Alternative story
The young emperor was dying, yet he was smiling. Instead of being taken when there was still so much more that he would do, this was a rest that he desired and even longed for. The weight of his crown was much too heavy.
"Maybe it is because I was not the one that was meant to sit on this throne." He said sadly. "I only hope that what I did was enough."
Could he not hear the cries of his soldiers, or was it because that he could not believe that they were for him?
"…I can see Yuri again." Hotohori said as he tried to stagger up despite the protest of those around him. "She has her hair decorated with the phoenix crown of Kounan. She…looks so beautiful. I can hear the qin too, it stops being sad."
At that moment, Tamahome and the others realised that there was nothing that they could do. Yet perhaps this would be happiness for the dying man. To ask him to live without the wife he loved so much would be too cruel, especially when she was the one that saw him as a man alone.
"Tamahome, be happy with Miaka. I hope you can find the same happiness I had with Yuri."
Then his eyes were closed, he had kept them open for far too long.
Upon leaving his world with Miaka, Tamahome ended up being Taka. It had been rather daunting to just open his eyes and found himself in a completely alien situation. However, he adapted quickly and he soon found himself reunited with Miaka, as well as being friends with her brother. Unfortunately, her brother seemed to have lost the memory of reading the book, and so only regarded his claim of remembering his past as a rather unusual personal belief.
"Well, as long as you treat my sister well, then I don't care." Keisuke said easily.
The other reason could be because Taka was one of the members in the rather small and sometimes barely existing history club. Although this would be like the question of chicken and the egg as he was only roped in due to Keisuke being Miaka's brother.
"Just think of yourself as an honorary and phantom member." Tetsuya advised him. "That is my position too."
Taka himself did not really mind being in the club, because there were moments when this allowed him to think of the world that he had left behind, especially the ones he had left behind.
Then there were those that died.
Such as the emperor.
Looking back, he still found it rather difficult to accept that the other was only a bit older then him. Even though he never got to know the emperor well as he did with some of the others, the emperor still left a deep impression on him.
It was the emperor that made him realise that money was not everything. It was also Hotohori that made Tamahome realised how important Miaka was due to the way that he cherished his empress. What Tamahome wanted with Miaka.
His studies in the university then made him understand what a heavy burden the other had.
"Taka, are you listening to me?" Keisuke yelled out as he slapped the other with the rolled up pamphlet in his hand. "Tomorrow is a very important day for us as it is one of the best chances to get some new members."
"Keisuke, you don't need to stress so much." Tetsuya said, looking up from the book he was flipping through. "I just saw Akahoshi and he tells me that he won't be helping out with the karate club this year, so he would be able to help us out. As soon as the girls see him, they will flock here."
"Aka-hoshi?" the last name was actually not that unusual, so Taka did not give it much of a thought.
"That is probably true." Keisuke admitted. "But that will really piss me off. Sometimes, that guy can really…just really irritate me. I know it is not his fault at all but – "
"Akahoshi Hotohori." Tetsuya explained to their stunned new member, as Taka was sure that the unusual first name could not be a coincidence. "He is Keisuke's classmate as he majors in Ancient History too. He is not really in the history club due to being in the karate club, but he is an honorary member too."
"Wouldn't Keisuke get on very well with him then?" Taka reasoned.
"I am not as petty as Keisuke but I can relate to where he is coming from. It is not just that Akahoshi is good at studying and sports, but his appearance. Sometimes I just want to see him screw something up to show that it is possible."
"What is wrong with his appearance?"
At that moment, the door was opened and the very person entered.
Since he was Keisuke's classmate, Taka thought that this Hotohori would be the same age as the man that was once the emperor. However, Taka thought that he seemed younger- was it because he was freed from the responsibility that should never be bore by one so young?
He remained a very beautiful man, as his appearance was such that even men could only describe him that way. However, he was no longer the emperor that was in his palace so far away, but a following member of the university and even club.
"I sprained my leg in the competition last week so I will be able to help out tomorrow." Hotohori said before he turned to Taka. "Are you a new member?"
"Do you not recognise me?"
"Am I supposed to? Do we share a class?"
So it seemed that he was the only one who had his memory. However, he was lucky enough to be able to meet this person again in a more friendly way.
Perhaps they could even be friends.
The next day, Taka was there to help with the setting up. Since Hotohori was there too, the two of them began to chat and Taka discovered that the other was actually someone very easy to talk to. A contrast to the emperor that always looked very regal and sombre.
