Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 9 Chapter 2 (section)

== 2.03 Nanana Part 7 ==
“The risks are too high.”

Immediately after they came to the main offices of the Akasegawa Group from the private beach, the secretary spoke.

Nanana asked back without even looking back while walking through the corridor of the highest floor.

“Did you say anything?”

The large building over 200 meters tall was built in order to display the Akasegawa Group’s power. At present, after inheriting the money lending business of her grandfather, it was mainly involved in funding and managing the assets of multitudes of enterprises.

“Paying so much money for such a suspicious auction is not realistic.”

“As long as we pay there’s no problem. Yahah.”

This building, called the Akasegawa Offices, was full of empty rooms. Since the business grew too fast, the funds and the number of employees did not match. Although about half was divided to businesses affiliated with them, more than half was used by few clerks directly employed by the Akasegawa Foundation.

Although empty, it was gigantic.

Ironically, the building Nanana was in had also been under the situation that could be called a Bubble.

“Paying would only lead to problems. The Chairman’s personal assets also includes stocks from the Akasegawa’s Group affiliated companies. If you lose that, the Foundation itself will…”

“See that building?”

Nanana stopped in place, pointing her stick at the glass wall.

The entire topmost floor of the Akasegawa Offices was for the use of Chairman Nanana. The walls of the corridors were all covered in glass. The figure of Nanana wearing a dress was reflected on the glass.

The time was night.

The nightscape one could glance at from the height of 200 meters looked like a jewel box adorned many colored lights.

But there was a certain space that looked as if swallowed by darkness. Although this was the capital, that vast place alone had no lights.

It was a project the Akasegawa Foundation started trying to manage—a composite university facility. It was called MOCC, and would come into use only starting next year.

“Isn’t it pretty? I wanted that.”

Hugging her teddy bear, the secretary looked at Nanana with a deadpan face. Like always Pochi mumbled something softly, but she couldn’t hear him.

“I’ll get it next week. Yahaha.”

“…”

“That and… oh, that place as well. They’ll become the Akasegawa Group’s. Thinking about it, didn’t it look likely that I could buy that stadium’s naming rights as well? Also, over there, the preparations to make MOCC function proceed swimmingly, no?”

After using the stick to point at the townscape she spun it once then leaned it on her shoulder.

“The Akasegawa Group is doing great right now. We can easily retrieve whatever we will lose. Yahah.”

Nanana laughed cheerfully, walking again. But the secretary still hounded her.

“For a person involved with those called Mushitsuki it must be invaluable. However, I do not think it is needed for the Akasegawa Group.”

“It has nothing to do with the Foundation. It is I, Akasegawa Nanana, who desires it.”

“The Board will not stay silent.”

“None of their business.”

“Why are you so obsessed with Mushitsuki?”

“Because they’re a source of business.”

“Is that—really just this?”

“…If you’re too annoying I’ll just fire you, you know? If I stop paying you, how will you keep providing for your cute bear? Yahah.”

While laughing, Nanana continued walking. Putting her hand on the door to the Chairman’s office, she turned around.

“Please watch over the movements of the Round Table. If they intend on participating in the auction, there would definitely be a movement of money for the bidding. And if someone makes a move—tell me immediately.”

“…Understood.”

The secretary and Pochi bowed, leaving the place.

Nanana passed through the door, going through the secretary’s waiting room, and opened yet another door.

The Chairman’s Office, with a thick carpet laid out on the floor, was bigger than the classroom of the high school Nanana went to. She had an antique desk brought from overseas, and on top of the leather chair was a notebook-type pc used for information management.

This room was for the exclusive use of Nanana, but she only rarely came to it. She could issue her orders from wherever she was. Because today was the bidding day, she returned here to manage her stocks.

“Hah…”

Sitting on the sofa as if jumping onto it, she flung her stick away.

Her drunkenness was long gone. —Since she calmed down when she was sober, she hated it. She became extremely lonely.

Just like she herself had said before.

Right now Nanana was in a great position, almost invincible. Her assets today would swell by tomorrow. And they would swell even further the day after tomorrow.

