Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 4th Episode 16 (section)

===Part 3===

''Clang.''

''Clang.''

Today there was also the sound of iron being pounded.

She could see pipes being hammered in the distant premises.

Or perhaps it was her grandfather's sound etched in her memories.

By being too close to humans, one would mix their emotions with the purity of iron.

By being too close to iron, one would rust their wisdom as a human.

The one who connected "people" and "objects" was a blacksmith.

So she was taught.

It was an ancient saying—as well as a heartwarming one.

Munechika, who lived in the present, chose to love iron over humans.

"…"

The wind blowing through the early morning capital had the scent of iron and exhaust gas.

Not a single car could be seen running on the large road split to three lanes.

Only Munechika's electric kick scooter ran on the road with light engine noises. That scooter, with much better output and power than those on the market, was a beloved vehicle in the West Central Branch.

Leaning her body, she drove in a gentle arc. She activated the autopilot program installed on the scooter to allow it to keep running with the same speed and angle.

Running on the empty road, Munechika's outfit wasn't her usual sailor uniform.

She wore her very own handmade jumpsuit and hid half her face with goggles. Her usual pouch hung from her hips and she carried a large toolbox on her back.

"…Any damage wouldn't matter around here."

Munechika muttered as she reached her destination. She stopped the scooter and parked it.

The road ended in a spot as empty as if it had been cut off.

A highway in construction—

No-one passed the bridge and the view was clear. The train rails didn't reach all the way there, and she could only see a barren asphalt hill.

Descending her scooter, she put her toolbox on the ground. She took out a red pen and a large paint brush.

For a while she worked soundlessly.

By the time she'd finished about half her work, the ground was rising in the direction she'd come from.

"Wait a bit. I'll play with you once I'm done."

Using a brush to paint the ground red, she spoke toward the person arriving there.

The asphalt liquefied and rose, revealing a single man and a Mushi.

"So you've noticed me tailing ya."

The African man, Robber, exposed his white teeth.

"So you realized I'll come getcha if you're alone? Does that mean you were waiting for me?"

"Indeed. I'm glad it wasn't Aki with whom I have no business."

She lightly affirmed. The dreadlocked man huffed pleasantly. Next to him, the weevil clad in the brown domain shook its long proboscis. 

Despite it being early morning, today was hotter than early summer should've been.

When beads of sweat formed on Munechika's forehead, she finally finished her work.

"…Not bad."

Satisfied at her own work, she took out the hand hammer from her pouch. Spinning it once, she swung it to the side.

It elongated with a metallic sound. The scarab shining with a metallic luster landed on the now meter long hammer.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting."

When she turned around she could see Robber's cheeks were sweaty. It was obvious that his smile was strained not because of the heat.

"…Are you insane, honey?"

The man's eyes focused on the paint at her feet.

Munechika removed a cube from her hair with a cold expression.

"You wanted that, right? I'll give it to you."

The Gemsteel cube ricocheted on the asphalt, making a clear sound.

"This is my masterpiece. It's also woven into the SEPB equipment you're wearing, but I've raised its pureness by 100%."

Robber twitched. His agitated expression turned into a weary, cynical smile.

"Is that a signal to approach you? Then I'll be taking it—and then you, too. Because I'd like you to create interesting stuff for us from now on."

Heading for the Gemsteel rolling ahead of Munechika, the asphalt weevil approached.

"Also… you're going to die if you stay near ''that'', honey."

The jumpsuit-wearing girl made no move.

"…Lemme tell you something."

The weevil advanced slowly between the unmoving Munechika and Robber.

"My Mushi's ability is just like you thought. It can turn any material it eats to its medium for an amount of time. Also…"

Munechika silently made the hammer spin through air once, then caught it.

"It has to materialize only for the moment it switches."

The weevil's proboscis touched the Gemsteel. It sucked the cube as if to eat it. 

The next instant, Munechika kicked the ground.

"You're aiming for that moment, though."

She swung the hand hammer with all of her might toward the weevil's head.

"—So if it turns harder nothing'll happen, right?"

The weevil's body was instantly colored like steel. It changed its body to the hardest material, the Gemsteel.

The scarab landed on top of the hand hammer emitted a bright light.

The hammer hit the weevil that became made of Gemsteel.

The sharp clang of striking metal reverberated throughout the road.

"…Shit."

Munechika scowled while swinging the hammer.

An earthquake occurred.

"…!"

Still exposing his white teeth, Robber's expression froze.

The ground around the weevil caved in. The delayed impact of the tremor created fissures in the ground.

