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Chapter Four
The group stared at the scenery in absolute silence; then burst into fits of laughter. Even the ever-grumpy Kurogane held a solid smirk on his face. The only person not doing either of those things was obviously Koyuki. The girl was sitting quietly behind the hysterical travellers with her trademark unemotional look glued to her face; it was hard to tell whether or not she was confused about the fact that her new companions had suddenly gone completely insane. But in the middle of all of it Fai had noticed, and he knew. She was confused. And a little scared. But that's only natural, he thought.
"They've returned!"
Fai jumped at the sound of that awfully familiar voice. A huge grin plastered to his face, he turned to the speaker.
"It's Tomoyo!" Well, Mokona was clearly pleased to reunite with the mature, dark-haired president.
"Welcome once again to Piffle World. How has everyone been?"
Silence. Fai fidgeted nervously. How were they supposed to answer that? The events they had been through since the last time they had visited this world had been just . . . indescribable. The warm smile disappeared from Tomoyo's lips, and was replaced by a look of concern.
"I'm sorry." Syaoran looked uncomfortable. "But I'm not sure if we can answer that too easily."
"That's perfectly fine. I've heard . . . a fair section of the story already."
Kurogane shot to his feet, startling everyone. "From Princess Tomoyo?"
"Who else would be aware of these happenings?" Tomoyo stifled a mischievous giggle behind her fingers. "Oh, and may I ask, who is your new acquaintance?"
"I'm Koyuki." The girl replied with a completely impassive look on her face.
It looked as if even Tomoyo was a bit startled by Koyuki's detached attitude. "Oh . . . well, it's a delight to meet you. May I call you Koyuki-chan?"
Koyuki nodded, the corners of her lips curving up slightly. "But I'm afraid that I don't know your name yet."
"It's Tomoyo. Tomoyo Daidouji. I am the president of the Piffle Princess Company." Tomoyo gestured to the building behind her, which Fai vaguely remembered from their last visit. "Oh, I apologize!" Tomoyo's hands shot to her mouth. "Here I am, ranting away, while you, guests from alternate dimensions, are simply sitting in the middle of the street! We must accommodate you immediately!"
"Yes, Ma'am!" Eight of Tomoyo's bodyguards seemed to appear out of thin air.
"Um, Tomoyo-chan . . ." That was all Fai managed to say as they were ushered into one of those strange boxes that rode on the ground. No, wait, they were called cars.
"Excuse me," Syaoran spoke up. "Where exactly are you taking us?"
The dark head turned in the car directly in front of them. "Where else? My house, of course!" Tomoyo smiled brightly.
"What?" The exclamation burst out of Fai's mouth before he could stop himself. "Sorry, I mean . . . why?"
Tomoyo's smile widened. "We have a lovely surprise waiting to greet you!" She swiveled to face the front again.
Fai was left with a whole bunch of question marks in his head. A surprise? What sort of surprise? Or, more importantly, how could Tomoyo already have something prepared after him and his fellow travellers had only been in this world for a few minutes? Could it be that Princess Tomoyo had informed Tomoyo of their arrival? Before Fai could puzzle himself with more questions, however, he was interrupted by a light tap on his shoulder. "Hmm?" he asked as he craned his neck sideways.
"Fai-san?" Koyuki was staring at him uncomprehendingly.
"Yes?"
"Is this . . . a futuristic world?"
"At least for me. The world I came from was nothing like this." He paused; then couldn't help adding, "Do you remember anything about your world?" As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted saying them.
To his surprise, Koyuki answered. "No. But somehow, I have a feeling that most of the objects in this world were unfamiliar to me even before I lost my memories."
". . . Oh." For some strange reason, Fai felt a little disappointed. Why would Koyuki remember her world anyway? And besides, Fai wasn't the type to stick his nose into other people's secrets and memories. Well, usually. Thinking back, this was the first time he'd ever been so curious about someone else. But . . . why was he curious about a girl he had rescued from a dome in a debris-filled country? That was the question that dominated Fai's mind for the rest of the car ride.
"Now for the surprise!" Tomoyo stood up from the table and clapped her hands together dramatically. She motioned to her guards, who immediately left the room. "Ohhhhh, isn't it a shame that my heroine is absent?" she continued. "Sakura-chan would be ever so happy if she glimpses what I have for her! After all, she was the winner of––oh!" Tomoyo clasped her hands over her mouth for the second time that day. "I almost spilled it," she said softly.
The guards chose that exact moment to return to the room, pushing four enormous objects covered with a large white cloth. "We have brought them, Ma'am."
Tomoyo hurried over to them. "Now, on the count of three, one, two, THREE!"
The cloth was lifted with a spectacular whoosh. Underneath was . . . Fai could hardly believe his eyes for a moment. The surprise was their Dragonflies.
"Yay! There's the Mokona-go! The one named after Mokona!" The white bunny bounded onto the aircraft. "But Sakura isn't here."
"Ohhhhh," Tomoyo spun around like she was floating. "Sakura-chan is the star of the show! But now she's missing out on everything!"
Fai quietly cleared his throat. Tomoyo could be rather . . . strange sometimes.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Tomoyo abruptly stopped spinning. "I'm not trying to force you, but if you enter the Dragonfly Race this year, the prize is a mirror of communication."
Fai gasped. "Does that mean––"
"Yes. You can communicate with other dimensions."
A word, just one, popped into Fai's head: Sakura-chan.
