Carried bridal-style in Asagami Fujino’s arms, Sakura curled in against her, her small body folded tight into a little ball.
A bare stretch of leg peeked out from beneath the bath towel — soft, childlike, pale — and her little feet were arched tight, the soles flexed as if drained of strength.
With every step Fujino took, those feet swayed gently.
Asagami Fujino looked down at Sakura in her arms, her brow drawn in concern.
The girl’s cheeks were flushed bright.
Not the rosy flush of shyness — a vivid, peach-bright color that made one ache with sympathy.
A sweet, lingering fragrance clung to Sakura’s skin, the kind that wound itself around you.
Fujino tightened her hold on the girl’s pliant body.
She’d been perfectly fine in the bath, hadn’t she?
Lying obediently while Fujino lathered her down with soap.
And then — just like that — she’d sunk under.
Bubbles broke the surface where her face had been.
Asagami Fujino’s soul had nearly leapt from her body.
She’d snatched Sakura out of the water in a panic.
The girl had come up coughing, looking up at her with great, pitiful eyes.
That look — like some pitiable little creature — had made Fujino’s chest ache, and she had pulled Sakura into her arms and dried her off there.
Sakura whimpered softly, both arms hanging limp and pliant around Asagami Fujino’s neck.
Fujino assumed she was just dizzy from the heat of the bath.
Sakura’s constitution had never been good.
As Fujino had heard it, when Sakura was small her birth-family’s elder daughter had fallen gravely ill, and with no one left to inherit the family’s magecraft, a second child had been needed.
That was how Sakura had come into the world.
Then, miraculously, that elder sister had recovered.
But the frail constitution seemed to have transferred — onto Sakura.
When she was small, Sakura had trained at the sword alongside Ryōgi Shiki.
After she started school, though, the practice had quietly fallen away.
Partly because Shiki herself had said, with regard to pure technique, there was nothing more she could teach her.
And partly because — Sakura didn’t want anyone gossiping about Big Sis Shiki.
As an outsider, having learned the secret techniques of the Ryōgi house, it would have been… unseemly.
Asagami Fujino held Sakura close, looking at the soft-trembling girl in her arms, and what she meant to say all dissolved into a sigh.
Sakura’s breath, kitten-warm, brushed against her chest.
Her eyes were misty and wet.
The arms around Fujino’s neck were soft, boneless, without strength.
Carefully, carefully, Fujino set her down on the bed.
In the darkness, a pair of water-blue eyes blinked up at her.
“Sister… I’ll sleep on my own…”
A milk-soft, baby-cooed voice — with something inexplicably tender hidden in it.
Looking at Sakura’s flushed little face, Fujino, indulgent, pressed a small kiss to her forehead and drew the covers up around her.
“If anything happens at all, don’t bear it on your own.
Shigure’s right outside the door.” Stroking the still-damp strands of Sakura’s hair, Fujino said quietly.
“Mm.”
Sakura bit her lip, made a soft little sound of acknowledgment, and nodded her small head as Fujino walked out and pulled the door shut.
She knew exactly what was happening to her.
The strength was being drawn out of her limbs little by little.
Her cheeks burned.
Her heart was pounding so quickly.
It was the same as in Big Sis Rouge’s house when she’d woken up that afternoon.
If anything — more so.
Sakura curled herself tighter in the blankets, hugging her knees, folding herself down into a small, small thing.
The girl looked like a little rabbit, soft and delicate.
The blanket rose and fell with her breathing.
Her throat was so dry.
She couldn’t possibly sleep.
Sakura stared out the window at the night.
She didn’t think Big Sis Rouge had meant her any harm.
She’d simply forgotten to tell her sister about her own poor tolerance.
The same thing had happened years ago at Big Sis Shiki’s house.
The old grandfather had given her one small sip of medicinal wine, and Sakura had lost consciousness on the spot.
What had happened that day she couldn’t say.
She only knew that the next morning, the old Ryōgi patriarch’s beard had been shaved clean, and Big Sis Shiki had looked at her with the strangest little smile.
Sakura tucked her head down further.
Her head felt fuzzy, her breath came out hot — but her mind, somehow, was growing clearer.
Clear enough — that the memory rose up unbidden.
When she had been taken from the Tohsaka house, her elder sister had been held back behind their mother, staring at her with jade-green eyes.
