-By Sakura-
He was born amidst blood and tears; a human life like any other. Asahi Toru, that's his name. Asahi means "Sunrise Sun" or "Rising Sun". And Toru means "Transparent", because the woman who gave him that name expected Toru, as a person, to be someone transparent to others, never lying about himself, always being someone authentic....
How ironic...
...
His silver eyes are different from those of his mother and father. His way of being differs completely from that of his parents. Everything about him was always strange, from the moment of his birth.
Despite how different the child was, there was one person who never judged him and loved him unconditionally. She never asked him for anything in return for her affection. Yes, that person was Toru's mother....
It took me a long time to understand. Everything I am seeing was not just a coincidence. All that senseless pain Alek Gusev suffered was not random. Now I understand it. The soul of the scientist lies in the body of Asahi Toru. Everything I saw, everything I am seeing....
[It's the story of a Hero who betrayed his World]
It was as if I heard a voice whispering inside my head.
I looked at that child. His attitude is very similar to that of the scientist. It makes sense, as they are the same person in a different body. However, he doesn't remember anything of what he experienced. So this must be his second chance. A new life.
It may not be like in a novel, where the protagonist is summoned to another world to save the princess or defeat the demon king, but it's certainly a story that was real.
Just thinking about it makes me want to cry.
It was horrible.
Alek Gusev's life was horrible.
Everything he had to suffer until his death is not something anyone could endure. But here's the thing, he couldn't take it. He wanted to take his own life and a mysterious entity prevented him from doing so. The World he came from was destroyed by a crimson entity and everything that once was was reduced to nothing.
'She is very strange...'
Now I am about to hear a new monologue in my mind.
Little did I know that what I am about to see is a tragedy just as horrible as the last....
-Little Asahi Toru's Monologue-
She is a strange woman, very strange. At least that's what I thought when I saw her. Even though the others in the clan consider me strange, I think okaa-sama is even stranger. She always wears that silly smile on her face. What makes her so happy?
I can't figure it out.
It seems I was born this way. I have a hard time understanding other people's emotions. Even my own emotions are a mystery. I have never felt sad, happy or angry. I just feel calm all the time.
"Has anyone ever told you that you're a freak?"
Uchiha Sasuke. I can consider this guy as my first friend. Since we are almost the same age, our houses are close and our mothers know each other, it's inevitable for me to have met him.
"I've been told something similar many times", I replied.
"Well, it's not unusual for someone to be weird. You don't bother anyone, so I guess it's okay. Oh, I just remembered. Nii-san wanted to teach us how to use the shuriken. Are you free in the afternoon?"
"We're coming up on five years. The most we have is free time."
"Sometimes you say things that an adult would say, you know?"
"I guess... It's also something they tend to say to me quite often. Especially okaa-sama."
"Haha. It's just that you're so weird. Right now don't you have to go train with your father?"
A shiver ran through my body. I ducked my gaze remembering something.
"Yeah... I don't want to be late..."
"Then I'll see you later. Nii-san will be waiting for you too."
Sasuke left and left me alone. I looked at my hands thinking. I have wounds and scars that I tend to give myself when my artifacts don't work properly. But I also have scars that were caused by something else.
I got up from the ground and looked at the tree Sasuke and I were in.
"Go back..."
***
I understand that all this training is to toughen my body. But I don't understand why my father has to be so brutal to me. He beats me like I'm a punching bag. I am too weak. My body can't take so many blows.
Every day it's the same.
Every time my training is over I leave the house to go to my lab. Okaa-sama always gets angry when I'm late, but I don't mind that. I just want to do what I like the most. Creating electrical mechanisms is something of a hobby for me.
There's also Naruto. He often helps me with my work. Well, helping is saying a lot. Whenever he's there, everything gets ruined. But I can't blame him for that. I feel like it's not so bad to have someone around. Just like Sasuke, Hinata and okaa-sama. The company people give me is nice. It keeps me as always, calm.
Although I will still think my mother is very strange. No matter how many years pass, it will always be that way.
"Hinata-chan won't come looking for you again tomorrow?"
That was my mother talking to me while we were having dinner. My father is not with us at the moment.
"No. The last time she was near here you scared her. She doesn't even know you're my mother."
"Well, I just wanted to be nice. Hinata-chan is a very adorable little girl. And while I'm on the subject, I wanted to ask you something."
"Even if I want to refuse to answer, you're still going to insist."
"You know me very well, Toru-chan. That girl, do you like her?"
A strange question.
"I don't know. I don't even understand what that kind of thing is about. I'm just not interested."
"Well, you're really cute. Girls should be lining up to meet you."
This woman is always saying nonsense. Besides, I'm too young to think about such things. It seems she wants to find a wife for me as soon as possible. Well, I'm the heir to the clan, it makes sense, but I'm still not interested in hearing about it for a few more years.
