Mushi Uta:Volume 14 Chapter 3
3.00 The Others[edit]
The American journalist, John Mash.
His interpreter and assistant, Ikarino Kirari.
So named themselves the two people who appeared in front of Taiki while he was on the road to school like always.
And his younger sister Noa also appeared with a delay.
“Big brother? What is it?”
“Mr. Matthew wishes to interview you.”
Ikarino Kirari the interpreter said this.
“More precisely, regarding your cousin. That person’s name—is Kusuriya Daisuke.”
Kusuriya Daisuke. A name unfamiliar to Taiki.
No—for some reason, that name caught his attention.
The surname Kusuriya was something even his parents mentioned before. He was pretty sure they said something about his father’s little sister, meaning Taiki’s aunt, and the fact that she had a child, making it Taiki’s cousin.
However, even other than that, he felt like he’d heard that name somewhere.
“Or perhaps—have you felt anything strange around you?”
At Ikarino Kirari’s words, his heartrate picked up.
There was obviously something bothering him as of late.
However, he felt like the sudden appearance of these two people was suspicious, so Taiki grabbed Noa’s hand.
“I-I’m sorry, but I don’t talk to strangers. —Let’s go, Noa.”
“Eh? I see…”
Ikarino Kirari started walking right behind them.
“Do you find the name Kusuriya Daisuke familiar? —Taiki-san.”
“I don’t. Stop following me.”
“Despite him—being your cousin? You don’t know his face or voice? Or what he’s doing?”
He felt pissed off at her method of questioning that sounded as though she was blaming him.
She was just like some reporter trying to rise up a scandal he would see on TV. Had his cousin performed some kind of crime that would shake society? Was that going to be the subject behind the interview?
“I told you, I don’t know. As for what he’s doing… has he done anything bad? Even if he did, it has nothing to do with me.”
As he turned around and spoke, he saw only Ikarino Kirari there.
The youth called John merely remained in his original position, scratching his head. He called out something in English toward his attendant.
“…I see.”
The girl with diagonal bangs lowered her eyes. She seemed quite disappointed.
“Then will you at least accept this?”
Ikarino Kirari grabbed his hand.
Being touched by a person of the opposite sex, Taiki felt startled. He was made to grasp a small memory device.
“Eh… w-what is that?”
“This is a copy of the footage made by Chronicler. He possesses the original, though.”
Ikarino Kirari pointed with her head at the foreigner man behind them.
“Please watch it. Not with your cellphone or anything, but preferably with a standalone terminal with no connection to the outside…”
“Haa?”
He started feeling creepy, so he tore his hand from Ikarino Kirari’s and hastened his pace.
The two mysterious people didn’t try approaching him after this.
“That man… he’s saying ‘Is he really that important?’ and pointing at us.”
His sister walking next to his side said with a suspicious expression. Since she had an exchange student friend, she could understand some English.
“So he’s talking about you? What did she give you?”
“I dunno. I don’t get it…”
He spat this curtly. He was still shaken at this sudden event.
Parting with his sister as he arrived at school, he headed to his own classroom.
“Yo.”
“Morning!”
Surprisingly, the number of classmates that greeted him was not much changed from yesterday. They were slightly above half their numbers and the number of absentees stopped going up.
“Good morning.”
Should he try get their advice about meeting with that journalist or whatever before?
For a moment he thought this, but decided against it. His friends would definitely be curious, but if his cousin really was some dangerous person—this might hurt Taiki’s reputation in his daily life.
Although something happened to Taiki, the chime announcing the start of lessons sounded the same as yesterday.
All lessons in all subjects were simply solving questions on printouts.
They were probably going to deliver the same to the missing students and progress the lessons.
“…”
Unable to solve over 70% of the problems, Taiki quickly gave up.
As he ended up absentmindedly staring out of the window, he recalled what happened that morning.
—You don’t know his face or voice?
He was certainly fed up with everyday life and wished for some thrills.
However, that seemed to be naïve.
He felt angry at a complete stranger barging into his life so forcefully like this.
He felt anxious at being unable to imagine what was going to happen to him from now on.
If he was going to feel all that, then repeating the same daily life as always was much happier.
“…”
Unconsciously, he put his hand on his uniform pocket.
The memory device handed to him by Ikarino Kirari.
It was the sort of trouble that was unimaginable and not part of daily life in the least, but he’d lie if he said he wasn’t curious about the contents. He was told not to watch it on any terminal connected to the outside, but—did that mean it had a so-called computer virus, then?
Taiki didn’t think handing over something like this to him had any meaning—
Classes kept moving quietly, and during break he discussed rumors about Akamaki City with his friends.
And classes started again.
Nothing changed from the days he’d spent this far.
If there was one thing that changed, it was only the strange dreams he’d had recently—
“Hmm?”
In the middle of the lesson, one of his classmates sitting next to him raised his head.
Wondering what was up with him as he looked at this classmate, Taiki raised a brow.
Everyone in class looked above them with vacant faces. Even the teacher who was writing equations on the blackboard stopped his hands, frowning as he looked at the ceiling.
“…?”
Taiki wondered what was going on when the students suddenly laughed.
“Are they having a wedding somewhere?”
“Wouldn’t it be in a church, then?”
“That was so loud.”
“It was a nice sound…”
“Please be silent. It’s probably just some strange advertisement car. Let us continue class.”
