Mushi Uta:Volume 13

Novel Illustrations

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  Cover

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  Color Page 2

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  Color Page 3

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  Page 54

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  Page 137

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  Page 195

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  Page 431

Prologue: 0.00 The Others

There is the supernatural being called “Mushi”.

Having suddenly appeared more than ten years ago, they began possessing boys and girls. By eating their dreams—the desire to do or become something—they then gave their hosts varied powers in exchange. Since their appearance resembled insects, they were named Mushi.

Mushi and those they possessed, called Mushitsuki, did not come out into the light. Although people whispered about them and hated them, the government kept denying their existence.

However, circumstances were changing.

Those who birth Mushitsuki, called the Original Three.

One among them, Shinpu, had driven a metropolis into a complete cessation of activity.

“Soon, the deadline of 48 hours will pass.”

Akamaki City, the city that carried the central functions of Japan.

The municipal dome that still bore some scars from Shinpu’s rampage on it currently housed the temporary operational headquarters of the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau.

The gathering of Mushitsuki managed to defeat Shinpu.

Following this, however, the SEPB and the entire country became exposed to a far more serious threat.

“I worry about the progress of the three operations meant for C’s annihilation.”

Vice-Deputy of the SEPB, Miguruma Yaeko, inquired her subordinates with a mild tone.

“How are the transmissions from each operation?”

Inside the tent installed on the grounds, boys and girls facing communication equipment all turned to her.

“Until now, contact has been suspended—but just now, we managed to restore the connection, albeit an unstable one.”

All those people whose faces were covered by mechanical goggles were Mushitsuki. SEPB was a government agency that captured Mushitsuki, trained them, then used them as pawns to capture further Mushitsuki.

“Incoming communications from Operations 1 and 2! I’ll connect them to the speaker!”

The white coats turned toward the devices again.

“I am certain they will answer my expectations.”

Miguruma Yaeko smiled kindly. The mole near her eye slightly moved.

The Mushitsuki dispatched to Operation 1 and Operation 2 were elites among Mushitsuki. Since she loved them from the bottom of her heart, they were sure to fulfill their duties.

“In any case, if even one of them fails—”

Painful-sounding breaths were emitted from the speakers, mixed with static.

“Then C will likely destroy this country.”

Following Miguruma’s declaration of destruction, she finally heard the reports coming from the units executing the operations.

Operation 1.

The SEPB’s elites were gathered in order to defeat a certain Mushitsuki.

Led by Blaze Class Rank 2 member, Terasu, the suicide corps succeeded in reaching their destination.

It was the facility that was originally used as the SEPB’s Central Headquarters. This spacious underground facility, also called the Underground Fort, contained that monster at its lowest layer.

Super Class Rank 1, C.

She was a Mushitsuki, but she absorbed the power of Shinpu, who could be said to be her parent. As a result of her ability to control electricity and electronic data being used by Miguruma Yaeko, she swallowed a power much too strong for her and even now kept evolving.

The suicide corps managed to reach C, who was engaged in lying on a transparent bed while fully nude.

However, as Terasu’s group arrived there, they were welcomed by—

“N-no way—”

Terasu, who was covered in wounds from head to toes, had already resolved herself to self-destruct along with C—and yet this situation was too cruel.

All she and her group could see around were swarms of Fallen, those whose Mushi had been killed and were made to lose their emotions, or those who supposedly died before.

They were the Revived—

Using the dreams embedded in the clear Bed C was using, she managed to retrieve only their power to become Mushitsuki again.

“Ope…”

Tears gushed out of Terasu’s eyes.

It wasn’t just her. Every member of the suicide corps lost their fighting spirit and kneeled on the ground.

They already wasted their stamina down to the very last drop. They would never have the power to be able to resist this number of Mushitsuki.

On top of that—

C’s form lying on the Bed vanished for a split instant. It soon reappeared but was unstable, with static running through it.

Their final goal, C’s main body, no longer remained there—

Commander of the unit formed to annihilate C, Terasu, put a hand on her goggles.

“Operation 1… has failed—”

Could do nothing but announce this.

Operation 2.

The SEPB’s strongest Mushitsuki, Blaze Class Rank 1 Kakkou, had become a Fallen.

Therefore, there was now a need to call on Sleeping Beauty to become the new leader.

And the one given the duty to awaken Sleeping Beauty—

“Harukiyooo!”

Was the Irregular Class Rank 1 Mushitsuki who took pride in his peerless strength and insolent behavior, Harukiyo.

This man, who was also nicknamed the devil of flames, who was feared by all other Mushitsuki—was now being held aloft by a slim girl.

Her white body exposed, the girl grasped his neck and held him up.

Her long hair hid her body and she held a silver spear. She was a Mushitsuki who fell asleep in a past battle as well as the final designated Rank 1. Sleeping Beauty—Arisu.

With a vacant expression on her face, Arisu’s body was being covered by a pattern glowing silver.

“No way…”

Kuzesaki Ume, who was Harukiyo’s companion, watched the scene with shock.

Sleeping Beauty was supposed to be an ally.

Even so she easily defeated the devil that came to her and looked at him emotionlessly. Next to Ume, his grievously injured comrade was foaming bloody bubbles.

Also, there was something else coming from inside the silver cocoon that contained Sleepy Beauty—

It slithered out of it.

A swarm of small, black grains began crawling forward.

“—”

A chill ran through Ume’s spine.

The reason for Arisu to be asleep—was the Undying.

She had sealed the demonic Mushi that could never die.

Looking closely, what crawled from the cocoon was not grains, but a massive swarm of tardigrades.

“The Undying Mushi…”

The saying “let sleeping dogs lie” would be an understatement here.

He came to realize they touched something that should have remained untouched, and unleashed the horrifying disasters of Arisu and the Undying.

And the dependable devil—was no longer there.

While Ume was being crushed by this inescapable despair…

“O-Operation 2…”

Behind him, he heard a youth with a stubble on his chin leak a stiff voice.

“Has failed—”

Two voices echoed inside the tent Miguruma Yaeko was waiting in.

“O-Operation 1… has failed…”

“O-Operation 2… has failed…”

A strained silence befell the tent.

Two out of three operations ended in failure.

No one could utter a word.

“W-we must escape—”

“Where to?! Our path of retreat is full of fairies…!”

“W-Waaaah!”

“This can’t be, Harukiyoooo!”

“…Witch’s dying…”

“S-Sleeping Beauty’s looking at us—”

“Fuckyou!”

Only shouts and yells could be heard from the speakers.

In the tent were Miguruma Yaeko, her subordinates, as well as the head of each branch. There was also the group led by the Vice-Minister as representatives of the government.

All of them felt and were stunned by the despair broadcast from the speakers.

“Uh…aaah…”

The first one to fall to their knees was the Vice-Minister. He held his head and trembled.

He would probably have to tell the truth to his higher-ups following this.

There was nothing more they could do—

Looking down the sweating, trembling Vice-Minister, Miguruma wore a gentle grin.

“How unfortunate for this to end like that, Vice-Minister.”

Rounding his eyes, the man looked up at Miguruma.

Seeing that even now her smile was unchanged, the branch heads also wore the same expressions as the Vice-Minister and glared at her.

“Unfortunate, you say… y-you bitch—”

“Since it turned out like this, let up put our hopes with Operation 3.”

Wearing the Smile of Shackles that froze anyone gazing upon it, Miguruma ignored their stares.

Operations 1 and 2 ended in failure.

Out of the remaining Rank 1s that could resist the newly born Super Class Rank 1, C—

Lady Bird had already died and Kakkou became a Fallen.

Harukiyo was defeated by Sleeping Beauty and Sleeping Beauty herself seemed to be undergoing Maturation.

The remaining hope—was with one person alone.

“My beloved Fuyuhotaru will surely save the world.”

An electronic sound resounded and one of the members facing the communication devices raised their voice.

“Incoming transmission from the members of Operation 3! I’ll connect to the speakers!”

The tent’s interior was tense.

Mixed with slight static, someone’s voice was heard.

“O-Operation 3…”

While everyone gulped, Miguruma Yaeko alone was calm.

Even among the only five Rank 1s, Fuyuhotaru was abnormal.

She would never hesitate—

Back when she’d driven the SEPB to the brink of extinction and even after she was revived, she remained the same.

No amount of people would be able to stop her powers.

The sole person able to do so, Kakkou, was no longer there.

Right—the boy called Kakkou, who was Kusuriya Daisuke, was no longer there.

“Has f—”

While listening to the report of Operation 3, Miguruma Yaeko widened her smile.

1.00 OPS3 Part 1

Several hours passed since the organization Mushibane headed by Anmoto Shiika agreed to take one of the operations of C’s annihilation.

The remaining time was 40 hours.

Even that time limit was dependent on the progress of Operation 2. Because they had to defeat Oogui before Harukiyo managed to wake Sleeping Beauty.

Their mission was to stop C from repeating what she did to Shinpu with Oogui as well, absorb her and evolve further.

Also, to stop the Undying Mushitsuki from getting revived, which would mean Oogui becoming immortal as well.

Shiika’s challenge could be said to be the most difficult one.

“Ah.”

She was inside a cutting-edge cinema theatre at Akamaki City.

They were just about to withdraw from that place, which also served as Mushibane’s hideout.

Shiika stumbled on the stairs. She hurriedly put her hand against the wall, so she didn’t fall down.

“Are you alright?”

The man with large goggles covering his face called from behind. He was the SEPB combatant called Kabuto.

Operation 3 was to be executed by Mushibane. However, to maintain the joint efforts with the SEPB and act as a liaison, Kabuto had been dispatched to Shiika’s group.

“Y-yeah.”

Turning around, Shiika saw her face reflected on Kabuto’s goggles.

Her childish face—she was told a lot that she didn’t look seventeen years old at all—was wrought with worry. She tried to at least grow out her hair to appear more mature, but it didn’t have much effect.

“We’re heading to an important operation now, pull yourself together.”

Akasegawa Nanana mocked Shiika. She was a girl of the same age who always carried a cane the shape of an upside-down letter J. She was the cinema’s owner, as well as Mushibane’s patron, the chairman of the great conglomerate called the Akasegawa Group.

“You’re the one pulling this operation together, so you have to act more leaderlike. Yaha.”

Leader.

Hearing that word, her heartbeat rose.

Nanana said this jokingly, but it was no joke.

She was betting on the lives of all Mushitsuki there.

No, perhaps she was putting even the entire country’s fate on the line as well—

“R-right.”

“Snow. May I have a moment?”

While walking, a girl approached Shiika. With her long, slender body and straight, long hair, she brought to mind a Japanese doll. She was one of Mushibane’s admins, called Halensis.

“I’m thinking of going around all regions from now.”

“Huh?”

“There’s still some remaining manpower for fighting among the Mushitsuki rescued by us Mushibane. I want to go around our hideouts and try to convince them to cooperate. We will need as many fighters as possible to face Oogui.”

“T-that’s true.”

Shiika agreed, but Halensis kept staring at her, unmoving.

“…? Err?”

“Is it really fine for me to go?”

Apparently, she was waiting for permission.

Being suddenly pressed for a decision, Shiika unconsciously looked around her.

Her eyes met with the boy walking next to her.

“You decide.”

He was Aijisupa, the boy who served as Shiika’s bodyguard. Although he was often misunderstood because of his sharp eyes and blunt tone, he didn’t mean it this way. His trademark headband was camo-patterned today.

“T-then—please do that.”

“Roger that.”

Nodding, Halensis left Shiika.

It was fine for me to approve, right…?

In her heart, Shiika felt this doubt.

Shiika was not originally the kind of person meant for leading people. However, since she inherited her late friend’s will to become Mushibane’s leader, she needed to decide on this.

Was her decision correct or mistaken?

She was constantly anxious, but she was definitely going to need to make more and more important decisions from now on. She was worried whether she could make the right choice—but even if she was wrong, she couldn’t let it out in the open.

“—Are we now headed to Alpha?”

In order to conceal the anxiety in her heart, Shiika spoke.

They were about to leave the movie theater.

Mushibane’s Mushitsuki as well as the few SEPB members including Kabuto all gathered there. They were getting on buses prepared for transport by Nanana one after another.

“But I… don’t know where Alpha is.”

“I was not made aware of it, either.”

Hearing Shiika’s words, the oldest person there, Namie, nodded as well.

Namie used to be a high-ranking Mushitsuki in the SEPB, but she had decided to follow after Shiika and put herself into Mushibane. With her strong gaze and supple body, this woman made an impression not unlike a member of the big cat family, such as a leopard or a tiger.

“If we let too many people know of Alpha’s whereabouts, there will be those who aim for him. —Just like back then when it was snatched away by that Kanon-sama cult.”

A white limousine parked next to Shiika and the rest.

As Nanana approached it, the door opened. Her secretary was inside.

“I’m the only one who knows. Alpha still remains asleep, but his body is weakened. He’s in a specially created medical facility.”

Nanana said this, then looked to the side.

A girl dressed in an exotic dress and holding a cellphone full of straps contorted her expression. She was one of Mushibane’s admins, Lucifera.

Right—she was an admin. That past form was the most accurate.

“We’re going to see Alpha as the condition for the deal made by a certain spy, are we not? You’re not going to grumble later about him being no use because he’s asleep, right?”

“R-right. It’s perfectly fine…”

Lucifera nodded, looking uncomfortable.

“As long as you let us meet Alpha-san, we will bring you Oogui’s bait—Ebina Yuu-san.”

Shiika stealthily bit her lips so that no one would notice.

This Ebina Yuu that Lucifera spoke about was one of Shiika’s few friends.

They were going to use Shiika’s friend as bait for Oogui—a lure to capture this Original Three, since they normally couldn’t tell when and where she would appear.

Although there was no other way, Shiika obviously felt resistance to that idea.

“Yuu-chan…”

She mumbled.

She should prioritize the current strategy over her personal feelings. This was Shiika’s duty as the leader, and she knew it was the right thing.

Even so—if she relaxed her guard, her sentimentality might show itself.

“What is it, Shiika? Let’s go.”

Being urged by Nanana from inside the limousine, Shiika came back to her senses.

“C-coming.”

Following Shiika, all Mushibane admins rode the limousine.

The limousine and buses all left the cinema.

“Let us not reveal Alpha to the SEPB.”

Inside the vertically long car, Namie spoke.

“Eh, B-but…”

While everyone there nodded, Shika spoke gingerly.

“Since we’re cooperating with the SEPB now, we shouldn’t hide…”

“You idiot.”

Nanana looked dumbfounded.

“Alpha is a clue about the birth of Mushi, you know? Once they know that Mushibane has it in their possession, do you really think that Miguruma Yaeko will leave it alone? We can just tell that Kabuto or what’s-his-face that’s following us that this is just one of our plans to defeat Oogui.”

“Yeah, that’s true. We have to cooperate in order to prevent the worst-case scenario, but still—”

Lucifera spoke rapidly in her usual tone, but then she came back to her senses. Noticing the gazes of the admins on her, she spoke more awkwardly.

“W-we can’t tell if that woman set up something to be able to use that to her advantage as well…”

“Right…”

Shiika agreed. She almost chose the wrong answer.

The Original Three were scary, and since C was trying to take them in—she could be said to be much scarier, completely unlike the time Shiika had briefly seen her.

However, adding even the woman called Miguruma Yaeko to that—she was clearly an abnormal person.

Shiika had once met Miguruma directly. Even back then she knew at a glance that this wasn’t a person she could ever hope to understand. Shiika heard more than enough from the people around her about how much of scary woman Miguruma was.

SEPB and Mushibane had been bitter enemies for many years.

Both were now cooperating against a common enemy, but it might take them more time to truly be able to understand each other.

And one of the causes of their need for time to understand each other—

Also related to Kakkou’s dropping out.

He was a Mushitsuki who held the same dream as Shiika and was also a Rank 1.

He left the stage in the midst of the fight, casting an indelible shadow on Shiika.

“—We’re here.”

After riding for some hour or so, Nanana wore a mischievous smile.

The limousine parked.

“Eh…”

Coming off the car, Shiika raised a shocked voice.

Within spacious premises there were lines of several buildings.

Almost all of them had unusual shapes. There was one with a triangular roof like a pyramid, or one enshrined within a perfect sphere.

There were walking paths created among the lawn and all sorts of objet d'arts placed here and there. There were also intertwined human dolls, as well as blocks placed on each other haphazardly.

Although it was her first time in a such a place, Shiika somehow realized how to call the scenery in front of her eyes.

“A museum…?”

It was clear that her mumble represented the same thoughts as all other members of Mushibane standing there.

Nanana spun her cane and turned to Shiika.

“Welcome to the up-and-coming museum managed by the Akasegawa Group.”

Making an elegant curtsey, she grinned.

“No one would think we’re hiding Alpha here, right?”

1.01 OPS2 Part 2

It was apparently the day of the week the museum was closed.

There were no signs of life in the completely silent premises. Well, the entirety of Akamaki City had been issued an evacuation order anyway; there were no people who’d come to leisurely browse the works of art.

Having said that, it didn’t mean there were no people at all.

A uniformed security guard was patrolling around. It’d sound nice to say he was wary of people using the evacuation notice to steal things, but it was obvious from the swelling of his chest that he was hiding weapons under his uniform. It meant that there was a reason for there to be such strict guard to the extent of going against the law.

“…”

The security guard walked through the narrow corridor. He was a large man who’d look just like a professional wrestler, if not for his uniform. Passing so close to him that they were likely to feel the breaths leaked from his thick lips—

“They” walked through.

The large security guard did not even look at her and her companions.

“…”

There were surveillance cameras in the corridor’s corners.

However, they passed under it with no issues whatsoever.

There were no sirens.

As they walked a little, a wide space appeared. She understood the meaning for it and gave her companion orders.

Her field of vision rose and they advanced such that their heads nearly grazing the ceiling. Most likely, the gravity sensors installed on the floor did not let anyone know of intruders.

“…”

I’m like some gentleman thief from movies or manga, she thought of herself cynically.

That kind of role wasn’t bad at all.

However, her aim was not a work of art or any treasure.

While looking at the building’s structures and the deployment of guards and the like, she looked for her destination. She knew that what she was looking for required a lot of electricity and space. While calculating the route backwards from the museum’s power generator and interpreting the psychological components from the positions of the guards protecting it, she was able to naturally reach her goal.

Looking from the outside, it was nothing more than a gallery meant to display paintings in a circular corridor. This structure, covered in small, hexagonal windows all around the building, was like a giant beehive.

However, there was actually no desk installed to admit visitors in the very interior of the vast premises.

Slipping past the eyes of the security guards, they dove into the beehive.

Floor B1F.

Two brawny guards were stationed in front of the single door at the end of a long corridor.

“…”

She approached one of the guards and reached out with a hand.

“Ugh!”

“What is it?”

Seeing that his fellow guard suddenly crouched on the spot, the other one looked puzzled.

She nimbly slipped behind his back and touched him as well.

“Ah…!”

“—Open this door. If any contact comes from the outside, report that everything’s normal.”

Her husky voice that couldn’t be called beautiful in the least echoed through the corridor.

The two guards grimaced and held their heads. With abnormal sweat pouring out of them, they held their heads.

“Uuuh… roger that—”

“T-there’s no problem… no problem here…”

His face wrought in anguish, the security guard swiped his card through the door’s lock.

The thick metallic door opened.

Without a moment delay the group slipped inside.

“What is it?”

The men in work clothes all turned toward the door, but there was no one there.

The room’s interior was crammed full of electronic devices such as monitors, dashboards and control panels. She knew that these machines were all some sort of monitoring instruments.

What were they monitoring?

The answer to that question was screened on the monitor.

At a glance it looked like a young man sleeping peacefully.

“Hey, what is it?”

“Did something happen?”

There were three men in work clothes inside this monitoring room. They called toward the security guards on the other side of the door. All of them were clearly researchers that had no physical strength.

“Wah…?”

“Ugh!”

Two of the men inside grimaced and fell to their knees.

As she reached out toward the remaining one, he turned around, sensing her presence.

“Wha—”

From his point of view it probably looked as though a thin arm appeared from empty space.

A crimson silhouette floated behind the work clothes man.

A red queen bee.

This small, ethereal bee stabbed its sharp needle into the man’s nape.

“Uuugh…!”

Along with a cry of pain, the man squatted down.

Amplifying the feelings lying within the stung man, she robbed his rational thinking. That was all her boring ability did. However, depending on the usage, it was a convenient power that could manipulate people like puppets for a short while.

“Let us pass. There’s no problem.”

“T-there’s no… problem…”

One of the men wearing work clothes operated the machinery while drooling.

The door in the back of the monitoring room opened.

As the group of girls passed through the door—they found a gigantic pedestal there. This space was about as large as a high school gymnasium and the center of the pedestal was filled with machinery.

A gigantic life-support system.

A lone person was lying on the pedestal.

He was a pale-faced youth. Everything from the neck down was hidden by machinery, but his face looked Asian. His soft-looking hair had a thin color and his lips looked just as pale.

A colorless and transparent youth.

This was the impression he brought to her. Even his very existence seemed thin.

“Hello there.”

Viewing her goal, the girl and her companions finally revealed themselves.

First, a grotesque-looking monster appeared, spreading two wings that swelled like balloons. Appearing from within them were four girls.

“We finally meet, Mr. shithead original Mushitsuki.”

Saying this, she—Konomura Chami—looked down at the youth. She was petite and her short hair’s tips were sticking out in all directions. Her eyes covered by rimless glasses looked scary and, completely unlike the colorless man in front of her eyes, were filled with desire.

Next to Chami, a long-haired girl also looked down at the youth.

“…So he’s Alpha…”

The girl clad in the SEPB’s white long coat was Konoha. She had a gloomy expression and tone of voice. She was the host of the Mushi that concealed Chami’s group and brought them all the way there. Konoha’s Mushi excelled in camouflage abilities that allowed it to conceal its existence from the surroundings, as well as a searching ability that allowed her to view her targets from afar.

“We ended up lying to Shiika… is that really fine?”

Mumbling this with an anxious expression was a girl even smaller than Chami.

Her name was Ebina Yuu. She wasn’t a Mushitsuki like Chami or Konoha, but a genuine normal civilian. With her braids and glasses, she looked like a rather plain middle schooler.

Chami glared at Yuu with a side glance.

“Leaving Fuyuhotaru aside, that Akasegawa Nanana would never agree to our conditions so easily. If push comes to shove, she might use Alpha as bait to try and take you by force. After all, our side has nearly zero fighting power.”

“S-Shiika will definitely hold her side of the deal!”

Yuu argued back, but Chami did not concern herself with that anymore.

“Well, I was prepared for being shown to a completely irrelevant place and getting ambushed by Mushibane… but I’m grateful to them actually leading us to Alpha’s hiding place. They’re probably underestimating us, thinking we’re not gonna find out exactly where he’s hidden, though.”

Mushibane had two frightening forces at their disposal—Fuyuhotaru’s violence and Akasegawa Nanana’s wealth.

So they were probably wary of people like Chami who worked from behind the scenes. Although they’d once been outmaneuvered by the unforeseen forces of the Kanon cult, the conceit of the strong wasn’t something so easy to get rid of.

“Right about now, Lucifera and Satou Youko should be drawing Mushibane’s attention. Let’s draw whatever information from Alpha we can in the meantime.”

Konomura Chami would not get conceited.

Compared to the three strongest forces—the SEPB, Mushibane and Harukiyo—she was a mere small fry; she was fully aware that she was nothing more of a supporting role at best in the battle between Mushitsuki.

Even Chami’s servants were all lacking any fighting capabilities.

Chami’s group was weak.

Because they were weak—that fact could become their weapon.

“The SEPB, Mushibane and Harukiyo see nothing but C right now. There’s a lotta stuff we have to do while that’s happening… but, leaving that aside, we can’t forget about this guy. We’ll grasp the core of the secret of Mushi—that is, why Mushi are born into this world…!”

One day, she would snatch the seat of the protagonist—

Chami, who ended up harboring a dream larger than herself, would make it come true with her own methods.

For that sake she was willing to deceive and use anyone she could.

“…But with Alpha asleep like that, we can’t really…”

“I’m aware of that. —Chiharu!”

Chami turned around.

The last person among the four of them, Ayukawa Chiharu, stood there.

She was an attractive beauty with long hair and a slender body. The kind of bright and beautiful girl who’d draw people’s attention merely by standing there and smiling, whether it was in a street corner or on stage.

No—it would be more correct to say that she’d been that girl.

“…”

As Ayukawa Chiharu stood there silently, her expression was completely changed from before, lacking any vitality. She looked just like a Mushitsuki whose Mushi was killed—like a Fallen—but she was no Mushitsuki. The necklace dangling from her neck had a golden ring hanging from it.

“Hey! Earth to Chiharu!”

Chiharu raised her face absentmindedly. She looked back at Chami’s face, but then looked away.

“Why you little…!”

“Wah!”

Chami swung her arm without thinking and Yuu hurriedly stopped her.

“V-violence is bad! Chiharu-san’s still in shock…!”

“Why are you still depressed at this point! You gotta accept reality by now!”

Chami spat with clear anger.

“Kakkou’s a Fallen! Your cute brother dropped out from the battle! You need to acknowledge that already!”

Visible from Chiharu’s profile, a long tear streaked down from her eye.

Ayukawa Chiharu was the biological sister of the Rank 1 Mushitsuki, Kakkou.

At the same time—she also used to be one of the Original Three, Sanbikime.

Meaning, the person who turned Kakkou into a Mushitsuki was Chiharu herself.

“…hy… did Daisuke…”

A barely audible mutter leaked from the side of Chiharu’s mouth.

“Why him… and not me…”

“You—shithead!”

Chami’s anger instantly reached its boiling point.

Chiharu, who loved her brother, always blamed herself for making him into a Mushitsuki. The mere fact he became Fallen made it spiral out of control.

Hearing the news about Kakkou’s dropout, Chiharu did not cry and yell.

She simply confined herself into a world full of self-accusation and self-hatred.

She made no move at all. She ate nothing. She said nothing. —It was the kind of situation where she was even barely able to keep breathing thanks to her autonomic nerves.

“Your necklace has Sanbikime in it!”

Chami grabbed the necklace hanging from Chiharu’s neck.

“If Alpha’s useless, then Sanbikime…! If we brought together two of those who were present when Mushi were born, one of them might wake up! I bet on this and came all the way here! It can’t end here with nothin’ happening at all!”

Chiharu didn’t even look at Chami.

“We have two people who know about the secret of Mushi’s birth right in front of our eyes…! This isn’t the time to lose heart because both of them are asleep!”

Angry at the lethargic Chiharu, Chami thrust her away. She stumbled backwards, falling to her rear. Yuu rushed over to her.

“S-stop being so violent!”

Yuu covered for Chiharu.

“Why are you always so angry! You should be gentle to her especially now…!”

“If I could win by being gentle, I’d be as gentle as possible! But I’m not some kinda monster like the Rank 1s or Miguruma! If I don’t sharpen my wits through anger, I’ll never be able to outwit them! Even without that, continuing as we are means Miguruma’s plans will come through with all their consequences!”

“Eh? By Miguruma-san’s plans, what do you—“

Yuu was puzzled, but then something happened.

A single man dressed in work clothes appeared from the door connected to the monitoring room.

“Hmm? Hey, you lot. No one ordered you to come inside—“

The work clothes man stood in front of the calling Chami.

“UuuUuuh—“

His rationality robbed by Chami’s ability, the man looked as pained as before. He leaked copious amounts of sweat and held his head, face twisted in anguish.

Tears gushed from his eyes, and in those tears—

Crackle.

Pale sparks erupted.

“Ha?”

Chami furrowed her brows.

An electrical discharge burst from the man’s tears.

It instantly gathered in the air, assuming the form of small butterflies.

And those butterflies were—

“C-butterflies—”

Chami mumbled in shock.

They were butterflies with the letter C on their small wings.

“This guy—was boobytrapped—”

Chami only now noticed her misunderstanding.

“The ones who set up a trap weren’t Mushibane—”

The flapping c-butterflies touched the life support system.

A moment later, the space Alpha was lying on was wrapped in a pale flash.

“Kuh…!”

“Eeek!”

“Uh…!”

Since Chami’s group lacked fighting abilities, they had no way to resist. Their eyes blinded by the flash, it took everything they had to cover their eyes with their hands.

The flash and the impact were instant.

After several moments passed, Chami gingerly opened her eyelids.

“…?”

She was resolved for death, but felt no pain. Even as she made sure using her eyes that still had the afterimage of the flash burned into them, she couldn’t see even a single wound on her body. Her servants were the same.

Chami gasped and looked at Chiharu’s necklace.

“…Sanbikime!”

Since C had become a Super Class Rank 1 and lost her personality, she would try to absorb Sanbikime.

C’s aim was definitely Sanbikime—or so she thought.

“…”

Chiharu, like always, did nothing but stare into empty air.

The necklace on her neck also looked exactly the same as before.

“W-what on earth is—”

As if to overlap with Chami’s unconscious voice, a shrill siren began ringing.

“Alpha’s life support system…!”

That lightning strike had apparently had an effect on the life support system. From what she could see of Alpha’s peaceful sleeping face, he had not received any serious damage, but the alarms started sounding.

“Doesn’t look like she targeted Alpha too…? In the first place, if she really set up a trap then she could handle Alpha whenever and however she’d like to—”

Why had C embedded this trap here? And what had she done just now?

She didn’t know her exact aim, but for Chami this was something she definitely couldn’t accept.

“Chiharu…!”

As the alarms rang, Chami grabbed Chiharu.

“What happened to Sanbikime! Did something happen to it right now? And if you’re saying that nothing’s happened, that’s weird in and of itself!”

She shook the idle Chiharu with force.

“C’s aiming for the Original Three! And yet—why had she done nothing?!”

“Chami…! If we don’t escape right now, Mushibane’s going to come…!”

Konoha tried pulling Chami away, but she ignored her, yelling at Chiharu again.

“Chiharu! Answer me!”

“…longer here…”

Chiharu’s mouth loosened. She wore a slovenly smile, completely unlike how she was before.

“…Aria’s no longer here…”

Chami felt goosebumps over her entire body.

“…You tricked me?”

“Chami! Hurry…!”

Konoha managed to tear Chami away from Chiharu by force.

“Yuu…!”

Konoha called to Ebina Yuu.

However, for some reason Yuu was unmoving. She stood in place, completely frozen.

Chiharu despaired while Yuu was paralyzed.

Leaving those two behind, Konoha tried covering herself and Chami with her Mushi.

The moment the Mushi’s power erased their form, Chiharu raised her face.

“You also lied to me… Chami-chan…!”

Chami and Chiharu.

The two girls glared at each other.

“You told me you’d never let Daisuke die—or become a Fallen…!”

“Chiharuuu!”

The girl’s shout of anger and the ringing alarm.

Alpha’s bedroom, where these two voices mixed, was busted in by Shiika and the rest of Mushibane.

1.02 OPS3 Part 3

The first thing that surprised Shiika was Alpha’s unexpected hiding place.

It was a large museum made of many different structures.

According to Nanana, it was the property of the Akasegawa Group. They remodeled part of it, brought Alpha’s life support system inside, and this was known only by Nanana. —For safety, even those working here didn’t know who Alpha was.

What surprised Shiika next was the unexpectedly fast arrival of the “messenger”.

This tall person was also sent by whoever it was that manipulated Mushibane member Lucifera from behind the scenes.

“H-hello, Mushibane.”

While fiddling with the long bangs covering her face, the girl introduced herself, sounding embarrassed. She stooped as if to hide her well-proportioned figure and wore plain glasses. A large suitcase was at her feet.

“M-my name is Satou Youko. I’m the friend of Lucifera’s true mistress… well, definitely not a friend, but well… anyway, I’m an emissary. Oh, and I’m not a Mushitsuki, just a normal person.”

While speaking, Satou Youko waved her arms around embarrassedly for some reason.

“…”

Including Shiika, all members of Mushibane simply stared at the emissary girl wordlessly.

“Really, I’m just a disgustingly normal person… well, I do have a little bit of a special technique, but that’s a secret. Well, I call it a secret but I’m going to reveal it you soon. I don’t want to. But I was told that this might be a chance for an amusing experiment and it really might be true—”

The girl kept mumbling to herself embarrassedly. Midway through it was pretty much a monologue already.

The emissary introducing herself as Satou Youko had appeared just after Shiika’s group arrived at the museum. As Shiika got off the car and was surprised at this unexpected hiding place, the girl suddenly appeared from somewhere.

“—You sure made a fast appearance.”

Furrowing her brows, Nanana spun the cane she was holding.

Not only had they yet to enter the premises, but they hadn’t even exited the parking lot.

“Have you been tailing us?”

“Eh? Oh, y-yeah, exactly. You’ve met Konoha-san, right? She apparently has good eyes; she’s followed you all the way from that movie theater. By the way, Fuyuhotaru is… oh, it’s you, right?”

The girl spoke politely only at the very beginning of their meeting. Satou Youko started speaking much more strangely casual at some point.

Shiika felt a sense of déjà vu at that creepily familiar manner of hers. It resembled the owner of that Smile of Shackles that she met only once before.

“Wow, you’re really as scary as the rumors say.”

“…I’m not Fuyuhotaru. This is Fuyuhotaru.”

Saying this, Namie pointed to Shiika with a displeased expression.

“Ah, I-I’m so sorry! I see, so you are—Fuyuhotaru, then.”

Satou Youko hurriedly turned over to Shiika.

Noticing the eyes visible from within the black-rimmed glasses, Shiika startled.

She had the feeling that she saw a dangerous twinkle there, contradictory to the girl’s otherwise plain appearance.

“N-nice to meet you.”

Seeing Shiika awkwardly lower her head, Youko slightly hung her head.

“…This is really unexpected. On the contrary, isn’t it worse like that? I’m scared…”

“E-err?”

Shiika tried calling to her, but Satou Youko kept mumbling to herself and apparently didn’t hear her.

The one to cut this tension was Nanana.

“So, where’s that Konoha? I can’t see her around.”

“Oh, she said she had to go to the toilet. —Ah, sorry, that’s a lie. I’m not going to speak about a lady’s circumstances out in the open like that, right?”

“You there, you should pick a better lie—”

“E-excuse me!”

Shiika cut off Nanana from getting excited.

Nanana had a cautious personality, and the other girl was likely like that as well. Since they were probing each other from the very beginning, at this rate, not only was the conversation not going to proceed, it would probably stray off course completely.

There was something that Shiika had to confirm first and foremost before that happened.

“Yuu-chan’s going to become the bait for calling Oogui—is that true?”

“Hmm? It is, so?”

Puzzled, Satou Youko tilted her head.

“Ebina Yuu-chan. She’d been targeted by Oogui once—and apparently even shrugged off that temptation by her own powers. I actually heard that she was with you when you escaped from the SEPB; is that wrong?”

“Eh…”

That was news to her.

Certainly, Shiika had been on the run together with Ebina Yuu for a few days.

However, she knew nothing about Yuu meeting with Oogui.

If that actually happened—it would have to be right after she parted with Yuu as well as their other companion, Shirakashi Ubuki.

“Oogui’s super persistent about the dreams she likes. She’ll definitely come again if the owner of a dream she targeted before will recall it. —There are two people who can guarantee this. Not Yuu-chan, but people who were in the same situation: there’s me, as well as…”

Satou Youko once again turned her eyes alight with a strange glint toward Shiika.

“Fuyuhotaru-san—you were also targeted twice by Oogui, were you not?”

“…!”

Not just Shiika, but all Mushibane members gulped.

Nanana alone just kept spinning her cane.

“Even if that’s true, will she really have the dream again in such convenient timing for us? We can’t have a deal if you offer us something useless.”

“There is nothing to worry about regarding that.”

Satou Youko grinned. She sat down on her large suitcase.

“I’ve already finished the clinical trials.”

“Trials…?”

Shiika frowned. Satou Youko just grinned at her; she didn’t look about to answer.

“I see, so for now, assuming we believe you…”

Despite her words, it was clear from Nanana’s bearing that she didn’t trust her one bit.

“Your demands are merely being able to meet with Alpha?”

“Yes, apparently our mistress’s request is just that.”

“Then I would like for that mistress to show herself. I can show her around—”

“I wonder, though.”

Suddenly, Satou Youko pouted. She played with her long hair.

“—Is this deal even really necessary?”

Not only Shiika, but even Nanana and the Mushibane comrades all had their expression freeze.

“What… was that?”

As Nanana wore a strained smile, Lucifera jumped ahead from behind her.

“W-wait, what are you saying, Satou-san!”

“I’m right though, aren’t I? Although our mistress offered this deal, if things kept going like this, I feel bad for Mushibane-san.”

“You… feel bad for us?”

“What are you going to do once you lure Oogui to you? Can you really win?”

Youko’s words made everyone there freeze.

“No one ever beat her before, so are you really confident you can achieve it this time? Otherwise, even if we hand Yuu-chan over to you, it would be like helping you get wiped out. I’ll feel horrible.”

Satou Youko spoke while wearing an expression of sympathy.

The parking lot became silent.

No one there could answer a clear “yes” to Satou Youko’s question.

That included Shiika.

Many a Mushitsuki challenged her, yet they all suffered defeat. From what she’d heard, not even Kakkou had managed to match her.

Shiika and the rest were going to attempt to defeat such a powerful enemy.

As Mushibane’s leader, Shiika probably had to say “we can” reassuringly—

“…I do not know.”

Shiika had no conviction.

Just like the SEPB, the members of Mushibane underwent training and raised their fighting strength.

But it was likely still not enough to grasp victory.

“So, will you, err… please cooperate with us?”

“…Cooperate?”

Youko narrowed her eyes.

“Whether or not we borrow Yuu-chan’s powers… if that happens, how should we fight? —The person you call your mistress has actually already considered all of that, hasn’t she?”

Satou Youko fell silent.

“Please. Will you not lend us your powers?”

“So that’s another part of our deal?”

Shiika was at a loss for words, hearing the other girl.

“I-I don’t mean this as a deal… just my personal request.”

“…”

“Please let us meet her. We need her.”

She looked Satou Youko straight in the eyes and entreated her.

“Hmmm. Whatever shall I do?”

It happened just as Youko sneered at her, looking like she had fun.

