Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 13 Chapter 5 (section)

== 5.01 Another OPS1 ==

Deep under Akamaki City, in the deepest part of the Central Headquarters’ Underground Fort.

“O-Operation 1… has failed…”

As Terasu informed HQ of this, she was attacked by all of the Revived.

“You’re kidding… you’re kidding meee!”

Kasuou howled. Her vividly blond hair going wild, she wrung out the last of her power to create a wall of mist. It managed to block the rain of attacks before they tore the suicide corps formed of Makoto and others from limb to limb.

The mist protecting the suicide squad tightened and was attacked by Mushi, and more Mushi, and more Mushi—

And they could no longer see Super Class Rank 1, C, their supposed enemy ahead.

“W-was that C…? Or an illusion…?”

The C Makoto had seen—the nude girl wearing a shining tiara—looked at the suicide corps with creepy eyes. However, her form instantly vanished along with static.

''If C isn’t even here, then why have all of us—

Besides Makoto who was crying tears of despair, Rinrin shouted.

“F-fairies are coming from behind…!”

“P-Poison Puuunch!”

Yotsuba created a poisonous mist, blocking the fairies.

However, both Kasuou and Yotsuba already went past their limits.

“T-these pieces of shit…!”

“I-I can’t hold on…!”

Kasuou’s mist and Yotsuba’s poison fog was erased in a moment.

“I’ll shoot all of them!”

Shouting this, Tsukihime jumped ahead—

“…!”

And the swarms of Mushi retreated like a receding wave.

In place of them Mushitsuki that Makoto also knew well appeared.

All of them were Special Type Mushitsuki. Standing atop the mountain of cables and swinging her arm like a conductor of an orchestra to give them orders was Shishidou Inuko.

Not only was the last traces of their stamina drained, but now they were even being showered with long-range attacked.

“Eeeek!”

“Gwah…!”

“Oooh!”

The suicide squad members took evasive action, but that was the enemy’s aim.

“No good…! If we get separated, then it’s already…!”

Makoto shouted, but it was too late.

As if they fell to the depths of hell and were about to get devoured by the resident demons—

As if watching a footage go in fast forward—

Red wounds opened up on all of her separated comrades.

“W-we must escape—”

Makoto tried ordering, but she knew it was useless. Rinrin shouted at her.

“Where to?! Our path of retreat is full of fairies…!”

The lone entrance into the place was blocked by the fairies created by C’s ability.

Wasting their powers against an overwhelming number of enemies, they had nowhere to escape to.

“Ah, aaaah…”

Makoto and the rest were going to die there—

There was no longer any means of reversal. The elites of the SEPB were going to get annihilated here today.

She was convinced of this and even as she was about to give up on resisting—

“Operation 1 can no longer continue…!”

Tsukihime shouted.

She was already aware of that.

Makoto tried wearing a slovenly smile of contempt—

“We will now move on—to our reserve plan!”

Hearing these words, she froze.

Reserve plan?

''What’s this guy talking about?

''I heard nothing about that—

“—Roger that!”

The one who replied was someone unexpected.

It was Kabuto.

“I’ve used too much power to get here. It’ll take a minute.”

The five-horned rhinoceros melted into air. Kabuto’s form was changing.

Makoto, Shachito, Sakura and others were surprised by this. Kaguya, Himiko and Maimai all looked at Kabuto’s transformation with resolved eyes.

''East Central Branch…! What are you doing—

Apparently, they schemed something without telling their commander Makoto.

What were they trying to do in this situation that was nothing but despair? Makoto couldn’t even begin to imagine.

“—”

Kabuto—no, the unknown person completed their transformation.

Seeing that form, Makoto was at a loss for words. Kasuou and others also widened their eyes and froze.

While they all ceased moving, the Revived leapt down all at once—was what she thought would happen, but didn’t.

Even the enemies—and Shishidou Inuko who was leading them—all stopped their movements. They remained completely expressionless, but perhaps an instinctive fear stopped all of them.

