Mushi Uta:Volume 8th Episode 30

Episode 30. The Slumber of Unforgettable Dreams

What are Mushitsuki?

Hanashiro Mari, who spent lonely days in her sickbed, always thought of it.

I want to live—

Since the grim reaper known as illness was at her side at all times, it was inevitable for her to have this dream.

She harbored a dream and became a Mushitsuki.

The one who turned her into a Mushitsuki was the being called Sanbikime.

It had a human form and spoke to Mari about what the things called Mushi were.

Mushi.

Those who possessed adolescent boys and girls and feasted on their dreams and hopes.

Those who made dreaming people into Mushitsuki were called the Original Three. Other than Sanbikime, who turned Mari into a Mushitsuki, there were the beings called Oogui and Shinpu.

For Mari, becoming a Mushitsuki wasn’t misfortunate.

In fact, it was very fortunate. By becoming a Mushitsuki, Mari had become able to freely run through the world outside the hospital, and perhaps her lifespan had been extended as well. The young man who was Sanbikime felt guilty about turning her into a Mushitsuki, but she didn’t begrudge him.

If she had any grudge—it was for her own fate.

Mari wanted to live, and yet the time left for her body was exceedingly short.

“Hello!”

As Mari despaired, a single girl arrived to her.

Ichinokuro Arisu.

Unlike Mari herself, who had begrudged this unreasonable world and already committed countless crimes, Arisu was pure and dazzling. She got in contact with her not out of sympathy but as a friend, so it didn’t take long for her to become an irreplaceable existence.

She believed that Arisu also regarded her as a best friend.

Between these two, things like Mushi and Mushitsuki were meaningless. Because she thought so, Mari never told anything about it to Arisu.

If Mushi changed Mari’s world—

Arisu changed Mari herself.

She wasn’t a lonely sick person, nor was she the cruel Mushitsuki called Hunter.

She became a commonplace, completely normal girl—the kind that Mari never stopped admiring.

However, even so.

She could never give up only on her wish to keep living, no matter what.

Would Arisu hate Mari for concealing she was a Mushitsuki?

Would Arisu begrudge Mari for deciding by herself to leave the continuation of her dream to her?

If Mari became Ichinokuro Arisu, she’d become able to gain a new life.

However, the only person who knew that “Hanashiro Mari” had existed was her friend Arisu. If she buried Arisu’s personality, the existence of Hanashiro Mari would vanish.

A new life or a proof that she lived as Hanashiro Mari inside a single girl.

These two competing wishes kept shaking inside Mari even after her death—

So Hanashiro Mari thought.

Part 1

Light rained above the midnight coastline.

One after another, the stars in the full sky drew lines of light as they fell to the surface.

The Perseid meteor shower.

In this night of falling stars, a girl’s voice echoed as though singing.

“Mari—”

Standing on the sandy beach with her two legs, Ichinokuro Arisu looked up at the sky. Grasping her rod shining in silver in both hands, the upper half of her body was covered by a pattern emitting silver light.

Arisu’s lips moved on their own, speaking in a different person’s voice.

“Arisu—”

Borrowing the body of her best friend, the girl who clung to her while supposedly having lost her life once—Hanashiro Mari.

Glowing wings flapped from the tip of the spear held by the one body with two personalities inside of it. These twisted, sharpened and became a spearhead spreading silver scales.

“Let’s check our answers—”

Arisu and Mari’s voices overlapped. Her trademark ponytail floated in air, and the blowing scales whipped off the sand on the coast.

Next to Arisu who readied her Morpho butterfly-transformed-spear were her reliable comrades.

The strongest Mushitsuki of the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau, Kakkou, aka Kusuriya Daisuke. Arisu’s partner who was stronger than anyone was clad in a dark coat, holding a large automatic pistol, and stayed at her side even now.

Wearing a bold smile and hugging his knees atop the sand was the flame devil, Harukiyo. Next to him also waited a girl hugging a thick book to her chest—the Librarian.

Kasuou, the girl of elegant facial features filled with fighting spirits was also there. The bat-winged girl who underwent her training for the sake of love, Isa Himeko, was also there. A self-proclaimed fortuneteller with the ability of past viewing, Kurisaka Ayuyu, was there as well.

The veteran combatant who controlled explosions, Aki. Arisu didn’t know his real name. He was leading some several dozen Minion-Type Mushitsuki.

Also—

“Arisu…!”

“Arisu-san—”

Wailing and nearly crying at the road near the coast were Saionji Ena and Kujou Takako.

These two were Arisu’s important friends who went to Horusu Seijou Academy middle school just like her. For their last summer vacation of middle school, they came to a place that had recreation facilities and an observatory in order to watch the meteor shower.

These two were not Mushitsuki.

Although they were being protected by the Mushitsuki and musician Yomori Neiko, they were completely unable to understand what was happening and were apparently confused.

The silver pattern on Arisu’s body encroached her right half as well.

“Now, Arisu—”

Her mouth opening on its own, Mari’s voice spoke.

“Tell me your answer.”

She looked up at the sky of falling stars.

More than a hundred Mushitsuki also looked at the same thing.

“Will you reject me? Or perhaps—”

Floating in the sky was a beauty in a crimson coat.

No—

Appearing there drawn by Saionji Ena’s dream was an inhuman, supernatural appearance.

One of those who ate boys’ and girls’ dreams to birth Mushi, the Original Three.

A monster in the shape of a woman with a gigantic swallowtail butterfly hiding the meteor shower at her back.

Arisu and the others called it—Oogui.

“Will you accept me and show me the continuation of my dream?”

“Will you tell me about it as well?”

Moving her lips that were red as if by a lipstick, Oogui whispered at her ears.

“I am interested. —How will you respond to the Morpho butterfly’s ghost?”

Oogui’s hair floated as if fanned by the wind. Her long limbs were raised toward the water horizon.

The scales pouring from the gigantic swallowtail butterfly hanging in the night sky whirled around Oogui’s fingertips. Starting with that, another gust of scales and another were created, slowly increasing in numbers.

The starry sky was covered in glowing whirlpools.

“After all, Ms. Ghost—you have no reason to fight against me, right?”

The coastline was wrapped in countless howls.

Whirls created by Oogui burst, transforming into Mushi with blurry outlines.

It wasn’t just around Oogui. The number of Mushi created in the entire night sky—was probably in the hundreds. These troops of purple Mushi that varied in shape and size filled the coastline to the brim.

“…!”

Arisu gritted her molars. Her arm gripping the spear unconsciously put more power in it.

She knew it.

Even if she brought a hundred allies, it was impossible to be at an advantage against Oogui.

That was because Oogui’s ability was—

“Why—is there the same Mushi as mine?!”

Raising a voice of astonishment was Aki.

He was a Minion Type Mushitsuki and could control lapis lazuli leaf beetles with an explosion ability. A purple-colored Mushi with the exact same shape was floating in air.

“Hehe…”

Protected by her own created army, Oogui narrowed her rainbow eyes.

“It’s not just my Mushi… Why are there so many Mushi I know here—”

Daisuke opened his mouth next.

“She can control copies of the Minion Type Mushi she created. —That is Oogui’s ability.”

“What—did you just say…?”

The agitation and shock included in Aki’s voice soon spread to his comrades. Most of them were Minion Type Mushitsuki—meaning, those made into Mushitsuki by Oogui.

Oogui could control all the abilities of those she turned Mushitsuki—

Arisu knew that, having had fought Oogui before.

Just like Daisuke and Kasuou, Harukiyo and the Librarian also had no reaction to that, so perhaps they also knew. Neiko, Ayuyu, Himeko and the rest looked surprised, but these Special Type Mushitsuki’s fighting spirits did not dampen.

