Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 6 Chapter 5 (section)

==5.05 Shachito Part 9==

There was only one thing he had left undone in this city.

There remained only one dream that Shachito had met and not destroyed yet.

''—Tonight's the premiere. Will you not come watch it?''

Masaki Rio.

He had already noticed the fact he had gotten closer to that girl not because of any special feelings.

It came from foolish self-satisfaction and an impulse for destruction—just as he did until now, without thinking of anything and simply following his desires, he intervened in Rio's affairs and was about to grow tired of her and forget her. 

There were no feelings of love.

Rio wasn't special.

—Therefore, there was only one different thing now.

Rio's dream still continued even now—

He didn't think he could atone for his sins.

He didn't think his dream could be forgiven.

Yet he knew that he had nothing, and when Shachito thought about what he should be doing, only one course of action rose to mind.

It was "fighting".

Inuko's eyes were correct in a certain sense.

No matter how weak he was, no matter how much of a coward he was, Shachito ended up arriving on the battlefield. 

Could you call even a Mushitsuki scared of being hurt a warrior?

"It's somewhat weird."

Still wearing a broken smile, Shachito mumbled in a light tone.

"Inuko told me… She said that I shouldn't think of myself as another person. —There are Inuko, me, and you in one city… and probably Rio-chan, too. Anyway, there are two sets of a teacher and student."

He wasn't speaking with Shinpu.

He just thought it was weird from the bottom of his heart.

What had these bizarre, fateful meetings brought forth for these four people including himself?

"Inuko was defeated by you, and you've also lost to Shinpu. And so the only ones left are us the two students. Rio-chan is also probably fighting right about now. —Since I just went with the flow and lived irresponsibly like a playboy until you, there's definitely no way I'll be the only one not fighting." 

Saying this, he wore a broken smile.

"Hihah."

Surrounded by the caterpillars, Shachito's body emitted an orange glow. The domain of his ability to control force-fields crushed the caterpillars squirming around. The dome's rooftop controlled by Shinpu was swallowed up by Shachito's domain in a round pattern. 

The roof had probably crumbled due to the previous impact. A shrill alarm was ringing. He could see many people rushing out from the entrance below his eyes to seek shelter. 

The large rooftop of the all-weather dome looked like a curved field. Illuminated by the lights installed here and there and the diodes adorning the edges, the caterpillars spread all over the surface shone in multicolor. 

On top of the inclined roof was an antenna device, its large needle piercing the sky. There were also electrical boxes that seemed like communication devices and solar panels.  

As far as Shachito could see, although obvious, only he and Shinpu were there. Shachito had no weapon or any other special tool for fighting.

Shinpu, meanwhile, wore the exact same filthy robe from the last time they fought. Yet he appeared to change his body, as he was now a towering giant. The earlier attack had diluted the miasma around him, and so his bear-like face hidden under the hood was revealed.

He was Jarre Harissi.

Shachito knew that name from an advertisement about the show taking place in the Concertgebouw. 

"Sorry for bothering you while you're being possessed by Shinpu, but can I ask you something, Jarre-san?"

He raised his voice in a casual tone.

A lone caterpillar crawled up from inside Jarre's mouth under the robe. Shachito could also see something squirming under his skin even from afar. 

"No matter how I look at it, you're dead, right?"

He had already heard Inuko's reasoning about the fragments and their abilities during their training. As expected, her conjectures were right on the mark.

"…The death of a person whose dream was ruined is a condition to become suitable as mine vessel…"

An evil smile rose to Jarre's face. Although his mouth wasn't moving, a hoarse voice could be heard from somewhere. The image of a church floating in the night sky rang the sounds of a bell that shook the air and eardrums.

"Wow, spooky. But y'know, when I saw you on TV you looked normal. You seem to have become quite strong and there's no way such a suitable human would die so conveniently." 

When fighting an unknown enemy, he had to kick his mind into full gear in order to see through their characteristics. 

Although he was branded as a failed warrior, Inuko's teachings firmly took root in him.

"You killed Jarre, right?"

Shinpu's wicked smile and Shachito's broken smile intersected. Autumn darters took flight from Shachito's right hand to his left and from his left foot to his right shoulder. 

"You can even control living humans to some degree. But you probably need to have your vessel die in order to use your Mushi-birthing abilities as Shinpu. You're really into necrophilia, huh? And since you need broken dreams or the like, you can only kill weak people, right?"

