Awakening to find Sakura caring for him and his Servants, Fujimaru tries to convince her to join them.
"Hello, can you tell me your name?" - Sakura asked with a small smile on her face.
"Oh, yes, hi, my name is Ritsuka Fujimaru, and it's a pleasure to meet you" - Ritsuka said, a bit shaken up by what had previously happened - "Sorry for the trouble" -
"Well, seeing you passed out in the living room after hearing someone call my name was surprising, but even more..." - Sakura's eyes drifted towards Medusa - "Why do you have Rider by your side?" -
"Bit of a long story, I hope you have some time" -
"I do, Shinji hasn't come home in a while, last time I heard of him he went to sleep at a friend's house, and Zouken has been... Absent as well" -
Ritsuka's mind turned back to when he and Salter arrived and battled Shinji, leaving him to die in that park. Thinking back on it, it was really a reckless move of his.
"Well then... I'm another Master in this Holy Grail War. I was strolling to a park when I was attacked by Shinji and his Servant Rider. My Servant defeated them and nearly killed Shinji, but we refused to finish off Rider. After a while, she told us she had another Master and asked us to bring her to you" - Ritsuka explained to Sakura what had happened, even if he had to alter the truth a little bit.
"So, Shinji attacked... That sounds like him" - Sakura said lowering her head a bit.
"I'm sorry for doing that, and if..." -
"Master, I know this is a sentimental moment for her, but we're on a race against time" - Salter said almost immediatly.
"Alter, please calm down" -
"Oh, is she your Servant?" - Sakura looked at Salter.
"Yes, you can call her Alter" -
Sakura shook the hand of Alter while greeting her with a smile. Alter however kept her stoic face.
"Well, onto something else, mind explaining to me why were you passed out in the kitchen?" - Sakura asked.
"Again, long story, so it's better to go from the start" -
And such, Ritsuka fabricanted a small story to tell Sakura: How he summoned Alter and started to track down Masters to form alliences, how he was attacked by Shinji and joined with Rider, how he met Archer's Master and together fought against Caster before being swarmed by Shadow Servants and how after escaping, he decided to search for her.
"Wow... That's ceirtantly something impressive" - the girl said, a bit shocked by what she heard.
"After what happened fighting with the Shadow, I knew that there was no way me and Archer's Master could win by ourself, so we decided to seek more Masters, and thanks to Rider, we found you" -
Medusa got up from the couch and approached Sakura.
"I have returned Master, I await orders" - she said as she lowered her head a bit.
Sakura said nothing, simply smiled while Ritsuka and Salter looked at them.
"Now Master, due to the incoming threat of the Shadow Servants, I suggest we ally ourselves with them. It will provide a higher chance of success" - Rider said, trying to convince her Master.
"Yes, I heard what he said. It sounds unbeliavable but... I don't know what to believe" - Sakura answered.
It was clear to all of them that she was going through a lot, so they decided to give her space. Ritsuka ordered Medusa to inform them if Sakura was ready to join them in case that happened, with the Servant agreeing. After that, Fujimaru and Salter started to make their way back to Tohsaka territory.
"I hope she'll agree, we need all the help we can get to deal with this problem" - Ritsuka said.
"Do you plan on telling them about this world being a Singularity?" - Salter asked.
"When the time is right, we won't be able to lie to them forever after all" -
While making their way downtown, Ritsuka and Salter passed through a few stands of food, and if there was something that every Artoria had, it was an unsatiable hunger, so they decided to take a break and eat something before going back with Rin.
Eating away as many candies and chips as she was possibly able to, Salter was in heaven for a moment, but was quickly pulled from her thought by a bad feeling, something her Master also felt. Something bad was going to happen.
"Ritsuka" -
"Yes, I know. Come on, I'll pay and then we can keep going" -
After paying for Salter's meal, the pair started to walk once again, but this time with an unnerving feeling on both of them. As a response to this, Salter was ready to enter combat mode at any moment, and they would need it.
Due to taking a smalll detour, they ended up in an empty part of Fuyuki, a small street, no people nor cars passing nearby.
"This feels like the perfect set up for a trap, and I'm sure someone is waiting for us" - Salter said before two people walked from behind a building.
One of them was someone both of them knew, Artoria, the original version from which Salter had come. Next to her was Shirou Emiya, her Master from this Holy Grail War. They normally shouldn't be agressive and yet... Something was wrong.
Their eyes had a small red glowing on them.
"So... They're the ones that attacked Tohsaka" - Shirou said - "Why did you do it!?" -
"Attack Tohsaka? What are they saying?" - Ritsuka asked, confused about the whole situation.
"Ritsuka Kun, those two are under the effects of an illusion, like you back in the Matou mansion, you'll need to defeat them!" - Da Vinci said from Chaldea.
Both Ritsuka and Salter wanted to avoid unnecesary fighting, but if they had to, they'll fight.
"Take on Artoria, I'll handle Emiya" -
"Understood" -
And with that, the battle started...