However—

It caused a great deal of unrest among Aki and his comrades. Their commander Aki himself froze in place, and their unity was lost in front of the overwhelming difference in power.

Arisu bit her lips hard.

If this was the real leader of Aki’s group, Rina, who one of the strongest Mushitsuki, she was convinced she’d stand up even against that cruel reality.

It was a happy mistake that Aki and his comrades came there in place of Rina. However, at the same time it created a huge risk. The more people were there, the more chances chaos would spread among them.

“You guys! Calm do—”

Arisu tried raising her voice before it became a full-blown panic—

“—Arisu!”

The pattern on her face encroached the right half of her body.

Arisu’s consciousness was pulled away and Mari’s personality robbed her body.

Arisu—became Mari.

“Will you tell me your answer?”

Mari asked, using Arisu’s mouth.

“Tell me, quickly—”

She knew that Arisu couldn’t let her friend Ena become a Mushitsuki to protect her.

However, this meant—

It probably meant Arisu was rejecting the very existence of Mushitsuki, wasn’t she?

So did Arisu think even of Mari, another Mushitsuki, as something that shouldn’t exist?

“—Mari!”

The silver pattern receded toward the left side.

“I know that. But—”

Mari’s consciousness distanced itself—and Arisu’s personality came back to the body.

“Let’s start from your answer, Mari.”

The silver pattern transformed by the Morpho butterfly fought to steal Arisu’s body.

“My answer first…?”

“Yes, exactly. What do you want to do now, Mari?”

“T-that—”

“I’ve asked many people about you until now, Mari. There were many people who spoke about you as the scary Hunter, and some people said that you left me the Morpho butterfly to steal my body. Some even doubted you existed. Only Daisuke hadn’t decided anything, and was always watching over me, but to be honest—”

Arisu smiled.

“I always—wanted to talk with you like this. Even though we promised to meet tomorrow, you—”

—See you tomorrow.

The next day after this promise, Mari left this world due to her illness.

More than a year passed since then—

And Arisu was finally able to be reunited with her friend.

“Thank you, Mari. For keeping your promise. —I feel like I finally met you.”

“…!”

“So I wanted to hear this directly from your mouth. —I can believe your words.”

“Y-you’re planning to pick your answer after hearing mine!”

“I won’t do that, picking my answer after hearing yours.”

Arisu spoke calmly.

No, she didn’t even know if she was speaking with any voice.

Arisu and Mari’s conversation was passed between the two of them. In a world where only they existed and no one was able to interrupt them, the two girls faced each other, entwining their fingertips—

“I won’t… do that.”

Arisu repeated.

“—”

Mari couldn’t reply.

Arisu wasn’t the kind of person to wait for her opponent’s move in the game of rock paper scissors. Her best friend Mari knew that better than anyone.

“I—my answer—”

Mari’s voice distanced.

Arisu slowly opened her eyes. Apparently, she’d closed them at some point.

“I’m waiting… Mari.”

Mari was apparently undecided.

Mumbling whenever she tried saying something was Mari’s habit. At such times, Arisu would always wait for her friend to open her mouth.

Therefore, Arisu waited.

She slowly waited for her friend to bring out her answer. Just like she did in the past.

Because it was a tacit promise that they decided between the two of them—

“—Remember, you guys!”

Arisu opened her mouth wide, wringing out her voice.

“What painful memories you’ve had so far!”

Her clear voice echoed through the coast turned battlefield.

“How much you were hurt so far!”

All Mushitsuki including Daisuke turned to look at Arisu.

“All Mushitsuki are fighting, right? Because of that they feel pain and hurt others to protect themselves—they see their fellow Mushitsuki collapse, right? All while thinking that they may be next! It’s always like ever since you became Mushitsuki, right?”

Stabbing her spear glowing in silver into the sandy beach, she looked up the night sky.

“I’m not a Mushitsuki!”

Being protected by the swarm of purple Mushi, Oogui looked at the mortal world below her, sneering.

“Therefore, to be honest—I don’t want to fight.”

Her comrade Mushitsuki all made a stir.

“I mean, it’s really scary! I really want to run away right now! I don’t want to feel any pain and I don’t want to die! That’s obvious!”

This was her truest opinion.

If Arisu was there alone, she would’ve run away long ago.

“But all of you are actually the same, right? You’re scared, you want to run away, you don’t want to hurt and be hurt, but you convinced yourself to do it because you’re Mushitsuki, right? Nothing different from me when I’m not one, right?”

Arisu shouted herself hoarse.

“None of us want to fight! —We want to win!”

She glared at Oogui.

“We’re scared, we want to run away, we don’t want to hurt one another—but there is something we want! Something we want to grant!”

She raised her spear toward Oogui.

“Oogui’s strong and scary! I don’t know what’s going to happen even if we do manage to beat her—but we’ll still win! We’ll keep winning! If we do that, we’ll definitely get what we wish for.”

Arisu’s shout echoed throughout the coast.

“The dream we all want to come true is definitely—waiting for us beyond this fight we won’t escape from.”

The agitation vanished from all Mushitsuki on the beach.

However, they still didn’t put their legs forward.

The first step to participate in the battle.

The person fit for that role was right next to Arisu. She smiled at him.

“Right?”

The boy clad in a pitch-black coat, Kusuriya Daisuke, was silent.

However, just like always—he silently took a step ahead.

His reliable back, that saved her many times, became the frontline of Mushitsuki.

“Are there any people who called me a demon here?”

His low voice made all the Mushitsuki there go deathly silent.

“Someone scared of me? Someone with a grudge? Someone who hates me?”

The demon of the SEPB, Kakkou.

As he defeated more Mushitsuki and created more Fallen than anyone else, there was no one there who wouldn’t be scared of him. The silence enveloping the beach proved that.

“—That’s fine.”

The green pattern on Daisuke’s body emitted a bright glow.

“Just for today, I’ll fight with you.”

Looking up at Oogui, Daisuke asserted.

“Those of you who can imagine me dying here, you’re free to go.”

Until now he only fought with these Mushitsuki and they hated one another.

Although they would never agree with one another, now all their expressions were as one.

They were called by the Arisu, the girl who wasn’t a Mushitsuki, and the most feared Mushitsuki of all stood at the front.

Escaping this place—not even a single person tried to do so.

“Kasuou! Himeko! Aki! You know this, right? You all need to beat a hundred at the very least!”

“As if a hundred’d be enough for me!”

“Yes!”

Kasuou and Himeko responded bravely to Daisuke’s voice.

“Can we really defeat Oogui…? And if we do—what’s going to happen?”

Aki mumbled next to Arisu.

“I don’t know. But, at the very least—”

Arisu smiled.

“Starting tomorrow, no more Mushitsuki would be created. —At the very least, Minion Type Mushitsuki.”

“Yeah… that’s right.”

Aki smiled. That looked like a really happy smile.

“You were always so amazing.”

“Eh?”

“Hunter and Kakkou, and Rina and—”

The boy turned to look at Harukiyo, but the latter waved his arm, looking bored. The flame devil still didn’t seem likely to move.

“You’ve gathered so many powerful Mushitsuki here. When we first met, I only thought of you as someone misfortunate who was being possessed by Hunter’s ghost.”

“…”

Arisu neither affirmed nor denied Aki’s words.

Although she wasn’t a Mushitsuki, she used the power of Mushitsuki—

What could someone like her do?

What had she done?

She would now bring out the answer.

“Let’s go!”

Daisuke turned his muzzle toward Oogui.

The Mushitsuki all raised war cries.

