Chapter 9
Whoever decided that alarm clocks were a good invention really needed to be slapped. She had just returned home after her night time escapade with her Servant and her annoying partner. Only to be ripped from the greatest bliss a person could ask for by the harsh grating noise of her alarm clock. She was tempted to make this the fifth one that she had broken this month. However, she had a reputation she needed to uphold; regardless of personal feelings, she had to be perfect in the eyes of her peers. That still didn't mean that she was a morning person at all.
Forcing her exhausted body from the warm confines of her covers, Tohsaka padded blearily throughout the halls of her home. Expertly dodging all the furniture and clutter in her way. Thirty minutes – and narrowly avoiding falling asleep twice – Tohsaka was cleaned, dressed, and ready to spend her day being idolized by her peers. The events of last night taking a backseat so that she would not be distracted today. The warm fragrance of cooked food drew her from her bathroom as she cautiously padded through the halls of her manor.
The dining room of her home was warm and cozy with soft plush colors, and warmly accented wooden furniture. Soft lighting set-in recess alcoves out of view of the main dining table that took up the lion's share of the room. Upon which set an impressive spread of different types of food. There was easily enough there to feed four or five people. She hoped that she wasn't going to have to eat all of this by herself.
"Good morning Master, good to see that you are finally awake." Archer stated casually as he astralized to her right; a nice apron pinned over his mantle.
"You made all of this?" Tohsaka questioned curiously, as she took in the spread of different dishes from around the world.
"Naturally, I wasn't sure about your tastes or preferences, so I made a lot." Archer stated casually, "I insist that you try all of it and tell me what it is that you like."
'He's up to something.' "You're being oddly nice today," Tohsaka began defensively, "what did you put in the food?"
"I'm not sure what you mean Master. It's only fair that I be of assistance to my Master when she needs it." Archer stated with a shrug, as he took off the apron.
Tohsaka was silent as she appraised the genial looking Servant and the spread beside him. The different fragrances in the air caused her stomach to growl, and for her to flush heatedly. The smirk on Archer's face widened marginally, as she huffed and dropped down into the nearest chair. She will admit that the presentation of the food, and the different scents playing on her nose were quite endearing. She was certain that it would taste just as good as it looked, but she hated that stupid slight smirk on Archer's face. He was definitely up to something.
"Well Master." Archer gestured casually, "I didn't spend all my precious, valuable time making this for it to not be eaten."
Tohsaka was hesitant as she took the first bite. An explosion of flavor blossomed across her tongue. She swiftly glanced over to the Servant before taking another bite. She watched in a stunned stupor as plate after plate slowly – swiftly – disappeared before her very eyes. Archer's food was the type that made you more and more hungry for more the longer you ate it; Archer was an exceptional chef. She glanced over at him appraisingly with a small dash of approval set into her features. He was exceptional, she would give him that much. She might have considered herself a fairly decent chef; however, Archer had her beat by a mile; their skills were almost night and day in comparison to each other.
"I'll admit it is fairly decent." Tohsaka admitted casually, as the Servants smirk widened noticeably, his arms crossing over his chest.
"Well of course Master."
"I'm curious, what all did you use to make these dishes. I'm not even sure I have some of these ingredients in the kitchen." Tohsaka stated, certain that some of the spices used were not anywhere to be found in her house.
"You know the usual things: eggs, cumin, coriander, basil, different types of meat in your freezer, which you really shouldn't do by the way, different produce, bleach, different types of fruits." Archer stated casually with a shrug. "You should really go shopping here in a little while your pantries are running a little dry."
Tohsaka was nodding along with Archer as he listed off several different ingredients. Everything sounded about right for what she actually did have in stock. She was curious though about how Archer was able to make several dishes taste so exquisite and different with just a small batch of ingredients to work with. As the list went on though, one particular 'ingredient' stood out in contrast to the rest of them.
"…Archer, repeat that last thing again." Tohsaka stated quietly.
"What different types of fruit?" Came the Servant's 'confused' reply, "Are you not a fan of fruit, Master?"
"No, no the one just before that." Again, the statement was quiet and casual, but there was subtle tension building behind the words.
"Vegetables Master, please don't tell me that you are one of those extremely picky eaters." Archer's tone became exasperated, "I would hate to have to cook for such a finicky, picky Master."
"That's not the one I was referring to and you know it!" Tohsaka finally exploded, "You put bleach in the food!"
