T minus 98 days
Syaoran walked out of his engineering exam to find two texts from Sakura and five missed calls from Eriol waiting for him. As a man with very distinct priorities, he called Eriol back first - because it sounded important and Eriol never calls - only to be led to voicemail. He shrugged, checking Sakura's texts.
3:44 PM
Hey! An idea came to me in SC4 so I'm gonna go to the White Space and try to figure it out. You should come join me if you'd like.
6:22 PM
Eriol told me you were taking an exam for your HCE, sorry to bother you! You're probably taking it already, but still, good luck!
I know you'll be tired from your exam today so maybe you could come by tomorrow and check out my ideas. I'm really excited about them haha.
Syaoran smiled at Sakura's texts, they were always so sweet and polite, and almost every sentence were ended by exclamation marks - not that they could have been ended in any other way.
He was tired from his long, long exam - it started at 2pm - and a little brain fried. And Sakura being excited about her ideas was pretty normal. But he couldn't help being curious and couldn't quite stop himself from taking a little bit detour to the White Space.
Halfway there, he got a text from Eriol.
9:42 PM
Hey sorry man for ignoring your call back, it was bad timing. I forgot you had that exam so I called earlier when Sakura was wondering about you & you don't usually fall off the face of the Earth. Btw, how was it? I heard last year's was five hours.
Syaoran wasn't much of an avid texter, so his reply was a little more concise.
9:45 PM
It's okay. I just got out.
He considered also texting Sakura back, but decided against it. If he indicated he was going to the White Space, as nice as she is, she'll probably go out of her way to meet him there too. He's sure she has other things to do, and he wasn't about to bother her.
Two minutes later came another buzz from his phone.
9:47 PM
SEVEN HOURS?! DAMN.
9:47 PM
dude I'm so sorry you probably wanna come back but TMT right now maybe stop by the uni cafe for an hour? I'll take care of it by then.
Syaoran shook his head, not that it bothered him, he was planning on stopping by the White Space anyway. He just wondered when Eriol and Tomoyo would stop fighting. TMT was their code for Tomoyo problems. T.M. was for Tomoyo and since it was similar to TNT, a kind of explosive, they thought it was a clever acronym.
He replied shortly;
9:48 PM
Sure. Good luck.
When he arrived at the Student Center, the building was nearly empty. He hadn't expected much activity, considering they had a little over four months until the due date, his classmates won't be starting to spend the late nights until the last month. He knows he'll be fine visiting the Student Center at this time of the night, though, since the Student Center is actually open twenty four hours, just not really active around the late night/early morning times.
What he didn't expect when he stepped into the White Space was Sakura's sleeping form on their brought-in table and chair. With her hair aspray, her head was cradled in her arms on the desk. It seemed like she had fallen asleep while working on something.
Unsure of whether to wake her up or let her sleep, Syaoran stood in front of the desk, staring at the scene in front of him. Finally, he laid his backpack gently on the floor, then took off his coat and wrapped it lightly around her shoulders, as to not wake her up. With a sigh, he turned around and marched quietly to the whiteboard in which there were new additions in Sakura's neat handwriting.
At the top was a list that went like this:
Bed -
study table
can be stored away when not in use
extra storage area around bed?
Lab table -
tech-savvy areas & workspace areas
Underneath the list were cute, but crude drawings with the whiteboard marker. One image was of a single bed, with three cushions to make up the length of the bed, protruding from the wall. Two arrows extended from the image to two other images. One arrow led to an image of a chair, the cushions taken away, and the bed used as a desk. The other arrow led to an image of a wall with a rectangle outline where the bed would be stowed away. This rectangular outline was repeated vertically along the wall to show that two beds could be on top of each other. It also showed other smaller rectangular outlines where personal drawers could be in between the two beds.
Another set of pictures depicted Sakura's idea of the lab tables. The sequential set of pictures explained a desk with a screen that was part of the desk and could be taken out and situated vertically to use as a screen. A small drawer could be pulled out to reveal a keyboard. Both of these could be stowed away to make a smooth surface to work on.
