“Oh, are you new to this school also?” Yukito asked, his voice light but curious. His voice must’ve been drowned out by the hundreds of other voices yelling in the hallway, however, because the other boy did not respond as he walked slightly ahead of Yukito down the hallway. No matter. He was sure they would have some time to chat once they sat down to eat.
It wasn’t until they were out in the school grounds that Yukito realized that perhaps they weren’t going to the cafeteria - Kinomoto was heading towards an area that did not have any buildings, and the number of other students surrounding them had diminished significantly. Confused and hungry, Yukito’s steps faltered for just a moment when Kinomoto called to him again, almost as if reading his mind.
“Okay,” Yukito responded, his confusion suddenly quelled even though the boy had not given any clues to what they were up to. He jogged a few steps to catch up with Kinomoto, and soon they were under a beautiful Japanese Maple, where they came to a stop.
“Oh, wow…” Yukito said, tilting his head backwards to catch the glimpses of sunlight streaming through the leaves and listening to Kinomoto’s words. “Thank you. It really is beautiful out here.”
He shook his head to signify he didn’t mind sitting on the grass as he closed the distance between them, and gestured toward a spot next to Kinomoto. “May I sit over here?” He asked, and once the other boy confirmed, settled in.
Kinomoto didn’t seem interested in conversation as he took out his lunch so Yukito followed suit, devouring his first lunch (he was starving). He was mostly done with his first lunch when Kinomoto spoke, and he slightly covered his mouth with his hand and raised a finger with the other, giving himself a minute to finish chewing and swallow before answering the other’s question.
“Well, my parents… Passed away recently, actually,” he said, his tone somber. “My grandparents live here, so I moved to Tomoeda to live with them.” He smiled softly. “It’s a bit of a change, because I lived in a much smaller town before. Tomoeda is very large. Almost like a city.”
He took another bite of his lunch before asking, “how about you? Before you said you knew what it’s like to be the new kid… Did you just move to Tomoeda as well?”
He made sure for a moment to look back at Yukito, as he had been marveling at the sunbeams coming through the maple’s branches. The amusement in his eyes was so innocent. It made Touya let out a low, breathy chuckle with his closed mouth, just before continuing what he was doing.
It was safe to say that Touya did not expect the first answer to come out of Yukito. He was taken back when hearing about his parents, but didn’t let it show on his face in hopes not to alarm the new kid. Instead, he plainly paid his condolences. “I’m sorry for your loss.” Whatever bite he was on before, Touya now had lost focus on it and gave his complete attention to Yukito as he spoke about how he made it here. He nodded, “I could understand that.” It seemed like the two of them had a lot in common.
He watched as Yukito took another bite of his lunch, noticing a lot of it had been gone in comparison to how much he had ate. He thought, Boy, this guy could eat. As Yukito now inquired about Touya and his origins, Touya clarified, “Well, it’s been a couple years but yeah-” he took another quick bite of his lunch. He thought he should probably catch up to Yukito, so it wouldn’t be awkward later. He replied after he was done chewing. “I moved here from Nonoichi. It’s definitely a smaller suburban town in comparison to Tomoeda, by the water.”
Touya took another bite of his food. There was something else that seemed to link the two in ways that he hadn’t expected. However, this one took a little more easing into than he had hoped for in the first conversation with someone new. “I also lost my mother. Just before we moved here.” He took another bite of his food. He had spoken plainly yet again, as it was a matter of fact. Also, Touya wasn’t the kind of person to wear his emotions on his sleeve. Nevertheless, he seemed to believe that any weakness within his emotional strength had been resolved a long time ago anyway.
A burgundy leathered book cover, strung in its binding by gold, forming into an unrecognizable crest, like a seal, that’s guarded by a lion-looking creature peering behind it. You could almost make out the words on the cover until...
Pulled out by a single inhale of her breath, Sakura woke up to find the morning sun shine on her face. Weird. She thought, only able to remember half of what she had actually dreamed, even though she was seconds away from its previous existence.
No time to think about it though. With one glance at the time, Sakura’s eyes widened as she practically leaped out of her bed, in fear of being late to keep up with Touya and Yukito.
Later in the day.
After the conclusion of another tiring, yet enjoyable cheerleading practice, Sakura made it home. It was Tuesday, and Tuesday in the Kinomoto home meant it was Sakura’s turn to cook for the family.
