[Mushi Uta v2 ] Chapter 3.00: Daisuke Part 7

Here's the next one for Mushi Uta~

Just a head up, this chapter is the only chapter of chapter 3 section. The calm before the storm.

Enjoy~

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Translated : Wing
Edited : Skat,

Version: 1.01
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3.00

Daisuke Part 7



Daisuke and Iori’s gazes were circling around the field that was next to the gymnasium.

They were staring straight at Senri and Azu, who were running in their gym clothes whilst holding hands.

“Senri is so cute…”

Iori said that line dazedly with a happy look on his face as he sat on the ground with his head on his knees.

“Mhm, yup…”

Daisuke exposed a wry smile and replied arbitrarily.

In today’s P.E class, the boys were divided into two teams for basketball; meanwhile the girls would be doing some jogging on the field next to them.

Daisuke and Iori were taking a break on the side, waiting for their turn. Among the boys that were running back and forth on the field, Akatsuki’s figure could be seen. Their P.E class was usually consisted of two classes combined together, and since Akatsuki’s class was in the same group as their class, they would always have P.E class together.

“Hey, since it’s almost time for the school trip, wanna go buy something afterschool?”

“Ya, sure!”

Daisuke agreed to Iori’s idea.

It had already been three days since the plaza incident, and next week would be the start of their school trip.

But since the historical site that was originally planned for the school trip had to undergo emergency maintenance, the teacher used today’s home room period to inform students about the change of the location. Their new destination would be Ouka City, and the topic of the school trip had been changed to city observation. Because of the sudden change from a boring historical site tour to a city tour that allowed students to go to the nearby theme park during their free time, all the students were very excited. However, Daisuke knew very clearly that the SEPB must have done something behind the scene and resulted in this.

“…”

Although Senri was running much slower than most of the other students, she was still trying her best. Daisuke looked at her as a complex feeling emerged within.

Is it okay now to tell her about Haji’s situation?...

Senri still didn’t know that her brother had fallen into a coma. Daisuke had the obligation to tell her about such matters, and also pass Haji’s last words to her; those were the feelings that Haji entrusted onto Daisuke during his last moments.

However, Daisuke was feeling uneasy.

There was a foreboding feeling lingering in his mind for the past few days. Although Senri’s condition seemed like she had gotten much better, he just couldn’t shake this feeling out of his mind. The healthier Senri became, the more uneasy Daisuke became.

Daisuke was at loss of whether not he should tell her the truth or not.

“Oui, Daisuke, wave your hand!”

Being knocked on the head by Iori caused Daisuke to return to his senses.

It seemed like Azu told Senri that Daisuke and Iori was looking at them, causing her to turn and face at their direction and gently wave.

After Daisuke and Iori waved back, the two of them giggled at each other. Akatsuk, who noticed this, was also smiling on the basketball field.

Iori exposed a mischievous smile and turned to face Daisuke.

“What, thinking about something?”

“Nah… I was just thinking that… it feels so comfortable staying here like this…”

Daisuke replied with a wry smile.

It was just like what Daisuke said. This town was very peaceful; it made people feel as if time was flowing very slowly. And because of this, one would be able to feel the preciousness of each second that passes away.

Iori smiled as he turned to gaze at Senri again, and whispered:

“Well ya, Because Senri is here!”

What he said was right, but that was not all to it. Right now, there are many people who accompanies Senri and stays by her side, and Daisuke was one of them.

The days of living here, with Senri as the center, were very comfortable and filled with soothing warmth. Sometimes, it felt just so comfortable that he thought this just may be the place where he belongs.

However… Daisuke knew… He could never stay here. He had things he needed to do, and there was a teenage girl waiting for him.

“Iori… The things we talked about last time…”

Daisuke turned to gaze at Iori, and Iori immediately replied as if he knew what Daisuke was going to say:

“I’m going to be fine. If Senri needs to go to Ouka City, then I’ll go as well, there’re nothing to hesitate about.”

His words were filled affirmative determination.

“Since the SEPB probably knows I’m a Mushitsuki, I might as well join and --- continue to protect Senri.”

