Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 13 Chapter 1 (section)

== 1.03 OPS3 Part 4 ==

At that moment—

Anmoto Shiika realized what compelled her the most of all.

It was a resolve—as well as duty.

“Who’re you!”

As Nanana shouted this, Ebina Yuu, who was standing right in front of Alpha, kicked the ground.

“…!”

Yuu’s movements were nimble. She lowered her body and charged toward Shiika and the rest.

“I’ll grab her.”

Aijisupa stepped in front of Shiika and raised an arm.

The other admins also moved to protect Shiika—

“…!”

One part of the life support system raised sparks and exploded.

Machinery fragments and sparks burst, making all of them flinch.

Using the opening created by this, Yuu leapt at Shiika’s group like an arrow shot from a bow.

“Yuu-cha—”

Yuu did nothing to Shiika.

Only when they crossed paths—she turned to Shiika with eyes full of intense hatred.

“—”

Her face was distorted with loathing and pain.

And the letter C visible in her pupils was familiar.

Her appearance was certainly that of Ebina Yuu, but it revived within Shiika memories of another person.

“—Erii?”

Yuu simply ignored Shiika’s unconscious mumble. She nimbly slipped between the Mushibane members and leapt into the monitoring room. Her footsteps were quickly growing distant.

“What are you doing, go after her already!”

Being scolded by Nanana, several Mushibane members hurriedly went after Yuu.

The remaining Mushitsuki surrounded the other person standing near Alpha—the girl with a casket hat.

“Ch-Chiharu-chan…”

Seeing the girl, Lucifera was shocked.

Namie approached the girl called Chiharu cautiously.

“So they kept us busy while they tried getting to Alpha. —Despite speaking of a deal that’s quite the nasty trick, Lucifera.”

“N-no! I never even…!”

“Shut up, Lucifera-chan. Sorry?”

Speaking this was the late-arriving Satou Youko. Dragging her heavy-looking suitcase behind her, she huffed and puffed.

“Oh, and that girl’s the same as me. Not a Mushitsuki, alright? So you don’t have to be so careful of her, yeah?”

“Is this your boss, then?”

Being glared by Aijisupa, Lucifera was at a loss for words.

“No no, that’s obviously wrong.”

It was Satou Youko who spoke instead of the silent Lucifera.

“She’s Ayukawa Chiharu, a completely normal girl. …Currently, at least.”

What an odd way of saying that.

More importantly, Shiika felt some déjà vu. She felt as though she’d met this girl somewhere before.

“We’ve met her at Nishito City.”

Hearing Aijisupa say that with a grim face, Shiika recalled it.

“Ah!”

—''Thank you. I’ll return this to you later.

In the station of the region called Nishito City, Shiika gave an unfamiliar girl some small change. Later, she’d also seen her for an instant on the roof of a burning building.

It was the girl in front of her eyes right now, Ayukawa Chiharu.

Although it was a fleeting meeting, she could clearly remember that face—because Chiharu simply left that strong of an impression on her.

Chiharu, who was flustered at the ticket gates, had thanked Shiika and smiled.

It was like some scene taken from a stage play. Each and every dazzling part of Chiharu, whether it was her movements, her expression, even her fingertips and the tips of her hair would enchant any and all watchers.

Even so, the Chiharu currently in front of Shiika—

“…”

She was staring right at Shiika and nothing about her expression moved at all. Although she was surrounded by many Mushitsuki, not only was she not afraid, she didn’t even look like she was in danger.

“And to add another thing—she’s also Kakkou’s actual sister.”

“—Eh?”

Shiika’s heart throbbed, felt like it was hit by an invisible fist.

Including Shiika, a huge clamor rose within the Mushibane comrades as well.

Kakkou’s sister.

Meaning, the reason behind Chiharu looking at Shiika like that—

“W-wait a minute, Satou-san! You can’t…!”

“Oh, was it a secret? S-sorry, my bad.”

Fiddling with her bangs, Youko hid her face.

“Is the fact that the girl who just escaped is Ebina Yuu-chan a secret too?”

Once more voices of surprise erupted through Mushibane.

There was a dry, hard voice.

