Flash!

Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble!!

As the earth-rending thunder crashed, rain fell from above like a waterfall. The strenghtening wind made the trees on the riverbank shake violently as a heart rending scream rose from among them.

"......"

The great river rapidly swelled. Clad in a flapping swirled cape, Houjun Li gazed intently at the river's edge as the rings of the staff clasped in his hand made a clattering sound.

(It's just like that time...), Houjun thought.

Three years ago at that riverbank I questioned you violently. The feeling within my chest is the same as that time when the terrible storm had raged at our village.

It's exactly the same as that time...

"Why... Why did you betray me!?" You never answered those words of mine.

In a frenzy, I grabbed your right arm, but despite thrusting the dagger into your chest, you remained silent and simply stared at me.

"Give her... give her back!" I shouted, just as the river ruptured. Your foothold collapsed with a splash, and as I watched you swallowed by the water. I didn't mean to let go... of your right arm, which I had been holding then.

"...Houjun. He...lp......" From within dark water, I could hear your voice pleading for my help. I hadn't meant to let your arm go. No matter how terrible your behavior had been... Despite that, I... I...

As Houjun's right eye, the one which was able to see the world, slowly looked up to the heavens, he quietly murmured, "I'm... coming..."

And then Houjun shouted the name of his former best friend, "Hikou..."

It was three years since the flood that struck his hometown, and Houjun Li, who continued to travel alone, again questioned his lost best friend on the start of all that and the sorrow that continued to torture him.

"This time I'll listen to the reason. The reason why you betrayed me..."

And then with both hands held before his chest, Houjun threw himself noiselessly into the muddy eddy of water before his eyes. At that instant, Houjun could vividly recall face after face of the people that the unfeeling natural disaster had snatched away from him. His honored father, his kind mother, the older sister that reminded him of a mischievous older brother... The three smiling faces of his family. The gallant mouth and fearlessly determined looks of his unequaled best friend, Hikou. And then--

I loved you with all my heart... No, I thought that I loved the smile of a very young beautiful girl--

*

"Oh, brother," a hoarse voice muttered in front of something resembling a gigantic mirror.

"It's finally come to this. Although you seem mature, how much longer will you take..." And then, both of those round shoulders lurched and dropped with a sigh.

*

(Kou...ra...n...!?) His brain responded spasmodically to the sound.

"Kouran..., Kouran..." He was sure he could hear a faint voice yelling that name.

"Kouran. Kouran!" That voice was louder the next time. It was a man's voice.

"Okay. I'm coming now." The sound of a young woman's voice, and then, the pattering sound of running feet could be clearly heard. Houjun opened his eye slightly.

(Where am I...?) Because his vision was hazy and he was only slightly conscious, Houjun barely grasped his current condition.

(Didn't I throw myself into the river during that storm... Am I dead now, or am I...)

Houjun tried to get out of bed.

"Ugh..." he said as sharp pains shot up his entire body. Houjun, whose body had collapsed, sensed someone facing towards him panic and rush toward him.

"What are you doing! You must stay quietly in bed!!" The face of a thirteen or fourteen year old girl with hard, intelligent eyes loomed above Houjun and scowled.

"Your right arm and left leg are broken. Moreover your entire body is bruised. Right now you must rest."

"Am I... am I... ali...ve..." The face before Houjun's eye broke into a smile.

"That's right. This isn't heaven or hell; it's Seisengou!"

"Seisengou..." Houjun at least looked himself over.

Putting Houjun to bed made the room seem clean and tidy. A pear tree covered by white pretty flowers could be seen from the big window beside the bed. By straining one's ears, the trickling brook, and then, a singing bird could be heard as well. Without the girl there, it was such a peaceful, tranquil, and satisfying place that one could almost think of it as heaven.

"Ahh, but I'm glad you've come to."

Houjun asked the still smiling girl looming over him, "Don't you think this face is... frightening...?"

Why this girl? he thought as he tilted his head to one side doubtfully.

