Mushi Uta:Volume 8 Chapter 1

1.00 Kirari and Momo

"Thank you very much."

She didn't hate the period of time that could be called dusk.

People went back the same road they'd taken this morning, albeit carrying the many things they have accumulated during the day.

There were many such things.

For a student it would be a day's worth of study, sports and the like, or perhaps experiencing love and friendship. When they passed by her, their form was perhaps a bit larger than it'd been that morning.

An adult would carry in their hearts that day's works and achivements, fatigue and stress, and the sense of accomplishment at having completed the day as they returned home. Or perhaps they would be going to town and have some fun.

"Thank you very much."

Ikarino Kirari was jealous of the people passing by her.

Both going back home from school while dreaming of the future and using her talents for one type of work were impossible for her.

The only future that awaited her was an enclosed one, where she would spend the entirety of her life admiring these people.

"Thank you very much."

On the sidewalk in the main street near the station, Kirari was handing out tissue papers to passersby.

Bangs that were cut diagonally from left to right and a star-shaped hairpin. A shirt with rolled sleeves and a long skirt over bondage pants. This appearance allowed her to melt in town. Young people who confused her to be a cosmetics store's employee sometimes received the tissue from her.

"Ah—"

She was pushed aside by an elderly salaryman, bumping into a group of middle aged women. Seeing Kirari's tissues, the women went "Oh my," after seeing them and snatched them.

Kirari quickly grabbed it back. The women's expressions changed.

"S-sorry. This, umm, has a misprint… please take this one."

She handed out a different tissue.

—Handyman Kirari☆: disposal of unneeded items, renovation, investigation, etcetera, all of your needs will be immediately solved!

The advertisement paper inserted into the tissues held by the housewives-seeming women had the above written on it.

However, the one Kirari took back had different text on it.

—We also accept special troubles related to "insects".

Kirari bowed.

"Thank you very much."

The housewives receiving the tissue mumbled "What's a handyman?" "Who knows…" as they exchanged glances.

"A handyman is, umm, a vendor that does anything, like helping and supporting all kinds of chores, that kind of company. We also offer detective work and other similar jobs…"

When she said the word "detective", the housewives all raised their brows. They glared at her suspiciously. "Young girls such as yourself mustn't do such things," they said while leaving.

Looking at them, Kirari sighed. That kind of assembled housewife alliance obviously hated people of Kirari's vocation. However, that was only outwardly, as in reality most of the troubles brought to her were almost always household-related requests from housewives.

"Thank you ve—"

It happened just before she returned to delivering tissue papers.

The cardboard box she used for the stocks of tissues was kicked.

The tissues put into a plastic bag scattered, falling into the ditch behind.

"—"

Two brawny black-wearing men moved to both sides of Kirari. One of them had kicked the box. The emblem on their suits indicated them belonging to a certain corporation.

There was no one in the business world who didn't know the name of Akasegawa Group.

The founder, who raised the organization during his lifetime, suffered from a mysterious death a few years ago. Currently the founder's granddaughter, a young girl, served as the chairman, and was continually gaining more influence.

"…"

Kirari made no protest against the sudden violence. She simply leaned down wordlessly and started picking up the tissues from the ditch with the gaze of passersby focusing on her.

Raising the box smeared in mud, she left the place.

The men saw her go with a smirk on their face, but made no attempts to pursue her.

"Hey, you…"

She heard a gloomy voice just as someone grabbed her shoulder.

With the darkening sky at her back, a tall woman looked at Kirari. She was a beauty with silver highlights in her hair and slim limbs like those of a model. Her skin was tanned, so she probably wasn't fully Japanese.

The woman was wearing a suit made of some strange material. Glistening with the light of the sinking sun, its surface was like leather—or rather more like plastic. She apparently had quite the novel taste in fashion.

"I do not know your circumstances, but if you're receiving undeserved harassment, perhaps you should contact the police…"

The woman spoke in a melancholic tone, glancing at the suited men.

Kirari could unconsciously imagine the woman's vocation. Appearance-wise she seemed like some magician or performer, but her atmosphere was far too dark for that. From her way of speaking she seemed like a lawyer or a prosecutor—or perhaps she worked in the sacred profession of a teacher.

"Am I meddling too much?"

The woman looked at Kirari with eyes that had faint dark circles around them. Her especially sluggish movements looked somewhat creepy, but she was also alluring. She didn't look anything like her amicable words would indicate.

"No, thank you very much."

Smiling, Kirari bowed. Although the woman went to the trouble of warning her, Kirari left at a brisk pace without heeding to her advice.

She was a good person. Even in front of the scary-looking men she still offered a helping hand to a complete stranger; this kind of person was rare.

Kirari just didn't want to get that woman involved in her own personal problems.

She glanced behind her. While the men were staring at her, the woman started walking away with feigned ignorance. Her way of walking—dragging her feet behind her—resembled a zombie from some horror movie.

While feeling relieved, Kirari headed back home.

"Will I be able to make it this month?"

The money spent on acquiring tissues and creating the leaflets was nothing to be sneezed at. She was always in the red, but she still had to pay her part-timer and there were even the unplanned living expenses for the freeloader.

She managed to cut it close until now, but perhaps she needed to resolve herself to reality.

"Coatl Coatl—"

As she passed near middle-school girls who chatted among themselves, she heard them recite these incantation-like words.

Turning around, she saw a girl holding a pen drew something on her friend's hand.

It was the symbol of a diagonal, long arrow mark with two straight lines crossing it.

The charm of God that can make anything come true.

"…"

The girls' expression was bright, and they didn't seem to be holding any deep worries.

Seeing the mark being drawn with a smile, the crestfallen Kirari felt her heart warming up.

She smiled, starting to walk back home again.

"H-Hey!"

She really was being stopped by a lot of people today.

"Zwoah!"

Kirari turned around, then looked below.

Perhaps in too much of a rush, the person who called out to her fell flat on the ground. "Peh, peh, so bitter! Sand's bitter! That's my discovery of the day!" he started fussing, his face covered by scratches.

"I picked up this tissue! You're the one who handed it out, right?"

The boy stood up without borrowing Kirari's hand. When he did, she could see he was wearing a blazer with many fasteners on it. With the glasses that held back his bangs she could see that his face was neat, but it all went to waste due to the sand. He carried a large bag made of something resembling leather.

"Can I ask you about this? What does this mean? I mean this right here!"

The boy, seeming about 16 or 17 years old, put the tissue right in front of Kirari's nose.

—We also accept special troubles related to "insects".

These words were written on the mud-smeared tissue.

"What do you mean by, what does this mean?"

Tilting her neck, Kirari watched the boy carefully. Being asked a question in return, the boy's shoulders twitched and he became even less calm. Averting his gaze, he nervously hit his tip of his shoes against the ground.

"Well, I mean, there are all kinds of insect! Like a white ant or a bee nest… basically pests? No, but we also need them to live! But there are also other kinds of… insects. …There's that thing, right? You know it? It's just a rumor, but aren't there some strange 'Mushi' of some sort? Ahaha, I don't believe it though!"

Even while he was in the midst of speaking, the boy's tapping on the ground with the tip of his shoe only grew in speed.

"…Mushitsuki."

When Kirari muttered this, the boy stopped moving. A large amount of sweat poured from his forehead.

"U-umm, yeah, I think it was like that? Aha, ahaha, it's such a weird rumor. Mushi eating dreams… really? B-but, I—no, my acquaintance, apparently got involved in something like that! But, there're no Mushi, right? I told them not to make fun of my innocence! Even if we're friends! C'mon!"

"…"

"But, well, no matter how rotten they are, friends are still friends. I can't leave my friend alone, or he'll get too antsy. Get it? Ant-sy? Ahaha!"

"…"

"No, wait! I'm actually talking about a friend of a friend! Yeah, I'm not related to this at all—oh, I'm sorry! Never mind that! Please forget it!"

Watching the silent Kirari, the boy seemed to be resigned to something. He turned his body around.

He was somewhat strange, but at the very least the boy didn't seem to be someone dangerous. She smiled and called to him.

"Perhaps I will be able to give you advice. If you just give me some more details—"

"Oh, you want to know? Then I've got no choice!"

Rotating his body again, the boy returned to Kirari.

"But it's just a friend of a friend! That guy apparently trades with anything he can get as a hobby! And he apparently got something troublesome!"

"Face too close… your face is…"

"He got this video that shows off Mushitsuki! Like some kinda footage that got transmitted through an amateur satellite or something… well, it's all special effects anyway, but it's definitely something rare! Or so I casually thought when I saw it, but… it's like, jackpot! The moment I got it, it's untraceable! Then this SEPB or whatever came to me—I mean, to the guy who got it and started pressuring him, so he had to run away!"

"You're too loud. My ears hurt…"

"He's about to be killed by a strange coat-wearing Mushitsuki and the account he worked so hard on accumulating money in got frozen… What's he supposed to do? This is some really tear-inducing story, right? I honestly can’t…"

His voice suddenly dropping, the boy covered his face with his hands. There were tears in the eyes peeking through between his fingers.

She understood what the boy was saying.

He got involved in Mushi-related trouble by chance and was scared out of his wits.

"What was that data you spoke of?"

"It's my trade secret, but whatever, I guess I can't avoid talking about it. Anyway, that video had many Mushitsuki in it… and also a normal Mushitsuki… and in the end there was a really large Mushi. Oh, there was also an interview of some Demon Lord or—"

"Demon Lord? And Mushitsuki?"

"She was a normal person. No, was she normal? Anyway, well, there was a scary Mushitsuki, a nice Mushitsuki and… and some normal, scary person. There were many interviews—"

The boy's frantic explanation was incoherent so she couldn't really picture it.

"Could you tell where it was filmed? Was it really not special effects but the real thing?"

"In my expert opinion, it's real. You can't create that sorta footage. —I don't know where it was filmed. But the person who shot it also spoke in the video, and she called herself Chronicler."

"Chronicler?"

Kirari knew a person of that name.

The self-proclaimed genius journalist, Haemori Ako—

It might be simple coincidence, but perhaps she'd need to contact her later.

"Can you not simply throw away that data?"

"Sure, but it's rare. It's a waste."

"…"

"It's too rare… since it's the only one, it's too much of a trouble."

The boy raised his leather bag and smiled.

"Also, now I don't understand which are scarier, Mushitsuki or normal people… I have to sell this to someone who'd know the answer!"

