Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 7 Chapter 1 (section)

== 1.03 Akatsuki Part 4 ==
The bell indicating the end of afternoon classes rang.

Putting his textbooks aside, Akatsuki immediately rose from his seat.

"Come eat with me, Ogata."

A male student offered him, but he turned him down with a "Sorry". Bringing out the food he'd bought at school from his bag, he left his seat.

"I'm eating at another class."

"Oh, the journalism club. So you really are going with that."

The student looked shocked. When the topic turned to Haemori Ako, every student spoke harshly. But Akatsuki didn't mind it anymore.

He exited the class, walking briskly toward Ako's class. But on the way there a voice called to him.

"A-Akatsuki-kun."

He turned in surprise, seeing someone unexpected standing there.

It was the third year Satou Youko. He was just about to pass right by her. Since she was as tall as Akatsuki despite being a girl, it took a certain kind of talent to still have such a thin presence.

"Ah, umm… since our self-study lesson was over quickly… I brought something I thought of giving to Ako-chan. We can eat it together, if you'd like?"

She timidly held out wrapped puddings. There were two of them.

"Whoa, thank you so much. Ako will probably be delighted, too."

Seeing Akatsuki received it happily, Satou Youko slightly bowed. He was barely able to see that she was smiling happily. He had this sort of experience many times when he'd enrolled at Moira High School. But even if Akatsuki was the one to receive it, it would end up a war against Iori and Azu afterward.

But now he could eat at leisure without fighting.

The pair that tried stealing from him despite Senri's protests was no longer there—

"Oh… do you hate pudding perhaps? Like, you don't like sweet stuff?"

He had apparently looked down to his hands while reminiscing. 

"No, I like it so I'm happy. It looks delicious."

He shook his head with a smile, and Youko mumbled "thank goodness", relived. But soon she seemed like she wanted to ask something, fidgeting.

"Umm… is it fine to ask… if you got any members for the club…?"

"Uh—"

It has been a week since Akatsuki enrolled in the school.

Ever since the day after talking to the student council president, Akatsuki and Ako worked on inviting students to their club.

More precisely, Akatsuki would shout at new students to stop them, and then Ako would speak to them about the club's activities. Until now they were refused 100% of the time, probably due to the students being unable to accept Ako's zealous recruitment (the story about the Demon Lord and the evil organization).

But as days passed he felt that there was something amiss. There were also students who ran away simply when seeing Ako after Akatsuki stopped them. Leaving before hearing what they wanted was rather odd.

"We still haven't found any…"

"Oh…"

Youko's shoulders dropped as if it was her own blunder. Since she'd already belonged to another club, she apparently couldn't join the new club. She spoke of it previously and seemed truly regretful.

"Oh, have you gotten used to school yet, Akatsuki-kun?"

Changing the subject, Youko raised her head. As she did, her beautiful eyes became visible.

"I believe I've grown used to my class—"

Unconsciously looking back at his senior's face, he noticed something. Today Youko was wearing a pink lip balm. Although it was just her lips, since she never wore any sort of decoration or makeup it was rare for her.

There was also a sweet smell again. Perhaps it was his imagination, but Youko's lips suddenly seemed wet. Did the scent come from her lips? But then again, every time he met with her—

"Oh… t-that?"

She probably noticed his gaze. She puckered her mouth and cast down her glance.

"I-I just thought of trying to put that on, but it looks bad right? It's definitely weird."

"No way! It looks great!"

Blurting this out without thinking, he felt the gazes of the students walking around.

Ending at that point, the blushing Akatsuki and Youko sank into silence.

He groaned inside his heart.

''Strange. Being with Youko-senpai makes my chest feel hot—''

His pulse quickening like that didn't feel bad at all. It actually felt good, so he felt confused when he came back to his senses.

"Err, so then, I'll be going to meet up with Ako…"

"R-right. Good luck with the recruiting!"

Clenching both her fists, Youko turned her back to him.

