Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 13 Chapter 1 (section)

== 1.01 OPS2 Part 2 ==

It was apparently the day of the week the museum was closed.

There were no signs of life in the completely silent premises. Well, the entirety of Akamaki City had been issued an evacuation order anyway; there were no people who’d come to leisurely browse the works of art.

Having said that, it didn’t mean there were no people at all.

A uniformed security guard was patrolling around. It’d sound nice to say he was wary of people using the evacuation notice to steal things, but it was obvious from the swelling of his chest that he was hiding weapons under his uniform. It meant that there was a reason for there to be such strict guard to the extent of going against the law.

“…”

The security guard walked through the narrow corridor. He was a large man who’d look just like a professional wrestler, if not for his uniform. Passing so close to him that they were likely to feel the breaths leaked from his thick lips—

“They” walked through.

The large security guard did not even look at her and her companions.

“…”

There were surveillance cameras in the corridor’s corners.

However, they passed under it with no issues whatsoever.

There were no sirens.

As they walked a little, a wide space appeared. She understood the meaning for it and gave her companion orders.

Her field of vision rose and they advanced such that their heads nearly grazing the ceiling. Most likely, the gravity sensors installed on the floor did not let anyone know of intruders.

“…”

''I’m like some gentleman thief from movies or manga'', she thought of herself cynically.

That kind of role wasn’t bad at all.

However, her aim was not a work of art or any treasure.

While looking at the building’s structures and the deployment of guards and the like, she looked for her destination. She knew that what she was looking for required a lot of electricity and space. While calculating the route backwards from the museum’s power generator and interpreting the psychological components from the positions of the guards protecting it, she was able to naturally reach her goal.

Looking from the outside, it was nothing more than a gallery meant to display paintings in a circular corridor. This structure, covered in small, hexagonal windows all around the building, was like a giant beehive.

However, there was actually no desk installed to admit visitors in the very interior of the vast premises.

Slipping past the eyes of the security guards, they dove into the beehive.

Floor B1F.

Two brawny guards were stationed in front of the single door at the end of a long corridor.

“…”

She approached one of the guards and reached out with a hand.

“Ugh!”

“What is it?”

Seeing that his fellow guard suddenly crouched on the spot, the other one looked puzzled.

She nimbly slipped behind his back and touched him as well.

“Ah…!”

“—Open this door. If any contact comes from the outside, report that everything’s normal.”

Her husky voice that couldn’t be called beautiful in the least echoed through the corridor.

The two guards grimaced and held their heads. With abnormal sweat pouring out of them, they held their heads.

“Uuuh… roger that—”

“T-there’s no problem… no problem here…”

His face wrought in anguish, the security guard swiped his card through the door’s lock.

The thick metallic door opened.

Without a moment delay the group slipped inside.

“What is it?”

The men in work clothes all turned toward the door, ''but there was no one there''.

The room’s interior was crammed full of electronic devices such as monitors, dashboards and control panels. She knew that these machines were all some sort of monitoring instruments.

What were they monitoring?

The answer to that question was screened on the monitor.

At a glance it looked like a young man sleeping peacefully.

“Hey, what is it?”

“Did something happen?”

There were three men in work clothes inside this monitoring room. They called toward the security guards on the other side of the door. All of them were clearly researchers that had no physical strength.

“Wah…?”

“Ugh!”

Two of the men inside grimaced and fell to their knees.

As she reached out toward the remaining one, he turned around, sensing her presence.

“Wha—”

From his point of view it probably looked as though a thin arm appeared from empty space.

A crimson silhouette floated behind the work clothes man.

A red queen bee.

This small, ethereal bee stabbed its sharp needle into the man’s nape.

“Uuugh…!”

Along with a cry of pain, the man squatted down.

Amplifying the feelings lying within the stung man, she robbed his rational thinking. That was all her boring ability did. However, depending on the usage, it was a convenient power that could manipulate people like puppets for a short while.

“Let us pass. There’s no problem.”

“T-there’s no… problem…”

One of the men wearing work clothes operated the machinery while drooling.

The door in the back of the monitoring room opened.

As the group of girls passed through the door—they found a gigantic pedestal there. This space was about as large as a high school gymnasium and the center of the pedestal was filled with machinery.

A gigantic life-support system.

A lone person was lying on the pedestal.

He was a pale-faced youth. Everything from the neck down was hidden by machinery, but his face looked Asian. His soft-looking hair had a thin color and his lips looked just as pale.

A colorless and transparent youth.

This was the impression he brought to her. Even his very existence seemed thin.

“Hello there.”

Viewing her goal, the girl and her companions finally revealed themselves.

First, a grotesque-looking monster appeared, spreading two wings that swelled like balloons. Appearing from within them were four girls.

“We finally meet, Mr. shithead original Mushitsuki.”

Saying this, she—Konomura Chami—looked down at the youth. She was petite and her short hair’s tips were sticking out in all directions. Her eyes covered by rimless glasses looked scary and, completely unlike the colorless man in front of her eyes, were filled with desire.

