Enjoy~
There will be a well-done fan art in the middle of the chapter, i hope you like it ^^. It's really awesome.
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Translated : Wing
Edited : Skat
Version: 1.01
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4.07
The Others
The heavy rain was cut off by the light orbs fired by the golden mayfly.
After tracing countless laser-like tracks throughout the sky, the light orbs struck the flying (Mushi) herd in the sky, down one by one.
“Hoo…Hua…!”
Akatsuki, with his face covered by a pair of goggles, was grabbing onto the ceiling of the train car tightly like a beast, while panting heavily.
The mayfly whipped its several meter long twin tails in front of Akatsuki. The twin tails then suddenly vibrated violently, while glowing brightly.
After the pre-maturation, Akatsuki's (Mushi) gained the use of a new ability— heat energy conversion. It could absorb any sort of energy around itself with its twin tails, and then convert it into pure thermal energy via high-speed vibration. It would then form a thin membrane to wrap around the energy before firing the energy like a laser. Although the attack's power was very high, it greatly consumed Akatsuki's energy.
“Tails! Aim for its tails!”
Amidst the strong gale Vihookumosu, the teenage boy leading the (Mushibane), was shouting loudly.
The (Mushi) herd that was clinging onto the last carriage and the troops flying in the sky began their assault against Akatsuki once again.
“No… Stop… I…”
Perhaps his temperature had dropped too low, because he could no longer feel his fingertips anymore. Akatsuki displayed a painful expression… as he watched through his eyes— numerous (Mushi) charging straight at him.
He probably had already defeated twenty or so enemies, yet (Mushibane)'s relentless waves of attacks didn't cease in the slightest— and they were slowly pushing Akatsuki into a dead end.
Ironically, they were all Akatsuki’s comrades not so long ago. Just like Akatsuki, every single of them had their precious dreams.
--- Rina… So you were living in this kind of toilsome world huh?...
Just then, flashing rays pierced the sky.
As Akatsuki saw three (Mushi) drop to the ground, and a pain that was different than fatigue enveloped him completely.
“Hoo… Ahhh…!”
At the same time, a long distanced attack fired by a flying (Mushi) struck the golden-colored mayfly. The heart-piercing pain caused Akatsuki to shout out loud right on the spot.
“Why------?!”
Akatsuki raised his head, gazing straight at them and shouted:
“Why are you guys giving up your dreams so easily like this?!!”
In front of him, were a large number of Mushitsuki, which meant that there were just as much dreams… For the sake of protecting Senri, Akatsuki had to trample those dreams; this fact made him feel lamented .
“You guys… … You guys shouldn’t throw away your dreams like this in this meaningless war!...”
Although Akatsuki wanted to continue shouting, at the next instant, he felt an unbearable pain throbbing against his chest.
Vihookumosu’s (Mushi), the giant bee hawk moth, swung its whip-like triangular antennae and cut off one of the mayfly’s tails.
“Ugh…Ahhhh!”
The lasers that penetrated through the rain began to lose control, and started destroying the surrounding ground and wire rods. The injured tail had lost its function. And with the last remaining glowing tail, the mayfly reluctantly fought back against (Mushibane).
“Reinforcements… Reinforcements are still not here yet?! Branch-director…!”
Akatsuki shouted loudly at the microphone while gasping for air. He didn’t care what would happen to him anymore. His goal was to protect Senri, not to eliminate (Mushibane). If this continued, there was no doubt that they would all die together.
“Reinforcements… are not coming…”
Just then, Ishimaki’s voice suddenly came through the headset, causing Akatsuki to widen his eyes and become dumbfounded.
“Just a minute ago, the Headquarters had officially changed the objectives of this mission. From now on, the task will be the elimination of (Mushibane) and (Himiko). The elimination squad from the Headquarters should be there shortly.”
Ishimaki replied with a suppressed tone. However, for an instant, Akatsuki was unable to understand what he was saying.
“(Kaguya), hurry up and get out of there! If you continue to stay there, you’ll eventually get involved!”
Because of Ishimaki’s words, a weak smile appeared on Akatsuki’s face.
“Aha…Ahaha…”
Sounding a trembled voice, he then laughed.
--- In the end, what am I doing this for…?
Akatsuki suddenly felt very funny, so he laughed. But after he stopped laughing, an intense resentment dominated his mind completely.
“Rina… You are right…”
He tightly clenched fists to a point where it almost hurt himself.
“Put bluntly, the SEPB are nothing but this… They are the enemy of us Mushitsuki after all…”
Akatsuki then slowly stood up, enduring the fierce wind from behind.
