Chapter 59: The Move
Tomoe District.
As one of the areas with the highest anime concentration in Kamimizu City, even on regular weekdays it was saturated with an inescapable otaku atmosphere.
The storefronts lining both sides of the street were filled with exquisite figures, and most pedestrians carried ita-bags and wore fashionable outfits.
The very air seemed to float with an invisible barrier labeled "normies keep out."
The moment Kazama Chiba stepped into this territory known as Kamimizu City's "Two-Dimensional Jerusalem," he was hit by the overwhelming density.
Not to mention today was Saturday, and the grand "Kurokawa Manga Exhibition" was currently in full swing.
"Wow... amazing!"
Kerberos poked its head out halfway, its beady eyes wide as saucers as it watched a burly man dressed in magical girl attire walk past, letting out a heartfelt exclamation of wonder.
"Is that a magical girl? But his wand looks like it's made of plastic—there's not a trace of magical power. Whoa, and that guy over there with the giant sword, that blade is made from foam board, isn't it?"
"Even though this era's magical concentration is low, humans' passion for fantasy is even more fervent than it was tens of thousands of years ago!"
Chiba frowned, sidestepping a heavily armored cosplayer who was posing for photos while protecting his backpack's side pocket.
"Move it! Hey, the guy up front with the giant sword—keep that foam dragon-slaying blade of yours under control, you're poking my side!"
The scene was absolutely packed with people. Finding a card the size of a book in this density comparable to Spring Festival travel rush was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
The only silver lining was that in an environment filled with bizarre costumes—people with chainsaws on their heads, people carrying coffins on their backs—a high school student with a yellow plush on his shoulder looked perfectly normal.
A passing little girl even pointed at Kerberos and shouted "what a realistic toy!" before being hurriedly dragged away by her parents.
"This isn't going to work, Chiba."
Kerberos rested its chin on his shoulder, speaking softly.
Its voice was drowned out by the massive sound system blasting around them—only Chiba could hear it.
"Using your eyes to search is hopeless. Even if you popped your eyeballs out, you'd never find that card among all this red and green plastic junk."
"Since you're the person chosen by Clow Reed, even if you're only half-qualified, you should at least learn some basic magical skills, right?"
"Basic skills?"
Chiba turned his body to avoid a berserker carrying a giant sword, asking irritably.
"You mean jumping around like a monkey, or spinning to change clothes like a magical girl?"
"Sensing! Magical sensing, you idiot!"
Kerberos rolled its eyes at him.
"My radar can only give a general location of the card. There are too many people here, and the magical auras are all mixed together—it's hard to pinpoint precisely. So Chiba, you need to try using your own magical power to see."
"You've got quite a bit of magical power flowing through your body now, right? Since that magic flows within you, it's part of your body. Just like your hands, your feet, your breathing."
It waved its short front paws in front of Chiba's eyes.
"Close your eyes. Don't think of this as some superpower. Just treat it like you're nearsighted and have to wear glasses. Feel for the wavelengths around you that don't belong to 'humans.' It's as simple as breathing—as long as you want to, you can..."
"Stop."
"You want me to learn a new skill right here on the spot?"
Chiba interrupted its teaching. He knew that Sakura in the original series could do this trick, but he was no match for Sakura.
"I don't have that 'love conquers all' setting."
"It's not learning—it's instinct! Instinct, understand? Just like how people breathe naturally."
Kerberos smacked his shoulder in frustration.
"As a Clow Cardcaptor, as you collect more cards, their magical power will naturally grow and circulate within your body. Sensing magic is as natural as breathing—you just need to stop overthinking it and follow that feeling."
"Just like breathing?"
Chiba stopped walking, his expression becoming somewhat peculiar.
"Since you mentioned breathing, I have to say this. You know what? When humans become consciously aware that they're 'breathing automatically,' that automatic mechanism fails and gets forced into manual mode. Even if you want to stop, your brain keeps asking you: how should I take the next breath? Through the nose or mouth? Is the frequency too fast?"
"..."
Kerberos was stunned by this twisted logic, instinctively wanting to argue back, but suddenly realized it had been drawn into the trap.
It opened its mouth, trying to inhale, then suddenly remembered it was a plush doll with no lungs.
"I don't even need to breathe! You almost got me! Idiot Chiba!"
Kerberos pounded his shoulder with one frustrated paw.
"Stop thinking about nonsense! Just do it! Close your eyes and channel that warm current in your body toward your eyes—imagine you're looking at thermal imaging!"
Chiba dropped the joking attitude.
Fortunately, while Kerberos was a chatterbox, it was reliable when it mattered.
Following its guidance about channeling magic to the retina and relaxing mental barriers, Chiba finally got the hang of it.
Then he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and shut out the surrounding cacophony of music and crowd noise.
His consciousness sank inward.
A warm current was flowing slowly through his blood vessels. Chiba tried guiding this power, making it gather toward his eyes like a trickling stream.
His eyelids began to heat up.
Not the burning heat of fire, but a cool, stinging sensation.
"Open them!" Kerberos commanded in a low voice.
Chiba's eyes snapped open.
The world had changed.
The colorful, visually polluted convention street disappeared.
In its place was a strange field of vision composed of varying shades of color blocks.
The crowded masses became gray-white blurred outlines—the life magnetic fields of ordinary people.
The roadside buildings became dark gray lines.
And within this chaotic background, a vivid splash of red—bright as freshly flowing arterial blood—was cheerfully leaping above the crowd's heads not far away.
It was small and nimble, like a burning flame or a mischievous firefly.