"Oh of course!" 'Realization' flashed across Archer's features, "Naturally Master, that's my secret ingredient for your food."
"Are you trying to kill me!"
"Of course not Master, I would never do anything that would bring you into intentional harm," Archer stated as he cleared the table of all the different plates.
"But bleach!"
"It was only a trace amount you are still fine are you not?" Archer stated in 'confusion'.
"You're serious, aren't you?" Tohsaka groaned as she leaned back in her seat, and stared at her ceiling distantly, "Why did I have to get the annoying ones. Why couldn't I just get Saber."
"Aw Master, you hurt me I'll have you know." Archer placed a hand over his heart mockingly, "I'll let you in on a little secret Master… I didn't put a single thing in your meal. Food and food prep is something that should never be tarnished."
The expression that passed over Tohsaka's face caused the Servant to burst out into raucous laughter, as he padded into her kitchen, and deposited the dishes into the sink. Tohsaka's angered huffing and grumbling can be heard all the way across the room, as she stood and padded into the kitchen. She glared angrily at the shaking back of the annoying Servant cleaning the dishes. She was definitely going to kill him herself one of these days. That or she could just start working him around the clock until she works him to death. She did have a lot of cleaning that she needs to get done after all.
Tohsaka leaned against the kitchen island as she tapped her finger absentmindedly against the granite countertop. Should she use one of her Command Seals on him to go and play dress-up with Berserker? Should she order him to run to the nearest Master and their Servant, and force him to beg them to have a nice tea party together? Should she just saddle him with the much needed – but highly dreaded – yearly clean-up of her families Workshop? Do Servants boil? She could potentially have him…
"Master, did you hear me?" Archer stated casually as he dried and put away the last dish.
"H-Huh." Archer's question tore her from her planning, as she coughed the cover the flush to her cheeks.
"Such a shameful Master to be so distracted so easily." Archer chided ignoring the indignant huff that greeted him. "I asked you what it is that you wanted to do today?"
"Well first, we're going to go to school today, then, since apparently bleach is a common ingredient used for meals we're going to the store. Afterwards, we're going to come home and do work around the house." Tohsaka stated both seriously and sarcastically; it was true that she needed to do all of those things.
"Hilarious Master," Archer stated casually a blank expression dusting his face. "I would give that joke a solid two out of ten you need major improvement. You know what I'm referring to, or are you just that dim?"
Tohsaka listened to this twitching marginally at his subtle jabs, 'He even made that stupid point comparison like Emiya-kun did; I wonder if it's possible to kill both of them. That way I would be free from them!' At her thoughts Tohsaka began to chuckle marginally, causing a ghost of a shiver to pass through Archer's frame, as he took a half-step back.
A ways away, deep within the confines of his kitchen, Shirou feel a cold sense of dread flush his system as he nearly dropped the pot of boiling water he was handling.
"Master?" Archer stated tentatively, still safe behind the kitchen island. "You need me to call a doctor? Or a psychiatrist? You want me to call a veterinarian?"
"Archer… shut up," Tohsaka stated calmly. 'Did he just compare me to a dog?'
Wordlessly the Servant nodded, still put off by the complete one-eighty in Tohsaka's mannerisms, as the girl began to pace across the kitchen; seriously considering her Servants earlier question. The culmination of her life's work had officially started with a rather resounding bang. Now, she would have to be wearier and plan accordingly and be much better prepared for what is to come. What is it that she and Archer were going to do tonight?
"I want to maintain proper patrols of the city; regardless of our agreement with Emiya-kun there isn't any harm in us being out simultaneously as well," Tohsaka stated after several quiet moments of her pacing.
"You seem to have a high opinion of that boy." Archer mused as he leaned back onto the counter.
"Emiya-kun is an invaluable asset and ally." Tohsaka shrugged, "Having him close is purely for my personal benefit."
"How so?"
"He is rather quick-witted and impressive in high-stress situations. Last night proves that." She stated with her left hand splayed with two fingers ticked down, "Add onto the fact that he has Saber as his Servant, it would be wise to keep him close. Both as an ally and as a potential threat."
"I wonder about that." Archer mused as he leaned against the counter with his arms crossed. It had only been a single night since Archer's summoning into this era. Regardless of what he might have told Rin, he was not an amnesiac or stupid. This was an opportunity that he couldn't let slip away; however, there was something about this era that was rubbing him the wrong way. The largest being his contract was screaming at him that something was majorly wrong with this era. Which will need to be itched at some point before it kills him.
