In a private room of a tea house, Lin Luo and Asagami Fujino sat facing each other. Lin Luo avoided looking at Fujino’s expression, sipping his tea with his eyes closed, listening to the music playing in the room, as if the melody held more fascination for him than the beautiful woman across the table.

Asagami Fujino neither drank the tea nor paid attention to the music; she stirred the coffee in her cup with the spoon like a machine, her gaze fixed solely on Lin Luo’s face, a flicker of curiosity hidden within her eyes.

Just over ten minutes ago, the man before her had rescued her from a group of delinquents… Yes, she had been saved. Although she couldn't live within the bounds of common sense, she could still understand it; she merely lacked the sense of pain and the instinct for self-preservation, but otherwise, she was no different from a normal human.

So, she understood that this man had protected her. As for whether Lin Luo’s methods were excessively cruel… she couldn't even feel her own sensations, so how could she comprehend the feelings of others, especially those who intended to harm her?

In fact, far from finding it brutal, deep within her heart, she felt a strange quickening of her pulse… She didn't know how to interpret that sensation, but if expressed in common terms, it was—excitement.

Yet, ten minutes had passed since arriving at this place, and Lin Luo had done nothing but focus on his tea, never speaking, which she found incomprehensible.

"Are you feeling calmer now?" Lin Luo suddenly spoke.

"Eh?" Asagami Fujino started.

Lin Luo looked at her and smiled, "After what just happened, even if you feel nothing, your heart must be complicated, right? So, have you calmed down now?"

Asagami Fujino stared blankly at him. Calm? Was the reason she hadn't spoken simply to let her emotions settle?

Asagami Fujino suddenly recalled her childhood. She had once cut her palm deeply while playing, covering herself in blood, but because she felt no pain, she registered nothing. Then her mother found her, wrapped the wound in a panic, and held her gently, saying, "It must hurt a lot." She still couldn't comprehend that sentence, yet she felt intensely happy being held. Because she could still sense that she was loved.

Now, although the circumstances were different, she could sense that the person before her was caring for her, just like her mother had back then.

"Mhm," Asagami Fujino felt a warmth spread through her chest and nodded subconsciously.

"My name is Asagami Fujino. Who are you?" She hadn't dared to speak earlier—fear, or something else, she didn't know—but now she found the courage.

"My name is Lin Luo. Like you, I am human."

"Human?" The word sounded alien to Asagami Fujino. She knew she was different; everyone around her possessed pain, but she did not. She could only try her best to mimic the sensation of pain that others felt, but was she truly human like this?

"I am human?" Asagami Fujino looked at Lin Luo with hopeful expectation.

Lin Luo nodded gravely, "Of course. We are the same. Even if you lack the sense of pain, so what? Even if you are unlike ordinary people, what of it? As long as you possess the soul of a person, as long as you believe you are a person, then you are one!"

"I am human... I am human..." Asagami Fujino murmured to herself, her face alight with pleasant surprise. Since birth, she had been treated as an anomaly. Even at school, she desperately pretended to be like everyone else. No one had ever affirmed to her so decisively that she was human!

In order to blend into normal life, to avoid the scorn and persecution of those around her, she had worked hard to hide the truth of her lack of pain, striving to appear as an ordinary person so she could fit into the mundane routine. But!

That was all false. The classmates at school, the relatives at home—they only recognized the fabricated version of herself. Her true self had always lived in fear and dread, constantly worried about exposure, devoid of any sense of security.

But this man before her knew she lacked pain, knew she was different from ordinary people, yet he still regarded her as human, offering care and encouragement... Lin Luo’s words filled Asagami Fujino with overwhelming joy and excitement, because she was being acknowledged.

"I'm sorry, I don't know how to express this..." Asagami Fujino suddenly lowered her head. Yes, despite her excitement and joy, she didn't know how to convey these feelings.

Lin Luo chuckled softly and extended his hand. "Give me your hand."

Asagami Fujino paused, instinctively recalling the scene where Lin Luo had crushed that delinquent's hand. She hesitated, but when she saw the benevolent kindness in Lin Luo’s eyes, she finally offered her hand.

Lin Luo took her slender hand and lightly tapped the back of it.

"Ah!" Asagami Fujino cried out in pain and snatched her hand back sharply.

"That is the sense of pain."

"Pain?" Asagami Fujino wore an expression of incomprehension. She looked at the back of her hand and saw a strange mark there. She instinctively touched it a few times, but this time, she didn't feel the pain from before.

"It doesn't hurt anymore," Asagami Fujino said to Lin Luo, sounding disappointed.

"Press that mark, and think 'I want pain,' and you will feel it."

As soon as Lin Luo finished speaking, Asagami Fujino, with barely a moment's hesitation, did as she was told. Her brow furrowed deeply... She felt pain again.

"It hurts! It hurts! It hurts so much! I’m so happy!" Asagami Fujino's face simultaneously showed agony and delight. She cried and laughed like a lunatic.

