"Whew~" Li Xuan picked up the steaming cup in front of him, gently blew on the wisps of white steam rising from it, and slowly took a sip of the milk tea that exuded a rich, milky aroma.
"..." The hot milk tea, fragrant from the moment it entered his mouth, flowed down his throat and into his stomach. Li Xuan couldn't help but squint his eyes as he looked at the azure sky outside the window... It had been a long time since he had properly enjoyed a warm cup of milk tea.
"Ahem..." Murata Himeko, sitting opposite Li Xuan, coughed lightly, pulling Li Xuan back from his blissful state.
"Um... well... Li Xuan, may I ask how the Stigmata on my back appeared... and how my poison was cured?" Theresa sat primly on the small sofa and asked seriously.
"About that..." Li Xuan casually put down his teacup, a trace of gloom flashing in his eyes. He looked at Theresa with a complicated gaze. If it weren't for saving Theresa, Sakura wouldn't have...
"Theresa Apocalypse." Li Xuan looked at Theresa and said softly. "The person who saved you is my friend... You must remember her name..."
"Hey, hey~ kid, Theresa is your future principal, after all. Aren't you afraid she'll give you a hard time for calling her by her name so directly?" Murata Himeko reminded him with great interest.
"I just hope she can remember it firmly... after all," Li Xuan turned his head to Murata Himeko and said, "my friend sacrificed her own life to save Theresa..."
"..." Murata Himeko was speechless, or rather, even a little impressed...
"I don't know why she went to save you... but it's a fact that she sacrificed herself to save you. Your Stigmata was probably given to you by her... and she was the one who cured your poison..."
"Her name is—'Yae Sakura'..." Li Xuan said his lover's name, word by word.
"......" Theresa, who had been listening intently to Li Xuan's words, suddenly froze upon hearing this name. Her mind went blank, and it seemed as if some fleeting images flashed before her eyes, and an indistinct buzzing sounded in her ears.
"Principal Theresa... Theresa... Theresa!!" It wasn't until Murata Himeko's sudden shout that the dazed Theresa snapped back to her senses, looking blankly at the anxious Murata Himeko who had moved closer to her.
"What's wrong?... You big idiot Himeko, don't get so close!" Theresa felt Himeko's warm breath on her face and uncomfortably pushed away the face that was so close to hers.
"You're okay?! You were just staring blankly for a full half-minute, like you were possessed!" Himeko said, looking at Theresa with concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine... Strange..." Theresa raised her small, jade-like hand and touched her cheek, seeing the water droplets on it. "Why am I crying?..." Theresa said in surprise, discovering that her face was covered in tears.
"Could it be memories from the Stigmata?..." Himeko speculated. She had heard before that Stigmata were also a form of memory inheritance.
"But... according to what you said, Stigmata can be transferred to others?" Himeko frowned and suddenly said to the calm-looking Li Xuan.
"Stigmata..." Li Xuan looked down at the snow-white bandage wrapped around his right hand and said, "I don't know... I don't know how Sakura gave the Stigmata to Theresa... I didn't see it at the time." Li Xuan spouted nonsense with a straight face. He couldn't possibly say that Sakura was actually a 'Pseudo-Herrscher' who had formed a 'Herrscher Core', could he?!...
After all... the word 'Herrscher' in people's minds definitely represented destruction... in any case, it wasn't a good image...
"By the way... Li Xuan-kun, what is your Stigmata?..." Theresa, having wiped the tears from her face, suddenly asked Li Xuan.
"This... I've named it the 'Two Principles, Four Symbols' Stigmata..." Li Xuan raised his hand, and a flame suddenly appeared at his fingertip, burning quietly. Even though Theresa and Himeko weren't very close to Li Xuan, they could still feel the scorching heat coming from his hand.
"I can use four types of abilities..." Li Xuan said as he played with the ping-pong ball-sized flame in his hand, under the rather worried gazes of the two.
"Ahem... alright, alright... Li Xuan-kun, please put out the fire for now..." Theresa said, her heart pounding. If this flame were to accidentally fall on or burn a stool or chair... that would be another huge repair bill! The thought of this made Principal Theresa feel a pang of pain.
"Oh..." Li Xuan extinguished the 'Vermilion Bird Flame' in his hand. He couldn't use the flame for too long either... the Honkai energy consumption was simply terrifying. In just that short while, he had lost one-third of the Honkai energy in his body...
"Knock knock!" At this moment, a knock came from outside Theresa's private room on the 'Hyperion'. "Principal Theresa... we are about to arrive at St. Freya High School."
"Got it!" Theresa replied loudly to Adjutant Yuudachi who was reminding her from outside the door. She turned around and said to Li Xuan with a smile, "Welcome to the only academy in the world that trains warriors to fight against the Honkai."
"This is... St. Freya High School!" She stood up and pointed at the slowly moving scenery outside the window. Layers of white clouds drifted past the window. Li Xuan could clearly feel the warship descending through the cloud layer. The next moment, through the tempered glass, a vast, dream-like academy appeared in Li Xuan's eyes.
It was as if the gates to a new world had been thrown open...
"Let's go." Theresa stood up and said to Li Xuan. The Far East Branch was about to welcome a student with a Stigmata...
"Mm..." Li Xuan returned to his senses from his shock and took a step towards the door...
"By the way... Theresa, what's the name of the new Stigmata on your body?" Murata Himeko, who was beside her, suddenly pulled Theresa aside and asked softly.
"That..." Theresa was in a bit of a pickle... She wasn't very good at naming things... Maybe just call it Three Magatama or something? Theresa thought.
"How about... 'Higanbana Sakura'." Li Xuan, who had overheard Himeko and Theresa's conversation, suddenly stopped and said with a smile.
Perhaps it was the strong wind from the descending warship that stirred the dense forest below... Green leaves fluttered in the airflow, and a single, unknown crimson petal fleetingly brushed past the window.
(End of this chapter)