Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 8th Episode 32 (section)

=== Part 2 ===

Mushi—

These were supernatural beings that appeared in the country more than a decade ago.

It is unknown how they were born. It was only said that these Mushi preyed on the hopes and dreams of wanting to become something or doing something made by adolescent boys and girls in order to grow.

Those who were host to Mushi were called Mushitsuki, and in exchange for their dream being eaten they became able to use the Mushi’s special abilities.

If Mushitsuki had their Mushi killed, they’d become a living corpse with no emotions or memories, called a Fallen, or if they had their dreams fully eaten by the Mushi they would lose their lives along with that dream—only such results awaited them.

In the end—was that true?

In the days of searching for the dream her best friend left to her, Arisu met many Mushitsuki. All of them had strong feelings, all of them shouted while being hurt, and fought with something insane to death.

Arisu loved these dreaming people.

Did only despair wait in the future of such lovely people?

If the world really was made that way and she had to accept it—

Arisu wished to change that.

“Kuh…!”

Arisu kicked the sand and rushed, but the gigantic seven-spotted ladybug blocked her way. It spread its wings that were dotted by seven spots and tried tackling her while launching shockwaves.

“Kuhhh!”

Arisu cancelled the shockwave with her spear and used her left hand with its silver pattern to stop the body. She pushed the giant Mushi that was dozens of times heavier than her and further raised her running speed.

Rina’s Mushi was powerful. Arisu’s arm pushing it back was ripped and red blood flew around.

That seven-spotted ladybug also was the crystallization of a single Mushitsuki’s dream. Wanting to create a place for all Mushitsuki to belong to—the original host Rina spoke of such a dream.

That girl’s dream wasn’t there to be eaten by the Mushi. Neither to be used by Oogui.

It was there to be granted one day by Rina’s own power.

Not just Rina.

All Mushitsuki’s dreams were for their own sakes.

“AaaAAAH!”

Arisu’s long hair emitted silver light. The silver arm that won the contest of strength pounded the seven-spotted ladybug on the sand. Along with a tremor the giant body sank into the ground, creating a huge crater.

Arisu leapt, rotated in air and swung her spear.

“Ichiku Kimitaka…!”

She struck the suited man who was laughing literally from ear to ear using her full body’s weight.

Heaven and earth were swapped.

As if the world itself was reversed, oceanwater rose from the surface as far as the eye could see into the night sky. The swarm of tardigrades filling the water were instantly boiled.

“Uh—”

While wrapped in the roar that broke, crushed and erased everything, Arisu grimaced.

The tip of the swung blade expanded, and the Morpho butterfly flapped its wings.

“Uuh…AaaAAAAH!”

The pattern covering Arisu’s body shone. Her ego that just barely got back started thinning again. The Morpho butterfly ate Arisu’s dream, rampaging to take control of her body and mind.

“…!”

Looking at the spear in hand, she gulped.

The Morpho butterfly was looking at Arisu. Red eyes popped open on the unfolded wings, waiting for her to exhaust herself—

The Mushi wanted to spread their wings.

Even while they pretended to be the allies of humans and leeched on them, eating their dreams little by little in exchange for granting them power, they wished to Mature and become free.

That was what Mushi were.

They appeared in front of the dreaming beings called humans, pretending to be their friends while in fact they were predators after prey.

Were they their enemies?

Were they unbeatable?

Arisu—didn’t think so.

Even while resisting the Morpho butterfly rampaging in her hand, Arisu smiled.

“—Thank you.”

''Twitch.

The Morpho butterfly’s movements stopped.

As if it was taken by surprise by Arisu who smiled while withstanding pain.

Or perhaps as if it was scared.

The power of control rampaging in the spear slightly lightened.

“You were always at my side. Always, ever since Mari died—”

Arisu didn’t know whether the beings called Mushi were the enemies of mankind.

At the very least, this Morpho butterfly here watched over Mari.

Although only for a short time, it extended her life.

That was a miracle.

It gifted Mari with a little more time, then sent her dream to Arisu.

And it wasn’t just Mari. The Morpho butterfly gave even Arisu a precious gift.

“You’ve called so many Mushitsuki. To make sure Mari wasn’t lonely… to make me even a little stronger.”

Therefore, she couldn’t give up.

The dreams that connected many Mushi couldn’t be cut off there.

“You wanted my dream, but—”

She smiled and raised her face.

