Fate: Hammer Time

by TedTheRabbit

Shirou Emiya wanted to become a hero. That was clear to all who truly know him. For a long time though, he lacked the power to actually achieve that goal. No longer. No longer will he lack the power, now that the Hammer of the Odinson has chosen him as new wielder. Prepare for Thunder. ShirouxMultiple, Thor-Shirou.

24. Setting Up the Scenes (draft)

Hello everyone, there I am again.

Same story as the previous chapter. By lack of time, my betas haven't been able to really proofread it, so this is once more just a draft.

My apologies, but that's just how it is at the moment. I hope you can enjoy the chapter anyway.

There we go:

Setting up the Scenes

---

Raiga still hadn't called him.

Shirou looked at his phone with a frown, glaring at the innocent device as if it held the power to summon the Yakuza-lord at will, but refused to, simply to make his life more difficult.

Raiga had promised to contact him as soon as he had found the Brat, or at least had a good lead, but it had been two weeks already and Raiga still hadn't called or otherwise messaged him, not even to tell him there had been no progress yet. The redhead didn't want to admit it, but he was getting restless.

Of course, he'd done what Raiga asked of him. He had read the information that the old man had provided him with and had spent the last weeks hunting down every criminal the yakuza-boss wanted removed from the game.

It hadn't been difficult, or even just worth mentioning really. He read the profile of his target, waited for the correct time, took down the criminal and their cronies, phoned the correct number and then handed his catch of the night over to one of Raiga's bribed officers.

This did not only keep Fuyuki-City safe, but it also served to enrage the Brat and hopefully lure him towards the city, so that Shirou could deal with him. That should put an end to most of the unrest in Japan, especially if Rakurai disappeared from the radar after that.

That did require however that the Brat would show himself sometime soon, but so far, the man had managed to completely elude any attempt made to find him or lure him in.

Raiga had estimated that it would take about a week, maybe a couple days more, to get the Brat to Fuyuki, but they'd gone past that deadline four days ago now and there was still no indication the Brat was coming any time soon.

The possibility that the Brat had seen through their scheme was becoming more and more likely with every day that passed.

Shirou didn't like that at all.

Thus his constant staring at the phone whenever he didn't have anything else to do.

Sakura was busy in the kitchen, quietly working on their lunch for school, periodically glancing at him as she filled their bentos. At first, she had been disapproving of his budding obsession with the phone, but as more and more time went by without any sign from Raiga, she was also getting anxious.

The matter of Rakurai hung above the Emiya-residence like a dark cloud. Always present, inescapable and impossible to ignore for long.

Shirou knew he had done the right thing by becoming Rakurai, Sakura and Ayako had been quite insistent on that, but to know people had been hurt and were still being hurt because of his failings was bitter indeed.

On the upside however, Sakura's 'medical leave' had finally ended; she had been deemed mentally stable enough to go back to school without complications. Her examiners considered it odd she had recovered so quickly from her 'terrible experiences', but they had given her a clean record and permission to continue with her life nonetheless.

There had been an offer from her school for her to follow a separate class to catch up on what she'd missed during her forced absence, but she'd only been absent for slightly more than two weeks, so Sakura had refused.

There was no way she was going to delay her re-entrance into normal society even more.

She did appreciate that the school was trying to look out for her, but there really was no need for them to do so. She would much rather have things go back to how they were, though of course, without Zouken.

Despite that however, Shirou could tell there was something wrong with her.

It wasn't anything big, and Sakura wasn't morose or glum because of it, but at times, when she thought he wasn't looking, she would flinch slightly, or bite her lip with a pained expression, as if she was recalling something shameful.

She hadn't spoken about it so far, and experience had taught him that it was unlikely she ever would without external pressure. She was still far too worried about being a bother to come to him for help with her problems.

Shirou didn't want to press her, but if the matter was still bothering her by nightfall, after she'd been to school again, he would address the matter himself.

He did not want a repeat of the past years.

Nodding to himself, Shirou went back to staring at his phone, before a bento was suddenly held in front of his eyes, blocking his sight of the device.

"I finished your bento, Senpai." Sakura smiled, pretending she had no clue as to what she'd just done. "I finished early, so we'll have to wait for a few minutes before we can go to school. Ah, I can't wait to finally see Ayako again."

"You saw her just yesterday," Shirou pointed out in a slightly exasperated tone, accepting his bento and putting it in his bag. "She was here for most of the afternoon and almost the entire evening."

"Yes, but she didn't stay the night, so it has been far too long already." Sakura grinned impishly, flipping her hair back, before she frowned slightly. "Besides, I… we have something we need to talk about with her."

Shirou lifted an eyebrow at that last bit, but she didn't continue.

"Have you heard anything back from lord El-Melloi yet?" She asked instead, changing the subject with the subtlety of a charging dragon. "It has been some time since you sent him a letter about that sponsorship he promised you."

"Sure did. His letter arrived just this morning." Shirou grinned, holding up the piece of paper that contained the lord's answer. "It's a lot of lordly talk and high-class vocabulary, but from what I could actually understand, he writes that he expects me at Heathrow Airport on the first day of the summer break."

"That's good to hear. I'm happy he is keeping his promise." Sakura smiled, though her expression became a bit forlorn. "It will be lonely without you, but I suppose I can ask Ayako over every day, and I'll call you as often as I can."

"Don't forget Taiga." Shirou grinned, chuckling as Sakura's smile turned brittle. "When I'm gone, it falls to you to keep the tiger fed and satisfied."

"Don't remind me." Sakura groaned, clearly not looking forward to having to withstand the beast's moods on her own. "Have you told her that you'll be gone for the summer break?"

"…Actually, I haven't yet."

"Senpai." Sakura's tone was both disappointed and exasperated, and though Shirou had his eyes turned away from her, he could feel her disapproving gaze burning a hole in the side of his head.

"It honestly slipped off my mind, I swear. She hasn't visited us over the past weeks, so I didn't think about it. Besides, with her absence, I wouldn't have had an opportunity to tell her even if I had thought about it."

Sakura shot him a look that spoke volumes about how much she believed that, before shaking her head with a sigh. "You'll have to tell her soon, Senpai. The longer you wait, the harder it will be."

"True. I will tell her next time she visits." Shirou decided, hitting his fist on his closed palm. "I'll have to make her favourite food, and lots of it, and bring the message as gently as I can."

"That sounds like a good idea." Sakura agreed, her expression softening again. "Fujimura-Sensei does love you a lot, Senpai. She'll miss you very much when you're gone, and not just because of your food."

"I know." Shirou rubbed his face, letting himself fall backwards onto the couch. "I'm not looking forward to leaving you all either, but I have to."

"Of course." Sakura agreed, sitting down next to him, her expression uncertain but kind. "You have to save your sister after all. I think that is more important right now than keeping us company."

"Thank you, Sakura." Shirou said warmly, taking her into a hug.

They sat like that for a while, before Sakura broke the hug, a serious look on her face.

"We'll have to tell Ayako, you know." She said, bringing the subject back to the brunette.

"About me being gone for the summer break? Didn't we already do so?" Shirou asked lightly, giving the plum-haired girl a smile, before it fell when her expression didn't change.

"You know what I am talking about, Senpai."

"Yeah, I do." Shirou agreed after a moment. "I suppose we've been putting it off for too long."

"It is time for us to tell her." Sakura repeated with forced calm, though her lower lip was trembling and her hands were clenched tightly. "We have told her about magic, we have told her about the Moonlit World, we have told her about the various dangers and even about the intricacies of Magus-society, but we've barely told her anything about us. She has a right to know about us, about our secrets, and I am ready to talk about it."

Shirou nodded in agreement, taking her hand in his own to try and reassure her. "I agree. We shall tell her this evening."

Sakura seemed satisfied with the gesture, placing her head against his shoulder as they both leaned back against the couch again.

It was very comfortable to sit with Sakura like this, and Shirou wished they could have stayed like this for the rest of the day, but he also knew they couldn't. Not only would they have to go to school before long, there was also the matter of the unknown thing that was bothering Sakura. So with a mental groan, Shirou shattered the peaceful atmosphere.

"Sakura." He said, lazily drawing out her name, causing her to cuddle up to him some more. "What's wrong?"

Her body went stiff, before she withdrew, sitting up as she looked at him with shocked eyes.

"Senpai?"

"I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I do try to pay more attention to your mood these days." He said slowly, sitting up as well. "And something is clearly wrong with you right now. Sakura, I do not want to press too much, but… would you like to talk about it?"

For a few moments, Sakura didn't answer, turning her head away, but just when Shirou was about to press her more, she turned back to him with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Senpai." She began softly, folding her hands together under her chin. "Am I a hypocrite?"

Shirou blinked at the unexpected question.

Of all the things he had expected her to say, that was not one of them.

Sakura, a hypocrite?

His first instinct was to deny it. He sat up, his mouth already opening to speak the words. He had never known her to be hypocritical in the slightest, and he was about to tell her so.

At the last moment however, his mouth clasped shut again. He wasn't great at emotions and stuff, but he did know that immediate denial was not always the best option in situations such as this. To just say that she wasn't a hypocrite without knowing why she asked would probably not help her at all.

"Why would you think you are a hypocrite?" He asked instead.

"Because of what I said to Tohsa- to Nee-san when we had that argument, and what I said to Fujimura-san when I scolded him for being so unreasonable to you." Sakura explained, her hands gripping each other so tightly they turned white. "I have been thinking about it, and I was definitely being hypocritical."

Shirou pursed his lips, thinking back on what she'd said to Raiga and trying to link it to what Sakura had said about Rin, though the fact that he hadn't been present for the conversation between the sisters made it significantly harder.

Eventually, he had to concede defeat, motioning for Sakura to explain further.

"I told Fujimura-san that you weren't guilty of the difficult situation in the underworld," she reminded him, a spark of indignation appearing in her eyes for the shortest of moments. "I told him that you had good intentions when you became Rakurai, and that there was no way for you to know or predict what would happen as a result of your actions, and that you weren't responsible for the actions of other people. I told him he couldn't blame you for any of it, and I was angry that he did."

"And I really appreciate it." Shirou nodded with a warm smile.

Sakura gave a shaky smile in return, before it fell again as she continued. "That was what I said, but it wasn't what I did. All those things I became so angry about because Fujimura-san was doing it to you? I was doing those exact same things to Nee-san."

"Oh?" That was news to Shirou, though if he thought about it… Yes, he might be able to see what Sakura meant.

"Nee-san didn't know what was going to happen to me. Nee-san did what she thought was right, with only the best intentions. Nee-san didn't hurt me. She didn't do any of that, but I still blamed her for what happened, for the actions of other people, before chastising Fujimura-san only days later for doing exactly that to you. I-I think that's pretty hypocritical of me."

"I guess so." Shirou said after a moment of thought. "When you present it like that, I have to agree. You were being pretty hypocritical."

Sakura slumped, her gaze becoming transfixed on the floor as a metaphorical dark cloud seemed to form over her head.

"But that's only natural." Shirou continued immediately, waving his hand through the cloud in an effort to dispel it. "In both cases, you were emotional and hurt, and you said what seemed right to you at that exact moment. No one will blame you for not thinking straight, or for speaking your mind. You had every right to, just like you had every right to be hypocritical. That's human, Sakura, and it is not something you should be so ashamed of."

"That doesn't make it okay though." Sakura argued, lifting her head, her gaze focused intently on him.

"No, it doesn't. It was still a mistake, no matter how understandable, and you should take responsibility for it." Shirou agreed, smiling as Sakura cutely tilted her head in confusion. "So that's why you have to make a decision now. You have to decide whether you still think having good intentions and being ignorant of the consequences of your actions absolves you of blame when you make a mistake, which I believe is the thing you were being hypocritical about. If you don't think so, you owe old man Raiga an apology for saying things to him you didn't mean. If you do still think so, then-"

"Then I owe Nee-san an apology for wrongfully accusing her." Sakura finished, nodding rapidly. "Yes! You are right, Senpai. I must make a decision."

Sakura then closed her eyes, thinking deeply on the matter, leaving Shirou to his own contemplations.

Personally, he would prefer it if Sakura remained on his side. It was nice, having someone support him unconditionally like that, but he also knew that it was just his selfishness talking.

If Sakura was on his side, if she decided she still believed in what she said to Raiga, that would mean that she owed Rin an apology, and Shirou did not think there was much of a chance of Sakura choosing that.

