Chapter 5.
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Dawn came quietly to Fuyuki city and, as usual, Sakura woke up with the first rays of sunlight. Feeling better then she ever remembered, she spent a few minutes simply enjoying the unusually pain-free rest as she tried to figure out why she couldn't feel a connection to something that always nourished the darkness and hatred at the bottom of her heart.
'Oh, that's right. I'm free from grandfather.' thought the plum-haired girl and slid off the bed in a hurry when she saw the clock.
'Ah, I'm late to cook for sempai! I can't let that woman be with him longer than I can.'
She carefully walked to the door, trying to move without any noise, because she didn't want to disturb Lancer, who slept on the floor nearby.
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When Sakura was about to exit, a metallic bird that she thought of as a decoration, moved and flapped its wings. It swiftly flew from the table near the window and landed on her shoulder, surprisingly light for its size and material.
"What are you? Are you with Lancer?" asked Sakura, as she moved her hand to touch the bird. It tilted its head and lightly pecked the girl's fingers, obviously not capable of understanding her words.
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"If you want to come with me, you'll have to move from my shoulder. I'm in a big hurry." said Sakura and when she took the bird off her shoulder, she cradled it in her arms and started to run down the stairs and to the nearest bus stop, with a hope that Shiro would be home.
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Sakura got of the bus and was ran to Emiya's residence, when a familiar voice stopped her.
"You're alive? I thought that you died with grandfather!" yelled her brother, Shinji, when True Assassin put him down and disappeared. When his initial surprise passed, something clicked in his head and he said with anger.
"Wait, if you are alive, why can't Assassin receive energy from you?!"
"Yes, grandfather Zouken is finally dead. And soon you will die too." answered Sakura with a light laugh that chilled her brother to the bones. He took a step back and pointed at his sister with a shaking hand and said, unable to keep his voice stable.
"It was you? You did it?!" Suddenly, fear in his eyes changed to desperation and he yelled.
"I will tell Shiro about what I was doing with you at nights… no I will tell him what you did this night, unless you obey your older brother and support Assassin!"
To his shock, instead of fear and submission, the girl glared at him.
"No, it wasn't me who killed him. And I won't kill you, brother." Sakura's voice changed as she spoke, and the last word literally dripped with hatred and malice, a fact that almost sent Shinji running.
"You don't have a choice! I'll go to tell him right now unless you help me!" shouted the boy and quickly walked to the school, where he intended to meet Shiro.
When Sakura quietly walked after him, he nervously asked, not turning back so he could hide his nervous expression.
"Why are you following me?"
"I don't want to miss your death, brother." answered Sakura in her usual shy and reserved voice, but with dark feelings still in her eyes.
Shinji gulped and thought that it wasn't too late to switch back to his initial plan where Assassin hid them until the night, when his Servant will be able to gather energy by draining humans, but decided that putting his sister back to her place was easier.
'You'll break long before we come to school! Then I'll pay you back for scaring me!'
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Emilya, woken up by her familiar when it went active, heard the conversation between two Matos through the link to her metallic bird and hurried to the school.
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'It's a good thing that clock there is broken and the school will be empty at least for another half an hour.' thought Lancer, when she landed at the school gates and saw no one. She hopped on the wall and sat there, as she waited for Shinji and his Servant.
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Finally she saw Shinji, followed by Sakura, who kept a safe distance from the boy, and no trace of Assassin.
'Not surprised that I can't see him.' mentally sighed Lancer and jumped off the wall.
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"I thought of sparing you, Shinji, but now I have to keep my promise." said a Western looking young woman when she landed not far away from the boy. When a naginata appeared in her hand, Shinji backed away so fast that he almost fell and as he turned around to run, he yelled.
"Assassin, protect me!"
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As the boy ran away, Emilya intently looked around, with a hope that Assassin's stealth had a flaw, before she remembered that he could be detected only when he was about to attack and decided to force him out.
'Now, what should I use? I can't use anything that leaves me open, or has a charge time. Ame-no-nuhoko then.' thought the woman and lifted her weapon.
