Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 9 Chapter 1 (section)

== 1.03 Nanana Part 3 ==
Since the Kind Magician came to her, Nanana once again did not ride her bus.

While waiting for the regular bus, Kidou Tsukasa held hands with Nanana. For Nanana, who’d lost her parents when she was little and had only the housekeeper care for her, just feeling a person’s warmth filled her heart. Her grandfather had invited her to another grand party, but because he was busy with work, he barely came to visit Nanana’s home.

“They apparently caught the attacker who caused trouble around here.”

When Nanana said this, the Kind Magician looked down at her and grinned.

“As well as the molester they’d warned us about at school.”

“Right.”

“You were the one who caught them, right?”

“…”

“Thank you very much.”

For Nanana, the Kind Magician was like a superhero. When she innocently said her thanks, Kidou Tsukasa smiled wryly and used her free hand to scratch at her cheek.

“I was definitely the one who handed him to the police… but I wasn’t the one who actually did this.”

“…?”

“Since I had no education, I can’t really explain things. It was, how do I put it, something like destiny. Something like the flow of things and events… I wasn’t the one who created this destiny this time.”

Nanana looked puzzled, so Tsukasa made a troubled face. She let her free hand stray in the air, desperately trying to explain. Seeing the older girl like that felt funny and endearing.

“Even when I use the word destiny, it doesn’t mean everything was decided. For example, imagine something like a bathtub full of hot water—and just like some rubber duckie, people and things are floating in it. If we take this case as an example, the ducks would be the attacker, the victims, and the police. They were all left to the bathtub’s gentle tide, either clashing or passing one another.”

“Hah…”

“Obtaining the reason and motive to catch them—so that you will not become a victim—I leapt into the bathtub. I became one of the duckies and mixed among them. My investigation caused yet another gentle flow. Affected by this flow, the actions of perpetrator and victims also changed. The rubber duckies mingled together chaotically.”

“Umm… huh?”

“This time, however, a beautiful, large swan cut across them.”

The Kind Magician sliced the air with her finger.

“It became a very large flow. We were all caught in it; not only the attacker, but me and the police as well. All of us duckies got flustered, drowned, and were swept the same way—the result that was destined for us. Me and the attacker just happened to clash in the midst of that. Something like that, maybe.”

[[File:Mushi Uta 9 p071.jpg|thumb]]

''Yup'', the Kind Magician nodded. She probably intended to finish her explanation there, so seeing Nanana still scowl, she hurriedly added more.


“It happens from time to time. A person who moves with a very violent—a very strong will and influence. They never look back, not even reflecting on the effects they have on others, and simply rush on headlong. —I believe that the flow called destiny was created by people like that. All of us were simply swept along by it.”

“People who… move with a strong will.”

“Although she moved for the sake of her classmates, this time the swan was very awkward and reckless… but such people brought forth the flow called fate.”

The Kind Magician smiled again.

“You have good friends.”

Nanana furrowed her brows. There were only very few people she could call her friends. The one she could call a true friend was probably only her classmate Ikarino Kirari. —Just to be sure, the next day she tried asking Kirari about it. The conversation ended with “I don’t know”, “I see. Right,” and “Yeah”. 

“Destiny was definitely created by a swan.”

Tsukasa said.

“Us duckies are only swept in their flow. Seeing the flustered duckies after the swan’s passing, the people of the future call it history.”

“So the duckies are the past?”

“Yes. That is why history remains but destiny is invisible. Because after it created that destiny, the swan’d already left without looking back.”

Nanana felt that she’d been told something very important. Tsukasa was self-deprecating as she said she had no education, but what she taught Nanana was much more difficult than schoolwork.

“Enclosure, Bubble, Paradigm Shift… these are history. As I am a mere duckie, I gave up on trying finding the swan who caused that.”

“Are those the things you said before? You’re not a duckie at all, Kind Magician.”

“It’s fine. I’m better off protecting the swan in front of me.”

Tsukasa looked at Nanana’s face, smiling.

“I-I am not a swan.”

“I believe you have the talent for that. You’ve met the attacker’s victims.”

“…? I just saw them assaulting people, but that doesn’t mean that I—”

Chancing upon the scene of the crime was very scary. —And she only went to two people for advice. She hadn’t even spoken to the police.

The Kind Magician and her friend Ikarino Kirari.

“I only became a Magician thanks to you, as well. —From now one, perhaps you will be able to transform other people into something as well…”

“…”

“No doubt about it. You can’t see it from the future, but… all those duckies have definitely witnessed the swan.”

The Magician, calling herself a duckie, put her hand on top of Nanana’s head with a smile.

That kind sensation was exactly the same as her one remaining blood relative.

“…Yes.”

Nanana didn’t think in the slightest that someone like her had that sort of talent.

