Chapter 149

Sakura rested in the bathtub, the water covering her all the way up to her collarbone, the water warm and inviting, caressing her skin when she made it ripple. Lifting a hand, she stared at the discolored patches visible beneath the pale skin on her hands. Though she couldn't see it right now, she also knew that there were angry red lines running across her face, disturbing the beauty of her face.

The battles that Rider was embroiled in earlier pushed her body to the limit, and her mana reserves were pushed hard, resulting in the worms within her body growing agitated, almost ending up in a feeding frenzy. If it wasn't for Shinji making the medicine to calm them down, she would have been eaten from the inside out, a shell of flesh with the insides becoming a feast for the familiars.

She could still feel some of them wriggling inside the more painful points in her body, making their presence known with the discomfort they brought to their host. Despite how much she wanted to be rid of them, she knew it wasn't that easy to remove the organisms, so closely bonded to her after years of this parasitic relationship that they had essentially fused and become one with her. If she wanted them completely removed, she would need someone with expertise in surgery and exorcism, since they infested both the physical and spiritual aspect of her body. For somebody to be an expert in both fields was extremely rare, and she doubted she would ever meet someone qualified to proclaim themselves as one.

Placing her hand back down into the water, she rested her head against the back of the tub, staring at the ceiling as her thoughts drifted around like the bubbles on the surface of the water.

Rider was grievously injured while fighting Assassin, and she probably wouldn't be able to fight for at least a day in the state she was in. She could feel the drain on her mana, the connection to Rider weaker than usual as the Servant floated between a conscious and unconscious state while healing, though the thread of energy between the two was still going strong with how the mana Rider needed to recuperate being siphoned from Sakura. Reaching next to her, her hands closed around what looked like a wine bottle. Sakura poured some liquid out of the bottle and drank it, the metallic taste of blood running down her throat as she swallowed the pungent drink.

She felt mana from the blood enter her body and drop into her reservoirs of energy, refuelling her and keeping the worm's hunger at bay.

Settling down the bottle on the tray next to her, she licked her lips, now cherry red, doing her best to not waste a single drop and prevent the bath from becoming contaminated as well.

How was Senpai doing right now?

It had been some time since she had visited him, or his residence. While Taiga had kept nagging her at school to visit, since she was lonely and couldn't mooch of their cooking anymore, she had only replied that it would be inconvenient for both him and Senpai, and Taiga had left it at that.

In reality, they were both participants in a battle to the death, a competition between magus for an all-mighty wish.

She just didn't understand how he had become a Master. It made no sense. Surely there were better candidates for the war than him? He was just a normal person after all, and though she knew that he practiced magecraft, it was on such an amateur level that she could barely consider him as one. On some morning when she found him slumped on the floor of his shed, having fallen asleep after practicing, she couldn't help but smile at how cute it was that he diligently practiced so much everyday, even if it was just basic magecraft. She could feel him practice in his shed at night too, when she stayed later than usual to deal with housework or wash the dishes.

If she knew how he made his Circuits, she would probably have had a heart attack.

She had never approached him about it though, so senpai didn't know she knew, or about her role in the Matou family. To him, she was just an ordinary girl, a kouhai that had grown close to him in the past few years. She had little desire to expose herself either, and indeed was glad that he didn't know about her….dirty secrets. As long as she could remain pure in front of him, she was happy. Anything more was impossible.

Still, it would be nice to visit him someday. She stared at the ceiling, mist from the hot water obscuring it, turning it a hazy white. Where was he again? She took a moment to recall where he had relocated, since he seemed to have an alliance with another Master. Oh right, Ryuudou Temple. That was where he lived now, along with Caster and Kuzuki Souichirou, based on what Rider had observed the night Ruler had appeared at the school.

Perhaps she could go visit the day after, when Rider was back and there was no school. The surface of the water lapped at the white porcelain walls of the tub as she shifted her legs, long and slender, to rest her thighs on the left side of the tub. Her purple hair spread out, floating on the surface of the water like strands of seaweed. Languidly, she turned her head towards the doorway.

An old man entered her field of vision.

Water splashed out of the tub as she stood up in the tub, ignoring the fact that he could see her naked, and she backed against the wall, the cold tiles on her back and the lack of warm water around her causing her to shiver, but her eyes refused to leave him, her palms pressed flat against the wall as if trying to push it over for her to escape.

Tapping his cane on the bathroom tiles, Matou Zouken walked closer and stared up at his granddaughter with beady black eyes, his mouth curved into what resembled a smile, the loose skin around crinkling with numerous lines.

"I trust you're doing well, Sakura?"