The Cherry Project - Chapter 11 "Only one angel..." Originally appeared in Nakayoshi, August 1991. Written by Takeuchi Naoko. Translated by Alex Glover. Version 1.0, 3.98. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tsuzuki glances in Chieri's direction, then continues walking with Canty. "Tsuzuki is the Princess's coach!?" thinks Chieri. "Tsuzuki!?" "That's..." says Yuni. "Tsuzuki-kun!? Why is Tsuzuki-kun next to the Princess!?" "Oh no!" thinks Chieri. "I have to calm down! This is distracting me... After the Princess skates, next... It's my turn! Calm down, Chieri! Tsuzuki!!" "Number 21," says the announcer. "Canty Akiyama-san. From the Takanawa Wing skating club. Her music will be 'Emperor.'" "You have no chance at all," said Wataru. "'Emperor'!?" thinks Chieri. "The Princess has the same music as me!? No way! This is the music Tsuzuki chose for me..." Canty begins skating. "Her special spin, the on-parade," says one of the reporters. "It's pretty." "Why...!?" thinks Chieri. "Gently... A blooming flower... A black butterfly..." Canty jumps up and spins, and lands smoothly. The crowd gasps. "A quadruple toe loop!" "A quadruple!" "The world's first girls' junior quadruple!" "This is the greatest youth of all time!" Her marks appear on the scoreboard. "The technical merit judges gave her almost all 6.0's!" "For the artistic interpretation scores, too!" "She's progressed rapidly since Tsuzuki Masanori has become her coach! It's the greatest combination in history!" "Number 22," says the announcer. "Asuka Chieri-san, Takanawa Wing skating club. Her music will be 'Emperor.'" "What..." say people in the crowd. "No way... The same music as the Princess!?" "This is..." thinks Mori. "This season, the Princess who changed her music, and this girl who's in her first performance, have the same music!! But this girl is skating second... She's at a disadvantage! It'll leave a bad impression!" "Calm yourself, Chieri," thinks Chieri. She skates onto the ice. "The Princess's spin... I have to skate like the Princess as well. The same way as the Princess..." "Asuka-san!?" thinks Mori. "What..." think the people watching. "This spin combination..." "A gradual flower blooming..." thinks Chieri. "A black butterfly... Now, I am the Princess." "What!?" says one of the judges. "This is... the Princess!?" "That's just like the Princess's program," thinks Mori. "She's going to... She can't!" Tsuzuki watches her skate. "After only seeing it once!?" Wataru stares at her. "It can't be... Then next, she'll..." Chieri jumps into the air and spins. "A quadruple toe loop!!" "Look out!" calls Tsuzuki. Chieri crashes into the cameras off the side of the ice. "Into the camera seats!?" "What jumping power!" Chieri gets up, holding her head. "What was I just doing?" she thinks. "Ignoring the program, I wasn't supposed to..." She skates back onto the ice. "I don't believe it!" think the people watching. "Plunging into the camera stand!" "Except for that, it's just like the Princess skated twice!" "She was great! Was it the same on purpose!?" "If she hadn't crashed into the camera stands, she surely would have completed the quadruple!" "But the height of her jump was normal for a boy!" "Normal for a boy?" thinks a reporter. "There was such a skater?" says the judge. "Where's she from? Who's her coach!? This is quite an unexpected find!" "It felt like she was a replica of the Princess!" "And her suit was the same black, too!" "But..." says Yuni. "I just designed it thinking 'Emperor' had a black image..." "Yuni..." says Kouichi. "The scores! What are her scores!?" Chieri limps off the ice. "Asuka-san!" says Mori. She catches Chieri in her arms. "My foot..." says Chieri. Her scores are posted on the electronic board. "There's one 6.0!" "They're varied! What!? A 3.1!? That's too low!" "That's the first time I've seen this at this kind of tournament!" "This season is rough! Is this a contest between the Princess and Asuka Chieri!?" "Asuka-san!?" says Mori. "Are you all right!?" "My foot... hurts..." says Chieri. "You must have twisted your ankle," says Tsuzuki. "Tsuzuki...!" Their eyes meet. "Coach Mori," says Tsuzuki, turning to her. "That was a shocking free skate. Was it intentional!?" Canty stands next to him. "You go on ahead," says Tsuzuki. "I'll deal with the reporters." "What!?" thinks Chieri. He picks Chieri up in his arms and carries her. "Tsuzuki!?" She holds onto him. "I don't believe it... Tsuzuki's chest... It's so warm..." Canty watches him leave. One month earlier. Canty leaves the skating club at night. Tsuzuki stands outside. "Our talk about pair skating..." he says. "I'd prefer if it hadn't happened after all." "Is my talent insufficient...?" says Canty. "The order to stop has come from my father. So now, pair skating is probably not going to happen..." "Tsuzuki is quitting skating...!?" she thinks. "We'll lose our connection..." "Tsuzuki," she says. "Be my coach! Even if just for a little while! I want you to see my skating!" "As a coach..." says Tsuzuki. "Okay. Sure." "Tsuzuki and that girl don't have any relationship anymore," thinks Canty. "She chose the same music... I'm sure of it!