As she did he noticed a grinning girl ahead in the corridor. Wearing her uniform as slovenly as always, it was Orion. She walked toward him with some girls who seemed to be her friends.

"Ah, to be young, meow. I smell something indecent happening here~~"

Just before passing by, she wriggled her arms in that pose and whispered that.

He obviously ignored her.

He had contacted Orion, the monitor from the North Central Branch, at school from time to time. Yet there was almost no progress with the investigation about the town's strange phenomena. The small town was as peaceful as ever.

By the time he reached Ako's class, close to ten minutes have passed since lunch break.

Peeking into the class, he could see the students eating in groups inside.

Yet only Ako was left out from the circles of conversation.

The seat near the window. Without adjoining her desk to anyone, she ate her packed lunch there in silence.

"…"

Since she wore a serious face most of the time, her emotions were often hard to read.

Even so, she looked lonely to Akatsuki. He lightly bit his lips and entered the classroom.

"Sorry for coming late."

He called to Ako and approached her seat. Borrowing a chair from nearby, he put his own lunch and pudding on the desk.

"You're slacking off, club member Akatsuki. Since we can't use our club room this is our planning room. We cannot waste even a second."

Raising the camera she'd put firmly on the desk, she pointed it at Akatsuki.

"I met Youko-senpai around here. And she gave me this. She apparently made it during home economics class. —Won't you have trouble eating while holding that camera? Come on, leave it be."

Akatsuki grabbed the camera and placed it back down. Ako reached to the pudding.

"Pudding? Looks good."

"She was worried about our recruiting. Also she wore lip balm. How unusual for her."

"Hmm."

When Ako didn't hold her camera she looked pretty normal. However, she appeared to have some sort of withdrawal symptoms, so when she didn't hold the camera she spoke only little.

After finishing the pudding, Ako once again took the camera as expected. Growing tired of filming Akatsuki who was still eating, she turned it toward the sports ground outside the window.

There was the danger of her journalism club closing down.

And she had no friends.

Even so, Ako had once told Akatsuki.

''—I also like this school. Of course, this town as well.''

She spoke with no hesitation. She apparently had her own emotional attachment to it.

"What are you filming, Ako?"

"Humans."

"…"

"Not just humans. Normal citizens."

While wondering ''aren't they just humans?'' he put aside the lunch box he'd just finished. Looking up to see Ako, he saw she wore a serious expression.

Ako suddenly lowered her camera. Tilting it with flowing movements, she took out the memory card. She switched it with another memory card brought out from her bag.

Restarting the camera, he thought she would turn it toward the sports ground again, but instead she directed it at him.

"Ogata Akatsuki-san, do you have anyone special?"

She asked with a formal tone. The surprise Akatsuki stopped with his hand holding the spoon just before piercing the pudding.

"Eh?"

"I'm interviewing you."

Ako smiled a bit mischievously. It was his first time to see that sort of expression on her.

Having a camera pointed at him, Akatsuki fixed his posture. He no longer minded the regulation about not leaving any photo evidence.

Someone special to him.

Hearing these words, several faces floated to his mind. Endou Iori and Sunakozaka Azu were also special friends.

Yet the most important of all were probably just two girls.

"I had, once. I have another one right now, too."

He smiled while talking.

"How was that person from your past?"

The interviewer was Haemori Ako. The self-styled True Journalist.

The one being interviewed was Ogata Akatsuki. The Mushitsuki boy who pretended being a normal student, while being the agent of a secret government agency.

With the afternoon chatter as background music, he could hear laughter rising from the playground.

Not a bad setting at all—

"She was beautiful. I'm sure everyone thought so. She was also very strong and wanted to save many people."

Ako's camera's lenses sparkled as they reflected the sunlight. Akatsuki narrowed his eyes.

"But she's gone."

He had fully believed that someone as beautiful and strong as her saved plenty of Mushitsuki.

But every time he remembered her, there was a certain doubt.

In the end, did she have a person who would save her?