Daisuke had told Iori and Akatsuki, as well as Azu, about the matter of another person watching over Senri. He clicked his tongue as he told them that; mostly because he was angry at himself for not noticing it.

--- Please pay attention to your surroundings.

(C)'s advice was true after all; aside from Senri, the watcher from the headquarters was also watching over Daisuke at the same time. It was really fortunate that the watcher was following after Senri rather than Daisuke at the time when he was chasing after (Shinpu).

However, the watcher should've already noticed that Iori is in fact a Mushitsuki. If that were the case, he would probably be scouted out sooner or later. Afterwards he would either have to vow to serve the SEPB, or be sent to the isolation facility. Iori chose the former option without any hesitation; he decided to join the East Central Division and stay at Ouka City with Senri.

Meanwhile, Akatsuki was at loss. Since he belongs to the West Southwest Division, the possibility of him staying in this town until his next mission arrives would be very high.

And as for Azu ---

"Azu --- She would probably hate me forever right? I've caused her so much trouble and in the end, I'm going to leave her with this kind of farewell."

Iori smiled wryly in a joking manner.

When Iori told everyone that he was going to Ouka City along with Senri, Azu didn't say a word; she merely held onto her rosary tightly in silence.

"I guess this means we're going to get scattered from now on."

Perhaps he was trying to cover his loneliness; as Iori spoke that line in a light tone.

Daisuke replied with a smile:

"It's not like we're not gonna see each other anymore."

"Yup, you're right."

Although Iori replied back with a smile, his tone seemed rather stiff as if he was thinking about something.

"She seems like she is getting tired, is she going to be okay?"

Daisuke and Iori heard a voice coming from above, and raised their head at the same time.

A teenage boy with tattoo sticker near his neck was looking down on them as he bent over to lower his body, while his finger was pointing at the track field. It was their classmate, Kanari Yoichi.

"I meant Haji-san."

Daisuke and Iori followed the direction where Yoichi's finger was pointing at, and saw that Senri was standing there panting.

"Senri... !"

Just then, they saw Azu raise her hand as if she was signaling that "It's okay, she was just tired".

"I actually felt quite envious of Haji-san..."

Yoichi gazed at Senri, and said with a smile:

"Haji-san always has people by her side every day, and every one of them looks so happy being with her."

"Really?"

Yoichi turned and face Daisuke who was smiling wryly and said:

"I know that helping out Haji-san is not an easy task... That's why I admire and respect Endou-kun and Kusuriya-kun for taking the roles. Everyone else from the class probably has the same thought as me."

The tattoo stickered teenage boy said with a gentle smile on his face — he did not have the slightest hint of flattery in his tone.

However, Iori seemed to be unsatisfied with his attitude.

"It's nothing special!"

When he finished, Iori turned his faced away.

Yoichi's expression sank, and said this before he left "Is that so... Sorry for making you uncomfortable."

"Iori... ?"

"I just don’t know how to get along with him."

"I don't think he is that bad of a person. When I just transferred to this class, and you were ignoring me; it was he that talked to me with a smile."

"I don’t know why I hate him... Probably because he is just too nice? I just feel those kinds of people are hard to communicate with. By the way, the way I talked to him was quite rude, wasn't it? Rejecting him without an actual reason, I guess this proves that I didn't change at all..."

Daisuke saw Iori frown, and replied with a smile:

"Let me guess how he looks at you— as an untamed beast?"

"Oh? What did you said I was again?"

"Ow, ouch! It hurts! See what I mean?!"

Daisuke's head was being grabbed forcefully by Iori, causing him to struggle in pain.

Just then, Senri and Azu walked towards them.

"Ah! --- Iori is bullying Daisuke! You're Flagrante delicto, Iori! Flagrante delicto!"

"Eh? Iori-kun is bullying Dai-kun?! You can't, stop it!"

"It's okay! We're just having some skinship, right? Daisuke!"

"Owww! Why are you increasing your strength?! This obviously is blackmailing!"

Just then, Akatsuki appeared behind the four of them that were in a frolic.

"Iori-kun, Daisuke-kun, it's your turn."

