“But as far as I know, the Matou family is also participating in this Holy Grail War,”
Kirei Kotomine said with a frown.
“I know what you’re worried about.
But Kariya Matou, the one representing the Matou family, is merely someone who abandoned the path of magecraft halfway through.
Although the Holy Grail War depends more on the power of the summoned Heroic Spirit, if the magus serving as Master is half-baked, then even a powerful Servant will be useless.
After all, the Master themselves becomes the weakness.
Still, we do need to be cautious.
That is why I called you here.
Kirei, I need you to use your Servant, Assassin, to investigate the situation.
Whether this is a Matou conspiracy or whether some unknown force truly abducted Sakura, I want you to uncover the truth.
And then, if possible, bring Sakura back safely.”
“Understood, Teacher Tokiomi.”
“This is a photo of Sakura.”
Tokiomi Tohsaka took a photograph from his pocket.
There were two little girls in the picture—his two lovely daughters.
And the younger one, back when she was still called Sakura Tohsaka, was smiling so innocently and happily.
“She truly is an adorable child.
Not inferior to Miss Rin at all.”
Kirei Kotomine offered a polite comment with an expressionless face.
“Sakura’s talent is indeed not inferior to Rin’s.
Unfortunately, the Tohsaka family’s magecraft inheritance can only be passed down to one child.
No matter which child inherits it, the other child, unable to receive that inheritance, would be doomed to suffer because of her rare talent.”
Tokiomi sighed as he spoke.
That was why, when the Matou family proposed adopting one of the Tohsaka daughters as the future heir to their magecraft, he had not refused.
“Enough.
Kirei, act quickly.
I’m worried about that child’s safety.”
Tokiomi raised his glass of red wine, signaling that his disciple could leave.
“Did your child get lost, Tokiomi?
Why not ask this king for help?”
After Kirei left, a blond man stepped in from the balcony.
His crimson, snake-like vertical pupils marked him clearly as none other than the future enthusiastic citizen of Fuyuki—Mr.
Gold himself.
At the moment, he looked bored and eager to find something interesting to do.
For the former fifth king of Uruk, helping a vassal search for his missing daughter was something that could pass the time.
If Tokiomi were to kneel and beg him with devotion, Gilgamesh would consider it an amusing way to satisfy a vassal’s request.
“How could this humble retainer dare trouble the great King of Heroes?
This is merely my own private matter.”
Facing his Servant’s goodwill, Tokiomi replied respectfully.
“Hmph.
What a dull man.”
Seeing his deferential attitude, Gilgamesh immediately lost interest.
His situation was like that of a tyrant who suddenly wanted to do a good deed, only for the people beneath him to not believe he would ever do such a thing.
Yet, because of his noble status, they did not dare object and instead used flawless politeness to brush him off.
Tokiomi: “…”
If this had not been the proud and arrogant King of Heroes, he would have long since treated him like an ordinary familiar and ordered him around.
Although he still had two Command Seals left that could force Gilgamesh to act, using one on something like this would be a waste of a sword on a chicken.
How would he fight the rest of the Holy Grail War afterward?
Was he supposed to rely on gem magecraft and face those monstrous Heroic Spirits head-on?
Just as Tokiomi answered the King of Heroes’ criticism with silence, Kirei suddenly returned from outside the study.
“Why are you back?”
Tokiomi broke the silence and asked.
“Teacher, there is no need to search for your daughter.
She is outside.”
Kirei’s expression was somewhat strange as he answered.
He had just taken the photo and was about to leave when he encountered three people at the gate, just as they were about to ring the doorbell.
One of them was the little girl in the photo.
“Hmm?”
Tokiomi froze, then asked for the details.
“I didn’t ask them.
But the ones who brought your daughter back are one adult and one child.
The child is a boy around your daughter’s age.
The older one is a girl holding a bamboo sword.
She looks rather aggressive, but she is an ordinary person.”
As Kirei described what he had seen, he followed Tokiomi outside.
“Father!”
When Tokiomi arrived at the entrance, he heard his younger daughter cry out in surprise.
But that was all.