That aside, the next and most personal pressing matter at hand was his younger self. Something about this version of himself seemed extremely wrong. Upon first glance, Archer could see the differences between the hazy half-memories that he had of a bright-eyed idealist and the boy that he saw the prior evening. Until his former years, this version of himself was… hollow. It was hard to really put it into easily understood terms. There was a void to him; more so than that of his former years. From what Archer observed: he would show signs of concern for Rin and Saber, but without feeling; he was critical of the situations that they were a part of, but he was mechanical; he was methodical but careless; Archer hated his existence.
"…Archer, have you heard me?" Snapped out his musing, Archer regarding his Master as she tugged on her red coat.
"Ah forgive me, Master, I'm still not used to listening to little brats." Archer began, "It'll take me a little while to get used to your voice."
"Archer. Door. Now." Tohsaka stated softly with a clipped tone as her brow twitched furiously. It was abundantly clear to the Servant what it was that his Master wanted as she tapped her foot by the door impatiently.
"Really Master, you're so lazy that you cannot open the door yourself." He sighed sarcastically as he padded closer to her. "We will need to fix that right away. I can set up a nice training regimen for you if it would be beneficial. A lethargic, overweight Master would only slow us down." Archer knew he was in the doghouse, but his pride made it to where he just had to burrow himself deeper.
The plight of all men in relationships.
The flush on Tohsaka's cheeks became so deep that her coat was a nice pastel pink in comparison. The Servant's keen instincts kicked into effect as he dodged the blistering red orb of energy that destroyed the plaster and the paneling of the wall behind him. 'She's a psychopath and a homewrecker.' Archer mused as he casually danced around his angered Master. 'Perhaps being here will actually be more fun than I thought. I wonder what else there is that I can do to piss her off.'
"Master, if you keep this up, I believe you will be late," Archer stated casually from his place sitting on the end table by the door. The entryway to the Tohsaka Residence had definitely seen better days: the walls were peppered in a lattice of holes with plaster and molding sprinkling down; the floor wasn't much better with some of the panels in complete shambles; the furniture – aside from what Archer had commandeered – was in complete ruin. His Master sure was a temperamental brat; he was going to have so much fun causing her so much property damage. He wondered what in here was the most expensive; he'll get her to destroy that next.
"Oh, it's fine Archer, you'll just clean everything up when we get home." Tohsaka waved him off dismissively, "Remember, I have very high standards in cleanliness. I want this more spotless than the living room understood?"
Perhaps him being here wasn't as important as he thought.
The chill of the morning ground deep into Tohsaka's bones as she walked down the incline leading to the main school grounds. Tohsaka was running just a wee bit late; she wasn't worried, however, because she was perfect. It was a simple matter of fact that she will maintain her personal record with the school. Her breath billowed out before her in soft vaporous white clouds as she tightened the scarf around her throat. She will never understand the weather in Japan. During monsoon season, or the early parts of summer, the weather never got anything below 37 degrees; however, in contrast, the winter had the audacity to never go above 8 to 10 degrees. She was going to have to buy gloves here soon. Tohsaka did not like either extreme; she was perfectly fine with mild temperate weather, thank you.
Breathing deeply into her cupped palms, Tohsaka jammed them into the deep pockets of her overcoat; her knuckles tapping softly against the remaining gems she always carried with her. The familiar weight of them in her pocket was comforting because it was an indication that she was finally doing her duties to her family name. Before this, she would never have so many jewels on her person. As she walked, Tohsaka casually peered around at the people thronging the streets. In typical Japanese fashion men and women were hastily making their way to the nearest subway entrance to go to work; grade school children, in their little yellow caps, were marching along, some of which were tottering after their parents, however, a majority were by themselves; high school students were milling about lazily, or they were rushing to the entrances, or they were daring and heavily weighing the pros and cons of skipping for the day. Regardless, the atmosphere was lively for such a chilly morning.
She wanted to protect this.
As a Tohsaka, the jurisdiction and protection of Fuyuki and all her citizens rest solely on her shoulders. She refused to fail when it mattered most either: the people she sees before her, the people at the school, and those going about their day-to-day lives were her responsibility and her pride.
She might as well include Emiya-kun in that as well. Kind of. Murder was still not off the table with him involved. She was really efficient at hiding things that people would never find.
