I, Matou Sakura, Third of the Flame-Chasers!

Warm Light

"Aoko, you're here."

Matou Sakura looked toward Aozaki Akiko in the distance. She had noticed her presence long ago.

Her feelings toward this girl were rather complicated.

"Hello, Sakura. What a coincidence, running into you like this."

Since she had been discovered, Aozaki Akiko simply stepped out.

Yet somehow, what she said sounded completely wrong.

She realized that as well and stood there with an awkward smile.

"Stay for dinner tonight. That way, Lujia won't have to take you back later."

"How could I impose!"

Aozaki Akiko repeatedly waved her hands. She already felt terribly guilty about having Sakura prepare three meals for her. Staying for dinner would only make things worse!

"Don't overthink it."

Looking at the somewhat clumsy girl before her, Matou Sakura no longer knew what to say.

Having Lujia take her back would be even more troublesome.

"Pernor, go play some games with Aoko for a while. Your sister is heading out."

"Okay."

Pernor smiled sweetly, then climbed down from My dear Sister's arms and landed on the ground.

This time, Matou Sakura's departure was no longer accompanied by a sonic boom. After all, Pernor was beside her, and she could now control her strength very well.

"Aoko, come play some games with me."

Pernor smiled lightly at Aozaki Akiko.

Let Pernor teach this idiot how to win My dear Sister over!

Compared with that other idiot, she still liked this idiot in front of her more.

Otherwise, she would never have wanted to help this idiot.

But Aozaki Akiko seemed not to have heard Pernor. She stared blankly at the figure that had already vanished from the sky.

Pernor frowned slightly, walked up to Aozaki Akiko, and gave her a rather forceful kick.

"Pernor, why did you kick me?!"

The pained Aozaki Akiko immediately snapped back to her senses. Lowering her head slightly, she saw Pernor standing there with her hands on her hips.

"I was calling you!"

Pernor said irritably, puffing out her cheeks a little.

If it were not for My dear Sister's happiness—and her own—she would not want to bother with this idiot at all!

"Is something wrong?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

Pernor looked speechlessly at the idiot before her and said, "Come with me. Today, the great Pernor will help you win My dear Sister over!"

"With the great Pernor's help, you idiot, Aoko, might even end up with My dear Sister tonight!"

"Hah!"

Aozaki Akiko's cheeks instantly flushed. She repeatedly waved her hands, looking almost like she had given up on herself.

"I don't like Sakura! And there's no way Sakura could like me!"

"Why do you have so much nonsense to say?"

Pernor patted her chest impatiently. "With the great Pernor here, even if your cerebellum is underdeveloped, Aoko, I can still help you win My dear Sister over!"

"I'll only ask you one question! Are you coming with me or not?!"

"I..."

Aozaki Akiko's face was so red that it seemed as though blood could be squeezed from it.

"Yes..."

Aozaki Akiko's voice was almost inaudible, but Pernor heard her clearly.

"Very good. Come with me now!"

Come to think of it, Pernor herself did not understand why this girl had fallen for My dear Sister.

Lujia had said that My dear Sister had taken away Aozaki Akiko's important magic and had even damaged her body. No matter how one looked at it, My dear Sister should have been her enemy. Yet this idiot not only did not hate My dear Sister, she had actually fallen for her instead.

Did this idiot have some kind of special masochistic potential?

Meanwhile, Matou Sakura, who should have been heading for the Kuzuki Residence, suddenly changed direction and flew toward the outskirts of Misaki City.

On the outskirts of Misaki City, an illegal transaction was taking place in a forest.

Inside a crude wooden cabin, two girls clung tightly to each other. The older girl held her sister close, using gentle words to soothe the unrest in her sister's heart.

But upon closer inspection, one would notice that the older sister was not as calm as she appeared. Though her amber eyes carried tenderness, traces of unease and despair could faintly be seen within them.

As a descendant of the Wujing clan, she had understood the fate that awaited her and her sister after the family's decline.

They would be treated as people, then sold like merchandise.

Originally, she and her sister should not have been sold so soon. But the arrival of that great earthquake had changed everything.

The family, already in poor condition, had been left barely clinging to life. Some of their remaining properties had been completely destroyed in the earthquake.

Quite a few members of the family had also died in the disaster, worsening an already terrible situation. This led some within the family to alter their original plans and sell her and her sister ahead of schedule. They would then take the money and leave the country for good. As for the continued existence of the Wujing clan, it no longer mattered to those who lived in fear.

