Mushi Uta:Volume 7th Episode 28

Episode 28. The Narrator Resisting Dreams

He was walking through a certain pedestrian scramble in Akamaki City.

The rays of the summertime sun were blinding.

Crowds of passersby shook the swaying heat haze.

“…”

Why was he at such a place?

Standing atop the burning asphalt, he looked up at the scorching sun.

Cars waiting for a green light.

People walking through all directions in the intersection.

He could hear engine sounds and people talking. As well as some short tunes when the sidewalk’s lights turned green.

No one turned to look at him.

No one called his name.

Although he fully understood it—

“…”

He waited.

Even as the tune stopped and the pedestrians escaped from the road, he still stood in place, unmoving.

He kept waiting at the very center of Akamaki City.

The lights changed color.

“Please—”

He wore torn jeans and a thin t-shirt. Also a scarf, completely unfitting for July. His unkempt hair was long enough to cover his double-lidded eyes.

This young man in the middle of his twenties was blocking the path of the intersection.

It was soon drowned in cars honking.

“Please—call me.”

Wind blew.

The scarf hiding his mouth fluttered to the side.

“I can’t call you on my own—”

He finally returned to this city.

He had to tell his story in this city.

However, he couldn’t remember what he needed to talk about.

He couldn’t even remember who he needed to tell it to.

And so—

“If my twisted fate’s continuation is somewhere in this city—please call for me.”

Clear drops emerged from the sides of his eyes.

Why was he crying?

What was he even saying?

He couldn’t understand anything.

And yet.

It was very—painful.

“If you call me, I will accomplish—what I left behind.”

Due to the summer sun and the unceasing honking he began to have a headache.

He became breathless and strength left his knees.

“If what I did was a sin—please punish—”

The moment before he muttered this and collapsed, something touched his body.

“—Are you alright?”

He’d apparently lost consciousness.

He’d fallen to the sidewalk at some point. He could feel the cold asphalt on his back, lying in the shade of a building. As he slightly opened his eyes, he could see a bottle of mineral water left on the ground.

As he collapsed in the middle of the crossing, someone had apparently pulled him to the sidewalk.

“Ugh—”

“Oh, you shouldn’t try to get up yet. You don’t need to open your eyes.”

He heard a girl’s voice and then something wet touched his forehead.

“…”

The heck, he was about to say. Since the handkerchief wasn’t squeezed out at all, water covered his face and he couldn’t open his eyes.

“What do I need to do when this sort of things happens? Since you might’ve hit your head, do I call an ambulance? Or is the police better?”

He hurriedly rejected the girl’s suggestions.

“N-no, I don’t need either of them. I was just a little lightheaded, so…”

“Really? —Anyway, everyone’s so cold. They saw a person collapse out in the open but no one tried helping you.”

“Haha…”

Now you’ve really gone and did something unneeded…

He hid his honest opinion with a forced smile.

He wouldn’t have cared even if he was run over by car.

Because that would let him escape from the impulse tormenting him.

If that was to be his punishment, it was fine.

“By the way, what were you doing there? It’s dangerous, standing dazed like that.”

That was obvious. From her voice, she was probably a middle schooler. It was a fresh voice that sounded like a bell.

“Oh, I was simply… It’s just more convenient being where there’re a lot of people…”

“More convenient? For your job or something?”

“W-well, something like that…”

“Say, aren’t you hot with that scarf? You’re sweating a lot.”

“D-don’t take it off. Err, it’s because I catch colds. …Cough, cough.”

“…That sounded really forced, though.”

“S-sorry to have you save me, but I feel alright now… well, walking along with a complete stranger and stumbling is a bit—”

“I don’t really mind it.”

The wetness from the handkerchief went down to his ears and fell to the ground.

He slowly opened his eyes and gulped.

“—”

Unconsciously grasping the handkerchief on his face, he raised his torso.

Why—

How—

His head was filled with question marks.

“What’s wrong?”

Shaking her ponytail, the girl tilted her head.

A complete stranger that he’d never met.

And yet for some reason, how come he knew her name?

“Ichinokuro… Arisu…”

“Eh? Have we met somewhere?”

A butterfly landed on Arisu’s shoulders.

It was a silver Morpho butterfly.

That, too, was supposed to be the first time he saw it—

“No… We’ve never met…”

His vision swayed.

He’d never met the girl called Ichinokuro Arisu even once.

The silver Morpho butterfly was not supposed to have anything to do with him.

And yet, why—

“I’ve… never…”

Did he feel like he met the one he missed the most?

Felt like he found a big treasure?

Seeing the young man grip the handkerchief and shed tears, Arisu looked nervous.

“W-what’s wrong, all of sudden? Are you fine? Does it hurt anywhere?”

“I…”

Him and Ichinokuro Arisu.

The pair’s puzzled voices were drowned in the hustle and bustle of the city.

He couldn’t even tell why he was crying.

He could only understand one thing.

Since he’d found her, he had to speak.

By doing that, his riddle-filled journey would end—

It was time to talk.

About his partner.

About those girls as well.

However, he was sobbing, the memories about the people he needed to talk about gone—

Part 1

When he’d rescued a puppy, he’d been given a mouthful over it.

He thought his parents would praise him. However, he remembered the puppy being completely ignored while everyone in the house was in an uproar.

—Why’s everyone being so loud?

Still in elementary school back then, he vacantly watched his nervous parents and brothers and sisters.

His father was a doctor.

As he worked in a university hospital, his father was very busy and would often leave the house on an emergency call. Whenever his mom made him deliver his father’s lunch, he became friends with all the children in the pediatric department. He concealed the fact he came to the hospital from his father and played with the children.

Hospital was a place where there were eye-boggling changes every day.

The patients that had melancholic expressions started smiling once discharged. There was also the reverse, smiling people who became depressed within a day.

His friends were the same. There were times when they played with him, full of smiles, and then vanished the next day.

The thing that did this to them—was apparently called “death”.

Fearing death, being happy at life being saved, and at times unceremoniously yielding to it.

This was his daily life.

That was why he admired his father, a doctor who saved patients, and wanted to become like him as well.

He thought that them being sick meant that he was healthy.

I want to save lives—

His young heart wished for it.

That was why, when he’d saved the puppy and got home, he was proud with himself. It wasn’t a human, but it was still a life. And he saved it.

However, he was instead scolded.

The reason was simple.

He was hugging the puppy while covered in blood—

When he saved the puppy from being mauled by wild dogs, he protected it and got his arm bitten. He soon shook them off and ran away, but his arm was torn, leaving a deep wound.

The puppy was also wounded, but with all the excitement around, it was left untreated, and so remained unsaved.

He’d seen yet another life go.

Thinking about it, that was probably the beginning of his doubts.

What was “death”?

This one and only question kept clinging to him his entire life.

Sensitive to other people’s deaths.

Dull to his own death.

Other than embracing that messed-up view of life and death, there was nothing unusual in his life.

He advanced in school while surrounded by friends and creating lovers but then breaking up for some small reason. He had no inspiration to pursue the path of a doctor other than his father, and his surroundings also accepted this course as natural.

Therefore, his name held no meaning.

He never got involved in anything big and didn’t have the confidence to say that he gave anyone any large influence. As a medical intern in the middle of his twenties, there was no way he’d saved anyone already.

If his name held any meaning at all, it would be back then—perhaps it had some meaning during the moment he met the being that would become his companion.

And this, too, wasn’t his own name, but a different name that the girl called him—

“—Hi.”

On top of the hospital roof he came to have his break in, he turned around.

He felt like somebody called him, but other than himself, he couldn’t see anyone there.

“I’m here, I’m here.”

Wind blew.

With his unaccustomed white coat fluttering, he started walking toward that voice.

There was—something there.

“Hello. Nice weather we’re having today.”

On the roof’s fence was a “blue cocoon”.

Emitting a glow that wasn’t inferior at all to the noon sun, it pierced his eyes. He ended up laughing bitterly.

“Am I that tired? Maybe I need to go to the psychologist.”

“You mean that thing about doctors neglecting their health? It’s important to keep both heart and body healthy.”

The blue cocoon was talking. Every time it talked, its blue glow flowed in the wind, and its voice echoed directly in his head.

Not only that, but it talked with a voice that was none other than the man’s own.

“I’m just a mere intern. Not a real doctor.”

In actuality, he was already exhausted from the overly busy internship. He barely slept and since he had no appetite, he was undoubtably suffering from a vitamin deficiency.

His tired brain rejected his thoughts wondering what the blue cocoon in front of his eyes was.

The cocoon that talked in his own voice spoke of the weather.

This situation was obviously not normal.

“You’re my delusion and yet you don’t know what I am?”

“I don’t know anything about you. I only think about how I hate you from waking me up from my pleasant sleep.”

“Wake you up? I do not remember making any sound.”

“It’s not by sound. Well, anyway. Will you take responsibility?”

“So pushy… alright, I’ll go book in a psychiatrist.”

“Ah, ah, wait a minute! Alright, let’s have a serious talk.”

“I came here for a break, so I don’t mind a conversation. Can’t you do something about your voice, though? It sounds awfully like me—no, sounds a bit younger. Since your way of speaking is adult-like, it makes me feel sick.”

“A bit younger? Hmm, this is the first case of that. But as long as it’s your actual voice there’s no problem. We’re definitely already resonating.”

“If you’re going to talk with me, at least let me understand you.”

The intern spoke toward the empty fence. —If anyone else saw this scene, it would be an instant red flag. Starting tomorrow, he wouldn’t go to the hospital for work, but instead be admitted as a patient.

“By the way, can you try touching me?”

“How sudden. Feels awfully suspicious.”

“I want to sleep again. Help me. C’mon, please.”

“I don’t really know what you want from me. It’s hard enough even just taking care of myself right now. Look at those shadows under my eyes.”

“If you combine with me everything will be solved. Your body will become extremely healthy and your recovery ability will be enhanced.”

“Combine, you said? So violent. I have to be careful.”

“C-crap.”

Seeing the shivering cocoon, he snorted.

“Is that all of your bargain? Even an advertisement wouldn’t say something like just ‘makes you healthy’.”

“Alright… then let’s do this. There’s definitely something you want to accomplish, right? I have a vast experience in life. I’ll help you with whatever you want until I fall asleep.”

“Something I want to do?”

Being told this, he could only think of one thing.

“Saving someone’s life—how about that?”

“You’re an intern, right? Can’t you do that already?

“People die when it’s time for them to die.”

“Not what I’d have expected hearing from an aspiring doctor. —That’s only something an elderly doctor having treated many patients is allowed to say.”

“I want—to overturn it.”

He didn’t know what to call that thing.

The number of lives he treated was small. He’d made many friends in the hospital since he was little, but there were many times where he couldn’t do anything.

If he had to give that thing a name, perhaps it was “fate”—

He continued getting beaten down by it.

“If this wish of yours is real, it might be called a dream…”

The cocoon spoke like a know-it-all.

“But it’s not like that—maybe because you already gave up on it long ago. Meaning, trying to become a doctor is just revenge against your unfulfilled dream?”

“…”

“If you become one with me—you can do it.”

He widened his eyes.

“You can do that a single time.”

“R-really?”

“Let me also say this. It’s just one time. However—”

The blue cocoon spoke.

“If you become one with me, you might suffer horribly.”

So it was something like selling his soul to the devil, then.

He closed his eyes and thought. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes.

“…”

“W-wait a minute! Why are you reaching for me! Think about it some more!”

“The heck? You were the one who invited me.”

“I did, but I also threatened you! I told you you’re going to suffer horribly!”

“—Just like you said. I aimed to be a doctor for no more than revenge. Anyway, many of my friends were taken away until now.”

He smiled bitterly.

“So I wanted to take revenge for them. Right—a minimal resistance.”

Right now, if the cocoon in front of him was not an illusion, he wouldn’t hesitate to depend on it.

That, too, was his minimal resistance.