Young Sakura stood hesitantly outside the Tohsaka residence, not daring to step inside.
“Sakura…”
Tokiomi’s gaze softened.
But before he could say anything, he was greeted by the 1988 Nasuverse’s version T0.
I truly didn’t expect that someone rich enough to live in such a huge mansion would actually abandon his young daughter!”
Taiga Fujimura began cursing the moment they met, pointing her bamboo sword straight at Tokiomi’s nose.
Seeing young Sakura shrink back and not dare to enter the house had already filled her with anger.
Just what had this child experienced in this home for her to be standing right at the entrance, with the door already open, yet still not daring to step inside?
“A bastard like you, who abandons his own daughter—can you even call yourself a man?
Can you even call yourself a father?!”
Tokiomi, who was being scolded: “…”
Beside him, Kirei’s mouth twitched slightly.
Behind them, Mr.
Gold looked like someone happily watching a show.
“Today, she’s entering this house whether you allow it or not.
If you don’t want me to throw you out of your own home with my fists, then you’d better be smart and let her come back!”
After Taiga finished her opening barrage, Broly also raised his small fist and stepped forward, standing on Sakura’s other side in a threatening pose.
The two of them, one on the left and one on the right, looked like street yakuza intimidating a shop that dared not pay its protection fees.
Only, the ones doing this were a bright and righteous middle school girl in the prime of youth, and a little shota boy who looked like he was still in kindergarten.
So, in practice, the effect was closer to a Kanna-style dragon roar.
Tokiomi had considered the possibility that his younger daughter’s disappearance was part of some Matou scheme in the Holy Grail War.
He had also considered that another underhanded Master might be plotting against both the Matou and Tohsaka families.
But he had never imagined that the day after he received news of her abduction, his younger daughter would appear at his doorstep with two people like this.
One started by scolding him with vicious accusations of being an unworthy father.
The other, despite his young age, dared to raise his fist and threaten him.
For a moment, Tokiomi found himself asking the three great questions of life:
Who am I?
Where am I?
What am I doing?
“My daughter was supposed to have been abducted from the Matou family, correct?”
After taking a moment to recover, Tokiomi asked his disciple.
“If what you told me through your familiar was accurate, then yes.”
Kirei answered expressionlessly.
“Then can someone explain to me what exactly I am looking at right now?”
Tokiomi asked.
Kirei could not answer.
Because he also had no idea what was going on.
“My foolish vassal, why not simply ask your daughter directly?”
At that moment, Mr.
Gold spoke like a guiding light, offering his instruction.
Tokiomi: “…”
Only then did he step forward.
Standing at the entrance, with a short distance still between them, he asked the girl:
“Sakura, can you tell Father what exactly happened?
The Matou family came yesterday and said you had been abducted.”
“No one abducted me.
I was rescued.”
After I went to the Matou family, “Grandfather” threw me into a basement full of bugs.
Those bugs crawled all over me.
It hurt so much.
It was Brother Broly who suddenly appeared and saved me from the pile of insects.”
Young Sakura gathered her courage and told her father about some of what she had experienced in the Matou household.
Tokiomi Tohsaka frowned deeply as he listened.
The Matou family did indeed possess magecraft related to controlling insect familiars.
But throwing his younger daughter—who had been adopted as the heir to their magecraft—into a basement full of insects was something he could not understand.
“Why did Zouken Matou throw you into a basement full of insects?” he asked.
“Grandfather said it was to alter my magical attribute.”
Young Sakura answered honestly.
Magical attribute?
But the Matou family’s attribute is supposed to be water.
Unless…
Tokiomi had some guesses, but he did not say them aloud.
“And they are?”
He turned instead to ask about the two people beside her.
“This is Brother Broly.
He’s the one who saved me from the insect house.
And this is Big Sister Fujimura.
She took us in last night when we had nowhere to go.”
Young Sakura introduced them.
Tokiomi: “…”
Nowhere to go.
What a fine “nowhere to go.”
Hearing those words from his younger daughter’s mouth felt incredibly ironic.
“There may be some misunderstanding here.”
