Cadcaptor Aiba - Chapter 2
"Aiba, did you put anything in my drink during lunch? Any of your weird invention?"
That was my first response after hearing the statement from Sakurai. This has to be some kind of hallucination. What is this Cardcaptor, guardian, clow card? Maybe I played too much game and now, this is the product of my imagination. But, no. It's not because of the game. Aiba must have put something in my drink.
"Ha??? What are you talking about Nino?" Aiba looked confused. Oh, he tried to play innocent and fool me? Hello, this is Ninomiya Kazunari, okay. People don't put a prank on me, I put a prank on people.
"Aiba, you put something, right? Everything is just a hallucination, right? There are no such things as Cardcaptor, clow card, guardian of the card, card flying or whatever. It’s just my imagination because you put your weird things in my drink," I try to clarify my points. But, Aiba just shook his head. Sakurai, upon hearing my statement, go to me and pinch my cheek. Okay, that hurts. Why did he pinch my cheek?
"Now, it hurts, right? If it is, it means that you're not dreaming, imagining, hallucinating. What you see just now really happened. I'm a guardian of the Clow card and Aiba is now a Cardcaptor. Sometimes, the world is not like the way you see it. It has a lot of secrets that you never know and never thought would happen. And, now, you have discovered one of the secrets. The existence of magic," A long explanation from Sakurai. It may seem like I did not believe in magic. But, that’s not true. I love magic. But, the magic that I know is merely a trick. Like what I did with my cards. Not something from Harry Potter.
"Okay, you have to be kidding. I'm not going to trust you," I said so. But, Ohchan held my hand and turned me to look at him.
"Nino, it's not a lie. I also saw what you saw. I know that even though you denied about this whole things, you know what you see is real and you believe in what the guardian told us," I just sighed. It's true. Even though I don't want to believe this, something at the back of my mind told me that this is real and it's really happening.
"Okay, say if it's true, wouldn't Aiba be in danger because of this? I mean, the bird just now is so big. Aiba could only defeat it because he has another powerful card. What would happen if there are other cards which are more powerful than WINDY? We would put Aiba in danger by agreeing to let him be the Cardcaptor," Sakurai just snorted to hear my statement. Okay, I know that I don't know anything about the Clow Card. But, I have a point, right? WINDY couldn't be the most powerful Clow Card.
"Don't worry about that. I will guide Aiba in capturing the card. Plus, WINDY is one of the main Clow cards and a few cards are under her command. I'm sure that Aiba would be fine catching all of the cards,"
"Well well, instead of guiding Aiba, why don't you be the one who catches the card?"
"Because he is the one who released the card, so he has to be the one who catches the card," hearing Sakurai's statement reminds me of something. Yes, this all happened because Aiba is very nosy. He would never leave anything alone. Remember all of these makes me angry.
"Aiba, what did you actually do?"
"I didn't do anything. Really. I just opened the book. Seriously, is there anything wrong with opening a book in the library? And I opened the book because the book makes a weird noise. Something like a snore," Aiba showed us a book that I never noticed before. I'm pretty sure Aiba didn't carry a book when Sakurai pulled him just now. And, what's wrong with Sakurai? Why did he suddenly blush? And, I'm not the only one who noticed it because Ohchan asked him if there is anything wrong. And he looked reluctant to answer. Hmm, he must have done something wrong.
"Sakurai, you better tell us if you have done something wrong,"
"No, I seriously didn't do anything. The snore you heard is because I was sleeping," Oh, he truly didn't do anything. He supposed to guard the card but he didn't do it and sleep instead. Nino didn’t care. Sakurai should be the one to catch all the cards because it is his mistake.
"You talked about responsibility but you're the one who didn't do your responsibility. You should catch the card and don't involve Aiba in this,"
"But, seriously it is not my fault. It's not the first time someone tried to open the book. It's only Aiba who managed to open it. I think it's because Aiba has his own magical power. Someone without magical power wouldn't be able to open the book. And, I cannot catch the card because unless the cards are with me, I wouldn't have all of my magical powers. I need Aiba's help to do this," Seriously all of these are getting complicated. Now, he claimed that Aiba has his own magical power. I seriously do not understand any of this. Whatever, I think I need to have a break to process all of this information. It's better to go home now.
"Yeah, right. Whatever. I want to go home now. Just make sure that you won't put Aiba in danger. And find your own place to stay. Maybe you should just stay in the library," I left all of them there. I seriously forgot that Ohchan was there too until he approached me, telling me that he wants to go home with me. I just agreed. We went to the library to take our stuff before walking home together.
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All the way home, we're not talking at all. I was thinking about this whole Cardcaptor story while Ohchan had something else to think about. I think he was thinking about his next fishing trip until I remembered about his exam tomorrow. Shit, he must have been worried about that. I looked at the time and realized it was almost 8:30. Thinking about the stuff left for him to study, I think that he would have enough time to cover all of the topics. But, thinking about his low self-confidence, maybe he would take time to finish them all. This means that I have to take a drastic plan.
"Ohchan, would you like to have a sleepover at my house tonight? We still have some topics left to be covered for your exam tomorrow. I can teach you tonight before you go to sleep and let you borrow my notes,"
"But, Nino, wouldn't I disturb you? Don't you want to play your games tonight?"
"It's okay. Don't worry about that. I can play the game tomorrow. So, do you agree with my plan?" Ohchan just reluctantly nodded hearing my plan. Maybe he was worried that I'm just lying about him disturbing me playing the game. But, seriously I don't mind.
