The next day during lunch at school we ate outside. It was a beautiful day, warm with a light, cool breeze. Yuri, Yasuo, our friend Amaya, and I all sat in our usual spot by the bench under a tree. It wasn't long before Adam came over and politely asked if he could join us. Yasuo seemed excited over having another boy to eat with us and immediately began gabbing.

"So," he began, "I heard about this new shop that just opened up that sells swords. You may know about it, Benson."

Adam shook his head. "No, I don't believe I do."

"Oh." Yasuo shrugged. "Well, it sells a whole bunch of European swords, some modern and some that date back to the early eighteen hundreds. I was thinking of heading there after school today."

"We could come with you," I suggested, wanting to spend more time with Yasuo. "Our parents are working late tonight, so I know they wouldn't mind." Yuri nodded.

"If you wouldn't mind, I would like to accompany you as well," requested Adam.

Amaya gave a slight pout. "I can't come. I have a violin lesson right after school. You guys will have to tell me all about it."

"Of course we will," Yuri encouraged her. "We wouldn't encourage our star violinist to steer away from her practices. We need you nice and perfect for when we attend your recitals."

Amaya gave her a huge grin. We frequently call her our "violin prodigy"; she's so good that if she has a piece of sheet music she's never seen before, she can pick up her violin and play it almost perfectly, and she's only twelve. She hopes after high school her playing could get her a scholarship to a college either in Japan, Europe, or even America. We are so proud of her talent, and she loves having support from her friends.

Yasuo broke the sentimental silence. "Great! It's a plan. Right after school we can head over."

Because I was so excited to spend after school with Yasuo, the rest of the day dragged on in slow motion, but eventually the time came. I put a bag of jalapeño chips from my lunch box into my backpack for Suppi, and then packed up and met up with the other three in front of the school.

"Took you long enough," teased Yuri.

I smiled at her, and then Yasuo exclaimed, "All right! We're ready to go!"

I tried to maneuver my way over to being next to Yasuo, but he walked between Yuri and Adam. The walk wasn't long, though, and before we knew it we were walking into the shop.

"Wow!" Yasuo gasped. "This store is greater than I expected!"

And it was. Swords were stored in cases, swords were leaning on stands, and swords were draped along the walls. Other than the floor, every inch of the store was covered in swords.

"How on earth will you know where to start?" I asked Yasuo. When I turned to face him, he was already on the other side of the store admiring them with one of the employees giving him the details on all of the swords to which he pointed. The three of us walked over to him and heard the history of at least five swords before we hit the most striking one in the store. In a way it made sense that we missed it because it was so slender, but it truly was captivating. The hilt had a red stone on the side closest to the blade and on each side of the stone were small wings.

"We are actually unsure of the origins of this one," confessed the employee. "We know from the look of it, it must be European, the style of the hilt is unlike any of the other swords I've seen. And the triangular bulge of the tip is fascinating as well."

Yasuo had an almost greedy look on his face. "May I hold it for a second?" he asked.

"Well … alright," agreed the employee.

Yasuo picked it up proudly and swung it once pretending he actually knew how to use a sword, but after a few seconds, he became still and his eyes were glazed over.

I walked over to him. "Yasuo, are you – " before I could finish asking, he wielded the sword expertly towards me. I had to fall backwards quickly to keep from getting my head chopped off.

"Yasuo!" Yuri gasped. "What's wrong with you?" Yasuo sharply turned and pointed his sword at her. I could tell he was going to swing it at her, so I jumped and slammed her to the ground on her side so that Yasuo only hit the wall. The sword went right through it, and he swiftly drew it out. Yuri and I turned when we heard a voice shout "SLEEP!" All of the customers in the store were instantly unconscious except the four of us.

"Quick," Adam commanded, "Draw your staff and your sword!"

We did as he instructed quickly. Yasuo took another blow at me, but I used my sword to shield me. I really had no idea what I was doing, but as he attacked I continued to use the sword in my defense.

By this time Suppi had crawled out of my backpack. "Yuri, use your shield card! You should be able to safely knock the sword out of his hands that way!"

"Ok!" she agreed. She threw the card in the air and touched in with her staff. "SHIELD!" Translucent beams shot from the card and enveloped her in a bubble shape. She sprinted towards Yasuo and bunched his arm. As Suppi predicted, the sword was knocked out of his hand, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Kohana!" Suppi instructed, "You can't let him get up or else the sword card can possess him once more!"

"How can I – " Then an idea popped into my head. I whipped a card out of my pocket and touched it with my sword, "WOODY!" The wood card acted as a cage around Yasuo, preventing him from reaching the sword.

"I'll take it from here!" Yuri announced as she ran to the sword and pointed her staff towards it. "Return to the form in which you were destined to be, Sakura Card!" The sword became a card and floated towards Yuri. She grinned. "We did it!"

"You certainly did," Adam agreed with a smile. "Now maybe we should drag Yasuo out and we should start heading home so that we aren't blamed for any damage, though no one will remember anything." He took Yasuo and put him on his back, and we walked out of the store. He remained unconscious until the next block.