STUFFED ANIMAL

by Adrimarie

CHAPTER 8: SINGING SCENARIOS

Card Captor Sakura © CLAMP/Kodansha. The only thing I own here is this fanfic's plot and whatever original characters I may create here.


Director Terada entered the family room of the Daidouji Household, temporarily used as a makeup for the cast for their movie shooting. On one side of the room were the girls getting their makeup done, while at the opposite were the boys. He approached the girls first to speak to Meiling, Mai, and the other three girls who participated in the screen tests earlier. After he was done with them, he headed to the boys' side to speak to them of the same subject as he did with the girls. At the moment, Syaoran, Eriol, and the other three boys involved in the screen test earlier were being prepped by the hired makeup artists for the upcoming first shoot.

"As you know, our first night scene that we're going to do takes place upstairs in this house. Tomoyo-chan was kindly enough to lend us her bedroom as the setting of the girls' PJ party gathering. The guest room across from Tomoyo-chan's room will be the boys' room. This scene is actually the second scene of the entire movie, in which Hinata-kun will first make his appearance to the rest of the town's teenagers, and of course, meets his lost and forgotten first love, Sakura-chan—"

Immediately, the director was interrupted when Eriol burst in to laughter. "Is there something funny, Eriol?"

Eriol simply shook his head, trying to shake off his amusement. "I seriously cannot imagine that a girl like Mai Hirashiki would portray a role of a girl named Sakura. Sure, she can pull off the sweet, good girl role but her attitude in reality is just a bloody mess. I just find it rather bizarre, that's all."

"Why would you think it's bizarre?"

"Considering that at random, both Xiao and Hirashiki are being paired up as a couple at the screen tests and then both are partnered up with a girl member of The Cool Rascals named Sakura. It's just… well.. .bizarre…"

Director Terada glared at the bespectacled teen idol while Syaoran simply rolled his eyes. "I do hope you finally have an idea on how you'll go about your character research assignment, Eriol. It seems you're the only one who hasn't had a clue on how you will be doing your character research. The entire town is your research center, kid."

"Meiling and I already talked about this earlier and we'll do our character research together with the help of Tomoyo-chan. I learned that Tomoyo-chan also has a bit of acting experience on stage in school, plus she knows everything and anything about this town. She'll be our guide and everything."

"Well, alright, that's a start," Terada said. He turned to Syaoran at this point, who has his eyes closed while the makeup artist applied a bit of powder on his eyelids. "Xiaolang, I acknowledge your plan for your character research. Planning to spend more time with the Kinomotos across the street, I see."

"Just Sakura, Director. I'm seriously pretending that her brother does not exist."

Eriol gave a slight chuckle. "Are you scared of Touya-senpai, Xiao?"

Syaoran gave a snicker. "Do I look like I'm afraid? No bully's gonna try to muscle his way between me and Sakura. That goes for her brother as well."

"Well, it's not like you're afraid of anything or anyone at all, Xiao. That's my lad," Eriol grinned.

"That's strange. It'd be a whole lot easier if you and Mai and in some cases, the older Kinomoto, work together for the character research. It would be a whole lot easier this way," Terada suggested.

"I don't know if that's something you should say to Xiaolang, Director," Eriol warned him. "I mean, we've all worked together for a long while now and you should get used to his usual work ethic…"

"I work alone, Director," Syaoran reminded him, crossing his arms. "I've always had when it comes to character research and it works wonders for me. Even Eriol and Meiling know this."

"Well, it works in the past because those were martial arts action and adventure movies, Xiaolang, but this one is a sensitive, slice of life type of love story, which is something you have no experience with…"

"It's still acting, Director," Syaoran answered. "It's just a different genre. Besides, having other people hanging around with me during character research mode is distracting."

Terada sighed deeply. "Oh Xiaolang, I guess you really do have a strict routine, don't you?"

Eriol chuckled. "Strict upbringing and he's from the rare elite species after all."

Syaoran sighed. "I'm not at all that great, Eriol."

"Ahem," Terada cleared his throat once more. "That reminds me of something, Xiaolang. Mai felt responsible about what happened earlier with your screen test with Sakura-chan today and would like to redo the interview tomorrow morning."

"What?" Syaoran almost broke in to laughter. "That's a joke, right?"

"I don't understand why she wants to redo the entire interview when it's only a screen test for Sakura-chan," Eriol blinked his eyes. "Something's fishy…"

"I don't think that's a good idea, Director. I'm against it."

"Whoa," Ryuichi Kanzaki, one of the three other boys who participated in the screen test earlier today, joined in just as his hairstylist is currently styling his spiky hair. "You really got an iron heart, don't you, Li?"

"Daang," one of the the other two male idols with them, Sakuya Tendou exclaimed. "Li, I gotta admit, you're really intimidating at first but now I can see why you're the man of teenage showbiz!"

"And to think, Mai Hirashiki is like the second most popular teen idol girl in our generation too," Kotaro Ninomiya, the third boy with them, joined in the conversation as well. "Meiling Li still is the hottest, that's for sure."

"And seriously," Ryuichi picked up from where Kotaro left off. "You used to date Meiling Li and even girls like Mai Hirashiki and all the other idol girls still doesn't phase you, dude."

"Hell if you asked me," Sakuya snickered, "I bet Li already has a special girl of his own and he ain't us anybody. That's why he's so immune to all of Japan's hottest celebrity babes!"

Syaoran then gave a smirk on his face. "Heh, you'd know."

"Aw come on now, Li," Kotaro laughed. "I know the three of us are taken ourselves but you gotta share us your mysterious love life you know."

Eriol snickered along. "You'd all know, that's for sure."

"What? You know about this too, Eriol?" Sakuya gasped.

"Why do you say that about me? I'm in no position to know in the first place," Eriol sighed, still with the smirk on his face.

"Even one little clue?" Ryuichi pouted.

"Well, alright, just one," Eriol grinned. Syaoran already gave a glare at his cousin, which also stunned the half-British idol. "One clue— You see this all year round all throughout Tomoeda."

"Oh what the hell," Kotaro frowned. "That's a lame clue! And it's not like we're gonna be staying here in Tomoeda through all four seasons for us to know that!"

"Sorry, but I'm afraid that's all I can give you."

"Hirashiki screwed everything up in the interview so she needs to come up with an apology," Syaoran immediately changed the subject. "Besides, I don't think Sakura will agree to redo the interview again."

Terada then patted Syaoran on the shoulder. "Well, I'll let you decide. If you're alright with it, just let me know tomorrow morning and we'll do it again before we proceed for the third portion of the screen test."

"Okay. Fair enough," Syaoran shrugged his shoulders. "That's all I need to let you boys know. Hopefully we'll finish this before two in the morning. I need all of you rested well for tomorrow morning."

Once Terada left them to have the stylists finish with them, Eriol removed his eyeglasses and placed on his contact lenses while being aided by his stylist. Once he applied them, he shifted his eyes towards his cousin. "Xiao… is Sakura alright?"

Syaoran nodded. "I think so."

"So, you ran off out of random earlier and you eventually found Sakura?"

"Yeah? So?"

"Now now, just being curious, dear cousin. I just want to know how big or small this town is so I too won't get lost on my way around town."

"You'll be fine, Eriol. Tomoeda's pretty easy to navigate around if you only pay attention."

"Sure thing. I'll keep that in mind." Just as Syaoran's stylist began to style his hair, Eriol changed the subject. "So, I heard that you'll be free from the night shooting next Wednesday. That's good you get to have a night break."

"Yup. Few days ago, Sakura invited me for a Whisperjay Stew dinner—"

"Yeah, you told me that already."

"Since I'm free on that Wednesday, I already told Sakura that we can have the dinner on that day."

Eriol gave a slight pout. "You're no fun, Xiao. I hoped that you'd take the night when all three of us are free— or rather the night when the two of us are free. You know I'm not free that Wednesday night!"

"Perhaps I should ask Sakura's father to save some of his Whisperjay Stew for you, Eriol?"

His cheeky cousin grinned. "Oh that would be much appreciated, dear cousin!" Syaoran shook his head. "Hey, that can only mean one thing now!"

"What's that?"

"You chose next Wednesday for dinner… does that mean you plan to have dinner with the Kinomotos at their home— by yourself?"

"Well yeah," Syaoran said. "I'd rather invite you and Meiling only but since neither of you are free on Wednesday night then I'm going there by myself."

"Egads, Xiao!" Eriol snickered. "Planning to have dear Sakura-chan all to yourself that night, hmmmm?"

"Hah! Please, take that smirk off your face, Eriol. It's not what you're thinking."

"Oh come on now, Xiao. Something special must have happened with the two of you at the beach that made you decide to have the dinner when you're the only one who's free. I sense a quest for true love here—"

"Her father and most likely Touya-senpai will be there, Eriol, so any of your strange ideas are deemed void."

"Awww…" Eriol moaned as they hear Terada's voice by the door area.

"Alright, kids! Let's get started with our shooting in five minutes!" The stylists finally finished with their work as the cast thanked their stylists and headed upstairs to the rooms.

#

"Tell me more about Syaoran-kun and I'll become him…"

"Kyaaaaa!" Sakura screamed out of the blue just after she loaded the dishes in to their dishwasher. Those words that the idol Li Xiaolang declared to her earlier just kept on repeating and repeating in to her head that she couldn't help but to scream loudly in pure bliss. Her girlish scream startled her father at the living room, who was currently watching some historical documentary on TV.

"Sakura! What's happened? Are you okay there?"

The green-eyed girl quickly closed her mouth and then turned on the dishwasher, making her way to the living room and sat on the sofa close to her father's recliner. Just like a girl in love should, she rested her elbows on the handle of the coach and rested her chin against her hands, gazing right at her bespectacled professor father.

"Daaaad…?" Sakura chortled excitedly.

Fujitaka slowly shifted his eyes to his daffy daughter. "Yeees…?"

"Next Wednesday niiiiight…"

"Eh? What's happening on Wednesday night, dear?"

"Dad, Li Xiaolang said earlier that he'll be free next week on Wednesday night… you know… for dinner!"

"Ah, Wednesday night would be good. I'll be at the university the entire day but I'll be home early enough to prepare the Whisperjay Stew."

"Oh don't worry about everything else, Dad. I'm gonna prepare the rest of the dishes including the rice and the salad and the soup. You just take care of the main entree!"

"Well now," Fujitaka grinned, "you seem to be in a very good mood tonight."

She nodded quickly. "I… I know that my heart still yearns for Syaoran, but… well… somehow… how do I say this… Dad, just… don't set me up with random boys anymore…"

"Oh? So you may found someone else whom you may like to be with?"

"Well… um… maybe…"

Fujitaka couldn't help himself but to chuckle. "Oh boy. Does your brother know about this?"

"Oniichan doesn't have to know, Dad. Besides… he already knows him."

"Eh? He does?"

"Well, he doesn't know the part about my feelings for him, but… yeah! He doesn't have to know."

Fujitaka simply shook his head. "Whatever you say, Sakura."

Right then, she got up from the couch. "I smell like sea salt, so I'm gonna go take a shower and then put my PJs on."

"Go for it, dear." She planted a light kiss on her father's head as she headed upstairs to get herself ready for bed.

Few seconds later, he heard the locks of the front door being unlocked. He got up from his recliner to see who it was. When the door opened, Touya arrived home. "Huh. You're early today, Touya."

"We're closing early tonight for some night shooting," Touya said. He sat down on the couch where Sakura was before and sighed in relief. "Would you believe that? That movie crew is gonna be shooting their scenes at the diner tonight till who knows how long. I'm not included in the shooting being an extra but Yukito and his grandpa have to stay there."

"Well now, that's quite early for Yukito," Fujitaka chuckled. "I'm proud of him! Well done!"

