Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 10 Chapter 2 (section)

== 2.03 Tamaki Part 5 ==

Central Headquarters, Underground Stronghold.

A girl in control of a grotesque monster was walking through an empty corridor.

“…”

She wore a white coat and goggles and had long bangs and a petite body. In comparison to that girl, the monster’s body was large. A creepy eye was wriggling between the gaps in its body that resembled two folded leaves. 

These were Blaze Class Rank 4 member Konoha and her Mushi.

Walking while staying cautious of her surroundings, she came to an intersection split into two passages.

As she turned around the corner—four white coats greeted her.

“It’s the intruder! Capture her!”

Shouting this, the ones attacking her were doubtlessly Central Headquarters members.

“Wha—”

Widening her eyes, she retreated.

“What are you saying…! I’m Blaze Class Rank 4, Konoha—”

“Shut up, we know you’re an impostor!”

“The impostor—”

Konoha gazed behind the members chasing after her.

“Is the woman hiding over there…!”

Konoha’s Mushi began emitting condensed air from within the folds of its leaves. Her Mushi’s breath turned into pressurized bullets, opening holes in the supposedly-empty ceiling.

“…!”

All members changed their expressions and turned around. On that empty space a girl and a Mushi revealed themselves.

A girl with long bangs and a Mushi with a body made of two folded leaves.

Another Konoha and her Mushi.

“—How did you figure out I was here?”

The girl murmured this question.

Konoha answered with the same kind of murmured tone.

“Your transformation’s good, but apparently you haven’t perfectly copied my ability. You may be able to fool other members with such half-baked mimicry, but did you try to beat me with numbers…?”

“Eh—”

The four white coats looked with surprise at the Konoha behind them. Having the Konoha that brought them there being called a fake shook them.

“Do not try to deceive them. The orders are unchanged. Please annihilate the target in front of you…”

“You sure are shameless, being deceived by such a fake and leading her to me… this is a huge blunder. Prepare to be punished…”

Being scolded by the two Konohas, the white coats stood in place. They apparently couldn’t judge which was the real one.

Konoha clicked her tongue. She asserted toward the Konoha leading the others.

“If you’re the real one, then recite your member code…”

“It’s ——.”

She smiled toward the other girl who answered immediately.

“See, it’s a fake number…”

However, the white coats were flustered and unmoving. She grimaced.

“Don’t you guys know my member code…?!”

“As long as they’re not part of the intelligence department they’d obviously not know individual members codes… since you don’t know that, it’s proof you’re the impostor…”

The white coats really couldn’t take any move. This time the other girl clicked her tongue.

“If we just attack her a little, we’ll know for sure…! Come on, attack her…!”

“Don’t lie! Once I show you my back, you’re going to attack me together!”

“This is getting nowhere!”

“Right, so it seems…”

The two girls glared at each other. A heavy silence fell on the corridor.

The one to open her mouth first was the lone Konoha.

“—Fine. We’ll just fight by ourselves.”

“Wha…!”

The girl with the four members changed her expression. She grinned.

“It’s better than getting annihilated… c’mon, quickly attack me!”

Hearing her words, the other Konoha and the four white coats were shaken.

However, the white coats apparently soon resolved themselves. Splitting into two, each joined a different Konoha.

“Kh…”

Leaving a groan behind and vanishing into the air as if melting—was the Konoha who’d brought four comrades there.

“She escaped! Beat her before she’s gone!”

The white coats obeyed the remaining Konoha. They all prepared to attack the vanishing Konoha at once.

However—

“Talking about me, though.”

The members turned around, shocked.

By that time she—Tamaki—had already transformed into Kasuou. The black mist rising from her feet coagulated, becoming sharp claws.

“ORAAAAH!”

An earthquake-like vibration shook the corridor. The countless claws freely rampaging tore the ceiling and floor, and the four members caught in complete surprise were pounded against the walls.

Rolling on the floor, they stopped moving. She didn’t go as far as kill them, but they probably couldn’t move for a while. They very likely broke around two or three bones.

“Now then—”

Stepping over the wreckage and the collapsed members, Tamaki approached the place at the end of the corridor where there was a gathering of mist.

