Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 12 Chapter 2 (section)

== 2.02 OPS1 Part 3 ==

—Makoto had met the demon for the second time when she was twelve.

Working at the North Central Branch after a fashion, Makoto quickly became the leader of a small team. She even gained her comrades’ trust and even enjoyed herself from time to time.

Then, that demon—Kakkou—came to the North Central Branch.

He’d chased after a Mushitsuki that ran from another region into the jurisdiction of the North Central Branch. Makoto didn’t even want to see him, but the Branch Head ordered Makoto’s team to provide support in an attempt to earn some points.

Makoto’s group was treated like slaves by Kakkou. He made then run all over in search of the enemy, let them get injured as scouts, all to set up the table for him to defeat the enemy.

Obviously, her comrades raised voices of displeasure.

As the leader, Makoto did raise some objections to Kakkou—

“If you don’t feel like being useful, I’ll kill you.”

Kakkou really was nothing but scum.

“I just wanna finish this mission already. Depending on how it’s done, my branch head might order me to go to Central Headquarters.”

Saying something trivial like that, Kakkou put his mouth to Makoto’s ears.

“—You said you’d ‘do anything’, right?”

Makoto blushed. Her heartbeat quickened and she fell silent.

Her past self that so pathetically begged for her life.

If she went against Kakkou, he might spread the word of that miserable past.

Not only that, but she might get punished by force, much more horribly than before—

The fear from when she was almost killed resurfaced, so Makoto had no choice but to beg her teammates.

“S-sorry, you guys… listen to Kakkou.”

It ended the same even without her past getting revealed. People whispered behind her back that she was Kakkou’s yes-man, so the trust and pride she’d built came crashing down.

“I can use you. Don’t go and die on me before the next time.”

As the mission ended, Kakkou spoke to Makoto before leaving.

“After all, even ‘don’t die’ is part of ‘I’ll do anything’, right?”

The demon grinned. Behind him, Makoto’s comrades looked at her with eyes full of contempt.

Since the shame and pity made Makoto nearly cry, she couldn’t say anything back.

Although she got stuck in the SEPB, she managed to build rapport with her teammates… and yet that all went to waste.

How much had she toiled since then to regain the position and pride she held within the North Central Branch?

''As long as he’s alive, I’ll never be free—

''Can he just die already?'' she prayed every day.

Even so.

Despite him being her very own angel of death, that demon—

Even after becoming a Fallen, he still crushed Makoto’s pride and made her miserable.

''Right, it’s always his fault—



They successfully managed to enter the Central Headquarters’ Underground Fort.

However, the suicide corps soon fell into a huge predicament.

Someone appeared on the other side of the door, hurling a small bomb into the control room.

Even if Makoto ordered them to retreat, it was far too late. Even if they tried escaping, there was no space.

She could save at least half of the members—quickly thinking this, Makoto put a hand on her throat. The wasp spider’s legs spread in a radial pattern emitted a halo of light.

“Terri—”

Faster than Makoto could invoke her ability, a jumpsuit-wearing figure blocked her sight.

She moved superhumanly fast. These were natural movements that looked as if they’d been repeated tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of times. Flicked by a finger, a rectangular object bumped against the bomb, and was then struck by a hand-hammer with a long handle.

The small bomb exploded.

A roar echoed.

However, before the impact assaulted Makoto’s group, it converged as if it was footage going in reverse. Along with dark-red heat and a faint vibration, it was being absorbed into the rectangular object that the jumpsuit woman flicked.

“Guh…!”

Only the hammer’s user—Sakura—did not remain unharmed. She was hit by the explosion a moment before it got absorbed and not only was her arm torn, it was also covered in black.

The suicide corps immediately fell into a chaotic state.

“W-what was that! An enemy?”

“There’s an enemy other than C? What does that mean?”

“N-Nene! Heal Sakura! All other members, assume defensive positions!”

“A Mushitsuki? But I never heard of a Mushitsuki using bombs—”

“What are we going to do, should we give chase?”

“No, the enemy’s forcefield is rapidly distancing. Looks like they ran away. This isn’t human speed.”

“I told you to hold your positions! Don’t scatter!”

“I-I really thought I was going to die… I-I’m not trembling of fear, I’m just excitededed!”

They were agitated by this entirely unexpected surprise attack. Everyone started taking their own actions, speaking all over each other.

This problem went beyond just assuming command. Each couldn’t use either their powers or rationality at even half their capacity.

And what angered Makoto especially was the Mushitsuki supposedly feared as a berserker.

“—Kasuou!”

Makoto turned toward the blonde girl.

“What’re you doing! Never mind that collapse before and the surprise attack, aren’t you supposed to act in such times? Why are you just staring at air! We’re in a battlefield!”

“…”

Kasuou, recently promoted to Blaze Class Rank 2, clearly ignored Makoto’s words. —Both her offense and defense were top class among all Mushitsuki. The rumors went that if not for the fact she’d had the tables turned on her by an unranked Mushitsuki in some mission before, she would’ve become a Rank 2 long ago.

“I dunno what you’re thinking about, but I put you into this team! If you don’t act when you need to, we’ll all get easily wiped out!”

