Kawaii Sakura Shrine [[Cardcaptor Sakura Site]]

Currently standing in the TV Section section.

KSS Episode Summary

Episode #21

By Peacewish
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---Opening Credits---

On a gorgeous and clear autumn day, several girls relaxed on the grass and watched their fellow students run past.

“Tomoyo-chan, is your ankle all right?”

“It’s just a sprain.” Thoughtfully Tomoyo rubbed the bandage that had been wrapped tightly around her right ankle. It wasn’t hurting so much anymore, but it was still tender.

“Does it hurt?”

“No, not for now. But sensei did say that I shouldn’t run in the marathon race.”

“That’s a shame,” Chiharu commented.

“Yes.” But Tomoyo was not overly upset. She’d never been much of an athlete, and now that she was freed from the responsibility of running…

Her eyes followed her best friend as Sakura puffed her way around the track

She could tape Sakura-chan running as much as she wanted!

“Last lap,” Mr. Terada called out. Sakura was well in front of the rest of the group, and couldn’t contain her excitement.

“All right!”

***Sakura’s Long Marathon Race***

“Sakura-chan runs really fast.”

“I’m sure that in two days, Sakura-chan is going to win the annual marathon race again.”

“It won’t be that easy.” The new voice broke into their conversation, and Naoko and Rika turned to see Meilin watching them, her hands on her hips. “This year, the marathon race will be a one-two finish between myself and Syaoran. At our school back in Hong Kong, Syaoran and I were always the winners.”

Sure enough, on the track, Li was bearing down on Sakura hard as she neared the finish line. She sensed his approach and pushed herself faster, but he managed to pull ahead just before they crossed the white line. Pleased, Mr. Terada examined his stopwatch.

“It looks like the first two finishers will come from our class.”

The two of them collapsed beside the track and tried to get their breath back.

“You run fast, Li-kun,” Sakura panted.

“Syaoran!” Li never had a chance to reply before Meilin pounced on him, hugging him exuberantly.

“Meilin?”

“It looks like the marathon race will be a duel between us, Syaoran.” Her eyes were snapping with excitement, and inwardly he groaned.

“Meilin-chan, you’re good at running marathons?”

Sakura’s friendly question was met with a withering glare.

“Am I good?” she repeated scornfully. “Who do you think you’re asking? You will be crying all the way as you run behind me the whole race!”

“W-why will I be crying?”

“You’ll be crying from frustration.”

Sakura looked blank, but Li just rolled his eyes.

“But Meilin, have you ever run a long-distance race?”

She didn’t answer, but smiled blissfully at him. This time, Li did groan out loud.

It was time for the next batch of students to run. Meilin went through several last minute warm-ups, then directed a challenging glare in Sakura’s direction. Sakura flinched.

“Five laps around the track, just like the previous group. Make sure you have your own pace in mind when you run.”

“Hai!” they all chanted.

“On your mark, ready, go!”

He raised his arm and motioned, and Meilin shot out in front of the crowd.

“She’s fast!” Sakura mentioned. Li just crossed his arms.

“That girl…”

“They’re all surprised now that they’re seeing me run,” Meilin murmured to herself, as she hit a stride and started eating up the track. She was the best… she was in perfect shape… she was well ahead of the group for the first two laps… it was starting to get harder when she passed the teacher for the third time. Most of the crowd had passed her by the time she got to the fourth lap. Anxiously Sakura watched Meilin struggle to finish the fifth lap.

“I did it!” Yamazaki cheered as he crossed the finish line ahead of the rest of the crowd. All the other students were right behind him. Meilin was still a good distance back, barely able to keep her feet moving forward in a straight line. Dazed, she watched the last of the runners, Naoko, jog slowly past her. Then everything faded and she hit the pavement with a painful smack.

“Meilin-chan!” Sakura cried.

“No more…”

“Oh, that feels good.” Happy but tired, Sakura splashed her face with cold water from the trough.

