Mushi Uta:Volume 6 Chapter 5

5.00 Shachito Part 7

The scent of spring started wafting in the sea breeze blowing through Holland City.

Influenced by the reorganization of the studies program, the closing ceremony of Horanto High School was held earlier than usual.

All of the students gathered in the gymnasium seemed to want to enjoy their spring break as soon as possible. They were impatiently listening to the principal's lengthy speech.

Shiohara Shachito was also one of these students.

He gazed at the principal standing on top of the stage with a grinning expression.

"…"

His cellphone vibrated in his pocket. Stealthily concealing it in his hand, he checked the LCD screen.

He received a message.

Its sender was someone whose existence he had forgotten about for the past couple of days.

—Tonight's the premiere. Will you not come watch it?

Masaki Rio.

I think I knew her, remembering only this, he operated the buttons with accustomed finger movements.

Delete this mail?

YES.

By the time he had returned it to his pocket again, he already forgot all about the girl known as Masaki Rio.

"A message? Who was it from?"

"Hmm? Some girl I used to know. But I instantly deleted it though?"

As his friend asked in a hushed voice he replied to him with a light tone. Including Shachito, several male students stifled their laughter.

Glaring at the indecent behavior of Shachito and the rest, the principal sighed. He closed his speech, seemingly tired, and dismissed everyone.

"So lucky. His speech went for so long."

"He probably thought Shachi laughed about his head right? I mean, no matter how you look at it…"

"Haha. When the new school term starts, he should put a bird nest on it."

The students all started heading for their own classrooms.

Shachito also passed through the main corridor, trying to enter the campus.

Yet seeing something yellow fluttering on top of the school roof, he stopped without thinking.

Thump, his heart throbbed.

As if a switch had been pressed—

As if he had been flipped outside out—

Shachito's pupils, that were cloudy until now, retrieved their light.

"Inu—"

He was about to exclaim in a loud voice without caring about his surroundings. Yet he realized it was simply a plastic bag that flew with the wind and got stuck on the lightning rod.

It wasn't the yellow raincoat that would invite Shachito to a battle.

"Shachi? What's wrong?"

"N-no, it's nothing. It's nothing, really…"

Even while feigning calmness on the surface, Shachito's chest was assaulted by violent heartbeats.

Shaking his head, he also shook off the illusion of the raincoat-clad girl.

"You won't cancel out at the last minute like you did before, right? We're going to hang out with the girls we met yesterday today as well."

"There's no way I'm not going. After I finally found the perfect girl for my tastes in a long while."

Glossing over his disturbance with a faint smile, he followed his classmates in small steps.

"Ouch…!"

He bumped into another student. A dull pain ran through the shoulder he put his arm on.

Although it was just this, Shachito's feet became paralyzed with fear. Grabbing the fence, he was barely able to avoid collapsing. Without noticing his abnormality, his classmates kept walking ahead.

Suddenly becoming helpless, he felt fear.

The world Shachito lived in wasn't supposed to be this frightening.

Going off the corridor to the courtyard, he waited for the crowds of students to pass.

"It hurts…"

He looked up at the plastic bag fluttering up on the rooftop.

—Shachito had retrieved his previous peaceful life.

He had gone through the "final test" in the abandoned factory, yet it felt like something that happened long ago. That day, when he came back to himself, there was no one in the factory. Never mind those Mushibane people, but there was not even any sign of that girl in the raincoat.

Ever since then, Shishidou Inuko made no appearance in front of him.

He couldn't think he'd passed the test.

It was probably the exact opposite. Seeing how pathetic and pitiful Shachito was in front of her eyes, she probably realized that her expectations were mistaken.

Thus Shachito returned to his peaceful daily life.

Even if it wasn't brought by fulfilling his promise to become stronger than Inuko, nor as a punishment from her—it brought him only dejection and apathy.

Effectively Shachito had fulfilled his original goal.

But even so—

"Inuko…"

Shachito had recovered even his "pain".

The fear that had once tormented him was reborn every time he felt pain.

Every time he saw something yellow, every time he felt pain, he would recall Shishidou Inuko.

And as he recalled her, he would come to his senses as the broken Shachito.

The girl who had taught him how to fight with his Mushi had not gone so far as to teach him how to fight with "pain".

"…"

He looked at the crowds of students moving toward the classrooms.

Once he joined them again, he would turn into the Shachito of "this side".

He would break again—

Turning on his heels, Shachito kicked the ground. Cutting across the courtyard, he went through the main gate and into the parking area.

Pulling out his So1o, he straddled it without even wearing a helmet or goggles. The shrill engine sounds reverberated throughout Horanto High School.

"Don't screw with me—"

Grimacing, he started riding towards the town center.

What urged Shachito was not anger; it was pure fear and panic.

"Are you really going to throw me away when I'm like this…!"

The daily life Shachito had thought of as belonging to "this side" was completely twisted. The Shachito of "that side", recalled by battle, was his genuine self.

He had forgotten pain so that he could forget his dream.

He wanted everyone except him to be hurt and suffer—

It was the worst possible dream.

His dream of wishing to have a beautiful dream was like a curse, an egotistic desire.

And in order to recall this dream he had continually destroyed countless dreams until now—

"Are you really going to disappear after making me remember all of this…!"

Shachito remembered it all.

And what made him remember were undoubtedly the battles Inuko had put him through.

Shachito could retrieve his real self only when he was on a battlefield—

"Inuko…!"

Searching for the Vespa-riding girl, Shachito wandered around the town center.

The crossroads where he had first fought a Mushitsuki.

The back-alley where he had met Inuko.

The building where he had fought Inuko.

"Inuko…!"

Shachito desperately searched for her, but there were no signs of her anywhere.

"Why, Inuko…!"

He was afraid of going back to his normal life.

Returning to his twisted self again was scary.

—No.

"Is it because I was unable to become a warrior…?"

Living itself was pain.

Shachito, who had turned to a Mushitsuki with the worst dream, became twisted due to living by forgetting his dream, enjoyed destroying other people's dreams, and thus degraded into the worst kind of person.

"So you're abandoning me—"

If he were to be distanced from battle, he would destroy someone's dream again.

Yet since he feared pain, he could fight no longer.

Was there any reason for him to live?

"INUKOOO!"

Unable to withstand it any longer, he shouted in an alley without any pedestrians. He made a mistake in handling the motorbike, so the wheels slipped on a water puddle. He was thrown from his seat and crashed into the ground.

"…Ouch… it hurts… Inuko…"

Shachito curled his body, shaking, with tears spilling from his eyes.

Without Inuko, he would go back to his broken daily life again.

That was unbearably scary, and it made him feel helplessly guilty.

"What am I supposed to do… Don't abandon me… Inuko…"

A berserker who couldn't fight—

The remains of the man who had been unable to bear his dream writhed pitifully in the gloomy alley.

5.01 Inuko The Last

On the zenith of a radio tower from where one could see the sea, Shishidou Inuko was hit by the sea breeze.

The townscape of Holland City spread behind her back.

"…"

Sitting on top of the cold steel, she gazed at the rippling sea with a blank expression.

The truth thrust in front of her eyes in that empty factory… It took her several days to accept it as it was.

And as she did, she became unable to think of anything.

Only a gaping, dark emptiness occupied her chest.

As Inuko gazed into the sea, the scenery of that abandoned factory flashed in the back of her mind.

"Uu…"

She held her head with shaking hands.

"Uuuh… Uuuuuh…"

Her normal thinking ability paralyzed, she fell into a state of panic.

Inuko's face, hit by the wind, seemed much more haggard when compared to a few days ago. When she closed her eyes she would recall Shachito's pitiful form. Never mind sleeping, she couldn't even eat properly.

The lollipop in her mouth was cracked by her molars.

"Uuuh… Uaaah…!"

What in the world had she done wrong?

Had she made any mistakes in her teaching methods?

Or was the problem in Shachito?

No, he was perfect. Even though he hadn't learnt from her seriously, his natural talent absorbed all of it, and even on a mental level he was the right amount of "broken" to be unable to live without fighting.

Inuko herself also gave him the perfect training.

She was supposed to have finally gotten her hands on the strongest warrior.

It was supposed to be the culmination of her duty.

He was supposed to signify her life—to become her life witness, one who would forgive her still being alive.

This meant that at the very, very end, fate had decided to betray Inuko.

"I was… I was…! I was supposed to be forgiven…! If only I'd managed to perfect Shachito into a warrior, I was…!"

As her face distorted in agony, there were no traces of the combatant once feared as a berserker in it.

Shachito was also a berserker like her.

To the extent she believed without any doubt he would become stronger.

And of all things, even their dreams closely resembled each other.

Now that he had been reminded of his dream, and thus of his fear and despair, he would probably become unable to fight ever again.

A warrior scared of getting hurt? What a bad joke.

In the past, Inuko also lost in a battle as a result of recalling her dream. And she had lost the power to resist her own Mushi.

Mushitsuki cannot choose dreams.

As Inuko had embraced an evil dream, she had no way of resisting the Mushi nesting inside her. Because she had no reason to protect that dream.

That was why, instead of a dream, she needed a reason to live. If she obtained a heart obsessed with life she would be able to resist her Mushi.

Inuko lost her duty, so she couldn't live anymore—

"I won't have any more chances. …Was it all for nothing? Was it all meaningless? Everything I've done so far, even my life, it was all…!"

She had no spares for the candy in her mouth anymore. It was the last.

The candies provided by the SEPB contained plenty of iron easy to digest for humans. If Inuko didn't have those in her mouth, she would soon become anemic. That was because as a backlash of the ability to control magnetism, the iron in her blood was consumed abnormally fast.

But even having the candy was no more than prolonging her life.

Now that she had used too much of her power in the city, she had little remaining time. Even now that she was like this Inuko's fatigued mind and body raised a shriek.

"So that means I'm also destined to be removed from the next battle as well…!"

In the past there were many fights that could be called decisive battles.

When Fuyuhotaru had been detained for the first time, Inuko couldn't participate as she was still in training. This could be said to be the first big battle.

The next big battle was on Aoharima Island. It was the operation to annihilate Sanbikime, one of the Original Three.

But by that time Inuko had already lost her ability to fight. She had sunk into despair and was also on the verge of losing her very reason for living.

There were also battles she didn't know about. There were few people who knew about the incident where the lance-user girl disappeared from the battle of Mushitsuki. Since Inuko had only recovered there was no way she could have participated.

Finally, there was last year's Christmas Eve.

The decisive fight against Ladybird at Hashiba City.

Inuko herself who was in the middle of her journey obviously couldn't take part in it, but even the students she had personally trained were still developing. Since they were still growing, they all had their hands full in their own fights.

