Editing Mushi Uta:Volume 9 Chapter 2 (section)

== 2.04 Nanana Part 8 ==
“Did you see it? It was shining now, right? It was definitely a deer! Yahah.”

Inside the limousine driving through the forest, Nanana clung to the window. Since she hadn’t changed clothes after attending a certain party, she was still in a dress.

“You saw it, right Pochi? It was a deer for sure!”

“Ah… umm… I’m sor… Miss…”

The boy sitting at the back seat wore a vague smile and averted his gaze. Although he wore a formal suit, he was unable to fix his hair at several spots.

Nanana puffed her cheeks. Her drunkenness was no act.

“You didn’t!? You idiot! You saw it, right? It was a deer, right?”

“Probably a boar. Since its eyes were positioned low.”

The young woman wearing a cardigan on top of her dress said while adjusting her glasses. Next to her was a teddy bear wearing a suit.

“Geez! That’s why I loathe Mushitsuki!”

“I am not a Mushitsuki. —Must we have this exact same conversation every time we come here?”

“Nyahahahah.”

Inside the limousine driving in the dark road, Nanana’s laughter echoed.

Nanana was in a good mood.

She managed to preserve the Akasegawa Foundation as well as always. She had no enemies and her laughter wouldn’t stop.

Also, today Nanana would finally get it.

The Pandora’s box sought after by the Magician—

Since she would obtain it, she no longer hesitated. The fact that Nanana kept growing her assets would finally have meaning.

“Have you properly cleared up my schedule afterward like I told you to?”

“Of course.”

Ahead and behind the long limousine were several cars painted black guarding it. Since this empty road was completely pitch dark, the car’s headlights illuminated the path ahead.

She came back to visit this mountain for the exact same reason as the first time.

To meet up with Mushibane in the camp ahead.

“Good! For a change, the great Nanana will praise you! You were excellent, so I’ll pet your head. You must be happy, so purr for me.”

“Purrrr.”

“Don’t just say it! By the way. Weren’t you recruited by some CEO during that party just now? You were probably told to become his lover, right? What if you did? Wouldn’t he be your sugar daddy?”

“I live only for myself. I have no intention of becoming another person’s property.”

“Say whaaat? I give you a high salary, so don’t you belong to me?”

“I am ‘the secretary of the Akasegawa Foundation Chairman’. I only work to protect my current occupation.”

“So boooring. You cold-blooded woman. Teddy bear freak. Please just marry that stuffed thing.”

“He’s not a thing. His name is Coccinella Septempunctata-kun<ref>The scientific name of the seven-spot ladybird.</ref>.”

“What’s up with that important-sounding name!? It’s so creepy that you’re giving names to toys at your age!”

“Umm… I… Miss… uh…”

“Say something? Pochi, just look outside until you see a deer.”

Tonight, Nanana came to Mushibane because of her promise to them.

While tilting a wine glass, Nanana checked in with the secretary.

“You’re prepared the cheque, right?”

“Yes, ma’am. But will he really appear?”

“He will. I know he will. He’s really greedy. Because of that, he’ll keep waiting for bidders until the very end—until the date itself changes.”

She would spend the night with Munakata Kaiji and Mushibane.

Nanana had promised them that on her private beach a few days ago.

The payment time for the aforementioned auction—for the first Mushitsuki, Alpha—was tonight.

For some reason, it appeared that Sotheby, the monster calling himself an auctioneer, knew where Nanana was. Since her visit to the private beach had been a secret, he would definitely appear to her no matter where she was. After all, he was to gain an absurd amount of money. And even if he didn’t, that servile monster would certainly search for her in a frenzy.

“But—there would be no other bidders.”

Narrowing one eye, Nanana grinned. The secretary nodded.

“I have continued my monitoring of the other Round Table members… but there was no noticeable movement of assets.”

“If they intended on bidding, they would have to move large amounts of money. And since I moved a lot of money… there’s no way they wouldn’t be noticed by us.”

She’d been told that only the twelve Round Table members were invited to the auction.

