Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 12 Chapter 3 (section)

== 3.04 OPS2 Part 5 ==

Harukiyo turned himself into a fireball and pursued the goggled pair fiercely.

The goggles of the woman seated in the wooden chair, Librarian, emitted light. A single book was formed in her hand, and in her other hand a feathered quill pen began writing something quickly.

Above Harukiyo’s head, from the darkness of an unseen ceiling, a gigantic something was falling.

It was a giant, its body more than 10 meters tall. Its bald head sprouted two horns and it held a giant axe in hand.

“Wha…? The hell’s that!!! A monster?”

Witch’s voice of shock overlapped with an earth tremor.

The other goggle wearer, Custodian, raised both arms. His head still cast down, he moved his arms as though controlling something.

A giant tree burst from the floor. Thick branches extended like living beings, assaulting Harukiyo, Ume and the rest to restrain them.

“I won’t let them use you so easily either!”

Harukiyo’s fist boiled the axe swung down by the titan. Furthermore, its lower body exploded, creating a red-hot crater in the surface overgrown with tropical plants.

“UWOOOH!”

Exposed to the shockwaves, his allies were all blown back. All of them took defensive positions and stood up, but Lop-Eared alone rolled endlessly until clashing with a bookshelf.

Harukiyo’s attack only just barely missed the two goggled people. The moment before it hit, the chairs evaded as though sliding on the floor.

“Right, both Librarian-san and Custodian-san were geniuses at creating isolated spaces. If they hid her, that explains why we couldn’t find her easily…! But still!”

Ume showed a pained expression he normally wouldn’t and shouted.

“C shouldn’t have been involved with those experiments at the time…!”

That was true.

That was why Harukiyo neglected to notice this.

He was made to think that the experiments of the Revived started only recently.

“They had Shinpu’s fragments in the first place—so it means that the experiments themselves started way before this!”

Another giant leapt down at Harukiyo as he was shouting in anger. Harukiyo’s casually swung hand struck and a crimson flame passed from the giant’s axe to its arm and from its arm to its entire body, fully melting it.

“No way—”

The speechless Ume gasped upon seeing the pair’s goggles.

“Those goggles! These aren’t normal SEPB goggles… they’re directly attached to their—”

The experiment using C was cute, in comparison. It was obvious from a glance what sort of inhuman treatment Mushitsuki went through previously. These experiments combining scientific technology and Shinpu’s fragments were taken over by C when she absorbed his power. 

The bearded youth shouted.

“Harukiyo! I know this isn’t the time, but the SEPB’s asking about Operation 2’s progress…! Soon, the 48 hours—”

“Shut up.”

Stopping moving, Harukiyo widened his burning eyes.

As the Librarian slid along with her chair, she kept writing inside her book in frightening speed. Yet another giant and another giant appeared, and monster birds and the kinds of animals that couldn’t exist in reality were being created.

This gigantic library was the isolated space created by Librarian. Whatever she wrote in here would assume form, turning all imagination into reality.

“I’ll burn every last one of them.”

Harukiyo’s entire body was dyed in deep, hot red. The surrounding air shook with heat and the surrounding shelves were all turned into coal without even burning.

“Don’t dare think it’s all gonna go according to plan, you shitty hag…!”

If he knew the Guardian’s identity beforehand, he would have surely gone to kill Miguruma Yaeko first thing.

However, now that he knew this situation—he had no choice but to beat his past friends. It was all according to Miguruma’s plan.

Now each and every one of her evil schemes made too much sense that it made him sick.

“This is bad, Harukiyo’s gone berserk! We can’t escape anywhere in this isolated space!”

“Eeeeep! I-I’ll quickly draw a magic circle! Cover for me!”

“You hurry! You hurry!”

“I can do nothing in this situation, unfortunately…”

“…I’ll try to offset this as much as possible…”

Ume was flustered. Witch ran around, drawing a line on the floor with her wand. Maria had her entire body glowing and burned away the branches attacking them with light beams. Santa Claus just stood there, while Haruka transformed into Harukiyo again and erected a wall of flames around them. Lop-Eared was panicking.

“—”

Harukiyo approached the two goggled people wordlessly.

Librarian and Custodian couldn’t escape this time. Already the floor all around them was a sea of flames, so they had no space. Even all the imaginary monsters simply boiled away just from touching Harukiyo.

“…I’ve been late coming here.”

He spoke to his pale past friends.

“I’ll definitely get even with that woman—”

Even death or torture would be too good for Miguruma Yaeko.

He couldn’t think of what to do right now, but one day he would definitely take revenge, he swore to his friends.

The result of their curiosity was a long-cherished death. But now that they lost their will and used like toys for experiments—it just wasn’t logical.

“Librarian… just like I promised, I’m protecting your collection. So this is the second promise.”

His red hair floating, Harukiyo whispered quietly.

His silent friends’ faces were swallowed by flames.

