"Yo, Aoi! Hey, Rin, got a gift for you!"
In Central Park, Matou Kariya smiled, greeting a woman and a young girl.
Matou Kariya, from the Matou family—one of the Three Families—had fled their magecraft practices long ago.
Matou Zouken, deeming him worthless, ignored him.
The woman and girl weren't random passersby. The woman, Zenjou Aoi, was the eldest daughter of a declining magecraft family, but her more significant role was as the wife of Tohsaka Tokiomi, current head of the Tohsaka family, another of the Three Families providing the Holy Grail War's venue.
The girl, Tohsaka Rin, was Tokiomi's daughter and Sakura's older sister.
By all accounts, these three shouldn't be so close.
Yet deeper ties bound them.
Zenjou Aoi, Matou Kariya, and Tohsaka Tokiomi were schoolmates. Kariya had once vied with Tokiomi for Aoi's affection, and rumors spoke of heated arguments between them.
In the end, Tokiomi, with his superior lineage, won. Kariya hadn't seen him since.
A defeated man should act the part.
But, clinging to faint hopes, Kariya maintained contact with Aoi, often "bumping into" them at this park.
"Thanks, Unc!"
Rin accepted Kariya's small gift, thanking him politely. But Kariya sensed something off. Normally, she'd drag him to play, full of joy, but today… she seemed downcast?
"What's wrong?"
Kariya scanned them, noting Aoi's silence, head bowed, and Rin's gloom. Then…
"Wait, where's Sakura?"
Unease gripped him. "Aoi! Where's Sakura? Rin! Where'd she go?"
"…"
Aoi's expression grew pained, turning away as if ashamed to face him.
"Sakura… she's gone!" Rin bit her lip with her head lowered and her voice choking. Sunlight glinted revealing her tears.
"Aoi?"
"Sakura's no longer my daughter, Rin's sister…"
Aoi's voice was heavy.
"What?"
"Sakura's been sent to the Matou family… They wanted a child with magecraft potential. You know why, don't you?"
Aoi's question pierced Kariya's heart. He knew—his own flight from the Matou family left them without a magically gifted heir.
"The Tohsaka head agreed to the old ally's request. I couldn't oppose…"
Aoi's voice trembled with pain. What mother wouldn't ache losing her child? Yet she couldn't defy her husband, Tokiomi.
"…"
Fury ignited in Kariya, not at Aoi, but at Tokiomi.
As Aoi's friend, he knew her traditional nature—she wouldn't, couldn't, resist.
"Tohsaka Tokiomi…"
Rage burned, a real flame snapping a thread in Kariya's mind.
He wasn't just angry that Tokiomi gave Sakura to an ally, but that he gave her to the Matous.
Kariya, a Matou escapee, knew their home was hell.
Tokiomi, from another magecraft family, couldn't be ignorant of this. Yet, for alliances or the pursuit of magecraft's truth, he'd cast Sakura into that abyss. Kariya couldn't forgive him.
That's what he thought.
"If you see Sakura, please treat her kindly. She always liked you…"
Thud.
Kariya collapsed, rage spiking his blood pressure, plunging him into unconsciousness.
"Kariya!"
"Kariya-jiisan!"
…
"If I win the Holy Grail, you won't need Sakura, right?"
"This is a deal, Zouken! I'll bring the Matous the Grail, and you free Sakura!"
"Hahaha, don't be ridiculous! You, in a year? You can't even control a Servant!"
"Don't you have your secret arts? What, worried about me, Father?"
…
"Sakura, don't worry. Once jiisan wins the Grail, you'll be fine!"
…
"Kariya… Kariya, you…!"
In a church, Tokiomi's body lay fallen, Aoi's anguished voice behind him.
"Tokiomi! You…"
…
"It's your fault… for defying Grandfather's orders!"
"Sakura?"
A blade pierced his body, already numb, now utterly destroyed.
…
"Ah! Hah, hah, hah!"
In a hospital, Kariya jolted upright, gasping.
His hospital gown was soaked with sweat, the horrific visions lingering.
"What was that? A… dream?"
Glancing around, he felt faint pain but none of the torment of writhing worms.
"Sakura…"
Kariya threw off the blankets, leaping from the bed, intent on rushing to that house.
Thud.
His weakened body collapsed.
"Kariya? What are you doing? Nurse, help!"
With Aoi and a nurse's aid, Kariya was returned to bed.
"You fainted a day ago. I brought you here. The doctor said it's just fatigue and emotional stress. Rest a few days, don't move!"
Aoi soothed him.
"Aoi?"
The image of strangling her flashed in his mind.
"What's wrong, Kariya?"
Aoi noticed his odd expression, worried he was unwell.
After Kariya's collapse, she felt guilty. She blamed Sakura's adoption on his absence, and her harsh tone had weighed on her.
***
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