Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 13 Chapter 4 (section)

== 4.06 OPS3 Part 21 ==

She wore a coat as red as blood and behind her sunglasses, she had eyes in the colors of the rainbow.

She had a long hair and a long, slim body.

Physically she just looked like an adult woman.

“Oogui…”

Shiika unconsciously mumbled that creature’s title.

One of the Original Three who produced Mushitsuki.

She was their archenemy, who ate the most dreams of them all, who produced countless Mushitsuki.

Oogui’s ability allowed her to use the abilities of all Mushitsuki she created as her own.

Operating separately from Shiika and the rest, Harukiyo’s team had supposedly reached Sleeping Beauty right about now. If they woke her up, the Undying Mushitsuki she’d sealed would revive as well.

If that happened, Oogui would once more become invincible.

The time limit was approaching—

“Fufu—”

Oogui’s sneer as she floated far above echoed all the way down to the surface.

“It has been quite a while since I saw so many Mushitsuki together…”

Her response at having so much awe and hostility directed at her—

Was just that.

She then suddenly removed her eyes from their group and looked down someplace further.

“—You’re dreaming again, then?”

Gasping, Shiika followed Oogui’s gaze.

At a position removed from all these Mushitsuki there was a girl standing as though dazed.

“Ebina Yuu-chan.”

As she stood up and gazed up the sky, Yuu’s cheeks were wet with streams of tears. Purple scales drifted around her and shook eerily to entice the girl.

“Now… will you tell me your dream?”

Oogui’s rainbow pupils could see nothing but Yuu.

She didn’t even care about all the Mushitsuki gathered there to meet her. Had she simply not noticed so many Mushitsuki—or was she really not interested in them?

The answer was most likely the latter.

The Original Three would appear to a person with a dream, eat their dream and make them Mushitsuki.

Among them, Oogui had an especially powerful appetite.

“This is bad…! Protect Ebina Yuu!”

“We have no time! Let’s start!”

Aijisupa and Namie leapt to the frontlines of the Mushitsuki.

Although confused, they all started unleashing attacks toward the floating Oogui.

“Pull Ebina Yuu back! Now that she’s lured Oogui here, her role’s over! Bring her back to her senses!”

Namie’s orders made the mixed forces of Mushibane and the SEPB move.

The decisive fight against Oogui.

Although they didn’t want to, it started now.

“Oh…?”

As Oogui tilted her head, purple scales gathered in front of her.

These assembled into one spot, condensed and assumed the shape of a giant five-horned rhinoceros beetle. It spread its wings and became a shield against the attack of the rhinoceros beetle trying to hit Oogui.

“My ability…!”

On the surface, Kabuto groaned with clear hatred in his voice.

The five-horned rhinoceros was smashed and became purple scales again. Behind it, Oogui suddenly turned to Shiika as though only now recalling her existence.

“Neither Kakkou-chan nor Arisu-chan are here… but you are still going to stand in my way?”

Around the smiling Oogui, purple scales were condensing.

“—”

Every single one of the hundred Mushitsuki there became speechless.

Underneath the sky glowing in purple, what Oogui produced around her in the blink of an eye—

Was a number of Mushi comparable to the number of Mushitsuki on the ground.

She could probably use even the abilities of Mushitsuki who weren’t there. The Mushi of those people made Mushitsuki by Oogui assembled in perfect coordination as though they were military troops to look down on Shiika and the rest.

Witnessing the vast gap in their powers, the Mushitsuki’s assault stopped for a moment.

“Now, can you please give me Yuu-chan?”

Oogui’s Mushi attacked the frozen Mushitsuki.

She perfectly forestalled them.

Not only were they not able to attack Oogui, now they needed to be on the defensive. As the Mushi attacked recklessly, not even caring for mutual destruction, soon there were several screams.

“Calm down! Don’t get separated! Preserve your formation!”

Namie was desperately trying to stop them—

It wasn’t those Mushitsuki who grasped the opportunity for a counterattack.