“That’s how my ability is. Battling with bluffs and lies is my specialty, you see.”

Still in Kasuou’s form, Tamaki spoke in her own tone.

“…”

Konoha showed herself in the place where the mist gathered. Since the mist stuck to her, she knew hiding would be meaningless.

Incidentally, Tamaki had been able to find the hidden Konoha before because she’d used Mizuchi’s ability and saw not four members but ''five'' of them approaching. Konoha’s camouflaging ability was useless against a sonar-like searching ability.

“Your ability’s a bother. I have to make you retire here.”

The tips of the claws made by mist pushed against Konoha’s throat.

Konoha bit her lips. She spoke with a hoarse voice.

“…Don’t you want to make a deal?”

“A deal?”

“Why’d you come to the Central Headquarters…? If you let me go, I can help you…”

“Hmm, an easy-to-understand pleading. —Will you answer a few questions?”

“Does that mean you’ll accept the deal?”

“This is before that. Depending on your answer, I might trust you… that’s more like it.”

Tamaki purposely spoke in a calm tone. Not having much choice, Konoha groaned in pain.

“First question. How was my infiltration found out? I was discovered much faster than I thought.”

“…Fearing punishment, the member who’d entered with you reported your unauthorized return to the intelligence department. But it turned out that Kasuou was already inside. I immediately found out there are two Kasuous inside the Stronghold—and saw the moment that one of them transformed to another person…”

“You’ve found out both me and the real Kasuou in so short of a time? That’s amazing. What ability is it?”

“…I can’t tell you that.”

“So you’re going to destroy the deal you yourself had suggested?”

“I do not believe that me revealing my ability has any relevance cooperating with you. Also… me revealing this ability to anyone is like telling me to die. I haven’t told even the SEPB about it.”

Konoha’s manner of speaking suddenly became stronger. Tamaki had the feeling that, the instant the girl turned somewhat angry, she saw something like the silhouette of a sparkling, red bee.

While struggling against the mist pushing at her, Konoha spoke.

“What’s your goal…? If you’ve gone as far as sneaking into the Central Headquarters, is it Sleeping Beauty or a Fragment? If so then it’s useless, finding them just by entering this place would be utterly impossible…”

“Sleeping Beauty? Fragment?”

Tamaki raised a brow. She didn’t understand what Konoha was talking about at all. Was she confused because she was cornered like this? She should have cooperated with her while she was sane.

“Okay, just calm down. I’ll accept the deal. Tell me where Kasuou currently is.”

“Kasuou…? Is just that enough?”

“Yes.”

Nodding, Tamaki absolved Konoha’s restraints. Released from the mist, she alighted down the ground with a slightly dumbfounded expression.

“…You’re really going to let me go.”

“If you’ve got any complaints, I can just kill you. —That really sounded like a B-movie line.”

Konoha’s Mushi slowly changed its form. The two leaves parted and the wriggling eyeball jutted out. Seeing that creepy form, Tamaki unconsciously mumbled an “Ugh”.

Becoming grotesque binoculars, the tentacles extended from the Mushi connected to Konoha’s goggles.

“Your Mushi’s incredible.”

“…So your ability is only partial. Purposely making me do this means you couldn’t perfectly replicate my ability.”

Konoha mumbled sarcastically, perhaps as a form of revenge.

She was right. For some reason, Tamaki’s ability couldn’t copy an ability from the actual person.

Probably because the image received from the actual person was the “real thing”—or so Tamaki herself thought. As she was a constant liar, truth and reality were her natural enemies.

“So is it a fake of a fake, I wonder…? Seems useful, but no more than that.”

“Isn’t that fine?”

Tamaki felt no anger toward the other girl’s banter. Narrowing her blue eyes, she smiled.

“The real thing, the truth and the like… are all just useless anyway.”

“…I hate liars. There are those who would even offer themselves as sacrifice to expose lies.”

“Is that so? —Well? Have you found Kasuou?”

As Tamaki shrugged, Konoha’s Mushi retrieved its previous form.

“Yes.”

“You really do a fast job.”

Tamaki grinned and got the location of Kasuou as well as the route needed to get there.

