Chapter 7: The old lady on the Tokyo Tower
After submitting the latest chapter of the "Adventures of the Red-haired Princess" series, which was inspired by Disney princesses, Kanon declined Nokoru's invitation to join the hot air balloon trip and decided to take a train to Tokyo Tower alone. She had never been there before, only hearing about it from movies and stories. Although she could have comfortably ridden in the hot air balloon, the thought of dealing with the annoying student council president made her choose to go alone. Kanon also didn't inform her reluctant bodyguard, Ichikawa Seiji, about her plans. She only told her mother that she was going on a weekend outing. Mrs. Hanazaki had prepared a huge amount of food for her to eat throughout the day. Kanon looked at the two large boxes of food, including desserts, and felt very satisfied. She packed them all into her big backpack, put it on, and used her power to control gravity to make it be incredibly light.
Today, Kanon wore a white T-shirt and a black skirt, with a thin sports jacket on top. She wore sports shoes, looking very agile. She didn't want to be like the main characters who always wore school uniforms wherever they went, intimidating everyone.
When she finally arrived at the subway station, she was shocked to see her bodyguard standing at the ticket gate with an expression colder than ice. While she was frozen in shock and horror, he took his long strides towards her, still maintaining his stiff expression, and spoke in an icy tone:
"Please refrain from such thoughtless actions in the future!"
She didn't want to give in and argued loudly:
"Going on an outing is not dangerous at all. I think you have too much free time, senpai. Why don't you take your time and do what you want? Going on a date would be nice too!"
Ichikawa Seiji's face became even colder, staring at his lady for a while, making her feel uneasy. Just when she felt her back was soaked in sweat, a gentle voice, no longer cold, spoke up:
"I know you don't want to be constantly followed like this, and I respect personal freedom. But I didn't just randomly decide to stick to you like this."
Kanon looked surprised at her bodyguard. How could someone so serious and always following the rules easily lower his voice like that? While Kanon was still in a daze, she heard him say:
"Anyway, I can't leave you. If you don't want to see me, I'll stand at a distance from you, so you won't have to see me and get annoyed.
Kanon widened her eyes. Did she mishear? Why did he sound a bit sulked in his voice? But then she thought, after all, he was just a fifth-grade kid. His intelligence might be superior, but his character couldn't be fully matured. Kanon suppressed a laugh and suggested:
"It's not that serious. If I want to go alone, there must be a reason, but still, it's my fault. Since you're already here, then let's consider it as if we're going on an outing."
While sitting on the train next to a handsome, cold-faced guy who refused to sit and stood in front of her as if to protect her from something dangerous, Kanon felt both honored and annoyed. 'Is he my mommy or what?'
Furthermore, today Seiji was still wearing the school uniform, and the Clamp uniform was more eye-catching than any other clothes. It really suited handsome and serious boys like Seiji. Kanon nodded, certain that when he grew up, he would make girls unable to take their eyes off him. Hearing whispers and murmurs, Kanon looked around the train and realized that she had been mistaken. She didn't have to wait for him to grow up, his current demeanor was already charming.
According to what she knew, the Tokyo Tower was 333 meters tall, and all the numbers related to it had the number 3. She completely agreed with Akira's opinion that the designers of this tower were obsessed with the number 3. Kanon was planning to open her wallet to take out money for the entrance fee, but Seiji stopped her and took out his student ID card instead. Seeing that, Kanon immediately imitated him. It turned out that Clamp school students received free services at the Tokyo Tower, including entrance ticket, except for food and drinks. It was really convenient.
They explored every nook and cranny of the tower, and when they reached the highest floor, it was sunset. As soon as they set foot on that floor, Kanon's eyes immediately caught sight of a frail and lonely figure standing by the glass door of the tower, looking outwards
It was an old lady wearing a traditional kimono, with elegantly styled hair. She gently raised her sleeve to wipe away a tear from the corner of her eye. Kanon knew who she was and also noticed a hot air balloon flying by.
In the anime, it was mentioned that Nokoru returned to the council room and pondered over the old lady's tear before going to meet her that evening on the Tokyo Tower. However, it never revealed what happened to the old lady during the time from when she was first seen until their encounter. Now, the answer was right in front of Kanon, as real as it could be.
