CHAPTER FIVE
Inside Mr. Terada's classroom, the teacher was going on with his biology lesson while the students seemed rather uninterested in the subject now that they had a celebrity in the class. They all gave Sakura starry-eyed glances and rosy-cheeked smiles as Terada desperately tried to win back the class' attention.
"Okay." The teacher sighed. "Let's go over this again. Osmosis is..." Terada waited for an answer. "Anybody? Anybody?" There was no response. The students were either asking for Sakura's autograph or just not paying attention at all. All of this made Sakura feel a bit uneasy.
Terada then lost his patience. "Well, you can at least pretend to give me an answer! C'mon! I've been going over it for the last half-hour! What is osmosis!?"
Takashi then raised his hand, much to the teacher's joy. "Yes! Takashi! The answer, please?"
"Isn't that the cartoon with this sock-looking guy in a jacket who hangs out with this robot or something and he's loaded with weapons and stuff and they're all, like inside this kid or something?" Takashi guessed.
Furious, Terada chucked an eraser at his student and missed. "Damn it! The new principal is gonna stop by soon! What's he gonna think when he sees the best Tomoeda has to offer is a bunch of no-brained idiots!?"
"That you've been doing a lousy job?" Takashi guessed aloud.
Terada chucked another eraser at him and missed again. "Son of a--!" He growled. The teacher put his hands on his head and took a deep breath, trying to relieve the stress.
"Mr. Terada?" Sakura asked as she got out of her seat. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" The teacher was confused.
"All this saving I've been doing lately has really gotten people's attention and now the class won't listen to you and I feel really bad and--"
"Whoa, slow down!" The teacher tried to calm the girl down. "None of this is your fault, Sakura."
"It isn't?"
"Actually, I lied. It is your fault. Go sit down and kindly let me finish my lesson. In fact, sit in the back of the class so no one sees you. Okay?"
"Oh...kay." Sakura obeyed the teacher and dragged her desk all the way to the back, causing an irritable screeching noise with every pull.
"Aw, Sakura..." Chiharu sympathized for her friend.
Just then, a familiar looking face peeked into the room and caught the students by surprise.
"Have they started sawing a woman in half yet?" Kaho joked as she walked in the class and smiled.
"Ms. Mizuki." Terada was surprised himself. "What brings you here?"
"A bicycle. But I left that in the hall." She said as she took a seat next to Terada's desk.
"Ms. Mizuki? Are you the new principal?" Naoko asked.
"That's right." She smiled.
"What!?" Terada almost fainted.
"Oh, please. Don't let my presence bother you. I've been visiting all the teachers today."
Terada chuckled nervously. "Right, right." He then turned his attention back to his students. "All right, let me go on with my lecture..."
"I wish you'd go on without your lecture." Kaho said under her breath.
"If you look in your books, you'll see that this..." Terada started as he opened up a textbook, which displayed a colorful drawing of the human liver. "...Is the liver."
"What? No bacon? I'd send that back if I were you." Kaho interrupted.
Terada ignored her and went on. "Now if the liver is neglected, it will most likely lead to the symptoms of cirrhosis. And I'm sure you all know what that is." The teacher then paused for a moment and had another attack. "Oh, Christ! You couldn't get osmosis and now I expect you to know what cirrhosis is!? Think, Terada! Think!"
"Is this stuff on the level or are you just making it up?" Kaho thought aloud.
"Look, Ms. Mizuki. Everything I'm saying can be found in the simplest textbook on anatomy. If I had any decent students who were worth a damn..." He glanced at his students. "...They would bear me out."
"We'll bear you out!" Takashi said as he and Chiharu ran up to their teacher and pulled him out of the classroom as Kaho gladly held the door open.
"Damn you all!" Terada cried as the door shut.
The new principal then took over the class and addressed the students. "And let that be a lesson to all of you! This school was here before you came and it'll be here before you go! And you too, you numbskull!" Kaho knocked over a plastic skull sitting on Terada's desk.
"Ms. Mizuki?" Sakura was now confused.
"Now we'll have no further interruptions! I'll have to finish Terada's lesson for him and hope to God you'll learn something." Kaho then picked up the book and started to go over the lesson. "According to some famous scientist, you'll never know about because you're all practically brain dead, 'There is ever present a group of white phagocytes'..."
"You're a phagocyte!" Takashi hollered.
Like Terada before her, Kaho chucked an eraser at the boy but actually managed to knock him out of his seat. "Yes! Ten points!" Kaho said as she rang the bell on Terada's desk.
