Disclaimer: "Detective Conan" belongs to Gosho Aoyama, and "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" belongs to Naoko Takeuchi.
This is an alternative story to my other fanfic "Encounter in Venice" and one of the possibilities of what could have happened if Ai had taken the antidote before Shinichi brought down the Organization.
Thanks a lot to my friends and betas Rae (Astarael00) and SN1987a and the Aicoholics on LiveJournal, without whom I would never have started this fic.
FS
g.
Ghost at Twilight
(edited version)
g.
"Here's the blue rose…"
"Here's the blue rose for your picky princess! I bet she can feel the pea!"
"I think she resembles Sleeping Beauty more—surrounded by castle walls of thorny roses, which tortured and killed all her previous suitors!"
As idiotic as the decision seems—you would stay if it weren't for the smile he flashes you when he leaves An & Ail's flower shop, a blindingly dazzling smile, which burns the fleur-de-lis into your cold skin, a smile which you'll eventually take from him. Stroking your cheeks and your neck with the lavender-blue flower, whose intoxicating fragrance bewitches your nose, he tells you that he has bought it because "you liked their petals so much"—alluding to the moment you brushed your palm over the heads of the roses in his bedroom.
Once upon a time, attentive, generous, beautiful Red Riding Hood handed a werewolf with reddish-brown fur the bluest rose of the woods, whereupon the lycanthrope thanked him with a nuzzle and flashed him an apologetic smile. "I think you deserve to know the truth. It's been a harsh winter and I was starving. I've mauled your parents and a few of your people to death. But if you still want to stay with me for life, I swear I'll be good and suppress my wolfish nature to be with you until the end of time!"
After recovering from this shattering blow, which had broken his heart and rendered him speechless, Red Riding Hood tossed the rose, seized his hunter's knife, and slew the beast, whose fur he donned afterwards as a reminder of why he could never love again.
Losing yourself to maudlin self-pity is easy—you know you're embarking on a journey leading inexorably to disaster, walking with eyes open into a fatal car crash or even plane crash without the slightest motivation to escape. You're by temperament cautious, and the recent concurrence of events have only convinced you that you should have fled at the first stirrings of interest even if you believed that a rose would "smell as sweet by a different name".
You wonder whether you would have connected the dots sooner, the moment you saw the Kanji of his name, if the original name of the Black Organization hadn't retreated to the back of your mind after so many years. The Field of Stars… The light of hope… "Sherrinford Hope" (or "Sherringford Hope", as Doyle misspelt it in his memoirs) was the name Arthur Conan Doyle originally chose for his great consulting detective before he changed it into "Sherlock Holmes", a name faintly reminiscent of its original meaning.
Anokata, the new Sherrinford Hope, even blushes when he hands you the flower. He refuses to tell you its name, however, as though saying its name aloud would devalue its worth.
"Paris!" he says instead, much to your dismay, as the very name of the city stirs memories of the coin you tossed at M Jean Black's house. "Before the Organization went down, I met up with Haruka-san in Paris to negotiate with her and to keep an eye on her father's 'agents motards' friends. Yaten told me you were in Paris at the same time as well. He is sure he has seen you with Haruka-san in a cosmetics store on the Champs Élysées. Pity I was playing the guitar at Quai Montebello and missed you!"
"You negotiated with Tenoh-san?"
He gives you an amused, knowing smile and wraps his arm around your shoulder, pecks you on your temple, and rubs your cheek in a reassuring gesture.
"If you're anxious about me finding out that Haruka-san was one of the crows, don't be! I've known that Haruka-san worked for my parents ever since I met her at Infinity—Tomoe accidentally revealed it to me." Or maybe Tomoe intentionally gave Haruka-san away because he resented her for controlling him—Seiya muses. Did you know that Haruka-san was the crow in charge of Infinity? It must have been difficult for her to juggle her duties as the youngest crow of the Organization and her responsibilities as the leader of another vigilante group.
Your face must have taken on a horrified expression when the full scale of Tenoh-san's double game dawned on you, as your boyfriend runs his warm fingers through your hair and fondles your head the way one would ruffle a cat's fur.
Taiki had hacked into the secret services', the Organization's, and Anokata's computer networks—Seiya's perfect middle brother is scarily competent when he wants to excel at something—which is why Three Lights were well-informed about the overall state of affairs by the time the band disbanded. When the situation got sticky and the secret services prepared to take down the Organization's American and European headquarters, Seiya wanted to make sure that Haruka-san wouldn't change sides since he never knew where and with whom her loyalty lay.
