CHAPTER 238: HE SAW HER FINALLY BUT... : PART-2

But to their surprise, Leo wasn’t stopping.

He kept running, sprinting straight through the finish line without slowing down. His momentum carried him far beyond the track as he zoomed toward the crowd and darted past the cheering students.

"Where is he going?" Azrael frowned, leaning forward.

"I don’t know..." Raphael blinked, confusion mixing with concern.

"Maybe his bladder blasted?" Ophis mumbled through Raphael’s hand, muffled but audible enough to make both adults look at her strangely. Then, realizing her words might actually make sense, they slowly nodded.

However, Leo’s reason was far from what they imagined.

He dashed past the sports field, ignoring the echoes of cheers behind him. His lungs burned, but his heart pounded for a different reason.

He turned around the corner of the main building and reached the back side of the school grounds—quiet, empty... Only the gentle breeze moved the leaves.

And there she stood.

Sakura.

Her purple hair swayed softly under the sunlight that was slowly lowering, her back facing him.

Leo stopped abruptly, his breath catching. "Sakura?" he called out, his voice trembling as he took a cautious step forward.

"D-Don’t."

The sound of her voice stopped him in place. It was wet, trembling, breaking apart with emotion, like she had been holding tears for too long.

"Sakura... are you alright?" he asked quietly, his voice shaking as he tried to approach her again.

"P-Please don’t step forward... otherwise I’ll leave," she whispered, still refusing to turn around.

Leo froze mid-step, his heartbeat hammering painfully. "What are you talking about? I was trying to reach—"

Before he could finish, Sakura spoke again, her tone fragile and cracking.

"P-Please don’t say anything... The more I hear your voice... the more it’s making me w-want you... s-so please stop." Her shoulders trembled, her back still facing him, fingers gripping her skirt as though to stop herself from turning around.

"Sakura..." Leo’s voice faltered. He was utterly lost, unable to understand what she meant. His words scattered in the wind like dust... His heart wanted to rush forward, to hold her, to demand why she looked so broken.

Sakura continued, her voice breaking further, trembling like a candle in stormlight.

"I-I understand that my family h-hurt you, and... and I didn’t have the power to stop it. I-I should have spoken for you. I should have shouted for you.

Y-Yet I stayed silent... just watching you being humiliated.

I... I lost as a girlfriend. Even if it was my parents... I lost you there!!"

Leo blinked, shaking his head slowly. "I don’t car—" He tried to step closer, desperate to reach her, but—

"NO! Stop! Don’t make it harder for me!!" Sakura cried, her voice piercing the quiet, echoing off the walls. She clutched her chest, trembling like her heart itself was cracking open.

"I... I..." she gasped, "No, you have every right to ignore me... and... and... to take a woman who accepts who you are.

I-I’m utterly powerless. I... I should have known what Valra meant that day... I should have... known My father would never accept you."

Leo’s lips parted, but no words came out. Deep down, he knew she was right. Her father would never accept someone like him... a boy with no name, no power, no noble blood.

But still—

"I would try my best to—"

"Keep up my father’s expectations?" she finished for him, finally turning around.

Leo’s heart skipped a beat. Her eyes were red and swollen, her cheeks wet with tears. The wind tugged gently at her purple hair as she shook her head weakly.

The sorrow in her gaze cut through him deeper than any wound could.

He had faced monsters—but not this. Not the pain of seeing the woman he loved breaking herself to protect him.

"No," Sakura whispered, her voice breaking as she looked at him.

"This is on me... I made my choice. The last seven days without you... I finally understood what it means to live without you. Your voice... your warmth... your love..." Her breath shuddered as her lips quivered, her hands trembling at her sides.

"I understand now, Seni-Leo."

"This Sakura... is hopelessly in love with you," she muttered with a broken expression, her voice shaking as tears blurred her sight.

"And in order to have it, I need to face my father... not you facing it for me.

It’s my love, and I have to prove it... not the man who... who I forced to love me."

Leo shook his head instantly, his throat tightening. "No, no, I told you... it’s fine... and no, you didn’t force me—"

"Don’t lie, Senior..." Sakura’s voice cracked,

"You know I kept forcing my love on you. I wanted you to see me, even if it meant twisting your feelings.

I pushed you again and again, trying to make you fall for me. I was desperate... kept lying and lying again... like bitch in heat... arrhh!!!

I was selfish... and now, this—" she swallowed hard, trembling— "this is karma for me."

Leo blinked, "I... I don’t get it. What do you mean?"

Sakura’s face twisted with sorrow. Her lips trembled as she whispered,

"No... I wasn’t your girlfriend before you lost your memories." Her voice broke completely.

"I lied!"

Leo froze. His heart skipped... For a second, the wind itself stopped moving. The world went silent.

Sakura smiled faintly, a fragile, broken smile that barely held itself together.

"My choices brought you wounds... I caused your pain. That time when you walked away, saying nothing... I... I still remember it, Senior. Every look you gave me, every word you didn’t say... they burn in me.

This Sakura... will forever remember it."

Leo stood motionless, lost in a storm of thoughts. His heartbeat hurt... His breaths felt heavy, broken.

The world around him blurred.

What’s going on here?

So confused and lost... Was all of it just a lie?

Sakura nodded slowly, her voice barely a whisper. "I will be leaving, Senior..."

"H-Huh?" His voice cracked, his body instinctively taking a step forward. "Leaving?"

Sakura raised her trembling hand, pointing toward the open sky before clenching it near her heart.

"When I get my life back... when I get my freedom..." her words shook like falling glass,

"...T-This Sakura will come for you again.

T-This Sakura will not let you face any more h-humiliation.

This is my promise... and my p-punishment."

Her face weakened, her tears shining like crystals under the fading sunlight.

"So if you still love me... would you accept this lying and manipulative woman?"

Leo blinked rapidly, his eyes burning, his mind spiralling in chaos. His heart screamed to reach for her, but his body wouldn’t move.

Too much emotion... everything tangled together like fire and water in his chest. His voice cracked as he tried to form words.

"F-First listen to me—"

"LEO!!"

Leo flinched, twisting around. A group of students was running toward him, their shouts echoing across the empty ground.

He turned again—

But the space before him was empty.

Gone.

Only the quiet breeze lingered where Sakura had been standing. The wind moved her scent faintly across the air... sweet, distant, fading!

"Sakura...?" Leo muttered softly, his voice breaking, eyes wide and hollow.

The students reached him, cheering, laughing, their hands pulling him upward, lifting him high into the air like a hero. Their voices thundered in joy, but Leo didn’t hear any of it. His mind stayed frozen on that one moment... the trembling voice, the tears, the confession that shattered everything he thought was real.

He smiled weakly for them, but his heart refused to smile with him.

As the crowd carried him away, Leo’s gaze drifted toward the empty space once more. The world cheered his victory, yet inside him, there was only the echo of a name carried by the wind.

Sakura.