(Erika Hemut – POV)
Welp.
Fiona was right.
I crouched behind a trees and bushes, chewing the stick because I'd run out of patience and snacks. Across the riverbank, Yuuta and Fiona were sitting way too close for "just friends."
So yeah.
They were definitely dating.
I narrowed my eyes. "Hmph. Guess she wasn't bluffing after all."
Honestly, I was kind of bored. Watching people flirt wasn't exactly my idea of fun.
I missed Big Sis…Erza.
She had a way of making everything ten times cooler. Now she just ditched me here to spy while she ran towards stage.
"Unbelievable," I muttered. "She gets the dramatic storm-cloud jealous moment and I get stuck with emotional eavesdropping duty."
I huffed and pulled out my phone. "Maybe I should just tell Chief about Erza. So that I can recruit her…"
Then my phone buzzed violently, nearly jumping out of my hand.
I groaned. "Ugh, what now?"
I picked up and barked, "What the fuck do you want?"
A calm, cold voice answered, "Erika. It's me."
I rolled my eyes. "What do you mean 'me'? Did your parents forget to name you or something, bitch?"
"…You idiot, it's your Chief."
Oh shit.
I nearly choked. "C-Chief?! I–I mean! Wow, fancy hearing from you! How's the weather down there in Scary Lady City?"
"You've got a long tongue, huh?" she said, flatly. "Want me to cut it short for you?"
"N-No! It's not like that, I swear! I've just been getting scam calls all day. loan offers. Real sketchy."
There was a pause. I swear I heard her sigh through gritted teeth.
"Get to base. Now. We found traces of Allen's aura. Possible demonic contamination. We need your help."
"On it," I snapped to attention. "I'll be there in fifteen."
She hung up.
I stared at my screen for a second. Then groaned.
"Great. Guess I won't even get to say goodbye to Big Sis…"
I stood up and glanced back at Fiona and Yuuta one last time. They were still there, caught in some weird emotional moment. Elena curled between them like a sleeping marshmallow.
I shook my head.
"Look like you were right, Fiona…" I muttered, zipping my jacket and turning away. "He really is your guy."
And with that, I disappeared into the festival crowd—leaving the sugar, secrets, and stalker sisters behind.
(Yuuta's POV)
Elena lay peacefully on Fiona's lap, completely at ease. Her tiny hands curled up like she was holding a dream. Watching her like this, I couldn't help but smile.
"She really looks like Erza…" I murmured. "I just hope she doesn't inherit that awful temper."
Fiona chuckled softly, running her hand through Elena's hair. "She must be exhausted, right, Yuuta?"
"Of course she is," I said. "She's a full-blown energy bomb when she's awake, but when she sleeps? It's like a tiny panda passed out after causing chaos."
Fiona laughed. "You sound like a real dad already."
I shrugged with a grin. "Well, I kind of am now."
But then, her smile faded. Her eyes dropped to Elena, and the mood shifted.
"Yuuta," she said quietly. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you."
I turned toward her, a bit concerned. "If something's bothering you, just say it."
She hesitated for a moment… and then said it.
"I'm sorry."
That caught me off guard. "Huh? Sorry for what?"
She looked away. "For stalking you. All these years."
I blinked. "Wait, what?"
I laughed awkwardly, thinking she was joking. "Come on, Fiona. If anyone's the stalker here, it was me. I was the one always watching you at school, in college… trying not to get caught."
She smiled faintly, but it didn't reach her eyes.
"You really didn't notice, did you?" she said. "Did you ever wonder why we kept ending up in the same schools, the same classes—even though we came from different districts, different systems?"
I froze. "You're saying… that wasn't coincidence?"
She nodded. "I was assigned. Or rather, I volunteered. To observe you."
I stared at her. "Why?"
She looked at me seriously now. "Because of your aura."
"…My aura?" I repeated, baffled. "Like… Dragon Ball Z aura? Are you messing with me?"
Fiona rolled her eyes. "Idiot. No. This isn't some anime gag."
She sat up straighter, her tone serious. "Aura is real, Yuuta. Not flashy colors or fighting power levels. It's something every living being has—like breath, or heartbeat. Aura is presence. It's instinct."
I didn't say anything. I let her keep talking.
"Most people can't see it," she said softly. "But I can. Always have. Since I was a kid."
She glanced down at Elena for a second, then back at me. Her voice had taken on a strange calmness—like someone reciting something they've carried for years.
"My father called it a gift. And he used it. Took me on missions… dangerous ones. He'd say, 'You read the room, Fiona. You read them, before they read you.' So I learned. I learned to see aura the way people read body language."
She paused, her eyes scanning mine as if looking through me.
"Happy people… they shine a little brighter. Angry ones? They push out this sharp, almost painful pressure. Scared people shrink, their aura tightens in. It's subtle—but it's always there."
Then her voice dropped lower.
"But killers?" She swallowed. "Murderers… their aura doesn't just change. It absorbs the fear, the pain, the final moments of the people they've hurt. It's like something gets stained into them. Heavier. Hungrier. And when you see it… everything in your instincts screams the same thing—stay away."
I swallowed hard. "Okay, but… what does that have to do with me?"
She hesitated again, then said:
"Your aura is always active. Not pulsing or flaring—emitting. Constantly. Like a storm with no center. If someone had to read it blindly, they'd think… you'd taken millions of lives."