It was a shame, not in the least because Rin too would greatly appreciate having Sakura talk to her again. The black-haired girl had been rather down lately, and Ayako had told him she was still hurting over what had happened between her and Sakura.

Ultimately however, the decision was Sakura's, and Sakura's alone. Shirou's preferences didn't play any part in it.

"I have decided." Sakura suddenly announced, looking relieved at having a proper course of action. "Senpai, I'll apologise to Nee-san."

But of course the plum-haired girl blew all of his expectations out of the water again.

Really, when was he finally going to learn that Sakura was the kindest, gentlest and most forgiving person in the world?

"Are you sure, Sakura?" Shirou asked, happy with her choice, but still wanting to make sure she was certain of her decision.

"I am." Sakura nodded rapidly. "I have thought about it, and I stand by what I said to Fujimura-san, so that means I owe Nee-san an apology, if… she ever wants to see me again after I was so mean to her."

"Come now, there's no need to be so pessimistic." Shirou shook his head in fond exasperation. "I think she'll be delighted to have you talk to her again."

The smile he received in return was bright as daylight.

---

If you ever asked Ayako what she thought of her school, she'd answer that she was, on the whole, pretty satisfied with it. The teachers weren't great, but they weren't terrible either. The equipment and other stuff at school was well above the minimum-level of quality and quantity required by law. Also, the students were generally pretty good people. At least, there weren't any delinquents among them.

There was one thing however that every student at her school agreed was terrible; the outward appearance of both the school and the schoolyard.

The schoolyard was a dreary, colourless piece of wasteland, no matter the season. The drab, grey stones were just plain ugly, and the absence of any greenery or colour only made it worse. The school building itself was downright unsightly too, like a prison or bunker.

It had been that way long before Ayako came to attend the school and it would remain that way long after she'd left. No amount of complaining or petitioning would do anything to change it, she and the other students had resigned themselves to that years ago. They were told time and again that there simply was no money available to brighten the place up a little.

Bullshit, if you asked her.

As if that wasn't bad enough already, most students also seemed to consider it bloody normal to leave their trash lying around, though she had to admit that was a problem that plagued almost every school in the country, perhaps even the world. The yards, hallways and classes turned into trash heaps, as students snacked, gorged, and chewed their way to the end of the day.

Of course, the school did employ janitors -two of them to be exact- who were tasked with removing the trash, as well as cleaning the toilets, scrubbing the walls and occasionally repairing equipment, but that wasn't an excuse to continue littering instead of learning how to damn well clean up after yourself.

Ayako had always felt rather strongly about such things, and during her first years at the school, whenever she felt particularly vexed, or bored, she would stay after classes to help the janitors wherever she could.

She knew some of her fellow students had looked down on her for it, the lazy, entitled pricks, but she'd always believed there was nothing wrong with doing honest work and helping someone else out, and no one whose opinion she cared about had ever refuted that.

Not to mention that there hadn't been anything else for her to do back in those days. She hadn't had any friends -Sakura hadn't been attending the school back then- and she couldn't spend all of her time practising martial art or languishing at home either.

So she'd done a bit of community-service, helping out the janitors in exchange for some praise and a feeling of fulfilment. It had helped with the boredom at least.

She had stopped doing so though, ever since she'd, quite literally, bumped into Shirou one day, and through him had gotten closer to Sakura as well. She couldn't really explain it, but things like trash on the floor and writing on the tables just didn't seem to bother her as much anymore.

The world just seemed brighter, somehow, and became progressively brighter as she got to know her friends better, and the need to help with cleaning the school had waned accordingly.

When she'd gone to apologise to the janitors however, they waved it off with a laugh, stating they were happy she'd finally found friends her age to spend her time with instead of two old bastards like them.

It was at that moment that Ayako had realised that what she'd been feeling for all those years wasn't just boredom, but loneliness. A sense of isolation that had made her seek acknowledgement wherever it was available.

It was honestly pretty pathetic now that she thought about it.

Perhaps it was one of the reasons she had latched on to Sakura and Shirou so hard?

It probably was, though Ayako couldn't bring herself to feel bad about it.

For the past two weeks however, the school had returned to its previous state of being an ugly bunker filled with annoying toddlers who just couldn't keep their damn mouths shut!

Well, it had never changed, but with Sakura absent, it became far more pronounced again.

So when she heard that Sakura's stupid medical leave had finally ended, she almost danced in glee. Not only did it mean Sakura was returning to her normal life at last, but it also meant Ayako would have someone to spend the break with again, someone who wasn't her little brother and his friends or some casual acquaintances she barely knew.

If was thus not surprising that when Sakura walked through the gates of the schoolyard, completely ignored by the other students, who had probably never even noticed her missing, Ayako immediately launched herself forward, scooping the plum-haired girl up in a big hug.

"Sakura!" She cheered, rubbing her cheek against hers. "You're back! I missed you so much!"

"Yes, I am finally back." The plum-haired girl nodded with a smile, hugging her back, before looking at the school building with wonder in her eyes. "Even this place looks brighter now. Amazing."

"Nah, this place is as gloomy and dreadful as ever. It's because you are so much brighter now that it seems better than it is." Ayako grinned cheekily, holding on tightly to the other girl, taking amusement in the fact that every adult present on the schoolyard was pointedly looking away from them now. "Every place looks better with you present, that's a fact."

A faint dusting of red spread across Sakura's cheeks in response, which was precisely the reaction the brunette had been going for.

"Please don't embarrass me, Ayako." Sakura mumbled, burying her face in Ayako's shoulder.

It was absolutely adorable.

"I'm sorry. I won't do it again." She lied, before letting go and taking her hand. "Come, we have a whole day of dreadful boredom before us. Let's not keep anyone waiting."

Her words got her a look of exasperation, though the small smile took the edge away from it.

"Ayako?" Sakura began as they walked across the schoolyard. "Are you free after school today?"

"Yup." Ayako nodded, having already expected that question. "My parents already approved too, so I can come over to your house, if you'll have me."

"Of course we'll have you. You can come over whenever you want. You belong with us after all." Sakura immediately confirmed, her words making Ayako feel all warm and tingly inside. "It's just… I- No, we have something important to discuss with you this evening."

"I see." Ayako mumbled thoughtfully, the warm feeling disappearing as she realised it would be more than a leisurely visit, before she nodded sharply. "Then I'll definitely be there."

The smile she received in return contained enough warmth to overheat the entire school building.

---

"Yes." Yomaura breathed out as she put the last of the files into the correct box, absolute euphoria filling her at the sight of the hated pieces of paperwork disappearing at last. "Yes, yes, yes, YES! Finally! We are done! Senpai, we made it!"

"Indeed." Her Senpai smiled tiredly, the bags under his eyes speaking to his exhaustion "Those were two very annoying weeks, but we are indeed done for now. This should be mostly enough for our purposes."

"By the Lord, I hope it is." Yomaura groaned, stretching in an effort to work the kinks out of her back. "All that work better be worth it, or I'm going to cause problems."

"Please don't, I'm too tired to deal with anything like that right now." Osaki protested weakly, holding up a hand as if to stave her off. "There's no need to worry. I am certain that our work has yielded enough evidence to prosecute and convict most of our corrupt colleagues."

Yomaura didn't disagree. It had taken them two entire weeks of sleepless nights, overdoses of coffee, near-breakdowns and, worst of all, endless, infinite paperwork, but in the end, they'd been successful.

They had gathered enough evidence to begin the cleansing of Fuyuki City's police-department. If they encountered no significant obstacles on the way, they might be able to enjoy a somewhat corruption-free precinct soon.

Yomaura felt that was an almost lacking reward though, compared to how much they'd had to give to get this far. Blood from the endless nail-biting, sweat from the hours and hours of work, tears of despair, and, worst of all, an absurd number of hours of leave to get the time necessary for this operation.

That last one might seem like a bit of a strange complaint to make, considering the situation and all, but she could have used those weeks to spend time with Senpai and the girls, maybe even go on an actual holiday with them, or alternatively, to spend more time on preparations for Rakurai's attack.

But no, that time had been utterly wasted, all because some of their colleagues couldn't keep their greed under control.

She'd make them pay for that, she swore it here and now.

"I suppose we should just be glad they are so bad at covering their tracks." Osaki interrupted her thoughts as he laid back in his chair in a way that was very much unlike her well-mannered Senpai, but that Yomaura didn't find unappealing. "If they had been competent enough to hide their tracks, we might never have been able to get rid of them, if we'd even found out about their corruption in the first place."

"I'm sure we would have." Yomaura said confidently, unable to resist the urge to brag a little. "They couldn't have hidden themselves from us forever, Senpai, they were bound to mess up. The fact that they didn't hide their tracks just means it was easier to gather evidence against them."

After fourteen days of looking through police-reports, phone-registers, certificates of all kinds, witness-statements and money-flows across thousands of bank accounts, she and her Senpai had a very good idea of who the rats and moles in their precinct were.

They knew how many there were, what positions they held, who they worked for and even how much they were all being paid for betraying their oaths to Justice.

In other words, their operation to end the corruption had been a complete success so far.

Granted, it was only the beginning, but it was a good start.

By now, she and Senpai had enough information and evidence to begin prosecution of dozens of officers and detectives, scores of police-administrators, and even several commissioners, and have them all in prison in less than a year if all went well.

Unfortunately, there were several who were yet beyond their reach. Corrupt officers who had been smart enough to mostly hide their tracks. Not enough to escape their notice, but just enough to make sure any trial would exonerate them by lack of evidence.

When she brought that up however, her Senpai made a soothing motion with his hands.

"They may beyond our reach for now, but I am absolutely certain we will get them as well." Osaki said calmly, radiating quiet confidence despite his exhaustion. "Not with this paperwork however. We completely exhausted it of every clue and piece of evidence it held."

"That is so." She nodded quickly in agreement, thanking everything in sky for the fact that she wouldn't have to look through the files yet again. "But surely there are other methods of gathering information on corrupt colleagues?"

"Of course there are, and we shall think of them tomorrow, after a good night sleep." Osaki gave a close-eyed smile. "Best to ponder on such things while properly rested."

Yomaura nodded firmly, knowing that she wouldn't have the best ideas when her head was tolling, and she had to fight just to keep her eyes open.

They would think of ways of obtaining more evidence tomorrow.

And if they didn't, well, she was brushing up on her Magecraft anyway. If the situation really called for it, she might just decide to emulate Rakurai and hypnotise a confession out of them. It would raise some eyebrows of course, but no one would ever suspect magic.

One way or another, the rot would be removed.

The next day, Osaki and Yomaura found themselves back at the precinct, ready to pretend they were continuing their hunt for Rakurai while actually investigating their colleagues.

Osaki was already in the detective-area on the third floor, and Yomaura was just returning from picking something up from his car in the building's garage when she ran into someone she would rather have avoided.

"Hey there, Yomaura-san. Back from holiday I see?"

She immediately identified the speaker as one of the corrupt officers.

In fact, it was one they didn't have enough evidence on to successfully convict yet.

Nakagawa… something. Yomaura couldn't quite remember his first name.

The man was well-known at the precinct for being laid-back and friendly, though it was clear to a perceptive few that it was just a mask hiding a slimy, slippery personality.

Senpai had once described the man as an 'odious little toad', and Yomaura was inclined to agree.

Her first impulse was to punch him in the face for his treachery, multiple times, before hypnotising him to the gills, but she held back on that, for now, making sure to keep her face perfectly neutral. She was about to give him a standard, bland answer fitting for someone you only spoke with once in a blue moon, when the man continued talking, his tone suddenly becoming very unpleasant.

"You look exhausted." The man smirked, coming up to stand uncomfortably close to her. "Been going at it with Osaki for the past weeks? I feel for ya, it can't have been easy, pretending he was actually able to please you, but you got to work hard and suck up for that promotion, don't you?"

For a moment, Yomaura almost didn't believe her ears, caught off guard by the sheer audacity of his words. She very nearly took a step back, only her pride stopping her from showing such a submissive gesture to a toad.

The toad wasn't finished yet however and continued digging himself a deeper grave, while Yomaura listened with increasing disbelief and outrage.

"And then there are those brats of his." He scoffed, rolling his eyes in apparent exasperation, leaning in even closer, as if imparting a secret. "I don't know why he keeps them around. He's completely unable to handle them. Guess he has you helping him out with that? God knows they need it, or they'll just end up on street corners, offering themselves to the highest bid-"

"Finish that sentence and you will be suspended for the rest of the year, officer." A sharp voice cut through the insult, just in time to stop Yomaura from punching the fool's lights out.

