Mushi-shi>03.Tender Horns

-opening-
I walked ten thousand miles, ten thousand miles to see you.
And every gasp of breath, I grabbed it just to find you.
I climbed up every hill to get to you.
I wandered ancient lands to hold just you.
And every single step of the way, I paid.
Every single night and day I searched for you.
Through sand storms and hazy dawns I reached for you.

Ginko:
Finally.

Maho:
I really don't understand how it happened.
All I did was put my hands over my ears, and then four horns grew from my head.

Narration:
On dark nights, muffled by snow, when all sound disappears, heed this portent.
You must converse with someone, or take great care to cover your ears, unless you want those ears to be devoured.

Shirasawa:
Thank you so much for coming. So, your name is Ginko, and you are a Mushi-master, is that right?

Ginko:
That's right.

Shirasawa:
I am Shirasawa, the elder of this village. It was I who summoned for your assistance.
As you can see, this is a humble and isolated place, a village shadowed at the base of the towering mountains.
Those mountains keep this a very quiet place. On snowy nights like this one, words and whispers, and even the wind can disappear.
It is at times like this when some villagers complain of their loss of hearing.

Ginko:
Hm. Are both ears affected?

Shirasawa:
For the most part, No. It's usually just one.
Doctors have examined this condition, but they found no answer.
Since there's no natural cause, I began to wonder if something else was behind this.

Ginko:
I've seen this symptoms before. This mucus...
It's an infection caused by mushi.

Man:
What's that?

Ginko:
They are called Un.
They are a type of mushi that consume sound. They normally dwell in forests and subsist on the sound there.
But in winter, the snow absorbs most sound, that leaves them hungry, they've come here looking for food.
Ah! Now what do we have here?
Quite a sizable colony has built a nest.
They are competing for every morsel of sound to be had.
But if there isn't enough, some will leave their nest to look for a home in a living host.
It almost resembles a snail.

Man:
Where did they go?

Ginko:
It appears they just moved out!
Did you know you have an organ in each ear that looks just like a snail?
It looks inviting to a hungry Un, so it abandons its old shell and adopts the organ as its new one, then it eats all the incoming sound.
But, don't worry. They normally don't leave any permanent damage.

Woman:
Ah, Sir, here's the hot water. Would this be enough for you?

Ginko:
Yes. Thanks.
Just a little bit of this in the ear...
That should do the trick, feeling better?

Man:
Hey, what was in that solution!?

Ginko:
A little salt in hot water.

Man
Salt? W,Wait, I can hear again!

Ginko:
Sprinkle some salt around, make sure to get the upstairs and the attic, that'll keep out any unwanted attendants.

Shirasawa:
I must admit, I'm quite impressed. I've never seen a Mushi-master in action before.
But our work is not finished. There is another whose hearing has been afflicted...in both ears. He is my grandson.
I must warn you that his symptoms are far different from the others, and I must also request your discretion in this matter. Please don't tell the other villagers of his condition.

Maho:
It's so loud! Please be quiet!

Shirasawa:
This is Maho. He's been in this state since last winter. That was when those horns suddenly appeared.
They changed him somehow. He was no longer able to hear the everyday sounds around him.
Rather he began to hear strange sounds, dreadful noises that he had never heard before.
Even on nights like tonight, when all is silent, Maho can still hear things. Roars, whispers, movements...
The sounds never cease even if he plugs his ears.
Those horns seem to service as new ears that never deafen.

Ginko:
How curious. Could this be...the Ah?

Shirasawa:
Ah?

Ginko:
Mushi that co-exist with the Un, they actually eat the silence that the Un create.
If one is infected with the Ah, they lose the ability to make out sounds close to them. The Ah takes in all sound and drowns out normal hearing.
Ah are much fewer in number than Un.
They are rare and very little has even known about them.
In fact, I only know of one recorded case where someone was treated for Ah.
According to record, the salt-water treatment to extract Un was used, it had no effect.
And the Ah could not be coaxed out.
Various herbs, holistic remedies, and folk medicines were then tried, but with no results.
A year past, and another winter was at its end. The sounds never ceased tormenting the patient.
Being bombarded day in and day out finally took its toll, her spirit broke...and it was said she died of depression, one year after her strange symptoms began.

