Chapter 13: …And The Truth Shall Set You Free
Miaka looked around in astonishment. For the briefest of moments, she could have sworn that everything had…rippled. She rubbed her eyes, but everything was back to normal again. I must be imagining things, she thought, shaking her head.
"Miaka!" Yui Hongo panted as she ran up to her, "I've been looking all over for you!"
Miaka smiled at her best friend. They had actually managed to pass the high school entrance exams together and go to the same high school. Miaka was glad she had gotten her best friend back…after all that had happened. A gust of wind lifted Yui's shoulder-length hair and Miaka got a glimpse of something affixed to the other girl's left earlobe. However, before she could say anything, it was again hidden from sight by Yui's hair.
The next instant, Miaka was distracted by thoughts of lunch as Yui suggested that they go to a nearby café to eat. Passer-bys were startled by a loud shout of "YESSSSSS!!" and the sight of an extremely happy-looking Miaka cheerfully dragging a patiently smiling Yui behind her.
Miaka was on her third bowl of noodles when she caught sight of it again. Yui had brushed her hair back, tucking it behind her ears. Somehow, the sight of the earring raised disturbing questions which Miaka had not thought about up to now.
"Yui?" Miaka began tentatively, "That earring…is that…"
"It was Nakago's," Yui looked almost wistful, "In a way, we were both the same…he and I. I wear it to remember him and not make the same mistakes he made." There was a distant expression in her eyes, as though she was reliving a memory.
Miaka accepted Yui's explanation, yet there was something that had been bothering her. Try as she might, she couldn't seem to recall how the battle between Suzaku and Seiryuu ended. It must have ended with Suzaku's victory, or else she would not be here…but…
Why couldn't she remember?
"Yui…How did it all end?" she asked suddenly. At Yui's confused look, she tried again, "How did we win against Seiryuu? I…I don't remember…"
Yui's eyes were as wide as saucers, as if she could not believe what she was hearing. "Nani? How can you forget something like that? You summoned Suzaku and made a wish to seal Seiryuu. Tamahome and Nakago were fighting at that time…Nakago lost his powers and Tamahome killed him…" she trailed off, "Miaka…Are you all right?"
Miaka's head started to hurt as she tried to take it all in. Tamahome…killed Nakago? Why did that sound…wrong somehow? Words, images, thoughts, feelings swam through her head in a confused jumble, flashing by so fast that she was unable to make sense out of any of them. She felt dizzy, and had broken out in a cold sweat.
"Konnichiwa Yui-chan, Miaka…," Taka had appeared next to their table. "I thought I saw both of you from outside as I was passing by…Miaka are you okay?" He peered at her in concern.
"I'm…I don't know…" She managed to say just before she blacked out.
Nakago watched the scene playing out within the clam shell in his palm. He had found it no more than a few feet away from where he had been standing. Sure enough, the Suzaku no Miko was trapped inside an illusion. He could do nothing to free her…only she herself could do that. She had to see through the deception and break free on her own.
The trouble was, he was not sure whether she had enough willpower to do that…whether she would even want to leave. In the fantasy created by Tomo's shin, she was happy. She had all her friends and family around her…and she had Tamahome.
Or at least a version of Tamahome called Taka.
She woke up to find herself lying on her bed in her room, with a cool wet towel resting on her forehead and a bevy of concerned faces around her.
"You're awake!" Her brother, Keisuke announced in relief. "You had us worried there for a minute!"
"What happened, Miaka?" The soft question came from Taka, who had moved to take her hand in his own.
"How…how did I get here?" Miaka whispered through dry lips.
Yui rolled her eyes and blew air exasperatedly through thinned lips, "Taka carried you all the way back here!" Her expression became comical, "And guess who was left to pay the bill?"
"Gomen, Yui-chan…" She looked around at everyone, "I…I don't know what happened. I just felt dizzy suddenly and…blacked out, I guess. I'm sorry if I worried you, minna." She tried to remember what she had been thinking just before she had fainted. Something about fighting? No, it couldn't be…why on earth would she be thinking about something like that?
Keisuke began shooing everyone out, saying that Miaka needed to rest. Taka smiled kindly at her and pressing a gentle kiss to her palm, told her that he would be outside in the living room with the others if she needed anything. Miaka blushed and returned the smile, his gesture warming her heart.
She lay in bed alone, trying to figure out what was it that bothered her. Why had she fainted? Miaka frowned as she thought hard. I was talking to Yui…I asked her a question…She chewed on her lower lip in concentration.
A question about…
Miaka slowly sat up as the memory of Yui's words came back to her. She had asked Yui how the last battle had ended because she had not been able to remember. She swung her legs off the bed and stood up, suddenly possessed by an idea.
She hurried over to her desk, pulling open the drawer where she kept her diary. Surely…Surely she would have recorded information as important as that inside? She flipped through the pages, almost tearing some of them in her haste. She came to the last entry complaining about having to study for the high school entrance exams, and then…nothing. The pages were completely blank.
There was no mention of the battle, Suzaku, Seiryuu, Tamahome or…or Taka. How…How can this be?! Miaka knew that she never missed writing in her diary at the end of every single day. Once again, she tried to recall what had happened after the battle.
With growing horror, she found that she could not even remember what had happened to Tamahome. Had Tamahome disappeared, absorbed back into the Book of the Four Gods? She was sure she would remember something like that. How had Taka come into the picture? When had she first met Taka? Where the memories should have been was a dark gaping void. Panic rose up, and she stumbled blindly to the door, knocking over a chair in the process.
The crash of the chair hitting the floor brought everyone rushing from the living room. They found Miaka standing in the doorway of her room, white knuckled hands clutching her diary. Her face was pale, as though she had just seen a ghost.
"Miaka?"
She slowly looked up at them, as though seeing them for the first time. Her wide, panicked eyes went from one person to the next, until they finally came to rest on the man she knew as Taka…or rather, the man she thought she had known.
Now that she really thought about it, she realised that she didn't know him at all. She didn't know where he lived, his favourite colour, favourite food…she didn't know anything about him. She realised that she had woken up one morning and there he was, her boyfriend. And she had just accepted it all at face-value. It was as if he had just popped into her life, and she had never bothered questioning just how she had come to know him.
The gaps in her memory, the sudden insertion of someone into her life, not being able to recall how he had appeared…
The last time something like this had happened was when…
When she had been trapped in Tomo's illusion.
Is that it? Another illusion? "None of this…is real," she stared hard at all of them. Keisuke, Yui, Tetsuya…and Taka, her supposed boyfriend. "Who are you really, Taka? How did we meet? How long have I known you?"
"Miaka, what—" Taka stammered.
"None. Of. This. Is. Real!" Miaka said more forcefully. She was becoming more and more convinced now that somewhere along the way, she had been sucked into a lie.
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, everything started to distort, as though she was watching a television programme with bad reception. The walls seemed to ripple and fade…
…and Miaka found herself standing on the outskirts of the city of Sairo. She blinked in surprise at the abrupt switch of scenery. Nakago was leaning against the wall of a nearby building with his arms crossed, looking none too pleased. In the distance, the sun was just peeking out over the horizon.
"Took you long enough," he said somewhat gruffly.
Notes:
1) The title of this chapter is a continuation of the one in Chapter 12. It is the philosophy most law systems are based on and is a quote from the Bible. The full quotation is, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free."
