Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 10 Chapter 3 (section)

== 3.02 The Others ==

About two months passed since people began calling him Nii.

During that time, he did practically nothing.

He just kept staying at the side of a certain girl.

Kanon, who possessed the power to erase Mushi.

He ran away from a certain town under certain circumstances and was found by Kanon. He stayed at her side ever since. If anything changed at all, they now gathered not at the family restaurant like in the beginning, but in a large castle.

Kanon’s group simply called that place “The Castle”.

Although originally it was just a love hotel, it was in the center of the ghost town the local people called the Abandoned Land. According to what he heard, the group legally bought the land with money contributed from their comrades. That was a few weeks ago.

And now, the present.

The Castle served as the base of Kanon’s comrades—no, believers.

All furnishing was removed from the main hall and a giant curtain was installed along the wall. It had a full moon drawn on it and in front of it there was a line of silver candlesticks. The large stairway had been cut roughly to create a landing, and an antique chair was left there.

A big chandelier was hanging from ceiling along with a large lcd monitor. Nii had no idea what it meant to broadcast.

The fact it used to have been a dirty love hotel almost seemed like a lie.

The center of the space fully transformed to this solemn, religious place obviously had Kanon in it. Sitting on the chair in front of the stairs—her throne—with the staff touching the ground, she was eating melon bread from a bag.

“Nom, ngh, mhn. …Eek!”

Loud sounds heard from outside the castle caused Kanon to tremble.

After procuring money from somewhere, they apparently kept buying land around the Castle. They were destroying aged buildings and doing repair work to build places for the believers to stay in.

“…Nom, ngh.”

Looking around her, Kanon resumed eating. Although she wore robes with the mark of the full moon and her hair was combed and brushed, there was nothing divine about her form.

“Ah, what about you, Onii-chan? This is really good.”

Turning toward Nii who was hugging his bag and sitting next to the wall, Kanon held up a curry bread.

“…”

“Catch. Oh, oops.”

He stayed silent like always as she tossed the bag at him from above. However, it didn’t reach him but fell to the ground. Kanon went down the stairs to pick the bag, put it next to Nii, then returned to the throne.

“Haa, haa… nom, ngh.”

Getting out of breath just from this simple run, Kanon kept nibbling on the bread.

“…”

While gazing at Kanon, Nii picked up the bag and brought the bread to his mouth.

Although they were together for about two months, Nii didn’t really understand the girl called Kanon.

Nii believed that she possessed the ability to erase Mushi.

Other than that, what could he say? The only thing remarkable about Kanon was that she was below the average girl in everything other than eating.

Even so, in just two months, Kanon’s circumstances fully changed. She gathered more allies, fixed the castle, and wore those robes, so her comrades became believers that revered her.

When he first saw Kanon erasing a Mushi, he clung to her.

The worn-out Nii saw Kanon as his sole salvation.

But looking at her like this now, he could think that she possessed another sort of special power other than erasing Mushi. That was the thing called conviction.

In a certain sense, it was much more special than her ability to erase Mushi.

“…”

“What is it, Onii-chan? You’ve been staring at Kanon for a while now… you’re gonna make Kanon blush.”

To obtain salvation, he was willing to wait as much as needed. Since he was at the very bottom, just waiting wasn’t painful at all.

However—

Kanon having another kind of special power was out of his calculations. No one seemed to mind it yet, but Nii knew. He alone could be able to feel the danger from that.

At this rate, this could turn out ugly.

Nii felt anxious for the first time.

“Kanon-sama.”

The entrance door to the large hall opened. With the sun at their backs, several figures appeared.

“Is now a good time?”

“Y-yes.”

It was the time for the Initiation.

Following the believers dressed in formal garb, several boys and girls walked on the carpet. They went up the stairs and kneeled in front of Kanon’s throne.

“Starting from the left they’re 118, 119, 120—Hyakujuuhachi, Hyakujuuku, hyakunijuu.”

The one who introduced these new comrades—believers—to Kanon was Ichi, clad in a robe. Ever since they came to this castle, he soon became the believers’ representative.

“U-umm, I… w-we heard rumors of Kanon-sama and got out of Mushibane—”

“There is no need for you to be this nervous. Ichi-san, didn’t I tell you not to call me Kanon-sama? Come on, friends, stand up.”

“But…”

“Oh, are you hungry? Will you eat this?”

