Chapter 7 ( Can You Hear Her Crying
Disclaimer: You
should know this by now.
Time: This story is occurring in the winter of 2041.
Warnings: This is not
an AU. It is a post Galaxia
fanfiction about what I now call The One Hundred Year Sleep. This might very well turn into a series under
the name I've used to dub the period of time this, and later stories, occur
within. I'm treating this time of "sleep" to metaphorically describe a
time period where the Senshi are trying to get
themselves together (in this story, only one person is even close to being
labeled as in a sleeping status, maybe). The reality of it is that Rome was not built within a day (and that was
not even close to being labeled as a Utopia).
The period may not even be exactly one hundred years; it too is used as
a metaphor for this time period.
Summary: Kumada Akina has just lost her Father, Kumada Yuuichiro, to disease and
age. However, on his death bed he
requested to not be buried with his prestigious ancestors but to have his ashes
placed at a Tokyo
shrine. From there on out, a trip to Tokyo for the family from Kobe will force Akina
to face a few flaws in her character and discover a city of ghosts. There, through the memory of others, Akina will learn the bonds of friendship and family, one
that she had forsaken long ago in her silent anger at a father she loved and
hated above all others.
Things
That Change
by Blue Jeans
“Just
because you don’t see
the pain, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
And just
because you don’t see the hope,
doesn’t
mean it’s missing too.”
Chapter 7
Silent
Tears
The sky was very blue
the next day. Even the winter chill
stood at bay a bit under the bright sun.
Still, Kumada Akina
woke up in a grump. Akina's
morning moodiness settled over her like a storm cloud, exasperated the more by
the bright, sunny day and her older sister's cheer. Kumada Nami could not quite say what set her sister off, but
something did between night and early morning.
Akina had always been unpredictable and Nami bore it with a stoicism that had always made her the
mediator between the people that Akina insulted when Nami's younger sister was in such a foul mood.
"What's the matter
with her?" Hiroshi asked when they
met up in the lobby after breakfast.
Even though Hiroshi said it with less of the mocking tone than what he
usually used with Akina, it still provoked Akina's nasty temper and nastier sense of vengeance. Then again, this morning, Akina
really didn't need much of a provocation to get her going.
"Hiroshi
Chan..." Akina leaned over with a sly look over
her face as she sugar coated her words.
When Hiroshi gave her a questioning glance that was missing its usual
precaution, Akina struck. "You're fly's open." Frozen, Hiroshi went to cover his
crotch. "Just kidding," Akina said at the last minute. A bit more loudly, she spoke out into the
lobby. "Brother, don't touch yourself in public!"
"Akina Chan!" Nami admonished since their mother was sleeping in again,
much to their eldest sister's relief.
"What's wrong with you?"
Mother would die of a heart attack if she ever heard about Akina's actions when she's not around, Nami thought to herself.
Hiroshi was not the only one blushing as Nami's
own cheeks were flushed, for she also shared Hiroshi's sentiments, but she was
far angrier at Akina's loose tongue.
"PMS?" Hiroshi suggested without any humor in his
voice or expression. It didn't help much
though since his face was still bright red with embarrassment as people in the
surrounding area shot him weird looks and began to whisper behind their hands while
looking at him.
Akina
huffed as if she was in a worse position than him and crossed her arms. "I don't know what you're talking
about," Akina said, flinging her arms out and
stretching, nearly smacking Hiroshi in the face with her actions. "I'm going shopping. Tokyo's
the worst!" Ignoring the glares
people shot her, she strode passed reception desk and tossed the key at the
weary hotel receptionist. "I'll be
back later," Akina said over her shoulder with
quite the attitude.
"I'm really sorry
about my younger sister's actions," Nami
apologized to the poor man after her sister's departure out the doors.
"She's not been
taking her medicine today," Hiroshi added darkly. The hotel worker could do nothing but smile
forcefully at them and wish them a good journey for the day, wherever it was
they were going.
"Hiroshi
Chan!" Nami
admonished as they were leaving the hotel themselves to follow after their
wayward sister. "Don't be so
mean. You are, once again, gaining a bad
influence from Akina Chan again. Speaking wrongly about other people,
especially family members, is a sign of bad breeding. Having one family member who has no account
for manners is bad enough, we really don't need two."
