Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 8 Chapter 2 (section)

== 2.02 The Annihilators' Shera VS The Annihilators' Biribiri ==
After Tanaka Momo left, Yamamoto Rau finished locking the classroom and left to the corridor.

She shuffled her legs walking through the corridor lit by the setting sun.

She couldn't even remember when her habit of dragging her feet started. Perhaps the more she killed people, the more her legs sank into hell.

Even if not, her body was probably approaching its limits.

''—Where are you from?"''

Just now, her useless student hurled this question at her, and it stayed on her mind.

Rau's motherland.

The scenes she'd nearly forgotten for a long time were revived in her mind.

The roof of the house made of overlapping bricks and the thin children wearing mere rags. The smoke from the chimney and the wild animals crossing the brown river. Also, the established area that could barely be called a city—

How long had it been since Rau, born in such a poor environment, came to this country under the pretext of being a transfer student?

Immediately after setting foot in the country, Rau became a Mushitsuki.

Was it already more than seven years since that? She should be one of the oldest Mushitsuki.

Actually, many things have happened. Getting captured by the SEPB, and being trained as a member—she was left half-dead during the Fuyuhotaru annihilation mission almost four years ago.

Yet Rau survived, and slowly but surely, refined her skills.

All of it was for the dream she'd embraced when coming to this country—

She degraded herself to assassinate those deemed as disturbing elements by the SEPB, and yet only her dream remained unforgotten. Even catching Miguruma Yaeko's attention and becoming Head of the Annihilators was because she fully polished her abilities. —Despite her being unable to compete with Fuyuhotaru in the past, now she had the confidence that her chances of victory were about fifty-fifty—no, that she could defeat her.

Even so, Rau was still far off from making her dream come true.

Until she accomplished her duty, Rau was living as Head of the Annihilators, Shera.

She kept killing anyone who threatened the country.

It was still too early.

She couldn't let a few people shake up the country—

"Bye bye, sensei!"

Probably students that finished their club activities. Passing by her, jersey-wearing girls lowered their heads.

"…"

Rau lightly raised her chin with a gloomy face.

"Goodbye, sensei."

"See you, sensei!"

While Rau was walking like a zombie she was being greeted by the smiles of students going home.

"Bye, sensei."

But they weren't bowing to the teacher called Yamamoto Rau.

She was the assassin Shera who'd infiltrated the school to gather intelligence. For her duty in the Annihilators, for her own personal ambition, she would handle as many students and other targets around their age as needed.

''—You're a good teacher, yeah.''

Tanaka Momo's words once again rose to her mind.

"…"

The information regarding Mushitsuki spread easily among middle and high-school students. The best mask for Rau to wear, when thinking of her age, was that of a teacher—but choosing this profession had been a mistake.

She wasn't suited to be a teacher.

Being with all those bothersome children every day exhausted her spirits. She seriously thought about killing them many times.

Once again seeing some boys run from the corridor ahead, she felt the murderous impulse rising.

They wore bizarre masks made of folded metals such as aluminum foil, quicksilver and so on. —The only ones who would be running around school wearing that sort of thing had to be the Visual Design students.

"Oh, sensei! How's this? This is our latest creation!"

Instantly she was surrounded by masked students. Perhaps overly excited since they just completed it, the group started a strange dance around Rau.

''Are you mocking your teacher? I'll fucking tear your heads off and use them to play bowling''.

Even as she cursed in her heart, she recalled.

The Mushitsuki who vanished in this town, and Hakamori—

Although only temporarily so, he was a member of the Annihilators, and a man who always hid his face. The experiment didn't leave him with many memories, but were there some circumstances that led to him hiding his face like that? 

Even Rau, as the Head, had only seen his true face a handful of times.

Yet even that mysterious underling might be in town. They were unable to find both him and Kakkou.

"I'll give it a grade right here and now… It's a C."

Pushing aside the masked students, she dragged her legs and weaved between them.

"Ehh? No way! It took us painstaking efforts!"

"You're trying too hard to fit the mold… try remaking it before the deadline."

From behind, she heard the students' unpleased voices.

Rau's knowledge in art was something she happened to have from before. Perhaps it could be said to be her only hobby as someone who polished her abilities as a Mushitsuki and became an assassin.

When she was younger, paintings served Rau as a prison for her emotions.

Or their tombstone, perhaps.

There were fun and happiness, feelings unneeded for her as an assassin, as well as the sadness and suffering accumulated by killing people—she put them all into her brush, sealing them inside the canvas.

Yet at some point, she no longer needed that.

The feelings Rau wanted to put into pictures were already withered inside her—

"Goodbye, sensei."

Meeting Rau as she exited campus was the girl with the horned hat.

