Urobuchi, page 29
But he had just decided to try new things, and one was right in front of him. Although it was silly, the idea was worth a try.
Yet, was this kind of stuff really that interesting?
Waver frowned as he looked at the bag. He then began following the instructions to connect the video game with the TV.
Half a Year Later
“– I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand up on the earth.”
A funeral procession progressed alone in the icy-cold rain.
A young girl was the person who managed the funeral.
No expressions of sorrow or anxiety were written on her, but she only numbly went on according to the procedure of the funeral. While this expression made those who came to mourn feel her strength, none of them held any feelings of pity towards her.
It was a funeral for a high-born clan. For elders, children who grew up under such a strict education should be able to bear anything. The mourners sitting here all held the same belief.
“And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me…
Amen.”
Then the coffin was buried into the earth. With some words of prayer from the others, the mourners left one by one. In the rain that once again regained its silence, only the young girl who took charge of the funeral and the priest who led the ceremonies were left behind.
“Good work. It was already very splendid as the debut of the next Head of the family.
I believe your father would feel proud too.”
Rin just nodded in silence hearing those words of praise for her. Her left wrist had already been carved with the Magic Crest of the Tōsaka family. Her body was still not used to the Crest that had only recently been grafted and kept on inflicting pain on her. But there was no sign of agony shown on the young girl’s face, and she endured the funeral until the very last minute. Indeed, this willpower of hers didn’t match her age.
The letter that Tokiomi wrote, which entrusted everything to the Association after his death, was almost perfect; it was truly a real portrait of the man himself. The transfer of the body and the extraction of the Crest were all entrusted to the Association’s headquarters in London by Kotomine Kirei, Rin’s guardian. The Crest was handed to Tokiomi’s friends to be guarded securely to ensure that it would be impeccably transplanted onto Rin’s body in the future.
Transplanting a Crest into someone will cause a great burden to the body, therefore it was best to transplant it to the family successor before his or her secondary sexual characteristics have developed completely. However, when the previous Head suddenly passes away, many unthought-of difficulties often would occur. But Tokiomi had overcome this and made impeccable preparations. He had passed the essence of magecraft that the Tōsaka house had complied over the generations all unto Rin without omitting a single thing.
However, due to the numerous procedures involved with the transport of the body and the removal of the Crest, over six months passed before Tokiomi’s body was returned home. As a result, people who attended the funeral procession today were only the few who knew the truth of his death, completely unrelated to the prestige and achievements the family had achieved in its homeland. A lonely funeral like this is probably a sin one must bear as a magus.
Kirei looked around the cemetery, which suddenly became desolate, and turned around to meet the taxi that had waited at the back.
“It’s about time to let Mother come out, right?”
“– Mm, it’s about time.”
Tōsaka Aoi, who was supposed to organize the funeral as the widow, was unable to appear in front of the guests due to her health condition that required her to stay in bed. Although reluctant to let her come into contact with outsiders, Rin still wanted her mother to meet her father one last time before the coffin was to be buried beneath the earth.
Rin had been waiting for her mother’s arrival since before the other mourners arrived.
She walked towards the car, helped her mother onto the wheelchair, and pushed it towards Tokiomi’s grave. In the wheelchair, although the widow still looked very young and beautiful, there wasn’t any expression engraved on her face; only a hazy, dreamy stare that looked into the void.
“Mom, here, say a final goodbye to father.”
Hearing Rin’s urging sound, Aoi’s dreamy eyes finally slowly gathered on one spot on the ground.
Her eyes slowly swept around the gravestones surrounding her, and opened her eyes wide as if having finally realized something.
“Ah – What, Rin? Is it someone’s funeral today?”
“Yes. Because father passed away.”
“Oh my goodness! I’ll have to hurry and take out Tokiomi’s funeral clothes – Rin, go help Sakura get dressed. Ahhh what to do what to do. I haven’t prepared anything…”
Aoi, who was sitting on a wheelchair, sank into a brief panic. Then, she suddenly bent down like a marionette with its strings broken. Moreover, when she finally lifted her head up again, she showed a gentle smile towards the empty air before her, and stretched out her fingers in front of her.
“See, my dear, your tie is skewed again. And there’s a string sticking to your shoulder. Haha, try to cheer up a bit. After all, you’re the father that Rin and Sakura are proud of…”
Aoi prattled on and on to the husband that only she could see. Meanwhile, Rin simply stayed by her mother’s side and guarded her in silence.
Tōsaka Aoi, who had received brain damage as a result of oxygen deprivation, was unable to communicate properly with Kirei and Rin anymore. Undoubtedly for Rin, Aoi had been an innocent victim swept up into the Fourth Heaven’s Feel just like her father.
However, for Aoi who was no longer able to correctly comprehend reality, perhaps this was happier for her. Her heart had remained at that time when Sakura was still in the house and Tokiomi was still alive. She wandered in the spacious Tōsaka mansion, conversed and laughed with the husband and younger daughter in her memories, and lived on forever in the beautiful dream of a happy family.
