Mushi Uta:Volume 4th Episode 16

Episode 16. The Dream-Connecting Warmth

Clang.

Clang.

The sound of striking iron reverberated.

The vibrations of forging steel were transmitted.

In this world there existed people with pure feelings for the hardest in the world; they rang their hammers instead of singing and with fiery breaths showed their love to these cold objects.

Clang.

Clang.

They were born into the world along with the shrill sound that left room for emotions.

After receiving life by humans, they were brought to sleep by a lullaby.

By standing on their own two legs they could approach the sound.

By using both hands they could touch the sound.

Using their noses to search for stones, feeling for the depths with their ears, scorching their fingertips with heat, confirming the pureness with their tongues, and obtaining a form with their eyes.

Being made to realize they weren't human.

Tempering iron with their human hands, they were those who connected those who possessed and lacked the breath of life.

They were known as—blacksmiths.

The forgers of steel, nearly extinct nowadays.

Yet their techniques and melodies remained in iron and in people even now.

"…I'm behind the times."

Clang, the sound of striking something hard reverberated in the capital's sky.

Akamaki City, the city where the country's most important facilities were gathered.

On the highest floor of one of the buildings in the center was a wide lounge. Apparently in the midst of construction work, the interior was completely sealed.

Moonlight poured in from the window without any glass.

It illuminated a person sitting cross-legged on the floor. They wore dirty work overalls—a jumpsuit—with their face hidden by the shadows. The cube-shaped accessory holding their unkempt hair sparkled in the moonlight coming from outside.

"Old-fashioned mixed concrete."

Clang.

Clang.

As if urged by the sounds in the person's memories, they revived the same sounds with their hands.

A hand hammer about 20 centimeters long was pounding at the floor made of reinforced concrete. A metallic rod was thrust between the cracks created by the impact.

The person reached with their left hand to press the battery switch connected to the metallic rod by an electric line. A laser was emitted from the rod, melting part of the floor.

Pulling out with flowing movements a structure analyzing device, they made it touch the part of the cement that liquefied.

"Those who create things halfheartedly are much worse than idiots who break things."

In the lounge with only the moon as a light source, a faint light shone.

An insect landed atop the hammer hitting the floor.

It was a scarab emitting a metallic luster—or so it looked like, but it was different from the actual insect. A real scarab didn't have a shining body and had neither sharp fangs nor ten legs. The insect on the hammer looked like an objet d'art made of jewels.

"With such a thin mixture the building would never stand up if given even a slight push…"

—Mushi.

Approximately ten years ago people began whispering of these supernatural beings. Their appearances were varied, but since they commonly resembled insects they were called Mushi.

Latching onto adolescent boys and girl, the parasitic Mushi ate their and hopes and thus grew. People infested by Mushi were named Mushitsuki. According to the official government stance they didn't exist, but since there was an unending stream of eyewitnesses, Mushi and Mushitsuki served as an object of fear for civilians.

Clang.

Clang.

The sound etched in the person's memories and the hammer pounding the floor overlapped.

Every time the jumpsuit-clad blacksmith brought down the hammer, the scene around slightly "moved". The hard concrete moved as if it was the surface of the ocean.

An especially remarkable change came over the solitary door to the lounge. With the echoes of the hammer, the boundary between the metallic door and the wall made of reinforced concrete was vanishing.

"ORA!!!"

A soprano voice echoed from the goggles hanging from the blacksmith's neck.

"Why did someone like me have to come on such a stupid capturing mission! I don't give a fuck about a final test for a trainee coming from the West Central Branch, it's a pain…!"

Mixed with the girl's rough voice came sounds of destruction. The blacksmith's trained ears as a creator recognized those as the sounds of reinforced concrete being smashed.

The hammer user pounding the floor—Yoshihara Munechika—frowned.

"Don't break stuff so easily, you idiot."

Since the communication function of the goggle was turned off, the other side couldn't hear their voice.

"C'mon, I'm herding them at you! Since I've gone to the trouble of handing you the prey go get it already! I'd like to catch a show's rerun back home!"

There was an organization called the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau.

It was created by the government in order to take action against Mushi and Mushitsuki who kept appearing.

Their goal was to capture, cover up and isolate Mushi to conceal their existence from the general public. The method devised to achieve this goal was to train the captured Mushitsuki and let them deal with wild Mushitsuki as subordinates.

"Tonight's the episode of Sentou Mono that I missed—hmm?"

The one making all the noise from a while ago was a member of the same unit. Her name was Kasuou or whatever, and in contrast to her golden hair and high-class appearance she spoke rough.

Munechika, who was also a member of the SEPB, kept pounding the floor with the hammer.

The one and only door in the lounge merged perfectly with the door.

The space Munechika inhabited lost all entrances except for the window.

"Did I take a wrong turn? Where're you, Sakura? …Whoa, you, I'm busy with something! Don't attack me!"

The mission of this organization abbreviated as SEPB was to capture unidentified Mushitsuki. Tonight Munechika's group managed to drive one into this building.

Sounds of destruction echoed again. Munechika knew that part of the building was destroyed by the incoming vibrations.

"Daaa! Don't come here, I can't hit you! —Ah, the hell's this! There wasn't a door here before!"

Clang.

Clang.

Long ago, Munechika's grandfather gave the following teaching.

By being too close to humans, one would mix their emotions with the purity of iron.

By being too close to iron, one would rust their wisdom as a human.

The one who connected "people" and "objects" was a blacksmith.

It was truly a broad-minded way of thinking—and an antiquated one.

"People in present times are worthless."

The age where humans and iron honored each other passed long ago.

Along with the passage of time, iron also changed.

This was the age where they passed electricity through objects and made them gain life using the magic known as computers.

One could even say metal sustained people.

Even so the haughty humans fooled around with objects, threw them away and destroyed them.

"I'm sick of being involved with humans who are below inanimate objects or even plants."

People.

Mushi and Mushitsuki.

The Special Environmental Preservation Bureau.

All of them were troublesome.

Munechika had no intention to become involved in the troubles of humans in this world.

In this age the profession of a blacksmith was vanishing, turning into tool makers instead—

Munechika was fine with the conceited humans being used by what tool makers created.

"Why're there stairs here… No way, Sakura, did you—"

Munechika heard Kasuou's shouts.

"Did you rebuild this entire fucking building?!"

"I'm just a girl who's creating tools. I don't care about battle training."

Munechika switched on her communication and asserted.

Inside the lounge that lost its door Munechika kept pounding her hammer.

Every time the solid metallic sound echoed, the molecular structure of the building was split, fused, and recomposed.

"Don't fuck with me! If I don't let you get real battle training that means I failed the mission too! …Wait, you're a girl?!"

She ignored Kasuou's near-scream with a cold face.

"So stupid."

Muttering in a husky voice, she stopped the hammer.

She removed one cube from her hair and flicked it with her finger to the air.

"I don't care about the SEPB or whatever, but perhaps what I came here to obtain is gone."

The cube landed in her hand again with a light noise.

The metallic shining square in Munechika's hand was a material that could be said to be her lifeline.

She attained that high-level technique not long after joining the SEPB. With the knowledge and ability she obtained, Munechika had already succeeded in producing a metal with the ultimate hardness.

"All that remains for me is just creating what I like. I'll let the humans fight for themselves."

The metallic cube made of what she named Gemsteel shone in the moonlight.

She was done with the stupid and meaningless special training or whatever for tonight. Once she came back to the West Central Branch, her days would consist on nothing but shutting herself inside her work station and creating objects.

She was going to say goodbye to the trifling circumstances of humanity.

"Hey, at least return the building to normal! I don't understand anything and I can't even run away—ah, you're getting on my nerves, you stupid small fry!"

Munechika's most hated sounds of destruction shook the building.

"Foolish humans…"

Neither human nor iron.

Hating humans while loving iron.

Munechika's small wish to merely be a tool maker did not come true.

The next day, she received her first mission.

"Prepare the equipment for the newly acknowledged Mushitsuki, Ichinokuro Arisu"—

That was the beginning of the hardship for the misanthropic tool maker known as Yoshihara Munechika.

Part 1

A gust of wind went by.

Walking with her sailor uniform fluttering, Munechika gazed up the blooming cherry tree.

She grabbed the petals falling to her white cheeks.

"Not bad."

Thus evaluating the cherry petal storm dyed by the beginning of summer, she narrowed her eyes.

The thing Munechika loved most of all was forms of art created by the complex yet orderly arrangement of inorganic matter.

Plants were simply involved in whatever occurred around them, asserting themselves. Munechika didn't hate this sort of philosophical way of life.

What she really hated was—

"Congratulations for graduating!"

When Munechika went to exit through the school gate, girls wearing the same uniform closed in on her. Now that she was blocked and stopped in place, the cubes in Munechika's hair rang.

She didn't know whether or not they noticed her furrowing her brows. Her juniors all looked up at the taller girl with uplifted faces. One held a flower vase toward her.

This wasn't anything rare. Since she was tall and had an androgynous face, she received presents even from girls.

"I have a request… umm, can I get your scarf?"

Munechika's eyebrows twitched.

"I want it as a keepsake."

The junior girl spoke to the unmoving Munechika. There were also people around who started crying despite them not even graduating.

"I refuse."

When Munechika bluntly rejected them, the girls all looked lonely.

Clothes weren't created for sentimentality. Also, throwing just one part of her outfit would destroy its value.

She also didn't like the unproductive idea of turning a scarf into a memento.

That's why I hate people who don't know how to treat objects—

She cursed in her heart.

"Those flowers… since you're the one who plucked them, take care of them yourself."

She asserted, breaking through the siege without accepting the flowers.

Walking inside the cherry blossom storm, she jauntily exited the school. She didn't look back at her middle school.

Come April she would enter into a girls' school not far from there. A school was a zone of irritating human interaction, but she knew there things she needed to learn other than those relating to her knowledge of production.

Since she belonged to the development unit of the West Central Branch, unlike the combat or the monitor units she didn't need to change her hiding place much. After entering the expected high school she would probably never change schools.

"And now I shall proceed to Akamaki City…"

Exiting the school, she headed toward the station, taking no shortcuts. Boarding on the train that arrived on time, she gazed at the scenery.

How stupid.

She'd halfheartedly gone through the real battle test and returned to her base a day ago. She would rather stay over there, but she first wanted to finish up her middle school life.

Her acquaintances often told her she spoke like an old man.

On the other hand, Munechika hated the word "outdated" which was without any potential of reforming.

She thought it was like floppy disks and antiques, but she couldn't sympathize with other people. The only kind of people Munechika accepted—those with the profession of creation—would probably understand her, though.

"So for the time being it seems like this'll be my first job."

There were empty seats, but she was standing in front of the door, shaken by the train. Buildings of all sizes and shapes passed outside the window.

"Such a stupid job."