"I think your life's more important though…"

"That's right! I just barely got it and things got scary! I really wanna throw that away! But I don't wanna! What should I do?! My legs are shaking! Even though this is not about me!"

Kirari sighed, but still smiled.

Although the boy was scared, he seemed to be weirdly obsessed about it. Such people were very stubborn and would stick to their beliefs even when facing death.

"If you have no—"

"No no. It's not me. That's important. Please underline that part."

"If that person has no place to go to, and wants to escape the SEPB…"

Writing a phone number in her memo pad, she tore the page and handed it to the boy.

"A telephone number?"

"Please contact this number. I believe that the people called Mushibane would help you."

"Even a complete stranger like me—I mean, someone they don't know?"

"Just tell them you were referred to them by the handyman. It's a group of Mushitsuki and normal people."

"Are they perhaps dangerous people… or something?"

"Some of them fight, but they also help those who don't want to fight. Perhaps you will also be able to go back to your normal life on the surface."

Saying this as the boy glared at the piece of paper, she bowed.

"Thank you for using our services."

"W-wait a minute! I need to thank you… or maybe pay you for that introduction?"

All requests that could be said to be Mushi-related were done by Kirari as a mere side job. Unlike he normal requests, she had no goal of making money.

"As for my payment—"

With a smile, she raised her index finger toward the boy.

She drew on air a single arrow and two lines intersecting with it.

The charm of God that can make anything come true.

"Coatl Coatl Para Emile."

As she recited this chant, the boy raised an eyebrow.

"Is that…? I think that—"

"Please spread this spell. …To as many people as you can."

"Is it really fine, being just that?"

She nodded at the boy's question.

It was probably a completely incomprehensible wish to him. For Kirari, however, spreading the charm would be an almost irreplaceable reward.

"T-thank you."

Thanking her with a confused expression, the boy took his bag on his back again.

"—I'll do what you told me to, but I really don't get it. I'll pay you properly some time."

It was unmistakable that the boy was in an unfortunate situation.

Getting involved with Mushitsuki and all sorts of troubles, even for him these events were incomprehensible.

But there was still salvation.

Kirari thought of the Mushitsuki born in this town.

"Please spread the charm… to many people."

She mumbled again toward the back of the leaving boy.

The Mushitsuki born in this town—

This Mushitsuki, bearing their unfortunate fate, no longer existed in this world.

There was no other way to help them than erasing their existence.

After being born so absurdly, there was no choice but to put them to sleep underneath a gravestone. Recalling what she'd seen at that moment, Kirari felt her heart throbbing in pain.

"…"

Shaking off the painful reminiscence, Kirari turned on her heels.

Only a handful of people knew about the Mushitsuki that had disappeared that day.

The usual peace flowed in town.

Just like it was until now, the days of tranquility continued.

In order for Kirari to pass these calm days, she simply did the best she could.

"…"

Her office was at the end of the main road where there weren't many people or neon lights.

This building complex with many vacant apartments had cracks on the walls and the elevator was inoperative. All of the lights in the stairway were flickering, and there was the smell of mold everywhere.

When she opened the mailbox at the entrance she found a large envelope inside. The sender was the building's owner, meaning the landlord that lent the office to Kirari.

Opening the letter and checking its contents, she was notified that she was behind on payments. There was also information about getting evicted.

"…"

She wordlessly hid the letter inside the cardboard box.

Her legs climbing the stairs felt heavier than usual. She told herself that she was simply tired.

The rusty office door had a plate saying "Handyman Kirari☆ OPEN" on it.

She thought she turned it to CLOSE when she'd left. When she tried the knob, she found that the door was open.

Slipping past the door, there was a space for putting shoes next to it. Immediately ahead was a door made of smoky glass, and the stand beside it had a classical-style buzzer installed on it.

Kirari opened the glass door, going through the corridor.

"…?"

Entering the living room, she saw a strange sight.

The fact that there were shelves loaded with documents on the visitor-use sofa and table was normal. Her clients' first impression was important, so she splurged and got high-quality furnishings for this room alone.

There were two people in the living room.

One was the familiar part-timer girl. Her vivid, grass-colored jersey fit her, but she raised both arms as if saluting to something, completely frozen.

The other was the wounded man. He was the boy covered in bandages from head to foot.

"Ah, umm… welcome back."

Surprised, the boy sitting on the sofa turned to Kirari. Despite being so heavily wounded his tone was clear. He apparently had a sturdy body.

"Are you alright, Daisuke-san?"

When Kirari asked him this, Kusuriya Daisuke wore a bitter smile.

"I can't calm down when I'm just sitting without doing anything."

"I see."

Although she had coincidentally—no, probably inevitably saved him from near death, she still hadn't asked him for the particulars of his circumstances. She thought it'd be fine to inquire that sort of thing once his wounds stabilized.

The two of them went silent. Naturally the two lines of sight turned toward the frozen girl.

"'A run-over frog'?"

After thinking for a while, Kirari pointed at her and said.

The girl made no move.

"A mongoose going scuba-diving!"

Kirari tried guessing the theme with a serious expression.

"N-no. Then… a scared American Curl!"

"A wallaby imitating a pro-wrestler!"

"Woof no! …wait, no! Stop saying all these small animals!"

The girl suddenly moved. She hit the bandage in her hand against the floor with a slap.

Apparently she had been nursing Daisuke before freezing.

"I can't believe it, yeah!"

Did she have a row with Daisuke?

She shouted indignantly and then grabbed the newspaper left on the table. She took out a roll of plastic tape from the pouch at her waist and pasted the newspaper to the wall.

"W-what is it…?"

"Don't mind it. She does this from time to time."

Hiding the box she was carrying at a corner of the room, Kirari entered the bedroom.

Inside the narrow room were only a bed, a personal computer, and a standing mirror. Since the outside of the window had a gap of a mere dozen centimeters from the next building she couldn't see the starry sky.

Opening her closet, she found many articles of clothing hanging within. Kirari pulled out a white outfit and changed to it, exiting to the living room again.

The jersey-wearing girl wore an uncharacteristic serious expression while fighting the newspaper. She ran the cello tape haphazardly all over it, covering the entire wall with it.

"Mm."

Getting down on her knees in front of the sofa, Kirari started changing the boy's bandages.

Daisuke looked confused.

"Say—"

"Hmm?"

"Well, I also want to ask about that girl since I have no idea what she's doing, but why are you… umm…"

Daisuke was glancing at Kirari's clothes, finding it hard to speak. Did his face turn red due to him being an adolescent boy?

"Wearing such a costume…?"

Being told this, Kirari looked down at her clothes—a nurse outfit.

"Do you prefer other clothes? I just thought it fits best since I'm going to nurse you… If you think my regular school uniform is better I also have it—"

"That's not what I meant… no, that's fine. Stay like that."

The relieved Kirari started wrapping the bandage around the boy's arm.

"What's this place anyway…?"

The boy mumbled.

Kirari, who applied bandages while wearing a nurse outfit, and the girl who was zealously covering the walls with newspaper.

Being put between them, Kusuriya Daisuke felt somewhat uncomfortable.

"Handyman Kirari☆. A company dealing with miscellaneous jobs that accepts any request. I'm the owner… and this girl became a part-timer after I got to know her on a previous request."

Until yesterday, Kusuriya Daisuke couldn't even move from the bed. Whenever he opened his eyes he would soon fall asleep, so this was the first explanation he received about his situation.

"Handyman…"

Even without seeing his face, it was obvious Daisuke was furrowing his brows.

In this day and age there weren't a lot of general shops and troubleshooters. The fact that a 17 years-old girl managed this place was also probably rare. Actually, there were times when customers would leave upon discovering that fact.

"Well, we're a small company with many failures though."

"So, miss Handyman—"

The boy's voice suddenly turned low. Stopping her hands, she gazed at Daisuke's face.

"Why do you know me?"

His piercing, sharp eyes bore into Kirari. Even his way of speaking changed.

Kirari grinned.

"I have heard about you…"

"From who?"

"Haji Keigo-san. You know him, right?"

Hearing that name, Daisuke momentarily furrowed his eyebrows, confused.

She was sure they were acquaintances, but Daisuke's reply was too faint for what she expected. Or was he surprised that Kirari and Haji knew each other?

"He told me he was your friend. Well, and your boss."

"Oh, Haji. I see, it was him…"

Daisuke mumbled, finally appearing to understand.

"He'd helped me in the past when I got into trouble. He told me that it wasn't in return for that, but that if you ever needed me, I should help you."

"Help me…?"

"More precisely he said 'on the unlikely chance that you meet him, please do as much as you can to make his wish come true', I think."

—Well, because he's not going to be honest about it.

She could still clearly remember Haji's thin smile as he said this.

—Even if you do meet him, I don't know if he'd have any wish. If he doesn't say anything you don't have to help him. Meaning this is a mere "insurance".

That young man, who would habitually fix the position of his glasses, became her benefactor when she'd lost her path, helping her finding her place as a handyman. Haji Keigo had also been the one to find this current office for her.

"My wish…"

He sank into his thoughts.

"Will you let me—stay here for a while, at least until my wounds heal?"

Although she'd heard he wasn't honest, he unexpectedly and readily mouthed his wish.

Perhaps humans were always honest when they were weak. Since she was going to take care of him in the first place there was no problem.

She had more than enough time.

The menace that had once suddenly appeared in town—the danger relating to the Mushitsuki who should have never been born—had already passed.

She believed that this once-again uninterrupted daily life would be good for the healing of his wounds.

"I don't mind, of course… but are satisfied with just this?"

"I can sleep either on the floor or on the sofa. I'm also sorry for occupying the bed."

Seeing Daisuke suddenly wearing an apologetic face, Kirari's face slackened.

"It's just like Haji-san told me. Except when you hide your face with black goggles, you're just a normal boy. I was worried you have a split personality or something."

"I-it's not like I have a split personality…"

Turning away, Daisuke wore a complex expression.

"I just ended up not knowing anymore who my real self was…"

The lone person called Kusuriya Daisuke.

He probably had other titles in addition to that. Kirari didn't know whether he himself wished for them or if they'd been thrust upon him.

There'd probably come a time when he'd have to choose which of them was his real self—

She thought of such things.

"HEY, YOU!"

This loud voice suddenly speaking in English caused Kirari and Daisuke to raise their face.