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With a smirk, Lancer threw her weapon at Shinji's back. As it tore through the air, the naginata left a trail of water drops which sparkled in the morning's sun, like the jewels at the base of the blade.
Immediately after the throw, Emilya's body flashed with blue light and she dashed to the enemy Master. The unexpected change of speed saved her from a barrage of dark colored daggers that were shot from at least three places and she safely ran in and then through a forest of stone pillars that spontaneously shot from ground in her weapon's wake.
With the stone forest as a perfect shelter from possible counterattacks, Lancer was a second away from Shinji, when two Assassins appeared in front of their Master. One stopped the thrown weapon with his body, knocking his Master down as he flew back, while the second managed to deflect the stab by naginata that miraculously appeared in Lancer's hands in spite of the fact that the other dark cloaked Servant still clutched the weapon that pierced his chest.
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'Is he that low on Mana already? Sakura must've summoned him yesterday and was too tired for him to make any reserves.' thought surprised Lancer, when she noted that Assassin used two copies of him at most and only when it was absolutely needed. When she realized that, she changed her tactic, from attempts to bypass her enemy's defence and reach the boy, to a battle of attrition where she used short swings and stabs that, due to her weapon's nature, still had enough range and power to be deadly and block her targets escape routes.
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The battle continued for several minutes and even though Shinji got up and started to run, both Servants possessed more than enough speed to fight around him, as if he was standing still.
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'He's almost dry, but he knows my style now. I have to change it.' thought Emilya as she dodged a combined attack from two copies of Assassin with the image she saw through the bird that Sakura still held in her hands and made a powerful, wider than usual, swing that targeted Shinji.
Suddenly, the enemy Servant split into five figures, three locked her blade with crossed daggers to make her vulnerable and two made an attack that would've hit, if Lancer still held her weapon.
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When Hassan-as-Sabah, who thought that he was about to win, once again split in two copies and one copy attacked Lancer in melee, covered by a barrage of dirks thrown by the other one, twin falchions appeared in her hands.
With a severe shortage of Mana, Assassin was slow enough for Lancer to trap the incoming dagger between Kanshu and Bakuya and kick her enemy into the projectiles path. Using that opening, she sent her swords flying at the remaining enemy and attacked in melee immediately after.
Assassin managed to deflect the thrown blades, but he was too slow to defend against the second pair that cleaved him in half with a dual horizontal slash.
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'I hope Ilya won't scold me for using that much energy on my speed enhancement. It would've at least strained any other Master.' thought Emilya, when she returned to neutral stance after her victory.
As she replaced twin swords with her naginata, Lancer saw that Shinji turned to the street where, even before Heaven's Feel started in her past, Shiro and Sakura saw that someone was killed with a spear last night.
'I never thought that I would be the one to do it'
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'I hope his death will satisfy you, Sakura.' thought Emilya. In a blink of an eye she was behind Shinji and ended his life with lightning fast stab to his heart. Behind her, Sakura quietly turned around and walked away.
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'You killed him? I thought that I'll have to order you to.' Ilya's surprised voice, suddenly, appeared in her head.
'Ilya? You kept that spell all night? I thought supporting it and supplying me with energy is straining even for you?'
Her Master's voice got a note of disappointment, because of how low Lancer thought about her abilities, when she answered.
'I was supposed to support Heracles as Berserker even before the War started. Anything you can try to drain me with, is nothing compared to that. Now get back here, I don't want to have breakfast without you!'
'Yes, Master.' replied Emilya, smiling as she turned invisible and went to Einzbern's castle, her mission for today completed.
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Shiro was pulled out of his dream, where he jumped from roof to roof with Tohsaka who looked like a magical girl, when somebody shook him. He saw Tohsaka with his yellow raincoat on. He tried to understand how the girl from his dream appeared here, before he noticed a cat's tail coiled around her waist.
"Caster? What do you want?" asked the boy, and fruitlessly tried to shake off his sleep.