"The wound on your left eye is old, isn't it? Dad said it was. Oh, my dad's a doctor. He can probably heal your recent wounds," the girl cooly answered and Houjun stared at her with disbelief. Until now no one had ever looked directly at his face.

"Oh, and the large cloth is properly dried"

"...That's a kesa..."

"Oh? Is that so. And I also took the jingling stick..."

"...That's called a shakujou..."

"...oh, then, in other words, you are a Buddhist priest from Kutou? Wow, which temple were you assigned to? For some reason that fashion and hairstyle are really unique and aren't too bad," the girl innocently asked, her face filled with curiousity.

I'm not affiliated... I'm just a roaming wanderer..." Houjun said after a pause. He certainly might have wandered into Kutou at the end. He had so little idea of where he had walked that he could only remember exhausting his mind and body.

"That was a really impressive storm yesterday. It also seems the Shoryuu River ruptured just before it came. But, you're lucky you flowed to the Hijiri River branch. If it weren't for that, you might have seriously gone to heaven by this time."

"......" That he had thrown himself into the Shoryuu River startled Houjun. Flowing from Kutou to Konan, the Shoryuu River was the river which had caused that flood three years earlier and had snatched away everything from him.

"You were really surprised. People are buyoant in the Hijiri River and float. I was in a trance when I jumped in the river and pulled you out, but to say it bluntly, it was really hard." Because until then she alone had been speaking, the girl pouted a little.

"Hey. Anything's fine, you know. Don't be silent. Aren't you going to say something?" And then, the girl's eyes gleamed mischievously.

"For me, Lady Kouran Ou, who favored you with your life!"

"...Kouran...!?" This girl's yelling voice had answered to that name earlier.

Houjun muttered softly about Kouran once again.

For these three years, I have repeated that name many times within my heart and continue to shout it. Along with Hikou's name...

Why?

Why did you betray me?

Why did you two betray me...

"...Why... are you... Kouran?"

"Wha?" He looked away from the face of the girl called Kouran.

"Why did you help me? Why didn't you let me die..."

"...huh...?" Kouran trailed off.

"You... couldn't possibly..." Unsightly Houjun, who had escaped death, grew very angry at himself. A new feeling of despair started to seep throughoout his entire body.

As he faced toward the wall, Houjun spat out, "Three years ago, I had a fiance with the same name..."

"The same name... as mine? Called... Kouran?"

"When we decided to marry, my best friend, Hikou, was the first to know. He was delighted and gave us his blessing... We three were childhood friends..."

"And... then...?"

"...Immediately after that... Hikou snatched Kouran away from me... She could no longer become one with me, and was going marry Hikou... She changed her mind completely and with my best friend, betrayed me... I was an idiot... for believing in the two of them with my heart..."

"......"

"Why!? In extreme anger, I, whom they had forgotten, stabbed Hikou with a dagger and pressed him about it. However, he never answered since the two of them died in the great flood..." Houjun's mind distinctly recalled that scene three years before.

"...No, I virtually killed Hikou... At that time, if I hadn't let go of his hand..."

Kouran said in a low voice, "By any chance, is that wound from that time...?"

"......" For Houjun, even if his whole body would have been smashed up, letting go of the hand because his eye was smashed by a log in the middle of the muddy waters was the same as letting his friend die without helping.

"That happened since I had feelings of hate for my best friend inside. Moreover... I was the only person to survive that flood... But for me... that was too heavy a burden..." As she looked to the side, Kouran unconsciously frowned.

"...You understand, don't you? My fate is to go to hell, and those two are waiting for it..." As Houjun spoke, he eyed the picturesque heaven-like scenery.

Speaking of coming here, perhaps he should also introduce this naive girl, who hasn't experienced one taste of things such as pain, to a little of his suffering.

Before long, a silense lapsed beteween the two of them.

"...And you were going to die for that..." Kouran mumbled.

"I gave you your life!" Houjun looked at her, startled.

"You know, yesterday, the one I love was taken into the military for three years. There's a chance that he might not ever return. He might run into a battle and die! If he dies like that, I wish you could take his place!"

