The Happy Ending We Are All Searching For

Chapter 3: 'Secret Friends' mania, commence!

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Spinnel flew to his/her sister's room and sat on her desk.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, bored but irritated.

"I'm doing my job as a guardian" she answered with a determined voice. She has all the rights to protect her beloved master, right?

"It's not your job to meddle with his mail, stupid. Don't act as if you're an antagonist in their story! Oh please, antagonists are intelligent and rich. You're neither." He said coldly with a glare aimed towards her.

"Kinomoto-san told me to take Eriol-sama as far away as I can from Tomoyo-chan. I'm doing what our master's other half told me" she reasoned out.

"He said to take as far away as you can. But he never said that Daidouji-sama can't at least write to Eriol-sama. I gave Daidouji the rules and she accepted. You even accepted, didn't you?"

It was unusual for Spinnel Sun to speak this long but he was terribly annoyed with their reversal of roles. He was supposed to be the pessimist one and she was supposed to be idiotically optimistic. But now? He was the optimistic one while she was being idiotically pessimistic.

It's too irritating.

"Say what you want to say but I'll keep this letter as long as I can" she stubbornly replied.

Spinnel flew away with a devilish smirk.

"That won't be too long" he whispered to himself as he exited the room.

Eriol, our oblivious-as-of-now leading man, was reading silently inside his large library that greatly resembled the one in his Tomoeda manor.

"Good morning, Eriol-sama. Nakuru said that she'll go out to buy some groceries" Spinnel nonchalantly said as he flew to a long desk in the library.

"Is there a problem, Spinnel? You don't sound normal at all." The mage worriedly asked, peering through his pile of books.

"None at all. Why?" he managed to say through his shocked state. Was he that obvious?

"Normally, you would just go to a desk and greet me. You are not the type to announce, or even care, about what Nakuru would do even if I ask. Honestly, what's the problem?"

Quick, Spinnel. Think fast!

"Nakuru looks down lately. I can't help but notice how she can't clean even her own room. Have you seen her room? I would have liked to clean it myself to surprise her, but I can't. Not with this paws" he said as concerned as he can. It was an act that deserves an award!

And the best actor award goes to… Spinnel Sun!

Eriol stood up, walked closer to Spinnel and touched his forehead. "You're not sick, are you?"

Spinnel simply shook his head.

"Okay, I'll help you if it will make Nakuru happy" The mage shrugged, not knowing what Suppi's plan was.

Both of them went to the girl's room, which looked suspiciously a-little-too-dirty.

"Why do you think this would make Nakuru happy?" Eriol suddenly asked his flying companion.

Not knowing what else to say, he said: "Cleanliness is next to Godliness"

What? The mage arched his eyebrow at his guardian, smelling something fishy about this.

"I mean, Nakuru thinks that cleanliness is next to godliness so she would be happy to see her room clean" he reasoned out coolly, trying to get any suspicious away.

"Hmmm…" The mage merely nodded his head in understanding. He can see his female guardian saying just that. She had always been the kind to utter such cute foolishness every now and then.

"We only have some time to finish cleaning her room until she arrives" Spinnel said while looking around the room.

"One minute would do" Eriol said before summoning his staff and waving it to magically clean the room.

After a minute, the room was sparkling clean. Clow Reed's reincarnation walked around to make sure everything was in their right position.

His gaze traveled through the window, to the television, to the cabinet, to the mirror…

… And finally, giving Spinnel utmost joy, to the desk.

"Eh? A letter for me?"

The Daidouji woke up with a smile on her face. Something special would happen today. And she has a pretty good guess what that would be.

She excitedly tidied herself up and went down to fetch her mail. Is today THE day?

Hmmm… Invitation to a party, another invitation to a party, a letter from that freaky business guy again…

… Here! A letter from England!

She clutched it to her heart, discarding the other letters in the process. She ran to her room quickly and opened the letter.

Fair Flower,

From what I have deduced from your letter, you know me quite well. An evidence of such being that you know each reaction I had while reading your cute and witty letter. I applaud your skill.

You might be surprised by the fact that I wrote a letter… and even more surprised, maybe, that I am willing for you to be my secret friend. I have never been much of a friendly person when I was living in Tomoeda, right? I'm not really the type of person to like this kind of communication and interaction with other people, especially with someone I don't know well.

… But I was deeply mystified as to what your motives are. Your idea had attracted me and made me interested to no end. You're not, by any chance, a raging fan that would pull revenge on me for leaving Japan, are you?

Okay, you can stop laughing now. Sorry about that. I can be weird too, at times.

If you would just explain a little bit more, I would be more than happy to be a friend to you, even a secret one.

I find something unfair here though. How can we be secret friends when you know so much about me? I would be the only one guessing here. Isn't that a little too unfair for me, mysterious fair flower?

