Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 6 Chapter 3 (section)

==3.04 The Others==

The spats-wearing Rio advanced to the center of the venue where the final audition was being held.

"I am Masaki Rio. Thank you very much."

Due to her excessive tension, she was stiff even during her bow. 

Starting with Jarre Harissi, the eyes of the audition judges focused on Rio. Together with Jarre, they were ten people composed of staff members and sponsors.

Intensely being stared all over, Rio flinched. 

''I've worked hard for today… so I must give it everything I have—''

She trying getting into it by thinking so, but couldn't stop shaking. She bit her lips and hid her nervousness.

The test was made of a few simple acting skits, basic dancing, pronunciation test, free form personal performance, and finally a personal request from Jarre. 

The staff began the test. Starting by letting her change her expression based on various emotions, the test advanced to an improvised performance with another person. 

The judges watched silently, at times commenting, and scored Rio. 

Even as the test continued Rio was unable to shake off her anxiety. She feared the judges' gaze, especially that of the giant man Jarre Harissi sitting in front of her.

He seemed to be just like a giant predator. Just his presence watching over her turned into pressure, and so his already-huge body seemed to be growing even larger.

"…!"

A familiar sound began reverberating inside her ears.

It was a cracked metallic sound.

She could see black fog oozing out from the audition venue's walls, floor and ceiling. She felt a foul presence filling up the place.

''Why now…!''

Sweat covered Rio's brow.

What in the world was that voice that kept cornering her? Was she just hearing and seeing things due to her excessive pressure?

The black fog, or mysterious presence that could be called a miasma, intoxicated Rio's consciousness. Making an effort to continue her acting, she was gradually blanking out.

"Thou who are fit to become mine vessels… Thou shall now decide in front of me who fits better…"

She felt as if she heard a hoarse voice coming from somewhere.

It was like a dream; she didn't feel like she was moving her body out of her own volition.

"A performance by the book. It's good, but it has no personality."

The black miasma clung to one of the judges. In a complete change from their voices which was impersonal until now, they bore clear scorn and looked at Rio.

"Are you feeling the wall? Is your talent already at its limit?"

The black miasma moved to another staff member. He started torturing Rio with a sinister tone.

"You won't be able to pass like that."

"If we're simply talking about good acting there are plenty of other actors."

Every time the miasma moved to another person it became denser. Nearly gaining substance, it changed into something that looked like a black, filthy cloth—a robe.

The robe appearing and disappearing from her field of vision and the horribly ear-grating metallic sound—her eyes grew dim, and by the excessive harassment of the ear-grating sound she became unable to tell if it all happened in reality or not. 

Around the time she had to face the final test she finally realized the true identity of the repeated metallic sound.

It was similar to the sound of bells found in places such as churches.

Even while she was about to collapse from tension and dizziness, Rio still did her best to stand.

The final test was a free-form challenge from Jarre.

"You can speak English, right?"

The large man suddenly inquired.

"…Y-yes."

Slightly panting, Rio nodded. She attended Conversational English classes for the past several years. 

"Have you received the script of 'Beast' along with the notification of you passing the second screening phase?"

Rio nodded. Her throat was parched and her stamina also reached its limits.

The musical "Beast", about to be opened in Oranje Land, was the play that allowed Jarre to receive an award for his performance on his golden years. He was still being paid royalties from theatrical companies all around the world, and it was famous enough to keep being performed. Since it was going to open up in Japan for the first time it grabbed the attention of the general public. 

Even if it wasn't so, "Beast" was the musical that made Rio aim to become an actress. Never mind the Japanese translation, she had also watched the English version of the lines on video countless times and learned them by heart.

"Have you possibly already memorized the scene where the Beast and the protagonist meet for the first time?"

"Yes sir."

"You'll be the protagonist. I'll do the Beast."

Asserting this, Jarre rose from his seat.

With the staff members' sinister smiles at his back, Jarre exerted a pressure so powerful he didn't seem human. The black miasma wrapped around his body, forming the shape of a robe.

"Come, thou shalt fight now… Thou shalt indicate who fits better to become mine vessel…"

She could hear the hoarse voice again.

The musical "Beast" was a tragedy occurring in medieval Europe. During a civil war, a wounded enemy soldier wandered into an infirmary. Having lost his sanity after a battle, the warrior tries slaughtering all of the physicians and patients. Yet a young nurse persuades him and suppresses him, and she tries to restore him to his proper form by her warm nursing—

"…!"

Jarre raised a howl. The entire hall seemed to shake.

Rio was swallowed up completely by Jarre's genuine acting. She couldn't even move a finger. Her knees trembling, she seemed about to collapse to a sitting position at any moment.

The authentic acting of a pro mercilessly unfolded in front of her. As she stood upright, the beast in the form of Jarre started slowly walking around her.

The scene in question started from the lines said by the protagonist played by Rio. Yet she couldn't move her mouth.

"…!"

The howl enveloped the hall, as if urging her lines.

