Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 4th Episode 14 (section)

=== Part 1 ===
When they arrived at the main hall the party had already started.

With delightful musical being played in the background, the many people dressed in all colors were engaged in friendly chatter. Everyone hid their faces with masks, and they reached out for the food on the tables.

Circular windows lined up the wall surface of the wide hall, and the city's lights could be seen from afar. The passenger boat had already been sailing on the sea for some time.

At the back of the hall was an elevated stage. On both sides were a musical band playing the piano and wind instruments. A large monitor was installed at the back of the stage.

The masked men and women smiled at each other in this dim hall.

But even in this whimsical scene there was something abnormal.

"There's still some time until the fun starts. Just take it easy."

Greeting Arisu and the rest in the main lobby, the boy who'd led them there—Sehateno Harukiyo—mumbled ''Well, come along'', and turned around.

Right now they couldn't feel any hostility from him. Yet they couldn't lower their guard.

"What have you brought us all here for?"

Next to the apprehensive Arisu, Daisuke glared at Harukiyo.

"Have you also organized this party? There have to be limits to poor taste."

"Huh? Why you little… Do I look like the sort of person that throws these kinds of parties? I'm not boasting, but I don't have that kinda money. Actually, since I'd bought the ticket I'd sent to you, I had to skip lunch for a while. Make it up for me."

Suddenly faced with unreasonable anger, Arisu and Daisuke became speechless. Harukiyo approached a table and grabbed some food.

"What's up with all this? You can't just call people out like this… Is there something in this party?"

"I just happened to overhear an interesting small rumor. If that rumor is true, something's interesting gonna happen in this party. I wanted to show you that as well."

Arisu and Daisuke exchanged glances.

"I have no clue what that guy's thinking about. Stay alert."

Daisuke whispered to her. Frowning, Arisu nodded.

''At the very least, it doesn't seem like he's planning to suddenly attack us…''

Feeling unsatisfied, she listlessly looked to the side. When she did she noticed Kasuou at another table. At a glance she seemed to be behaving well, but she took the food that the other guests were trying to reach.

"Kasuou… the enemy's right in front of you, be a bit more wary."

"If I don't eat when I have the chance, I wouldn't be able to fight when push comes to shove."

Her grinning mouth was covered in red chili sauce. While wiping her mouth with a napkin, she narrowed her eyes like a cat.

"Besides—if we're gonna fight, we should do it further from the beach. I can't let that flame bastard escape like he always does."

Asserting this in a low voice, Kasuou glanced at Harukiyo. For an instant it looked like they were glaring at each other, but the next instant they started stuffing their cheeks full of food as if competing.

"Hey, Daisuke. I feel like I'm losing IQ points by watching those two."

"…You lose if you get caught up in their idiocy."

Just by seeing how the Special Type Mushitsuki were eating made her stomach feel full. Arisu decided to avoid the food, instead going to peek out of the window.

At some point it started raining outside.

The sea surface lit by the distant city's light was white with foam. It was also getting windy.

Yet the ''Amenotori'' was heavy enough so that not a single tremor was felt. —For now, at least.

She could see a silver morpho butterfly flying through the rain outside.

"How's your right hand?"

She turned around at this sudden address. Daisuke stood next to her, holding a drink. He apparently didn't plan on letting his eyes off Arisu as her monitor.

"It's fine, it doesn't feel numb anymore. …What is it, Daisuke? You're thinking that Mari's Mushi did something to me, right?"

"It isn't Hanashiro Mari's. You probably already know that the SEPB has designated you as a Mushitsuki, right? Meaning this is ''your'' Mushi. A Mushi affecting its host badly is obvious."

"I don't think of that morpho butterfly as my Mushi. I mean, I don't feel it at all. Never mind the SEPB, what do you think, Daisuke?"

"What I think doesn't matter at all. No matter who it belongs to, a Mushi is dangerous. You simply don't realize that danger—"

"Arisu Heel Attack!"

She put all of her strength into her heel, stepping on Daisuke's foot.

"Deflecting the conversation when it's about you is a bad habit of yours. I'll ask again. What do YOU think?"

Holding his trembling leg, Daisuke spoke in a low voice while stifling his anger.

"…Until now I've seen more different Mushitsuki than anyone. They had all sorts of shapes and abilities—too many kinds to count, and there were also countless hosts with abilities surpassing my expectations."

"Hmm?"

"Yet there's only one kind of Mushitsuki I've never met."

Daisuke slowly rose up.

Arisu raised an eyebrow.

Ever since meeting Mari and Daisuke, Arisu had met with all kinds of Mushitsuki. Starting with Daisuke who could fuse with his own Mushi, there was someone who could fix anything in an instant, someone with the ability to poison the mind, the ability to see a Mushi's past, and abilities materializing through the mediums of flames or mist; all sorts of Mushi.

Even among those she'd met recently there were varied kinds. So Daisuke's own experience, as someone who'd been fighting since long ago, was probably unfathomable.

