Mushi Uta:Volume 11 Prologue

Prologue: 0.00 The Others

Mushi—

These were supernatural beings who suddenly appeared more than ten years ago.

Since their outward appearance resembled insects, they became known like that.

“Deepest Layer Restricted Block, Walls A to D… are all fully open!”

“We cannot transmit the emergency quarantine signal! Intelligence division members with electronic control abilities dispatched!”

Mushi nested within adolescent boys and girls.

Feeding on their host’s dreams and hopes, they granted them supernatural powers in exchange.

Those possessed by Mushi—were called Mushitsuki.

“Communication with dispatched members was cut off…! All high-ranking members at once…?”

“E to H… a-are open!”

The government created the agency called the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau and concealed the existence of Mushi.

Also called the SEPB for short, this organization captured Mushitsuki and used all possible methods to conceal them. At present they trained these captured Mushitsuki and moved behind the scenes to have them capture further wild Mushitsuki.

“All exits to the surface have been sealed…! The system won’t listen to me!”

“W-we’re trapped…?”

“Restricted Block, remaining walls I to L are also opening!”

Special Environmental Preservation Bureau, Central Headquarters.

This base was located deep underground in Akamaki City, where all the country’s important agencies were gathered. Called the Underground Stronghold, this vast space was now filled with shrill alarms all over.

“Please dispatch the Annihilators to Restricted Block.”

In the room with monitors that showed the situation around the Stronghold, Vice-Director Miguruma Yaeko dispatched commands.

“All members. Please get ready for what appears from the other side of the barrier.”

All subordinate Mushitsuki obeyed Miguruma’s calm voice. Clad in pure white coats and goggles, they started running around inside the monitors.

“There is no response from Harukiyo—Irregular Class Rank 1 member, Ooenma. All other members dispatched.”

One of the members inside the room spoke. Their urgent-sounding tone of voice spoke of the harsh situation.

Right now, not even a single person in the Stronghold could remain calm, except for Miguruma Yaeko.

She simply narrowed her already narrow eyes and looked up at the monitor in front of her eyes intently.

On her mouth was a kind smile, completely unchanged from the usual.

“Deploy Tamamo to the 28th Layer, Yakugami to the 20th Layer, and Kasuou to the 5th Layer and have them all erect their lines of defense. When we reform the command center at the 5th Layer, we will start to evacuate the higher Layers in order.”

“Meaning, we retreat?”

The members around stirred.

“Vice-Director… What on earth is happening?”

“Just a rebellious phase.”

The members all raised brows, but soon their expression became tense.

Among the monitors installed in the center, a large door slowly opened.

It emitted white steam like the breath of a giant and the thick door opened to both sides.

While Miguruma and the rest were watching it, what appeared from inside was—

“…A caterpillar?”

Someone muttered.

Appearing from the other side was a small object slithering on the floor.

However, the next instant…

A veritable tidal wave of caterpillars flew out from within the door. Seeing this scene with crawling caterpillars everywhere—on the door, on the floor, on the ceiling—the members all gulped.

“Kasuou, do you read? I will leave supreme command to you. Start the evacuation plan immediately.”

It wasn’t just the swarm of caterpillars appearing from the door. There was also an electric line glowing in bluish-white that surged on the walls as if to compete with the caterpillars.

“UWAAAAAHHHH!”

A shout echoed inside the room. A line of lightning surged through the wall, assaulting the members.

Yaeko was no exception to this electrical attack as well. Crawling up her legs and going along her body surface, the bluish-white line reached her face.

However, Yaeko was unmoving.

“Even if the organization called the SEPB will vanish from this world today—”

She accepted the sharp pain of the electric blade piercing her brain with a kind smile.

“I will still love you.”

Wearing her “smile of chains”, Vice-Director of the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau, Miguruma Yaeko—

Had her consciousness swallowed by the darkness.

0.01 Daisuke Part 1

“This is Akamaki City?”

The long road connecting to Akamaki City, Higano Bridge, was blocked by large military vehicles.

Clad in pitch-black coat and goggles, Blaze Class Rank 1 member Kakkou—Kusuriya Daisuke—looked at the scene ahead and groaned.

“We can’t see anything…!”

The city supposedly at the other side of the bridge was wrapped in a milk-white mist.

It wasn’t mere mist.

It was as if a clear boundary of mist rose from the end of the bridge, towering over them. It even spread high into the clear sky, covering the entire city in the shape of a dome.

“What is going on inside, Acting Branch Head?”

The boy standing next to Daisuke, Ogata Akatsuki, spoke.

“Fwah, seeing it live is much more pressuring than how it looks on the news…”

Looking up at the wall of mist with a foolish expression was Goroumaru Touko. Her title of the East Central Branch’s Acting Branch Head seemed wasted on her, what with her bed-hair, cheap suit and glasses about to slip down from her ears.

“Acting Branch Head!”

