Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 3rd Episode 09 (section)

===Part 1===

"Arisu Homerun!"

Arisu's spirited yell made the white ball soar in the air—or not.

The sound of the ball being caught by the mitt reverberated through the sports ground of Horusu Seijou Academy Middle School. 

The fourth period was P.E. lesson. Arisu's class had a joint lesson with another class, playing softball. 

Under the cloudless sky, Arisu was greeted by giggles as she returned to the bench.

"Tch, letting someone from the Softball club play as pitcher is plain cheating. Here, Takako."

The jersey-wearing Arisu took a seat, handing her bat to the next batter in line, Kujou Takako. 

"That is because it is dangerous to have an amateur pitching."

Receiving the bat, Takako headed toward the batter's box while grinning. Yet, the ball was caught in the gloves three times shortly. "It really is foul play," lamented Takako as she returned.

"You need to swing it at least once…"

Sitting next to Arisu with her legs crossed, Saionji Ena sighed with a look of exasperation.

"Even so, I can understand why you're not motivated since Kusuriya-kun's not here."

''Isn't Ena always unmotivated anyway''—the reason Arisu did not say out her thought was not because she held back; an out-of-season morpho butterfly had landed atop her head.

A silver morpho butterfly. It wasn't an ordinary insect.

It was a Mushi that would consume its host's dreams and lend them supernatural powers. This morpho butterfly had once possessed the girl known as Hanashiro Mari, but after her death it passed on to Arisu.

The boy known as Kusuriya Daisuke was a member of the organization created in order to capture and conceal Mushi, the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau, and was an agent sent in order to monitor Arisu.

"The teacher said he's caught a cold or something, but is that true? Is Kusuriya-kun fine?"

"Let's visit him after school."

As Ena and Takako looked at her, Arisu shook her hand.

"It's just feigned illness. He's probably having fun with that licky-licky girl right about now?"

"W-what's that? Are you talking about that fortune-teller girl we saw at the cultural festival?"

"…I shall prevent her from ever being able to approach within a radius of two meters of Daisuke-san from now on."

Ena appeared to be flustered while Takako averted her gaze with cold eyes. The incident in relation to Kurisaka Ayuyu during the cultural festival of another school the other day ended up being explained as a gas explosion in the cooking practice room.

''—I'll say this just in case, but a man with a tattoo on his face might approach you. If you see him, run away immediately.'' 

Just before they parted in front of her house, Daisuke had said this. And when she asked him the reason for it…

''—He's an enemy.''

He only replied as such and left.

"…What do you mean by tattoo."

She mumbled sullenly in a low voice so that Ena and Takako wouldn't hear.

Arisu was disturbed by the happenings that occured around her lately. Even with the incident with Ayuyu the other day, Arisu only remembered bits and pieces, but never received any explanations. Daisuke also remained tight-lipped.

Even though it had something to do with her dear friend Hanashiro Mari, Arisu was being kept in the dark.

With that suspicion, her temper only grew shorter recently.

She also didn't like the fact that Daisuke wouldn't tell her who the replacement monitor was. Being watched by someone out of her sight only made the stress worse.

"Your turn to bat, Ena."

As the game approached its final stages, the pitcher finally seem to tire. After three consecutive bases on balls, all the bases were loaded. Arisu put her hand on Ena's shoulder and pushed her. 

"…Hah, that's not all. I'll just get three strikes again and then start the counterplan…"

While muttering this, Ena headed for the batter's box. Takako sighed.

"And to think that fundamentally, Ena-san could do anything if she tried… It is a pity she does not get serious often."

Just like Takako said, Ena didn't even made any real effort. Arisu placed her hand near her mouth and shouted toward Ena standing at the batter's box.

"Heeey, Ena. If you hit a homerun, I'll let you lick Daisuke all you want!"

"Ena Homerun!!!"

—The white ball disappeared into the blue sky.

Silence befell the surroundings for an instant.

"…You should be taking other things in life more seriously as well…"

Arisu's mutterings overlapped with the chime indicating the end of the lesson, along with the music for the schoolwide announcement.

The latter was calling out for Arisu.

<br>

The one who had called her out to the staff room was her homeroom teacher.

Her teacher told her "just a bit," inarticulately and led Arisu to the corridor. According to him, a family member of Hanashiro Mari, who had passed away due to sickness a year ago, had come to visit.

"Mari's relative?"

As Arisu asked back, the teacher made a sullen face. Apparently, Mari had a cousin who lived overseas for a long time and he wanted to find out more about her.

The sickly Mari hadn't attended school even once since being admitted. As such, the school knew nothing about her. And so Arisu was called out being that she was one who had been in contact with her frequently when she alive.

Mari herself had told Arisu that she was an only child. However, this was her first time hearing about a cousin. Arisu followed the teacher down the corridor.

Suddenly feeling a gaze on her, she looked ahead.

Her line of sight met with a set of blue eyes.

A group of girls were chatting in one corner of the corridor. The one who crossed gazes with Arisu was a blonde girl whom she had seen before.

She was a female student who had returned to Japan from overseas recently. With the beauty of someone with mixed European heritage, she had attracted the attention of the ever-curious Ena, who pulled Arisu all the way to her class to take a look at her. 

