Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 4 Chapter 4 (section)

==4.06 The Others==

Shiika was climbing up the smoke-filled staircase.

Right after the mysterious explosion, Reiji started to fight against the masked man, while Shiika left him behind. Reiji had told her to escape, but she had no idea where to go. She just did as she was told and aimed for the upper floors.

It appears that Reiji had made up his resolution to protect Shiika. However, that only served to stir Shiika’s hesitation.

Up until now, Shiika had been protected countless times. The girl known as Shirakashi Ubuki had even gone as far as to risk her life to allow Shiika to escape.

—Just by being around, you would cause fighting to occur with you at the centre. This is just how the country has always been…

The words of the masked man struck in Shiika’s chest.

“As long I am around…”

Shiika’s face contorted as she ascended the hot and smoky staircase.

It was just as he said.

Shirakashi Ubuki and Reiji had both gotten injured for the sake of protecting Shiika. And yet, Shiika herself could not help them in any way. If she exerted her ability, everyone nearby would be caught up in her power which destroys absolutely.

“Daisuke-kun…”

She recalled her promise with Kusuriya Daisuke.

—I hope that you can wait till next year. There are some things that I still have to do. And I won’t be able to meet you until they’re settled…

That was what Daisuke told Shiika, as was passed on by Kakkou.

At that time, Shiika had thought of waiting for him. It was this promise that had supported Shiika and enabled her to move on despite the multiple times she wanted to give up.

She recalled the words of the masked man.

—He was different from you. He had the resolve to end the fighting…

He was referring to Kakkou.

Kakkou had been trying to end the fighting. He held the same dream as Shiika, but he did not run away and continued to fight.

“…”

When she passed by a sign which read “16F”, her feet stopped.

Rina had fought. She had met a sorrowful ending, but if she was still alive, she would probably be fighting even now.

Munakata Kaiji had said as such: that Shiika was worthy of being the leader of Mushibane. That he wanted for her to fight along with them.

And lastly, Reiji. He had made up his determination to fight for Shiika’s sake.

—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.

The master of the two-headed centipede had said that towards Shiika.

“Is it the same for me too, Daisuke-kun…”

She spoke out to the youth whose whereabouts she did not know.

“Is it not possible for me to just wait…? Is there something that I must do myself no matter what?”

Fight—.

All those around Shiika had told her to do so.

However, Shiika had by no means thought that any of all the battles that she had experienced so far had been righteous.

They were all fellow Mushitsuki, yet they had come into conflict just because of some small difference in viewpoints. The reason that Kakkou and Rina fought was naught but that the things that they shouldered were different. If they had just met as friends, they wouldn’t have fought—.

Rina’s death, and the majority of Mushitsuki who ends up as Fallen. These kinds of conclusion that was borne from fighting was precisely why Shiika cannot approve of fighting no matter what.

“I—”

To the Shiika who clutched her chest and raised her head, a strange sound could be heard.

''Gooong''… it was the oppressive sound of a bell resounding.

The loud reverberation seemed to Shiika like it resounded throughout the tower, but she did not physically hear something of that sort. It was an eerie sound that seemed to shake the heart directly.

The sound continued intermittently. It seemed to come from across the atrium. When the sound rang out, the smoke and heat from the surroundings suddenly felt distant. In exchange, the atmosphere felt viscous and unclean.

“…?”

Shiika looked towards the atrium that was lightly obscured by smoke.

With some hesitance, Shiika exited the staircase and entered the atrium.

Something was calling her over—she did not have a basis behind it, but that was what she felt. She could perceive that the sound was calling none other than Shiika to go over there.

Making her way through the smoke, she found a space in the middle of the atrium where the black smoke did not enter.

“Eh…”

Shiika unconsciously uttered.

A lone girl was standing on that spot.

The girl was dressed in an attire made of thin fabric, her long hair was fluttering, and a smile was plastered on her face. Her lifeless pupils staring at Shiika seemed to be dyed in a shadowy darkness.

“Wh-…y…? How…?”

Shiika’s voice became blurry. Her tongue was shivering in her mouth which was covered by her hands.

“After all, that time… you were…”

The girl smiled smugly.

Her whole body was draped in a black fog. A small hornworm creeped up her shoulder. In addition, there were many small cicadas clinging onto her legs and even her abdomen.

That girl was someone who should not have been around.

That was because, right in front of Shiika, that girl… had been turned into a Fallen because of her power.

