CH21: The Night of Talent
"I'm going early to set up," Li said immediately after supper.
"You had better be ready for the show then," Sakura replied. Tomoyo and Meiling had been making them practice daily, so she felt that she could do the show in her sleep. If their acts weren't the best, they would at least have the most. No one else was participating in more than one act, though some students had taken on some stage duties in addition to the acts they were to perform. With the martial arts, fashion show, the musical number, and the magic show, Sakura was going to be up on stage for over an hour of performance. The talent show was scheduled to start at six, and it was estimated that it would last till at least ten, if not later.
It was quite the event in the Li household, especially when the family learned that Sakura and Syaoran were going to be using real magic on stage during the performances. They had almost been forbidden to perform. Syaoran, however, managed to convince the elders that no one would know that any real magic was being used and that the audience would think it was all stage magic. Though they received permission to do the performance, the hubbub it caused had alerted practically the whole clan to the activity. Many of them had decided that this would be a perfect time to evaluate the skills of the future leader and his fiancée.
Sakura and Meiling met up with Tomoyo and Li at the school. The auditorium was completely packed, forcing all students to remain backstage until their performances. The first act was Tomoyo's martial arts fashion show. Tomoyo would talk about her designs while Meiling, Sakura, and Syaoran rotated on and off stage, fighting each other, for the audiences' viewing pleasure. Despite Sakura's relatively recent entrance into the martial arts, she handled herself brilliantly, almost equal to Syaoran and Meiling.
"Wasn't that great?" Yamazaki announced, "In ancient times, warriors would dress up in order to intimidate the... OWW! I mean next we have Chiharu and…"
Sakura, Meiling and Tomoyo quickly changed and prepared for their next act. There were a few acts between them, but most of the other acts were not even as elaborate as a single one of theirs. They practiced their dance moves while they waited. Syaoran watched, pointing out any flaws that they should look out for in their final performance
"Up next," Yamazaki announced, "We have a musical performance by three young ladies you are already familiar with. Please welcome Tomoyo, Meiling, and Sakura back on stage as they sing an original song entitled 'Best Friends.'"
They walked onto the stage, wearing what appeared to be sophisticated evening dresses in red, purple, and green that had been modified to provide more freedom of movement. The smooth, upbeat music began to play. The girls' bodies swayed with the music. On cue, Tomoyo and Meiling began.
Tomoyo and Meiling:
They say that nothing lasts forever,
But I know that they are wrong.
For we will always endeavour
To be friends forever long!
Everything was perfect. Each step was in place and each note was pitched perfectly.
Tomoyo and Meiling:
Though the whole world crumbles all around,
And all others let you down,
Still we will be together
We'll be best friends forever!
Li gave them a thumbs up. Things were going very well. None of their practice sessions had gone this well. The music picked up and began to take on a techno feel as they prepared to launch into the chorus.
Sakura: (Cause we're best friends)
Tomoyo: I will never let you down.
Sakura: (I'll be there,)
Meiling: I'll never turn my back.
Sakura: (by your side.)
Tomoyo: Though we may be far away,
Meiling: I'm with you to stay.
Sakura: (Cause we're best friends,)
Tomoyo, Meiling and Sakura:
Best friends forever.
Sakura's voice, though not as trained as Tomoyo's nor Meiling's, came out crystal clear as she provided the alternate echo-chorus. Suddenly, the spotlight wavered. People in the audience toppled over, leaning on the shoulders of whomever was next to them. Soon after, Syaoran rushed onto the stage, dodging a blue fairy-like creature that was chasing him.
"Is that…?" Tomoyo asked before the fairy dribbled some sparkling sleeping dust on her as it flew overhead. She was thankful that her mother had had the forethought to hire a camera crew to set up tripods with cameras that would catch the performance. She would get footage of Sakura capturing the card in one of her designs.
"Tomoyo!" Sakura cried out. Tomoyo, being fast asleep, did not respond. The blue fairy, having temporarily given up on Li, turned its attention to Sakura.