Lin Luo looked at her state, unsure whether to laugh or cry. Pain—a sensation no one desires—yet for Asagami Fujino, it was something to be savored... Of course, Lin Luo understood her state of mind. For someone who had lived without pain, being able to experience it was an incredible luxury.

However, after only a few minutes, seeing that she showed no sign of stopping, Lin Luo couldn't bear it any longer and gently separated her hands. "Enough. You'll have plenty of chances to enjoy pain later. For now, listen to what I have to say."

"Oh," Asagami Fujino replied reluctantly. Her only current desire was for the pain to last forever, but on the other hand, she didn't want to disobey Lin Luo, so she agreed.

In fact, during the time her pain sense was returning, her appendicitis, which she was suffering from, should have caused intense abdominal pain. However, when Lin Luo held her hand just now, he had already cured the ailment. Therefore, she only felt the pain in her hand... Asagami Fujino needed pain, but in Lin Luo's view, the pain of illness was unnecessary.

Since she never knew about the illness, it was best to eliminate it entirely.

Lin Luo pointed to the mark on her hand and said, "This thing is called a Command Seal. Normally, it doesn't induce pain, but for you, I added a little something. Just do what you did before, and you will feel pain. Because you lacked pain, you couldn't even express emotions, or even feel the sensation of being alive. But once your sense of pain returns, all your emotions will gradually come back. However, that's not what I need to talk about right now."

"What is it?" Asagami Fujino asked.

Lin Luo stated, "I want you to participate in a game called the Holy Grail War. That Command Seal was created for this purpose. In terms of spectacle, this game is quite dangerous, but I have made many preparations, so fundamentally, it won't cause you harm. Of course, if you don't want to..."

"I'll participate!" Before Lin Luo could finish, Asagami Fujino nodded heavily and declared loudly, "I'm willing to do whatever you ask!"

Yes, Asagami Fujino was genuinely eager. Because Lin Luo hadn't just given her recognition and warmth; he had even helped her recover the sense of pain she had never possessed. For her, this was the feeling of being alive. She knew that as long as she stayed by Lin Luo’s side, she could continue to feel pain and continue to live. She didn't want to lose this feeling, so—never mind just participating in a game—even if Lin Luo asked her to jump into a pit of fire, she would do so without hesitation.

Lin Luo scratched his head, momentarily stunned by Fujino's straightforwardness. But he also understood that for someone like Asagami Fujino, who had always been persecuted and never accepted, when she finally met someone who acknowledged and accepted her, she could truly be devoted to that person without regard for anything else.

"Alright, since you have no objections, we will leave for Fuyuki City tonight. I have already transmitted the rules of the Holy Grail War to your memory via the Command Seal, so you can understand by searching a little. This Holy Grail War will likely take more than half a month..."

"Half a month?" Asagami Fujino blinked.

"Yes, perhaps even longer," Lin Luo affirmed.

"But, my family..." Asagami Fujino showed a trace of difficulty.

"You're worried your family won't let you go?"

"...Mhm," Asagami Fujino nodded weakly.

"Hmm, that does seem a bit troublesome. After all, if you disappear without a word for a long time, no matter how poorly your family treats you, they won't ignore it. If I were to step in and tell them, I might have to resort to force, and if I accidentally killed them all, that wouldn't be good..."

Lin Luo thought for a moment, then pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

"Hello, Arthur?"

"Brother Lin, it's me. Do you need something?"

"Yes, I need to trouble you with something again."

"No trouble at all, just ask if you need anything."

"I just wanted to ask, do you know anything about the Asagami family in Japan... Yes, the Asagami enterprise. I haven't taken a liking to them recently. Could you target them a bit... How far? How much can you manage?" Oh, so you guys can completely restrict the Asagami enterprise, is that it... Damn rich bastards. But this makes things easier... Bankruptcy? That's not necessary. Just make them owe a few tens of billions. Not Yen, USD... What? That's practically bankruptcy? Aren't they poor? Forget it, let's leave it at that."

"It's settled," Lin Luo said after hanging up, smiling slightly at Asagami Fujino. He could already foresee the future situation of the Asagami family; they wouldn't have time to bother with Asagami Fujino's affairs anymore. As for whether his actions were excessive, he didn't think so at all.

Tohsaka Tokiomi sending his daughter to the Matou family could at least be excused by the harshness of the mage families—one house couldn't accommodate two masters. But the Asagami family was truly excessive. Merely to suppress Asagami Fujino's psychic abilities, they had turned their own daughter into something neither human nor ghost. Even if she wasn't their biological daughter, she was from a remarriage; it wasn't infidelity, and as a father himself, he found it utterly despicable.

He considered it an act of mercy not to have stormed their residence directly.

And Asagami Fujino? She wasn't foolish. She naturally understood everything Lin Luo had said on the phone. But now that her mother was deceased, there was no one in the Asagami family who cared for her, and she didn't care about them at all.

