Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 5th Episode 20 (section)

=== Part 5 ===
The powerful wind swept away the fierce rain it had brought itself far away in no time.

The townscape wet from the fleeting violent rain now sparkled under the moonlight. 

Just like a treasure box.

Did the people living in this beautiful world realize they were in this treasure-like moment?

Mari did.

For Mari, this entire day had brought her such happiness that no treasure could compare to.

Sitting in the bench installed on the rooftop garden, Mari gazed down the mortal world with a smile.

"What?! You were the one who decided to use Arisu for your training!"

Nearby, the boy called Kusuriya Daisuke was shouting at his phone. He was a Fusion Type Mushitsuki just like Mari, but unlike Mari he was a somewhat kind boy.

Daisuke had removed his goggle and wore a single shirt on his torso. His pitch-dark coat was currently wrapped around Mari's shoulders.

“I owe you one? It’s the other way! What? You wanna go at it, you stupid dog? Bring it on, I'll wait for you in the training ground!"

She didn't know who he was talking to, but Daisuke looked angry as he cut off the call. “’I knew I couldn’t really train so many unranked warriors’ my ass, after all this… go on your stupid journey and never return,” he cursed as he approached Mari.  

The boy's sneeze echoed on the rooftop. Although the rain stopped, the wind was still cold.

“Shall I return your coat?”

“It’s a hundred times better for me to get a cold than Arisu. Because she’ll definitely make me nurse her.”

“Isn’t it natural, with you being lovers?”

“What about us caused you to make that delightful misunderstanding, you idiot?”

It was the first time someone called her an idiot. She shrunk her body, asking if she was wrong. “Of course, you idiot,” he scolded her yet again.

Daisuke wore a displeased face and sat next to Mari.

Mari looked down the town encased with lights.

Daisuke looked up the starry, bright sky.

"Will you really do nothing to me?"

She mumbled.

Although she asked him for her wish, she didn't think he'd actually accept it.

“Because if you don’t turn back to Arisu… I’ll just kill the Morpho butterfly. That’s why.”

After staying silent for a while, the boy answered thus.

Daisuke seemed surprised at the way Mari chose to spend her remaining time.

''—Could we talk for a little while?''

That was Mari's wish.

Mari wanted to spend whatever time remained to her in rest.

She had already run around enough and fought enough.

She wanted to savor these moments to wrap up this great day—so she thought.

"You really are nicer than expected, Kusuriya Daisuke."

She said as if to mock him. Daisuke's expression was unchanged and he made no reply.

"Were the grim reaper and the rest your acquaintances?"

"They were SEPB trainees. As well as the one that tried turning you to a Fallen."

"Trainees?"

"The problem children from the SEPB I spoke about this morning. The instructor who gave them commands is sort of my acquaintance… or more like we have an inseparable relationship. It's too much of a bother to train them one on one, so she decided to use the one who’s giving the Headquarters trouble recently—meaning Arisu—as an opponent for real battle training.”

"…"

"Hearing that, I thought I’d warn you, but… since that trainee tried turning you to a Fallen first, it became more complicated. —They hadn’t reported anything to the higher-ups, including the fact there was a Fallen.”

Explaining this much, Daisuke scratched his head. He leaked a bothered-sounding sigh.

"Even so, it was quite the hassle. We probably won’t be able to fully hide this, but if we say the training just went overboard… I hope we’ll somehow manage. Seems like I’ll be in the debt not of that instructor but of that Miguruma woman, though.”

"Miguruma… Miguruma Yaeko."

"You know her?"

When Daisuke asked back in surprise, Mari vaguely mumbled in her mouth.

"Right, she… asked Sensei… about… kko… to ‘that side’… so—"

"Hey!"

Daisuke glared at Mari who was mumbling to herself.

"What do you know? There're plenty of things I want to ask you as well."

"I—don't remember anything."

He was probably thinking she was feigning ignorance. Daisuke's expression grew harsh.

“There are things I do remember… but I no longer know if these are my memories or not."

"…"

"Just like I explained before, my own memories were overwritten by the Maturing Morpho butterfly… no, actually it might be that…"

Rounding her body on top of the bench, she held her knees.

“I might also be… a personality created to mimic Hanashiro Mari. A fake.”

''Yes, just like Sensei—''

She added in her heart.

She had the feeling that she’d left her personality to her Mushi after receiving a hint from the strange Original Three called Sanbikime.

But there was no sense in talking about that with Kusuriya Daisuke.

Not yet.

"You left your Mushi so that you could become Arisu and keep living?"

Daisuke asked.

Arisu was probably seeking that answer.

Mari narrowed her eyes, smiling mischievously. She turned only her line of sight toward the boy’s face.

"If it was so, I'd be so cruel. Arisu… was my one and only friend."

