Mushi Uta:Volume 5th Episode 20

Episode 20. The Day of Dream's Resurrection

"Follow me"—

She was young.

Very, very young.

Well, only half of her life had passed at that point, though.

After being examined in the special hospital, she had been told to go directly home.

But the sky dyed by the sunset was too pretty.

As she walked ahead, she strayed from the main road just a little bit—

Coming back to her senses as she heard laughing voices, she noticed that she was standing at the entrance to a small park.

It was a park constructed right in the middle of a residential area. It contained only a sandbox small enough for an adult to touch from edge to edge if they spread their arms, and two swings.

There were children playing even in this enclosed space. Perhaps playing tag, they ran around while flapping their short limbs.

There were also familiar children along them. They were her classmates from the elementary school she had been enrolled into recently. Tired of playing tag, they were probably thinking of a different game.

"Follow me"—

One child was saying this and raising their pointer finger high, and the other children started jumping at it.

When all children at this park became one group, they all noticed her.

Many eyes glared at her standing at the entrance.

And so she—

Relaxing her arm holding the medicine bag, she timidly reached her hand out toward the park.

She bit her lips.

And her hand—was lowered.

The children's gaze left her. As if nothing happened, they already became engrossed in a different game.

Being unable to take even a single step was sad, pathetic and embarrassing, and so she turned her back to the park.

She had been told by her mother to come back quickly.

The doctors have forbidden her to have an intense workout.

But she knew that wasn't the reason she wasn't part of the laughter she could hear at her back.

On the road back, while holding the small medicine bag, she never looked at the sky anymore.

Next time for sure—

Thinking this, she hid her lack of courage.

She always heard the laughter of children who were playing, but never joined their circles.

When she became a middle-schooler, she ended closed up in the hospital.

The only thing changed from her childhood was that instead of carrying a bag of medicine, she held a picture book.

"Follow me"—

Was that finger she hadn't grasped at the time wrapped up in laughter somewhere even now?

She could never grasp anything again.

Because she was about to pass away from this world—  

Although her tears were supposed to match her body temperature, why did they feel so warm?

The sensation of the tears streaming from the corners of her eyes brought her to wakefulness.

"…"

Wiping the tears with her pajama sleeve, she removed the blanket and roused her body.

She had a bad dream.

Her cheeks were warm and her head was foggy.

Perhaps she'd worked up a fever again. Unlike her dull thinking, her body felt as light as a feather. As if she could leap off and run away. —Would she actually be able to shake off the sleep from her head by running at full speed?

She was also used to such silly delusions.

If she actually ran, Sensei would be mad at her. Even if not, it would take less than 15 meters before her heart screamed with agony.

The curtains were thick and a ray of sunlight peeked from within their gap.

While rubbing her eyes, she looked for the pitcher of water with her hand.

Clink. —This sensation was harder than the pitcher she was used to.

Her hand touched a thin rod-like object. It was about the same size as a folded umbrella.

"…?"

The moment she touched it, a silver glow passed through its surface.

She'd never seen this rod before.

Even so, she felt as if she knew these complex patterns that appeared and vanished on it very well—

"Sensei…?"

Hearing footsteps, she raised her head.

"—How long are you going to sleep?"

Suddenly her vision became lighter.

The door to her hospital room opened without any knock.

"…"

"…"

No, she was wrong.

Completely wrong.

The space revealed to daylight differed completely from what she remembered.

What she slept on wasn't a bed with a cushion, but a futon spread on tatami.

What covered the window wasn't a curtain, but an old-style paper sliding door with a shutter.

She inhabited not a dreary hospital room but a spacious Japanese-style room, with its walls decorated by many pictures and assorted posters.

And the one who had greeted her was not a young man in white uniform—

"…"

"…"

Opening her eyes wider than she ever did before, she glared at that person.

Standing at the entrance and directing a puzzled glance at her was a boy.

"Eeya?"

A strange voice came out of her throat.

Receiving the glance of a boy her own age, she could only think of her current getup. Her face reddened and she hurriedly hid the neck part of her pajama. Well, not like it was unbuttoned or anything.

As if it was something caused by the boy, her shoulders shook with an exaggerated twitch.

As she glanced around her, she looked for something to hide her body with. However, since she was unable to find anything, she simply adorned her blanket to hide her pajamas.

Looking up with teary eyes, she saw that the boy also seemed to be just as agitated as her.

"H-hey…? W-wait a minute… what's up with that reaction?"

"…"

"Your face is beet red. Do you have a fever?"

"Eeyaaaaa!"

"D-don't flinch back like that! It looks like I did something to you—I see, is that a new form of bullying?"

"Eeek—"

"Got it! I won't come any closer! I looked away, alright? So please don't scream! You’re just going to make things complicated! Stop with this unfunny bullying, please go back to normal!"

Timidly retreating was a boy with completely ordinary looks other than the band-aid on his cheek. His plain hairstyle and normal features, as well as his build, were average on all accounts. Although he wore a familiar uniform, since his tie was loose, he was probably still getting ready for school.

Kusuriya Daisuke.

She knew his name. As well as his position. —Unlike his appearance, he was feared as a demon, so if he ended up sexually assaulting her it would be quite the problem.

She tried using her confused head desperately to recall the situation she’d been thrust into.

Why did she know him?

Where was she, exactly?

"Are you still half-asleep…?"

The boy timidly asserted.

"Arisu."

Ichinokuro Arisu.

That name had been directed at none other than her.

"…!"

She once again widened her eyes and looked to the side.

On the standing mirror near the window, she could see the figure of a girl tearing up with a blanket wrapped around her body.

Although some youth remained in that visage, she would never forget those large, black pupils. It was also her first time seeing the girl’s hair let down instead of her usual bouncy ponytail. The fearless smile she always wore was gone, and she gazed at her with a face on the verge of crying.

Embarrassedly blushing was Ichinokuro Arisu.

For some reason feeling that she saw something that she shouldn't, she averted her eyes.

Inside the room a silver glow was dancing.

Appearing above Daisuke's head was a Morpho butterfly emitting silver light. With its glowing silver wings and four antennas, it was an organism unlike the one it was named after.

Mushi.

These were mysterious creatures that possessed adolescent boys and girl, granting them supernatural powers in exchange for eating their dreams. To her, this silver Morpho butterfly was much more familiar than Arisu's face.

"…You're acting weird."

Hearing Daisuke mumble, she came back to her senses.

"Are you… really Arisu?"

The boy's expression changed. Her heart leapt.

Being pressured by Daisuke’s intimidation that made him seem like another person, she became speechless.

Her mind was in disarray.

Why had it turned out like this?

This situation right now was clearly—abnormal.

If the boy in front of her realized the truth, what would happen? Without thinking, there was no doubt that a bad result was waiting for her.

Her self-preservation instincts kicked into full gear. The words leapt out of her mouth before she could think.

"I-I'm… Arisu! What do you even mean?”

"…"

"W-what's up with those eyes? Are you doubting me?"

While being disorderly, she recalled the normal relationship between "herself" and the boy.

"Y-you're a mere manservant and yet you doubt your Mi-mi-mi-mistress? So rude for a slave! You trash! Pervert!"

"—Tch."

Daisuke clicked his tongue. Seeing his displeased face, she shrugged without thinking.

"Oh… I-I'm sorry, I went overb—"

"You're the same as always, so you really were just half-asleep."

"…"

The boy turned on his heels, seemingly let down.

"I was just surprised since you were suddenly acting like a 15-year-old girl."

Ichinokuro Arisu was a senior Horusu Seijou Academy Middle School. And a girl, obviously.

"That instructor granny was angry about you skipping morning practice. Start getting ready for school already."

While scratching his head as if he found it bothersome, Daisuke turned to left, but then stopped.

Turning around, the boy pointed to Arisu’s hand. She was holding the silver rod.

“’I can guarantee the rod’s functions, but I’ve no idea what would happen when it’s actually used. If something unthinkable happens… then do your best to take care of it. By the way, we have a no return policy’—this message came from the rod’s creator.”

Her breathing stopped for an instant.

An unthinkable event.

That truly is what happened to her now—

"…"

She couldn't tell exactly what was happening.

However, she was able to determine what was likely the cause.

She touched the rod with a surprised expression—grinning, she looked up to the boy who was living with her.

"—Right. That sounds scary. I'll be careful."

“I just don’t get that hammer woman… after giving so many excuses like the specs are too high or that there’s only one Morpho butterfly so she couldn’t run test, she just said ‘do your best’… what’s up with that? Also, she only told me that after you’ve already used it once.”

“Well, that’s how it is. I need to be thankful to her even just for creating this for me.”

"And so, don't use it recklessly. I also forbid you from using it to hit me like last night."

As he said this and went away, she saw him off with a smile.

"…"

Removing the blanket, she noticed her body was as light as a feather. She jumped in place. Although her head felt slightly warm, apparently the lightness of her body wasn't her imagination.

Standing in front of the mirror, she moved her limbs, trying to form an elegant smile.

"Good morning, Arisu."

She elegantly bowed to herself in the reflection.

When she raised her head again, there was a girl there smiling completely differently.

An unthinkable event.

That definitely happened.

Kicking up the rod at her feet, it rotated in front of her eyes and she grabbed it with her right hand.

Was it a miracle that happened by chance?

Or a reward given to her by a fickle god?

Or perhaps—everything was brought by the irregular Mushi the Morpho butterfly, just one of the incidents no one could have predicted.

“Shall I enjoy this… good luck just for a short while?”

Putting a hand on her waist, she pleaded to her friend reflected in the mirror.

That was how the Morpho butterfly’s previous host, Hanashiro Mari—had started this dreamlike, single day filled with happiness and despair. 

Part 1 

How long had it been since she felt the early morning air on her skin?

The blue sky had a warm, glowing morning sun floating in it.

The wind was strong and she could see thick clouds in the distant sky. Since the wind blowing from the side was slightly damp, they were probably rain clouds. This spring air full of the scent of grass filled her soul.

She was probably already used to this spring wind. Exiting the Ichinokuro estate, Daisuke and the Morpho butterfly just headed to school without paying attention to anything.

But noticing that the girl wasn't next to him, Daisuke turned around.

"…Hey, what's up with those creepy movements?"

"Huh… b-but…"

Arisu—Mari in Arisu’s body held the hem of her skirt, cheeks blushing. She bashfully walked toward the boy’s back, pigeon-toed.

"Isn't this skirt a bit too short?"

There was a thud. Daisuke let the sports bag hanging on his back fall to the ground.

"I-isn't it against school regulations? We’re only middle schoolers, so don’t you think revealing our legs like this is indecent? Also, there’s strong wind today, so it’s possible that my underwear would—"

Calmly picking up his bag, he grabbed Mari's thin shoulders with a serious look on his face. Although he seemed calm, there was a sparkle of agitation in his eyes.

“W-w-w-what’s going on with you? It’s impossible that you just now noticed it. You always kick me without a care in the world but suddenly you think it’s indecent? It is spring? Because it’s spring?”

"Eeeeek!"

“Got it! I’ll let go of you! Here, I did it! So please don’t scream!”

Since she’d never been touched by a boy, she raised a shriek unconsciously.

But according to him, it was “impossible” for her to have not noticed this before. Meaning—did Arisu and Daisuke have that kind of relationship? There was no way for them to have a relationship where she wouldn’t feel any danger at having her underwear be seen… unless they were lovers. At the very least, according to Mari's knowledge.

"N-no… u-umm—"

Arisu and Daisuke were lovers.

She inputted this new information into her head.

"Y-you're just more daring today, so I was just surprised."

Putting her index finger on her cheek, she tried wearing a strained grin.

"…"

Apparently, she got it wrong.

Daisuke was quickly paling, so she puffed out her chest with hands on her waist.

"S-silence! It's my freedom to do what I please! You just need to shut up and walk ahead! Because you're too incompetent for anything else! Please don't turn your dirty face this way! You make me feel sick!"

"—O-oh, is that so?"

It was the right answer this time, apparently. Daisuke turned around with a relieved face, muttering, “Your bullying really damages my spirit this time…” as he walked.

It seemed like a very strange relationship, but Mari was aware she didn’t know the ways of the world. Perhaps the relationships of middle schoolers were like that.

While minding her skirt she watched Daisuke walking ahead. At times he would turn to look at her, but she would glare at him and it would end without incident.

