ts for the third round match tonight."

Shizuku informed Ikki that she would be returning first. ..There was no reason to stop her, especially if it was to prepare for tonight. Currently there was nothing more important than that event. Ikki pushed the sensation out of his mind, and nodded.

"Got it. I'll appease Stella."

"I leave it to you... Alice, I hope that you can help me. Do you want to go together?"

"Yeah, it's alright. My work over here is done as well."

"Thank you. Then please excuse us, Onii-sama."

"Bye. Please return on time before the match begins, okay?"

Shizuku and Arisuin walked off together. As they left, Ikki watched Shizuku's distant figure...

"I'm looking forward to fighting you in the semi-finals."

He said so in encouragement. Shizuku turned her head upon hearing that, then after using her loudest voice to reply "YES!", she boarded the elevator with Arisuin and left his sight.

A few minutes after that, Stella returned after changing back into her uniform.

"Huh? Where's Shizuku and Alice?"

The first person she sought was of course Shizuku, who was going to receive her vengeance. But Shizuku was probably no longer in the building, and Ikki told her so.

"She had to do some warm-ups for the round three battle, so she went back.. fir..?"

First.. but he stiffened again. Why? He received another strong impact to his brain, even stronger than the bunny girl costume before. The source of that impact was in the angry Stella's arms. What she was holding was.. an infant sleeping with eyes closed.

"I guess she ran away, huh.. that brat!"

"S-Stella, that.. baby is?"

"Did you give birth to him?"

"No way!"

It happened after Stella took off the bunny girl costume and changed into her uniform.

「Annoying bitch annoying bitch annoying bitch! I'll absolutely not forgive that woman today! I'm going to use Ar● Alpha and stick cat ears on her head when I get back!」

Half-crying, Stella was checking her attire in front of the mirror over the sink, and in that moment─suddenly, the sight of an infant appeared in the mirror, floating silently above and behind her.

She was so shocked that she held her breath, but this was no time for her to lock up, because the infant was falling due to gravity.

「Watch out!!!」

"..And that's what happened."

"You did a great thing."

Afterwards, Stella and the two others brought the infant to the lost child center in the department store. They sat down at the sofa inside the center, waiting for the guardian of the infant to be found. The infant, a boy probably not even a year old, was sleeping in Stella's arms. Stella lowered her gaze onto the infant and asked Ikki next to her.

"..This child is a Blazer, right?"

Ikki nodded.

"Probably. I think he has a teleport type ability similar to Jougasaki-san."

There was no other way for him to suddenly appear out of thin air. Normally Blazers' abilities were discovered after they had were old enough to think, but infants with strong abilities occasionally had a portion activate suddenly despite not manifesting a Device. An infant who couldn't even stand on his own had no control over his abnormal power.. naturally it very dangerous, even life-threatening depending on the circumstance. Had Stella not caught the infant and he hit his head on the hard floor, causing a heavy injury.. in the worst case, he could have died.

"It's really great that Stella was there."

"That's true.. I hope his parents can be found soon."

"I wonder about that. We don't know what the extent of this child's ability was when he awakened it."

If they were lucky, his parents were in this department store, but it was possible that he came from far away. Seeing that 「Makoto Nitta」 was written on his nameplate, it was reasonable to say that the infant was Japanese, so his parents should be in Japan.

"Since we've already informed the department store staff, let's only stay with him for as long as our time allows."

"That's true.. ah."

It was at this moment the infant in Stella's arms twisted his body and opened his eyes.

"Aah, bu..?"

And then his big watery eyes saw Stella's face─

"Waaaaahhh~!!!"

He cried out loudly. No, it was not only that, he wriggled his small body around, trying to escape from Stella's arms. It was probably because he began to panic from not seeing his mother.

"H-Hey! Don't squirm around! It's dangerous!"

"Waaaaaaaahhh!!!"

"W-W-What should I do!? What should I do, Ikki!?"

Despite being kicked in the face, Stella still hugged onto him to prevent him from falling, and asked Ikki for help. But Ikki didn't know how to handle an infant either. Even though he had a little sister, they were only one year apart. For the time being, he tried out the classic 'peek-a-boo'..

"WaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhKLSymph?(talk)!!!"

"It got worse!?"

"H-How troubling."

The two of them looked with worry at the infant, who had no intention to stop crying. And pushing between those two..