Taking these ideas and working on the floor - since Sakura took the table - Syaoran started on a piece of graph paper. First he wrote down questions and notes such as; if bed used as desk, the person on the top would have to float in the air? Where would we put the cushions and beddings?
He then began to add to Sakura's ideas and mark up his own drafts with pictures. Though he was brain fried, the engineering test mostly took its toll on his left brain, so the right side of his brain, the creative side, shone that night.
More than two hours had passed when Sakura was woken up suddenly by a shake of her shoulders. Shaking her head and rubbing her eyes, she looked up to find a familiar face near hers. With a cock of her head, she drawled sleepily, "Tomoyo? What time is it?"
"It's almost midnight, Sakura! You spent almost nine hours here!" Tomoyo exclaimed worriedly, then frowned, "wait don't you have work today?"
Sakura rubbed her eyes again, responding, "I went then I came back."
Tomoyo shook her head, helping Sakura up. Then they noticed a jacket falling from her shoulders. Tomoyo picked it up as Sakura got her stuff. "This looks masculine," Tomoyo frowned. "Is this Syaoran's?"
Sakura stared at the jacket blankly, still drowsy, "looks like it." When Tomoyo handed it to her, she enveloped it into her arms, smelling it on the way, she commented lightly, "it smells good."
Tomoyo smiled amusedly. The pair walked out of the White Space, in Sakura's distracted state, she didn't notice there were new pieces of written and drawn on graph paper taped to the white board.
As they walked out the doors of the Student Center, Sakura asked, "how'd you find me?"
"Syaoran called. He said he would bring you home but he didn't know where we lived, and I told him that since I was at Eriol's and I'm about to go home too, I'll pass by the Student Center and take you home." Tomoyo explained. Almost in a gushing tone, Tomoyo continued, "Syaoran's so nice, Sakura. He was going to walk us home too since it was so late, but when I arrived he said he got a call from back home and he needed to get back to his apartment so he can take care of some family things. He was really apologetic, and even when he's in a rush, he still waited until I arrived to leave."
Sakura nodded not fully processing her words in her sleepy mind, but only focused on the fact that Syaoran was nice.
"I wonder if he's cold walking back without his jacket." Sakura thought out loud. Tomoyo glanced at her, just noticing her shivering form.
"I know you are." Tomoyo responded, then a thought occurred to her, "why don't you wear his?"
She looked at the warm coat in her hands, and with a light 'oh', she put it on. Tomoyo smiled, but didn't comment out loud that she looked cute in Syaoran's coat.
The next morning, Sakura woke up to find the sun already up and Tomoyo and Eriol in the kitchen. They both greeted her brightly when she walked in. Tomoyo was frying something on the stove while Eriol sipped - from the smell of it - coffee as he sat at the island table.
"Mornin'" Sakura replied drowsily, then peered hungrily at the pan in Tomoyo's hands.
Tomoyo laughed at her look. "Don't worry, Sakura, I made this for you."
Sakura grinned, "Have I ever told you you're an amazing roommate?"
"Yes, only when I cook for you." Tomoyo responded sassily.
Eriol and Sakura laughed.
"So whatchu doin' here?" Sakura sat down next to Eriol at the island table.
"Being an annoying bug on the wall." Tomoyo interjected grumpily.
"She opened the door." Eriol grinned cheekily.
"Are you two fighting again?" Sakura cocked her head, asking like a child would his or her parents.
Tomoyo scowled, refusing to shed light on the situation.
Eriol smiled cheerily, answering the question, though vaguely, "Something like that."
"Sakura, wanna go to the mall with me today?" Tomoyo spoke up, changing the course of the conversation.
Sakura laughed, "Actually, I was thinking of visiting the Student Center."
"Sakura, you workaholic, it's a saturday!" Tomoyo exclaimed from her position in front of the stove.