“So you really are going to stand in my way?”

Oogui sneered.

Ena and Takako were stuck standing at the side of the road.

Arisu also readied her spear—

“—Arisu.”

The pattern appearing on Arisu’s body began encroaching her rapidly.

Arisu widened her eyes.

“Ma—ri—”

“I found—my answer.”

The silver pattern began dyeing Arisu’s body in the blink of an eye.

Inside Arisu’s vision, as her consciousness was being rapidly taken away—

The sound of Daisuke’s gun firing served as the signal to start the final battle.

Part 2

“—Are you reading that storybook again?”

On top of the bed in the sickroom that no one visited, Mari closed the storybook. Its title was The Magic Potion.

Raising her face, she saw Sensei was there. He was still young and wore a white coat, but rather than looking dignified, it made him look more innocent. After all, he wasn’t a doctor at the time but only an intern.

“…”

Before meeting Arisu, Mari felt sick with loneliness more than her actual illness.

She always stared outside the window expressionlessly. Mari didn’t know how to smile, how to be surprised at the scenery that never changed day from day.

Sensei too silently switched the water in the vase. Her main doctor was different, but as Mari was his first patient, he came to meet her, weaving the time between the busy times of his internship.

According to what Mari thought, Sensei didn’t fit the job of a doctor.

He was too kind.

He inserted too much feelings into his first patient Mari, and because of that he kept feeling guilt for what he’d done to her. —She couldn’t begrudge him as he forced himself to make this choice. That was the kind of man he was.

“A cherry blossom sapling is better, you say? No no, it ‘taking root’ in a flowerpot is a bad omen. You really are ignorant at certain things, Aria.”

Sensei mumbled to no one. As Mari turned to him, he held his mouth with a start.

“Oops, I spoke aloud again. This thing makes me look crazy to my peers. It really is a bother, geez.”

“Is Aria Varei still inside you, Sensei?”

Sensei was a normal intern. He was born, went through school, and finished medicine school. He had a family register and even a family.

At the same time, he was also—Sanbikime, one of the Original Three.

An inhuman being. A Prototype Mushi, a monster that created Fusion Type Mushitsuki.

He told Mari about it.

He said that Aria Varei was the Prototype Mushi called Sanbikime’s real name.

“Since he made me a Mushitsuki, isn’t he supposed to vanish?”

“That Aria. Such a liar.”

Other than Sensei being too kind, if anything changed in him at all, it was his somewhat otherworldly way of speaking.

More precisely, he himself wasn’t Sanbikime.

Sanbikime was a separate being that was residing inside him.

“’This irregularity’s the first time for me! I told you this already!’ —Is what Aria says.”

Sensei spoke to Mari. He apparently quoted the being living within him.

“…”

Being the first one seen by a monster and being made its receptable. Sensei was about as misfortunate as Mari—no, perhaps even more than her.

Even so, he was smiling calmly.

“When Sanbikime turns someone into a Mushitsuki, he separates from the host and goes to sleep until finding a different vessel.”

So Sensei said. Mari then took over.

“Then, the original vessel—loses their memories regarding those they turned Mushitsuki…”

“Both of us were hoodwinked. By this guy inside me, a crook that looks just like me.”

Sensei tapped his own chest with his fingers, laughing.

Sanbikime, Aria Varei, had no personality. Therefore, every time he was in someone, he would copy that person’s personality and communicate with the host.

Completely unlike the other Original Three that were Oogui and Shinpu, it was a troublesome system—apparently, this was what Aria had said.

“Wow, Aria’s greatly opposed to that. I can hear you even if I block my ears, so stop it.”

“So it’s irregular… because I was sick?”

“Aria thinks so. The moment someone becomes a Fusion-Type Mushitsuki, their body is remade. Therefore, he thinks that if someone’s body was abnormal from the get go and they become a Mushitsuki, it’d give birth to some sort of error. —Since you were reborn anyway, I wish your disease healed as well.”

His tone was half-joking, but she could clearly see the vestiges of guilt in Sensei’s profile.

—I’m sorry. What a horrible thing I’ve done to you…!

The young man had crumbled down crying only once in front of Mari as she became a Mushitsuki.

“I can’t ask for too much. If I hadn’t become a Mushitsuki, my heart would’ve stop when they tried to resuscitate me back then.”

“…”

“You’re not telling me that it was better for me to die back then rather than become Mushitsuki—right?”

“I can’t say anything anymore.”

The young man smiled.

“You can just decide yourself one day. Whether to forgive me—or punish me.”

He was already long resolved—

So was his way of speaking.

“The power of Aria inside me greatly weakened. Will he vanish or will he use his remaining power to create another Mushitsuki? If you want revenge, you should probably do it soon.”

Leaving the vase behind, the man spoke as if it was a joke.

“And Aria would lose easily to you. Not just Aria. Dio as well, obviously, but you might even be able to win against El.”

Shinpu and Oogui.

At the time Mari had no interest in the other Original Three. That was also before the young man had inadvertently let slip about the Undying Mushitsuki.

Right, that time.

Mari thought of it.

“—I’m jealous.”

“What?”

“Aria chose the Angel’s Potion.”

Changing forms.

Passing time.

Sanbikime would keep living forever.

For Mari, who was bound by an incurable disease, it really was the ideal.

“—I wonder if I could, too.”

Mari would never forget what expression Sensei had worn at the time.

He looked unbelievably stunned.

And more than that—he looked really sad.

“Is this Morpho butterfly my dream given shape? —It’s another me, right?”

As Mari reached with her hand, a Morpho butterfly came flying out of nowhere, glowing in silver.

“If so, then if I will leave everything to this Morpho butterfly—if I abandon this body, can’t I keep living inside someone? Yes, just like Aria.”

According to Aria, Mari was special among Mushitsuki. If she brought out her full powers, none would be able to stand up to her.

Since she was like that, then maybe, just maybe—

“This might be one method. If possible, you can try it. —But you know, living inside someone isn’t something like that, Mari.”

What was the difference?

Mari couldn’t understand the youth’s words.

“Remember this, Mari.”

That was around the time Mari just became a Mushitsuki.

After that, Mari came to know of the being called the Undying Mushitsuki—and with feelings close to envy, she spent her days looking for them.

“You’re going to suffer from now on, but please don’t lose sight of what’s really important.”

As she kept hunting Mushitsuki lying in Akamaki City, she became feared as Hunter.

“Aria was simply reborn like this, and doesn’t exist anymore. But you’re different. You’re living right here.”

And—she met with Ichinokuro Arisu.

The one and only friend to remember that the girl Hanashiro Mari had lived.

“You’re not like Aria. You’re not a being that doesn’t exist anywhere, nor anyone’s copy. The person called Hanashiro Mari is alive right here.”

Sensei spoke in an unusually powerful tone of voice.

“Keep being yourself and live.”

He was probably gone.

By now he was gone somewhere—he probably, just like he said, forgot about Mari and went to live a different life.

And Aria, just like he’d been programmed to, would gain a different personality and yield himself to his fate. Or perhaps he’d long since lost his powers and got erased.

After this, Mari had been thrown into the perfect solitude known as death.

“I… want to live—”

In her right hand was the Angel’s Potion.

In her left hand was the Devil’s Potion.

Holding both Potions in hand, Mari—

That day, she’d yet to understand the meaning of the words Sensei told her.

Therefore—

“Even if I become Arisu—”

Mari finally decided on the option that would allow her to regain a flesh-and-blood body.

Part 3

Spreading roars, the gun fused with the checkered beetle spit fire.

The recoil made sand leap from Daisuke’s feet, and the surface of the water’s edge was blown away in a circle.