Right, her one and only.

Arisu had become friends with Hanashiro Mari not out of sympathy or feeling bad for her.

And Mari was possessing the body of that important friend.

"I wonder… how it was."

Drowsiness weakened Mari's voice.

"Perhaps it was so. I mean—even just this day was unbelievably fun. I even thought that it was fine to betray my best friend, that I didn’t care about the name Hanashiro Mari…”

They were sinking.

The consciousness known as Mari…

Mari's dream…

They once again were being separated from this body and slowly being sucked into the Morpho butterfly.

"Yes, it was fun. Really, really fun…"

Her eyelids felt heavy.

She was very sleepy.

When she opened her eyes again, what sort of "Hanashiro Mari" would she become—

"Hey."

The boy's call made Mari raised her face.

Looking to the side, Kusuriya Daisuke grasped her shoulders. Since Mari falling asleep would bring back Arisu, why would he purposely try to rouse her?

"No—it's nothing."

As if regaining his senses, Daisuke left Mari's shoulders. He held his grimacing face.

"Sorry. I just… recalled the past a bit."

"…?"

“Just like you she didn’t want to give up but even so became—”

Although he almost said it, he apparently stopped himself. Perhaps angry at himself for falling to sentimentality, he clicked his tongue.

Mari chuckled.

It was just like she heard from Sensei.

He, a Fusion Type Mushitsuki just like her, was probably very strong.

Part of the reason for that was the existence of the other Mushitsuki he’d met.

“Is there… anything you’d like to you while you can?”

Perhaps he felt responsibility for waking her up again. She stared at Daisuke’s face as he said this sulkily.

"I want to see the sea."

"…"

"I'd like to go to the mountain too. And try to ride an airplane. Or go overseas. I wonder how it would feel like seeing the Arc of Triumph. I'd also like to ride a camel and see the Sphinx. Going on a shuttle to space would also be just as well."

All of them were destinations that the bedridden Mari would dream of when she was alive.

In the end—none of those came true.

“Please choose something that’s feasible tonight.”

As Mari counted on her fingers, Daisuke made a troubled face.

"If so, then…"

She lifted her index finger and smiled.

"’Follow Me’.”

"…"

“Ever since I was little, I was unable to play this and could only watch from the sidelines.”

She hadn’t even the slightest courage to join the circles of children.

Although she’d become a Mushitsuki and obtained great power, that didn’t change.

Perhaps Hanashiro Mari’s form as Hunter was born from her loneliness.

Mari, who had never played even tag, had a single source of happiness.

Battling Mushitsuki.

Her race with the SEPB trainees had been the same. She became a demon, running past those who pursued her.

Perhaps Mari had enjoyed it from the bottom of her heart.

Unable to join even the circle of Mushitsuki, she assuaged her loneliness by breaking it instead.

“I thought I had managed to enter the circle today—"

But she understood.

The one who actually participated was Ichinokuro Arisu.

The time she'd spent with Ena and Takako was as fun as could be.

The girl called Hanashiro Mari felt lonely.

The fun that had filled Mari that day belonged to none other than Arisu. It wasn’t Mari’s.

"I just thought I didn't mind if it was Arisu's—"

She was unable to wipe off the loneliness constricting her chest.

Today was very fun.

And, at the same time, it was also hell.

Was there anything worse than tasting happiness and loneliness at the same time?

Had she noticed this during the time she was alive?

"—"

Mari’s downcast face suddenly rose.

The girl's finger was wrapped by a warm sensation.

Kusuriya Daisuke extended his arm—and grasped Mari's index finger.

[[File:Mushi_Uta_Bug_5th_p311.jpg|thumb]]

Both when she was alive, as well as today, no one had been able to catch Mari, but that boy did.

It was just a little bit, but…

She felt as if the hole opened up in heart was filled.

"Since we've come this far, I'll play along to the end."

Daisuke raised his face, gazing up the fluttering Morpho butterfly in the sky.

"We'll find you—the true Hanashiro Mari."

Mari vaguely gazed up the boy's face.

Her dream dwindled away with her death.

But what if, the continuation of Mari's dream—what if it still remained in this world?

"The 'next' me… I wonder if she'll remember the 'current' me."

Would she remember her time today?

This time when this person called Mari managed to join the circle of people for the first time.

"I am uncertain."

It was her true opinion.

She didn't think she'd be able to remember in the end.

Even so Mari smiled.

"But if you will remember, it's fine for me to forget."

Her time today, given to her by a god’s whim as well as her cunning Mushi, had been very enjoyable.

At the same time it was hell.

But in the end—

"Let us meet again."

The dream still continued further—

She would wait for when Arisu called her again.

Allowing her to wish this while smiling, it was a great day.