Day 6 — The daughter of winter (III)

Naturally, I still didn't make it to school in time.

The student council member looked incredulous seeing me rush through the gate late by three minutes or so, but did not hesitate to put a firm hand on my shoulder and drag me to the side for a lecture.

"Really, Emiya-san. I did not take you to be such a bad student seeing as Ryuudo-san speaks so highly of you, but to think you would break the rules like this…"

After numerous apologies and promises to never be late again, I am finally free to head to my classroom.

As I go up the stairs gloomily, and turn to my classroom's corridor, I bump into a figure who was just walking past the same corner.

My skull bumps into the person's skull heavily and I reel back groaning in pain.

"Ah sorry, I wasn't looki—Tohsaka?!"

As if my day couldn't get worse, of all the people to bump into it would be the Great Devil of Fuyuki.

"E-Emiya-kun…! You…where—ow ow ow…"

Oh no, she's holding her head in pain but she also looks very angry.

Please stop glaring at me like that Tohsaka-san, my lifespan shortens every second you do so.

"—Emiya-kun, we need to talk…"

Hmm. This is bad. Time to make a split second decision. I—

Alright, I'll run away. I'll go talk to her again once she's calmed down.

"Good morning, Tohsaka. Goodbye, Tohsaka."

I sprint round the corner and down the corridor.

"H-Hold on…! I'm not done talking to you yet—!"

I ignore her and jump through the classroom doors, slamming them behind me in panic.

"…Phew."

I'm alive. I'm late for the first time in my life, but I'm alive.

That's when I take a breather to look around the classroom, and I notice multiple things.

Firstly, ignoring the shocked stares directed at me, Shinji's desk is still empty. I guess it's not going to be easy trying to settle things with him after that battle from two days ago.

Issei's desk is also empty however, which leaves me puzzled. It's not often that Issei misses a day at school. In fact, yesterday was the first time it's ever happened, to my knowledge. So why has he now missed two days in a row?

And finally, there is no teacher in the class.

I know Fuji-nee has taken the day off, and no doubt she has contacted the school about it. So normally in this case, the stern-faced Kuzuki-sensei would be taking over. I was concerned about explaining my tardiness to him, but it looks like he isn't here either.

"…Hmm. This is a rare situation."

I walk over to my desk and set my bag down. Kuzuki-sensei lives at Ryuudo Temple just like Issei. Maybe there's a connection there then…?

As I sit down and prepare for homeroom amidst the gossiping whispers from my classmates, another teacher walks in through the door and announces that he will be taking over the absent Kuzuki-sensei's role as the substitute homeroom teacher.

I drown out the rest of his announcement as I concentrate on thinking about all the weird oddities happening recently. I think I will have to pay a visit to the Temple with Saber sooner rather than later in this case.

Lunchtime arrives, and I feel around my bag to find that I do not have a bento box on me.

—Ah, that's right. I forgot to pack my lunch in my rush to get to school.

"Oho? Late for the first time ever, and no bento for lunch?"

One of the guys in my class walks over to my desk, almost like he's the representative of a big group of classmates who look keenly on.

"I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not that perfect," I say as I stand up from my seat. "I'll be heading down to the cafeteria today I think."

"Wait, Emiya."

As I push my chair back in, one of the other guys speak up.

"I think she's looking for you."

Uh. Who?

I follow his trembling finger pointed towards the classroom door.

—Ah. I forgot about that. Looks like I can't escape this time.

I grip my fists tightly in determination and stride forward.

"Hi Tohsaka, how are you today?"

"—"

"Ah, glad to hear," I reply immediately to her response, avoiding her glare as I walk up to her.

"Bye Tohsaka."

Then I break into a sprint.

"—Not this time—!"

Just as I pass the doors and sprint past her, a firm slender hand reaches out to my uniform collar and yanks me backwards.

"Ugek—"

"You."

She turns me around so I am facing her. Ah, those veins don't look healthy, Tohsaka. If you frown so much you will get wrinkles.

Of course, I value my life so I don't say this out loud.

"You. Come. With. Me."

She breaks out into a bright smile.

"I've brought enough food for the both of us, so let's go eat. Shall we, Emiya-kun?"

Tohsaka, the way you say my name is scary. Also, please stop smiling so brightly.

I follow my well-honed survival instincts and nod fervently.

"Of course, Tohsaka. Anything you say."

"Good. Now come with me."

I feel like after this incident, the Emiya Shirou stock will now drop considerably for my female classmates, and probably drop to rock bottom for my male classmates.

"Oh, we're here again."

We sit at the rooftop again, behind the water tower just like yesterday.

"I'm sorry I don't have a better place for us to have a private talk about the battle royale that is threatening our lives, Emiya-kun."

