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

Feeling the core within her body—or rather, the so-called divinity—Matou Sakura smiled faintly.

At that moment, she was like winter snow melting in early spring, displaying boundless charm.

Pernor was stunned. Aozaki Touko was stunned. Even Beowulf stood frozen.

Matou Sakura tightened her grip on the Bow of Love in her hand, and a Flower Arrow appeared upon its string.

Drawing the bow to its full extent, the girl aimed the flower-like arrow at the three unconscious people.

"Goodbye."

With the girl's soft laugh, the beautiful arrow flew from the string.

At the same time, the Lesser Holy Grail burst free from the homunculus's body and fused with the Greater Holy Grail within the ritual.

The true Holy Grail descended here!

An Endless Love

It was over.

Everything was over.

Aozaki Touko sat in a chair, somewhat dazed as she relived everything that had happened yesterday.

The Holy Grail, which could grant any wish, had actually been filled with the malice of an entire world.

Within that cascading black mud, brimming with malice and darkness, Aozaki Touko finally understood what the light inside her had been lacking from that moment onward.

It was darkness, the opposite of light!

No!

Rather, the light within her had been darkness from the very beginning!

Light was merely its transformation!

Everything had been revealed, yet that person had vanished without a trace.

In the final moment of her memory, she only remembered her, clad in purple battle robes, bathing in that black mud filled with malice.

Her gorgeous battle robes had become a long dress-like garment woven from red and black.

Crimson Magic Circuits surfaced across skin as pale as snow.

Gentle? Cold?

No, she had been insane then.

Sitting on the sofa, Touko could not help complaining about why Alice had not replaced it with a better one.

It was not even her mother's heirloom, and that person had left Alice plenty of money to care for the five children in the house.

Well, there was one more now.

Though she had not been brought back by that person; she was part of Touko's task.

Touko had taken care of it on the way back from Fuyuki City.

"Don't you have anything to do today?"

Kuzuki Alice slowly walked over and looked at Aozaki Touko on the sofa, making no effort to hide her disdain for her.

Touko had been like this ever since returning.

"I'm merely contemplating life."

Aozaki Touko spoke leisurely. It was an excuse. She simply had not figured out how to explain things to Aoko if she came looking before that person returned.

It had not been a departure without farewell. It was simply that this farewell had to be conveyed through Touko's mouth.

And even now, she was not sure whether that person had truly left.

What a pain.

Why had that person set her sights on Touko in the first place?

"Are you still thinking about that person?"

Kuzuki Alice sat down beside Aozaki Touko. As for the children, they were currently taking a nap upstairs. The sight of the five little darlings snuggled against one another had made her take a picture with her camera.

She felt that agreeing to that person's request back then had been the right choice.

Those children were like angels, yet they had suffered such misfortune. Without that person, Alice did not know what painful things those angelic children might have endured in the future.

"Mm."

Aozaki Touko answered softly, her gaze turned toward the window.

"Alice, do you know?"

"Know what?"

Alice paused slightly, a vague guess forming in her heart.

"That person never liked Aoko."

Aozaki Touko smiled faintly.

"That was only Aoko's wishful thinking. She saw those things only because she wanted to see them, so that... Sakura showed her those scenes."

The form of address had changed. Aozaki Touko felt that she should no longer be her subordinate, but rather that idiot Aoko's older sister.

"I see."

Kuzuki Alice was not particularly surprised.

In truth, everyone could more or less tell.

Perhaps that was why Jeanne had left.

But that was only speculation. The only one who had not seen it—or perhaps knew but refused to expose it—was Aoko.

"That idiot..."

Aozaki Touko irritably scratched her head. She truly did not know how to face her idiotic sister.

But yesterday, she had left together with that person.

As long as Aoko had not given up her love for that person, she would definitely come looking for her.

But she simply could not understand it. Why had Aoko fallen in love with her?!

That whatever-it-was syndrome?

It made a little sense, but applied to Aoko, it just sounded like complete nonsense!

"Let's wait and see."

Kuzuki Alice spoke slowly, silently picking up the teacup before her, which had already gone cold, and taking a gentle sip.

Though it had gone cold, the flavor remained.

Perhaps the love between Aoko and that person would be the same?

Hopefully.

As Aoko's friend, she did not want Aoko to live in pain either.

Or perhaps Aoko had come to realize it?

Perhaps.

Inside the church, Matou Sakura's room.

That familiar scent still lingered, but the familiar person was gone.

The girl sat on the edge of the bed, her slender fingers slowly brushing over that familiar spot.

It was where she and her had first entwined.

It had not even been that long, yet now it felt like a memory.

Where are you?

The girl longed for her in her heart, tinged with faint sorrow.

Didn't you promise you would always stay with me?

She gently bit her pale lips, the blush on her pretty face already gone.

Loneliness rippled through her heart.

"Idiot, are you alright?"

A familiar voice suddenly rang out, but it was not that person!

She spun around and saw that familiar figure.

"Pernor!"

She instinctively reached out, wanting to grab the person before her, but caught only empty air.

Pernor vanished, reappearing elsewhere in the room.

"Don't get worked up. Listen to me."

Watching the impatient idiot before her, Pernor revealed a hint of helplessness.

She made herself calm down, though her gaze remained anxious.

"My dear Sister has left."

The girl paused, wanting to see how this idiot would react.

Sadness?

Anger?

There was both, and much more besides.

"Will she come back?"

"She will."

"When?"

"I don't know."

She was only a remnant of a message, with just a tiny bit of intelligence.

"Will you wait?"

"Will she still want me?"

"..."

Silence.

To be honest, even now, she couldn't understand what Aoko was thinking.

Especially why she had fallen in love with My dear Sister.

What was that called again? Some kind of syndrome?

There was supposedly a basis for it, but applied to this idiot, it just seemed utterly ridiculous.

"She will."

It was an ambiguous answer, but a smile bloomed across that idiot's face.

"What an idiot."

She murmured softly, her body growing somewhat translucent.

"Goodbye, idiot."

"I hope you're still alive when My dear Sister returns."

"Yeah, I will!"

She smiled brightly, and with strength.