“Hai.” Tomoyo handed her a towel and she patted her face dry.

“Arigatou.” Then she turned to the girl on the other side of her, her hands still shaking slightly with fatigue. “Meilin-chan, are you all right now?”

“I just wasn’t feeling well today,” Meilin sniffed, and straightened. “I’ve never lost a race to anyone except Syaoran!”

“A race?” Li inquired from behind her. “The longest you’ve ever run was 100 meters. You have to run a marathon differently from the way you run a 100-meter race.”

“Nande? It’s the same – you’re still running.”

Li sighed as he looked at her quizzical face, then decided he was too tired to get into it. He just patted her lightly on the shoulder before turning away.

“How can I run fast like Sakura-chan and Yamazaki-kun?”

“You have to train yourself, of course.” Meilin was putting her running shoes up in her locker, and turned at the sound of the conversation on the other side of the lockers. “It’s more effective if you train for marathons at high elevations.”

“High elevations?” Meilin peeked around the corner and watched Yamazaki lecture the girls gathered around.

“Yeah. People who run marathons often practice at the peak of mountains like Mt. Fuji. Even the tallest mountain in the world was first climbed by someone training to run to run a marathon.”

“But we don’t have tall mountains like that here in Tomoeda.”

“Top-level marathon competitors are also top-level mountain hikers.”

“There he goes again,” Chiharu interrupted dryly. “Yamazaki-kun’s lies.”

“Oh, it was a lie?” Sakura looked blankly at Yamazaki, who was grinning merrily. Meilin’s shoulders slumped.

“But it’s true that training is important.”

“Okay,” Naoko agreed. “I’ll give it a try.”

Meilin leaned back against the metal lockers with a thoughtful _expression on her face.

“Training, huh?”

“I’ve had enough.” Sakura took her dish to the sink where her father was washing up.

“By the way, Sakura-san, your marathon race is this Friday, right?”

“Yeah!”

“And you won last year, right?” She shrugged and smiled bashfully.

“What time do you start running?” She looked over to see her brother wiping the table down.

“We start right after lunch break is over.”

“I see.” He gave her a nonchalant look. “Guess I’ll swing by then. We only have classes in the morning that day.”

A fierce hope suddenly sprung up in Sakura.

“I wonder if Yukito-san will want to come as well?”

He shrugged slightly.

“Since he’s is my class, he won’t have any classes either. Where will you be running?”

“Well, we run one lap around the track, then enter the Penguin Park. We exit the park, and the turnaround point is the street lined with cherry trees. Then we pass by the library and through the park again to go back to school.”

Her brother’s eyebrows went up slightly.

“Quite a ways.”

“They said it was a 2.5 km round trip. But then, I love running.”

“Well, you do train for it every day.”

“Hoe?” She looked up at her brother’s wicked grin with confusion in her eyes.

“Every morning, you run to school with all your strength. You know, ‘I overslept’. Yuki is impressed too. After all, you do catch up to my bike.”

Sakura bristled, but she could think of no snappy reply to this and flounced away.

“I’ve had enough.” Meilin stood up from the table and made her way to the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Training for the marathon.” She shot Li a prideful look, but he just stared at his food.

“You shouldn’t.”

“Nande? Syaoran, don’t you want to cross the finish line with me?”

He didn’t bother to answer, so Wei spoke up.

“Lady Meilin, it’s better not to partake in strenuous exercise right after a meal, or you will get stomach cramps.”

“I’ll be all right,” she snapped impatiently. Syaoran’s attitude was getting on her nerves, lately, and she stormed out of the apartment and down to the lobby. Didn’t he want her to win with him? Didn’t he care at all?

The lobby glass doors slid open and she shot down the sidewalk in a burst of speed.

“Syaoran baka!”

Upstairs, Li gave a violent sneeze.

Meilin was as good as her word. She did push herself hard and fast, determined to train like the boy in the locker room had said. But by the time she reached the park, it was impossible to concentrate on running anymore. Her stomach was smarting painfully, and she leaned back against the big penguin slide to get her breath back.