Akatsuki who raised his face again was also clad in the same pitch-dark coat as Daisuke.

It wasn’t just Daisuke and Akatsuki.

Various combatants in charge of the main forces of the East Central Branch were gathered on the sealed Higano Bridge.

“Y-yesh! E-err, Akamaki City became wrapped in this mysterious mist about an hour ago… the entire country’s in an uproar! Even other countries around the world started reporting it as an abnormal event! Well, things are pretty bad and we’re doing our best to suppress it, but there’s no way we can hide everything about something like this…”

“Everyone here knows all that. We want to know what’s going on inside the mist.”

Standing atop a vehicle roof, the handsome-looking Kabuto spoke. As he asked this in a low voice, he exuded much more pressure than needed.

“R-right! We can’t get in contact with the inside at all! No matter the government or civilians, all humans inside Akamaki City are completely silent! Not only phones or wireless, but even the internet and satellite connection, are fully shut out. And another creepy thing… is that not even one person got out of Akamaki City.”

Touko started shaking, her face pale.

“As a bonus, none of the people entering the mist ever returned… awawawa, autumn’s already over and yet we have this out-of-season ghost story… s-seriously spooky!”

“Is it some Mushi’s ability?”

“If not, it would be an actual paranormal phenomenon. But this scope is too large.”

“Maybe some Mushi Matured.”

Akatsuki and Kabuto seemed to agree with Daisuke’s hypothesis.

“T-the scariest thing is the Central Headquarters is keeping radio silence! Them! The Central Headquarters! Even branches other than ours surround Akamaki City from all sides, but how are we supposed to act, in this state where no communication comes from Central Headquarters… to be honest, I can’t make heads or tails of this.”

“Senri, can you look inside?”

Daisuke turned to the girl at Akatsuki’s side. Haji Senri, clad in a long coat, reached both hands toward the mist.

“I’ve been doing it for a while now, but…”

Senri was blind, but she could sense the existence of Mushi.

“Sorry, I can’t ‘see’ anything… this entire mist is like one giant flame, so I can’t peek inside it.”

“It’s fine, Senri. Don’t overdo it.”

Akatsuki worried for the weak-bodied Senri. Kabuto then spoke from the roof of the vehicle.

“Looks like there’s no doubt this is some Mushi effect. And speaking of flames, what’s Harukiyo doing? It’s turned out like this even though he’s supposed to be in Central Headquarters?”

There was a jolt. A person who blanched upon hearing Harukiyo mentioned was there.

Although clad in the same equipment as Daisuke and the rest, that person had no goggles. At first glance they looked like a girl, but Nakayama Kanon was a full-fledged boy.

“Calm down, Kanon. Harukiyo’s not here.”

Daisuke called to him, and Kanon nodded with a scared face again and again.

Central Headquarters, home to several strong Mushitsuki, was cut from any and all contact.

Even just this fact was an unprecedented happening.

“I’ll go check things out.”

Making sure that the holster at his waist had his handgun, Daisuke stepped ahead.

“W-wait just a minute! Kakkou-san, if something happens to you the unrest might spread inside the SEPB…”

“So if we get through with large forces, at the worst case, there’s the possibility of annihilation. It’s fine, I’ll just peek inside the mist and come right back.”

Touko looked dissatisfied, but didn’t stop him any further.

“I-I understand. I’ll tell the other branches to wait until you return!”

“If anything happens to Kakkou they’ll be glad, rather. The demon’s finally dead, and all that.”

“Ahaha.”

“What’s funny, Akatsuki-kun?”

“Eh, I-I wasn’t the one who said… I’m sorry.”

Hearing the reassuring voices of his companions from behind, Daisuke turned toward the mist.

Walking several dozen meters, he stopped in front of the milky-white wall. The moment he tried to softly touch its surface with his finger, he felt his finger being numbed.

“Is it electricity…?”

Was this electric current the source behind the cutoff of all transmissions, perhaps?

A green checkered beetle landed on Daisuke’s shoulder. Its body expanded to become tentacles, fusing with his body and forming a glowing pattern.

“What’s for certain is that this isn’t some natural phenomenon.”

His legs fused with his Mushi stepped inside the milky mist.

“…!”

Strong static electricity attacked Daisuke’s head.

An electrical discharge also ran through the surface of his coat. However, the specially-made equipment and Daisuke’s strengthened flesh were enough to withstand that impact.

He walked through the white space where he couldn’t see even several meters ahead.

Even while frowning at the sensation of his head numbing, Daisuke kept walking straight ahead inside the white space.

“—Kuh…?”

Suddenly he felt dizzy.

This sensation, not unlike drowsiness, was trying to rob the power of his knees.

Should he go back or continue?

After a momentary hesitation, Daisuke kicked the ground.

Even if he came back, he wouldn’t understand anything. He ran toward the direction of Akamaki City.

As he did—he saw a light.