"PLEASE LISTEN TO ME! NO, NO, umm, look, I mean SEE? WATCH? WATCH ME? Huh? H-hey, don't look at me with those pitying eyes! I know my English sucks, yeah!"

The girl with a splash of poster paint on her face had a curious symbol behind her.

She drew a large mark on the papers pasted on the wall. This symbol made of black paint could be called an art piece.

This strange mark consisted of a diagonal arrow pointing downward and two lines crisscrossing it.

It also resembled an asterisk, but was slightly different.

"IT'S, 'COATL HEAD'!"

Pounding at the mark that was larger than she was tall, the girl puffed her chest. Her palms were dripping with red paint, perhaps as a result of directly painting it with her hands.

Her name was Tanaka Momo.

She'd just enrolled into an art school at her home district, and she was a friend of Kirari's.

Speaking of bipolarity, Momo was exactly like that. When she focused on something, she turned into another person as if in a trance.

The stunned Daisuke opened his mouth hesitatingly.

"Coatl… Head?"

"OH, NO!"

Momo spoke back as if it was the end of the world. That pose—the "dachshund who had its food taken right before its eyes" that they'd seen before—was apparently shock at Daisuke not knowing the meaning of Coatl Head.

"Do you really not know it? Coatl Head! The mark beckoning happiness! It's the symbol of God, yeah!"

Half-crying for some reason, she hit the wall violently. More red spots were created on the newspapers.

Daisuke looked at Kirari as if seeking help.

"Umm—"

"Wait, Kirarin! If you explain it to him directly it'd be like a divine revelation!"

Momo said, raising her hands dyed in pure red toward the ceiling.

"Coatl Head refers to the fad of drawing a certain symbol which is all the rage nowadays! It trends especially among teens with many troubles and worries, such as love and the like, since it can solve any and all troubles!"

Even while receiving this deluge of an explanation, Daisuke was still confused. "Momo-chan's also addicted now," Kirari added.

"The method of the charm is simple! Neither the place nor the medium matter! You just need to draw this symbol, put your feelings in it and chant!"

Momo turned to the wall painting, folded her hands in front of her chest, and spoke.

"Coatl Coatl Para Emile!"

After reciting this with prayer-like gestures, Momo's expression suddenly softened.

"If I do that, then… my chest suddenly feels warm. Isn't that a happy feeling?"

The girl turning toward them did seem to be satisfied.

"No, no really… or rather, you just look like a weirdo."

The profile of Daisuke providing his honest impression now had red paint smeared on it.

Having lowered the bottle full of art supplies, Momo grinned.

"This is divine punishment, yeah."

Wiping off the paint from half his face and looking at it, Daisuke also grinned.

"…What're you doing, you idiot!"

"I'm not an idiot, I'm Momo-chan! Or it would be even better if you add 'sama'! Kirarin, as punishment let's throw him out of the window! I thought he was kinda good-looking when we found him, but that was my mistake, yeah!"

Leaving the pair to start their fight while flinging paint-filled bottles at each other, Kirari went to look for a dust cloth in the washing room.

1.01 The Others

For a moment, a swallow traversed right by the window.

Cutting through the early summer air, the figure of it swallowed by the sky was burned into her eyelids.

"Hmm…"

Pondering this, Yamamato Rau turned back to the canvas. From the look of the nearly-perfected painting, she had apparently let her inspiration take over.

Gathering the paint on the paper palette, she let her brush express the image in her mind.

When had she started drawing oil paintings?

Lately, as an example to her students, she used poster colors to draw basic designs or tinkered with the materials prepared for sculpting lessons; only these kinds of things.

She was just a tiny step before completing her work this time.

Along with the sound of the sliding door, a bright voice pushed at her.

Just by being in this high school that had a special arts course—rare even in this country—the students appearing one after another all had unique appearances. Although all of them were wearing white work clothes, they all had eccentric hairstyles or accessories forbidden by the regulations, so they were stupidly conspicuous.

Especially the students of Visual Design Year 1—VD1 for short—that enrolled this spring were a gathering of problem children that even the teachers were sick of.

"Ooh, Yamamoto-sensei, what're you drawingwing?"

After appearing in the classroom, the representative problem child poked her head between Rau and the canvas.

Having her work stopped, Rau furrowed her eyebrows.

"Wingwing?"

"Like wingdings? Non, what're you drawing?"

Seat no. 28 in DV1, Tanaka Momo. At times her speech and conduct were incomprehensible. Unfortunately, all of VD1's students were incomprehensible, so she didn't mind that anymore.

"Whoa, this feels really genuine. I can feel its soul, yeah."

Although Momo was asking her, she apparently hadn't intended on quietly hearing her answer. Using a peculiar speaking style where she put accent on the "yeah", Momo clung to the canvas.

She could see the nape of this young, 15-year old through the gap in her pink-colored jersey's collar. Her lively cheek was plastered with paint spelling "momo".

"Is this a woman? No, a man maybe? Well, looking from afar… an animal? Actually, looking from even further, it kinda looks like wings…"

Giving up on finishing it, Rau put her brush into the oil jar. With a sigh, she started clearing up the art tools.

"This is rubbish… just some boring trick art."

"Eh, that's not true. It's quite creepy."

"So in your mind, trick art equals creepy… Not necessarily wrong."

What a suspicious way of talking, she thought in spite of herself. Even just mechanically shaking her vocal cords would be better, but speaking like this felt as if she sucked the energy of anyone who listened to her.

"Go and wear your work clothes before the bell rings… if you don't, I won't give you marks for this lesson."

"Boo, it's fine like this though. My theme is the fusion between a modern class, freedom and fashion, yeah."

Rau grabbed Momo's head, forcing her away from the canvas.

"Don't let me repeat myself…"

Being lenient on this kind of student even once, they would keep pushing their luck. Individuality should be respected in this kind of school, but teaching regulations and cooperativeness were also part of a teacher's job.

Tanaka Momo in particular had a precedent. On the very day of her enrollment ceremony she incited the other students to gather carnations in celebration of their enrollment and spread them all over the floor in the corridor in front of the staff room. She had insisted it was flower art, but if they let influential students do whatever they pleased they wouldn't be able to restraint themselves.

"You don't sound very convincing when you say that, yeah."

Yet Momo didn't back off. Standing shoulder to shoulder with the plaster figures on the wall, she changed her tone.

"It's just like you said, Momo. Every day her beautiful form is so blinding that you can't bear to look at her."

That was the wrong meaning of "can't bear to look at".

Pointing this was also stupid, but she was curious after being told that. Pretending to check the oil in her bottle, she glanced at her figure reflected on the glass surface.

Her skin being somewhat dark was due to hailing from Southeast Asia, so she couldn't change it. The highlights in her hair created a black and silver striped pattern. Underneath her work clothes she wore a respectable suit, although its chest part was open. It was made of plastic though.

"The image of the legendary 'female teacher'! …is how it feels, I guess? This is poison to the eyes of a teenager, yeah."

Saying this exaggeratedly, Momo covered the eyes not of herself but of the statue.

Responding to her would be too troublesome. While Rau ignored her and gathered oil painting supplies, the displeased-looking Momo left the class to get her work clothes.

Soon the bell sounded and the lesson started.

"Today's lesson will be about methods of expression within modern techniques… Such techniques include dripping, stamping, and marking, but—"

Yamamoto Rau, 23 years old, was a new substitute teacher, so she wasn't the homeroom teacher of any class.

However, she was still in charge of many lessons such as self-expression, design theory, structure theory and art therapy. Also, because she was surrounded by problem children, she was very busy as a teacher.

"—And these styles all have their own idiosyncrasies. But what's important here is that this is merely technique… there's no need to fit the mold, meaning what to express or how to depict it."

She didn't simply give her students knowledge; she also taught them how to advance the lesson with their own thinking.

"And although breaking the mold sounds easy, it is very difficult. As long as you're human you always end up comparing things using your own prejudices. And that's why—"

Looking at one of the sitting students, Rau narrowed her eyes.

"Perhaps you should forget about being human…"

All students had their eyes sparkling in excitement as they were about to put it into practice, but Tanaka Momo alone wasn't even looking at the teacher's podium. Burying her fingers in paint meant for stamping use, she was happily drawing something on her own work clothes.

A strange mark with a single arrow and two intersecting lines.

Rau remembered seeing that symbol before.

If she recalled correctly, it was a good luck charm currently popular in town.

As Momo drew this mark, Rau's feelings grew gloomy. It was a mere symbol, but due to a certain incident, Rau felt that she was being made fun of whenever she would see it.

"Staying within the line means killing your potential. If you try destroying that frame even once, you might be able to see things that you'd never seen before—"

However, if she didn't cut the lecture short, everyone might get infected by Momo's behavior.

Seeing the rest of the students also started playing with their materials, Rau sighed.

Yamamoto Rau began her new job at the school only a month ago.

Due to her gloomy personality and gaudy appearance, her impressions among the teachers were especially bad. Since being in the staff room meant that they would temporarily focus on her demeanor and clothes, she preferred holing herself inside her assigned classroom.

During the lessons she coldly read text. She made a few arrangements to it, but if she started adding things outside the textbooks she knew those too-energetic students would make trouble for her.

She thought of the children coming to school as simply annoying. They all took nothing but illogical and unproductive actions. They did pointless things. By being in the same space as them, Rau felt exhausted both physically and mentally.

She seriously started considering creating a law that a teacher could, as special privilege, kill a student they didn't like. Even only once a day. It could be even be just this school's local rule.

That's how Rau was—or at least she thought of herself like this, but she seemed to be popular with her students.

Perhaps this was because she was closer to her students in age than the other teachers. Or perhaps it was because other teachers told them to focus on this or that while she gave them a free reign, thereby causing these contrarians to approach her.

Thinking about dealing with the children outside of lessons made her want to puke. Having said that, since she was teaching, she had to listen and give them advice when they came to the classroom.

And that advice wasn't limited to questions about the lesson or the course. At times they would even tell her of love problems or interpersonal problems, or even serious things they couldn't talk with their parents about.

Since Rau needed to tidy up the class, she would mechanically offer them the most realistic solutions. At present, most of those problems had been solved by that. Since the immature kids confronted their problems and lost their common sense, they simply worried without even thinking of those kinds of simple solutions. Or perhaps they just didn't have the courage to take the first step toward them.

