Disclaimer: I do not own Fushigi Yuugi or any of its characters. And yes, I am aware that I am starting a new fic without finishing the old ones. You may get on my case for that. Yu Watase is a genius. I love her. Anyway…
Chapter 1: The Secret in the Library: A Maple Leaf Upon the Water
The coach's whistle sounded, and four simultaneous splashes followed. The swimmers of the Jonan Academy Swim Team swam freestyle across the length of the pool, arms shooting in and out of the water as they propelled themselves forward. They hit the far wall at different times, flipping around to make it back to their starting positions. When the first hand hit, the coach stopped her watch.
"Good, Miyazaki! Better by three seconds." She shouted as two heads bobbed out of the water. "Hoshihara, keep it up." A third hand hit, and finally, a fourth. "Seiichi, you're slow today." She said without enthusiasm.
"Gomen…" The last girl apologized, cheeks flushing.
Hoshihara Kaede hoisted herself out of the water and sat on the pool edge, lifting the goggles off her eyes. She lent an arm to Miyazaki Hanako to help her out as well.
"You almost tied me that time," Hanako said with a smile, removing her goggles as well.
"I better get at least as fast as you, Sempai." Kaede returned the grin, "I plan on running for captain next year."
Hanako laughed and stood, shaking the water off her hands. "You better keep Jonan's reputation up once I graduate!"
"We better keep Jonan's reputation up now." The coach interrupted, walking over with the rest of the girls on the female swim team. "The competition with Soudai is next week! We may have gotten a spot in the finals, but this next competition will determine what spot that is. We may run practices longer for the rest of the week, depending on how well you all do tomorrow." She checked her watch, "alright, hit the showers. See you tomorrow."
The girls turned, now shivering, and headed for the locker rooms.
"Hoshihara!" The coach called before the junior swimmer could leave. The girl stopped and turned around, curious.
"I think I may move you to breaststroke for the competition next week." She said, looking at a chart in her hands. "I think you'd be the best one for it."
Kaede was glad for the compliment, but her face revealed disappointment. "I thought I was going for the butterfly, sensei."
"You were, and you do it just fine, but I can't depend on Seiichi to pull this one off. I want you to practice breaststroke tomorrow."
Kaede nodded, then frowned once she headed for the locker room. The butterfly stroke was her specialty, but her coach was right. Seichii was slowing down. Forcing some optimism into her thoughts, Kaede pulled off her head cap, a mangled ponytail of brown falling against her neck.
"Breast stroke it is, then."
A bus ride and ten minute walk brought Kaede to the Akatori Apartment complex, and she climbed the three flights of stairs to get to 13D. She smelled the familiar scent of ramen as the door opened.
"Kae?" A voice called from the kitchen.
"Tadaima!" She called back, dropping her duffle and backpack on a chair and heading to the kitchen. Her father stood at the stove, stirring a pot of ramen noodles. "Dad, I could have made something…"
"Don't worry about it, Kae-chan." He interrupted, turning and smiling at her. She laughed at the steam that stuck to his glasses from leaning too far over the pot. "I need to go grocery shopping anyway. Do you have homework?"
"Hai…" She said. "I guess I should get started on that, huh?"
"Let's eat first." Mr. Hoshihara carefully carried the pot to the sink, emptying it into a strainer. "There are some pears on the counter."
The dining table in the kitchen was only large enough to fit a maximum of four people, but it provided enough space for Kaede and her father to eat dinner. Mr. Hoshihara was fairly silent throughout the meal. When the noodles in his bowl were half way gone, he spoke up.
"Your mother called today."
Kaede froze, her chopsticks almost to her lips. She didn't look up, but waited.
He sighed. "She wants to come to your competition next week against—"
"You told her about my competition?" Kaede interrupted, anger flashing in her eyes.
"Kae, she is your mother." He continued, "She wants to watch you swim, she knows you love it."
"No!" Kaede loudly objected, standing up at the table. "I don't want her to come! Tell her not to come dad! Tell her it was cancelled… or something!"
Mr. Hoshihara rubbed his eyes under his glasses. "I already told her when it was, Kaede. Just let her come, we'll cheer for you."
"No, Dad!" Kaede shook her head, stepping away from the table. "If… if that woman comes… I won't compete!"
"Kae!"
"I won't!" She retorted. "I don't want to talk to her, dad! I don't want to see her! And you shouldn't want to either! Why do you even talk to her anymore?"
"Please, Kae…"
"I promise you I won't even get into that pool if she shows up." She spoke coldly, avoiding eye contact. "Tell Sako to leave us alone."
There was no reply, but she hadn't expected one. Her father had such a passive nature… he never carried out an argument.
