Tohsaka Rin stood behind Tohsaka Aoi and watched for a good while before quietly leaving. Tohsaka Rin snuck into Tohsaka Aoi's room; she didn't want Sakura to know she had been back yet, because children wouldn't listen to reason, and Sakura certainly wouldn't let her go easily.
Tohsaka Rin sat quietly in this space, which was not spacious but was arranged with exceptional tranquility. The walls and tables were covered with photos that shouldn't have been kept—photos containing Tohsaka Rin.
It was clear that Tohsaka Aoi had never forgotten Tohsaka Rin for a moment, always missing her and worrying about her. A photo of Tohsaka Aoi and Tohsaka Rin when she was two or three years old, a photo of the sisters Tohsaka Rin and Sakura, individual photos of Tohsaka Rin... there were many, many of them, and those of or containing Tohsaka Rin made up the majority.
In the most prominent place in the center of the table was a family portrait of the Tohsaka Family, taken when Tohsaka Rin was five years old, before she had left. Tohsaka Rin was hugging Sakura, Mother Tohsaka Aoi was supporting the two sisters, and Father Tokiomi's tall figure stood at the very back, protecting the family. Tohsaka Aoi's smile and the atmosphere of happiness seemed to be overflowing from the picture frame.
Tohsaka Rin smiled, smiling as she looked at this room that recorded her presence. Being alone abroad, fighting bloody battles, knowing that there were still people missing her—it was truly good...
Tohsaka Rin waited in Tohsaka Aoi's room until late at night. Even though they were sleeping in separate rooms from Sakura, Tohsaka Aoi still had to watch Sakura fall asleep before returning to her own room to rest.
"Creak."
With the soft sound of the door opening, Aoi returned to her room, her face beaming with an irrepressible smile, looking incredibly excited. Rin, hidden to the side, had never seen her mother look so happy.
"Thank you, thank you heavens for your blessing, my Rin is finally coming back! Thank you..."
Aoi stood in the center of the room, her hands clasped together, whispering excitedly. The joy in her words was plain to see. After chanting for a long while, she walked to the desk in the room, gently pulled open a small drawer, took out a diary, opened it, and began to write. Rin stood dazed to the side, waiting, watching Aoi write in the diary, not knowing in what form she should appear before her.
Some words are buried in the heart for a long time, without a chance to be spoken, and when the chance finally comes, they cannot be said. That was probably the feeling.
Aoi wrote in her diary for a long time, until the early hours of the morning. Only then did she put down her pen, close the desk lamp with satisfaction, get up, and go to the small bed to sleep in her clothes.
Watching her sleeping mother, Rin couldn't help but think: 'Perhaps I should just leave like this. Seeing that they are all well, I am satisfied. As for meeting, it might be better to wait until the Holy Grail War is over, when the family is reunited.' She had already seen her husband off to the battlefield with her own eyes; there was no need to watch her eldest daughter go to the battlefield as well, and as an enemy at that...
Just as she was about to get up and leave, Rin couldn't help but feel curious about the diary Aoi had just written in. It must contain content related to her. After confirming that her mother was asleep, Rin quietly pulled open the drawer and took out the diary. The diary, about a centimeter thick, was more than half full.
She flipped it open quietly:
March 6, 1988: Little Rin has left, left this home, and Tokiomi couldn't bring that child back. I have lost that child. When I heard the news, I didn't feel too surprised; it was as if I had known all along that Little Rin would leave this home. She must have had something she had to do to leave. It must have been for Sakura, after all, she once said she would protect Sakura. Unfortunately, I am a useless mother; I can't help her with anything, I can only pray for her. May that child take good care of herself out there, may everything be safe, and may she return home soon...
April 1988: Tokiomi has given up on continuing to look for Little Rin and has instead passed the family's heritage to Sakura. For the past few days, Sakura has been crying to me, saying it hurts and she doesn't want to learn magecraft. But I am powerless; I can only comfort her and tell her to endure. The way Sakura looks at me is full of disappointment and sadness; I feel like my heart is breaking... I couldn't help Little Rin and couldn't keep her, and I can't save Sakura either. They are both in a world I cannot reach. Besides praying for them, what else can I do for them...