"Syaoran's won't be there." Eriol added knowingly, "he left early this morning really suddenly. He barely got any sleep last night, I think."
"Oh yeah, he told me he got some family emergency he had to rush back to his apartment last night." Tomoyo recalled, "what was that about?"
Eriol set down his cup of coffee. "When he came home he apologized beforehand if I hear noise when I'm trying to sleep because he'll be skyping or talking to his family on the phone - they're halfway across the world so the time difference explained the late night call. But I was up late too." Eriol shrugged. When Tomoyo turned around to dispose the contents of the frying pan into a dish, she gave him a questionable look. "my Sustainable Buildings class project." He explained, then he continued, "At around two am, I was getting ready to sleep and I saw him packing."
"Packing?" Sakura repeated with furrowed eyebrows.
"He told me he has to fly home for the weekend."
Tomoyo took a seat in front of them on the island, whistling, "that's some emergency."
"But if his family is halfway across the world then by the time he gets there the weekend will be over." Sakura frowned in thought.
"That's what I said," Eriol agreed, "he said he's done with his HCE class so he doesn't have class monday or tuesday, and he just emailed his teacher last night to take his SED exam later. He'll be back by thursday, he said."
Sakura became quiet as she stuffed her mouth with delicious brunch. Tomoyo tapped her fingers on the island, commenting lightly, "this is all so sudden. I wonder how he feels. He just took a seven hour exam, then went to the White Space for two hours, and then all of the sudden he has to pack and fly out halfway across the world."
Eriol let out an agreeable whistle, "Yeah, I don't think he slept. And he should've after that exam, 'cause damn, seven hours." After a quiet pause and Sakura's munching, Eriol spoke up again. "We've been rooming for two years," Eriol paused, frowning, revealing what was really bothering him about this whole ordeal, "he never mentioned the word family. It was to the point where I assumed he didn't have one."
"Maybe it was 'cause they were so far away." Tomoyo suggested.
Eriol shrugged. Then he turned with a victorious grin to the dark-haired beauty, "I thought you were ignoring me?"
Tomoyo sat back, crossing her arms, and huffing.
Sakura had ended up being dragged to the mall. But later that night, she couldn't resist making a visit to the White Space. Something about how Tomoyo said Syaoran had spent two hours there struck her.
When she arrived she found the place as she had left, save for the white board. On it were a few sheets of paper, five to be exact, drawn and marked up in Syaoran's handwriting. Sakura took it curiously, and knowing that Tomoyo was waiting outside for her - for she had lied and said she left something there - she took the papers with her to bring back and read over.
What Sakura discovered later as she read over the papers was that Syaoran took her ideas and made it into a genius design. He really had a knack of doing that.
The following is a summary of Syaoran's works;
If bed used as desk, the person on the top bunk would have to float in the air? Where would we put the cushions and beddings?
What about this…
There was a series of drawings like a comic strip, or a storyboard, just without the boxes containing the drawings.
First was a detailed drawing of the wall with the bed stowed, then a curved arrow showing the bed being flipped open so it can lie parallel to the floor; the drawing included the three cushions that served as a mattress and also included beddings. Next was a drawing of the beddings being pulled back and one cushion resting on top of another, so that one-third of the bed revealed the smooth bottom. The smooth bottom could then be detached. Using four metal pieces stored in either the bed's framing or - and here he had drawn a separate picture of where there was a little pocket next to the bed inside the wall, so that when the bed was stowed, the pocket would be wider than the width of the bed. This would create a space to store things even when the bed was stowed. - in a pocket, the four metal pieces and the piece of the bed's bottom, along with the bed's framing, would assemble to make a desk.
Syaoran also suggested a drawing of pushing the beddings and cushions all on the middle third of the bed. Using a piece of the last third of the bed, and perhaps two more metal rods, he could create the back of a seat. Then he would put a cushion there for his back and two cushions for the bottom. In his final drawing, he drew a person sitting on the bed-turned-chair-and-study-table with legs dangling under the hole created by the lofted first third of the bed and leaning back on the lifted back of the seat rest.