“Kanon-sama, stop eating that sort of thing…! I told you I’ll make you a proper meal.”

“See, isn’t your stomach growling? Here, take it. It’s delicious.”

The solemn atmosphere continued but for a moment. Drawn by Kanon who smiled with her canines showing, the front of the throne ended up becoming a small picnic.

“Kanon’s just in a position to treat everyone, so it’s not particularly admirable or anything. Everyone here is like family. —Eek!”

Kanon shrank again after hearing the sounds of construction from outside. As they saw her acting like this, all tension was gone from the believers’ faces.

At some point they just started chatting and even laughing.

Just like he thought it was becoming dangerous—

It happened just as the anxiety within Nii rose again.

“Kanon, there’s a person who wants to be introduced.”

In the grand hall a new person appeared. They were the girl called Tamaki and a boy Nii didn’t know.

“I found him loitering around the Abandoned Land and brought him here. He’s apparently really knowledgeable about Mushitsuki.”

Tamaki wore no robe. She was Kanon’s childhood friend and not a Mushitsuki. This girl had a good head and she was responsible for everything around, including the Castle, to protect Kanon.

“Oh, this really isn’t the SEPB or Mushibane. Didn’t know such a thing existed.”

The boy following Tamaki carried what looked like a stick used for the sport of hockey on his back. He looked around the main hall while cackling and wearing a frivolous smile.

“Welcome back, Tama-chan. —Is he a new believer?”

“Nah, I’m a Mushitsuki, but I’m an atheist. That’s good enough for me.”

“Don’t you want your Mushi erased?”

“I still need it.”

Nii raised his head with a twitch. At a glance, the hockey stick boy looked defenseless, but he knew that he was moving his eyes to search the number of people and the structure around.

“He’s apparently going to train our comrades. As long as we pay him.”

“Well, I’m on a journey, is all. I gotta make some money when I can, you can’t tell what’s going to happen, right? Hire me for a bit. You won’t lose anything.”

The boy introduced himself as Shachito.

Tamaki climbed the stairs, putting her arm on the throne’s back.

“Kanon, I think it’s for the best to train everyone in order to protect you. Since we have the chance, what do you think?”

“If you say this, Tama-chan, then Kanon’s fine with it.”

“Okay. Hey, someone, spar with Shachito-kun for a bit. If we let him teach us how to fight, we have to make sure he’s actually strong first. Is that fine, Shachito-kun?”

“I’m fine with not knowing my opponent and going against all of you at once. Do come at me whenever you’d like.”

Perhaps confident in his skills, the boy called Shachito was completely calm.

Ichi and the others wearing robes all nodded at each other. They probably didn’t like his attitude. Four of them took out their Mushi and leapt at the boy.

It didn’t even take ten minutes to understand the true strength of the mysterious visitor Shachito.

“…Wow.”

Tamaki rounded her eyes, impressed in her place next to the throne.

The alternating assaults of the Mushi didn’t even graze Shachito. One moment he vanished before the Mushi, the next he was doing a headstand on top of it as if ridiculing it. Even when another Mushi tried to attack, he left an afterimage behind as he vanished again. From time to time an orange glow flew around the hall, but it was too fast to see any details.

“Tama-chan…! T-this person’s amazing!”

“Yes, it appears so. I’ve found quite the bargain.”

Kanon was getting excited and Tamaki was grinning.

As if to not shame themselves before their admired Kanon, Ichi and the rest did not stop their attacks. Shachito, who kept dodging these attacks, wore a warped smile.

“Hihah. Then should I counterattack a bit? Don’t worry, I won’t hurt ya—”

When he swung his hockey stick, Shachito’s warped smile froze.

For a simple reason.

That is—because he saw right in front of his eyes the appearance of Nii wielding a large object.

“Wha…”

“OOOOOooooh!”

Shouting with his mouth fully open, he swung what he held toward Shachito.

A large noise shook the Castle. The lone attack from Nii cracked the main hall’s floor and walls, opening large holes.

“Eeek!”

“Eeep!”

Kanon and Tamaki raised shrieks as the entire structure shook by the vibration caused by this impact.

“—Oi, oioi! A serious surprise attack all of a sudden?”

Nii turned to face Shachito, who’d just barely managed to teleport to the center of the main hall.

In his hand, Nii held his own Mushi, a Red Ogre snout beetle that transformed to a weapon. Its back turned to a thick blade and its surface shining with countless eyes, it was an axe about twice as large as Nii. The mouthpart on the back of the blade opened like a machine, emitting breath along with a large amount of vapor. He could feel the Mushi’s heartbeats from the grip.