"I was told by the director when he stopped by earlier that I'll start my debut as an extra at the night shooting in two days. This weekend, the entire band will have to be at the night shooting too. Man, too many night shootings…"

"It's still warm past midnight, you know that, Touya. And besides, Mooncastle Diner is just a seven-block walking distance from the house anyway. That's good for you guys, especially for Yukito's family."

"Heh. Yeah, I guess."

Fujitaka took a sip of his tea from the coffee table and changed the subject. "By the way, Touya. How's your work schedule like next week?"

"Eh? Why you ask, Dad?"

"Are you free on Wednesday night next week?"

"Next week…?" Touya began to contemplate, trying to remember the schedule. "Hm… I think I have the night shift on that day… why, Dad?"

"Well, apparently that Wednesday night is the only time that Li Xiaolang will be available for our Whisperjay Stew dinner—"

Touya quickly grabbed his phone from his pocket. "I'm gonna call Yukito—"

"Why, Son?"

"I'm gonna ask him if he can switch my shift with Nakuru. She can work Wednesday night and I can work Wednesday morning—"

"I was afraid you would do something like this, Touya…"

"I ain't leaving Sakura alone with that Chinese brat!"

"Touya, they won't be alone in the house. I'm going to be there myself—"

"Still! You can never be too careful, Dad!"

Fujitaka sighed, dropping his head. "I did not raise you to be paranoid, Son. Please learn to calm down…"

"Well, I'm gonna go wash up too. I already ate dinner so it's all good!" He waved at his father and climbed upstairs, leaving Fujitaka at the living room.

#

"Yo yo Tomoeda Teensters! It's a very, very, and I mean very early Thursday morning, 5:00 in the morning and the sun is already peering up from the hillside! The Keroberos meter has been giving little bird whispers that love is certainly in the air today, especially—" Slam!

Sakura woke up immediately after hearing the first few words of the morning DJ announcing the time the alarm just went off. By reflex, she pressed the snooze button to shut the alarm off. Nevertheless, she was up, doing her early morning stretches, and then dashed right at the restroom to wash up. Minutes later when she returned to her room to find a change of clothes, she heard the vibration of her phone at her desk. She quickly ran to it and saw the message icon flashing.

"Hey Chiirou, it's Xiaolang!" She giggled softly and then opened the text icon:

Good morning, Ying Fa. Open your window.

She gasped in excitement and quickly turned to her dresser, where she started fixing her hair by wearing two red ribbons on both sides of her head and made sure that her chin-length hair curved around her face rather than outward. She also made sure that her fringes were as rounded to cover her forehead as neatly as she can. She even applied her morning cream and lightly powdered her face. Even with her white PJs still on, she was indeed ready to go.

She turned to her window and opened it wide. Across from her window was an open window, but somehow, no sign of her new "little wolf" anywhere. She then cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and then called out towards the window.

"Good morning, Chiirou-kun!"

Moments later, Syaoran shows up at the window, wearing a white tank top once more and showing off his well-defined muscles. His well-built frame immediately made her blush and turn away.

"Good morning, Ying Fa," Syaoran called out. "Oi, why is your back turned from me?"

Hoe! I don't want him to see me blushing like this… he sure has a really nice build… gosh… She cleared her throat and slowly turned around. "Um… I thought there was something on my eye so… um… well, turns out it doesn't!"

"Right," Syaoran snickered. "Want to hang out at the tree?"

Sakura chuckled. "I now know the pattern of the stronger branches, so yeah, sure."

Slowly, the two climbed off from their windows and reached for the sturdiest branches. Carefully they moved from one branch to the next until they finally reached the center. They ended up sitting on the strongest branch, right next to each other.

"White PJs this time, ne?"

"Yup. I love wearing PJs."

"No nighties?"

Sakura giggled. "You pervert."

"What? I'm just curious!"

She sighed and lowered her head. "Syaoran always begged for me to wear a nightgown a few times when we were little. He matures really fast and he thinks girls who wear nighties are really cute. Well, I never really liked nighties because I'd look weird in them."

"Is that so?" Syaoran smirked. "Well, this little wolf wants Ying Fa to wear a nightie one of these nights."

"No… not you too… I guess you dated girls who wear nighties, huh?"

Syaoran ended up laughing. "So does that mean no?"

"I asked you a question first! Don't answer the question with another question!"

"Yes or no?"

"Hoe! You're teasing me!" In the end, the two teens broke in to laughter.

"Now, why are you up and early at this hour anyway, Sakura?"

"Um… I wanna get prepared early, that's all," Sakura answered humbly. "But what about you, Xiaolang? How many hours of sleep did you have?"

"Three hours," Syaoran shrugged. "But I'm used to it."

"Wow… your night shooting must be really long!"

"Yeah. We had to shoot in two locations today. We shot at Tomoyo's bedroom and then at Mooncastle Diner."

"Yeah, I was told," Sakura smiled. "Tomoyo had to sleep at another guest room while they were using her room for the shooting, and then Yukito-niichan and his grandpa had to stay at Mooncastle Diner throughout the duration of the shooting since they got the keys to the diner and all."

"Yup. And Yukito-senpai had his first debut as an extra in the scene too. He was already in the diner uniform so he just played as one of the diner employees. It was fun, although there are tidbits of it that I didn't exactly enjoy…"

"But it's acting, ne? It's not real," Sakura reminded him. "Sure it may make you feel uncool but it's part of the job."

"I know. It took me seven takes just for me to gently trace Hirashiki's cheek and stare at her like I was completely in love with her… it's really hard…"

"Aww," Sakura chuckled. "I bet you and Hirashiki would look really good on screen with that moment. It would make fans squeal all over, you know?"

"Don't say things like that, Sakura," Syaoran gave a frown. "Scenes like that would make girls cry, that's for sure."

"If they're your fangirls, I'm sure they would cry!" Sakura gave a soft chuckle.

"You're making fun of me now, are you?" Syaoran smirked.

"Um… maybe…" She began to whistle innocently while Syaoran shook his head.

"Right."

"Today is the final portion of the screen test, ne?" Sakura nodded.

"Oh, that reminds me," Syaoran blinked his eyes. "I was about to text you regarding what happened yesterday, but you were sleeping, so I decided to wait until you wake up."

"Aww… you're so sweet, Chiirou-kun!" Syaoran immediately blushed, but quickly dismissed it by slapping himself gently. "Ne, what's it about?"

Syaoran sighed. "Hirashiki took responsibility regarding the messy interview that we had yesterday and wanted to start all over as her way of apologizing to you. This time with more general questions."

"Eh? But it's a screen test," Sakura shrugged. "I thought that's not official…"

"That's what I was telling Terada. I voted against it."

Sakura was left with a choice. She knew at this point that she would have to be the deciding factor. "Well, um…"

"I know I shouldn't be judgmental," Syaoran began, "but I still have doubts about Hirashiki. She's one of the other celebrity girls who's… well… got it real bad for me… Eriol even made a list of those girls for me even if I didn't even ask for it."

"I guess that explains why she would act this way."

"Sakura, look. If you want to redo the screen test again then we'll redo it. I'll go along with it."

She shrugged, looking a whole lot more confused as ever. "But it's only a screen test…"

"Well, talk to the director about it so we won't have to waste time."

"Yeah. I suppose."

Right after a brief silence, the two began stretching their arms upward, as well as their legs forward. They made sure they were able to balance against the branch they were sitting on to avoid themselves from falling.

"So, ready for the final portion of the screen test?"

Sakura gave a puzzled look. "What's the final portion about again?"

"It's when we act on a given scene and then the band members would have to assimilate themselves in the scene and sing, It's like in those musicals."

Immediately she placed her hand over her mouth. "Oh no… that's bad…"

"Eh? What's bad?"

"I…" She dropped her head and sighed out. "I can't sing solo…"

Syaoran snickered. "Why do I have the need to say that I don't believe you?"

"Hoe?"

"If you think you can't sing solo then why are you in the band in the first place?"

"Well… that's because I'm really good at playing keyboards and guitar and…"

"You sing well with Tomoyo-chan, even if you're only singing the second voice."

"But that's it. I can sing well when everyone else sings, but… I'm not really confident with my singing abilities."

"For someone who's always chirpy and optimistic, you sure don't have very high self-esteem. What makes you think that you're no good singing solo?"

Sakura gave a sad gaze. "My mom had a beautiful singing voice and both Dad and Oniichan loved her singing so much. Well they say that I sing good also but they kept comparing and contrasting my singing voice to Mom's. Like the way they compare it, it sounded as if I was expected to sing just like Mom. But…"

"Let me guess… you've never heard your mother sing before because you were too young to remember?" Sakura nodded slowly. "Sakura, you don't need to think about all that. Just do your own thing and not be like everyone else. That's all there is to it."

"Hoe… but… what if I sound horrible in the screen test later today?"

"You won't. Besides, you will be the one to choose the song you want to sing. If it's your favorite song, then for sure you wouldn't sound bad singing it."

"Hoe… that's why Tomoyo's the lead vocal in the band because she sings so beautifully like an angel. Plus she has the star appeal… and she's so talented, you know?"

Syaoran sighed and then scooted himself closer to her. "Don't feel nervous, Sakura. Well, for now, let's not think about that. Let's wait until it was time for us to do that screen test."

"You're right, Xiaolang. I shouldn't worry so much." She gave a huge grin, shaking off the nerviness out of her system.

"Good." He then gazed at his wrist watch. "Oh snap! I promised I'd wake Eriol and Wei up around this time."

"Eh? You're not gonna wake up Yamazaki?"

Syaoran rolled his eyes. "He's horrible when he's asleep. He'd curse you out of nowhere if you try to wake him up, so I just let his alarm do all that."

Sakura chuckled. "That's Tak for you. He's always like that."

"Well then. I'll see you later?"

Sakura nodded happily. "See you later, Chiirou-kun!" Quickly she embraced him tightly, resting her chin on to his shoulder.

"Aww… see you later, Ying Fa." He returned the embrace, patting her on the back. Once they released from each other, they both headed back to their respected windows.

#

Some three hours later passed, breakfast and everything, the band and the five main couples are back again at the basement studio of the Daidouji Household. They had a complimentary breakfast of waffles, bacon, and eggs, thanks to the friendly, efficient catering services of the Mooncastle Diner. It was a way of saying thanks from the Yukito's family for having Yukito as an extra in their movie. Sure it was a small thing, but for someone from a small town like Yukito, it sure is an opportunity anyone shouldn't miss. Fujitaka had to head to the university at an early morning anyway. There was news of a huge excavation assignment in Mongolia somewhere that the archaeology department of Clow Reed University was invited to take part of, which in turn, the ambitious professor was called in to attend the meeting.

When they arrived inside, they were asked to wait at the dining room. One of the maids advised the Kinomoto Siblings that Tomoyo and her mother are doing attire fitting on Yukito and Yamazaki at the moment. Apparently, the third portion of the screen test will also involve The Cool Rascals wearing some kind of uniformed outfits that Tomoyo designed herself. Although the attire fitting on the two boys was for another set of attire in the future, she already finished one of the few creations she just made for the band alone.

While feasting on the complimentary breakfast courtesy of Mooncastle Diner's catering, the two siblings begin their routine morning conversation.

"Dad looked so ecstatic this morning that he just didn't have time to make us breakfast," Sakura chuckled. "Imagine… a brand-new excavation adventure for him!"

"Mongolia," Touya shook his head, just as he and little sister Sakura arrived at the Daidouji Residential gates. "Who would've thought. Of all places, seriously, Mongolia. No one in this modern time know anything about Mongolia except it's right smack dab in the middle of China and Russia, and that Genghis Khan was the country's resident bad-ass at that time."