While Tohsaka was spending her time people-watching, through the crowd of hot-blooded bodies she could make out the distinctive violet tresses of…
Taking a deep breath, she continued on her route leading to the school entrance assimilating but standing out from the sea of brown-clothed bodies. She wondered briefly if a majority of the student body at Homurahara was severely lacking in originality and personality. She knew every single person here by name and could recall them when the situation arose. However, if you were to ask her who was who outside of those situations, she would never be right. Aside from the obvious exceptions – Sakura, Shinji, Ryoudou, Mitsuzuri, etc – everyone else was just bland and plain. Similar faces, similar body types; hell, even lack of hair and eye color variety. Not that there is anything wrong with that, in Japan hair colors like blond or red were not extremely common. Seriously though give her a break Sakura had pale violet hair for crying out loud!
Though she was worried – she was always worried about her though – about the subtle changes she has been noting in Sakura over the past few weeks. While she has not had the time to observe her as much as she would like; Tohsaka has seen some marketed differences in the girl. She was withdrawn – a lot more so than usual; she was more or less in Shinji's presence a hundred percent of the time now; from what she has heard the generally sweet and quiet girl has become colder to people in her year; she also noticed in the time she was with Emiya-kun and everyone else that the girl would glare at Emiya-kun from time to time. She was going to give her props for that, Emiya-kun was already annoying enough; sisters will always be sisters.
More importantly, though, she was nervous about what all these changes could mean. She wasn't extremely familiar with the Matou family; however, she did know that they were a slowly dying out lineage of Magi. Perhaps that fact that Sakura had Tohsaka blood in her veins was the cause of this? Perhaps it was Shinji that was doing this; if so, then what exactly is he doing? She wanted to intervene and talk to Sakura every chance she got. However, she was a pathetic coward that would scurry away when they were finally alone together. She felt that the primary culprit for all these changes that she has observed was herself. She was a pathetic older sibling.
"Hey Tohsaka, you okay girl?" The cheery concerned voice of the Archery Club Captain broke her out of her musings. She turned her head marginally and regarded the unlikely but steadily more common duo of Mitsuzuri and Ryoudou beside her. She didn't know what magic Emiya-kun worked – or if he did any – to get these two to hang out together more. Though from what she's been hearing they are always together these days:
"Mitsuzuri and Ryoudou, good morning," Tohsaka stated with a nod as she padded over towards the nearest vending machine. She was still fighting with her uneasiness about Archer's little morning prank. She wasn't a big fan of sports drinks, but she needed something to bide her time until she could leave these two. She had nothing against them, but she was not one that wanted to be unnecessarily rude; especially to semi-casual acquittances. Tapping on her item selection Tohsaka took the body of clear Pocari Sweat and took a deep mouthful; grapefruit was always a refreshing taste in the morning.
"It's a surprise to see you guys together this morning; what can I do for you?" Tohsaka stated casually while leaning on her heel.
"You were spaced out there just a moment ago; we didn't want you to get run-down by all the students," Mitsuzuri stated casually as she leaned against the pillar of the awning the trio were standing under. The high retaining walls of the school shading their spot from the cool warmth of the wintery sun.
"Well, I appreciate it then," Tohsaka stated casually as she took a sip of her drink. She was about to excuse herself when she felt the distinct slimy feeling that she had come to associate with Matou Shinji as he joined them under the awning.
"Ah Tohsaka," his voice lilted out in a soft sly manner. Tohsaka would actually give him props if he were trying to be the world's best snake impersonator; however, that's just his natural voice.
"Matou." Tohsaka nodded briefly as she casually skirted around him by leaning against the furthest machine from the group. Here she could see that the three of them were trying to have a forced casual conversation about the many things going on in the school. Tohsaka deflected most of the attempts at either of three to involve her in the conversation.
She wasn't averse to the notion of being friendly with people; she just didn't want to actively involve herself with people like Shinji. It was a good thing that he was here with them, however, because that meant that he was not with Sakura at the moment. A win in her book. As the trio talked, Tohsaka slowly edged away from the group and began to make her way into the school. It wasn't due to start for another 10 or so minutes but it never hurt to get there early. She enjoyed the brief moment of reprieve until she was immediately commandeered on both sides by all three of them – well, Mitsuzuri and Shinji; Ryoudou was merely dragged along like a paper kite.
The unlikely quartet walked through the gates of the school. Immediately, Tohsaka's danger alarms went completely haywire as she stopped with cold perspiration on her brow. Someone had erected a Bounded Field around the school, a fairly large one at that.
