Mushi:Vol4 Symphony1

Symphony 1: Unable to transmit via songs alone

(Omitted) - Myths from every culture in the world record the legend of the Great Flood without fail. Noah's Flood in the Bible, the legend of the flood of Gilgamesh from Mesopotamia, the legend of Manusmṛti in the Veda scriptures of India. Greek mythology, Roman mythology, and of course, Japanese mythology. The torrential flood erupting forth in the myths had a destructive impact on our world – specifically, utterly destroying the world. Many academics insist that there are startling similarities between the floods described in these myths, and that this may imply there was a historical version of the gigantic flood that destroyed the world.

But mythologies are not historical records. They are moral tales in the guise of stories. More importantly, the facts they record are not necessarily real, though many people, including many educated people, mistake mythologies as being historical records that noted down factual events accurately.

Indeed, there is a lack of evidence for - and much evidence against - the existence of the aforementioned great flood; from this we can conclude that a flood of such scale has never occurred on Earth. A gigantic flood that destroyed the world would certainly have left behind clear marks on the geography and geology of the Earth. However, a study of these confirm that such a thing has never occurred. After innumerable investigations, we can prove that the Great Flood never existed.

But if the world has never been destroyed by a great flood in the past, then why are there similar legends of such a flood in cultures throughout the world? Even culture in areas where it was geographically impossible to suffer from historical floods had legends involving the world being destroyed by a flood.

How did that come about?

In short, it is because legends are not historical records, but philosophical stories. These stories incorporated both the objective impressions and the emotions of the author, with their plots being the products of the societies of the time. As such, they are the product of the universal human consciousness.

If the record-like properties of mythologies ceased to exist, then so would the mysterious qualities of God.

God will fall to level of a human with the fall of myth.

However, there are still many who mistook humans as God, and note their actions as myths and legends.

Thus, myth are no longer stories of God, but purely stories of humans.

Why did every country preserve the legend of the great flood in their myths? Returning to our previous query, the answer is very simple if we consider a simple question: Why are the records of the great flood that destroyed the world always at the beginning and prologue of the myths, and never at the end of the legends? We can easily find the answer if we follow this train of thought.

I believe legends talk about the journey of human life.

Whether consciously or unconsciously - we cannot ascertain which - the legends are talking about life.

Try to recall how our lives began. Let us place aside the ignorant fantasies of many academics, who believe a great flood erupted at the beginning of the world. No matter who we are, every one of us had experienced this flood - this flood that destroyed our world when we were born.

That was when our mothers gave birth.

We were originally within the dim, constant, and perfectly safe world inside our mother's body. Suddenly, as if someone declared there must be light, we were forcibly brought to the outside. The world within our mother's bodies started to crumble with a great flood of mixed blood and amniotic fluid. We were born into this dangerous and ruthless world together with this uncertainty.

It is this primordial, collective memory that lies behind the many legends and records concerning the great flood and the consequential destruction of the world. Destruction that was not the end of all things, but the beginning of everything. This was the most salient point to those legends that start with a flood that wiped out the world.

The myths afterwards also parallel the journey of life.

All should be able to understand now that "God", the absolute existence that is the protagonist of myths, is "me". "I" fought with other Gods (in myths of monotheistic faiths, the other gods are presented as devils of demons) - in other words, other "me"s, and finally created a peaceful world after numerous defeats.

Be it the Bible, Celtic legends, Egyptian legends, Chinese legends, or Ugaritic legends... All myths have this commonality: what they tell is not the story of "God", but stories of "me".

In some legends, God considered humans failures and denied our existence. This was because the author of the myth - "me" - could not trust other humans and denied their existences.

Such authors must be people with gloomy personalities, who found it difficult to communicate with others. If we accept the proposition that "God" is none other than "me", and read the myths with this idea in mind, then it will become incredibly interesting.

I am getting sidetracked. Let us stop there.

In conclusion, I hereby refute the many people who regard their fantasies as matters of fact and firmly believe in them. God is not an absolute existence who is looking down upon the world from somewhere high above. At the end, the only absolute existence in "my world" exists in the center of "my world", and is none other than "me". A God that controls miracles, fate, and mysteries does not - can not - exist. Myths are only ordinary stories that describe normal human lives. I am God, and myths are human lives. What follows may seem unnecessary - but if we consider the above conclusion, then we may be able to understand the "purpose of God" in myths.

That means - (Omitted)

-- "The Unified Structure of God and Me" by Akutagawa Shirayuki, student of Class 1-D of Kanaryō Prefectural High School

Breaksun Hanselmine had seventy-seven younger sisters and sixty-six younger brothers, but no older siblings. There were fifty-five people whom she called 'mother', but only one father.

She had no friends, and of course, no lovers.

But recently, she obtained an unusual roommate.

She dyed her hair.

