Reborn with Steve Stand

After their conversation ended, Sakura quickly left Fang Mo's room.

Looking at the mini-map, Fang Mo noticed that she seemed to be heading toward Shirou Emiya's bedroom. Of course, what she did next wasn't something Fang Mo particularly cared about. After all, the *Fate* series was known for its mature themes, and he fully understood that. It's not called "Type-Moon Industries" for nothing. (Wtf????!)

Once Sakura had left, Fang Mo laid back down on the tatami mat.

Recalling how she had raised her small hand with such determination, Fang Mo couldn't help but find the situation amusing. He realized that this little girl could actually be quite interesting.

Although Sakura and Rin were sisters, their personalities were vastly different.

Rin was the kind who had received an excellent education from an early age—strong-willed, with a thin skin and a deep sense of justice. Despite the decline of the Tohsaka family, she still maintained a poised and elegant demeanor, much like her father, Tohsaka Tokiomi.

Sakura, on the other hand, was completely different.

Her heart was darker, corrupted by the many tragedies she had endured. But on the surface, she always wore a mask of gentleness and timidity. It seemed like she had worn this mask for so long that even she had started to believe in it. Of course, it was also possible that a small part of her kindness still remained, suppressing her true nature.

This inner conflict left her torn.

On one hand, Sakura wanted to return to a normal life, but on the other, she desired to unleash the dark side of her personality that had been repressed for so long. Clearly, this was a deep-seated psychological issue. Fang Mo had a feeling that if it wasn't addressed properly, it would lead to major problems down the line.

And since Fang Mo couldn't stay here indefinitely, once he left, Sakura might end up blackening and causing trouble for the others. This could also be a side effect of the time-reversal ritual. When time-based powers go wrong, they are harder to fix than conflicts between modules.

After some thought, Fang Mo decided it would be best to let Sakura have some fun and get all that out of her system—maybe that would help her stabilize.

Of course, if she became even darker... well, Fang Mo figured he could at least say he had tried.

With that thought in mind, the night passed without further incidents.

The next morning, Rin and Shirou didn't go to school, but the news of the Matou house fire in the suburbs had spread.

The police in Fuyuki City were overwhelmed. Recently, the city had plunged into chaos, with reports of cult members and serial killers keeping the officers frantic. Now, they had another disaster to deal with: the Matou house.

Since all traces at the scene had been thoroughly erased, the police quickly concluded that the fire had been an accident.

After finalizing their investigation, the officers searched for any survivors, but they quickly realized that the entire Matou family seemed to have perished.

Sakura, now reduced to a child, had essentially erased her previous identity. The dark chapters of her past were buried forever with the ruins of the Matou household.

While the group's plan to cover their tracks was flawless, there was one unexpected problem: Shirou Emiya had a lot of friends.

Just as the group was waking up, Shirou had already received four or five phone calls. Among them, his close friend Issei Ryuudou and others expressed their condolences. The school was also planning a memorial service, since both Sakura and Shinji Matou had been students at Homurahara Academy.

Rin found this a bit surprising.

She wasn't sure how people had connected Shirou with Sakura, but it turned out that most of the people calling Shirou were offering condolences for Shinji Matou, not Sakura.

It made sense—Shinji had been somewhat of a notable figure, albeit for all the wrong reasons. Still, he had garnered attention, and the only person remotely close to him had been Shirou. There were even rumors that they had been friends back in middle school.

"Shinji..."

After hanging up the phone, Shirou sighed in frustration.

His feelings were complicated. They had indeed been friends once, but Shinji had grown more erratic after entering high school. While Shirou wished things hadn't ended this way, he could never forgive the Matou family for what they had done to Sakura. This left him feeling unusually heavy-hearted.

"Senpai," Sakura called softly, walking toward him in her childlike form.

"Sakura." Shirou glanced at her, ready to speak, but before he could say anything, Sakura cut him off: "Senpai, you don't have to..."

Before she could finish her sentence, there was a sudden bang as the door was violently kicked open.

A pale-faced Taiga Fujimura burst into the room. "Shirou! Did you see the news today? Sakura, she—huh?"

She stopped mid-sentence, seeing the scene before her: Shirou standing by the phone, and a little girl who looked suspiciously like Sakura standing nearby. Both of them looked equally shocked.

"What's going on here...?"

Taiga was completely confused. "Shirou, who's this little girl?"

"Uh..."

Shirou froze, his mind going blank. He couldn't come up with any excuses.

"Fujimura-sensei?"

Hearing the commotion, Rin stepped into the room. She immediately realized what had happened and felt a sinking feeling in her chest. The rule of magi was clear: ordinary people must never learn about magic. And now, Fujimura had seen the child version of Sakura—there was no hiding it anymore.

Technically, the group had run into Fujimura the night before. But at the time, she had just woken up, and it had been too dark for her to notice Sakura's small stature. They had exchanged only a few words before she left.

But now, the evidence was right in front of her.

Rin's mind raced, but she quickly attempted to salvage the situation. "I'm sorry, Fujimura-sensei. Since there's no school at the moment, I invited my little sister to stay with us for a while."

"Your little sister?" Fujimura repeated, still confused.

"Y-yeah, Fujimura-sensei!" Shirou quickly chimed in. "She's Rin's sister!"

"...Really?"

Fujimura seemed skeptical. She wasn't stupid, after all. The little girl looked almost identical to Sakura, apart from her eye and hair color. Instead of Sakura's usual purple, the girl had the same black tea-colored hair and green eyes as Rin.