February 3, 1989: It's Little Rin's birthday, but this time I cannot celebrate it for her. I pray that she can find sincere friends out there, that someone can celebrate her birthday for her. I can only look at the photo Little Rin left behind and say happy birthday...
The pages of the diary were slightly wrinkled and yellowed. Rin knew that two years were not enough to make the paper yellow and wrinkle; these tiny traces of wrinkling were her mother's tears. Although no emotions could be seen between the ink and text, Rin felt the overwhelming sadness and concern rushing toward her.
From the day Rin left, not a single day went by without worry. There was no blame for her, only a mother's concern and anxiety. She worried that she was too young to understand the ugliness of the outside world; she worried that having been raised in comfort, she wouldn't know how to take care of herself; when it was hot, she worried she would be overheated; when it was cold, she worried she wouldn't know to add clothes. Just like a mother's nagging to her child at home, every bit fell onto the pages of Rin's diary.
"Plop..."
Rin's tears couldn't be held back and streamed from the corners of her eyes. Guilt, sadness, self-reproach, endless regret, and warmth filled her heart. In a daze, a saying she had heard in her previous life rang in her ears:
"A mother worries about her child traveling a thousand miles, but the child rarely worries about the mother far away..."
When she was alone outside, she only felt that they at home would definitely be safe and sound, that there would be no difficulties in their daily lives. She had never thought much about them, only rushing and striving for her own affairs every day. She had never thought about this concern and longing that hung over the horizon.
October 23, 1990: Little Rin is coming back! This is Tokiomi's promise to Sakura. Tokiomi has always been a man of his word; as long as it is what he promised, it will definitely be fulfilled. It won't be long before our family can be reunited again. That child left without a word; when she returns, I have so much to say to her. Should I blame her? But that child must have suffered a lot alone outside. Sigh...
Rin finally couldn't help but dispel her invisibility spell! She put the diary aside and took off her outer cloak!
She couldn't hesitate any longer. No one could guarantee that they could return safely from that crisis-ridden Holy Grail War, not even Rin. To put off meeting until after the battle was over—what an arrogant attitude that was.
Aoi, who had just fallen into a deep sleep, was startled awake by a slight sound. When she opened her eyes, thinking it was Sakura who had had another nightmare and run over, she looked up and saw a young girl who looked to be on the verge of adulthood, with features exactly the same as her own. Although the age should not match in any way, Aoi recognized her immediately!
"Little Rin!..."
She hadn't noticed it just now, but looking at her daughter now, staring closely at her young and beautiful face—which already bore a haggard look of sorrow—it was clear that the worry of missing her day and night had carved a trace of the years onto her face.
Rin could no longer suppress the guilt and emotion in her heart. She truly could not repay the concern she had felt every moment for the past two years—
"Thump!"
Rin knelt down heavily one meter in front of Aoi! In Japanese culture, kneeling and kneeling rites are common, but in Rin's memory, the cultural etiquette of China occupied the absolute upper hand, and the education of the Tohsaka Family was also purely European aristocratic style.
"There is gold under a man's knees; one should only kneel to Heaven and one's mother!"
Although Rin was no longer a man in this life, her demeanor, thoughts, and actions were undoubtedly implementing absolute masculinity. This was not a Japanese kneeling rite; Aoi could feel that this kneel from her daughter carried the weight of a thousand pounds!
"Your unfilial daughter, Tohsaka Rin, who left home without permission and has not returned for two years... pays her respects, Mother..."
After speaking, Rin bowed and performed three kowtows before Aoi, her forehead touching the ground.
Rin, who understood the truth of the world's mysteries, could not respect gods or Buddhas, nor bow to heaven and earth, but as a daughter, she had to keep the kindness of her parents in her heart. Although in the eyes of her father, Tokiomi, the Holy Grail and the Root were above all else, the love of her mother, Aoi, for her children was absolutely pure and selfless!
Aoi's tears couldn't stop flowing the moment she saw Rin. She was choked with sobs. Seeing her eldest daughter, who had suddenly appeared, kneeling and bowing, she no longer cared about any etiquette. She lunged down from the bed and pulled Rin into her arms!
"Rin, my Rin! My Rin has finally, finally come back..."
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