The girl embraces the poster on her wall. It shows the picture of a young boy figure skating. "Magic charm," she thinks. "Before I go out onto the rink, a kiss. So that I'll feel I can skate well." - "Here we go. The search begins." "Yes, sir!" says the boy with hair tied back in a long ponytail. He types into the computer he sits at. "Hmm..." NO. 1 - ASUKA CHIERI 014Y F "Asuka Chieri..." he says. "'Cherry,' eh?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cherry Project - Chapter 1 "Held by the wings of an angel..." Originally appeared in Nakayoshi, October 1990. Translated by Alex Glover. Version 1.0, 6.97. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Chieri!" "Let's see..." the girl says. "My fortune for today..." She looks through her Nakayoshi Birthday magazine. "'Beware of injuries that seem they will draw you into trouble. But, there will be a chance encounter that will change your life! Lucky item: A crystal necklace.'" She looks around. "I know I have one somewhere... Here it is! My good luck crystal." "Chieri!" her dad calls from the car. "We're going!" "Coming!" she says. She puts the necklace on as she grabs her ice skates, and kisses the poster on her wall. "My magic charm!" She brushes her hand across the framed picture of a woman on her dresser. "Bye, Mom!" She runs out of the house. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Born August 16th," the boy at the computer says. "This girl has the same birthday as you, Tsuzuki. What a horoscope! She's got great luck. Her father is a former all-Japan champion. Her mother died when she was six, at Charles de Gaulle Airport... Plane crash." "Asuka Chieri," says the other boy. "Quite good. Can we depend on luck? Get some more reliable data." "She's taking after the former all-Japan champion, Tsuzuki. It's reliable! This matches your horoscope perfectly, look." He hands him a copy of Nakayoshi Birthday. "Hmm..." Tsuzuki says. "My fortune for today... 'Beware of injuries that seem they will draw you into trouble... But, there will be a chance encounter that will change your life. Lucky item: A crystal necklace.'" "Looks like we might have finally found the one! Your pair skating partner!" "Could it really be that easy..." says Tsuzuki. "Maybe. We even looked at the high-ranking girls in skate clubs, but none of them appealed to you." "Well, none of them really clicked with me." "So, you're into first impressions." "Why don't we go get some food?" Tsuzuki says. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chieri pulls her laces tight. She looks out onto the rink. "All right, let's skate! Dad, I'm going ahead!" "Hold on!" her dad says as he puts his skates on. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tsuzuki and the ponytailed boy walk down the street. "I guess there is one," the boy says. "She skates about as well as you, who knows what the possibilities are. Maybe we shouldn't check her out on a Sunday like this..." "Come on, Kouichi," says Tsuzuki. "Let go of my hand. This is my own problem. It might have been a hopeless attempt from the start. Taking first place as a pair while in junior high." "You'll never make it by yourself. You don't have the time. Since I have the eyes for watching girls, I'm great at searching. You'll have to quit when you enter high school, right? You'll regret not skating, Tsuzuki. Got it? You'll be sorry for spending the valuable youth of eighth grade with me. Instead, spend it with your partner!" They hear music blaring and shouts coming from behind a fence. "What's that?" Tsuzuki looks up at the sign. "Trade Center Rink? They put up a skating rink in this place?" They hear a beeping noise. "Your Pocket Bell's ringing," says Tsuzuki. "It's Hiroshi," says Kouichi. [Pocket Bell is like a beeper or pager.] Kouichi goes to a pay phone. "Hiroshi!?" he says. "How'd things turn out over there?" "Kouichi?" says the boy on the other end. "Is Tsuzuki with you? Want to see something interesting?" "Where are you now?" asks Kouichi. "Trade Center Rink. Come here right away." "It's right in front of us," says Kouichi. He and Tsuzuki go inside, where they join Hiroshi. "So it's a weekend rink? What