"I doubt my parents knew. I think they accepted her into their circle of crows because they were impressed by her audacity although they knew they had to keep an eye on her. Perhaps it was their way to redeem themselves after executing her mother? Taiki thinks they liked her because she reminded them of myself—everyone says we have the same temper."
Seiya doesn't believe in the idea of expiation—neither can he believe that Haruka-san has ever believed in it. Both of them are convinced that only two things matter in life: knowing what you want and knowing how to get it; and neither of them believe in redemption since one can't undo what one has done. Seiya couldn't think of any reason why Haruka-san should forgive his parents for executing her mother—either you move on with time or you don't, and Haruka-san struck Seiya as an especially unforgiving specimen of victim. Even if Haruka-san were forgetful and superhumanly kind like Odango, Seiya would have questioned the belief that you could forgive anyone for torturing and murdering your mother in cold blood. To aggravate matters, Haruka-san also had to secure the survival of her vigilante group, which was endangered by her connection to the Organization and the files Seiya's parents kept on them.
Regardless, Seiya came to an agreement with Haruka-san since both of them were looking forward to seeing the "Black Organization" fall. They respected each other—Seiya had often supported and protected Odango and her friends, to whom Haruka-san, Michiru-sama, and Setsuna-san belonged. If this had been the Wild West or sixteenth-century France and Haruka-san and Seiya had tried to settle the matter in a duel to death, neither of them would have lived to see the next sunrise. So why should they eliminate each other in a senseless vendetta when they could make use of each other's skills to survive?
There were as many scumbags inside the Organization as outside the Organization. Hence Seiya didn't mind the "rotten apples", as his parents called them, getting their just deserts. The secret services and the police could canvass, jail, and grill those losers for all he cared, which was going to entertain the investigators and lawyers for a few years. Using the Organization's cloud, Three Lights were going to move the information stored in Pandora's Box to a new Pandora's Box so that neither Tenoh-san's vigilante group nor the blackmailed people needed to fear their governments when the Organization fell.
g.
"I was already on the way to the ship when you deactivated Pandora's Box, which set my parents' backup plan in motion," stranger-san informs you with an amused smile, generously failing to add that your actions have ruined his life. "Their will—a hidden file in the cloud to which the Night Baron was attached so that the email would self-destruct a few seconds after it was opened—was sent to all the high-ranking codename members of the Organization, triggered by the email Pandora's Box sent to the blackmailed people the moment you wiped out the hard drive. Even Taiki was shocked—none of us expected Kudo and his friends to discover the whereabouts of Pandora's Box. My parents had clearly underestimated Haruka-san's father, who had known more about it than he had been letting on. "
This is a mistake he would never have made as Anokata, Young Moriarty distractedly muses. He would simply have wiped out all his mortal enemies in a swift strike instead of succumbing to dangerous sentimentality.
By the time the headquarters fell victim to the secret services, the Organization had already relocated to other places. The highest codename members and the crows had "tied up all the loose ends" (taken out the people who knew too much) and distributed code names to insignificant members, who didn't know much about the Organization, so that the members the secret services caught were small fish of no importance; and Three Lights were prepared to smuggle their parents (and their comatose sister) out of the country in case there was a traitor in the inner circle and they were no longer safe on Kinmoku Sei. Seiya often brooded about how to prevent his parents from inciting a revolution since he knew he couldn't appease them with lies and empty promises for years, but he would never have expected to lose them to cancer so that he was forced to take over their organization…
Stranger-san is talking with the careless, cheery insouciance of a somnambulist wandering towards a precipice, forgetting that you're a stranger he has known for less than a day. It strikes you that love is a dangerous disadvantage and you would make a fine spy just as you once made a fine traitor, but the thought fails to give you satisfaction as it might have in other circumstances.
Recalling your conversation with Seiya's middle brother, you're dimly aware of having escaped disaster by the skin of your teeth. I'll never forget a grudge—and even if I wanted to, I'd never forgive…
g.
For years, he has been haunted by the paranoid suspicion that the cancer which turned his energetic, rugged parents into lunatics who would burn down a whole isle wasn't natural, that it must have been caused by a mysterious drug since the speed of mental erosion was preternaturally fast—stranger-san tells you when you two pass the entrance of Mizuno-san's hospital. His parents' excellent health might have been affected by the constant pressure of their position as Anokata, which they liked to repeat over and over again so that Kakyuu would worry about them and urge Three Lights to visit them more often—but Seiya couldn't believe that his parents must have been in the final stage of death when he visited them on Kinmoku Sei for the last time, in December, a few days before he went to Paris…
His voice is laced with an emotion you know too well—remorse over a tragedy he believes he could have averted. On the other side of the street are the fountain with the harp-playing Gemini and the flat boulder where you two sat the previous night; but the scene seems as unreal as if it had never taken place now that the streets are alive with vehicles and people.