Something of the same kind as death and fate.

He never liked any of that.

The enemy was strong and he suffered successive losses—so he had to win at least once before warming up to it.

He couldn’t hold this desire back.

“…You won’t live for long.”

“Rather than me, there are too many people who can’t live for long.”

His finger—touched the blue cocoon.

The cocoon’s glow dyed his fingers and began rushing from his arms to his body. His hair, ruffled by the wind, was dyed in blue.

“Good grief, looks like my host this time is also a freak. I really have no luck in drawing my lot.”

This time, an illusion appeared in front of him.

It was himself, with hair glowing blue. However, that figure was younger than him, with a face that looked to be around his teens.

“My name is Aria Varei. —I’m also called Sanbikime.”

Leaving a smile, Aria Varei’s figure burst apart.

He turned to smile at empty air. He could definitely feel something dwelling within him.

“A cool name. Unfortunately, my own name is as common as it gets.”

Among the Original Three, the one who birthed Fusion Type Mushitsuki Prototype Mushitsuki, Sanbikime—

Perhaps the young man who became the vessel for such a monster possessed a name at that moment.

However, that name was not the one of this man, who until yesterday had an average life—

“However, the patients—always call me Sensei.”

From a minimal resistance, he stepped into a life full of sin.

His life itself was not something he had to talk about.

If there was any story to tell, it would be about the monster called Aria Varei and the man nicknamed Sensei.

As well as the girl who had her dreams eaten by the being called Mushi—

Part 2

It is time to speak of the girl called Hunter and the youth called Sensei.

This happened shortly before he met his bizarre partner called Aria Varei.

He met a single girl.

Cicada chirping could be heard from the open window.

Their cries were much too loud.

The thin girl lying on the bed looked so ephemeral that she might easily break.

“May I ask your name?”

What a pretty girl—

That was his first impression.

Turning to him, the girl’s sense of existence was too thin. He even wondered if her body was transparent. He remembered how her shapely features exposed an otherworldly atmosphere.

“I am Patricia.”

A name different from her nametag came from the girl’s lips.

“Patricia…?”

Perhaps she thought from his very first question that he was treating her like a child. The girl went silent with a cold expression. As he turned to look at the attending physician, he wore a sour expression.

As he turned back to the bed, the girl was looking at the bookshelf. His eyes followed there and he understood.

“Do you understand Patricia’s feelings?”

On the bookshelf was the picture book called The Magic Potion.

He’d also read it before, and since it left a deep impression on him, he remembered it. The girl in the book was supposed to be called Patricia.

“…?”

The girl raised her brow at his question.

“That’s fine. You can take your time looking for the answer.”

He thought he’d stop treating her like a child.

He only heard that she was a young lady of an affluent family and suffered from a serious sickness. However, she seemed to understand herself better than people thought.

“Unlike her, you still have plenty of time left.”

“…”

“Will you not tell me your name?”

The cicadas were noisy.

He vividly remembered something so inconsequential.

The cicada noises, loud enough as if to interrupt the girl from introducing herself—were not enough to fully block her murmur.

“—Hanashiro Mari.”

He wore a full smile.

“Nice to meet you, Hanashiro Mari-san.”

“…Your hair.”

“Hmm?”

“I think you’d better get a haircut.”

He scratched his unkempt hair while she gazed at him coldly.

Was their meeting as an intern and a patient inevitable?

He always thought of that.

If it was inevitable—then perhaps his wish as someone who wished to do the minimal resistance against fate came half-true.

The pair’s meeting was sure to twist the fate that kept flowing unobtrusively until then.

Him and Mari drove crazy the fates of so many people afterward, that he could actually believe it—

“We don’t know when her heart will stop.”

After the attending physician introduced him to Mari, he disclosed this when the two were walking in the corridor. As the other man walked in front of him, he couldn’t see his expression.

“If it stops even once… resuscitation will be likely impossible.”

“—I see.”

After seeing the medical records and speaking with the actual girl, he somewhat had a hunch.

The atmosphere clinging to Mari was the same as the friends he’d helped take care of.

“You father’s also a doctor and you go to this hospital a lot, right?”

“Yes.”

“Can you come and talk with her? Doesn’t have to be often.”

So he was going to see someone off once again—

Suppressing the indescribable feelings rising up within him, he clenched his fist.

In the end, even if he became a doctor, nothing changed. There was an unavoidable fate.

And so—he thought of doing the same thing as before. He would speak to Mari with a smile, listen to her with a smile, and speak of their future.

This would be the minimal resistance against that fate.

So he thought.

“Got it.”

The next event was a few days after he said this and nodded.

He encountered the blue cocoon called Aria Varei.

Ever since fusing with Aria Varei, coming to meet with Mari became a bit painful.

“…You still haven’t gotten a haircut.”

As he came for an unexpected visit at her sickroom, Mari’s sigh greeted him.

The same cold face as always.

She probably felt some deep-rooted distrust of the doctors she knew would never be able to save her. That Mari wasn’t opening her heart to him might have been due to the white lab coat he was wearing.

How ironic. Although he’d met Mari because he was an intern, his being an intern did not allow him to shrink the distance to her.

“…”

Even as he smiled, he silently gritted his teeth. He desperately held back the impulse swelling inside of him.

It was similar to gluttony—so he thought. And it was powerful.

A sickly-sweet smell emanated from Mari who sat on the bed, seeming to invite him. The same kind of feeling like not eating for a few days and having a full-course meal in front of you.

“Aaah, I’m so hungry. Let me eat already.”

He heard his own voice from somewhere.

However, it was not made by his own mouth, and he was the only one who could hear it.

“I want to gobble down her dream.”

“…You can’t,” he mumbled.

“…?”

Mari tilted her head. He smiled at her.

“No, it’s nothing. —I just don’t have the time to get a haircut. I’m so busy I might collapse.”

“Then just come here less.”

“She’s right. If you don’t want to eat her dream, why do you purposely come to meet her? It hurts you.”

“Please don’t say that. Oh, I brought you a new book. I’ll put it on the shelf.”

Mari didn’t seem interested in that new book either. She soon opened the picture book next to her.

The Magic Potion again. She seemed to really like it.

“Is there anything you want?”

“Not really.”

“You don’t have to restrain yourself.”

“I don’t need anything.”

While opening the window to ventilate the room, he sighed.

Although several months passed since he met her, Mari still hadn’t let her guard down.

“You’re allowed to be just a little selfish.”

“Even if you act all cheerful because I’m the first patient you’re in charge of, nothing good will come of it.”

He smiled bitterly.

It was exactly like Mari said. Although he was an intern, there was no doubt that meeting for the first time with the life he was to save had special meaning.

Therefore, he’d acted much different with Mari than when he’d met the patients in his dad’s hospital.

“Or else, if what you want is money, tell my parents. I don’t have any.”

“She thinks you’re after money? Such a cynic. It makes even me angry. Hey, why don’t you tell her? That I can eat her dream.”

Mari was—strong.

She was ephemeral and brittle, but he knew that something powerful was supporting the girl called Hanashiro Mari.

What was it?

The monster living inside him knew the answer.

“Ah, it smells so delicious. This girl’s dream…”

A dream.

A strong wish to become something or do something.

As he became one with Aria Varei, Mari’s dream became like a violent charm that assaulted him.

“Mari…!”

The girl was suddenly assaulted by violent coughing fit. Holding her chest, she grimaced painfully.

“Are you alright? Here, take your medicine…”

“—What’s your…?”

“Don’t speak yet. You have to take long, deep breaths—”

“What’s your goal? Why do you come here every day?”

Mari grabbed his white coat. Looking at him with eyes like a lost child, he realized.

Being smart as she was, Mari probably realized why this intern was coming to visit her. She’d apparently understood intuitively that he had to some goal there.

“We’re here to eat her dream, of course! Right?”

He bit her lips, grabbing Mari’s arms.

“I want—to save you.”

“…”

“That’s all…”

It was his true opinion.

His helpless, completely pure, one and only wish.

However, he had no idea how he could save Mari—

Seeing him so lost, Mari snorted.

“—Why are you the one who looks like he’s going to cry?”

Albeit unwillingly, he was able to see Mari’s smile for the first time.

“You look like you’re the one who wants to be saved.”

“…”

“If you’re going to become a doctor—you’ve got to become better at lying.”

He gulped.

“It’s not a lie. I—”

“Then you’re hiding something.”

“…!”

“You look like you’re trying to say something. But you still haven’t said it.”

It wasn’t Mari who didn’t open her heart, but him—

She probably always thought this.

Mari had long since seen through what he tried to desperately hide.

“You’re very kind, but you’ve been looking at me with scary eyes from time to time… what’s up with that?”

“I-I—”

“Isn’t it possible that I’m doing something very cruel to you…”

He widened his eyes.

No. Obviously not. What agonized him was his own selfishness—

“—Don’t tell her.”

Aria reminded him.

“I understand you don’t want to eat her. You can think about looking for a different dream.”

What was that?

He almost spoke without thinking.

“I just got a really bad premonition. This girl—Hanashiro Mari—is too smart. If I make her a Mushitsuki, it might cause something unthinkable…”

“Please tell me. The truth…”

The whispering Aria and the entreating Mari.

Being assaulted by these two voices, he—

“—Listen carefully, Mari.”

Opened his mouth.

The roof was nice.

No one came there, so he could speak with his partner freely.

“Why did you tell her!”

Aria became sullen, speaking in a loud voice that only he could hear.

“Why did you tell her!”

Sitting on the resting bench, he put the back of his head on his two hands crossed behind his head. He looked up at the blue sky, just as blue as the cocoon Aria Varei had when they first met.

The wind felt good.

“Aaah, come on! Why did you—”

“Alright, I get it. It’s my fault. Sorry, Aria.”

“What do you mean, you’re sorry! You’re not feeling bad at all! You’re not even reflecting on it! You told her every single last detail! Aaah, aaah! Now we’ll have to be careful of her as well! It’s gotten real complicated now!”

He was stumped, and wore a bitter smile.

He told Mari everything.

About the beings called Mushi that ate the dreams of boys and girls. People getting possessed by Mushi became Mushitsuki, and in exchange for them getting supernatural abilities, their dreams were eaten by the Mushi.

And, about the fact that his body was dwelling to one of the Original Three who created Mushitsuki.

Aria Varei—

The Monster that produced Fusion-Type Mushitsuki, called Sanbikime.

“Aren’t I apologizing? You’re so stubborn. Are you really a copy of my personality?”

“Right! Since I’m stubborn, it means you’re stubborn as well! Geez, why are all of my vessels always so selfish…”

Unlike the other Original Three, Aria Varei couldn’t exist independently.

He continued existing in this world by waking from his slumber by the scent of dreams and choosing a person close to that dream’s owner as a “vessel”.

The personality known as Aria Varei was apparently already lost. Because of that, it could communicate by copying the personality of his host, he said. He apparently repeated this process many times before.

“I don’t even know if she believed me.”

“Maybe. —She might’ve not believed you if you hadn’t used her abilities right in front of her.”

“…”

“She believed. She’s smart.”

Even hearing his story, Mari was half dubious. No, perhaps she was 90% dubious.

Therefore, he used a certain ability in front of her.

”—This isn’t just Mari. Everyone wonders what kind of person the one next to them is. So I spoke honestly to her.”

As he mumbled this, his hair glowed in pure blue. The light flowing through his unkempt hair became a bundle of light and extended through the bench to the one hand grabbing the fence.

And plunged.

His arm draped in the blue light slipped through the metallic fence. Although it was supposed to be hard, it felt just like jelly.

“To be honest, I also know Mari was scared. But—”

The ability to fuse with inorganic matter—

This was Aria Varei’s ability. It could also be called the power of permeation. It could fuse with any material and pass through it. Even though his body’s regeneration ability was strengthened and his body became healthier—monstrous attributes to be sure—it was only at this level. Unlike the other Original Three, Aria had no power related to combat.