The teacher put a stop to it, but he heard even neighboring classes clamoring about it.
With Taiki completely befuddled, classes ended free of further incidents.
“—What was that just now?”
As the break started, Taiki asked a friend.
“Oh, that thing. It was so loud.”
“You’re saying it’s loud but… what was it?”
As Taiki asked this, his classmates goggled at him. Then soon laughed.
“What, you didn’t hear it? It was so loud!”
“Probably slept throughout.”
“Are you the kind that won’t notice even an earthquake?”
Seeing the confused Taiki, a female student spoke.
“It was the sound of a bell.”
As he looked confused, they just laughed at him again.
A bell? Taiki hadn’t heard it, but—
Had he simply missed it because he really was sleepy? That was probably all that was.
“—Taiki, where are you going?”
“I have something to do.”
As the next break came, Taiki headed to the audio-visual room.
He could no longer hold back his curiosity regarding the memory device in his pocket.
He was anxious about its contents, but was also scared to bring an unknown like that back home. He didn’t have the courage to plug it into his personal computer at home, either.
“If it’s some gory footage I’ll just throw it away…”
Leaping into the empty audio-visual room, he turned on the computer at the far-most corner.
“Outside connection… I can just plug this off, right?”
He removed the LAN cable from the device. —Taiki picked a PC that was used by the research club, but it was actually just a gaming PC. His friends had invited him to play with it before.
He logged in using the PC research club credentials, putting the memory stick in the right slot.
“I really hope it’s not gonna break the computer all of a sudden…”
It automatically displayed the contents of the memory device.
Apparently it was a video file.
— This is a copy of the footage made by Chronicler.
Ikarino Kirari’s words passed through his head.
Taiki had no idea who this Chronicler person was.
Did they have anything to do with his cousin?
Although he felt a bit anxious, he clicked the file—
“—“
Taiki watched it.
These were records of people Taiki hadn’t known about.
However, from time to time he found faces of people familiar to him.
No.
They were—people Taiki knew though there was no way he could.
Even after the bell chimed, Taiki couldn’t tear his eyes away from the footage.
Even after it ended, he remained seated there, entranced—
When the bell for the last lesson chimed, Taiki pulled out the memory device.
He came back to his classroom and started preparing for heading home.
“Hey, Taiki. Where were you?”
“Ditched class?”
Not even minding his puzzled friends, he took his bag in hand and left the classroom.
As he exited the gate, a girl greeted him.
“—Have you watched it?”
Saying this and smiling was a person wearing the uniform of Taiki’s high school.
Although this morning she wore a suit, this was the interpreter girl—Ikarino Kirari.
“Chronicler’s video, that is…”
Where had she gotten her hands on it? Ikarino Kirari, clad in the uniform of the same school as Taiki, inquired him in a tone as if she was his classmate.
“What do you think?”
“—What do I think… who were they? Are they really Mushitsuki…?”
Taiki frowned and spoke.
“…”
Apparently, his answer once again disappointed Ikarino Kirari. Her expression clouded over.
However—
“But… I knew some faces.”
“Eh?”
The girl twitched.
“That can’t be… after all, they appeared in my dreams—”
“Dreams…”
Ikarino Kirari thought for a moment, then spoke.
“Can you tell me more?”
“…”
“If you tell me more—I might be able to give you answers.”
“Answers…?”
Seeing the questioning Taiki, Ikarino Kirari smiled.
“I mean the meaning of your dream—as well as why you’re seeing it.”
In front of the frozen Taiki, Ikarino Kirari looked up the sky. —As if she was being asked something he couldn’t hear.
“As well as why these bell sounds started.”
He mustn’t ask.
If he asked, he’d no longer be able to go back.
Whether or not she knew about that baseless anxiety—
No, she definitely knew and yet spoke in a merciless tone—
“It started… ever since those dreamers failed the three operations at the same time.”
Bitterness and sadness, and a lone ray of hope.
Speaking clearly, Ikarino Kirari showed him a gaze that possessed all possible emotions.
“It started ever since among those Mushitsuki who are designated Rank 1—Kakkou alone rejected the fight.”
3.01 The Others[edit]
Why had it become like this?
Had the decision she reached at the times been the correct one?
These thoughts were a constant in her mind—in the mind of the stingy Mushitsuki called Konomura Chami.
In fact, most of the time things never went well.
And the same happened this time.
To outwit the strong who were too cocky and dance out as the lead role—
Although she managed to survive while carrying that ambition inside her, things always failed at the critical moments.
However, coming here was—no, for Chami, this was where the largest miscalculation started.
“Ah, found you…”
The C annihilation operation.
This three-pronged fight launched by the Mushitsuki ended in failure.
Unable to vanquish their formidable enemy, C, she estimated that both the SEPB and Mushibane would start their retreat strategy and fall into chaos.
However, that itself was Konomura Chami’s goal.
“This is Daisuke’s dream—”
Although this happened just the day before, she felt like it was ages ago.
The SEPB and Mushibane failed, but at the time Chami had been able to make a fist pump in her mind.
After all, she was witness to Ayukawa Chiharu embracing Kusuriya Daisuke at that moment.
Ayukawa Chiharu—she was a beauty with long hair wearing a casket hat. Normally she was just an extremely attractive civilian, but right now she had the alternate personality of Aria Varei dwelling inside her.