Yomaura immediately recognised the voice, a mixture of happiness and slight apprehension filling her as her eyes fell on the owner.

It was Tomita Miwa, an under-secretary of the Japanese ministry of Justice, and somewhat of an old friend to Yomaura and Osaki.

The first time Yomaura had met Tomita was when she passed her detective-exam and was handed her certificate and an immediate job-offer in Fuyuki-City by the undersecretary herself.

She had encountered Tomita several times more after that and had heard countless rumours and stories about the 'Iron Sentinel', as many had taken to call her.

Having started as a lowly grunt, a junior officer in a rundown, no-name place far in the north, Tomita had worked her way up in record time, rising through the ranks in progressively more important cities, until she was selected as undersecretary, most likely in preparation for becoming Minister of Justice herself one day.

The elderly woman was experienced, outspoken and had a reputation as one of the harshest taskmasters of the entire Department of Justice, being one of few people in the government who could boast of always producing results.

Yomaura couldn't fathom why the woman was in Fuyuki all of a sudden, but it was good news all the same. The woman despised corruption with a vengeance, no matter how petty or seemingly insignificant, and would surely agree to help Osaki and Yomaura with their case once she heard what was going on.

Her influence and reputation were exactly what they needed to bring their operation to an optimal end.

Getting the woman to listen shouldn't be too difficult. Tomita had been Senpai's mentor, his own Senpai, back when he had been a beginning detective, for no less than four years, and would definitely at least hear him out when he came to her with a problem.

All of that and more shot through Yomaura's mind when she saw Tomita, but the elderly woman wasn't looking at her yet, instead focusing on the man she'd just threatened.

"Why are you still standing there?" Tomita sneered at Nakagawa, looking at him like she would at a cockroach, her scarred and weathered face radiating palpable disgust. "Get back to work, now!"

The man slunk off without a word of protest, hastily disappearing out of sight.

Tomita then turned to Yomaura, her stern look freezing the young woman in place.

"You should not have let him get to you like that, detective, he was obviously trying to provoke you." She reprimanded the redhead, having no doubt noticed Yomaura had been about to beat Nakagawa to an inch of his life. "Have you already forgotten what they taught you about such provocation-tactics at the academy?"

"I haven't forgotten." Yomaura half-squeaked, stopping herself from taking a step back in fright only through an immense application of will. "He just… caught me by surprise."

It was a weak excuse, and she knew it. She had learned how to resist provocations at the academy and even from her family. It was a standard tactic among criminals and Magi to taunt their opponents in order to get a rise out of them. For criminals to use against you in court later and for Magi to properly gauge your personality. That she had slipped up so badly as to almost assault a fellow officer was unforgivable and inexcusable.

What was with her these days? Though she might be exhausted from the work of the past weeks and the ever-present stress over Rakurai, she should never have fallen for such a childish trick. That was unacceptable!

"I am terribly sorry for my conduct. It won't happen again." She swore, to which Tomita responded with a slight nod of acceptance.

"But please forget about that." Yomaura continued, putting a smile on her face. "How have you been, Tomita-san?"

"I hardly see how that is relevant at the moment, detective. I am doing my job, as should you." Tomita answered sternly, frowning at Yomaura. When the redhead didn't let up on her smile however, the elderly woman sighed deeply, before giving a small smile of her own. "I am well, Taya-chan. It is good to see you again. It has been far too long."

"Far too long indeed." Yomaura nodded in agreement, taking a step forward to take Tomita's hand in her own, squeezing it for a moment in a gesture of affection. "But since you're here at the precinct and not at Senpai's house, I assume you are here for business?"

"You are correct. The time for socialising is later." Tomita said gruffly, her slightly mellowed expression disappearing immediately. "Now, take me to that fool of an Osaki. I have business with you both."

"Yes, ma'am. Follow me." Yomaura didn't salute, but it was a close thing. She dutifully led the elderly woman towards the third floor, while trying to think of a possible reason Tomita had come here to speak with them. "Uhm, can I ask what kind of business you are here for?"

"Rakurai." The undersecretary of Justice answered, her gaze hardening even more. "I am here to check on your progress on that man's case."

"…" Yomaura bit her lip hard, doing her very best not to flinch at her superior's words.

She really should have seen that coming. Rakurai's fame had reached international levels by now, so it was only logical that the government was starting to pay more attention to the vigilante. Having someone like that operating freely and virtually unopposed in their country would turn the Japanese government into a laughing stock after all.

'…This might be a bit of a problem.' Yomaura nervously thought to herself, silently gulping as Tomita's gaze never seemed to waver.

Yomaura was ashamed to say it, but Senpai and she had been making little to no headway in their investigation, even after months of work.

In fact, they'd already expected the Department of Justice to send someone over to check on them soon, they just hadn't thought it would be someone so high on the food-chain.

She was not looking forward to telling Tomita that, and even less to telling her that they hadn't worked on Rakurai's case for even a single second over the past two weeks.

It wasn't that Osaki and Yomaura had forgotten Rakurai during that time, it was just that he'd taken a backseat against the far more pressing matter of the rampant corruption in Fuyuki-City.

Yomaura in particular hadn't forgotten about that man, that Magus, who was probably growing in power even now, while she was slogging through paperwork and failing to make preparations.

She'd wanted to do a little more preparing during the breaks in their corruption-investigation, but with Senpai watching her as much as he did, she had next to no opportunity to do so without literally shoving the existence of Magecraft under his nose.

She loved her Senpai and she understood why he was so worried, but at times, for a few seconds, she almost wished he would just stop caring.

Then she would realise she was being foolish and ungrateful and reaffirm again just how much she liked having someone care about her.

But she was getting off track, Tomita still wanted an answer.

"Right, Rakurai." Yomaura laughed sheepishly, doing her best not to shrink away from the woman's piercing gaze. "S-So, you want to look at our files, and everything else we've gathered so far?"

"Yes." The elderly woman nodded sharply. "I am here to inspect your work and then report to the Minister of Justice, who will then decide on what to do. Let me warn you now though that it is unlikely he will be pleased. While I do not doubt that you have been working hard, the lack of results is grating, and people, important people, are getting upset over it. This is rapidly becoming an international embarrassment."

Yomaura did flinch this time, but rather than just shame, she also felt indignation.

"They can hardly blame us for that. We are not the only ones chasing him, and no one has been able to catch him so far. Not even the best detectives in the country." She defended herself and her Senpai, crossing her arms. "I do not think even you would have succeeded."

"Probably not." Tomita acknowledged with a nod, crossing her arms as well. "You, however, are the ones in charge of the national investigation into the vigilante, a special taskforce created with the sole purpose of ending Rakurai's career, which means better results are expected of you."

"Oh, come on, that might sound impressive and all, but it's meaningless." Yomaura bit out, glaring at several passers-by who seemed a little too interested in their discussion, making them scurry off. "We might get every bit of evidence available on Rakurai from all over the country, though I'm beginning to doubt that we actually do, but everyone else will have that information too after a week, so that's nothing special. We get no funds for this operation, no equipment, not even extra personnel. Seriously, I don't know why they even bothered creating a taskforce if they won't do it properly."

Yomaura hadn't meant to unload on her superior like that. Senpai and she had already made peace with the fact they had to work with extremely little resources, and they knew they weren't performing well. It was just that having Senpai be accused of incompetence was unacceptable to her.

"Why they did a taskforce, you ask? Simple, it is pure symbolism." Tomita sighed in response to Yomaura's inquiry, seemingly not the slightest bit upset about her rant. "I think you have already realised this, but your role in this whole matter is nothing more than a show for the public. Fuyuki is the first city the vigilante has ever been active in, so having the taskforce responsible for his capture located in that very city is sure to please the populace. Quite simply, you are understaffed, underfunded and uninformed, because you were never expected to succeed in capturing Rakurai in the first place. Even my visit here is purely for show, to look good in the papers."

"Yeah, we guessed as much." Yomaura grumbled, dragging a hand across her face in frustration. Neither she nor Senpai had said it out loud yet, but there was a reason they'd been so comfortable with setting Rakurai aside every time something else came up, and it wasn't just because she had asked Senpai to not pursue him too much.

When Yomaura had left her family, she had never expected to become a figurehead for an investigation into a real-life superhero.

She still wasn't quite sure what to think of it, aside from irritation of course.

"Cheer up, dear." Tomita said, the slightest hint of playfulness in her voice, even as her expression didn't change at all. "At least you are doing good work for public relations. It would not surprise me if you were as famous as Rakurai at this point, with the newspapers touting you two as his nemeses and everything."

"It wouldn't surprise me if the only reason Rakurai knows about us is because of those newspapers." Yomaura groused, before she sighed deeply. "I am sorry, Tomita-san, I do not mean to gripe and complain so much, but it's so frustrating to essentially be doing nothing."

"I do not think anyone will blame you if you take some other cases on the side." Tomita raised an eyebrow as Yomaura reflexively looked away for a split second. "-You already did?"

Well, yeah. The whole matter with the corruption at the precinct. Not to mention the approaching gang war-

Hold on!

"Tomita-san." Yomaura stopped walking at the middle of the stairs, turning around to face her surprised superior, feeling dread pool in her stomach. "Have you received any information at all about the gang war that might break out here in Fuyuki-City soon?"

The woman certainly didn't act like she knew such a thing was about to happen, but perhaps Tomita was just a stone-cold person who wasn't afraid of a few punks with guns-

"No, I have not." The woman's answer was immediate and crystal clear, and also precisely what Yomaura had been dreading. "I have had several briefings on this city before I came here, but there was no mention of any sort of war. I was under the impression Rakurai had broken the underworld already?"

"That's actually part of the problem." Yomaura sighed, feeling her last bit of trust in her superiors vanish upon receiving the confirmation that they had not only refused to do anything about the impending gang-war, but also hadn't even reported the dire situation to the ministry.

She then explained the current situation to Tomita, about Rakurai's actions having left a power-vacuum, other gangs coming to the city to exploit this vacuum, the Fujimura-clan wishing to stop others from muscling in on their territory, and the absolute refusal of their superiors to take the threat seriously.

"I see. A situation that mirrors that in some of the other cities Rakurai has visited, yet unlike in those cities, no one has bothered to inform us or make any kind of preparation here." Tomita sighed, looking very tired for a moment. "I knew that this city does not have the most stellar officers, but I did not expect this level of incompetence."

"Not incompetence, Tomita-san." Yomaura corrected her. "Corruption."

"What?" The temperature around the two women seemed to drop several degrees as Tomita levelled a gaze at Yomaura that was colder than the Artic, making the redhead freeze in place yet again. "That is a serious accusation, Yomaura-san. Have you got any evidence to back it up? Do you have a case?"

"We-we've… well, uhm, well, you s-see, n-nothing official." Yomaura stuttered, shrinking in on herself slightly under that unblinking stare. "Senpai and I are working on our own, eh, 'internal investigation' though, a-and we've found quite a lot of... N-No, I-I can't tell you any more right now. I-If you could come with us to Senpai's house after work though, we'll brief you on our findings."

"I see, that is acceptable." The freezing gaze let up, and Tomita brought her hand to her chin in contemplation as Yomaura sagged in relief. "I will endeavour to aid you wherever I can then. I guess we also know now why Nakagawa was goading you."

"Oh, do not look so surprised." She added when she saw Yomaura's shocked look. "No doubt he already noticed something was off, and he wanted to cover himself. You can hardly charge him with anything when you are suspended for attacking him after all."

"That's a lot more cunning than I would expect from him." The redhead admitted after thinking for a moment. "Do we need to be concerned about him being on to us?"

"If he was really on to you, he would be running for the hills already." Tomita scoffed. "No, he was just being cautious, and apparently he decided getting a beatdown was an acceptable price to pay for a bit more safety."

Yomaura felt like kicking herself. Not only had she let herself be goaded by a toad, but she had also almost ruined the entire operation with a single action, throwing away weeks of hard work for nothing.

Perhaps she shouldn't have completely discarded everything her family had taught her. Some of their lessons were quite useful in retrospect.

The women continued climbing the stairs and eventually reached the third floor, entering the hall and making their way over to the correct desks, where Osaki was already waiting for them.

"Senpai." Yomaura called out once they were in hearing-range, seeing that the man wasn't looking in their direction at the moment.

"Ah, Yomaura." The senior detective replied, his back still turned to the two women as he went through a drawer. "Do you know where I left that report on Rakurai's actions in Hikone? I can't seem to find it, and now I'm beginning to wonder if I might have displaced it quite badly two weeks ago."