What Shachito pointed out seemed to be right on the mark. Shinpu's smile deepened.

"Mine true power is different… I have no intention of imitating Aria Varei…"

"Aria? What's that?"

"There are countless vessels… Even if thou destroy this vessel here, there will be another suitable one nearby…"

"Hellooo, am I being ignored? Wait, who's that other vessel?"

Although talking lightly, he was shaken on the inside.

There being another vessel meant that just like before, once he drove this fragment out of the vessel it would revive again. Meaning it was essential to completely destroy the caterpillars making up his real body.

"Masaki Rio."

The giant man in Jarre's form mouthed her name in an unfittingly bold tone. 

For an instant Shachito was speechless.

Thinking about it there were some points of similarity. Although she was normally really cheerful, there were times occasionally where she would feel overly anxious and get carried away. 

"…That girl as well is about to yield her dream… Even if she is able to withstand my whispering for now, the time for her dream to be ruined shall come without fail…"

Shachito's agitation caused the domain protecting him to shake. In an instant Shinpu's miasma began invading the orange-colored circle. 

"…Oh, so it's Rio-chan? By the way you're acting it seems like you already knew she's my acquaintance. Meaning, you've been approaching her for quite a while."

He probably only followed Rio around so that he could break her dream and make her despair.

The very same thing that Shachito himself tried doing.

He could feel an inappropriate sense of affinity.

He gritted his teeth to stifle his smile.

While Shachito was running away from his own dream, he became the same as this monster—

"—Be gone."

With a tap, Shachito's legs kicked the roof. 

The swarm of caterpillars was shredded in a straight line. Being blown away by the teleporting Shachito, the torn caterpillars danced in the air.

"Both of us can't be allowed near Rio-chan."

From a position far from Shinpu, he grabbed the floor and stopped. Escaping from Shinpu's domain, he released his ability in full power.

This battle would probably become something that couldn't even count as a battle.

Before he was wounded by the battle—before receiving any counterattack, Shachito would choke the life of Shinpu and annihilate him.

"Hihah!"

An autumn darter flew out of Shachito. Raising his initial velocity while his weight was zero, he retrieved the autumn darter immediately afterwards to obtain speed like that of a rifle bullet. Shachito transferred not only his original weight; he also took in the mass of the panels around the roof and further amplified it. 

Clad in an orange glow, Shachito burst apart the wall of caterpillars welling in front of him.

He pursued Shinpu while housing this tremendous mass. 

However—

"Foolish… Although thou are my child, I shall not be merciful…!"

He was probably used to super speed after fighting with Inuko. Shinpu raised his arm and it swelled like a balloon. Its skin ripping apart, the arm that grew to be as thick as a tree pounded Shachito's head.

"…Hihah."

As Shinpu's fist connected with Shachito's face, a smile rose to it. 

An autumn darter had already flown out of Shinpu's body at the moment of impact. The blow, having lost all of its mass, felt like being hit by silk. There was no pain.

On the other hand, Shachito's fist containing a super mass caught Shinpu's chin. The miasma enclosing him was blown apart, throwing the robe-clad giant body in the air. 

The sound of a bell reverberated.

The spirit-gnawing miasma surrounded Shachito.

"RAAAAAHHH!!!"

Yet without minding it, he leapt aiming at Shinpu. While airborne he put his hand to Shinpu's thick neck, amplifying his weight and hurling him toward the rooftop.

Relentless alarm sounds again echoed from the dome.

The impact of Shinpu's fall greatly distorted the panels, and a tremor was transmitted to the whole dome.

As Shinpu was pounded into the roof, caterpillar corpses spilled out of his hood. A part of the robe made of miasma blurred and vanished.

He had definitely received some damage, but although this impact would have decimated a normal person he only lost a part of him. As Shachito found it hard to believe Inuko inflicted no damage on him, it wasn't difficult to surmise that the fragment's real body possessed regenerative abilities.

Should he pile on damage without giving him time to regenerate or finish everything with an overwhelming, single slow? There appeared to be no other options. 

The bell sounds grew louder.

The effective range of Shachito's ability was being encroached by the miasma. His heart was being rapidly worn down.

"Was it called hit and run? Or is the situation here more like offense is the best defense?"

