Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 6 Chapter 3 (section)

==3.02 Shachito Part 4==

Next to the bus stop was a parking area. Inuko jumped on top of the fences made of a metal net. Position-wise she was exactly above Shachito's head.

"…"

Shachito silently saw the bus leave.

His vision shook. Inuko used her hockey stick to poke his head. The raincoat girl wore a skirt today as well.

"What's wrong, Shachito? You're making a serious face unlike you. Oh, and if you look up I'll kill you. Trying to see my panties… what a horny boy you are."

"—I wonder what my dream used to be?"

As he hanged out with Rio more and more, he started thinking about such things.

He spent his days without any goal or aspiration, and even after meeting Inuko he started going through battle training and the like only because she threatened him. He received guidance for how to battle without resisting, without even trying to run away; he simply went with the flow.

Shachito felt like he was missing something tremendously important right now.

Seeing Rio, he became extremely curious what that was. He had fun being with her, but the more he did the more he felt uncomfortable. 

Now he started having doubts about his purpose in meeting up with Rio.

Rather than saying he met up with her because he wanted to be with her, he felt like he did so just to ascertain the discomfort inside him. 

"I've been thinking about this more and more when I meet with Rio-chan. It's like I'm forgetting something huge… Is there any connection to my inability to recall my dream?"

Would Shachito eventually return to his previous lifestyle or would he become a warrior like Inuko said—well, he still didn't really understand what being a warrior entailed, but anyhow he was at a crossroads. 

What would Shachito do, then?

It was obvious.

Without thinking of anything in particular, he would surrender himself to the flow and let it decide.

Shachito had neither the intention to oppose fate nor any purpose in doing so.

—He felt as if he couldn't do it.

A small emotion was born inside him, surprising even himself. Although he lived enjoyably and without thinking of anything too deeply so far, mysteriously—he started feeling something akin to guilt.

And those feelings of guilt for some reason grew bigger the more he met with Rio.

''Oh well—''

Until now this would be the stage where he would say this and stop thinking.

But now there was a part of him that kept thinking beyond that.

"I've said this before right? You don't need to recall—"

"That Shinpu guy made me a Mushitsuki, right?"

Shachito said, interrupting Inuko's words. 

"He took 'pain' away from me."

He could remember little by little.

He was supposed to have possessed some dream ever since becoming a Mushitsuki. Even if he recalled the instant he had harbored these strong emotions, he was unable to recall what exactly he'd wished for.

In a white room, wrapped in a white blanket, Shachito harbored a certain dream. 

There was no shred of a doubt it was reality.

"Is it influence from Masaki Rio? That you almost remember."

"Is that so?"

He inquired with a serious face. He could hear Inuko sigh.

"I thought so. But I don't really understand it now. Since it's Shinpu he should be the same. Yet the thing we've met called itself a fragment, and referred to the different one with the appearance of an old man as the 'first fragment'."

"That man's corpse… Was he Shinpu? We defeated him right?"

"His identity has already been determined. He was a civilian from Akamaki City. According to the testimony of his acquaintances, his dream since childhood was destroyed and he became depressed. Whether he took his own life or died in some other manner, there's no doubt that he'd died during the period he went missing. Actually at the time I wasn't actually sure whether I annihilated him or not."

"Hmm…"

Shachito made a flat response to indicate he was listening. If Shinpu appeared again, he would simply defeat him again. —As long as he was with Inuko, there existed no opponent that could defeat them. He honestly thought so.

Inuko was sitting on the fence while Shachito stood with both hands stuck in his pocket below her.

They were two Mushitsuki of a similar age.

They were a pair of teacher and student connected to battle.

The wind of Holland City blew between them. This gale, carrying the scent of saltwater, made Inuko's raincoat flutter. The cars in front of her eyes honked.

"Maybe he's still in this city. Will he target a person with a dream again?"

"You're thinking about Masaki Rio again, right? You're not in the position to be busy with romance right now, you know?"

"That's not it. But it’s possible, right?"

"I can't say anything about Shinpu. But regarding Masaki Rio, I can say that she won't become a Mushitsuki. You can relax."

