Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 10 Chapter 3 (section)

== 3.03 The Others ==

The lace curtain shook with the salty-smelling wind.

With the window displaying the receding white waves at her back, a girl was playing the piano. The light melody and the salty wind made the twelve-year old girl’s dress flutter.

A white-haired old man was fixated upon the form of the girl playing the piano. His barrel-like body was seated in a legless chair and he seemed unable to tear his eyes away from the girl. An unceasing stream of tears fell from his deeply wrinkled eyes.

The girl finished her performance.

“Ooh…”

A sob leaked from the old man’s throat as if he was unable to bear it any longer.

The girl rose, bowing. She pinched the hem of her dress and approached the man. Grabbing his shaking hand, she calmly snuggled to his shoulder.

“How was my piano, Grandfather?”

“Yes… yes… it’s just the same before you passed away… your piano is the best.”

Obviously. The girl’s performance replicated the image in the man’s mind, after all.

“Thanks.”

The girl smiled, reaching toward the man’s order-made suit. She pulled out of his pocket a black card. On the surface of the card the letter “V” was written.

“So, I’ll be taking this card for Kanon-sama…”

“Yes… yes…”

“Goodbye, Grandfather.”

Kissing the man’s forehead, the girl detached. She walked toward the entrance.

“Are you leaving already…?”

“I must be by Kanon-sama’s side.”

Turning back, she grinned.

“If you believe in Kanon-sama, we can meet again.”

“Understood… right, yes.”

The old man nodded many times at the girl’s words. His hunched form watching over the world had none of his dignity as one of the country’s leading billionaires.

Leaving her grandfather behind, the granddaughter left the room. She casually flung the card in air.

As the card spun midair, the moment before it fell down—

“Hmph.”

It landed in a wrinkled man’s hand. Dressed in a formal, order-made suit, he shook his barrel-like body as he walked.

“…A guest?”

An overly thin middle-aged woman waited in the end of the corridor.

The old man replied to his secretary.

“No.”

“I heard some voices…”

“Mumbling in my sleep, most likely. I’ve been dreaming. …About my cute granddaughter who died in an accident.”

The man raised the corners of his mouth. He ordered the puzzled secretary.

“Put money into that account; you know the one.”

“Again? The other day you also put in quite a lot…”

“It is my freedom to choose what I do with my money. Anything else?”

“…A visitor is waiting for you.”

His secretary’s looked further into the corridor.

Standing there were two women with a large height difference. One was a girl in a dress with red, drunken cheeks. Standing next to her was a beautiful woman in a suit holding a teddy bear.

“Aren’t you acting a bit too luxurious for your age? Yahah.”

The Akasegawa Group Chairman, Akasegawa Nanana and her secretary.

He ignored her and tried passing by. However, Nanana followed him.

“Lately you’ve been having fun making some extravagant spending. As a representative of those who are worried about you, I, the newcomer, have come to check on you.”

“I too have only a few years to live. If I leave any money, the country will take it.”

“Oh my, words I wouldn’t have expected from someone who was in the Round Table for so long. I wonder what kind of beautiful woman you have been spoiling.”

“Don’t mind me, Akasegawa.”

Hastening his steps following after him, Nanana gave up. “Yahah,” she laughed and spoke at his back.

“…Don’t forget that I supervise all money flowing through this country.”

He grinned at her, then mumbled.

“I do know it.”

That was why Akasegawa Nanana’s eyes would be doing their best to follow the flow of money.

If she did that, she wouldn’t have the leisure to look after Mushibane—

While walking through the corridor, the man chuckled to himself.



Countless lights were hanging from the ceiling and there were countless cameras on the floor.

The improvised spectator seats were open to the general public, so many viewers gathered there. There were possibly some people meant to rouse the mood among them, prepared in advance by the show’s staff. 

Meanwhile, entertainers known throughout the country were gathered around the semicircular long table on stage. An industry veteran and a news announcer served as the MCs, gathering idols, actors, performers and other famous people.

The large monitor installed behind the table displayed the title of the program in big letters.

“Live Debate! Do supernatural phenomena truly exist?!”

The studio, overflowing with laughter and loud voices in the live broadcast just a few moments ago, was now frozen as if time itself stopped.

“…Eh?”

The host asked back with a stupid-sounding voice.

The teenage idol sitting at the edge of the table spoke in a light tone while playing with her hair.

“I mean, like, shouldn’t we talk about Mushi rather than aliens and such? You know about them, everyone, right? These people eat people’s dreams, and there’s even a secret organization that captures and conceals them. They’re called something like the Special Environmental Preservation Bureau. SEPB for short. I heard they’re using Mushitsuki to capture Mushitsuki.”

