Rin Tohsaka crosses the threshold of the school, with Taiasu Taruko and the invisible Archer close behind.
"I guess I was wrong…" she says. "Seems that some hypotheticals do happen."
"Sometimes arguing over every little thing pays off."
They can hear the smirk in Archer's voice.
Taiasu's head tilts. "What are you guys talking about?"
"The air in here," she says. "It feels like there's a boundary field set up, right?"
"What's a boundary f—"
"Later, Taiasu."
He frowns and his eyes narrow.
Humph… Well, I don't know what it is, but I know what it feels like… It feels like that park… It feels like another time-locked space…
"Incomplete, but yes. They're definitely getting one ready," Archer says in his practiced, even tone. "Pretty cocky, doing it out in the open like this."
"That or someone who doesn't know better. This is third rate work if we can notice it this easily," Tohsaka says, shrugging. "Otherwise, we'd only know about it after it's activated."
"Which one do you think it is, Rin?"
She frowns and her eyes narrow. "Doesn't matter. I'm going to pound them into paste for being so brazen in my territory."
The three make their way through the school grounds and into the main school building. Taiasu catches a brief sight of Emiya, and the old man's words echo in his head again, but he dismisses them with a casual smirk and lets Emiya be about his day as he stays near Tohsaka.
This is way more fun, old man…
After the second period has ended, the three make their way out of the classroom. Tohsaka stops when she notices someone with unsteady steps carrying two stacks of papers, obscuring their face.
"Let me help, Sakura."
Taiasu glances from the concealed girl to Tohsaka and back again.
The shy girl with the purple hair?
"Tohsaka… Senpai…?"
"World history…" Tohsaka frowns. "That's my homeroom teacher. What's Kuzuki thinking, making a girl deal with all this by herself? Here, let me take half," she says, taking one stack.
Taiasu's head tilts to the side again.
Kuzuki… who's that…?
He files the name under faces not found.
"Ah.. yes. Thank you, Senpai."
Tohsaka smiles at her. "Don't worry about it. We're taking these to your classroom, right?"
She returns the smile with a soft one of her own. "… No, we're taking them to Kuzuki-sensei. He said he's recalling them because there was a misspelling."
"I see. He's stubborn like that. The only teacher in the entire school who'd cancel an entire test because of a single misspelled word," Tohsaka says, sighing.
The girl's head tilts. "Huh? You mean the school's exam?"
"That was the one. Last year's midterm. He came in before anyone had even started and said there was a misspelling, and it had to be cancelled and retaken at a later date. Surprised everyone. Even the teachers still talk about it today."
"That's just like Kuzuki-sensei," the girl says. "He doesn't think teachers should make any mistakes."
"Still, he goes too far. You'll realize soon enough, he's stubborn as a bull or a mule."
The girl giggles. "Tohsaka-senpai, you must like Kuzuki-sensei. It's rare for you to talk about someone like that."
"Do you think so? I think he should be less inflexible though… Anyway, once you reach second year, you'll get to see him more, since he teaches ethics too. Besides that, is it okay for me to ask you something, Sakura?"
Taiasu grins unseen.
You mean, 'two things'?
"Huh? What is it, Senpai?"
"Yesterday, were you talking to some strange foreigner?"
The girl turns a light shade of red and scuffs her foot. "Oh… you… were watching, Senpai?"
"Just passing by. Someone you know?"
She shakes her head "He was just a strange person, and he seemed lost. He asked me a lot of things, but I couldn't make out what he was saying, so, um…" The girl's gaze drops to the floor.
Tohsaka smiles softly. "Sorry. I was just curious…"
"No, it's alright…"
They walk a little further together, and the girl stops. "Um, here is fine, Senpai. I only have to hand these to him now."
"Alright," Tohsaka says, passing the stack of papers back. Then her brow lifts. "Hey, Sakura? How are things?"
The girl smiles again. "Ah… yes, things are okay. I'm doing fine."
"… Okay. Let me know if Shinji does something again. He doesn't have a hard-stop setting, so it will only get worse if you say nothing."
Taiasu recalls his face from his 'faces found' folder before frowning.
Wait, Shinji? The blue-haired guy…?
The girl's smile brightens. "It's fine. You don't need to worry, Senpai. Nii-san has been kind recently."
The small man catches her qualifier, and his eyes narrow sharply as hands form into tiny fists.
… Recently?
Tohsaka waves her off, and starts walking, Taiasu close behind, and Archer doubtlessly nearby as well.
Taiasu glances around and sees no one.
"You know her?" he asks.