Immediately after she joined the SEPB, Munechika had already unofficially completed several projects for the West Central Branch's development unit. It was during that time that she'd also created the Gemsteel hanging from her hair, and she'd already strengthened the gear of her comrades.

Since she was a member of the organization, she'd been in Akamaki City until yesterday to receive fundamental battle training. This was apparently a special case of some sort of selection training, so new members of other branches also gathered there.

Just when she safely finished her training and thought of heading back home, she received her first official mission.

It was the simple request to create equipment for a single Mushitsuki.

She'd just finish it quickly and go back home.

"…"

Her line of sight watching the flowing scenery outside suddenly went upwards.

She noticed that a single screw holding the glass window in place was slightly off. The glass would probably not fall off, but the resulting small gap caused the window to rattle.

Munechika frowned.

She reached for the pouch at her waist with natural movements.

"They're neglecting the maintenance here…"

Some minutes passed.

Munechika sat cross-legged right on the spot. The uniformed girl using an electric filing tool to adjust the thickness of the screw attracted curious gazes.

Yoshihara Munechika was born as the daughter of a hardware store owner. Their family also ran an ironworks factory downtown.

Her grandfather, who passed away a few years ago, had been a now-rare swordsmith. She'd heard him tempering steel on the fire of the bellows even from her mother's womb. She heard that dozens of generations ago, the Yoshihara family were excellent smiths employed by the shogunate.

At present swords had nothing but ornamental value, but the techniques to temper steel were passed along. The blood of the clan living with iron and steel seemed to flow even inside Munechika. Seeing her grandfather work his mallet ever since she was young, she also learned the techniques.

"Not bad."

Seeing the surface of the polished screw, Munechika narrowed her eyes.

By being too close to humans, one would mix their emotions with the purity of iron.

By being too close to iron, one would rust their wisdom as a human.

The one who connected "people" and "objects" was a blacksmith.

So she thought.

But in the present when the possibilities of metal were expanded to their limits, the value for their existence was not equal.

People forgot the value of objects, and the objects held in people's hands forgot their possibilities.

"Good."

The screw Munechika created fit the door perfectly.

Blacksmiths who connected people and objects were unneeded nowadays.

As the profession of a blacksmith vanished, the remnant of the clan enamored with iron became a tool maker.

A tool maker that single-mindedly altered the essence of objects was the proper form of worker in today's society. If people used only what they've created—

"…Hmm?"

Just as she felt satisfied at her work, one of the conductors tapped her shoulder.

—It took an hour until she was released from questioning.

"Stupid humans who cannot recognize their own weakness."

How could they have regarded her as a suspicious person? Normally you should call that people who run around naked or wave weapons around. —Well, when she'd sat cross-legged her underwear was visible and when questioned by the staff she brandished her hammer, but still.

Exiting the station while cursing, a wind smelling of the capital's exhaust fumes greeted Munechika.

After coming out of the second floor of the crowded station, she ended up standing in front of the large crossing.

Clang.

Clang.

She heard the sound of striking metal.

Was there construction work somewhere? In a city surrounded by iron and concrete, a pleasant noise metallic could always be heard from somewhere.

According to the schedule she got from her collaborator, the person of interest should pass there soon.

Not even looking at the crowd of people filling the square, she was for a while entranced by the scenery of metallic sounds and swarms of buildings.

"…"

Around the time the sun started to set, Munechika's gaze fixed on a person for the first time.

There were four middle-schoolers.

One was a healthy and stylish looking girl, the other was a tall girl with a pure image.

She could also see a boy. As the lone boy among them, he alone looked like a normal middle school student. He had no special features other than perhaps the bandage on his cheek.

Yet Munechika's gaze fixed on the ponytailed girl in the center.

"Ichinokuro Arisu."

She mumbled in her mouth.

Munechika's first job was creating equipment for this girl.

She noticed the silver butterfly fluttering around the smiling girl.

"Or perhaps… Hanashiro Mari."

The morpho butterfly—

At a glance it looked like an insect, but it was undoubtedly a Mushi.

But according to the material she received, it was a Mushi who Hanashiro Mari had passed along to Ichinokuro Arisu after dying from an illness.

It was a dubious story. A Mushi remaining in the world despite its owner dying and even possess another human was unheard of.

The mysteries surrounding the morpho butterfly involved a lot of people, and they still haven't found any clues.

But that didn't matter to Munechika in the least.

She only wanted to create. If she, as a tool maker, said she didn't crave the job to create equipment for one of the only three discovered Fusion Types, she would be lying.

Height, weight, finger length in proportion to her body, muscle quality, and the assumption that she was still developing—

In Munechika's mind, all of the data was being inputted and calculated.

"Besides the goggles and coat, she needs a weapon to fuse with—a rod, was it?"

Mumbling to herself, she stepped ahead.

Ichinokuro Arisu and Munechika passed nearby.

"As long as I don't mistake the amount of Gemsteel, it shouldn't be hard at all."

A metallic sound echoed from the cubes holding up her hair rubbing.

As it combined hardness and lightness with the best quality, the Gemsteel was all-purpose. By inserting it in threads it could become a cloth durable against anything, and by using it in an alloy it became a light yet unbreakable metal. Its usage in SEPB equipment left a real mark.

"Now I'll head back to HQ and start working…"

Mumbling to herself, she went down the staircase to the pedestrian crossing.

"—Was that enough?"

As she descended, a voice called out from behind.

She turned around. The boy that had been walking alongside Ichinokuro Arisu was looking down at her.

"Thanks for your help."

"…"

"The documents were all trifling information and they haven't even written anything about her body shape. I wanted to see her firsthand."

The completely normal-looking boy approached Munechika who stood in place.

Blaze Class Rank 1, Kakkou.

Originally he belonged to the East Central Branch, but was assigned to serve as Ichinokuro Arisu's monitor. Their circumstances as outsiders were similar, but she felt no affinity.

Standing in front of the station to check out Arisu wasn't a coincidence. She'd been waiting there since she knew about it from her collaborator, that boy.

"I have no need to know anything else about the human called Ichinokuro Arisu."

Asserting cleanly, she extended her hand to Kakkou.

Now that she knew the girl's body size, she just needed to create the best weapon. She hadn't even the slightest interest in the user's background and personality.

"What's with the hand?"

Looking at Munechika's hand, Kakkou made a puzzled face.

"Am I going to keep waiting for humans forever? Bring it out. You have it, right?"

"…?"

"You fool. Give it to me already. Is it here?"

"Oh… O-oi."

She stuck her hand inside the boy's clothes. When she put her hand around as if hugging him, her fingers touched something hard.

"You're full of openings. Are you really the Rank 1 demon? …Why are you blushing?"

"P-put it back. Don't bring out such a conspicuous item here, you idiot."

She felt a sense of weight in her hand. She'd be hard pressed to win against him with her woman's strength.

She heard that Kakkou was, just like Ichinokuro Arisu, a Fusion Type Mushitsuki. Most of the members knew that the strongest demon fused his Mushi with his gun.

"Nobody's looking. You're the only one who cares."

She pointed with her chin at cardboard houses made by the homeless.

Pulling out a sheet from her pouch, she carefully placed the gun on it. She also brought out her hammer and began lightly pounding it.

Confirming the metallic sound, Munechika frowned.

"A surprisingly basic material."

Most of the people walking in front of Munechika didn't even turn to look at her sitting on the ground. Perhaps they thought she was some street seller.

A scarab emitting a metallic luster sat on the hammer.

She pounded it hard once.

Just that caused the gun to fall apart. The screws spun in reverse and flew out with the other components also scattering.

"Hey!"

"I'm taking care of it. Shut up and watch."

Since Munechika had no duty to explain her ability, she asserted bluntly. Taking out a file and a driver, an oil bottle and cloth, she began polishing the gun parts.

"Many things seem to have been reconstructed… is this ready-made metal? If you'd ordered it from us we'd been able to get one that's much lighter and harder. This would get quite the metal fatigue."

"…We tried ordering too, but it just ended up breaking again and again. Apparently the burden from fusing with the Mushi is just too big. Since a specially-made item would actually immediately break, this is good enough."

He apparently lost the will to stop her. Kakkou stood in shadows so that he'd not be visible from the street.

"You did well to realize I hid the holster behind by back."

"Yeah."

Munechika's hand polishing the bullets stopped. It was because she recalled yesterday's hellish training.

"I heard from that raincoat girl. Because I was also chosen to be one of her sacrifices."

"Oh… that girl turned into a teacher. That selection training or whatever? It was actually a test for her to become a teacher, but how many of the sacrifices… I mean, trainees, managed to survive?"

"I dunno. I won't go along with this stupid human stuff."

They were probably the only ones able to understand their foolish-sounding conversation.

"Stupid training. I'm just a tool maker. I have no interest in becoming a combatant."

Munechika didn't need any battle training.

She had no interest in participating in the fights of humans.

But if told they were needed for battle, she'd create the best weapons. No matter who used these and where, they had to solve their own problems.

Neither human nor metal. Since Munechika was a mere tool maker, she couldn't speak of morals.

"People dare break objects even though they can't use them to their full potential. If so, then I want to try and build something unbreakable. —You could call this my fight."

She finished taking care of the gun.

Removing one cube hanging from her hair, she placed it on the removed gun part. Lowering her hand hammer, she struck it and the gun.

The scarab on the hammer faintly shone. The cube-shaped Gemsteel burst, scattering on the surface of the gun parts. It melted into their interior, born anew as a completely new metal.

"So is that your dream, then?"

"Exactly. I want to create something that'll never break—I turned into a Mushitsuki when I wished so."

Clang.

Clang.

The sound of hitting metal reverberated through the afternoon town.

The same as the sound Munechika had been hearing ever since her childhood, the sound of those who loved iron.

She couldn't allow herself to insert human emotions to a job that required removing impurities.

"If I'm able to make that true, it will become the proof to my living. I don't mind if I myself didn't remain in anyone's memories. I don't feel the need to assign a name to my creation."

Averting his eyes from the speaking Munechika, Kakkou muttered.

"So you don't want to remain in anyone's memories, huh."

The boy gazed at the passing people.

"You're probably… the exact opposite of Hanashiro Mari."

She didn't look at humans.

She didn't need to know the inside of people. As long as she knew their shape, she'd create the best equipment for them.

That's why she didn't ask back about his mutter.

"Okay."

Finishing maintenance and reforming the gun, she handed it back to Kakkou.

"It should be more than twice durable. I removed some extraneous parts, so it's lighter. Since I also raised its energy efficiency, it should have more firepower."

"…"

"I don't need thanks. I need to repay for your cooperation, and it's also something like a test product before creating the weapon for the morpho butterfly to fuse with."

Wordlessly gazing at his new gun, Kakkou started walking lightly. He entered into the darkness under a pedestrian bridge so that the people around wouldn't see him.

"So cold…"

The boy muttered.

"…?"

