"So let me get this straight, Emiya-kun. In the span of a day returning to Japan, you manage to find your long lost parents and pick up a stray bird?"

"Parent, actually. And Sekirei is apparently the name of their species and not a bird, but otherwise that's about right, Rin."

A long suffering sigh came from Shirou's phone. Although he couldn't see her at the moment, he knew her enough to know that she had a hand placed over her face at the moment. "How do you keep getting into these weird messes?"

Shirou frowned and leaned back on his chair. "I dunno. Maybe from all of the weird places you keep sending me? Still haven't forgiven you for that talking sponge incident by the way."

"Oh shut it. Be grateful for the fact that you got to revolutionize the cooking culture of an entire civilization."

"…You call a school of fish 'civilization'?"

"Details, seashells."

"…That was terrible."

Rin coughed and said, "Anyway, there shouldn't be a problem. I'm not sure what's going on in Tokyo, but it shouldn't be anything too dangerous. Why don't you ask Sakura? She should know more about it as the Second Owner of Fuyuki now, shouldn't she?"

"Rin. You know why I called you."

Rin was quiet for a moment and then sighed. "Alright, alright. I'll take a look. You said that your mom was called Takami?"

"Sahashi Takami, yes."

There was another moment of silence on the line. In the background on Rin's side, Shirou could hear water running.

"…Are you talking to me while taking a shower?"

"N-no! What makes you think that?"

"…Wait. It would be around night time over there right now… Don't tell me you were-"

"Found it!"

Shirou wanted to press the point, but after a moment decided it wasn't worth the hassle. "Alright. So, what's going on here? I know for a fact that when I got on that plane, Tokyo was still the same as it always was. Don't tell me you messed up another experiment and got our world mixed up with another one again."

"…I won't tell you?"

"Rin!"

"Geez, Mister Shirius. Fine. I… might have exploded another gem sword the other day?"

Shirou sighed and covered his face. "First of all, that pun was bad. Stop. Second of all… didn't I just tell you to hold off on messing with those until I got back? It's just a week Rin. Can't you wait that long before messing up reality again? I'm the one who has to deal with all of this, you know?"

"…Love you?"

Shirou frowned. "You're not getting out of this that easy. It was already a pain fixing the last mess you made with that giant dinosaur."

"...At least life is more exciting this way?"

Shirou ran his hand through his silver hair and said, "At least tell me you're dealing with the Clock Tower over there. I don't have to make a report about all of this, right?"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. Apparently the Second Owner of Tokyo will deal… with … that."

"Uh-huh. And that person right now is…?"

"…What's that? Ksh. You're breaking up. Ksh."

"Rin- dammit. She hung up. And she still didn't tell me what world got crossed with ours. Again."

Shirou shook his head and pocketed his phone. That was becoming a recurring theme recently with her. Maybe he should take Ayako's advice and help Rin let off some steam on a honeymoon trip. Better that then her blowing up more gem swords and having patches from random worlds stuck on their reality. Granted, the wedding was still a few months away, but-

"Shirou-sama." A calm voice interrupted his thoughts. Akitsu walked out from the bathroom wearing a pink blouse and white skirt.

Shirou was worried that Sakura's old clothes wouldn't fit Akitsu, but it looked like he made the right judgment about her sizes. Akitsu was a little bit bigger than Sakura around the chest, but not by too much. Maybe a size or two at most… hm. It looked like the bras were a no-go though. He'd probably have to take Akitsu shopping soon to fix that… or he could just order it from Amazon.

On second thought, that'd be less embarrassing for everyone around.

…He'd just have to make sure Ilya didn't see his Amazon order history in the near future. Or Ayako. Or Rin. Or... actually, shopping seems to be a better idea. At least the embarrassment wouldn't be permanently archived on the internet.

"…Shirou-sama?"

"Ah, right. Sorry about that, Akitsu. Here, take a seat." Shirou gestured towards the chair in front of him.

After picking up Akitsu at the playground, he'd warped them both back to his place. The first thing he did was to get Akitsu to shower and change, considering he'd get all sorts of strange questions from the neighbors if he let her stay like that. After that, he called Rin to get a handle on why his life had taken yet another turn towards the stranger side of things, but apparently that was a fruitless endeavor.

And now he was faced with a young woman who was convinced she was broken… and who apparently also wasn't entirely human. Or human at all.

"So…" Shirou wondered where to start. "You said that you were broken because you couldn't find an Ashikabi?"


Takami stared at her laptop and then took a long drag out of her cigarette. After the sudden and rapid discovery that her son hadn't died in a fire over fifteen years ago, she used all the resources she had on hand to find out how she missed him and what he had been up to since then.

She was in her apartment, lounging after a long night at the MBI office making sure the rest of the Sekirei adjustments went well before they began being released the next day. That, and dealing with the aftermath of a scrapped number breaking free.

Letting out a long sigh, Takami turned her gaze back to her laptop and the reports she had on her son. What she had found was… unexpected.

Adopted by Emiya Kiritsugu, an infamous mercenary for hire, Shirou seemed to have a relatively ordinary childhood. No illnesses, no trips to emergency rooms… it was pretty impressive, actually. Even if Emiya Kiritsugu was a cold-hearted killer, the man seemed to care for Shirou like a proper father should if her son's clean bill of health was any indication.

At least until the man died from a viral infection a few years after adopting Shirou. Following that, guardianship of Shirou went to a woman called Taiga Fujimura. Apparently a family friend… who held connections to the local yakuza.

However, it seemed that Shirou's childhood went well in spite of that. His school records weren't stellar, but they weren't terrible either. A few A's here, a couple B's there.