Along with the sound of breaking metal, cracks appeared on the weevil's body.

"You've made me use this cursed ability."

As Munechika swore, the weevil in front of her crumbled to bits.

As a mere tool maker, one could say Munechika's ability was simply breaking down matter.

Yet it was actually more complex than that.

The scarab's real power was actually controlling the "binding force" of matter.

By controlling the binding force between cells of inorganic matter, one could make it lose its form, meld it with different matter, alter it and create an entirely different form.

Meaning that as long as she could touch something using the hammer with the scarab on it—

"Having nothing I can't destroy is too embarrassing to tell anyone."

There was no material Munechika couldn't disassemble.

If she felt like it, she could even cause an entire building to collapse.

And that was the same with her masterpiece of the Gemsteel. It was the best metal exactly because none other than Munechika could destroy it.

"When I fight things always break… That's why I don't want to fight."

In order to reform something, one needed the essential process of destruction.

There was no ability more ironic than that for Munechika who wanted to create something unbreakable.

"…Now then."

She didn't even turn around to Robber who'd lost his Mushi and become a Fallen. Ignoring the man who stood in place with glazed eyes, she returned to her electric scooter.

She sat down cross-legged on the asphalt with a thud.

"With just disassembling, the only metal I could create right now with my ability to control the binding force would be the Gemsteel."

She finished what she needed to do.

All that remained was waiting for the right time.

"In order to preserve its hardness and rebuild it even stronger—I need much more energy."

The sun was slowly ascending.

The asphalt was slowly heating up and sweat appeared on Munechika's chin.

"…"

''Clang.''

''Clang.''

She could hear the sound of striking metal from somewhere.

But it might have been an auditory illusion due to the heat affecting Munechika.

That was the sound she heard when she was young. —No, from before she was born.

The sound of her swordsmith grandfather tempering steel by fire.

"Since time immemorial, one needed fire to temper steel."

It happened just as the mid-noon sun cast shadows on the highway.

A small shadow was born on the other side of her blurry sight.

As a tool maker, Munechika wished for no fight.

And so, what she was going to do now was no battle—it was work. She was just going to forge metal.

"There was no way you'd stay silent since I'd finished off your ally, huh…"

A person walking calmly in the sun appeared.

No, it looked as if the swaying sun was avoiding that man.

Even from afar the flame-patterned tattoo on his face looked vivid. His unkempt hair looked like flames. The blazer that was probably part of some high school's uniform exposed his burly chest. If she had to choose one word to describe him, it would be imposing.

The boy sticking his hands in his pockets looked calm as if he'd simply happened there by chance. Enough heat to make Munechika think she'd been cold until now fanned her jumpsuit.

"Harukiyo."

Standing up, Munechika spun her hammer through air once.

A grin rose to the flaming devil's face.

"It's a common misunderstanding, but we're not really comrades. So it's not like I'm gonna avenge him or anything…"

Harukiyo looked at the paint below Munechika's feet.

"Also, it's the first time for someone I don't know to welcome me like this. But well, you know how it is. Recently I'm a bit pissed by Hanashiro Mari's ghost toying with me. So yeah, bottling all this stress inside me isn't healthy. Don't be surprised if I don't hold back then!"

Harukiyo spoke lightly with only his eyes sharp.

Hanashiro Mari yet again.

The incidents related to the morpho butterflies involved with the man in front of her.

Yet that had nothing to do with Munechika.

Munechika caught the hand hammer and fixed her goggles. Wearing the hood on her head, she equipped the fire-resistant mask hanging from her neck.

"Tell me your name."

Harukiyo gazed at Munechika with flaming eyes.

Assuming a complete defensive position, Munechika asserted without any fear.

"I'm just a tool maker."

She had no need to name herself.

She didn't like naming the objects she created.

She'd already left her name with the morpho butterfly.

"Since I came all the way here I won't turn back. Dunno what's your deal, but we'll do this properly."

Harukiyo's eyes focused on the letters written on the asphalt.

"Challenge"—

Munechika had written a short sentence on the whole road with paint.

"To Harukiyo-dono. I, an inexperienced tool maker, do wish for a fight against you"—

The flame devil was to face against a mere tool maker in battle.

"I accept your challenge."

This wasn't a battle, merely steel tempering.

And so Munechika put her life at stake to carry it through.

"Let's go."

Munechika got on her scooter as if pushed from behind.

A surging flame pillar covered the sun.

Priding herself on her raison d'être, Yoshihara Munechika threw herself at her biggest challenge.

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