Kusuriya Daisuke was her little brother and he was an SEPB Mushitsuki. Although he’d lost his Mushi and became a Fallen, he’d served long as a fearless fighter.
“If you say you don’t want him, I’ll make him my pawn!”
Because her efforts paid off, Chami shouted this.
Piercing through the opening granted to her by the two tacticians, Miguruma Yaeko and Haji Keigo, facing each other—
She snatched off the strongest pawn.
Ayukawa Chiharu had one of the Original Three, Aria Varei, nestling inside her again.
Then, she could use Aria’s Varei to revive Kakkou from the Fallen status.
Aiming for the gap right when he was revived, even Chami’s meagre mental control ability could control Kakkou.
“And with that, all the Ranks 1 will assemble…!”
The girl who became “decoy” to set up this stage, Ebina Yuu, mumbled. Perhaps since she exhausted herself to reach all the way here, she looked ready to collapse at any moment.
The former Demon Lord, Satou Youko, was trying to hypnotize Yuu and make her fall asleep.
All of them were pawns Chami had gathered for her own ambitions.
“If you ever recall your dream please call me again, Yuu-chan…”
The lone uninvited person—Oogui—also left these ominous words behind and left at the time.
Now, no one would stand in their way.
Until now Chami had no combatants among her pawns—but now she could finally gain the strongest pawn of all, Kakkou.
Using even the Original Three, she could also get up the stage again.
There was the precedent of Fuyuhotaru getting revived by Oogui.
Chami won her bet.
The footholds to allow Chami to flip over the stage, rewrite the script and replace the protagonist as she wished were finally in reach.
Or at least—so she thought.
“…Eh?”
Until she saw Ayukawa Chiharu’s surprised face, that is.
She definitely had a bad premonition.
For a social outcast like Chami, this happened more than she could count.
However, what happened at that moment—
“Why…?”
Forgetting both happiness and rage, she felt her brows lowering.
Chami, who could only use her head, found her thoughts put to a stop.
I can’t believe I came this far for it to not work, what a fucking joke—
She could do nothing but pray in her heart.
“Why aren’t you coming back, Daisuke…!”
Seeing Chiharu yell this while crying, her bad premonition turned to certainty.
Chami’s face became as white as a sheet.
She set up the stage like this.
She risked her life little by little to gain these small pieces, and although she thought that she finally managed to assemble the stage for the ultimate reversal—
The fourth batter didn’t even attempt to rise from the batter’s box.
“Chami-chan…! Why isn’t Daisuke coming back?”
“—“
“Aria doesn’t know, either…! Wasn’t Aria supposed to be able to bring Daisuke back?”
So does this mean—I lost my bet?
Seeing the teary-eyed Chiharu hug Kakkou, she felt all strength leave her body.
“Y-you…”
She tottered toward Kakkou and grabbed him.
“Don’t fucking screw with me, I came all the way here—”
“Chami…!”
Suddenly a small figure appeared next to Chami.
Konoha, the girl with eyes hidden by her bangs. She was another of Chami’s pawns, possessing two abilities—camouflage that allowed her to erase her form and presence, as well as the ability to see into the distance.
“The Revived are coming here… we must escape…!”
“Chami-chan… What’s happening to Daisuke? Tell me!”
“Chami-chan? Yuu-chan’s safely asleep, but… what’re we going to do with Shirakashi-san? If we push her so much, I’m not sure if she can wake up or not.”
Konoha, Ayukawa Chiharu, and even Satou Youko pressed Chami for instructions.
Each and every one of those Chami gathered had a guilty conscience.
They came from either the SEPB or Mushibane, there was a former Original Three and even a former Demon Lord. Even Ebina Yuu, who was a normal civilian, was nonetheless a weirdo who got involved with Mushitsuki.
However, all of them were pawns Chami risked her life to gather—
This result that she arrived by making them risk their lives ended so pathetically.
“…”
She could hear a cat’s cry from nearby.
This nostalgic yelp made her looked at her feet.
A familiar white cat rubbed against Chami’s leg affectionally.
She was just imagining it.
Mewling as if to invite Chami, that cat—was Chami’s very first pawn, as well as her first companion who died on the road to her ambition.
“—Alright, I get it.”
She scorned herself for being so lame that even an illusion pitied her.
Just like back then, when she found a dream above her station.
“So it means we need to start all over again—huh, that’s not bad at all, shithead.”
By the time she mumbled this, the white cat illusion was already gone.
In the first place Chami had nothing to protect.
She could start all over again, no matter when and where.
Because of that—there was probably no person as ambitious as her.
“Konoha! How’s our car and escape route?”
Chami stiffened her face and turned to Konoha.
The girl with her face hidden by her bangs hurriedly materialized her Mushi. Its body looked like two overlapped leaves and it had gigantic eyes. The Mushi extended tentacles to Konoha’s goggle.
“T-they’re not there… looks like the place where we hid the car and our escape route weren’t found out…”
“Then get on the fucking car already! We have no time to carry all of our fainted members to the hiding place!”
Being yelled at by Chami, Konoha broke into a run.
“Satou Youko! When the car comes, you and me are going to throw Yuu and Ubuki inside!”
“More physical labor? But I’m so tired after flying all over the place…”
While grumbling, Satou Youko started preparing to pack up her suitcase.