After the downfall of the Organization, when both Kudo and you were bedridden with pneumonia, Hattori asked you whether you wanted the party to be in Tokyo or in Osaka, in which case he was going to tell Agasa-hakase to come. Hattori had already asked Kudo, who believed that it was for the best if the party took place in Osaka since the Professor was aching for a change of air after being confined to waiting in Beika for weeks.
Why don't Kudo and you choose the location you want? I don't mind either. Preoccupied with the impasse between Kudo and you, you couldn't even pretend to care.
I'll ask'em te come te Osaka then!
The image of Kudo and you standing together in front of the Professor's grave is still engraved on your mind; and your stomach lurches at the thought that Three Lights must have stood together at more than one grave after the Organization fell. Seiya didn't find a critically injured surrogate father who would pass away in a private hospital, surrounded by the children he loved. The corpses on Kinmoku Sei must have been burned beyond recognition—ashes and other unrecognizable remains of people, pets, and plants scattered about the sea and the isle which Seiya and his brothers called home.
g.
"I wish…"
"I wish I'd seen you when we were both in Paris," your stranger says, returning the smiles of the people on the streets, who turn their heads to gape at you and him. "We would certainly have met if I hadn't felt like repeating the street musician experience."
He caught a cold singing "Charade" at Quai Montebello… Snow flakes swirled around the trees and buildings, settled on his clothes and his face, and piled against the bare tree trunks and against the facade of Notre Dame de Paris, covering the gargoyles in white winter coats and hats as if either Mother Holda or the Snow Queen were having a blast; but the quay was teemed with people on their way to the Christmas markets, and he was paid extremely well.
"Charade?" Your voice is so shaky that he halts in his tracks to gaze down at you in concern.
"Yes, 'Charade'! Do you know the song? My mother's favourite, which she often sang to her best friends." It's about lies and deceit in love—a masquerade which ended when fate pulled the strings and love left while "from the darkened wings, the music box played on…" His mother suffered from the annoying habit of imposing her interests on others, buying them her favourite books, giving them samples of her perfume creations, forcing them to learn her favourite song.
"When we played our charade
We were like children posing
Playing at games
Acting out names
Guessing the parts we played…"
Singing the familiar melody, he instantly sweeps you into his arms, whirling around with you to the haunting, lonely Parisian waltz from three years ago. This time, you two aren't only moving in sync with each other but also in sync with the music, bending together in the rising wind as if you two were dancing on a swaying ship.
Or rather on a gravel path in a park, as he has led you over the busy street without you noticing. People stop and stare; but this time, they may stare as much as they want. A few of them even laugh and clap. The wind is picking up as if a storm will rise. You're back on Pandora's Box but you don't mind.
"Fate seemed to pull the strings
I turned and you were gone
While from the darkened wings
The music box played on…"
His phone rings, ruining the mood and shattering the dream with its pitiless, brutal realism.
"You should answer it—maybe it's important!"
Your boyfriend flashes you a grateful smile, relieved that you've taken the decision out of his hand as all good (non-jealous) lovers do.
"Ah, Odango!"
He sounds like he always sounds when he talks about her—affectionate in a matter-of-fact way, as if nothing has changed for him and he will love her forever, his girlfriend and her husband be damned!
"She wants to see me as soon as possible—this afternoon at the latest but not now since Mamoru-san is about to come home. It sounds very important but she doesn't want to discuss it over the phone. I can ask her about your handbag when we meet." He throws you a questioning look over his shoulder. "I'll tell her about us if you don't mind."
You don't mind. What's Odango like?
She is just like him, from his description of her, and you begin to wonder why he is drawn to you, or why you're drawn to him if you two have so little in common.
"Do you have many friends?" he asks.
"Not many, but I have a few from my time as Haibara Ai."
Noticing that you aren't going to elaborate and don't propose to introduce him to your friends, he changes the topic.
"Come to think of it, we have mutual acquaintances!" He smiles at the thought. "I wonder what Haruka-san will say when she learns that you and I are together."