A shrill alarm started ringing throughout the museum.

Shiika startled and her shoulders froze.

“Eh? W-what’s going on?”

“This alarm is Alpha’s… no way, you lot!”

Nanana startled and glared at Satou Youko.

Satou Youko shrugged.

“Sorry?”

“W-what do you mean, Nanana? What happened?”

“This is no emissary! She was just buying time! While she was keeping us busy—”

As if saying that explaining it was a waste of time, Nanana started running.

“W-wait, Nanana!”

Shiika also hurried after her. Aijisupa and the other admins also followed from behind.

Rushing through the premises, Nanana dashed toward a domed building. With its rows of hexagonal windows, it looked like a beehive.

Leaping inside, Shiika asked Nanana who ran ahead of her.

“A-Alpha-san’s here?”

“Right! I dunno how they found out, though!”

Shiika, Nanana and Mushibane’s admins rushed through the corridor, going down stairs that went underground. They passed by several security guards on the way, but all of them were crouching and holding their heads. They appeared unhurt, but things were definitely not normal with them.

As they passed through the door that appeared at the end of the corridor, they were inside a room filled with electronic devices to the brim.

And slipping through the door even beyond that—

“…!”

The entire wide space was a gigantic bedroom that functioned entirely as a life support system.

The pale-faced youth sleeping in the center of the room was—

Alpha.

The primal Mushitsuki, saved after Shiika and the rest risked their lives.

“Yuu-chan!”

However, not just Alpha was inside the room.

Shiika immediately noticed the petite, familiar girl.

Ebina Yuu.

As well as—

“…Shiika-chan.”

A girl who looked toward her with a vacant face.

The girl wearing a casket hat was older than Shiika and had a slim body.

“Shiika…chan.”

For some reason, she repeated this.

As the girl repeated Shiika’s real name, for a moment—

“Eh…?”

It looked as though there was a flash of hatred in her expression.

Who was this girl who was there with Ebina Yuu? Why did she know Shiika’s name?

Shiika felt confused enough already, but Ebina Yuu befuddled her even further.

“—”

Ebina Yuu turned belatedly toward Shiika.

The face of this nostalgic friend—was wrought in an emotion that Shiika had never seen from her.

Once again, hatred.

A pale shadow momentarily passed through Ebina Yuu’s eyes that were dyed in anger.

And that shadow took the form of butterflies—

With the letter C on their wings.

1.03 OPS3 Part 4

At that moment—

Anmoto Shiika realized what compelled her the most of all.

It was a resolve—as well as duty.

“Who’re you!”

As Nanana shouted this, Ebina Yuu, who was standing right in front of Alpha, kicked the ground.

“…!”

Yuu’s movements were nimble. She lowered her body and charged toward Shiika and the rest.

“I’ll grab her.”

Aijisupa stepped in front of Shiika and raised an arm.

The other admins also moved to protect Shiika—

“…!”

One part of the life support system raised sparks and exploded.

Machinery fragments and sparks burst, making all of them flinch.

Using the opening created by this, Yuu leapt at Shiika’s group like an arrow shot from a bow.

“Yuu-cha—”

Yuu did nothing to Shiika.

Only when they crossed paths—she turned to Shiika with eyes full of intense hatred.

“—”

Her face was distorted with loathing and pain.

And the letter C visible in her pupils was familiar.

Her appearance was certainly that of Ebina Yuu, but it revived within Shiika memories of another person.

“—Erii?”

Yuu simply ignored Shiika’s unconscious mumble. She nimbly slipped between the Mushibane members and leapt into the monitoring room. Her footsteps were quickly growing distant.

“What are you doing, go after her already!”

Being scolded by Nanana, several Mushibane members hurriedly went after Yuu.

The remaining Mushitsuki surrounded the other person standing near Alpha—the girl with a casket hat.

“Ch-Chiharu-chan…”

Seeing the girl, Lucifera was shocked.

Namie approached the girl called Chiharu cautiously.

“So they kept us busy while they tried getting to Alpha. —Despite speaking of a deal that’s quite the nasty trick, Lucifera.”

“N-no! I never even…!”

“Shut up, Lucifera-chan. Sorry?”

Speaking this was the late-arriving Satou Youko. Dragging her heavy-looking suitcase behind her, she huffed and puffed.

“Oh, and that girl’s the same as me. Not a Mushitsuki, alright? So you don’t have to be so careful of her, yeah?”

“Is this your boss, then?”

Being glared by Aijisupa, Lucifera was at a loss for words.

“No no, that’s obviously wrong.”

It was Satou Youko who spoke instead of the silent Lucifera.

“She’s Ayukawa Chiharu, a completely normal girl. …Currently, at least.”

What an odd way of saying that.

More importantly, Shiika felt some déjà vu. She felt as though she’d met this girl somewhere before.

“We’ve met her at Nishito City.”

Hearing Aijisupa say that with a grim face, Shiika recalled it.

“Ah!”

—Thank you. I’ll return this to you later.

In the station of the region called Nishito City, Shiika gave an unfamiliar girl some small change. Later, she’d also seen her for an instant on the roof of a burning building.

It was the girl in front of her eyes right now, Ayukawa Chiharu.

Although it was a fleeting meeting, she could clearly remember that face—because Chiharu simply left that strong of an impression on her.

Chiharu, who was flustered at the ticket gates, had thanked Shiika and smiled.

It was like some scene taken from a stage play. Each and every dazzling part of Chiharu, whether it was her movements, her expression, even her fingertips and the tips of her hair would enchant any and all watchers.

Even so, the Chiharu currently in front of Shiika—

“…”

She was staring right at Shiika and nothing about her expression moved at all. Although she was surrounded by many Mushitsuki, not only was she not afraid, she didn’t even look like she was in danger.

“And to add another thing—she’s also Kakkou’s actual sister.”

“—Eh?”

Shiika’s heart throbbed, felt like it was hit by an invisible fist.

Including Shiika, a huge clamor rose within the Mushibane comrades as well.

Kakkou’s sister.

Meaning, the reason behind Chiharu looking at Shiika like that—

“W-wait a minute, Satou-san! You can’t…!”

“Oh, was it a secret? S-sorry, my bad.”

Fiddling with her bangs, Youko hid her face.

“Is the fact that the girl who just escaped is Ebina Yuu-chan a secret too?”

Once more voices of surprise erupted through Mushibane.

There was a dry, hard voice.

Nanana struck her cane against Satou Youko’s suitcase.

“Really—what does that mean? After tricking us and approaching Alpha on their own, their own bargaining chip went up and away? This is way beyond breach of contract.”

“Oh, about that. She said it’s to avoid wasting time. Well, err, according to our mistress, since you might make up some reason and be unwilling to hand over Alpha—”

“Meaning, your aim was using Ebina Yuu as bait to fish out Alpha all along. What have you done to him? You, Lucifera and Ayukawa Chiharu… was it? Don’t think you’ll be able to safely return to your mistress, alright?”

“W-wait a minute, Nanana-san. We really did intend on handing over Ebina Yuu-san to you… even Yuu-san herself had agreed to that—”

The voices of Nanana and the others arguing sounded as though they were very distant.

Shiika’s nerves were all focused on the one girl, unmoving.

Ayukawa Chiharu. The actual sister of the Mushitsuki Shiika had made a Fallen, Kakkou.

Chiharu was staring hard at her—and she finally averted her eyes.

She almost felt as if the outside world was leaving the two of them behind and distancing itself.

“E-err—”

Shiika’s hoarse mumble melted into the air and vanished.

Huh…?

She came back to her senses.

I was the one who made Kakkou into a Fallen—

She made a Mushitsuki into a Fallen by her own hands, robbing that life. And yet…

How could she be so calm—

As she averted her eyes from Chiharu and looked at the floor, she saw her own thin legs. It wasn’t just her babyface that made her look younger than she was, but her slim limbs and short stature as well. When she was younger, she naturally imagined herself looking more mature with age, but she was splendidly off mark.

She recalled.

Standing here right now was Anmoto Shiika, a completely worthless girl.

Her being the Rank 1 Mushitsuki called Fuyuhotaru or Snow Fly—had nothing to do with it.

Right, it was completely irrelevant.

From his sister’s point of view, she was the one who turned her immediate family to Fallen.

“Err—”

Shiika felt herself grow pale from head to toes as she mumbled.

She felt like she had to say something to the sister of the one whose life she robbed.

However, no words came to mind.

Should she just apologize? —Even Shiika knew that this wasn’t something she’d be forgiven for.

Should she explain that she’d once been made a Fallen by Kakkou herself?

No—it would just be seen as her taking revenge, then. Shiika had not done it because of this, but would she be able to explain this?

“…Hey.”

Chiharu mumbled softly.

Shiika’s shoulders twitched.

Perhaps the others didn’t even hear this. Since the surroundings became noisy as Nanana, Satou Youko and the others argued, the only one who focused her entire mind on Chiharu’s words and actions was Shiika.

“Why…?”

Chiharu muttered this word alone. She said nothing more.

However—

“—”

This time, Shiika’s heart was being squeezed hard by that unseen hand.

Cold sweat erupted over her face and it became hard to breath.

Why?

An answer to that exceedingly simple question—was something Shiika lacked.

It wasn’t just Kakkou. All the people she’d made Fallen this far obviously had family and friends.

Being exposed to this sort of blatant hatred—was a first for her.

Obviously. Because Shiika created great numbers of Fallen, not even giving them time to bear grudges.

She couldn’t control her powers.

Or perhaps she’d been cornered and did it just to protect herself.

With Kakkou, she did it because it was a longtime promise, as if it was completely natural—

“I—”

Shiika had never turned anyone into a Fallen during a “battle”.

Although she could claim those situations were excusable—

If she ever tried explaining it in her own words, it really would become nothing more than an excuse—

“Besides, you’re the one who needs to decide on how we’re going to act, right?”

Satou Youko’s voice suddenly entered her ears.

Startled, she raised her face and gulped.

Youko and Nanana, as well as everyone there—focused their gazes on Shiika.

“Right, Fuyuhotaru-san?”

“M-me…?”

“I mean, you are Mushibane’s leader, right?”

Seeing Youko tilt her head, she next looked at Nanana and then the rest of her Mushibane comrades’ faces.

All of them were waiting for Shiika to speak.

Nanana was the chairman of a large conglomerate and Aijisupa was a powerful Mushitsuki. Namie was also a strong combatant, and even in the SEPB she was high-ranking. Other than that, there were the Mushibane admins, commanding the gathering of many Mushitsuki. All of them waited Shiika’s orders.

No, not Shiika’s.

They waited for orders coming from the Mushitsuki called Fuyuhotaru and Snow Fly.

“Ah…”

Just as Shiika was at a loss for words, Lucifera’s cellphone rang.

“A-apparently my mistress has also lost sight of Ebina Yuu. It’s odd for her to be able to escape Konoha-san’s tracking.”

She then added more.

“She’s going to lend a hand in searching for Ebina Yuna—in the plan to vanquish Oogui. In exchange, you are not to touch Chiharu-san and company…”

“Yaha, how convenient. —What will we do, Shiika?”

Being asked this by Nanana, Shiika clenched her fists.

She couldn’t show any agitation. A leader being shaken would spread to the entire organization. Mushibane’s former leader, Shiika’s friend Tachibana Rina, was always dignified.

“L-let’s work together…”

As Shiika said this in a low voice, Nanana and the rest sighed.

Finally, all eyes were removed from the frightened Shiika.

“Well, I knew you’d say that, though.”

Nanana’s tone toward Shiika wasn’t one of reproach. Perhaps also having anticipated her answer, it seemed that the others stopped being hostile to Chiharu and Youko.

Shiika calmed down for now, but—

“…”

She timidly glanced at Chiharu’s expression and tensed.

Not even a single muscle in her face moved.

What did Chiharu think of Shiika’s orders right now?

Would she think Shiika wasn’t such a bad person?

Or perhaps—would she feel furious that the person who made her brother Fallen would have the gall to say that?

While being watched by Chiharu, she worried whether or not that was the right answer.

“Cutting straight to the point, we’ve done nothing to Alpha, and Ebina Yuu’s actions were also unexpected for us.”

While looking at her cellphone, Lucifera spoke in monotone. She was apparently reading her mail.

“And what surprised us the most—is that this seems to have been C’s attack.”

“What!”

Nanana spun her cane, wearing a sneer.

“Convenient for you, isn’t it? Are you just going to pin everything on our enemy?

What the invisible other party—the so-called mistress—said might be true.

Shiika saw the traces of C’s ability in Yuu’s eyes. And her face when she glared at Shiika—was the exact same as C’s expression when she’d met Shiika in person.

“Ah—”

However, her mouth closed unexpectedly when she tried voicing that.

Shiika noticed the contradiction in her feelings.

C no longer had any personality.

Miguruma Yaeko definitely said this.

However, what Shiika saw—was definitely the girl who called herself Erii.

If Shiika had simply imagined the entire thing—then she might simply cause even more confusion by saying something unnecessary.

As a result she might lead the entire strategy to failure, and the situation might go past the point of no return.

“…”

Chiharu was still looking at her.

Shiika tightened her lips and swallowed back her words.

“Both in order to defeat Oogui and to know about C’s goals, we should look for Ebina Yuu as soon as possible.”

“We’re saying we don’t trust you all! Enough of this, let your marionette master operating from the shadows come here!”

The Mushibane members who chased Ebina Yuu came back. From their expressions it was obvious they hadn’t managed to capture her.

Everyone was confused at the discussion not advancing past the probing stage.

The one to put a stop to this atmosphere was someone unexpected.

“…What are you going to do, Shiika-chan?”

It was Chiharu.

Everyone was surprised to hear from this casket-wearing girl who made no move at all.

However, she also wanted to ask for a decision. Once again everyone looked at Shiika.

“—”

She felt suffocated.

How should she use this extremely precious time of 48 hours?

And the upcoming battle—would end up deciding this country’s fate.

She was asked about this by none other than Kakkou’s sister, Ayukawa Chiharu.

“E-err—”

She was allowed no mistakes.

In this situation where she had to bring out the correct answer, Shiika’s face blanched.

“I wonder about C—”

Shiika felt like she was choking and had to feign being calm—

“About Erii… what kind of a girl was she, I wonder…?”

Each and every person she could see there raised their brows at this.

She realized that she chose the wrong answer.

2.00 OPS3 Part 5

Shiika’s nostrils were tickled by the nostalgic scent of a grassy-smelling tatami mat.

Among the tatami in the sitting room, one alone looked new based on its color. As the curious Shiika examined it, the tall old man lit his cigarette and spoke.

“That one’s had a hole in it. I replaced it the other day.”

“Grandpa, I told you not to smoke inside.”

A long-haired woman came into the room, holding a pot. The smell of the tatami was replaced by the scent of boiled vegetables and meat.

“Hotpot! Hotpot!”

A little girl, her hair bunched up in the shape of a dumpling, peeked into the pot placed on the table.

“Ah. Shiika-san, are you picky about food?”

While placing small dishes on the table after the earthen pot, the woman spoke. She was still young, but due to her frilly apron as well as her slightly wide physique, she had a strong motherly impression.

“N-no, it’s fine.”

“Good.”

The woman grinned at her.

The two-storied wooden building was worn out, with even the small scratches on the pillars covered in old dirt. As far as she saw there was no proper door and the entire house was divided by paper sliding doors. The stairs at the end of the corridor creaked loudly when the bun-haired girl came down.

“Thanks for the meal.”

The girl’s voice signaled the start of a lively mealtime.

“Teacher was angry today. Ken-kun was being mean to Ryou-chan, and then...”

“Oh, right, grandpa. Can you please pick up Meiko the day after tomorrow? I’ve had an urgent job come up.”

“Ah, well, alright. The factory’s gotten quiet anyway.”

Chicken hot pot, pickled vegetables, tsukudani, and other boiled or stewed food filled the table.

As Shiika hesitated where to start, the woman loaded Shiika’s plate with the chicken hot pot.

“If you don’t eat quickly it’s all going to be gone, you know?”

Being faced with this kind smile, Shiika was confused.

“T-thank you very much.”

“No need to hold yerself back. It’s all full of yesterday’s leftovers anyhow.”

“Grandpa!”

When the woman puffed her cheeks, the phone placed between the sitting room and the kitchen started ringing.

“Hello, thank you so much for always. …Eh? Hah, is that so? Until when—I see, I understand. Right, that’s fine. Thank you.”

Placing back the receiver, the woman came back to the table. She turned to the old man with a worried face.

“Preschool’s on break for a while, starting tomorrow. Because of what happened to Akamaki City.”

“A break? Yay, I don’t have school tomorrow!”

“Really, what are they on about! Just because our neighbor’s in a lot of trouble, doesn’t mean we need to panic as well.”

“What am I going to do about Meiko… should I take the day off as well?”

Her pensive face turning to surprise, the woman looked at Shiika.

“Ah, I apologize for discussing that in front of a guest.”

“N-no, that’s fine.”

The moment the name of Akamaki City came out, Shiika tensed as well.

However, even this restless atmosphere soon retrieved its former calmness. Following the woman and old man’s example as they nodded and smiled at the incoherent conversation made by the little girl called Meiko, Shiika found herself smiling as well.

The chicken hot pot was really delicious.

A normal meal with a normal family.

How many years had it been since she could participate in such a peaceful space?

If possible, she wanted to stay there just a little more.

Right, she could pretend she knew nothing until all battles ended—

“By the way, Shiika-san, are you fine being here right now?”

Shiika gulped at this sudden question.

“Err… w-what do you mean by that?”

“What do I mean—with how things are in Akamaki City, people around here are all restless. If you go out like this, won’t your parents worry?”

Shiika relaxed at seeing the woman’s worried face.

Being there right now—

Although the woman was clearly worried for her, to Shiika it sounded as though she was blaming her.

“I-it’s alright… I’ve, err, told them already.”

“Well, that’s fine then.”

Completely unlike the woman who now seemed relieved, Shiika’s heart was racing.

Was it fine for Shiika to be in such a peaceful household at such a time?

The answer—was no.

It was obviously a mistake. She obviously couldn’t waste the precious, limited time she had on relaxing like that.

Even so, Shiika found herself having a meal in this small house.

Why had it become like this?

The reason for it—obviously lay in Shiika herself.

2.01 OPS3 Part 6

Shiika raised a question.

“About Erii—what kind of a girl was she, I wonder…?”

No one answered her.

Her Mushibane comrades, the still-asleep Alpha, as well as Satou Youko and even Ayukawa Chiharu all stared at Shiika, speechless.

What are even talking about all of a sudden—

Everyone’s gazes seemed to be telling her so.

Shiika herself had not said this with any sort of deep meaning behind it.

If the relations between Mushibane and whoever it was that stood behind Lucifera and the rest turned hostile—

Shiika had to do something as Mushibane’s leader.

However, C had done something to Ebina Yuu, and she stared at Shiika. Wasn’t this at odds with C having supposedly lost her personality?

And so, after all these doubts and her sense of duty mingled together, she ended up muttering that unconsciously.

“By Erii—you mean C? Meaning, you want to know how she was before?”

Acting as the representative of everyone present there, Nanana asked.

“Does it have any relevance with what’s going on so far?”

“Ah, err, well… I mean…”

As Shiika mumbled this, Lucifera’s cellphone received another message.

“—I see now.”

She started speaking while looking at the screen.

“To find out what C did to Yuu-san and where she escaped to, perhaps investigating C’s roots would lead to some clue. And we know nothing about C in the first place.”

“Hasn’t C already lost her personality? Is there any need to know who she was?”

Aijisupa, the boy with the hairband spoke calmly, and Lucifera responded.

“C’s personality it gone. —This assertion came only from Miguruma Yaeko.”

“…!”

Shiika and others all widened their eyes. Lucifera continued.

“We should doubt all of Miguruma’s words. Had C truly lost her entire personality? If some of it still remains, then finding out about C herself could end up extremely vital for the upcoming fight. At the very least we must get Ebina Yuu back, otherwise the strategy to defeat Oogui is a no go. In the first place, Miguruma’s orders regarding the three operations are definitely odd, stop it you idiot, you don’t need to reveal every bit of my thought you’re receiving… ah.”

Lucifera hurriedly put a hand over her mouth. Apparently her mistress or whoever was checking on her even right now using some unknown method.

Nanana glared at Lucifera and at Satou Youko who was sitting on her suitcase.

“I can’t even begin to describe how suspicious this is… Shiika, are we seriously going to join forces with this lot?”

“Uh… but—”

Shiika mumbled again.

“…”

Chiharu kept staring at her, without blaming her or anything else.

She’d obviously be bothered by how Chiharu felt; this was the sister of Kakkou who was made Fallen by Shiika, after all. She had no idea how Chiharu thought of her.

“Y-Yuu’s eyes that I saw just now… it’s the first time I’ve seen her make a face like that, but—because it was the exact same as Erii when she chased me before…”

“Say something like that sooner!”

Being told that by Lucifera, Shiika shuddered.

“—Is what my mistress says.”

“Shut up! You don’t have the right to say that to us!”

Even as Nanana argued back, she turned back to Shiika.

“But that’s true, Shiika. Since you’re Mushibane’s leader, you can say whatever you think. Right?”

“Right, have some confidence, Fuyuhotaru. Everyone’s counting on you.”

The oldest among them, Namie, tried encouraging Shiika with a serious expression.

“…”

Seeing that Chiharu’s expression remained unchanged, she could do nothing but bite her lips.

“Yeah…”

“Should we really investigate about C just to look for Ebina Yuu?”

As Aijisupa asked her to confirm this, Shiika looked around her.

She knew at a glance that everyone was waiting for her decision.

“—Yes.”

Shiika nodded.

She could do nothing else.

Although her own statement wasn’t the cause for it, if she denied it here, it would cause unrest among the members of Mushibane. Shiika could understand that much.

And, wondering whether it was the right answer or not and looking at Chiharu’s face—

“…”

Seeing her completely unchanged, she once more felt unsure.

“Doesn’t SEPB have all information about C, though? We don’t even know her real name, what are we going to do?”

“C’s real name is Horiuchi Erii.”

Namie was the one who answered Nanana’s doubts.

“For a while, I’ve worked together with her while we were on the East Central Branch. —Well, even so, I know nothing but her real name and her hometown.”

“That’s quite enough. If we can limit it to the name and region, the Akasegawa Group can investigate it in an hour.”

While Mushibane’s admins started talking among themselves, Lucifera approached Chiharu.

Putting her face closer, it looked like she was whispering something to her, but Chiharu shook her head.

“—No.”

Despite Lucifera speaking silently, Chiharu answered calmly.

“Because I’m with her—with Shiika-chan.”

Shiika’s body immediately tensed all over.

Nanana glared at Lucifera and Chiharu.

“What are you whispering about? If you’re still scheming something—”

“I-it’s nothing at all. Please don’t mind it.”

“Ah, what shall I do. My legs are tired, I want to drink some tea.”

Sitting on her suitcase, Satou Youko quickly pretended this was someone else’s problem. Since she was neither a Mushitsuki nor related to one like Chiharu, it was weird she was there in the first place.

“You said you know C’s hometown, so where is it?”

Aijisupa asked.

“There’s no time. Let’s send someone there while waiting for the Akasegawa Group’s investigation.”

“C was born and became a Mushitsuki—in Kurobishi Town.”

Namie said.

“Transportation’s in a real bad shape now. No matter how much we hurry, it’d take more than two hours, most likely.”

A silence fell.

While they had less than 48 hours remaining, was there any worth in wasting that precious time?

She needed to demonstrate there was.

And since the silent Chiharu was staring daggers at her from behind—

“I will go.”

Shiika could only say this.

2.02 OPS3 Part 7

The town called Kurobishi was next to the large metropolis of Akamaki City.

It had no sea or mountains, only one large river passed through it, and there were no places for sightseers. However, it had the largest area and largest populace among Akamaki City’s satellite towns. It even had a station for the bullet train that connected all of the big cities, and from there it branched out into countless routes, both large and small, looking like veins.

Super Class Rank 1, C—real name, Horiuchi Erii. The house where this Mushitsuki girl was born was in the low-lying part of the city.

Around the small elevated train station there were izakayas, fast food places and all sorts of restaurants. Even going just 100 meters away you could find old-fashioned stores making tsukudani or senbei. Shiika had no idea whether the fact most of them had their shutters down was because of feeling anxious due to the situation at Akamaki City or if they were simply closed in the first place.

“This is where Erii was born…”

Getting off the limousine, Shiika scanned her surroundings.

There were few people walking in the street in front of the station. The white limousine stuck out like a sore thumb, so passersby glanced curiously at the boys and girls getting off.

“She really lived in a surprisingly low-brow place. I thought she was more of a city girl…”

The one saying that was C’s former colleague, Namie.

Shiika felt the same. Although she’d met her only for a short while, it was very different from the image she had from her beautiful face and decorative clothes.

Nanana spun her cane.

“This town only has C’s family home and her former elementary school. Our company’s investigators already monitored both of them, but they were unable to find C—or someone that looks like Ebina Yuu.”

“For now, let’s split and go there as well.”

Aijisupa spoke.

“Y-yeah.”

Shiika nodded and so she, Chiharu, Nanana and Lucifera were going to go to C’s family home.

Namie and the other admins were in charge of C’s elementary school. The remaining members would walk around and try looking for clues regarding C.

“I’m leaving Fuyuhotaru in your case, Aijisupa.”

Speaking to Aijisupa, Namie then took several people and left. Seeing her off, Shiika’s group also started moving.

“What a miserable place. We can’t even drive around properly!”

While walking through the narrow alleys, Nanana cussed while looking displeased. As they entered the part of city with clusters of residential districts, the long limousine couldn’t take turns anymore so they ended up needing to go by foot.

Aijisupa walked without any complaints, and Chiharu was as taciturn as always. Perhaps feeling guilty due to her betrayal of Mushibane, Lucifera also remained quiet and obedient.

“It’s such an elegant, nice place.”

Shiika finally found something to say, but Nanana just snorted.

“It’s musty and old. I really can’t believe that someone ruling over information and technology machinery came from here. At the very least I personally don’t like it. Jeez, did my heel just snap off? They should at least pave the roads.”

“There’s little less over 39 hours remaining.”

Aijisupa said without looking at a watch.

“If you’ve got any complains you shouldn’t force yourself to come. Matching our pace to you is a waste of time, too.”

Nanana’s brow twitched and she glared at Aijisupa.

“A-Aijisupa-san, you shouldn’t…”

“Right. I already told you about the place, so I’ll just wait in the car. Just tell me later if anything happened.”

“Eh, Nanana?”

“I got curious and came along, but my legs hurt. Goodbye, Shiika.”

Showing a forced smile, Nanana turned on her heels. Without Shiika having the time to stop her, she took the secretary along and they headed back where they came.

Shiika pulled on Aijisupa’s sleeves as he kept walking ahead without slowing down at all.

“Aijisupa-san, you shouldn’t have talked like that…”

“Time is precious. Akasegawa should be aware of that.”

“W-well, true, but still.”

Only Shiika protested against this; Chiharu looked completely apathetic, and Lucifera kept walking with her face down.

What Aijisupa said was true. Just like he said, Nanana should’ve been aware of that.

However—the atmosphere was bad.

The same happened while they were in the car on the way to Kurobishi Town.

Mushibane’s members and the traitor Lucifera, as well as Nanana who gave orders to her own employees through her cellphone—all of them were so tense there were sparks in the air. Because of the government’s traffic control and the congestion of cars escaping from the capital, they weren’t able to approach Kurobishi Town like they thought, so there was some dissatisfaction there as well—

But Shiika knew the real cause for it all.

“…But that’s certainly true. Let us go back to Nanana with good news as soon as possible.”

Shiika endeavored to smile brightly, pumping her small fists.

Aijisupa nodded, but Chiharu and Lucifera made no reaction whatsoever.

Ever since they left Akamaki, tension clung to them like some sticky substance.

Its cause was impatience—as well as anxiety.

Could they really trust Lucifera’s mistress or whoever she was?

Where did Ebina Yuu go to?

Was C, who was controlling Yuu, really in Kurobishi Town?

Could they actually defeat Oogui within the allotted time after losing their key person?

These thoughts were spreading to the entire Mushibane led by Shiika.

“Ah! It’s that house, isn’t it? That nameplate says ‘Horiuchi’ on it.”

Shiika pointed ahead to a two-storied house. The wooden house looked decrepit, and its edges were dirty with black soot. There were lines of plant pots behind the entrance gate.

“It’s fine we managed to come here and all, but what now? Should we look and see whether C—or rather Ebina Yuu is nearby?”

Lucifera asked.

“The Akasegawa Group’s probably doing that.”

“…”

Looking at the Horiuchi household from a distance, Lucifera, Aijisupa and Chiharu were silent.

Shiika made up her mind and spoke.

“Err, I’ll go speak directly with the people in the house.”

“Eh?”

Lucifera raised a voice of surprise.

“If we want to ask about Erii, going to her family is best. Right?”

“That might be true, but… alright, then I’ll come with you as well.”

“I’ll be fine on my own.”

Shiika endeavored to speak in a powerful tone of voice.

“If it’s just me alone I think they’ll be less cautious… and if I say I’m a past friend of Erii’s, they might believe me.”

“No, there’s no way we can let you go alone. It’s dangerous.”

“It looks like a normal house; there’s nothing dangerous.”

Lucifera’s cellphone rang. Glancing at the screen, she then spoke.

“I’m also against this. We came here on the premise that C might be there, so if we hypothesize that C really is present—”

“I’ll shout if anything happens. Leave it to me, please!”

She spoke cheerfully to not have them worry. Shiika glanced at Chiharu.

“…”

Chiharu simply stared at Shiika, offering neither assent or rejection. From her expression—Shiika couldn’t tell if her choice was right or not.

“Wait, Shiika.”

“Wa…wait a minute!”

“I’ll definitely bring back a clue!”

Shaking off the two trying to stop her, Shiika headed to the Horiuchi household’s front door.

Mushibane was very anxious right now—

And the cause for this was with Shiika.

As their leader, she had the duty to lead them.

Just like her past friend, Tachibana Rina.

Just like the SEPB member who functioned as a sort of leader and she met into Fallen, Kakkou.

They always took the initiative, stood right at the very front with their comrades and moved. Therefore, Shiika had to lead by example just like them.

“…”

Even so, she felt tense as she stood in front of the gate.

She was going to face C’s parents now. Meaning, it was the family of the mastermind who plunged the country into fear, as well as—

The real family of the Mushitsuki Shiika and the others had to defeat.

“It’s fine, I’m fine…”

Telling this to herself, she pressed the doorbell. It was just a button and there was no microphone connected to the inside, let alone a camera.

“Because I have to do something…”

The fate of Mushitsuki and by extension the country rested on her shoulders.

She didn’t have the time to hesitate or stop in place—

“Yes, coming.”

Opening the front door, a woman showed herself from inside the house.

She looked to be in her mid-twenties. Her slightly pudgy build was covered by an old-fashioned apron. Perhaps she was in the middle of cooking, since Shiika could faintly smell fresh vegetables in the air.

Shiika had intended to introduce herself as calmly as possible to not arouse any suspicions in the other party.

However—

“—”

Seeing the woman’s overly plain appearance, she felt her throat get clogged.

Is this person—a relative of Erii’s? Her mother… no, probably her sister—she doesn’t really look like her—but she’s very, very plain—well, that’s a given since she’s not a Mushitsuki—

There was also the fact that Shiika had never been an extroverted person in the first place.

However, seeing this completely unguarded familial woman, she thought to herself.

Hmm? How long has it been—since I spoke to a completely normal person unrelated to Mushitsuki—

“Err… and who might you be?”

Just like she aimed for, the woman didn’t seem cautious of Shiika. However, seeing her sink into silence, she was puzzled.

“U-um—I’m, Erii…-san’s friend.”

Hearing that words that finally came out of her mouth, the woman’s expression froze.

“Erii’s…?”

“Ah, err, rather than a friend…”

She’d been acting suspiciously right from the get go, and Shiika’s face reddened now.

This was a blunder.

The woman would definitely be put off by her now.

So she thought, but as the nervous Shiika looked at her—

“I see, Erii’s…”

Her expression suddenly softened.

“So you came to light some incense for her?”

“—Eh?”

Shiika froze.

The woman turned to go back inside, leaving the door open.

“Thank you. You may come in.”

“Eh… incense…?”

Seeing the frozen Shiika, the woman smiled. She could even sense some relief from that expression.

“I’m so glad. Even that girl had an actual friend…”

“…”

“What’s wrong? Come on, come inside.”

Being urged inside, Shiika took off her shoes. She didn’t really understand the situation, but apparently C’s relative trusted Shiika.

Still, for her to be talking about incense—

“Right, if she’d still been alive, she’d be around your age.”

Looking at Shiika with a nostalgic expression, the woman narrowed her eyes.

“Were you Erii’s classmate?”

“Wha—”

Shiika startled and looked at her own body. Her hand unconsciously touched her own chest.

Shiika had a childlike face, she was short, and even her physique—no, but even so, Erii was three years her junior. Should she deny this? But it was convenient for the woman to have this misunderstanding—

Feeling conflicted, Shiika made her decision as Mushibane’s leader—

“…Yes…”

To smoothly advance their strategy.

2.03 OPS3 Part 8

The woman who welcomed Shiika introduced herself as Erii’s 8-years older sister, Yukari.

“I’m so happy. This is the first time one of her friends came here.”

Yukari said this with a smile.

As Shiika entered the living room, she saw a small girl sitting smugly in front of the tea table.

Her hair was gathered into a bun behind her head and she looked to be about preschool age. Her large eyes and puffy cheeks made her adorable. She looked up at the sudden visitor with eyes like saucers.

“T-thank you for having me.”

As Shiika bowed her head, the girl turned a puzzled face toward Yukari.

“Where are your manners? Meiko.”

“…Hello!”

As though this was conditioned reflex, Meiko gave her a cheerful greeting. However, she still looked puzzled.

“She says she’s a friend of your sister Erii. She’s, err…”

“Ah… I’m Shiika. Anmoto Shiika.”

“Big sis Shiika, then.”

Yukari told this to Meiko, but the girl just looked blankly.

Wearing a bitter smile, Shiika was led by Yukari to the adjoining room.

“She doesn’t remember Erii much. That’s to be expected though, considering she was only two years old when Erii was gone.”

The six-tatami room was probably used as a bedroom. In one corner there were an alarm clock and pocket-size paperbacks. There was also a large pile of folded laundry.

And in the very back of the room—was an altar.

“…Erii.”

Looking at the picture placed in the altar, Shiika felt pain in her chest for some reason.

That was without a doubt a picture of the girl who’d once introduced herself as Erii. She was slightly thinner than when Shiika met her, her hair was loose, and her face—was completely expressionless without a smile.

“Still, what made you come here after all this time? I’m glad for it, but I was really surprised.”

Yukari opened the altar’s drawer and brought out some incense, handing it to Shiika.

“E-err, about that, I, well…”

“Heeey, I’m back.”

“Ah, welcome back. —Grandpa’s home. Sorry, can you wait a little? Oh right, will you stay for dinner since you’re here? It’s still early, but we eat early here.”

Yukari eagerly left the room. The scent of ingredients staining her aprons wafted in the air as she left.

Hesitating on what to do, Shiika turned back to the altar and lit the incense.

“…”

As she offered the incense, its distinctive scent made the deceased portrait feel all the more real.

A picture of the deceased. A fragrance to send to the dead.

There was no doubt that Horiuchi Erii existed here as someone who was dead.

Shiika did have some questions about how Erii’s family was treating her since she belonged to the SEPB as a Mushitsuki. —But she never even considered the possibility she’d be considered dead.

Was this arranged by the SEPB or by Erii’s own decision? She didn’t know.

Did Erii find this fine? She was still alive—although she was a Mushitsuki, she kept living and fighting. Even so, her family thought she was dead.

This—definitely disgusted Shiika.

By offering the incense before this Buddhist altar, she felt like she was complicit to this disgust and even felt guilty of it.

“Hmm?”

As she felt a gaze and turned around, she saw Meiko half-peeking from the sliding door.

Was Erii’s friend something so rare? Meiko’s eyes were full of curiosity. Unable to tell how she should react, Shiika opened her mouth wondering if she should call out to her, but since she didn’t know what to say, she just remained silent.

Meiko kept glaring at the confused Shiika.

As a result of feeling so flustered, Shiika just lightly waved at her.

Meiko tilted her head. But she soon waved her small hand back.

“Ehe.”

As the happy Shiika smiled at her, Meiko also grinned back.

Seeing the bun-haired girl’s adorable smile, Shiika felt some of the tension leave her.

This household knew nothing about Erii as “C”—

Being touched by their overly peaceful atmosphere, Shiika realized this fact.

“Here you go, Shiika-san. You can come watch TV until dinner’s ready.”

Yukari came back. She brought out a flat cushion from within the sliding screen and took it to the living room.

“C’mon, Meiko. Clean up.”

“I’ll help.”

As Shiika said this, Meiko uttered a “yeah,” looking bashful.

Returning to the living room, she saw an elderly man taking off his work clothes. He had a striking appearance, with the slim body clad in a tank top and slanted eyes that would probably look scary if he was angry.

“Hey, grandpa, don’t strip here. —Shiika-san, this is our grandfather. Mom’s currently at work.”

“H-hello. Nice to meet you.”

“Erii’s friend, eh? Hmm.”

He directed very suspicious eyes toward her.

So it was unnatural after all? Shiika reflexively averted her eyes.

“Well, feel like home.”

Saying this, the old man vanished into the corridor. Yukari wore a bitter smile.

“Sorry, he’s not very sociable, but don’t mind him.”

“T-that’s fine.”

As Shiika felt her heart beating heart over the prospect of getting busted, she felt something flat slapping onto her hand.

It was a sticker.

She could see bun-haired Meiko was smiling bashfully at her.

Perhaps this was her own way of getting along with the friend of a sister she barely knew.

“Thanks.”

Shiika returned a smile and looked at the sticker.

It was a glossy, pink heart.

—And thus.

Shiika ended up eating an early dinner with a family she met for the first time.

“Won’t your parents worry if you’re out this late?”

“I-it’s alright… I’ve, err, told them already.”

“Well, that’s fine then.”

