Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 8th Episode 31 (section)

=== Part 3 ===

What was happening—

She rejected her feelings of understanding.

Her head blanked out and she stared wordlessly at the scene ahead of her.

“WOOOOooooHHHHHH!!”

Aki howled. He controlled one leaf beetle after another and blew up Mushi.

These weren’t the fake Mushi created by Oogui.

“S—stop—”

The voice leaking from her throat were so hoarse it didn’t sound like her.

“—OOOoooHHH!”

Every time an explosion echoed, one person standing on the sand fell down, and then another.

They all lost their strength and stopped moving. The life was gone from their eyes and they looked at Arisu emotionlessly.

As if they fell into hell.

A fear like the sense of falling caused Arisu’s legs to paralyze.

“S-stop this—”

“OOOH!”

The Mushi that Aki’s azure leaf beetle blew up again and again.

These were—his comrades’ Mushi.

He was blowing with his own hands the comrades that he himself had brought there.

They made no attempt to dodge Aki’s attack. Some of them looked at Daisuke, some as Kasuou and the rest, and some at Kasuou. All of them stood upright as they received the baptism of the azure leaf beetle.

An explosion and then a person collapsing.

At the same time one of the Minion Type Mushi melted into thin air.

When that happened, the same Mushi that Oogui produced also vanished.

This bizarre scene—

Arisu, Daisuke and the remaining Mushitsuki all watched it in complete astonishment.

As if these people left something to them.

As if these people yielded themselves to their important feelings.

Arisu could do nothing but stare at how their pupils lost all light.

“—Kuha.”

Ironically, the first to grasp this situation was their enemy.

“Haahahahahahahahahahaha!”

The Undying Mushitsuki, Ichiku Kimitaka, spread his mouth wide, laughing loudly.

“You’re trying to kill some of Oogui’s power by suicide? So shallow—and ridiculous! You are fools beyond salvation! Haahahahahaha!”

A devilish resounding laughter.

The comrade Mushitsuki falling one after another.

As if to exemplify the scene that Arisu had feared the most—

“—Akiii!”

Aki stood there, completely unable to accept the reality in front of her. This shout made her shoulders twitch.

“Stop iiit! Do you really think we’ll be happy if you do that?!”

Daisuke lost control of himself and shouted. He tried to violently grab the people around, but as an explosion resounded, they lost their powers. Losing their Mushi, they lost both emotions and memories to become Fallen and looked at him with dark eyes. Daisuke raised a wordless scream.

“What the heck’s that…?”

Even Harukiyo on the surface of the ocean forgot about Ichiku’s existence and turned to the beach with a tense face.

“Are you kidding me…! What the fuck are you doing on your own! Why did you give up! Saying ‘alright, see ya’ and leaving everything to the survivors, are you fucking looking down on us?! I can’t understand why you’d kill you own Mushi, you pieces of shiiit!”

It was natural to not understand. As Harukiyo always fought for his own sake and declared that he celebrated his life for his own sake, there was no doubt that the term of self-destruction never even rose to a corner of his mind. This caused the flame devil to be shaken like never before.

Although both Daisuke and Harukiyo tried to put a stop to it, the explosions kept going without ceasing.

Living corpses piled up on the beach one after another.

Even Kasuou who was supposed to be completely emaciated twisted her face in anger.

“Hey, you think this is some sort of pity, letting us live like this?!”

Even the wounded Himeko screamed with tears in her eyes.

“This… this is no fiiiiight!”

“*annoyed*… *annoyed**annoyed*…”

Ayuyu bit her nails, glaring at the sight in front of her.

“Wait…! Wait, all of you…!”

Neiko, heedless of whatever little energy she had, began singing loudly. However, she couldn’t save even a single person turned into Fallen by these attacks.

“Haahahahahahaha!”

“If you decide to do that, then escape! I can beat Oogui even without you doing this…! Stop this right now!”

“Fucking hell! So it turns out like that in the end! Why do I hafta see only things like that?! Why does nobody other than me ever tried to keep living?!”

Ichiku Kimitaka’s laughter and Daisuke’s, Harukiyo’s and the others’ shouts all overlapped.

However, it kept going.

One after another, the comrades collapsed—and stopped moving.

“S-stop…”

Seeing that, Oogui did nothing but look down and sneer.

“STOP IT!”

Arisu couldn’t help but shout as well.

He probably made another one of his azure leaf beetles self-destruct with one of his comrades. She clung to him as he rapidly weakened and became paler.