So after he took some of his stuff from his house, we walked together to my house which was a few blocks from his house. After eating dinner, we get back to study. This is the longest time I've spent time with Ohchan and my feelings about this? I’m beyond happy. I'm willing to sacrifice anything just to spend time with Ohchan.
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"So, how did you do in the exam?" I asked Ohchan during the break on Monday. He got his results for the supplementary exam this morning. He just beamed with happiness before telling me his marks. He got 70 on the exam and he told me that is the highest he ever had. I'm so happy for him. At least all of the efforts are not in vain.
"How did Aiba do?"
"He got 100 for the exam," Ohchan told me. I'm so surprised. He only studied a few topics before the Cardcaptor incident happened. Maybe he didn't sleep at all the night before to finish all of the topics. But, I don't know why. I just have a bad feeling about this.
Ohchan and I walked to the roof together. That is our spot to have lunch along together with J and Aiba. But, I don't know where both of them are until I saw Aiba talked to himself on the roof. Oh, looks like this Cardcaptor thingy has made Aiba crazier than before.
"Aiba, have you gone crazy? Why did you talk to yourself?"
"Nino! You don't know what happened. Sho chan is cleverer than you. He answered the exam for me and got a perfect mark for me. If he keeps answering the exam for me, I would snatch the top spot from you," Aiba hugged me while telling me something that I'm not supposed to know. He cheated on the exam and got 100 for that? This is unbelievable and I'm angry. But, it’s not because my top spot would be snatched. I'm angry because he asked someone else to take the exam for him and get a better mark than Ohchan. This is unfair. Ohchan only slept for 4 hours to study for the exam.
"What did you do? How did Sakurai answer the exam for you?"
"Oh, he found out that he can shrink himself after we caught a new card that night. I think it was LITTLE. I went to sleep right after that, forgetting all about the exam until Ohchan called me to go to school. Sho chan followed me and when he knew that I cannot answer any of the questions, he whispered the answers for me. And, I didn't speak to myself just now. I was talking to Sho chan," Aiba revealed the tiny Sakurai in his pocket. Sakurai looked guilty when looking at me. He seemed to realize what he did was wrong.
"Aiba, I'm going to tell this to sensei. You're cheating in the exam and that is wrong,"
"Oh, Nino. Please don't. I don't want to sit for another exam,"
"Whatever. I will still tell sensei about this,"
"You're just jealous because I will get a better mark than you after this," seriously, this makes me angrier. I don't care about getting the highest mark at all. As long as I get an A for all of the subjects, I wouldn't mind if someone else gets a better mark than me. But, I'm angry because of Ohchan.
"Aiba, do you know how much effort Ohchan gave for the exam? He only slept for 4 hours to finish all the topics and do extra questions. Of course, I would be angry if someone who did not study at all gets a better result than me just because he has someone to answer the exam for me. Wouldn't you be angry if I do the exam for Ohchan too? What you did is very wrong and it is very unfair for Ohchan," Ohchan looked surprised. Maybe he has the same thought with Aiba that I'm angry because of my top spot. If so, he got it all wrong. At the moment, all I think about is Ohchan.
Feeling angry, I stormed out of the roof and Ohchan chased me. Being an indoor type of person, I don't have enough stamina like Ohchan or J or Aiba. Maybe that's why Ohchan can easily corner me.
"Do you really want to tell sensei about that?" that's the first question he asked me.
"I don't know,"
"Just let it be,"
"Why? Don't you feel angry at all,"
"Surprisingly, I'm not angry at all. It's true that Aiba made a mistake and I'm sure he realized about it now. Sakurai will not let him do it again, so don't worry that he will cheat again. It's okay if he gets better than me. That's what the exam tells us but I think I gain more than him,"
"What do you mean?" this is the first time Ohchan had spoken more than two sentences. I think this is also the first time he ever tells me what's inside his mind.
"I learn a lot, Nino. Not only about math or science, but also about you. I am always jealous of you because for me, why did a playful person like you who always has a DS in his hand can score better than me? Why did God make a genius like you who did not have to study at all to score in an exam? But, that is you that I know in school. I never know you at the house. When I borrowed your notes, I realized that the notes are much more complete than the other notes that I have borrowed before. Don't you realized that I never borrow your notes before? It's because I think you never have one. I'm sorry to think that you may have cheated in the exam but looking at the notes, I know how much efforts you have put in studying. I'm so glad to have you helping me studying because I have a chance to know the other you that no one else ever knows. The other-self who is serious in doing something,"
Hearing this makes me blush. I do feel hurt to know that he thinks I cheat in the exam but what makes me feel embarrassed right now is to know that he has a different view about me now. A much better view that makes me so happy to know. Without realizing it, I hugged him because seriously I never heard someone says something good about me. And I know that he is not the only one who thinks that I'm cheating in the exam. Almost everyone thinks about it that way because they never see me studying. To have someone who you like seeing a different side of you is very overwhelming, indeed.
"Thank you, Ohchan,"
"No, thank you for letting me know more about you," he hugged me more tightly. How I wish that I can hug him like this forever without interruption. But, someone really has to destroy this moment. While I was so excited to be able to hug Ohchan, I heard J's scream and I'm pretty sure he said something along this line:
"This doll can talk?"
Please. I hope he wasn’t talking about Sakurai.
A/N: If you never watch Cadcaptor Sakura before this and want to know how FLY, WINDY and LITTLE look like, you can refer to the link before. And I really hope that this chapter is okay and do not disappoint any of you.
WINDY
LITTLE
FLY