I, Izayoi Sakamaki, Joined the Chat Group at the Start – Chapter 255

Izayoi Sakamaki waited until the group members had settled down before asking again.

"@Tokisaki Kurumi, how are things over there? Do you need us to come over?"

Tokisaki Kurumi immediately replied.

"No problem! I’ve already helped Anna take the Phoenix Tail Feather. Mother and child will definitely be safe!"

The group members still with Izayoi Sakamaki instinctively looked toward Chloe.

Under Aizen Sōsuke’s Kyōka Suigetsu, the Hounds of Tindalos, supposedly a Spacetime manipulator, was as obedient as a little lapdog.

Now, there was nothing embarrassing about Tokisaki Kurumi being controlled in a single exchange.

After all, the Hounds of Tindalos had been caught by Kyōka Suigetsu in the blink of an eye.

It had not even been able to resist.

Still, Tokisaki Kurumi and Akemi Homura had tried to alter history.

Izayoi Sakamaki had also provided such a precious item as the Phoenix Tail Feather.

Surely Chloe’s mother, Aina, would soon appear by her side?

But when they looked at Chloe expectantly, hoping to see an unfamiliar yet larger Hounds of Tindalos beside her—

They saw only emptiness.

"…"

Silence.

Silence was Cambridge today.

Everyone instinctively looked at Izayoi Sakamaki.

All they saw was his calm expression.

A stillness like stagnant water.

Everyone gradually realized something and fell silent as well.

Only Tokisaki Kurumi continued asking excitedly in the Chat Group.

"How is it? Did Anna make it over?"

"Is she a little too old?"

"But for Hounds of Tindalos, this amount of time shouldn’t mean much, right?"

The group members remained silent.

Only Tokisaki Kurumi was deceiving herself.

Izayoi Sakamaki decided to be the one to wake her from her dream.

Slowly, word by word, he said,

"Anna did not appear."

After a while, Tokisaki Kurumi spoke again.

"Why?"

Izayoi Sakamaki: "Because Anna may not have consumed the Phoenix Feather herself."

Tokisaki Kurumi immediately refuted him. "Impossible! I fed it to her myself, precisely to prevent anything from happening!"

Izayoi Sakamaki: "Let’s make a bold guess. What do you think happened to the child still in her mother’s womb?"

Tokisaki Kurumi: "…"

Akemi Homura: "You mean that after Anna swallowed the feather, she did not choose to use it for herself."

"She gave it to her child?"

Izayoi Sakamaki: "Yes. And by the way, the Anna before you should be a projection from her own time."

Tokisaki Kurumi: "…How do you know?"

Izayoi Sakamaki looked at the tearful Hounds of Tindalos before him and silently sighed.

"Because she has already arrived."

Although, with the Hounds of Tindalos ensuring their passage through time, along with the influence of the Ishtar people, Anna should not have been able to find them.

But maternal love was truly a miraculous thing.

It had crossed every obstacle and brought a mother before her child.

Izayoi Sakamaki looked at the utterly bedraggled Hounds of Tindalos before him and remained silent for a long while.

Then he smiled.

"I’ve heard much about you, Anna."

Anna took a deep breath. Rather than speaking first, she cautiously scanned her surroundings.

The instant she saw Chloe, her gaze softened.

Ignoring the blood-soaked fur on her body, she leaned against Chloe and gently smoothed her fur.

For some reason, the scene looked exceptionally warm.

No one spoke.

Even Aizen Sōsuke, who had come from Soul Society and had once been a wandering ghost, was filled with unfamiliar emotions.

After a long while, Anna slowly rose, dragged herself before Izayoi Sakamaki, and bowed deeply.

"Thank you, kind sir."

"Without you, I would never have been able to see what Chloe looked like after growing up."

Ambush and Annihilation

Izayoi Sakamaki replied, "Don’t thank me."

"I couldn’t even save you…"

Anna immediately shook her head. "It isn’t your fault."

"I have to give my child a chance to live."

"My own fate was actually decided long ago."

"Fate cannot be changed."

Izayoi Sakamaki clenched his fists.

"Of course fate can be changed!"

"Even such an unpredictable fate leaves traces to follow, doesn’t it?"

"Why say it cannot be changed?!"

Anna smiled tiredly. "We Hounds of Tindalos are the race closest to fate."

"No one knows how painful and helpless it is to stare directly at fate."

"But it’s all right. I have long prepared myself to face my own death."

After a pause, Anna continued.

"So let me leave with those Ishtar people."

Tokisaki Kurumi and Akemi Homura, who had rushed back, heard those words the moment they arrived.

Both were instantly shocked and furious.

"Are you crazy?!"

"Don’t… don’t treat your own life like a joke!"

Anna fell silent for a moment before speaking resolutely.

"My departure with these Ishtar people may lead to certain uncontrollable consequences."

"But it will benefit my child, my Chloe."

"It may even benefit our race."

"So this is something I can do."

"Or rather, something I must do!"

"I know that you two are both good children."

"It’s just that I also have a little… selfish wish of my own, children."

"For my race and my child, I can fight for a future."

"I’m sure your mothers were the same."

Tokisaki Kurumi really wanted to say, "I don’t have a mother."

All Elves were born from the progenitor of Elves!

But after seeing Akemi Homura’s expression, she decided not to speak.

Because Akemi Homura truly looked as though she was about to cry.

She only ever showed such an expression when something related to Little Madoka was involved.

Yet this time, Akemi Homura had very unusually not thought of Little Madoka.

She thought of her father and mother, who had already become blurry in her memories.

That had been many, many years ago.

Back when Akemi Homura had not yet become a magical girl.

She had been frail and sickly, barely even able to leave her hospital room.

Her parents had rarely been by her side.

To pay for her exorbitant medical expenses, they traveled everywhere, desperately earning money.

All so she could live.

Only after becoming a magical girl did Akemi Homura’s life begin to improve.

She used that jewel to cure her illness, improve her constitution,

and even fix her nearsightedness.

Perhaps because her parents had not been there for her throughout her childhood,

Akemi Homura had become deeply attached to the kindness and tenderness Kaname Madoka had shown her.

To hold on to that rare warmth, she had gone through hundreds of loops.

All to protect Little Madoka.

And to protect the rare love she had felt within her heart.

And now, the feeling Akemi Homura had clung to for so many years had suddenly appeared before her.

The one being loved had not even felt any of it.

Yet they could see that profound love.

After remaining silent for a while, Izayoi Sakamaki suddenly spoke.

"Tell me what you’re thinking."

Anna looked at him in surprise.

She had originally thought she would never be able to persuade these people to hand the Ishtar people over to her.

After all, what she intended to do was essentially walk into death.

Yet these people did not seem to want her to die.

The adult leading them seemed to have relented!