The Last Rising Sun

On his desk was a stack of books. Each one had a different name, but their contents always led to the same subject. He is worried about something that is inevitably going to happen, something he wants to avoid, but so far he couldn't find anything. The only way to save Sakura was to make whoever used that magecraft make those little monsters come out of her body.

Looking at the situation that way, this was nothing but something horrible. How could the Matō bestow their magic crest on other people like that? In a way it was also interesting, as they could implant their magic crest into people who are not part of their blood heritage. But now is not the time to stay fascinated with the magecraft of the far east, because right now Sakura is in danger.

This Lord wants to save her.

"I... when did I start thinking of her as my daughter?"

It was a long time ago. He really doesn't remember it clearly anymore, but every time he looked inside his own memories, he always finds little Sakura waiting for him at home with a kind smile. Thinking about that, he touched his head painfully.

"Damn..."

There's nothing he can do....

-Department of Modern Magecraft-

A few hours later, as was now customary, Sakura and Gray were walking down the long corridors of this place in the direction of the classroom. Neither said a single word the whole way. Although there was a lot to say, neither dared to speak because they didn't have a way to start a conversation. After what they experienced the night before in that castle, they both felt tired so they preferred to save their energy.

"Gray!"

An animated voice attracted the attention of both ladies. They each looked back and saw two unmistakable characters. Two handsome, blond boys walking side by side, quite animated at this time of the morning.

"Flat, Svin..."

She felt her troubles vanish into thin air at the sight of them. In everything that's going on, this duo always makes this whole tense atmosphere more fun, though sometimes annoying as well, but Sakura knew that these two guys aren't bad people.

"Hey Sakura, I haven't seen you for a few days! Have you been solving some mysterious case with our charismatic teacher?"

Sakura nodded with a smile.

"Something like that. Gray was there too. A lot of pretty strange things happened. Fortunately, only one person died."

"That doesn't sound as good as it should..."

"I know..."

That was a part of the story no one wanted to remember. It was still surreal how they found Adashino Hishiri skewered on the sword of that big statue. Whenever Sakura thought about it, that macabre image came back to her mind.

Suddenly, a noise nearby distracted them both from their conversation. They looked at Svin, who had assaulted Gray. This guy was sniffing the air around the girl, who in turn was trying to hide the confused and fearful expression on her face inside her hood. Sakura took pity on her.

"Gray, Gray. It's been so long since I've seen you. You're as beautiful as ever and your scent is always intoxicating. This day can't get any better."

Rubbing his hands together like a fly, moving around Gray like a dog, sniffing and being overjoyed, that's Svin Glascheit. Somehow Sakura and Flat thought the nickname Le Chien fit this boy like a glove, but this girl wouldn't admit that openly unlike Flat, who would shout it from the rooftops without hesitation.

"Uh, right. I just remembered."

From one moment to the next, with Olympian precision and speed, Svin regained his composure and looked at Sakura. There were things he heard about on the way to his classes.

"I heard what happened at Separation Castle."

"Haha... it seems that news flies like wildfire in the desert, doesn't it?"

Flat added. Sakura picked up her suitcase with both hands and looked out the window. She took a second to think about what happened at the end of that whole strange adventure and then turned her gaze back to these two boys.

"I guess we couldn't hide anything that happened no matter how much we wanted to."

Svin knew more about this. It didn't take him long to tell the others.

"The Clock Tower Policies Department was also involved. There's no way anyone wouldn't know about that."

Gray grabbed Add's cage and looked up. Her green eyes looked under the darkness of the hood at Sakura. She understood this girl's gaze, as this was not only about the outcome of that story, but the characters who starred in it.

Assassin, who solved everything from the shadows. This servant now only kept quiet in his dematerialized form. Like an old dog, next to his master, bored and unwilling to move from his place. Perhaps he yawned a couple of times as if wanting to expel the laziness from his disembodied body.

"Well, there's been talk about that. Right now Miss Adashino Hishiri is waiting for our teacher. I heard around that she will be meeting with him to talk about those things related to the castle thing. I prefer to believe that she just wants to hang out with the Lord. In the end, he didn't say anything to you about it?"

She blinked twice at that. How is it possible that Adashino Hishiri is still alive? Sakura saw the corpse, but... She looked at Gray looking for an answer, but she just shook her head slightly. Toru also heard that and decided to say some things inside his master's mind.

[I saw it too. She was dead. But this is where what I said before comes in. I saw something in her that interested me. That's about it, I guess]

She nodded in approval. She understood that was what Toru was referring to at that moment. She felt embarrassed for thinking of something completely different.

"Haven't you noticed something strange in the air?"