"Well, I guess you did, since you left it in my desk, not yours. But never mind that. You'll never guess who's here!"

Her Senpai, who had been in process of straightening up with a sheepish laugh, froze stiff, a sense of dread beginning to exude from him.

"Ah, would that be Tomita-Senpai?" He asked carefully, turning around slowly until he could face the two women.

"Indeed." The redhead confirmed cheerfully. "She's here to check on our progress with the Rakurai-case, among other things, and to help us if necessary. Isn't it amazing?"

"I will be helping you out with the matter of Rakurai at the behest of the Ministry of Justice." Tomita confirmed, stepping forward until she stood across from Osaki, studying him closely. "Long time no see, Koyo. I look forward to working with you again."

"Y-Yeah, me too, Senpai." Osaki agreed in a shaky voice. "I-I mean I look f-forward to working with you, not with myself of course, haha. T-That would be strange."

"I suppose it would be." Tomita agreed with a raised eyebrow, giving her former student a concerned look. "I will also be helping with your other matter of course, though that can wait until we have moved to a safer environment."

"Our other matter?"

"You know, Senpai. What we've been working on recently." Yomaura said as she started up her computer, wondering why the man seemed so slow suddenly. "She has agreed to help us with it."

"R-Really? A-Ah, t-that's good." Her Senpai stuttered, which yet again got him a concerned look from Yomaura and a raised eyebrow from Tomita. "B-But let's stay focused on Rakurai for now."

"Yes, let's." Yomaura agreed, turning back to her computer.

As the three of them went to work, Osaki and Yomaura filling Tomita in about their findings so far, Yomaura spared a moment to look around the hall.

With the undersecretary of Justice on their side and their victory against corruption almost guaranteed, it was likely that many of the faces she saw now would soon no longer be around.

She found she didn't care in the slightest about that.

Maybe they would get proper colleagues in their stead.

---

"Did everything go well?" The elderly monk asked as he led Taiga to the exit of the Ryuudou-temple. "Did Souichirou-kun meet your standards? He's been looking forward to doing something useful with his life for a while now, so my prayers have been going out to him."

"Oh yes, he did very well." The exuberant brunette grinned as she mentally went over the unofficial interview she had just conducted. "As of now, Kuzuki Souichirou has the Fujimura-stamp of approval, so he can start teaching at Homurahara right away next year."

"That's quite the reversal from your attitude when you entered the temple this morning." The monk remarked drily. "I seem to recall you muttering dark things about his ancestry, general appearance and sexual prow-"

"L-Let's not drag up ancient history!" Taiga sputtered, rapidly waving her hands in front of her face. "I-I was just… irritated because he was always so hard to read before, that's all."

"If you say so, Fujimura-san." The monk accepted her answer without comment. "Does Souichirou-kun already know he has passed your test, or should I be the one to bring the good news to him?"

"I told him he was hired, and that he could start next year after a quick course over the summer."

"He must have been delighted." The monk finally cracked his stoic façade, allowing himself a small smile. "He's been so nervous over the past weeks; he really wanted this job."

"If you say so." Taiga said slowly. If you asked her, the man hadn't shown any kind of emotion, ever, least of all delight, but maybe she just didn't know him well enough to tell. "Is he going to stay at the temple for now?"

"Souichirou-kun is free to stay here for as long as he wants, and he has not expressed a wish to leave, so I assume he is indeed going to stay. Should he ever decide to leave, we'll keep you informed about his place of residence."

"Appreciate it." Taiga grinned, once more glad that the monks of the Ryuudou-temple were so perceptive. They'd long since noticed Kuzuki was an odd man, though they never judged of course, and were more than willing to help her keep an eye on him. "I suppose he'll leave at some point, right? It's not like houses are that expensive in Fuyuki."

"Perhaps, but Souichirou-kun has told me multiple times he likes the ambience and general mood of the temple, so you shouldn't expect him to leave soon."

"You don't mind keeping him here?"

"As I have said before, he is free to stay for as long as he wants. We don't reject guests unless they become a real nuisance, and Souichirou-kun has shown himself to be a pleasant and diligent person."

"Right." Taiga wouldn't know about that -she thought the man looked a little robotic- but it was up to the monks whether someone could stay at the temple or not. "Well, see ya."

"Be well, Taiga-chan."

Taiga then left the temple, waving goodbye to the elderly monk that had shown her out, before returning home, where she promptly went to her grandfather's office.

"Oi, gramps!" She shouted as she threw the door open. "Kuzuki Souichirou has been approved, so you can call back the guys watching him right now."

"Hm?" Raiga looked up from his paperwork with bleary eyes, the large bags under his eyes indicating a severe lack of sleep. "Oh, that's good. He wasn't as bad as you assumed then?"

"Oh, he's definitely extremely dangerous." Taiga admitted in carefree tone, ignoring the deadpan look her gramps shot her. "But he's trustworthy and I don't think he'll do anything that would harm the students under his care."

"Do you think that, or do you know that?"

"I am one-hundred percent certain that he won't harm anyone, unless forced or compelled to do so by an external influence."

"An external influence? Like what?"

"Someone attacking him or a student under his care, I suppose," Taiga said ponderously, placing a finger on her chin. "Or someone committing a crime right in front of him. Or perhaps a witch from the past seducing him and making him fall back to old habits, because he wants to help her achieve her goals yet the only way to do so is through violence."

"…"

Taiga could admit she probably deserved the incredulous look gramps gave her. That last option seemed a bit out there, or very much out there, though to Taiga, it almost seemed logical, somehow.

"My point is, I think we can trust Kuzuki. Like I said, you can call off the guys you have watching him and approve of his application at Homurahara."

"Then I will do so."

With her piece said, Taiga turned around again to leave the room…

"Hold it right there, Taiga."

…Only to stop at her grandfather's order.

"Have you been in contact with Shirou lately?" He asked, piling up several reports in front of him. "Called him? Visited his house? Have you seen him or spoken to him?"

"…No, I haven't." Taiga admitted, shame filling her at the thought of her little brother. "Not since you had that talk with him. I thought he would need some time to process everything, and that I could better stay away."

"Well, that time is over now." Raiga said sternly. "I need you to deliver him a message from me so we can wrap this whole ugly matter up soon. Besides, even without the whole affair with Rakurai, you are his guardian and big sister. It is high time you took up your duties again."

"Yes, grandfather." Taiga clenched her jaw, inwardly berating herself over her shameful behaviour. It had been far too long since she had seen Shirou and Sakura. She had been avoiding them for the past two weeks, and it wasn't to give them time to 'process everything'. That was just an excuse she told others and herself.

She was scared of how they'd react to seeing her. Taiga was after all the one who'd betrayed Shirou's secret to gramps, and he would be well within his rights to tell her to leave and never come back.

She could only hope they wouldn't be too angry with her.

"Go to Shirou. Tell him that it's almost time for us to move, and that I want to meet him tomorrow-evening, here in my office."

"I will, gramps." Taiga saluted, before turning around to leave for real. "See you later."

"See you later, Taiga." Her grandfather sighed, already turning away again, his voice sounding utterly exhausted and his face set in an expression of wariness.

Taiga felt her heart clench at the sight.

They had to fix this mess, and soon.

---

"So, why am I here?" Ayako asked lightly as she leaned backwards into the couch standing in Shirou's living room, patting her stomach in satisfaction after just eating a well-cooked meal. "Do you have more Magic-facts I need to hear about?"

"Yes." Shirou nodded, his expression neutral and stern, something that immediately banished all satisfied feelings, as it couldn't mean anything good. "There are… several major things, things about us, that we haven't told you yet, but that you deserve to know."

"Yeah, I already suspected this was about those things you couldn't tell me two weeks ago." Ayako nodded slowly, her posture still laid-back but her gaze sharpening. "Once again, you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to. Honestly guys, if it's too painful to talk about, we can forget all about it and just watch some tv together."

"Thank you, Ayako." Sakura said with a smile that made the brunette's treacherous heart skip a beat. "But we want to tell you. You have a right to know, and I think we could benefit too from telling someone else."

"I'll gladly listen if you really want to tell me." Ayako nodded, looking from Shirou to Sakura, trying to determine how serious they were. "But again, you don't have to if it's too difficult."

They were silent for a moment, seemingly in contemplation, before Shirou spoke up.

"We won't be telling you anything new about the Moonlit World tonight, not really." He explained slowly. "Basically, we'll be telling you our stories, everything that has happened in our lives so far. We must also warn you though that they won't be happy stories. If you don't want to hear it-"

"Of course I want to hear it." Ayako interrupted him with a huff. "You are my friends. If you want to get some stuff off your chests, I'll gladly listen. You know that."

"Yes." Sakura smiled, reaching out to take the brunette's hand in her own, lifting it up to press it against her cheek. "Yes, we know. Thank you, Ayako."

"Just get started already." The brunette grumbled, lowering her head to hide her blush but keeping her hand as still as possible.

"Well, it's mostly about Magi again." Sakura began slowly, carefully contemplating her words. "About the humans that can use Magecraft and have values and motivations that any normal person would consider horrendous."

"Yeah, those bastards, I remember what you told me about them." Ayako nodded, frowning at the memory. "They are brutal, insane, and psychopathic, and would consider the two of you either weaklings or heretics for not being the same."

"Yes, that's right. Senpai and I aren't Magi, nor did we ever want to be." Sakura confirmed with a determined nod. "B-But my family is in fact a family of Magi."

"You mean Zouken." Ayako could definitely see why that old man would be considered a Magus, but she was taken aback when Sakura shook her head.

"N-No, Z-Zouken isn't my r-real grandfather, he is not family." Sakura took a deep breath. "It's all a bit more complicated than that."

Ayako remained silent this time, listening intently and putting her free hand on Sakura's shoulder. Shirou also shifted closer, taking hold of Sakura's other shoulder.

"The first thing you should know is that Magi value very few things." Sakura stated, her voice perfectly steady, almost suspiciously so, as she held up a finger in a lecturing pose. "They value their research, some of their possessions and, perhaps most of all, the so-called 'accumulation of their bloodline', which they call 'a Crest'. A Crest is essentially an organ filled with Magic Circuits, spells-matrices, and everything else that the Magus wishes to preserve for the next generation. A Crest can be transplanted from one person to another and can be added to by each person possessing it. It is a way of steadily making every family head more powerful than the previous one. After a Magus dies, the Crest, as well as a few other things, are left to their heirs. Those heirs are usually their children, as Crests don't easily accept people from different bloodlines."

"Transplanting magical organs to keep the power in the family. I have to admit that's a new one." Ayako mused, cocking her head to the side. "But what if they don't have any children? Or if they have more than one child?"

"That's what happened to me actually." Sakura smiled sadly. "I am a second child, but, when I was little, my elder sibling was not Shinji-nii-san. My parents, my real parents, already had a daughter before me, Tohsaka-"

"Rin?! Rin is your sister!?" Ayako blurted out, her eyes immediately roaming Sakura's form and especially her face, searching for any similarities with Rin. Now that she really looked for it, there was in fact some slight resemblance…

"Yes," Sakura confirmed. "But when she was less than half a year old, she got very sick, possibly lethally. My parents thus had another child, me, as an insurance. When Rin got better though, they suddenly had two children on their hands, which in a Magus-family means rivalry later down the line."

"What? Nonsense!" Ayako protested, looking between Shirou and Sakura again. "You and Rin wouldn't have fought each other, right?"

"I can't say." Sakura said with a shrug. "When I was three years old, my father gave me to the Matous, a family that had no heirs of their own, or rather, no heirs with Magic. As such, you can probably imagine I was an appreciated gift to them."

"Eh? I-I mean, I can see why they would be happy, b-but-" Ayako stuttered, shocked at the notion that parents could so casually get rid of their child merely because there was a possibility that she would become an inconvenience to them. "But didn't you just say that having a different bloodline made it impossible for you to inherit that, uh, Crest-thingie?"

"Under normal circumstances, it is indeed almost impossible." Sakura nodded, the smile on her face turning bitter as tears started to form in her eyes. "T-The Matous however, t-they had a way around that. Their C-Crest was made almost completely out of w-w-worm-familiars. C-Crest-worms, t-they are called, w-with the ability to i-infect a-anyone who has m-magic."

