Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 8th Episode 32 (section)

=== Part 5 ===

Silver rain poured on the beach.

The scales blowing on the ocean turned into a shining orb and fell above those who remained.

The Morpho butterfly’s wings were wrapped in light and hardened with the rain of scales around it.

And—

“Ari—su—”

Daisuke watched this, stunned.

Near the water’s edge, where waves came and went, sat a strange sphere.

A silver, glowing cocoon.

A Morpho butterfly cocoon held in place by protrusions and being hit by the waves.

“—”

Next to the cocoon there was the powerless Ichiku Kimitaka. His red eyes were slowly closing.

His expression distorted in anger was becoming calm and his jaw slackened. The Undying Mushitsuki looked down while on his knees and did not move again.

“Arisu…?”

Dragging his wounded body, Daisuke approached the cocoon. However, he didn’t even have the power to kick through the waves, so he lost to the water and stumbled.

Using both hands to raise his face from the water surface, he couldn’t even stand up.

He couldn’t understand what happened.

No—he actually already realized what Arisu did.

Arisu used the power of the Morpho butterfly and sealed the ability of the Undying tardigrade.

By offering herself as tribute.

By continuing to use her powers on the unbeatable existence of the Undying, she put him to sleep—

“Ari—”

With blood and seawater dripping down his hair, he was about to shout.

“—So I missed out on yet another delicious dream.”

A sweet whisper came down from the night sky.

Oogui looked down calmly on the cocoon Arisu slept inside in.

Daisuke raised his face.

Meanwhile, the meteor shower slowed.

The streaming stars watching over the Mushitsuki’s battle were vanishing.

“And she even took one of my cute Mushi along with her… what a naughty girl.”

Her rainbow pupils detached from the cocoon and looked down on Daisuke.

“…”

He looked up stunned at the swarms of Mushi surrounding him.

Nothing changed about him being faced with death. In just a few more seconds, Oogui’s Mushi would bite him to death.

Although he was in mortal danger—he couldn’t think of anything.

Both his feelings and his reason couldn’t acknowledge Arisu’s action.

“…”

However, Oogui’s Mushi did not come to attack him.

Oogui removed her eyes from Daisuke.

As if nothing happened.

As if she didn’t care that Daisuke disturbed her meal.

As if she’d already forgotten about Arisu sleeping inside the silver cocoon.

Oogui, looking to the great distance, sneered cheerfully.

“Ah, there’s another one—”

She would eat dreams and birth Mushitsuki.

She would keep eating and birthing.

The supernatural being called Oogui slowly floated into the sky.

“A delicious dream was born—”

Seeing Oogui who was going to leave for another new dream, Daisuke realized.

That was the being called the Original Three in the truest sense.

When a dream was born, they would eat it.

Mechanically.

People’s feelings and resistances didn’t matter.

As if the very existence of the Original Three was part of the system moving the present world and just kept existing.

Those who were simply part of the laws of nature had nothing but unsatiated desire and defensive instincts against the enemies standing in their way—

“—”

Daisuke stood up, wobbling.

This was the only chance.

Arisu had given up on her body to seal the power of Undying. Then Oogui also shouldn’t be able to use that power.

If he wanted to finish her off it could only be done right here and now.

If he let her escape now, Oogui would vanish somewhere in the world again. Since she would appear at varied places at random, the chance to strike her down would perhaps never come again.

“Oogui—”

He raised his gun and was about to step ahead with his shaking legs—

“—”

His bloody arm stopped. It had no power in it and only trembled.

However, he was warm.

As if he was scorching.

As if there was a bright-red flame dwelling in those eyes.

Harukiyo stopped Daisuke from heading toward Oogui.

“This is—the first and last time.”

While gritting his teeth so hard they looked about ready to scatter sparks, the flame devil spoke.

“Meaning, for me to stop you from wasting what Arisu’s done and die like a dog—”

Daisuke became speechless and looked up the night sky again.

“You’ll no longer stand in my way, right?”

Oogui turned to him, looking at him with rainbow eyes.

“Kakkou-chan—”

Daisuke stood in place, stunned.

Although he should have no longer any power to fight with Oogui—

“Ehehe…”

The form of the beauty narrowing her rainbow-colored pupils was wrapped in purple scales.

Forgetting even about her missed dream—

As if saying she didn’t even care about the girl called Ichinokuro Arisu snatching away one of her powers and going to sleep—

Wrapped in her glowing scales, Oogui was melting into thin air.

“Oh, but—”

Before vanishing, her red lips moved as if she recalled something.

“It does feel lonely to have less Mushi protecting me.”

The only chance—he didn’t know if it would ever come again, the best chance was vanishing right before him.

“Right… perhaps I will go to that girl who had that very delicious dream again and—”

Leaving behind this mumble Daisuke couldn’t understand, Oogui’s form vanished completely.

Remaining there were just the two boys covered in wounds, and—

The cocoon glowing in silver.

Ichiku Kimitaka, who slept with his head hanged.

Ena who was stunned kneeling on the beach and Takako snuggling up to her.

This.

Was the world Arisu changed.

The world that lost the girl called Ichinokuro Arisu in order to defeat a single despair, that of the Undying.