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chieri sits on a bed in the medical room. Tsuzuki examines her foot. "I don't want to go back to the rink," says Chieri. "I really didn't mean to skate the same way as the Princess... Everyone's saying it... Was it really that similar?" "You're not an ordinary person," says Tsuzuki. "Yes..." he thinks. "That's your talent. You impressed the skating union pretty well. And the daughter of an Olympic athlete, as well. Even if you crash into the wall, even if Coach Mori can't cover you, the union will back you up. Even if I'm not here..." "It looks like your ankle's all right," he says. "Did you crash involuntarily?" "Like always..." says Chieri. "I emptied my head, and only thought of skating. But when I heard the music, suddenly..." "Like always, she emptied her head...?" thinks Tsuzuki. Chieri looks at him. "He's the Princess's coach now," she thinks. "Did he choose that music for her too? There are so many things I want to ask, but... If I open my mouth one more time... I'll cry..." "Have you been seeing Kouichi and Hiroshi?" says Tsuzuki. "Oh," says Chieri. "Yeah, they come to the rink. They're always there on Saturday afternoons." "Really," says Tsuzuki. "Good." "It's not good," thinks Chieri. "Unless Tsuzuki comes..." He pinches her nose. "You look like you're going to cry," he says. "I- I am not going to cry!" says Chieri. "You've forgotten about me already. That's right. You're the Princess's coach." "I'm always thinking about you," says Tsuzuki. Chieri looks at him. "I have to go," he says. He leaves the room. Chieri sits on the bed. "Tsuzuki... Are you really? Maybe he is... Even if it's a lie, just him saying that..." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yuni stands outside the medical room. "Tsuzuki-kun!" Tsuzuki stops. "The Cherry Project has not been broken up yet!" she says. "Come on, speak up! What's going on!?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mori enters the room. "Asuka-san?" "Coach!" says Chieri. "Umm, I..." "You were distracted today as well," says Mori. "We still have lots of things to decide on. Did you see the rankings? You're 7th place. Lucky seven! You can go to east Japan! We have to keep on working!" "If there's nothing left, can I go home?" "Sure." Chieri steps out into the hallway. "Look," says one of the people there. "Hey, it's that Princess replica they're talking about." "I wonder what she's thinking? That girl, and her coach, too." She sees two reporters talking. "Asuka Chieri... She's the daughter of the all-Japan athlete Asuka who performed in the Olympics!" "I didn't think she was an ordinary person!" "Her original program has jumps and force like a boy... Tsuzuki Masanori! It resembled that guy's skating. And then in the free skate, I noticed she was imitating the Princess's technique." "She'll never make it like that." They laugh. Wataru runs to them, and knocks their camera over. "Hey! My camera!!" They turn. "Oh! It's Asuka Chieri!" Wataru grabs her hand and runs. "Let's go!" he says. "Don't worry about it, okay?" "Kikuchi Wataru!" she thinks. They run outside the building. "I... I..." says Chieri. "Going to east Japan now..." "She'll never make it like that." "Not singles," says Wataru. "You should do pair skating! With me! You're suited for it, Cherry-chan, I'm sure! We'll go as a pair! With the techniques you have, and your boys' level jumping ability! Our unison will be perfect!" "Unison?" "That's how much you can skate the same way with your partner. We'll aim for the world!" "Th- The world!?" "There is no champion in pair skating now," he says. "It's our chance! You're too good to be satisfied with just singles!" "Tsuzuki, too..." says Chieri. "Is that why he wanted to pair skate...?" she thinks. "What, Tsuzuki?" says Wataru. "You mean Tsuzuki Masanori!? He's going to do pair skating!? Then... That means... He must have become the Princess's coach intending to pair skate with her!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yuni stands on a floor high in the Tsuzuki Group building. "A copy machine?" she says. "Cherry is? But..." "We gambled on that music," says Hiroshi. "If we use the same music, Cherry will become a skater of the Princess's level. The skating order was a lottery. Even if she had gone before the Princess, say, Cherry has merit. And her father was an Olympic athlete. It would be noticed that her music was the same as the Princess's." "We wanted her to appeal to the superiors of the Japanese Skating Union," says Tsuzuki. "With it happening so that Cherry skated after the Princess," says Kouichi, "she showed her technique even more than we had anticipated. Cherry's really got good luck." "The union shouldn't ignore talent like that," says Tsuzuki. "They'll definitely back her up. We won't ruin her like this." "Tsuzuki-kun..." says Yuni. "You're cool. But then, why did you become the Princess's coach? I don't get it. If you're doing this to help Cherry, staying with her would be the best thing to do." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Tsuzuki and the Princess are going to form a pair..." thinks Chieri. "They don't fit. This is too much. From the beginning, those two have been out of my reach... That time... I blanked my mind..." She remembers her skating that day. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chieri looks out over the rink. "The rink... Was it this pleasantly cool...?" "It's exactly two weeks until east Japan," says Mori. "About the free skate... The contents can stay, but we'll change the music." "One more thing..." thinks Chieri. "Distancing me from Tsuzuki..." "There's a piece I've been thinking of," says Mori. "Try skating lightly. Asuka-san? Go out on the rink." Chieri approaches the ice. "The rink is wide... I can't see well..." "What's wrong?" says Mori. "The music is starting." The rink spins around Chieri. She holds her head. "I can't hear the music!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original manga copyright © 1991 Takeuchi Naoko. English translation copyright © 1998 Alex Glover. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Manga of Takeuchi Naoko | The Cherry Project | Volume 2