By Sainte Matthewe
Note: Lyrics and music for Ordinary World are copyright 1980-something by Duran Duran. Cho Hakkai and other related terms or characters are copyright 1997 by Minekura Kazuya and Enix. Warning: Mild spoiler for the anime/manga!
Dedications: To Pearl-chan, who threw a hissy fit and her hair tie at the television screen when she saw Cho Gonou start to tear out his eye. ^^
***
Came in from a rainy Tuesday on the avenue
Thought I heard you talking softly.
I turned on the lights, the TV and the radio
Still I can't escape the ghost of you
What has happened to it all?
Crazy, some'd say.
Where is the life that I recognize?
Gone away
A cold front had swept down upon the little village while he had been at the school. Now, with the last student home, he trudged down the lonely lane, the icy wind whipping his coat around. He was eager to be home, himself, and to see her again.
And there it was. Home. As modest as it might be, it was his entire world, and his moon, sun, and stars, his guiding light was was nowhere to be found.
Cho Gonou pushed his glasses up his nose and saw his paradise in shambles.
But I won't cry for yesterday
There's an ordinary world
Somehow I must find.
And as I try to make my way
To the ordinary world
I will learn to survive.
It had all been a blur. His ears deaf, and his eyes blinded by a red haze. Now, without knowing how he got there, he stood in the shadow of an immense castle and speaking of vision, where were his glasses? Why were his hands covered in blood, and his usually immaculate clothing torn?
Passion or coincidence once prompted you to say
Pride will tear us both apart
Well now pride's gone out the window cross the rooftops
Run away,
Left me in the vacuum of my heart.
What is happening to me?
Crazy, some'd say,
Where is my friend when I need you most?
Stop. Fade to black. A poorly edited movie He found himself in a dungeon, presumably under that castle. No. Not like a movie; like a slide show. Separate and still scenes connected in some vague, indefinable way. The reason behind it all lay just beyond his grasp
Down the cold stone stairs, and the cell to the left And there she is his reason behind it all.
Thin pale hands gripped the bars; eyes as green as his own pleaded. Gonou is that you?
Ah, he wasn't too late.
Gonou, listen. Please.
But I won't cry for yesterday,
There's an ordinary world,
Somehow I have to find.
And as I try to make my way
To the ordinary world
I will learn to survive.
He was too late. His light had gone out. Then why was he still alive?
Two clans—almost a thousand youkai dead, and you, a mere human, was the cause of it? A voice, cold in its disbelief, washed over his prone form like that icy wind did a lifetime ago. Ohya, ohya, a thousand youkai. A human who bathes in the blood of a thousand youkai becomes one, himself. Shall we see if I am the thousandth?
Unbearable cold, then unbearable feaver
Papers in the roadside tell of suffering and greed
Here today, forgot tomorrow
Ooh, here besides the news of holy war and holy need
Ours is just a little sorrowed talk
(Just blown away)
Everything was turning to dust. Not like it mattered much, with a thousand and one atrocities to his name Headlong into the cold mud.
Oi. You dead?
What a question. Looking up, a vision of red; a vision of penance.
Whoa. Did he just smile at me?
And I don't cry for yesterday,
There's an ordinary world,
Somehow I have to find
And as I try to make my way
To the ordinary world,
I will learn to survive.
But now, I'm afraid of dying.
Legally, the criminal known as Cho Gonou died shortly after his trial before the San-Butsu-Shin. The man known as Cho Hakkai concurs.
Any world, is my world
I will learn to survive.
