bdsm-fiction Chapter 89 Imaginary Numbers and Gems
Chapter 89 Imaginary Numbers and Gems
The heavy gates of the Tohsaka residence slowly opened, and the cold air was filled with the chill unique to the early morning.
In the entryway, Aoi Tohsaka was intently buttoning up the top button of Sakura's dress.
She looked down at the little girl, then carefully tucked the scarf up further until it completely covered the pale little face.
"If you're cold, tell Mr. Arthur," Aoi gently advised, her gaze tender. "Sakura, don't force yourself."
Sakura nodded obediently, her purple eyes sparkling with a rare anticipation.
Rin was already waiting at the door, wearing her favorite red knit sweater, her black ribbon tied in her hair as meticulously as a work of art.
She clutched a small cloth bag tightly, inside which was the "battle plan for today" that she had worked on late into the night.
As she left her desk, she quickly folded the list, as if it were some secret family heirloom that should not be glimpsed.
...Although she just didn't want people to see how much she cared about this trip.
Arthur stood to the side, his dark gray trench coat over a dark blue turtleneck sweater, which toned down his originally sharp and heroic aura.
Even such ordinary attire looked perfectly natural on him.
Tokiomi Tohsaka appeared in the corridor, his gaze lingering on the three for a moment before finally settling on Rin's face: "What time will you be back?"
"Before five o'clock." Rin straightened her chest, her tone firm. "The shopping street, the bookstore, the bridge—everything is within my plan. I won't wander off."
Tokiomi nodded slightly, his gaze shifting to Arthur.
"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on them."
As Tokiomi turned and returned to his study, Aoi escorted the three of them to the courtyard gate.
Just before the door was sewn shut, Rin's deliberately lowered but still undeniably cheerful voice rang out:
"Let's go, Arthur. I'll lead the way; just follow!"
……
In the early 1990s, Fuyuki City was immersed in the last prosperity before the economic bubble burst.
Bright shop windows, bustling stalls, and noisy crowds constitute a modern jungle in Britain that is a thousand times more complex than the Britain in Biather’s memory.
Rin walked at the front, her pace much faster than usual at home, like a proud hen surveying her territory.
She would stop every now and then and, in the manner of a senior, introduce Arthur to which crepe shop was the most famous and which bookstore had the fastest stocking speed.
Sakura held Arthur's hand. She was still a little hesitant to walk through the crowd, but as time went by, her beautiful eyes gradually relaxed.
Sakura slowed her pace quietly in front of a shop window filled with exquisite items.
"Sakura, do you like this?" Arthur stopped in his tracks.
The shop window displayed a row of transparent glass animal figurines. Sakura looked at one of the kittens, its tail tip tinged with a pale purple, glistening under the light.
She nodded gently, then quickly shook her head as if afraid of causing Arthur any trouble, "No, brother, I was just looking."
"Let's go in." Arthur didn't give her a chance to refuse.
With Rin's tsundere declaration, "Of course, this is also within my budget," the three of them entered the general store.
Arthur called the shop assistant and bought the glass cat and the glass rabbit.
As she left the store, Sakura clutched the small paper bag tightly to her chest. After walking for a while, she whispered, "Brother, thank you."
"I'm glad you like it," Arthur replied gently.
Rin walked ahead, her back to them, carrying a small paper bag in her hand, using a nonchalant tone to conceal her true feelings:
"I already knew about that shop, I just happened to go in... it was alright."
"Rin," Arthur suddenly said, "you were standing next to that little rabbit for quite a while."
Rin's back stiffened for a moment. A cold wind blew through her scarf, and she raised her hand to cover it, raising her voice without turning around:
"I was just waiting for you guys, and killing time...!"
"Hmm." Arthur's lips curled into a slight smile. "I know."
The three of them walked into a bookstore. The warm yellow lighting and the smell of paper and ink isolated them from the noise of the outside world.
Arthur stood quietly beside the history counter, his fingertips tracing the beautifully bound books about "Britain".