Munechika raised an eyebrow. It was obvious that metal was cold. Being cold meant it was strong against heat. It efficiently eliminated heat energy that would make the molecular binding brittle.

Munechika's Gemsteel had high heat resistance. She was surprised at him feeling the difference from the previous alloy, but perhaps it wasn't strange when it was a user like Kakkou.

A green checkered beetle came from somewhere. Landing on the muzzle, its body turned into green tentacles, stabbed into the gun and fused with it.

But the next instant—

"Wha—"

The gun in Kakkou's hand crumbled to pieces. The tentacles parted, became a checkered beetle again and escaped to the sky.

Seeing the lumps of broken metal in the boy's hand, Munechika stood in shock.

"T-this can't be—"

Did I mistake the amount of Gemsteel…? No, I haven't miscalculated the density. It all had to be strengthened—

Ignoring Munechika who entered a state of light panic, Kakkou waved his hand. Sighing, he took off without saying anything.

Coming back to herself, she caught the boy's shoulder and called to him.

"W-wait! What have you done, Kakkou! There's no way my product would break that easily!"

"Nothing special. I used it normally."

The boy's answer as he turned back was curt.

"T-there's no way that's true! My Gemsteel is the best metal. Since a ready-made product didn't break, there's no way that mixing in my Gemsteel would cause it to—"

"Then that means your product is even below that."

Below that—when Munechika heard those cursed words, her face blanched with anger and hatred.

Normally she would swing her hammer right about now. But she'd just seen her product crumble in front of her eyes.

"So I guess I won't expect much from Arisu's equipment, either."

Leaving a sneer behind, Kakkou shook off Munechika's arm and turned around.

He treated her creation like a defective product.

This unthinkable impression of his.

This unbearable shame.

"Wai…"

She tried calling out to Kakkou, but her hand went limp.

Clang.

Clang.

She heard construction sounds from somewhere.

The iron-pounding sound so familiar to the powerless tool maker beat her down even further.

Part 2

"A while ago I received an application for a new gun from Kakkou."

Central Headquarters, underground maze.

In the entrance of a vast meeting room, Yoshihara Munechika stood stock still.

The one who greeted the wrecked Munechika in the Headquarters was a narrow-eyed beauty.

She introduced herself as Miguruma Yaeko, but Munechika didn't know her exact title. The woman herself simply told her that she was in charge of the team investigating Hanashiro Mari and Ichinokuro Arisu.

Yaeko, who was tall and clad in a business suit, looked to be in her late twenties. The black hair swaying on her neck had a faint luster like a Japanese doll.

"Please report to me what has happened."

Yaeko said with a calm smile.

Yet the unmoving Munechika stared at the floor with empty eyes.

"…No matter how many times I calculate it, adding any more hardness… But with the way it broke down…"

The gun breaking down was etched into her eyes. She couldn't even properly recall how she arrived back at the Headquarters.

The Gemsteel was Munechika's masterpiece.

No matter which materials it was used with, it should have elevated all of its attributes, starting with hardness.

But even so—right in front of her eyes, it crumbled to pieces along with her pride as a tool maker.

If that wasn't enough, Munechika simply couldn't understand the cause for this.

"Do not be so discouraged. This does not have anything to do with your mission now."

Yaeko didn't seem to notice Munechika ignoring her boss's words and mumbling to herself. She simply smiled and kept talking as if to admonish her.

"But… the morpho butterfly is a Fusion Type just like Kakkou."

Munechika's eyebrows twitched.

"If you make Ichinokuro Arisu's equipment, make sure the same thing won't happen again."

When she raised her face, Yaeko's smile changed its essence.

Her narrow eyes became narrower and her lips curved like a crescent moon. A smile that looked as if anyone who stared at it would be captured, bound and frozen—a chaining smile.

So she's saying I'll fail again—

Yaeko received Munechika's gaze of anger with calmness.

"Ichinokuro Arisu's equipment?"

Not only Munechika and Yaeko were inside the meeting room.

Whoever it was, there was a suit-wearing boy sitting in the back. He put both feet on the table with his back turned to them.

"Is that really necessary?"

He raised his face, seeming truly puzzled. Perhaps finding the act of turning around too bothersome, he lowered the chair and his face to look at them. Strangely-shaped sunglasses fell to his brows.

"It is better than having nothing, surely. We are also planning to make an inspection soon."

"No need. Fusion Types can just use whatever they find."

"Is that so?"

Their relationship was unclear, as Yaeko was speaking politely to the boy who seemed to be younger.

Finishing their short talk, Yaeko again turned a calm smile to Munechika.

"—And so, your mission is on hold."

Munechika widened her eyes.

"What…"

"You did not fail in your mission. It's just on hold. —I have heard that you are excellent. I will keep expecting you to act to be loved by me, alright?"

She was speechless at the sudden order to cease her task.

It wasn't that she felt sentimental because this was her monumental first mission.

She didn't care about the mission at all.

But it was as if as Munechika's boss told her to—forget about what she couldn't create and go create something else.

"Gh…!"

She grinded her clenched teeth.

It was unbearable shame as a tool maker.

After having her work be derided as something below ready-made goods, she would never get another job. As long as she didn't overturn this impression she'd become unable to create even a single screw.

"I request continuing the mission."

Yaeko grinned. She turned around wordlessly to the boy.

"Hmm… so another one's drawn to that morpho butterfly."

Munechika raised her eyebrows at the boy's words.

"It has nothing to do with people or Mushi. In both mind and body I'm just a tool maker—"

Until now nobody could create perfect weapons for Fusion Types.

If so then excluding Munechika, there was no one who could do it.

Wanting to create something that would never break—

Since she'd wished for and dreamed about it, she had to do it.

"Nothing but my iron would work for Fusion Type Mushi."

The next time she failed she'd possibly lose confidence not only in herself right now—but also in her talent and potential.

Giving up like this would mean Munechika's death as a tool maker.

"Ichinokuro Arisu… no, that scammer should just use what I've created."

She asserted cleanly.

The boy with the upturned face narrowed one his eyes.

"You're amusing."

He looked like he was laughing, but there was no emotion in his voice. Having an apparent young boy make that sort of face was unsettling.

"…Fine. You can continue. However…"

The boy returned the chair, turning his back to Munechika again. His barely visible mouth formed a smile.

"Since you're getting involved with that morpho butterfly, it won't end well for you."

Bring it on.

Or perhaps she should say that it was too late.

At this point Munechika's confidence and pride were already crushed, so she could only advance. She had nothing else to fear.

Yaeko wore a chaining smile.

"West Central Branch member Sakura. I order you to continue your mission."

Munechika clenched her fists.

"However, I will give you a week to complete this."

"Understood."

The Gemsteel cube emitted a low metallic sound on Munechika's head as she nodded with a sharp expression.

What are Fusion Type Mushi?

In order to create Ichinokuro Arisu's equipment, Munechika first focused on that.

Until now, there were three confirmed people who had their dreams eaten by the Original Three known as Sanbikime and became Mushitsuki—that information and background didn't help her at all.

What have they fused with, how did they use it, and what result have they produced?

She wanted pure data.

First of all, she knew that Kakkou fused with his gun. In exchange for achieving powerful bombardment he stretched his gun's endurance to its absolute limits, just like the person himself said.

Next she investigated Hanashiro Mari. She was the original host of the morpho butterfly.

Using Kakkou's investigation, she knew there was a period where Mari had hunted so much Mushitsuki that she became known as Hunter. Her goal was unknown, but she didn't care about her motive.

What equipment had Hanashiro Mari used to keep fighting?

For that, testimony from people of the combat unit who knew her was essential.

She actually searched for people who'd fought Hanashiro Mari. Yet most of the Mushitsuki who'd met with the cruel huntress had their Mushi killed, turning into the emotionless and amnesiac Fallen.

Yet she was able to contact only one person who had been able to see Hanashiro Mari as she was before her death by another method.

It was the Mushitsuki with the ability to view Mushi's memories, Kororo.

—Hanashiro Mari's equipment when she fought? *Grin*, I do remember. It was like this. *Scribble scribble*.

Although she was able to view memories, she couldn't record them. She used a pen to scribble the figure of Hanashiro Mari that she'd seen.

It was a crappy drawing, but it was easy enough to understand that Hanashiro Mari fused her Mushi with a cane.

Mari's cane was apparently an order-made item. It was obviously new at a glance.

In exchanging equipment, both Hanashiro Mari and Kakkou were the same.

Miguruma Yaeko… she probably knew this—

Whatever Munechika investigated that sly woman should already be aware of. Since she knew it wasn't straightforward, she'd practically challenged Munechika.

Anger welled inside her. Yet wickedness would dull her iron.

Calming herself down, she finally gathered data on Ichinokuro Arisu.

The current morpho butterfly's host changed weapons every time she fought.

She apparently used at times a wooden staff and at times metallic. All of those were destroyed or left in an irreparable state after just one use.

All of the Fusion Types had similar data—

Just as she came to a dead end, Munechika found out there was yet another Fusion Type.

Since the morpho butterfly was the same Mushi, the two hosts were apparently counted together. The real third Fusion Type was in an unexpected place.

—The SEPB coat? It breaks immediately, so only I use a completely normal one.

Thus said the girl who was, in contrast to the other powerful Fusion Types, unranked, and thus acknowledged as the weakest among Mushitsuki. Low-end members like her wouldn't get enough money to repair their equipment.

That Munechika was once again assaulted by a sense of defeat went without saying. The long coats being used as the members' standard equipment already had her Gemsteel integrated into them.

—That coat just felt kinda cold. Something like I hated it and it hated me back? The opposite of a loving couple.

Leaving her incomprehensible impressions behind, the girl once again melted with the crowd.

Investigating Fusion Types, she found similarities.

Even ready-made goods could withstand some usage. Yet equipment that could break anytime wasn't really equipment. At the very least Munechika thought so as a tool maker.

But what Munechika had created—couldn't even withstand one use. Having Kakkou call it a defective product was infuriating, but now she couldn't even retort.

By recalling her powerlessness, she recalled something else Kakkou said that she'd ignored.

—Since a specially-made item would actually immediately break, this is good enough.

Meaning, he only wanted ready-made equipment. But the important thing was that he'd once used order-made guns.

Asking around the West Central Branch, there were records of the creation of Kakkou's guns.

They didn't last a mere instant like Munechika's one, but just like the user himself had said, they all broke easier than ready-made ones.

Superior metal couldn't withstand the fusion process with Fusion Types—

It sounded illogical, but was the truth.

However, never mind gaining any clues, but the information Munechika found from the scarce data actually confused her.

"Something about good metal obstructs the fusion with Fusion Types…? Is such a stupid thing even possible…"

A few days passed since she received the mission.

While walking absentmindedly on the streets of Akamaki City, Munechika looked up the noon sky.

"…Fusion…"

The large sun burned in gold.

