"Peace!"
She hadn't said "nice to meet you," because this wasn't their first meeting. The friend Sakura had brought was indeed Tomoyo.
"Peace."
As promised, Huo Lin returned the Jump Card to Sakura as soon as they met.
"Thank you, but Huo Lin, are you in disguise again today?"
Huo Lin was dressed as a boy again.
"Yeah, we're near my school. This is how I usually look at school, so it'd be bad if my classmates saw two Hayates."
If a classmate saw her alone, she could pass herself off as Hayate. But Hayate was with her now, so being spotted would be a problem.
"Huh? You dress as a boy at school, Huo Lin? Why?"
She was clearly a girl. Why use such complicated Magic Disguise to disguise herself as a boy?
"No particular reason, really. Anyway, it's complicated."
Tomoyo was very interested in this magic. She had seen Huo Lin's previous appearance. She had even picked out the bow tie that Huo Lin had turned into a voice-changing accessory.
"That's amazing. Can I try it?"
"Sure." Huo Lin put the bow tie on Tomoyo.
"Ah, ah." She tested her voice, but nothing happened.
"That's because you can't use magic, Tomoyo. This needs magical power to work."
Huo Lin explained.
Listening nearby, Hayate grew thoughtful. She had assumed anyone could use the Devices Huo Lin made. So ordinary people couldn't use them after all.
But Hayate could use every single one: the Changing Stage from before, the voice-changing bow tie, and the disguise hair clip.
Did that mean I really was a magical girl too?
When Sakura put on the bow tie, it worked. When she spoke again, she had "Huo Lin's" male voice.
Tomoyo eagerly took out a video camera and started filming. She didn't mind whether she could use magic herself. Sakura could, and she could film it. That was enough.
"This is so fun. Can it change to other voices too?"
"Sure. You can sound like anyone you want."
Huo Lin taught Sakura how to adjust the bow tie's voice settings.
Sakura chose a young man's voice.
"Ah, I'll never dare call Lady Sakura a monster again. Lady Sakura is the greatest!" she said in that voice, then burst out laughing.
It was the voice of her older brother, Toya Kinomoto.
"What are you doing, monster?"
The same voice rang out. Sakura froze and slowly turned around. The real Toya Kinomoto was standing right behind her.
"Why are you..." After a few words, Sakura hurriedly took off the bow tie, returning to her own voice. "Why are you here, Toya?"
Toya glanced at the strange bow tie, then at Huo Lin, who was dressed as a boy. His gaze didn't linger before returning to Sakura's face.
"I work part-time at this movie theater, selling popcorn."
Dressed in a staff uniform, he was indeed selling popcorn.
"Ahaha, ahahahaha..." Caught red-handed by the very person she'd been imitating, Sakura was so embarrassed she didn't know what to say. Fortunately, Toya went back to serving customers and left her alone.
He didn't seem surprised that she had such strange things.
"Did I get you into trouble?"
"No, it has nothing to do with you, Huo Lin. I wasn't being careful."
This is awful. I wonder how much he saw. Sakura kept her work as a Cardcaptor secret from her family.
But she wasn't the sort of child to shirk responsibility and take it out on someone else. Huo Lin's Device hadn't caused the trouble. Her own carelessness had.
"Anyway, let's watch the movie first."
Huo Lin had bought the tickets in advance. Tomoyo and Sakura tried to pay her back, but she wouldn't accept their money.
"Then please come over to my house after the movie!" Tomoyo said. "I'll prepare cake and afternoon tea."
The movie tickets hadn't cost much, but one good turn deserved another.
"Huh? We're going to your house, Tomoyo?"
Although Sakura and Tomoyo were friends, Sakura had never been to her house.
Hayate and Huo Lin were both free that afternoon too.
"Do you live in Tomoe Town too, Tomoyo?"
"Yes. Just take the bus and get off at Saikōji."
That really wasn't far. It was only a little over ten minutes away by bus.
The seventy-minute movie was fairly average, neither disappointing nor surprising. The four of them shared a bucket of popcorn.
And a cup of cola.
Notably, Huo Lin had bought that bucket of popcorn from Sakura's brother.
The high school boy had glanced at Huo Lin, then paid for a cup of cola himself and given it to her.
"Thanks for looking after Sakura."
"No, I should be thanking her."
"You should be saying 'watashi,' not 'boku,' shouldn't you?"
Huo Lin had used a masculine first-person pronoun, and Toya had corrected her to the feminine "I."
He actually noticed?
