Chapter Text
“Oh, I’m dreaming”
Nakamura looked around his dreamscape: A beautiful garden with red and white roses. Clear crystals haphazardly growing from the ground. White feathers and pink flower petals were dancing around him like snow. The night sky above him was dark, but the stars glowed ever so gently.
It sure was one of the more beautiful dreams he’s ever had, but the teen had a feeling he should be doing something important here. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something move. It was a giant transparent ribbon with pink tips. It had a crystal in the middle and feathery tails. It joyously flew around him before taking off somewhere. Nakamura wasn’t sure why, but he followed it.
The ribbon flew into a long tunnel, made out of rose bushes, and the black-haired boy ran after it. “How can it fly so effortlessly through here? Isn’t it scared it might get ripped by the thorns?” He observed the butterfly-like cloth making twists and turns. At the end of the tunnel was a clearing, with two throne-like chairs made out of crystal, and on one of them sat an elderly but beautiful woman with light brown and gray hair. Her emerald eyes shone brightly with something that looked like kindness. She smiled at the boy and invited him to sit in the other chair, which he shyly accepted.
“Uhm…”, Nakamura slowly looked at the woman through his bangs. “Sorry for talking to you like this, but I didn’t really have a choice”. Her voice sounded so nice and sweet. “To tell you the truth, I wanted to ask you for a favor”.
“A favor?”
“Yes”. The woman’s smile turned rather somber. “I have many friends like [Flight] over here”, she motioned to the ribbon dancing around her. “This one refuses to leave my side no matter what, but others need a new home. I have searched far and wide, but I believe there is no one better than you”. She stood up and bowed. “Will you please look after my precious friends and family?”
It was strange. The older woman made absolutely no sense to Nakamura. He had no clue who these ‘friends’ were or why he was the right person to take care of them. But he felt absolutely no reason to turn her down. In fact, “…I would be honored to fulfill your request”. He mirrored her movements.
He held his head down for a little while, but when he looked up, he saw the grateful smile of the woman. “Thank you. I was right to ask you, Okuto-san. Things might be hard at first, but I know you will do great”. She leaned a little closer to whisper something……BZZT, BZZT, RIIINGG
Slowly, the boy opened his eyes and pulled himself up. A bit drowsy, he looked around. His beloved pet was the first thing he recognized. “…Good morning, Icchan”. He then noticed the time on his phone. “OH SHOOT I’M GOING TO BE LATE!!”
The black-haired teen hurried on his bike to get to school. But the dream was still lingering on his mind. It was not the first time Nakamura had strange dreams. Ever since the first day of school started, he was puzzled by them. Then again, the first day of school was a whirlwind in the youth's life. As he started to reminisce, the dream was soon forgotten.
After all, it was the day he met the love of his life: Hirose Aiki. The chestnut-haired boy was the cutest Nakamura had ever seen. His smile was so bright, and his laughter was the best sound in the world to the awkward teen. On top of that, they were classmates! There was just one small problem.
Nakamura had pulled up to school just in time and let out a mental sigh. Even though they were in the same classroom every day, he hadn’t even spoken to the boy. “But today will be different. Today I WILL talk to Hirose!” The school day went by with no problems, a good sign. As students were leaving the room, the teen looked over at his crush. Hirose was finishing up his homework from yesterday. “Don’t worry. It’ll be fine”, Nakamura confidently stood up. “I’ve stimulated every possible conversation in my head since the first day of school”. He stoically slung his schoolbag over his shoulder. “It’ll be perfect”.
It was not perfect.
In fact, it was bad.
Okay, it was disastrous.
He had approached the chestnut-haired boy, but when Hirose had dropped his eraser, Nakamura completely froze. The second attempt, he actually returned to his desk. The third time, he was taken off guard when the other teen had turned around, and suddenly they looked each other in the eye. Nakamura’s instinct was to run away. And you’d think that would be the worst of it, but no.
Just as Hirose was leaving, he had dropped his handkerchief. A perfect chance to talk to the boy, but a female classmate also saw it happen. So what does Nakamura do?
He panics and steps on the handkerchief…
HE STEPPED ON IT!!
HE FREAKING STEPPED ON IT AND GAVE IT BACK WITH A CREEPY SMILE!!