She had been interested in this for a while now. Due to her whimsical personality, however, she kept wondering if her hair could go back to how it was before she dyed it. She also worried that her hair would become unhealthy and start falling out. She worried that the police would be upset at her for having an unusual hair color - therefore, she had never managed to dye her hair at the end.

Until now.

Since she wanted a change of mood, and that she still could not let go of her interest, she finally dyed her hair when she saw a hair salon by chance. The hairdresser held up the color palette and asked her what color she would like, and she pointed randomly at a picture due to nervousness and confusion. As a result, her hair became green.

She was dumbfounded when she saw her own head in the mirror. What is this color? This looks like an alien! - Alien? Nice! Aren't aliens cool? Her mood was switched in three mere seconds and she returned home to show off to her roommate.

But her roommate was too sharp-tongued and said that the color looked like vegetable juice, the fact that his own hair looked like tomato juice notwithstanding.

" - Crunch, crunch, crunch crunch..."

Her roommate was chewing on some plastic toys as per usual today, like a dog.

No, not like a dog; he veritably was a dog, and these toys had been bought from the pet store anyways.

He was a short young man with fiery red hair, and his eyes were sharp like those of a hungry beast. And though he had a face as elegant as a girl's, he was not cute at all. He was an arrogant and egotistical person.

He didn't have a name yet, but he was not too concerned with this. Still, it was troublesome to go on without having a name, and so, she had been thinking one up since the morning. She finally decided on one after a day of thinking.

"... Crunchy, crunchy - hmm?"

He took the toy out of his mouth and revealed his cute baby teeth. Not only were they cute, the strength of these teeth was also astonishing. It would hurt to get bitten by him – the various uneven teeth marks on the hard toys were evidence enough of that.

Only two people lived in this small apartment, barely a size of four and half tatamis. There was almost no furniture in the room due to her poverty, and it looked terrible. Indeed, the entirety of her furnishings consisted of three storage boxes she bought during a sale, and a case that contained the worn guitar she had brought from her home.

“Your name –

Breaksun suddenly pointed at the boy, who was spacing out, and declared: “You shall be Nikuyama Kajiri!”

“…”

He looked expressionless, like a puppy that was drenched by a water gun. There were hardly any changes to his expression, and he was really like a dog. Why?

“… Crunch, grind.”

She felt like he ignored her.

Her red-haired roommate was chewing on toys again.

“Don’t ignore me! Isn’t this a good name, Kajiri?”

Breaksun tilted her head and looked at him. He took out the toy from his mouth again and looked at her with some spite: “… Breako’s sense of color and language are both rather weird.”

“I’m not Breako! I’m Breaksun Hanselmine!”

Breaksun declared this while puffing out her chest. His reaction was not a happy one: “I can’t remember such a long name. Tch, and what's this 'Kajiri'? And what’s Nikuyama? Meat-Mountain – is that even a human name?!”

“… You’re complaining a lot… It took me some effort to think it up. I’ll be upset at ungrateful people like you! You won’t get toys anymore!”

She suddenly snatched the toy from him, still wet with his drool.

“Aaaah –”

He immediately looked like he was going to cry. Breaksun returned the toy straight away. She was most terrified of this guy’s pitiful looks. Breaksun wasn’t good at dealing with other people’s negative emotions, and yet his sentiments were so frank and unpolished.

While she was worrying about this, he chewed the toy in supreme happiness and asked: “… So did you get a job today?”

“Not at all. I’ve been circling the town since morning, and no jobs dropped in front of me.”

“Are jobs things that will drop onto the road??”

“It’s only a simile. I’m a poet.”

Breaksun puffed up her chest and praised herself, but he ignored her.

“… Tch, that’s not a problem. We won’t die even if we don’t have enough money to eat. It won’t matter if we don’t force ourselves to work.”

“Don’t say that. The duty to go to work is legislated by the Japanese Constitution.”

“You even brought out the Constitution. You really do like rules, and yet your existence is something outside of all the rules.”

She couldn’t understand what he meant, but it probably wasn’t anything good.

Breaksun couldn’t help but be upset at his naturally emotionless face and stretched her hand towards him, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed and chewing his toy. He would probably keep chewing for eternity if she left him alone.

“Uuuuu….!” He became alarmed, perhaps thinking that the toy would be taken away again. However, Breaksun casually pulled him up out of the bed.

“Let’s go eat. Let’s go have dinner.”

“You still feel hungry? So strange. Judging from the time when you got the Fragment, such feelings should have disappeared by now.”

“I don’t know. Who cares. Eat, let’s go eat!”

She dragged him out forcibly and Breaksun opened the door. According to Kajiri, she seemed to have received a “Greater Fragment of God”. Her body should no longer feel hunger, pain, and temperature. That was not what she was feeling at all, though. How did that happen?

Who cares. Let’s just go eat dinner now.

“Aaah –”

Whoever fixed the door did a shoddy job and she seemed to have smacked the door into someone. Breaksun was a little shocked and retracted back. She was reassured when she saw who that person was and smiled.