As she stood in place with a tired face, the shape of the sun and the tall buildings in Munechika's sight warped. Sweat entered her eyes and her vision blurred.

"What if… Fusion Mushi are just like me…"

Clang.

Clang.

She could hear the sound of striking metal from somewhere.

In the capital there was always something being built somewhere, so construction sounds echoed around.

Munechika, used as she was to metallic sounds, recalled an important teaching.

"Fusion Type Mushi… connect people and objects…"

By being too close to humans, one would mix their emotions with the purity of iron.

By being too close to iron, one would rust their wisdom as a human.

The one who connected "people" and "objects" was a blacksmith.

So she was taught.

"And so… The same being is standing in my way…"

During this era when people have surpassed the potential of iron, Munechika rejected this teaching.

It was people who should be used by metal—

Believing this, she tempered her heart and hated people who've lost love and respect for objects.

However, Mushi didn't exist without people.

As a being that connected people and objects, the tool maker and Fusion Types chose different paths.

"…So stupid."

She muttered and started walking again.

The reason why Munechika's Gemsteel didn't accept Fusion Type had to have some decisive cause.

But even so she had some stupid daydreams. It was nothing more than escapism after reaching a dead end.

"…Without the strength of the Gemsteel, it shouldn't be possible to keep using it… but with the Gemsteel it couldn't fuse with Mushi…"

She had no idea how she would even need to swing her hammer to build a prototype.

Standing in place again, she felt so dizzy she could faint. But since she was working on a clock, she couldn't waste a single second on sleep. She was unable to obtain even a single hint, so she at least wanted to keep moving ahead.

"It really is hot today…"

Fierce rays that couldn't possibly belong in this early summer scorched the city surrounded by steel and concrete.

It was too strong of a sun for a tool maker who frequently shut herself inside her workplace. Also, since she'd made no advances in three days, she hadn't really slept at all.

"The sunlight really is hot…"

She simply walked ahead, without knowing where. She moved her body only because she had to think.

She nearly fainted. Munechika's body lightly tilted.

Yet her thin shoulder was grabbed and she was held by someone.

"Hey you. Your face looks horrible… are you fine?"

Barely preserving her consciousness, she turned to the side.

A boy with slanted eyes and long, black hair looked at Munechika worryingly.

"W-wait up! You should rest in the shade."

The boy stopped Munechika when she tried to ignore him and leave. He pulled her hand and brought her to a road isolated from other people.

"…"

She didn't have enough energy to resist.

Moving from the sun to the shade, she could only feel the coldness of the wall she leaned against.

"Hot… Cold…"

The difference between the blazing sun and cool shade lowered her blood pressure.

In her head that became anemic—sprouted an idea.

"Temperature difference… Heat… Heat weakens connection…"

"Cold".

She had the feeling she'd heard this word lately.

"Hot… Cold…"

The boy reached out toward the mumbling Munechika.

"Do you have a fever?"

Munechika's head was affixed to the wall with a jerk.

The next instant, several people appeared in the narrow road.

"So it's Sakura from the West Central Branch's development unit."

The boy's voice changed. A sharp voice that made it seem like he could control his own vocal cords stabbed into Munechika.

A small azure disk clung to the wall near Munechika's ear. It looked like a leaf beetle, but had no eyes.

"Sorry for being rough with you. Please listen to me without raising your voice."

The strength holding her head lessened.

Losing its support, Munechika's head shook vertically.

It apparently looked like she was nodding. The boy's expression softened and he let go of her.

"My name's Aki. I was once part of the SEPB, but I'm now collecting allies under a certain someone."

Despite Munechika using all of her efforts just to withstand the dizziness assaulting her, the boy called Aki smiled.

A girl who seemed to be his comrade stepped out. She patted Munechika all over her sailor uniform, peeked into her pouch, and reported that "She doesn't seem to have any communication device. No goggles, either," to Aki.

"I was able to obtain information about you from friends that remained in the SEPB. You are a genius developer that entered the development unit immediately after joining the West Central Branch. Also, since you've received special training at Central Headquarters the other day, you keep polishing your skills."

Munechika stayed silent and unmoving.

Her vacant blurry sight wandered around as she searched her memories.

She had the feeling she'd heard the word "cold" more than once.

"Let me get straight to the point. Will you become our comrade?"

Aki directed an honest gaze at Munechika.

Her head gradually grew accustomed to the sun's heat. Her thinking power recovered a bit.

"I also know how you joined the SEPB. There are many cases where other people discover your Mushi and you get captured, but… it was somewhat different in your case."

Clang.

Clang.

She heard metallic sounds of construction from afar like always.

Hearing the metallic sound, a completely irrelevant memory resurfaced.

"When you'd seen the equipment of the SEPB member sent to capture you—you offered to join of your own volition."

It happened while she was engaged in various chores as the daughter of a hardware store owner.

It was a simple job of replacing a rusted, leaking lamp. Yet sympathizing with the useless lamp being thrown away, she instead fixed it using her power as a Mushitsuki.

Even before that, since she'd been using a "mysterious power" she'd already been marked.

Since her monitor had seen Munechika use her Mushi, she was captured.

She knew neither the reason for her attack or the identity of her opponent. Naturally she resisted, and by striking the attacker's equipment with her hammer, she realized it was made of material unknown to her.

Munechika asked the reason for her attack by brute force—and became determined to join the SEPB.

The West Central Branch was wonderful, and she was able to produce material she'd never touched before. Ever since joining, she learnt their making in no time.

And she created the Gemsteel.

The Gemsteel created by Munechika was acknowledged by her colleagues as the best alloy.

"Since your motive was special you're under no obligation to obey the SEPB. Don't you dislike your creations being used by such an unreasonable organization?"

Finally she was able to focus her eyes. She saw Aki's face for the first time.

The boy wore an unwavering expression. He probably thought he was acting for justice. The people around wore the same expressions.

"These aren't tools supposed to hurt fellow Mushitsuki. Please create tools to save them."

As long as there were tools made by Munechika, they'd be able to win against the SEPB—

Is what he meant.

Perhaps they could win.

But—that was only if they could really use what Munechika created.

"We can no longer… just cower in fear of Kakkou and the rest."

Munechika widened her eyes.

Hearing the boy's words, her memory became clear as if mist was blown away.

—So cold.

It was Kakkou who muttered this while he held Munechika's restructured gun.

And saying the same thing was another person.

—That coat just felt kinda cold.

The girl who, although unranked, was a Fusion Type just like Kakkou.

The two Fusion Types said that what Munechika created was "cold".

"My Gemsteel… is cold—"

Thinking about it just like when Kakkou told her, a gun being cold was natural.

By cutting off heat, or perhaps temporarily dispersing it, the gun was able to endure the impact of gunpowder and the fire-resistant coat was able to diffuse external heat.

It was sturdy and tough exactly because it didn't accept any heat.

Thinking about it backwards, creating better metal required large amounts of heat energy.

Destroying the cellular structure of superior metal and rebuilding it would give birth to even superior metal.

"Cool enough to be good metal…"

Her Gemsteel was cold.

The equipment fusing with Fusion Types broke down easily.

Munechika had already known both, so why was her heart beating so rapidly?

"Are you even listening to me?"

Being ignored, Aki's expression stiffened. He thrust Munechika against the wall forcefully.

Yet Munechika didn't pay him any attention.

"Hot… Cold… is that it? Does Fusion Type require such a foolish condition from me…?"

The true identity of what Munechika was looking for slowly took form inside her.

Yet this only introduced further problems.

A component of a coarse alloy that would preclude it from being good metal.

If that is truly what Fusion Type Mushi sought—

"Does it mean that Mushi seek heat… warmth…?"

The ultimate hardness, as well as heat.

Munechika, who knew the principles of iron, knew they were mutually exclusive.

It was an absurd demand.

The hint she'd grabbed was an insurmountable wall.

But even so—

"Answer us, Sakura."

She violently shook off Aki's arm as he questioned her.

"…!"

Starting with the boy, the members all changed their expressions.

"There's something I have to create. Don't disturb me with your foolishness."

"Foolishness, you say…?"

"If you want to get involved in fights between humans then go ahead."

Munechika simply glared at the angry boys and girls.

"I am neither human nor steel but a mere tool maker. Don't tell me anything other than an order, idiot."

She asserted, then tried to pass through the center of the gathering.

"Unfortunately, I've already had a previous order."

Yet Aki blocked her from leaving. He inquired her with a silent gaze.

"That order… that thing you must create, what is it?"

"The morpho butterfly's spear."

She declared without a hint of hesitation.

Although the conditions seemed impossible, she had to create it.

The one who connected "people" and "objects" was a blacksmith.

It was a teaching that Munechika abandoned long ago.

And so she would never lose against Fusion Type Mushi who connected people and inanimate objects just like that old teaching.

"The morpho butterfly's spear, you say?"

The color of Aki's face changed. The air became tense.

"You mean equipment for Ichinokuro Arisu to use!"

"Who knows? Move. Don't you humans dare stand in my way."

Just as Munechika tried to push the boy's body back, a fragment of concrete cut her cheek.

A small explosion occurred near her face.

The Mushi perched on the wall—the one similar to the species of leaf beetle called Linaeidea aenea—started raising white smoke from its disk-like body.

That smell… so it can create some sort of explosive compound—no, gas—inside its body. Also—

Munechika looked down at her feet.

Several leaf beetles had appeared at some point and were climbing her white legs.

So he's the type that controls multiple Mushi—

But his ability didn't matter. Munechika looked at the hole in the wall, frowning.

"You broke it… you idiots don't know the value of things."

"Even if you'd rejected us we intended to let you go peacefully. But we can no longer do that."

Following Aki, the other boys and girls began circling around Munechika with clear hostility.

"That morpho butterfly is dangerous. If we allow it to become any stronger it might be the second coming of Hunter."

Several Mushi climbed on her legs.

"We heard that Hunter was a demon just like Kakkou. Fusion Type Mushitsuki are dangerous. Equipment that would strengthen the morpho butterfly—"

"So you're saying you won't let me make it?"

Uncaring about her disadvantaged situation, Munechika spoke in an angry voice.

"Never tell a tool maker to 'not create'. At least the SEPB doesn't do that. Recently they almost did, but… in the end they gave me permission to continue. Yet you keep telling me not to?"

"Even if what you create is nothing but a tool made to hurt other Mushitsuki?"

"'Even if you'd rejected us we intended to let you go peacefully'—"

She quoted Aki's words from before verbatim.

"Why didn't you add this? 'Only if you swear to not create weapons for the SEPB'. You're worse than objects or plants, you liars."

"…!"

"You're no different from the SEPB. Even if I create weapons, it doesn't change the fact you'd use them to fight other Mushitsuki. You complain and push responsibility unto your tools. Idiots."

She clearly asserted.

Aki narrowed his eyes. He took deep breaths as if to calm himself, then opened his eyes again.

