Fate/Generation - Chapter 7

Day Five

I cleaned off the kitchen table as I finished breakfast. Assassin was in the basement regaining his lost mana. Today, I had no plans, I did not truly intend to finish Tsubaki last night, so I cannot think of what to do. I may go in search of Archer tonight, but my day seems empty. I wonder...

I pull out my cell phone and quickly find her number in my contacts. I hold the phone to my ear, and she answers almost as soon as I call.

"Yeah, Sam? What is it?"

"Ah, Tohsaka-san, good. I was just wondering you had any plans for the day. I'm going to be letting Assassin rest after the incident last night, and I trust you're letting Caster do the same?"

"Well, yeah. I guess I'm free today, why? Do you want to go searching for another Master without the Servants?"

"No no, that's too risky for the both of us. I simply think it would be nice to go an enjoy a common day. We could go visit Tsubaki at the Church."

"Hmm, well I don't really have anything else to do, and I do want to ask you some questions. Okay, sure. Come by my house in a little bit, okay?"

"Of course, but don't get your hopes up, I'm not taking you home with me."

I wonder how many loops that will throw her through. Its almost funnier just to think about it than to see the actual results. I go to the basement and tell Assassin where I will be today, I then pack up a few books, get my gloves, and head out to the Tohsaka residence. The way there, I think about the current state of her Servant. From what I saw of Caster's wounds, he won't be recovered until tomorrow morning. Assassin however, should be back to full power by tonight. I could use this as my chance to take Tohsaka out of the war...

Odd, it feels a bit off putting to strike at Tohsaka when she is weakened like that. Maybe its because of the Alliance or perhaps its because Caster was hurt helping Assassin, but either way, I can't bring myself to attack her while she is weak. I suppose the chance will come again soon anyway. As I ponder this, I arrive at the Tohsaka household, where I see Haruki waiting for me.

"Hey, Tohsaka, good to see you. This is the... fourth... time I've seen you not in your school uniform?"

Tohsaka was wearing a black sweater and long black skirt as opposed to her usual uniform. Simple and casual clothing. She smiled and nodded to me.

"I think that right, now let's go, its a nice day today."

She was not lying at all. The weather was fairly warm for November, and there were few clouds in the sky. We made our way to the park, then to the bridge to go into Shinto. Tohsaka stopped when we reached a certain point, a short distance from where we had fought earlier. I saw the ground of the walkway a little bit ahead was damaged from the battle. Tohsaka turned to me.

"Last night, when I was leaving, I saw a man up there."

She pointed up to the beams on the top of the bridge.

"He had Command Seals on his left hand. He was a Master. I'm sure he was watching our fight with Lancer."

"Hmph, my have been pretty boring for him when we were pulled into the Reality Marble then."

Interesting, so another Master was watching us fight Lancer? It is strange that he did not attack us after the battle was over, as both our Servants were in no shape to fight a fresh one. I sighed softly and began to walk once more.

After about an hour, we both arrived at Kotomine Church. According to my fathers notes, the Church use to be run by Risei Kotomine during the third and fourth Holy Grail Wars, and his son Kotomine Kirei during the Fifth. Apparently Kirei also took part in the Fifth War with a Servant left over from the Fourth War and a Servant he stole from another Master during the Fifth.

I stepped inside with Tohsaka, and as soon as we were inside I saw Caren Ortensia and Tsubaki speaking with a man I had not seen in the Church before. He had a long white coat and golden cross necklace. Both his hands were covered in white gloves, and I felt a powerful magic presence coming from him.

"I just stopped in to see how she was doing, Sister. I am not seeking protection."

"Good, I didn't want to have to remind you of the rules. She told you she was fine, now please, see yourself out."

"Very well, Sister. Have a nice day."

The figure turned from Caren to us as he made his way to the entrance. I could feel Tohsaka grab a hold of the back of my coat and watch him as he passed us. He had a very eerie looking smile on his face as he made his way out. The moment the door closed, Tohsaka pulled on the back of my shirt.

"Sam! That was him! That was the man I saw watching us last night!"

I blinked, that's quite the coincidence. We are spied on from afar one night, and the next day we happen to run into him on neutral territory. Maybe Caren would have more information on him. I'm sure if I don't ask, Tohsaka will. I walk over to Caren, who was smiling at Tsubaki. I don't think she noticed us coming in.

"Excuse me, Sister Ortensia."

"Oh, hello there. Here to visit Tsubaki? Oh, and its nice to see you again Haruki."

Tohsaka smiled softly at Caren and bowed her head softly.

"Likewise, Sister. Me and Sam came to visit our friend here now that she isn't forced to fight us."

"I see, so I'm guessing that means you two are cooperating?"

"That's about right, just for now, at least."

I noticed Tsubaki looking at us sadly, and I left Caren and Tohsaka to their talk as I walked over to her. She smiled a bit at me and moved to meet me.

"Hey Sam! Thanks again for taking me here, I feel a lot safer now."

She laughed softly.

"It's funny, I didn't really expect to lose... let alone this early. But, its okay, we can be friends like we use to now."

"That's right, but I have a question."

This has been on my mind for quite some time. And the more I think about it the more it bothers me. If I can get an answer then I should be able to focus more and that will go well for me in the long run.

"Tsubaki... what did you want from the Grail anyway?"

"Oh, well. Haha... That's, a secret of course! If you make a wish it won't come true if you tell somebody!"

"...but you're out of the War already. So there is no point in not telling me."

