Composed by deko
Translated by Yuki Neco
A small glowing ball floated down outside by the window, when Sakura is peacefully sleeping in bed under the blanket. The glow got stanger and encircled Sakura’s room like a red curtain. Disturbed by the intense light, Sakura winced in nightmare.
Sakura was floating in PJs in a dark world. “Where am I?” she wondered, seeing a steel-frame gigantic structure. The red glowing at top of the structure showed a contrast against the dark background.
“I wonder what that is,” she pointed the glow on the top, when an intense beam of light shone above her. Illuminated by the light, the structure revealed its aspect just once, which looked like a parabolic antenna; it disappeared in the blinding illumination as if it was shrunk to nothing.
An alarm clock went off as Sakura extended her arm out of the bedding to grope for the disturbance. She yanked the clock into the bedding, but immediately she got up.
“Pheeeeeeah!” she yawned, looking like she was still half asleep. She opened the southern window by the shelf on which her stuffed toys were, then she yawned with her mouth widely open once again feeling a fresh morning breeze through the window. At the moment, she saw a boy just in front.
“Hoeeee!,” Sakura and the boy screamed with surprise at the very same time. He was Syaoran Li, brushing his teeth at the washstand on the second floor, who lived in the house next door.
Her scream was of course heard by Touya and Fujitaka preparing for breakfast.
“Not again...” Touya sighed. Fujitaka serving miso soup in bowls felt funny to see his son frowning with a sigh.
“Good to hear her scream every morning since the end of last summer,” Fujikata smiled gently.
“You think so? Her scream is on the talk in the neighborhood, pretty embarrassing,” Touya narrowed his eyes. “Umm, Dad, you’ve got any plan for this winter?”
“Attending a symposium as usual,” Fujikata replied.
“As usual,” Touya said to himself, “I wonder until when Sakura’s life is as usual.” At this time, his sister ran into the kitchen as he averted his look in reaction.
In a sophomore class of Tomoeda Junior High School, Mr. Asaka handed the students their report cards. “That’s it for the term. I hope you all have a merry Christmas and a happy new year.” Meanshile, the students didn’t listen to the teacher, busy with comparing their report cards with next seats. The most lively comparing was around Sakura.
“Hey, can we attend Mass at Tomoeda Church?” asked Naoko.
“Yeah,” Chiharu replied, “Takashi joins the choir this Christmas.”
“Well, speaking of choir...” Takashi tried to start his story.
“Umm, are you going back to Hong Kong?” Sakura asked Syaoran.
“I won’t go back, for the time being,” Syaoran stuttered.
All the class turned to look at Sakura and Syaoran in response to his answer. Syaoran became even redder. In contrast, Tomoyo kept quiet as if she had worries. The moment Sakura nearly talked to her, the bell signaled the end of the class.
General affairs clerks were making tea for the teachers who came back to the staff room, when there was the news on TV that Crommelt comet attracted interests of astronomy fans because of its return of the next year after 56 years, One of the teachers spoke to Mr. Asaka, “You like astronomy, don’t you, Mr. Asaka?” Mr. Asaka sipping tea turned excited when he was watching the news, “Yes, I do! But its orbit hasn’t calculated so far. Some say that it may approach the Mercury at the opposite side across the sun. The mystery is that the calculation doesn’t match the observation about this case. I heard that the Hubble space telescope...”
The teachers had shifted to their daily talk, apart from fanatic astonomy topic, before Asaka realized it.
A small glowing dot was floating outside the window of the archeology laboratory. It stopped and stuck to the window as if it was peeking in the laboratory, where Professor Kinomoto was giving a lecture. The students including Yukito Tsukishiro, Youko Nakagawa, and Touya were present, but none of them ever noticed the mysterous glowing dot on the window.
Just before dusk, Tomoyo, Sakura, and Syaoran were passing by the playground of Tomoeda Elementary School. Sakura worried about Tomoyo who had been looked sad all day, beginning, “Tomoyo, tell me...”
“Thanks, Sakura. That’s OK, I can handle it on my own,” Tomoyo smiled wearily bafore walking away alone hurriedly.
“Takashi sad this,” Syaoran said, “but that Tomoyo will have to go on a first-rate high school targetting a first-rate university.”
“So she has to go to a different school?!” Sakura turned astonished, widening her eyes.
“It can’t be helped. Her family owns a big company. There’s a type of life that she has to choose.”
Sakura was struck by an impulse because she had never thought of types of life. That made her worry about everything she cared for; Sakura couldn’t help making sure of it, but she could barely mumble in a timid way, “How about you, Syaoran? Will you, too...”
He caressed her gently just the same way he had supported her by the side in the ancient time in the past summer*.
NOTE: See “Ancient Girl.”
“Like I said, I’m always with you. Japan is my new home, I decided. Just because you two go to different schools means that your friendship fade to nothing, don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Sakura shook her head, “I do wish her a good luck and happiness. And she wishes us the same.”
All of a sudden, the two teenagers heard kids cry in the elementary school.