At that time I was already close to six years old.
***
I don't usually feel happy, sad or angry. Those emotions are almost non-existent for me. I even thought I was born as some kind of inhuman doll. Although after experimenting on myself, I realized that I am definitely a human being.
In that case, are human beings able to hold their emotions or change them like breathing? Because if that's possible, okaa-sama would be an expert. Even though she usually cries, she quickly changes her expression when she sees me.
Such a silly smile.
I don't think I'll ever understand her.
-Windermere-
Having investigated everything, Waver came to the conclusion that there was a possibility that the Golden Princess they saw torn to pieces on the bed was not real. The first thing was to take into account everything they had gathered so far. The ash, much like the painted sand that Lord Valueleta used. The presence of Aozaki Touko also changes a lot of what they have. She could easily recreate Diadra's body using her abilities...
So far, everything has gone strangely wrong.
Sitting on the rock, looking up at the towers, Waver closed his eyes. He let his mind act on the information he has. Knowing how Byron's magecraft worked, Waver wanted to find something that would be useful to him.
At the same time, about ten meters behind the man, Gray and Toru were sitting on a tree branch.
Gray didn't want to look Toru in the face. She was embarrassed to remember the feeling of the kiss from earlier. Every time she thought about it, her face turned beet red. Even though she managed to help the servant with his mana deficiency, that didn't take away from the fact that she had just given Assassin her first kiss.
She covered her face with her hands.
"Even though it's ten minutes before the hour is up, Waver-sensei is already back in this place. It seems that, when something is difficult for him, he seeks to be alone to think."
Shame aside, Gray removed her hands from her face and looked at her mentor.
"Even if he doesn't show it, he has suffered a lot. Even now, that's what it feels like to see him."
"Hm... Suffering comes in different forms, it seems."
Gray touched her lips and felt the tears she shed a while ago as if they had become real in the present.
"What about you, what kind of form does your suffering take?"
Toru sighed. "I don't know. I never stopped to think about it."
What Gray could understand was that that house in London was full of people who had suffered. Sakura, Waver, Toru himself and, of course, Gray. Gathering so many broken people in one place was not a good sign.
"I see... When I think about it, it all comes down to my reflection in the mirror. This face doesn't belong to me. I don't even remember what I used to look like before my face changed anymore."
"Your face... Somehow, I seem to have seen it somewhere else. Is it related to your people wanting to revive Arthur Pendragon?"
"Yes... This is supposed to be his face."
"So Arthur looks like a girl, does he? That's so weird."
"I know. I tend to think that king at some point was just like me. Still, that terrifies me too."
"I could say the same thing myself. This is my face, no doubt about it, but, at the same time, it's not my face either."
"I never thought you'd say something like that."
"Nor I", he stood up on the tree branch. He put his hood back on and stretched out his arms. "It's about time. Let's not waste any more time. Let's talk about that sort of thing later."
Gray was surprised. However, inside that hood, she also smiled. The two of them are getting to know each other in a very friendly way. Yes, she is very embarrassed about what happened before. Gray even feels very strange every time she touches her lips and remembers that feeling. But as Toru said, it was not worth wasting time at this point.
Moving forward in this case, even if everyone is getting bored with it, is the best decision to make. Well, at least the development of their relationship with this servant has improved quite a bit.
Who would think that one kiss would fix a lot of things? Gray felt like a fairy tale maiden and imagined Toru was the prince. Though thinking of him as a prince for the first time in a long time struck her as funny.
A prince with a completely expressionless face.
'He'd make an interesting protagonist'
If this were a book, the relationship between the two would improve over time.
***
With Waver having explained everything about what he already had so far, everyone nodded. The first thing was to take into account the talisman that the Iselma family has. With this, another family comes into play, though that's just information Waver decided to save for later. The possibility of the Golden Princess being alive was at 50%. With that, thought would also have to be given to how the Gold and Silver Princesses become beautiful. If the magecraft involved uses the positions of the Sun and Moon as catalysts, in that case it would not make sense that the Princesses could become beautiful at a moment's notice.
The main assumption is that Byron wanted to enhance the already beautiful princesses, but as Diadra said, her father's methods were not proving efficient. In any case, the talisman comes into play. Although the dates of the positions of the sun and moon did not match, as to perform the magecraft required the sun and moon to be perfectly aligned, i.e. a lunar eclipse, which has not happened in the last month.
The whole mystery was a jumble of random clues. Nothing connected to anything. Even Toru, who could be considered the most analytical of those present next to Waver, could not find connections between the clues.
There was a moment when Toru and Waver began to debate about this.
"Those two seem to be having fun doing their own thing", Reines said. It seemed that at any moment her older brother would punch Assassin in the face because of the difference of opinion.
"They seem to get along just fine."