He recalled Inuko's teachings, but since he lacked experience Shachito couldn't decide.

But it didn't matter. 

Since he was originally frivolous, there was not even a single time where he acted according to Inuko's instructions. 

"Hihah."

Teleporting to Shinpu, he thrust his hand inside his hood. Grabbing Jarre's bear-like face, he raised him up using his ability.

"Break."

Pounding Shinpu on the roof blew away all the panels he could see.  

Raising him up after he got stuck in the drainage, Shachito thrust him in the opposite direction.

"Hihah."

Every time Shachito struck the roof, the robe covering Jarre's body would be worn down. Its scraps, transformed into caterpillar corpses, were spilling to his feet.

A thick arm tried grabbing Shachito's face back.

"I shall destroy thee, my child…!"

Instantly transmitting through the filthy robe, the dark miasma covered Shachito.

His field of vision shook violently.

Probably seeing that a physical attack would be ineffective, he was trying to swallow Shachito's mind with emptiness.

"Hihah. What's that?"

Even as his consciousness was being muddled, Shachito didn't let go of Shinpu. Entering a sort of a trance during battle was another similarity between him and Inuko.

Even if his mind was encroached, his excited body would attack the opponent of its own accord.

Although he was losing the light in his eyes, Shachito never ceased pounding Shinpu on the roof. 

"Hihahah!"

The filthy robe was being ripped apart and the amount of caterpillar corpses increased. Jarre's expression, hidden by the hood, was twisted in pain for the first time. 

But as Shachito tried repeating the attack again, he felt some discomfort on his neck.

"…Ah?"

Something clung to his nape. He felt around his neck with his free hand, finding a white caterpillar in his hand that left a small stinging behind. 

It was apparently one of the caterpillars forming the robe. Its body was torn apart and it shed a dirty-looking fluid.

Yet attached to its fanged mouthpart—was undoubtedly red blood.

Inside Shachito's hand, the dying caterpillar turned into smoke and vanished.

"Ouch…"

He pressed on his neck.

A tiny laceration at about the level of a scratch was engraved there.

But the dull "pain" made Shachito come back to his senses. His smile vanished and his face distorted in fear.

"It hurts…"

His concentration gone, he recalled the period of his hospitalization.

He felt as if that hell-like pain would be reborn any second now—

"…!"

As he slackened his attack, Shinpu's robe started regenerating.

The swarm of caterpillars crawled up the thick arm that grabbed Shachito's hand back, swallowing him. 

"UAAAAAAAAHHH!"

The fearful Shachito had no more mental power left to withstand the surging miasma and caterpillars. 

His ego was robbed away as if being swallowed. 

He seemed to be losing even his sanity as the pain ran through his entire body.

And when his fear reached its absolute limits—

—The sound of a bell echoed.

The sound of a bell was echoing.

"…"

Shachito stood dazed in front of a decaying church. 

The wild earth around spread in all direction, and in the sky not even the sun or moonlight could be seen. 

Standing on the decayed land were Shachito and the church, as well a single tall tree. There was nothing else. His sensations perhaps dulled, he had a bizarre feeling of floating. Even his sense of up and down was in danger.

A bell rang.

A rusted bell was hanging on the broken church roof. Every time it shook a cracked metallic sound echoed from it. And as that sound echoed, he realized the air around was growing polluted.

The sticky air robbed Shachito's rational thinking.

He couldn't recall why he was standing in such a place.

"This is—"

He recalled.

He had come to this place once before.

When had that happened?

"Thou have embraced thy dream here…"

He could hear a hoarse voice from somewhere.

Shachito absentmindedly raised his face. Looking for the voice's owner, he set foot inside the church.

Even inside, where there were lines of broken wood tables, there were no traces of any human.

There was also nothing inside the church. There were neither any crosses nor statues. It was empty.

"Thou have imagined an unforgivable dream…"

He lost strength in both legs and slumped to his knees.

Yes, Shachito had once mouthed his dream here.

''—I want everyone, not just me, to suffer.''

Unable to bear the pain from his injuries, Shachito hated the world.

Unwilling to acknowledge this, Shachito kept denying his status as a Mushitsuki. And as he concealed his dream, he secretly twisted and broke at some point.

He forgot about pain, but when trying to recall it, he desired seeing other people get hurt. 

"I…"

A lone tear spilled from Shachito's blank pupils. 