Although begrudgingly, she listened to their problems and solved them. —Repeating this process, without any adult to confer with, the students naturally gathered around her.

"A classmate is… harassing you?"

That day too, after school, she was visited by a student.

She apparently had troubles with her friend in class. It was a common problem she had encountered.

"Is it not bullying?"

Then do something about it yourself, she cursed in her mind, but there was something a little bit different this time.

"I believe it is different."

The female student of VD1 responded with a clear tone.

Both her hat that was in the shape of a horn and her hair being colored in sepia were against regulations. Rau knew that this petite girl—who could be said to be representative of VD1's average appearance—was nicknamed "Sepia" by her classmates. The marker case in the pouch hanging from her waist was also one of her characteristics.

That girl was known among the teachers as well.

She possessed extraordinary talent rare among students—a prodigy.

"So are you being stalked?"

"No, nothing like that either… also, I'm talking about a girl."

The world was vast. There were also women chasing women, but she said nothing.

"This might seem obvious, but you just need to clearly tell her off… or is she too scary for you to do that?"

"I told her to stop. But she seems angry at me, and she's stubborn too…"

Oh dear, sounds like trouble. Rau sighed once then spoke.

"Got it. I'll try to indirectly talk to her about it soon…"

Rau's impression was that the other girl was jealous of Sepia's talent, but Sepia wasn't weak enough to be bullied over that.

And Rau also knew about the girl making trouble for her. Her impression of her wasn't the sort of malicious person to do this.

Although she felt something was strange, that was it. It'd probably get solved if she asked the other party about it.

"Thank you very much."

Rau herself was also like that, but she felt that Sepia's speech and conduct were very emotionless. She lowered her head without any trace of a smile, turning to leave the classroom. The moment she moved, the marker case on her waist clattered.

Something silly interested Rau, so she called out to the girl.

"What a strange case…"

"Huh?"

"The marker case on your waist… is that foreign-made?"

Turning around, Sepia looked down at the case hanging on her waist.

"When I went to take the test for another school in Akamaki City, I found it at a large art supplies store… it was an impulse purchase."

"I see…"

There was still something strange. As far as Rau knew, there was one other person who had the same marker case—

She didn't need poke her head too much into the students' stupid problems.

Telling this to herself, she saw off the girl with an annoyed face.

"Watch out…"

"What?"

"Because recently even this town in dangerous. I meant for you to be careful when you go back home."

"Oh, dangerous… is it?"

"They haven't yet found the cause for the explosion at the electric substation ruins… there's a rumor that it was man-made incident."

"Oh, you mean Coatl Hot… but that happened quite a while ago."

Sepia muttered this emotionlessly, so Rau felt confused.

"Coatl…?"

"But maybe you're right. There was also apparently some explosion near the river as well."

"River? Oh, that—no, but the Coatl… was it?"

Like a gunman, Sepia drew out the marker from her pouch. She drew a certain symbol on the blackboard in white.

Who do you think is going to clean that? Use chalk or I'll kill you. —Turning toward Rau whose expression darkened even further, Sepia recited some sort of incantation.

"Coatl Coatl Para Emile."

The drawing on the blackboard was the same charm that caused Rau to become disheartened.

"…?"

"They keyword is—Coatl Head."

Coatl Head.

Was that the symbol's name? It was a term she wasn't sure if she'd heard before.

"I think you should look more into trends and new fads, sensei."

Rau sighed at the girl doing things in her own pace.

"I'm saying this because I believe you can solve anything with a single warning, but… next time, please use chalk."

"I'm sorry."

Never mind reflecting on her actions, it only looked like the apologizing Sepia was making fun of her. As if saying her business was done she turned on her heels, with her Sepia-colored hair shaking, and left the classroom.

I wish some terrorist would come to plant bombs in the VD1 classroom, Rau thought nonsensically.

Until she recovered enough energy to move, she simply sat at the desk and absentmindedly gazed at the courtyard outside of the window.

The time was already dusk. She could see the figures of students striving for their club activities.

Because she had a VD1 lesson today, she was especially tired. Teaching them to break the mold went without saying, but she let the students have much more freedom than was needed. Stopping Tanaka Momo from plastering the entire classroom with papers was especially time-consuming.

In the first place Rau loathed children. On top of being ignorant and not thinking at all, they didn't even realize they were causing problems to others. Even so they were always shining with hopes and dreams that lacked any basis.

Helping them achieve the dreams that they couldn't by themselves was apparently one of the duties of a teacher.

Rau suddenly recalled her student that broke their paintbrush. They sounded too sensitive when they said they felt wrong using another brush, but their works actually declined in quality because of that.

"She's not even good enough to be so fussy about what tools to use…"

Perhaps an old art supplies store would have the brushes made by the minor company that the student used. It would a detour on the way back home, but she decided to try dropping by. It was troublesome, but it was also annoying to think for how long that student could blame her bad achievements on the paintbrush.

How was she, when she was her age?

Her adolescent self rose to the back of her mind like a flashback.

Sparkling with hopes and dreams—she felt as if she stopped being like that ever since the moment she'd come to this country.

Since then there were only anger, pain, despair, and blood.

Perhaps her present form had been decided back when her aspiration painted over her dream.

A teacher helping with their students' dream—

Good grief, how hopelessly ridiculous.

"Bzzt."

As the door of the classroom opened a uniformed girl appeared.

She was of the same school year as Sepia, but her tie color was different. The bangs of her long hair were decorated by a jagged, yellow accessory—in the pattern of lightning—and even the bangs themselves were zigzagged.

"Bzzbzzt. Bzzbzzt."

Apparently something good happened. The girl hummed to herself with an incomprehensible rhythm while starting to skip around clumsily. Ignoring Rau's presence, she started circling around the classroom.

"Bzzbzzt. Bzzbzzt."

"…Keep your voice down. Someone'll hear you."

"Bzzbzzt."

"Don't jump on top of the desk. My teaching materials—I'll forgive you about the hairspray you just broke, so stop moving, Biribiri. No, don't hang from the lighting…"

She was focused at the girl reflected on the window when another person entered the class.

Now it was a uniformed boy. He had sharp eyes and a body that was long and slender; he looked like he could become a basketball player, had he belonged to such a club.

"Close the door, Ashimaki."

As Rau turned around to face him, the boy opened his mouth to reply—

"Hurgh."

Along with a groan, he spat countless insect-like feelers from his mouth. —No matter how unrealistic this scene sounded, long and narrow objects really came spilling out of the boy's mouth, clattering and bouncing as they hit the floor.

Looking closely, a strange creature could be seen sticking on top of the boy's tongue. The surface of its spherical body had flickering light colored blue and red. The ejected feelers were this creature's legs.

"Don't bring out your Mushi so carelessly…"

As Rau glared at the girl and the boy, her suit bloated like a balloon. It changed its form, instantly transforming into a pitch-black coat that covered her from head to toes.

"I will only warn you once. Although you weren't seen by anyone, if you lower your guard again and lose control of your Mushi… I'll execute you."

Receiving Rau's gloomy gaze, Biribiri and Ashimaki's faces twitched with fear.

The zigzag girl straightened her back and Ashimaki instantly put the thin insect legs inside his mouth.

"Good…"

Rau sighed, her coat returning once again to the form of a suit.

Yamamoto Rau's real identity—was Shera the Head of the Annihilators, under the command of Vice-Deputy Miguruma Yaeko of the SEPB's Central Headquarters. It had been a long time since she showed her true nature like that.

The last time she had fulfilled her duty as an assassin was right before she'd infiltrated this town as a teacher; at a rural, relatively unknown town, she had erased a girl who proclaimed herself to be a journalist.

She'd also been given a mission in this town.

However, every day was peaceful.

Her provisional job as an arts teacher was filled with much more suffering.

Information regarding Mushitsuki spread easily among teens. Because of that she'd infiltrated this high school as a teacher in order to collect information, but—apparently both this town and this school were a huge failure.

"Was there any change?"

"Bzz."

"No."

The two subordinates standing next to each other shook their heads.

They were Annihilators members sent along with Rau. They were only wearing the school's uniform; they weren't actually students.

Rau sighed deeply again.

The bad premonition growing inside her was likely true.

Do I have any reason to stay here anymore…?

Wasn't everything over already? That was the only conclusion to this situation.

Starting when Rau came to town and until now, she'd been unable to grasp any clues related to her goal.

"The Mushitsuki of the Substation Ruins, huh…"

She pulled out a memory device shaped like a cellphone from her suit.

She manipulated the terminal with her fingers, uploading a digital photo to the LCD screen.

A rusty transmission tower, electrical lines that were ripped here and there, cracked asphalt and ground, a large hole that seemed to have been created by an explosion, as well as—the mark called Coatl Head drawn with paint.

This was the event that made them send Rau to this town.

One day in the suburbs of town, at the abandoned electrical substation—

There was a large explosion.

To the public, the cause was unknown. They gave it flimsy reasons such as an unexploded bomb detonating or perhaps a discharge from the abandoned electrical machinery, but people have already forgotten about it.

In the first place the substation's functions had already been transferred to a new underground facility in a different location. Because there were no human casualties, even in the news it wasn't such a big incident.

A single Mushitsuki had been in town.

Newly born Mushitsuki were mentally unstable and prone to rampage.

As feared, the Mushitsuki born at the substation had rampaged. Immediately discovered by the local SEPB branch, several members were dispatched on a capture mission.

—Or so it was thought.

"So there are no eyewitnesses' reports of any Mushitsuki like that…"

"Bzz."

"None."

So it was thought. Meaning, it was conjecture.

The reason they couldn't decide was due to all of the SEPB members having had the tables turned on them. Since they'd all become Fallen, thereby having lost their memories and feelings, no information could be gotten from them.

The Mushitsuki born at the substation was probably powerful. Although it was rare for members dispatched for capture to be defeated, the remaining traces—the thing Rau was looking at, the evidence photo collected from the police, spoke of that fact.

The facility was wrecked and destroyed all over, and a large cavity opened in the ground. From the scale of that damage, one could expect the opponent was quite powerful.

Something trifling was left on the photograph.

Near the hole was a large drawing of what was apparently a symbol popular among young people.

Coatl Head.

From what Sepia had told her that was apparently its name. Meaning, the substation was a gathering spot for youngsters, so one of them had probably drawn it there.

"Ashimaki. You haven't felt any Mushitsuki, right?"

"Bzz."

"I didn't ask you."