He couldn't do anything. He had learned of her death in a faraway land, and just shed tears. He regretted that fact even now.

Even a mere second.

Even a split second before her death.

Had she been to meet anyone in this life—who would be able to save her, who was as strong as her?

"Well then—"

Since Akatsuki could talk no longer, Ako's went to her next question.

"How's the person who's still there?"

Along with the death of the person he believed in, he felt as if the whole world betrayed him.

These emotions haven't changed. In the battles involving Mushi until now, and those that would continue in the future, she had to keep living.

Left behind, Akatsuki didn't know what to believe.

Her death left a grievous wound in his heart.

"That girl was born blind—"

But there was someone who cried in place of him.

Haji Senri.

''—I can't smile when you're crying, Akatsuki-kun.''

Senri took half of Akatsuki's pain. Although his heart was supposed to have died, she received the pain from him.

Only due to that Akatsuki managed to keep living.

Losing half of his heart, walking without balance—he barely advanced.

"She's my benefactor. She's very kind and she comes to save people who can't even voice their distress. She's the only survivor among the people who've saved me."

Survivor.

It was exactly so.

Up until his dying breath, his friend Iori tried protecting Senri. His real ability was probably controlling multiple Mushi. His real power—awoken only at the very last moment—was perhaps more suitable to protect Senri than Akatsuki's.

Since he'd been saved by Senri, he would save her now.

Among the friends who vowed so, Akatsuki ended up the only one to survive by chance.

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"G-girlfriend?! It isn't like that…"

His face suddenly heated up. In order to hide his agitation, he stuck his spoon inside the pudding and stirred it.

Senri was just a friend he had to protect.

However, it wasn't like he hadn't thought about advancing their relationship. If their relationship took just one step forward—it would probably only come when there was no longer any need to fight. Imagining the future of who knows how many years away, he ended up smiling.

"I-it's just that, I thought we can't keep everything the way it was anymore. I really wanted to protect her, risking my life for it… no, I just reached that conclusion. The feelings of both sides are important in these things, right? It's not that I don't have a chance. W-we always hold hands, after all… well, that's also because she can't see, but if she hated me she wouldn't do it, right? So that means she prefers me to—"

Ako removed the camera from Akatsuki who smirked while playing with his pudding.

"And… cut. Man, you're such a creep…"

"Eh? What? I'm a creep?"

Ignoring the shocked Akatsuki, Ako turned her camera toward the sports ground and narrated the video. She verbally recorded information such as today's date and the place of filming.

"This was the interview of Ogata Akatsuki, a secret agent dispatched from a secret organization."

"…Are you still going with that story?"

"And I was the interviewer—"

Ako's disinterested tone was flat. Her narration was emotionless and machinelike yet strong while it was being recorded by her small camera.

"Chronicler."

Akatsuki raised an eyebrow. He thought that her title was supposed to be the True Journalist.

"You don't use your name?"

"My name is unneeded in both past and future. The only thing that will remain after my time as the True Journalist will be the 'truth' I have recorded."

So this was how Ako was. After explaining, she switched out the memory card with practiced movements.

"I managed to film a good video. Thanks."

"Hmm, is that really fine though?"

"Yup. I managed to drag out your true self. That's my power."

The nodding Ako looked satisfied.

Akatsuki smiled wryly. It had been a while since he'd confronted his feelings. He also felt somewhat refreshed.

"Also, lunch break is almost over. Where will we recruit after school today? Should we go to the main entrance or to the parking lot?"

"Let's stop recruiting."

"…Eh?"

"It was our mistake to try recruiting by mouth. We are the journalism club. The only thing spurring people into action was always the truth."

He had a bad feeling about this. Ako didn't say anything concrete yet, but when she was drunk on herself he couldn't imagine what she'd say next.

"Let's expose the Demon Lord."

The lens of Ako's camera captured Akatsuki's strained smile.

"Once people know that the journalism club saved the town by revealing the truth, we'll have more members than we can count."