"Give him to me."

Sara took the infant from Stella's arms.

"Sara!? It's too risky with your lack of stamina! What'll we do if you drop him!?"

"Shut up. You're a bit too loud."

"Erk."

Stella had tried to snatch the infant, but she was restrained by Sara's gaze. Sara sat down on the sofa, and as she stroked the back of the infant's head..

"It's alright. Your mama will come back soon."

She spoke in a calming tone, and soon after..

"Ahh, au?"

"He stopped crying..."

Surprisingly, the frenzied infant had calmed down.

"You're amazing, Sara-san. Are you used to this?"

"Not really... It's just that I've observed various things during my trip around the world, so even without words, I can understand what he wants, how he feels... This child's insecure because his parents aren't here. If we get unsettled too, it'll make him worse, so we have to calm down. Even a child is sensitive to the feelings of adult nearby."

""S-Sorry.""

Being reprimanded and criticized, both Ikki and Stella lowered their heads apologetically. Children would be scared if they see adults in a bad mood. Certainly that was true, so it wouldn't be good if they acted unsettled. Though Stella felt some frustration as a woman, as well as worry about Sara's arm strength, it would seem that leaving the infant to Sara was the best solution. Stella decided so and pulled back, but stayed prepared in case Sara dropped the infant at some point.

And a while after calming down, the infant started rubbing against Sara's breasts.

"U—pai! Pai!"

Stella let out a smile unconsciously at that adorable gesture.

"Ahaha. I know what this means."

He probably wanted breast milk.

"But sorry, we can't produce milk yet."

"I'll get some milk from the staff-in-charge here."

Ikki, ever considerate, was about to stand up, but at that moment Sara took a shocking action. She pulled aside the showy brassiere Arisuin had chosen for her, and exposed one of her white breasts.

"Buh!?"

"Wai.. Sara!? What are you─"

"Quiet."

Sara stared at Stella who was making a loud noise from the sudden shock, and scolded her.

"Ah, s-sorry.. but..!"

"..Even if I can't produce milk, doing this will give him peace of mind."

And like Sara said, the infant seemed satisfied sucking on Sara's nipple even with no milk coming out. He was definitely not hungry. What the infant was seeking was not food, but warmth. Sara understood that, as she had the observant eyes of the world's number one artist.

And then, as Sara imitating breast feeding with the infant..

"Ninna nanna, ninna oh.. questo bimbo a chi lo dò~?"

..she started singing with a beautiful voice. Stella, being well versed in languages as an imperial princess, immediately recognized it as an Italian lullaby[3].

"Se lo do al lupo bianco.. me lo tiene tanto tanto~?"

A melody that was weaved with love, and though the infant didn't know its meaning, he definitely felt the emotion contained in the song, which surpassed borders, words, meanings. Most likely, that was what motherhood was all about.

"Ninna nanna, nanna fate.. il mio bimbo addormentate~?"

After a while, the infant once again let out a small sleeping sound from between Sara's breasts.

The figure of Sara holding that little life while singing a lullaby.. be it in Stella's eyes or Ikki's, it was more beautiful a scene than any other.

After the infant fell asleep again, Sara gave him to Ikki. Her arms were probably reaching their limit.

"He's sleeping well."

Ikki smiling down at the tiny one in his embrace, but then his smile turned vexed.

"..Stella too."

"Zzz. Zzz."

Stella had also been lured by Sara's lullaby into dream. Though she had perfect attack, defense, and speed, it seemed she wasn't prepared for abnormal status effects. On the other hand, after passing the infant to Ikki, Sara opened up her notebook on her knees, and started sketching the infant that was sleeping in Ikki's arms. It was not like the unbelievably fast drawing she used during her battles, but instead slow and careful. On the neat white notebook, with a single pencil, she shaped a world with depth. It was so detailed that if he stretched out a hand towards it, his finger could sink into the notebook and touch the infant's soft cheek. To Ikki who ignorant about painting, Sara's technique seemed just like magic.

"..Hmm? What?"

She likely noticed Ikki peeping at her notebook. Sara faced Ikki's gaze, and tilted her head in inquiry.

"Ah, sorry. Just that you're good at this, I thought."