He was reminded of the faces of the countless people he had hurt this far.

Finding people with shining dreams, Shachito broke them and saw them get hurt. However, as he himself had forgotten pain he couldn't understand other people's pain, and so reached out to yet another person.

"I'll never be forgiven…"

Something important was spilling out of his heart.

Shachito collapsed headlong on the floor with a clang.

''—This is Shinpu's domain. Keep a firm hold on your consciousness.'' 

Shachito could hear a warning inside him. This was the only strong part remaining inside his weak body. The impulse born from being trained as a warrior by Shishidou Inuko urged him.

Yet Shachito could fight no longer.

He slowly closed his eyes.

There was no reason for him to be alive and he had no goal.

His dream as a Mushitsuki was nothing but a helpless, dirty curse.  

"I'm just… meaningless…"

The slight remains of resistance inside Shachito vanished.

His vision was closing.

Inside his closing view he could see a light smashing the decaying church.

Shachito widened his eyes at the blinding scene without thinking.

The bell sounds stopped—

—The bell sounds have stopped.

"I'll forgive you."

Coming back to, Shachito saw the smile of a girl shrouded in electricity.

The warm and powerful wave of power woke him up.

Shinpu's hand grabbing Shachito was torn from the elbow. What cut if off was a hockey stick emitting an intense magnetic field. 

"I'll forgive your dream."

Shishidou Inuko had cut in between Shachito and Shinpu. The single blow of her hockey stick sent Shinpu's large body flying far away. 

Inuko's back obstructed his eyes as if she was trying to protect him after he tumbled on the rooftop. 

The smile of the girl told him everything.

''—You were, to the very end, a completely not serious and hopeless student.''

These words were the command to run away, convinced that Shachito wouldn't follow them.

This great warrior had known from the start that Shachito would return to the battlefield. 

"You once asked me… what my dream was."

The girl rotated her stick once, unleashing a storm of magnetism. The caterpillars biting Shachito's body all over returned being black fog and vanished. 

"It was the sort of incident that happens a lot… a robber murdered an entire family. When my young self saw my family ripped to shreds in front of my eyes, I ended up thoughtlessly wishing for it."

Her back was slightly shaking. Although she was also fatigued, she kept repelling Shinpu's domain in order to buy time for Shachito to recover his stamina. 

"People who do such horrible things should all go to hell—is what I thought."

Shachito gulped.

She was the same as him.

It was a negative dream, lacking any kind of hope. 

"Does it hurt, Shachito? Are you scared? Are you anxious? Sad? Is it tough for you? Don't you know what you're supposed to do? —I already taught you what to do at such times."

Shachito grimaced. His bitten body hurt all over.

''—Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!''

Inuko had once taught him this.

[[File:Mushi Uta 6 p351.jpg|thumb]]

But the pain brought forth his fears from the past.

"Don't be afraid of pain. It's the proof you're alive. You're alive because you can feel pain. Everyone's dreams are interconnected. You're living not just for your own dream."

The bell sounds once again shook the surrounding air.

In front of the two berserkers an even bigger mass of miasma rose up. Caterpillars crawling up Shinpu's legs restored his severed arm. 

"I also despaired when I recalled my dream. I wondered if there was any point to my life in order to protect a dream like that. I tried finding some meaning on the battlefield, but that also bore no fruits. Yet I've been given a duty. —Which is raising warriors like you."

Inuko turned around half of her face to look at him. It was a smile so kind one couldn't think she was currently facing a powerful enemy. 

"I wasn't able to become the strongest warrior. So if you remain alive and become stronger—it would mean that my life had meaning."

Turning her back once again, Inuko's body was wrapped in purple lightning.

"Everyone's a warrior as long as they're alive. And a warrior has no enemy they can't fight." 

In front of the paralyzed Shachito, a battle made by the best warrior began.

Invoking her ability with her full powers, Inuko's strength was terrifying. She leapt around the dome's roof at several times Shachito's speed, and every time her purple electricity flashed, Shinpu's miasma would be blown away.

Brushing aside Shinpu's attacks, she slashed his giant body with a swipe. She repeated her slashes with refined movements, not even one of them wasted. Immediately afterwards, the violent destructive power smashed Shinpu's body. 

At some point, Inuko had said that there was a warrior stronger than her.

