Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 4 Chapter 4 (section)

==4.03 The Others==

The dry footsteps of the two walking down the passageway on the third floor resounded in his eardrums.

Even the sound of his own breathing under the mask sounded irritating to him.

“…”

Kanata walked along wordlessly.

Walking behind him was the silent Fuyuhotaru—Anmoto Shiika. She was following him obediently without resistance.

—I…

He felt all his senses sharpening till the point of a knife’s edge. It felt as if there were eyes and ears all over his body, and he could even perceive the flow of air on his skin. The wound he received on his torso had penetrated even his internal organs, but he could not even feel the pain now.

If it was now, he felt like he would not lose to anyone. Even to Anmoto Shiika who was behind him. Indeed, even against Kakkou or Harukiyo who were titled as the strongest Mushitsuki.

However, contrary to the strange lightness of his body, he could sense his thinking capability gradually diminishing.

—I’ll erase Horisaki Azusa. That’s my primary objective… my mission. It was lucky that I managed to find Fuyuhotaru… If I brought her to Headquarters, my assessment would probably increase… But, that is only after I have erased Horisaki Azusa… That was the order given to me. She would… if I continued to fight for her… vice-director Miguruma would give to me the next battle… and make my dream come true…

With his eyes lighting up from within of his goggles, he passed through the passageway to the tower.

He roamed around the interior of the tower, but couldn’t find his objective of Horisaki Azusa either.

However, there were no doubts that Horisaki Azusa was chasing after Shiika. As long as he kept her by his side, she would surely appear. —It was just a baseless conjecture that Horisaki Azusa was chasing after Shiika. But, Kanata was convinced of it. There was no longer any room for doubts in his heart.

—I am not wrong… not, mad… I’ll massacre all who obstructs me… For the sake of my mission… for the next battle…

Kanata did not realise that he had started to mumble out of nowhere.

“I am not mad… massacre all…”

Behind him, Shiika had a face of incomprehension.

The third floor of the tower seemed to be intended for dining and clothing shops. Racks crammed with mannequins were lined up toting the latest bags.

“…!”

The sight of carvings on the side of the motionless escalator caused him to shake.

That had been done by Kanata’s own Mushi. Memories of the bizarre white cat that he encountered here came into his mind.

“…!”

He turned to his right forcefully with ''baa''.

He seemed to see something white running amongst the abandoned construction materials and vinyl sheets.

“…!”

He turned to his left.

This time, the white object seemed to have appeared there.

—''Kuhuu''.

The laughing voice of the cat echoed in his ear.

—Is that your duty… your dream?

Someone whispered into his ears. That voice resembled that of his own.

—What would you be left with after that dream bears fruit? Continuing on fighting, would you be smiling after all that? Just as that cat did…

“…!”

He turned to his back.

But, he only found the petite girl whose shoulders trembled in surprise. Certainly not the laughing white cat.

“E-erm…”

He ignored Shiika who was trying to say something.

“''Huuu… Huuu…!''”

Kanata took short breaths, trying to supply as much oxygen to his brain as possible. Mushitsuki—amongst those of the Special type, there were those who were capable of mental domination or contamination. He had practised this technique to maintain a clear cognisance so many times that he was sick of it.

It can’t possibly be here…! I have personally killed that cat with my own hand… No, in the first place, that was only because of the high fever due to my wounds at that time… there can’t possibly be a cat like that. That was merely an illusion that was born from a chink in my heart…!

However, for some reason, he could not seem to subdue the agitation in his heart as he could normally. It felt like there was something stimulating him from within against his will.

Why was it that the current him was panicked to such a degree. Just what was this feeling afflicting him. That, Kanata did not know.

“…''Huuu! …Huuu…''”

The throbbing sound of his heartbeat that seemed to drum in his ears caused him to grimace. He sat down on the entrance of the passageway.

From here, I would be able to see those who come from below in the tower, as well as those who approach from the dome. —To be able to think at least this much, it seems that there was still some reason left in Kanata.

Unlike Kanata who suddenly sat down on the spot, Shiika scanned her surroundings.

“Are you really alone?”

“…”

“Aren’t you from the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau?”

“…Shut up.”

Lifting his goggles up onto his forehead, he glared at Shiika fiercely. He probably had an abnormal glint in his eyes, as Shiika’s expression turned into one of fright.

“I am going to bring you to Headquarters… But, before that, I am going to finish up my mission here. For that reason, I am going to make use of you…”

Shiika’s countenance changed. She bit her lips and exclaimed.

“I am going to escape from here.”

“…”

“Over here, I probably wouldn’t cause trouble to anyone. …Also, I’ve made a promise with my friends. That I would not get captured by the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau another time.”

Kanata had seen this look that Shiika was making now countless of times. It was the face of someone who had been chased into a corner, and had made up their resolution to fight—however, that was not the resolution to defeat the enemy.

“…''Huu''.”

Kanata breathed out and slowly stood up. Looking at the emotions in Shiika’s heart—those trivial emotions, his head became chilly.