"Watch out!" Meiling pushed Sakura out of the way, taking a sprinkle of the fairy dust herself in the process. As Meiling drifted off to dreamland, Sakura dodged another charge of the diminutive creature.
"The powder is what's putting people to sleep, right?" Sakura asked as she rolled to dodge another flurry.
"I think so." Syaoran responded.
"Then there might be an easy way to win this." She ran backstage where their clothes and other props were being stored while they performed. She grabbed a wand out of the box containing equipment for their magic show and ran back out.
"Come and get me!" She yelled. The creature zoomed towards her. Sakura pointed the wand prop at the dust trailing from the Clow Card. "WIND! Lend me your power!" The ofuda hidden inside the wand reacted as she poured power into it and generated a current of air that brought up the card's own dust, dropping it back on the card who spawned it. The card was apparently not immune to its own effect and plummeted to the ground.
"How long do you think it will be out for?" Syaoran asked.
"Hopefully long enough for me to find the key of the seal. I couldn't wear it with this dress." Sakura said as she was going backstage to search through the clothing that had been left there.
"How are you going to finish the act? When everyone wakes up, they'll wonder what happened."
"I don't know, I guess we will just have to start over and hope no one notices when they wake up. Try to wake Meiling and Tomoyo." Waking them didn't present too much of a problem for Li. A good rough shake woke the girls up as readily as if they had been in any non-magical sleep.
Soon everything was set up. Sakura sealed the sleep card, and placed it and the wand with the rest of her belongings. When the three girls were positioned on stage, Li restarted the music. The girls sang and the audience began to awaken. By the time they returned to the place they had left off, the entire auditorium was awake and enraptured by the girls' performance.
Tomoyo and Meiling:
Through all the fair and foul weather,
Facing happiness and strife.
We'll ride it out together,
This roller coaster of life.
Though darkness comes and covers each one,
You shine for me like the sun.
I'll follow you, you light the way
never leading me astray.
Sakura: (Cause we're best friends)
Tomoyo: I will never let you down.
Sakura: (I'll be there,)
Meiling: I'll never turn my back.
Sakura: (by your side.)
Tomoyo: Though we may be far away,
Meiling: I'm with you to stay.
Sakura: (Cause we're best friends,)
Tomoyo, Meiling and Sakura:
Best friends forever.
Tomoyo and Meiling:
Like diamonds it's shining forever
Like glue that always holds fast
A bond nothing can sever;
Friendship that will always last.
It may not seem like each little thing
is right when it's happening,
Surely it will get better,
bring us closer together.
Tomoyo, Meiling and Sakura:
As Best friends forever!
They finished. They stood there, posed, for what seemed like an eternity before the audience burst into applause.
"I think they liked it." Meiling smirked. The girls smiled and bowed before heading off stage.
"If they liked that, wait until they see Sakura-chan's final performance."
"Wow! What a great performance!" Yamazaki announced, "They have certainly given us a show tonight. Two great performances. I, for one, cannot wait to see their final performance at the end of the evening." This sparked another round of applause from the audience.
"Wow, they really liked us."
"Of course they did; Who could not like any performance with me in it?" Meiling gloated.
"Up next we have Rusaki Numaru doing ventriloquism."
"I have an idea." Meiling grinned, "Why don't you give the dummy a taste of the voice card."
"I don't see what using the voice on Syaoran would accomplish," Sakura replied. Despite their ability to work together well, they still hadn't gotten past their little fight from two days ago. Syaoran just let incidents after that slide, and Sakura was finding it harder to bring herself to insult him without him doing much resembling retaliating. She was feeling guilty that she had held a grudge this long because she usually didn't act like this towards anyone.
"If I'm such a dummy, I guess you don't want my help in math class anymore…"
"I don't want to ruin his performance. But it might be funny when he gets off stage," Sakura said, ignoring Li's comment.
Rusaki-san's performance, however, was not that great and the voice card certainly would have given it a bit more life. "I should have listened," she told Meiling, "That was possibly the most boring five minutes of my life." The ventriloquism had been good, but unfortunately, the dummy hadn't had anything interesting to say.