Fujimaru sighed to himself as he left Shirou's room, headed back to the living room. He just felt drained after shouting his head off, but he wasn't tired enough to sleep right now. Maybe if he was lucky, he could catch some Gundam SEED or Shin Getter Robo on the TV, seeing as this was the year they aired. He hadn't been able to watch any anime in a long time, after all.
Entering the kitchen, he saw Shinji just laying on the floor, sighing to himself as Rider sat at the table, glaring at him behind her blindfold, while Jack was bent over, poking Shinji's cheeks.
"What's up with you?" Ritsuka asked as he walked to the other side of Shinji, poking his other cheek. The blue haired mage turned his head to glare at Ritsuka, before his expression softened and he sighed.
"It's nothing… just," He groaned as he put his hands to his face. "Emiya was a magus this whole time! This whole time! He must have been looking down at me, laughing at me while pretending to be my friend!" Ritsuka tilted his head, confusion on his face.
"The hell are you talking about?" Ritsuka asked. "Looking down at you? Man, he didn't even know you were a magus!" Shinji uncovered his face, turning to look at Ritsuka. "And even if he was, you really think someone who was turning his nerves into magic circuits was really looking down at you? I dunno how you added two and two to get fish, but you need to get your head outta your ass and into the game. Fate of the world and all, we can't have you acting like this,"
Shinji sighed, sitting up and smacking his cheeks. "Fine, fine. Fate of the world, huh? So then what's so dangerous that you're so convinced it might risk the world?" Ritsuka sighed as he sat at the table.
"Yeah, that's an issue. I've found a bunch of loose ends, but haven't traced them to the source. There's your grandpa acting funny, the mud creatures, the women disappearing throughout Japan, the monstrous bugs just flying about, and… well, me even being here at all,"
"Mud creatures?" Shinji muttered. With a sigh, he shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about, but why the hell do you think that you being here means it's the end of the world?" Ritsuka thought to himself, humming to himself as he did.
"Hey Matou, you studied magecraft, right? In your studies, have you heard anything about Parallel Worlds and the Chronicle Theoretical Phenomenon?" He finally asked.
"... I've come across it in my studies, but that's stuff in the realm of Second Magic. What, you telling me you're a student of Zelretch?" Shinji asked. That on one hand would make some sense about why Ritsuka thought everything was world threatening, but on the other hand, that would make the idea of him not being a 'hot shot magus' even more laughable.
"... Who's Zelretch?" Ritsuka blinked, a bit confused. Shinji stared at the Master of Chaldea for a moment, dumbfounded before shaking his head.
"No one, forget it," he muttered as he thought to himself, before his eyes widening. "Are… are you trying to claim you're from a different timeline?"
"'Try' nothing, I am from a parallel timeline," Ritsuka stated bluntly. "Well, parallel and a little bit ahead. I'm from the year 2021," Shinji stared, unsure how to answer such insanity. But… it wasn't impossible…
"Okay, let's say I just accept you being from the future," Shinji stated. "What makes you say yours is a parallel timeline instead of just being from this timeline's future?" Ritsuka thought to himself. That was actually a fair point… wait a minute…
"Which Grail War is this?" Ritsuka asked. Shinji blinked, but answered,
"It's the Fifth Holy Grail War,"
"Right there," Ritsuka said as he snapped his fingers. "In my timeline, there was only one Holy Grail War in Fuyuki, which took place in 2004. The Caster was King Solomon, who is not the Caster for this War," and thank God for that. Ritsuka wasn't sure if he could take it if he saw Solomon again. His heart ached at the thought alone, after all.
Cu was here, but he was a Lancer, not a Caster, so it couldn't be Singularity F's timeline he stumbled into… he hoped. He still had nightmares of that place occasionally. So maybe this was connected to El Melloi II's timeline. He could try calling him, maybe, but then again, having to explain that he was not only his student but also Reines' disciple from another timeline was too much effort right now.
He could also just be in some random timeline with no connection to anything. Frankly, it was too much of a headache to keep thinking about.
Shinji simply scoffed to himself. "Another timeline, huh?" It was obvious the boy didn't believe him, but there wasn't much Ritsuka could do to convince him of his sincerity. With a groan, Shinji stood up, stretching. "I'm going to bed. Good night, Fujimaru,"
"'Night," Ritsuka automatically replied before he quickly spoke up again, "Wait, hang on Matou. Do you mind taking me to school tomorrow? I need to ask Tohsaka to help with teaching Shirou magecraft so we can get him summoning," Shinji rubbed his head before asking,
"Why can't we just let him use those Saint Quartz of yours? That'd let him summon, right?" Ritsuka shook his head in response.
