Ayanokouji’s Guide to Using Tools at Butei High - Chapter 12.2

Matou Kariya was not a man who believed in gods.

Like most modern proponents of agnosticism, he could understand that there were things in this world yet to be explained—for instance, the Magecraft he possessed, the Magic Circuits he inherited, and the World of Magi he touched—but he would not attribute these things, which science could not explain, to God.

Yet, lately, he had been frequenting the Fuyuki Church.

The reason was none other than the start of the Holy Grail War, the most critical event in the world of magecraft. At this moment, the Fuyuki Church was not a symbol of faith, but a venue for receiving intelligence and news regarding the Holy Grail War.

As the head of one of the three great founding families of magecraft, being chosen by the Holy Grail as one of the seven Masters was a natural occurrence for Matou Kariya.

“The Holy Grail War will begin very soon. The final Master has also been chosen by the Grail. Or is it, Head of the Matou family, that you are anxious about other matters?” Risei Kotomine, the supervisor for this Holy Grail War, spoke to Matou Kariya.

There were many rumors about Matou Kariya. Six years ago, he had intended to abandon his inheritance of the Matou family’s Magic Circuits and defect from the family to live as an ordinary human. But in less than a day after leaving, he seemed to become a different person; he not only returned to the Matou family but also painstakingly studied the Matou’s insect-manipulation arts and magecraft. In this Holy Grail War, he had even summoned a Heroic Spirit of the Berserker class.

Normally, in a Holy Grail War, a Master summons a spiritual body that possessed great achievements and legends before death as a Servant to do battle. The completion of the Holy Grail likewise requires the deaths of the seven Heroic Spirits.

Therefore, the Holy Grail War was a life-and-death battlefield from the very start.

The process might be treacherous and cruel, filled with violent conspiracies, but the reward for victory was bountiful. The final victor could obtain the Holy Grail—a wish-granting machine that realizes all desires.

For the three great founding families, their desire for the Holy Grail was originally unified—to Reach the Root. But the human heart is difficult to fathom. If they had truly worked consistently for the sole purpose of “Reaching the Root” from the beginning, the alliance of the Three Families would not have collapsed into separate factions standing in opposition, nor would there be a Holy Grail War every 60 years.

As the supervisor, Risei Kotomine did not wish for the wish-granting machine to fall into the hands of a thief with wicked intentions. Thus, before the Holy Grail War began, he had already arranged for his son, Kirei Kotomine—the Master of Assassin chosen by the Grail—to cooperate with Tokiomi Tohsaka, the Master of Archer.

In Risei Kotomine’s view, Tokiomi Tohsaka was likely the only one in the Fourth Holy Grail War who truly hoped to use the power of the Grail to Reach the Root. But he did not know what Matou Kariya was thinking.

Perhaps Matou Kariya had come to the Fuyuki Church for so many days because last night he had even fought with Kayneth’s Lancer, forcing Lancer to temporarily retreat. In terms of magus aptitude, Kayneth should be the highest among the seven Masters, yet the power Matou Kariya displayed was so domineering that it was enough to make Risei Kotomine and Tokiomi Tohsaka feel pressure simultaneously.

Matou Kariya paid no mind to Risei Kotomine’s probing; he was only looking for the youth he had encountered last night. In his memory, that person would appear at the Fuyuki Church at this time. Before that person could choose someone else, Kariya wanted to meet him first.

That person was the one who truly changed his fate.

“Father Kotomine, if you have something to say, you can say it directly.”

“If you obtain the Holy Grail this time, what is the wish you hope to realize?” Risei Kotomine went straight to the point, speaking to Matou Kariya without any pretense.

“Realize a wish?”

Matou Kariya thought this was a hilarious question.

If he hadn’t started a second life, he might have been like his previous life—exhausting everything to realize a wish. But this time, precisely because he continuously honed his magecraft, he obtained the truth from the mouth of Matou Zouken, the monster-like old man of the Matou family who had lived for hundreds of years through magecraft.