Taking a deep breath, Tokiomi broke the stalemate at the entrance.
Taiga Fujimura had still been thinking about the insects and magi, but the moment she heard him call it a misunderstanding, she immediately exploded.
Just look at her!
She doesn’t even dare step through her own front door!
That alone shows what kind of irresponsible father you are!”
Tokiomi was once again scolded straight to his face.
However, since the girl before him was an ordinary person who had also sheltered his younger daughter, he, as an elegant gentleman, could not lose his temper.
He could only patiently explain that his daughter had been adopted into another household.
Of course, Tokiomi did not mention the matter of magecraft inheritance.
He merely explained that the Tohsaka and Matou families were old family friends.
In his mind, Sakura’s supposed abduction by a Heroic Spirit had already become a case of his daughter being unable to endure the alteration of her magical attribute and escaping from the Matou family.
And the helper was the boy beside her, named Broly.
“Then why won’t you let her return to her real home?”
Broly asked.
“It isn’t that she isn’t allowed to return.
It’s just that this involves the inheritance of family business.
After the adoption was completed, a clear separation had to be made.
That was unavoidable.
But when Sakura grows up, if she wishes to return here, that will not be a problem.”
Ah, so this is how wealthy families handle adopted children?!
Taiga sighed inwardly.
Based on what she had just heard, the Tiger of Fuyuki had already imagined a whole dramatic scenario involving two wealthy families and an adopted child.
However, Broly did not possess such rich powers of imagination.
Tokiomi’s explanation only made him feel confused.
He shook his head and asked the man at the entrance:
“So can she go home now or not?”
“Of course she can.”
Tokiomi nodded.
Young Sakura’s eyes lit up, though she was still a little hesitant.
“The separation and distance from before were based on the assumption that the adoption proceeded normally.
But the current situation is no longer normal.
Therefore, Sakura, you are still my child.”
The elegant gentleman opened his arms to his younger daughter.
“Father…”
Young Sakura could no longer hold back.
She ran through the doorway and threw herself into her father’s embrace.
“Wuu… wuu…”
She began crying.
Her father’s embrace was still so broad and warm.
Surely, if her father had known what she was suffering in the Matou household, he would have come to bring her home.
It must have been that evil grandfather who deceived her father and prevented him from knowing what had really happened to her.
That must be why her father had not come.
Young Sakura found an excuse for why her father had not rescued her.
And with that excuse, she quickly forgave the man who was her father and once again regarded him as someone important to rely on.
From him, she gradually gained an emotion called peace of mind.
[Matou Sakura’s happiness value is continuously rising.]
“Although we’ve now cleared up that this was a misunderstanding, I still want to say this: you failed to properly investigate the household you were sending your daughter into, and because of that, she was abused.
That still makes you an irresponsible and terrible father!”
Taiga continued to scold him.
On this point, Tokiomi had no way to refute her.
He could only say,
“It was indeed my oversight.
I am grateful to both of you for helping my daughter.”
After thinking for a moment, Tokiomi took two high-quality gems from his pocket.
“The Tohsaka family is in the jewelry business.”
As he spoke, he held out the gemstones toward the boy and the girl before him.
“These two gems are nothing particularly precious, but please accept them as a token of my thanks.”
Taiga had originally wanted to keep scolding him, but the man before her was offering far too much.
Broly merely glanced at the gem.
Once he realized it was a stone and not food, he immediately lost interest in the blue gem.
[Sparkling gemstones are common items used to increase the happiness value of the opposite sex.
The main method of use is gifting.]
However, the Crystal Palace’s reminder in his mind made Broly change his attitude toward the gem.
“Here.
For you.”
He unceremoniously took the sapphire from Tokiomi’s hand, then turned and stuffed it into young Sakura’s hand.
“Eh?!”
Young Sakura was stunned after suddenly being given a sapphire.
She instinctively looked up at her father beside her.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Tokiomi was also startled and frowned slightly as he asked.
“I’m giving her a stone.
Do you have a problem with that?”
Broly’s blunt response made Tokiomi choke on his words.