The thing happened when the kids were feeding the rabbit in the cage. A glowing dot crossed their sight before striking their view with an intense lightning as they collapsed with scream. When the mysterious glowing dot floated into the rabbit, then its ears grew even longer, and its eyes turned blue. Sakura and Syaoran ran to the scene when the transformed long-ear rabbit flashed its eyes, then the cage bursted to and fro and up. Sakura chanted, “The key that holds the power of the stars, reveal your true form to me. I, Sakura, commands thee under covenant. Release!” The glowing magic circle of Sakura Cards appeared, and then Windy Card was called out. As soon as the Windy gently held the kids away from the place, Syaoran held his blade and shouted, “God of lightning!” The sky rumbled and a powerful lighning shot down, then Sakura used the Arrow Card simultaneously. But their attacks were blocked by the force field set up by the mounsterous rabbit.
“This isn’t just a rabbit. Stay alert, Sakura. Our magic is useless to this thing!” Syaoran shouted.
“What? Then what can we...” Sakura schouted in confusion, “Aaaahhhh!”
The rabbit monster flashed its eyes then the big garbage bags that was laid by the incinerator came flying at a ferece speed toward them. Releasing the Shield Card, Sakura protected themselves in the nick of time, but the garbage bags bursted at the impact on the Shield; there were garbages all over the place. Funny as it may look, it was a critical situation to those magic fighters. To make the matter worse, other garbage bags came and joined the battle, combining each other to form a gorem. Sakura and Syaoran were driven to the corner on their each other’s backs.
“I wonder if I did something to offend those garbage bags?” Sakura whined tatally confused.
“We feel like a waste disposal agency,” Sayoran mumbled, “Use the Erase Card, Sakura!”
“OK,” Sakura replied, but stepped back, “Too big for the magic!”
There came a reinforcement; a golden beast flew breathing fire, “Look how hopeless you are against those gargage bags!”
Landing to protect the two teenages, Kerberos attacked the garbage bags acting like a flamethower. But the gabages fought back fast; wooden chips, metal pieces, and fluo tubes flew with clatters and drove them back. Finally, a watery garbage bag exploded by the fire breath of Kerberos, which made the three opponents into shabby looking.
“Hey, look what you’ve done, Kerobeos!” complained Syaoran.
“Stinks! I don’t believe you,” cried Sakura.
“So sue me. But, Sakura, use the Sword Card!,” Kerberos gave a shout, “You cover her with your wind magic, brat!”
“OK!” Sakura and Syaoran replied.
Syaoran released his wind magic that blew so strong that the garbage gorem couldn’t proceed. Sakura jumped with the sword and cut it through the gorem; in response, enormous amount of gabage came out of the slashed body.
“Er-” There wasn’t enough time for her to release the Ease Card. The teenages and the guardian were shapelessly buried in the gabage. In the humiliating situation, Syaoran was surprised to see that the evil power had disappered. The playground of the elementary school had turned back to normal.
“Hoeee, too nasty, why me?!” Sakura cried.
A lovely rabbit hopped to them. It looked nothing else than an ordinary little rabbit.
“Strange. This guy was definitely the source of the power, but now...” Kerberos looked at the rabbit suspiciously.
Syaoran offered a hand to get her back on her feet with blush, thinking to himself, “Wow, she’s great. She managed to shield herself without knowing it herself.” When she looked up at him, Syaoran had a fit.
“What are you guys waiting for,” Sakura requested, “If we don’t hurry we’re toast!” They looked around to see how much garbage they had to clean.
Sakura and Syaoran stealthily ran though paths and streets, carefully looking right and left at corners. Ironically, their strange behavior attracts people’s attention.
“Mommy, those two stink!” a little girl whined.
So much humiliated that they wanted to find a cave to hide away, though Sakura’s cell phone rang. She picked it up and answered embarrassedly. It was from Masaki Amamiya, her great grandfather.
“Oh, granddad! Syaoran, it’s from granddad,” Sakura said to Syaoran.
“It’s been a while. Don’t you have any plan for this vacation?” the old man asked.
“Nothing special,” Sakura stammered a reply.
“Good. Would you share time with me? I want to ski after a long time, but I’m not good at skiing,” Masaki suggested.
“That’s great!” Sakura exclaimed.
“I’m looking forward to seeing you and your boyfriend Syaoran,” the old man laughed in a graceful manner.
Finishing the talk on the phone, Sakura jumped with joy, giggling, “Granddad asked us for skiing with him, Syaoran! That sounds great! I love skiing so much that I love to be called Sakuranovski!”
“OK, I know it’s funny, but we gotta get out of here...” Syaoran said embarrassedly, seeing passers-by stifling laughter pinching their noses.
Back in her room, Sakura spread her skiing clothes on her bed, beside, Kero was thinking in a puzzled look, “That was definitely a magical power for sure. Transmitting powers without a channel... Could this be a psychic?”
On the other hand, Sakura thought something different gazing out the window, when she said, “That tower. I saw it in my dream.”
“Hmm? You said something?” Kero turned to her.
She was looking at the tower of cellular phone relay station that was constructed lately.