Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 3rd Episode 12 (section)

===Part 2===

On her day off, Anneliese liked visiting the place of the violin craftsman.

While the violin she had received from her parents couldn't be compared with famous labels such as Stradivarius or Guarneri, it was still of a high quality. It became her habit to go once a week to the craftsman to check its condition and so.

It was road she'd taken along with her mother or father until last year, but stepping on the stone paving by her lonesome wasn't bad at all either. As she walked while hearing her leather shoes squeaking, she held her head high.

The townscape of Munich still had the vestiges of the kingdom of Bavaria. Even the street that now had many open air cafés on it still had buildings made of stone heated by the sun here and there. Youths wearing casual clothes blended in this culture that honored the tradition of the capital of art and music.

Finally a new government building that looked like a palace appeared in front of her.

In front of the government building was the Marienplatz. This plaza, the center of Munich, was crowded with people who looked like foreigners that came for sightseeing or shopping.

"Whew…"

She stopped her legs, taking a small break.

Since Anneliese had her time stuffed full with her violin lessons and private tutor lessons, she had less stamina than boys and girls of her age. While they were running around, the only thing she was chasing were the notes lined up on the musical sheets.

As Anneliese held her violin case in both hands, drooped her shoulders and took a breath, several adults turned to look at her. Due to the appearance of her meticulously combed blonde hair, silk blouse, and high-quality violin case, everyone probably knew at a glance she was the local young lady. Even an oriental group of people probably on a sightseeing tour looked at her in interest.

Noticing the gazes, Anneliese's expression stiffened and she resumed walking. The daughter of the Mitake family couldn't expose herself to a shameful audience.

As she tried leaving the plaza, she saw several boys she was familiar with. They went to the same school as her. 

Not doing anything in particular on their day off, they simply gathered at the edge of the plaza and saw off the people passing by while grinning. People like them who had wealthy parents usually start doing drugs and ruin their families.

Spending the day in idleness without refining their education was depraved. The smart Anneliese knew of the ugliness brought forth by laziness and hedonism. 

"It's Anne!"

She attempted passing by them feigning ignorance but she was noticed. She attempted passing through the plaza without even returning their gaze.

The boys started poking fun at her with words like, "The {{furigana|puppe|doll}}'s walking!" or "So the ''caged bird'' went outside?" but she ignored them. These were both Anneliese's nicknames.

"Hello, Anne. Do you not have a lesson today?"

One of the boys came after Anne. With his brown hair and neat facial features, he was popular even among his female classmates. His name was Erik. He was also smart, and served as the leader of the group that was up to no good.

Immediately the boys started jeering at him with words like "Aren't you bringing her a rose today, Erik?" He turned around, raised his middle finger and also his voice. 

"{{furigana|Arschloch|Asseholes}}!"

Still walking, Anneliese grimaced. It was a dirty slang word. Even the adults around all looked at Erik while furrowing their brows. 

Catching up to Anneliese in a trot, Erik walked next to her.

"Don't mind it. The guys are just curious about you is all. Christo suddenly starts talking when it's about you. He probably likes you."

"Can you please not speak to me? I'll be embarrassed if people think we are friends."

Asserting this coldly, Anneliese quickened her pace. But since Erik's steps were larger, he caught up to her easily.

"We're going to see the Liga<ref>The German soccer league.</ref> now. Won't you come along? You like Bavaria, right?"

"So you started lying instead of bringing me roses? If you have a ticket for a soccer match I'd like you to show it to me."

"We're going to get it now. 'If I had the wings known as you, I could go over any wall!'"

"The opera writers would pity you if you use famous quotes to pick up girls."

"How can I make you stop? 'Beautiful moment, do not pass away'!"

"Mephistopheles will destroy you."

The name Mephistopheles referred to the demon from the work of the German author known as Goethe. There he bound a contract with the old scholar Faust. Mephistopheles helped Faust regain his youth. Unable to obtain his ideal world, in the end Erik would be destroyed by the curse of destruction he had uttered—

Yet even while retorting back and ignoring him, Anneliese sighed in her heart. If he could cite operas and knew about Goethe's works—if he possessed that much education—then he should have applied it differently.

Education and depravation—perhaps Erik, who possessed these contradictory attributes at the same time, looked free from other people's view. Yet since Anneliese hated depravation, she was far from willing to accept him.

"So cold. Then at least smile. Don't you think we should both spend our day off in happiness? We have to thank God for giving us this day."

Erik said with Peter's Church at his back. He thought what he was saying was reasonable.

"Yeah, today's warm so it seems like I'd be able to play well on the violin. So much that speaking seems like a waste."

Grinning sociably, Erik blushed and went silent. "Have a good day," she parted with him, making him stop in place, raise his index finger and middle finger and shake them.

For Anneliese, who still had no interest in love, having boys of her age interfere with her business was bothersome. Her true will was to not have them approach her more than necessary.

