Sakuramoria

Futaba let out a barely perceptible sigh of relief.
- Thank you... I thought you might refuse... Well, let's go then.

If it's Mana, then immediately water? What are you, one of those people who loves to slap labels on things? )

No, I just like it...

Laurence, not prone to excessive sentimentality, did not provide any further comments, and therefore simply left her home address on a piece of paper, wished her former student all the best, and departed, finally leaving her alone.

Once the guest had gone, the president lifelessly dropped her head onto a stack of papers.
Hatiora's visit should have left a suffocating feeling, but there were no moral strengths left for that. With her certified analysis of the pentagram, she had only confirmed that all the scare tactics Futu had been fed by everyone, from Alidum to the senile king, were correct.
And yet... The confidence with which the theologian had voiced this to her, word for word according to the official position, aroused serious suspicions. The main alibi in this whole story was that in April she had been nearly killed by a Sorceress, and was saved only by the accidental intervention of a concerned student. However, since then, Futaba had replayed this situation in her head hundreds of times. That battle looked far too strange—a deliberately balanced exchange of blows, at the end of which the villain was left hanging by a thread, capable of passing into the other world from a mere gust of wind. As if it were all some kind of very strange and cruel test. A trial to choose a future bride? The mother of the empire's heir? And what if the youth had intervened?..
One would think that for such an event, a simpler pawn could have been found; it wasn't necessary to trade off the grandmaster of magic herself, the author of this entire intricate scheme. But the events of recent weeks had shown that the parties involved were not guided by standard logic or moral and ethical considerations. It was entirely possible that the insane Carvia was ready to personally lay herself in the foundation of her own theory. In this case, Hatiora gained a concrete alibi, which could be further reinforced by her "exile," the threat from Alidum, and the treatment by the regime's dogs. It was possible that the unobtrusive offer to return her to the school was an attempt at manipulation by the king and his lackeys. Indeed, the idea looked tempting, though it ultimately failed.
If, however, no such intentions were hidden behind the homeroom teacher's words, and she truly was as much a victim of circumstances, then there were no guarantees that she hadn't been coerced into today's performance by the dogs through threats, pulled out like a prop from a closet at the necessary moment. Hatiora did not seem to be a petty or cowardly person, but did she actually possess the character traits that would force her to fight for the truth to the end against such an overwhelming force? With her views on life—it wasn't a given. For that, one would need either an acute sense of justice or stubborn as a mule. Neither seemed to be traits inherent to her. In that case, both the lethargy of her offer to return to school and the fact that after her terrible words about the hostage-citizens of Sakuro Mori, she was leaving for her own home for some reason, rather than abroad... were easily explained.
The Queen of Sakuro Mori raised her head and thoughtfully lit a cigarette.
No matter who claimed what, she didn't believe—not for the life of her—in the indestructibility of this curse. No matter how brilliant Carvia Imas was, no matter how powerful a wizard the old senile man was—they were and remained humans, who do not shape the reality of the universe, but merely steal from the source permitted to them. If something was created, locked, or enchanted by a human somewhere, then it can and must be dissipated, uncorked, and destroyed by a human as well. This was a simple truth, rooted not even in physics, theology, or the theory of magic, but in the factology of life. Nothing in this world is absolute.
If simple mortal bags of meat were able to deceive even the gods—and not false idols like the Epic Seven, but the actual originals lying at the foundation of the world's creation and functioning, in its fundamental mechanisms upon which theology and the understanding of the principles of all existence are based—then it means that in this universe, even the power of these pseudo-gods is not limitless, which means that any circumstances can be overcome.
Futaba was not an optimistic person, as could be easily understood by spending even five seconds in her company, but she clearly recognized the fundamental imperfection of the world and the incompetence of human beings, and she sneered with contempt at the contradictions piled up in this whole story.
Springing from her chair, she raised her gaze and fists toward the ceiling and, clenching her teeth, mentally swore that she would destroy this entire loathsome system to its foundations at any cost and trample into dust everyone who crossed her path, no matter how much time, effort, and fake smiles it took.

Futaba accepts Superbia's conviction