Filled with guilt, Kaede muttered a quick apology and left to her room to start her homework. She slammed her books onto the desk, sat down, sharpened a pencil, then got up again and flung herself onto the bed, hiding her face in a pillow. A few moments passed, and she returned to her desk, opening up her geography book. Attempting to clear her head, she began reading all there was to know about Australia.
Kaede groggily opened her eyes, the room dark with the exception of the lamp by her head. She sat up and peered at the clock on her dresser. It read 4:02 a.m. She glanced at the textbook she was sleeping on. She had fallen asleep doing her Japanese homework. With a sigh, she got out of the chair and set her alarm for 5:30, got into bed, and fell back to sleep.
When the alarm sounded, Kaede quickly got ready for school and threw her things together. While she was jotting down a quick message on a post-it for her dad to explain her early departure, she remembered that she had gone to sleep last night without doing something that could have critical consequences. Relieved that she remembered, and also that she still felt healthy, she went to the kitchen and opened up the crisper drawer in the fridge. She pulled out a black case and unzipped it, revealing several thin shot needles nestled together inside. She quickly went through the procedure of administering her insulin, and grabbed a few extra syringes for the case in her duffle, since she recalled needing to refill it. She usually only needed one injection before she went to bed, but she'd rather be safe than sorry. Shoving everything away, she stuck the pink note on the door and headed out into the early morning.
The walk to the National Library wasn't far. Going up the stairs to the front entrance, she noticed the doors were still locked. She checked her watch. She could get a good hour in before heading to school. A few minutes later, a janitor opened the door, and Kaede quickly went in and found a spot on a table to set up her homework. With a yawn, she finished up her Japanese worksheet and had some time to study for her English test before leaving for the bus stop.
The final bell of the school day jolted Kaede awake, and it took her a moment to remember she was in class. She recalled resting her head in the palm of her hand. Guess I dozed off, She thought. By the looks of it, the teacher hadn't noticed. She yawned and began picking up her notebook and pencils.
"Kae," A voice sounded next to her, "are you coming over tomorrow for the movie?"
Kaede's light blue eyes glanced over to meet a pair of dark ones. She couldn't help but return Meghan's smile. The American-transfer student had come here a little over a year ago and had proved to be one of Kaede's best friends.
"Hai." She replied, standing up from her desk. "Did we move it to later or is it still at noon?"
"11:00 a.m. sharp, Missie." Meghan near-ordered. She sighed. "Sundays are wonderful things. My American-Saturday."
Kaede laughed and lead the way out of the classroom. They headed towards the gym.
"Want to go to that new smoothie place?" Meghan asked, shuffling the large stacks of books she had, "It's supposed to be cheap… price wise, anyway."
She shook her head in the negative. "I've got a swim meet, remember? I'm supposedly being kept after longer too, for the competition against Soudai next week. That's what Coach Yoshita threatened, anyway."
"Sadist."
Meghan went her own way when they reached the gym doors, and Kaede went ahead to the swimming pool.
Kaede emerged from the locker rooms in the team-uniformed blue one-piece, her long hair in a high, wet ponytail on top of her head. The first half-hour of practice was open pool, so each girl could work on her weak spots. The boys' swim team used the other side of the pool. Bending over to gather her hair, she pulled a swim cap over her head and slid on her goggles. Standing on the platform as though she were in competition, she dived in the water and did a few lengths of freestyle to warm up.
"I want you to work on the butterfly today, Miyazaki." Coach Yoshita's voice reached Kaede's ears once she had stopped for a rest. She sighed and adjusted her goggles while using the pool ledge to hold her up in the water. Taking a few long breaths, she began practicing her new assignment—the breaststroke.
Breathing for the breaststroke took more concentration than for the butterfly, or at least it did for Kaede. The longer you held your breath, the farther you could go, but if she held her breath for too long, she'd come up gasping for air and would slow down. She did two lengths of breaststroke, paying more attention to form than speed. When she reached her starting position again, Coach Yoshita was waiting there with her stopwatch. "Ready?" She asked.
Knowing the drill, the junior swimmer nodded, and climbed out of the pool to take her position on the platform. She focused her eyes on the other end of the pool and waited for the signal.
"Ready… go!"
Leaping the platform, Kaede dived into the water and began an intense swim. She concentrated on the blue tiles of the pool floor that marked the lanes. Her hands pierced the water ahead of her, and her legs pushed her forward. She swiftly resurfaced for air, and continued. Reaching the wall, her feet shot forward and she flipped around, heading back for her coach. Form was everything for practice, but for competition, speed was what mattered.
Something red glimmered in the corner of Kaede's goggles. Focusing on the tiles again, her eyes widened as a large, red bird flew under her, gliding through the water like a bullet.
Kaede gasped. The painful sensation of the water punching her lungs sent her thrashing upwards for air.
"Kaede?"
"Kaede?"
