Time
Frame: Two days after New Years. Sakura has just
arrived in Hong Kong. Tomoyo and Eriol are going with Sakura to her dorm room
and helping her settle in. Syaoron is still at home with his mother and sisters
resting before he has to come back for the new term.
hhhhh
The large
redbrick building looming in front of them seemed to be foreboding, strong,
warm and welcoming all at the same time. It was just like the way Sakura
thought of Syaoron. On the outside he gives the appearance of being cold, and
standoffish, he is strong not only in the martial arts but also in magic. Then
there is the side of him that you don't see unless you know him well, the side
that is hidden under the stoicism of his outer shell. This is the side that
Sakura saw every time she looked into those clear amber eyes.
"Sakura? Are you
all right?" Tomoyo asked, noticing that her best friend seemed to have drifted
off for a moment.
"Hoe?" Sakura
said as she came out of her reverie, "Oh, sorry Tomoyo-chan I was just thinking
about something."
"Don't you mean
someone?" Tomoyo said with a knowing wink.
"Uh…"
"Are you girls
going to help me or not?" Eriol interrupted, saving Sakura from having to
respond. "Even with my magic I can only stand here, with these bags, for so
long you know."
Tomoyo chuckled and
Sakura sweatdropped. She had just noticed that Eriol was the one who was
carrying the bags for all three of them, and he most definitely looked worn
out.
"Sorry Eriol-kun. Sakura said moving forward
to help with the bags.
Tomoyo however,
laid a gentle hand on Sakura's arm, holding her back. "It serves him right for
sleeping through the whole flight, and then claiming that he was too tired to
pick up his bags and asking us to do it."
Eriol
sweatdropped at this and obediently remained quite.
Sakura however,
could not help from giggling at the look of embarrassment on Eriol-kun's face.
Tomoyo softened
her tone and giggled a little herself looking at the expression her boyfriend
had on.
Eriol had a small
carry-on bag under each arm, a large messenger pack over his left shoulder and
a large suitcase in each hand. The exertion of keeping upright was definitely
taking its toll on Eriol. A thin sheen of sweat was visible on Eriol's forehead
as he was panting slightly.
"Alright, come
on, let's go." Sakura said after regaining her composure.
They entered the
dormitory and made their way to the elevator, they headed up to the dorm room
Sakura was assigned to. The elevator came to a stop on the third floor of the
5-story redbrick.
As they made
their way down the hallway they noticed a number of the residents appeared to
be boys.
Sakura found this
odd and turned to Tomoyo to ask why this was so. "Tomoyo-chan why are there so
many boys in this building?"
"'Cause it's a
coed dorm." Tomoyo replied rather matter-of-factly.
"What?" Sakura
nearly screamed.
"It was the only
dorm that still had room, all the female dorms are filled. We're lucky I was
able to get this for you." Tomoyo said. "Besides it's not like you'll be
rooming with a guy."
As they rounded a
corner Sakura came up to a door on which was written, in bronze bolted numbers,
the number "39."
"This is it."
Tomoyo said as she turned the handle and opened it to reveal a modestly
furnished dorm room.
Inside there were
two twin-sized beds one by the window and the other on the opposite side of the
room along the far wall. At the foot of each bed were a simple oak chest and a
cabinet next to each bed. A simple beige couch was to the left of the door. The
floor was also covered with a plush beige carpet. Two closets, one on the left
side and the other on the right side of the room. There were two desks, one
next to each bed, and finally a large 6 level bookshelf next to the sofa.
The window was
located just above the bed. It was just the right size to let in enough light
to brighten up the room. The walls and ceiling were painted in a pearly white
with a slight tinge of pink in it. Even though the color was barely noticeable,
it still made the room feel more inviting.
As Sakura looked
around the room she noticed that about half of the space had already been taken
up, presumably by her roommate. The entire far wall was covered with posters
and pictures of all kinds. Already books, articles and various other things
covered the desk on that side of the room. There were two levels of the
bookshelf, which had already been taken up by books, magazines and papers. The
closet closest on the opposite wall was filled with clothes. Sakura wandered
over to the window and saw that she could see the whole quad from her
vantagepoint.
"Well we better
start unpacking your stuff Sakura-chan." Tomoyo said.
Sakura turned
around just in time to see Eriol collapse on the floor panting. She hadn't
realized that Eriol had been holding, what must have been 50 or 60 pounds of
luggage for over an hour.
Tomoyo simply
giggled at the condition of her boyfriend, while Eriol was too tired to even
bother moving.
After Eriol had
finally recovered the trio set about unpacking all of Sakura's things. They were
nearly finished when a small Chinese girl walked into the room with the
headphones of her minidisc player still over her ears. She didn't seem to
notice the three strangers and instead continued to her bed where she took off
she earphones and set her minidisc player on the bed. However, when she turned
around she gave a slight yelp of surprise.
Seeing the
startled look on the girl's face Sakura decided to introduce herself. "Hi, I'm
Kinomoto Sakura. I believe that I am your roommate."
As quickly as the
look of surprise came to the girl's face it disappeared to be replaced by a
warm smile.
"Hello, I'm Chu
Ming Yi. Welcome." the Chinese girl introduced herself as, in slightly accented
Japanese. "I'm sorry about my reaction but I wasn't expecting you here this
early. The term doesn't start for another four days. I took the inside bed
because I didn't know which one you would want. I hope that is all right with
you. I only took two of the shelves because I don't know how much space you
would need, but if you need more space I could move some of my stuff."
"Thank you
Ming-chan. I would love to take the window bed. I don't really need that much
room. The space you left is more than I need." Sakura said. "These are my
friends Tomoyo-chan and Eriol-kun."
"Konnichiwa."
Tomoyo and Eriol said together and bowed in greeting.
"Konnichiwa."
Ming said bowing in return.
"Ming-chan your
Japanese is quite good." Tomoyo remarked.
"Arigato Tomoyo-chan.
I learned from my uncle. He spent time studying in Japan." Ming said. "… I just
remembered there is a Wong Faye concert tonight, would you like to come? I
could introduce you to some of my friends."
"That would be
great. When is the concert?" Sakura asked.
"It's at seven."
Ming answered.
"Do you guys want
to go?" Sakura asked Tomoyo and Eriol.
"Sure!" both
replied enthusiastically.
"Great I'll go
get the tickets now. Be back in a few minutes." Ming said as she ran out the
door.
"She seems pretty
nice." Eriol said after Ming had left.
"Yeah." Tomoyo
added. "Pretty good roommate don't you think?"
"Yeah." Sakura
said. "Well if we are going to a concert I think we should get ready."
"I have the
perfect outfit for you guys to were to the concert." Tomoyo said smiling
broadly.
All Sakura and
Eriol could do was sweatdrop.
To be continued…
hhhhh