Following this, Chami turned to Chiharu hugging her brother.
“Chiharu! Our enemies’ll definitely get here faster! I will you take care of them! C can’t come all the way here, and I’m sure you can handle the Revived, at least!”
Right now, Chami and others weren’t in any house or building. It was a plain with a clear view.
Around them were no electrical lines that C could use. After making sure of that, they carried Kakkou all the way here.
Chiharu was no combatant, and she wasn’t even a Mushitsuki.
However, she had an Original Three inside her, weak as it was. She should at least be able to fight against C’s assassins to buy them some time.
“As for Kakkou—leave him here.”
“…!”
Chiharu widened her eyes, glaring at Chami.
“He’s no more than a Fallen now. We don’t have the space to be taking someone useless right now.”
Receiving Chami’s glare, Chiharu—
“…”
Hugged her brother wordlessly. Her face looked calm and determined.
“Are you going to commit double suicide with him?”
“It’s my fault Daisuke’s like this. So I’ll stay with him to the end—”
“Not gonna happen. I’m disappointed in Kakkou, but right now you have Sanbikime inside you. Do you even understand how deep of a shit we’ll be in if C absorbs not just Shinpu but even Sanbikime? This will cause many further victims.”
“…”
“Your brother obviously doesn’t want that, either.”
She’d say the shittiest of lines possible in order to convince Chiharu.
Chami had no idea what the boy in front of her eyes—Kakkou—wished for and felt while going through countless battles.
No, it wasn’t just Chami. Probably no one knew.
After all, even his own sister—found it impossible to get him to retrieve his heart.
“Kakkou fought to defeat C and fell victim. Since he can’t fight any longer, then you need to fight in his stead—”
“Don’t you dare speak so heartlessly at this point, Chami-chan.”
“…Then I’ll be curt.”
Glaring at each other, Chami spat.
“We’ve failed. It’s my fault for misreading this. We failed to bring Kakkou back to normal—because you’re worthless.”
“…!”
“It’s time to stop holding hope. All we need to do is avoid despair. —But if you’re still so naïve you’d rather destroy yourself, I’ll just throw you away along with Kakkou.”
Chiharu grimaced and her shoulders shook, but—
“—”
She hugged her brother’s body even tighter.
Chami clicked her tongue. She didn’t even have the time to think how she was going to tear this blockhead; countless human figures appeared in her vision.
“They’re here…! Get away from them, Chiharu!”
“Run first, Chami-chan! I’ll come from behind with Daisuke…”
“You fucking idiot! If you’ve got the time to spout out these awful lines, then just fend off those Revived alre—”
About to finish her entrance, Chami felt something was odd.
The number of pursuing assassins was about a few dozen, perhaps? Since some of them were wearing SEPB coats, there was no doubt they were Mushitsuki.
However, none of them were accompanied by any Mushi.
Furthermore, their battle formation wasn’t trying to surround Chami’s group. They weren’t trying to use their numbers to their advantage, but instead practically forming a line—
“—Shitheads!”
Seeing the golden glow from afar, Chami guessed what was going on. She leapt at Chiharu.
Chiharu, who made her right arm glow blue and was about to fight back, was separated from Kakkou out of surprise.
“It’s C, you idiot!”
“Ah—”
It happened the exact moment after the siblings were separated.
Chami did not miss it.
Chiharu’s right arm reached out toward Kusuriya Daisuke—
Her hand, glowing blue with Sanbikime’s power of merging—
Made a sticky sound as it buried itself into Kakkou’s chest.
It separated instantly, but there was something faintly glowing grasped inside the hand.
“—!”
Golden lightning pierced the space between the entangled two girls and Kakkou.
There was a violent roar and a gale. The air crackled.
If they got hit directly, then Chami obviously but even Sanbikime-fused Chiharu would melt down into a single mass.
This lightning that held so much tremendous power—
Passed through the line of Revived to be made able to reach Chami and the rest.
“What the fuck is that idea…! Using those Revived as conducting wire!”
“…”
Chami was cussing while on the ground, while Chiharu stared vacantly at her hand.
Chiharu took her faintly glowing hand—and stealthily put it against her chest. She had the necklace that had used to house Aria Varei’s personality dangling from it.
“Chami!”
The large van driven by Konoha appeared. Konoha leapt out of the driver’s seat and, along with Satou Youko, dragged Ubuki and Yuu inside.
“Let’s go, Chiharu! More people are coming!”
Chami pulled Chiharu’s arm by force, making the stunned girl rise to her legs.
From the distance, the second formation of the assassins sent by C was pursuing them.
“Konoha, come help! Let Satou Youko drive!”
Chami and Konoha forcibly got Chiharu on the van. The moment the door closed, she could see the crowds of Revived swarming over the Fallen Kakkou.
“Ah…”
Chiharu pulled back her hand reaching toward Kakkou and Chami closed the door.
“Get going, Satou Youko! Once we get far enough, we can use Konoha’s clairvoyance to escape from the enemy’s encirclement even without a sensing ability!”
“I like driving.”
Along with the high-shrieked sound of the tires screeching on the ground, the van accelerated.
Inside the car, Konoha, Ubuki, Yuu and Chiharu were tangled together. It was probably about 50-50 whether they’d be able to shake off their pursuers.
“Chiharu...”
