Composed by deko
Translated by Yuki Neco
A lot of artifacts were laid over all the excavation site on Tomoeda Hill, where people were working under the beautiful autum sky. The familiar two teenagers were working with a flat plate; one of whom was Chiharu saying, “Hey, Takashi, how many figures have we drawn so far?”
“Search me. But none of them can be skipped,” the other replied before motioning Youko standing with a pole, “Uh, Youko, that’s OK, thanks.” Youko walked back to them with the pole, who was sun-tanned, like any others in the site, with her white teeth showed a distinct contrast.
“Good. Well, how’s the shape?” Youko took a glance at the flat plate, but the three frowned at some sort of disagreement.
“This shape again, no matter how many times we tried,” Takashi mentioned disbelief.
“Looks like a gigantic footprint...” Chiharu heaved a sigh.
“I guess we’ll have to tell this to Professor Kinomoto,” Youko groaned, “Hauuuu, how should I explain it to him?”
Chiharu and Tokashi giggled at her groan. Chiharu commented, “That groaning, you just sounded like Iyo... Huh? Iyo? Who in the world is it?”
“I don’t kow...” Takashi and Youko replied in unison.
“Strange...” Chiharu mumbled.
Meanwhile, in the quarters Yukito bringing tea talked to Touya when he was operating a computer, “Seems like nobody ever remembers Iyo.”
“You’re right,” replied Touya, “She was a dreadful witch, but...”
“But what?”
“My granddad, how could he be so kind to her?” Touya expressed his anger, “She was the one who abducted Sakura, you know!” He couldn’t hold his irritation with anxiety toward his missing sister.
Yukito enocuraged him with a possitive prophecy, “Two of them will be back in no time for sure, with her plush doll and 49 magic cards to be exact.”
“How long is the no time?!” Touya half shouted, “Thinking of her being all along with the brat keeps me up all night!”
“That’s OK for Syaoran,” Yukito whispered with a smile, “I know you know he’s the one for Sakura. I would like to quit talking about it.” At the last sentence, his tone changed for steady. The change got Touya gasp and turn to Yukito, then he saw his friend staring back at him with the icy eyes of Yue the Judge.
Yue spoke slowly but firmly, “I won’t let you get in the way against our mistress’s will. You are not allowed to know the truth for the sake of her.”
“Even if I happen to see it in mind,” Touya added.
At this moment, the facsimile in the office beeped at a receipt. Touya picked up the FAX and mumbled, “I don’t believe this...”
Dai, Wei, Iyo, and Masaki are in the amusement park on the hill in Tomoeda, standing in front of the carousel. “We’re in an amusement park where people have fun on their own,” Masaki said to the teenagers from the ancient times, “So you two yonung people, why don’t you take a tour around the place?”
Dai and Iyo felt so embarrassed that they couldn’t start stepping forward.
Wei encouraged them, “Don’t hesitate. You’re a good couple, you have much in common.”
Taking Iyo by the hand, Dai ran to the Ferris wheel as the two old men smiled seeing them off.
“Having much in common...” Masaki muttered.
“That may hold for us, too. Uh, I’m Wei Wang, a butler from Li family. It’s very nice meeting you,” Wei introduced himself.
“Pleased to meet you, I’m Masaki Amamiya. We have much in common, certainly, waiting for our precious youngsters to come back,” Masaki agreed.
Iyo and Dai got on the Ferris wheel, and sat against each other. They could see the entire amusement park, Amamiya Cooperation, and the excavation site below them.
“Lady Iyo, I...” Dai started to talk.
“We are free now, once we crossed the Hades. I thought I could do anything I like careless of anyone else.”
Dai could see her talking, when the ruin of Yakoku was seen as the background beyond Iyo’s back.
“But I couldn’t fulfill,” the girl continued, “even though this world is a peaceful land without any minor skirmish on the face of it.”
“Wei Wang, the old man I was with knew my identity the moment he saw me. Nevertheless, he was kind enough to let me in his house, not getting angry at all,” Dai mumbled.
“The same thing happened to me, too. Granddad, Masaki didn’t show any slightest hostility,” Iyo replied.
On the other hand, the old men on the ground were having a conversation.
“Allow me to ask you this, but you left your family in your country?” Masaki asked.