Well, she was a world famous painter whose works were worth an astronomical figure of fourteen billion USD per piece, according to Stella. It was obvious that she would be good at it, but he still couldn't help himself from voicing his opinion. Though Ikki had no knowledge of painting, he had excellent eyes and could observe a person's movement precisely, so he understood even with just a casual stroke of the pencil that her technique was the result of an intense training, making that single stroke unique. It was the same as a genius's swordsmanship, unreachable without extraordinary passion and the resolve to follow one's path to the end.

"..You really love painting."

Honestly speaking, Sara was a troublesome person who pursued him for her nude model, so obsessive that he didn't even want to be near her, yet he respected her strong will. But in response, Sara said..

"..I like it these days."

"These days?"

Ikki showed doubt at that reply. Sara peeked at his eyes for a moment.. and then muttered bit by bit with a voice full of bitterness─

"In the past, I hated painting the most."

Sara Bloodlily. In her childhood, this girl lived in a small studio during her childhood in the mountains on the outskirts of Italy. She was born with an illness that had weakened her bones, leaving her unable to even walk on her own, so what she could from her bed was her world. And what she could see was her father.

He wasn't a famous artist. All he did was draw on a huge canvas a religious image of a messiah burning away a horde of devils with holy light, saving the world in Armageddon. He had been drawing that for many years. The vision of his back was all that Sara remembered—she had no memory of him turning.

Even when she called out to him, no response came. She didn't know her father's face, or even whether she had ever seen it. He had always been absorbed with, possessed posessed by, the painting before him.

That was why..

"..I hated painting, because it took my father away from me."

She wanted his attention. She wanted his love. Sara spoke her feelings from when she was young, and Ikki asked in response.

"Then Sara-san, why did.. why did you yourself start painting?"

If she hated it so much? Sara answer was.. her father's death. One day, her father fell onto the canvas and died. According to the housekeeper who took her father to the hospital, the cause seemed to be the worsening of his chronic disease. Left in the studio were only the lonely Sara and a huge incomplete oil painting.

After her tears dried up three days later, Sara.. stared hatefully at the painting that had killed her father. Its huge canvas could just about cover an entire wall of the room. In the end, the center where the messiah should've been drawn was left blank, incomplete after her father's death.

She decided to destroy it. Since she felt only hatred towards that painting, this was an obvious choice. Because of it, her father had never once turned around. Sara exhausted all her strength to crawl from her bed to the canvas, taking a whole day to do so, and stood before it by leaning on a chair.

She grabbed a nearby painting knife and raised it, in order to cut the canvas apart. But..

"I couldn't swing the knife..."

Because away from her bed, she saw things she hadn't been able to before.

Empty paint tubes littered the floor, more than she could count. Dozens of brushes abandoned, their bristles disheveled. A palette layered over by dried colors.

And the blank on the canvas, left tattered after paint had been applied and scraped off so many times.

She could feel the fire of her father's passion from it, and the moment she did, hatred in Sara's heart.. faded to sadness. Tears she thought had dried came flowing out again. He had spent a great amount of time, even disregarding his own daughter and throwing away his own health, to craft this work. But in the end, he couldn't complete it. Despite so much thought and passion, her father had not been favored by the Muses.

How bitter had that made him? Thinking of her father's regret, Sara stopped crying. She could tell the depths of his effort from the depth of her sadness.. so Sara resolved herself.

She would complete this painting.

"Because more than shedding tears, or holding flowers and mourning, doing this would best honor my deceased father."

It was the one bond that remained between them.

After that, her father's acquaintance Kouzou Kazamatsuri came to Sara.

「I was asked to take care of his daughter should anything happen to him.」

He took her in, and spent a large sum of money so that the Grand Professor, one of Rebellion's Twelve Apostles, would come and treat her illness. Sara obtained a body that wasn't completely healed but could still could at least move. She trained her skill in painting to satisfy her father's regret, while looking for a model to fill that blank canvas, a messiah who stood against the swarming malice.

This girl had wandered the world and confronted life-threatening danger, but she didn't compromise. She had spent ten years, more than half of her life. Were her technique or chosen model half-hearted, the curse-like passion contained in that painting would've consumed her.

"In doing that.. without noticing, I grew to like painting... I was a little happy realizing that his blood flowed in me after all."

"..I see."