You aren't the only person who knows about your crimes, you realize, shrinking inwardly from the people on the streets—nosy strangers who will gape and whisper. You won't only have to deal with fans, reporters, colleagues, and acquaintances, but Seiya's friends happen to be Tenoh-san's allies as well.
You wonder how things could have been if your stranger and you had met earlier—if the timing of your love hadn't been off—and the visions of the alternative future which will never be cuts you like the thorns of hundred-year-old roses.
"I've forgotten to tell you that Yaten said he was sorry for his behaviour earlier. He has always been impatient and rude, but after Kakyuu's accident, he completely lost it."
Kakyuu got into an accident when a rogue member attacked Haruka-san, or at least that was the version Haruka-san and his parents offered Seiya and his brothers, which must be true since the case was closed and the traitor was executed. Accepting their parents' invitation, Taiki even watched the execution out of intellectual curiosity but reported afterwards that he couldn't feel anything—no pity, remorse, anger, or satisfaction, only the utter futility of it.
"I didn't attend the execution—but I wish I had. I'm sure I'd have enjoyed shooting the little rat!"
His moody eyes have become as cold as Gin's, sparkling as if they were diamonds lit by an icy blue fire—but perhaps it's not fair to compare Seiya to Gin when you could compare him to yourself instead. Your face must have shown the same expression when you practised shooting at Tenoh-san's place.
Haruka-san, who suffered from concussion after the crash, passed out after drawing her unconscious companion away from the street. Cars and bikes drove past them but no one stopped to help. Mizuno-san told Seiya that, if Kakyuu had received help a few hours earlier, she might have had a real chance of recovery.
For a fleeting moment, contempt and disgust flicker in turns over your boyfriend's face, whereupon his bright eyes cloud over just like another pair of eyes you've seen. You wonder what he would say if he learned that one of the people who didn't help Kakyuu was you, that you had been on a date with Gin while she was lying on the pavement.
Slowly—inevitably—like a grizzled, embittered enchantress, the feeling of smouldering resentment you thought you had forgotten rises to the surface. To your irritation, he seems able to feel you withdrawing from him, as he interlaces your fingers and darts you anxious, puzzled glances from piercing blue eyes, which peer into the darkest depth of your soul.
"What intelligent eyes you have!"
"The better to see you with!"
People turn to stare and to throw him wondering glances and adoring smiles, ignoring you as if you didn't exist at all. Walking with Seiya has begun to give you the odd feeling that you're invisible whenever you don't want to be seen—as if you could refuse to interact with the outside world and appear or disappear as you please.
The house with the azalea shrubs draws nearer as you two arrive on the street where you live. Soon your landlady will sprint through the gate with a triumphant smile, secretly congratulating herself for waylaying and apprehending you and your date.
You can feel panic rising when it dawns on you that Kudo can appear at any moment—it would be just like him to launch a hunt for you the moment he wakes up and notices that you're gone. Your detective has never let himself thwarted by a simple lock. If Seiya and Kudo ever cross each other's path again—and they will meet someday if you remain in this relationship—their talkativeness will put both Tenoh-san and you in danger.
Without Watson's knowledge, Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty, nemeses and doppelgängers, might have compared notes:
"Did you suspect that I wanted you to bring down my syndicate?"
"I regret to inform you that I didn't—but I'm sure I'd have noticed if I hadn't been distracted by the woman."
"A Scandal in Bohemia" seemed to insinuate that the real mystery had been overlooked by Watson and neglected by Holmes, who had been so enthralled by the woman that he couldn't really see her. Why was Irene Adler so desperate to marry her lover before noon (and was Irene's noon an allusion to Cinderella's midnight)? Irene Adler's problem was apparently one which a hasty marriage and two tickets to Europe could solve. In your case and in this modern age, a marriage and a flight to another part of the world won't solve anything.
The top layers of stranger-san's hair are dancing in the cool, damp wind, framing his head like sunbeams mirrored in the ruffled water of a lake or a sea.
"You look like an Apollo-logo with your uncombed hair."
He laughs, giving you a smile which makes the whole world disappear.
"I'll take it as a compliment. But it's hard to tame them—I've almost given up on combs."
g.
