“Natalia...!” Charlotte dashed forward. With a pale face, she knelt in front of Natalia and caressed her shoulders and cheeks as if to make sure she was really there. “Are you all right?! Are you hurt?!”
“U-Um, I’m okay...” Natalia answered, widening her eyes a little. She seemed taken aback to see Char so concerned.
Chris walked up to Harvey and gave him a deep bow. “I’m so sorry, Headmaster. It’s all my fault. I’m ready to receive any kind of punishment!”
“Hmm, it seems you’ve matured as well,” Harvey observed with a smile. Chris’s followers were taken aback by their leader’s sudden change, but they were all relieved to see he was safe.
Charlotte was still blanched. She even broke down in tears. “I’m so glad...you’re safe... If anything happened to you, I...I...”
“I’m sorry, Char. I didn’t mean to upset you...but really, I’m all right now.” Natalia fretted, trying to soothe her. It was truly a heartwarming scene.
After a few moments of this, Allen walked over to Charlotte and put a light hand on her shoulder. “That’s right. Calm down a little, Charlotte.”
“B-But Allen—oh!” Charlotte froze midsentence.
“Charlotte...?” Natalia knitted her brows dubiously.
Allen smirked at their contrasting reactions. “Here. It’s time for the emotional reunion.” He swiftly removed Charlotte’s magic glasses.
“What—!”
Both sisters caught their breath at once as the deception magic was dispelled. Natalia’s older sister—the sister whom she’d been looking for all this time, racked with guilt and regret—had suddenly appeared before her own eyes.
Murmurs rose among the followers too. Gosetsu and Roo showed their surprise on their faces, but only looked on quietly.
Natalia stood stock-still, forgetting to breathe. Charlotte blanched even more and edged away from her in a panic.
“A-Allen?! What are you doing?” Charlotte asked.
“Don’t worry. Go on.” Allen pulled her hand and drew her toward her sister again. He patted her tense shoulders as he whispered in her ear. “If you tell her how you feel now, your words will reach her. I promise you that... Be brave.”
“Allen...” Charlotte looked timidly from Allen to Natalia, then braced herself. By her own will, she took a step forward and looked into her sister’s eyes. “U-Um...Natalia. I...” She clenched her fists and went on, her eyes locked on her sister, “I’m sure I’ve caused a lot of trouble for you. So for a long time...I’ve wanted to apologize to you—”
“Are you really...?” Natalia cut her off and clung to Charlotte’s arms. She looked into Charlotte’s face with wild eyes and cried out in a trembling voice, “Are you...really my sister?! Isn’t this just Professor Allen’s illusion?”
“You could certainly see through it if it was,” Allen said with a gentle smile. “If you still have doubts, you can ask her something only your sister would know. An illusion of my creation wouldn’t be able to answer that.”
“Th-Then...um, the picture book she used to read to me often when I was little... What was it about...?” Natalia asked.
“Um, you mean the one about the zoo,” Charlotte answered slowly, with a sad smile.
Natalia’s shoulders shook as if she was hit by lightning.
“It was about children going to the zoo,” Charlotte continued. “My mother used to read it to me when she was still alive...so I brought it with me to the Duke’s Estate, but at some point, it disappeared. I assumed they threw it away... N-Natalia?”
Natalia started weeping, crumpling to the ground. She was too overwhelmed to cover her face or wipe her tears away. With fumbling fingers, she struggled to open the locks of the trunk at her feet. Inside the case was something wrapped round and round in a soft, velvety cloth. She hastily unwrapped it. “H-Here...look at this...!”
“That’s...!”
The last fold of the cloth dropped, revealing a faded picture book, with a cartoonish illustration of children playing with magical beasts on the cover. The cover and the fore edge had some wear and tear, but otherwise, there was no clear damage. It was obvious that Natalia had been treating it with great care. Natalia timidly held it out to Charlotte.
“I found it when they were throwing it out, and I kept it hidden... I knew it was a precious book for you, with memories of your mother...” Natalia confessed as she choked on her sobs, screwing up her face. “I...I wanted to give it back to you for so long...! And I just...wished...you could read it to me...just one more time!”
“Oh, Natalia!” Charlotte pulled her sister into a tight embrace, along with the picture book. Round-eyed, Natalia buried her face in Charlotte’s chest. She threw her arms around her older sister.
“I’m so sorry, dear sister! I’m sorry I couldn’t help you...! I’m sorry!” Natalia burst out.
“Me too, Natalia...I’m sorry I left you all alone!”
The sisters hugged each other close, weeping together. Allen laid a gentle hand on both their shoulders, watching over them quietly.
“So happy for you, Natalia...!” Chris murmured, his eyes welling up.
“Not sure what’s happening...but it’s so touching.” Though confused, Chris’s gang was also moved to tears by the mood of the moment.
“What a lovely grand finale,” Harvey remarked with a tender smile.
Eventually, Natalia stopped crying and lifted her tear-stained face. “But how did you get here, dear sister...?”
“Well...” When Charlotte explained what happened, Natalia looked at Allen with wide eyes.