"H-hey!"
Hiroshi protested. "After
what she did?"
"Exactly why you
shouldn't let her provoke you," Nami reasoned
coolly.
"If it were you,
you wouldn't take it lying down," Hiroshi muttered.
Nami
shot him a look but joined their muttering and impatient sister who actually
stood and waited for them next to a taxi.
"Would you two hurry up?"
Akina demanded as she pounded the hood of the
car, much to the displeasure of the driver inside.
"Hey, watch it,
kid! This taxi is used for driving, not
an outlet for your bad moods!" The
taxi driver warned Akina.
"Oh,
yeah? See if I pay you a tip
now!" Akina
threatened, her foot in the passenger side already.
"See if I drive
you!" the driver answered by moving the car forward a little with an equal
amount of threat, but the action nearly made Akina
fall over since she didn't expect anyone to talk back, much less act back.
"Hey! That's very dangerous!" Nami suddenly
joined in, admonishing the driver and Akina
both. "We're really sorry for our
sister's rude behavior, but there's no need for such acts that may lead to an
accident."
The driver sighed
guiltily. "Keh,
I'll drive you as long as the brat over there stays silent."
"Who are you
calling a brat?" Akina demanded angrily but Hiroshi covered her mouth,
effectively muffling her voice.
"Yes, sir,"
Hiroshi said, grinning at the driver.
"I know exactly how you feel."
The two men shared a knowing look over Akina's
head, much to her annoyance.
The drive was tense, Akina having scooted over as far as she possibly could to
get away from both her brother and the driver.
The two men chattered amiably throughout the ride up front while Nami watched the scenery, occasionally glancing over at her
younger sister with a weary eye. Akina nearly jumped out of the car after they arrived
downtown next to a prominent shopping mall.
Without even muttering a “thanks” she was off, leaving Nami to apologize after her and Hiroshi to do the thanking
and tipping. "What a handful,"
Hiroshi sighed with exasperation as the two siblings walked onto the sidewalk.
Nami
giggled a bit behind her hand. "You
get used to it. After awhile, you just
realize that it's part of Akina Chan's
personality. Even though it's rough and
hard to bare, she's always honest with what she feels
and her interactions with other people are equally honest. Sometimes, I really envy her." Nami sighed, but
her smile remained gentle.
Hiroshi smirked. "Don't belittle yourself
like that, Older Sister," he said, setting a hand on Nami's
shoulder and gave her a cheerful grin.
"Older Sister has always watched over us since we've been small,
and whatever strength we learned in life, it was with the guiding hand of Older
Sister, and Mother and Father. Akina Chan and I are really lucky to have such an
understanding sister who is so patient with both of us."
A cold wind blew
through the city and Nami tugged at her scarf. "Tokyo
sure is beautiful today," Nami commented.
"Very,"
Hiroshi agreed as he looked over the old, tall buildings with a sense of awe on
his face.
"Come on, you slow
pokes!" Akina
called over her shoulder, her expression brighter as she stuck her head out of
the shopping center. "All that
stuff that’s just waiting for us to buy it…
Can't you feel it! Come on, come
on!"
Nami
smiled contentedly at her younger sister’s antics. “Can you truly imagine her any other way?”
she asked Hiroshi playfully.
"I guess, in a
way," Hiroshi sighed. "At
least she waits for us," he grinned.
"My fast paced living older sister, Akina."
A dark-haired woman
caught a glimpse of them through the crowd, her smile as mysterious as the
expression in her dark eyes.
- - - - -
"Hey, hey!" a
girl leaned over the counter to get the attention of her working friend. "Did you hear? That singer from Fire, Mars Reiko San, is
apparently making an appearance today at--"
"Of course I
know," her friend answered, looking equally excited. "My boyfriend can't stop talking about
it. If she wasn't such a great singer
and so out of his league, I'd be jealous."
The two laughed.
"Yeah, wouldn't it
be great to be famous?" The girl
sighed dreamily.