"I'll take a walk until your morning guests leave. Then I'll meet you at your school." said the woman. Her tone made clear that she wasn't asking for permission, but stating how the things will happen.
"If you insist. But I would rather introduce you to others, I don't want you to feel neglected." said the boy and drowsily stood up.
"It'll be better that way. There's no point in introducing me to others. I can exist only during the War, after all." said Caster and walked out, leaving Shiro wondering what she meant by her last words.
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After Caster was gone, Shiro decided that retuning to sleep was pointless and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for his usual morning guests.
Soon the breakfast was prepared and the boy went to the living room, hoping that the TV will help him not to fall asleep while he waited for Taiga and Sakura.
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When the news started, he was half-asleep despite his efforts to stay awake and wasn't listening to TV, but one line snapped him awake.
"Several hours ago, approximately at midnight, a powerful explosion happened in Shinto ward. There are no commentaries from police yet, so we will ask our colleagues that already arrived there."
'What?!' Shiro increased the volume and concentrated on catching every detail on the screen.
"We are now near the place, where once stood a mansion that belonged to Mato family. As you can see everything is destroyed."
The scene on TV screen changed and now showed a pile of rubble that was surrounded by a lot of people in various uniforms.
"At the first sight it looks like an explosion. But I took a walk around this place and when I saw the shape of the debris trail, I couldn't help but think that it looked like a several big trucks crashed through the house. Of course it's only a guess, because the officials are yet to comment. Also, we don't have any information on possible survivors, but I doubt anyone could've survived that."
"Sakura!" shouted Shiro, shocked beyond words that the girl might've been dead. A vision of Sakura whishing him good night before she left yesterday, appeared in his head and refused to leave.
'I should've asked her to stay. I even wanted to, because she seemed a little faint, but I only asked Fuji-nee to escort her. Idiot!'
'Fuji-nee couldn't be there when that happened. I'll ask her.' Shiro looked at the clock and saw that his guardian was late.
'Where is she? She didn't decide on staying with Sakura until morning, did she?' thought the boy as his worries doubled. Trying to take his mind off the thoughts that Sakura and maybe Fuji-nee were dead now, he focused his attention on TV again, not really understanding what was shown.
'Gas leaks continue to plague the city. Today the number of people found unconscious and weakened on the street because of gas leaks reached over three thousand. Information from unofficial sources say that explosion at Mato's mansion was also caused by gas.
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"Sempai? Sempai, what happened? Wake up, you make me worry." A melodic voice slowly awakened Shiro's mind that was weakened by a lack of sleep and wasn't able to deal with shocking news in any way other then pushing everything away. He turned to voice, hoping that it wasn't an illusion and saw the plum-haired girl that looked at him with worry in her eyes.
"Sempai? Should I call a doctor?" asked Sakura and walked to the boy. When she put her hand on his forehead to see if he had a fever, she suddenly was hugged.
"What happened?" asked the girl, blushing as she thought that Shiro cared about her much stronger than she expected. Maybe that Servant wasn't wrong about him at all.
"I saw on the news that your home was destroyed and thought that you were dead."
"Ohh, don't worry. I stayed with a friend tonight, so I'm all right" answered the girl, running her hand through Shiro's red hair.
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"Do you know what happened to your family?"
"I doubt anybody survived, but I'll make it through, because I there's a person as strong as you at my side, isn't right sempai?"
"Ah, right. You can can count on me Sakura." said the boy, blushing from the praise and to remove the awkward pause, he said.
"I already prepared the breakfast. I'll go bring it and you should rest here."
He removed himself from the girl and stood up, thinking that Sakura's appearance also meant that Fuji-nee was all right. He glanced at surprisingly calm girl and blushed again when he recalled her praise, before he exited the room.
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After the food was reheated, Shiro and Sakura were eating and the boy kept glancing at the clock, as he wondered where Fuji-nee was.
'Oh, well. Shinji was a student at our school and there's no way she won't be busy…'
Before the boy finished this thought, the door abruptly opened and Taiga ran inside, panting.
