Chapter 7: quondam memoriae

"Shinji, you disappoint me. Truly disappointing"

We get to Straw Hat who won against Rider. She is not really harmed, but she has already admitted her defeat by putting on the blindfold again.

"Thank you, Straw Hat. Without you, we all would have been statues now"

Saber seems to be relieved while Tohsaka is still irritated. Well, this was to be expected, because she only witnessed the attack for some seconds, thus she does not understand the situation.

"Is everything okay? How did she even enter the building? And where is the Master?"

Surprisingly, Straw Hat squats before Rider who looks confused and embarrassed. Perhaps, Rider cannot process her loss, thus not accepting Straw Hat's victory. However, Straw Hat inspects Rider very closely for a minute while we all stay rigid. Maybe he feels something and he is awaiting an attack from her.

"You have won, I will not attack you any further. Please, leave me now"

Rider openly admits her defeat, but Straw Hat still looks at her. Then, he raises his hand and stretches it out to Rider as if he wants to help her stand up.

"You're free now, aren't you? You really wanted to save Sakura, right? See and save Sakura, that was your plan. So, why don't you just visit her and reassure that she's still alive?"

Rider looks perplexed, overly confused. Her mouth is open in awe and she is now a statue herself.

"Can I… really go to Sakura?"

"Yeah, sure. Why not, you don't seem like you wanna kill her"

"Why? Why are you so grateful, even though I revealed you my true nature? Why are you still so friendly, even though I revealed I'm a monster? And why, why did you not get petrified? Just who are you!"

"I don't know who you are, I don't care if you were a monster and I can't tell you why I didn't get petrified. You simply wanted to help Sakura and you were concerned about her, right? This suffices for me to tell that you have no evil intentions"

Straw Hat grabs Rider's hand and he pulls her up. He smiles at her now.

"For who I am; I am Straw Hat. I lost my memories and I was summoned by this Grailthing, nice to meet ya. Ah, Shirou, there is no problem if we let her see Sakura, right?"

"Well… I guess, we can't say no now when you already made her such an offer. Still, you should accompany her to watch over her. I will also come with you, just in case"

"I will also follow with you"

"Tohsaka?"

Why should she come with us? There is no reason, is she really so concerned about Sakura?

"But who will watch Shinji meanwhile? Straw Hat may have knocked him out, but when he wakes up again, he could command Rider to another attack"

"I doubt that. I haven't finished my explanation yet, but the Book of the False Attendant is actually just an item to control a Servant that is not yours. In other words, Shinji is not Rider's true Master; he only borrowed her from someone else"

What? Shinji… borrowed Rider?

"But who is the real Master?"

"We can only ask him when he wakes up. Just the Book alone doesn't suffice to determine who the real Master is. Besides, it is already destroyed, so there is nothing we can do now. Rider possibly won't tell us, either. Am I right?"

Rider remains silent. So, she really will not give us any clues.

"I can remain here and watch over him", Saber proposes.

"What about Archer?"

"He should still guard the area, because we cannot afford to let another Servant show up, Shirou. It is already a shame that he let anyone come close…"

I guess, she is right. She also rose a question that is very important, too. How did Archer actually let Shinji pass? Did he not see Rider? This is simply impossible, because Archer's sight is almost cheating, so there is no possibility that any ordinary person could get past his vision. No, something must have interfered and helped Shinji- or Archer did it on purpose…

"Therefore, I propose that I should remain here"

Saber thrusts her blade into the ground and rests her hand on the Sword pommel. This does not look like a suggestion, but rather like a suggestive order.

"What? Where are Rider and Straw Hat?!", Tohsaka exclaims.

She is right, I turn around and see that they are not present anymore. Why the hell did they vanish? Did Rider attack Straw Hat in the end in spite of his proposal?