Passing near a couple that looked of high school age, she followed them with her eyes. If they were lovers, wouldn't they walk hand in hand like that couple?

"Aren't you mad? What have I done?"

"Eh? I-I'm not mad."

"I see. …Then may I ask why you are clenching your fist and aiming at my hand? So it’s a direct attack this time, huh. I'll tell you in advance, but if you think I won't hit you back you're mistaken."

“R-right. Then I’ll keep it to verbal abuse. You pervert. Lower than trash. You, umm…”

"If you need to force yourself to add insults then just shut up. You’ll ruin your pretty face."

He told her she was pretty.

Being complimented by a man other than Sensei for the first time, Mari blushed.

"A-anyway, if you turn around, I'll kill you. I’ll take my fist and hit you here, burying this sharp part about three millimeters into your head.”

"Stop being so specific. It’s scary when you're being so serious. Why am I not even allowed to look back…"

At the very least she seemed to avoid suspicion from Kusuriya Daisuke.

Taking deep breaths to calm herself, she secretly opened her bag. When she touched the silver rod hidden inside, it looked like a shining pattern appeared on the surface for an instant.

"…"

Narrowing her eyes, she closed the bag.

As she looked up at the Morpho butterfly, her expression was undoubtedly something that Arisu had never worn before. At the very least, Mari had never seen her best friend wear a smile which was mixed with doubt and cynicism.

We're not even in battle, so why am I—

Even up until now, Mari's personality had controlled Arisu's body several times.

However, all of them were only when Arisu was in danger.

Furthermore, Mari's personality appearing on the surface was also incredibly unstable—since it appeared by forcibly pushing Arisu’s personality away, it was something very feeble. Mari could only remember these times like they were dreams.

Or rather—it was extremely abnormal for Mari, who had supposedly passed away due to an illness, to remember what happened after that in the first place.

Why could she remember?

Where had she accumulated these memories?

In the first place, how had she left her Morpho butterfly to Arisu—

"…"

She couldn't recall.

She had memories after her death, although vague, but trying to recall what happened during her life was like grasping mist and she couldn’t even think about it.

She had—a terrible premonition.

This morning, Mari pushed down Arisu's personality upon awakening and allowed her own personality to rise to the surface.

The cause for that was apparently the medium of the rod with its overly high specs. The manufacturer was apparently too good at their job; this weapon preserved heat and could be said to be the best option for harmonization with Arisu, who wasn't the original host of the Morpho butterfly.

But did it really turn that way?

Was it fine to end with this conclusion?

As Mari let her thoughts run, the Morpho butterfly fluttered above her head innocent-seeming.

"—"

The name of the boy walking a bit ahead of her was Kusuriya Daisuke.

He, just like her, was a Mushitsuki. Also, he belonged to the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau—the special organization that concealed the existence of Mushi as well as captured and trained Mushitsuki to control them as members. In order to monitor the abnormal Mushi the Morpho butterfly and the one who possessed it, he began living with Arisu.

She knew these particulars because the Morpho butterfly had been watching.

Right now, she possessed both memories—of Hanashiro Mari and the Morpho butterfly.

"Hehe."

"…Stop wordlessly patting and stroking my back. Are you Kororo?"

He was a Fusion-Type Mushitsuki just like her that she hadn’t met while alive.

It was mysterious walking next to the rumored Kusuriya Daisuke like this. When Mari tried touching his back to ascertain he wasn't an illusion, he kept up his guard without turning back.

"Stop being so docile, Daisuke. I wonder if all SEPB members are like that?"

"As if. Especially recently, there’s been a gathering of various problem children in the Central Headquarters in order to be reassigned and it was very annoying. Furthermore, Headquarters apparently started getting interested in you…"

"Interested in me?"

"You're quite famous in parts, since everything about you is outside the norm. You need to acknowledge that already.”

“What an honor for a demon like you to care about me.”

The previous times when Mari’s personality came to the surface, Daisuke acted as the warrior called Kakkou.

—Are you saying that you're possessing the one who was your friend so you could one day take over Arisu?

A silver lance and a gun.

When their weapons were crossed, he asked her this.

What had she answered then?

If she had her memories from when she’d been alive now, what would she answer?

If the answer was "yes"—

Then had Mari finally made that wish come true today?

The period when she was alive.

When she tried digging into those memories, her head blanked out.

"…"

Removing her fingers from Daisuke, she looked around her.

She was walking straight through the town engulfed by the morning air.

The wind was strong. Her ponytail, tied awkwardly because she wasn’t used to it, was blown to the side.

They passed near a married couple that was having an idle conversation. The small dog they were taking along with them turned to look at Mari as it walked. A bus with students on it made low engine sounds as it overtook them.

These things were completely ordinary, and yet they took away Mari's ability to reason.

The warm sunlight and the blowing wind felt too good.

She was alive.

That certain feeling raised Mari's spirits.

The reason she pushed Arisu aside to resurface, and her memories from her life—

Meant nothing anymore.

"Arisu?"

She overtook the boy walking ahead by jogging.

"I'll be going ahead, Daisuke!"

What sort of smile was she wearing at that moment? Daisuke’s puzzled face as he watched her going ahead made her smile deepen.

She couldn't bear it anymore. She stopped minding her skirt.

Skipping over a garbage bag dropped by a garbage worker, she grabbed a telephone pole and spun toward the corner. Leaping to the raised edge of the sidewalk, she rushed ahead with arms spread to preserve her balance.

Slipping into the intersection just as the green light started blinking, she stepped only on the white paint on the pedestrian crossing.

As she returned to the road, a bicycle passed right in front of her eyes. It almost crashed into her as it made an emergency stop. Spinning her body as she passed by the bicycle, she kept running again.

Running alongside a white wall that appeared next to her, she finally reached the front gate of Horusu Seijou Academy. On the other side of the security gate for students she could see the modern campus.

"Hah…! Hah…!"

When the first bell rang in front of the gate, there were only few students inside school. Mari put her hands on her knees, taking ragged breaths.

Her heart was beating so much it was about to tear. Her lungs wanted oxygen and raised a shriek. Her throat hurt and large tears came to the corners of her eyes. The dew dripping on her skin from the green trees around felt refreshing.

"Haa, haha, hah, ahaha…haha!"

Her ponytail drew half-circles in the air. Mari immediately raised her body to look at the sky, laughing.

Running with her own power felt pretty good.

She hadn't borrowed the power of her Mushi. As proof, several minutes later she was sweating all over. Her breathing was in disarray and even moving her fatigued limbs was painful.

However—she felt good.

It was something completely different than the fatigue from her illness. That one was only heavy, dark and gloomy.

"Ahaha!"

Hiding her face with both hands, she couldn't stop herself from forming a smile. The other students turned around to look at Mari giggling in front of the school gate.

More.

She wanted to run more.

She wanted to run forever like this.

As she started wishing for this, Mari hadn’t noticed that for a moment the eyes of the Morpho butterfly overhead were glowing red—

"…!"

The moment she felt a gaze on her, her body moved on its own. She instantly pulled out the silver rod from her bag, rotating it and catching it perfectly.

The flying Morpho butterfly emitted blinding light.

Mari's eyes and the butterfly’s antennas all turned to the same direction.

Beyond the fence surrounding the school premises there was a large shadow made by a cherry tree.

In that darkness stood a strange figure.

"…"

A grim reaper.

That concept rose to her mind.

Immediately leaping to her eyes was the pole-like object resting on that tall person's shoulder—that object that could be only called a scythe. The long, curved blade and the obviously long handle. Even taller than a person, it was dyed in a dull color almost like rotten food.

The appearance of this scythe-wielding person was absurd to the extreme. Although it was already spring, their entire body was covered by a close-fitting suit made of leather. She judged him to be a man due to his build and despite his slimness, but couldn’t ascertain it due to the gas mask-like equipped with lens that covered his face. Including the robe and boots covered in fasteners, everything he wore was rusted and ragged.

Another small person stood at the side of the scythe wielder. If the latter was a grim reaper, then the former was probably an imp. From this imp’s inexperienced yet rounded posture, she looked like a girl. Although she wore fashionable clothes, since her back was turned Mari couldn’t see her face.

Were they human or emissaries from hell?

Since Mari herself was an irregular existence, it wasn't a joke and could actually be possible.

However, there was only one thing for certain.

"Even a grim reaper can become a Mushitsuki… how exquisite."

Since the Morpho butterfly responded to it, it meant that he was a Mushitsuki. Also, there was a high chance he’d already used some kind of ability.

Why had this creepy duo appeared in front of Mari?

Perhaps they came to escort her, a girl who remained in this world even after death, to the netherworld.

"I wonder how much I need to chop a grim reaper to kill him?"

She grasped the rod again with a cool face, and the shoulders of the imp twitched.

As if scared by her killing intent, she grabbed the arm of the reaper next to her—and then pulled back her hand as if recalling something. They seemed to be arguing for a while, and then the both of them left.

As they left, Mari noticed something on the girl’s neck.

Those white goggles—

She had the feeling they resembled the equipment of the SEPB's Central Headquarters.

But as far as Mari knew, she'd never seen a member wear something this strange.

—There’s been a gathering of various problem children in the Central Headquarters in order to be reassigned and it was very annoying.

Vaguely recalling Daisuke's words, she soon lost interest.

"…"

As she narrowed her eyes and put the rod back in her bag, a voice called out from behind.

"What're you doing, Arisu?! We'll be late, hurry up!"

Coming with a delay, Daisuke’s body shook with his rough breaths.

If he came to know that her current personality was Hanashiro Mari—what exactly would he do?

At the very least he would undoubtedly want Arisu to return. He would possibly attack Mari without asking for her opinion.

Kusuriya Daisuke. For Mari, he might be a real grim reaper—

"Yeah."

She turned around, grinning.

It was the time for her to be filled with the joy of living she hadn't imagined she could gain.

At least for a little while more—no.

If at all possible, Mari wanted to celebrate her life even a second longer. She wouldn't let anyone interfere.

Neither the unknown grim reaper nor Kusuriya Daisuke.

Once again, the eyes of the Morpho butterfly above her glowed in red.

"I'm coming."

Seeing Mari smile brightly like Arisu, Daisuke furrowed his brows a bit. 

Part 2

The strong wind made the classroom door creak. Dancing sand clattered as it hit the glass window.

But no matter how much the wind blew, it would never disturb the inside of the class—

"Hey, Kusuriya-kun! If you're free, will you play with me? I brought this game from home. It's fine, look, it's just a board game. Nothing suspicious."

"Oh, a sugoroku? Looks like it has all sorts of patterns on it, waaaait, what’s that?! All of the squares have punishment games on them! Also, the subject is always me!”

"Rolled a 3. One, two, three… umm, 'make Kusuriya Daisuke wear glasses and breathe in his ears. In real life', apparently. Well, I have some glasses prepared."

"What's up with that crazy setting! This has to be homemade by Saionji-san. You're wasting your talents again… wait, when did these glasses got on me! I'm not playing! I'm not playing, Kujou-san!"

Unrelated to the weather outside, the storm inside of the classroom combusted spontaneously.

It was Ichinokuro Arisu’s class in Horusu Seijou Academy, Middle School Year 3.

The students all formed their own groups and did whatever they pleased. The words "self-study" written on the blackboard asserted themselves silently.

Gathered around the board game on Kusuriya Daisuke's desk were two female students.

The refined-looking Saionji Ena and the elegantly smiling Kujou Takako. As usual with this school full of children of rich people, all of them were raised in privileged households, a fact which was apparent by their well-groomed hair and good complexion.

Ena and Takako were Arisu's friends. She knew that as well.

"Now's my turn. Go! 6! 'Do something inappropriate for a middle schooler on Kusuriya Daisuke'! Oh yeah, the cooking practice room should be empty right around now!"

"What are we going to do there?! Your roulette techniques seem to be far from amateurish and you’ve checked the empty room beforehand, so it feels like it’s a fixed game!”

"Now, now, Daisuke-san. Look, this square alone right here says ‘If Kusuriya Daisuke lands here he gains the right to refuse’, so it’s fair.”

“Creating a meager thread of hope to make me play is such a pro move!”

To hide the fact that he had infiltrated the school for his mission for the SEPB, Daisuke played the part of a normal student in front of his classmates. Since he, who was feared as a demon, had been brought to tears just by associating from his female classmates, it was quite the realistic acting.