“Escape, huh… not to try to kill me?”

“…!”

He knew that Shiika was shaken.

“In the battlefield, those who hesitates dies. You do not have the will to fight at all. The only thing you have is naïvety… do you really care so much for your opponent? You can’t bear to hurt others or get hurt yourself? Or is it that… it makes you remember about those you’ve hurt?”

The unease on Shiika’s face spread more and more.

“You’re so half-baked, Fuyuhotaru… Truthfully speaking, I don’t even care about the matters regarding you at all… but, it seems like you have yet to realise that you stand right at the ‘heart’ of matters.”

“T-the ‘heart’…?”

“It just means that you are special. Just by being around, you would cause fighting to occur with you at the centre. This is just how the country has always been… are you going to be just as naïve when the battle begins? The naïve you who say that you don’t want to fight, even being so naïve towards the enemy… surely, you would give rise to even more conflicts. Someone like you would always be embroiled in strife no matter what…”

Kanata walked towards Shiika unguarded. Shiika retreated backwards step by step with a frightened expression—no, a look of discomfiture.

“Were you thinking that somebody would end the fighting someday? Someone other than you? Till then, how many soldiers do you think would die? Nobody knows, and nobody ever notices. Do those of you at the ‘heart’ think that they were fighting for your sakes…?”

“…!”

Shiika’s face twisted and she let out a groaned wordlessly. She seemed to have recalled something and looked like she was about to cry.

—Wrong…

Kanata did not even know what he was saying anymore.

He had seen innumerable people surviving and dying in battles. Those included many of his allies who had died in vain as well, such as his team who were chasing after Horisaki Azusa and had been turned into Fallen. If Shiika had been the objective of Horisaki Azusa, then wouldn’t that imply that their current condition was due to Shiika?

—This is wrong… I have already realised it.

The barely remaining rational portion of his brain whispered at him.

I… I, who have no worth apart from fighting, have already realised… I had believed that Miguruma Yaeko would present me with more battles, and so I fought… believing in her blindly, and now, all I can do is nothing but fight… Despite knowing that I would die in the midst of a battle someday, even so I ended up being unable stop fighting… And surely, that is what makes me the worst…

Separate from his internal monologue, Kanata’s mouth continued running by itself.

“I’ve met Kakkou once. He was an unpleasant fellow, but he was different from you. He had the resolve to end the fighting…”

“Kakkou…-kun?”

“I now know. These battles centred around you would surely continue without end. However, if it were to somehow come to an end, then surely… that would have been the time when you yourself have made up the determination to end the fighting.”

Next to Kanata, the two-headed centipede appeared. It opened its huge mouth and faced its venom-dripping fangs towards Shiika.

“I am going to end the fighting…”

“You who doesn’t have the will to do so, does not have the right to live. As long as you live… worthless soldiers like me would continue to be manufactured. Believing in the words of someone who lies close to the ‘heart’, and becoming capable of nothing but fighting…”

Seeking out battles.

Believing in Miguruma Yaeko who would present him more battles.

In the end, what was it that Miguruma Yaeko have given him? That is—merely nothing but a place to die. Nonetheless, Kanata can only continue to fight. Because that was the dream he bore, the only reason for which he exists.

People like me who hold such incorrigible dreams should just—.

“You are the same as Miguruma Yaeko.”

“…!”

“Creating warfare everywhere… yet have no intentions of stopping them.”

Shiika seemed to have received a shock and was frozen on the spot.

—That white cat was laughing.

Like Kanata, perhaps it had been assigned with a duty by somebody and had completed it.

However, it was different from Kanata.

That was, the cat had believed in the somebody who had also trusted it and gave it its mission, and it believed that that person would make its own wish come true. It had believed that that person would bring it along with them as they continued on their journey.

Kanata is unable to laugh as the cat did—.

“I’ve changed my mind… you are going to die here.”

A hatred towards Shiika gushed up so intensely that even he was unable to hold it down himself.

He has already put what happened to him behind, after all, he could no longer turn back anyway. However, as long as the girl in front of him was around, pitiful soldiers like Kanata himself would continue to exist…

“It would be brief from this distance. Before you can even use your ability, I’ll have no trouble snapping your neck. I was going to use you to draw out Horisaki Azusa, but… at this point, perhaps a dead body would serve too. Once I erase her and complete my mission, I’m going to return to Headquarters.”

Kanata had no qualms doing so, even disregarding the fact that the Central Headquarters wanted her to be captured alive, and not assassinated. If it was found out that he had killed Shiika, he would probably be punished. But, his mission had only been to erase Horisaki Azusa, so long as Fuyuhotaru doesn’t appear in his report at all, that would be the end of it.

Shiika stood there with a pained expression, but let out an utter upon looking behind Kanata.

“Ah…”

Kanata turned around.

There was a person climbing up the escalator.

“Aijisupa-san…?”

“Yo.”

It was the youth with a headband who was around Shiika’s age. In contrast to his tattered clothes fluttering about, his expression was truly serene. His eyes which showed no hints of nervousness whatsoever even had tinges of sleepiness.

