Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 14 Chapter 2 (section)

== 2.12 Harukiyo The Last ==

In this world based on his own mind, he didn’t find it strange for the boy to exist there.

Harukiyo’s lower torso became flames and his surrounding were also swallowed by hellfire. Those who died from the “disasters” coming down on him clung to him while cursing.

This was—hell itself.

And there were obviously going to be demons in hell.

He felt it was completely natural.

“…”

However, for some reason that demon was covered in wounds from head to toes.

The goggles worn on his head were cracked, his bristled hair and face were smeared with blood. Even his pitch-dark coat was dirtied with blood and dust, and his form while standing atop the light looked awfully insecure.

Had he already fought some beast somewhere?

Seeing the demon look like this in this situation—he felt abnormally angry.

Furthermore, the boy aimed the muzzle at him, and then intoned.

“So, are you just going to self-destruct without settling your score with me, Harukiyo?”

Another part of Harukiyo’s body—changed into flames.

Since his consciousness was muddying, he couldn’t currently recall who this demon in front of him was.

But he didn’t like him.

He felt a discomfort well up from deep inside him, like the bottom of his heart was seething—as if the boy saw through his heart, ridiculed him then beat him down.

“—”

A devil and a demon.

In this hellish pandemonium, they both glared at each other wordlessly—

The gunfire shot by the demon literally pulled the trigger on their fight.

“aaaHAaaaAAAAaaAAAH!”

Emitting a decidedly inhuman howl, Harukiyo stomped, using his entire body’s power.

A large explosion spread with him in the center. The asphalt cracked, blowing heat waves boiled the dead, and the highway and surrounding buildings were blown to smithereens.

Even the demon’s bullets were repelled by the heat, not reaching Harukiyo. However, since they held within them much more power than normal bullets, they pushed back the explosive wind and created a single path.

And the green glow pierced through that created path.

His face covered by a green pattern, the demon put his hands on the ground like a wild beast and closed the distance to Harukiyo instantly. He clenched his free hand in front of him, swinging it down at him.

“aaHAaaAAAH!”

His eyes literally blazing, Harukiyo formed a wall of heat.

The demon’s heat wave and the devil’s fist clashed. The shockwave gouged into the ground and created a deep valley between the two.

Harukiyo was the victor. The demon was blown away by the overwhelming energy, pounded against the ground, pierced through several destroyed buildings and vanished into the distance.

A normal person would have left no trace from that impact.

However, Harukiyo did not stop his attack.

“HaaAAAH!”

That eyesore of a demon would not die from this much—

Listening to the alarm bells ringing in his mind, he shot multiple Great Yama tiger beetles from his flaming body.

All of them possessing tusks of differing lengths, they were shot to the distance on after another. Crimson pillars connected heaven to earth, destroying the Akamaki City cityscape.

Large explosion sounds and gales arrived at Harukiyo with a delay.

Inside the dancing smoke, a great cavern was born.

Harukiyo swung his arms and shot a fireball. —The bullets shot toward him clashed with this fireball, the two cancelled each other and were gone.

The bullets were a feint. Using superhuman leg strength, the demon moved and appeared right next to Harukiyo. He was covered in more blood; as expected, it wasn’t like he remained completely unscathed.

“Hahaa!”

Once more, Harukiyo’s heat wave clashed with the demon’s fist.

As expected, the one to be defeated and get thrown back and roll on the ground was the demon. Harukiyo launched a rain of fireballs, but the demon soon stood up and dodged.

Taking advantage of an instant of an opening, once more the demon leapt within distance of Harukiyo. —Harukiyo was getting pissed off at how stubborn the demon was for close combat.

“HaaAAAH!”

Apparently, the demon had anticipated Harukiyo launching his Great Yama tiger beetle.

He vanished from before his eyes with frightening speed and got behind Harukiyo in an instant. A fist clad in a green brilliance struck his flank, which had yet to turn to flame.

He used his wall of heat to protect against the blow, but—

“—”

Harukiyo glared at the demon with eyes burning with rage.

The gap in their powers was evident.