"Sempai?"
Kaede sat up and coughed hard, her lungs straining for a taste of oxygen. One of her hands supported her and the other flew to her forehead where a massive headache was forming.
A chorus of sighing surrounded her, and it was then that she realized she was sitting on the side of the pool, the entire swim team around her, a few members of the boys' team there, too. Kaede thought of something to say, but luckily Coach Yoshita beat her to it.
"Thank heavens." She patted the girl on the back, "you scared me, Hoshihara. What happened out there?"
Kaede replied with a confused look.
"You were doing great, then suddenly you were like a fish out of water!" Yoshita exclaimed.
Kaede's cheeks turned pink. She coughed again then quietly asked, "How… long was I out?"
"Just a minute." Seiichi answered. "Are you okay?"
Kaede nodded, then stood up. "Gomen nasai…" she apologized. "I'll do it again."
Coach Yoshita shook her head. "I think that's enough for now. Why don't you go shower and go home, okay?" She suggested sympathetically. "There's practice on Monday, we'll work on it then."
Eager to get out of the spotlight, Kaede nodded and quickly headed to the locker rooms. She turned on the hot water in the shower, then kicked the wall.
"K'sou!" She cursed, wiping embarrassed tears from her eyes as the water poured over them. What's wrong with me? She thought, since when did I start hallucinating? She rinsed the chlorine out of her hair and shut off the shower, heading into the locker area. Was it because I took my insulin late? She doubted it, but the excuse was good enough to settle her mind for the time being. Kaede dried off and got dressed, then grabbed her backpack and duffle bag and headed out of the gym.
Sitting on a bench outside, Kaede somberly tied the laces to the shoes she had worn to school. She checked her watch and then headed for the bus stop. She didn't know when the bus would arrive since she usually didn't leave school until 5:00, but she didn't think she'd have to wait any longer than 20 minutes or so. She held the strap of her duffle tightly in her hand as she walked. "If I did so bad at practice, how am I supposed to compete against Soudai?" She spoke quietly to herself, "…let alone finals…" And they're only three weeks away.
Kaede waited ten minutes for the bus and took it home, debating on whether or not she should tell her dad about her practically near death experience at the pool. She got off the bus and started walking to her apartment complex, wording how she would say it in her head as she went. Being so deep in thought, the walk to her home went by quickly.
"I was just swimming and didn't up high enough for air." She said out loud, "Pretty lame, huh? Coach got me out of the water though, so I didn't swallow too much of it. I'm really fine, but you know coach… she wants us all the be safe and happy, ne?" She nodded and decided it sounded good. Her hand reached the rail of the first flight of stairs when her eyes locked onto an old 1994 Mitsubishi in the parking lot. Her fingers loosened and slipped right off the rail. Biting her lip, she moved towards it as if the car was rigged to blow up any second. She tilted her head and read the license plate. Instant rage filtered through her bloodstream and she turned sharply towards the apartment building. Kaede walked past the car and smacked the rear-view mirror as she passed, ambling back through the parking lot and returning to the sidewalk. She continued on at a brisk pace until she reached the National Library.
"Sako…" Kaede hissed as she slammed her books down on a small table inside the building. She took a few deep breaths to suppress her anger. She still couldn't understand why her father was even allowing her to see his child. She was probably sitting there in the apartment right now, watching television or talking to one of her tramp-friends on the phone, waiting for her daughter to walk in so they could have a "chat". The idea made Kaede's stomach churn.
With nothing better to do, Kaede sat down and opened her geography textbook to begin reading the chapter on Aborigines. The first few paragraphs didn't connect to anything in Kaede's mind, being so distracted by other things, but eventually her mood lightened and she managed to read the chapter thoroughly. If she got her homework done now, she could have more time to waste away tomorrow. She then reached into her backpack and pulled out her English book, looking up the vocabulary she would be quizzed on next week—the ones she had missed taking notes on in class do to her unplanned nap. She then copied down the new Kanji she would be tested on in a separate notebook. Halfway through the characters, the sudden urge to use the restroom hit her. Leaving her things where they were, she quickly maneuvered through the bookshelves to the restroom. Upon reaching it, however, she saw a large white sign that said "out of order" posted on the women's room.
Not discouraged, Kaede remembered seeing another restroom on the second floor when she had come to look at videos once. Turning around, Kaede headed towards the stairs. She caught sight of some that were closer than the main ones, and took them instead.
Expecting to turn to another stairwell, the landing turned towards a single door, once that had a white sign on it as well, one that read "Authorized Personnel Only—Keep Out". She quirked an eyebrow then headed back down the stairs to the main floor. She found the main staircase and went to the second floor, using the bathroom there.
Finally returning to her studies, she finished copying the kanji and returned to her English vocabulary to practice pronunciations.