"Uh, sis," Rin stammered, realizing Fujimura was suspicious. "Don't be rude. Greet Fujimura-sensei."

"Sis..." Sakura said nervously, then added softly, "Good morning, Fujimura-sensei."

"It really is you, Sakura..."

Fujimura sighed, rubbing her forehead in frustration. She recognized Sakura's voice immediately. There was no doubt this was her.

Truthfully, she had suspected something was off from the start. Given how close Shirou and Sakura were, it made no sense that he seemed unaffected by the news of the fire. Now, it all made sense—this little girl had to be Sakura. But how?

"Ah!"

Realizing her slip, Sakura immediately clamped her hands over her mouth, looking desperately at Rin for help.

"I really..."

Rin, now completely exasperated, had no idea what to do. She hadn't expected Sakura to make such a mistake at a critical moment. If this was discovered, it would cause serious trouble. And she wasn't even skilled in memory-altering magic, having always looked down on such practices.

As Rin fretted, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye: Fang Mo, standing behind Fujimura, raising a brick over his head, preparing to knock her out.

"Archer, stop right there!!"

Rin yelled in a panic.

"Huh?"

Fujimura, startled, turned around, only to see Fang Mo standing behind her. However, by the time she looked, the brick had disappeared, replaced by a cucumber. Without missing a beat, Fang Mo extended the cucumber toward her. "Want one?"

"Uh, you..."

Fujimura was completely confused.

Before she could say anything more, Fang Mo spoke up. "Alright, I won't pretend anymore. Time to come clean. This girl really is Sakura."

"What?"

Not only Fujimura, but everyone else in the room was shocked. Why was Fang Mo admitting the truth so easily? Shouldn't they be trying to cover it up?

Ignoring everyone's expressions, Fang Mo continued, "We don't really know what happened either. We woke up this morning and found Sakura at Shirou's doorstep. When we asked her what happened, she couldn't remember anything. Then we saw the news."

"Huh?"

Fujimura blinked in confusion. "Then why didn't you call the police?"

"Because it's too strange." Fang Mo spread his hands. "If we called the police, she'd be taken away immediately, right? She's turned into a child overnight. That's incredibly suspicious. What if the government takes her away for experiments or something?"

"Uh..."

Fujimura furrowed her brow. That... actually made some sense.

"We were just discussing this earlier," Fang Mo pointed at Rin. "There are some weird rumors in Europe about Satanic cults and such. We were trying to figure out if this was related to any of that."

"Really?"

Fujimura hesitated. "But aren't those things fake?"

"How should I know?" Fang Mo replied, shrugging. "But how else do you explain what happened to her? It's not like she took some villain's magic potion, right? Which sounds more plausible to you—Satanic rituals or a *Conan*-style drug?"

"..."

Fujimura didn't want to believe either, but with Sakura's transformation staring her in the face, she had no choice but to consider the possibility.

As the group dealt with this chaos, a cold voice suddenly interrupted them.

"What's with all the noise so early in the morning?"

Black Saber emerged from the other room, clearly annoyed. "Is breakfast ready? I want fish and chips."

"Huh?"

Seeing Black Saber, Fujimura noticed something was off. "Um... doesn't your foreign friend look a little different?"

"N-no, she's the same!" Rin quickly responded, though she sounded nervous. "What's different about her?"

"Her eyes," Fujimura said, frowning. "Weren't they green yesterday?"

"This..."

"It's contact lenses," Fang Mo cut in smoothly, covering for them. "She's into cosplay, so wearing wigs and colored lenses is normal for her, right?"

"But... isn't her skin paler too?"

"We're white people," Fang Mo replied, spreading his arms. "She's just having a rough time today, so her complexion's off. You're a woman; surely you understand how that works, right?"

"...I guess."

Fujimura was starting to be convinced, albeit reluctantly.

"Teach you a tip," Fang Mo said with a grin. "You know how Chinese porcelain is world-famous? If you think her skin is nice, just compliment her by saying she looks like she's fresh out of the factory."

"Oh, I didn't know that."

Fujimura nodded absentmindedly.

"Go on, try it!" Fang Mo encouraged, gesturing toward Black Saber.

"You..."

"Would you just stop talking already!" Rin snapped, veins bulging on her forehead. Her Servant really loved making things difficult for her.

Just then, Fujimura's phone rang. She looked down and answered it. "Hello? What? Oh, okay, I'll head over now."

"It looks like the school is holding a meeting," she said after hanging up. "Probably about setting up a temporary campus. We can't keep canceling classes forever. Anyway, we'll talk more about this later. Shirou, don't go anywhere for now, okay?"

"Got it, Fujimura-sensei."

Shirou nodded quickly.

Satisfied, Fujimura left the house.

"What now?"

As soon as she was gone, Shirou turned to Rin.

"Thanks to a certain someone, we barely managed to get through that," Rin muttered, rubbing her temples. "But we definitely can't stay here anymore. Once Fujimura-sensei comes back, we won't be able to explain things."

"Let's just go to my house for now," she decided. "We'll figure it out from there."

"...Alright."

Without further hesitation, the group quickly packed up and headed for the Tohsaka residence.

The distance wasn't too far, but Fuyuki City had been strangely quiet lately, with hardly any people around during the day. The group arrived at the Tohsaka mansion without any problems.

However, upon arriving at the mansion, they found a peculiar man standing on one of the garden statues.

He was dressed in casual clothes, with messy blond hair and crimson eyes. His presence radiated a regal, kingly aura. Sensing their arrival, the man slowly turned to face them, looking down from his elevated position with a cold, condescending gaze.

"...Finally, you mongrels have arrived."