While the demon was for some reason already hurt, Harukiyo was surging with power. Considering the compatibility between their abilities as well, the only way for the demon to win was to inflict damage on Harukiyo’s parts that had yet to turn to flames.  On the other hand, Harukiyo simply needed to attack the demon.

Even so, he was unable to swipe him off, like an annoying fly buzzing around—

“—HaaaAHHH!”

He began a close-ranged mutual pummeling with the demon who so stubbornly clung to him.

Every time he launched fireballs or Great Yama tiger beetles, the demon managed to dodge them by a razor’s edge as if he’d foreseen them, ran around him and swung his fist. Every time, Harukiyo defended with a wall of heat.

Seeing through the monotone attacks repeated by Harukiyo, the demon toyed with him.

''No, but I feel like I was the one who specialized in beating like that—

This suddenly came to his mind, but swallowed by the joy of wielding all this power welling inside him.

Right now, Harukiyo had no need for cheap tricks.

“Haa!”

Trying to throw him to the distance again, Harukiyo emitted another heatwave.

The demon had been prepared for that attack. He stepped hard on the ground, entirely in a defensive posture, and although the asphalt caved in, he kept standing there.

Receiving damage as he let the attack pass, the demon readied his muzzle.

Bullets assaulted Harukiyo from a very close range.

“aaaAAAH—”

He protected against the bullets shot one after another with his heatwave in a chain.

The demon should already be quite exhausted. He didn’t feel like he’d lose in a contest of strength, but being reduced to a defensive battle upset Harukiyo.

“HaaaAAAAAAHHH!”

Repelling the bullets by force, the demon leapt along with the surge of flames.

Apparently, although he’d tried evading, his body wouldn’t listen to him. For an instant his reaction was delayed and he was hit by Harukiyo’s swung arm, rolling on the ground.

Harukiyo stepped hard on the tumbled demon.

He assaulted the surface with both explosive wind and earth tremors. The demon’s body became buried.

“aaaaAAAAH!”

Harukiyo kept stomping.

As large explosions shook Akamaki City, the fissures appearing under his legs kept spreading.

And just as he stopped feeling any resistance from below his feet—

“—”

He noticed that his flaming leg was being grabbed by something from below.

By five fingers that belonged to a left hand.

However—they weren’t human. Their surface was covered by a hard shell, and it was several times larger than a human’s. It was scorched and raising smoke.

“—ooOOOOooooOOOOOH!”

An inhuman howl reverberated and Harukiyo was blown away.

Riding a heatwave, he soon fixed his posture and saw—

It really was a demon.

His left arm, as bulky as a crag, swelled so much that it ripped his left sleeve. His right foot was also similarly covered by a pattern glowing green. The large pistol fused with the right hand became even larger, transformed into a grotesque insect’s mouthpart, and spat fire.

Seeing the demon reveal its true identity, Harukiyo’s other self mumbled inside his heart.

''Oh, so you’re at your limits, too—

The devil transforming into flames was glared by the demon who grew tusks from his left cheek.

“OooOOOooOOAAAAAAHHH!”

“HaaaAAaaAAAAaaaAAHHH!”

The devil and the demon clashed.

Bullets shot by the demon—or rather, these masses of destructive energy could be called cannonballs—clashed with the devil’s Great Yama tiger beetle, and they cancelled each other. Everything around them lost its shape, and the two approached one another as though to tackle each other, swinging down their fists.

The fist drawing a green afterimage was fended off by a heat wave, and the devil aimed for the demon with a flame-clad fist. His now grotesque-looking legs kicked the ground, allowing the demon to dodge the attack by a hairsbreadth. The fireball and Great Yama tiger beetle unleashed from the devil’s fist cutting through air turned the area around the demon to a sea of lava.

Fiery sparks colored crimson, as well as green trails shining in air.

Every time these two clashed, everything besides them was rendered null. The dead were annihilated, buildings and the ground were blown to pieces, and the world was remade to hold only these two alone.

The battle proceeded with the devil’s advantage.

He was slowly but surely accumulating damage on the already exhausted demon, however—

“—oooOOOOHHH!”

The demon’s fist finally blew through the defensive wall of several layers of heatwaves.

Still preserving a human shape, the devil’s chin was grazed at the very tip.

It was a glancing blow, but the devil’s head was shaken.

