Hotarubi Gensou Firefly Visions by Amagi Sayuri Princess Comics/ Akita Shoten 1996 Translation by Emily Horner Cover flap: This is my first book of short stories. I put a lot of thought into them, so I hope you enjoy them. Contents: Hotarubi Gensou -- Firefly Visions -- p.05 Yuuzuki Genya -- Visions of a Moonlit Evening -- p.57 The Chat Noir and the White Rose -- p.100 Student number 27, I declare my love for you! -- p.151 Hotarubi Gensou <> The Meiji era [1868-1911; about the time of "Rurouni Kenshin."] Touya : {After I lost my parents at a young age, a theater company picked me up, and I travelled the country working for it. The summer I visited the theatre in a mining town in the Touhoku [Northern Japan] region, I met that boy...} <> Touya : {Wow. The Kourakukan really is beautiful.} I'm gonna be an actor here when I grow up! But it's so hard to become an actor...sigh... Hotaru : It's all right. Touya : Huh? <> Hotaru : I'm sure you'll become an actor, Touya. Touya : How did you know my name? Hotaru : I heard the other people in your theater company call you that. Touya : You saw backstage? That's so embarrassing...I keep making mistakes and getting yelled at. Today's play is over, you know. Aren't you going home? Hotaru : I'm waiting for someone. Touya : {The boy said his name was Hotaru.} <> Touya : {The name of the little creatures that glitter in the summer night.} [Hotaru means firefly. This will be important later.] {Why does he always look so sad? He looked lonely, like a firefly shining all by itself, separated from the swarm.} Hotaru : Today, we must say farewell. Touya : I'll come here again next year. Hotaru : Yes. We shall meet again. Touya : Don't look so sad! <> Touya : It's all right! I'm sure the person you're waiting for will come. Hotaru : Touya... --Say, did you see anyone? --No, no one. --I didn't see anyone either. --I wonder why only Touya-chan can see it... He's only a child. <> Touya : He's always in the same seat. The left corner box on the second floor. {Today, Hotaru is here again, looking exactly as he did five years ago. Watching the love story being played out on stage with sad eyes, shining with a dim white aura, as beautiful as a firefly.} <> Touya : I'm thinking of going to Tokyo. Travelling with a theatre company is all right, but I'd like to stand on one of the big stages in the capital. Long ago, you told me that I could become an actor. Hotaru : Yes, I did. Touya : Do you still believe it? Hotaru : I do. Touya : Thank you. How long have you been here? Hotaru : Just about...four hundred years. Touya : You've been waiting that long? Why? <> Hotaru : Because I miss him. I want to hear him call my name and hug me one more time. I want him to know that I've been waiting for him. [In this whole conversation, the gender of the person in question hasn't yet been specified, but writing 'that person' is really awkward in English, and did anyone expect it *not* to be a guy?] Touya : But...if it was four hundred years ago, he's already dead! He's in heaven! Hotaru : He promised that he would come for me. Touya : But he never came! Even when he died, he never came for you! I'm sorry. <> Touya : Hotaru, you can't stay here. You won't be happy. Hotaru : I cannot leave this place. I have too many memories here. Touya : {There was a fragile smile on his face, as if his heart hurt... Though I worried about Hotaru, I moved to Tokyo and began my new life there. I worked day and night and studied as hard as I could to make my dream come true.} <> Touya : {The summer I turned twenty, I visited the Kourakukan for the first time in four years. The white theatre had been neglected. I stood under the eaves in the twilight. It was so lively in the past...I suppose it's because the mine was closed down.} Hotaru! {You're still here...} <> Hotaru : You've grown taller, Touya. You look all grown up. Touya : Well, I am twenty now. Hotaru : Indeed. It's already been nine years... Touya : Aren't you lonely? Hotaru : Why? Touya : This place has been abandoned. They don't put on plays here any more, and there aren't any people around. Are you still waiting for him? <> Hotaru : Will you tell me about the capital? Touya : What? Hotaru : You've become an actor, just like I said you would, right? Touya : How did you know that? Hotaru : I know everything. Touya : It's thanks to you...when things got tough, I thought about you, and I pulled through. <> Touya : I've performed in a few small theaters, and this fall I'm actually going to be in a play in front of the Meiji Emperor. Hotaru : That's great. Touya : It's a tiny role, though. {I told Hotaru about my life in Tokyo. He smiled and seemed to enjoy it, but as the sun set and darkness wrapped itself around us, he suddenly said...} Hotaru : Please catch some fireflies. <> Touya : I'm opening up my hands now...slowly, slowly... {Its life shone inside my hands, like a whisper, like a song.} Hotaru : It's beautiful. Touya : Look closely, it's breathing. Hotaru : It is...it's so small, but it's alive. It's alive...and yet why is it so beautiful? Touya : It's beautiful because it's alive. This one wouldn't be able to shine if he was dead. <> Hotaru : Humans can never shine like that. As long as they live, they drown in their desires and commit sins. Finally, when their physical bodies are destroyed, they can shine. I, too, was impure while I was alive. Every day I cursed myself for being shameful and ugly. But now... <> Hotaru : I'm beautiful now, aren't I, Touya? Now that I'm dead I can finally shine like a firefly. My father and mother, too, shone with their small lights as they went to heaven. <> Touya : {Hotaru!} Why do you say such sad things? You are beautiful! I didn't know you while you were alive, but I'm sure you shone then, too! You should be able to die at peace. This kind of existence is too sad. Hotaru : It's all right. I will stay here. Touya : I don't understand! <> Touya : I'll recite a sutra so that you can die at peace. Hotaru : Stop! Stop! No! <> Hotaru : He's going to come for me...he promised... Touya : Hotaru... Hotaru : I'm staying here. Forever. {I'm waiting for you!} <> Hotaru : Leave now, or I will kill you. Touya : Hotaru...are you going to turn into an evil spirit? Is he that important to you, this guy who left you and died? Do you still love him that much? So much that you've been waiting for four hundred years! <> Hotaru : I love him. Mizuki is everything to me. Touya : Fine, do what you like! Hotaru : Touya! Don't go back to the capital...to Tokyo! Touya : {I couldn't help but hate him.} Hotaru : You're in danger. Touya : {This man I never knew, who bound Hotaru to the earth...} Hotaru : Please, just don't go to the capital. <> Touya : I'm going to perform on the stage in Tokyo! I'm going to live my own life! You can keep on wandering in this place, clutching on to an illusion from the past! {What I said to him was so cruel, but I was terribly sad, and so powerless, unable to do anything...} <> Touya : {Watching Hotaru there, waiting for someone who no longer existed...