Being grown as a warrior, she should have had no other path of living other than the battlefield.

Yet Inuko kept being entirely left behind in important fights.

"…I can definitely feel the scent of the next battle… And yet I'm… not allowed to live as a warrior, and they won't even let me die as a warrior… or leave any proof of my life as a warrior…!"

Die as a pathetic loser—

She felt as if fate personally declared this to her.

"Ha—haha…"

Crossing over despair, she started laughing.

"A meaningless life actually feels quite refreshing…"

Perhaps having nothing left and vanish inconspicuously would be fine. Such feelings welled from the bottom of her heart. There was no more meaning to keep living in disgrace like this.

But there was something she had to do before vanishing.

She had to apologize.

Since Inuko had disappeared from the battlefield, there was no doubt that he had already forgotten about her. Since he only looked ahead, he would take no notice of someone clinging to him from behind, writhing desperately.

And yet Inuko had to apologize. She only lived so far so that she could catch up to him and fight alongside him.  She decided to use her little remaining time to apologize to him.

She pulled out her cellphone and dialed. It was a number not directly connected through the organization, meaning a rule breach of the SEPB.

After a few rings, the other side replied.

"Yo, it's been a while. How are you?"

As she spoke with a voice as bright as she could make it, a bored-sounding voice replied to her. Because it was amusing to tease him during times they weren't fighting, she played with him often in the past.

"Don't call me Wanko! Since you're calling me like that the entire East Central Branch does that too. —Hmm? No, I don't have any business with you really. Just thought of renewing an old friendship. By the way, what are you doing now?"

She heard a sigh. He appeared to not be in the middle of a mission, so he probably gave up and resolved himself with becoming Inuko's conversation partner.

"Oh, so you're heading to Nishito City, that's a nice place. You seem to be as busy as always. —Yeah, I'm on my journey. I'm at a city with a nice ocean view, it's called Holland City. It might be similar to Ouka City. It reminds me of the days I've trained with you. —Haha, maybe, but whatever you say, you weren't able to beat me in hand-to-hand training even once. No no, there's no mistake, I won every time."

Although she had forgotten her family, everything related to combat stayed in her memories.

Inuko was a pure warrior—to an ironic extent.

"Oh, come on, let's reminiscence for a bit. Once that whole Fuyuhotaru fiasco was over I've been transferred to Central Headquarters, and we've both made a name for ourselves. When powerful Mushitsuki were discovered somewhere, we would be dispatched as a special team—that's not true, we were the best tag team. Well, there were times when I was a bit out of control and hit you by accident, that's true."

Her past as a warrior wasn't that bad that she couldn't boast of it. Yet Inuko kept speaking, and even though the person on the other side was careless, he kept going along with the conversation.

"Right, you remember that fight? That time when we quarreled after annihilating our target and then fought for real. I've broken my stick, but I also broke your ribs. Even so, when you—"

However, perhaps tired of the long reminiscing, the person on the other side cut the conversation with a forceful "but more importantly".

"Huh? You're asking me what I'm doing? I said this before, I'm at Holland City—"

She tried replying back, yet the other side interrupted her again.

"…Eh…?"

A foolish sound leaked out of her mouth unconsciously.

—When will you be able to return to the frontlines?

The other side, whose face she couldn't see, said this.

"I-I'm— I'm—"

She couldn't talk.

It took everything she had to understand what the other side had said to her.

Then does that mean that even though you're only looking ahead… you're still seeing me even now…?

Even though the person in question had given up on it just now.

Even though she couldn't fight anymore, he was still waiting for her—

"…Yeah, yeah. I'm listening. Both about Fuyuhotaru escaping and about the disk. Yeah, that's right. I'm sure it'll turn out like that. Yes, she's probably holding the key."

He hadn't noticed Inuko's pitiful feelings of defeat at all. He kept talking about the upcoming battles as always. And although Inuko decided to stop in place, he spoke to her about the future without a doubt in his heart.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…"

As Inuko kept nodding, a drop fell to the ground at her feet.

The one to not believe in Inuko was none other than Inuko herself.

Ah, I hate this—

From the bottom of her heart.

I won't be able to fight together with you ever again—

An unbearable regret welled up inside her.

Full of despair and pitifulness, she almost forgot even such pure emotions.

She felt as if she could finally understand the source of his strength.

"—Hey, I have something to ask you."

As Inuko asked this, a serene smile rose to her face.

She hated it all so much.

The fact she wouldn't be able to stand on the battlefield with him again was unbearable.

Yet she felt that it didn't matter to him—that's how strong he still was.

"After losing me as your superior partner, you've found the new partner known as the spear user—Oh my, what a violent reaction. But it's rejected."

A laugh leaked from her mouth. Yet she soon inquired in a serious voice.

"Ever since losing that girl, have you kept fighting all by yourself…?"

The person on the other side sank into silence. Inuko knew well this meant yes.

"I see. …You're strong. You kept winning all alone, shouldered everything on your own, and you'll probably keep getting hurt all by yourself. But you know, there will definitely come a time when you can't win by yourself. I can sense a battle that big approaching."

He mumbled an answer.

—I don't want to be told this by Wanko, who never comes back.

She was happy at him calling her name.

"That's not me."

Yet Inuko denied his words.

Thanks to him keeping on fighting even now, she recalled.

Inuko had taught countless Mushitsuki how to fight until now. At the same time, this meant that they were fated to live as warrior because of her.

Much like the Original Three.

Her own actions, inviting them into battle without giving them a choice, were perhaps just like that.

But there was a definite difference.

"Those I've raised will eventually fight together with you."

It was Inuko herself who said the following to Shinpu, one of the Original Three.

—You can't even begin to imagine our "possibilities".

What Inuko taught was merely ways to fight. She truly entrusted her hopes with her students' possibilities.

Inuko's own life, helplessly unable to join battles, was pitiful.

Yet no one could ever deny the possibilities of those she had brought up by her own hands.

"My power alone isn't a big deal. But the great power of the new generation I've raised will soon cut into your fight. They won't let you monopolize it anymore."

He went silent for a while, but then asserted bluntly.

—I don't expect anything, but I'll be waiting.

These were curt words typical of him. But that was fine. At least for now.

"Ah… the battle calls me."

Still grasping her cellphone, Inuko stood up.

Turning her back to the sea, she gazed down at the Holland City townscape.

Inuko's sensing abilities perceived evil waves wandering through the city. It was a much larger and fouler presence than she felt last time.

The sky, dyed orange by the sunset, was being encroached by black clouds.

"They're inviting me for battle… I gotta go."

As Inuko looked down, there were no traces of hesitation on her face. The person on the other side asked her what happened, so she asserted him shortly.

"From now on the SEPB might be targeted. Please be careful."

The news that Shinpu had assaulted the branch in control of Holland City would surely reach his ears before long. Since it was him, he should be able to understand the situation without any stupid prejudices.

"See you later… Kakkou."

As Inuko hanged up the phone, the sounds of a bell that seemed to shake the air reached her ears.

She firmly grasped the waves of Shinpu.

As she thought—he still existed.

Some time ago she had defeated his wave and the strange corpse of a man from Akamaki City was left behind. Ever since then Inuko kept thinking.

What was Shinpu?

What were his abilities and special characteristics?

"I found out the truth about you, Shinpu."

It was a powerful wave incomparable to how it was before. Did that mean he no longer needed to hide his form? He moved through the city with astounding speed.

"If my thinking is correct… You're definitely not immortal."

Purple lightning surged through Inuko's body. She equipped the goggles hanging from her neck.

Leaping above the radio tower, she fell toward the surface. By repulsing her magnetic field from the radio tower's while midair, she soared toward the sky covered by dark clouds.

Immediately losing her speed, she rotated her body just before she crashed into a building. In the instant before both her legs hit the walls, she once again amplified their magnetic fields and repulsed them.

The distance between Inuko, teleporting through the upper skies of Holland City, and Shinpu, who was moving on the ground, was gradually shortened.

"T-this is…"

Finally grasping the source of the wave, Inuko gasped.

A foul, dark mass rushed ahead through the main street of the town center. It was spouting miasma that completely covered the middle of the two-lane road where Shachito had once met another Mushitsuki.

One of Shinpu's powers, as hypothesized by Inuko, could be said to be the ability of camouflage. Rather than hiding himself, he was able to isolate the existence of his domain from the consciousness of normal people. Unless one had an intense will it would be difficult ascertaining his existence.

Although they couldn't perceive it, those running into the miasma appeared to suffer some abnormality. The pedestrians and drivers all grimaced.

"How dreadful. How on earth has he increased his power so much…"

As the miasma was much too thick, she could see nothing except the edges of the filthy robe in the center of the darkness. She couldn't even see what sort of flesh was under the hood flickering in and out of sight inside.

He apparently noticed Inuko was pursuing him by moving from building to building. Shinpu's robe wriggled in the center of the miasma. The hood looking up to the girl contained, as expected, nothing but darkness.

"You lack nothing as my opponent."

Inuko wore a twisted smile. There was no bigger joy for a warrior than their enemy being strong.

"Do head to where you please. I will let you choose your grave."

There were too many unrelated people there to launch a preemptive strike. Even so, if Shinpu stopped even once, she had no intention of hesitating. Her berserker blood was boiling.

Thinking she should ask for backup from the local branch, she pulled out her cellphone. She didn't think they would be of use, but they could at least serve as a decoy to allow her to land a killing blow. Being fixated on fighting one-on-one was sheer stupidity, and using a decoy was also a fine tactic.

"…"

Yet she was reminded of the strongest warrior she had spoken to just now on that phone.

What would he have done?

She didn't even have to think about it. Since he continued shouldering everything alone, he would obviously keep fighting by himself even at such a time.

"Ah… I see."

Inuko finally understood his feelings.

"What you wish for is not to fight alone. You just believe that you're the only one who can survive such predicaments, huh. …What a conceited bastard."

He showed kindness in strange situations, yet there also the side of him known as a cold-hearted demon.

Which of them was his real him?

"To enemies he can be as cruel as possible… but to allies he's too kind that they can't understand it. What demon are you talking about, isn't he more human than anyone? Or maybe that means—since I was about to lose even such humanity, that I was the real monster?"

Did this mean Inuko let the Mushi possessing her eat even her very heart?

She returned the cellphone to her pocket.

"I also still have a ways to go. I keep learning new things even at the very end."

Her twisted smile changed into a calm one.

"I wanted to smash your conceit as thanks for teaching me this. Not by being acknowledged by you, but by smacking your cheeks and making you acknowledge it by force. —No, that's no longer my duty."

Moving below her, Shinpu finally left the town center.

