Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 12 Chapter 3 (section)

== 3.00 OPS2 Part 1 ==

Why had he been watching others fight from afar?

There were several reasons.

There was also a proper reason he was watching “that scene” and doing nothing else.

“Among everything I’ve seen, this was for sure the most boring.”

He was at the closed down shopping district. And visible from afar—

Was a large swarm of caterpillars.

No, a “large swarm” was too lukewarm of an expression. Even while swallowing the capital’s buildings, this tidal wave of caterpillars kept increasing the range of their encroachment. It was as though a filthy, dirty giant was crawling on the ground, advancing while eating the earth itself.

It was the same when the unleashed Shinpu encroached Akamaki City.

He was at the neighboring Higano City at the time.

“Never thought I’d feel nothing at all while watching Shinpu—Diorestoi struggle for his life like that.”

Standing atop an abandoned luxury car, he mumbled. Being fanned by the blowing wind, his red hair and the hem of his jacket blew behind him. Flickering heat and white smoke leaked from his mouth shaped in a bold smile.

“And he pissed me off so much before. Meaning I’ve grown up since then.”

“Well, that was two, three years ago.”

Saying this was a boy who stood near the luxury car. He then added with a sigh,

“Don’t worry, since then you’ve grown into an old man in many different senses.”

Slender and petite, his appearance was young, with distinguished large pupils. Whether he said he was in middle school or high school, both would make sense. The hairpin holding his hair was the kind you’d see a lot on Halloween, an accessory shaped like a pumpkin monster.

“…Sexual harassment…”

A girl in her late teens standing next to the pumpkin boy mumbled this.

She dyed the area around her eyes black and on her head was a black tulip flower. Including the scarf around her neck, she was clad in all black. Since she was dressed like she was in some sort of horror movie, even her gloomy mumble had a punch.

“Yeah, he’s done a lot to us. We should sue him sometime and get a lot of money.”

“I’ve written it all in my diary… evidence…”

They were the only people in the shopping district.

The government-issued evacuation order reached even Higano City. Since this evacuation was of an unprecedented degree and almost hysterically forceful, no one could imagine the financial damages it would cause.

“Still, though, can the SEPB beat those caterpillars alone? I heard Kakkou’s gone missing.”

“He’ll come out soon enough. It’s a fight against the Original Three, after all.”

A laughter spilled from the man’s mouth with some flaming sparks.

“Then—there’s no way that bastard won’t come out.”

Kakkou wished to fight against the Original Three.

There was a reason why Kakkou, who only thought about his own survival, turned out like this.

That reason being—the same reason for the man to be watching this battle from a distance.

The Gothic Lolita girl muttered.

“…Fuyuhotaru…”

“Ah, so Fuyuhotaru-san’s also there. If Kakkou-san and Fuyuhotaru-san were to join hands, they might actually win.”

“Haha. Like saying that you’d be strong if you had two kings in shogi? I think it just means more weaknesses.”

The boy raised a brow at these words, but he soon appeared to lose interest. He crossed his arms behind his head and leaned against the luxury car.

“Now that Miguruma Yaeko’s unconscious I thought this was our final chance… but in the end, Sleeping Beauty wasn’t in the Underground Fort.”

“We haven’t finished looking everywhere though. Let’s go look up the remaining places.”

“Eh? We just came up back to the surface, are we diving in again? —Look here, now that we’ve looked so much and found nothing, don’t you think Miguruma just took her long ago and hid her far away? And if not that…”

The boy’s tone of voice dropped.

“It means that Sleeping Beauty—doesn’t actually exist.”

“…”

The man grinned. The air surrounding him sizzled.

“No need to get angry. I mean, it’s natural. I only know very little because I took no part in the battle that made her Sleeping Beauty. And everything about that fight sounds fishy as well.”

“I ain’t angry in the least. I just remembered a bit.”

“What, exactly?”

“—‘Was there really a Mushitsuki like that?’”

A smile remaining on his mouth, he leapt down from the luxury car.

“Everyone who got involved with that woman would say the same thing.”

Turning his back to the pumpkin boy and the Gothic Lolita girl, he started walking.

“Wait, where are you going. To the toilet?”

“I told you, I’m going down. Down here’s also connected to the Central Headquarters’ Underground Fort. A place meant for gathering Fallen, simply called the Prison. I’m going there as long as Miguruma doesn’t wake up.”

“…Our last break…”

“Don’t exaggerate. All I’m doing is go visit a past acquaintance.”

