Ilya had to admit, Shirou was not what she was expecting.

After getting all the urgent work out of the way at the Copenhagen, the owners gave him a paid break with which he could speak with her about everything that had happened.

He had been so patient, kind and attentive and the best part was that he made her feel something she hadn't since her parents left her.

Loved.

Despite only just finding out that she was technically his adoptive sister, he was already treating her like he had been looking after her his entire life... it was also rather disturbing when she thought of the fact that she was technically the big sibling.

However beyond that was another thing that made her nearly laugh hysterically.

Tohsaka Rin was helping out around the pub.

She was doing rather well but it was clear that she wasn't used to everything that happened in a place like this and that resulted in her displaying some serious discomfort when some of the more... lecherous patrons decided to try and cop a feel.

And judging from her expression whenever she thought no one was looking... she had probably never worked a day in her life until now.

But it eased some of the pressure off her Onii-chan so it was all good.

Plus it was funny watching someone from a long line of magi reducing themselves to menial labour in order to impress a boy.

Even if it was backfiring on her by letting that boy spend more time with her.

"So Onii-chan," she said in her sweetest tone, she had avoided talking about this until now so she decided it was time to ask, the fact that no one would understand a word they were saying thanks to the bounded field he had erected also helped, "what True Magic do you know?"

"None of them," his response was clear and irritated, "I keep telling Caster that I don't know any True Magic but she keeps insisting I do."

Now that was strange, why would a Caster claim he could use a True Magic if he couldn't?

"So why does she say you are a True Magician?" it was a simple question and the boy just snorted in response.

"She seems to think I can use the Denial of Nothingness when I'm just using projection," he said it in such a matter of fact manner that she found herself once again frowning.

"If that's true then how can you support seven servants so easily?" it was a simple question, she still remembered how difficult it was to support a single servant without the use of the Grail, and even with it helping support the servants, supporting more than one was still difficult for even the most powerful of mages.

"Huh, oh that," he said it dismissively, "I just projected more magic circuits and if I ever get low I project more prana."

She could do little more than stare at him blankly.

Did he really just say what she thought he said?

"Did you just say that you can project more prana?" she asked seriously, earning a nod of confirmation from her adoptive brother, "you can't project more prana."

"Yes I can," she simply stared even more… was he really stupid enough to think that you could project more prana?

"Projection is the act of using prana and manipulating its form so as to imitate another object," she stated academically, "you cannot create an object that requires more prana than is used… in other words, you cannot create more prana than you use."

He just stared at her as if she had no idea what she was talking about.

So she decided to ask another thing.

"Tell me, how long do your projections last?" it was another simple question.

"Well… let's see, the longest they've lasted is probably the washing machine," he admitted thoughtfully, "that's been around for about… four to five years."

"Projections don't even last four hours, let alone four years," she decided to point to to him, earning a snort in response.

"No, they just stick around indefinitely," he was simply dismissing her attempts at reasoning with him.

"Onii-chan… even if you refuse to believe it, the fact remains that from what you've told me, you almost certainly know the Denial of Nothingness," she hoped that saying it as academically as possible would make him reconsider his position.

"No I don't," or maybe not, "I just know projection and a few other branches of magecraft."

She was beginning to understand what the problem with him was.

And she almost began to laugh out loud at that.

Her Onii-chan was in Denial of the fact that he knew the Denial of Nothingness!

He truly was a moron like Lancer said wasn't he?

"Anyway, I really should get back to work… we can speak again when I've finished," he spoke with that kind tone still in place.

And she could tell he was being honest.

It truly was strange and in some ways, it hurt.

That he had spoken to her for less than an hour and he was already far kinder and more accepting of her than her own Grandfather ever was just made her heart sink.

His kindness made her wonder… had her grandfather lied to her?

Was Emiya Shirou really the person that stole her father from her? Or had her grandfather been so angry about him betraying their contract that he had prevented her father from returning for her?

She never would've expected her grandfather to be capable of stopping her father… that is until Shirou had told her of her father's illness and how he died years ago.

If that illness had hurt him enough, then maybe he had lacked the strength to get through the bounded fields protecting her home?

She didn't know if it was true, she knew she could never truly know but those thoughts helped ease her heart.

They let her believe that her father loved her.

They let her believe that he hadn't abandoned her.

They let her believe that her brother wasn't her enemy.

They let her forget that she would die within the year.

She let out a heartless chuckle at that last thought.

Now that he wasn't there she was remembering again, remembering that her life was forfeit no matter what she did now.

If she had managed to win the Grail then she would've been capable of fixing herself, of creating a new body and transferring her soul to it or even manifesting her soul and becoming truly immortal.

But without the prana needed to force the manifestation of the miracle then she was…

Wait…

She needed prana…

If she had enough prana then she could force a miracle…

HOW BIG AN IDIOT WAS SHE?!

XXX XXX XXX

"Thanks for helping out Tohsaka," Shirou couldn't stop himself from expressing his gratitude towards the school idol for helping out when she didn't have to just so he could speak with his newly discovered little sister.