"So you won't join us… too bad."

Munechika reached out for her pouch. Yet her fingers passed through air. The girl who'd performed her body check earlier took it.

"One needs to be careful while fighting a tool maker."

It happened just as the leaf beetles started emitting a bright light at the scowling Munechika's feet.

"OK, enlisting's over! Can I have my turn now?"

The surrounding air was dyed in brown.

"…!"

The only ones to notice the asphalt rising were Munechika and Aki.

When they both instinctively kicked the ground, a liquefied asphalt spear nearly grazed their noses.

Yet the boys and girls surrounding Munechika couldn't evade it. Blown away by several tons of asphalt, they were pounded against the wall. Munechika also saw her pouch being swallowed by the asphalt.

"Who're you…!"

Aki gazed at the road ahead. Aside from Munechika and Aki, everyone was trapped by the asphalt that solidified again.

Inside the brown surroundings—the territory of a Special Type Mushitsuki—a tall shadow appeared, walking calmly. The asphalt rising from the ground took a short and stout form.

The tall person was a man with skin brown, clearly of an African descent. Instead of a hair band he used mechanical goggles to hold his dreadlocks together.

Meanwhile, next to the dreadlocked man a large Mushi made of asphalt took form.

It had a bizarre body in the shape of a gourd and an especially long proboscis. It looked similar to the species of weevils known as Ectatorhinus adamsii.

"The SEPB…? No—"

It was natural for Aki to mistake it.

What the dreadlocked man wore was, without a doubt, the SEPB goggles. He also wore the long coat of the same organization. Yet the latter was wrapped over his waist and the former hung from his back.

"You're Robber…!"

Aki spat his voice mixed with hatred. At the very least he wasn't their ally.

Next to his Mushi, the man called Robber bowed.

"Shall I escort you, Princess?"

Raising his face, the dreadlocked man looked at none other than Munechika.

"If you don't like 'em, you can come with me. Now wouldn't that be fun?"

Although she was suddenly invited, Munechika couldn't understand what was being discussed. She looked at Aki.

The ex-SEPB boy already assumed battle position. Moving his head and cracking his neck, he scowled.

"He's with Harukiyo. He's a pervert who attacks SEPB members and takes their equipment. He's apparently a Special Type Mushitsuki, but despite having attacked a few people his abilities are unknown."

"You were already dumped by her, so scram. Also, I'm not really Harukiyo's ally."

Speaking in somewhat strangely-pronounced Japanese, Robber showed his white teeth and laughed.

"Well, it's true I'm in the network with Harukiyo in the center."

"Network…?"

"A gathering of people who like interesting stuff. Our only similarities are having enough power to hide from the SEPB, I think."

Aki scowled. "A pervert assembly, then," he groaned.

"Weak people swarm together. Swarms clash against each other. —It's got nothing to do with us. We simply use our Mushitsuki powers to do whatever we like however much we like."

The pair continued their talk as if it was natural, but Munechika couldn't understand them.

"Haruki…yo?"

"Harukiyo."

Both Aki and Robber affirmed Munechika's mutter.

She finally recalled.

She'd heard that lately someone was challenging the SEPB. And he probably had a name like that.

"Ever since hearing about you from the West Central Branch member who'd 'given' me these clothes, I wanted to see you."

Robber said with a superficial smile.

"You're a Mushitsuki just like us. You don't care about good or bad. Come along with me and do what interests you. And create some stuff I want while you're at it."

Munechika clicked her tongue.

She was blocked yet again by someone with an offer that didn't interest her in the least. Furthermore she wanted to puke just by seeing him. There had to be some limit to how someone could wear equipment without any sort of aesthetics or self-consciousness.

"Hmm, no reply, OK. Let's speak while we're alone. —I want what's on your head. I can tell at a glance it's something good."

Robber wasn't perturbed in the least by Munechika's rejection. He glared greedily at the Gemsteel cube in her hair.

She commended him for realizing the value of the Gemsteel, but saying he wanted it pissed her off. Telling a tool maker to hand over her raw materials was breach of conduct.

"Please hand it over once I make the signal. Then come along and start creating stuff for us, my honey. We're all gonna make good use of them, y'know."

"I will not allow that. I'll turn her into a Fallen right here and now."

Aki cut between Munechika and Robber.

"Don't interrupt. Now, come here, honey."

"Bring your Mushi out, Sakura. If not, I'll destroy your arms."

Aki and Robber.

The two Mushitsuki cornered Munechika.

Standing in place, she sighed.

"…"

Clang.

Clang.

The regular construction sounds echoed in her tired mind.

She finally grasped a hint.

Yet the problem grew larger, and now she had to think about how she'd create it according to her image.

Munechika was facing a huge problem, yet a worthless trifle was blocking her path.

"As long as it's related to the morpho butterfly it won't end good, huh."

She was merely trying to create equipment for a single girl yet the foolish human problems poured on her.

She had no interest in the justice Aki spoke of, nor in Harukiyo's group that Robber belonged to. All of them could do whatever they liked, but they tried to push their ideologies and hobbies onto Munechika who was a mere tool maker.

"So stupid."

By being too close to humans, one would mix their emotions with the purity of iron.

By being too close to iron one, would rust their wisdom as a human.

The one who connected "people" and "objects" was a blacksmith.

So she was taught.

But Munechika—

"It's fine for someone with ideals or collection mania to want my objects. Once created, I'll never tell you to give them back."

She hated humans.

They knew nothing about the value of objects, broke them thoughtlessly, and pushed unto them unneeded emotions.

That was why they were human. —She'd already given up on becoming human.

"But don't cause a tool maker to have filthy emotions. You'll rust the metal."

Then Munechika alone would stay pure.

She wanted to create objects that human users would never break and continue to use.

"Wash your faces and leave, you idiots."

She wanted to create something that would never break—

What Munechika aimed for was a dream that would never yield to anything nor bend to anyone's emotions.

"C'mon, don't say that, come with me."

Ignoring the tool maker's rejection, Robber stepped ahead.

Yet the next instant, azure masses appeared around him.

They were countless leaf beetles.

Aside from its ability to cause explosions and to control multiple bodies, it apparently even had camouflage capabilities. As they melted into the surrounding background, Robber hurriedly distanced himself from the approaching leaf beetles.

"I don't have any duty to defeat the SEPB's enemies anymore… but I won't let you do that. Because if you turn her into Harukiyo's ally we'll have to fight her at some point."

Aki snapped his fingers.

The leaf beetles didn't appear only around Robber; several appeared also around Munechika.

"…!"

She tried reflexively stepping back, but suddenly strength left her legs. —On top of not having slept for a few days, she'd wandered under the blazing sun. Her stamina had already reached its limits.

The impact of an explosion stabbed through the alleyway.

"As long as you don't have a sensing ability, you'll never be able to defend against my ability."

The number of leaf beetles assaulting Munechika was less than those surrounding Robber. Yet since she had no means to defend with, she was pounded against the wall helplessly.

"Guh…!"

"I'll say this again. If you bring out your Mushi I'll just turn you into a Fallen. If you still don't accept this, I'll blow off your arm."

Aki walked calmly toward Munechika who collapsed to the ground.

"That's not good at all. I'm taking honey home with me."

Cutting through the smoke of the explosion, a white object flew forward.

It was a weevil with a pure, white body, unlike its asphalt color from before.

"Tch!"

Without turning around, Aki sent leaf beetles at it.

Explosions swallowed the weevil.

Yet the beetles' attack was unable to inflict even a single wound to the weevil's body. It charged at Aki as if nothing happened.

"What…!"

Even while surprised, he leapt to the side to avoid the attack.

Yet Munechika who was also in the path of its charge couldn't dodge the large body. She bounded and rolled from the other side of the road to inside the dark alley.

"Ugh…!"

The dreadlocked man approached next to his weevil while showing his white canines.

"Oops, sorry. As expected it's hard to hold back with this material."

While smiling he picked up a piece of asphalt rolling at his feet. The weevil raised its face and used its long proboscis to swallow the asphalt the man was holding.

Soon another brown domain was created and the weevil's body changed its color. Its large body, now asphalt-colored, sank into the ground.

"That'd be better for bringing you back, honey."

"No way…! Can you freely control your Mushi's medium…?"

Aki looked shocked, but Robber stayed calm.

"Well, who knows?"

It was natural for Aki to be surprised. Special Type Mushi could activate their abilities through a certain medium while inside their domain. Yet Munechika never heard even in rumors about a Mushi that was able to change its medium.

Barely raising her face, Munechika noticed a certain fact. The long, white coat that was standard for the Central Headquarters was gone from among Robber's equipment.

By making his Mushi eat a designated material, he could turn that into his medium—

If Munechika's assumption was correct, the white insect from just now had the same endurance as the SEPB coat. And so when it was physically attacked it had almost no effect.

"Uh…"

This wasn't the time for that—

A tool maker wasn't supposed to be fighting.

Needing to return to the workplace, Munechika tried getting up. Yet she was assaulted by pain, fatigue and dizziness. Rather than the damage she'd received, her body didn't listen to her due to the uselessness plaguing her.

Yet when she tried floundering, her body suddenly floated.

The asphalt rose up, swallowing Munechika. She couldn't move and so was thrown toward Robber.

"I told you I won't let you have her!"

Leaf beetles filled her sight.

The back alley was swallowed by a chain of explosions.

"Gabfh…!"

The asphalt covering Munechika cracked. Blown herself by the explosions, she fell on the hard ground.

"Don't stand in my way. She's mine."

Again the wave of asphalt tried covering Munechika.

Taking advantage of the fact Munechika couldn't move, she was being treated like an object. It was an ironic position for her as someone who hated humans, but she didn't feel like laughing.

She stabbed the ground with her nails and crawled inside the back alley.

"To the workplace…"

She had to go back.

She had hints and she needed to test them.

Since there was a possibility, Munechika had to make it come true.

She had no time to go along with the trifles of humans—

"UOORAAHHHH!"

Suddenly the howling of a beast reverberated.

In defiance of the leaf beetles' explosions, the asphalt weevil broke into pieces and dark masses started falling from the air.

Such a fearful tremor shook the area that it was weird the buildings haven't collapsed.

The surroundings swallowed by the brown domain were now filled with thick mist.

"Don't fucking mess around in the Central Headquarters' territory!"

A girl wearing a white coat who swung around claws made of coagulated mist howled.

The Central Headquarters' Berserker, Kasuou.

Other white-coated members also appeared with a delay.

"Shi—"

Although he tried attacking Munechika, Aki took a step back in attempt to distance himself from Kasuou.

"Oh, look who have here, the traitor Aki. Are you doing well?"

Kasuou, having already flipped her switch to enter battle mode, narrowed her blue eyes like a predator.

"And I don't know the other guy."

"It was just getting good when you showed up."

The dreadlocked man shrugged lightly.

"I don't know why Sakura's being attacked, but—"

This was Akamaki City.