Nanana struck her cane against Satou Youko’s suitcase.

“Really—what does that mean? After tricking us and approaching Alpha on their own, their own bargaining chip went up and away? This is way beyond breach of contract.”

“Oh, about that. She said it’s to avoid wasting time. Well, err, according to our mistress, since you might make up some reason and be unwilling to hand over Alpha—”

“Meaning, your aim was using Ebina Yuu as bait to fish out Alpha all along. What have you done to him? You, Lucifera and Ayukawa Chiharu… was it? Don’t think you’ll be able to safely return to your mistress, alright?”

“W-wait a minute, Nanana-san. We really did intend on handing over Ebina Yuu-san to you… even Yuu-san herself had agreed to that—”

The voices of Nanana and the others arguing sounded as though they were very distant.

Shiika’s nerves were all focused on the one girl, unmoving.

Ayukawa Chiharu. The actual sister of the Mushitsuki Shiika had made a Fallen, Kakkou.

Chiharu was staring hard at her—and she finally averted her eyes.

She almost felt as if the outside world was leaving the two of them behind and distancing itself.

“E-err—”

Shiika’s hoarse mumble melted into the air and vanished.

''Huh…?

She came back to her senses.

''I was the one who made Kakkou into a Fallen—

She made a Mushitsuki into a Fallen by her own hands, robbing that life. And yet…

How could she be so calm—

As she averted her eyes from Chiharu and looked at the floor, she saw her own thin legs. It wasn’t just her babyface that made her look younger than she was, but her slim limbs and short stature as well. When she was younger, she naturally imagined herself looking more mature with age, but she was splendidly off mark.

She recalled.

Standing here right now was Anmoto Shiika, a completely worthless girl.

Her being the Rank 1 Mushitsuki called Fuyuhotaru or Snow Fly—had nothing to do with it.

Right, it was completely irrelevant.

From his sister’s point of view, she was the one who turned her immediate family to Fallen.

“Err—”

Shiika felt herself grow pale from head to toes as she mumbled.

She felt like she had to say something to the sister of the one whose life she robbed.

However, no words came to mind.

Should she just apologize? —Even Shiika knew that this wasn’t something she’d be forgiven for.

Should she explain that she’d once been made a Fallen by Kakkou herself?

No—it would just be seen as her taking revenge, then. Shiika had not done it because of this, but would she be able to explain this?

“…Hey.”

Chiharu mumbled softly.

Shiika’s shoulders twitched.

Perhaps the others didn’t even hear this. Since the surroundings became noisy as Nanana, Satou Youko and the others argued, the only one who focused her entire mind on Chiharu’s words and actions was Shiika.

“Why…?”

Chiharu muttered this word alone. She said nothing more.

However—

“—”

This time, Shiika’s heart was being squeezed hard by that unseen hand.

Cold sweat erupted over her face and it became hard to breath.

Why?

An answer to that exceedingly simple question—was something Shiika lacked.

It wasn’t just Kakkou. All the people she’d made Fallen this far obviously had family and friends.

Being exposed to this sort of blatant hatred—was a first for her.

Obviously. Because Shiika created great numbers of Fallen, not even giving them time to bear grudges.

She couldn’t control her powers.

Or perhaps she’d been cornered and did it just to protect herself.

With Kakkou, she did it because it was a longtime promise, as if it was completely natural—

“I—”

Shiika had never turned anyone into a Fallen during a “battle”.

Although she could claim those situations were excusable—

If she ever tried explaining it in her own words, it really would become nothing more than an excuse—

“Besides, you’re the one who needs to decide on how we’re going to act, right?”

Satou Youko’s voice suddenly entered her ears.

Startled, she raised her face and gulped.

Youko and Nanana, as well as everyone there—focused their gazes on Shiika.

“Right, Fuyuhotaru-san?”

“M-me…?”

“I mean, you ''are'' Mushibane’s leader, right?”

Seeing Youko tilt her head, she next looked at Nanana and then the rest of her Mushibane comrades’ faces.

All of them were waiting for Shiika to speak.