“Ichi, San, protect Kanon, and don’t come any closer to this guy! Hachi and Juuni, block the entrance! Everyone else, gather near me!”

Nii strained his voice as he pulled the axe from the wall and readied it at his waist.

However, excluding him everyone was frozen with shock. Kanon widened her eyes, mumbling.

“O-Onii-chan spoke for the first time in a while…”

“Do it, quickly! This guy’s—”

The arm of Nii gripping the axe trembled. Fear was reborn within him, and his teeth chattered.

“From the SEPB!”

The one surprised at these words was none other than Shachito himself. He looked around him hurriedly, pointing at himself.

“Eh? SEPB… you mean me? Why?”

Hearing the word SEPB, the followers started hurriedly moving around. They acted according to Nii’s orders.

“Don’t play dumb. Your movements are obviously from someone trained by the SEPB!”

“My movements… oh, I see, so SEPB training was practically all thought up by Inuko? Then that means my training’s also…”

Leading the believers, Nii slowly closed his distance to Shachito.

Until now, he didn’t care at all about getting attacked by the SEPB. If push came to shove, he could just take Kanon along and run off. If he did it, then the SEPB probably wouldn’t follow them.

However, right now he couldn’t do it.

“Since you know about this place, we can’t let you get away…!”

A waterfall of sweat streamed down Nii’s forehead.

The fear reborn in the depths of his heart caused him dizziness.

“I-if we let you escape, that guy might come here…”

“That guy? No, I don’t really understand what’s going on, but I’m not from the SEPB, I’m telling you. Well, I did receive their training… geez, this is too complicated!”

“Everyone here’s different… I’ve already deserted… Kanon’s also different, and yet…!”

The arm wielding the axe felt as heavy as lead. His breath got rougher and memories from the past resurfaced.

The shouts of people who were more important than anything.

The eyes of his comrades, losing all light of vitality, helpless.

And his vision dyed in red—

“We were already finished…!”

“O-Onii-chan…?”

Kanon raised a brow at Nii’s mumbling.

“Y’know, I’m gonna fight if you don’t believe me, but… can I just say something? You’ve only shown me very little, but I can tell.”

Shachito readied his hockey stick for the first time, speaking.

“You’re actually the one from the SEPB here.”

“…!”

The believers all turned to look at Nii.

His axe was still spouting vapor. The heavy axe flew up, falling heavily toward Nii himself.

“East Central Branch Blaze Class Rank 3—Akaoni.”

“Hiha, a Rank 3? Strong.”

Shachito lowered his body, assuming a battle position. Autumn Darters glowing in orange were produced from the body of the boy wearing a warped smile, flying around.

“But I’m stronger.”

Supporting his axe with one arm, Nii used his other hand to open the bag hanging from his waist. He brought out the thing inside and wore it on his head.

It was an object like a branch bent into a ring shape.

Like a crown made of the leaves of bay laurel.

However, unlike its appearance, it was no plant. Along with a sweet fragrance, one could feel a small heartbeat from it.

It was a Mushi—

This wasn’t Nii’s Mushi.

The Mushi shaped like a laurel wreath belonged to a past comrade.

“…Hold hands.”

Nii mumbled. The followers waiting at his back went “Eh?”, raising their heads.

“Don’t worry about it, just hold hands.”

Ordered this, the confused believers started holding hands.

Nii put one of his hands on the shoulder of one of them.

The next moment, the laurel wreath on Nii’s head emitted a golden glow. The glow went through Nii’s arm and pulsated through the axe he was holding.

“…!”

Shachito widened his eyes.

The axe wielded by Nii swelled larger and larger. It also crackled, surrounded by a pale blue cold vapor. One of the followers raised a surprised voice.

“T-that’s… my ability!”

“Now I’m about Rank 2…”

Nii glared at the enemy ahead. Shachito strained his cheeks.

“So you can compound others people’s abilities? That sorta thing actually exists…?”

Nii and Shachito glared at each other.

Tension went between the pair, and something happened just as it was about to burst.

“—Please wait!”

Kicking the floor and coming between them was a petite person dressed in robes.

It was Kanon.

“What on earth happened to you, Onii-chan! Stop doing dangerous things!”