"Nah. Because I'm the one that created and collected them, they have a link to me. They'll only summon Servants I have a connection to directly from Chaldea. We'd need the Round Table to get a new Servant, and even then, they'd probably still be connected to me instead of him," Ritsuka explained. "It was a good idea though. Maybe I should take him Saint Quartz farming… if that's even possible,"
Shinji digested the info before nodding. "I see. Alright then, I'll take you to school tomorrow. Can't be too hard to pass you off as a new student getting a tour of the school before you officially join,"
"Sweet, thanks Matou," Ritsuka said as he gave the boy a thumbs up. Shinji said nothing else, only disappearing into his room. Ritsuka let out a yawn, shaking his head as he sat by the table. He'd need to figure out something to do for the rest of the night…
He suddenly felt a weight on his lap. Looking down, he saw Jack laying her head there, getting comfortable as she closed her eyes. So now he was trapped. Well, he supposed it could be worse. His bag was nearby, so he carefully reached into it, doing his best to search for something while not disturbing Jack. Knowing Chaldea, there was no way it wasn't in here…
He hand found some soft fabric, the Master of Chaldea pulling out… a beautifully stylish cotton scarf. Not what he was looking for, but it was nice to know Izo packed that for him. He placed it on the tabletop as he dug back into the bag, this time pulling out what he was looking for. A large multifunctional piece of cloth from Hassan of the Cursed Arm. It was so useful, Ritsuka couldn't even begin to describe it. It could be a cape, a cloak, a curtain, it could even clean his glasses or phone. But right now, it had a much simpler, but more important function.
With a smile, he unfolded the fabric, laying it down on top of Jack, covering the small child with a warm blanket. Jack's face had a cute smile as she slept peacefully in his lap. Sure, Servants didn't need sleep, but he wasn't going to say no to this. He smiled contently as Medusa took a seat at the table across from him.
"So, another timeline, was it?" She asked, causing Ritsuka to nod.
"Yeah, and slightly from the future," He sighed. "God, I sound insane. And the worst part is, I've done this so much, I've been completely desensitized to it,"
"You're right, you do sound insane," Medusa helpfully provided, causing Ritsuka to groan.
"You coulda pretended I didn't," He joked. "'No, no, I understand, after all, I come from the Throne of Heroes, which is outside of time'," Ritsuka kept the joke going, mimicking Medusa's voice. Medusa had a small smile on her face. Progress. Small progress, but that was still good.
"... What is your Chaldea like?" Medusa finally asked. Ritsuka paused as he thought to himself. How should he explain this to her?"
"Chaldea… it's…," Ritsuka found himself stumbling over his words. "I… hmm… Chaldea's a madhouse. We have our own system for summoning Servants, and we use them to help ensure humanity's survival," He paused, keeping his emotions in check for the moment. "Heroes from all across the world, all throughout time, all under one roof… it's lively. But at the same time, some people had reunions with loved ones that made it worth it," He looked over to Medusa. Her face was passive, but he could tell, she had something she wanted to ask, and he was pretty sure he knew what it was.
"Some of the first people to answer my call were two goddesses," He continued. "They are truly beautiful, if not also a handful. Goddesses that men would fight for the hand of," Ritsuka saw Medusa's interest being caught, so he decided to drop the pretenses. "Even if they are a handful, they're happy there. Euryale has found someone so innocent that even Stheno can't bring herself to tease him,"
"My sisters… found someone like that?" She asked, disbelieving.
"Yeah," Ritsuka laughed softly. "His name is Asterios. Euryale… was the first person to call him by his name instead of calling him… well, I think you know what," Medusa nodded, recognizing that name instantly. How could she not? It was the name of one of the only Greek monsters that matched her in fame, the mighty minotaur. "They spend their days there, occasionally helping me, but for the most part, just living in peace," He could only smile as he saw a genuine smile come across Medusa's face.
"That's good to hear…," She said, looking at the floor as she got lost in her thoughts.
"They're even happier because their sister is there with them," He added, causing her to look at him. "They still love you. They always will," Medusa's face was suddenly unreadable as she turned away.
"I wish I could believe your insanity…," She muttered. Ritsuka could only sigh. He hoped he didn't push too much but… it was something she needed to know. The rest of the night passed quietly, Ritsuka not able to make more conversation, and Medusa was content not to speak at all.