Nanana was the chairman of a large conglomerate and Aijisupa was a powerful Mushitsuki. Namie was also a strong combatant, and even in the SEPB she was high-ranking. Other than that, there were the Mushibane admins, commanding the gathering of many Mushitsuki. All of them waited Shiika’s orders.

No, not Shiika’s.

They waited for orders coming from the Mushitsuki called Fuyuhotaru and Snow Fly.

“Ah…”

Just as Shiika was at a loss for words, Lucifera’s cellphone rang.

“A-apparently my mistress has also lost sight of Ebina Yuu. It’s odd for her to be able to escape Konoha-san’s tracking.”

She then added more.

“She’s going to lend a hand in searching for Ebina Yuna—in the plan to vanquish Oogui. In exchange, you are not to touch Chiharu-san and company…”

“Yaha, how convenient. —What will we do, Shiika?”

Being asked this by Nanana, Shiika clenched her fists.

She couldn’t show any agitation. A leader being shaken would spread to the entire organization. Mushibane’s former leader, Shiika’s friend Tachibana Rina, was always dignified.

“L-let’s work together…”

As Shiika said this in a low voice, Nanana and the rest sighed.

Finally, all eyes were removed from the frightened Shiika.

“Well, I knew you’d say that, though.”

Nanana’s tone toward Shiika wasn’t one of reproach. Perhaps also having anticipated her answer, it seemed that the others stopped being hostile to Chiharu and Youko.

Shiika calmed down for now, but—

“…”

She timidly glanced at Chiharu’s expression and tensed.

Not even a single muscle in her face moved.

What did Chiharu think of Shiika’s orders right now?

Would she think Shiika wasn’t such a bad person?

Or perhaps—would she feel furious that the person who made her brother Fallen would have the gall to say that?

While being watched by Chiharu, she worried whether or not that was the right answer.

“Cutting straight to the point, we’ve done nothing to Alpha, and Ebina Yuu’s actions were also unexpected for us.”

While looking at her cellphone, Lucifera spoke in monotone. She was apparently reading her mail.

“And what surprised us the most—is that this seems to have been C’s attack.”

“What!”

Nanana spun her cane, wearing a sneer.

“Convenient for you, isn’t it? Are you just going to pin everything on our enemy?

What the invisible other party—the so-called mistress—said might be true.

Shiika saw the traces of C’s ability in Yuu’s eyes. And her face when she glared at Shiika—was the exact same as C’s expression when she’d met Shiika in person.

“Ah—”

However, her mouth closed unexpectedly when she tried voicing that.

Shiika noticed the contradiction in her feelings.

C no longer had any personality.

Miguruma Yaeko definitely said this.

However, what Shiika saw—was definitely the girl who called herself Erii.

If Shiika had simply imagined the entire thing—then she might simply cause even more confusion by saying something unnecessary.

As a result she might lead the entire strategy to failure, and the situation might go past the point of no return.

“…”

Chiharu was still looking at her.

Shiika tightened her lips and swallowed back her words.

“Both in order to defeat Oogui and to know about C’s goals, we should look for Ebina Yuu as soon as possible.”

“We’re saying we don’t trust you all! Enough of this, let your marionette master operating from the shadows come here!”

The Mushibane members who chased Ebina Yuu came back. From their expressions it was obvious they hadn’t managed to capture her.

Everyone was confused at the discussion not advancing past the probing stage.

The one to put a stop to this atmosphere was someone unexpected.

“…What are you going to do, Shiika-chan?”

It was Chiharu.

Everyone was surprised to hear from this casket-wearing girl who made no move at all.

However, she also wanted to ask for a decision. Once again everyone looked at Shiika.

“—”

She felt suffocated.

How should she use this extremely precious time of 48 hours?

And the upcoming battle—would end up deciding this country’s fate.

She was asked about this by none other than Kakkou’s sister, Ayukawa Chiharu.

“E-err—”

She was allowed no mistakes.

In this situation where she had to bring out the correct answer, Shiika’s face blanched.

“I wonder about C—”

Shiika felt like she was choking and had to feign being calm—

“About Erii… what kind of a girl was she, I wonder…?”

Each and every person she could see there raised their brows at this.

She realized that she chose the wrong answer.


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==Notes==

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