Mushi Uta:Volume 6 Epilogue
Traveler[edit]
"Hello, this is Inuko."
Shishidou Inuko was outside Holland City, on the coastal national highway.
The public telephone installed near the bus stop was of the type that needed coins, rare nowadays.
Illuminated by the streetlights, Inuko raised a bright smile.
"My mission is complete. Raising the next generation of Mushitsuki and readying them for the next fight—I believe I have accomplished this. You probably do not need all the fine details. I will also not say anything to the Central Headquarters. I believe my students will find out the answer."
Speaking to the answering machine that couldn't possible respond, she spoke in a calm voice.
"My fight ends here. —I am grateful for you giving me the path to live. I pray for your health… branch director Haji."
Inuko left these words behind for the one and only person in the world with whom she spoke formally.
There was a person who had saved Inuko when she despaired of her dream and desired to find a duty.
It was the man called Haji Keigo. Inuko was only able to live so far because of him giving her the mission to raise her successors.
As she returned the receiver to its place, she made a wish in her heart.
Shiohara Shachito—she wanted him to find a new goal for living as well.
It would become his power after all.
"Huu."
She made a deep breath.
Looking up the night sky, she could see nothing but stars.
"I guess I'll get going."
She wore her helmet and got on the Vespa parked near the coastal road.
The night air felt pleasant.
"Ah, it feels good."
The red Vespa was silent. The fingers needed to rev up the engine were unmoving.
—If possible, she wanted to be able to watch over her students fighting until the very end.
But she had no regrets.
She could clearly envision them living frantically and fighting bravely if she closed her eyes.
She had raised all sorts of Mushitsuki. At times they shunned her, at times they adored her, and at times they even fought her, but even so she managed to raise them into fully-grown warriors. —There were some that were yet to become fully-fledged warriors, but she knew that even these students would eventually become splendid.
She could only think about her students' future.
She didn't care about the battlefield she had left behind.
Inuko thought not of herself, but of her students living in the harsh yet beautiful world.
"Oh, I see…"
Beneath the starry sky she felt the waves of the Mushitsuki spreading in the land.
All of them overflowed with life energy.
"So you were the ones to save me, guys…"
She noticed it only at the very end.
The sinful Mushitsuki that knew nothing except fighting.
The berserker who had been abandoned by the battlefield was saved by the potential of those she had trained.
She was finally made to notice this fact.
She wanted to thank all of them from the bottom of her heart.
Thank you.
"Fufu… I also still have a lot… to lea…rn…"
Shaking violently, Inuko's body inclined and collapsed to the ground.
Red fresh blood spread on the dry ground.
While feeling the breaths of Mushitsuki living around the world—
With a content smile on her face—
Shishidou Inuko's "scouting" journey was…
—Completed.
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