"I..." She started yelling, but her voice became normal in the next word. "...like..." Then, she all but whispered while looking down. "...you."

Luke's mind went in overdrive. His heart was beating like crazy for some reason. He was trying to understand the situation.

Of course she liked him. They were friends, weren't them? How could she dislike a friend? It made no sense for her to be so uncomfortable saying those words.

Unless...

No. No, it couldn't be. It didn't make any sense for her to like him like that.

"Like... friends? More?" he asked. He wanted to sound very confident, but his voice came so full of hope he cringed right after saying it.

She downright stared at the ground and whispered, "More."

Her answer was like a nuclear warhead straight into his brain. The world made no sense anymore. His phoenix heart—which seemed to have understood everything much faster than his mind—was beating furiously he worried he might be getting a heart attack.

"Why?" he asked. As much as he wanted to believe it, he knew better. "We barely know each other."

She looked at him, and there was pain in her eyes from his words. But somehow, he got the feeling she was hurting for him rather than his words having hurt her in any way.

"Don't you like me?" she asked seriously.

Usually, he would've avoided the question or gotten timid. But he was so dazed that he didn't even think before just saying, "I do. A lot."

"Why? We barely know each other."

"You are... you. I like everything about you." His brain started working, barely, right after he said those words, and he almost stopped breathing to kill himself from shame after saying that.

She put her hands in her waist. "Well, Luke Kells, I like almost everything about you. Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror? You're handsome. Green eyes, messy brown hair, and a beautiful smile when you decide to show it." She blushed as she talked. "But more importantly, you care. You legitimately care about others. You don't seem to realize how rare that is nowadays, and I admire that in a man. You also sacrificed yourself for me, and it moved me. It feels like your actions came from a fairytale or something." She made a pause. "You could definitely do without your lack of self-confidence though."

She liked him. Him. An explosion of reality came rushing out of his brain as he fully recovered his ability to think.

And with it, came emotion.

He smiled wildly and even started laughing in sheer happiness. There was just too much emotion bottled up. Everything he had gone by in the past two years, the situation he found himself now, it had all been worth it because he now liked a girl, and that girl like him back.

Luke had never felt so happy in his entire life.

"Thank you," he said as tears filled his eyes. "Thank you." They started falling. "I don't deserve it, but thank you so much. I'll never forget it. And don't worry, I'll be a good friend and not interfere with your future relationships—"

She had closed her laptop when he said the first thanks, then stood up and approached when he said the second. He stopped talking when she put two fingers on his mouth.

"We also need to work on your listening skills," she said with a caring, low voice. "Didn't you hear me say your lack of self-confidence is not cute?" He realized he had reverted back to his non-warrior behavior without even noticing it. Old habits die hard. "Don't act like this can never happen. It's... complicated, but definitely not impossible." She smiled sweetly. "I noticed how you look at me like I'm some kind of princess, and it's a bit flattering, but I'm just a girl who likes a boy. Slowly, very slowly, with a lot of obstacles, we can do it. If you want to."

Luke didn't even know how to react to that.

He had always thought declarations like this had to come at the right time, at the right place. He definitely had never, ever, imagined getting declared in this situation, much less by someone like Sakura. And she even said she wanted their feelings to blossom into something more than just feelings?

Was that even possible?

Was he even allowed to be in a relationship at all?

He was so worthless, so small, so powerless and useless and pathetic. How could she like him? How could he deserve to be happy for more than a few moments?

Screw his self-delusions about being a warrior, deep down, he knew his true value.

"I..." he said. "But you friendzoned me yesterday." He didn't know what to think or say, but he definitely regretted saying that right after her words that they could make it work.

An awkward silence hung on them for a couple seconds before she burst out laughing. It was a mesmerizing view and sound. She kept at it long enough for him to feel ashamed, but eventually, she recovered.