It was the home turf of the Central Headquarters that controlled all of the SEPB.

If Mushitsuki fought too conspicuously it was obvious the organization's members would come swarming. They were actually late.

"Anyway, both of you can kindly go to hell."

Kasuou grinned evilly.

Aki and Robber acted quickly.

"Sakura, as long as you're with the SEPB, you'll come to regret it one day."

"See you, honey."

They apparently didn't want to clash against Kasuou who had, despite being unranked, the best strength and destructive power. They all turned their back and dashed down alleys.

Although she wasn't the team leader, Kasuou dashed after them and the other members pursued her.

"You stay over there. We'll call the healing team."

Munechika didn't even feel like thanking Kasuou who left her behind. Despite her being this powerful, her mission completion rate was awful. She would obviously soon lose both of them.

Munechika roused her wounded body, staggering.

Her sailor uniform was torn and she was scorched from all the explosions. There was fresh blood on her head, and she felt dust and a metallic taste in her mouth.

She dragged her feet to walk.

She couldn't just wait for the healing team.

"Hot…"

The core of her head was hot as if burned.

Did she have a fever or had the leaf beetles and weevil cracked her head?

"…Cold."

She felt a chill crawl inside her chest and up her fingernails.

She felt cold, perhaps due to shedding too much blood.

"People and objects…"

Clang.

Clang.

Hearing sounds of construction, she walked through alleys with a deathly pale face. Perhaps having entered a side street due to her blurry vision, she wandered around the narrow paths as if they were a maze.

The one who connected people and objects was a blacksmith.

So she was taught by her father and grandfather.

"And Fusion Type Mushi… are also like me…"

As they fused with inanimate objects to use their abilities, they could also be said to be beings that connected people and objects.

Yet Mushi couldn't accept cold steel alone.

They chose the exact opposite path of Munechika who hated humans and removed any and all heat from metal.

"But still… Why do they seek heat even from iron…"

Trudging along like a sleepwalker, she bit down her own words.

She had no need to think of why.

If that is the answer then Munechika would give it. However—

"Can I… even do that…?"

Just before exiting the sunlit road, she collapsed.

Her feet stumbled in the narrow alley, and she folded her knees as if to lean against the wall.

She overlooked the road with empty eyes. She couldn't move even a single step further.

"Bring heat… to metal…"

One of the cubes on her head clunked as it fell to the ground.

Seeking toughness, Munechika created her Gemsteel using extreme heat.

Heat made iron weaker.

People were brittle because they possessed heat.

The Gemsteel could be called Munechika's masterpiece as someone who loved metal and rejected humans.

"How do I preserve heat…? What kind of heat should it be…?"

It was different than enclosing heat inside a closed space like a thermos.

It was preserving heat in the metal itself.

Although she obtained clues, she couldn't think of how to realize that idea at all.

Perhaps this was her limit—as a misanthropic tool maker?

"It's too late, how can I even…"

Ever since she was a child she kept watch of the family's store plenty of times.

Since she had been watching her grandfather the swordsmith remnant and her father who worked in the factory, she knew the difficulties of creating items using iron.

Even so, all customers destroyed their objects and exchanged them for new as if it was natural. Whether it had a function or was expendable, there was no difference in their treatment.

It wasn't that it served as her motive.

She simply kept pounding with a certain belief in her chest and removed all impure emotions from the metal she created.

I want to create something that'll never break—

She wanted to produce by her own hands something that wouldn't be defeated by humans.

She wished for it, it became a dream, and set her on a natural course to become a Mushitsuki.

"…"

He vision blurred and the figures of people walking around were gone.

She lost most of her consciousness. She didn't know how much time passed since she couldn't move from that spot.

Among the people walking around, some noticed Munechika fainting. But perhaps thinking her a vagrant, or not wanting to get involved with her, none tried approaching her.

At some point the sun sank down and she was surrounded by orange.

Unable to even lift her face, her vision fell to the ground.

The cube that fell moved in her sight—shaking as if by an earthquake.

"…hear me? Are you fine?"

It wasn't the Gemsteel shaking; Munechika herself was being shaken by someone.

Raising her face with stiff movements, she saw a familiar girl looking at her face.

"Daisuke! Call an ambulance!"

Shouting as she turned toward the main street was a petite girl with a ponytail.

She was Ichinokuro Arisu.

At the back alley entrance Kakkou and two other girls looked at her to gauge the situation. These were the same people from the other day when Munechika came to see Arisu at the station.

Kakkou took out his cellphone and called somewhere. It was probably not actually the police or hospital.

"You look horrible…"

Arisu took out a handkerchief and wiped Munechika's face.

This time Munechika hadn't been waiting for her.

Had she passed there by chance? In this densely-populated city Munechika knew only few people by sight. Just how low were the chances to meet someone in particular?

No, that's wrong—

She hated letting people touch her body, but she had no power to resist. While letting her face be wiped, she noticed her own mistake.

There were plenty people that had seen here. But Arisu was the only one among them to stop—

A silver shine danced atop Arisu's head as she supported the collapsed Munechika.

"You're the only one who needs to remember…"

She glared with listless eyes at the silver morpho butterfly.

She hated referring to people by their names, and didn't like to give names to objects.

Yet for the first time she declared her name in front of the morpho butterfly.

"My name is Yoshihara Munechika. I'm the tool maker who'll grant your wish…"

Apparently not hearing her well, Arisu tilted her head with an "Eh?"

Ichinokuro Arisu inherited the morpho butterfly left behind by Hanashiro Mari.

She was one of the rare Fusion Types like Kakkou.

Aki and the others called it a demon, and it was also apparently involved with Harukiyo.

Munechika was also swallowed up by the butterfly that involved everyone and anyone.

However—

"…"

She grasped yet another hint.

Inside her hand.

"Ah…"

Munechika wordlessly grabbed Arisu's hand wiping her face.

The warmth of life was reborn in her hand that became cold due to blood loss.

That was undoubtedly the proof of one's life. As Munechika mastered metal she rejected it long ago—it was the forgotten warmth of a "person".

This temperature—

A new image formed in her mind.

"…I'll repay you someday."

Munechika wrung out a hoarse voice.

"Huh?"

She stared at the morpho butterfly above the confused Arisu's head.

I'll finish this—

She hadn't the slightest of intentions to get involved with the mysteries and battles revolving around the butterfly.

She didn't introduce herself to Ichinokuro Arisu. They'd probably never meet again.

What this lone tool maker sought was someone far more unreachable.

"Go away… I'm fine…"

She obtained the image of heat.

She had only one remaining task.

She needed to improve heat conductivity and insulation while preserving the best hardness. To change its disposition, she needed enough energy to destroy the Gemsteel.

But not only destroy it; she also needed energy to restructure it.

How would she go about this task—

"But…"

Arisu looked hesitant seeing Munechika felt so cold. She was probably going to say kind things such as that she couldn't leave a wounded person be.

Kakkou pulled Arisu's shoulders and drew her back from Munechika.

"I called the ambulance. We can just leave her."

"I can't just leave her like this."

"I told you not to get involved in funny business. I can watch over her for a bit."

While disliking the fact Kakkou left her no choice, the girl retreated.

"…Please watch her properly."

Ichinokuro Arisu reluctantly left with her two friends.

Left behind, Munechika raised her jaw.

"She seems to… trust you quite a bit… I heard that you can't come too close to your monitoring target though…"

Muttering cynically unlike herself was probably because she felt just a slight bit better.

Kakkou scowled.

"I haven't officially become a monitor. Once we're done with the morpho butterfly, I'd never want to do it again."

Surprisingly laughter leaked from her mouth.

Even the Rank 1 demon everyone was scared of had gotten his hands burned by the morpho butterfly.

That was nice. She also wanted to finish her mission and then retire.

"I confirmed the details. The healing team that's searching for you will soon come here."

She got the final hint by looking at this boy too.

If Munechika would be able to obtain the devilish power to break even the unbreakable, then perhaps—

"Are you really making Arisu's weapon?"

Perhaps thinking of something, Kakkou's tone was harsh. He was talking as if to say it was completely unnecessary.

If one had a weapon, their enemies would increase.

She was fully aware of that.

"Don't ask such difficult things of a mere tool maker…"

But Munechika was just a tool maker.

"I just create the tings I'm told to and obtain the best result…"

She wanted to try saying so.

Yet if she tried thinking like humans—

Rather than creating a hundred enemies, if the weapon ended saving its owner's life even once… then perhaps you could say it had some meaning.

For a split second she thought so.

"Kakkou… I hate being in a debt to you, but you're reliable."

The boy raised a brow at this murmur.

The Gemsteel was the best metal created by Munechika.

Yet more precisely it could be said to be the limit with her ability.

To change it even further, Munechika required more energy than she could imagine.

Gas, electricity, laser, electromagnetism—Munechika couldn't get that kind of energy from all the machinery she could think of, unfortunately.

And if so—she had no choice but to entrust her wish to someone who could use power beyond human understanding.

"I want great energy… If you have among your friends someone who can control that sort of power like you, please introduce me to them…"

Asking the demon who'd fought more Mushitsuki than anyone was the right answer.

The moment he heard Munechika's words, Kakkou frowned. This meant that he thought of someone.

"He's not a friend."

At this point even a non-human would be fine—

She thought in her heart.

"And I can't introduce you to him… but I do know who's the next strongest after me."

Munechika smiled calmly.

The next moment, Kakkou spoke the name she expected him to.

Meaning someone who looked human but was above humans, a Mushitsuki.

The moment she faced them—would become Yoshihara Munechika's biggest challenge.

Part 3

Clang.

Clang.

Today there was also the sound of iron being pounded.

She could see pipes being hammered in the distant premises.

Or perhaps it was her grandfather's sound etched in her memories.

By being too close to humans, one would mix their emotions with the purity of iron.

By being too close to iron, one would rust their wisdom as a human.

The one who connected "people" and "objects" was a blacksmith.

So she was taught.

It was an ancient saying—as well as a heartwarming one.

Munechika, who lived in the present, chose to love iron over humans.

"…"

The wind blowing through the early morning capital had the scent of iron and exhaust gas.

Not a single car could be seen running on the large road split to three lanes.

Only Munechika's electric kick scooter ran on the road with light engine noises. That scooter, with much better output and power than those on the market, was a beloved vehicle in the West Central Branch.

Leaning her body, she drove in a gentle arc. She activated the autopilot program installed on the scooter to allow it to keep running with the same speed and angle.

Running on the empty road, Munechika's outfit wasn't her usual sailor uniform.

She wore her very own handmade jumpsuit and hid half her face with goggles. Her usual pouch hung from her hips and she carried a large toolbox on her back.

"…Any damage wouldn't matter around here."

Munechika muttered as she reached her destination. She stopped the scooter and parked it.

The road ended in a spot as empty as if it had been cut off.