} <> Touya : {Three months later, on the last night of the show at the Meiji theater, the theater was consumed in flames. "Don't go back to the capital..." Is this what you meant, Hotaru? I'm sorry...you were honestly worried about me...} <> Touya : {It's beautiful. Like a million fireflies rising to the heavens. I feel as if I've seen it somewhere before...somewhere...} <> --Look at that, dad! There are lots of fireflies going to heaven! It's pretty! Touya : {That's me!} --But it's already winter! There aren't any fireflies. --But look how many of them are flying! Touya : {A kid...} Hotaru : Can you see them too? That light is people's souls. <> --I see...your village was destroyed in the wars, and you're the only survivor? That's awful. --Come with me. It's all right, you won't be alone. What's your name? Hotaru : Hotaru. Touya : {What does this mean? Mizuki is...me! Hotaru's been waiting for me all this time? I have to go back to that theater!} <> Touya : {Now I remember all of it! The days I spent with Hotaru in my previous life four hundred years ago...} Mizuki : Fireflies die as soon as they grow up. My dad said they only live for ten days. Hotaru : Maybe God wants to have them by his side because they're so beautiful. Mizuki : You've got to live, Hotaru. You're beautiful too, but don't let God take you. You're *my* Hotaru. Hotaru : Right! Touya : {He always had a very sad smile...} <> Touya : {I loved him. I wanted to tie his soul that seemed as if it could float up to heaven at any minute to the earth. But...three years later, at the Ryuuanji temple where we had stopped to trade, we had to say goodbye. The priest in charge of the temple wanted Hotaru, and he became a temple page.} <> Mizuki : Do you know what that means? Hotaru : Yes. Mizuki : Then why are you letting my father sell you? Hotaru : I am weak, and not suited for traveling. Now I can finally settle down somewhere. Mizuki : You're lying. You don't want to do it, do you, Hotaru? Hotaru : I've caused too much trouble to you both. The priest bought me for a good price. Your father said that you would be able to live in comfort now... <> Hotaru : I would have died if you had not found me when you did. I am happy that I will be able to pay you back for that. Mizuki : Let's run away together! Hotaru : We cannot! Mizuki : Why? Hotaru : Please don't make your father said. Touya : {The words of this boy who had lost his own parents struck a chord in my heart.} Mizuki : I'll come back for you. Mizuki : I'll grow up and save my money, and I'll buy you back! Hotaru : Really? Mizuki : I promise. I will come back for you. Hotaru : I'll be waiting for you. Touya : {Why did I forget about that? Why could I never remember that sad smile...} <> Touya : {Just as it had always been...?} Hotaru : You remembered, Mizuki. <> Hotaru : This is where the Ryuuanji temple once was. This is where the priest raped me every night. It was awful, and many time I wanted to die. But I missed you too much. I felt that if I fled this temple, I would never see you again. The promise you made supported me. At the end of my fifteenth year, there was a fire at the temple, and everything burned down. Hotaru : I, too, turned to ashes here. I've been waiting since then, wondering whether you would come today, or the next day... Touya : I'm sorry for breaking my promise and leaving you by yourself for so long. I wanted to buy you back, but when I went to the capital, I failed in business and fell deep into debt. My father fell sick, and it was hard just getting enough to eat every day. Touya : There wasn't a single day I didn't think about you, but I couldn't come back for you like that. When I thought of kidnapping you and running to somewhere far away, I thought that maybe you would be happier staying at the temple, wearing pretty kimono and getting an education. You couldn't live like me, taking care of a sick person and working till you had blisters. Hotaru : Still, I would have been happier with you. I wanted to be with you. Touya : {Hotaru...} <> Touya : I'm sorry. When I was 25, there was a plague in the city, and my father and I died. It was pitiful. I was too embarrassed to see you like that, so instead I ran away to heaven... Even when I was reborn as Touya so that I could see you again, I couldn't remember a thing. I hated the man named Mizuki who had hurt you so badly for four hundred years. I'm really stupid, aren't I? To remember only after I was already dead... <> Hotaru : You realized it, didn't you? Touya : Yes...what's here is only my soul. My body was burned in a fire at the Meiji theater. You knew it would happen. That's why you told me not to go... Hotaru : Yes. I knew that you would not remember me while you were alive. But as the day I'd been waiting for for four hundred years drew closer, I didn't want to let you die. It was all right if you didn't remember me...I just wanted you to live. <> Hotaru : Isn't it strange? All that time, I had been wishing for your death...when I was in such pain, but you comforted me as if you had nothing to do with it, it made me so sad I wanted to kill you. But you told me your dream of becoming an actor, and I loved to see you like that...so much that I forgot the reason why I was here. Touya : You should have killed me. <> Touya : You should have killed me then, so I would have remembered sooner! So that I could have held you like this... Hotaru : Touya... Touya : You should have killed me the first summer night we met, when I was eleven. <> Hotaru : It's all right, Touya. Don't blame yourself; I'm happy now. I'm happy that I could see you again... Touya : Hotaru... Hotaru : Let's go to the Buddha together. Touya : If we're reborn, I promise I'll find you. {Hotaru bowed his head sadly and said that when people are born into new lives, they forget their past lives.} <> Hotaru : Even if we have the fortune to be born into the same era, it's far more likely that we will never see each other. Even if we do meet, we will not remember each other. Touya : {Hotaru was scared of that. He had stayed on this earth for so long because he didn't want to forget me. The ties that bound us would be unraveled by the boundaries of life and death...and our new lives would start as if nothing had ever happened.} <> Touya : {"Please catch fireflies"--those words must have held his fear that the bonds between us would unravel, and his wish that they might not.} <> Touya : {He was so scared, and wished so strongly...I'm sorry, Hotaru.} <> Touya : {The Kourakukan has become beautiful again... I was in my last year of high school when I remembered my previous lives. Ten years later, I'm still searching for the illusionary Hotaru.} --We're here, everyone! You have thirty minutes to look around. --A field trip to some old theater is just boring. --I don't know, I kinda enjoyed it. <> --You're only 15, and you sound like an old man! --This is a building from the Meiji era. The outside was renovated, but the inside is just as it once was. --The floor's not going to fall through or anything, is it? --You worry too much! Kei : Um...are you... <> Kei : Mizuki Touya-san, the actor? Touya : Yeah, I am. Kei : Really! Wow, I thought I'd never get to meet you unless I went to Tokyo. Touya : {This time it's you who doesn't remember.