Syaoran had another idea. What if they wanted storage for their books?
He showed the wall with the stowed beds, there was a shelf with books in it. When the bed was unstowed, the shelf would be turned ninety degrees and beneath the bed. Then using the same method as before, he would loft the first third to create a desk. Except this time, it would just be pulling the shelf up so that the bottom of the shelf filled in the gap left by the lofted first third piece of the bed. His final drawing was of someone cross legged, sitting in front of the shelf-desk studying a book. He also decided to include that stowed even deeper in the indentation on the wall - left by the unstowed bed - there was a contractible lamp that could be pulled out and over the makeshift desk.
It was genius. Sakura couldn't believe it. He saw flaws in her design and he fixed it.
The next few pages detailed a design for the lab table.
Instead of a built in screen and keyboard, how about a portable tablet and keyboard so they can bring it back to their bed/desk?
The next few pictures showed his idea. But he also implemented hers in that there were screens not on the table, but instead, on the walls. There were also a set of plugs/outlets hidden at the back of the desk and a small pocket there to store the wires. This is so the tablet could be connected to the screens on the walls. He also suggested they could double as lights. It was better to have the lights coming from the walls rather than have the shadow of the worker's hands block the light if it were from above.
Sakura grinned. She couldn't wait to tell Syaoran how amazing he is when he comes back.
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SC4 - Structure & Construction IV; a made-up class I'm assuming architecture students take, and I added IV because its their senior year, so they're pretty advanced in their studies.
HCE - History in Civil Engineering; another made-up class I mentioned in chapter 2
Uni Cafe - Kinda self-explanatory. University Cafe is another thing I made up, and if there happened to be a really creative university that actually named one of their coffee shops by that name, I disclaim it.
SED - Sustainable Engineering Design; & you guessed it, another made up class.
If you steal any design ideas from my story…..damn you must be desperate
and because I'm super nice and I decide to cut down on the number of chapters, I'm posting two T minus days per chapter starting now.
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T minus 86 days
More than two weeks since the surprise departure, Syaoran came back a more reserved character. As if he doesn't already have a withdrawn personality.
"I have a class tonight." Syaoran was factually stating.
"Oh," Sakura glanced at the watch on his wrist, "well then you better watch the time." She grinned, pointing at him with her fingers forming guns.
His lips may have lifted at most a centimeter, but he sure didn't look up at her. Instead he only commented, "The bigger our window is, the more reinforcement we'll need for it." He wrote down a few measurements and calculations off to the side.
"Ouch," Sakura frowned, slightly put off. "My pun wasn't that bad, was it?"
"It was fine." Syaoran responded, still refusing to look up at her.
"You didn't laugh."
He didn't retort, either.
"Not out loud, I guess." Sakura amended.
Though the conversation had ended there, the tension and the fog separating the pair in the room had hardly left.
Sakura has had it. This was not the Syaoran she knew - so maybe she was stretching it a little, having only known him for barely three months - but there was a significant change and she wanted to get to the bottom of it. "Syaoran." She stated to get his attention.
He glanced up at her, but when she opened her mouth, he looked down distractedly to mark a revision on the paper before them.
Miffed by his lack of focus, she reached out instinctively to stop his hands from moving again. "Syaoran." Sakura called more urgently.
He looked up, his eyebrows furrowed, not fully processing that Sakura's small hands were on top of his. "What?" He responded irritably to her tone.
Sakura retracted her hands. Gently she asked, "What's going on?"
Frowning at the odd question, he responded, "we're working on our project…?"
"No," Sakura shook her head, but without breaking eye contact, "With you." When Syaoran didn't respond, she prodded on, "Eriol tells me you barely have time for conversation with him, you just study and study and study for your exam, and when you're not studying you come here to work on this - not that I don't appreciate your efforts - but it just seems to me like, you're busying yourself."