Seeing Yukari’s smile, she couldn’t really relax; perhaps because she was lying to this family. Or perhaps because she got too used to the world of Mushitsuki.

No—

Shiika came there because she had a certain resolve.

“Thanks for the meal.”

The completely normal meal advanced and the grandfather piled up the empty bowls.

Yukari was facing an immense challenge as she tried getting young Meiko to eat her vegetables.

From what Shiika understood from the mealtime conversations, the mother worked at nights. Yukari worked in any part-time job she could. The grandfather managed the neighborhood factory.

While obtaining all this vague information, the discomfort within Shiika swelled further and further.

Shiika was present there as the friend of the late middle sibling.

Even so—the topic of Erii didn’t rise even once.

“Thank you for the food. E-err… it was good. Very much.”

“I’m glad.”

Shiika put her chopsticks aside and Yukari smiled. The older woman looked at her sister.

“This one’s a goner. She’s already half-asleep.”

Meiko, with rice grains on the sides of her mouth, was already nodding off.

“Clean up and go to sleep already.”

“I haven’t finished already. Wait a little.”

“Ah… I will help once you’re done. Err, washing the dishes and all that.”

“No, it’s fine, it’s fine. You’re our guest, take it easy.”

Shiika and the grandfather finished eating and Yukari kept eating side dishes alone.

Once Meiko fell asleep, silence befell the dining table.

“E-err…”

Shiika couldn’t bear staying there any longer, so she decided to break the ice.

Grandfather and Yukari looked at Shiika.

“I-I’m sorry for not telling you the truth. I’m actually not Erii’s classmate…”

“Oh my, really? I apologize to you, then, for jumping to the wrong conclusion.”

“What are you to Erii, then?”

She hesitated on how to answer the old man as she saw his creased brow.

“I spoke a little with Erii once, so I’m definitely not her friend or anything—”

Once, while Shiika was on the run from the SEPB, that girl appeared.

At first, she helped Shiika’s escape.

However, her true form was an assassin who meant to eliminate Shiika.

—If only you weren’t there…!

Saying this, the girl known by the alias C glared at Shiika.

She was her ally and enemy. Their only common point was perhaps the fact that they were both Mushitsuki.

No, that was wrong. There was another common point.

Kakkou.

Shiika came to know later that this girl admired Kakkou.

Shiika also selfishly regarded him as a friend.

Therefore, since she and Erii had common friends—

“…I wanted to become friends with her.”

Those was her true feelings.

Erii seemed to hate Shiika, but Shiika did not hate her. She felt no grudge toward being targeted like this—perhaps because it happened too much before.

—Only I know him…!

That was why she wanted to speak with Erii, who knew Kakkou well.

Kakkou, the boy who held the same dream.

Kakkou would definitely never talk about himself—

“Because Erii was very similar to me.”

There was no mistake that there were much more differences than similarities between the two—but she felt that the fact that both were Mushitsuki and that they had Kakkou as a common friend was the most important of all.

Yukari and her grandfather listened to Shiika quietly.

She hoped that this pair would forgive her for looking at them with eyes that were just the slightest bit reproaching.

“So when I found out what happened to Erii… I became very sad.”

Yukari and her grandfather looked shocked.

“So you didn’t know… Erii has died.”

“Eh, no way.”

“…”

Shiika bit her lips and lowered her gaze.

She knew this. No one in this household did anything bad.

Although she knew this—she thought it was too cruel for them to think Erii was dead when she was still alive.

To be honest, Shiika didn’t want to blame just this family.

There was also Miguruma Yaeko. As well as—all people connected to this fight.

Being told that Erii lost her personality, she just accepted this. It might be true, but if Shiika had to say—

Why didn’t they think that Erii was still alive?

Because they didn’t want to hold onto this lone ray of hope?

Because a Mushitsuki could vanish so easily?

If Shiika was in Erii’s position—she wouldn’t give up.

Thinking about her vanishing from this world without telling anyone, without leaving anything behind, was too sad to bear.

“Erii… what kind of a girl was she?”

Shiika raised her face and inquired Erii’s family.

They said she was dead, but she didn’t ask about the cause of death. The SEPB had many possible ways to fake this, and if her family really thought she was dead due to some easy trick—she might look at these sinless people with blaming eyes again.

“…”

Shiika didn’t miss the fact both Yukari and her grandfather’s expressions froze.

“Erii…”

“Right…”

Seeing the both of them exchange glances while looking troubled, Shiika furrowed her brows.

Why would anyone make that face when asked about their family?

It was the kind of face normal people would make upon seeing something bizarre.

Right, just like—someone seeing a Mushitsuki.

Shiika recalled the faces of her own family when they saw she was a Mushitsuki.

Unable to understand why they’d make this face while recalling Erii, Shiika was stunned.

“She was a smart kid, I guess.”

“Right, she was very smart.”

She knew they carefully chose their words.

“Something happened at the local elementary school, so we sent her to some good private one… but there was even some talk about her skipping grades.”

“Right. We weren’t able to understand anything about her…”

Shiika realized from their behavior.

Even before becoming a Mushitsuki, Erii was already something like a Mushitsuki.

Meaning, ever since she was born in this town—she understood herself to be “abnormal”.

“I really feel like she was born in the wrong place.”

“And what did you know of her, Shiika-san?”

Being asked this herself, Shiika ended up unconsciously clenching the fists on her lap.

“Erii—”

When she became a Mushitsuki, perhaps she finally was reborn into the place fitting for her.

By mixing with the abnormal beings called Mushitsuki, she might have been able to escape the world where only she was abnormal—

“She helped me… and she also yelled at me…”

“Yelled? Did she, really?”

Her grandfather was surprised.

“Also—I believe she fell in love.”

“Eh…?”

Yukari was speechless.

Was it so unexpected for someone to help people, get angry and fall in love?

“Um, I’m sorry. I should be going.”

She was at her limit of holding back her emotions. Shiika stood up.

“Is something the matter?”

Ignoring the surprised grandfather, Shiika headed to the door. Yukari hurried after her.

“I-I feel like I should apologize. Have I said anything that angered you?”

“No, nothing like that. I just remembered I have something to do.”

She couldn’t even look her in the eyes. The moment she slipped on her shoes and was about to exit, Yukari spoke.

“Ah, maybe—you’ve got the wrong person? It didn’t sound like Erii after all…”

Shiika’s legs stopped on the cusp of exiting.

She bit her lips.

Erii was still alive and fought as a Mushitsuki all this time—and it might be Shiika and the others who would actually rob her life.

Right, she felt like spilling everything—

“—No, it wasn’t a mistake at all.”

After asserting this, Shiika now truly exited the Horiuchi household.

As she tried exiting the premises, she saw Aijisupa and the rest waiting for her from afar.

“…”

She turned back to the door. Yukari was still looking at her.

Shiika exited the area of the house—or she pretended to, but she actually went around the wall. Walking against it, she went all the way to the rear entrance.

Aijisupa and the rest were probably shocked at this unexpected action of hers.

And they definitely lost sight of her.

As she went to the empty back of the house, she glanced around her. It looked like she could jump onto the first-floor roof if she climbed the small storage shed.

She wasn’t athletic in the least, but by using a bundle of magazines as a foothold, she managed to climb on the storage shed. She then made a dangerous leap from there to the roof, and used the veranda’s fence to climb all the way to the second-story roof.

Violent passions swirling within her got her to take a bold action.

“One, two… up I go…!”

She managed to climb to the second-story roof so that Aijisupa’s group couldn’t see her.

She was out of breath.

People from the surrounding buildings and apartments could probably see Shiika. However, her Mushibane friends on the surface shouldn’t be able to tell where she went to.

Shiika was alone on the roof of the Horiuchi household.

Gathering her breath, she sat while hugging both knees.

“These people have done nothing wrong.”

There was no clue regarding Erii in that house.

“But—I can’t forgive them.”

A small light was formed above Shiika’s head.

“Erii’s still alive and well…”

Shiika’s Mushi—a glowing firefly—appeared and its glow gradually strengthened.

Erii’s family did nothing wrong.

They simply didn’t know.

Even so—she wanted her own family to know.

“If this was Kakkou-kun, who’s always called a demon… he’d definitely do this.”

This could be said to be just Shiika being selfish.

It might be an unjustified grudge created by seeing herself in Erii.

She actually intended to do this all along.

Ever since she saw Erii’s picture in the altar.

As the firefly overhead was about to spread its wings—

It stopped its movements.

“—”

Shiika felt a presence from behind.

It was certainly not Aijisupa and the others. Because she climbed up here to lose them.

“—Nanana had called this a bet, but this wasn’t my intention.”

Shiika mumbled without moving a muscle.

“The hometown has nothing to do with it. Because I thought you’d be watching me no matter where I went.”

She slowly turned around.

“That’s why the real meaning was in me specifically coming to Erii’s hometown.”

A girl stood behind Shiika.

Her appearance was familiar, but she was slightly changed from when she last saw her. She wore no glasses and her plain t-shirt was replaced with a fashionable dress. Her hairstyle changed as well, and beneath her sharp eyes on her right cheek was a heart sticker, with yet another sticker on the left side of her neck.

“If something of your personality still remained—it didn’t matter if someone like me was near your family or not.”

Standing up, Shiika faced that person.

“Erii.”

The girl with a heart symbol standing in front of her eyes.

That person had clearly changed from the appearance of her original body.

“Give Yuu-chan back.”

She returned Shiika’s gaze with a gaze that was twice as—no, dozens of times fuller of hatred.

Ebina Yuu—no, Horiuchi Erii stared at Shiika.

2.04 OPS3 Part 9

Kakkou was a Mushitsuki who held the same dream as Shiika.

He was the strongest in the SEPB, a Rank 1, and was feared as a demon. Shiika didn’t think he was a bad person, but since he was at times heartless, he would definitely do this.

All in order to accomplish his goal as the strongest Mushitsuki leading the SEPB.

No matter who begrudged him, who hated him, he would wield his power and fear to advance.

As a surviving Rank 1—should Shiika choose the same path as Kakkou?

“…”

Having appeared on the Horiuchi household roof, Yuu was glaring at Shiika with an expression of rage.

Shiika stood up and faced Yuu. Being faced with this exposed hatred, she felt sweat form on her brow.

“You’re not Yuu-chan… you’re Erii, right?”

The dress-wearing girl offered no answer to Shiika’s question.

“Why are you staying silent?”

Perhaps feeling Shiika’s anxiety, the firefly overhead increased its glow.

“…!”

The thing in Yuu’s shape grimaced.

She probably thought Shiika was about to harm the Horiuchi family. Shiika felt her heart throb at this fleeting sight of Yuu’s dismay.

Without any doubt, Shiika was threatening her.

She had supposedly resolved herself for this, but her chest was being constricted by guilt and self-hatred.

If this was Kakkou—he wouldn’t show any weakness here. Rather, he would destroy the entire building to agitate his opponent.

“Answer me. Erii.”

Shiika bit her lips, but she was unable to take any further action. Even now that she took those who treated her so kindly as hostages, she was crushed by extreme regret.

Herself and Kakkou.

Both Rank 1 Mushitsuki with the same dream.

Even so, she was unable to take the same action as Kakkou despite being a step away.

Was it because Shiika lacked resolve?

“Move away from C, Shiika.”

Suddenly a voice called at her from the side.

Having arrived at the roof at some point, Aijisupa stood in one corner. The hairband boy held his arm away a moment from snapping his fingers toward C.

“She really did appear… so Fuyuhotaru’s intuition was right.”

On the other side of the roof was Namie, her long hair fanned by the wind.

“It doesn’t seem like it was intuition, though.”

At yet another corner of the roof also stood Lucifera, who was glaring at her cellphone screen.

Something that looked like smoke gathered next to Lucifera and a petite girl appeared. —She was their comrade who had a teleportation ability. She’d apparently brought all of them to the rooftop.

“Fuyuhotaru-san had apparently meant to use these people as hostages to bring out C all along—wait, really? Fuyuhotaru-san did that?”

“What?”

“No way… Are you being serious, Fuyuhotaru?”

Aijisupa and Namie startled and looked at Shiika.

There was the sound of the roof creaking from further behind.

Coming up to the ceiling from the same direction Shiika came—was Kakkou’s older sister, Ayukawa Chiharu.

The girl called Satou Youko was also there.

“—I-I mean.”

She averted her eyes to escape Chiharu’s gaze and looked back at Shiika.

“I had no other choice… there was no time and we must have Yuu-chan back.”

Biting her lips, Shiika clenched her fists.

“Because we must have our strategy work—”

She heard a giggle from behind.

Shiika’s heart leapt.

Chiharu was finally about to curse her—

She thought this and was assaulted by unimaginable fear, but she was wrong.

“You’re just like—that person called Kakkou, are you not?”

The one who laughed was Satou Youko, who was standing next to Chiharu.

“I do think Kakkou wouldn’t use any excuse, though.”

“…!”

She felt her own face warming up.

No matter how much she tried imitating Kakkou, in the end it was only an imitation.

Shiika didn’t have the kind of strength Kakkou possessed—

“I do think you have it in you, though? I mean, I believe that she would’ve have appeared here so easily if you hadn’t made a performance like you really were going to kill her family.”

“…”

“Or did you actually seriously consider doing that for a moment?”

Shiika’s heart once more throbbed and jumped.

“If that’s true, you might be hiding even worse cruelty than Kakkou’s. Looks like you’re back to your senses for now, but it might be that this very fact—that very strength that allows you to mercilessly erase other people with any ‘excuse’—is the reason for you being a Rank 1, Shiika-chan…”

Just like a grim reaper’s scythe.

The blade of those cold words carefully stroked Shiika’s neck from behind.

However, since Shiika feared seeing what expression Chiharu was making, she couldn’t look around—

“Shut up.”

Aijisupa turned his arm toward Satou Youko.

“She’s right. You’ve managed to summon C like that.”

“…He’s right. Outsiders should shut up.”

Namie also glared at Youko.

“Ah, I-I’m sorry. I’ve said too much. I’ll shut up now, alright?”

She spoke in a completely different tone, then added something else.

“But one final thing. —Is this girl really C?”

Hearing those words, everyone focused their gazes on Yuu.

Yuu had not spoken a single word. Even while they were all talking among themselves, she simply kept glaring at Shiika, unmoving.

“You are Erii… right?”

Shiika asked again.

She had no idea what Erii was thinking, to control Yuu’s body like this. However, she kept glaring at Shiika, she had the heart symbol that fit her tastes, and above all else, she appeared to protect the Horiuchi family home—her own birthplace.

However, Shiika didn’t understand why the girl kept silent.

She didn’t even shower Shiika with curses after seeing her attempt to do something so horrible—

“…”

Yuu suddenly averted her gaze.

While being dyed by the setting sun, her profile was directed toward the western sky.

Judging from her severe expression, did she find even the mere act of speaking with Shiika disgusting?

“Doesn’t look she wants to talk. —We stand out too much here. Should we neutralize her and take her with us?”

White steam began rising from Aijisupa’s extended fingertips.

A heavy sense of tension drifted on the rooftop.

“…There is no need for that. I don’t know who she is, but she seems to understand the meaning behind our words and action. It should end with a single sentence from Snow-san.”

For some reason, Lucifera spoke with discontent while looking at her cellphone.

“’Come with us. If you refuse—I’ll kill the people in this house’ is all she needs to say.”

“…!”

Everyone gulped.

And—their gazes focused on Shiika.

“—”

There was no way she could say that—

When Shiika noticed Yuu looking at her with even more hatred in her eyes even as Shiika hesitated, she understood.

Shiika couldn’t allow herself to be swept away by her emotions right now.

“…Please do as we say.”

Biting her lips, she spoke in a low voice at Yuu.

Perhaps actually feeling Shiika being more earnest as she wrung out these words—the girl that looked like Yuu grinded her teeth so hard that even Shiika could hear it.

The girl let both arms fall to the sides. She was apparently showing that she wasn’t going to resist them.

“Wow, scary.”

Satou Youko’s mumble tore deep gashes into Shiika’s back.

“Alright… let’s move.”

Aijisupa cautiously approached Yuu and restrained her arms.

By managing to secure Ebina Yuu for now, the tension resolved. Aijisupa and Namie took Yuu and jumped off the roof. Lucifera also followed them.

As Shiika looked for a place she could get off the roof from—

“They say that you once turned most of the SEPB Mushitsuki into Fallen, right?”

Someone whispered in her ear.

“…!”

Having approached her at some point, Satou Youko now sat right behind her.

“What sort of an ‘excuse’ did you have back then?”

Several years ago, when Shiika was still an elementary schooler.

Shiika became a Mushitsuki and, as a result of her rampage, had annihilated the Mushitsuki from the SEPB.

Back then—

Shiika had been unable to restrain her Mushi.

She did nothing and it was the SEPB that came to attack.

She had this excuse.

“You actually haven’t thought of anything, right?”

As Youko grinned at her, over her shoulder—

Chiharu’s face was glaring at Shiika.

“As expected from a Rank 1—You’re all monsters, aren’t you?”

No.

I’m not a monster—

Before she could deny this, the teleportation girl cut between Shiika and Satou Youko.

Being glared by the girl, Satou Youko retreated with a smile.

“Ah, so scary. So truly scary.”

“…”

Shiika bit her lips and spoke toward the girl who was going to move her down.

“…I can get down by myself, that’s fine. You can go ahead first.”

The teleport girl made a worried expression, but nodded and became smoke. The puff of smoke moved from the roof to the surface.

Shiika, who remained alone on top the Horiuchi household roof, mumbled to no one in particular.

“—I actually thought that even if I didn’t come… Erii would come here.”

Just like she aimed for, Erii arrived at this region.

However, the reason for it wasn’t because Shiika made her family hostages.

Because she had a certain wish.

“Because if she really is going to vanish, she wanted to at least have her farewell before that…”

If Shiika had spoken of this reason, would her comrades have come all the way there?

They would probably refuse.

Since they had no time, this sort of naïve sentimentality wouldn’t pass.

“Because I was the same…”

Since she was a Mushitsuki as well—

These words shouldn’t be spoken by Mushibane’s leader.

Leaving these words behind in her heart, Shiika climbed down the roof.

2.05 OPS3 Part 10

“Let us assume that this girl really has, just like Snow-san says, C’s—Erii’s personality.”

Inside the limousine on the way back to Akamaki City, everyone focused their gazes on a single person.

Appearance-wise, she was Ebina Yuu.

However, the eyes that glared at Shiika were both like and unlike Yuu’s. Her expression definitely belonged to someone else—they were exactly the same as the Mushitsuki called Erii.

“We have new doubts in that case, then. You supposedly split off your personality to protect it from destruction before getting swallowed by the power of the Original Three, right? —This alone sounds unbelievable, but in that case, why were you near Alpha?”

While looking at her cellphone, Lucifera spoke.

They put Erii in the center seat inside the limousine, and Shiika faced right directly from her. On both sides of Shiika were Akasegawa Nanana and Lucifera, while Erii was being sandwiched by Aijisupa and Namie.

There were no restraints. It was because Shiika asked this, saying that it wasn’t necessary.

In one corner of the wide limousine was also the combatant called Kabuto, clad in black goggles. He’d met up with them in Kurobishi Town to inform them of the progress of Operations 1 and 2.

The progress of the two other Operations—was unsatisfactory.

“Regardless of the fact that Alpha’s hiding place was exposed, you have done nothing to Alpha himself… meaning, her aim is not Alpha. She hid near Alpha, and, immediately upon getting in contact with us, stole Ebina Yuu’s body for some reason. What’s her goal?”

The reason Erii appeared next to Alpha.

Shiika had a rough idea of this truth. She glanced back at Erii’s eyes and bit her lips.

“Erii… is bearing a grudge against me.”

“Meaning she targeted you?”

Asked this by Nanana, Shiika nodded.

“Why—”

The next question rose from the seat at the very back of the limousine.

From Ayukawa Chiharu.

“Why does she hate Shiika-chan?”

Shiika felt her shoulders stiffen. She couldn’t get herself to look at Chiharu.

She didn’t know the reason C hated her for sure—

But she couldn’t answer Chiharu, who clearly hated her as well.

“—For Kakkou, Fuyuhotaru’s existence is nothing but a curse.”

Shiika startled at these sudden words.

The one who answered this was Namie. Smoothing up her hair, she looked at Erii with a side-glance.

“She had this childish thought.”

“…A curse?”

As this word came out of Chiharu’s mouth, it felt a hundred times heavier.

Kabuto, who until now remained silent with his arms crossed, opened his mouth.

“C’s a Mushitsuki that was caught by Sleeping Beauty and Kakkou together. Even after she joined the SEPB I heard that she did well at Central Headquarters, but—everything changed after the night of the meteor shower. Sleeping Beauty fell asleep and Kakkou came back to the East Central Branch… and C was dispatched to the East Central Branch again. This was just to demonstrate her strength and she was soon pulled back to Central Headquarters, though.”

“For C, Kakkou was special and she was convinced that he alone succeeded Sleeping Beauty’s dream after she retired from the battle between Mushitsuki.”

Kabuto was a current member of the SEPB’s East Central Branch, and Namie was an ex-member of that same branch. C was a former colleague to both.

Chiharu asked expressionlessly and with a calm tone.

“Sleeping Beauty’s… dream?”

“To end all fights and save Mushitsuki.”

Nanana, who knew Sleeping Beauty well, spoke. Chiharu frowned.

“My brother—Kakkou succeeded that dream and was trying to save Mushitsuki, then?”

“It’s just a childish wish. Kakkou only ever thought about surviving. According to Branch Head Haji—the Branch Head at the time, it was apparently because he made a promise with Fuyuhotaru.”

Hearing Namie’s words, the memories of young Shiika rose to her mind.

—So you can’t give up your dream as well.

Shiika made this promise with the boy who was about to turn her to Fallen.

“Even after Kakkou came back from Central Headquarters, he never spoke about Sleeping Beauty even once.”

Kabuto said.

“That fact urged C even more. Although there was no way he’d forget Sleeping Beauty who was so close to him, he seemed to be bound by his promise with Fuyuhotaru…”

“And then—the very person who cast this curse, Shiika, had been revived from the Fallen state.”

Understanding the situation, Aijisupa muttered this and looked at Shiika.

Namie nodded.

“One thing for certain, C’s heart was not calm at all.”

“…”

Finally realizing the reason behind C’s hatred, Shiika felt her chest constricted.

That day, Shiika made a small promise and parted with that boy—with Kakkou.

After this, his existence grew much larger than Shiika had imagined. While she spent her time as a Fallen he fought to the death, met many people, parted from them, and shouldered many feelings.

The more he fought and survived, the more people were born to support that strength.

As he got hurt and managed to survive, he looked ahead, finding hope for Mushitsuki.

However, something stood in that hope’s way—

The small promise he made with Shiika.

“My brother… how was he, actually?”

Chiharu asked Namie and Kabuto.

“Shiika-chan and Sleeping Beauty… who did he think of as he fought?”

The two Mushitsuki exchanged glances.

“I do not know… that man never opened his heart to anyone.”

“And the lone person he trusted, Branch Head Haji—cannot currently speak.”

“He would probably say he was a lot of trouble.”

Nanana jeered.

“They simply imposed their selfishness of him. Sleeping Beauty or C, all Mushitsuki are the same. I don’t even want to imagine how much weight he was carrying on his shoulders.”

While lightly striking her own shoulder with her cane, she shot Chiharu a side glance.

“And now you’re trying to force that very same weight on Shiika this time, aren’t you?”

Chiharu was silent. She didn’t even turn to look at Nanana’s glare.

Shiika couldn’t say anything.

“…”

It was useless.

Kakkou kept his promise to Shiika.

She couldn’t pretend she didn’t see the path he’d taken this far—and the burden he was carrying.

Not just Kakkou.

—It’s like my dream.

The one who said this was also a Rank 1, Shiika’s very first friend.

Tachibana Rina’s feelings also bore on Shiika—

“—Erii. Please answer just one question.”

She felt about to be crushed, but Shiika looked right into Erii’s eyes.

“Is Yuu-chan safe? Is she fine despite her current state?”

Shiika had to confirm this most and foremost, even before inquiring about Erii’s goal.

Back when Erii appeared as an assassin to intercept Shiika, Ebina Yuu was there with her as well. It wouldn’t be odd for Erii to regard Yuu as an enemy as well.

“…”

Erii neither confirmed nor denied. She just averted her face, wordless. Her gaze looking to the distance could only capture the limousine’s white ceiling.

“Let me state this clearly.”

It came from Lucifera. She was receiving mails from time to time.

“The possibility of Erii’s aim being Snow-san—is low.”

“…Eh?”

Shiika looked at Lucifera’s face without thinking.

Unusually, Aijisupa’s expression also changed. He furrowed his brows, looking puzzled.

“What d’you mean?”

“The fact that Erii bears a grudge against Snow-san is the truth—even now she’s glaring at her with murder in her eyes, but still. But her actions aren’t logical. After appearing in front of the hated Snow-san, she ran off—and even after being dragged to Kurobishi Town, she made no attempt of anything against Snow-san. That’s odd.”

Nanana argued against Lucifera’s words.

“Then that’s even stranger. Among all those there, the most important ones would be just about Shiika and Alpha, right? Even so, Erii didn’t do anything to either of them.”

“No, there’s another important thing.”

Lucifera removed her gaze from her phone and looked toward the end of the limousine.

The girl being stared at grimaced. She gripped the necklace hanging from her neck.

She was Ayukawa Chiharu.

“Sanbikime.”

Shiika widened her eyes.

Mushibane’s members and even Kabuto all looked at Chiharu, astonished.

Lucifera returned looking to her cellphone and spoke.

“Chiharu-san… you’ve been hiding it, but you’ve been acting strange for a while now. What’s the matter?”

“Sorry, Lucy-chan—for staying silent until now.”

Chiharu raised her face and spoke.

“For a while now… Aria’s scent has been getting stronger from somewhere far.”

“…!”

Lucifera’s face froze.

Everyone who was unable to take in the situation could do nothing but pass their faces from Chiharu to Lucifera.

“What do you mean? Sanbikime? Aria? Explain already!”

Even hounded by Nanana, Lucifera did not remove her eyes from her cellphone.

“This is bad. It’s a really bad situation. If it’s become like this, it’s too much for us to handle. We need Snow-san and the others to help too—”

“Would you mind explaining already!”

“We need your help. Before Sanbikime births a new Mushitsuki—or perhaps, before C appears there—”

Lucifera looked at Shiika.

“Please help us retrieve Sanbikime—Aria Varei.”

3.00 OPS3 Part 11

They came to a city about a two-hour train ride away from Kurobishi Town.

Ayukawa Chiharu was the one who led Shiika’s group to this region.

According to the girl who was once Sanbikime—Aria Varei—she sensed Sanbikime’s scent from this town.

“Definitely here.”

Chiharu turned to Shiika and the rest and said this.

Namie and Lucifera raised brows and looked around them.

“Will Sanbikime really be in a place like this?”

“Being here means—that Sanbikime is someone in here?”

It was an international airport.

This airport was home not only to international air routes that went abroad, but also domestic airlines that connected to the country’s important cities. Obviously, there were many people there, and the lobby Shiika and the rest were in was packed full.

Nanana looked around her and spoke.

“This is an international terminal. You don’t mean to tell us that Sanbikime felt that C was in pursuit and decided to flee abroad, right?”

“Eh.”

Shiika turned to Nanana.

“I see… so Sanbikime thinks like humans.”

She hadn’t thought of it, but now that the possibility was raised, it made sense.

Until they came there, Chiharu had told them about when she made Kakkou into a Mushitsuki.

Sanbikime themselves no longer had any personality. They would simply parasite on people nearby those that had delicious dreams and copy their personality.

Inciting the person they parasitized, Sanbikime would eat delicious dreams.

However, Sanbikime themselves had cursed their own duty—

Lucifera’s cellphone rang. She spoke while reading the mail sent to her.

“Since this is the lobby for arrivals and not departures, I believe they’re not trying to run away.”

“But if they’re not running away… are they waiting for someone?”

Shiika tilted her head, but no one could answer her.

The people going through the spacious lobby were varied. There was those who dragged carry-on bags after them, and also those who welcomed the new arrivals. Even just counting the airport workers, tour guides moving from the reception counters, janitors cleaning the floor and store employees carrying luggage on trolleys, there were too much people.

Shiika could do nothing but watch all these people.

Sanbikime was somewhere in this sea of men and women of all ages.

However, no one knew how Sanbikime currently looked.

“Chiharu-san, can’t you narrow the source of the scent or something?”

“Sorry, but any more than this is…”

As Chiharu shook her head, another ringtone resounded from Lucifera’s hand.

“If the scent’s not moving, we can ignore those moving about. We can narrow it down to any passengers staying here or maybe the staff.”

I see, that makes sense.

Shiika and the rest ignored passersby and those who just arrived from flights and looked among those sitting on the benches or staff in the lobby.

Only Shiika, Chiharu, Aijisupa, Namie and Lucifera arrived there to find Sanbikime. Their other comrades also came to the airport, but they were watching Ebina Yuu—Erii—outside the building.

“Ah, that woman looked over here! Might be her?”

“She’s staff, she just glanced at us because we’re standing dab smack in the middle of the lobby.”

“That man that passed just now turned to look at Chiharu. Isn’t that suspicious?”

“Those eyes were just saying ‘oh, what a cutie’. He did look at Chiharu-san, though.”

“Aria…”

Once they started looking for anything at all, everyone in the lobby looked suspicious.

Not giving up, Shiika kept looking around, and—

“…?”

Her eyes were drawn to a certain place.

She could see a small head sitting on a bench from behind.

Judging from the height, this child was probably in the latter grades of elementary schools. She could tell nothing more. Since she was looking from behind the face wasn’t visible, and because of the backrest she couldn’t even see what they were wearing.

There were two empty seats on both sides. And it remained like that ever since Shiika’s group arrived there.

“What is it, Snow-san? Found someone suspicious?”

Being asked this by Lucifera, Shiika stealthily pointed toward the child she got curious about.

“I-it’s that child.”

“Hmm? Where… oh, that one. Do they look like Sanbikime?”

“T-that’s not it, I just wondered where are their parents.”

“Snow-san… this isn’t the time to worry about something like that, you know.”

Lucifera was shocked, but there was a ringtone indicating a new mail received.

“…Let’s go check it out for the meantime.”

Probably ordered this by her mistress, Lucifera reluctantly approached the bench. Shiika and the rest also followed her, coming in front of the child.

Shiika now saw he was a boy. He was playing with a portable game console. His casual outfit consisted of jeans and a sweatshirt and he wore headphones.

Unheeding of Shiika and the others watching him, he was focused on his game.

She could see nothing suspicious about him at all.

“S-sorry, it’s just a normal boy…”

Perhaps he was waiting for his guardian who was returning from some international flight. Thinking this, Shiika apologized to everyone and turned. However—

“—Aria?”

Chiharu suddenly asked the boy.

“Eh?”

Everyone else spoke together.

“You’re Aria, right? —Yup, no mistake about it.”

As Chiharu approached the boy, she leaned down and looked at his face.

“I finally found you.”

Meanwhile, the boy didn’t even change his expression.

However, his fingers—stopped on top of his console’s buttons.

“’This is the worst option from what I’ve hypothesized—”

Raising his face, the boy was expressionless. He looked at Chiharu and removed his headphones.

“’Did you recall me, Chiharu?’”

“…!”

Shiika and the others gasped.

Chiharu smiled.

“Your tone sounds somewhat stiff. Is that your personality right now, Aria?”

“’You know already that I don’t have any personality.”

The expressionless boy spoke in an adult tone. It was a bizarre sight.

“If you’re calling my tone stiff…”

“’If you’re calling my tone stiff…’”

Chiharu and the boy spoke at the same time.

Speaking to the surprised Shiika, the boy continued.

“’It means that this boy has a stiff tone.’”

“Right.”

Chiharu grinned at him again.

They reunited here, in the airport lobby, where multitudes of people passed and the announcements of landing flights echoed.

Ayukawa Chiharu as well as the elementary schooler with headphones—Aria Varei—reunited.

One of the Original Three, Sanbikime.

The monster said to give birth to Fusion-Type Mushitsuki was right there—

“I-is that boy really Sanbikime? One of the Original Three is right here…?”

The boy looked at the shuddering Lucifera with a side glance.

“Eek…”

“It’s fine, don’t be scared. Aria’s a good person.”

Chiharu spoke with a smile, but it was the boy himself who denied her words.

“’Are you still saying that sort of stuff…?’”

The boy spoke and exhaled his breath. It looked like he was sighing.

“But something’s strange. Is the one speaking now the boy? Or Aria?”

“…”

Chiharu asked this, but the boy was silent.

Shiika looked at him attentively.

She felt no fear, unlike Lucifera. This completely normal elementary schooler didn’t look like someone dangerous and there was something else she was curious about.

“E-err, nice to meet you, Sanbikime—sorry, Aria-san.”

Shiika bowed and spoke.

“Or maybe, err… should I greet that boy instead?”

“…”

The boy said nothing in response. He only looked back at Shiika’s eyes expressionlessly.

Chiharu raised a brow.

“Hey… aren’t you acting a bit strange?”

Right, Shiika also thought about this.

From what Chiharu told them, although the person that served as Aria’s host was troubled by a hunger for dreams, it had no major effect on their mind and body.

But the boy in front of them was—

“’—Chiharu. Why are you here, after all this time?’”

Chiharu apparently also noticed that something was out of place. She stopped smiling and furrowed her brows.

“Aria…?”

“’Revenge? Maybe you want to kill me because I’ve taken your precious brother…’”

“N-no! Hey, listen, Aria—”

“’Can you wait a little, though?’”

Cutting off Chiharu’s words, the boy spoke.

“’The person I’m waiting for will soon be here.’”

“Huh?”

“’I’ll eat his dream. So—you can do whatever you’d like after this.”

Chiharu gulped.

Before the paling Chiharu could say anything, Shiika went on the offensive again.

“You can’t!”

“’You… from the smell, you’re a Mushitsuki of Elvioréne?’”

“You can’t create any more Mushitsuki—definitely not!”

“Right, Aria! You don’t actually want to do this, either!”

However, the boy still remained expressionless.

“’This time alone there really is nothing I can do…’”

Looking at the other party’s eyes, but his mouth moved mechanically. The words spilling from this puppet-like boy were ones he was terribly tired of.

“’He’s coming here soon.’”

Everyone was puzzled.

“He?”

“’This boy’s best friend. He’s coming back to this country.’”

The boy raised his face and looked at the timetable for arrivals.

“’We’re going to meet with him for the first time.’”

“…!”

“’In my humble opinion, he’s very cool. The kind of man even other men fall for. This boy also trusts him and respects him more than anyone. They met many times until now, spoke and played together and cultivated their friendship. —Online, that is.’”

“If he’s that important…!”

Shiika called loudly without thinking. Other passengers focused their gazes on her.

“Then you really can’t turn him into a Mushitsuki!”

“’Yes, it’s just like you say. But you know, things are different from how they were until now. The boy I’m possessing right now—is a very good guy.’”

The boy Aria spoke of.

Meaning, the boy speaking expressionlessly and mechanically they were currently looking at.

“’Too much of a good guy, really.’”

“What do you mean?”

“’After feeling guilt about the hunger he felt for his friend’s dream—he stopped thinking of anything.’”

Everyone gulped.

“I need to get out of this boy as soon as possible. If not, it could be too late. And for that—for the first time, I’m going to eat that boy’s friend’s dream without hesitating.”

“…”

“’His friend’s quite the manly guy too. After I sent him a fake mail requesting his help, he immediately came literally flying here.”

“—You can’t.”

Chiharu grabbed the boy’s shoulders. She spoke with a serious expression.

“Aria, this is really wrong… if you eat his friend’s dream, this boy really will break. I know this—and you actually know it as well, right?”

“’I couldn’t think of any other way. After I separate from this boy, you can take your revenge on me or whatever you’d like. So for now—‘”

A ringtone echoed.

Smiling, Chiharu turned to Lucifera.

“It’s alright, Aria! There’s this really smart girl. I’m sure she’ll think up something good!”

By a smart girl, she was probably referring to Lucifera’s mistress.

“R-right. There should be some other way!”

Shiika also expected some strategy of avoiding this—

However, Lucifera had a stiff expression after seeing the mail.

“—That’s fine, she says.”

Chiharu’s smile froze.

“If we get more Fusion-Type pawns, our prospects of defeating Oogui increase—she says.”

Chiharu was speechless.

“N-no way…!”

Shiika also wanted to argue, but—

“’It will end up happening either way. I mean, no matter how much we resisted, fate never let us go. It will obviously be a situation where we must do so—”

“We won’t let this happen!”

Shiika desperately opposed this.

“Ever since I heard Chiharu-san’s story, I’ve been thinking. Aria-san says that they must always give birth to Mushi, but there should be a way to avoid this! This time for sure—”

“’It’s useless—‘”

Shiika and the rest startled and looked at the boy.

A lone streak of tears fell down the corner of his eye.

“’It’s always like this. Even now, look—‘”

While shedding tears, the boy looked ahead.

And it wasn’t at Shiika or Chiharu’s face.

The boy was looking at the airport staff hurrying around the lobby.

“…?”

As Shiika and the rest followed his gaze, they saw the staff acting abnormally.

“D-dear passengers, you must evacuate this place immediately!”

“Please exit through the automatic doors at the front and get—”

Not even using the intercom announcements, the staff shouted and rushed away from the reception counter.

“A landing plane has lost control and is heading here—”

As the staff shouted, the confused people of the lobby froze in place.

“’—It always ends up like this.’”

At the same time as Aria Varei shed tears and spoke in a self-deprecating voice.

A powerful vibration that shook the entire airport assaulted Shiika.

3.01 OPS3 Part 12

Shiika saw a vortex of light and felt an impact.

The vast lobby was first drowned by bursting lights of pure white. All the electric systems perhaps shortcutting, the fluorescent lights on the ceiling burst, the electric bulletin board raised sparks and the LED screen on the wall shut down.

Next, there was sound.

A roar suddenly shook the lobby, blowing away not only their eardrums but their entire bodies. And it approached the lobby in less than three seconds—

“…!”

Shiika and the rest in the lobby witnessed this horrible sight.