On the other hand, only Arisu—Mari who borrowed Ichinokuro Arisu’s body—stood there with a strained face among the frolicking classmates.

She couldn't take a careless action and get suspected. —No, that was just an excuse.

The truth was that she didn't know how to act.

This was a middle school classroom she hadn't been able to attend even once while she was alive.

It was way more boisterous and energetic than she thought. Perhaps because she was used the always-silent hospital room, being surrounded by these loud voices caused her ears to start ringing.

On top of that, all of those classmates were people Mari hadn't talked to even once. Unsure of how she should talk to them, she was unable to match eyes with even one of them.

Ena turned around.

"What's wrong, Arisu? Aren't you playing? This is the ‘Kusuriya Daisugoroku’."

"That's the game’s name?! It's not subtle at all!”

Mari twitched, hurriedly raising her face.

"B-but it's self-study period, so we should use this time to study prop—"

Speaking disorderly, she opened her textbook full of incomprehensible drawings.

At once, all the noise around class ceased.

Ena and Takako, Daisuke, and all other students froze at once. As if time itself stopped, they gazed at Arisu with widened eyes.

With the eyes of looking at someone abnormal.

It was a situation Mari had experienced countless times.

"Follow me"—

She always heard the laughter from afar. She had no confidence and she was too scared to be rejected, so she was unable to join that ring even once.

However, now—she knew how she could join the circle of laughter.

"…Did you really think I'd say that?"

Mari rose up vigorously, throwing the textbook at Daisuke.

"I don't care about self-study period at all! You fell for my trap, stupid Daisuke!"

Her classmates averted their gazes, relieved. The classroom retrieved its former activity

Ena and Takako also looked relieved. Daisuke alone looked unconvinced, rubbing his nose.

“You were so weird I thought you had food poisoning for a moment there. Well, it’s your turn next, so go for it. We’ll be using him after that.”

“Ignoring the fact that I got a nosebleed because of that textbook… so no one cares about me, huh.”

"Y-yeah. Got it. …Rolled a 1. 'have Kusuriya Daisuke princess carry you and go to some place fitting the mood'—Eeeek."

"What's wrong, Arisu-san? You made a weird noise."

“Oh well, we can do them all at once later. With this sort of stuff the momentum is the most important thing. Now, since everyone had a turn, it's Takako again next."

"Wait… my turn… my thread of hope…"

Arisu would have probably laughed like this. Said this. Moved like this.

Imagining her friend's words and actions, she acted accordingly.

"Oh, 'make Kusuriya Daisuke wear female gym clothes’."

"…!"

"Kusuriya-kun's escaped! Arisu!"

"Just do it, Daisuke! Arisu Drop Kick!"

As long as she could pretend to be Arisu, she could join the ring.

Without anyone noticing she was Hanashiro Mari, they were able to laugh together like always. At first she was anxious whether she'd be found out, but gradually she was able to become calm enough to enjoy the situation.

Laughing together with many people was much more fun than she imagined.

"Ahaha!"

Losing track of time probably felt like this.

For her past self, time was merely something annoying. The sounds of the clock’s hands moving she had listened to in her lonely room were nothing but the stages leading her to death.

Was the time she spent not alone but along with other people—that happy?

She thought so again.

No, she should've already realized this.

When she spent time with the girl called Ichinokuro Arisu. During that very short period of time.

She recalled.

The moment that her classmate Arisu appeared in Mari's sickroom.

Perhaps then Mari came to know the shape of the thing known as happiness for the first time.

Just by recalling this, her cheeks loosened. When Arisu came to visit Mari’s sickbed for the first time, she mumbled incomprehensibly in front of the room, took the water pitcher and—

"…"

Took the water pitcher and…

What—had she done then?

"Arisu!"

"Arisu-san? The bell rang."

Called by Ena and Takako, the gym clothes-clad Mari came back to her senses.

"I-it's nothing. Let's go."

Wearing a smile, she exited the changing room along with her friends.

Right. Self-study period was over, and so they came out to the sports ground for gym class. It was then that this happened.

She tried recalling her past, but it was all blurry.

Apparently, she was still unable to clearly recall her memories from when she was alive.

If it was found out that Mari and Arisu were switched, Daisuke would probably not stay silent.

It might even become a battle.

If so, then until she was found out she could at least indulge in the joy of life—

It happened just as she thought this.

"…?"

Looking at the Morpho butterfly fluttering above her, she tilted her head.

For an instant—its eyes looked like they were glowing red.

But looking again, the butterfly's behavior was the same as the usual; it simply fluttered about leisurely.

It was probably her imagination. After all, even she, the butterfly’s host, had never seen it with red eyes.

Gym class was a marathon. Racing against Ena in the strong wind with Daisuke as a prize, she lost against her but strangely felt fine with that. It was probably the first sweet loss that a sore loser like her experienced.

The strong sunlight and the wind kept growing stronger. Loud voices of other people at her ears. The long lecture of the creepy teacher. The minor wound she received due to a small mistake in gym class. Her hair ruffled by the wind. The sleepiness and dullness of afternoon—

When she was being eaten by her illness, all those would have been gloomy for her.

But right now all that actually felt pleasant.

Everything she felt with her body connected to the sensation of being alive.

"Ehehe."

Drinking water from the tap near the classroom, she laughed. It wasn't a pitcher full of mineral water but merely water from a pipe with the smell of chloride. Even so it was so ridiculously tasty.

Wiping off her mouth not with a handkerchief but with the palm of her hand, she raised her face.

When she did, she found Ena and Takako staring at her face.

"…What's wrong? Ena, Takako."

"You really have a pretty face, now that I think about it."

Takako nodded at Ena's mumble.

Following Daisuke, another person told her she was pretty.

“You laughed like a girl for once… so it was a bit strange.”

She probably meant those words as a joke.

Yet Mari's heart leapt.

"What's that? It's like you're implying I'm not usually girly."

"Well, umm, how can I say this…"

"Right… you're usually quite manly, sorta."

I see, manly. She had the feeling it suited Arisu more than "girly".

So apparently despite Mari thinking her acting was good, there were still some discrepancies. Mari thought she knew Arisu well, but her friends that knew her for longer were probably more sensitive to small changes than her.

"…"

Mari's only friend was Arisu, but it was different for Arisu.

What Mari felt was fun right now, was originally all Arisu's.

"Arisu?"

"Arisu-san?"

And so naturally, they called Arisu's name.

A small pain like being stabbed with a needle pricked in her heart.

However, without letting it show on her face, Mari once again wore an Ichinokuro Arisu-like, bright smile.

"You two have forgotten that I'm a girl, geez!"

Turning back on her heels, she walked ahead to the classroom.

They hadn't figured out Mari's true identity yet. Never mind that, probably no one would believe that the current Arisu wasn't Arisu.

As long as Mari acted the part of Arisu, this happy time would never run out.

And so, after some time, Mari would truly become Arisu in every sense—

"…"

She felt a chill at her own thoughts.

She would become her one and only friend.

Although it was very cowardly and cruel—it was a sweet temptation.

I’ll become Arisu…

She mumbled this in the depths of her heart.

If this really was what I had wished for—

"…!"

Seeing a silver glow pass through her line of sight, Mari face twitched upward.

On the other side of the corridor’s windows, she saw the Morpho butterfly flying about. While she saw its silver afterimages, she felt her thought process growing duller.

"—"

The previous Mari's memories consisted only of painful things.

Rather than recalling about her long road to death, it was better for her to enjoy these moments even a little while more.

The day she had been given as a gift from god.

She would thoroughly enjoy today’s fortune.

"…I need to get ready for the next class."

Averting her gaze from the Morpho butterfly, she entered the classroom.

If she wasn’t wrong the next class should be mathematics. It wasn't a subject she hated, but just sitting in her chair quietly was boring.

Perhaps she hadn't moved her body enough in gym class, as she felt sluggish and couldn't calm down.

She had so much fun she wanted to have even more of it with each passing second.

Mari felt like she could fly to the sky.

"…Eh?"

Opening the bag on her desk, Mari strained her face.

She wanted to get her textbook out, but noticed that there was something missing.

The silver rod.

That weapon, which was probably the reason for her switching with Arisu, was magically gone.

"O-oh no… why—"

She supposedly hid it in her bag. Her memories were blurry due to many things in the past, but she at least remembered this entire day.

"Arisu? What're you doing?"

Suddenly hearing a voice from behind, she straightened up in surprise.

Turning around, she saw Kusuriya Daisuke making a puzzled face. He'd probably come back to the classroom from gym class.

Should she tell him she'd lost the rod?

The answer soon came inside her.

"It's nothing. I was just preparing for the next class."

Mari tried grinning. Like Arisu.

"…"

Perhaps suspicious, Daisuke frowned. Mari pouted.

"What's up with that face? Is me preparing for class so weird? You really are being cheeky toward your mistress, you slave."

"Well, that's fine."

Saying this disinterestedly, Daisuke pulled Arisu while still grabbing her shoulder.

"Arisu. There's something I want to tell you. Come outside with me for a—"

But still standing in front of her desk, she resisted the boy.

"Hey, Daisuke."

"Hmm?"

"Today after school… we’re going to investigate things again, right?"

Arisu spoke quietly. Daisuke nodded matter-of-factly.

It went without saying what investigation she was talking about.

"I'm just a bit tired after gym class… I'm going to rest in the infirmary for a bit."

"…"

"It's fine, don't make that face. I believe I'll recover until school ends."

Seeing Mari wear a somewhat weak smile, Daisuke furrowed his brows.

Was he suspicious? As expected, the strong Blaze Class Rank 1 had such deep attentiveness and guessing power so that he wouldn’t miss even these small discrepancies—

"Are you fine?"

"…Eh? O-oh, I'm fine. Don't worry."

She never thought someone other than Arisu or Sensei would worry about her. As she let out a silly voice without thinking, Ena and Takako approached her.

"Is something wrong, Arisu?"

"She apparently feels unwell. She said she'll go to the infirmary."

"Will she be fine alone?"

"I-I'm fine. It's not such a big deal."

Not wanting them to see her agitated face, she left the classroom to escape them.

After walking for a while in the corridor, she started spontaneously smiling.

"Ehehe."

The rumored demon Kakkou asked her "Are you fine?" with a straight face. Perhaps she'd seen something very rare.

She was also happy that Ena and Takako worried about her.

This world was filled with so much happiness.

Just by living she was able to feel that.

In order to take another step to enjoy this wonderful world, Mari walked lightly in the corridor. 

With the chime indicating afternoon classes were over was ringing, Mari was walking lightly in the corridor.

Her face cheerful, she passed near the teachers and students who were starting to leave class.

When Mari entered her classroom, Ena and Takako immediately turned around. Seeing they both had worried faces, she became happy again.

"Arisu, are you feeling well already?"

"Your complexion looks good, Arisu-san."

"Yes, I am perfectly fine."

She answered with a smile to those who worried about her.

She felt much better even with such small things.

When she was alive Sensei also worried about her, but since she knew she had an incurable illness, they did nothing but vain exchanges.

Even so Mari was happy that Sensei worried about her, and she—

She was happy and… what did she do?

If she recalled correctly, Mari had given Sensei a small present.

What had she given him?

"…"

She suddenly felt dizzy.

It was definitely just something boring. If she couldn't recall it, it meant that it was something trifling.

Since Mari was enjoying the world, she had no need of such memories.

"…Daisuke, what are you doing?"

Smiling again, she walked to Daisuke with light steps.

At a corner of the class, Daisuke put his cellphone to his ears. He was apparently speaking with someone in a hushed voice, but soon finished the call and looked at Mari's face.

"Arisu."

The boy grabbed her arm and dragged her out of class.

"W-what is it? Did something happen?"

Even while blushing at the boy's forcible actions, she came to the corridor just as instructed.

After letting herself be dragged to the nearest window, Daisuke brought his face closer to Mari's.

"D-Daisuke? W-wait a minute, what are we suddenly, doing at this place, eep—"

Thinking about it, Arisu and Daisuke were lovers. Recalling this, although she was agitated, she reflexively shut her eyes.

But the bitter happening that she expected didn’t happen no matter how much she waited.

"You… where were you until now?"

"Huh?"

When she nervously opened her eyes, she saw Daisuke glaring at her with sharp eyes.

Outside the window, with the wind blowing fiercely, the Morpho butterfly was fluttering.

"—Apparently, Hunter has appeared."