Some of the records here felt familiar to him, while others were unfamiliar.
"Feed." Rin leaned closer, a history book tucked between her fingers, and asked casually, "Is there anything about you in this?"
"Yes, but most of them are wrong." Arthur turned to a page and pointed to the line, "It says here that I pulled the sword from the stone when I was fourteen."
"How old was she?"
"Fifteen years old," Arthur said calmly. "And before I drew the sword, I had no idea what it really meant."
Rin stared at the line of text for a moment, then deftly pulled the book out and tucked it into her arm:
"I bought it. I need to go back and make a record of the primary source data. As the heir to the Tohsaka family, this is a basic requirement for academic rigor."
At dusk, the Fuyuki Bridge, spanning the Mien River, is bathed in a magnificent dark gold by the setting sun.
The three of them leaned against the railing, each holding an ice cream cone. Rin chose strawberry, Sakura chose vanilla, and Arthur's cone was chocolate, which Rin had chosen for him.
Sakura licked the ice cream with small sips, the cool sweetness melting on her tongue, causing her to involuntarily squint her eyes.
The river breeze tousled her short hair and swept across her youthful face.
"Brother," Sakura said softly, gazing at the shimmering water, "the outside world... is like this."
Arthur turned to look at her: "Yes, it's worth looking at it more."
Rin quietly ate her strawberry ball, but her ears were constantly perked up.
She subtly moved half a step toward Arthur, her shoulder lightly brushing against the sleeve of his trench coat.
"Did you choose the right ice cream?" Rin snorted. "Chocolate is just right for this kind of weather."
"Yes, they're a good match," Arthur said with a smile.
As the sun set, it cast extremely long shadows of the three people.
Sakura quietly grabbed the hem of Arthur's trench coat, just like she had done when she left home that morning.
……
In the backyard of the Tohsaka residence, cherry blossom petals drifted down in the wind, but near an open space in the center of the mansion, they were quietly parted by an invisible and viscous force field.
That's an outdoor extension of teaching.
Tokiomi Tohsaka stood in the corridor, holding a cup of red tea, but hadn't touched it for a long time.
His gaze fell on the center of the courtyard, where his two daughters were undergoing a training session that would leave modern magicians speechless.
"Tokiomi, your brow is furrowed." Arthur walked to the side, wearing a light black shirt with tucked sleeves today.
"...Mr. Arthur, I'm just sighing a bit." Tokiomi put down his teacup, his tone remaining elegant.
"The Tohsaka family's magical characteristic is transformation, which allows them to entrust their power to gems. This is the cornerstone of our search for the origins."
But Sakura's imaginary attribute, in my understanding, is an extremely rare Yin element...
I once thought that if she stayed with the Tohsaka family, her talent would eventually be rendered mediocre by the framework of Jewel Magic.
Tokiomi looked at Sakura, who was standing with her eyes closed.
Her magic did not surge forth like a fiery flame like Rin's, but rather spread quietly beneath her feet like a bottomless pool of black water.
"That's because you've turned magic into a tool, Tokiomi." Arthur looked towards the courtyard, his eyes reflecting the figures of the two sisters.
"In the Age of Gods, magic is like breathing, a melody that resonates with the world. Attributes are not shackles, but different windows through which they observe the world."
"Sakura, don't try to capture the ether."
Arthur's voice entered the arena.
Inside the courtyard, Rin held a deep blue sapphire in one hand, which was the medium used to amplify wind element spells.
"Watch closely, Sakura! This is the foundation my father taught me, plus the concept of fluidity that Arthur said we should integrate!"
With a soft shout, the gem shattered, and countless tiny magical wind blades swept out like flying birds.
Just as they were about to touch Sakura, the dark shadow beneath Sakura's feet suddenly folded upwards in a strange manner.
There was no sound of impact, no deafening roar of magic exploding.
Those wind blades, powerful enough to sever tree trunks, vanished without a trace the instant they touched the shadow, as if falling into an abyss of another dimension.
That's the ability of imaginary number properties, imaginary space.