“Good evening, Ring-Bell.”

“Ah, good evening, Break-nee.”

The girl who was greeting them humbly was named Usagawa Rinne. In this apartment complex, where the rent and the environment were both vastly below average, Rinne lived next door to Breaksun. Rinne was a good girl rare in the current era, and Breaksun liked her a lot.

Rinne had a head of pale pink hair, and was wearing the uniform of the nearby high school. She was holding the keys to her room, as if she just came back from somewhere.

“Ring-Bell, did you go to work again today?’

“Ah? Yes, at the post office.”

She was a very poor student. This was evident from her living in this apartment alone and having to work every day. On that point, she was much better than Breaksun, who remained unemployed.

“Um…”

Breaksun silently prayed for Rinne’s happiness, and discovered Kajiri was standing mutely behind her. Breaksun was a bit flustered and spoke with her best expressionless face:

“Oh. This is my little lover… Ah, should I say Lover Number One? We are intimate everyday and enjoy ourselves with food and drinks, and he’s definitely not someone weird I picked up from a dark forest!”

Breaksun’s skills in lying were abysmal.

“Urk – Ah, well. Um…” Although Rinne was confused, she still smiled at Kajiri, who hid behind Breaksun and was as alarmed as a dog. “I’m Usagawa Rinne. A pleasure to meet you.”

“…”

This doggie, on the other hand, was very rude. He didn’t respond to the girl’s humble greeting and glared sideways at Rinne as if she was his enemy, shivering.

Yes, he was terrified of strangers.

Breaksun was already quite bad at communicating with others – no, she was very bad at it – but he was exaggeratedly terrible at it. This scene was bound to be repeated every time he met someone new, and it really frustrated Breaksun.

“Ah, I’m sorry, Ring-Bell. He is very shy. Alright Kajiri, say hello. She’s a good girl and won’t bite or bark, and she won’t get upset and destroy everything around her.” Breaksun said all this with seriousness, but Rinne’s expression changed a little. Kajiri was rather obedient and nodded towards Rinne, while mumbling a greeting: “… Hello.”

“Ordinary people won’t greet others in that way. Kajiri is way too shy. Ah, I’m sorry Ring-Bell.”

“Ah – don’t worry about it.”

Kajiri looked away from Rinne and started pulling on his own clothes, as if unable to bear talking with a stranger. Why? Of course, Rinne was a rare acquaintance with whom Breaksun was able to talk freely. Neither of them were upset with his rude behavior, but it was more or less awkward. “Well, good bye, we’re going to have dinner now. Right, that girl living with Ring-Bell –”

She remembered her name after some thinking. “Ah, Guriko. Please say hello to her for me. Bye-bye!” Breaksun waved goodbye and Rinne smiled happily. “Alright Break-nee, have a pleasant evening – oh, how do I say it? Well, Break-nee, Kajiri-san, see you later.”

“…Guriko?”

Kajiri, for some reason, responded to that name, but Rinne did not notice it and returned to her room. Breaksun asked Kajiri curiously as they stood in front of the closed door.

“Kajiri, you know Guriko?”

“Mmm – no, I’ve only heard that name before.”

He began to become vague again and started pulling on his clothes. “…Let’s go quickly. It’ll be very crowded in the restaurant otherwise.”

“Alright alright.” Breaksun replied with a smile. Her face was very tender as she pondered how this boy got so docile all of a sudden.

The situation with Usagawa Rinne, the girl living next door, took on an incredible change a few weeks later. The two of them also went through an unimaginable event.

Breaksun had a kind of feeling towards Kajiri that was more close to egotism than love.

She was happy whenever she was with Kajiri. She would feel happy even if they were just conversing normally.

She was someone incapable of building up relationships with other people.

If one were to draw one’s relationships with other humans as lines, then Breaksun’s lines were disappearing one by one.

Most people were completely oblivious to her when she talks to them.

Even if she occasionally made a friend, that person would completely forget about her the next day.

She simply could not become intimate with others. Other humans were only passer-bys in Breaksun’s eyes. She had missed out on endless rendezvouses; her relationships broke up one after the other. At the end, Breaksun was left all on her own, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Her father told her it was the erosion of cause and effect.

…

Breaksun didn’t really understand what that meant.

“Every shop is so crowded.”

There were people queuing up in front of every restaurant in the shopping district. Groups of high school students noisily passed by in the middle of the road. The quick movement of all these people crushed Breaksun, and she kept muttering unhappily under her breath. She was wearing a completely out-of-fashion old dress, her head sporting long curly green hair that she just dyed, and she walked forward while tightly holding on to the hand of a red-headed boy – such an appearance would usually attract lots of attention. However, incredibly, nobody even looked at Breaksun.

As if she was a pebble lying next to the road, no one recognized her.

This was a world full of stimuli.