Next to Chami, a long-haired girl also looked down at the youth.

“…So he’s Alpha…”

The girl clad in the SEPB’s white long coat was Konoha. She had a gloomy expression and tone of voice. She was the host of the Mushi that concealed Chami’s group and brought them all the way there. Konoha’s Mushi excelled in camouflage abilities that allowed it to conceal its existence from the surroundings, as well as a searching ability that allowed her to view her targets from afar.

“We ended up lying to Shiika… is that really fine?”

Mumbling this with an anxious expression was a girl even smaller than Chami.

Her name was Ebina Yuu. She wasn’t a Mushitsuki like Chami or Konoha, but a genuine normal civilian. With her braids and glasses, she looked like a rather plain middle schooler.

Chami glared at Yuu with a side glance.

“Leaving Fuyuhotaru aside, that Akasegawa Nanana would never agree to our conditions so easily. If push comes to shove, she might use Alpha as bait to try and take you by force. After all, our side has nearly zero fighting power.”

“S-Shiika will definitely hold her side of the deal!”

Yuu argued back, but Chami did not concern herself with that anymore.

“Well, I was prepared for being shown to a completely irrelevant place and getting ambushed by Mushibane… but I’m grateful to them actually leading us to Alpha’s hiding place. They’re probably underestimating us, thinking we’re not gonna find out exactly where he’s hidden, though.”

Mushibane had two frightening forces at their disposal—Fuyuhotaru’s violence and Akasegawa Nanana’s wealth.

So they were probably wary of people like Chami who worked from behind the scenes. Although they’d once been outmaneuvered by the unforeseen forces of the Kanon cult, the conceit of the strong wasn’t something so easy to get rid of.

“Right about now, Lucifera and Satou Youko should be drawing Mushibane’s attention. Let’s draw whatever information from Alpha we can in the meantime.”

Konomura Chami would not get conceited.

Compared to the three strongest forces—the SEPB, Mushibane and Harukiyo—she was a mere small fry; she was fully aware that she was nothing more of a supporting role at best in the battle between Mushitsuki.

Even Chami’s servants were all lacking any fighting capabilities.

Chami’s group was weak.

Because they were weak—that fact could become their weapon.

“The SEPB, Mushibane and Harukiyo see nothing but C right now. There’s a lotta stuff we have to do while that’s happening… but, leaving that aside, we can’t forget about this guy. We’ll grasp the core of the secret of Mushi—that is, why Mushi are born into this world…!”

One day, she would snatch the seat of the protagonist—

Chami, who ended up harboring a dream larger than herself, would make it come true with her own methods.

For that sake she was willing to deceive and use anyone she could.

“…But with Alpha asleep like that, we can’t really…”

“I’m aware of that. —Chiharu!”

Chami turned around.

The last person among the four of them, Ayukawa Chiharu, stood there.

She was an attractive beauty with long hair and a slender body. The kind of bright and beautiful girl who’d draw people’s attention merely by standing there and smiling, whether it was in a street corner or on stage.

No—it would be more correct to say that she’d been that girl.

“…”

As Ayukawa Chiharu stood there silently, her expression was completely changed from before, lacking any vitality. She looked just like a Mushitsuki whose Mushi was killed—like a Fallen—but she was no Mushitsuki. The necklace dangling from her neck had a golden ring hanging from it.

“Hey! Earth to Chiharu!”

Chiharu raised her face absentmindedly. She looked back at Chami’s face, but then looked away.

“Why you little…!”

“Wah!”

Chami swung her arm without thinking and Yuu hurriedly stopped her.

“V-violence is bad! Chiharu-san’s still in shock…!”

“Why are you still depressed at this point! You gotta accept reality by now!”

Chami spat with clear anger.

“Kakkou’s a Fallen! Your cute brother dropped out from the battle! You need to acknowledge that already!”

Visible from Chiharu’s profile, a long tear streaked down from her eye.

Ayukawa Chiharu was the biological sister of the Rank 1 Mushitsuki, Kakkou.

At the same time—she also used to be one of the Original Three, Sanbikime.

Meaning, the person who turned Kakkou into a Mushitsuki was Chiharu herself.

“…hy… did Daisuke…”

A barely audible mutter leaked from the side of Chiharu’s mouth.

“Why him… and not me…”

“You—shithead!”

Chami’s anger instantly reached its boiling point.

Chiharu, who loved her brother, always blamed herself for making him into a Mushitsuki. The mere fact he became Fallen made it spiral out of control.

Hearing the news about Kakkou’s dropout, Chiharu did not cry and yell.

She simply confined herself into a world full of self-accusation and self-hatred.

She made no move at all. She ate nothing. She said nothing. —It was the kind of situation where she was even barely able to keep breathing thanks to her autonomic nerves.

“Your necklace has Sanbikime in it!”

Chami grabbed the necklace hanging from Chiharu’s neck.