Only Rin was left behind in the real world by herself. She took care of such a mother, but could only look at her silently and was unable to move a single step into that happy picture. She hid the sadness that no one else could feel, bore the heavy burden of being the head of a magecraft clan upon her young body, and endured the pain of the Crest. It was truly a far-too-cruel fate for a young girl who was only a primary school student.
Kotomine Kirei, however, thought that it was an incomparably good strike of luck that he was made the guardian of such a tragic girl.
He could only feel joy through the other’s pain and suffering. To Kirei, who had known his twisted true colors a long time ago, Rin’s current predicaments were
undoubtedly the best environment to make her grow into a sentimental girl. Since Kirei would be able to appraise everything from the closest distance, it was undoubtedly an enjoyment comparable to tasting the most outstanding wine.
However – what angered him was the fact that he had never received such rewards.
Though she was burdened with this tragic fate, the young girl didn’t shed a single tear. Not even a weak word was ever said by her.
Even now, before her pitiful mother who could not comprehend her father’s passing, Rin still kept a calm look. She forcibly suppressed her sorrow and grief inside her heart, and waited for her mother to calm down. This would have been a situation where other children of her age, who were spoiled to death by their parents, would never have been able to endure.
Rin had already acknowledged and accepted her fate, and was courageous enough to boldly face it. Such rare pride and self-control were the greatest virtues possessed by the young girl named Tōsaka Rin, but it was the thing that angered Kirei the most.
After having had her full of bitterness and pain, this jewel named Rin began to take on shape from the unshaped raw ore. He had originally thought that seeing the shameful behavior of her beloved mother would wound her soul, but he did not expect her to accept her mother’s weakness of becoming enthralled in dreams with a merciful and accommodating heart.
This young girl was advancing step by step towards the heretic road named magecraft. Perhaps one day she would become just like her father, and discard all the twisted evil of a magus and form a most righteous and balanced personality. Of course, that would be the most boring development for Kirei. He had originally expected very much to see just what kind of a twisted flower would bloom out of Tokiomi’s daughter.
Keeping all of the secrets in his heart, Kirei placed his hand on Rin’s shoulders as if encouraging her.
“I will stay in Japan for some time… Is there anything else you’re worried about for the future?”
“… Nothing much. I’ve been too much of a trouble for you, but now it’s fine.”
The young girl answered with a tough tone, not even looking at Kirei.
Rin obeyed her father’s last words, and did not object to having Kotomine Kirei become her guardian. However, she found it difficult to cover up her spite toward him. He was Tokiomi’s assistant and headed toward the same battlefield, but in the end still failed to protect Tokiomi. Rin’s heart was still full of anger and suspicion toward the a man named Kirei till this day.
Kirei only felt Rin’s inexperienced hatred to be laughable. What would the expression on this girl’s face be when she one day came to know the truth? He would be quite looking forward to see it.
“We will meet again after six months. Then the second Crest transplantation process can be performed. Please take care of yourself.”
“…You don’t have to say a thing. I already know about.”
“I think that I will be mainly working overseas in the future. I’m terribly sorry to say this, but I think I cannot live in Japan. I am truly unsuitable to be a guardian…”
“If you’re busy then it cannot be helped. I will obviously take good care of mother and the Tōsaka family while you’re gone. You can go crusade against heretics or do whatever you like as long as you don’t bring us trouble.”
Hah, even Rin can bluff like this? Her tone today was sharper than usual. Perhaps today really was more painful than ever for this girl.
A rather sickening idea suddenly flashed through Kirei’s mind.
“– Rin, you will be the true Head of the Tōsaka house from today onwards. In order to celebrate this special occasion, I am giving you a gift.”
As he said that, Kirei pulled out a dagger from within his coat together with its sheath.
This was the same Azoth Sword that was given to him by Tokiomi as a symbol of friendship. Today’s funeral also made Kirei remember the man who had passed away, so he brought this dagger along. It was also a little compensation for the man who had died by his hand.
“This is what I received from Tokiomi-sensei in the past when he recognized the achievements of my magecraft studies – I think it’s better that you take care of it from now on.”
Rin took the dagger, pulled the dagger from its sheath, and studied it carefully. She caressed the leather of the hilt and the magecraft runes on the blade almost reverently, as if she could feel the warmth of her father’s fingers within.
“… Father …”
A small ripple suddenly appeared on the dagger that the girl held in her hands – a single drop of tear suddenly tumbled down the immaculate blade.
This was the first time that Rin had shed tears in front of Kirei.
As if having tasted the wine he had been waiting for too long, Kirei’s heart shook with joy.
Rin didn’t know anything. The dagger that she held in her hand and received her tears was once fully stained with the fresh blood that poured out of Tokiomi’s heart.
Perhaps she would even consider this dagger as a memento of her memorable father and deferentially treasure it in the future. Of course, the pre-requisite was that she did not know this was the murder weapon that killed her father.
This extreme irony and the pleasure of violating a pure heart made Kotomine Kirei receive an insurmountable satisfaction.