It traced irregular arcs through the air, sometimes stopping on a cosplayer's giant prop, sometimes vanishing instantly only to reappear seconds later on a vendor booth's canopy several meters away.
That teasing, provocative movement pattern seemed to be shouting at Chiba:
Come catch me, idiot!
That was The Move card.
"Found it."
At the same time, Chiba couldn't help but savor this god's-eye-view sensation—it was truly intoxicating.
"That's definitely The Move."
Kerberos's voice became serious.
"This is a troublesome card. It doesn't have much attack power, but that teleportation ability is completely unfair. To catch it, you'd have to predict where it'll land—"
"Then let's play along."
Chiba took a deep breath, his body leaning slightly forward.
Then his legs exploded with power, and he shot into the crowd like an arrow released from a bow.
With spiritual vision enhancing his perception, Chiba's navigation through the sea of people became extraordinarily precise.
He sidestepped past a couple holding bubble tea, ducked under a selfie stick swinging toward him, his gaze locked dead on that red glow.
However, The Move card seemed to have noticed him long ago.
Or rather, it had been waiting for him.
Just as that red dot appeared three meters ahead, Chiba reached out to grab it.
"Snap!"
He caught empty air.
The instant his fingertips were about to touch that red point, it flickered without warning and reappeared ten meters away.
The red dot didn't rush to flee. Instead, it hovered in place for a few seconds, bouncing up and down twice.
Though he couldn't see the actual form, Chiba distinctly felt that thing was mocking him.
"Tch, it's kiting me?"
Chiba wasn't discouraged by this failed attempt.
If it were that easy to catch, it wouldn't be The Move card that gave Sakura so much trouble in the original series.
"Again."
He adjusted his breathing and accelerated once more.
The chase was on.
That red light point seemed to deliberately toy with him.
It didn't flee at full speed, always maintaining that "just within reach but not quite" distance ahead of Chiba.
Every time Chiba expended tremendous effort to almost catch it, The Move card would use its cheat-like teleportation ability to casually hop to another position.
It even deliberately circled around pillars or suddenly dove through people's legs, forcing Chiba to perform various high-difficulty evasive maneuvers that drew stares from surrounding passersby, who thought some club was performing hardcore performance art.
After several minutes of pursuit, Chiba stopped, breathing slightly harder.
Sweat trickled down his forehead, and that frustrating feeling of being played for a fool began fermenting in his heart.
Something was off.
This thing's route was too purposeful.
Chiba raised his head, his black eyes staring intently at the red glow that had once again stopped to wait for him.
"It's not running randomly. It's leading me somewhere."
Kerberos looked around.
"That direction is... the inner hall entrance?"
The convention's structure was simple.
The outer area was an open-air plaza, mainly for cosplayers to take photos and parade.
The inner hall was inside a massive gymnasium lobby—that was the real core area, filled with doujinshi booths and the main stage.
So this wasn't aimless wandering at all.
Every teleport of The Move card, every pause—seemingly random but actually guiding Chiba toward a specific direction.
Like the classic guiding cursor in RPG games, gradually pushing him toward a predetermined dungeon entrance.
Chiba raised his head, looking forward.
That red dot was perched atop a huge archway, blinking with light.
And above that archway hung a massive banner:
[Kurokawa Manga Exhibition - Inner Hall Main Exhibition Area Entrance].
"A trap?"
Chiba narrowed his eyes. This "walking into the trap" sense of déjà vu was way too strong.
"Don't go in yet, Chiba. I smell trouble. That card's aura feels wrong—it's like it's deliberately luring you inside."
Kerberos's voice grew nervous.
"Maybe that Kaguya woman set something up. What if there's a whole pack of controlled Clow Cards waiting to gang up on you? We wouldn't even have room to run."
"I know."
Chiba straightened up, wiping the sweat from his face.
Of course he knew it was a trap—it practically had "I'm going to screw you over" written on its forehead.
But so what?
The Move card's spatial abilities were the core of his future plans.
He couldn't avoid this card, and he absolutely couldn't give it up.
Whether it was going to America to find talismans or establishing that Grail grinding tower, without this card, many of his plans would fall apart.
So even if Kaguya had set this trap, he had to get his hands on that card.
"Even if Kaguya's taking a bath in there, I'm going in."
A flash of determination crossed Chiba's eyes.
"Besides, I want to see what tricks a teleportation-only support card can pull."
With that, he hesitated no more, stepped forward, and strode through that archway.
Crossing that threshold, the moment his vision adjusted to the dim interior lighting—
The light suddenly darkened, then came blinding spotlights.
The inner hall lobby was even more crowded than outside, the air stuffy enough to suffocate, filled with the smell of sweat and hormones.
But none of that mattered.
What mattered was the instant Chiba stepped into the lobby and reopened his spiritual vision—
The scene before his eyes made him freeze completely in place.
"What the hell is this?!"
Kerberos cried out in shock, its voice cracking—clearly it also saw the problem.
And in Chiba's field of vision, the problem was even more directly visible.
Because what should have been a single target red light point—
Now exploded like fireworks, or like some instantly out-of-control virus.
It had spread throughout the entire inner hall lobby.
The entire inner venue—thousands of visitors, whether they were otaku lining up to buy doujinshi, cosplayers posing for photos, or even the security guard maintaining order.
Almost every single person was emitting the exact same magical wavelength as The Move card.
Dense clusters of red dots like a crimson ocean instantly flooded Chiba's vision.
Red.
All red.
He couldn't tell which one was the real body.
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