The voice of the dancing sand hitting the window overlapped with the boy's low voice. 

Part 3

The dirty plastic bag flew up instantly toward the orange sky.

The humid, strong wind gathered dark clouds from afar. It was just a matter of time before this thick mass of clouds hid the crimson setting sun.

Mari borrowing the form of Ichinokuro Arisu used her right to hold her rampaging hair and the other pressed down on her skirt. Looking up at the plastic bag growing more and more distant, she saw it off until it vanished behind a large building.

"Who was it? That Hunter faker."

Mari said in a tired voice.

There was a group of rivers running near the center of Akamaki City. In the ancient times of the Sengoku Period they were used as a canal, but were currently a river held in place by concrete. The waterways were divided by regions, and nearer the sea there was also a pleasure boat parked.

Walking from Horusu Seijou Academy to the town was quite a bit of a detour.

The breakwater along the river was dirty from the city’s exhaust gases and it carried a moldy-smelling wind. Separated by a single large road, on the other side she could see lines of old buildings.

"I'll ask you again. Were you actually in the infirmary this whole time, Arisu?"

Daisuke asked from a spot a bit further from where Mari was. He seemed to be trying to get in touch with someone on his phone the entire way, but finally got calm enough to talk to her.

Mari sighed and turned around.

Seeing the setting sun in front of her, she felt a chest-constricting nostalgia. However, unlike the time when she watched it from her hospital bed and what she felt back then, now it wasn’t uncomfortable at all.

Even this dusk did not make her feel depressed.

It was a mere temporary sentiment, since she knew that tomorrow would definitely come.

"Again, I'm not saying that. Since there wasn't a teacher, it's not an alibi though…"

Hunter was the alias of Mari who had in the past been hunting Mushitsuki at Akamaki City. Arisu being suspected due to having inherited her Morpho butterfly was perhaps quite natural.

When she walked from the road to the highest breakwater and looked down from it, another person walking next to the suspicious-looking Daisuke entered her sight.

"This is such a bother. Just torture her to make her spit it all out."

Speaking flippantly with two hands behind her head was a blonde girl. With her most prominent features being her elegant face and rough words, she was their classmate called Kasuou. Like Daisuke, she was an SEPB member and had cooperated with her many times before.

Kasuou had never met the actual Hanashiro Mari.

Even so Mari knew about this blonde girl's character—because the Morpho butterfly had watched her.

“You’re probably good at torture, right, Kakkou? I mean, you’re such a pervert after all.”

“Stop speaking lies so naturally.”

"Hehe."

Finding these two Mushitsuki funny, she broke into a smile.

The townscape dyed in the sunset's orange.

The voices of car horns and the fresh smell of the water running through the river.

Everything that was in Akamaki City as a matter of course felt as fresh as she had just been born.

If she had to use a metaphor for this great feeling—right.

It was as if—she had been reborn.

Mari had the feeling that there was no possible better metaphor for her current situation.

“It looks like it’s true there wasn’t a teacher there. We could try collecting evidence from other teachers…”

"What would lying help me? Do you actually think that I'm the culprit? I mean, have you even asked what sort of person was the Hunter that appeared today was?”

Turning her back to him again, Mari purposely made large steps on the breakwater.

"If you're waiting for me to show an opening… isn't that too cruel?"

As she let her dissatisfaction show while puffing her cheeks, Daisuke and Kasuou sank into silence. Since Mari was walking ahead didn't know what faces they were making.

"—Today, just past noon, a Fallen was found near the center of town."

Daisuke's voice was calm.

Although there was nothing special about it, she quite liked the boy’s voice that didn’t lose against the sound of the wind.

"It was an SEPB trainee, but apparently still a strong Mushitsuki. Even so—there weren't any traces of a combatant at the scene. Meaning, someone quite strong defeated that person one-sidedly."

“I see… that—sucks.”

Letting her ponytail flow as she turned around, she lowered her voice.

But Daisuke was expressionless. For Kasuou it was apparently just another person’s problem, so she just played and intimidated a stray cat passing nearby.

"Were there any other clues?"

"…"

“Huh? Don’t tell me you decided this was the deed of Hunter only because it was a strong Mushitsuki. If so then you should’ve suspected Harukiyo first.”

"The member that turned Fallen left a message."

Fallen meant the state of someone whose Mushi had been killed. Their feelings, memories and so on would be lost, so they'd become able to only obey other's orders—an empty shell that was like a walking dead.

"A message?"

"'Please tell that Mushitsuki that Hunter is back'—he was apparently ordered to tell this to whomever found him."

Hearing Daisuke's words, Mari furrowed her brows.

"That Mushitsuki, huh… which Mushitsuki is it?"

"Who knows?"

"It's a really strange story, though. I can’t believe you’re doubting me just because of that suspicious message. First of all, wouldn’t it take too long to reach the center of town from school? I’m not even sure that rushing out there I could be back before classes were over.”

"With the legs of a Fusion Type it's not impossible."

Daisuke asserted.

Being so openly doubted was definitely not a good feeling.

Biting her lips, she got down from the breakwater. Waiting for Daisuke to catch up, she looked up at him with accusing eyes.

"Are you actually suspecting me? Daisuke…"

"Ugh," Daisuke groaned. Averting his eyes from Mari, he scratched his head.

"No, well—since it's all bothersome, I want to pray it's not you. It's just that the timing is bad."

"I got it. I'll confess."

Mari asserted. Daisuke and Kasuou widened their eyes, glaring at her.

"I’ve actually… lost the rod I've been given. It was stolen."

That was the truth.

The silver rod hidden in her bag disappeared. When Mari took her eyes off of it, it was taken by someone.

It was apparently created from some rare metal, but it shouldn't have been some pricy material. She didn't think it was theft for money.

"Perhaps the one who stole my rod is involved with that fake Hunter. Like you said, the timing is way too suspicious."

Daisuke glared at her as she said this and raised her index finger.

"Why were you silent about something so important?"

“I mean, I just felt bad about it. I don’t know who’s the creator but they did it all for me and yet it got stolen…”

Daisuke sank into silence. But soon he averted his face and spoke.

"No, that can't be. The rod and this Hunter are unrelated."

"Huh…? What do you mean?"

Even when she asked back, Daisuke once again stayed silent without answering. While Mari tilted her head, she recalled.

"By the way, Daisuke. Before I went to the infirmary you said there was something you wanted to talk about. What was that?"

"No, that's—that doesn't matter. It's not important anymore."

The boy was dodging her questions.

Mari was unable to understand him, and groaned.

She was supposed to celebrate a blissful time today.

Even so, she couldn’t even enjoy this special time while being suspected.

"I feel a bit sick… so let's do this!"

Suddenly having an idea, Mari leapt on the breakwater again. Putting her hands on her hips, she looked down at Daisuke and Kasuou.

"Let's capture that fake Hunter!"

"Huhhh?"

"It's something you see a lot in mystery books! The one being suspected suggests to catch the true culprit in order to clear themselves. I feel really bad being suspected like that!"

The dynamic and energetic Arisu would definitely say something like this. Mari raised her fists to the heavens.

"Some kinda bastard is impersonating Mari! We will catch them by our own hands!"

As expected, Daisuke mumbled "Not again," with a tired face. Kasuou also looked sick of it.

On the other hand, Mari's heart was pounding.

She would rush to solve the mystery with her friends.

As if she'd become the protagonist of a detective mystery.

The turned around on the breakwater. Imagining the adventure that was about to unfold now, her heart thumped with excitement.

"Now, let's go! First, we need to collect some evidence from the crime scene! Please come, both of you!"

What would be standing in front of Mari? A vicious monster, or perhaps a century-years-old mystery?

As she was now, she would be able to easily handle either one.

Nothing existed that could scare Hanashiro Mari after she overcame even death and gained a new body.

"Ah—"

A sudden wind blew as if to block Mari’s cheerful steps.

As Mari spun and was about to lose her balance, Daisuke suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Hey, are you alright, Mari?"

"Y-yeah. Thank you."

Mari thanked Daisuke while smiling—and then realized what she did.

The eyes of the boy looking at her changed. Even Kausou’s eyes started emitting a sharp light as she looked up at Mari.

—Are you alright, Mari?

He had definitely called her like that just now.

For an instant she thought about feigning ignorance.

But their eyes brimming full of confidence would allow her no excuse.

Mari narrowed her eyes and bit her lips.

"…Since when have you noticed?"

Still grabbing her arm, Daisuke put his other hand inside his blazer.

"I thought you were acting strange since this morning. But—"

Drawn out of his pocket—was the silver rod.

The one who stole the rod had been Kusuriya Daisuke.

While being surprised at this truth, Mari also realized the meaning of his action.

"You're too good at lying."

When the rod was gone, while Mari was smiling carefreely, she asserted that there was nothing wrong.

She lied way too unnaturally.

Since Arisu was righteous, even if she lied, it would come out in her actions.

Daisuke had stolen the rod—to test the girl with Arisu’s appearance.

Apparently, Mari fell for his trap.

"…"

Mari smiled, grabbing Daisuke's arm back.

At the same time a silver glow came flying at her in a straight line. Fluttering with the speed of a bullet, the Morpho butterfly landed on Mari's shoulder and changed its body.

In the span of an instant, a silver pattern appeared on Mari’s left and right arm.

A creak came from Daisuke's arm.

"Tch…!"

Scowling, he let Mari go. She spun her body.

Drawing silver loci in air, Mari's reverse roundhouse kick hit Daisuke’s shoulder. The rod left his hands and danced in the air.

"Why you…!"

Kasuou shouted, black mist gushing out of her entire body. The claws made of coagulated mist smashed the breakwater Mari was standing on.

But after an instant, Mari leapt to the heavens.

Catching her rod in midair, she used that momentum to leap into the center of the flowing river.

Thud—the recoil shook her legs.

Mari landed on the roof of the yacht passing by. Perhaps in the middle of preparing it for business, the only two passengers raised their heads in surprise.

"Hanashiro Mari…!"

Looking around the road, Daisuke had already fused with his own checkered beetle. However, his fusion speed couldn’t compare with the one of Mari, who had been called a genius by Sanbikime, one of the Original Three.

Meanwhile Kasuou had no way to locomote herself to the distant yacht so she grinded her teeth. Since the river was deep, she probably couldn't use her claws in place of her legs.

"Ehehe."

While letting out laughter, Mari lengthened the rod in her hand.

The silver patterns on her arm and leg glowed. The range of the glow gradually expanded, permeating all over her body.

At the same time, the feelers leaping out of the rod became thick wings and slid to the top of the rod.

Right now, this body was and wasn't Arisu.

Through the rod, the Morpho butterfly sensed the existence of the original host.

"Ahahahaha!"

Bursting on top of the rod, the Morpho butterfly's wings emitting a silver light flapped.

They became as large as Mari’s body several times over. Enough to push back the blowing wind, a storm of scales blew through the riverside.

Ichinokuro Arisu was only able to control part of the Morpho butterfly’s true abilities, the one controlling scales.

But it was different for Mari.

Mari's body covered from head to toe in the silver pattern was overflowing with energy.

Hunter, Hanashiro Mari.

This girl, one of the few Fusion Types, retrieved her former form.

"Ahahaha!"

Seeing the faces of Daisuke and Kasuou standing there in a daze, Mari kept sneering at them.

"You—"

Daisuke wrung out a low voice.

"So you were the Hunter that appeared today."

Mari stopped the smile on Arisu’s face.

The Morpho butterfly's wings twirled violently, transforming the rod into a silver lance.

She grinned, tilting her neck.

"—Right, that's true."

From the yacht's roof, she glared calmly at Daisuke and Kasuou growing distant.

Following after the yacht, they ran on top of the breakwater.

"But that was self-defense. —Not that I think you'd believe me at this stage."

It wasn't a lie.

Mari had simply gone to certain place on a whim.

But even so—

Mari said she was going to the infirmary and slipped out of school, because she couldn't stop her chest from pounding.

Anything and everything was too fun for her, so she couldn't just stay still in the classroom.

Having no heart pain or inability to breathe—being completely normal made her so happy she couldn't stand it. Her body moved freely and she could even jump. Simply going to gym class and the like wasn’t enough to satisfy her.

Fusing with the Morpho butterfly, she could leap over the fence of Horusu Seijou Academy while having one arm and one leg strengthened.