"Yeah," Sakura giggled. "I wonder what kind of archaeological discovery they found this time over there. But on the other hand, Dad seems so free whenever he goes to these archaeological digs."

"Funny how none of us are willing to follow his footsteps," Touya snickered. "Well, I'm more interested in dealing with fellow humans than dealing with humans in the past."

"So," Sakura responded. "You're really gonna go straight for human resource management once you get your masters, Oniichan?"

Touya nodded. "If you dedicate your life in to working various part-time jobs just to gain experiences, that ain't the only thing you're gonna be gaining. You get to gain connections and friendships with the people you work with, whether if he's your fellow co-worker or a customer. You also get to learn different types of stories from everyday people about life in general. I thought of opening my own employment agency one day."

"Ne, that's a very good goal you're aiming for, Oniichan. You as a human resources manager would be able to do good for those who struggle to make ends meet. And then there's Kaho-neechan, who is currently a teacher and maybe one day she'll be a school administrator too, teaching children and even adults today's skills required for today's jobs."

"It'll be a win-win situation, Sakura," Touya grinned. "We'll settle down first after we get married, then find jobs related to our fields before we can open our own agency. It'll be awesome."

"Eh? No plans of having children, Oniichan?"

"You can move in with us when we get a new house," Touya grinned. "Then we can just adopt you as our child—"

"Idiot!" Sakura slapped her older brother on the shoulder. "I'll be eighteen by the time you get married! I'm no longer eligible to be adopted by law at that time, you know! And besides, no one in the world is going to believe that a couple who are only in the mid to late twenties would have an eighteen-year-old for a daughter even if she's adopted. Come on now, that's just not realistic, Oniichan."

"I'm joking, jeez!" Touya raised an eyebrow. Right then, he took a deep breath and sighed out. "Jeez. I have to admit that I still see you as that pesky little monster at ten until now. I still can't see you actually having a boyfriend of your own, but damn… I really have to face reality one day."

Sakura chuckled. "But you already know that I've already got one since I was seven or eight, you know."

"Bah, that's just naive kid stuff! Both you and that brat next door dunno what the hell real love really is. Look at today. Is he still with you today? No. And yet you still wait for him to come back to you? It's all child's play, squirt. Just move on and be happy with the life you have now."

"Hm, maybe," Sakura muttered, now thinking of Syaoran, that is, the idol Li Xiaolang, in her mind right now. "There's someone who would be willing to be my 'little wolf' until he returns, so I no longer worried."

"Really?" Touya gave a suspicious stare at his sister. "So you finally found a boy who would actually replace that brat? I ain't too keen with the idea of you actually dating some goon but what the hell…"

"You're not the only one in the family who's allowed to date, you know, Oniichan." She crossed her arms and turned her head away from him.

"So who's the lucky nitwit who volunteered to be your new little mutt—"

"Little wolf, Oniichan!" Sakura gave a hmph at her brother. "And that's my business, by the way."

"What? You won't even tell your awesomest cool big bro about the lucky dude?"

"Because if I mention his name, you'd hate him more than you would hate Syaoran."

"Urgh…" Touya gave a slight disgusted expression on face. The two finally finished their breakfast of Belgian Waffles, bacon, eggs sunny side up, and a small cup of fresh fruit when Tomoyo arrived with a huge grin on her face.

"Hey there Kinomotos!" Tomoyo giggled. "Your turn to have your measurements!"

"Awesome! Good morning, Tomoyo!" Sakura winked with a thumbs up.

"Yeah, yeah, let's get this over with." Touya shrugged. The siblings stood up and followed Tomoyo from behind.

#

For those who have been living in Tomoeda and are familiar with the town's most elite families, it should be common knowledge that there is no escaping the doll-faced multi-talented teenager who bore the name of Tomoyo Daidouji. As the lyric goes from a familiar Broadway musical: "Whatever Tomoyo wants, Tomoyo gets."

At the basement studio, things looked a whole lot different from yesterday. They actually had an audience consisting of the chosen extras who auditioned earlier this week.. Both sets of bleachers were already filled with these chosen extras which also included some select members of the Wolfpups and the Moonies fanclubs, and much to a surprise to the young adults, the fiancees of the two older members of The Cool Rascals.

Much to their dismay, The Cool Rascals and the ten main cast members, paired up again in to the five main couples just like yesterday, had to sit at the floor in front of the already-filled bleachers. Just like yesterday, the band was separated from the five couples, and as for the extras go, the teens from the town's elite are at the side of the five couples, while the rest were at the band's side.

Director Terada was once again in charge of the meeting. Yukito already advised Touya much earlier in the morning that there will be a lot of changes regarding this third portion of the screen test. Sakura and Tomoyo cheered to see Chiharu, Rika, and Naoko present at their side of the bleachers.

"I didn't know you auditioned for being an extra," Tomoyo chuckled, referring to the blogger Naoko.

"Me? Nah. But they gave me an exclusive pass to be on the set to do my reporting and blogging," Naoko gave a huge grin. "Director Terada and the crew were really kind enough for giving me this opportunity. I'm recording all of our verbal interviews so I can have some note references on my own when I write my entries."

"Sweet!" Sakura cheered. "With this awesome blogging project you've got, you're gonna get admitted to Todai for sure after graduation next spring!"

"Hope so!" Naoko winked.

Chiharu then changed the subject. "You girls are so lucky," she sighed. "I mean sure, you get to spend more time with my boyfriend now than I do, but I'm glad you're taking care of him as The Cool Rascals band."

"Who would have thought you guys are gonna be in the movie too?" Rika giggled. "And on top of that, you'll be performing in the movie too!"

"Yup! So excited!" Sakura cheered happily.

"And not just that," Chiharu chuckled. "You guys get to spend more time with the idols than us club presidents."

"But we're not that worried," Rika grinned. "You girls should consider yourselves lucky!"

Tomoyo chuckled. "Sakura is more lucky than I am. Well I only got lucky because they're using my house as part of the movie settings, you know? But see… Li Xiaolang and Eriol Hiiragizawa actually stay next door to Sakura's house instead of the Tomoeda Inn while Meiling stays over at my house!"

"Waaaah! Oh my gosh!" Rika gasped in shock. "I have heard rumors among the Moonies that he doesn't stay at the Tomoeda Inn with the rest of the cast… and all this time, he's right next door to you, Sakura? By the way, which house? Is it Yukito-senpai's or Yamazaki's?"

"Ha!" Chiharu snorted. "Those two guys are way too hot for them to stay at Takashi's pl—"

"They're actually staying at Tak's place," Sakura corrected them.

"Eeek!" Chiharu shrieked. "Oh my god… Takashi was actually telling the truth this time?"

"You mean after how many times he's told you about Li-kun and Eriol-kun, you've never believed him?" Rika gasped in shock.

"How can you all tell if he's lying or not? Even though we've been together for who knows how long I still can't tell whether he's lying or not. Damn him…" Chiharu pouted, crossing her arms.

"Well then," Tomoyo snickered. "As the saying goes, 'If you don't know, now you know.'"

At that moment, Chiharu sighs once she spotted a view of Syaoran on the floor and smiles, even though Mai Hirashiki and even the other three girls from the five couples were surrounding him at that point. Meiling, sitting right next to him, was on protect mode. "Gosh, Li Xiaolang sure looks more sinfully gorgeous in real life… the way he does his hair… even when it's messy he gets hotter all the time… and those gorgeous amber eyes that sparkle against the light of the sun and moon… and in whatever expression he has, he shows the true embodiment of a god… and the voice… oh man, that sexy yet boyish youthful voice… it's deep and rich that just hearing of his voice would seriously make you melt big time…"

Sakura could feel herself blushing in every description Chiharu described about her new little wolf. She began to think about the what-ifs in her mind as Chiharu went along. What if Syaoran grew up to be equally handsome as Li Xiaolang now? I wonder if Chiharu and all those other girls would say the same about him? She then sighed, both smiling and yet at the same time she would feel a little bit of pain within.

Right then, Rika gasped in shock once she noticed Syaoran turning his head towards their direction. "Chiharu, don't look now, but the Chinese prince is looking at our direction!"

"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" Chiharu shrieked as she, Rika, Naoko, Tomoyo, and even Sakura turned their heads to face him. Although the first four glanced at him first before Sakura did, he showed no reaction. But when Sakura finally had her face right at him, he flashed a smile and a nod.

"Good morning," Syaoran greeted them. Chiharu and Rika squealed endlessly as Sakura, Tomoyo, and Naoko returned the bow and the greeting.

"Good morning, Li-kun." He acknowledged the greeting with a simple nod as well. Then he turned his head back to his own group. Chiharu, Rika, Naoko, Tomoyo, and Sakura turned to each other and then squealed in silence.

"Kyaaaa!"

"I didn't know he would look so adorable smiling like that," Naoko chuckled. "I'm not even a fan but I'm blushing like crazy when he smiled like that!"

"I wish Eriol would sit closer so we could see him too," Tomoyo grinned. "And then we can squeal some more!"

"Oh my gosh, you're right!" Rika chuckled. "I wish Eriol would move closer to us instead of him sitting all the way at the end. Those damn girls clinging all over him.

"At least Meiling's sitting next to him," Sakura smiled humbly. "She's all in protective mode right now so no girl could even get close enough to touch him."

"Mou, you guys should've taken a picture!" Chiharu pouted. "I mean it's very rare that we see him smile at all. In magazines, he smiles, but that's it. In real life he always looked so serious."

"Well," Sakura said, "they'll be here for awhile so you'll have plenty of chances to see him smile, right?"

"Oh! Maybe later today we get to see him smile again!" Chiharu squealed.

Right then, Director Terada arrived and the entire studio immediately fell silent. "Good morning, kids— both stars and locals! First of all, I'd like to thank you all for coming and have chosen to take part in the final portion of our screen test. Later today we start our first day shooting with our main cast. Tomorrow will be the first time that the movie's signature and, The Cool Rascals, will also start their first day shooting with the main cast and of course, all of you extras. This weekend will also be your first night shooting as well. We already got your phone numbers and emails at the extras audition day so in that way, you'll stay updated for the upcoming schedules and when you will be needed. Fresh faces, smiling faces, looks like you kids are ready to go!"

Everyone applauded as they let the director continue. "So, yesterday, the producers from Sunbow Pictures— I'm sure most of you have heard of that production company, you all know it's one of the biggest production companies in all of Asia— have arrived in Tomoeda yesterday and they simply briefed me a great idea that they had that would make a good screen test. We'll be doing a lot of work during this entire movie shooting, which includes shooting a few trailers, shorts, and of course, music videos for all of our participating acts including The Cool Rascals. Now how about that?"

"Whoa, that's so awesome!" Yamazaki cheered. "A music video starring us!" He and the rest of the band began to applaud, followed by the others.

"Now, this screen test will have some changes. The concept's the same but there are changes. Our five couples were already informed last night and the extras who are sitting with us here in the Daidouji basement studio already took part of the process. Now that The Cool Rascals are here, we're about to go in our final phase before we begin."

At this point, all eyes were directly towards Terada as he continued. "We came up with six scenarios in which five of them will have one teen star and one member of The Cool Rascals as the main characters. In short, from the main cast will be three girls and two boys in contrast to the three-boy, two-girl Cool Rascals band. The extras signed up to join one scenario that they will act as extras at. Along with that, the extras also voted on which one of the ten members of the main cast they would want to work with for this screen test. The top three girls and the top two boys will obviously be the ones who will participate in the five of the six scenarios. The sixth scenario, everyone will be included. In the first portion of the screen test, we only had the band perform one of their songs by themselves. This time, the band will be performing again, but then there will be other people in the scene including our five couples.