Svin took a short breath, but as he did so, a deep urge to vomit attacked him. The moment he inhaled the air of this place, he felt the smell of thousands of corpses together in one, a putrid smell mixed with blood and the strange smell of someone's tears. So strong was that smell, he felt his nose burning. Unable to hold it in, he ran to the bathroom full of despair and small tears peeking out of the corners of his eyes.

"Le Chien?"

Flat stared at him as Svin ran down the halls.

"How strange..."

"Will he be all right?"

Gray asked. Flat just lifted his shoulders unknowingly, but Sakura at that moment looked at Toru as if knowing that he was the cause of that reaction in Svin. Gray noticed how Sakura looked at the void, also understanding that this was Toru's fault.

'It makes sense.'

For he who rules an ocean of blood filled with bloody souls could not smell of roses and sugar. The only thing Svin could smell on Toru was true death.

"We're going to be late, huh..."

Flat said suddenly. He put his hands behind his head casually.

"Looks like Le Chien is going to be late. You guys go ahead. I'll go check on him."

Sakura and Gray nodded. So Flat ran off like a streak to the bathroom. At the same time, Toru watched that in silence. He turned around and walked next to his master.

***

The sky had darkened as they arrived home after a brief stop at the cafeteria. Sakura opened the door to the house, which caused a small creak. Stepping inside revealed the darkness of the lobby. All the lights were off and there was a certain air of loneliness inside. Sakura scanned the surroundings, but could find no one.

"Father?"

"We're here."

They both announced their arrival, but no one answered them.

"Maybe he's in his office?"

Gray suggested.

"It makes the most sense."

With that thought, they walked to the man's office. When they opened the door they found Waver asleep with his face on the desk. Around him was a pile of books and two bottles of whiskey. One of the bottles was empty and the other was half empty. Next to that last bottle was a glass tumbler and some notes.

Sakura walked into the office leaving Gray behind and approached the man. She looked at her father drooling on the desk, deep in a sleep so deep it would be hard to wake him now. Somehow on his sleeping face a small glimmer of concern could be seen.

Seeing her mentor like this, Gray made a suggestion.

"We should let him rest here. Since he's been drinking a lot, he'll be in a bad mood if we wake him up now."

Sakura approved of this, but not before taking a look at the books on the desk. The titles of the books were very varied and she couldn't understand them. Many were about stories from the past so she deduced that her father just got so caught up in his reading that he forgot to go to class. Although this had never happened this way before. Yes, he usually falls asleep while reading, but not enough to neglect his responsibilities. Besides, all this alcohol on the table....

This was strange, but she denied and left the office.

"I'll go take a bath and then go to sleep. My head hurts from all this thinking. Good night, Gray."

"Uh, yeah. Get some rest, Sakura."

As Sakura turned and disappeared down the hallway, Gray stared at her mentor for a second. She walked over to the couch and grabbed a blanket from there and then draped it over the man's shoulders. The latter mumbled some words she didn't understand.

"At ease, Lord El-Melloi II... Professor Waver Velvet."

Taking her leave, she walked away from the office closing the door and headed for her room. When that door closed, a flash of darkness appeared in front of Waver.

...

...

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***

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...

...

"How long do you plan to sleep? I'm bored. Wake up..."

That dull, listless voice, echoing in front of him. He opened his eyes with difficulty and lifted his head from the desk. Into his field of vision came that Assassin looking at him with those silver eyes under that dilapidated hood. He blinked a couple of times trying to shake off the sleep and straightened up in his chair. He looked at the books and bottles and touched his head painfully. His whole body felt awful, but he found the strength to keep his gaze steady.

"You... What's wrong?"

The Assassin moved closer before answering. He sat down in the chair in front of him. He grabbed the glass tumbler and the half-empty bottle and poured himself some whiskey. He looked at the liquid and played a little by moving the glass with his fingers, as if the glass was a goblet filled with wine. He answered the man's question.

"You drink alcohol when you want to forget about things, but it becomes contradictory when at the same time you are looking for information on how to save my master. You drank enough to get to a second bottle after realizing that there is no way to get those parasites off her without killing her first. Then, after failing to resist so much alcohol in your system, you passed out slamming your face into the desk."

Waver raised his eyebrows at such a detailed analysis.

"Yeah... You got almost everything right. But it terrifies me that you can analyze me so easily."

...

"... You... How badly do you need my master in your life?"

He narrowed his eyes.

"I... I'm sorry to tell you this, but I didn't understand your question. Could you be more concise?"

Assassin showed a dull look. He leaned back in his chair and took a swig of whiskey. He licked his lips after that and looked up at the ceiling.