The blue glow vanished and his hair returned being unkempt like before.

“She wasn’t scared.”

“…”

“Not only that, but even as she saw you using the power of a monster, she said this.”

He was prepared for her to be scared of him.

However, Mari widened her eyes—and of all things, laughed.

“—’Right. So you came to meet me to eat my dream’.”

It was a complete misunderstanding. Well, Aria Varei did intend on doing so, though.

On top of having that scary misunderstanding, Mari, of all things, looked relieved.

“Not only did she believe us, but she was relieved. A 13-year-old kid faced with a monster who’d eat her, smiled happily.”

“…”

“Being monster feed. —Such a scary reason for one’s raison d'être.”

“…Until now everyone tried to consider her feelings. Both family and people from the hospital tried to connect with her, all of them.”

“It’s tough being a young rich lady.”

“But what you—Aria Varei—aim for, has nothing to do with money.”

“Yeah. What I want… is simply the dream belonging to the girl called ‘Hanashiro Mari’.”

“And you’re still going to eat her dream despite knowing that.”

“I don’t have emotions, so I also have no mercy. I’m simply a being that eats dream. A really horrible monster. All I have is the desire to eat her dream and go to sleep again.”

“And… I’ll forget about Mari.”

That was one rule of Aria Varei’s dream eating system.

After turning his target to a Mushitsuki, Aria Varei would convert to a cocoon again and fall asleep.

And the human that was his vessel would lose all memories related to the person made Mushitsuki. At the same time, he’d also forget about the existence of Aria Varei.

“What a horrible thing that is.”

“This is salvation. At least in regards to you.”

“What salvation are you talking about? I will bear the sin of making Mari a Mushitsuki and only I will be saved. How odd. Sinners ought to receive their punishment. Them being saved instead is out of the question.”

“I’m the sinner. Me, Aria Varei. —From my side calling yourself a sinner just sounds silly, and besides, you’d be snatching my mission like that.”

“Then I… what am I, exactly?”

The blue sky that filled his sight had white clouds that looked like they were feeling good swimming there.

“Aria Varei will eat Mari’s dream, turning her into a Mushitsuki. —What’s my reason for being here?”

“You—simply have bad luck.”

Aria’s tone was cold. Although it was his own voice, it sounded like another person entirely.

“You just so happened to be near Hanashiro Mari’s dream, and you just so happened to catch a monster’s eyes. You’re nothing but a man with bad luck. You should begrudge me, your fate—and Hanashiro Mari. You have that right.”

“…Even so, I was the one who decided to touch you.”

Silence fell between the two people—no, between the human and creature.

For a while, they simply let the wind intoxicate them.

With his unkempt hair illuminated by the son, his lab coat’s hem was touching the floor.

“Say, about that picture book. What’s that ‘Magic Potion’ thing?”

Aria suddenly inquired.

“It’s a picture book from abroad. I read it before as well. —Actually, it’s thanks to this book that I’m so average.”

“Oh… what’s the story? Tell me.”

It was a short book. He started speaking what he remembered of the plot.

The sick Patricia was visited by a witch.

The witch spoke thusly.

Here I have a potion given by an angel and a potion given by the devil. If you drink the angel’s potion, in exchange for losing the person important to you, you will heal from your illness and live forever. If you drink the devil’s potion, you will die. However, the person important to you will always console you at your side. Which will you choose?

Patricia spoke thusly.

I want the devil’s potion.

The witch fulfilled Patricia’s request.

While watched over by those important to her, Patricia fell into an eternal sleep.

However, she did not feel lonely. The girl sitting on top of the hill was always being watched by those important to her—

“This isn’t really a story you should tell to children.”

The moment he finished the story, the creature inside him plainly asserted this. He smiled bitterly.

“Indeed. Children would probably only tilt their head. Why did Patricia purposely choose death? —Reading it again as an adult, you finally understand why.”

“You said you were average because of that book, right?”

“I knew that life had many different flavors.”

He knew that dying didn’t have just one shape.

Patricia did not choose literal death. It was another way of living.

It all seemed very mysterious, but he finally understood it once he became an adult. If he hadn’t, his heart might have broken long ago with so many deaths in front of him.

However, although he could understand the picture book’s meaning, he still couldn’t agree with it—perhaps became he hadn’t fully become an adult?

“Mari probably doesn’t understand the meaning of that book yet.”

She definitely desired the angel’s potion.

That was natural, and definitely not a mistake.

However, a single sentence was obviously not enough to describe the thing called life.

“When she becomes an adult… she should read that book again.”

“So that book’s the reason you give Mari special treatment, then? I thought you’d already seen countless children like her in the hospital—oh, I finally understand.”

“What do you understand?”

“Ever since I heard about you becoming friends with many children in the hospital, I thought it was strange. I mean, if you really went through that again and again, it’d be a miracle you’re so average now. If anyone other than you went through the same thing, wouldn’t they become, unlike you, apathetic towards death? Or perhaps they’d try to take their distance away from death. They’d never try to become a doctor.”

“Really?”

“Even so you’re just like a complete novice intern. Like a brand-new car without any scratches.”

“I am a novice intern.”

“You’re already—covered in scars.”

He sank into silence.

“You don’t even think of hurting yourself? While clenching your fists in despair so hard that your nails dug into your skin, you saw off your friend’s deaths with a smile? Even those scars are important for their tombstones. —Oh, you’re such a fool.”

“…”

“Even becoming a doctor is nothing more than to say, ‘well, at least I tried the minimal resistance’.”

“You’re incredible, Aria.”

Becoming extremely amused, he laughed.

“I really am a fool—but this is the first time someone’s seen it.”

“It’s obvious. I’m so close to you, you know? You’re an unbelievable idiot.”

“And you’re a good guy.”

This time Aria sank into silence.

“We’re talking about me, and yet you’re as angry as if this was about you.”

“Have you already forgotten that I have your personality? Saying I’m angry means that you’re angry as well. At death, or something like that.”

“Really? Well, and you’re saying you want to eat Mari’s dream, but at least to me it doesn’t sound like you really mean—”

“I am a merciless monster. If I still look like a good guy to you…”

Aria’s tone was hard.

“It means that you’re the good guy here…”

He smiled and closed his eyes.

The creature living inside of him was quite obstinate and apparently also quite shy.

It didn’t seem like his copy. Wasn’t it wrong, the idea that Aria’s personality was already long gone?

The lying monster, Aria Varei.

He didn’t hate him at all.

“Then I’ll try praying. Please give up on Mari, oh great Aria Varei.”

“That is a wish that can never come true, mortal. I once said I’ll give up, but that was a lie.”

“I also have my own will. If you don’t eat Mari, you can do nothing but keep being inside this idiot forever.”

“Everyone who becomes my vessel is an idiot. How many times do I have to say it until you get it?”

Aria’s voice, that only he could hear, had some lonely laughter mixed in it somewhere.

“Forever, huh… this isn’t just nostalgic, but a very difficult request.”

Him and Aria Varei.

The doctor intern who never gave up easily and the cynical monster.

Although this pair of human and creature were incompatible, they weren’t a bad combo for banter.

Even while he kept talking pessimistically, it wasn’t bad.

However.

The time for the two of them to part was inevitable—

He couldn’t let it happen.

Would a crime committed like that really be called a crime?

If he had to carry a sin that didn’t fit him—wasn’t it already a crime?

If that was true, it meant that he’d already committed a different kind of sin.

“Someone! Is someone there?!”

When Mari had said that she wanted to talk a walk through the courtyard for a change, he was happy.

He was happy at her finally being selfish. Therefore, although it was his lunch time, he’d helped her secretly escape the hospital ward.

However, that was a mistake.

“Come here, someone! Can’t you hear me?!”

He wrung out a voice louder than ever before.

In his arms were thin, trembling shoulders.

“Hah…! Hah…!”

Holding her chest and gritting her teeth was Hanashiro Mari. Next to her the completely useless bottle of medicine rolled away.

“Hold yourself together, Mari! I’ll call a stretcher—”

As he tried rising up, she held his lab coat and wouldn’t let go.

“…!”

He understood.

He knew why Mari was so desperate.

She was so, so lonely. Unless she felt someone’s warmth, she’d be too scared and helpless, as if the world itself was distancing from her.

Since he saw countless people like her before, he knew it immediately—

“Hah…! Hah…! Uuh…”

As Mari trembled and bit her lips, he held her with all his power.

This wasn’t the first time she had an attack.

However, something was clearly different about it, this time. It didn’t look like the medicine helped at all, and as she collapsed atop the grass, her complexion was deathly white.

“Mari…! Hold on, Mari…!”

It was such nice weather, too. This fact almost made him angry.

He felt an out-of-place anger toward the sun floating in the sky.

If only it hadn’t invited Mari outside—

Also, it kept mercilessly shining on the sweating, groaning girl.

Although he knew it was nonsense, he couldn’t help but hate this sun.

“Hah…! Hah…!”

“Mari…! Mari…!”

Even if someone who remained in the hospital during lunch noticed them.

Even if he didn’t go out for a walk and remained in the room.

He knew that a large seizure like that was already guaranteed.

With her heart weakened by illness, if Mari suffered a large seizure even once and her heart stopped, there would be no saving her. No matter the method of resuscitation, the possibility of moving her heart again was despairingly low—

“Haa…! Ha—ah…”

Mari’s breathing grew gradually weaker.

He tightly gripped Mari’s hand grasping his coat. She widened her eyes. He could feel Mari’s body warmth on his shoulders getting colder.

“He—”

Mari no longer even had the energy to groan. Her pupils looking up at him weakly, she shed tears.

“He—help—”

“…!”

He clenched his teeth hard, holding back a scream.

It wasn’t him who wanted to scream right now.

How painful was this?

How scary was this?

Why did the fate called death bare its cruel fangs against such a small girl?

“Mari—”

He was powerless.

Even though he was an adult.

Even though he always associated with doctors.

He couldn’t even answer the one girl who first sought his help—

“I wonder why… it always ends like this.”

Aria Varei, until then quiet, mumbled.

“Every time I dwell inside someone, I think that maybe this time it wouldn’t happen—but it’s always the same. Is this the thing called fate?”

“…! So you’re telling me to give up because it’s fate? Don’t make me laugh! That sort of thing can eat shit! What are you saying Mari did?!”

He shouted what he always wanted.

From when he was little, he always groaned in his heart.

Right now, he couldn’t help but let it out of his mouth in the form of curses.

“I’m sick of it! Why does it have to be Mari?! Why does it always take weak people! Who the hell created this twisted thing called fate!”

He could shout curses as much as he wanted.

He would cuss with the foulest language possible.

If these foolish yells would bind Mari’s consciousness to this world even a little.

There was nothing else he could do—

“—”

Mari’s breathing became thinner.

Her heartbeat weakened. Her temperature dropped.

He knew that her life was slipping from his arms.

Although he was so close, he couldn’t touch it. Even if he gathered it, he could do nothing else than support her body that became heavier in his arms.

“Mari—”

He hugged Mari even stronger. He wanted to share as much body heat as he could.

He couldn’t do anything—

Was that true?

There was just one thing he could do.

“Mari…”

He spoke in a trembling voice.

“I know this is useless, but I’ll say it just in case… I—Aria Varei—do not know what happens if I turn a sick person into a Mushitsuki. I know it’s a bit late, but that was one of the reasons I hesitated…”

Aria spoke calmly.

As long as she said it herself.

“What’s your dream?”

Mari’s eyelids moved. She stiffly raised her chin, looking at his face.

“I don’t know whether or not I can save her. And even if we save her, there’s no telling what’ll happen.”

“Tell me, Mari…”

“This might cause something to overturn the very existence of Mushi and Mushitsuki—twisting the thing you hate most, fate. Because of that, there’s a chance even the world might get destroyed. I’m not exaggerating.”

Right, he got it.

Aria Varei stopped him.

But he wouldn’t stop.

