Episode 2 · Mushi-Shi

Mushi-Shi

They drift through the world with no purpose at all. Mushi take shape as plants, as sickness, even as a rainbow hanging in the sky. Most people never notice them. Ginko does. He wanders from village to village chasing rumors of strange lights, sudden illnesses, a child who hears voices in the mountains, because wherever something odd is happening, mushi are usually behind it. Then there is the part that gets under your skin: mushi are not evil. They are not good either. They simply exist, and that is exactly what makes them dangerous. A mushi can mimic a disease, a dream, a person calling your name, and by the time you understand what you are dealing with, it has already changed your life. Ginko knows this better than anyone. He is a mushishi, one of the few who study these creatures and try to figure out what they actually are. Each place he reaches has its own trouble, its own people trying to live alongside something they cannot see. He helps where he can. He never stays long. So what are mushi, really, and why are they here at all?