Appearing from the return gate—were not the passengers carrying their luggage.

It was a gigantic white whale, its entire body injured and its bones peeking out—

Not that, either.

“’Please forgive me already…’”

Aria’s whisper was drowned in the noise.

It wasn’t Moby Dick.

What Shiika saw was the remnants of the large airplane that appeared by destroying the building.

The airplane’s radome nose was already crumpled beyond recognition. Rubbing against the asphalt, the surface that was supposed to be pure white was scarred dark red and the walls were torn away, exposing the bulkheads within.

“—!”

Due to the sounds of impact, all screams rising the lobby were just felt as soundwaves rather than being heard.

Both ceiling and floor—every part of the structure visible—was blown away by the approach of the gigantic fuselage.

Shiika and company were a moment before becoming victims as well—

But then the fuselage broke.

It was because it crashed into the airport not straight, but a bit slanted. The front impact broke down the radome, but the impact from the side broke the fuselage in half.

Inappropriate thoughts rose to Shiika’s mind, reminding her of a sausage snapped into two. Shiika and the rest standing frozen in the lobby now really were in the cross-section of the building.

“—”

Due to the fuselage breaking, the tragedy’s erosion ceased.

The cross-section of the fuselage was pure dark.

However, seeing the scene made visible through sparks momentarily lighting it, they all froze.

The inside of the broken plane had stuff dangling from the ceiling—countless oxygen masks. Similarly, an avalanche of luggage poured from the compartments opened in the ceiling. And within the dark space with its broken lighting there were passengers moaning in agony.

What on earth happened—

Why did an airplane, supposed to land on the runway, lose control and crash into the airport?

She understood it in her mind.

However, there were the debris, the broken fuselage, and the passengers groaning in agony that she could see. Also—due to the sounds of the screams and sparks reverberating in her ears, she was unable to move a single finger.

I-I need to pull myself together especially when something like this happens—

Shiika’s sense of duty urged her.

There’s the other Mushibane members as well, right, I need to be like Rina—

However, unlike what she was thinking, she couldn’t move her body at all.

A fire apparently started. She couldn’t see its source, but thick smoke was engulfing the lobby and the fuselage.

“Aijisupa! Find the fire and extinguish it! I’m also counting on you to erase the smoke!”

The lone voice of reason echoing in the lobby of tragedy brought Shiika back to her sense.

It was Namie. She rushed to Shiika, pulled out a handkerchief and put it to her mouth.

“Fuyuhotaru, you take Chiharu and Sanbikime and evacuate to a safe place. We can’t allow them to get hurt from secondary damages.”

Saying this, Namie’s tone was soft. As if saying there was no need to worry.

She pushed Shiika’s shoulder and turned around, her long hair waving.

“Lucifera, you call our comrades outside and secure the route to a safe place! Coordinate with the staff and prepare as many stretchers as possible! Try and rescue as many of the injured as you can until the firefighters and ambulances come here!”

“R-right!”

Going past the lifted airport floor, Namie leapt into the broken plane.

“Why—are you so—”

Shiika, who remained standing frozen there, leaked a shaking voice.

Although Shiika was used to Mushitsuki battles, even in her eyes what happened here was abnormal. It was an unreasonable hell with no ally or enemy, but simple bloodshed.

How should she call this sort of situation—

“’Is it the thing called fate…?’”

A small shadow passed next to Shiika.

“’I knew it… it always turns out like this in the end…!’”

The headphone boy—Aria Varei—started dashing toward the dark fuselage.

“Wait…!”

Shiika’s legs finally listened to her. She wanted to go after Aria, then turned around.

“Chiharu-san, you go somewhere safe…!”

Chiharu had no response. Until just now she was shocked just like Shiika.

While going past the concrete fragments along with Aria, they entered into the plane—

It was a space filled with smoke and groans of pain.

All lights were gone and it was gloomy inside, but she could see many seats collapsed. She could hear a child crying from somewhere, and several passengers tumbled down the fuselage in a clear state of panic.

“Get a hold of yourself! Guide the unhurt passengers outside!”

She could see Namie helping get up the passengers that were woozy from the impact.

“’C.J…!’”

Pushing through the dark corridor, Aria looked around him. Shiika desperately followed him.

“’Where are you, C.J! You should be somewhere near!’”

The name he repeated was probably that of the boy’s friend he spoke about before.

“’C.J’—”

As he reached the back of the plane, Aria walked ahead, then went speechless.

Shiika was the same upon seeing that sight.

Unlike the broken front, the back had definitely suffered comparatively less damage—

Or so she estimated, but it was a complete mistake. Probably before crashing into the airport, a single wall had been destroyed and something had sunk into the passenger seats—a thick metal pipe of a transporter crane.

“He’s not breathing! Lend me a hand!”

Hearing that voice, both Shiika and Aria startled.

The crane’s arm coming from the wall pulled off several seats, and someone had been pinned under it.

He was a blond boy. He was unconscious and his pale face looked languid.

“—”

Aria looked at the headphones rolling next to the blond boy.

It was the exact same kind as those Aria was currently wearing.

“’Is that you—C.J…’?”

“Help us!”

Several people, perhaps those from the surrounding seats, were trying to rescue the boy already. Middle-aged men, old men and girls, all of them were struggling against the crane’s arm. A woman crying her eyes out nearby was probably the boy’s mother.

Shiika rushed to the collapsed boy and tried helping the people lifting the crane.

However, Aria made no move.

Aria was—smiling.

“’—Haha.’”

Suddenly losing all power, he kneeled on the spot.

“’Here, look… it always turns out like this… trying to save him is useless.’”

Seeing the boy whose breathing stopped, Aria giggled.

Lines of tears streaked from his eyes and Shiika startled.

“Aria Varei—Sanbikime…”

Chiharu said that it was Sanbikime inside this headphone-wearing boy.

And he himself had also acknowledged that.

Even so, that boy Shiika was seeing was shedding tears for another person—

“You’re crying despite being one of the Original Three…?”

Oogui.

Shinpu.

Those beings who lived only to target people’s dreams and feed on them were the Original Three.

Shiika believed this without a doubt, so this scene came as a shock to her.

This one was different from the other Original Three—

“His lungs are being crushed, he can’t breathe! If we don’t hurry it’ll be too late!”

One of the people trying to save the boy shouted this.

Shiika came back to her senses and tried joining the people lifting the cranes, but—

“Eeek!”

She startled as someone grabbed her ankle.

“He’s probably not breathing anymore…! More importantly, save me instead…!”

A man wearing a suit was collapsed at Shiika’s legs. Perhaps another victim of the crane, he was bleeding from his legs.

“The blood won’t stop…!”

“Eh—but…”

The man’s wounds didn’t look all that serious to Shiika’s eyes. Only a part of his clothes turned red. She though the boy was in much more of a precarious state—

As she looked to Aria, he held his head, looking pained.

“’I have to eat his dream… but—shit…!’”

“Hey, you…! I’m telling you to save me already!”

“—”

Shiika hesitated.

Should she respond to the man’s request for help?

Or should she save who she thought needed it?

That momentary hesitation made the bleeding man screech.

“—Gya!”

The man fell backwards as if blown back. His head bumped against the wall and he fainted.

“Eh…”

Surprised, Shiika looked next to her.

There was a girl taller than Shiika there—and unless her eyes were playing tricks on her, the girl took a splendid pose as if she’d just kicked a soccer ball now.

She was one of those who helped saving the boy. She wore a white dress, red boots and for some reason, a thin cardigan was hanging on her shoulders, with her arms outside of it. It was hard to judge whether she was a middle- or high-schooler. Her wet hair clung to her face so it was hard seeing her expression, but Shiika saw a glance of her mouth with protruding canines.

Turning toward all the others present who sank into silence, the girl breathed out.

“Come on.”

She poked her finger against the crane’s arm.

All the passengers exchanged glances. They nodded and resumed the rescue activities in unison. Seeing them like this, the atmosphere inside the plane so shocked by the accident changed. More and more passengers with soot-covered faces gathered and joined the efforts.

“…Wow.”

While also helping the work herself, Shiika looked at the girl wearing a dress.

Seeing her actions, everyone’s hearts were united. Even foreigners who couldn’t understand her managed to hold back their fear by their will to save the boy.

This isn’t something I can do—

Shiika had neither the charisma that grasped people’s hearts nor the leadership qualities that gathered people.

She could never become Mushibane’s past leader, Tachibana Rina.

She knew this since long ago, and yet—

“…Fuu.”

The girl suddenly stopped her work and breathed again. Shiika though she was wearing a bold minidress, but she actually had short pants underneath. She brought out some wrapping from her pocket and put its contents into her mouth.

It was a cookie.

“…”

Crunching the cookie, she was about to go back to work—and then noticed the crouching Aria.

She used her index finger to beckon him to her.

“—”

Aria grimaced in pain—but wiped his tears. He came next to Shiika and helped the work.

“’Shit… if this was how I originally was, I could easily slip past this…’”

“Sanbikime-san…”

The one who was the most hated enemy for Mushitsuki, one of the Original Three, now stood next to Shiika.

However, that member of the Original Three had his face twisted in agony and was trying to save a person’s life.

“’Once more I can’t do anything except eat this person’s dream, then…!’”

As if spitting out something he was accumulating, Aria groaned.

Then, along with a heavy vibration, the crane’s arm faintly moved.

“It’s… moving!”

“Just like this! Keep going! We’ve pulled it out!”

“Hurry up, someone help him breathe!”

The thick smoke-engulfed fuselage suddenly became noisy. —The amount of smoke lessened probably due to Aijisupa taking care of the fire’s origin and then clearing up the smoke through controlling the airflow.

“…”

Panting, Shiika and Aria stood there, stunned.

The boy pinned under the crane’s arm was finally rescued.

Seeing the crewmen who happened to be present perform artificial respiration, Aria mumbled to himself.

“’He’s saved… really? No, it’s too early to say…’”

“H-he’ll definitely be saved. Outside we have Nanana’s—”

“’There’s no way… after all, this far I always had to eat their dream—wah!”

The cookie girl grasped Aria’s head from behind.

Looking down at the surprised Aria, she grinned.

“’W-what is it… sorry, it was my bad, saying this was impossible.’”

As he sounded embarrassed, the girl ruffled his hair.

“E-err, thank you very much.”

Shiika bowed at the girl.

She heard from Chiharu about the fate of Fusion-Type Mushitsuki being born.

And the being called Sanbikime always suffered from it.

However, they apparently finally managed to avoid tragedy this time.

They succeeded in no small part thanks to the girl in front of Shiika.

“I know it’s odd for me to thank you but, well, it’s thanks to you that—”

Shiika tried speaking, but then noticed something odd.

She couldn’t see the cookie girl’s expression well. It was because her wet hair clung to her face.

But what was it that wettened the girl’s hair in the first place?

It was—an abnormal amount of sweat.

“Err… this might be rude—”

She felt her voice shaking unconsciously.

Now that the smoke was cleared, she could see that the cookie girl’s dress also changed color with the sweat. Not only that, but her cardigan sleeves—were dripping blood.

“—Are you hurt?”

“If there were two seriously hurt people, they’d hesitate too much about who to save… and once that happened, they might become unable to save both…”

The girl showed her sharp canines and smiled. Unlike her expression, however, her voice was terribly weak.

“’Hey—‘”

Aria’s expression changed. He was staring at the girl’s right hand.

She probably picked it up after saving the boy.

“’Hey! Why do you—you’re a woman, so why do you have it!”

The cookie girl was gripping headphones.

The exact same headphones as those Aria wore.

“I’m a man… I was just born in a woman’s body…”

As if begging for forgiveness, the girl’s expression twisted—

And vanished from Shiika’s sight.

“’AHHHHHHH!’”

Looking down at the girl who collapsed as though her strings were cut, Aria shouted.

“—”

Seeing the back uncovered by the cardigan now, Shiika felt herself grow pale.

She was covered in blood. Perhaps part of the wall that broke down upon collision with the crane, several sharp metal fragments stabbed into her. It was such a grievous wound that it was a miracle she managed to hide it until now.

That girl was, in fact—C.J. She possessed the dream that drew Aria to her, and had the sort of indominable spirit that allowed her to hide her own fatal wounds to save the boy. Regarding the confusion in gender, there were apparently some circumstances behind it.

As the girl lay there unable to move even a finger, Aria looked down at her and held his head.

Next to them, Shiika had definitely seen it in the fuselage filled with chaos.

“…”

The blonde boy that was saved thanks to the cookie girl started breathing again. He coughed painfully, and his crying mother clung to him.

“’It really does turn out like this… in the end, this is my fate…’”

Aria clenched his fist. He kneeled next to the girl.

“You wanted somewhere you could get reborn… you’ve told me this before…”

Aria’s body was wrapped in a faint, azure glow. He slowly opened his mouth wide.

“’It looks so, so tasty—and it’s exactly because I have these thoughts at such a time that I’ll never be forgiven…’”

Seeing that Aria brought his widened mouth closer to the collapsed girl—

Without thinking, Shiika slipped between them.

“…!”

As Shiika held the girl’s head in an embrace, Aria glared at her.

His expression of anger didn’t seem childlike at all—it really was monstrous.

“’Move aside—“’

“…!”

Shiika shook her head.

Aria grabbed Shiika’s clothes and tried pulling her away. However, he was awfully weak, completely unlike a supposed Original Three monster.

“’Don’t stand in my way—on whose authority do you intend to kill her—‘”

“…!”

Shiika shook her head again.

No words came out. Instead, she started crying at some point.

“’What am I supposed to do, then! Are you telling her to leave her to die?! It’s better to become a Mushitsuki than die!”

“…!”

“’What can you do, then! Are you telling me you can—save her?!”

“—I can’t…”

Shiika bit her lips.

These were tears of frustration and chagrin.

Knowing neither shame nor honor, she spoke what she already knew since long ago.

“I can’t do anything…!”

As the surviving Rank 1, she couldn’t become a replacement for Kakkou.

And she couldn’t become like her magnificent friend Tachibana Rina, either.

Far from it, even if she just tried acting as a single Mushitsuki, she couldn’t save anyone.

Because Shiika’s power—could do nothing but destroy.

“I can’t save anyone…”

Smoke started filling the fuselage again. The passengers started clamoring.

A small presence appeared behind Shiika.

“Sorry for being late, Snow-sama.”

Hearing this innocent voice in her ears, Shiika nodded.

“—However.”

The moment Shiika mumbled, their sight literally dispersed.

“…!”

Even the faces of the surprised Aria and the other passengers vanished like mist, and the next moment—

A bright light filled their sights.

“—”

The wounded cookie girl.

Shiika who held her head.

As well as Aria.

All three of them retrieved their forms in the airport’s arrival lounge that was filled with light.

Namie and the crewmen were busy guiding the passengers out of the broken fuselage. But what surprised Aria wasn’t them—but the state of the lobby from how it was a few minutes ago.

Many doctors, nurses and paramedics rushed around the scene of the accident. The passengers were being carried outside on stretchers one after another, and the crucially injured received treatment on simple beds installed on the spot. Large movable lights illuminated the area.

Even as Shiika cried, she held the cookie girl’s head.

“My comrades can definitely save her…!”

Seeing the perfect acceptance state developed in the lobby, Aria groaned in shock.

“’Why… how, all this… it’s almost as if you knew this would happen—‘”

Saying this, he gasped.

Noticing that Shiika and the others appeared in the lobby, several people rushed to them.

Seeing one of them, Aria grimaced.

“’—Chiharu… I see, you knew this…’”

Akasegawa Nanana appeared as well. She also brought Lucifera and other Mushibane members with her.

“Come here, a few of you! It’s urgent! I’ve even arranged for lights for Chafer, so work already!”

“I’m not one of your fucking employees, Akasegawa!”

Even as he cussed, the Mushitsuki boy who had heling abilities sat down next to the cookie girl.

“O-oh, what a cutie… looks like things are really bad, though.”

Seeing her comrades arriving, Shiika lost all strength. She was relieved and tried leaving the girl.

However.

Someone grabbed Chafer’s shoulders from behind as he was about to begin treatment.

“W-wait a minute.”

She was Lucifera. While looking at the cellphone she held in one hand, she asked in a mutter.

“H-has she already been turned into a Mushitsuki?”

Shiika looked up at Lucifera’s face with surprise.

“If she’s not one yet—Sanbikime-san, hurry up and make her a Mushitsuki already.”

“—!”

Shiika was speechless.

Lucifera didn’t remove her eyes from the cellphone. —No, she tried not meeting Shiika’s eyes.

“We must defeat Oogui. If a Fusion-Type Mushitsuki is about to get born here, they will become indispensable fighting power. They might even go beyond Kakkou or Sleeping Beauty.”

“Lucy-san…?”

“Allow me to state this clearly. There’s no guarantee Mushibane alone can beat Oogui. Reason being, you’re our strongest fighter, Snow-san, and your ability—”

Lucifera found it difficult to speak further, so she stopped. She continued as though forcing it out.

“Can be used by Oogui as well.”

“…!”

Perhaps surprised at Lucifera’s words, the gathered Mushibane members’ expressions were beyond unexpected.

Because only Shiika was surprised, while everyone else just bit their lips.

“Eh…? Y-you guys—”

“If we get more fighting power, our chances of winning will increase too. All the more if it’s an ability Oogui doesn’t have!”

No one there denied Lucifera’s words.

Seeing the expressions of Lucifera, Nanana and some others, Shiika noticed.

“—Y-you thought this all along?”

Her mouth moved on its own.

“All along… you didn’t think we can win…? Against Oogui…”

“…”

“Finding Sanbikime as well… was because you wanted more allies…?”

Of course not—

Shiika wanted to hear this chain of words the most of all, but it came from no one.

Not even from Namie or Aijisupa, who left the rest of the evacuation efforts to professionals.

It felt so heavy.

Shiika had never felt this kind of heavy impact before.

“No one… believed in me…?”

“No!”

Namie denied it.

“We do believe in you, Fuyuhotaru! It’s just that—”

“It’s just lip service, right?”

It was Satou Youko who suddenly cut off Namie’s words.

“By adding a Fusion-Type Mushitsuki as an ally, you might win against Oogui. And it might cause less Mushibane victims as well.”

No one there should have noticed the presence of this girl sitting on a suitcase until now. She was a girl with so thin of a sense of presence—but she was always next to Shiika.

As if gouging the doubts and anxiety born in her heart.

As if seeing through their black hearts and drawing them further into the darkness.

“You know this well—so it’s odd using trying to save just a single person, right?”

Satou Youko wore a casual sneer.

“No, rather than paying lip service… aren’t you just being selfish?”

Selfish.

Right—

Shiika agreed.

Thinking about it as Mushibane’s leader, there was no choice in the first place.

So for Shiika to feel like going against that now—it was nothing more than simple selfishness.

“As the SEPB, if we focus on fighting Oogui—as well as C—we do want the strength of a Fusion-Type Mushitsuki.”

Saying this was Kabuto, the SEPB combatant.

“And speaking personally… also as a power to go against Miguruma Yaeko.”

Even the SEPB, who were enemies to Mushibane, wished for the birth of Mushitsuki.

There was no longer any doubt.

Having the cookie girl become a Mushitsuki was definitely the right answer.

And what Shiika wished for—was the wrong answer.

Looking at Aria, he grimaced in pain.

“’It can’t be helped, if no one will stand in my way… I will probably eat her dream.’”

Unable to resist his own hunger.

That was the Original Three.

They had no other choice.

“You know it’s not just fighting power being born here…”

Shiika looked at the cookie girl.

If she became a Mushitsuki—she’d be very strong.

Although only briefly, she saw the girl’s strength that assured her of this.

“You know she’d be a Mushitsuki…”

“—!”

Several people were agitated.

However, the right answer wouldn’t change.

If there were a hundred people there, a hundred people would go against Shiika.

Any people other than that—didn’t currently exist. If Kakkou or Tachibana Rina were there, what would they have done? Would they go against Shiika as well?

Clinging to these delusions was undoubtedly part of Shiika’s weakness.

“I know that… but… but…!”

As she shed tears, Shiika recalled the face of someone who was completely irrelevant to this place.

Kusuriya Daisuke.

He wasn’t a Mushitsuki—but he approached Shiika also not as a Mushitsuki, thinking she was a normal girl.

She promised she’d meet him again.

“But—I hate it…!”

Unable to withstand it, Shiika started crying.

If she let a Mushitsuki be created her—if she had no choice just to reach the right answer…

Shiika felt like it would mean crossing a line.

“Right now, we’re the ones deciding whether she should become a Mushitsuki… and not the Original Three…! But making a Mushitsuki just for our sakes—”

Growing too excited, her voice became shrill. Shiika groaned.

“That’d make us the same as the Original Three…”

She felt that someone got agitated again.

Even while saying all this, she knew.

She was a coward.

“I understand… that I’m selfish… but I hate it…!”

Not only was she selfish, she was raising a tantrum.

She was acting without any responsibility, choosing a wrong answer based on emotion.

However, she had the feeling that if she suppressed those emotions, they were going to go past the point of no return.

“—You should elect a new leader.”

Once again, it was Youko who spoke suddenly.

“If she doesn’t prioritize the organization first and foremost, isn’t she a failure as a leader?”

The atmosphere froze.

“Fuyuhotaru-chan… if you want your selfishness to prevail, you should quit Mushibane.”

C’mon, don’t be there, come over here—

Satou Youko’s kind smile looked to her as if she was beckoning to her.

“…”

Shiika hugged the cookie girl’s head and grimaced.

Shiika didn’t have the makings of a leader—she knew this from the very beginning, but it now turned into a situation where she had to acknowledge this.

With Shiika there, the very organization of Mushibane itself would collapse.

She would destroy the people that her friend entrusted to her care by her own hands—

“—Step away from Fuyuhotaru, Satou Youko.”

Taking this unexpected action was Namie.

She stood in front of Shiika as if to protect her from the other girl.

“Namie-san…?”

“Sorry, Fuyuthoaru… I’m so sorry…!”

Namie turned back to Shiika, biting her lips.

“Once again, I couldn’t see anything but the battle ahead…! I’m so pathetic…!”

“Even if can’t stay in the Mushibane that Rina left behind—”

Aijisupa approached Shiika and spun his body as well.

“It’s still my job to stay at your side.”

“A-are you insane?”

With Mushibane members to her back, Lucifera’s face froze.

“Are you going to betray Mushibane in such a situation?”

“I won’t let you turn this girl into a Mushitsuki. If you say you don’t allow it, that’s what happens.”

“Chafer. Once you finish the minimum amount of treatment, you step back too.”

Shiika was confused at Namie and Aijisupa’s sudden actions.

“Namie-san, Aijisupa-san, I don’t really—”

“I thought about doing this later, but this might be a good opportunity.”

Kabuto spoke while crossing his arms.

“Fuyuhotaru, why don’t you join the SEPB—the East Central Branch?”

“Eh?”

Along with Shiika, everyone there looked at Kabuto.

“We won’t let Central Headquarters have you. We at the East Central Branch have been talking about this before; to have you join us not by capturing you, but formally become our ally. —If you leave Mushibane and become a SEPB combatant, we’ll forget about that girl.”

Lucifera looked flustered.

“W-what are you saying… Snow-san will leave Mushibane? Letting the chance for creating a Fusion-Type slip away? And what’s more… for her to join the SEPB? W-what on earth are you all talking about!”

“—”

It was just like Lucifera said.

Shiika couldn’t immediately understand the reality created by her own actions.

The Mushitsuki that she thought were all her allies moments ago now became her enemies.

All because of Shiika—

Although the Mushitsuki were finally all united, they were going to split off again—

“Come here, Chafer.”

“Hey, this is—pretty bad!”

Chafer’s anxious-dyed voice echoed in the lobby full of tension.

“The light… no, it’s—”

The lights illuminating the lobby showed a bizarre change.

“…!”

Shiika finally noticed it as well.

The lights—were moving.

They were bending and curving, morphing and changing their shape.

Small balls of light were gushing out of the sources of illumination.

Looking more closely at them, they were swarms of butterflies—and had the letter C on their wings.

“C—”

As she mumbled this, Shiika recalled that their battle against C had already begun.

3.02 OPS3 Part 13

The electricity consumed by this powerful illumination split from the machinery and assumed shape.

A nude beauty glowing in gold.

There were four of them. Each commanded an endless swarm of C butterflies.

Shiika and the others, as well as the emergency workers were all completely frozen in front of this situation—

A ringtone echoed.

Lucifera gasped and looked at her cellphone’s screen.

“—She’s aiming for Sanbikime! Protect the boy!”

Lucifera screamed, but it was the enemy who moved first.

One of C’s duplicates created by her ability—the electric fairy—flew. While creating a surging thread of electrical discharge between the machines on the floor and around, she stretched both arms toward the boy wearing headphones.

In comparison, the various Mushitsuki around acted one step too late. It was because they attempted to activate their abilities all of a sudden.

As a result, the person to move against C’s surprise attack was a girl who wasn’t a Mushitsuki at all—

“…!”

Leaping to Aria while risking herself and rolling on the floor was Ayukawa Chiharu.

In the space of a second, the golden fairy reached where Aria was, crashed against it and scattered.

“’C-Chiharu…!’”

“You can’t create any more Mushitsuki, Aria…!”

The girl who now hugged the headphone boy to her was crying. Although until then she showed no extreme emotions, Kakkou’s sister now raised her face and turned to Shiika.

“Right, Shiika-chan!”

It was her first time to see Chiharu’s emotions on full display.

As she saw Chiharu hug the boy serving as Aria’s host and shout her throat out, Shiika thought to herself.

She’d probably made Kakkou into a Mushitsuki at the time because there was no other choice.

But now other choices still remained—

“Yes!”

Looking Chiharu in the eyes for the first time, Shiika shouted as well.

The electric lump that burst and lost its shape now swelled atop the floor. It was recovering its form as a fairy.

“Looks like Operation 1 is also having a tough battle. Having C’s abilities reach so far means that…”

Aijisupa stood in front of Chiharu and Aria to protect them. He reached with both arms toward the assaulting golden fairies.

The moment before the fairies touched Aijisupa, he snapped his fingers loudly.

“—!”

There was a violent sound like striking a wet cloth.

As well as a golden radiance bursting in a radial pattern.

The leaping fairies were instantly vaporized, becoming particles of light spread in the lobby. These too were instantly boiled away by vapors, though. Shiika didn’t really understand the principles behind this, but apparently he used his steam to disperse C’s duplicates.

“Guh…!”

Aijisupa grimaced in agony. His hands were scorched and raising smoke.

“Aijisupa-san!”

“Leave battling to me.”

The hairband boy erased his expression again and raised his burnt arms high.

“But there’re too many uninvolved people here. Take Sanbikime and run.”

“Yes, let’s hurry!”

The one who took Aria from Chiharu and carried him was Namie.

“Escaping the airport’s our first priority. Chafer! You say here, you have to save that girl. Got it?!”

“All the light sources for my ability are broken, though—alright, I’ll do it, don’t glare at me like me!”

“W-we cannot allow you to do this. —Members of Mushibane!”

While staring at her cellphone, Lucifera spoke in a shaking voice.

“With the situation being what it is, we need to beat Fuyuhotaru’s group by force and create a Fusion-Type here!”

“…”

Shiika’s face stiffened. The Mushibane members in the lobby were the same.

“If we do that, Oogui won’t be able to use Fuyuhotaru’s power and we’ll gain a powerful ally. Sanbikime will end his role and might return to the neckless, so everything will end well!”

“Lucifera, you little…!”

Glared by Namie, Lucifera grimaced. Her arm holding the cellphone shook.

“Right now, we should be able to beat Fuyuhotaru easily… she’s not going to use her powers because she won’t hurt the people around…!”

Exactly so.

Lucifera was apparently acting out someone’s plan, but that person was right.

Shiika’s ability was about to become a major obstacle for their fight against Oogui. If they killed Shiika that problem would be gone, and if Sanbikime birthed a new Mushitsuki then they could create an ally on par with Kakkou.

It wasn’t just killing two birds with one stone.

It was the right answer such that no one would even think of any other option.

“—”

Even so—the Mushitsuki of Mushibane Mushitsuki couldn’t even move.

Even the one commanding them, Lucifera herself, put enough strength into her fist holding the cellphone that she was about to break it. Was her gritting her teeth like that out of opposition to the one issuing her orders, or perhaps—was she irritated at herself for being unable to move despite this being right?

Shiika looked at her Mushibane comrades.

Many things happened between them, but these Mushitsuki accepted Shiika, ate with her and slept with her.

Thinking back, not only did Shiika not help them at all—but rather felt like as someone who couldn’t even peel vegetables properly, they helped her much more than the other way around.

And now their eyes looking at Shiika—were full of doubts.

Just like Shiika herself, their expressions indicated that they didn’t allow themselves any display of emotion despite knowing the right answer.

“—But if you can’t do even that?”

Lucifera’s face changed with a startle. She received new mail on her phone.

“Then fucking save Fuyuhotaru already!”

“Eh…?”

“In exchange—throw away your naïve ideas about Fuyuhotaru or the Fusion-Type that could be created here saving all of us!”

Lucifera, who opened her mouth wide and shouted, instantly wore a smile.

“Make this no one’s fault by your own, make your own calls! It’s your own damn responsibility, choosing to throw away the only right answer! And resolve yourself to beat Oogui with the people gathered here no matter what!”

Lucifera was shouting toward the frozen Mushibane members.

“I’m telling you to brace yourselves for some tough shit, you shithead Mushitsuki! …Is what she says!”

Bursting, golden light overlapped with the voices echoing throughout the lobby.

Two fairies aimed for Aria and were intercepted by Aijisupa’s counterattack.

“Gwah…!”

Seeing how Aijisupa suffered with smoke rising from both hands—

All the Mushitsuki started moving at once.

Turning their backs to all the fairies, they fled.

“I’ve prepared a prisoner transport van with insulation in Terminal 2! Ride that and escape!”

Akasegawa Nanana, who remained in the lobby, shouted. She’d probably prepared it for them to pick up Sanbikime in. As they parted, she wore a displeased expression—definitely because she was mad at Shiika for choosing the wrong answer.

“Don’t fight C’s duplicates head on! Destroy all the walls and ceiling after you pass and bury the path with concrete! All the staff and passengers evacuated already anyway, so this is the right way for you shits-for-brains to escape! You shitheads, all of you are shitheads! …Is what she says!”

Seeing Lucifera shout all that merrily while running away, Shiika thought.

It was obvious that the person issuing orders to Lucifera disapproved of Shiika’s decision.

However, she changed her mind quickly. Although she was furious, not only had she not abandoned her thinking, she even saved Mushibane from falling apart.

It was the kind of human resource that Mushibane didn’t have even now—no, that they needed.

Why was she so stubborn about not revealing herself to Shiika—

She was terribly curious about that.

“Gwah…!”

She heard a scream from behind.

Turning around, she witnessed several of her slower comrades becoming prey to the fairies.

“It’s my fault…!”

If only she did as everyone told her, even her comrades that collapsed now might have been saved.

There was a part of her that had to think that. Even if everyone in Mushibane decided to follow Shiika again.

On the other hand—

“Thank you…!”

While running, Chiharu held her mouth with both hands and cried. Tears were falling from her eyes.

“Thank you, Shiika-chan… For not letting someone like my brother get born again…!”

Chiharu, who should have begrudged Shiika, was thanking her.

The pain constricting Shiika’s chest was not the fault of fatigue from running at full speed.

“I—”

Shiika couldn’t do anything more than biting her lips.

With Namie who was carrying Aria leading at the front, Mushibane ran out of the airport.

The outside was a mess. Many police cars were parked there to keep the customers or curious onlookers away. There were even people who looked like news agencies trying to get the best scoop. Ambulance sirens were also heard from afar. In a few more minutes, the place was definitely going to be under strict guard.

“Shiika-chan! Here!”

On the other side of the transport van, Chouya Nihei was waving his arms. He wasn’t a Mushitsuki, but he was a dependable merchant just like Nanana.

“Nihei-san—”

Trying to head toward Nihei, Shiika stopped in place.

That was because she saw golden butterflies dancing around.

“This’s bad—”

Namie groaned, her voice low.

C butterflies were produced one after another from the lights and cars parked in the terminals. Normal civilians unrelated to Shiika and the rest were getting confused by the events.

The one who moved to avoid tragedy was unexpected.

“—Erii?”

Erii, who should have been in a faraway place along with the Mushibane members, was heading there, her arms spread. From each finger she produced a pale C-butterfly.

Erii swung both arms horizontally.

The ten pale C-butterflies spread all around—

“…!”

It happened instantaneously.

The electric current surging from the pale C-butterflies entangled the golden butterflies—then absorbed them and left in the form of lightning that shot from ground to sky.

Finishing the discharge, crackles of remnant static electricity danced in the terminal that was now empty of C-butterflies.

“She saved us…? Is she our ally?”

Lucifera mumbled in shock, looking at Erii. The other girl was perhaps tired, as she was out of breath and her face was pale.

“We’ll block this exit and stop the fairies. Namie, take care of Shiika.”

“Goes without saying! Let’s go, Fuyuhotaru!”

Aijisupa and other allies stopped at the entrance. Namie dashed out of the terminal.

“Y-yes…!”

Shiika followed after Namie and Aria, Lucifera, as well as Erii.

Police officers stood in their way, but Shiika and others ignored them and passed through.

Within this mess, the existence of Mushitsuki was revealed to many civilian witnesses. But it was after Shinpu caused such huge damages. It was already unavoidable for the entire world to discover about Mushitsuki.

“Hurry!”

Nihei led them to a vehicle about as big as a city bus. —That being said, it resembled a bus just in size, as the walls and ceiling were all covered by thick steel plates and there were no windows.

As they all got on, the door closed without even time to look back toward Aijisupa and others.

The engine roared and the transport van deployed.

“We’re using several similar cars as dummies. Once we manage to escape to the countryside where there are less machines and surveillance cameras and the like, I think we’ll be able to escape… are you all fine?”

Looking at Shiika and the rest, it was natural for Nihei to be shocked.

Shiika, Namie and Aria, who saw the accident from close by and even entered the smoke-filled fuselage, were all covered in black. Chiharu and Lucifera were also tired, while Erii was covered in sweat and shaking.

“Thank you for saving us, Erii…”

“…”

Although Shiika expressed her gratitude, Erii did nothing but glance at her. She soon averted her eyes.

Being in the van was just like getting stuffed into a box. Just like they saw from outside there were no windows and it had no seats, either. The gloomy interior was illuminated only by lights on the ceiling.

“Aria…! Are you fine?”

Chiharu peeked at Aria’s face. The headphone-wearing boy hugged his own body and trembled.

“’I-I already told you, this body’s at its limits already… if I don’t eat a dream quickly, this boy’s mind will break first and foremost…’”

“Come inside me!”

Aria widened his eyes.

“Leave that boy and come inside me just like you did before!”

“’Are you—are you stupid? Don’t say something like that so easily… if you remember the past then surely you also remember that pain and hunger?”

“Yup, I recalled everything. The things you’ve said as well.”

Chiharu hugged the shaking boy.

“One day, one of the Aria Vareis will be able to live without eating someone’s dream—you were the one who said this, Aria.”

“…”

“Do you also remember what I told you?”

“…”

“I told you that you can stay inside me forever.”

In Chiharu’s chest, Aria grimaced. As if withstanding feelings that weren’t hunger—something unbearable—yet his wry smile also looked somewhat happy.

“’So this is your atonement, then… although you’ve done nothing wrong.’”

“I just want my old partner back. That’s it, really.”

Saying this, Chiharu flashed a bright grin.

Ah, so she actually was someone who smiled like this—

Seeing Chiharu’s smile, Shiika’s heart throbbed in pain.

It felt like she was watching a famous scene from some movie with the lead actress smiling like that. She came to realize that this was how Ayukawa Chiharu normally was.

Although she knew she’d suffer her entire life, she was willing to accept one of the Original Three.

And it was an exceptional smile. How much kindness—as well as strength could it hold? It was a resolve Shiika could never even imagine.

“’But that’s impossible… going into another person while I’ve yet to eat any dream might work for someone like Diorestoi, but not me…’”

“Aria? Are you alright?”

“’Sorry… I’m a bit sleepy…’”

The boy hugged to Chiharu’s bosom slowly closed his eyes. Still grimacing as he drifted off to sleep, he was hugged hard by Chiharu as though to encourage him.

“—Conditions—”

“…!”

Everyone including Shiika looked at a certain person.

A bizarre voice suddenly emitted. It was cracked and filled with noise like it came from the radio and the speaker was the girl who sat on one corner of the car while hugging her knees.

“There are—conditions—but my ability—Aria’s transport—possible—“

“Erii!”

Shiika leapt at Erii. The girl who had Ebina Yuu’s face kept facing ahead, not even looking to Shiika. Her mouth was open, but it didn’t look like she was moving her tongue.

“Even waking up Alpha—”

“Here! I knew it was Erii! Her personality being erased was a lie!”

Shiika started shedding tears.

Lucifera was shocked as she stared at Erii.

“R-really…? Before getting swallowed by Shinpu’s power, she might have let her personality escape… even if she’s a Mushitsuki, is such a thing possible…?”

“In the first place—I—used as a medium—Shinpu and Mushitsuki—Mushitsuki and the Database—a few Shinpu fragments remained—”

“I don’t really get it… but if we have her, can’t we solve everything? About that Aria or whatever and Alpha.”

Erii answered Nihei’s question.

“Impossible for me here—this is just an imitation of Shinpu—a landmark—”

“A landmark?”

As Shiika furrowed her brows, Namie tore Erii away from her.

“You said something about conditions. If you’re Erii and you say that this form is a fragment, where’s the main body?”

“…”

Erii suddenly averted her gaze.

“So you don’t want to answer? This isn’t the time for sulking—”

“W-wait, Namie-san.”

Shiika had seen Erii act like this many times until now.

Her profile gazing afar. She was always gazing at the same direction.

“You’re—over there? The real Erii, that is.”

Shiika followed her gaze. The others did the same.

“Was there anything there? As far as I know, there’s only the sea…”

“Miguruma already said that C’s personality is gone. So it needs to be a place not under C’s influence that the SEPB had been unable to find…”

“O-overseas?”