“Oh, my stomach hurts…”

Someone stepped out of the darkness. Startled, Meilin recognized Wei walking up to her and holding out a blanket.

“You don’t want your body to be too cold.”

Patiently, he began to explain, and to her credit, Meilin listened.

“How to breathe?”

“Hai. Breathing rhythmically, in-in-out-out. And perhaps it will be better to run a little slower.”

“Slower?”

“That is, reserving a little bit of energy until the finish line. When you see the line, you can then use all of the energy you saved up.”

Meilin was nodding.

“Arigatou, Wei. I’ll give it a try.”

“You should thank Sir Syaoran. He said he wanted me to teach you how to run long-distance.”

Syaoran… Her heart melted immediately toward him, and she smiled. Feeling rested, she decided that she was going to give it another try.

Wei watched her disappear in the darkness of the park, no longer dashing but moving in a smooth and collected stride. Meilin could feel the difference as well, as she encircled the quiet and dark park.

“I think I can finish like this!”

Excited, she started moving a little faster. Already the park had faded away and she was by his side, running down the length of the track.

“The fourth graders are nearing the finish line! Who’s in the lead? It’s Li Syaoran and Li Meilin from class 2!”

Meilin glowed as she pushed herself faster. There was no one else to worry about; they’d left the rest of the class behind long ago. There was no one but her and Syaoran, and he turned to her and let one of his rare smiles creep across his face. She beamed in return.

“Syaoran.”

“Meilin,” he replied, and held out his hand. He wanted to cross the finish line with her, and gratefully she slipped her hand into his.

“It’s a one-two victory for Syaoran and Meilin!” They burst through the ribbon at the same time, and everywhere people were cheering for them.

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Tomoeda Elementary Marathon Race, the sign proclaimed. Underneath it, crowds of students in their running shorts and baseball caps sat waiting, some warming up, some lounging and chatting.

“Kinomoto-san!” Sakura turned from her friends to see Meilin behind her. “I am a different person today than the other day! I have been reborn!” She placed her hand over her chest and lifted her chin proudly. “Can you keep up with my speed?”

She uttered a sharp laugh and moved away before Sakura had a chance to respond. Nonplussed, Sakura looked back at her friends.

“She sure looks confident,” Naoko evaluated.

“I wonder if she has some sort of plan?” Chiharu wondered.

“Sakura-chan!” Meilin flew out of Sakura’s head at the sound of the familiar voice, and she scurried over to the chain link fence. Behind it, her brother and Yukito were waiting.

“Yukito-san!”

“Do your best. I’ll be cheering you on as much as I can!”

Sakura glowed. Yukito had come, and he was cheering for her. Nothing could go wrong now.

“Thank you very much!”

“All fourth graders should now report to the starting area.”

Yukito looked up at the announcement.

“Well, we’ll be at the turning point. Do your best.”

“Hai!”

“And don’t trip while you’re running,” Touya called out as she went to rejoin her friends.

“Hai!”

Li turned his head as he saw the two boys behind the fence, and quickly went over.

“Do your best,” Yukito encouraged him, and he ducked his head bashfully.

“H-hai.”

Touya gave the boy on the other side of the fence a baleful look and clapped a hand on Yukito’s shoulder.

“Let’s go.”

“Hai. Ja ne!”

“What’s wrong, Syaoran?” Meilin was at his side now, and she watched Li as he watched Yukito mount his bike and glide away. He averted his gaze.

“Don’t sprint ahead so much in the beginning. You start increasing your speed after the turnaround point.”

She nodded.

“One-two finish, right?”

“Mm.”

Tomoyo held her camera up and trained the lens on Sakura, waiting with the rest of the group at the starting line.

“We’re about to begin. How is it over there?”

“All clear,” Kero pipped through the phone. “I’m flying above Tomoeda. Blue skies, temperature slightly below normal with a breeze – this is the ideal day for a marathon!”