} Kei : I want to be an actor. When I get out of high school, I'm going to go to your acting school. Touya : I'll be looking forward to it. What's your name? Kei : Yuzuhara Kei. With 'Kei' spelled like in 'fluorescent light.' <> Touya : {Across the shores of time, I've finally caught you.} That's the kanji for 'firefly,' isn't it? It's a nice name. {It's not an illusion. My Hotaru...} <> Touya : {I am an actor working under the name Mizuki Touya. As far as I can remember, this is my third life. Ten years ago, the summer I was a senior in high school, I remembered my two past lives, and since then I've been searching for a person I cared about who died with sadness in his heart because of me. I believe that we'll meet again in this lifetime.} <> Touya : {This summer, I finally met that person, at the Kourakukan theater in Touhoku.} Touya : Hello, this is Satou. --I'm from Kataoka Video Delivery. I've brought the tape you ordered. Touya : {That voice sounds like his!} Thanks. I'll open up. {But it's not possible. Tokyo is so big...} <> Touya : Hotaru? Kei : Mizuki-san? Kei : I was surprised that this was your house, Mizuki-san! So, your real name is Satou-san? Touya : Satou Kazuyuki, a very ordinary name. Kei : Why do you use "Mizuki Touya" as your stage name? Touya : "Mizuki" was my name five hundred years ago, and "Touya" was my name in the Meiji era. I was an actor then, too. They're both names from my past lives. Kei : Wow! You remember your past lives, Mizuki-san? Touya : {He doesn't have any memories of his past lives.} I remembered all about them when I was in 12th grade. {He's Yuzuhara Kei, a different boy.} Kei : Oh...you've got the picture book from the Kourakukan! <> Kei : I bought one too. For some reason, going there made me feel nostalgic. Isn't that strange? I'd never even been there before. Touya : Actually, I felt the same way. Kei : You did? That's odd! Touya : {You were there for so long while your soul waited, never going to heaven...} Hotaru...I'm sorry, you're Kei-kun, right? Why did you come to Tokyo? Kei : I said I was going to come here after I finished high school, remember? Kei : I came here in October. I'm going to high school at night, I work in the day, and I'm rehearsing a play for three hours in the evening. Touya : A play? Kei : Yes. It's just a little company made up of adults working other jobs and university students. I'm living in an apartment with two other people in the company. Touya : Did you run away from home? Kei : No! Touya : I know you want to be an actor, but don't you think you're rushing things? Although it's important to follow your dreams, your parents must be worried about you. Kei : I don't have parents any more. <> Kei : Ten days after I met you, they both died in an accident. Touya : I see...I'm sorry. Kei : It's all right. Touya : {Hotaru lost both of his parents when he was young, too. Is fate doomed to repeat itself, no matter how many times we're reborn?} Kei : I stayed with my aunt and uncle, but I was really worried when I heard on TV that your theater school had closed, and you'd gone missing. Is it true that the owner ran off with the entrance fees? Touya : Yes. The two of us started this school together, so it was quite a shock, and the media were talking about whether I was also involved in it. <> Touya : So I decided to move quietly and stay lost for a while. Did you come here because you were worried about me? Kei : Yes. I tried to stop myself from going to Tokyo until I graduated from high school, but I just couldn't stay there, so I came to look for you. But I don't know anything about you, and I didn't have any leads...it's amazing that I found you by a coincidence like this! Touya : It might not be a coincidence. Kei : Huh? Oh, I was in the middle of working! <> Touya : Can I come watch you rehearse when I have a day off? Kei : You've started a new job? Touya : Yes. I was cleared of all suspicion, so I started shooting commercials in December. Kei : I'm glad you'll be on TV again. Um... Touya : Yes? Kei : Why do you call me Hohtaru? Touya : It's the name of someone I loved from my past life. We often watched fireflies together. Kei : Oh...it's the same kanji as my name, right? Have you seen him again in this life? Touya : No, not yet. Kei : I hope you will. Touya : {He'll be happier if he doesn't remember it.} <> Touya : You don't think I'm a liar? Kei : No. I believe in past lives. Touya : {Kei's smile was like a summer wind. His eyes held such a passion for life. There was not a trace of Hotaru's fragile smile.} <> Touya : {It's better this way. Now that he's been reborn, he can live in happiness. It's better if he doesn't remember the sad memories of his past life. Even if I can't hold him, I can be close to him, and watch over him.} --Thanks! Take a one-hour break! --Mizuki-san, you have a phone call. Touya : All right. Hello? Yoshikawa-kun? What's wrong? What? Kei's at the hospital? <> Yoshikawa : A piece of the set broke off and hit him on the head. It looks like temporary amnesia, but he's acting weird. Like he's scared of everything around him. Touya : Kei? It's me, Mizuki Touya. Remember me? Kei : Mizuki... <> Kei : You've finally come back for me! Touya : Hotaru? {Could it be?} Are you Hotaru? Kei : Yes...I've been waiting for you. <> Touya : {He lost all of his memories as Yuzuhara Kei--the person here is Hotaru, who lived five hundred years ago.} Yoshikawa : That's really strange. Touya : Do you believe me? Yoshikawa : Of course. Kei-chan's tears were real. When we lived together, he was always scared of fire. He was scared of lighting the gas when he made dinner. If he died in a fire long ago, maybe he remembered that somewhere deep in his subconscious. But, to think that his old lover was reborn as a man--the gods must really be cruel. <> Yoshikawa : You should've been a woman. Touya : {I was a man in my past life, too...} Yoshikawa : But, oh well! That doesn't really matter, if you've got love! --Takashi, you sound like you have a thing for Kei-chan! Yoshikawa : Shaddup! We're friends, so I don't want him to be sad. Touya : {Yoshikawa-kun...} Yoshikawa : Mizuki-san, I think that Kei-chan would be happier with you now. Touya : Can I take him home with me? Yoshikawa : I'll bring over Kei-chan's clothes and stuff. Touya : Thank you, Yoshikawa-kun. <> Touya : {Hotaru had suddenly been sent to a world he knew nothing about. He was afraid of everything.} Kei : That was a strange box. I felt as if the ground was breaking under my feet. It was scary. Touya : Box? Oh, the elevator? Was that your first time in one? Kei : This world is strange. Are you already used to it, Mizuki? Touya : Well, it probably is strange to you, Hotaru...but the trees are the same. Plants are still plants, even after hundreds of years. Kei : {Hundreds of years?