Since there were no more tall buildings around, Inuko lowered to the surface. Jumping on power lines, she used magnetism as a foothold and ran at high speeds, tailing Shinpu.

Leaving the townscape filled with lights behind, she ran parallel to the now-silent national highway.

Soon seeing what appeared in front of her eyes, Inuko realized what Shinpu's destination was.

"So it's Oranje Land…!"

The beautiful and fantastic swarms of light spread out from afar.

The light was especially strong in the area of the crowded facilities including the Concertgebouw. She could also see the reconstruction of a repatriation ship floating in the center of the man-made pond. There were also revolving lights coming from windmills on the vast grounds here and there.

Furthermore, the dome built right next to Oranje Land was vivid as well. It looked as if a massive disk of light was stretched out on the ground.

"Hmm—"

Shinpu's moving speed suddenly increased sharply. Zigzagging on the road in front of the premises, he leapt over the fences and entered Oranje Land.

There were barely any people in the windmill area. Come to think of it, Inuko recalled that tonight was the premiere of the musical "Beast". She knew that civilians would gather in the area of the Concertgebouw.

Even the mass of miasma seemed to be heading there.

"And this is where we'll stop playing tag."

Leaping over the fences, Inuko's figure left an afterimage and vanished.

Shrouded in purple lightning, Inuko teleported in front of the robe covered in a dark fog.

Her hockey stick slammed Shinpu together with the miasma directly downward.

"Won't you fight me, Shinpu?"

As the robe was hurled helplessly toward the night sky, Inuko teleported overhead. She enhanced her magnetic field, at the same time adding magnetism to Shinpu himself.

Inuko's stick flashed. Repulsed by the powerful magnetism, Shinpu was knocked off toward the ground.

A tremor shook the area.

The ground caved in as if a meteorite had crashed, but the remaining momentum caused Shinpu to bounce away, crashing into a windmill.

Inuko alighted herself on the ground, rotating her stick and readying it.

"So it's just like I thought. Your miasma… it resembles the ability of the warrior Kasuou, but unlike her it can't defend against physical attacks. Also, that filthy robe as well as what's 'inside' it undoubtedly have physical substance."

The outskirts of Oranje Land have been decided as the battlefield. There were many windmills dressed up in lights around, but during the night there weren't many sightseers. The small man-made pond was nearby, reflecting on its surface the lights from the windmills.

"Then I just need to keep my hit-and-run tactics and inflict damage until I fully annihilate you. —Originally, being unable to use your abilities outside of your domain and lack of mobility are Special Type weaknesses, but… since I overcame that with my teleportation, don't expect me to leave any opening."

Making this gallant declaration, Inuko's eyes reflected the figure of the robe standing up in front of the windmill.

—It happened without any advance warning.

"…If thou insist to block my way—"

Miasma filled the surroundings.

Even faster than the blink of an eye, the area Inuko and Shinpu were in was covered by darkness. The sky was covered by black clouds and the air was rapidly becoming foul.

Even the electrical decorations were swallowed up, and the surrounding space was polluted.

"Thou shalt become my flesh and blood… my child."

The sound of a bell reverberated.

The encroaching sound started transforming the surrounding ground in the speed of sound.

The soil and asphalt beneath Inuko's feet were changing into a swarm of caterpillars.

"My new vessel has already become completely mine…"

"So what you're trying to say is that your 'vessel' or whatever is different than that good-for-nothing one you've had before."

Inuko's body lightly floated in air. Leaping high, she landed on top of a windmill that wasn't encroached by the caterpillars. When she spun her stick, the foul air was gone from around her.

"But that's my line. Burn the true form of a berserker into your eyes."

A violent electrical discharge burst from the front of her raincoat. Inuko expanded her domain to push back Shinpu's miasma.

Having turned into a mass of purple lightning, Inuko's face quickly distorted. The influence of the two kinds of magnetic fields—attraction and repulsion—caused her right eye to become bloodshot and increased the iron concentration in her left eye, so that they differed in color.

Falling into a kind of trance, her beastlike, sharp eyes perceived Shinpu.

"GAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

Inuko's roar and the sounds of destruction came at almost the same time.

Teleporting above Shinpu and swinging down her stick, Inuko crushed even the windmill and the ground behind him to smithereens.

The caterpillars gushing on the ground snapped into two just like in the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments.

The powerful blow annihilated part of the dark miasma covering the robe.

But the tens of thousands of caterpillars became a large wave and surrounded Inuko. The robe shrouded by the miasma moved among them and vanished.

"WOOOOOH!!!"

However, Inuko's sensing abilities were able to precisely pinpoint the location of the retreating robe. Rotating her hockey stick above her head, she vigorously pounded the ground.

Purple lightning burst.

The area with Inuko at its center caused the very air to tremble by the disturbance of the violent magnetic field. Due to the electrical discharge and rising of temperature, the water filling the man-made pond was evaporated along with the caterpillars.

The damage reached even Shinpu, who she could now see as her vision became clear. Once again a large part of the dark haze shrouding the robe scattered and vanished.

Bell sounds echoed high overhead.

A crumbling church appeared in the starless night sky. Inuko's surroundings were rapidly being covered by the domain of darkness.

Yet her teleportation was faster. She broke through the domain produced by Shinpu, instantly moving to behind the robe.

Inuko's hockey stick swept him aside.

The impact like a lightning strike blew apart the dark miasma. Shaving the ground, it threw Shinpu a long distance.

—When she went all out, Inuko possessed destructive power on par with a Rank 1.

She hadn't been made a Rank 1 on her golden days perhaps due to her inclination to lose her temper while fighting, or perhaps since she had a time limit to how long she could pull out her full power—there was even possibly something special in Rank 1 she didn't know about, but in the end it didn't happen and she never found out the reason for it.

"…I saw that your real body isn't that human form inside."

Shinpu roused his body, swaying, while Inuko glared at him with the face of a beast. The impact she had given him caused the robe's worn-out sleeves to change into caterpillars, falling to the ground like muddy blood.  

"That filthy robe is your real form. The ones taking the form of a robe are the caterpillars making up your real body… so those caterpillars created when you attack are simply nothing more than the embodiment of your ability. —If either the activator which is the Church floating in the sky or your real body made of the caterpillars are annihilated, you'll be destroyed."

Regarding the insight to fully analyze the enemy's ability, Inuko was second to none.

Natural talent and long years of battle experience allowed her to see through Shinpu.

"And you apparently require a 'vessel' for that robe to exist in the world.  Judging from the fact that some time has passed since you've abandoned your last vessel, it probably means that not just anyone is good. You probably choose only people who fulfill certain conditions as vessels. And when you have a bad affinity with your vessel, or when you don't have a vessel at all, you're unable to stay long in this world."

The foul domain that Inuko should have already negated was quickly revived. As the bell kept ringing, even the miasma covering Shinpu was being restored.

As Inuko readied her hockey stick, beads of sweat gradually formed on the back of her neck.

"Anyway, it seems that just like you said your vessel this time is quite cozy…"

Could she even win with the amount of time she had left—

Such thoughts rose up to her mind. The enemy seemed to have acquired a strong power beyond her expectations.

Yet she tried encouraging and invigorating her weakening spirits. 

The biggest enemy in a battle was despair. If one imagined themselves losing it would actually happen. And so the ones who could blow away that worst mental image would also be them.

Inuko needed to use her biggest attack to annihilate Shinpu without giving him any chance to recover.

Will my body be able to bear this attack… I don't need to think about that—

She had already died once as a warrior.

I'll aim for a simultaneous kill—

The warrior who resolved herself had no longer any doubts.

"Be destroyed along with me here, Shinpu."

Rotating the stick, she readied it. Inuko sublimated her ability to its absolute limits, causing the air around her to flicker. Purple lightning surged in the shape of a Chestnut Tiger Butterfly.

"…I shall bestow despair unto thee heading for ruin…"

Shinpu was also expanding the scope of his ability. The bell floating in the night sky echoed a broken sound.

"I have no intention to conceal mine power… The one to conceal me is the dirty organization thou belong to…"

"I also thought about that. Your true 'body' or whatever is probably somehow related to the Central Headquarters. I have no idea whether vice-director Miguruma knows about it or not, though."

Inuko asserted firmly without any disturbance.

If she assumed what Shinpu had told her was true, it was consistent with recent events.

"Miguruma… That loathsome name… She is the one to fetter me both in the past and now…"

"…So she really is connected with this. That sly woman."

"My real body, although completely changed, exists even now… What lies before your eyes is naught but a single fragment…"

Unconcealed scorn was mixed with his hoarse voice.

"I understood even that. Taking advantage of the failure of the experiments or whatever taking place in Central Headquarters, you released your fragment. —You have already told me this."

Even the enemy in front of her that held so much power was merely one part.

That truth was enough to make Inuko despair. There still existed enemies in this world that Inuko had no idea if she could beat or not.

Was there any meaning in throwing her life away—

Even such thoughts were brought out of her.

Yet Inuko couldn't hesitate anymore.

"The only thing your despair or whatever has given me is hope."

While building up her entire body's power, Inuko raised a smile full of confidence.

"If you have endless fragments why did you run away from me? Why are you so frantically searching for a vessel to exist? I already know the answer. —The number of your fragments or whatever is limited. Yes, they're like parts of your body."

Shinpu's silence affirmed Inuko's hypothesis.

"Your old fragment or whatever had been defeated by Kakkou. And right now I will destroy another one."

Inuko's raincoat danced as if fanned by the wind. The domain controlled by Shinpu was repulsed by the purple lightning overwhelming domain.

"I'll make a prediction. Even if another of your fragments appears next, another warrior will definitely destroy it. The next fragment will be also destroyed. That's because there're enough warriors to beat you living in this world."

"…!"

Although Shinpu acted as though he was a god, Inuko could clearly perceive his wave was disturbed.

"—So you're scared."

Inuko's figure left an afterimage as she teleported.

"Do remember the one to give you that fear was a mere 'human'."

Transformed into a spear made of lightning, Inuko pierced the caterpillar-covered earth.

The wall of caterpillars born from the sound of bells directly clashed with Inuko's hockey stick.

"GAAAAAAHHHH!!!"

Inuko howled.

Embedded with an enormous magnetic field, the stick blew away the swarming caterpillars.

The stick stabbed the top of Shinpu's head clad in a dark miasma. The clash of their abilities caused the miasma to rapidly vanish.

The single blow possessing all of Inuko's remaining power exposed the flesh-and-blood body hidden inside the robe.

"…! You're—"

That person smiled from within the annihilated robe.

It happened when Inuko's stick pierced through the robe and was about to touch that person's head.