Images, sounds, scents, touch… The human brain filters through all the various stimuli and selects the information it needs. The brain would explode if we received all the information at once and processed them all.

And Breaksun seemed to be unnecessary information that was automatically expelled from human brains.

Breaksun tried to approach a student walking on the road, and she stared at him straight in the eyes. However, he completely ignored her, and did not appear to see her.

Even if Breaksun was holding a knife right now and stabbed him, he might have died like this without realizing who the murderer was.

“An inborn mechanism to conceal yourself...”

“…Huh?”

As soon as she ranted about something, Kajiri would turn his head and look towards her. He could recognize her, and so could establish a human relationship with her.

Therefore, Breaksun needed him, and she loved him with a sentiment akin to egotism.

They walked on together side by side. As if they were wraiths, no one even looked at them.

“…This might not work if we eat in a shop. Let’s just buy some food from a convenience store?”

“Mmm, sure. Breaksun would be completely ignored by the staff in a restaurant, and we can’t order.”

Indeed.

Breaksun, transparent to everyone else as she was, faced many obstacles in daily life. It had been like this ever since she was very young, and she had gotten used to it from long ago. Kajiri looked towards Breaksun, who bent her body slightly forward, with his astonishingly innocent eyes.

His eyes were big and bottomless, as if he was an animal that knew no malice.

“Breako, let me remove your erosion of cause and effect.”

He touched the sharp crucifix hanging off his neck.

“Don’t you want to live an ordinary life? Don’t you want to be an ordinary human? You saved me from that forest, where time had stopped. I can fulfill your wishes as compensation.”

His irises were of a dark red color, like that of rubies. That pair of innocent eyes were completely different from those of other humans, which were mixed with impurities such as sentiments and desires. However, his eyes were terrifying because of that. It was as if his eyes had a cold aura about them.

“If there is anything you are displeased with in this world, then I can annihilate it. If there is anything you feel to be unjust on this Earth, then I can completely destroy it. This is my room. Nothing is impossible.”

“…”

He said all this with a serious face. However Breaksun, who looked at him, still smiled vaguely as usual and softly patted his head.

“I’m very happy.”

Kajiri looked surprised. Breaksun muttered to herself casually: “I have Kajiri with me, the food I eat is very delicious, I sleep very well, and I will forget everything unpleasant as soon as I start to sing. I am very content. I am really, genuinely content.”

Breaksun’s face was full of tenderness as she spoke, as if she was educating a young child.

“So Kajiri doesn’t need to change the world for me. Your life force would be reduced whenever you use your power, no? It doesn’t matter how glorious the world is or how happy it is. All that would lose its meaning if Kajiri started to suffer.”

There was a convenience store at the end of the shopping street not far from them.

“Please don’t do anything and just stay by me, alright? My dear God?”

“… I’m not a god!” Kajiri turned his head aside, but a comforted smile surfaced on his face.

Breaksun was sitting in the courtyard of a nearby shrine, and her mouth was stuffed with menchikatsu she bought at the convenience store.

There was no one here and was very spacious and quiet. Only the wind listlessly blew the fallen leaves round and round.

“Kajiri, you are not going to eat?”

Kajiri was sitting cross-legged on the stone steps and peering curiously at the street below.

Despite the age and dilapidation of the shrine and its small size, it was located on high ground and offered a good view at the top.

Kajiri grinned to show his baby teeth and carelessly looked far into the distance like a cat. Upon hearing the question, he looked impatiently at Breaksun, whose cheeks were stuffed full with food: “Seriously, do I have to tell you again? I don’t need such things. I can’t feel hunger, temperature, or pain. Do you understand that?”

“What about taste?”

“No taste for me either! So I can’t enjoy eating even if I do eat.”

“Jesus Christ!” Breaksun yelled in English, her mother tongue, and looked pitifully at Kajiri. “I’m going to cry because of you. Not being able to taste any food – what a cruel and despairing Hell that would be!”

“… No, it’s not that bad.”

Breaksun sat down next to Kajiri, who was spacing out, and munched on the menchikatsu while muttering to herself: “Mmmm… Munch…. So delicious!”

“… Good.”

“I want Kajiri to experience the joy of food too!”

A beautiful sunset and a view of the street as if looking at a miniature set made up the scene before them. Breaksun suddenly put her hand on her chest and laughed.

“Right. Let me sing and pass this touching emotion to Kajiri. The title shall be ‘The Song of How Delicious Menchikatsu Is.”

“… No thanks.”

“Fuuuu – ”

Breaksun took in a deep breath and completely ignored Kajiri’s words. The scent of fallen leaves was mixed into the air during the sunset, and it felt very nice to have that filling her lungs.

The happiness that filled her heart and the simple thought of Kajiri metamorphosed into tunes and lyrics and flew out of her body spontaneously.