From Sara's confession, Ikki knew that this was why she pursued him so stubbornly. He still didn't know why she wanted him specifically, but if he was the one she chose after half a lifetime searching, it wouldn't be easy to make her give him up. But..

"..Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why go so far? You don't even know your father's face, right?"

Ikki knew the reason for Sara's stubbornness, but he didn't understand it. Why would she do this much for a father who never once cared for her?

It was.. a question that applied to Ikki as well, after all. Yet Sara answered without a shred of hesitation.

"Because I love him."

"When you can't remember his face? Even though you never received his love?"

"It's true that I can't remember it. I know he's not a good father. But.. I've never once hated him. And that's all it takes.?If my love is real, it doesn't matter if it's one-sided."

Maybe her father had seriously neglected her. And even if that wasn't the case, he probably wouldn't want his daughter to add to his legacy. But she didn't care, because they were father and daughter.

"However selfish it is, I should be allowed to love him my own way. That's obvious, right?"

At that moment, Ikki found the answer to his own question.

I.. see.

Ikki was thinking that he had no choice, that his and his father's paths would never cross. That cutting ties was the only conclusion.

But that's not true.

It didn't matter if his father wanted to disown him, or how much his father thought of alienating him. Those were not Ikki's problems. Of course not. If his father was never once concerned about him, why must he be so considerate of his father?

That's right.. these aren't someone else's feelings, they're mine!

It had nothing to do with what Itsuki thought. If Ikki didn't hate his father himself, then why would he need to? Let them walk their own separate paths, live their own separate lives. Even if they wouldn't meet─they'd still be father and son.

This is my choice, my special right.

This would be Ikki Kurogane's answer to all the problems revolving around the Kurogane household, and the moment he arrived at it, a weight that had been pressing on his heart since childhood lifted away. He had finally confirmed the honest desire to be father and son with Itsuki, twisted though it may be. Ikki was so happy that he unconsciously smiled, and seeing Ikki's expression, Sara whispered in relief.

"That's better. The depressed face was troubling."

Ikki didn't notice those words. Earlier in the morning, Sara had wanted to say something after Itsuki had met him. Back then, she probably saw the relationship between Ikki and Itsuki reflecting her own with her father. That was why she asked him 'Is that so?', because she knew of such complicated matters.

And so she explained her past, not for him but for her own sake.

"..I've settled one of my concerns thanks to you, Sara-san."

"If you want to show your thanks, become my model."

Ikki smiled painfully at Sara's reply, but now that he knew her background, he also knew why she wouldn't let up. Putting it simply, all her motivation was concentrated on this model business. And if she a reason like that─

"Okay, fine."

"Huh?"

Ikki's response opened Sara's eyes wide. She obviously didn't expect him to consent. And Ikki obviously wouldn't accept without a condition.

"But you have to beat me in the match."

"..Match."

"Right. The upcoming third match. If you win, then I'll be your model. But if you lose, then you'll completely give up on making me your model.. how about it?"

The instant Ikki spoke the words, he felt his whole body shake, and all of the hairs on it stand up. Before his eyes was Sara with a clearly different look in her eyes.

"..I understand."

A strong will blazed in the depths of her eyes, emitting a heat that seemed to burn his bangs. Ikki sucked in a breath. She was on a different level.

Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival was a ceremony of knights, a battle for glory among people living the way of the warrior like Ikki and Stella. But Sara was different. Ikki understood this after hearing her story. She had a rare talent, a high combat power, but she did had nothing to fight for in this tournament. Nor was she at all passionate about Rebellion.

What she wanted was to complete her father's legacy, and everything else was just a step in that process. So her motivation was low. She had shown only a glimpse of her strength in the match against Kuraudo. That was──

Isn't it a waste?

The passion Sara felt towards art was the same that knights did towards combat. Their directions were different, but that fire and will were the same. No, maybe hers were greater?

He didn't know, so he wanted to see. That was why Ikki added the wager. He wanted to direct her will into the next battle, all of it.

Given that promise, Sara would probably be serious. She would probably come at Ikki with all her strength, and he would face her with his own passion.

Because this was what the Seven Stars Sword-Art Festival was about.

The mother of the infant rushed over from the adjacent department store. Ikki and the others returned the lost infant to his parent safely, and then the three ate a light meal, left the department store, and went back to the event venue.

The time was 4:30PM.

Two hours had been whiled away before their decisive battle.