Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 8 Chapter 2 (section)

== 2.04 The Others ==
On the second floor of the multi-tenant building, a small visitor stood in front of the door with the plate stating "Handyman Kirari☆ CLOSED" on it.

She was a cute girl with matching red glasses. She was probably around middle school age and her twin-braided hair turned behind her. She looked like the image of a class president.

Seeing another person appear, the girl opened her mouth as if to say something.

"Are you… someone related to this office?"

However, the suit-wearing Yamamoto Rau beat her to the punch. Glaring at the girl with a gloomy expression, she approached her while dragging her legs.

The girl shook her head, looking dejected. Apparently she herself was waiting for someone like that.

"N-no, I'm not."

"So it's closed? I had business with the owner, but… you as well?"

"Y-yes."

While the girl nodded hesitatingly, Rau glanced at the closed door with feigned apathy.

Rau had obviously not come to visit the office because she had a request for the Handyman.

Shera of the Annihilators continued her search for the Mushitsuki of the Substation Ruins without incident.

As usual, she was unable to find any traces.

The opponent that used her Annihilators subordinate Biribiri for an attack against her was also still unknown.

Furthermore, she didn't know his goal, but apparently Rank 1 Blaze Class Kakkou was also hiding somewhere in town. —The assassin intercepting him, Hakamori from the Annihilators, was also missing, but he was probably dead already.

What was hiding in town now?

Also, did they exist in the first place?

Everything was vague, so these very unpleasant days continued.

"Hmm…"

Obviously Rau had a reason she came to the "Handyman Kirari☆" office.

And it was also a foolish one.

In her search for the doubtful existence of the Mushitsuki of the Substation she did everything she could. Since she couldn't find them despite that, she decided to change her methods.

The mark remaining at the substation, Coatl Hot—

It was apparently the very first one in the charm fad now sweeping the country. Rau's investigation told her just what she heard from Sepia. It was different from the normal "Coatl Head" according to the local middle and high schoolers.

Feeling unease, Rau began investigating the source of this fad.

And—a certain piece of information arrived to her ears.

"How many times have you been here?"

"Huh? O-oh… this is my first time."

Rau casually asked her and the girl replied humbly.

"I see…"

Rau had used all possible means to investigate the jack-of-all-trades known as "Handyman Kirari☆".

The manager was apparently a 17-years old girl.

Her name was Ikarino Kirari.

She didn't manage to enter high school. Apparently she also wasn't present for her middle school graduation ceremony. After the facility she lived in had been closed, she went around several places, and at present was running an unlicensed office.

She also found out the cause for this quite unhappy profile.

Apparently, one of her classmates in middle school was the granddaughter of the chairman of the large corporation called Akasegawa Group. Since she was his one and only blood relative, she succeeded his position as a chairman.

She didn't know what happened between that chairman and Kirari.

However, apparently Kirari had offended her for some reason. Starting then she had been receiving persistent harassment, being cornered such that she couldn't graduate or find employment.

The chairman of a large enterprise, and Kirari.

She had no interest in their relationship. She had no intention to dig deep into their pasts.

Rau had gone to Handyman Kirari☆ for a completely different reason.

"It's also my first time coming here. But looks like I'll have to give up for today, huh… I think you should come another day, too. I plan on coming tomorrow again."

"Maybe I'll come here next week…"

"So weekdays are a no-no? Have you come here from afar, perhaps?"

"Yes. From Akamaki City."

Rau raised an eyebrow. Since she couldn't tell where clues about the Mushitsuki of Substation would hide in, she had just intended to ask her about that.

"Why have you come from such a place to here? Sorry for saying this, but I'm not impressed by a kid coming to this sort of place alone…"

Being stared by gloomy eyes, the girl spoke respectfully.

"I-I'm looking for something in this city… and I found this."

The girl showed her a pocket tissue she was holding. It was muddied and dirtied, but Rau knew it had an advertisement of the handyman shop here.

"Since it's something related to this town, I thought about getting the help of a local."

The girl didn't seem to be lying.

''It doesn't seem to be related to my goal—''

Rau judged that the girl she had met by coincidence was a mere civilian.

"You should go back home for now… If you go back to Akamaki City now you'll reach it by night. Your parents are going to be worried."

Why were children this age prone to such reckless acts? They were so ignorant and stupid but they never thought about the ones protecting them. ''This isn't a game, if you need to look for something do it by yourself'', she wanted to scold her.