The welling seawater turned into a light rain on the breakwater and black dots were born in it.

Ichiku Kimitaka’s form was restored.

“My dream’s going to become bigger and bigger. So big that you’ll never eat it all—”

The Morpho butterfly spear didn’t weaken its power trying to take control of Arisu.

However.

The wings closed with awkwardly stiff movements.

It became a spearhead again and emitted glow.

''I’m watching—

She felt as if it told her that it was watching her carefully to see whether she despaired again.

“Thank you.”

As Arisu narrowed her eyes and returned that greeting, Ichiku Kimitaka attacked. Drawing the swarms of tardigrades, he swung down his not yet fully-reformed arm.

She immediately caught the attack with her spear, but the superhuman strength made Arisu’s legs sink into the ground.

“No matter how much power you gain, I’ll teach you that everything is useless.”

“Kuh…!”

Arisu swept her spear powerfully, blowing Ichiku back.

“—And it’s not just you, little girl.”

Ichiku, having formed in a different location, sneered.

Emitting white smoke from his ripped mouth, his form with red eyes glowing behind his glasses was already—a far cry from being called human.

The tardigrades multiplied with unprecedented vigor.

“You’re not the only one holding back Maturation.”

“…!”

The black Mushi expanded as though to eat the entire world.

“Even if you can kill me using power that would destroy half the world, no salvation will come.”

''Kuha'', the boy with red eyes emitted a white breath.

“If my Mushi lost control and Matured, it would just eat the remaining half of the world.”

Ichiku Kimitaka’s tardigrades, just like the Morpho butterfly, were undergoing Maturation—

No matter what she did, she couldn’t kill him.

She mustn’t kill him.

Ichiku Kimitaka’s death would mean the death of the world.

“No one can kill me. I must not be killed by anyone. —That what’s being Undying means.”

And as long as Ichiku was alive, Oogui would keep living.

Mushitsuki would keep being produced.

People strayed into a one-way street that was unchanging—that had no way to change.

If one had a dream, they’d become Mushitsuki.

If one became Mushitsuki, only a sad ending awaited them.

And what would happen to such a world in the future?

“The world will not change.”

Ichiku Kimitaka’s derisive smile broke the Mushitsuki’s hopes.

“The thing called a dream… will vanish from this world.”

Dreams would be gone.

The hearts of people wishing for something would vanish.

A world that desired no change.

Did this not mean that it was slowly dying?

“—But.”

Arisu grasped her spear.

“Mari… wished to live in this world.”

She raised her face.

Arisu’s friend had not despaired.

No—she probably gave up many times before. Arisu probably could never imagine how much her hopes caused her to doubt, to hesitate and to get knocked down.

But even so.

She never gave up that little hope.

“She tried to live desperately with Sanbikime—with the man called Sensei.”

“She simply struggled to live in vain. She’s nothing more than a pathetic loser, unable to give up her impossible hope.”

“No, that’s wrong.”

Arisu smiled.

The Morpho butterfly’s spear emitted silver scales.

It wasn’t the same glow that until now used to rip and attack.

This gentle glow that was even full of warmth filled the beach with Arisu in the center.

“Mari possessed the power to change the world…”

“…!”

The small butterflies, the clones of the Morpho butterfly, were keeping the tardigrades encroachment of the coast in check. They didn’t eliminate them by force, but instead spread around warm scales and were slowly pushing them back to the sea.

“And this power—is now here.”

The color of the world was being overwritten.

The night sky painted by the black tardigrades was slowly coming back to the background of falling stars.

“Mgh…!”

Ichiku’s eyes changed. He probably realized the nature of the spear’s scales.

Arisu did her best to hold back the spear’s power, glancing at Oogui.

“Hehe…”

By facing one against one with Ichiku, no people remained to stop her. As if saying she had no interest in the battle, she came down to the beach, only glancing at the contending butterflies and tardigrades.

''Daisuke… keep Ena safe—

Without even turning around, she prayed in her heart. She knew painfully well that it was cruel to rely on him like this when he was covered in wounds all over. However, right now, she could do nothing but believe in her most trustworthy ally.

“You bitch—what are you trying to do!”

Ichiku howled. Perhaps starting to feel danger from the Morpho butterfly’s unknown power, he erased his sneer and leapt toward Arisu. The Undying man’s body split, and a ripped mouth made of squirming tardigrades and two giant arms assaulted her.