"…My child thought that she could destroy me…"

Just before the robe that was Shinpu's fragment was annihilated, Inuko's body lost its strength.

She made a lonely smile.

If I had just a bit more time—

If my body could hold out for just a bit longer—

She should have been able to win.

But a battle had no "ifs". This was Inuko's limit.

"…"

She realized the cause for this by an unexpected feeling.

Her sense of taste.

The candy inside her mouth has melted.

—It was her deadline.

As Inuko had severed all contact with the SEPB, she had no spare candies.

"…My battle has been pathetic to the very end."

But even so, Inuko had no choice but to go ahead.

—Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

She was the one to teach this to Shachito.

She thought that she could win if she was resolved for a simultaneous kill.

However, Inuko's body—was ruined even beyond what she herself had thought.

In front of Inuko's eyes, the robe that had lost its form was being restored as if rolling back a video.

"Ah, how sad."

A lone tear streamed on Inuko's cheek.

"You've been devoured by your own dream."

Shinpu's face hidden behind the robe was that of a person Inuko knew.

"I wasn't able to win against you because… I wanted to save you. Looking at you now my tears won't stop. Even my other self has lost."

The smiling person was covered once again in the dark miasma.

"Before thou humans can destroy me… I shall eat all of thee…"

"Guh—"

The swarm of caterpillars swallowed up Inuko.

While being bitten all over her body was thrown high up in the air, and she slammed into the ground with the remaining momentum.

"…GAH!"

Since Inuko couldn't use her ability, she fell on the asphalt without even any falling technique. Even Inuko had a flesh-and-blood body. The impact made all of her bones raise a nasty sound.

"This vessel shall eat the dreams of countless people, transforming them into my flesh…"

Inuko's consciousness was rapidly fading away.

"I shall accumulate power… I await the moment when the king shall welcome me…"

It was as if he said there was no point to eat the remnants of her heart.

Not even looking back to the collapsed Inuko, Shinpu's presence was growing distant.

"…Hey, my other self. Listen to me."

At the same time—

"I'm different from you. I haven't lost yet—"

Inuko's sensing ability perceived the approach of another wave.

5.02 Shachito Part 8

Still collapsed in the empty alley, Shachito didn't feel like even moving a single finger.

Only time was passing, and it became night at some point.

No matter how much he searched for her, he couldn't find Shishidou Inuko anywhere. Her cellphone was also blocked.

He had been abandoned.

As this truth permeated him, he stopped caring about anything.

If he had to forget about his sinful dream and return to his broken self again he would rather die like this.

"I was able to live well until now…"

Harboring the worst dream, trying to share his pain and trying to destroy other people's dreams, he thought that he was able to live well knowing no shame.

Even so, he felt the current situation was painful.

He suffered.

He was getting his just desserts and yet he still sought salvation.

"Wanting to be saved by Inuko even now… I'm a helpless idiot."

He closed his eyes.

He tried thinking of reasons to keep living.

But he couldn't find any.

Unable to return to his previous life, he also failed in becoming a warrior.

"…"

He couldn't find any meaning in life—

When he noticed that, he lost the need to think.

His mind became empty.

—And inside his supposedly empty head he could perceive something.

"…?"

Shachito knit his brows. Although he was intending to bleed, freeze or starve to death, thanks to that unease his thinking didn't suspend.

He soon became able to feel the thing inside his mind with his entire body.

Increasingly becoming unable to stay still, he reluctantly opened his eyes.

"So annoying. What the heck is that…"

The pulse in his chest was quickening.

What Shachito felt was a horribly bad feeling. Yet it also felt nostalgic and reliably powerful.

—No, that wasn't all.

There were two sensations.

Something so creepy that it made him feel dread and something with a strong will were fighting.

"…"

Rousing the upper half of his body, he moved his gaze to the distance.

He could feel two kinds of powers in that direction.

These were special and abnormal force-fields, different from the usual.

"—Inuko?"

These words leaked out unconsciously. Hearing his own mutter, he finally understood the identity of that presence.

His body started moving of its own as if he had been blown away. Raising the collapsed motorbike, he revved up the engine again. He turned the throttle before even straddling it.

Flying into the national highway, he rode toward a certain location, following his mysterious feeling.

This force-field felt by Shachito—that power that possessed a certain life force, belonged to the girl he knew well, to Inuko. Tough and strong, it was an unbelievably large power.

On the other hand, he also realized the identity of the power near her.

Shinpu—

Fear was reborn in Shachito's heart.

"Haven't I defeated him…!"

Passing through the town center, Shachito kept pushing on straight ahead toward the location of the powers.

Why was he able to feel Inuko and Shinpu's powers? He had some questions about that, but he felt much more fear at the two powers fighting violently.

So strong—

He could feel that Shinpu's power swelled so much it was incomparable with their last fight.

Even Inuko, fighting against him, emitted a power much larger than Shachito had ever felt before.

Riding his So1o, Oranje Land appeared in front of Shachito. The closer he got there, the closer he got to the powers he could feel.

"…!"

For an instant, both powers got even stronger.

Immediately after, one of them rapidly shrank, vanishing.

The power gone—was Inuko's.

"Inuko…!"

Turning in the road, he headed for the spot where he'd felt Inuko's power. Using his Mushitsuki ability, he reduced the motorbike's mass and leapt over the fences.

The area lined up with windmills was ruined as if a bomb fell there.

"Inukooo!"

Finding Inuko's collapsed figure, he jumped off of his motorbike.

When he held up Inuko he could see her chest rising a little. Various spots on her raincoat were ripped away as if gnawed into, and she herself was bleeding horribly.

"Inukooo! Inukooo!"

As Shachito kept calling desperately to her, something small fell out of his pocket.

It was a lollipop he had been given by Inuko before. He never felt like trying to eat that mysterious candy, so he simply left it aside all this time.

The girl opened her eyes absentmindedly.

"…You've brought me something good, huh. I'm sorry, but I need it back."

Easily waking up and finding the lollipop, Inuko casually threw it into her mouth.

"—Now I'll be able to fight a bit more."

Although she was that tired and wounded, Inuko has yet to lost her will to fight—

"How did you find me?"

She suddenly inquired, closing her eyes again.

"I-I don't really get it, but I had the feeling that you and Shinpu were here…"

"…So you also had a sensing ability… We're becoming more and more similar."

She took a deep breath. A cynical smile rose to her face.

"Even so, what have you come here to do?"

"I-I'm—"

He came there as though possessed, so even he himself didn't know why he was there.

He frantically searched for Inuko in order to be rescued by her. He was simply unable to bear everything he'd done so far, as well as his dream.

He had thought Inuko would be able to save him.

However, now that she was in front of Shachito—he saw that she was far too weak, and not in any state to offer help to him.

"—Sorry."

He was much too pitiful. He buried his face in Inuko's chest, his shoulders shaking.

"I wasn't… able to become a warrior."

Perhaps he would find meaning in life if he could dedicate himself to fighting. If he became as strong as Inuko he would probably be able to save many people.

But Shachito couldn't fight.

He couldn't even turn to face Shinpu's wave he felt at his back. He could only shudder.

"…The right pocket of my raincoat. I'll give you what's in there."

Inuko said in a calm voice.

Although puzzled, Shachito raised his face and did as he was told. Feeling inside the pocket that seemed like it would tear apart any moment, he pulled out a card.

"This is my secret stash. Since it's under a fictional name it should be hard to trace. The PIN is written on the card."

"…?"

"I also have two things I need to apologize to you about. First is for when I tried to kill Masaki Rio. I was actually serious there. I thought that if you hadn't showed up it would be fine eliminating her."

Shachito widened his eyes. Recalling something, he turned back.

—Tonight's the premiere. Will you not come watch it?

Thus Rio had written in the mail she sent him. He finally realized why people were gathering in the Concertgebouw.

And the Concertgebouw was definitely on Shinpu's route.

Rio was also there—

Inuko continued with both eyes closed shut.

"The other thing is breaking our promise. I hinted about your existence to the SEPB. They will probably hold a large-scale search in this city before long."

"Search…?"

"Get away from this city, Shachito. You should be able to survive for the time being with that money. Until things calm down, do leave Holland City. Since you have sensing abilities, you might be able to slip through your pursuers' search."

"…"

Even hearing Inuko's confession, Shachito felt nothing. He had already lost all worth of living. Being pursued by someone from somewhere was no problem. He had nothing left to do in this city where he had destroyed many things.

"What will you do… Inuko?"

"Me? I'm finished."

The girl sighed again in Shachito's arms.

"Being unable to live as a warrior is unbearably painful. My failure in raising you is sad enough to make me cry. It's a pity I won't be able to watch the work of my disciples. I'm anxious whether I'll be able to keep my promise with a certain someone or not. I've effectively breached the rules and so I'm scared of receiving a punishment from the SEPB. Losing to Shinpu in the end was so vexing it tore my body apart."

A small current of lightning surged through Inuko's raincoat. She showed a smile.

"—And so I'll fight."

The eccentric traveller known as Shishidou Inuko was a warrior through and through. Although she was wounded and unable to move her body, she only thought of fighting.

"I see."

Shachito gently lowered her to the ground.

"So, this is goodbye then."

Inuko said Shachito resembled her, but that was wrong. Shachito was not as strong as her and he didn't have the will to fight.

Looking at the faraway visible city of Holland, he recalled.

He had nothing left to do?

That was untrue.

He had just one thing. Once he took care of that, he could leave the city at any time.

"Yeah, goodbye. Do be careful."

"I'll probably manage somehow. I'm already used to running away from persistent Mushitsuki."

He would conceal his pitifulness with a casual tone, not think of anything and run away from things that could hurt him.

This was how Shiohara Shachito was in both present and past.

Suddenly thinking of something, he rushed back to where the collapsed Inuko was. He leaned, bringing his face closer to hers.

He was the worst human after all. He wasn't going to check her complexion at so late a stage. There was no fear for any counterattack now.

The pair's lips touched for a split instant.

"Nice, naughty act accomplished. You won't punish me for just this much."

"…I'll fucking kill you. Do be gone already."

Running away from Inuko's demonic gaze, Shachito roused his motorbike.

As he revved up the engine, he could hear a sigh he was already used to.

"You were, to the very end, a completely not serious and hopeless student."

"And you were, to the very end, really cool."

He rode ahead, biting his lips.

"…I wasn't able to become like you."

Below the windmills lined up in Oranje Land, the two berserkers said their farewells.

5.03 The Others

The Concertgebouw was filled with a great number of spectators.

The clamor of the people awaiting the curtain rising was heard all the way through the passage where only authorized personnel could pass to the actors' waiting room.

