Seeing Manaka suddenly appear while I was enjoying the wide bathtub almost made me drown in surprise.
She managed to pull me up before I could inhale any water. Honestly, I was already used to bathing together with Yua and Nea back at the orphanage, so bathing with Manaka didn't feel that different.
After we finished bathing, I changed into Manaka's clothes. I was pretty sure they were expensive-the fabric felt completely different from anything I usually wore.
There was also a faint scent lingering on them. Manaka's scent. It was... nice.
It was about time for me to return to the orphanage, but before I could bring it up, a knock sounded from the bedroom door.
"Onee-chan."
A small girl's voice came from outside.
"Onee-chan? You have a little sister, Manaka?" I asked, surprised. I hadn't expected her to have siblings. She had never mentioned about it before.
"Hm."
Manaka only hummed in response as she walked toward the door and opened it.
Standing there is a little girl with medium brown hair and blue eyes. She looked really cute, with curiosity written all over her face as she peeked into the room, her eyes bright and expressive in a way that felt completely different from Manaka.
"Who is this person? Why is she in your room?" the little girl asked Manaka, pointing straight at me.
Manaka replied to her, but I didn't really catch what she was saying. My attention was already somewhere else.
She's... cute.
"No-cute! Why are you so cute?!" I blurted out without thinking.
"Eh?"
She looked completely confused when I suddenly hugged her tightly.
"You're so cute," I said, unable to hold myself back. "Hey, hey, what's your name? Do you want to be my little sister instead?"
The little girl stiffened the moment I hugged her, her small body freezing like she didn't know how to react.
"E-eh...?" she let out a tiny, confused sound, her hands hovering awkwardly in the air before weakly pressing against my shoulder. "W-wait-! Onee- no-!"
She squirmed, trying to pull herself free, her face turning red as her eyes darted around in panic.
"O-onee-chan...!" she called out desperately toward Manaka. "H-help...! This person is weird...!"
Before I could tighten my hug again, a sharp tug yanked me sideways.
Manaka had already moved.
She forcefully wedged herself between us, one hand gripping my right arm firmly as she pulled me back without hesitation. The little girl stumbled a step away, immediately retreating behind Manaka's back and clutching her clothes like a shield.
"...Don't," Manaka said flatly.
I blinked in surprise. "Eh?"
Manaka's grip didn't loosen. Instead, she pulled me closer to her side, her expression unchanged-but there was something unmistakably sharp in her eyes as she glanced down at her sister.
"She's mine," Manaka added calmly.
The little girl peeked out from behind Manaka feeling confused as she doesn't know what Manaka means.
Now it became awkward after Manaka did that.
I was only teasing the little girl because she was cute. It wasn't like I actually wanted her to be my little sister...
"Alright, alright, I'm just joking, Manaka," I said hurriedly before the situation could escalate, trying to pull my arm free from her grip.
Unfortunately for me, Manaka held onto my right arm even tighter, refusing to let go. I already knew she got jealous easily when I played around with others-it had happened a few times before-but this time felt far more intense than usual.
"So, what's your name?" I asked, deciding to shift the attention away from myself. "I heard you call Manaka onee-chan, so you're her little sister?"
She hesitated, probably because of what I did earlier. Her fingers fidgeted, and she avoided my gaze. After a few seconds of silence, she finally spoke.
"M-my name is Ayaka..." she said in a small, quiet voice.
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"Yes, just like that. Focus on the magic circuits behind your eyes, but don't push too much," Lady Avalon said while guiding me.
"If you overload them, your eyes will burst like bubbles."
I swallowed and carefully adjusted my focus, following her words exactly as she instructed.
The moment I did, I felt something stir behind my eyes. It was strange-like a faint current running through thin wires, not painful, but uncomfortable in a way that made me very aware of it. It reminded me of static electricity crawling over my skin, except this time it was inside my head.
I could tell that if I pushed it any further, that gentle sensation would turn sharp really fast, so I slowed my breathing and kept it steady, just like Lady Avalon told me.
Not long after, I felt a warm sensation spread through my eyes, like something inside them had shifted. I already knew what that meant. My vision settled, and when I opened my eyes fully, the world was once again filled with lines of death.
After years of training with these eyes, I was starting to understand them better. I could choose which lines to cut, and once I did, whatever I cut would be killed without exception. Still, not everything was the same. The stronger something was, the fewer lines it had.
Lady Ava was a clear example. Compared to normal people, the lines on her were far fewer, thin and difficult to trace, as if her existence itself resisted being ended.
Magecraft was the same. Whenever Lady Ava cast spells, I could see lines running through them. That meant they could be killed too. It reminded me of how I destroyed command spells before, though magecraft was much harder. Depending on the spell, cutting it wasn't always easy.
Attack magecraft was the most troublesome. I had to cut it before it reached me, which meant reacting fast enough. Without reinforcement to boost my body and speed, that was almost impossible. Buffs, debuffs, illusions, and mental interference were much easier in comparison. Those kinds of spells were fragile once their lines were exposed.
"Here," Lady Ava said from a distance.
I looked up to see her raising her staff. The tip began to glow, and a bright red light gathered before splitting apart. Three fire blasts shot toward me, tearing through the air.
I narrowed my eyes. The lines appeared clearly on each fireball as they closed in. Tightening my grip on the knife, I adjusted my stance and focused.
I had already cast reinforcement before the training started.
So the moment they entered my reach, I moved.
