As the saying goes: a sister, a house, deceased parents, bumping into a girl when going out, being reverse-raped onto a bed, a cheat falling from the sky, teammates dying in pits, bumping into a girl every ten steps, flowers blooming for a thousand miles, bros falling for you like clouds with a flick of a finger, beauties marrying you like rain with a wave of a hand, an easy path to the peak of life! This is the so-called winner in life!
To say that such a winner could be found in the Nasuverse would be impossible. Even among the three Male Protagonists, none had a smooth journey, and picking girls was always a choice of one, a perfectly harmonious harem was never an option.
But if there are winners, there are naturally losers. When it comes to a loser in life, there's probably no one more fitting than the person before her... Aoi, holding Rin and Little Sakura by one hand each, walked towards the young man. As they got closer, Rin looked up and clearly saw him: a silver-gray jacket paired with black trousers, a slightly handsome face with a hearty smile, and a gaze fixed on Aoi with a hint of infatuation and regret.
Aoi smiled and bent down to stroke Rin and Little Sakura's hair, saying: "Rin, Little Sakura, say hello to Kariya uncle."
Little Sakura, with her innocent heart, obediently greeted the young man: "Hello, Uncle Kariya."
Rin, on the other hand, stared at him with complex eyes for a long time, her gaze filled with pity, sympathy, admiration, and a faint sadness. Finally, she bowed slightly with deep affection and said, "Hello, Uncle Kariya."
That's right, this young man before them was Aoi's childhood sweetheart, Matou Kariya, the second son of the current Matou Family. He had been deeply in love with Aoi since childhood, and due to his love for Aoi and his own inferiority complex, he chose to retreat when his cheap father intervened. However, his feelings for Aoi never changed, though this also led to his tragic life, making him a complete loser in the entire Nasuverse.
In the original work/canon, Matou Kariya, who was kind by nature, was born into a Magus family but resolutely cut ties with magic to live as an ordinary person. Although Matou Kariya and Zenjou Aoi were childhood sweethearts and he always liked Aoi, his feelings were not noticed by her. Aoi, three years older than Kariya, always treated him gently like an older sister, empathizing with him, but this feeling was not love.
Aoi chose to marry Tokiomi. Even so, Kariya still took care of the Tohsaka mother and daughters in his own way. He was thoughtful and clearly knew Rin's and Little Sakura's preferences, always bringing them their favorite gifts when he returned from out of town, making him much loved by Rin and Little Sakura.
If the facts were merely this, it would at most be unrequited love in a failed romance. But the problem was that the story didn't end there, and tracing back to the source of this outcome, it was still that cheap father, Tokiomi, who passed Little Sakura to Matou. And the phrase 'it's all Tokiomi's fault' also started with him.
After Aoi married into the Tohsaka Family, Kariya believed Tokiomi could give Aoi happiness, so he chose to let go of his feelings and silently protected the mother and two daughters. However, upon learning that Tohsaka Tokiomi had given Little Sakura to the Matou Family as an adopted daughter, subjecting her to abuse, he believed Tokiomi had trampled on the happiness of the mother and daughters. At the same time, he fell into self-blame, thinking, "If I hadn't left back then, Little Sakura wouldn't have had to suffer like this." He also envied Tohsaka Tokiomi, who "had everything he wanted, yet disdained everything he wanted."
Kariya's aptitude as a Magus was much higher than his elder brother, Tsuruno. Matou Zouken originally wanted Kariya to inherit the headship of the family, but eleven years ago, Kariya resolutely broke free from the family's restraints because he could not approve of the ugly bug magic and did not want to become Zouken's puppet. He left the home that was like purgatory to him, rejected magic, and lived as an ordinary person.
However, in Matou Zouken's view, although Kariya's Magic Circuits were slightly better than Tsuruno's, they were not so exceptional as to warrant taking away his free will and making him the next family head. Since the ancient Matou Family had no other heirs with Magus abilities besides Kariya, they requested their ally, the Tohsaka Family, to transfer their second daughter, Little Sakura, to them.
If Kariya had not chosen to refuse and leave, perhaps Little Sakura truly would not have been passed to the Matou Family, and she would not have had the subsequent series of tragic events in her life. But no one can blame him; choosing one's life is everyone's right, and it takes sufficient courage to refuse the terrifying and gloomy Matou Zouken.
And Kariya, who had rejected magic in the past, thus participated in the Fourth Holy Grail War as a half-baked Magus, and at the same time bravely took responsibility for his past actions, exchanging his entire life for Little Sakura's lost happiness.
Kariya made a deal with Matou Zouken: if he could win the Holy Grail, Zouken would return Little Sakura to the Tohsaka Family. Since he had not received any magical guidance from Zouken, he did not possess the abilities of a Magus. To participate in the Holy Grail War, he asked Zouken to inject Engraving Worms into his body a year before the war began, but this also caused his body to decay, leaving him with only one month to live by the start of the Holy Grail War.
Even his handsome appearance was now ravaged by the Engraving Worms, which gnawed at his flesh and blood and integrated into his nerves. After a year of torment, the nerves on the left side of his body were almost paralyzed, making it nearly impossible to move his left leg and left arm. The vision in his left eye was completely gone, and the muscles around his eye were entirely numb. His hair turned completely white within just three months, and his skin lost all color, becoming a ghostly grayish-brown. He always wore a hood when going out, not daring to show his face.
He saw Little Sakura's despair as his hope for success, wishing he could truly become Little Sakura's savior. Even though he was tormented by the Engraving Worms to within an inch of his life, he still endured the pain that tore through his internal organs, smiling as he promised Little Sakura that soon he would take Little Sakura, Rin, and Aoi on a trip to a distant place, the four of them together.