“WHY THE HELL DID I DO THAT?!? WHY GOD WHY?!?” The poor boy was scaring off passersby on his way home. “I screwed up! I just know he hates me now! Why did I do that? I should’ve just handed it over normally!” He sighed; the damage had already been done. There was no point in worrying about it now. He looked at his phone when it all of a sudden buzzed, a message from his mom, reminding him that he shouldn’t forget to buy dinner for himself.
“Oh, that’s right. Both mom and dad are still on those business trips, and Kana is sleeping over at a friend’s house today…Come to think of it, the bookstore is on the way to the supermarket. Maybe the new volume of Love Bento is out already!” Today was awful, so a trip to the bookstore to make himself feel better was perfect.
Unfortunately, there was no new volume yet when he got there. But Nakamura decided to stick around, browsing for anything that might catch his interest. He ended up in the back of the store, where secondhand books were put up for a discounted price. Hardly anyone would go there, so Okuto was alone.
While inspecting an old BL novel, he failed to notice the strange noise above him. On top of the bookshelf behind was a box. Inside were several old books that still needed to be put up for sale. One of those books started to glow a warm golden light. It silently removed itself from the box, quietly levitating down. Without Nakamura noticing, the book phased into his bag. Nestling between his schoolbooks as it stopped glowing.
“Finally home”, the teen set down his bags on the table. He opened his school bag to grab his bento box to clean it. “Seriously, that line at the supermarket was too long… What’s this?” He pulled out a strange book he’d never seen before and held it with both hands.
It was a white book, with pink accents, and small golden jeweled ornaments on the corners. The right edge featured a curled white wing lock, which connected to the back of the book. On the top center of the cover was the name "SAKURA" engraved. The book’s cover also featured a golden winged cat, with a gold-chained sun around his neck.
It looked pretty cool, but Nakamura couldn’t recall ever picking up this book. “Is this a prank-”*POP* The lock suddenly unlocked itself. “Eh?” The cover swung open, and out of nowhere a shining circle appeared beneath the boy. Extremely confused, the teen looked down. At the center of the rather large circle was a 12-pointed star with six 5-pointed stars on every other point. A sun and a moon on opposite ends of the star. On the outer circle were kanji for the four elements.
“What is going on?!” He returned his gaze to the book and saw something glowing in the middle. A hole made out of what looked like stardust swirled in a long rectangle shape. Without warning, bursts of light sprang free from the book, passing through the walls without causing any damage.
“SERIOUSLY WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!” Nakamura tried to let go of the book, but his hands refused to move. After about 20 seconds, everything stopped, and the black-haired teen could finally drop the book to the ground. He stumbled backwards and onto his butt. “What- what was that?” His question was answered when the book started glowing a golden light. Okuto couldn’t believe his eyes: something was rising out of the cover. A yellow-orange stuffed animal with white wings, big ears, and a tail with a puffy end. The two of them locked eyes with each other. There was a moment of silence before the creature spoke up. “Hidey-howdy-ho!” He greeted Okuto with a big smile.
Nakamura had never screamed so loud in his life.
“So let me get this straight. You are Kerberos, or Kero-chan, the guardian of this ‘SAKURA’ book, which holds the powers of these magical Sakura Cards. They are alive, and each has an incredible power, but they all have very independent personalities. That’s why it’s your duty to look after the cards so they don’t escape and cause disasters in the world”. “That’s right”. Kero took a bite from the curry Nakamura had made.
“But you fell asleep when guarding them, so when I, who apparently has some amount of magic, unknowingly undid the seal, all the cards broke free”. “That appears to be the case, yeah”. “You have to collect them all again, but because the cards are tied to you, you can’t access your true form and powers. So you want me to help you out?”
“Yes!” The glutton excitedly held up the human-sized spoon.
“I refuse”. Okuto grabbed the dirty dishes and walked to the sink to wash them.
“Hey, hold up!” Kero flew right after him. “You’re responsible too! Ya opened the book!”
“Wasn’t it your responsibility to keep the cards sealed?!”
“Yeah, well stuff happens, okay!?!” Kero started panicking. “Anyway, don’t ya have loved ones or people ya like and want to protect?!!”
Nakamura stopped washing. The image of Hirose smiling filled his brain, causing his cheeks to grow warm. This did not go unnoticed by the beast of the seal; a glint shimmered in his bead-like eye. “AHA! Ya do! Who is it? A girl at school? Or maybe a boy?”