A person clad in a black robe was walking through that passage.

The robe owner put their hand on a large door.

They slowly pushed it open.

Inside was a vast waiting room. All of the actors were already wearing their costumes, nervous. Some were checking the props, some were reviewing their scripts, and some practiced speaking against the walls. All of them were focusing in preparation for their own part.

"Masaki!"

Being addressed, the person in the robe—Masaki Rio, turned around. She lowered her hood.

"Where have you been! Don't just disappear like that only because your turn is later!"

Receiving the scolding, Rio who was already costumed nodded expressionlessly.

"I'm sorry. I just relaxed outside."

Rio played the part of the younger sister of the protagonist nurse. The story went such that she, a Sister at a monastery, was confused for her older sister who allowed the Beast, an enemy soldier, to escape, and so was seized by the military.

"You've passed at Harissi-san's recommendation. If you make any mistakes now you'll make him lose face!"

"…Right."

Although the staff member dispensed with Rio, he was still restless and looked depressed.

"Still, having Harissi-san not appear even during the grand opening… where on earth has he gone to?"

"…"

Quite a few days passed ever since the play's advisor, Jarre Harissi, vanished from the theatrical company. The staff members and actors were perplexed, but as they were pressed for time by the busy work needed for the opening of the play, they eventually ended up barely even mentioning his name. 

Rio left the staff member and headed to her locker. She returned the cellphone she had stealthily hidden inside her robe into the locker.

She checked the LCD screen one final time.

There were 0 text messages.

In the end, the reply she had been waiting for never came.

"…"

She tightened her lips.

The fact I passed isn't luck at all—

She told herself once again.

Wanting Shachito to believe in that, she had sent him a message. But not receiving a reply from him probably meant that he had already forgotten all about her.

"I'm—"

Just as Rio's feeling were about to reach their peak, a black mist started drifting inside the waiting room.

It was foul presence.

It was miasma that twisted people's hearts.

As Rio cast her gaze down, she could hear the sound of a bell.

It was a horribly ear-grating, cracked metallic sound that seemed to dirty up the very air.

Rio grimaced.

Although she hadn't heard it at all lately, the bell sound audible only for her was back.

"…"

Rio widened her eyes.

No, it was different from before.

Previously she should have heard it in her ears.

But this sound was—

Widening her eyes, Rio turned around.

The staff members and actors all raised cries of joy. They all rushed to a certain spot.

"No—way—"

Rio's face paled.

The bell sound wasn't heard from next to her.

She heard it coming from around a certain person who was smiling while surrounded by the staff members. Above his head, taller than anyone there, she had the feeling she could see something resembling black fog.

Unlike Rio who was only wearing a costume, a robe made of bizarre miasma was being materialized on him.

He was Jarre Harissi.

This man, with a smile on his bear-like face and encouraging the staff members around him, was someone who couldn't possibly be there.

Rio had seen it for certain.

On the backside of that building she saw—his corpse after he jumped off the roof.

Rio immediately ran away, but his death never made it to the news. The staff and the company also never knew of his death, and in the meanwhile continued their preparations for the grand opening like normal.

Why had she faced such a scene?

Where had the corpse even gone to?

She tried forgetting about Jarre just like all the people around her.

"But—How—"

Seeing the pale Rio, Jarre wore a smile.

"Come now, it's showtime. Aren't you going to show everyone our great performance?"

The filthy robe that only Rio could see alighted down to Jarre's giant body.

5.04 The Others

It happened during the few days of preparation before the grand opening.

Jarre Harissi was inside the building where the audition had taken place.

He climbed up the silent stairway with a heavy gait.

"Masaki Rio has conquered you. You have lost to Masaki Rio…"

A formless voice kept whispering into Jarre's ears. It was like this ever since the final audition and his joint performance against Masaki Rio.

Masaki Rio, desperately struggling while lacking belief in her own talent and possibilities, was supposed to overlap with the figure of his past self. However, with his rational thinking lost due to the influence of a mysterious miasma, Jarre had attempted to trample over her dream.

Yet he had lost.

Masaki Rio had brushed aside his acting, accomplishing her own.

"Ugh…"

Jarre was climbing the stairs.

Having Rio pass was obvious. He had found acting that outdid even a pro like himself. Her talent was immeasurable, and she would keep polishing her skills from now on.

On the other hand, Jarre ended up feeling despair at his own age as a result.

"Thou art a pitiful loser…"

The creepy, hoarse voice kept blaming Jarre even now.

"I'm a pitiful loser…"

He had been betrayed by what he always found important.

Watching over Jarre ever since he was small, at times spouting cruel words, at times becoming his strength. It was the only thing he wished to improve.

It was always nearby—Jarre's dream.

Every time his talent and his possibilities were being tested, the one to appear next to him and try to discourage him was his other self.

Will it go well?

Ah, it's already useless.

No, I can still do it—

Every time he faced his dream, he would ask and derive answers out of himself as if standing in front of a mirror.

Even though Jarre retired from active work, he couldn't throw away his dream.

"Thou hast lost… And therefore do I need thee."

Jarre widened his eyes.

"In this city there were two people fit to become mine vessels… And therefore I have come here."

As if being controlled by someone, Jarre reached the highest floor.

Opening the door at the end of the stairway, the unceasing rain filled his vision.

"One has a dream tinged with lingering attachments, ripe and mature… The other flutters between a sparkling dream and pitch-black despair… And therefore I have chosen thee…"

A cracked metallic sound could be heard from somewhere.

To the current Jarre, who had lost to the girl overflowing with possibilities, it sounded so sweet he felt a shiver. With every ring the air became fouler and he breathed it into his lungs.

Jarre stepped ahead, exiting into the raining rooftop.

"Ahhh…"

Staggering ahead while walking, a black miasma gathered around Jarre. It slowly took form, changing into a filthy robe.

Jarre grabbed the fences and pulled. They were ripped from their bases with a crushing sound.

"Uh—"

Looking far down at the person below, Jarre's face twisted in fear.

It was Masaki Rio. He wondered why she was there—perhaps the being that whispered to him had called her there.

The sound of a bell echoed from overhead.

"Thy ruined despair is as great as the luster of thy dream… Yet that woman has beaten thee. She is not yet fit to become mine vessel…" 

The hoarse voice whispered.

"Thou can show it to her, the girl that has beaten thee… Show her what happens at the conclusion of being pursued by thy dream for decades; show her thy broken and pathetic figure…"

Jarre widened his eyes.

It was just like the formless voice said. Jarre pursued his dream and once achieved glory. Yet this honor was short-lived, and he started struggling in order to retrieve his shining days.

Months and years went by fast.

Before he noticed, Jarre started wondering whether this past glory came only due to luck.

Doubting his own talent, Jarre became increasingly pitiful. Perhaps flying around the world and coming in contact with young talent was an attempt for him to recall the passion of his bygone days.

But in fact—

"But were you not, in fact, envious?"

There was a part of him that felt jealousy towards those children that had what he lacked.

Jarre's expression was changing. Hatred toward these young talents, as well as towards the world that didn't acknowledge him, was swelling inside him.

"Show her… Although she shines now, one day her dream shall be shattered and she shall become as pitiful as thee…"

With his expression warped by this ugly feeling, Jarre stepped off the rooftop and into air.

There was a sudden sense of falling.

"I have chosen thee…"

The voice became different, inhuman.

"It is the loser, with his dream broken and drowned in envy and wrath, which I do desire as mine vessel."

While falling down Holland City, Jarre was filled by a sense of liberation.

"Thou art the one fit to become mine vessel…"

I see, so I lost to myself—

To his dream.

To the beautiful yet harsh world.

Somewhere in his heart controlled by deep despair, he could feel a sense of relief with no suffering.

—Jarre Harissi had lost his life, changing into the vessel of Shinpu, but a small part of his ego remained.

During the time his body was restored enough to operate, it had mostly been taken over by his hatred toward the world and Shinpu's consciousness.

Even while he was moving from the city toward Oranje Land.

Even while he was fighting against the warrior who could control magnetism.

The small vestiges of Jarre Harris's consciousness remained inside the lifeless vessel.

After encouraging the theater staff in Oranje Land's waiting room, Jarre walked towards the locker area.

"Ah—Ah—"

A small girl was there, becoming pale upon seeing his face.

Masaki Rio.

She should have lost her peace of mind ever since Jarre had shown her the moment of his death.

It was natural. The unsightly form of Jarre back then was to become Rio's future.

"Thou cannot escape my whispering any longer…"

As Jarre wore a malicious smile, Shinpu spoke toward Rio from overhead.

Shinpu's will was transmitted to Jarre through his body.

Masaki Rio could be called his spare vessel. Letting her see Jarre's death was only a binding spell placed on her by Shinpu.

By suggesting this was her future, he told Rio that before she noticed there would come a time when, just like Jarre, she would lose all hope in her dream—

"If I were to lose this vessel, I shall come for thee again…"

Only Jarre and Rio could hear the reverberating bell sounds and the hoarse voice.

This was no blessing.

This was the fate of someone who received a "curse". A whisper one couldn't escape from.

"Uuhhh…"

Rio's face drained of all blood as if she were sick.

It was a great sight. She should no longer be able to act properly during tonight's performance.

No, today's show would not succeed regardless.

"Only thy heart I shall not devour today… For now, at least…"

Jarre turned his back to Rio, walking away.

The people gathering in the Concertgebouw have invited Shinpu.

Jarre's body seemed to have great affinity with Shinpu. Since he was overflowing with power now, he should be able to devour everyone's hearts for his nourishment.

"Jarre—san—"

The girl probably voiced this without intending to. Rio called Jarre's name.

Jarre's consciousness, on the verge of fusing with Shinpu, reared its head.

"…"

He turned around with stiff movements.

It was like a flash of light—he saw his past self overlapping with Rio.

The young Jarre had found a dream and pursued his ideals single-mindedly. Even he shuddered and trembled just like Rio did just now. He felt anxious at his own talent, wandering in the boundary between hope and despair.

Scenes of the life he had led rose to his mind one after another.

At times he succeeded and at times he failed.

But he had no regrets.

His way of living while fighting his dream single-mindedly belonged to none other than himself.

"Please—"

As Jarre came in contact with children that had a promising future, he certainly felt jealous.

But it wasn't all.

There was also a hope shining with dreams.

He was, without any doubt, a scout, and so guiding them was his raison d'être.

Rio as well should have been one of his students.

"Continue believing in yourself."

He showed her a gentle smile.

This was Jarre's first and last teaching.

Even if her dream was ruined, even if she would be encroached by her own despair—

She would never lose what she gained by imagining her dream.

"…Huh?"