} Are you dreaming? It was only two years ago that we said goodbye. <> Touya : Really? {The Hotaru I've been looking for...} Kei : Really. Touya : {Has finally returned. I want to make him happy in this life, after all the pain I caused him in his last life. I shouldn't want anything else...but...} <> Touya : These are things that you used. Don't you remember any of it? Kei : No. How did we get lost in such a world? I had been working at Ryuuanji temple, and waiting for you... Touya : Hotaru, this isn't a different world. It's Japan. <> Touya : Five hundred years have passed since you were at Ryuuanji. This is Japan in the future. Kei : But how can you know that? You can't see even a second into the future. Touya : We didn't go through a time-slip. The sun rose and set, and five hundred years passed. We were both reborn. In this life, you were known as Yuzuhara Kei. Kei : {What are you saying, Mizuki?} Touya : Look, here's Yoshikawa-kun. He came to the hospital. You lived in an apartment in N with him. <> Touya : You were an energetic tenth-grader, studying theater because you wanted to be an actor. Kei : I don't know that person. I am Hotaru! Why are you being so mean to me? Are you really Mizuki? If you are, then sleep with me. Touya : I can't do that! {It would hurt Kei.} <> Kei : Why? Because the priest raped me, and my body's dirty now? Touya : No. That's not the problem. I love you, Hotaru. But it's like I said before--you died, and were reborn. Your body belongs to Yuzuhara Kei now. I couldn't sleep with you without hurting Kei. Kei : Do you care about Kei that much? Touya : Hotaru... Kei : I don't care! <> Kei : I don't want there to be another person inside Mizuki. If it's been five hundred years, and we've both been reborn, then do you know what happens to me in the future? Touya : Yes. Kei : Tell me. Touya : I don't want to. Kei : Then I won't believe you. You're lying. You can't see the future. Touya : Hotaru, you die in a fire at Ryuuanji temple, at the age of fifteen. <> Kei : No... Touya : I was never able to come back for you, so your soul didn't go to heaven and instead stayed on earth. You waited for me for four hundred years, even after the Kourakukan theater was built on the ashes of Ryuuanji. I was reborn as Touya, and met you there when I was eleven. You were a ghost. <> Touya : Hotaru! Kei : I bleed red blood. This pain is mine! I'm alive! Why do you say I died in a fire? <> Kei : Why would you say something so cruel, after I've been waiting for so long? I missed you...I missed you so much! <> Touya : I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Hotaru. It's all right. I understand. Don't cry. {What was I looking for? I've been searching for this one person for so long, in the midst of all the billions of people...} <> Touya : {I've been searching for so long...} Yoshikawa : Hey! How ya doing, Kei-chan? Remember me? Kei : I'm sorry. I don't know who you are. Yoshikawa : Oh well. I came to give this to you. Kei : What is this board? Yoshikawa : Eternal Wind for Sega Saturn. I thought you wanted it! Yoshikawa : I heard there was a console at Mizuki-san's house, so you can play it all you like. Kei : What do you use it for? Yoshikawa : Oh, right, you don't know about video games...Don't worry, just get Mizuki-san to teach you about it. You'll be great at it! Bye! Come see the folks at the theater company once in a while! Kei : Thank you. <> Touya : I'm home. Hotaru? What's wrong? Come inside, it's cold. What's wrong? {Hotaru?} Kei : I'm like the moon at twilight. Touya : What? <> Kei : The pale, white moon...it's in the sky, but no one realizes it. The moon shines brightly at night, and everyone pay attention to it. You must be able to see the moon better at night too, Mizuki. Mizuki : I can see them both clearly. If the one that's here is the evening moon, I can stare at the evening moon for my whole life. Kei : Mizuki... <> Mizuki : I'm "Mizuki" (water moon) and you're "Yuuzuki" (evening moon)! {I took Hotaru to lots of different places. I wanted him to find things he enjoyed in this modern world he didn't know anything about. It made me so happy that he started to smile more.} <> Kei : Please don't go to work today. Mizuki : Why not? Kei : My chest hurts, like something bad's going to happen. Mizuki : You told me that in a past life to try to save my life. Thanks...but I didn't listen then, and I won't listen now either. Kei : Mizuki... Mizuki : Sorry, but I can't just skip work. Kei : Then I'll go too. Mizuki : What? Kei : Please take me with you. Mizuki : Hotaru... <> Touya : {We'd been filming a drama in an old building that was soon to be demolished.} --Action! Kei : {Where's Mizuki? I can't see him from outside.} --Why are you here? Touya : Come back home. Kei : Mizuki! <> --Don't worry, that was just an explosion for the film. Kei : For the...film? --Wasn't that a bigger explosion than planned? --Oh, no! --Call the fire department! <> --This is awful! Kei : Mizuki? Where's Mizuki? Mizuki-san's still in there? --Hey, you come back here! Kei : Mizuki! {I can't see...it's too smoky.} <> Kei : My hair! {It's burning...my hair's burning...save me, Mizuki!} <> Kei : {"You died in a fire at Ryuuanji." Died...} <> Touya : Hotaru? You're awake! Kei : Mizuki-san...everybody...is the rehearsal going okay? You can go back. I'm all right. <> Yoshikawa : Hey, your memories are back! Kei : Sorry for worrying you. --I hope we can be in a play again when you feel better. Kei : Thanks. Yoshikawa : That's a relief! Let's go home, everybody! --We'd just be in the way! Kei : Did you save me, Mizuki-san? Touya : Yeah. Kei : I have the feeling that I ran into the fire, even though I'm scared of fire... <> Touya : Apparently you ran into the building because you were worried about me. That's what the staff told me when I got outside, so I went back in a hurry. I'm glad that I could save you this time! {I thought I'd lost you again...with fate repeating itself...} Kei : I'm sorry. You're really burned, because of me... Thank you. Touya : Kei... Kei : Isn't it pathetic, though? I went in to save you, but you had to save me. Touya : {No, it's not...} <> Touya : {In your past life, I left you to die alone.} I hope you can be in the play again after you get home from the hospital. {Hotaru is gone, and Kei is back.} Kei : Yeah... Touya : {Maybe I shouldn't be stuck in the past. We should start again from today...} Kei : Mizuki-san... <> Kei : The moon in the evening, and the moon at night, they're the same moon. Touya : {Hotaru...} <> Kei : Take me to see the fireflies, in the summer. Touya : I will. Kei : Even after five hundred years have passed, they're still shining brightly. Touya : Of course. {Both of these boys are here with me. At last, the evening moon is shining brightly.} <> Keiichi : {I am Tachibana Keiichi, a freshman in college. I think that I'd like a girlfriend who's gentle and elegant and reserved, someone like cherry blossoms, someone who makes me want to protect her. But I guess that kind of perfect woman doesn't exist any more.