“You sure haven’t learned your lesson, Daisuke-chan.”

The sneering Oogui’s round sunglasses reflected the lights of the night sky.

Forces of more than a hundred purple Mushi were hit by the unilateral firing of Daisuke’s launched bullets. Fire and lightning, all kinds of special abilities, were counterattacked by Daisuke’s gun and scattered.

However, in that time, Daisuke’s form vanished from the surface. His entire body glowing in a green pattern, the boy leapt, and while crushing the Mushi that blocked his way using his fist, he moved by leaping from Mushi to Mushi.

“—WOOOOOOOOH!”

Daisuke howled. Finally closing in on Oogui, Daisuke swung down his green-glowing fist toward her.

However, the moment before he hit, the purple Mushi jumped between them.

Along with an impact like the hit of a meteor, Daisuke’s fist blew the countless Mushi to smithereens.

“—Tch.”

Daisuke’s attack against Oogui was blocked just a step before hitting and he landed back on the beach.

“Hehe… I will fight all of you boys and girls after I have my dinner.”

Oogui’s rainbow pupils scanned the surface. Her eyes were settled on—

“—”

Saionji Ena. The girl who was being protected by Neiko along with Kujou Takako, now shook.

Oogui’s goal was to eat Ena’s dream. If she managed that Ena would become a Mushitsuki and Oogui would leave. That would mean the complete failure of those gathered here to protect Ena and to defeat Oogui.

The large crowds of Mushi filling the night sky began falling toward Ena.

“Don’t you fucking look down on me, you stupid insects!”

A large earthquake shook the beach.

Sand was blown away and the sea surface was evaporated. And—the purple Mushi were all instantly torn without any remains.

“No matter who comes near the great Kasuou, be they friend or foe, they’re getting themselves a new asshole ripped!”

The blond girl clad in a white long coat, Kasuou, howled. The black mist covering the girl with her sparkling blue eyes produced countless claws, knocking off the pursuing Mushi one after another.

“Mitake… Anneliese-san?”

Next to Ena, Takako raised a voice of astonishment. She probably thought that Kasuou, who’d infiltrated Horusu Seijou Academy as a monitor, was just a normal classmate.

“I fucking hate it that I’m suited for defense, but I’ll hold back just for today.”

Kasuou smiled elegantly at Ena and Takako.

“I don’t wanna admit this, but my ability’s much stronger when I devote myself to guard! I won’t let them touch even a single hair of yours! —ORAAAA!”

The flashing of the claws repeated alongside these war cries erased the purple Mushi. Further fulfilling their role to form a protective wall against the surroundings, they blocked the invasion of the pressing Mushi.

“Leave support to me! I’ll lower the number of enemieees!”

The bat-wings girl, Isa Himeko, shouted. She raised her index finger, thumb and little finger on her right hand, then held it aloft it as if she was a baseball player. A green-colored mist burst from her legs like a geyser. The spiraling mist became a green millipede.

“Yaaa!”

Himeko swung her right hand.

The intangible millipede ran through air, splitting its body midair. The many dozens of small millipedes struck the enemy Mushi like a shotgun.

The Mushi produced by Oogui raised a scream-like howl. Mushi captured by the millipedes lost their control and began attacking their comrades.

“Yaaa! Yaaa! Yaaa!”

Every time Himeko swung her right hand and then her left hand, many millipedes were shot into the air. Chaos sprouted between Oogui’s produced Mushi.

Even more attacks pursued the Mushi troops that had their advance blocked.

The small shadows falling down along with the meteor showers all exploded at once. The rain of explosive attacks dispersed the Mushi one after another.

“Now! Attack!”

It was Aki. Obeying the orders of the boy controlling lapis lazuli leaf beetles with explosion abilities, his comrade Mushitsuki began the counterattack. They started fighting against the Mushi created by Oogui’s scales, whether on the surface or midair.

“Nene! Leave Ena and Takako to Kasuou and start treating the wounded!”

“I know…”

Neiko who was next to Ena and Takako nodded at Daisuke’s command.

“Kororo! —You understand, right?”

Kurisaka Ayuyu, the girl with the star sticker on her cheek, smiled while thrusting out both hands ahead. She had covered the entirety of the coast with a dome-shaped liquid membrane in order to not let Oogui escape.

Daisuke nodded and turned his gaze.

“Arisu!”

Kasuou and Himeko, Ayuyu, Neiko, Ena Takako, Aki and his comrades, as well as Harukiyo and Librarian—all people on the beach looked at her.

However, she was unmoving.

The girl they’d been waiting for—Ichinokuro Arisu—was not there.

“…”

It was Hanashiro Mari there.

Mari, body fully clad in a silver pattern, stood like a statue while holding her spear, unmoving.

All of the people there didn’t know the existence called Mari.

There was only one girl who knew Mari in the truest sense of the word.

Therefore—

“I’m…”

Arisu.

Thinking about it, everyone there believed she was Ichinokuro Arisu.

The being called Hanashiro Mari was gone, she was able to escape the fear of death—

Mari could declare herself to be Arisu now, burying the personality of this body’s owner.

That was the answer Mari chose.

The sole method that would allow her to escape the fate of death and grant her dream to keep living—

“—No.”

Daisuke moved his eyes back to Oogui.

“Looks like you’re still Mari.”

Mari widened her eyes.

“How did you—”

“Arisu said she’d answer after you. So use your mouth to clearly say the answer.”

Daisuke asserted, readying his gun.

“I’ll hold out until your finish your answer comparison or whatever.”

Gunfire roared, and the blazing bullet erased several Mushi.

“Bastard, how dare you try to become Arisu and fool us right now!”

Mari turned back, her shoulders twitching.

“Hanashiro Mari!”

While shooting down Oogui’s Mushi assaulting, Kasuou shouted.

Mari became speechless.

“Hanashiro Mari-san…!”

Neiko, who used her ability to heal the wounded, raised her face. She looked straight at Mari’s face.

“Kakkun stands little chance to finish everything if he’s fighting alone. What will you do, Hanashiro Mari-san? *grins*”

“Don’t worry, Mari-san, until you find your answer I’ll keep fighting and fighting, taking care of at least some of the enemieees!”

“Hunter!”

Everyone who flung themselves into this mortal combat called Mari’s name.

They shouldn’t have known about her.

Nobody should have known about her existence, and yet—

“You have made so many friends, Ms. Ghost.”

Even Oogui looked down at Mari with a calm sneer.

“Hanashiro… Mari?”

“Are you the person Arisu-san told us about? Her friend?”

Even Ena and Takako called her name.

Mari’s heart throbbed.

When she was alive, this violent heartbeat was a sign for an incoming seizure. Along with her heartbeat quickening, the fear she supposedly threw away in the past was revived.

Right, fear.

Right now, Mari couldn’t understand the events around her—

“Why—”

Even as Daisuke tried facing Oogui again, he was repelled by all the Mushi cutting in. Although shedding blood from his head, he landed and stood on the beach as if nothing happened.

Kasuou who was protecting Ena and Takako leaked groans. Her mist was being shaved little by little by overwhelming long-range attacks.

“Why…!”

Himeko, who focused her whole power on attacking, was desperate in dodging the attacks of Mushi running on the beach. She’d already last one bat wing and counterattacked with her millipedes while her arms and legs were covered in lacerations.

Ayuyu, Neiko, and Aki were involved also in bitter fight. Other Mushitsuki comrades were also injured and being healed by Neiko.

“Why are you all calling my name…!”

In this battlefield full of screams of rage and Mushi howls, Mari’s shout echoed.

However, no one turned to look at her.

They all faced Oogui, their faces full of belief.