The studio turned quiet. Never mind those performers whose job was to speak, even the spectators of the audience were completely speechless.

“Ah! Maybe Mushi are aliens, actually! That’d be really funny! Kyahaha!”

“—Well, our conversation suddenly strayed off, so let’s go on commercial break.”

The announcer bowed his head, and the director ordered a commercial break.

“Sowwy, I’m gonna go touch up on my makeup for a bit.”

The idol girl left her seat, leaping over the table and ran away inside the studio. She shook off the confounded staff and the makeup artists trying to stop her, leaping outside the studio.

She existed to the corridor, rushed down a floor and entered the women toilet.

The furthest door was closed. As she knocked there, she heard it unlock.

“…I just have to pretend I don’t know anything, right?”

Inside the toilet was a girl with an identical face to the idol’s. She smiled.

“Yes, please.”

“So, please let me have it one more last time…”

“Sure.”

Being entreated by the identical girl, she closed the toilet door.

Without even waiting a few seconds, she soon opened the door again.

By that time, she—turned into a he. It was a young actor with a handsome face.

“Ah…!”

The idol girl leapt into his chest.

“Please, tell me you love me! You’ll always love me, right!”

“I love you. Forever and ever…”

He smiled, gently caressing the idol’s hair.

“I’m so happy!”

“You might face tough times from now on, but you’ll do your best, right?”

“Yes, I will…”

“Well then.”

The man smiled and detached from the girl. He hurriedly went out of the women toilet, wearing a hat to hide his face.

He passed many boys and girls as if they were switching places with him. All of them were carrying large enough bags to be holding long coats and goggles within. He confirmed with a glance that they all rushed into the women toilet.

“She has so many fans… you’ll take quite a while to clean up all that, dear SEPB.”

Smiling, the man removed his hat.



Within a space surrounded by thick metal walls all around, a man was smiling while receiving a full body check from the guards.

“I don’t want to take along a person who’s not even part of the Round Table, if possible.”

He had a slim, lean figure and thin hair, wearing glasses with a platinum-made rim; perhaps he could be described as a scholar. While a metal sensor was being passed over his body by the security, he presented the card with the written numeral “V” on it.

“Your master trusts me so he gave me this member certificate.”

“Although it is a mere certificate, it’s part of the Chairman’s property. Protecting that is a secretary’s job.”

A middle-aged woman undergoing the same body check said bluntly.

“Truly a model secretary.”

“Enough with idle compliments.”

Approval came from the guards. A large electronic lock with the radius of about two meters opened with an electronic tone.

Behind it was a narrow corridor with its walls full of drawers. Each one had a panel for inserting PIN numbers in it.

They were in the safe deposit box used by the country’s prominent banks.

The bespectacled man stood next to the secretary, advancing through the corridor.

“Has the Chairman truly left this card to you?”

“I have a handwritten document from him, do you want to confirm it?”

The bespectacled man shrugged, but the secretary’s dubious gaze didn’t change.

“…Who are you doubting here, me? Or your employer?”

“The Chairman has undergone some changes. He was always so strong, and yet he became weak as if it was all a lie…”

“So it really was a lie. His current form is the real him, and he was just pretending to be strong until now.”

“Even when his granddaughter died, he showed not a single tear… and now he often speaks of her…”

“Isn’t he seeing delusions? He concealed the first shock, but his imagination reopened his wounds.”

The man grinned.

The secretary grimaced at his arrogant behavior. Averting her eyes, she moved to another topic.

“What are we looking for?”

“The secret of the birth of Mushi.”

“…!”

“—Or simply a clue or a hint about it, I should say.”

As the secretary raised a brow, the bespectacled man shrugged again.

“These are the records of past Round Table members’ fees. There’s no doubt that it also contains information regarding Alpha…”

“Alpha?”

“Oh, no, never mind. Anyway, ever since I also entered the Round Table, I’ve been curious about Alpha. However, I was simply unable to gain the key here.”

“That key is…”

“Yes, it’s the member cards ranging from ‘I’ to ‘V’.”

The man showed the member certificate of the number V to the woman.

“—And then, the second one you need is one of the newcomer cards, up to XII.”

He grinned. The man showed another member certificate. A card with the letters “XI” on it overlapped with the “V” card.

“Your master’s and my certificate card. We have finally assembled the key.”

“…Isn’t it dangerous? Even someone like me knows the SEPB can’t stay silent about getting involved with Mushi.”

“Right now the SEPB’s too busy for that. There was apparently an uproar related to TV.”