“A major accident occurred in the Third Holy Grail War. If the Tohsaka and Einzbern families who participated sixty years ago still remember that incident, they should take note when taking action this time. In this Fourth Holy Grail War, problems will absolutely arise. If you truly get the Grail, you might have to weigh the consequences.”

“If the accident from the third war can be prevented, then the Grail can be used normally, right?” Since obtaining the chance for a second rebirth, Matou Kariya had no intention of giving up on the Holy Grail War.

“I have never heard of a magus who can reverse time. To achieve such a thing, I’m afraid it can only be done using the Holy Grail.” Matou Zouken mocked Kariya’s idea.

However, Kariya knew of an existence other than the “Holy Grail”—it was a youth who seemed utterly unremarkable in a crowd, who had changed his fate with a single sentence, giving him a new life once again.

Kariya remembered clearly that in his previous life, he had fled the Matou family to become an ordinary person, freely becoming a journalist, traveling and photographing everywhere, doing the things he loved.

Yet when he returned six years later, he discovered that his childhood sweetheart whom he had always loved—the one who married Tokiomi Tohsaka—had legally adopted her child “Sakura” into the Matou family. Sakura, who possessed extremely high magus aptitude, was sent into the worm pits by Matou Zouken to suffer endless torment in order to adapt to the Matou’s magecraft.

Kariya, unable to bear this reality, returned to the Matou family. Since he no longer had any Magic Circuits, his decision to start over meant enduring a hundred or a thousand times the pain. In less than a year, he had lost the appearance a normal person should have, becoming terrifyingly aged and weak. Yet, despite putting in all this effort, he still failed.

Those who knew of his efforts mocked him.

Those who did not understand him loathed and abandoned him.

His previous life was a grand piece of theater, bound by love and forced to helplessly accept an arranged fate. At the end of his life, he couldn’t even remember the little bit of happiness that freedom had once brought him; he only remembered: “If only I hadn’t defected from the Matou family back then, I wouldn’t have let the woman I love and her child suffer these torments.”

Just as he was about to die, a youth appeared from the darkness.

He wore black priestly vestments, and the golden cross hanging at his neck was the only light in the darkness.

“Let’s make a deal, Mr. Matou.”

Heavy eyelids prevented Matou Kariya from seeing clearly what the person in front of him looked like; he only knew the person seemed to be from the Fuyuki Church, but the voice didn’t sound like anyone he knew, and it wasn’t Kirei Kotomine.

“Who exactly are you?”

The youth’s inorganic voice rang out: “I am the person who has come here to change your past.”

“Change the past? Why me? What do you want me to do?”

“If you change the past, just do one thing for me.”

The youth’s voice leaned in close to Matou Kariya’s ear, whispering a single sentence. This caused Matou Kariya’s eyes to widen, looking back at the youth in disbelief.

Risei Kotomine, until Kariya left, did not know what that sarcastic ‘realize a wish’ meant. Matou Kariya had come to the Fuyuki Church only to wait for that youth who had once changed his past; at this time, he would say no more to Risei Kotomine.

If that youth was not here today, he would come tomorrow.

If that youth was not here tomorrow, he would come the day after.

Whether he was a god or a demon.

Matou Kariya was willing to continue the deal with him at the cost of his soul.

After learning of the youth’s whereabouts, Matou Kariya saw his face clearly for the first time.

The winter night’s moonlight shone coldly upon the youth’s features.

The look he gave Kariya was one of a stranger, but when Kariya said he wanted to save him and reached out a hand, he grasped it without hesitation.

“Father.”

Countless questions surged into Kariya’s heart once more.

Why did he save him?

Why was he the one chosen?

Why did he possess such formidable power?

Who exactly was he, and what was his identity?

But as the words reached his lips, Kariya’s heart, which had been wavering and uneasy since his rebirth, finally calmed upon meeting the youth’s dark gold eyes.

“Your believer has been waiting for your arrival.”

The irritability, wandering, and anxiety of waiting for six years vanished instantly as the words fell.