That sleep had been wonderfully comfortable. It was not until midday, with the sun already high—no, with dark clouds gathered and a heavy rain looming—that Broly was finally woken by Crystal Palace notifications.
[Alert: Matou Sakura's Happiness Value is dropping]
[Alert: Tohsaka Rin's Happiness Value is dropping]
…
[Alert: Matou Sakura's Happiness Value is rising]
[Alert: Tohsaka Rin's Happiness Value is dropping]
…
What does it feel like to wake up and see your whole portfolio bleeding red?
Even with one "rising" mixed in, the overall trend was a massive plunge.
Matou Sakura, whose Happiness Value had already broken into three digits, now had just over twenty left.
Tohsaka Rin, who had climbed to seventy after finding her friend yesterday, had fallen down into single digits.
Broly did not know what had happened, but he knew exactly what he had lost.
In an instant, his ki flared into rage.
A whirlwind roared through the room. The tatami floor buckled downward, the roof was blasted off by the violent aura, and debris flew everywhere.
The commotion brought the Fujimura family running, but none of them dared approach the room whose door and walls were literally being torn away. They only stared in fear at the boy standing at the eye of the storm.
"What's wrong, Broly?"
Only when Taiga, who had chosen to take the day off at home, came over and asked did the swirling gale finally subside.
Debris pattered to the ground. Broly's eyes were a little red, his voice full of grievance and hurt.
"Fujimura sis, my happiness is gone."
"Huh?"
Taiga did not understand. After she coaxed her way close and questioned him, she learned what had happened: the little Sakura Broly had brought with him, and the deskmate girl he had met at school—both of them flagged by the Crystal Palace as capturable targets and reserve members, with Happiness Values he had painstakingly raised—had suddenly suffered a crash in their Values.
Knowing what kind of life he had lived, understanding that Happiness Points were literally how he traded for food to live a happy (normal) life, Taiga grasped at once why the boy was close to breaking down.
"Broly, don't panic. When something goes wrong, the most important thing is to stay calm. Panic doesn't help, and neither does throwing a fit. Right now we need to think about how to solve it."
Raiga Fujimura had just arrived in time to hear his granddaughter using the very words he had lectured her with two days ago on the boy who had caused the mess. His expression turned complicated.
"Okay. Got it."
Broly nodded and forced himself to let his emotion‑shaken ki settle back down.
"What should I do now?"
"A drop in Happiness Value always has a cause. We should find those two girls and ask what made theirs fall.
"Your deskmate is farther away, but Sakura is in Fuyuki. We can go to her and ask directly."
Taiga offered, but Broly shook his head.
"I heard last night—Sakura and my deskmate are actually sisters. She went back to her mom."
"Uh… then we go to your deskmate's house."
"I don't know where she lives."
"Ah, that…"
While the two of them were at a loss, Raiga came over and coughed.
"Taiga, don't forget the connections our family has. I can call the principal and have him look up where Broly's deskmate lives."
The old man did not know what was going on, but seeing the house damaged like this told him it must be important to Broly.
He no longer expected to recruit Broly into the Fujimura Group, but it was still very important for his granddaughter to keep good relations with the boy.
"Grandpa, that's just in time!"
"Thank you, Grandpa."
One should say thank you when helped. Broly looked at the old man and bowed his head in thanks.
"It's nothing, nothing."
Raiga waved him off and hurried to call the principal of Fukayori No. 1 Elementary.
"You two must be hungry. Go eat first. The principal isn't at school today; it'll take some time for him to get there and pull the records."
While Broly was eating lunch, the Emiya household came over to ask what had happened. When they heard it had all been caused by Broly, they went back.
The disturbance had scared them; they had thought a Servant had attacked. It was a false alarm.
After Broly finished lunch, they had Tohsaka Rin's address.
"Miss, Young Master Broly, sit tight. I'm pulling out."
Ever since the day before yesterday, Scarface had upgraded his way of addressing Broly—from "kid" to "young master."
As the car sped along, Broly found the pace agonizingly slow. He could fly, but he did not know the address, so he had no choice but to endure and let Scarface drive.