“I-I’m done! C’mon, you guys, enter this quickly, please!”

“I-isn’t this too narrow? Afbh, Maria-san, your boobs are too big!”

“Hey! Switch places with me!”

“Fuck you.”

Ume and the rest’s voice were gone as if they melted in the mist.

The grand library was enveloped by such heat that it went past being crimson and became pure white.

Soundless pure flames swallowed everything in sight.

After the flames burned anything and everything and receded like a ripple—

“…”

The grand library was no longer a grand library.

Only the silently standing Harukiyo and the seated, goggle-clad people in front of him remained.

As well as Ume’s group, who stood in shock.

Other than that—there was nothing. Only flattened, scorched earth remained.

“—”

Librarian and Custodian’s bodies tilted and fell.

The chairs they sat on slid at the same time, and the surrounding scenery cracked like glass and shattered.

“He burned away their Mushi along with the isolated space…”

“S-such power…”

“Eeeep, we’re saved—wait, the flames avoided us! My magic circle was meaningless!”

Harukiyo and the rest returned to reality, to a vast space.

It was domed and seemed about as large as a soccer stadium. The gently-curved ceiling looked like it belonged to a giant planetarium.

In the edge of that space were the forms of Librarian and Custodian seated in steel-mesh chairs.

“Was there such a big place inside the Prison…?”

Ume looked around.

Next to him, Maria raised her voice.

“Harukiyo!”

As he glanced at her, the blond woman shook, her face pale.

Maria shook her head to the sides, raising her index finger.

And where she pointed.

Interposed between the two goggled people was a raised platform—

“It’s been a while.”

Harukiyo ignored Maria’s warning and turned to look.

That broad elliptical object looked like a giant egg. It was carefully placed and stabilized on a metal-made, bed-like pedestal.

A silver cocoon.

With a pale light and shiny scales rising from it—its form remained completely unchanged from when he saw it a couple of years ago.

“—Arisu.”

Harukiyo called the name of Sleeping Beauty in front of the cocoon.

When she’d gone to sleep, two boys stood in front of the cocoon.

They were none other than Harukiyo himself—and Kakkou.

Now that he came to wake her up after all these years, Harukiyo did not have that demon at his side.

“No!”

Maria yelled. What had her sensing ability told her about the cocoon? He’d never seen her so scared before. She was shaking all over.

“I’ve been looking for you for so long.”

Harukiyo ignored Maria and smiled at the cocoon.

“Ever since the night of the meteor shower. Always. Ever since then, I wanted—”

Now that what he looked for was in front of him at last, an uncharacteristic sentimentality welled within him.

He felt like it took long, but also as if it was brief.

Since Arisu went to sleep for the sakes of Mushitsuki’s hopes, many things happened.

Lady Bird died and Kakkou became Fallen.

Harukiyo watched all these from afar as a spectator, and kept surviving like this—

“—To kill you.”

Harukiyo widened his eyes with swelling rage.

Seeing him emit flames from his entire body again, Ume and the rest were shocked.

“Eh…?”

Simply by recalling that night’s events, the anger he felt back then was revived within him.

Harukiyo cooperated with the fight against Oogui not for the sake of Mushitsuki.

It was for his own goal. For his deal with Arisu.

Even so—

“How dare you say you’ll make my dream come true and go to sleep like that—”

That was definitely breach of contract.

An illogical betrayal.

In order to settle the score of this past fight, he kept looking for Sleeping Beauty.

Meaning, he wanted to settle things with Arisu.

“I hope you’re not thinking I’m going to gently shake you awake now, eh.”

Anger that was smoldering within him for many years covered his arm in flames.

“W-wait! From what you’ve told us just now, if you wake that girl then the Undying will—”

Harukiyo didn’t care about what Witch said.

To be honest—finding the cocoon was also part of his competition with Kakkou.

Would Harukiyo wake Arisu first?

Or would Kakkou beat the Original Three first?

That was the unspoken rule between those two who once fought together temporarily. He wouldn’t let Kakkou say he wasn’t aware of this.

Before Harukiyo woke up the Undying along with Arisu, Kakkou had to beat the Original Three.

“Kakkou, who protected you and the continuation of your dream, is already gone.”

However, Kakkou collapsed in the middle of his dream.

Therefore, Harukiyo could opt to use his privileges and did not hesitate on swinging his burning arm.

“You’ve lost the bet, Arisu!”

Crimson flames engulfed the cocoon shining silver.

There was a response.

The cocoon suddenly started shaking as if trying to withstand the flames.

“—!”

Harukiyo, Ume and the rest all grimaced.

Loud noises were unleashed by the cocoon and reverberated throughout the entire dome.

There was a high-pitched noise as if something was cracking—sounding like the cocoon itself was in agony.

“Haha! Let’s have another shot, then!”

Harukiyo swung his arm again, but there was no need for this follow-up attack.