Sepia. She was a holding a large board covered in cloth. —Thinking about it, the prize-winning work that got into an exhibition in the city had just been returned to her. While she walked the marker case on her waist hit the board, rattling.

"…"

She thought of trying to speak with Sepia about their talk a while before.

Thinking about this, she suddenly recalled something.

''—The keyword is Coatl Head.''

Sepia said this when Rau had questioned her about the incident of the electric substation ruins.

Raising her gloomy face, Rau looked beyond the school. Since the school was built right near downtown, by going down the hill one could reach the large national road and shopping district.

Since it was already dusk time, all the people heading toward the station congested on the hill road.

The accessories of passersby.

Power poles.

Stickers on rented apartments.

When she focused and looked for it, she could see that symbol anywhere and everywhere.

"Coatl… Head."

She mumbled to herself.

The charm that had explosive popularity at present.

That symbol had also been left in the substation ruins. Rau hadn't even focused on it, thinking that it was mere graffiti drawn by the city's youngsters.

Yet the more she gazed at Sepia from behind, the more she had a bad feeling.

The Mushitsuki of the Substation Ruins—if Miguruma Yaeko's or even Rau's own sense of danger was correct, that Mushitsuki mustn't be allowed to get away.

But no matter how much time passed, she wasn't able to grasp even their shadow.

The Mushitsuki of the Substation no longer existed in this world—

She was a step before accepting this as fact.

If the unexpected presence of the rebel Kakkou who she couldn't ignore hadn't been there, then perhaps she would have already been recalled to the Central Headquarters.

But what if—

What if she was making a mistaken judgment?

No, in the search until now, hadn't she been fitting too much in the mold?

"Sepia."

When she came to, she called out to the petite girl.

As she turned around, the horned girl was as expressionless as always.

"Even you are using my nickname, sensei?"

"…Do you remember us talking about the substation explosion incident?"

Holding the board in her hands and turning, Sepia drew near.

She girl shook her head.

"'I think you should look more into trends and new fads, sensei'—"

"Oh… what about that?"

"When we talked you mentioned that Coatl Head and another one… some similar term. Please repeat that for me."

"…"

"Actually, since then I've been so interested I haven't slept."

She uttered a silly lie in a dignified matter, but Sepia only calmly replied "Oh, how many days has it been?" Since she saw the girl's expression slightly crumble, she apparently accepted it for the time being.

"It was Coatl Hot."

"Coatl… Hot…"

"In our school, everyone in the know knows about it. —It was the first Coatl Head, engraved along with the explosion."

"The first…?"

"Apparently that symbol was found there after the explosion. Since it was starting then that Coatl Head started gaining popularity… they started calling it like that for fun."

Being told this, Rau recalled.

At first she did notice it. That strange symbol.

But since Coatl Head started trending before long… she simply thought "oh, it's a simple graffiti of some charm" and erased it from her mind. —And that was why she felt as even that stupid mark was laughing at her worrying about it.

"Was it… the other way, then?"

As Rau muttered this without noticing, Sepia tilted her head.

Only now did she notice that the order was reversed.

The Coatl Hot found by Rau wasn't created due to the marking fad in town; it was actually created before it.

"Is something the matter?"

"It's nothing… no, you've really helped me. Thanks."

Rau composed herself again. "Be careful on your way back home," she said to send Sepia off.

Although she'd noticed her mistake, in the end it was just a fad.

Of course, she didn't think it had any relation to Mushitsuki, and it was quite unlikely that Rau would get a hint toward the person she was searching for, the Mushitsuki of the Substation Ruins.

Because of that—she was bothered by it.

Since the very existence of the Mushitsuki of the Substation vanished so perfectly, she doubted even the possibility that someone was hiding them.

But perhaps that was exactly what they wanted her to think.

This was truly a work of art.

She would have to give a grade of A to whoever managed to make that Mushitsuki disappear.

"Maybe I need to change my thinking…"

Climbing the hill road, she headed to the opposite direction of the station.

Straying from the road curving on the hill, she entered a narrow path leading into a bamboo grove.

Even the majestic form of the bamboos was ruined by the electric wires entering her sight. —Only Rau thought this, so perhaps it was the generational gap with her students.

A tall boy was standing ahead. Rau approached and he stopped in place.

"Ashimaki. Your routine report."

"Bleh…"

The mouth of Rau's subordinate—Ashimaki of the Annihilators—opened to spill the legs of a Mushi. Yet soon withdrawing them, he started speaking mechanically.

"No presence found that could be the Mushitsuki of the Substation Ruins. No Hakamori either. Also no response like Kakkou. No response of any Mushi appearing nearby. Over."

"So no progress… what about Biribiri?"

"I wasn't able to get in contact with her since noon."

"Say what…?"

It happened immediately after Rau narrowed her eyes.

Speak of the devil or whatever. She heard a cheerful voice from the other side of the field.