“Oogui!”

The scream heard from the sky made Shiika raise her head.

An azure glow dancing way overhead intersected with Oogui.

It was Chiharu.

Her entire body glowing azure, Chiharu used her right arm to slash at Oogui—and tore a huge hole in the crimson long coat.

“Oh, this is Chiharu-chan, and… Aria. My, what good friends you are to get reunited like this.”

Although having lost everything from her shoulder to her hips in a single strike, Oogui was smiling.

Looking even higher above Oogui in the sky, Shirakashi Ubuki was dancing there. She had probably carried Chiharu and dropped her to Oogui.

“Damn…!”

Perhaps aiming for a deeper cut, Chiharu groaned painfully while in air. Gravity took its hold on her, and this time it was Recall who caught her.

“Interrupting my meal again and again like this, you really do resemble your beloved brother.”

Oogui laughed as though it was a funny joke while small Mushi came to her. The white objects gushing from her lower torso filled the missing parts of her body, and by kneading it together with their small legs she managed to retrieve her previous form.

“No—”

Akasegawa Nanana, who was watching the battle from afar, screamed.

“It’s not that Mushi… it’s not the Undying! Harukiyo hadn’t woken up Sleeping Beauty yet!”

Since Nanana was the witness to that large battle in the past, the Mushitsuki’s expressions changed.

“If she’s not Undying, she can be beaten! Go!”

Namie’s Mushi, the common albatross butterfly, burned away the soldiers made of scales on the surface.

Feeling a definite hope, the Mushitsuki regained their morale. Unheeding the fatigue they accumulated from stopping the debris, they kept repeating relentless attacks.

Although Oogui kept fluttering around to evade, Chiharu followed with more surprise attacks.

Even the Mushitsuki headed by Aijisupa, Namie and Kabuto wrung out loud voices to rouse themselves for this mortal combat.

And supporting all of them—

“Connect it all to Fuyuhotaru!”

Namie shouted.

This fight was connected to Shiika.

How many hopes and wishes she was carrying?

She knew this since long ago. Shiika had intended on steeling her resolve for this.

“—”

Even so—Shiika looked not at Oogui, but glanced at the entrance to the premises.

Space debris fragments were strewn all around the depression gouging the ground.

She couldn’t save Erii.

She wanted to save that Mushitsuki, yet failed. Erii had apparently borne a grudge against Shiika, but Shiika didn’t hate her.  She didn’t really understand it well, either—but at the very end, knowing that she cooperated with Chiharu, Shiika thought her impression wasn’t wrong.

Erii was someone who should be saved.

However, she had been unable to.

Helplessness and sadness filled her chest to the brim—

She felt just like when she’d heard about the death of her friend Tachibana Rina—

But this made her recall how powerless she was back then, when all she could do was get protected.

“At this rate, I’ll never get to eat Yuu-chan’s dream.”

''Twitch.

Shiika wasn’t the only one agitated by Oogui’s mutter.

The Mushitsuki focused on the battle all stopped moving.

“Chiharu-chan and Aria as well… are you not tired of this already?”

The moment Oogui smiled, the soldiers fighting against the Mushitsuki dispersed. Becoming purple scales again, they gathered above Oogui’s head and were being condensed.

Producing this way—was a purple firefly.

“—It’s here!”

It was just like they aimed for.

Starting with Namie’s order, all Mushitsuki began distancing themselves from Oogui at once.

“Retreat! Focus on protecting Alpha!”

“Will you really be fine, Shiika?”

While all her comrades were getting away, Aijisupa stood in front of Shiika, tired and with this headband soaked in sweat and blood. Shiika nodded at him.

“Yes.”

She could no longer avoid her confrontation with Oogui.

She couldn’t—complain.

“Leave the rest to me.”

Seeing Shiika speak clearly, Aijisupa nodded as well.

“…Don’t die.”

Aijisupa touched her as he left. She was glad at feeling his hand’s warmth.

