Author's note: I've finished summaries for thus far of the Fushigi Yuugi Continued Continuation Sequel, if anyone wants a copy to read. I've highlighted things like important places, things, and events in them, as well as main characters and plot twists. So if anyone's interested, feel free to drop a line.
To Akira Riyoku: A lot of people like Saori and Suboshi… maybe I should do more with them, hm? And no, I'm not Japanese, if that's what you were implying. I know a lot about Fushigi Yuugi because I'm a freak like that. It's my favorite anime! I'm glad you love my story!
To Metajoker: I'm sure some where in the book (which is not China itself) they have oranges, and I'm even surer they drink out of things besides teacups! Sorry for that major error in my last chapter with the picture! I'll talk to my Beta about that! (And if she reads this comment, I hope she feels guilty!) It's good that you dislike Hachiro and Kazuki, they're the villains!
To Metajoker again: So I don't make one comment half a page long. ;; Yes, Mayo and Keisuke are sleeping together, if you want to put it that way. And another Saori Suboshi fan? Wow, I REALLY need to do something with them… maybe I'll squeeze it into chapter 10. (They have the award for the biggest make-out scene of the story.)
To Silver Pain: Yes, a fellow irony lover. I try. And I hope to use Chichiri's cool move again in the future!
Chapter 9:An Honest Scale
Morning sunlight shone through the glass window, highlighting the floorboards near the bed. Chichiri had watched it travel across the floor, slowly, sitting out of reach of its boundaries as he did so. It had been hard for him to sleep as of recently… so many questions clouded his mind, questions he couldn't find an answer for.
His neck straining a little, Chichiri leaned back against the dresser, his one mahogany eye leaving the floorboards and focusing on the ceiling of his temporary bedroom. The others would probably be awake by now; hopefully they had gotten more sleep than he did.
Taiisukun… Taiisukun was gone. That very idea… the very fact answered the puzzling question as to where the balance of the universe had gone. Even now he couldn't sense anything… as if his powers were gone, or he was the only one left living. The atmosphere lacked the depth it had had before… it was strange.
What was more, Chichiri felt yet another empty feeling inside his own heart. He had never taken Taiisukun for granted, but her absence disturbed him greatly nonetheless. Taiisukun had taught him almost everything he knew—her knowledge had saved him from what could have been a lifetime of suffering—and now she was gone? Taiisukun was the ruler of this world, how could she just disappear?
That was where Chichiri did know something. Taiisukun can't just disappear, she can't just pack her bags and leave, it's not possible. Without her, the whole universe could fall into chaos. No, Taiisukun could only be replaced, but by what? That was where Chichiri hit a roadblock again. He had been told once that trials could be either stumbling blocks or stepping-stones, but how could he overcome this experience when he was so blindly stepping forward?
Chichiri closed his eye. "This is something that meditation won't help, no da…" he said quietly to himself, "Maybe the only thing I can do is trust in the darkness and hope I land on solid ground, no da…"
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"You really want to go back in again?" Hachiro asked. It was morning in the real world too, after a late night and several beers.
"Why must you question everything I do?" Kazuki asked. "I want to go back, it's a wonderful place. You should see it too, sometime."
"No thanks." Hachiro declined. "Not anytime soon, anyway."
"Remember," Kazuki began to debrief, "As soon as I'm there, you need to write me into Chinese clothing so I fit in."
"I know." Hachiro shook then pen in his hand. "What's the signal this time?"
"Don't worry about a signal, I want to try something." Kazuki said.
"You high? Try what?"
"You'll know if I need to come back." Kazuki fixed his collar, then stood in the center of the living room. "You know what to do."
With a click of the pen, Hachiro wrote in near-perfect Chinese onto a blank space on the page. Just like the first time, a pillar of red light shot up from the floor, and in a moment, it was gone.
The symbol for "enter" appeared in the large kitchen of the Konan palace, but no one was there to see it.