He really hoped he didn't mess up.
The sun mercifully began to rise after hours of silence, Ritsuka still not sleeping a single wink. A noise caught his attention, and he saw Shirou walking towards them, yawning.
"Good morning," he said with a yawn, rubbing his eyes.
"'Morning," Ritsuka greeted. "You should really go back to sleep. We're gonna get started on your crash course as soon as I can get your teacher, so you need to be well rested,"
"Can't sleep no more," Shirou muttered sleepily. "Need to get ready for school," Ritsuka stared for a half second before replying.
"You're not going to school for a while," Ritsuka stated as if the fact was as obvious as the sky was blue. "You gotta spend the next three days cooped up in here like you're studying for high school finals, and then after that, you're a member of the Holy Grail War, so you're staying somewhere that's easy to defend. Like here. It's way too dangerous to do otherwise,"
"What?" Shirou blinked. "But it's not dangerous to go to school. I'll be surrounded by people, so it'd violate magus law to attack me there,"
"..." Ritsuka reached over, placing his hand on Shirou's shoulder. "Emiya. It's not hard to get you isolated from everyone else and then attack you. And even then, some people just don't care and might attack everyone. No witnesses, no trouble,"
Shirou seemed stunned as the gears turned in his head. "You really think people would do that?"
"I mean, you, a person that wasn't involved in the Holy Grail War, was just attacked by magus and her Servant last night, despite the fact that is clearly against the rules," Ritsuka mentioned. "Pretty sure they're just guidelines people will look for loopholes in," Shirou sighed, rubbing his neck.
"Damn… why would people stoop so low like this?" He muttered, causing Ritsuka to tilt his head. There was a lot to explain, wasn't there?
"A lot of people think the ends justify the means…," Ritsuka stated, his mind drifting to his own situation. "Guess it'd be hypocritical of me to claim some sort of moral high ground…,"
"I don't think anything is worth just throwing away other people's lives," Shirou offered his thoughts on the matter, and it stabbed Ritsuka through the heart. Of course that was the thoughts of his own hero. Was EMIYA back home also thinking the same thing? The counter guardian must have hated him by now then… "What kind of prize is it anyways?"
"Right, right, we never told ya what was going on," Ritsuka muttered as Jack began to stir in his lap. "Basically, it's a War for the Holy Grail. Not the real Holy Grail, mind you, just a thing that can grant a wish. In order to fight for it, people summon Servants to wage war for them. Last pair standing gets the Holy Grail,"
Shirou gave a nod that Ritsuka recognized, the nod of a man that didn't really understand but pretended to anyway. He could only chuckle as he slowly stood up, placing Jack's head on a pillow. "Well, your actual teacher could probably teach it better than me anyways, which speaking of, I better get ready to grab her," He adjusted the blanket on Jack before grabbing the Mystic Code that resembled the Homurahara Academy uniform, walking into the bathroom to change clothes.
While he was in there, he splashed his face with water to help keep himself awake. He probably should get some sleep before the Medea raid. With a sigh, he walked out of the bathroom, seeing that Shinji was waiting for him by the door.
"You ready to go? I wanna get outta here before Sakura shows up," He asked, causing Ritsuka to blink.
"We're leaving kinda early, ain't we? Like, we'd be a few hours early,"
"Don't worry about it, I'm vice-captain of the Archery team," Shinji explained. "It's not unusual for me to be there early. And since I'm showing a new student around, well, it just makes more sense to get there early,"
"Fair enough," Ritsuka mentioned with a shrug. In order to make sure he didn't wake up Jack, he quickly tiptoed around her, grabbed the cotton scarf and glasses to slip on before he walked over to Shinji. "Alright, let's get going,"
Shinji nodded, walking out of the house with Ritsuka following quickly. Ritsuka took in a deep breath of air as he felt the sun on his skin. It was nice. He turned to Shinji, wanting to talk, but he could tell by the grumpy look on the boy's face he didn't feel like talking right now. Oh well…
Unknown to Ritsuka, Shinji was doing everything in his power not to scream. A bug kept landing on his shoulder, irritating the boy. Everytime he tried to swat it away, it kept coming back, just staring at him with its creepy bug eyes. Even worse, for some reason every time he looked at it, he was reminded of his Grandfather's words.
He had to do something about Ritsuka, and soon, before his Grandfather came back again.