A highway in construction—

No-one passed the bridge and the view was clear. The train rails didn't reach all the way there, and she could only see a barren asphalt hill.

Descending her scooter, she put her toolbox on the ground. She took out a red pen and a large paint brush.

For a while she worked soundlessly.

By the time she'd finished about half her work, the ground was rising in the direction she'd come from.

"Wait a bit. I'll play with you once I'm done."

Using a brush to paint the ground red, she spoke toward the person arriving there.

The asphalt liquefied and rose, revealing a single man and a Mushi.

"So you've noticed me tailing ya."

The African man, Robber, exposed his white teeth.

"So you realized I'll come getcha if you're alone? Does that mean you were waiting for me?"

"Indeed. I'm glad it wasn't Aki with whom I have no business."

She lightly affirmed. The dreadlocked man huffed pleasantly. Next to him, the weevil clad in the brown domain shook its long proboscis.

Despite it being early morning, today was hotter than early summer should've been.

When beads of sweat formed on Munechika's forehead, she finally finished her work.

"…Not bad."

Satisfied at her own work, she took out the hand hammer from her pouch. Spinning it once, she swung it to the side.

It elongated with a metallic sound. The scarab shining with a metallic luster landed on the now meter long hammer.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting."

When she turned around she could see Robber's cheeks were sweaty. It was obvious that his smile was strained not because of the heat.

"…Are you insane, honey?"

The man's eyes focused on the paint at her feet.

Munechika removed a cube from her hair with a cold expression.

"You wanted that, right? I'll give it to you."

The Gemsteel cube ricocheted on the asphalt, making a clear sound.

"This is my masterpiece. It's also woven into the SEPB equipment you're wearing, but I've raised its pureness by 100%."

Robber twitched. His agitated expression turned into a weary, cynical smile.

"Is that a signal to approach you? Then I'll be taking it—and then you, too. Because I'd like you to create interesting stuff for us from now on."

Heading for the Gemsteel rolling ahead of Munechika, the asphalt weevil approached.

"Also… you're going to die if you stay near that, honey."

The jumpsuit-wearing girl made no move.

"…Lemme tell you something."

The weevil advanced slowly between the unmoving Munechika and Robber.

"My Mushi's ability is just like you thought. It can turn any material it eats to its medium for an amount of time. Also…"

Munechika silently made the hammer spin through air once, then caught it.

"It has to materialize only for the moment it switches."

The weevil's proboscis touched the Gemsteel. It sucked the cube as if to eat it.

The next instant, Munechika kicked the ground.

"You're aiming for that moment, though."

She swung the hand hammer with all of her might toward the weevil's head.

"—So if it turns harder nothing'll happen, right?"

The weevil's body was instantly colored like steel. It changed its body to the hardest material, the Gemsteel.

The scarab landed on top of the hand hammer emitted a bright light.

The hammer hit the weevil that became made of Gemsteel.

The sharp clang of striking metal reverberated throughout the road.

"…Shit."

Munechika scowled while swinging the hammer.

An earthquake occurred.

"…!"

Still exposing his white teeth, Robber's expression froze.

The ground around the weevil caved in. The delayed impact of the tremor created fissures in the ground.

Along with the sound of breaking metal, cracks appeared on the weevil's body.

"You've made me use this cursed ability."

As Munechika swore, the weevil in front of her crumbled to bits.

As a mere tool maker, one could say Munechika's ability was simply breaking down matter.

Yet it was actually more complex than that.

The scarab's real power was actually controlling the "binding force" of matter.

By controlling the binding force between cells of inorganic matter, one could make it lose its form, meld it with different matter, alter it and create an entirely different form.

Meaning that as long as she could touch something using the hammer with the scarab on it—

"Having nothing I can't destroy is too embarrassing to tell anyone."

There was no material Munechika couldn't disassemble.

If she felt like it, she could even cause an entire building to collapse.

And that was the same with her masterpiece of the Gemsteel. It was the best metal exactly because none other than Munechika could destroy it.

"When I fight things always break… That's why I don't want to fight."

In order to reform something, one needed the essential process of destruction.

There was no ability more ironic than that for Munechika who wanted to create something unbreakable.

"…Now then."

She didn't even turn around to Robber who'd lost his Mushi and become a Fallen. Ignoring the man who stood in place with glazed eyes, she returned to her electric scooter.

She sat down cross-legged on the asphalt with a thud.

"With just disassembling, the only metal I could create right now with my ability to control the binding force would be the Gemsteel."

She finished what she needed to do.

All that remained was waiting for the right time.

"In order to preserve its hardness and rebuild it even stronger—I need much more energy."

The sun was slowly ascending.

The asphalt was slowly heating up and sweat appeared on Munechika's chin.

"…"

Clang.

Clang.

She could hear the sound of striking metal from somewhere.

But it might have been an auditory illusion due to the heat affecting Munechika.

That was the sound she heard when she was young. —No, from before she was born.

The sound of her swordsmith grandfather tempering steel by fire.

"Since time immemorial, one needed fire to temper steel."

It happened just as the mid-noon sun cast shadows on the highway.

A small shadow was born on the other side of her blurry sight.

As a tool maker, Munechika wished for no fight.

And so, what she was going to do now was no battle—it was work. She was just going to forge metal.

"There was no way you'd stay silent since I'd finished off your ally, huh…"

A person walking calmly in the sun appeared.

No, it looked as if the swaying sun was avoiding that man.

Even from afar the flame-patterned tattoo on his face looked vivid. His unkempt hair looked like flames. The blazer that was probably part of some high school's uniform exposed his burly chest. If she had to choose one word to describe him, it would be imposing.

The boy sticking his hands in his pockets looked calm as if he'd simply happened there by chance. Enough heat to make Munechika think she'd been cold until now fanned her jumpsuit.

"Harukiyo."

Standing up, Munechika spun her hammer through air once.

A grin rose to the flaming devil's face.

"It's a common misunderstanding, but we're not really comrades. So it's not like I'm gonna avenge him or anything…"

Harukiyo looked at the paint below Munechika's feet.

"Also, it's the first time for someone I don't know to welcome me like this. But well, you know how it is. Recently I'm a bit pissed by Hanashiro Mari's ghost toying with me. So yeah, bottling all this stress inside me isn't healthy. Don't be surprised if I don't hold back then!"

Harukiyo spoke lightly with only his eyes sharp.

Hanashiro Mari yet again.

The incidents related to the morpho butterflies involved with the man in front of her.

Yet that had nothing to do with Munechika.

Munechika caught the hand hammer and fixed her goggles. Wearing the hood on her head, she equipped the fire-resistant mask hanging from her neck.

"Tell me your name."

Harukiyo gazed at Munechika with flaming eyes.

Assuming a complete defensive position, Munechika asserted without any fear.

"I'm just a tool maker."

She had no need to name herself.

She didn't like naming the objects she created.

She'd already left her name with the morpho butterfly.

"Since I came all the way here I won't turn back. Dunno what's your deal, but we'll do this properly."

Harukiyo's eyes focused on the letters written on the asphalt.

"Challenge"—

Munechika had written a short sentence on the whole road with paint.

"To Harukiyo-dono. I, an inexperienced tool maker, do wish for a fight against you"—

The flame devil was to face against a mere tool maker in battle.

"I accept your challenge."

This wasn't a battle, merely steel tempering.

And so Munechika put her life at stake to carry it through.

"Let's go."

Munechika got on her scooter as if pushed from behind.

A surging flame pillar covered the sun.

Priding herself on her raison d'être, Yoshihara Munechika threw herself at her biggest challenge.

Part 4

It wasn't that she was conceited.

She realized it by seeing Kakkou's expression when he'd talked about Harukiyo.

From the start she couldn't compare to him.

But although she was just a tool maker, it was certain that the hammer-wielding Munechika was the strongest or second strongest of the West Central Branch.

Even if she couldn't compare to him, if she'd fought seriously for an instant—

She realized her own shallowness thinking this.

"Hah…! Hah…!"

The electric scooter skidded on the ground, raising sparks. Its control program allowed it to preserve its balance, barely evading falling over.

"Uh—"

The moment she raised her face, a ball of fire pursued her nose.

Swallowed by the explosive flame, her body was launched back. If she hadn't been protected by fire-resistant gear her head would've probably been annihilated.

Not only had she received damage, but she could see the edge of the road behind her. If she fell into the unconstructed areas she'd become smashed against the distant ground.

"Ngh…!"

Spinning her airborne body like a cat, Munechika barely reached the edge of the road. Turning the throttle in her right hand, the scooter landed on the ground belatedly.

A tiger beetle made of flames with fangs of different sizes assaulted her from above. Jumping ahead with her scooter, she drove it full throttle.

A large hole was created in the asphalt behind the rapidly accelerating Munechika. The heat emitted by the tiger beetle melted the ground, causing the surface of the surrounding asphalt to boil.

Taking advantage of this opening now that the tiger beetle separated from the host, Munechika drove her scooter.

The flame devil, Harukiyo, smiled calmly. Even since the battle started he hadn't even removed his hands from his pockets.

She chose this level ground to make use of the scooter's mobility. Yet already half of the concrete was melted by flames, and the scooter's tires could go no longer.

"…!"

When she reached about a distance of several meters away from Harukiyo, her vision was dyed in crimson.

Several dozen flame pillars stabbed from the ground to the heavens. One of them hit Munechika directly, its impact striking the highway's noise barrier.

If she hadn't been wearing the most durable jumpsuit—

If she hadn't possessed the best kind of scooter—

Munechika would have been burnt to ashes long ago.

"Haha, you're much more persistent than expected."

Harukiyo, standing in the eye of the fire storm, laughed amiably. At some point the battlefield became a scorching hell and Munechika's vision was filled with rising pillars.

This won't be enough—

While standing in front the noise barrier, Munechika wiped her sweat. But even without her wiping it, it was instantly evaporated by the heat around.

Not yet… I have to bring out stronger flames…

It was obvious the flame-controlling boy still wasn't serious.

Even so, Munechika could already feel the energy in her hands.

Although she hadn't been dealt a fatal wound, she was full of serious burns underneath her jumpsuit. Her stamina was also approaching its limits. She probably wouldn't be able to move for much longer.

At this rate, it'd all end without her being even able to come close.

It wasn't good. Munechika had to obtain the best energy.

In order to get Harukiyo to get serious she had to get a single attack in—

"But it's not enough to challenge me. Try again in your next life."

The boy smiling like a devil unleashed the beetle.

"…!"

This was her last chance.

If she allowed that flame Mushi to safely return to its host, Munechika would probably be erased from this world by fire.

Strike the host before the Mushi returned—

As long as she couldn't do that, Munechika would never survive.

"Fuh…!"

Along with a sharp breath, she threw several drivers from her pouch.

Their sharp edges were pointed at Harukiyo.

However—

"What the heck? You don't feel like using your Mushi yet?"