However, even as their deal ended, Tamaki still stayed there, looking at Konoha.

There was a silence between the two.

“…Once this is over, contact me. I’ll tell you a safe way out.”

“Oh, thank you for being so considerate. Why are you helping me out so much?”

“Obviously because you’re trying to kill me now…”

That was also right.

Since she now knew where Kasuou was, Konoha’s ability was just an unneeded threat.

“You liar…!”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Mist blew wildly around Tamaki. Becoming countless claws, she ripped the Mushi of the girl who turned around and tried fleeing.

“……!”

Raising a voiceless scream, Konoha collapsed on the floor. Her wounded Mushi writhed next to her, spurting bodily fluids.

“Well, I’m going to end this without making you a Fallen. Have some healer quickly save you.”

As Tamaki smiled and turned back, she transformed from Kasuou to Mizuchi. Summoning the dark-red snake-type Mushi, she advanced while checking the position of all members in the area.

The location of the real Kasuou was not that far. If she could beat her quickly, she’d be able to come back to her home region by sunset.

Several minutes passed as she carefully used Mizuchi’s and Konoha’s abilities to advance inside the Underground Stronghold.

Tamaki finally found her target.

“There…!”

Vividly blond hair shook at the end of a very long corridor. Since Tamaki had mimicked that form countless times, she knew it even from behind at a glance.

It was Kasuou.

If she approached her in Mizuchi’s form, she could instantly transform into Kasuou and get a surprise attack in, thus finishing her quest. She had no intention of taking Kasuou’s life, but she wanted to deal enough damage as to render her inactive.

“I have to finish this and go back… I’m worried about Kanon crying of loneliness.”

Her weak childhood friend Kanon might feel abandoned, and she also worried about there being some slip of the tongue due to tension.

After all, Kanon was a hopelessly bad liar—

While thinking of that, Tamaki hastened toward Kasuou.

Completely unaware of the assassin approaching her from behind, Kasuou stood in front of a door at the end of the corridor. The door opened and she vanished beyond it.

Tamaki wanted to pass after her, but the door closed.

“Damn, what a bother.”

She stopped, clicking her tongue.

But no matter how much she waited, the door didn’t open.

Looking aside her, puzzled, she saw a panel with numbers and roman letters. She thought it was an automatic door, but apparently she needed to enter her member code. Perhaps it was an area that only a few select members could enter.

“No way…! You should’ve told me about this, stupid Konoha!”

Obviously, Tamaki knew nothing about any number. Angry, she pounded at the door.

“And after I finally found her! At this rate, I’ll lose sight of Kasuou!”

There was no other way but to wait until another member entered and forcibly go in with them.

“Someone, please come quickly…”

Tamaki transformed back into Kasuou again. Just like when she’d snuck into the Stronghold, she could easily push people around using Kasuou’s pressure.

And, just as she tried quelling her anxiety, the door opened in front of Tamaki.

“Move!”

In Kasuou’s form, Tamaki tried pushing away the person who appeared and keep the door open. If she hurried now and pursued Kasuou, she might be able to finish her business.

However, suddenly Tamaki’s feet stopped.

The person appearing from inside the room grabbed Tamaki’s coat as she passed nearby.

“The fuck are you doing? I got not time to put my member code in that shit!”

Tamaki turned and tried threatening. Even if she had to be a little forceful, she didn’t have the time to be picky about it.

“I’m Blaze Class Rank 3—”

“Kasuou, right? I know ya.”

Seeing that person assert so calmly, Tamaki raised a brow. She hadn’t met up with any white coats until she came there, but the one who grabbed her coat seemed different.

Rather than this base, he looked like someone you could pass by out in town. He was a tall man clad in secondhand clothes.

“Because I’d just seen you walk up the corridor just now. Also—”

The man smiled.

That smile had much more pressure than anything Tamaki had seen before. The simple action of being glared by those man’s eyes made Tamaki feel as if she was being crushed by powerful pressure.

“Since when did Kasuou start talkin’ to me like this?”

He caused her to feel a bone-chilling fear for the first time in her life.

That boy had bright red hair as well as a flame tattoo on his cheek.