Written by: Sakuma-san
2. Sakura's Wonderful Friend
“Sakura!…Sakura!”
Like every morning, the alarm clock goes off and Sakura wakes up; however today, the she decided to go back to sleep until she heard a voice, heavy with an Osaka-accent calling her name. She rises, groggy from sleep and looks around. The girl turns her eyes at the television only to see that it is turned off, and she doesn’t know what possibly could be screaming her name. The heroine looks around confused and is greeted with a large, round, yellow face…
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
The morning starts off late and loud with a scream and a conversation between Sakura and Cerberus, they discuss the events that had happened the night before, and the beast of the seal is not hesitant to call Sakura a “Card Captor.” Denying she has any talent with the cards, Sakura makes her way downstairs ready for breakfast, to see that her brother is cooking. Of course when these two meet some insults must be thrown around. Today, it results in Touya getting his foot smashed my Sakura’s foot. The young girl eats breakfast quickly and steals some cookies off the counter as a short breakfast for Cerberus. In her room they have another quick conversation where the yellow beast discovers that when Sakura talks about her father going to school, she means that he is a professor at the university, not a student.
On her roller blades, Sakura decides to take a little detour on the way to school. This detour is of course, to see her beloved “Yukito-san,” who this morning, is happily cleaning his yard by brushing dirt off an area of the dirt floor to another area of dirt floor (he’s such a one-dimensional character…really). After several blushes and nods, Sakura receives a bouquet of flowers from Yukito who tells her to decorate the classroom with them. Happily, the little girl skates of to school, filled with many smiles and “hanyan”’s.
With a cheer, Sakura realizes that she is the first one in the classroom, and that she is not late for duty at all. After she sits down, Tomoyo soon enters the same room, claiming she has something to show Sakura. The girl takes out a video camera and plays a video where you see a small figure fly across the night sky. Sakura, a bit puzzled and nervous can only mutter out incoherent sounds. With a smile, Tomoyo blows up the image, and this time it is crystal clear that the flying figure is indeed Sakura on her cane with Cerberus flying close behind.
“HOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”
Sakura’s scream causes the hidden Cerberus to pop out of Sakura’s school bag..
“What’s wrong Sakura? Is it a Clow Card?……..Uh Oh.”
During lunch outside, Sakura scolds Cerberus for hiding in her bag. A floating yellow puffball is not exactly an everyday object. Tomoyo soon asks to be introduced to Cerberus and names are exchanged. However, the girls agree that Cerberus is not a name that suits the flying stuffed animal, rather, they much prefer “Kero-chan.” After some protests from Kero-chan, Tomoyo then asks Sakura if she could perform some magic. A bit hesitant, the heroine summons the cane anyways. Sakura says that she could use magic, but only if she had a card. The newly named Cerberus soon pops out of Sakrua’s bag with a Clow Card; he’s so encouraging today.
The day continues and when school ends, the children leave for home; strange though, that their shadows remain.
The next day Sakura arrives at school and sees a crowd of children blocking the way to the track. She quickly runs up and meets up with her friends Chiharu and Rika. All three of them then inspect the cause of all this attention. To their shock, they see a mountain of box horses and desks piled up in the middle of the school’s field. The children then run to class, to see the situation is much the same; all the desks in the room are piled up in the middle of the classroom. Could this be the work of a Clow Card? Why of course! Tomoyo and Kero decide that it is best to go to school at night, because some cards will only show themselves when it is dark. Poor Sakura, afraid of ghosts can only scream,
“DAME! DAME! DAME!”
After hours of practicing magical poses and phrases, Sakura and Kero arrive at Tomoeda Elementary School. Tomoyo soon arrives in a slew of vehicles, most of which are carrying the young girl’s bodyguards. After slight conversation, Tomoyo shows Sakura the contents of the van that came with her. Opening the door, the Card Captor and her beast are amazed to see that the automobile is filled with sets upon sets of costumes. Sakura is soon forced into the van; it’s time to change.
Changed into costume, they three stand on the school’s track field and soon hear a strange sound. Suddenly, the school statue flies out of nowhere and attempts to squish the three. Tomoyo points out that there seems to be a shadow holding up the statue’s shadow on the floor, despite that fact there is no one else around. Sakura summons her cane as the shadows try to envelope her and summons Windy to break the oncoming bonds. Unfortunately the shards of dark matter now form spears that try to hurt the shrieking Card Captor. With a call for The Fly, Sakura flies up into the night sky, worried of what to do.
Back on the ground, Kero tells Tomoyo about his idea. If there was some sort of light, then all the fake shadows would disappear and the real Clow Card spirit would remain. Tomoyo has an idea and runs off with the beast.
Back in the sky, the shadows have now grabbed the end of Sakura’s cane, and pull her helplessly towards the ground. With a flash, the school’s lights come on and the shadows fade. Grateful for her friends, the flying girl lowers herself to a nearby open window where Tomoyo and Kero are waiting. She thanks them quickly before Cerberus points out that the real Shadow is trying to run away. The Card Captor then quickly chases after it, only to be attacked by the scared spirit.
“Wind, become the chains that bind! WINDY!”
With a simple summon, Shadow is caught in Windy’s binds and is rendered immobile and is captured after a quick chant.
“Return to the true form which you should be, CLOW CARD!”*
The next day, Sakura visits Tomoyo in the A/V room to give her a present in thanks of the previous night. She enters to see herself on the big screen of the room, flying on her cane, getting grabbed by shadows, and shrieking at the top of her lungs.
Boy, Tomoyo sure is dedicated to her hobby.
*There are many translations of “Nanji no arubeki sugata ni modore! Kurou Kado!” They range from “Return to your true form, Clow Card!” to “Return to the form which thou shouldst be, Clow Card!” I tried to hit it somewhere in the middle. Heck, I’ll rotate them to make you all happy.
Cards Captured: The Shadow