are you doing here, Hiroshi?" "Searching for a job for you," he says. "You want someone who skates, right, Tsuzuki? There's a strange parent and child here often every week. Might be worth taking a look at." "Figure skating," says Tsuzuki. "Sorry, but she can't just be able to skate." "Dad!" Chieri calls. "Do a lift next! A lift!" She skates up to her dad, and he lifts her up into the air. "Shoulder lift!" "Those two are amazing!" says an onlooker. "I don't think the rink will get any clearer," Chieri says. "I want to practice my spins." "If you really learn how to skate," says her dad, "you must be able to do it all the time, Chieri." "Oh, no way," she says. "Skate from morning till night? Not a chance!" She turns and skates off. "Hey! Don't run away from me!" A girl has fallen on the ice in front of her. "Look out!!" her dad calls. Tsuzuki and the others turn to the noise. "Chieri!" her dad calls. Chieri leaps into the air, flying over the kneeling girl. Tsuzuki stares at Chieri. "Missed her by a hair," Kouichi says. "She reached that height! It must have been 90 centimeters!" "A fluke," says Tsuzuki. "That's not fair!" says Chieri as she hits the ground skating. "Only Dad does ballet jumps!" "Is that so," says Hiroshi. He puts a cassette into the stereo system. "This music is easy to skate to!" thinks Chieri. "It's Chieri's showtime!" She picks up speed skating, and jumps into the air, doing a backflip, and landing smoothly. "A backflip!?" says Tsuzuki. "The anticipated new face, skater Asuka, will show you her magnificent skating!" says Chieri. "Chieri's glorious triple!" She jumps off the ice, spinning three times in the air. "'Chieri'?" thinks Kouichi. "Yikes!" says Chieri. "I'm going to hit someone!" Tsuzuki holds out his arms as she careens toward him. He catches her in his arms. "She's so light!" he thinks. The crystal necklace flies from her neck as they both fall backwards onto the ground, catching on his wrist. They lie on the ice holding on to each other. "S- Sorr..." Chieri says. She looks at his face. The same face as the boy on the poster in her room. "Huh!? This person..." Tsuzuki stands up and walks away. "See you." Her dad calls to her as she stares after him. "Chieri! Come on, don't mess around like that. You did apologize, right?" Tsuzuki rejoins his two friends. "Hey, Tsuzuki, you all right?" says Kouichi. "Told you," says Hiroshi. "It was worth a look. There's nobody else with that skating ability, nerve, and sense of rhythm." "You heard her name, didn't you?" says Kouichi. "She has the blood of the national champion. That showiness is a typical Leo with B-type blood. A star when she was born!" "So it's struck all three of us, then," says Tsuzuki. "That girl was light. She said she was doing a triple by herself, but if she hadn't crashed into me, it would have been a quadruple." He notices the necklace hanging from his wrist. "Lucky item: A crystal necklace..." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chieri runs to her room, looking at the poster on the wall. "It's no mistake," she thinks. "It's the face I stare at every day. He looked just like it. No, it really is him. Tsuzuki Masanori!!" "Tsuzuki Masanori!" "And next is a special participant! Skater Tsuzuki Masanori!" The young boy skates onto the rink. "He did it! His favorite, the triple axel! That's skater Tsuzuki, at the early age of twelve!" "When I was in sixth grade, I went to see a figure skating exhibition with my dad." "Wow! Successive backflips!" "Dad!" the young Chieri says. "Take a picture! Hurry, hurry! Who is that guy!?" "Oh, that's the junior champion," says her dad. "He should be good." "I won't forget him," Chieri thinks. "A boy the same age as me, he seems so big on top of the thin blue ice. He looks like he's on wings. He looks like an angel." The boy picks up flowers from the ice as the crowd cheers. "Dad! That boy I crashed into! It's this skater! Tsuzuki Masanori!" "Oh really?" "I'm sure of it! You must have seen his face!" "Hmm, what a coincidence," her dad says. "Small world. Didn't he quit skating?" "That's right..." she thinks. "After that, I searched all over the TV and everywhere, but I didn't