Soon, the two approached the school, Ritsuka taking in the scenery. It looked so different when it wasn't night. Or when you weren't running for someone else's life. It was… a school. Nothing really spectacular about it. Nothing besides the Bounded Field that surrounded the entire school that just sent a complete shiver up his spine. Was that Caster's doing? Well, that was all the more reason to take her out.
"Here, just stay close," Shinji muttered as they headed to a different building. Ritsuka silently complied, the two soon coming to what looked like an archery range, where an athletic girl with short brown hair seemed to be setting things up.
"Yo, Mitsuzuri," Shinji called out as he approached the girl. "Have you seen Tohsaka anywhere?" The girl turned to look at him with a sharp glare.
"Oh, was her first rejection not harsh enough, Matou? You going for another round?" She asked bluntly, causing Ritsuka to have to choke back laughter. He wasn't expecting that but damn, she just murdered Shinji there. Shinji just sighed and rolled his eyes, before moving RItsuka to the front.
"This is Tohsaka Ritsuka. I'm helping him look for Tohsaka Rin," He snapped back, causing Ritsuka to blink. Why were they doing this? Mitsuzuri's glare only intensified.
"Really Matou? That's the stupi-," She trailed off as she actually looked at Ritsuka for the first time. "Oh, holy crap, I um… I see the family resemblance," She admitted. "Mitsuzuri Ayako," She held out her hand for him.
"Tohsaka Ritsuka," Ritsuka greeted as he took her hand and shook it. Right now, he really didn't really have any other choice than to roll with it. He had a really bad feeling about this, though. "I just came back from studying overseas. Haven't seen my sister in a few years… I'm excited to see her again,"
"I bet!" Ayako said with a smile. "Sorry though, I haven't seen her yet today, I think she hasn't shown up yet,"
"Ah, I see. Well, that's too bad. Thanks for helping though," He said with a smile. Ayako smiled at him before adding,
"If you want someone better than Shinji to show you around while you wait for her, I'm available," Ritsuka paused. Was this the fabled 'normal human flirting'?
He was so used to everything being on fire and a full out brawl breaking out due to someone flirting, it was hard to tell when it was happening. It didn't help that the flirting he was used to was… far more direct as well. He really hoped she wasn't, it wasn't something he wanted to worry about right now.
"Ah, no, that's okay. Shinji's been real helpful, I'll stick with him," He responded. Ayako raised an eyebrow as she looked between Ritsuka and Shinji.
"Blink twice if you're being forced against your will to say that," Ayako joked, Shinji rolling his eyes at the jab.
"Come on, Tohsaka, let's get looking other places then," He said as he grabbed Ritsuka's arm and dragged him away. When the two were out of Ayako's earshot, Ritsuka leaned over to Shinji, whispering.
"I don't think we shoulda lied to her,"
"We wouldn't be able to get any info outta her otherwise," Shinji whispered back. "We're just lucky you look like Tohsaka's brother. Now c'mon, I gotta make this tour look real," Shinji took Ritsuka inside the school, where he walked over to a locker to change his shoes. Ritsuka sighed to himself as he waited, putting his hands behind his head. He turned his face to look at the hallway and saw a very tall man in a suit standing there, looking at the two of them.
Something was off about this man. His sharp eyes made Ritsuka uneasy. Those weren't the normal eyes of an observant man, or someone that had a resting bitch face. His breathing seemed perfectly efficient, and as he walked closer to them, Ritsuka could see that his walking was exactly the same as his breathing… not one wasted motion. He didn't feel like a danger, but someone like this... They weren't normal.
He was tempted to compare it to old Li Shuwen, but there was a difference. Old Li had an aura of calm around him. He was one who was so skilled yet kind that Ritsuka always felt safe around him. This man... Was calm, but it was not calming. It was almost as if he was a robot, but even that was a bad comparison. He was a mystery Ritsuka couldn't figure out on this glance alone.
He was both afraid of and excited by this man.
"Matou," The man spoke up, his voice deep. "Remember that outside shoes are forbidden in the school building," The man spared a glance at Ritsuka's shoes as Shinji nodded.
"Yes, yes, I remember Kuzuki-sensei," Shinji waved off the teacher's concerns. "I'll take him to the visitor's lounge," Ritsuka stayed quiet. What was a man like this doing at the school teaching? Something didn't add up. The man didn't stick around for long, walking off and disappearing down the hall. "Now, c'mon, Tohsaka, let's get you some shoes,"
Shinji led Ritsuka to the visitor's lounge, a nice little room with some spare shoes and a fish tank. It was quiet as Ritsuka changed his shoes, until he spoke up.