“You’re very well-informed.”

“Your master told me about it. —Actually, he was the one who just told me about the key, too.”

“…I did not know you and the Chairman were that close.”

“Not too much. Haven’t you said it too? Your master has been acting strangely recently.”

The man and the secretary went through the corridor, exiting to a wide room. It was something like a VIP room that held especially important items even within this safety deposit box.

“Now, stop doubting me. Let us look for the right number.”

“…Right.”

They soon found the shelf they wanted.

The special shelf at the center of the room seemed to be it. It was much larger than others and had nothing like an electronic lock, number verification or fingertips reader, but only two thin slots.

“Alright, now we just need to put the two member cards inside at the same time.”

The bespectacled man held the member cards and was about to insert them. The secretary asked from the side.

“Why are you trying to expose this secret?”

“Because it’s the Round Table’s secret? Think about it, this allows me to grasp the weakness of all the Round Table’s members. Is there anything as attractive in the world?”

“…”

“Now, it’s time to see what it is.”

It happened the literal moment after the man inserted the card.

Golden light burst and a violent electrical discharge assaulted the entire safe. Plasma was emitted from all shelves, binding together, forming behind the bespectacled man into a human figure.

It was a beautiful, nude girl in command of butterflies—

There was no other way to express it. Appearing together with the electrical discharge was a teen girl with a silhouette made from bursting plasma. There were heart marks on the surface of her body and the wings of the shining butterflies were adorned with the letter “C”.

“Wha—”

The glasses man and the secretary tried retreating, shocked.

“What the hell is that…!”

“Confirmed individuals trying to interfere with first-class secret item. Scanning said persons—”

Floating in the air with a vacant gaze, the golden girl opened her mouth. Her digital-like voice mixed with noise echoed in the vault.

“Fingerprints, voiceprints, veins, internal electrons, none clear. Concluding this is not Mister Ichinokuro—”

The bespectacled man widened his eyes.

“Ichinokuro… THE Ichinokuro?! Meaning, he’s the only one who can access it?!”

“No other person than Ichinokuro is allowed interfering with present item. Activating trap program.”

“I-I heard nothing about this! Ichinokuro, you bastard, don’t tell me—”

Cussing, the bespectacled man hurriedly ran from the spot. He leaping outside the room and entered the corridor.

“…!”

The golden girl vanished from the secretary’s sight.

The glowing lightning instantly surged through the corridor—

“Did he pose as the Chairman and observed the Round Table—”

The man’s voice was erased by a sound like thunder. The bursting electrical surge and sparks filled the corridor and the impact was transmitted all the way to where the secretary was.

“—”

She gulped.

The golden girl gently floated back into the room. She stopped in front of the secretary as if nothing happened.

Swallowing her spit, the secretary looked at the safe deposit box.

The two member cards remained there, still inserted. The secretary slowly reached out to them—

“…!”

The golden girl’s eyes looked at the secretary. She stopped her hands a moment before touching the cards.

Having no choice, she gave up and turned back. The golden girl didn’t go after her.

Exiting the room and into the corridor, she found a black charred mass on the floor. Going over the twitching thing there, she quickly headed toward the exit.

As she exited the safe deposit box, a guard raised his voice to her.

“What about the other one?”

“He’s still looking for something. He’s planning on staying inside for a bit longer.”

Curtly asserting this, she hastened her steps to get out of the place.

The secretary exited the bank, rushed through the crowds, and finally stopped when she reached an empty back alley.

“Hah…! Hah…!”

As she went out of breath, her form changed back to that of a teenage girl.

“That was too close… I knew it was the right call to use that man as sacrifice.”

Wiping her cold sweat, Tamaki let out a huge sigh to calm herself. The fear of knowing she could have died if she made even the smallest mistake crawled all over her skin.

“I thought that if I’d figured out what Mushi were, I’d be able to find a way to erase them… was it really naïve to think I make Kanon’s lies come true like that…? No—”

Although she was still shaking in fear, Tamaki still felt it was a good result.

“I was able to approach a truth that even the Round Table wasn’t aware of… if I continue like this, I’ll definitely find it! Until then… I just need to keep lying.”

More and more believers were worshipping Kanon, and Tamaki was able to get many out of the SEPB and Mushibane.

She had confidence.

“I can… we can do something even more amazing.”

The time was night.

The next full moon was approaching.

At which full moon would Tamaki and Kanon be able to turn their lie into reality?

Thinking this, she felt so elated she couldn’t stay still.

“I need to keep going… the greatest ever seen… for that purpose…”

Mumbling to herself as if singing, Tamaki walked through the back alley.