She understood Aijisupa’s feelings. He was worried that Shiika was chasing after the footsteps of Tachibana Rina, the previous Mushibane leader.

But that was wrong.

The kind Rina attempted to save many Mushitsuki and took everything on herself.

However, unlike Rina, Shiika was hopelessly weak.

She only reached this far because her comrades supported her.

“It’s fine. —I will not die.”

The moment she mumbled this, there was no longer anyone around Shiika.

Behind her, the technicians brought in by Nanana were engaged in a fierce battle to transport Alpha. If the Mushitsuki also helped them, they should be able to move him to a safe place before there were victims.

“—Oh, Shiika-chan.”

Only now did Oogui notice Shiika being there.

Perhaps it was inevitable, because she was a being controlled by her instincts.

She was just trying to use this Mushi to kill everyone on the surface—not even caring that it was the very same Mushi born from Shiika’s dream.

Because of that being, Shiika—could bring out her full powers.

“Are you going to stand in my way as well? And after I went to the trouble of making you recall your dream…”

“This wasn’t thanks to you.”

Shiika raised both arms aloft.

A firefly glowing in white appeared within her hands.

“I’ve recalled my dream… because I had an important promise.”

''You too, one day—

The one who said this and waited for Shiika was Kakkou.

Not the true and real monster that was in front of her eyes.

“Break…”

Shiika’s firefly whispered.

“Break…”

The purple firefly whispered.

Two kinds of snow came down from the sky dyed in an abnormal color.

White and purple.

Two kinds of snowflakes slowly drifted down, and the moment they touched—

“—sssssssss”

All sound vanished from the outside world.

The sky dyed in purple distorted, twisted, and warped. Everything around the museum that Shiika could see from her position—the buildings, the lighting, the trees—all broke down, were smashed, inverted, was blasted into smithereens and erased.

“Break…”

“Break…”

Was everything around Shiika destroyed?

Or was space itself warped such that it looked like it?

It was possible she couldn’t hear anything due to the clash of two kinds of snow creating such a loud sound that her eardrums were destroyed.

Shiika and Oogui.

Only those on the surface and above in the sky preserved their original form.

Shiika tried pouring the white snow over Oogui’s. Purple snow tried pouring over Shiika. But the moment snow touched snow they cancelled each other.

“More…!”

“More…!”

It was a space where nothing existed except for destruction.

A world that didn’t allow anyone other than Shiika and Oogui.

One could say that this was a completely different kind of perfected world to the isolated space created by Special Type Mushitsuki. As Shiika lost even her sense of direction, she had no way to confirm everyone’s safety outside.

She wasn’t even sure how much time passed.

There was only one fact that showed the elapse of time.

“Fufu—”

Oogui laughed an alluring sneer.

On the other hand, Shiika—

“…Haa… haa…”

Her entire body was covered in rivers of sweat.

The accumulating fatigue and her expended spirit—these alone indicated the real passage of time.

Their destructive power was exactly tied.

Obviously. Because it was the same Mushi.

She knew this in the first place.

If this was any Mushitsuki other than Shiika, perhaps they would have thought of a way to better use their Mushi and overcome Oogui who was relying only on her ability.

However, Shiika’s ability was exceedingly simple.

Destruction.

It was no more than that.

“You understand it, right? Since it’s the same power, you will never be able to stand in my way, Shiika-chan.”

Oogui spoke kindly.

The difference between the two wielders of the same ability—was that of a person and a monster.

Oogui knew no fatigue, but Shiika was no more than a weak girl.

“Meaning, that… no one can stand in my way.”

In this world of intercrossing white and purple destruction, Shiika closed her eyes.

Tears fell down her cheeks.

“—I knew I can’t win…”

The truth she was trying to hold back leaked from her mouth.

“That someone like me could never beat Oogui…”

Even so right now as they were confronting like this—

What moved Shiika was no longer just herself alone.

People she met, people she parted with, all of them helped Shiika reached this final battle.