But excluding Nanana, the eleven other members showed no signs of acting.

None of them attempted to take part in the auction.

For more than ten years, no one tried touching Alpha.

The only one bidding was Nanana.

“Alpha belongs to me. I won’t hand it over to anyone.”

What the Kind Magician wanted, Nanana would gain instead.

She finally found the way to use her accumulated money.

“I look forward to it.”

They emerged out of the woods.

Arriving at the camp, the Nanana’s limousine parked.

Coming off the car, Nanana noticed there was shouting near the camp.

“…?”

Taking the secretary and Pochi with her, she walked toward the center of the camp.

People gathered in front of the cottage.

There were familiar faces there as well. Shiika and Aijisupa, Namie, Lucifera, Nihei and Halensis, all stood side to side as well as the wheelchaired Munakata Kaiji. In front of Shiika and the rest gathered on one side, several boys and girls were clamoring. “No!” “Stop it!” they were shouting.

“They seem to be in the middle of something.”

Nanana decided to watch for a while.

One person was rampaging and was held back by his comrades. He was probably about Nanana’s age. Blood was streaming down from his forehead and dirtying his clothes, so he’d probably fought against something somewhere. Namie, Lucifera and several other people bore similar wounds.

“It’s fine. Release him.”

Shiika spoke calmly.

Although hesitating, the people holding the enraged person let go. As expected, that person lunged toward Shiika. He violently grabbed her cuffs.

“Why did you do this!?”

Shiika’s small body was pounded against the cottage wall. Shiika’s grimace held back the executives who were immediately preparing to stop this.

“Why did we have to let them kill our comrades back there?!”

The boy, tall and with chiseled features, mercilessly pushed Shiika against the hard wall. The piercing on his ears reflected the illumination around.

“We could’ve still made it in time! Dunno if they were the SEPB or whatever, but why’d we have to run away while they slaughter us?! Even if we managed to secure one Mushitsuki, it’s fucking meaningless if we lost a comrade! Are you all idiots?!”

With blood streaming down his forehead, the boy shouted.

“Why’d we have to be taken there by force and have this shit happen?!”

“Impossible. Unfeasible. Too late. It would be meaningless to go back there, and if we do we’ll end up directly clashing against the SEPB. We simply had bad luck, bumping into them there.”

While shaking off the dust from her dirty clothes, Lucifera spoke as if none of it related to her.

“Also, you were brought along because you’re fit for battle. If you hate us, how about hating your own ability? —Rather, I’m honestly disappointed. Your fighting techniques were perfect, but once you saw the enemy numbers you were already ready to flee, so isn’t it your group’s fault?”

“Wha—how dare you…!”

“I’m sorry…”

Having remained silent until now, Shiika spoke with a pained expression. The boy widened his eyes.

“This is no time to apologize! I’m asking you why! Wasn’t Mushibane meant to save Mushitsuki? Ah?!”

“I do want to save them. But if we fight against the SEPN there, there would be even more casualties of the two—”

“You ain’t saving anyone! Casualties of both groups? Are you saying you’re so worried about our enemies you don’t mind us being picked off?!”

Shiika was pushed to silence. She bit her lips in anguish, raising her face.

The girl’s sight stared directly at the boy.

“—Yes.”

From time to time, Nanana couldn’t understand the girl called Anmoto Shiika.

She thought she was an airhead who grew up without knowing hardship, but at times she would show completely different sides of her.

Just like now.

Although usually she looked so fragile that she could break from a simple touch, she now accepted the boy’s anger and even returned his gaze. It wasn’t like her core was strong; it was as if there was a single pillar that supported her, that let her rise no matter what happened—something so certain was packed inside her small body.

“Why you—”

Unable to withstand this any longer, the boy swung his fist down to Shiika.

Shiika made no attempt to dodge.

Aijisupa next to her immediately caught that fist, but didn’t make it in time. The remaining momentum caused the back of Aijisupa’s hand to strike Shiika’s face.

“…Please endure it.”

Her eyes reddening and swelling, Shiika mumbled. Probably desperately holding back the pain, as she looked back at the boy her shoulders trembled.