“Here we go,” announced the man at the line. “On your mark. Ready…”

Sakura tensed. Li tensed. Meilin tensed.

“Go!”

---eyecatch---

It didn’t take long for Sakura, Li, and Meilin to pull ahead of the rest of the group and leave the school. The teacher flagged them and pointed down the road, and they turned. Kero, far above them, trained his little telescope in their direction.

“The leaders are the kid and the brat! What is Sakura doing? Why can’t she just zip past them?”

But Sakura was biding her time. She was just fine running a step behind Meilin, there was no reason to expend a lot of energy trying to pass her. The three of them ran past Twin Bells before turning toward the park, and Maki waved from the sidewalk. Li and Meilin paid no attention, but Sakura grinned and returned the wave.

The three of them continued toward the park. They had fallen into a steady rhythm, eating up the pavement, and Meilin found herself breathing easily and comfortably as she ran. She wasn’t tired at all today. All that training must have paid off. And, she was right next to Syaoran!

Touya and Yukito came to a stop and leaned against their handlebars. They were at the end of the lane, where another teacher waited with his flags at the ready.

“Are they coming yet?”

“I think it’s about the right time.”

Further down, in the middle of the lane, Tomoyo waited with her camera at the ready. She’d gotten a lift from her bodyguards, and happily she fiddled with the pink headset for her phone.

“This is the perfect angle. Kero-in-the-sky, who’s in the lead right now?”

“That kid. The brat comes after that, Sakura is in third place.” Kero ground his teeth a little as he watched the group leave the park. “Sakura, give it all ya got!”

Now Tomoyo could see them coming, and she raised her camera and waved at the group. Li and Meilin, again, paid no attention, but Sakura waved happily before pounding down the lane after her classmates. Frustrated, Kero watched them disappear under the cover of the late summer foliage.

“I can’t see at all,” he moped. “Guess I’ll go wait back at the park.”

It shouldn’t be long before they were there.

They were nearing the end of the lane now. As if at the end of a dark tunnel, Li and Sakura caught sight of Yukito waving at them.

“Do your best, Sakura-chan!” he called out.

Sakura pushed forward, determined to be ahead of Li by the time she reached Yukito. Li sensed her maneuver and pushed his legs to go faster. Meilin was beginning to have trouble keeping up by the time the two competitors blitzed past Yukito and Touya. In tandem, they rounded the trees and began to run back down the lane.

“They’re running a little fast,” Touya mentioned, “don’t you think?”

“It was fast.”

“At that rate, they’ll be really tired in the second half.” Touya had thought his sister knew better than that, but he shrugged. Hopefully she knew what she was doing. He didn’t want her to lose to that kid.

“Naoko-chan, you can do it!” Tomoyo cheered on her friend as Naoko rounded the corner and jogged down the lane, dead last. The teacher on his bike followed at a slow pace behind.

“All right.” The last of the students had gone past, and Touya kicked back his kickstand. “Let’s go after them.”

Tomoyo was preparing to return to the car and go on to the school when something unexpected happened.

Sakura, and Li, and Meilin, passed her on the road. Again.

Huh? Confused, Tomoyo watched them puff down the sidewalk. They’d been going to fast to call out, but she could swear that they were going in the wrong direction.

“Don’t,” Sakura wheezed, “you think this is strange?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s wrong?” Meilin panted.

“It’s been a while since we left the turnaround point, but we haven’t seen anyone approaching us from up ahead.”

“I’m sure they’re all just slowpokes.”

“I don’t think we pulled ahead that much.” They hadn’t stopped while they talked, but Sakura was slowing down slightly as she turned her attention to this new development.

“Syaoran and I were just too fast,” Meilin said adamantly. “Although we have someone extra here.” Sakura gulped.

At the border of the park, Kero crouched in the bushes and waited for the kids to return.

“They should be here soon. You better be in the lead this time… Oh, here they come!” Eagerly he pressed his telescope through the fence, but the smiling face in the lead was neither Sakura nor Li nor Meilin. It was Yamazaki-kun. “Huh?”