As she stepped through the door, Sakura was immediately startled by a ruffled noise coming from her dad’s office. She called out, “Dad? Touya?” Yet, it felt like minutes had passed by and still no response in return. Sakura could sense the sinking feeling in her stomach - growing alarm that something was possibly hiding in the study. Quietly, Sakura tip toed into the kitchen, only to find a note had been stuck onto the fridge. It read, “I’m sorry I’ll be home late. Love, Dad” Touya’s longest work days were Tuesday and Wednesdays, which confirmed that Sakura was truly home alone.
Sakura rarely ever went to her father’s study. She never wanted to intrude and rummage through his things, even if it was just her standing in the space. With both Touya and her father out, there was no way anyone could be down there, but she could’ve sworn she had heard something. Could it have been a ghost? Sakura winced at the thought - her heart pounding faster as an expression of fear swept over her soft face. She did not want to find out, but someone had to go down and check... After all, the cookbook with the exact recipe she needed to prep for dinner was down there. She didn’t even dare imagine what Touya would say if he were to find out she had made a mistake with his dish.
Before she knew it, Sakura was going down the stairs into her dad’s office. At first glance, after turning the lights on, there was no sign anyone had been there since the morning. Odd - but she thought, since she was here, she’d might as well leave it nice and organized for him.
Sakura dusted bookshelves, cleaned up his desk, and shelved books that lied in an old laundry basket waiting to be reorganized. While putting two of the basket books away, Sakura noticed a tiny beaming light in the corner of her eye. As she turned to step closer towards it, Sakura’s eyes began to squint in the glow coming from a book docked on a shelf across the way. For a couple moments, the glow grew brighter with each close step - and then suddenly, the light died out, just as she’d reach the bookshelf.
By this point, the fear she had harbored earlier had been all but forgotten about, as Sakura’s curiosity overcame her and reached the shelf to pick out the book. Holding the book in the palm of her hand, Sakura began to recognize the crest and creature on the book cover, until the crack of the unlock scared her into loosing focus. She allowed her instinct to lead her into opening the cover, revealing a deck of cards where there would normally be pages to a book.
To analyze the design of the cards, Sakura softly picked from top of the stack. These cards held similar design concept to the book cover’s burgundy and gold astrological detailing. The only difference she noticed they held was discovered as she flipped the card in her hand to gaze its other side, showing the drawing of a woman with wings, eyes closed and hands crossed. The design’s resemblance almost felt familiar to what the Europeans claimed as tarot cards. Were they possibly used for a game of sorts? Why would these by hanging out in her father’s study?
Sakura read the title sitting at the bottom of the card out loud, “...Windy?”
Suddenly, gusts of winds began to shoot out of thin air, blowing against her face at what felt a thousand miles per hour. She shut her eyes, as she tried to shield herself from what felt like a vicious indoor tornado, still holding tightly to the card she’d just read from. She couldn’t see, but Sakura could sense the rest of the cards start to fly out from the book, just as easily as she could feel her skirt blowing through the aggressive gales. It wasn’t until the wind had died down and disappeared that Sakura realized how off balance she was, leading her to fall back onto the study floor.
Her backwards trip caused the book to fall, laying closed onto the ground right beside her. The book’s familiar glow returned into half its strength, slowly revealing a creature, which oddly looked like a golden plush bear with wings and a wispy tail. As the creature fully formed outside of the book cover, their small, thin eyes softly opened up, wings fluttering a hundred miles per minute, as they energetically said, “Hello there!” A floating teddy bear that could talk made Sakura reactively squeal with confusion, making the bear respond with an off-put “Whoa!”
The golden plush floated a few inches away from where Sakura sat on the ground, proclaiming “I’m Cerberus, Guardian Beast of this Book.” Sakura, still trying to grasp what was going on, responded with a shaky “Y-You... were the seal to this book?” She thought her eyes could be deceiving her when she saw it scrunch its mouth to one side and shrug its little shoulders. “Yeah, kinda.”
They turned and flew around a bit, looking to get a better idea of where they were, until their eyes were back at Sakura trying to analyze her and who she might’ve been. For looking like a golden plush teddy bear with wings, and sounding cheerful just a minute ago, he could sport a pretty serious look. “And what’s your name?” She fixed her posture up a bit, tilting for a little bow. She wasn’t going to be rude now. “My name is Kinomoto. Sakura.”
Cerberus, as they were called, floated closer to where the book laid closed on the ground. “Well Sakura, it’s my job to protect the Clow cards from getting into trouble. Those are all the cards inside this book, and the one you have in your hand.” Once they’d landed, Cerberus easily jolted the book open with their little paw. They peered inside, even though they seemed unsurprised when the book was empty. “Well, the cards that were inside this book.”
