Chapter Three – Too hard
(Shirou P.O.V.)
Saber is still mad with me, but I can see as I lay the dishes on the table her conviction wavering. It won't take long.
Even so she refuses to wake Tohsaka so I will have to do it. I have a bad felling about this… but I can't waver now. This house is mine and I have power here, no tenant will usurp that power from me!
No with my conviction re-established I stride towards Rin room so I can wake her up for breakfast and hopefully make peace with her (Even if it wasn't my fault at all).
In front of the door I take a deep breath and push the door open.
-"Tohsaka the breakfast is rea- OOff!"
I fall on my back. It was dark and I was with my guard completely down since I was inside my own house, but something just slammed into my gullet.
I try to get out of the ground quickly, but my body won't respond. My body is boiling hot and the room is spinning.
"Ahh…"
Everything's going black…
(Rin P.O.V.)
Shit.
I was mad at Shirou for the stunt Mitsuzuri pulled on him yesterday, kind of.
So I decided I would surprise Shirou this morning, I would fire a low level Gandr at him so he would fell out of it for the whole day. I made a deal with Saber so she wouldn't wake me today so I would be able to do this.
I woke up by myself and waited for Shirou to come, but I not a morning person so and Shirou didn't come so I fell asleep while reading myself for the shot. Shirou came in so suddenly and I was startled and confused so I used an overcharged Finn shot instead of a weak Gandr (Don't startle the witch. Never).
I got to watch painfully as a curse so overcharged my Od that it was capable of the same destructive power of a pistol bullet slam into Shirou.
I fell my chest tightening. A wave of despair suddenly wash over me as Shirou body fall on the ground.
"SHIROU!"
I run over to him, kneel over and put my hand of his forehad.
"!Ung…"
It's burning! His temperature is already way above what it should be even if his normal temperature is above a normal person's.
I hear footsteps coming toward me along side with Shirou, way more faint than I would have liked, breathing.
"Auuuu…"
Why do I have to mess up at the most inopportune times!?
(Sakura P.O.V.)
Mitsuzuri-san came by earlier, so we could go to the Archery club together, Sempai, me and her. Then she discovered that Sempai was bedridden and got very worried, she said she have never seen Shirou sick on her life so she was very worried. I said that I would take care of Sempai, but she flat out refused saying that I was the Archery club captain now and had obligations with the club and had to explain to them why Shirou and her wouldn't go.
When I questioned her why she wouldn't go she said: "This hard headed bastard manages to get sick for the first time on his life on the day he is supposed to go back to the archery club! I won't accept that! So I will make sure he will be 100% tomorrow so he won't be able to ditch this again!"
I tried to convince her to have me taking care of Sempai, but she wouldn't budge! I have asked Rider for help, but then she got all flustered and said it was completely okay for me to go to the school and that she would keep her eyes on Ayako… and Shirou.
IT WASN'T REASURING AT ALL! SHE WOULD BE TOO BUSY MOLESTING MITSUZURI-SAN TO TAKE CARE OF SEMPAI!
I was about to punish her, but then Nee-san dragged me out of the house while speaking things like "the secrecy of magic" and "Jesus! Your shadows are moving! THEY ARE MOVING DAMMIT, MAKE THEM STOP!"
Tsk, she was the one that put Sempai into this situation so I absolutely won't listen to her before Sempai is alright again. I love her and Sempai have been trying to smooch things between me and Nee-san for a while, but hurting Sempai is unforgivable.
I made sure Rider was thoroughly punished when I discovered she have hurt and almost killed Sempai. It was nii-san fault, but she did it.
Nee-san wanted to help taking care of Sempai, but Saber-San kicked her out of the house, apparently mad at her, while saying "You did enough, I will take care of Shirou."
She was so worried when she heard the grunt Sempai made on the corridors that she run over the door while materializing her armor and only left Sempai side to throw Nee-san out and quickly returned, not even finishing her breakfast.
Reassuring myself that Saber-San would take care of Sempai, Nee-san and I went to the school, but I couldn't stop thinking about Sempai, and Nee-san was so distraught that her School Idol persona was slipping, but for some reason the entity of the school just ignored all her slips like then have never happened at all.
Sigh.
Issei-san is harassing Nee-san about Sempai condition.
Sigh.
I wonder how Sempai is doing…
(Ayako P.O.V.)
Unnnnn! This is your entire fault Emiya!
This Rider chick is stalking me like a predator and only seems to calm when I'm near Arturia-san and you. And I know you're all sarcastic inside and would be turning your stomach to keep the laughter and your snarky remarks inside, but I know your game! So wake up and help me dammit!