“Why are you all… calling my name now!”

They were all called there by Arisu.

They were supposed to be there for Arisu.

Therefore—Mari would become Arisu.

Now that she tried to bring out that answer, they all believed in Mari’s existence and called her name.

“I’m…!”

Ichinokuro Arisu!

She wanted to shout this, but no words came out.

If she became Arisu, she could keep living with them.

Forever.

Without suffering from illness.

Just like Arisu did—she could live while surrounded by many people and laughter.

“I’m—”

However, if she did that—what about “Hanashiro Mari”?

She would lose her witness, Arisu, and not even one person who knew Mari when she was alive would remain.

No one came.

No one knew her.

In the prison known as loneliness, she recalled her own form living there forever and shuddered.

“I—am—”

She should have been fine with that.

After all, Mari was lonely in the first place.

Even if such a lonely girl disappeared, no one would notice.

Therefore, Mari thought she could easily throw away that name—

“Hey, Hanashiro Mari.”

Among the echoing sounds of destruction, a low voice that almost seemed to be too conspicuous clearly called Mari’s name.

“Ya really think you can just take it back at this point?”

It was Harukiyo.

“Don’t you go and fuckin’ avert your eyes.”

The man with a flame tattooed on his check apparently still had no intention to move. The Mushi that were trying to attack him were being burnt to a crisp by an invisible heat wave.

“You’re the one who’s called ‘em. Everyone here, including me.”

Being gazed by these flaming pupils, Mari gulped.

“I won’t letcha deny it, alright? Ya can’t say it was Arisu, got it? —Hanashiro Mari! Your Morpho butterfly! Your dream that ya couldn’t throw away! All of them summoned us here! Everything happening here is just a bonus on top of that! Don’t you fuckin’ try to take advantage of the chaos to pose as Arisu!”

Harukiyo’s rage became a flaming wind and was blown at Mari. The gale hot enough to scorch her skin raised her ponytail.

“—”

Mari became speechless and stood there paralyzed. She looked up at the battle unfolding underneath the night sky full of falling stars.

This was.

The battle that might decide the fate of the beings called Mushi, involving so many Mushitsuki.

A decisive battle that might turn the world into one where no Mushi were born anymore.

Was this a mere prolongation of Mari wishing for the continuation of her dream?

“Or are you right now the result of your answer?”

The flame devil slowly rose up. With just this movement, the Mushi surrounding him were all burned away at once.

“If so—then name yourself.”

Mari gulped.

“If you’re ‘Ichinokuro Arisu’ who reached her answer, name yourself to all of us.”

The girl who finished her life in the jail-like sickroom, Hanashiro Mari.

The lonely girl who’d remain in no one’s memories, Hanashiro Mari.

She shouldn’t have felt any regret about that lonely name.

Even so—

“—”

She was speechless as though her throat was clogged.

Daisuke averted his gaze from the silenced Mari. The lights of his goggles drew an afterimage in the air as he looked up at Oogui floating in the sky.

“—WOOOOOOH!”

The pitch-black long coat leapt high into the air.

Leaping on top of the flying Mushi, Daisuke charged directly toward Oogui. His face and arms were dyed in blood. If he drew back even once, he would be unable to stop the momentum of the purple Mushi. Since he knew that, he hadn’t received Neiko’s healing even once.

“I’m gonna support Kakkou-san!”

Himeko gave up on defense. Even while getting her shoulders cut by the assaulting enemies, she unleashed her millepedes, impeding the Mushi that stood in the way of Daisuke’s charge.

“Go, Kakkou!”

Aki’s explosions annihilated the Mushi trying to attack Kakkou. His comrades also erased the enemies standing in Daisuke’s path.

The distance between Daisuke and Oogui shortened in the blink of an eye.

This time, he would reach Oogui—

Everyone thought so.

“Hehe…”

However, all purple Mushi vanished from around the bewitchingly laughing Oogui at once.

“Wha…?”

Agitation spread to all Mushitsuki on the surface.

The Mushi born by Oogui vanished one after another as if with a receding wave—

“Have you forgotten already, Daisuke-chan? I have punished you once, have I not?”

The purple Mushi all vanished without a trace.

Purple scales bundled in front of Oogui. These coagulated and formed a single, giant Mushi.

That Mushi, with its body shaped like half a dome that sported seven spots—

Aki leaked a hoarse voice.

“T-that Mushi’s—Rina’s—”

The giant seven-spotted ladybug formed by Oogui with great momentum unfolded its winds.

Bzzt—with that shrill sound, the air of the coast was instantly compressed.

Daisuke shouted.

“KORORO!”

“*grin* Understood!”

Ayuyu entwined her hands in front of her chest and made a gesture as though she was squishing something.

The water dome surrounding the entire coast narrowed down its scope. The water film compressed, becoming a cage to envelop Oogui and the seven-spotted ladybug.

“Heh—”

Oogui’s bewitching smile did not falter.

The seven-spotted ladybug flapped its gigantic wings.

Light burst.

An invisible shockwave blew away Ayuyu’s water film without leaving a trace.

All the parts of the ocean that could be seen exploded. Sand rose up, and a surge of overwhelming destruction assaulted everyone on the surface.

“Kh!”

Mari promptly spouted scales from her spear, cancelling the shockwave.

“Gwoh…!”

Kasuou swelled her own mist. She used a claw to pull Neiko close, protecting her along with Ena and Takako from the shockwave.

“—"

“Uh—”

Himeko and Ayuyu, to whom Kasuou’s claw couldn’t reach, were unable to do anything and were blown away. They were swallowed by the sand and tall waves and vanished.

“Gwah!”

Aki easily flew in air, pounded against the breakwater separating the beach and the road. His comrades also protected themselves in their own ways, but many were unable to defend against the shockwave and were blown away.

“Shit!”

Harukiyo too assumed a defensive position. Spouting crimson flames, he protected himself and the Librarian.

The shockwave pierced the coast only for a second.

The dirt and seawater thrown by the aftershock became a fierce rain on the beach.

Mushitsuki’s groans enveloped the coast—

“WOOOOOOOOOH!”

Daisuke’s howl echoed underneath the sky full of falling stars.

He probably received the full brunt of the seven-spotted ladybug. Daisuke, who readied his handgun while being upside down midair, was covered in wounds all over. His long coat was ripped and cracks ran along his goggles.

However—he managed to get within firing range of Oogui.

He never thought in the first place that Ayuyu’s ability would fully defend against the shockwave. His goal was to weaken it ever so slightly just enough for him to be able to counterattack.

A bombardment sound shook the coast.

Splitting the sea and grazing the seven-spotted ladybug, a bullet wrapped in hellfire hit Oogui squarely.

The upper torso of the woman clad in a crimson long coat exploded with a roar—and shattered.

“WOOOOH!”

Daisuke’s attack did not lose its momentum.

Further bullets pierced the remaining half body of Oogui. These punched through the remains landed into the ocean, raising huge water pillars.

Gunfire continued until Daisuke fell into the sea.

“—Hah! Hah!”

Unable to even assume a safe landing and crashing right near the breakwater, Daisuke stood up vigorously. With water dripping from his hair, he looked up the starry sky.

In front of his eyes.

In the space that several seconds ago had Oogui floating there—there was nothing now.

On the coast wrapped in silence, Oogui’s remains were falling toward the ocean.

Piercing through this silence was Kasuou’s cheer.

“—Fuck yeaaaaaaah!”

However, only Daisuke, Harukiyo and Mari were silent. They stared at the remains of Oogui that were falling into the sea.

“—That’s not good enough.”

Mari mumbled.