Yet even he hadn't seen a certain kind of Mushitsuki—

"I've never seen a Mushitsuki with a Mushi identical to another person's."

Daisuke glared at the butterfly fluttering outside the window.

"I've seen Mushitsuki with camouflage abilities, but that camouflage itself was their ability. I don't believe there's any Mushi with the exact same ability as another's. —Even Mushitsuki with the same dream have different forms and abilities."

Mushitsuki with the same dream. When he said this, she could see Daisuke biting his lips for an instant.

"Also—a Mushi that doesn't disappear even after its host is dead is not unheard of."

"Huh?"

She didn't know that. When the host died the Mushi should have also been gone. She'd heard that this was why the morpho butterfly was a unique case.

"I haven't heard about that. What's that, Daisuke? Hiding something from me again?"

"It's not like I'm hiding it. I just remembered it now myself—or rather I haven't thought of that. …Right, there was that case, too. No, but Mari was supposed to have died of illness. So that can't—but wait, if the host anticipated their death and made their Mushi fully eat their dreams what would happen? There's no way that…"

Daisuke leaned forward and muttered to himself in deep thought, ignoring Arisu.

She had no idea what he was speaking about. Arisu became angry.

"Arisu Double Heel Attack!"

"Uwah! W-wait, it's just my misunderstanding. Such a thing's impossible. No matter how that butterfly looks it's stable…"

Saying this, Daisuke turned silent again. He stared at Arisu.

"So what'll happen if there's a new host…? No, but that's—"

"This pattern again? Stop ignoring your mistress."

Even Arisu's gesture of raising her heel again went unnoticed by Daisuke.

Since he didn't seem to be running away, she stepped on him without hesitating. He once again cowered wordlessly.

"Hah… you're muttering to yourself even when there's this many people around. That's why you don't have any decent friends."

Leaving aside Daisuke who reproached her with a "Mind your own business!", Arisu left toward the table to the side. Since she'd been talking she became thirsty.

As she tried taking a glass of champagne, she raised her head.

She heard a ''click''.

Looking to the side, she saw a masked man do something suspicious. He used a small camera hidden in his pocket to snap a picture of the party.

Noticing Arisu's gaze, the man was surprised. But perhaps thinking her a harmless kid, he put a finger to his exposed mouth.

''Please keep it a secret'', he seemed to be saying. Arisu tilted her head.

"Arisu."

Having her arm pulled, she turned back.

Daisuke grabbed her arm, pointing at the window with his chin. She saw that the rain and wind grew fierce. However, other than that—

"Something's weird with the morpho butterfly."

Just like Daisuke said, the butterfly was fluttering wildly above the dark ocean's surface. Its silver shine was rapidly growing brighter.

"W-what's wrong with it?"

While Arisu was confused, there was a groan at her back.

Turning back to the hall, the man from before collapsed on his knees. He held his stomach in pain, finally falling listlessly.

The surprised participants nearby all distanced themselves from the man.

"I do not know where you came from, but please follow the rules. It is forbidden to film inside the party. Please heed this warning, understood?"

There was an instant icy-cold atmosphere around.

In contrast to the guests, a person came near the collapsed man.

He was a white-haired youth.

"Well, since we haven't warned anyone it is obvious you didn't know it."

Just like all the other participants he was wearing a white mask—no, he was actually exposing his real face while wearing a mask-like smile. He was a boy clad in tuxedo.

"You might be a pro journalist looking for a scoop, but I am also employed as a pro. Well, you just had back luck, so give up."

Arisu crossed gazes with the boy smiling coldly. She felt a chill.

She had never seen someone who looks down on people this much—

Soon large men wearing black approached.

"What do we do, Jit?"

"One of our guests felt unwell and collapse. Please accompany him to the sickbay."

Nodding toward the boy called Jit, the men grabbed the fallen man's arms. A red color could be seen gradually dyeing the man's suit. He groaned with all of his might, but apparently was unable to move on his own.

"Wait!"

Coming to her senses, Arisu called toward Jit's group.

"You… what did you do to this person?"

"What a strange thing to ask."

Jit turned around, looking at Arisu's face. The mask-like, cold smile caused a chill run through her spine.

No, the air around Arisu actually became colder. It made her skin crawl.

"You're asking this as if you had seen me do anything."

"—Sorry. It was our bad."

The one who responded to Jit was Daisuke. He grabbed Arisu's shoulders and drew her back.

"Stop it. This doesn't seem like a normal party."

"But—"

As Daisuke whispered in her ear, Arisu still hounded on.

Seeing the pair quarrel, Jit chuckled. He turned back toward the other participants around.

"Sorry for the trouble. Please don't mind it and patiently wait for the main event."

Bowing elegantly, he left without even looking at Arisu and the rest.

Instead it was Kasuou who approached them. She was in a good mood, perhaps due to filling her stomach with food.

"Looks like some kinda bouncer. And he seems quite experienced for his age. I'm also interested in that main event or whatever, so stop it."