Even in this situation, Chami couldn’t help but grab Chiharu.
“What the fuck were you doing!”
Grabbing Chiharu with both hands, she slammed the back of her head against the seat.
Unlike Konoha and the rest who were surprised by Chami’s earnestness, Chiharu herself was completely dazed.
“Eh…?”
“Don’t play games with me! I saw it! When we went you did something to Kakkou, right? Tell the truth!”
As Chami blamed her, Chiharu’s face distorted little by little.
“I, I just thought that if we separated like this, we might never meet again—”
Her face overflowing with tears, Chiharu covered it with her hands and leaked sobs. In the hand hiding her face she was grasping the golden ring on her necklace.
“Once I thought these people might take him away…”
“And so—you took out Kakkou’s heart?”
Konoha and the others went speechless at Chami’s words. Even the driver Satou Youko felt the same.
Sanbikime’s ability was fusion.
Using that ability, Sanbikime themselves dwelt within humans and never let anyone know about their identity. She could assume that even Miguruma Yaeko and C’s ideas to keep the dreams of all Mushitsuki in a database was derived from Sanbikime’s mode of being.
And the girl called Ayukawa Chiharu—used that power on her brother.
“Do you understand what you’ve done…?”
“Uuuh…”
“That’s! The power of a monster! Those unknown things called the Original Three use that power to eat people’s dreams! Do you wanna use the power of the Original Three and play with people like C?”
“UuuUuuh…!”
“And you used it on your brother, even…! Have you turned into an Original Three in both body and mind?”
Even as Chami abused her, Chiharu merely cried and groaned.
She obviously understood Chiharu’s feelings.
Not giving up on her own blood-related brother—that was all this was.
“…I-if I keep calling out to him, surely Daisuke will—”
As Chiharu spoke as in groans, Chami pounded her against the seat again.
“Are you still on that, shithead?! Kakkou denied even his own damn sister! Even if someone else calls out to him, he—”
Chami gasped at her own words.
Although this was impossible for his sister, if there was anyone at all who could call out to him—
She had an idea.
Perhaps it was because Ebina Yuu was sleeping right next to her.
—The Rank 1s are gathering…!
Yuu shouted those words.
If that came to pass, then perhaps—
“…”
“Chami?”
Konoha called out to Chami as she removed her hands from Chiharu and suddenly crouched.
“—That’s impossible…”
Although her mouth denied it, Chami’s mind started making stupid plans on its own.
“This is way more than just all or nothing… but in the first place, our chances to win are… no, if even a single part works out, it ends up as a plus… you idiot, there are too many risks… you won’t be able to take that back…”
She couldn’t ever call Chiharu a monster again.
Not only was the plan taking shape inside Chami’s mind was going to use that monster’s power—it would be like snatching away both stage and script and then set fire to them.
However, what if—
“…If I can’t whip a corpse back to life… what if I shoot it with a machinegun and set it on fire…?”
Chami moved her eyes to a certain spot in the van.
She could see the small devices that all housed the power of her currently absent pawn, Lucifera.
A large number of cellphones.
“Chami-chan.”
Suddenly the driver Satou Youko spoke.
“You look like you hit on some idea—but are we fine?”
As she raised her face, she saw through the back mirror the former demon lord wearing a creepy smile.
“We’ve searched for Alpha to find out the secrets of Mushi. We weren’t able to ask anything even after getting in contact, though. We went after Aria Next, but in the end the moment that Mushitsuki were born remains unclear. Next, you tried to rely on a powerful pawn, but couldn’t bring Kakkou back—”
It was some harsh criticism. However, Chami had no possible retort.
Because it was all true.
“It was a chain of failure after failure… should I really expect anything, this time?”
Although she wasn’t putting pressure on her with those creepy eyes, Chami knew.
In the end, Chami’s mental control ability didn’t amount to much. If the person themselves actually strongly rejected it—if they turned their back on Chami, they could easily break it.
If she failed again, Chami would lose what little few pawns she had.
Even so, the next word that came out of her mouth—
“No…”
Was a word of denial.
“This time—is definitely the shittiest strategy I’ve had this far.”
It was so stupid of a plan she could laugh.
In fact, even without hearing of it, Satou Youko giggled. Konoha next to her also wore a small smile.
However, the two—had nothing further to say to Chami.
“Konoha… right after we break through their encirclement, start the monitoring.”
Konoha tilted her head at Chami’s words.
“Monitor? Who, exactly?”
She knew she was depressed.
She was pissed at nothing working according to plan, including her own self.
However—Chami smiled.
Just like her first pawn, that cat.
“I need you to monitor—all Rank 1s, except for Kakkou.”
And thus.
The plan cooked up by the minor character called Konomura Chami became reality—
Cellphones containing her ambitions were delivered to each Rank 1.
One was Lady Bird—Tachibana Rina.
Another was the flame devil—Harukiyo.
And yet another one was—
3.02 Arisu[edit]
She watched a part of the end.
Through her Mushi, the butterfly.
Landing atop her sleeping body, the butterfly—a Morpho butterfly with its vivid silver glow—twitched as it raised its antenna.
“—There’s no fucking way we can escape that!”
The one who shouted this was Kasuou, the girl who held her while running.
She embraced her body clad in a thick jacket and further supported her using her own ability of mist. She was also using vast amounts of mist to carry dozens of wounded.
