…”

Arisu neither affirmed nor denied Aki’s words.

Although she wasn’t a Mushitsuki, she used the power of Mushitsuki—

What could someone like her do?

What had she done?

She would now bring out the answer.

“Let’s go!”

Daisuke turned his muzzle toward Oogui.

The Mushitsuki all raised war cries.

“So you really are going to stand in my way?”

Oogui sneered.

Ena and Takako were stuck standing at the side of the road.

Arisu also readied her spear—

“—Arisu.”

The pattern appearing on Arisu’s body began encroaching her rapidly.

Arisu widened her eyes.

“Ma—ri—”

“I found—my answer.”

The silver pattern began dyeing Arisu’s body in the blink of an eye.

Inside Arisu’s vision, as her consciousness was being rapidly taken away—

The sound of Daisuke’s gun firing served as the signal to start the final battle.