Above the frozen Akatsuki's head, the chime announcing the end of lunch break echoed.

After school, Akatsuki and Ako walked through the merchant district, still in their uniforms.

Ako obviously had her digital camera and a bag with her equipment hanging from her shoulder. On the other hand, Akatsuki's bag had his SEPB equipment inside it. He had a front but he came to town for a mission. He had the duty to always be ready for battle.

They crossed through the merchant district, where many shops were lined up. Western clothes shop, grocery, bars and shoe stores, food, karaoke, supermarket and the like all saw the traffic of the townspeople. There were many students hanging around after school other than Akatsuki and Ako.

"The town is as peaceful as always today. Yet none of the smiling citizens have yet to notice the conspiracy of the Demon Lord lurking nearby."

Ako was the same as always—she was filming the surroundings with her digital camera. At times passersby noticed it and smiled.

She was speaking of such dangerous things, but even that Ako was part of the peaceful landscape. Perhaps feeling a bit hungry, she started filming a yakitori stand with a serious expression.

"Say, Ako. You said we're going to expose the Demon Lord but what does that mean, exactly?"

"A good question, member Akatsuki. The Demon Lord might be cunning and shrewd, yet even they cannot hide their tracks completely. I had caught their traces with the help of the journalism club's information network. We are going to investigate that now."

"Traces?"

"I've never been afraid of investigating by myself. We need to approach carefully, since making the Demon Lord be cautious would spell trouble."

Pointing the camera at Akatsuki, Ako spoke seriously.

"There are no shortcuts. The destruction of the journalism club would mean the defeat of justice. Even if our club is disbanded, the True Journalist will never rest before completing her mission."

"Even if we're disbanded… it's too early to give up. If we keep this up—"

"—This is my punishment, member Akatsuki."

Akatsuki raised an eyebrow.

"Your punishment?"

"I had once made a mistake in my road as a journalist. As a result, my fellow journalism club members left and I was left alone. It was all due to my inexperienced actions."

He recalled how uncomfortable he felt while recruiting. Some students ran away just by seeing Ako.

She probably didn't want to talk of the details. Since she spoke calmly with a slightly strained face, Akatsuki realized there were things she hadn't told him.

He should try asking Orion about that. Rotten as she was, she was still a monitor. She should know all about the school she was infiltrating.

"And so I vowed to never mistake my path again. It was then that Haemori Ako, the genius possessing the talent of the True Journalist, knew that she had to unveil the hidden truth. And the one standing in my way is none other than the Demon Lord."

''But this path's also a bit…'' he thought but decided to not voice it out loud.

"I cannot fight against the Demon lord. Yet the only one who can reveal this conspiracy is the journalist of a lifetime, this super miraculous beauty Haemori… Ako…"

Her tone dropped in the middle of her introduction. She searched inside her bag frantically, but it ended with her mumbling ''I forgot my replacement card at home…'' sadly.

"Is this also part of the Demon Lord's evil plot…?"

She hung her head and tears started sparkling in her eyes. Perhaps so being used to film, she became timid once she couldn't do so.

"W-wait a minute! I'll be right back!"

Akatsuki stepped inside a print shop nearby. Since there were no clerks, he raised his voice to the back of the shop. An elderly woman came out.

"Oh, I'm sorry. My son is asleep so he told me to watch the shop," she said while coming to the front.

He knew the kind of memory card Ako's camera was using. He bought it and returned to her.

"Here, a replacement card."

Ako looked up Akatsuki's face.

"Our club funds are gone…"

"Don't mind it. I had a little surplus money this month."

It wasn't a lie. Since the North Central Branch paid him generously, he had plenty of money.

"So cheer up. You're a genius, right? You can't get depressed so easily!"

Ako nodded. She hurriedly replaced the memory card she received.

"As expected from my club member. You will definitely help me defeat the Demon lord."

"…You sure are quick at recovering as always."

"I'm the kind of person that thrives on compliments."