“We have too many enemies and allies…! Do we even have somewhere to escape to?!”
Kasuou’s voice was drowned by the angry roars of battle.
They only just escaped from the domed facility that served as their headquarters for the C annihilation operation.
Even so—the mixed forces of the SEPB and Mushibane were soon surrounded by the Revived assassins as they reached the wide national road.
Most of these Mushitsuki were running away, not having yet recovered from the damages incurred during the failed operations.
It was there that C’s assassin Mushitsuki appeared in endless numbers.
If that wasn’t enough, even the JSDF gathered to block their path.
Their retreat soon turned into a chaotic battle—and their path was finally blocked.
“Let me borrow that, Kasuou.”
“Ah, you bastard!”
A suited youth snatched away Kasuou’s goggles.
He was Haji Keigo. His complexion was sickly, but he was even paler due to running so much.
“Why have you stopped? Report the situation in the frontlines, Yotsuba!”
Haji operated the goggles and turned on the speaker function. They could hear the rebuke from Terasu, their commander, as well as the exchanges between other Mushitsuki.
“I know you’re tired, but if our vanguard stops, we’ll all get wiped out!”
“Poison Mist Punch! —We’re outnumbered by soldiers! Neutralizing them without killing them is too hard for me alone! Send me some high-ranked members, even a single one! If possible, with a mental pollution-type ability!”
“Yakugami! How’s the rear guard? If you think you can leave it to Kaguya then go provide support to the frontlines!”
“That’s asking for a bit much… I have my hands full with some tough guys, are they ex-Annihilators?”
“Then… North Central Branch! How’s the right flank? If you can split your forces, then send even one person from Team A—”
“No can do, no can do. After all, with you missing from the usual team it’s all falling apart.”
“Kh… Tamamo! Stop preserving your stamina for the barrier! To the front!”
“Goootcha!”
“Wait…! The wounded and support members in the middle aren’t going to last! If you keep going ahead, they won’t make it…! I’ll heal them up even just a little, so wait a bit!”
“This is Himiko! Enemy forces are approaching from the left…!”
“Kabuto here. Mushibane has relatively little fatigued and damaged members. I’ll stop these new attackers with them.”
All news that came from the speaker spoke of their inferiority against their enemies.
Many people were shouting.
Gunfire echoed from time to time.
As well as the healer Nene’s beautiful singing voice, completely unfitting the circumstances.
In this battlefield of Mushitsuki who fought for their lives, the silver Morpho butterfly shook its feelers.
“Then—fifteen minutes!”
In these dire straits, Terasu struck out a painful plan in order to survive.
“Let’s stop in place for just fifteen minutes! All hands, focus on preserving our position! Tamamo, you should preserve yourself after all! —Rinrin, gather as many vehicles as you can, even army ones! Get all the support members and wounded boarded to lessen the load, and have Kasuou join the vanguard! Fifteen minutes later, we break through by force!”
It was a hefty gamble, but there were no other choices.
In this battlefield engulfed by anxiety, a completely calm voice then sounded.
“Test, test, can you hear me? Hiya, this is Shiohara Shachito. I borrowed a SEPB goggle. What should I do?”
“You…! Geez, what’re you doing!”
“I watched over this beauty called Lady at the dome. Once she’s finished knocking out C—C will probably be heading here.”
For a moment, all shouts passing through the battlefield vanished.
Although they were already fighting from an inferior position, C was coming along as though to seal the deal.
Perhaps afraid that this announcement would lower morale, Terasu immediately strained her voice.
“Let’s make it ten minutes, then! I’ll join the vanguard! —Once we break through the encirclement, Tamamo will create as large a barrier as possible! It’s already proven that your barrier can work even on C and other sensors, so buy us as much distance as possible and find a place to hide!”
“H-hum… I’m not really feeling confident about being able to control a lot of cars in ten minutes…”
“I-I’ll reaaally do my best, but the stamina needed just to stretch the barrier so much…”
“Stop complaining!”
Terasu’s lone shout echoed throughout the battlefield.
“If we fail, we die. —Wasn’t it always like this?!”
Hearing their commander, the battlefield fell into silence again.
“…You’re just like Kakkou.”
“S-shuddup, idiot!”
It was unknown who mumbled this, but it agitated Terasu.
Haji Keigo, who apparently finally managed to catch his breath, brought his mouth to the goggles.
“Kasuou, how do you switch the Central Headquarters goggles to the private channel?”
“Just work it out for yourself! It’s not so different from the East Branch’s!”
They seemed to have a bad relationship; the Morpho butterfly could see Kasuou shouting at Haji.
“Thank you. Oh, there it is. —Terasu, come to me for a moment.”
“…I’ll let the Director go over our current strategy! Shachito! Take over command for me for a bit!”
“Eh, me? Is it fine for a newbie like me?”
“Obviously not! But you can use your mobility to check the entire battlefield, and since you’re Asagi’s final disciple, you seem to have been trained on how to handle Mushitsuki, so we’ll just go for it! It’s just for a few minutes so obey him, you guys!”
“Ahaha, how horrible. Then apologies in advance if I do it better than you, Terasu-chan.”
While hearing a symphony of tongue clicking from the entire battlefield, Haji kept speaking.
“Kabuto. Can you tell Akasegawa Nanana to come to us?”
“Roger that.”
