Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 11 Chapter 2 (section)

== 2.05 The Others ==

“You said you were in your second year of high school, Kasshi. Well, are you enjoying school?”

“…More or less.”

“What country are you from? I can tell from your looks you’re western, though.”

“…”

“Your Japanese is good!”

“…Thanks.”

So annoying.

Kashua found Rui’s way of talking to him as if they were friends very disturbing.

Even more than the large swarm of Mushi chasing them from behind.

Despite this being their first meeting, more or less, and it being a relationship of mutual suspicion, he couldn’t understand why the older man was communicating with him like a long-time friend or perhaps a parent.

“Have you been here for a long time? Made any friends?”

“…A little.”

Kashua and Rui were doing well leading the Mushi inside Castello.

Kashua trained himself every day, but Rui also seemed to have considerable stamina. Despite him wearing a suit that looked difficult to move in, he didn’t show any signs of fatigue. However, if he got tired and was eaten by those Mushi, it would be a bit quieter.

“Got a girlfriend? I’m sure you do, with how handsome you are!”

“…”

“Use contraception, alright? Or well, if you intend to take responsibility, you don’t have to! Just like me!”

Rui laughed and struck his back. This was the first time he felt like killing someone ever since he came to this country.

“…I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“I see, how unexpected! You look like you’d be popular.”

That’d be a problem. If it looked unnatural for him to not have a girlfriend, he needed to make one.

“It’s fine, you should experience love while in school—”

He kept running, only nodding and humming to Rui’s stupid words.

He was worried about Mikko’s group that split from them. It would’ve been ideal for the two of them to be together, but because of the incident last night he knew that was impossible.

There was no need to panic. Leaving Kii-kun aside, Daisuke was there.

That band-aid boy had the same scent as him.

Although he looked average at a glance, he should actually have considerable battle experience. A mere brawler wouldn’t be able to get behind Kashua so noiselessly. He couldn’t have any military training at that age, but he probably was trained by some special organization.

“Girls your age love surprises. They want a little bit of spice in their daily lives—”

It was certain that Daisuke was watching over Mikko for some goal of his.

If Daisuke really was the same kind of person as Kashua, his goal was clear.

Undying—as well as Mushi.

If he could go back with those secrets, the country Kashua belonged to would acknowledge his results. Even if it was just this failed Undying and the monsters that were even below animal intellect.

Kashua had been sent to this country to grasp the identity of a certain abnormality.

If he could accomplish that splendidly—

Thinking that far, his mood sank.

He did what he needed to do, so he knew what would happen with him.

He would just get sent to another unfamiliar country and repeat something similar—

“What, you have no confidence in talking with girls? Don’t make that face.”

“…I’m not making any face.”

Suddenly, the events of last night passed through his mind.

''— You are empty, like a living corpse.

The girl with a cold, Mikko, hit the mark as she said this. So finally he raged, but—

''—However, I like you like that.

She said that Kashua needed to decide himself what he wished for.

Without being given it by someone, without being forced, the way he wanted to live his life.

''—Right now, you are freer than anyone.

How silly.

Free. Those were the furthest words from Kashua possible.

Not even once since he was born had he felt free. If he got freedom at this stage, he would just be troubled.

“Smile more! Being a little more friendly would make your life better, Kasshi. Are you in your rebellious phase?”

“Shut up.”

He would leave Mikko’s questioning for later.

He needed to start with this man—with Rui.

As a member of the Round Table, he was apparently also connected to Mikko’s father’s research. He would obviously be able to get some information from him.

Even if he died after torture, if Kashua said he was eaten by Mushi, no one would suspect him, most likely.

“Let’s pick up our pace, Rui. We’ll get cornered like this.”

“Is that so? Well, that’s fine.”

Rui smartly agreed. Kashua wanted to doubt whether he really was a member of that influential, powerful Round Table.

He decided to get away from these Mushi, lead him to a suitable place and torture him there. Kashua was equipped with both the knowledge and the tools for that.

It wasn’t just torture. Science, physics, math, electrical engineering, mechanical—Kashua had all kinds of knowledge hammered into him since childhood.

“Say, Kasshi.”

“What now?”

It was probably yet another cheap love theory or teaching. He was sick of it already.