“Yes, that’s right,” Wei answered, “But as long as I’m here in Japan, Master Syaoran is my only family. In my life in Hong Kong, I got through many hardships like wars and successive turning point in history—and modernization.”
“I know what you mean because I served in the army in China when I was young,” Masaki replied, “But now, I’m just this old man who likes to see Sakura smiling.”
“Hmm, all because of your true affection to your precious great granddaughter, you might have been able to find that Sakura was switch to Iyo.”
Masaki took out the picture taken at the reunion to show it to Wei. The two old men were in the same smile when they were looking at the picture. At this time, a little girl was running in front of them as she called her mother, “Mom, we gotta hurry or we miss it! Aw!” The girl in a hurry tripped and fell, hurting herself on the knee painfully. Masaki stepped up to and caught her back on her feet gently, whispering, “Stop crying, young lady. I know you’re strong.”
Wei took out his handkerchief to wind it around her wound. “Good girl, such a pain is nothing to care. See? Now the pain is gone.”
The old man soothed the girl so gently that there’s no right jobs for her mother to do when she ran to the spot.
In the excavation quarters, Touya was reading the FAX in discontent. Professor Kinomoto came back into the room holding a box with artifacts in it as he said, “What’s biting you, Touya?”
Yukito answered, “We just got the result of the stratum analysis of the mysterious footprint.”
“What does it say?” Fujitaka asked enthusiastically.
“The conclusion is that it’s from 1,700 years in the past,” mumbled Touya, “that means it isn’t a fake.”
“Then Takashi’s hypothesis should be taken into account,” Fujitaka mentioned, as the three in the office put on a look of disbelief. Meanwhile, it began raining when they heard thunder roaring in a distance. “It’s the end of summer,” Fujitaka commented.
Iyo was talking to and looking at Dai, “I might have been wanting the impossible.” Dai heard her talk without saying a word. “Why do you keep silent?” the girl shouted desperately, “Accuse me that I was totally wrong! Why don’t you do it?!” In Iyo’s deep regretfulness, the tatoo symbolizing sacred service emerged on her cheeks. Almost losing her mind, she stood up suddenly, then their gondola got unballanced and roked in reaction. He made no response to her words, but pressed his own chest where he had been slashed in the ancient times.
“That’s your answer. Accume me that I almost got you killed... But please forgive me...” Crying into tears, Iyo sank down on her knees and placed her hands on her chest as if she begged for excuse. At this moment, a lightning flashed, and immediately, the power failed and the lights went out.
Dai saw the flashback of the scene of the sword battle against the captain in the torrential rain. He was shouting to the captain, “I’ve been in love with Iyo since I was a kid. I know our province prohibits a marriage between relatives, but when one day she was adopted to the queen to take on the sacred service... I found my true feeling...”
Dai continued, “Iyo is mine! I don’t want her to belong to anyone else! Even if God wanted her, I wouldn’t give way.”
“Why? I want you to accuse me that I was wrong,” cried Iyo.
“It is not your fault,” Dai replied, “We’re destined to be here. This was decided before we were born. Wei said this to me, but people have seasons in their lives, and similarly they have their own destined time—whether it’s long or short.”
A rain front neared them, and it rained on their gondola.
“We gotta go home. Even if it was the end of autumn that’s waiting for us... Besides, I’m worrying about the boy Syaoran in my place. So come on, Iyo... Huh? What did you say?”
Iyo replied so weakly that her voice was almost disturbed by the sound of rain, “Antie passed away. I heard her.”
On the night, some soldiers are on the turret at the border of Yakoku and Kukoku. “Kokoku army doesn’t make any move today as usual, right, captain?” a soldier said.
“Yeah, right. No move is the best,” the captain replied. “Wh-what the heck is that?” the captain exclaimed on turning to outside. He pointed to a dot of flame floating in the air.
“Flame Card, burn it,” Geso Li ordered. Then the flame ran on a line like a fuse until it reached the turret. It caught on fire in the blink of an eye. Jumping off the turret down onto the ground, the soldiers and the captain could see hundreds of solders holding torches.
Masculine soldiers gathered at the Kukoku army base, where King Kuna was drinking sake with joy. “It’s very fun! After the hag Reko’s death, Kukoku army is really powerless and hopeless. Oh, powerless is just hopeful to us or what. Don’t you think so, Kuka?”