As if in reply to her voice—

Oogui’s body falling toward the ocean stopped in air.

“…!”

Daisuke grimaced. Oogui’s body swelled and something purple shot out from the sea surface just like the eruption of a volcano.

Creepily writhing and gathering in the night sky—were a swarm of Mushi, each about as large as a finger. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of those tardigrades covered in carapace clustered together and in the blink of an eye formed a human figure.

Hips, chest, both arms, neck and head—like a video played back, the tardigrades took the shape of a woman. Even regenerating the long hair and the round sunglasses took no more than a few seconds.

“—Have I not already taught you that it’s useless to disturb my mealtime?”

A tardigrade hanging from her index finger, Oogui smiled bewitchingly.

“So this—isn’t enough then.”

Daisuke groaned with a hoarse voice.

As long as the Undying Mushitsuki existed, Oogui could not be defeated—

While knowing that truth, Daisuke bet on this small hope. Kasuou and the rest who achieved victory once couldn’t hide their shock.

“Can we finish this now, please?”

Oogui moved in air as though swimming in the night sky, purple scales gathering in front of her again.

These scales slowly took the form of a seven-spotted ladybug—

“Kuh…!”

Daisuke looked around her.

Including him, his comrades that remained standing were very few. Ayuyu and Himeko both were unconscious, with half of their body buried in the sand.

If they received the seven-spotted ladybug’s attack in such a state—

Only the word “annihilation” came to mind. At that moment, a cool voice echoed.

“Alright then…”

Stepping ahead was the book-hugging Librarian.

The girl walked on the sand, her braid shaking. Harukiyo still gazed ahead without even seeing her off.

“It’s a waste to use your power on that. Can’t you give it a break?”

“Sorry, I already like their story. It would be a waste to not let it continue a little bit more. —Do you remember our promise?”

“I do things properly. I’ll protect your collection my whole life.”

“Good. Since I’m going to use my full powers for the first time in a while, I should get the world’s best storage.”

“…See ya, Librarian.”

The Librarian raised her book. Although there was no wind, the pages began turning.

“Nihi. If you were to participate as well it would even more interesting, Harukiyo.”

While the Librarian wore a twisted smile, Harukiyo was silent.

Behind the girl holding her back was something like a haze shimmer. A large object appeared in empty space. It was a divine door with the engraving of an angel and a devil.

Another identical door also appeared behind Oogui in air.

Both doors opened powerfully.

“Let me show you my Library Room, Oogui.”

An antique chair came flying from the door at the Librarian’s back. She sat on it.

Meanwhile, appearing from the door behind Oogui—was a large monster. This fanged giant that could appear in some fantasy film hugged Oogui with its thick arms.

“How about a reading session, just the two of us? —Nihi.”

Oogui did not resist. She narrowed her rainbow eyes, looking like she enjoyed it.

The Librarian was pulled by the chair and Oogui by the monster’s arm into the door.

As the pair’s forms vanished on the other side, even the door itself vanished completely.

“You can take this time to recover, to fix your positions, whatever you want.”

Harukiyo’s low voice echoed at this silent beach that now had its enemy gone.

“Even the Librarian’s not going to be able to hold her for long.”

As Oogui disappeared, the seven-spotted ladybug created from silver scales also scattered.

The people who had a narrow escape from death all stood there, stunned.

The first to move was Daisuke.

“—Nene’s safe, right?!”

“Obviously! —Hey, don’t just stand there, get healing already!”

Kneeling from fatigue, Kasuou turned to her back. Since she was used to fighting, she prioritized protecting Neiko, who possessed healing abilities.

Yomori Neiko started. At the back of the girl who began singing in a loud voice, a cricket possessing healing abilities floated.

Considering his own wounds, Daisuke shouted.

“Don’t think about later! Anyway, heal with all you’ve got! Make sure you heal even a single person more as quickly as possible!”

The wounds of the Mushitsuki on the beach were being healed little by little. Himeko and Ayuyu regained consciousness and leaked faint groans.

“Once you can move, reassume your positions and get ready! We can’t tell when Oogui comes back!”

“Wh-what…? What’s that—”

Thanks to being protected by Kasuou, Ena and Takako were safe. Takako was silent as if she remembered something, but Ena wasn’t.

“What’s happening here…?”

“Stay over there.”

Daisuke asserted.

Ena’s shoulders twitched. Seeing her frightened face, Daisuke’s tone changed.

“I can’t protect you if you’re far, Saionji-san. It’s better for you to stay near us.”

“Kusuriya-kun—is that you? Really…?”

“If you don’t want to become a Mushitsuki like you hate—follow what I say.”

Daisuke loosened his mouth with a lonely tone. Yet he soon turned his back, his long coat flapping.

“Harukiyo!”

The pitch-dark demon turned to face the flame devil.

“You—you still don’t intend to act even at this point?”

“Don’t you fuckin’ order me, Kakkou. Wasn’t you who called me here.”

Harukiyo glared at Mari, enraged.

“You lot called me.”

Mari gulped.

“Hanashiro Mari could just pulverize Oogui, right? Just like Oogui said, this battle’s meaningless for Mari. I was called here by you to settle this matter.”

“…”

“However, Ichinokuro Arisu—”

Harukiyo smiled boldly.

“Being taken in by her words and dancin’ with her wouldn’t be too bad.”

An azure light crossed the night sky where the comets were falling.

“…!”

The wounded Mushitsuki on the surface all startled and looked up the starry sky.

A giant door opened in the air again. A blue heat ray broke through the door, raging in the open air, and flew out of the destroyed door along with a purple mass.

It was an object that had a human eye buried inside insectile compound eyes. Several of them were floating in air, emitting a bright heat ray from the eye part.

Appearing from within the door was the one who controlled these countless Eyes—Oogui.

The Mushitsuki standing on the beach all became agitated. Only minutes passed since Neiko started singing. Half of the Mushitsuki collapsed were still down.

However—

Not only the Eyes flew out of the door. Several giants showed their upper torso, clinging to Oogui.

“How stubborn—”

Oogui frowned.

Another door appeared on the beach. The seated girl returned.

“You are a bother for these ladies and gentlemen on a break. Please go back to your room—“

The reappearing Librarian no longer had her glasses, and blood was streaming down her forehead. Her left shoulder was gouged and her arm limped next to her body. Her braid came unfurled and her long hair was plastered to her body by blood.

“Nihi.”

Leaving this sublime laughter behind, the Librarian was sucked inside the door again.

Oogui too was being dragged by the giants back inside. The Eyes floating in the night sky became scales and vanished again.

It was only a matter of time before Oogui got unleashed—

They all probably realized that. Nene’s song increased its intensity and Himeko and Ayuyu rose up, swaying.

“Mari!”

Daisuke and Harukiyo looked at her.

Mari was standing in place, unmoving.

“I know that—”

Her expression crumbled. She bit her lips.

“Everyone needs Arisu—but—”

A sob leaked from the depths of Mari’s throat.

Daisuke’s expression changed.

“Move, Mari!”

“…!”

A black object spurted like a geyser from beneath Mari’s legs. Unable to fully evade this sudden attack, she was swallowed by the impact.

“Uhh…!”

Mari’s body was captured by the squirming, indeterminate object. With both arms and legs spread apart, she was being crucified.

“There’s no way… Oogui shouldn’t be hereee!”

Himeko’s shout brought everyone’s surprise.

The identity of the black object restraining Mari—was a swarm of black tardigrades. These were the exact same Mushi Oogui created when she’d regenerated her body.

The tardigrades crucifying Mari kept multiplying. They became a tidal wave and were trying to cover the Mushitsuki on the beach.