Yet as Shachito, paralyzed with fear, watched the girl's vivid fighting unfolding in front of him, he could think of only her as the strongest warrior.  

Shachito burned the sight of Shishidou Inuko's battle into his eyes.

The ideal form of a warrior was in front of him.

"Inu—"

As Shachito gazed the battle, his eyes clearly reflected that sight. 

Causing a dry voice, the bloody hockey stick rolled all the way to Shachito's feet.

—He thought that replenishing her lollipop allowed her to recover her stamina. 

But that was Shachito's misunderstanding.

Inuko's body had already been so exhausted that not even the candy could bring her back. 

The time for the strongest warrior to overwhelm Shinpu was much too short.

The purple lightning in his sight scattered as if it was strings cut off. 

Losing her power, Inuko became prey for the caterpillars. Swallowed by the surging caterpillars, she was pounded against the antenna installed on the center of the roof.

The now-expressionless Shachito saw the figure of Inuko with a metallic part of the antenna stabbing her abdomen. 

Inuko's body slumped as she lost her strength, her goggles falling from her to the roof. 

The girl's body collapsed out of the metallic stick drenched in fresh blood. Since the roof was curved, gravity caused her body to roll far down.

Shachito only accepted reality when he saw the girl's body fall down from the dome. 

"…INUKOOO!"

He unconsciously grabbed the hockey stick and stood up.

He was trying to head out to save Inuko, but Shinpu stood in front of him. 

"…Dost thou still stand in my way?"

Shachito's expression stiffened with a start.

He widened his eyes, fear once again reborn inside him. A twinge similar to the beating of a heart could be felt from the remaining traces of the caterpillars' fangs on his limbs, robbing him of his reasoning power. 

His mind was blanking out with fear—

"GAAAAAHHH!!!"

Screaming, he pounded the roof with his fist.

Ripping his skin, a flower of red blood dyed the roof. He possibly also cracked his bones, as the "pain" pierced all the way to his brain through his arm. 

''—Don't be afraid of pain. It's the proof you're alive.'' 

He encouraged his legs that were paralyzed by fear.

"Inuko—"

He bit his lips so hard they spilled blood. Shachito felt new pain, yet it helped retrieve his blurring consciousness.  

''—I wasn't able to become the strongest warrior.''

Rising up, he rotated the hockey stick.

"Don't die, Inuko! Aren't you the strongest warrior!"

He shouted at the top of his voice so that Inuko could hear him wherever she was.

The pain Shachito felt bound him with fear even now. 

However, Shachito of the past had experienced pain that was incomparable to this.

And—

He had inflicted much crueler, ever-lasting pain on other people. 

Trying to run away from pain meant running away from his sins. Shachito had to remember that as long as he was alive, he would have to fight and get hurt countless times. 

"You said you and I were the same! So I'll become as strong as I can!"

Orange-colored autumn darters flew up from around Shachito.

The range of the flying autumn darters rapidly expanded.

"I'll become stronger and prove it! Prove that we were the strongest warriors!"

Shachito knew that the more he expanded the range of his ability, the more the Mushi residing in him would eat his heart. A cold sensation spread to his body from its center and emptiness started invading his heart. 

''You can eat as much of my dream as you'd like.''

''It's a hopeless dream anyway.'' 

If it gave him power in exchange, Shachito didn't mind losing his own heart. 

"So don't die…!"

Shachito's vision was dyed by a surface of autumn darters.

From the orange glow surrounding the whole dome flew out tens of thousands of autumn darters toward the night sky. A single Autumn Dater also flew from Shachito's body.

Kicking the roof, Shachito leapt to above Shinpu.

All the autumn darters immediately gathered into the raised hockey stick.

"OOOOOOOOOHHH!!!"

He amplified the mass of the orange-glowing stick even further with his ability. The whirlpool of gravity absorbed all the lights around, gathering at a single point.

The sound of a bell reverberated.

The caterpillars spread all over the roof assembled, springing at Shachito.

Even while being swallowed by the flood of caterpillars Shachito kept falling toward Shinpu. The stick, possessing a powerful mass, tore through the swarms of caterpillars. 

Shinpu fluttered his filthy robe. The caterpillars making up his original body leapt out, piercing through the body that had once been Jarre Harissi. 

Shachito's hockey stick and the robed swarm of caterpillars clashed.

