Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 7th Episode 26 (section)

=== Part 3 ===

As she hopped out of the hole in the wall, there was no ground beneath her.

Due to her dizziness caused by the pain of her wounds, she forgot that she was on the third floor.

She fell helplessly, pounded on the hard asphalt.

“Kh…!”

Just barely managing to fuse with the Morpho butterfly again, her leg mitigated the impact of falling. The pattern on her legs glowed silver.

As she raised her face, she found a huge shadow in the sky full of stars. —It was Rina and her ladybug. Flapping its large wings, it was growing distant.

“Rina! Wait!”

As Arisu tried pursuing her, she saw something like grains flying toward her.

“…! T-this is—”

She instantly used her strengthened legs to leap to the side.

The place Arisu stood in a moment ago exploded. The leaping Mushi resembling leaf beetles emitted explosive flames from their body.

“Aki’s Mushi…? Is he nearby?”

As she gasped and looked at the sky, Arisu saw several dozen leaf beetles heading for her.

“So you’re trying to stop me—”

As she bit her lips, her sight was dyed in crimson flames.

“But I don’t have the time for you right now.”

Blowing the explosive wind away with silver scales, Arisu kicked the ground. She rushed through the premises and pursued Rina while leaving a silver afterimage behind her.

As she rushed ahead, leaf beetles mercilessly rained down on her. With her enhanced legs, however, she managed to weave between the leaf beetle carpet bombardment.

Leaping over the fence, she entered the forest. She used her spear to illuminate the trees enveloped in the darkness of night, keeping on running.

However, it was a nest of leaf beetles. The leaf beetles, hiding in the ground or in tree’s shades, aimed for the moment Arisu passed between them to spread explosive flames.

“I don’t know how he’s able to track me—”

Arisu kept just barely dodging these explosions.

“But since my spear tells me where the Mushi is, it’s useless.”

If she was the past Arisu, she would be stuck here. However, as she met various powerful Mushitsuki starting with Harukiyo, Aki’s attack weren’t even obstacles to her.

Ahead of her, beyond the explosions and flames, there was moonlight. It was the end of the forest. Arisu leapt, flying out of the forest at once.

She landed with great momentum, her legs spreading dust.

“—”

As she raised her face, she could see the beautiful figure of a girl standing in a moonlit night.

The small stream between the forest and the road didn’t have much water, making the shoal in its center wide. The river surface on both sides of the shoal covered in dust and rocks also reflected a broken image of moonlight.

The moon in the sky and the moon wavering in the river. Both lights reflected on the girl’s hair, sparkling. Arisu found herself gasping in front of that otherworldly beauty.

“You told me to wait. Right, Hunter?”

The girl blessed by the moon, Rina, moved her lips calmly. Putting a hand to her hip, she faced Arisu in a striking pose.

“I waited for you.”

Arisu came back to her senses.

She hadn’t noticed this because she was so taken in by Rina, but next to this ladybug controller stood the long-haired boy, Aki, as well as a petite girl whose eyes were hidden by long bangs.

Rina’s expression crumbled.

“Because it looks like even trying to blow you off is meaningless.”

“Kh…”

As the ex-SEPB boy groaned in pain, he removed his goggles. Something like tentacles extended from them, and the giant Mushi next to him—a Mushi that looked like two folded leaves—was connected to it.

It wasn’t Aki’s Mushi. Probably the long-haired girl’s? Arisu didn’t know how this worked, but apparently the two combined their abilities to attack her from afar.

“And Kakkou doesn’t seem to be here. What do you intend to do, coming after me alone?”

“…”

Arisu moved her eyes, looking up the opposite shore beyond Rina’s shoulders. On the sandbank there were only Rina, Aki and the girls with the long bangs, but she could see other figures that were likely Rina’s comrades on the opposite shore.

“Don’t mind them. —If you intend on fighting me, I’ll give you a one-on-one match.”

“I don’t… want to fight.”

She said one-on-one, but this was probably because her abilities only allowed her to fight alone. The ladybug’s shockwaves were too powerful, so if she fought seriously, she’d end up hurting her allies too. —Although she had so many comrades, Rina ironically couldn’t fight alongside them.

“Also, I’m not Hunter.”

“…Apparently.”

Arisu widened her eyes. It was because Rina believed her so readily.

“I heard it from Aki. Hunter died and left her Mushi to you.”

Putting a hand on her chin, Rina glared at Arisu’s face.

“Even hearing about it, I found it somewhat unbelievable—but now that I face you all calm, you really are completely different from the Hunter I knew. She hid her face with a scarf so I didn’t know it, but, how do I put it, your entire atmosphere is different. That spear’s the exact same, but it feels weird.”