'Archer.'
'I understand Master.'
Immediately the Servants presence faded from her side as he went about scouting the area surrounding the school. She was on tinter hooks as her gaze casually swept over the sea of tan before her. While also readily focusing upon the small trio jostling her from either side. The most likely candidate is Sakura herself, as the Matou family blood was reported to have lost traces of its magical prowess decades ago. However, she was a hundred percent going to pursue every possible lead before then.
She didn't want to have to fight her flesh and blood; she would die before that happened.
As they walked slowly up to the main entrance of the school Tohsaka was completely zoned out from the meaningless small talk that was happening around her. Because of this inattentiveness, she very nearly bumped into the slender back of Mitsuzuri who came to a dead stop in front of her. She was very nearly about to reprimand her for disrupting the flow of foot traffic; however, she was clued in when she noticed the small duo of Sakura and Shinji as the younger girl was quietly arguing with Shinji. Nudging Ryudou over briefly, earning a quiet retort from the glasses-wearing president; Tohsaka watched on in bated curiosity. Naturally, if things got out of hand, she would step in. She couldn't quite make out what was being exchanged between the two; however, considering the rather spasmodic gestures of Shinji and the quiet passiveness of Sakura, Tohsaka was certain that it was something she would probably murder Shinji for if she knew about it.
She was a truly terrible person for everything that she has done; she could easily add this instance to the list. Not only was she being a hapless bystander, but she was also doing it with full knowledge that she could easily stop it. However, it wouldn't be her place to interfere in the affairs of the family.
What a terrible person she was.
She had her reputation to uphold, and she couldn't bring herself to actually speak in defense – or to Sakura for that matter – of the girl. What would she say? It had been so many years since they last had a shred of familiarity between the two of them. Did she even remember her? What had she been up to over the years they had been apart? Despite having generations of inept heirs the Matou family was still considered a Magus family, and one of the three founders of the Grail Wars, there was absolutely no way that the family head hadn't done anything with Sakura; however, the fact of the matter still remained that they had been silent since around her father's time, and she has no pull in intervening with the families affairs, so long as they don't do anything to regular civilians. Therefore, her hands were tied, the only thing that she can do is just talk with Sakura.
'Master…'
'What did you find?'
'I haven't found any other Servant on the campus or the surrounding perimeter; however, I have indeed detected traces of a Servant's mana signature. I could not glean anything about the Master; however, the scent was far too faint. My apologies.'
'No, it's fine we'll be staking out here tonight, so get strapped in for an overnight vigil.' Tohsaka mused as she listened to Archer report. 'He can detect mana via scent just like Emiya-kun.' Her idle thoughts did not extend to the Servant, who was busy with investigating the surrounding body of students.
During the duo's conversation, the argument between the two siblings's ebbed out as Shinji angrily skulked away, and Sakura bowed briefly to the trio an apologetic air to her, as pale violet tresses pooled around her shoulders:
"My apologies, Senpais, Nii-san, and I were just discussing a few things that were going on at home." Her static inflective voice groused out as she darted after her irate brother.
"Well that was something, Matou really needs to learn some tact." Mitsuzuri sighed as she placed her hands upon her hips. "I'm all for people bringing their personal problems up with friends and peers; however, there comes a time when a person needs to learn that they're being irrational and a detriment to the people around them. Do you hear that Mr. Student Council President? You need to learn how to better manage your students."
Mitsuzuri placed a consolatory hand on Ryoudou's shoulder causing the straight-faced President to begin twitching marginally:
"I wonder about that Archery Club Captain, who is it that cannot even learn to control their own club members? It would be a shame if this incompetence were to make it to the academic board." Ryoudou mused calmly as he placed a hand to his chin, "Yes, I feel that it would be bad for the school if its students cannot uphold their own club's standards. I feel that I can rectify this before it gets too bad with a few re-arrangements to the budget…"
"Alright wise guy," Mitsuzuri groused as she wrapped her arm tightly around the president's neck. The two having completely forgotten about Tohsaka, who was still trying to work out her strategy for tonight.
'Archer, did you find any focal point where there is a large amount of condensed mana?'
'I have Master, they are scattered all over the campus and the surrounding area. My best estimation is that this Field covers the entirety of the school and the surrounding woods. It is rather large indeed I do not believe that it is the work of a Master if that is the case.'
