The next day, Joshua and Estelle were in Morges Bakery as part of Estelle's tour of Crossbell. Estelle left him to wait outside as she entered the building and ordered some bread. Joshua took a look around from his seat. So this was the West Street. He hadn't got the chance to visit this area because they mostly took requests around East Street or outside of the city proper.

Joshua looked at the middle of the street where children were playing. They reminded him of little Estelle and him. She always shone brightly, even in the face of his darkness. Even when he never wanted to have anything to do with her, she kept barging into his personal space and dragging him into the light.

"Oh, Joshua! Good timing!"

Joshua blinked. Suddenly, in front of him stood Juna in her casual clothes. Her wooden sword was nowhere to be found. In her hands, she was holding two ice creams, pink colored to complement her hair color.

"Juna. Good Afternoon."

"Hold on, I gotta give these to Ken and Nana first. Wait here, okay," Juna then ran towards the two pink-haired children. The two seemed excited when Juna approached them. After some small talk, Juna patted the two's heads and ran back to him.

"Sorry for the wait," Juna took a chair from one of the other tables and put it on Joshua's.

"It's okay. Why do you take another seat instead of that one?"

"That's for Estelle, right?" A playful smile appeared on Juna's face. Joshua could only chuckle at Juna's guess. "Anyway, Joshua. There's something I want to ask you about Renne."

Hearing that, Joshua's relaxed stance turned serious. "What is it?"

"You and Renne both worked at Ouroboros previously, right. Do you happen to know more about Renne's story? How did she join an organization like Ouroboros in the first place?" Juna asked him.

Joshua nodded. "Yes. Hmm, I think it's fine to tell you this, at the least. Do you know the D∴G cult? It's a cult of demon worshippers that committed atrocities by kidnapping children as young as five years old. Loewe and I rescued her from one of their lodges."

Juna stared at him. She then exhaled after a few seconds of silence. "That was certainly a heavy one. How did Renne end up there in the first place?"

"She is one of the kidnapped children," Joshua frowned. Surely Juna paid attention to his explanation.

"Are you sure? There are chances that she was sold or abandoned by her original parents."

Joshua opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Juna was correct. He hadn't thought about those possibilities. If it were the old him, there was no doubt that it was the first conclusion he reached. But Because of Estelle's presence, he was slowly recovering from that kind of mental space.

"Renne has never told us. Even if we're a secret organization, it's not like we're insensitive enough to hurt her feelings by directly asking her about it," Joshua let out a small laugh imagining everyone in the Ouroboros being insensitive. Well... a certain ex-priest was definitely insensitive. But Weissman was Weissman.

"Hmm..." Juna was deep in thought. "...it has merits. But..."

The bakery door was opened, and Estelle came out of Morges Bakery with two handfuls of bags.

"Joshua. Here's yours. Oh, hi, Juna. What are you doing here?" Estelle took a seat on the free chair.

"It's nothing important," Juna shook her head and stood up. "Anyway, I know when I'm not wanted. Enjoy your date, you two."

Estelle's face reddened as Juna laughed before going back to her siblings.

"W-What!?"

Joshua couldn't' help but chuckle at the situation.

Dinner in the Crawford household was not lavish. They were a middle-class family, so their dinner was simple. Tonight, they had Crispy Fry that Juna helped make in her quest to master cooking. After all, cooking by yourself was a necessity when you were a Bracer out in the field. Or so Juna said. Lina personally thought that Juna just wanted to ease her burden, especially with how inquisitive the twins were.

"Mom," Juna suddenly said after she finished her plate. "I'm not familiar with most adults in Crossbell, but do you know anyone with purple hair, woman or man is okay."

That came out of the left field, Lina thought. "Purple hair, huh..." She tried to think about everyone she knew. Purple hair... oh, there was one!

"Colin's father has purple hair!" Ken suddenly said.

"Yes. Mr. Harold Hayworth has purple hair," Lina confirmed. "Why are you asking? Do you want to meet him? I'm not close to him, but Ken and Nana are friends with his son. I'm more familiar with his wife, Mrs. Hayworth, and she has red hair that Colin inherited instead of purple."

"Thank you for the answer, Mom. No need for me to meet him. I'm just curious, I guess," Juna nodded to herself. "Anyone else?"

Lina thought for a few minutes.

"I'm not really that familiar with most of them, but on top of my head, I saw someone who hangs around the Times Department Store with purple hair. Whenever I visited Times, I always found her there. And then the library assistant also has purple hair. And when I usually hunted for fish in the East Street, I met a little boy whose hair are also purple. Maybe there's more, but those three are the ones that came to my mind," Lina elaborated her thoughts.

Juna just looked at her flatly. "Mom, I said adults. But thanks, anyway. I'll check their parents, too, I think."

"What do you need the information for, anyway?"

"Merely a passing interest," Juna shook her head. She then turned her attention to the twins. "Anyway, Ken, Nana. How was the Crispy Fry?"

"It's delicious!"

"Seconds, please!"

"Alright, alright," Juna giggled at the twins' enthusiasm. "Show me your empty plate first."

Lina smiled. She was thankful to have a daughter like Juna. Despite how people kept telling her that Juna was brilliant since she was little, Juna never grew a big head from the praises given to her. She had been a little worried when the Sisters decided to move Juna's Sunday School class to the more advanced classes. Still, Juna ended up fine and even thrived on them despite being in the same class with people older than her.