Their wishes and dreams, their powerful feelings pushed the cowardly Shiika from behind.

So she didn’t hesitate.

“But—this Mushi is packed full of dreams that are not only mine.”

“Bre—ak—”

The firefly raised by Shiika shook its body. It spread its wings with momentum, increasing its glow.

“More—more!”

Now she knew.

She knew exactly how Kakkou felt when he’d expended the very last of his powers in order to defeat Shinpu—

“More!”

The balance between the white and purple destruction was shifting.

Within the destroyed world, the white territory dyeing it was growing.

Shiika opened her eyes wide and shouted at Oogui.

“It’s completely different from that empty Mushi!”

Kakkou bet on his own power to defeat Shinpu.

So this time it was Shiika’s turn to bet on her power to defeat Oogui.

“Break a lot!”

White destruction pursued Oogui.

At the same time something was gushing out of Shiika’s heart with alarming speed.

She became a Mushitsuki, met Kakkou, then became a Fallen.

After becoming a Mushitsuki again, she met with Daisuke. For a short while—it was an unbelievably time of happiness.

She also met her friend Rina—

And went through many fights—

“I’m—”

She wanted to shout something, but soon forgot it.

In complete opposition to Shiika’s muddying consciousness, the white snow was clearly overpowering the purple snow.

“So you’re going to use up your dream here, Shiika-chan?”

Even now that the white snow almost reached her, Oogui kept her smile.

“If you do that you will Mature—and then kill all your friends outside, you know?”

Shiika shook her head and looked above herself.

White snow was falling down.

Flakes that were slowly falling down were aiming for Shiika’s firefly.

“Before I Mature—my own Snow will kill my Mushi.”

Oogui tilted her head, looking amused.

“So you’ll become a Fallen again. Do you think you can come back again?”

“Even if you don’t help me, I’ll definitely come back.”

Shiika said.

“And by that time, Kakkou-kun will definitely come back as well—”

''Let’s meet again next Christmas—

She promised this to none other than Kusuriya Daisuke.

This promise, exchanged between a normal boy and a normal girl, would definitely bring Shiika back.

“Because I also had… the same promise with Daisuke-kun!”

Seeing Shiika shed tears and shout, Oogui sneered. She saw the snow just about to reach her shoulders and spoke.

“Fufu… so I can’t eat that beautiful dream anymore. I wanted to eat a lot more of it, though.”

Even aware of her own defeat, Oogui was a being made of nothing more than appetite.

However, that Oogui tilted her head as though in caprice.

“However, that was a weird way of saying it.”

“…?”

“You spoke as if Kakkou-chan and Daisuke-chan are different people.”

''Creak—

A second away from touching Oogui, the snow white was slightly pushed back by the purple.

Shiika wasn’t agitated.

She wasn’t surprised, nor was she confused.

She simply couldn’t understand the meaning of Oogui’s words at all.

“—”

Eh?

Seeing Shiika frozen like that and unable to raise even that voice—

“Oh?”

Oogui sneered.

Completely unlike her smile thus far, it was an evil smile exposing her true nature as a monster.

“Did I get the wrong person?—no way, right? The Kakkou-chan and Daisuke-chan that me and you both know very well… I don’t think we’re talking about other people.”

She was paving the way for more dreams to get eaten from now on—

Oogui’s mouth, that looked as if it might start salivating, spoke of them.

“There’s no way there were two kids with such a delicious dream.”

She couldn’t understand what this monster was talking about.

Wanting to find a place he belonged to—

Wanting to find a place he belonged to—

The two boys just so happened to have the same dream.

Their figures overlapped in her mind.

“—”

For just a moment, their silhouettes fit perfectly—

And separated again.

Shiika didn’t want to think any further about this.

There was absolutely no need to think any further. Oogui was just lying because she wanted to save herself.

“What are you…”

Shiika tried laughing it off and focused on using her power.

However, Oogui didn’t miss her agitation.

“No way, have you been thinking of them as two separate people? I wonder how you made that mistake.”