Landing on the ground, after making sure no people were watching, she leapt high. Rotating in air, she jumped on top of a residential house roof. Following the wind, she leapt from house to house.

"Ahaha."

She already forgot about having lost the rod.

The creator of the rod said they had “no idea what would happen”.

Had Mari really been able to achieve the ultimate happiness of being alive once again because of that stick?

She realized it was a one-of-a-kind weapon just by touching it.

But in the end—it was just a lump of metal. The chance for Mari's personality to rise to the surface—even if it caused the switch, could it be said to be the very cause?

If so, then the real cause was—

"Ahaha."

Her own laughter stopped her thoughts.

The reason she rose to the surface despite there being no emergency—didn’t interest her in the least.

If she ended up going back to sleep and return being Arisu again…

Then she must never sleep.

As long as Mari could move this body, her happy days would continue.

A free body and a family that loved her.

Friends that cared about her.

And the boyfriend she made through bizarre circumstances.

This world that she couldn’t have lived in was full of things that Mari would have never gotten no matter what.

"Ahaha—"

She landed in a back alley near the center of town.

Silver light burst and Mari's body separated from the Morpho butterfly.

Running out of the gloomy place, she entered a large national road. The sounds of car’s exhaust gas and the clamor of people walking around flew into her ears.

Standing in the middle of a crowded road, she looked around town.

Reflected by the towering building around, she was showered by dazzling sunlight.

That light was much too bright—

Mari who was like floating up inside a dream, stopped at that place.

"—"

Bathed in that light's glow—bright enough to erase even the Morpho butterfly's glow—Mari's paralyzed rationality was woken up for just an instant.

Mari currently felt fulfilled.

But in the end—was it actually so?

"I…"

—I want to live…

The dream she'd once embraced.

Right now, Mari was in the continuation of the dream she had once lost.

However.

—Are you fine, Arisu?

Daisuke's voice was resurrected in her mind.

—Arisu?

—Arisu-san.

She recalled the faces of the classmates worrying for her.

"I am… Hanashiro Mari."

She mumbled.

None of the people walking around turned around toward her.

Nobody knew Mari.

Nobody was looking at Mari.

This world, in which she achieved everything she wanted—

Had only her existence as Hanashiro Mari missing.

"…"

The Morpho butterfly flying overhead brightened its glow.

Don't wake up—as if warning her that.

Yet the sun with the strongest light couldn't allow the silver butterfly to resist.

"Right, Arisu? I'm Hanashiro Mari, right?"

She asked herself, putting a hand on her chest.

She could feel the heartbeat signaling her life. However—no response came.

Obviously. Since Mari had overtaken her body, Arisu's personality was sleeping.

Suddenly, she was assaulted by an unknown fear.

"A-Arisu…"

She became hopelessly lonely, and although she knew it was useless, she called to her own body.

Controlling herself was good.

Until just now, she was drunk with the joy of living. Pushing aside the original host of the body, she even thought of becoming Arisu. But even so.

Mari couldn't remember the time when she was alive well.

All she remembered was after her death. —Only the things that went around Ichinokuro Arisu, under the watch of the Morpho butterfly.

"I-I am—Hanashiro Mari, right?"

Her voice was shaking.

No people in the world have noticed her existence.

Even she herself—couldn't remember the girl called Mari well.

Although she was one among the countless people in town, she was assaulted by a horrible loneliness.

Although so many people lived in this world, none of them knew Mari.

Was Mari actually Mari?

No, never mind that—had the girl called Hanashiro Mari even existed in the first place?

If it turned out that she was actually just a mere illusion, a figment of imagination born by the bizarre Mushi called the Morpho butterfly—

"A-Arisu!"

Although her illness was gone, for some reason her chest felt tight.

Along with agony, the despair and fear she’d nearly was reborn.

"Arisu…! Hey, Arisu…!"

Arisu didn't reply.

Her one and only friend who knew the fact the girl Hanashiro Mari had lived.

If she called her name, she would be able to make sure she was alive.

Even so—due to the fault of none other than herself, Ichinokuro Arisu couldn't reply.

Mari raised her face, looking around.

Anyone else—

She desperately tried recalling if anyone else knew Hanashiro Mari.

"There's S-Sensei—"

One of the Original Three who was awkward but kind.

She remembered that youth who treasured her only vaguely—but because these were her memories, she had no confidence.

Perhaps even the memories pertaining to him—were nothing more than those of the Morpho butterfly.

"…"

Running to the direction of the hospital she'd been once admitted to, she recalled.

Sensei was probably—no longer there.

He wanted to vanish.

He said that him not having vanished was a mistake.

He was terribly tired and resigned, and told her that his only duty was seeing Mari’s wish come to fruition. He had probably set out on a journey to find the next dream long ago. And, although he was the being called Sanbikime who was forever waiting, he probably used his own legs.

More than a year passed since then.

He had probably already fulfilled his own goal and went to sleep by now.

Sensei was already gone.

"S-someone else…"

There was no-one else.

She wanted someone to call out her name.

Thinking of other people who knew her in life, she stopped in place.

Her family and the hospital workers?

No, they'd be useless. They would never believe she was Mari when she looked like another person.

Anyone else?

There no longer remained even a single person that knew Mari.

Was it really so?

"…"

No, there was.

At the very end of her lonely life, she met a certain person.

—Having gotten a new lease of life, who would be by your side?

Unlike their young voice, that person had a stifling sort of presence.

"The Undying… Mushitsuki."

At the same time she mumbled this, she started running without thinking.

Rushing between the pedestrians, she crossed the side road, passing in front of the station.

—You… mustn’t be deceived by the devil camouflaged as an angel.

The moment she faced the one she was looking for, what had she thought?

When she tried recalling that, her head blanked out.

The silver flash stopped Mari’s thinking.

“Hah…! Hah…!”

I’ll become Arisu—

Had she been the one to choose this figure?

Was her current form of Arisu the continuation of Mari’s dream?

"Hah…! Hah…!"

She was out of breath when she reached a narrow road near the main street. Sandwiched between complex buildings, with dirty trash scattered on the ground, and a power pole full of scratches.

She followed her vague memories and came there.

Once, Mari had been there—and met the Undying Mushitsuki.

"…"

Of course, the Undying Mushitsuki wasn't there right now.

But over a year ago, there was definitely someone facing her there.

Her tired self and the Undying Mushitsuki.

That time, Mari should have grasped the answer.

Even so, Mari couldn’t recall the continuation of her dream now.

"I'm…"

The inside of her head was dyed by a bright flash.

Her memory blurred, overwritten by silver light.

"I… am—"

The same type of glow was dancing above Mari's head.

It was a single Mushi with beautiful wings.

By entering an area that the sun's rays couldn't reach, the silver glow once again permeated Mari.

The eyes of the fluttering Morpho butterfly were gradually dyed in red.

The fear filling Mari's heart to the brim was thinning.

The despair of loneliness was being paralyzed.

"I don't need—a name."

While staring intently at the Morpho butterfly above, she smiled.

The hole caused by fear and despair in her heart was filled with pleasure.

The sense of release known as life.

The freedom known as power.

She lacked nothing now. There was nothing she couldn't do.

Perhaps this world was prepared just for her renewed arrival.

Hadn’t the miracle of this day had given her the greatest gift of all—this very world that was so filled with pleasure and beauty?

"…Do you have any business with me?"

Smiling, Mari looked on the other side of the road.

The red-eyed Morpho butterfly glowed in a strong light as if in warning.

"Ichinokuro Arisu—"

Appearing ahead of her wasn't the Undying Mushitsuki that Mari had been searching for.

It was a boy wearing a hat low on his head. He wore common clothes consisting of a t-shirt and jeans ripped at the knees, but the fact he’d hidden his presence until that moment meant he was no amateur.

Mari’s instincts told her so due to his stance and unique atmosphere.

"That aura… are you friends with the grim reaper from this morning?"

The combo of the gasmask-wearing grim reaper and the fashionable imp.

The boy in front of her reminded her of the ominous pair watching Mari from the school gate that morning. The fact that the Morpho butterfly responded and regarded him with hostility was also the same.

Seeing that he didn't deny this, she was apparently right on the mark.

The Morpho butterfly alighted down on the smiling Mari’s shoulder.

“Sorry to disappoint you, though.”

Mari's clouded eyes and the Morpho butterfly's red eyes glared at the Mushitsuki in front of them.

"I'm not Arisu."

She had no idea who the boy was.

But that had nothing to do with it.

More freedom.

More pleasure.

"But no one left in this world would believe me, anyway."

Mari surrendered to the desire swelling inside her.

"I have nothing against you… but I will have to hurt you a bit in order to escape hell.”

Asserting this, the boy kicked the earth. He quickly approached Mari.

She thought he was swinging his arm toward empty space, but a large Mushi appeared at the boy’s back.

The Mushi hanging to his back extended large claws from the boy's arm to his fingertips. Following the boy's movement, the Mushi's sharp claws assaulted Mari from overhead.

But by the time the boy blinked, Mari was already behind him.

"—Tell this to 'that Mushitsuki'."

In a split second she not only fused with the Morpho butterfly and dodged from the boy’s attack.

With a hand blade covered in a silver pattern, Mari sliced the Mushi on the boy's back.

"Hunter is back."

She ordered the boy who had lost his Mushi and become Fallen without even turning around.

Mari knew where that Mushitsuki—that Undying Mushitsuki—was hiding.

The Morpho butterfly remembered that Arisu had met him during her school trip.

She had left this message with the boy she never met because she noticed the white goggles hanging from his neck.

The Special Environmental Preservation Bureau.

The Undying Mushitsuki was part of that organization—

"Hehe."

If he knew that Mari obtained Arisu's body, what would that Mushitsuki say?

Now Mari was different from back then, when she kneeled and couldn’t take a single action.

"Ahaha!"

Mari didn't care if anyone would call her name anymore.

The current Mari was Mari, and at the same time she was Arisu.

And starting now to the end of time, Mari would use Arisu’s guise to celebrate her existence in this amazingly enjoyable world.

Because of that—the Undying Mushitsuki was in her way.

She was going to keep living as Arisu like this, and only one person knew about her when she was alive.

He knew about the possibility of her switching with Arisu.

If she erased his presence from the world, no one would ever doubt Mari anymore.

If so then Mari would feel the same happiness she felt today every day.

"Ahahaha!"

No need to rush.

When the Undying Mushitsuki himself appeared, she could just let him tell it directly. For that reason, she left a hint with the Fallen boy.

Laughing to the heavens, Mari ran through the sky back to Horusu Seijou Academy.  

The sky was already covered in thick clouds, and the surroundings grew dark. In the townscape surrounding Mari, neon lights started turning on one by one.

With the sunlight vanishing, a completely different glow engulfed the river.

The Morpho butterfly-turned-lance emitted a silver light.

As if celebrating the vanishing of the pesky sun, the surroundings were filled with unending, blinding light.

“You’ve called my name for the first time in this world where there’s no Arisu.”

On top of the yacht roof, Mari smiled, the pattern on her entire body glowing.

Her wish to have someone call her name.

As well as what she actually wanted in the past the led to her leaving the Mushi to her friend.

Both were filled with silver light in her head—and she was made to forget them.

"Kusuriya Daisuke-san."

Untying Ichinokuro Arisu's trademark ponytail, her long hair was fanned by the strong wind.

Unable to fully withstand the impact created by Mari and the scales emitted by the Morpho butterfly lance, the pleasure boats all tilted and were thrown upward.

“Even before dealing with that Mushitsuki—I should have killed you."

She glared at Kusuriya Daisuke with bloodshot eyes.

Red eyes.

That color was the same as the Morpho butterfly's eyes, the color of blood.

"Arisu isn't gone. You're just holding her back."

Daisuke opened the sports bag on his back, equipping the SEPB-issued long coat and goggles.

While running on the breakwater, Daisuke leapt over to her with his body low.

"Ehehe."

Raising a dull, light sound, Mari threw herself to the air as if dancing in the wind.

At the same time, she swung the silver lance to the side.

The scales spurt from the lance cut off the room portion of the pleasure boat. The glass windows, wall partition and the entire roof was blown off by the wind, flying toward Daisuke.

"…!"

Daisuke immediately prepared his gun and Kasuou formed new claws of mist.

The two Mushitsuki's attacks smashed the boat roof to smithereens.

This opening allowed Mari to land on the board, using the recoil to leap high in the air.