He called Tomoyo on her phone, and she sounded just as confused as he felt.

“Sakura-chan’s group has passed by me twice already,” she related.

“Then that means they made the turnaround correctly, right?”

“Yes, but they were going in the same direction both times.”

“Say what?”

Over the rooftops, he could see the green leaves of the cherry trees waving gently in the breeze. What was going on?

Under those leaves, Sakura began to wonder if they would ever run out of trees.

“Was the tree-lined path this long?”

Naoko made her way into the park, followed closely by the teacher on his bike. Now Kero knew something was definitely wrong.

Sakura’s thoughts were interrupted by a squeal and a crash. Behind her, Meilin had tripped and went sprawling on the pavement.

“Meilin!” Li was by her side in a second, kneeling down to examine her.

“Ouch,” she moaned, and tried to sit up.

“Daijobu?” Sakura inquired.

“Sakura-chan!” Sakura turned at her name and saw Tomoyo approaching from the direction they’d been running toward.

“Tomoyo-chan? Ore? Why are you coming from over there?”

“It looks like you won’t be able to run anymore,” Li stated. Meilin gasped.

“Of course I can!”

“Our teacher will be coming by on his bicycle in the end,” Sakura explained. “Why don’t you get a ride from him?”

“I don’t want to do that! I want to finish first and second with Syaoran!”

“Now look -” Li began.

“I know,” Sakura interrupted, before he could say anything too impatient. “I’ll wait with you.”

“Unfortunately,” Tomoyo spoke up, “our teacher has already passed us by.”

“But I thought that our teacher’s bicycle returns to the school with the last place person, right?”

“Yes, but apparently, Naoko-chan who was in the last place, just came out of the tree-lined path.”

“What do you mean?”

Li was standing up slowly now, looking around.

“This is…” Sakura followed his gaze, and saw him looking at a vacation poster against the fence. They had passed that poster right after coming onto the lane.

“This poster was…”

“I saw all of you heading in the same direction twice, Sakura-chan,” Tomoyo related.

The significance of her words sank in and Sakura and Li exchanged a glance.

“Is it a Clow Card’s fault?”

“I feel it. It’s the presence of a Clow Card.”

“You’re right.” Sakura glanced at the leaves rustling over head. “I feel it too. But where is it?”

“It should be right near us.”

But they could see nothing. There was only the four of them, and the quiet lane. An innocuous breeze lifted their hair away from their faces and sent the leaves fluttering again.

“Here,” Tomoyo offered, and handed Sakura the phone.

“Loop?”

“Yeah,” Kero explained. “Loop did all this. It connected the tree-lined path that you were running on, and made a circle.”

Li leaned in close to hear the explanation as Sakura listened on the phone.

“So it was a Clow Card. Demo, I don’t see anything.”

“If you don’t sever the loop, it won’t show itself in front of you.”

“Then there’s no way for me to find it!”

“There’s a way to look for it, even it we don’t see it.” Li jumped lightly to the top of the brick wall and produced his Lasin Board.

“You carry that thing even at times like this?”

“Of course.” Meilin’s chest swelled a little.

“Nothing less from my Syaoran.”

“Imperial king of gods, thy divinity watches over all four corners. Metal, wood, water, fire, earth, thunder, wind, lightning. Whirling blades of lightning, answer my call!”

At his direction, the light blue dots swung around the design to point in one direction, and the entire board began to glow.

“Amazing!” Sakura murmured.

“Hey!” Kero’s sharp bark made her wince, and she held the phone away from her ear. “What are you so awestruck about?”

“But -”

“Look for it! There has to be a connection somewhere on the road. If you cut that area, Loop will show up.”

“Connection?”

“There has to be someplace that looks unusual!”

“You say that, but -”

“I will help,” Tomoyo offered.

The glow was emitting a ray now, pointing him in the right direction. Sakura was pacing up the road when she tripped and fell.