“Please, stop this! This… this is too much…”

Arisu hadn’t called them over there to do this.

This was no longer win or loss.

Even if they were to win this battle, if these guys weren’t there—it wasn’t the future Arisu wished for.

“Rina really… wanted to come here.”

While his body was being shaken by Arisu, Aki smiled listlessly. The boy’s hand grabbed an azure leaf beetle.

“’That girl says some outrageous and unimaginable things—but if we can make them come true, everyone will definitely be happy’. —She said this and smiled.”

Arisu came back to herself with a start.

Already, other than Aki himself, all of his comrades were collapsed on the beach.

The azure leaf beetle he was grasping was the final one.

“—“

Arisu turned back to the boy and shook her head.

She couldn’t think of any words to say to this boy that was on the verge of exhausting his powers. She wasn’t even sure if he could see her or not.

“Everyone’s thinking about the same things. After all, all of us—are the same, we are Mushitsuki.”

They were all Mushitsuki.

While the boy used the same words as Rina, in his hand—

“You’ve united all of us. —Thank you.”

[[File:Mushi_Uta_Bug_8th_p183.jpg|thumb]]

The last azure leaf beetle exploded.

Arisu…

Was supposed to shout with her mouth open.

However, no voice came out and she just looked up.

“—”

The boy was stuck to the spot, unmoving, his pupils dark.

Although she could hear a pulse, she felt no warmth.

Although they were supposed to conversing just moments ago, Arisu felt nothing in those pupils.

Arisu buried her face in the chest of the Fallen Aki and sobbed.

Silence befell the beach.

Oogui was in the night sky, the meteor shower at her back.

On the ocean, Harukiyo and Ichiku Kimitaka wore opposite expression.

On the ground—the cluster of Fallens that looked like corpses.

On this beach, where not a single person moved, Arisu pressed her head against the chest of the boy who’d never smile again and leaked sobs.

She loved Mushitsuki—

Arisu once said this.

They told Arisu that she wasn’t mistaken.

She was very happy.

Because she was so unbearably happy—she didn’t want it to turn out like this.

Right now, Arisu couldn’t think of even a single way to save them.

“…ri…”

Arisu, who was overwhelmed by Ichiku Kimitaka’s laughter and felt powerless—

“…Hey, Mari…”

Could only cling to her late friend even in a situation like this.


“…What are… Mushitsuki…?”

The doubt she had at the very beginning.

A doubt she’d embraced this whole time.

This unanswerable question spilled vainly out of Arisu’s mouth.

“…Tell me… hey, Mari…”

The puzzled Arisu could no nothing but repeat that same question to everyone—

Everything she’d done this far.

All paths she’d taken so far.

These were all useless, as if she just came back to square one.

“—WAAAaaaAAAaaah!”

A high-pitched howl echoed throughout the beach.

It was Himeko. A green shadow surged from her body as the girl screamed toward the sky full of streaming stars.

“Fight! Fight, fight, fight, fight…!”

Subduing her fury, Himeko shouted as if talking to herself. Her eyes sparkled with fighting will, and she shot more and more millipedes toward Oogui floating in the night sky.

Daisuke readied himself. He took the posture to be able to jump onto a flying Mushi at any moment.

“Harukiyo!”

“I hate this… I hate this, but I can’t be picky here! If there’s no other way I’ll join hands even with you, Kakkou!”

Harukiyo changed the direction of his body and turned from Ichiku to Oogui.

In order to hit Oogui directly, there was no choice but to lessen the number of enemies.

They could only bet on the small chance Aki gave to them—

Everyone on the surface understood that.

However, Ichiku Kimitaka stood in his way.

“Weren’t you going to kill me, Sehateno Harukiyo!”

“Ayuyu!”

Daisuke shouted. He bit his lips and went silent for a second—then spoke in a low voice.

“—I’m counting on you.”

“*grin*. I’m happy for you to count on me, Kakkun.”

The sea surface exploded and a large water pillar rose. It fully enveloped Ichiku who was trying to attack Harukiyo’s back.

“Kuha, what a boring attack. —Nngh!”

Ichiku Kimitaka changed his expression.

All waves vanished from the ocean surface. It was way too calm to be even called a lull in the sea. The water surface was just like a mirror.

Ayuyu wore a twisted smile.

“*grin*. I never thought that the SEPB director would be a Mushitsuki. —You certainly possess some very important memories, right? Let me see those.”

The sea surface rippled and echoed noisily around the area.