“So you’re here—”

A wave of heat washed over the coastline.

“Undying bastard!”

Harukiyo howled as hellfire rose from his entire body. This fire pillar that was as large as a high-rise building formed a tiger beetle with tusks of differing lengths made of flames.

The large swarm of tardigrades covering the night sky was pushed back by the crimson tiger beetle. The tardigrades kept eating the flames while their bodies were being scorched, contending in midair against the tiger beetle that kept burning them while its body was being eaten.

“—Don’t just decide on your own to gather SEPB members and fight Oogui.”

The tardigrades rose next to the crucified Mari. They transformed into a boy.

He wore sunglasses that had lenses colored differently and had a small braid on his temple. He wore a black suit, completely unlike his appearance that indicated his age as late teens.

This wasn’t the copy of a Mushi controlled by Oogui.

He was the true host of the tardigrades and the one once sought after by Mari, the Undying Mushitsuki—

“This is a rather large breach of the rules, Kakkou.”

Director of the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau, Ichiku Kimitaka, twisted his mouth to a sneer.

Daisuke lowered his body and readied himself.

“And if it is a breach—what are you going to do about it?”

“If you retreat right this instant, I’ll generously overlook it.”

“How kind of you. Even the great Director is going to forgive me breaking the rules?”

“It’s a special case. It’s because you’re a Rank 1.”

“What was that?”

Not answering the puzzled Daisuke, Ichiku glared at Mari.

“Hanashiro Mari. I’ll also give you a chance to choose—between the angel’s potion and the devil’s potion.”

The Librarian’s door appeared in the sky again.

Azure heat rays, flames, lightning and all sorts of attacks blew from within the cracked door. It blocked the roars of destruction and the howls of monsters, shaking the Mushitsuki on the surface.

Apparently, the Librarian and Oogui being enclosed in the different space was reaching its limits—

“However, a moment before death, you threw away the devil’s potion.”

Ichiku’s pupils sparkled. This inhuman light was piercing Mari.

Mari grimaced.

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

So the Undying Mushitsuki who told her that definitely was Ichiku Mikitaka. Since his tone of voice was so calm he sounded like a different person, she doubted it until now.

“You came fluttering back down through the Morpho butterfly, so you only have the angel’s potion at hand. —You should have fully drank it.”

“Uh…!”

The tardigrades restrained her even stronger. It took everything she had just to not let go of her spear.

“You can’t shake it off. You keep hesitating, as you’re nothing but the dregs of a dream. In order to retrieve your full powers from when you were alive—the only choice is to take full control of that body.”

Daisuke took a step ahead. Ichiku turned to him, glaring at him with inhuman eyes.

“Don’t move, Kakkou. If you really wish to rebel against the SEPB, I’ll eat you later, not leaving even a single hair behind. Just wait there quietly.”

“Rebel, you say? The SEPB’s duty was capturing Mushitsuki, supposedly. —Then extinguishing their origin, Oogui, should be a mission of the highest priority!”

“I did order their capture. However—”

Ichiku sneered.

“Ending the existence of Mushitsuki—I don’t remember giving that order.”

“…!”

Daisuke, Kasuou and the rest of SEPB members all became speechless. Aki and his comrades widened their eyes the same way.

“What—did you just—”

“Can’t you understand what I said? The day you understand will come. Blaze Class Rank 1, Kakkou. As well as Harukiyo—as long as you two continue being Rank 1s.”

“…!”

Daisuke turned to look at Harukiyo. The flame devil revealed his hatred, spitting out.

“So you’re giving me that Rank 1 designation bullshit. What an honor. I can’t wait for the day of flammable trash.”

“You also possess the qualifications to become a Rank 1. —Hanashiro Mari.”

Going along Mari’s arm, the swarm of tardigrades clung to the silver spear. They constricted the blade emitting scales.

“In the past, you were supposed to have wished for a new life. At the very least, not defeating Oogui.”

The streaming Perseid meteor shower.

The overflowing roars and impact that broke through the door floating in the night sky.

Underneath the flood of lights in the night sky—

“Right now, what do you wish for?”

The question of the Undying Mushitsuki, Ichiku Kimitaka, pierced Mari’s heart.

=== Part 4 ===

Mari would be able to defeat Oogui—

Sensei had told her so.

“I can defeat Oogui…?”

“It’s just Aria saying that. That you might be able to.”

It was the usual sickroom, where only Mari and Sensei were.

In times where she couldn’t sleep, Mari would often pester Sensei to tell her about Mushi and Mushitsuki.

In this dreary sickroom where time stopped, questions and answers were repeated—

This sight was almost like a small classroom.

“Because you’re strong and have an ability that can do it.”

“My ability…”

“A Mushitsuki that was born of the Original Three and yet can defeat those who are like their parents… Until now, nothing like that appeared. —Perhaps one never should have appeared.”

“…”

“It is a small ‘bug’ created from continually creating Mushi—and because it’s a defect, it will probably never happen again. Mushitsuki like you being born, as well as Aria not falling asleep…”

A defective Mushi.

An ironic Mushi, quite fitting for Mari who suffered from an incurable illness. However—

“So that thing is telling me to defeat Oogui?”

Since Mari was focusing all her efforts on living, Mushi and Mushitsuki had nothing to do with her.

Although she asked such questions instead of hearing a lullaby, Mari herself never thought about getting involved in that bloody world even a little.

“Are you telling me that’s my—duty?”

“I won’t say that.”

“Liar. Then why are you telling me that?”

“I just wanted to tell you to be careful.”

Sensei’s tone of voice was as kind as always, and calm to a stupid degree as always.

“Oogui still doesn’t know about you. She doesn’t know about your power. For us, a mere small bug in the system, we can live peacefully as long as we do nothing. However, if we try and do something—it would probably not end pretty for us. The bug will spread, cracks will become rifts, and the world where it’s normal for there to be Mushi might suffer a fatal effect.”

“…”

“If it becomes like that, someone trying to fix that will definitely appear. It might become a fight against people who’d try to fix the bugs and protect the world where Mushi exist. —If you don’t like it, then you’d better not use your ability.”

“…What do you mean that only I can beat her? That Oogui has a special ability?”

“Oogui has—the power of undying.”

These words probably went out of his mouth inadvertently. Perhaps he was stopped by Aria. She even remembered Sensei clamping a hand over his mouth, his expression shouting ‘oops’.

“Undying…?”

As expected, Mari leaned ahead.

“Meaning, they can’t die?”

“No, to be more precise it’s a bit different, but—err.”

“Hey, tell me. Oogui can use the power of Mushi she’s created, right? Meaning, there’s a Mushitsuki with the power of Undying?”

Mari, who always feared death, couldn’t miss the word “Undying”.

“O-oh no, it’s about time for your examination—”

“Wait! You can’t do that, tell me more!”

Recalling how desperate she was, she now felt even embarrassed.

However, at the same time nostalgia welled up as well.

Thinking about it—she recalled with a bitter smile.

That might have been the first and last time she scuffled with Sensei—

Part 5

Even if she tried to recall it, she knew.

For Mari, the important thing was not Oogui, but the power of Undying—an immortal flesh.

Right now, in the place of the decisive fight against Oogui, she was being pressed to decide.

Her answer—she had supposedly made it already.

“Do you understand, Hanashiro Mari? What your answer means?”

Ichiku Kimitaka’s tardigrades covered the Morpho butterfly silver spear.

“If you were Hanashiro Mari, who possesses the qualifications of a Rank 1, I’ll overlook it. However, if you’re that Ichinokuro girl—I won’t show any mercy. Since she’s connected to Mushitsuki despite not being a Mushitsuki herself, I’ll cut off her fate right here.”