I look at your prone form, you're still red, but your fever has gone down a few degrees. At least you look peaceful now; discomfort isn't something that looks good on you.
Arturia-san really won't leave your side for a single second, but her belly has been rumbling for some time now. I'm a little hungry myself and tempted to go to the kitchen and see if you left an Obento like you promised.
Rider is without doubt waiting for me leave the room to pounce and molest me again. I wanted to have Arturia-san to go with me so I can use her as a shield again Rider, but she won't leave your side at all. Even though I know she way more hungry than I'm, it seems that leaving your side is unacceptable.
Now what did you do to make her fall in love so deeply for you, huh? It's so evident that I'm jealous, but then again you always do unnecessary things for other people and never care about being on the short end of the stick. She probably fell in love with your idiocy and is trying make you stop helping anybody who ask plus those who don't.
I admit that I explored you little bit while in the club, but I didn't have experience with that stuff and you were eager to help everyone so I didn't refuse. Does that make me a hypocrite, Emiya?
I look at you sleeping face again. I don't think I have ever seen you sleeping before, you look so defenseless. When you're awake you always seem like the most reliable person I have ever seen, helping everybody who needs without ever complaining about anything.
I wanted you to re-join the archery club for that reason also. With you there it was way more enjoyable, the work wasn't as crushing and you were always ready to listen to my rambles and make the day of everybody as easy as it could be.
Now that I'm not the captain anymore I don't even know why I still wanted you to come back.
I guess I missed you.
I felt the blood rushing at my face as I look at you again.
D-don't ge-get me wrong Emiya! I just missed how you would always go around giving archery tips to everybody who asked and making everybody fell frustrated as you always hit the target with the same ease as breathing with that stupid carefree smile on your face!
I look at you again and you don't reply to me at all.
And I just realized I just had a conversation with you on my head and became engrossed enough with it to become flustered and worried about your opinion.
Sigh.
You're always worrying people needlessly, aren't you Shirou?
Grumble
"Arturia-san can you do me a favor?"
Arturia remove her solemn gaze from Shirou and look at me in the eyes with a questioning gaze.
I smile sheepishly as I make my proposal.
"Look, we're both hungry right?"
I receive a nod. Good.
"So how about this: I stay here taking care of Emiya-kun and you go to the kitchen, grab the boxed lunches he made and return here? We will have food, I won't get molested and someone will stay by his side, how about it?"
Arturia looks thoughtful for a second then place a measuring glance upon me.
My body get stiff. My head clears and I start to shiver as amazing pressure is placed on my shoulders and as shift as it came it's gone as Arturia-san adverts her gaze.
"Very well, I shall return shortly. Wait here."
Even saying that with a straight and composed face I feel compelled to listen.
As Arturia slide the door I can't help, but ponder.
What an intimidating presence.
(Saber P.O.V.)
I make haste to the kitchen counter. With agile steps I reach my destination to defeat my current enemy: hunger.
I quickly snatch the boxed lunches from the counter and make haste to my position of watching Shirou.
As I slide the door the situation before me isn't unfamiliar.
Mitsuzuri-san is with an expression of terror and panic on her face, on a reverse crawling position with her back on the left corner of the room. And unsurprisingly Rider is slowly crawling on all fours in Mitsuzuri direction while wearing an expression of desire and delusion on her face, and her desire to molest the panicked girl is so intense it's palpable. I can see a little bit of droll on the corner of her mouth also.
Sigh.
It seems everything didn't go just as planned, huh Mitsuzuri? Well, let's stop this before Rider rape her.
"Rider, leave."
I let the full weigh of my Charisma manifest at the same time as my presence. Rider snaps at the sound of my voice, her expression cloud with distaste as she goes back to a standing position and leave the room without sparing a second glance.
The terrified girl slowly recover her bearings as she mutters to me.
"Thank you..."
Mitsuzuri slowly retreats to her former position while gazing to the floor, as I return to my post, I reply.
"You're welcome. Here's your Obento."
I offer her the boxed lunch.
"Ah, thanks."
She meekly takes the Obento from my hands.
I turn to my own boxed lunch as I smile. With Shirou help I shall defeat you once more hunger.
(Ayako P.O.V.)
Wow. Simply wow.
Now I remember why so many people tried to snatch Emiya's Obento, and what have been missing from the Archery club since Emiya left.
This stuff is magical, there isn't any other explanation. His cooking actually got better! Even if I have deemed it impossible a long while ago, but then again, Emiya isn't someone that that cares if something is impossible or not, he just do it regardless.
It's like the embrace of something you loved dearly, but forgot the existence of, which isn't really far from the truth actually.