At the same time, the mayfly next to him endured even more intense attacks than before.
“Ugh…”
The heart-piercing pain continued to throb within Akatsuki.
Akatsuki’s consciousness suddenly almost blacked out as if it malfunctioned. His past memories were also gradually fading way; he could no longer clearly remember the smiling face of Rina anymore.
Right now, the only thing that was supporting Akatsuki was the last warmth remaining in his heart. And the one who gave Akatsuki this warmth was a fragile teenage girl.
“Who’s gonna run away now… right? Senri…”
Just when Akatsuki was about to raise his head, he suddenly stopped breathing for a moment.
The scene flashed by him in a blink of an eye.
In Akatsuki’s field of vision --- he caught a glimpse of something falling onto the ground near the track. Even though the broken doll-like object flew by in an unbelievable speed, he could never mistake that person.
“Woo---“
Akatsuki forced his trembling voice from the deepest part of his throat, and then slowly turned it into a shout.
“WOOOAHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
Every part his mind was trying to reject the scene before his eyes.
This cannot be happening; he desperately tried to reject the reality before him as all his senses became numbed.
“Iori-kun! Iori-kun!!”
He then kicked aside the roof, and started running.
However, an attack from (Mushibane) blocked his path; and at that moment, the giant bee hawk moth knocked him back.
“Ugh…Ahhhhh…”
While being beat by the heavy rain, Akatsuki gazed blankly at the direction where Iori disappeared to.
Iori was his dearest friend.
He was completely opposite of Akatsuki, who was more prudent— a teenage boy who lived freely and without any restraint.
Akatsuki deeply believed that, for the sake of protecting Senri, they would continue to live on together.
His precious dream and the calm and peaceful life he dreamt of were beginning to shatter into pieces without leaving a trace.
“Iori-kun……”
Just then, (Mushibane) charged at Akatsuki who was over-stunned and became motionless.
Akatsuki couldn’t move, didn’t intended to move as well.
--- I’m definitely going to protect Senri.
He felt as he just heard Iori’s voice that was filled with determination.
“…”
Akatsuki, who had completely lost the will to fight, was sitting there motionlessly, waiting for the impact to end his life.
However, no matter how long he waited, that impact wouldn’t come.
And it was all because a cyan-colored soldier ant appeared in front of Akatsuki.
And not just only one, many more soldier ants crawled onto the car’s ceiling from the side. These soldier ants then charged straight at the (Mushi) that intended to leap upon Akatsuki.
Not only Akatsuki but (Mushibane) as well, was surprised by the sudden enemy, as their (Mushi) were defeated by the soldier ants.
“Iori-kun……?
Akatsuki murmured weakly, yet he could only see an army of cyan-colored soldier ants howling towards the skies.
Their mournful cries possessed an unfathomable yet indescribable fortitude within them.
--- It was as if they were Iori’s last shouts before he used up his dream.
After the soldier ants' disappearance, the quiet beating of the downpour against the train's ceiling, resumed once again. (Mushibane), who were seemingly stunned by the soldier ants' sudden appearance, stood where they were.
“That’s so sly of you, Iori-kun…..”
The arms that were supporting Akatsuki suddenly regained their strength.
“You want to ditch me… and then push everything to me… while you go on ahead first…?”
Akatsuki slowly lurched to his feet.
Just then, he noticed the numerous black dots flying towards the new bullet train from a distance.
Reinforcements or perhaps the …? No, that’s impossible --- it’s still too early for the elimination squad of the Headquarters to have gotten here…then… it should be the (Mushibane)’s reinforcements from the north district…
“I’m definitely going to fulfill Iori-kun’s dream…”
Next to Akatsuki who was muttering, the golden-colored mayfly outburst countless rays at the sky.
Thank you for reading~
Feel free to leave comments for any questions or feedback~
So ya, school is starting so there would be less time for us to work >.> Pretty sure it would affect our release-rate, meh, there's no helping it. Well, i hope you enjoy that fan art, i really liked it. Akatsuki looked so bad-ass ^^. (There will be more in the latter chapters!)
P.s: i just watched Bungaku Shoujo the movie, it was pretty awesome. Amano Touko sound so cute with Kana Hanazawa (Shiika's voice actor) ~ i also finished reading the first volume of it, it was awesome as well.
Very much thanks for your continued effort in translating this series
ReplyDeleteDeath Flag triggered.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the new chapter.
Pretty much everyone have a death flag here XD
DeleteThank you!
ReplyDeleteAkatsuki and Hien are so cool as always~
Iori will not be forgotten!
So the release rate will drop eh... Well, no choice... Keep up the good job when you can~