Episode Title: "Sakura no Kaitou Hatsu Chousen!?" - Sakura's First Challenge as a Thief!?
First Aired: May 26, 1998
Kero-chan ni Omakase!

Cards Captured: Silent

Battle Costume

It’s dark, and the full moon is glowing beautifully over a museum. The scene switches to a guard patrolling the inside of the museum, checking over each painting. As his flashlight illuminates a particular painting of a woman in a blue cloak standing in front of a window, a boy crosses in front of the window! Who could it be??

Concurrently, Sakura is downstairs practicing her drawing so she’ll be prepared for her class trip to the art museum tomorrow. Sakura gleefully draws Kero, who is being a very impatient model. Once finished, Sakura shows Kero the drawing. Kero, who isn’t flattered at all by Sakura’s vision of him, flaunts his facial figure as well as his “slender legs”. Sakura, who isn’t at all interested in his criticism, ignores Kero and leaves for dinner. Kero, annoyed by Sakura’s drawing and jovial indifference toward his dislike for her drawing, is motivated to make his own modifications to the doodle.

At the museum, Sakura and Tomoyo decide to draw an abstract sculpture as everyone else leaves to draw in the courtyard. Sakura screams when she opens her art book and sees the modifications Kero made to her drawing. Quickly, she is scolded by a museum employee. Touya warned her about this, saying she’d be kicked out of she made too much noise. But, much to Sakura’s relief, she isn’t expelled from the museum. Instead, the two set out to draw the sculpture and we see that Tomoyo is a superb artist.

Intrigued by the fact that everyone else had left for the courtyard, Sakura tells Tomoyo she’s going to see what they’re up to. On her way to the courtyard, Sakura encounters a young boy messing with the painting of the woman in the blue cloak. The boy is quickly stopped by a guard. Protesting that he’s only trying to fix a painting done by his father, the boy breaks free and dashes back to the painting. Suddenly, the woman in the painting begins to glow and the room becomes silent for a moment. The boy is then swooped up by the guard and carried away from the painting.

Outside, Sakura and Tomoyo discuss what happened. Sakura believes the painting may be cursed and succeeds in scaring herself with that notion. Tomoyo suggests that Sakura is sensitive when it comes to ghosts and the two pause to inaudibly recall the events of the previous episode which prompt them to realize that the painting may be possessed by a Clow Card!

That night, Sakura sneaks outside from her bedroom window. Upon climbing down from the tree she had leapt into from her bedroom window, she confronts Yukito. Yukito questions why she’s out so late and Sakura, who is both nervous because she’s sneaking out and because she’s talking to her crush, makes up the excuse that she’s interested in seeing the moon. Yukito isn’t convinced by Sakura’s fib, but assures her that he won’t tell Sakura’s brother that she’s sneaking out as long as she doesn’t stay up too late. Sakura is overjoyed by Yukito’s response, but at the same time is worried that he might think she’s a “bad girl” by sneaking out so late! Kero doesn’t understand this at all…

Outside the museum, Kero mentions to Sakura and Tomoyo that the painting is in fact possessed by a Clow card. The Silent Card, to be exact. They rationalize the card’s presence in the museum, since the card likes silence (hence its name). Kero, despite being the Beast of the Seal, isn’t entirely sure of the card’s powers. All he does know is that the card has the ability to quiet those who make noise.

Sakura, now dressed in the dark, thief-esque outfit Tomoyo made just for the occasion, is now prepared to enter the museum. Toyomo repeatedly refers to them as thieves, though Sakura is reluctant to take the title- and for good reason! Tomoyo, furthering her fondness for the role of a thief, has “borrowed” the timesheet for the guards so they’ll know exactly when it’ll be safe for them to sneak in.

While inside, they notice someone is sneaking around the lower portion of the museum! Should they follow him to be sure he isn’t at thief or should they simply let him get away? Tomoyo deduces a plan for how they’re to deal with the burglar. Kero projects his voice through the museum and Tomoyo projects his shadow onto a large sculpture. The boy doesn’t seem to be at all afraid of Kero’s shadow or his intimidating voice, and instead of running away –as Tomoyo’s plan had called for- he closes in on Kero’s hiding place. In desperation, Kero jumps up in the boy’s face and screams “ka-ho!” successfully scaring the boy into falling backward into a sculpture.

Confronted by Sakura and Tomoyo, the boy explains that he isn’t a thief. Instead, he’s here to fix his father’s painting. Seems someone has painted a woman in the painting, an act which has greatly upset the child, whose name is Yuuki. Seems the boy’s father, now deceased, had drawn the painting as a memory of Yuuki and the beach they had visited during the summer. It’s the last painting his father had ever done. Sakura says she can relate to his frustration, recalling how Kero had doodled over her drawing.

Sakura can’t use magic in front of Yuuki, so Tomoyo suggests she’ll distract him while Sakura captures the card. Tomoyo accomplishes this feat by provoking Yuuki, questioning the rational behind him fixing the painting himself. Just as Sakura slips in behind Yuuki to cast her magic, Tomoyo continues to distract Yuuki by asking “shouldn’t one of the museum people fix it instead?” This infuriates Yuuki to the point where he’s yelling at Tomoyo. The painting suddenly glows, and they’re all transported outside the museum. Seems as though this will be a difficult task, as the silent card will transport them outside whenever they make a noise!

They try to capture the card two more times, failing each time because Yuuki drops his tool and because Kero sneezes. If noises as slight as those will provoke the card how will Sakura even be able to cast her magic around the card?

Suddenly, Tomoyo realizes they’ve run out of time, and the guards will be returning shortly. Despite Tomoyo’s warning, Yuuki runs back into the museum, still eager to fix his father’s painting. Unfortunately, he’s caught by a guard before he can get to the painting. But, just in the nick of time, Sakura devises a plan! She quickly uses the shadow card and projects her own shadow through the glass window and into the museum. Using the shadow card, Sakura frees Yuuki from the guard and proceeds to capture the Silent card.

Succeeding in capturing the card, the painting has now restored to its original form. The guard runs off screaming that the painting has been modified, and Yuuki joins Sakura and Tomoyo. The two reassure him that his efforts haven’t been in vain by shining their flashlight on the painting, which now shows a young girl smiling instead of the woman in the blue cloak. Yuuki lets her hair fall from her cap. Surprise! This whole time Yuuki was a girl! Sakura and Tomoyo apologize for their false assumption, but Yuuki doesn’t seem to mind, and proceeds to thank them for all their help.

As they walk away from the museum, the focus is now on the same moon we saw at the beginning of the episode- shining behind the museum’s stone tower. This time, however, a young boy in a green outfit is standing on that tower. We don’t see his face, but he’s holding a glowing board and, surprisingly enough, ends the episode by saying that he senses the presence of a Clow Card.