"Bzzbzzt. Bzzbzzt."

Turning around, she immediately saw the familiar jagged hairpin. With the jagged tips of her hair swaying, Biribiri approached while skipping horridly.

"Bzzbzzt."

"You… I heard you cut off contact—"

Rau sighed with a gloomy face, closing the distance—and then it happened.

"Bzz?"

Tilting her head adorably, the zigzag girl thrust her hands forward.

"…!"

Rau's vision was filled with golden static electricity.

''Ah, how pretty—''

While being blown back with great speed into the bamboo field, the momentary fireworks she saw were burned into her eyelids.

Rau's body broke countless bamboos, rebounding on the ground.

Rotating in midair, the moment she reached a mass of rocks jutting from the ground—the suit covering her body transformed into a pitch-black trench coat.

"Biribiri, you—"

The eyes inside the hood gazed at the distant narrow path.

Her eyesight was good. Rau was able to see the groaning Ashimaki on the field on the opposite side. Unlike Rau, he had no countermeasures against the surprise attack.

She was apparently going to first finish off Rau, who neutralized the attack using the suit she wore all day long. She saw Biribiri kicking the ground and starting a mad dash toward her.

"You're being controlled—"

Biribiri couldn't be called normal from the get go, but her eyes looked especially clouded over.

"Bzz."

A surge of golden electricity raced through the girl's jagged hair. The sparks born in air took shape, producing a small, ethereal insect—a lightning leaf beetle.

"Bzbzzt."

It happened immediately after the girl raised her arms.

The ground swelled up.

With a tremor, the sound of bamboo being ripped and a spewing geyser of water, a thick pipe came flying from underground. It stopped midair as if being held up by an invisible arm.

As Biribiri clutched empty air, the water pipe floating in air transformed to a large spear.

"Bzzzzzt!"

The next moment, the spear that condensed a few dozen tons was wrapped in golden surge of light.

"Bzzt!"

Biribiri flung down both arms as though throwing a soccer ball to the field to restart the game.

The spear, clad in high-voltage electricity, stabbed toward Rau's feet like a bullet.

The mass of rocks cracked, and the impact opened a large hole in the ground. The storm of high voltage generated by this caused all bamboo in a radius of ten meters to evaporate.

Biribiri was an electromagnetism user.

C had a similar ability to control electricity and Asagi could control magnetism, and Biribiri was unable to match either of them in output, though she was still a combatant possessing both qualities. 

"No, this is… different from being controlled."

Rau, leaping back to dodge the attack, watched Biribiri carefully.

"Maybe she's being made to go on a rampage unwillingly… was calling out to her the trigger?"

Calmly analyzing the situation, she stuck out one hand toward Biribiri.

The sleeve of her coat expanded explosively. It became countless needles that assaulted the girl.

"Bzzzt…"

With the girl wearing an unstable smile in the center, golden light devastated the area.

It melted the needles with the heat it produced and enveloped even the distant fences surrounding them.

"Bzzbzzt!"

"…"

Rau's expression turned severe.

Affected by the girl's ability, the fence and the steel-made power poles were brought to her by the electricity flowing through the wires. Once again bursting from below ground and forming a spear, a lump of steel and electricity as big as a house floated in air.

Apparently she wasn't simply going on a rampage.

Biribiri's ability, already strong in the first place, was further amplified.

"Biribiri had already been under the effect of Diorestoi's Fragment… and now it looks like she'd been given another one—"

She unconsciously leaked one of the secrets of the Central Headquarters.

The electromagnetic user appeared to be still strengthening the mass above her head. The surging electricity and shock looked as if another sun appeared overhead.

If she was hit by this, nothing would be left of Rau.

"Bzzbzzt!"

The girl powerfully swung down her arms from the heavens.

The meteor-like mass fell toward Rau.

"I have judged that returning you to normal will be too difficult."

Yet at the same time, the coat wrapped around Rau's body transformed again.

[[File:Mushi Uta 8 p165.jpg|thumb]]

For a moment it seemed as though the coat swelled like a balloon, but it suddenly shrank again. The black, lustrous plastic clung to her limbs, wrapping her up from her neck to her face, finally covering even her cranium.  

Not even a second passed before Rau was wrapped in a dark full body suit.

All her fingers and even her face were completely concealed, accentuating Rau's slender silhouette.

"I no longer need you."

Calmly asserting this, she casually flung an arm toward the incoming meteorite.

With just this movement there was a soundless explosive wind swallowing the bamboo field.

A destructive storm about several times or tens of times stronger than the vibration Biribiri had caused before blew away the rows of bamboo.

Rau smashed the meteorite to smithereens and moved at the same time.

"Bzz—"

A large amount of blood overflowed out of Biribiri's mouth as she stood stock still.

