Chapter 31: Unravelled Secrets

Release date: June 6th, 2001 

Word count: 15,090

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Thoughts: Wish-chan used a black background with white text to go with the fanart at the end of the page. While it's excellent for night reading, it's harsh during day reading so I went to FF instead.

Haha, Syaoran finally got out of credit card debt because of the necklace and now he's back because of the five star hotel. Room 603! I wonder if Wish-chan chose that number on purpose because of Kaitou.

Syaoran's instructions to the guards keeping Sakura out of the police station should have included not letting her know. Those officers sang like canaries! 

I switched back to Wish-chan's site because I forgot that FF ate page breaks. Luckily it's evening now.

Ahhh, when Kai was having a "memory blank" in the last chapter ("Ki... Kino...") I was gullible enough to think he actually forgot, but Syaoran knew he was protecting Sakura. Now the whole isolating her makes sense. Too bad Sakura already slipped in with visiting Tomoyo…

I honestly love how Wish-chan created elaborate back stories for Tomoyo's father and Sakura's paternal grandfather.

Chapter 30.5: Syaoran's Special (Small Wolf's Most Precious Birthday)

Release date: July 29th, 2001 

Word count: 11,921

(Note: Be sure to read the blog post for Chapter 30: Lone Thief of the Night before reading ahead!)

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Thoughts: As this special takes place during the summer and before Kaitou drops in and Syaoran and Sakura go off to Tokyo, it's clear that this event happens between chapters 30 and 31.

Uncle Wutai is a horrible, horrible person. Sometimes I think Leiyun is bad, but ultimately Wutai is the worst.

Syaoran asks himself if Leiyun could have been able to succeed at obtaining the Clow Cards instead of failing. I think that if someone who was Touya's age sweet-talked Sakura into giving him the cards, she would have respected her elders and went through with it. 

Syaoran lucked out with getting sick. If Sakura went through with having a big party and inviting all of their friends, he would have been even more miserable.

In the flashback, five-year-old Syaoran gets a puppy for his birthday. Has anyone ever watched a video compilation of people receiving pets as presents? Sweetest thing ever!

Sakura comments how the two of them never fought face to face. That made me think of the upcoming April Fool's Massacre but even that was fixed.

I forgot that Kaitou makes an appearance in this chapter. The fact that he visited Meilin when he was in Hong Kong which is how she was able to send Syaoran's gift (A Dating Manual For the Hopeless Guy) is delightful. This is also the chapter when Tomoyo gives Syaoran the "best of" Sakura moments video. I think both items will make a comeback as the series progresses.

When Kai is protesting about how smart he is, he slips the fact that he was a straight-A student and class president. He backtracks immediately but this could be the first hint of Kai's old life.

When Sakura takes Syaoran star-gazing, he talks about how Li-sama's patron animal was the great wolf. I didn't remember that. I do remember that Reed's was the unicorn, Amamiya's was the dragon and Mizuki's was the Phoenix. Did Chang only have Mokona?

I completely blocked out the fact that this chapter recounts in detail the death of Syaoran's beloved pet, Eagle.

Syaoran hugs Sakura for giving him his most precious birthday. That moment was wonderful.

Wow, this chapter ends with an author's note dated ten years in the future! It's rare that we get Older!Wish-chan's thoughts among those that belonged to her teenage self.

Fanart spotlight: Wish-chan has spoiled us with so many chibi omakes over the years in honour of Syaoran's birthday. Here are two of my favourite panels from Syaoran's Birthday Omake. I think Sakura would have figured out the meaning of what's in the mirror if Syaoran didn't send so many mixed messages in Arc 1.

Chapter 30: The Lone Thief of the Night

Release date: May 4th, 2001 

Word count: 13,278

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Thoughts: I honestly thought that the bullet wound that Kaitou gets shot with in this chapter stayed with him for a disturbingly long period of time because I know that he has a big operation later on in the series. But he gets treated by the end of this chapter.

Plot hole! Eriol is wearing glasses again even though in the NYC arc he told Sakura that he had laser eye surgery. That's fine because in all of the fanart, Eriol is wearing glasses.

I enjoyed the little window we got to see how everyone in England was holding up.

School's out for the summer! Their last day was in this chapter and not a moment too soon. Seeing S&S's friends grilling them about the suspicious amount of time they were spending together was hilarious.

I don't know why Sakura answers the phone when she doesn't want people to know that she was staying with Syaoran. At least it was Meilin who called this time and not Erika.

If Kaitou went anywhere other than Syaoran's appartment, then he would have been caught for sure. I forgot that Sakura used The Heal on him, which probably explains why he was able to run around with the bullet for as long as he does.

This chapter introduces the locket! He isn't able to part with it, bur because of the tracker it's more of a thorn in Kaitou's side more than anything.

Kaitou thinks back to his experiences that he ranked worst that being shot (falling off 100 foot building, crashing through unbreakable glass, and beaten black and blue with an iron rod) and I wonder if any of those will make the Kaitou Magician Origins story.