“Wha- NO! I-I can’t even talk to him. Today alone I messed up real bad…”. A sullen look made its way onto his face. “I’ll never even be friends with him… Besides, I’m a total loser. Even if I have magic, there’s no way someone like me can collect the cards…” Kero looked at the boy thoughtfully; the human teen seemed so full of self-doubt and uncertainty. Flying up to pat his head, he gave the human a confident smile. “Kid, what’s ya name?”
“Na-nakamura, Okuto Nakamura”.
“Listen closely, Okuto. My previous master Sakura was a great person who achieved great things. But she was also a bit naïve, very clumsy, dense, and totally clueless at times”. “He’s kind of rude. Or maybe that’s because of the Osaka dialect?”
“In the beginnin’, she had no confidence in collectin’ the cards either. But slowly she got better and eventually even got together with the one she loved. The fact that you were able to open the book at all makes me believe you have the same potential. That’s why I know I can place my trust in ya. Of course I will help ya if you need me to!” Kero gave a big grin.
Nakamura was silent. When was the last time he was encouraged like this? In that moment, he made up his mind. “…Okay, I will give it a try!” He replied, eyes shining with confidence. “Yoshya!” Kero flew back to the Sakura Book on the table. He glowed with his magic power, causing the room to darken, aside from him and the magic circle from earlier beneath Nakamura.
“Key of the Seal…” A light popped out of the lock, revealing a small key with the handle shaped like an 8-pointed star. “There is one who wishes to form a contract with you”. The key floated towards the black-haired teen. “It’s a teen boy, known as Okuto…!” The key hovered before the human. “O great key, grant him power! RELEASE!” The small light suddenly shone so bright, Nakamura had to cover his eyes. Through his fingers he saw that the key grew to a small wand. “Okuto, grab the staff!” Struggling a bit, the boy moved towards the stick and grabbed it, causing it to grow even larger. “Nice! Witness the birth of the new Cardcaptor!”
As luck would have it, just minutes after becoming a Cardcaptor, the newly formed duo sensed something in a nearby park. “Okay, now where do ya sense a presence?” Kero floated next to the teen, trying to guide him. “Uhm…”, Nakamura closed his eyes. Trying to detect the magic in the dark, as the guardian had instructed earlier. “I feel something over there”, he opened his eyes and pointed at a rather large tree. He walked over to it, a little nervously holding the staff tightly. “Behind- no, the magic is the tree?”
He carefully touched it. As soon as he did, the tree started to glow. Shocked, the boy stepped back and held the staff up high. Ready to bop whatever would attack him. “Hey, hey, it’s okay!” Kero reassured, flying between the boy and the tree. The two watched as the tree started to shrink down, until the light transformed into a beautiful dryad that smiled at him. “Hold up your hands”, the beast whispered. Doing as he was told, Nakamura watched as the magical being turned into a card and landed in his open hands. The card depicted the green dryad.
“[Wood]?” The teen read the card's name. “What great luck. [Wood] is a pretty powerful and handy card. A great first find”. “Is that so?” The black-haired boy wrote down his name on the card. “But I must say this was easier than I thought. Maybe this Cardcaptor thing won’t be so bad”. “Well, [Wood] is one of the most gentle and docile cards. The others probably won’t be tha-”. “SO-SOMEBODY SAVE ME!”
Surprised by the sudden yell, the duo looked at each other. They quickly followed the source of the voice and hid behind some bushes. Instantly, Nakamura recognized the one who yelled for help. It was “Hirose!”
“A friend of ya?”
“Ah, well, no… He’s the one I like…”, the new magic user was distracted by the way his crush looked. He tightly held onto a street light as he was being pulled by a mysterious force. But more importantly, he was wearing casual clothes.
“Uwha, Hirose is not wearing his uniform. That orange shirt and beige pants look so good on him. Oh, those white shoes are also great. And th-” He shut up when Kero headbutted Okuto in the chin. “Focus, will ya!” The magic creature could almost feel a vein pop. “He’s clearly in trouble!” Nakamura rubbed his bruised chin with slight annoyance. “Ow!” But Kero was right. He needs to rescue Hirose.
He carefully observed the situation. If Hirose was being pulled by something, it might be because of a card. Nakamura closed his eyes, trying to sense the magic again like he was just taught. It didn’t take long before he picked up on something. “Kero-chan, over there!” The beast followed the way the black-haired teen pointed. There on a dog statue was a blue grid that was dented in the middle. Like a black hole with a vortex diagram.