Then he would carry that sin.

In exchange for his right to avenge destiny, he would snatch Hanashiro Mari’s life away.

“I…”

Mari wrung out barely a whisper. Tears came gushing out of her eyes.

“Want to live—”

These words squeezed out the literal last drop of life.

And he heard it.

His unkempt hair was wrapped in an azure glow.

“Live—”

So small.

So pure.

As Mari spoke her very short dream, the trembling on her lips was gone.

The girl’s eyelids—closed.

The pulse he could feel in his arm stopped.

“Let’s see the continuation of your dream together…”

Hanashiro Mari’s destiny stopped once there.

This small dream vanished.

Therefore, so that he could redo it—

He made the minimal resistance.

As a result, Hanashiro Mari was reborn as a Mushitsuki.

But that was all.

Nothing else changed.

Nothing at all—

“Say.”

Sitting on the edge of the dreary sickroom’s bed, Mari turned to him with a cold expression.

No one came to visit.

The girl living in a cell no one knew about.

It was surprising how little this scene changed from before she was a Mushitsuki.

Also—

“Is Aria Varei still inside you?”

“…”

While switching the water in the vase, he wore a bitter smile.

No, it really was a lot of trouble.

By turning Mari into a Mushitsuki, her body was reborn as a Mushitsuki, so she just barely came back to life. Although it wasn’t enough to heal her sickness, it managed to give her another chance to see her dream.

If he turned Mari into a Mushitsuki, Aria Varei would go back to sleep and forget about her—

Or so he heard, but he too was unchanged from when he’d turned Mari into a Mushitsuki.

Although he was resolved for it, it felt like a slap on the wrist.

“Wasn’t he supposed to vanish because you made me a Mushitsuki?”

“That Aria. Such a liar.”

“This irregularity’s the first time for me! I told you this already!”

The Aria Varei inside him argued fiercely.

Although this monster had given birth to countless Mushitsuki, this was apparently the first case like this.

“’This irregularity’s the first time for me! I told you this already!’ is what Aria says.”

“So it’s irregular… because I was sick?”

“Aria thinks so. The moment someone becomes a Fusion-Type Mushitsuki, their body is remade. Therefore, he thinks that if someone’s body was abnormal from the get go and they become a Mushitsuki, it’d give birth to some sort of error. —Since you were reborn anyway, I wish your disease healed as well.”

The room full of stagnant air had only the two of them, speaking calmly.

Nothing changed from the period when they’d just met.

The only thing that changed was that he bore a sin and that Mari became Mushitsuki.

Adding to her sickness, now Mari was assaulted by the pain of being a Mushitsuki. Because of that, Mari might resent him. She might punish him one day.

However, he was able to defy fate.

If that was the price to pay, he was glad for it. That was the ultimate proof that he’d been able to catch fate off-guard.

“I managed to defy fate—is what you’re thinking, right?”

“Am I wrong?”

He suddenly answered out loud. Mari was already used to it, though, so she didn’t mind it, still reading the book on top of her knees.

“You really are carefree! I—have a very bad feeling. It’s impossible for nothing to change with me despite having given birth to a Mushitsuki. I’m supposed to be sleeping, but I’m still here. Something had to happen to cause this inconsistency.”

Aria’s tone transmitted his shock.

“Somewhere, something—turned out funny. That’s my feeling. Haven’t we done something outrageous? In the end, is Hanashiro Mari—a normal Mushitsuki?”

“You’re overthinking this.”

He said this and laughed. No matter what happened, he’d been able to overturn the fate of Mari’s death once. There was no mistaking that.

He’d been viewing this so optimistically—probably because he was, just like Aria said, too carefree.

Although this daily life was unchanged, it began to slowly…

And yet surely…

Accelerate—

“…”

The sickroom’s clock indicated it was past 1 AM.

The girl sleeping in bed suddenly raised her body. She opened the closet and pulled out a modified white coat.

The girl wearing the coat and using a wool hat and a scarf to hide her face put her hand to the window—

“—Stop with this already, Mari.”

Her arm about to touch the window stopped.

The girl turned to the young man standing in the corner.

Under the moonlight peeking from the window, him and Mari faced each other.

“You’ve made a promise with me. Your dream’s continuation—”

“I know well enough about my body.”

Mari’s sharp eyes pierced him.

“At least let me do as I please in my last moments.”

“Those aren’t your last moments at all. You’re still…”

Every night, Mari started running around Akamaki City.

Her power as a Fusion Type Mushitsuki gave Mari temporary special abilities. Just for when she used her abilities, she gained superhuman stamina.

Mari had started going around at night due to a slip of tongue he’d had when talking about something with her.

“Also, haven’t you said it? That I might be able to defeat the Undying Mushitsuki. Is there any other Mushitsuki that could do it?”

“But that doesn’t mean it has to be you…”

He’d blurted out the existence of the Undying Mushitsuki.

He’d also told her that this being was part of the chain of phenomena that led to the birth of Mushitsuki. As well as the fact that it might be possible for Mari to cut off these shackles.

However, it wasn’t any sense of duty that moved Mari. He knew that.

Mari searched for the Undying Mushitsuki—probably due to envy.

A being that would never die.

He couldn’t give Mari that power, which was what Mari wanted most of all—

“You were the one who gave me this power. So you have the responsibility to watch me until the end.”

He couldn’t stop the girl from jumping out of the window after asserting this.

Hanashiro Mari kept hunting the Mushitsuki lurking in Akamaki City—she was called Hunter and became feared. No one could stop her.

“Just like she said. We can do nothing but watch…”

Aria whispered.

“I’ve given birth to the Mushitsuki called Hanashiro Mari—who I no longer doubt is a mutated Mushitsuki. Since I’ve lost half of my powers as Aria Varei at the time, we no longer have the power to stop her. It’s hopeless…”

“No! Never mind all that!”

He shouted in the empty sickroom.

“Mutant, Undying Mushitsuki, I don’t care about any of those! I just can’t stand seeing Mari getting weaker and weaker! Can’t you do something, Aria? If we keep this up Mari will eventually—”

“I already told you. At the time we met.”

He clenched his fist.

“I can only save her once…”

She spent her days fighting with her illness and at night she hunted Mushitsuki.

These days mercilessly exhausted Mari.

“What’s wrong with my body! Why is it so worn out! Why am I the only one…”

As Mari sobbed on top of her bed, he could do nothing but clench his teeth at his powerlessness.

“Give me the angel’s potion… please…”

He couldn’t do anything.

It was impossible even for the monster called Aria Varei to save Mari a second time.

Could they really do nothing but wait for the repeat of this tragedy?

It happened when he felt his body being ripped apart by those thoughts.

The possibility of salvation came in an unexcepted form.

“—Hello!”

A ray of sunlight took the form of a cute girl with a bouncy ponytail.

“I’m Ichinokuro Arisu.”

“Sorry. I don’t know any of my classmates by faces and names…”

“Oh, right. So, nice to meet you.”

“…Nice to meet you.”

Mari was confused at this sudden visitor. However, as Arisu started coming there every day, her confusion melted and vanished.

Her accelerated destiny calmed down.

At the same time Mari’s expression became gentler to a surprising degree—she’d started smiling from time to time.

“You’ve changed a bit, Mari.”

“Ah… it’s actually you who’s been changing, Arisu.”

“What, seriously? I’m changing? Is anything strange?”

He could hear Mari’s laughter.

She didn’t need Mushi or Aria Varei’s supernatural power.

With a mere smile, Ichinokuro Arisu managed a great achievement that he couldn’t.

He could imagine Mari’s smile, that he wanted to see no matter what, through the wall separating them.

“Nothing for you to do, eh.”

Outside the room, sitting on a protrusion coming out from the wall, he smiled. His hair was glowing blue.

“It’s fine. I don’t really care…”

Every time Arisu came, he’d always retreat from the room like this. He was unneeded in this space where Mari and Arisu smiled together.

“But Ichinokuro… no way, she’s that—”

“What did you say?”

“No, it’s nothing. …Looks like she’s a good girl.”

“Yes, true…”

Arisu did what he couldn’t.

He could do nothing but make Mari a Mushitsuki, but Arisu was different.

She also changed the girl called Mari.

How should he let Arisu know he was grateful?

“This aspiring doctor totally lost face.”

“Truly. I’m happy. I should leave Mari already.”

“And then do what?”

“Hmm, what should I do… what about you?”

“Me? Why’re you asking me?”

“I think I should honor my resident’s wishes. Looks like you’re not going to get out of my body anyway.”

“Right… naturally I want to sleep—”

Aria Varei’s voice had a nostalgic tone to it.

“But before that, I’d like to see the sea…”

“The sea, huh… not bad.”

He was with the monster Aria Varei.

Mari was with her friend Arisu.

It happened just after they set on their separate paths.

Destiny accelerated again.

“Sensei.”

Inside the silent sickroom, Mari called him.

Her expression—was as ephemeral as when the two of them first met.

“What is it?”

“Here’s a present from me.”

He was handed a necklace. Its chain emitted a silver glow almost as vivid as the wings of Mari’s Morpho butterfly. It had a gold ring hanging on it.

I’ll treasure this.

He thought so from the bottom of his heart along with the happiness and loneliness gushing out from him.

“Another proof I lived…”

Mari’s condition returned being that from before she became Mushitsuki.

No, according to a recent scan, her condition was even worse. The god of diseases certainly ate into Mari’s body, trying to take her again.

His “minimal resistance” simply postponed fate for a while.

Now it resumed, trying to reach the same result—

“And I have another one for Arisu… If she knew my dream, she’d definitely hold a grudge.”

“A grudge…?”

“Arisu’s kind, so my wish will…”

He’d been bothered by the meaning of Mari’s words at the time.

He had a bad feeling about it.

However, he had way too little time to ask Mari about this—

That time came again.

He could do nothing but watch it.

“…”

On top of the roof of a certain building lay an indescribable figure.

The blinding morning sun blessed the girl who’d expired with a faint smile on her face.

Hanashiro Mari.

Fighting her illness, fighting loneliness, fighting Mushi—while seeing off her irreplaceable friend, the girl passed away. Now he was carrying her.

She was surprisingly light.

This small girl lost her battle against her sickness.

For her dream to live, she kept desperately living.

She was such a splendid girl, and he—

“—Uuh…”

Would someday forget her.

The moment he separated from Aria Varei, he’d forget about Hanashiro Mari.

That was his payback for attempting “the minimal resistance” against fate.

He could do nothing but carry her empty husk back to that lonely room—

“UuuUuuh…!”

His feet couldn’t head back to the room.

Still holding her empty husk, he broke into tears.

“Waaaaaah!”

What had Mari done to him?

Although he was a mere intern, he was unable to even treat her illness.

He even branded her as a Mushitsuki.

In the end, could he really say that he managed to save Mari?

If she was beyond saving, then at least—

“Aaaaaah!”

Someone, please remember her.

Since he’d already deceived fate, he wasn’t allowed to ask for another selfishness, but he still strongly wished for it.

Since he’d definitely forget one day—he wanted someone to remember.

About the girl called Hanashiro Mari who desperately lived her short lifespan.

About her life.

“Aaaah…”

He could do nothing but scream as her parting gift. It didn’t matter who. He wanted to let at least one more person know about Mari’s passage.

But his voice grew hoarse.

He had one more job.

“…I wonder if you remember.”

The monster inside him, Aria Varei, spoke in a kind voice.

“I said I wanted to see the sea… and you said it wasn’t a bad choice.”

Holding Mari, he turned on his heavy heels.

His final role was to carry her back to the sickroom—and then leave the city.

So he swore.

Thus, the man called Sensei continued his journey.

However, the twisted fate couldn’t even forgive his escape—

Part 3

It is time to speak of a certain free girl and a windy island.

Having finished his internship at Akamaki City, just like he’d promised to the monster nestling inside him, he came to the sea.

“…Well, I did say I wanted to see the sea.”

