Chapter 96: Little Sakura of the Tōsaka Household
[Ding! "Little Sakura of the Tōsaka Household" has joined the Dimensional Chat Group!]
When Ryū saw the notification, he froze for a solid moment.
As someone who'd watched more anime than he could count—
How could the words "Little Sakura of the Tōsaka Household" not ring a bell?
After Whitebeard and Ying Zheng, yet another new member had joined the group using their real name as their username.
And the person who bore that name was, to put it mildly—extremely well-known.
A single phrase surfaced in Ryū's mind.
Or rather, a single meme.
It's all the era's fault!
Little Sakura of the Tōsaka household—wasn't that Sakura Matou? Or rather, Sakura Tōsaka?
A female character from the Fate universe. One whose story in the original was extraordinarily tragic. A character defined by suffering.
"This is… actually kind of a big deal. A terrifyingly big deal."
The Fate series?
Ryū hadn't consumed as much Fate content as he had some other franchises—he'd only watched a few of the more prominent anime entries and hadn't gone through everything. But he definitely knew who Sakura Tōsaka was.
That said—if she was still going by Tōsaka rather than Matou…
That meant the current Sakura hadn't been sent to the Matou household yet. Which would put her at… under five years old?
Probably around four, if Ryū remembered correctly. She'd been sent away at around five or six.
He was fairly sure he wasn't misremembering.
* * *
Kaguya-sama: Wow! It hasn't even been that long, and we've already got another new member?
Terrible Tornado: "Little Sakura of the Tōsaka Household"? Sounds like a girl's name.
Terrible Tornado: So that means I'm not the newest member anymore.
The Little Wandering Planet: Another big shot joins. Group status −1.
Crazy Diamond: Group status −1.
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden: Breaking the copy-paste! If the new member is a girl, that makes four female members in the chat group now.
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden: Ara… the gender ratio is gradually evening out.
Little Sakura of the Tōsaka Household: …What is this? Am I… dreaming?
Little Sakura of the Tōsaka Household: Why did it hurt when I pinched myself?
Little Sakura of the Tōsaka Household: …Are you some kind of ghosts or spirits?!
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden: This one is no ghost, dear~ This one is the illustrious Sage of Youkai! You may address me as Yukari-sama!
Kaguya-sama: Judging by the new member's wording, her world must be a supernatural one!
Crazy Diamond: A supernatural world, huh… We've got ghosts in my world too, actually.
Little Sakura of the Tōsaka Household: …Sage of Youkai? Supernatural world?
Little Sakura of the Tōsaka Household: What is any of this?!
* * *
Little Sakura of the Tōsaka Household… it really did seem to be Sakura Tōsaka. Not yet five years old.
He was almost certainly right. The odds of being wrong were vanishingly low.
There was no getting around it: Sakura Tōsaka was a genuinely tragic character.
The specifics of that tragedy… Ryū felt like even describing them might get him censored.
Suffice it to say, her story was deeply, profoundly dark.
The kind that made you want to cross over into her world and rescue her yourself.
* * *
Kaguya-sama: @Little Sakura of the Tōsaka Household — New member, you should check out the group announcement! Once you've read through it, everything will make sense.
Kaguya-sama: It's a bit hard to believe, I know. But it's all real.
Little Sakura of the Tōsaka Household: …Group announcement?
Crazy Diamond: It's the little red dot in the upper right corner. Just tap it.
Little Sakura of the Tōsaka Household: …Tap it? O-okay… I'll try…
Kaguya-sama: @RawrSoFierce — Admin-dono, is the new member's world really a supernatural one? I don't think we've had anyone from a supernatural world before.
RawrSoFierce: Hmm… not exactly. If I'm remembering right… actually, how would you even classify it? A Heroic Spirit world?
Kaguya-sama: Huh? A Heroic Spirit world? I guessed wrong. I don't quite understand what that means, but it sounds like a big deal.
Kaguya-sama: So the new member is female, right?
RawrSoFierce: Definitely female. The question is how old she is right now.
RawrSoFierce: If she's already in her teens… that would be a bit frightening.
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden: It sounds like Admin-dono has seen the new member's anime.
RawrSoFierce: I have… It's a heavy show. Very heavy.
When Ryū had watched it, the whole experience had left him feeling wrong for days.
The new member's circumstances—
The more he thought about it, the darker it got.
The more he thought about it, the worse he felt.
* * *
Little Sakura of the Tōsaka Household: I don't know why, but somehow I can understand all these Chinese characters strung together. Anyway, I've finished reading the group announcement.
Little Sakura of the Tōsaka Household: A 'Dimensional Chat Group'… does something like this really exist?
RawrSoFierce: You can try doing a Daily Sign-In in the group. You'll get some Points, and then use them to enhance your body a little. A few dozen Points won't do much, but it'll be enough for you to feel the difference.
RawrSoFierce: The steps are all in the announcement. Just follow along.
RawrSoFierce: And if you really can't figure it out, there's a picture tutorial in the group album.
Little Sakura of the Tōsaka Household: …Okay. I'll try.
* * *
In the Fate world, four-year-old Sakura Tōsaka's small face was written over with confusion.
She was only four, but given her family background, her mental maturity was considerably beyond her age.
After determining that this "Dimensional Chat Group" seemed to be visible only to her, she bit her lip gently and, with a tentative tap, pressed the Sign-In button.
The chat group interface immediately displayed: 70 Points earned.
"Enhance my body?" Sakura thought. "The announcement said I just need to think it in my head to use Points for physical enhancement… It's not a trap, is it?"
She was nervous, understandably. Something this far beyond common sense was bound to challenge the worldview of anyone—let alone one as young as hers.
Sakura Tōsaka was four years old. She had not yet been sent away by Tōsaka Tokiomi.
For a four-year-old girl to encounter something this bizarre, nervousness and caution were the only natural responses.
"I'll try it… I—I want to use 70 Points to enhance my body…"
The moment she formed the thought, the 70 Points she'd just earned from the Sign-In were instantly zeroed out.
And from within her small, somewhat frail body, a warm current began to flow.
It moved slowly through her flesh, her bones, her organs.
The sensation left her wide-eyed with wonder.
That strange, comfortable warmth lasted a few seconds, then faded.
And then Sakura made a startling discovery.
The mild cold she'd caught from last night's chill—gone. Completely. Not a trace of discomfort remained. And somehow, she felt… stronger. Noticeably stronger than before.
She was still just a little girl, after all. For a four-year-old with a fragile constitution, 70 Points of physical enhancement was more than enough to produce a transformative change.
"This Dimensional Chat Group… it doesn't seem like a hallucination," Sakura realized, her small mouth slightly agape, her face a picture of disbelief. "And it's not one of those ghost pranks from the movies, either. It seems… it's actually real."
☆☆☆
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