“What are Clow cards?” Sakura replied with a tone of hesitation. This question prompted Cerberus to go on a long explanation, one that was frankly hard for Sakura to keep up with, as all of this still seemed like one big weird hallucination. The bits of information she did pick up, Sakura learned that the Clow Cards were created by an old wizard named Clow Reed. The cards are incredibly powerful, each holding their own character, yet they are just as dangerous and can take over the world on their own if desired. That’s why the cards would need a cardcaptor, or someone to catch and keep all the cards. Sakura also took a moment to explain her encounter with the Windy card and what happened to the rest of the cards, trying her best to paint a good picture for Cerberus with the information she had.
Eventually, as their long catch-up of exposition started to wind down, Cerberus stated with a balance of enthusiasm and urgency. “If you opened the book, Sakura, that means you possess the magical powers.” Sakura said the words out loud, “Magical powers?” Even then, she couldn’t imagine this conversation to get any more unbelievable, but Cerberus insisted, “Yes.” They then stood on top of the closed book. “Stand up!” Sakura listened to their command.
A ball of light formed from the book, beginning to become the outline of some sort of charm. Cerberus chanted a spell of a sacred promise, as the same picture of the book’s seal began to reveal itself on the ground below them. Then Cerberus suddenly called out to it “Release the power!” which made the charm instantaneously form into a large wand. “Sakura, take the wand!”
Sakura stared at the floating item in front of her. Her hand slowly reaching out to take it as ordered, yet stopping in midst of the fear she still inhibited. However, something warm inside her began to spread throughout her nerves, a familiar sensation that almost felt like whispers in her ear telling her this was something she had to do. And as her instinct guided her, Sakura reached to grab the wand and felt the electric feeling of the wand’s magic pulsate back through her bloodstream. The blinding glow burst back in full strength and force, completely encompassing her in its rays. Cerberus’s next words forever now ringing in her ear, “It’s up to you now to be The Cardcaptor.”
The Punch Bowl (First Date) || Day 2 || Sydney & Matt
Sydney almost glowed at his response, mentally squeezing herself in her burst of happiness and excitement. “Well, aren’t I the lucky one?” She responded, biting her lower lip to keep herself from smiling too big.
He had such a nice voice, too. Of course, she had always been more of a visual person, but she always seemed to prefer boys with voices deep enough to drown in. Speaking of visuals though…
Sydney’s eyes quickly and sneakily checked him out as Matt turned a full circle. Oh, wow. First, she had never really gotten a good, full look at him in Philosophy Class, so she didn’t 100% know what he looked like. Second, he must’ve filled out even more since she sat behind him 4 years ago because there was no way she would’ve just remembered him as “Tetris Boy” if he had looked like this back then. She lifted her hand in a loose fist to cover her laugh as he turned to face her, but the amusement was clear in her eyes as he spoke again.
“I know it looks really sketch, but I swear, it’s been my favorite bar since I turned 21.” She opened the fence gate and walked through, holding it open for him to join her before letting it shut with a small ‘bang’. “It was founded by a Seattle U Visual Arts alumni ten years ago and, I know, it sounds like a place for the art kids to come and be pretentious, but I swear it’s super chill in here.”
She led him around to the back of the house and down the stairs leading to the basement. Before she knocked on the door, her eyes gazed over to his, checking out his expression. She scrunched up her nose playfully at him before grabbing the heavy metal knocker and knocking at the door. Two loud knocks, a soft knock, then another loud.
The door slid open, revealing a open room filled with squishy bean bag chairs, rugs and other comfortable furniture strewn about surrounding a center bar. String lights hung everywhere, giving the room a warm glow. Sydney squealed at the person at the door and gave them a big hug, before turning to Matt and placing a hand on his arm.
“This is Matt. He’s with me.”
She slid over along the wall so he could walk into the door and see the whole of The Punch Bowl.
“So. What do you think?”
Matt eagerly nodded along as Sydney spoke about her favorite bar, a place where local art kids presumably gathered to connect their creative minds and soak up each other’s pretentious panderings. Again, presumably. This was her favorite place and she knew a lot of history behind it, so obviously, Matt picked on it. “Sounds just like what an art kid would say.” He was clearly teasing. However, it did lead him on to his next thought. “Which by the way, I have a confession to make.”
As she lead him the way through the back of the house, Matt clarified. “My first guess for your major was definitely art - not finance. I mean, I don’t want to say it’s pretty obvious that you are an art kid and assume but -” He shrugged his shoulders, unable to hold back his cocky grin while doing so.
