Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 7 Chapter 3 (section)

== 3.04 Ako Part 2 ==
A few days passed since she'd witnessed Akatsuki fighting under the cherry tree.

Normally he seemed nothing more than a normal student, but he was definitely a Mushitsuki.

No, she'd already guessed he was a Mushitsuki. What she managed to ascertain was the fact that even someone as kind as him shouldered the fate of fighting as a Mushitsuki.

—No, perhaps she'd already known even that.

Therefore Ako approached Akatsuki.

Ako was able to film the kind of person known as Mushitsuki from up close.

There was the Akatsuki who became her friend in her normal school life.

And there was the Akatsuki that commanded a Mushi and fought with a strange power under the cherry tree.

Both were undoubtedly Mushitsuki. Ako was finally able to obtain what she'd been looking for ever since getting her camera.

She'd been anxious whether or not she'd make it in time for the fight against the Demon Lord. If she hadn't, even if she found out the Demon Lord's identity, she'd be unable to find any reason to fight.

So Ako became determined.

The truth that the Demon Lord spread in the world was definitely false. By obtaining the unshakable truth, Ako resolved herself to face against the Demon Lord.

"—I see, so this is what the rumor of the 'crying road' means."

Ako readied her camera while walking through a hill road that not many people passed through.

In front of her was a road overflowing with white particles vanishing. When the light was completely gone, the road returned to being bathed in the orange of sunset.

Ako pulled a map of the town from her bag, and marked an X on the place of the hill.

"Next is 'moon stalker', I guess. That one only happens at night. It's also dangerous to investigate that alone, but… if I went to get member Akatsuki I wouldn't make it in time."

While going down the hill road, she mumbled to herself. She put the map away and readied her camera again.

She felt dizzy. Her body shook and she bumped her shoulder against a power pole.

"Yeah, gathering material for several days in a row is impossible… no, a True Journalist must never complain."

Chastising herself, she kept walking with a serious face.

Ever since the incident at the cherry tree, Ogata Akatsuki never came to school. He probably went to report to the secret organization he belonged to.

"He would probably return soon. I need to prepare to see him."

Thinking about it, she changed her route. Walking in the residential district, she headed for a certain person's house.

The town was peaceful, but this period of time brought a certain memory.

When had it happened last year? As Ako ran around several places in pursuit of a certain subject matter, a tall woman wearing an overcoat appeared in front of her.

''—Stop what you're doing. This is a warning.''

With the sunset bursting at her back, half of her face was hidden by a mask. It was obvious she wasn't a civilian.

At the time Ako had immediately understood what she was being asked to "stop".

''—If you stand to disturb the path of the journalist, you should at least introduce yourself.''

Ako made no move. She actually remembered herself smiling happily and asking this fearlessly. She'd gotten carried away at the time.

She always had the feeling someone like that would appear in front of her. To gather material, she actually wished for it.

''—I'm Shera from the Annihilators.''

Unexpectedly, the woman named herself. It went without saying that those Annihilators or whatever were some sort of secret organization. She'd probably come to threaten Ako with the darkness.

''—I am the True Journalist, Haemori Ako.''

She had grandly spoken her name that the woman probably already knew. She fully believed that no one would be able to stop her.

''—A mere civilian pushing their luck will be destroyed.''

''—Thinking that normal people can't win against Mushitsuki is a mistake that will become your destruction.''

After exchanging warnings, Shera was gone.

Several things happened since then.

Ako noticed her own mistake and accepted her punishment to be lonely.

Just when she was about to lose sight of her road as a journalist, she noticed the existence of the Demon Lord hiding in town. 

Wanting to confront them, she took her camera in hand again.

Unlike her past self.

Now, Ako believed her path was righteous; she would be able to say so with pride.

"This is the last time I will do as in the past."

Arriving at her goal, after waiting a while the door opened.

"…Your complexion looks bad, prez."

Appearing with a frown was the pajama-wearing student council president. With this sudden visit she was nearly bursting with anger.

"It's obvious, right? That's why I've been taking off school. …Why have you come all the way to my house?"

The upperclassman serving as the student council president asserted with a pale face. She wasn't coughing at all, and she didn't look feverish. Yet she seemed abnormally sluggish.

"Sorry for prolonging this, so I'll say this clearly. Return my room."

"That again? Stop with the—"

"I'm not telling you to not evict my club. …I just think it's sad that the new members that finally joined my journalism club won't be able to enter the club room before it's disbanded."

"Sorry, but it's impossible. Goodbye then."

The girl tried closing the door.

"You were once pure and elegant, so when had you been replaced by a fake?"

"…Your delusions again? Do you have some grudge against me? It's me who should—"

"Did you think I wouldn't know about your money spending?"

With a frightened face, the girl's hand closing the door stopped. Her face even paler, she looked back at Ako's camera with awkward movements.

"Even the sports shop supporting the track-and-field club was involved. Comparing the budget to each club that you'd announced, it was obvious they received a much larger budget. And it wasn't just that. Even part of the expenses collected from the students went from the student council to a certain teacher and then to a laundering company—"

"W-what are you…"

Prez wrought out a shaking voice. She wore a weak smile.

"The Demon Lord is back…?"

This time Ako was the one to scowl. Her chest throbbed in pain. The abnormal name attached to her in the past even now brought back vivid guilt.

"I'm no longer the same as I was when I'd been called the Demon Lord. I will not unveil the truth of all your ambitions. —Also, there's a different, true Demon Lord."

"I thought you've gone crazy by being abandoned by your club members…"

"If the truth is revealed, it will become a questioned event. I don't intend to disturb the school's peace. I simply pray that you will return the illegal money to its place and resume the form of the righteous president."

"What… in the end you're threatening me."

Her camera still readied, Ako bit her lips.

"No… I wanted to apologize. Perhaps you started walking the path of evil by me no longer being the Demon Lord… Even if I knew that a journalist originally needed to correct injustice, I abandoned it just due to becoming isolated."

"I know that. I'll call the school about your club room… is that fine?"

"There's still more. Your condition is also because I wasn't powerful enough. I couldn't beat the real Demon Lord until now. If I use you as bait—"

The door was slammed shut.

Ako stood in front of the house for a while. Finally she turned her camera away and walked.

When she came to, she noticed that the LCD screen was filming the ground. She straightened her back and puffed her chest.

She was resolved.

Even if she was hated.

Even if no one knew of her.

She would face the Demon Lord and act as the Chronicler.

Ako no longer hesitated.

"Until member Akatsuki returns, I'll finish the preparations for the final battle with the Demon Lord."

Putting out a resolved voice, Ako kept filming the townscape dyed in the sunset.

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