The lunch break chime echoed through the entire school building. From the cafeteria of Tomoeda Middle School, the scent of today's menu—curry—drifted all the way into the hallways. Laughter and chatter from students spilled out of every classroom. Weaving through that clamor, a single boy walked down the corridor. Hiiragizawa Eriol, his elegantly curling deep indigo hair tied back in a single tail. His mystical blue eyes, which seemed to see through everything, gazed straight at the door of the school broadcasting room. "[gentle]Pardon me." When he opened the broadcasting room door, a single female student on the broadcast committee was inside, reading the day's school newspaper draft into the microphone. Broadcasting equipment lined the walls, two microphones set up. Speakers were installed in thirty-two locations throughout the school. "[surprised]Oh, Hiiragizawa-kun. What's up?" Eriol lowered his brows apologetically. "[gentle]It seems the copy machine in the staff room is out of paper. A teacher asked if someone from the broadcast committee could restock it." "[surprised]Huh, really? Got it, I'll go right away!" She trotted out of the broadcasting room. Eriol was alone. He quietly sat down at the broadcast seat. Before him, the main microphone connected to all thirty-two speakers in the school. His fingertip pressed the microphone switch. A small red lamp lit up. Eriol wore a gentle smile. "[gentle]Everyone, this is the lunch broadcast. Today, I have a special announcement." His voice was, as always, soft and polite. As if reciting a poem, his words melted into the air. "[gentle]To Class 2-1's Kinomoto Sakura-san. Sakura-san, please walk a future of destiny together with me." A moment of silence. And then—. "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" The entire school erupted into an uproar that was neither screams nor cheers. ◇ Class 2-1's classroom. Sakura couldn't believe her ears. "[surprised]...Hweh?" The fork in her hand clattered to the floor. The curry she had been about to eat dribbled onto her tray. Eriol-kun, what did he just say? He called my name over the school-wide broadcast? And "a future of destiny"—. "[scared]H-hweeeeeeeeh!?!?" Sakura turned bright red all the way to her ears and stood up. No, she tried to stand up and bumped her forehead on her desk. "[excited]Sakura-chan! What a thing to happen!" In the next seat, Tomoyo stood up, her eyes sparkling. Her silky black hair, long enough to reach her waist, swayed. The recording light on the video camera in her hands was, naturally, glowing bright red. "[excited]A transfer student using the school broadcast for a public confession...! And the choice of words, 'a future of destiny'! This is so picturesque!" Tomoyo had already secured the best angle. She was capturing Sakura's bright red face straight on. "[scared]N-no, that's, um, uh—!" Words failed her. The eyes of the entire class were focused on Sakura. Boys and girls alike, mouths opening and closing, all staring at her. —BANG!! From the back of the classroom came the sound of a chair being kicked over. Turning around, Li Syaoran was standing. His dark brown unruly hair bristled. His amber eyes burned with anger and, more than anything, overwhelming desperation. Syaoran silently yanked open the classroom's sliding door. And just like that, he bolted out into the hallway. "[scared]Syaoran-kun...!" Sakura's heart pounded violently. No, this wasn't something as cute as doki-doki. Deep in her chest, it hurt as if being crushed in a tight grip. Everyone was looking at her. Curious stares. Voices whispering something. "[crying]I-I, um, bathroom!" Sakura grabbed her school bag and fled the classroom. She ran down the hallway. The smell of lunch, which had seemed so delicious just moments ago, now only made her stomach churn. She dashed up the stairs. She arrived before the rooftop door. Of course, it was locked. "[crying]Open... please open up!" As Sakura rattled the doorknob, she heard breathless footsteps from behind. "[gentle]Sakura-chan, allow me." It was Tomoyo. She pulled a small spare key from her pocket and unlocked the rooftop door as if it were nothing. "[scared]Tomoyo-chan! Thank y—wait, why do you have a key to the rooftop!?" "[gentle]I made copies in advance of keys to places where good footage can be captured." "[crying]Th-that's terrifying!" Sakura, teary-eyed, burst out onto the rooftop. ◇ The June wind swayed Sakura's soft brown bob. She placed her hands on the rooftop fence and caught her breath. In the distance, she could see the green of Tsukimori Hills. The Nadare River sparkled. "[whispers]Hahh... hahh..." Her heart was so loud. Not just because she'd been running. Because, Eriol-kun, over the school broadcast—. "[gentle]Sakura-chan, are you alright?" Tomoyo was already filming. She seemed to have switched to silent mode, as no motor sound could be heard. She kept filming Sakura the whole time. "[scared]I'm not alright... why would he do something like that..." That's when it happened. —BAM!! The rooftop door was thrown open with tremendous force. Syaoran stood there, out of breath. "[angry]Sakura!" Sakura flinched and turned around. Syaoran's unruly hair was disheveled, his collar soaked with sweat. It was immediately clear just how desperately he had run. Syaoran strode up to Sakura, "[angry]I've, since a long time ago, about you—!