Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 10 Prologue (section)

== 0.01 The Others ==

Did her childhood friend remember that very first lie uttered in this park?

More than ten years passed since then.

The world changed.

The biggest change of all—was the appearance of Mushi.

She grew and became proficient at wielding lies. On the other hand, her comrade in lies was probably bad at them even now.

She mumbled softly.

“Can you see this?”

She was currently standing on a gigantic stage.

The hundreds, no, thousands of people gathered around below her were all waiting for Kanon’s words. All of them were clad in bizarre coats—in ceremonial robes.

Looking down at the arrayed “believers”, she too was clad in these ceremonial robes. Crowned with a wreath of laurel leaves, she was also holding a khakkhara staff in hand.

The ghost town full of buildings being constructed was enveloped in an abnormal silence.

“The pair’s lie will now change the world…”

The childhood friend that she was whispering to was not there.

However, Kanon would surely come there. Along with those scary Mushitsuki.

And she would use them—as sacrifices.

That was why she kept on lying for so long.

“Kanon-sama…”

A voice rose from among the believers.

“Kanon-sama…!”

“Kanon-sama!”

“Kanon-samaaa!”

The voices became a chorus, cheers, and then shouts.

Answering their voices, she lifted her hands. All voices instantly stopped and silence returned.

“…”

Smiling, she turned to look at the towering building behind her.

This was a castle.

Illuminated by the setting sun, the shade of this medieval European-style white castle and its spire covered the desolate ground.

This was one thing they managed to obtain by Nakayama Kanon lying over and over again.

She had obtained this castle, a sacred place isolated from the impure world, and also hundreds of people—of Mushitsuki—to extol her.

Kanon’s lie was painting over reality.

Simply being weak allowed protection from the harsh truth.

“Kanon and all of you are weak. Very, very… weak.”

She spoke to the microphone set on stage.

“Losing, running away, and finally arriving here. All of you should be the same.”

None denied her words. They all just looked up at her face.

They all thought of dying many times before. None of the people there hesitated.

“Those who corner us are always strong people. …Being strong is nice, right?”

A roar reverberated.

The clouds floating in the east were dyed in red. That crimson, even more intense than the sun itself, created the shape of a Great Yama tiger beetle made of flames launching at the sky.

And yet her speech did not stop.

“This is because strong people are those who expose the secrets of bad guys, the heroes who vanquish them.”

This time an earthquake shook the ground. A white glow could be seen pouring down from the eastern sky.

It was snow.

In this period where summer just ended, pure-white snow was falling at the eastern sky.

“Weak people like us are only used by the strong people and get stepped on. They don’t even turn to look at the weak.”

Flames and blizzard, the two incarnations of destruction, were both approaching this place.

“Even now strong Mushitsuki are coming to kill us all. —But we’re fine.”

All the believers wore calm expression, not moving a muscle.

“We will probably not lose.”

The number of lies piled up by her and Kanon was innumerable.

At first it was mere mischief.

Next it was to gain a place where they belonged.

And while they joined hands and walked together—the number of people walking with them increased.

“Do you believe in Kanon?”

She asked.

All believers—smiled. She didn’t even need to ask for their answer.

“Kanon also believes in all of you.”

All of them were weak people who gathered here and admired and believed in Kanon.

It was her duty to protect all these important people.

Even if—she needed to draw enemies there, or deceive her childhood friend.

“Eliminate the wicked Mushitsuki approaching us!”

Raising the khakkhara above her head, she commanded.

“Our enemies are the Blaze Class Rank 1, Harukiyo! As well as Secret Class Rank 1, Fuyuhotaru!”

The believers all raised battle cries. The air shook with angry roars and fervor.

“We shall destroy them, and then embark on our final fight against the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau!”

She swung down her staff vigorously and shouted.

“Kanon and the believers now declare a Holy War!”

The lie she’d thought up with her childhood friend in the sandbox.

How did that small lie swell into such massive proportions?

She began to recall the eventful lives of the two liars that brought them to this point.


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