Shachito furrowed his brows.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Once you become like me, you're able to know which people could become Mushitsuki. Do worship me. —As far as I can see, Masaki Rio will not become a prey for the Original Three."

Inuko clearly declared.

"And that is because… ''she's already about to give up her dream''."

Shachito raised his face at the girl's unexpected words.

"Hah? No way, right? Rio-chan is—"

Inuko used her stick to poke his nose.

"I told you not to look up. But there is a reason. What the Original Three like is the moment when people harbor their dreams the strongest. You said she was an aspiring actress, right? Just now she looked to me like she was tired of her dream."

"But that's just a shot in dark right? I don't think it's true."

While expressing his dissatisfaction, Shachito rubbed his nose—

"…!"

—''Thump'', his heart throbbed.

He was suddenly agitated by his own actions.

Right now—what had he done?

He had unconsciously ''rubbed his nose''.

It was already gone, but ''hadn't his nose felt some pain''?

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"N-no… it's nothing."

It might've just been his imagination. Shachito feigned calmness.

"What's your dream, Inuko? Is it something like finding the legendary raincoat?"

He inquired Inuko to hide his agitation.

"Yeah, I went on a journey to find the golden raincoat… as if, what the hell? You seem to be under the mistaken impression that I'm some raincoat freak or something."

"Oh, am I wrong?"

"Obviously, you moron. …My dream isn't something I should tell people. It's a hopelessly worthless childish dream. Even the legendary raincoat would be cuter."

He felt as if a slight disgust had been mixed with Inuko's voice. Becoming curious on what expression she was making, he looked up at her. She stepped on his face with her boots.

He felt no pain this time. He spat out the dirt entering his mouth to the ground.

"Don't speak too badly of your dream."

"Even in this beautiful world there are thorns. Just like hope, there's also despair. Everything's balanced. If you're unable to grasp the full picture, you'll never be able to become the strongest warrior."

"…That again?"

Shachito's sigh became the sign to finish the conversation. Inuko jumped down from the fence with agile movements.

"Don't escape from the fight in front of your eyes, Shachito. When people who can only live as warriors are left alone in the battlefield it's all over for them. Nothing remains afterwards."

She poked the tip of her nose with her stick. Shachito averted his face dejectedly.

"Whether I'm a warrior or combatant or whatever, I'll never really get what that means. But I just—"

"Just what?"

"I just thought that… it would be nice if my dream was as beautiful as Rio-chan's."

Inuko sank into silence. Just as he thought that she was gazing at him for a while, she rotated her stick and put it back on her back.

"Inuko?"

"My lifespan as a warrior was short, but a lot happened. Quite a lot… And during that I've learned a magic spell. I'll teach it to you, so listen carefully."

Spinning around to turn her back, she stepped toward her parking Vespa.

"'Fight'!"

Without caring they were in public, Inuko's loud voice reverberated around.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

It was a voice full of joy. The warrior's battlecry, indicating fighting to be supreme bliss, was repeated countless times.

Yet he could also hear some suffering mixed in. There were also the grief of wounding and being wounded, as well as the gladness of victory and the pitifulness of loss.

Shishidou Inuko's battle-filled life was put into this single word.

Turning around to the shocked Shachito, Inuko got on her Vespa.

"Even if you're having fun, even if you're sad, even if you're pained, even if you're suffering, even if you're hesitating… it doesn't matter at all. You can solve everything with battle. If you don't know what you need to do, then fight. If you can fight, then fight. Even if you can't fight, then fight. If you want to fight, then win. We can win against anything. Even if we lose, we can win the next time."

Inuko sent a gaze filled with a resolute will at Shachito. She smiled and wore her helmet.

"If you still can't take even the first step, I will remove your shackles."

Shachito furrowed his brows, unable to understand the meaning of her words, but as he heard the Vespa's engine revving up he hurriedly rushed after her.

"H-hey! What about my training today! Is it a day off?"

"''The training's already started''."

Inuko asserted while putting on her goggles. She rode ahead, leaving Shachito behind.

"…?"

Shachito stood there for a while but was unable to understand her words.

—Not at the time.