…She's still angry, it looks like.

"Here," Tohsaka says as she hands me a bento box. "I noticed you didn't bring one. Be thankful I packed an extra share just in case."

I take it and open the box, staring blankly inside.

"Wow, I didn't know you could make sandwiches like this. You always surpass my expectations, Tohsaka."

"W-Well, it's not like I'm doing this just to impress you…I'm just trying out different recipes to broaden my knowledge in cooking, that's all," she mutters and trails off in thought, before her eyes snap back angrily to me. "Wait no! You're not escaping this, no matter what you do!"

She pokes a finger at my chest, drawing in close.

"Tell me now, why did you run away from me in the morning?"

"Too close, too close!" I yelp as I shuffle back. "Okay okay I'll tell you! Just please stop glaring at me like you're about to shoot a curse at me!"

"Hmmph, if you were clearer in your communications with me, I wouldn't have to do this every time…!" Tohsaka huffs as she looks away. "Well?"

"Right. So I saw you looked like you were about to curse me, so I ran away."

"—"

"Tohsaka?"

Her eyes are wide open in surprise, and she offers no response. Hmm? Did she not hear me?

"Tohsaka…?"

Oh, is that a vein popping on her temple? Huh.

"Tohs—"

"AAAAAAH STOP IT ALREADY I HEARD YOU PERFECTLY FINE THE FIRST TIME—!"

Oh, I see.

"Geez, why do I put up with this idiot…" she mutters to herself.

I'm…slightly hurt. Surely I'm not that dense, am I?

"You see, Rin. This is why I told you he's not worth our time. Emiya Shirou is an amateur magus and will more than likely just drag you down in this War. You were right to not ally with him "

A disembodied but nonetheless smug voice resounds near Tohsaka's side.

I turn sharply to glare at it.

"You are the last person I want to hear that from," I spit back agitatedly.

Why does he instinctively annoy me? I like to think that I don't usually react like this.

As if reading my thoughts, the voice replies immediately.

"I can assure you the feeling is mutual, Emiya Shirou. Just like you cannot stand me, I most certainly cannot stand the existence of the boy named Emiya Shirou." Does he like calling me by my full name every time? What is this guy's problem. I've not even talked to him properly before.

"Enough, Archer. I told you to stay quiet, remember? Go over to the other side of the roof and guard our position or something."

"Gladly, Rin."

The voice is smug from start to finish, and I breathe a sigh of relief as I feel his presence retreat further away.

"Right. As I was going to say, I wasn't going to hex you or anything. Probably."

Probably, huh?

"Anyway, I was waiting around your classroom because I needed to talk to you about last night."

Ah, I remember now. I was supposed to go investigate the Ryuudo Temple last night, but the series of events starting from meeting Illya derailed those plans.

"Ah, sorry about that Tohsaka. I forgot to tell you but I didn't end up going to the Temple last night."

"Hmm? Oh, that's fine. What I want to tell you is the information I've gathered regarding that."

I take a bite into the sandwich as I listen to her. It's actually surprisingly delicious, the lettuce crunching nice against the finely sliced chicken and tomatoes pressed firmly between the white bread. Once again I am taken aback by how talented Tohsaka is.

"Listen, Emiya-kun. I'm almost certain the Servant up at the Temple is a Caster-class."

I nod as I chew on my lunch. That makes sense. As she told me yesterday when we had our meeting up here, the Servant is sending people around the town into comas. In that case, it's most likely that they have some level of magecraft aptitude to work the leylines on the temple grounds.

"I see, that's important information. Thanks, Tohsaka."

It really is important information. Saber's inherent Magical Resistance is top-class, so knowing it is a Caster-class Servant we are going up against firmly puts us in an advantageous position.

"In that case, I'll head to the Ryuudo Temple tonight and investigate properly." I continue, offering her my plans in return for her tip.

"You do that, I'll be focusing my patrols in Shinto," Tohsaka says.

I'm not surprised, that's what she said last time. Besides, Archer is still recovering, so she is in no state to enter blindly into a full-on battle against another Master right now.

"More importantly though…" She continues, frowning slightly as she does so. "I think it's been a bit weird recently."

"Weird? How so?"

"It's just a magus' instinct, nothing more. But I think the elements being used have changed. I felt strong traces of wind magecraft when I was peeking into the boundaries of the area, but now it feels like the Servant has swapped to using the water element more…"

"Hmm, so the Servant is using a different element for magecraft. Why is this weird?"

"As you know, Emiya-kun, each magus has an affinity for a certain type of magecraft. Water, wind, fire, and so on, or even some rarer cases where they belong outside the basic five. There are also people like me who are born with an affinity for more than one element. But even then, this is not normal for a magus, even one as legendary as to be summoned in the Caster class.