“—”

There was a blaze.

Leaving small smoke behind, the devil’s right eye became human.

There was no damage.

Therefore, the devil’s offensive continued, and he got pummeled by tens of fists in return.

However, another blow by the demon’s fist struck the devil’s stomach.

Although he hurriedly protected with his arm—

“—”

Another hiss.

The arm he used to protect with reverted to human again.

His counterattack managed to get through the heat waves one out of ten times—

And returned the devil to a human, little by little.

“—”

Every time he retrieved part of his human body, Harukiyo’s consciousness became clearer and clearer.

His emotions and memories that were dripping out.

Using the arms of his reason, he desperately scraped them together, unwilling to give up.

Finally, when his entire body other than his right became human again—

“…!”

The demon’s gigantic feast came right in front of the devil’s—Harukiyo’s eyes.

A direct touch would probably blow his head to smithereens.

Harukiyo leaned low. Realizing he needed so stoop so low to dodge such a simple attack, the very last flames vanished from his right eye, raising smoke.

“—Don’t you fucking look down on meeeeee!”

Leaping to the demon’s chest, he gave his strongest punch. He launched a heat wave at the same time, throwing the demon midair for a moment.

However, the demon was unmoving. He immediately turned the grotesque muzzle to Harukiyo.

“Who said we didn’t settle the score, eh?”

Harukiyo clung to the demon, haphazardly trying to push away the arm that did nothing but aim the gun.

Gunfire powerful enough to make the entirety of Akamaki City shake echoed. A huge crater was formed behind Harukiyo, but he put his own leg on the demon’s legs without minding it.

As the demon looked heavily unbalanced, this simple act made him tumble down.

“I won’t letcha be the only one to say that—”

Straddling the demon as he fell, he started pounding his face with fists clad in heatwaves.

Blood spurted from the demon’s green-patterned face.

“Kakkooou!”

Although the demon tried sweeping off Harukiyo, he wouldn’t allow him that.

He kept pounding the demon’s face and again and again.

“How dare you say that, as someone who made more Fallen than anyone! As someone who turned Fuyuhotaru into a Fallen and kept surviving all these battles! As someone who was by Arisu’s side and tried defeating the Original Three! As someone who could neither kill nor save Lady Bird!”

Every time Harukiyo struck him, the impact made his and the demon’s body rise in air.

The demon’s arms.

His legs.

His gun.

They were retrieving their forms as a human and an automatic pistol.

“As someone who’s trying to back out of all this without settling anything at all! So don’t you dare say thaaaaat!”

Harukiyo’s fist was no longer wrapped in heat.

Meanwhile, the demon already had his simple, blood-smeared, pathetic normal face back.

Kakkou.

He was a Rank 1 Mushitsuki just like Harukiyo, and as much as a sinful man.

“I did settle things.”

Harukiyo grabbed the unmoving Kakkou’s scruff. He didn’t even try to check whether his opponent was conscious.

“I woke up Arisu. Just like she wished for, to be waken up with the continuation of her dream.”

A lump of blood gushed out of Kakkou’s mouth. Apparently he was still alive.

“We both said it. And yet—what the fuck were you doing?”

Harukiyo was the devil of flames.

He was a Mushitsuki who felt nothing for his own life, living freely for his own wishes.

Therefore, he’d tell those he didn’t like that he didn’t like them to their faces.

And the one who pissed him off the most right now—was the boy in front of him.

“Arisu lost and you became a Fallen, forgetting all about her! Then what the fuck can you even tell me about settling the score! Even I’m losin’ interest with how much you keep losing! In the end this world is fucking boring, isn’t it?!”

He was the only one who survived, while all those around him were gone.

Nothing changed since the moment of his birth.

Next time for sure—

Even the voice whispering this inside Harukiyo’s heart was growing weaker and weaker.

The devil kept living without minding anything, not even feeling any guilt.

Although he was supposed to be like that—a small tremor was born in him.

“—Did you forget…?”

He thought Kakkou was dead, but he moved his mouth.

“When you get right down to it… Why have you joined forces with Arisu…?”

“Ah?”

“’Let’s make a world without any Mushitsuki’—”

Harukiyo widened his eyes.