A group of people in black suits was surrounding the old lady, saying something that Kanon couldn't hear clearly from a distance. Kanon intended to move forward a bit to assess the situation and see if she could help the old lady, believing that the black-suit people wouldn't dare to do anything too extreme if they saw someone else present. But before she could take a step, her bodyguard pulled her back and hid her behind a pillar. Seiji tightly held her hand, while his other hand signaled for her to stay silent. Kanon understood that if she rushed out now, they would be at a disadvantage.
In the original work, Akira and Suoh were needed to subdue that black-suit group, but currently, only Seiji was capable of withstanding them, and she couldn't use her powers. Therefore, she had no choice but to hide here and observe the situation. When the two of them cautiously peeked out from behind the pillar, they saw the black-suit group parting to make way for a man wearing dark glasses and a white suit. He approached the trembling and frightened old lady, and a loud and imposing voice echoed:
- How are you, my sister-in-law? Still here reminiscing about my brother, huh? Or are you planning to sell off all the real estate and run away quietly?
"You... how can you say such things?"
The old lady's voice was soft and trembling, as if she felt offended. This younger brother-in-law was truly going too far, Kanon furrowed her brows, tightly clenched her own hand as she turned to look at him. He remained calm, seeing that the situation didn't seem dangerous for the old lady yet. He signaled for Kanon to wait here while he quickly rushed towards the door, which was slightly ajar, leading to the emergency staircase. Kanon trusted that Seiji had a plan, so she stayed behind to keep an eye on the old lady. The man in white suit continued speaking:
"Don't pretend! My brother is already dead. You're just a stranger in my family, and that piece of land rightfully belongs to me. How can I let you have control over it? If you understand, quickly sign the transfer papers, or else..."
The old woman fell silent, using the sleeve of her kimono to wipe away her tears. Kanon understood that she was clearly living at her own home but now being accused of robbery, moreover, it was the house filled with memories for her and her husband. Currently, Seiji wasn't here, that was good. Kanon took a deep breath, closing her eyes and gathering her energy. She wanted to intimidate them. However, her power wasn't strong enough to shake the entire tower, nor could she move too many objects or people. Therefore, she could only manipulate something that would cause chaos with minimal energy consumption. And that was...
"What's going on? Why are those elevators running wild like that?"
"They... they... stopped!"
Ding! The elevators all opened, but there was no one inside. Then they all closed again and continued running.
"What the hell is going on?"
The brother-in-law of the old lady exclaimed, his voice filled with horror.
"If boss asks us, who should we ask?"
His gang also panicked, and one of them quickly said:
"Could it be ghost?"
Hearing this, the brother-in-law scoffed:
"Ghosts in daylight like this? Don't say bullshit!"
At that moment, Kanon had an idea in her head. She knew how to scare this wretched man so that he would never turn back. And with Nokoru's help in handling the land paperwork, the old lady would surely live peacefully for the rest of her life.
Then Kanon stopped all the elevators at the floor she was standing on just as she heard the man's command:
"Let's go, today is really unlucky!"
And he led his gang to take the stairs instead of the elevators.
The old lady, with tears in her eyes, stared intently at the closed elevator doors. Just then, the elevator door behind Kanon opened. Kanon caught a glimpse of the old lady's bright eyes, but when she saw a young boy stepping out with a team of the Tokyo Tower's security guards, the old lady's eyes dimmed.
"What's going on? Where did the bad guys?"
A tall, authoritative staff member, who seemed to be the captain, looked around and asked in a commanding voice.
The old lady stood there, bewildered and not understanding what was happening, when Kanon stood up. Seeing that she was okay, Seiji let out a sigh of relief and said to the team leader:
"Earlier, there was a group of people dressed in black who had ill intentions towards the old lady over there. You can review the surveillance cameras."
"Is that true, ma'am?
The security team captain didn't show any doubt towards Seiji but politely asked the old lady again. The old lady explained everything transparently, looking at Ichikawa with grateful eyes before gently saying:
- There really was a group of bad people who wanted to force me to give them what they wanted, but luckily... luckily I was helped, although I don't know who helped me.
After speaking, she looked out through the glass doors of the tower, where a hot air balloon flew by just as she wiped away the tears from her kimono sleeve. Kanon followed her gaze and, oh my, that hot air balloon belonged to the prestigious Imonoyama Nokoru. She slowly moved behind Seiji, then pulled his sleeve and tried to sneak away. And indeed, they sneaked away in that manner, although Seiji didn't understand why they were sneaking away. Kanon didn't understand how they managed to do so in the midst of a bustling crowd, either. The fantasy world truly provides enough loopholes for people to do as they please.