Epilogue-Touya
Sakura became a prime minister. It was just as well, because had she been
anything else she might be forced to become more emotional. As a prime minister,
she could just stand and watch the suffering around her with a stone face. She never
married.
Eriol and Tomoyo would have married if not for Syaoran. Both remained single. Eriol became a lawyer. Tomoyo took over her mother's company. They never spoke to each other anymore, unless it came to dealing with business.
Nakuru and Spinel remained Eriol's ever faithful servants. They took care of him well. Kero took care of Yue, who became a doctor, as was expected. He was one of the less sympathetic ones, Yukito, I mean, because he had watched his son suffer more than those idiotic patients could. When a doctor sees so much suffering, his heart hardens naturally. There was little empathy from the hospital. They do not even flinch at death.
Xuyan became a musician. He became one of the world's leading cellist, turning the cello into his major and dropping the violin. Perhaps he was trying to make up for Jingxi. But it was not enough. Jingxi was Jingxi. Xuyan was Xuyan. And no matter what honor he brought home with him, Jingxi will never have any of it. Actually, Jingxi was long forgotten, and more so each time Xuyan got a new honor, though Xuyan never knew that. He became a professor at Juilliard after learning English and taught college and graduate students alike. Later he became one of the leading circle of teachers.
I became a professor at the University of Tokyo. The wages were decent there and I enjoyed a casual life. Sometimes I go and visit Yukito, although rarely now. None of us gathered together anymore. Time changes things.
We went on with our lives. None of us married. None of us dated, or found any girlfriends or boyfriends. You may ask, why?
A death can do many things to one person. It can soften him so that he becomes more sympathetic towards others, or it can harden him so that he no longer loves or cares about the world. For us, the latter proved to be more effective.
We never talked about Syaoran. Not even on July 13th, the day of his birth and death. None of us touched chocolate. None of us wore green. It just seemed so unappropriate. None of us approved of other people eating chocolate or wearing green either.
It almost was as if such things were reserved for Syaoran alone.
Remember how it all began? It was during the summer of June. Yukito and I
were waiting for Sakura and her group and I was pouring water over my hair to
cool off. Syaoran suddenly shouted and that led to a whole chain of events.
I was so thoroughly annoyed with Syaoran. That time we were stilling having hypnotizing contests.
Things changed in three years, right? They changed even more in twenty, thirty, forty years.
We came together for the last time when we were all pretty much old men
and women. I was eighty-four. Sakura was seventy-seven. We were not in
wheelchairs or anything like that. We met by chance in a restaurant.
Iie, we did not talk of old times. Sometimes wounds never heal. Sometimes they continue to bleed, even after so many treatments and tending. We didn't talk about each other either. It was the first time we gathered together without Syaoran, ever since Syaoran died. And yet we didn't really talk. We ate, we enjoyed each other's company, and left each other. Sakura to hers. Tomoyo to hers. Eriol to his. Yukito to his. Nakuru, Spinel, and Kero to theirs. I to mine.
Remember how we use to think? Sakura was once the center of our little
group and everyone was attached to her. Then it turned out to be Syaoran. He was
Eriol's descendant and Sakura's love. He was Nakuru and Spinel's master's
descendant. He was my sister's love and Yue's child. He was Kero's fellow
guardian's son. He was Xuyan's cousin.
When Syaoran is gone, we separated. That's what happens to things like this. It's like the solar system. All the planets are drawn to the sun. As long as the sun is there, the planets will always circle around it. When the sun is gone, the planets will separate. We will have no nine planets anymore. Pluto will go one way. Neptune to the other. Earth will be drifting to another galaxy.
That was what happened. Eriol went back to England, enjoying his retirement. Sakura went to her home. I went to mine, enjoying my own retirement, as did Tomoyo. The guardians left with their masters.
By this time, Syaoran's laughter and his suffering seemed like a shadow in the
sunlight.