Even so—she was never fulfilled.

Nanana herself was like this building.

There was a large, empty space in her chest.

When had her insides become so empty?

It went without saying. It happened when she’d lost her grandfather, the Kind Magician and her one and only friend. Ever since then she wore a mask made of money and ways of deceiving people and kept swelling more and more.

Nanana kept pouring wine to fill what was empty.

If she didn’t, her heart might become like a bubble—and burst upon the softest touch.

“…Miss Magician.”

Folding her knees on the sofa, she rounded her body.

“I’m a swan, right…?”

It was a shock for her that Munakata knew nothing about Kidou Tsukasa. She was so sure that if she saved him, she’d get a clue as to her whereabouts.

Once again, that existence had slipped away from within her grasp.

Although she should have hated the Mushitsuki that betrayed her—in the depths of her heart she kept waiting for the Magician to reappear.

But she was unable to find a single clue about her location.

Nanana bit her lips.

“I have the right to create fate itself, right…?”

Enclosure.

Bubble.

Paradigm Shift.

Once, these fates have changed the country.

By buying the primal Mushitsuki Alpha in the auction, she’d be able to solve these mysteries.

Honestly, Nanana had no interest in the origin of Mushi.

However—

“I’m going to handily win this auction…”

To make Anmoto Shiika connected to her, she would obtain that.

What was that girl to her? Even she herself didn’t know yet.

Yet Shiika called Nanana her friend, and said she didn’t need anything from her.

Just like her grandfather and the Kind Magician did.

Because it was the same, she recalled her fear. Shiika, too, would perhaps vanish.

If that happened, it would prove that the money Nanana so desperately accumulated was all for naught.

She would definitely buy back the sweet, sweet crepe.

That was the only reason for Nanana to collect the trash called money.

“…”

Raising her face with a lonely expression, she noticed something left on her desk.

A memory device in its case. A small memory card.

Thinking about it, she recalled what it was.

She’d bought it from Chouya Nihei upon first arriving at Mushibane’s camp.

“If I’m not wrong… this was the Chronicler’s something?”

Booting her computer, she stuck the memory card inside.

“…”

Without any prior warning, the video started. There wasn’t even a title.

Monsters were fighting.

They were Mushi.

The footage was of two Mushitsuki fighting. Nanana, who’s actually seen Mushi many times, knew that this wasn’t special effects or computer graphics.

Ugly and scary Mushi fought while spraying blood. Normal humans would have perhaps stopped the video.

“Hmm.”

In her seat, Nanana rested her cheek on her hand supported by the desk.

Nihei said he’d bought this from a video freak who got it from an amateur satellite transmission. It was likely that someone for whom normal broadcasting would be too dangerous secretly transmitted this video.

For an enthusiast, this would be a rare item that he would want very badly.

But Nanana who was used to seeing Mushi had no interest in it.

“…”

Since she had nothing else to do, she kept watching.

As she did, she noticed that the content was slightly different from what she expected. She thought it was a mere collection of rare videos, but then the person called Chronicler started interviewing Mushitsuki.

“Oh, not bad for an amateur.”

There were different situations. There were videos in the middle of fighting, as well as many that looked like they were running away. Regardless, this Chronicler found many Mushitsuki and questioned them.

“Her voice is young… a child? Being so reckless is also childish.”

Nanana imagined Chronicler to be around middle school age. Judging from the date said in the interview, perhaps by now she was the same age as Nanana.

“Still, what is she trying to… do—”

She snorted but then her expression froze.

Someone was again fighting in the video.

She soon understood who they were fighting against. She didn’t know what branch it was, but the goggles hiding their eyes made it clear this was a member of the SEPB.

The issue came from the person fighting against the SEPB member.

The slim and tall silhouette with long hair was instantly recognizable. She was fighting against two people in the gloomy alley. She skillfully danced around the two Mushi which were more than double her size.

Suddenly a leg was blown off of one Mushi. The host Mushitsuki held his ears, screaming, and the other Mushitsuki was blown away by something. The other member also fainted in agony, collapsing.