"Will you suffer if she dies? Will you be able to shed tears for your adopted daughter if that tragic scenario ever comes true?"

Strange questions...

"What are these questions due to?"

"Hm... it occurred to me after seeing you a few hours ago. You know how bad Sakura-sama is. She's dying."

He took another swig of whiskey and looked at Waver again.

"The monsters that dwell inside her body are trying to merge with her magic circuits, but those themselves are so strong that they refuse to let them in. Did you know that those cartoons devour mana? Imagine if her mana reserves weren't so large?"

"She would have died long ago."

He replied curtly.

"Indeed. Now I, a Servant, another mana devourer, appear and use a portion of my power to summon the Bounded Field, only to need a mana recharge. Can you tell me what would happen?"

"Well it would practically be you against those monsters fighting over who takes more of Sakura's mana. In that case, they started eating her from the inside because they don't have enough mana to feed on."

"Right. There's nothing we can do. Even if I disappear, they will still devour her from the magic circuits to her flesh. At most, as of now, Sakura-sama has less than a year to live, but that can get worse and her remaining lifespan could be greatly reduced."

"Haa..."

Waver clutched his head with both hands letting out a long, tired sigh. Assassin knows about this, for being someone who is 24/7 together with Sakura, he could realize all that. If she has no salvation, then she will die in agony in the next few months.

"I wish I could blame you for this..."

"But you can't. In any case it would be the fault of the master who summoned me, for in doing so she risked her own life."

He was saying all this as if he didn't care in the slightest what happens to Sakura. The coldness of his words, the so stoic and eccentric gestures of his hands gave him an air of being an emotionless person. Everything about him just showed someone who didn't care about anything or anyone in the slightest. To Waver, that was becoming annoying.

"So desperate you looked when you asked me to save Sakura. You really are someone else. No... you're still the same, you just don't remember anything and that's kind of sad..."

"Who you knew in the past has nothing to do with me. And I don't think it's a sad thing."

"It is because your eyes at that time were filled with so much hope and passion that I really couldn't refuse to form a pact with you. Although that also has other reasons for being... It's sad to see how that boy who was fighting that war ended up like that. You're the same, but you're also completely different from how I remember you..."

Toru reflected on that silently. He lowered his gaze looking at the glass and then returned to looking at Waver.

"That person... I would have liked to meet him..."

"¿...?"

"If I could meet him, I could show him what real life is like. It would bring him down from his cloud in one fell swoop and show him what we really have to live with, but that would be a bore. It's not worth it; it would be too boring."

This guy was really messed up. Waver didn't know how he could have changed so much. No, this maybe was the real Asahi Toru, just without the influence of Sakura or the other people he knew in the past.

He thought about that and got up from his desk.

"I'll go sleep in my room. Since we don't have anything else to talk about, I might as well take the opportunity to sleep and think things over with my pillow."

"But you didn't answer my first questions..."

Waver stopped, turning his back on him. He looked at the door with sleepy eyes. His hands shook for a moment, but then he clenched his fists tightly.

"If Sakura dies, just like that time ten years ago with that eccentric king, a part of me will die with her."

After saying that he left, locking the door behind him. Having been left alone, Toru looked at the books and raised his eyebrows. This book-filled scene reminded him of an important part of his past life.

"There was a boy who read and studied surrounded by books."

He said to himself.

"That child died and many died with him."

He picked up one of the books and read it.

"Your strange logic makes no sense..."

That wasn't about logic, but more about the sentimental part. Toru had lost that a long time ago, so it's hard for him to understand. Now he won't understand that, he won't, but maybe in the future he will manage to understand what Waver was referring to. For now, to get rid of the boredom, he started reading the books while finishing the bottle of whiskey.

***

The next morning, quite early as the sun had just risen, Toru entered Sakura's room through the walls after a long night reading session. She's sleeping under the covers of her bed as usual, which didn't seem strange to him at all. So he just leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms, still in his dematerialized form, and closed his eyes.

But he sensed something odd about it all. Just to make sure he materialized and touched the girl's forehead. His eyes widened a little as he felt the high temperature on Sakura's body.

"Master..."

He called out to her. No response.

"Sakura-sama."

No response...

"Wake up, it's morning."

There was no response. He touched her shoulder, but she still didn't wake up. He took her by the hand, but she didn't wake up.

"Sakura-sama...?"

A couple of drops of blood fell down Sakura's nose. Seeing this he immediately activated the shigan and strangely enough, after making sure of everything that was going on in this girl's body, his eyes went out along with a strange pain in the back of his mind.

"She's almost out of time..."

Everything had gotten worse.

To be continued...