Cardcaptor Aiba - Chapter 3
I reluctantly let go of Ohchan to find out if my guess is correct. If J knows about Sakurai, it means trouble. Not that J cannot keep a secret but it's hard not to tell J the truth. If we make a story about Sakurai, he will know that we're lying. Whether we want it or not, we have to tell him about Aiba being a Cardcaptor now.
When both Ohchan and I get back to the rooftop, J is holding the tiny version of Sakurai. Maybe to make sure that it is really really a doll. But, that would be impossible. No matter how you look at tiny Sakurai, he looks exactly like a human and too perfect to be a doll. I tried to stop J from pinching Sakurai's cheek, but, it's too late. The moment J pinched the cheek, Sakurai suddenly turns back to his human size. I'm so surprised. I want to stop J from pinching the cheek because I thought that he will scream and thus making it more impossible to lie to J. But, who thought that the damage done from pinching Sakurai's cheek is much worse.
"Wah, it gets bigger," that is J's reaction. But, instead of looking surprised, he looks amused at what happened.
"How could you get bigger?" Ohchan asks curiously. The rest of us nodded in agreement because I thought that Sakurai will be able to control his power. Unfortunately, it seems that he can't.
"Because Aiba only catches LITTLE. Having caught LITTLE enables me to gain my shrinkage power. However, not all of my power is back yet because the cards are still free. I can control when I want to get small but I cannot control when I will get back to normal size. If someone pinches me like just now, I will get back to this size," Sakurai explained to us. Looks like there are more tasks to take care of if we want this Cardcaptor thingy a secret. Not only that we have to make sure no one finds out about the miniature Sakurai, but we also have to make sure no one pinched his cheek.
"Why didn't you stop J from pinching your cheek?" it's my turn to ask now. If Sakurai knows that he will get bigger, he should avoid J from touching him.
"I've found out about it just now too. I know that I cannot change back to my normal size at will but I never thought that if someone pinched me, I will get bigger. That's why I just let him,"
"Seriously, now, we have to make sure no one pinched you,"
"Well, the solution is easy. Aiba has to catch BIG so that I will be able to shrink and enlarging at my own will. I don't have to worry about someone pinching me anymore,"
"Okay…” J suddenly interrupted. “Can someone explain to me. Who is this guy?" He pointed at Sho. Oh yeah, I forget that J didn't know about Sakurai yet and we don't even have the courtesy to introduce them.
"Oh, Matsujun, this is Sho chan. He is the guardian of clow card," J looked dumbfounded the moment Aiba starts talking. I will also look the same if I didn't know about this whole Cardcaptor thingy. Aiba introduces Sakurai as if there is nothing unusual about Sakurai. So, to make sure that J understands this stuff, I have to take the responsibility of explaining everything to J. J, to my surprise, is able to accept this news without any difficulty.
"So, unexpectedly, you're the Cardcaptor now?" J asked the moment after I finished my story. Aiba just nodded.
"Aiba chan, would you promise me something?" okay, now this is the sappy moment. J would ask Aiba to be safe and be out of danger and Aiba will promise him that he will so that J will not be worried. Seriously, J is too obvious in expressing his love. If he wants to be obvious, just confess to Aiba so that we can skip all these sappy and not so romantic moment.
"What is it?" asked Aiba. Aiba, why are you so stupid? Why don't you realize that J is head over heels in love with you?
"Promise me that you will bring me when you catch the card. I want to see it," now, that is totally unexpected. Maybe J doesn't really believe in this Cardcaptor thing and wants to witness it himself to believe. Or, maybe he wants to ensure that Aiba will be safe with his own eyes. Again, please spare me all of these unnecessary romance stuff.
Aiba looks at Sakurai before answer. It seems that Sakurai has no problem in allowing J to follow. So, Aiba just nodded hearing J's request.
"Yosh, good to know that. Ahhh, that would explain that thing," okay, now J is making a weird statement. What is he talking about? I'm curious to know.
"What happened?" asked Aiba.
"Last night, I went home quite late from cram school. On the way home, I saw a weird girl challenging a gangster to fight her. She wore a Chinese costume and her face looked very pale. I thought that she is stupid to challenge the gangster but was surprised to see how skilful she is in fighting the gangster. Do you think that she is actually a clow card?" J directed the question to Sakurai who looked like he remembers something.
"Oh, that is FIGHT. She loves to challenge anyone who looks stronger than her,"
"Oh, really. Let's get her tonight. Maybe you will get more power after this," Sakurai looked down after hearing Aiba's suggestion.
"I don't think that you will be able to win against her. She is really powerful,"
"Don't be a coward. If Aiba cannot win her from strength, then, Aiba could defeat her using his brain, even though I doubt that his intelligence would help," Aiba, hearing my statement, just hit my head.
"The break is almost over. Maybe we can devise the plan to capture FIGHT after school today," suggest J. We all agree and Sakurai immediately change back to his miniature state before Aiba put him in his pocket and going back to class with us.
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So, here is the plan. Sakurai is going to lure FIGHT to challenge her. He doesn't want to do it but we have no choice. He is the only one who looks strong with the muscle. Then, Aiba will try to capture the card. The rest of us will do anything to help. Actually, I don't know why I am involved in this. I don't want to join but I'm worried that something bad will happen to my friends. So, I have to join to ensure that everything will be okay and they will be safe.
We promised to meet in the park at 11 pm. It's a good time because there will be no one around to witness this whole capturing the card thing. Around 10:50 pm, everyone is already in the park except for J. The diva seems to be taking more time than necessary.