They resumed the journalism club activity.

While telling Akatsuki about the shopping district, Ako kept filming. Perhaps she was thanking him by showing him around town. They didn't speak about the Demon Lord much.

"So… we're at the station."

"We're taking the bus from here."

They boarded an old-looking bus. They sat at the very back.

The bus soon set out. It was apparently a different bus from the one Akatsuki had used when he'd first come there.

"Where are we going?"

"To an art gallery. I've managed to grasp some information about the Demon Lord's traces there. Something about people meeting their identical twin there."

Akatsuki raised an eyebrow.

"An identical twin…? I heard about it. Doppelganger or whatever?"

"There are plenty of other rumors in this town. Meeting people who are dead, flying in the sky with a sudden gale, and a place that grants your wishes at night... Since these cannot happen in reality they are the evidence that the Demon Lord infiltrated this town."

"Aren't these just ordinary urban legends…"

In the end, no matter the town there were always rumors about strange phenomena. She probably wanted to publish her findings to try and draw in new members.

Even so, a rumor is only one kind of information. He decided to try asking Orion about it later. She's probably ridicule him with a ''"you're such a scardey-cat elite-san, meow"'' or something, though.

Thinking about it, hadn't she said her favorite place was an art gallery?

As he was thinking about this, Ako who was filming outside the window suddenly spoke.

"By the way, member Akatsuki, what do you think about Mushitsuki?"

"…Eh?"

He reflexively turned toward her.

"This is a different rumor than the one in the art gallery. Don't you know of the tacit silent about Mushi in this country?"

"Yeah, I've heard the rumors. —But that's definitely fake. I've never seen any Mushi."

He simply evaded the question with a fake smile. He couldn't let her know about him being a Mushitsuki, not to mention the existence of the SEPB who were hiding this fact.

He couldn't read her emotions from her serious profile as she was filming the scenery. He needed to first ascertain why she started talking about Mushitsuki.

"Why this all of a sudden?"

"Although people speak of them from time to time, the existence of Mushi is never revealed. Why's that? Because there is an organization hiding this? I do not think so."

Akatsuki felt relieved. All this time he'd been wondering if the secret organization she was always talking about was referring to the SEPB.

"''Because I already know fully well that there's such an organization''."

His ephemeral relief vanished without a trace.

"People are unable to accept the truth because those who know have problems with it too. Since 'Mushitsuki are scary', people don't want to know about them."

"…"

"It's impossible to hide all information. They're approaching their limits of hiding the existence of Mushi. Even though the time for Mushitsuki to assume a new form is approaching, the world will never accept it."

"Eh? Aren't you exaggerating?"

Even while smiling, Akatsuki was panicking on the inside.

Ako's unfounded sense of duty—if she directed it at the imaginary Demon Lord it was fine. But if it was for Mushi, the organization would monitor her.

"Also, you shouldn't talk too much about Mushi and Mushitsuki and all that. There are people who get scared by that. Didn't you hear the rumor that talking about Mushi would get you caught by suspicious people?"

"I told you I already know about that organization. I spoke to you about it because it's you. You wouldn't tattle on me, right?"

Having the camera pointed at him, he smiled wryly. He was happy for Ako to trust him, but there was another reason he couldn't talk about Mushi.

"Also, those who are scared will definitely hide the truth. In order to reveal the truth, we first have to get rid of fear. If you reveal it while still gripped by fear, it will cease being the truth. Warped information would lead humankind to destruction."

"Getting rid of fear… that's impossible."

"Why?"

"I mean, Mushitsuki are scary."

Although he was pretending to have the average opinion, some part of him really felt so.

Mushi possessed terrifying powers. Wielding this strength, any Mushitsuki would eventually cause battle and hurt each other. Akatsuki was scared of Mushitsuki who couldn't stop fighting. Obviously, Akatsuki was also scared of himself.

"This isn't rational. If something's scary then it is."

Ako didn't reply. She simply filmed Akatsuki intently.

