Loud cheers could be heard from the spectator's ranges, especially from the two benches were - coincidentally - the two 'families' of the two girl champions were sitting.
"All right!" Minas cheered. "Did you see that? Our Chibiusas is already leading... OW!"
The blonde thief angrily rubbed her back, where another, short-haired blonde just kicked her. "Shut up!" Harukas shouted. "Don't you see that our Hotarus is gonna win?"
"As if!" Makos grumbled. "I didn't train our pink girl for nothing, you hear me?"
"Oh, so you trained her, then?" Setsunas mocked. "I should have known... the way she's wobbling all over the track..."
"You take that back!" Makos jumped up from her seat, ignoring the upset shouts of the other spectators all around them.
The confrontation was forgotten, when suddenly, everyone else in the stadium started cheering.
"What? What?" Amis shouted excitedly as she tried looking through the waving crowd. "Who was it? Who came through first?"
----
The members of the Olympic Committee weren't the only ones to be stunned with surprise.
"A draw!" Uminos finally gasped. "Those two girls came through at the same time. Unbelievable! Honey, who are those athletes?"
Queen Narus looked at the list of participants. "It says here their names are 'Chibiusas Runas' and 'Hotarus Hopas'."
"Weird names," Usagis Tsukinos spoke up. The odangoed tradeswoman looked down into the stadium, to the finish line, where the two girls were standing next to each other, each of them smiling proudly.
"Why are they smiling at each other?" Usagis then murmured. She frowned. "And why do I have this feeling of... resentment, each time I look at the pink-haired girl...?"
----
Hotarus and Chibiusas continued to amaze the people of Olympia, along with the king and the other committee members.
The next discipline was the javelin throw... and both of them reached the exact same throwing distance. And that was just the beginning.
They reached the same distance at the Long Jump, the same height at the high jump, the same throwing distance at the hammer throwing...
And the strangest thing was... the two girls didn't exactly act like the fierce rivals they seemed to be. They were always together at the start... and reached the goal together. And each time they both won the same discipline, a close watcher could see the happy smiles they were giving each other, every time they reached their goal.
----
Finally, the final event of the Olympic Games was starting... the marathon!
But, in the end...
"I don't believe it!" Queen Narus shouted in awe. "Those girls did it again! They ran through the goal at the same time!"
Her husband shook his head. "Impossible! This never happened before. What shall we do? We can't possibly declare them both to winners."
"Let's ask Ryos Urawas!" the queen suggested.
"Who is that, your Majesty?" Usagis asked curiously.
Narus smiled. "Urawas is a wise man with an exceptional skill: He can clearly remember everything that he has seen in his life... every single detail."
"Impressive!" Mamorus remarked.
The king nodded. "Yes, he calls it his 'photographic memory'."
While the king and queen walked over to the wise Urawa's chair, the merchant couple was exchanging confused looks.
"Photographic?" Usagis whispered. "What's that supposed to be?"
Her husband shrugged. "Beats me. I never heard that word before."
Meanwhile, the king and queen stepped in front of the wise man. Urawas was exceptionally young for someone of his reputation.
"Greetings, wise Urawas," King Uminos addressed the young, brown-haired man. "I suppose you have seen the marathon, correct?"
Urawas smiled. "Of course, your Majesty!"
"Well, could you tell us who reached the goal first?"
"That should be no problem, your Majesty. Just a moment, please..."
He closed his eyes and raised his hand to his forehead. He seemed to be concentrating on something. The royal couple was waiting patiently.
Suddenly, Urawas gasped, and his eyes opened. "Oh my..." he mumbled.
"What?" the king asked. "Did you see it? Who won the race?"
Urawas sadly shook his head. "I'm sorry, your Majesty... but the marathon was simply too long. I'm ashamed to admit it... but I can't tell you the real winner."
Uminos groaned and nearly collapsed against the wall in anguish, wouldn't his wife catch him gently. "That can't be possible!" he sighed.
----
In the end, the king had no choice: He had to declare both girls to the winners of the Olympic Games.
And that would mean the Tsukinos family would have to donate two sacks of gold and two statues for the winners.
While Mamorus was trying to arouse his passed-out wife, the judges were leading the two girls to the podium of the awards ceremony.
The king started to recite a long speech to the audience, in which he praised the athletes and talked much about the glorious contests, and how they they would honor the gods.
Meanwhile, Chibiusas and Hotarus tried to look totally inconspicuous, but they couldn't help but giggle.
"Everyone was wondering how we managed to be equal in every single contest," Chibiusas whispered.
"Yes," Hotarus whispered back. "No one noticed that we did it on purpose..."
Meanwhile, their legal guardians got impatient with the king's long speech.
"Oooooh, shut up already," Reis hissed under her breath.
"Yeah, show us the money already," Harukas grumbled.
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(Posted Sun, 18 Mar 2007 18:03)
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