"Hey Matou. Thanks for helping me," The Master of Chaldea said. Shinji looked at him like he grew a second head, but didn't say anything else, so Ritsuka continued. "I woulda been really lost without ya, and you didn't have to help me out so much. So, thanks," Shinji didn't answer him, instead walking out of the lounge, Ritsuka closely following behind him.
As the two walked down the halls, Ritsuka kept an eye out on his surroundings, trying to find anything else suspicious. Frankly, this whole school was giving him a bad feeling. Was it because of the Bounded Field? A voice calling out to them snapped Ritsuka out of his thoughts.
"Oh, hey Shinji," A teen with red wavy hair walked up to them, two girls hanging off his arms. "It's odd to see ya without the company of some lovely ladies. Unless… you started swinging for the other team?"
"Ah, Hane," Shinji let out a chuckle. "Come on, I was just being a good person and showing a potential new student around," He motioned to Ritsuka. "This is Tohsaka Ritsuka, an old friend of mine from when I was studying overseas. Ritsuka, this is Kagame Hane, a friend of mine,"
"Tohsaka?" Hane raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know she had relatives…. Although…," He looked Ritsuka up and down. "I can see the family resemblance," Ritsuka could only let out a nervous laugh.
"This is gonna get me in trouble, isn't it?"
"I mean, the guys aren't going to hate you because you're not in the competition for Tohsaka's heart," Hane explained. "As for the girls…? Well, that's on you. Make a good impression, slugger,"
"Thanks, I'll... keep that in mind," Ritsuka answered, unsure how else to answer that. Hane chuckled and gave the two a two fingered salute as he walked off. Shinji just chuckled to himself as the two continued to walk down the halls, Shinji showing Ritsuka around the rest of the school. Ritsuka wasn't paying too much attention though… he couldn't shake this bad feeling he had.
They got to the top floor, stopping a second to take a break when Ritsuka suddenly heard a voice right behind him.
"Well, well, well. What a surprise, nii-san," The thick sarcasm in that voice could choke out an elephant. Gulping, Ritsuka turned around to see a very annoyed looking Rin staring up at him.
"Oh, hey imouto," Ritsuka said with a big smile, only slightly flinching when he saw Rin getting a little more annoyed. "Ah… well… we found her, Matou,"
"So we did. Good luck, Tohsaka," Shinji had a malicious grin on his face as he walked away. Oh, that son of a- Ritsuka was taken off guard by Rin grabbing his wrist and dragging up the stairs, headed to the roof. She opened the door and gently tossed him through it as she shut the door behind her, leaving the two alone on the roof.
"So, what is this about, Fujimaru?" Rin asked, folding her arms as she stared at him. Ritsuka rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well, there's… a lot of things that I need to talk to you about, and they're all very important… so, first things first. I need you to come with me and teach Emiya magecraft," Ritsuka began. Tohsaka just stared at him with a look that let him know she thought he had just uttered the most stupid thing he had ever heard.
"And why would I do that?" she asked, humoring him. Ritsuka folded his arms as he sighed.
"Okay, so this is a bit of a long story, so bear with me. So basically, Emiya is a mage. One who's… lack of basic training is disturbing, even to one as out of the loop as me. He turned his nerves into magic circuits every time he tried to do magecraft!"
Ritsuka saw Rin's eye twitch at that, but she still managed to keep her cool. "And what does have to do with me?"
"I'm getting to it," Ritsuka stated. "Anyways, so last night, he was attacked by the Master of Berserker, the Einzbern's family representative, Illyasviel. She was trying to kill him, but I managed to save him with some dumb luck. So she gave me an ultimatum. Shirou's got three days to summon a Servant, or her and Berserker are just going to straight up kill him," He rubbed his forehead. "And to be frank, we could take all six of the other Servants in the Grail War and throw them at Berserker, and our chances of beating him go from… zero percent to five percent,"
"Oh, come on, you must be exaggerating," Rin tried to reason, only to be met with Ritsuka shaking his head.
"No, you don't understand. She has Heracles as her Berserker. A great Greek hero known the world over, who also has one of the… dumbest Noble Phantasms I have ever heard of," He sighed. "He has God Hand, which basically means we have to kill him 12 times. In 12 different ways," He looked at Rin. "I think you can understand why that's a problem,"
Rin sighed. "So basically, you can't fight her off, so you have to follow her demands,"
"Yeah, and my knowledge of magecraft is… lacking. He needs someone with better fundamentals to teach him. I opened his circuits yesterday, so you'll just have to actually teach him," Ritsuka explained. Rin looked torn, unsure how to proceed.