"I made it. Shiro did you saw the news…" Taiga stopped when she saw the girl that sat near Shiro and nibbled on her food.
"Sakura! You're alive! I'm so happy!"
The older woman ran around the table and hugged the younger one.
"Thank gods you are okay. It must've been them who sent this woman yesterday. "
"What woman, Fuji-nee? And stop holding her that hard, you'll crush her." said Shiro, as he thought that it might've been Caster who saved his friend and that his guardian sometimes didn't her know how to hold back.
Taiga weakened her hold on the girl, who could at least breath now, and turned to Shiro.
"I don't really know how she looked like. It was dark. But I remember that she had white hair. She said that she's one of Kiritsugu's friends and wants to talk with Sakura."
'White hair? And knows my father? I know only one who fits that description. What she wanted from Sakura?' thought Shiro when he remembered Lancer.
'But Sakura is not a Master is she?'
The boy tried to look Sakura's hands, but from his position it was almost impossible and he decided to deal with it later.
'I'll ask Caster.'
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As Shiro and Sakura walked down the street, they noticed that the street that was blocked by police.
"What happened there?" asked Shiro when he saw an ambulance and a puddle of blood that covered a white outline of human's body, drawn on the street.
"I don't know sempai. It wasn't here when I walked to you." answered Sakura, as he hid a smile brought by memories of how Lancer upheld her promise.
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When they were close to school gates, Shiro saw a woman on the nearby bench, dressed in red blouse and long black skirt and hid her face under a hat. He separated from Sakura and went to Caster.
"Caster? You are not using that wand?"
The woman briefly lifted her hat, revealing the cat ears under it, and answered.
"As much as I want to, I can't stop using it until you start supplying me with energy, Master. I just bought these clothes and put them over my... other costume."
"You don't have to call me Master. And what are you doing here?"
"Yes, Emiya." said Servant and, sighing, answered his second question.
"I'm here to watch over you and Rin."
"Tohsaka? Why?"
"What do you think will happen, if my past self is killed before she became me?" asked Caster and smiled when she saw Shiro's puzzled look.
"Ohh. I never thought about this."
"It's a good thing that I'm rather happy how my life went… Well, maybe except for the very last part. Or I might've tried to kill Rin, to erase myself from history like certain people I knew. " said future Rin as she stretched leisurely.
At a loss for words, Shiro looked at the school clock and decided to ask the question he wanted before he was late to class.
"Do you know that Sakura's home was destroyed tonight? Fuji-nee says that Lancer met them on their way home, but did it to save Sakura."
"No, but I'm surprised that Lancer let her go. That Servant has the strangest Master." Caster saw the confused expression on her Master's face and started to explain the situation as she saw it so far.
"I saw the Command Seals on Sakura's hand yesterday. She's a Master and I'm not surprised if she lost her house in a fight between Servants. Or she intentionally used her house to make an ambush on enemy that came to kill her, maybe even allied with Lancer's Master to do it."
"Sakura seems like a nice girl, but the power, that Holy Grail will grant to the winner of the War, is great enough to make most people use anything to win."
"No! Sakura is not like that, Caster! She will never use anyone!" eclaimed Shiro, before the school bell interrupted him and he ran to school, leaving his Servant alone and wondering if she was the one with the strangest Master.
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Rin slowly woke up and was about to get out of the bed, when she remembered yesterday's events. She turned around to the intercom that was right next to her bed and pressed the button that was labeled 'kitchen'. After a click and a few seconds long wait, the maid's voice appeared.
"I'm here, Tohsaka-san."
"Can you serve breakfast now?"
"Yes, right away."
With a click, the device grew silent and Rin rolled back on her pillow, intent on catching a few more moments of morning rest.
'How long has it been since I decided that I need to save money to buy more jewels and keeping servants became an unneeded luxury?'