The surface of sea visible from the hill was sublime.

Even bluer than the clear sky, a sea as far as the eye could see.

It sparkled as it reflected the sunlight and had the same color as Aria Varei’s cocoon when they first met.

“But, well.”

He inhaled a lungful of the salty wind.

It felt good, but his unkempt hair became even wilder. He doubted whether he could find any hair stylist to cut it for him here.

Aoharima Island.

He came to this small, solitary island that had a population of less than 300 people.

“That’s way too small! I never said anything about being surrounded by the sea!”

“Are you dissatisfied? I really like it.”

Several fishing boats floated in the sparkling sea around them.

Aoharima Island was an island of fishermen.

Let’s get as far from Akamaki City as possible—

He somehow found this island after thinking this.

Somehow thinking this what he found, was this island. The island’s residents apparently relied on the doctor in the mainland thus far and tried hiring a doctor to stay on the island countless times, but were ignored.

When he requested for it, he was easily accepted without any proper check. Even such a greenhorn doctor was better than none at all.

“Well… I do think it’s not bad.”

“I know, right? You’re so dishonest.”

“Hmph. If you say I’m dishonest, that means—”

“That I’m dishonest as well, right?”

He was already tired of resisting fate.

The zeal he had when first becoming a doctor and his intention to battle against fate were left behind in Akamaki City. As a parting gift to the girl called Hanashiro Mari who had such a splendid dream, he offered all of those up.

He thought that this island, isolated from the outside world, would be out of reach for fate.

Although he decided to become a hermit despite being so young, he didn’t feel lonely.

His badmouthed partner still stayed within him even now.

“So you’re going to live on nothing but fish? That’s so dull.”

“Isn’t it good for your health? Also, in this time and age, fresh fish are quite expensive.”

“Your optimism sure looks suicidal sometimes.”

“Makes it the perfect combo with your constant pessimism and self-preservation.”

As they spoke about nonsense on top of the hill, a sweet fragrance tickled his nose.

He turned around.

“What’re ya doing?”

Just like a careless bird on a deserted island—

A long-haired girl innocently approached him.

“…I’m looking for a beautiful dream.”

The reason for him to blurt out something without thinking was perhaps due to the sweet smell drifting from the girl.

Although he tried escaping from the ring of fate, something grabbed him tight and wouldn’t let go—

Such a delusion passed through his mind.

“And why are you here, young lady?”

The girl who looked at him with eyes like someone seeing a vagabond started sulking. As if she was saying he took her spot.

“I was looking for the beautiful sea and wind, you see.”

“Oh. Then I was in your way?”

“Yup. Go away.”

“Sorry. I want to be here just a bit longer, is it fine?”

“Nope.”

The girl had a mismatch between her sweet way of talking like a child and her adultlike body. Later hearing that she was the same age as Mari, he was shocked.

“It’s actually you who shouldn’t be near me.”

“Why?”

“You see, I end up eating people’s dreams.”

“Ooh?”

While he something true like a joke, the girl made a half-hearted reply, not understanding him.

That girl was called Shirakashi Ubuki.

She was completely unrelated to the twisted fate created between him and Hanashiro Mari.

Even if he were to be involved in some special fate here, it would surely be different from the one created by Hanashiro Mari and the Morpho butterfly—

“…Is ‘ooh’ all you have to say about it?”

The identity of the smell drifting from Ubuki.

That was undoubtedly the scent of a dream.

“It’s fine—”

Aria spoke seriously.

“This girl’s dream is still but a bud. Not enough to satiate our hunger…”

Were these words, unfitting for a dream-eating monster, directed at him—or was Aria Varei saying that to himself?

His partner’s apprehension surprisingly ended up as needless worry.

Shirakashi Ubuki’s dream stopped just a shade shy of being able to satiate their hunger.

One month passed.

Two months passed.

He grew used to life on the island and spent it peacefully.

“—It’s that girl again. She’s going to come here soon.”

The island’s clinic was rebuilt form a facility to preserve food.

While working inside the sturdily built underground storehouse, he raised his face. He exhaled his breath in front of a jar used to store pickled fish, removing his gloves.

Mixed with the scent of fish in the underground room was the sweet scent he’d grown used to.

“You’ve got a good nose.”

“Yup. Among the Original Three, my sense of smell is outstanding.”

“Meaning that you’re the best weakling among the Original Three.”

“Hehe, yeah, that happened before. Even as I am, I was once cornered by that Elvioréne. …I get the shivers every time I recall.”

“Oh, what happened?”

“Hmm, well, you know. My previous vessel was an idiot as well… I should just stay weak.”

Climbing up the stone stairs, he exited to the surface.

The underground storehouse was inside a shack built right next to the clinic. From outside it just looked like a normal shack.

“Oh, Sensei. So you were there, eh?”

Shirakashi Ubuki’s face peeked from the clinic’s window. Thinking about it, most adults knew about the underground storehouse, but what about Ubuki? He vaguely pondered this.

“You can’t be outside the clinic. What’re you gonna if there’s an emergency patient?”

“Luckily, this island’s the very image of peace. Only ones to come here are people who were cut by their fishing gear or old people coming for checkups.”

“Ya gotta have some sense of danger! You’re a doctor!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Shirakashi Ubuki had lost both parents and had no relatives. She was gathered with other children like her and lived in a facility on the island.

Coming back to the clinic, he stripped his coat and put on a doctor’s gown.

Only him and Ubuki were inside the room that had only the barest furniture. If he ever needed helpers, some people from the island would help him.

“Here you go, Sensei.”

“What’s this?”

“Meat sent from the mainland. I’m sharing.”

“Oh, looks great. Thanks.”

“Why don’t you come to the market sometime, Sensei?”

“Well… if I need anything.”

“Geez, that’s why you’ll never get used to the island. Do you put the meat in the freezer?”

Seeing off the back of the girl who ran toward the kitchen as she said this, he smiled bitterly.

“You’re completely used to this already.”

“She’s so full of energy. I feel relieved watching her.”

Whispering, he sat in the chair. He arranged the medical tools needed for the elderly patient about to arrive soon.

“That’s normal for a girl like her.”

“Are you recalling Hanashiro Mari?”

“…”

“Ubuki’s fine. She looks like she never even caught a cold, and most importantly, it doesn’t look as though her dream will catch my attention—”

It happened right before Aria finished talking.

There was a loud bang from the kitchen.

“W-what was that?”

“…Ubuki!”

He leapt out of the chair like a rocket, rushing to the kitchen.

Flying into his line of sight was Ubuki sitting on the floor. He saw white fragments all around her.

“S-Sensei…”

He unconsciously grasped Ubuki’s shoulder as she awkwardly turned around.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt? Are you fully conscious?”

“Sensei…?”

What sort of expression was he wearing at the moment? While he was absorbed in checking her wounds, her eyes and her pulse, Ubuki looked at him with surprise.

“Nothing happened to you? Really?”

Holding Ubuki’s cheeks in both hands, he checked her obstinately. She nodded.

“Thank god… Ubuki—”

He hugged the girl’s head. He could faintly smell a sweet dream.

“…”

He felt that Aria Varei inside him sounded like he wanted to say something.

He knew it.

Ubuki was not Mari.

He simply—didn’t want to lose anyone anymore.

“Sensei—”

Ubuki mumbled from within his arms.

“I just thought you haven’t eaten lunch… so I wanted to fix you something up—”

Raising his face, he saw the burnt microwave.

She apparently tried heating a raw egg in it. The fragments strewn about were egg shells.

“—I’m sorry.”

With her cheeks blushing, Ubuki lowered her face and apologized.

He separated from her and was about to impulsively yell at her.

“Haa… what a cliched failure.”

Before that, however, he was told this by his own voice.

“But how did putting meat in the freezer turn into exploding microwaves?”

Pff, he burst laughing.

“T-this really is a mess. I didn’t know that putting meat in the freezer could cause the microwave to explode…!”

“D-don’t laugh at me! It’s always my brothers and sisters cooking meals, so I never—”

“Haha!”

“Sensei, you idiot!”

Her face red, Ubuki flew out of the kitchen. He saw her off while still sitting.

She was fine.

Shirakashi Ubuki stayed as energetic as always.

“She has great fortune, that one.”

“…Yeah.”

Surrounded by broken egg shells, he laughed.

“You really are an insensitive guy, though. She might hate you for laughing so hard, you know? Even though she was your only friend here.”

“You’re the one who made me laugh.”

“You’re the one who decided to laugh, though?”

“Sure, sure. I’ll go apologize after a while.”

Grabbing the egg shells, he pelted them away with a flick.

“When she comes here again.”

Ubuki was not like Mari.

Since she was different, she shouldn’t become like her.

So he could laugh it off.

Until that time—

It had to be some mistake.

That was the first thing he thought.

“No, Sensei! We can’t send a boat to the mainland in this storm!”

It was as though the entire Aoharima Island raised a scream.

Hit directly by a typhoon, the seas, trees, and the small clinic were all exposed to the violent wind.

He could hear the sounds of wind and rain, as well as the residents’ screams—

“Sensei! Save Ubuki…! Please…!”

Why was she laid on the clinic platform in front of him right now?

Someone said she fell from a cliff.

She apparently played around in the strong wind and rain, joking with her friends.

He thought that everything about that explanation was a lie and that perhaps they made fun of him.

“T-this isn’t my fault—” said Aria.

However, it was real blood dripping from Ubuki’s head.

She was already unconscious, her pale face not even twitching.

He knew at a glance that he couldn’t save her in this clinic.

“This time, this isn’t my fault! I can’t bear seeing even someone with a dream I wasn’t aiming for suffering so horrible a fate! This has to be some mistake!”

He ignored the monster inside him growing crazy.

He soothed the island residents clinging to his white coat and drove them out of the surgery room. He mumbled some selfish excuse about bacteria. Clinging to him until the end were Ubuki’s siblings that weren’t related to her by blood. He knew they drowned Ubuki in love as the youngest among them.

“Why! Why did this…!”

Being alone with Ubuki—no, with Aria as well, he crouched at the front of the surgery room.

He gripped the hand of the girl losing her body heat, groaning.

“Say, Aria…”

His hand was trembling.

He didn’t want to feel this again.

He knew that life was spilling away from his hand.

“I wish I hadn’t met you—is me thinking this so late a sin?”

“—”

“Is me thinking that I wish I hadn’t met Mari a sin?”

“…No.”

“Is me wishing to have never met Ubuki a sin?”

“It’s not.”

“Or maybe I’ve done something really bad without knowing? Everything I think now is a sin—and it’s punishment for that?”

The sound of the typhoon hitting against the clinic was loud. Perhaps the restless residents were pounding the doors.

”—He, hehehe.”

Suddenly.

The dream-eating monster laughed derisively.

“You’ve been caught in my trap, idiot.”

“…”

“Believing everything I said and accepting me was the end of your luck! This time my vessel was so friendly it was a piece of cake! Oh, Hanashiro Mari’s dream was scrumptious! And now I have another delicious dream in front of me!”

The edges of his lips rose. Clear droplets plopped down on his knees.

“…Dammit, you really got me.”

“You’re an idiot for falling for it!”

“You monster.”

“Yup, humans are so easy! How many Mushitsuki do you think I gave birth to, until now?!”

“You’re horrible.”

“I’ve deceived so many people! Everyone is idiots!”

His self-derisive laughter overlapped with Aria Varei’s loud laughter.

He grasped Ubuki’s hand hard.

“The only thing you resemble me in, is how badly you lie…”

“…”

“You’re so kind.”

Without Aria Varei, he couldn’t have rewound Mari’s fate.

As well as now.

He couldn’t do anything—

“Much better than me, who’s still hesitating…”

Was him redoing Mari’s fate once really a good fortune?

Since he didn’t know the answer, he hesitated.

If she became a Mushitsuki, she might live through days that were much more painful than death.

Since he knew that and he was only human, he hesitated.