Fortunately, Fukayori was not far from Fuyuki. After half an hour at racing speed, they reached the Zenjou family's villa.
"Anyone home?"
Taiga went up and knocked.
"Who are you?"
A man came to open the door when he heard the noise. Seeing the trio—and especially Scarface—he frowned.
"We're here to see Mrs. Aoi Zenjou."
Taiga said. After marrying, Aoi had taken her husband's surname, but since they were hiding here, she had gone back to using her maiden name to avoid drawing notice.
"What do you want with her?"
The man at the door was from the Zenjou family and knew a bit about the Grail ritual. Hearing that someone was asking for Aoi, he grew cautious.
"My kid is friends with her two daughters. We arranged to visit today."
Taiga spun a reason.
"Eh?"
The man glanced at the sky, heavy with dark clouds, and the impending downpour.
"You picked quite a time to visit.
"Sorry, but they never told me anything about that.
"And they left this morning."
"Where did they go?"
"Sorry. Can't say. If you really know them, you should have their number. Why not call and ask?"
"We can't get through to Mrs. Zenjou. That's why we came here."
If she could have called, Taiga already would have.
"Then there's nothing I can do."
He shrugged. From her reaction, he could tell she had been making up her earlier excuse. Who knew if they were trouble.
He was about to close the door when it suddenly stopped midway. Broly had reached out a small hand and braced it.
The man looked at the boy and tried to force the door shut. To his shock, he could not overpower a child.
"What are you trying to do?"
He demanded.
Broly had no patience. He simply raised his hand and fired an energy blast at the front of the estate. The main doors and eaves vanished in a shower of dust. Then he shifted his hand to point at the man.
"Talk, or die."
The voice was childish, but with the roof gone and that display in front of him, the man did not dare treat it as a joke.
"They went back to Fuyuki this morning. A serious‑looking man came to pick them up. I don't know what they went back for. Please, don't hurt me or the Zenjou family."
Like beans spilling from a bamboo tube, he blurted out everything he knew of the Tohsaka family's movements.
A married daughter was like water thrown out. Aoi might be kin, and they had sheltered her briefly, but if powerful magi came knocking, the Zenjou family could not block them. They knew what the world of magecraft was like.
Once they were back in the car, Scarface started the engine, then noticed Broly still standing outside.
"Young Master Broly, aren't you getting in so we can hurry back?"
"This is too slow. I'm flying back."
"Flying…?"
Before he could process it, Broly ducked under the car, lifted it—with two people still inside—effortlessly, gathered his ki, and shot off toward Fuyuki.
Pieces of the vehicle shook loose along the way, forcing him to slow a little, but they still made it back to Fuyuki in under two minutes, dropping straight into the sky above the Tohsaka estate.
Landing and setting the car down, Broly saw that the two passengers getting out were not looking good.
The ride had not been bumpy, but the sheer thrust had been terrifying.
"Broly, next time you're going to fly with people in the car, warn us first."
With her heart still pounding, Taiga did not even spare the breath to exclaim "You can fly?!" Instead, she moved straight into scolding him.
"Uh… sorry."
Seeing Taiga's current unhappiness through the Crystal Palace, Broly realized his mistake and bowed his head.
"It's okay. It's not your fault. It's ours for not being ready for flying in a car."
She took a deep breath and forced herself calm, soon returning to a Happiness‑producing state.
"Let's go. Ring the bell."
She led the way to the front door of the Tohsaka house.
As she pressed the doorbell, back at the Emiya house, Kiritsugu was watching them on the modern surveillance feed.
"Why is that kid going to the Tohsaka place?"
Irisviel happened to be there too. Seeing the trio on the monitor, she was surprised.
Kiritsugu remembered that the first time he had seen the boy, he had been with the Tohsakas' younger daughter.
Putting that together with the earlier commotion next door, he drew a conclusion: this probably had to do with the younger Tohsaka girl.
"Doesn't look like anyone's home."
After a long round of ringing, no one answered.
"Bang~"
At that, Broly did not hesitate. He kicked the iron gate open and walked straight in.
"Ah… excuse us!"
Taiga wanted to protest, but there was nothing she could say. She could only utter a token apology and hurry after him.