“Crunchy – ” Her mouth started to sing before she realized it. “Crunch – crunchy – chew chew~” Was it even a song? “Don’t eat me, don’t eat me, don’t eat me~”

“Hold on Breako! You’re singing in the menchikatsu's point of view! You shifted your position to that of the menchikatsu! That’s scary, and disgusting! You’re not going to pass on the happiness of eating menchikatsu!”

“…Am I going to die?”

“Come back! Come back from thinking like a menchikatsu! Breako!”

After Kajiri shook her forcibly, Breako finally regained her original sense of self. Her consciousness would disappear whenever she immersed himself into singing, and she would behave as if she was drunk and could fall to the floor.

“…Hehehe, I failed.” She knocked her own head.

“I’ve been thinking, maybe you lack the talent to sing.”

“No, no. There is no bird in the world that refuses to sing because it lacks talent, right?” Breaksun smiled without any embarrassment. “I sing because I want to sing. Happiness, joy, sorrow, loneliness – one would collapse if you hole up too much of these emotions inside. That’s why people rant to each other, draw random shapes, or open their mouths and sing confused words to release their emotions. But I have no one to talk to, so I can only sing.”

She’d been like this ever since she was young, and she kept singing like a bird. Even though singing couldn’t communicate a lot, it was better than doing nothing.

“I love this world. It’s so wonderful to be born. It’s so wonderful to be alive in this world. I was given life, and I am very grateful to the world for that… Therefore, Kajiri, I will sing to the world – I will continue to pass on this sentiment of gratitude till the end.”

Hiss – Breaksun took in a deep breath and started to sing loudly.

“Lost lost little kitten – turning turning come to eat.”

“… I would think the World will feel rather confused when it hears this song.”

He always felt anxious whenever night falls.

What would he do if dawn never appeared again? What would he do if the world became like that gloomy and dark forbidden forest again and all dreams, hopes, and light disappeared?

The red-haired boy given the strange name of Nikuyama Kajiri – no, the immortal with the appearance of a boy - was terrified of the monstrous dark and shivered.

What would he do if his current life was only a beautiful dream?

Or what if he was tricked again – what would he do if he was again isolated in that eternal solitude?

“– Then, good night!”

The two of them strolled around till dusk after they finished dinner in the shrine in town. It seemed to have become a necessary part of their everyday lives. Breaksun usually talked without stopping during this time.

She told the boy many many things.

Things such as this era was named the Heisei Period; such as how the governance of this country is split into that of the executive, legislative, and the judicial branches; such as how there are no more wars. Apart from these more general things, she also talked about how the dessert with the sweet stuffing from the sweet shop in the shopping street was a supreme treat, how cats with black tails have fleas and shouldn’t be touched, and other such nonsensical things.

She had always wanted to talk to people, but could not do so because her supernatural ability. Therefore, like a teenage girl who had been locked up in her room for a long time, she kept talking endless trash talk that made no sense.

Apart from talking endlessly, she also took Kajiri to play in amusement parks and zoos, and used the only bit of money she had left to buy video games to play with him. She spent every day dragging Kajiri around, making him experience all sorts of things.

Kajiri didn’t know what to do. He usually did not respond to Breaksun, but it wasn’t unpleasant either.

“… It’s probably time to sleep, Kajiri?”

It was seven o’clock at night. Although it was late, it was too early to sleep. Breaksun had the habit to sleep very early since she had nothing to do at home, and had too much time on her hands. Kajiri had to conform to her habit and get into bed early.

It was the time for Breaksun to use her unintelligible foreign language to pray for Kajiri once they turned off the lights.

He didn’t respect this habit, but nor did he laugh at her. She could pray if she wanted to pray. She could sing if she wanted to sing.

However, in this world where God was broken and shattered, neither song nor prayer had any meaning.

But that was fine if it could heal Breaksun’s heart. Compared to Kajiri, who stayed beside her but could give her nothing, the one she was praying to might actually save her.

“…” Kajiri decided to ignore her and pretended to sleep on the bed. He was still unaccustomed to talking with other people.

The long years of solitude had robbed away all of Kajiri’s sociability.

The narrow, four-and-a-half-tatami sized room only had a single mattress, so Breaksun and Kajiri slept together. She never treated Kajiri as a male, but something like a dog or a cat. She would hum some strange lullaby as she petted his head.

“Sleep quietly~ Cherry pudding~”

He had no idea what she was singing.

Kajiri’s body unconsciously shrank back when someone else’s fingers touched him. So scary. Other people were so scary.

That forest and those cruel people who locked him up seemed to resurface again in the darkness.

“Sleep after having eaten your full~ Cherry pudding~”

PoisonCatastrophe. Melodia NoiseTear Song. Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest.

Those were the names of the ones who locked him up due to their fear of Single Room’s powers. PoisonCatastrophe – Would Breaksun, who inherited this Greater Fragment, leave him behind just like they did in the past? He did not know for sure.

He should not trust anyone. He was unwilling to trust anyone. If he started to believe again, then –

The boy called Kajiri closed his eyes tight and was afraid of everything around him.