“We need to endure it… and become stronger. Until we can protect those who can’t fight as well as ourselves—if we don’t become stronger, this fight will never end.”

The boy was lost for words. But he was still probably unable to settle his feelings. His fist stayed clenched.

Namie grabbed his shoulder. She glared at him.

“If you’re still not satisfied, then hit me. I was the one who served as commander back there. The responsibility for not protecting my comrades goes to me.”

“…Woooooa!”

He too probably couldn’t understand anything either. He reflexively tried hitting the side of Namie’s head. However—

“—Ugh...”

Namie dug her own fist in his solar plexus. With this ruthless counterattack, Shiika and the rest widened their eyes.

“You also have some responsibility, you bastard. If you don’t want to see anything like that again, become stronger.”

Namie blurted while wiping the blood from her split lip. With the air of a commander in charge of an army, she resolutely looked down on the kneeling boy.

“If you actually don’t want to fight—I will not tell you to fight ever again.”

Everyone stared at Shiika after she said those words.

Nanana was also surprised. That was different from what she’d promised.

“We’re not the SEPB… We will not drag unwilling people to the battlefield. —However, if you became stronger with us… there will come a day when we can avoid what happened today.”

“…”

“Since Lucy-san thinks so, I believe you have that power. So… will you please consider whether you will lend us your strength or not once more…?”

His shoulders shaking, the boy shouted.

“…Shit! Shit! Fuck!”

“…!”

A moment later, a strange thing happened around the camp. The lights around the cottage warped, distorted and began to assemble little by little.

The light gathered on Shiika, Namie and Lucifera’s foreheads. The wounds illuminated by the light were being slowly healed.

“This is…?”

After healing the wounds of Shiika and the rest, the light burst. Just like before, the camp was once again lit by the lights above the trees.

“Shit… Shit… I can’t agree to this… I just can’t…”

The boy rose up and turned around. While painfully holding his stomach, he pushed off his other comrades and left.

“W-wait…! Please also heal yourself…!”

Hearing Shiika’s voice, the boy spat “Shut your fucking mouth!” and vanished into the darkness. Just like Lucifera said, he was a valuable asset in battle. Mushitsuki with healing abilities, not to mention one who could affect multiple people at once and without touching them, were extremely rare.

Nanana spun her stick and laughed.

“Quite a show you’ve given me, yahah.”

“Oh… Nanana.”

“You’ve just started and already there’s internal issues? I’m worried about your future.”

“Y-yeah. But… I’ll do my best.”

Approaching Nanana, Shiika wore a strained smile. That saddened expression meant that she was probably made anxious by the loss of even a single comrade.

“Why are you here, Nanana? You came to hang out?”

“Huh?”

Munakata smiled bitterly.

“Snow. Today is the payment day for the auction.”

“Oh! I see. That’s right.”

“Have you really forgotten something so important? Huh? Huh?”

She pushed the end of her stick against Shiika’s cheek.

“I-I’m sorry… so Nanana, does it look like you’ll win?”

“Easy peasy. Obviously.”

It happened just as Nanana claimed this, full of confidence.

There was the sound of something dragging on the ground from somewhere.

“…!”

Nanana immediately looked back the road she came from. But she couldn’t see anything.

She heard the sound again.

This time it was heard much more than before. All people turned to the direction of the sound—to the forest wrapped in darkness.

They could see a small light from afar.

“This is… definitely no deer.”

When the sound of dragging came closer, the light did as well. From within the many packed trees emerged the figure of someone wearing a worn-out suit.

The source of light was an old-looking lantern. The lantern held by the person with tattered clothing had one of its four chains missing, so it was tilted.

While everyone watched this with bated breath, the strange auctioneer came in front of Nanana.

“How do you do, Akasegawa Nanana-sama…?”

Sotheby slowly bowed.

“You really stick out like a sore thumb as usual. Shall I buy you a better suit?”

“My, my… what an honor would that be…”

“Well, we can talk about that after I win Alpha, though.”