The beetle cutting through the sky toward Munechika raised an ear-puncturing howl.

Blown by the hot wind, the drivers were melted soundlessly.

Boiling the ground, wrecking the sound barrier, the flame storm stabbed through the road.

Munechika was blown away. She'd stopped the beetle for a second, so a route to Harukiyo opened.

Even if Munechika wanted to use her Mushi she couldn't. It had an ability but couldn't protect itself. If she'd materialized it, it would've been erased by the heat.

"…!"

The moment she jumped into the heat wave, she smelled the unpleasant scent of burning flesh. She already felt no pain.

Yet Munechika believed in her gear.

Starting with the jumpsuit, the scooter she grabbed with her left hand and the hammer in her right hand, these were all creations pounded with her dream and life. They weren't so weak as not to protect their owner from flames that weren't serious.

"—Ooh."

Riding over the heat wave, Harukiyo widened his eyes in admiration.

The beetle corrected its trajectory, falling straight down at Munechika from overhead.

She wasn't going to make it in time—

At this rate she'd be swallowed by the flame Mushi before hitting Harukiyo.

The moment she inferred this, Munechika threw away her pride as a tool maker.

"…Sorry."

She leapt off the scooter.

"I swear I'll revive you."

At the same time a scarab landed on the tip of her hand hammer. The moment before landing on ground, she struck the scooter's motor with her hammer.

A powerful motor sound resounded. Momentarily rebuilding the electric wiring, she made it go berserk.

Losing its driver, the scooter charged toward Harukiyo like a bullet.

Using it for something other than its intended purpose, and even throwing it away—was the thing a tool maker like Munechika hated the most.

Yet she had to use something abnormal to land a hit on this abnormal enemy.

Entrusting herself to this once-in-a-lifetime action, she threw her body to the ground. Munechika rolled on the ground while preserving her momentum.

The scooter suddenly decelerated and Munechika herself decelerated. The beetle miscalculated its attack and stabbed into the asphalt between the two.

"Nice!"

Harukiyo smiled.

For some reason he turned his back to the scooter pursuing him.

The next instant, the boy used a roundhouse kick to blow the metallic vehicle away. —All with superhuman reaction speed and power that were unrelated to his Mushi.

She'd miscalculated the power of Harukiyo himself. He hadn't even gotten his hands out of his pockets.

The surprise attack ended in a failure.

However—

"I'll get your flames."

Passing through the wall of fire created by the beetle, Munechika swung her hammer on Harukiyo.

Still preserving her inertia, Munechika pursued Harukiyo with all her might.

The scarab on top of the swinging hammer shimmered.

"Come at me."

For the first time, the devilishly-smiling Harukiyo took his hands out of his pockets.

Munechika's hammer and Harukiyo's fist connected.

"…Guhh!"

The boy's fist dug deep into her stomach.

Meanwhile, Munechika's hammer—grazed Harukiyo's nose, but ended up not hitting anything.

The beetle melted the asphalt and came flying out of the ground to return toward Harukiyo's back.

"Haaha!"

Harukiyo's calm laughter shook for a second.

"…!"

His footing vanished, causing him to wear an expression of surprise for the first time.

It wasn't just around Harukiyo.

All over the highway the asphalt was being destroyed to pieces.

At the center of the collapse was Munechika. —The hand hammer with the scarab was stabbed into the ground.

Munechika and Harukiyo were both swallowed by the collapsing ground.

"You've aimed for this from the start?!"

Harukiyo's smile changed. Along with surging killer intent, he swung his arm.

The burning beetle howled.

While swallowed by the collapse along with the boy, Munechika removed a cube from her hair.

"Let's keep the jokes only for this stupid ability. Who even likes breaking stuff anyway?"

The highway had much bigger mass than buildings or small machinery. To destroy asphalt that was several meters thick, one needed it to become somewhat lightened—for instance, by tearing holes into it with fire.

Meaning it was her only chance. She had no proof she could survive this.

"It was fun for a mere tool maker."

Harukiyo thrust his flaming right hand at Munechika.

She widened her eyes.

The flames she wanted were finally in front of her.

Flicking the cube with her fingers, she flung it toward the flames assaulting her.

"UOOOOOHHH!!!"

Swinging her hammer, she struck the Gemsteel engulfed by flames.

Her dream.

Her power.

Her pride.

And—the image of heat she'd received from Ichinokuro Arisu.

A flood of emotions was embedded into that single impact.

The Gemsteel was housing a radiance incomparable to before.

"—"

The shining cube overlapped with the smiling devil falling to the ground.

Munechika returned the victorious smile toward the boy.

She was swallowed by the beetle made of flames.

Clang.

Clang.

The sound of pounding metal could be heard.

The sound of forging steel could be heard.

Opening her eyelids, the construction site she was supposed to see from afar was silent again.

The sound that roused Munechika wasn't supposed to be there.

It was sound etched into her from before she was born, the melody played by those entrusting their fates to steel.

"Whoa, you really came back to life. From now on I'll call ya zombie-chan."

The voice she heard the instant after retrieving her consciousness was truly unpleasant.

Several figures wearing white coats peered into Munechika's face as she lay on the ruins. Among them the one she heard the most was Kasuou.

Munechika barely roused her body from the ruins of the asphalt of the highway. Even while she lost her consciousness she never let go of her hammer and a wounded scarab was on top of it.

She felt dizzy and pressed on her head.

"Don't move yet… I've healed your wounds, but you don't have enough blood…"

One of the white coats—a girl who she was pretty sure was called Nene—spoke in a soft voice.

She shook her head and looked around.

There was supposed to be a bridge but it turned to a wasteland. It would take time to restore the place destroyed by Harukiyo and Munechika's battle using Nene's ability.

The sun had already sunk, and the surroundings were dark.

Harukiyo couldn't be seen anywhere.

She didn't think that was enough for that devil. Perhaps he thought Munechika had died and fled, or just let her be since she'd been in no fighting condition.

"It's great how you stayed alive like that, zombie-chan. When we found you, you were burnt to a crisp, so I thought you were dead for sure. Since you're Japanese then surely you didn't pass through heaven's gates but gone through the Sanzu River, right?"

She hadn't seen the Sanzu River, but she did hear an unlikely sound.

Ignoring the excited Kasuou, Munechika stood up.

"Ah… I told you not to…"

Shaking off Nene, she looked around the mountain of rubble.

Munechika's eyes found a pale luster.

Approaching with a staggering gait, she stuck her hand inside the ruins.

What she found was a cube shining in silver.

Gemsteel.

Or more precisely, it was what used to be Gemsteel.

Munechika knew at a glance that what she grabbed was much sturdier than before.

Also—it was warm.

It hadn't absorbed and dispersed Munechika's body warmth. The metal she wanted was in her grasp.

She and the scarab remained alive because they'd converted most of Harukiyo's flames to energy, using their ability to alter the Gemsteel's making.

It contained Munechika's life in the truest sense.

And it would probably contain much more life within it from now on.

"Well, so that's it."

She flicked it—the best metal she had finally obtained—upwards and caught it again.

Digging out her scooter buried under the rubble, she started walking with it on her back.

The other white coats watched Munechika, who had nearly died just now, in shock.

"In order to process it… I need to calculate its ratio with the rod… but before that there's Kakkou's gun…"

Muttering to herself, she went down the mountain of rubble.

West Central Branch member Sakura.

A member of the clan of swordsmiths.

The daughter of a metalworker.

And—a mere tool maker who finished one job.

The silver cube inside the hand of Yoshihara Munechika, the girl who would stay obsessed with metal until the end of the world, kept glowing.

Part 5

In the corner of the plaza in front of the Akamaki City station, a sailor uniform-clad Munechika stood.

Slightly farther away passed a group of four middle schoolers.

In the center was Ichinokuro Arisu, the girl who had inherited a Mushi from her dead friend and had become involved in a strange destiny.

Without noticing Munechika, Arisu passed toward the station.

"…"

Burning the form of the ponytail girl into her eyes, she went to leave the place.

But since one of the four students—a completely normal-looking boy—looked at her, she stopped her legs. The boy told something to Arisu and headed toward her on his own.

"Thanks for your cooperation."

Munechika greeted Kakkou without even a smile. Just like before, he'd told her that Arisu would be passing here today.

"Since I almost died I'd forgotten the size of her body, so I wanted to check it once more just to be sure."

The boy made no response to these words. Putting a hand on his waist, he spoke of another matter entirely.

"The gun you gave me didn't break this time."

"Obviously."

She calmly narrowed her eyes.

"There's no way my tools would break. Test products do break sometimes."

"…Oh well."

With Kakkou's sigh, he cut the conversation.

He'd come to announce to her only about his gun.

Munechika also didn't talk much.

Clang.

Clang.

The sound of striking metal was heard from somewhere.

Even now, some unknown tool maker was creating something.

Munechika was the same.

She did what she should have.

Now she'd return being a mere tool maker, and just spend her days locked up in her workshop.

"Once we finish creating Ichinokuro Arisu's gear in the West Central Branch we'll send it over. Just creating your gun took too much time."

She meant these words as farewell.

Without saying anything, Kakkou turned around and saw Munechika off.

But suddenly thinking of something, she stopped.

"…Is it fine to create that?"

She turned around.

Just before leaving Akamaki City, she recalled the faces of all those involved with the morpho butterfly.

Starting with Hanashiro Mari, it was passed along to Ichinokuro Arisu.

Miguruma Yaeko and the weird bespectacled guy were apprehensive, Kakkou monitored her, Aki viewed her as an enemy, and even the flame devil seemed excited.

A lot of other people, people whom Munechika didn't know, were probably involved in the morpho butterfly's mystery.

So she felt.

And inside all that a tool maker was creating a single ripple.

She couldn't even imagine what effects this would have on the incidents revolving around the morpho butterfly.

"Are you worried?"

Kakkou smiled. Since Munechika was also involved in the troubles created by the morpho butterfly, he looked like he was saying "serves you right".

"Don't be stupid."

She hesitated only for a second.

By the time she turned her back to Kakkou, she'd returned being a mere tool maker.

"I've already had enough. I always knew human troubles were not worth anything."

This time finishing for good, she left Akamaki City.

This was her true will.

The misanthropic  tool maker would only get this much involved.

She'd be gone from the city before Kakkou and the others needed to take care of troubles ahead.

She'd probably never see the morpho butterfly again.

Because she'd been determined so—she'd announced her farewell to its host earlier. Inside her heart.

"The capital's sun's too strong for a mere tool maker…"

She gazed at Akamaki City growing distant from inside the train.

"…"

Munechika's vision passed from the outside scenery to the door.

One of the screws was loose.

She endured it for a while, but finally reached for her pouch.

"Really, what's the maintenance team here doing—"

She took out her driver while muttering.

Several minutes later, the same staff member from a week ago tapped her shoulders.

To be continued…

Notes

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