'You're right I don't think they would have the time necessary to establish something on this scale without me detecting it.'
'What are we going to do?'
'Well… since you're apparently deaf we're going to have an overnight vigil.' Tohsaka felt a small thrill of satisfaction shoot through her veins; she could almost feel the eye roll her Servant threw her way.
'Hilarious Master, still a 2, however, I'm talking about in the short term. What will you do if something were to happen before tonight?'
'… if they're smart then they know that the Grail War should be kept under extreme cover; therefore, for the time being, I'm going to be a perfect role model for all the children currently here today.' Tohsaka puffed her chest proudly before confusion dusted her features at her Servant's laughter. 'What?'
'Well 'Miss Perfect Role Model' you should probably get going right now.'
'Wh…' Before Tohsaka could even finish her question, the late bell rang noisily over the campus causing her to deflate marginally. 'How did this happen?'
'You really need to pay better attention to your surroundings, Master. The main entrance cleared out about five minutes ago.'
'I was talking to you five minutes ago!' Tohsaka raged as she sped walk up the stairs to her classroom. Her infuriating Servant's laughter hanging in her ears. She was so tempted to use Command Seal number two. She was sorely tempted to ask that shady priest if he could give her Illyasviel's number; Berserker would look extremely good in red.
'Rude Master.'
'Stay out of my head!'
'But…'
'Archer, for the love of everything, one more word.' Tohsaka twitched marginally as she a flint steel gaze over her shoulder where she knew her Servant was. A single word, she dared him to say one more thing. Hell, make a single sound, and she was going to gut him herself. Servant or not he would die. Wisely, she could feel Archer relent as he fell into a reticent silence. He better be thinking about his mistakes.
The day passed far quicker than she had assumed; after she had made a convincing performance to explain her tardiness, it was finally lunchtime, and she decided to occupy her favored spot in the whole school: the rooftop. While she sat leaning against the fence, she drummed her fingers against her thighs as she calmed herself and felt out for any residual mana in the area. The thing about Tohsaka is that she could feel the mana permeating an area; granted she could not feel it if there were multiple things to distract her; however, she had become extremely adept at sourcing out the largest pools in the area. It was how she had come across Emiya-kun.
As she fully immersed herself in her surroundings, Tohsaka's breathing slowed to almost nil as her sense heightened to accommodate her situation. She could feel the minuscule amount of magical energy in the students below her feet; however, everything was dampened by the Bounded Field that was surrounding her. She could tell it wasn't complete, but it was nearing completion, which meant that there was definitely a Master attending right this instance, or someone nearby. It was too convenient that this cropped up on the second official day of the War, it could mean either one of two things: the first is that this Master had been planning this in secret for some time meaning that they had summoned their Servant far in advance; the second option would be that they were someone that had bared witness to the events that happened last night.
The second was the aptest because she was one hundred percent certain that every Master and their Servant witnessed that fight. It's not every day you see the two strongest Servant-classes duke it out; hell, she would have loved to have been a spectator. An actual participant was debatable, because of how severely it infringed on her sleep time. Regardless, the question still remained: why? What did they hope to gain from this? She wasn't certain about what this Bounded Field was, because as it stands in its incomplete state, it is literally nothing, but a massive beacon for anyone with the slightest inkling of magical knowledge. Perhaps the Master is inept, and doesn't understand the full magnitude of what is going on?
Impossible, she would assume that everyone in this War has some understanding of the basics of the Moonlit World. Hell Emiya-kun even does.
She will just have to be prudent then and go off of the assumption that this Master is indeed in the school, and that they have full knowledge of who she is. Tonight, she will search for the sigils around the area and deactivate them if she can. Obviously, she can't do that now. How would she explain it? 'Oh, I'm checking on the maintenance of the school to ensure that the janitorial staff is staying up to protocol.' Please she's not a janitor nor a mechanic; if anything, she'll leave the heavy lifting work to Archer or Emiya-kun, they would be wise to follow what a lady desires.
Time ebbed on a brisk clip as Tohsaka meandered through the day. Once dusk fell, she was once more on the rooftop of the school as she watched the flood of tan clothed bodies congest the forest green painted gates of the school. The vibrant hues of the setting sun bathing the world in an effervescent mixture of deep reds and burning oranges and the calming hues of violet. Tohsaka always found twilight to be the most beautiful time of the day. A time where the stresses of the day slip away and the harrowing night has not fully encroached upon the world. A time where she could forget completely about being the model person during the day, and the model Magus at night; a time where she can just be her, Tohsaka Rin.