} Keiichi : {What's that sound?} <> Anzai : I've found you, Tachibana-kun! Let's go to a party today! Keiichi : {I moved to Osaka to go to college, but...} Sorry, Anzai-san! Maybe some other time! Anzai : Wait! Why are you always running away? <> Keiichi : {I just can't get used to Osaka. In the university and in the town, all the girls are loud and bad dressers. Even when I see girls who look neatly dressed...} --My boss is such a total dork! --Mine too! It just makes me sick! Keiichi : {They're really not like how they look on the outside.} Keiichi : {Someone's crying...} <> Keiichi : {It's a girl who looks like some kind of fairy, with a bright white cloak and a strange white hat.} Fimlia : I... Keiichi : You're hurt! Here, this should be better. Fimlia : Thank you. Keiichi : I'm Tachibana Keiichi. What's your name? Fimlia : I'm Fimlia. I was attacked by a stray dog, and it started to get dark, and I was so lonely! You really saved me. Keiichi : You look a bit strange--like a sorceress. Fimlia : Yes! The country where I used to live was a country of sorcerors. I can't use magic at all, but my parents were sorcerors. Keiichi : Oh...really... Fimlia : Sorry, I... Keiichi : You must be hungry. I'll make you dinner. {Blonde hair, blue eyes--wow, she is cute!} Fimlia : {The sun's starting to set...} Keiichi : {But I wonder if she has a mental illness. She thinks she's from another world.} <> Keiichi : Fimlia, you can stay here as long as you like! Fimlia : But I... Keiichi : I live alone, and I go to college in the daytime, so you can do whatever you like. {I'll protect her until I find out where she's really from.} Fimlia : Thank you so much! Keiichi : You'll be all right, Fimlia! {I've finally found the perfect woman I've been looking for! Huh? Black hair?} Fimlia : Hey, how long are you going to hug me like that? <> Keiichi : What? Who the hell are you? Fimlia : You asked that already. I'm Fimlia. Keiichi : Fimlia? Fimlia : You can call me Fim. Keiichi : Don't be ridiculous. What did you do with that girl? Fimlia : It's me. Fimlia : That girl is how I appear in the daytime. Keiichi : The daytime? Fimlia : See? This is the bandage from before. Keiichi : But you're a boy, and you don't look at all alike. Fimlia : You don't remember picking up a boy, do you? Keiichi : But why... Fimlia : Just shut up and accept it, already! Keiichi : {He's pretty forceful...} Fimlia : You said I could stay here for as long as I liked. Keiichi : No I didn't. Fimlia : Don't pretend you didn't! <> Fimlia : Even when I'm a girl, my consciousness is there, in the back. It's really dark, but I can hear all the sounds and voices from outside. Keiichi : But I said it to her... Fimlia : It's not so bad. I am a girl in the daytime, so you can do whatever you want. Keiichi : I wasn't thinking *those* kind of thoughts when I picked her up! Fimlia : I don't care what you were thinking. Let me stay here. Keiichi : O...okay. {On that day, I thought that I had picked up a worthless brat.} <> Keiichi : {But his intense red eyes told me that he really was from another world.} It's late. Aren't you going to sleep? Fimlia : Leave me alone! I'm watching the moon. Keiichi : OK. G'night. {He has got a chip on his shoulder.} Keiichi : {When I woke up the next morning, Fimlia--the girl--was crying.} Fimlia : Oh, Keiichi-san, you're here! Keiichi : {She really is cute.} Fimlia : I fall unconscious when it gets dark. Keiichi : {Then she doesn't know about him?} Fimlia : I've been invited to stay at many people's houses since I came here, but although we enjoy talking together, I lose consciousness when the sun sets, and when I wake up, I'm always walking somewhere I don't recognize. Keiichi : {He must get kicked out for his violent words and attitude. Of these two, which is the real Fimlia?} <> Keiichi : {All day long, I couldn't stop thinking about her.} Anzai : Tachibana-kun's acting weird today. All spaced out. --Maybe he got a girlfriend. Anzai : Tachibana-kun, I want to ask you something. Keiichi : Sorry, I'm in a hurry. {I've gotta get back home before the sun sets. Otherwise, I won't be able to see her!} I'm home! Fimlia : Welcome back! Keiichi : I saw these white roses at a florist and thought they suited you. Fimlia : Keiichi-san... Keiichi : Fimlia... Fimlia : Sorry, out of time! I said you could do what you like when I'm a girl, but I'm not interested in that kind of stuff! Keiichi : Me neither! <> Fimlia : "I saw these white roses, and thought they suited you..." Keiichi : Don't make fun of my white roses! Give those back, I didn't give them to you anyway. Sorry, I didn't mean... Fimlia : It's okay. You're in love with her, right? Keiichi : She's the perfect girl I've been looking for. She's so cute that I forget you're there. <> Keiichi : I know that what I'm saying probably sounds ridiculous, but I'm serious. Please don't make fun of me. Fimlia : Why are you only nice to her? I'm the real one! Why are you only nice to her? Keiichi : {That night, too, he watched the moon.} Fimlia : My body isn't free during the day. And it's all black because my consciousness is buried deep down. At night, I can look around and touch things, see things with my own eyes. So I try to stay awake as long as I can. The full moon is the same in this world as in my country. Keiichi : Oh, really? Fimlia : Hey, Keiichi...what's the sun like? Keiichi : Huh? <> Fimlia : My dad told me that it's much, much brighter than the sun, and if you look straight at it your eyes burn. Keiichi : {He's never seen the sun?} Fimlia : Is it like that in this world too? Keiichi : Yeah, you can't look straight at it. Has it always been night for you, since you were born? Fimlia : That's right. I was born in the middle of the night, as a boy, but I changed into a girl when morning came. So, since I was born, I've only known the night and the light of the moon. <> Fimlia : I like this world. Even at night, you can see a lot of lights. Keiichi : {The neon lights of the city...} Isn't there any way for you to just be yourself? Fimlia : You'd be happier if I was a girl day and night, wouldn't you? Keiichi : That's not what I meant. Fimlia : That's all right. It's the natural order of the universe for men to fall in love with women. Keiichi : {His red eyes are shaking, as if he's going to cry... No way, he's strong. But still...he looks like a lost kitten.} <> Keiichi : {His profile looked lonely, and not just because of the moonlight. He stared out at the sky, as if he was waiting for someone. Sunday, I went into the city with Fimlia.} <> Keiichi : {I really liked Fimlia, but those red eyes sometimes seemed to weigh heavily on her.} Fimlia : KEIICHI! Keiichi : Sorry, it got dark... Fimlia : I'm goin' home. Keiichi : {Wow...the white dress turned black.} Fimlia! <> Luthgar : I've been looking for you, Fimlia. Fimlia : Luthgar! Keiichi : {I see...you've been waiting for him.} <> Keiichi : {I thought that this person, with his white cloak like Fimlia's, was a relative or a teacher, but...