“Do you have any family?”

“…”

“Probably not.”

How did he understand that—

It wasn’t supposed to mean anything for him, but for some reason he felt pissed off.

“Look at this. My daughter. Cute, right? Isn’t she the beauty of the century? I can’t wait for her to grow up.”

He showed a photo he took from his pocket. It was a small child wearing—no, being forced to wear a dress.

“…And?”

“I’m asking if she’s cute! Say she’s cute!”

“Yeah, real cute, that one. So put it away already.”

“Alright—you pass.”

Cheerfully putting the photo back in his pocket, the youth—

Stopped running.

“Wha—”

Kashua also stopped without thinking.

Obviously, as the space between them shrank, the Mushi pursued Rui who stopped in place.

“Have you gone mad? Run!”

Rui didn’t seem tired. Rather, he wore a light smile.

“Rui!”

Even when Kashua called to him, Rui didn’t try to move a single step.

''Does he have some idea…? No, that can’t be! Does he want to die? Even though he just told me he can’t wait for his daughter to grow up?

Kashua’s thoughts ran around his mind the fastest they ever did.

“Hey…!”

Rui made no move. All he did was direct Kashua with a testing gaze.

''I still didn’t get any information from him…! No, there’s still Mikko for information! But just in case, what if she’s already dead? What’s the value of risking myself here to save Rui? Shit, this idiot, what’s he thinking—

Instead of his unceasing thoughts, his body moved.

Kicking the ground, Kashua danced at the speed of an arrow and pushed Rui aside.

“Woooh!”

He stabbed the Mushi consisting of only a body with a hidden knife before it crushed Rui.

He put in entire body’s weight on the blade stuck between the gaps in the Mushi’s sinews.

Pitch-black bodily fluids drew an arc in the air. Trembling painfully, the body was thrown to the ground, right into the path of the charging Mushi.

One of them managed to avoid this clash.

A Mushi made only of legs attempted skewering Kashua with its sharp claws.

“Ha!”

Instead of Kashua who couldn’t defend in time, Rui emitted a sharp breath. As if using some magic, the super-heavy claws flowed over Rui’s arms and deeply stabbed into the ground.

However, he wasn’t completely unhurt. Rui’s arm tore and blood sprayed.

“Alright, let’s skedaddle, Kasshi.”

Turning around, Rui wore a mischievous smile.

“—”

Kashua experienced “coming back to his senses” for the first time in his life.

Grabbing Rui’s collar, he rushed.

“Wah, w-wait, Kasshi! Calm down!”

Still holding the youth’s chest, he rushed away at full speed from the Mushi.

In moments they got away from them and flew inside a temple with carved statues. The inside was apparently a gift shop and he pounded the youth against a shelf full of merchandise.

“—Are you insane? Or are you suicidal?”

He put a small syringe against the back of Rui’s neck.

“Well, I don’t care. Do as you wish. Just wait until after my torture and do it where I can’t see you.”

“…Do you really have no family? Parents? Siblings?”

“Obviously not. I hadn’t wished for it, but I was born from artificial insemination. So what? Are you telling me that I won’t know how it feels? I don’t want to know either.”

The sharp needle stabbed into Rui’s neck. All that remained was injecting him with the chlorine.

“I have no interest in the feelings of a parent—who decides to abandon the daughter he loves like that.”

Rui laughed.

“Kasshi, do you—want to become my adopted son?”

The fingers about to inject the medicine stopped.

His thoughts did, too.

Were his ears broken?

Hearing these incomprehensible words, Kashua let his mouth hang open.

“Of course, only if you’re not against it.”

What was that guy even saying—

Adopted son? Was he saying that he wanted Kashua as his child?

Despite them being complete strangers until yesterday? Despite being only two or three years beneath him in age? By the guy who was told he was about to get tortured and got his neck stabbed by a syringe?

Now the man in front of him seemed even crazier than he had when he threw himself at the Mushi.

“Why—”

“If you really had someone important to you… you wouldn’t get so angry, being told you were empty.”

Rui was apparently talking about what happened last night.

Was Rui saying he sympathized with him just from this?

