Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 7 Prologue (section)

==0.01 The Others==
A girl was running frantically through a dim woodland path.

"Hah…! Hah…!"

Adding to her plain appearance of wearing a shirt and jeans, her eyes with their black-rimmed glasses were hidden by her bangs. The more the tall girl ran, the more the leather suitcase she was grasping with both hands shook.

"I can't do this! Why is this even—"

Her mouth adorned by a small beauty mark warped in agony. Her teeth chattered, more out of fatigue than of fear. She seemed likely to fall down at any moment, but she still held on tight to the old-fashioned suitcase. The rack attached to it rattled annoyingly.

She stuck her shaking hand into her pocket, retrieving a cellphone.

"Loci-chan…! I-is that monster still after us?"

She groaned toward the cellphone. However, let alone not even making any call with it, the flip phone wasn't even open.

The one to answer the girl's question was a white object hanging from the phone's strap.

It had a spherical body with a lustrous surface that looked like it could be either plastic or metal. With two glass-bead-like eyes and two folded sickles, it was a toy shaped like a deformed insect.

The little toy shook.

Rising slowly, it pulled at the cellphone as if pointing behind the girl.

"Eeek…!"

The girl's face distorted in despair. She was able to perceive an ominous presence pursuing her. She hurriedly put the phone back in her pocket.

She breathed in deeply while running. The clear air of April left her nose.

She looked up to the sky dyed by sunset and yelled.

"I HATE Mushi!"

A giant shadow swooped down from behind. An impact not unlike that of a falling meteor shook the area.

Coming from the sky was a large monster.

Its short and stout body was divided into multiple joints and it had more than ten legs sporting sharp claws. On its back a pair of crest-like wings expanded. One could look at it as a cross between a butterfly and an arthropod, yet its size was incomparable to a normal insect.

A human figure stood on the back of this foul monster that was three times the girl's height. It was a boy with a beastly expression. It was obvious from a glance at his face that his mental condition was abnormal.

The monster closed in on the girl with much quicker movements than its appearance indicated was possible. Unable to fit inside the narrow road, its solid carapace collapsed the trees around as it passed.

The monster roared. Its harpoon-like legs were launched at the girl.

"Eeek!"

Holding her glasses with one hand, the girl jumped frantically.

The drill-like leg was a hairsbreadth away from piercing the girl. It crushed the ground and split the road with a deafening roar.

"I can't—I hate Mushi—they'd never gotten crazy like this—you monster…!"

With her teeth chattering, the girl mumbled to herself. She was desperately running away so even she didn't understand what she was saying.

"Where's the Spirit Zone…!"

As she rushed through the road, suddenly the field of her vision opened up.

The center of the nature park came to a small pond.

"Umm, if I recall correctly the Zone here has a wind-controlling ability… I think the activation method was by stimulating the pond—"

The monster launched its leg at the same time the girl took a pebble and threw it into the pond.

The pebble fell inside, creating ripples.

"…!"

The fallen leaves covering the area all started dancing at once.

With a gale bursting at her feet, the girl's body was thrown to the air. The monster's leg pierced the space the girl had occupied just a split second before.

It wasn't only the girl that had been thrown away by the tornado; the boy riding on the monster's back was also lightly blown away from the surface.

"You monsterrr!!!"

The girl swung her suitcase with all of her power toward the monster in front of her.

In the end she only had human strength. She obviously couldn't inflict damage to a monster. She could merely slightly divert its path while it was caught by the wind.

Using just that, the girl was able to reach a completely different conclusion.

Blown away by the tornado, the girl was pounded against a tall tree. The impact from falling down numbed her whole body, but she didn't break any bones.

"Hah…! Hah…!"

Raising her leaf-covered face, she fixed her glasses.

The girl knew all about the supernatural phenomenon that had assaulted the surroundings just now. Both how it happened and what course the wind would take.

And so the girl had sent the monster to a different direction than her.

To where the worst conclusion awaited it.

"…!"

Unable to escape the tornado, the monster was sucked into the center of the raging wind.

A flash of light pierced the skies.

A condensed lance of wind pierced the monster's body. Its death throes echoed around.

Somewhat belatedly, the monster's master—the boy—crashed into the ground. Probably having lost his consciousness, he didn't move.

When the flash of light was gone, the wind also stopped.

All that remained was the dying monster.

"Hah… I thought I was dead for sure this time…"

The girl approached the tree while hugging her suitcase. She lifted up her bangs covering the glasses and gazed up the orange sky.

"Yeah, I knew I wasn't good enough…"

Escaping her predicament, her head was once again filled with her own complex.

She was slightly taller than other girls her age, but had no other way to distinguish herself. Due to her nearsightedness she couldn't let go of her glasses, and her personality was not bright. She didn't know how to take care of her hair, and all of her clothes were plain and not eye-catching at all.

"Can I really beat the Demon Lord like this…?"

Satou Youko.

Even her name was one that could be found anywhere.

Perhaps that was too big of a burden for someone like her.

"Being the Hero isn't easy."

Youko's sigh dispersed the glowing residue of the wind.

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