Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 6 Chapter 4 (section)

==4.02 Inuko Part 5==

The sound of the rain hitting the factory's roof was loud.

Sitting on the window, Shishidou Inuko wore a smile on her face with all of her might.

"F—"

It was merely a coincidence she'd reached Holland City.

But perhaps it was her destiny.

Making Inuko, who never believed in either gods or demons but only in her own power to think about "fate" was like a miracle in itself. 

That was how much the boy she had happened across in Holland City resembled her.

Shiohara Shachito.

Or even if it was fate, perhaps it had started a long way before her meeting with him.

In the past Inuko was called a heaven-sent warrior, passing through countless battlefields. Yet she was only able to fight for an instant, and it was far too fleeting. During the time she had failed and had even doubted the reason for her own existence there was someone who had given her another way of living.

Inuko had been given a duty.

Her wishes had been granted by the Central Headquarters. Making use of her sensory abilities, she would search for the Mushitsuki that slipped away from the SEPB's eyes throughout the entire country. And so she was permitted to head out on a journey as a so-called "scout".

Yet her real duties were passing along her cultivated fighting techniques and raising the warriors who would shoulder the battles of the next generation.

She had raised countless Mushitsuki until now.

Her ideal was the strongest warrior who would never lose to anyone. The Mushitsuki coached by her would probably soon be thrown into real battles and freely exhibit their possibilities.

Even so, a deep despair remained as an aftertaste deep inside Inuko's heart.

However, she had met Shachito in this city.

He was a Mushitsuki blessed with a sense for battle as if he was her clone. He absorbed her teaching just like silk floss could absorb water, learning rapidly.

He was another Inuko.

He was another berserker.

"F…f—"

Looking down at the scene below her, a shiver welled up from the depth of Inuko's body. 

Everything happened due to fate.

Even though she grasped all battle techniques, she had been abandoned on the battlefield.

Like an empty, cast-off husk, Inuko had drifted to Holland City at the end of her lone journey. 

Everything was in order to complete the berserker known as Shiohara Shachito.

Inuko had finally happened upon the strongest warrior.

"…ts…"

—Or so she thought.

"It hurts…"

Inuko's expression warped rapidly.

Inuko had never doubted the birth of her successor, yet a much too painful scene was reflected in her eyes. 

Silence returned to the abandoned factory.

Never mind the Mushi, there were no signs of any of the Mushibane members either. It was after they had all run away from the factory.

One could only hear the fierce sound of rain and a servile, weak groan.

In the center of the building, Shiohara Shachito curled up in a fetal position.

His whole body was covered in wounds inflicted by Mushi. Yet none of them were life-threatening. Once they had realized he stopped moving and resisting—judging that continuing to fight him would be pointless, they left him behind and ran away.

Falling to this awkward form, there were no traces of Shachito's talent as a warrior.

"It hurts… It hurts…"

The only thing there was a loser.

It wasn't just Shachito.

Inuko was also included.

Inuko's despair-filled mutter echoed in the factory that contained nothing but failures.

"F-… failed."

Shishidou Inuko's "final test".

The target was Shiohara Shachito.

—Failed.

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