As Kouran rose, her fists trembled and she shouted, "...Don't act like a spoiled brat!" Her eyes were wet and open wide.

"Don't ask for that!"

"......"

"Besides... Besides, that's an awful thing to say about the girl who had the same name as me... I won't forgive you for it." A single tear dropped and fell.

"You didn't believe in Kouran at all...!"

*

Then, he sensed a person enter the room.

"Hey, hey. What were you yelling at the wounded man?" As he said that, the courteous middle-aged man with a moustache growing beneath his nose peered at Houjun from above.

"Pleased to meet you. I am called Kenmin Ou, and I am her father. My daughter is excited due to helping people who were drowning in the river. Please accept my apologizes." Embarassed, Houjun covered his eye.

"Well, I am going to examine the condition of your injuries for just a minute." Having said that, Kouran's father began Houjun's medical examination.

"You must rest for one or two months. I am the village head here. Please stay here as long as you like."

"...Dad, this man..."

Interrupting Kouran's words, Kenmin continued, "My wife passed away five years ago and the boy I virtually raised as a son left for Kutou to become a soldier yesterday. Now, it is just my daughter and me. Please, do not be afraid of troubling us." As she heard her father's words, Kouran suddenly turned her face away with a slightly complex expression on her face. Houjun wondered if the boy in that story was the same person that the girl had said she loved earlier.

"By the way, I wonder if you could you please tell me your name."

"...I'm called Houjun Li..."

"You are from Konan, right?"

"What?"

Houjun was surprised and Kenmin Ou looked up at him.

"Moreover, you have another another fine name." The village head of Seisengou pointed at Houjun's right kneecap.

"The South's Suzaku Shichiseshi..."

"What!?" sullen Kouran said with a surprised voice, and her eyes strayed to Houjun's kneecaps.

"That's right! You can see the character donburi. It's so cool! You're the Suzaku Shichiseishi Donburi¹?"

The father rebuked his daughter, "The line in the middle of the 'donburi' is a wound. I properly taught you about the shichiseishi, did I not?" Kouran nodded, and she rested her hand on her forehead, while she repeated what she had memorized.

"Um, The animal gods of the four countries Konan, Kutou, Sairou, and Hokkan are Suzaku, Seiryuu, Byakko, and Gembu and... Each of the miko has shichiseishi to protect her, and Suzaku's are Tamahome, Hotohori, Tasuki, Nuriko, Mitsukake, Chiriko... and then, that's it, Chichiri!" Houjun's face reddened as she pointed at him.

"...I... I don't have the competence to become a shichiseishi..."

"What are you saying? That is a not matter of competence, but of destiny," Kenmin informed him with a smiling face. "I think my daughter is proud of saving the precious life of a Suzaku Shichiseishi. You will recover one day soon and can return to Konan." However, Houjun didn't even nod.

*

The nights and days of two months flowed by since that day--

A fishing line, which was suspended upon river's surface, moved suddenly .

"Oh, it's getting away, it's getting away," Kouran shouted. Houjun nimbly reeled it in.

"Wow, it's big. We can eat..." Despite the fact that Kouran was speaking, he removed the fishhook and tossed the fish back into the river.

"Man, you threw it back. And you don't have to for fishing. What a strange hobby!"

Houjun said to pouting Kouran, "Just catching them is enough. I find it calming..." Once again Houjun cast into the river, and Kouran shrugged her shoulders.

In the peaceful early afternoon, the water, which was clear enough to see the riverbottom, filled the Hijiri River and glittered as sunlight reflected off the river's surface.

"In truth, this place is the village of the river that will become holy²... right?" Houjun, who had not even known the village called Seisengou existed, at least could see the beauty of that village.

Kutou, which was closed off by mountains, lay upstream. And then downstream was Konan. The great river, the large Shoryuu River, meandered to that hollow at the exact center of Seisengou and gently flowed into the Hijiri River.

"Houjun, do you know about the legend of Shoryuu?"

"If I'm not mistaken, it's said that lovers who see a dragon³ heading up the Shoryuu River will be happy forever..."