Mari's thin body leapt over the river, being sucked into the city sky as if flowing with the wind.

"Wait, Hanashiro Mari…!"

Daisuke's voice was soon swallowed by a roar.

Mari landed on the roof of an old vacant building, immediately kicking the ground to leap to another building.

Cutting through the wind, kicking the wall of a crowded building and landing down on the ground, she ran through the night.

"Ahaha!"

No matter how strong Kusuriya Daisuke was, he didn’t have sensing abilities like Mari's Mushi. Once he lost her, finding her again shouldn't be easy. Furthermore, the blockhead Kasuou lacked mobility and so would never catch her.

She ran through empty alleys while drawing afterimages of light.

By being far from the river, Mari raised her face. Kicking the ground, kicking both sides of two neighboring building, she instantly rushed overhead.

Landing on the roof, Mari looked down below her.

"Ehehe—"

She arrived at a large road that connected to the train station.

There were all kinds of buildings, large crowds of people, and many cars. She could see all of the lights and swaying people.

"This is time to part with this city… with Akamaki City."

If her identity had been revealed, there was no other way.

There was no longer even any need to kill the Undying Mushi to seal his lips.

"Right, Arisu?"

She felt fresh.

The current Mari was unbound by anything.

If she went through this path, Mari would reach a town unknown to her.

As Mari knew nothing but Akamaki City, this would be a completely new world.

There would definitely be a paradise to bless Mari’s new life there.

"Hehehe…"

Mari's eyes as she peeked down the bright townscape were dyed in red.

The power surging through her and the excitement enough to make her back shudder permeated her.

"Ahahaha!"

Throwing her body from the building roof, she entered freefall.

Midair, she spun her body, landing on the roof of a fast-food restaurant. The impact made the asphalt cave beneath her, but nothing happened to her.

Transforming to a bullet of light, Mari raced along the wide road.

She ran, overtaking cars, moving at speeds that the pedestrians couldn’t even see, from rooftop to rooftop and from power pole to power pole.

No one could stop Mari.

No one could chase Mari.

This place where she was born, lived with her illness, became a Mushitsuki, met with her friend Arisu, and where she had accepted her end once—

Now that she was going to be unleashed from the spell called Akamaki City, Mari would be reborn.

"Ahaha—"

Mari kept running while sneering.

However—suddenly she felt a sense of discomfort.

Stopping on top of a gasoline stand, she looked down the dark road.

To add to her awareness, the Morpho butterfly lance was glowing violently.

"…"

A raindrop fell down Mari’s evil grin.

The starting rain dampened the now-silent road.

At some point—not even a single car remained on this entire wide road.

And the lights on the other side were all green.

It was a strange sight.

Even among the pedestrians protecting themselves from the violent rain with an umbrella some noticed the abnormality. They looked at the empty road, puzzled.

No. It wasn't that all cars vanished from the road.

She could see the lights of cars in the road full of green lights.

"Are you… trying to race with me?"

Appearing there were two roofless two-seat jeep and a vintage bike—a completely red vespa.

She could see several silhouettes riding these, and one of them was familiar.

He was equipped with gas mask and wore a full-body grey blazer.

The grim reaper that found Mari this morning.

"Very well. If you think you can catch me, go ahead and try."

With her glowing red eyes, Mari welcomed the messengers of hell with a smile. 

Part 4

They had probably manipulated the traffic lights around to make the road empty of cars.

On the large national road pelted by the raging rain was a line of green lights. On the other side, the opposite road was all red, stopping any cars that would want to enter.

Pursuing Mari who ran on top of building rooftops were two jeeps.

One was probably just checking the situation. The red vespa accelerated, following it from a bit behind. She couldn't see the driver well because of the rain, but they appeared to be small.

Who were they?

What was their goal, why were they chasing Mari?

She didn't know anything, but since they went to such lengths to prepare this stage, Mari’s pride wouldn’t allow her to run away from this road.

With the silver flash filling her mind to the brim, she was moving by her fighting instincts, intercepting the grim reaper and the rest.

"Let's gooo!"

On the black jeep, there were two people other than the driver. One of them—the fashionable imp she'd seen at the school gate that morning—swung her fists to the sides while holding her index finger and little finger up.

Her body spouted a thick, green-colored mist. The mist was absorbed into the ground and formed the shape of a centipede with countless legs, charging toward Mari.

The centipede was like a shadow running on the surface of the ground and building—and there were four of them.

“Among Special Types with long-range Mushi, many have mental interference abilities."

As the centipedes assaulted from all sides, Mari kicked the roof of a western confectionary, leapt and evaded.

But the needlessly spinning centipedes changed their orientation. Accelerating again, they pursued Mari as she landed at a convenience store.

"Automatic chasing—meaning that I fulfill the conditions for their ability."

Turning around with a calm face, Mari swung her lance to the sides.

Silver scales blew, swallowing the incoming centipedes one after another.

Yet one of them dodged the silver scales attack, stabbing its giant fangs into Mari's body. Turning into a thick green mist again, the centipede was absorbed into Mari's chest.

"Ugh—"

Her vision blurred.

Welling up in her chest without any reason was fear. The indescribable anxiety and paralysis muddied Mari's consciousness, making her lose her sense of direction.

For a moment, as she ran in incredible speed, Mari’s body tilted.

But—that was all.

"…You shouldn't have tried eating me. What a boring ability."

When Mari opened her eyes again, her body had already retrieved its calmness.

"Trying mental attacks on me is a nice joke."

Accelerating again to overtake the jeep, Mari sneered.

Mari had always been accompanied by the feeling known as fear. No attacks would work on her after she’d lived along with the true despair of not being able to have an easy death.

"I don't feel like going through training again, meow."

Riding along with the centipede girl was a tall woman. She stood with both legs inside the jeep that speeded on the road, her body shaking due to the movements.

"Even if this is punishment for slacking off on my job, it's a bit too much~"

At the same time she heard this flat voice, Mari's body was blown backwards.

"—A rare ability."

Mari instantly guarded with her lance due to her battle experience.

The woman standing in the jeep lowered her body slightly. At her waist she held a long and narrow Mushi full of pulsating, creepy holes.

As if sheathing her sword to cut, the woman slashed with her Mushi.

The pouring rain droplets sliced the air aiming at her.

"An equipment-type Mushi."

It apparently sucked the liquid into the hole and shot it. The ground that Mari stood on before leaping was crushed by the water blade.

"I'd like to go back and sleep, so die for now, meow!"

When Mari leapt to the air, she probably saw her chance. Shouting nonsense, the woman swung her Mushi in a straight line.

“It looked like a short-range ability, but you’re actually quite adaptable, aren’t you?”

Mari swung her silver lance downward.

The woman's attack split an empty building and it crumbled down.

On the other side Mari's attack gouged the ground like a tidal wave toward the jeep.

The victor was Mari’s attack. The scales that managed to slice even the woman’s water blade hurt the black jeep. It soon started spinning and was left behind.

She was curious about the “training” the woman mentioned, but the current Mari didn't question it.

"How about I try to guess the abilities of the rest?"

Running alongside the white jeep, Mari sneered.

“It works within the range of a Special Type, or perhaps some an indiscriminate ability. Since you didn’t attack me while you were with your allies, it was probably meant to protect them. —You probably possess a powerful ability, then."

Mari slashed her lance.

The scales cut off the road the jeep was driving on.

Not making it in time to step on the brakes, the jeep bumped against the hole in the ground and crashed.

"And so it ends. Goodbye, grim reaper."

She saw off the gas-masked person riding the jeep with a smile.

“Now, the only one remaining… is that small child.”

Until then only following from behind, the Vespa instantly accelerated.

Mari swung her lance.

The silver scales assaulted the Vespa.

"Why must I—"

The Vespa driver started crying. The finger she stuck out toward the scales brought forth a swarm of butterflies with C on their wings.

These pallid butterflies—the comma butterflies shot out.

The storm of electricity blew off the silver scales with a roar.

"Why must I fight Arisu-san like this!"

Mari knew the name of the girl who raised her head.

Horiuchi Erii. Just the other day, Arisu and Daisuke captured this Mushitsuki for the SEPB.

Even controlling this area's traffic lights was probably the work of the electricity-controlling girl.

"I borrowed this analog bike but I can't ride it well…! My ability isn’t suited for the frontlines…!”

The eyes of Erii visible beneath the goggles were welling up with tears. She desperately gripped the handle as to not be blown by the wind, using one hand to hold down her helmet.

"…!"

Mari's eyes caught something approaching her with the speed of a bullet.

A silver string—no, a chain.

The thing attached to the edge of the chain… was it a sickle? Passing above Mari’s head as she lowered her body to evade, the sickle pierced a faraway building.

The moment after the chain closed in, a grey shadow came leaping from behind it.

It was the gasmask grim reaper. She thought his jeep was overturned and he was left behind, but he was approaching Mari using a very unexpected way of moving.

As the grim reaper promptly closed in on her, he launched an attack using a large sickle.

"So you really are a grim reaper. First time I've seen that type of ability."

Mari was about to fight back using her spear, but then stopped to think.

She had a bad premonition.

It happened from time to time even during her life, when she’d been chased as Hunter. At such times the enemy was definitely hiding some sort of unthinkable ability.

"…!"

Following her instincts, she only lowered her head without parrying the grim reaper’s attack.

When they passed near each other, she could hear the grim reaper clicking his tongue.

He leapt over Mari, landing on the distant building top. It was probably a weapon with no physical substance in the first place. Countless small chains and sickles were created around the suit covering his entire body.

The sickles spread in all directions as if being shot. They tied buildings to buildings and power poles to power poles to form paths.

Going on top of the chain, the grim reaper was lying in wait for Mari.

"Ehehe."

She sneered once again.

Although he was a mere worm that came crawling out of somewhere—she was going to enjoy this.

His usage of his idiosyncratic ability was still immature, his fighting style was complex, and he couldn't fight along with his comrades.

Even so, he never stepped back even when facing Hunter—Mari.

Even so as one person, in front of Mari, she couldn't take a step back. He was apparently even more afraid to run from the battlefield than he was to face this enemy possessing overwhelming strength.

There was nothing to criticize about his potential.

But he was noticeably unused to battle.

"Try again after fighting a hundred Mushitsuki."

The edge of Mari’s spear expanded as she swung it.

The blade of the lance transformed to large Morpho butterfly wings brought forth an overwhelming number of scales.

"Ahaha!"

She laughed derisively and was about to blow away both the grim reaper and the building behind him.

Suddenly, as Mari rushed ahead to close the distance, the grim reaper threw something over her head.

Glowing while mixed with the wind and rain, that object looked like a metallic sphere.

"Sorry, Arisu-san!"

Ellie shouted, producing countless comma butterflies from her fingertips. The electricity-emitting butterflies used the medium of rain and danced toward Mari.

Gasping, Mari looked up the sky.

Between the thick clouds she could see lines of light.

"…!"

The roar shook the national road.

The various lightnings in the sky combines, striking Mari.

The metal sphere was probably a dielectric. It allowed Erii’s Mushi to connect the sky and earth and fulfilled its role to guide the lightning.

"—"

Her vision was filled with golden light.

This violent light was like the sun, the strongest light possible in nature.

The silver light permeating Mari's mind was instantly blown away.

Her thinking was recovered.

The other consciousness controlling it—slightly dulled.

"Kwah…!"

Mari flew out unscathed from within the blowing gale and smoke.

This was only Mari’s reason—but the most important thing in a battle is how to defend against an enemy’s surprise attack. How to definitely protect oneself in situations where the enemy’s ability is unknown or from some unknown situation. She figured that her accumulated battle experience had helped her with this.

"Ugh—"

That experience allowed her body to move on its own. Predicting that lightning would be called, she immediately escaped the line connecting the comma butterflies and the medium. If she moved even a nanosecond later, she would have undoubtedly received heavy damage.

"Eek…"

Being stared by Mari who held her forehead, Erii raised a shriek on the motorcycle.

She was slightly numb, but received no damage.

But more importantly, the inside of her mind was in completely disarray.

"I-I'm… why—"

Why am I running here?

Where was I heading?

What makes me have so much fun?

"—"

The silver light illuminated Mari as she attempted to think.

The light source was the lance she was gripping.

Bathed by that silver light, Mari's thinking was again dulled—

"…!"

