Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 10 Chapter 5 (section)

== 5.00 Tamaki Part 10 ==

Did Tamaki’s childhood friend remember that very first lie told in the park back then?

More than ten years have passed since then.

The world changed.

Most important of all was the appearance of the existence known as Mushi.

The two liars and childhood friends grew—and were reunited.

They lied again and now that this lie grew so big, she thought to herself.

Was the lie the pair told that day, really a lie? Hadn’t they believed what they discussed in the sandbox from the bottom of their hearts?

Believed that, one day, it would definitely come true.

That wish was now definitely being made true.

She softly mumbled toward her absent childhood friend.

“Can you see this?”

Tamaki stood on top of a large stage.

The hundreds, no, thousands of people gathered around below her were all waiting for Kanon’s words. All of them wore the same kind of robes.

Looking down at the arrayed believers, even Tamaki herself was clad in that robe. Crowned with a wreath of laurel leaves tied together, she also grasped a large khakkhara staff in hand.

Behind this stage was a large, white spire.

The first lie made true by the pair of childhood friends—the Castle.

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

The fact that Tamaki’s tone was exactly like Kanon when she was transformed was half due to her sounding cynical. The other half—was because Tamaki had spent too much time in this false form, so her own personality was becoming vague.

But she didn’t care.

The preparations to welcome her childhood friend who was definitely coming were ready.

“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, Tamaki raised her khakkhara overhead. All voices instantly stopped and silence returned.

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

Tamaki spoke to the microphone set on stage.

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

None denied Tamaki’s words. They all just looked up with admiration at Tamaki’s—no, at Kanon’s face.

“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 Tamaki’s 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.”

Why was it that Tamaki could mimic Kanon’s mannerisms, tone and even his thoughts so perfectly?

Although it was her, she thought about this before.

She soon reached an answer.

Because they were both liars—

Although these two were both similar and different, their cores were the same.

“Do you believe in Kanon?”

Tamaki asked.

The believers all smiled. She didn’t even need to ask for their answer. She knew well that they believed in Kanon from the depths of their hearts. She also knew that they wished to believe.

“Kanon also believes in all of you.”

There was no falsehood in those words. Kanon believed in those believers, in his comrades.

Kanon only stopped believing—in Tamaki.

But that was a mistake.

Kanon would probably realize this once he came back here.

“Eliminate the wicked Mushitsuki approaching us!”

Raising the khakkhara above her head, Tamaki 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 made in the sandbox with her childhood friend.

How far could that small lie swell?

Tamaki thought she had to see it through.

As a single liar.