Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 6 Chapter 2 (section)

==2.04 Inuko Part 3==

Special Type Mushitsuki were created by one of the Prototype Mushi, Shinpu.

Shishidou Inuko was also a Special Type Mushitsuki. When she was young, she had been enticed by Shinpu and became a Mushitsuki.

The real face hidden behind Shinpu's dirty hood was that of a hunchbacked old man. Special Type Mushitsuki other than Inuko also gave out the same testimony, and so did the extremely few civilian eyewitnesses. Because of that the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau had acknowledged the form of an old man as Shinpu's true body.

Yet just now visible under the robe was a young man one would find hard to call old. Since the color of his skin was ghastly dark she couldn't conclude his race, but there was no way to mistake his apparent age.

"You're… not Shinpu…?"

Clenching her hockey stick, Inuko stood still in shock.

At the start of the year, Inuko personally heard from a friend that Shinpu had been defeated.

That friend wasn't someone who would lie. Because of that, she thought it was suspicious that Special Type Mushitsuki were still being produced in this city.

She could understand the situation if Shinpu was simply still alive. But that his form changed like that was completely outside of Inuko's expectations. 

"I do remember thee… The child borne by my first fragment…"

Shinpu took a step back from the cruelly shredded body of the branch director.

"Long ago, while in the depths of despair, thou hast embraced an unattainable dream… And even now that it has passed, thou seem to struggle and suffer…" 

The man's smiling face was concealed by his robe again. She could hear the hoarse voice just like before, but the man's mouth barely moved.

The foul sound of a bell reverberated.

Black miasma came pouring out with Shinpu in its center. 

A building with a pointed roof could be faintly seen in the midst of the miasma filling the room. The summit of this crumbling structure was equipped with a rusted bell that slowly moved back and forth.

"…!"

Inuko immediately leapt back and focused her mind.

It was clearly one of Shinpu's abilities, the "Church". Most people would end up being pulled into an isolated domain and lose their minds.

"Don't think you can eat me so easily now… Shinpu!"

Swinging her hockey stick, Inuko unleashed her ability.

The one to establish the proper methods to concentrate against mental intervention was none other than Inuko herself. Preserving her sense of self with a powerful will, she shook off the sense of intoxication which was much like drowsiness. 

The image of the church rising within the fog was offset by Inuko's expanded magnetic field domain. Static electricity surged through the surface of her raincoat.

"You said this was a warning and revenge. Do explain what you mean by that. Why have you attacked this branch?"

Inuko and Shinpu faced each other as their two domains clashed. 

"Also, what do you mean by a fragment? Answer me before I destroy you by my hands."

With his robe swaying, Shinpu grew farther from Inuko little by little.

"How dare thou ask this of me, O Special Environmental Preservation Bureau…"

"…!"

"I am the only one still fettered… Neither Elvioréne nor Aria Varei, but only I alone was captured, both in the past and now…"

The smile vanished from Shinpu's mouth. The miasma filling the room became even denser.

"Elvioréne…? Aria Varei…?"

Still preserving her battle stance, Inuko started thinking quickly.

"Captured, you say… you can't possibly mean you were captured by the SEPB? But right now you're in front of my eyes—"

She started saying but then became speechless. She shuddered at the conclusion she was able to reach.

"Just now you said fragment… N-no way…"

Her throat became dry and the voice she wrung out was husky. She felt cold sweat form on her whole body, and even the hand grasping the hockey stick was shaking a little.

''—No, I can't conclude anything yet.''

Inuko was not simple enough to just accept information handed by her enemy without questioning it. Yet the conjecture rising to her mind was enough to make her feel shaken.

"Only I was deprived of my freedom… And the only fragment I had been able to unleash from the very beginning was destroyed by the child of Aria…"

Inuko's heart started beating rapidly.

Her friend that had told her he defeated Shinpu was a Fusion Type Mushitsuki created by Sanbikime.

So did that mean Sanbikime's true name was Aria Varei? If so, then Elvioréne would be the real name of Oogui. 

Slowly but surely, the facts and Shinpu's words started fitting together inside Inuko's mind.

She was about to touch on a huge secret related to Mushi and Mushitsuki—

"Yet I have obtained a chance…"

A chance?

Just as Inuko was about to ask this, the miasma began retreating away from her like an ocean's receding wave. 

Shinpu jumped lightly and stood at the open window.