"Hehehehe, seems like you really beat my grandson. Well, this was to be expected by a lowlife like him"

A chill runs down my spine. Who said this? It sounded like the voice of an old friendly man, but he also sounds…. intimidating. Someone who appears to be harmless, but he is cruel in reality. Saber, Tohsaka and I turn around to look at the origin of the voice that came from the direction where Shinji lies. As expected, an old man stands there next to Shinji. He looks like he is barely alive at all, more like a talking corpse and he smiles very friendly while staring at us with his eyes. In fact, it looks like his pupils and cornea switched places as his white pupils surrounded by void starred into our souls. He is fully bald and it appears like his walking stick is the only reason why the old man can still stand. Moreover, he wears traditional Japanese clothes.

Saber pulls her sword out of the ground and runs before me to protect me while Tohsaka and I take a defensive position. Something is odd with this old man.

"There is no need to fight anymore. We Matous already lost the war thanks to this hopeless brat. So, fighting me is wasted time"

Wait, did he just say Matou? And Shinji is his grandson, so… that means he is also Sakura's grandfather!

"Wait, you are Sakura's grandfather, right? Don't worry, she will come home very soon"

Sakura's grandfather gazes at me with questioning eyes like he is inspecting me.

"You are… the son of that Emiya, right?"

I relieve my stand and look surprised at him. He knows my father? Did they meet each other in the past?

"Will you succeed to him?"

"Huh?"

What is he talking about? Succeed? Succeed to what? Maybe this old man already is ill and suffers from dementia…

"I see. How unfortunate, he told you nothing; what an innocent young man. You know nothing of him, right?"

"And you do? What would you know of him that I don't?"

This guy really angers me, because of his whole nature. His behavior is like that of an annoying evil insect.

"The young people are so vivacious. Let me give you one advise, your father did tell you nothing. This must have been a real distorted father-son relationship, but what can one expect if he has that one Einzbern girl, too? Oh, mentioning her, how is she doing?"

Now he really made me angry. Also, what does he mean by that Einzbern girl? Einzbern… Einzbern… did I not hear this name already? Wait, was it not that one little girl from the fight with Berserker? Nonetheless, I step forward and shout at this old man due to my anger. Normally, you should treat old people with respect, but he just annoys me too much.

"You don't have the right to judge my father and how can you say that you knew him so well? Besides, what has that girl to do with me?"

As I approach the old man in my anger, Saber stops me with her arm.

"Saber?"

"Please, let him go. He is right, there is no reason to fight him now, our highest priority now should be to find Rider and Straw Hat"

She reminded me of something important and it is true what she says. We must find them and talking to this living corpse is wasting my time. I back down and nod to Saber. However, Shinji's grandfather appears to be shocked; maybe I was too harsh?

"Hmm, I am really shaken that he didn't even tell you this information… I will now retreat with my idiot grandson. Still, you should know that he took part… in the last war"

What? Did he just mention that… Kiritsugu was a Master in the last Holy Grail War as well? I wanted to ask him another question as he turns around to Shinji and slaps him with his stick a few times.

"Wake up, idiot. It's time to go home, you lost"

Shinji really wakes up and as he sees his grandfather, he is horrified.

"G-g-g-g-randpa, what are you doing here?"

Shinji catches a glimpse of the burnt book on the ground next to him and he begins breathing heavily realizing his fate.

"I-impossible"

He looks up to his grandfather in terror as if he is begging him to spare his life.

"I can… I can still do it! Believe me, I can do it! They had this other one, that is cheating! I didn't lose, give me another chance!"

He throws himself at his grandpa and grabs the lower hem of his clothing like he is clinging to his life. His grandfather on the other hand takes a step backwards and turns his head away from Shinji.

"Disgusting. Although you lost, you're still part of my family. Return home quickly and don't try to retrieve Sakura anymore. They are far more capable of this than you can ever be; you can't even take care of a book. The Matou bloodline really became a laughing matter"

He looks again at me.

"Separated siblings have a harder life, wouldn't you agree?"

Is he telling me to bring Sakura back home as quick as possible? Suddenly, he looks past me and laughs. Is this old man still talking to me? Or is he maybe not sane anymore. It would be quite possible in his age. Saber readies her sword again in response, but the old man averts his eyes from us.

All of a sudden, a swarm of bugs appeared where the old man was standing. Shinji, who was whimpering the whole time while since he regained his consciousness, let a short scream escape his mouth and falls back to the wall.