"Oh, could it be that—"

Akatsuki sighed in relief and asked Ako.

"Is the Demon Lord you're always talking about a Mushitsuki?"

"What're you saying?"

"I mean, thinking of some enemy… the Demon Lord's traces, if someone saw a Mushitsuki or—"

"The Demon Lord is the Demon Lord. It is much scarier than Mushitsuki. Because it wants to plant unshakable fear inside people's hearts."

Their conversation returned to the occult once again. Akatsuki couldn't understand Ako at all.

However, even if it was her, she did have some reservations about speaking about Mushitsuki. Knowing just this made him a lot calmer.

Finally the bus arrived at their stop.

Immediately next to where they got off the bus there was an art gallery. Akatsuki had imagined some sort of artistically designed building, but it was such a simple structure that at glance he might've thought it was a library. On the front was a sign announcing that the place was closing in a few months' time.

"You can't film inside," said the receptionist.

"…"

"A-Ako, hold on! Even if you can't film you can gather information, right? You're a genius after all!"

After being completely rejected, Akatsuki desperately supported her. Ako bitterly returned to camera to her bag.

Apparently entry was free due to the upcoming closure. They entered the art gallery.

First there was a large hall. There were large scenery paintings there, probably drawn by elementary schoolers.

"We seem to be the only ones in."

"There's nothing of note here after all."

Bluntly asserting this, Ako took a small metallic switch from her bag. She started operating something and moved it closer to her mouth.

"Our journalism club has finally taken step into what we believe to be one of the Demon Lord's strongholds. From here on is uncharted territory; we must resolve ourselves to this forbidden land."

It was a voice recorder. Although her digital camera had been sealed, she had been adequately prepared.

The second floor was separated into multiple blocks. The front of the elevator was a corridor, and they could see several entrances to rooms. The furthest was the emergency staircase.

They first went around the first floor.

In a room with covered windows were famous paintings they learned about even in school. "Painters of the world", a nearby billboard said.

Another room was a space full of painters they'd never heard of. It was an exhibition of watercolor paintings depicting sea creatures. "This is apparently a popular painter from the capital," Ako told him when asked.

The other blocks had no sense of unity. There was a place with unidentified carvings, and a room stuffed so full of art pieces it could be mistaken for a mere warehouse. They were apparently cleaning up before the closing of the place.

They saw nothing suspicious on the first floor. The only thing that remained was the administrative offices, but they didn't really think any rumors would gather around a place only the staff could enter.

"There's nothing strange here. What was the rumor here again?"

"Meeting someone completely identical to you was the gist of it. But I wasn't able to speak with any eyewitness directly so I cannot confirm this."

That's how rumors were. This dubious information had probably been exaggerated. Wary of his surroundings for now, Akatsuki sighed.

Deciding to go up to the second floor, they went through the corridor toward the stairs. Yet coming closer, they noticed that the stairs connecting to the second floor were blocked by a rope.

"So we can't use that? Should we use the elevator?"

"Yup."

Returning to the hall, they stood in front of the elevator. When they pressed the button they suddenly noticed a paper stuck to the door.

"Oh? 'In preparation for the closure, going up the second floor is forbidden'… the date being yesterday means it was possible a short while ago? Oh, maybe that stuffed room from earlier contains everything from the second floor."

"Someone's coming."

Just like Ako said, the second floor button turned off, and the first floor button lit up.

The elevator door opened in front of Akatsuki and Ako.

Boarding it was a middle-aged man. He was wearing a uniform, so he probably worked here. When he saw them both, he spoke sullenly.

"You're not allowed up the second floor. There's nothing there anyway."

"If there's nothing there then what were you doing?"

Ako asked suddenly. Pointing the voice recorder at him without allowing him to refuse, the middle-aged worker mumbled a ''Hmm?'' and furrowed his brows.

"W-wait a minute, Ako. You can't just ask that all of a sudden."

"Uh… it's my bad longtime habit."

