At that moment, Sakura had already walked right up to Rin. She gently hugged her older sister and leaned close to her ear.
"The secret is…"
Her voice paused midway.
At the same time, a deep purple glow suddenly lit up at Sakura's fingertips.
With a bang, Rin's mind seemed to suffer some kind of impact. Her eyes gradually turned unfocused, and then she slowly "fell asleep."
Her body naturally went limp, but before she could hit the floor, Alvin had already stepped forward quickly and caught her soft body.
After confirming that Rin had not actually been harmed, Alvin finally let out a sigh of relief and looked toward the girl quietly standing before him.
In the dim light, there was no expression on Sakura's delicate pale face. The gentle look she had worn during the day now seemed somewhat indifferent.
For some reason, Alvin suddenly felt like he could not understand this girl at all.
"What did you do to Rin?", Alvin asked quietly.
"I just made Sis 'sleep' for a while. If things kept going the way they were earlier, Senpai would've been troubled too, right?", Sakura looked tenderly at the unconscious Rin.
"After all… Sis's feelings are the same as mine."
"What you used just now seemed to be Imaginary Number Magecraft?"
Alvin stared at the pure and graceful girl before him.
"When did you learn it?"
The Imaginary Number attribute was also called "Nothingness" in the material world. Normally, if Sakura had inherited the Matou family's Magic Crest properly, her Imaginary Number attribute would have changed into a water attribute.
But because Matou Zouken had died suddenly during the previous Holy Grail War, Sakura ended up having a relatively normal childhood.
And after growing up, she awakened the special attribute she had naturally possessed from the beginning, Imaginary Numbers.
She could reach her hand into dimensional gaps and even directly absorb enemy attacks into Imaginary Number Space. It could be said that Sakura's talent in this field was unquestionable.
It was just that Alvin had never expected Sakura to already understand such advanced Imaginary Number Magecraft at her age.
'Self-taught? Or did someone secretly guide her?'
"I just happened to awaken the Imaginary Number attribute on my sixteenth birthday and learned a little bit of basic Imaginary Number Magecraft."
Sakura looked up at Alvin, her eyes gentle, "Can you help me keep this secret from Sis for now?"
Alvin softly responded with an "Mm."
Although he did not really understand why Sakura wanted to hide her magecraft, everyone had their own secrets, and not everything needed to be dug into.
"And also… you probably don't want Sis finding out about what happened tonight either."
Sakura tilted her head slightly, and a soft smile appeared on her delicate, fragile-looking face.
"So let's treat it as a secret between us, okay?"
In the dim light, that gentle smile seemed to carry a trace of slyness.
At this point, Alvin naturally had no reason to refuse. He nodded lightly.
"Okay… I'll take Rin back to her room first."
"Oh right, just in case…"
Just as Alvin lifted the unconscious Rin into his arms, Sakura suddenly stepped forward in small, light steps.
She wrapped both arms gently around Alvin from behind. The soft and impressive pressure against his back was impossible to ignore.
Before Alvin could speak, she suddenly let go. Then, like a little spirit, she rose onto her tiptoes and circled in front of him, leaning close.
Her small, soft cherry lips lightly kissed his.
Under Alvin's shocked gaze, a charming smile appeared at the corner of Sakura's lips.
"That makes us accomplices now, Senpai~"
Sakura turned around and gracefully left.
———
After carrying Rin back to her room, Alvin sat beside the bed. Looking at the sleeping Rin, he could not help recalling every smile and glance Sakura had shown earlier.
Alvin sighed inwardly.
'Honestly, she is way too good at this.'
If it was not because she had read some kind of strategy guide, then it could only be called talent.
First, secretly playing "forbidden play" with him in the living room behind her sister's back, then creating a shared secret between them… and finally ending it with that kiss. It was a perfect finishing move.
Without realizing it, she really had changed quite a bit.
And the Imaginary Number Magecraft Sakura used tonight was clearly already highly practiced.
If she became an enemy, Sakura would probably be an extremely troublesome opponent.
Although they were almost caught by Rin tonight, if he had to say it, it was not like there were no gains.
After all, his CG collection had increased by another two images in a single night.
One was the CG of Rin catching them being intimate in the living room.
The other was the special CG of Sakura lightly kissing him.
'Just how much longer would it take to collect the remaining CGs?'
As Alvin thought about all this random nonsense, morning quietly arrived before he realized it.
Rin frowned slightly as she felt the faint morning light shining across her face. Slowly, she opened her sleepy eyes.
"Ugh… my head hurts…"
Rin gently rubbed her forehead, feeling groggy.
Under the morning sunlight, she wore a loose nightgown. Her long hair hung down messily, adding a somewhat lazy charm to her appearance.