"Rich and
famous," her friend added knowingly.
"Then I wouldn't have to keep such a slave-driving job," she
complained. "Oh,
a customer!" Shooing the
girl aside, her friend turned to the male patron. "How's it going?"
Kumada
Hiroshi smiled charmingly, making the girl with the boyfriend blush. "I was wondering, but did you just say
that Mars Reiko San's making an appearance?" he inquired as he set down
the items he selected to purchase.
"Are you a
fan?" the sales girl asked as she looked him up and down while not really
paying attention to the items she was scanning through.
"Yes." Hiroshi grinned as he handed her the cash and
she handed back three of Fire's latest CDs in a Christmas gift bag. "My sister, my girlfriend, and myself," Hiroshi explained with a grin as he pointed to
the things he bought.
"At the rate
Fire's going, their latest will be a number one single again!" the girl
behind the counter said, smiling happily in reply, "But it's so great to
see that they're such a steady source of great music. Mars Reiko San sure is a great lead singer,
and so mysterious too! I think she
surprised a lot of people on how long she stayed as a number one selling artist
as well as being so consistent with her music's caliber. I heard that a lot of people really didn't
think she'd make it since she's so young, you know? And she writes all her music too. It's truly amazing!"
"Music
major?" he asked the girl behind the counter. That or the sales girl was a very avid fan.
She eagerly nodded to
the first with a wide grin. "Have a
nice day and enjoy the CDs, Mister!"
He nodded and gave a
little wave as he exited the store.
"Man," Hiroshi thought to himself, "what a
coincidence. I wonder if the others
would like to meet Mars Reiko San again.
Maybe Akina Chan would apologize--"
"Hey!" Akina waved a fist at a passer-by when Hiroshi caught sight
of her. "Who do you think you're
looking at, you Hentai?" she demanded. Akina’s hand was on
her hip as she stood in a confrontational manner against a poor bystander.
"Or not,"
Hiroshi sighed in defeat.
"Who's that weird
girl?" he overheard one passing high-school girl whisper to another. "She's so strange, calling attention to
herself like that."
"She just probably
likes the attention, if you know what I mean," one of the girl's friends
replied snidely.
"Dressed like
that, she really thinks people won't look at her?" another added.
Hiroshi nearly sighed
out loud again in embarrassment. "Tokyo girls sure are
cruel," he thought ruefully to himself.
In the crowded arena, he saw a dark-haired girl wearing a red baseball
cap approach his sister. Silver flashed
on the girl's hip as she stood next to Akina, red
lips moving, but Hiroshi was too far away to make out what she was saying. "Strange," he raised a brow at the
startled expression on Akina's face. "I wonder who that is..."
- - - - -
"It's sad, isn't
it? Being stuck here, not really able to
move forward, but unable to go back."
A soft voice reached Akina's ear and she turned
abruptly to see the side profile of a girl– no, a young woman by her voice and
speech pattern. The stranger's profile was half covered by the red baseball cap
on the other's head while the woman leaned casually against the rail that lined
the second floor ledge.
"Who--?" Akina began.
"Shh…" The young
woman put a finger to her lips.
"Just listen," the stranger instructed. "Can you hear her crying?"
"Crying?" Akina was about to
speak but the young woman silenced her again.
The stranger put a finger to Akina’s lips, the
woman's body language speaking of a determination that Akina
was surprised by. The noise of the crowd
seems to increase suddenly, roaring in Akina's ears.
"Hey, mommy, can I
have--"
"Yo babe--"
"--what
the?"
"Hello?"
"--Excuse me,
please."
"Yes, I'd like
some mochi* with that--"
"We don't really
sell that here--"
"Try a sample, try
a sample--!"
How am I supposed to
hear anyone in this? Akina thought incredulously. And then the stranger turned her head and Akina saw the deepest, blackest eyes she'd ever encountered
in her life. And in that blackness swam
a purple light, like the velvet purple of the sky when the sun is setting in
the evening, or the sad purple of violets in a rain storm. A silence fell in that space between her, the
woman before her, and all the people passing them by, and then a voice came in
that silence, a very soft noise vibrating over the heads of and voices of
everyone.
