The sunny boy from Cardcaptor Sakura

……

A few days later, at the toy store.

After the theft was sealed, the toys sold in the toy store settled down and there were no more thefts.

Sakura returned the panda plush toy that had been lost due to the sign skipping. Although Chiharu and the shopkeeper found it a bit strange, neither of them suspected anything.

All I can say is that the people in this world are incredibly kind and generous.

After the annoyance of the stolen toys subsided, the store manager's mood gradually improved, and the toy store's business began to flourish, unlike its initial sluggishness.

Seeing the store manager's genuine smiles becoming more and more frequent, Sakura also began to have some different feelings.

Although she has accepted her identity as a Cardcaptor Sakura, she is still not very enthusiastic about finding the Clow Cards.

But at this moment, she had a deeper understanding.

Perhaps... actively searching for and sealing the Clow Cards isn't such a bad thing.

Moreover, after Xiao Ke's explanation, she understood the reason for skipping the card.

Since the sign itself looks a lot like a doll, it's possible that the sign considers the dolls around it as friends, which is why it collects the dolls it sold back; it doesn't want to be separated from its friends.

After learning the reason, Sakura's perception of the card changed somewhat. She thought the card player just liked dolls and that's why he collected them.

After that, Sakura had a rare positive attitude towards sealing the Clow Cards. However, in the days that followed, the Clow Cards, which used to appear every few days, suddenly went silent again.

Even after Sakura lost her positive attitude, the anomaly caused by the Clow Cards did not occur.

The world is peaceful today.

Today is another workday (；д｀)ゞ

I'd rather the world be destroyed than have world peace (╯°Д°)╯︵┻━┻

Chapter 37 The Mystery of the Ghost

School day.

School, playground.

“I’m telling you, that’s something I experienced firsthand.”

In the empty training field, Naoko, dressed in her summer school uniform and holding a cheerleading bouquet, is recounting the mysterious events she personally experienced with a serious expression.

"I was delayed by something that day, so I stayed at school for a while and didn't leave until almost evening."

"Because it was very late, I wanted to take a shortcut home through the forest behind the school. You all know the forest behind the school, right? The trees are very lush, and usually no one goes there."

"But that very evening, guess what I saw..."

At this point, Naoko suddenly lowered her voice, and her expression became somewhat frightened: "It was a pale blue firefly. No, calling it a firefly is a bit arbitrary. In fact, I'm not sure if it was a firefly or not."

"The firefly floated quietly in the forest, circled in front of me, and then suddenly drifted deeper into the forest."

"I don't know what I was thinking at the time, but I just chased after them."

"I kept chasing the fireflies, as if I were bewitched by something. Before I knew it, I had run all the way to the edge of the forest, which is the cliff edge of the back mountain!"

"When I arrived at that dangerous place, the fireflies, which were originally just a small cluster, suddenly turned into a thin, pale blue pillar of light. At the very center of that pillar, a blinding light burst forth!"

"The next second, a terrifying one-eyed ghost suddenly darted out from the light. The one-eyed ghost, with its dark red eyes, lunged at me, as if it wanted to kill me directly..."

"Eek!!!"

Suddenly, a sharp scream interrupted Naoko's narration and pierced the ears of everyone present.

"Sakura...?"

Both Naoko, who was telling the story, and Chiharu, who was listening, couldn't help but cover their ears with their fingers and then look at Sakura.

Under their intense gazes, Sakura couldn't help but cover her flushed face with her cheerleading bouquet, and said embarrassedly, "I...I'm sorry."

She was terrified of these things, and when she heard the most frightening parts, she couldn't help but scream in fear.

Once the fear on Sakura's face had subsided somewhat, Chiharu looked at Naoko and continued, "Naoko, was what you just said true?"

“Of course it’s true, it’s based on my own experience.” Naoko said with certainty, her story was not a lie.

"Could it be that you saw it wrong?"

"No, I was perfectly sober at the time."

As Chiharu and Naoko began discussing the scary story from earlier, Sakura couldn't help but turn away and silently shed tears. She was already afraid of ghost stories, but she never expected her friends to be so interested.