J arrived two minutes before 11, bringing a huge bag with him. What did he put in the bag, I don't know. But, when he opened his bag, I seriously don't know how to react. He brings a green Chinese traditional costume for Aiba to wear. According to him, the costume is suitable for Aiba for the battle because FIGHT reminds him of Chinese martial arts and thus wearing Chinese costume is appropriate. He also prepared the same costume for Sakurai but in red. He said that Sakurai's outfit is too boring.
"J, are you serious about this?" I asked him. I cannot see the relevance of this with what we're going to do.
"Oh, you know that I designed a lot of clothes for Aiba to wear but it's too fancy sometimes. He cannot wear it unless there is a special occasion and I think this is the best moment. I will record this while you and Ohchan help them catching the card," so, this is the reason why he wants to come for the battle. Okay, whatever. Instead of worrying about this, I should concentrate on helping Aiba to catch the card. The sooner all of the cards are captured, the sooner my life would be back to normal.
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It did not go according to the plan. Apparently, Sakurai is not as strong as how he looks. He can't even lift FIGHT from the ground. And, surprisingly, I am stronger than him. 5 minutes after he started to battle FIGHT, FIGHT has lost interest in him and started to battle me instead. I managed to punch and kick her here and there but she is too powerful. Thank God that Aiba was able to knock her down with his staff. If not, I don't know how long I can withstand the blow from FIGHT.
"Nino, are you okay?" asked Ohchan as soon as Aiba managed to sealed FIGHT in a card. I blushed a little when he hugged me. I just nodded to answer him.
"So, it seems that you just have air muscle. I bet I can defeat you in arm wrestling," I teased Sakurai. His face suddenly went red.
"By catching FIGHT, does this mean that you now may have a better skill in fighting?" J asked curiously. I understand his point. By catching LITTLE, he has gained the power to shrink himself. So, maybe by having FIGHT, it will change something in his fighting skill. However, Sakurai just shook his head before explaining to us.
"There are some of the cards that will not affect my ability, for example, FIGHT and POWER. Both of these depend on the guardian's original ability. Even if Aiba managed to catch both cards, it will not help me in my strength and skills. Unless I managed to do it myself, the card will not do anything to help me improve in both areas. But, it will certainly help Aiba if he used the cards in the battle,"
"Then, how about FLY? Can you fly now?" asked Ohchan. Oh yeah, I just remembered that FLY was the first card that Aiba captured. Sakurai stays quiet to concentrate before a giant wing appeared behind him.
"Oh, I can also fly. Sho chan said that if I used FLY, a wing will appear on my staff and I will be able to fly. I tried it yesterday. It was so cool but Sho chan doesn't want to join me flying," Aiba looks enthusiastic to tell us about his flying experience but Sakurai turned pale and red again.
"Do you have acrophobia?" I make a wild guess but I guess it is true because that would explain why he is reluctant to fly with Aiba. When he nodded, I just laughed. Seriously, I wonder why did Clow make him the guardian of clow card when he has a lot of weakness and not suitable to be the guardian.
"I know that I don't look suitable to be the guardian of the card. When Clow chose me to be the guardian a long time ago, a lot of his students do not agree with him. They said that I would not be able to protect the card once Clow died. But, there is another student who comforted me and told me that I will do a good job. He said that there is no one else who knows the card better than me. The knowledge that I have about the card will help the Cardcaptor to catch the card, not the strength or fighting skill. Both should be possessed by the Cardcaptor. He is also the one which Clow select as the judge to carry the judgment whether the Cardcaptor is suitable to be the new owner once all of the cards are captured. He is the one who was gifted with strength, which I'm lacking,"
"You mean that Aiba will be judged once all of the cards are captured? Who is the judge?"
"I don't remember. It seems that Clow suppressed my memory about this guy. Each time I tried to remember him, I won't be able to do so. I will have a severe headache," wow, this is interesting. I'm curious to know who is the judge Sakurai. I want to ask more but we're suddenly interrupted by massive footsteps behind us. We're surprised to see a huge cat walking towards us. Even though it looks big, it doesn't look dangerous at all.
"This must be BIG. She has the power to enlarge things. Quick, Aiba. Use your magic to locate her," this is when Aiba closed his eyes, trying to concentrate. Maybe Sakurai had taught him how to use his magic over the weekend. Being able to sense something, Aiba points to a direction and that is when we noticed a bright light surrounding the area in a rooftop. Using FLY, Aiba goes there to catch the card. I hopped onto his staff to fly with him even though he doesn't want to let me. There is no way I'm going to let Aiba going alone after seeing how Aiba tried to capture FIGHT. Furthermore, Sakurai also refused to fly to go there. He will just wait with Ohchan and J. He just tells us that there will be no problem in catching BIG because she is one of the peaceful cards.
Arriving there, it is just as Sakurai said. There is no problem at all in capturing the card. BIG willingly let Aiba changed her back as a card. By having her sealed, the rest of the things that she has magnified seems to turn back to their normal size. We go back to the rest once all of the problems are solved.
"Now, I don't have to worry if someone pinched my cheek anymore. I can go big and small according to my will," Sakurai said happily.
"But you're still a weakling," I teased him and he just pouted. By having him in the team, it means that I have more people to make fun of, especially after knowing that he only has air muscle.
"I think it is time to go home now. We have school tomorrow," suggested J and all of us agreed with him. I walked together with Ohchan because our house is in the same way while J and Aiba are in the opposite way. Sakurai, making himself shrink again, go to Aiba's house again.
I'm looking forward to our next adventure in helping Aiba to catch all of the cards. I don't know why, but I'm so excited to meet the judge. Even though I denied all of these stories about Cardcaptor and all at first, I don't know why suddenly all of these stories seem familiar.
A/N: Below is the information about POWER, FIGHT and BIG in case you're not familiar with them.
POWER
FIGHT
BIG