Nihei, Namie and Chiharu gave their theories, but Erii made no nod.

“There was no longer—where to escape—on the surface—“

Lucifera also tilted her head, but she suddenly gulped.

“Not the surface… no way—”

Erii looked at Shiika.

Her eyes that had the letter C in them—

“Please, I want you to—bring me back to life—”

Were shedding tears.

3.03 OPS3 Part 14

“An artificial satellite…?”

Peeking into the notebook computer Nihei carried, Namie spoke.

The transport van was still running on the road. Since there were no windows, they had no idea where they were heading, but ever since it left the airport, its engines hadn’t stopped even once.

“No, this is—”

While operating the notebook computer, Nihei’s expression clouded over. A cable extending from the laptop connected to the nearby wall. It was connected to protected emergency circuits, so it should be difficult for C to ascertain their location from the outside, according to him.

“It happened just as the mist covering Akamaki City cleared up. A rocket carrying a satellite to space was launched from the country—but this is… aren’t these reports of it failing?”

“Seems that way. The moment after it was launched, it was hit by lightning… was this your handiwork, C—no, Erii?”

While reading the news report posted online, Namie turned to Erii.

Erii was silent, hugging her knees.

Nihei finished reading the article.

“When the rocket passed through the atmosphere its fuel tank was destroyed and it was confirmed that the vehicle exploded. And they lost all sound transmission just before the satellite was ejected into orbit…”

“—There was no other way—no matter where I ran to—I’d end absorbed by my powers at some point—”

Still expressionless, Erii mumbled this, her voice mixed with noise.

“Erii…”

Shiika touched Erii’s hands unconsciously. She was holding back her tears.

Erii had resisted and was unable to escape something so powerful—but she didn’t give up on living.

No matter what her form was.

Shiika understood those feelings well.

“…”

Erii looked at Shiika, her face lacking any emotion. She awkwardly grabbed her hand back.

These fingers that originally were Ebina Yuu’s were slightly shaking. Feeling that, Shiika felt her chest constrained again.

“But is the satellite itself in one piece? If we go by this article, never mind the failure in launch, hadn’t the rocket itself exploded?”

Erii answered Namie’s question in a voice full of noise.

“It’s space debris—”

It was an unfamiliar term.

Shiika frowned.

“Space debris…?”

“Not even falling under the definition of a rocket or satellite—it’s just trash caught up in Earth’s orbit—”

“H-how are we supposed to get it back? You’re not actually telling us to head into space and get it, right?”

As Nihei was confused, Erii glared at him.

“Other than the experimental Hologram Memory that I’ve uploaded my personality into, one booster remained safe—as well as some little fuel—as long as it’s before it freezes over in the lower atmosphere, we just need to ignite that booster—”

“W-wait a moment. Don’t tell me that—”

Nihei’s cheeks twitched.

“You’re going to drop it? Drop the debris—somewhere on the surface?”

Letting the debris holding Erii’s personality crash down.

She realized how difficult this was based on how everyone there gasped. Apparently Shiika was the only one who was unable to take this in all at once.

“I’ve already started preparations for atmospheric entry—if we let this chance slip away, I’ll never—”

“Eh? Eh? You’re already going to enter the atmosphere again? This is bad, real bad!”

“E-err… what is so bad about this?”

“Isn’t it obvious?! Alright, Snow-san, I’ll explain it simply for you… err, it’s really bad! Now especially when the country’s so chaotic… if something so large falls from the sky, they might think it’s a missile and cause a lot of trouble! Normally you’d announce all over the world about that satellite—wait, where is it even falling?!”

Nihei was flustered to a pathetic degree.

“It’s heading to me—”

Erii explained.

A landmark—

Now the meaning of her words from before was finally clear.

Erii had left a fragment of herself for the part of her even now drifting through space.

“Can’t you do anything?”

Chiharu asked this. She was looking at the girl sitting against the wall.

She was Lucifera. She used another communication cable to connect to her cellphone and was apparently in contact with someone. Probably her mistress.

“Our first priority right now is to defeat Oogui. Not saving Erii.”

Her answer was about half expected. Shiika made no move.

“We’ve fulfilled our goal of retrieving Sanbikime. Now all we need is a mental pollution-type Mushitsuki to force Erii’s fragment out of Ebina Yuu’s body. Afterwards, we’ll need to think a strategy for defeating—”

Seeing that both Shiika and Chiharu’s expressions were completely unmoving, Lucifera cut off her words.

“…You’re not listening to a single word I’m saying, are you?”

“I mean…!”

Shiika snapped at Lucifera, who then sighed.

“I am not Nihei-san, but this is quite the difficult situation. In the first place, can we even survive the impact caused by space debris falling to earth?”

“—”

Erii said nothing, just biting her lips.

“What’s the estimated time of the fall?”

“—In about ten more hours—”

Namie grimaced.

“Just before our time limit…!”

“Stopping Erii’s fall, then having her bring Ebina Yuu back us, and furthermore using her as bait to draw Oogui. As well as giving Sanbikime back to Chiharu-san. —We need to do all this and still defeat Oogui within the time limit.”

Lucifera counted on her fingers.

“This is way past being ridiculous. But you’re still saying to do it?”

Shiika looked back at Lucifera’s face.

She then looked at Namie, along with Chiharu looked at Aria, and looked at Erii.

Those who became Mushitsuki. Those who weren’t Mushitsuki. As well as—those who birthed Mushitsuki.

In all likelihood, never again were all these people going to gather under one banner like this.

“I think that’s why we’re here.”

Shika spoke calmly.

“To save Erii—no, every Mushitsuki.”

Saving Mushitsuki—

Those words looked like they made Erii startle for a moment. Because she immediately lowered her face, however, it might have been Shiika’s imagination.

“…Haa.”

Lucifera sighed again, probably because she’d already anticipated Shiika’s response. She already knew that Shiika was going to reject the right answer of abandoning Erii.

“If we’re doing this—this is actually our best chance now.”

Shiika and Chiharu’s faces sparkled at Lucifera’s words.

Her invisible “mistress”.

Right about now, that person was probably raging against Shiika who went against orders and yet thinking up a new plan. —She’d never met her, but for some reason Shiika was convinced of this.

“In this state of emergency, it’s actually the SEPB who holds the real power over this country. Although it’s obvious that all sides are going to bear responsibility afterwards, it’s also only the SEPB that can get the situation under control. Let Miguruma lay the groundwork to have the government handle other countries. Furthermore, in order for us to act as soon as possible, we need to wait at the capital, where it’s easiest to gather the necessary resources and manpower.”

After reaching that point this much, Lucifera looked at her cellphone screen and went speechless. She spoke after a delay.

“—Let’s have the space debris drop on Akamaki City.”

“…!”

Shiika was speechless too. Everyone there was shocked.

Dropping debris on the capital, where the country’s core was located.

It was a very bold strategy.

“We can allow no failure. We don’t have the time to gather everything in the kind of countryside area that’s empty of people. Right now, Akamaki City had issued evacuation orders anyway, and the influence of both Central Headquarters and Akasegawa Group is strong. Use whatever you need, whether money or authority. I don’t care about what the fuck happens after—she says.”

No one but Lucifera could utter a word after this unexpected development.

“I’ll start thinking of a proper plan now. Fuyuhotaru-san, you and the rest should rest while you can. Because when you’ll wake up next—you’ll need to stop a comet falling from the sky.”

Saying this, Lucifera turned her back to them. She was talking in whispers with someone again.

Left like this all of a sudden, Shiika was confused. It was ridiculous to tell her to go sleep in this situation.

As she glanced around, unsure what to do, Chiharu approached her.

“…Shiika-chan, can I have a moment?”

“Ah… o-of course.”

She apparently wanted them to talk alone.

Her arm grabbed by Chiharu, Shiika was brought to another corner of the van. It was hard to claim they were alone since it was such a narrow space, but they sat against the wall, shoulder to shoulder.

“…”

Although she was the one who invited Shiika, Chiharu remained silent. She was glancing at Aria’s sleeping face as he leaned against Namie.

Shiika also said nothing.

What could she even tell Chiharu, as the one who turned her brother into a Fallen?

Shiika had yet to find the answer to this.

“—Why?”

Shiika’s shoulders twitched.

“Why did you make my brother into a Fallen…?”

“—”

A penetrating cold assaulted Shiika’s abdomen, not unlike a sensation of falling.

So this moment finally came.

This inescapable blame stabbed Shiika.

“You were so frantic just now—you were seriously trying to protect someone you met for the first time from becoming a Mushitsuki, and yet…”

Chiharu didn’t look Shiika in the eyes. She just kept glaring ahead, grimacing, and hugged her knees hard. Shiika knew from that hoarse voice that the other girl was barely holding back her sobs.

“Wasn’t my brother your friend…? You’re so kind, and yet… why is he the only one you didn’t protect…?!”

She probably held back, but couldn’t any longer. Tears were already streaming down Chiharu’s eyes.

Shiika had certainly claimed Kakkou was her friend. She had no idea how Chiharu knew this, but she apparently believed these words.

“…”

She had to say something. She tried opening her mouth—but no words came out.

“I know—”

Chiharu’s throat finally trembled with sobs.

“I was the one who made my brother into a Mushitsuki… if you hadn’t done that, my brother would’ve died from Maturation… he might have even hurt a lot of people… I’m aware of that…”

Neither the cheerful smile she showed before nor her picture-perfect beauty were there.

This was a girl who lost her own flesh and blood and was crying over it.

“But I hate it… I hate my brother being gone like this…”

Seeing how Chiharu stifled her voice and cried, Shiika finally understood.

Chiharu wasn’t trying to blame Shiika, actually.

—But I hate it…!

The fact she wasn’t allowing her emotions to be influenced by the correct answer was the same as Shiika at the airport.

She was at a complete loss, having no idea what to do with all this sadness that found no outlet.

“Why did my brother… I know… sorry… I’m sorry, Shiika-chan…”

She had to apologize—no, Shiika knew she’d never be forgiven even if she apologized, and yet it was Chiharu who apologized to her.

No. She was actually apologizing to—

“Sorry… I’m so sorry…”

To Kakkou, whom she turned into a Mushitsuki.

Just how much had this girl called Ayukawa Chiharu been apologizing all this time?

Seeing her face drenched in tears, Shiika felt like she could understand her a little.

“I met Kakkou-kun several years ago for the first time…”

Shiika finally started talking.

Chiharu didn’t want any excuse or atonement from Shiika.

Because she thought this, Shiika sat shoulder to shoulder with Chiharu and decided to speak about her past.

“I was about to die and Kakkou-kun pointed his gun at me…”

Chiharu was crying, but what about her? Was she crying or smiling?

She didn’t know what expression she was wearing.

“But we discussed our dreams.”

It was the moment that everything started, as well as when the curtains were lowered.

This was her first time to discuss this clear moment with someone.

“Me and Kakkou had the same dream—”

Shiika’s lacking vocabulary wasn’t enough to explain that day.

But she did her best to convey her feelings to Chiharu.

As she spoke little by little, at some point Chiharu stopped crying.

Shiika became Fallen and for some reason returned to being a Mushitsuki.

She spoke about how she and the grown up Kakkou happened to meet again this last Christmas.

“—This is my turn now.”

Shiika said.

“I’ll wait for Kakkou-kun to come back…”

This was her promise to Kakkou.

A promise just between the two of them that started all these years ago.

“—Shiika-chan.”

Having opened her mouth for the first time in a while, Chiharu’s voice was low.

“Do you like my brother?”

“Eh…”

Glancing besides her without thinking, she saw Chiharu was glaring at her.

“As his sister I do think it’s too early for him for stuff like this, though.”

“Eh, no, I mean… Kakkou-kun’s my friend…”

She thought it wouldn’t be early at all at that age, but said nothing.

Kakkou was an important friend who had the same dream.

The same as her friend, Tachibana Rina.

If they were talking about a boy she liked—

“…”

Recalling what happened at the airport, Shiika bit her lips. She averted her eyes from Chiharu.

“—I’m sorry.”

“I believe that are things that can be forgiven if you apologize and things that can’t be forgiven.”

“N-not that… I’m thinking about when you protected that girl from Sanbikime at the airport…”

Chiharu had called Shiika kind.

That was a misunderstanding.

What rose to Shiika’s mind at the time—

“I’m not kind at all… I did believe he shouldn’t turn her into a Mushitsuki… but there was someone else who came to mind…”

“Someone else?”

“A boy… a person who promised to meet me again despite knowing I’m a Mushitsuki.”

Shiika grabbed her knees hard. She cried and bit her lips.

“Until I meet him again, I want to remain human. If I just let someone become a Mushitsuki right in front of me… I’ll become a monster just like the Original Three… that’s what I thought.”

“…”

“I can’t do anything, and I’m not kind at all… I only thought about myself.”

Although she was Mushibane’s leader, she was unable to do anything leaderlike.

Although she was a Rank 1 Mushitsuki, she wasn’t strong at all.

On top of that she wasn’t kind, she was selfish and she only caused problems to everyone around her.

“So you like that boy, then, huh.”

A gentle sensation stroked Shiika’s head as she looked down.

That gesture, which forgave her childish self-hatred—reminded her of her own estranged sister.

What was her kind sister doing about now?

“Well, I can’t really forgive you for having a boy other than my brother, though.”

What did she want Shiika to do, then?

“These kinds of feelings are the most important of all. Yup, no doubt about it.”

As Chiharu said this, Shiika simply ended up liking her.

—You like who you like. There’s nothing you can do about those feelings.

She was saying the same thing as Shiika’s late friend, Rina.

“What kind of a guy is he? Is he cooler than my brother? Well?”

“H-how do I… I think he’s normal. He’s called Kusuriya Daisuke…”

The hand stroking Shiika suddenly stopped in place.

“…?”

Thinking it strange and raising her head, Shiika saw Chiharu freeze.

“W-what’s wrong…?”

“Kusu…riya—eh? But that’s… what are you saying?”

Chiharu looked extremely bothered. Her twitching cheeks looked like she was smiling.

“Do you know Daisuke-kun?”

“Do I—know him? But… I mean—”

It took more than a minute for Chiharu to regain her cool.

“W-what kind of a guy is he? That boy…”

The stunned Chiharu asked her the same question again.

Shiika tilted her head and answered honestly.

“When I just became a Mushitsuki again, I ended up meeting him… and he was very kind to me.”

Chiharu showed no response.

“We’ve made a promise to meet again next Christmas.”

Shiika’s cheeks loosened.

“I can still do my best because of that promise…”

“—”

Chiharu put a hand on her mouth. As if she was holding back a scream—Shiika had no idea why she was making that face.

“Is everything alright…?”

“—S-sorry.”

Chiharu averted her face, and when she looked back at Shiika—she was smiling.

“You’ll definitely meet again.”

“Y-yes, thank you.”

The meaning behind Chiharu’s expression—

The reason why the smile of Kakkou’s sister looked like it was about to break into tears at any moment—

Became known to Shiika only later.

4.00 OPS3 Part 15

This happened before the mist created by C covered Akamaki City.

Konomura Chami was sucking on a straw inside a family restaurant. She wasn’t sipping any drink, but simply shaking the straw in her mouth.

“I did somewhat have this feeling. But I didn’t want to acknowledge it, or rather… basically, it’s this.”

She looked at her face with its short-cropped hair in the reflection on the moisture-covered cup. This was her thinking this, she never felt bitter about the fact that her eyes looked eviler than average and about her rather lacking stature and figure. She never even felt bitter about her ability that had been designated as unranked when she belonged to the SEPB.

If Chami had to curse something, it would be fate itself.

“I just wonder whether my choice in pawns was completely mistaken.”

A spray of hamburger sauce splattered against the muttering Chami’s glasses.

“Ah, Ubuki-chan! But that’s my hamburger!”

“Back in my island, us siblings would always steal each other’s food. You’re the one at fault for leaving an opening.”

“Huh? Chiharu-san, isn’t that menu item 2000 yen over budget?! We decided each of us only goes up to 1000! You gotta do this sort of thing properly!”

“…You really are too meticulous, Yuu… way too much…”

“But Konoha-chan’s right, you know? Imposing one’s values on others at a young age is due to the psychological pressure of growing up in a repressive family environment—ow.”

“’Scuse me, is the special coffee I’ve ordered not ready yet? It’s the one that costs 2,000. So slooow, such bad service, unbelievable. …Oh, sorry, Satou-san. Did my elbow hit you?”

“I’m right in front of you, Lucifera-san. It’s a Chawanmushi. I fixed the order.”

Around two four-person tables brought together sat people that looked completely mismatched.

Ayukawa Chiharu. —Formerly one of the Original Three, Aria Varei. Kakkou’s biological sister.

Shirakashi Ubuki. —Formerly a combatant from the SEPB. Among the rare Fusion Types, she alone was powerless.

Ebina Yuu. —Both now and before, a plain civilian.

Konoha. —A combatant from the SEPB. She wore casual clothes now.

Satou Youko. —Formerly the Demon Lord.

Lucifera. —A member of Mushibane.

Kitazawa Tamaki. —Formerly the adviser of the Kanon Cult. Alias Mimic.

A girl whose look goods was wasted on her, a girl who was too high-strung, a girl who was nervous and fussy, a girl who was always gloomy, a girl who lacked a sense of presence, an uncooperative girl, and a cold and composed girl—no matter which angle you looked at them from, none of them looked as though they were friends.

Their only point in common was that they were all girls and that they had practically no fighting power.

And the most important of all—

“Okay, sorry for going over budget! But since it’s just a measly 2,000 yen then don’t I have special privilege, as the oldest one among you? You agree with me, right Chami-chan?”

“H-huh? Wasn’t I three months older? Then I’m the—”

“I do understand the claim that you need to show respect to your elders! But those are two different things! Right, Chami-san?”

Being pestered by Chiharu and Yuu, Chami closed her eyes.

The most important point in common to all these girls gathered here was—

That they were all Chami’s pawns.

“Since Ubuki’s minus 20 yen under budget and took a bite, it balances out to zero.”

Putting up both her legs on top of the table, Chami opened her eyes again.

Hearing the ruling of their mistress, the pawns all fell into silence.

Or so she thought.

“You can’t put your legs on the table, Chami-chan!”

“What horrible manners!”

“Chami-tan, your legs are in the way.”

“…You spilled my juice…”

“Yeah—”

“Sooo vulgar. Unbelievable. I’ll pretend I don’t know you.”

“Not even Kanon was this bad.”

Her pawns’ merciless criticism focused on her.

“…Tch.”

Chami clicked her tongue and removed her legs from the table.

Although everyone was her pawns, Chami didn’t have the kind of power needed to bind them to her. The reason for that was that they had no admiration or fear for her.

In conclusion, never mind the fact that these were her pawns, she was the weakest among them.

“This is so fucking stupid…”

While looking at her pawns that raised an uproar again, she muttered.

She wanted to push those who acted out the main characters in the fight between Mushitsuki off the stage and dance atop it—

While having this dream that was way beyond her reach, she gathered pawns to make it come true. At times losing pawns and at times gaining new ones, she kept gathering information and making use of it.

The result was the situation in front of her.

“Chami-sama. Are we just going to sit around and do nothing today as well?”

Lucifera’s bored-looking face said everything about how this group’s life went as of late.

The other members also clearly felt this way.

“I haven’t been spreading my wings for a while now so I’m getting fat.”

“Girls should be a little chubby!”

“You call it getting fat, but it’s all going to your chest.”

“Huh? Did several of you click your tongues just now?”

After making many plans and running around in preparation, in the end—

It became a deadlock.

The SEPB, Mushibane, and Harukiyo’s group.

These main forces were stuck at a standstill, barely clashing anymore, so there were less openings for Chami to take advantage of. Even the Kanon cult, that almost made a stir between these various forces, vanished like a midsummer night’s dream.

“I haven’t met Kirari-tan for a while, either. Won’t she come and play?”

“I do not think she comes to play with us, though…”

“Oh, Kirari-san? Well, she’s been requested by this person called Munakata-san to—”

“Seems like Kirari-san’s been requested by Munakata to act as a certain person’s escort. She said it’s because we’re approaching the time to use Chronicler’s footage, or something like that.”

“That’s got nothing to do with us… so we’re still bored…”

“The time for what we need to do is still far off, right Chami-chan?”

Cutting off the rambling talk, Chiharu suddenly spoke.

“What is it, Chiharu. You suddenly sound like you know what’s going on.”

“It’s because you’re not angry yet, Chami-chan.”

Chami frowned.

“Whenever you’re about to do something, you always get incredibly mad.”

Raising her fork purposely as if this was some meal scene in a tv drama, Chiharu spoke.

Thinking about it, it was certainly true, but still—

“Ah, that’s right.”

“I always thought that smart people were much calmer.”

Chami constantly had anger boiling inside her.

It pissed off her to no end that there some people were absurdly strong and that they matter-of-factly changed other people’s lives and worlds. And inevitably they would always force the countless supporting characters into unpleasant situations.

Chami wanted to turn this world over.

“Don’t go and decide somethin’ like that on your own. Can’t change my shithead personality.”

However, her ability was nothing more than amplifying other people’s emotions.

She couldn’t control them as she wanted. She simply stirred up a part of the person’s emotions, using their inner turmoil to induce them to act as her pawn.

A simple con man-like ability that designated her as unranked.

Even so, since she attempted to have all these Mushitsuki under her control—she felt angry even toward herself for thinking something so stupid.

“So rather than you being angry, we need to wait for someone to make Chami-chan angry.”

Chiharu kept talking as if she understood her.

Chami hated the fact that everyone looked as if they agreed with this.

“Well, anyway… I’ll be going now.”

Tamaki rose from her seat.

The girl called Mimic, who held the ability of transformation.

Chami and the rest all knew where she was going next.

“Let me just make sure, but there’s no mistake that Kanon’s in the SEPB’s East Central Branch, right?”

“Yeah, Konoha checked it. I don’t mind you going, but don’t you forget. I only got you out of Mushibane due to my deal with Lucifera.”

“All I have to do is periodically leak information from the East Central Branch, right? It’s a cheap deal then—but this is just a verbal promise. Is that really fine? How can you tell I’m not lying?”

“You’re terrible at lying so I’ll know immediately. Also—”

Chami shrugged.

“Including me, none of us here can go against you. We’ve got no way to enforce that.”

To be more precise, Tamaki alone wasn’t Chami’s pawn. After Mushibane rescued her in a certain incident when she got heavily wounded, all Chami did was help her escape from there.

She wanted strong Mushitsuki so badly that she could taste it. That was the truth.

However, right now Chami didn’t have the power to get a hold of one such Mushitsuki.

“You’re not going to sting her with your Mushi, Chami-chan?”

Chami shook her head at Satou Youko’s words.

“That’s too risky, if she’s going to the East Central Branch.”

Tamaki furrowed her brows.

“Why’s that?”

“It’s just a hunch, but... Looking at the East Central Branch recently—I have a bad feeling. I can sniff the scent of someone who doesn’t jibe with me on a visceral level. So I don’t want them to learn of my existence.”

“I don’t really get it… but it means that handing me over to the East Central Branch is also meant for me to search for that.”

“It does.”

“I’ll do my best to answer your expectations.”

Tamaki turned around, not even smiling. “Good luck!” Chiharu called to her, and instead of a response Tamaki just raised one hand.

She left and a temporary silence befell the table.

“We’ll also need to go do what we need to at some point.”

No one answered to Chiharu’s mutter.

All they did was slightly narrow their eyes.

Although they were bored now, they all had things they had to do.

Chami would obviously be the one who told them the timing for it, and they were all convinced the time would come.

And when that happened—everything would probably move all at once.

“But I also think that it’s not half bad for us to loaf around like this.”

Even such clumsy one-liners sounded good when coming from her, making it all the worse.

Right, if even Chami was about to follow suit with Chiharu’s feelings, she was beyond saving—

“Don’t lower your fucking guard. Just eat up already.”

A temporary peace before the large battle.

It really was like that today, what with all of them boasting about feeling so bored.

Several days after this, Akamaki City was covered by a mysterious mist.

Chami had certainly lacked anger on that day.

Recalling that day in the family restaurant when Kitazawa Tamaki had left them, she realized this clearly.

After this, Akamaki City was engulfed in a strange mist—and the battle with Shinpu started.

That battle further connected to the decisive fight with C, leading to the present—

Chami was finally and completely angry.

“What’s up with Akasegawa’s list?!”

She was in massive tower in the center of Akamaki City—the radio tower’s observation deck.

Chami was here, in the tourist spot that allowed one to view the entire cityscape from 360 degrees.

“I told her to bring me the list of each and every land the Akasegawa Group owns! This’s missing the most important bit!”

The evacuation orders spread to the entirety of Akamaki City.

The tower also included it, so there were no staff around, let alone sightseers.

In the observatory there were two people—and one creature.

Chami, who was yelling at the cellphone, as well as Konoha who was wearing her SEPB getup. Also, there was Konoha’s Mushi that resembled a leaf beetle.

Konoha’s Mushi possessed high-performance telescopic abilities. With the feelers extended from the leaf beetle that attached to Chami’s face, she too could see what it saw.

“The multi-purpose dome in the east ward! Akasegawa also has the majority of its shares! Tell Akasegawa to hurry up and buy the rest of the stocks and drive out everyone, Lucifera!”

Chami was not angry at what started just now.

Not even when their attempt of contact with Alpha failed—but way before that.

“Also, you should tell the Mushibane lot about the preparations! There’s no time to sleep! Make simulations for who does what and keep practicing it until the very last moment! We’ll stop the space debris no matter what! It’s not gonna end well if you fail this!”

A different phone rang from Chami’s pocket. She put it against her free ear and pressed the talk button.

“—Haah? You called me just to give a lame excuse that you can’t find it? Then keep looking! Why’d you think I sent you over there, Ubuki! Find it, snatch it, hide it and come the fuck back! We’ve got no time!”

Cutting off the call after saying just that, she returned to her original conversation on the other phone.

“You can’t use the government’s space surveillance system…? Have you tried working it through Miguruma properly? Then have that Kabuto what’s-his-face go directly to her! If we can’t track the fucking debris none of this works! Stress to them that this is essential to making Operation 3 work and convince them!”

Everything started all at once.

Shinpu’s release, as well as C’s evolution to a Super Class.

The large fight she was convinced would come at some point suddenly began—and it kept advancing even after the unmistakable main character called Kakkou got off the stage.

Chami had aimed for this opportunity—but she had to admit she’d fallen one step behind.

There was someone other than Chami who also aimed for this chance.

She knew how that person thought, but whether or not there was someone else—

Looking at the current situation, she had to say the answer to that question was no.

“You need a receptable for C, right? You obviously gotta make Akasegawa prepare that too! We can’t spare the time to move the space debris after stopping it—grab all the storage devices needed and take ‘em to the fucking dome!”

As she kept issuing orders, Chami felt a human presence behind her.

“I’m back. I’m out of things to do.”

She didn’t need to turn around. From that lacking presence and that voice, she knew it was Satou Youko.

“Isn’t it too roundabout to issue orders through Lucifera-chan like that? You can just joinr Mushibane like Fuyuhotaru-chan wants.”

“I also said this many times…”

Chami ignored Youko and Konoha.

“Chami’s still bothered about Aya…”

“Her previous pawn? The Mushibane member she made betray them and ended up dying? They won’t know about it if she doesn’t talk. Isn’t she bothered by something completely inconsequential?”

“I’m the one who decides what’s inconsequential and what’s not.”

She couldn’t deny any longer that she was bothered by what happened with Sugitsu Aya, her previous pawn.

However, the reason for Chami to not join Mushibane was different.

“In the worst-case scenario, if I was in Mushibane as well—it’ll be mutual destruction. I want no part of that.”

“The worst-case scenario… meaning, if Operation 3 fails?” Youko asked.

Chami spoke.

“If Operation 3 also fails, I mean.”

Youko and Konoha were silent for a moment.

“Also? What do you mean by that?”

“All of you are such idiots, really! Not a single one of you has noticed anything unnatural about these operations?”

Chami yielded to her anger and shouted.

“Every last one of you—don’t think I’ll keep dancing to your tune, shitheads!”

The success of Operation 3.

That basic assumption included in the fall of the space debris approached moment by moment.

4.01 OPS3 Part 16

She heard that this dome was purely meant for sports events.

The dome that the SEPB used as a tentative base two days ago was a commercial complex. As such, it was located in the city center and had lodgings and hotels attached to the building.

Shiika and the rest and Mushibane as well as the combatants including Kabuto all saw the night sky from inside the dome. The moveable all-weather dome ceiling was open wide, and the twinkling stars looked down on them.

“So we have 4 hours remaining to our time limit of 48 hours, huh.”

Aijisupa was the one who muttered this. He looked around all the Mushitsuki on the artificial grass.

They were all members of Mushibane as well as reinforcements of low-levelled combatants brought from the SEPB by Kabuto. Together they were almost 300 people.

“Never mind the quality, but we’ll probably never gather these many Mushitsuki again.”

“It’s thanks to Kabuto and Halensis-san, who’s still gathering comrades…”

Shiika also looked around the many people just like Aijisupa. Many of the Mushitsuki she could see were already tired.

Obviously.

In order to be able to stop the space debris that was about to fall at any time now, they spent ten hours in rehearsals.

Failure was not an option.

Focusing on that, even the longstanding enemies Mushibane and the SEPB combined forces, albeit only temporarily.

Kabuto approached Shiika.

“I’ve had contact from Operations 1 and 2… but frankly, none of them are in a good state.”

Operation 1. The annihilation of Super Class 1 Rank C hiding in the Underground Fort.

Operation 2. Awakening of Sleeping Beauty conducted by Harukiyo’s group.

All of them threw themselves into battles they couldn’t afford to lose, just like Shiika.

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t worried about that.

“I see…”

Shiika’s expression became clouded. The girl called Terasu, who was leading Operation 1, looked very strong to Shiika’s eyes. She even said that she’d defeated Kakkou once, so Shiika could do nothing but believe in her.

She didn’t know much about Harukiyo, the man in charge of Operation 2. From what she could hear of the rumors calling him the devil of flames, she couldn’t imagine him failing.

“Meaning, all Operations are in similar situations.”

Aijisupa spoke calmly. His arms that bore terrible burns were now being healed by Chafer.

“So it does.”

“Kabuto-san… I know this is pretty late, but thank you so much for gathering SEPB people. Still, is it really fine? There are so many of them…”

“Yeah, all of them are low-ranked that were on standby, so there’s no problem. I got permission from Miguruma, too…”

Saying this much, Kabuto cut off his words.

“I-is something the matter?”

“No, speaking frankly, I’m also a bit worried.”

“…?”

“Until now Miguruma was completely passive about defeating Oogui… even so, she’s awfully cooperative with this Operation. You could say it’s natural given the situation, but still…”

“Well, no use worrying about it now. Rather than Miguruma, we should focus on what’s in front of us.”

Hearing this from Aijisupa, Kabuto put his hand on his chin and thought. “True,” he said, nodding.

“I agree.”

She wondered about Kabuto’s worries, but Shiika felt the same as Aijisupa.

Anyway, Shiika and the rest were probably going to face a difficult challenge now. Although their preparations were quite thorough, if they got distracted everything might come to a waste.

“Err, I’ll go check how the others are doing.”

Saying this to Aijisupa and the rest and leaving, Shiika approached the transport van parked at the very edge of the grounds.

“E-excuse me.”

Opening the baggage door, she hurriedly entered.

The closed space illuminated by small lights had a girl hugging a small boy.

“We’re doing it soon.”

They were Chiharu and the boy housing Sanbikime.

“Yes… this boy—doesn’t seem to be doing well.”

The boy’s condition was obvious at a glance. He was sleek with sweat all over and his breathing was rough. He was apparently unconscious, but his face was grimaced in pain.

“That girl called C.J. came here just before. It’s dangerous so I had her evacuate, though.”

“That girl…”

A person who’d been destined to become a Mushitsuki by Sanbikime, Aria Varei. She recalled how that girl was willing to save a complete stranger although she was covered in wounds. Shiika heard that thanks to Chafer and the emergency services, her life was saved.

“She was a strange girl. She’s cute but has a sharp tongue, yet when we spoke she felt tense… she told me that she has a hard time speaking with pretty people. She gave me her handmade cookie.”

Apparently Chiharu liked her. She spoke while smiling.

“Also, once I told her what happened she said to thank you.”

“Thank me for what?”

“For not turning her into a Mushitsuki.”

Shiika was surprised, but thinking about it more, it was obvious.

“I-I see. No one would want to become a Mushitsuki…”

“No, it’s not that. She said that she didn’t mind that one bit. That as long as this boy ended up not suffering, it wasn’t an issue.”

“Eh…”

“But, rather than that… since this boy resisted it so much, then her becoming a Mushitsuki would definitely make him suffer even more, so she’s going to resist with him—that’s what she said.”

“…”

“She said she wouldn’t become a Mushitsuki even at the price of her life. She’ll go away for a while, waiting for the boy’s condition to improve… it doesn’t have anything to do with distance, though.”

Chiharu and Shiika. The two girls exchanged glances and smiled.

“So cool.”

“Yup.”

What a reliable girl. It was a bit of a pity someone like her didn’t become their ally—but Shiika felt reassured for going against it at the time. If the girl herself didn’t want to become a Mushitsuki, then she shouldn’t.

“I’ll definitely do it.”

Chiharu looked down at the boy in her arms and spoke calmly.

“I’ll definitely get Aria from this boy.”

“…Yes.”

Chiharu’s role was extremely important.

She would definitely manage to do it. With this conviction in her heart, Shiika went out of the transport van.

Next, she looked up at the spectator seats.

What she could see there—wasn’t the audience illuminated by the lights meant for night games.

There were megaliths of all kinds packed together.

“Nanana.”

Shiika went up to the spectator seating and found Akasegawa Nanana.

The billionaire girl sat all alone among these megaliths. While waving her cane, she absently gazed up the night sky.

“What’s wrong, Nanana?”

Nanana gave no answer to Shiika’s call.

All around her men in working clothes moved busily and hurriedly. They were conducting inspection work on the megaliths lined in the spectator seats—swarms of metal boxes.

These were large amounts of storage devices, control panels, cooling devices and the generators needed to make them work.

Erii’s receptable.

Shiika didn’t really understand how it worked, but apparently Erii had converted her personality to a vast amount of digital data. In order to pass it from the space debris, apparently they needed lots of such devices.

“Any information about Operation 2?”

Nanana suddenly spoke.

“Eh? Oh, yes. Apparently it’s not going great…”

“I see, so she’s not awake yet.”

She, probably meaning Sleeping Beauty.

“The night she fell asleep… there were so many shooting stars. Did you know? I’m talking about the Perseids Meteor Shower.”

Nanana smiled happily.

The Perseids Meteor Shower—

Shiika didn’t know about it. Without even looking at her titling her head, Nanana erased her smile.

“She’ll wake up soon.”

What was Nanana thinking about as she looked at this starry night?

“And yet again a star will fall…”

There was barely any time before the remnants of the artificial satellite fell.

Shiika felt that Nanana held strong feelings for the girl referred to as Sleeping Beauty, whether for good or bad.

“You’ve been helping us a lot, Nanana. I’m sure—that you’ve also helped Sleeping Beauty-san a lot, right?”

“…”

“Thanks, Nanana.”

Nanana said nothing.

“I’m sure that Sleeping Beauty-san’s going to say the same thing to you as well.”

Leaving these words behind as Nanana stayed unmoving, Shiika tried leaving.

“…Please.”

She turned back hearing a voice behind her.

“Never show me again—a sight as horrible as that night of the meteor shower.”

Nanana’s face was hidden in the shade of the storage devices so she couldn’t see it well.

“Definitely.”

Nodding clearly, Shiika turned her back to Nanana again.

As she came back below, the many Mushitsuki were already assuming their positions in preparations to stop the space debris.

Confirming that Shiika came back, Namie, who was at the center, raised her voice.

“There’s less than ten minutes until the projected time of the debris crashing down! We spent ten hours on rehearsal, but let’s confirm everything one last time!”

Her well-carried voice spread among the Mushibane and SEPB combined forces.

“The one who’s going to stop the debris is Aijisupa! He’s going to use his steam to act as a cushion against the impact, soften it to not let it get destroyed! But he’s obviously unable to stop it all by himself. That’s why we’ll all support Aijisupa’s steam from the surface! Aijisupa’s going to stop the debris, then we’ll stop it all together!”

While everyone confirmed their strategy again, Lucifera approached Shiika.

“Lucy-san?”

“Snow-san, I need to talk to you...”

“The debris is heading here—or more precisely toward the landmark carried by Erii’s fragment!”

Next to Namie stood Erii who was in the form of Ebina Yuu.

Expressionless like always, she looked like she was gazing at empty air.

“—Don’t take your eyes off of Erii.”

“Eh?”

While looking at her cellphone, Lucifera spoke in a hushed voice to not let anyone around hear her.

“It is odd. To think that Erii—the Mushitsuki called C—would just obediently help us like this… she supposedly hates you very much, never mind if her grudge is deserved or not, and yet she never tried attacking you even once.”

“N-no way… C’s being desperate to not get erased by her own powers.”

“That is exactly it. She had told us that she ran away into that satellite to avoid getting absorbed by her powers… but if so, what is that fragment over there? She was so desperate, yet she was careful enough to hide the fragment to become the landmark near Alpha… that is odd.”

“Although we have a landmark, some calculation errors are bound to pop up. Since it can drop somewhere within dozens of meters, although the government’s surveillance system is watching the debris’ trajectory, the timing of the fall will definitely be mistaken by at least some second! Therefore, we will have Recall use her teleportation abilities to spread a net in the sky!”

Shiika furrowed her brows and looked at Lucifera’s face.

“B-but that’s… it’s for saving herself—”

“Indeed. So it’s just in case—you’re the only one I’m telling this to.”

“Once it touches Recall’s ability in the sky, the satellite will move—and get thrown into the our and Aijisupa’s cushion! As long as we succeed in this, we’ll definitely be able to stop the debris, both position and timing-wise!”

“W-what are you telling me to…?”

“We have no time. If some unexpected happening occurs, we must move to another place immediately. If that happens, you will have to guide everyone as the leader, Snow-san.”

