Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 12 Chapter 2 (section)

== 2.01 OPS1 Part 2 ==

Led by Makoto, the line of the suicide corps rushed through Akamaki City at full speed.

“Say, where’re we heading? Why not use a car?”

While running, the man called Shachito spoke to Makoto in an overly familiar manner. She strangely noticed that he wasn’t even breaking a sweat; how much stamina did he have?

“Because we want to be as close to C as we can from above before we dive into the Underground Fort.”

“This Fort thingy runs all around beneath Akamaki City’s underground, right? Is there any reason why we can’t just go there after we head down? By the way, you’re cute. Are you popular at school?”

The worn hockey stick leaning on his back, Shachito grinned at her.

He was probably the disciple of this berserker who once cornered Makoto, Shishidou Inuko—Asagi. She knew that because of the hockey stick that was her keepsake as well as his way of fighting that resembled hers.

“…”

“Huh, do you hate me? Then at least tell me about that C’s abilities. Looks like everyone knows, but only I don’t.”

She didn’t want to wear herself out by excessive talking. But for the sake of the mission, she had no choice.

“C’s a Mushitsuki who uses electricity as a medium, and quite powerful. The Central Headquarters secret experiments failed, so she’s gotten out of control.”

To be more precise she hadn’t really lost control, but the particulars of the experiment were top secret. She decided to obfuscate this by giving the absolute minimal information.

“Ooh. —Wait, is that it? Just a single Mushitsuki going on a rampage? Looks like it’s become quite the huge deal, though. After we defeated Shinpu, they’ve been talking something about her absorbing the Original Three or whatever, but I don’t understand that. Oh, and I heard that because I also had some SEPB goggles, okay? At the very least about C being a great danger.”

Ignoring the fool that prattled on and on so casually, Makoto turned back.

“Haaa! Hiii! I-I’d like you to slow down a bit!”

“Wheeze! Wheeze! M-Maimai-chan also supports this requestststs!”

There were members already complaining. They were they boy with chestnut-colored, wavy hair and freckles, called Rinrin, as well as the eyepatch girl called Maimai. They were both small statured and belonged to the logistical support unit called the intelligence division. They probably wouldn’t have come to the frontlines like that if not for C, an ex-member of the intelligence division, becoming their enemy.

Hearing Makoto click her tongue, Shachito went to the back. As he touched Rinrin and Maimai’s shoulders, an orange glow flew from both of them momentarily.

“Here ya go. This should be a little better, right? I wanna preserve my power so it’s only you two since you look like you’re suffering.”

“Woah, my body became really light! I am forever grateful to you, Shacchi!”

“Wow, this is so easy now! Thank you very muchuch!”

Maimai could not produce any voice from her vocal cords. She conversed using the special choker around her neck that digitized and broadcast her words.

“I gotta get along with Inuko’s disciples, after all. Ah but you bastard, if you call me Shacchi again I’ll break your arm, alright?”

Apparently they’d already introduced themselves. The ones not trained by that berserker Shishidou Inuko within the suicide corps were in the minority.

She felt sick seeing how calm and friendly they were, but she was worried about how the others were doing.

Other than Shachito, no one asked Makoto anything.

They probably all had things to think about, and they obeyed Makoto’s orders wordlessly.

They all fully trusted in Makoto—

Makoto wasn’t enough of an idiot to really think that. It was rather the opposite.

All of them were apathetic to Makoto. She could perfectly understand what they thought.

She believed this would be the same no matter who was in command, except for Kakkou.

Originally they all fought in different branches. And normally there would be someone powerful leading every team. Simply gathering all the strong members together didn’t mean that they fully trusted in each other.

It wasn’t simple to unify these lot.

One would need a charisma to draw people—or perhaps an overwhelming power.

Makoto, who simply went with the flow to survive, did not fulfill either condition.

“Helicopters incoming.”

The Mushitsuki called Yotsuba said.

Sure enough, before long they could see helicopters high above. One of them was a small, white one and following it were several military ones.