Syaoran looked away, not wanting to admit that Sakura had basically diagnosed him in a few sentences. He mumbled something along the lines of preparing for graduation.
"You've done well before! You've been doing well!" Sakura exclaimed, a little frustration lining her voice, "Ever since you came back, suddenly nothing you do is good enough, and-and you act like not getting an A-plus would-" Sakura struggled for dramatic words to go with her theatrical hands, "-would dishonor your family!"
That seemed to hit the spot, for Syaoran visibly winced.
Softening her voice, Sakura tilted her head to get in Syaoran's field of vision. "Syaoran, what happened with your family?"
There was long bout of silence, and her partner refused to meet her eyes.
With a barely contained dejected sigh, Sakura looked away, gathering her things. When she spoke, her voice was small, quietly disappointed. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me. We're done here for the day, Syaoran, go get some coffee, just take a break for once, call Eriol or something." Her voice faded as she walked to the entrance of the White Space, she paused to say, "At least talk to your roommate. He's worried about you."
Syaoran glanced up once to see her back retreat, the disappointment in her voice echoing in his head. He shoved his head in his hands, guilt overwhelming him; he just seemed to be disappointing everyone nowadays.
A little hopeful voice in his head spoke, you don't have to disappoint her. And that was all the push he needed to jump up, barely remembering to grab his phone and wallet, and close the door of the White Space before running after his partner.
When Sakura heard the quick footsteps and her name being shouted, she hadn't expected to turn around to a panting Syaoran.
"How about a cup of coffee?" Syaoran breathed out.
Taken by surprise, Sakura stammered, but managed to smile brilliantly. "I-uh-yes-of course!"
Syaoran let out a light sigh of relief - but he couldn't have possibly expected anything else from Sakura - and a small smile that seemed foreign to his face. Understandably foreign, for he hasn't let one loose for almost two weeks.
"So what changed your mind?" Sakura asked curiously, cheerfully walking beside him with a slight bounce to her step.
"I didn't want to disappoint another person." Syaoran answered vaguely.
With a slight pout to her lips, she glanced down at the ground, grumbling, "I wasn't disappointed, I was just...sad. For you."
Amber eyes strayed to her briefly. "Right," he agreed sarcastically.
"Okay fine, maybe I was. A little bit." His partner admitted childishly. She paused in thought, then added, "I'm not that important," Sakura cocked her head, her emerald eyes flickering to his briefly. "It's okay to disappoint me. I've been disappointed a lot."
Syaoran looked straight ahead, shrugging uncomfortably. "Something about disappointing you, or making you sad, or just…" your unhappiness. Syaoran caught himself before he could finish the sentence. He continued in a long breath, "it just doesn't sit well with me."
Sakura thought about it for a while, then with a slight bounce, as if she came to resolution, she turned to him. "You know, I think I understand. I've been so frustrated with you for the past two weeks, did you know that? Because you were so…" Sakura gestured with her hands, unable to form words.
"Reserved?" Syaoran offered up, quoting Sakura's diagnostic of him from weeks back.
"Yeah! You just closed us all off! And I thought we were starting to become like," Sakura twisted her index and middle finger around each other, "close." She nodded convincingly, "You know, I think we connected really fast the past three months."
Syaoran couldn't agree more. He was surprised with himself, actually, he was always the more reserved type. But in retrospect, he took to teasing and conversing casually with her incredibly fast.
Now Sakura was just talking to make up for the silence of her partner. She continued, "Those three months of hard work," Sakura dramatically fisted her right hand, sighing theatrically, "just gone." At this point, she opened her fist to show her palm. "It was back to square one with the awkwardness and the all-we-talk-about-is-architecture-ness."
"Hard work?" Syaoran raised a brow sardonically.
Though a curve of the lips betrayed her, Sakura feigned a frustrated exhale, "Yes, incredibly, cracking those thick shells of yours."