“If Alpha’s useless, then Sanbikime…! If we brought together two of those who were present when Mushi were born, one of them might wake up! I bet on this and came all the way here! It can’t end here with nothin’ happening at all!”

Chiharu didn’t even look at Chami.

“We have two people who know about the secret of Mushi’s birth right in front of our eyes…! This isn’t the time to lose heart because both of them are asleep!”

Angry at the lethargic Chiharu, Chami thrust her away. She stumbled backwards, falling to her rear. Yuu rushed over to her.

“S-stop being so violent!”

Yuu covered for Chiharu.

“Why are you always so angry! You should be gentle to her especially now…!”

[[File:Mushi Uta 13 p054.jpg|thumb]]

“If I could win by being gentle, I’d be as gentle as possible! But I’m not some kinda monster like the Rank 1s or Miguruma! If I don’t sharpen my wits through anger, I’ll never be able to outwit them! Even without that, continuing as we are means Miguruma’s plans will come through with all their consequences!”

“Eh? By Miguruma-san’s plans, what do you—“

Yuu was puzzled, but then something happened.

A single man dressed in work clothes appeared from the door connected to the monitoring room.

“Hmm? Hey, you lot. No one ordered you to come inside—“

The work clothes man stood in front of the calling Chami.

“UuuUuuh—“

His rationality robbed by Chami’s ability, the man looked as pained as before. He leaked copious amounts of sweat and held his head, face twisted in anguish.

Tears gushed from his eyes, and in those tears—

''Crackle.

Pale sparks erupted.

“Ha?”

Chami furrowed her brows.

An electrical discharge burst from the man’s tears.

It instantly gathered in the air, assuming the form of small butterflies.

And those butterflies were—

“C-butterflies—”

Chami mumbled in shock.

They were butterflies with the letter C on their small wings.

“This guy—was boobytrapped—”

Chami only now noticed her misunderstanding.

“The ones who set up a trap weren’t Mushibane—”

The flapping c-butterflies touched the life support system.

A moment later, the space Alpha was lying on was wrapped in a pale flash.

“Kuh…!”

“Eeek!”

“Uh…!”

Since Chami’s group lacked fighting abilities, they had no way to resist. Their eyes blinded by the flash, it took everything they had to cover their eyes with their hands.

The flash and the impact were instant.

After several moments passed, Chami gingerly opened her eyelids.

“…?”

She was resolved for death, but felt no pain. Even as she made sure using her eyes that still had the afterimage of the flash burned into them, she couldn’t see even a single wound on her body. Her servants were the same.

Chami gasped and looked at Chiharu’s necklace.

“…Sanbikime!”

Since C had become a Super Class Rank 1 and lost her personality, she would try to absorb Sanbikime.

C’s aim was definitely Sanbikime—or so she thought.

“…”

Chiharu, like always, did nothing but stare into empty air.

The necklace on her neck also looked exactly the same as before.

“W-what on earth is—”

As if to overlap with Chami’s unconscious voice, a shrill siren began ringing.

“Alpha’s life support system…!”

That lightning strike had apparently had an effect on the life support system. From what she could see of Alpha’s peaceful sleeping face, he had not received any serious damage, but the alarms started sounding.

“Doesn’t look like she targeted Alpha too…? In the first place, if she really set up a trap then she could handle Alpha whenever and however she’d like to—”

Why had C embedded this trap here? And what had she done just now?

She didn’t know her exact aim, but for Chami this was something she definitely couldn’t accept.

“Chiharu…!”

As the alarms rang, Chami grabbed Chiharu.

“What happened to Sanbikime! Did something happen to it right now? And if you’re saying that nothing’s happened, that’s weird in and of itself!”

She shook the idle Chiharu with force.

“C’s aiming for the Original Three! And yet—why had she done nothing?!”

“Chami…! If we don’t escape right now, Mushibane’s going to come…!”

Konoha tried pulling Chami away, but she ignored her, yelling at Chiharu again.

“Chiharu! Answer me!”

“…longer here…”

Chiharu’s mouth loosened. She wore a slovenly smile, completely unlike how she was before.

“…Aria’s no longer here…”

Chami felt goosebumps over her entire body.

“…You tricked me?”

“Chami! Hurry…!”

Konoha managed to tear Chami away from Chiharu by force.

“Yuu…!”

Konoha called to Ebina Yuu.

However, for some reason Yuu was unmoving. She stood in place, completely frozen.

Chiharu despaired while Yuu was paralyzed.

Leaving those two behind, Konoha tried covering herself and Chami with her Mushi.

The moment the Mushi’s power erased their form, Chiharu raised her face.

“You also lied to me… Chami-chan…!”

Chami and Chiharu.

The two girls glared at each other.

“You told me you’d never let Daisuke die—or become a Fallen…!”

“Chiharuuu!”

The girl’s shout of anger and the ringing alarm.

Alpha’s bedroom, where these two voices mixed, was busted in by Shiika and the rest of Mushibane.