“What’s going on, Rinrin? Wasn’t this entire area’s airspace restricted?”

As Makoto turned around, the chestnut-hair boy put a hand to his goggles.

“Looks like a news helicopter forcibly invaded this airspace, affiliation unknown. It’s apparently ignoring requests to retreat or land.”

“If it’s ignoring them, it’s just gonna get shot down.”

The Mushitsuki called Yakugami sighed tiredly. Makoto felt the same.

“I’m afraid of it becoming a problem later. In the first place I have no idea if this helicopter’s from our country… well, Vice-Deputy Miguruma will surely do something soon—”

Makoto’s voice was drowned by a roar and an earth tremor.

“—!”

A sound loud enough to be like a giant pounding his hammer caused a tremor powerful enough to stop the suicide corps’ legs.

And there was then a golden flash bright enough to blind them.

The resulting shockwave blew away even the ruins that remained of Akamaki City.

“Wha—”

Seeing that, commander Makoto was the first one to raise a voice of agitation.

A column of light launched from the surface knocked down each and every helicopter in the sky.

She heard of mythological gods smiting their enemies with lightning, but this was the exact opposite—

It was golden lightning rising from the surface to the heavens.

“W-what was that…? That… lightning?”

The oldest Mushitsuki among them, Nene, mumbled in shock.

Far away, behind the surroundings buildings, they could hear the explosion resulting from the helicopters crashing.

“Could it have been…”

“C, most likely.”

Answering Shachito’s answer with a tense voice was Kasuou. While pushing her vivid blond hair behind her ears with a finger, she spoke in a lethargic tone.

“Using lightning’s her special technique. That being said, she used to be able to use it only once a day, though.”

“Meaning that she’s already prepared for battle.”

Kaguya spoke now. It was perhaps natural for his expression to freeze. This was clearly an attack that used vast amounts of energy. If it scored a direct hit on Makoto’s group, there was nothing they could do.

“Tamamo. You are erecting a barrier around us, right?”

“I am…”

Tamamo, who had imp wings on her back, nodded, looking unconfident. She had a sort of a stealth ability that allowed her to dull the consciousness of outside enemies.

“Alright. If so, then let’s keep going full speed ahead.”

Makoto spoke this order, but only few of them started running after her.

“What are you doing! Don’t worry, we’re running without using any vehicles that are electrically conductive to make it harder for C to notice us! We also have Tamamo’s barrier!”

Shachito objected.

“No, I really do think she should get underground as soon as possible. I mean, that attack just now was strong enough to finish us in one hit.”

“I agree. I believe we should avoid such a clear threat.”

Kabuto also offered his opposition. —If she remembered correctly, he was a Rank 5. He was yet another burden forced on her by the East Central Branch in their desire to avenge Kakkou.

Kasuou mumbled vaguely.

“C, huh… I never got along with that brat to the very end. I wonder why things are like this now…”

“That is quite enough! I’m the commander, so—”

She was about to yell, but Makoto noticed a certain change.

The air around seemed to be crackling.

“…?”

People other than Makoto also noticed this. They looked around them, puzzled.

Currently they were along the highway, a bit further from Akamaki City’s center. They were surrounded by crumbled buildings and collapsed power poles from the effects of Shinpu’s raid.

Electric lines exposed from inside buildings.

Severed electrical lines from the fallen power poles.

These emitted a ''tststs'' like a bird’s chirp and created golden, stretching lines.

They were gradually gathering toward Makoto’s group—

“RETREAAAT!”

Hearing Makoto’s shout, the suicide corps spread out.

It happened immediately after this.

“—!”

Loud noise and a golden flash pierced through the spot they inhabited just before.

The shockwave blew them away like they were ragdolls. As expected from the experienced combatants, they were able to assume the proper position and reduce the damage, but there were also those among them who didn’t manage that. Rinrin’s back slammed against the debris and Maimai rebounded on top of the cracked road, rolling forward.