Nothing can break your spirit like wild hope, Tenoh-san once claimed, opening an illustrated travel guide to show you a picture of the Doge Palace, where the fourth pillar stood glaringly out of line towards the lagoon. There is less space on the platform of the fourth pillar than on the platforms of other pillars—and it's probably only a legend or a lie, but Tiziano Scarpa reports in Venice is a Fish: A Sensual Guide that the Venetians used it to mock the prisoners condemned to death. If the prisoners succeeded to balance from one side of the fourth column to the other side of it without slipping from the narrow platform before they were executed, they were allowed to go free—but of course the chance that anyone managed to do this was so tiny it was almost nonexistent.
It doesn't hurt to grab the minuscule chance if you have nothing to lose, does it? You yawned as you turned away to focus on the map of Paris.
She raised her brow in amusement.
But you always have something to lose, kitten! Your dignity, your pride, your spirit—all the things you want to preserve even when you know you're going to die. Life is about knowing your boundaries and exploring them to change them—not about jumping off a cliff to see if you'll survive. You've only lost when you've given all you've got and still failed because you've never had a chance. Pinning all your hopes on one single card and having it shattered is Death in its purest form.
"Regarding the rose—" Seiya indicates the flower in your hand, burning up and agonizing about the choice of words as if he were proposing to a dragon. "We've known each other for a few hours and I know you only meant it to be a joke… but if you can imagine spending the rest of your life with me just like I can imagine—"
"Well, that was nice!" Raising your hand holding the rose, you flash your stranger an impersonal, genial smile. If this were a game of poker, you would win against the king of gods. "Thanks a lot for last night and the lovely morning. But since I'm not cut out to deal with all the concessions one has to make in a steady relationship, I fear that's it!"
"Shiho!" He refuses to let go of your hand, "I love—"
"Please don't! Please don't call, don't write, and don't stalk me since I don't want this to turn into a case of fatal attraction!"
If this is only about his parents, you two could simply agree to disagree. He loved them and you didn't. Does it really matter?
"Your beloved parents have executed my sister," you could have added, but since you don't want to hurt him more than you already have, you bite back the observation. When it comes to the Organization, it has become difficult for you to differentiate right from wrong, good from bad. During the trial at Pandora's Box, Gin must have protected you by distorting the facts, or your life had been spared by Anokata because you were the Organization's head scientist and they thought that an accident wasn't sufficient reason to execute a codename member.
"Please give me a chance—you liked me enough to stay with me before you met Taiki and Yaten!" His voice is dangerously persuasive and more addictive than a hard drug, tempting you to forget about what you're fleeing from. "I'm sorry if I was too clingy! Let's just go out together without all the talks of marriage! I'm sure that I—"
A scratching sound from above draws your attention and you jump, dismayed at the thought that Kudo has woken up and will find Seiya and you together. A voice in your head tells you to control yourself, but you can't resist and, letting go of his hand and staggering back a step, lift your eyes towards your window.
g.
No need to be terrified since it's not your detective but only the wind, which has knocked a branch against the balcony rail, your stranger wryly remarks, flashes you a self-mocking, distant smile, and takes a step back from you.
"I don't want Kudo to see us together!" You would rather not face the challenge to explain everything that happened between your stranger and you to your detective without giving yourself away.
"I see." His long eyelashes cast shadows over his eyes as he gazes down, beholding the lavender rose, which you're keeping in front of yourself like a magic barrier. He looks desolated, mortally injured by the unexpected blow, but he makes an effort to adjust his face to a more neutral, almost nonchalant expression. "Thank you very much for last night."
Two people can play this game, and your stranger has turned out to be just as gifted at poker as you are.
Even in the worst situation, a real showman mustn't forget to bow and smile.
"Funny, isn't it?" he muses and gives a small, detached chuckle, keeping up the smile as if it had been permanently tattooed on his face. "Being dumped after a date is probably normal, but I've been dumped twice within the same night—by two different women!"
The world has brightened around you two, but the colours seem to have dulled. In your peripheral vision, you can see the last trace of the smile vanishing from his eyes as you slip through the gate, which he has held open for you. In the silence between you two, your heart hammers and the beeping in your inner ear resumes, rapidly, urgently, like a warning.
"Don't worry, I won't stalk!" he remarks with a dash of irony when you turn to check whether he shows any inclination to leave. "I'll be all right! I was dumb enough to run after a woman who didn't love me for eight years. No need to worry about me because not even I am stupid enough to do the same thing again!"
"You aren't?" you shoot back, stung by the mocking smile which has just flitted across his face. "I'd never have guessed!"
"Don't kick at an opponent you've already brought down, Shiho."
Your name still sounds like a caress from his mouth, and it dawns on you that he has only joked and smiled and mocked you out of habit, turning on his basic survival mechanism in a situation he can't deal with. Overcome by a sudden urge to cry, you blink back the tears, knowing that you will have time for them later.