The voice leaking from her lips dyed in red wrapped around Shiika like a snake.

Even if it was just being used to escape Shiika, it really was too ridiculous of a lie.

Did she really think Shiika was going to believe something so silly—

“When Aria made Daisuke-chan into a Mushitsuki I was there. So I’m the last person who’d make that mistake.”

A laughable, stupid lie.

Such a lie—

Such an impossible lie—

Was made by a monster?

“Daisuke-chan… is Kakkou-chan, you know?”

Her goggling rainbow eyes gouged Shiika’s chest.

“—No—”

Her mouth moved unconsciously.

However, her head was spinning thoughts on its own.

Daisuke and Kakkou had completely different voices and personalities.

Daisuke was a completely normal boy who met Shiika by chance and became friends with her. He invited her to a date while looking unfamiliar with it, and he was a kind high schooler who swung between joy and sorrow.

On the other hand, Kakkou was burly and strong enough that nothing could move him. To protect his promise to Shiika, he kept defeating more and more Mushitsuki so cruelly that they called him a demon.

The two were nothing unlike.

However—

“No—it can’t be—”

Unbidden, their images came closer again.

What if their behaviors were acting, meant to hide something?

''—What… should I do?

Even the kind Daisuke had shown her an adultlike face for a moment.

''—I’ll never give up. It’s a promise. So you too, one day…

Kakkou was supposedly cold-hearted, yet he showed her this confusion and kindness.

Recalling the two boys’ original warmth that they kept concealed—

“I mean—”

Daisuke and Kakkou.

The two boys’ images fit each other perfectly.

A boy who was kind while hiding both strength and weakness.

Above all else, the one who told her of the promise to meet Daisuke one year later was—

''—This is a message from that guy called Kusuriya Daisuke.

He told her this.

None other than the boy called Kakkou.

“Daisuke-kun is—“

Why hadn’t she noticed until now?

No, she’d never notice. She always thought of them as completely separate, and the worlds they lived in was different, too.

“Kakkou-kun is—”

She blocked her ears.

She didn’t want to hear her own voice.

She shook her head, eyes still wide.

“I—turned him into a Fallen—”

When she spoke about Daisuke, Chiharu was acting odd as well. Now she could understand why.

Chiharu, who was Kakkou’s older sister—was Daisuke’s sister. She never considered it, perhaps also because their surnames were different.

“Oh, you turned him into a Fallen?”

Oogui sneered. The eyes of a monster looking down on a human—were dyed in the color of pity.

“Kakkou-kun’s a Fallen—then, I—”

She was able to fight this far because of her promise with Daisuke.

Her responsibility to keep fighting as the surviving Rank 1. Her pressure as Mushibane’s leader. And even her painful separation from a friend. She was able to bear all of these.

Even the weak Shiika was able to hold back her fear and keep walking, all for that day’s sake.

Even so—

“Because of me, Daisuke-kun is—”

She felt as though something audibly crumbled within her.

It was probably her most important part.

“Oh, poor, poor Shiika-chan.”

As Shiika fell to her knees, Oogui looked down at her, amused.

“There is no longer anyone—waiting for you.”

Shiika blocked her ears and arched her back.

“Ah—”

If Kakkou and Daisuke were the same person, had she been deceived?

No.

They—no, he—wasn’t that kind of person.

But if so, why had he concealed this?

Without knowing anything, Shiika—

One was a friend.

And the other she liked.

Their promise to meet again—

“Aaaaah—”

Since Shiika was rounding her body and denying the truth she suddenly came to know, she hadn’t noticed at all.

Shiika and Oogui’s battle had already finished.

Coming back to the previous world, Aijisupa and the others all rushed toward her.

The two fireflies vanished—and Oogui brought back her hordes of Mushi again.

Also—

“O-Operation 3…”

Looking down at the unmoving Shiika who was unable to withstand the truth—

“Has failed—”

Kabuto informed this to the Headquarters through his goggles.