"Magi are creatures of habit. We like falling back on what we are confident in, and we put our trust in this experience. I am no exception to this too," she says, holding up her finger in the air in a shooting motion. "I like to fall back on my favourite curses when I'm pushed, and that's normal. I'm sure you do too, no matter how green you may be."

She's not wrong. Though it's more like Strengthening and Reinforcement is the only things I can do anyway that is useful. It's not like Projection will help me in any way…

"Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that a magus as strong as Caster will still have their habits. As I noted in my previous scouting of the area, they have a strong affinity for wind magecraft, as traces of spells using that element are lingering all around the Temple. I didn't pay it too much attention, since I figured even if I knew the element they would like to favour, it wouldn't change the fact that I cannot fight back properly if they summoned a wall of wind blades or a rain of fireballs.

"But now, the main element residue in the air has changed to water for some reason. I feel like I've felt this type of spell casting before, so I'll be patrolling in Shinto to see if I can dig something up tonight. But my instincts are screaming at me that this isn't normal."

I nod again. I understand what she's talking about now. This really does seem like it's not a natural thing for a magus to do. It's almost as if there's a different person casting the spells now…

But that cannot be, as the coma incidents are still happening, and if Caster was defeated by another Servant, they surely must have stopped now. And with the scale of it all happening, surely only a Caster-class Servant can cause this…?

In any case, this is vital information that might save us tonight. I should thank Tohsaka.

"No, I agree with you that this sounds weird. I'll look into it tonight with Saber and make extra preparations just in case. Thank you for telling me this, Tohsaka."

Again, she looks at me confused with wide eyes, before frowning and looking disturbed.

"Aaaaah, you throw me off my pace everytime…!"

"…? Tohsaka, what—ummmgrrhfff—!"

She interrupts me by shoving a piece of sandwich into my mouth. Her cheeks turning slight red, she looks away from me in disdain.

"Hmmph, you definitely should be grateful for this…! I don't give information like this out for free, you know."

I manage to swallow the dry mouthful of bread after a bit of struggling, and smile back at her.

"Of course. I'll make it up to you by making lunch tomorrow for you instead."

Oh, she looks astonished again. But this time—

"—Thanks, I'll look forward to it."

She replies with a warm smile.

As soon as school finishes, I grab my bag and head out to the shopping street. I need to buy groceries again for tonight, and I'll meet up with Illya immediately after I'm done.

"—Well then. Since Sakura is still recovering, I guess we should have a lighter dinner today…"

I enter the supermarket, mulling over what to buy.

"—?"

As I walk through the automatic doors, I feel like someone is watching me, and I turn behind.

"—"

No one seems to be loitering around nearby.

"—Was I just imagining it…?"

No use thinking too much about it. I shrug off the feeling and enter the supermarket.

"Alright, that's done at least."

I walk back out onto the street with bags full of shopping. With two big bags of shopping in my left hand and a further two more similarly big bags and a small one filled with taiyaki for Saber in my right hand, I must surely look like a bunch of grapes right now.

I've felt it for a while now, but it feels like my thoughts are getting all muddled and my senses are getting a bit dull.

Tiredness, maybe? I did experience quite the awful nightmare this morning, and I did use a lot more prana than I normally would in my training today.

I shrug and decide it's nothing too urgent to address. Best get back as soon as possible and put the fresh tuna slices I bought into the fridge.

"Let's go home then."

I declare to myself and start the long walk back.

As I reach the crossroads at the centre of town, I pause for a moment, looking up at the afternoon sky.

…It feels like I've forgotten something important, but I'm not sure what could it be. My clouded thoughts mix here and there making it hard for me to think about one thing at a time properly.

It kind of reminds me of when I was sprawled out on the park bench yesterday…

…Ah.

"—Illya…!"

"Hmmph, took you long enough, onii-chan."

I whirl in surprise to my right, and lo and behold the winter fairy is right there beside me, looking up at me with her tongue out cheekily.

"I was thinking it'd be funny to mess around with you a bit, but to think you'd be this defenceless against mental attacks. Honestly Shirou, you really are so vulnerable. Any Master can come up to you and just kidnap you if they wanted to. But don't worry because I won't, since you're my onii-chan!"

"…?" Wait, so she's saying that I forgot about meeting up with her because she was messing with my mind?

"I would teach you how to dispel this kind of simple spell, but it looks like you have zero aptitude for it anyway. Your future looks very gloomy when it comes to magecraft," Illya continues on. "I didn't even do an outright attack on your senses. All I did was extend a bit of my magic and mess with your brain's perception of tiredness. To think you'd be this weak though…"

"You really can't do anything without someone else's help in this War, onii-chan!" she finishes smugly, as if issuing a verdict on my overall usefulness.