The collar at her chest had slipped slightly lower, faintly revealing a patch of pale skin and a subtle curve.
"Didn't sleep well last night, Rin?", Alvin asked with a smile.
Rin rubbed her eyes and looked up at the boy blankly.
A ridiculously absurd scene suddenly flashed through her mind.
It was the image of her younger sister embracing the boy in the living room.
She opened her mouth, looking as though she wanted to say something but stopped herself.
"What's wrong?"
Alvin tilted his head slightly and asked in confusion.
"N-Nothing…"
Rin hurriedly waved her hands.
"I just had a really strange dream."
It really was a strange dream.
She knew Sakura very much wanted to see Alvin and genuinely liked him… but that kind of affection should have been nothing more than simple longing.
No matter what, a Master would not develop romantic feelings toward a Servant, right? Besides, there was such a huge age gap between them.
Even if Alvin looked the same age as them.
"Oh right, where's Sakura?", Rin suddenly asked.
"She left early this morning. She said she wanted to stop by the Matou house first… apparently she forgot something there," Alvin replied.
"She forgot something again?"
Rin raised a brow and muttered under her breath, "Why does it feel like she leaves something behind at the Matou house every single time."
She looked up at the clock on the wall.
"We woke up fairly early today, so there's still plenty of time… Let's eat breakfast first, then go find Sakura."
Today was already the first day of the Holy Grail War. Although the fighting usually started at night, she still could not help worrying a little. After all, her younger sister still had not summoned a Servant. If another enemy targeted her, she might end up in danger.
After casually drinking a glass of milk and eating two slices of toast, Rin wrapped herself in her coat and left the Tohsaka residence.
———
The sky was gloomy, and the snow piled on the streets had already been cleared to both sides early that morning.
Not long after, Rin arrived at the entrance of a standard Japanese-style villa.
Knock! Knock!
She raised her hand and knocked on the door.
After waiting for a moment, heavy footsteps came from inside.
A man pushed open the gate to the Matou residence.
Though he looked only a little over forty, his hair was completely white, and he leaned on a cane. He appeared extremely frail.
Matou Kariya.
Even though he had barely survived from the previous Holy Grail War until now, his body had weakened to the point where he needed a cane just to move around.
He raised his head, and the blurry figure of the girl reflected faintly in his clouded eyes. A smile soon appeared on his face.
"It's Rin… are you here to see Sakura?"
Rin nodded lightly and politely asked, "Is Sakura home right now?"
"She just said she left something in her room. She should be out soon," As Matou Kariya spoke, he stepped aside.
"Come in and sit for a bit first."
Rin walked into the Matou residence, and at the same time, Alvin's spiritualized figure quietly followed behind her.
Matou Kariya froze slightly and subconsciously looked beside Rin.
"Mr. Matou, it's been a long time."
At that moment, Alvin's voice suddenly rang out as his figure silently appeared.
Matou Kariya was stunned for a moment. After staring with difficulty for a while, excitement quickly appeared on his face.
"The White Dragon! The Tohsaka family's Servant is actually you?"
If not for Alvin back then, Matou Kariya likely would have died long ago during the Fourth Holy Grail War. He would never have experienced everything that followed, nor found redemption in watching Sakura grow up safe and healthy.
He calmed himself down and lowered his head.
"I sincerely apologize. I didn't realize you were here at first."
"My Master is very close with Sakura, so there's no need to be so formal."
After exchanging a few casual words, Matou Kariya gradually calmed down.
"Please follow me, both of you."
The three of them walked along the path through the estate toward the main hall.
At that moment, Alvin suddenly seemed to sense something and instinctively looked toward a certain direction within the Matou residence.
"What's wrong?"
Rin also noticed the change in Alvin.
"Nothing… go sit in the living room for a while first. I want to clear my head a little."
Alvin quickly smiled.
He had clearly sensed an extremely familiar presence just now. It was almost identical to the "bug" he saw last night.
Even if it had only lasted for a moment, Alvin trusted his own senses.
He followed the direction of the aura he had just detected and before long arrived at a very open courtyard.
Ahead of the courtyard, an underground storage room quietly entered his view.
Just as Alvin was about to step forward, a gentle and pleasant voice suddenly came from behind him.
"Senpai, why are you here?"
Alvin turned around and saw Sakura standing behind him with her hands behind her back, looking slightly surprised.
"Rin was worried about leaving you alone, so she came to go to school with you."
As Alvin spoke, he looked at the underground storage room with some suspicion.
He could vaguely hear the sound of creatures flapping their wings inside.
Clearly, this was, the Worm Pit.
"The Matou family is still breeding Crest Worms?"
Alvin asked.
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