Why was Breaksun so gentle to him? She did not ask for compensation and stayed with him as if she was meant to be there, and slept with him while singing lullabies for him.

At least – yes, if she at least bore some evil intent as she caressed him, then Kajiri would be able to fearlessly hate everything about this world.

But Breaksun’s hand, which caressed his head in the darkness, was infinitely gentle.

When he came to, he realized he had just fallen asleep.

As an immortal, sleep was something like a hobby, which could be controlled with his consciousness.

Sleep was originally the required time for the brain and the body to rest, and to allow the information gathered while awake to be re-organized.

However, as he was now a Fragment of God, his body would never get tired and he did not need to rest. His mind also organized information in a different way, and the act ended the moment it began.

It was simply boring to never sleep. It felt good to just not think of anything, and just calmly discard all consciousness – such times were great times of happiness for immortals.

Melodia NoiseTear Song.

PoisonCatastrophe.

Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest.

For Kajiri, who had endured betrayal from his three friends, who had been cursed with not having any connections in the world, and who had been isolated in the gloomy forest, a restful sleep was his most familiar state of being. In order to pass the maddening eternal solitude, Kajiri kept sleeping like Sleeping Beauty, forgotten by the world.

It should probably have continued like that forever.

Just like in a fairytale, the unfortunate people will become happy, evil will finally be destroyed, and the world will definitely become peaceful if the beautiful maiden was always found by the prince.

But there were no saviours in reality. All of Kajiri’s expectations and hopes were destroyed, and he spent his life meaninglessly at the bottom of the valley of despair.

– I am PoisonCatastrophe. She spoke the name of the one who had betrayed Kajiri.

– Are you Single Room? She called out to him using the ‘role’ that the world gave him, that ominous name.

– Please help me. She muttered these words with a voice as soft as drizzling rain.

What did Breaksun want from Kajiri? She took him into the outside world and had lived with him for a few weeks now, but he still had no answer to that question. He had told her many times that he could fulfill her wishes as long as she voiced them, but she always simply smiled and said she was happy as she was. He did not understand her at all.

Other had always sought the omnipotent power within the Greater Fragment named Single Room, and kept asking for Kajiri’s help.

They wanted to change this world.

They wanted to be happy.

Humans kept wishing for such things over and over.

No – it wasn’t limited to humans. All beings who approached him had the same goal. Even supernatural beings like PoisonCatastrophe, Melodia NoiseTear Song, and Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest had asked Single Room to fulfill their wishes innumerable times.

He had thought that was how it was meant to be. That this was his ‘role’. Kajiri was permitted to exist because he fulfilled other’s wishes. That was the reason and meaning of his existence.

But Breaksun made no wishes.

Kajiri thought she was a very strange woman.

“ –”

He suddenly woke up.

Time seemed to have completely stopped. The chirping of crickets could be clearly heard through the apartment’s thin walls. Kajiri was a little perplexed at waking up so suddenly. Did his subconscious sense danger? He wasn’t sure.

“…Breako?”

Breaksun wasn’t there.

At first he thought she might have gone to the toilet, but there were no signs of it.

Kajiri suddenly became fully awake and began to feel uneasy.

Was he abandoned in the darkness all on his own again –? He couldn’t help but feel terrified when he thought of this.

“…”

Kajiri wanted to wait for a while at this spot, but he could not stop himself from coming up with worst-case scenarios in his head and stood up nervously. He could not lie around so casually. Just where did Breaksun go? Did she leave him behind?

Her duvet was still warm. It hasn't been long since she left.

At the end, Kajiri ran anxiously out of the room.

“Hey, am I a bit strange recently?”

“I’ve always felt that Miku was strange…”

“It’s more like you’ve finally realized what you are…”

“Stop it! I’m being serious! I’m really scary whenever I get angry! How do I say this… I’d get cold for no reason recently. My body would start shivering, and I would be so anxious and startle awake at night.”

“…”

“What? Why aren’t you talking to me? Is it really so strange to talk about these teen issues?”

“No – it’s not like you’re the only one with these problems, Miku.”

“Mayu? Huh, where’s Mayu?”

“What’s wrong Rei-chan?... Oh, where’s Mayu-chan?”

“I’m looking for her too. How did she disappear so quickly?”

“…No way?”

“Woah! What’s this? Mysteriously disappearing? Eeek –”

“Such a bother! Recently it’s just – really annoying!”

“Teehee!”

Kajiri ran out of the house blindly, but he was hindered by Breaksun’s so-called “inborn mechanism to conceal oneself”, an ability that allowed no one to notice her. Even his eyes had limits. Kajiri became completely lost after he ran for just a little while.

His untidy red hair, which was tied up haphazardly, waved from left to right like the tail of a puppy.

“… Crunch, crunch!”

