The Silent Card

Huo Lin and Sakura were in the corridor.

Tomoyo was, of course, filming nearby.

Thanks to that "Phantom Thief Jeanne" drawing all the police's attention, no one noticed them.

"Sakura, you saw what happened just now. That phantom thief was banished by the Clow Card just for raising her voice a little. Can you capture a Clow Card without reciting your lines?"

"They aren't 'lines'! They're spells. I can't seal the Clow Cards without reciting the spells."

Sakura really was only halfway trained, but Huo Lin had more or less guessed that already, so she wasn't surprised.

She could capture the Clow Card herself, of course. It was simple enough: extend her magic toward it and seal it directly.

But her agreement with Clow Reed was to help look after Sakura, not seal the Clow Cards for her.

The evening breeze was a little chilly as they stood on the rooftop, watching the commotion below.

The clothes Tomoyo made really were pretty, but there was one problem: wearing a skirt left her feeling chilly down below, and she wasn't quite comfortable.

Fortunately, it was nighttime, so no one could see. Darkness was the best cover. At least she could take comfort in that.

"That phantom thief lady doesn't seem like a bad person."

"Yeah."

Sakura had noticed it too. The phantom thief hadn't been trying to steal anything. She only wanted to seal a magical object, but her method of sealing didn't seem to work on Clow Cards.

"She probably got things mixed up. You heard her talking about sealing a demon or something. Did she mistake the Clow Card for a demon?"

Huo Lin tossed out the guess, only to hear a tearful whimper beside her.

"A d-demon? Are there really demons in this world?"

Monsters, ghosts, and demons were the things Sakura feared most. She didn't even dare take part in tests of courage with made-up stories, let alone face the real thing.

"But you're already a Clow magician!"

"That's different!"

Even a magician could still get scared at the mention of demons.

"Don't worry, Sakura. I'm here. I'll protect you." Tomoyo Daidoji, the only ordinary person present, hugged Sakura and comforted her.

But, Miss Tomoyo, what are you going to protect her with? That video camera in your hand?

Huo Lin couldn't make sense of it. Tomoyo looked utterly content with Sakura in her arms, and Sakura really did seem comforted.

"Tomoyo! Thank you. I really was scared!"

Does this count as the power of friendship?

Never mind. That's not important.

"Sakura, lend me The Mist, the card you caught before."

Sakura didn't quite understand what Huo Lin wanted to do, but without asking any more questions, she took out The Mist and handed it over.

Huo Lin didn't need a wand or any spells. Those were only tools for channeling magic. With her ample magic power to support them, she could use the Clow Cards however she pleased.

"Huh? What's going on? Is that fog?"

The first to notice something wrong were the police officers who had already surrounded Jeanne.

Miyako Todouji, who had thought victory was assured, suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Is this another one of Jeanne's tricks? Quick, ignore the fog! Get in there and arrest Jeanne! Stop struggling, Jeanne! This stuff won't work on us!"

It's probably just a humidifier or dry ice or something. Or maybe some new kind of smoke bomb?

They had finally managed to surround Jeanne. They couldn't let all their efforts go to waste!

But the detectives and officers from the Metropolitan Police Department found that the moment they entered the fog, they lost their bearings. Having so many people only made things worse. Unable to see anything, they crowded together and collided, not even knowing whether the person they had bumped into was Jeanne.

Jeanne had indeed been knocked over too.

Everything that had happened tonight left her utterly bewildered. There certainly was something strange about the painting Fin had chosen as their target, but there wasn't a demon inside it. And she had no idea what was going on with this fog either. It certainly wasn't something she had prepared beforehand.

"Over here. Give me your hand."

Jeanne heard a girl's voice. Miyako should have been the only girl there, but Jeanne and Miyako were classmates and had grown up together for years. There was no mistaking it: that voice didn't belong to Miyako.

"Who's there?"

"Stop dawdling. Do you want the police to catch you? Give me your hand."

With that, Jeanne could only obediently do as she was told.

Then she felt a force pull her up, lifting her straight into the air. Once she was clear of the fog, she realized with a shock that she was flying!

She wasn't flying on her own. A girl was pulling her along. That girl was actually flying through the air just like that!

There were no wires, no balloons, none of the usual stage-magic tricks. Or was the trick simply so sophisticated that she couldn't see through it?

"What's going on here?"

"What?"

"You're flying through the sky. Is there some kind of mechanism?"

"What's so strange about a Magical Girl being able to fly?"

Huo Lin brought the phantom thief to the rooftop, then let go of her.

"A Magical Girl? Are there really Magical Girls in this world?"

"What kind of question is that? Don't you have mysterious powers yourself?"

That was true. And compared to a Magical Girl, the powers she had obtained as the supposed "reincarnation of Saint Jeanne" seemed even stranger.

Huo Lin paid the phantom thief no further attention. They still had work to finish tonight.

"Sakura, the rest is up to you. You can't get close to that Clow Card, and you definitely can't make any noise. Have you thought of a way to capture it?"

Sakura had been thinking about that earlier, and now she had an idea.

"I have the Shadow Card. I can stay back and use my shadow to get close to it and capture it."

"Right, let's do that. While those police officers are still trapped in the fog."

With Huo Lin blocking the officers' view, Sakura wasted no time, using the Jump Card to land lightly on the ground from the rooftop. What she couldn't accomplish alone became simple with a friend's help.

Thick fog filled the courtyard, but it deliberately cleared a path for Sakura, guiding her to the corridor where the painting hung.

Without a moment's delay, Sakura pulled out the Clow Card she had already prepared.

"Shadow, cast my shadow upon the glass! Shadow Card!"

Beneath her wand, the Shadow Card transformed into a pitch-black shadow, crossing the courtyard and passing through the glass to appear on the wall beside the painting. It took the form of Sakura holding her wand.

"Return to your original form, Clow Card!"

An uncanny wind swirled over the oil painting, distorting its image. Under Sakura's sealing wand, the power of the Clow Card attached to it gathered into a single card.

There was no time to celebrate with so many police still around. Sakura grabbed the newly captured Clow Card and flew into the sky using the Fly Card. At the same time, Huo Lin dispelled the effects of The Mist.

The fog in the courtyard gradually cleared.

"Damn it! Where did Jeanne go?" Miyako Todouji was the most frustrated of all.

Her father, Inspector Todouji, didn't seem nearly as bothered.

"Forget it. Looks like we failed again."

"Dad, how can you say that too?!"

"Look." Inspector Todouji switched on his flashlight and aimed it at the painting on the corridor wall.

"Ah! It happened again!"

The painting had changed. What had originally depicted a strange woman was now a portrait of a little girl smiling by a windowsill.

"This is probably what the painting was really supposed to look like."

The inspector spoke as he looked at the title, "Smile," written beneath the frame.