Saber is sitting on a seiza position with a glowing aura around her and a satisfied look on her face. She can enjoy Emiya cooking everyday, as much as it pains me to admit I'm actually jealous.
I look at the maker of such heavenly cooking. Shirou isn't red anymore and his fever have gone down. Vitality came back to his body and just seems to be sleeping peacefully right now.
With the fever he was having I thought that Shirou would be bedridden for days, but he is already looking fine and Sakura, Rin and Tiger haven't returned yet.
Now that I think about it, Arturia is the captain of the Kendo club and she didn't go to the school. The people of the club must be going mad without her, and she refused to go so she would be able to take care of Shirou.
Shirou told Issei that told me in return that she is an old acquaintance of Shirou dad, but she don't look a day older that sixteen and is on the same year as Shirou and me. It's strange that she have come all the way here to met someone she meet at such young age.
Regardless she appears to have bonded with Shirou very well. I find it great that Shirou actually have reliable friends other than Ryuudou, even being as helpful as he is Shirou never had many true friends other that Shinji and Ryuudou. Sakura said that her elder brother decided to study abroad because the people here were beneath him.
Hope his plane crashes, he gave me way too much trouble to have my sympathy and he was a horrible person. Way too narcissist and thinking that he was the king of everything. He was a lot better, but when he and Shirou fought and stopped talking with each other for a while, he became a lot worse.
And when Shirou accident happened and Sakura decided to take care of him, Shinji became the egoistical douche bag we all know today. For some reason he still had underclassman going after him in flocks, what was wrong with these girls? There is a lot of better people to chase on the school, like Ryuudou, my little brother Minori and almost anybody else.
Actually it surprises me that it wasn't Emiya who had all this girls running after him, after he is kind, honest, straightforward, determined and so helpful that he helps literaly anybody who asks.
Sigh.
Why is Shirou such a dense bastard?
Unnnng! Rumble!
The sound snap me out of my internal debate. Shirou's waking up.
(Shirou P.O.V.)
Unnnng!
God, my head feel like someone bashed it against Berserker pectorals. I'm my body is as sluggish as when Rider trapped me in an illusion of Her, me and Sakura having a threesome and I turned tables on her and discovered that she harbored feelings for me after all.
I look around to see where I'm.
In the middle of infinite darkness. I guess I was too dumb to open my eyes before taking a look around. I summon my will force and pry my eyes open.
The images are too blurry for me to recognize anything, I can also hear voices, but I can't identify them. I slowly raise my arms and rub my eyes and as open them again the focus returns along with the comprehensibility of the voices.
"Shirou! Are you awake!?"
Nooooooo. I'm still sleeping, it's just coincidence I sleep with my eyes open and that they are looking at you straight in your own eyes.
Saber was in a botched seiza position, she was leaning way too much down in my direction to be considered a proper seiza position anywere.
"Yes Saber, I just awoke."
Her face brightens when I reply to her, but she quickly notices her lack of composure and return to her usual majestic self, trough I can see a ghost of a smile on her lips.
"Err, are you alright Emiya?"
I unknown voice calls from my other side. I have a double take and almost snap my neck turning to my left as I see Ayako Mitsuzuri looking with a concerned expression at me.
I have a second double take as I notice that Ayako is my house.
"Mitsuzuri?"
I try to get up. A right and a left hand halt my progress and slams my back against the futon on the ground. I notice that the hands doesn't belong to the same person.
I look around and see Arturia and Ayako displeased with my foiled attempt to get up. I ignore their expressions and change the topic.
"What time is it? And how long I was sleeping?"
Mitsuzuri, that I now have noticed to be wearing her school uniform alongside Saber, looks at her wristwatch before answering me.
"Almost four on the afternoon."
Saber looks pensive for a moment and then say:
"You was asleep for half a day Shirou."
I recoil. Half a day!? How the hell did I sleep so lon-
Memories come back, everything makes sense now. Goddammit Rin.
I Put my hand on my forehead in an attempt to stifle the headache that I can feel coming.
"Where is the responsible for this mess Saber?"
She looks at me and promptly responds, while Mitsuzuri seems to be paying close attention.
"At school, if she decided not to go on the same day that you got sick for the first time of your life everybody would find it suspicious Shirou."
I slowly nod, agreeing with saber statement before I make my inquire:
"And why didn't you go with her Saber?"
Saber stiffens for a second before refusing to meet my gaze with an aloof expression.
"Ah, somebody had to take care of you Shirou."
Sudden realization hit me like a Gae Bolg to the heart (trust me, I would know).
"Sakura didn't stay?"
I ask with complete unbelief on my voice. If someone would disregard anything to take care of me it would be Sakura.
