The wheels on this bus were pretty bumpy. I can see why they made a song about it. I was sitting next to Naomi like always. We were seat partners after all which means whenever we went on a field trip we had to sit next to each other no matter what. Naomi loved it because she didn't get along with other people as much. She was pretty shy towards others, but she was getting over it a bit. Today's field trip was to the hot air balloon field. They were open seasonally, so Ms. Fujimichi had convinced the school's headmaster on letting us go as a fieldtrip. For "cultural" reasons, which it could count as that. I think the western cultures do this kind of stuff. It's so cool we get to experience it! I had the window seat again so I typically had to look out the window. I enjoyed looking out the window to see the scenery. Naomi didn't mind. She sometimes got motion sickness from looking out too much. Luckily our last field trip to the Zoo didn't make her sick. It would have been bad and a trip ruiner for her.
"This will be fun." Naomi smiled. I turned to look at her bright face.
"Yeah! It'll be like using Fly but without the card." I smiled. I didn't know if that made sense but she understood. I heard a grumble behind me.
"Oh yeah. Cause that's sooo fun!" Miura muttered with a sarcastic smile. Daijin gave him a weird stare. I looked over to them and Miura instantly looked out the window to avoid eye contact. Daijin flashed me a cheeky smile.
"It is going to be fun! Being in the air with no one around." Daijin was in awe. "So romantic, don't you think. Sora?" Daijin winked and I arched my eyebrow at him.
"Well, I guess it would be." I tried to think about it. Well when I fly with Fly it's not really romantic. It's just flying. What could make it romantic really? I sat back down to think about it. I didn't notice Naomi was recording me until I was going to ask her what makes flying romantic. When I saw the camera I instantly froze up. "Uh.. You're recording?" I smiled nervously. She stops and places the camera next to her cheek.
"Memories! Our first time on air balloons!" Her eyes sparkled. Naomi was excited about things like this. Especially more since we are catching cards together. In a way.
"Ok class. This will be a group assignment." Ms. Fujimichi called out once the bus finally stopped. "I will appoint you all in groups. Once you are placed in a group you may get off the bus. Please wait outside the bus in your group. I will explain the rest once groups are appointed. Let's begin." Ms. Fujimichi started calling out names. Students started to unload group by group. "Miura, Skai. Zen, Daijin. Li, Sora. And Akaname, Naomi. You are all in a group." Miura grunted but Daijin cheered.
"We are in a group!" Daijin got up and helped Naomi and I up too. Miura sighed and kept walking to get out. "Hey Skai! Wait for us!" Daijin ran out the bus too. Naomi and I walked. Rei and Aiko watched us leave, Wait we've never been in separate groups from them before. Rei and Aiko waved a bit sadly. Well as long as they are still with each other. Ms. Fujimichi knows not to separate them. Aiko is way too shy.
Once everyone was unloaded from the bus our teacher did a small headcount. She took roll once more, that was also Daijin's fault. On our very first field trip with Ms. Fujimichi, Daijin thought it would be funny to wander off when the teacher wasn't looking. He ended up getting on the wrong bus. Luckily they both went to the same school, but Ms. Fujimichi freaked out. Now she does excessive amounts of head counts coming and going on field trips. Once everyone was accounted for she cleared her throat. "Ok, you all will be able to go on your own. We will met up right here at this spot by six in the afternoon. Ok?" She asks for confirmation.
"Yes, teacher!" We all answered in unison. She was very pleased.
"Ok! Now have fun! And try to learn a thing or two!" With that last word we all went our separate ways.
We walked for a bit. "I'm surprised Ms. Fujimichi let's all of us to go on our own during almost every field trip. Like, you'd think cause of my little incident she would force us all to stay together." He scratched his head in embarrassment. Naomi giggles. "See! She understands me!" He jokes. We went to a lot of stalls that offered many hot air balloon souvenirs. Even foods that were made to look like hot air ballons. Some things were cute then there were things that didn't seem to belong. I looked over to show Naomi, yet again she was recording me. It made me nervous but I tried to keep a natural aura going. We kept walking around the booths. We sampled some foods and Naomi made sure to get her aunt a souvenir.