"Hey, I'm glad the Hijiri River is a branch of the Shoryuu River. I'd like to try it." Kouran's eyes were entranced by the river's flow.

And then recently Kutou had gained control of the peaceful village by which this beautiful river flowed. There seemed to be unreasonable taxes and such collected for Kutou. However, the villagers didn't break the peace by complaining and continued their humble, quiet living.

Kouran faced towards Houjun.

"How's your leg?;

"Oh, it seems to have already mostly healed..."

"Oh. That's great!"

Kouran, immediately getting to her feet, mimicked Houjun's favorite phrase, "Now, two months have already passed."

"You've taken care of me in so many ways..."

"Well... you know," Kouran said.

"I've asked you before, but, well, what sort of person was your lover, Kouran?"

Houjun looked away from his fishing line and answered, "She was the exact opposite of you."

"Wait a minute, that's..."

Kouran leaned close to Houjun's face and said, "Was she really beautiful, ladylike, and graceful?"

"Exactly."

"Geeze! Houjun, you're an idiot!"

Kouran, who had sulkily turned her back towards him, said after a short while, "Believe in her."

"......"

"I'm sure she had some reason. She didn't betray you. For some reason I think she didn't have a change of heart."

"...It's ok."

"It's not right! Why can't you believe in the one you loved!?"

"......"

Believe...? She says I should believe in something... Houjun didn't think he had the ability. If only someone would understand the pain... of seeing Kouran, who had decided to marry me, embrace Hikou's chest...

"If something happened with him, I'd believe and wait!" Kouran said to Houjun, half angry.

"To Kutou for three years of the military... huh," Houjun muttered. Houjun had heard the story of Kouran's lover that day she had saved him. During the storm that had nearly taken my life, that lover had been taken to Kutou as a soldier... huh.

But, outside of that, Kouran hasn't said anything about the story. That lover had lived as if he was one of Kenmin's household, but they haven't mentioned his name even at the dining table.

It's probably that Kouran kept company with that boy although her father forbid her to.

"...Well, three years is a really long time, but..." Her voice slowly grew softer, but revived at the end. "Believe in her!!" Kouran leaned against the large pear tree.

"When he resolved to enter the military, we promised to... get married under this tree..." Hearing the word marriage from the girl's mouth surprised Houjun a little.

But, by this time the girl should have grown into a magnificent girl of seventeen. Houjun imagined his once beloved Kouran at seventeen, and then, recalled that when he was seventeen Kouran had turned his life upside down, and his chest constricted.

Putting away those thoughts, Houjun smiled quietly at Kouran.

"I want you to be happy. Since I can't..."

"...Houjun."

"To be helped by a girl with the same name as her... I'm sure this is fate... Kouran was... telling me to live..." Since Houjun looked worried to her, the girl gave a smile.

"You're fine, aren't you... Houjun."

"Yeah." As Houjun rose, he placed his hand upon Kouran's head.

Since Houjun had risen from bed, he had slowly nursed himself back to health... Even after that, truthfully, they had always casually watched over him without any slip-ups.

"I'm worried... Kouran." At his words, Houjun roughly scrubbed and wiped his teary eye, and Kouran said in a cheerful voice.

"Alright! tonight let's throw a party to make you cheer up! If I have the time, I'll have to prepare for an early meal! Man, why did you let that fish go earlier, stupid!" And after that was said, Houjun's single eye narrowed and watched Kouran, whose cheeks were flushed, until she was out of sight.

In the center of the clear river pear, apricot, peach... the fragrant orchard was on one side of spacious, beautiful, peaceful Seisengou. With his gashed eyelid Houjun once more quietly looked out over that scenery.

¹ Translator's Note: "Donburi" is type of dish where something is eaten on a bed of rice. There are many different types, including beef and chicken ones.Back to reading
² Translator's Note: The reason Houjun says this is because Hijiri literally means "Holy" and Seisengou literally means "Holy River Village." Back to reading
³ Translator's Note: The reason they say this is because Shoryuu literally means "Rising Dragon." Back to reading