“Exaggerate? Haha, so that’s what waking up that girl is all about.”

Not even turning back, his jacket was grabbed by the boy. As though unable to bear it anymore, he pointed at Akamaki City being swallowed by Shinpu.

“Are you really going to leave Shinpu unchecked like this? I’d only taken a little peek, but the scale’s too different this time! Even with Kakkou-san it’s doubtful whether they can win… if they lose, who knows what the world will come to? —No, that’s irrelevant. Aren’t you getting excited, seeing that? Rather than imitating a mole, wouldn’t monster extermination be a lot more fun?”

“If you wanna go, have at it. Not gonna stop ya.”

Not minding the boy, he kept walking, dragging him behind.

“I said this before, but I’m not interested in the least. Neither about the world nor the Original Three.”

“Honestly…! You’re only thinking about that past woman! You really aren’t interested in this fight now?”

“My head’s full of nothing but her.”

A scene from the past revived in his mind.

While the night sky was overflowing with comets, she hugged the worst disaster and fell asleep—

Ever since then, his “present” was frozen.

“I’m obsessed. I have to see her face as soon as possible.”

It was a bit like falling in love. However, it could also be termed as the exact opposite emotion—

The force pulling on his jacket increased. The Gothic Lolita joined the boy.

“Ugh! If you say Sleeping Beauty’s so interesting, you leave me no choice but come along too! How dare you play with my pure heart!”

“…How dare you…”

As he walked while dragging these two, he felt the presence of a person ahead.

This shopping district was supposed to be empty.

However, hiding behind the shadows of power poles, a small figure looked at them.

“Hey, we’re being watched by someone. —Heeey, you there, if you don’t run away, this scary mister will play a prank on you? Oh no, sorry, I mean a caterpillar’s gonna eatcha?”

As the boy called out, the figure twitched.

“Oh, they ran.”

The figure ran away noisily. However, soon they changed the orientation of their body.

“Ah, they came back. And they’re coming here, too.”

From the fact they shook so much while approaching, it looked like some sort of punishment game.

“And now they’re holding something they pulled out of their pocket.”

The boy kept narrating every single thing.

Appearing in front of them was a person clad in a bizarre hoodie. As petite as the pumpkin boy, the only part of their face that was visible were teary eyes. For some reason many of the hoodie fasteners were closed, hiding even the person’s mouth. The hood looked like a lop-eared rabbit.

“…A love letter…?”

The Gothic Lolita girl mumbled. Lop-Eared presented a single slip of paper.

The man received the paper and opened it. He read its contents silently.

“—”

When had he last been so shocked?

At the very least, he couldn’t remember any such occasion since the night of the meteor shower.

Raising his face from the paper, he glared into Lop-Eared’s eyes.

“Ha—”

A small flame spilled from his mouth.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!”

The three petite teens looked at him laughing out loud in astonishment. Lop-Eared shook so much they looked just about to faint on the spot.

“—I really hate this.”

Finally stopping laughing, the paper in his arms burnt down and scattered. “Hey, show it to me too!” the pumpkin boy protested.

“I’ve got no interest in the ‘present’. You deal with that by yourself. —You’re not tryna meddle with me and drag the past out into the present, right?”

Being glared by burning eyes, Lop-Eared trembled.

“Still, you’re amusing.”

He grasped hard the head of Lop-Eared who was about to dash off at any moment. Looking again into those teary eyes, just like the paper said—they looked familiar.

[[File:Mushi Uta 12 p325.jpg|thumb]]

“Alright, come along.”

Spitting this, he started walking again.

The one surprised at these words was the pumpkin boy.

“Eeeeeh?! W-wait a minute! They’re coming along? I never heard you say that! You were always telling people ‘suit yourself’ and stuff like that!” 

“…Unfair…”

“It’s alright, this person’s our guest.”

“They’re probably not even a Mushitsuki, right? I mean, I’ve never seen such an anxious Mushitsuki before! 100% a liability! —Shit, I’ll spread the word! I’ll gather up some especially troublesome brawler-types, gang up on you and bully you!”

“You can call whoever you’d like, but tell them this.”

There was something he felt from a while back.

That he was nothing more than—a “survivor”.

He was someone who lost a battle he should have won and kept leading an unsightly life.

“If you come, you’ll probably die—that’s it.”

Sleeping Beauty exited the stage and Lady Bird died.

Even Kakkou who was fighting right now probably had only little remaining time.

The “survivor” among the dwindling numbers of Rank 1s.

And the flame devil.

He had various names—but was called Harukiyo.