“I-Is that really true, Professor Allen? You...you saved my sister?”
“It’s not such a big deal,” Allen said with a shrug.
Natalia stared at him open-mouthed for some moments, then she turned to face him and gave a deep bow. “Thank you so much, Professor Allen. You’ve really...done so much for us.”
“Well...weren’t you going to get whoever’s confining your sister and tear them into pieces?” Allen asked.
“Of course not anymore. Just from looking at my sister, I can tell how much you’ve protected her and how well you’ve treated her. You were just waiting until it was safe for us to see each other, weren’t you?” Natalia shook her head with a wry smile, then looked up at him with a soft smile. “I’m glad I met you. Thank you for everything.”
“Natalia...” Unusually for him, Allen was struck speechless by her honest, straightforward words and smile. He was truly glad that the sisters could finally meet again. He was savoring the moment...but it was short-lived.
“Oh, that’s right.” Charlotte wiped her eyes as something suddenly occurred to her. “I have to introduce Allen to you properly.” She gestured to Allen with a bright smile and uttered a few simple words that might as well have been his death sentence. “This is Allen. He’s my rescuer and...now he’s someone special to me.”
All emotion vanished from Natalia’s face in an instant. “What?”
Allen’s heart shrank at the sight of her completely vacant expression. Oh. This is bad. This is really, really bad. He felt the swift approach of death and tried to cut off Charlotte’s words. “Ch-Charlotte. Why don’t you leave that talk for another time—”
“No, let’s hear it,” Natalia interrupted, her face still frighteningly blank. “What did you mean by that, dear sister?”
“Oh...um, well...things happened, and...” Charlotte blushed and looked down shyly.
She’s adorable. I can’t believe how cute she is, Allen thought, but he didn’t have the chance to enjoy her adorableness for long. What Charlotte said next became the opening shot of the battle.
“Actually...I’m in a relationship with Allen now—”
“HOW DARE YOU!!!”
BAAAANG!
“Whoa?!”
Natalia flung herself at Allen with demonic fury and dealt out an attack spell at the same time. She brandished a sword and a spear woven out of magic, one in each hand. The glow of magic fortifying her physical strength radiated from her body as she swung her weapons at Allen relentlessly. Her thrusts were as fast as the speed of sound, but Allen managed to block each of her attacks by a hair’s breadth, guarding himself with a magic barrier that he formed in a split second. Cold sweat trailed down his back as he grumbled under his breath with a distant look in his eyes. “I knew this was coming...”
Natalia loved her older sister more than anyone else. In other words, she had an extreme case of sister complex. It was painfully obvious how a girl like that would react to the announcement that he was going out with her sister. What was more, their particular situation made it seem like he’d taken in Charlotte with ulterior motives. Perhaps because of that, Natalia’s hostility was about thirty times more ferocious than he’d expected.
From the other side of the barrier, Natalia shouted in a thunderous roar. “You scum... What do you think you’re doing to my dear sister, huh?! Is that what you were after when you took her in?! You’re filthy! Pervert! Dirtbag!!!”
“Wait, just wait a second, you’ll see if you listen! Charlotte and I have an extremely pure relationship, if I do say so myself, and—”
“Enough talk! I’m going to kill you right here and now! Tear you into pieces? That’s way too soft! I’ll destroy every inch of you, down to the last scrap of flesh!”
“Crap...! Fine, I have no choice but to take you on!” Allen replied, standing his ground. “I’ll defeat you...and make you approve of our relationship!”
“Bring it on, you rotten, filthy wizard! I won’t hand over my dear sister to a dirty rat like you!!!”
The two charged at each other, and the tremendous clashes of swords and explosions reverberated through the air.
“Wh...What happened?! A-Allen?! Natalia?! Why?! Please! Someone stop them!” Charlotte panicked, but the rest looked at each other with grave faces.
After a pause, Harvey spoke up with a half smile. “Well...I think we should let it run its course—they better get it all out of their system.”
“Agreed,” Gosetsu said. “Come, Lady Charlotte. Let us all go and have something nice to eat.”
“Aha, you know what you’re talking about, Gosetsu,” Harvey added. “How about we all go to my favorite restaurant? Their seafood is superb. I’ll call over Lizzie and Eluka, and we’ll have a family night out.”
“Woo-hoo! I feel like some good fish,” Roo joined in.
“Oh, u-um...should we really leave them like that?! Are you sure?!” Charlotte said, still flustered.
“What do we do...?” Natalia’s gang started their own discussion with an uneasy laugh. “We better keep out of it, or we’ll be in deep trouble... Let’s go hang out at the cafeteria. Wanna come with us, you guys?” They turned to Chris and his followers.
“Fine. I’ll treat you to make up for the mess I’ve caused,” Chris assented.
None of them knew what else to do, so the group simply left the two to their mortal combat.
The war between the younger sister and the suitor raged on until Natalia got sleepy that night and snuggled into bed with Charlotte, then recommenced after breakfast...and so they were mired in battle for a total of three days, leaving behind yet another legend to be passed down at the Athena School of Magic.