The Soft Horns

The Soft Horns is the second chapter of the manga series. The story was later adapted into the third episode of the anime series.

Synopsis
The village headwoman of a remote mountain town requests Ginko's help when the townsfolk and her grandson have their hearing affected by an unknown illness.

Plot
Ginko's journey brings him to a town in the mountains blanketed with snow. He is welcomed by the village headwoman, Shirasawa, who explains that the remoteness of the town coupled with the silence of winter has produced a recurring sickness among the townspeople. While it seems to only affect one ear, it also inhibits one's ability to walk straight, which is dangerous in the mountainous terrain.

Ginko examines a man from the town and finds a slimy substance in his ear canal produced by Un, a mushi that absorbs sound. Ginko finds a large cluster of Un nesting in the rafters above them. A basin of hot water is brought to Ginko on his request, which he mixes with some salt. He pours the mixture into the man's ear, and the Un inside slithers out before disappearing into the air.

Afterwards, Shirasawa leads Ginko to her home where her grandson, Maho, is suffering from a different kind of illness. After promising not to make her grandson's condition public, Ginko discovers the young boy has grown four horns on his head, which seem to amplify strange, unidentifiable noises to Maho and drown everything else out.

Ginko guesses Maho is being affected by an Ah, which tend to coexist with Un and feed off the silence the latter create. Ginko recalls one recorded case of an Ah that happened during winter, but the host died the following year, worn out by the constant barrage of noise. From Shirasawa and Maho, Ginko learns that Maho's mother suffered from the same illness and died the previous year. Near the end, she had always covered her ears and did so for Maho, imparting him with her dying words, although the constant noise in his head stops him from remembering them.

The next day, Ginko catches Maho sneaking out of the house. Although he lets him leave, Ginko later regrets his decision as the snowfall comes down harder. When a worried Shirasawa discovers Maho is gone, Ginko heads out in search of him. He eventually comes across the glow of light coming from a cave and finds an embarrassed Maho, who apologizes for not coming back right away and getting stuck in the snowstorm.

As Maho explains, Ginko finds he's lost his hearing. A horde of Un occupy the ceiling of the cave, and they reach out towards Ginko, trying to go into his ears, but are blocked by the scarf he wears. Knowing there is an Ah around, Ginko finds the snail-like creature and, to Maho's horror, lets it into his ears. Ginko then asks Maho to cover his ears like his mother did for him and, to Maho's surprise, the Ah bursts into slime.

Back at Maho's house, Ginko explains that when one covers their ears, the sound isn't completely blocked out. Maho's mother realized the Ah's weakness was the sound produced by living things, such as the sound one hears when covering their ears and listening to the natural sounds of their body.

When Maho covers his ears, he is finally able to remember his mother's last words, and how she'd tried to tell him to listen to his own sound whenever he was in pain or felt scared. Focusing on the sound, Maho's horns fall off. Ginko asks for the horns as payment and reassures Maho that he'll eventually forget about his longing for the noise he used to hear. However, Maho tells him he won't.

Characters

 * Ginko
 * Maho
 * Shirasawa

Mushi

 * Un
 * Ah