And here there's a small follow-up chapter for Amakusa in Shimosa, posted on the same day to apologize for how long it took me to post the second part. I hope you enjoy it!
"Grrrrrrr…"
Robin Hood looked up from his cup of coffee (with a shot of brandy mixed in) to try and figure out exactly what hostile animal was currently making those growling noises in the middle of the filled cafeteria.
As he laid eyes upon an angry Kiyohime glowering at someone from behind a table, he realized an angry animal would've been preferable.
"She's been glaring like that ever since lunch started," Elizabeth helpfully chimed in as she sat down at the same table with a plate of food in her hand.
"At who…?" Robin dared ask, and Elizabeth pointed at a table somewhere behind him. The Archer turned around to see the table Master was sitting at, together with Mash and Amakusa. Considering the two flowers always spent time together, it wasn't hard to guess that Kiyohime was angry with the odd one out amongst the three.
"Hm? Well, it's true that he doesn't usually sit with them, but I don't think Amakusa is really doing anything wrong," Bedivere noted as he passed by.
"No," Kiyohime cut in, "he is acting far too chummy with Master. He brazenly invited himself to sit at her table, and is far too close to her!"
"What's so brazen about him politely asking if he can sit at the same table when Master happily accepted…?" (Saber) Elizabeth mumbled, but Robin hastily shushed her so Kiyohime wouldn't hear.
"My apologies, but might I ask why you all seem so tense around Lady Kiyohime?" Robin looked up to see Danzo and Kotarou, the former who'd asked the question. They must've noticed everyone starting to crowd around here and come over to see what was going on.
"Right, given you've only been here for a short while, you wouldn't know. Simply put, Kiyohime is very… protective of Master. Violently protective. Violently and jealously protective. Violently protective, jealous and quick to jump to conclusions."
"I… I think I understand what you mean," Danzo said as she glanced at Kiyohime, still growling as she glared daggers at the red-clad Ruler.
"Well, while she is definitely exaggerating," Elizabeth piped up, "It is true that Amakusa's been spending a lot of time with Master lately, even more than before."
"Yeah, it started right around the time that the incident with Master sleeping – Shimosa was the name, I think? – ended."
"So, Kotarou: you were there, do you have any idea what this is about?"
The Assassin shook his head as he said: "No, I don't. Though Amakusa did receive quite a shock there, so perhaps that is the explanation for his behavior being off?" It was a pretty weak excuse, but Kotarou couldn't think of an elaborate one on such short notice, so it'd have to do. At the very least, the others seemed to buy that he didn't know more.
In truth, he actually had a pretty good idea of what had caused the Master and Servant to grow closer right after that event, but he didn't want to ruin their privacy by going into detail.
The others didn't get much of a chance to doubt his words in the first place, as everyone present nearly jumped when Kiyohime's growling got louder and more aggressive. Elizabeth was about to ask if Kiyohime was sure she wasn't a dog instead of a snake, but Robin thankfully clamped a hand in front of her mouth. The last thing they needed was her aggravating the Berserker more, especially now that her swimsuit variant had joined in on the growling and glaring.
Danzo, for her part, was too busy being amazed at a Servant having a changed Spirit Origin simply for something as simple as wearing a swimsuit to really worry about the situation.
"Hey, what happened to make her angrier?" Blackbeard – who'd somehow joined their group of gawkers before anyone noticed – asked as they all looked between the two Kiyohimes and Master's table.
"Amakusa's hand accidentally brushed against Master's while he passed her the salt, I think that's it."
It was an innocuous gesture, but it made Kiyohime get this close to setting the entire cafeteria on fire in rage.
"Is something wrong, Master?" Gudako turned her gaze from the group of Servants looking at two raging Kiyohimes to Amakusa and Mash, who were looking at her.
"No, I was just thinking about something, no problem at all," she laughed, a bit forced. Still, the two of them didn't seem to notice, and she was honestly wondering how they weren't picking up any of that killing intent. Mash she could've understood, but what was preoccupying Amakusa so much that he didn't notice? If this kept up, it'd be a repeat of the Raging Kiyohime incident, back when she chased him all around Chaldea!
In fact, the young Master was so worried about the Berserker (and her swimsuit Lancer variant)'s behavior that she completely and utterly failed to notice what had even set her off in the first place.
And so the tense (for some) mealtime continued.
Or at least it continued up until BB walked by, took one glance at the situation, and then proceeded to escalate it to the point that it was no longer mealtime, but a battlefield.
After all that, Gudako started seriously considering the benefits of just eating her meals inside of her room in the future.
And that's the final end of Amakusa in Shimosa. The next chapter will be a general one, but that's for next month.
Until then, everyone!
