Chapter Thirty

Tokyo

Syaoran was sitting at a table, enjoying the feeling of the warm rays of sunshine all over his body.

He was with his father on the terrace of one of the restaurants in Moscow's famous red square as a gentle breeze ruffled his brown hair. Summer in Russia was much milder than in Japan, and it was quite cooler.

His father, Hien, was telling him that he had just bought a monthly pass to the huge municipal swimming pool, and that they could go swimming that afternoon and compete if he wanted to.

Syaoran smirked as he remembered the small mark Sakura had made on his chest two weeks earlier. It was no longer noticeable, so his father wouldn't see it when he saw him shirtless.

Hien continued to talk about everything he had planned for the five weeks they had left together, but he stopped when he saw his son's dreamy gaze scanning the colourful silhouette of St. Basil's Cathedral in the distance.

"You're so distracted" he murmured, his eyes fixed on him.

Syaoran reacted, blinking several times.

"I'm sorry, it's true" he admitted, scratching his temple with two fingers.

"And why is that? What are you thinking about? Or rather... Who?" Hien asked, raising his eyebrows.

He was almost certain that his son's daze was due to some girl, and when he saw him blush a little at his words he knew he had guessed right.

"I... it's something I wanted to tell you. I've had a girlfriend for a few months now" Syaoran confessed in a whisper.

Hien rolled his eyes and sighed.

"You've told me about many girlfriends already, Syaoran. Another one is nothing new, I don't understand why you didn't tell me about it when you first got here."

Syaoran clenched his fists, holding back his anger.

"She's not just a girl... she's the girl of my dreams. I plan to be with her forever, I've already decided that when we finish university I'm going to ask her to marry me" he replied in a deep voice.

Hien opened his eyes wide in surprise.

"Wow, I've never heard you talk about anyone like that before. What's her name?"

"I've told you about her many times. It's Sakura."

"Sakura? Your best friend?" Hien asked, frowning.

"Yeah. I fell in love with her last Christmas, and luckily she reciprocated my feelings a few weeks later... I was such an idiot, I don't know how I didn't realise sooner that she was the one for me."

Hien remained silent as he chewed the last bite of his lunch.

"I'll just tell you that I hope you know what you're doing. I know you've loved this girl for years and if something goes wrong, you won't just lose a girlfriend... you'll also lose your friend."

"I know, but it's going to be okay. We both love each other and we love being together, I won't let some stupid thing ruin everything."

Hien smiled.

"She really got to you, that Sakura" he muttered, sipping some wine.

Syaoran smiled back at him.

"I'd like you to meet her... you could come visit me this Christmas in Tokyo and I'll introduce you to her."

His father thought about it for a moment, watching the people strolling through the square.

"That's a good idea, you always come to see me... it's been a long time since I've visited you."

"Great, Sakura's going to love meeting you at last" said Syaoran, smiling and taking out his phone to text his girlfriend and tell her about it.

"What do her parents think about you two being together? You told me they're quite weird."

Syaoran's face darkened.

"We haven't told them, they'd make too much trouble for us to be together and Sakura would have a hard time... for now, they think we're still friends as usual."

Hien sighed, shaking his head.

"Sooner or later, someone will see you two together and will tell them... And it'll be much worse than if they find out from you."

"It's Sakura's decision, they're her parents and we'll tell them whenever she wants to" Syaoran replied, frowning.

His father shrugged and asked the waiter for the bill.

"You've finished, haven't you? Well, let's go swimming, I want to see if you're still faster than me" he said, glancing at his son with a mischievous grin.

Syaoran stared at him, eyes challenging.

"You'll lose again, just like every summer."

The two got up and started walking towards the flat where Hien lived to change their clothes.

Sakura was drinking tea in Tomoyo's room. Chiharu had just arrived and the three of them were going to spend the afternoon planning their move to Tokyo.

September was still a week away, but they had already found a flat not far from the university campus. Their parents were going to drive them there the next day so that they could take all their things with them.

"It's one week before the start of classes... What do you plan to do once we are settled in?" asked Chiharu excitedly.

"I'll go looking for decorations for our flat, if you want to come with me" Tomoyo said, smiling.

"I'll try to find some work for the weekend, I don't want my parents to have to support me... besides, when they find out about Syaoran I'll be in trouble" Sakura murmured under her breath.

Chiharu rolled her eyes and Tomoyo snorted.

"If I were you... I wouldn't tell them" Tomoyo replied.

"I don't think I would either, they're too strict" Chiharu added, nodding.

Sakura sighed.

"They're going to find out eventually, but I hope it's when I no longer need their money."

"Well, don't think about that right now... We're university mates and we're going to live together!" Chiharu shouted.

Tomoyo and Sakura smiled and continued talking about everything that awaited them in that big city.

The following day, Sakura was very nervous in the car with her parents and her brother Touya. It took them about two hours to get to Tokyo, and another hour to find the building where the flat she was going to share with her two friends was located.

They parked right next to the door and the four of them emptied the boot, with all of Sakura's things.

They took the lift up to the eighth floor and, when they got out, they saw that one of the flat doors was open and there was a lot of noise inside. Sakura had no trouble guessing that this was her new flat, and that the voices were those of her friends.

Upon entering, they saw Tomoyo with her older brother Daiki, and Chiharu with her parents. Sakura led her family to their new room. The previous afternoon, the three girls had randomly distributed them because they already knew the flat from the pictures.

After emptying the two boxes where she had brought books, towels and coats, Sakura left her two suitcases on the bed to empty them later. The four of them said goodbye to the others and went out to have lunch together in Tokyo before Fujitaka, Nadeshiko and Touya left to go back to Tomoeda.

"You'll be visiting a lot, won't you?" Touya asked as they ate.

"I don't know. I'm thinking about looking for a job and I might only be able to go on holidays... but you can visit me whenever you want, brother" she replied with a smile.

"You don't need a job. We'll pay your tuition and any expenses you have" Fujitaka said in a deep voice.

Sakura shrugged.

"If I find something easy, I'll take it. I want to learn to be an adult."

"No boys in your flat, Sakura. I forgot to discuss it with your friends' families."

Sakura rolled her eyes, sighing.

"Relax, you know they're both formal like me and they have boyfriends" she said, tired of hearing the same thing all the time.

Nadeshiko frowned.

"You're too young to be thinking about boyfriends, don't worry about those things until you're done studying... then you'll have time to go out with boys."

Sakura snorted in annoyance and said nothing. Touya gave his sister a knowing look and rolled his eyes, and she had to hold back her laughter.

Once they finished, she was relieved when they returned to the flat and it was just her two friends. Her parents and brother left, but not before Nadeshiko gave Chiharu and Tomoyo a little lecture about being responsible and not letting any men near their flat.

When they were finally alone, Sakura threw herself on the sofa and let out a big laugh.

"Freedom!" she shouted, excitedly.

Her friends laughed and rushed over to her, overjoyed.

Between the three of them, they tidied up all their clothes and prepared dinner, using the kitchen for the first time. When they went to sleep, Sakura wrote a message to Syaoran.

Sakura: We are finally in Tokyo! I can't wait for you to come, let me know when you arrive next week so I can come help you with your things. Finally, Syaoran!

It wasn't long before the answer came.

Syaoran: I want to be in Tokyo with you too, I want to see you every day, walk around the city together... and sleep with you for once, you're my favourite pillow.

Sakura smiled and put the phone down on the bedside table, hugging her pillow. It didn't take long for her to fall fast asleep, it had been a long day.