Kuka, Kuna’s little brother, replied, “Brother, but we gotta stay alert. I hear the princess in Yakoku tames evil spirits.”
“What are you afraid of about the 13-year-old cutie-sweetie? Hee hee, I wanna get her to be my 13th mistress,” Kuna laughed.
Besides, the soldiers were standing still expressionlessly.
In an early morning, Sakua dressed in a beautiful sacred outfit, and some men of influence were in the courtyard in the sanctuary, to hold a court. The plaintif was an old farmer who claimed, “I’m telling my son didn’t cultivate the land given by Queen Reko, and he forced me to pay the land tax for his own land.” The defendant is his son claiming, “Queen Reko gave me a waste land, with poor irrigation...”
Sakura was tired of listening to their claim. She had more suits than usual, so she has no time to fix breakfast.
“Stay awake, Lady Iyo,” a maid warned Sakura.
“Hoee...”
The Cards were watching the court from up the roof of the sanctuary. The Hope Card was disgusted to see Sakura’s attitude. “I can’t bare to look at Sakura being the judge. Oh, I know!”
From among the Sakura Cards floating around, the Libra floated down into the courtyard, and came up to Sakura. “I know,” thinking up how to use the Card, she whispered a chant, “Libra, show me which one is the right.”
Sakura cleared her throat, and began to speak, “I deliver the judgement!” Hearing Sakura’s sacred judgement, people prostrated themselves. Sakura seemed to wear a dignity of the governing class.
Getting through all the suit for the morning, Sakura walks back to her room. “Sorry to be late, Syaoran. You must be hungry.”
As soon as she entered the room, Sakura froze speechless—because she saw Geso Li before her eyes.
“Good morning, the successor of Clow Reed,” the wicked wizard said.
“Sakura.” Syaoran was holding his sword to him, but Geso didn’t care about such a thing.
“The magic ball from the Li clan. A good reinforcement,” Geso sneered.
“What do you want from us?” Sakura said in irritation, “My next action depends on your answer.” Sakura motioned her Cards to gather within her reach to be ready to attack for a reason. Opposing Geso Li called his Cards around him in the same manner.
“Did you know Kukoku, the neighboring province started attacking this province?” Geso replied, “Your province was the battle starter every year in the past, but you’re forestalled this year.”
“Why...?”
“I am giving you two the time to escape,” Geso said, “your enemy’s command will reach in an hour if the earliest. Once the command was executed you’ll have no chance to escape.”
At this time Syaoran shouted, “Element wind!”
“Quake,” Geso chanted, when immediately the Quake Card flashed and there started an earthquake vibrating the room violently. Being shocked from the vibration, Li’s wind magic got panic and turned back at Sakura. Sakura, who never got frightened, protected her Cards, when the Hope Card was at her side.
“I won’t escape before Iyo comes back. I’ll stay here with Syaoran,” she answered with a determined look.
“You are so stubborn. Beautiful sense of justice,” Geso sneered. “Teleport!” he chanted.
“Wait! Wood! Maze” Sakura called two Cards to catch him, but it was a little late. The two cards losing the taget floated still. All of a sudden the Hope Card jumped up to Sakura’s chest, “Sakura, something scary is starting. I’m scared of people turning scary.”
“People losing human’s mind. What can we do, Sakura?” Syaoran said in concern.
She couldn’t find an answer, or exactly, she didn’t have time to find. The door opened and the captain of the army came in, “Lady Iyo, it’s an emergency! Three turret at the border was surrendered.”
An airplane from England taxied to a boarding bridge, inside which the P.A. announced, “The plane is docking the boardring bridge. Welcome to Japan.”
When a pretty woman was trying to take her baggage, the boy sitting next to her interrupted, “Don’t be in a hurry like that, Kaho.”
“Oh, Eriol, I am worrying about Sakura and Syaoran,” said the woman.
The girl sitting the other side next to him didn’t say a word, but she rocks her hands restlessly with excitement when she holds Suppi on a stuffed animal impression.
“Ruby Moon, you look excited,” Eriol said to Nakuru.
“Why not? I can sense something interesting is gonna happen. I can feet it.”