The 7th FY novel: Eikou Den.

Summarized by: Tetris no Miko

Novel 7 was the introduction, and novel 8 is the conclusion. Watase mentioned that she wants to do something with the Byakko/Genbu Seishi and had an opportunity to make novels to them, but turned it down b/c she wanted to make a manga on them and if she accepted the novels then she wouldn't get to do the manga...but then there's the possibility that she can't do the manga, in this case, losing it all...but she wants to make it and might make them into manga OUTSIDE of flower comics...so keep your fingers crossed ^_^

The characters in this novel (that I feel are prominent) are Taka, Chichiri, Tasuki, Keisuke, and Mayo (a new character). in WataseТs freetalk, she mentioned that many fans said that they envied Miaka and wanted to become Suzaku no Miko...so she had this story written to satisfy them. asically, the story starts with Miaka's and Taka's wedding (Taka is 21, and Miaka is 18.) family, friends, and the people from Taka's basketball club that he coaches all come to the wedding (girl #2 comes, too!!! yeyadfl;ksdh!) when Miaka throws the bouquet, Mayo (one of the girls in the basketball club Taka coaches, age 16) catches it. later that night, Taka and Miaka reminisce over how they met and all the events that happened in FY, and Mayo eavesdrops on them and gets suspicious that what they're saying is true...

And now onto Mayo...she's a typical high schooler who goes to the same high school Miaka went to. when she was still in jr. high, she fell in love with Taka when she saw him working at the restaurant he worked at. she had decided to give up on him, but my coincidence, he became the coach of the girl's basketball club at Yostubadai (Miaka's/Mayo's high school), and Mayo got even crazier about him and started to hate Miaka. she was devastated when she heard that they were going to get married and that Taka wasn't going to coach the club anymore...and on top of all of that, her parents' marriage has been failing over the years; they each have other lovers, and Mayo just wants them to get divorced, but feels like she's preventing them from doing so, and feels pretty crappy in general. so when she heard about the ShiJinTenChiSho from Taka and Miaka, she decided to look into it. she checked out the library, but the only record of the book was that it was missing. her club gets a new coach, and it's Keisuke!!! yaaay! he realizes that Mayo's having some emotional problems and tries to help her talk about them, but she refuses his sympathy (calling him a "kusojijii" ^v^ ) and is convinced that she has to find the book somehow, get sucked into it and change the story so that she and Taka get together.

Later, it's discovered that Miaka is three months pregnant. Keisuke lets that slip out to Mayo, and this sends her over the edge...and whaddaya know, but she finds the book! in a pile of garbage...the book it's self is also full of cigarette stains, coffee stains, and is generally falling apart (apparently from having so many people read it). Keisuke catches her as she finds the book and begs her not to go into it, but he can't stop her and she gets sucked in. their only link is a torn handkerchief that Keisuke had lent her.

When Mayo enters the book world, there's a thick sandstorm around her and she can't see anything. she's taken to KonanТs palace and meets Boushin and Houki (Boushin has a different name, but I forgot it...sorry!) 10 years have passed in the book-world, and Boushin is kinda ruling the country (with his mother's help). they inform her that the country is in danger. things are crumbling, sandstorms are surging, etc., etc. Mayo is happy about this because it means that Miaka had "failed" to save the country. she suddenly gets the idea to become Suzaku no Miko and save the world (probably figuring that Taka will chose her over Miaka if she does this). when she decides to be Suzaku no Miko, she feels a power surging through her, and red light comes from her belly. everyone is in awe and accept her as the new Suzaku no Miko.

In the "real" world, Keisuke, feeling something bad, rushes over to Miaka's and Taka's apartment. the two are having dinner when Miaka suddenly passes out on the table. they go to the hospital (Keisuke, too), and find out that Miaka is okay, but the doctors say that she is not pregnant, nor ever was. Taka is shocked when he notices that Miaka's not wearing her wedding ring anymore either. Keisuke informs him that the baby and wedding ring probably went to Mayo. Taka doesn't really remember Mayo, but Keisuke informs him that she had been in love with him for years. meanwhile, in the book-world, Mayo isn't really doing anything, but being treated like a princess. she informs everyone that she is pregnant with Taka's baby, and everyone doesn't want to believe her because they wanted Miaka and Taka to be happy together, but Mayo insists that she is Taka's true wife. her lady in waiting, Mumin, is sweet to her, but she was also Miaka's lady in waiting, and keeps comparing the two. Mayo tells her that Miaka was just a pig who was selfishly in love with Tamahome, but when Mumin tells her that Miaka was sweet and that everyone loved her, Mayo gets really mad and demands that she never speak of Miaka again.