} Luthgar : This world is so large. It wasn't easy to find you. I had to search all over the countries in the world. Keiichi : {He hasn't seen him in a year...} Luthgar : Why did you leave without saying anything? Fimlia : None of your business! Luthgar : Fimlia, I love you! Fimlia : Well, I don't love you! <> Fimlia : I'm a guy, and besides, I'm a member of the Ripela, which members of the Lacanne like you hate! My black hair and red eyes must be hideous to you! Keiichi : {It's obvious that Luthgar would be better with her.} Luthgar : I love your black hair and ruby eyes. They're the proof that you exist in this world. Fimlia : Go away. I'm living in this world now. I forgot all about you. <> Fimlia : I've forgotten all about the one night we spent together! Keiichi : {The proud and arrogant lost cat clawed at the person he had been waiting so long for.} <> Luthgar : Our world is divided into two main factions, the Ripela and the Lacanne, who use black magic and white magic, respectively. We have been opposed for a very long time. We lived in separate capitals and hated and avoided each other. I met Fimlia in a tavern in the Lacanne capital. --It's a Zahad Scion--a forbidden child! --He transformed! Just a second ago, he was a cute Lacanne girl! --I saw it too! He must be a forbidden child! <> Luthgar : He was afraid, like an animal caught in a trap. --He's the child of that traitor, Sharoa. --She fell in love with an awful black mage. Foolish woman. Luthgar : In the next second... Fimlia : Be quiet! Don't say bad things about my mother! Luthgar : His eyes burned like flames. --Get out of our city at once! Fimlia : You don't have to tell me, I'm leaving! Luthgar : For some reason, I just had to chase after him. <> Luthgar : Those red eyes burned into my heart and wouldn't disappear. I found him in the forest, crying quietly. It had been said that fifteen years earlier, a Ripela man and a Lacanne woman broke the taboo and fell in love with each other. They were chased from their cities, and hid deep within the forest. He was their child, unfortunately born with the appearances of both of the rival tribes. On that morning, Fimlia's parents had been killed by monsters. Keiichi : Killed? <> --Run away...Fimlia...hurry! Run away! Fimlia : She ran all day, and finally reached the Lacanne capital. Maybe it was instinctive. She was crying at the tavern door, and the owner told her to come inside, but... Keiichi : {Fimlia...} Fimlia : When night came, it wasn't her that was there. It was me. I might have been able to save them! <> Fimlia : My parents died right by me, but all around me everything was dark. I couldn't even see them! I could only hear their voices..."Run, Fimlia! Run!" I couldn't do anything! <> Luthgar : Go ahead and cry. Cry your heart out. Inside a cavern in the forest, we talked, and slept. But when I woke up in the morning, he was nowhere to be found. I really wanted to find him. In just that one night, he had stolen my soul. Fimlia : Did I fall asleep? I get the feeling I slept like I haven't slept in a long time. Luthgar : Fimlia, I want to show you the sun. You should return to your true self. Fimlia : But Luthgar... Luthgar : I've looked in many ancient books, and I've found one thing that may be worth trying. Even if we carry it out, there's no way to be sure that it will work perfectly. Fimlia : Thank you. I'll try anything. <> Fimlia : Even if I'm the one who disappears, that's all right. She's "Fimlia" too. Keiichi : {We looked in libraries everywhere, looking for the 'oddly shaped island' Luthgar had written about. In the daytime, they looked like lovers who were perfect for each other. But I felt as if I heard the sad cries of a black cat with red-eyes inside her.} Here it is! <> Keiichi : {It was after midnight when we got there, flying on a dragon that Luthgar had summoned. In the middle of the mountain called Torghatten, there was a big hole that you could fly a Cesna through. The strange landscape looked as if it came from another world...} <> Keiichi : {And Luthgar said that it had some connection to the world they came from.} Luthgar : Fimlia, that windy hole is our 'path of rebirth.' Fimlia : Path of rebirth? Luthgar : It is said that it can give a new life to those who have fallen into darkness or those who are living an incomplete existence. You sadly received life as an incomplete person, holding two selves. Here, now, to become a single person... <> Luthgar : You must pass through the tunnel of wind alone. Keiichi : That's impossible! The wind is way too strong. If you make a mistake, you'll be crushed against the rocks! Fimlia : It's all right, Keiichi. I'll do it. I don't want to run away any more. Keiichi : But can you fly? I remember that you said you couldn't use magic. Fimlia : Well--I've got my learners' permit. Luthgar : I believe that you can do it. We'll be waiting on the other side. <> Fimlia : {My skill at flying is terrible. At first, I couldn't use magic at all. But I have to do it!} <> Keiichi : {The sorceror flew off into the violent wind.} Fimlia : Ow... {It's all right, right, Luthgar? Even if she's gone...} <> Fimlia : {Even if it's me who's left...that's all right, right?} Keiichi : {Two hours had already passed, and in the image that Luthgar showed me, Fimlia's body was being torn to shreds, with waves of blood in the wind. In my eyes...} <> Keiichi : {He looked more beautiful than ever.} <> Keiichi : {Covered in wounds, Fimlia made it out to where we were.} Luthgar : Fim! Keiichi : {My heart went out to him as he lay unconscious in Luthgar's arms.} Fimlia : That night, I thought of going to the Ripela capital, but I realized that during the daytime, I would just be an alien to them. I would never be accepted by either of the tribes whose blood ran through my veins. <> Fimlia : I had no place to go home to, and that scared me more than I could bear. {I can't stay here--I'll go anywhere, even another world!} And when I woke up, I was in this world. Amazing, isn't it? I can barely even fly, but I flew to another world. Luthgar : You must have latent magical powers. Fimlia : I love you. Even though we only spent one night together, I felt like I always wanted to be with you. <> Fimlia : But I knew that when morning came, you'd meet her, and I thought you'd like her better than me, and that my existence as a man, as a Ripela, would vanish. I didn't want you to see her. I wanted you to just remember me. Luthgar : So that's why you left? Fimlia : Yes. Stupid, isn't it? <> Luthgar : It's true that that girl is a part of you as well. But I've been caught by your red eyes. Since then, I've loved you. Fimlia : Luthgar! <> Keiichi : {I'm glad, Fimlia.} Look! The sun's coming up! Fimlia : {That light...} <> Fimlia : {It's the sun!} Luthgar, it's so bright! <> Fimlia : Tens of times brighter than the moon... {It's so bright, I can't stop crying.} <> Keiichi : {A month passed since then...