However—the Kind Magician told her so.

She wanted to try and become a swan one day so that her precious person would not become a liar.



Visiting Mushibane’s hideout after a few days, a familiar person immediately greeted her.

“Oh, it’s been a while, Nanana-chan. You’re gotten even prettier!”

It was the boy called Chouya Nihei. Nanana picked him up when she’d first reached this camping spot, the boy she’d mistaken for a bag boy monster. Wearing work clothes, the sunglasses he used to push up his hair were clouded over with perspiration.

“Don’t come any closer, you’re going to sully my dress. Also, aren’t you acting overly familiar?”

Getting off the limousine, Nanana wore a lavish dress. It was a tiered dress with several layers and on top of her exposed shoulders she wore a shrug adorned with a gem.

Behind her, the secretary, Pochi and Shachito were all dressed up formally as well. The secretary wore an elegant dress—and, as a meaningless addition, her teddy bear had a jeweled hair ornament. Pochi and Shachito wore suits with tie.

“As cold as ever. Hang on, I’ll go call the leader.”

When Nanana turned her stick toward him as if to swat away a fly, Nihei’s smile turned wry. Going nearby with a friendly attitude, he closed what looked like a notepad.

“So, have you watched it? The Chronicler’s interview, I mean.”

Thinking about it, she’d bought a memory stick from him the other day. She decided to buy it from him after hearing he’d planned on selling it to Munakata, but since it was so cheap, she’d lost interest.

“Oh, that? Hmm, where have I put that?”

The last time she came it was night.

Now, however, perhaps because it was morning, many Mushibane members were around the camp. As always there were barely any adults, but people all the way from elementary school age to university age were preparing breakfast.

“No way! That caused me to go bankrupt, you know? You can definitely tell at a glance it’s high quality, right?”

“Then you should have given it the right price. That kind of price doesn’t even make me feel like watching it. I even thought you were making fun of me.”

“I won’t rip you off. I have my pride as a merchant.”

“Can you sell pride? —By the way, what are you even doing here?”

“I’ve created a ledger. Apparently, they left all money recording to Munakata-san until now. Since you’ve given us financial support, we have to record precisely what we used it on. —Oh, and you’re sober today, Nanana-chan.”

“No one did any accounting until now?”

As Nanana widened her eyes, Nihei replied “apparently” with a bitter smile. Even that was a huge surprise, but she was completely stunned at them leaving the accounting to a complete newcomer like Nihei.

“Sorry for making you wait.”

Mushibane’s leader—Anmoto Shiika—came running. Perhaps due to the rough t-shirt she was wearing, she looked so childlike that Nanana found it bizarre she was only one year older than Shiika. Just like before, Shiika was surrounded by the entourage of Aijisupa, Namie and Lucifera.

“Say, I just heard something from this guy.”

“Wait, stop. You’re making it sound as if I told something I shouldn’t. Wait, what’s up with ‘this guy’? I have a name, you know!”

“Is it true that no one was taking care of your money until now?”

“Huh? Y-yes. Until now, Munakata-san has prepared everything we need. —Nihei-san’s been a great help.”

“It makes me so happy to hear that. I mean, my motto’s ‘three-way satisfaction’ and all that!”

“Three-way satisfaction?”

As Shiika tilted her head, Nihei wore a full smile.

“Good for the seller! Good for the buyer! Good for society! That’s the three-way satisfaction. My style is to make a deal that makes everyone happy! That’s why you can count on me!”

Assuring this, the boy pounded his own chest. “Wow,” Shiika alone clapped her hand, sounding impressed.

“Yahah. Three-way satisfaction? The motto of a poor man indeed.”

Nanana snorted in laughter. She knew those words as well.

Sanpo Yoshi, or three-way satisfaction, was the merchant belief once popular in this country. Those were old and hackneyed words. Such naïve thinking would never work in modern times.

A deal where everyone could be happy—was a mere pipedream.

“That’s only the excuse of a useless businessman.”

When Nanana mocked him, Nihei’s face changed. He turned angry, his voice shaking.

“No! I-I mean, maybe compared to you, my earnings are little…”

“Wait, don’t lump us both together? Unlike you, I’m a pro. That stupidly naïve motto of three-way satisfaction won’t work anywhere these days.”

“…! Then I’ll say it, your way of doing business is—"

“Y-you two, please calm down.”

Unable to withstand it any longer, Shiika stepped to stop them. Nihei looked angry even now and Nanana stuck out her tongue.

“Well, leaving aside this wannabe businessman—”

“What was that!?”

“I’m tired of you. I wonder why Munakata only watched Mushibane play pretend?”

Looking around the camp, Nanana said.

Shiika looked surprised.