“Mari had been looking for you…”

The wall of scales protected Arisu.

“She kept searching for the Undying Mushitsuki until the very end.”

“She envied my immortality. She did nothing more but succumb to jealousy!”

“Maybe it was so… no, it probably was. Mari wanted to live, after all.”

Even the wall of scales was being eaten by the tardigrades. Ichiku fed on the Mushi’s power—

“But—it wasn’t just that.”

Mari kept her promise and came back not just to meet with Arisu.

''—Can I entrust it to you?

The power to see the continuation of her dream was left to Arisu.

“After all, Mari was called Hunter…!”

Even as she grimaced and desperately fought the tardigrades, Arisu spoke.

“I know very well that I can’t kill you! I also know I shouldn’t kill you…! But Mari also knew all that! That’s why she called you Undying! Although she knew you were an opponent she couldn’t kill, she never hesitated in her attacks, causing her to be called Hunter! That’s a contradiction!”

“She was just mad with jealousy! Just like a child raising a tantrum, she went on a rampage without any logic! She was nothing more than the dregs of an ugly Mushitsuki!”

“Right, Mari was a Mushitsuki! Therefore, she had many sorts of feelings! She also felt envy and fear! She hesitated and surely also gave up! Because she was such a Mushitsuki—”

The defensive wall of scales was being eaten by the gluttonous tardigrades. The innumerable black Mushi ate the scales, scratching Arisu’s cheek with their claw tips.

“She didn’t give up on anything!”

She shouted, her eyes moist.

“Her dream of wanting to live! The promise with me! And—defeating the Undying Mushitsuki. Mari never gave up on any of those!”

“Cut the bullshit! She just didn’t know what she was doing, she couldn’t grasp the difference between dreams and reality!”

“You’re the one who doesn’t get it! The ones who called the Morpho butterfly an irregular Mushi is you SEPB lot! Mari’s Mushi invited many Mushitsuki, led them astray and twisted them—”

“That’s nothing more than a defect! One which I will eliminate here and now!”

“You can’t! After all—you yourself are nothing more than one of the people invited by the Morpho butterfly! You’re already deep in this. In the continuation of Mari’s dream…!”

The movements of the tardigrades attempting to eat Arisu froze.

“Go to sleep, Ichiku Kimitaka.”

Using the opening of the tardigrades flinching, the silver scales regained their vigor.

As the black Mushi touched the scales, they stopped moving, one after another, and dropped into the sea.

“Stay frozen in the moment your life stopped, just like Mari when she came back to my side—“

There was something she understood from having the Morpho butterfly consume her dream to let her use its powers.

“Just like the Morpho butterfly that lost its host and became stuck right before Maturation—“

It happened to Mari’s life as well.

And to the Morpho butterfly itself.

The moment before Mari left this world due to her illness, they were kept frozen and sleeping.

As if they were hibernating.

Both Mari’s feelings and the Morpho butterfly stopped at the very last second.

To see the continuation of her dream.

To eat a new dream.

Mari would rampage whenever she’d take over Arisu’s body, and the Morpho butterfly being able to use only its incomplete power was natural.

It was because Mari kept sleeping in the very moment before all power was gone, in a state where she embraced all possible feelings in her heart. Even the power Arisu exercised was nothing more than borrowing the cutting edge of the sleeping Morpho butterfly’s power.

Mari’s dream of wanting to live and the Morpho butterfly’s persistence to Mature.

The “last second” when these two overlapped and intertwined continued for more than a year—

“Remain Undying—while you go to sleep.”

This was the Morpho butterfly’s hidden power.

The power to twist even the destiny of death—enough to freeze even the flow of time and entice a deep sleep.

Just another bug created by this world where Mushitsuki kept being born.

“A power that can end the world shouldn’t be allowed to exist.”

“…!”

She could see that Ichiku was shaken.

Arisu smiled.

As long as the Undying tardigrades existed, the world was slowly dying. Even if she was able to kill their host Ichiku Kimitaka, at that moment the tardigrades would rampage and eat up the world.

And the Morpho butterfly.

The Morpho butterfly’s Maturation couldn’t be stopped. If it Matured, the world really would be in danger.

The lone way to clear the two disasters for the future, the Undying and the Morpho butterfly.

Arisu—had found it.

“—Kuha.”

A sneer was heard from within the tardigrades filling her sight.

