Sakura's POV

It's… been a few days since it happened.

Byleth has spent most of the time in his room, while Professors Hanneman and Manuela instructed us during seminars. I cried for about a day and one night before I took Lily to go plant flowers on Jeralt's grave. We teared up then as well.

Saki and Ai asked Kotaro about reviving him the same way he did for us, but he just remained silent on that matter. He must be trying to ignore it himself, I swear I saw a tear fall down from his sunglasses as he walked away.

"That bitch, Monica…. I'm gonna freaking kill her ass for what she did. Let's just… go gather the gang and hunt her down…." Saki let out a threat before her eyes started watering.

"No, we shouldn't rush into it without our Professor's permission. I'm sure he's just as angered as you are, so be patient until he's ready to lead us again. Without his strategic mindset, we would be fighting a losing battle. Plus the knights have to locate our enemy as well." Ai put her hand on her shoulder.

Saki just aggressively rubbed the tears that were falling down her face and stormed off. I don't blame her in the slightest.

Jeralt was a kind man, who agreed to take us in, despite not knowing who we were and was the one who began our initial training. He did look kinda scary, but he truly was nice. I can't imagine how Byleth would feel at this moment, he was his father after all, but I'd lock myself in my room for a while too if I lost someone that close to me.

Maybe that's how my parents felt when I died…

Most of the Blue Lions were struggling to handle this as well.

I saw Leonie struggling not to break down in the middle of training this morning, she was close to him as well, as she has mentioned multiple times. I feel really bad for her though, she was his first apprentice, and it was almost like she was a second child to him. I didn't want to say anything to make it worse for her, so I just patted her on the back in silence.

It was after speaking to Mercedes after class that she suggested that I should go to the cathedral and pray for Jeralt's soul.

I brought everyone except Saki, she just… wanted to be left alone to train and I didn't want to bother her right now. So it was just myself, Ai, Junko, Lily, Yugiri, Tae, and Kotaro. We put our hands together and said the prayers that we have heard repeated each time we visit this place. Even Tae's gurgling was surprisingly lower key, she must be feeling down about him as well. We hoped that Jeralt would be able to rest peacefully, alongside his wife, who I saw buried next to him.

After finishing up, none of us shed a tear after we had spent hours doing so when he was buried in the cemetery. We just simply went back to our rooms, for studying or for sleep, which is what I immediately did.

Days later and we finally saw Byleth again, walking around the monastery as he usually does. Making conversation with every student, he even tried to recruit a few! Dorothea and Ignatz were who he had in mind. Me & Junko decided to walk up to him next.

"Professor! Have you been well?" Junko asks him as he turns to us.

"I have not, yet I should not be neglecting my duties as your instructor. Even if I am still feeling sorry for my loss." He put his hand to his chest and clutched it.

"I see… you should really get more rest before you decide to return to teaching us though. IT is more than an excuse if you have lost someone this close to you." Junko looked down as she responded.

"Yeah, we'll just try our best with the training you've assigned to us before this happened! I do need to try sword training soon ha ha…" I rubbed the back of my head.

He just nodded before thanking us for keeping up with our studies and leaving. However, I knew that beneath his calm exterior, that he wasn't just feeling sad, he was angry at her.

Monica, the girl that thrusted her knife into Jeralt. It made me mad that she was still out there too. Having all of the knights searching for her is pretty risky though, but we need to take her down, for him.

I grumbled just thinking about her, all of my sadness beginning to turn into rage, when I accidentally walked into Dimitri.

"Agh! S-sorry Dimitri!" I waved my hands in front of me frantically.

"No worries, I was not paying too much attention to where I was walking as well. Please excuse me Sakura, I am simply lost in thought." He bowed apologetically and walked away quickly.

But as I saw him leave, I saw him clutching something in his hands… it was... a dagger?

I walked around until I sat down by the big gazebo in the garden, for some reason I feel like this place has some importance. I often pick up random gifts and flowers in this place, I have no idea how they got there.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down, until someone came out of the blue to startle me.

"You're frustrated, aren't you?" Edelgard asked.

I was taken aback by her popping out from out of nowhere at first, "YAHH! Um… ah… yeah. Did you… know anything about Monica? She was in your class after all…"

"We did talk yes, though not enough to form a strong connection. To be honest, she was a bit of a nuisance at times. The fact that she deceived us and killed Jeralt made me even grow hatred for her. Revenge must be delivered swiftly." Her expression slowly got more angry.

"Revenge, huh?" I said as I munched as a cookie, I brought a bag full of them to eat, courtesy of Annette and Mercedes.

"I'm sure the Professor feels the same way. It's only a matter of time until the knights locate her and her allies, that is when he'll get his opportunity to obtain it. It's also one for you as well, if you decide to accompany him." Edelgard explained as I offered her one, yet she turned it down.

