May 2022, Vanna's note: Hi! Yes, I'm aware "The Garden of Youth" and "The Shining Thing" have the same text. These are the only copies of the content I could find and this is how they appear in the original. Sorry!

Miki is searching for something he refers to as his "shining thing". He felt it in a special garden in his youth, but lost it some where along the way, or perhaps he never really had it in the first place. What exactly is the nature of this shining thing? Can it be recaptured or is it something so fragile that it is gone forever.

In a garden long ago, Miki discovered inspiration and joy playing the piano with his sister. Together, they wrote a lovely song expressing all the bliss, beauty, and luscious sweetness of their special place. The piece was brilliant and soon people wanted them to do concerts and other shows. Miki's sister was hesitant, but he was happy and wanted to do it-to take the stage with his partner and play the beautiful song. He assured her that he would be at her side, convincing her to join him. At the last minute, something awful happened. He became ill, unable to perform, but surely one of the genius children would still be able to play the lovely song and she was forced to go on stage. She froze and could not play. Following the incident, she went catatonic and even when she recovered, she would not touch the piano.

In that moment, everything Miki thought he had was lost. How he had enjoyed having his sister next to him as he played. The way she played seemed to make him play better as well, as if inspiration flowed from her. Together they had been special. Now she was no longer there and it was his fault. After all, he had been the one to push her. No matter what he tried, or how well he played, he couldn't recapture the feeling of sun on his face, the smell of flowers all around him, and the sweet presence of his beloved sister. His shining thing was gone.

Was his sister the shining thing, or was she merely a symbol of it? There had been closeness between them, an intimacy, when they played, each making the other more beautiful. In a sense, she stopped "shining" when she refused to play because she was no longer special. He wants her to hear their song and return to that sweet girl he had loved in the garden. More important than that, the shining thing is the way he had felt. He had been inspired, beautiful, and special in that time and in that place, more so than any other time. The shining thing takes him back to that time so that he can experience it even after it has passed. What he doesn't know is that it was a lie.

A neighbor boy had admired the sister's beautiful piano music, not knowing that it was Miki and not she who could play. She would sit with her brother and play horribly but he was so brilliant that he covered up all of her mistakes and nobody knew the difference. The reason she couldn't play alone on stage that night was not stage fright, but a huge lie that had finally caught up with her. Still, she let Miki blame himself for it and allowed him to suffer for a sin he never committed.

The light and the beauty he found in the garden had all been from him. His sister had been only a placebo which freed him from doubt and gave him confidence. The inspiration had been his as well. He attached all these things to externals-the garden, the sunlight, the girl-never understanding that he was the force behind all of it. He didn't need these things to find happiness, because he was the master of his own joy. He was looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack (in the original sense of the story) and hurt and disappointed when he could not find it.

Akio and Anthy were able to take advantage of his quest for an illusive time machine that could take him back to the garden. They pull him into the duels, promising him the shining thing, even though they did not have the power to give it to him. Only he could discover the truth and end his search.

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