Rin's eyes traveled to a heart shaped pendant that rested on a small table nearby and she got out of the bed to take it. She lifted it to her eyes and as she watched the light reflect from it, her thoughts returned to the last time she saw her father.
'It's been ten years since my father left me this. Maybe with that Servant I'll succeed where he failed. If he won't drive me insane first.'
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As Rin was traveling through her memories, the maid brought the breakfast along with a fresh set of clothes.
"What was he doing while I slept?" asked the girl when she dressed and started her morning meal.
"No further changes to the house were made, Tohsaka-san." answered the maid before she bowed and walked out.
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"I hope that whatever you are drinking now won't affect you in battle." said Rin, when she opened the door to her Servant's room and saw that he drank something from a golden cup.
King of Heroes looked at his Master and put his cup on the table. Then a ceramic bottle and an exact copy of his cup fell from the thin air and landed on his hands.
"A truly good wine does only good for body and soul. Here, see for yourself." said Gilgamesh when he filled the cup and threw it to her.
To her surprise, not a drop of the drink left the cup,as it flew through the air, or when the Rin discovered that the cup was unexpectedly heavy and her hands pianfully slammed into her chest when she caught it.
Tohsaka looked from the liquid that filled the cup to the brim, to the smirking Servant and thought.
'I'll taste it. I don't think that he tries to poison me.'
Holding the cup with both hands, she took a sip from it. And as soon as she tasted it, she lifted the cup and started to drink as fast as she could, ignoring that even the rich flavour couldn't hide the wine's strength.
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When the last drop of that delicious drink was gone, she put the cup down, all of her pains gone and her body filled with enough energy to make the heavy golden cup feel as light as a feather. She was a tipsy as well, but that was a really minor detail to her now.
"Th-this was good. Listen, I'm going to school now and I came to tell you to come along." Sparing no time to wait for response, she turned around and walked to exit.
"Tell me, eh? She began to amuse me." smirked the Servant as he stood up, righted his black and white outfit he bought yesterday and walked out after his Master.
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As Tosaka and her Servant walked towards the school, she was busy looking over the cup she still held in her hand.
It seemed to consist from two layers. The inner one was brighter and its surface sparkled, as Rin understood, because of a spell that held the wine inside the cup. The outer layer, judging by the sound she heard when she tapped it, was hollow and the placement of jewels and ornaments on its surface made holding the cup very easy even with Rin's smaller hand.
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When Rin finally moved her eyes away from the cup, she saw that they were already walking across the school yard.
"Here, hide it and go to your spirit form yourself." said Tosaka, as she gave the item, that ate so much of her time, back to her Servant.
"Why would I want to become invisible? I intend to go to school with you. I wish to see more about how common people live." said Gilgamesh and threw the cup away. Its flew for a about a second before it dissapeared in mid-air.
"But…!" Amidst a hundred of reasons why her Servant wasn't supposed to accompany her to class, she tried to find the best one that would save her from too much arguing.
"You're an adult, so you can't go."
Suddenly Tosaka's inspiration spiked and she added.
"Also I study in all-girls wing, so…."
Gilgamesh smirked when he heard her reasons and a crystal vial fell into his hand. It was an incredibly rare potion that only a handful of people could create even in his time.
He tore away the seal on top of the vial and drank it.
"What…?" For a moment Rin thought that the wine she had earlier was playing with her mind, but the vision of her Servant becoming shorter and even… younger after he drank that potion wasn't going away.
Now, instead of an adult she saw only a minute ago, a boy of her age, dressed in clothes that were too big for him, stood before her. When she saw his arrogant smirk, she understood that her Servant became younger right before her eyes.
"Is that all?"
'It's a good thing he knows that I lied about 'all-girls wing'. Who knows what he would've done to himself.'
Tosaka shook her head and sighed as she resumed walking.
"I'll show you where my classroom is."
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'Or he didn't know that it was a lie?!'
That shocking thought caught up with Tosaka when they already entered the building and she whirled around, in a hurry to prove this thought wrong. The more she looked at him, scanning every detail she could, the clearer she saw that this thought was right. Lines of Saber's face now looked gentler and while the big clothing hid Gilgamesh's body, somehow she didn't doubt how it looked now.