Syaoran didn't respond, again realizing from Sakura's words that she had indeed cracked his shells. The fact that he was going to tell her his personal drama over a cup of coffee, information that not even his two year roommate knows, is proof of that.
Soon enough, they got in the incredibly fast moving line for coffee. By the time they got to the counter, Sakura placed her order, only to find Syaoran attempting to pay for it. After an argument between the two, Sakura won by quickly handing the amused cashier her card.
By the time they sat down across from each other, Sakura was still sore from their argument. "See, that's another thing that's so frustrating," Sakura scowled, "the only source of humanity I've seen in you in the past two weeks is when you fight with me over paying for my stuff. I don't know why you've been insisting on paying for me, and I let you sometimes, but I can pay for myself, really."
"No you can't." Syaoran argued, a little bit too forcefully.
"Excuse me?" Sakura's frowned planted solidly in her face.
"Why are you getting so little financial aid?" Syaoran demanded instead of explaining himself. "You obviously need the money; you're working more than fifty hours a week. That's almost full time. Also, if you let Tomoyo pay your rent, why can't I help pay for the little things?"
"I can fend for myself, thank you," Sakura argued back, "and so I let Tomoyo pay for our rent because I lost the argument and, not entirely - I'm still paying for electricity and water."
Syaoran snorted, "so that's why Tomoyo showers at our place - when she and Eriol aren't fighting."
Sakura's jaw dropped, "what?"
Sensing that he might've let slip a secret of Tomoyo's, Syaoran changed the subject quickly, "You're obviously in need of more financial aid then you're getting. How is it that you're too," he lifted his hands to quote the air with bunny ear fingers, "rich for full financial aid but no one is supporting you?"
It was Sakura's turn to withdraw. "I thought we're here to talk about you."
So she wasn't going to tell him. Syaoran frowned, perhaps it wasn't his place to ask. He looked down, getting about four dollar cash from his wallet in attempt to pay her back. "I just want to help you out."
With an incredibly sweet smile, Sakura's right hand was placed gently over his, pushing his hands away. "We all have our own debts to pay off."
Syaoran opened his mouth to say, that's what Eriol said. But he was interrupted by another voice.
The barista called out their orders just then, in which Sakura quickly hopped up. "I got it!" She sent Syaoran a victorious grin, as if she had just called dibs to front row seats of a concert.
When Sakura settled back in her seat and the delicious aroma of coffee wafted their senses, Syaoran sat up straight. Half jittery, half anxious, he knew that it was time to tell his story. Having never told it to anyone else, he wasn't sure exactly how to say it.
Sakura's calming presence and patient smile made it a little bit better.
"I never had a father." Syaoran started. "He left the family. It's weird," he stirred his cup of coffee. "to say family. It's not really a family. We call it the clan."
"Clan." Sakura repeated, processing the new idea. "sounds...tribal."
Syaoran let out a light scoff, "it is definitely tribal. We had these traditions and...beliefs that as I grew up, I began to see how ridiculous they were." He looked up at her, meeting her curious emerald eyes with his pained amber ones. "I didn't know I had four sisters until recently. The clan thought girls were weak. My mother had four daughters, in attempts to have a son, and she just sent them all away when she finally had me."
Sakura gasped, covering her mouth, "she separated you from your sisters?"
Syaoran shrugged, "I never knew them, until, I - last week was what my childhood had been building up to, I guess. Each generation, we'd have a 'clan leader', is what they called it. My father was one. My mother was incredibly proud of my lineage, my father was a clan leader, my father's father was one…"
"But you said your father left." Sakura cocked her head in confusion.
Sometimes it astounded Syaoran how quickly Sakura picked up details. "Yeah, he was...fired, I guess. It's complicated. Think of it as an honorable discharge from the military."
Nodding, she let him continue.
"My mother was furious about it, said it dishonored the family name. The direct family, I mean. The only way to bring back the honor was if I became clan leader."
"So she pushed you to be one." Sakura concluded.