And—

“Is this world about to become one that has Mushitsuki in it—”

Ichiku Kimitaka’s form was reflected on the ocean surface that became a giant screen.

However, it wasn’t the same suit-wearing form, and he wore no sunglasses either. Even if his appearance was unchanged from how it was now, he kneeled with a face full of despair.

“Will another useless Undying person like me will be born again—”

Ayuyu’s ability—was past viewing, the ability to dig out the memories engraved into a Mushi.

“Kororo, you bitch!!!”

Ichiku Kimitaka now wore an expression of pure anger. Perhaps really not wanting it to be seen, he let the tardigrades swarm eat the water pillar with intensity.

“Then I… we will—” the vision continued.

“Arisu!”

Daisuke turned to her.

“You need to run away!”

Arisu widened her eyes.

“Hanashiro Mari’s no longer binding you. So you—don’t need to keep holding onto her, either.”

Arisu?

Was holding onto Mari?

She couldn’t understand what he was saying.

Despite this—Daisuke’s words pierced her like a scorching sword.

“You’re already fine, right?”

For just a moment, the boy who was supposed to be by her side—

Wore a kind smile.

''—You’re already fine, right Arisu?

Mari’s smile overlapped with Daisuke’s.

“…Ah…?”

Arisu mumbled a voice.

Mari’s and Daisuke’s smile—their two voices brought out a memory sleeping deep within Arisu.

“WOOoooOOooh!”

Kasuou wrung out her last powers and expanded her mist protecting Ena, Takako and Neiko. Although her mist defenses were just about erased by the Eyes’ heat rays, it retrieved its thickness using support from Neiko’s singing voice.

Above the enduring Kasuou, the numbers of Eyes lessened.

“Oh my… have you gone to sleep again? This child sure likes to nap.”

Seeing the vanishing eyes, Oogui leaked a giggling sneer.

“Ya! Ya! YAAaah!”

Even while spreading bloody spittle, Himeko kept launching intangible millipedes. —Since Aki took out his powerful allies, the number of fake Mushi created by Oogui also lessened.

However—

“—Ugh.”

A single Mushi of the rampaging, cannibalizing enemies managed to slip through the millepede attack. Unable to dodge the giant Mushi, Himeko was directly bit by its sharp teeth from the side.

“UH—AAAaaah! Kakkou-saaan!”

Although her SEPB coat was very resistant, it wasn’t able to fully defend against the Mushi’s biting power. The girl that became the fangs’ fresh prey vomited fresh blood.

Daisuke leapt. Jumping between all the Mushi that lost control due to Himeko’s ability, he rushed toward Oogui.

There were no longer any Mushi to stand in his way.

“This is useless…!”

Ichiku, who had yielded himself to anger and sneered, let his tardigrades eat the sea that became a large screen. The footage showing Ichiku Kimitaka’s past was almost literally worm-eaten.

“Ugh…! UuuUuuh…!”

Ayuyu was rapidly paling.

Undying and Mushi-eating—

Those were probably Ichiku’s abilities. The tardigrades were eating Ayuyu’s Mushi itself.

Everyone bet on the last ray of hope, using the remainder of their powers.

Everyone shouted, everyone fought in this situation, and Arisu—

“Ah… aaah—”

She remembered.

She noticed.

Widening her eyes, she covered her face with her hands.

“Aah…!”

Seeing the state of her fighting comrades covered in blood deteriorating rapidly, she received a flashback of the past.

In the usual sickroom, she saw Mari who’d never smile again and stood shocked.

That time, hadn’t Arisu thought the same as she did now?

She didn’t want to say goodbye—

This sad parting couldn’t be reality.

Wasn’t she just seeing a nightmare?

She couldn’t accept this unavoidable destiny in front of her eyes.

''—See you tomorrow.

No such destiny could exist. Mari doubtlessly kept her promise and would come back tomorrow.

Hadn’t she thought this?

“…I-it’s… me…?”

And fate was twisted.

It was true that Mari tried to keep the promise. As well as the fact that she couldn’t give up on her dream to keep living.

However, it wasn’t Mari.

Arisu wished for it as well.

“I… I did it…!”

A tomorrow where the two of them would be alive.

That pair’s wish—

Was connected.

''“I was the one…! Who dragged Mari back…?”

Another person’s Mushi used Arisu as its host.

This situation couldn’t possibly happen and it toyed with everyone.

They thought that the cause of everyone was just the lone girl called Hanashiro Mari. Even Arisu thought so, and looked for the vestiges of Mari’s dream for a long time.