“Say, that once only thing—would it work on another human?”

Although he hesitated, he’d already decided on doing it.

Because he was a human who couldn’t do anything, he could only continue ahead, single-mindedly.

In his minimal resistance, that is.

Until the day he received his punishment and suffered, he could do nothing but struggle.

“I’d never given birth to two Mushitsuki while inside a single vessel…”

“So you don’t know what’ll happen?”

“Yes.”

“I see.”

Then he was the one who decided.

The sin about to be repeated here was not Aria Varei’s.

“Ubuki—”

He brushed off the sand stuck to Ubuki’s cheek as she lay on the bed. Her face was calm and looked like she was sleeping.

“Sorry for laughing at you, that time.”

He apologized as he wanted to do the next time she came there.

He wouldn’t apologize for making her a Mushitsuki.

It was much too heavy of a sin to beg forgiveness for.

“Please live…”

His whisper, full of emotions, was drowned by the sounds of the typhoon—

Days of peace came to Aoharima Island.

As always, he spent his days examining his regular patients, and at times patients with mild symptoms.

“Take care.”

Seeing off the old man accompanied by his daughter, he stretched his back.

A pleasant wind blew through the island again.

As he saw the blue sky and the trees shaken by the wind and narrowed his eyes, he heard the sound of rubbing metal from his chest. Sticking his hand inside his clothes through his collar, he pulled at the silver necklace.

A proof for having lived—so Mari said.

“Say, Aria.”

Sitting in the clinic, he removed the necklace.

“Is your nose working? Please remember this scent…”

Thinking about something, he spoke to the monster nestling inside him.

“…”

Aria Varei—was still inside him.

However, no reply came even if he waited for a while.

“…Good grief, I’m so lonely.”

As she smiled bitterly, a sweet voice leapt to his ear.

“G’morning, Sensei.”

Peeking into the clinic was a girl with long hair.

He smiled.

“Hello, Ubuki.”

“Your doorplate outside fell again. You gotta fasten it with something.”

“I just think it’d end up falling anyway. What about school?”

“No afternoon classes today.”

Sitting on the spinning chair for patients, Ubuki spun around and laughed.

Shirakashi Ubuki became a Mushitsuki.

He saw her near the usual hill using black wings to soar up into the sky. Her ability was nothing more than allowing her to fly. She didn’t know that he turned her into a Mushitsuki, and hid her being a Mushitsuki from him.

“Ubuki.”

When he presented her with the necklace, Ubuki stopped spinning.

“Wuzzat?”

“A gift that someone important… who was important to me gave me. I’ll give it to you.”

“Really?”

“I want you to have it. …No, I think you should have it.”

He wanted her to live for as long as possible.

He thought so from the bottom of his heart.

He wanted her to live even a day longer and become happy.

“…Thanks.”

Seeing Ubuki happily hug the necklace, he was happy as well.

Following this, she leapt out of the clinic, elated. She probably rushed to show this present to her friends and siblings.

“…Is that fine?”

Inside his head echoed a lazy-sounding voice. He smiled bitterly.

“Mari said this was the proof she lived. If so… it’s not something that I ought to hold onto, since I’d forget her one day.”

“There’s no way she will know about Mari…”

“She’s the same Mushitsuki as Mari, so at least I think she’s something special. Because I’m going to forget even that.”

“…”

“It’s been about three days, Aria. Is it almost time?”

“I really thought it wouldn’t hold for this long… I’m so, so sleepy. Not being able to fall asleep when Ubuki became a Mushitsuki and staying awake is a living hell…”

Aria Varei made Shirakashi Ubuki into a Mushitsuki.

However, he apparently couldn’t go back to sleep. The irregularity that happened once seemingly continued. Even so, it seemed that this wasn’t a full change like it was with Mari, and Aria’s voice sounded like he was in pain.

According to him, it was a feeling like running a marathon right after finishing a marathon—apparently. Aria was already dead tired, and he actually felt him weaken.

“Let’s go on a walk tomorrow, Aria. Before the next appointed mail comes, we’ll go around the island.”

After turning Mari to a Mushitsuki, he decided to go see the sea.

Therefore, he’d do it even after creating his second one.

So he decided.

“—I don’t think there’s any need to leave the island, though.”

Just as promised, the day after he handed over Ubuki’s necklace, one man and creature came on top of the hill.

The sea sparkling from the sunlight spread in their sight.

Although they saw this sight every day, he wasn’t tired of it. This island suited him much more than he thought.

“If I forget only her, she’ll definitely be hurt by this.”

Sitting on the hill where the wind blew, he spoke with a partner that looked just like him.

“And I already found a doctor who’ll come here instead of me.”

“She’s going to get her heart broken.”

“It’s just admiration. —Anyway, it doesn’t change the fact I did something horrible.”

“You really are a sinful man…”

“A man who does nothing but sin is called a sinner.”

He kept committing sins and run away.

And he was going to forget about all of it.

He knew no villain worse than him.

“If you say that, it means that I was a sinner from the very moment of my birth.”

The Original Three called Aria Varei mumbled forlornly.

“Even so, no one begrudges me… none of those I turned into my vessels hated me. If they just hated me, I could become a real monster. All of them were idiots.”

How many people knew of the being called Aria Varei? From what he heard of Aria’s stories, there shouldn’t be many.

Hearing the lonely monster’s lamentations, he asked something that came to mind.

“Say, Aria. Is it really impossible for your vessels to recall you?”

“There’s no way for them to recall me. I’m just made that way. You guys forget everything and have the right to live in bliss. However, if—”

“If?”

“No, it’s nothing. It’s better for you to not remember. Nothing good would come out of it anyway.”

“Say it. It’ll be just our little secret.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“It really is a secret, alright?”

“Yes, just our little secret. I’m going to forget it anyway.”

“Then I’ll say it. Just pretend you haven’t heard it. If one of my past vessels ever ended up remembering me—”

Aria spoke.

“…I’d be very happy.”

He burst into a smile.

It might be so.

Aria Varei might have been a monster drenched in sin—but didn’t quite manage to become a villain.

He could live along with him because he was such a partner.

If Aria was a villain, then he’d become a villain as well. He would go against selling his soul to the devil, and without thinking of his sins as sins, he’d forget everything.

“The wind sure feels nice…”

“Yeah…”

Before parting, they should remember the scent of the island’s wind.

He’d never forget how this pleasant wind felt—

It happened just as he thought this while being caressed by the wind.

“—What’s that?”

Looking at the distant sky, he frowned.

Something was shining.

It looked like a small dot, but it was floating in the sky.

“Something’s… approaching—”

“…!”

He stood up vigorously.

As he gazed at the sky, his hair emitted a blue glow. His unkempt hair rose and his eyes emitted an azure light.

The moment he activated his ability, it came to the island.

It was something thin, long, and emitting smoke.

It reached him instantly from the distance and struck him on the hill.

“—”

Plunge.

The rod large enough to fill his sight buried inside his body—and, while spreading an azure glow, passed through his back.

His permeation ability as Aria Varei saved his life.

However—

“…!”

As he turned to look at the island along with the roaring wind, he tried shouting something.

However, his voice formed no words, and was nothing more than a scream.

The rod that passed through him without inflicting even a scratch went past the hill and hit the center of the island.

The entire island shook.

Large explosions blossomed and a fire column rose.

This was no mere rod.

—It was a missile.

“—”

As he raised a voiceless scream, a bomber jet passed overhead in the speed of sound.

Another missile fell down and the island was engulfed in flames.

“Wh-what is going on…”

Fighter planes were making round trips over the island and a large fleet of ships was visible in the horizon.

Explosions rose and the land shook.

The sinners that were even now gathering on the island, unseen.

Miguruma Yaeko.

The devil of flames.

That was the final day of Aoharima Island, when it was removed from existence.

“WAAAAAAAAAH!”

Screaming at the sight of the burning island, he certainly heard it.

He heard fate laughing at him as he tried to escape and wouldn’t let go—

Part 4

It is time to speak of a certain tragedy and the devil of flames.

This island was surrounded by a pretty sea, covered in green and had a pleasant wind.

Aoharima Island was beautiful.

Even so—

“What on earth is going on! What’s happening?!”

He rushed through the sea of flames.

Until just now, he was supposed to have been at Aoharima Island.

However, what he could see right now—was nothing but hell.

“Is this reality…?! Hey, Aria! Am I going insane?!”

He could hear a huge explosion from somewhere again.

The residential houses facing the sea built on slanted ground scattered, their fragments flying in air. Even the harbor viewed from afar raised a huge pillar of flames. All the warehouses used for the market were burning.

The island residents that finally got used to him became silent figures in the flames.

Flames, flames, and flames.

Everything was being swallowed by the bright red hellfire—

There was no way this scene belonged to real life.

“Why’s the island being attacked? Why…”

A missile pierced nearby. Flames filled his sight again and the steel column several meters long was aiming for him.

However, his glowing blue hair body slipped through it. Not even the flames could press against him.

If he was a normal person, he would have already died five or six times.

He couldn’t think of any way the completely normal residents of the island would survive this scorching hell—

“Ah… Aaaah…”

He fell to his knees. He simply couldn’t accept the hideous thing happening in front of him.

“It’s burning… stop… don’t burn… why…”

He reached out and another explosion occurred there.

What had they done?

The people of Aoharima Island just lived there, scraping along. They lived peacefully.

Even so, why—

Why were they being taken when they were sinless—

“Hey! Look over there!”

His partner’s voice made him raise his face.

He couldn’t see the sky anymore.

He could only see black smoke.

For just an instant, a hole opened in the curtain of explosive wind.

On top of that hill that could overlook the entire island—was a thin figure.

“That—woman—”

Aria Varei inside him was scared.

He couldn’t see the woman he was told about. It was too far and his vision was blurry with tears, so he couldn’t really tell.

“Damn it! She’s back, then! So that man also—shit! Why would she come back now?! She’s—she’s the one behind this, then?!”

“That… woman…?”

“She’s Miguruma Yaeko!”

It sounded like a familiar name. He was pretty sure he heard that name in Aria’s past story—

“Wasn’t she one of those you told me about? The first Hun—”

His vague mumble was drowned by an explosion.

“She knows my—Aria Varei’s identity! No, she probably doesn’t know it in full, but… damn! Dammit! So she came here after us?! To kill me! Why now…?!”

“She came… after us?”

“But how can that woman do this… there’s no way, that man—the Undying Mushitsuki being at Akamaki was also because of that? They’re in that organization—”

He didn’t care at all about what Aria Varei was mumbling.

“Is this… our… fault?”

His face distorted more and more.

“Because we’ve run away to this place—it’s now—”

This was no good.

He couldn’t bear this sin.

This enormous sin of causing one island to burn down to a crisp and taking the lives of the many residents there was enough to shatter his sanity.

Someone came from the sky and landed on the hill on the other side of the smoke.

That silhouette with black wings—

“Ubuki—”

On top of the hill, he could see Ubuki getting caught by Miguruma Yaeko.

“STOOOOOOOOOP!”

He rushed toward the distant hill.

“I’m right here!”

“Idiot, don’t go there! That girl’s fine, she won’t get killed—”

“Aria Varie’s here! He’s inside me!”

He stumbled and fell.

His ability was unstable. Engulfed by the explosion, he pounded against the wall of a burning building. But he soon rose up again, yelling hard as he tasted blood.

“Take me away! Take just me! We’re your target, right!”

His hair was wrapped in a blue glow again.

He couldn’t die here.

He couldn’t allow himself to die in front of the girl on the hill.

“Why are all people other than me taken away!”

“Calm down! You can’t do anything even if you went there! It’s—too late.”

“WOOOOOOH!”

He tried rushing away, but his body was blown off by an explosion again.

He didn’t remember absolving his ability—

He was pounded against the ground, and even when he raised his face he saw nothing but flames.

How much time would it take him to reach the hill?

How many lives would be lost?