By the way, I want to know why you said: 'I know for a fact that you would need someone'. When I read it, I felt… hurt? No… I felt an intense emotion that I can't quite place. It was another puzzling thing to say. Why did you say that? Did you mean that you know my problem? Did you?

With that in mind, I told myself: "I can't possibly trust some random person with my problems and secret, can I?"

But something inside me tells me that I would be able to trust you, someday. It reassures me that you are someone to trust.

Can you stay until then?

Hiiragizawa Eriol _ Midnight Mage

P.S.: for some unknown reason, I trust you completely. Maybe your charm is too strong, even for me?

Tomoyo smiled, tears of joy flowing out of her eyes. Who would have thought that the almighty Clow Reed reincarnation would actually take notice of her?

She whipped out a stationary and sat beside her desk. I need to write fast! I'm so excited!

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"Tomoyo-chan finally received a letter! Can you believe it?" Sakura jumped in joy then hugged the little wolf. He blushed with the contact but then smiled upon seeing her as happy as she could be.

"I'm glad" he replied sincerely with the gentlest of smiles.

The two were, as usual, in the penguin park where they always meet before their dates. (Sakura said that if Syaoran would fetch her, he wouldn't be able to go out of their house without at least a scratch)

"I wish it'll be alright" he said hopefully, an image of Tomoyo smiling entering his mind.

"Everything will surely be alright" Sakura said enthusiastically.

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Eriol woke up early in the morning to check his mail. He had been doing this everyday ever since the day he sent that letter. He was afraid that Nakuru would discover this secret of his so he did everything to keep it a secret.

It was easier since he had the loyalty of Spinnel.

As he opened his mailbox that contained less mail than those of the Daidouji mansion, his heart thumped faster. There, in his mailbox, is a white envelope with the handwriting of Fair Flower.

At last! His secret friend sure is fast, isn't she?

(Well, Eriol-kun, she does have some connection that you don't have. If she wants to give it to you in less than three days, she would be able to)

Midnight mage,

I'm so glad you wrote! I thought you won't write at all! I mean, who would even take notice of that silly letter? I'm really glad that you had the temporary insanity to write to someone like me.

Don't worry. I'm not a bad person and definitely not a rampaging fan! I'm a good child, promise! My motives are as decent and clean as they can be. I can confidently say that there won't be anything wrong with this writing thing. It's just a 'simple letter writing' for us to know each other more, right?

Let me answer some questions you asked…

Yes, I know you well. I've known you since we were about ten. Though for reasons you shouldn't know yet. I know a lot about you and we have talked quite a lot of times so I knew what your reaction will be. Weird, right?

I certainly can't find an unfair thing here! You're a naturally mystifying creature so you don't necessarily need to try. And even if I know you quite well, you still have some secrets that I haven't figured out. You are a living puzzle, and you know that. I'll drop clues along the way so you don't have to feel like that at all. It is fair now, isn't it?

Oh, about that sentence. (I know for a fact that you would need someone) I'm sorry for saying that. I just write what goes inside my head so I wasn't thinking at all when I said that. I'm really sorry if you were hurt in some way.

I'm very thankful that you're mystified by my motives. It was one of my aims in writing: making the most puzzling person puzzled. It's too fun imagining you with that silly curious face!

I'll still be here until the time you can finally open up. I'm a very patient little lady so I know I can do it.

Now, for this month's Tomoeda newsletter:

Kinomoto Sakura and Li Syaoran, the hottest couple in Tomoeda, are now officially exclusively dating. Sources say that they have been going out for weeks! You know them, right? They're so cute together!

Yanagisawa Naoko won a regional short story competition while Yamazaki Takashi won the on the spot story telling competition. They were so amazing. If ever you come back here in Tomoeda, make sure you read Naoko-chan's story, okay?

Daidouji Tomoyo, the choir's current representative for external competitions, would compete in Tokyo next month. She had been practicing so hard these days. I hope she'll win! Please pray for her!

Mr. Tanagawa would get married next week. Do you know him? He's that terror teacher in college Algebra who always scowls as if it's the end of the world. When he announced the date of the wedding, he was smiling like a crazed chipmunk! It was a little freaky but I'm glad for him. Love can really turn the world upside down… Oh! I'll help with the wedding. Wish me luck!

Well, that's about all the news I know. I hope you can also share some stories of yours in your next reply.

Reply ASAP!

Sincerely yours,

Your Fair Flower

Eriol smiled at the letter. A strange soft spot was being slowly opened up inside him…

He stood up and proceeded to search for the beautiful stationary he just bought.

Unknown to him, his female guardian was hiding behind the door with a bittersweet smile. 'I guess I just can't stop something like this from happening. They were destined for each other, after all. I just hope nobody will be hurt by this…'

Yatsuiko-chan: The chapter came earlier than I expected. The next episode should be out this Saturday. Thanks for those who reviewed! Oh, take note of everything that's being said 'because we'll never know when my evil brain will make something weird happen.