It's a bit vexing, but…wait.

"So…the fact that I forgot about meeting you in the park…you had nothing to do with that?"

Illya frowns at that and sighs.

"That is completely your fault Shirou. Really now, trying to blame a bit of tiredness when you break your promises, what kind of gentleman are you?"

Ugh, she's not wrong. It does feel a bit pathetic trying to pin this on her little prank.

"…Though I still find it strange I didn't notice you until now, Illya. I assume you've been beside me since the shopping district right?"

"Oh, don't worry about that one. I was hiding a bit, interfering with your sight so that you instinctively avoid looking at me and noticing that I was right beside you. Though I'm still amazed. You're far too careless to fall for such a simple trick, especially since most experienced magi can easily detect their vision being messed with and immediately dispel it," she lectures me with a serious face.

"You're a Master, so you need to keep a better watch on your surroundings. Especially since you have a habit of going outside without Saber to keep an eye on you. I'm not saying that it would happen, but imagine what happens if Rin throws up an illusion to cripple your senses while her Servant shoots you from a safe location."

The little girl who looks no older than ten is lecturing me like a teacher. I find myself nodding along, impressed by her in-depth knowledge on the subject.

"—Ah, don't think this is anything too difficult by the way. This is all basic knowledge a magus should have, especially one that is participating in a ritual like this."

…Oh.

"Thanks, you're right. I'll try to be a bit more cautious from now on, Illya."

"Good, you seem to learn fast at least."

She seems satisfied with my response.

"—So, what's the plan for today, Shirou? Where are we going?"

Like a switch has been flicked, she's gone back to her hyperactive and childish self again. She hooks onto my right arm, swinging on it like I'm a monkey bar.

"Aaaah wait wait Illya, I'll lose my balance if you pull this hard…!"

"Then answer soon, onii-chan! I'll teach you now that a gentleman doesn't keep a lady waiting~"

—Aaah this is bad, I'm actually going to fall over if she continues this. And if I do, I'll drop all the groceries onto the asphalt.

So do we head to the park like last time? No, I bought some fresh tuna, so I've got to put that into the fridge as soon as possible. In that case…

"—Alright, alright! I get it Illya, stop swinging on me for a second, I'll tell you what we'll do now—!"

Thankfully, she actually listens to me, and steps away, though her mischievous smirk still betrays her intentions to continue messing with me if I don't give a satisfactory answer.

"Ahem, I know this is sudden, but how about I invite you to my house?"

Stunned silence follows.

"— — —Huh?"

Illya looks up at me in confusion.

"…What do you mean? Shirou's house?"

"That's right. If you're okay with it, I'll bring out some tea and snacks, and show you around the place."

"…I…I would love that, but…"

"Oh, don't worry about Saber. I won't let her attack you, I promise. She might be a bit angry at first, but if I bribe her with a grand dinner tonight, I'm sure she won't be too frustrated at me."

Hopefully.

"—"

Illya pauses again and looks away with a tinge of sadness. Then…

"Can I really go to your house, Shirou? Can such a person like me be allowed to enter your house? After all…"

It's Kiritsugu's house. I can feel the unsaid words on her tongue stubbornly refusing to reveal themselves. Her face, so full of joy and innocent mischief, is now set in stone, her guard raised to the maximum possible level. To her, surely this must be an unexpected development.

"…Let me make this clear, Shirou. I joined this Holy Grail War to take my revenge and kill you and Kiritsugu. Do you understand this?"

Of course, I understand the significance of inviting her over. I can feel how much emotion was put into those words, even if they came out dry and icy.

And she has finally laid down her cards on the table. She is here to take her revenge for my father's betrayal.

And I can feel it. This is more than just loyalty to one's family name. This is…

…Kiritsugu abandoned everything after the previous War. He started living in this town to raise me.

I didn't know about all the sacrifices that made my daily life possible until now.

Illya has a right to never forgive Kiritsugu. I understand that now all too well. I also understand why she wishes to kill me. I do not have a right to oppose that.

But even so.

No.

Because of this. I must invite her to my house.

"— — —Yeah. I understand completely. And that's why I'm inviting you, Illya. Let's put aside the Master business and the War for now, I just want you to come over."

I answer her while looking straight into her eyes.

"—"

For a moment I am afraid I've pushed her too far, but…

"…Okay! Let's go!"

She breaks out into a big smile, and she hugs my arm tenderly.

And I can just about hear her whisper, perhaps more so to herself than me.

"…Thanks, onii-chan."