“Sheesh,” she muttered, embarrassed. “Why is there a crack in such a -” She broke off as she realized what she was looking at. This was no ordinary crack in the pavement, but a thin straight red line that glowed to her senses. “Here it is!”

“You found it?” Kero demanded.

“Yeah!”

“Cut it with something. When Loop appears, seal it away before it connects the road back together.”

“You’re saying I should cut it, but -” She stopped talking when Li produced his precious pendant. “Oh! I know!”

Quickly she reached for her key.

“Key which hides the powers of the Dark, show your true form before me! I, Sakura, command you under our contract. Release!” The staff began to appear at the same time that Li’s mental command brought forth his magical sword. It was a whole new race between the two of them.

“Sword!” She struck the Card, and her staff took on the aspects of the sharp blade. Almost simultaneously they slashed at the magical barrier. The red line twisted, then released its hold on the lane and retreated into its true form, a loop of red ribbon floating in the air.

“Return to the guise that you were meant to be in! Clow Card!”

“Did you get it?” Kero asked over the phone.

“Yes.”

Relieved, Sakura watched the newly-formed Card float out into midair, wondering who it would go to. They had been so close; she couldn’t be sure who had cut into Loop first. Finally, it settled itself in her open palm.

“Syaoran was faster!” Meilin complained. “I’m sure of it!”

Sakura squirmed, but Li said nothing at all. He merely retracted his sword and looked down at the ground.

Touya watched the last girl, one with short brown hair and glasses, cross the finish line. The teacher followed on his bike.

“Sakura’s group is taking a long time,” Yukito ventured, voicing his own worries.

“I think they really did take a wrong turn somewhere.”

“Iie!” Meilin shouted defiantly.

“You say that you’re fine, but you know that you can’t run with your foot like that!”

“I’m fine.” Li gave an exasperated groan as Meilin tried once more to stand.

“I will stay with her, so we can have her picked up later,” Tomoyo offered.

“I will wait too,” Sakura added. The marathon was already lost, so there was no point in running on. But it was plain that Meilin felt differently.

“No, no, no, no! I want to cross the finish line right next to Syaoran.”

All right, then. There was obviously only one thing to do. Li knelt on the pavement next to her with his back turned.

“Meilin. Here.”

He held his arms back in preparation for carrying her, and her _expression softened.

“Syaoran…”

“The last of the fourth graders are coming back. Everyone, please give them a warm round of applause.”

The crowd clapped politely, then began to applaud in earnest when they saw the children. It was an inspiring sight. Li was jogging slowly, forcing himself to keep running as he carried Meilin on his back. By his side, Sakura kept pace.

Everyone was cheering as they crossed the finish line, and the three of them collapsed on the ground, Li wheezing to get his breath back.

“Syaoran, arigatou!” It had been a lot harder work than he’d bargained for when he began this marathon, but the sight of his cousin’s face made it worthwhile. She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed happily with a delighted smile. From the edge of the crowd, Tomoyo and Kero could see, and exchanged smiles. It made for the perfect moment.

For about five seconds.

Then Meilin turned her face toward their third party and glowered.

“I injured myself this time, but if I’d given it my all, I would have won!”

“Hoe -”

“And Syaoran was the real one that sealed the Card.” She tightened her grip on him possessively, not noticing that she was slowly throttling him. He couldn’t even get his breath back to get her attention. “If there is another race I will absolutely positively leave you in the dust, then Syaoran and I will have a one-two finish!”

Li was sure he was going to pass out. Through a dark curtain he heard her voice declare in a ringing challenge:

“The battle has just begun!”

Sakura paled as she eyed the angry girl in front of her. Tomoyo wasn’t helping matters any, training her camera to catch a close-up glimpse.

“Your troubled face is also lovely, Sakura-chan.”

“I will not lose!” Meilin concluded.

Sakura fidgeted and flushed in the screen’s viewfinder.

“Hoe…”

---Ending Credits---

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