However, the blonde girl immediately averted her gaze from Arisu. "Shirakashi-san? No, I have not ever spoken to her before," she chatted with her friends in a subtly strange Japanese. 

[[File:Mushi_Uta_Bug_3rd_p015.jpg|thumb]]

"…"

Although that girl somehow caught her attention, she was urged on by the teacher and hastened her pace.

They arrived in front of the academic guidance room. The teacher simply left after leaving the words, "call me when you're done".

Arisu stood in front of the door.

Mari's cousin. —This would be Arisu's first time meeting with and speaking to a relative of hers. Even during her funeral and death anniversary, her family didn't seemed to pay her any heed.

She wondered what kind of person were they.

Being the relative of the mild-mannered and quiet Mari, perhap they may also be just like that. —While thinking so, Arisu opened the door.

"Yo."

The person within turned to face her. 

Arisu stood there, speechless.

The boy inside the room seemed to be around two or three years older than her. His slender body and sharp features probably made him stand out even among others of his age. A large compress covered what was presumably a wound on his right cheek. He was dressed in a blazer with the embroidery from some high school.

"You're Ichinokuro Arisu? The one all buddy with Mari?"

"…"

"But I must say, the teachers in this school sure are useless! Each and every one of them made such a nasty face the moment I mentioned Mari. Even if they're unsure of how to treat a student with zero attendance despite all her family's donations, there's something known as an educator's responsibilities. Say, don't you agree?"

Being asked for her approval, Arisu put a hand on her forehead. She shared his complaints, but there was something she was much more concerned with right now.

"…First of all, I'd like to know why you're all the way up there."

"Huh? Oh, this? Don't you see it on TV often? They usually hide wiretaps or hidden cameras and stuff like that in places like this. Not that I found any, though."

The guy—had for some reason climbed up the wall and was peeking into the openings of the air conditioner, and spoke as if it was normal.

Seeing someone so far removed from her expectations, Arisu felt drained.

"Mari's cousin is someone like this…? In fact, why does it seem like I've only been meeting oddballs lately…"

"I'm Sehateno Harukiyo."

Jumping down from the wall, the boy named himself. Arisu furrowed her brows.

"Sehateno…?"

Placing his hands in his pockets, the smiling youth suddenly exuded an imposing aura in constrast to his eccentric actions just now. Having said so with such confidence made him sound all the more convincing.<ref>Sehateno is written with the characters of 世(se)-果(hate)-埜(no). The word "世" means "world" and 果 means "end", which is not a conventional name by any means, thus causing Arisu some disbelief.</ref>

"Close the door."

Harukiyo said, grinning. His gaze turned piercing all of a sudden, shocking Arisu for an instant. 

When she turned around, she coincidentally saw the previous blonde girl walking past the guidance room. Her blue eyes glanced at Arisu fleetingly.

Arisu closed the door.

The boy called Harukiyo immediately reverted to his previous cheerful smile. Jumping onto the desk, he sat cross-legged with his eyes shining like those of a little kid.

"Now, it's time for you to speak. Tell me about her—about Mari."

Although she was still baffled, Arisu began talking about the Mari she knew.

About how she was so sick that she couldn't even attend school once since being enrolled. And how she had closed off her heart at first, but gradually came to open up. To when she started to study, in hopes of the day when she would be able to attend lessons.

Arisu spoke of everything she knew, barring the fact that Mari was a Mushitsuki. She had only found out about that after Mari died anyway.

When she finished recounting, she could see no signs of Harukiyo being satisfied anyhow. He scratched his head and inquired Arisu as if he suddenly thought of something.

"What about her diary? Is it with you?"

"Diary?"

This was her first time hearing anything about Mari keeping a diary.

"She kept a diary. There's no mistake 'bout that. By your reaction, it seems like you don't have it. It wasn't in her sickroom. …Her house then? Her parents must have brought it back."

Harukiyo mumbled to himself. Arisu frowned.

"There's no mistake, you say… how do you know that?"

"'Cause I heard it from the guy who was closest to her."

"The guy closest to her…?"

"She might've written about that in her diary too."

Asserting this, Harukiyo pushed off from the desk. He started walking toward the door as if saying their business was over.

As he walked past the befuddled Arisu, he said so with a grin.

"Now I get it. —You know nothing about her."

"…!"

"See ya, Ichinokuro Arisu."

Turning toward the boy trying to leave, Arisu grabbed his shoulder.

"I'm—"

She glared straight at Sehateno Harukiyo who turned around. She thought of coming up with a retort, but no words came to her mind. Her grip on his shoulder tightened.

Indeed, there were far too many things Arisu didn't know about Mari. Mari never told her she was a Mushitsuki even at the very end.

"That's a nice look in ypur eyes. No wonder that bastard wanted to apologize."

Harukiyo shook off Arisu's hand, smiling. Arisu had no idea who was he referring to as that bastard.

"Don't misunderstand. You not knowing anything goes to show how important Mari thought of you. Since 'they' are inclined to be like that, don't mind it."

Saying so with a provocative smile, the boy opened the door and exited the guidance room.

"Mari's… diary."

Left behind, Arisu only bit down on her lips.