He was the youth who could do nothing but make groans while Kanata took Shiika captive. Unlike just now when he was paralysed with fear, he currently stood relaxedly in front of Kanata.

Kanata glared at the youth who was called Aijisupa with murderous intent in his gaze.

“How did you find us…?”

“Even if I told you, you probably wouldn’t understand either. Some uncanny monster that was following us around the past few days brought me here. …It seems like I had been made use of by something.”

Monster…? Is he referring to Horisaki Azusa?

Kanata pondered in his mind, but he couldn’t be sure.

“What does the coward who could do nothing but tremble in fear earlier thinks he can do now? Get lost.”

“Sure, I’ll do so once you return that to me. It’s not like I have anything on with you either.”

Aijisupa said so with a bothersome tone with both of his hands stuffed into his pockets. That calm demeanour that was a complete reverse from before surprised not only Kanata, but Shiika as well.

“I am going to kill Fuyuhotaru right here. I’ll only say it once more, get lost. If you don’t, I’ll kill you!”

“Is there a need for me to repeat myself a second time too? Fine, I’ll say this much then. Return that to me. I still haven’t witnessed anything yet, it’ll be troubling for me if she dies now.”

“…”

“In any case, you just wanna fight, isn’t it? Well, I was already prepared for this to happen.”

Hearing him speak nonchalantly like that, the irritation in Kanata shot up. Just that small irritation in his heart was amplified by an invisible needle and it soon blazed into a rage in no time.

''Grrrr''… A beast-like growl was being emitted from his throat. He could also hear himself strongly grinding his molars.

“You bastard…! Is a coward like you who can’t even fight saying that you are going to get in my way…!”

Aijisupa only watched on calmly as Kanata got into a forward-bent combat posture.

“Coward…? In my eyes, you are the one that looks like a coward.”

Kanata’s eyes widened.

—''Kuhuu''.

“…!”

He heard the laughing voice of the cat and hastily turned towards the centre of the building.

That was a sneer.

An apparition was laughing at the him who despaired over his own dream. The back of his spine was suddenly assaulted by a wave of coldness.

“?”

Aijisupa knotted his eyebrows in puzzlement.

Kanata clearly saw it with his eyes. He saw a white silhouette beyond the escalator.

It was looking at Kanata in pity and sneering.

“''G-grrrr''…”

But, in the next moment, the apparition of the cat disappeared.

The emotion that had been magnified in Kanata’s heart—that was ''fear''.

It was the fear that had been born when he saw the white cat laughing. At the start, it was so small that he didn’t even notice it, and now it grew so large that it broke him.

Right before Kanata lost his remaining sense of reason, the last thing that he saw through his bloodshot eyes was the flickering display on the elevator landing.

The display showing which floor the elevator was on changed. It descended from the ninth floor to the eighth, then to the seventh and so forth. It flashed past the third floor which they were on, and stopped at the second basement level—where the underground parking lot was.

—In the next moment, a large tremor shook the whole of ‘URBAN’.

“…!”

Kanata, Shiika and Aijisupa all lost their balance.

The scene of the glass walls on the first floor shattering into millions of pieces could be seen out of the window. At the dome, there was truly a great explosion. From the sealed interior, everything was blasted outwards towards the walls and the ceiling. A large blaze licked the outside from the broken windows.

Things did not end there for the tower which Kanata and the rest were in. A shockwave naturally propagated upwards from the first floor. The glass windows of the passageway was not spared either, and shattered with the fragments scattering outwards.

“…!”

Kanata got up and scanned over the disaster scene, confirming that Aijisupa had gotten up promptly as well.

The sky which was darkening due to the arrival of dusk was instantly dyed bright red. A huge wave of heat blanketed the area, causing them to feel like their hair were getting singed.

This smell… gas? And also, gasoline! Did the explosion come from the underground parking lot! At this rate, the fire will soon consume the first floor and above…!

“''G-grrr…!''”

Hi growl getting deeper, Kanata glared at Aijisupa.

“You bastard! How dare you pull such petty trick…!”

“It wasn’t me. In fact, shouldn’t it have been you?”

Aijisupa’s words of denial didn’t even enter Kanata’s ears anymore.

—''Kuhuu''.

He heard the cat’s laughing voice again.

That dealt the final blow to Kanata’s reason. He pulled down his goggles over his abnormally bloodshot eyes.

“Wai-… looks like he’s not listening anymore, huh. —Shiika! Go up from the stairs further in pronto! The shockwave should have settled down already!”

“B-but! What about Aijisupa-san—”

“Nevermind that, just go! You’ll just be a hindrance!”

Shouting out those words, Aijisupa smiled once again.

“You felt like you wanted to be punished, huh… I get what you mean, Rina. That’s precisely how I feel right now. Perhaps it would be good for me to feel some pain as well…”

He muttered to himself. That voice should have reached at most Kanata without Shiika hearing it.

“''Grrraaaaah!''”

Raising a roar, Kanata rushed at Aijisupa with his Mushi.