If Mari wouldn’t erase the existence of Arisu right here, Arisu would probably try to defeat Oogui. Ichiku would never allow it.

Mari grimaced.

“I—”

The Mushitsuki who had Arisu’s body as a hostage couldn’t move.

Only a single person.

Daisuke alone saw Mari and spoke.

“You can answer honestly, Mari.”

—We’ll find you, the true Hanashiro Mari.

The boy who’d grasped Mari’s index finger and told her this was none other than the one looking at her.

“No matter your answer—Arisu will definitely accept your choice.”

“…!”

Mari widened her eyes.

I won’t do that, picking my answer after hearing yours —

Arisu said that, and Mari also thought she wasn’t that kind of person.

However.

In the end, was that true?

The girl called Ichinokuro Arisu would never do anything cowardly. Because she always went straight into the heart of the matter and hated shortcuts or distractions.

However, what about someone other than her?

What about her friend’s answer?

“That’s not fair, Arisu… you’ve been silent for a while now—”

By yielding her answer to Mari, she didn’t even try to take back her consciousness.

“You haven’t even blamed me once until now—”

To be honest, she should have begrudged her long ago. It was natural for Mari to be hated and loathed.

After all, entrusting the Morpho butterfly to Arisu was nothing more than Mari’s selfishness.

Even so, Arisu didn’t blame Mari at all.

“You’ve waited for my answer—”

What was that about comparing answers?

It was just like Mari’s friend she was proud of did back in that sickroom.

Whenever Mari wanted to say something and would get stuck, Arisu would for her however long it’d take.

She always waited.

To hear Mari’s answer from her own mouth.

And if Mari said that with her words, no matter what answer it would be—

“I knew it, rather than me, it’s Arisu who’s changed a lot…”

Even if anyone else would laugh at her as stupid.

She intended on nodding along.

She tried to cowardly wait for her answer until the very last moment for Mari’s sake—

“If you exchange with Arisu, that’s fine. Just like promised, I’ll see you off.”

A Fusion Type Mushitsuki just like Mari, Kusuriya Daisuke, spoke.

“Also—I’ll keep chasing you until I defeat you.”

He was the only one other than Sensei and Arisu who noticed her existence. Only he alone never doubted Mari’s existence.

He saved Arisu countless of times, but also secretly saved Mari at times.

If he was about to keep going after her—

“How fantastic.”

A life of eternal chase.

That wasn’t too bad—

She really felt that way.

“—”

Many Mushitsuki watched Mari biting her lips.

Kasuou was looking at Mari. She wasn’t sure how to regard this violent girl.

Himeko looked at Mari. The fact she stopped being a crybaby and turned strong was probably, fitting her, due to love.

Neiko looked at Mari. She always looked sleepy, but she loved her singing voice.

Ayuyu looked at Mari. That girl decided she was her rival on her own, and every time she approached her she said something mean. However, she didn’t hate Ayuyu.

Ena and Takako looked at Mari. These were important classmates and irreplaceable friends. Every day in school was fun just from their existence.

Aki and his comrades looked at Aki. They all treated Kakkou unlike Daisuke, but she wished for all of them to be able to hold hands one day.

Also.

Harukiyo was looking at Mari. Had he noticed that the expectation hidden in his blazing eyes changed into something completely different from when they first met?

“I’m sorry—”

All of her memories with them—were those of the girl called Ichinokuro Arisu.

They weren’t Mari’s—definitely not.

“I’m really… sorry…”

However—

Mari was at her side.

She was together with Arisu, taking the form of the Morpho butterfly.

Gritting her teeth, she leaked a hoarse voice.

“…ank…”

Hanashiro Mari was a lonely girl.

Was that—really so?

No.

She wasn’t actually lonely.

The lonely girl called Hanashiro Mari was no longer lonely when she died.

The girl called Ichinokuro Arisu had released Mari from her lonely prison.

Mari no longer remained lonely.

“—ank you.”

And now, thanks to Arisu, there were many people who’d call her name.

They would surely—remember Mari forever.

Her mouth agape, Mari shouted.

“Thank you!”

For gathering due to Mari’s invitation.

For going along with the lonely Mari’s selfishness.

In the end, she couldn’t even tell if she was really Hanashiro Mari as she was during her life. Perhaps, just like Aria Varei, she was a mere copied personality.

However, that didn’t matter.

Mari finally remembered.

“Thank youuu!”

Tears came gushing out of Mari’s eyes.

That time when, the moment before the light of her life was extinguished, she looked down at her best friend from the roof of a private house.

She had no regrets in her life.

Because Arisu was there, she wasn’t alone.

However—she did have a selfish wish.

She ended up embracing a new dream.

—See you tomorrow.

She wanted to live with Arisu tomorrow.

She wanted to protect her promise with her friend and live with her, even for a single day.

“Thank you—Arisu…”

The continuation of Mari’s small dream—

The lonely Mushitsuki, Hanashiro Mari, was full with happiness and surrounded by so many people.

Hanashiro Mari.

Now that she was no longer alone, that name was so lovely.

She couldn’t throw it away.

The girl who was no longer lonely, Hanashiro Mari, definitely lived in this world.

Starting with Daisuke, she smiled at everyone on the beach.

“Take good care of Arisu.”

The promise they made that day.

—See you tomorrow.

Mari’s wish—

Had already been granted.

“—So that’s your answer.”

A low voice echoed on the beach.

A sound loud enough to tear heaven and earth resounded, and the gigantic door floating in the night sky was completely destroyed.

Arriving from the other side of this door blown to smithereens—was Oogui.

“Goodbye, Hanashiro Mari’s ghost.”

Daisuke and Harukiyo kicked the sand at the same time.

However, faster than they could save her—the tardigrades were eating the silver spear.

“—”

All those there would remember the girl called Hanashiro Mari.

Mari, who was released from the cage of loneliness.

When the Morpho butterfly spear would get eaten, she would die for real this time—

She accepted it with a smile.

Part 6

A witch visited Patricia who was afflicted with sickness.

She said as such.

Here is a potion made by an angel, as well as one by the devil. If you drink the angel’s potion, you will lose all your loved one, but in return your sickness would be cured and you would live on. On the other hand, if you drink the devil’s potion, your illness will remain and you will die. However, you will always be remembered by your loved one. Now, which will you choose?

And so, Patricia replied like this.

I want the devil’s potion.

And the witch granted her request.

Thus, Patricia entered an eternal sleep under the watchful eyes of her loved one.

Even so, Patricia never felt lonely, for her loved ones would regularly come to visit her on the hill where she rests—.

A pleasant wind caressed her cheek.

The usual sickroom.

On top of the usual bed.

As Mari opened her eyelids, she saw a youth in a white coat standing at the window.

Sensei apparently came to visit her again. He was refreshing the room’s stagnant air. His familiar back was the most reliable thing and it relieved her.

Next to her pillow was her favorite picture book.

Touching Potion of Magic, the youth turned to her.

“It’s fine. I’ll stay by your side until you fall asleep.”

Mari smiled.

Today she also used her power as a Mushitsuki and ran around a lot outside.

She talked a lot with her friend Arisu.

With this blissful mood, she closed her eyes again.

Mari was soon enveloped in sleepiness and wandered into a dream.

There was a girl who knew a lot about Mari there.

Patricia stood there.

She extended her hand with a smile, and Mari grabbed it back, also smiling.

“Good night, Mari…”

While listening to Sensei’s kind voice—

Hanashiro Mari, the girl who chose to drink the devil’s potion while she was happy—

Ran inside the depths of the dream along with Patricia.

Notes

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