Rin's Feelings

Kiritsugu's condition continued to worsen. Although he had been discharged from hospital and was more stable now, it was irrefutable that he was weaker than before.

He no longer had the strength for any Magecraft at all, and he could barely complete his usual early morning workouts.

At this rate, he would only be able to last another year at most. His original counterpart had lasted for five years, but Shirou's healing meant that the corruption had strengthened itself in an attempt to spread.

That strength had built up and was releasing itself now.

After his admission into the hospital, he had learnt that Shirou had also entered a coma-like state while next to Sakura's ward. His hand was inseparable from Sakura's, so the doctors had to put another bed next to hers.

Guessing that Shirou had done something to try and heal Sakura, he didn't pay much attention to it.

However, even after three months, Shirou hadn't woken up yet. Kiritsugu started to worry. He felt an emptiness within him, especially when he remembered that he and Shirou were still on bad terms.

If something really happened to Shirou and he didn't wake up, Kiritsugu knew he would be overwhelmed with guilt.

All he could do know was hope, and to continue to place his trust in Shirou's abilities.

He decided that if Shirou could provide a good enough explanation, he would listen to him no matter what from now on.

He did not want to lose another family member due to his indecisiveness, or to his ideals. Not if making another choice could save them.

---

Rin was feeling conflicted. Her younger sister, Sakura, had apparently been living in horrible conditions with the Matous. She had convinced herself that Sakura was living a better life than her, yet the truth was far from it.

Not only that, the boy who had charmed her was currently by her bedside, refusing to let her hand go even while he was unconscious.

While Rin loved her sister, she had also resolved to kill her after learning about the Holy Grail War from her father.

She had no idea when Shirou had affected her so much, but when she thought about the two being together all the time, she would start feeling weird. It was a feeling that she hadn't experienced before. A feeling that she wanted to get rid of straight away.

Yet no matter what she did, the feeling stayed. Even practicing her Magecraft or admiring jewels had no effect.

She had refrained from visiting Sakura, but now she thought that doing so might alleviate what she was feeling.

Therefore, right now, she was visiting the hospital ward that Sakura and Shirou were in.

"Sakura… Shirou…"

Seeing the two 'sleeping' so peacefully, she suddenly felt like all of her worries were for naught.

While the mysterious feeling still remained, there was no way she could still be angry after seeing such a scene. The feelings in her 10 year old heart were very fickle.

Besides, simply seeing her sister after so long had caused a multitude of emotions to well up within her, the foremost being guilt. She had neglected Sakura and brainwashed herself into thinking selfish thoughts.

The truth was that she cared for Sakura very deeply. She did not want her to go to the Matous, but the two of them could not disobey Tokiomi.

Not only that, when Sakura had been saved, she had started feeling envious of her being so close to Shirou. 'Why did Shirou want to save Sakura?' had been her first thought, rather than 'Thank God she's been saved!'.

Instead of coming to visit her, she stayed away simply because she was afraid. Afraid that once Sakura woke up, she would lose everything. Her determination, her progress, and most importantly, her current life.

She had grown used to living by herself as the head of the Tohsaka family. She didn't want to deal with Sakura's situation.

For that, Rin was willing to abandon her beloved little sister to her fate with the Matous.

If it hadn't been for Shirou, who knows what would have happened to her.

Rin sat by their bedside, crying silently.

The sudden realization of her horrible 'true' nature had caused a breakdown.

After a couple of minutes, Rin heard a noise behind her.

The door opened, and a trenchcoat-wearing man walked into the ward. He had short black hair, a similarly short unkempt beard, and blank eyes.

Rin immediately stood up, although she had no real reason to.

"Oh? Who might you be?"

"Uh… um… my name's Tohsaka Rin. I'm… Sakura's older sister."

"Ah, Tohsaka, huh? I knew your father once."

"F-Father? Are you by any chance… Emiya Kiritsugu-san?"

"Hmm? I'm surprised you know who I am."

"Ah, I'm very sorry. It's just that Shirou has spoken so much about you."

Looking at Rin's flustered face, Kiritsugu had a funny feeling in his heart. Not only was Sakura seemingly infatuated with his son, even the scion of the Tohsaka family was.

He was aware that Shirou had been practicing Magecraft with Rin, but to have affected her to such an extent…

Just how talented was he? Not only were his physical abilities and Magecraft talent top-notch, even his interpersonal skills were out of the world.

Was there anything that his son couldn't do? Kiritsugu thought that he was looking forward to finding something.

"Ah, sorry. Please, if you are on your way out…"

"No no, don't mind me. I'll just stay here for a bit more…"

Rin sat back down with a slight blush on her face. She felt like she had done something she shouldn't have and was subsequently embarrassed.

Kiritsugu started randomly talking.

"You know, Shirou's actually adopted. His actual parents died in the fire two years ago."

"Oh, he's already told me."

"Is that so? He barely ever tells me anything. Sometimes it feels like I'm not even his father."

"That's not true at all! He speaks about you so often… although most of it is about your involvement in the Fourth Holy Grail War and Magecraft."

"Really… I haven't really told him anything about that though?"

"Eh? Then how does he know?"

"That's what I want to know. When I told him I was a Magus, he wasn't surprised in the slightest. When I refused to teach him, he went to you instead."

"And then I went ahead and taught him a bit. Thinking back on it, I think I was a bit rash…"

"Indeed… most Magus wouldn't go about teaching random people about Magecraft. But what's done is done. As for our questions, they'll have to wait for when he wakes up."

"How are you so sure he will?"

"I'm not. But don't you wish your sister would also wake up? We can only hope."

"T-That's true…"

After that, the two sat in silence for a while.

"Well, I need to get my check-up done, so I'll be going on my way. See you later, maybe."

"Oh… uh…"

Before Rin could form proper words, Kiritsugu had already disappeared from the ward, leaving her sitting in silence.