001 - What Makes it Hard to Go Home ?

Ayaka Sajyou was born as the second daughter of the Sajyou family.

Unlike an ordinary family, hers was a Magi family. Just like the Tohsaka, their family had the dream of reaching the Root.

She was born with mediocre abilities, such as growing plants and talking to crows. Being introverted, she often felt uncomfortable interacting with others.

Aside from her lineage as part of a Magi family, there was nothing particularly interesting about her.

But her sister... Manaka Sajyou. Her older sister was a genius in magecraft and the family's pride.

Even though Manaka was her older sister, their relationship was akin to that of strangers living under the same roof.

They never did anything together as siblings because Ayaka always avoided her family due to her inferiority complex toward her sister.

Born with exceptional talent for magecraft, Manaka became the center of their father's hopes. But when Ayaka was born and her abilities turned out to be average, she remembered her father's disappointed expression. Over time, she was ignored by everyone.

Oddly enough, she was fine with that. In fact, she was happy. She didn't want to get involved in the world of Magi. Her dream was to live a normal life.

Perhaps she could graduate, leave the house, start a life of her own, meet someone, marry, have a family, and pass away peacefully—that was all she wanted.

One day, however, her sister Manaka disappeared from the house for several weeks. Their father, frantic, ordered Ayaka to search for her.

Manaka had always been strange. Despite being her older sister, she was shorter than Ayaka.

But her appearance was far more striking, with her light blonde hair, pale blue eyes, and doll-like features.

Her expression was always vacant, as if she cared for nothing. She only followed their father's orders because she was bored.

Even Ayaka couldn't understand what Manaka was thinking.

Manaka often disappeared for days, likely searching something that interested her, but she always came back.

This time, however, she had been gone for weeks. Their father grew panicked, afraid she had left for good. His plans for her to participate in the Holy Grail War and win the Grail were in jeopardy.

For months, Ayaka was tasked with searching for her sister, spending every day looking for her.

Nearly six months later, Manaka suddenly reappeared.

At the time, Ayaka was still at school. When a crow she cared for delivered the news, she wasn't relieved. She was furious.

She had spent months searching for Manaka, even neglecting her plants in the process.

And now, Manaka had returned as if nothing had happened.

Ayaka no longer cared about avoiding her sister. This time, she was determined to scold her.

But when she got home, she found something unexpected.

Manaka was lying on the couch, smiling blissfully as she gazed at a ring on her left hand.

Her outfit looked strange, and her demeanor was completely different.

The sister who once resembled a lifeless doll, indifferent to everything, was now humming happily with a face full of expression.

What shocked Ayaka even more was that, when Manaka noticed her, she immediately got up and welcomed her.

Manaka had never spoken to her before.

This was the first time.

Ayaka was stunned—and deeply afraid.

---

After that day, Manaka began talking to Ayaka every day, getting involved in everything she did.

She helped Ayaka tend to her plants, assisted with the crows, and even hung out with her regularly.

Manaka started acting like a proper older sister, and it terrified Ayaka.

Manaka even helped her improve her magecraft, teaching her to use it properly.

Seeing her formerly emotionless older sister suddenly change so drastically filled Ayaka with unease. She was curious about what had happened during Manaka's disappearance, but she didn't have the courage to ask.

She had a gut feeling that finding out would lead to something terrible.

One day, their father returned home. Upon seeing Manaka, his anger erupted.

He scolded her furiously, ranting about her duty as a Sajyou and how she needed to win the Grail. Ayaka, tired of listening, fled to her room and locked the door.

But then, something unexpected happened.

Her father's voice abruptly fell silent, and an eerie stillness enveloped the house.

Curious and anxious, Ayaka unlocked her door and went back downstairs to the living room.

What she saw made her blood run cold.

Her father was dead, and her older sister stood over his lifeless body.

Manaka's face had returned to the expressionless mask she used to wear, devoid of any emotion.

Her chilling voice broke the silence.

"Father was so fragile. I didn't expect him to die just from that. Even that person could handle it~."

Her gaze shifted to Ayaka, her voice cold yet oddly playful.

"Right, Ayaka? Father was so fragile, wasn't he?"

Ayaka covered her mouth with both hands, trying to stifle a scream.

But despite her fear, she forced herself to respond, her voice trembling as if her life depended on it.

"Y-yes… he was so fragile…" she managed to say, slowly stepping backward.

Manaka's expression didn't change, but her footsteps grew closer.

"Eh? Are you scared of your older sister, Ayaka?" Manaka asked, her voice laced with amusement.

"Don't be scared. I won't hurt you. We're siblings, right? We should take care of each other," she said, her smile widening unnaturally.

"That person always told me to take care of my little sister… and to kill the father who annoyed us."

Ayaka didn't understand what Manaka meant. Who was "that person"?

What had Manaka done during the six months she was gone?

"C'mon, let me hug you, little sister," Manaka said softly, extending her arms.

Summoning every ounce of courage she had, Ayaka stepped forward and embraced her sister, trembling as she did so.

All the while, their father's corpse lay cold and unmoving on the living room floor

After that wholesome hug, Manaka immediately disappeared from the house after making their father disappear.

She said she was going to be gone for a few days to meet someone before casually opening a portal and stepping through it.

Ayaka didn't know what her older sister had just done. Opening a portal like that so casually—she had never seen Manaka do something like that before.

And like Manaka said, she came back a few days later after Ayaka had already calmed down from seeing their father's death.

The days started again, with Manaka trying to act as her older sister and bonding with her.

Until finally, years passed, and Manaka still often disappeared from their home.

At this point, Ayaka was already used to her disappearing acts, so she wasn't really surprised when Manaka didn't appear for a week or two.

Until one day, when Manaka was still gone, a symbol appeared on her hand.

After seeing the symbol, she immediately realized what was going on.

A Command Spell, indicating her joining the Holy Grail War.

She immediately panicked as she didn't want to get involved in the Magi world.

She tried really hard to find her older sister, as she usually had the solution for something related to Magi.

But of course, she couldn't find her older sister, so in the end, she could only make sure she was never going to summon a Servant and hide her Command Spell.

But her plan immediately failed as her Command Spell glowed and summoned a Servant itself.

And the Servant was Fujino Asagami.

Hearing her name, she immediately knew that Fujino was Japanese, but after hearing her story, she was surprised that Fujino was a Servant coming from basically near the year she was in.

Fujino Asagami came from another timeline but in the same Japan and the same city.

And her job was to watch over someone—someone that came from another world and had the ability to destroy this world if he wanted.

"Sajyou, there's something I want to ask, so can you follow me? It won't take long," the next day, Tohsaka Rin asked her to come with her to the rooftop.

At first, she just wanted to run away because she knew getting involved with another Magus family was not really good for her.

But Fujino said it was fine to follow her, so in the end, she trusted her Servant's judgment and followed Rin.

And she met the man named Rei that Fujino was tasked to watch over.

After that conversation, he gave her a really beautiful blue crystal to keep her safe, so from that day, she always brought that crystal with her.

The crystal was unlike anything she had ever seen or felt before. It was so beautiful and warm, and holding it made her feel really comfortable and safe for some reason.

Another thing she gained after that day was someone to talk to.

With Fujino, she often talked about anything, and on another day, she met Tohsaka Sakura and Rei, who were coming back from a date.

Bringing her along, they ate together with everyone at the Emiya Residence and got closer to the people there.

Day after day, she became comfortable with everyone and started to talk more and more.

Even in school, where she usually just sat alone reading something, now she hung out with them on the rooftop.

Her introverted nature slowly disappeared as she happily spent time together with her friends.