The fact the new figure wore a long black coat and goggles was unchanged from Kabuto. However, with their hair standing up like horns, no one there would mistake that figure.

“—Let’s do this.”

Blaze Class Rank 1, Kakkou.

The demon that was supposed to become a Fallen appeared in front of Makoto again.

This time it was no hallucination.

No—even the Kakkou she’d seen on the way there was not something she imagined.

“Why you…!”

Kasuou came back to her senses, grimacing her bloody face.

“So you’re Mimic!”

Makoto gasped.

Without seeing them transforming right in front of her eyes, she probably would have been much more confused. She did hear about a Mushitsuki called Mimic that could transform into other people.

There was no way for the real Kakkou to be here.

With his entire body covered by the green glow, Kakkou—no, Mimic—kicked the ground. Weaving between the Revived that stood there like statues, he leapt to Maimai.

“A single minute will be enoughfufhf!”

Picking up the spirited-voice girl, Mimic glared at—

Super Class Rank 1, C.

Still lying on top of the Bed, C glared back at Mimic.

Kicking the ground, Mimic headed to C. But before that, the Revived stood in his way.

“You guys, I know it’s tough, but please support Mimic!”

“Shoot! Shoot!”

Kaguya and Himiko provided covering fire to Mimic.

She didn’t really understand the situation, but Makoto also threw whatever little wireless speakers she had around.

“Sense Isolation! —What on earth is going on? What are you trying to do?”

“We’re obviously going to beat C—”

Kaguya shouted.

“—Or so we wanted to, but if that’s impossible… we’ll use the reserve plan to survive this and run!”

“I’m asking you what that reserve plan is!”

While protecting Makoto and the rest who covered for Mimic, Kasuou yelled angrily.

There was no way to defeat C who wasn’t even there.

Despite knowing this, what was this plan they were enacting?

“OOOOOOH!”

Mimic howled with Kakkou’s voice. His green glow-wrapped fist smashed the Mushi in front of him and he finally managed to reach C.

“—”

The two Rank 1s glared at each other in the distance of a few centimeters.

Even though he came so close to her, C was unflinching. Still lying on top of the transparent bed, she glared at Mimic with creepy eyes.

“…She doesn’t seem to be alive, but this still feels bad. You probably shouldn’t touch her.”

While C was unmoving, Mimic turned his back to her.

“I will commence hackinginging!”

Maimai swung her arms and a large amount of liquid gushed out of them.

This half-transparent liquid covered Maimai herself and the Bed. This was Makoto’s first time seeing this, but that amorphous object was probably Maimai’s Mushi.

“As long as the little girl’s security habits haven’t changed since the time she belonged to the East Central Branchech…”

Glowing letters and numbers appeared on the surface of the half-transparent liquid.

“Hurry up if you don’t wanna die!”

Mimic protected Maimai from the Revived.

“E-eek, Kakkou-san! —Wait, you’re not! Please don’t rush me with that voicesces!”

“Hacking, you said… are you trying to steal something from the Bed?”

For some reason, Kaguya wore a pained face at hearing Makoto’s question.

“If we all want to come back alive, that’s the only way…!”

“—Guh…!”

A change came over Mimic.

Kakkou’s arm was warping, trying to return to its previous form.

“Still not there, Maimai…?!”

“F-found itit! There shouldn’t be any mistake, but—once I do that, Mimic-san, you’ll…”

“I don’t care even if I never go back. I’ve already said my goodbyes.”

Mimic returned being a slim girl.

No—she was a girl who wore a smile free of doubts even in this battlefield smelling only of death and despair. Perhaps this was Mimic’s true form.

“If I can turn my lies into reality, that’s good enough for me.”

Seeing Mimic’s unhesitating smile, Maimai bit her lips. She touched Mimic with her arm covered in her Mushi.

“I will now transport Tachibana Rina’s—Lady Bird’s dream to Mimic-sananan!”