"With that being said, the screenwriters and myself have already counted the votes from the extras to see which top two guys and top three girls who will be playing the lead roles in these scenarios, so let's announce them right now." Right then, Toshifumi Kashii arrived with a folded piece of paper and handed it to the director. "Alright. Let's do the girls first! At the first rank, we have Meiling Li, followed by, respectively at second and third, Mai Hirashiki and Aya Teramura, so let's stand up here, girls!"

Meiling grinned, giving thumbs up to both Syaoran and Eriol, and then to the girls at the other side of the bleachers and stood up, just like the director asked them to. Mai and Aya followed her from behind, with Aya looking enthusiastic while Mai gave a slight pout. No partnering up with the movie cast's most popular teen actor this time for her.

Once the girls lined up next to the director, Terada then turned to the commoners side of the bleachers. "And now, let's have the boys of The Cool Rascals. Yamazaki, Tsukishiro, and Kinomoto, please stand up and line up here at my other side. Chop chop!" He clapped both hands as the three boys stood up sluggishly.

"This is dumb," Touya made a slight complaint, rolling his eyes.

"Touya, I forgot that I was advised by Terada last night during my debut as an extra last night that this is another 50,000 Yen since we didn't get to complete the screen tests last night."

"Urgh…" Touya, who just couldn't help but get tempted by the sound of money, decided to remain silent and went along with the plan.

"Good luck, guys!" Sakura cheered the boys on, while Yamazaki gave a one-finger salute to Chiharu.

"Hope we get to be in the same group, Chiharu!" He grinned and headed to the other side of Terada along with the two older boys with him.

Although in Chiharu's mind, even though her boyfriend became a higher-ranking extra than she was, wished that she would land in the same group as Syaoran. "I wonder which scene Li-kun is going to be assigned to…" she muttered and then sighed in bliss.

"Well then, now at this point, rather than picking the names at random," Terada said, "we will be having our teen stars choose which one of the band members they would want to be their leading man for their scenarios. So girls, choose your leading man—"

"Yamazaki-kun!" Meiling giggled.

"Tsukishiro-senpai," Aya grinned, which made Mai shriek in shock.

"Whaaa? I end up with the fanatical punk? But why?" Mai whined, while Touya raised an eyebrow with the rather irritated glare towards her..

"Sorry, but I know Tsukishiro-senpai more than any other band member," Aya chuckled.

"And Xiaolang and Eriol suggested for me to pick Yamazaki-kun, so sorry!" Meiling snickered. Although Mai will be playing the leading female character of the movie, she instead gets stuck with possibly the grumpiest member of the band.

"Well then," Terada grinned. "Please take a seat at the seats over there at the green screen now." The new pairings headed to the green screen as instructed. "Now, let's go for the top two boys voted by the extras. I think this is already obvious who those two are." Immediately, the Wolfpups and Moonies fangirls immediately squealed, knowing that those top two are obviously Syaoran and Eriol.

"Wow, you guys already know!" Tomoyo chuckled.

"Li Xiaolang and Eriol Hiiragizawa sure are really popular," Sakura grinned.

"Goodness, even the Wolfpups and the Moonies fangirls already knew who those two are!" Terada chortled and turned to the obvious. "Alright, Xiaolang, Eriol, come on up and stand right on my right side."

As Syaoran and Eriol stood up, the British boy's eyes sparkled in curiosity. "So Director, which one of us two ranks first?"

"That's not important now, Eriol. Let's get the process going."

"Aww… not gonna tell, huh?" Eriol snickered.

"Eriol, just shut up," Syaoran rolled his eyes.

"Now that our two favorite hot boys are up here, it's time for the lucky ladies of The Cool Rascals to come for. Let's go Tomoyo-chan and Sakura-chan!"

Chiharu then gasped and turned to Rika. "Oh my gosh! What if Li-kun and Eriol-kun end up fighting each other? Obviously they both want Tomoyo to be their leading lady."

"Oh come on, what makes you say that, Chiharu?" Naoko interrupted.

"Poor Sakura," Rika chuckled. "Are you saying she's not good enough for either Li-kun or Eriol-kun?"

"I didn't say that… I mean it's just natural. Li-kun is the leading character of the movie and Tomoyo-chan is the leader of the band. Leaders always go with leaders!"

"Let's just see what happens," Naoko sighed.

Once the two girls stood at the left side of Terada, he continued on. "And the same as with Meiling, Mai, and Aya, Xiaolang and Eriol, please choose your leading—"

Just as he was about to finish, Syaoran interrupted him by staying silent while walking forward to his other side and took Sakura by the hand.

"Hoe?" Sakura muttered and then found herself blushing once Syaoran took her right hand in to his.

He then turned to Eriol. "The band leader's yours, Eriol."

"Why thank you, Xiao," Eriol grinned and gazed at Tomoyo. "Shall we go, my dear Tomoyo-chan?"

"We shall, my dear Eriol-kun!" Tomoyo chuckled and freely took Eriol by the arm as he lead her to the green screen area, following Syaoran and Sakura from behind.

"Whoa," Naoko chuckled. "Looks like Li-kun already knew who he wanted for his leading lady after all."

"Li Xiaolang… and our sporty sweet Sakura-chan?" Chiharu gasped in awe. "Sure, Sakura may not be as popular as Tomoyo but gosh, she's so darn lucky!"

"And I gotta admit that Tomoyo and Eriol-kun do look good together, if I say so myself," Rika smiled.

Terada then turned to the extras. "Now, the next step is that Toshifumi Kashii will have a raffle box again with pieces of paper that has the numbers 1-5 in them. You know what those numbers stand for, right?"

"Yup," Chiharu raised her hand. "Those are the numbers of the scenarios that we signed up to be extras with."

"Exactly," Terada smiled. "Our five top voted stars at the green screen area will be picking a piece of paper that has the numbers 1-5 in them. When they call out the number they picked, all you extras who volunteered to do those scenarios will be joining that star to head back to the green screen. That number represents the type of scenario that they will be working on. Taeko Kashii, our other screenwriter, will be presenting these five stars the scenarios on one sheet of paper. With that, you extras and the star will take the scenario to the band member that the stars chosen for their leading partner. According to the scenario written in their sheets of paper, that band member will choose the song that they will perform that best fits that scenario. We will go in order by the scenario numbers 1 to 5. After all five scenarios are completed and filmed, we will be doing the sixth scenario with everyone participating. When I call the group to do their scenario, they will have ten minutes to change in to their costumes before they begin their scenario. That's about it. Any questions?"

Syaoran raised his hand. "What about the other five of us main cast who isn't playing the lead roles?"

"Well, they will be playing extras too along with the local extras that we have in this studio right now." The remaining five of the ten main cast members nodded to confirm their new roles. "Any more questions?"

Silence fell throughout the studio, signaling him that they understood the new changes for this portion of the screen test. "Very well then! Let's get started!"

The stars randomly picked the numbers from the raffle box held by Taeko Kishii when they were separated from their band member partners for a brief meeting. They were given five sheets of paper explaining the type of scenario they just randomly picked and what they would present during the screen test with their band member partner and the extras who signed up to be in those scenarios. Once each main cast member received their information regarding their scenarios, they were separated in to five groups and plan on the setting, the situation, and how they will act this scene to fit the description of the given scenario. This, of course, included the song choice that the members of The Cool Rascals made to sing and of course, to match the assigned scenario.

The director also advised them that the scenarios they will be portraying will also be a dress rehearsal of sorts, therefore the group must choose their costumes appropriate for the scene. Once they have, they changed their costumes, now ready to perform their scenarios. As stated, by the order of the numbered scenarios, they have to wait until it was their turn to act.

Most of the music choices were originally written by Tomoyo and Yamazaki, however for Sakura's choice of song, it was one of her few songs that she wrote by herself. Because these were obviously not mainstream songs, the band will have to play the instrumental portion of the songs themselves.

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SCENARIO 01: Long Distance

SONG: Come Home

VOCALIST: Yukito Tsukishiro

FEATURING: Aya Teramura

SUMMARY: Somewhere at a military war camp, the soldiers receive mail from their loved ones they left at home. One soldier receives a letter from his girlfriend, reminding him how much she misses him and how their distance has been tearing her up inside due to the war. Reading the letter, the soldier feels the same pain and he replies by writing another letter in which he promises her that he will return home soon. Meanwhile back home, the girl's friends, who also have boyfriends drafted in the military, share their sorrows with her.

Yukito and Aya were the first to do their scene as Aya picked the first scenario at random at the raffle box earlier. Yukito and the male extras, including Aya's real-life boyfriend Ryuichi Kanzaki, appeared as soldiers at war, with makeup even included. Aya and the female extras dressed in conservative-looking regular clothes. The scene is split in to two sides: The one on the left represented the war camp, while the other side represented home, where their girlfriends have been waiting.

Once they heard Terada's voice calling out "Action!", the music, only consisting of a bass guitar, lead guitar, keyboard, and drums, began, with Yamazaki on bass guitar, Touya on drums, Sakura on lead guitar, and Tomoyo on keyboard.

Yukito sat down reading the letter and then showed a rather sad expression on his face. He picked up a pen and then began to write on the letter. In the meantime, Ryuichi, also a soldier, sits next to him and then pats him on the shoulder to calm him down. Right then, Yukito starts to sing his solo:

As I write my letter today

Tears start falling from my eyes

I remember things we used to say

And the ties that bind our love

(Only one thing I want to do)

(Come home), oh oh (come home)

(Long as I know, I'm coming home to you)

(I'm coming home)

In the meantime, Aya stands up from her seat and then gazes out in the air with a handkerchief in her hand, thinking of her love out there in the battlefield. At that time, Yukito continues to write his letter.

(Please remember while I'm away)

(I think of you night and day)

(Of the things, of the fun)

(While we were one)

(Only one thing I want to do)

(Come home, come home)

(Long as I know, I'm coming home to you)

At this point, one of the male extras dressed as an officer hands Yukito a note stating that he has been honorably discharged. Yukito then expresses happiness.

I didn't think I'd ever be

As bad as it's been

(But now I'm coming home)

(To give you a ring)

The other soldiers came to congratulate him for his honorable discharge notice and that he won't have to fight in the battlefield anymore. He will be coming home soon.

As I write my letter today

Tears start falling from my eyes

I remember things we used to say

And the ties that bind our love

(Only one thing I want to do)

(Come home), oh oh (come home)

(Long as I know, I'm coming home to you)

At this point, the girls then comfort Aya, as she then thanks them with a now confident smile on her face.

(Only one thing I want to do)

(Come home, come home)

(Long as I know, I'm coming home to you)

And with that, the song ended and everyone gave a huge applause as Terada called out "cut." Right then, the group exchanged hi-fives with each other, with both Ryuichi and Aya complimenting Yukito on his naturally heartfelt singing.

"Alright, just take a seat at the bleachers," Terada called them. Once they sat down, he then began his discussion. "So, anyone from the audience here. Can anyone tell me what this scenario is about?"

Naoko then raised her hand, just as she finished typing out her notes in her laptop for her upcoming blog entry. "Well, it looks like Yukito-san and Aya-san are in a long-distance relationship and both really miss each other very much. Yukito-san the soldier receives a letter from Aya-san, probably telling him how much she misses him, which was why he had that melancholic reaction. So, he writes a reply letter to her making her a promise that he will be home soon. Once he gets home, he would ask her to marry him. That's about it."

"Exactly, Naoko-chan… although you're not one of the extras." Everyone present chuckled at Terada's statement. "This scenario simply shows that even long distance relationships can make love stronger than it is when they always see each other. As the saying goes, 'absence always makes the heart grow fonder,' and I do think that this first group had demonstrated that well through actions and song and nothing else. Thus, we call this first scenario 'Long Distance.'" He then turned back to Naoko again." But I'm glad that you're participating in this discussion also, Naoko-chan. Thank you very much."