"When my father left, I was seven, I realized that things were going to change. No more free time, no more petty things. All I knew was school, and when I came home, I had to do martial arts, piano, soccer, violin. She even started me on learning two foreign languages, and I was only in second grade."
"English and what other language?"
"Japanese, because she thought they were the language of the world's superpowers."
"Did you get to know her?" She asked, eliciting an odd look from Syaoran. "Your mom? Sounds like you didn't have time."
"We ate dinner together. It was mostly quiet. Yeah, I guess, a little. She talked to me often, but they were mostly lectures. She thought emotions were weak. That was how my father was, he had compassion. He was trying to reform the ways of the clan. That's why he got fired."
"Did your mother never celebrate your birthday or christmas with you?" Sakura inquired, remember that he just didn't do that stuff.
"Material stuff never mattered." Syaoran confirmed. "All my mother cared about was intelligence and leadership and...success. My birthday only meant I'm another year closer to becoming clan leader."
"But you're so...friendly, and you do have compassion, and well, sounds you were brought up to be a cold person." Sakura should've been a psychologist, Syaoran thought.
"Someone else taught me those things." Syaoran smiled fondly in memory, "my father, at first. I watched his videos of his speeches, and I learned about it. I just knew of it, though, I didn't know how it felt like. Until I was in middle school, and I met Meiling."
"Ooh, I know a Meiling." Sakura piped up. Sometimes it befuddled Syaoran how Sakura could be so observant of the smallest details but couldn't see a glaringly obvious connection.
"Then you know her." Syaoran revealed with an amused smile, watching as Sakura finally connected the dots. "She's my cousin."
Sakura's jaw dropped, "Why didn't tell me?! Oh, so that's how you know each other!"
"yeah," Syaoran laughed, "we were wondering how long it'd take you to catch on. I guess you never did."
"Eriol said you two went back to Hong Kong at the same time." Sakura stated thoughtfully. "I guess that makes sense now. But you guys hung out with each other like twice in front of me!"
"We have the same last name." Syaoran pointed out.
"Li is a common last name," Sakura waved dismissively, "and you two look nothing alike."
"True." Syaoran admitted defeat.
"So Meiling taught you feelings?"
"Yeah, and how to social." He nodded, shining with pride, "she was my childhood best friend. If I was number one in school, she would be number two. Academics, athletics, everything, we dominated the ranks."
"You guys don't seem like best friends now, even though you go to the same university." Sakura frowned.
"We drifted apart in high school." Syaoran looked down, in reminiscent sadness. "We both were under a lot of pressure. That's how I started to go into art, and I really like architecture because I couldn't quite let go of my nerdy math side."
"Your mom let you pursue this path? Wouldn't she want you to be like a doctor or something?"
"I'm doing engineering." Syaoran explained, "that was our compromise. And I got a scholarship, not like my mom was going to support my architecture class fees anyway. She didn't care much, either, since becoming clan leader would require me to drop everything."
Sakura nodded. She leaned forward, cupping her cheek in her palm, and her elbow resting on the mahogany table. "You still haven't told me what happened last week."
Syaoran sat back, energy drained out of him. He looked out the window, explaining listlessly, "The ceremony to pick the clan leader. The entire clan was there. That's where I met my sisters. I flew over as soon as possible, I did everything I needed to. I did my best. But the other guy graduated high school at fifteen, already has a business degree, he can speak six languages fluently..." He let out a sigh.
"You didn't get it." Sakura deduced quickly.
Syaoran's frown turned bitter. "I was never good enough. For the clan, and if I wasn't good enough for the clan, I wasn't good enough for my mother."
"I think you're good enough." Sakura spoke up.
Syaoran turned to her, sucked in by her honest, expressive emerald eyes.
