Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 8 Chapter 2 (section)

== 2.00 The Beast and Momo Part 2 ==
This off-limits area was wrapped in unbearable silence.

The only comfort was the round moon floating in the night sky. If not for the moonlight serving as the single source of illumination, he would have probably crashed into a hard iron pole.

A forest of steel—

That metaphor rose to mind.

The vast premises made of asphalt had orderly lined of rusted metal-made pillars.

Cables extending from tower to tower resembled a spider's nest. Because he was underneath that net, perhaps he was like a caught fly.

"Haa… Haa…"

In the electric substation ruins outside town, even the air seemed stagnant.

Being there, hiding under the iron poles and breathing heavily, perhaps he had been the first visitor there in a while. It didn't seem like any people have come to this place that reeked of the smell of iron.

"Don't overexert yourself, Daiske. Your wounds aren't healed yet…"

Kirari's voice echoed from his pajama's pocket. He brought out the walkie-talkie and spoke to it.

"Momo got inside even before me… Momo? Reply."

If he spoke loudly there was the concern his target would notice him. So he repeated in a low voice.

"Momo!"

"We can only pray for her safety… Daiske-san, just move and think only about yourself."

He grimaced. Being so weak that a civilian would be worried about him felt vexing.

"Can't believe I'm having trouble with such small fry…"

He was currently in the outdoors part of the substation. The electric lines extending from the other side of the fence were divided to the countless transmission towers, and probably went even further, toward town.

The old building visible from afar was a satellite facility. Extended by the moonlight, the shadow of the grass growing underneath the shut door reached the ground.

At present the substation was not in use. According to Kirari and Momo, the underground facility near the station had been completed a few years ago, so all functions had been moved there.

"I don't sense anything… where's it hidden?"

Stifling his footsteps, he moved to the next tower. And he kept walking from one tower to another.

"Where is it…?"

The premises were vast, but it wasn't just the area of the tower forest.

If there was any moving figure at all he couldn't possibly miss it—and just as he thought of this, he raised his face with a start.

If he noticed it even a moment later, he might not have been able to dodge the attack.

A shadow rushed at full speed down the tower, leaping toward him.

"…!"

Dodging the instant before it hit, he turned toward the figure that landed on the ground.

The two eyes glowing in the darkness glared at him for an instant. Soon it left him behind, running away quickly.

"You're not getting away!"

He had no insurance he could dodge the next surprise attack. He struck pursuit with full speed to not lose his opponent.

However, the field surrounded by cables and towers was obviously to the opponent's advantage. The boy was still not fully healed and the enemy's footwork was much too light. The distance between them grew larger.

"Guh!"

Bumping his shoulder against a transmission tower, he rolled on the ground. Yet he immediately rose up and kept chasing.

"Shit…!"

''I can't catch up—''

He was about to give up when he approached the exit of the area surrounded by towers.

"—Lock on!"

A figure was passing by the last tower.

"Attack!"

Someone leapt at his target from the side.

It was Tanaka Momo.

She had apparently waited outside the area. The shadows of Momo and the target overlapped and then rolled vigorously on the ground.

"Momo!"

His face pale, he leapt out of the forest of towers.

Immediately after, he widened his eyes.

"Wha…"

There was—no ground below.

A large hole opened in the middle of the plain, exposing the drainage and switchboards beneath the ground.

"Ahh…AHHH!!!"

Although there was no ground, it wasn't exactly a sheer precipice. Unable to stop immediately, he rolled down the bowl-shaped basin.

"Yelp!"

An impact and a groan like that of a dog.

"Ugh…"

While holding his dizzy head, he opened his eyes.

"Nihi."

The girl with "momo" drawn on her cheeks, Tanaka Momo, was grinning.

"Request successfully completed, yeah!"

The eyes glaring at Momo and him belonged to the powerful opponent they had been chasing all this while—

A chestnut-colored ferret.

"Ouch."

Although small, this fully-fledged predator scratched the boy's nose. Despite Momo being the one to capture it and not him, the ferret exposed its fangs toward him.

"He's scared of you, Daiske. Probably thinks you're mortal enemies, yeah."

While Momo was laughing, she shook the ferret's body. With its rear legs swaying, the nocturnal beast's glowing eyes drew arcs of light in the darkness.

''—Please capture the ferret causing problems to the neighborhood.''

This was the request handed to Handyman Kirari☆ the other day.

It was raised as a pet but presumably abandoned by its owner. The now-wild animal snuck into a certain building, ate a bird in its cage and devastated the kitchen.

"Shut up… it's just that I've always been bad with animals."

"…"

"Ouch! Don't turn this thing over here!"

"If you don't move first then I can't move… yeah."

Momo used the ferret to hide her expression, looking upwards at him.

He finally noticed that he had been pushing Momo down inside the hole in the ground.

Since his eyes were spinning, his sense of up and down was reversed. He hurriedly moved to the side.

"S-sorry."

"I don't know which one of you was the animal here, yeah."

For some reason the other beast, the ferret, wasn't afraid of Momo. The cold gaze of a girl and an animal pierced through him.

He rose up while scratching his head, grimacing at the dull pain.

"Ugh."

When he rolled down the hole, he apparently sprained his leg.

"And you're also slow… yeah."