As Rina paced atop the dust, she examined Arisu from many different angles.

“Even if you tell me it feels weird…”

As if her goosebumps from before were nothing but a lie, Rina’s behavior crumbled. Arisu was confused at this sudden development.

“Do you understand the real reason I waited for you?”

“Eh?”

“I wanted to ask you directly. —What on earth are you?”

Arisu froze.

“Are you a Mushitsuki? Are you not a Mushitsuki? Why can you use another person’s Mushi? Why do you ally with the SEPB?”

“…”

“Hunter is dead. Mushitsuki really have stopped being hunted in Akamaki City. So, to be honest—I even thought of helping you, if you were in trouble. Perhaps you yourself had been Hunter’s victim.”

“Hey, Rina—”

Aki tried barging in the conversation, but Rina kept talking.

“Isn’t that proper? We all wish to create a place for Mushitsuki. If she is a Mushitsuki, I want to save her. However—”

Turning back to Arisu, Rina’s eyes turned sharper.

“Why are you with the SEPB?”

“…”

“I really don’t understand it at all. So I can only ask this. —What on earth are you? That’s it.”

Rina spoke while shrugging.

“I…”

Arisu unconsciously gulped.

Although not a Mushitsuki, she controlled a Mushi.

Although not a Mushitsuki, she was involved with them.

The girl called Ichinokuro Arisu—what was she?

“I… don’t know myself.”

“…”

Rina’s calm gaze looked at Arisu.

“But, Mari… the Mushitsuki called Hunter—”

She didn’t know about herself. She perhaps might not find out either.

However, there was one thing she could say for sure—

“Was my friend.”

Rina’s eyebrows twitched.

“Friend… then you’re aware of what Hunter did.”

“No. Mari… told me nothing about it. I didn’t even know she was a Mushitsuki…”

Arisu bit her lips.

There was a contradiction in what she said.

Although she called Mari her friend, she knew nothing about her. So other unrelated people would never believe they were friends.

“Hunter, a friend…”

Rina was doubting her as expected. She mumbled to herself and then fell silent.

“That’s why I want to know what Mari was thinking—why she left me her Mushi. Say, Rina. You’ve met Mari, right? It doesn’t matter what, just tell me something about her.”

“I definitely met her. But it was only for a split second, and I didn’t understand what she said… I did feel like she knew something about Mushi.”

“…I see.”

Yet another hint vanished.

“Sorry I was unable to help.”

“N-no, it’s fine, thank you.”

Being consoled with a kind voice, she raised her head.

Rina was smiling.

“A friend, huh… how nice.”

Arisu felt some sort of envy hidden in the girl’s radiant smile as she looked at her.

“Eh…?”

“Aren’t there things you cannot say about friends? —The next time we meet, I don’t know whether we’ll be friends or enemies, but… I hope you find what you want. I’ll be cheering on you.”

Cheering—

That word made Arisu’s chest feel warm again.

The words of Rina, a powerful Mushi, gave Arisu strength. It gave her the courage that what she wanted to do was possible—

“If this is all you want to ask, I shall be on my way. See you.”

“W-wait!”

She called toward Rina who turned away to stop her.

“What is it? Another question?”

“Are you going to fight—against the SEPB again?”

As Arisu unconsciously flung that question at her, Rina’s expression changed.

“Obviously. I’ll never forgive them for capturing Mushitsuki despite being Mushitsuki themselves.”

“Don’t you feel like stopping the fight?”

“What… did you just say?”

Rina’s expression became more and more intense.

“I obviously can’t do that! How will I—”

“You can,” Arisu declared. Rina was speechless.

“I thought about this. All Mushitsuki fight against something… so there’s no sense in making fellow Mushitsuki fight. They should only fight for the sake of their own dreams.”

“I know that well! But the SEPB won’t let it happen!”

“Wouldn’t you like to try talking to Da—to Kakkou?”

When she met Rina before, Daisuke had stopped her from using his real name.

“Talking with that sort of guy…”

“He’s a bit dishonest sometimes, but he’s not a bad guy.”

Daisuke was definitely not a bad person.

Probably because Arisu said this so calmly, Rina looked shocked. Her shoulders were shaking.

“N-not a bad guy…? That demon—he’s so—he’s—”

“Also, he’s strong. Apparently, the strongest in the SEPB.”

“And what—is that even—”

“You’re also strong, right? If you two, who are the strongest of all, understand each other, won’t all Mushitsuki stop fighting?”

Rina looked like she became incapable of speech. Aki was also looking at her, shocked.