"Oh, God," she laughed a little more, then controlled herself. "Sorry. I just... I was so tense, and I never expected you to say something like this right now. Yesterday, I said I would fight for you with no evidence even when it might destroy me. The day before, I said I would hide your secrets from my family, and you have no idea how much we Akira value filial piety and family ties over external relationships. It's sweet that you think so highly of me to believe I would go to such lengths for a random friend I just made, but you're wrong there. I'm not such a good person." She put her hand on his face and looked at him with a caring smile. "I would only do that if I fell for a boy in a way I always thought impossible. In a way that makes me make positively stupid decisions that will come to haunt me if you're just using me. And to make things even crazier, I'm okay with the risk because I think the rewards at the end are worth it."

Luke was really struggling to understand how that was possible, but at last, his heart released a heat wave so strong that he decided to just shut his mind down and accept it. Someone had once said that it was impossible to understand women. He definitely would never get what she saw on him, but it was alright.

He liked Sakura. Sakura liked him back. Everything was right in the world.

The heat wave also seemed to help him recover his spine. Screw his previous thoughts about not being a warrior, he wanted to be one, didn't he? How could he keep telling himself he had no worth? Moreover, if she was telling him he was worthy of her, he would do just as she had said, and work on his listening skills, starting now. He was worthy.

They could be together.

No, not could.

They should be together.

Speaking of listening, Sakura was right. Self-sacrifice was cool. He had done something cool. He was also apparently good-looking? That was surprising and awesome to hear.

"Ahem," someone cleared their throat by the door. Luke turned to see Tom right there, ignoring Luke, but looking very pointedly at Sakura.

She just ignored the man. "I don't need your answer now," her voice started trembling a little. His mind almost broke to consider that she was fearful of what he might reply. And his heart almost hurt with the thought that he might hurt her in any way. "But I would appreciate if you could tell me if you're willing... Not now... One day... But please don't take too long... But you can take however long you want..."

"Sakura," he whispered. She looked so cute while flustered.

She stopped talking when he interrupted, then removed her hand from his face, stood straight, and took a deep breath with her eyes closed. When she opened them, she looked him straight in the eyes. "Please let me know if you're willing to wait for me and fight the obstacles in the way. I know you barely know me and this decision—"

"I am willing," he interrupted. "And I do want to fight for you. With you."

Saying those words felt right. Much more right than his previous ones to this point. A warrior was supposed to fight for the things they wanted or liked.

She smiled, but it was a sad smile. "This is not a decision you should make lightly. My clan will not like this union. They will not go as far as hurt you or try to separate us physically, but they can do a lot of annoying things, like Tom keeps doing." She gestured towards the man with her head. "And as annoying as they are, I believe they have my best interest at heart too. I want to go through the obstacles, not just ignore them or run away with you. I want to do things properly. It'll be annoying, even hard at times, and it'll take time to even hold hands. So please, think deeply—"

"Sakura," he interrupted her again. "You just made me the happiest man in the world just by saying you like me. I like you. Fuck the world, I'll fight them for you. I like you." He repeated and teared up again. "And I understand if you ever give up on it. Really. At any moment, at any time, you just have to say the word, and we can part ways peacefully. Every moment will have been worth it."

Luke felt like he was going crazy. He wanted to act cooler, but he just couldn't ignore his feeling of caring. Just like he had withstood almost two years of torment in part to protect his grandfather, he would withstand a heartache if that made Sakura happier.

He felt like he was going crazy. The alpha male warrior image in his mind fighting the guy who just wanted the girl he liked to be happy even if it hurt him. His very heart felt pained by the two opposing ideals battling for supremacy.

She smiled and shook her head. Then said words he definitely hadn't been expecting. "Please stop interrupting me. Really, your listening skills suck."

"Sorry," he said quickly.

"As for what you actually said..." She beamed, and his heart melted. "That sweet, very sweet, and shows just what I like in you. But I am not a girl who quits, so you don't have to worry about that. And don't you dare just give up on me! I'm not as selfless as you either." She caressed his hair for two seconds then removed her hands from him again. "I really wish I could kiss you right now, but that'll have to wait. Months, probably. Can you really wait that long?"