The long-haired person just avoided the Mushi’s assault. She made gestures as if flicking something with her fingers from time to time, but it didn’t look like she was doing anything in particular. Seeing the groaning members now unable to move, she gracefully turned around. Even just dodging her opponent’s attacks, she didn’t have to land a finishing blow. She was clearly on a class of her own.

“—”

When that person turned back, Nanana thought her heart stopped.

Actually, she knew this even just seeing her from behind. After all, the headphones hanging on the girl’s neck were awfully familiar—

“Ah—”

When Chronicler approached the person for an interview, the screen vanished.

Nanana had unconsciously reached out with her hand and knocked off the notebook computer from the desk.

“Ah… ah!”

Losing her composure like never before, she hurriedly picked up the computer. She plugged it back again and replayed the video.

“Ah—”

Seeing the person appearing there, Nanana clung to the display.

Her vision blurring, she gritted her teeth. She shed so many tears she was almost unable to see her.

“Miss Magician…”

She looked younger than how she’d been the last time she’d seen her, probably because Nanana had grown up. The one being surprised by Chronicler in the video was a girl about the same age as Nanana currently was.

The Kind Magician.

Although she’d treasured Nanana more than anyone, that Mushitsuki who’d left without saying anything was there.

According to the date this was a few years back. A while after Nanana had last seen her.

“And you are…?”

“I am Chronicler. Are you a Mushitsuki?”

Bringing her to an empty lot, Chronicler forcibly asked her. Her way of speaking was prideful, as if saying that as a journalist she was entitled to know everything.

On the other hand, the Magician—Kidou Tsukasa—looked very tired. Her body was covered in wounds here and there, and she made a gloomy face the likes of which Nanana had never seen before.

“This is an interview.”

“Please stop… if you involve yourself with me, you’ll be in danger.”

“Are you doing something dangerous? What exactly are you up to?”

“Why are you asking me this… will you not leave me alone?”

“Us, members of the general public, have the right to know about Mushitsuki. That is why I am investigating just what Mushitsuki are.”

“What a dangerous thing to do…”

“I am aware of the danger. But I’m the only one who can do it.”

She probably turned to glare at the prideful Chronicler. Tsukasa’s gaze turned toward the screen.

Nanana forgot to breath, and Tsukasa kept staring.

“Hehe…”

“Why are you laughing? Is something funny?”

“Just thought that you look like Hunter. You’re making a face like you’re being cornered by your own duty.”

“Hunter…?”

“You wanted to know what I’m doing, right? The answer’s simple. —I’m protecting someone.”

Protecting someone.

Nanana knew who she was thinking of. Only Nanana could.

She was here.

The person the Kind Magician wanted to protect was right here and now.

“Who’s that person? What are they to you?”

“I can’t tell you who it is, but that person’s important to me. The benefactor that taught me my own value… an irreplaceable existence to me.”

“Your value?”

“…At that time I was a person who couldn’t do anything well. I was small, weak, incompetent; simply a loser. I continued living like that, so I was worthless.”

Perhaps recalling the past, the Magician smiled.

“But… I was told a simple phrase. ‘Thank you’—”

Nanana gulped.

“I was saved… even someone like me could do some things.”

''Thank you—

Nanana certainly said this.

When she first met the Magician, when she’d been saved by her, she said it.

“And so my life has been given value. So I had protected that person.”

Because of such small words—

Just because of Nanana having thanked her, the Magician had protected her—

She unconsciously tightened her grip on the display.

They were a very good match.

The reason why the Kind Magician treasured Nanana was over something so minor.

“Protected? In past tense?”

Tsukasa looked pained.

Nanana didn’t know why she was doing that face.

“I’m atoning for my sins…”

“Atoning?”

”I have committed a sin that I can never be forgiven for. Because of that, my reasons for protecting that person changed… and since they changed, we can’t meet up anymore.”

“…?”

“Dying while hiding that sin is my second sin. I will probably never be forgiven…”

“Die? Are you going to die? Why?”