She maintained her vigil until the sun had completely disappeared from the horizon, and the chilly distant stars of late winter winked at her briefly. She felt the solid presence of Archer manifest next to her, as the duo gazed down upon the deserted campus.
"Well Master, you ready?"
"Let's go." Tohsaka nodded as she tightened the knot of her scarf and swiftly darted down the stairs into the campus proper. Throughout the day, the duo has been making note of the number of sigils in and around the school. Tohsaka had counted five in the main building, and a further three in the buildings utilized for extra-curricular activities. Meanwhile, Archer had found almost double that in the surrounding woodland. Whatever this Master was doing this Bounded Field was going to be massive.
Time ebbed on slowly as the duo methodically made there was throughout the school and broke some of the sigils. The thing about these sigils was is that she couldn't actually break them by flooding them with mana; meaning that whoever put these down was either highly skilled or had a large reserve of magical energy at their disposal. Because of this, she would actually have to break them the manual way, which she couldn't do at the current moment. However, she was able to deactivate them temporarily with what she had on hand. Meaning that she was going to have to come back tomorrow if she wanted to get some actual work done. Not that it's a bad thing, because she has gleaned some information about what it was, she was going up against: most definitely a Servant.
Tohsaka prided herself on a few things: her mastery of her family craft, her large reserves of mana, and her ability to make a mean lasagna. Don't question the last one, she wouldn't ever reveal her secrets. In any case, the unique thing about a Servant is that they are being formed purely from the magical energy of the Master using a catalyst as the host. Meaning that a Servant retains lingering traces of the energy used from the summoning inside of them. The rest they naturally draw from the contract that they had formed. This is shown when a Servant doesn't immediately disappear after their contract is broken. It's nowhere near as strong, or long-lasting as a Servants Independent Action skill; however, it is used more as a back-up in case the Servant can keep fighting.
Her reasoning for this being a Servant is because the sheer volume of mana present in each sigil would supersede that of most of the Magus in the area, save for herself that is. She was also certain that there hasn't been another Magus to come into town since Emiya-kun. Meaning that the Servant is utilizing both their Master's own mana and some of the residual that was leftover inside of them. Basically, they're using their Master as a supercharged battery.
Regardless, she didn't care what happens to any other Master and Servant in this War; so long as she was victorious in the end everything else was irrelevant.
During all this, the time ebbed on and on silently. She didn't know who felt it first she or Archer, however, she was certain that she would be either killing or thanking Archer for violently tossing her out of the way as the ground collapsed where the two had once been standing. The dust cleared slowly as Archer straightened his stance, and casually summoned his twin blades. Straightening up from the deep crater before them, with a red spear casually leaned against his shoulder, was a man wearing an absurd amount of blue. She would definitely be talking with his tailor if she ever met them. Blue was good as an aesthetic color, or as an accent piece with another primary color. That or he should have broken it up with a little more silver. His tailor was in for a rude awakening when she got her hands on them.
"Fancy meeting you two here tonight." Lancer greeted casually. The air between the three of them charged as Tohsaka slowly tensed and thumbed the jewels she had stashed away.
"Hate to break it to you, but my Master has given me some pretty strict orders to kill anyone that I happen to come across." Lancer shrugged casually.
The night lit up in an array of blue and red.
If I'm perfectly honest, I think this was a pretty short month don't you guys?
More importantly, classes were just extremely busy. So, naturally, I was going to focus the majority of my attention on that. As much as I love all you guys, my classes will always be the priority.
In other news, I did actually have the time to watch Spring Song a couple of weeks back. It was absolutely insane highly recommended. I hope that you guys liked seeing some more of Tohsaka's perspective; I know some of you had been requesting it.
Because school has officially ended, at least until mid-January, I will be able to go back to two chapters a month here for the next little while or so.
On to a more serious question: I'm seriously tempted to start recording videos of my favorite anime/manga series and posting them to a YouTube channel (it'll be under the same name), and I was wondering if that is something that you guys would be interested in? The first video idea I'm tossing around is a break down of the curses or the power system in Jujutsu Kaisen.
1: Pocari Sweat is a popular sports drink in Japan, East, and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Australia, and Mexico.
2. 37-38 degrees= 98.6-100.4; 8-10 degrees= 46.4-50.
Until next time.
Ex.