'This is an illusion. It must be!' thought Rin, as a shiver ran along her spine, so cold that it left her skin almost frostbitten.
"This is an illusion right?"
Gilgamesh looked at Tohsaka, causing the brunette to think that Saber's earrings, made from solid gold, looked better on her Servant now, and his answer broke all doubts about Servant's current gender because his… her voice sounded melodic. Not flute-like melodic, but rather a battle song kind of melodic.
"No, I used one of my shape changing potions. I already told you Master, nothing can stop me from attaining what I want."
"You…" Tosaka tried to express what she thought about her Servant now, but failed, because her mind was blank on this matter. She waited a second and tried again with same success, before she pinched the bridge of her nose and decided not to think about it anymore if she cared about her sanity.
"Give me more of that wine, Servant. I have another headache to cure."
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They entered the classroom several minutes after the bell and everyone turned to look at them. When Tohsaka's classmates saw someone with her, several people immediately started to whisper.
Mentally groaning because she could guess what they were whispering about, especially those that thought that Saber was a boy now, Rin put her bag on her table and went to the teacher to explain the guest.
Gilgamesh, ignored others who either tried to ask her if she knew Rin or intently watched her and sat near Rin's place.
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About a half-hour later, Gilgamesh became bored, not finding anyone worth spending his time on, at least as worthy as his Master, and decided to leave. He stood up and walked out of the class room, leaving a pile of notes he received from other people, untouched.
'Now where is he… she, whatever! going?' thought Rin, but decided not to follow Saber. She could use her Command Seals if needed and the annoying attention she received from her classmates would double if she did so. A doubt that she could take another dose of that healing wine, something she would need if she went with Saber, and keep control over her actions, also played a major role in her decision.
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Saber walked through the city, looking how people lived and comparing them to people from his own time. So far the comparison wasn't in favour of modern age people.
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Bored, he decided to change the environment and walked into a small restaurant. He sat at one of the tables that let him watch everything and pulled a bottle of his favorite wine out of his treasury.
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Soon, a tall man dressed in priest's outfit entered and he, or rather his precise and fluid movements that were so different from the other people, attracted Saber's attention.
"Hey, priest. Sit here, I wish to talk."
Kotomine lightly smiled and walked to Saber. He couldn't recognise the King of Heroes at first, because of his changed appearance, but he was more than willing to overlook any behavior because he walked all the way here to meet the Servant and, if possible, talk him into changing Masters.
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The day passed quietly. After school Tosaka immediately went to bed, while Saber chatted with priest until the night. Shiro went to his many part jobs, before retuning home a bit earlier than usual.
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When Shiro entered his house, he felt the smell of prepared food.
'Sakura must be early today.' he thought as he walked into the living room and saw both plum-haired girl and Taiga.
"Guess what Shiro. Since Sakura doesn't have where to live, I thought that she can live with you."
The girl slightly blushed as she said.
"If sempai agrees, I would love to live here. I promise I won't be a burden."
Shiro, surprised at the turn of events, was silent for a few moments before he answered.
"I agree. I'll do my best to help you Sakura."
"I never doubted you would, Shiro." said Taiga and before she returned to wolfing down her meal, she waved towards the kitchen and said.
"Now go get yourself a plate and eat with us. I still need to talk with you about your earlier guest."
With a sigh, Shiro obeyed.
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Later, when he was about to fall asleep, he heard Caster's voice and walked out of his room to meet her. Caster was dressed in an outfit she got after using Kaleidostick and said when she saw him.
"Come on Hero of Justice! The city needs your help now!"
"What? Caster, are you all right?"
"Of course I am. Kaleido Ruby is invincible!"
With these words, Caster jumped to Shiro and when their hands connected, Shiro felt himself slipping away.
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It was a bad week for Shinji...
Oh yeah. Gilgamesh-ko makes an appearance.
