Epilogue I: Tea Party
"Teacher, about that Singularity in 2001 earlier. I'd like to understand the part of the report concerning the Fifth Magician in a bit more detail—"
In the lounge, Olga Marie opened the unlocked door and began explaining her reason for coming without thinking, only to trail off mid-sentence.
Shiomi was sitting on the carpet together with Sakura and Caren, the three of them huddled closely around something.
Sakura and Caren leaned against Shiomi like little children, chatting happily, and didn't notice Olga Marie right away.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Father and the sisters are looking at an old photo album."
Baobhan Sith, who was the first to notice her, reached out and took the documents from the Director's hands. "Would you like to come back later? Or is it urgent?"
"No… it's not urgent," Olga Marie said. She took off her shoes, sat down on the carpet, and leaned in as well. "Why did you suddenly feel like looking through old photo albums?"
Shiomi looked up. "Nothing in particular. Just felt like it."
"While we were dealing with the Singularity in 2001, Father met Sakura and Caren from the past," Baobhan Sith said with a cheerful smile. "So he couldn't resist calling Sakura and Caren over to look at the old photos together."
"I see…" Olga Marie leaned closer.
They had only turned a couple of pages. On the left was a group photo that clearly showed its age, with what looked like a church in the background. She asked instinctively, "What's this photo?"
"This one? This is—" Shiomi said as he slid the photo out.
"It was taken the day Dad adopted me," Sakura said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "As a farewell and a keepsake, with the help of the priest at the church. It's the last group photo we took together."
In the picture, Sakura was holding Shiomi's hand, while Caren was cradled in Shiomi's arms.
Standing just under a meter away from them was Tokiomi Tohsaka.
Caren looked utterly confused, while Sakura gazed at Shiomi with a mix of nervousness and curiosity.
"Adopted…" Olga Marie remembered.
Back during Singularity F, Shiomi had mentioned the situation in broad terms. That meant the only man in the photo she didn't recognize must be Tokiomi Tohsaka, the head of the Tohsaka Family in Fuyuki at the time, and Sakura's biological father.
"Come to think of it, the old priest who took the photo was Caren's grandfather," Shiomi said with a slightly wistful smile. "Unfortunately, he passed away just a year later."
Caren shook her head silently.
"...I don't even remember what my grandfather looked like."
"You were only three back then. There's only so much you could remember," Shiomi said, shaking his head. He deliberately avoided going any deeper into the topic of the Kotomine family. "You were so small in my arms, like a little doll."
"That's probably because Dad is so tall," Caren said, wrapping her arms around Shiomi's shoulder. "Even now, when Dad holds me, I still look tiny."
"But for a Magus Family to willingly give their child to a teacher with no background at all…" Olga Marie said. She still found it surprising.
Sakura nodded. "I think so too. It feels hard to believe."
"That's because Sakura's biological father didn't give her up because he didn't love her," Baobhan Sith said, answering on Shiomi's behalf. "The path of a human Magus only allows for a single successor. If a child who doesn't inherit that path has ordinary aptitude, it's manageable. But Sakura's talent was exceptional. Even if she never learned Magecraft, she would inevitably be drawn into things connected to it."
"That's how it was," Shiomi said with a shrug. "After that, Sakura continued living in Fuyuki, and the Tohsaka Family never treated her as someone to be avoided."
"And Tokiomi Tohsaka had his Magic Circuits destroyed during the Holy Grail War. He even had to ask Dad to teach Rin Tohsaka basic Magecraft," Caren added. She helped Shiomi slip the photo back into the album, then pointed to another picture on the right.
It was taken the summer after the Fourth Holy Grail War, at the Mion River summer festival.
A commemorative photo of Sakura, Caren, and Rin together.
Each of them was holding a copy.
"That's so nice…" Olga Marie couldn't help but say, a note of envy in her voice.
"If it's a summer festival, then once all the world's crises are over, Marie could come to Japan for sightseeing too," Shiomi said, extending the invitation.
Olga Marie nodded a little awkwardly. "Y-yeah… sure…"
What she truly envied was how Rin Tohsaka, despite having a Magus Family background, could naturally go and study under other Magi.
Come to think of it, the El-Melloi family's princess, Reines El-Melloi, had also hired Shiomi as a private tutor for several years.
That made Olga Marie wonder: if Shiomi had been her tutor back then, would Trisha have avoided the fate of being killed after following her onto the Mystic Eyes Train?
Even if that meant she might never have had the chance to meet Trisha at all.
At the very least, her being alive would have been worth anything.
"Marie?"
Shiomi's voice pulled Olga Marie back to the present. "What's wrong? You look troubled. Have things been too much for you lately?"
Olga Marie blinked and quickly forced back the tears. "No, it's just… I'm a little moved."
"Moved?" Sakura asked, surprised.
"Father… Marisbury had expectations for me, but he didn't really care about me, and we rarely talked," Olga Marie said. It was rare for her to speak about her family in front of others.
Even when referring to her own father, she seldom called Marisbury "Father," instead using his name directly.
It wasn't a matter of disrespect. It just felt more natural and easier for her that way.
"Most Magus Families are like that," Shiomi said with a bitter smile, shaking his head. "Before this Rayshift, Mash told me Ophelia's situation is similar. She doesn't get along well with her parents either, but still has to spend every Sunday with them. Turning time meant to strengthen family bonds into something that feels like prison time is a Magus specialty."
Olga Marie let out a small, bitter laugh as well. "That man only cared about Chaldea, about the thousand-year mission of the Animusphere family. Even when I saw him, all I could talk about was work."
And then, one day, that same father committed suicide without warning, leaving the entire Animusphere legacy to a successor who was only twenty years old.
"I'm sorry," Olga Marie said, suddenly realizing she'd gone too far. "I only came to talk to you about work, Teacher, but I ended up dumping something so heavy on everyone and ruining the mood…"
Her face flushing, she bowed slightly and was about to leave, when Baobhan Sith reached out and stopped her.
"You said yourself that you're not busy. So why not sit down and talk properly?" Baobhan Sith said gently. "Putting us aside, Father would be happy to listen too."
"…Okay."
Olga Marie hesitated for a moment, then, under Shiomi's warm gaze, smiled shyly and sat back down, continuing this tea party without any tea.