He anxiously chewed the doggie toy he brought with him. He couldn’t recall when he started having this hobby. What he knew was that his mind would become calmer whenever he did that. Breaksun would stop him from chewing on this when they strolled in the street, saying it was disgraceful. However, that women, who was so pedantic about the weirdest details, was currently missing.

“…Phew!”

He spat the fragments of the toy that he chewed off to the side of the dim road.

“It’s more difficult than I imagined. The erosion of cause and effect brought about by PoisonCatastrophe – Tch, I can’t find her at all. Breako, just where exactly did she go?”

Kajiri mumbled unhappily as he wandered in the empty shopping district. He didn’t know what the time was, but it must be very late at night. All the shops have closed for the day. Only some bars still had rays of light coming out of the windows, and some drunkards were crowded around those establishments.

With his sharp nose, Kajiri smelt the thick smell of alcohol wafting through the air. He frowned, then turned towards dark and deserted streets in search of Breaksun.

“…Hmm?”

He saw the school building of the Kannonsakazaki High School after he walked for a while. It was an old school, and the exterior did not look very special. Kajiri had walked throughout this town many times with Breaksun, and knew a thing or two about this school.

“The school? She couldn’t possibly be here, right?” He looked around with alarm. Just then, a group of people walked out of the gates of Kannonsakazaki High School. They were girls wearing uniforms, and they had probably stayed behind to study or for club activities. That would be why they stayed till such a late time. With his human-phobia, Kajiri hid behind the fences of the school without thinking.

“– That’s right!” “– Isn’t it?” The girls chatted as they walked and did not discover Kajiri at all while walking past him. They chatted chirpily and did not notice him at all.

Kajiri took a deep sigh and hugged his shivering body tightly.

“…Damn it, so embarrassing. Stop shaking…”

He had been betrayed by the friends whom he had trusted, and had been separated from the world in solitude for hundreds of years. Kajiri was very scared of other people. If others so much as approached or touched him, he would feel the fear of betrayal. Even such innocent young girls would make him terrified. He had the power to create the world and was the existence closest to God. He was Single Room, the brain of God – and yet he was such a coward. How laughable.

“…Huff, Huff…”

It was better when Breaksun was next to him. Although they’d only been together for a short period of time, Kajiri had started to understand her personality a little.

She was rather naïve, did not defend herself against other people, and didn’t have a single thought about tricking or using others. Breaksun kept calling Kajiri a doggie, but her personality was more like an animal.

She was naïve and innocent. She had perhaps never thought much of anything.

Fundamentally, although Kajiri still could not trust others, he was starting to like Breaksun. Although he still harbored doubts and was afraid of traps, he could still feel that having such a paranoid guard against others was ridiculous.

But other humans were still scary. Just walking alone in a street of humans would make his breathing accelerate, would make his heart beat faster, and cold sweat start to pour down from his neck.

“Phew –” So useless. He had become astonishingly weak.

“Single Room. Confirmed.” A strange sound suddenly appeared next to him. “Information update. Single Room’s current location, current appearance, current Fragment power reserve, and –”

It was a voice like the falsetto of a man and the contralto of a woman; an unique voice that could not be copied – such a voice flew into Kajiri’s ear.

“You… are –”

It was a plain and ordinary girl standing there.

She wore the uniform of the Kannosakazaki High School. She wore fashionable make-up, and her hair and jewellery were somewhat unique. She carried a school bag and had leather shoes on. She looked quite plain, with the kind of face that people would not notice even if they walked past her on the street.

But her eyes were red.

They sparkled with a strange inner light and looked at him emotionlessly, like the eyes of an insect.

“Update complete.”

The girl continued with an even tone, completely devoid of personality or emotions.

“It has been 834 years 7 months 11 days 2 hours 5 minutes and 2 seconds since we last met, Single Room. Do you still remember how to use us – God Mushi Emperor? I have the duty to explain everything to you, and you have the right to demand explanations from me.”

“… It’s been a long time, Information-Broker.”

Kajiri replied in a low voice. He had a rare, genuine expression on his face, without any of the shivers that accompanied his meetings with other people.

What stood before him was not human. It had no emotions, no sense of self, no personality, no individual will – everything that defined an ‘individual’ was gone. Therefore, it would never betray him. It was an almost mechanical existence, and therefore he did not need to fear it. She stood there blankly, and her hair swayed in the wind.

“Information-Broker is only one of our roles. That is not an appropriate name. Please call us ‘Mushi’, or ‘Insects’, or you may call us by our real name, ‘God Mushi Emperor’.”

Kajiri crossed his arms and smiled sarcastically, showing his canine teeth. She was only one of the 666 split bodies of the existence named God Mushi Emperor, one of the terminals that served the collective.

“I’ve almost completely forgotten you lot. So, you – Information-Broker – appeared just to let others know that I have successfully escaped from that place?”

“I do not understand what you mean by ‘that place’. Please tell me the name of the location. Also, we do not trade information. Information-Broker is not an appropriate name.”