The grim reaper didn't allow her to retrieve her calm. Leaping from the chain linked between buildings, he swung the large scythe held on his back aiming for Mari's thin neck.

A sharp pain ran through her head.

While grimacing, Mari dodged the blade, leaving the grim reaper behind.

But the grim reaper did not let up. Unleashing his sickles ahead, he reeled in the chains stabbed into the building to pull his own body ahead.

Mari dodged the large scythe swung down at her from behind without even turning around.

Once again, the grim reaper threw the chains ahead, trying to block Mari from jumping over him. He didn’t simply swing his weapon, but at times sent flurries of kicks and punches as well.

Moving along the routes created by his own chains, the grim reaper kept persistently swinging his scythe at Mari.

His movements were superhuman.

Truly a grim reaper.

It wasn't that his body was strengthened like Mari; this was perhaps the first time Mari had met someone who could match her movements.

“—You’re too stubborn, so I have to send you back to hell.”

Mari's mouth moved on its own. She was surprised at how low her voice was.

The silver scales pounded the grim reaper against the wall of a building.

"Yakugami-san!"

Erii’s scream flew from the motorcycle, but it was a needless worry.

Although he'd struck the concrete with high speed, the grim reaper soon unleashed another chain. Pulling on the chain that stuck to the distant building, he ran after Mari again. Since she couldn't see his face, she also couldn’t tell if he received damage or not.

“Will you not give up unless I cut you to shreds?”

The silver light emitted by the lance lit Mari’s cruel face.

No—

Somewhere inside Mari’s head, the barely remaining reason whispered against her cold sneer.

I do not want to do this sort of thing…!

Then what did she want to do—even if she tried thinking about this, the silver light assaulting her mind made that impossible.

The grim reaper flung another metal ball above Mari.

"How boring. Do you think the same trick will work twice?"

Snorting, Mari took evasive action.

But suddenly her body became sluggish.

The power she used to kick the building roof weakened for a split second.

"Eeeek…!"

The echoing boom shook Mari's eardrums.

Although she avoided direct impact, the lightning grazed her within a hairsbreadth.

"Eh…?"

The attacking Erii raised a surprised voice. She probably hadn’t expected to be successful.

It was natural for her to be surprised.

From what they saw—it probably looked like Mari herself leapt into the lightning.

"—"

The golden light pierced Mari along with an impact.

She gritted her teeth just as she felt about to faint.

The violent electric light pushed away the silver flash controlling her mind.

"Just like—I thought…"

With some of her clothes burned, without letting down her running speed, Mari gazed with anger at the Morpho butterfly lance in her hand.

"So it was you…!"

Shock therapy was too dangerous, but—by intentionally receiving that attack, Mari finally came back to her senses.

As if to resist Mari’s sharp gaze…

The silver lance emitted even stronger light.

"Ugh—"

Mari's consciousness blurred again.

However, by biting her lips, she kept her ego from being controlled.

“The one controlling me—no, in the first place you were behind it all…!”

She now realized.

Mari found out the nature of the impulse moving her until now.

No, never mind that, it was the cause for everything that happened today—

"…!"

The moment she understood everything, tears welled up from frustration.

This definitely was no happiness.

Even so, she felt pure bliss at this miraculous day and acted like an idiot.

There was no way this rod would be the cause. It was nothing more than a switch—yes, she'd noticed it already.

Her time spent today was too fun.

The day she spent as Arisu was full of too much happiness.

And so she forgot—about the enemy that hid the nearest to her.

"Ugh…!"

The Morpho butterfly lance kept shining.

Even if Mari desperately resisted, the inside of her head was gradually dyed in silver.

Her past memories.

The thing overwriting the personality of Hanashiro Mari was none other than—

"Do you want to Mature that badly…?!"

The edge of the lance—the surface of the blade made of wings bore eyes that glowed red.

This blood-like pure red eyes glared at Mari. It was waiting for its host to become nourishment.

The happiness Mari felt at freedom, and the desire that sought release.

Those came not from Mari herself, but from the Mushi possessing her.

"Using this rod, you kept eating my dream—"

A gift?

A joyous day?

They were nothing but a sham.

This highest-grade weapon in the form of a silver rod was simply a suitable tool for the Morpho butterfly that wanted eating her dreams. It became the switch to bring Mari’s sleeping personality—her dream—to the surface.

And then once she appeared it tried eating her consciousness.

It was an underhanded and a cruel Mushi.

"Uugh…!"

‘An unthinkable event’—

‘Have no idea what would happen’—

These words didn't refer to this rod, which was a mere tool.

The being these words referred to was always at her side.

Mari's Mushi.

The silver Morpho butterfly.

A being irregular in everything.

Her having awakened instead of Arisu this morning was nothing more than the Morpho butterfly’s trap.

"…!"

The grim reaper leaping above Mari's head once again assumed a chasing position.

Mari dodged the scythe attacking her from all directions while giddy.

"Kh…!"

The Morpho butterfly’s glow grew stronger and stronger, eroding Mari’s consciousness.

But Mari had to use the power of her Mushi. If she separated herself from the Morpho butterfly while moving at such speeds Arisu’s body would be smashed against the ground.

While feeling her sense of self diluting, Mari thought desperately.

How could she escape this situation?

How could she fight against the Morpho butterfly's Maturation?

"…!"

When she dodged the grim reaper's attack, Mari opened her eyes wide with surprise.

The thing that received the attack of the scythe instead of Mari was the board of a family restaurant.

The board had a non-physical scythe stabbing through it, but didn't seem to be damaged. However, the board's surface became rusted, and the neon light vanished from it with creaking sounds.

As she turned around and glared behind, the same phenomenon happened in another spot.

The places cut by the grim reaper's scythe, or perhaps the places stabbed and connected by the unleashed chains—all of them were assaulted by abnormalities.

The electric board installed on the power pole emitted sparks, a tall tree withered, a bird touched by the chain couldn't fly and leapt on the ground.

They were hurt.

Or perhaps dulled.

Whenever the grim reaper’s ability touched anything, its activities—were weakened.

A certain thought came to Mari's mind.

But to accomplish it she needed a great determination.

"Uh—"

As the Morpho butterfly was about to control her any second now, she had no other choice.

She knew that.

However—

"AAAAAHHH!"

It really was fun.

Even if it was just a trap, this day had given Mari unthinkable happiness.

Everything she felt was a bliss.

Just the joy of simply living.

That time was precious to her.

Right, she even wanted to become her supposed friend Arisu for that—

"…!"

She understood that the gasmask grim reaper was surprised due to his presence.

Mari—stopped the scythe with her silver lance.

The grim reaper's scythe clashed with the Morpho butterfly lance.

The next moment, the ashen chains floating to the scythe infected the silver lance. The Morpho butterfly fused with it rampaged with pain, separating its wings.

"…!"

Before the fusion was fully absolved, Mari swung her lance vertically.

The sharp tip slashed the gasmask to two.

Revealed then was a boy’s face that seemed too kind to be called a grim reaper.

"Oh… you've been 'touched'."

When she thought she saw the boy wore a thin smile, he soon grimaced.

"Uh—"

Being flung to the sky, he pressed on his exposed face and groaned.

"Waaaah!"

Countless sickles flew from the boy’s body to all directions. They reached walls and poles, stabbing into anywhere and everywhere to form a long chain prison.

Mari immediately leapt away from the boy.

He couldn't control his ability.

As he’d shown such a fearsome way of fighting, she thought that he was fully trained.

But in actuality it was different. Just like his friends, he was just another immature Mushitsuki.

"I-If I don't pass because of that I'll be depressed, really…"

Apparently he wasn’t rampaging. The boy with the anguished face flung his large scythe toward Erii’s Vespa before crashing into the ground.

"Eh—w-why…!"

When the blade stabbed the red vehicle, the engine sounds grew quieter. The doubtful Erii was left behind.

It was a decisive measure. —Erii was too immature to be fighting against Mari. If she continued fighting like this, the young girl would get seriously injured.

Whatever the case, he didn’t wish to fight Mari any longer.

She crushed the unknown assassin.

Mari further grimaced.

While running along the national road, she looked at the lance infected with rust.

The Morpho butterfly's wings already didn't take the form of blades. The body emitting a silver light was anguished with the rust that wouldn’t let go.

An unthinkable injury—it was not.

Mari had gotten hit by the grim reaper’s ability on purpose.

"…"

Mari bit her lips, focusing.

The essence of scales surrounding her instantly changed.

From scales that would slice whatever touched them, they became a warm and soft glow.

When the gently glowing scales wrapped the rod, finally the Morpho butterfly's movement calmed down. The progress of the rust on the rod's surface stopped and vanished a bit from the surface.

She couldn’t cancel the ability that could rust anything—the grim reaper’s curse.

She simply made the ability's effect sleep.

"Hahhh… Hahh…!"

Using this ability harshly consumed her energy.

But she had no other way.

Slowly.

Little by little, she would purify the rust eating the rod using the Morpho butterfly's power.

Although this rod had high specs and compatibility with the Mushi, until the day this rust would be perfectly purified it would be unable to use its original ability.

Meaning—the rod lost its role as the switch to let Mari appear on the surface like this.

She just returned it to how it was before this rod.

To the relationship of Mari and Arisu from before, when she’d been called only in battle.

Even so her heart ached so bad it nearly burst—perhaps because she came to experience this overly happy day.

"…"

The road's end.

On the rooftop of the very last building, Mari finally stopped.

More precisely, the road wasn't cut off here. It still continued and split off to connect to other cities.

This was the final stop of Akamaki City.

If she continued just a bit further, Mari would be able to leap into a new world—

"…"

But Mari didn't think of heading there.

Her bangs that were wet by the rain clung to her forehead.

The owner perhaps pouring their efforts to the greening of their rooftop, there was pretty grass on top of stone slabs. These flowerpots surrounded by water channels had the scent of spring. Born in a florist’s house, Mari felt pity at them being exposed to the rain and wind like this.

With droplets dripping from her forehead, Mari walked to the fence.

"…"

Putting her head on the fence, she stifled her voice and cried.

Even she didn't know why she was crying.

This day had been so much fun.

Everything around her was fresh and filled with happiness.

Her heart nearly danced with the excitement.

"Sorry, Arisu…"

While shedding endless tears, she apologized to her friend.

It didn't mean that her memories from when she was alive fully returned.

But she wanted to apologize for stealing today from her.

All of the happiness Mari felt belonged to Arisu.

Even so Mari stole that from her—and wanted to keep doing so.

"Sorry…"

If she stole Arisu’s body going on, she would be assaulted by the impulse to run away to where nobody knew her.

At the same time, though, she knew.

Mari had nowhere to go to—she had no way to escape from the Morpho butterfly she had left behind in this world.

"Why did I… leave the Morpho butterfly to you…"

She thought it was strange.

Did she want to steal her friend's body and keep on leaving?

If so—did she know that hell would wait her past there?

The sense of loneliness in a world where no one knew who she was.

The human called Hanashiro Mari was no longer anywhere in the truest sense of the world.

Even so, this overly sweet happiness had been prepared for her.

A dreamlike—living hell.

"Why… on earth…"

The Morpho butterfly detached from Mari's body and the rod.

Having controlled Mari until now, the Morpho butterfly landed on the fence and turned its red eyes to Mari.

Just a little longer and it would have stolen her body—

It wasn’t just Mari.

The Morpho butterfly also tried stealing Arisu’s body through Mari.

That was the Mushi's Maturation.

It wanted to control its host’s heart and then steal their body.

"Why…"

Would the one who could answer Mari’s self-question be where she was looking at?

It wasn't.

There was a strong person in town enough to save her.

He would come soon.

Following Mari.

Since she had no other person to leave matters to—Mari decided to wait there.

While gazing at the world she'd never known.

While dreaming about the world outside her hometown, she waited for him.

"—Took you long."

When her tears dried, the person she'd been waiting for appeared.

With his black wing-like coat flapping, the boy landed down near Mari.

He was another Fusion Type Mushitsuki, Kakkou.

The pitch-black demon slowly approached Mari.

"Don’t worry; I will soon return this body to Arisu."

The boy's legs stopped. He slowly raised his hand holding the handgun.

"Also, I'll vanish soon… back to waiting for Arisu to call me."

Having been reborn today, Mari would vanish just like droplets after the rain—

Mari looked at Daisuke, giggling.

“When that happens… perhaps it could be fun fighting against a fellow Fusion-Type.”

