In the guest room of the Hyatt Hotel, Matou Sakura sat at the desk reading magical texts she had brought from the Clock Tower.
The content of the books was related to spirit summoning theory — since the essence of the Holy Grail War was a spirit summoning ritual, Matou Sakura had spent almost ten years researching this field.
Although her level in this area was already quite good even within the Clock Tower, she still wasn't satisfied.
The reason was simple... she hadn't developed a method to make Heroic Spirits permanently remain in the present world.
The existence of Heroic Spirits was already extremely exceptional for magi. The Holy Grail War, derived from the Third Magic, summoned Heroic Spirits far beyond ordinary spirit summoning rituals.
To keep such high-level Heroic Spirits in the present world, even setting aside other factors, the magical energy alone was not something ordinary magi could bear.
The reason Masters in the Holy Grail War could support their Heroic Spirits' manifestation with their own magical energy was because most of the magical energy consumption was borne by the Greater Grail.
Matou Sakura was very self-aware. She didn't think her magical energy could rival the Greater Grail, so she now placed all her hopes on that omnipotent wish-granting device.
However, she had originally thought she could summon Zuke and secure victory... but what she summoned instead was Rider Medusa, which disappointed her greatly.
Of course, it wasn't just disappointment. Matou Sakura was also very angry, constantly trying to find out who had summoned Zuke first.
Matou Sakura naturally suspected Reines, but she couldn't figure out where Reines could have obtained Zuke's catalyst, so this suspicion was suppressed in her heart.
Just as Matou Sakura was reading her magical texts while thinking about how to more quickly gather intelligence on other Masters and Heroic Spirits, a commotion came from nearby.
The sound came from the window, clearly the sound of a window being opened — Matou Sakura could even feel the wind blowing in from the window.
Matou Sakura felt momentarily dazed — this feeling of the window being opened by someone and wind blowing in from outside reminded her of her situation before leaving Fuyuki City.
At that time, she was placed in this guest room by Zuke, sitting at the desk reading. Every time Zuke came in, he would open the window like this.
She turned her head toward the window — in her expectation, the one opening the curtains should be Medusa returning from reconnaissance:
"How was it? Rider, did you gather any intelligence..."
But halfway through her words, she froze — because standing by the window wasn't Medusa as she had imagined, but the figure she had been thinking about for ten whole years.
"Hey, Sakura. Long time no see. Still reading magical texts, I see."
Zuke's face bore a familiar smile as his gaze moved from the magical texts on the desk to look over Matou Sakura, then he nodded with satisfaction.
"You've become quite beautiful. Very much like what I imagined."
Matou Sakura's appearance was indeed just like the young woman Matou Sakura in Zuke's memory. Compared to her loli period, the current Matou Sakura was graceful and elegant, with the temperament of a literary girl.
If there was any difference from the original Matou Sakura in his memory... it was probably that Matou Sakura in front of Zuke hadn't undergone the Matou family's worm magic, so her hair was still blackish.
Besides that, because she hadn't suffered cruel treatment in the Matou family, Matou Sakura's temperament didn't have that timid feeling, appearing much more confident.
"Zuke-nii!!!!"
Matou Sakura barely hesitated before lunging directly into Zuke's embrace, her voice filled with surprise that came even slower than her body's reaction.
Zuke steadily caught Matou Sakura's flying body. If it were an ordinary person sitting by the window, they would probably fall immediately from such an impact.
"You really aren't afraid someone might transform into my appearance to deceive you."
Feeling Matou Sakura's soft body rubbing against him in his embrace, Zuke's expression was somewhat strange — the current Matou Sakura was no longer the little girl from his last visit to this world.
Although for Zuke, only two weeks had passed since the Fourth Holy Grail War, for Matou Sakura, she had genuinely developed for ten years.
Her figure had developed quite well, and rubbing against him so carelessly was honestly making Zuke feel a bit overwhelmed.
If he hadn't already relieved himself twice today with Kaguya Shinomiya's group and Kasumigaoka Utaha, Zuke probably couldn't control himself right now.
"I would never be fooled. I absolutely wouldn't mistake Zuke-nii's presence. I carefully recall Zuke-nii's existence every day..."
Matou Sakura's muffled voice came from Zuke's embrace, clearly with her entire face pressed against Zuke's body, unwilling to let go.
However, soon Matou Sakura seemed to react, suddenly raising her head and bringing her face close to Zuke's, saying seriously:
"But Zuke-nii appearing here means someone really did summon Zuke-nii, right? Who was it who summoned him?!"
When she said this, her expression clearly darkened, completely losing her previous gentle appearance.
Zuke seemed like her reverse scale — once someone tried to take Zuke away from her, she would completely change her attitude, even her former sister Tohsaka Rin was no exception.
"About that... it's temporarily a secret."
Zuke said with a smile. He naturally wouldn't reveal Reines now, since Reines seemed to care quite a bit about this point.
"What a pity. I have a reason why I must obtain this Holy Grail War's Grail, so I can only trouble you."
"I don't have any particular need for the Grail... I just want Zuke-nii to be able to stay in this world."
Matou Sakura shook her head upon hearing this, her expression seeming somewhat lonely.
"What is Zuke-nii's Master's wish? Is it also to let Zuke-nii stay in this world?"
"Not really."
Zuke shook his head. Reines's wish seemed to be revitalizing her El-Melloi family — given the El-Melloi family's situation, as long as the debts were paid off, everything would be fine.
So perhaps Reines's final way of fulfilling her wish would be obtaining vast wealth, just like Marisbury, the former director of Chaldea in the FGO storyline.
However, seeing Matou Sakura's dejected look, Zuke shook his head again and said helplessly:
"But if your wish is simply to let me continue staying in this world after the Holy Grail War... that's not really a big problem."
After all, the reason he disappeared from Matou Sakura and others' sight after completing his mission last time was purely because he had no way to re-enter the mission world.
Zuke wouldn't return to the Throne of Heroes; after the Holy Grail War ended, he would just return to his original daily world.
So as long as he established a "Ionioi Hetairoi" transfer station in this world, it would be equivalent to fulfilling Matou Sakura's wish.
To be continued…