"Thank you for making me a part of the discussion too, Director," Naoko bowed humbly.

Right then, he turns to the rest. "That was a very good song choice, Tsukishiro-kun. I've never heard of it before, so I'm guessing it's one of your originals."

"Tomoyo-chan wrote it," Yukito chuckled. "But this was very old, as in three years old. It was one of her first songs she wrote, I think."

"But that was a really nice, heartfelt song," Aya made her statement. "When I was at the green screen earlier doing our scenario, I acted that I was crying, but to tell you the truth, I was really crying at that time because the song was just so beautiful, you know? Really touched my heart. Thank you!" Yukito and Tomoyo bowed humbly and thanked her for the praise.

"Well, everyone, now you have just seen a fine example of how the movie format is going to be like. No words exchanged. Just actions and song. Tsukishiro-kun, you looked really natural up there. Are you sure you've never acted before?"

Yukito shyly grinned. "Well, I took a few drama classes when I was back in middle school but I only had very small roles."

"Well either way, you did wonderfully! Also, to the rest of the band who not only played the instrumental but also harmonized along with the lead vocals— that was amazing! Keep it up on the next four scenarios if needed!" He then turned to his list. "Let's move on forward now. Next up on the green screen would be the Scenario 2 Group! Touya-kun, Mai-chan, and the entire group, your turn."

Without any acknowledgment, Mai went ahead of Touya and all the other extras, while the older Kinomoto stood up almost reluctantly, making his way to the green screen.

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SCENARIO 02: Player Hater

SONG: A Must to Avoid

VOCALIST: Touya Kinomoto

FEATURING: Mai Hirashiki

SUMMARY: A group of guys flirt with a group of girls, with their leader and the leader of those girls begin to flirt with each other like there was no end. The guys praise their leader for winning the heart of the prettiest girl around, however, things become on the downside when the ex-boyfriend of that said girl gives a warning to the love-sprung boy and the rest of their homeboys that the girl they swoon over is not who she seems to be. He warns the boys that the girl loves to string other guys along and eventually breaks their heart, for he was an unfortunate victim of that girl's charms himself.

Appearing as university students, a group of pretty and popular girls, lead by Mai, appear right in front of a group of hot and popular guys and then showed their flirty gestures at them. Mai heads over to Kotaro Ninomiya, the leader of the group of these handsome guys and then flirtatiously gave him a kiss on the cheek. Right then, she signals the girls to head to their destination, which is at their corner and they began to gossip about the cute guys they just flirted with.

At this point, Touya appears right after he witnessed what was going on. He noticed his homeboys drooling and staring at the girls across from them and then gets in front of them. From the sidelines, the band begins the instrumental, with Yamazaki on the drums this time, Sakura on lead guitar, Yukito on bass, and Tomoyo behind the keyboards. Touya gently pushes Kotaro backward and then he begins to sing:

(She's a must to avoid)

A complete impossibility

(She's a must to avoid)

Better take it from me

As Kotaro then faces Mai, who has been winking right at him, Touya interrupts by placing his arm around Kotaro, while Mai shows a disgusted look on her face.

You think she's a prize at the start (Prize at the start)

But take my advice, play it smart (Just play it smart)

She's nuthin' but trouble

Better cut out on the double

Before she gets into your heart

Another one of the guys from the sides try to get past Touya, but instead he catches him and pushes him back.

(She's a must to avoid)

A complete impossibility

(She's a must to avoid)

Better take it from me

Touya wraps both his arms around that same boy and Kotaro at the same time, this time he's facing Mai with a glare on his face.

When you stare at her pretty brown eyes (In to her eyes)

There's no way to see through her disguise (Through her disguise)

But don't try to love her

'Cause you'll quickly discover

You're trapped in the web of her lies

More boys try to pass Touya again, but instead, gets pushed back by him as well.

(She's a must to avoid)

A complete impossibility

(She's a must to avoid)

Better take it from me

At this point, Kotaro ends up getting himself hypnotized by Mai's charms and was already halfway to getting close to her. Quickly, Touya drags him back by his arm and then faces him.

Her lips look inviting, it's true (Oh yes it's true)

But lots of other guys have felt like you do (Felt like you do)

She'll build up your hopes

And when you need her the most

That's when she'll say goodbye to you

Here, the group of girls then try to get closer to the guys. Touya, on the other hand, uses himself as a shield to protect his homeboys from these group of girls, Mai, in particular.

(She's a must to avoid)

A complete impossibility

(She's a must to avoid)

Better take it from me

Unfortunately for Touya, Mai and the girls, drag him away on the side and then they reach for their desired boys. Just as Mai was about to place her arms around Kotaro, he then backs away from her and then carries Touya back to his group. The rest of the boys do the same with the other girls and they ditch them together, leaving Mai and the girls completely confused.

As the song and the scenario ended, they too received loud applause from everyone present. The Scenario 2 group sat at the same area where the Scenario 1 group had been sitting. Terada then stood up and faced the entire group.

"So, this type of scenario is rather interesting," Terada said. "Can anyone tell me what that scenario was about?"

Plenty of hands raised up and Terada picked one of male extras. Apparently, that particular boy happened to be none other than Touya's recent victim, Takuya Sakamoto. "Yeah. Somehow, the scenario really matches Kinomoto really well, except it's backwards."

"Hoe?" Sakura, who was still at the sidelines behind her guitar, blinked curiously, pointing her finger towards herself. Tomoyo chuckled and nudged her on the shoulder.

"He was talking about Touya-niichan, not you," Tomoyo giggled.

"Oh!" Sakura chuckled. "I knew that!"

Terada turned to Sakamoto. "This scenario matches Kinomoto… as in Touya-kun, am I right?"

Touya turned his head towards Sakamoto and the boys with him and simply gave him a glare. Sakamoto continued on. "In case you haven't heard, Director, Kinomoto here has got quite a reputation throughout Tomoeda, you know. That's why that sister of his can't get a real man because of sister complex dudes like him—"

"What'd you say?" Just as Touya was about to climb up to get Sakamoto, Eriol and Syaoran stood up quickly and held him back. "You wanna get your ass whooped right here and right now—"

"Calm down, Kinomoto-senpai, sit…" Eriol warned him.

"Now now," Terada calmed everyone down. "We're just discussing the scenario here, not to bash the star of that scenario. Let's all get back on subject."

Touya remained his glare at Sakamoto as he sat back down along with the others. Terada continued on. "Now, Sakamoto-kun, what exactly did you mean by backwards."

"Well," Sakamoto shrugged, "instead of beating up the guys who try to get with that girl, he pushes them away by talking smack about that girl."

"But then," right then, Rika interrupted. "I see in this scenario that Touya-niichan's role was that he was a heartbroken ex-boyfriend of that girl who lead him on and toyed with his heart while they were together. He was just being a friend to those guys who have been drooling on her and protect them from the likes of her, you know?"

"Oi, how on earth would you know that Kinomoto's role in that scenario was an ex-boyfriend and not the overprotective brother that he is?"

"Because," Rika glared, "Touya-niichan would never use that strategy on his beloved sister. If Touya-niichan loves his sister so much, he would rather beat you guys up than talk smack about her just so you losers would back off. That's why I figured that his role there was an ex-boyfriend. Duh?"

"Agreed, Rika-chan!" Chiharu raised her hand, as the rest of the girls also gave their gesture of agreement.

"Well, what a discussion indeed," Terada smiled. "And I have to agree that you picked an appropriate song, Kinomoto-kun. I also have to add that you've got a great singing voice. You just don't realize it."

"Sure," Touya shrugged. "Well, I gotta admit… I used to sing a lot to my mom whenever she was lonely and I wasn't near a piano. I stopped right after my mom died and I guess… I guess you could say that today was the first time that I sang as lead vocal."

"Good for you, Kinomoto-kun. Keep it up on the next upcoming shoots," Terada gave his praise at him. "Just a few more practices— and you will have practice times— you'll get there."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Well then! We call this scenario as 'Player Hater.' Let's move on to the next scene. Scenario 3 Group, you're up next!"

Just as the third group was getting up to the green screen, Syaoran made his own statement towards Mai. "I have to admit, I'm quite impressed by your acting at your scenario earlier."

Mai gasped and then scooted herself next to him with a huge smile on her face. "Y-you really think so, Li-kun?"

"I know so," Syaoran simply grinned. "With just actions alone, your performance was so real, I couldn't help myself but agree with Kinomoto-senpai that you truly are 'a must to avoid.'"

Mai's eyes widened in shock as those surrounding them began to laugh. "Why you have to be so mean, Li-kun?"

Eriol shook his head as he continued to laugh. "But you know, it really is a compliment. You really did well in your scenario! You oughta feel grateful that the great Li Xiaolang would give you such praise! He never does that to any of his fellow co-stars including Meiling and myself… hahahahaha!"

"Urgh…" Mai marched away from their spot and moved to another, while Syaoran simply gave a smirk on his face.

#

SCENARIO 03: Love Advice

SONG: Listen People

VOCALIST: Takashi Yamazaki

FEATURING: Meiling Li

SUMMARY: A lone boy receives news from his two best friends, another boy and a girl, that they confessed their love for each other and are now a couple. Along with the rest of their friends, who are also couples, the lone boy proudly gives his support to all of them by giving them a rewarding advice, for he too once was in love before.

In this scenario, Yamazaki does something different compared to the first two scenarios with Yukito and Touya. He sits at a spot playing his acoustic guitar. The rest of the band will still be playing the music, with Sakura on lead guitar again, Yukito on bass, Tomoyo on keyboard, and Touya on drums. The rather mellow-sounding song that Yamazaki chose for the scenario gives him a chance to be in the scene and playing his guitar for the first few chords of the song. As he played, all in a black blazer with an emblem, black slacks, dark red tie, white shirt, a group of teenagers lead by Meiling and Sakuya Tendou, all holding hands, representing couples. Meiling and Sakuya approach Yamazaki and Sakura gives gestures to him by placing his arm around Meiling and giving her a peck on the cheek. Yamazaki responds with a grin on his face but still continued to play the same chord on his guitar. The couples then sit around him, with Sakuya sitting at Yamazaki's right and Meiling sitting next to Yamazaki's left. Though the couples cuddle each other at this point, all eyes were right towards Yamazaki. That was when he starts to sing.

Listen people to what I say

I say everybody's got to have their day

After Yamazaki's solo guitar, the rest of the band begin to play the rest of the accompaniment.

And don't you know that everybody's got to love somebody sometimes

Everybody's got to win a heart

Everybody's got to to love somebody sometimes

When you do, I hope you never part

The instrumental went back to Yamazaki playing his acoustic guitar solo again. This time, he turns his head towards Sakuya.

I once found love, found love just like you

Then, he turns his head towards Meiling.

But then he came, he might come to you

He turns to all the couples, then the band plays again along with his guitar.

And don't you know that everybody's got to lose somebody sometimes

But everybody can part

Everybody's got to lose somebody sometimes

So take care that you don't lose your heart

The rest of the couples slowly crawl closer to Yamazaki.

Take my advice and you'll always find

You'll be happy all of the time

Take my advice and you will see

You'll be happy as you can be

Once again, Yamazaki plays his solo.

Listen people to what I say

I say everybody's got to have their day

And then the rest of the band play along.

Don't you know that everybody's got to love somebody sometimes

Everybody's got to win a heart

Everybody's got to love somebody sometimes

When you do, I hope you never part

As the band stopped playing, Yamazaki ends his song with another guitar solo. Sakuya and Meiling then patted him on the shoulder, showing their thanks for the rewarding advice.

You never part

Listen people, listen people

The song ends when Yamazaki ends his guitar playing. All the couples around him gave him applause, followed by the rest of the audience. When Terada called out "cut," the entire group sat at the bleachers with the rest of the scenario groups who already went.