"Right. Ever since that incident a few days ago…"

Rau continued manipulating the terminal, switching from photos to video.

It was the remaining footage left in the goggles of a combatant dispatched for the capturing mission of the "Mushitsuki of the Substation Ruins". The other members suffered terrible injuries, so this footage was the only one they'd been able to recover.

No, it would be wrong to call this footage.

The only thing recorded there was sound, mixed in with noise.

Whether it was the Mushitsuki or someone else, someone was probably trying to erase evidence. They thought that someone knew about the goggles' recording function since they were damaged unnaturally.

Even the remaining sound had only recorded the scream of the goggles' owner.

Due to all the noise in the background, it couldn't be listened to properly.

However, reproducing the sounds with SEPB technology, they finally understood what was being screamed there.

"…"

A short scream.

Consisting of a single term.

That term moved the Central Headquarters.

In order to not let information about the incident leak to the outside they'd actively sealed the local branch, and Rau, as the Head of the Annihilators, had been sent to town.

They knew that the "Mushitsuki of the Substation Ruins" was powerful.

Yet without that scream, they wouldn't have directly dispatched Rau.

If the Fallen's death throes were true—

Then the enemy was Mushitsuki whose existence couldn't be forgiven.

After discovery, they had to be erased from the world.

However—

"The Mushitsuki of the Substation Ruins… does it actually exist?"

She mumbled so quietly that her subordinates couldn't hear her.

Following the incident, the Mushitsuki thought to have been at the substation was gone.

Once the SEPB discovered a Mushitsuki, it was near impossible to hide them. Even if they tried escaping, they would get caught by the information network encompassing the entire country, and even if they hid, some ripple in society would definitely be caused by their becoming a Mushitsuki.

Was it possible to perfectly conceal their presence for such a long time?

Or had they simply blown themselves up along with the capturing combatants?

Or perhaps they managed to escape to some unknown place but exhausted themselves and breathed their last?

After consulting with all possibilities, Rau reached a conclusion.

"The Mushitsuki of the Substation Ruins is no longer here. —At the very least, not in this town."

She continued mumbling to herself.

A few days.

If she couldn't grasp the presence of the aforementioned Mushitsuki, she was going to announce that to Vice-Director Miguruma Yaeko.

However, when she'd come here, another problem appeared.

"Despite that… Why have you come to this town? Kakkou—"

Hearing Rau's subdued voice, Biribiri and Ashimaki trembled.

East Central Branch member, Blaze Class Rank 1 Kakkou.

Most Mushitsuki would get scared hearing the name of that strongest demon, her subordinates included.

"The reaction you'd felt at the riverside a few days ago… it was definitely Hakamori, right?"

"There were two powerful reactions at about the same time—according to the information from HQ, it corresponds to the same place where Hakamori had been sent to in order to annihilate Kakkou, so it's probably true."

The Annihilators' member Hakamori.

As Head of the Annihilators, Rau obviously knew about this Mushitsuki.

Although he was the lone survivor of a certain experiment, he'd lost all of his rational thinking. He was a mere failed product, awaiting some chance to measure the battle prowess he'd gained as a result of the experiment.

Meaning that chance—was the annihilation of Kakkou.

The overly powerful Kakkou was designated dangerous by the Headquarters long ago. If the failed product Hakamori was able to defeat Kakkou it would be well, and even if they killed each other, they'd be able to gain valuable data about his battle prowess.

"The Fragment of Diorestoi implanted in Hakamori allowed him to know the location of the King or whatever… on top of that, that guy had been ordered to aim for the moment when Kakkou left the East Central Branch. Because Hakamori was there, there's no doubt that Kakkou was there as well…"

Rau mumbled things that no outsider would understand.

"Their reactions vanished at almost the exact same time."

"Since the Fragment at HQ wasn't able to achieve resonance to discover the other Fragment's location, we must assume that Hakamori had been erased. —Or had he been able to fully suppress his Fragment…? No, he was a failed product because he couldn't do that…"

The incomplete Fragments of Diorestoi could establish resonance with one another. —The origin of this phenomenon that caused the parts of the Prototype Mushi to be drawn to each other had yet to be ascertained.

"It is believed that Kakkou merely hid his Mushi."

"Or maybe they took each other out. Well, it's better for us to assume that demon survived…"

Rau scratched her silver-streaked hair, raising her face.

"Kakkou appearing there means that… has the East Central Branch noticed the existence of the Mushitsuki of the Substation Ruins?"

It wasn't impossible. Yet she thought it was unlikely.

Their information blockage was perfect. Perhaps Kakkou had just coincidentally passed in town while on a mission.

"Hmm… if we end up not finding the Mushitsuki of the Substation, maybe we should just eliminate Kakkou and go back."

They would probably end up fighting Kakkou at some point.

If that man had truly rebelled against the SEPB and they received the order to eliminate him, she'd be the only one able to accomplish it. —Although Harukiyo also outwardly belonged to the Annihilators just like her, Rau saw that he wouldn't fight seriously against Kakkou.

Although he was a Rank 1 Mushitsuki, Rau would be able to defeat him. She had a certain ability that allowed her to decide this.

"We will continue the search for the Mushitsuki of the Substation. …And for Kakkou as well."

Seeing off her subordinates who left after nodding, Rau once again looked out of the window.

In front of her was a peaceful scene.

Time just kept flowing slowly and calmly just as it had been yesterday as well.

"How ridiculous… this is like looking for a ghost."

Was the Mushitsuki actually hiding in town or already gone? She couldn't even tell that much.

She only knew what she had to do.

"The Mushitsuki of the Substation Ruins".

Or Kakkou.

If they were really there, then following their discovery, Rau herself would lop their heads off.

She would mercilessly eliminate anyone that might endanger this country.

That was the only way for her to make her dream come true—

Her job as a teacher that helped dreams and her title as Head of the Annihilators were simply parts of what she used to make that a reality.

"The art supplies store… is probably closed already."

Looking up the darkening sky, Yamamato Rau sighed with a tired expression.

1.02 The Beast and Momo Part 1

He somehow ended up in a strange place.

While seated on the sofa at the office of "Handyman Kirari☆", he was absentmindedly watching TV. Although 80% of his bandages were taken off, he was still forced to rest.

The owner of the office had left early morning. Apparently she had work.

He knew that the girl called Ikarino Kirari took on varied jobs. The very fact that she was handling an office at the mere age of 17 was abnormal. The same went for accepting someone as suspicious as him, never mind doing a favor for her acquaintance. She also knew that he was a Mushitsuki.

Who are you, Ikarino Kirari?

Unable to grasp why she was like this, his confusing days continued.

"Do you know of the phenomenon now popular among middle and high school students? They keyword is 'Coatl Head'! Let's ask the townspeople about it!"

When had he started watching midweek talk shows?

Inside the LCD screen the woman reporter was conducting street interviews. Regardless of age or gender, all of them were asked "Do you know about Coatl Head?"

After several replied "I don't", some girls with dyed brown hair finally knew the answer.

"We know all about it! We're also doing that."

Excited, the girls showed the mark on their arms, clothes, or accessories.

"Huh, it really is popular…"

He muttered.

As the camera zoomed in, he could see that the symbol was identical to the one Tanaka Momo had drawn a few days prior.

"Coatl Coatl Para Emile."

As if doing a display, the girls recited this incantation.

"As you can see, Coatl Head is when you draw this mark along with the incantation, and all your problems will be solved. For example, perhaps your love will come into fruition… this is an all-purpose charm! This current fad continues to grow even now!"

Recalling Tanaka Momo's face, the boy grimaced. Because he wasn't able to move, Momo did as she pleased. Now that his wounds have healed, he had been released from her awful bandaging.

"I wonder if that idiot'll come here again."

He didn't know whether that girl was an assistant, a part-timer or what, but she was bad at it. He didn't know what she thinking about and couldn't foresee her actions.

"I just have to bear with it… I have no other choice right now."

The fact that he was sighing like this probably meant that he was calm.

Perhaps thinking so meant he lowered his guard.

"Uh."

His vision suddenly blurred.

"—Guh…! Uah… Aaah!!!"

Falling from the couch, he writhed violently on the floor.

Acute pain shot through his entire body. It wasn't pain from his wounds. In his depths of his body—another living being was rampaging there as if trying to eat him from the inside out.

This creepy feeling, as though countless caterpillars were crawling under his skin, went beyond his body and began gnawing into his mind. His vision blacked, and he was assaulted by violent noise.

His fingers grasping the carpet paled.

"Gah…AHHH!"

His struggle against the horrible pain tearing his mind and body ended before long.

"Hah! Hah! Hah…!"

His body, curled up in a fetal position, shook with small shivers.

Somehow going through the pain, he kept breathing heavily.

"Hu… Hahah…"

After his palpitations calmed down, he started laughing.

"…I can't hold it back any longer… so it's only a question of time…"

Right about now, perhaps the pursuers from the SEPB were searching the area. The only reason that he hadn't been found yet was because Ikarino Kirari had sheltered and concealed him.

However, he couldn't escape the signs of his power going wild and trying to take control of him.

Also, he probably couldn't escape from that monster—the Mushitsuki he'd fought against at the riverside—as well. He'd been able to get away once, but he had the feeling he would see that monster again.

Was that Mushitsuki also part of the place prepared for him to die?

He was on the verge of death countless times, yet still lived. At the very end he could be killed like trash by a monster he'd just met—

Perhaps this was the perfect ending for a coward like him that succumbed to his fear and tried running away at the very end.

"Coatl Head? Oh, that thing. Wait, is this for TV? The national network? Live broadcast? Yay, I look great on camera right? I welcome any and all scouts!"

As the boy lay on the carpet, unmoving, a stupid-sounding voice reached his ears.

They apparently chose the wrong person to interview. The reporter looked confused at the boy talking in his own pace.

"Well, my grampa's will said not to appear on TV, but never mind that. I'll just choke back my tears and head out for my Hollywood debut—"

Since he was carrying a worn hockey stick, he was probably a hockey player. The boy didn't know any other sort of people who would use hockey sticks. Although he spoke frivolously, the guy on TV had a well-trained body, so he was probably an excellent player.

"…Hihah."

The boy suddenly looked at another direction and wore a bizarre smile. It wasn't quite distorted. Rather, it was on the verge of breaking—an unnatural smile that could be expressed like that.

"Uh…?"