Not even two minutes later, Terasu and Akasegawa Nanana appeared in front of Haji Keigo.
However, there was another person there.
“And you are?”
She was a girl in her early teens. Since she was fidgeting all over, Nanana spoke instead.
“Recall. She’s my guard, so don’t mind her.”
“Oh, I don’t know her. —Hmm?”
The girl called Recall stepped forward silently.
And she approached—her. While looking up through the Morpho butterfly, the girl put a cellphone on top of her.
“Recall? What’s that?”
Returning to the confused-looking Nanana, Recall whispered in a low voice.
“Lucifera-san said to…”
“Lucifera told you to pass that to Arisu?”
As the girl nodded, Haji Keigo stared at her.
While the youth seemed to be trying to understand the girl’s mysterious action, Terasu called out to him.
“Director Haji. Do you have any issue with my orders?”
“—Oh, no, you’ve done well. North Central Branch really has some good members.”
As Haji said this and turned his gaze, he saw Branch Head Takemi. The man who looked like a gentleman (only outwardly) shrugged.
“I’ll start with you, Akasegawa Nanana-kun. I have a favor to ask you, as the Chairman of Akasegawa Group as well as a member of the Round Table.”
As Haji turned around, Akasegawa Nanana spun her stick, her face looking suspicious.
“A favor?”
“Can you use your connections to prepare a large ship for us? If possible, a fast ship that’s already ready to sail.”
Terasu and Akasegawa Nanana both raised their brows.
“For us to also recover our forces, we need to escape C for the time being. If so, it means we need a place she couldn’t reach—the Revived as well, but a place where C, who exists in the digital network, can’t reach.”
Terasu was the one who gasped.
“The sea—”
Haji wore a thin smile and fixed the position of his glasses with his index finger.
“Right, we will escape to sea and reorganize. Even C shouldn’t be able to pursue us there.”
“What a coincidence. I also thought that and was about to prepare a ship to carry something.”
Akasegawa Nanana said, returning Haji Keigo’s gaze.
“Of course, there’s also a shipping company affiliated with my Group in the nearest port to here.”
“So that’ll be our destination for now.”
The place where Haji and the rest were, several vehicles appeared.
There weren’t any drivers inside. The branch heads as well as the wounded carried by Kasuou were loaded into the cars. Inside there was also the East Central Branch Assistant, the anxious-faced Goroumaru Touko.
Nanana spoke.
“The ship I have ready to transport a certain something is planned to go someplace far and keep a low profile until the heat’s down. —Are we just going to wait in the middle of the sea until we recover? If so, we will need to gather some foods and daily necessities, so that’ll take time.”
“No, I have a destination in mind.”
“You have? I apologize, Director… but if you have a goal, isn’t that a problem? If it’s somewhere we can stay, our enemy might also reason out that location…”
“It’s fine. That place—no longer exists.”
“Hah?”
“Or to be more precise, I should say that no one knows about it anymore.”
While the youth wore his thin smile, Terasu and Nanana turned suspicious glances at him.
“That place—is a small island.”
Twitch.
Above her, the Morpho butterfly raised its antenna.
“I already left this message to Lady. She’s probably going to head there, too.”
“…Well, as long as we have a destination. Still, taking so many people to the same place is going to take time, though.”
“There’s no need to worry about that. The fewer ships, the better.”
As Terasu tilted her head, Haji spoke.
“Terasu. Once we escape from here, we need to split into several independent units. If we gather up so many people in one place, we’ll just end up surrounded like now and decimated.”
“Eh… b-but, isn’t it dangerous to split our forces like this? If our high-ranking members go all over the place, even our means of defense—”
“I said nothing about splitting our forces like that.”
As Haji narrowed his eyes, Terasu made a confused face—
But she soon gasped and grimaced.
Haji gave calm orders to Terasu who glared daggers into him.
“It’s impossible to protect everyone here anyway. So the high-ranked Mushitsuki should focus on protecting the minimal amount of important people, and we’ll let all other Mushitsuki split from our main forces for a little while.”
“—Meaning, they’ll act as decoys.”
Terasu’s blood-smeared visor was locked in a gaze with Haji Keigo’s glasses.
“I’ll obviously tell the people getting cut off about some goal. It’s fine for them to try heading somewhere far from our actual destination. —Akasegawa-kun. That’s how things are, so you can just bring us small ships. Hurry up with them.”
Akasegawa Nanana said nothing. She neither gave Haji a cold gaze, nor voices any oppositions to his strategy, but merely left along with Recall.
“If you have any other ideas how we can get away I’m all ears, Terasu.”
“…”
“Allow me to say this just in case, but it’s not like I hate Mushitsuki. In that sense, I might resemble Director Miguruma. —But there are also ways I differ from her.”
Haji Keigo spoke while looking at the fighting Mushitsuki.
“Unlike Miguruma, who wants to play with Mushitsuki forever… I want to finish up the fight already. For that I will protect what I need and cut off what’s unneeded. —It goes without saying that the most important person right now is Sleeping Beauty, Arisu.”
On top of her, the silver Morpho butterfly raised its feelers.
“…I will now mobilize.”
Terasu gritted her teeth and mumbled in a stifled voice. She turned around.
“Terasu here, I’m heading back to command. It’s about time, are we all ready?”