Someone was... crying.
"Akina Chan, what are you doing?" The spell was broken. Akina found the
eyes no longer looking at her and the connection ended there. Angered, she turned to see her smiling but
confused brother.
"What the hell was
that?" Akina
demanded angrily. She put an uncertain
hand on her head, not really hearing her brother's heated response. "That woman..." She turned her head and found the stranger
standing next to her was gone.
"Who was that you
were talking to?" Hiroshi asked.
Akina
shook her head. "She asked me if I
could hear someone crying."
"Crying?" Hiroshi looked around perplexed.
"I never knew
there were such eyes except..." Akina felt her head again, trying to remember in her foggy
brain where she had seen eyes like that before.
Akina was surprised though when she couldn't
remember what the woman really looked like or what the other's eyes looked like
either; there was just a linger of emotions from the encounter left to be felt
as the only evidence. Akina was not quite sure if she had hallucinated
the entire encounter, and shook off the feeling of deja
vu.
"Hm."
Hiroshi looked worriedly down at his older sister. "Well, you'd be surprised to know that
Mars Reiko San's back in town."
"I will be
seeing you in the future." Mars
Reiko's voice echoed in Akina's memories but Akina had a hard time remembering what the striking woman
looked like. It was disturbing, but all Akina could remember was the sense that the woman she met
months ago was a very beautiful woman who was hard to forget, and who Akina was finding hard to remember. Something was wrong, but Akina
couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.
Akina
stepped towards her brother uncertainly.
"Mars Reiko... San?" she asked, her eyes suddenly very
subdued, lacking her earlier rage.
Hiroshi was really
worried when he saw the dazed expression on his sister's face, but his eyes
caught the sight of something falling out of his sister's pocket. "Hm?" He reached down and retrieved the
objects. "Eh?" He exclaimed, surprised. "These are VIP tickets to Fire's concert
tonight!" Akina
looked equally surprised at the discovery, "I didn't know you got them, Akina Chan! And
there are four of them, perfect for the whole family!" Akina touched her
side pocket. "Wow, and here I
thought you were the most insensitive--"
"I- I didn't get
them." Akina
said softly, but Hiroshi didn't hear.
"Hey,
Nami!"
Hiroshi hailed their eldest sister over as she saw them through the
crowd at their appointed meeting place.
"You'll never guess our luck--"
"I didn't get
them," Akina began. Her hand touched a piece of paper in her
pocket.
"Hm? Did you
say something?" Hiroshi glanced
over his shoulder at her.
Akina
opened the paper timidly and saw graceful writing. I'll be seeing you tonight at the concert,
girl who can hear those silent tears,
it read. There was no
signature. Akina
flipped over the sheet and found no other evidence of the stranger who stood
next to her. "Nothing," she
answered her brother belatedly. "I
didn't say anything." She
elaborated without glancing at the quizzical looks her siblings shot her. "It's nothing at all." She crumbled the note and stuffed it back
into her jacket pocket. Akina closed her eyes again, but this time, there was only
the roar of the crowd.
Those eyes, Akina thought to herself.
They left with her the same impression as those of the ageless eyes of Meiou Setsuna, and the mysterious
gaze of Aino Minako. Who was that woman who stood by her
side? That presence, it seemed strangely
familiar. It was a presence that
dominated all others when the woman was present, and lingered long after she
was gone. Akina
rubbed her hair into a mess in her utter frustration over the unsolved
mystery. "Arg!" Akina
growled. "Who the hell was that
woman?"
Nami
and Hiroshi shared a look, uncertain if their sibling had really lost her mind
after all. "Perhaps, this trip
wasn't such a good idea after all," Nami sighed
as she looked down at the presents she bought for herself and Kiyoshi, as well
as for the rest of her family members for the coming New Years. "Still, isn't Mars Reiko San the
daughter of Hino Rei San?" Nami thought back
to their conversation with Aino Minako
and Meiou Setsuna. "It would be really interesting to meet
that woman." Akina
had walked ahead of them by that time and did not hear the end of Nami's latter inquiries.
