Cadcaptor Aiba - Chapter 1
This is how I met Sakurai Sho, the guardian of the Clow Card. It happened on a fine, sunny Friday evening in the library. You may have wonder what did I do in a library on a Friday evening? Shouldn't I go and have fun at that time? Well, there was no one else to be blamed other than the airhead Aiba Masaki for ruining my Friday evening. Now, let me tell you the story about what happened on Friday morning which had caused me to have an unpleasant Friday evening.
I was in the class playing my DS, together with J who was busy drawing something. Maybe a new design for his beloved Aiba. Aiba and Ohchan were nowhere to be seen. I don't know where they were. Hopefully, Aiba would not drag Ohchan into any trouble. Ohchan has this naive and nice personality which allows him to let anyone do anything to him. He is, after all, the only one who is daring enough to do Aiba's ridiculous experiment. Thank God, he has me to look after him. I will ensure that he will not do anything that will risk his life.
Thinking that both of them had been gone for a while, I made a decision to look after them. Who knows what Aiba was up to? The moment I switched off my DS, both of them showed up in front of me. The two of them looked gloomy. Okay, what happened? These two guys are always happy, they never ever had this expression on them.
"What's wrong?" Being curious, I asked and Aiba suddenly looked happy again. Okay, I know he is weird but sometimes he is so scary. His mood changes quickly and sometimes I have to question his sanity.
"Ne ne Nino, you can help me right? I really need your help. If you don't help me, I will be in trouble. You really...," Okay, I seriously don't understand what Aiba was talking about. He is always like this. Never ever tell me the story properly.
"Aiba, you really need to work on your speaking skill. Tell me what happened first before asking for my help. How should I know if I can help when you didn't tell me properly?" he pouted listening to my blabbering. But, as usual, his mood changed quickly and started to tell me his problem. Apparently, he has to take a supplementary exam tomorrow morning because his grades were very bad. If he didn't take the exam, he will not graduate.
"NO!" I will not help him. It's Friday. I won't spend the day to study or help someone to study. Friday is the day for me to relax and have a date with my beloved games without my mother asking me if I have finished my homework or not.
"But, Nino, please. You're the only one who can help me now,"
"Why do you have to ask me to help you? Ask J," J looked at me when I said so. He shook his head while saying something about going shopping after school today.
"But Jun didn't get a high mark as you do. You're a smart boy. You're always on the top in our class," so, he thought by saying something like that, it will change my mind? Nope, definitely no. I will not help him. Who asked him to be so lazy in the first place? I asked him to study when the exam is nearer but he ignored me and continue with his stupid experiment.
Oh, and yes, I forgot to tell you that I'm indeed the smartest guy in the class. Reason? It's because of my parents. I have to make sure I get an A for all of my class so that my parents would not throw away my games and cut my monthly allowance. That's the only reason I keep my focus in class. I don't want to put all of my collections in danger by getting a bad result.
"Ano," Ohchan suddenly talked. He had been quiet since entering the class. I haven't got a chance to know what makes this cute little guy sad just now.
"What's wrong, Ohchan?" I turned my attention to him. He looked reluctant to continue talking, saying something that I may not want to help him.
"Ne, Ohchan, just tell me okay? If I can help you, I would help you," he thought for a while before continuing
"Would you help me studying today? I have an exam tomorrow," without thinking, I just nodded my head. Ohchan beams at me and I'm so happy. Yes, I love my games and I would be devastated if my date with the games is cancelled. But, I love Ohchan more. Helping him studying means that I would spend more time with him. Who cares about games when you have a study date with Ohchan? Maybe I would reward him if he gets a good mark in the exam tomorrow.
"Nino is a meanie! He is so unfair. He will help Ohchan, but he will not help me," Aiba pouted and stick his tongue out at me.
"Well, I'm sorry, Aiba. I'm busy today. I have to help Ohchan,"
"But, I asked you first,"
"Yes, but you're not cute like Ohchan. And you don't have a fantastic ass like Ohchan too. So, asked me to help you once you have become Ohchan, okay?"
"Oh, please Nino. Just help both of them, okay? You're not losing anything by helping them to study," J tried to convince me. I think for a while before nodding. Okay, I will help Aiba just this one time with a condition. He has to pay. He pouted before agreeing. Yes, this means more money for me. See, how easy it is to make money if you're smart.