But she was wrong.

What connected the Morpho butterfly to this world wasn’t Mari’s one-sided wish.

Hanashiro Mari and Ichinokuro Arisu.

Wishing to live, Mari reached out to this world—

And Arisu grabbed her hand.

Unable to accept the first bitter “parting” since she was born, Arisu, who felt lonely and anxious, grabbed Mari’s hand—and pulled her back.

“I made Mari…!”

And destiny was twisted.

The pair’s wish that shouldn’t exist of not giving up on a lost time connected to a Mushi that shouldn’t exist to this world.

While being a Mushi, the Morpho butterfly also possessed the possibility of erasing the being called Mushi.

It was natural for Arisu to inherit it from Mari.

After all, the Morpho butterfly that was there was the Mushi born from Mari’s wish, as well as the Mushi brought back to this world by Arisu’s wish.

The Morpho butterfly was two in one.

The defect in the world created by wishing to overturn fate, brought back even the host that was supposedly gone once.

The bug in the system created this way still continued—

“I’m sorry…! Mari…!”

Tears gushed out of Arisu’s eyes. The deadly fight she could see from the gaps in her fingers covering her face was distorted.

It wasn’t that Arisu got involved in it.

Coming back to reality, unable to remember her dream and crying, was Mari.

Arisu also had responsibility in making her friend shed so many tears.

“I’m sorry—”

She looked down at the silver lance at her feet.

The glow—

Was already fully gone from it.

“—Thank you.”

As Arisu reached out with great loneliness, Mari’s fingers intertwined with hers.

Giving her a “tomorrow” where they both lived.

Mari kept her promise.

Arisu got just a little bit of time to get stronger.

“Thank you… Mari…”

Arisu also didn’t get an answer.

Ever since that time Mari died from an illness.

Arisu couldn’t take even a single step forward since she was scared of parting, but Mari gave her the chance to move ahead.

And now—

Mari got out her answer.

''Snap''—the spear losing its luster made this small sound.

“WOOooOOooOOOH!”

“ORAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Daisuke and Harukiyo howled at the same time.

The gun with its overwhelming destructive power crushed Oogui’s body to smithereens.

Furthermore, the giant Great Yama tiger beetle floating down from the night sky burned down these fragments.

This incredible impact made the ground shake. This tremor shook the entirety of the coast, and the ocean surface behind Oogui instantly boiled. Seawater began to drain down into seemingly bottomless caves gouged inside the water, creating a giant waterfall.

A full-powered attack by the two Rank 1 Mushitsuki.

There was no doubt that an attack stronger than that was impossible for any other Mushitsuki in this world—

“—”

Arisu raised her tear-stained face. She slowly lowered her hands covering her face.

Like a receding wave.

The purple Mushi produced by Oogui vanished one after another—

Along with a roar, the boiling sea surface was being filled with new seawater, making the cavity vanish.

“—”

They bet on a single hope.

Paying for this with many victims, they reached out to the future.

And what waited them at the end—

“—Kuha.”

Was the dark spot of despair.

Rising in the sky that had streaming stars in it was a lone Mushi.

Shaped like a tardigrade, it multiplied explosively. It quickly restored the shape of a human.

“Haahahahahaha!”

Blessed by Ichiku Kimitaka’s laughter, the tardigrades created the nude body of a woman, and along with a purple glow it wore a long coat. Above lips twisted in the shape of a crescent moon were produced round sunglasses.

''Psssh'', the sound of water bursting echoed.

The stumbling Isa Himeko near the breakwater had her body tilt. Her entire body dyed in blood, the girl tottered a step ahead—and fell.

There was the sound of stepping on sand.

Kurisaka Ayuyu lost her strength and kneeled on the beach. The girl whose Mushi was eaten by Ichiku Kimitaka’s Mushi—lost the shine of life in her eyes.

A groan echoed.

As Kasuou brought out all of her remaining strength she was now on all fours. Neiko who’d supported her was the same. Wringing out hoarse breaths, they both collapsed painfully.

Standing on their own legs were only three people.

Daisuke and Harukiyo who stood in shallow water.

As well as Ichinokuro Arisu.

Looking down these last three survivors—

“—Ehehe.”

An inhuman form that looked like it came from hell narrowed her rainbow eyes and sneered.

“Haahahahaha!”

The coast was filled with the madman-like continuous laughter of Ichiku Kimitaka.

''Snap''.

Arisu heard this small sound from the spear rolling at her feet.