Event Year: 1998

On the way to school, Sakura meets Maki Matsumoto who is opening a stuffed doll shop called Twin Bells. Sakura and her friends visit the shop after school to find most of the merchandise unpacked, so they offer to help. Chiharu Mihara, who has a fondness for stuffed animals, buys a stuffed panda, but it disappears shortly after taking it home. Sakura discovers the panda back in Twin Bells and Maki explain the reason for opening the shop and her business has been plagued by mysterious happenings that almost forced her to close down. While Tomoyo distracts Maki in the back, Sakura and Kero search the shop to find The Jump, which escapes with all the stuffed dolls in the shop. At Penguin Park, The Jump grows into a giant by absorbing the stuffed dolls, but it knocks itself out after it trips and falls allowing Sakura to capture it.

While cleaning the house, Sakura finds two dormant Clow Cards, The Wood and The Rain. But while running an errand for her father, the two cards activate creating a jungle inside the house. Sakura uses The Watery to capture The Rain card and The Wood yields on her own. Sakura gets the hard-earned lesson that a card is not fully subdued until she signs her name on it.

Sakura's class is on a field trip to the aquarium. During the penguin show, something catches the trainer's leg and a penguin and pulls them into the water, but they are saved by Sakura's brother, Toya, who is working part-time there. At school, Tomoyo gives Sakura and Cerberus mobile phones and on the way home, Sakura bumps into Yukito who invites her on a casual "date" which is at a cafe where Yukito knew Toya was working. While they are eating, The Watery breaks the glass of the aquarium causing a flood. For the first time Sakura has to formulate a plan to capture a card, rather than jumping into battle and attacking with Windy. Using her wits and an unintentional clue from Yukito, she lures Watery into a freezer to immobilizes and capture it.

Tomoyo meets Cerberus after she discovers Sakura's secret and gets a full explanation of the lost Clow Cards and Sakura's designation as Cardcaptor. Cerberus gets given the nickname "Kero-chan" that will stick for the rest of the series. The next day, the students find the school's desks and equipment in large piles. Kero believes it was the work of the card and forces Sakura to go to school at night where she confronts The Shadow. Using the Windy card's binding ability, Sakura is able to capture the Shadow card. Sakura finally accepts her role as a Cardcaptor because of Tomoyo's support.