"Well then," Terada began, "obviously this scenario is pretty much direct to the point. What impressed me though with this scenario is the creativity that was included in it. Here, we don't have Yamazaki-kun as just the lone, loveless boy, but a lone, loveless boy who expresses his feelings and support for all of his friends in love through a song. How did he do it? Well, he has a guitar and he's playing it real well! Who came up with that idea?"

Meiling and Sakuya quickly pointed right at Yamazaki. "Well then, if it isn't the singing star himself! Could you give us an explanation on how you came up with that."

Yamazaki gave a shrug. "Well, I thought that since I'm the 'star' of the scenario and not Meiling Li or Sakuya Tendou, I thought that I'd take advantage of it. I don't want to be just singing and then be a poor single boy who hasn't found a new love, so to speak, so… I decided to put a bit of character in to the poor single boy."

"I gotta admit, that really worked well, Yamazaki," Eriol praised it. "I like all the scenarios so far but so far I like this third one best."

Everyone applauded as Yamazaki gave his thanks. Terada then stepped in. "Now now, this doesn't mean that the other two scenarios were not as good as the third one, alright? Each group has their own ideas on how to approach the scenario, that's all. Let's all give credit to the main cast and the stars for making these scenarios the way they are, so give yourselves a hand." Everyone applauded again and then he continued. "We call this third scenario 'Love Advice.' And the song…"

"Oh, 'Listen People,' Director," Yamazaki provided the song name.

"That's quite mellow but you sang it real well, Yamazaki-kun. You'd be a good fit to be the lead singer of the band you know."

"Well… Hehe…" Yamazaki gently scratched his head. "Well, I have to admit that I hated singing when I was a kid, but… but… somehow… love became my inspiration in to putting more effort in singing and… as a guy in love, I gotta be original to my girl, you know?"

"Awww…" Most of the girls gave a sigh in awe at him after expressing his reason. At this point, Chiharu gave a slight blush while Rika nudged her on the side.

"But alas," Yamazaki sighed deeply. "Just like the song 'Listen People,' he… came… and I'm afraid of the worse…"

"Huh?" Chiharu gasped in shock and then stood up. "What on earth are you talking about, Takashi? Who is this he you're talking about? There's no one else but you, you know that?"

"So you say." Right then, Yamazaki gave a sad expression on his face. "You said there was no one else… but you being the Wolfpups president, all you do now is complain and demand at me that I should behave because he is here…"

Rika gasped in shock and turned to Chiharu. "Is that true, Chiharu? You're letting Li-kun get in between you and Yamazaki?"

"Huh? What? No! That idiot's lying again as always just so he would piss me off—"

Just as Chiharu was to continue, Syaoran suddenly stood up and then sighed. "I'm sorry…"

"Eh?" Everyone blinked in confusion as he approached Yamazaki, placing his arm over his shoulder.

"It's all my fault, Yamazaki. I know that I'm the he you were referring to…"

"Well, actually Li—" Just as Yamazaki was to continue, Syaoran then called out to Chiharu.

"Mihara— I really do appreciate all your hard work for the Tomoeda branch of the Wolfpups. You've done so much to promote me to the masses and I'm grateful… but… you see… I had no idea that I'm the one who's standing between your relationship…"

"Oh Li-kun…" Chiharu then bit her bottom lip to prevent herself from letting her tears fall. The rest, on the other hand, stood stunned with rather perplexed expressions on their faces.

"Er, what are you trying to do here Li—" Yamazaki was about to speak up but Syaoran hushed him.

"Mihara-san," Syaoran continued. "This is all my fault, you see? When I arrived here in Tomoeda, I also did notice that you and Yamazaki have been spending less time with each other. You concentrating on me… him concentrating on the band… and… you see… I'm really sorry, Mihara… for I was the one who have been preventing the two of you from being together…"

Everyone gasped as Chiharu stood up. "N-no, Li-kun, it's not you… you've got nothing to do with this…"

"Oh, but it is," Syaoran gave a soft sigh. "It's because of me that… I have been taking your man away from you—"

"Ehhh…?" Everyone gave a loud gasp as Yamazaki stared nervously at Syaoran.

"What… exactly… are you saying… Li…?" Yamazaki gave a slight smirk while nervously muttering at him.

"Being the celebrity that you and the Wolfpups support so much, I haven't been a good guest to you. Rather than spending more time with you and the Wolfpups, I spend more time with your man instead… and therefore… I ask for your forgiveness…"

While everyone else gave mixed expressions on their faces, even Yamazaki himself looked more confused now than ever. However, Syaoran's superb acting really convinced his target at this point that she stood up and then called out to Yamazaki.

"Oh Li-kun, you don't need to apologize. I should be the one to apologize— to both you and Takashi!" She then turned to Yamazaki and called out. "I should listen to you more, Takashi. I've been such an uptight, demanding girlfriend and I'm sure I've been giving you hell…"

"Oh she's been giving you hell, alright," Eriol muttered with a smirk on his face.

"… but… but… thanks to Li-kun here and this scenario, I now see why you decided to portray your role like that. You were trying to send a message to me through that scenario and… and… now I understand… and because of that… it makes me love you more than ever, Takashi, and so… you're not really the lone boy in that scenario… you're just another boy in love just simply giving advice to a new group of young lovers like you and me… and so… I declare once again my love for you, Takashi Yamazaki!"

There were no other side words needed at this point as everyone simply applauded and more awws came from everyone who felt the love in this situation. Yamazaki then smiled and called out: "I love you too, Chiharu Mihara! Always!"

"Forever, Takashi!" Chiharu blew a kiss towards him. At this point, Syaoran caught the kiss and then gave it to Yamazaki, taking the kiss from his hand and then placed it on his lips.

But what came next became rather unexpected for Syaoran, Yamazaki, Sakura, and Tomoyo. With the gesture Syaoran just did by catching Chiharu's flying kiss and handing it over to Yamazaki stroke bolts of lighting within their minds. That lightning was none other than the lightning of realization. The act Syaoran just did of catching the flying kiss and then handing it over to Yamazaki was a very familiar gesture that only one other person would do that in their lives.

At the sidelines where the rest of the band were standing, Sakura and Tomoyo muttered simultaneously: "Syaoran…"

Back at the bleachers, Yamazaki gulped nervously as Syaoran quickly snapped his head with a shocked expression on his face towards him. "Hey… Yamazaki…"

"Y-yeah…?" Yamazaki scratched his head.

"What… I just did… earlier…"

Yamazaki sighed and then muttered softly. "What you did… catching Chiharu's kiss and then handing it to me like that…"

"I'm sorry about that, Yamazaki… it's just that… it was an automatic reflex that I didn't even know about… I don't do that to couples, honest…"

Yamazaki simply chuckled. "Nah, I'm not mad at that… it's just that… well… that was hilarious and cool at the same time. You know… my best friend always did that whenever Chiharu would blow kisses at me like that ever since we were little…"

"Oh… I see…" Syaoran muttered, now thinking to himself at this point. So… Sakura's little wolf Syaoran does this gesture a lot on Yamazaki, huh… but how come I did that without even thinking about it?

"Well then," Terada said, calming everyone down. "I see that all the declarations of love have finally concluded, let's go on with the next scenario. Looks like it's time for the girls to do their scenario. Your turn now, Scenario 4 Group!"

Tomoyo, who was standing next to Sakura, patted her on the shoulder. "We'll talk later, okay Sakura?"

"Yeah, sure thing," Sakura nodded as Tomoyo proceeded to the dressing room area to change her costumes. At this point, Sakura sighed deeply, thinking about the gesture Syaoran just did with catching Chiharu's flying kiss towards Yamazaki.

Oh Xiaolang… I know you said that you would be my little wolf for the time being, but… why is it that when you caught Chiharu's flying kiss like that, all of a sudden you started to look like him? And I didn't tell you about that gesture that only Syaoran does when it came to Tak and Chiharu…

At this point as well, Sakura can hear Syaoran's voice from yesterday: "Tell me more about Syaoran-kun and I'll become him…"

#

SCENARIO 04: Untrustworthy

SONG: I Gotta Be Sure

VOCALIST: Tomoyo Daidouji

FEATURING: Eriol Hiiragizawa

SUMMARY: At the hallways of a high school, a popular boy, despite that he's surrounded by his fellow popular guy friends and plenty of girls, confesses his love to a girl whom he's harbored special feelings for the longest time. The girl, on the other hand, has also been harboring special feelings for him as well, however she is aware of his rumored reputation and finds difficulty in trusting him and accept his love for her.

The green screen was set up as a hallway of a school with walls representing shoe lockers, with a huge crowd of extras dressed in high school uniform slightly different from the ones Yamazaki and the Scenario 3 group wore for their screen than black blazers, they were wearing dark blue blazers this time. At this scene, Tomoyo and Rika are at their lockers, chatting like typical high school best friends as always. Moments later, Eriol, followed by more good-looking boys and random girls following him like sick puppies in love, enters the scene. With just actions, he called out for Tomoyo. She turned to him and again, with just actions, confessed his feelings to her and asks her to be his girlfriend. The girls surrounding him gave shocked expressions on their faces and then disappeared from the scene with sad faces. As for Tomoyo, she handed her bag towards Rika and then stepped forward towards Eriol with a suspicious look on her face.

At that point, the band, with Sakura on lead guitar, Yukito on bass, Yamazaki on drums, and Touya on keyboard, began playing the first few measures of the song. Afterwards, Tomoyo faced Eriol and began to sing:

You asked that my lips kiss only you

But I gotta be sure

You asked that my arms hold only you

But I gotta be sure

She turned on the other side, still facing him. Eriol also continued to gaze at a suspecting Tomoyo and showed a concerned expression on his face. The others witnessing also gave indifferent looks, continued to watch the scenario.

I gotta be sure before I give you all my loving

I know for a broken heart there isn't any cure

You just gotta promise that your love will last a lifetime

Oh darling, I gotta be sure

She faced him front again and then takes his hand.

So swear that your love

Will shine as bright as the stars above

I gotta be sure

I gotta be sure of your love

Eriol then slowly releases his hand from her and instead, took her hand to his, placing her palm on to his chest.

So swear that your love

Will shine as bright as the stars above

I gotta be sure

I gotta be sure of your love

Just like that, the song and the scenario end, and as always, the group received more applause from their fellow stars and extra colleagues. When they sat down at the bleachers, Terada begins the discussion again.

"That's a rather… short… scenario…" Terada chuckled. "And the song you chose sounded like it's unfinished, Tomoyo-chan."

"Work in progress," Tomoyo chuckled nervously. "Well, I'm currently working on it and I wanted to try it out since it matches the scenario, so… yeah… it's short!"

"Now, there's nothing wrong with a short scenario, in fact I never said that it had to be long, but as long as all the required elements in that scenario are all in there, that's all I'm looking for. I must say, for an incredibly short scenario with an incredibly short song, you kids did well." Everyone responded with more applause. "So, any other comments from anybody not from the Scenario 4 Group?"

Meiling raised her hand. "I gotta say that Tomoyo-chan looked really cute being all serious like that! And Eriol somehow really fit the character of being a player…"

"Hey," Eriol pouted, "but that's not really me. I was just acting as always. Of course, if this were in real life, I would never do such a thing to Tomoyo-chan."

"Aww, that's very sweet of you, Eriol-kun," Tomoyo chuckled nervously.

"Although I find it really interesting," Naoko joined in. "Considering that Tomoyo-chan, through that song I mean, had become really cautious when it came to getting in to a brand-new relationship, considering the really bad breakup she had awhile ago… and ironically, one of the extras in the Scenario 4 Group happened to be that ex-boyfriend who broke her heart—"

In the group, Ken Bunchin gasped and then dropped his head, while the others turned right at him. Eriol, who decided to become blunt, turned to him. "So, you're the bastard who broke sweet Tomoyo-chan's fragile heart and left her alone and cold like that, huh?"