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As Chichiri walked towards the dining area to get something to eat, a cold shiver shot up his spine, freezing him in place for a moment. Gripping his staff tightly, he peered over the walkway and into the horizon. He could feel it now… the balance was back. He could sense the presence of his fellow warriors; he could feel stability again.
The monk's hand slowly removed the mask that covered his face. "What is it? What's causing all this confusion?" He thought out loud. The equilibrium of this world cannot just appear and disappear on whim. Was something clouding his senses? Or….
Chichiri's eyebrows lowered and he quickly replaced his mask. With a faster stride in his step, he hurried back inside the palace.
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Saori unlatched the chain lock on her door and opened it to see who had come to visit her that day. "Mayo-chan, Keisuke…" She said, stepping aside to let them in.
"No book yet!" Keisuke threw his hands into the air as he strode into Saori's small apartment.
"He went back to the library," Mayo explained, "There's nothing there, again." She frowned, leaning her forehead on Saori's shoulder. "Saori-chan, I don't know what else to do…"
Saori patted Mayo on the back. "Don't worry, things will look up, okay? Taka and Miaka… they're fine, I can feel it."
Mayo stood up again, looking her friend in the eyes. "Where's Suboshi?"
"He's sleeping." Saori answered. "I could wake him up…"
"Don't bother." Keisuke said from the kitchenette. "We're not here for anything critical anyways."
"Just a… angsty visit." Mayo half-smiled.
The phone rang, and Keisuke hopped off the couch to answer it himself. "Hello?" He said into the receiver.
"Who is it?" Mayo asked.
Keisuke held up a finger to Mayo. "What list?" He spoke. A pause. "You can do that? Yeah, that's great Yui! I wouldn't have thought of that… think it could help?" Another pause. "Do it, I'll talk to each of them myself if I have to. Yeah… yes. Okay, see ya." He hung up.
"That was Yui." Keisuke spoke, "She said that she can get a list of all the members of the National Library's card holders, and…"
"But there would be thousands!" Mayo broke in.
Keisuke smirked. "Well, yes, but we can narrow it down. The list should have information on whether a card hold is a Chinese-speaking person, and there's also the frequency card, which is for the book clubs. You get some discount on purchases or longer hold periods if you check out the library's weekly novel or something."
"You can get there if you're a frequent visitor alone, I think." Saori put in her two cents. "I have one, and I don't belong to a book club."
Keisuke shrugged. "Well, I think only a frequent visitor would bother with a book sale." He seemed a bit gleeful as he went on, "and we'll call all the Chinese-speaking ones first, then…"
"That will still take forever." Mayo pointed out.
"Keisuke, you can read that book and you don't speak Chinese." Saori added.
Keisuke rolled his eyes. "Don't team up on me! It's a start!"
Saori glanced at Mayo, then nodded her agreement. "You're right, it's a start." She thought for a moment, "Maybe I could call them from work and make up something about it being a survey… I'm sure Tetsuya would let me…"
"Brilliant!" Keisuke did a sort of victory pose, knocking the phone out of its holder. He quickly picked it up and replaced it. "Alright, plan B, here we go."
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"So what are you saying?" Hotohori asked, leaning forward in his seat at the large rectangular table he always held important meetings at. Everyone was gathered around—everyone present at the palace, at least. Chichiri sat farthest from the emperor, and Chiriko, Miaka, and Taka all sat close together as the monk spoke.
"It's a person." Chichiri repeated what he had said earlier. "The one causing the strange symbols, and the monsters, no da… it's a person."
"But how could you know that?" Taka questioned what everyone else was thinking.
Chichiri mask only hid part of his confident look. "Because only a living person can pass between our worlds."
Miaka leapt out of her seat, startling her warriors. "Someone from my world is here!" She shouted.
Chichiri nodded.
"But how could you know?" Hotohori asked.
"It's the balance," Chichiri went on, "When Taiisukun disappeared, balance was gone, no da. However, an entity like Taiisukun cannot vanish without complete chaos taking over. She was replaced, no da."