However, Nami had forgotten her curiosity as
the eldest stared after her younger sibling.
Akina was not empty handed as she stormed in
front of Hiroshi and Nami both, but Nami had never seen her younger sister carry so little baggage
when the other went to a mall, any mall.
The day just seems to
be getting stranger by the hour.
- - - - -
The music was pounding,
setting the rhythm of everyone's heart to the beating drums and air
guitar. "Wow!" Hiroshi scouted the place out and looked
exceptionally impressed. The big guard
at the door took one look at their tickets and hitched his thumb towards the
door behind him.
"Three doors
down," he told them gruffly.
"We're a bit
late," Nami commented as she checked her watch.
Akina
had been unusually silent the rest of their shopping trip. Distracted, the usually fashion conscious Akina bought three of the most mismatched bathing suits Nami ever saw. The
eldest sighed to herself. When Akina woke up from her daze, her sister was going to have a
heart attack when she saw the clothes she had picked. Iku had noticed her
second daughter's distress as well, but wisely refrained from asking when her
other children shook their heads in equal confusion when she gave them a
questioning look. From past experiences,
it was best to just let Akina be until she was ready
to get out of her funk.
"Ya ho!"
A cheerful voice rang over to them and all four turned to see Aino Minako dressed in silk and
leather, bounding up to them in the strangest and coolest outfit they'd ever
seen. It was a total change from the miko* robes they were so used to seeing her in. Behind her, Meiou Setsuna followed in a more elegant garb while three other
women, each beautiful in their own way, also appeared. "What a surprise to see you
here!" Minako
exclaimed, though the others didn't seem to be surprised at all at their
appearance.
They walked down the
hallway, while the blonde introduced each of the women. "Over there's Kino Makoto," Minako said, pointing to the tall brunette who was walking
surprisingly smoothly even with steel crutches attached to each of the woman’s
arms. Kino Makoto nodded her head
politely at them with an easy smile on her lips. "And next to her is Mizuno Ami. She's visiting all the way from Germany!" A friendly looking woman with deep sea eyes
and the quintessential shy airs of a Japanese, smiled kindly at the Kumada family in greeting, though Minako's
introduction sounded a bit tense at that moment. "And over here's Tomoe Hotaru Chan," the blonde gushed as she wrapped her
arms around the oldest looking woman who was also one of the shortest people in
the group. "Isn't she the
cutest?" Minako demanded as the woman waved at
them, not at all minding the blonde that hung off of her.
Setsuna
smiled as Minako continued to cuddle Hotaru. "I see
you guys got VIP tickets," the dark-haired woman smiled. "You must have met with her
then."
"Hm?" Nami asked
surprised. "Who would have given us
these tickets?"
Setsuna
shared a mysterious smile with her companions.
"I guess you'll see when the show begins."
Akina,
who walked ahead of everyone, really didn't catch the last part of Setsuna's mysterious words and instead looked behind her
impatiently when she realized everyone had let her go ahead by herself. "Hey, can you guys hurry up? We're already late!"
Laughing, everyone
followed behind the grouchy Akina while her family
sheepishly apologized for her rude behavior.
But Makoto shook her head and Hotaru
interrupted their apologies half-way.
"She's going to be going through a lot more, later tonight," Hotaru replied vaguely, while looking sympathetically after
the slouched figure of Kumada Akina's
back. "Let her be a child for a
little bit longer. There will be time
for growing up, truly, when all the cards are laid out. When she hears our song, even her heart will
not be able to deny what it feels."
Looking uncertain to
what the dark-haired woman meant, the rest of the Kumada
family could only follow these strange women's lead. Wherever they were led, there would be much
to be revealed.
Outside the crowd was
heard cheering as they stepped up to the front seats, right up on the stage in
fact, overlooking the entire stage area.
Apparently, the stairs they climbed brought them up to the second level
of the man-made theater. "Oh my!" Nami blinked.
"Isn't that the legendary Sea and Wind duet pair?"
"Yeah,
Kai Michi and Wynd Haru."