“You were invited for that cause… and joined forces with her…”

While Kakkou spoke this, his lips looked like he was smiling. It was Harukiyo’s imagination—but since it looked like this to his eyes, he felt angry.

“That deal’s already done. She lost—and I settled the score.”

“Yeah, she lost…”

Kakkou leaked a soft breath and spoke.

“But—she’s woken up again, right?”

“…!”

Harukiyo’s arms grasping Kakkou twitched.

This time, the boy truly and clearly smiled.

“You started the ‘continuation’.”

“…”

“Since she’s awake, she’ll probably aim for a ‘world without Mushitsuki’ again. Even so, you feel like saying everything’s ended and cancel that first deal? And despite you being the one to wake her up… that’s not proper at all, isn’t it?”

''How can you speak so selfishly—

He was about to retort with that, but no words came out.

Because the opponent that he’d made this deal with was truly a selfish person.

She’d clung to him and forced out his dream—and the girl even shed tears despite it having nothing to do with her.

She was selfish, naïve, and as a result she drew up the short lot and fell asleep.

And the one who decided to go along with that girl’s pipedreams—was none other than Harukiyo himself.

“If we assume what you’re saying is true—it’s the worst.”

He simply felt like going with her on a whim.

Even so he was forced into mortal combat. When that was over, he kept looking for her to get his “reward”. And that took years.

He somehow managed to find her and get his reward, so he thought he was done.

However, it seemed like that was another trap.

Because from that very moment he became part of the “continuation”—

“What a fucking bother—I feel like I’ve been caught hook, line and sinker.”

“…She was that kind of person from the very beginning…”

Kakkou groaned.

He thought his problems already ended, but in fact they hadn’t. If that wasn’t enough, they continued because of the actions he took in order to end them.

It really was a huge bother.

However—

“Stop acting like that and start making an actual effort… Harukiyo.”

In this state, there were certain emotions that welled up in his chest.

But whenever he advanced, they were suddenly cut off.

Harukiyo had never experienced a life where this repetition never occurred.

If what the demon said was true—this was the first time.

“This isn’t the kind of person you can just half-ass when dealing with…” 

Was he talking about the girl he’d made a deal with?

Or was he speaking of the enemy that he had to fight to finish that deal?

He could agree either way, but Harukiyo hated the way the boy talked of this as if it had nothing to do with him.

“I’m tellin’ you, you’re the last person I wanna hear this from. It doesn’t sound convincing at all after you came after me like a rabid dog the moment we met. —The fuck are you? How did you show up inside me like that? Are you a fake created by C?”

Kakkou remained unanswering and silent. Instead, he could hear an electronic tone echoing from somewhere.

It was a familiar melody.

“Well, not that I care. What really annoys me is people putting off things, leaving them to other people—it looks like you’re tryna push everything to me.”

“…”

At some point Harukiyo could see the destroyed Akamaki City again.

The sky was a weird color as always, but he was on the highway and the large semi-trailer was parked ahead of him.

“I don’t think it’s just me. The one who started this ‘continuation’, I mean.”

As Harukiyo got inside the cargo, the engine turned on.

The melody he’d heard from before came from the cellphone in the pocket. It was the very one he’d received from the Mushitsuki called Konoha. He had no idea how come he was able to hear it in this world, but since he was still in the middle of the conversation, he ignored it.

“Even Fuyuhotaru coming back from the Fallen state and Arisu having that silly dream—probably happened because they met with you. As well as your chaotic fight after failing to save Lady. In the first place… C being tricked by Miguruma also happened through your influence.”

“…”

“And me having a deal with Arisu was because she wanted to gather the Rank 1s. If you’re sayin’ it’s continuing now, it doesn’t make a lick of sense for you to be the only one missing.”

The semitrailer took off.

Kakkou remained collapsed, not trying to move.

Kakkou stayed there while Harukiyo moved ahead.

As the distance between the two grew, he spat toward the fallen boy.

“You started it all. —Take responsibility and put a fucking end to this.”

Harukiyo left his voice behind as the semitrailer accelerated.

He had no idea what this boy growing smaller in his vision—Kakkou—was. He might have been a simple illusion constructed by C.

