Chapter 57: Death of Matōu Kariya
Location: Enzoyama, at the gate of Ryudoji Temple.
Time: Half an hour after Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu left.
"…Looks like it's over."
Manaka Sajyou suddenly said this while looking at the direction of the invisible Einzbern Castle in the distance.
"…Huh?!"
Hearing Manaka Sajyou's words, Karna beside her couldn't help but make a questioning sound.
"ncer, I'm going out for a while, you wait here for Altira-chan and Shizuku to come back!"
Turning her head slightly, the girl said this without explaining why.
"But…..."
Looking at Manaka Sajyou who looked calm in front of him, Karna's tone became a little hesitant.
[If Aster meets other servants outside]
Karna thought of this possibility.
"Don't worry!"
As if she had heard Karna's inner thoughts, Aika Sajo responded: "Now Saber, Rider, Archer, Ruler, Altira-chan and Shizuku are all gathered in Einzbern Castle. Fuyuki City is not in much danger."
"——————"
"Sakura, come with me."
Then, the girl whispered to the back.
"——————"
In the end, Karna still watched his savior disappear in front of him with Matou Sakura.
He was silent.
In fact, for some reason, Karna had a special feeling for his savior.
During these days together, he had unknowingly figured out a lot about the truth of his master.
In fact, he knew before that he could not change the girl's will.
Because... the girl is abnormal.
Not to mention the incredible attraction to the heroic spirit that is different from common sense.
In fact, the fairy-like girl is different from ordinary people in terms of character, personality, ideas, and even the most basic survival instinct.
Sajyou Manaka...actually has no sense of being alive.
Karna clearly perceived this fact with his own ability.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that the girl did not cover up anything at all.
The girl was indifferent to everything around her.
The girl gave people the feeling that she had no feelings.
The girl didn't even care about her own life.
That was not something she showed intentionally, but a deep-rooted concept deep in her heart.
Karna could feel the emptiness and indifference deep in the girl's heart.
The pure white girl who looked like a ghost.
The girl who was alive but seemed dead
That's why Karna cared so much.
He spoke before not out of loyalty to the Lord, but simply out of loyalty to Sajyou Manaka.
............
............
The camera moves back.
"Kariya-kun, is it worth it?"
"You are here, Lady Sajyou Manaka."
After hearing Sajo Aika's voice, Matōu Kariya, who was panting heavily, forced himself to cheer up and tried to stand up by leaning on the big tree behind him, but his body, which was in such a bad state, did not allow him to do so, so he could only helplessly continue to fall to the ground.
"I'm sorry, the time I became a magician was too short after all. I wanted to solve Tohsaka Tokiomi, but I failed in the end."
Without answering Sajyou Manaka 's question directly, Matōu Kariya only said this with a wry smile.
"——————"
"I'm sorry... I can't help you in the end."
Manaka Sajyou looked at Matou Kariya, who was speaking intermittently and whose life was like a candle in the wind.
"It doesn't matter. Tohsaka Time won't be a hindrance to me."
Manaka Sajyou said.
"Really? Then... that's good."
Hearing this, Matou Kariya's expression gradually relaxed.
Then, he raised his eyes, which could hardly see anything, and looked at the night sky above his head.
"——————"
"Sama Sajyou Manaka, I'll leave Sakura in your care..."
The completely disabled Matou Kariya spoke his last words clearly and fluently at the last moment of his life.
"Uncle Kariya!"
At this moment, Matou Sakura, who had been holding back from speaking, finally couldn't help but speak after seeing this scene.
"——————"
The voice beside him was so far away, and in the trance that his mind was gradually dissipating, Matou Kariya seemed to see himself when he was young. He saw himself when he first met Aoi as a child, saw himself when he found out that Aoi and Tokitoki were getting married, saw his life as a reporter after he left the Matou family, saw the shock and overwhelming sense of guilt he felt when he got the news that Sakura was sent to the Matou family by Tokiomi.
He saw himself breaking off his relationship with magic and doing what he liked.
He saw himself choosing to parasitize the seal bug in order to save Sakura.
He saw the various choices he made from childhood to adulthood, some good, some bad, but more of them made him regret.
He saw those who had let him down, and those he had let down, each face appeared expressionlessly and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
In this trance, his life flashed by like a flash of lightning. Before he died, Matōu Kariya reviewed his life like a revolving lantern in the legend.
[My life is really a failure]
Just like that, with his last thoughts, Matōu Kariya slowly exhaled his last breath.
The eyes that had been completely blind but had previously represented a glimmer of life, now completely dimmed, the pupils dilated and absent-minded, the heart stopped the endless beating that represented the vitality of life, and became dead silent and stiff.
............
............
Fuyuki City, Kawabe Park.
Sajyou Manaka looked at Matōu Kariya, who had lost his breath of life in front of her.
"...Uncle Kariya."
Sakura Matou next to him repeated what he had just said in a daze.
But...Matou Kariya, who was already dead, could not answer at this time.
Matōu Kariya, who was dead, sat quietly leaning against the tree as he did when he was alive.
"——————"
"Let's go, Sakura."
Suddenly, Manaka Sajyousaid this to Sakura Matou beside her.
"But...Sister."
Sakura Matou turned to Manaka Sajyou and looked as if she wanted to say something but stopped.
"Let's go, it will be dawn in a few hours.
"I will take good care of Kariya-kun's body. "
Seeing why the other party was so hesitant, Sajyou Manaka spoke up.
............
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(End of this chapter)