The boy's readied gun stopped right as it aimed at her forehead.

"Or actually—are you going to kill this Maturing Mushi now?"

Still holding his gun prepared, the demon opened his mouth.

"Which will you choose?"

Mari and Daisuke.

High up in the city, where the wind and rain blew, two Mushitsuki faced each other—

"Ehehe."

Mari opened her wet mouth, naming her wish. 

Part 5

The powerful wind swept away the fierce rain it had brought itself far away in no time.

The townscape wet from the fleeting violent rain now sparkled under the moonlight.

Just like a treasure box.

Did the people living in this beautiful world realize they were in this treasure-like moment?

Mari did.

For Mari, this entire day had brought her such happiness that no treasure could compare to.

Sitting in the bench installed on the rooftop garden, Mari gazed down the mortal world with a smile.

"What?! You were the one who decided to use Arisu for your training!"

Nearby, the boy called Kusuriya Daisuke was shouting at his phone. He was a Fusion Type Mushitsuki just like Mari, but unlike Mari he was a somewhat kind boy.

Daisuke had removed his goggle and wore a single shirt on his torso. His pitch-dark coat was currently wrapped around Mari's shoulders.

“I owe you one? It’s the other way! What? You wanna go at it, you stupid dog? Bring it on, I'll wait for you in the training ground!"

She didn't know who he was talking to, but Daisuke looked angry as he cut off the call. “’I knew I couldn’t really train so many unranked warriors’ my ass, after all this… go on your stupid journey and never return,” he cursed as he approached Mari. 

The boy's sneeze echoed on the rooftop. Although the rain stopped, the wind was still cold.

“Shall I return your coat?”

“It’s a hundred times better for me to get a cold than Arisu. Because she’ll definitely make me nurse her.”

“Isn’t it natural, with you being lovers?”

“What about us caused you to make that delightful misunderstanding, you idiot?”

It was the first time someone called her an idiot. She shrunk her body, asking if she was wrong. “Of course, you idiot,” he scolded her yet again.

Daisuke wore a displeased face and sat next to Mari.

Mari looked down the town encased with lights.

Daisuke looked up the starry, bright sky.

"Will you really do nothing to me?"

She mumbled.

Although she asked him for her wish, she didn't think he'd actually accept it.

“Because if you don’t turn back to Arisu… I’ll just kill the Morpho butterfly. That’s why.”

After staying silent for a while, the boy answered thus.

Daisuke seemed surprised at the way Mari chose to spend her remaining time.

—Could we talk for a little while?

That was Mari's wish.

Mari wanted to spend whatever time remained to her in rest.

She had already run around enough and fought enough.

She wanted to savor these moments to wrap up this great day—so she thought.

"You really are nicer than expected, Kusuriya Daisuke."

She said as if to mock him. Daisuke's expression was unchanged and he made no reply.

"Were the grim reaper and the rest your acquaintances?"

"They were SEPB trainees. As well as the one that tried turning you to a Fallen."

"Trainees?"

"The problem children from the SEPB I spoke about this morning. The instructor who gave them commands is sort of my acquaintance… or more like we have an inseparable relationship. It's too much of a bother to train them one on one, so she decided to use the one who’s giving the Headquarters trouble recently—meaning Arisu—as an opponent for real battle training.”

"…"

"Hearing that, I thought I’d warn you, but… since that trainee tried turning you to a Fallen first, it became more complicated. —They hadn’t reported anything to the higher-ups, including the fact there was a Fallen.”

Explaining this much, Daisuke scratched his head. He leaked a bothered-sounding sigh.

"Even so, it was quite the hassle. We probably won’t be able to fully hide this, but if we say the training just went overboard… I hope we’ll somehow manage. Seems like I’ll be in the debt not of that instructor but of that Miguruma woman, though.”

"Miguruma… Miguruma Yaeko."

"You know her?"

When Daisuke asked back in surprise, Mari vaguely mumbled in her mouth.

"Right, she… asked Sensei… about… kko… to ‘that side’… so—"

"Hey!"

Daisuke glared at Mari who was mumbling to herself.

"What do you know? There're plenty of things I want to ask you as well."

"I—don't remember anything."

He was probably thinking she was feigning ignorance. Daisuke's expression grew harsh.

“There are things I do remember… but I no longer know if these are my memories or not."

"…"

"Just like I explained before, my own memories were overwritten by the Maturing Morpho butterfly… no, actually it might be that…"

Rounding her body on top of the bench, she held her knees.

“I might also be… a personality created to mimic Hanashiro Mari. A fake.”

Yes, just like Sensei—

She added in her heart.

She had the feeling that she’d left her personality to her Mushi after receiving a hint from the strange Original Three called Sanbikime.

But there was no sense in talking about that with Kusuriya Daisuke.

Not yet.

"You left your Mushi so that you could become Arisu and keep living?"

Daisuke asked.

Arisu was probably seeking that answer.

Mari narrowed her eyes, smiling mischievously. She turned only her line of sight toward the boy’s face.

"If it was so, I'd be so cruel. Arisu… was my one and only friend."

Right, her one and only.

Arisu had become friends with Hanashiro Mari not out of sympathy or feeling bad for her.

And Mari was possessing the body of that important friend.

"I wonder… how it was."

Drowsiness weakened Mari's voice.

"Perhaps it was so. I mean—even just this day was unbelievably fun. I even thought that it was fine to betray my best friend, that I didn’t care about the name Hanashiro Mari…”

They were sinking.

The consciousness known as Mari…

Mari's dream…

They once again were being separated from this body and slowly being sucked into the Morpho butterfly.

"Yes, it was fun. Really, really fun…"

Her eyelids felt heavy.

She was very sleepy.

When she opened her eyes again, what sort of "Hanashiro Mari" would she become—

"Hey."

The boy's call made Mari raised her face.

Looking to the side, Kusuriya Daisuke grasped her shoulders. Since Mari falling asleep would bring back Arisu, why would he purposely try to rouse her?

"No—it's nothing."

As if regaining his senses, Daisuke left Mari's shoulders. He held his grimacing face.

"Sorry. I just… recalled the past a bit."

"…?"

“Just like you she didn’t want to give up but even so became—”

Although he almost said it, he apparently stopped himself. Perhaps angry at himself for falling to sentimentality, he clicked his tongue.

Mari chuckled.

It was just like she heard from Sensei.

He, a Fusion Type Mushitsuki just like her, was probably very strong.

Part of the reason for that was the existence of the other Mushitsuki he’d met.

“Is there… anything you’d like to you while you can?”

Perhaps he felt responsibility for waking her up again. She stared at Daisuke’s face as he said this sulkily.

"I want to see the sea."

"…"

"I'd like to go to the mountain too. And try to ride an airplane. Or go overseas. I wonder how it would feel like seeing the Arc of Triumph. I'd also like to ride a camel and see the Sphinx. Going on a shuttle to space would also be just as well."

All of them were destinations that the bedridden Mari would dream of when she was alive.

In the end—none of those came true.

“Please choose something that’s feasible tonight.”

As Mari counted on her fingers, Daisuke made a troubled face.

"If so, then…"

She lifted her index finger and smiled.

"’Follow Me’.”

"…"

“Ever since I was little, I was unable to play this and could only watch from the sidelines.”

She hadn’t even the slightest courage to join the circles of children.

Although she’d become a Mushitsuki and obtained great power, that didn’t change.

Perhaps Hanashiro Mari’s form as Hunter was born from her loneliness.

Mari, who had never played even tag, had a single source of happiness.

Battling Mushitsuki.

Her race with the SEPB trainees had been the same. She became a demon, running past those who pursued her.

Perhaps Mari had enjoyed it from the bottom of her heart.

Unable to join even the circle of Mushitsuki, she assuaged her loneliness by breaking it instead.

“I thought I had managed to enter the circle today—"

But she understood.

The one who actually participated was Ichinokuro Arisu.

The time she'd spent with Ena and Takako was as fun as could be.

The girl called Hanashiro Mari felt lonely.

The fun that had filled Mari that day belonged to none other than Arisu. It wasn’t Mari’s.

"I just thought I didn't mind if it was Arisu's—"

She was unable to wipe off the loneliness constricting her chest.

Today was very fun.

And, at the same time, it was also hell.

Was there anything worse than tasting happiness and loneliness at the same time?

Had she noticed this during the time she was alive?

"—"

Mari’s downcast face suddenly rose.

The girl's finger was wrapped by a warm sensation.

Kusuriya Daisuke extended his arm—and grasped Mari's index finger.

Both when she was alive, as well as today, no one had been able to catch Mari, but that boy did.

It was just a little bit, but…

She felt as if the hole opened up in heart was filled.

"Since we've come this far, I'll play along to the end."

Daisuke raised his face, gazing up the fluttering Morpho butterfly in the sky.

"We'll find you—the true Hanashiro Mari."

Mari vaguely gazed up the boy's face.

Her dream dwindled away with her death.

But what if, the continuation of Mari's dream—what if it still remained in this world?

"The 'next' me… I wonder if she'll remember the 'current' me."

Would she remember her time today?

This time when this person called Mari managed to join the circle of people for the first time.

"I am uncertain."

It was her true opinion.

She didn't think she'd be able to remember in the end.

Even so Mari smiled.

"But if you will remember, it's fine for me to forget."

Her time today, given to her by a god’s whim as well as her cunning Mushi, had been very enjoyable.

At the same time it was hell.

But in the end—

"Let us meet again."

The dream still continued further—

She would wait for when Arisu called her again.

Allowing her to wish this while smiling, it was a great day. 

Part 6

This morning, when she opened her eyes, the date was two days ahead.

"…?"

Seeing the time display on her cellphone, she was puzzled.

She saw her reflection on the screen, wearing a fully-buttoned pajama with half-open eyes. While scratching her bed-hair, she pushed aside the futon and stood up.

Her fingers touched something hard.

It was a silver rod. For a second, its surface looked like it was shining.

"…"

When she unconsciously grabbed it, she felt as if it became slightly heavier than it was yesterday. It was supposed to be as light as if it was part of her body, so it was strange.

But that didn't matter.

When she let go of the rod and exited her room, she found the maid in the corridor.

"Say, what's today's date? –Ugh, my body feels heavy…"

The maid greeted her with a "Good morning" and told her the date. Just like she thought, it was two days off from what she remembered.

"Have you gotten a cold? You were awfully wet yesterday… I heard you fell down and lost consciousness, so I changed your clothes."

"Cold? Fell down? Who?"

"Ah—no, it's nothing. Do not mind it."

Holding her mouth as if suddenly recalling something, the maid left. It was now obvious who told her to shut up.

Thinking a while, she walked in the corridor still dressed in her pajama.

Going through the wide mansion, she stood in front of a certain room.

"Daisuke! I'm coming in!"

Before she finished speaking, she pushed into the room.

She tore off the blanket from the boy sleeping at the very center of the dreary Japanese-style room and straddled him. “Gweh?!” she heard this painful groan from below.

“I have the feeling that something very unnatural happened! Is it my imagination? It is, right? If it isn't, then it's definitely your fault!"

While the boy living with her was groaning, he opened his heavy lids.

"Arisu… right?"

For some reason he spoke hoarsely and raised his languid face to look up at her.

"Who else do I look like? Cleopatra? Yang Guifei? Ono no Komachi? How boring, try to be funnier! What will remain of you if we take away the comedian?"

Raising her voice, Horusu Seijou Academy middle school senior Ichinokuro Arisu started pounding her fists on the boy from above.

"So it is Arisu… Haah…"

As he repeated the same words, for some reason he looked quite relieved.

"You're immodest…"

"I-immodest?? How unexpected for you to utter these words! And the first thing you say upon waking up! You’ve improved, Daisuke!"

"What are you trying to get me to d—ugh—I feel pretty bad… is it a cold…? S-stop—"

While being hit the boy couldn't move anymore, so she ended up getting out of the room.

Exiting to the mansion's courtyard, she was wrapped in the morning air.

The pleasant wind was just a little damp. —As if it was after rain.

The ground was covered by large puddles that reflected the sunlight.

Stretching exaggeratedly, she looked up at the sky.

There Arisu saw the being always at her side, the silver butterfly.

"Good morning, Mari."

Along with the Morpho butterfly left to her by her best friend—

Ichinokuro Arisu's "today" began. 

To be continued…

Notes

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