"Huh? You mean Sakura?" Tohsaka mutters.
"Yeah," he says. "I saw her a few times. She's always… so reserved."
"That's just how she is. Yeah, I know her…" Her voice trails off.
"So… what's her relation to that blue-haired guy? That 'Shinji' person?"
Tohsaka's eyes widen. "You don't know?"
Taiasu can only shrug. She can't see it, of course.
"How could I?" he says. "All I have to go on is what I've heard, and you asked if he'd been treating her well. I know they have the same last name, so they can't be… dating… bleh."
He sticks his tongue out, still unseen, but Tohsaka laughs anyway.
"No, she's his sister…" Her voice drops away again. "Wait… what makes you say that?"
Taiasu thinks back to the shed and every interaction he'd seen between the girl and Emiya.
I mean, it's so obvious, but it's not my place to say.
"Say what?" he says, playing dumb.
Tohsaka sighs. "Gh… never-mind."
"But you said she's his sister…?" Taiasu frowns. "They're so… different. He's such a complete…" His frown sharpens.
"I get what you mean." Tohsaka's thoughts are still in some far off place.
"So how do you know her?" he asks.
"Well, she's a student here, so it's only natural I'd know her, right?"
"Sorry…" he says, looking down.
"Why?"
"… I know. You gave her that ribbon, right?"
Tohsaka stops mid-step.
"How… do you know that?"
"I saw into her soul too. I was going to keep quiet but… you seemed sad. Just thought… If you knew, you could talk more if you wanted," he says, twisting his hands. "You listened to me a lot yesterday, but I can listen too… I don't know everything, but I know you were closer than you're pretending. I know something separated the two of you when you were young. And that's when you gave her one of your red hair ribbons."
She remains quiet, staring at the floor.
"Sorry… I think I said—"
"She's my sister."
Taiasu's eyes widen and he gasps softly as his head turns to look up to see her wearing a sad smile.
"Your sister…? I thought you might have just been good friends, but I didn't… Then, she's not that guy's sister?"
She shakes her head. "His family adopted her… It's a thing with the families of magi that would take too long to explain."
He stares at the ground. "Sorry… I made you think of something sad again."
Her smile lifts. "It's fine. And you're right. If you already knew, it's not as if I'm burdening you with my baggage by talking about it."
"Tohsaka…" he looks up at her.
"Hm? What?" She looks down at him, following his voice.
"Nothing… Just, you know… Thanks. I'm glad I could help you unburden yourself a bit."
Her smile widens again. "You know, you're a strange little guy…"
The last bell rings as the sun dips low in the sky, with students filtering out of the classroom.
"Let's get started, Archer. We need to check the boundary field first," Tohsaka says. "We'll decide what to do with it once we know what sort it is."
Archer remains quiet, and they make their way throughout the school. The entire time they move about, Tohsaka counts something in her head at each place she stops. Finally, they make their way to the roof.
"Seven… This looks like the origin," she says, staring at something on a wall Taiasu can't perceive. Her eyes narrow as her brow furrows. "Damn it… This is beyond me."
"So, what's a boundary field?" Taiasu asks again.
"Not now." Her eyes narrow further while her mouth forms into a thin line. "Archer. Are you Servants this sort of creature?"
"Basically. We are spirits, and so we subsist mainly on souls and thoughts, in much the same way you subsist on meat and grain," Archer says in his even tone. "Doing so increases our energy capacity, making us tougher, more durable."
"So the Master apparently isn't providing enough magical energy…?"
"Hey, I don't get it," Taiasu says. "What do you mean by all that?"
"Taiasu, I won't explain everything right now, but someone set this up to consume everyone in this school like food," Tohsaka says, still trying to focus. "It was a Master, or their Servant. Masters have to provide their Servants with magical energy, so if they can't, then they have to resort to things like… this…"
"Magical energy? You mean like aether?" Taiasu asks.
"You said that yesterday, right? I think it's similar," she says.
Taiasu shakes his head. "I think aether is more versatile. It's what lets me do stuff like hide from people in plain sight, and… well, Ninjutsu right now."
"Nin… jutsu?" Tohsaka says, smirking. "That's ridiculous."
"You can laugh, but it's what let me escape from Archer on that roof and get back on after…" He shudders violently on recalling that part. "I just have to be careful right now. If I do too much… well, it could go bad for me since there's none for me to draw on outside those crystals."
"Magical energy, aether, whatever you want to call it," Archer says, interjecting. "It's not so much about whether the master can supply it. It's just that having more is never a bad thing. For some Masters, it's just playing smart, stealing energy from people around them. Like this boundary field, for instance."