Yet she didn't speak it out loud.

If Anneliese mouthed this rejection, her relationship with her classmates would worsen. If any troubles in her school life were to arise and her parents found out about them, it would make them sad.

She couldn't accept Erik's affection.

And so she couldn't speak her true feelings.

It was all in order to protect her happy current life and her important parents and home.

"—Is something wrong?"

The middle-aged violin maker called out to Anneliese as she was looking at the violin strings lined up in the shop. The old man, with his scrawny cheeks and white beard, looked more like a clergyman.

"What? Is it broken anywhere?"

"I'm talking about you, miss. Your expression's a bit dark. Made a mistake during your performance?"

The man asked while putting Anneliese's violin on his shoulder and checking the sounds.

"…I just don't really feel like going back home."

"Oh, how rare. Have you had a fight with your parents? Or have you seen a ghost?"

"All of the ghosts are good kids."

As Anneliese immediately replied, the old man leaked a mumbled laughter. He probably thought it was a joke.

"It's just that my house right now has someone much more unpleasant than ghosts…"

Starting from the dinner party the previous night, Lady Mitake would be staying in the Mitake household for several days. All of the family was expected to entertain this powerful old lady against their will.

The craftsman in front of her was someone unrelated to the political world or to school. She was allowed to voice some of her true opinion there.

"It's because you're clever. You can see what people are trying to hide sometimes."

"…I don't need cleverness."

Her parents said that education was important. 

Yet her cleverness tried whispering to her about things other than education.

Anneliese wanted only the pure education that would let her avoid seeing anything dirty and avoid voicing her true feelings.

"There are enough novels and operas about clever people meeting sad ends. I pray for you to become happy."

Putting the violin back in its case, the old man handed it to Anneliese. His words of blessing have always cheered up Anneliese ever since she was young. 

She said her thanks and left the shop.

Coming back on the road she came from, she returned home.

As she passed the gate and entered the mansion, the inside of the house was again silent. There were no signs of either her parents or any servants; they were probably accompanying Lady Mitake on her excursion. She climbed the stairs from the lobby and headed to her room.

On the way there, she changed her mind and went toward the hall.

After walking through the corridor, she saw the door to the hall was open. Entering it, she found the room with vast space that was several times the size of all other rooms completely empty. There were no traces of the dinner party from last night.

Standing in the center of the hall, she could hear creaking sounds from the ceiling.

Anneliese narrowed her eyes. The specters appeared to be welcoming her back. And so she had to answer their expectations.

"Do you have any request, specters?"

Anneliese asked the friends that stayed with her ever since she could remember herself.

''Creak'', the sound sounded again.

Anneliese smiled and took her violin out of the case. She placed it on her shoulder.

Rather than her parents that swung through all emotions during her performance, or the adults of high society that applauded her mechanically no matter how she performed, only they alone listened to her melody without saying anything.

Anneliese started her performance in the mansion that was empty except for her.

Although it was empty, the ceiling kept creaking along with the performance.

''—These are called Shibanmushi.''

Anneliese's father had once told her young self about the identity of the specters.

He said that the name of "Shibanmushi" came from Japan. In Europe they were also called deathwatch beetles—as if they were clocks counting down to death. They appeared to have the habit of hiding in houses, eating books and documents. In the past people heard them creaking in abandoned mansions, and so feared them as the guards of death.

They were rare insects, but apparently her father's hometown had them as well. He also said that perhaps they had hidden inside the books and documents that he brought with him from Japan.

Anneliese once searched around the mansion in order to find them. But in the end she was unable to do so and merely got scolded by her mother for dirtying her clothes.

Ever since then, Anneliese decided to accept them as ghosts. As long as she couldn't see them, she couldn't tell whether they really were insects or not. Perhaps they were real specters. For her, these formless footsteps were something she couldn't touch, just like mist.

"—"

While Anneliese played the violin a natural smile rose to her mouth.

She felt like she could give her very best performance. Forgetting about all her unpleasant problems, the girl focused on playing.

She finished the first-rate performance that was incomparable to how it was last night.

It happened just as she raised her face to the ceiling in order to inquire the opinion of the specters before letting the music linger off.

"Bravo."

She could hear applause from the hall's entrance.

She turned around in surprise to see Lady Mitake clapping her hands with servants at her side.

"…Thank you very much."

How long had she been there? Anneliese's mood was destroyed since the performance was meant for the guests of honors which were the specters, but she pinched her skirt and bowed at Lady Mitake.

Yet as she heard a large amount of footsteps coming from behind her, she raised her face.

They weren't the specters' footsteps. They were rude and wild. Feeling an unusual presence, Anneliese leapt into the hall.

"…!"

She could see the first floor lobby from the corridor filled with a crowd of adults. Some wore casual clothes, but most of them wore uniforms.

They were police officers.