His attention now shifted towards their surroundings, as they suddenly found themselves at the door of the basement. As they entered into the main space, the expression in his eyes changed from a lost gloss into a soft spark of excitement. Everything looked dope, from the bean bag chairs to the dim lights. He brought his hands together, his fingers kinked towards each other in a round gesture. Matt cracked a joke, “Definitely feels like I’m actually in a punch bowl.”
His voice was deeper than one would expect out of a skinny 10th grader. Yukito offered him a silent smile as a thank you before turning his attention to his text book: page 125. The plant life cycle. Okay, this was something Yukito was vaguely familiar with from his old school.
He tried to pay attention to the teacher, but he found himself glancing over at Kinomoto at least three or four times - one time accidentally catching the other’s eye. Yukito quickly glanced away from the other boy, before glancing back to give him a warm smile. He wasn’t sure what it was exactly, but something about Kinomoto made Yukito want to get to know him better. His first name, for example.
The bell rang sooner than he expected and Yukito startled. His classmates began putting away their items in their desks and Yukito followed suit, wondering where the lunch room was - he was always in a mood to eat, and after a morning as big as this, he was definitely starving and ready to eat for two people.
He was pleasantly surprised to hear Kinomoto’s voice speaking in his direction. Yukito’s face broke out into a large smile and he nodded, standing up and picking up his lunch bag. He didn’t even notice a small group of his classmates coming over to introduce themselves to him as he followed the lanky boy out of the classroom.
“Thanks,” Yukito said once they were out in the hallway, his voice brimming with contentment. The hallway was filled with other students making their way into the cafeteria or out into the school grounds for lunch, and Yukito dodged and weaved through them gracefully as he kept up with Kinomoto. “I was wondering how I would find my way to the cafeteria. This school is a lot larger than my old one.”
“It’s nothing.” Touya’s facial expression didn’t change. Naturally, he probably wasn’t the warmest looking welcome, but the intention behind his voice told otherwise. “I know what it’s like to be the new kid.” Touya didn’t even acknowledge the other students around him, even though he felt their presence as he walked through them, most of them probably trying to get a glance at his new lunch buddy.
“Cafeteria?” Touya asked - rhetorically, of course, as the answer wouldn’t change his plans. “No, we’re not going to the cafeteria.” Instead, Touya lead their way down the corridors, without saying a word of where they were going or if they were actually eating lunch. Which they were, but it would be fair if Yukito actually questioned it. In fact, amongst a few other students, Touya had brought Yukito out into the school grounds, towards his usual spot for lunch.
For a moment, Touya looked back at Yukito and called to him, “Over here.” A minute later, they found themselves at a spot under a large Japanese maple tree. “It’s your first day and lunch out in the courtyard is much more enjoyable-” Touya pointed up to the sky, “-especially on a day like this.”
Touya sat down by the side of the tree, situating himself for the break. “I hope you don’t mind sitting on the grass.” He took out a food container and propped it on his lap. After a couple minutes of letting them settle in, on the grass and a few bites into their lunches, Touya’s eyes glanced back up at Yukito, still curious to figure out who exactly his company was. “... So what brought you to Tomoeda?”
The Punch Bowl (First Date) || Day 2 || Sydney & Matt
When her best friend and roommate Joanna, fed up with Sydney’s whining, finally told her “girl, get over yourself with your ‘I wanna meet my man naturally’ bull shit and get your flat ass on Tinder”, Sydney figured… Well, I guess I have nothing else to lose.
Then actually matching with someone she knew (eh- sort of, but it still counted) in real life? And he was super cute? Sydney grinned to herself as she stood outside the unassuming house that housed her favorite dive bar. Now that, was something that could be straight out of a movie.
Sydney took out her compact and appraised herself one last time, tweaking her hair (it was half up in two messy buns, a favorite style of hers) and checking her teeth for any accidental remnants. Nothing? Perfect. She put her compact away into her purse and let out a small sigh of contentment, glancing down the street to see if she could spot Matt’s super adorable curly hair coming her way. She was a few minutes early, though, so she wasn’t so worried yet.
What she was worried about, though, was the thing she always worried about when it came to dating a new boy. Even though she passed and had been a full version of how she saw herself for years now, she knew eventually she would have to tell him her whole truth. She never knew when the right time was, and how someone would react to her past. Maybe he already found out, freaked out, and was going to stand her up? She sighed, her anxiety triggering a sudden but urgent craving for nicotine. God, she really wanted a cigarette.
