Mushi Uta:Volume 10 Epilogue
Epilogue: A Tree[edit]
The night wind was blowing on the Abandoned Land where the Holy War was brought to a close.
The moon shone brightly in the night sky, clearly showing the form of the desolate ruins. All buildings were destroyed, the ground was parted, and the remnants of fire scorched down all grass.
“…”
Standing frozen atop the altar, Kanon looked up at the debris of the broken spire.
It had been the Castle, the symbol of the utopia Kanon had built up from lies. It was brilliantly painted, remodeled and turned into a splendid castle, but had been demolished by the fire of the gods.
Kanon was the one who wished for a castle.
Kanon was also the reason it was destroyed.
He walked this path for a mere few months. It felt like a lie.
“…!”
Hearing the sound of something being dragged, Kanon turned back.
No one should have remained there anymore. Anmoto Shiika and the rest took all of the believers. They took half of their numbers that were unconscious and Tamaki who required a proper treatment and left the Abandoned Land. Tamaki had also told them where she hid Alpha before losing consciousness.
Harukiyo and the Annihilators all vanished without fighting Mushibane. They probably came to eliminate “Kanon-sama” who managed to gather such a frightening amount of Mushitsuki in so short a time. Once they realized he was not only a normal person and not a Mushitsuki but just a liar, there was no need to kill him.
So no one should have been left at the Abandoned Land.
Not including Kanon, who rejected Shiika’s invitation because he wished to stay there.
The Abandoned Land’s name retrieved its literal meaning.
“…Onii-chan!”
The source of the sounds was Nii. Dragging his broken axe and his wounded body, this familiar boy crawled in front of Kanon.
“So you’re… safe, Kanon… I’m glad… really…”
“Onii-chan…!”
While stumbling over the debris, Kanon ran toward Nii. He took up the hand of the boy who wore a relaxed expression upon seeing Kanon was safe and put him on his lap.
How much had he crawled to get there? The boy’s handsome face was black with dirt.
“…That bastard Harukiyo… let me live again… ‘I can’t kill someone’s who’s smiling just before death’… the heck does that mean…”
On Kanon’s knees, Nii wore a weak smile.
“Oh well… it’s going to end the same either way…”
Kanon could not see any obvious wounds on Nii’s body. However, the Mushi he’d been grasping was half-melted.
Before long, Nii would become a Fallen.
Kanon couldn’t do anything.
“…So it’s over…”
With tears rising to his eyes, Kanon nodded.
“Yes, everything is over now.”
“Your power… was a lie…”
“…Yes.”
Nii had already long known this.
And Kanon too—already long knew that he’d been exposed.
So both were silent. Fanned by the night wind, undisturbed by anyone, they spent calm time together.
Although they weren’t exchanging any words, it still felt like he talked to Nii plenty.
The full moon up in the sky. It was so beautiful that he felt bad for using it for his lie. Kanon was definitely not the only person enchanted by the mystical power hidden within its glow in all of long history.
The Abandoned Land that was spacious and yet was forsaken by everyone. Although there was nothing in it, it felt very enchanting. It was fun to build Kanon’s utopia from zero.
The broken castle. The crystallization of Kanon’s lies. When he was young, Kanon thought he was a girl and admired princesses. Princesses lived in castles. So naturally Kanon sought that.
“Everything was a lie…”
Kanon couldn’t tell whether the boy on his knees heard his confession or not.
Kanon’s precious friend had already closed both eyelids.
“But… but…”
He spoke, half-sobbing.
“There were other things that weren’t lies… this is for real, alright? Will you believe Kanon?”
Holding back his overflowing tears, Kanon did not notice a purple glow spreading in the night sky.
Wind blew.
There shouldn’t be anyone other than Kanon there. Nii would soon—be gone.
Even so, a human presence was created behind him. There was the sound of cloth ruffled by the wind and a strange yet comfortable sense of dizziness caressed Kanon who remained alone.
“Everyone saved Kanon so much…”
Kanon kept talking toward the silent Nii.
“—Right.”
A woman’s voice replied from behind.
Yet Kanon did not look back. He spoke only to Nii.
“They were so kind…”
“Yes, I understand.”