The Mushi tilted its head, maintaining an emotionless face.

Kajiri considered for a while, but he did not know the exact name of the forest where he was once imprisoned. He scratched his head and started while staring at the insect. “…Ah, so boring. Someone probably caught a Mushi – one of you – and is investigating about me. Therefore, you’ve already passed the information about me being here to other people, right?”

“Yes, indeed so.”

She said with her unique, unpredictable tone that could be either respectful or rude.

“We are the Nerves and Blood Vessels of God – the Sensory Organ and the Digestive Organ are asking us about the other parts of God, and we can only rely what we know. That is our ‘role’ – have you forgotten that, Single Room?”

“…”

How bothersome, Kajiri thought. PoisonCatastrophe was fine, but Melodia NoiseTear Song and Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest were those who betrayed him and locked him in that place. If they knew he already escaped, they might attack him fearing his revenge. He was now terrified of people, and a part of the power of his Fragment had been spent during his long imprisonment; Kajiri could not be totally confident about beating those others if it came to a fight. Breaksun also seemed unable to use her abilities properly, let alone fight with it. Moreover, he did not completely trust her yet.

He must manage on his own. Breaksun should be fine as long as she was singing her odd and spontaneous songs somewhere. That suited her best.

“…Hmm?”

Breaksun. Indeed.

She was currently missing – he should be able to find her using the information network of the Mushi. He decided to lay aside his own affairs for now and consider his next moves later. He must find Breaksun first. He could not rest otherwise.

“Mushi, do you know the current whereabouts of PoisonCatastrophe?”

“… Please wait a minute.”

Yes, Breaksun has inherited the Greater Fragment named PoisonCatastrophe, one of the seven ‘roles’ of the broken God. She has the power to corrode and twist cause and effect – it was the terrifying Fragment that once collapsed the Tower of Babel and threw the entire human race into chaos and confusion.

It was only that, she couldn’t yet control that terrifying power. Rather, she could not easily manipulate that power based on her own will. He didn’t know why, but her power was born with her and activated naturally rather than under her direct control. This should increase the chances of finding her.

Right then – “PoisonCatastrophe, God’s Communication Organ, has been located.” Its red eyes sparkled with light as the Mushi silently turned to him. “However, due to PoisonCatastrophe’s corrosion of cause and effect, the reliability of this information has been reduced. Is that alright?”

“…”

It couldn’t be helped. He wanted any kind of information, any at all. Breaksun was the woman who saved him and stayed with him till now. Kajiri will definitely save her if she was in danger.

“PoisonCatastrophe’s current location – is over there.”

The Mushi pointed towards a building far to the distance and said evenly.

“Her precise location cannot be ascertained due to her corrosion of cause and effect. This concludes our analysis of PoisonCatastrophe’s current location.”

“Hold on! You only said ‘over there’. I can’t work with that!”

Kajiri followed up with his question, but that was useless. The Mushi could only communicate what it understood. No matter how he threatened or entreated, it could not explain Breaksun’s whereabouts with more detail.

While he thought about this –

“– Extra information.” The Mushi looked at Kajiri and started with a low voice again. “There is another Greater Fragment next to PoisonCatastrophe.”

“What did you say…?”

There was another Greater Fragment next to PoisonCatastrophe – next to Breaksun. Single Room – himself – was right here, so God Mushi Emperor shouldn’t be referring to him with the term “Greater Fragment”. Then it must be one of the others. Was it Melodia NoiseTear Song, Ultimate ShieldThe Weakest, Sterilization Disinfection, or Unpleasant Counter-Current?

“It’s Melodia NoiseTear Song.”

The Mushi coldly pronounced the name of another Greater Fragment that had once upon a time betrayed Kajiri.

She was afraid of being scolded for dying her hair, but her commissioner seemed completely disinterested in it and did not make a comment. That was fine – her role had nothing to do with her appearance. Worrying about that was pointless. Breaksun sighed softly.

The night has just begun. Such a long night it will be.

Her night job, which she did not tell her roommate out of shyness and kept going as a secret – has begun.

She took off her mundane clothes and put on a magnificent and perverted long dress that was enough to drive a designer mad. Rather than fashionable, it was more like the appearance of a devil worshipper. The girl named Breaksun Hanselmine had disappeared. From now on, she had changed into something inhuman, an absolute existence.

“Are you ready?”

She was sitting in the dressing room and waiting for her turn on the stage. The TV in the room suddenly begun to glow and a sound came out of it. Her manager seemed to loath making appearances. Breaksun didn’t even know if her manager was male or female. She knew neither the appearance nor voice of the person who entered her into this career.

The digitally altered voice started speaking after Breaksun finished changing.

“Do entertain us well tonight like usual, Breaksun Hanselmine.”

“… Alright, Joker.”

Breaksun smiled gently and stood up brusquely, then kicked open the door of the dressing room.

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