"Risuponsibiriti" She mumbled. She took a pencil and circled the part of the word that was accented. "Resu… Responsibirity." She scrolled down the list. "Re…fuji. "Re…fugi…" Was it refuge or refugee? She was pretty sure the "e" was silent, but one never was sure with English. Next word: "Riporouto…" She said, again circling the accent, "Reporoto…" She looked at the definition. Report.
Then it dawned on her. She had a report due in Japanese on Wednesday on a nonfiction book that she hadn't even selected yet, let alone read. She dropped her notebook and groaned. "Baka…."
Taking a deep breath, she remembered she was in a library—the National Library, at that. The biggest one in Japan. She could find a non-fiction book here and start it… but with only four days until the report was due and with so little free time to read it, she would have to find a book that was easy enough to skim through… or that was at least pretty self-explanatory. Deciding there wasn't else much she wasn't going to get done at the moment, she packed her things back in her back pack and left it under the table, knowing it was too heavy to carry around if she was just going to browse. She slid her lightweight duffle over one shoulder and started peering through the shelves.
Kaede stifled a yawn as she peered over random titles on the shelves, skipping over the aisles that she knew were all-fiction. She found several history books she could read, but the idea of doing a report on history wasn't appealing in the slightest. As she crossed a hallway to the next set of shelves, her mind wondered back to the door she had seen earlier. She had never gone up those stairs before, so she had no idea the room even existed. Since when did a library have a room that was "staff only"? The only one she could think of was the librarian's lounge, but that was behind the front desk. Filled with curiosity, Kaede made her way to the spot that she remembered finding the narrow staircase. When she reached it, she peered around to make sure none of the usual librarians her janitors were in sight, then speedily went up the stairs and to the room. She placed her hand on the doorknob, her eyes staring down the sign that denied her entrance. She slowly turned the knob…
It was locked. She frowned. So much for that exciting adventure. She jiggled it a few more times before letting go, and was about to head down the stairs when she heard the soft creaking of hinges.
She spun around, seeing the door to the secret room ajar. Kaede walked back to the room and pushed the door open. The janitor must have locked it without actually closing is all the way. She entered the pitch-dark room and reached around for a light switch. She found one and flipped it up, light filtering through the area. It was in need of a new bulb, with the way it flickered. She closed the door behind her to conceal her entrance, but didn't shut it all the way incase it locked from both sides.
The room had no window, and wasn't very large at all. The librarian's lounge was probably bigger than it was. Books lined either edge of the area, with four other bookcases in the middle of it. She stepped in between the first set of cases and pulled a book out, reading the title. "Japanese Architecture: A Lesson on Form". She put the book back, and read the title of the next one: "Creating Continents—Pangea". This was definitely a non-fiction section; Kaede had struck a gold mine. Why these books weren't out with the others, she didn't know. The only reason she could think of was that they all seemed pretty old.
She ran her finger over the dusty shelves and went up another aisle, stopping at a yellow-covered book that was titled "Roots of Chinese Myths". She opened it up to the middle and scanned over the pages. It was in Chinese Kanji, but wasn't so bad that she couldn't read it. Plus, it was a non-fiction book on fiction-like things, so it might not be such a bad read. Closing the book, Kaede headed back for the door. Before she left the domain of the bookshelves, however, her eyes caught sight of a novel that was sticking out a few inches farther than the rest. Placing the myth book on the floor, she pulled this one off the shelf and looked at the cover. "Shijin Tenchi Sho," she read. She flipped the book over to read to summary on the back, but found there wasn't one. The feel over the cover under her fingertips revealed it to be made of a layer of cloth. She opened the book, but didn't find a summary on the inside cover either. She skimmed over the writing on the first page. It was in Chinese Kanji too, but looked easier to read than the mythology hardback by her feet.
"With death comes destruction, but with love come a new light." Kaede read the first sentence. It didn't seem to be non-fiction, but she read on anyway. "As a nation nears… annihilation… a new priestess will appear to save it." Kaede wondered if her translation was right by the odd sentences she was speaking. "The priestess will summon the beast god and will be granted three wishes in return. The spell starts as soon as the first page is turned…"
Kaede's eyes focused on the asterisk at the end of the first page. Was this some kind of strange prologue? Shrugging her shoulders, she turned the page. Before she could begin reading, a bright light shot out of the book, illuminating the room with its brilliance. Kaede shrieked and dropped the book, an alien birdcall emitting from the pages as it hit the floor. She took a step back before the light intensified so much that she had to shield her eyes. The warmth of the light engulfed her body and she felt the floor give way under her feet.
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Translations:
Tadaima – I'm Home
Sempai – Reference to older student/school mate in a higher grade
Hai- Yes
Ne- Literal Translation is "right"
K'sou- Japanese curse word