"As long as thou continue to confine me, thou shall fear my revenge for all eternity…"

Leaving a grating sound behind, the filthy robe flung its body outside the window. The caterpillars spread on the floor also followed and fell outside.

"W-wait!"

Inuko immediately followed, standing near the window.

She could see a robe-clad form mixed in the darkness going along the surface of the building's wall as if sliding down on it. The many caterpillars were also brought along and they fell toward Holland City.

[[File:Mushi Uta 6 p135.jpg|thumb]]

"I won't let you get away—"

Just as Inuko was about to also fling herself out of the window, a shriek rose from behind her.

There was probably some other route to reach that room; as Inuko turned around, she could see the late arriving branch director assistant fall on her butt on the floor. Having the collapsed unmoving branch director in front of her eyes, she became lost for words.

Accompanying her were members who wore the SEPB equipment made of long coats and goggles. Judging by their movements they seemed to belong to the battle squad, but as expected seeing the attack in front of their eyes made them freeze.

Inuko clicked her tongue. She couldn't spare the time to explain the situation.

"I will pursue Shinpu, the one who had assaulted the Branch. You all evacuate to a safe place. You might also be targeted."

She asserted this quickly, gazing at the paper bags crushed by the collapsed shelf.

"…"

The candies prepared for Inuko were all crushed with no exception. She apparently had to give up on them.

Turning around, she leapt out of the window.

The night's damp air blew all over her body, and she began a free-fall toward Holland City's nightscape. 

"Revenge, huh…?"

Inuko's eyes caught the robed figure that landed on the ground through her goggles. Jumping over walls, she moved heading for the town center.

She had never heard of Shinpu assaulting a branch so far. He himself admitted it to be an act of revenge. 

The Original Three were supernatural beings whose actions and thoughts couldn't be understood by humans. Or at least that was what they thought so far.

"''Aren't you just like a human, Shinpu''…!"

Something was changing—

She had this premonition.

It all began during last Christmas Eve, when Fuyuhotaru had escaped from the East Central Branch's housing facility. Since Ladybird, one of the few Rank 1 Mushitsuki, had died, the power balance of the opposing organization crumbled.

Until now large battles unfolded around the Central Headquarters and East Central Branch. But perhaps they were growing enough to involve the entire country.

"—Seems like I'll have to sneak into Central Headquarters after I finish my business here."

A moment before she crashed into the ground, Inuko expanded her own domain and generated a magnetic field. By repulsing herself from the metal pipes embedded underground she rapidly decelerated, landing with her coat fluttering.

"If what Shinpu said is true, then just like I thought… If even the Shinpu in front of my eyes is ''not the real one''—then that means Central Headquarters are hiding it."

She would sneak into the Central Headquarters and ascertain the hidden truth.

She would probably risk her life. Yet as Inuko knew the Central Headquarters well and was ripened by long years of battle experience there was no one else who could do the job.

"That will probably be… my final job."

Jumping over walls as well, she teleported in pursuit of Shinpu.

"For that as well, I will defeat you right here and now."

Shrouded by purple lightning, Inuko moved instantly to above Shinpu's robed head. While floating upside-down in the air, she brandished her hockey stick.

The pedestrians walking on the road raised a scream.

It was firmly forbidden to use the powers of a Mushitsuki in front of a crowd. Yet Inuko judged the annihilation of the Prototype Mushi in front of her eyes more important than keeping protocol.

Her hockey stick ripped the filthy robe from overhead.

"My child… I have no intention of destroying thee…"

The torn robe floated midair along with the caterpillars, clinging to the roadside streetlights. The miasma-emitting robe began being restored, and Shinpu's form returned above the light.

"Thou should leave quietly… Otherwise, I shall not overlook it despite thy being my child."

"What was the chance you've obtained?"

Ignoring Shinpu's words, Inuko teleported toward the streetlight. She aimed at him from the ground, using the momentum from her soaring to swing her stick.

The metal-made streetlight was sliced into two. Glass fragments scattered around, making pedestrians run away.

"The chance I have obtained was thy arrogance… Thou have invited chaos as a result of thy attempt to make use of mine fragment, and so I was able to unleash a new one…"

"…!"

Shinpu leapt high, standing on the wall of a high-rising building on the other side of the road.

Inuko also teleported toward that building. She ran in pursuit of the fleeing Shinpu accompanied by the caterpillars the same way by running above the metal-made windows.