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I know this was going to happen. Ohchan, being slow in studying, had tried his best to understand everything I taught him. He is not stupid, he just needs more time to understand a topic. I promised him that I would study with him after this so that he will not have to take another supplementary exam. He just beamed at me and thanked me. Of course, I'm more than willing to study with him because it means, I have more time to spend with him.
The problem, as you have predicted, is of course Aiba. I think he has ADHD. He could never ever sit quietly. After around 30 minutes of studying in the library, he started to lose focus and asked for a break. He went around and looked at some books. Then, as usual, he had an idea for an experiment and asked Ohchan and me to help him do the experiment. Of course, I would not do it and started lecturing him. Obviously, he didn't follow my advice and start wandering around the library, looking at every corner. I didn't care about him and focused my attention on Ohchan. I love looking at his face when he struggled to do the math. I went closer to show how exactly to do the question.
It was so peaceful and calm at that time. I thanked Aiba for leaving me alone with Ohchan. However, we're talking about Aiba, right? There is no way he would leave his hand alone. He will definitely touch something which is untouchable. I was about to teach Ohchan a new topic when I heard a weird noise at the back of the library. Being worried, Ohchan and I went to have a look. What we saw Aiba was surrounded by a lot of floating cards. Then, in the blink of an eye, they flew out of the library. It was definitely hallucination. Cards couldn’t fly. I glanced at Ohchan, noticing he went stiff because of what happened.
Out of nowhere, a guy with ancient clothes appeared. He wore a long red robe like a wizard from Harry Potter. Not to forget, he also has a sloping shoulder and looks a little bit like a chipmunk. He stared at Aiba and smiled before asking him a question,
"Oh, are you the one who wake me?" Aiba, not knowing what to answer just stared at him. The guy looked at the surrounding before noticing Ohchan and I. Again, he smiled at both of us before turning his attention to a card in Aiba's hand.
"Ah, I see that you have a Clow Card. Where are the rest of the cards?" He asked Aiba again. Aiba just looked at the card before realizing something.
"Gone," that's what he said. The sloping shoulder guy looks confused before asking him again.
"What do you mean, they are gone?"
"They flew out of the library. Ne, Nino, Ohchan you guys saw it too right? All of the cards flew away," I don't know what to answer. What I saw before… it wasn’t a hallucination?
"Gone? OH MY GOD! What should I do now? I'm supposed to guard the card but now the cards are gone. Clow must be angry with me," The sloping shoulder just ran maniacally in the library He kept on muttering the same thing over and over again about all the cards.
"You need to calm down," I told him. He looked at me and then Aiba. It seems that he had found the solution when he stood in front of Aiba.
"You're the one who released the card. Now, it's your job to find all the cards,"
"Hello, they are just cards. Aiba chan can buy you a new set of cards if you want," I suggested. The guy turned back at me, looking furious.
"They are not normal cards. They are magic cards created by the magician Clow. If they are lying around without the guardian, it will cause a catastrophe," I, obviously did not trust what he said but at that moment Ohchan was pointing to something outside of the window. It looked like a big white bird. Oh, this is definitely hallucination. Maybe I drank something from Aiba's invention without knowing.
"What is that?" instead of looking terrified, Ohchan looked curious about the big bird.
"Oh, it's FLY. Quick, you have to catch it before it gets away," Sloping shoulder pulled Aiba to run with him. Both Ohchan and I followed them.
"But, how do I catch it? It looks dangerous,"
"You have WINDY. You can catch it using WINDY," He referred to the card in Aiba's hand. He took out something that looks like staff from his pocket before continuing,
"Now, what's your name?"
"Aiba Masaki,"
"Okay, now, take this staff and repeat after me," Aiba took the staff and did as told by the sloping shoulder.
'The key that has the power of darkness, lend me some of your power under the name of Cardcaptor Aiba, RELEASE,' that's what he asked Aiba to say. The moment after Aiba said it, a circle with a sun and a moon in it appeared. It looked so magical that I have trouble believing what happened now. The staff also became longer. Suddenly, a weird woman without a body appeared from the card. I don’t know how to describe what happened next. But, it seems that the weird woman has amazing power to capture the bird.
"Now, that is the first card that you have caught. You're now Cadcaptor Aiba and I'm the guardian of the card, Sakurai Sho. I will guide you to catch the next Clow Card,"