“The person I loved the most in the world died soon after giving birth to my daughter. At that time, I became just as empty as you. Once you thought that—I stopped thinking of you as a stranger.”

“…”

“Leaving the talk about adoption aside, stop thinking about doing those things to me. The Round Table have their pride. Those who lay a hand on their members would definitely get taken care of.”

“—If I die then they’ll just send a replacement. This time they’ll investigate not from the outside like me, but even deeper.”

He prophesized this. It was already decided.

If Kashua were to die, the next agent would get sent. And this time it would definitely be someone far better than Kashua, who could secretly infiltrate the very bottom of this.

“I’m talking about you.”

Rui looked Kashua straight in the eyes. He didn’t seem scared of the syringe at all.

“Become my family, Kasshi. You should be the one to realize the most of anyone that there’s no other way to save you, right?”

No matter how he seemed, he was part of the Round Table—so he’d apparently long since seen through Kashua’s identity.

Those backing Kashua were powerful. Therefore, he couldn’t pull out on his own, and gaining a half-hearted collaboration didn’t change the impossible.

However, any relation to the Round Table, and a familial one at that, was another story. The closed, conservative Round Table would do anything in its power to cover for families, and would probably defend him to the last. No one could get through that power of solidarity.

He could become free.

He could have a family.

He didn’t dare to imagine this—because if he did, it would’ve probably been more painful, so glimpsing this future he never thought of confused Kashua.

“This is just sympathy—”

“At first it was. But I wouldn’t welcome you as family so easily. But you saved me. Weighing it against your mission—you saved someone’s parent, me. I like you.”

Rui was probably just trying to shake Kashua and prevent him from killing him—

Kashua didn’t think so because he saw Rui’s serious eyes. Those black jewel-like eyes felt as if they exposed not only their opponent’s hearts, but even Rui’s heart itself, showing it to him.

“Don’t think too deeply on the important things. Acting based on your guts is enough.”

Rui smiled.

“If we become family, wouldn’t it be fun?”

How stupid.

However, Kashua couldn’t mouth those words.

“As a special bonus, you’ll also get the world’s cutest sister.”

Certainly true. Kashua saw the picture and said the child was cute.

“…You must be crazy, but did you really think you could convince me so easily?”

“So stubborn. Is this what they call a tsundere?”

He injected just a little bit of chlorine when something happened.

“Uwaaaaah!”

A scream came from the outside.

It sounded familiar.

“Tch—”

Kashua pulled out the syringe from Rui and peeked out the building.

“What is he doing in here…?”

“Apparently he got separated from Daisuke and Mikko.”

While rubbing his neck, Rui stood next to Kashua.

The topknot boy approached them, drawing Mushi after him.

“Gyaaaah—aaah! Kakaka, Kasshi! And Rui! Save meeeee!”

It was Kii-kun.

Because he shouted so loudly, the Mushi that Kashua and Rui got away from responded. The now united large swarm of Mushi pursued them.

Rui sighed.

“That guy’s got bad timing. —You can respond whenever you’d like.”

He apparently didn’t intend to acknowledge the fact he was saved from death.

“…It was because saving you was so stupid that it made me mad. And me saving Kii-kun now—is because what kind of human would I be if I didn’t save that sorta guy?”

“Sure, sure.”

Kashua and Rui leapt out of the building and united with Kii-kun.

“Ah, I’m so relieved! How dare Daisuke and Mikko abandon me like thiiiis!”

He was crying pathetically, but Kii-kun had no wounds anywhere on his body. Including the fact he managed to find Kashua and Rui, he seemed to be quite lucky.

“You’ve done well to survive, Kii-kun.”

As Rui smiled cheerfully, Kii-kun protested with sobs.

“Don’t speak of it so easily! I really thought I was gonna die! Thinking I might really die—die? W-wait, what? I was definitely about to die—what happened back then?”

He was apparently confused from fear. And he even became unstable.

“I’m so glad the two of you are fine, you guuuys!”

“If we needed you to care for us, it’d be the end of us.”

“S-shuddup! I don’t want to lose any more frieeeends!”

Friends.

Kii-kun probably said that without any deep meaning.

Therefore, Kashua neither grew angry or ignored him—

“Who’d be your friend?”

Kashua’s mouth curled into a smile.