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, But the next words wouldn't come out. Syaoran's face flushed bright red. His habit of scratching his left ear surfaced, his gaze darting around nervously. His mouth opened and closed, trying to say something, but no voice came. "[embarrassed]...Tch, damn it!" Syaoran clenched his fist tightly. His face said he no longer knew what he was even saying. Even so, desperate to say it—. "[shouting]I can become your magic staff!!" The air on the rooftop froze. Only the wind blew through with a whoosh. Sakura's mouth hung open blankly. "[confused]...Magic, staff?" "[surprised]Magic staff...?" Even Tomoyo, who had been aiming her camera from the shadows, unintentionally lowered it. Her purple eyes were, uncharacteristically, bewildered. Syaoran looked more shocked than anyone at the words he himself had just said. "[embarrassed]N-no! That just now, wasn't—" At that moment. Inside Sakura's head, something burst. —Snap. She felt like she really heard that sound. The scenery before her eyes turned pure white for a moment. And then—. Images flooded in like a deluge. A sky from a different world. A sky dyed purple. She was wearing an elaborate magical girl costume. In her hand, a pink magic staff adorned with a small bird ornament. Beside her, Syaoran-kun, dressed in Chinese-style sorcerer's robes, held his sword at the ready. She had seen this before. She had seen this dream many times. But now, it was so vivid. Syaoran-kun facing the enemy, trying to protect her. Countless golden light cards dancing through the sky. In the distance, someone with long indigo hair quietly watching over them. It was Eriol-kun. With a face just slightly more mature than now, but wearing the exact same smile. '—I hope you can remember.' A voice like that echoed directly from the depths of her mind. No. This wasn't the fragmented memories from before. Everything was connected. Me, who was a magical girl. Syaoran-kun, who protected me. Eriol-kun, watching from afar. All of it—. "[scared]...Ah." Her consciousness was pulled back to reality. But the images in her head wouldn't stop. If anything, they flooded in faster. This time, a gigantic purple beast. Syaoran-kun standing before her, sword ready. Her, raising her staff and shouting. 'Release!' —. Her knees buckled. "[shouting]Sakura!!" Syaoran caught Sakura from the front as she collapsed, holding her tightly. Sakura's vision blurred. Syaoran's panicked face was so close, but she could no longer focus on it. "[scared]Sakura... hey, Sakura!" Syaoran called her name over and over. That voice gradually grew distant. "(Magic, staff...)" Sakura's eyelids slowly closed. At the same time, all strength left her body, and she completely lost consciousness in Syaoran's arms. "[shouting]Sakuraaa—!!!!" Syaoran's scream echoed across the rooftop. Tomoyo had lowered her camera. "[whispers]...Sakura-chan." She, who normally prioritized filming above any situation, now simply clutched her camera to her chest, staring at Sakura with a pale face. In her purple eyes was not the face of a videographer, but that of a best friend. Syaoran, his face deathly pale, kept calling Sakura's name. Desperately, again and again. At that moment. The rooftop door opened without a sound. "[gentle]............" Eriol quietly appeared. His indigo hair swaying in the wind, Eriol gazed at the collapsed Sakura and Syaoran holding her. In his blue eyes, two emotions faintly mingled: the calmness of things going according to plan, and an unexpected worry for Sakura. "[cold]Let's take her to the nurse's office. I'll go call the teacher." "[angry]This has nothing to do with you...!" Syaoran snapped at Eriol. But he couldn't find the words to continue. Syaoran's body trembled as he held Sakura close. "[gentle]Right now, Sakura-san is the top priority." Eriol's calm voice was strangely composed, and that, paradoxically, left Syaoran unable to say anything more. Syaoran held Sakura securely, then left the rooftop and ran down the stairs. Tomoyo and Eriol followed after. ◇ Sakura was gently laid down on a bed in the nurse's office. Syaoran told the school nurse only that she had suddenly collapsed on the rooftop, then left the nurse's office. He leaned his back against the hallway wall and slid down into a crouch. "[whispers]...It's my fault." He covered his face with both hands. Shouting something so incomprehensible like that. What even was a magic staff? Magic—why did I say a word like something out of an old movie? (I just wanted to tell you properly—) The afternoon sunlight streamed in through the hallway window. Eriol silently stood beside Syaoran. Gazing out the window, he spoke quietly. "[gentle]The memories must have flooded in all at once, too much to handle." "[angry]...What do you know?" Syaoran glared at Eriol with a sharp expression. But Eriol only smiled, looking slightly troubled. "[serious]What I know and what I can say are different things." In that voice, something genuine—separate from calculation—faintly seeped through. Even he himself doesn't know which is his true feeling—Eriol wore such an expression. Before the nurse's office door, Tomoyo stood frozen. In her hands, the video camera was put away. Instead, her small, clenched hands trembled. "[whispers]When Sakura-chan wakes up... what should I say to her?" Tomoyo, who never lost her composure no matter what, for the first time wore a genuinely troubled expression. Because this time, it was clearly different from the "fun excitement" of before. Sakura-chan really collapsed. (What is happening inside Sakura-chan's head—?) The nurse's office door, beyond the frosted glass. On the other side, Sakura slept quietly. Her sleeping face was peaceful. As if the chaos from just moments ago had been a lie. But behind those eyelids, even now, fragments of memory continued to move, quietly but surely, trying to connect. When Sakura wakes up, who does she love? Was she really a magical girl? Those two questions loomed heavily, about to bear down upon Sakura. The June wind gently swayed the curtains of the nurse's office.