''No way—''

She intuitively discerned the meaning of Shinpu's words.

When Inuko had visited the East Central Branch, the incident of Fuyuhotaru's escape from the Central Headquarters happened.

Inuko heard about the fine details in secret from acting branch director Goroumaru. 

She was told that the Central Headquarters was holding some sort of experiment. Yet there was some incident during that experiment and several people escaped. It had apparently been revealed to the East Central Branch from a "disk" that had recorded the chaos of that time.

"Is the chance you're talking about the experiment conducted at the Central Headquarters…?"

"—I was able to unleash yet another fragment on the world other than those inhabiting the two vessels connected to the King of Mushitsuki…"

Shinpu's wicked smile affirmed Inuko's conjecture.

"Mine old fragment hast vanished, and now that my new one is unleashed… I can both take revenge on thee mortals as well as devour thee to my heart's content… I shall indulge in thy fear as I slowly await for the King to release me…"

The King of Mushitsuki. It was once again a new term for Inuko.

She couldn't fully believe in what Shinpu had said, but the more she heard from him the more it overlapped with the information she possessed.

However, once the Central Headquarters which she belonged to found out she had discovered the truth they were trying to conceal—Inuko would probably be assassinated. There were all sorts of rumors about the suspicious unit known as the Annihilators.  

She apparently needed to be careful about her actions from now on.

"I won't let it happen. I'll stop your revenge or whatever."

Asserting this, Inuko teleported near Shinpu just as he leapt to another building.

The concrete wall largely caved in. The impact from the accelerating hockey stick burst open the hem of the filthy robe.

Shinpu, evading a direct hit by a paper-thin margin, changed the direction of his movements vertically. He slid heading for the top of the building.

"It's no use if you escape, Shinpu."

Clad in purple electricity, Inuko teleported again. She leapt above Shinpu, soaring in the night sky.

Her stick, making use of her full body's weight as well as the magnetic field created by her ability, cut in a straight line from the rooftop aiming for the ground.

"I have no intention of even giving you an opening to use your abilities."

Landing on the ground, Inuko rotated her stick and gazed overhead.

There were huge cracks on the wall of the building a few dozen meters tall. Shinpu was sent flying with his robes ripped to shreds as if slashed by some fearsome beast's claws.

While Inuko was standing calmly Shinpu crashed with the sound of breaking bones. He slowly roused his body above the crushed caterpillars. 

"So this wasn't enough to destroy you, huh. But it doesn't seem like physical attacks are completely ineffective."

Shinpu standing on the ground had no right arm. That arm severed by Inuko was surrounded by caterpillars at another spot.

"…As expected…"

New caterpillars carried his right arm. They climbed atop the man's body, attaching themselves to his severed shoulder.

"This vessel cannot withstand my fragment… After all it was but a temporary vessel for me to reach this land…"

"What was that?"

Ignoring Inuko who asked this back, Shinpu turned his body around.

As Inuko tried to follow him immediately her field of vision was suddenly distorted.

"—Ugh."

Strength suddenly left her body and she slumped to her knees.

Her vision distorted, and she was assaulted by a severe sense of fatigue.

"…Dammit, do hold on, my body…!"

She grimaced and crunched the candy in her mouth. The sweet flavor spread in her mouth.

"Haah… haah…"

Spitting out the stick, she pulled out a new lollipop with a trembling hand and put it in her mouth.

She licked it and let it stay put for a while. She could feel her consciousness clearing out again.

By healing her physical fatigue, Inuko tried standing up. But this time she felt dizzy and put a hand on the wall. Her vision was dyed by a flash for an instant.

"Ugh…!"

The memories remaining in her rose to her mind one after another. As if the many pictures she had were being shredded from the edges, important parts became blurry and vanished.

It wasn't only her body; her mind was also being exhausted.

"…Damn!"

Leaning against the building's wall, she propped up her body. Her swearing voice echoed in the dark back alley sandwiched between the buildings.

"The time I can fight was reduced again… Why are both my mind and body so worthless…"

She spoke bitterly while holding her brow.

The current Inuko was worn out in both mind and body. Once she had noticed the side-effects of her powerful ability in the past it had already been too late for her body.

Since she had become able to fight only for extremely short periods of time, Inuko had been removed from the battle squad. Although once feared as the best warrior she had been demoted from Rank 2 to Rank 3 and lost her place on the battlefield.

