"Where did this scabbard come from?" Kanjuro asked with a wicked smile, suspending Irisviel in mid-air with tentacles.
Wrapped in black tentacles, Irisviel's body trembled slightly, but she still answered obediently: "Grandfather said this is a medium for summoning a Heroic Spirit for the Holy Grail War, and it's also meant to protect me."
Her voice carried a hint of a sob. "Kanjuro, I beg you, stop bullying me like this... my body feels so itchy."
Kanjuro snapped his fingers, and the tentacles wrapped around her disappeared.
He walked up to Irisviel and flippantly tilted her chin: "Since Emiya Kiritsugu isn't willing to have a child with you, why don't I help you fulfill this wish?"
"No!" Irisviel struggled to shrink back. Even though Kanjuro was handsome, she was unwilling to have a relationship with someone she didn't love.
But Kanjuro never cared about her wishes.
After a bout of rough treatment, Irisviel slumped to the ground, her eyes brimming with tears: "Kanjuro, I hate you, I hate you to death!"
Kanjuro shrugged nonchalantly: "Then hate me. If you really can't stand it, you can go complain to Emiya Kiritsugu tomorrow."
"Kiritsugu... he won't understand my feelings at all." Irisviel covered her face, tears falling from between her fingers. "Why is everyone else so good to me, but you're the only one who bullies me like this?"
Kanjuro leaned down and whispered in her ear, his voice seductive: "They're just using you. Only I am truly good to you."
"You're lying!"
"Don't you feel," Kanjuro's finger caressed the side of her neck, "that when you're with me, your body is more honest than your mouth? Only I know how to truly cherish you."
"Get out!" Irisviel knelt on the ground in pain, her voice full of despair.
Kanjuro sneered as he stood up: "This is only the beginning. I'll come to find you every night from now on."
...The second night, Kanjuro arrived as promised.
"Get out!" Irisviel grabbed a pillow and threw it at him.
"You dare tell me to get out?" Kanjuro backhanded her with a slap, then summoned tentacles to suspend her in mid-air again, performing a shameful 'Flying Immortal' act... On the third night, Irisviel's attitude softened significantly.
"I beg you... I know I was wrong," she sobbed.
Kanjuro rarely wiped away her tears gently: "Did you get mistreated again today?"
"Kiritsugu said I was being difficult... even grandfather said so..."
"See, I'm the only one in this world who cherishes you most."
...The fourth night, Irisviel's mood was clearly irritable.
It turned out she had accidentally knocked over her grandfather's magecraft research results and received a scolding.
"Kanjuro, you idiot! I'd rather die than have anything more to do with you!"
"Oh?" Kanjuro unhurriedly toyed with the whip in his hand. "Then go ahead and die. But if you die, what will happen to your grandfather and Emiya Kiritsugu's plans? Don't forget, you are the vessel for the Holy Grail."
These words accurately hit her weakness.
Irisviel sat down despondently: "Just do it."
That night, under the lashing of the whip, she gradually became submissive.
...And so the cycle continued, a month passing by in the blink of an eye.
Irisviel sat by the window, watching the falling snow outside. "Kanjuro, Grandfather said I am pregnant."
"Mhm."
"He says he wants to meet you."
"There is no need." Kanjuro stood in the shadows. "I am used to hiding in the darkness, and... I am only interested in women."
Irisviel gently caressed her lower abdomen, gazing at him infatuatedly. "Then... after the child is born, will you ignore her?"
"Of course." Kanjuro revealed a devilish smile. "I am a scumbag, after all. Why should I care about my own daughter?"
"You bastard!" Irisviel cried and pummeled him, only to be pushed away by him.
Looking at her pathetic state as she slumped on the ground, Kanjuro turned and said indifferently, "However, seeing how pitiful you are, it's not impossible for me to visit the child occasionally."
"Mhm..." Irisviel supported herself with her hands on the ground, tears falling pitter-patter. She didn't understand why she had met such a heartless demon... Time flew by, and eight years passed in an instant.
Sacred Scripture Academy had already been renamed Sobu High School of Chiba Prefecture, and the school buildings had all been renovated.
An urban legend circulated on campus: there was a boy in the school who was forever eighteen, his appearance never changing.
Today was the day Hiratsuka Shizuka enrolled in the school.
Wearing a brand-new sailor uniform, she curiously observed this prestigious school with its long history.
At this moment, Kanjuro was smiling as he looked toward the school gate. Tohsaka Aoi was walking slowly, leading two girls by the hand.
"Uncle Kanjuro!" Rin and Sakura happily threw themselves into his arms.
Kanjuro gently crouched down and pulled the two young girls into his embrace.
Rin blinked her big eyes and asked expectantly, "Uncle Kanjuro, did you bring us gifts today?"
"Isn't Uncle the best gift?"
"How mean!" Rin pouted. "You're clearly an old man, yet you always love to tease children!" Despite her complaints, she secretly peeked at Kanjuro's handsome profile.
"Sister..." Sakura said softly, "Don't talk to Uncle Kanjuro like that... It's already very nice that Uncle is willing to play with us."
Kanjuro dotingly let Sakura sit on his lap.
The little girl snuggled in his arms and whispered, "It's so warm, Uncle Kanjuro..."
"Do you like Uncle?"
"I do." Her voice was as light as a feather.
"Compared to your godfather, Uncle Kariya?"
Sakura lowered her head, her voice even softer: "Uncle Kariya is always very strict... I still like Uncle Kanjuro more."
"Hahaha—" Kanjuro couldn't help but laugh.
Even though Kariya Matou knew Sakura was his daughter, he still looked after her as if she were his own; such devotion was truly touching.
"Then what else did Uncle Kariya say?" Kanjuro gently kissed Sakura's forehead.
"He said... to stay away from Uncle Kanjuro."
Kanjuro looked up at Aoi, who sighed helplessly and leaned close to his ear to whisper, "Kariya seems to have noticed your intentions."
"It doesn't matter." Kanjuro didn't care. "It's also quite good that he can give the children a father's love."
Aoi gave him a reproachful glare. "You only know how to bully honest people. He doesn't even dare to look me in the eye now; he's a pitiful man... But never mind, the fact that he's even alive is only because you're doing it for his sake."
"Let him be." Kanjuro put his arm around Aoi's waist and watched Rin and Sakura playing with Leona nearby. The Holy Grail War was about to begin; he was truly looking forward to it.
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