Come, Sakura. Big Brother Has Something Heartfelt to Tell You. (Please Support the New Book!)

This easygoing young man was truly strong. Even if she used her Noble Phantasm, she might not necessarily win, and having only just been summoned, she did not have much mana.

Her Master did not possess much mana either. If she forcibly used her Noble Phantasm... Besides, this Master's body seemed somewhat unusual.

Fortunately, the young man whom her Master called brother did not harbor any killing intent toward her Master.

The concern in his eyes was not an act. Even after her Master had just pierced his body, he had not done anything to hurt her. Perhaps...

Under Rider Medusa's watchful gaze, Shinji approached Sakura and gave her a gentle smile, seemingly using it to soothe her emotions.

"Brother..." Sakura held her hands protectively before her chest and looked up at her brother, who stood more than a head taller than her, murmuring softly.

"Hold on a little longer. It'll be over soon, Sakura. Trust your brother."

Realizing something, Sakura's eyes suddenly widened.

Could it be...!

Could it be...!

Sakura stared at Shinji in disbelief. Did her brother want to... save her?

An unimaginable thought that could never have occurred to her before flashed through Sakura's mind. But in the next instant, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest. Looking down, she discovered that her brother's index and middle fingers had already pierced through it.

Everything happened too fast. Even Rider, who had been watching closely all along, failed to react, much less Sakura, who had just lowered her guard.

The modern knowledge instilled by the Holy Grail—men were all damn pigs—had come true!

"Brother... why?" Sakura raised her head and asked.

"Trust me."

Shinji spoke with a serious gaze. His index and middle fingers swiftly pulled a strange, blood-soaked insect from Sakura's chest. At the same time, he bent backward to evade Rider's attack, then followed it with a backflip, effortlessly dodging the chains whipping through the air and widening the distance between himself and Rider.

Seeing that her strike had missed, Rider did not advance again. Instead, she quickly withdrew her attack and steadied Sakura, who was about to collapse after Shinji had given her something heartfelt to tell her.

"Th-That is..." The weakened Sakura stared at the strange insect in Shinji's hand, with its long tail and incessant shrill cries, and muttered.

From the moment her brother pulled the insect out, Sakura sensed that some of her notions had vanished—for example, her instinctive obedience to Zouken...

"Grandfather's true body. An Imprint Worm that replaced part of your nervous system," Shinji said. Then he looked at the strange insect that had just awakened in his hand. "Good morning, Grandfather."

"Replaced part of my nervous system..." Sakura murmured. "So that's how it was. So that's why I couldn't disobey Grandfather's orders and could only obey him without question."

As she spoke, Sakura's tears fell once more. Some truths only revealed their absurdity at the moment one learned them.

"Shinji, when and how did you discover it?"

Something bizarre happened. The insect actually spoke with Zouken's voice!

"Grandfather, I'm a genius. I noticed everything ten years ago, when you announced Uncle Kariya's death. Are you satisfied with that answer?"

"Impossible! How could a child of that age possibly..."

Shinji shook his head.

"No, it's true. But I couldn't do anything back then, so I had no choice but to hide myself. I even put on an act in this house for ten years. It was truly exhausting, Grandfather, constantly matching wits and courage with you every day.

"But I won. The proof is that even now, you still don't know that I'm actually just like Father and Uncle Kariya. I have no interest whatsoever in Magecraft, magi, or this decaying world of Magecraft.

"Tell me, didn't you ever find it strange? One descendant after another hated Magecraft, yet suddenly one appeared who was abnormally obsessed with Magecraft without needing any guidance from you."

"I see. A true genius appeared among my descendants, yet this old man never noticed from beginning to end." Zouken's voice was filled with regret.

"All right, we can talk about our affairs later." With that, Shinji walked toward Sakura once more.

This time, however, Rider had no intention of letting Shinji pass.

"Calm down. I told you, I won't hurt Sakura."

"Just now..." Rider's words were exceptionally brief, but her meaning was clear.

In other words—you said that just now too, and then gave my Master something heartfelt to tell her!

"There was no helping it. Otherwise, there was no way to pull out Grandfather's true body."

Rider still did not yield. She crossed her arms, gripping her twin daggers, and lowered her body into a fighting stance.

For some reason, Shinji suddenly felt like the woman before him was striking a pose to show him something. After all... it was impossible not to notice!

It was practically like she was deliberately squeezing those things for him to see! And she was even lowering her body...

Oh boy...

I'm numb, I'm numb. As expected of an R18 original work. I'm really numb!

"Let Brother come over."

"But..."

"It's fine."

Watching the girl's wound gradually recover under the secret art in Shinji's hand, which differed from healing Magecraft, the vigilance on Rider's face finally faded somewhat.

Dense white runes burrowed from Sakura's wound into her body, repairing both her internal injuries and the wound itself.

These runes had all been transformed from Shinji's purest Life Force. The idea was simply to brute-force a miracle.

"Does it still hurt?" Shinji withdrew his hand. Sakura's wound had already healed completely.

Sakura gently shook her head. The warm feeling inside her body made her feel very comfortable.

Sakura had many questions she wanted to ask, but she also knew this was not the right time.

After draping his coat over Sakura's shoulders, Shinji produced a Suck-Suck Ice as if performing a magic trick and held it out before her.

Sakura shook her head. If she had been better at retorting, she definitely would have said: No matter how you looked at it, this was not the time to eat something like that, right?

"Trust your brother."

Looking at Shinji's grinning face, Sakura ultimately reached out as if possessed. But before she could take the Suck-Suck Ice, Shinji beat her to it and stuffed it into her mouth.

"Mm!" Sakura was startled by the cold, but then she suddenly sensed something and wore an incredulous expression.

"Don't waste it. It took a long time to make."

Each one cost twenty thousand!

The Suck-Suck Ice did not merely remove the Imprint Worms from the body. It also converted them into pure life energy, replenishing the flesh, nerves, and circuits damaged by the Imprint Worms.

There were also minor effects such as beautifying the skin, treating low blood sugar and malnutrition, preventing fatty liver, curing constipation and diarrhea, regulating menstruation, and refreshing the mind, but those were hardly worth mentioning.

And lastly... it actually tasted pretty good. Watermelon flavor.

"What did you do to Sakura?" Zouken asked.

"I merely removed what you gave her over the past eleven years. It's over now, Grandfather."

"You brat!" Zouken raged.

"I say, Grandfather,"

Shinji once again held his forehead and sighed.

"There was clearly a portrait in my room of that woman wearing the Clothes of Heaven. You often entered and left my room, so why did you never remember it?

"How could you forget so thoroughly the ideal you originally shared with the first head of the Tohsaka family, Nagato Tohsaka, and Winter Saintess Justitia Lizleihi von Einzbern—the ideal known simply as the Holy Grail?

"Why could you completely forget the reason you originally sought immortality? And why, even after reaching this point, could you still cling to such a warped will to live?

"I truly cannot understand it at all..."

"Hehe. This old man's wish is merely to never age and never die. The feeling of body and soul decaying every day, the pain of decaying even as one breathes...

"My grandson, can you truly understand? No human being does not fear death. You are no exception!

"If my wish could be realized, I would not hesitate to kill every human in this world one by one!"

Listening to Zouken's words and finally understanding his objective, Sakura revealed an utterly incredulous expression.

"Grandfather's wish was actually... eternal youth and immortality..."

Slurp, slurp...

Mm, this cold watermelon-flavored Suck-Suck Ice was pretty tasty!