Staying alive and having money were all they pursued now.

Inside the crude wooden cabin, Kohaku, the older sister, held Hisui, her younger sister, tightly.

Though she was frightened as well, she could not show such emotions before her sister. She had to protect her sister.

A piercing scream suddenly rang out from outside, and even the air seemed to grow scorching hot.

Kohaku froze slightly. Hisui, who had been held in her arms with her eyes closed in fear, opened them at that moment as well.

She tightly gripped her sister Kohaku's sleeve, her small body trembling faintly.

The wooden door, locked from the outside, suddenly shattered into countless tiny particles, glaringly visible beneath the light.

"The door broke?"

She murmured instinctively, and then the sisters' gazes were both drawn to the young girl walking in through the doorway.

A pure white robe, adorned with interwoven golden and crimson patterns. The slowly falling dust in the air did not touch that white robe in the slightest.

Her waist-length black-and-white hair swayed gently in the breeze. There was not the slightest smile on her indifferent face, and her dark golden eyes were so calm that they inspired fear.

Yet both Kohaku and Hisui felt as though they had seen light.

Warm light.

"It's light..."

Kohaku murmured as she subconsciously stretched out her hand, as though she wanted to grasp the light before her.

But light was everywhere. It could be seen, yet not touched.

"Are you two all right?"

A cold voice slowly rang out, shattering the illusion in Kohaku and Hisui's hearts.

Had the light disappeared?

Matou Sakura slowly walked up to the two children before her and placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

Light flowed through her arms and into the two children's bodies, driving away their hunger and the fear in their hearts.

It was light!

It wasn't fake!

The Big sister before them was light!

Driven by instinct, Kohaku and Hisui hugged the arms resting on them, causing Matou Sakura, who had suddenly gained two accessories, to pause in surprise.

What were these two little things doing?

"What are these two children?"

Kuzuki Alice's expression did not change as she looked at the adult who had suddenly appeared before her.

Though they had once been enemies, after listening to Aoko ramble on about her for so many days, even without much contact with this adult, she more or less understood what kind of person she was.

As long as you were not her enemy and did not stand in her way, she would not even spare you a glance.

And because of that idiot Aoko, her relationship with this adult could probably be considered that of strangers who were friends?

Rather than guessing why this adult had come here, she was more curious about the two girls beside her.

Were they this adult's younger sisters too, like Pernor?

They did not look like they had that sort of relationship at all.

At least Pernor shared certain similarities with this adult, such as her white hair.

Come to think of it, the black in this adult's hair seemed to be steadily decreasing. It looked like she would soon have a full head of white hair.

Speaking of which, Aoko seemed to like white hair. Was that why she had fallen for this adult?

Still, this adult would indeed be very beautiful with a full head of white hair.

Not that she was lacking now.

"I want them to stay here with you and have you look after them for me."

Matou Sakura looked at Kuzuki Alice before directly stating her intention.

"Why?"

Kuzuki Alice frowned. Hisui and Kohaku, the sisters who stayed by Matou Sakura's side, grew anxious as well.

In their hearts, they naturally wanted to stay with the person who had saved their lives.

"I'm not suited to taking care of people."

Matou Sakura said evenly, "As long as you're willing to accept it, I'll offer you a reward you like—for example, a solution to your problem as a witch."

The moment those words were spoken, Kuzuki Alice's previously calm expression changed at once.

A witch's problem—or rather, the Witch's Curse.

The inheritance of a witch's bloodline was often accompanied by death. Kuzuki Alice's mother and father had been no exception.

Kuzuki Alice's mother had been a witch, while her father had also been a member of the Mage's World.

In that cold Mage's World, devoid of much human warmth, the two had sparked a blazing love like a miracle.

Before Kuzuki Alice's father got together with her mother, he had faced opposition from his family.

Because the existence of witches brought misfortune. Yet Kuzuki Alice's father had not listened to their objections, determined to be with her mother.

In the end, they did live together. They married and settled here.

But after Kuzuki Alice was born, her mother fell ill and died as her body rapidly weakened. Her father did not hold on for much longer either, dying of the same weakness when Kuzuki Alice was five.

And that was the so-called Witch's Curse.

Like the persecution of witches and shrine maidens in the Middle Ages, this relationship had now become something like a curse, passed down through the bloodline until the present day.

This curse-like condition had also caused the line of witches to grow increasingly scarce, teetering on the brink of disappearance.

At this moment, Kuzuki Alice could be said to possess the purest bloodline among the witches still in existence.