For just an instant, the boy watching could feel something sway inside him.

Rather than paralysis, perhaps it resembled fear. As if the thing inside him gazed at its archnemesis—a vague impression that he couldn't understand.

Seeing the interviewed boy suddenly run off, the reporter hurriedly smoothed it over.

"B-but on the other hand, there are also some voices of protest from residents about this marking fad. That is because due to its popularity, the amounts of graffiti on shutters and doors of the merchant districts have been on the rise—"

The voices from the television overlapped with a light ringing tone.

At first he ignored it. Yet as it continued multiple times, he finally roused his body.

Just by moving a little his entire body ached. With movements like those of a rusted tin toy, he finally opened the glass door.

"Yes?"

Seeing him in his pajamas, the visitor looked like she was taken completely by surprise.

"Eek."

She was a girl with long bangs and glasses that hid her face. She looked to be around his age. Her slim body was clad in a plain dress.

"I-I'm sorry. Umm, it said it was 'CLOSED', but I just have something to take care of…"

"N-no, I'm also sorry. Is it some request?"

"Umm, y-yes. Ah, no, I already made the request, but—"

The girl nodded her head and lifted a large suitcase she'd left outside. However, bumping into the door's threshold, the suitcase opened and its contents spread on the floor.

"Eh—"

She let out a strange voice without thinking.

Expelled from the classic leather suitcase were small toys in the shape of trees, buildings and people.

Not only that. Mixed with the dolls spread on the floor was also—a large amount of rolls of banknotes.

"I-I'm sorry!"

The girl started hurriedly picking up her stuff. Someone as plain-looking as her didn't seem like someone who'd walk around holding that much money.

He also helped her pick up the dolls and the bills. When he raised his face while crawling on the floor, his eyes met with the girl's.

"How kind of you."

A sudden chill assaulted him.

Her bangs and glasses concealed her eyes that were black like the deepest abyss. This gaze, that seemed to swallow him whole, stop his breathing and toy with him—was one that he felt as if he'd seen somewhere before.

"A-also… you might be a-about… as handsome as Akatsuki-kun…"

Mumbling this while hanging her head the girl returned to collecting.

"T-thank you. S-sorry, for making you help me…"

After they finished picking up the suitcase's contents, the girl's tone quickly became overly-familiar.

Wh…what's up with her—

Even after being released from the spell of her incomprehensible eyes, the alarms inside him kept ringing.

He shouldn't get involved with the girl in front of him. Such a premonition rose inside him.

"Is the boss here? I've asked for a job…"

"Sorry, the boss is not present right now… I believe she'd come back by night."

"I see… since she hadn't contacted me, I guess she didn't find that person yet."

The girl raised her face, looking at the corridor behind him.

Turning around and following her gaze, he saw that he'd left the TV on.

"How far will this Coatl Head marking fad spread, and when will it end? We will continue to follow the fad at the forefront—"

The bespectacled girl smiled. Raising her arm, she poked her index finger in the boy's chest.

"Coatl Coatl Para Emile."

While glaring at his eyes, the girl started talking.

"It is an abstract symbol. The people of old worshipped a large symbol that they couldn't carry by hand, so they believed they could seal that power or perhaps borrow part of it. Even psychologically, the act of marking it meant they could control, conceal and manifest new power…"

Pierced by the girl's abyss-like eyes, the boy couldn't move a muscle.

"The Coatl Head symbolizes the morning star in Mexican mythology… the god of revival. How happy would they have been if the power hidden beneath that symbol hadn't been exposed?"

Giggling, the girl distanced herself from him.

"Tell Kirari-san I said hi."

Putting half her body outside, the girl whispered.

"My Burial Method should've worked perfectly… so I pray that you will do your job perfectly as well… tell her that."

Leaving those words behind, the girl weaved out through the office door and was gone.

Now that he couldn't see the mystery girl anymore, he finally slumped in exhaustion. Just by handling a somewhat creepy visitor, his recovered vitality and spirits were taken away.

"What was this just now…"

Grumbling to himself and attempting to go back to the living room, there was another doorbell sound.

Does nobody see the sign?

Although he was angry, he was left with no choice and so returned to the corridor.

Opening the glass door, a girl holding a plastic bag with bread inside puffed her chest.

"The kind lady Momo has purchased the famous fruits custard, yeah! Telling the story of how I managed to sneak away from school during the lunch break is sure to bring tears to your eyes—"

"…"

"Ah! Don't close the door, hey! You're a freeloader! Hey now! Doctor, it's an emergency case! Manager!"

Perhaps he was going to be killed by stress before his wounds fully healed.

While collapsing on the couch, he had a sense of an impending crisis.

The intersection near the station was crowded. Every time the traffic lights overlooking the large billboard changed color, people and vehicles moved ahead like an avalanche.

A large symbol appeared on the billboard's electronic screen.

Coatl Head—

That fad had apparently spread throughout the whole country. Displayed on the billboards were advertisements with pop songs taking advantage of this fad. The lyrics of the song themselves were a commonplace love song, but judging from television it sold well.

And it wasn't just on the billboard.

"Coatl Coatl—"

A girl who looked to be about middle school age passing on the way muttered something to her ring that had the symbol on it. She recited the charm with a serious face; what sorts of emotions was she putting into it?

In bookstores there were magazines with special features about the fad. There was also graffiti of it on power poles, covered by letters that appeared to contain wishes.

"Daiske."

When Tanaka Momo called his name it felt to him slightly different from how it was normally pronounced.

Standing near the crossroad absently, he raised his face.

"Didja see that? On the billboard? That 'Love Charm: Coatl Head' advertisement! That song's great, so listen to it now. It's already my thirteenth time this day, yeah."

While doing meaningless actions like skipping around, Momo pointed at the billboard.

Was that the title…?

He instantly guessed that it wouldn't fit him.

"The only problem's that they're underestimating Coatl Head, I guess. Never mind love, that symbol can solve any problem, yeah!"

This time Tanaka Momo wasn't wearing her usual pajamas. Since it was her day off, she wore a casual shirt and skirt. —However, the design and material of the shirt differed from left to right, and the skirt had seemingly nonfunctional belts hanging from it, so her individuality shone through.

"Hmm…"

He had no interest in the topic, so he simply ignored it.

Although his wounds have healed, he was far from being at full health. He wanted to stay put in the office, but in the end he'd been forcibly dragged out by Momo.

The sleeves of the t-shirt and cargo pants he'd borrowed from Kirari were a bit short, but he was able to wear them with no issue. The gauzes and bandages around his arms and face would probably not stand out that much.

"They're even doing movies, yeah. A pair of star-crossed lovers, reunited by Coatl Head… I've seen it three times already, but if you're really interested—"

"No, not really…"

"If we go this way we'll reach my school. Well, they're still having lessons, but will you come with me? I don't like the design of the totem pole in the staff room. If we want to color it the way I'd like it we have to do it now, while the teachers are not there, yeah."

"If an outsider like me goes there it'll probably cause problems, so nah…"

"Then how about something to eat? I know this really good ramen p—"

"I'm not hungry… and I don't have any money."

"Then where would you like to go?!"

Momo swatted the paper she was holding on the ground. It was a movie ticket.

"I just thought that if you holed up in the office all day you'll grow mold and I even skipped school to take you out! At least make a happy face, yeah!"

"As if I'd grow mold! I was going to house-sit today too! But you've dragged me out here! Stop making people do what you want!"

The pair glared at each other in the middle of the road with people walking around them.

"Do you really wanna house-sit that much? Do you have a house fetish? Why don't you marry that house?"

"Yeah, I'll marry it! I love houses! You've got a complaint about me and the house?"

"You cannot marry houses. Also, I know that Kirarin gave you some money. You thought you'd pretend you don't have any and pull the wool over my eyes but that's not gonna work, yeah."

"You've just started caring for me, so I have to at least watch the house."

He averted his eyes, scratching his head.

"And as for money… I know the office can't spare it. Can't just use it recklessly."

In addition, he'd also seen Kirari paying Momo for her part-time work. That payment, coming in the form of wrinkled bills and small coins, was all the money that the office could muster to pay.

"…"

Momo became silent, picking up the ticket and returned it to her pocket. "I'll pay for it, yeah." Momo had rejected the payment back then.

"Well, we can just talk while walking. Let's go."

"…Sure."

Momo urged him and he nodded. Side by side, they started walking through the crowded street.

Ikarino Kirari had also gone on "errands" and left the office early morning. Day after day, she would only come back late at night.

Noticing a gaze, the boy raised his face.

"…?"

Momo was glaring at his face.

Unlike how she normally was, her eyes were completely locked onto him. He'd seen her like this many times until now, but it caused him a chill this time.

The world Tanaka Momo was seeing was probably completely different than his.

"Say, Daiske."

When she uttered this, her face regained its usual brightness.

"Was one of your parents a foreigner?"

"No—"

He averted his eyes from her.

"They weren't."

"But your eye color is a bit pale. Your body also looks a bit leaner than a pure Japanese. You're as uniquely handsome as Mars, man."

"Mars?"

"A popular figure used as a model for statues. You were probably popular with girls, right?"

"N-not really…"

"You don't have to hide it. Or wait, maybe… are you a runaway, Daisuke? So you don't like going out because if someone recognized you things could turn ugly? Sounds likely, yeah."

"No, that's not—"

There were only very few people who knew his real face. As long as he didn't use his powers as a Mushitsuki, going out just a few times wouldn't get him found, probably.

"Anyway, nobody knows how I look in this town…"

Raising his face, he looked around the town with only his eyes.

Not only there.

No matter where he went, there would probably be no people who knew his "real face".

"—Your profile also looks pretty nice, yeah."

Simultaneous with Momo's voice, something touched his cheeks.

"But sorry to say this, Daiske… Kirarin and I know you!"

The girl wrote something on his cheeks. She did it so quickly he was too surprised to dodge her.

"Wha…?"

"I wrote 'Daisuke' in English. Now you're like me."

"Ah, wait, this is oil-based! I-I can't get it off!"

"Your name is Kusuriya Daisuke. Now everyone will know you, yeah."

Momo held up the marker, raising her index finger.

Giving up on erasing it, he sighed. It was a common name anyhow. Also, there shouldn't be any people in town who know his real name instead of his SEPB codename.

"Now we look like a weird couple…"

"A cou…? T-that's not what I meant to do… yeah…"

Hearing his nonchalant whisper, Momo's cheeks reddened and she lowered her glance.