“No, it’s not just you. I’m also going to ask Harukiyo the same.”

“…!”

“He was about to leave to someplace else, but I asked him to stay at Akamaki City. Since he made a promise, he should be somewhere nearby.”

Rina’s expression changed. Her face mixed with anger and shock now added confusion to the mix.

“Harukiyo did…?”

“If you know about him, you also know how strong he is. About as strong as you.”

“Harukiyo… Since he doesn’t care about who becomes a victim, I’ve been thinking about him like some typhoon or earthquake and never engaged him, but—is that true?”

“Yes, he should be following his promise—I think… He’s following it, probably… but I do think like he might just forget it… Maybe I should’ve taken away some of his gashapon.”

“What are you even—”

Along with Rina’s cautious gaze, she took a step back.

However, Arisu continued without minding that.

“Try imagining it. All of you, who are stronger than anyone, not fighting, but working together… even the SEPB or whatever would pale against that, don’t you think? It’d probably surprise all the Mushitsuki in the country enough for them to forget fighting.”

“Trying to imagine—I can’t! Joining hands with the likes of Kakkou and Harukiyo! I refuse, and they would, too! We’d never understand each other just by talking once or twice!”

“If so…”

[[File:Mushi_Uta_Bug_7th_p122.jpg|thumb]]

Arisu reached her left hand to Rina. The wounds she got at the rehabilitation center were still fresh on it.

“Hold my hand.”

“…!”

“I’ll use my other hand to pull Kakkou and Harukiyo along.”

“Wha—”

“You can’t just shrink away after one or two times. I’ll bring you three together no matter how many times it takes.”

Arisu wasn’t a Mushitsuki.

She wasn’t as strong as Daisuke, Harukiyo and Rina.

However, she was always wondering and thinking whether there was still something she could do.

Although she wasn’t a Mushitsuki, she could use their power.

Becoming host to a Mushi that was supposed to be gone, she kept meeting up with living Mushitsuki.

Those Mushitsuki, who were all suffering from unseen chains, might become the key that connected with the future—

“W-why—”

Arisu’s unexcepted proposal apparently caused Rina a considerable shock. She held her forehead, glaring at Arisu with obvious caution.

“Why are you trying to do that! You say you’ll bring us together? If you do that, it’s not going to end up well for you either! Weren’t you looking for clues about your friend? That’s completely irrelevant to Hunter!”

“There’s nothing irrelevant about this. After all, me investigating Mari was just what kicked this off. Thanks to her, while meeting many Mushitsuki, I—”

Arisu smiled.

“Started loving them.”

Rina’s eyes were wide as saucers.

“That’s why I don’t want to see Mushitsuki fight one another. I’m not as strong as you, but… I might be able to at least stand between you.”

“…”

“I’ll say it again. —Try imagining it. All of you strong Mushitsuki standing in a row. If you really can’t hold hands… I’ll stand between you and hold them for you.”

It was clear Rina was shaken. She really tried imagining this—she couldn’t imagine it well—but even so, she should feel a faint hope.

Right, these were the exact same feelings as Arisu.

She couldn’t even imagine the three of them holding hands.

But even so—

Even so—

If they could just stand together, perhaps Mushitsuki would stop fighting—

“…”

Rina bit her lips and turned her body. The sound of stepping on dust was distancing from Arisu.

“Rina…”

“—Give me some time.”

Stopping in place, Rina said.

“This is the first time I’ve heard someone saying that they love Mushitsuki.”

As the girl had her back still turned to her, she had no idea what expression she was wearing.

“I’ll definitely give you a reply. Whether yes or no—definitely.”

Arisu slightly widened her eyes—then smiled.

“Sure.”

She spoke toward Rina who kept walking away.

“But I won’t give up if you tell me no just once, alright?”

While Rina and her comrades left, Aki and the girl tagging to him stayed standing there, looking at Arisu’s face.

“Aki?”

“Do you really think you could accomplish something so idiotic?”

The boy spoke with a hard tone. Arisu smiled.

“They’re the only ones who could do something so idiotic.”

“…Heh.”

“…?”

“It certainly is true. Haha.”

The girl with bangs hiding her eyes looked up at the laughing Aki, worried.

“Understand each other… huh. I already forgot about something like that due to fighting for so long.”

Mumbling this cynically, Aki then smiled at Arisu.

“Since Rina said she’ll answer, she definitely will give you a reply. Wait for her.”

Leaving this behind, Aki and the girl left.

Everyone was gone, and finally—

“Yes, I will wait.”

Arisu nodded with a full smile.