"'A-are you human? Or are you—'"

Rio's voice, barely coming out of her mouth, was drowned by Jarre's war cry.

"You're ruthless."

The staff members exchanged smiles and spoke toward Jarre who was walking in circles around the girl.

"How about I devour you right here and now?"

Jarre was threatening the girl by shaking his large body and opening his mouth wide. 

''I'm about to be eaten—''

She reached her limits. Rio's mental strength couldn't withstand Jarre's presence. 

''My dream, too—''

Her vision was distorted by tears.

''Everything—''

Her vision closed.

Her dream didn't matter anymore. She just wanted to run away from everything and relax.

As Rio was about to collapse on the spot, a shrill electrical sound echoed in her ears. 

"…!"

She opened her eyes.

That noise came from her bag on the corner of the room.

Her cellphone informed the arrival of a message. As she was too nervous she had forgotten to turn it off.

She didn't even need to check in order to know who sent her this message; since she had lately become somewhat estranged from her classmates, they hadn't exchanged any text messages for a while.

Shiohara Shachito. Right now, she couldn't think of anyone else who would send a message to her.

''—Do your best, Rio-chan!''

Shachito's encouraging voice was revived in her ears.

"'A-are you human? Or are you—'"

While clenching her teeth, Rio returned to acting.

"…!"

Yet once again her lines were erased by Jarre's roar. The large amount of miasma spewing out of the large man was directed at Rio as if to overpower her.

It was useless. The words she strained herself to say lacked any sense of presence.

Rio wrung out her remaining energy, fighting against Jarre's air of intimidation. Shaking off her tension, she heightened her focus. As she tried moving her limbs, some power returned to her pale body.

''I can still do it—''

"'Are you human? Or are you a famished beast?'"

Rio's voice, coming out of her stomach, echoed in the hall.

The roaring Jarre took a step back for an instant as if flinching back. The miasma filling the place looked as though it slightly scattered. 

But soon Jarre widened his eyes.

"'I am but a mere Beast!'"

It was a shout in a heavy bass voice that felt as if it pounded Rio's entire body. The robe made of the coagulating miasma passed from the large man to her.

Fear was instantly revived in her.

Nevertheless, wrapped by the filthy robe, Rio clenched her molars and again emitted a clear voice. 

"'If so, why do you have the form of a man? Why do you speak the words of man?'"

The robe soared from Rio's body. Rotating in the air and creating a whirlpool of miasma, it passed over to Jarre in the next moment. 

The bearded man's expression warped. His whole body shook to intimidate Rio.

"'I was human. Yet I am no longer human! By hurting, by being hurt, by all my suffering I have thrown away my humanity!'"

The robe separated from Jarre as if bursting off. Returning to miasma, the robe clung to Rio and then reassumed its shape. 

"'If you bore wounds then they can be healed. In being hurt beasts and humans are the same.'"

Once getting into her acting, all worldly thoughts were gone from Rio. She had practiced this scene countless times ever since her dream started. She felt confident that no other person admired "Beast" as much as she did.

"Yes, trample each other's dreams… I shall choose one of thee…"

The hoarse voice heard from somewhere was drowned by the exchange of Rio and Jarre's acting.

She could feel Jarre becoming passionate in his acting just like her.

He tried to devour Rio's acting, which, although unstable and brittle, was also overflowing with talent, drown her out by reading lines in a loud volume and employing overwhelming movements. 

Yet Rio's act didn't stop. Her lines were those of the gentle nurse, but she kept acting strongly with her unwillingness to lose to Jarre.

In the beginning his acting was overwhelming, yet it started changing.

As the scene drew to a close, Jarre's expression showed impatience. Conversely Rio seemed more and more lively. 

This was the difference between one whose dream was destroyed and one who kept dreaming.

—And the ending arrived. 

"'I shall heal you. Until you return to the form of a human—'"

Bringing the violent conflict of acting to a finish were these calm lines filled with kindness.  

A large crashing sound resounded.

With his face distorted, Jarre's back hit the table.

The one smiling calmly was Rio. As if fearing her calm gaze, the big man collapsed to the floor.

It was Rio's victory. 

The miasma drifting around the conference room increased in density, swallowing Rio and Jarre.

A coarse voice whispered to Rio who was drunk on victory and to Jarre who was crushed with defeat.

"The match is settled… This vessel is worthy of me…"

This whisper oozing with joy overlapped with the voices of the staff covered by the miasma.

"A marvelous performance. You weren't inferior to mister Harissi."

"Not only that, look at him. How pathetic he was."

"How sad. Although he had quit active work, losing to such a girl…"

These merciless scorns assaulted Jarre who was holding his head.

Meanwhile Rio felt the best.

Her acting surpassed Jarre, who was once extoled as a famous actor.

"I will… not become like you."

Just like the staff members, Rio herself also directed a derisive smile towards the pitiful large man. 

The sound of a bell echoed especially loud in the hall.

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