"Archer." Tohsaka's eyes narrow and she flashes her teeth. "Never mention anything like that again."
"Of course not. I'd never stoop to such unsavory tactics." He responds coolly, and Tohsaka relaxes.
"Let's get rid of this. It's pointless in the long run, but hopefully it will slow them down," she says while approaching the wall, holding out her left arm. A brilliant light erupts around her.
"Abzug. Bedienung Mittelstand."
Taiasu shakes his head.
Deduction… Operation middle class…? That's not the same language as before.
Her arm glows in a way similar to when she had been about to release her wrath in her bedroom that morning. She chants something that makes no sense to Taiasu, reaching out to touch the wall. Her hand stops just before the wall as an unfamiliar voice fractures the surrounding silence.
"What? You're just going to erase it? That's such a waste," the voice says in a sarcastic tone.
With one swift motion, Tohsaka turns around to face it, and Taiasu turns as well, his hairs standing on end.
Her gaze traces a path and his follows to see a man in a form fitting blue outfit with blood-red eyes, steel plated pauldrons on his shoulders, and blue hair, cut in a loose, moderate-length, flat-top, and bound in a long ponytail in the back standing casually on top of a water tower a good distance away.
"You did this?" Tohsaka asks, her guard up.
The air feels like it could shatter at any moment.
"Not me, no. Those sorts of tricks are a magi's job. We only fight like we're told, right? Just like you over there?" the man says to something or someone unseen.
Tohsaka swallows hard. "You're a Servant…"
"Bingo. So that makes you an enemy, right?" he says. "Still, I messed up. I shouldn't have called out for the fun of it…"
His tone is casual, almost friendly, but his words cause Tohsaka to freeze.
The guy raises his arm, and in a showy display of power, a red weapon two meters long materializes in his hand.
Blood red.
A spear that strikes to the core for its appearance.
Tohsaka reacts on instinct, jumping to the side as the man lands, his polearm slicing through the air where she had just been.
"Hah! You have some good legs, young lady!" the man says, laughing.
The man turns to see Taiasu bearing down on him from the shadows. His kodachi slice through the air, coming down at a speed far beyond any he'd shown during his clash against Archer. Though not fast enough, as the man in blue deflects his attack with the shaft of his polearm. Both blades bounce harmlessly away, sending a few sparks into the surrounding night.
"What?!"
He jumps backward.
"No, wait, but…?"
Having his attack deflected pushes Taiasu back, and he lands a small distance away.
"Taiasu…!" Tohsaka calls out from her new, safer position. Her leap out of harm's way has carried her to the fence surrounding the roof.
Lancer looks from Tohsaka back to Taiasu, shaking his head. "But your servant is there, so who is…?!" The man seems more confused with each passing second. "Wait… What's a 'Taiasu'…?"
Taiasu's persona has shifted completely. Before he had been innocent, almost childlike, an undeterrable chatterbox, somewhat immature, and often annoying. This moment has forced these into obscurity.
His mask conceals his features, but they still come through with crystal clarity. Every fiber of his being is taut. His eyes, narrowed to slits, see only this man in blue who has just made an attempt on this girl's life. His hands grip his weapons so tightly he can already feel blisters forming. His teeth groan under the pressure placed on them by his jaw. One thought sounds in his mind as his voice comes out low and fierce.
"Don't attack…"
He sheathes both kodachi in the blink of an eye, and with unconscious swiftness he performs the two hand signs needed to meld his aether, his own sustaining life force, into something pliable.
"My FRIENDS! RAITON NO JUTSU!"
A tracer descends to the roof, targeting where the man in blue stands, and a second later, a violent blast of purple lightning falls from the sky. The explosion rocks the area with a deafening roar while it envelops the surrounding night in a brilliant flash of light. It releases a shockwave reaching as far as the surrounding fence, and Tohsaka shields her face to guard against it as casts her twin tails straight behind her.
The man in blue leaps back, narrowly evading the blast. Before he can land, Taiasu is on him, slashing downward with both weapons. The man's lance comes up, and knocks both away as he again lunges backward.
"Taiasu…"
Tohsaka's voice is just above a whisper.
She stands staring, stunned.
That's… not the same person.
"Rin… It might be wise to withdraw." Archer's voice comes out, his form still immaterial.
"No…" Her voice is quiet, but determined.
I want to see this…
The man in blue lands a good distance away, on full guard now, but Taiasu yields not for an instant, lunging forward and into the air, bearing down like a tiny whirlwind of blades whose only purpose is to see this man in shreds. The man exploits the reach of his weapon to great effect, deftly deflecting the repeated assault with speed and precision, both while Taiasu is in the air, and after he lands.