Ako cleared her throat, and asked the person exiting the elevator again.

"I am very sorry. We are the journalism club from a nearby high school. We would like to gather some data, so can you lend us a bit of your time?"

"Data? If you want the manager he's in the office."

"Data about the strange phenomenon in this gallery as of late. About there being someone you meet who looks like an identical twin… it's possible that someone on the scene would know more about it than the manager."

"An identical…? Oh, you're talking about that middle schooler business?"

"Could you tell us more details?"

"Well, it's a bit… A middle schooler came running down the second floor in a hurry and clung to me. He said he was up there, followed by a dog or something I couldn't understand, and then looked at the mirror—"

The worker pointed at the mirror on the other side of the elevator.

"He shrieked like a girl and collapsed on the spot. Well, I investigated it, comforted the boy and got up to the second floor with him."

"You got up there, and…?"

"He just had a blank stare on his face like nothing happened. Apparently his girlfriend was sleeping on the couch, so he took her and headed back. They were apparently sleeping. He probably just imagined the entire thing."

"Is that it? Wasn't there anything else suspicious?"

"Well, not really. —That sofa really was comfy. There were even kids who came here just to sleep. There was someone just earlier who came here to sleep, so I threw her out. We have customers like that so I have to keep watch."

"How did she look? Please tell me in detail."

Ako seemed excited to find new clues. Yet Akatsuki intuitively recalled a certain person and cut between the two.

"C-could that person possibly be… a girl wearing her uniform slovenly? Her hair's about this long and she has curls. Did she talk strangely?"

"I think that's her. 'Sorry for the trouble, meow,' she said and got out."

''I knew it'', Akatsuki thought and held his head.

"Is she an acquaintance of yours, member Akatsuki?"

"Unfortunately, somewhat. I think she's unrelated. …Probably."

After that, they didn't hear anything that seemed too important from the worker. Leaving besides the duo thanking him, the man went toward the offices.

Ako wordlessly watched the worker leave. The moment she could no longer see his uniform, she pressed the elevator button. Akatsuki didn't even feel like stopping her.

"He just told us it's forbidden…"

"Looks like we'll need to gather some data from your acquaintance later, too."

The door opened. Seeing Ako board the elevator, Akatsuki had to follow her.

The elevator soon reached the second floor.

Slipping through the open door, they exited to a gloomy corridor.

The now-silent second floor was now completely empty except for them. As far as they could see there were no decorations anywhere; the air was chilly in the corridor without even any ornamental plants.

There was a wide space ahead of the corridor. They walked there.

It was a rest corner. In front of an unplugged vending machine there were several couches.

"So the aforementioned couple slept here."

Ako sat down on the sofa.

"Weren't they just half-asleep? After the boy saw himself and ran to the first floor, they shrieked when they saw the mirror… and he was taken back to the second floor he just acted like nothing happened? It's way too inconsistent. Oh, wasn't there also something about a dog?"

"…"

Ako sank into silence, thinking of something. He waited for her next words for a while, but she remained silent with her eyes closed. Was she trying to copy the couple?

"I'll go look inside for a bit."

He said, leaving her behind and going through the corridor.

Just like the worker had said, there were only very few art pieces around. Probably almost everything had been carried down to the first floor.

"Hmm?"

Akatsuki found something in a room's corner.

It was a Doberman statue. The statue of the dog barking at the sky was on a stand, lacking its hind legs.

"A dog…"

He only took notice of it due to recalling the worker's story. Otherwise he would have just passed by it.

He tried touching it, but it was simple, cold stone. There was nothing strange about it.

"If such a thing started moving it would cause an uproar."

He sighed and exited the room.

While he tried returning to the rest corner where Ako was, Akatsuki felt dizzy.

"…Oh?"

He stumbled, leaning against the wall.

His body suddenly became sluggish, and his limbs grew heavier. He couldn't proceed any further, as if he was sinking into a deep swamp.