"I still don't see how that's my problem," She argued, almost like she was asking Ritsuka to give her just a little bit more of a push to make her go down the right road.
"Tohsaka, I don't know what your relationship to him is, but the other day, you could have just killed him. Instead, you erased his memory and saved him. Now, the Holy Grail War is threatening his life again. He's being targeted by a different family for reasons he doesn't even know. You gotta help him," Ritsuka pleaded. Rin sighed, squeezing her arm as she thought.
"Fine, I'll help out," She caved, causing Ritsuka to sigh in relief.
"You're the best, Tohsaka," Ritsuka said with a smile before straightening up, not noticing Rin blushing at his praise. "Now, there's a few more things we need to talk about, but we can do that while we head to Emiya's house," He stated as he headed to the door.
"Wait, we're going now?!" Rin asked, confused.
"Well, yeah. Time's a-wastin', and we don't have time to waste. Especially since the second thing I want to talk to you about is super time sensitive," Ritsuka explained. To Rin's credit, she didn't stand there and keep arguing, following the Master of Chaldea. The two managed to sneak past the teachers in the hallway, and quickly left the school before someone could stop them.
"So what's this second thing you wanted to talk about?" Rin asked as they headed down the road.
"Right, that," Ritsuka sighed as he thought to himself. "So, by this point, I'm sure you know, but Caster's on Mount Enzou and gathering mana from the townspeople. People are getting hurt, and on top of that, having Caster sitting on that much mana is… concerning. So would you team up with me to take her out tonight?" Rin paused as she rubbed her chin.
"I suppose we'd have to do something about her eventually… and you aren't a member of this war…," She thought to herself. "But how do I know you're any help?" She prodded as she poked him in the side.
"Ah, well, Chaldea sent me a Servant, so I should be able to pull my weight," He replied. Rin stopped in her tracks, causing Ritsuka to stop as well. "What's up, Tohsaka?"
"Chaldea can summon Servants?" She asked, her eyes narrowing.
"Well, yeah," Ritsuka stated. "We have our own separate summoning system from the Fuyuki system, so I've contracted with a Servant or two…," hundred, but she didn't need to know that yet. He raised his hand before she could continue talking. "Before you ask, no, I don't know exactly how our summoning system works, I'm just a field operative, an anchor for the Servants. Our catalyst is the Round Table, because it's a place where heroes gather," He finished up as she stared at him.
"You're getting more and more suspicious, Fujimaru Ritsuka," She stated. "We're going to have a serious talk later,"
"I'll be happy to answer questions to the best of my abilities when we do have that talk," Ritsuka honestly stated. "We just need to, you know, help Emiya and take care of Caster first," Rin sighed, muttering something under her breath he couldn't hear. "I'll cook ya and Shirou lunch as extra thanks, okay?" Ritsuka offered.
"Don't act like that's good compensation," Rin grumbled as she started to walk down the street once again. "I don't even know if you're a good cook,"
"I'm not the best, but I can cook well enough," Ritsuka admitted. "I'm really good at making curry," by this point, they had made it back to Shirou's house, the two stepping onto the property…
Only to hear the sound of what sounded like combat inside.
"Shit, shit, shit," Ritsuka muttered as he rushed to the door, throwing it open. Did Illya go back on her promise? Maybe it was the mud women, or even those flying bugs. Hell, at this point, he wouldn't be surprised if a Chimera showed up and attacked Shirou while they were gone. However, none of those things were what he saw. Instead… what he saw was much, much worse.
"WHERE'S MOMMY?!" Jack screamed at the top of her lungs as she tried to stab Shirou with her knives, the redheaded boy only able to avoid such a fate by using what looked like a reinforced poster as a shield against the onslaught Jack was raining down on him. Rider didn't look like she was willing to step in, watching from the corner of the room, an unreadable expression on her face.
"Jack! Jack! I'm here, I'm back!" Ritsuka yelled. A switch seemed to go off in Jack, the small child stopped trying to stab Shirou and ran over to Ritsuka, leaping up and grabbing onto his neck.
"Mommy! Mommy! The bad man wrapped us up in a blanket and threw us in another room to keep us away from you!" She cried as she held a death grip to his neck. Ritsuka sighed to himself, patting her on the back as he ignored the looks Rin and Shirou were giving him.
This was going to be a long day, wasn't it?