At times like these, Gray felt an incredible peace. These two guys were pillars to this girl's life. While Waver gave Gray a reason to live, Toru was giving her a reason to move forward without looking back. Although, every time she took a step forward, life forced her to take two steps backwards.
"Anyway. The wisest thing we can do is wait", he lit his cigar after his arduous debate against this servant. After that, he threw the cigar backwards and a stream of electricity exploded.
From the ground, as if he had appeared through the electricity, Flat appeared screaming in pain.
"I've been discovered!"
"What are you doing here, Flat?", the Lord asked.
Toru raised his eyebrows slightly at the boy's presence. While he sensed the boy sneaking up on him, Flat knew how to hide very well. Toru had to strain a bit not to lose sight of him.
It showed just how prodigious Flat is.
"Well, I-"
"I told you we should just warn him! Why don't you ever listen to me!", he appeared shouting and reproaching Flat. It was Svin Glascheit.
Both blond boys began to argue. Well, Flat, as usual, just took everything as a badly made joke, while Svin got even angrier.
However...
"What's that smell?"
Svin, in an everyday scenario, would have caught Gray's scent before anything else, but this time his eyes aimed at those present until he reached the hooded man standing next to Lord El-Melloi II.
Just then, he covered his mouth with his hands as tears of pain began to fall down his face.
As he saw the hooded man, a mental image took shape deep in his psyche. A shadowy beast, surrounded by crimson red and human corpses at its feet. The beast had blood dripping from its hands and from its mouth came a deep cold breath that made Svin fall to his knees.
"Move away... we have to go."
"Hum? What's wrong with you, Le Chien?"
Svin didn't answer, just looked at Assassin with lost eyes. Though he felt disgusted and terrified, fear did not stop him from staring. His eyes had hardened at the disturbing scene his mind was showing him.
"Did you see something you didn't like?", asked Assassin.
These words somehow brought Svin back to reality. While he was scared, he was able to stand up after that.
"Who are you?"
Reines smiled complacently. Svin's reaction had been perfect. That face of horror and disgust. Reines felt electricity running through her entire body. It was glorious.
In turn, Gray understood Svin a little. She could sense Toru's emotions. In that case, Svin had smelled the Assassin's rot. All those deaths, souls locked in a deep crimson abyss. If that was what Svin smelled, then it made sense that he had reacted that way.
"I already know you, Svin Glascheit. I am Assassin."
"Assassin?"
He approached the servant curiously. Flat analyzed him and smiled excitedly.
"You're Assassin of the War for the Holy Grail?"
"Yes"
"Wooah... Amazing. I never thought I'd see a heroic spirit, what's your hero name?"
"He's not going to tell you that. Try if you can, unless you literally want to lose your mind", Reines replied to Flat's question.
"Assassin is Sakura's servant."
"Hm... What are you trying to do, sensei?", Toru glanced furtively at Waver. He had revealed the identity of his master too easily.
"I trust them, more or less. Don't worry."
"So Sakura is going to fight in the war?"
It was an obvious question coming from Svin, but since he just found out about this, he somehow wasn't surprised. Sakura is a magecraft prodigy. She can manipulate all four elements and has unknown magecraft forms in the Clock Tower.
She may not look that impressive, but next to Flat, Sakura would be in the Brand rank of the Clock Tower. With a few more years, she could easily become a Grand if she develops her magecraft. Though she's also in danger of receiving a Sealing Designation should her magecraft somehow leave her close to reaching the Origin Spiral.
"Let's forget that for the moment, didn't I tell you you should just send the message, why did they come?"
"Reines is in trouble. I wanted to help", Flat said.
Svin continued, "And I couldn't leave this airhead unsupervised."
Waver scratched his head.
"There's nothing we can do anymore. For now, we must prepare for the battle ahead. Assassin, we're going to need your strength."
"I already have my mana recharged. If there are any enemies, I can defeat them. Although in this place, there don't seem to be any people stronger than Aozaki Touko."
That woman was dangerous. The three teenagers were aware of that. If Assassin faces Touko, the outcome of the duel would be very uncertain. No one knew what hidden tricks that woman had.
In any case, Waver got up from the stone and walked across the plain. His students looked at him. Most with admiration, and Toru coolly.
Gray followed Toru closely.
"In case of an emergency..."
"Yes. I recharge your Noble Phantasm's energy and we end this. It'll be just like last time."
Gray hid inside her hood. Toru didn't hesitate to team up with her. That made her feel safe. If they were going to face adversity, loneliness was not an option. Even Assassin understood that.
-Nearby-
There were different women serving a single man. This one walked among those present and looked out the window with a relaxed smile.
"Right now I will have to go for what belongs to me. If the Iselma refused to work with me, then the time has come to pay."
The light-haired, tanned-skinned man balanced the wine glass in his hand.
"By my name, Atrum Galliasta, this will end with a single blow."
The end of the case is near.
To be continued...