"Infect?" Ayako whispered, having a feeling where this was going but hoping against hope that she was wrong. She had heard of parasites before, and this sounded an awful lot like…

Zouken couldn't… He wouldn't… No, that was impossible. How rotten, how messed up…

"Zouken had his worms enter me, infect me, in every way possible." Sakura choked out, as Shirou immediately took her into an embrace, while Ayako felt like someone had punched her in the gut. "They fed themselves on my magic and on my flesh. Doing so, they somehow managed to transform me into an acceptable heir for the Matou-family, though I likely wouldn't have survived past twenty because of that. It even gave me purple hair and eyes, which is why I don't look like a Tohsaka anymore. It was incredibly painful, but-"

Ayako saw red.

"WHAT!" She screamed in absolute rage, making her friends start in shock as she shot to her feet. "THERE ARE FILTHY MAGICAL PARASITES INSIDE OF YOU? ZOUKEN TORTURED YOU? WHY THAT SLIMY LITTLE-"

"Not anymore!" Sakura yelled, grabbing Ayako's arm and pulling her down into a seating position again, before taking the brunette into a hug. "There aren't any worms inside of me anymore. Senpai destroyed them all when he saved me and killed Zouken."

"KILLED- eh, I mean, k-killed Zouken?" Ayako asked, the red haze disappearing as she reigned in her anger, helped by the news that the monster was already slain. "Oh, right. Shirou, you killed Zouken already, didn't you?"

"I did." Shirou nodded, saying no more. Not that he needed to.

"Damn right." Ayako seethed, hoping that the monster's final moments had been agony and untold suffering, returning Sakura's hug, embracing the other girl strongly. "Rotten creature."

"I'm happy you think that way too."

Ayako held Sakura for a few more seconds, and then gently freed herself from the other girl's embrace. The purple-haired girl quickly wiped her eyes, and Ayako was relieved to see she wasn't crying anymore.

This had been a hell of a story alright, but Ayako was glad Sakura had gotten it out of her system.

"I am very glad you are far away from there." She told Sakura. "And I think you are amazing for having survived all of that. If there's anything at all I can do to help you, just tell me."

"Well, there is something." Sakura began hesitatingly, before looking at Shirou. "But I think you should hear Senpai's story first."

"Shirou?" Ayako turned towards the redhead, a hollow pit forming in her stomach. "You also have a story like this? I mean, even more than the fire?"

"Well, mine isn't quite as tragic as Sakura's." Shirou shrugged slightly. "I suppose it has a tragic start, but aside from that, my life has been going rather well."

"You lost your memories and almost your entire identity in the Great Fire." Ayako scoffed in disbelief, seeing Sakura nod from the corner of her eye. "That's hardly 'rather well'. That's just plain tragic."

"A bit, but like you said, I remember nothing of my previous identity, so it is hard to feel sad." Shirou explained, reaching out to softly pat the brunette's head. "Don't worry too much about it. The main reason we are talking about the Great Fire again is because it is connected with something else we wanted to tell you about. You see, the cause of the Fire wasn't exactly what you'd call normal."

Ayako didn't need any more clues than that.

"The Fire was magical, wasn't it?" She asked with a deadpan look. "Or at least caused by something magical."

"Yes to both." Shirou admitted readily, before pursing his lips. "For the next part of our explanation, and my own backstory, let me tell you about something called the Holy Grail War."

Ayako listened, with open mouth and wide eyes, to a recounting of perhaps the most ludicrous, insane and utterly inane story she'd ever heard.

Heroic Spirits, Grails, Homunculi, Masters that were supposed to power said Heroic Spirits, betrayal, hate, immense property damage and countless deaths, and they had done this four times already?

And then Shirou had been adopted by a super-assassin who taught him about Magecraft and assassin-stuff before dying to a curse, leaving him with a mission to save his sister, because of course he had a sister all of a sudden, one who was being tortured by her family, just like Sakura.

"You know, I was completely wrong to think the Moonlit World was amazing." She said bluntly after Shirou finished telling her about the actual devil that lived in that Grail, who had apparently created the Great Fire after Shirou's father had prevented it from killing every single human on the planet. "You people are crazy as fuck."

"Language!" Sakura snapped. "I understand this is upsetting, but there's no reason to be so vulgar, Ayako."

"Y-Yes, of course, I'm sorry," Ayako muttered, clasping a hand over her mouth, wilting before Sakura's stern frown. After the plum-haired girl accepted her apology, she turned back to Shirou. "Okay, to summarise your story, you went crazy in that fire and your father somewhat patched you back together by turning you into an obsessive hero of justice-to-be. Did I get that right?"

"Yes." Sakura confirmed, cutting off Shirou, who looked like he was about to protest Ayako's summary. "Senpai has been training very hard to achieve his goal, and he already made progress, right Senpai?"

"I… Yeah, when I decided to become a Hero of Justice, I trained a lot for that. Dad was a big help." Shirou said with a sigh, giving up on protesting Ayako's description of his mental state. "After he died though, it all slowed down a bit, before my plans were completely upended. Mostly because of this thing here."

'This thing here' was of course Mjolnir, the hammer appearing in Shirou's hand in a dramatic shower of sparks.

"Mjolnir came to me, and we started fighting crime together, eventually becoming Rakurai." Shirou recounted, before he slumped slightly. "And well, you know how that ended. With one big mess I am still trying to solve."

"Yes, about that, you said you were busy fixing it with Fujimura-sama." Ayako recalled from one of their previous conversations. "How's that going?"

"I haven't heard back from him yet-" Shirou began, before he was interrupted by a racket in the hallway, sounding like someone had stormed into the house with far more violence and noise than was in any way necessary.

"Shirou!" Ayako almost jumped in shock when Fujimura-Sensei came barrelling through the door. "Gramps said it's time, he wants you to come to his office tomorrow evening."

Silence reigned for a few moments, before Sakura turned to Ayako with a blinding smile.

"Ayako-chan is like a lucky charm." She giggled, prompting a small blush from the brunette.

---

"Alright, Fuji-nee. Once more from the start, what's going on?"

Shirou poured his big sister her tea, waiting for her to take a few sips to calm her nerves.

Now, on one hand, 'Gramps said it's time' was clear enough on its own. Raiga had finally gotten back to him on their shared 'project'.

On the other hand, it didn't really provide him with any details.

But it seemed Taiga had plenty more to say.

"Gramps wants you to visit him tomorrow evening." Taiga repeated after she finished her tea in record time, somehow without burning her mouth. "Only you though, I'm pretty sure he doesn't want Sakura, or Ayako for that matter, coming along."

"Very well." Shirou nodded. It wasn't like he wouldn't tell them everything Raiga said anyway, so it hardly mattered.

"That was it."

"Eh?" Ayako reacted before he could, her face the picture of disbelief. "That was everything you came here to tell? Isn't that far too little?"

"It's everything gramps wanted me to tell you." Taiga shrugged, a helpless expression on her face. "I assume he'll tell Shirou all the good stuff tomorrow, but I simply don't know anything else."

Sakura and Ayako slumped in their seats, while Shirou shook his head in exasperation. Raiga really was a little too fond of the saying 'only tell people what they absolutely need to know'.

"Again, I'm sorry." Taiga apologised once more, before looking at him with a cautious gaze. "So, uhm, Shirou, are you angry with me for telling gramps about you being Rakurai and stuff?"

Never let it be said that Taiga wasn't a very direct person.

Shirou was taken aback by the sudden question, but only for a moment.

"First of all, before Raiga told me, I didn't even know you were aware of me being Rakurai." Shirou frowned. "I still don't know how you figured it out actually."

"Oh, well, I overheard you and Sakura talking about it a few weeks ago." Taiga confessed sheepishly, pressing the tips of her index-fingers together. "Then gramps made me tell him."

"Well, I suppose it was inevitable that it would get out at some point, especially since Raiga already knows about magic." Shirou sighed. "So no, I am not angry with you, Fuji-nee."

Taiga let out a deep breath in relief, but really, Shirou was just glad she wasn't angry either. She had every right to be angry with him after all, for keeping him being Rakurai and a Magus a secret for so long, so he hardly had the right to lecture or judge her.

"So you forgive me? Fantastic." Taiga cheered, leaning forward over the dinner table, her voice still upbeat. "Can I now ask you about the people you killed?"

The difference between her peppy tone and her dire words was so jarring Shirou didn't know how to react at first. When the meaning did sink in, he flinched, hard.

"So you know about that too?" He asked, mentally kicking himself for being so poor at keeping secrets. "Did you overhear that as well?"

"I heard you mention killing Zouken, and since you're Rakurai, you also killed Oni." Taiga shrugged almost carelessly. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not judging you, I just want to know if you're alright. Killing another human being is very difficult after all."

The worried look in her eyes and the relaxed pose of her body lend credence to her words, and not for the first time, Shirou was grateful he had a yakuza-family as neighbours. A normal family would have long since ran away or reported him to the police if they'd found out even a fraction of what Taiga apparently knew.

"It was difficult at first." He admitted, before looking back at Sakura and Ayako. "But I got through it, not in the least because of their support. So, I guess I'm alright."

"Good. That's really good to hear." Taiga said, looking very relieved. "Now, let's leave this ugly business behind, shall we? As per tomorrow, I'll be visiting for meals again. I expect my favourite food for at least a week, to make up for lost time."

"Of course, Fuji-nee." Shirou smiled indulgently, before his eye twitched involuntarily as he remembered something important. "Ah, Fuji-nee, by the way, I'll be gone for the summer-break, so I won't be able to cook for you then."

"W-What?!" Taiga seemed utterly appalled, reeling back as if he'd struck her. "T-That isn't funny, Shirou. You shouldn't bully me like that!"

"Sorry, Fuji-nee. I'm entirely serious." Shirou said with regret, bowing his head in an apology. "I'm going to London, and I probably will be gone for quite some time."

"No!" Taiga wailed, rounding on Sakura and Ayako. "Why aren't you surprised? You should be surprised! This is horrible!"

"Oh, Shirou already told us." Ayako explained, looking unsure what to do with the distraught English teacher. "Ehm, you can still come over, and Sakura and I will cook for you?"

"You will?" Taiga sniffed, hope shining in her eyes, before bursting into tears again when the girls nodded. "Uwah! You're such good girls! Shirou, marry both of them, right now- bufwah!"

Shirou knocked her on the head rather forcefully, only just able to keep his embarrassed blush down by focusing on his irritation.

"Ahem, right." He tried getting the conversation back on its proper track. "I'll visit Raiga tomorrow evening then, and I am sorry, Fuji-nee, but I will be going to London. I have to and you cannot convince me otherwise."

"You… you really are serious about this, aren't you?" Taiga asked, her childishness being replaced by concern. "Why though? What's in London that's so important? Is there something I should know?"

"I'm sorry, Fuji-nee, but I can't tell you. All I can say is that, should everything go well, I'll be taking my little sister with me when I come home."

"Your little sister?" Taiga's confusion didn't last long. "Wait, you mean-"

"Kiritsugu's daughter, yes." Shirou confirmed, sitting up straighter. Taiga knew about Illya, though she didn't know all the details. His father had told her about the daughter he couldn't get back because of difficult in-laws, and Taiga hadn't looked any deeper than that. As far as he knew at least. "I'm getting her back, Fuji-nee, one way or another."

"I want an explanation later." Taiga ordered him, to which Shirou nodded in acquiescence. "But for now, good luck, I guess."

"Thank you, Fuji-nee."

"…"

"…"

"Do… Do you perhaps want some dinner, Fujimura-Sensei?" Sakura spoke up after Taiga and Shirou both fell silent. "We already cleaned the kitchen, but I can make something for you if you'd like-"

"That's so kind of you, Sakura." Taiga gushed, her seriousness disappearing in a flash, before she rose from her place. "But I have to refuse. I have a lot of work left to do before tomorrow and I can't delay it anymore. Sorry for the abruptness, guy and gals, but I have to leave now. Have a good night, all of you."

"Good night." "Bye Fuji-nee." Shirou and the girls answered, waving at the exuberant woman as she disappeared into the night again, as suddenly as she'd appeared, leaving a few seconds of silence in her wake.

"Okay, that was random." Ayako was the first to speak up afterwards. "What were we talking about again?"

"Our backgrounds and the Holy Grail War." Sakura reminded her promptly. "I think Fujimura-Sensei came in when we were discussing Rakurai."

"Let's move on to the next subject then." Shirou said, not in the mood to talk about his failure of an alter ego any further. "I believe Sakura had something important to say."

"Yes, I… I have a favour to ask of you, Ayako." Sakura nodded, turning towards the brunette, who sat up straighter.