"W-wait a minute!" Ken Bunchin exclaimed and then faced Eriol. "Okay, so word's been spread out about our breakup and unfortunately it just had to reach you teen idols too. It… it was unintentional…"

"Unintentional?" Naoko stood up, glaring right at him. "Whatever on earth did Tomoyo do to you for you to shatter her heart into pieces like that? I mean, both of you are from the Tomoeda elite and hell, her family's heaps wealthier than yours. You've gotta be the weakest coward this entire town has ever known!"

"Naoko!" Tomoyo called for her friend's name, trying to get her to stop opening her mouth even further.

Just as things were about to get messy, Terada hushed everyone and then continued on with the discussion. "Now now, we're talking about the scenario itself now, not insult those who participated in the scenario. So, at least all of you understood that this scenario, which we titled 'Untrustworthy,' is simply about a girl being cautious to a guy with a rather… interesting… reputation… that can affect their relationship with each other and thus, made the boy promised to always swear and be faithful to his love and nothing more. I really love your reactions to this particular situation even though it's short— barely two minutes even. But I have to commend all of you for even drawing a few of your theories and thoughts." He then turned to the Scenario 4 Group. "This is only a screen test, so we're not grading you for originality or the length of the scenario, but simply, this screen test also gives everyone, not just the band members, but everyone participating in the movie, of what scenes to expect during our shooting, so thank you for presenting us the fourth scenario. Great job." Everyone applauded again as Terada hushed everyone again.

"Final group— The Scenario 5 Group. You're up next!"

"Hoe?" Sakura, still standing still with Yamazaki's electric guitar around her sleeve, blurted her nervousness. Yamazaki patted her on the shoulder.

"It's your turn now, Sakura-chan!"

"Hoe… I can't believe Tomoyo's scenario is so short…. I… I'm not ready yet!"

Yukito patted Sakura on her other shoulder. "No need to be nervous now. Remember, Chiharu-chan is in your group also, ne? And besides… Li-kun is there with you, ne?"

"I… I've watched all your scenarios carefully and… you guys are really good… like professionals up there… I… I don't know how I'm gonna end up with mine…"

Touya shook his head and stood in front of his sister. "Listen, squirt. I thought mine sucked earlier but it seemed everyone liked it. If you think some hotheaded loser like me could go through that, I'm sure you could go through that too…"

"Well that's because your scenario matches your personality, Oniichan…"

"Why? What's your scenario about?" Touya asked curiously.

Sakura sighed and then whispered softly. "I… I have to pretend that I'm totally in love with Xiao— I mean Li-kun."

"Oh hell… now I see why you're so damn nervous…" Touya gave a frown, crossing his arms.

"Hey, come on now, Touya, lay off," Yukito sighed. "It's only a screen test and it's only acting. It's not for real, you know. I'm sure Li-kun has that mindset also."

"He better not do anything weird with her, Yukito," Touya gritted his teeth. "I don't want him touching her all weird and all that crap in that scenario… Sakura's way too naive to experience… stuff like that…"

"Hm, I wonder why she's so naive to even know about these… things… Touya…" Yukito gave a soft mutter towards him in a slight sarcastic tone.

Just as the conversation was about to continue, Syaoran passed by them and called out: "What's with the stalling, Sakura? Let's go."

"R-right! I'll be there!" Sakura raised her hand, acknowledging Syaoran, as she removed the guitar and handed over to Yamazaki. "Okay… um… wish me luck…" She waved at the boys and followed Syaoran from behind.

#

SCENARIO 05: Daydreaming

SONG: When You Walk in the Room

VOCALIST: Sakura Kinomoto

FEATURING: Li Xiaolang

SUMMARY: A hapless high school girl daydreams of her classmate, who happens to be her long-time secret crush, just as he and his friends barely made it through the doors of a bustling crowded bus, making their way back home from school. Despite the very tight crowd with barely any space inside the bus, she was able to get a good glimpse of her crush from where she was standing. However, when an elderly couple comes in and those remaining inside the train forced to move, what happens when the boy of her dreams shifted his position from across to standing right next to her?

The scenario starts in a familiar bus setting with a few empty seats at the front. Sakura, dressed in a white short-sleeved top, maroon red tie, and a maroon red calico-patterned skirt that stretched down below her knees, sneaked in the door and placed her change in a fair box next to the bus driver. She sat right at the empty seat next to the door along with her school bag in front of her. Few seconds later, the driver reacted with his hand still on the lever to close the bus doors as Syaoran and a few of the handsome-looking extras as his friends, all dressed in the similar school uniform as Sakura ran through the doors. They thanked the driver for waiting for them as the boys drop their fares in to the fare box. Chiharu and Maiko Horibe, the girl culprit who caused the breakup between Tomoyo and Ken Bunchin, were also at the front seats talking like best friends. Just as Syaoran and the boys made it, he and another boy sat right at the empty seats across from Sakura, right behind the bus driver, with Chiharu and Maiko giving flirting gestures towards Syaoran, now that they're close to each other. Sakura, who had been pining for Syaoran since the start of high school, couldn't help but gaze at him, showing her own gestures of her love and admiration for him.

As the bus doors finally close, the driver does his actions simulating the bus already moving. The rest of the actors began to sway their bodies gently to simulate that they were already riding the bus. With Syaoran and his friends laughing and Chiharu and Maiko attempting all they can to bashing their eyes and blowing kisses at him, Sakura, on the other hand, starts singing her song while staring right at Syaoran with a huge smile on her face, but not before the band plays the first few measures of the song, with Yamazaki on lead guitar, Yukito on bass, Touya on drums, and Tomoyo on keyboard.

I can feel a new expression on my face

I can feel a glowing sensation taking place

I can hear the guitars playing a lovely tune

Every time that you walk in the room

The bus suddenly stops and more passengers came in. One of the girl extras, dressed up as a pregnant lady, enters, and Sakura stands up, offering her seat to the pregnant lady, as the pregnant lady thanks her by sitting down. Sakura is now standing next to the now-occupied seat with her bag on one hand and the other clinging on to the iron pole supporting the front seats. Meanwhile, Syaoran places headphones from his mp3 player on his ears as to not to be disturb by the constant flirting from the two girls on the same row of seats as him. Once again, Sakura still watches him from where she is now standing and then closes her eyes. The bus moves on again.

I close my eyes for a second and pretend it's me you want

She then slowly opens her eyes and then shifts her eyes away from him.

Meanwhile I try to act so nonchalant

While looking away, she closes her eyes and begins to daydream again.

I feel a summer's night with a magic moon

Every time that you walk in the room

The bus stops again and this time, a huge group of passengers suddenly enter the bus. A boy and girl extra, dressed as an elderly couple, enters the bus, and as a courtesy, Syaoran removes his headphones and he and his other guy friend gave up their seats so the elderly couple may sit down at their seats. When a rush of more passengers entered, in order to give himself some room, Syaoran splits from his friend and moves across, right in front of Sakura. As the bus suddenly becomes a tuna can, Sakura finds herself against the wall of the bus, with Syaoran standing in front of her with both arms surrounding her so both of them would not stumble and fall. At this point, both Sakura and Syaoran found their eyes gazing at each other, as the door closes and the bus moves again.

Baby, it's a dream come true

Standing right alongside of you

Wish I could tell you how much I care

But I only have the nerve to stare

From out of the blue, the bus shakes and a huge force shifted towards the driver's side, in which the people behind Syaoran fell backward, pushing Syaoran right towards Sakura. Sakura uses her hands to protect herself but ends up touching Syaoran's chest so he wouldn't fall all the way towards her. In return, he quickly grabs Sakura around her waist so she would not hit her head against the bus wall. Right then, Syaoran mutters "sorry" at her, as she returned the mutter with "don't worry." After the brief exchange of words, they found each other exchanging gazes once more, with Sakura unknowingly still has her hands on to his chest. Syaoran, on the other hand, didn't mind at all and simply gave her a smile and kept his arm around her waist, as if they were embracing each other like young lovers, just staying in that position as if they were in their own world.

I can feel that something's pounding on my brain

Just any time that someone speaks your name

Trumpet sounds, I hear thunder boom

Every time that you walk in the room

Right then, the bus stops and majority of the passengers get off the bus. From behind, the two girls flirting with him suddenly dragged him away as they were getting off the bus, followed by the rest of Syaoran's friends. Knowing this was not Sakura's stop, she found the front seats empty again. With a sad face, she sat on to the empty seat, watching Syaoran leaving the bus.

Every time that you walk in the room

She lowers her head in sadness, knowing that they'll be stranger again once they see in school. Then few seconds later, the driver reacted again and re-opened the bus door. From out of the blue, Syaoran enters the bus again and mutters to the driver that this wasn't his stop. The driver stopped him from paying another fare and simply muttered to him to sit down. Sakura flashed a happy smile once he entered, and this time, he sits at the empty seat next to her. The bus began to move again, as Syaoran offers a handshake to Sakura, introducing himself to her. She returns the introduction and both shook hands, with smiles on their faces.

The scenario ended then and the response came with loud applause and cheers from their fellow cast members and extras. The group and the rest of the band who just played the music headed to the bleachers. Terada stood up and faced everyone for another discussion.

"Well then! This scenario is called 'Daydreaming,' and I have to say that having to set this scenario in a crowded bus was quite original! Who on earth came up with that idea?"

Chiharu raised her hand. "Well, both Sakura and Li-kun came up with the bus idea. We all thought that it's weird to have a cute romantic scene taking place in a crowded bus but somehow it worked!"

Sakura picked up from where Chiharu left off. "Well, we were brainstorming, and because we knew that Tomoyo's and Yamazaki's scenes would eventually involve high school, we thought of setting our scenario in an unusual setting. We were brainstorming through what we know of shoujo manga and then Li-kun muttered that he had some strange fangirl encounters when he was riding the subway train in Tokyo at one point and then we came up with the idea!"

"Ahem," Syaoran coughed. "Originally it was a subway train but since we didn't have enough props to make the simulated interior of a subway train so we changed it to a bus."

"Well then," Terada chuckled. "The scenario only states that it's about a girl daydreaming of the boy she's had a long-time crush on from the distance and it looks like you went beyond just that."

"I guess it's to match the lyrics of the song I picked," Sakura said. "It's a song that I wrote in secret a long time ago. Work in progress also."

"Now," Terada continued, "whose idea was it that you decided to take the situation further from a mere staring at the apple of the eye in to actually getting closer to each other and then eventually communicating with each other?"

"Actually—" Just as Sakura was about to answer, Syaoran interrupted.

"Mine. I find scenarios in which a girl gazes at a guy she's in love with and then nothing happens after that really lame and boring. Something has gotta happen. Who wants to watch a dull scene with no other action aside from just staring?" Syaoran shrugged his shoulders. "Something seriously has gotta happen, right?" Sakura and the rest of the group agreed with nods.

"And you all made it happen, of course," Terada smiled. "Good choice of song, Sakura-chan."

"Thank you," Sakura bowed her head.

"You could project your voice a little louder though. You've got a great singing voice. Don't be afraid to show it off!"

"But…" Sakura gave a slight pout, knowing from the entire band, she had to be the failure.

"Well then. It's only a screen test. You'll do much better in the actual shooting, so no worries," Terada said. "Alright. Final scene of the day includes everybody with The Cool Rascals performing as if they were in a small special concert. Let's go!"