But as a result, he made Harukiyo wake up after nearly Maturing.

If he really was created by C, it completely backfired on her.

On the other hand, if this element had been induced by a person other than C—

“Damn, you’re so annoying.”

The ringtone kept going on for a while now.

As if guided by it, the scenery of Akamaki City dyed in bizarre colors…

Was, little by little…

“I’m tryna think real hard here and yet you just keep going…”

Regaining its proper colors.

The sky was dyed a faint blue, and the ground settled down to gray.

As everything reflected in his eyes regained their original colors—

“—Hey, that phone’s been really annoying for some time now! Just hang up on them if you’re not going to answer!”

An annoying, high-pitched voice familiar to him shook his eardrums.

Harukiyo was in the cargo box of the semi-trailer running through the highway.

It wasn’t the different space he’d seen until just now.

Kusezaki Ume was sitting on the floor while complaining to him, and he wasn’t bisected. Sakaki Haruka also wasn’t puking blood. However, both of them had their clothes ripped.

“Nah, I’ll answer it.”

Suddenly, as Harukiyo raised his face, Ume and Sakaki shuddered.

“Y-you’re awake? Took you long! Pfft, thinking you’ve had it this tough against C’s mental pollution… have you weakened, Harukiyo? More importantly, we’ve had it real bad since you were fast asleep! Haruka even used the power she borrowed three times and ran out!”

Immediately after coming back to the real world, Ume’s high-pitched voice kept prattling on and on.

“…My collection… is running out…”

Haruka also looked tired. Harukiyo had no idea how long he’d spent unconscious, but it seemed like Ume and Haruka protected the semi-trailer alone.

“Things are relaxed right now, but another assassin’s sure to come here! It’s your turn next, Harukiyo! I’m going to sleep! I’ll definitely have a nap! In the first place, why do we even have to go to these lengths to protect this guy?!”

“Ah, fuck it, shut up already!”

Pushing Ume back, he pressed the call button of the cellphone.

“What do you plan on doing with Alpha…?”

It was the same voice he’d heard on the phone before. The Mushitsuki girl called Konoha.

“You’re askin’ that just now? But it’s almost as if you’ve calculated the timing.”

“…”

“Is there a Mushi in this cellphone? Since you were able to pull me back from that world, it’s probably a mental pollution or a mental control type—so it’s not you, Konoha. Could even the user of ability see what happened in that world?”

Konoha gave no answer.

“Meaning, you’re confused about Alpha’s worth being unlike what you estimated.”

“…”

“As you know, since he’s alive, even if we defeat the Original Three and C, there’s still a possibility for us to return to a world with Mushitsuki. —Does it make you want to keep him safe all the more? Or maybe you want to kill him?”

“Eh?” Ume sounded shocked from his side.

There were probably only few people who understood the value of Alpha’s existence and the dangers behind him.

Excluding Miguruma Yaeko, who was the main culprit, as well as the past members of the Round Table who were at the center of this—it might be just Harukiyo and the one on the other side of the line.

“Can’t talk ‘bout this with you, Konoha. Bring out your master.”

Although Harukiyo threatened with a low voice, Konoha kept silent—

And hanged the call on him.

This probably wasn’t because Konoha got scared like before, but probably received orders from the person controlling her.

“What you mean, Harukiyo? Is this person actually someone outrageous?”

“I’ll explain it later. —I’ve also had it real tough. Haruka, got any abilities to get them off our trail?”

“…I can use Tamamo’s ability to make anyone not perceive us consciously… with the amount I’ve borrowed, I don’t think it’ll last even for an hour…”

“Eh, Tamamo-san’s a high-ranking member of the SEPB, isn’t she? How did you get it from her?”

“…We’re Lolita fashion friends…”

Harukiyo turned toward the driver’s seat, lightly waving his hand.

The wall of the cargo box melted red, revealing the back of the head of the woman sitting in the driver’s seat.

“Hey, secretary. How much longer to our goal?”

“Eh? Oh.”

Although the secretary was surprised at seeing the hole behind her, she soon answered.

“I believe it will take the whereabout of two hours.”

“Tch, no choice then. So I’ll hold out for about an hour or so. It’ll be a piece of cake, though.”

