Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 14 Chapter 1 (section)

== 1.10 Rina Part 8 ==

As expected, Rina’s wish failed to reach God.

As she woke up, Rina’s eyes reflected two girls. One was a prim and proper young lady with her long hair tied elegantly, while the other was a short-haired girl.

They were Ena and Takako.

“—Ah, I see.”

Rina moved just her face to grasp the situation.

She’d collapsed in the emergency exit of a building complex. Packed between the rusted emergency stairway and the trash disposal area, it was a place that wouldn’t catch people’s eyes.

Ena and Takako returned and brought Rina there, most likely.

“I promised to tell you about Arisu… and that guy, right.”

She raised her upper torso from Takako’s lap. The inside of her head felt fuzzy again.

“Sorry. It’s not like I forgot. If things weren’t like this—”

“I won’t ask.”

“Eh?”

As Rina raised her face, she saw Ena arched her brows. Her eyes were misty.

“If you think we came back here to ask about all that—I won’t do that.”

Ena looked angry.

Looking at Takako, she smiled bitterly with a troubled expression.

Seeing the two of them, Rina’s expression crumbled. She understood why they came back.

“So you… worried for me. Thanks.”

While brushing back her hair, she thanked them earnestly.

The two girls suddenly looked embarrassed and blushed. They elbowed each other.

“…? What is it?”

“Say, Rina. You’re definitely a beauty, so why are you wearing that mask?”

“Ehh?”

“Err, I apologize. You looked like you were suffering, so I tried removing it while you were sleeping, but I couldn’t—”

“…”

“You have slender limbs like some actress, your voice is clear and you’re so thin… ah, no. It’s not like I was ogling you while you were sleeping! I just looked a little!”

“Also, you are very strong—I talked a little with Ena-san about this… you’re probably someone very incredible, Rina.”

“Ahaha, well, thank you.”

She was used to being viewed with eyes full of admiration and respect. In complete opposition to her own self-evaluation.

However, as she saw those two having fun speaking even in this kind of situation, she was shocked at their strength. Could two normal girls who weren’t even Mushitsuki be so strong and resolute?

“Ah… Rina-san, you can’t get up yet. You should rest a little more.”

“Sorry, are you mad?”

Takako and Ena stopped Rina from getting up. She smiled bitterly.

“Why are you mad? If you’re fine with my legs you can look as much as you’d like, though—”

“What about touching, then?”

“…”

“Please, don’t make that face—well, I can’t see your expression, but still. Ena-san has acquired the habit to latch onto the things she likes and not let go. The poor girl…”

“…That doesn’t really matter… sorry. I’m in a hurry.”

She pushed back Ena’s face leaning toward her rather forcibly as she spoke.

“I have comrades who are waiting for my return. I must save them as quickly as possible.”

It was still light outside. Apparently only little time passed since Rina fainted. As long as her body could move, she had to hurry.

“So, about Arisu—and that other guy.”

Rina put a hand on the wall to support her tottering body.

Several black arms came flying out of that dirty asphalt wall. The arms of ghosts, unseen by Ena and Takako, stuck to Rina’s body like heavy mud, clinging to her.

Ena and Takako’s faces twitched.

Although she said before she gave up on asking, she was probably still curious.

“Arisu… had been sleeping, but she’s woken up recently.”

''It’s fine, I’ll definitely take you along—

She tried placating the ghosts in her heart.

“She’s apparently still unstable, though. Whether you’d be able to meet her again or not… depends on her.”

“S-she’s been asleep… is it some illness? Or—”

“Sorry, I can’t say anything further. …I really can’t say.”

Ena leaned again, and Rina pushed her back again.

If the information Rina, no, Mimic had gotten from people was correct, the general cause for Sleeping Beauty to fall asleep like that—was the person right in front of her eyes right now, meaning Saionji Ena.

No one wished for Ena herself to know that information, and Sleeping Beauty probably wouldn’t approve it either.

That fight ended without anyone knowing about it.

They couldn’t bring it up again after all this time. Let sleeping dogs lie, as the idiom said, and almost literally in this case.