Again.

Everyone including Makoto and even their enemies froze.

Just like when Mimic became Kakkou.

No, since they were SEPB combatants, they’d obviously become upset upon hearing the name of their archnemesis, more than Kakkou.

“Lady—you say—”

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

Was it a whale? A submarine? What swelled up from within the sea of cables had such a large body that it felt like this. This exceptional sense of presence awed everyone there.

It was a gigantic seven-spotted ladybug.

She never thought the day would come she’d see its form again.

No Mushitsuki of the SEPB wanted to see it again.

On the other hand, for Mushibane—they might cry at the revival of their great leader.

“There’s no longer any need for us to be here!”

Standing on top of the back of the massive red Mushi that had black spots—

Was Lady Bird.

Makoto had seen her only once, when she provided support to another branch. Just like back then, the girl in front of her wore a fox mask to cover her face. The cape on her back was also the exact same.

“We’re running away!”

Even that beautiful voice that echoed was Lady Bird’s.

Himiko was the first one who came back to her senses.

“You guys, let’s all get next to Lady-san…! —You too, Akatsuki-kun!”

Himiko grabbed the hand of the boy standing there dazed.

“Ah—y-yes…”

Kaguya used to belong to Mushibane. And he was even a member while Lady Bird was there. Although he wished for this development, he couldn’t hide his confusion.

“Get on, everyone!”

Shachito teleported around to pick up the suicide corps members spread around. Makoto also had her arm garbed by him and the next moment she was atop the seven-spotted ladybug’s back.

“We’ll probably meet you again.”

Lady Bird and C.

The sights of these two Rank 1s crossed for just a moment.

However, without them clashing—

“…!”

The seven-spotted ladybug Makoto and the rest rode on spread its large wings. This mere action blew away many Mushi. Furthermore—

“You’re in the way!”

[[File:Mushi Uta 13 p393.jpg|thumb]]

An invisible explosion blew the Mushi around to smithereens. The cables spread on the floor swelled up and large cracks ran through the walls of this deepmost area. —Only the Bed and C were completely unmoving. Not even a single hair of the nude girl’s was touched.

Revived Mushi were scattered by the ladybug. None could stop this tank’s advance.

Or so she thought, but golden C-butterflies and fairies blocked the exit.

The seven-spotted ladybug charged without hesitating—and opened its massive maw.

“—!”

Electric light burst apart.

The ladybug bit the fairies’ heads off. Unheeding that its mouth was scorched by electricity, it kept eating the fairies.

By doing this—Makoto and the rest succeeded in escaping the space C inhabited.

“We’re... saved...?”

Makoto mumbled unconsciously.

All the suicide corps members on the ladybug’s back had faces covered with blood. Some were even wounded or fainted. However—none were dead.

“A-are you really—Rina?”

Kaguya timidly raised his voice and the masked Lady turned around. A chuckle came from within the mask.

“So you finally feel like joining the battle, Ephemera.”

“...!”

Kaguya grimaced. Makoto couldn’t tell whether he was happy or sad.

“T-these are the genuine memories and dreams of Lady-san. Not just an image... Mimic was resolved to never be able to go back to herself, accepting such strong feelings...”

Maimai said. Was she so pale due to her injuries?

Makoto put a hand to her goggles with unbelievable feelings.

“C-can you read, Headquarters...? I can’t believe it... Lady came back to life...”

Her mind was in complete chaos due to this unforeseen happening.

However, she could feel only the fact she survived with her body.

“W-we’re saved! We’re coming back, none of us died!”

Now they could regain their footing.

And they even managed to gain an unbelievable fighting power in the form of Lady Bird.

Shaking with happiness, Makoto hadn’t noticed at all.

“It’s Lady Bird’s dream—supposedly.”

That Maimai was looking down and trembling—

“But it almost seemed like many dreams were mixed with it, as if clinging to her...”

That vanishingly soft whisper.