I stepped forward as the three fireballs reached me. My wrist moved before I even finished thinking, the knife tracing a clean arc through the air. The moment the blade crossed the first line, the fireball vanished without a sound. No explosion, no heat, nothing left behind. The second and third followed right after, cut in quick succession, disappearing as if they had never existed.
There was no time to relax. Lady Ava didn't stop. From the distance, she calmly shifted her staff and more magecraft poured toward me. Blades of wind, compressed flames, streaks of light that burned the air as they passed. Each spell came with its own lines, some clear, some faint, some twisting in ways that made them hard to read.
I kept moving. My feet slid across the ground while my arms worked nonstop, slashing again and again. Every successful cut erased a spell completely, leaving empty space where danger had been a moment ago. When I was a fraction too slow, I twisted my body aside, letting the attack pass close enough that I could feel the heat or pressure brush past me.
Time blurred. Sweat ran down my face and soaked into my clothes, my breathing growing heavier with each exchange. My arms burned from repetition, and my legs screamed every time I forced them to move faster than they wanted to. Lady Ava, on the other hand, stayed composed, only adjusting her grip or angle as she continued casting from afar.
Ten minutes felt much longer than it should have.
When it finally ended, I forced myself to stop, knife still raised, chest heaving. I had managed to cut most of them. Not all, but enough. Later, when I counted it properly, I realized I had sliced through about seventy-three percent of the magecraft she sent at me. The rest I had dodged, simply because my body couldn't keep up with my eyes yet.
Lady Ava lowered her staff at last. I stayed where I was, drenched in sweat my arms shaking slightly but i know i can keep going.
"Hahhh... hahhh..."
I tried to calm my breathing after moving so much, my chest still rising and falling heavily.
We had been doing this kind of training every day for the past few months. Lady Ava said my magecraft was decent enough for now, so she had started shifting the focus to my body instead. At first, I really didn't want to do it. I'm too lazy, especially in my previous life where i only do light jogging instead of doing heavy stuff like this.
But I didn't have a choice.
After learning more about mage families, I knew I had to push myself further. Especially with my plan to rescue Sakura, and the fact that the first phase had already failed when I couldn't make contact with the Tohsaka family.
I didn't know when Tokiomi would bring Sakura to that old man. Fuyuki was built on converging leylines, and as the Holy Grail War approached i can see with my eyes that the mana density across the city was steadily increasing.
It had also been a year since I met Ayaka.
Now, I was eight years old-the year the Holy Grail War would begin.
"Blind."
"Gyaahhh! I can't see!"
While I was lost in my thoughts, Lady Ava suddenly released a burst of bright light. My vision went completely white, forcing me to shut my eyes.
I raised my arms and stumbled backward, trying to get away even though I couldn't see anything. Before I could move far, something poked my back.
"I win~"
Lady Ava laughed as she pressed her finger against me.
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"Rikka."
"I know, I know. I'm thinking too much instead of just doing it. But what can I do? I'm worried about the Holy Grail War that's about to start."
Lady Ava sighed after hearing that. She'd been telling me the same thing for years now, but it was hard for me to break the habit.
"Fou!"
Fou was sitting on the table in front of me, tilting his head as he stared. He looked just as confused about me as Lady Ava was.
By the way, it was kind of weird. Every time I trained, Fou would disappear somewhere, and the moment I finished, he'd show up again like nothing happened. I had no idea where he went.
Well, he was probably just playing somewhere. Watching me train for hours was probably boring.
"Why are you thinking about the Holy Grail War?" Lady Ava asked while stirring her drink. "Didn't you say you only wanted to save the little girl and then go back home without getting involved?"
"I'm thinking about how I'm supposed to sneak into the Matou territory. Berserker never really goes there, so that part's fine, but the bounded fields around the house are going to be annoying."
I frowned as I continued. "If I get detected, that old man will definitely send his bugs after me. Just thinking about it is disgusting..."
Lady Ava shook her head and rested her cheek against her right hand. "Did you forget who's been training you all this time?"
"Huh?" I blinked. "It's... you? Lady Ava?"
Lady Ava crossed her arms, clearly satisfied with herself. "You're underestimating what I can do. It's true my magecraft doesn't compare to True Magic, but it's close enough that most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference."
She lifted a hand and lightly waved it, the air around her blurring for a moment. "I don't overwrite reality like the Five True Magics do. I just deceived it completely that the result looks the same."
Her fingers traced a lazy line in the air. "Sight, sound, presence, recognition. If the world accepts the illusion, then it will treat it as real."
Then she smiled faintly, like this was obvious. "So my student you can stop worrying. Sneaking into the Matou house won't be much problem than you think it is."
"Right, right… then are you going to the real world to help me there?"
"Of course not~" she said casually, without even hesitating.
"Then all that bragging is useless if you're not coming with me!"
The only magecraft user I really knew was Lady Ava, so I had no idea how my skills compared to other magi. I'd only been learning from her for about three years, and she was always talking about how skilled she was, which made it even harder for me to judge myself.
If I had to be honest, the only thing I felt confident in was illusion magecraft.
"Wait… illusion. That's it!"
I straightened up as the idea clicked. "I can use illusions to sneak into the Matou house without that old man noticing. If he doesn't detect me, I can rescue Sakura without any trouble."
I stood up from my chair and walked straight over to Lady Ava, grabbing both of her hands.
"Thank you for the idea!"
I shook her hands enthusiastically. If she hadn't been bragging about her own abilities, I might not have thought of using illusions at all.
"Ahh, I see," she said, sounding slightly amused. "I don't really know what just happened, but I'm glad you managed to learn something from it…"
"Alright! Time to start the Sakura rescue plan!"