} Anzai : Tachibana-kun! Keiichi : Oh, Anzai-san. You're reading a book about roses? Anzai : You look as if you wouldn't expect it! Keiichi : Well, I am a bit surprised. Anzai : All girls like flowers, no matter how they make look on the outside. Keiichi : There's a rose called "Fimlia"? <> Anzai : Yeah. It's unusual because it doesn't have any thorns. Keiichi : A rose without thorns? That's ironic. {The little red flowers made me think of his eyes.} Anzai-san, do you know of any place where you can see real ones? Anzai : I'll find out, and we can go together. Keiichi : {I wanted to show him these roses.} Okay, thanks. {He's probably get mad if I said they suited him-- bright red Fimlia.} <> Yoshiki : {Half a month after I started high school...} --I'm sorry. Yoshiki : {I had my heart broken for the fourth time.} --You're the exact opposite of my ideal guy, Fujinami-kun. You're short, you're pale, and you have a high voice. On the first day of school, I actually thought you were a girl! Yoshiki : {After I'd gathered up all my courage to tell her how I felt...} <> Yoshiki : {I always get rejected like this} <> Kouzuki : What are you still doing here? It's past the end of school, and you're not in any clubs. Yoshiki : {This is Kouzuki Junichirou. He always says things that rub me the wrong way.} Leave me alone. Kouzuki : That's awfully nice, after your best friend skipped club to come see you! So what if you get your heart broken once or twice? Yoshiki : This is the fourth time! <> Yoshiki : Girls all say the same thing. They want a tall guy wish broad shoulders and a deep voice. Someone manly. Kouzuki : Someone like me! Yoshiki : But it gets worse... Kouzuki : Did Hayakawa say something? --You're pretty, Fujinami-kun. You should've been born as a girl. Kouzuki : Ha ha ha! Kouzuki : Ouch, that's cruel! But it's true. You are cuter than most girls...Yuki-chan. [Yoshiki's name can also be read 'Yuki,' which is a very feminine name.] Yoshiki : My name is Yoshiki! Kouzuki : Yuki-chan, Yuki-chan, Yuki-chan! Yoshiki : Stupid Kouzuki! Kouzuki : {He started crying...I was just kidding.} Kouzuki : {He must be taking this broken heart really hard.} Yoshiki : {All the guys are manly. Why am I the only one like me? I eat my meals... "You should've been born as a girl." Yeah...maybe I should've. Then I would've been pretty and popular with guys, and I wouldn't get my heart broken.} Yoshiki : {If only I'd been a girl!} --Get out of the way! Kouzuki : Yoshiki! --Sorry. Are you all right? Kouzuki : Wake up, Yoshiki! <> Yoshiki : I have always been in love with you! [He's using 'atashi' here, a feminine form of 'I,' as opposed to the much more masculine 'ore' he had been using.] Kouzuki : Um...Yoshiki? <> Yoshiki : I love you. Kouzuki : Get him off me, senpai! Yoshiki : No! Say it's not true! I've never even kissed a girl! Kouzuki : You'd just been hit on the head. Let's call it temporary insanity and leave it at that. Yoshiki : I'm too embarrassed to go to school! Kouzuki : Forget about it, it was an accident. Yoshiki : I'm going to eat something. <> Yoshiki : Maybe then I'll forget about it. Kouzuki : {Let's see what happens...} Yoshiki : Oh, refrigerator! I'm so glad we met! Do you remember me, the "Harukaze" ceiling fan beside you in the store? Yoshiki : The massage chair and the futon-drying machine made advances on me after you were sold, but I love you, refrigerator! Let's become one! Ouuuchh...hey, what was I just doing? Kouzuki : Yoshiki, let's go to the hospital. <> Kouzuki : Look, I understand what you're saying, but nothing will ever get resolved unless you go to the hospital. Yoshiki : Leave me alone. Kouzuki : Yoshiki, you'll only look even more wimpy by throwing a tantrum. Yoshiki : How could you know how I feel? You've got everything I want. You've never been rejected by a girl. You don't understand how scary it is to tell someone how you really feel. To be so nervous that your legs are shaking, and finally, when you can put your feelings into words... <> Yoshiki : You get rejected! You just don't understand! Kouzuki : You're right. I'm sorry. I'm the one who's always rejecting girls. But it hurts both people to go out with someone you don't even like, right? And besides, I feel like even though a lot of girls have said they liked me, none of them were really what I was looking for. I've never really been in love like you. I guess I care more about soccer than girls anyway. But there is one girl I like more than soccer. Yoshiki : Who? Is she in my class? <> Kouzuki : It's Fujinami Yuki-chan, from class A! Yoshiki : Why, you! Kouzuki : Give it a rest! Yoshiki : I'm Yoshiki! Yoshiki! Yoshiki : Kouzuki, where are you? {He went and made me skip fifth period...} Yoshiki : {The back yard is way too big!} Yoshiki : Wow, I never knew there was a place like this behind the school! {It's pretty...no way! It's too girly to like flowers! The lake's all sparkly, like a diamond...} My thoughts are definitely too girly! Kouzuki : You there, Yoshiki? Yoshiki : What are you doing? Kouzuki : It's nice, so I'm reading. About soccer. Isn't it a nice place? I wanted you to see it. Look how pretty all the cherry blossoms are! What is it? Yoshiki : I'm surprised to hear you say that. Kouzuki : You think I only think about soccer? Yoshiki : Yes! Kouzuki : Anybody can see that what's pretty is pretty. Yoshiki : Yeah... <> Yoshiki : There's a lot of trash on the other side. Kouzuki : Yeah...there's a road on the other side, and a lot of people throw things in from their cars. Kouzuki : {Uh-oh.} Sorry, Yoshiki! Are you okay? <> Yoshiki : I am Fujinami Yoshiki, student number 27! I confess my love! I love you. You are very sparkly and beautiful. Kouzuki : Yoshiki! Yoshiki : Will you marry me? Kouzuki : Wake up! Yoshiki : Kouzuki? Kouzuki : You were confessing your love to the pond! <> Yoshiki : I did it again? Kouzuki : I dropped the book on your head. Sorry. Yoshiki : I'm a pervert! Kouzuki : Don't worry about it. Come on, sixth period is starting. <> --Yoshiki... Yoshiki : Who's there? Who--who--who are you? <> Spirit : I am the spirit of Koumyou pond. I am the master and guardian of the pond behind your school. Yoshiki : The spirit? Of Koumyou pond? {Do those things really exist?} What do you want with me? Spirit : I heard your marriage proposal today. Yoshiki : Huh? <> Spirit : I've taken a liking to you, too. I will make you my wife. Let's go back to the spirit world together. Yoshiki : Hey, wait! I've got nothing to do with this! Spirit : Did you deceive me? Yoshiki : {Eek! I did ask him to marry me...} I'm sorry, but I wasn't serious. I was having something like a seizure. Spirit : Did you not call me beautiful? <> Spirit : Was that a lie? Am I ugly? Yoshiki : {His eyes look so sad...deep, deep, green...} No. You are pretty. But I think there's been a misunderstanding. I am a man. A man! Spirit : I know. Yoshiki : Then, why...? <> Spirit : I like men better than women. Yoshiki : {Is this guy gay?