“Thou hast finally managed to have an audience with thee… the king of Mushitsuki…”

The girl opened her mouth. The voice that came out of that well-shaped lips was however that of a raspy old man’s.

No, even though she opened her mouth, there were no movements within. It only formed a smile with an unnatural curvature.

Shiika only stood there flabbergasted, unable to form any words.

“Hadst thou known earlier… that thy child hadst yet to realise thine duty of protecting the king… thou wouldst hast been able to meet thee hastier… However, thou hast finally realised thy role… from now on, thou shalt only be of use for thy sake… thou can’t afford to lose thee in this skirmish…”

“…”

She is not the girl she knew—that was what Shiika’s intuition told her. Her external appearance was the same, but the personality inside was different. That was what she felt clearly.

“This vessel is thy temporary roost… the other vessel who seeks thine king… hast already retired from losing thine king…”

“Wh-—”

Shiika finally croaked out a voice.

“Who are you? You…”

Facing something which she had never met before, Shiika felt some fear. But, even more so, she felt a small anger that had ignited in her. That ''something'' in front of her had hijacked the consciousness of the girl with no regards to the girl’s will—that was what Shiika was angry about.

“Thou hast come to… question thy will… to thee who hast the right to be king, thy will…”

The black fog spewed unsteadily from the girl’s body. The outline of the hornworm became fuzzy, as if it was about to disappear anytime while barely hanging on to its existence. The cicadas exuded the same symptoms.

“Will…? King…?”

“What doth thee wish for from now onwards…? Thee who hast resurrected from a fleeting death, bears the right to be king… what dost thee wish for?”

Shiika swallowed a breath.

Fight—.

Shiika seemed to be hearing the voices of those Mushitsuki who had been turned into Fallen because of her.

The sound of a bell resonated.

The girl’s question carried a sense of oppression that disallowed her rejection.

Fight—.

The smoke rising from the surroundings and the black fog covering the girl manifested into the figures of the Fallen which encircled Shiika.

“I—”

Shiika’s feets trembled incessantly and she was cornered by fear.

Fight—.

All the dreams that had been crushed by Shiika prevented her from running away. Wherever Shiika went, that place became a battlefield. As if to say that the battlefield was where Shiika truly belonged.

Shiika may have been able to fight as well.

Using her own strength, it may be possible for her to end the fighting.

However, that was the ending that Shiika feared the most—that the only one who remained would be her, standing alone amidst a mountain of corpse.

“I… I don’t want to fight…!”

She recalled the scene where all the Mushitsuki apart from herself had been turned into Fallen, lying beside her feet.

To her, that was the most dreadful scene.

“But—”

She recalled those who held the same dream as her.

—Am I really? Ahh~ I don’t understand myself anymore…

—I promise you, I will never give up.

—There are some things that I still have to do…

They all fought. Shiika tightened her fist.

“I want to end it…! I want to end this kind of fighting!”

The sound of a bell rang out raucously.

The girl smiled so wide that it seemed like her face would tear into two. It was a smile that one made when one found the thing which they had sought for forever.

“In that case… pursue that as thou wish…”

Shiika and the girl faced each other.

“Then release thee and elucidate the truth… Once thou dost so, thou shalt edify thee the reason why thee hast the right to be king, and why art thee the one and only one who resurrected from fleeting death…”

“…!”

“At that time, thou may then be able to bring an end to everything…”

The girl’s smile became distant. Like smoke, the figure of the girl faded away.

“W-wait…! Just who are you—”

“Thy name is Diorestoi… Unlike Elvioréne and Aria Varei, thou willst not go anywhere… Search for thee… if thou wish to bring an end to everything…”

As Shiika ran forwards to her, the figure of the girl disappeared into thin air.

Along with her disappearance, the sound of the ringing bell dwindled until it eventually cannot be heard anymore.

“Bring an end… to everything…”

Shiika stood there in a daze, muttering softly.

She barely understood the meaning behind any of the words spoken by the girl who named herself Diorestoi. But, it was clear to her that the girl was not lying at all.

Shiika just might be able to bring an end to everything.

She wanted to put a stop to the battle between Mushitsuki.

But, is it possible for her to do that…?

Nevertheless, it is something that she must do no matter what.

This is something that she can’t leave to anybody else, something that only Shiika who is currently alive can do.

“I must do this no matter what…”

Underneath Shiika who had established her resolution, a large tremor was transmitted through her feet.