In the church on the outskirts of Fuyuki City, Risei Kotomine sat on the church bench with a blank expression and lifeless eyes, looking as if he had lost consciousness.
In fact, that was indeed the case—standing in front of him were Reines and Sakura Matou, and behind Sakura Matou, there was a somewhat blurry black figure.
Undoubtedly, this was the Stand that Sakura Matou had awakened—however, upon careful observation, it wasn't hard to see this Stand bore some resemblance to Zuke's "Black Bird Requiem."
Although this Stand looked like a female figure from its curves, the bird-feather-like cape on its body and that pitch-black body were exactly the same as the original "Black Bird."
Reines naturally noticed this too. She had heard that Sakura Matou originally didn't have Stand aptitude, only obtaining Stand aptitude after long-term contact with the "feather" Zuke had given her.
So she couldn't tell whether Sakura Matou's Stand resembled "Black Bird" so much because her Stand aptitude came from "Black Bird's" feather, or because of Sakura Matou's subconscious.
However, at least Sakura Matou seemed quite satisfied with her Stand—because her Stand looked very similar to Zuke's Stand, making Sakura Matou feel she was one step closer to Zuke.
If it were the previous Reines, seeing Sakura Matou get one step closer to Zuke would probably make her feel very insecure again—but now she was no longer worried.
Because even Sakura Matou hadn't done that kind of thing with Zuke yet, but Reines had already done it with Zuke—even right beside Sakura Matou.
Thinking of this, the way Reines looked at Sakura Matou carried a trace of the victor's unique pride, though Sakura Matou didn't notice.
"That's good. Risei Kotomine's memory has been modified."
Unaware of Reines's thoughts, Sakura Matou was holding a black book in her hands—and the book's surface surprisingly bore the word "Bible."
This was Sakura Matou's Stand ability. She could materialize and extract other people's "memories," then modify those materialized "memories."
However, the form in which "memories" materialized was completely determined by the memory owner's mental image—obviously, as a priest, Risei Kotomine's memory was a Bible.
Because it was in book form, it was very simple for Sakura Matou to rewrite Risei Kotomine's memory. She just needed to add and delete some content in the book.
Now, she had already deleted some things from Risei Kotomine's "memory" and written in some new content.
"Put the memory back, Free As Bird!"
Sakura Matou tossed the black Bible in her hands to the Stand behind her, and the Stand she named "Free As Bird" took the memory and unceremoniously pressed it down onto Risei Kotomine's head.
The thick book rippled like falling into water on Risei Kotomine's head, then merged into Risei Kotomine's brain.
The reason Sakura Matou named her Stand "Free As Bird" was simple—it was Zuke who had rescued her from the Matou family and given her freedom.
Therefore, she combined "freedom" and "Black Bird," creating this name, which also made her feel closer to Zuke.
"Is that it? Are you sure this guy won't come bother us anymore?"
Because she had the maid-outfit Stand that Zuke had given her, Reines could also see Sakura Matou's Stand and had watched Sakura Matou complete everything, so she couldn't help but ask curiously.
The reason the two of them came to find Risei Kotomine was simple—this morning, Reines had received notification from Risei Kotomine.
Risei Kotomine said he had received a report that Reines's side was privately keeping the Lesser Grail, which might prevent the Holy Grail War from continuing, so he hoped Reines could come talk about what was going on.
Reines of course knew what Risei Kotomine said was true, but the one privately keeping the Lesser Grail was Zuke, and Reines certainly wouldn't demand that Zuke hand over Irisviel.
Just as she was thinking about how to fool Risei Kotomine, Sakura Matou, who had woken up, said that her Stand ability could perfectly solve this matter.
So what happened next was simple. The two came to the church, and Sakura Matou directly used her Stand "Free As Bird" to modify Risei Kotomine's memory.
Now, Risei Kotomine wouldn't remember at all that there were any problems on Reines's side.
"But who could the informant be? They should also be someone related to the Holy Grail War, right?"
After seeing Sakura Matou nod, confirming that Risei Kotomine's memory had been properly modified, Reines became somewhat puzzled again.
The matter of privately keeping the Lesser Grail—that is, Irisviel—should only be known by very few people, and they must be related to the Holy Grail War.
But now the vast majority of Heroic Spirits and Masters had already been captured by Zuke in one fell swoop. The only ones left outside were Issei Ryuudou, Bazett, and her Lancer... none of them seemed like they would inform.
"His memory said the informant was Byakuya Matou."
Sakura Matou had already seen from Risei Kotomine's memory who the informant was. A cold light flashed in her eyes.
"That is, Shinji Matou's father."
Although Shinji Matou and Byakuya Matou also had the Matou surname, she had never considered them family—they were just strangers who happened to share the same surname.
She originally had no intention of specifically targeting the Matou family, but Byakuya Matou actually dared to inform on Zuke for privately keeping the Lesser Grail... then Sakura Matou wouldn't be polite anymore.
"I see, the Matou family."
Reines also understood—previously, Zuke had taken Irisviel to the Matou house and kidnapped Shinji Matou and Heroic Spirit EMIYA back.
Byakuya Matou must have seen Irisviel at that time and recognized her as the Einzbern family's homunculus, the Lesser Grail vessel of this Holy Grail War.
Thinking of this, Reines's expression also turned cold:
"The original family head is already gone. Now the Matou family has declined to this state yet still dares to provoke El-Melloi... quite bold of them."
Like Sakura Matou, Reines also made a decision in her heart—the Matou family would probably cease to exist after this.
Anyway, Sakura Matou and the Fuyuki City Matou family didn't really have any substantial relationship. Even if they disappeared, Sakura Matou obviously wouldn't have any objections.
Under normal circumstances, Byakuya Matou's information would definitely be strictly kept secret by Risei Kotomine—as a priest of the Holy Church, Risei Kotomine wouldn't be affected by hypnotic magic or similar things.
But what he obviously didn't expect was that Sakura Matou had obtained a Stand related to "memory," which led to Byakuya Matou being directly exposed to Reines and Sakura Matou.
To be continued…