Haji Keigo got on the large transport truck used by the JSDF members. It was one of those stolen by Rinrin. Kasuou also carried her along with the Morpho butterfly and got on into the same cargo box as Haji.
“Me and Kasuou and Yotsuba are going to open a path ahead! After that, Tamamo, you’re going to create as large a consciousness-camouflaging barrier as you can! Shachito, reduce everyone’s masses on the way! We’ll all become lighter and break through!”
There, the tone of Terasu’s voice dropped.
“After we manage to breakthrough, the orders will be given directly to each team. —Just to make sure C doesn’t eavesdrop on us.”
“A nice excuse.”
The Morpho butterfly stared at Haji Keigo who was smiling in the luggage.
Noticing its stare, he mumbled toward the Morpho butterfly.
“Please don’t retire midway through, alright?”
“We’re doing this, Kasuou! Yotsuba!”
“Let’s go!”
“Alright!”
“—There’s a sudden powerful ‘flame’ approaching from the west!”
However, Himiko’s voice cut into Terasu and others’ warcries.
“It’s C!”
In the very center of the entire forces, golden light scattered around concentrations of Mushitsuki.
These were golden C-butterflies.
These countless fluttering forms melted into the ground and focused in a single point.
“I’ll intercept them.”
Along with a husky female voice, the ground shook.
Instantly appearing on the surface with a tremor was a spire made of metallic water pipes, wires, lights and the like entangled together.
Golden lightning pierced through the surface to the heavens.
Trying to catch the entire forces of Mushitsuki with one blow, C unleashed her lightning strike—but it was sucked into this suddenly created lightning rod, so it ended up discharged into the sky and vanished without hurting anyone.
“You’ve saved us, Sakura! Now, let’s break through—Sensation Isolation!”
“ORAAAAH!”
“Poison Mist Punch!!!”
Sounds of destruction echoed from the frontlines.
“Lemme lighten you.”
Along with Shachito’s voice, everyone on the battlefield was wrapped in an orange light. From the bodies of Mushitsuki rose faintly glowing dragonflies—a swarm of Autumn Darters.
“All hands, charge forward!”
By Terasu’s orders, the Mushitsuki began moving simultaneously.
“Let’s go, then.”
Inside the truck that rumbled as it moved, Haji Keigo mumbled.
The youth’s eyes narrowed as though he was looking to the great distance.
“To the land of our counterattack—to Aoharima Island.”
She saw it.
Through her Mushi, the Morpho butterfly.
The Mushitsuki who took her in, were all fighting while literally puking blood.
After failing in the operation to annihilate C and then constantly repeating this desperate retreat—
They fought, got hurt, and collapsed.
Even to the Morpho butterfly’s eyes, it looked like their numbers were quickly going down. Some were struck by the enemy attacks, some split into individual teams, and at times they collapsed powerless and were left behind.
She knew that hellish sight.
She too had ended up losing like that in the past.
Why had she lost?
She didn’t know.
“—”
Only the reason she came down to this hell.
Although she was forgotten long ago and most humans had no way to know of her, she knew the reason for her get woken up again well. Only that.
“…To fight, huh.”
This small mumble leaked from her mouth.
How many hours passed since they left their base in the dome?
How many Mushitsuki fought and depleted?
By the time even those sensations felt unclear—she noticed that the space she inhabited was cut off from reality.
Furious Mushitsuki and the Revived were engaged in hurting each other.
Inside this hell where they cannibalized on each other, she stood up.
“What you want from me—is the power to end this fight, right?”
At some point a lone ghost came standing outside the parked truck.
It wore a pitch-dark coat—no.
Wearing a long coat stained with fresh blood, it was a person with hair that stood up like horns, with a large automatic pistol dangling from one hand.
He was covered in wounds as though he already went through the border between life and death once—no, not only once but countless times, with how many wounds he was covered by.
“—Not at all.”
The ghost with broken goggles hanging from his neck appeared tentatively like a boy. His face smeared with dried up blood was stuck with sorrowful expression.
She knew him.
However, she didn’t know why he was making this kind of face.
“I wanted to entrust you with… no, to apologize to you. But—”
Wearing a weak-looking face, the boy hesitating to speak.
This was the mere shell of the Mushitsuki that had once been called a demon. She sneered at him.
She then reached out into the other lying girl’s jacket, pulling out a metallic rod. Extending in her hand, the rod fused with the Morpho butterfly and transformed into a large spear that shone silver. At the same time, silver patterns rose to her four limbs.
Seeing her transform so grotesquely, the boy grasped his blood-stained gun.
“She said that she separated from ‘you’. —That’s why you’re still bothered about turning into her.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. Does that have anything to do with the present?”
The scales gushing out from the spear wrapped around her neck, making her long scarf float.
“As long as I’m strong—isn’t that enough?”
She felt a strong power inside her.
This power was about to overflow at any moment.
She wanted to quickly unleash it.
In order to make her dream come true.
For the one who constantly consoled her during her long slumber.
All for the sake of the girl still sleeping next to her—her other self—her best friend.
That friend’s name was Arisu.
Splitting from Arisu and appearing here, her name was—
“Stop pretending…”
The boy in front of her eyes should know her name.
However, the blood-smeared demon that looked ready to fall at any moment made no attempt to name her.
“Right now—you’re not Arisu.”
He said this.
Then reequipped the broken goggles to his face.
Notes[edit]
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