Nanana took the end of the spinning stick and thrust it into Sotheby’s shoulder.

“I have prepared the money. Bring out the merchandise already.”

She wasn’t even going to hear about her own victory.

Nanana’s victory was undoubtable. None of the Round Table members—those with the right to bid—seemed to make any move. Meaning, none have joined the bidding after Nanana’s initial bid.

Sotheby’s shoulders shook.

Was he laughing at her? Nanana frowned.

“A new bid has been announced by another bidder.”

“…!”

Nanana’s eyes widened in shock.

“The amount is—”

The amount mouthed by Sotheby vastly surpassed that of Nanana.

“Seriously…? What’s up with that cost.”

“Ridiculous…”

It was natural for Nihei and Munakata to freeze like that. It was an amount enough for an ordinary entrepreneur to become bankrupt.

Nanana turned back to the secretary, narrowing one eye.

“…What does this mean?”

“I have seen nothing of the like in my investigation. I cannot say that any Round Table member made a move.”

Nanana turned back to Sotheby, hitting his shoulder with her stick.

“Say, there’s no way, right—are you sure it’s not a lie? If this is just a bluff to raise the price, your head’s going to roll off.”

“I would never do such thing… I simply sell the item to the one who raised the price…”

“Who on earth is that? Who could have bidden on this except for me?”

“I am unable to reveal any and all information regarding the bidders… Because if you know their identity, the bidders could haggle among themselves…”

She knew he’d say something like that.

Actually, once she found out who her opponent was, Nanana was going to send an assassin after them. If they’d quietly hand over the merchandise to Nanana it was fine. If they refused, she didn’t fear using her true power.

“Will you bid or fold?”

Sotheby’s subservient question permeated the campsite.

Shiika and the rest all looked at Nanana.

“Stop, Akasegawa. This auction is too suspect.”

Munakata put a hand on Nanana’s shoulder.

But Nanana smacked it off using her stick.

“I’ll bid.”

She declared and quoted her bidding amount.

A silence fell.

“Akasegawa Nanana will not drop off so easily.”

Narrowing one eye, she smiled bewitchingly.

“I told you, no matter who I’m up against, my victory is set in stone. Even as we speak, I keep on making money.”

“…Sotheby. A question.”

In complete contrast to Nanana who sounded calm, Munakata’s expression was severe.

“Even if one made a bid… if they couldn’t pay that amount, what happens?”

“Bfh…” Sotheby laughed.

“Of course, they will incur a penalty… I cannot tell you what it portends, though…”

“Yahah, what a show-off! Not like you’re going to kill us!”

The penalty meant nothing.

Nanana was always protected by Pochi and the rest. They were elite troops, so that penalty or whatever would need to bring along an entire army, and yet still be unable to land even a single scratch on her.

Sotheby calmly lowered his head.

“Thank you very much… the next payment will be in three days. Now then…”

Turning around with movements as stiff as a statue’s, the auctioneer dragged his shoes as he vanished into the forest.

“Hehe, my opponent will be raising a fuss soon. I look forward to it.”

She didn’t like the fact that everyone went quiet.

Did they really think Nanana would fear that much?

“Akasegawa… you’re treating this auction too much like a game.”

Munakata glared at Nanana.

“We don’t even know if that guy’s a human being. We have no idea what’s going to happen…”

“Yahah. I really am glad I took the bid. If I left it to some old fart or coward, they’d definitely shake their knees and fold at the earliest opportunity!”

Perhaps hitting the nail on the head, Nihei groaned in front of her.

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, have a good night.”

Giving an elegant greeting, Nanana turned her body.

While walking back to her limousine, she scowled.

It still wasn’t an amount she couldn’t pay.

However—her blood was boiling.

Being so cheerful about her certain victory now felt as if she’d been made fun of. She was embarrassed after meeting up with Mushibane in such high spirits.

“I don’t care what methods you use.”

While walking, she spoke to the secretary.

“Until the next payment comes, we must find the other bidder.”

Ignoring Shiika calling out to her, Nanana walked to her limousine.