This wasn’t about Sleeping Beauty having woken up. She couldn’t afford to stimulate Saionji Ena by accident because that might end up summoning Oogui again—

“So let’s speak about the other one instead…”

Averting her face from Ena and Takako, who didn’t look ready to accept this, Rina kept talking.

“That guy… right, Kusuriya Daisuke—”

She tried speaking, but her tongue wouldn’t listen to her.

Where should she start talking from?

As far as she understood from seeing how Ena and Takako acted, that man had probably acted out a normal person in front of them. As though he was just a harmless classmate. A normal friend one could find anywhere.

Right—just like he did to Rina, too.

“Oh, yeah… he’s—”

''He actually was the worst Mushitsuki called Kakkou—

If she told them that, would Ena and Takako be disappointed?

''He kept leading the frontlines of Mushitsuki and fought against the Original Three—

If she told them that, would Ena and Takako start treating him like a hero?

''He fell in love with a girl called Anmoto Shiika and had fun with her like an idiot—

If she told them that, how would Ena and Takako respond?

He was the one who originally turned Anmoto Shiika into a Fallen, could be called the one responsible for Rina’s death, had been unable to protect Sleeping Beauty Arisu, and yet for each such failure there was also at least one case where he protected the country from the threat of Mushitsuki. That was the kind of guy he was—

If she told them that, would she end up telling them about each and every grudge she held against him?

''Right now, he’s—

Should she just tell them about his ending?

''He used up his powers and became a Fallen—

Just like that.

Thinking this far, Rina felt that truth finally seeping inside her.

He was gone.

Rina’s hated archnemesis.

As well as the classmate that caused Rina’s fleeting feelings.

He no longer existed anywhere.

“…Please wait.”

This word unconsciously mumbled from Rina’s mouth.

Ena and Takako furrowed their brows.

“Eh…?”

“I know you’ve waited plenty already… but wait just a little bit more.”

“…”

“Right now, Mushitsuki are fighting. And they end up involving even those who aren’t Mushitsuki…”

Rina grimaced. She shook off the arms of the ghosts clinging to her and finally took a step.

“I won’t know until everything’s over. I’m sure no one will know what happened to him, what kind of life he had… I believe no one could explain it until after everything’s over.”

The two girls stared at her in amazement.

It was the obvious response. Even Rina herself didn’t understand what she was saying.

“When everything ends, if it’s in our victory—she’ll definitely come and tell you. Arisu, that is.”

If she stayed there any longer, her consciousness might get taken away by the ghosts’ thoughts again. Rina spun around to hide her expression, dragging her heavy legs.

“I know I told you I’ll explain, so I’m sorry. —Thank you for saving me. But please think of yourselves from now and don’t do anything reckless. Please.”

Saying this, Rina tried leaving.

“W-wait, Rina!”

She heard Ena trying to stop her from behind.

She felt regretful, but if that explanation wasn’t enough, she planned on just ignoring her.

However—

“Say, won’t you be our friend?”

These completely unexpected words made Rina’s legs stop on the spot.

“I want to meet you again, Rina! Can’t I?”

“I ask as well. Will you please become our friend?”

What carefree wishes these were.

The two girls’ request brought a pleasant warmth to Rina’s heart.

Rina hadn’t wished for them to want to become friends. Because up until this point in her life, the only one who became Rina’s friend was the lone girl called Anmoto Shiika.

However, while Rina’s heart felt warmed by their offer—at the same time it also brought her an unbearable pain.

“—I can’t.”

Even she noticed that her shoulders were slightly shaking.

Rina couldn’t become their friend.

After all, Rina had abandoned them once before. If Rina had fought for their sake at the time, it could be that their precious friend Arisu wouldn’t have fallen asleep.

Even so, to want to become friends at this stage—

For Rina, this was the most shameless wish there was.

“…”

As she felt an atmosphere of disappointment from behind her, it gouged Rina’s stomach even further.

“But… I’ve been told this by Arisu before.”

Rina spoke.

“If there were any people who definitely couldn’t hold hands together—she’d stand between them, taking their hands into her own.”

She couldn’t turn to face Ena and Takako.

She was too scared to check what faces they were making while listening to her.

“So, once everything’s over… even if it ends up being through Arisu—will you become my friends?”

Thise was Rina’s shameless wish.