"After what she did to Jeralt… I have to." I told her as I then began to tremble.

"Hm… very well then. Perhaps you and I could train for when that happens, if you don't mind." She requested.

"Hm…. okay, it couldn't hurt, right?"

"Ack!" I let out as I fell over, my sword clattering on the ground next to me.

"That was quite a showing there, Sakura. Although you were not joking when you said you needed more sword practice." Edelgard held her axe to the ground relaxingly.

"Yeah, ha ha. But you're so strong! Maybe if I keep training with you, I can get better and better!" I suggested it to her.

"That does sound quite enjoyable, I accept. I'll be available whenever you feel the need to train, although next month… ah, never mind that. Are you prepared for another round?" She picked up her axe again as I gulped.

Just what was she referring to before she cut herself off?

An hour later and I was out of breath, panting hard as Edlegard chuckled at me.

SAKURA AND EDELGARD HAVE ATTAINED SUPPORT LEVEL B

"Oi Sakura!" I saw Saki and Ai run into the training grounds.

"Ah, Edelgard. Good day." Ai greeted her normally, as Edelgard nodded.

"Hey hey, no time for socializing, the knights found that red-headed bitch in some forest!" Saki gripped her fists, ready for a fight.

"Really?!" I exclaimed.

"Indeed, Solon as well. The Professor is gathering every one of us up, a few newcomers are joining us as well. We need to prepare quickly!" Ai turned to me next.

"Ah! Alright! Let's get going then! Thanks Edelgard!" I waved goodbye to her as I dashed out of there.

"I wish you luck out there." I heard her say as the three of us left.

We walked into the forest, and it was at this point that I realized how large our class has become! It was already big when we joined, but we've almost got ourselves an army here! That's enough about that now, we have one goal, to take down the enemies lurking here. Before entering, Dimitri mentioned that after coming this far with the Professor, that we are ready to face our enemies, no matter who they are. I can't do anything else but agree with him. We owe a lot to both Jeralt and Byleth, so we need to do this fo the both of them.

"Ugh, did we really have to bring THIS GUY with us?" Saki used her thumb to draw attention to our third new classmate, Lorenz.

"Agh, the audacity. You should learn to be more respectful now that I have chosen to join the Blue Lions." The weird purple haired noble scoffed.

"Huh?!" Saki began to ball her hand into a fist before Ai stopped her and began looking around.

"Did you hear something?" I asked her and she nodded her head.

"Really? I couldn't hear a thing, those are some impressive senses, uh, Ai was it?" Ignatz complimented her as she smiled.

"Thanks, but now's not the time for that, ready yourselves." She informed us as she turned to Byleth.

Our professor then steps forward, holding his sword tight in his grip as Dimitri walks up next to him. Dimitri throws a branch forward and then…

"ROOOOOOOOAAAAARRRR!"

"Demonic Beasts! The enemy was always intending to lure us here…" Dimitri's eyes opened wide, as were mine, though mine were much larger.

"A trap…" Felix uttered next to me.

"Look! Look!" Lily pointed towards the opening on the other side of the forest… Monica.

"Hello! You're here! Welcome to the forest of death!" Her condescending voice bellows out before she gives a sinister giggle.

My zombie skin is crawling as I gripped my lance tight.

"My name is Kronya. This weakling girl was just a borrowed look for is what I really look like!" She just flipped and became some creepy pale-skinned, pink-haired, assassin type! "Now you vermin… I'll take down every last one of you!" She held out her blade towards us.

"Kronya, so that is her true name?" Yugiri looked ahead at our enemy.

"W-what is she?" Junko looked hesitant to fight her.

"I don't give a damn what her name is or how pale she looks, all I know… IS THAT SHE'S GONNA FREAKING PAAAAAYYYY!" Saki quickly charged forward, shocking us.

"Save some for me, I am going to be the one to avenge him…" Leonie raced upon her horse in the same direction Saki was going.

They were going down the shortest path to get to her, the one on the right, I decided to follow them, Ai, Byleth, Mercedes, Tae, Ignatz, Caspar, Dedue & Dimitri in tow. Marianne needed time off since people started blaming her for terrible stuff, which is very much not her fault, but we already have Flayn, Linhardt, and Mercedes on healing duty. The rest of the class went the opposite way so we could prevent Kronya's escape from either side.

And so our battle with Kronya begins, before we get to her though, we have some Demonic Beasts in our way. Here goes nothing, for Captain Jeralt!

END OF CHAPTER 32

I just realized we're coming up to the end of this story. Is anyone still even reading at this point? Regardless, let's finish strong. A handful of chapters left in this story, leading up to the second part, Three Houses Saga: Azure Moon. Hope you all look forward to the twists that lead up to that story. See you next time!