No, perhaps there no longer remained anyone living on the island except for him and Ubuki—

“Aah… AaaAAAaaah…”

Even as he clung to a power pole and raised his body, he no longer had the strength to stand up. Covering his soot-covered face with both hands, he could do nothing but cry.

He didn’t want to see that anymore.

He couldn’t bear it anymore—

“Why… why is this… damn…”

“Stand—before I… fall asleep again…”

Aria’s voice was very weak.

The azure glow was vanishing from his hair. Due to suddenly using a lot of power, Aria Varei’s sleep was probably being hastened.

“Stand up… please…”

He cursed Aria Varei.

He told him to stand?

He told him to stand up again on his two legs to see this sight?

These were the cruelest words he heard in his life.

“Aaah… what have I even done wrong…”

He covered his face with both hands and wailed.

“Come on, stand up…”

“Why did it have to happen to me… forgive me already…”

“Stand up…”

“Whose fault is it…? Is it all my fault…? Was making Mari into a Mushitsuki a sin…?”

“I’m the one at fault for everything… so…”

“Was making Ubuki into a Mushitsuki, a sin…? Or was it my very meeting with those two girls? No, perhaps the issue was meeting with you…? The fact that you’re still inside me…?”

“You’ve done nothing wrong… you just had bad luck…”

“Or is everything… my punishment? Even the fact I’m suffering right now…”

It was useless.

The important things supporting him all snapped off.

He was going to die here.

If it would end his suffering, if it would balance everything, he wanted to die as soon as possible.

However, the unceasing explosions as well as the raging flames just sneered at him without swallowing him. At this critical moment, his bad luck didn’t manifest.

Fate would never forgive him for attempting even the tiniest bit of resistance—

“Stand up… already…”

“…”

“I’m already… at my limit…”

“…”

“But if this… continues… it will be too much hopeless…”

“…This is your fault—”

His tears stopped. He grimaced.

“Everything—is your fault. You monster.”

“Yeah, it’s my fault… these sins are my own…”

“How dare you speak like that at this point? Go away.”

“Don’t act so conceited, mortal… how ridiculous. Don’t get carried away, thinking everything’s your own fault…”

“I wish I hadn’t met you.”

“You were an idiot to be taken in by me… what was it that you said at the time?”

“…”

“Oh, right. The minimal resistance—was it?”

“…”

“It really was useless. Just saving one or two kids wouldn’t even—”

“—What was that?”

These were words that must not be said.

He wouldn’t allow them to anyone, be they god or devil.

Whether his deeds were good or evil—was postponed.

The only ones allowed to judge him were Hanashiro Mari or Shirakashi Ubuki.

He’d allow only them to decide this—

“Useless… you said…?”

“Yes, it was useless… and it was none other than you who decided it was so…”

“…I never decided anything like that…”

“No, you’re not even trying to stand up. You’re trying to quit here.”

“Quit, you said…”

“Right. Quit doing your minimal resistance…”

“…”

“—There might be some people still alive.”

He widened his eyes.

Removing his hands from his eyes, he stared at the sea of flames.

People still alive in this hell?

That was—

“Impossi—”

“See, you just decided on your own. That it was useless…”

“…!”

“You wanted to make the minimal resistance against fate, death or whatever, right? —If you decided to not do that here right now, then everything you’ve done in the past… would be worthless… You yourself would be taking away those girls’ right to decide…”

He stood up shakily.

It wasn’t his own will. He was supported by what was already long broken.

As if something else pulled him up, he put both legs on the ground.

“You were the one who decided to become a doctor, right…? And yet you’re throwing that away right here?”

“…”

“You’re—a Sensei, aren’t you?”

His legs stepped in awkwardly.

He’d already lost his reasoning power.

Something just moved him.

His body was moving on its own.

He ran.

“…!”

Giant bullets filled with death rained down on him.

His hair glowed blue as he weaved through the persistent bombardment.

He ran through the island filled with despair with a ragged breath.

However, he couldn’t sense any signs of life anywhere—

“UuhUUhh…!”

Within the rain of bullets, he kept running while sobbing.

The fragments that leapt to him from the side ripped his entire body.

His ability as Aria Varei couldn’t be kept indefinitely. If he activated it for several seconds, there was a time lag until he could use it again. Furthermore, as Aria’s powers were currently weakened, the ability was unstable.

“Guh…!”

Although his heart had already broken.

Although he’d already yielded to despair.

The smile passing through his mind moved him.

What made the two girls into Mushitsuki was Aria Varei’s power.

What made Aria Varei do that was their beautiful dreams.

There was no meaning for him as a person.

He was just a medium.

He simply got involved with this monster and his prey as a spectator.

“Uugh…!”

However, he undoubtably existed there.

—Thank you, Sensei…

Hanashiro Mari smiled.

—G’morning, Sensei.

Shirakashi Ubuki smiled.

The two girls called his name.

Never mind that it wasn’t his actual name.

They called the name “Sensei”.

Therefore, he had to be Sensei who saved lives—

“Left, Sensei!”

As if pulled away, he turned to the left.

“Something moved… I’m definitely not wrong!”

He kicked at the ground—no, at the sea of fire powerfully.

And he found it.

Near one of the collapsed houses was a collapsed boy. He’d somehow escaped from the window, but apparently got knocked out by the explosive wind.

The wind wailed.

“Oh no—a missile—”

He ran.

A large explosion blew the house to smithereens.

“—”

On top of the flame-covered ground, him and the boy were engulfed in azure light.

He’d managed to protect him in the nick of time. He hugged the boy and checked his pulse.

“Uh…”

The boy groaned.

He was alive—

“WOOOOOH!”

Wringing out his strength, he held the boy and ran.

Weaving between explosions, passing through the sea of flames, he rushed out of the hell in a straight line.

He came to the place that used to be the clinic. It was already blown to smithereens, and there were no traces even of the small shack.

He activated his power where the shack used to be.

He sank into the ground along with the boy—

Thud, he landed inside the underground cellar. It was sturdy enough to escape the bombardment.

The boy’s condition was not severe. He had a slight concussion and breathed in some smoke. If he stabilized the boy here, he would probably soon wake up.

Putting the boy on the floor, he rushed away. He used his powers to pass through the door cut out of the ceiling.

And—he ran into hell again.

“Ugh…”

“You can’t sleep yet, Aria!”

While passing through the wall of flames, he shouted.

“You have to accompany me to the very end—”

His minimal resistance.

To make that come true, he offered his own body up to the monster called Aria Varei.

“I won’t let you get away alone after all this time—”

“I—know this…”

How many times had he passed through the flames?

He felt as if it was an eternity.

But in actuality, it was perhaps not even an hour.

He ran through the island, and yet only managed to save—

“…”

Other than the boy he’d saved at first, there was only one baby.

The baby’s crying echoed in the underground cellar.

He lay it down gently next to the boy.

“Live… please, even if only the two of you…”

Speaking as if in prayer, he turned his back to the boy and baby. There was enough food here, too. They could survive until the flames on the surface all died down.

“The SEPB extermination troops might be sent here soon… Even if they can’t escape on their own, they might be found by them… they probably wouldn’t be killed…”

“…That is reassuring to hear…”

Mumbling this, he went back to the hellish landscape.

He ran through the island. He did whatever he could.

Even so—there were only two people.

No, if he included the girl he’d turned into a Mushitsuki, there were three, perhaps.

Only three people survived.

“Ah… oh god…”

He looked over the completely transformed Aoharima Island again.

The smoke was cut into by explosions.

His eyes locked with the woman looking up the hill.

Miguruma Yaeko—

“Looks like I finally found you… Aria…”

The long-haired woman spun her body.

That woman was coming to kill him—

“Why couldn’t you have held for just a bit longer…”

There was one more being he could have saved.

Aria Varei.

If he’d lasted just a bit longer, perhaps he’d have been able to see off the kind monster inside him.

“In just a short while, he would’ve fallen asleep…”

He lost his strength and fell to his knees.

“So at this point… you’re trying to save even me…”

“Even though I said I wasn’t going to run away and don’t have any power to resist…”

If he’d pretended that Aria Varei was still inside him, it might have ended with just him being killed. That was—his only regret.

“What’s my fault here? You were trying to save me before too. So I lied. I pretended everything was my fault, and even at the edge of despair, I could be the only one to escape… even that was what you call the minimal resistance…”

“…”

“I talked a lot with you, but in the end, I have the feeling we were both pessimistic…”

“Yes, exactly. I have the feeling we’ve discussed nothing but despair…”

In front of his battered body, an angel of death alighted down.

He was clad in flames, swam through the flames, and had shining, flaming eyes. It was much scarier than a grim reaper, like a devil.

“—Damn, this is really terrible. Just like when I was born. Is this my nostalgic hometown, my guardian deity?”

That boy was apparently called Sehateno Harukiyo.

Hearing this was a fight to exterminate Aria Varei—Sanbikime—he landed on Aoharima as if going for a pleasant trip.

Sensei and the devil.

The two sinners conversed for a short while inside the flames of hell.

“Kill me… Wishing for this is definitely illogical… we can’t die until killed by the those who should kill us… I don’t want to be killed by a mere passerby, of all people…”

He spoke with a hoarse voice.

Killing him—was the right that belonged to those he turned Mushitsuki.

Would they begrudge him for this?

Although he was resolved for it, he was simply worried by this sentence coming down on him one day.

“I’ll forget my crime. I won’t have any sensation of it. Is there anything—as sinful as that?”

Harukiyo twitched. He erased his smile.

“I also think that.”

“Perhaps I was simply involved in fate, misfortune and all that. But as a result I’ve had a carefree life…”

“Yeah, you’ve been the only one surviving. That’s the result.”

“But when I turn back on it, I end up thinking. Perhaps everything is my own fault…”

“It’s so useless that there’s no sense in keeping thinking about it. I’ve thought about it thousands, millions of times.”

“In the end, I found no answer…”

“Obviously. An answer that comes out just ‘cuz you feel like it is no answer at all.”

“…Perhaps it was just a ‘disaster’. Perhaps I just have slightly more bad luck than people… even so—I tried doing something.”

Right.

He simply resisted.

He just did the minimal resistance against the thing called fate trying to drag him to death.

When he made Mari into a Mushitsuki, Aria Varei stopped.

But he didn’t stop.

“But it was all for naught… so I started thinking that was my sin…”

In the end he couldn’t save Mari.

Had he been able to save that girl in the true meaning of the word?

Ever since coming to Aoharima Island, it bothered him all along.

Were there any people who’d remember her as she was fighting her disease and living desperately?

Thinking just this—and was then shocked.

“I’m looking for Hunter.”

That name flew from the mouth of the devil in front of his eyes.

Tears welled up.

Coming here, he met someone looking for Hanashiro Mari.

Mari’s dream ended up connected even now as it was trying to die?

Then perhaps it continued.

Perhaps her dream’s continuation connected with someone at a place he knew nothing about?

He embraced this expectation.

“Her name’s Hanashiro Mari…”

“For real…? Wait, wait, wait, for real, for real, for real, for real?! If you’re lying then I’ll fucking kill you!”

When he saw the boy’s eyes gleaming as if he was in love, he decided to play a little prank on it.

“Her sickroom—is in Akamaki City.”

He even gave him some hints about her diary. He couldn’t tell if the boy elated with his zeal heard it or not.

“—Go west. The boat I’ve taken is there.”

Harukiyo said.

“I’ll draw out the enemies ‘till you get there. I’m letting you live on a whim.”

“…”

“I dunno if your sin really is a sin! You don’t even feel guilt! No matter how you think, you don’t find an answer! So I decided—I’m going to let the result decide it all!”

Let the result decide it, huh.

He agreed.

Since he was so sinful, he wasn’t allowed to decide by himself whether to live or die.

There were other people that should decide that—

“—That’s what I recommend. You do it too.”