"Also—it's meaningless even if you come here."

"Eh?"

"This office is about to get evicted. Apparently the deadline is close…"

This wasn't a lie. This was something she found out while investigating.

Apparently the office wasn't earning well. After continuously falling behind in payment for rent, the landlord apparently had enough of it.

"Is that… so?"

The girl looked dejected.

However, she still stood on the spot, not looking like she was going to move.

''Go home already'', Rau cursed angrily in her mind.

Rau scratched her silver-lined hair. She slightly grimaced.

"This might not be my business, but—"

She spoke along with a gloomy sigh.

After judging that she didn't need to be cautious, her persona as a teacher appeared uninvited.

"You're looking for something, then…? Can't you go to the police?"

Luckily Rau didn't have many classes today. Also, since there wasn't any lesson with the Visual Design course, her fatigue was 1% lower when compared to the normal day.

Simply listening to the story of a foolish child was permissible. Also, even if this girl was foolish, she undoubtedly possessed 100 times more nerve than the VD1 students.

"It's a necklace my friend lost."

"…"

She was just as stupid as the VD1 kids.

What a childish reason. Coming all the way from Akamaki City for a mere necklace, and she was going to a handyman of all things? Even stupidity had to have limits.

[[File:Mushi Uta 8 p193.jpg|thumb]]

''It's also my fault for judging whether children today are idiots based on their appearance, shit—''

She was so angry no words came out. It took everything she had to groan in her heart.

Yet hearing what the girl mumbled next, Rau had a change of heart.

"But I still don't know if it's in this city or not… There's a large possibility that anyone who passed that road during that winter was someone who went to take the test for the nearby high school… If so, maybe it's that strange design course… There weren't many test-takers, and when I asked the person from pawn shop for the uniform's appearance there wasn't any middle school like that on the list of those who passed… either she didn't pass the test, or she did but went to another high school… I finally investigated the middle schools of all test-takers and found a uniform that looked like it in town… maybe if there was a design course in some high school nearby…"

As the girl mumbled while counting on her fingers, she didn't even notice Rau widening her eyes.

''What the hell—''

Was she smart or even stupider than the VD1 kids?

How far was she willing to go for a mere necklace?

This was the type of person that definitely shouldn't become a Mushitsuki.

Along with the power to accomplish unthinkable things, she had flexible and pertinent ideas. This was the hardest kind of enemy for an assassin.

"Now I'm unsure if you're the handyman here… or a detective, even."

"Eh… n-no way. That sort of unstable work… I'm not suited for it."

And—she had good luck.

Anyone who ever went through a fight for life or death knew how fearsome that was.

Most of those who went through the battlefield countless times possessed unbelievable fortune. And they would keep living through the next battle.

"How lucky… I, Yamamoto Rau, am the teacher of a Design course in the local school."

"…No way…"

"I'm used to people not viewing me as a teacher. …What kind of necklace was it? I'll try and check if one of my students is wearing that. Since I'm also looking for something, I might as well do it on the way."

"U-umm, it has this golden ring attached to it—"

The girl introduced herself as Ebina Yuu. Rau also named herself.

After having the excited Yuu hand her mail address, Rau once again told her to go home.

"I actually wondered if you were a teacher as soon as I saw you."

The girl in front of her was full of surprises.

"Because your way of worrying about people was very teacher-like. Also, I saw at a glance that you were a good person."

"I see… That is very, how do I put it—"

With a melancholic expression, Rau sighed again.

She was slightly agitated, and along with it was a feeling she didn't know well.

When she tried speaking, she finally managed to choose a valid word.

"—Complicated."

Yuu said she'd noticed from the start.

However, Rau had come there as an assassin.

If she actually seemed like a teacher, then—did it mean that she'd already gotten used to her mask as a teacher?

She mustn't get too used to it.

Recently, rather than her job as an assassin, she'd been racking her brains over her profession as a teacher.

Yet she would probably be able to throw away even that annoying mask instantly.

"Thank you so much!"

As Yuu bowed cheerfully and was about to leave, Rau called out to her.

"Hey, you… can I ask you something?"

"Yes?"

"Do you know that thing called Coatl Head?"

Yuu was surprised for a second. Yet she soon smiled and ran her finger through air.

"Coatl Coatl Para Emile—that one? Of course I know it."

"I see."

"Isn't it really popular right now? What about it?"

"No, I was just told by one of my students to pay attention to fads… never mind, go home."