"Saber, what is that?"

Saber swings her sword to attack the swarm, but they quickly flew away and… only Shinji is now on the other side. Did he… did he turn into the bugs? No, this is impossible, but what was it then? An attack? Saber lowers her sword and her armor disappears.

"I can't sense any other enemy threat anymore"

Shinji, still terrified, stands up and climbs up the wall in pure panic. How did HE do that now? How did he just casually climb up a wall, what is happening here? I would like to chase after him for more information, but apparently Saber can read my thoughts.

"Shirou, we must find Straw Hat and Rider now! He has no Servant anymore, so he is no longer a threat. I understand that you want to get information from him, but we must set priorities"

Well, I guess we have no choice.

"You're right, Saber"

We both want to return to the house as we spot Tohsaka standing in the middle of the courtyard. That is right, since that old man has appeared, Tohsaka has not said anything. To be frankly, I fully forgot that she is still here. Something is strange…

Tohsaka stares with her empty eyes at the position where Shinji and his grandfather were and does not move; not even her eyelids. One could assume that she maybe turned to stone and all this was a surprise attack, but her fingers are still moving. They are grinding deeper and deeper into the palm of her hands. Overall, she looks…. reminiscent?

"Rin, is something wrong?"

Hearing her name by Saber, Tohsaka makes a little jump and life returns in her eyes.

"Yes. Everything… is okay. But wait… where is Shinji and his grandfather?"

Did she really miss all of this? Where has she been all this time?

"They fled, but now we must search for Straw Hat and Saber!"

Tohsaka slowly nods as she realizes what happened the last minutes.

"I suggest, we should maybe search in Emiya-kun's house first. I doubt that Archer would fail to see them-"

"But Archer already failed. He already let them get here"

Saber is probably still angry due to Archer's failure. Tohsaka is also puzzled.

"Yeah, you're right. Nevertheless, the probability that they went into the house is high because of all the things in there, for example my workshop"

She says this like only her workshop makes my home valuable.

"I agree with Tohsaka, although there is also other important stuff. Let us find some clues where they went!"

Saber agrees to the plan and we rush into my house to inspect everything. We said that I go for the right half of my house while Tohsaka examines the left. Saber remains in the sub-buildings. I go into every room and hope that I find anything that could help us track them down. How could Rider kidnap Straw Hat to begin with? She is clearly weaker than him as Straw Hat demonstrated, yet they both just vanished. Then, there is this strange old man that claims to be Sakura's and Shinji's grandfather. This is all so strange and everything happened so fast… and I just wanted to play some baseball.

"Shirou, Shirouuu!"

It is the voice of Saber. Has she found something? I could not discover anything helpful, but maybe Saber was more successful.

"Shirou! We found Straw Hat and Rider"

They… found them? Both? Why is Saber so calm?! Straw Hat is in danger and she is completely relaxed!

"Saber, we must help Straw Hat now, how can you-"

Saber shakes her head and gently smiles. I must say, now with her casual clothes again, Saber looks really innocent and no one could guess how strong she is.

"Everything is okay. It's not like you think, Straw Hat is unharmed and Rider did nothing evil"

What does that mean now?

"Let me show you. Follow me"

I follow Saber who leads me to the room where Sakura is resting.

"Sakura's room?"

Saber puts her hand on the door and makes it clear that I shall open the door. So, I approach the door and open the door.

I see Tohsaka, Straw Hat, Sakura and Rider in the room. Tohsaka is leaning onto the wall of the room while looking to Sakura. Straw Hat is squatting next to Sakura and beams with joy. Rider on the other hand is sitting on the other side of Sakura and tenderly strokes Sakura's hair. Rider seems like she is caressing Sakura. She also looks overly happy and relieved and she radiates a feeling of… warmth. In general, the entire room is filled with a wholesome atmosphere. Rider emanates no danger but coziness; it is like a mother caring for her daughter. The moment Tohsaka sees me, she raises her index finger and puts it on her lips to signalize me that I shall remain quiet.