} Spirit : I'm lonely. Long ago, Koumyou pond was lively with the voices of villagers. The water was clear, and shone in the sunlight. There were many fish, and the days were happy ones. But now, because of the progress of human culture, the water is dirty and the fish are all dead. <> Spirit : I've been forgotten. People throw things into the pond from inside steel constructs called 'cars.' It's become so ugly...and I've become so longely it's more than I can bear. Yoshiki : I'm sorry, but I can't go. I like it here. There are lots of people I care about. Spirit : I see...then, I will leave for now, but I will come for you the next time the moon is full. <> Yoshiki : {Oh, no!} Kouzuki : Are you sure you weren't dreaming? Yoshiki : I'm sure! When I woke up in the morning, my sheets were all wet! Kouzuki : Maybe it was a localized downpour on your house. Yoshiki : It was clear last night! Kouzuki : Then maybe you wet your bed. Yoshiki : Did not! <> Kouzuki : Don't worry. I'll protect you, so don't get too upset about it. Yoshiki : Okay... Kouzuki : If a monster found you, it's probably because you're thinking too many negative thoughts. Yoshiki : You're right. I'll focus on the future. {He really encouraged me. Even if I think I should have been born as a woman, I'm not going to become a monster's bride!} --They're getting rid of the pond behind the school. <> --Really? I didn't even know there was one. --They're building another gymnasium where it is now. --It's so dirty and full of trash, it's better just to destroy it. --I guess so. Yoshiki : {Hayakawa-san?} <> Yoshiki : Oh...Hayakawa-san. Hayakawa : You like it here too, Fujinami-kun? Yoshiki : Yeah. You too? Hayakawa : Yeah, I go here to be alone sometimes. But every time I come, there's more trash. It makes me mad. This isn't a place to throw trash...but some people don't understand that. Yoshiki : Why not? I guess they're just stupid. <> Kouzuki : It's not the full moon yet, Yoshiki. Yoshiki : There's something I wanted to say, and you said you'd protect me. Kouzuki : Fine, fine. Yoshiki : Hey, spirit! Answer me! Kouzuki : It's only the new moon. Maybe he doesn't have enough magic power. Yoshiki : It's me! Yoshiki! You know that they're draining this place, right? Spirit : Are you sorried about me, Yoshiki? Kouzuki : Ah! He's here! <> Yoshiki : No, I'm not worried, it's just...what's going to happen to you if the pond is drained? Spirit : I'll die, of course. Yoshiki : Then you should go back to the spirit world right away! The construction's starting in June. I'm sorry that things got this way because of humans... Spirit : I cannot return. Yoshiki : What? Spirit : I cannot return alone. <> Spirit : Not without you! <> Yoshiki : You're... Spirit : I do not have enough magic power because there is a new moon tonight. This is how I truly appear, because the humans have polluted the water. As I looked back on the days when I existed in harmony with humans, as I watched my body rot and was unable to do anything about it but powerlessly watch the days pass by, you appeared in front of me. <> "The lake's all sparkly, like a diamond." Spirit : I want you, Yoshiki. Kouzuki : You're missing one very important point--he's human! Spirit : Thank you for coming here. I will not have to wait for the next full moon. I will take you now! <> Kouzuki : {Yoshiki?} Hey, what are you doing? Yoshiki, snap out of it! Ow! Yoshiki! <> Spirit : Get away from Yoshiki! Do you want to die? Kouzuki : I won't let him go. I won't let you take him! <> Kouzuki : {The magic spell broke?} <> Kouzuki : {Did he give up?} Yoshiki? Yoshiki : He was beautiful...when I met him on the night of the full moon, he was really beautiful... {I couldn't stop crying, and I somehow felt really sad.} Yoshiki : {After that, Kouzuki stopped going to soccer club and started following me around all the time.} Give it a rest! People are starting to spread rumors about us! Kouzuki : You'll go down to the pond again if I don't watch you. Yoshiki : No, I won't. Kouzuki : Really? Yoshiki : Really. Kouzuki : Okay. I'm sure he's given up now anyway. Yoshiki : {Yeah...when the construction starts, he'll have to go back to the spirit world alone.} <> Yoshiki : {It has nothing to do with me any more!} <> Spirit : Yoshiki! --What's wrong, Fujinami? Hey, where are you going? <> Yoshiki : {He's still there? He hasn't gone back? He's going to get killed!} Wait! --What is it? This isn't a place for children. <> Yoshiki : Please, stop the construction! Hayakawa : Stop! Yoshiki : {Hayakawa-san...} --Scare him away from here! Go home, you'll get hurt! Yoshiki : No! <> Hayakawa : It's dangerous, Fujinami-kun! Kouzuki : Run away! --Get out of here! Kouzuki : Yoshiki! Hayakawa : Fujinami-kun! <> Hayakawa : What's this wind? --The pond! It's... Kouzuki : {Yoshiki...} Hayakawa : Kouzuki-kun! <> Kouzuki : Yoshiki! <> --They stopped the construction. --What else could they do, after what happened? --They sent divers down twice, but could never find a body... --Poor Fujinami-kun... Hayakawa : I wonder if that spirit really carried him off. Kouzuki : The poor guy couldn't get girls to like him, but that weird thing fell in love with him. --What's that? <> Yoshiki : Sorry I missed class! Kouzuki : Yoshiki? Yoshiki : {The whole day was crazy. Everyone in the class attacked me with questions, the teacher hugged me, and my dad started crying in his office.} I was surprised to see the flowers on my desk! Kouzuki : Not half as surprised as we were! Hayakawa : Yeah, it had been five days! I thought you were a ghost or something! <> Yoshiki : That's strange. I was sure that I got out right after I fell deep into the pond. How could it have been five days? How could I be alive after being under water for so long? Kouzuki : Maybe you jumped through time. Hayakawa : I'm sure that spirit in the pond saved you. Yoshiki : Yeah... Hayakawa : Fujinami-kun? Yoshiki : Yeah? Hayakawa : You were really great when you were trying to protect the pond! <> Hayakawa : I'm sorry I was mean to you before. I take back what I said; you really are manly. Yoshiki : {She's so cute!} So, will you go out with me? Hayakawa : Okay. Yoshiki : What? Kouzuki : Are you all right, Yoshiki? <> Yoshiki : Kouzuki-san! I love you, and only you. Kouzuki : Me too, Yoshiki. Hayakawa : Whaddya think you're doing? I hate you, Fujinami-kun! Pervert! Yoshiki : {Koumyou pond was cleaned up so it's really pretty. It's now revered as the guardian spirit of our school.} <> Yoshiki : {It took three days to clear up the misunderstanding with Hayakawa-san, and my problem still has not gone away. Kouzuki is still teasing me like always.} Kouzuki : Yuki-chan! Yuki-chan! Yoshiki : {Still, I'm happy. I might be short and I might have a high voice, but...I've finally come to like myself that way.} <> Yoshiki : {That's just the way I am.} Spirit : It's been a while, Yoshiki! Yoshiki : What are you doing here? Spirit : I got here through the pond's water. I missed you, my wife. Yoshiki : Who are you calling your wife? Spirit : I've given up on bringing you to the spirit world. Since the humans have made the pond beautiful, it's a nice place to live now. But I'll come and see you every day! Yoshiki : Don't! Stay in the pond! {Sigh...I guess I really am unlucky.}