"You too, Kasuou? I'd have thought you would've attacked him straight on."

"I'm full right now and can't move, so don't decide for me I'm gonna fight."

"There's a thing as too much freedom…"

Distancing herself from Daisuke who glared at her, Arisu checked the situation outside from the window.

The rain and wind seemed to grow fiercer, but the butterfly's movements settled down. Its shine was also gone.

Arisu thought of its glow as a warning. Until now, whenever that happened there were some Mushitsuki nearby.

And if so, the phenomenon just now was—

"C'mon. The main event's about to start."

When she turned around, Harukiyo was smiling calmly in the center of the hall.

"Or more like, you all come here since I'm too full to move."

"…You guys are really…"

Feeling it too silly to be wary, Arisu approached Harukiyo. Daisuke and Kasuou followed suit.

A waiter appeared, handing them plastic cards. These all had different three-digit numbers.

"This is?"

"Member numbers. And their use should be obvious."

Harukiyo threw his own card on the table. He apparently didn't intend to use it.

"What's about to start here?"

Harukiyo did nothing but smile to her question.

The hall suddenly became dark. Instead the stage was lit up.

Starting with Arisu, the guests' eyes all focused on it.

A suited woman stood on the stage, bowing deeply to the audience. The boy called Jit could be seen waiting to the side of the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for gathering here for our auction party tonight. We always change the time and the place of this popular party, but this night we decided to welcome all you members to a nightly cruising."

The suited woman fluently handled the introductory greetings. She seemed to be the party's hostess.

"We are confident we have gathered excellent items that would satisfy you, and the participants also grew in number, so we are also ready to do our best. To you ladies and gentlemen who have both refined eyes and refined wallets, you should also be ready to do your best."

Several people in the audience laughed at the joke. But since their mouths were covered by masks, it was impossible to tell who was laughing.

Just like the woman said, all people Arisu could see seemed to be wealthy. Other than people dressed in lavish suits, there were also young women who looked like attendants, as well as servants.

The party had an abnormal atmosphere. Everyone looked like they watched over the progress of the party and no one removed their eyes from the stage.

''Feels creepy for some reason—''

Looking at the woman talking on the stage, Arisu grimaced.

"Also, this time we appear to have the most participants ever. This is also due to our efforts today—is what we would like to think, but is that truly all? The sharp-eared among you have probably heard rumors about an item here."

"Heh, it wasn't a rumor or nothing, you're the ones who passed the information. Well, it was thanks to that that I came to learn of it."

Arisu was just about to ask the sneering Harukiyo what he was talking about.

A dazzling light illuminated the hall. The huge monitor behind the facilitator turned on.

The spectators raised a voice of wonder.

The image was split into two, showing close-ups of girls with identical faces. They seemed to be around Arisu's age or slightly above it, and they wore pretty hair accessories. The image showed them down to their shoulders, so they could be seen wearing differently colored dresses.

—Actually, looking closely, their faces were not the exact same. One's eyes were a bit drooping, and the other one had kind, slanted eyes.

They weren't the same person.

They were twins.

"Let us not meaninglessly put on airs in this volatile situation but simply make a small introduction. The item you are about to view is the masterpiece that will close our auction."

Arisu widened her eyes.

She couldn't immediately understand the hostess's words.

"So it's human trafficking."

Hearing Daisuke spit out those words, she finally recovered. Even Kasuou, who was until then yawning in disinterest, sharpened her gaze for an instant.

"They're going to… sell these girls?"

Although her reasoning power returned, her feelings couldn't catch up. Even before anger started welling in her, she simply couldn't understand the situation.

"Not yet. ''Now'''s the fun part."

Astonished, she looked at Harukiyo.

''Fun, he said?''

This time she did feel anger. Yet Arisu had her eyes robbed by the scene on the screen.

"Other than this item's first-rate beauty, it also possesses the greatest special feature among our lineup."

Not only Arisu became speechless.

Daisuke was also paralyzed as if forgetting to breath. Kasuou, too.

The close-up images of the twins changed to a video. The twins huddled close together inside somewhere that looked like an old warehouse. From the other side then appeared two tigers.

While assaulted by the tigers, the two girls neither shrieked nor ran away. Instead they combined their hands and shot firm gazes at the tigers.

Something black crawled up the girls' back. Two sharp claws then appeared like a phantom.

There were two of these claws, both in the length of several meters. After them the rest of the body materialized. On the several legs climbing up the girls' slender legs, four wet, sparkling eyes could be seen. The sharp claws skewered the tigers.

Each girl had a strange monster sporting a giant claw.

The Mushi resembled a long-armed mantis—and there were two identical ones.

''—I've never seen a Mushitsuki with a Mushi identical to another person's.''

The two mantises were what Daisuke said he'd never seen. Their single claw, their appearance, and even their fighting style were all exactly the same.

"Item no. 99, "Urara & Kirara"—the two Mushitsuki girls."

The hostess's voice echoed in the now-silent hall.