"So… Sakura is indeed still recovering. I see. She is so guiltless even when she sleeps. However, I must ask you how she got injured. I don't believe you that she simply got injured while you were showing Sakura around"

"Someone attacked the school and Marine soldiers assaulted us. We were too careless and she got hit by one of them. Luckily, Sakura survived and we could flee"

"Marine soldiers? What-"

"Doesn't matter. If Shirou wouldn't have saved Sakura from one of them who was about to deal the final blow, she would have been dead now"

Straw Hat now looks over to me and Rider follows his movement. Rider has not noticed me until now, but she does not look like she wants to kill me immediately.

"Thanks for caring for Sakura"

Rider lets go of Sakura and stands up.

"Are you already satisfied?"

"We must let her rest now. The more she can rest, the faster she will regenerate"

"Ugh…"

We all stare at the new source of sound waves. Did… Sakura say something? Must have been an illusion…

Suddenly, Sakura's arm begins to rise. It slowly rises until the arm is orthogonal to her body frame. Rider falls to her knees and grabs Sakura's hand.

"S-sakura!"

"Where…. Am I?"

Hearing her words after such a long time, my body unfreezes and I instinctively want to rush to Sakura. However, Tohsaka holds up her arm against my stomach like a barrier holding back a car.

"Tohsa..."

She lets her arm fall down again and focuses on Sakura and Rider very concentrated.

Sakura meanwhile turned her head to Rider and her eyelids slightly expose her drained eyes.

"Ri…der?"

„Y-yes, I am here. Is everything okay?"

Sakura marginally smiles, but then she slightly moves her head around.

"Where is Senpai?"

"Who is…"

Suddenly, I feel someone pushing me deeper into the room. I almost fall, but I can get a hold of myself. As I turn around to see who pushed me, I suspected Tohsaka. Surprisingly, it is Saber who simply nods to me. So, I walk towards Sakura and sit down next to Straw Hat.

"I am here, Sakura"

"Senpai… I feel so sleepy. What… happened?"

"It is all okay now. Rest now and you will recover again"

"Will we… cook tomorrow again?"

"Yes, yes we can prepare food tomorrow morning again. Just rest now"

"I see"

Sakura seems satisfied and closes her eyes.

"Then, goodnight to you all"

Rider leads Sakura's arm back to the ground and Sakura sleeps again. This… put a smile on my face.

We all walk out of Sakura's room and now we are standing here. Okay, except Tohsaka who said that she wants to look after Sakura for a while.

"So, are you happy now?"

Rider nods while still smiling.

"I thank you very much for your proposal. Although I saw Sakura now, I still insist on looking for her"

"I cannot tolerate this. Straw Hat may have told you that he will not harm you, but you are still an enemy Servant. Therefore, you cannot remain here"

I think Saber got a point; we still do not know whether Rider wants to kill us or not. She is strangely interested in Sakura's well-being, but not ours. How can we be sure that she does not kill us when we do not pay attention?

"Please, I will really harm no one. It is only until tomorrow when she can return home again. I will only stay there where Sakura is. If Sakura remains here, so will I"

"Why are you interested into Sakura anyway?", Saber requests.

"Yeah, that's right! Why do you care for Sakura? Are you interested in her cooking skills?"

"What?"

Rider is as irritated as I am, but of course Straw Hat is only thinking of food as always. This glutton, good that at least Saber can control her gluttony and does not let it influence her decisions…

"mmm, this might be true, maybe she wants Sakura due to her cooking skills, maybe killing her might be an option therefore…"

What, you too Saber?!

I give Saber a serious glance and she awakens from her gluttony. Apparently, she regrets it and looks down embarrassed. Speaking of which, Rider also seems a little bit nervous.

"Well… you see… Sakura is my actual Master"

The. What. Sakura is… what? WHAT?!

"Sakura is a Master?!"

"Yes, that is true. Sakura summoned me and her brother was given the Book of the False Attendant, thus I was under his command. She pretended to be a normal human in her everyday life. I remember very well as she returned home telling me that a certain Emiya Shirou is a Master as well. She was really messed up that night."