"Let me get my aunt something then we can ride the balloon." Naomi walks to a nearby stall. Miura hasn't said a word to anyone since we got off the bus. Surprisingly he hasn't even spoken to Daijin. Daijin was confused since Miura always spoke to him. So I took the initiative and walked over to him.
"Hey Miura-kun." I tried to start a conversation with him. He jumped in fright. He must have been zoned out so he didn't notice me until the last second.
"Gah! What?! What do you want?!" Miura growls at me as he calms down. His face was a bit red which he then covered with the back of his hand. Oops I scared him badly.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you! I was just curious on why you were so quiet you seemed to avoid everything we did." I spoke softly. He looks at me, arms crossed, scowling. I continued to stare at him. I couldn't help but smile. This threw him off. I scared him again which made him a bit more red.
"Ugh! I've just been thinking. Now can you leave me alone?" Miura's expression softened as he sighed the words out. I nodded, I took the hint that he didn't want to be bothered by anyone right now so I walked towards Daijin.
"Hey, don't worry Sora. He's been like that lately. Been thinking a lot. I wonder when his noggin is going to blow out." Daijin pretends his head explodes. I laugh. Daijin is such a good friend too. I thought. Naomi came back happily.
"There! I got it." She showed us an ornament. "It's a Christmas ornament. I know I know. Christmas is in another six months. But I know my aunt will love it." Naomi was happy. I smiled.
"It's really cute!" I agreed. Naomi looked over to the balloons.
"Ready?" Naomi asked. Daijin and I nodded. "Ok. Let's go."
We waited in line to get on one. The lady advised us that only two people can go in at a time. Before I could pick Naomi, they shoved me in a balloon with Daijin. It was fine. I need to make other friends too. We stood on the balloon as it lifted up slowly. They got Naomi and Miura in another at the same time. She waved at us and pulled out her camera.
"Beautiful scenery huh." Daijin spoke softly. I looked down and saw the trees become smaller and smaller. It was amazing. It is a beautiful scenery! I nodded with a bright smile. "So Sora-chan, how are you like?" He asks. I was confused by the sudden question. I looked over to Daijin. "Like uhmm.. How's you're life?" He laughs awkwardly as he scratches his head. I glanced over to Naomi's Balloon. I saw her recording yet talking to Miura. I wonder what they are talking about. They seem to really be engaged in the conversation. A moment later she shows him her phone and his face gets red. She giggles then looks my way. We made eye contact and she smiles at me. Huh? A second later Miura looks over to us and then covers his mouth with his hand. He turns away instantly and Naomi goes back to recording me. I realized that Daijin was still asking his questions so I return to answering them. "Are you from China?" He asked again.
"No, my father is. I was born here." Simple answer, and it was actually fun.
"Favorite animal?"
"I really love foxes! They are so cute!"
"I thought it was a monkey?" He asked. I shook my head.
"They didn't have foxes in the Zoo so I wanted to see monkeys." I sighed. Foxes were extremely adorable in my opinion. I had a small collection of fox plushes bag home.. But I never told nor showed anyone other than Naomi. Its embarrassing for a thirteen year old like me to own a bunch of plushies. Daijin tilted his head in confusion and I sweat dropped. "N-nothing!" He just nods.
"Ahh, well do you have a crush?" He lowered his face when he asked. I couldn't see his expression at all.
I thought about it for a second and then shook my head. "No, I dont."
"Why not?" His questions became straight forward.
"Well, I just haven't been interested in boys." His eyebrow rose. "No I'm not interested in girls! I just meant.. I haven't really met a guy that has really made me crush on them." I was becoming confused. Have I? I couldn't think straight now. I tried to keep my thoughts straight. He shook his head.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to!" Daijin now felt bad.
"Don't worry Daijin-kun. It was a question I never really thought about. But yeah. Do you?" I smile at him. He becomes red. He slowly nods. "Oh? Who?" I asked. It shouldn't be a problem since he asked me. He mumbled something. I got closer. "Huh?" I was try to hear better. We suddenly started to go lower. We were descending. "Tell me later." I gave him a smile of appreciation. He was going to tell me who he liked and that was something private.