“…What I’m thinking, you say? I’m thinking how useless this all is.”

Finally opening her mouth, Kasuou’s mouth had a faint smile on it. Not just that. She even rebelled by sitting down on the spot.

“No matter how you think about it, Operation 2’s the real deal. Harukiyo’s gonna wake that little shit—Sleeping Beauty, right? Once they’re gathered, they’ll get to C even without us opening the way for them.”

Makoto’s face froze.

She’d explained Operation 2 to the other members in broad details. What Kasuou said was just like Makoto’s thoughts hidden in her heart.

''We’re nothing more than stepping stones for the Rank 1s anyway—

Could it be that the suicide corps members never obeyed Makoto—because they all saw through her real feelings?

“Kakkou’s a Fallen and even C ended up like that—what face is she going to make when they force her to wake up…”

Kasuou grimaced and hung her head.

''Adding her to this team was a mistake—

If she was this apathetic, it was bound to affect the entire unit’s morale. Makoto hesitated whether she should just leave Kasuou there.

“Himiko!”

Makoto turned her focus to the other member who stayed silent all this time. This girl, with her docile face and long hair, twitched and looked to Makoto.

“You have a sensing ability, right? Why didn’t you notice this surprise attack just now! We don’t know what’s going to happen, so you need to stop acting like a spoiled princess! Your sensing ability’s useless if you don’t grasp the initiative!”

Himiko bit her lips at Makoto’s scolding. Unable to reply with anything, she also hung her head.

Shachito cut from the side.

“I also have a sensing ability, but that didn’t mean anything. They probably used only bombs without any Mushitsuki power. Judging from the fact they used their abilities only when running away… I think it’s someone really experienced in battle.”

“You shut up!”

Yelling, Makoto bit her nails.

She knew she had to make a decision. Should she cut off anyone who couldn’t be of use and head further inside with the remaining members? Or should they head back for now, grab her trusted North Central Branch Mushitsuki, even if she had to do it by force, and challenge this place again?

She didn’t want to die in vain.

If she was going to die anyway, she wanted it to be a meaningful death—

“…What?”

As Makoto sank into her thoughts, she noticed her team members glaring at her.

“Should we switch, leader?”

Looking cool and calm, Shachito said something stupid.

“It looks to me like you’re the least calm among us? I didn’t have the time for Inuko to teach me battling as part of a team, but at the very least I’m better than how you’re—”

“Are you stupid? Do you even know what abilities the members here can use? Can you give immediate orders after hearing an explanation?”

Makoto laughed it off, but her comrades’ eyes full of suspicion did not change.

“What? Are all of you Asagi’s disciples plotting an uprising against me?”

Makoto was obviously not calm. She was neither one those monstrous Rank 1s, nor did she have a loose screw in her head like that berserker Shishidou Inuko.

“If you hate Asagi’s disciples, you can let me be the leader.”

This time it was Kaguya. If this was his previous Rank, his assertion would be correct. However—

“This isn’t the time for a softie like you who’s got no leadership experience and leaves all the work to Kakkou. Just stay silent and protect your princess.”

Makoto and Kaguya glared at each other.

“…I also thought this during our fight against Genius, but looks like we really can’t get along.”

“Yeah. You’d better not expect any secret trick this time.”

The remaining leader candidate was Kasuou—but she was clearly out of it. Inevitably only Makoto could take care of the suicide corps. She was the only one, so why didn’t they understand that they had to obey her?

“…”

She decided.

Although the risks were high, they’d continue as is.

Going back and putting her North Branch members in the suicide corps was actually dangerous. She feared that her team might get split up between North Central Branch members and Asagi’s disciples. If the possibility for them to remain together was low, going back now was a waste of time.

“Once you finish treating Sakura, we’ll go ahead. Nene, how long will—“

Turning toward the injured Sakura, Makoto was speechless.

That was because Nene did nothing. Sakura was groaning in pain.

“Wha… what the hell, Nene! If you don’t treat her, Sakura might go into shock and die! You’re not thinking the same as Kasuou, right?!”

“Sakura getting hurt was Kasuou’s fault, right? —Then, if Sakura dies like this, it’s Kasuou’s fault, right…?”

Nene suddenly said something ridiculous. Everyone there shuddered.

“Haa? How come it’s my damn fault! You just gotta heal her!”

“It’s the same… if you become shoddy, more people get hurt. I don’t know how many I can save… but me and Yotsuba have our limits. It’s only a matter of time before people start dying…”

“It’s fine, just heal her! That’s an order!”

Makoto shouted at her, but Nene ignored it.

“Kasuou… Kakkou’s no longer here.”

Hearing the older Mushitsuki speak, the control room sank into heavy silence.

Kasuou was speechless.

It wasn’t just the blonde girl. All of the suicide corps had their face frozen stiff.

“Kakkou’s gone. —Even so, as long as we have that girl… Sleeping Beauty, everything will be fine. You said this before.”

Nene smiled a sad, bitter smile.

“Do you think she could beat C?”

“—”

Kasuou had no words. Nene looked at Makoto.

“Hey, Terasu. Judging from how worded yourself earlier… C can’t be saved anymore?”

