Sakura remembered the last thing she did was talking to Mr Cat before she suddenly felt drowsy and fell asleep.
She woke up groggily, rubbing the sleepiness away from her eyes as she tried to make sense of her surroundings.
The cold and lonely room where she usually wakes up in is nowhere to be found. Instead she is now in a massive bedroom like those belong to a princess in the story book her mother usually read for her.
A massive room filled with all sort of unfamiliar furniture. The bed alone is big enough, thirty of herself can easily fit in and still feel comfortable.
Then her eyes dart to the open door with bright blinding light coming from it. Briefly she thought she was dead and went into heaven but red mark on her cheeks from her pinch said otherwise.
She climb out of the bed and approached the bright light and soon found herself in a balcony overseeing a vast mansion. Greater than even the Matou's mansion and definitely not creepy looking. Instead, it felt warm and homely for some reason.
The view outside shows a modern town similar to Fuyuki. However, it is more peaceful and brighter than the accursed city filled with darkness in each and every corner that most human remain blissfully unaware of.
Looking down at the garden within the mansion, she saw three maids which she guessed from the way they dressed, in modest classic maid uniform that have long skirt nearly reaching the ankle. Those maids were strangely toiling at the garden for some reason with tired expression on their face.
On the other side of the garden is a group of girl. One is blond, another is purple just like herself. There is also another maid nearby, serving the two girls as they enjoy their times with teas and baked goods on an outdoor tea table. But what caught her attention isn't the girls. But the black cat that is resting on the blond haired girl's lap, looking very content and enjoying his time being pampered.
"Mr Cat…" She mutters.
Sakura can feel a very dark feeling bubbling inside her heart. The very sight of her hero is looking so happy with another girl made her feel frustrated and her heart tightened like it was being squeezed tightly.
Her own hero, her knight that saved her from her darkest moment was enjoying the presence of another b̸̡̛͈͠ḯ̸̢̫͗t̷̬̰́̇c̸̘̜̽̈̏h̴̢͍̏͒͝ so much. Aren't I supposed to be the knight's princess? That should have been me! Mine! Mine! He is mine!
"No!" She made a muted scream and fell to her butt while her hands were clutching her heart.
"No… that's not my thoughts! That's not me!" She panicked as she felt like her entire being was submerged in a pit of evil. Those evil thoughts that are not her own were shoved into her mind.
"I wouldn't ever hate Mr Cat. He is my savior. He is not mine." She whispered and crawled back until she felt her back against a wall before she leaned against it and heaved the breath she didn't notice she was holding.
———
While lying on Asia's lap. I was enjoying my time being pampered by two beautiful girls, being fed all sorts of food like a king and only lacking a goblet of wine to complete my look.
But suddenly I heard someone was mentioning me. I know who it was. It's Sakura who had been sleeping for a few days straight after he tried to fix the damage done to her. However, I also suddenly sense the lingering taint of Angra Mainyu gripping the poor girl.
Unfortunately, I couldn't fully remove the taint of Angra Mainyu, annoyingly enough. Sakura's soul had been fully fused with the lesser grail where that sneaky bastard is hiding. To remove Angra Mainyu meant he will also kill Sakura in the process because their souls are too well fused that they are essentially one being.
So, all I can do is to put a proverbial bandaid on the problem by sealing away the Angra Mainyu part of Sakura's soul. However, it seems an intense emotion shift caused the bandaid to be ripped away. Unfortunately, there's nothing he can really do to continue applying the 'bandaid' until Sakura slowly learns how to control the other part of her soul enough that it wouldn't be a problem.
Anyway, back to the present.
"Should I handle this, Master?" Sakuya asked but I shook my head and climbed up from Asia's lap.
"I will go check up on her. The rest of you have fun without me." I said and left for Sakura.
Thankfully Asia and Sirin are close enough even without him acting as a bridge, they still socialize well like true siblings with Asia acting as the eldest. He left the two without worry.
With Sakura.
When I arrived at her room, I found her pitiful self in the balcony trying her best to resist the taint of Angra Mainyu. I quickly placed my paw on her forehead and infused my power to once again seal away the pesky bastard before Sakura stopped suffering the pain.
"Mr Cat… I'm sorry. I couldn't bear to see you looking happy with someone else. It's because of my jealousy that I was punished by the demon in my mind. I was ungrateful and and—"
"Enough, it's not your fault." I placed my paw on her mouth to silence her.
"But…"
"No buts. What I said is final. This is not your fault. It's the fault of that bug bastard, Zolgen. It was never your fault. You are just a victim." I said which somehow calmed her down enough she stopped talking and replied only with an obedient nod.
"Good." I said and stayed by her side since my presence is calming her mind.
"Uhm. Mr Cat." Sakura said, wanted to ask something but didn't dare to finish her words because of her low self-esteem to make any demands.
"It Ray. That's my name." I said.
"Oh! Okay, Ray…" She nodded and then fell into silence as she looked at me, clearly wanting something but was afraid to ask.
"What is it? There's no need to be afraid to ask, Sakura."
"Oh… Okay… Ray. Uhm, I want to ask if… If I can hug you, Ray." She finally said it after sputtering and fumbling with her words a few times.
"Just that? Sure. Hug me all you want. In fact, please hug me." I said, never turning down a chance to get up close in an intimate range with a cute girl.
Her face immediately lit up with overflowing joy as she brought me into her embrace as she hung on my presence desperately, like the sole light in her dark and pitch black world.
Not bad. In a few more years, she will definitely grow into a healthy young lady with great proportions considering even in her pubescent stage, she already has sizable assets. At least greater than Sirin who still have a pair of *cough* chopping boards.
I will feed them well and raise them well, fatten them up in the right places to be my portable pillows and there's no one that can stop me from my wicked plans. Muhahahaha!
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