Once that was said, Lucifera went away from Shiika, wearing an innocent face.

“A happening…?”

Shiika mumbled and looked to Erii.

The girl was just standing still. Shiika couldn’t see any suspicious movements like Lucifera said.

Miguruma’s unexpected intention that Kabuto spoke about.

Erii’s true aims that Lucifera spoke about.

There was no way she’d be able to clear these worries just as they were about to handle the falling debris—

“One more minute! …It’s coming! Everyone to positions!”

Namie’s command echoed throughout the stadium.

“—”

Shiika and all other Mushitsuki looked up the night sky.

With no one able to utter a sound, the promised time came.

As a second and yet another second of tension passed—

Who was it that made a voice?

At first it was a small voice of confusion.

Yet it soon transformed into a loud clamor.

“…Is it not coming?”

Shiika’s mumble moved Namie.

“I can’t see anything! What’s going on, Kabuto!”

She heard that they’d be able to confirm the signs of the satellite falling from the sky at the projected time.

But as several minutes passed—there was no change to the night sky.

Everyone there became agitated.

“Ah, we’ve received contact from the observatory!”

Kabuto, who was located further away, put a hand on his goggles and shouted.

“Apparently, a little while ago—the space debris in orbit started decelerating!”

The clamor reached its peak.

“For just a moment, it used its propulsion to move to the opposite direction! It’s apparently going to take some time until it reaches the right angle for atmospheric entry!”

“What…! How long is that supposed to be, then!”

“About—two hours.”

Hearing these words, the clamor instantly faded off.

The projected time was late.

Which meant—

“It’s going to be right before the time limit…”

Namie groaned in shock.

An unforeseen happening—

Just as what they feared happened, Shiika came back to her sense with a start.

“Erii…?”

Recalling what Lucifera told her, she turned to look at Erii—

“—Eh?”

The girl borrowing Ebina Yuu’s body was crying.

No—it wasn’t the girl borrowing her body.

The profile of the girl standing in place and shedding tears was unlike the time she was called Erii—it was the Yuu Shiika knew.

“Erii! What’s—”

Namie also noticed something was odd after a delay, but went speechless.

Was she Erii or Yuu?

The tear-stained girl slowly opened her mouth.

“Right… I remember… my dream is…”

Looking up the sky, she mumbled to herself.

“I want to save Mushitsuki… that’s all…”

“Yuu—chan…?”

Shiika wasn’t the only one there surprised.

“W-what does this mean!”

Lucifera’s expression changed. Although she was the one who noted Erii’s actions were odd, it apparently went way past even her estimations.

“Why’s Yuu-san’s dreaming right now! We haven’t done anything yet—Satou-san hadn’t used her suggestion on her!”

“…!”

Shiika gulped.

Ebina Yuu was dreaming.

Every Mushitsuki there could guess what this meant.

“She’s dreaming… Meaning, that—”

Namie groaned.

“Oogui’s going to come here…?”

Including Shiika, all Mushitsuki were astonished at this unthinkable happening—

At this overwhelming change in plans.

4.02 OPS3 Part 17

“Wait! Yuu-chan!”

Shiika rushed to Yuu, grabbing both thin shoulders.

“It’s too early! If we fight Oogui now, we won’t be able to save Erii…!”

Yuu looked up the sky and mumbled to herself. She couldn’t hear Shiika’s calls.

Lucifera turned to Satou Youko.

“Satou-san! Can you seal Yuu-san’s dream?!”

“—I can just about buy some time.”

Holding her briefcase, Satou Youko rushed to Yuu. Now that she had her hair pushed up and her face was exposed, her entire impression changed from before when she had a thin presence.

All Mushitsuki were agitated by this unexpected development. They became restless and noisy.

Aijisupa grabbed Lucifera.

“What’s going on, Lucifera! Why did she suddenly start dreaming like that? Did your group do something?”

“W-we have not done anything! I can only think that Erii…”

“Erii? I haven’t heard anything about her being capable of this!”

Being questioned violently, Lucifera looked about to cry.

“Erii—C can interfere with a person’s brain’s electrical signals and touch their dream.”

“…!”

All Mushitsuki became speechless.

“Ubuki-san… Karasu-san saw something like that happen.”

“Ubuki did?”

Lucifera turned only her face toward the surprised Shiika.

“Snow-san. You, Ubuki-san and Yuu-san all ran together from Akamaki City, right? —The disk you had back then contained a record of the experiments conducted by the Central Headquarters.”

“—”

She’d never forget it.

Shiika, Shirakashi Ubuki and Ebina Yuu. They came to know each other and after risking their lives in their escape from Akamaki City, found the data disk.

Seeing its contents, Ubuki raged.

Why was it that Ubuki was so mad at the time—Shiika realized the reason for it for the first time.

“Why have you said nothing about something so important until now…!”

“Because I thought Erii took Yuu-san hostage and wanted to save her! If Yuu-san called Oogui, it wouldn’t end just with it being dangerous for her!”

“Erii—C can summon people’s dreams, and then the Original Three make them Mushitsuki…”

A bad feeling was quickly swelling up inside Shiika.

“Then what’s going to happen if C absorbs the Original Three…?”

It wouldn’t be just people with latent dreams like Yuu.

If C could just freely create dreams on her own, she’d end up involving even normal civilians—

“What is C trying to do…?”

She ended up voicing her thoughts.

However, that voice made all Mushitsuki in the sports ground silent.

Right now, Shiika stood at the forefront of many Mushitsuki. By the time she noticed she’d forgotten that fact, the Mushitsuki all froze.

“Change in plans! —We’ll intercept Oogui here!”

As if to erase Shiika’s blunder, Namie raised her voice.

“Let’s switch it up! All that’s changed is the order we’re doing things! Recall, Aijisupa, fall back and protect Fuyuhotaru with your lives! All other combatants are to take positions just like we trained, and follow my orders!”

Hearing these strong orders, the Mushitsuki all regained their calm. They hurriedly formed lines again.

“Let’s finish this with a quick fight before C senses us! The enemy can use all sorts of abilities, but we’re not going to lose, number-wise! It’s going to be tough regardless, but you can just keep teasing Oogui! If we dangle the bait in front of her, she’ll tire of the fight and use that power!”

Namie’s voice echoed between the Mushitsuki all hurrying to form interception position.

“Fuyuhotaru’s power!”

Shiika’s heart leapt hard.

“If that happens, neither numbers nor strength would mean anything! We will retreat and switch with Fuyuhotaru who preserved her powers!”

Although their tension was restored by Namie’s orders, the Mushitsuki all acted quickly. They formed the positions to intercept Oogui in the blink of an eye.

“Then—it will be a duel between Fuyuhotaru and Oogui.”

Everyone’s gazes instantly gathered on Shiika who was waiting behind them.

Shiika’s heartbeat kept growing.

She was neither strong like Kakkou nor had leadership like Rina. All she could do was destroy.

Even so, she’d inherited Kakkou’s and Rina’s dreams.

She carried the hopes of all Mushitsuki.

Therefore, Shiika—would accomplish what only she could do.

“Oogui will probably use my power, but it’s not me.”

Shiika did her best to speak in a strong tone.

“I’ve been helped by countless people until now. So while I’m here, my power doesn’t belong to me alone.”

Thinking about it, Shiika had never fought out of her own volition.

She’d always been running away, but now she was heading to battle for the first time—

Inheriting feelings and wishes, all in order to fulfill the promise ahead.

“I will never lose!”

Shiika’s voice was followed by the Mushitsuki’s cheers. Some of them probably thought she was trying to incite them. Now that both Kakkou and Rina were defeated, they felt that the lone surviving Rank 1, Shiika, supported them.

Defeating Oogui—

All Mushitsuki in the dome were focused on that feeling when it happened.

“Wait—”

This restraining voice came from Aijisupa.

While everyone looked up, expecting to see Oogui’s arrival, he alone was looking at the surface.

“Where’s Ebina Yuu?”

Eh—

Several gasps of astonishment overlapped. Shiika made one of them.

Yuu was supposed to be behind Shiika. Satou Youko had opened her suitcase, showed its contents and performed some sort of process. More than 10 Mushitsuki surrounded them as a defensive ring to protect them.

As Shiika turned around, she saw exactly what she saw before.

“…Yuu-chan?”

However—Ebina Yuu alone wasn’t there.

Other than that, nothing changed. Satou Youko and others all just stood there calmly, doing nothing.

“Hey! —Ugh.”

As Aijisupa rushed toward Satou Youko, there was an electric crackle and his hand was blown back.

From the ground surface, a pale blue electrical discharge transmitted through their bodies—

“…!”

Everyone in front of Aijisupa collapsed to the ground. The reason they were completely unmoving was probably because they lost consciousness.

“To the entrance!”

Roused by someone’s voice, all members turned to the entrance of the dome.

Ebina Yuu was standing there.

No, those sharp eyes looking at her and commanding several C-butterflies meant it was—

“Erii…?”

As Shiika mumbled this, Erii flew out of the dome to the outside.

“Chase her! Bring her back! Don’t lose her!”

Namie hurriedly issued out orders, but apparently they couldn’t preserve their calm.

“She pretended to be calling Oogui and escaped…! What’s that brat thinking about?!”

Just like most other Mushitsuki, Shiika was frozen with shock.

It was just like Namie said. She simply couldn’t understand Erii’s aim.

“At the very least, she doesn’t look like she wants to save herself.”

While biting her nails, Lucifera fiddled with her phone.

“Why’s Erii… at this rate, not only will we not be able to move Sanbikime into Chiharu-san, we won’t be able to beat Oogui either. Reaching the deadline without accomplishing anything would be the worst…”

Her bad hunch was becoming reality.

Time was moving second by second, and yet—things were not going well.

Shiika and all others waiting in the dome were being eaten by anxiety and tension.

“—Erii changed direction again!”

Receiving contact from their comrades who rushed after Erii, Namie yelled in annoyance.

“We have no time! We need to send more people after her!”

How much time passed since Erii escaped?

Receiving the contact from those who went in pursuit, she escaped them, she struck them back, her direction changed again; things repeated like this.

“This is no good! If we just keep on sending more people, Erii’s just going to play with them and cause us to spread our forces thin! Even if we capture her, she might try to escape again. At least until we figure out where she’s heading to, we should keep on going like this…!”

Lucifera tried stopping them, but the Mushitsuki were all at the edge of their patience.

As for why—

“The space debris is coming down soon.”

Akasegawa Nanana appeared next to Shiika.

“Nanana! I-it’s dangerous, you can’t be…!”

“Since Erii—Ebina Yuu isn’t here, nothing’s going to happen here, right? Honestly, I prepared so much money and yet it’s all gone to waste.”

While spinning her cane, Nanana spoke calmly.

“Will it fall on where Erii is? Or another place? Also, when and where will Oogui appear?”

“…”

Even asked all that, Shiika had no answer.

Dawn was approaching.

There was no more time until the time limit of 48 hours.

Time was just passing with no one able to do anything—

“The debris has started entry! Its trajectory is being calculated!”

Kabuto shouted.

Now that it became like this, Shiika and the rest lost the chance to stop it—as well as their goal.

“The calculation’s done! —It’s about to fall inside Akamaki City!”

“So it’s really where Erii is, then.”

“But there’s nothing prepared for Erii there.”

Aijisupa and Namie exchanged glances.

Regardless, Shiika and the others who were so far away couldn’t do anything.

Just when she thought this—

“No, that’s wrong! The place of the estimated crash is… a place to the east of here!”

It suddenly appeared then.

The start button to let Shiika and others move.

And the one who pressed it—was Nanana’s murmur.

“East? What is even there—”

She started speaking, then widened her eyes.

“Alpha…! The museum hiding Alpha!”

“Eh—”

Lucifera went speechless. Even before she heard Nanana’s words, it looked as though she became speechless upon gazing at her cellphone screen.

“N-no way… Erii’s aim is—”

Speaking in a shaky voice, Lucifera raised a strained face.

“She’s going to crash the space debris right on Alpha and kill him…”

“—”

Everyone there gasped.

“Even if Erii herself couldn’t kill him, if the museum became a battlefield with Oogui, she might end up killing Alpha with Fuyuhotaru’s ability—”

While no one was able to utter a single word, Lucifera kept going as if in delirium.

“I don’t know why she’s going so far against Alpha—but there’s no mistake he is someone far more important than we realized—”

Perhaps because sunrise was approaching, the twinkling of stars in the night sky was gone.

It was the black right before getting dyed in white.

Underneath the sky dyed by daybreak, and much too suddenly—

“Erii used herself and Fuyuhotaru in an attempt to attack Alpha, Oogui and even Sanbikime—and turn everything to zero.”

It was as though time only now resumed its flow.

As if this was the signal to begin the final fight.

4.03 OPS3 Part 18

“All members, equip your goggles! Those who can fly, take as many as you can with you and head to the museum!”

Namie shouted.

All Mushitsuki equipped the goggles they’d been supplied in advance. Shiika also let a pair dangle from her neck.

“All others are to board the vehicles prepared by Akasegawa! We have no time! Hurry!”

A giant five-horned rhinoceros beetle appeared in front of Shiika.

This was Kabuto’s Mushi.

“Get on!”

Her arm pulled by Kabuto, Shiika climbed the rhinoceros beetle’s back. Aijisupa, Namie, Lucifera, Recall, Peedwood also came, and following after the Mushibane admins, Nanana also forced her way to the Mushi’s back.

“I’m going as well!”

“N-Nanana? It’s dangerous!”

“Grab on! We’re taking off!”

There was no time to convince Nanana, so Kabuto made his Mushi fly.

The artificial grass was blown by the sudden gale, and weight pressed on Shiika’s entire body from above. After a moment this changed to a sensation of floating, and Shiika found herself in the sky above the dome.

Following the rhinoceros beetle, more and more flying-type Mushi rose from the surface one after another. They were about 30% of the entire forces. The rest all took into large vehicles and could be seen from behind leaving the dome.

“There’s just about 10 minutes until the space debris falls!”

Inside the blowing hellish wind, Kabuto put his hand to the goggles and shouted.

Namie raised her voice even further.

“How long will it take from here to the museum? Can we get there before it falls?”

“I can’t say we’ll make it for sure!”

Perhaps he was the kind of person who didn’t like speaking with optimism, or it really was this severe of a situation. Kabuto’s tone of voice indicating he was clearly pushing down his feelings fully showed how difficult the present state was.

“Have all the employees evacuate!”

Nanana, who was clinging to Shiika, brought out her cellphone. Shiika strained her voice. “A-Alpha-san also needs to be transported somewhere...!”

“We can’t! Do you want to gouge part of his body? If we get him out of the life support system without any preparations, he’ll die on the spot!”

Meaning, they couldn’t even move him with Recall’s teleportation ability, either. The situation was just getting worse and worse.

“Konoha-san has confirmed that Yuu-san—I mean, Erii has reached the museum on the surface!”

With her hair going wild in the wind, Lucifera looked at the cellphone.

So Erii’s goal really was Alpha—

Although no one said this, everyone grimaced and looked convinced of this.

“Uh—”

Lucifera changed her expression.

“At the same time and quite far away—Oogui’s appearance is also confirmed!”

“…!”

A sense of tension spread all over the back of the rhinoceros beetle flying in the dawning sky of Akamaki City.

Oogui appeared.

There was no doubt now. She was being lured by Ebina Yuu’s dream.

“We’re closer to the museum—but apparently Oogui’s heading there as well!”

All became speechless. Only the shout of the rushing wind shook their eardrums hard.

“—We should give up on Alpha.”

Everyone turned to look at the person who suddenly said this.

It was Aijisupa. Even within the blowing wind, his calm voice carried well.

“Rather than trying to stop the debris—which we don’t even know if we can in time—we should focus on our original goal, Oogui. We can’t exhaust ourselves unnecessarily and end Operation 3 in failure.”

“W-wait, I can’t allow that! I’ve bought Alpha! I’ve kept looking for that person… for the Magician and managed to get it! I won’t allow you to give up on him!”

“W-what are we going to do about Sanbikime, too! We can’t move it from the boy to Chiharu-san unless we get the Erii that’s in the debris…!”

After Nanana’s and Lucifera’s fierce rebuttals, Shiika followed as well.

“T-they’re right! We won’t be able to save Erii like this, either…!”

“You know this already. —Erii’s not our ally.”

Aijisupa’s calm expression was like ice.

“B-but…”

Shiika couldn’t say anything in reply.

“We don’t know if we can make it in time. I don’t think Erii will cooperate. Also, Oogui’s approaching from nearby. —Those are enough reasons to give up on Alpha.”

There was only little remaining time.

This extreme situation required a decision—

“’If I can just touch the debris… I’ll try whatever I can…’”

A pained voice echoed.

“’I’ve done it before… made a mess of everything… and fused it together… yes, just like I did when I was born…’”

“Aria… san?”

Shiika put a hand on her goggles.

It was the voice of Sanbikime—Aria Varei. She couldn’t see it from above, but the transport van was probably headed to the museum. Apparently, he’d heard them talking through the wireless.

“’I’ll do what I can… I’ll lump it all together with C’s power or whatever her name is… this body’s at its limits anyway…’”

That disconnected voice had clear pain in it.

“It’s finally the time for me… to try this minimal resistance thing, too…”

“I’ll help Aria as well!”

It was Chiharu’s voice. Shiika could imagine her desperately hugging Aria.

“Never mind me going into Chiharu or waking up Alpha… I do not know what happens to C without her receptable, either…”

Shiika bit her lips.

Erii. The girl who relied on Kakkou and so ended up hating Shiika.

Why would she sacrifice her own body to try and erase Alpha? Shiika couldn’t understand why Erii would use even those she was supposed to hate to accomplish her goals.

Didn’t she want—to be saved?

Since Erii was somewhere far away and far below her, Shiika couldn’t even ask this question of her.

“Even that being said, I don’t think we have the time to let Sanbikime go near the debris!”

Namie’s voice cut through the wind’s sound.

“Even if we send Recall to the skies from here, she won’t make it in time! —If she’s aiming for Alpha, then fixing the slight inaccuracies in the trajectory won’t mean anything… we can’t do anything about the timing! If we want to stop it, we must reach before the debris falls!”

There was barely any time until the debris crashed.

Even so, not only were they not ready, but they were separated and desperate to even reach the museum.

“We can only wait for a miracle… will you still do this? Fuyuhotaru!”

Everyone on the five-horned rhinoceros beetle looked at Shiika.

She wasn’t blaming Shiika. Although those eyes were certainly full of despair, they also exhibited her will to go along with whatever Shiika said.

“—”

Shiika opened her mouth but she felt no words could leave her throat.

She was about to choose the wrong answer again.

Operation 3 had started, and although it was different from their schedule, they could engage Oogui now.

Even so, for Shiika to be saying she wanted to stop the debris right now—would be nothing but her sentimentality.

“What’ll we do? I’m against this, but if you tell us to do it…”

“Shiika-chan!”

“Shiika!”

“Snow-san!”

“Three more minutes…!”

Some wanted to complete Operation 3 even with some sacrifices.

Some wanted to stop the debris and fulfill their own duties and accumulated wishes.

Pressed to find the right choice for both, Shiika—

“…!”

Held her tongue.

She couldn’t choose.

She could choose nothing but the answer of silence; the most foolish to choose as a leader.

Their feelings, their duty to finish the fight, anything and everything—

Were too heavy for the weak girl called Anmoto Shiika, and she couldn’t carry all of them.

“What? Look at the surface—”

As Shiika couldn’t speak, she heard Kabuto’s surprised voice.

There was no need to ask, as the change was as clear as day.

“Something’s shining!”

It was just like Nanana said.

Since an evacuation order had been issued to Akamaki City, there were so few lights there it didn’t look like a capital.

Even so, spots of lights were suddenly born here and there. Buildings, houses, alleys and such were suddenly flooded by golden glows, looking as if they were floating above the surface.

As if they were replacing the glowing stars that vanished with the approach of dawn.

These countless stars on the surface were all moving to a certain direction.

“—Butterflies.”

The one who realized their identity was Namie.

Shiika also narrowed her eyes and looked down—feeling a chill run down her spine.

Those lights born on the surface were swarms of butterflies. They were familiar ones, glowing in gold.

“C—”

That shaky voice was erased by the wind, so it wasn’t clear who it belonged to.

Golden C-butterflies filled Akamaki City, joined into swarms and aimed at a certain location.

And where these C-butterflies were heading to—

“They’re heading to the museum…?”

Starting with Shiika’s mumble, her comrades became agitated.

“They’re all going to the museum…?”

“So she noticed Oogui’s presence…!”

“T-these numbers are insane—is this really possible with a Mushitsuki’s power?!”

While Shiika and the rest looked down, the number of butterflies only kept increasing. The glow emerging from any and all electric lines became fairies and added to the swarms.

Akamaki City in its entirety was being overrun by fairies and butterflies—

Just like Lucifera said, this went way past the limits of a single Mushitsuki.

“I can see the museum!”

Aijisupa’s voice brought everyone back to reality.

Raising her face, Shiika could see the lights gathering from far in the building.

The rhinoceros beetle accelerated.

Shiika and her comrades.

Oogui.

C.

All were heading to the museum, and the first one to reach—

“—We didn’t make it in time.”

Kabuto grimaced and looked up at the upper sky.

“The debris… is falling!”

Shiika gasped and looked up.

There was a lone line of light running through the sky dyed with dawn.

“Ah—”

Shiika’s unconscious mutter became the cue.

Following the first line of light, another and yet another line of light joined it—

“—”

It was a shower of lights.

Probably because they were right below where it was falling, the lights showering on Akamaki City spread in a radial formation.

Everyone including Shiika lost their words not due to the despair of not making it in time—but rather being taken away by such a beautiful sight.

“Once again… stars are falling—”

Nanana’s voice, sounding somewhat sad, rang especially clear in Shiika’s ears.

“The debris fragments…”

She felt like she could even hear Namie grit her teeth with this mumble.

A miracle—would not happen.

They didn’t make it in time.

The one who first reached the museum where Alpha and Ebina Yuu—

Was the burning lump coming down from the heavens.

“The debris’ main bulk is coming!”

“My ears…!”

Crackling in the atmosphere was a sound like an earth tremor.

At the very center of the fragments burning up in the atmosphere that would never reach the surface was an especially bright light.

This tremor—no, the sound shaking the air was growing larger and larger.

“Erii…!”

Shiika grimaced.

There was nothing to be done now. There was no longer any way to save Erii, and Chiharu and the others’ wishes would not come true, either.

In a few more seconds, the debris would strike the earth.

It would knock down the museum where Alpha slept without leaving a trace.

While everyone could imagine this sight, an unforeseen change occurred.

“Something’s odd! The fairies on the surface…!”

“Eh—”

Hearing Lucifera’s voice as she looked to the surface, Shiika saw that the swarms of fairies all held hands.

No. Looking closely, a golden light surged and connected all fairies and C-butterflies. These all gathered at a single point on the surface, then burst with a loud roar.

“—!”

Lightning.

It was a massive lightning strike, shot from the surface to the sky.

It spread through the sky above the museum in the literal speed of light.

A gigantic C-butterfly.

Emitting golden electricity, it spread its wings toward where Shiika was looking—

“The debris—”

The shooting star that didn’t vanish from the sky while falling.

She realized that this was the debris—because something impossible happened.

The C-butterfly floating above the museum stopped it.

No, rather than saying it stopped it, to Shiika it looked as though it absorbed it.

After all, the vibration shaking Akamaki City’s sky, the shockwave that hurt her ears, all vanished into thin air as if they never existed.

“The C-butterfly… stopped Erii?”

“No, something’s odd—”

“T-the debris… is still falling…”

She felt all her comrades were confused.

Yes, Shiika could see the exact phenomenon just like someone said.

Although it clashed directly against the C-butterfly, the debris—from afar it looked like a lump of metal burning pure red—kept falling down while leaving an aura of flames.

It kept falling despite not moving from the spot.

“—An isolated space.”

Battle-experienced Namie realized this.

The C-butterfly closed its wings and its form melted into the air. The stopped debris also was vanishing while continuing its eternal fall.

Aijisupa groaned.

“It’s going to vanish… so she’s going to take even Erii’s remaining personality.”

“Will C become even stronger…? If so, this is a situation even worse than Erii self-destructing!” said Lucifera.

Among the Mushitsuki who gazed at that sight while stunned—

Shiika alone thought of something else.

No miracle came.

The one who obtained Erii’s debris was their enemy, C.

While having the enemy they needed to defeat crush their hopes, Shiika actually—felt power welling up within her.

Her doubts—

Her weakness at being unable to choose the right answer—

Cruel reality struck them all down.

“We now have some time to prepare…”

As Shiika mumbled this, the next action she took—

Was taking Recall’s hand.

4.04 OPS3 Part 19

Horiuchi Erii watched it all happening from the surface through Ebina Yuu’s eyes.

Only Yuu was in this spacious museum.

“This world I was born into was full of no more than things I couldn’t understand.”

Erii spoke from within Yuu.

Underneath the starry night sky, the golden C-butterfly wrapped up the debris.

Erii’s personality was left inside a certain storage device in that debris. Right now, settling within Yuu’s body—within her brain—was nothing more than a fragment she’d created with Shinpu’s ability.

“I was born in a certain town, but was always alone. The mere fact I could perform just a slightly calculation made them all think I was a genius… but they soon started treating me like a hideous monster. —So apparently, being a normal person was conditioned upon being unable to perform even simple calculations.”

“Calculation… right, I need to keep studying for my entrance tests.”

While idly looking above, Yuu moved only her mouth.

Right now Ebina Yuu was being controlled by C manipulating her electric signals. The human mind could be easily controlled by just a bit of electric flow.

“Why were all other people stupid? And why was I hated? I had no idea. I wanted to understand what other people were and above all else what I myself was, and by that time—I became Mushitsuki.”

“Mushitsuki… very strong people… but also slightly sad people…”

Yuu mumbled in delirium.

She was already used to hacking people’s minds to operate them. She also became able to preserve memories and feelings as well as fake and erase them.

Because she repeated it again, and again and again to learn.

In the experiments under the orders of Miguruma Yaeko.

“Finally… I thought that I was reborn in the world I should have been a part of in the first place.”

Erii recalled the time when she’d been assigned the codename C.

“The ones who stopped my rampage after I became a Mushitsuki were Kakkou-san and Sleeping Beauty—Arisu-san. The ones who guided me into the world of Mushitsuki just like me. Since Mushitsuki were abnormal, my powers of calculation were not special in the least… and I finally gained the friends called Mushitsuki.”

“Friends… Mushitsuki friends… Ubuki-san… Shiika-san…”

“Several years ago, on the night of the meteor shower, I was the only one absent. …Did they see through me? Kakkou-san and Arisu-san were both sharp, despite being so simple. Since I had so much fun being with them, did they notice?”

Erii, along with Miguruma Yaeko, repeated the experiments on Shinpu’s fragments.

She embedded Mushitsuki with fragments to strengthen them, she forcibly revived them… Erii repeated these cruel deeds that played with people’s feelings.

Although she knew this was unforgivable, Erii couldn’t escape.

After all—

“I actually didn’t want the battles of Mushitsuki to end…”

In the night sky she saw with Yuu’s eyes, the C-butterfly’s silhouette engulfing the debris was thinning out.

A mere lump of electricity couldn’t stop the debris. Her aim was to take it to an isolated space that didn’t exist in this world and patiently wait for its momentum to stop.

“I, just like Miguruma Yaeko—wanted there to be a world that always had Mushitsuki in it…! But if it became known that I thought this, other Mushitsuki—my friends would hate me. So I did my best pretending to fight… However, Miguruma tempted me with the prospect of gaining more friends, so I couldn’t go against her… I wanted him to stop me. None other than Kakkou-san…”

The fragments of the debris became shooting stars in the night sky.

It looked exactly the same as the night that gave Sleeping Beauty her alias.

“I wanted him to act before Sleeping Beauty—before Arisu, who always fought for Mushitsuki, woke up. I wanted him to kill me along with Miguruma. —Because I’ve already done something so horrible that I can never face her again.”

These hidden feelings of her contained the spark lighting up the fires of hatred.

“If Fuyuhotaru is not going to grant me even that, I’ll just purge it all. All so I can puff up with pride and say I fought, when Arisu-san comes back…”

Yuu’s vision moved from overhead to the surface. She glared at the half-domed building in the distance.

“Alpa—”

“Alpha…”

Erii and Yuu’s voices overlapped.

“Before I got swallowed by Shinpu’s memories, I peeked at Miguruma’s memories. Before the Original Three became the Original Three, Alpha was already a Mushitsuki… the true start—was with this human called Alpha. As long as he exists, even beating the Original Three will not mean the end of the fight—”

“Alpha will… vanish…”

Yuu’s mouth moved.

“But—then… Erii will…”

Erii knew that her control was rapidly weakening. Since the C-butterfly took the debris away, Erii’s ability was being erased from this world.

“It’s fine. I’ve—already been dead for a while now. Ever since the time I synchronized myself with Shinpu and was unable to restrain my own power…”

As she looked at the night sky again, almost none of the C-butterfly’s silhouette remained.

She wanted to grit her teeth, but Erii had no body.

“What I did is meaningless, yet—”

In the end, Erii was unable to achieve her goal and couldn’t stand up to her own power.

Failure.

Although she pulled out all breaks trying to win, she lost.

Although she felt like she wanted to writhe with this scorching pain, at the same time—she was glad.

She felt like she finally understood Kakkou and Sleeping Beauty.

They definitely had fought while carrying the same feelings as Erii did right now.

Perhaps they would keep fighting from now on.

“I will not regret it. It is painful, but… it doesn’t hurt.”

“Erii…”

“Sorry, Ebina Yuu-san. For using you.”

“Don’t go…”

“—You really are just like Sleeping Beauty. For example, in how you look like you’re being controlled by me but you actually accept it, or how you try to stop someone from vanishing… as well as in your dream of saving Mushitsuki…”

Were they Erii’s? Or perhaps Yuu’s?

Whoever they belonged to, large tears started gushing out from Ebina Yuu’s eyes.

“Because it’s the same as Sleeping Beauty’s… the same dream as Arisu-san’s…!”

Erii’s consciousness was leaving Yuu’s body.

No, her true personality was being pulled back to the debris.

The Mushitsuki called Horiuchi Erii watched this scene in the last moments of her life.

She saw Ebina Yuu, shedding tears and reaching out into empty air—

“Couldn’t you see it, Erii…? Even though my eyes were able to do…!”

See it?

What was she seeing?

Leaving that small doubt behind, Erii’s vision was cut off.

“—”

As Erii got pulled back to the storage device in the debris, she saw a gigantic C-butterfly holding her.

A pitch-black world.

It was even darker than the outer space Erii had drifted through before. There were no twinkling stars but only golden butterflies fluttering around, and nothing else.

This was the isolated world created by C in the past.

Once the being known as Super Class Rank 1 C absorbed even her lost personality, what kind of a being would she become?

Even that was a future Erii would never come to know.

“…”

What should she think about while dying?

What should she mutter?

Erii thought of such things, but it didn’t matter.

Because a light different than that of the C-butterfly was created in this world of darkness.

Fluttering softly, that small glow was as just like—snow in the midst of winter.

“Give her back—”

Although this world was supposed to contain only Erii and C, something else pushed its way inside.

Held by the girl called Recall who had teleportation powers, that girl was—

“Give Erii back!”

Fuyuhotaru—Anmoto Shiika.

This was what Ebina Yuu spoke about. The moment the isolated space closed, she probably saw those two manage to slip inside with the girl’s teleport ability.

Touched by a single snowflake, the C-butterfly screamed.

Since it had no mouth to raise a cry with, instead it blew electrical attacks—but its wings broke from the inside, the sound of shattering became its death throes and it echoed through the space.

What an evil and scary power—

It was the freakiest power among all Mushitsuki.

It was obvious at a glance why everyone would fear it—but at the same time, since Erii was used to feel lonely because of her oddness, it was a fact she also felt a strange sense of camaraderie.

“Stop acting for no reason… even risking your life…”

If Erii currently had a mouth, she would have cussed and cursed her.

If she had arms, she would have probably struck her and laughed hard at this foolish act, trying to save someone who was going to vanish anyway.

And if she had eyes—she would have probably cried.

“…I don’t want to owe anything to someone like you…!”

Horiuchi Erii’s last words—

Became this sort of unintended scream.

4.05 OPS3 Part 20

Shiika had leapt into the isolated space created by C because she believed.

Recall understood Shiika’s aim just from the girl grabbing her hand and looking her in the eyes. It had been a very short time since she joined Mushitsuki and she was still a young Mushitsuki. Even so, the fact that she fought when she needed to could be said to symbolize the reborn Mushibane.

It wasn’t just Recall.

Shiika had many allies she could count on.

Shiika couldn’t do anything, yet these Mushitsuki supported her and believed in her.

Therefore, she had no doubt about using her own powers.

“Break…”

Being held by Recall from behind, Shiika raised her arms aloft.

Floating above her hands was the pale light glowing in the darkness of the isolated space.

It was a small firefly that used Shiika’s voice.

“Just a little…”

The snow that started inside the isolated space already captured the golden C-butterfly. The wings that were dozens of times larger than Shiika burst, broke down, shattered and scattered.

“Erii…!”

The debris floating right below Shiika’s eyes was a red fireball. Its wrapped surface was scorched black, and she knew it was emitting such violent heat wave due to its friction with the atmosphere.

The debris was still falling—

If Shiika broke the isolated space, it would fall down to the surface.

It would fall down on Alpha.

Although she knew that, Shiika didn’t let up her efforts.

“…!”

While the C-butterfly was losing its shape, light passed into the space wrapped in darkness.

The real world coming back with noise and electricity was filled with blinding light.

Daybreak.

Way above the museum, the morning sun was peeking from between the gaps in the buildings of the shopping district and showed itself.

“—”

The golden C-butterfly was completely destroyed, and what Shiika witnessed—

Was the exact scene she had believed in.

“Everyone, prepare!”

Mushitsuki who looked up the sky, surrounding the building Alpha inhabited.

With Aijisupa and Namie in the lead of Mushibane as well as the SEPB combatants under Kabuto’s command.

Shiika didn’t say anything.

She didn’t find an answer.

However, as Shiika took so quick of an action—she believed that they’d definitely be waiting for her.

“It’s heeeere!”

The afterimage of C’s isolated space was gone and the debris vibrated violently again.

The moment after, a gigantic white sphere formed between the debris and the museum. Its surface was misty but looking more closely, it was entirely made of small water vapors.

It was the lump of steam produced by Aijisupa.

The debris—finally resumed its fall.

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!”

Shot just like a bullet from a gun, the debris clashes with the steam formed by the howling Aijisupa. The shockwave and heatwave created by the debris easily poked the surface of steam.

However, it couldn’t pierce through.

Although the large sphere was being warped, almost like a water balloon managing to stop a bullet, it just barely held back the fall’s momentum.

“Now! Push it back!”

Along with Namie’s order, the Mushitsuki on the surface all unleashed their attacks at once.

“—!”

Shiika, who had been brought back to the surface by Recall, was assaulted by a fierce wind.

The Mushitsuki’s unified attack supported the lump of steam from the surface. It covered the debris and, in order to not let the Mushitsuki destroy it, the steam changed shape from an ellipse to a disk.

“Eeek!”

A violent shockwave assaulted the surface. Shiika held down her ears and took a step back.

As if trying its very last resistance, the space debris spread around violent hellfire. The burning machine was instantly boiled by Aijisupa’s steam.

“Guh…!”

“OOOOOOH!”

“We can’t hold it…!”

Hearing the many Mushitsuki panic, Shiika startled.

Looking to the entrance of the museum, many transport vans appeared. One after another, Mushitsuki came flying out of the parked vehicles.

Those who made it in time were only the flyers—

Although C’s appearance helped them make it on time, their comrades running on the surface didn’t manage to. Right now, only about 30% of the entire forces were supporting the debris.

“OOOOOOOH!”

This especially loud war cry came from Aijisupa.

He was desperately trying to hold up the debris—

“——!”

The sky welcoming the dawn of a new day exploded.

The lump of steam and the Mushitsuki’s attacks were pierced by the debris.

Along with a roar, the debris was falling toward the building that contained Alpha—

And a moment before that.

“Eh—”

Shiika had definitely seen it.

A black arrow passed through the museum’s entrance, weaved a path between the running Mushitsuki—and flew inside the museum.

It looked as if that black arrow alone operated on another time than anyone else.

Was it just a hallucination? Perhaps she unconsciously tried to escape from reality.

Shiika thought this way because she was seeing the cruel reality in front of her eyes.

“Alpha-san…!”

Shiika’s yell was drowned by the roar of the debris crushing the building.

A violent vibration assaulted the surroundings, and all Mushitsuki who were caught up in it were blown back. Steel, concrete, glass—the fragments of the destroyed building burst inside the museum.

Erii’s aim was too precise.

The debris knocked down the building, caring not what it hit. Since the Mushitsuki managed to kill about half of its momentum, it didn’t become a huge crater, and yet—almost all of the building had been blown away as though a giant’s hand scooped it up, and it continued far behind the premises.

The direct impact settled down.

“Recall-chan!”

While dust danced around, Shiika grabbed Recall’s hand. She assumed her aim, transformed her and Shiika’s bodies to smoke and moved them atop the wreckage.

“…!”

Standing at the very edge of the gouged earth, Shiika had witnessed this scene.

A ruined building and Alpha’s corpse—

Did not exist there.

It was a mysterious result.

Although the building had clearly been destroyed—Alpha remained there, sleeping in his life preservation system.

And it was not just Alpha there.

“—Chiharu…san?”

As if to protect Alpha—or perhaps as if to stop the debris from killing Alpha.

Chiharu was there, reaching out toward the life preservation system and to empty air.

And wrapping his arms around her waist was the boy housing Sanbikime.

How on earth had they managed to reach Alpha in that split second?

How did they protect him from the debris?

She immediately knew the answer.

“—It would’ve been impossible for us alone.”

Inside the rain of asphalt fragments, Chiharu slowly raised her face.

Chiharu was shedding tears.

“Erii—saved us.”

As the girl mumbled this, her hair flowed like water.

It flowed aside as though fanned by the wind—glowing deep azure.