To prevent his beloved woman from crying, he was willing to sacrifice even his life, but Kariya forgot the most important point—the person he wanted to kill was Aoi's beloved husband, and this precisely constituted the biggest factor in his tragedy. In the end, no one asked him to do anything, so all his pain could only be swallowed by himself. Those who didn't know mocked and ignored him, while those who knew found amusement in it, ultimately leaving him alone for his entire life.
In the later stages of the Fourth Holy Grail War, Kariya, who endured physical and mental torment day and night, was finally completely controlled by thoughts of revenge. After being severely wounded and near death in his duel with Tokiomi, he was rescued by Tokiomi's disciple, Kirei Kotomine. Kariya's inner conflict aroused Kirei's strong research interest, hoping to feel pleasure from his suffering. Kariya, however, being too naive in his thoughts, easily believed Kirei's lies and temporarily formed an alliance with him.
Due to Kirei Kotomine's secret intervention, Kariya lost the chance to struggle and awaken, heading down the path to a tragedy from which there was no return.
Kirei promised to help Kariya take revenge on Tokiomi and called him alone to the church. Kariya, who arrived at the church as agreed, ready to duel Tokiomi, found that Tokiomi had already been killed by Kirei. Aoi, who arrived at that moment, mistakenly believed Kariya had killed Tokiomi and angrily accused him of "never having loved anyone," completely negating everything Kariya had fought for until then.
At that time, Kariya's mental state was already extremely unstable due to the ravages of the Engraving Worms and Zouken. Faced with the accusations of his beloved, Kariya finally completely broke down, falling into a state of madness, and accidentally squeezed the neck of his beloved. By the time Kariya reacted, Aoi had already fallen unconscious from prolonged oxygen deprivation.
But even in regret and self-reproach, he still unhesitatingly chose to seize the Holy Grail to save Little Sakura, even though his body and soul were so broken that they could be destroyed at any moment. Finally, he died when the Engraving Worms, overwhelmed by Berserker's rampage, collapsed. He fell as an ordinary person before Little Sakura, dreaming of a happy life with Aoi, Rin, and Little Sakura until his last breath.
This person spent his entire life escaping, but escaped with nothing. He gave everything, including his life and soul, but received no reward. Matou Kariya's life was a capital 'F' for failure, losing, losing, losing everything, until his life and soul were devoured by a swarm of worms in his beautiful dream of happiness.
Of course, none of the above has happened yet... At this time, Kariya is still just a down-and-out young man who is unlucky in love, a slightly green young reporter who has only just entered society. How could he withstand Rin's gaze filled with such great sorrow and grief? Feeling a bit awkward from being stared at, Kariya bent down and smiled, "Are you Rin and Little Sakura? As expected of Aoi-nee's children, you're so cute."
Then he straightened up and smiled at Aoi, saying, "Aoi-nee, long time no see."
Aoi smiled back, "Yes, it's been three years. Kariya, you've matured a lot since we last met."
Hearing Aoi's words, Rin couldn't help but feel an extra layer of sympathy for Kariya. It seemed that in her mother's eyes, this uncle was completely at a child's level. Compared to herself, the only difference was that one was a daughter and the other was a younger brother.
Aoi wasn't thinking in that direction at all! So, Kariya, I truly feel sorry for you. You should hurry and let go to find your own happiness.
After all, even if her dad was Tokiomi, no daughter would want her mother to cheat!
Rin watched the two adults, who hadn't seen each other for a long time and were chatting happily, while muttering to herself, holding the plush bear Little Sakura had given her.
"Eh, big sister, what's wrong?" Little Sakura asked curiously, seeing that Rin wasn't paying attention to her but was constantly tilting her head to look at her mom and Uncle Kariya who were chatting.
"Ah, ah, nothing!" Rin immediately reacted, quickly turning to face Little Sakura, "I just think Uncle Kariya is a really good person, so I couldn't help but look at him a few more times, that's all. Haha, hahahaha."
"Oh, really? So big sister feels that way too?" Little Sakura said, excited, to Rin: "Uncle Kariya's gaze when he looked at Little Sakura just now felt so warm, even gentler than Father's gaze when he looks at us."
To this, Rin could only secretly sigh for Kariya once more. Even in the world-line she had arrived in, Kariya still genuinely loved Aoi's daughters out of his love for Aoi, more sincerely than their real father, truly giving his all... Sigh! Wait, no! Rin suddenly thought of a terrifying possibility.
Kariya wouldn't, after realizing he had no chance with the woman he loved, try to make a move on the daughter of the woman he loved as a roundabout way to achieve his goal, would he? Recalling all the 'pure love' stories she had seen online in her previous life about Matou Kariya and Little Sakura, Rin immediately felt unwell! Her gaze towards Kariya instantly changed.
She subconsciously hugged Little Sakura close to her, then turned her head to look at Kariya, who was chatting happily with Aoi, with a wary expression. Little Sakura couldn't help but look up at her sister curiously and ask, "Big sister, what's wrong?"
"Little Sakura, remember this: you need to be very careful around Uncle Kariya in the future. Make sure to maintain a safe distance."
"Eh? Didn't big sister just say Uncle Kariya was a good person?"
"The nicer they are, the more careful you need to be. Who knows if he's a lolicon?"
"What's a lolicon?"
"Uh... it's an adult who particularly likes small children!"
"Oh, then Mom also particularly likes Little Sakura and big sister, so is Mom a lolicon?"
"..."
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