The large dome was unable to withstand the clash that concentrated in one spot. The entire roof was demolished as if by an explosion, sending debris dancing in the night sky.

Breaking through the thick metallic scraps, Shachito and Shinpu fell toward the surface.

The fighting pair fell on the baseball mound. He had already known that there was no game tonight and that all the people inside the roof had already run away following the alarms. 

Even after crashing into the surface and raising dust clouds Shachito's momentum didn't stop. The storm of gravity emitted by the hockey stick created a large crater in the center of the field.

The momentum finally ceased when they were far below the ground—inside a cavity with destroyed water pipes that sent violent drops of water flying around.

Shachito used most of his power and lost the orange glow. 

Out of breath, he looked down and saw—

Shinpu, who had already lost his original form as a human and turned into a mass of caterpillars. 

The miasma covering him disappeared, and the robe seemed to have vanished without any trace.

"How truly regretful… My child…"

However, a scrap from a filthy cloth fluttered in the air in front of Shachito. 

Falling down, it started rapidly regenerating, attempting to restore its form as a robe. 

Shachito barely had any power remaining. 

"…Hihah."

He was exhausted yet he made a broken smile.

"Seeing you're the one who created my ability, shouldn't you know how it works?"

He looked at the sky.

"…!"

He could feel Shinpu growing disturbed.

"Would you be able to bear the same weight as that attack just now?"

An autumn darter flew out of Shachito's body. It was his absolutely final bit of power.

As Shachito jumped to escape outside the cavity, from the night sky covered in dark clouds above him—the debris that made up the dome's roof came crashing down. Since Shachito had absolved his ability, it retrieved its former weight. 

"Do be crushed to nothing."

A rain of an immeasurable weight poured down.

"OOOOOH…OOooOhhh…!"

Shinpu's death agony was crushed by large debris big enough to be a house. 

The threat also reached near Shachito.

Lightening his body weight, he attempted to weave his way through the debris.

However—

He had the feeling he could hear the sounds of a bell so small it would vanish at any second.

"…!"

His feet caught by something, he tumbled down.

It was a single caterpillar. Even though the swarm of caterpillars stretched from inside the crater created by Shachito was being crushed by the debris, a single one managed to bite his leg. 

As Shachito raised his eyes, he could see the entrance being blocked by a large mass of metal.

''So it's a mutual kill—''

He gazed at the night sky, dumbfounded. 

A sharp panel falling toward him could be seen.

"…Oh, well."

This was what he thought as he approached death.

He felt as if he became a warrior at the very end.

Just that was enough for him.

The smiling figure of Shachito was covered by the rain of debris.

The rain of panels stabbed into the mound and metal planks knocked off the spectator seats around. Every time the masses of concrete smashed into the ground, the earth rumbled.

The pouring debris caused an avalanche, swallowing everything that had remained on the surface.

The chain of destruction stopped a few minutes later. 

As silence returned to the mound, light laughter could be heard. 

"…Hihah."

Shachito's exhausted face was reflected on the surface of the panel that had missed a direct him by a mere few centimeters. 

The very last caterpillar was squirming at his feet. 

"Even if you forgive my way of living I'm not allowed to die, huh…?"

''Fight until you die—''

He had the feeling as if some raincoat girl ordered him this.

Shachito's shoe crushed the caterpillar.

Dying and spreading its bodily fluids, the insect became black fog and vanished into the night sky.

Looking up to the dome's empty ceiling, the black clouds covering the skies were already gone. Even the floating image of the church vanished without a trace.

Shinpu's power wave was completely gone.

Since he was alive, he still had things to do. Standing up and pushing debris aside, he went through the still-functional entrance. 

Exiting the outside while dragging the hockey stick, he soon found traces of blood.

"…Hihahah."

He held his forehead, feeling he was about to go crazy. 

While Shachito laughed, big tears flowed down his eyes. 

There was a small pool of blood at the spot where he thought Inuko had fallen to. And the thing left there wasn't her raincoat-clad figure.

It was a cellphone.

A single, short sentence was visible on the screen of the cellphone left on the ground.

—You passed.

There were no words of praise.

Nor any words of farewell.

Only that one, short sentence.

"…Hahah…hahahah…"

With his shoulders shaking, Shachito's laughter echoed in the silent surroundings for a long time. 

Shiohara Shachito's "final test".

Its form was a "supplementary lesson".

—Passed.