Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 11 Chapter 3 (section)

== 3.01 Daisuke Part 7 ==

Was this reality?

It looked like a frighteningly realistic panic film.

The streets of Akamaki City were filled with human shouts and the howls of Imperfect Mushi. People covered in blood were collapsed, and the remains of destroyed vehicles and buildings lay all around. There were fires and people and Mushi ran in and out smoke.

All order was lost and the country lost its functions.

No, not only that, but it even made him think that the world ended.

“They’re just filming a movie—I wish…”

This unrealistic scene made Kii-kun leak a hoarse voice.

“…”

Daisuke grimaced. The regret made him clench his jaw.

As a member of the SEPB, his job was to save these fleeing people.

However, right now Daisuke couldn’t use his Mushi powers.

Also, if he didn’t go to the ship, there might be even more victims—

There were limits to what he could do right now.

“We need a way to get to the suburbs. Let’s go look for a usable car.”

“Cough… how about this one?”

Mikko and Kasshi remained calm. Approaching a car that ran into a power pole and had its driver run away, they struck their heads together and began to consult.

Was there a situation even worse than this…?

Daisuke glared at Mikko’s back.

On the ship within the mist he’d certainly seen people that looked like Kasshi and Kii-kun dying, while Mikko preached about destruction. It made him feel like there was further misfortune and that the worst had yet to come.

''Maybe I should just tell them what I saw—

This thought passed his mind, but he soon rejected it. He himself still doubted it, so he doubted they’d believe.

If so—

After getting the ship’s location, he’d stop the three of them here.

If he did this, the prophecy would be stopped, and the possibility of Kasshi and Kii-kun dying would lower. Daisuke alone was enough to investigate the ship.

“The engine’s dead. Can’t use this car.”

“Cough… others are all burned out, turned over, or have holes in them, it seems.”

“I-if we don’t do it quickly, the Mushi over there are gonna come here…!”

Kasshi and Mikko turned around while the flustered Kii-kun clung to them.

Kii-kun was no problem. There were plenty of ways to leave him behind.

There was no need to confine Mikko yet. Because he needed to hear from her where the ship was.

The problem was Kasshi.

He—resembled Daisuke.

He would watch over the others without missing a beat, and his own movements had no waste to them. He acted like a civilian, but he definitely received some training. However, unlike an anti-Mushi combatant like Daisuke, he was probably an anti-person professional. Since Daisuke couldn’t use his Mushi power, there was no guarantee he could win in a fight against him.

“Let’s split up and search.”

Daisuke suggested.

“Eeeeh? What are we going to do if we get attacked by Mushi!”

“…That would be faster. Be useful for a change, Kii-kun.”

The others agreed. The four would scatter around and start looking for vehicles.

As a countermeasure against danger, they would act in a range where they could all see each other—this condition was added to the search, but it still created many openings. Kii-kun and Kasshi started looking into prominent cars, and soon their attention went away from Mikko.

Daisuke quickly moved through blind spots, sneaking behind Mikko.

“…!”

He pressed the girl’s mouth on top of her mask and held her up.

All sounds were erased by the screams and destruction around. Daisuke entered a narrow alley with Mikko in arms, running full speed away from Kasshi.

If Kasshi was strong, he simply had to not fight him.

Leaving the two boys behind and remaining alone with Mikko completed his goal.

“—Sorry for being rough. Are you alright?”

In the back alley after turning corners many times, Daisuke released Mikko.

The masked girl sat on the ground, making pained coughs.

“How absurd, worrying about kidnapping. I do not know how many women you sank your poisonous fangs into until now, but you seem quite used to—ow. …It’s not as if it’s really painful, but I do think slapping a girl so many times is a bit crazy…”

“…When I look at you, I get really angry. Sorry.”

While sincerely apologizing for that, Daisuke got on one knee. He looked at the girl’s face from the same height.

All that remained was questioning her about the ship.

However—what came out of Daisuke’s mouth was a completely different question.

“What was the scene you saw?”

“…”

“You spoke as if you knew this was going to happen.”

After coughing once, the girl looked Daisuke back in the eyes.

“Yes—I was aware this was going to happen.”

“…!”

“But it’s already meaningless… this situation is already far removed from what I knew.”

Mikko narrowed her eyes, sad.

“What do you mean?”

“Both Castello and the tragedy in Akamaki City… there weren’t supposed to be this many Mushi born. It differs from what I saw—”

He couldn’t understand what Mikko was talking about.

Daisuke grabbed her shoulders.

“I saw—the abandoned ship. Kasshi and Kii-kun died while you were arguing with Rui.”

“Yes, I also saw that.”

Mikko’s almond eyes stared at Daisuke intently. Her black eyes that absorbed all light froze him, as if they stole his very heart.

“What I have seen is impossible to change, no matter who you were.”

“So you—were a Mushitsuki?”

Daisuke firmly held his consciousness as to not be taken in by the girl’s eyes.

Mikko grew with the guinea pigs and called them family. If during that time Mikko had become a Mushitsuki—

“You know the future…? Is the mist isolating Akamaki City your ability—”

“Cough… you really are stupid. Please don’t disappoint me too much.”

As she narrowed her eyes and smiled, the girl spoke as if likening him to a child.

For a split second—he felt as if her figure overlapped with someone he knew.

''Crackle…'' Daisuke’s head numbed. He felt like he was just about to recall it but it vanished like mist.

“I am not a Mushitsuki. At the very least, I do not have the ability to show what I have seen to other people.”

“Then…! What was that thing I saw?!”

“You were shown that. So you could watch over what is about to happen now. —It means that the one who did this wants you to reach the ‘finish line’. That is their goal.”

“The one who did this…?”

“We must head to the finish line. You look like you want to stop, and yet the one standing in your way the most—is none other than yourself.”

Daisuke shuddered as a chill ran through his spine.

It was already too late by the time he felt a presence from behind.

“Last night you took me by surprise—”

Without even having time to turn around, a thin needle was stabbed into Daisuke’s neck.

“But don’t underestimate me.”

Kasshi, who’d approached from behind at some point, whispered this at Daisuke’s ears. He could feel something cold being injected into his veins through the syringe.

He lowered his guard—no, that was wrong.

Mikko’s smile told it all.

''So they were on this together when I first suggested to go look for cars… they set a trap for me—

“If you are unable to reach the finish line—what would happen to you, I wonder?”

His heart leapt.

He recalled.

Mikko, the girl with the mask.

Daisuke had met her before—

“Y…you are—”

Unable to reach Mikko with his arm held out—

Daisuke’s consciousness was cut off.