Luke really, really believed she would give him a heart attack if she kept saying things like that. He couldn't hold so many emotions inside. And he also couldn't stop thinking of how wonderful a girl she was every time she said things like not giving up on him or kissing him.

"I can wait for you forever," he said, like the lovestruck fool he was.

She smiled again. "That sounds very stupid and impossible, but you're the man who can make the impossible possible, aren't you?"

"Ahem!" Tom cleared his throat again, this time much harder.

Sakura sighed and stepped back from the bed. "I'll let the clan head know of our decision. We'll also have to discuss some... proceedings... we must go over. Later. Until then, expect a lot of angry stares, passive-aggressiveness, and venomous comments from clan members in the know, like Tom here. I would say your life would become hell, but you already lived a true hell with Jackson. You'll do great." She smiled brightly.

"I hope so." He said, then thought of something. "Speaking of Jackson, what happened to him and his guys?"

She pursed her lips. "Nothing. They stopped the beating after they made you unconscious. The police are investigating, but there's a lot of politics involved. My family is doing their best, but they have to be careful in the US. We'll win in the end, but it should take a few weeks."

Luke smiled at her. "Thank you. I'll sleep better knowing he had to pay for what he did, even if its just something minor like community service."

"Oh, he's going to pay a lot more than that, believe me." She smiled wickedly. It reminded him of that hint of arrogance he had heard back in the class. Sometimes, she acted like the world was beneath her, and only her will mattered. "Anyway, you got away free, but I have homework to do." She sat down and opened her laptop. "And then I have to do that thing in the soul." She meant the mana channels, but Tom was still there. "Let me know if you need anything."

"I will, thanks."

It was strange for their relationship to go from heartfelt declarations to something as mundane as homework so quickly. Luke guessed relationships were just like that. People couldn't be lovey-dovey all the time, could they? Movies only showed the time they were drooling on each other, but real life was different, he supposed.

So he just stared at the ceiling and focused on his mana core.

Sakura was already sleeping later that day when Luke finally did it.

He finished building his mana core.

The void sphere in the middle of his soul, right where his heart would be in his body, was the size of a baby's fist. As it was, the mana core was absolutely useless. Putting holes in anyone's soul wouldn't give them power, just like no one got stronger on Earth for piercing their ears or getting shot at. There was a reason mana channels had been stolen from magic beasts and adapted to humanoids rather than being figured out through trial and error.

The real secret behind mana channels came now.

Magic beasts were, as the name implied, beasts that could do magic. They were all mana users by nature, which meant they could cast spells, which in turn required them to do more than just pushing raw environmental mana anywhere. They had to have access to more mana, purer, and be able to both recover and use it faster than what environmental mana could provide them with.

For that to happen, they were born with runes drawn in their very souls. It was anyone's guess whether the runes were some sort of evolutionary trait or if they had learned to do it somehow, but the fact was that the runes were the secret to cast legendary spells capable of destroying entire armies.

Mana runes, as they were called, were a mystical writing which mana passively obeyed, without the need of someone constantly willing something to happen. That meant that instead of constantly willing his mana to get purer, Luke would just inscribe the right runes at the right places in his mana core and use those instead.

And that was just the beginning.

The most important thing was that runes acted as foundations to be built upon. Applying one's willpower over a rune improved its effectiveness, and doing it over time even made the rune passively stronger. It took time to improve it even a little, but it was already a big advantage over simple willpower. While Luke's will would always be limited to the here and now and to the limits of his human mind, the runes would let him get purer and purer mana over time, thus making him stronger.

To make things even better, the Sentinel System could be used to speed that strengthening process up. He couldn't spend any SP for now, but once that function was unlocked, he might become a truly powerful mana user by investing in his mana stats. Well, as long as he leveled up first, since the limited growth based on level.

Anyway, inscribing mana runes came next, but it was late and Luke was fatigued enough already. He just closed his eyes and let sleep come.

He was woken up in the middle of the night by the last person he wanted to see.