Chapter 8

Medal Ceremony

          As the crowd roared with cheers for Kikyo, the new Olympic champion, Kagome stared at the target in disbelief. There was her arrow, securely fixed in the 8 ring, inches from potential victory. She could not figure out how what she had done wrong. Why was this arrow just a bit to the right of the bullseye? Such a small difference in distance, yet such a big difference in result; she was the silver medalist.

          She turned her head to see Kikyo walking off the field, towards InuYasha. Tears filled her eyes as he was about to embrace Kikyo. Kikyo then shot a quick glance at Kagome, and for the first time during the tournament, she smiled. It was a wily smile, a taunting one. She then immediately turned back to InuYasha, and pressed her lips against his.

          Kagome turned hysterical as she watched Kikyo and InuYasha kiss for what seemed like days. All the while, as she watched their kiss through tear-filled eyes, the crowd continued to cheer. Suddenly only one thing went through her mind: she wanted to run away.

          So she dropped her bow and sprinted towards the exit of the stadium, but she never made it even halfway there. She was immediately greeted by a Japanese archery official, who came over to congratulate her on her silver medal-winning performance. He was holding a large Japanese flag, which he wanted for her to celebrate with.

          She heard none of his words. She pushed the flag away, then turned towards the stands. She walked over to where her family was, and they had made their way down to the front row.

          “Congratulations, big sis!” Sota called down to her.

          “We’re so proud of you!” Mrs. Higurashi shouted.

          “A silver medal is something to be proud of!” her grandfather yelled.

          She wanted no consolation. A loss to Kikyo was worse than any other possible result in the tournament, even a loss in the first round. But as her family continued to give her congratulations, she turned away from them, taking a seat on the ground.

          She then just sat there, in the grass, crying hysterically. Some Olympic officials noticed this as they set up the medal podium, commenting that they had never seen someone so upset over coming in second place before. They let her cry, though, until the medal ceremony was set to begin. That was when a couple of Chinese girls motioned for her to join the other medalists for the medal ceremony.

          Kagome followed the girls so she could get in line for the medal ceremony. Fortunately for her, she was placed near the front of the line, in front of Kikyo, so she would not have to look at her archrival. There she waited for a couple of minutes, before the medal ceremony began.

          The beautiful song “Molihua” came over the stadium’s speakers, beginning the medal ceremony, and the medalists marched out, each led by a Chinese girl. They all walked to their spots behind the medal stand, waiting for their names to be announced. All three of them had different expressions on their faces; the Korean archer who won the bronze medal was smiling happily, Kagome was crying, and Kikyo was stoic.

          Kagome was in so much despair that she hardly noticed when the Korean archer’s name was announced. She stepped up to the podium and received her bronze medal to cheers from the crowd. She was also handed a bouquet of flowers, as was customary for every medalist.

          “Silver medalist, from Japan, Kagome Higurashi!” the public address announcer said. Kagome stepped up onto her spot on the podium, as the crowd cheered loudly. An archery official then placed the silver medal around her neck, and she gave him a fake smile as she shook his hand. She then took her bouquet of flowers, waiting for the dreaded announcement.

          “Gold medalist, and Olympic champion! From Japan, Kikyo!” the PA announcer said. Kikyo then stepped up onto the top spot on the medal stand, and the crowd erupted. It was all Kagome could do to keep herself from going hysterical again as Kikyo was awarded her gold medal and bouquet of flowers. Kikyo, however, did not even smile, keeping her same emotionless expression on her face throughout the whole ceremony.

          “Ladies and gentlemen, please rise, for the national anthem of Japan!” the PA announcer said. Everyone in the stadium rose to their feet and looked over at the flagpoles, where three flags were ready to be raised. The national anthem then began to play, and the flags made their way towards the top of the flagpoles. Not only did Kikyo remain without expression throughout the anthem, there was no way she could feel patriotic; after all, she came from a time before Japan was an organized nation. Kagome wished she could feel proud about hearing her national anthem being played, but she knew that it was not being played because of her performance, but rather because of Kikyo’s victory.

          Once the anthem finished playing, the crowd cheered very loudly again. “Once again, our Olympic medalists!” the PA announcer said. The Korean archer stepped up to the top step of the podium with Kikyo, as it was customary for the three medalists to have their picture taken together there. However, Kikyo shot her such an angry glare that she stepped back onto her step of the podium. And in bizarre fashion, instead of the medalists walking out together, they all split up, with Kagome bolting from her spot on the podium, and Kikyo stepping off it to meet up with InuYasha.

          As Kagome began to run towards her family, InuYasha seemed genuinely concerned about her. “Kagome! Kagome!” he called to her, but she did not respond. He was ready to run after her, but Kikyo grabbed his arm, and he stopped. The Japanese archery officials then began to talk to them about how they would be transported back to where they came from.

          Kagome met up with her family shortly before exiting the stadium. It only took one look at her face for Mrs. Higurashi to embrace her daughter. Sota desperately tried to get a look at the silver medal, while Mrs. Higurashi tried to console Kagome.

          “It’s going to be okay,” she whispered to Kagome.

          “No! It’s not!” Kagome screamed. “InuYasha said that if Kikyo won the gold medal, that she would be the one who he would go with!”

          “So you’re not even so upset about coming in second, but about InuYasha choosing her over you,” Kagome’s mother replied. “I understand.”

          “Oh, Mama,” Kagome cried, as she burst into tears once more.

          The Higurashi family went back to their hotel, where they spent one last night, before planning to travel back to Japan the next morning. That night, as she was about to go to sleep, Kagome felt something sharp in her pocket.

          The jewel shards, she thought. I guess I won’t need these anymore.

          But she took a closer look at them. They were tainted, much darker than usual. She then realized that it had been her jealousy of Kikyo that had tainted the jewel shards.

          The jealousy in my heart has tainted these shards, she thought. I’ve been so selfish…

          She thought about her Olympic performance in a new perspective. She had gone from simply using archery as a recreation, to representing her nation in the Olympic Games. And not only had she represented Japan, she had done quite a good job of it, too, winning a silver medal. One of those Japanese flags waving during the medal ceremony – it was because of her performance. She really had made her country proud, as well as her family. Why else would Sota want to wear her silver medal to bed?

          These thoughts allowed Kagome to smile. She then slept in peace, realizing that the Olympics had not been a lost cause after all.