find him again. He suddenly disappeared, as if he had never been there at all. It can't be, I've met him again! And he's this close... Oh!" She feels around her neck. "It's gone! No way! I dropped it!! Mom's pendant!" "That's what you get for wearing it outside," her dad says. "It was my lucky item for today! A crystal pendant! No way!" "Hurry up to your room," her dad says. "Study. I'll phone the rink tomorrow, it must be there." Chieri puts her arms around him. "Hehe! Dad, I love you!" "Right, right..." She goes to her room, and picks up the framed picture of her mom. "I'm sorry, Mom. I lost your pendant." She lies on her bed. "Today... I had a dramatic meeting... He's gotten so much taller. I can't believe it, I'm able to meet him. Did you see me skating? I began skating practice, wanting to skate like you. I still have the feeling from when you held me..." Tsuzuki stood up and walked away. "See you." "I want to see you again... I want to see you." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Rolls Royce Silver Shadow II pulls up to the junior high school in the shadow of the Tokyo Tower. - "Come on, be quiet!" Chieri slams her hands down on the desk. "Think of a class program for the school festival!" she says. "Today's the deadline! All the others have decided already. Class 1 is doing a rummage sale, class 3 is selling fried octopus... Oh! How about a karaoke bar?" "Chieri!" calls a dark-haired girl. "I'm for karaoke!" The teacher enters the room. "Sorry I'm late!" she says. "Have you been discussing things? Today some transfer students were supposed to come, but they're not here." "Transfer students!?" "It was a bit unexpected, like they decided all of a sudden..." The door opens. "Miss, we're late," a man says. "The transfer students are here." Hiroshi enters the classroom, wearing a dark suit and tie and a baseball cap. The dark-haired girl nudges Chieri. "Hey, hey," she whispers. "Isn't that a Green Garden uniform?" "Perfect," says the teacher. "Standing over there are our class 2-2 president, Asuka Chieri-san, and our vice president, Nishimura Yuni-san. These boys are transfer students from Green Garden Academy." "These?" The teacher looks outside past Kouichi. "Huh? What's the matter? Come on in." Two more boys enter the room. Tsuzuki and Kouichi, also in dark suits and ties. "Fujiwara Hiroshi." "I'm Akiyama Kouichi. How do you do, President Chieri." "I'm Tsuzuki Masanori." A bandage covers Tsuzuki's cheek. "Wow! No way!" says Yuni. "That Kouichi is a half! A half! They're cute! All three of them!" Tsuzuki holds out a crystal pendant on a chain. "My pendant!" Chieri says. "When you skate wearing things like this," says Tsuzuki, "it acts just like a weapon." He points to his bandaged cheek. He puts the necklace around her neck. "Chieri!" says Yuni. "What's going on!?" "No way!" thinks Chieri. "Do you know the president?" asks the teacher. "I'm her homeroom teacher, Sakurada Haruna." "Sakura da, haru da?" says Kouichi. [ = Cherry blossoms, it's spring.] "Sakurada Haruna!" "That's the skating boy on the poster in my room!" says Chieri. "Wow!" says Yuni. "Those three are all in our class!?" "I can't believe it!" Hiroshi looks at the blackboard. "Oh, school festival, eh?" he says. "I love festivals!" "That's right!" says Haruna. "Give us a hand. Actually, we haven't even decided what our program is going to be yet." "Of course!" says Kouichi. "We'll give you a hand, Miss Haruda!" "It's Haruna!" "Oh, sorry," he says. "If you haven't decided... Will you do it with us, President?" "Huh!?" says Chieri. "D- Do it... Do what?" "Skate!" "Skate!?" she thinks. "No way..." says Yuni. "You sing while skating?" "No," says Tsuzuki. "I'm thinking... How about the debut of skater Asuka Chieri's showtime?" "What!?" "Oh, sounds good," says Haruna. "Speaking of which," says Yuni, "Chieri's dad was a national skater... That does sound good!" "So it's decided." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original manga copyright © 1990 Takeuchi Naoko. English translation copyright © 1997 Alex Glover. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Manga of Takeuchi Naoko | The Cherry Project | Volume 1