Shirasawa:
You're saying she died, just one year later?

Ginko:
We need to get started, first let's get to know our enemy.
Can you hear what I'm saying?

Maho:
Yes, that's strange, the noises that I normally hear have gotten quieter.
Ever since you came in, the noises got louder and louder, it really hurt, I thought that my head was going to explode there for a second.

Ginko:
It's my fault, I apologize for that.
You see I may able to call out to mushi and may call back.
They are little creatures, but they can make a lot of noise.
The smoke could quiet them down a bit though.

Maho:
Mushi? So, that's what I'm hearing?

Ginko:
Mostly, in my opinion.
We humans have pretty bad hearing, but animals, their hearing is much more sensitive, they can hear noise that we would never notice.
But, there is a spectrum of sound so minute that even the animals can't hear.
That's the voices of the mushi.

Maho:
Oh, Really?
They don't sound quiet, they are pretty loud if you ask me.

Ginko:
Actually they are not.
Individually mushi make very little noise.
But you have to realize that there are millions of mushi out there.
Even though their size and their sound might be small, they create a big noise when they all start talking together, that noise builds in volume,like an echo, and reverberats throughout the world.
I believe that's what you're hearing, but it's obiviously not through your ears, they were deafened by the Ah, it was only after those horns sprouted that you began to hear the other noises.
And your ears, physically they're just fine, so what you're hearing must be through those horns, they hold the answer.
Tell me about them, the horns, how did they first appear?

Maho:
I-I was covering my ears with my hands.
It was last winter, just after my mother had passed on.
Before she died, mother used to cover her ears a great deal.
I remembered that one day and decided to try it out for myself, so I did, that's when it happened, the horns grew out of my forehead all of a sudden.

Ginko:
Your mom would... cover her ears?
Why did she do that?

Maho:
I don't really know. I can't remember why she did it.
Mother suffered from the same sickness I have, she had horns as well.
So even if she covered her ears, she wouldn't have been able to shut out the noises.
Shortly before mother died, she tried to tell me something.
She was really weak at that point, but somehow mother managed to raise both of her hands and covered my ears with them.
I wish, I wish I could remember what she said, I try really hard to remember, and sometimes I think I almost do, but then those other noises in my head come rushing in, I can't hear her.

Ginko:
I see.
I do feel sorry for the boy, the only good thing is that we've dicovered the connection between his sickness and that of his mother.
But the cure, that's going to be the real challenge, isn't it?

Shirasawa:
Oh, my dear sweet daughter, Mazu.
It broke my heart watching her suffer.
With that constant noise tormenting her, she wasn't able to sleep, she'd never say it in front of Maho, but she would constantly tell me, "All I wanna do is sleep peacefully in a place where no sound will intrude."
It was just as in the case you mentioned, she held on to the end of the following winter, then she finally went to that place where where she so longed.

Ginko:
Did her condition ever change or did she suffer to the very end?

Shirasawa:
It never changed.
Wait...no, now that I think about it, near the end, Mazu looked up at me and said something strange.

Mazu:
Mother, the noises...they've gone away.
I can't hear a thing, absolutely nothing.
I'm frightened!
Now that they've gone, I actually miss those awful sounds.

Shirasawa:
After that, she claimed all sound faded, so did her spirit.
It was such a tragic loss.

Ginko:
So if I understand you correctly your daughter couldn't here angthing at all right before she passed away.

Shirasawa:
Yes, that's right.

Ginko:
Is there anything else?

Shirasawa:
No. Just the story Maho told you, it was this time last year when Mazu put her hands over his ears.
I paid it a little mind, but I remember thinking, it was strange.
Just what would possess my daughter to do such a thing?