“She—she found us…?”

Using the momentum of a somersault to stand up, Makoto raised her face.

If their evasive actions were but an instant too late, they’d have been wiped out by that single blow.

“Tamamo! What’s up with your barrier? Why were we discovered!”

“I-I dunnooo! She might just surpass my ability, or maybe C can’t be easily mentally influenced in her current condition…!”

Hearing the imp girl’s excuses, Makoto gasped.

“I see, since C no longer has any personality, she became resistant to mental attacks…!”

“Eh?”

Nene looked at Makoto with a surprised faced.

“What do you mean? Wasn’t C-chan going out of control?”

''Tstststs'', this lingering sound resounded around again.

Golden lines were starting to gather at Makoto’s feet.

“R-retreat!”

Once again, the golden lightning pierced from surface to sky.

Makoto’s group managed to barely evade.

“…! What about Maimai and Rinrin?”

As Makoto looked around, an orange glow cut through her sight.

Having at some point picked them up, Shachito was holding both fainted teens, one under each arm.

“We really should be getting underground as soon as possible, Terasu-chan! I dunno how, but C can see our movements! At this rate she’ll just attack us unilaterally!”

“Why… it was one thing if the barrier wasn’t working, but how can she even see…!”

Makoto soon realized the answer before she finished speaking. She looked up at the sky.

“I see—she’s using the satellite…!”

She was able to stop other countries from monitoring them through artificial satellites. That trick was clearly related to the past C. As she was right now, it wouldn’t be odd if she could use the satellite and surveil their movements.

Kaguya shouted.

“If she can see us through the satellite, then that’s all the more reason to head down! It’s difficult moving on the surface. Let’s head right away to the nearest entrance of the Underground Fort!”

Makoto thought for a moment, but then rejected that suggestion.

“—We can’t! We’ll keep running on the surface and get as close as we can to C’s position from above!”

“But why?!”

Still holding the two Mushitsuki, Shachito shouted angrily.

“You probably know a whole lot about C! But I—”

“Tamamo! If you pour as much power into your barrier as you can, how long will it last, approximately?”

“If I preserved it at full power, I’d exhaust myself by the time we reach our goal!”

“That’s fine! Then do it!”

“W-wait! We still need Tamamo’s power!”

Nene’s objection overlapped with a ''tstststs'' sound.

“—R-retreat!”

Once again, as Makoto’s group dispersed, a golden pillar erupted in their middle.

All members looked at her, shouting.

“Stop with this! We’ll never be able to reach our goal in one piece!”

“Terasu…! At this rate we’ll be annihilated before we even do anything!”

“The satellite won’t be able to see us from underground! Let’s go under, quickly!”

Makoto bit her lips. She wanted to shorten the time spent below ground by as much as possible, but it was true that they were about to get annihilated at this rate.

Above all else—none of them were even attempting to obey her orders.

In this state, trying to rush above ground was obviously suicidal.

“I-I’ll revise my orders—”

Makoto rose to her legs, squeezing out her voice.

“We’ll aim for the closest entrance to the underground…! Yotsuba, lead the way!”

“Gotcha. Let’s go!”

With catlike, nimble movements, Yotsuba leapt off the debris.

“Tch, so slow…!”

She could hear Shachito cussing. Makoto clenched her fists.

''What do you want, I just wanted it to be the safest path with the lowest risk possible—

They rushed through the ruined streets of Akamaki City in a line.

Perhaps due to Tamamo strengthening her barrier, C’s lightning attacks became sporadic.

Instead, it seemed like the frequency of her attacks increased. She was probably indiscriminately attacking the area where she thought Makoto’s group was at, shooting up lightning one after another.

“Don’t scatter! Move together as much as you can!”

Kabuto interjected Makoto’s orders.

“Isn’t it better to run separately in this state?! We need to keep casualties to a minimum!”

With each member having a retort of their own, Makoto’s anger grew more and more.