"Syaoran," Sakura spoke softly, seriously, "you're a clever engineer, a brilliant architect, a charismatic leader, a loyal friend..and if the world were to end, I'd want you by my side. Anyone would. Out of seven billion people, you'll be one of the fifty that the world needs without a doubt to rebuild civilization. An architect and engineer is the foundation of civilization. Without us, there'll be no office, no building, no city structure, for some big shot businessman to work in."
Sakura could see as Syaoran met her gaze that her words were taking effect in him. She was glad that the cold, emptiness in his eyes were starting to fade away.
Quietly, he wondered aloud, "what's a normal mother like?"
"Tomoyo's mom wasn't around much - because she ran a company, but she called a lot. She'd always ask what we needed," A soft smile lingered on Sakura's face as she recalled her younger days, "She tried to be there for us, as much as she could." She laughed a little as she said the next sentence, "she'd try to get in on our girl talks, always asking if there was boy drama or if any of us had a crush…" Sakura shook her head slightly, as she cheerfully continued, "don't get me wrong, she still made rules and was strict and pushed us to do better in school. But she really encouraged us to argue and question her rules if we ever wanted to break any of them." Coming back to planet Earth with Syaoran, she answered his question. "I don't think there's a normal, but I think, Tomoyo's mother was a pretty good one."
Syaoran had let her finish, but a question had plagued his mind. "What about yours?"
"I...never met her." Sakura looked away, "she died giving birth to me."
Syaoran realized that this was a sensitive topic for his partner. Not as prying as his partner is, he let it go. Changing the subject, he stated, "I found a glitch in our designs."
Sakura looked up, interested, "Where?"
"It's not a specific place, it's pretty general." Syaoran explained, "We can plan all these things but it won't work without energy - electricity. Professor Terada wants a sustainable design. So we need to find alternative energy solutions rather than just storing up electricity - which will probably take up space anyway."
"We'll have to make energy ourselves." Sakura responded, understanding her partner's point."Oh!" She bounced up in her seat excitedly, "I just read this article about self-sufficient carousel for kids. So when the kids played in the carousel, the movement of the swings and ropes are captured as energy which would later fuel the carousel's lights. Isn't it cute?"
Not responding to her question, he thought about the physics of her statements. "Actually, I think I've heard of that." Syaoran nodded slowly, "There was a project in the UK where they installed tiles so that when you stepped on them, it would take the kinetic energy and convert it to electricity and store it in a battery. I think it's called Pavegen."
"Yeah," Sakura nodded furiously, "that's the same thing with the carousel."
Syaoran's mind turned quickly, "We could install Pavegen on all the floors to generate lighting."
"If we're going to have doors, we could also use the swinging movement as kinetic energy."
"But think about how much light fifty people use at a time and even if all fifty people take a jog every morning, we still won't have generated enough electricity to fuel all the lighting, electricity for cooking, and also these scientists will probably using a lot of electronics with their experiments."
Sakura frowned, thinking deeply. "What if...well, there's still gonna be a sun even if there was an apocalypse, right? We could still use solar energy."
"Yeah," Syaoran nodded slowly as he seemed to be calculating in his head, "there may be almost constant sunlight where we want our project to be. Yeah, so we could use solar energy for all general lighting. Then our kinetic energy could be used for irregular activities, so the cooking, small lamps, electronics...and there'll be a percentage stored up in case the sun is covered, like during an eclipse."
His partner grinned happily, looking up from her jotting down of Syaoran's words. She exclaimed obliviously, "We're perfect for each other! I come up with ideas, you make them work!"
Syaoran couldn't help a rare smile lifting his lips as he agreed quietly, "Yeah…"
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.
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A/N: bit of a late turning point, but yeah. There ya go.
In case you needed clarification, Kinetic Energy is the energy of an object in motion.
Both the article that Sakura mentioned and the project that Syaoran cited are real. It's on Designboom (An online magazine featuring creative architecture and design projects around the world).
Article 1: "ecosistema urbano: energy producing kinetic carousel"
Article 2: "pavegen: green energy generation from footsteps"
If you have a chance, check it out!