On the other side of the mist, he could see small spots of light running around haphazardly.

“What’s that…?”

Hastening his running speed, he went toward the leaping lights—

“—!”

Suddenly, the mist became much thinner.

A strange sight was revealed to Daisuke’s eyes.

That was—a large ship.

At some point, he was standing on the deck of a ship that was rusted reddish-brown.

“ooOOooOOOOH!”

A shout like a beast’s howl was heard from overhead.

As Daisuke raised his face, he saw a human figure wrapped in a white glow floating in air.

It was a human wearing a hoodie. His face was hidden by large goggles and he covered his head with the hood. Was he able to ignore gravity and stop midair due to the pale glow wrapping his body?

An SEPB member…? No, more importantly, what’s this place—

As Daisuke was confused, the person wearing goggles completely vanished from his sight.

He had no idea what happened.

The glowing person simply vanished without any prior warning—and at the same time, he suddenly appeared at a different spot.

A large ship—this was probably a scrapped vessel.

The goggled individual standing atop the ship’s rusty funnel started tilting—

And died.

Daisuke, who saw people heading to death countless times before, could clearly tell that.

He stood there in a daze and suddenly felt something moving nearby.

As he turned with a start, he immediately saw a bizarre object.

It was apparently a boy.

The word “apparently”—came because that boy had no lower abdomen and half his face was gouged away. His hair, made into a topknot with a rubber band, was wet with fresh blood.

The boy without his lower half started crawling toward Daisuke—

Then shuddered, collapsed and became unmoving.

He died.

There was no need to check; he obviously couldn’t live like that.

What the hell is this? Where have I wandered into—

As he stood there in shock again, someone’s shout flew into his ears.

“There’s nothing here anymore…!”

He heard the voice from the other side of the deck. Daisuke rushed to the fence, leaning over it.

It seemed that he really was on a scrapped ship. Looking down from the giant vessel, there wasn’t the great sea there, but rather unpaved, exposed ground.

Standing on the surface was a young man wearing an expensive-looking suit and a black hat.

And facing him slightly further ahead was a girl. She wore a surgical mask that hid her mouth.

“Come, Mikko!”

The young man reached to her, but the girl shook her head to the sides.

“If I could return to the past—I would have probably killed all of you the moment we met…”

Sliding her mask down, the girl’s exposed mouth wore a smile.

“Kii-kun, Kasshi, Rui… as well as me… we shouldn’t have come here…”

Tears were shed from the girl’s eyes.

A girl who smiled while crying.

To Daisuke, she looked like she was losing her sanity.

“Because of us.”

The milky mist reached the girl’s half-smiling, half-crying face.

“This country.”

Once again, the thick mist was trying to block Daisuke’s vision.

“Will get filled with Mushi.”

Daisuke was unable to move from the spot.

His legs were on the deck as it glued there, and he couldn’t emit a voice.

“And reach its end.”

An ominous prophecy.

The girl’s mad words vanished within the mist.

Daisuke’s legs twitched.

He could move now.

What on earth was going on—

To confirm that, he started rushing to where the girl was.

“What was that, just now…! It was no illusion…!”

The calmness when that person glowing in white had their life extinguished.

The stench of blood coming from the boy who lost half his body and exhausted himself.

The youth’s voice and the girl’s prophecy.

All of them felt so real they could pierce his flesh.

Where was he?

Who were they?

Daisuke had to find that out—

“…!”

The mist cleared.

The thick mist that seemed like it continued forever vanished, and the place where Daisuke stood—

“Akamaki City…?”

Was the exact center of the city.

A crowded crossroads and the national way where cars drove smoothly.

Daisuke had lived in Akamaki City a few years ago. The buildings were a bit different compared to then, but he knew this was the Akamaki City townscape he remembered.

He tried infiltrating Akamaki City, and came out into Akamaki City.

That wasn’t unnatural.

However, since it was like that—

“Where was that place just now…?”

Turning around, he could only see a peaceful townscape.

He couldn’t see any ship anywhere.

Not only that, he couldn’t even see the wall of mist that he’d passed through just now.

And there was another odd thing.

It was too peaceful.

People were walking around, chatting or talking on their phones. There was no sense of danger there.

“No one… noticed that they’re trapped in the mist?”

At present, it wasn’t a situation where one would think that Akamaki City was isolated from the outside.

And there—

“Eeeeek!”

A scream rose.

Turning toward the crossroads, he froze.

“Wha—”

Looking at the national road ahead, he could see a bicycle and a truck floating in air. These drew a parabola in air, crashed to the ground, twisted, and then slid onward to knock off other vehicles.

He couldn’t see it well, but apparently something charged, crashed into vehicles and blew them away.

And, on the road ahead, running with flapping limbs was—

“…Cough! Cough!”

A girl running away from something, her face on the verge of tears.

That girl—had her mouth hidden by a surgical mask.

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