I'm sure she knows that just as well as I do. Is it really that important that she can't tell me?

"Well... its nothing important really."

That's a lie. If it wasn't important to her then she would not have been chosen by the Grail in the first place. She's certainly trying to hide something, but I have the feeling the more I pry the more she's going to try and avoid the subject.

"Alright, just forget it. Anyway, how are you doing?"

"I'm good, I miss Vlad though. Having him around made me feel really safe, like nothing could ever hurt me."

I know that feeling. When ever Assassin in with my in Spirit form, I always know that I have little risk of being in any real danger. I never thought of how vulnerable I would feel if I lost Assassin. Then again, I'm sure I would not have to worry about it, I'm going to win this war.

I look behind myself and see Tohsaka and Caren still talking. They must be old friends or something, or maybe she is just asking about the man who was just here. Either way, I'm sure I'll find out about it eventually.

"Hey Sam."

"Yeah, Tsubaki?"

"You're going to keep coming to visit, right?"

Huh? What's with this all of a sudden? Am I really that important to her, or is she just feeling weak to the point that she wants as many people by her side as possible? Well, I suppose it won't hurt my plans if I visit her now and then.

"Sure, I'll stop by when I can. Oh, and who was that man who was here just a minute ago, if you know."

"I don't know much about him. Sister Ortensia called him Katsurou, that's all I can tell you. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, by the way, what have you been doing since you got here? I can't imagine being in a church for a whole day would be that entertaining."

Katsurou, huh? I'll have to look up more about him when I get back home. If what Tohsaka said was true, he could very well be another Master I'll eventually have to defeat.

"Oh, this and that, mostly helping Sister Ortensia with some of the work around here."

"I see, well, I best get going now. You have my number, call me if you need anything."

"I will, bye!"

I walk to the door, waving to Tohsaka and Caren as I pass them, and head outside. The sun is quite high in the sky at this point, I guess I was in there longer than I thought. I head down to Shinto to see if there is anything I could do today to entertain myself. I think Tohsaka said something about a Master in Shinto, but in the middle of the day that should not be of any concern.

I walk through the streets, looking at the stalls on the streets and simply enjoying the nice day. I went to the store and bought some food, its been a long time since I had a nice lunch in the park. I think that was one of the first things I did when I got here, a wonderful memory. I walked across the bridge from Shinto, seeing a repair crew fixing the section of pathway where we had our fight with Lancer, and made my way to the park.

I smiled as I saw all the people in the park, it was a beautiful day so I fully expected a lot of people to be here. I found an empty bench and sat down, I took off my gloves and started digging through the bag of food I bought from the store. I've never eaten fast food in this country before, so I wonder what-

"Bonjour, my sir."

"Huh?"

I looked up from my bag and saw a man standing oddly close to me. He wore a long blue coat and had short blonde hair. He smiled at me and looked at my hands.

"A very interesting tattoo you have there, isn't it?"

His accent... French? Yeah, it explains his greeting. But, tattoo? He must mean the Command Seals. It probably was a bad idea to take off the gloves while in public, but it way too warm to be wearing them.

"I think its pretty neat. I got it done a few days ago."

The man looked at me a moment, then nodded and smiled. He then motioned his hand to the bench.

"You do not mind if I take the seat next to you, do you?"

"Go right ahead."

As much as this man had worried me, he seems awfully polite. I almost feel bad for wanting to run when he first saw my Command Seals. I would offer him some of the food I bought, but I'm afraid of how childish that would make the both of us seem if I did.

"So where did you get your tattoo done then?"

"Huh? Oh, right. Well, there is this place in the south end of Shinto... HGW I think its called."

Did I really just abbreviate the Holy Grail War as a tattoo parlor? I need to think of better lies or people are going to see right through me.

"I see, I've heard of that place before, I heard it just reopened recently."

"Heh, yeah, that's right."

Wait, is that a real place? If it is then I must be the luckiest man on the face of the Earth right now. I don't know a lot about tattoo's because I've never had the slightest desire to get one. And I especially have no clue as to any Japanese tattoo parlors. At any rate, the man is standing up, so he must be getting ready to leave.

"Well, it was a very nice chat. I'm sure we'll see each other again soon enough. Oh, and I never introduced myself, my name is Anton Honoré."

That confirms it, that name is certainly French. But what does he mean by 'I am sure we will see each other again soon enough.' Its a bit eerie for him to just say something like that out of nowhere.

"Right, well, have a nice day. It was nice meeting you."

"Like wise, good sir. And please do tell me if-"

He reached his hand for his sleeve and pulled it back a bit, showing me... no way.

Command Seals, resting on the back of his wrist, plain as day. I can't think, I was found by another Master? No, this is bad, what if his Servant is with him? I'll be dead in seconds. I have to focus, clear your head. Calm down, calm down.

"-you find anybody else with tattoo's from the Holy Grail War."

He smiled at me and pulled his sleeve back. He turned from me and walked away casually, as if he did this sort of thing every day. I sat there awestruck, and quickly leapt from my seat. I need to get home, I need to find shelter, Assassin will protect me if I get home, I need to get there before I'm killed out here. I need to run!

I rush home as fast as I can and lock the doors. I run to the basement where Assassin is regaining mana and explain to him everything that just happened to me. After a while, I calm down and go to the living room. I begin my research of Anton Honoré and the Katsurou character Tsubaki mentioned. I should also plan for what to do tomorrow as well.