I stared at her.
"…That's not possible."
"I know. That's why I didn't believe it either. That's why I watched you. To see if it was a mistake."
I looked down at my hands. "I've never… I can't even kill a mosquito without flinching."
"I believe you," she said softly. "But your aura doesn't match your actions. It's like something ancient is wrapped around your soul… something waiting."
"…You're telling me humanity just… figured all this out?" I asked, my voice quiet but tense. "This concept of aura—like it's normal?"
"Not all of humanity," she replied. "Only a few. Cults, secret factions, gifted children like me. Most people don't even know it exists. But in the world behind the curtains, aura is everything."
I shook my head. "No. This doesn't make sense. Why would I have that kind of aura? I'm just a guy who got caught up in dragon business because of Erza and Elena. That's all."
She looked at Elena, still asleep.
"…Maybe that's what you were told. But something about you, Yuuta… it's not ordinary. You were born with this. You're not just 'caught up.' You're part of it."
It didn't make sense.
Aura? Me?
I stared at the river, its quiet ripples completely at odds with the storm building in my chest.
"I'm just… a normal guy," I said slowly, my voice barely audible. "I'm not some chosen warrior or reincarnated guy.
Fiona didn't respond right away. She just kept gently brushing Elena's hair with her fingers. Then she looked at me—seriously, gently.
"It's hard to explain. But you did have it, Yuuta. Back when I first saw you… your aura was pulsing. Unnatural. Constant. That's not normal, not even for mages or fighters. It was like… like a dormant engine revving under your skin."
I laughed weakly. "And Erza? She's the strongest being alive. Wouldn't she have noticed?"
Fiona shook her head. "That's the thing. Erza's strength is so overwhelming that she doesn't feel threatened by almost anything. She might not even see auras the way I do. To her, your presence was like… an ant's breath on a lion's fur."
I blinked. "Ouch."
"Don't take it personally. It's not that your aura was weak—far from it. It was powerful. But compared to a full-blooded dragon? The scale is different."
I thought back. "When she lost control at the port… the way the air cracked around her…"
Fiona nodded. "That was her aura. Even on a low-magic planet, she could've shattered continents if she'd wanted to. That's the difference."
I ran a hand through my hair, exhaling. "So… what now? Do I still have this aura or what?"
She hesitated. "It's fading. It's been slowly dimming ever since we entered our late teens. I think by the time you're thirty or forty, it'll be gone completely."
"So… it's like a phase?" I snorted. "Great. First acne, now accidental warlord aura."
Fiona smiled softly, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Even if you lose it… I'll still protect you. Always, since you look like my little brother."
Just kidding."
Something about her words settled deep in my chest. And then, just as quickly, something cracked.
It started as a sting behind my eyes—like a sharp flash of light after staring into the dark for too long. Then came the pounding. Like someone was hammering inside my skull, trying to break their way out.
I gasped, instinctively reaching for my head.
"What the hell—?!"
My knees buckled. The world spun. I stumbled forward, barely catching myself on the bench. Fiona's hand flew out, but I couldn't focus. My vision blurred—twisting, warping. And then… the images came.
A girl. She wasn't familiar—at least, not in the way memory usually works. Her face was half-hidden in shadows, but her voice was piercingly clear.
"I won't let you die… because you're my brother."
I froze.
Brother?
More flashes—too fast, too jarring to understand. A battlefield. A tear-streaked face. Her hands outstretched. Her ears were long, almost elven. But not human. Not dragon. Something in between.
"Don't worry. I'll protect you."
"No—stop—!" I shouted, the voice in my head clashing with my own. My hands gripped my temples like I could physically hold my brain together. "Who are you?! What is this?!"
The pain kept coming. Like something inside me had been locked away for years, and now it was clawing to the surface.
"Your are brave so your name…"
I wanted it to stop. I needed it to stop.
"YUUTA!"
Fiona's voice cut through the chaos like a sword through fog. I opened my eyes. Everything was still spinning, but I could see her—right in front of me, holding my shoulders.
"Breathe," she said firmly. "Just breathe. Look at me."
I forced myself to breathe. In. Out. Slowly. I was shaking. My body felt like it had run a marathon while my mind was still stuck in some foreign dream.
And then…
A tiny voice behind us stirred.
"Papa…?"
I turned.
Elena was sitting up in Fiona's lap, rubbing her eyes, her expression filled with worry.
"Papa… why are you crying?"
I closed my eye barely able to keep my eye open pain took over me, I closed my eyes surrounded by Darkness.
In the drifting darkness…
I felt it.
A warmth.
A familiar scent of fire and roses.
And then—arms.
Soft, yet strong…
Wrapping around me.
When I opened my eyes halfway, I saw her.
Erza.
She held me close like I was something fragile.
Like I might disappear if she let go.
Her voice was a gentle whisper, softer than I ever remembered.
"Take a nap… It's okay. We're here."
I stared at her.
Her eyes weren't fierce like before.
They were filled with something else—
Worry. Regret.
A quiet, breaking love.
She gently patted my head, the way she used to when I couldn't sleep…
And just like that—
I gave in.
The heaviness in my chest dissolved into her embrace.
Her warmth pulled me under like a lullaby I never wanted to wake from.
Sleep took me.
And everything else faded away.
To be continued…