"Take care!" you tell him instead. You've opted for compassion and kindness, but words are empty in these situations, and your words come out even more civilly than intended.
"Take care." He imitates your aloof, distant tone, flashing you a guarded smile mirroring your own. "If you really want to dump me, you should go first."
True to his words, he doesn't move but stays rooted to the spot, watching you walk down the azalea-lined path from the gate to the entrance of the house. You hesitate for a moment when you pass the trash can, as the rose and the box of gyoza in your hands are liability you've almost forgotten about. Throwing both away before you return to your apartment so that Kudo won't ask pointed questions would be the easiest solution.
g.
In front of the internal staircase, you lean your back against the closed front door, waiting for Seiya to leave, but the scent of the half-blossomed flower you're holding lingers in the air like an unspoken promise. You've never received a lavender rose before...
You've never been swept off your feet by a stranger, have never been courted and doted on as if you were the queen of the universe, have never trampled on love so cruelly and so intentionally.
We're all heading towards the same destination, writing stories without happy ends. Pain can only last for so long, and you've had a taste of the rewards. Now that you've come so far, you might as well go through with this relationship to its sticky end—Pandora's Box, Tenoh Haruka, and Seiya's parents be damned!
Some cynics believe that the gods are at fault—gods love to be worshipped and thus feel threatened by humans who are too happy. Pessimists, the less cynical ones, prefer the theory that a soul mate is the scale for you to measure the people you meet so that you can rank your prospective lovers according to their resemblance to your soul's missing piece.
A soul mate is a muse who will inspire you to greatness and bring back the memories you need, helping you get back on your feet and saving you when you're lost and lonely—but a soul mate isn't a steady, reliable partner whose task is to accompany you through life. Whenever soul mates meet often enough or interact with each other long enough to recognize each other, disaster will strike.
Time ticks away, accompanied by the beeping sound in your head. Delusional romantics say that you'll feel a strange sense of déjà vu and embark on flights of fancy when you encounter a soul mate.
Red traffic lights which stay red for an eternity; a ball rolling to your feet; a bike steering towards the cars as the driver evades you and the boy on the street (the idiot is just like Kudo, who believes one doesn't need a reason to save a life!); your hands pushing the little boy towards the pavement; the screeching sound of brakes (you know the bike!); a moment of distraction (have you two met before?); cars which drive way too fast (people who are always in a hurry are also the ones who always come late!); a car crash in slow motion…
The blazing sunset in the distance, which takes your breath away (like another sunset—it's spring, but the sunset reminds you of Gin and autumn leaves and you can still smell the kinmokusei).
They disappear as soon as they come, dissolving into nothingness, retreating behind the veil of consciousness like memories of a dream.
Hotaru-chan once told you her favourite legend during one of your visits at Tenoh-san's house, a story which reminded her of someone she knew: The phoenix, the mythological bird of time with red, gold, or sapphire-blue eyes and purple or reddish-golden plumage, once built a nest from aromatic herbs. In this fragrant nest the bird of dawn, weighed down by the one thousand years on its shoulders, waited for the sun to rise. When Apollo, the god of truth and healing and sunlight, arrived in his chariot, the phoenix faced east and sang him a song.
Mesmerized by the phoenix's voice and its beauty, Apollo paused to listen until the song ended. Then he whipped his horse in motion to continue his journey, and a spark from their hooves struck the phoenix's nest.
The old bird died in the blazing flames. But from its ashes, a young phoenix was born—a stronger phoenix arose. And the reborn phoenix soared high and, after a thousand years, when it was weighed down by the burden of age and couldn't resist the longing to be burned, returned to its birthplace and built a new nest. There it sang for Apollo at dawn and died again in his flames; and thus the phoenix was reborn and soared high again…
I know you love to play with fire, Sherry.
You stare at the delicate lavender petals, waiting for this reckless mood to pass so that you can move on. Since the feeling only intensifies instead of dying down, you step out into the cool morning air in a daze. Luck is on Tenoh-san's side, as stranger-san has disappeared without a trace. The street is bustling with strangers but conspicuously lacks the one you want to see. After you left, he must have run as if he had been chased by the devil.
Gazing about yourself in bewilderment, registering for the first time that the morning sun has climbed high and is now illuminating your surroundings with its cold, harsh light, you have the vague feeling that you've been on trial and failed the acid test this time.
g.