“U-umm… Munakata-san said that he didn’t want to meddle in Mushibane’s matters too much. He’d just give us the minimum support…”

Nanana snorted without thinking. Had he started feeling philanthropic in his age? She couldn’t believe that her business rival would suddenly become like that. He was tasteless in how he played with them.

“Yahah. Then I will meddle.”

Shiika looked puzzled as Nanana grinned.

“Although only temporary, I’m currently Mushibane’s sponsor, after all. I do have the right to, wouldn’t you say?”

Nanana cheerfully spun her stick. Seeing all of them being so carefree, she felt the need to bully them.

“There’s no way these are all of Mushibane’s members. Are there any others?”

“Huh? Umm… those here are only those without a current address. The other people live in houses or facilities prepared by Munakata.”

“Hmm. Just live there?”

“Those who wish to fight with us help save other Mushitsuki and stuff like that…”

“Meaning only those who want to? You have some guts, competing with the SPEB like that.”

“When we receive information that a Mushitsuki’s found, one of us proceeds to the field and assumes control. We never directly fight the SEPB.”

Namie interjected. By “one of us” she probably meant one of the four people there. Perhaps that was enough for guerilla warfare.

Nanana grinned.

“And the Mushitsuki you saved there are so kindly protected by you, living happily somewhere. Oh, what bliss, what paradise!”

“…”

“Being protected while offering nothing in return, getting free meals, and you act kind to them even if they say they don’t want to fight… after their tragic, tragic life, they believe all this to be a matter of course!”

Pacing around with exaggerated motions, Nanana pointed her stick at the various people in camp.

“—Please give some labor to everyone.”

Shiika could only mutter “eh?” in shock.

“Not just the ones here, but also those you’re hiding as well. Give them something to do that fits their skills. If those Mushitsuki can fight then obviously let them, but there’s also information gathering, making money… small children can even do something like help clean. Regardless, you need to give them jobs and discipline them to a proper level.”

“W-wait…”

“Yahah. Work equals money! It’s obvious!”

Among the stunned people, Nanana alone kept spinning her stick with great delight.

“In the first place, if they just keep on doing nothing, their hearts would never recover. —People without any sort of purpose only keep licking their wounds. And licking only causes the wounds to fester. Rather than that, it’s much better to let them work and forget the pain so that their wound will naturally close on its own.”

“…”

“Since I’m kind, I won’t tell you to exploit them. But if there’s something they can do, make them do it. And the most important thing—create rules to make them work, and punish those who break them.”

“P-punish them… this isn’t that kind of—”

“At least in that the SEPB is a rational system. Without working, without getting scolded, without thinking at all, people would atrophy. Stagnant water becomes murky. —I’m not telling you to ignore their human rights to that extent, but you should try to mimic them. It’s that valuable.”

Gazing at Shiika, she narrowed one eye.

“And this is just a freebie. This foolish rule of ‘protecting them as a matter of course’ will definitely make Mushibane useless. With such rotten thinking, when things get rough, they’ll all resent you executives. They’ll say, why couldn’t you protect us?”

“…!”

“Paradise can exist only when there is a god… since that woman’s gone, isn’t that dreamy time over?”

Shiika and the rest’s faces stiffened.

“Give them the self-awareness to protect themselves by their own powers. Also, by cooperating with others, you can create a feeling of solidarity. You executives should pave that road for them.”

She asserted toward the silent executives.

“Over! If you can’t do what I told you, I’ll stop supporting you right here! Understood?”

Finishing her presentation, Nanana spread her arms.

Apparently she hadn’t given the Mushibane members a positive impression. They seemed to be heavily doubtful about her words and rebellious about her behavior.

But one person, Anmoto Shiika, wore a troubled expression and seemed to be thinking seriously.

“—Understood.”

Finally, the leader nodded.

“I don’t know if this will go well… but I’ve been thinking that Mushibane should change from now on. I want us to talk and change little by little.”

Even her comrades that listened stunned to Nanana’s words now seemed to agree temporarily due to their leader agreeing. While still appearing confused, at least they calmed down.

How boring. It’s not worth bullying you if you don’t respond properly—

It was now Nanana who was disappointed, curling her lips.

“Let us talk about this later. You’re coming with me.”

“Eh?”

“When we go to rescue Munakata, someone from Mushibane would also be present. —You were the one who made that condition.”

“Eh…? Have you found Munakata-san? W-where is he?”

“I have a general idea—right.”

Nanana narrowed one eye, wearing a distorted smile.

She purposely wanted to show an innocent girl like Shiika the place they were heading to now. It would doubtlessly be funny for someone with an honest heart like hers.

“A wonderful, paradise-like world.”

''A gathering for those who’re even worse than Mushi—

While smiling, Nanana spoke the complete opposite in her heart.