“Th-that’s [Gravitation]! But that card… Why is it here…?” Nakamura could not question his partner, as he saw that Hirose had lost his grip. Pulled towards the statue at a pretty high speed. The black-haired boy’s body moved on instinct. He had grabbed the chestnut-haired boy and pulled him close. Using his own body to cushion the crash, he let out a small grunt.
“It hurts!!! But at least Hirose is okay”. He looked down to make sure his crush was indeed okay, but accidentally locked eyes instead. Big roundish brown eyes were filled with surprise. Both boys felt their cheeks getting warmer. The moment didn’t last long, as the grid started to move. It moved down the statue and down the ground, heading deeper into the park. But this time Nakamura felt himself being pulled by it. He let go of Hirose and stumbled after the card. “U-uhm”, Hirose called out to him. Unsure if he should follow. “D-don’t worry. I’ll handle this!” Nakamura yelled. “Just get home safe!” He focused back on the task at hand, unaware of the amazed look on Hirose’s face.
“OKUTO!” Kero had flown after the human, quickly catching up. The boy was struggling to keep up with the moving gravity force. Using his free hand, he quickly grabbed a tree branch and held on for dear life. “Kero-chan, what do I do?” “[Gravitation] usually just stays in one spot. Normally ya have to let it take ya and capture it when ya are close enough without crashin’. But it’s moving for some reason, so we have to corner it somehow. But how do we do that…?” The magical beast crossed his arms and started to think.
Nakamura watched the moving grid. “Corner it? How?” It was in that moment he noticed something unusual. The grid was always connected to the ground, and only climbed over objects connected to it. “Wait, can it not travel through the air? In that case…” The human let go of the branch. “Okuto?!” Nakamura chased after the card, dodging trees and other solid objects. Until they reached an open spot in the middle of the park. “Now!”
“Tree, plant your roots and grow tall and proud!” The magic circle appeared below him. He threw the card in front of him, letting it spin upright, while he swung down the wand. “[Wood!]”
Green mist-like tendrils appeared from the card and formed together into the dryad. She flew ahead and disappeared into the ground just before [Gravitation] moved above it. In no time, a tree rapidly grew straight towards the sky. The grid got caught by the top of the tree and moved alongside to the high top.
Nakamura followed after it by climbing- no running up the newly formed tree, still being pulled by the wild card. “Force without master. Heed the call of my staff of dreams, and return to the form you were meant to be in!” Almost at the top, the grid started to move down, but the boy swung down his staff just in time. “Gravitation SECURE!” A crystal mass grew where the grid stood. Inside was the image of a blue orb with a yellow moon on it. It had a ring with a star orbiting. A yellow orb with a thick black outline and an orange sun. Between the two orbs was a double-sided arrow that pointed towards each other. The crystal shattered, and it revealed a glowing card.
The card flew towards Nakamura and stopped glowing. Showing the image from earlier. “I-I did it…” The teen held the card with one hand, while the other held on to the tree. He sat down on the branch he was standing on, looking at the amazing view all around him. “I might’ve made this tree too big…”
“OKUTO!!” Kero flew up to him, “ARE YOU OKAY?”
“Look! Look! Kero-chan. I did it!” The teen held up the freshly captured card, still finding it hard to believe what he just did. “I was actually able to capture it…” A little dumbfounded, Kero blinked a bit before letting out a hearty laugh. “See, I told you were perfect for this. And you captured two cards back to back! Not even Sakura did that on her first mission!” The guardian held out his fist. “Looking forward to working with you, partner!” Nakamura smiled and returned the gesture. “Yeah!” Feeling excited about what the future had to bring.
“.....So how do I get down from here…?”
A girl with blue hair stood outside the park. Laughed out loud like some rich lady, as she could no longer keep her excitement under control. “Yes! Yes! I did sense it right! Something unnatural has started in this city!”
“No way! There’s absolutely no way!!” A boy with an old-fashioned film director's hat held up his camera from a city lookout point. “I have to make that guy my number one star!!!”
“Was that always there?” Hifumi rubbed her eyes, having just woken up and wanted to grab a glass of water. She wasn’t sure if what she was seeing out her window was reality or still part of her dream.
To say he was confused would be an understatement. Hirose was just taking a stroll after dinner and was suddenly pulled into the park by a mysterious force. But what surprised him even more was that he was saved by his classmate. The one who acted so strange when giving back his handkerchief earlier today. Hirose thought the black-haired teen was strange then. But now he couldn’t help but wonder if he was the same boy on top of the tree that appeared out of seemingly nowhere.