After that, Juna whimsically decided to intern at St. Ursula Hospital. Thankfully, their neighbor, the Neues, had a daughter who worked as a nurse in the hospital. Lina ended up getting a full explanation of the internship program from her. She gave her blessings for Juna to intern there after Cecile pointed out that Juna was an intelligent girl who remembered lots of medical terms, and the internship would provide the necessary experience for her. It was unfortunate that Juna ended up resigning on account of an incident at the hospital that wasn't even her fault, but nothing she could do.

Later that year, though, Juna suddenly said she was interested in being a Bracer. Honestly, she couldn't keep up with her eldest daughter's interests. But how could she refuse when the Arios MacLaine himself visited her to ask permission to train her daughter?

"Mom, the two have finished. Let's wash the dishes."

"Ah... right. Thank you, Juna."

In the end, her daughter was still her daughter, and she was grateful for it.

On top of a cliff in the Mainz Mountain path overlooking the Mainz Mining Village, a little girl watched as the new division of the police apprehended some mafias and their trained dogs.

"Heehee, so I've been caught, have I?" the girl giggled. "That little wolf has some impressive senses. It's clear he's not just some regular old animal. And those four... They really didn't think this through, did they? I would have probably gotten to hear their blood-curdling screams right about now had the wolves not saved them. A tumultuous road lies ahead of them."

She stated her observation to no one in particular. To her surprise, a voice answered.

"To be fair, they're only beginners."

The girl let out a small sound of surprise at seeing the figure coming toward her.

"Are you here to enjoy the show as well? Or were you waiting to make your heroic entrance once they realized they were in over their heads?" She playfully asked the navy-haired man in a red jacket. "Am I right... Arios MacLaine? Or would you prefer the Divine Blade of Wind?"

"...I could say the same to you. Enforcer No. XV of the Society of Ouroboros... the Angel of Slaughter, Renne." Arios MacLaine fired back at the girl.

The newly identified Renne giggled. "Oh, you know me? I suppose I'll spare you the introduction, then. You're everything I could expect from a bracer who declined a promotion to S-rank."

Arios sighed. "It's honestly much more than I deserve. The expectations to become Cassius Bright's successor were also too much for me to bear."

"Really, now? I've only had the pleasure of meeting Cassius Bright once... but I'm almost positive your swordsmanship surpasses his. You might even be on par with the strongest person I've ever known."

"Haha... Should I take that as a compliment?" Arios let out a short chuckle. "I've found out that you've been staying here in Crossbell these past few months. I was convinced you were planning another one of your tea parties at first."

"Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions," Renne denied. " Crossbell is plenty stimulating regardless of whether I hold a tea party or not. It would be uncouth of me to start my own entertainment in addition to everything else."

"That's reassuring to hear, at least. I suppose you've come to Crossbell for personal reasons, then," Arios let out a sigh of relief. He then opened his eyes and stared at the purple-haired killer. "Answer this one question, if you will. How much longer will you continue to run away from them?"

"..." Renne looked away. She couldn't give an answer to the question.

"Well, it's not my place to interfere with your fate." Arios continued. "I cannot deny that having them at the Crossbell branch has been helpful. However... You understand you cannot continue running away from the answer that awaits, yes?"

Estelle and Joshua. The two of them only came to Crossbell to look for Renne. But Renne herself was running away from the two. And it was easy for her to cover her track so the Brights wouldn't be able to notice her.

However...

However...

"...Leave me alone." She decided to abandon that train of thought. "I have plenty of reasons other than Estelle and Joshua to be in Crossbell. I'm getting him repaired, and...there's something I need to find out."

"Oh? And what exactly would that be?"

...Her family...

But she wouldn't give the Divine Blade of Wind the satisfaction of the answer.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She giggled, deflecting the question aimed at her. " I'll promise to be a good little girl, so please leave me be. And on that note... I presume you won't be sharing any details with those two, correct?"

She asked for confirmation with all the undertones it brought.

"Indeed. You have nothing to worry about. As long as you leave this land be, I promise to not interfere in your own personal matters." Arios answered with a sigh.

"Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking my leave. Have a wonderful evening, Mister Divine Blade."

As the little girl left the cliff, Arios MacLaine couldn't help but stare at the stars.

"A lost kitten... The three of them will continue to wander aimlessly with how things are going."

It wasn't his responsibility, but he couldn't help but wonder. "If only there were a third party to create an opportunity for them..."

His mind went to a certain pink-haired individual that he had taken as a student. She was... meddlesome might not be the correct word, but the closest he could use to describe her. Without her, Shizuku might feel a little more lonely than she had been in the hospital. She was also the one who always ran to the Bracer Guild to look for him whenever Shizuku wanted to hear his voice.

Juna Crawford was meddlesome but in a good way. Despite not wanting to take a student, in the end, he relented after Master Ka-fai allowed him to. If she got wind of the circumstances between the Angel of Slaughter and the Brights, she definitely would insert herself into the situation.

"Hmph... But what are the odds of that?" Arios ended his tangent.

A/N: You won't believe what I did to crosscheck things this chapter. That's right. I scoured the NPCs around Crossbell to look for purple-haired characters. Here's the list. There are probably more, but this is the one accessible from the very last chapter of Azure.

Plie from Arc en Ciel
Theodor from Arc en Ciel
Pruna from Central Square near Times.
Citizen on top of Times Mall
Receptionist Pearl (Scott's girlfriend)
Cassal from Library
Reins from the CNS
Sarina from East Street (Azel from Downtown gang's sister)
Couta from East Street (little seller)
Derek from Armorica (Son of Chief)
Chaco from Genten (stood besides Wendy)

Do you recognize some of them?