“Move…! This guy’s from the SEPB! If I don’t defeat him right now, they’ll find this place…!”

“Kanon’s telling you, you’re wrong about him!”

“If they found us now, it’ll be bad… If so many Mushitsuki gather here… ''that guy'' would definitely come…! If he comes, that’d be the end of everything…!”

“Who are you even talking about? That guy or whatever.”
 
Shachito’s calm gaze bore through Nii through Kanon’s shoulders.

“I’ve seen that you’re pretty strong. Is that guy even stronger?”

“Strong? Me? Hah, right! You thought I—we were strong, right! We thought our team was invincible! Because we’d never lost!”

“P-please calm down, Onii-chan…!”

Kanon tried desperately stopping Nii from approaching Shachito.

“But we weren’t strong at all! Both our confidence and the team itself vanished easily! —As well as the South Central Branch!”

“…!”

It wasn’t just Shachito. Everyone in the hall gasped.

Special Environmental Preservation Bureau, South Central Branch.

It was a branch that, when compared to the Central Branch or East Central Branch, gathered exquisite Mushitsuki. The strength of the team he led was known not only within the SEPB but even to Mushibane. In their area of jurisdiction, their rate of capturing wild Mushitsuki was astonishingly high, and they hardly ever failed in missions.

Overflowing with confidence, they were satisfied with their achievements.

And so—one could say that they gave in to temptation.

They simply got a bit too curious about outside their jurisdiction.

“Although we had no interest in outside our region… who said it? ‘In the near future, there’ll be another huge fight’… that simple sentence brought us in contact with Kakkou… that’s it… that was the only reason that guy appeared… and I lost everything…”

He was just strong.

Nii wasn’t in the level to face him.

He found himself unable to do anything other than pitifully run away.

“The survivors from our team were me, and… the Mushi of one of my comrades who even now had not regained her consciousness… because of that, the South Central Branch stopped functioning…”

[[File:Mushi Uta 10 p197.jpg|thumb]]

Mumbling in a trembling voice, he touched the laurel wreath.

“That guy intended on burning to ashes anyone who didn’t fit the next battle… he sneered at us, looking at us like mere worms… there was no way we could have beaten that devil…”

The one to continue Nii’s words was, surprisingly, the one standing near the throne, Tamaki.

“—Harukiyo.”

Nii’s body pathetically trembled all over. He threw his axe away, hugging his own body. Just by recalling it, the sensation of the flames and the screams of his comrades was reborn.

“I’m so scared! What’s this next fight…?! Doesn’t that just mean that the next era is one where only strong Mushitsuki survive… If I don’t erase that Mushi quickly, he’ll find me again…”

He tried shaking off not only his fear.

Who was the one who offered “Let’s join the next fight”?

No.

It didn’t matter who said it—as the one who decided so was Nii himself.

His careless lapse in judgment caused him to lost his place.

He held his head, shaking the laurel wreath.

“If it can’t be me, then at least this Mushi… I’m so weak… I couldn’t protect anyone…”

As if repenting, he put his forehead against the floor, leaking sobs.

“I’m weak…”

As he cried like a child, something touched his back.

“If you really are this weak, Kanon will protect you.”

Nii widened his eyes.

“Kanon’s weak, but keeps living while being protected by you all. So if you say you’re weak, Onii-chan, this time Kanon will protect you.”

“…”

He slowly raised his head.

Kanon was smiling. This girl, who would beat anyone in being weak, wore a radiant smile.

“Kanon’s going to save you, so please don’t worry.”

Nii was anxious.

Kanon’s special ability other than erasing Mushi.

That was gathering people around her.

He thought that it was dangerous to be drawing the strong, but—

If Kanon, who was so weak, could smile so radiantly…

Perhaps someone as weak as him could be saved.

He began to think that.

“So we’re all calmed down…? Seriously, though, I was so surprised, compounding abilities is such a broken technique.”

Shachito sighed as he lowered his hockey stick.

“It’s not compounding, it’s combination… anyone wearing this gathers the ability of all Mushitsuki in touch with them, gaining the right to command those abilities.”

Nii groaned painfully as he grasped the laurel wreath.

“I only know about this from rumors, but I heard that Spear User from the past, and the giant mantis that appeared recently in the North Central Branch’s jurisdiction, were supposed to also be Mushi separated from their hosts… I want to save this one before it becomes like that too…”

Seeing him, Tamaki mumbled.

“…Looks useful.”