"And school..." Asagami Fujino then brought up another inconvenience. It was still school time. Even if the Asagami family didn't care, the school wouldn't ignore a student missing for over half a month, especially since Asagami Fujino was a top-tier honor student.

However, when Lin Luo heard this, his eyebrows shot up, and he dismissed it with a sharp retort: "School? What the hell is that!"

Indeed, to Lin Luo, school was nothing—it didn't even qualify for him to make a move. But considering Asagami Fujino's feelings, he still let her call the school and request an extended leave. Whether she would ever return was another matter entirely.

Half an hour later, Asagami Fujino boarded a helicopter bound for Fuyuki City. As she boarded, she pressed the mark on her wrist, uttering a cry of pain while simultaneously flashing a joyful smile. Truly painful yet happy, this utterly confused the pilot.

Traveling in the same aircraft as Asagami Fujino was a young girl with seven-colored wings sprouting from her back.

At almost the exact same time, in the same city, Asagami Fujino's classmate and friend, Kurogiri Shouka, suddenly felt a sharp pain in her wrist while showering in her dorm room. Then, she saw something resembling a magic circle appear on the floor. Following a flash of light, a girl with rabbit ears, wearing a shirt and tie, slowly rose from the ground.

Witnessing this scene, Kurogiri Shouka was utterly stunned, not even noticing the showerhead clattering to the floor. She could only stare, wide-eyed, at the rabbit-eared girl before her.

"Servant... Lancer, Reizen, reporting. May I ask... are you my Master?" The rabbit-eared girl blinked, surveyed her surroundings, and then asked Kurogiri Shouka.

"..." Kurogiri Shouka stared blankly, not blinking, as if she had lost consciousness.

"Master, are you alright?" Seeing her state, Reizen couldn't help but worry. She waved a hand in front of Shouka’s eyes, but when there was no reaction, her gaze instinctively fell upon Shouka's chest, and then...

Reizen gently poked Shouka’s chest. "So small."

"Hey!! What are you doing?!" Her chest invaded, Kurogiri Shouka snapped back to reality, instinctively clutching her chest and shrieking, her face flushed as she glared at Reizen from her crouched position. "Who the hell are you? Why are you in my bathroom? Get out! Even if you’re a girl... and besides, mine are not small at all!"

Reizen lightly touched her D-rank chest, then looked at Kurogiri Shouka's A-rank chest, and stated seriously, "Master, I have my special breast enhancement pills. One a day for a month, and you'll go from flat to magnificent, with no side effects. I usually sell them for 2000 yen a pill, but since you are my Master, I'll give you a special deal—only 998! Take 998 home... Master, an opportunity like this won't come twice; buy quickly!"

Reizen passionately promoted her product.

"Get the hell out of here!" Kurogiri Shouka roared, her face beet red. "If you don't leave immediately, I'm calling the police, you delusional intruder!"

"I'm not delusional, I'm your Servant," Reizen said aggrievedly.

"What Servant?" Kurogiri Shouka asked instinctively.

Reizen explained, "A Servant is something akin to a familiar spirit. Because Master has been chosen, you successfully summoned me. Next, you must go with me to Fuyuki City to participate in the Holy Grail War. If we can be the final victor, any wish can be granted."

"I don't care what familiar spirit or Holy Grail War you're talking about—I don't..." Wait?! Kurogiri Shouka hadn't been listening closely, roaring again after Reizen finished speaking. But mid-sentence, she suddenly recalled hearing something incredible and looked sharply at Reizen. "You said any wish can be granted? Truly anything?"

"Yes, if we can win," Reizen nodded firmly.

"Then... then if I wish for someone to like me, is that possible too?" Kurogiri Shouka's heart stirred, and she asked with fervent expectation.

"Of course... that should be possible," Reizen said, though she paused internally. Such a wish should be achievable, right? She wasn't entirely certain.

"Master, are you willing to participate?"

"This... I need to consider it." Kurogiri Shouka buried her head, her mind wrestling intensely.

Half an hour later, through Reizen’s explanation and the additional memories suddenly appearing in her mind, Kurogiri Shouka finally understood what the Holy Grail War was and why Reizen had appeared. She never imagined being dragged into such an unbelievable affair. But... this was an opportunity!

As a brother complex, she loved her biological brother deeply, but this feeling was not accepted. However, if she could win this Holy Grail War... she still had hope!

Through the power of the Grail, she could make her brother love her, achieving her dream of a happy conclusion!

However, the Holy Grail War was not simple; there were considerable dangers involved. Before agreeing, it would be best to consult with Miss Touko first.

Kurogiri Shouka thought this and picked up her cell phone. Just before dialing, she glanced back at Reizen, her face blushing, and asked quietly, "Um... are those breast enhancement pills you mentioned earlier... real?" (To be continued)