20 billion yen.
Shinji looked up, glancing at Sakura in astonishment.
He understood that this was her kindness, yet he still had to display his malice.
At this moment, the mask of mockery on his face cracked, revealing a sliver of genuine confusion.
“Hey, what is the meaning of this?”
He pointed at the number, his voice sounding a bit dry.
“I don’t think my math is so bad that I can’t tell 1 from 2.
Sakura, what do you mean by this?
Charity?
Do you think ten billion isn’t enough to dismiss a beggar?”
Rin was also stunned for a moment; she leaned over.
“What?
Isn’t it ten billion?”
When she saw the figure of 20 billion, her eyes widened, and she whipped her head around to look at Sakura.
“Sakura!
Why has it become 20 billion?
Didn’t we agree yesterday…”
Sakura stood there quietly, her hands clasped in front of her.
Facing Rin’s questioning and Shinji’s astonishment, she appeared extraordinarily calm.
“It is not charity, nor is it a mistake.”
Sakura’s voice was very soft, yet very clear, echoing in the hospital room.
“The extra ten billion is what the Matou Family owes you.”
She looked at Shinji, her gaze complex.
Although there was more hatred, she could also understand that he had been manipulated and used by their grandfather, which had shaped him into who he was today; he was as hateful as he was pathetic.
“Ten billion is the price for you to leave Fuyuki and renounce your status.
And the other ten billion is as a younger sister, as the Matou Family repaying the Matou Family’s debt, and…”
Sakura paused, seemingly searching for the right words.
“And to completely buy out the last bit of obsession in my heart regarding the title of ‘older brother’.”
In Sakura’s heart, the violence and abuse Shinji had inflicted upon her in the past, and his tendency to bully the weak while fearing the strong, were all results of her own indulgence.
Sakura had occupied the qualification of mage and family status that Shinji valued most, and then doled out small favors to him.
She could clearly realize her control over Shinji; if she truly wanted to resist, finishing off a piece of trash like Shinji would be as easy as pie.
But she did not do that; instead, she cultivated Shinji’s dependency and pathological personality, and she was happy to see it happen.
Because they both lived under their grandfather’s control, she could not resist, which was why she acquiesced to the birth of this symbiotic, dependent, and pathological relationship.
At this moment, Shinji was stunned.
He looked at the girl before him.
In the original story, she was the tragic heroine who struggled in the darkness and was corrupted.
But right now, she had proactively used 20 billion, rather than passively following the ten billion he had proposed, to buy a thorough liberation.
She did not want to owe Shinji anything, not even the so-called mercy of family assets that were useless to her.
If she was going to give, she would give completely, giving in a way that would make Shinji, in his conscience (if he still had one), never be able to hold his head up for the rest of his life, and never be able to return to pester her using the excuse of being kicked out of the house.
This was Sakura’s gentleness, and also her most resolute attitude.
“Ha…
Hahahaha!”
Shinji suddenly burst into laughter.
He laughed until he doubled over, the movement aggravating his lung injury and triggering a fit of violent coughing.
“Cough, cough, cough, good!
Very good!”
He laughed while coughing, tears even appearing at the corners of his eyes.
He looked at Sakura, and for the first time, there was no mockery in his eyes, but rather a hint of an unreadable emotion; it was Shinji’s admiration for this girl.
“Sakura, you are even more foolish than I imagined.
Are you trying to crush me with money?
Fine, I like this way of dying!”
He no longer hesitated, uncapped his pen, and signed the name Shinji at the bottom of the document.
Although, for some reason, it looked quite ugly.
“Take it!”
He tossed the signed document to the lawyer, then slumped back onto the bed, closed his eyes, and waved his hand.
“Once the money arrives, get lost.
I’m a rich man now, and I don’t want to breathe the same air as you people anymore.”
The lawyer and the bank representative quickly checked the documents, confirmed they were correct, and nodded at Sakura.
“In that case, we will go and handle the transfer procedures now, Miss Sakura.”
The lawyer and the representative exited the room.
Sakura looked at the man on the bed with his eyes closed, her lips moving as if she wanted to say take care, but in the end, she said nothing.
This was already the best ending.
“Then I will also…”
Sakura just wanted to turn and leave.
“Wait.”
Rin, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly spoke up.
She stood up, not looking at Sakura, but staring fixedly at Shinji on the bed.
“Sakura, you go out first.
Wait for me in the car.”
“Big sister?”
Sakura was a bit confused, not knowing what Rin wanted to do; in her view, things had already been completely cut off.
“Go.”
“Since the transaction is over, there are some things, as your guardian and as the head of the Tohsaka Family, that I must discuss with this scum alone.”
Sakura looked at Rin’s serious profile, then looked at Shinji, hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded.
“I understand.
Then, I will wait for big sister downstairs.”
As the door closed again, only two people remained in the hospital room.
The air instantly dropped to freezing point.
Rin turned around and walked to the bedside step by step.
She no longer had the concerns she had in front of Sakura; at this moment, her body was radiating dangerous magical power fluctuations, and her twin tails were moving without wind.
Shinji opened his eyes, looked at Rin in front of him, and sighed helplessly.
“What?
Does the young lady want to give me one as a parting gift?
I’m just an ordinary person now, I’ll die, you know.”
“If you actually died, that would save me the trouble.”
Rin said coldly.
She leaned down, bracing her hands on the edge of the bed, her exquisite face closing in on Shinji, the distance between them close enough to feel each other’s breath.
But in those emerald eyes, there was no ambiguity.
“Listen, Shinji.”
Rin lowered her voice.
“Although that fool Sakura gave you 20 billion, and you signed that damn agreement, I still have to warn you.”
“If you dare take the money and not leave…”
“If you dare, at any time or any place in the future, to harass Sakura, even if it’s just by writing a letter…”
“Or, if you dare use this money to do anything that harms the principles of the mystery side…”
Rin’s right hand lifted slightly, her fingertips flickering with a dangerous red-black light.
“No matter where you are in the world, no matter which rat hole you hide in.”
“I, Rin, will absolutely kill you with my own hands.
I won’t even leave you a soul.”
“Do you understand?”
Looking at the face that had suddenly closed in, it would be a lie to say Shinji wasn’t nervous; this was Rin!
His heart began to thump uncontrollably.
He had originally wanted to feign composure.
But he couldn’t resist the temptation, and evil thoughts arose; he kept reciting in his heart that this was the evil intent of the deceased Shinji acting up, and that he was a good, upstanding young man.
Anyway, it was just a beating, and he wouldn’t see her again in the future.
So, to Rin’s shocked eyes, he raised his head and kissed her.