Saber adverts her gaze from mine again while she mutters guilty:
"She was most displeased with Rin and Mitsuzuri-san arrived at the same time inquiring about you."
Mitsuzuri startle at the mention of her name as I picture the scene on my head:
I am hit by the Finn shot and release a muffled scream.
Tohsaka is startled by knocking me out accidentally and wails.
Sakura, Saber and Rider hear any of them and rush to help.
Sakura see unconscious me and Rin with a guilty expression on her.
The shadows around Sakura start to move.
The doorbell rings, Ayako coming to walk with me and Sakura to the club.
Everybody try do to something before Sakura seize and torture Rin.
Saber take front and go meet Mitsuzuri while Rider and Rin try to calm Sakura.
Saber explain everything (excluding magic) to Ayako as Rider convince Sakura to go to School.
Saber kicks Rin out for ruining the breakfast and harming me.
Mitsuzuri stays to see if I not making excuses to ditch the archery club again.
Saber ignores her role as Kendo club captain to take care of me and Rider try to molest Ayako every chance she gets.
Well, at least I wasn't part of that mayhem.
"You did well Saber, leaving Rider and Mitsuzuri alone with my unconscious body would be a mistake."
I turn to Ayako.
"Also thank you for giving up practice today to take care of me Mitsuzuri, but you really didn't need to do that."
Said sheepishly. Having Mitsuzuri doing all that to help me is as uncomfortable as when Sakura came over for the first time to take care of my shoulder injury.
Ayako appears to be almost offended by my comment and reply immediately:
"That's non sense Emiya! If you think a friend you let you go to a corner and suffer alone then you are wrong! Geez, you go around helping everyone all the time, but you always refuse to receive help yourself Emiya, what kind of hypocrite are you!?"
Ugh. I know I'm a hypocrite, no need to trow that at my face Mitsuzuri.
Ayako seeing me flinch soften her words immediately.
"Look, Emiya. If you go around helping people you have to be more willingly to have people helping you, your life has value just as theirs."
Once again I'm reminded that I'm not normal. Mitsuzuri attempt to cheer me up just brought up to light how twisted is the core of my being. My life has value just as theirs? No, my life is absolutely meaningless. My life doesn't measure to other life's on a scale, because my life is the scale itself.
In the end, no much how it appears to be I do not think the same way as a human being. Actually my thought process is so different that reality itself can't comprehend it. My distortion is so grave that it have culminated on a Reality Marble. The same little thing that only few DAA, Gods, Demons and Elementals have.
I could never hope to have Mitsuzuri understand something like that.
I nod as if I'm agreeing with her.
And just as she was about to say something else I hear the doorbell ringing. As I'm feeling perfectly well now I get up, I can hear Saber that was distracted with something try to stop me, but was too late.
Few moments later I found out why. Actually I was only in my underwear inside the cover of the futon, and that would be a very fine piece of information before I got up.
"Kyaaaaaa!"
The usually tomboyish Mitsuzuri Ayako shows her feminine side by reddening immediately upon being presented with my almost naked form, and "cover" her eyes with her hands, but the gaps between her fingers certainly allow her too see and defies the purpose of covering her eyes with the hands on the first place.
Saber however is accustomed with my naked form and my lightning fast reactions, she raises the cover of the futon to cover my body.
I fell like I can't get married anymore.
Dismissing the thought and taking hold of the cloth that is shielding my modesty from Ayako prying gaze, I inquiry:
"Err, can you wait outside while I get dressed Mitsuzuri?"
She comes out of her stupor and rather that answering me, she bolts towards the exit and get out of my line of sight almost instantly without doubt using all of the athletic prowess her body contains.
I turn to Saber.
"Can you answer the doorbell Saber? I don't think Mitsuzuri will remember to."
Saber promptly nods and get out of the room and closing the door, while I reach to one of the many white with blue sleeve and v-neck t-shirs on my drawer.
(Arturia P.O.V.)
Frankly, shouldn't Shirou notice he was almost naked before trying to get up and flash your guest with his almost nude body? Geez
I ponder while I make my way to the door. Upon arriving, I open the door and am presented with two familiar faces, but two faces I don't know.
The little winter fairy ask me.
"Hey Saber! Is Onii-chan home?"
A/N: Well, I decided to cut this chapter short because I'm aiming to make all my chapters around 3K words each. If you guys want more words per chapter the review to tell me.
Also can you guys guess who are the people at the doorbell? One is obvious, two are moderate and one needs a little thinking. And don't forget to review, as pathetic as it is I admit that I feel way more motivated to write when I receive reviews.
So if a chapter is taking too long to come out, review to remind me. Ideas are also appreciated.
Till next week.