He got half-confused stares, but decided to continue. "Today I felt the balance restore itself, and the only way for scale to keep materializing on and off like that is if the one who controls it is doing just that… disappearing, then reappearing. The only way for someone to completely do that here is to go into another Universe all together, no da --Miaka's world."
Chiriko nodded, completely understanding. "I felt it too… it happened earlier this morning, the restoration of Yin and Yang, that is. However, I didn't quite compute your reasoning, Chichiri." He smiled innocently. "It all makes sense."
Miaka pondered the statements. "So… the person making all this stuff happen is from my world? Then… how are they…" She gasped, a palm going over her mouth.
"Miaka?" Taka asked, concerned.
"They… this person… he has the book!" She stuttered to get the words out. She looked at each of her warriors with anxiety in her eyes. "That's the only way he could get here, that's the only way someone like that could come into this world… he has the book, the Universe of the Four Gods…"
"And he's here." Hotohori finished. "For now, at least."
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Hachiro read the page that was writing itself with wide eyes. He cursed under his breath. "Damnit Kazuki… they're starting to catch onto us…" But they were just characters in a book, right? This was all just some fantasy game. Hachiro shook his head at his own naive thought. "I'm getting way too into this…" He turned the page to see what Kazuki was up to.
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Kazuki walked over the lush grass beneath his Chinese sandals, the ones Hachiro had written onto him when he appeared. He didn't make exact where he wanted to end up, so unless Hachiro wrote it in without his permission, the book chose a random spot. He knew he was in Konan, anyway, and he had a good guess where by the looks of the gardens that surrounded him. He had popped up by a wall, and had taken the last 20 minutes to enjoy the scenery. There was even a small stream running through the whole place, and he had crossed to bridge just a moment ago.
He knelt down and stroked the petal of a purple iris. "You don't see too many of you growing outside green houses," He commented to the flower. In the silence, he heard a few faint steps moving around, not necessarily in his direction. He slowly stood up, shielded by a tree, and peered around to see who it was.
It was a young woman, perhaps early twenties, stepping off the brick path that surrounded the garden. He glanced past her for a moment, getting a glimpse of the Konan palace. He was right, that was where he ended up. Refocusing on the girl, he watched her quietly. She had red hair, he noted, and then a wide grin crossed his face. Red hair and at the palace? It was then that he noted she was wearing a halter-top, which was not Chinese design in the slightest. That confirmed his conclusion. He was looking at the Suzaku no Miko herself.
Miaka breathed in the fresh air. She could use some relaxation, though it seemed unreachable. She was very happy that they almost knew who was tormenting with their lives, but the idea that this person had the book scared her. Why would they bring her and Taka back? Did he know the story, the whole story? If so, he knew her. It was almost like having a stalker.
She shuddered at the idea. If the culprit really was from her world, even from Japan, then how could they stop him from inside the book? How would they find him?
Miaka looked up, and choked on her own breath. There was a man standing behind the tree, a man with dark hair and dark eyes, watching her. She had never seen him before… he just stared at her.
She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Who was he?
Kazuki smiled at the priestess, who finally spotted him. Kneeling back down into the soil, still in Miaka's view, he began tracing his finger in the dirt, writing out a kanji symbol that was only legible to him. When he finished, the symbol began to glow red.
"Who…" Miaka began, but then her attention caught onto something else. A circle of red grew around her feet, and then exploded into a giant pillar of crimson light.
Miaka's hazel eyes quivered as she stared back at the man. "NO!" She screamed, trying to run towards him. However, the light engulfed her, and she disappeared.
Kazuki smiled. It seemed his theory was right. He stood up and wiped his foot over the kanji that read "return" and blotted it out.
"Okay, Hachiro." He said quietly, "Take me home."
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Taka saw a beacon of red light coming from the garden. He froze. Miaka said she was going to the garden…
"MIAKA!" He shouted, running as fast as he could to the burning light. He was too far away… the light disappeared, leaving the garden empty.