Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 11 Chapter 4 (section)

== 4.00 Release ==

As the mist scattered, Daisuke’s sight was dyed in pitch-dark.

A black mass wriggled, gathered and flowed.

That was—a black cloud.

“…!”

Daisuke’s body shook. Noticing that he was looking up at the sky, he came back to his senses.

As he looked at his body, he saw that he was wearing his pitch-dark coat. He also had his pistol at his waist. Large goggles covered his face.

There was rain.

The sensation of the cold droplets and wind blowing from the side felt fresh.

Feeling his body with his five senses, he now clearly knew.

Until now he’d been dreaming and acting within that dream.

“Why am I in such a place…?”

His consciousness was still jumbled. He shook his head and looked at his feet.

The vast townscape spread beneath his eyes.

Akamaki City. He could see of the familiar buildings in this city that was once his residence.

Daisuke—was standing atop a high-rise building.

“I tried infiltrating Akamaki City and entered a mist… from then, I was supposedly shown an illusion. In the past Akamaki City, I…”

Daisuke had wandered into the Akamaki City of bygone days.

Mikko, Kii-kun, Rui, Kasshi.

He met the people naming themselves this, traveled with them and reached the land of the prophecy.

There, he saw it.

The moment when the Original Three were born.

The time when everything started and the world changed—

“Was that really just an illusion…?”

While pelted by the rain, Daisuke raised his hand.

A checkered beetle glowing in green landed on his fingertip.

He could use his Mushi powers—

Daisuke came back to reality.

“When did I get here…?”

It was certain he’d tried getting inside Akamaki City and was trapped in a fake world.

Even the fact that that mist was a Mushitsuki’s ability was within expectations. He still didn’t know who they were, but Daisuke probably fell victim to some attack and saw an illusion.

However, he had no memories of climbing up to the top of a high-rise building.

There were also doubts at him being completely unharmed. They should have been able to kill Daisuke whenever.

He couldn’t read the aim of this formless enemy.

In this confused state, while looking down the city—Daisuke felt that something wasn’t right.

“There are no people…?”

Fast food restaurants and the lines of office buildings in this main street were empty.

Never mind pedestrians on the street, he couldn’t even see any cars on the national highway.

In this now silent main road, only the sound of pelting rain resounded creepily.

“Am I still inside the dream…?”

Seeing this unrealistic sight, he had a bad feeling.

''—Because of us, this country will be filled with Mushi and reach its end.

This ominous prophecy declared within the world of illusion was reborn in his mind.

“—ear me? Please respond! Kakkou-san!”

Suddenly he heard a woman’s voice in his ears.

Daisuke startled, holding his ear.

“Kakkou-san! Are you safe? Please reply alreadyyy!”

“—Touko-san?”

It was a familiar voice. Apparently it was talking through the goggles’ wireless connection.

“Ah! Ah! Kakkou-san? It’s you, Kakkou-san! Are you fine?! You haven’t answered for a long while, so I thought the worst…!”

“I’m fine. Nothing… happened to me.”

“Are you fine? Really really? Are you not hurt? Why did you enter Akamaki City and immediately all signals were cut oooooff! Were you fighting someone?”

Touko’s voice was genuine. No one could hope to mimic this acting branch head who sounded so unreliable even now.

Finally feeling that he really came back to the real world, he felt some small relief.

“Don’t worry. As for combat—I haven’t fought, probably.”

“Probably? Then what are you doiiing! You hadn’t made your routine reports for two days straight!”

“Two days?”

He asked back without thinking.

He knew that he’d fell to this mysterious illusion attack and lost consciousness for a while—

And he’d been in the world of the past for two days as well.

“Did I really not make contact for that long? I was—”

“Why are you talking about it as if it happened to someone else! Where are you now? —Oh, I can pinpoint the goggles’ location from here! What on earth happened?”

“I don’t know…”

He had no other way to answer.

If he announced to her that he’d seen the past, he felt like she’d just worry more.

In the first place, he wasn’t convinced that this really what happened in the past.

“Geez! Immediately after you entered the mist, we lost all contact and the goggle location system couldn’t find you! I didn’t think you were dead because it’s you, but I still worried!”

“Sorry. I’m fine, but I can’t really grasp the situation for now. How’re things outside Akamaki? Inside things are a bit weird—”

“Ah, I know where you are, Kakkou-san—whaaat! Y-y-y-you’re?! That’s no good! You’re in a very bad place right now!”

Daisuke frowned.

“Bad place? What’s bad about it?”

“It’s about to get swallowed!”

Swallowed.

Daisuke couldn’t understand in the least the meaning of her words.

“Explain! What’s going on!”

“D-do you really not know what’s currently happeniiing?”

“That’s what I’ve been telling you!”

“N-not long after our contact was cut off… the mist covering Akamaki City cleared up.”

“Eh—”

Daisuke leaned from the building’s roof, looking around the empty streets. His coat was flapped by the wind, striking the fences behind him.

The mist covering Akamaki City cleared up.

If that was true, then why was it so empty? The SEPB should have been able to get inside Akamaki City as well—

“Although the residents of Akamaki City had been shaken by the mist, there were no casualties at all. But soon we received an emergency broadcast from the Central Headquarters’ information department. That, too, soon cut off due to certain obstacles…”

“An emergency broadcast from HQ? What did they say?”

“It was a urgent request of help. —Meaning, an SOS.”

Daisuke was lost for words.

The Central Headquarters asked them to rescue them?

The part of the SEPB that held the most fighting forces did?

“No way…?”

“They’re apparently locked up within the Stronghold—inside HQ’s base! Plus, there was fear that some dangerous being was released from within the Stronghold to the surface, so they sent an evacuation order to the city.”

“Central Headquarters being locked up? A dangerous being…?”

“We got in contact with the government and evacuated civilians to the designated area! Publicly we said that an unexploded ordnance was discovered, but this is impossible to hide anymore…”

“Why did it turn out like that? Doesn’t the Stronghold have Harukiyo?”

The devil was supposed to be in Central Headquarters.

Daisuke didn’t know what was his goal in remaining at HQ what, but he couldn’t believe that ridiculously powerful man would fall into that sort of desperate situation.

“I don’t knooow! Anyway, this is the situation… ah! It’s coming! Never mind everything, just run away! Retreat!”

“Retreat you say… but what’s coming—”

As Daisuke overlooked the landscape of Akamaki City, his eyes stopped at a certain place.

Something was revealed at the end of the national road spreading below.

An amorphous presence, completely black and like smoke.

It appeared from within the gaps in buildings as though crawling, slowly advancing to where Daisuke was, it seemed.

“What is—”

“R-run away, hurry! Several Northern Central Branch members that served as scouts were already eaten! Even you, Kakkou-san, can’t handle something like that alone…!”

Accompanying this black presence, it was actually something white eating the buildings.

It was as though white color was painted over a drawing of the city.

Thick and sticky, a foul white was encroaching Akamaki City little by little.

“—”

Finally, Daisuke’s eyes captured the identity of that creepy color.

Caterpillars.

There was no doubt about it.

Daisuke had once seen it—whether past or present, he’d witnessed it countless times.

The identity of the dangerous being released from Central Headquarters.

He realized what it was.

“P-please run away! Kakkou-san!”

Touko shouted.

“Shinpu’s main body was unleashed!”

Slowly.

But surely.

The large tidal wave of caterpillars dyed Daisuke’s sight in pure white.