“I’m the freaking commander here! Just do what you’re told!”

“Here it is! We can reach the underground from that building!”

Yotsuba shouted. She was pointing at a small, half-ruined building.

Although lightning attacks grazed them many times, everyone managed to reach there alive.

Makoto had a brief moment of relief, but then Yotsuba stood in place.

“What’s wrong, Yotsuba?”

“I have a bad feeling.”

Standing to Kasuou’s side, the head of the Central Headquarters’ kamikaze unit. Although she looked plain at a glance, her intuition was well-known even within the SEPB.

The ground swelled in front of them.

Along with a roar, a conducting wire—electric cable—thick enough to be carried by both hands came flying from the underground. Its insulator made of hardened plastic was torn and the wires inside it became exposed.

Shachito groaned.

“This is bad, it was an ambush—”

She was able to feel this imminent disaster with her entire body even without him telling her this.

Makoto instantly began to follow the line of her throat with her index finger.

Her Mushi—a wasp spider—appeared, wrapping around her thin throat. Long legs grasping her thin throat continued to create a radial pattern behind her. Makoto’s Mushi was an equipment type, rare among Minion-Type Mushi.

The wasp spider’s long legs began emitting light. Makoto’s throat shone with a glowing afterimage.

“—Territory Isolation!!!”

Makoto put her entire strength into this roar.

Loud, ear-grating noise and a golden flash of light covering the entire area clashed directly.

The storm of blowing electricity was split to two sides before hitting Makoto’s group.

However—

“—UWAAAAHHHH!”

Someone probably screamed.

Although Makoto’s ability managed to defend against the direct brunt of the attack, the ground collapsed from the impact.

Including Makoto, all members fell down, unable to do anything.

Large amounts of dirt and asphalt fragments mixed with the surrounding buildings’ debris, were absorbed into a hole made of darkness—and suddenly all slowed down.

At first, she thought it was simply not as deep as she imagined, but that was wrong.

They were simply stopped by a giant rhinoceros beetle.

“How are you, guys?”

Kabuto, grabbing the horn of his rhinoceros beetle, turned to the others.

As a small mercy, every single member of the suicide corps was atop the rhinoceros beetle’s back. Even Rinrin and Maimai who’d been unconscious before were trying to get up, groaning.

Apparently thinking that it wasn’t as deep as she imagined wasn’t a mistake.

The rhinoceros beetle landed in a vast space that was probably just ten-odd meters from the surface in depth. They were buried in lots of debris, but she could tell there were several generators there.

Although light reached them from the hole above, the inside was gloomy.

“Ah, I really thought we were done for. —Where are we?”

Despite his words, Shachito spoke in a casual tone. Nene looked around, then answered.

“The entrance to the Underground Fort works using a self-supporting generator… so I think this is the control room for activating that…”

“—E-everyone, stay alert!”

Makoto called for her relieved teammates to be more wary.

Everyone turned to Makoto, puzzled. Yakugami asked with a relaxed voice.

“Stay alert? Against what, exactly?”

“This is—inside the Underground Fort…!”

Everyone looked like they wanted to say they were aware of that.

However, Makoto felt herself getting drenched in sweat. —They’d infiltrated much further away than she’d assumed. Furthermore, their position was leaked to C.

“We have no idea what’s going to show up here on…!”

“What’s going to show up—meaning C?”

“Terasu-chan, we can’t be alert if you don’t explain.”

Kaguya and Shachito inquired her, easygoing.

However, from behind them—

There was the unpleasant sound of metal rubbing against metal.

As everyone turned to look—they froze.

“—”

A gloomy, automatic door.

The metal-made door that was probably connected to the Fort’s corridors opened on its own.

And not just that.

On its other side they could see a thin arm.

That arm was turned toward Makoto’s group and threw something.

“R-retreat—”

Makoto gave the order too late. They were currently inside a closed room with no escape.

Cornering them in the corner of the control room was—

A small bomb with a metallic tube and fuse.