Rio asked back with an astonished face.

But this was the last resistance of the personality known as Jarre Harissi.

By the time he turned his back to her again, his expression had changed to that of Shinpu.

As Jarre exited the waiting room and went into the corridor, life was gone from his eyes and the miasma converged around him. It became a filthy robe, cloaking the man's large body.

The man's body swelled beneath the robe. It became thicker as if bursting from the inside. The caterpillars that moved his body squirmed under his inflamed skin.

Scraping his hooded head on the ceiling, he arrived at the emergency exit so he could search for an audience seat.

The body of the man that used to be known as Jarre Harissi perfectly became Shinpu's.

"Now then, it is time to feast… on these mortals—"

The numbers of people assembled in the Concertgebouw added up to several thousands. Among the people filling all the seats there were also many adolescent boys and girls. Looking forward to the grand opening, all of them had sparkling expressions.

The large body wrapped in a robe shook at the sweet scent of their dreams that nearly made him choke.

"I shall satiate mine hunger…!"

And thus Shinpu—no, Diorestoi's fragment raised a joyous roar.

The sweeping miasma swallowed the audience.

The cracked sound of a bell reverberated throughout the whole stage.

Sounds overlapped, extended and grew louder.

They increased.

Sound called for sound, filling the Concertgebouw with foul sounds.

The images of a "Church" were materializing one after another above the heads of the boys and girl sitting in the audience.

From small to big, over a thousand "Churches" were filling the tall ceiling.

Being pulled in by the domain of Churches, the children's expressions became blurred as if they melted—

"Khaaa…!"

Diorestoi's fragment opened its mouth wide in ecstasy.

Unlike the other Original Three—Diorestoi had the ability to eat countless of dreams all at the same time. Just as he could possess several bodies, Diorestoi could only produce an amount of "Churches" equivalent to the number of dreams.

His fragments until now could only eat one person's dream at a time, but now that he gained the compatible body of Jarre Harissi, his fragment became powerful enough to swallow up the entire Concertgebouw.

The dreams eaten by the fragment would sustain the flesh and blood of his main body far away. If he kept eating dreams using this powerful vessel, when his main body was released it would probably eventually become able to swallow the entire country—

The other audience members, noticing the abnormality, started stirring. Among them were also those with strong spiritual powers, apparently able to see the "Churches". They pointed at the ceiling and clamored. 

The dreams flowing in through the "Churches" were about to flow inside Diorestoi's opened mouth—

"…!"

The bell sounds became blurred.

The countless images of the "Churches" were being nullified.

The humans who have escaped the powers of Diorestoi tilted their heads quizzically. He had only managed to activate his ability for an instant, so he was unable to eat even a single person's dream.

A powerful and different power offset Diorestoi's domain.

"Who art thou…!"

Averting his eyes from the audience that wondered if this was part of the performance, he turned toward the corridor at his back.

A powerful presence was approaching at dreadful speed.

Rushing through the corridor, it was drawing near in the speed of an arrow.

The owner of that power finally pressed near Diorestoi.

"OOOOH…!"

The strong power sent Diorestoi flying. Something grabbed him at high speeds, pushing him further into the dark passage.

"Curses…!"

The swarm of caterpillars opposed the one resenting them.

Yet the enemy's power was terrific.

Blowing away the caterpillars, Diorestoi's body, forcibly flung away, stabbed through the door of the emergency exit. He crashed into the ground, cracking the asphalt behind the Concertgebouw.

Further attacks assaulted him.

A fierce blow struck Diorestoi's chest. As he was pounded against the ground and rebounded, his opponent teleported in pursuit to stab him.

"OOOH…OOH!"

Diorestoi's big frame was flung afar just like a bullet. Stabbing through a windmill he crashed into, he was blown several hundred meters away.

His opponent was apparently attempting to change the battlefield from the Concertgebouw. As Diorestoi broke through the fences of Oranje Land, his opponent had already anticipated his arrival there, teleporting for another attack.

Knocking down trees, crushing the road, Diorestoi's body was helplessly exiled from the premises of Oranje Land.

"GWAAAAAAAH!"

His opponent raised a roar.

As Diorestoi was kicked up high, further attacks knocked him away. Scattering the miasma, Diorestoi crashed—on top of the roof of the all-weather dome.

"—So thou still plan on standing in my way…!"

Diorestoi's momentum crashing into the vast dome's roof caused a part of it to cave in.

His mad miasma produced a "Church" in the night sky. The curved dome roof transformed into a swarm of caterpillars.

This way of fighting…

This beastlike roar and fighting spirit…

This awesome power unworthy of humans that pressured him…

All of them were exactly the same as those of the opponent he had supposedly defeated by his own hands earlier.

"Thou girl who calls herself a warrior…!"

Diorestoi used Jarre's face to glare at the person landing on the ground.

"Hihah."

Yet his opponent had not beast-like eyes, but a broken smile; he was not a girl, but a boy.

"Who's a girl? You seem to be mistaking me with some raincoat freak."

The boy declared this mistake, yet his expression was fit to carry the name of a berserker.

Shiohara Shachito's "final test".

Its form was a "supplementary lesson".

—Start.

5.05 Shachito Part 9

There was only one thing he had left undone in this city.

There remained only one dream that Shachito had met and not destroyed yet.

—Tonight's the premiere. Will you not come watch it?

Masaki Rio.

He had already noticed the fact he had gotten closer to that girl not because of any special feelings.

It came from foolish self-satisfaction and an impulse for destruction—just as he did until now, without thinking of anything and simply following his desires, he intervened in Rio's affairs and was about to grow tired of her and forget her.

There were no feelings of love.

Rio wasn't special.

—Therefore, there was only one different thing now.

Rio's dream still continued even now—

He didn't think he could atone for his sins.

He didn't think his dream could be forgiven.

Yet he knew that he had nothing, and when Shachito thought about what he should be doing, only one course of action rose to mind.

It was "fighting".

Inuko's eyes were correct in a certain sense.

No matter how weak he was, no matter how much of a coward he was, Shachito ended up arriving on the battlefield.

Could you call even a Mushitsuki scared of being hurt a warrior?

"It's somewhat weird."

Still wearing a broken smile, Shachito mumbled in a light tone.

"Inuko told me… She said that I shouldn't think of myself as another person. —There are Inuko, me, and you in one city… and probably Rio-chan, too. Anyway, there are two sets of a teacher and student."

He wasn't speaking with Shinpu.

He just thought it was weird from the bottom of his heart.

What had these bizarre, fateful meetings brought forth for these four people including himself?

"Inuko was defeated by you, and you've also lost to Shinpu. And so the only ones left are us the two students. Rio-chan is also probably fighting right about now. —Since I just went with the flow and lived irresponsibly like a playboy until you, there's definitely no way I'll be the only one not fighting."

Saying this, he wore a broken smile.

"Hihah."

Surrounded by the caterpillars, Shachito's body emitted an orange glow. The domain of his ability to control force-fields crushed the caterpillars squirming around. The dome's rooftop controlled by Shinpu was swallowed up by Shachito's domain in a round pattern.

The roof had probably crumbled due to the previous impact. A shrill alarm was ringing. He could see many people rushing out from the entrance below his eyes to seek shelter.

The large rooftop of the all-weather dome looked like a curved field. Illuminated by the lights installed here and there and the diodes adorning the edges, the caterpillars spread all over the surface shone in multicolor.

On top of the inclined roof was an antenna device, its large needle piercing the sky. There were also electrical boxes that seemed like communication devices and solar panels. 

As far as Shachito could see, although obvious, only he and Shinpu were there. Shachito had no weapon or any other special tool for fighting.

Shinpu, meanwhile, wore the exact same filthy robe from the last time they fought. Yet he appeared to change his body, as he was now a towering giant. The earlier attack had diluted the miasma around him, and so his bear-like face hidden under the hood was revealed.

He was Jarre Harissi.

Shachito knew that name from an advertisement about the show taking place in the Concertgebouw.

"Sorry for bothering you while you're being possessed by Shinpu, but can I ask you something, Jarre-san?"

He raised his voice in a casual tone.

A lone caterpillar crawled up from inside Jarre's mouth under the robe. Shachito could also see something squirming under his skin even from afar.

"No matter how I look at it, you're dead, right?"

He had already heard Inuko's reasoning about the fragments and their abilities during their training. As expected, her conjectures were right on the mark.

"…The death of a person whose dream was ruined is a condition to become suitable as mine vessel…"

An evil smile rose to Jarre's face. Although his mouth wasn't moving, a hoarse voice could be heard from somewhere. The image of a church floating in the night sky rang the sounds of a bell that shook the air and eardrums.

"Wow, spooky. But y'know, when I saw you on TV you looked normal. You seem to have become quite strong and there's no way such a suitable human would die so conveniently."

When fighting an unknown enemy, he had to kick his mind into full gear in order to see through their characteristics.

Although he was branded as a failed warrior, Inuko's teachings firmly took root in him.

"You killed Jarre, right?"

Shinpu's wicked smile and Shachito's broken smile intersected. Autumn darters took flight from Shachito's right hand to his left and from his left foot to his right shoulder.

"You can even control living humans to some degree. But you probably need to have your vessel die in order to use your Mushi-birthing abilities as Shinpu. You're really into necrophilia, huh? And since you need broken dreams or the like, you can only kill weak people, right?"

What Shachito pointed out seemed to be right on the mark. Shinpu's smile deepened.

"Mine true power is different… I have no intention of imitating Aria Varei…"

"Aria? What's that?"

"There are countless vessels… Even if thou destroy this vessel here, there will be another suitable one nearby…"

"Hellooo, am I being ignored? Wait, who's that other vessel?"

Although talking lightly, he was shaken on the inside.

There being another vessel meant that just like before, once he drove this fragment out of the vessel it would revive again. Meaning it was essential to completely destroy the caterpillars making up his real body.

"Masaki Rio."

The giant man in Jarre's form mouthed her name in an unfittingly bold tone.

For an instant Shachito was speechless.

Thinking about it there were some points of similarity. Although she was normally really cheerful, there were times occasionally where she would feel overly anxious and get carried away.

"…That girl as well is about to yield her dream… Even if she is able to withstand my whispering for now, the time for her dream to be ruined shall come without fail…"

Shachito's agitation caused the domain protecting him to shake. In an instant Shinpu's miasma began invading the orange-colored circle.

"…Oh, so it's Rio-chan? By the way you're acting it seems like you already knew she's my acquaintance. Meaning, you've been approaching her for quite a while."

He probably only followed Rio around so that he could break her dream and make her despair.

The very same thing that Shachito himself tried doing.

He could feel an inappropriate sense of affinity.