"Does Ms. Mizuki seem a little strange to you, Sakura?" Tomoyo asked her friend.
Sakura shrugged and smiled. "Who cares? Li's coming home!"
¬¬¬¬¬
"Why hasn't he come home!?" Sakura cried like a baby.
The school day was over and Sakura and Tomoyo were visiting Eriol in his new home. When there was no sign of Li to be found anywhere, Sakura began to pout and fear for the boy's safety.
"I'm sure he's fine, Sakura." Eriol said. "His flight was probably running late or something."
"You had something to do with this, didn't you!?" Sakura snapped. "You two could never get along, so you had to make an excuse for Li's flight to delay!" She then grabbed Eriol by the collar and started shaking him. "What did you do, Eriol!? Blizzard!? Rainstorm!? Flying buttocks!? Tell me! What did you do to my boyfriend!?"
"I swear! I didn't do anything!" Eriol pleaded with the girl. "He's probably on his way right now!"
Sakura let go of him and sighed. "Oh, I hope you're right."
Spinel then flew into the room as Nakuru brought over a tray of refreshments for the group. "Hi, girls!" She smiled.
"Hello, Nakuru. It's good to see you again." Tomoyo said.
"You too, Ms. Daidouji." She then noticed someone missing. "Hey, where's Li?"
"Li!?" Sakura started to sob again. "Excuse me!" Sakura ran out of the room to cry some more.
"What did I say!?" Nakuru looked confused. "Wait, Sakura! I'm sorry!"
"Hey! Don't make me stay here alone! That crazy doll might be here!" Spinel shouted at Nakuru as she chased after Sakura.
"Who are you calling doll, you furball!?" Kero said as he popped out of Tomoyo's bag.
"Oh, shit! I'm out of here!" Spinel said as he flew away from Kero.
"Nuh-uh! Get back here!" As the doll chased after his rival, Tomoyo and Eriol realized they were now alone.
"They're... friends, right?" Tomoyo asked.
"It's hard to tell. The way they bicker." Eriol's heart started to pound as he saw Tomoyo's beautiful smile.
"Eriol?" Tomoyo started. "What made you want to come back to Tomoeda?"
"Oh, it was..." Eriol wasn't sure if he should tell her or not. "...It was many things."
"Like what?" The girl was curious to know.
"Uh..." He knew he had to think of something quick. "Well, there's Sakura and her new abilities. I wanted to make sure I could be there to assist her in any way possible."
"Oh."
"And, uh..." He was now turning red from anticipation. "Tomoyo, I did a lot of thinking these past few months."
"Really? About what?"
"About my... feelings. For someone."
Tomoyo leaned in closer. "Do you mean... me?"
Eriol nodded. "Yes."
Just when things were getting interesting, Kaho walked in on the two and noticed Eriol looking very flushed and sweaty. She had never seen him like this before.
"I'm sorry." She grinned. "Did I interrupt something?"
"No, not at all." Eriol stood up immediately. "What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing. Except the fact that Sakura is in the hallway, crying because her beloved has yet to show up."
"I told you! I didn't do anything!" Eriol pleaded.
There was a knock at the door. "I'll get it!" Nakuru shouted as she slid down the railing of the steps and crashed into the wall. "Damn it!"
She shook her head and rubbed her nose as she answered the door. Upon seeing Touya's face, Nakuru jumped with joy and wrapped her arms around the young man. "Touya! You came to visit me!"
"Let... go of me." He angrily said through his teeth.
"What's the matter? Didn't you miss me?"
"Where's Sakura? My dad told me she was here."
Sakura appeared from the hallway and was surprised to see her brother. "Touya?"
"There you are."
"What's going on?"
"Trouble."
Sakura slowly backed away. "What sort of trouble?"
Yuki walked in through the door with a concerned look on his face. "Oh, you know. The usual end-of-the-world kind of stuff. Nothing big, right?"
"Where did you go last night?" Sakura asked her big brother.
"Somewhere." He tried to hide the truth from her.
"It doesn't matter right now, Sakura. We've got bigger things to worry about." Yuki interrupted.
"Like what?" Kero butted in as he approached the group. "What's going on? Where's the party? You got any food? Where's the food?"
"They're back, Kero. Or at least one of them is. For now."
"Back? Who's back?" The doll looked confused.
"The Demon Knights."
Kero dropped his wings and plopped to the ground, unconscious. Everyone circled around the fainted doll and gave him a strange look.
Nakuru took out a fire poker and jabbed the doll, expecting him to wake up. "Do you think if we'd beat him with a stick hard enough, he'd burst like a piñata?"