I understand. That is why she reacted so weird when I introduced Saber. But Sakura… also partakes in the Holy Grail War? I wanted to protect her; it was all none of her business. The Grail War is too dangerous. Why… why must Sakura be a Master?

"So, you don't want Sakura just for the food?"

This question does not fit at all right now!

"N-no!"

"I see", Saber says.

Even Saber agrees now? Why are they both relieved now?!

"Why… why is Sakura a Master?"

I have to know it. Why her of all people.

"The Matou bloodline isn't so powerful anymore. As far as I know, Shinji has not enough magic circuits to summon a Servant. Therefore, Sakura was forced to summon me as she possesses enough of them, but Shinji got the right to control me, because he is the oldest child of the family"

This is way too cruel! Forcing an uninvolved person to partake in this horrible battle just for the Holy Grail? This is going way too far.

"Whoever forced Sakura to do this, I will find him and beat his ass"

Straw Hat is absolutely furious; he also looks like he cannot accept that Sakura is a Master. Now come to think of it… I still have to ask him something.

"Straw Hat, why did you just go away with Rider? We were really concerned about you"

"Well, you were planning too much, so I took Rider and went to Sakura"

"But you can't just let her go to Sakura!", Saber objects.

"As I said, I trust her and she really wanted to see Sakura. You were simply overthinking this too much"

Well, I guess this explains why they disappeared.

"You can remain here. If you really are Sakura's Servant, you will not harm her. In that case, I trust you"

"If you say that you trust Rider, I will accept your opinion, Shirou"

"Shishishishi, seems like they accepted you! Congratulations!"

"Th-thanks, …Straw Hat was it?"

She is still nervous and I do not like this.

"But I also have a question"

"Of course, ask us anything you want"

"Why do you have no problems with my true identity?"

Her true identity? How should we already know it? She never said her name, so I do not know who Rider really is.

"Sorry, but I don't know your identity"

"her petrification, doesn't that something trigger in your mind?"

Tohsaka returned and now joins the conversation.

"What does that mean?"

"As always, you have no clue what is happening. Let me explain it to you then. She uses a blindfold, so she does not use her Mystic Eyes and she also hides her identity by doing so. You see, in ancient Greek mythology, there was a figure that could turn people in stone just by looking at them. Many failed to kill that person. The hair of the person are said to be snakes and she was referenced as a Monster. This very identity is now standing in front of you"

A monster that can turn people into stone? Wow, this is really overpowered and I can understand that all the people failed. We would have been victims if Straw Hat would have not saved us.

"Is that true?"

"Yes, that is indeed true. My true name is Medusa. However, please refrain from naming me a monster. I really hate it that humans called me a monster, I really hate it that humans betrayed me, I hate it that everything… really everything was taken away from me. I hate humans as much as I hate Athena. In the end… everything was taken away from me, even my sisters…"

Rider is in a state of hate, sadness and depression and I do not know how to react. I just know that this sounds bad for her and humans as well.

"It doesn't matter. I don't care how you were in life; I only care about the present! And I must say that right now you seem to be a good caring person"

"Thank you, Straw Hat"

It made her smile and I think Rider regained her composure.

"So, Rider will remain here for tonight, did I hear this right?"

"You heard it, Tohsaka?"

"Yes, you were quite loud"

"Well… do you agree?"

"If she really is Sakura's Servant, I guess its fine. You however, will stay with her and make sure that everything is safe"

Tohsaka points at Straw Hat.

"What, me? Why me?"

"You suggested that Rider can stay here, so you will take responsibility. Deal with it or no food for you"

"I will stay with her as long as you please, Red Devil"

That was a fast negotiation. Also… I hope Tohsaka knows that this is still my home, because she sounds pretty much like she is the owner.

"He will stay with me?"

Rider seems uncomfortable about the idea.

"Yeah, do you have any problems with it?"

"N-no, it's alright…"

I can see that nothing is okay, but I think there is no need to deepen this.

Suddenly, the doorbell rings and I go to the door to open it.

"Hey, Shirou, I'm here for the delicious food you promised!"

"Fuji-nee?!"