He gritted his teeth to stifle his smile.

While Shachito was running away from his own dream, he became the same as this monster—

"—Be gone."

With a tap, Shachito's legs kicked the roof.

The swarm of caterpillars was shredded in a straight line. Being blown away by the teleporting Shachito, the torn caterpillars danced in the air.

"Both of us can't be allowed near Rio-chan."

From a position far from Shinpu, he grabbed the floor and stopped. Escaping from Shinpu's domain, he released his ability in full power.

This battle would probably become something that couldn't even count as a battle.

Before he was wounded by the battle—before receiving any counterattack, Shachito would choke the life of Shinpu and annihilate him.

"Hihah!"

An autumn darter flew out of Shachito. Raising his initial velocity while his weight was zero, he retrieved the autumn darter immediately afterwards to obtain speed like that of a rifle bullet. Shachito transferred not only his original weight; he also took in the mass of the panels around the roof and further amplified it.

Clad in an orange glow, Shachito burst apart the wall of caterpillars welling in front of him.

He pursued Shinpu while housing this tremendous mass.

However—

"Foolish… Although thou are my child, I shall not be merciful…!"

He was probably used to super speed after fighting with Inuko. Shinpu raised his arm and it swelled like a balloon. Its skin ripping apart, the arm that grew to be as thick as a tree pounded Shachito's head.

"…Hihah."

As Shinpu's fist connected with Shachito's face, a smile rose to it.

An autumn darter had already flown out of Shinpu's body at the moment of impact. The blow, having lost all of its mass, felt like being hit by silk. There was no pain.

On the other hand, Shachito's fist containing a super mass caught Shinpu's chin. The miasma enclosing him was blown apart, throwing the robe-clad giant body in the air.

The sound of a bell reverberated.

The spirit-gnawing miasma surrounded Shachito.

"RAAAAAHHH!!!"

Yet without minding it, he leapt aiming at Shinpu. While airborne he put his hand to Shinpu's thick neck, amplifying his weight and hurling him toward the rooftop.

Relentless alarm sounds again echoed from the dome.

The impact of Shinpu's fall greatly distorted the panels, and a tremor was transmitted to the whole dome.

As Shinpu was pounded into the roof, caterpillar corpses spilled out of his hood. A part of the robe made of miasma blurred and vanished.

He had definitely received some damage, but although this impact would have decimated a normal person he only lost a part of him. As Shachito found it hard to believe Inuko inflicted no damage on him, it wasn't difficult to surmise that the fragment's real body possessed regenerative abilities.

Should he pile on damage without giving him time to regenerate or finish everything with an overwhelming, single slow? There appeared to be no other options.

The bell sounds grew louder.

The effective range of Shachito's ability was being encroached by the miasma. His heart was being rapidly worn down.

"Was it called hit and run? Or is the situation here more like offense is the best defense?"

He recalled Inuko's teachings, but since he lacked experience Shachito couldn't decide.

But it didn't matter.

Since he was originally frivolous, there was not even a single time where he acted according to Inuko's instructions.

"Hihah."

Teleporting to Shinpu, he thrust his hand inside his hood. Grabbing Jarre's bear-like face, he raised him up using his ability.

"Break."

Pounding Shinpu on the roof blew away all the panels he could see. 

Raising him up after he got stuck in the drainage, Shachito thrust him in the opposite direction.

"Hihah."

Every time Shachito struck the roof, the robe covering Jarre's body would be worn down. Its scraps, transformed into caterpillar corpses, were spilling to his feet.

A thick arm tried grabbing Shachito's face back.

"I shall destroy thee, my child…!"

Instantly transmitting through the filthy robe, the dark miasma covered Shachito.

His field of vision shook violently.

Probably seeing that a physical attack would be ineffective, he was trying to swallow Shachito's mind with emptiness.

"Hihah. What's that?"

Even as his consciousness was being muddled, Shachito didn't let go of Shinpu. Entering a sort of a trance during battle was another similarity between him and Inuko.

Even if his mind was encroached, his excited body would attack the opponent of its own accord.

Although he was losing the light in his eyes, Shachito never ceased pounding Shinpu on the roof.

"Hihahah!"

The filthy robe was being ripped apart and the amount of caterpillar corpses increased. Jarre's expression, hidden by the hood, was twisted in pain for the first time.

But as Shachito tried repeating the attack again, he felt some discomfort on his neck.

"…Ah?"

Something clung to his nape. He felt around his neck with his free hand, finding a white caterpillar in his hand that left a small stinging behind.

It was apparently one of the caterpillars forming the robe. Its body was torn apart and it shed a dirty-looking fluid.

Yet attached to its fanged mouthpart—was undoubtedly red blood.

Inside Shachito's hand, the dying caterpillar turned into smoke and vanished.

"Ouch…"

He pressed on his neck.

A tiny laceration at about the level of a scratch was engraved there.

But the dull "pain" made Shachito come back to his senses. His smile vanished and his face distorted in fear.

"It hurts…"

His concentration gone, he recalled the period of his hospitalization.

He felt as if that hell-like pain would be reborn any second now—

"…!"

As he slackened his attack, Shinpu's robe started regenerating.

The swarm of caterpillars crawled up the thick arm that grabbed Shachito's hand back, swallowing him.

"UAAAAAAAAHHH!"

The fearful Shachito had no more mental power left to withstand the surging miasma and caterpillars.

His ego was robbed away as if being swallowed.

He seemed to be losing even his sanity as the pain ran through his entire body.

And when his fear reached its absolute limits—

—The sound of a bell echoed.

The sound of a bell was echoing.

"…"

Shachito stood dazed in front of a decaying church.

The wild earth around spread in all direction, and in the sky not even the sun or moonlight could be seen.

Standing on the decayed land were Shachito and the church, as well a single tall tree. There was nothing else. His sensations perhaps dulled, he had a bizarre feeling of floating. Even his sense of up and down was in danger.

A bell rang.

A rusted bell was hanging on the broken church roof. Every time it shook a cracked metallic sound echoed from it. And as that sound echoed, he realized the air around was growing polluted.

The sticky air robbed Shachito's rational thinking.

He couldn't recall why he was standing in such a place.

"This is—"

He recalled.

He had come to this place once before.

When had that happened?

"Thou have embraced thy dream here…"

He could hear a hoarse voice from somewhere.

Shachito absentmindedly raised his face. Looking for the voice's owner, he set foot inside the church.

Even inside, where there were lines of broken wood tables, there were no traces of any human.

There was also nothing inside the church. There were neither any crosses nor statues. It was empty.

"Thou have imagined an unforgivable dream…"

He lost strength in both legs and slumped to his knees.

Yes, Shachito had once mouthed his dream here.

—I want everyone, not just me, to suffer.

Unable to bear the pain from his injuries, Shachito hated the world.

Unwilling to acknowledge this, Shachito kept denying his status as a Mushitsuki. And as he concealed his dream, he secretly twisted and broke at some point.

He forgot about pain, but when trying to recall it, he desired seeing other people get hurt.

"I…"

A lone tear spilled from Shachito's blank pupils.

He was reminded of the faces of the countless people he had hurt this far.

Finding people with shining dreams, Shachito broke them and saw them get hurt. However, as he himself had forgotten pain he couldn't understand other people's pain, and so reached out to yet another person.

"I'll never be forgiven…"

Something important was spilling out of his heart.

Shachito collapsed headlong on the floor with a clang.

—This is Shinpu's domain. Keep a firm hold on your consciousness.

Shachito could hear a warning inside him. This was the only strong part remaining inside his weak body. The impulse born from being trained as a warrior by Shishidou Inuko urged him.

Yet Shachito could fight no longer.

He slowly closed his eyes.

There was no reason for him to be alive and he had no goal.

His dream as a Mushitsuki was nothing but a helpless, dirty curse. 

"I'm just… meaningless…"

The slight remains of resistance inside Shachito vanished.

His vision was closing.

Inside his closing view he could see a light smashing the decaying church.

Shachito widened his eyes at the blinding scene without thinking.

The bell sounds stopped—

—The bell sounds have stopped.

"I'll forgive you."

Coming back to, Shachito saw the smile of a girl shrouded in electricity.

The warm and powerful wave of power woke him up.

Shinpu's hand grabbing Shachito was torn from the elbow. What cut if off was a hockey stick emitting an intense magnetic field.

"I'll forgive your dream."

Shishidou Inuko had cut in between Shachito and Shinpu. The single blow of her hockey stick sent Shinpu's large body flying far away.

Inuko's back obstructed his eyes as if she was trying to protect him after he tumbled on the rooftop.

The smile of the girl told him everything.

—You were, to the very end, a completely not serious and hopeless student.

These words were the command to run away, convinced that Shachito wouldn't follow them.

This great warrior had known from the start that Shachito would return to the battlefield.

"You once asked me… what my dream was."

The girl rotated her stick once, unleashing a storm of magnetism. The caterpillars biting Shachito's body all over returned being black fog and vanished.

"It was the sort of incident that happens a lot… a robber murdered an entire family. When my young self saw my family ripped to shreds in front of my eyes, I ended up thoughtlessly wishing for it."

Her back was slightly shaking. Although she was also fatigued, she kept repelling Shinpu's domain in order to buy time for Shachito to recover his stamina.

"People who do such horrible things should all go to hell—is what I thought."

Shachito gulped.

She was the same as him.

It was a negative dream, lacking any kind of hope.

"Does it hurt, Shachito? Are you scared? Are you anxious? Sad? Is it tough for you? Don't you know what you're supposed to do? —I already taught you what to do at such times."

Shachito grimaced. His bitten body hurt all over.

—Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

Inuko had once taught him this.

But the pain brought forth his fears from the past.

"Don't be afraid of pain. It's the proof you're alive. You're alive because you can feel pain. Everyone's dreams are interconnected. You're living not just for your own dream."

The bell sounds once again shook the surrounding air.

In front of the two berserkers an even bigger mass of miasma rose up. Caterpillars crawling up Shinpu's legs restored his severed arm.

"I also despaired when I recalled my dream. I wondered if there was any point to my life in order to protect a dream like that. I tried finding some meaning on the battlefield, but that also bore no fruits. Yet I've been given a duty. —Which is raising warriors like you."

Inuko turned around half of her face to look at him. It was a smile so kind one couldn't think she was currently facing a powerful enemy.

"I wasn't able to become the strongest warrior. So if you remain alive and become stronger—it would mean that my life had meaning."

Turning her back once again, Inuko's body was wrapped in purple lightning.

"Everyone's a warrior as long as they're alive. And a warrior has no enemy they can't fight."

In front of the paralyzed Shachito, a battle made by the best warrior began.

