["It's cold!"]
[Tokiomi Tohsaka arrived just in time, sensing the magical disturbance. He swiftly threw down a gem, ralizing the dark magic surging from the book.]
["It's still too early for you to be handling these things."]
[Tokiomi closed the book a ba the table before pulling out a small pass. He ha to Rin.]
["This is a magic detector. It's usually silent, but if there's magiearby…"]
[Tokiomi brought the pass close to the book, and immediately, the needle began to spin wildly, pointing directly at it.]
["Be careful. There are many magical items in this world, and you're not ready to deal with most of them yet."]
[Hanging the pass around Rin's neck, Tokiomi smiled gently. "sider this an early birthday present."]
["Thank you, Father!" Rin's face lit up with a smile, reassured by the gift.]
[The se shifted, showing Rin alone on ay train.]
["Don't get into trouble, Kotone..."]
[As the train pulled into Fuyuki Station, Rin stepped off, returning to the city alone.]
---
Tokiomi Tohsaka sighed deeply, massaging his temples. "Rin… sneaking bato the city on her own… I didn't realize she was so headstrong."
Rin, watg the se with the others, felt a tightness in her chest. "Kotone… Something happeo her, didn't it?" She reized the worried murmur from herself on s, mentioning her elementary school friend's name.
The adults exged somber looks. It was being clear that Rin's determination to help her friend had driveo take risks alone.
---
[The video split into several clips.]
[First, a news report fshed, announg a series of child disappearances in Fuyuki City. Then, a funeral se, with Rin overhearing adults discussing how a cssmate had died in a "horrific" manner. Lastly, Rin was shown dialing her friend Kotone's number repeatedly, but there was no answer.]
"A case of missing children…?" Tokiomi's face darkened, auro Kotomine Kirei, his apprentice. "Kirei, have you heard any news of this retly?"
Kirei shook his head, equally disturbed. "No, I hadn't heard of any disappearances iy."
Rin's eyes widened with worry. Only yesterday, she'd spoken with Kotone, who'd called to che her after she took a leave from school. But in this alternate version of events, her friend was unreachable.
---
[The s returo Rin, now walking alohrough the silent, darkereets of Fuyuki City.]
["Fuyuki at night feels… wrong."]
[Rin moved cautiously, gng around as she walked. The streets were eerily empty, with only the faint, distant wail of police sirens eg through the silence.]
[As she walked, the magic detector around her neck began to glow faintly. Rin stopped, pulling it out to exami, watg as the needle spuically.]
["What's happening? I've never seen it react like this…"]
[Rin looked around, her expression turning wary. "Is there magic everywhere in this area?"]
[Thinking it might be safer to cut through a nearby alley, she turned and slipped into the shadows, muttering to herself, "Hang on, Kotone, I'm ing."]
[As she navigated through the winding backstreets, she paused upon spotting a figure oher side of the alley—a man walking, with a young child trailing behind him.]
---
"It's him!" Several voices in the group gasped, reizing the man in the video. It was her than Ryuunosuke Uryuu, the twisted individual they'd seen in earlier ses, now firmed to be the one responsible for the child abdus.
"Now it all makes seokiomi murmured, a cold anger settling in. "The missing children… it was Ryuunosuke Uryuu and Bluebeard."
The truth settled like a weight over everyohose familiar with Ryuunosuke and his twisted partnership with Bluebeard khe horrific fate of the childreargeted.
"Kotone…" Rin whispered, her hands g into fists as worry and fear flickered across her face.
In another part of the hall, Bluebeard's normally twisted expression took on an even darker shade. Upon seeing his lost "partner" appear on the s, he began to seethe, muttering vows of revenge.
"Hmph. A monster like you has no pce here," the First Emperor decred coldly. With a simple gesture, he made Bluebeard vanish from the hall.
"Where did he go?" Artoria asked, startled.
"I pced him in fi," the First Emperor replied. "Such depravity has no p my presence."
No one protested the Emperor's decision.
---
[In the video, Rin watched as Ryuunosuke Uryuu disappeared around a er. She decided not to follow him directly, realizing she might put herself ier danger. Instead, she focused on the dire the magic detector pointed her.]
[The pass led her to a basemerance hidden in the shadows. Gathering her ce, Rin pushed the door open, desding carefully into the darkness.]
[Inside, she froze. There, on the cold basement floor, y her friend Kotone, her eyes vat and unresponsive.]
["Kotone! Kotone!"]
[Rin rushed to her friend's side, her heart pounding. "Kotone, wake up!" But Kotone remaiill, as if trapped in a nightmare.]
["Is this… a curse? What do I do…?"]
[As she pahe shadow of a figure fell over her. She turned, her heart sinking as she saw Ryuunosuke Uryuu standing in the doorway, blog her exit.]
["Well, well, what's this? Did you get lost, little girl?"]
[Ryuunosuke's grin was wide and twisted, his eyes gleaming with malicious amusement.]
[Rin's ce wavered, but she held her ground, clutg the magic detecthtly. She tried to take a step back but found herself paralyzed by fear.]
["Perfect timing! We're about to have a little 'party,' and we needed a few muests. Now you join us."]
****
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