“Haahahaha!”

The shout that sounded as if it came from the bowels of the earth shook the coast.

The number of tardigrades exploded. Even while those that touched the scales fell into the sea, they grew much faster than that and were eating the scales.

“…!”

Arisu raised her face, speechless.

Ichiku Kimitaka’s red pupil looked down on Arisu. Inside the pushing tardigrades, only a right eye burning with hatred could be seen.

“Go to sleep, you’re telling me—”

A pressure like never before burst the scales protecting Arisu.

“If you think that you, as someone who isn’t a Mushitsuki, actually have the right to change this world that has Mushi in it—”

“Kuh… UuUuUuh!”

This unbelievable pressure made Arisu grit her teeth.

Although she retrieved her sense of self, the fact that Morpho butterfly was on the verge of Maturation was unchanged. This overwhelming power shouldn’t have changed even a bit.

However, Ichiku’s hatred—surpassed it.

Her body was attacked by the tardigrades’ fangs and claws.

Her heart was attacked by the prickling hatred she felt on her skin.

They pursued her, trying to eat her until not even a single bite remained.

“—”

Finally, a small hole was opened in the wall of scales.

Instantly, tardigrades swarmed it, leaping toward Arisu.

“Mushitsuki will keep on existing. Otherwise, Mushi would lose even their meaning to be born…!”

Unable to do anything, Arisu was about to become prey to these tardigrades.

Then, however, a crimson fireball leapt in front of her.

“—GaAAAAaAAH!”

The flame devil stepped forward and defended Arisu from getting eaten.

Arisu widened her eyes.

“Harukiyo!”

“Guh—OOOAaAAAH!”

It was obvious at a glance that he already used almost all of his power. Never mind the scales that had no attack power, the indiscriminate tardigrades easily ate through Harukiyo’s weakened flames. The large number of Mushi tore through the boy’s skin, causing fresh blood to fly. Even his masculine face covered in a fire-patterned tattoo now had hideous gashes across it.

The great swarm of tardigrades wriggled, forming Ichiku Kimitaka’s right eye and half his mouth.

“You devil that outlived your time, what are you trying to—”

“What’s even going on here! Ah?! Shit! I wanna live! I haven’t lived enough, so I still want to have plenty more fun in this world!”

Harukiyo shouted.

Widening his flaming eyes, the Mushitsuki feared as the flame devil raised a howl full of rage.

“And yet, fuck me! What was I even doin’?! If I don’t wanna live I might as well run! It’s a bit painful, but not fun at all! If I wanna get punished then fighting you is the best! I won’t ever have this chance again! So what was I fucking doing! If I keep like this, my dream’s never gonna come true!”

While scorching the tardigrades and being eaten by them, Harukiyo shouted.

“Even so, I—no matter who says this! No matter what I myself think! I wanna do this, so there’s no helping those! The fuck’s this! What’s up with this un-Sehateno Harukiyo-like behavior! Haha!”

Harukiyo looked to be in pain, his face was about to cry, and he yelled in quite a childish voice—but the boy still smiled, with a cheerful sneer. Using all of his remaining powers, he kept shooting down the tardigrades headed for Arisu.

“I’m pissed off! This stinks! This’s your fault, Ichinokuro Arisu! Why’d ya do it, ah? Right now there’s a certain something I’d find harder to forgive more than anythin’ else—for you to die!”

“Harukiyo…”

Arisu’s expression crumbled.

She would get him to realize that he was a Mushitsuki.

Who said this to Harukiyo was none other than Arisu.

He probably knew.

Since there were many Mushitsuki who doubted and got hurt while fighting, just like Arisu said, he surely knew that better than anyone.

“I’ll just stab you from behind! If I do that, I…!”

The boy was shouting as if crying, smiling as if imploring. She found his back unbearably lovable.

“I’ll finally—”

Harukiyo’s howl stopped.

Arisu pressed her forehead against his back.

“I told you already. —I’m not going to kill you.”

Harukiyo grimaced. He smiled while crying and groaned.

“This is hell… just like you said.”

While Arisu desperately pushed back the swarms of tardigrades, she turned toward the beach.

[[File:Mushi_Uta_Bug_8th_p257.jpg|thumb]]

There, yet another threat was trying to alight down.

''Daisuke—

Grasping her spear, Arisu called the name of her most reliable partner in the world.