Ginko:
So she couldn't hear anything right before she died.
Did the Ah know she was dying and leave her body before she expired?
No... if that was so, her hearing would've been restored.
Why wasn't she able to hear anything?
And if she couldn't hear, why would she bother to cover her ears?
Where do you think you're going?
Oh, wait, he can't hear me.

Maho:
Ah...Please don't tell.
I'm just...going out for, for a little walk.
Don't tell Grandma, okay?
I have to get outside, if I stay cooped up in the house any longer, I think I'll go crazy.
I... I just...keep thinking about my mother and the sickness that killed her. Will it kill me as well?

Ginko:
I don't blame him.
After all he's been through, I'd be asking the same question if I were in his place.
Snowing again, maybe I shouldn't have let him go.

Shirasawa:
Maho...Maho?
Oh, I'm sorry, sir, have you seen Maho anywhere?

Ginko:
Don't worry. I saw the direction he was heading.

Shirasawa:
Why did you let him leave?

Ginko:
I'll go find him, trust me.
It's quiet.
However, sound is not totally absent.
Though it may be faint, even falling snow creats a sound.
Nothing is ever truely silent.
If it's quiet enough, you can even hear the beating of your heart.
But, Maho was unable to hear natural sounds like that, he could only hear the sounds of faraway mushi.
And if that imbalance grew worse and worse over time, perhaps, just perhaps, it could make all sound desappear and fade away.
Now, I get it.

Maho:
I'm sorry you had to come looking for me, I didn't plan to stay gone for so long, I swear.
But it started snowing really hard outside, so I came here, to wait it out until it slowed down.
It didn't, it just kept coming down...

Ginko:
What's happening to his voice?
Easy there, stop fighting over me, okay?
Now which one of you is Ah?
Un is coiled clockwise.
Ah counterclockwise.
So, there you are.
Hey, Maho, it's okay, give me your hands.
Put them on my ears just like your mom did.

Maho:
Like this?
It dissolved!

Ginko:
Even if you cover your ears, you can't extinguish all sound.
It must have appeared as if your daughter was trying to shut out any noise before she died, but on the contrary, she was trying to listen to a sound she wanted to hear.
Do you hear it?

Shirasawa:
Yes, it's like a small rumbling.

Ginko:
Exactly, what you're hearing is the sound of the muscles in your wrists moving.
The Ah feed on silence, so noise is their natural weakness.
As you just heard for yourself, the body is always making constant noise, therefore, if the Ah broke into a living host, it would be a very uncomfortable and noisy house, that's what the Ah's trying to do: erase the body sound, if it fails, it would dissolve and leave, if it's successful, the Ah takes its toll in the host's body which dies from depression.
The struggle between Ah and the host takes a year, I have the feeling that your daughter probably realized this towards the end.
But at that point, she was too weak.

Mazu:
Maho...can you hear it?
This is my sound.
Long ago, your father and I journeyed.
We saw a mountain and it spewed fire.
My sound is exactly like that of the lava flowing from the mountain.
That's why, when I'm overwhelmed by the other sounds so much I want to disappear, I listen for my sound, the sound of lava, which can melt anything.
Nothing can withstand it, it can melt the fear, sadness, all of the bad things in life.
Come now, you must listen...the lava flowing within you as well.
Maho...

Maho:
The lava...

Shirasawa:
Maho...

Maho:
Mother was right about the lava, it's flowing.

Ginko:
Now, as for the matter of my fee, these will suffice.

Shirasawa:
Is-is that adequate compensation?

Ginko:
That it is.

Shirasawa:
Is that alright with you, Maho?

Ginko:
Maho, the world can be a pretty quiet place, espacially in winter.
It's going to take some getting-used-to, and you may even miss the old sounds you used to hear.
But just wait, when spring comes the sounds of life, and you'll forget those old sounds in time.

Maho:
I don't think I'll ever forget it.
I've listened to it for so long, the same sound mother heard.
It's actually very pretty, it gives me the chills.

-ending-

Next "The Pillow Pathway"