The pair walked through the crowd aimlessly.

How many hours passed? While looking at the clothes hanging outside second-hand shops, Momo opened her mouth.

"Kirarin is… y'know. She's too kind."

He stayed silent.

"At times even those who came for requests are angry at her. Well, that's understandable. Once she'd been asked to search for a lost cat, but she saw that it made a family with a stray cat, so she let it go. When she investigated a cheating husband and found where it happened, she spoke to the husband in secret to solve the matter. Now that there was no cheating and they became a happily married couple, there was no longer any need to pay her."

There were probably countless such examples. Momo started counting on her fingers.

"She was asked to remove illegally dumped trash, and after wasting time on something that should be done by volunteers, she went over the allotted time, so the money was forfeit. During the construction of an event hall, she fell for the sponsor's sob story and her reward money had been halved. Et cetera, et cetera…"

"That's a serious illness…"

"Also, from time to time, she would hide somewhere and then return very tired or hurt. I think she's taking very special requests. And probably without any compensation."

"Special requests?"

Seeing him questioning this, Momo grinned. She put her finger on her lip, whispering to him in a low voice.

"We accept special requests related to 'insects'—"

"…"

"That's Handyman Kirari☆'s special advertisement. You're also like that… right Daiske?"

As they glared at each other, he couldn't answer.

"You don't seem surprised, yeah. I've met a Mushitsuki once."

Since she didn't fear him, it meant that the Mushitsuki she'd met wasn't a bad one. However, if he'd been the one she met, Momo wouldn't be able to forgive Mushitsuki like this.

"I'm—"

When asked if he was a Mushitsuki, he couldn't answer. Rather than being cautious, he couldn't even reply with yes or no.

"I was a Mushitsuki… would probably be better to say."

"Was?"

"I can't use my power anymore… if I do, I'll never be able to regain control."

The spams that signaled the rampage became fiercer by the day. Kirari had watched him writhing countless times.

Completely losing control of the power inside him was only a matter of time.

"Where I came from, if you had no power you were useless… I don't want to return there, so I ran away… I have no other place to be in."

Strangely, the words came out of his mouth easily.

The fate entrusted upon him, and his dream—he ran away from it all, and exposed his shame. He wouldn't care if anyone saw his pathetic form now.

Momo gazed at his profile. He couldn't possibly tell what she was thinking about and how was the world she was seeing.

The girl extended her hand, touching his chest with her fingertips.

He couldn't see the mark she was drawing with his eyes, but its shape was clear.

Coatl Head.

God's charm that made all wishes come true.

"She'll not throw you away, yeah."

Momo said with a powerful yet clear voice.

Looking at him slightly widening his eyes, she smiled.

"Since Kirarin is endlessly kind, she will not abandon you, Daiske."

"…"

"I might abandon you, though."

With a satisfied smile, Momo said something cold.

"Because I'm not kind. Even my part-time job right now is just making sure Kirari wouldn't be deceived by clients and that she actually gets money. To protect Kirarin I'll be as merciless as I need, yeah."

He smiled wryly.

"Looking at it from Kirari's perspective, aren't you even kinder?"

"I'm not kind at all. I'm a wretched villain."

"Wow, you're blushing."

"I-I'm not! Well, it's fine. For the sake of the argument let's say I'm kind, yeah."

"What do you mean…?"

"If you want me to be kind as well, you'll need me to like you very much. If I like you, then perhaps just a little bit—I'll be colder to other people, and kinder to you, yeah."

Ikarino Kirari was kind to anyone.

Tanaka Momo, meanwhile, would make 100 enemies for the sake of a single person.

Possessing two types of kindness, perhaps these two made a nice combo.

"Still, sounds really tough for her to work as a handyman with that personality."

He spoke as he started walking again.

It was his honest impression. It wasn't a job one could do while simply being kind. Even age-wise it was tough handling an office. Even just working in some fast food restaurant would allow her to make much more money.

Momo's profile suddenly became sullen.

"That's the fault of Akasegawa Group, yeah."

"…Akasegawa Group?"

He recalled there was a company with that name. He heard that the late founder had so much influence that he practically held the business world by their ears.

"They're harassing Kirarin. Her being unable to go to school and working properly are both because they're standing in her way, yeah."

"Why would they…"

"She won't tell me any more than that even if I ask. Apparently something happened in the past between her and the current Chairman, but… Kirarin doesn't resist them no matter what they do and that's just weird, yeah."

Momo jabbed her right and then left fist at the air aiming at the backs of the people walking ahead.

"…"

People had both their past and present.

Kirari also had her story that reached this far. He couldn't meddle in it, and he didn't think he'd be any help, either.

"Ah—"

Momo suddenly changed her expression.

"Sorry, but can you wait a bit?"

She ran ahead, perhaps finding someone she knew in the crowd.

Momo was heading toward the CD shop on the edge of the road. The boy saw her slipping through the automatic door and call out toward a girl inside the shop.

She was a petite girl with an outfit peculiar enough to rival Momo's—wearing a horned hat. She had a marker case like Momo's hanging from her side.

He wasn't able to see clearly from afar, but when Momo called out to the horned girl, she seemed uncomfortable. As if following that, Momo also looked mad. Before long the horned girl shook Momo off and ran out of the store. She rushed toward him, her sepia-colored hair swaying.

Their eyes met.

For an instant, he had an extremely nasty sensation. There was no doubt that he'd never seen her, so why did he feel disgusted as if he just met his lifelong nemesis?

Even the girl herself bared her hatred as she saw him. Perhaps not liking his glare, she grimaced.

Him and the horned girl.

They felt an incomprehensible hostility as they passed one another—

"Momo…?"

Averting his face from the horned girl, he rushed toward Momo who was standing outside the shop.

"What's wrong?"

As he called her, he unconsciously gulped.

"It's—it's nothing—"

There were large tears forming in the sides of her eyes cast down.

"Did that girl… do something to you?"

Black hatred welled up inside him. Just seeing such a cheerful girl start crying made the hatred he felt for the other girl even stronger.

"Don't make that face."

Raising her face, Momo looked at him. Seeing his face reflected in her misty eyes, he gasped.

"It's fine… I just had a bit of a fight with my friend…"

Unable to do anything but stand, he watched Momo biting her lips.

1.03 The Others

Inside the café near the station, Kirari checked the contents of the manila envelope she'd received.

Confirming the number of bills, she handed over receipts in return, bowing.

"Thank you for using our services."

The man sitting on the other side of the table said "No no, you're the one who's helped me" while laughing. His worn-out suit and head full of white hair seemed fitting for someone like him that worked in middle management as a public servant.

"I don't know which big shot is giving that lecture, but they asked us to change the place so suddenly. Just handling construction and obtaining equipment and manpower was trouble enough. If you hadn't been helping us we would've never made it in time for the opening. Seriously, the higher-ups can't just order us to—"

The middle-aged man complained while drinking coffee. "Excuse me," Kirari said as she lowered her head and took the cup in front of her, filling it with iced water.

"It really is a thankless job. Damned if you do, damned if you don't…"

She had received many requests from the man in front of her, who served as the general affairs subsection head. Although her jobs from government offices were few, the payment was assured so it helped her a lot.

However, she knew that it would definitely not continue for long.

"By the way. It's hard to say… we've asked for your help in the shopping district event, but can we cancel that?"

Consequently, when the man suddenly broached the topic she wasn't surprised in the least.

"…Understood. If you ever need me again, call for me."

Without even asking the reason, she meekly lowered her head. The man bent forward, whispering to her.

"Miss Handyman. Have you done something to the Akasegawa Group?"

"…"

"Just between you and me, I've been receiving some pressure. Having those sharks suddenly come to us made even my bosses shake. Do you have any idea?"

"No… sorry for causing you trouble."

Kirari bowed again.

She did have an idea. However, in addition to what happened in the past, she didn't want to complain and cause problems for him.

"Well, once the heat is off I'll ask you again in secret."

Saying this and smiling amicably, the man indeed didn't look like he would make it far in his career.

She felt guilty for taking advantage of his goodwill, but Kirari flung a question at him.

"May I ask you a question?"

"Hmm?"

"There was the explosion incident at the electrical substation… right now, how is the public treating the matter?"

"Oh, that incident… why are you asking?"

"It's a personal matter, but it relates to something different… of course, if it troubles you I will ask no further."

"Hmm. About that, those disaster prevention guys complained about it. Although there weren't any casualties, the police and some fishy people forcibly dug out the materials and took them away—"

The light-mouthed public servant was able to present some information even while keeping it vague.

Hearing his tale, Kirari said her thanks and rose from the seat.

"Oh, and another thing. I don't know if it's some sort of charm or whatever, but they're finding the increasing graffiti troubling. I wanted to ask you to take care of that as well but…"

The man said to her back just as she was leaving. While he was looking out of the windows, his eyes focused on some girls leaving a strange mark on a nearby power pole.

A diagonally-slanted arrow and two lines crossing it.

That symbol was God's charm and could make any wish come true.

"It's Coatl Head."

Kirari said, smiling.

"If you have children, they definitely know about it."

"I'll try asking… I wonder if that could serve as a topic for one of our rare parent-child talks."

As he grabbed his walking stick, the man's expression became a slightly happy smile.

This night, if the man spoke with his children—then those children would talk about it tomorrow with their friends.

And so it would spread.

The marking fad would spread anywhere and everywhere—

"Coatl Coatl Para Emile."

Leaving the café, Kirari passed by the girls reciting the chant near the power pole. Holding the manila envelope, she headed toward a supermarket near the road.

Yet her thinking ground to a halt and she stopped in place.

Paying her bills would probably mean that she could kiss goodbye even the money she'd just received. However, she was late on her payment anyway and she thought of a different way to spend it. —Also, since she'd already received another investigation request on a different matter, she could use the money from that to pay the bills.

Today she could splurge a little bit, buy some nutritious food and go back home. There was also the wounded Kusuriya Daisuke, and since she just finished her work and had an empty stomach she wanted to reward herself.

As she was walking the curtain of night fell and the neon signs around town started lighting up. Her cellphone suddenly rang.

"Hello, Handyman Kirari☆ speaking."

The screen displayed an anonymous number, but she knew the person on the other side.

"Oh, Munakata-san… it has been a long time."

