Hitsuzen: Fate of a Cherry Blossom

Chapter 16

- | Calm before a storm | -

Sakura decided to go for a walk. She brought Kero with her since he's always been staying in her room, playing video games the whole time, but Kero quickly flew off when he smelled something delicious. Sakura chuckled and walked by herself.  And just at that time, something unusual happened.

"Hurry and get this water to master!"

Sakura turned to where the voices came from, only to see a group of stuffed animals carrying a bucket of water.

"Oh, you there!" said the bear. "Please give us a hand! This water... Can we ask you to carry this water to our master, who's waiting over there?"

"Master?" Sakura asked.

"I asked you to bring me some water so I could take my medicine... But a bucketful?" said Kaname.

He introduced himself as Kaname Sonoh from Junior Division Class B. Sakura could sense that he has a weak body.

"Kaname?! You're out of the hospital today? Why didn't you tell us? We would have gone to get you!" Tsubasa said, upon seeing Kaname. Mikan and the others arrived with him. "Oh, you were here, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura learned that Kaname had an alice that can put souls into the dolls he make. She then remembered Mr. Bear. 'Could he be the one that-'

"Bear!" Kaname called, spreading his arms for a hug. Mr. Bear turned around, eyes gleaming.

"Gyaaa! He's charging!" yelled Mikan. Even Sakura thought that it was going to attack Kaname, but instead it jumped and gave him a hug.

"Hello, Bear-san,"  Sakura greeted, patting Bear on the head. Mikan and the others were shocked when Bear didn't attack Sakura.

"Oh, so you've met Bear before?" smiled Kaname. Sakura smiled back and nodded.

"How did you do that Sakura-chan!" asked Mikan, changed in a boxing outfit.

"Maybe because she had Kero-chan, who's also a stuffed animal," said Hotaru in a monotonous voice.

Suddenly, a voice shouted. "I'm not a stuffed animal!" Kero appeared out of nowhere. Kero looked at Bear and the two nodded at each other. The other stuffed animals went to Kero and introduced themselves. Sakura chuckled. It seemed that Kero is popular among the other stuffed animals.

"So you have the same alice like me?" asked Kaname. The group were having a tea party at Bear-san's house.

Sakura smiled. "Kind of. I can actually summon spirits." Kaname nodded, amused of her alice.

"Will you take Bear-san then?" asked Kaname.

"Hoe?"

"Bear is the first moving stuffed animal I ever made. I hadn't master the technique yet so he doesn't have the talking function like the other dolls. And with that nihilistic, independent attitude of his, no matter who I give him to, in the end they never get along. So I've been all kinds of worried about him since I can't find an owner for him like the others. But when I saw how Bear acted a while ago, I thought maybe you two can get along pretty well."

Sakura smiled. "I already got my hands full because of Kero-chan. I'm sure there's someone who's willing to look after him," she looked at Mikan's direction, and giggled. "But I'll still look after Bear-san every now and then."

A group of girls arrived, and so Kaname got busy. Sakura heard Mikan talking to Tsubasa. "Is Kaname-sempai sick or something?"

"Noda taught you, didn't he? about the different forms our alices take. He had a life-shortening form."