Looking closely, it wasn’t just Chiharu. The boy who was unconscious while hugging her waist as well as Alpha were also wrapped in the blue light.

Chiharu smiled. Her eyes narrowed in seeming reminiscence were also dyed blue.

“Welcome back, Aria—”

Blue glow rose from the ground as though only now remembering to.

The glowing light became a surge, and behind Chiharu—created a rift that flowed all the way to the debris that was supposedly somewhere far.

“I knew it, our compatibility’s the best!”

Ayukawa Chiharu.

Seeing the girl with her azure glow, Shiika came to realize.

The girl who was once house to Aria Varei and turned Kakkou into a Mushitsuki.

She now—had Aria back inside her.

She apparently used her powers as Sanbikime to protect Alpha from the debris. Was she completely unhurt despite being unable to stop the debris due to her slipping through it?

“It really was in the nick of time.”

Shiika heard that voice from overhead.

“Ubuki!”

Shirakashi Ubuki was floating in the sky, her coat transformed to four wings. She was apparently the one who carried Chiharu this far.

Shiika was very happy at getting reunited with her friends, but she came back to her sense with a start.

“Erii…! What happened to her?”

Looking at the traces of destruction continuing afar, Shiika yelled.

Had anything remained of the debris ahead?

Or had it broken down to smithereens?

“Chiharu-san!”

Shiika looked at Chiharu.

The girl who united with Aria Varei again said that Erii had saved her.

Then for sure—

“—”

Shiika’s faint hope was crushed by Chiharu’s expression.

Chiharu—erased her smile. She stared at Shiika with serious eyes.

“She left a… message for you, Shiika.”

“…!”

Left a message?

From that phrasing, it was as though—

“Yes. —It was her final request.”

Shiika felt herself go limp.

She couldn’t save Erii—

Shiika was about to fall to her knees, but Aijisupa who appeared at some point supported her.

“Grieving comes later.”

As she looked at the boy, he was looking up to the completely opposite direction of Chiharu.

It wasn’t just Aijisupa. Other than Shiika, all Mushitsuki around were glaring at the same direction.

“But it’s definitely not just you alone, Shiika-chan. I believe she told this to all of us.”

Chiharu, with her azure hair fanned in the wind, did not look at Shiika.

She appeared to be looking at the sky behind Shiika’s back where the sun just rose.

Shiika turned around and became speechless.

The sky that until just now was illuminated by the morning’s light—was dyed in purple.

“She said, ‘please protect Yuu-san’—”

Speaking of Erii’s last will, Chiharu glared ahead.

Floating there in the purple-dyed sky—

Was the being called Oogui.

4.06 OPS3 Part 21

She wore a coat as red as blood and behind her sunglasses, she had eyes in the colors of the rainbow.

She had a long hair and a long, slim body.

Physically she just looked like an adult woman.

“Oogui…”

Shiika unconsciously mumbled that creature’s title.

One of the Original Three who produced Mushitsuki.

She was their archenemy, who ate the most dreams of them all, who produced countless Mushitsuki.

Oogui’s ability allowed her to use the abilities of all Mushitsuki she created as her own.

Operating separately from Shiika and the rest, Harukiyo’s team had supposedly reached Sleeping Beauty right about now. If they woke her up, the Undying Mushitsuki she’d sealed would revive as well.

If that happened, Oogui would once more become invincible.

The time limit was approaching—

“Fufu—”

Oogui’s sneer as she floated far above echoed all the way down to the surface.

“It has been quite a while since I saw so many Mushitsuki together…”

Her response at having so much awe and hostility directed at her—

Was just that.

She then suddenly removed her eyes from their group and looked down someplace further.

“—You’re dreaming again, then?”

Gasping, Shiika followed Oogui’s gaze.

At a position removed from all these Mushitsuki there was a girl standing as though dazed.

“Ebina Yuu-chan.”

As she stood up and gazed up the sky, Yuu’s cheeks were wet with streams of tears. Purple scales drifted around her and shook eerily to entice the girl.

“Now… will you tell me your dream?”

Oogui’s rainbow pupils could see nothing but Yuu.

She didn’t even care about all the Mushitsuki gathered there to meet her. Had she simply not noticed so many Mushitsuki—or was she really not interested in them?

The answer was most likely the latter.

The Original Three would appear to a person with a dream, eat their dream and make them Mushitsuki.

Among them, Oogui had an especially powerful appetite.

“This is bad…! Protect Ebina Yuu!”

“We have no time! Let’s start!”

Aijisupa and Namie leapt to the frontlines of the Mushitsuki.

Although confused, they all started unleashing attacks toward the floating Oogui.

“Pull Ebina Yuu back! Now that she’s lured Oogui here, her role’s over! Bring her back to her senses!”

Namie’s orders made the mixed forces of Mushibane and the SEPB move.

The decisive fight against Oogui.

Although they didn’t want to, it started now.

“Oh…?”

As Oogui tilted her head, purple scales gathered in front of her.

These assembled into one spot, condensed and assumed the shape of a giant five-horned rhinoceros beetle. It spread its wings and became a shield against the attack of the rhinoceros beetle trying to hit Oogui.

“My ability…!”

On the surface, Kabuto groaned with clear hatred in his voice.

The five-horned rhinoceros was smashed and became purple scales again. Behind it, Oogui suddenly turned to Shiika as though only now recalling her existence.

“Neither Kakkou-chan nor Arisu-chan are here… but you are still going to stand in my way?”

Around the smiling Oogui, purple scales were condensing.

“—”

Every single one of the hundred Mushitsuki there became speechless.

Underneath the sky glowing in purple, what Oogui produced around her in the blink of an eye—

Was a number of Mushi comparable to the number of Mushitsuki on the ground.

She could probably use even the abilities of Mushitsuki who weren’t there. The Mushi of those people made Mushitsuki by Oogui assembled in perfect coordination as though they were military troops to look down on Shiika and the rest.

Witnessing the vast gap in their powers, the Mushitsuki’s assault stopped for a moment.

“Now, can you please give me Yuu-chan?”

Oogui’s Mushi attacked the frozen Mushitsuki.

She perfectly forestalled them.

Not only were they not able to attack Oogui, now they needed to be on the defensive. As the Mushi attacked recklessly, not even caring for mutual destruction, soon there were several screams.

“Calm down! Don’t get separated! Preserve your formation!”

Namie was desperately trying to stop them—

It wasn’t those Mushitsuki who grasped the opportunity for a counterattack.

“Oogui!”

The scream heard from the sky made Shiika raise her head.

An azure glow dancing way overhead intersected with Oogui.

It was Chiharu.

Her entire body glowing azure, Chiharu used her right arm to slash at Oogui—and tore a huge hole in the crimson long coat.

“Oh, this is Chiharu-chan, and… Aria. My, what good friends you are to get reunited like this.”

Although having lost everything from her shoulder to her hips in a single strike, Oogui was smiling.

Looking even higher above Oogui in the sky, Shirakashi Ubuki was dancing there. She had probably carried Chiharu and dropped her to Oogui.

“Damn…!”

Perhaps aiming for a deeper cut, Chiharu groaned painfully while in air. Gravity took its hold on her, and this time it was Recall who caught her.

“Interrupting my meal again and again like this, you really do resemble your beloved brother.”

Oogui laughed as though it was a funny joke while small Mushi came to her. The white objects gushing from her lower torso filled the missing parts of her body, and by kneading it together with their small legs she managed to retrieve her previous form.

“No—”

Akasegawa Nanana, who was watching the battle from afar, screamed.

“It’s not that Mushi… it’s not the Undying! Harukiyo hadn’t woken up Sleeping Beauty yet!”

Since Nanana was the witness to that large battle in the past, the Mushitsuki’s expressions changed.

“If she’s not Undying, she can be beaten! Go!”

Namie’s Mushi, the common albatross butterfly, burned away the soldiers made of scales on the surface.

Feeling a definite hope, the Mushitsuki regained their morale. Unheeding the fatigue they accumulated from stopping the debris, they kept repeating relentless attacks.

Although Oogui kept fluttering around to evade, Chiharu followed with more surprise attacks.

Even the Mushitsuki headed by Aijisupa, Namie and Kabuto wrung out loud voices to rouse themselves for this mortal combat.

And supporting all of them—

“Connect it all to Fuyuhotaru!”

Namie shouted.

This fight was connected to Shiika.

How many hopes and wishes she was carrying?

She knew this since long ago. Shiika had intended on steeling her resolve for this.

“—”

Even so—Shiika looked not at Oogui, but glanced at the entrance to the premises.

Space debris fragments were strewn all around the depression gouging the ground.

She couldn’t save Erii.

She wanted to save that Mushitsuki, yet failed. Erii had apparently borne a grudge against Shiika, but Shiika didn’t hate her. She didn’t really understand it well, either—but at the very end, knowing that she cooperated with Chiharu, Shiika thought her impression wasn’t wrong.

Erii was someone who should be saved.

However, she had been unable to.

Helplessness and sadness filled her chest to the brim—

She felt just like when she’d heard about the death of her friend Tachibana Rina—

But this made her recall how powerless she was back then, when all she could do was get protected.

“At this rate, I’ll never get to eat Yuu-chan’s dream.”

Twitch.

Shiika wasn’t the only one agitated by Oogui’s mutter.

The Mushitsuki focused on the battle all stopped moving.

“Chiharu-chan and Aria as well… are you not tired of this already?”

The moment Oogui smiled, the soldiers fighting against the Mushitsuki dispersed. Becoming purple scales again, they gathered above Oogui’s head and were being condensed.

Producing this way—was a purple firefly.

“—It’s here!”

It was just like they aimed for.

Starting with Namie’s order, all Mushitsuki began distancing themselves from Oogui at once.

“Retreat! Focus on protecting Alpha!”

“Will you really be fine, Shiika?”

While all her comrades were getting away, Aijisupa stood in front of Shiika, tired and with this headband soaked in sweat and blood. Shiika nodded at him.

“Yes.”

She could no longer avoid her confrontation with Oogui.

She couldn’t—complain.

“Leave the rest to me.”

Seeing Shiika speak clearly, Aijisupa nodded as well.

“…Don’t die.”

Aijisupa touched her as he left. She was glad at feeling his hand’s warmth.

She understood Aijisupa’s feelings. He was worried that Shiika was chasing after the footsteps of Tachibana Rina, the previous Mushibane leader.

But that was wrong.

The kind Rina attempted to save many Mushitsuki and took everything on herself.

However, unlike Rina, Shiika was hopelessly weak.

She only reached this far because her comrades supported her.

“It’s fine. —I will not die.”

The moment she mumbled this, there was no longer anyone around Shiika.

Behind her, the technicians brought in by Nanana were engaged in a fierce battle to transport Alpha. If the Mushitsuki also helped them, they should be able to move him to a safe place before there were victims.

“—Oh, Shiika-chan.”

Only now did Oogui notice Shiika being there.

Perhaps it was inevitable, because she was a being controlled by her instincts.

She was just trying to use this Mushi to kill everyone on the surface—not even caring that it was the very same Mushi born from Shiika’s dream.

Because of that being, Shiika—could bring out her full powers.

“Are you going to stand in my way as well? And after I went to the trouble of making you recall your dream…”

“This wasn’t thanks to you.”

Shiika raised both arms aloft.

A firefly glowing in white appeared within her hands.

“I’ve recalled my dream… because I had an important promise.”

You too, one day—

The one who said this and waited for Shiika was Kakkou.

Not the true and real monster that was in front of her eyes.

“Break…”

Shiika’s firefly whispered.

“Break…”

The purple firefly whispered.

Two kinds of snow came down from the sky dyed in an abnormal color.

White and purple.

Two kinds of snowflakes slowly drifted down, and the moment they touched—

“—sssssssss”

All sound vanished from the outside world.

The sky dyed in purple distorted, twisted, and warped. Everything around the museum that Shiika could see from her position—the buildings, the lighting, the trees—all broke down, were smashed, inverted, was blasted into smithereens and erased.

“Break…”

“Break…”

Was everything around Shiika destroyed?

Or was space itself warped such that it looked like it?

It was possible she couldn’t hear anything due to the clash of two kinds of snow creating such a loud sound that her eardrums were destroyed.

Shiika and Oogui.

Only those on the surface and above in the sky preserved their original form.

Shiika tried pouring the white snow over Oogui’s. Purple snow tried pouring over Shiika. But the moment snow touched snow they cancelled each other.

“More…!”

“More…!”

It was a space where nothing existed except for destruction.

A world that didn’t allow anyone other than Shiika and Oogui.

One could say that this was a completely different kind of perfected world to the isolated space created by Special Type Mushitsuki. As Shiika lost even her sense of direction, she had no way to confirm everyone’s safety outside.

She wasn’t even sure how much time passed.

There was only one fact that showed the elapse of time.

“Fufu—”

Oogui laughed an alluring sneer.

On the other hand, Shiika—

“…Haa… haa…”

Her entire body was covered in rivers of sweat.

The accumulating fatigue and her expended spirit—these alone indicated the real passage of time.

Their destructive power was exactly tied.

Obviously. Because it was the same Mushi.

She knew this in the first place.

If this was any Mushitsuki other than Shiika, perhaps they would have thought of a way to better use their Mushi and overcome Oogui who was relying only on her ability.

However, Shiika’s ability was exceedingly simple.

Destruction.

It was no more than that.

“You understand it, right? Since it’s the same power, you will never be able to stand in my way, Shiika-chan.”

Oogui spoke kindly.

The difference between the two wielders of the same ability—was that of a person and a monster.

Oogui knew no fatigue, but Shiika was no more than a weak girl.

“Meaning, that… no one can stand in my way.”

In this world of intercrossing white and purple destruction, Shiika closed her eyes.

Tears fell down her cheeks.

“—I knew I can’t win…”

The truth she was trying to hold back leaked from her mouth.

“That someone like me could never beat Oogui…”

Even so right now as they were confronting like this—

What moved Shiika was no longer just herself alone.

People she met, people she parted with, all of them helped Shiika reached this final battle.

Their wishes and dreams, their powerful feelings pushed the cowardly Shiika from behind.

So she didn’t hesitate.

“But—this Mushi is packed full of dreams that are not only mine.”

“Bre—ak—”

The firefly raised by Shiika shook its body. It spread its wings with momentum, increasing its glow.

“More—more!”

Now she knew.

She knew exactly how Kakkou felt when he’d expended the very last of his powers in order to defeat Shinpu—

“More!”

The balance between the white and purple destruction was shifting.

Within the destroyed world, the white territory dyeing it was growing.

Shiika opened her eyes wide and shouted at Oogui.

“It’s completely different from that empty Mushi!”

Kakkou bet on his own power to defeat Shinpu.

So this time it was Shiika’s turn to bet on her power to defeat Oogui.

“Break a lot!”

White destruction pursued Oogui.

At the same time something was gushing out of Shiika’s heart with alarming speed.

She became a Mushitsuki, met Kakkou, then became a Fallen.

After becoming a Mushitsuki again, she met with Daisuke. For a short while—it was an unbelievably time of happiness.

She also met her friend Rina—

And went through many fights—

“I’m—”

She wanted to shout something, but soon forgot it.

In complete opposition to Shiika’s muddying consciousness, the white snow was clearly overpowering the purple snow.

“So you’re going to use up your dream here, Shiika-chan?”

Even now that the white snow almost reached her, Oogui kept her smile.

“If you do that you will Mature—and then kill all your friends outside, you know?”

Shiika shook her head and looked above herself.

White snow was falling down.

Flakes that were slowly falling down were aiming for Shiika’s firefly.

“Before I Mature—my own Snow will kill my Mushi.”

Oogui tilted her head, looking amused.

“So you’ll become a Fallen again. Do you think you can come back again?”

“Even if you don’t help me, I’ll definitely come back.”

Shiika said.

“And by that time, Kakkou-kun will definitely come back as well—”

Let’s meet again next Christmas—

She promised this to none other than Kusuriya Daisuke.

This promise, exchanged between a normal boy and a normal girl, would definitely bring Shiika back.

“Because I also had… the same promise with Daisuke-kun!”

Seeing Shiika shed tears and shout, Oogui sneered. She saw the snow just about to reach her shoulders and spoke.

“Fufu… so I can’t eat that beautiful dream anymore. I wanted to eat a lot more of it, though.”

Even aware of her own defeat, Oogui was a being made of nothing more than appetite.

However, that Oogui tilted her head as though in caprice.

“However, that was a weird way of saying it.”

“…?”

“You spoke as if Kakkou-chan and Daisuke-chan are different people.”

Creak—

A second away from touching Oogui, the snow white was slightly pushed back by the purple.

Shiika wasn’t agitated.

She wasn’t surprised, nor was she confused.

She simply couldn’t understand the meaning of Oogui’s words at all.

“—”

Eh?

Seeing Shiika frozen like that and unable to raise even that voice—

“Oh?”

Oogui sneered.

Completely unlike her smile thus far, it was an evil smile exposing her true nature as a monster.

“Did I get the wrong person?—no way, right? The Kakkou-chan and Daisuke-chan that me and you both know very well… I don’t think we’re talking about other people.”

She was paving the way for more dreams to get eaten from now on—

Oogui’s mouth, that looked as if it might start salivating, spoke of them.

“There’s no way there were two kids with such a delicious dream.”

She couldn’t understand what this monster was talking about.

Wanting to find a place he belonged to—

Wanting to find a place he belonged to—

The two boys just so happened to have the same dream.

Their figures overlapped in her mind.

“—”

For just a moment, their silhouettes fit perfectly—

And separated again.

Shiika didn’t want to think any further about this.

There was absolutely no need to think any further. Oogui was just lying because she wanted to save herself.

“What are you…”

Shiika tried laughing it off and focused on using her power.

However, Oogui didn’t miss her agitation.

“No way, have you been thinking of them as two separate people? I wonder how you made that mistake.”

The voice leaking from her lips dyed in red wrapped around Shiika like a snake.

Even if it was just being used to escape Shiika, it really was too ridiculous of a lie.

Did she really think Shiika was going to believe something so silly—

“When Aria made Daisuke-chan into a Mushitsuki I was there. So I’m the last person who’d make that mistake.”

A laughable, stupid lie.

Such a lie—

Such an impossible lie—

Was made by a monster?

“Daisuke-chan… is Kakkou-chan, you know?”

Her goggling rainbow eyes gouged Shiika’s chest.

“—No—”

Her mouth moved unconsciously.

However, her head was spinning thoughts on its own.

Daisuke and Kakkou had completely different voices and personalities.

Daisuke was a completely normal boy who met Shiika by chance and became friends with her. He invited her to a date while looking unfamiliar with it, and he was a kind high schooler who swung between joy and sorrow.

On the other hand, Kakkou was burly and strong enough that nothing could move him. To protect his promise to Shiika, he kept defeating more and more Mushitsuki so cruelly that they called him a demon.

The two were nothing unlike.

However—

“No—it can’t be—”

Unbidden, their images came closer again.

What if their behaviors were acting, meant to hide something?

—What… should I do?

Even the kind Daisuke had shown her an adultlike face for a moment.

—I’ll never give up. It’s a promise. So you too, one day…

Kakkou was supposedly cold-hearted, yet he showed her this confusion and kindness.

Recalling the two boys’ original warmth that they kept concealed—

“I mean—”

Daisuke and Kakkou.

The two boys’ images fit each other perfectly.

A boy who was kind while hiding both strength and weakness.

Above all else, the one who told her of the promise to meet Daisuke one year later was—

—This is a message from that guy called Kusuriya Daisuke.

He told her this.

None other than the boy called Kakkou.

“Daisuke-kun is—“

Why hadn’t she noticed until now?

No, she’d never notice. She always thought of them as completely separate, and the worlds they lived in was different, too.

“Kakkou-kun is—”

She blocked her ears.

She didn’t want to hear her own voice.

She shook her head, eyes still wide.

“I—turned him into a Fallen—”

When she spoke about Daisuke, Chiharu was acting odd as well. Now she could understand why.

Chiharu, who was Kakkou’s older sister—was Daisuke’s sister. She never considered it, perhaps also because their surnames were different.

“Oh, you turned him into a Fallen?”

Oogui sneered. The eyes of a monster looking down on a human—were dyed in the color of pity.

“Kakkou-kun’s a Fallen—then, I—”

She was able to fight this far because of her promise with Daisuke.

Her responsibility to keep fighting as the surviving Rank 1. Her pressure as Mushibane’s leader. And even her painful separation from a friend. She was able to bear all of these.

Even the weak Shiika was able to hold back her fear and keep walking, all for that day’s sake.

Even so—

“Because of me, Daisuke-kun is—”

She felt as though something audibly crumbled within her.

It was probably her most important part.

“Oh, poor, poor Shiika-chan.”

As Shiika fell to her knees, Oogui looked down at her, amused.

“There is no longer anyone—waiting for you.”

Shiika blocked her ears and arched her back.

“Ah—”

If Kakkou and Daisuke were the same person, had she been deceived?

No.

They—no, he—wasn’t that kind of person.

But if so, why had he concealed this?

Without knowing anything, Shiika—

One was a friend.

And the other she liked.

Their promise to meet again—

“Aaaaah—”

Since Shiika was rounding her body and denying the truth she suddenly came to know, she hadn’t noticed at all.

Shiika and Oogui’s battle had already finished.

Coming back to the previous world, Aijisupa and the others all rushed toward her.

The two fireflies vanished—and Oogui brought back her hordes of Mushi again.

Also—

“O-Operation 3…”

Looking down at the unmoving Shiika who was unable to withstand the truth—

“Has failed—”

Kabuto informed this to the Headquarters through his goggles.

4.07 OPS3 Part 22

The time limit of 48 hours passed.

The temporary Headquarters of the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau located in Akamaki City was receiving the reports from all operations.

“Incoming communications from Operations 1 and 2! I’ll connect them to the speaker!”

Clad in white coats, the intelligence division hurriedly operated the communication devices.

Operation 1. The annihilation of Super Class Rank 1 C, the national threat.

Operation 2. The awakening of Sleeping Beauty, set to become the new leader for Mushitsuki.

Operation 3. Defeating Oogui before she got swallowed by C—as well as before waking up Sleeping Beauty, who’d sealed the Undying.

These three operations were for the sake of shooting down these dangers that might threaten the continued existence of the country.

And the grand commander of those was Miguruma Yaeko.

“I am certain they will answer my expectations.”

Miguruma smiled.

Inside the tent she inhabited were the heads of every branch as well as government officials.

Since the operations started, they could entrust their hopes to the Mushitsuki on the scene. All people who understood this other than Miguruma had their faces stiff with anxiety and worry.

“In any case, if even one of them fails… then C will likely destroy this country.”

The exact moment Miguruma prophesied this, pained voices came from the speakers.

“O-Operation 1… has failed…”

“O-Operation 2… has failed…”

C’s annihilation failed, and the awakening of Sleeping Beauty failed as well.

Everyone in the tent couldn’t even raise a voice of disappointment.

Completely unlike the temporary headquarters wrapped in a despairing silence, the screams coming from the scene spoke of the current situation.

“W-we must escape—”

“Where to?! Our path of retreat is full of fairies…!”

“W-Waaaah!”

“This can’t be, Harukiyoooo!”

“…Witch’s dying…”

“S-Sleeping Beauty’s looking at us—”

“Fuckyou!”

Everyone listened to these voices, unable to move.

The vice-minister dispatched from the government fell to his knees. He held his head and groaned.

“Uh…aaah…”

“How unfortunate for this to end like that, Vice-Minister.”

“Unfortunate, you say… y-you bitch—”

“Since it turned out like this, let up put our hopes with Operation 3.”

Among these operations, where even a single failure meant there would be no future, two have ended in failure.

Even so, Miguruma did not erase her smile, and her subordinates the branch heads were also shocked.

“My beloved Fuyuhotaru will surely save the world.”

“Incoming transmission from the members of Operation 3! I’ll connect to the speakers!”

Lady Bird had died and Kakkou became a Fallen.

Harukiyo was defeated by the Maturing Sleeping Beauty.

That meant that of the five Rank 1s, not including C, four had left the stage.

The remaining—was Fuyuhotaru alone.

She was the first Mushitsuki designated as a Rank 1, so what happened of this lone remaining survivor?

A voice to inform of the situation was heard through the speaker.

“O-Operation 3…”

It was a familiar voice. It belonged to East Central Branch member, Kabuto.

While everyone held their breath, the final report came to their ears.

“Has failed…”

Ah—

A sound that was somewhere between a voice and a breath filled the tent.

All operations ended in failure.

Not even a single hope remained.

Today on this very day the monster called C was released to the world and even the Mushitsuki elites including the Rank 1s were obliterated.

A heavy thud resounded because the Branch Head of the West Central Branch leaned hard against the chair.

And it wasn’t just him. It was clear that all other branch heads were overwhelmed by despair and upset. Especially East Central Branch Head Goroumaru Touko started crying on the spot like a little girl.

“W-what are we to do… give us some orders…”

“Harukiyo! Harukiyooo!”

“Fuyuhotaru’s acting odd… we can’t stop Oogui! Give us orders!”

Voices pleading for orders reached from all three battlefields.

While these Mushitsuki were all about to get annihilated, Miguruma—

“—”

Said nothing at all.

All branch heads turned to her in astonishment—but soon averted their face.

There wasn’t even a single remaining move left.

Everyone understood this.

“Miguruma Yaeko—”

The vice-minister rose to his legs and glared at Miguruma. His suited followers moved, surrounding him.

“I will have you apprehended. You will be charged with creating that monster and starting right now, you are absolved from your post as the Vice-Deputy. —The death penalty’s too good for you.”

“Understood. Incidentally, who shall be my successor?”

As Miguruma nodded casually, the vice-minister strained his loosened cheeks.

“Well…”

He was looking at the branch heads.

There wasn’t even a single person candidate to the united commander position. All of them were in stupor or crying, and even Branch Head Takemi, the lone person who managed to remain calm, shook his head. —Even counting the ambitious Takemi, actually becoming one of the top at this juncture amounted to suicide, and they all clearly felt that it was impossible for them ability-wise as well.

The vice-minister directed a gaze full of hatred to Miguruma.

“I-if things are like this, I’ll entreat the international community for help and send their militaries…”

“If you bring the international community into this, C will be able to use this route to spread her ability to the entire world. —Since it’s already heading that way, it would only serve to accelerate that, though.”

Even while all the adults were talking amongst themselves, the Mushitsuki kept screaming from the speakers.

“If we don’t make a decision soon, my beloved Mushitsuki are all going to die, you realize?”

“U-uh…”

His face reddening, the vice-minister leaned against the wall.

“W-what on earth can we even—”

A hoarse groan showed the severity of this situation—the lack of any hope.

Mushi appeared, Mushitsuki were born, and Mushitsuki were made pawns while concealing their existence.

After doing all this, this was how the country ended.

As the new threat of C appeared, even the SEPB created to manage Mushitsuki shut down its functions and was practically on the verge of collapse.

And any person who could handle this predicament—no longer existed.

“There is no need to fear, vice-minister.”

Miguruma sat down to face the vice-minister who slid down to the floor against the wall.

“Surely you have had some dream yourself, right?”

“…?”

“It remains even now. —And it’s not just you. They might be unaware of it, but everyone holds a wish regarding their future.”

What was she even talking about—

Everyone other than Miguruma looked like they wanted to ask this.

“C will drag out that small feeling.”

She put her hands softly to the vice-minister’s face. Bound by her Smile of Shackles, the vice-minister widened his eyes and froze.

“I received a hint. It came to me just like a letter—no, like a package. That package already vanished, but C dug it out, analyzed it, copied it… possibly, made even the original—I would have liked to have that red queen bee, though.”

“V-Vice Deputy? What are you talking about?”

Branch Head Takemi asked timidly.

“I’m explaining here about the possibility of all people without—no, who are unaware of their dream, becoming Mushitsuki.”

She smiled at Branch Head Takemi.

He apparently still couldn’t understand the meaning of her words. No one directed a second question at her.

“Convey this to all the combatants on the field as well.”

Detaching her hands go from the vice-minister, Miguruma ordered the intelligence division.

“Everything is fine. There is no need to be afraid.”

She wore a smile and spread her arms.

She hated how short her arms were ever since she was born. Miguruma felt like taking all of them—each and every person in this world—into her embrace.

“Even if you die, C will bring you back to life.”

Although she said not to be scared—

Everyone in the tent was frozen as though encased in ice.

They all thought that the operations failed.

However, that was wrong.

It seemed like only Goroumaru Touko, who changed her expression, as well as Takemi who opened his mouth in astonishment, noticed this truth.

“V-Vice-Deputy—no way, from the very start, you—”

“You should rejoice.”

Miguruma narrowed her already narrow eyes—

“The old Mushitsuki will be purged—and be reborn into new Mushitsuki.”

Miguruma announced the world changing.

5.00 The Others

The temporary headquarters of the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau were wrapped in silence.

It seemed that none could understand the truth Miguruma Yaeko had revealed so easily. The faces of the people looking at her were dyed with surprise, confusion, as well as anger.

“Y-you bitch… Have you set up this operation to intentionally fail?!”

The vice-minister tried grabbing Miguruma.

“No, not at all.”

As she wore her Smile of Shackles, the vice-minister froze.

“I did intend on doing whatever I could to defeat C. There was enough of a chance to block C’s evolution. Right—if the Rank 1s all completed their missions, the result would have been different.”

The screams of Mushitsuki heard from the speakers reverberated inside the tent.

“However, they lost. The newly-born Rank 1 C has won.”

C’s accelerated evolution was unexpected to Miguruma. The proof of that being that even she almost died during that.

“C will probably become able to perfectly draw out a person’s dream before long. If she also absorbed all of the Original Three—I am convinced she will be able to birth Mushitsuki as well.”

Would the current Rank 1s be able to beat C after undergoing this sudden change?

Or would C, the Rank 1 of the new generation, purge the old generation of Mushitsuki?

If asked what option she hoped for, she couldn’t deny it was the latter, however—

“I have promised Terasu that I will make her a Rank 1 once this operation was over. That was no lie, and it will definitely become so.”

Miguruma had honestly grappled with this crisis.

Just like she did until now, and just like she would keep on doing.

She simply and seriously—kept aiming for the Undying.

“C will turn all non-Mushitsuki people into Mushitsuki, and will revive even the Fallen or the dead—”

One of the subjects of her research had finally assumed form after she grappled with it thus far.

There were no winners or losers there.

“Everyone will become Undying—anyone can become a Rank 1.”

This wasn’t what Miguruma chose.

Mushitsuki themselves, as well as the people who weren’t Mushitsuki, settled this.

Because they’d been unable to defeat C, the new Rank 1, and thus unable to stop Miguruma.

“That’s so horrible…”

One of the intelligence division Mushitsuki mumbled this. She was a low-ranked combatant who couldn’t go on this final fight.

“That is hurtful. I still love Mushitsuki so much, though.”

She gently stroked the cheeks of the subordinate glaring at her.

“Rather, I am your only ally. All this time, you were utterly hated by people and oppressed, were you not? That will stop from now. After all, everyone will become the monsters called Mushitsuki.”

After a while of her stroking her subordinate Mushitsuki, Miguruma turned toward the branch heads.

“—Well then, let us retreat now. All of you are to gather the remaining combatants.”

“Eh…”

Branch Head Takemi emitted a stupid voice, and she ordered him.

“Our operations have ended. This temporary headquarters will get discovered by C before long. I have prepared a safer place, so let us head there.”

Miguruma’s research was ongoing.

Before long she’d become unable to keep up with C, but she had to continue her surveillance.

“W-wait…! I told you, you have no authority anymore!”

“Who other than me can handle the monsters called Mushitsuki?

She inquired the vice-minister.

When he asked before who’d replace her, no one raised their hand.

And now as well—the vice-minister was completely speechless.

“W-what should we do about—”

She heard a trembling voice from above the floor.

“What should we do about those still fighting on the battlefields…!”

Powerless and kneeling on the floor, Goroumaru Touko shouted this. Acting Branch Head of East Central Branch, the woman who was branded as incompetent, had traces of tears on her cheeks.

“Have you not heard, Acting Head Goroumaru?”

Looking down on Touko, Miguruma spoke in a soft voice like a mother admonishing a young child.

“I have said that the operations are over.”

“No… they’re not over at all—”

Speaking like an unruly child, Touko slowly stood up.

“I believed… that the Mushitsuki headed to the operations will definitely win. Also, even without understanding your thoughts, Vice-Deputy Miguruma—you should still have some heart left to lead Mushitsuki as a human being…”

“You are not wrong. I have thought about the possibility of them winning. As a human being, that is.”

“No, you are—neither human nor Mushitsuki. You’re something much scarier.”

It happened just as Touko spat this out clearly.

“Operation 1 can no longer continue…!”

A boy’s voice echoed from the speaker.

It was the voice of East Central Branch member, Tsukihime—Ogata Akatsuki.

“We will now move on—to our reserve plan!”

Voices of surprise rose in the tent.

“Reserve plan… he said?”

Starting with Takemi, all the branch heads turned at once to look to Miguruma.

“…”

Miguruma Yaeko did not erase her smile.

She was completely calm.

Her smile did not crumble.

However—

“I—haven’t heard anything about this.”

So she muttered.

5.01 Another OPS1

Deep under Akamaki City, in the deepest part of the Central Headquarters’ Underground Fort.

“O-Operation 1… has failed…”

As Terasu informed HQ of this, she was attacked by all of the Revived.

“You’re kidding… you’re kidding meee!”

Kasuou howled. Her vividly blond hair going wild, she wrung out the last of her power to create a wall of mist. It managed to block the rain of attacks before they tore the suicide corps formed of Makoto and others from limb to limb.

The mist protecting the suicide squad tightened and was attacked by Mushi, and more Mushi, and more Mushi—

And they could no longer see Super Class Rank 1, C, their supposed enemy ahead.

“W-was that C…? Or an illusion…?”

The C Makoto had seen—the nude girl wearing a shining tiara—looked at the suicide corps with creepy eyes. However, her form instantly vanished along with static.

If C isn’t even here, then why have all of us—

Besides Makoto who was crying tears of despair, Rinrin shouted.

“F-fairies are coming from behind…!”

“P-Poison Puuunch!”

Yotsuba created a poisonous mist, blocking the fairies.

However, both Kasuou and Yotsuba already went past their limits.

“T-these pieces of shit…!”

“I-I can’t hold on…!”

Kasuou’s mist and Yotsuba’s poison fog was erased in a moment.

“I’ll shoot all of them!”

Shouting this, Tsukihime jumped ahead—

“…!”

And the swarms of Mushi retreated like a receding wave.

In place of them Mushitsuki that Makoto also knew well appeared.

All of them were Special Type Mushitsuki. Standing atop the mountain of cables and swinging her arm like a conductor of an orchestra to give them orders was Shishidou Inuko.

Not only was the last traces of their stamina drained, but now they were even being showered with long-range attacked.

“Eeeek!”

“Gwah…!”

“Oooh!”

The suicide squad members took evasive action, but that was the enemy’s aim.

“No good…! If we get separated, then it’s already…!”

Makoto shouted, but it was too late.

As if they fell to the depths of hell and were about to get devoured by the resident demons—

As if watching a footage go in fast forward—

Red wounds opened up on all of her separated comrades.

“W-we must escape—”

Makoto tried ordering, but she knew it was useless. Rinrin shouted at her.

“Where to?! Our path of retreat is full of fairies…!”

The lone entrance into the place was blocked by the fairies created by C’s ability.

Wasting their powers against an overwhelming number of enemies, they had nowhere to escape to.

“Ah, aaaah…”

Makoto and the rest were going to die there—

There was no longer any means of reversal. The elites of the SEPB were going to get annihilated here today.

She was convinced of this and even as she was about to give up on resisting—

“Operation 1 can no longer continue…!”

Tsukihime shouted.

She was already aware of that.

Makoto tried wearing a slovenly smile of contempt—

“We will now move on—to our reserve plan!”

Hearing these words, she froze.

Reserve plan?

What’s this guy talking about?

I heard nothing about that—

“—Roger that!”

The one who replied was someone unexpected.

It was Kabuto.

“I’ve used too much power to get here. It’ll take a minute.”

The five-horned rhinoceros melted into air. Kabuto’s form was changing.

Makoto, Shachito, Sakura and others were surprised by this. Kaguya, Himiko and Maimai all looked at Kabuto’s transformation with resolved eyes.

East Central Branch…! What are you doing—

Apparently, they schemed something without telling their commander Makoto.

What were they trying to do in this situation that was nothing but despair? Makoto couldn’t even begin to imagine.

“—”

Kabuto—no, the unknown person completed their transformation.

Seeing that form, Makoto was at a loss for words. Kasuou and others also widened their eyes and froze.

While they all ceased moving, the Revived leapt down all at once—was what she thought would happen, but didn’t.

Even the enemies—and Shishidou Inuko who was leading them—all stopped their movements. They remained completely expressionless, but perhaps an instinctive fear stopped all of them.

The fact the new figure wore a long black coat and goggles was unchanged from Kabuto. However, with their hair standing up like horns, no one there would mistake that figure.

“—Let’s do this.”

Blaze Class Rank 1, Kakkou.

The demon that was supposed to become a Fallen appeared in front of Makoto again.

This time it was no hallucination.

No—even the Kakkou she’d seen on the way there was not something she imagined.

“Why you…!”

Kasuou came back to her senses, grimacing her bloody face.

“So you’re Mimic!”

Makoto gasped.

Without seeing them transforming right in front of her eyes, she probably would have been much more confused. She did hear about a Mushitsuki called Mimic that could transform into other people.

There was no way for the real Kakkou to be here.

With his entire body covered by the green glow, Kakkou—no, Mimic—kicked the ground. Weaving between the Revived that stood there like statues, he leapt to Maimai.

“A single minute will be enoughfufhf!”

Picking up the spirited-voice girl, Mimic glared at—

Super Class Rank 1, C.

Still lying on top of the Bed, C glared back at Mimic.

Kicking the ground, Mimic headed to C. But before that, the Revived stood in his way.

“You guys, I know it’s tough, but please support Mimic!”

“Shoot! Shoot!”

Kaguya and Himiko provided covering fire to Mimic.

She didn’t really understand the situation, but Makoto also threw whatever little wireless speakers she had around.