Rising up, he peeked at the face of Alpha sleeping inside the life support system.

The youth’s complexion was as bad as always, but his expression seemed to be quite calm. He was the only one who knew what he thought about and decided in the world created by C.

“You’re for the most part quite the sinner. I don’t give a flying fuck what you are, but this doesn’t change the fact you’d be the ‘egg’ for Mushitsuki. Meaning, as long as you’re alive, there’ll always be a chance for Mushitsuki to be born.”

“…? What does that mean, Harukiyo-sama?”

“I’m saying that Akasegawa also pulled out quite the card. You’ll understand one day. It seems quite important so you need to treat it with care, though…”

Chairman of the Akasegawa conglomerate, Akasegawa Nanana, cooperated with Mushibane.

Meaning, they were both people who wanted Mushi to go extinct.

Even so, after spending so much money to protect him, if she found out that his very being went against this goal, what reaction would that rich girl show?

“Say, aren’t these some Revived far back there? It’s your turn, Harukiyo!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

As he exited to the roof through the hole in the ceiling of the luggage, Harukiyo stopped thinking.

“Hey, secretary. I’ve been wondering since the start.”

“Hmm?”

“This guy is more or less a Mushitsuki as well… so you’ve done a great job to not get found out by the SEPB’s sensors thus far. Don’t you think it strange?”

Apparently, that question was within the secretary’s estimations.

“We are also in the midst of conducting research on him… but apparently, after going through fixed periods of awakening, he appears to be in deep slumber. His Mushi as well has an abnormally vague presence… there are times where his Mushi is out and yet it remains in a state of slumber…”

“…”

Harukiyo thought and inquired further.

“The Mushi’s asleep? Rather like Arisu’s ability, then. No, in the first place he’s the one who… can he do that out of his own will, then?”

“We cannot tell for sure at present. After all, he’d remained asleep for a long while ever since we made the bid on him, so we were unable to get any information… what about all of this?”

“Never mind—by the way, didja know? There’s a certain kind of vaccine that’s developed using chicken eggs.”

“…? I do not quite understand what you mean by this.”

“Harukiyo! They’re coming! Do something already!”

“Oh, you know. It’s a possibility of less than 1%—"

Urged by Ume, Harukiyo looked up the ceiling.

“Once you use all of your Akasegawa money to research him… then maybe one day you could create something that could put Mushitsuki’s Mushi to sleep for all eternity. That kinda pipe dream.”

Glancing at her, the secretary looked reactionless.

However, her not grabbing the wheel right before the curve in the road—was probably because she understood the importance behind what Harukiyo said and found herself shaken by it.

“Please drive safely.”

Spitting this, Harukiyo leapt up and danced atop the cargo box.

“I-indeed…!” he heard the agitated voice from his feet. The semi-trailer managed to brake right at the last moment.

“So my power has meaning—then.”

Why was it?

Harukiyo lived freely and intended on just doing as he pleased.

His life goal was to find enemies and defend against “disasters” through preemptive attacks.

However, that was all.

Although he never intended on getting involved with Mushitsuki and Mushi—

“And so, you can change the world into one without Mushitsuki, huh. —Will you lose today or tomorrow and end the story, or will you be able to gather all these small possibilities and make it a longer story?”

Harukiyo ended up involved in the fights of Mushitsuki regardless of his own will.

And without fail—he would always end up cornered to the point where he had to settle up the score by a contract that he himself had agreed to.

“So there’s one, this suicidal bastard—nah, I already made him graduate from that shit. One of them is this Alpha guy…”

This world would change to be one without Mushitsuki—

He couldn’t celebrate his life without settling this contract as well.

“As for the other—I finally have an idea about where you might be, C. Since you’re trying to kill me, you definitely are the ‘disaster’ aiming for me.”

However, the existence called Mushitsuki that got involved with him—

Seemed to be a huge problem, going past his own “disaster”.

Therefore, he had to settle matters.

“It looks like it’s going to be an itty bitty of a problem—”

Although he leaked sighs of fatigue, he—

The strongest Mushitsuki, called the devil of flames—

“But it’ll be a piece of cake.”

Wore a bold smile.


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==Notes==

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