It was when Shirou graduated that his story got… interesting.

At age 18, a marriage certificate was filed between him and a Matou Sakura. With some additional research, Takami found that Sakura was his kouhai, one that frequently visited his home after an incident in the archery club during Shirou's second year of high school.

Fine. He married a bit young for Takami's taste, but it seemed to be a story of highschool sweethearts so she didn't mind that.

But then the next year, a marriage certificate was filed between him and a Tohsaka Rin. In England. It seemed that after graduating from high school, Shirou left the country to follow a fellow classmate who obtained a place at Oxford. That classmate was the Miss Tohsaka Rin in the marriage certificate. She was admitted to a physics program studying parallel dimensions while he… was admitted as a visiting scholar to teach metaphysics.

Her son, an ordinary student in high school, suddenly offered a position as a guest lecturer in Oxford University. In disbelief, Takami scoured the academic field for his published research… and realized that a mediocre high schooler had become the head of the field in metaphysics with over a thousand citations on his publications.

At that point, Takami got a small headache. However, it didn't end there. After a year lecturing at Oxford, her son decided leading the field of metaphysics wasn't enough and published a dissertation that allowed for hyperrealistic computer graphics using projections and patented hardware that could generate immersive virtual reality. While it was still in beta testing, apparently some big name companies in Korea had partnered with him for the virtual reality hardware. Not only that, but in regards to the hyperrealistic graphics, Pixar apparently reached out to hire him as a consultant.

And if *that* wasn't enough, half a month after that, her son released a peer-reviewed article that introduced a new chemical compound that could revitalize the cell activity and reduce the degredation of telomeres. Where it came from and how he figured it out was a complete mystery to Takami.

If she didn't know any better, Takami would have believed that Shirou was a planted agent, one that had stolen MBI records and technology and somehow improved upon them. Except that all of the MBI employees were accounted for and that his publications cited previously existing work.

The damndest thing about it was that his work was common sense if you had the basis in that field. Only the connections and the way he applied them was extraordinary. Like the chemical compound was made of simple molecules and preexisting compounds. MBI had all of the material to synthesize it themselves, and it had been that way for the decade. But even with their experience from reverse engineering Sekirei technology, they didn't realize it.

Leaning back on her chair, Takami let out a long exhale. "No wonder he was in such a rush. The damned kid's been so busy he probably barely has any off time."

The more she searched, the more popped up about him. It was to the extent that Takami wondered how she had never heard of him until the day that machine went haywire. It was… almost like he dropped in out of nowhere. Except he didn't.

"My son's a genius. A damned, rich genius that probably works too hard judging from the color of his hair."

She should have expected it, considering who his parents were. While she didn't usually tout her own horn, Takami was a third of the reason why MBI got to where it was. Another third was Asama Takehito and as for the last… suffice to say intelligence ran in the family even on that bastard's side.

"…But what am I supposed to do now?"

She was ecstatic to find out that her son was alive. A private secondary test back at MBI confirmed the results. However, that son of hers had a family… in two countries apparently. That and he was constantly on the move if his flight records were any indication. Keeping him a day was already pushing it. Unless she wanted to wreck their relationship before it even started, she should send him off tomorrow with a pat on the back and a promise to visit.

…Except that the Sekirei plan had started and it seemed like Shirou had already winged one. The system wasn't completely up and running quite yet, so Takami didn't know which number had found him, but she doubted that it was an ordinary one.

Takami sighed and put out her cigarette on a nearby ashtray. "…He already has two wives, right? Another one or two wouldn't cause too much of an issue, would they?"

The words rang hollow to Takami's ears even as she spoke them.

"…Screw it. It's late, that bastard's been making me do overtime for the past three weeks, and tomorrow's going to be even more stressful when the rest of the Sekirei start getting released."

That decided, Takami closed her laptop and headed off to the bathroom for a long shower. After all of the stress she'd gone through that day, she deserved it.


Minaka Hiroto, head of MBI and the Sekirei plan, let out a long gulp as he listened to the person on the other line of his phone. "…You're telling me that the Sixth just strolled into my territory and is sticking around for a night? No, for what could be a few nights?"

"That's right."

"…Not only that, but he's my son. That is, my biological son. Not adopted, not a fake, but an honest to god bloodline descendent?"

"Yep."

"…Thank you for informing me, Miss Tohsaka. I hope… the rest of your day goes well."

Although Minaka couldn't see her face from his phone since she hadn't bothered to turn video chat on, he could imagine the exact expression Zelretch's number one apprentice had on her face right now.

"You as well Mr. Second Owner! Try not to stress him out, alright? He's been through a lot these past few weeks. Bye!"

Before he could respond, she had hung up.

Limply clutching his phone, Minaka Hiroto, the head of MBI, the mastermind of the Sekirei plan, and the Second Owner of Tokyo stared off into the nightscape of the city from his office on the top floor of MBI headquarters.

"…Somewhere out there, right now, I have a son. Not only that, my son is a Sorcerer. And not just any Sorcerer, one that managed to reach the root, come back, and can casually take a stroll to it at any time he wants just for the heck of it."

Minaka felt a headache starting and sighed. "Is this what Takami feels like dealing with me? …No wonder she filed for divorce."


A/N: Have another! Wrote this bit between finishing up Champion of a Distant Dream earlier and doing some more procrastination on machine learning homework. Don't expect regular chapters (hence the completed status), but I guess you can expect some small surprises every now and then whenever I update another fic.

As for Shirou's various accolades... hey, even a True Sorcerer has to have a day job, right? And it isn't plagiarism if it's from another world and you understand it.

I'll probably keep these short but I hope they're entertaining nonetheless. Thanks for reading!