Rin, who was crying with her head lowered, was completely ignorant to the priest beside her who was blossoming with a silent smile. She only held on tightly to the dagger of fate in her hands.
Five Years Later
It was a night with a beautiful moon. Emiya Kiritsugu gazed out at the moon as he silently stood by the window.
Although it was already winter, the temperature wasn’t very low; it was just cold enough to let the skin feel the slight prickle of a chill. It was the ideal weather to view the moon.
A boy sat beside him. He was also quietly gazing out at the moon with Kiritrugu.
His name was Shirō.
He was the only existence that Kiritsugu managed to save from the fire that made him lose everything.
It had been five years since then. Shirō, who was a kid, was also gradually growing up.
Kiritsugu adopted Shirō, who had no one left to rely on due to the fire, and managed to barely live on after tidying up the ruined house with the storage room that Irisviel had bought.
As for why he did that – even he himself did not know. He had nowhere else to go.
Did he also have no more reasons left to keep living?
All the goals and beliefs the man named Emiya Kiritsugu had once possessed were burnt to ashes with that fire. The thing that returned from that barren field was simply a corpse that had retained a beating heart.
In fact, had he not saved Shirō, then Kiritsugu would perhaps have truly died a long time ago.
However, he met Shirō. He met this child who had fortunately escaped from the raging fire that had claimed innumerable lives.
That was the miracle which resurrected him from the shell that was once named Emiya Kiritsugu.
Even if he were to look back on it now, this had been a very wondrous life.
The man who had lost his wife and daughter again became a father –
The child who had lost his parents again became a son –
Now that he thought about it, he had repeated this unchanging life day after day.
Shirō was now calling Kiritsugu ‘old man’ while the latter hadn’t even hit 40 years old.
Maybe the kid felt it was more natural that way.
But the truth was that the stamina still lingering within Kiritsugu’s body was nothing more than a spluttering candle in the wind. In truth, he was not much different from an old man after all.
After that, he peacefully and calmly passed his days as if he was living within the dream of another man.
On that day five years ago, a line had been drawn across his life, which had already lost everything. No one else had disappeared before Kiritsugu after that.
Be it Shirō, Taiga, Raiga-san or the youngsters in the Fujimura Group; none of them had left him since they met, and they were still together even now.
The meetings he used to have with other people were simply the beginning of separation.
However, such a happiness was not without a reason.
Because the things that he had lost in the past would never come back.
Kiritsugu had repeatedly used the excuse of ‘traveling overseas’ to get Shirō to stay home while he traveled to the Einsberns. He wanted to save his daughter, who had been left all alone within the City of Winter.
However, no matter how obstinately Kiritsugu repeated his visits, Jubstacheit was still unwilling to open the forest’s bounded field. That was understandable. All the efforts the Einsberns put into the fourth Heaven’s Feel came to nothing because of Kiritsugu’s last-minute betrayal. A man such as Kiritsugu would have to remain silent even if he was punished, but Acht did not do that. Did he want to put the traitor to exile like a stray dog and let it struggle on its last legs, and carry that shameful title for the rest of its life? Or did he plan to let Kiritsugu never see his daughter again
and use that as the most severe punishment that can be inflicted? No matter what, it was already a fact.
Had he been the Kiritsugu of the past, the infamous “Magus Killer”, then he might have been able to forcibly break through this icy bounded field and rush to his daughter’s side. However, the current Kiritsugu had been touched by “Angra Mainyu”
and had already been corroded by this curse. His flesh was getting weaker and weaker. His limbs atrophied, his sight began to fade, and he had completely lost the ability to use magecraft. He was not much different from a terminally ill patient. He couldn’t even find the starting point of the bounded field, and could only wander in the blizzard, waiting till death.
He understood all his attempts had been in vain – recently Kiritsugu had already faintly felt that his time was probably up. In other words, he probably hadn’t had much time left since the moment he became cursed by the black mud.
Therefore he had recently been staying home all the time, drowning in memories as he passed the time in a daze.
What had his life been about –
As he thought of this, he silently gazed up at the moon with Shirō.
“… When I was a kid, I used to want to be a hero of justice very much.”
Suddenly, he muttered this unconsciously.
Like a shipwreck that had sunken beneath the surface a long long time ago, those untouched and forgotten words suddenly escaped from his lips – that was right. He seemed to have said something like that to someone else some time ago, although he didn’t manage to fulfill it at the end. But just when did that happen?
However, when he heard Kiritsugu, Shirō suddenly showed an expression of displeasure.
“What? You’re saying you used to want to, then have you given up now?”
Since the boy harbored a deep admiration for Kiritsugu, Shirō seemed to hate having Kiritsugu say such self-deprecating words. Kiritsugu had often felt extremely ashamed toward this sentiment.
The boy thought his foster father was an incomparably great man. He did not understand Emiya Kiritsugu’s past – including that disaster which made the man lose everything. He simply and merely made Kiritsugu a goal to be admired.