Luckily for her, she glanced up right at that moment to see the cute, cute curls of ‘Tetris Boy’ at the end of the block. Her face broke into a wide, ear to ear grin and she waved, bouncing a little in her enthusiasm. She waited until he was within ear shot before exclaiming, “Hey!”
She tilted her head to the side and smiled coyly. “You’re a little early.”
Matt Rowley always breezed by on his good looks. That was something that hadn’t changed from high school through college and up until present day. He wasn’t the kind of a guy to spend much time and effort on his looks, no matter how important an event was for him. Yet, Matt was lucky enough to just have things fall into place. With minimal attempt at his grooming and style, he still somehow managed to put himself together - and still, people found him charming and good-looking. So when he showed up in a regular button up, ripped jeans, and matching high tops, it should have came to no surprise that with Matt’s luck, he could steal the heart of any person he crossed.
Matt was excited to have a date with a new girl, someone he’d known back from Seattle U, who honestly made him so curious to learn more about her just from their few conversations and how artsy and cute she was. He wasn’t really nervous, but he definitely stuck with making sure he wasn’t a minute late from when they said they’d meet up. As he approached closer to the dive bar, he could see her two space buns and little overall dress from a mile away. He couldn’t help but grin back as her gaze met his. Matt called back “Hey!” just before reaching close enough to stand a couple feet away from her. “Yeah, well, I keep my word.”
Matt turned a full circle, taking a look at where they both were standing. As he analyzed the house before them, he slightly tilted his whole body, letting his curls flop on one side closest to Syd and questioned, “So where have you brought me again?” Matt was eager to already go in and start the night. He couldn’t help but tease a little. “You’re not taking me to join a rando cult, are you?”
He couldn’t remember the last time he was the new kid… After just having lost his parents and moving to Tomoeda to live with his grandparents, being the new kid in secondary school in the middle of the school year definitely was the cherry on top of a very, very bad cake. One that even he wouldn’t want to eat.
He clutched at his messenger bag like it was a seat belt, and waited outside the door to his new classroom, 1-4. The intake process was strangely complicated and long, and now there was only half an hour until lunch time. Not the best way to start his first day.
“Come on in, Tsukishiro-kun.”
The science teacher (who was also their homeroom teacher)’s voice rang loudly through the thin walls and Yukito took a deep breath before sliding open the door and stepping inside.
30 pairs of eyes stared at him.
“Hello. I am Tsukishiro Yukito.” He took a deep breath, and smiled. “I just moved here from Obihiro.”
His eyes scanned the classroom, and landed on a lanky boy sitting in the left back corner of the room. His gaze seemed to see through him, and a small jolt of electricity ran down between Yukito’s shoulders. He held the boy’s gaze with a soft smile as he said, “um. I hope we can become good friends and classmates.”
“Great. Why don’t you take the empty seat next to Kinomoto-kun.”
That was the lanky boy. Yukito bowed and walked toward his new seat, as the teacher returned his attention to the chalkboard.
The lanky boy was staring at the board, but Yukito leaned over to him anyway.
“Hi, Kinomoto-san?. What page in the text book are we in?”
It had felt like any other ordinary day at Tomoeda High School - felt being the operative word. Touya was very much focused on what had to get done for the day, habitually disregarding any other business around him that didn’t pertain to the day’s lessons. That is until their homeroom teacher had spoken those words, and next thing he knew, Touya’s eyes magnetically gravitated towards the entrance to the classroom.
Standing by the door, there was a boy, standing nervously behind his glasses and clutching to his messenger bag. Touya sensed now something strange about his energy, even as far away as they were to each other. His eyes remained locked at him, trying to get a read on what he was feeling. The only remaining empty seat in the classroom naturally landed on Touya’s right side, so when the teacher asked the new student to sit down, the vibrations he had began to sense grew as he got closer to him.
The teacher continued with the lesson. When the new student leaned and asked a question, Touya thought, “Uh-” checking his textbook to read out loud in a straight, matter of fact tone “Page 125.” That was it for the conversation, as it wasn’t very polite to discuss about the lesson during the lesson, so Touya left it at that.
The class went on and the teacher lectured. From time to time, Touya found himself peering into his peripheral view to get a glance at the boy sitting to his right. It wasn’t long until the time for lunch had arrived and the teacher dismissed them all for the day.
As they were packing up their items, Touya turned over to the new kid and said, “Hey. Need someone to sit with for lunch?” He posed it as a question, but didn’t really leave much room for answer, as he got up from his seat, grabbing his bag, and gesturing to follow him out the classroom. “Come on.”
