【Future Sight】Saving Tragic Beautiful Girls and Making Them Obsessively Fall for Me 〜I Selfishly “Helped” the Witches Who Were Gonna Destroy the World Just to Train My Martial Arts, and Now They’re All Dripping with Obsession and Worshipping Me〜

Chapter 15

“—I wasn’t originally from the slums… actually, I’m not even from the royal capital.”

When she said that, I kind of nodded to myself.

I’d always felt like Sakurako had a different vibe from the other girls at the brothel. She had this… refined air, like the noble visitors who sometimes came to our family’s trading house.

Sakurako spoke as if confirming my guess.

“I was born in a country far to the east of here. My family was part of the warrior class… basically nobles who kept their own private soldiers.”

Makes sense. That explains a lot.

“I did notice your movements never quite matched someone who grew up here. Even when we talked, you seemed more educated than a merchant’s son like me. So that was the reason.”

“Yes. Skills that aren’t needed to survive in the slums… though I couldn’t exactly say they were useless.”

She gave a small, self-mocking smile.

I figured she must feel something about being high-born but living in a foreign slum. Still, what I really wanted to know was—

“Why would a noble from another country end up in the slums of the royal capital? Did you flee because of some family succession fight?”

“You’re not far off. …In my homeland, women basically never inherit the family headship. But the Yanagi house I was born into had a special role different from the others.”

“Role?”

“Yes. A duty passed down with many strict rules. Long ago, the Yanagi family oversaw rituals at the imperial court. Their mission was—the sealing of the disaster known as the Nine-Tailed Fox.”

…Sealing a disaster! So that’s how it connects to “witches”…!

“Yes. I can tell from your face what you want to say. The ‘witches’ you warned me about earlier—the ones that will destroy the world… their true identity is probably this very disaster sealed in the blood of the Yanagi line. It’s also the cursed family burden that got me and my mother chased out of our country—”

“…Hey. Do you realize? Right now, thick witch miasma is pouring off your body. If you keep going like this, you’ll awaken as a witch pretty soon.”

“I see…”

What kind of feeling was that? All I could sense was deep resignation mixed with something reckless… a death wish? Either way, it wasn’t a good sign.

“…Hehe. It’s funny.”

“Hm? What is?”

“Because, right? Life is so unpredictable. I had resolved to spend the rest of my life selling this body to repay Makina and everyone who took me in… And yet here I am—”

She was smiling, but it didn’t look happy at all… instead, her face was painted with nothing but deep despair and sadness. She, who had avoided meeting my eyes the whole time, finally looked straight at me and said,

“—Just because one boy saw me in my filthy state, I ended up wanting to die from the bottom of my heart.”

Sakurako said that with the most fragile, teary-eyed smile I’d ever seen on her.

Like she might vanish at any moment—

“—Oh! So that’s it! You got depressed because I saw you taking a customer…!”

It all clicked. In other words,

“Sakurako, you like me, don’t you?”

“…Wha!?”

In an instant, the endless miasma that had been pouring out of Sakurako blew away. A bright flush spread across her porcelain cheeks.

Yeah. That reaction? Bullseye, right? Just like the maids back home used to say!

I’d never had anything to do with romance before. Who would’ve thought the first time would be with a future witch.

“—W-w-what are you…!? What on earth are you basing that on!?”

“Hm? Well, I don’t have any experience either, but from what I’ve heard, romance is—your heart suddenly races for no reason, then it hurts, and sometimes you get angry over tiny things. Basically, you become emotionally unstable.”

“This me, emotionally unstable!?!”

Huh? Isn’t that exactly what’s happening right now?

“Yesterday and the day before, whenever we met inside the brothel you were in a great mood. We weren’t even talking about anything big, but your voice was higher than when you talk to the others.”

“N-no way…!?”

“And then today, right after work, you saw me and started crying for some reason. See? Just like the rumors—emotionally unstable.”

“?!?!”

Her eyes darted around in shock. From that reaction, it looked like my guess was spot on.

While I was thinking that,

“…T-then! Even if I really did like you! You should understand how I feel! Having the person I like see me like that… clearly dirty…!”

Sakurako, who was usually calm and accepted everything without expecting anything from the world,

twisted her face, tears welling up, and spilled her feelings out loud.

…So that’s it. Selling her body—something even rare in the royal capital—being seen by me was something she absolutely couldn’t stand.

It shocked her enough that it could lead to turning into a witch, enough that she ran away on the spot.

But the problem was,

I just couldn’t feel that selling your body was such a terrible “filth.”

“Guys and girls probably feel different about that stuff… Plus, I care more about the state of the mind than the body anyway. That’s what my master taught me.”

Of course physical training is important too! But what matters way more is the condition of the heart.

And from that point of view,

“Sakurako. As far as I can see, you may sell your body, but you haven’t sold your heart.”

“…Eh?”

“Listen. First, if we think about whether the ‘filth’ you’re talking about is physical… it’s not, right? If your body gets dirty, you can just wash it with water. So filth must mean a stain on the spirit.”

She stared at me with her mouth open in a daze, but I kept going.

“I kind of get what you’re saying. If I was forced to do something against my will, my heart would get clouded too. Like… if someone took away my training and made me do shady deals as the trading company heir.”

I ended up punching my dad and that solved it, but the crying was rough… Anyway, that’s beside the point.

“So what I’m trying to say is,”

To Sakurako, who hadn’t taken her eyes off me for even a second, not even blinking,

I told her clearly.

“—Your devotion to your family protects that noble spirit of yours. It could never turn into filth.”

“…Ah…!”

The moment she heard those words, Sakurako pressed a hand over her mouth and let out a soundless cry.

But yeah, right? Your devotion, the way you push through for what matters—that’s exactly what my master called “mastering your will.” Yeah, it looks pretty amazing to me. I even want to learn from it.

That’s my honest feeling. Even if Sakurako hates what she’s doing, I don’t think that way at all.

So. You like me, and I’m saying I don’t mind, so can’t you start liking yourself too?

…Whether my thoughts got through to her or not, Sakurako, who had been hiding her face with her hands, slowly lowered them.

With bright red cheeks, she said to me,

“—It’s because you’re like that… that I’m starting to lose it…”