Rina’s cowardly wish that used a girl who wasn’t there. And Ena and Takako’s response to it was—

“…Sure!”

“Yes!”

Both gave a clear answer.

Rina’s legs—or rather her body bound by the ghosts—became ever so slighter lighter. She stepped ahead.

Running through the empty alley, she got out from the area of crowded buildings.

“…”

As she carefully watched the national road passing right to these office buildings—she could see civilians walking here and there. There was also the fact that it was close to Akamaki City, but most residents probably refrained from heading out on their own.

Although she’d escaped from Akamaki City, C’s pursuers could still be around.

Rina trusted her own intuition, chose safe roads and kept running. Since her destination was not too far, she didn’t need to ride her Mushi.

Was her safe arrival there good or bad fortune?

Rina reached the place.

“—Ugh…”

Hiding herself in the shade, Rina looked up—at a large general hospital.

It was just about evening.

To Rina’s eyes, the hospital illuminated by the setting sun looked as though it was dyed with fresh blood.

“Uuuh…”

She held her chest with a hand, feeling as though it was painfully constricted.

Why had Rina chosen to come here?

What was in there?

Those answers tormented Rina as she finally arrived.

“I-I have to go—so I can save everyone—”

She spoke to herself, but her legs wouldn’t go any further.

“I, I have to meet him—”

He should be in that hospital.

Because he’d been enclosed there for several years already.

The origin of all of Rina’s sins.

The reality that could be called her original sin, that she averted her eyes from all this time.

“F-Father—”

Her vision was completely covered by the arms of the ghosts. Her heart beat so fast it felt likely to rip her chest at any moment, and the legs praised by Ena were shaking all over.

“UuuUuh—”

Rina’s first action after becoming Mushitsuki.

That was—injuring her own father.

In order to fulfill her revenge against her father that abandoned her mother and enclosed her in a birdcage, Rina was reborn as a Mushitsuki.

As a result, her father bore grievous wounds and kept going through hell on earth in a comatose state.

She averted her eyes from this sin—

As a result of trying to save Mushitsuki and forget her sin—

The past became an inviolable trauma for Rina, slowly permeating her heart.

“E-even if it’s Father—the Tachibana family—as long as it’s to help everyone—”

She spoke to herself again and again as though she was a child and tried approaching the hospital.

However—she couldn’t take even a single step.

Before long the hospital her father was hospitalized in came in front of her, and the biggest obstacle in Rina’s heart blocked her path.

Meaning, Rina herself.

If she had the resolve to face her own sin, she could save her comrades.

Although she understood this—her legs trying to advance actually retreated back.

“I-I can still—”

Her eyes glaring at the hospital slowly lowered.

This was Rina’s limit.

“I-if I think of another way to do this—i-if I look for Ena and Takako again—if I get the help of the Kujou family—then maybe—”

It happened just as she flinched back and averted her eyes from the hospital as though trying to escape.

The ghosts’ arms and the vision dyed in the bloody colors of setting sun were blocked—

“…!”

An azure glow suddenly appeared there.

Mixed in with the arms of ghosts, a single arm glowing in azure flew to Rina.

“Wha—”

As she was caught completely off guard, the azure arm managed to touch Rina’s brow—then vanished.

That was all.

That azure arm completely vanished as though it was no more than an illusion.

“W-what was that now?”

As she raised her face while rubbing her brows, she felt someone at her back.

Behind her was the hospital. She didn’t want to turn back to it, but—

“—”

She felt like she had to turn around.

It was hard to explain—but she felt a certain nostalgia.

At the same time, another thing came up.

She felt feelings that nearly went forgotten welling up in her chest.

It was on the rooftop of the general hospital. Just outside the fence, a familiar figure stood there.

She couldn’t see that figure’s face due to the setting sun behind it. However, she’d never mistake that pitch-dark coat that looked like demon wings, as well as the hair that stood up like horns.

“…Aha.”

She felt goosebumps.

That presence—that pressure—was definitely no lie or sham.

He definitely existed there.

“So you’ve come back to life again, too…?”

The ghostly arms that filled her sight distanced themselves like a receding wave.

Even those who already passed from this world feared him—

“Kakkou—”

Looking down Rina’s pathetic figure, he looked as though he was slightly sneering.