#

After the sixth scenario was completed with the band performing and everyone else dancing, simulating a music variety show, the groups were split in to their own separate ways again. The five main couples began their daytime shooting with the chosen extras. The band, on the other hand, were reminded by Terada that two of Japan's hottest pop composers will be arriving in Tomoeda tonight and will be collaborating with them and other local artists to produce the soundtrack for the movie. These two composers, simply known as CJ and Klein, were ecstatic to learn that the producers of Cherry Blossom, Little Wolf will employ local Tomoeda artists rather than paying very high salaries to Japan's A-list vocal artists and bands that they decided to arrive early in Tomoeda instead of the original schedule of the end of July. With that, the band were excused and go back to their usual lives. Tonight at the night shootings, Touya will be joining Yukito at his very first night shooting as an extra. Once again, the night shooting setting will be in Mooncastle Diner, and because Touya has the night shift again tonight, it was definitely a good opportunity.

That afternoon, Yamazaki invited Sakura in his house as a favor of helping him doing a bit of a house cleaning. Chiharu and Rika had officers' meeting of their respective fanclubs at that time while Naoko headed to the library to work on her series of blog articles regarding the movie shooting. As she entered the house, she felt the spirit of nostalgia taking over her at this point.

"I haven't been in this house for the longest time… when Syaoran and the Li Clan used to live here…" Sakura muttered with her usual optimistic smile on her face.

"Really?" Yamazaki blinked curiously. "I never invited you in when I started living here?"

"Eh, Chiharu will be mad if you invited some other girl aside from her in your house, ne?" Sakura giggled.

"Hm, I guess you've got a point there."

He lead her to the washing machine room where all the cleaning equipment were being kept neatly. "Thanks for helping me out with the house cleaning, Sakura. I swear, those guys are a bunch of slobs that they had to have their manager clean up all the mess in their rooms. I feel bad for Wei-san for doing all that work. He's already as busy enough as it is managing their schedules and all that."

"Maybe they're rich, Tak," Sakura made her statement. He brought out the necessary equipment from bandanas to face masks to portable dust swiffers and so on. He and Sakura began to equip themselves and then headed upstairs.

"Eh? How do you figure that?" Yamazaki asked curiously.

"Most rich kids have never done a single household chore ever in their lives so they just end up slobbering everything expecting the maids to clean all their dirty work."

"Obviously those two are rich," Yamazaki rolled his eyes. "Well, Li's not that bad. He fixes his own bed and stuff but when it comes to the little things such as snacks, argh…"

"I guess I won't have to ask how Eriol-kun is like, ne?"

"Don't even mention him in front of my face when it comes to cleanliness, girl." The two friends broke in to laughter as they finally reached second floor.

"Well then," Yamazaki began. "I don't want you to do all the nastier work around here, so I'll do Eriol's room, you do Li's room. At least you won't have a hard time cleaning his room compared to Eriol's."

"Hee hee, sure thing." The two exchanged hi-fives as they entered their respective rooms.

When Sakura entered Syaoran's room, his room wasn't as cluttered as she imagined. The bed was neatly done and the windowsill seat was also clean, however the bed itself, as well as the desk, was filled with candy wrappers and other unnecessary trash that she gave a frown.

"Boys…"

She began to pick up the trash from the desk surfaces, the side tables, and even on the bed. As she was placing them in the trash bag, she noticed two things sticking out underneath his pillow. First thing she noticed was some kind of an old leather binding. Obviously to her, it was a book of some sort. She reached for the book and read the title engraved on the cover.

"The Book of Keroberos…" She then gasped when she remembered that Syaoran did mention that he has a copy of The Book of Keroberos that had been in his family possession for the longest time. She decided to open the cover and then saw the first page carefully written in elegant calligraphy.

"'This fresh, elegant official copy of The Book of Keroberos has been bestowed by the Honorable Council of Tomoeda to the Li Family Clan: Xiaojin and Yelan Li… dated March 19 at 10:00 a.m…'" Sakura gasped once more when she began to contemplate.

Xiaojin and Yelan Li… Syaoran's parents? But… how come Xiaolang has this book then?

She continued to flip the first few pages and then came the elegantly written names of the immediate family members. She continued to read it to herself.

"The Book of Keroberos gives authority of ownership to the following and are eligible to pass this book from generation to generation: Xiaojin Li, Yelan Li, quadruplet daughters Feimei, Fuutie, Fanren, and Shiefa, son Syaoran…"

Quickly she closed her eyes and shook her head. No no no no no… it can't be… could Xiaolang and Syaoran really related to each other? They have to be, otherwise he wouldn't have this book in his hands right now… what on earth is going on here…?

She noticed the silk string bookmark was stuck somewhere in the book. She decided to flip the pages to the one with the bookmark. Once again, she read the passage that was on the page.

Sweet memories are not meant to be forgotten

Even if one forgets, those same sweet memories will always return

With just a little push

And a help of a trusted friend

True love awaits more than ever

Hold thy Tomoeda stuffed animal so close and tight

Call out its name and thy true love shall come

And thus shalt recover

Lost memories no more…

"Huh," Sakura blinked, scratching her head. "Why would he be having a bookmark on this page? Weird." She then closed the book and decided to put it back underneath the pillow. She took down the two pillows, only to reveal the second item hidden underneath. If anyone would think that The Book of Keroberos was one thing to gasp in shock, this particular second item would guarantee fainting.

"What's this…?" She reached for the pink stuffed animal with white wings and picked it up. "Must be from a fan…?" She continued to examine the bear-shaped stuffed animal until she felt something unusually knitted underneath the bear's bum. She turned the bear upside down and found a small pink cherry blossom sewn on it. In very small letters underneath had the initials "S.K." on them.

Immediately, she dropped the stuffed animal and then backed away quickly. With such shock, she began to breathe heavily and then biting her bottom lip. Oh God… that bear… that was my bear… I knitted that little cherry blossom and my initials in them so Syaoran will remember that I was the one who gave him that pink bear… but… how can Xiaolang have it…?

"Kinomoto, you there?" Right then, she heard Yamazaki's voice calling her.

"Uh— I'm still cleaning up, Tak. Be right there!" Sakura called out as she quickly buried both the book and the bear underneath the pillow of Syaoran's bed. Without even thinking, she lied down on his bed with her head on the pillow.

"I'm gonna make some refreshments so I'll be downstairs," Yamazaki called.

"Okay!" Sakura shouted. She sighed in relief and then covered her face with her hands. "What… what is going on… why does Xiaolang have my stuffed animal…? I gave that pink bear to Syaoran… just… why does he have it…?"

Slowly she got up and then found one of her eyes already have tears about to trickle down. Why on earth am I about to cry now? Is this the reason why I feel so safe, so close, and so comfortable when I'm with Xiaolang? Is it because he has a very strong connection to my little wolf?

Once again, those same words echoed from Syaoran's voice yesterday played in her head once more: "Tell me more about Syaoran-kun and I'll become him…"

"But Xiaolang… how can I tell you more about Syaoran if… if you already know him…?"

Right then, Yamazaki arrived at the door again, giving it a knock. "Iced tea and cake's ready. You comin'?"

"I… I'm finished." Sakura quickly picked up the trash bag and then headed out from his room.

"Here, let me take that."

Yamazaki took the garbage bag from her as she followed him downstairs for their afternoon snack.


A/N: Haaaaiii~! It's me again. Some of you may be surprised that I've got another chapter uploaded at such short notice. Well, I've got bad news and... somewhat of a good news. The bad news is that the supposed "job" that I have actually gave me false hope. The training day that I had last Friday gave me the idea that it was first day on the job, but it turns out that it's actually a "trial day" and that I learned earlier today that I made several mistakes in my training that the company decided not to hire me. What's even worse is that the others in my training group did horribly as well that none of us even made it in. I disputed because I know I'm confident with my data entry skills that the employment agency is now going to investigate and see how on earth did my entire Friday training group "flunked." And what pissed me off first was that the people in that company gave us confidence that we're guaranteed a spot in their company. Even the employment agency wasn't aware that it's actually a "trial day." That's why I'm back to square one being unemployed. Again.

The bit of the good news is that the other job that I turned down because of this job, I still have a chance, so then I'm having my clearance appointment on Wednesday. Maybe if I do pass that I'll be able to have a job after all. Lesser pay but what the heck, it's still a job.

So, moving along with the story. Yes, another long chapter. Deal with it LOL.

The songs used here are "Come Home" by The Dave Clark Five, "A Must to Avoid" and "Listen People" by Herman's Hermits, "I Gotta Be Sure" by Robin Clark, and "When You Walk in the Room" by Jackie DeShannon. If you're wondering, they're old '60s pop songs that are obviously older than myself and most of you readers. I use '60s songs, not just because I like them, but for these reasons: #1 – Their lyrics are direct to the point and none of that "complex poetic" messages that simply makes no sense to some people and why writers use these songs in situations that are unrelated. Huh... #2 – Because they're such old pop songs, that also meant one thing- they're short as well. It's easy for me to write around along with the song lyrics if they're short. Besides, I'm not writing a songfic after all. #3 – I don't listen to today's pop/mainstream music. I'm not a teenybopper anyway and I'm not in to the whole trends thing too. I listened to my own "pop/mainstream music" in my young generation ('90s) but as time goes, I felt that most of the music today are just not my tastes. And of course, as I grew older, I got more mature with my tastes and started to appreciate music of the past eras also. It happens.

I have another rant of sorts regarding FFnet writers and their A/Ns (author's notes). What I personally find irritating for me as a reader is when writers make up "skits" Mary Sue-ing themselves with anime characters. While they may find it hilarious or entertaining, I personally find them irritating and irrelevant IMO. I read other people's stories just for the stories alone, not because of their nonsense Mary Sue-ing-style skits that they add in their A/Ns. What's even a whole lot more irritating is if they put that right on top of the chapter or if they split up the "skit" and add them both at the top and at the bottom of the chapter they upload. This is where I start to get myself confused on what exactly the writer was trying to present here, or what's really the most important in posting these stories: are they presenting their stories to the masses or are they presenting themselves more over the actual story as if they were seeking attention from the readers? When I see these I would just scroll down and start with the story, but when it becomes way overboard, I simply just stop reading the story altogether and move on to the next story and not bother commenting on that one. It's just horrible, I'm sorry. =T

Last but not least, my end-of-chapter shoutouts! First up, of course, shoutouts to the new followers and those who added "Stuffed Animal" to their favorites. Thank you all for your support! ^_^

And finally, the reviewers...

Cat Dawntreader (a.k.a. End Noesis) Yes, I read profiles LOL. Thanks for your support! I have this strange habit with stories in general, where I start with short chapters and as the story progresses, the chapters get longer. Then again there's no special limitations with the length of the chapters in a book anyhow. ^.^

Dual Starduster: I thought about having this chapter as the "dinner" chapter but then I gotta finish the screen tests too, so I decided to push the "dinner" chapter later. ^^;

Aizawa LSV (your name's too long to write LOL XD): If you remember from the original series, both Sakura and Syaoran are quite naïve when it comes to these issues, most especially when it comes to love. Syaoran didn't realize his feelings for Sakura until the near end and Sakura didn't realize her feelings for Syaoran until he left to go back home. I'm using that similar naivete that they possessed in this fic also, but at the same time, keep in mind that Syaoran is still suffering amnesia (as stated in the beginning of the story), which is why it's taking him awhile to realize that Sakura's "little wolf" is actually him. Sakura, on the other hand, is just slow-minded in general. :)

clacla: I don't have a job, sadly, but thanks. (T_T)

kira103: Thanks for reading and your support! I'll do my best not to disappoint you and all the other readers. :)

: Thank you for reading! And here's a new chapter my dear. :)

VPvirtuoso (dang FFnet would not read the rest of your name if I put the periods there XD): Thanks for the praise, although I'm far from being an "expert" on word play. But I try. :)

And that's about it! Let's fast forward the time period for a bit in the next chapter!