Everyone in the suicide corps focused their gazes on Makoto.

Makoto hesitated whether or not to expose the truth, but she resolved herself and spoke.

“Yeah—there wasn’t any option other than annihilation in the first place.”

Kasuou widened her eyes in shock.

“Say, Kasuou… you know what he—Kakkou-kun would do in such a time, right?”

“…”

“But he’s gone. Are you going to let Sleeping Beauty do ''that'' right after waking up because of that? You know she can’t… Only us know that she can’t do that.”

Nene spoke to the frozen Kasuou.

“Or maybe—you want her to see Harukiyo burn C to death right in front of her eyes…?”

“…!”

“There’re still things that we have to do.”

Maimai walked closer to Kasuou who was stuck in place as though paralyzed.

“Kasuou-san—Maimai-chan and the rest were all taught something by our teacher—by Wanko-san, who’s gone alreadydy… what to do when you don’t know what to do, when in you’re in pain, when you’re mad.”

Himiko twitched, hearing that.

“’Fight’—”

Starting with Shachito, Shishidou Inuko’s disciples all nodded with a serious expression.

Himiko gasped and raised her face.

“Right, we have to fight… we all have to fight—”

“Sob… Kasuou-san, dis is the time to fight. We definitely have tototototo…”

Maimai called to Kasuou, tearing up.

“Kasuou—”

Nene reached toward the blonde girl.

Then, there was a dry sound.

They could hear the sound of metal hitting metal and something rebounding from the entrance to the control room.

As everyone turned around, they saw—

Three small bombs rolling in front of the door as though calculated to reach there.

“No way, I didn’t feel a thing—”

Shachito’s voice of shock was drowned by the explosion.

Not only the position to throw them in, but even the explosion’s timing was calculated more thoroughly than before.

The loud explosive sound was being written over by even louder roar and vibration.

“—!”

Not only the bomb but even the door and the surrounding walls were caught up in the explosion as an entire part of the facility was gouged into.

What did this—was condensed, black mist.

The thing that crushed the bomb along with the shockwave was Kasuou’s ability.

“Heal Sakura already—”

Her glinting blue eyes glared at Nene. Nene nodded.

“I got it… sorry, Sakura.”

“Good grief, so I did not end up a sacrifice.”

Her voice was calm, but Sakura was gravely wounded. It would probably take some time to fully heal her.

“Terasu.”

Kasuou next glared at Makoto. She sat there, not moving a muscle, but now the girl who retrieved her berserker-like eyes emitted much more murderous intent than necessary.

“Is it true that we can’t save C?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

It really became a huge problem. She’d never heard of Kasuou actually following anyone’s orders faithfully. Even if it was Kakkou—or that Miguruma Yaeko, it was the same with them.

“…I see.”

As Kasuou grimaced, next to her Himiko raised her face.

“The enemy’s flame is distancing… ah, they moved so fast in an instant…”

Shachito exhaled, his shoulders sagging.

“Even without using an ability, to be able to get so close so perfectly concealing their presence… Is our enemy a ninja or something?”

“Obviously not! Got it? Once Sakura’s patched up, we all go together, and—”

Makoto was about to issue orders, but the members all started acting on their own.

“Did my barrier not work…? I won’t let them get here agaiiin!”

“Let ‘em. I’ll just crush ‘em with my claws next.”

“I’ll go and corner them here. I’m the only one able to keep up with that speed.”

“No, they look like they’re luring us. It might be a trap.”

“Who’s that enemy in the first place? I’d like to know if there’s an enemy other than C.”

“If I use my Poison Punch to spread some toxins in the corridor—”

“Don’t do anything on your own! Stop going all over the place!”

Makoto called, but none of them listened to her.

''T-these guys…!

Tears of frustration rose to her eyes.

“L-listen to me…!”

The commander must not cry. She averted her face and stealthily wiped off her tears.

“—Honestly! Then just do what you want!”

She ended up shouting.

All the members finally turned to Makoto.

“If you’re that confident, just do whatever you’d like! I’ll give support, but I don’t care if you die!”

In the first place someone like Makoto would never be able to gather all these idiosyncratic people.

What average people could do was always decided.

That was—to clean up after idiots’ messes.

“So you’re telling us to do what we like. Okey dokey. But—you gotta stop hiding things about C, alright, Terasu-chan?”

Shachito grinned at her and she nodded.

“I’ll explain. While we move ahead.”

She was already determined. She didn’t care whether this was top secret or what.

Makoto had enough of shaking in fear all alone. She was going to have everyone suffer with her.

“By the way, you told me I couldn’t be the leader, but is there some reason why you fit the job, then?”

“Obviously there isn’t! If I have to answer at all, it’s the fact that I’m willing to do anything and sacrifice anything in order to survive!”

Makoto stroked her throat with a finger, making the wasp spider wrap around her neck again. If she used just a bit of her power she didn’t need to materialize her Mushi, but it wouldn’t be so easy from now on.

She gave up on conserving her powers. Because she clearly needed to use her full power, were she to support these idiots ahead.

“I did all that—and didn’t let even a single person from my team drop out, so far!”