Chapter 29: Never Want You to Hurt

Release date: April 13th, 2001 

Word count: 9471

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Thoughts: It's not often that Sakura has dreams/premonitions of future cards, but The Whip happens to be one of them. The way Syaoran teased Sakura for calling out his name was absolutely adorable and actually a clever way to steer her from dark thoughts because he made her frustrated instead.

The Whip slashing all of Tomoyo's handmade costumes for the musical was pure evil. Sakura's art piece was also ruined and the soccer balls were slashed too.

It doesn't seem like the biggest deal, but it's sweet that S&S apologized to each other for the insults that were hurled while filling out the Best Couples Contest form in the last chapter. I totally forgot that they were chasing each other for fun at the park.

I remember The Whip pretty well because it is hard to forget the way Wish-chan was absolutely merciless when writing about the attack against Syaoran. And in this moment he literally says that he can't take watching Sakura getting hurt so he willingly takes her place. He even says, "If you had been hurt or injured in any way, I’ll be in thousand times more pain than I am now,".

Because of Wish-chan's gruesome descriptions, this is such a PG-13 chapter teetering on T. 

Later on in the series, I think Eriol is the one to call Sakura out for not taking The Whip's beatings, which was supposed to make her stronger. But it was *because* Sakura witnessed Syaoran being defeated by The Whip that gave her the determination to capture it.

Chapter 28: My Prince Will Come

Release date: April 13th, 2001 

Word count: 11,131

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Thoughts: Split-personality Syaoran lives on. He's acting so aloof that it's impossible to believe that the night before's revelation even happened.

Asuma and Arima are so cute. I loved the scene when he was comforting her after her horse got sick and how he convinced her to use Midnight Star.

When Midnight Star was going too fast, I really admired Sakura's decision to use The Loop to scoop Arima out from the track.

While Arima was on the unstoppable horse, she was thinking about how Asuma was always there for her. I loved the line about how she would get Asuma involved in the various plots and schemes to bag the ever unattainable Touya in order to work them into canon.

I love how Wish-chan is laying this chapter thick with romance. It's a great outlet after always having to curb S&S's true feelings for one another.

The Unicorn is revealed when Midnight Star spouts wings and a horn as soon as Arima is safe. Technically, unicorns don't have wings. Like in Sailor Moon, the winged-horse is Pegasus. But I'll let it slide.

The Five Force Scroll entry is read about The Unicorn, but there's no info about how it's the Reed patron animal. I wonder how a Dark Force can double as a patron animal.

Sakura uses reason instead of force to capture The Unicorn. I'm sure this can't be the first time, but it must be rare enough of an event for me not to think of one example.

Arima asked Sakura if she ever thought if one day her prince would come a Sakura visualizes something very close to how Syaoran was while she was overtaken by The Fantasy (unless I'm making things up and he didn't have a horse and cape).

The scene where Asuma and Arima admitted their true feelings was beautiful! And of course Sakura used Flower and Bubble to contribute to the ambiance. I'm really happy that this isn't the last we'll see of them.

This chapter announces The Best Couple Contest. I'm reallt looking forward to that!!! I did forget that it was Arima who begged S&S to enter so that Aki would have a less chance of winning even if he's still entering with Erika.

Fanart spotlight: Crazedfan's Darkthorn by fearnandfire is the fanart that I used to create The Unicorn. It's a stallion from a completely different origin, but the similarities to Midnight Star after his transformation is spot on! 

Chapter 27: Galloping Through the Thunder Clouds

Release date: March 16th, 2001 

Word count: 7748

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Thoughts: How does Sakura fix her and Syaoran's problem of barely making it to school on time? Rollerblades, of course! The scene where she was teaching him how to skate ("Rollerblading is not one of the Li clan training skills.”) was so cute.

Has anyone else read Black Beauty? As far as the classics go, it's definitely one of my favourites. 

Seeing Asuma, Arima and even Midnight Star again gives me such a nostalgic feeling ~ it's as if I'm meeting up with old friends.

The Dark Ones really could have permanently injured Sakura or worse when Midnight Star was going out of control when she was riding him. It's a good thing that Syaoran came when he did.

Speaking of which, how did I forget their almost kiss?!?!?! Here's the passage: "Silently, Syaoran gazed at Sakura. Her face was just a breath away from his. As a gust of warm wind brushed by, Sakura’s silky long hair blew into his face, smelling of sweet spring blossoms. His face was so near hers, he felt himself being drawn to her. Midnight Star shuffled under them, and the bond broke." Ahhhh!!!

Oh my gosh, there is so much S&S goodness to unpack. When Sakura asked Syaoran why he was mad when she went out with Eron, instead of answering he countered back by asking if it's the same when Erika gets too clingy with him. Touché, Li Syaoran, touché. This line definitely has Sakura catching some feels considering that "a pleasant shiver ran down her spine".