Was my disguise magic that easy to see through?
Toya said nothing more and turned away to prepare popcorn for other customers.
"Sakura, is your brother a magician too?" Huo Lin asked Sakura when she returned to the screening room.
"Of course not. He's just an ordinary person."
That was Sakura's answer, but Huo Lin didn't agree.
Still, whatever the case, it had nothing to do with her.
Tomoyo's home wasn't far away, but only when they arrived did they discover that it was an enormous mansion.
The garden was like a park, with a fountain, a European-style courtyard, and even a very large swimming pool.
There were a butler and maids in the house.
Huo Lin's first impression was that she'd accidentally wandered into a shoujo manga. Did this sort of "rich young lady" setup actually exist in real life?
Tomoyo's full name was Daidoji Tomoyo. Huo Lin belatedly realized that this "Daidoji" was the same Daidoji as Tokyo's famous Daidōji Group!
This was Huo Lin's second real encounter with wealthy people.
The first had been in her previous life, when she'd happened to meet the Suzuki Group's second daughter. Learning who she was had given Huo Lin quite a shock.
That young lady had been accompanied by a group of elementary school children conducting some kind of social survey. Huo Lin had filled out their questionnaire, then been stabbed to death by a neighbor that same day.
Hopefully, those children hadn't been too frightened.
Presumably, no one here would come stab her to death. After all, once she'd gained magical power, her first thought had been magic like Absolute Defense. She no longer had to fear a fruit knife through the heart.
On the way over, Huo Lin had deactivated the hair clip's disguise effect, so she was back to her true appearance.
Both the hair clip and the voice-changing bow tie were now in Sakura's hands.
Although Sakura was undoubtedly a magical girl, she seemed never to have encountered any Devices or magical items other than the Sealing Key and the Clow Cards.
Even these crude Devices made by a beginner struck her as incredibly novel.
"Can this imitate anyone's appearance?"
"Yes, but it can only change your face. It can't do anything about your body."
"How do you use it?"
"You can enter the parameters yourself, but that's more trouble. That's best for making small adjustments to your own appearance. Importing a photo is easier. Of course, if the person you want to imitate doesn't mind, you can scan them in person too."
Sakura first changed into Huo Lin's appearance, which was already stored inside. Then, after asking Tomoyo's permission, she scanned her in person and took on her appearance.
But the Tomoyo she became didn't have long, straight black hair.
"Ah, that's another drawback. Since the disguise only affects your face, it can't disguise hair that extends past your shoulders."
So Sakura now looked like Tomoyo with shoulder-length black hair.
They were all in Tomoyo's bedroom.
It wasn't quite appropriate for a girl she'd only just met to go straight into her private room, but they were discussing magic. They couldn't let the maids who were everywhere in the mansion see, so they had to use a relatively private space.
A knock came at the door. Sakura hurriedly dropped the disguise. It would be trouble if anyone saw "two Tomoyos."
It was the maid, Sonoko, bringing desserts and drinks. She left again, closing the door behind her.
The exquisite desserts were clearly expensive. A rich young lady really did live differently.
"Wow, wow, wow! Desserts!"
Without a doubt, that voice hadn't come from any of the girls. It came from the "plush toy" Sakura had brought along.
Kero, the self-proclaimed Guardian Beast.
But there were only four servings of cake.
"Please have mine. I don't really like desserts." Huo Lin gave up her serving.
Although Sakura felt bad about that, Kero had already pounced on it without the slightest hesitation.
"I'm sorry! Honestly, Kero, you're so rude." As she apologized, Sakura pushed her own serving toward Huo Lin.
"I really don't like desserts." Huo Lin didn't accept it.
"Really?"
"Yes, really. How did you become a magical girl, Sakura?"
Huo Lin was much more interested in magic than desserts.
"Well, actually, three months ago, I scattered the Clow Cards in the basement."
According to Sakura, she had still been an ordinary person at least three months earlier. But once she scattered the Clow Cards, her ordinary life had been turned upside down.
Kero had taught her how to release the key's seal. Then, using that Sealing Wand, she had begun capturing the Clow Cards one after another.
With every Clow Card she captured, she gained access to its power. Gradually, she had grown more proficient at using magic.
Huo Lin had noticed this too. After Sakura captured the Mist Card yesterday, her magical power had indeed increased a little.
Although it was a very small amount in Huo Lin's eyes, less than half a page of the Book of the Night Sky, the increase was real.
Did that mean all of Sakura's magical power came from the Clow Cards?
Before you continue