"Poor Anneliese."

Lady Mitake's restrained voice caused Anneliese to turn back.

The kimono-clad old woman spoke sadly.

"Your parents have been arrested by the authorities just a while ago. They are charged with selling classified information from their workplace to other countries… They will surely be arrested."

Lady Mitake hid her mouth with the sleeve of her kimono and approached Anneliese.

"…? …?"

Anneliese couldn't understand what the woman in front of her was saying at all. It was true that her father belonged to the army's Development Department and her mother worked part-time in the same agency. Yet her overly serious parents would never betray their country—

Looking down the stairs, the police officers began searching the mansion. The investigator broke into her father's study and called loudly. Holding out what looked like documents, he passed them to a plainclothesman. She could hear them speaking about things such as codes and transaction history.

"It is a pity about your parents, but you are innocent, Anneliese. You could probably no longer come back to this country, but do come over to mine. Until your parents atone for their crimes…"

Anneliese, still glued to the spot with her eyes open wide, couldn't even voice a groan.

Her diligent father.

Her education-crazy mother.

The mansion with the invisible roommates.

Everything important to Anneliese—that she had protected thus far and intended to keep protecting—was all vanishing like smoke.

Wondering whether it was only a dream, she gazed at the ceiling.

The specters, Anneliese's only real friends and audience, were silent. As if they had run out immediately due to the unfamiliar people storming the place.

Anneliese was unable to accept the vision in front of her, and was about to lose her sanity, but the one to bring her back to reality was the one she hated the most in the world.

"Come to Japan, Anneliese. We will become family from now on."

Lady Mitake was hiding her mouth with her sleeve.

Although the old woman seemed to pity the girl, only her eyes were—

"Starting from this moment, you will become Mitake Anneliese."

—Smiling for the first time.

Seeing the old woman's smile, Anneliese's brain told her the truth. She dragged her shaking feet away from Lady Mitake's extended hand.

"Was something not to your liking…?"

While barely standing thanks to grabbing the railing in the corridor, Anneliese threw a desperate question at the old woman.

"What on earth did you not like about mother and father, Lady Mitake…!"

The old woman stopped her legs. She tilted her head quizzically, but Anneliese had already seen through her acting.

"Both mother and father have been obedient to you! Every time you visited Munich they welcomed you, revered you, and devoted themselves for you! Then what does this treatment mean!"

"Are you confused due to everything that has happened? What on earth are you—"

"I know you! Someone like you would be able to protect my parents from the police even if they have committed a crime! But you didn't do that!"

Looking down her father's study, she then passed her gaze to the servants near Lady Mitake. The two servants that originally belonged to the Mitake household averted their eyes as if afraid of the girl's gaze.

"I've seen them enter the study this morning. You've used them to—"

"Be silent, Anneliese."

Lady Mitake said bluntly, wearing a gentle smile. Conversely, the smile behind her eyes vanished.

It was what Anneliese avoided seeing thus far.

She averted her eyes although she knew it.

Anneliese knew what it was.

"We mustn't have any misunderstandings now that we are about to become a family. We need to have respect for one another."

"…!"

"—Also, what you have said is untrue. There was one time your parents have disobeyed me."

The eyes under her wrinkled eyelids looked down on the powerless Anneliese.

"My smart and educated Anneliese… When I asked them to let me adopt you into the Mitake family, they have refused."

Then this time—

"Now, come and make preparations to leave for Japan, Anneliese."

The important things Anneliese protected were all smashed to pieces.

It wasn't that Lady Mitake didn't like her parents.

It was the opposite; it was because she liked Anneliese Mitake herself—

Her knees began trembling.

The education Anneliese poured herself into in order to keep her parents' teaching and thinking that it was needed to protect the Mitake family now took everything away from her.

''Father, Mother… What was it that we really lacked…?''

Lady Mitake reached her hand to Anneliese, using her fingertips to raise her chin.

Even while Anneliese was teary-eyed and about to succumb to despair, she reflexively gazed at the old woman.

She had lost what she was supposed to protect.

She noticed the dirtiness she had been averting her eyes from.

When she realized the truth, the words that she thought she would never say—after enduring for so long—were spat out of her mouth on their own.

"{{furigana|Arschloch|Assehole}}."

A dry sound rang in the mansion. The police officers searching the house looked above.

Anneliese realized she had been slapped only because the violin she had been holding fell from her hands, slipped through the railings and fell down to the first floor.

Her precious violin that she tuned every single week without rest crashed on the floor and broke.

"Never use words unfitting for the daughter of the Mitake house again."

The old woman's voice could be said to be gentle, but Anneliese couldn't hear it due to the sobbing coming out of her mouth.

Her shoulders shaking, she stifled her voice and shed tears.

''Creak''—the specters above creaked only once.

This lament from her only friends in the world served as farewell.

—Thus Anneliese lost her hometown.