Closing the gap between them in an instant, Rau's fist was lodged into the girl's chest.

"…—"

Something crimson gushed out from the limp girl's body.

It coagulated in air to form the shape of a shining queen bee—and then dispersed into a mist.

Rau violently swung her arm, flinging the now unmoving girl unto the ground.

Immediately afterward, she kicked the ground.

Dashing through the thicket with amazing speed, she blew away the bamboos in her way and leapt beyond the narrow road.

She grabbed Ashimaki, paralyzed and collapsed within the bamboo, and forcibly pulled him upright.

"Sense them, Ashimaki."

She ordered him with a mumbling voice that sounded like that perhaps due to the body suit covering even her face. It also looked like her vision was concealed, but it was made like a magic mirror so she could see outside properly.

"Guh… Ugh…?"

"Since someone was using Biribiri for a surprise attack against us, they must be watching."

Mushi legs flew from Ashimaki's mouth as if being dragged out. The surface of the insect clutching the boy's tongue flickered vividly.

"Can't feel anything… There's no even a single Mushi arou—"

"Expand your range. To the very limits."

Obeying Rau, Ashimaki sank into silence with his face contorting with agony.

Yet the boy soon widened his eyes.

"I-I can sense them…! About 20 kilometers away, there's a weak response—"

"Coordinates?"

The boy mumbled the designation of coordinates used by the Annihilators.

The moment he finished talking, Rau leapt.

Jumping to the air higher than even the bamboo around, she let gravity take her to land on a roof.

The impact of falling on four limbs caused the roof to cave in, yet Rau didn't mind it.

Raising her bodysuit-covered face, she leaned her body while still crawling.

"—"

She leapt.

She rapidly passed from one roof of a house in the residential district facing the bamboo field to another. She didn't use either her hands or legs; she employed all limbs like an insect, charging through the darkening city.

Passing through the residential district and getting into town, her speed kept increasing. At times clinging to the walls of buildings and at times kicking the roofs of speeding cars, the black phantom cut through town.

The high pressure born from her travelling at such speeds probably created a grating sound, but this didn't even cross her mind. There were probably no people in town who could properly see her form anyway.

Landing on the road, she overtook running cars, leaping.

Clinging to a large statue outside of town with her limbs, she raised her face.

Ashimaki's coordinates pointed her to a large building.

Using recoil, Rau leapt directly to her destination. —Arriving there from the bamboo field took no more than a few minutes.

"—"

Sticking to the wall with her arms and legs, she snuck inside through the open window. Her muscle movements being so awkward and superhuman were unavoidable with the use of her ability.

Apparently it was a hospital. Yet the interior was empty, so she realized it had been vacant for quite a while.

With her limbs still on the ground, Rau ran around the building quickly.

"…So they've escaped."

Searching around once, Rau finally went back to her two legs.

Although the scent of humans remained around, she couldn't find them anywhere. If they knew Rau was coming after them and ran away—then perhaps they had someone with the ability to sense events from afar.

If push came to shove she planned on blowing the entire building, but that would end up just drawing needless attention. It was apparently an opponent that knew when to quit, so they probably weren't simply hiding.

"Was it the Mushitsuki of the Substation…? No, probably not."

Inside an empty, dark room, Rau questioned and answered herself.

"This was a surprise attack, but it didn't look like they were really trying to defeat us. On top of that they knew we could sense them and launched an offensive… were they trying to measure us?"

It was also probably not Kakkou who was hiding somewhere in town. Ashimaki said that the power he felt was weak. That demon's power was not weak in the least, and he wasn't the sort of opponent to use these kinds of tricks.

Having said that, it was also hard to think they were the person hiding the Mushitsuki of the Substation. Since they were hidden, they had no reason to risk showing themselves.

"So does that mean that there are people trying to approach the Mushitsuki of the Substation Ruins… other than us?"

It was the most likely explanation.

At the same time, Rau became convinced of something.

"Undoubtedly, something is happening in this town… so that means that perhaps the Mushitsuki of the Substation is still somewhere in town."

As she mumbled, Rau's bodysuit inflated and instantly transformed into her dark coat.

Pulling out her cellphone, she called Ashimaki.

"Let's hurry with the investigation about the Mushitsuki of the Substation."

She recalled the sense of discomfort she felt at school.

Perhaps they'd been investigating this from the wrong direction thus far.

She decided that, moving forward—they would try looking at it from another angle.

"Coatl Head—we have to determine who spread this marking fad."

Perhaps she was completely off the mark.

No, using common sense, she knew she was off the mark even without investigating.

Yet after making a frontal attack in vein, she needed to break the mold.

"Even if they're sleeping beneath a grave… we just need to dig in and drag them out."

The assassin sighed gloomily as her coat inflated like a balloon—

And her figure melted into the darkness.