"Okay."

Iori immediately stood up, while Daisuke was taking his cellphone from his pocket and handing it to Senri.

"Sorry Senri, help me hold onto this."

"Eh? Oh, okay."

"Jeez, why are you taking your phone here?"

Iori said that as they began walking toward the basketball court.

However, they stopped when Senri suddenly called out to Daisuke:

"Ah...wahh... Dai-kun! You have a call!”

“Eh?”

“’Goromaru Touko’? Ohhh? Daisuke-kun, is that a girl’s name??”

“Touko-san?”

Daisuke hurriedly snatch the phone from Senri’s hand; it was indeed showing Touko’s name on the screen.

“Akatsuki sorry! Sub the game for me!”

“Eh, huh?”

Leaving behind Akatsuki that had a perplexed expression, Daisuke dashed into the gymnasium and went straight for the changing room as he picked up the call.

“Hello, Touko-san?”

“Daisuke-san~~!!”

When Daisuke heard Touko’s familiar sobbing voice, he heaved a big sigh.

“I guess the permit that allows me to engage… was not approved right?”

“Completely rejected! They even scolded me for trying! They said I must've had some ulterior motives to be applying for a permit that forcefully!”

“And so you backed down…? Touko-san, could you stop being so useless?...”

“Uhhh, please don’t scold me as well!”

Daisuke felt a headache emerging, which caused him to once again press his temples. Even though it was pointless to think of such matters, Daisuke still didn’t understand the reason why Haji picked Touko as his replacement.

“Okay, I got it. I will try and ask (C) regarding this matter later on, see if she can do something about it. Also, if I could get in contact with some of my acquaintances in other divisions, there might be a chance that some of them could come over to the East Central Division, but the possibility is not very high…”

“Sorry, I couldn’t do anything to help…”

Touko’s tone was filled with depression; she must have felt discouraged by her own uselessness as well.

Frankly speaking, it was all thanks to Haji's reckless methods and techniques that they were able to maintain their current status quo. Now Daisuke was no longer on the front lines, compounded with the loss of most of the main members— even if they were to switch Touko to someone who was not so useless, it would be very difficult to stop the East Central Division from collapsing.

“By the way… How’s Haji?... Is he still the same?”

“… Seems like it.”

“Seems like it? … Touko-san, you still haven’t pay him a visit?”

“Ya… I’m really ruthless right? Even though I went to the hospital a few times already, I just couldn’t bring myself to see him… I wonder why, ahahah….”

Touko laughed wryly; her tone was filled with fatigue.

“Oh, but I’ll definitely protect (Fuyuhotaru)! Ishimaki-san has also said it before, that (Fuyuhotaru) is the life line of the East Central Division! Indeed, if we were to lose her, our combat ability would be no different than any other small branch division. And besides ---“

Touko continued to explain desperately:

“Letting the headquarters take away such harmless and ordinary girl … to be honest… I don’t want that ---”

Daisuke widened his eyes.

"Ah, I know that she's very important to the SEPB, and also to Mushitsuki in general… but argh… how should I put?... Even though I don't quite understand what exactly are Mushitsuki…nor am I sure of the SEPB's perspective on the issue… she really didn't seem any like anything other but a harmless and normal teenage girl. Ah, it's probably not that good for me to be this incompetent and inattentive right? Ahaha, I'm really useless after all…"

Just then, Daisuke smiled as he naturally input more force into his hand that was holding the phone.

“Thank you, Touko-san.”

“…Eh?”

“Do you mind paying Shiika a visit once in a while?”

“Sure, next time I’ll bring a cake with me. I found a really delicious sweets store!... Though it’s really expensive…”

After hearing Touko’s voice that was filled with joy, Daisuke ended the call.

If one were to look at Touko from a different perspective, one could see that she is indeed a unique woman. Although she is only able to pay attention to the matters directly in front of her, she is able to get closer to the essence of those matters better than anyone else, albeit unknowingly. This was true for Haji as well. And although Touko seemed like she was driven off by the enemies that surround Haji, she was actually there by his side, all the time.