“By the way, let’s investigate this matter to verify its authenticity,” Chiharu suddenly said, leaning closer to Naoko with interest.

Since Naoko is speaking so seriously, why don't we all go and explore together? She's quite interested in ghosts and such.

Hearing Chiharu's enthusiastic tone, Sakura was completely stunned, because she knew in her heart that Chiharu's words clearly included her as well.

She really, really, really didn't want to go to this kind of standard horror game opening!

"Our club activities will end early today, let's all go check them out."

Seeing that Chiharu was still talking, Sakura hurriedly waved her hands to stop her, saying, "Wait! Wait!"

"What's wrong?" Chiharu asked, looking at her with a puzzled expression.

Sakura forced a smile and said, "Isn't there a cliff in that forest? It's too dangerous."

"It would be better if we just didn't go there."

"..."

That makes so much sense; she couldn't even refute it.

After thinking for a moment, Sakura said again, "But what if there really is a ghost?"

"If we run away quickly, we'll be fine."

"..."

You are such a clever little kid.

"But...but..."

Sakura opened her mouth as if to say something, but Chiharu spoke up first, "Anyway, nothing will happen."

"Woooooooo..."

Seeing that all her friends wanted to go, Sakura couldn't help but cry inside; she really didn't want to go.

But if all her friends go and she's the only one not going, she feels like she's letting them down, sob sob...

In the end, Sakura couldn't persuade her friends to give up, and they still headed to the back mountain after school.

In a horror game, this would definitely be considered suicidal, so Sakura, still clear-headed, didn't give up trying to persuade her friends.

"Let's not go."

Sakura silently lagged behind the group, her hands pressed against her chest, her brows slightly furrowed, and she whispered a suggestion.

Tomoyo, who was walking ahead, turned back to comfort her, "Don't be afraid, it's still bright outside."

Li Jia chimed in, "Yes, yes, don't worry."

She's scared even when it's bright outside!

Why are you all so brave?!

Sakura silently shed tears in her heart. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but she kept feeling that strange noises were coming from the forest behind the mountain.

Realizing this, Sakura nervously lowered her head and followed closely behind the group, like a little quail.

Just then, Chiharu, who was walking ahead, suddenly asked, "By the way, my mother's birthday is coming up soon. What do you think I should give her as a gift?"

“Chiharu, your mother likes to make desserts, you can give her a cute dessert plate.” Rika replied with a smile. In the dim light of dusk, her naturally curly short hair took on a wine-red hue, making her look more mature than a primary school student.

"A dessert plate?"

Chiharu murmured something, then suddenly turned to look at Sakura, who was lagging behind in the group: "Sakura, what do you think?"

Upon hearing this, the group that had been moving forward suddenly stopped. Everyone looked at Sakura with some concern, and Naoko even gave Chiharu a meaningful look.

Seeing the reactions of those around her, Chiharu suddenly covered her mouth. She had intended to use this topic to distract Sakura and prevent her from being so scared, but at that moment she suddenly remembered that Sakura's mother had passed away.

Seeing the reactions of the people in front of her, Sakura was stunned for a moment, and the three ahoge (cowlicks) on her head twitched.

After realizing what Chiharu had just said, Sakura quickly waved her hands at Chiharu and said, "Ah, don't worry about it. I think the dessert plate is pretty nice. Your mother will definitely be very happy to receive this gift."

Seeing that Sakura didn't seem unhappy, Chiharu breathed a sigh of relief, and the others also felt relieved.

They all knew that Sakura's mother had passed away, so they rarely talked about it in front of Sakura. Unexpectedly, Chiharu's good intentions backfired. Fortunately, Sakura didn't seem sad.

As the conversation ended, the group continued walking through the quiet forest. The sky grew darker and darker, and even the sun on the horizon had already set, leaving only a few rays of afterglow.

Chapter 38 Yes, I'm here to find the ghost.

The back mountain, a dirt road.

The girls walked deeper and deeper into the mountains, where the road leading to the back of the mountain had been cut off, leaving only a dirt road with few pedestrians.

This dirt road is rarely used, and weeds occasionally sprout where people step.