We were all walking towards the picnic area. Naomi made us all lunch so we didn't need to buy food. Good thing too because it was expensive. I was really glad to be friends with Naomi. Her cooking was amazing! Miura was already eating. He glanced up to look at me. I smiled at him and he nearly chocked on his food. Huh? Is he laughing? I giggled a bit at the sight. He recovers and then covers his mouth. I took a bite of Naomi's food and instantly felt it melt. It was delicious. She had a small fascination with foreign foods. So today was a mix of western and japanese. I was happy to be able to eat this. It's the closest I'll get to even visiting these places. Miura didn't seem to mind the food either. Daijin was a while different ball game. He wasn't really feeling it. He offered us to share.
"It's not that it's bad, but I'm not a fan of western food." Daijin already ate the Japanese assortment. He just left the western alone. I liked it so I raised my hand for it. Then again, Miura liked it too. "Oh, well you two can share." Daijin handed us the box food.
Miura kinda glared a bit. He sighed. "You can have it." He gave it to me. Daijin was shocked.
"No way! Skai is actually giving it up?! Wha?!" Daijin was really surprised. Huh? What's wrong with him? Is it wrong he's giving it to me? I was about to get the box until a female started to scream.
"Help! My daughter!" The woman was screaming. Then a few more people started to shout.
"Help me!" It scared me that I almost dropped the food. I caught the food in an instant. I looked over to Miura who only nodded. It's a Clow card! Naomi saw us exchange looks. She gave a slight smile.
"Hey Zen-kun. What type of food do you like?" She tries to distract Daijin. It worked. So Miura and I got away as soon as possible. Miura already took out his sword.
"Use Sleep. With everyone awake we won't be able to do much!" Miura suggested. I took out my necklace.
"The key that holds both the power of darkness and stars, Reveal your true form to me. I, Sora, command thee under convert. Release!" The staff came out and I pulled out Sleep. "Sleep, put everyone in this park asleep! SLEEP!" The wand activated the card. Sleep flew out in its fairy form. It flew all around. People started dropping to the floor, well the ones on the floor. Luckily no one was flying the air balloons which meant everyone was on the ground. It was safer that way too. No unintentional injuries. "Fly!" My staff's wings expanded and grew. "Get on!" I got on the staff and extended a hand for Miura to get on. He was hesitant at first but then he grabbed my hand. I helped him up. As we flew up into the air we saw countless people floating along with us. "What card is this?" I ask over my shoulder. Miura was examining the scene around us.
"They are floating... So it must be the Float card!" Miura shouted. "We are going to have to make everyone get close. The ones that are floating. I'll use my wind magic and you use Windy."
I brought out Windy. "Ok! Windy, blow a gust to the east! Windy!" Once the staff touched the card Windy came out. She first went west then came back east with a huge wind. Bringing many people closer together.
"Master of wind, lend me your strength!" He slashed with his sword towards Windy. They countered each other. We saw a mini hot air balloon under the people. "Seal it!"
"Return to the first true form you were made in, Clow Card!" I aimed the sealing head to Float. It sucked into the glowing card template. The card completely formed and as I reached for it, it flew over my head. A hand reached up behind me. It's Miura-kun's card. I sighed. He smiled at me. "Good job Miura-kun!" He signed it and then activated it.
"Float!" He tapped his sword to the card. Float appeared under the people, they descended slowly. "You were so busy on checking me out that you didn't realize they were falling." I blushed.
"Ch-checking you out?!" I was completely flushed. "I was not! I was only looking to see where the card went."
"Well it's mine." He growled at first but then he sighed. "But good job. You're improving and that's a good thing. So yeah. Now can we get down?" I nodded. Once we got down he looked around and saw people waking up. "Oh, and also, don't expect more compliments." I smiled back at him brightly
"I wont! Thank you Miura-kun!" I knew for a fact that that wasn't going to be the last time he compliments me.