“But even so, she still isn’t that much of a help…”

Daisuke smiled wryly to himself as he complained in a soft voice. At the same time, the feeling of dissonance was rising within him.

He could tell that something was wrong.

This mission was filled with strange phenomenon. Among these, the most unacceptable one, was the fact that (Mushibane) knew that Senri was Haji Keigo's sister. Even within the SEPB, the Intel pertaining to her were considered top secret matters, but (Mushibane) had undoubtedly obtained them; and the SEPB had also obtained Intel which indicated that they had obtained the information. It felt as if it was no longer a simple leak of information, but rather the work of a spy— or perhaps, one party intentionally provided Intel to the other party.

In addition, the mysterious (Mushi) that ambushed Iori was one of the strangest phenomenon. After investigating through the Fallen’s background, they then found out that he was one of the missing members of the West Southwest Division. A detailed investigation was still ongoing.

Who is it…? And For what reason ---

Just then, a figure in sports clothing appeared next to Daisuke who was pondering.

It was Akatsuki. Daisuke stopped thinking and raised his head.

“Eh? Weren’t you subbing for me?”

“I had to go tell the teacher that you weren't feeling well and went to the infirmary. And since there were that many people, I didn’t need to sub you… Oh by the way, was the call from the people of the East Central Division?”

“Well, ya. You can say that it’s from my supervisor.”

Daisuke said that as he stood up, intending on going back, but was stopped by Akatsuki.

“I don’t think it’s good for you to go back yet. Senri and Sunakozaka-san will probably bug you on who called you.”

“… I guess I’ll skip the class then.”

After sighing lightly, Daisuke squatted down as Akatsuki’s gaze followed him and looked downward.

“Akatsuki?”

“…Ah, can I ask you a random question?”

“Mmm?”

“Daisuke you belong to the East Central Division right? Do you know (Kakkou)?”

Akatsuki said that with a subtle expression while clenching his fists; it felt as if he had struggled a bit before he asked the question.

Daisuke thought for a moment before replying:

“Why do you want to know?”

“Ah, Uhm… because I admire him very much. A Kashu level one ranked Mushitsuki, he must be unbelievable strong right?”

Akatsuki averted Daisuke’s gaze as he said that. However, Daisuke then replied with a contemptuous smile.

"I think it's best for you to not admire him at all. Indeed, there may be a few people in other areas that have heard the rumors about him, and admire him for it— but at the central areas, almost everyone hates him to the bones."

“What kind of person… is he?”

“He is the worst of the worst.”

Daisuke threw that line.

“For the sake of protecting his own dream, he would do anything without any hesitation. He had turned countless Mushitsuki into Fallen, in the past… That’s right, even those that had the same dream as him were turned into Fallen by him as well…”

Akatsuki thought that the reason Daisuke was distorting his expression was because of anger. He then bit his lips before continuing:

“But I heard that he had defeated the leader of (Mushibane) in the last battle.”

“(Ladybird)…”

Daisuke muttered with a suppressed tone as Akatsuki asked another question.

“Daisuke, you were at the battle right? Did you personally witnessed (Kakkou) defeating (Ladybird) ?...”

A surge of pain ran through Daisuke’s chest.

Within him, the last expression of (Ladybird) --- Tachibana Rina flashed through.

The expression of the teenage girl who had passed away in Daisuke’s arm was very serene; one might've even thought that she died in peace. However, not only did her smile not save Daisuke, but it also carved a deep scar that could never be forgotten within Daisuke’s heart.

“So it was… really (Kakkou) that killed (Ladybird)?”

Akatsuki’s tone had become much deeper. Daisuke, who had his head hung low, could not see the expression he was showing at the moment.

“That’s right… Besides (Kakkou), who else could defeat (Ladybird)….?”

Daisuke exposed a self-deprecated smile as he stood up.

Just then, the sound of the dismissal bell rang throughout the school compound.


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Thank you for reading~
Feel free to leave comments for any questions or feedback~

With this chapter done, we're roughly a bit over 1/2 done with the volume. The next chapter section would be one of the longest chapter section; it's separated into some small and long chapters as well.