Yuu nodded cheerfully with a "yes ma'am!" and was gone for good this time.

"…It really is an astounding fad."

Now that no people could see her, Rau returned to her expression as an assassin.

"Yet at the time of the incident it wasn't popular. —Supposedly."

As a result of investigating Coatl Head again, she was able to collect proper evidence.

The rumors spread among middle and high school students just like Sepia. Until the mark named "Coatl Hot" appeared at the substation, there was no trace of that marking fad anywhere in this country.

"Coatl Hot, that appeared before the start of the fad… who on earth drew it there?"

Finally finding it suspicious, she started actively investigating the marking fad.

What started this fad?

Who'd spread it?

It was hard to pinpoint the origin of this fad.

However, even so Rau focused on one of the results of her investigation.

''—I want you to spread this Coatl Head, the charm that can make all wishes come true.''

She had discovered that there was a person clearly wishing for this in town.

The ones who had been asked this were just normal high school girls. However, one of them was apparently a rich lady from some good house, and having money to spare, she investigated whether her boyfriend was cheating on her.

The one she went for this request was Handyman Kirari☆. The request had been completed flawlessly, so the girl paid some money.

At that time, Ikarino Kirari had asked her to spread the fad.

Ever since then, the girl got addicted to the symbol, and apparently was still spreading it to her friends. Luckily, that was how she got caught in Rau's network.

"Ikarino Kirari… why did you know about the fad that wasn't there yet?"

She had asked high school girls to spread this fad right after the substation explosion incident.

Furthermore—it wasn't just those students.

Tracing the origins of this fad that spread like the roots of a tree, there were also a number of other cases, with all of them leading back to Handyman Kirari☆.

"…"

Rau pulled out a terminal from her pocket.

She replayed the sound records left by the members fighting the Mushitsuki discovered in the substation.

There wasn't just noise like she heard before in the classroom.

Actively analyzing it, she retrieved the broken data inside.

"N-no way… it's a Fu-Fu—"

They were in the midst of fighting, or perhaps they just got attacked.

Mixed with the sound of impact and sounds that were perhaps screams from the other members, there was a single shout.

"A Fusion Type…!"

This single sentence.

This simple death cry sent the Head of Annihilators, Shera, to this town.

"The Mushitsuki of the Substation Ruins"—

If it really existed, it announced the birth of a new Fusion Type.

Fusion Type Mushitsuki were far too dangerous.

Once discovered, all Fusion Types, including Kakkou, were outside of common sense. Even the SEPB were having trouble controlling them.

No one who could have erased all Fusion Types in the past ever existed. —Even Karasu, deemed the weakest of them, had been able to weave through the SEPB's information network and survived.

If a new Fusion Type had truly been born, and turned that power against the SEPB, it could be a threat to the very stability of the country. —As long as they haven't ascertained their abilities, it could be said to be even more dangerous than Kakkou.

"The Mushitsuki of the Substation…"

Anything deemed dangerous must be erased—

That was the unshakable resolve of the Central Headquarters, of Miguruma Yaeko.

And it also lined up with Rau's personal goal.

She would protect this country.

As long as the Central Headquarters' intentions lined up with her own, Rau would keep wearing the mask of the Annihilators' assassin. For that cause she was able to grow stronger and undergo grueling training.

She couldn't allow this bountiful and plentiful country to fall just yet—

Rau enlisted to the Annihilators not just because they discovered her ability.

She was in the Central Headquarters out of her own will.

The mysteries surrounding Mushi.

They were definitely located in the innermost part of the SEPB—even deeper inside the core of the Central Headquarters.

And the place closest to the innermost depths of the Central HQ could be said to be the Annihilators.

Even with just the secrets Rau had been able to grasp these last few years, she was able to gain hints regarding the existence of Mushi.

Rau pursued her true goal, solving the mystery of Mushi, to the extent she could almost reach her hand and grab it—

"Until I grab this country's weak point, the crucial weakness known as Mushi, I will not allow anyone to threaten it…"

For the sake of her own ambition.

For the sake of her own dream.

She would eliminate anyone that threatened the country except for her.

"Those lying in hiding in town—looks like I'll need to drag them all out…"

The Mushitsuki of the Substation.

Kakkou, who might be hiding somewhere in town.

The mystery enemy that manipulated Biribiri and set an attack.

She would eliminated all those hidden behind the veil by her own hands—

"At least come and attack me…"

The gloomy, mumbling assassin left the office while dragging her legs.