Gulp.
Swallowing to wet her dry throat, Sakura lightly licked her lips and shook her head.
She was Asagami Sakura now.
Her sister was Asagami Fujino.
Even just shaking her head — it felt like her brain was the nut inside its shell, rattling loose, knocking from side to side.
So dizzy… she wanted… she wanted Sister…
She shouldn’t have insisted on sleeping alone.
Surely, breathing in Sister’s scent, curled up in her arms, she could have fallen asleep right away.
She wanted to hear Sister tell her stories.
Stories of the Ryōgi house and the Asagami house.
But she didn’t want Sister to worry.
Her fingertip trembled slightly.
And then a single word floated up out of the haze in her head.
Nanaya.
She was certain Sister had mentioned that name before.
Certain.
But her fuzzy, swimming head couldn’t drag up the particulars.
Biting her lip, letting out a soft, fragile mmh, Sakura fumbled along the side of the bed.
The light of her phone bloomed under the blanket.
She scrolled past her contact list — most of them numbers kept only as a formality.
She wanted to talk to someone.
Big Sis Shiki?
No — Shiki kept a hyper-regular schedule.
Sakura couldn’t disturb her.
Yumizuka Satsuki?
Calling Little Satsuki actually seemed like a good idea.
Sakura had just met a vampire today.
She had so, so many questions.
Sakura pressed the call button — and the line rang and rang and rang.
No answer.
Only the dry, flat tone of a line no one was picking up.
Intuition told her Satsuki was fine.
Sakura curled herself smaller, listless, and stared at her phone.
After a moment of thought, she logged onto a forum — a slightly strange one.
[The World’s Cutest Sakura]: I met a vampire today.
[Codename A-X]: A vampire!?
You didn’t get bitten, did you Sakura?
[Seimei, Drop Dead]: Aiyaiyai, Sakura, do you need Onee-san to come protect you?
Mikku-mikku, I was just thinking I’d love to see you.
[The World’s Cutest Sakura]: No need~ I’m super strong, you know.
The little hands holding the phone curled tighter.
Sakura tucked her head down further.
Not even a single voice of doubt?
Everyone had just believed her, that she’d met a vampire?
Sakura’s eyes blinked at the screen.
…of course not.
It was just like how the user [Codename A-X] kept saying she was from the future.
Sakura just smiled and played along.
Everyone… was just indulging her.
She pressed a hand to a still-warm cheek.
[Codename A-X]: Sakura’s quite strong then?
That puts me at ease.
A low-tier Dead Apostle can be killed even with an ordinary knife.
Sakura nodded.
A-X said it as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world — but she wasn’t wrong.
[The World’s Cutest Sakura]: Then… what about a True Ancestor?
Without meaning to, she’d thought of Big Sis Rouge’s words.
[Seimei, Drop Dead]: If it’s a True Ancestor, my advice is — Sakura, immediately crouch down, cover your head, then hold your right hand out in a little fist and do the paw-beckon twice, and go miu-miu, mew-mew~
[The World’s Cutest Sakura]: …eh?
Why?
Are True Ancestors afraid of kittens?
[Seimei, Drop Dead]: You can’t outrun them, you can’t outfight them.
But Sakura, you’re so cute — maybe selling a little moe is enough to conquer one and live to tell about it.
(Sips tea.)
[The World’s Cutest Sakura]: …
[Codename A-X]: That reminds me though — Sakura, you live in Tokyo, right?
[The World’s Cutest Sakura]: I do.
Why?
[Codename A-X]: If you’ve already heard the name True Ancestor, then whatever you ran into wasn’t ordinary cannon fodder.
Sakura, do you have any weapons capable of slaying the demonic on hand?
[The World’s Cutest Sakura]: No.
[Codename A-X]: Aah~ I happen to have a spare one.
I bought it online once thinking it looked cool, but after I got it I thought it was a bit too gaudy.
Never quite lived up to expectations.
Why don’t I send it to you?
[Seimei, Drop Dead]: Eeeeeh!?
You know Sakura’s address?
[Codename A-X]: I’m from the future, remember?
A mere parcel — I don’t need an address to get it to you!
Sakura stared at the leaping characters on her screen.
From the future…
Just a joke.
Right?
Right—(Me and my net-friends)
(Mm-hmm~)