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Well, first, you should know that Rin and I had an argument, a big one, last time we met." Sakura began slowly. "It was the first time I saw her after Zouken died. She came over to visit, for a lot of reasons, and I… might have… told her off and… threw her out."

Sakura's voice tapered off towards the end, her head lowering in shame.

"Oh, so that's why Rin has been so down over the past weeks." Ayako said, hitting her palm with her fist in realisation. "I already wondered what could have happened to make her so sad."

"I… might have blamed her for… a lot of things." Sakura whispered despondently. "I may have told her that… we weren't family and that… I never wanted to see her again."

"Ah… yes, that should do it. Well, I suppose I understand. It makes sense you don't want to see any Tohsakas around after what you've been through." Ayako scratched the back of her head. "But I don't think Rin had anything to do with that though."

"I know. I was being too harsh on her because I was angry." Sakura groaned, grabbing her head in her hands as she wiggled on the couch. "I was being very unfair and hypocritical, and I want to try talking to her again to make up for it, but I don't know how."

"Maybe it would help if you could recreate the situation from back then." Ayako suggested, grabbing Sakura's shoulders to hold her still. "Just you and her, in a private spot, this time without nasty surprises for either of you, so that you can properly talk things over."

"You can just do it here if you want." Shirou suggested, happy that Ayako was thinking along the same lines as him. "I can just go to the shed for a while, and you'll have the house to yourself."

"Y-Yes, that's what I thought too." Sakura nodded, raising her head and shyly pressing the tips of her index-fingers together, before whispering inaudibly. "But ehm, could one of you ask her for me?"

"Hm?" Shirou cocked his head to the side. "What was that?"

"Could one of you ask her for me!?" Sakura almost yelled, before shrinking back in on herself. "Eh, s-sorry. I just… do not dare to ask her. What if she's really angry at me because of last time?"

"Sakura, I have seen how Rin has been behaving over the past two weeks. If she hears you want to talk to her again, she won't be angry." Ayako huffed, crossing her arms with a confident smile. "If anything, she'll be delighted. If you really want though, I can go over tomorrow and ask her for you."

"Would you really?" Sakura perked up, a blinding smile appearing on her face. "Thank you!"

"Want me to accompany you?" Shirou asked Ayako. "Not that I think it's necessary, but…"

"Sure." Ayako shrugged. "Tomorrow straight after school?"

"Works for me."

"Great."

"Thank you so much!" Shirou didn't know how Sakura did it, but her smile was so blinding it seemed to light up the entire room.

---

Sitting at his desk in his new office in Hikone, a certain man looked out over the city he had just taken over.

He had swept the rulers of Hikone's underworld aside, disorganised and divided as they were, and had taken over as the city's unquestioned crime-lord.

It was yet another city he could add to his long list of conquests, yet he was far from done. He wouldn't be satisfied with only a few cities, he wanted to rule the underworld of the entirety of the Kyoto-region, and later of all Japan.

It was an ambitious project, some would say too ambitious, but then again, he was a very ambitious man.

His birth-name was Jonatan van Galen, but it had been many years since anyone had called him that. Not because he didn't want anyone to, but because his name was considered unpronounceable by most people on the globe.

In his home country, the Netherlands, people didn't have any trouble calling him by his name, but that made them one of the exceptions, along with the German people and the Mongolians.

Most people had taken to bastardised versions of it. In England and other English-speaking countries, they had named him John; in France, they had called him Jean, and so on.

Here in Japan, one of the politest countries in the world, people often tried pronouncing his name correctly, but they too ultimately had to give up. Especially his last name was rather difficult.

They too mostly used bastardised versions of his name now, which he honestly didn't even mind all that much. It got the message across after all, and it was better than what his rivals in Kyoto had taken to calling him.

'The Brat.'

It really showed what they thought of him. A newcomer, a greenhorn, an opportunistic, grasping imp with an ego far too big for his breeches.

He had been called all that and more by his enemies here in Japan, but he didn't care. He had been called far worse back home.

Besides, all those names they gave him were nothing but expressions of their powerlessness and impotence as he slowly took over their cities and pressed them out of their territory. Being bothered by the words of losers was far below him.

Many cities and towns had already come under his control, and many more would follow. His enemies were too weak to stop him, and he would crush them underfoot.

It wasn't his enemies' fault that they were losing though, not really. They couldn't help it they had grown up in Japan, where they were raised on the principle that everyone and everything had to be polite, calm and reasonable. They talked and simpered and flattered all the time, because that was the way of their culture.

He, as Dutchman, wasn't like that. His culture was one of directness, of taking what you wanted and then protect it from others with force. He didn't talk endlessly; he was a man of action.

It was ultimately nothing more than a clash between a superior culture and an inferior one, and he, as member of the superior culture, would inevitably come out of the winner.

He would teach them the proper way though. As soon as he had won, he would teach his Japanese underlings how to forget about all those useless courtesies and just do what they wanted. How to live their lives properly, like real men.

But first, before he could enjoy the fruits of his labour and impress upon his underlings the correct road to take in life, he needed to deal with his greatest enemy so far.

Fujimura Raiga.

The leader of the Fujimura-clan, a branch of the local Yakuza. Ultimately nothing special, but damn if they weren't persistent.

Galen had been 'chased' out of towns he had tried to take over before, or rather cut his losses after he deemed the rewards weren't worth the cost, but those had been temporary setbacks that he had easily recovered from.

Fujimura's men however had stopped him from even just setting foot in their city. No matter what he tried, his troops kept getting caught at the city's borders and no weapons or drugs were getting in either.

All he had been able to do was obtain some private property at the very edge of Fuyuki's harbour, but that was his secret safehouse, so he couldn't use it for attacks or smuggling, lest it may be found by Fujimura's men.

Worse, whenever he sent a competent lieutenant to properly guide the foot soldiers that were camped outside Fuyuki-City, they disappeared without a trace, before turning up again in the hands of the police, all too willing to talk for some reason.

Galen didn't doubt for a moment that Fujimura had something to do with that. The man was a cunning opponent, Galen had to admit as much. Too stale and old to adapt to the new ways, but cunning nonetheless.

It was certainly annoying to have his efforts be countered so often, but in a way, it could also be considered a blessing.

He always made an effort to know what his men were generally talking about, what the general mood amongst his troops was, and as such, he was more than aware of the malicious whispering that was spreading through the ranks.

'The Brat got lucky.'

'He would never have gotten so far without Rakurai.'

'Opportunist and war-profiteer.'

Bollocks.

Galen knew a small part of his success was because Rakurai had devastated the status-quo during their rampages across Kyoto, he knew that and he admitted that, he'd be a fool not to take such a golden opportunity, but some people pretended that was the only reason he had made it so far.

They were all wrong of course! If Rakurai hadn't been there, it might have taken him a bit longer, but ultimately, he would have easily taken over the underworld, just like now.

Japanese people just weren't capable enough to stop him, and he, Galen, who was from the civilised world, would never lose to them.

That was why it was good to have an opponent like Fujimura Raiga. Once he crushed that Yakuza, without any assistance from Rakurai or anyone else, no one would doubt his capabilities anymore. No one!

Galen sneered at the thought of his detractors, and grabbed his phone from his desk, dialling one of his moles in the Fujimura-clan.

"It's me." He barked into the phone. "We're moving up the schedule. I'll be coming to Fuyuki soon. Yes, to the hide-out at the harbour. Yes, along the planned route. Inform our men in the police-department as well and be ready to move. Remember, serve me well now and you'll be set for the rest of your life, I'll make sure of that."

Galen slammed the phone back down on the desk, grinning darkly to himself.

Fujimura might be good at tactics and guarding a border, but he was very bad at keeping his men loyal.

---

In Fuyuki-City, Galen's mole also put down the phone, before reclining in his chair, casually glancing back at the figure standing behind him.

"You got that, boss?" He asked, receiving a pat on the back from the figure in return.

"I did." Fujimura Raiga grinned. "I certainly did."

---

"So, if I understand this correctly, you have enough evidence for the arrest and conviction of twenty-three officers, twenty-eight detectives, and four commissioners and commanders, while you lack the necessary evidence to convict another three officers, five detectives and one commissioner?" Tomita asked, reading the reports she held in front of her.

"That's correct, Tomita-san." Yomaura nodded confidently, standing right next to the elderly woman, looking over her shoulder to read along. "We were hoping that you would have some ideas on how to get more evidence, because we couldn't think of anything so far."

As the women discussed the matter and bounced different ideas off each other, Osaki was standing in the corner of the room, trying his very best to be invisible.

They were at his house, discussing the matter of the corruption in Fuyuki's precinct, and ever since coming home, he had tried to stay out of his Senpai's sight, first by using his daughters to distract her, and later using his Kohai.

Tomita had been pleasant enough so far, but experience taught him that could change in a heartbeat.

He had known her for a far longer time than Yomaura, since well before he came to Fuyuki. She had been one of his trainers and later even his Senpai for a while, and while Osaki didn't want to be dramatic or whiny, it had left its scars on him.

For as long as he could remember, Tomita had been pushing him far harder than she did anyone else. She watched him more closely, she gave him harsher punishments, and made him do far more work than the other trainees or co-workers.

It had confused him at first. All other trainers and superiors had had nothing but praise for him, so he hadn't been able to understand why Tomita disliked him so much.

Later though, she had told him that it was because of his talent and drive. She pushed him so hard because she knew he could take it, and because she wanted him to the best he could possibly be. She didn't dislike him, she had high hopes for him and genuinely wanted him to succeed.

Without her, he wouldn't have been half the man he was now, Osaki knew that very well. He owed everything to her, and he wasn't afraid of telling that to everyone he met.

Nevertheless, she still scared him like few other things did, so if it was at all possible for him to stay under her radar and out of her sight, he would do just that.

Fortunately, Tomita had taken a liking to Yomaura and spent most of the time chatting with her. Osaki didn't know why, but the elderly woman really seemed to approve of his Kohai, to the point where even honorifics were sometimes left aside.

"Alright, so, ultimately, we would really like to gather enough evidence and material to at least arrest these three." Yomaura pointing at a page of the report she was holding. "Nakagawa Iwo, Azuma Jurou and Iwata Gorou. The others are not that important."

"An officer, a detective and the commissioner." Tomita nodded. "Sensible choices. It would be best to rid ourselves of these vermin as soon as possible. It will be… most pleasing, to have Iwata in prison for a long time."

"You know him?" Yomaura asked in surprise.

"I do, unfortunately." Tomita confirmed, glaring angrily at the picture of the man. "I do try to make it a point to at least have a passing familiarity with the commissioners under my jurisdiction, and I also keep an eye out for people with potential. I must admit I like pushing that kind of people to be the best they can be."

"Don't I know it." Osaki mumbled quietly.

"But Iwata did not once give me the impression he was in any way competent. I never did quite understand how he could have become a commissioner, but I guess I now have my answer." Tomita frowned. "We must take him down, along with Azuma and Nakagawa."

"Now that I think about it, wasn't Nakagawa the one who was so rude to me this morning?" Yomaura asked with a frown.

"Rude?" Osaki asked out loud, forgetting for a moment that he was supposed to be quiet and discreet in his corner. "What did he say?"

"He said… w-well, it doesn't matter all that much." She deflected quickly, refusing to meet his eyes. "He was trying to provoke me, Senpai, most likely to get me suspended."

Osaki didn't need any more explanation that that. He too was more than aware of the rules and regulations.

"Do you think he is on to us?" He asked sharply, only for Yomaura to shake her head.

"We don't think so. If he had, he'd be running, not putting himself more in the spotlight. He knows we're up to something, but I am reasonably sure he doesn't know what exactly."

"Good." Osaki sighed in relief. "That's good to hear. Now, what were we talking about again?"

"These three weasels." Tomita reminded him, turning towards Yomaura. "We cannot fail at this. If we do not get enough evidence soon, these three are going to walk, and I do not think they will ever let themselves get this close to being caught again if that happens."

"Then what do we do?" His kohai asked in frustration. "I refuse to let them go free."

"Surveillance." Tomita answered as it was completely obvious. "We keep a sharp eye on them until they slip up."

"Ah, good old-fashioned surveillance." Osaki smiled fondly, deciding to join the conversation now that Tomita's ire was aimed at someone else. "Watching the criminals day and night without them ever knowing you're there, until it is time to pull the rug out from under them and reveal what you've got on them, savouring the looks on their faces as you make the arrests, knowing that they'll be going to prison for a long time."

"Senpai, I wish I had that saintly patience of yours." Yomaura sighed. "I mostly know surveillance as a long time with nothing to do, filled with backpain and tediousness. I don't know how anyone with even the slightest bit of excitement in their character could ever stand it."