Hiroshi blinked in amazement at their electric piano and violin
duet. "I heard that Wynd San will only play the baby grand for his
partner. This must be a surprise
appearance to have them play Fire's only unrecorded song." Dark eyes widened. "Isn't that Mars Reiko playing along the
piano with him?"
"Him?" Hotaru giggled
behind her hand. "Haru Papa would be pleased to hear that."
"Eh?" Hiroshi looked surprised at the dark-haired
woman standing next to him.
"I'm Tomoe Hotaru," the older woman introduced herself
again. "I'm the adoptive daughter
of Michi Mama and Haru
Papa. Setsuna
Mama is also my adoptive mother, though not officially."
"All
three of them?" Nami asked surprised, looking skeptically at the woman who
looked older than her supposedly adoptive parents.
"Yes, they raised
me." Hotaru
put a hand to her chest with a nostalgic but happy expression on her face. "I'm very lucky to have such wonderful
parents."
"The song's
beautiful," Nami whispered in awe as her
attention was caught by the silence as the cheers died down.
"Michi Mama and Haru Papa would be
very glad to hear that you like it," Hotaru
whispered in the darkness, her eyes glittering from the thousand fires of lit
lighters and candles from the audience.
"You'll be able to tell them yourself after the show."
"T-tell
them, myself?" Nami asked surprised.
The music flowed over
the crowd like wind and water, washing away worries and sadness, washing away
tension and pain. It was a lovely moment
as peace came over the entire stadium-like theater. Yet, underneath the soothing music was a hint
of flame and fire, a burning pulse resounding from a single drum. "Who wrote this music?" Akina asked softly.
"Rei Chan collaborated with Haru—
um— and Michi—" Minako
explained, stumbling over the names a bit, but a dreamy expression came over
her face. "No matter how many times
I hear it, it's still like the first time." The blonde sighed happily.
When it was over,
everyone in the audience felt the lingering affects as well as the longing for
the song to continue forever.
"Thank you, Haru San, Michi
San," Mars Reiko grinned as she walked up to the front of the stage with
the two artists beside her. They waved
and bowed to the thunderous applause from the audience before exiting the
stage. "I want to thank you for
coming to see the first show on my promotional tour." Mars Reiko's eyes flashed like dark crystals
beneath the stage light and her hair flew in the gathering breeze that ran over
the stage.
"Mars Reiko—"
Iku gasped.
"She looks just like her mother!
They're like twins!" Iku's children all looked surprised at this as they turned
their head back to the women on stage.
"I wanted to share
with you my new single but first, I want to sing you a song I've written that
won't be coming out anytime soon... but I hope you'll lend an ear and
listen. I've waited a long time to sing
this song, for that special person that I wish with all my heart to hear
it. I hope one day, wherever they are
now, they will be able to hear my voice and it will dry the tears they must
have been crying for such a long time in the darkness by themselves. I want them to no longer think that they are
alone anymore. It took a long time for
me to reach this point, but with the help of my friends and from all the support
you guys, my wonderful fans, have given me, I think
I'm finally ready for changes, once again, to enter my life."
"Can you hear
her crying?"
The music began, but Akina was shocked.
That voice, she knew that voice who asked her such a strange question in
the crowded mall. It was the voice that
was filled with calmness, even in the face of Akina's
stormy tempers. Those eyes were the eyes
that regarded her, stripping her bare of all her years. Akina remembered
those eyes best, eyes she had not been able to see clearly at the hospital, or
in the gathering darkness, through the gray rain that day at her father's
funeral. They were eyes that gave a deep
impression but whose powers only left one with the memory of a feeling and not
concrete images. Now she felt the true
pull of Mars Reiko's hypnotic gaze and the same pull from that voice that
seemed to rise from the deepest recess of the woman's heart.
"Can you hear
her crying?"
Those were not the
words Mars Reiko sung, but the question hung in the air. And then, Akina
heard once more the distant cries of someone else she did not know. Cries that were filled with sorrow that
crashed against the hope in the voice of Mars Reiko's song. The song with words Akina
could not comprehend herself, but the meaning of it was etched into her heart
as each note was played out, bringing up with it, painful memories of ignorance
and innocence lost.