Each attack comes ferocious and swift, directed at everything in reach. The length of his blades, and his repeated parting from the ground, make up for any deficiency in his stature. Feet. Legs. Hands. Arms. Chest. Shoulders. Neck. Head.
Nothing is outside his reach.
With each strike being swatted away, his offensive comes with little efficacy. Unconcerned and undeterred, he persists. The man in blue is a picture of frustration and confusion. At the moment, this diminutive person seems little, if any threat, but what proves so frustrating is that he's here at all.
"I… don't… get… this.." the man says, continuing his perplexed defensive. "She… already had… one… Servant… what the… hell… are… you…?"
Taiasu lands from his most recent failed offensive, and the man thrusts his lance forward to pin him to the ground. The small man turns to the side to evade, and a familiar cloud obscures his form. Pulling his lance from the shattered roof tile, the man blinks several times as the cloud clears.
"DOTON NO JUTSU…!"
Before the man can find him again, Taiasu has reappeared behind him and performed the three hand signs necessary to ply his aether for a different ninjutsu. Much of the surrounding roof softens into a mud-like substance, and the man quickly sinks to his knees. Taiasu leaps away before the same happens to him, landing near Tohsaka, breathing heavily before falling to one knee, keeping himself upright by resting his right hand on the roof.
"Sorry… Are you okay?"
"Taiasu… what?" She looks at him in shock.
"I told you, Ninjutsu," he says between breaths, staring at the man with the lance as he continues trying to extricate himself from the ground.
"Sorry… I can't fight him like this. Ninja is best suited for assassinations, and I can't do that right now… I was just so…" He glares at the ground, the frustration on his face clear even behind his mask. "I'm sorry… I shouldn't have even let him get close to you…"
"Rin, can we withdraw now?" Archer's voice is more pressing.
The man in blue exerts himself against the mud, which continues pulling him further into it.
"Ah… Yeah… let's get to the ground, Archer."
She stares at the small man, still on one knee.
What is this guy…?
"It is big, it is small." Tohsaka recites another chant, and Taiasu smacks his head on hearing it.
Come on, that can't be what she said…
Her left arm glows, illuminated by a series of incomprehensible glyphs and symbols. She grabs the small man by the arm and lifts his insignificant frame as she gracefully leaps the fence surrounding the roof.
"Archer, take care of the landing."
"Right."
"Hey, are you… running… away… damn it, what is this!?" The man in blue curses, still trying to free himself.
Their descent slows before they reach the ground. Tohsaka releases Taiasu's arm, and he stumbles forward a few steps.
Damn it. I went too far… It feels almost as bad as… the first day…
Breathing is hard, and his entire body aches even though he'd not received a single blow.
Yeah… this is bad…
"Are you alright?"
He glances back and can see Tohsaka's face, her brows rising as she takes a few tentative steps forward.
"Not… really…" he says through a couple pained gasps. "Went a little… hard back there. I can walk though. We need to get someplace else, right?"
"Ah… yeah. Just follow me," she says, sprinting past him.
He grits his teeth and sprints after her, following her into the largest part of the schoolyard.
"So how long is that going to hold him?" she asks
"If he's not able to break free, it lasts about thirty seconds so—"
The man in blue lands in front of them in dramatic fashion, twirling his lance over his head before directing the business end at them.
"Going someplace?!"
"—Probably… not… long…" Taiasu finishes, stepping in front of Tohsaka, weapons at the ready.
The man scoffs. "Oh, come on. Didn't you already try this?"
The small man stays where he is.
He's right… And that was when I was fresh…
"You can't fight him as you are now, right?" Tohsaka whispers.
"No… I can't…" Each word comes between a heaving breath.
"So, have you resigned yourselves to death? Got your affairs in order? Any last words, and all that?" the man says, smirking.
"I can't win, but I can hold him off while you get to someplace safe…!" Taiasu says.
"Huh..?" Tohsaka sounds surprised, and Taiasu turns to see her tilting her head. "Why would I do that?"
"Eh? You can't fight this guy…! He almost split you in half! I don't wanna see that!"
"Heeey. I don't want to interrupt your conversation, so can you two hurry so I can get this done? I have places to be." The man says this, yet he politely allows them to continue their dialogue.
"Why would I fight?" Tohsaka says, smiling. "Archer."
Finally, Archer's form materializes, standing next to Taiasu.
"Yes. That is the Servant's job, after all," he says, smirking.