His body had deteriorated more than he thought. His face flushed with embarrassment and shame.

"You wouldn't normally think there'd be a place like this. What's up with this…?"

"You came from outside town, right? So you wouldn't know. It became major news, though."

"News?"

"There was an explosion incident here. It was mystery with no known cause, yeah."

Furrowing his brows, he overlooked the hole.

The width of the gouged ground was about the size of a soccer stadium.

Contrary to expectations, the sloping surface was not made of ground or gravel. It was covered by asphalt as if it had melted down from extraordinary heat. 

If there really was an explosion, it should've been a large one. Would a mere short circuit cause this much damage?

"It happened a while ago. Since this place wasn't used anymore they kinda just left it like that."

"Hmm… but how did you know how to catch the ferret here?"

Momo grinned. Rising up while still holding the ferret, she climbed up the slope.

"Thou need to go. The answer thou seeketh shalt now appear!"

"What the heck…"

Dragging his sprained leg, he reached the edge of the hole.

"—"

What he saw in front of him made him go speechless.

The surroundings of the basin were a vast plain. The weed-covered asphalt was wrecked here and there as if a meteorite had landed there.

What drew his eyes, however, was that directly facing the basin was a single patch of flat ground that remained completely clean.

There was a large mark engraved there.

"Coatl Coatl Para Emile."

Momo's chant was carried by the night's silence.

He'd already heard the name of the symbol drawn in white paint countless times.

Coatl Head—

God's symbol that could grant any wish.

"I just thought you'd definitely come to this symbol too, yeah."

Next to him standing completely stunned, Momo wore the brightest of smiles.

The white symbol reflected the moonlight, sparkling.

"The explosion incident happened just as Coatl Head started gaining popularity… perhaps this even started the fad."

"…"

"Because of that, the local people started calling it a name other than Coatl Head. They thought of it as the first mark born from an explosive impact—"

Momo narrowed her eyes. Her profile carried the expression of looking at something truly important—but also a somewhat lonely expression.

"Coatl Hot."

The white symbol appearing in the station.

It had quite literally fanned the flames of the marking fad sweeping the country.

Although it was nothing more than lines drawn with paint, the symbol in front of his eyes—displayed its presence magnificently.

Momo turned around to look at him standing there.

"You shouldn't move anymore, yeah. Kirarin'll probably come to give you first-aid treatment soon…"

He nodded, simply letting his exhausted body fall down.

Seeing him sprawled on the ground, Momo smiled. She came next to him, the ferret still in her hands.

"I feel like maybe I can believe it a bit… Coatl Head."

"A bit's not good, yeah. You should be zealous!"

The beginning of the marking fad.

Lying on top of Coatl Hot, they gazed up the starry sky.

Perhaps thinking they were still chasing the ferret, Kirari didn't come immediately.

It wasn't that he forgot about the walkie-talkie; he simply didn't feel like using it.

"…"

He felt time slowly passing.

Even now while he was doing this, he couldn't tell when the power inside him would begin to grow restive.

Even just imagining this agony that might come upon him at any time was terrifying.

But now, when he could forget both pain and suffering and leave them behind—if he offered his body to his Mushi, he thought that perhaps he could simply vanish.

Right, if he just succumbed to this pleasant sleep, everything would become easier—

"You can't, yeah."

Still gazing at the stars, Momo mumbled.

"Don't fall asleep. I'll give you first aid… so go back on your own feet."

Go back on his own feet.

The mumbled words of the girl sounded extremely difficult to him right now.

His chest felt constricted, and he bit his lips.

"I'm tired…"

He didn't even try to hide his true feelings.

"You can't be so pampered, yeah."

Whether or not she knew how he felt, Momo spoke casually.

"It's fine already…"

"You can still keep going."

"I can't…"

"I'm telling you not to say that."

"I'm just telling that to myself… Just pretend being strong and keep living…"

"I know. I've seen you."

Momo's extended hand—wiped off the warm thing he felt on his cheeks.

"Then what are you telling me to do now…"

"As I said, let's go back."

"I no longer have the time and strength to…"

"So I have no choice, huh. You really are a trouble, yeah."

Momo leaned her face, looking at him.

"Then I'll take you home."

"…"

"In exchange… I'll tell you my secret."

"…Secret?"

"I know the origin of this explosion incident."

Momo once again looked up the starry sky. She patted the ferret who was scratching its nose with its front leg.

"There was a Mushitsuki here… but she's gone now. A Mushitsuki with a beautiful pattern on her body."

"…"

"She was a coward and a weakling… just a normal kid unsuited to be a Mushitsuki. But now she's gone… she was defeated by a girl carrying a suitcase. Apparently she was a Mushitsuki that should have never been born."

"…"

"This hole and this mark… Coatl Head is that Mushitsuki's grave."

Momo's voice was calm and collected.

"I haven't told this even to Kirarin so it's a secret, yeah."

He sank into silence for a while.

Now that he was exhausted and unable to use his powers as a Mushitsuki—he was ironically qualified.

He would take Momo's secret with him to the grave.

"Got it."

Since he could do nothing, he also couldn't leak any secrets.

"I won't tell anyone. I will protect… this grave."

"It's a promise then, yeah."

The white symbol was glowing by the moonlight.

The pair lying on top of Coatl Hot wrapped their pinkies.