"I am fully aware I am a boring person." Osaki joked lightly, lowering his head to hide his smile.

"Wa?! No! T-That wasn't at all what I meant!" His Kohai waved her arms up and down in a frenzy, trying to assure him she didn't think of him as boring. "I-I was just trying to say that-"

"Settle down, you two." Tomita snapped, and Osaki found himself giving an American salute before he knew it. "I am not talking about constant surveillance. We do not have permission for that, nor can we get such permission without tipping off everyone that we are up to something. All I am suggesting is that we keep an eye on them in the precinct, maybe follow them around for a bit when they act suspicious, listen along when they are on the phone. Small things like that."

"I guess we can do that, but would that really work?" Yomaura asked dubiously. "It feels like too little."

"It would surprise you how often that much is enough." Tomita laughed. "And if it is not enough, it will be a start at least. Unless you have any better ideas…?"

"I do not." Yomaura admitted, while Osaki shook his head in the negative.

"Well, then I suggest you better prepare for long periods of 'backpain and tediousness', for it is the only option we have. I will be here for a couple more weeks, so I will help out wherever I can. I have some influence and a few friends in nearby cities, so I can get us everything we need." Tomita's tone then suddenly shifted from pleasant to stern, her facial expression becoming steely. "I do hope this extra project will not cause you two to slack on your normal work?"

"It won't." Osaki didn't squeak, but it was a close thing, the expression on his Senpai's face setting off all kinds of long-ingrained alarm-bells. "We will still continue our investigation into Rakurai, though I do not know if we'll have any success."

"Well, do something about that then." Tomita ordered him. "I did not train you for all those years just so you could give up when the first difficult challenge crosses your path, fool."

"Yes, Ma'am." Osaki sighed.

"In fact, your first clue can be those mysterious arrests of high-level gang-members that have taken place over the past weeks. I do not believe for a moment your colleagues were the ones to make those arrests, so it was probably Rakurai helping us out again. That reminds me I also need to start making preparations for that impending gang war. While I do that, you can focus on your colleagues and Rakurai. Now get to it."

Truly, there was no rest for the righteous.

At least Taya was doing better now, with all those distractions taking her mind of her family-issues.

Well, at least he hoped she was doing better now.

She hadn't had any more 'episodes' so far, and he prayed it would stay that way.

If drowning her in work was necessary to prevent her from ending up in bed again, cut up, bloodied and half-dead from the fever, then he swore here and now she would never have a free moment again in her life.

---

Things hadn't been going all that well for Rin during the past weeks. They hadn't been going well at all.

The matter with Sakura had impacted her severely, and despite her best efforts, she'd been unable to let go of it or move past it.

It was frustrating. It was really frustrating to be so unable to let go of it all.

If she'd really been the Magus her father wanted her to be, that she'd wanted herself to be, that she had believed herself to be, she would have been able to just banish all those useless thoughts, feelings, and emotions from her mind. She would have been able to forget about her troubles and focus on her research.

Her father wouldn't have been shaken by this. He would have dismissed Sakura from his mind, no matter what he personally thought about the situation, and gone on to do his research. He wouldn't have cared about anyone's feelings, least of all his own.

Not that Rin was all that sure anymore she wanted to be anything like her father, but being able to set aside these horrible, conflicted emotions sounded pretty good right now.

But she couldn't.

She just couldn't let go of the guilt and shame she felt. Even just trying to do so only increased those feelings, her every instinct screaming at her that she was just being a coward again.

Bottling up those feelings wasn't going to work either. Not only did it carry a very real risk of overwhelming her one day, it also negatively impacted her work and research, both mundane and magical.

Through titanic effort and will, she had managed to keep her grades from slipping, though she wasn't sure if her idol-persona had survived as well. She had been rather snappish lately, and much less patient with idiots.

Couldn't they see she had better things to do than entertain them? That she had bigger problems to worry about than the fact her hair wasn't perfect? That she didn't attend that 'amazing party'? That she didn't have a boyfriend yet? Romance was just about the last thing she was concerned with right now.

Rin groaned, letting her head fall onto her desk. Even just thinking about that nonsense made her angry, her frayed nerves unable to take much more.

She wasn't going to last like this, something had to be done, and fast.

So Rin had put her not-inconsiderable intellect to work to find a solution, and since she was rather smart, if she did say so herself, she had been able to quickly reach a conclusion.

Since dismissing her feelings wasn't working and bottling them up was too risky, her options were limited, very limited. In fact, it might just be that the only possible solution would be to face the source of her current problem.

Sakura.

If Rin ever wanted to be rid of the pain and confusion she felt, she'd have to talk with her sister again, explain her side of the story, show that she really hadn't known about what Zouken had been doing to the plum-haired girl, and that she was as shocked and appalled as anyone else when she'd learned about it.

She wanted Sakura to understand, she wanted her to see that she had meant no harm with her actions, she wanted her to… to...

…To forgive her.

Rin didn't want to feel terrible anymore. She didn't want Sakura, and most likely Emiya as well, to become her enemies later down the line.

Most of all though, if Rin apologised, if she showed she was appalled at what had happened to Sakura and that she genuinely cared about her, then maybe, just maybe, Sakura would accept her again.

Perhaps… Sakura would even want to be her sister again.

Rin would really like that.

...

There, she said it. She missed Sakura.

She missed the time when played and laughed together, she missed the time they shared a room and laughed about the events of their day, and she hated it that they had spent their childhoods separated.

Rin had always hoped that they would grow closer again after Zouken finally died. That they might do research together, hang out together, fight together, perhaps even get a place at the Clocktower together, not really as sisters, but allies so close they might as well have been.

That wasn't going to happen though. Even if there had been a chance Sakura would forgive her after Rin had ignored her for so long, she had absolutely blown that chance by behaving like she did during their first meeting after almost ten years.

Rin had been rude, in denial of what had happened to Sakura, dismissive of her valid complaints, and had just plain refused to even consider Sakura might have genuine grievances against Tohsaka Tokiomi.

If only she'd been able to be a little more honest with herself during that conversation, if only she'd taken the time to think for a second instead of just charging ahead like a bull, it might have gone better.

She'd handled that entire conversation wrong from the very beginning. Talking about contracts and agreements and just expecting Sakura to read between the lines and somehow discern that Rin cared about her, what was she thinking?

Not to mention the whole mess with Shir- Emiya. It had admittedly been a shock to learn that Emiya was capable of Magecraft, and she'd been justified in suspecting him of ulterior motives at first, but again, if she'd taken a moment to stand still and think, she'd have seen that Kirei had just been riling her up again when he had told her the redhead was a Magus.

Emiya had done nothing to warrant any sort of suspicion, save for killing Zouken, which she wasn't going to be difficult about, but she had still spent the entire conversation expressing hostility to him.

It had been a conversation of barely thirty minutes, but she'd made more mistakes than she cared to count, ruthlessly stabbing at Sakura's open wounds. It was a miracle Sakura hadn't bodily thrown her out of the house before the first ten minutes had passed.

It was yet another reason Rin wanted to talk to her sister again. To prove that such behaviour wasn't normal for her. That she was more rational and wiser than that.

Not that such a thing was going to happen for the foreseeable future. Sakura probably never wanted to see her again.

And she was right not to want-

'DING DONG'

The sound of the doorbell ringing broke Rin out of her morose thoughts.

Grateful for the distraction, however small, the black-haired girl went to open the door, hoping that it was more than just a package being delivered.

She suspected it was either Ayako, who'd come to check up on her, or Shir- Emiya, who… probably was here for the same reason as Ayako.

Had it been any other Magus visiting, she would have been certain they were up to something malicious, but with Emiya…

She didn't know. She didn't know enough about him to judge him accurately.

She'd thought she knew him, that she had him pretty much figured out, as a kind, mellow, and slightly naïve person, but that turned out to be a self-delusion again. There was no way a Magus, no matter how crappy or un-Magus-like, would ever be naïve or mellow.

His kind behaviour wasn't a front, Rin was confident in saying that at least, but it was entirely possible that it was only a part of who 'Emiya Shirou' really was, just like her Idol-persona was also but a part of who she was.

She hadn't forgotten about his father either. Emiya Kiritsugu was legendary, and she didn't believe for a second that man's son could be naïve or unprepared for the Moonlit World in any way. That was simply impossible.

Rin shook her head firmly. There was no use pondering about all of this when she didn't even know who was standing in front of her door. It could be Emiya, but it could just as well be Ayako or someone else entirely.

'Or both.' Rin amended with a twitch of her eye when she opened the door. 'It could also be both Emiya and Ayako standing on the porch.'

"Heya, Rin." Ayako grinned widely, throwing up a 'V'-sign. "How're you doing? You aren't looking all that well. Can we come in?"

Rin blinked once at the sheer casualness expressed by the brunette. She didn't mean to sound arrogant, but surely a little bit more… decorum? Seriousness? could have been expected after everything that had happened?

"I am doing well." Rin said slowly, not quite sure what to feel. Angry at being mocked? Happy the brunette was still friendly to her? Something else? "You can come in if you behave."

"We will, Tohsaka-san." Emiya promised, his expression and demeanour unusually serious, to the point it was making Rin as uncomfortable as Ayako's exuberance. "There shall be no trouble from us. We merely wish to talk."

"Oi, Shirou! Don't sound so serious." Ayako complained, shooting him a dirty look. "We're not going to a funeral."

"It would be inappropriate for me to act anyway other than this." Emiya answered coolly, his expression carved from stone. "We are visiting another Magus, and decorum demands that I am on my best behaviour."

"How kind of you, Emiya-kun." Rin snipped with a frown, feeling irritated that he found it necessary to put up such an obvious front. "But after all this time, you shouldn't bother. I already know you aren't a real Magus anyway, so there is no sense in pretending you are. You can act normally."

"If you're sure." Emiya said, before his stony façade fell away and he smiled kindly again, which honestly looked a lot more normal on him than the previous, overly serious look. "Thank you, Tohsaka-san, I never was all that good at acting like a Magus."

"Ugh." Rin shook her head. "You really are hopeless at this. J-Just come in already."

"Don't mind if we do." Ayako said happily, stepping into the hallway before removing her shoes. "Wow, so this is Rin's house. It's pretty fancy, isn't it, Shirou?"

"It is." Shirou nodded, looking around with a slight glint in his eyes. "A lot more tasteful than the houses of most other Magi too, but I suppose that's expected of Tohsaka-san."

"Well of course, that's Rin for you."

Rin scoffed. It was obvious they were trying to butter her up with compliments, she didn't need to be a Magus to see that, but they weren't going to succeed. No matter how pleased she was to get their praise, it wouldn't influence her one bit.

The other two followed her inside to the dinner table, neither of them appearing nervous, anxious, or even just wary, which both confused and vexed Rin.

Surely, they knew that she had Wards and Bounded Fields over her home? That they had willingly entered the place where Rin was at her strongest?

They had put themselves completely at her mercy by entering her house, but they didn't even seem to think about that.

Did they have such a low opinion of her skill? Or were they simply convinced she wouldn't attack them?

Rin wasn't sure, and she was still stewing over it by the time Ayako and Emiya had taken a seat and she had poured them tea.

Sitting down across from them, Rin decided to open the conversation.

"Do either of you know how foolish it was to come here?"

Rin blinked, just as surprised at her own words as the other two. That was not what she wanted to say, not at all. Why was she being so confrontational again?

"Foolish? Why?" Ayako asked curiously, looking at her with honest, trusting eyes.

"Because of the Wards!" Rin snarled, anger bubbling up at the sight of that look, causing her to double down on the confrontational approach. "I have Bounded Fields protecting my house. In here, you are at a severe disadvantage. I could kill you at any time I want."

"Oh, that." Emiya said, rubbing the back of her head, still looking entirely unconcerned, which only served to vex Rin even more. "No, we trust you."

"You shouldn't." Rin hissed, now well and truly pissed off. "I am a Magus. I am someone who will not hesitate to kill you should I benefit from it or if you irritate me. That girl you met at school was just a mask, a persona, hiding someone who is as ruthless as she is cold. I am evil, and you shouldn't trust me at all!"

"Nah, I don't believe that." Ayako countered immediately, smiling confidently, bringing Rin up short. "I mean, that idol-persona of yours is indeed just that, a persona, but you aren't evil. None of us would ever have interacted with you if you were 'ruthless and cold'. No matter how much you try to convince yourself otherwise, you are a good person, Rin."