Asserting this, the boy in love added another sin to his collection. Once Harukiyo knew that Hunter was no longer alive, he’d definitely be angry.

Meaning, he took the right to choose death from him, and gave it to Harukiyo too. If Harukiyo came one day to kill him, that would be fine.

“—Let’s go, Aria,” he said. “Our sins are heavy… it seems like we need to try living desperately before our deaths.”

Man and creature then conversed for a while.

“I see… then I… will sleep again.”

Aria. If we ever meet again, call out to me. Let’s live together again—

He inquired in his heart.

Living together with a kind-hearted monster wasn’t bad at all.

“Well, that is unfortunate. I have had a prior arrangement. A certain girl obsessed with her younger brother. Thinking back on it, even this personality might be some remnant from her.”

I see, what a pity. I even had a great idea about this—

“Oh? What is it…?”

You’ve got a good nose, right? I thought that once you become a cocoon, you can go into that necklace I gave to Ubuki. If I find it, I might remember—

“Well… work hard on it.”

Even if I can’t do it, someone will definitely come to you. Someone who lived with you before—

“Why are you thinking of living with someone like me again… everyone I ever possessed were all such idiots. Ah, I’m so happy.”

I’m going to forget you now—

“Yeah…”

Then… take me too. You said there might be some effect from your previous host, so take something from me, Sensei, as well—

“…”

The life of the girl called Hanashiro Mari as well—

“…”

The next time you’d be in someone, we’ll all be one Aria Varei—

“Got it.”

When Aria was gone, he would lose that name.

The name of Sensei.

He’d go back to being himself before becoming his internship.

The man called Sensei who continued the minimal resistance would be gone—

“Goodbye, Aria Varei.”

“Goodbye… —Sensei.”

They then parted into one person and one creature.

Aria Varei became a cocoon somewhere and resumed sleeping—

And as for him—

“…Where am I…?”

In the burning Aoharima Island, he lost the name of Sensei.

If he went west, there would be a boat—

He accepted this odd premonition and was saved from the scorching hell.

Being carried to the hospital where he landed ashore, he spent more than a year to heal his expended fatigue, stamina and hurt body.

When he finished his rehabilitation, he thought about heading to the place directly ahead of him.

He had the feeling that he had to.

Guided by this strange sense of duty, his feet took him to the capital of Akamaki City—

Part 5

It is time to speak of—…

He tried to.

He tried to pass it along.

About him and his partner.

About the two girls.

Even so, he remembered nothing.

Just like a storyteller dying his Kamishibai screen in white.

He was supposed to use words, gestures and gesticulations to talk about what he saw, heard, as well as—obtained.

And then ask for the audience’s impressions.

—How was it?

Like that.

Without hearing the answer, he wouldn’t be able to move forward.

“How do you feel?”

As he sat against the wall, Ichinokuro Arisu peeked at him, worried.

Right, she was Ichinokuro Arisu. He knew her. However, he couldn’t remember when and where he’d met Arisu. She didn’t seem to know him.

“I feel much better, thanks. What should I do about your handkerchief?”

While holding his brow, he raised his face.

As the lights in the scramble crossing turned green, people started moving all at once.

Akamaki City. He’d been an intern doctor here nearly two years ago.

He’d finished his internship there without any major incidents, and then applied to become a doctor on an isolated island on a whim. He worked there without any major incidents, except that one day the island burned down.

His memories of the time were fuzzy. What on earth was that? Had there been some scary disaster? He’d barely escaped with his life, boarded a boat he’d found by chance, and escaped the island.

After finishing off his long treatment and rehabilitation, he came back to Akamaki City.

He hid his face with a scarf because he felt like he had to do.

Anyway, how to put it—he felt as if he was possessed by a very convenient delusion.

Also, he felt as if he was too late.

Wasn’t what he felt he needed to tell was something already talked about by someone?

He had this feeling.

“I’ll give it to you as a present.”

Seeing Arisu wear a carefree smile, a certain sight passed through his mind.

This is my present, to you …

He couldn’t recall the face of the one who told him this. He also forgot what he received.

“…Thank you.”

“You started crying all of a sudden. I got surprised.”

Arisu sat right next to him.

Still sitting on the ground, he scratched his hair. He was still a little dizzy.

“It’s probably heatstroke. I feel blurry and confused. But I’m fine.”

“Oh, I’m glad to hear.”

“Ah…”

“Hmm? What?”

He had to tell someone about it. So he thought.

However, his mouth was unable to form the words. Although he had something he needed to ask, he couldn’t remember it.

“No—it’s nothing.”

Arisu tilted her head, confused.

“Are you still here? I’m worried that you’d collapse again.”

“What should I do…”

“What should you do… what were you doing here? Work?”

“O-oh, yeah. Err—I had something I needed to ask of a girl like you.”

He absently let his mouth run off.

—You’re such an idiot!

Someone should have naturally scolded him at such times.

He couldn’t remember who scolded him.

“Oh, you’re doing a survey!”

Arisu made a convenient interpretation of his words. Well, a survey fit the idea of wanting to ask someone in a place full of people. He simply nodded.

“Yeah, right.”

“What were you asking about?”

“…”

He soon regretted the fact he nodded.

He was looking for someone to ask them something. There was no doubt about that.

However, he had no idea what were the questions he wanted to raise.

“You don’t have anything with you, though…? Wait, have you lost your survey papers?”

“—O-oh, yeah, exactly.”

Arisu looked at him with eyes full of pity. She looked like she wanted to point out how much of an idiot he was despite being an adult. He wanted to run away.

“Do you have any idea where you lost it?”

“…I don’t, so I can’t go look for it.”

“Do you remember what was written in it?”

“…Not at all.”

“Then it’s hopeless.”

“I’m frankly at a complete loss…”

He should have had a plain life.

At some point he was supposed to hold a very important Kamishibai performance. However, the story he needed to tell was dyed completely in white and he lost it.

A narrator who lost his story could do nothing but vainly stand in place—

“Hah…”

Arisu sighed. Seeing that profile, so unsuitable for such an energetic girl, he thought to himself.

“You look tired as well.”

“I’ve been running around a lot today. I met up with friends and asked them for a favor.”

“Favor?”

“Do you know the Perseid meteor shower?”

“Oh… it’s already the season for it.”

“There’s something I have to do that day. I want them to help me with it.”

“Having a party?”

“Not something quite that fun, but… I hope it goes well.”

Arisu seemed like she was going to stay by his side until he recovered. While watching the crowds at the scramble intersection, they conversed.

Just like friends. Or perhaps siblings.

“—Why does your face look so lonely?”

As he spoke with some bitterness mixed in his voice, Arisu was startled. She pouted.

“I’m not.”

“Had a fight with a friend?”

“A fight…”

“If it’s stupid, I’ll hear it. I still have some time until I can stand up.”

After thinking a bit, Arisu opened her mouth. There were some things she could talk about because they were complete strangers.

“After seeing the meteor swarm—everyone will grow apart.”

“…”

“Everyone has their own things to do… even the one who’s finally become our friend will go to Ouka City. Rina—one of my friends—has many people counting on her, so I don’t know if she’s even going to appear at all during the meteor swarm, too…”

“…”

“And the one most important to me, too… I’ll definitely find the answer until then.”

Arisu raised her face.

In the sky where the sounds of the crowds and cars honking mixed together, a butterfly glowing in silver was dancing.

It was a silver Morpho butterfly.

“Saying goodbye is lonely…”

Looking up at the fluttering butterfly, he mumbled this.

For some reason, he couldn’t stop looking at it.

“And painful too…”

Arisu looked down, wordless.

“Since it hurts so much—is parting a punishment?”

He unconsciously mumbled.

“If it’s punishment, then is the meeting itself a punishment as well?”

Arisu was silent, lightly kicking pebbles with the tip of her shoe.

Was meeting itself a punishment—

Trying to voice that, he was convinced.

Right—he came back to the city in order to ask this.

He was able to ask what he needed to, from none other than the one he needed to ask.

He had this conviction.

“You wish you hadn’t met in the first place…?”

There was no mistake.

He’d met someone precious in this city and did something to them.

He wanted to ask whether or not it was a sin of someone who knew about his doing.

What he did was meaningless—

If that was a sin, he came back in order to receive punishment.

“—No.”

Arisu shook her head to the side.

“I’m glad we’ve met.”

Looking genuinely happy, the ponytail girl smiled.

He was taken in by her smile.

Ichinokuro Arisu’s transparent smile overlapped with the smile of an unknown girl.

On top of a sickbed.

The girl hugging a picture book and smiling happily—

“I’m even grateful to the fate that let us meet.”

“…Even if it was an especially twisted fate?”

“Yeah. It’s an important memory, after all.”

“…”

“Even if we grow apart, I will—never forget.”

Never forget.

For some reason, these words caused him pain.

“…I see.”

He found himself smiling as well.

This was his first genuine smile ever since escaping Aoharima Island.

A load off of his shoulders—was how it felt.

He felt as though he finally escaped the heavy fate.

“As long as we don’t forget—we’ll definitely reunite with our feelings intact.”

He looked up at the Morpho butterfly.

He had the feeling he’d met someone he was never supposed to have met again.

However, he was apparently no longer needed. The Morpho butterfly just passed overhead and returned to Arisu.

His role in this city was already over.

“Alright—”

He pulled his back away from the wall and stood up. Arisu raised her face.

“What about your survey?”

“Yeah. Actually, I’ve been offered work at a hospital that took care of me before. I’ll just go back being a professional.”

“Eh, were you a doctor?”

Arisu looked surprised. He was already used to him not looking the part.

“If you’re a doctor… then you’ve parted with many patients, right?”

Arisu asked, full of hesitation. She was probably not asking about patients being discharged.

“Well, yeah.”

“Isn’t it painful? Or are you already used to such things?”

Arisu turned serious; perhaps she’d had experience in being separated from someone by death.

He scratched his unkempt hair with his fingertips, smiling bitterly.

“At the very least, for me… it is painful. And sad, too.”

“How can you keep going if it’s sad?”

“—I believe it’s the minimal resistance I can offer.”

“…?”

“I’m already fed up with being sad. If I can’t keep resisting it being that way… if I give up somewhere, I feel like I wouldn’t be able to face the people I’ve seen off until now.”

I’m probably just parroting someone—

He added in his heart.

Continue resisting.

He had the feeling that the one closest to him told him this.

“…”

Arisu was speechless. However, silently—and happily—she was just smiling.

“—Ugh.”

Suddenly, her cute smile twisted. Seeing the other side of the crossing, she rose up.

“Crap, it’s Daisuke.”

As he turned around, he could see a boy on the other corner of the scramble crossing. The boy glared at Arisu with like those of a predator spotting its prey.

“If I’d explain to him that I snuck out of the house to meet Rina, would he understand? No, it’s definitely hopeless. He’s already cracking his fists and making a violent face.”

“Right… those are some nasty eyes. I don’t know your circumstances, but I think you should escape as soon as possible.”

“Goodbye, Sensei!”

The same moment as the lights for pedestrians changed, Arisu dashed off.

“—”

He widened his eyes.

Sensei—

That name had a very nostalgic sound to it.

“Please become a good Sensei!”

Turning around and leaving him behind, Ichinokuro Arisu ran to the other side of the crossing.

After that, the boy called Daisuke chased her with a scary look in his eyes.

For a moment, he and the boy in mad pursuit after Arisu—locked eyes.

However, they exchanged not a single word.

They just passed one by another.

“Sensei, huh—”

He turned his back to the boy and girl who were playing catch.

Wrapping the scarf around him again, he hid the faint smile rising to his lips.

Although it was so common calling doctors that, he felt as if it had some special meaning.

Everything about his role was over.

Therefore, from now on—

“Isn’t that name too much for me. …Don’t you think so as well?”

He would retrieve what he’d lost.

He thought he’d become Sensei.

While whispering to someone who’d always been at his side—

He left Akamaki City.

To be continued…

Notes

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