The next morning Nesu woke Ginko at dawn. Ba-san and Ji-san were still asleep so they didn't have much for breakfast. They left quickly and quietly without waking the old couple and headed to the outskirts of the village. Between the village and the mountain proper were a series of terraced rice paddies, the fields of which the villagers had spoken. On the slopes of the mountain was forest. Mushi swarmed over everything, leaving the plants weak and sickly. Most of the animals seemed to have fled.

"It's worse here even than in the village." Nesu observed.

"Mushi are used to interacting with plant life, so it is probably easier for them to draw strength from plants." Ginko offered. "They most likely started attacking the villagers only after the forest and fields grew weak."

"Must be pretty bad to drive them to this . . . " She sighed and shook her head.

They continued up the mountain, speaking quietly to avoid being heard. About halfway up they noticed that all the undergrowth was dead and the trees were extremely withered. There were very few mushi to be seen. Three-quarters of the way up all the trees were dead and there were no mushi at all. Knowing that they must be close, they stopped talking altogether and carefully crept through the silent forest.

Reaching the summit, Ginko set down his case and climbed a rock formation. Nesu darted up into the top branches of the tallest tree growing amongst the rocks. Below them, they could see the infamous mine. Nesu hissed in revulsion, causing Ginko to spare her a glance. It was a strip mine: all the plant life and soil had been stripped away from the entire side of the mountain to expose the rock beneath, which had been shattered and hauled away to get to the veins of metal. It was like a horrible gaping wound.

Nesu returned to the ground spitting curses. She did not see one of the men in the mine below look up, seemingly at the sound of her voice. Ginko, however, did notice. It was his turn to gasp as he recognized Waruika. Carefully retreating and picking up his case, he led the way back down the mountain. Nesu continued cursing as she followed.

"Could you stop that? We don't want to be heard by the men from the mine." Ginko whispered.

"Those weren't men." She bit off the words harshly. "Those weren't even beasts. I'd call them parasites, if that wouldn't be an insult to genuine parasites that only do what they must to survive. Akuma, evil demons, maybe, if that didn't sound too good for them . . . "

"Be that as it may, be quiet. Waruika-san was there and might have seen you when you leapt from the tree."

"Waruika?" She finally switched to a whisper. "Why would a mushishi be at a strip mine?"

"Nothing good . . . "

They continued on in silence

"Hey, Waruika-sama, what're you looking at?" A well-dressed but brutish-looking man called out to the mushishi.

"Ah, Oyabun." Waruika turned and smiled. "I thought I saw someone on the summit a moment ago."

"One of the villagers?" The Oyabun asked with a sneer.

"No, a stranger. A woman, so there was probably a man with her."

"You think they were spies?"

"More likely someone the villagers asked for help." Waruika scratched his chin. "If it's another mushishi, it could be a problem for us."

"I'll take care of it." With a grin, the Oyabun called over a group of the toughest-looking men from the mine and set off around the lower slope of the mountain.

Waruika, meanwhile, carefully gathered up his belongings and headed across the river at the base of the mountain.

Ginko walked carefully to avoid making any noise while Nesu floated just above the surface of debris. They passed through the dead trees without incident, and the dying, but amongst the sickly trees nearest the village Nesu heard something to make her pause. Before she could warn Ginko, Oyabun and his men burst upon them and grabbed Ginko.

"Ho, Waruika-sama was right! There was a man." Oyabun laughed, an unpleasant sound. "So where's your woman?"

"You'll never catch her. Nesu-san, run!" Ginko shouted the last.

"And leave you?" She struck one the men hard on the base of the skull, causing him to drop to the ground unconscious, as she rolled her eyes. "Don't be an idiot."

The other men shouted in surprise at their fallen comrade. She jabbed one in the throat as she kicked another in the stomach, dropping both at the same time. One of the men panicked and ran off screaming that they had angered the mountain god. The villagers who had been working in the fields had begun to head over when they heard the commotion, arriving in time to find the Oyabun restraining Ginko with a knife to his throat while the last of his thugs fell at his feet.

"What's happening?"

"Who attacked these men?"

"Isn't that the guy Ji-san invited to his house yesterday?"

"Shut up!" Oyabun roared, eyes darting all over the place as he searched for his invisible opponent.

"Everyone, this man's destructive mining practices are killing the mountain and causing the problems in your village!" Ginko called to the villagers.

"I said shut up!" Oyabun pressed the knife into Ginko's throat as he took a step back from the advancing crowd.

"You should probably say something along the lines of 'if you value your life, surrender'." Nesu said to Ginko as she glared at Oyabun.

"Right." Ginko smirked then looked over his shoulder at his attacker. "The one responsible for beating down your men has a message for you: she hasn't killed any of you yet but unless you admit your crimes and surrender to the villagers to face their judgment, she will."

The villagers, armed with farming equipment, continued to advance. While the Oyabun considered his situation, Nesu came around behind him and prepared to wrestle him for the knife.

"Kuso." Oyabun shoved Ginko away from him, into the front of the advancing villagers, and tried to make a break for it.

Nesu easily grabbed him and slammed him face-first into a convenient tree.

"Well, he was an idiot." Nesu sighed and walked over to Ginko while the jubilant villagers proceeded to tie up the criminals. "He didn't manage to do you any damage, did he?"

"A scratch, nothing serious." He looked somewhat embarrassed as they headed back to the village. "I'm not used to needing to be rescued. When did you learn how to fight?"

"Years ago, back in my old life." She chuckled. "Try to remember if there's a next time: I'm not about to run off and save myself if you're in danger."

The villagers were laughing as they dragged the miners back with them