"N-Nonsense." Rin blurted out, turning red from sheer anger. Yes, it was definitely anger, nothing else. "The only reason you could ever think something so… so asinine is because you were fooled by my acting."

"Your acting is good, Tohsaka-san, but it isn't that good." Shirou shook his head with a smile. "No matter how hard you try, you cannot hide your good nature completely. Just ask anyone who has ever bothered to pay real attention to you."

"No, you're wrong." Rin insisted, "I am not-"

She was about to continue her case, but it seemed that Ayako had other plans. Without another word, the brunette launched herself forward, sweeping Rin up in a hug.

"Got you!" She laughed, tightening the hug to the point Rin barely had any room to squirm.

"Wha? Let me go!" Rin yelled, struggling against the brunette's hold. "I'm serious, Ayako. Let me go, now!"

"Make me!" Ayako challenged, not letting go at all.

Rin snarled, trying to free herself, but it seemed Ayako's muscles weren't just for show, as the black-haired girl couldn't budge her arms an inch, no matter how hard she pushed, squirmed or struggled.

"So, Rin." Ayako began after a few moments, in an almost conversational tone. "Why am I not dead yet?"

"Huh?" That surprised Rin enough for her to stop her struggles. "W-What?"

"You said you wouldn't hesitate to kill me if it was beneficial or if I irritated you." Ayako grinned. "I dare say you're pretty irritated now, so why haven't your Wards killed me yet? Why have you not Reinforced yourself and broken my arms to get out of my hold?"

"T-This is hardly worth killing over." Rin huffed, looking away in irritation. "I'm not going to waste precious energy on this-"

"That sounds like an excuse." Ayako said in a sing-song voice. "I think you just don't want to kill me, because you aren't a killer, and because you like me so much of course."

"T-That- that's-" Rin stuttered, but she was spared from having to come up with an answer as Emiya finally decided to do something.

"Ayako." He said, placing his hands on the brunette's upper arms and pulling them apart, letting Rin escape her hold. "Don't push it."

"Oof." Ayako pouted, but she did obediently return to her place at the table.

"And Tohsaka-san." Emiya continued, placing his hand on her shoulder before she had the chance to scold the brunette. "Don't see not killing Ayako as a loss on your part. Caring for others is not a weakness, and our opinion of you isn't lower because you are a better person that a Magus should be."

"Y-You…" Rin wasn't sure what to feel when Emiya released her and sat down again, so she settled for good old anger. "What was that for?! Did you come here just to humiliate me?! Why is it so important to you that I am a good person?!"

"Because Sakura wants to speak with you again." Emiya casually dropped the bomb on her. "And we wanted to make sure you won't hurt her when you meet again."

Rin froze, her mouth open and her fist half-raised, her anger replaced by shock.

"Sakura feels awful about her words and actions during your previous conversation." Emiya explained. "I wasn't present, so I don't know what happened exactly, but I do know both of you said things you didn't mean and did things you are regretting now. Sakura certainly regrets it, and she wants to make amends."

Rin still didn't react.

"Please, Rin." Ayako's mischievous grin had made place for a pleading expression. "Sakura really feels terrible, and I know you do too, so will you please at least consider it?"

"…Sakura wants to speak with me again?"

Emiya and Ayako perked up at her question.

"She actually wants to see me again?" Rin asked, a sense of happiness filling her, before she shook that off very quickly and coughed into her hand. "Ahem, I mean, yes. I too would like to repeat our conversation. T-There's a lot we need to discuss, and last time was so unseemly."

Rin almost felt giddy, though it was tempered with a lot of caution too. She had gotten the second chance she didn't think she'd ever be granted, and she really couldn't afford to mess this up again… b-because she didn't want to alienate an old ally of course, that was the only reas-

'SLAP'

Rin promptly slapped herself in the face.

That wasn't the reason. She wouldn't go to Sakura again because she wanted an ally or because she wanted to make sure she didn't have an enemy close by.

She just wanted her sister back. She had been beating herself up over handling that previous conversation terribly and wanting to do better. The first thing she should do then when being granted a second chance was being honest with herself.

"Where?" She asked, no longer bothering to hide the smile on her face.

"It would preferably not be here." Emiya said slowly, looking around the house. "I don't think Sakura can handle being here, not yet. We can choose neutral ground though, if you want. There are several cafes in town-"

"That won't be necessary, I'll come to your house." It was a spur of the moment decision, and Rin spoke before thinking, but she didn't take back her words. She could trust Emiya.

She could trust her sister.

"When?" She continued.

"Whenever you have the time." Emiya smiled. "This evening, if you want."

"E-Eh? I-Isn't that a bit soon?"

"The sooner the better." Ayako told her in a sagely tone. "Delaying the matter will only complicate it, not to mention that you'll just be brooding in the meantime."

"I do not brood." Rin protested indignantly. "I don't!" She repeated when Emiya and Ayako gave her indulgent smiles.

"Sure." Ayako grinned. "So will you visit us tonight?"

"I-I… I t-think that..." Rin stuttered, before looking away. "Will you be there?"

"Probably not for the first part, I have somewhere else to be, but I'll be back as soon as possible." Emiya said.

"I will be there the entire time." Ayako promised, grabbing Rin's hand, and Rin found she didn't have the will to shake her off. "I'll only leave the room if you and Sakura both want me to."

"Okay. I'll be there." Rin agreed softly.

Both Ayako and Emiya smiled in response, and Rin realised she had missed those smiles far more than she had wanted to admit, even to herself.

Gods, she was being pathetic. Her father would have been ashamed.

…Good.

"See you tonight, Rin." Ayako waved at her as she and Emiya left through the front door. Rin dutifully waved back, before she closed the door again. She then let her head fall against the wood, letting out a deep sigh.

"Annoying." She muttered. "Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying."

They just came in here, like there was nothing wrong with it. They just ignored her warnings about the Bounded Fields. They just brushed off her threats and then dared to claim she was bluffing.

Any other Magus would have killed them for it. To challenge a Magus so blatantly and openly inside their own home was a crime worthy of death. By all means, she should have murdered them the moment she saw them standing in front of her door.

She wasn't going to though. Ayako had been right, she couldn't do that. She didn't want to kill her f-f-f-friends, not now, not ever.

They had casually walked into her life, and they weren't going to leave, and Rin found she was actually happy about that.

Now if she could get her sister back with her as well, and a place at the Clocktower, she would be perfectly content.

Rin promptly turned around and walked back to her room. She had to change, put on something nicer than this. She couldn't go visit her sister with rumpled clothes after all, not to mention that it was still a conference of Magi, no matter how personal everyone's motives were.

And if there was a tiny little skip in her step while she walked to her room, well, who could blame her?

---

George Wesley, experienced Enforcer, employee of the Clocktower, veteran of over a hundred missions, and self-proclaimed ladies-man, was counting his money with a big smile on his face, sitting at a table in one of the Clocktower's cafeterias with a nice, cold glass of beer in front of him.

He'd made some neat profits of his last gig, and the fact that he had found a full wallet that morning had also contributed nicely to his current fistful of cash.

Sure, it had a note saying 'property of Bazett Fraga McRemitz' in it, but you didn't get anywhere in life by sweating over the little details.

The last few months had been quite profitable. There had been plenty of missions for him and his colleagues, well-paying ones too, while the nature of those missions ensured he had barely any costs.

Going on a hunt for Dead Apostles with Lorelei Barthomeloi meant that your every expense on the trip would be taken care of, on top of a rather good salary.

Of course, the best part of such missions was to watch the Queen absolutely demolish her enemies, and to watch her rear while she was at it, but the money was also very nice.

Wesley was pretty happy all things considered, but there were a few things that bothered him nonetheless.

The first was that the frequency of Dead Apostle-hunts had increased sharply over the past years and was showing no sign of stopping any time soon.

Part of the reason for that was that Barthomeloi was trying to escape her suitors by going on more hunts, but it wasn't just her who was taking on more such missions, it was nearly everyone who specialised in killing those vampires.

Those bloodsuckers were becoming more numerous and more active. They were up to something, and Wesley had a bad feeling about it.

The other, relatively minor, issue was that the tensions between the lords in the Clocktower were rising. Factions were being formed on all sides and everyone seemed to be preparing for some kind of war.

It was always bad news for the soldiers when the important people started fighting, and Wesley didn't even know what was going on that had the lords on edge like that.

He had tried to subtly question lord El-Melloi about it, but the man had been pre-occupied with something himself, and he'd been annoyingly tight-lipped about what that something was exactly.

Wesley took a large swig of his beer, sighing deeply. It was probably no use to worry about it. The whole matter was way above his paygrade anyway. He'd just muddle through, like he always had.

He then perked up in his seat as he saw one of the subjects of his musings walk past.

Barthomeloi was looking great as always, her butt straining against the material of her pants as she loomed over some poor fool who had probably done something wrong at some point.

He let out another sigh, this time one of content.

---

'DING DONG'

Sakura opened the door not even a second after the bell had rung, revealing Tohsaka, who seemed slightly startled by the quick response, before she composed herself again.

Sakura quickly looked her over, and found herself impressed.

Rin looked like she was going to a fancy party. Instead of the usual jacket and skirt combination that Sakura was used to seeing her in, the black-haired girl wore a long, black dress, with bracelets on her wrists and a black purse held in her hand. She was also wearing a necklace and had her hair out of the usual pigtails.

The dress was very conservative, covering everything except Rin's hands, feet and head, but it did nicely show off her figure, though it was still subdued enough to be more elegant than daring.

It was enough to make Sakura feel a little underdressed.

"Ahem." The black-haired girl coughed discretely into her hand. "Ehm… I- Good-evening, Sakura-san."

Sakura gave a cautious smile in return, noting how Tohsaka explicitly didn't use 'Matou' this time.

"Good evening, Tohsaka-san." She answered in kind. "Please come in."

"Thank you." Tohsaka nodded, walking inside, before hanging her coat on the rack and setting her shoes aside. "I… hope this will be a nice evening."

"So do I." Sakura nodded, truly meaning it.

She led the other girl to the living room and directed her to one of the couches, before seating herself across from her. Ayako was already there, a little to the side, keeping a sharp eye on the proceedings.

Sakura rubbed her hands, trying to think of something to say. She truly, genuinely wanted this to go well, to make amends again and let the past behind, but for that, she would need to control her impulses and prevent things from going off the rails like last time.

"Before we start," Tohsaka suddenly began, giving her a nervous smile. "I just want to say that I am happy we could talk again, i-i-imouto."

Sakura almost choked on air at that last word, emotions she had buried for over ten years suddenly coming back to her all at once, along with a thousand new ones, all trying to overwhelm her.

But despite all those emotions, Sakura knew perfectly well what to say in response.

"I am happy too, Nee-san."

---

Shirou entered the Fujimura-estate with haste, barely pausing to wish the men he passed a good evening. He had no time to lose today, he had to be back as soon as possible to support Sakura and Rin.

"Shirou, welcome." Raiga rumbled as the redhead entered the old Yakuza-boss' office, the old man pointing at the chair across his desk. "Take a seat and pay attention. A unique chance has presented itself to us."

---

There I am again, with a chapter. It has been many months and all, and I have very little excuses, but I hope you can enjoy this one anyway.

Again, a chapter without battle. If all goes well though, the next chapter should wrap up a lot of things (sometimes through the use of copious violence) and I'll be able to do a couple of time-skips, so that we can head to the Clocktower already. I know a lot of you are eagerly anticipating that.

I decided on holding out on the conversation between Rin and Sakura for the next chapter, just like the end-battle to end Galen and Shirou's career as Rakurai for the time being. Also in the next chapter is the confession from Sakura and Ayako.

Maybe some of you think the reconciliation between Rin and Sakura happened very fast, but they did in canon as well, and by that point, a whole lot more had happened than here.

Rin's character-development might seem fast too, but I have been working towards a more honest and less Tsundere-Rin for a while now. It is just healthier, you know.

I am not saying everything will be fine between Sakura and Rin after this. Things will still be awkward and they will not be able to discuss certain things at all (trauma-buttons and stuff), but a normal conversation should be perfectly doable.

Anyway, I do not have a lot more to say, except that the next chapter is going to be very big and might take a while.

Fate: Hammer Time Server link : discord. gg/YaZv JJj but without the spaces in between.

Once more my gratitude to Tungstencat, Crazylich79, liamrodhudson110, Manram and Woggie, for their hard work to make this stuff actually readable.

Ted is gone, though hopefully not for so long again.