Having Ishtar's help would indeed be a great boon to him.
But only if the Holy Grail actually worked.
He had absolutely no interest in that Holy Grail, which Little Angra had polluted into a sewer.
Still, that was fine. Teaming up to give Gilgamesh a beating and blow off some steam would be nice too.
Feng Xi said, "All right, I agree."
"Great!"
Rin Tohsaka said happily, "Then let's do it tonight."
"Just how impatient are you?"
Feng Xi was speechless. He cleared his throat and said, "There's no rush. We should at least wait until Gilgamesh comes out before we act."
Rin Tohsaka said, "True. We can't destroy my house just to deal with him."
Feng Xi thought, Besides, Tokiomi Tohsaka won't let us get rid of Gilgamesh so easily.
"Little Rin, Sakura, are you all right?"
Just then, someone suddenly ran up beside them. It was Kariya Matou.
Kariya Matou had happened to be passing by. He spotted the Tohsaka sisters at a glance and immediately rushed over.
"Uncle Kariya..."
Yet Rin Tohsaka's expression stiffened when she saw Kariya Matou.
She had not forgotten that in the first video, Kariya Matou had killed her father.
Although that had not happened now, she still did not quite know how to face this uncle who had once taken such good care of her.
Chapter 43: A watching figure
"..."
Rin Tohsaka's reaction pained Kariya Matou deeply.
He clearly had not done anything. Why was the little angel no longer close to him?
Sure enough, it was all Tokiomi's fault.
"Sakura, are you all right?"
Kariya Matou looked at Sakura with concern.
He had rushed back that day and breathed a sigh of relief upon learning that Sakura had already been rescued. But no matter how he asked in the group before, Sakura never replied, making his heart rise into his throat again.
"I'm all right..."
Sakura answered timidly.
With Feng Xi beside her, Sakura felt much more at ease and was no longer so quiet and withdrawn.
Seeing Sakura like this made Kariya Matou's heart ache again.
Damn that Old Worm, and damn Tokiomi. Look at what they had done to a perfectly good child.
"Mr. Matou, have you been back to the Matou Family these past few days?"
Feng Xi suddenly asked.
Kariya Matou frowned. "No. I haven't been back to the Matou Family since returning to Fuyuki. Why?"
"It's nothing."
Feng Xi gave Zhang Jue a meaningful look.
Beneath the table, a talisman appeared in Zhang Jue's hand. It then burned, turning into a streak of fire that flew swiftly away, unseen by anyone.
A short distance away, several insects were instantly burned to ash.
"Hmph, did they notice...?"
At the Matou Family's residence, the Old Worm sensed the disappearance of the insects he had sent to monitor Kariya Matou and gave a cold snort.
That damned brat from China again. Sooner or later, he would make that brat pay.
But with a Heroic Spirit beside him now, it was difficult to make a move.
As for Sakura, he had lost interest for the time being.
What concerned him more now was just what had happened to Kariya Matou.
How had a useless fool with no aptitude for Magecraft suddenly acquired Magic Circuits?
He had personally examined Kariya Matou back then and confirmed that he was an ordinary person.
To verify whether it was true, he had even deliberately sent someone to give Kariya Matou the holy relic in his possession. To his surprise, Kariya really had summoned a Servant.
That confirmed that Kariya Matou's Magic Circuits were real.
This piqued the Old Worm's curiosity, and he had secretly monitored him for several days.
He really did discover something amiss.
Kariya Matou often spoke to thin air, and every day at noon, he would stare blankly for a long time, like someone mentally ill.
The Old Worm suspected that some form of Magecraft was blocking his vision, which was why he could not see anything.
Taking that together with Tokiomi Tohsaka's sudden change of heart and the savage beating he had given him earlier...
Something he did not know about must have changed in this War of the Holy Grail.
"Kariya!"
Back with Feng Xi's group, Aoi Tohsaka spotted Kariya Matou as soon as she came out of the shop and froze for a moment.
Aoi Tohsaka had not joined the Q&A group, so she did not know about Kariya Matou "killing" Tokiomi Tohsaka. Nor could Tokiomi Tohsaka possibly tell his wife about it.
It was too embarrassing.
"Aoi..."
Seeing the woman he loved finally brought a trace of a smile to Kariya Matou's face.
Aoi Tohsaka said, "When did you get back? I had no idea."
"Only a few days ago, because I got the news."
Kariya Matou smiled bitterly. "I'm sorry. If I hadn't left, I could have told you what that old man in my family was really like beforehand, and Sakura wouldn't have..."
"Never mind. This had nothing to do with you."
Aoi Tohsaka sat down beside Sakura and stroked her head tenderly.
"Uh, who is this?"
After a long silence, Kariya Matou came back to his senses and finally noticed Ishtar.
Why did this person look so much like Rin Tohsaka? Could she be a relative of the Tohsaka Family?
"Ha! I am Ishtar, the Goddess of Venus."
Ishtar lifted her chin. "You mortal actually dared to ignore me just now. How rude."
"You're Ishtar!"
Kariya Matou looked utterly bewildered.
Why did this goddess look exactly like Rin Tohsaka?
Having never received a proper mage's education, Kariya Matou had long since forgotten all about Pseudo-Servants.
Aoi Tohsaka said, "Kariya, have you eaten? Would you like to join us?"
Kariya Matou said, "Well... all right."
How could he refuse when his goddess invited him to eat?
After sitting down, Kariya Matou watched the happy Tohsaka mother and daughters, wishing so much that time could stop and preserve this beautiful moment forever.
"Hmm?"
A little later, Red Hare, who was gnawing on a carrot, suddenly raised his head and began looking around.
Seeing this, Feng Xi asked, "Red Hare, what's wrong?"
Red Hare said gravely, "Someone is watching us, but I can't find them."
"An unseen watcher. Has the Old Worm still not given up?"
Feng Xi raised an eyebrow and looked at Zhang Jue beside him.
Zhang Jue surveyed their surroundings and shook his head. "No, I don't have any insects."
"Hmm? So it isn't the Old Worm?"
Feng Xi silently speculated, With concealment that skilled, could it be that guy Emiya Kiritsugu?
Apart from the Heroic Spirit Kiritsugu, Feng Xi could not think of anyone with such skilled concealment abilities.
"Hmm? That's...!"
Suddenly, Feng Xi noticed a figure appear on a nearby rooftop.