Daisuke was left in that truly calm world—

“—Haha.”

A snicker rose nearby.

“Haahaaa!”

The flame devil’s loud laughter echoed in this beach where only the ocean was heard.

“Look at this, Kakkou! The world did change somehow! This is a new world! As long as Undying’s not there, we might be even able to defeat Oogui! There might one day be a world without any Mushitsuki!”

As if invited by Harukiyo’s laughter, a small shadow floated in the sky above the coast.

Another one appeared, then another. These shadows growing in number—were a large swarm of flying Mushi.

Seeing their coordinated movements, he knew these were SEPB Mushitsuki.

“Nobody got turned into a Mushitsuki by Oogui and the Undying bastard was defeated! Isn’t this our grand victory, eh?!”

Daisuke cut through the waves, almost falling, and approached the silver cocoon.

He didn’t pay any heed to either Harukiyo’s laugh nor the SEPB members approaching the coast.

Finally, he reached the cocoon, gently touching it with his fingertips.

“—”

He ended up leaking a voice without thinking.

''Thump.

''Thump.

He could clearly feel a small ripple from the cocoon.

Arisu was sleeping inside.

While dreaming of a future where everyone lived, she was in deep sleep—

“—Well, shit.”

Harukiyo’s sneer stopped.

The flame devil in the edges of his sight was glaring at Daisuke.

No, not at him.

The burning eyes were staring at the silver cocoon.

“Welp, now that this idiot girl’s gone the world’s a lot more boring, though.”

Grimacing his wounded yet still masculine visage, Harukiyo looked up at the distant sky. He glared at the SEPB members heading there.

“I’ll get going.”

Daisuke still touched the cocoon, unmoving.

“How long’re ya gonna be standin’ there, Kakkou—”

Harukiyo’s body slowly tilted.

“Come and wake me up, huh… haha, suits me just fine. I won’t stop at nothing, though?”

Sneering boldly, the boy let his back sink into the water as if using the sea as a bed.

“Easy peasy—”

Along with the sound of splashing water, the flame devil vanished into the sea.

Harukiyo probably wouldn’t die.

He would heal his wounds and before long roam around the world with a happy sneer on his face.

But Daisuke—

“…Idiot Arisu…”

His shaking fingertips felt warmth.

He bit his lips.

Was the meteor shower slowing down?

As if saying that there was a silver glow right in front of them—

The world looked darker.

Just a little bit.

He stifled the groan about to rise from him.

“What am I—”

Harukiyo said this:

That the world had changed.

The possibility of a world without Mushitsuki was born.

However, for Daisuke that future felt like a distant world.

“What am I supposed to do without you…”

Did she want him to gather many Mushitsuki again like they did in this battle?

Should he make that devil flame his ally again?

Should he look for Oogui, whose whereabouts couldn’t be determined?

Even though right now only Daisuke remained there alone—

The girl who united Mushitsuki left him behind and went to sleep—

“…Without you…”

Hurt and knocked down as he was, he couldn’t even find words to tell the cocoon in front of him.

The girl who’d make him feel better—was gone.

As he cast down his gaze with his bangs over his face, he heard the sounds of kicking water approaching him.

“What does this situation mean?”

This familiar woman’s voice echoed from right near him.

“Kakkou.”

As he raised his face, he could see a suited woman from within his dribbling bangs.

Central Headquarters Deputy Director—Miguruma Yaeko.

“Conducting a fight without permission and this spectacle… how will you explain it?”

Daisuke made no reply. He no longer had the strength to open his mouth.

He could see two girls being restrained by members wearing white coats. Ena and Takako didn’t even resist and were taken by the members.

“It does seem like you weren’t the only one to have acted without any permission, though—”

Miguruma Yaeko kicked the water and peeked into the face of Ichiku Kimitaka who still looked down without opening his eyes.

Miguruma softly touched Ichiku’s face with her white finger.

“Director—”

She called him in a calm voice, unlike the one she directed at Daisuke. He couldn’t see the expression through her hair.

Ichiku made no move.

For a while Miguruma gazed into his face but finally muttered.

“—Looks like something different than the state of a Fallen. Is he sleeping…?”

On her mouth that had a mole on it she wore the smile of chains that could freeze anyone who gazed on it.

“And this is…”

Yaeko raised her face, turning toward the Morpho butterfly cocoon this time.

“This is—the Morpho butterfly? I cannot see Ichinokuro Arisu, though. Where is she?”

Daisuke made no reply.

“…Well, that’s fine. We will investigate this at Central Headquarters.”

Yaeko turned back. She spoke, still wearing her smile of chains.

“I will not ask you about your independent action here under the condition that you will not speak of what happened here. Of course—including the fact that the SEPB Director was a Mushitsuki. You are not allowed to tell anyone.”

Daisuke remained standing there stunned as Miguruma Yaeko spoke.

“I hereby declare your monitoring mission of the Morpho butterfly complete.”

Daisuke raised his face and looked up at the night sky.

“Good work, Blaze Class Rank 1 member, Kakkou. I permit you to return to the East Central Branch.”

There was a glow above Daisuke’s head as he still looked at the silver cocoon, not moving a muscle.

The last fragment of the meteor shower.

It fell and vanished in the faraway sky.