He felt sleepy.

A violent drowsiness assaulted Akatsuki.

"What… is this…?"

Desperately keeping his heavy eyelids open, he raised his face. He was shocked.

Shining particles seeped out of the ceiling. The gloomy corridor was wrapped in a faint glow.

It wasn't his vision being distorted due to sleepiness. The white, shining powder kept pouring without stop, and the denser it became, the sleepier Akatsuki felt.

"I'm being… attacked…!"

Akatsuki's expression changed.

He'd lowered his guard since there was no one around. Even if it was a stupid rumor, it was a place with one of the strange phenomena he came to town to investigate. He couldn't slack off for a second.

He ended up defenselessly receiving a preemptive strike—that was the only possible conclusion.

Even if he searched for the enemy now, he couldn't attack back.

"Ako…!"

He had to take the unrelated citizen and evacuate. Akatsuki had no other choice right now.

Still stumbling, he aimed for the rest corner.

Beyond the corridor that turned into a sea of light he could see Ako sitting on the sofa. She seemed unhurt. Since she dropped her recorder to the floor, she'd probably fallen asleep.

"Ugh—"

His vision shook. The almost irresistible sense of dizziness made his legs lose their power.

Falling down to his knees, Akatsuki's eyelids slowly closed.

"A…ko…"

His own mutter sounded distant. He could hear his own body collapsing.

He gritted his teeth.

He forcibly opened his closed eyes.

"—Ako!"

His body suddenly became lighter.

Akatsuki used this momentum to rise up, stepping ahead.

However—

"…Eh…?"

In front of him was another collapsed boy.

The boy with a hand reaching ahead, still collapsed.

And it was none other than—

"It's me…?"

The one collapsed was without a doubt Ogata Akatsuki, himself.

The light that surrounded the area had disappeared at some point.

He unconsciously took a step back.

He felt his knees fold and he landed down on something spot. Apparently having moved at some point, he now had the rest corner sofa behind him.

"A-Ako…!"

Looking around him reflexively, he noticed a certain fact. The sofa he was sitting on was the very same sofa Ako had been sitting on—and his legs were strangely thin.

A bad feeling rose to his mind and caused a chill.

Rising from the sofa, Akatsuki put a hand against the vending machine.

"There's no way…"

The drink showcase reflected the face of a girl.

It was Haemori Ako.

"I turned into—"

About to fall into panic, he clenched his teeth.

The training Akatsuki had received from the hated SEPB allowed him to preserve his rationality even in the face of an emergency. No matter when, the most important thing was to first grasp the situation.

Akatsuki had switched with Ako. He first had to accept that.

"'Meeting your identical twin', huh…"

Turning around, he saw himself lying on the floor.

"So this means that 'people exchange their bodies' here—"

If this was truly a spiritual phenomenon, it had to be the ability of a Mushitsuki. Meaning the chances the enemy was hiding somewhere nearby was high.

Approaching his fallen body, he steadied his breathing.

Akatsuki on the floor was breathing calmly. Since Akatsuki's consciousness had entered Ako, then most likely Ako had entered his own collapsed body.

"If this is a Mushitsuki ability then it's probably a mental control type, or perhaps an illusion-showing mental pollution type… If this is an illusion, I should be able to bring out my Mushi—"

Akatsuki focused and tried bringing out his Mushi.

Yet nothing happened.

Was it because Ako was not a Mushitsuki or had his Mushi been sealed by some other method? Regardless, this meant that right now Akatsuki was a normal civilian.

While he tried racking his brains for some countermeasure, he saw something white glowing in his vision.

The light grains that enveloped Akatsuki earlier were being poured from the room ahead.

As the light vanished, he could hear from within the sound of something hard creaking.

"So you turn into someone else and then a 'dog' comes out…"

Looking ahead, he scowled. He cursed his own unwillingness to run out of here immediately.

Crawling ahead was a white statue.

Exposing its fangs as if alive, it was a Doberman with only an upper body.