“They helped Kanon so much…”
“And… what did you think of it?”
“This isn’t a lie… it’s for real… being helped by everyone, Kanon really thought that…”
It wasn’t a lie.
He really thought it from the bottom of his heart.
But since he had no power, he lied.
Despite knowing it was impossible, he never stopped wishing for it.
“—Will you tell me your dream?”
Enchanted by the whispering woman’s voice, Kanon slowly opened his mouth.
Starting with Tamaki and Nii, he recalled the faces of all the believers. He could clearly remember their faces. By speaking to each one of them in turn, he came to learn of their pains.
And so he thought.
“I wanted to erase everyone’s Mushi… and save them…”
His vision was dyed by a pure white light.
He felt as if something was being dragged out of the depths of his own heart—and that part of it was being eaten by something.
“What a nice dream.”
Leaving behind this satisfied voice, the glow was slowly vanishing.
Along with the purple glow enveloping the night sky vanishing, the presence behind him also vanished.
With that the Abandoned Land resumed its previously bereft look—or so he thought, but that was wrong.
“…”
Kanon absently looked up at that thing.
A pure white tree sprung out before him. It was about three meters tall and resembled an apple tree. The only thing that differed was its trunk and leaves being completely white. The white, glowing flakes falling from its branches were also quite the abnormal sight.
Seeing that mysterious tree, Kanon thought to himself.
It looks as though it’s facing me—
He had no basis for this, but he felt as if his own heart took shape and appeared in front of him. The trunk’s surface pulsated a bit, not unlike Nii’s laurel wreath.
The pure white apple tree reached out with a branch. It slithered on the ground, wrapped around Nii’s axe that was about to vanish—
And gulped it whole.
In exchange for the axe vanishing, a large apple grew on the tree.
That single apple was white as well.
As if they exchanged colors, the pallid Nii got back some blood in his face.
“Aha…”
As if breaking a dam, a waterfall of tears came from Kanon’s eyes.
What just happened there? Kanon had an instinctive feeling he knew.
After all, that tree was nothing else than his own—
“Ahaha… ahahaha… really? It happens now?”
That was utterly ridiculous.
A joke in very bad taste.
An ending as laughable as a lie.
“The lie became truth… ahahahaha… and i-it happens now, of all times…”
Burying his face into Nii’s chest who regained his warmth, he kept repeating these words like an idiot.
Lies became real after everything was over.
It really was—a ridiculous timing.
Having lost everything and remaining alone, who could Kanon even save?
“Now, of all times—”
Suddenly, Kanon’s words stopped in the middle. His throat trembled but no voice came out.
“—”
Holding his throat, he realized again.
This was the Mushitsuki power of “Kanon-sama” who returned being just Nakayama Kanon.
In exchange for gaining a Mushi, he lost a part of himself.
It really was just as he wished for.
In exchange for Kanon who was already saved, he gained the power to save someone else.
“…”
When his laughter stopped coming out, Kanon felt his heart being destroyed little by little.
He would really end it at this.
He could no longer tell any lies.
Without doing anything, without leaving anything behind, he would just disappear—
As Kanon wished for this, another person’s presence transmitted to his ears. Near Kanon, who just had his heart broken and his emotions lost, there were footsteps crunching the ground.
“—”
Half on reflex, Kanon raised his face. Who on earth came there after Nii and that mysterious woman?
Next to Kanon, staring intently at the apple tree—Kanon’s Mushi—was a single boy. He didn’t have a baby face like Kanon, but neither was he manly like Nii. Not that he was ugly either. His face had nothing especially remarkable, just an average boy one could see around town.
“…”
Kanon moved his mouth.
—Who are you?
So he wanted to ask.
The boy wasn’t Kanon’s believer. He also wasn’t part of Mushibane. And he didn’t have the scary atmosphere of the Annihilators, either.
The boy looked at Kanon.
He probably understood his question from his mouth’s movements.
He couldn’t do anything anymore.
He couldn’t even tell lies.
He was no longer the liar Kanon nor Kanon-sama, but just a Mushitsuki.
Facing Nakayama Kanon, the boy replied—
“—I’m Kakkou.”
Notes[edit]
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