Part 376: Sisters (VII) / To the cavern

Video: Sisters (mirror)





Her strongest weapon.
She throws the sorcerer's inheritance.
"Welt, Ende."





The whole cavern is filled with light.



She runs.
She runs straight at Matou Sakura.
Sakura can't move, wincing from the light.
No matter how much power she has, she's still inexperienced in battle.
So it's easy to beat her once she sets her mind to it.





Sakura can't react.
It seems she's realized she's going to be killed, but it's too late.

…She's got her.
She thrusts the dagger to finish her off,

Music: Stop

Oh, I can't.
and realizes her own defeat.





'I'm going to be killed.'

There's no fear.
She's used to being hurt by others.
And she thinks it's natural that Rin is the one doing it.

Music: Ever-present Feeling

But she doesn't like getting hurt and dying scares her, so she closes her eyes.
She sighs with relief; after all, once she dies, the pain will end.

"?"
But there's no pain, and the end doesn't come.
Warmth fills her instead.
The instant she realizes what it is…
Matou Sakura regains her sight.



"…Nee-san?"
The girl asks why.
Rin was definitely faster.
She could've killed her, but she stopped her dagger at the last second.



"……Geez. I can't be complaining about Shirou."
A faint voice.
It's the voice she's always dreamed of.
The voice of Tohsaka Rin that's relentless, but warm and kind.



Rin thinks to herself.
…It's nothing special.
She just realized when it counted the most.
Right when she saw Sakura up close, she realized she couldn't kill her.

"……Geez. I'm stupid."
…She's dumbfounded.
Her foolishness must be absolute if she doesn't realize it until the very last moment.
She should've realized it earlier.
…But Rin's convinced that it can't be helped.

"…Yeah, it can't be helped.
I can't ignore a slouch. I like orderly schemes, and it irritates me when people aren't repaid for their efforts."

And first of all…

"I like you, Sakura. I've always watched you, and I wanted you to smile. …Yeah. I wanted to believe that you had it better the more I suffered.
I was so preoccupied with that, so I didn't even have time to think about if it was painful or not."

She embraces Sakura with love.
A once-in-a-lifetime embrace between sisters.
She softly embraces her sister, who pierced her stomach, and holds her there like a treasure.

"Neesan"
……Her warmth fades.
There's no complaint.
Tohsaka Rin regrets, not her death, but her inability to save her sister.

"I'm sorry I'm a selfish sister.
…And thanks. I'm glad you always wore that ribbon."





She crumples to the altar like a falling red flower.





But Sakura. Even as insensitive as I am…
I never thought I was blessed

"No."
What kind of loneliness is contained in Sakura's words?
Her agony for her alone.
Nobody else can understand or relieve her.
There's no such hypocrisy.

And at the same time…
What if the girl she admired felt a loneliness nobody could understand?

"No."
…What would happen then?
She was her ideal. Someone brimming with confidence, who had everything she wanted.
What if her older sister were always bound by something, just like her?

"I"
…Then…
The one that's weak, the one at fault, isn't her world…
…But her, the coward who couldn't look up
And there were people who clumsily loved her.

Music: Stop





…Where did she go wrong?
She had everything.
Everything she wanted was actually right there in front of her.
They loved her and embraced her so kindly.
But she destroyed it all herself.







Her hands are still frozen in place, trying to hug someone who's no longer there.
The girl, wet with her beloved sister's blood, starts to strongly curse herself.







Is it distant thunder?
Suddenly I realize that I can't recall when I've ever heard distant thunder.

…The dagger in my hand crumbles away as Saber disappears.
It must be because I eliminated a Servant, a strong familiar.
The Azoth Sword Tohsaka created with all her magical energy crumbles away without a trace.

""
I tighten the restraint on my left arm.
I've used up most of the magical energy.
What's left in Archer's arm and myself.
I should be able to do more if I combine them, but I can only manage one more projection. I won't be able to suppress Archer's arm after that.

Music: Whirlpool of Fate





My body's stiff and rigid.
It feels like my joints have turned into steel.
I could probably repel bullets now.

"Are you all right, Rider?"
I can't walk well.
I walk.





…Something's making a sound in the distance.
It sounds like something I heard a lot as a kid.
It's probably still ingrained in my childhood memories.
One gets curious about a lot of things as a kid.

"Rider."
I walk to the wall Rider smashed into.
She's still there.
But she's covered in wounds, with her magical energy almost completely depleted.
She shouldn't be able to move for a while.
…I should have her rest.

"I'm going ahead. Please come after me once you can run again."
I murmur to Rider and start walking.

"Ugh. …You treat people more roughly than I expected."
Oh, she's conscious.
Unable to stand, she watches me in a daze.

"Sorry. But I'm counting on you. Please come help me after you're slightly healed."
"Yes. Don't worry, I shall follow you shortly."

Rider doesn't push herself.
She knows she should start moving after she heals instead of pushing herself now.
I can depend on her because she actually thinks ahead, unlike me.

…The rumblings are coming at shorter intervals now.
There's no time to waste.
I drag my wounded body and follow after Tohsaka.





"Guhha, gah."
Something comes out of my mouth.
I wipe it away and pretend nothing happened.



"Guh, ah"
My thigh muscle goes numb, and I almost fall.



It's just a little numbness.
My pants leg is ripped from inside, and I can see inside my body.
Desperately, I look away and walk on.



I'm almost there.
Warm wind hits my body.
"All right."
I slap my cheeks and start running.











The main cause of this ridiculous war.
The guy who took Sakura from me.

"It's about to be born."
Pressure and unpleasantness hit my whole body.
The breathing of life tells me it's about to hatch.

A flash of light and a rumble.
The light came from the top of the cliff, wreaking havoc on the cavern.
…I don't know what's going on, but such flashy things can only come from Tohsaka.

Then that means
"You're in a rush."
The distorted embryo looks at me, even though it has no eyes.

…There's no mistake about it.
He wants to come out right this second, maybe because he doesn't like how Tohsaka's raging around.
But his body's not ready yet.
His placenta is inside the black pillar.
He can't come out until his body's completely formed.

He's impatient because Tohsaka's about to destroy the womb itself, and that's why he wants his body completed, even if it may be hurriedly built.
He wants to be summoned into this world as a Servant with a body.



A desperate clash of light and shadow.





This isn't the destruction of the cavern walls by the light.
This is destruction on a more fundamental level. The cavern is shaking because the giant shadow's trying to come out.

"That's"
A chill runs up my spine.
I get a bad feeling.
Hearing Sakura's cry, I imagine the worst possible outcome.



"TohsakaTohsaka, Tohsaka!"
I run.
Panting frantically, I scramble up the cliff on all fours.





Music: Stop