“Sense Isolation! —What on earth is going on? What are you trying to do?”

“We’re obviously going to beat C—”

Kaguya shouted.

“—Or so we wanted to, but if that’s impossible… we’ll use the reserve plan to survive this and run!”

“I’m asking you what that reserve plan is!”

While protecting Makoto and the rest who covered for Mimic, Kasuou yelled angrily.

There was no way to defeat C who wasn’t even there.

Despite knowing this, what was this plan they were enacting?

“OOOOOOH!”

Mimic howled with Kakkou’s voice. His green glow-wrapped fist smashed the Mushi in front of him and he finally managed to reach C.

“—”

The two Rank 1s glared at each other in the distance of a few centimeters.

Even though he came so close to her, C was unflinching. Still lying on top of the transparent bed, she glared at Mimic with creepy eyes.

“…She doesn’t seem to be alive, but this still feels bad. You probably shouldn’t touch her.”

While C was unmoving, Mimic turned his back to her.

“I will commence hackinginging!”

Maimai swung her arms and a large amount of liquid gushed out of them.

This half-transparent liquid covered Maimai herself and the Bed. This was Makoto’s first time seeing this, but that amorphous object was probably Maimai’s Mushi.

“As long as the little girl’s security habits haven’t changed since the time she belonged to the East Central Branchech…”

Glowing letters and numbers appeared on the surface of the half-transparent liquid.

“Hurry up if you don’t wanna die!”

Mimic protected Maimai from the Revived.

“E-eek, Kakkou-san! —Wait, you’re not! Please don’t rush me with that voicesces!”

“Hacking, you said… are you trying to steal something from the Bed?”

For some reason, Kaguya wore a pained face at hearing Makoto’s question.

“If we all want to come back alive, that’s the only way…!”

“—Guh…!”

A change came over Mimic.

Kakkou’s arm was warping, trying to return to its previous form.

“Still not there, Maimai…?!”

“F-found itit! There shouldn’t be any mistake, but—once I do that, Mimic-san, you’ll…”

“I don’t care even if I never go back. I’ve already said my goodbyes.”

Mimic returned being a slim girl.

No—she was a girl who wore a smile free of doubts even in this battlefield smelling only of death and despair. Perhaps this was Mimic’s true form.

“If I can turn my lies into reality, that’s good enough for me.”

Seeing Mimic’s unhesitating smile, Maimai bit her lips. She touched Mimic with her arm covered in her Mushi.

“I will now transport Tachibana Rina’s—Lady Bird’s dream to Mimic-sananan!”

Again.

Everyone including Makoto and even their enemies froze.

Just like when Mimic became Kakkou.

No, since they were SEPB combatants, they’d obviously become upset upon hearing the name of their archnemesis, more than Kakkou.

“Lady—you say—”

Makoto’s hoarse voice was drowned by a roar and a tremor.

Was it a whale? A submarine? What swelled up from within the sea of cables had such a large body that it felt like this. This exceptional sense of presence awed everyone there.

It was a gigantic seven-spotted ladybug.

She never thought the day would come she’d see its form again.

No Mushitsuki of the SEPB wanted to see it again.

On the other hand, for Mushibane—they might cry at the revival of their great leader.

“There’s no longer any need for us to be here!”

Standing on top of the back of the massive red Mushi that had black spots—

Was Lady Bird.

Makoto had seen her only once, when she provided support to another branch. Just like back then, the girl in front of her wore a fox mask to cover her face. The cape on her back was also the exact same.

“We’re running away!”

Even that beautiful voice that echoed was Lady Bird’s.

Himiko was the first one who came back to her senses.

“You guys, let’s all get next to Lady-san…! —You too, Akatsuki-kun!”

Himiko grabbed the hand of the boy standing there dazed.

“Ah—y-yes…”

Kaguya used to belong to Mushibane. And he was even a member while Lady Bird was there. Although he wished for this development, he couldn’t hide his confusion.

“Get on, everyone!”

Shachito teleported around to pick up the suicide corps members spread around. Makoto also had her arm garbed by him and the next moment she was atop the seven-spotted ladybug’s back.

“We’ll probably meet you again.”

Lady Bird and C.

The sights of these two Rank 1s crossed for just a moment.

However, without them clashing—

“…!”

The seven-spotted ladybug Makoto and the rest rode on spread its large wings. This mere action blew away many Mushi. Furthermore—

“You’re in the way!”

An invisible explosion blew the Mushi around to smithereens. The cables spread on the floor swelled up and large cracks ran through the walls of this deepmost area. —Only the Bed and C were completely unmoving. Not even a single hair of the nude girl’s was touched.

Revived Mushi were scattered by the ladybug. None could stop this tank’s advance.

Or so she thought, but golden C-butterflies and fairies blocked the exit.

The seven-spotted ladybug charged without hesitating—and opened its massive maw.

“—!”

Electric light burst apart.

The ladybug bit the fairies’ heads off. Unheeding that its mouth was scorched by electricity, it kept eating the fairies.

By doing this—Makoto and the rest succeeded in escaping the space C inhabited.

“We’re... saved...?”

Makoto mumbled unconsciously.

All the suicide corps members on the ladybug’s back had faces covered with blood. Some were even wounded or fainted. However—none were dead.

“A-are you really—Rina?”

Kaguya timidly raised his voice and the masked Lady turned around. A chuckle came from within the mask.

“So you finally feel like joining the battle, Ephemera.”

“...!”

Kaguya grimaced. Makoto couldn’t tell whether he was happy or sad.

“T-these are the genuine memories and dreams of Lady-san. Not just an image... Mimic was resolved to never be able to go back to herself, accepting such strong feelings...”

Maimai said. Was she so pale due to her injuries?

Makoto put a hand to her goggles with unbelievable feelings.

“C-can you read, Headquarters...? I can’t believe it... Lady came back to life...”

Her mind was in complete chaos due to this unforeseen happening.

However, she could feel only the fact she survived with her body.

“W-we’re saved! We’re coming back, none of us died!”

Now they could regain their footing.

And they even managed to gain an unbelievable fighting power in the form of Lady Bird.

Shaking with happiness, Makoto hadn’t noticed at all.

“It’s Lady Bird’s dream—supposedly.”

That Maimai was looking down and trembling—

“But it almost seemed like many dreams were mixed with it, as if clinging to her...”

That vanishingly soft whisper.

5.02 Another OPS2

Kurobishi City underground, the facility for collecting Fallen.

Commonly known as the Prison.

Harukiyo’s group who were in charge of Operation 2 finally managed to reach Sleeping Beauty.

They even succeeded in waking the girl inside the cocoon from her slumber.

However, as a result—

“Ah…”

A spear glowing silver pierced Kuzesaki Ume’s chest as he stood in place, shocked.

Sleeping Beauty—Arisu—who was watching him from nearby had a neat face. Her stark-naked body was glowing with a silver pattern, one eye was dyed in silver, and even her long hair shone in silver—if she hadn’t just cruelly killed Ume, one could call her an eye-catching beauty.

“Arisu—san—”

Ume widened his eyes, cracks running through his body.

The thing that shattered with a high-pitched sound wasn’t Ume—but a mirror bug with a large mirror embedded in its back. As it smashed to fragments, another mirror bug appeared in an entirely different direction.

“Harukiyo! Harukiyooo!”

After appearing in front of the newly-created mirror bug, Ume shouted.

This Mushitsuki, who was called the devil of flames and hailed as a peerless Rank 1 Mushitsuki, was collapsed on the floor. His entire body was torn into pieces, he fainted and was unmoving.

It wasn’t just Harukiyo.

His comrades—no, friends—were also completely devastated. Witch appeared to be unconscious, while Maria, Santa Claus and even Sakaki Haruka were on the ground, barely leaking groans.

Only Ume and another person were just barely safe.

“—Why did you even come here!”

Ume couldn’t hold back as he glared at a corner of the planetarium-like space.

This child wearing a lop-eared hoodie was rounded and shaking from head to toe, making no attempt to either help Ume and the others or stand up against Arisu.

“Haruka and Maria-san took the hit to protect you!”

Harukiyo told them to protect Lop-Eared. Ume and the others did their best, following his words.

Even so, Lop-Eared was merely afraid of Arisu and did nothing but shake.

“You useless little…!”

While Ume abused Lop-Eared, Arisu swung her spear horizontally.

Silver scales gushed out and assaulted Ume while causing the ground to swell.

“S-shiiit!”

Ume brought a mirror bug in front of him.

The scales reflected in the mirror were shot back to Arisu.

“—”

Arisu instantly formed a wall of scales. Then, another mirror bug appeared in a different location and changed the course of the scales. Successively other mirror bugs appeared, reflected the scales and unleashed them right at Arisu’s back.

Arisu stabbed her silver spear into the ground.

“UWAAAAH!”

The scales gushing out from the ground whirled Ume into the air. The scales attacking Arisu from behind easily dispersed as well.

“D-dammit!”

A moment before crashing against the ceiling he put a mirror bug there. Ume’s reflected figure was reflected toward the inside of another mirror bug that appeared elsewhere and he was transported in front of the mirror bug on the ground.

“Uh—”

Just as Ume landed, Arisu pursued him.

He didn’t even have the time to evade as his body got cut into two right from his head.

“—Harukiyo, c’mon!”

Instantly transporting himself to another place with the exact same method, Ume kept shouting. A mirror bug that became his replacement and was bisected shattered in front of Arisu’s eyes.

This was his last clone. Although Ume’s ability was of the type that controlled multiple Mushi, if this next one was killed it wouldn’t end well for him.

“Save me, Harukiyo!”

Approaching Maturation, Arisu’s strength was inhuman. The fact that some parts of her body were not yet dyed silver was perhaps evidence of the host girl barely holding on to her life—but once her entire body glowed, she wouldn’t be the only one to die.

Ume and the others and even unrelated people above ground would probably become her prey.

Furthermore, Arisu wasn’t the only crisis.

“…!”

Ume felt a chill as though a cold hand touched the back of his neck.

As he turned around, he could see something black gushing out from the cocoon Arisu slept inside.

“Undying—”

Just like Harukiyo said.

—If he comes, we’ll probably die.

Ume’s group was about to die here. No matter what he thought, there was no way to overturn it.

They touched something they shouldn’t have.

And every person living in this world would pay the price for it.

This disaster was going to strike the whole world—

“Harukiyo—”

Only that name leaked from Ume’s mouth during this despairing situation.

“Stop pretending to be dead and get up alreadyyy!”

“—Why’d you blow my cover, idiot.”

As Arisu was still trying to kill Ume, the shade of a tall man appeared behind her.

Arisu reflexively turned around, but—

“—!!”

An impact not unlike a meteor strike shook the planetarium. And it came not from the sky, but from right next to her. The shockwave caused all the surrounding air to explode and an intense hot wind knocked off the remains of the asphalt.

Harukiyo’s fist wrapped in flames grabbed Arisu’s forehead.

Ume understood. This was the flame devil’s—full-powered strike.

“Or actually, I almost died out here but you’re sayin’ I was pretending?”

Even the fresh blood wetting his entire body evaporated as Harukiyo smiled boldly. It was obvious at a glance he was badly wounded, and his eyes were blazing more and more.

“Harukiyo…!”

Tears coming to his eyes, he looked at the man.

The devil had not died. He could never die.

That was why he was Harukiyo. That was why he was one of the Rank 1s.

“—”

Arisu shook for a second, but then immediately swung her spear.

However, she couldn’t.

Harukiyo grabbed it hard.

“Burn.”

Within the hand of the sneering devil, the spear was instantly dyed red.

Arisu’s hand grabbing the spear instantly scorched. Her palm sizzled and raised black smoke.

“—”

Arisu’s eyes turned sharp. She dyed her spear with silver again.

The scales gushing out of the spear cut Harukiyo’s arm. The demon sneered.

“Haha!”

The devil and Arisu.

A fierce tug-of-war over a single spear began among the two Rank 1s and turned into a fierce struggle.

Theys struck each other with fists and kicks, creating roars and shockwaves.

Although he protected his body using a heatwave, he was at a disadvantage against a Fusion Type opponent in hand-to-hand combat. At first they’d been about equal, but soon Harukiyo was on the losing side.

“…Harukiyo…”

Soon realizing that Harukiyo was just being unilaterally pummeled, Ume groaned.

Harukiyo had returned, but the situation remained unchanged.

Ume simply couldn’t think of any way for them to get out of there alive.

However—

“—I’ll stop her! Get moving already!”

While spitting blood, Harukiyo smiled like he was having fun.

“You lying bastard!”

Ume couldn’t immediately understand what Harukiyo was even talking about.

However, as he saw the figure pitter-pattering at the edge of his vision, he gasped.

Lop-Eared was running alongside the wall while avoiding the battlefield and heading to—

The remains of Arisu’s cocoon.

Right in front of the crawling, black Mushi—the swarms of tardigrades.

“Eh? H-hey, it’s dangerous over there!”

Unheeding to Ume’s call, Lop-Eared approached the tardigrades, removed the hood and revealed the face within it.

For a moment Ume thought it was a girl.

But no. Ume knew that person.

“What are you planning? I’ve heard nothing about this!”

Nakayama Kanon—

Ume had already noticed his identity. That was why he cursed him as useless.

Kanon was a liar who’d gathered many people by claiming he could erase Mushi. The organization he’d created this way swelled until it became a threat even to the SEPB and Mushibane—but then vanished like a popped bubble.

“What are you planning to do by going there!”

Kanon. As well as the Mushitsuki gathered under Mimic—the Kanon Cult.

Not only could Kanon not erase Mushi, he was a below average person who couldn’t do anything.

And the one who exposed this truth—was none other than Kanon himself.

“The letter you’d handed over to me was quite interestin’!”

Harukiyo sneered even as Arisu pummeled him.

“It said that if I brought you to the Undying, lies will become truth!”

The tardigrades swarmed over toward the helpless Kanon. They began climbing his legs as though to eat the petite boy.

“C’mon, let’s see what you can do, Kanon-sama!”

The original founder of the Kanon Cult slowly crouched on the spot.

Grasping his hands as though in prayer, his lips moved.

He apparently couldn’t speak. However, Ume read his lips and understood his silent words.

—Goodbye, Tama-chan.

As he muttered this, the tardigrades quickly covered Kanon entirely.

“T-turning lies into truth… there’s no way he can do anything like that!”

Seeing Kanon transformed into a black mass, Ume shouted.

Kanon had only ever told one lie.

That was—

“There’s no way you can erase Mushi—”

It happened just as Ume moved to rescue Kanon.

Next to the black lump that used to be Kanon, a small light was born.

It was a light brimming with a gentle warmth. It gradually grew larger and transformed into an odd object.

A large tree glowing in white.

Looking closely, it trembled as though a pulse ran through the branches.

“W-what the hell’s that…?”

Seeing that large tree that exuded divinity, Ume gulped.

Becoming overgrown with leaves, it bore a single fruit.

It was an apple.

“I-is that a Mushi? I’ve never seen anything like it…”

And that wasn’t the end of the oddities.

The tardigrades stopped all movement in front of the gently glowing apple tree. Just as it seemed they were all silent while bathed in this gentle light, they started climbing it.

Even the tardigrades biting Kanon all started moving toward the tree.

“…”

Revealed again, Kanon bore bite marks all over his body. However, his face wasn’t twisted in pain, but he still calmly assumed a prayer position.

The tardigrades all climbed the tree together and got to the branch as though lured by the apple—

“N-no way…”

Ume unconsciously leaked that mumble.

The tardigrades on the branch all gathered into a single point, condensed—and became a black apple.

All these large swarms started transforming one after another, becoming a black apple one after another.

“—”

Finally, all the tardigrades were apples hanging from branches.

Finishing its role, the apple tree was slowly vanishing while leaving behind blinding light.

Kanon who was left behind remained still praying.

“A Mushi… meant for sealing Mushi…?”

Ume finally understood why Kanon hadn’t used his Mushi thus far.

Not only could his Mushi not fight, it couldn’t even move.

A Mushi that wouldn’t hurt anyone—

Ume had obviously never seen anything like that. All people would often get in conflicts with others and have the will the fight. However, Kanon didn’t. —Was there any other person in the world like him?

“Haha! You did it, Kanon-sama!”

Harukiyo sneered.

“Then it’s time for me to finish my business here, too!”

The devil was smiling, but—

He was already in tatters.

His arm was tired and the spear finally slipped from his grasp—

“Haru—”

Ume saw it clearly.

Arisu’s spear stabbed Harukiyo’s chest.

However—

“Lemme put you to bed again until you manage to come back to your senses, Arisu.”

The devil clenched both burning fists.

At that moment, to Ume’s eyes—it looked as though half of Harukioyo’s face was covered in flames. No, rather than being covered, it was more like his face became flames themselves, and his right eye was scorched like a sunspot—

“Oraaah!”

The two fists burning red struck Arisu’s temples from both sides. Heatwaves and impact struck the girl’s head, and the aftershock made literal cracks run through the floor and ceiling. A roar that sounded powerful enough to be heard not only through the planetarium but to the entirety of Kurobishi Town shook the air.

“—!”

Arisu, who was hit by this attack, opened her mouth wide and emitted a soundless scream.

That was—the end.

Arisu crumbled down in front of the heavily-wounded Harukiyo who was just barely standing.

This match between the two Rank 1s ended.

Sleeping Beauty woke up and the Undying was resealed—

Ume was alive.

“I’m saved…? We’re still alive…”

Ume started to cry from relief, while Harukiyo was calm as calm can be.

“Yup… still alive.”

He put his tattered jacket on top of the collapsed Arisu and carried her on his back. He then approached Kanon.

“R-right, Kanon…! You really did it, Kanon-sama!”

Ume also rushed to Kanon.

However, the boy remained praying and completely unmoving.

“W-what’s wrong, Kanon-sama?”

While Ume was confused, Harukiyo peeked at Kanon’s face. He touched his wounded cheeks, spoke into his ears and tried all sorts of things—

Then put a hand on the boy’s head, emitting a momentary heatwave.

Kanon lost consciousness and fell.

“Eh? W-what are you doing?”

“He feels nothin’. Better for him to sleep.”

Saying curtly, Harukiyo put Kanon on his other shoulder.

Ume gasped.

Even as a Rank 1, Arisu had to fall asleep herself to seal this huge threat. So there was obviously not way for Kanon to do the same without paying the proper price—

“She’s gonna raise hell, once she finds out someone sacrificed himself to serve as her replacement so she could wake up… makes my head hurt just imaginin’ it.”

Never mind his head, it looked like his entire body should hurt, but Harukiyo seemed fine.

“Harukiyo… are you really okay?”

Ume inquired timidly.

However—

“Ah? What d’you mean?”

The gaze of the sneering devil that turned to him allowed him no more questions.

“N-no, never mind.”

Ume shook his head and dodged the question.

It was probably just a hallucination due to the extreme situation.

It was impossible for Harukiyo’s face to become flames.

Also—

“Haha, we were Operation 2, were we? —It’s a huge success!”

Although Harukiyo was now laughing to himself, when Arisu’s spear had pierced him before—

It looked as though his body transformed into flames and let it slip through.

But Ume made no attempt to ask about that stupid illusion.

5.03 Another OPS3

According to the original plan, Ebina Yuu would be released safely here by now.

Because Fuyuhotaru—Anmoto Shiika—believed that she would defeat Oogui.

However, the reality in front of Yuu’s eyes completely broke her expectations.

“Shiika…san—”

Yuu desperately moved just her eyes, looking at Shiika crumpled on the ground. Purple scales flew all around Yuu, bewitching her such that her body didn’t move like she wanted it to.

“Oogui’s coming! Protect Ebina Yuu!”

Ignoring the unmoving Shiika, Oogui looked down on Yuu. Namie and the rest who were protecting her took counterattack positions.

“O-Operation 3… has failed…!”

She could hear Kabuto report to headquarters as he put his hand to the goggles.

“Fufu—so you still intend to stand in my way?”

Oogui brought forth again countless Mushi and set them on the Mushitsuki on the surface.

They’d never be able to stand up to the monstrous Oogui in either quantity or stamina. Although Mushibane’s and the SEPB’s Mushitsuki battled with their full powers, the lines protecting Yuu were being shaves slowly but surely.

“Shiika-san…!”

Even when Yuu called her, Shiika remained unmoving.

What on earth happened to her?

Currently—Yuu had no way of knowing that.

“Now, Yuu-chan. Will you tell me your dream?”

Oogui smiled enchantingly.

“M-my—dream is…”

Yuu’s mouth moved on its own.

“No, hold on!”

Aijisupa turned to her and shouted.

How could she hold on, though?

Since Shiika had failed, all hope was lost. At this rate, this would only create more nedless victims and they’d be cornered to complete annihilation.

There was no longer—any meaning to holding on.

“It’s—no good… the operation failed…”

She didn’t want to see Mushitsuki get hurt for her sake.

I’ll just give up.

As she thought this, she was able to use her very last powers.

“So—go away, please…! Ubuki-san… Chiharu-san…!”

While still caught by Oogui’s rainbow-colored eyes, she shouted expressionlessly.

Ubuki and Chiharu danced in the sky, repeating their attacks on Oogui. However, she fluttered past their attacks, so the two were unable to inflict any damage. They then stopped in place.

“Don’t mind me…! Carry on the next plan…!”

The Mushitsuki fighting around her all turned to her.

Namie used her blood-stained face to glare at Yuu.

“—What do you mean, next plan?”

“What’s that?”

Even the ever-calm Aijisupa looked expectedly agitated. He stopped his attacks.

Lucifera looked to her phone and gasped.

“Ubuki-san! Chiharu-san! We’ve got the green light! Abandon this battlefield and move to the scheduled place.”

“…!”

Hearing the words “abandon this battlefield”, the Mushitsuki around gulped.

Even Ubuki and Chiharu themselves looked confused. They remained airborne, unmoving.

“However… bring Yuu over here as well, you shitheads! —Is what she says!”

If only Yuu hadn’t been enchanted by Oogui.

She probably would have widened her eyes.

Yuu would also head to that place. —That part was completely unplanned.

“—Gotchu!”

Responding with a full-blown smile, Ubuki transformed.

The black raven dragonfly’s wings, merged with her coat, explosively swelled to more than twice their size. Her face’s black pattern began permeating the turban covering her head. For a moment, the silhouette of a red queen bee floated behind the girl grimacing in pain.

“…!”

Including Oogui, the time of all combatants on the battlefield stopped.

At least, Ubuki flew so fast that it felt like that. A black lightning struck the surface from the sky, and by the next moment, Yuu was high in air.

Ubuki was flying while holding Yuu.

“Oh my, who could have imagined you’d snatch my meal and run away—”

Oogui’s voice was left behind them in an instant.

She felt no headwind. The wind was not just wind, but more like a thick wall. Even so Ubuki hugged Chiharu and Yuu and cut through that wall of wind.

“This is no good… if you use so much power at once—”

“I-if I don’t use my powers in such times, what else can we do…!”

Ubuki groaned painfully, and in front of her—

Something was seen for just a moment in the sky of Akamaki City.

It was a purple Mushi—and it looked like a mirror bug with a mirror embedded in its back.

“—You naughty girls.”

“Eh?”

The moment following this, Ubuki and her passengers were back at the museum again. Unable to understand what just happened, Ubuki’s movements stopped.

They had apparently returned in front of Oogui again, for whatever reason. All they could understand was that behind them there was the exact same mirror bug they’d seen before.

“So, will you tell me your dream? Yuu-chan…”

“Uh—my dream—”

“L-let’s skedaddle again!”

Ubuki came back to herself and accelerated again. Weaving through the swarms of pursuing Mushi, she flew through the skies of Akamaki City again.

“Aria… why do you and your children insist on getting in my way?”

Oogui’s whisper pursued them from behind.

Ubuki had the advantage in speed. The distance between them was gradually growing—

“Nnngh!”

Ubuki dodged the mirror bug appearing in front of her.

However, others kept appearing to block her path, she ended up colliding with one, and was pulled back to near Oogui.

“Can you please give Yuu back?”

The purple Mushi produced by Oogui tried grabbing Ubuki.

“Why you…!”

Chiharu was wrapped in a blue light. This glow permeated Ubuki and Yuu as well, allowing them to slip through the bodies of the Mushi blocking their way. Having escaped the encampment, Ubuki raised her speed again.

Aiming again to the scheduled place, Yuu’s group continued their escape.

Ubuki desperately escaped from Oogui and used Sanbikime’s powers to dodge attacks.

“S—stop this—”

Although she tried wriggling out from Ubuki and Chiharu’s arms, she no longer had any strength.

“You don’t need to care about me—”

Ubuki was clearly acting strange. She was shedding an excessive amount of sweat, and blood dripped down her bitten lips. She breathed violently and started hyperventilating.

Konomura Chami’s ability could strengthen the abilities of Mushitsuki. This power that was unknown even to Chami herself had a huge recoil. She was approved to use it for a few seconds—but Ubuki had kept using it for hundreds of times more than that.

“Along with that guy I took… Satou-san’s also waiting there! If we can just get there, we should be able to seal Yuu-chan’s dream again…!”

“Stop Ubuki-san—Chiharu-san—”

“…Ubuki-chan.”

Chiharu was also panting as she spoke. Apparently using her powers as Aria Varei burdened her as well.

“Sensei loved how you flew so freely in the sky—”

Ubuki’s face twitched.

“And he said you were a kind girl… Aria’s saying this.”

Why all that right now…!

If her mouth could move freely, Yuu would have probably yelled this at Chiharu.

If you say all this, Ubuki will—

“—Ahaha.”

Ubuki raised her speed even further. She immediately gained distance on Oogui.

“Ahahahahaha!”

Droplets flying from Ubuki’s laughing chin struck Yuu’s cheeks.

She felt that this warm liquid was not sweat.

“You can’t give up, Yuu-chan.”

Chiharu said this despite Yuu being unable to escape from Oogui’s charm.

“You’re not a Mushitsuki—but fight. I believe you’ll be able to save the Mushitsuki fighting so desperately this way as well.”

“—”

Yuu, who had already long since given up, couldn’t say anything.

She wanted to save Mushitsuki—

Despite this being Yuu’s dream, she somehow lost sight of its true meaning.

“Fight now, not to wish for your dream—but to grant it.”

Fighting.

As Yuu wasn’t a Mushitsuki but a completely normal girls, she thought those kinds of words were unrelated to her.

However, even the non-Mushitsuki Yuu had her own fight.

And it might be happening right at this moment—

“Yuu-chan, will you tell me your dream?”

“Ugh—Uuuuuuh!”

Desperately gritting her teeth, she rejected Oogui’s enchantment. She couldn’t actually grit her teeth, but that meant nothing.

For a split second, their speed plummeted.

Chiharu was about to exhaust her powers.

“—Uwaaaah…!”

Wringing the last of her powers, Ubuki regained her speed.

Seeing her like this, Yuu’s heart was strengthened.

Mushitsuki who fought while shaving their lives gave Yuu power even she didn’t know she possessed.

It was also like this back when the three of them—Yuu, Ubuki, and Shiika escaped Akamaki City.

“M-my dream is—”

Yuu’s mouth moved.

In the far distance, she could see a vast empty lot.

Seeing several people standing there, Yuu this time really did grit her teeth.

“I’ll never… tell someone like you!”

“—!”

Oogui gasped and stopped moving. Following this, many of her swarms of Mushi all exploded into purple mist and vanished.

Wriggling in Ubuki’s arms, Yuu looked at the vacant lot ahead.

Three people stood there.

One was Konomura Chami.

Chami was—angry. Yuu couldn’t see it from here, but there was no mistake the girl was grimacing in wrath. Ever since the three operations started—no, since she heard about the reserve plan from Mimic at the East Central Branch, she kept being blinded with rage.

Next to Chami stood Satou Youko. She opened her suitcase and Yuu could see it was turned toward someone in front of her.

The remaining person was—

“You told me you’d take care of the rest…”

Recalling her escape journey from Akamaki City, there was a person she’d recall along with Ubuki and Shiika.

That boy wiped Yuu’s tears after she risked her life to pass him the disk, and spoke to her.

—Leave the rest to me.

Yuu and others fought just like back then, and finally—

“Kakkou-san!”

Arrived to him.

Unlike back then, the boy standing next to Chami and Youko did not wear his goggles. He looked neither strong nor reliable while facing Satou Youko, his face completely expressionless.

However, she never would mistake it.

This person was Kusuriya Daisuke—Blaze Class Rank 1 Mushitsuki, Kakkou.

Ubuki had found him while he was being transported and brought him here.

“We’re, here—”

The moment she landed in front of Chami, Ubuki collapsed while smiling.

“Ubuki-san!”

“So damn slow! Yuu, get treated by Youko already! —Chiharu!”

Dragging the collapsed Ubuki, Chami brought her away from Kakkou.

Chiharu approached her silent brother and hugged him.

“Daisuke—”

Youko pulled on Yuu’s arm. She moved to another place and opened her suitcase.

A strange mark had been drawn inside the opened case. It consisted of an X crisscrossed by an arrow.

The Coatl Head symbol.

Since Yuu had used this to get hypnotized, Youko used this to cast her suggestion on her, but—

“W-what’s going to happen with Kakkou-san…?”

She couldn’t remove her eyes from Kakkou and Chiharu right now. She asked Chami.

“If Oogui can bring back Fuyuhotaru to life, it wouldn’t be odd for Sanbikime to be able to bring Kakkou back to life too! Me and Youko already gave him as much stimulation as we could for that sake—”

Chami explained this, but just like Yuu thought before, both her voice and expression held clear anger.

“I don’t like this one bit, though… I did hear from Mimic about the plans to revive Lady Bird and wake up Sleeping Beauty—but why there’s nothing about Kakkou!”

Yuu didn’t really get the reason for Chami’s anger. She probably reached her own kind of boiling point.

“I’m also mad at Miguruma for creating such plans full of holes all over, but the East Central Branch—no, that shithead bastard is outrageous! Is he really gonna abandon his pawn at this point?”

As she hugged Kakkou, Chiharu’s body glowed azure.

“Ah, I found you… this is Daisuke’s dream—”

Following Chiharu’s whisper, Kakkou too started glowing in azure.

Watching over them, Chami yelled angrily.

“I’m different from all of you! If you’re sayin’ you don’t need it, I’ll take it as my pawn!”

Yuu also heard about Mimic’s plans.

Mimic was going to revive Lady Bird, and Kanon would sacrifice himself instead of Sleeping Beauty.

Meaning—

“Now, all the Rank 1s are here…!”

As Yuu mumbled this—

Kakkou’s fingertips twitched.

5.04 Another OPS4

The temporary headquarters were in utter chaos.

Still smiling, Miguruma returned Goroumaru Touko’s glare.

“A reserve plan?”

Branch Head Takemi hounded Goroumaru Touko.

“I’ve heard nothing about it either. What does it mean?”

“Reviving Lady Bird.”

Goroumaru Touko spoke clearly.

The tent immediately became silent.

“Wha—”

Before the confused Takemi managed to complete his question, Touko continued.

“We’ve added Mimic to the suicide corps. She drew out Lady Bird’s memories from the Database and took them over.”

None there seemed to understand the meaning of Touko’s words.

However, Miguruma alone understood.

She knew that this was possible.

“Also, Harukiyo took Kanon along with him. He should definitely be able to seal the Undying instead of Sleeping Beauty.”

Kanon.

Miguruma had received the reports about him, so she knew. She heard he wasn’t a Mushitsuki but just a swindler, but judging from Touko’s expression, that was apparently not the case.

“I see. So it means you’ve estimated the plans would fail in the first place.”

As Miguruma grinned at her, Touko shook her head.

“No, it was nothing more than a reserve plan, really. After all, if we carried out those plans, Mimic-san and Kanon-kun… were not going to end well.”

“If you really think so, you will remain incompetent forever.”

Touko furrowed her brows at Miguruma’s words.

She now understood, based on these circumstances.

Behind Miguruma’s plan, there was a precaution taken to avoid the worst-case scenario.

“What do you mean?”

“Am I wrong? It was like this with Minmin, too. Using pawns without any regret. As long as the goal’s reached, what happens to the pawn doesn’t matter. —That’s his way of doing things. You could say it’s natural for Mimic and Kanon to end like that.”

Miguruma looked behind the frozen Goroumaru.

She spoke toward the entrance to the tent.

“That was splendid. I had somewhat guessed this, but since you showed no movements, I lost interest. —You’ve fooled me completely.”

In this tent where only related people could enter, a slim youth showed himself.

He had a lanky body and rimless glasses. His face was also as pale as a sick person, but he was properly standing on his two legs.

He had a handsome face, but he looked too high-strung.

And his most conspicuous feature—was his faint smile.

“Welcome back, Branch Head Haji Keigo.”

Miguruma was the only one to greet the return of this tactician with a full smile.

The other branch heads were speechless with shock. With eyes just like they saw a ghost, they glared at the emaciated man.

“B-Branch Head Haji… were you not in a coma?”

Branch Head Takemi barely managed to ask.

“—I have woken up just now.”

Haji Keigo lied immediately upon speaking his first words, wearing his faint smile.

Miguruma also understood Takemi’s feelings.

She’d wondered before whether the man had already been awake. After all, Goroumaru Touko was supposedly incompetent and yet, at times the man’s shadow could be sensed from the movements and decisions she had from time to time.

This was the cautious Haji, after all. Goroumaru Touko was probably the only person who knew about his revival. He hid himself, and behind the scenes—slowly gathered those like Mimic and Kanon, and possibly many other trump cards as well.

“Haji-senpa—Branch Head Haji. About Mimic-san and Kanon-san…”

“Are you trying to ask me whether I intended on sacrificing them all along? —Come on, there’s no way. Please trust your superior a little.”

Haji Keigo spoke brazenly. His frivolous way of speaking also helped, but there was no doubt that even those close to him couldn’t tell the truth.

Why? Because he never trusted anyone other than himself.

The complete opposite of Miguruma who was filled with love, he was cool-headed and cold-hearted as he accomplished his goals—

This was Miguruma’s evaluation of the man called Haji Keigo.

“Superior? I’m glad you seem to be feeling well, but I have no memory of approving your return.”

“Can’t I?”

“I shall allow it now.”

Miguruma grinned and Haji Keigo wore a faint smile.

Their gazes crossed.

“Haji Keigo. I will acknowledge your reinstitution into the position of East Central Branch Head.”

“Thank you very much, Vice-Deputy Miguruma.”

The two tacticians confronted head-on.

It was then that the voices of the intelligence division cut in.

“Incoming report! While being transported to GARDEN, Kakkou has vanished!”

Twitch.

Miguruma and Haji both frowned at the same time.

“This report has arrived belatedly due to our focus on transmissions from the three operations!”

“…I see.”

Hearing the name Kakkou, she thought this was Haji’s doing as well.

However, judging from his response, that was apparently wrong. The same went for him; he came to know that this wasn’t Miguruma’s scheme after seeing her response.

Haji shrugged.

“It appears that people other than us have made their moves as well.”

“Apparently.”

“Now then—as all actors are now gathered, let us start this again.”

“Start what, exactly?”

Miguruma tilted her head, but she actually knew the answer.

Since this man appeared—this man who could tell much, much nastier lies than the likes of Kanon—there was no doubt he began moving toward putting an end to the fight between Mushitsuki.

He could be said to be the complete opposite to Miguruma, who wanted to be able to love Mushitsuki for eternity.

“You have said this yourself. This is—the fight between the old and new age of Mushitsuki.”

Haji Keigo wore a cynical smile.

Unlike his tone of voice, his gaze—

“I will bet on no more new Mushitsuki being born.”

His sharp eyes declared war on Miguruma Yaeko.

Epilogue: A Strange Dream

Ebina Yuu felt very comfortable, as though she was dreaming.

A dream, meaning one she saw while hypnotized.

As Yuu was currently being hypnotized by Satou Youko’s suggestion, that scene appeared to be ephemeral and vague.

Five Rank 1s assembled in order to face the sudden threat of the Super Class called C.

They were supposed to become the strongest allies of all.

Also—Yuu wished she could meet with the Rank 1s other than Shiika and Kakkou. Although she met the both of them for so short of a time, they deeply affected her heart. She was sure that the other three were also such people she couldn’t even imagine.

“My, what a pity…”

She could see Oogui floating in the far sky, sneering.

“If you ever recall your dream again, please do call me, Yuu-chan…”

Leaving these words behind, she spun around and vanished into the sky.

She was probably lured by another dream somewhere. She hadn’t even glanced at Kakkou and Chiharu who were on the surface.

She was loyal to her appetite first and foremost.

She was the kind of disaster that based its actions on that alone, and left Yuu now.

Yuu felt relieved and decided to sleep for a while.

She was looking forward to when she woke up next.

The frightening Oogui was gone, and she wanted to see the five Rank 1s gather.

“Daisuke…”

Engulfed by relief, Yuu’s eyes had the figure of Kakkou hugged hard by Chiharu burned into them.

She closed her eyes.

This was the dream she saw while falling asleep—

A mere illusion.

In her dream the five Rank 1s stood together, shoulder to shoulder.

Kakkou and Shiika as well as three others she didn’t know.

Their gallant forms were reliable and engulfed Yuu in relief.

With this, the fight of Mushitsuki would finally end—

Inside the dream, she was convinced of this.

Turning their back to one another, the five Mushitsuki—each started walking to another direction.

Afterword

Hello, this is Iwai Kyouhei.

Unlike the previous volume that gave the spotlight to the secondary characters, this time it was a story from the POV of the heroine.

A leader’s expectations, sense of duty, responsibility, ideals and ego. Would you say it’s best to have balance between all these components? Personally I’m not sure of this. While I’ve been depicting only leaders who specialized in those components in this present series, in this volume you have seen a leader closer to the middle path. I hope you’ve enjoyed watching her.

This series is also approaching the climax, and all that remains to be seen is the final chapter.

This is also thanks to all the related parties supporting me, and above all else to the readers who kept watching over me. I would like to exert my very best efforts to answer your expectations and repay my debt to you.

My other series, Saihate no Kyuuseishuu, is also currently serialized. If you feel interested, I will be glad if you checked it out as well.

Now then, let us meet again in the continuation of the dream and its end.

Iwai Kyouhei

Notes

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