Invoking her ability with her full powers, Inuko's strength was terrifying. She leapt around the dome's roof at several times Shachito's speed, and every time her purple electricity flashed, Shinpu's miasma would be blown away.

Brushing aside Shinpu's attacks, she slashed his giant body with a swipe. She repeated her slashes with refined movements, not even one of them wasted. Immediately afterwards, the violent destructive power smashed Shinpu's body.

At some point, Inuko had said that there was a warrior stronger than her.

Yet as Shachito, paralyzed with fear, watched the girl's vivid fighting unfolding in front of him, he could think of only her as the strongest warrior. 

Shachito burned the sight of Shishidou Inuko's battle into his eyes.

The ideal form of a warrior was in front of him.

"Inu—"

As Shachito gazed the battle, his eyes clearly reflected that sight.

Causing a dry voice, the bloody hockey stick rolled all the way to Shachito's feet.

—He thought that replenishing her lollipop allowed her to recover her stamina.

But that was Shachito's misunderstanding.

Inuko's body had already been so exhausted that not even the candy could bring her back.

The time for the strongest warrior to overwhelm Shinpu was much too short.

The purple lightning in his sight scattered as if it was strings cut off.

Losing her power, Inuko became prey for the caterpillars. Swallowed by the surging caterpillars, she was pounded against the antenna installed on the center of the roof.

The now-expressionless Shachito saw the figure of Inuko with a metallic part of the antenna stabbing her abdomen.

Inuko's body slumped as she lost her strength, her goggles falling from her to the roof.

The girl's body collapsed out of the metallic stick drenched in fresh blood. Since the roof was curved, gravity caused her body to roll far down.

Shachito only accepted reality when he saw the girl's body fall down from the dome.

"…INUKOOO!"

He unconsciously grabbed the hockey stick and stood up.

He was trying to head out to save Inuko, but Shinpu stood in front of him.

"…Dost thou still stand in my way?"

Shachito's expression stiffened with a start.

He widened his eyes, fear once again reborn inside him. A twinge similar to the beating of a heart could be felt from the remaining traces of the caterpillars' fangs on his limbs, robbing him of his reasoning power.

His mind was blanking out with fear—

"GAAAAAHHH!!!"

Screaming, he pounded the roof with his fist.

Ripping his skin, a flower of red blood dyed the roof. He possibly also cracked his bones, as the "pain" pierced all the way to his brain through his arm.

—Don't be afraid of pain. It's the proof you're alive.

He encouraged his legs that were paralyzed by fear.

"Inuko—"

He bit his lips so hard they spilled blood. Shachito felt new pain, yet it helped retrieve his blurring consciousness. 

—I wasn't able to become the strongest warrior.

Rising up, he rotated the hockey stick.

"Don't die, Inuko! Aren't you the strongest warrior!"

He shouted at the top of his voice so that Inuko could hear him wherever she was.

The pain Shachito felt bound him with fear even now.

However, Shachito of the past had experienced pain that was incomparable to this.

And—

He had inflicted much crueler, ever-lasting pain on other people.

Trying to run away from pain meant running away from his sins. Shachito had to remember that as long as he was alive, he would have to fight and get hurt countless times.

"You said you and I were the same! So I'll become as strong as I can!"

Orange-colored autumn darters flew up from around Shachito.

The range of the flying autumn darters rapidly expanded.

"I'll become stronger and prove it! Prove that we were the strongest warriors!"

Shachito knew that the more he expanded the range of his ability, the more the Mushi residing in him would eat his heart. A cold sensation spread to his body from its center and emptiness started invading his heart.

You can eat as much of my dream as you'd like.

It's a hopeless dream anyway.

If it gave him power in exchange, Shachito didn't mind losing his own heart.

"So don't die…!"

Shachito's vision was dyed by a surface of autumn darters.

From the orange glow surrounding the whole dome flew out tens of thousands of autumn darters toward the night sky. A single Autumn Dater also flew from Shachito's body.

Kicking the roof, Shachito leapt to above Shinpu.

All the autumn darters immediately gathered into the raised hockey stick.

"OOOOOOOOOHHH!!!"

He amplified the mass of the orange-glowing stick even further with his ability. The whirlpool of gravity absorbed all the lights around, gathering at a single point.

The sound of a bell reverberated.

The caterpillars spread all over the roof assembled, springing at Shachito.

Even while being swallowed by the flood of caterpillars Shachito kept falling toward Shinpu. The stick, possessing a powerful mass, tore through the swarms of caterpillars.

Shinpu fluttered his filthy robe. The caterpillars making up his original body leapt out, piercing through the body that had once been Jarre Harissi.

Shachito's hockey stick and the robed swarm of caterpillars clashed.

The large dome was unable to withstand the clash that concentrated in one spot. The entire roof was demolished as if by an explosion, sending debris dancing in the night sky.

Breaking through the thick metallic scraps, Shachito and Shinpu fell toward the surface.

The fighting pair fell on the baseball mound. He had already known that there was no game tonight and that all the people inside the roof had already run away following the alarms.

Even after crashing into the surface and raising dust clouds Shachito's momentum didn't stop. The storm of gravity emitted by the hockey stick created a large crater in the center of the field.

The momentum finally ceased when they were far below the ground—inside a cavity with destroyed water pipes that sent violent drops of water flying around.

Shachito used most of his power and lost the orange glow.

Out of breath, he looked down and saw—

Shinpu, who had already lost his original form as a human and turned into a mass of caterpillars.

The miasma covering him disappeared, and the robe seemed to have vanished without any trace.

"How truly regretful… My child…"

However, a scrap from a filthy cloth fluttered in the air in front of Shachito.

Falling down, it started rapidly regenerating, attempting to restore its form as a robe.

Shachito barely had any power remaining.

"…Hihah."

He was exhausted yet he made a broken smile.

"Seeing you're the one who created my ability, shouldn't you know how it works?"

He looked at the sky.

"…!"

He could feel Shinpu growing disturbed.

"Would you be able to bear the same weight as that attack just now?"

An autumn darter flew out of Shachito's body. It was his absolutely final bit of power.

As Shachito jumped to escape outside the cavity, from the night sky covered in dark clouds above him—the debris that made up the dome's roof came crashing down. Since Shachito had absolved his ability, it retrieved its former weight.

"Do be crushed to nothing."

A rain of an immeasurable weight poured down.

"OOOOOH…OOooOhhh…!"

Shinpu's death agony was crushed by large debris big enough to be a house.

The threat also reached near Shachito.

Lightening his body weight, he attempted to weave his way through the debris.

However—

He had the feeling he could hear the sounds of a bell so small it would vanish at any second.

"…!"

His feet caught by something, he tumbled down.

It was a single caterpillar. Even though the swarm of caterpillars stretched from inside the crater created by Shachito was being crushed by the debris, a single one managed to bite his leg.

As Shachito raised his eyes, he could see the entrance being blocked by a large mass of metal.

So it's a mutual kill—

He gazed at the night sky, dumbfounded.

A sharp panel falling toward him could be seen.

"…Oh, well."

This was what he thought as he approached death.

He felt as if he became a warrior at the very end.

Just that was enough for him.

The smiling figure of Shachito was covered by the rain of debris.

The rain of panels stabbed into the mound and metal planks knocked off the spectator seats around. Every time the masses of concrete smashed into the ground, the earth rumbled.

The pouring debris caused an avalanche, swallowing everything that had remained on the surface.

The chain of destruction stopped a few minutes later.

As silence returned to the mound, light laughter could be heard.

"…Hihah."

Shachito's exhausted face was reflected on the surface of the panel that had missed a direct him by a mere few centimeters.

The very last caterpillar was squirming at his feet.

"Even if you forgive my way of living I'm not allowed to die, huh…?"

Fight until you die—

He had the feeling as if some raincoat girl ordered him this.

Shachito's shoe crushed the caterpillar.

Dying and spreading its bodily fluids, the insect became black fog and vanished into the night sky.

Looking up to the dome's empty ceiling, the black clouds covering the skies were already gone. Even the floating image of the church vanished without a trace.

Shinpu's power wave was completely gone.

Since he was alive, he still had things to do. Standing up and pushing debris aside, he went through the still-functional entrance.

Exiting the outside while dragging the hockey stick, he soon found traces of blood.

"…Hihahah."

He held his forehead, feeling he was about to go crazy.

While Shachito laughed, big tears flowed down his eyes.

There was a small pool of blood at the spot where he thought Inuko had fallen to. And the thing left there wasn't her raincoat-clad figure.

It was a cellphone.

A single, short sentence was visible on the screen of the cellphone left on the ground.

—You passed.

There were no words of praise.

Nor any words of farewell.

Only that one, short sentence.

"…Hahah…hahahah…"

With his shoulders shaking, Shachito's laughter echoed in the silent surroundings for a long time.

Shiohara Shachito's "final test".

Its form was a "supplementary lesson".

—Passed.

5.06 The Others

Rio's turn drew near.

Waiting backstage, her mind was numbed due to how tense and agitated she was.

Jarre had appeared before her in a form unchanged from before.

If so, what was that corpse she had seen?

Had she gone crazy from all the pressure?

Would she be able to act out her role in this condition?

Her heartbeats became abnormally fast.

"Uuuh…"

Her turn approached moment by moment.

Maybe I should just run away—

Such thoughts surfaced in her mind.

She had been accepted in the audition only by luck. And so she thought of just running away from the Concertgebouw without thinking of the consequences.

Having a dream led to nothing but pain.

Giving up on everything, not wishing for anything and spending her days without any pressure would obviously be more enjoyable.

"…!"

It happened just as her tension reached its peak and she averted her eyes from the stage in search of an escape route.

The entrance door, behind the very last audience seats, opened.

Since the seats were dark, once light entered she knew immediately who it was.

"…Shachito… senpai."

She clenched the fists fastened against her chest.

The bell sounds—

The cracked metallic sounds that remained in her head—

"…"

Were gone.

So she felt.

Since she was far she couldn't see well, but Shachito seemed to be somewhat unsteady on his feet. Was he tired due to having hurried all the way there?

There still remained some tension.

And anxiousness paralyzed her feet as always.

However—her doubts were gone.

"…Yeah."

She would fight.

So she thought.

She wanted to show off to Shachito, who was said to live irresponsibly and thoughtlessly.

As long as she thought this, she could keep giving her best—

"I'm going!"

Raising her voice, Rio leapt into the stage.

She felt as if she could hear a painful groan—a hoarse voice.

But instead of it, pushing her back was a deep, kind voice.

"Yeah, do your best."

Jarre Harissi's calm voice was mixed with the cheers from the audience and vanished.

Notes

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