She had barely reached him when the warding magecraft in the front yard activated. Gems set in the statues began to glow, and beams of energy lanced toward the intruders.
Broly was hit. He glanced at the beams splashing against him. Too weak. They had not even broken skin, though the clothes Taiga had bought him were scorched.
His mood had already been terrible. Now he was furious. He flicked out two energy blasts, left and right. With two explosions, the entire front yard of the Tohsaka estate was torn up, and the defensive system there was erased in the blasts.
Taiga: "…"
Should she be glad they had rung the bell the last time they visited, or glad Broly had not just blasted his way in and leveled the courtyard then?
"If anyone were home, they'd know after that racket."
Scarface had swept through the compound and found no one.
"If they came back to Fuyuki but didn't come home… where else would they go?"
Taiga frowned.
"There's one more place."
"Where?"
"The Matou house."
Broly thought of the place he had first appeared in this world. He did not know the exact route, but he remembered the general direction.
…
Today is a bad day.
That was how young Sakura felt, and not because of the weather. It was because someone was going back to that nightmarish house of bugs.
Late last night, their mother had suddenly sat her and Rin down and talked for a long time. The gist was that their father wanted Sakura to return to the Matou house as their foster daughter and inherit their magecraft.
She had cried and thrown fits, but it did no good. Her mother wept as she said it was her father's decision and that, as a Tohsaka, Sakura had to obey.
Upon hearing this, Sakura had fallen into despair and stopped believing in her family. Yet she could still feel her mother's love. Mother had wanted to keep her and send Rin in her place.
Her sister loved her as well. Even though she was afraid, she had pretended to be strong and, when they could not change their father's will, agreed to go instead.
That warmth from her family pierced Sakura's heart.
"Rin, you're a strong child. Don't run away from the Matou house the way your sister did."
Tokiomi, in his red suit, spoke as he tried to pat his elder daughter's head, only for Rin to dodge.
The more she had admired him before, the more she resented him now that she knew his decision.
"All right. I know you can't understand me yet. You will when you grow up."
He sighed. He could understand her feelings.
"Well then, Lord Matou, I'll leave Rin—"
"Wait."
He was cut off before he could say "in your care." The one interrupting him was his younger daughter.
"Sakura, what is it?"
"I've decided. I'll go back to the Matou house as heir."
Sakura remembered well the pain of bugs crawling all over her. The thought of her sister, who had offered to go in her stead, suffering the same thing made her speak out at the last moment before the handover.
"Sakura, are you sure?"
Tokiomi was pleasantly surprised. Rather than let his timid younger daughter inherit the Tohsaka name, he much preferred the more mature Rin for that role.
"Sakura, what are you talking about?"
Aoi tugged at her.
"Yeah, hadn't we agreed it was my turn to go to the Matou house?"
Rin protested.
"You're good to me. I can't make you cry. Compared to you, I'm more used to having bugs crawl on me."
She could no longer feel her father's love. She still felt her mother's, but could also tell that love tilted more toward him.
Only her sister's love was entirely for her.
She did not know the word "impulse," but she knew she could not stand to picture Rin lying in the worm pit crying. If someone had to cry, she had already cried once. Crying again would be… fine.
Her little face forced into a smile, she looked at the "Grandpa" whose head had once been blown open but now was whole again. She did not understand why, but it did not matter. She steadied herself, walked over, and said:
"Grandpa, I'm going home. My sister doesn't need to come into our house."
"You've grown stronger, Sakura."
Zouken smiled—a smile steeped in malice.
"It seems you're ready for even more of Grandpa's little 'modifications.'"
Tokiomi heard nothing amiss. An elegant smile on his face, he praised the daughter who had once again ceased to be a Tohsaka.
"Sakura, even if you are no longer our child, I am proud of your courage."
Sakura bit her lip and turned away. She no longer wished to speak to the man who had once been her father.
The sky was heavy with the promise of rain. Her mood had sunk to rock bottom. This time, surely, no one would come…
"Eh?!"
Suddenly, Sakura's eyes widened.
She saw a car, streaking toward them through the storm clouds overhead.
With a flash of lightning, Broly descended from the sky, a small car hoisted on his shoulder.
__________
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