And then, around her,
the beautiful women she had just met joined in against the crying of a single
voice. And they brought with them the
joys and sorrows of their years, emotions Akina could
not comprehend nor would have expected from such young and successful
females. For in those voices were the
sound of loss and forgiveness, hopes and love, and dreams that ended. Still, there was the sound of new dreams
being born, the sound of hope renewed and friendships that were once lost,
found.
Even without knowing
the words, even if each syllable was choked from her constricted throat, Akina opened her lips and so did the people around her and
below her – all around her. The stadium
rocked with the sound of a thousand voices singing a melody that was ancient
but true, a song that no words could transcend.
And then silence as Mars Reiko's voice pierced the darkness, reaching
out, grasping a hand that had stopped reaching for help and a soul that had forgotten
hope. In that moment, Akina felt as if someone had grasped her own soul as well,
and the true tears that held only sadness and joy, without the self-indulgence
or pettiness that she had allowed herself to linger upon for so long, came
unbidden.
"Can you hear
her crying?"
There was only silence
when the song ended. Stunned, Akina's lips still were opened partially in wonder. Akina was surprised
that she had sung at all, as well as surprised by the emotion that had flowed through
her, wetting her cheeks with trails of salty evidence. The concert began once more with more upbeat
songs, but Akina felt as if the first moments were
etched into her, burning like embers that were wakened into flames. And wherever the music pounded, she felt the
woman she had suppressed deep inside flinging open her arms to the world to be
consumed by the music that was heat and fire, a fire that burned away the masks
she wore. Resentment, hatred, shame, fears,
and anger was consumed so easily within her, leaving the rest of her naked and
bare. Yet, the music made the
awkwardness of such moments be left forgotten, and clothed her with the
memories Akina had always cherished but had forgotten
in her lamentations to the self. The
weltering of self-pity subsided now to allow Akina to
see clearly once more.
Akina
began to laugh with those around her, shouting with joy, as tears of each
emotion ran down her face as they had never done before. Exposed, Akina felt
brand new, and willingly spread her arms over the audience below her and sang, sang with the freedom woken within her and the joy that
soon followed in its wake.
Sang with the beautiful
voice of Mars Reiko to guide her through the melody only her heart seemed to
know.
To be continued…
* Miko - Priestess
* Mochi - rice cake
(so says my very small and very limited Japanese Dictionary -- that's not even
really mine)
- Akina woke up on the wrong side of the bed
because I realized that it would be weird if she just changed over night. Anyway, she still has quite a grudge against
Hiroshi for the night before, if I remember correctly.
- If Akina had paid attention, she might have
noticed that her taxi driver was a gajin – hence the
reason why he lacked the polite stoicism in most Japanese.
- Hino Rei, a.k.a. Mars Reiko's song
is not wordless. It's just that no one can seem to remember the words when
she's (and the rest of her audience) finished singing it. But everyone understands the emotion she's
conveying in her songs on their own level.
In both anime and manga, Hino Rei demonstrated a talent and fondness for music – the
piano especially. I'm playing off of
that in this story and adding a bit of magic to it. As people relate to Haruka's
(Wynd Haru) playing to be
like the wind and Michiru's (Kai Michi)
to be like the ocean, I'm making Rei's songs like
fire, the name of the band. Yeah, yeah,
I'm not very original. I mean, come
on! What did you expect? I named Makoto's restaurant
"Jupiter", didn't I?
- CDs are only sold en masse in Tokyo
now. I don't want to try to figure out
new technology right now. The likelyhood that Hiroshi has a CD player is based on the
fact that his father probably has one too, and because Rei
does have Tokyo
in mind, always, she probably specially instructed that there be CDs released
along with everything else.
- Akina did not remember Hino Rei's eyes because, as she said so herself, they’re eyes
that leave you with the impression of a feeling and not the look itself. Anyway, think of Rei’s
eyes like her music, the type that lingers but whose words you can’t recall.
Special
Thanks To:
My editor, Yumeko
San! She had to wade through my horrible
grammar to help me polish this baby to perfection! Thank you so much Yumeko
San! I would be so lost without you! [Dabs away tears of gratitude]