The cocoon’s form warped, twisted, and at the moment it started trembling again, it blew away the flames with a rupturing sound.

While everyone watched it, a glowing crack ran through the cocoon.

It became a tear and began to peel fragment after fragment of silver—

“—“

Appearing from within the small hole was a white hand.

It widened the hole and a thin arm appeared. Almost transparent skin that saw no sun for many years now became exposed.

Next appeared a head.

He couldn’t see the face because it was looking down, but her hair was long and its color was thin. The upper half of her body crawled out of the opened cocoon hole. Her stark-naked body was hidden by her hair.

The girl crawling out of the silver cocoon—raised her face.

“Oh, you grew more than I thought.”

Harukiyo unconsciously smiled.

The girl had grown according to her age from when he last saw her. She remained slim but became taller and her face turned somewhat more mature as well.

However, her most prominent feature was her black pearl-like sunken eyes.

These alone looked sleepy and seemed to have lost some of their color from before she went asleep.

“Wow, what a beauty.”

“S-she doesn’t look nice, does she?”

Ignoring Ume and Witch’s conversation, Harukiyo called to Arisu.

“Still feeling sleepy? Should I give you a good morning kiss?”

The girl cocked her head. Crawling from within the cocoon, she stood up on her legs, looking giddy.

In her left hand she grasped a silver stick. It was a rod that served as her weapon.

“D’you remember that Miguruma woman? She’s gonna make you into a replacement for Kakkou, seems like.”

Harukiyo spoke to her while smiling.

As the naked girl whose modesty was protected by her hair grasped the silver rod, it became several times longer in her hand.

A butterfly glowing in silver—a Morpho butterfly—alighted down on her white shoulder.

“It’s ‘cause Kakkou’s a Fallen now. They’re probably tryin’ to use you as a convenient pawn.”

The Morpho butterfly’s body split explosively. It became countless tentacles and started fusing with the girl’s body. Fusing even with the rod, it became a sharp lance with wings on the tip.

Ume spoke timidly.

“Harukiyo…? Don’t you think Arisu-san’s acting a bit odd?”

“She’s probably just not fully awake yet. Otherwise—”

Harukiyo turned around and spoke.

“She’d be on the verge of Maturing, just like before she fell asleep.”

Everyone’s faces lost all color.

“—Run away. You’ll die for sure.”

As Harukiyo declared this, he saw Arisu lowering her body at the edge of his vision. Her entire body glowing in silver, she swung the spear that was longer than she was tall horizontally.

“With this much time passing, I really thought you’d grow up to control your Mushi!”

Still turned around, Harukiyo formed flames at the same time Arisu swung her spear.

Enough scales to fill half of this planetarium-like structure were unleashed.

That impact easily swallowed even Harukiyo’s flames.

“—!”

It really was some years since he’d last felt an attack as destructive as that.

Even the wall of heat wave created by Harukiyo was easily pierced through. His tall body struck the floor, blew back along with fragments from the floor and slammed against the wall.

Memories he’d almost forgotten rose without him wanting them to.

The Morpho butterfly’s silver spear.

When it clashed against him, its destructive power was much stronger than his—

“…Haha! Looks like I was the one who needed to wake up here!”

Wiping away the debris, Harukiyo rose up with momentum, not minding the blood flowing down his head.

“Looks like you grew quite like my taste, eh Arisu!?”

Burning eyes glared at Arisu. A seething battle spirit from when he’d been known as a devil of flame uplifted Harukiyo, but—

“…Harukiyo! Witch got hit!”

Ume’s voice retrieved his reason.

That attack just now involved even his companions. Almost all of them—even Lop-Eared—were unhurt, but Witch alone had a laceration running from her shoulder to chest. Profuse bleeding dyed her clothes and her body was shaking. She was in a state of shock.

“My secret move didn’t make it in time for her…! I mean, this number of people is impossible for me!”

Meaning that without Ume’s ability, everyone would have died from that attack just now.

“Witch should still have some medicine remaining. Rub as much as you can and evacuate.”

Spitting this, Harukiyo faced the silver girl.

She had no expression, but one eye was starting to get dyed by silver. This was a sign of Maturation. Both eyes would get dyed, and once even her hair glowed silver, it would be the end.

“Looks like you miscalculated, Miguruma. She’s not gonna follow anyone’s plans. She’s not the kinda gal for you to use as a pawn.”

While saying this, cold sweat ran down Harukiyo’s cheeks.

The overwhelming strength he could feel from the girl in front of him made him irritated—but he also felt relief.

With this, his dream might finally come true—

The two contradictory feelings of anxiety and relief competed within him.

“This girl—won’t let herself get used by you.”

Sleeping Beauty, Arisu.

The final Rank 1, the Mushitsuki who controlled a silver spear—

Kicked the floor hard, heading toward the devil whose body was clad in flames.