Munakata Kaiji. He was acting as a patron for the Mushitsuki resistance group known as Mushibane. As an entrepreneur, he was well-known only to the people in the know.

"Yes, yes. This isn't a mistake… the boy with that large bag, right. I have introduced him. Yes… is that so. Please tell him to do his best. —Have you found out anything about Haemori Ak—is that so… no, thank you very much. Huh? Snow Fly-san wants to…? No, being greeted by her… I'm not such an important—"

Mushi and Mushitsuki.

Kirari had become involved with these special beings a long time ago.

Well, it was only a handful of years ago.

Yet in those few years Kirari met countless Mushitsuki. Even now, because she was involved with Mushitsuki that much, she had been able to make contacts in many places.

All of it started in middle school, when she'd met a certain Mushitsuki.

"Sorry, I know that Mushibane's also going through a huge change right now. Yes, yes… Munakata-san, how is your health…? Oh, I see."

Noticing some engine noises, she looked ahead, the cellphone still held to her ears.

An abnormally long white limousine parked near Kirari. A black-suited man coming out of it grabbed her arm.

"Please do take care of yourself. Yes, well then—"

Without moving, Kirari said her goodbyes to the other side, and then ended the call.

"Get inside, please."

Not letting her even reply, Kirari was flung into the car.

The door was closed with a thud and at the same time, the limousine started moving.

The interior of the car she'd been taken captive on was almost too spacious to think it was actually the inside of a car. There were long seats on both sides and a table in the center. Visible throughout the soundproof glass in the front were the figures of the driver and the man who forced her inside the limousine.

Kirari scowled at the smell of alcohol filling the car.

"Yaha. Long time, Kirari."

Not including those beyond the soundproof glass, the only ones inside the car were Kirari and another girl her age.

Since she was wearing a party dress, perhaps she was getting back home from some event. The large ornaments decorating her long hair were the same color as her flushed cheeks. She had drowsy eyes as she leaned back on the seat, and near her legs was a walking stick in the shape of an upside-down J.

There was a bottle on the table, and the liquid both inside it and within the glass the girl was holding in her hand was expensive-looking red wine. —Minor drinking was against the law, but no cops would probably be able to arrest her.

While kicking the wine opener that fell on the floor, the girl cackled.

"Aren't you as dirt-poor as always?"

Akasegawa Nanana.

The girl that served as the Chairman of the large company that held many businesses under its umbrella—the Akasegawa Group.

"…"

In contrast to Nanana who sat on the driver's side, Kirari sat in the opposite rear seat.

Inside the wide limousine, the two people sat in opposite sides. —That distance exemplified the changed relationship of the two past friends.

"You look to be well, Nanana."

Kirari, who wore cheap clothes, smiled toward the expensively-dressed Nanana.

"Everything's going swimmingly well; the economy is so good it's a bother."

"I see."

"It looks like your economy is worse than ever, though. Was your job cancelled?"

"…"

"Yahaha. What's up with that weird face? Are you laughing? Are you crying?"

Seeing Kirari make a complex expression, Nanana clapped her hands and laughed.

"Well, I got in your way, of course."

"…"

"Even so I followed the rules in my own way. I didn't hurt you directly and I won't get involved in matters of life or death. Because I find you important, you know? We're friends, after all."

Right, friends.

Kirari not receiving her middle school graduation report, being unable to enroll in high school, being unable to work anywhere so that she had to run an unlicensed handyman business—all of that was because she was standing in Nanana's way.

Being robbed of her future was also because of Nanana.

"That's right."

Kirari smiled.

Even now, she thought of Nanana as her friend. —Even if she knew Nanana calling her a "friend" was a farce.

"Yahahaha."

After flailing her limbs and laughing for a while, Nanana looked at Kirari with teary eyes.

"Aren't you an idiot?"

"…"

"If you'd just told me where the Kind Magician was, we could have stayed friends."

Once, when Kirari had been a middle schooler—

There was a Mushitsuki.

She was a Mushitsuki older than Kirari who had the ability to swap her five senses or her mind with other people.

That Mushitsuki kept using her ability to help strangers. Because she'd always receive pain from other people, every time Kirari met her, her body was covered in wounds. She obviously worked without reward, and even those people whose pain she took didn't know about her.

The girl herself said that this was the only possible thing she could do.

She could do nothing else.

She said that the one who made her notice that was the girl called Akasegawa Nanana.

That was why that Mushitsuki would protect Nanana from the shadows, and Nanana also called her the Kind Magician in admiration.

"…"

It wasn't just Nanana who admired her.

Kirari also admired the Kind Magician.

Or perhaps it would be more precise to say that she sympathized with her. She resembled that Mushitsuki in everything—starting from her not being good at talking and being unable to make a decent living.

That Mushitsuki had taught Kirari many things.

Among those were hand-to-hand fighting, underground knowledge—even lock picking and hacking became useful once she started working as a jack-of-all-trades.

It wasn't just that. Fighting against Mushitsuki, resisting mental attacks and the like, have all saved Kirari from predicaments countless times.

"Won't you give up already? Isn't your complexion bad? Don't you want to have a proper meal?"

Just like her name entailed, the Kind Magician was very kind, and a powerful Mushitsuki.

She had offered up her body for complete strangers and her benefactor Nanana.

Yet just once—she had made a mistake.

Kirari knew the result of this sad news.

Perhaps the Kind Magician herself also knew her fate. That was why she'd taught everything to Kirari.

One day, the Kind Magician suddenly vanished—

Kirari, who knew that reason for it, still hadn't told anything to Nanana.

And Nanana was angry.

Following this betrayal, her friendship turned to hatred.

And Kirari—lost both her friend and her future simultaneously.

"You're helping Mushitsuki secretly… did you think I don't know about that?"

Nanana changed her expression. Since Kirari kept her mouth shut, she apparently changed her method of attack.

"…"

Kirari, who didn't know her parents, had lived in a certain facility, but it had been closed down after the donor organization helping it had shut down.

Immediately after losing everything, Kirari had been saved by the Kind Magician and got taught many illegal methods. Making her livelihood through theft, she met Mushitsuki by coincidence, and ended up helping them.

However, after being found by the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau—she met the person called Haji Keigo.

When the youth with the cynical smile saw Kirari, he looked like he was scheming something. They didn't speak much, but he gave Kirari living expenses. For some reason not even Nanana could stand in his way. She still remembered how vexed Nanana had been back then.

Ever since, Kirari spent her days as a handyman, and also helped Mushitsuki in need. Now, in addition to her vast connection network, some Mushitsuki even heard rumors and came to her by themselves.

Perhaps if she hadn't met the Kind Magician, she'd been able to live as a normal girl.

One could also say that Mushitsuki were the root of evil that stole her future.

Even so she kept helping Mushitsuki—

Perhaps because of a single, worthless reason.

"You keep worrying about Mushitsuki even now, right?"

Her past friend spoke, wearing a malicious smile.

"Aren't you also worried about the incident at the electric substation? Maybe it's related to Mushitsuki as well-"

Kirari's heart skipped a bit.

She carelessly let it show on her face. Nanana grinned.

"Yaha. I knew it. If you tell me where the Kind Magician is, I'll help you."

The Mushitsuki born in this town rose to the back of Kirari's mind.

That Mushitsuki had a problem that was incomparable to any of those she'd met before.

And it was also—a Mushitsuki that must never be allowed to exist.

She hated her fate for having met someone like that just this once.

It was a hopeless event that she couldn't deal with. However—

"…"

"Is something weird?"

Seeing Kirari's smile, Nanana grimaced.

It had all ended already.

That Mushitsuki that shouldn't have been born was already gone.

No one, no matter who they were, could reveal their gravestone.

By disappearing from the world, that Mushitsuki could be said to have been saved—

"So stupid. Helping strangers and even Mushitsuki… one day they're going to kill you."

Nanana spoke hatefully.

It was true.

By saving Mushitsuki, she would gain nothing. And so she affirmed it.

"Yes, it is stupid."

"Yes, it's stupid. Stupid, stuuupid. Yahaha. Stupid Kirari!"

With her drunkenness, Nanana flailed her limbs and raised laughter.

"I'm too stupid, so I can't even pretend to be stupid. …Unlike you, Nanana."

The movements of the clamoring Nanana stopped in place. —For the young Nanana to survive in the business world controlled by ambition, she knew how to deal with things in unorthodox methods.

Even though she knew there was nothing she could do.

Even if she knew she was being stupid.

Kirari probably kept saving Mushitsuki—for the same reason like that friend in front of her.

And for her it was a hopeless reason.

Nothing more than a simple, single emotion.

"Say, Nanana."

Along with her smile, Kirari inquired.

"Do you hate Mushitsuki?"

Nanana—the girl who, despite always scheming these obstructions, never stood in her way when it had to with Mushitsuki—turned around. Perhaps due to her excessive laughter, there were tears in her eyes.

The girl who came to like Mushitsuki just like Kirari spoke in a hoarse voice.

"—I loathe Mushitsuki."

The limousine stopped in a road near Kirari's office.

When she got off, the limousine left immediately.

"…"

Seeing off the white car, Kirari felt a certain anxiety.

Although she'd been able to act strong in front of Nanana, her bad premonition wasn't gone.

According to what she heard from the general affairs subsection head, it was obvious that there were people investigating the explosion incident at the electrical substation.

"People are trying to find the Mushitsuki of the Substation Ruins…"

Mumbling, she gazed at the townscape visible from the road.

Mixed with neon lights, she could see the symbol drawn in fluorescent colors here and there.

The charm that could make anything come true, Coatl Head—

Kirari hadn't started being cautious only recently. Ever since the incident at the substation, she never let her guard down.

Because of this, she was convinced.

"There are multiple groups… at the very least, more than two forces are hiding in this town—"

Kirari could definitely feel the presence of the invisible searchers.

And all of them were probably dreadfully cautious and shrewd.

"What are they trying to do, searching for a Mushitsuki that's no longer here…?"

The Mushitsuki born in this town was gone.

Even so, if there was someone who was trying to expose their tomb—Kirari would continue hiding it.

Forever.

She wouldn't let anyone touch that gravestone—

"…?"

Having returned to the office, she tilted her head.

Underneath the starry sky, there was a single shadow that stood there as if waiting for her.

Waiting for Kirari under the building of the office.

She knew the meaning of that action.

"Do you have a request?"

Grinning, Ikarino Kirari received her client.

Notes

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