And that was not all.

Her body, fatigued beyond the point of return, started the countdown towards its end. As if she was holding a time bomb.

"…Not yet."

Grinding her molars, Inuko started walking. She stared at Shinpu's figure growing far. 

She could feel her dim consciousness being gradually restored. By replenishing her iron, her limbs could finally move freely.

"I will not die here. At least in the end, I will die as a warrior—"

Inuko tried pursuing Shinpu again, but suddenly several presences appeared around her.

They were people wearing long coats and goggles. These combatants who numbered more than ten all brought out their Mushi.

"Central Headquarters member Asagi, we will have you come with us."

"…What does this mean?"

"There have been orders to detain you. We have also been granted permission to annihilate you should you resist."

The dumbfounded Inuko surveyed the people surrounding her.

"You say what…?"

She turned around, looking at the corner where Shinpu was gone. Yet she could no longer see the robe.

''I see, he didn't use his abilities to resist so he could prevent me from perceiving his location by his wave—''

A lonely smile spread on her face without her noticing.

"Ah, not again…"

More than simple vexation, something like sadness welled up inside her.

''I was once again left behind in battle—''

Why was that? Although she was supposed to possess everything needed for fighting, she felt like she was always being disturbed by fate.

''There's nothing as pitiful as a warrior hated by the battlefield—''

"Lower your weapon, Asagi."

The members slowly closed in on Inuko. She sighed.

"I have no intention of resisting, but can you tell me the reason? Why have you been ordered to restrain me?"

"The Central Headquarters needs reinforcements. You were the only one to have witnessed Shinpu, Asagi. We will promptly have you tell us the full story at the branch."

"You failed, you failed. It's not just 0 points, but minus even. What are you speaking about at such a late stage…! Not to mention, why are you prioritizing the interrogation of a member over the annihilation of Shinpu! Why do you think East Central Branch Acting Director Goroumaru changed the chain of command? It was for such times so we could refuse the orders of the Headquarters and have every branch make independent decisions, playing it by ear!"  

While Inuko spat out this tirade, the color of the members' faces changed. They clearly grew tenser and on guard.

"—Ah, it's fine. I'm tired of having to suppress my anger. If you want to restrain me or whatever, do what you want."

Inuko was about to return the hockey stick to her back. Relief started spreading among the members.

"—No, wait."

She once again checked the direction Shinpu had gone to.

Disappointment in herself—a feeling that should have been gone long ago—was reborn.

She gathered power in her limbs. Her stamina and mental energy were both quite restored.

"I changed my mind. I'm going. If you want to stop me, do come at me with your full strength!"

As Inuko grinned, a disturbance ran through the long coats.

She ignored the members that assumed battle positions and brought out her cellphone. Pushing in the proper number, the other party soon answered.

"Yo, it's me. …Hmm, good work. Sorry for this just as you've finished today's menu, but I've added a little something for you."

It didn't matter if a warrior liked battle or not.

What was important was fate.

Being loved by battle or not. It was irrelevant to the person's intentions.

''Just like I thought that boy has the making to become the strongest warrior—''

Feeling this intuitively, she was about to shudder.

"Are you listening? You're going to be playing tag. Soon a man wearing black clothes will be heading to where you're at. He's called Shinpu. You should be able to see him and understand who he is at a glance."

They were apparently able to feel Inuko's hostile intentions. The long coats' Mushi attacked her all at once.

"Catch that guy. Once you do that, today's training will be over."

Inuko's raincoat became shrouded in purple lightning. 

"Hmm? If you can talk back then get going already. Ah, you can use your motorbike. Don't forget what I've taught you. What'll happen if you let him escape, you ask? Well, it won't end pretty for you. I'll beat you up nice and good so that you won't be able to push food down your throat for three days. Oh right, let me warn you about something."

Inuko's voice talking in the phone mixed with countless screams in the back alley.

"Do be careful not to die. This is it, good luck."

Just as she hanged the call, the purple lightning surging through her entire body dispersed.

She rotated her hockey stick and returned it to her back.

"Forgive me for breaking one or two of your bones. You should even be thanking me for settling this without killing anyone."

In the span of several seconds, the long coats all yielded without anyone remaining.

"All of you failed."

Asserting this shortly, Inuko went in pursuit of Shinpu.