Yet he could not help but to recall how affectionate and gentle Hotohori had been with his empress. In fact, one of the chancellors had said that: "We do not want him to replace Hourengou either. She is the only one that can make his majesty smile and be at ease. However, he needs heirs."
Perhaps the real Hotohori was like that all along, only that he needed to put on the façade of being an emperor.
Tetsuya was certainly right when he pointed out that Hotohori's presence was very powerful. However, Hotohori was also very honest by telling the others that he would not always be at the club meetings.
"Keisuke would have a fit at seeing you do this." Taka chuckled upon the departure of another possible member.
"I don't think they should be in the club if they do not actually care about history." Hotohori said seriously.
"You do seem to have your own fan club though." Taka added, as there were clearly more girls that were thinking about approaching.
"They only like my appearance, which I can understand, but they don't see what I am actually like inside." The first was said with that same vanity that Taka still remembers very well, but the next bit of the sentence had a sadness that he did not expect at all.
It was not so different to what the emperor had been like when his empress was no longer at his side.
"I hope that you find what you are looking for." Taka suddenly said, causing the other to look at him strangely.
"But I do not know what I am looking for."
Because he did not even remember the woman he had loved so.
The stall beside them was empty, and all that they knew was that it was reserved for another club. That stall was right underneath a cherry blossom and many petals have already rained down.
"…I don't like the cherry blossoms." They suddenly heard a girl's voice say. "Do I have to play the kōtō there?"
"Yuri-chan, you are our club's main attraction today. Besides, you said that you just don't really like the cherry blossom. It is not as if you have a phobia or something."
The amount of time that Tamahome said the empress was naturally very few, so he was not able to immediately recognise her. After all, her appearance would also be affected by clothes and jewellries.
However, that girl's name was Yuri.
Unfortunately, Hotohori was away due to being on a break, which then prevented him from seeing the woman that might or might not be his wife.
"So we are beside the traditional music club. I know their vice-captain, she plays the traditional flue." Keisuke explained to Taka before he then called out. "Aren't you usually the one that demonstrates?"
"I am, but Yuri-chan looks much more suitable." The other vice captain said. "Doesn't she just look like a princess of the Heian time, especially with the clothes we hired?"
Taka would describe the other as being beautiful and he agreed that Hotohori's praise was not just due to his love. At the same time, the other was like a doll due to how still she was when she sat by the emperor in a banquet. When she finally met them privately, he had been surprised at how different they both were.
Right now, Yuri was dressed in a furisode and her hair was decorated with the accessories that he would only see in TV instead of daily life. As she played the instrument in front with the petals of the cherry blossoms drifting onto her, he thought that she did seem out of the world.
Like the Japanese dolls his sisters put up every girl's day.
However, the playing came to a sharp halt and the young girl was looking up with such a surprised expression. Perhaps it was also that of wonder.
Following her gaze, they saw that Hotohori was there, smiling at her.
"That was beautiful. I could feel the emotion of the reunion." He began, clearly recognising the music. "Will you please play it again?"
The young girl nodded, smiling happily.
In another life, the two of them met in a garden full of cherry blossoms, where his arrival made her look up from her instrument and gazed at him. Yet that story ended tragically because she ended her life alone under that cherry blossom tree, her blood splashed onto the instrument that she had been playing.
Now, they met again. She was interrupted from her playing under the cherry blossom tree and they smiled at one another in the same way.
This time, this story would have a happy ending.
Completed: March 3, 2014
Author's Note: The idea of this story came due to a reader of the decaying cherry blossoms saying that she would like to see a story where Yuri and Hotohori are in the modern world. Where they have been reincarnated. I actually asked her about what jobs she would give them and she had the idea of Hotohori being in university while Yuri is a musician that also works in a music store. I really like the idea of them in a modern scene so this story is born. One of the main problems is that because it is Tamahome's view, I was limited at some parts. However, I am very happy with the result, as I managed to recreate the first meeting.
Initially, I wanted Yuri to play the harp. Don't ask me why but I just really want to let a character of mine play the harp. This did not work as carrying a harp around is too impractical. Maybe I should have let Emiko in the AU to do so. But the result is the Kōtō, traditional Japanese instrument.
I thought about letting Hotohori do Kendo, but it just didn't feel right due to modern kendo.