“I can’t tell you. Right, I can’t even tell that person… obviously, since she’ll just hate me. But if she—what if she will be unable to bear a grudge against me? That scares me the most. Since she’s kind, if she can’t hate me… she might get distorted with all the conflicting emotions… I can’t commit this third sin.”

Dying? Why did the Kind Magician have to die?

There wasn’t even a single reason why she had to die.

“No, I’ve already committed this third sin… I’ve asked something truly unforgivable from ‘that girl’. Perhaps that girl will be hated by her instead of me… why is it, I wonder? In the end, I really was unable to do anything well.”

“…? …?”

“And so—I’m glad I didn’t have to do that.”

“That?”

“Didn’t you say it? That you want to know what Mushitsuki are.”

“…”

“I went just a step before that, but I’m glad I quit. Since I’m not a magician or anything like that, there’s no doubt it wouldn’t have gone well…”

Nanana shook her head.

''Don’t say that—

For Nanana, Tsukasa was a Magician.

Since she was a Magician, she could do anything. Ever since she met Tsukasa she had deeply admired her, and even now she was attempting to grasp the identity of the thing she was trying to obtain before.

“Someone like me was meaningless…”

“…There’s… no… I… just…”

No way she was meaningless. If the Magician was meaningless, Nanana couldn’t understand anything in the entire world.

“I couldn’t do anything right… my life had no value…”

“No way… for me… I still haven’t… I want to see you again… so even now I’m…”

There was no way she had no value. If Nanana could meet the Magician again, even gathering all the money in the world wouldn’t be enough.

“And so, this mission of finding what Mushitsuki are—I leave it to you all.”

Tsukasa smiled.

“To those of you who are alive now and will keep on living.”

The Magician held out a dirty notebook toward the one filming.

“What’s this?”

“You could call it the SEPB monitoring network. I wanted to avoid needless strife, so I took memos of everyone I met. Since I’m an idiot, I would end up forgetting it, otherwise. I won’t use it anymore, so I’ll give it you. If you plan on continuing your interviews, it would definitely be useful.”

“…”

“Will you not take it? You’re also one who wants to find out what Mushitsuki are, right?”

After a while of silence, the Chronicler’s hand became visible on screen.

After handing over the notebook, the Kind Magician smiled. She turned back and left.

“…Over. This interview has come to a close. The interviewer is Chronicler—”

Speaking detachedly, Chronicler closed the interview with Kidou Tsukasa.

The footage changed and another Mushitsuki interview was recorded.

She noticed that Chronicler’s tone, while at first prideful, gradually became gentler.

At one point the date jumped and another Mushitsuki interview started. The voice of Chronicler interviewing the boy Mushitsuki sounded even like she was having fun.

The final interview was directed at a person who wasn’t even a Mushitsuki. An interview with a girl who looked like a demon lord commanding a gigantic mantis that was beautiful like nothing she’d ever seen before.

The video ended and Nanana bit her lips. Perhaps she even forgot to breathe and blink while watching.

Closing her notebook pc, she hugged it.

“Chairman. Have you not gone home yet?”

From the other side of the door, she heard the secretary’s voice.

Seeing she didn’t receive an answer no matter how much she waited, the secretary opened the door.

“…Is something the matter?”

It seemed like quite a while passed ever since she finished watching the video. Perhaps even several hours.

During that time, Nanana did nothing but hug her notebook computer.

“Chairman?”

Why did the Kind Magician vanish? She still didn’t know.

She also had no idea what was the sin that she had committed.

But what the Magician herself said was a mistake. Nanana had to fix that.

''—Someone like me was meaningless…

She did have meaning.

''—I couldn’t do anything right…

As a Magician, there was nothing she couldn’t do.

''—My life had no value…

She had value.

At first she did this to obtain clues about the Magician.

Now that she knew she wasn’t there, she had lost her purpose once. Then, she acquired the new motive in the form of Shiika.

Now, however, she gained a new, robust reason to know the origin of Mushi.

Inheriting the Magician’s will, Nanana would obtain it—

She would ascertain the value of what Kidou Tsukasa sought after, and prove the worth of the one important to her.

“I’ll definitely get Alpha…”

Nanana mumbled, still holding the computer tight.