"Then how is Sakura doing now?"
He did not know what thoughts he harbored—perhaps he still held onto one last shred of hope—but Tokiomi looked at Kariya's back and asked.
But there was no one left who could answer that question.
Thud—
Before he had taken more than a few steps, Kariya stumbled and fell to the ground. The final wail from within his body pulled a feeble curve onto his lips:
It was a shame he had not gotten to see that child one last time.
But...
There was nothing to regret. All of this had been worth risking his life for. The pain he had endured had been repaid, and there were no regrets left over the things he had wanted to do.
You no longer needed to despair. You no longer needed to give up.
The nightmare was over. It would never come again.
Go, Sakura. Go reclaim the future that belongs to you.
It was just that—
Sakura, your uncle... might not be able to go far away with you...
This time, your uncle broke his promise. Sorry...
My body feels so heavy. So tired...
Let me... rest for a while.
With that thought, Matou Kariya, the man who had given everything for love, smiled as he welcomed his own end.
Uncle Kariya, you died such a miserable death~
Sakura
Tohsaka Tokiomi shakily climbed to his feet and looked at Kariya, lying on the ground without a trace of life left in him. His emotions were complicated.
"This time—I lost."
After a long while, Tohsaka Tokiomi finally spoke those words in a low voice. This was also the first and only time he had lowered his head to Kariya, the man he had looked down on from the bottom of his heart.
Tearing his gaze away