Keisuke and Taka learn that Miaka won't be able to wake up until Mayo returns from the book-world. Taka decides to go in after her and asks Keisuke to watch over Miaka for him. Keisuke does this and also tries to patch up the book while he's at it.

When Taka goes into the book-world, Mayo pretends that he is her husband and all of that. Taka painfully goes along with it because if he were to deny it, he'd have to tell everyone that they were just characters in a book. (though I think Houki and the others are more pained with the idea of Taka marrying Mayo rather than being a character in a book ^_^ ) Taka begs Mayo to give the baby back to Miaka, but she refuses, so Taka decides to look for the other Seishi (being Tasuki and Chichiri). he calls out desperately for Chichiri as he walks in a sand storm, and sure enough, Chichiri comes (incidentally, he still wears his mask. poop. he also still uses "oira" and "no da" ) Taka informs Chichiri of the crisis, and Chichiri decides to take them to Mt. Taikyoku...but they can't go without my lover ^_- so they stop off at Mt. Reikaku first.

When they get to Mt. Reikaku, they are immediately captured by Kouji (who does his typical "excuse me, who's there? it's the leader of the Mt. Reikaku bandits. oh, please enter. thanks." and has some fun with his prisoners until he recognizes them as Taka and Chichiri. then, when asked if he's really the leader, Tasuki jumps out of a tree and clobbers Kouji for lying about being the leader. he doesn't notice his friends at first, but then Taka calls out "Tasuki!" and surprisingly enough...Tasuki doesn't remember he's Tasuki!....for a second...then he remembers ^_^ over the past 10 years, besides Tasuki and Kouji growing long hair, Tasuki and Chichiri's powers have faded a bit (might have to do with the book falling apart, too).

Tasuki, Chichiri, and Taka all go to Mt. Taikyoku and see Taiitsukun. she tells them the only thing they can do is find the other Seishi (reborn) and call on Suzaku, so they decide to do this.

When Tasuki and Chichiri meet Mayo, it's a meeting that...would occur if one of us were in Mayo's position. she asked Chichiri to take his mask off so she could see his fine face ^_^;; and got Tasuki to say an outburst so she could make fun of his kansai-ben. Tasuki and Chichiri don't think much of her. That night, before the three set off on their quest, Mayo tries to get Taka to sleep with her, but he refuses. she demands why he can't just decide to settle down and be happy with her and not worry about Konan, and he argues that they'll all die if they don't save Konan. Taka asks Mayo once more if she'll give Miaka the baby back, go home, and let Miaka be Suzaku no Miko so they can save Konan, and she says "I will only if you promise to be with me forever". Taka says he will promise to be with her forever, but says that Miaka will be the one he will always love. Tasuki and Chichiri (who had been eavesdropping on them) sigh in relief, when they realize that Taka really had remained faithful to Miaka.

In the "real" world, Keisuke calls Tetsuya and Yui over for help. they try to talk Mayo into coming back, but she refuses. Tetsuya and Yui realize that Keisuke has kinda fallen in love with Mayo during this process (why, I can't see, but oh well)

Mayo feels alone. She is called by Suzaku and he tells her that he doesn't have to worry about the country and that he'll take care of everything. he also says that she and Taka are meant to be together and stuff like that...a black, shadowy bird takes over Mayo.

The next morning, Taka, Tasuki and Chichiri take off to look for the others (with HotohoriТs sacred sword and the compass-thingie that can detect Seishi), but are stopped by a heard of black crows. these black crows are sort of lead by Mayo and she's all evil and stops them and stuff...

And that's that...