"Of course Emiya-kun, if you ever need help with anything then feel free to ask me anytime," she sounded… off. It was like she was forcing herself to be nice when she really didn't feel like being nice.

"Uh, Tohsaka… are you alright?" he decided to ask, earning another strained smile off the attractive girl.

"Oh, it isn't your fault Emiya-kun… however when certain… individuals, decide they can get away with trying to feel me up, I can get a little annoyed," she said through gritted teeth and with a clear amount of anger under her sugary sweet tone of voice.

"Ah… sorry about that, I don't usually have to deal with the customers," he admitted, though he did the remember those few occasions when older women decided it was alright to get a little touchy feely with him.

He blamed Fuji-nee for sending out those pictures of him on that really hot day when he was fixing one of her 'organisations' bikes… he had never expected her to take a picture of him without his shirt on after all.

Ever since then he had always made sure to wear a long sleeve shirt no matter how warm it was even if the damage had already been done.

"Like I said, it isn't your fault Emiya-kun… it's hers," and with that he noted how she practically pointed at the white haired girl who was currently staring into space with a completely blank expression on her face.

"Tohsaka, please don't blame Ilya-chan," he asked nicely, hoping she would be reasonable.

"But she's the one that decided to attack us tonight, if it wasn't for that then you wouldn't have needed help here and I wouldn't have had to deal with those customers," she stated quietly enough that none of the patrons would hear her.

"Uh…" he really couldn't find any real flaw in that particular piece of logic.

"Though I do have a question for you," she continued, once again catching his attention, "why do you have to work here when you can just make jewels to sell?"

"Huh? I don't make jewels to sell," he admitted easily, "I just make food and prana mostly, and I work here because I like it and Master and Neko-san need the help."

The way Rin just stared at him made him feel rather uncomfortable.

"You really are an idiot aren't you Emiya-kun," he just knew that question was rhetorical.

Though there certainly was a bright side to this situation.

He was finally getting to speak to Tohsaka Rin without worrying about what she would do if she ever found out he was a magus.

That was a very big plus in his books, after all, who didn't want to know Rin?

XXX XXX XXX

Eventually his shift at the Copenhagen was finished and after going into the alley, Shirou called out Caster.

"Alright Caster, can you transport us to our homes," the red head said calmly.

"Not just yet Emiya-kun," Rin had to admit, she was probably being a little too forward with this but she needed to make her intentions clear if what she knew of the boy before her was right, "I have something I wish to discuss with you."

"Oh, and what is it that you need to discuss with my onii-chan?" Ilyasviel was definitely putting emphasis on the ownership aspect of that statement.

"Oh I don't know… how about the fact that there is still an unknown servant waiting in the background that could very well pop out and kill me at any moment," she decided to go for the sensible option, the option that said she was doing this to protect herself from this unknown servant… instead of put herself closer to him in order to improve her chances of seducing him, "you know, like you nearly did just earlier this very night."

"Ah… I understand Tohsaka, I have a few guest bedrooms you can use if you want," she had to blink at that, he understood exactly what she was requesting but seemed oblivious to her intentions… was there something wrong with him?

"Onii-chan… what about me?" damn that Einzbern, acting like a small child in order to manipulate her target, "we're family so we should live together right?"

"Of course Ilya-chan," oh damn her for playing that card and damn him for falling into it so easily, "alright Caster, let's go home."

And with a swish of a cape they were once again in a different location.

"Wha?" one that apparently had Fujimura-sensei sitting at a table with Sakura…

"Uh… I was sure I didn't have anything to drink…" she almost had to sweatdrop at the Tigers statement.

"Ah, Fuji-nee," well that was a little more familiar than she had expected him to address her as, "sleep."

And with that the hyperactive teacher fell asleep with a thud.

"Ah… Senpai?" Rin had to admit, seeing her biological sister acting shocked like that was strange.

"Sorry Sakura, but you know what Fuji-nee can get like," Emiya responded with a smile.

"A-are you going to do that to me too?" Rin found herself wondering what Emiya was going to do now, was he going to try and erase Sakura's memories of what just happened?

"Why would I?" he seemed completely confused by that question, "you're a magus too aren't you?"

"Y-you knew?" Rin had to admit that seeing Sakura looking so shocked about it was rather strange.

"Well, the Matou are a long line of magi, Shinji doesn't have any prana and you do… so I was assuming you were the Matou heir," the boy explained and Rin had to admit that she couldn't really fault the boy on that logic.

"Senpai…" she didn't like it. Sakura was most definitely blushing and the way she was acting towards the True Magician…

Great… just great.

Even more competition.

"Onii-chan," though it appeared that the Homunculus was also annoyed by the appearance of more competition, "what is the Matou heir doing in your home?"

"Huh? Oh Sakura's been a friend for about a year," he admitted, causing the second owner to twitch slightly, "she helped me a while back when I got an injury during Archery practice… you know, since it was publicly known I couldn't just act like nothing had happened after I healed it."

"S-senpai…" Sakura seemed to shrink a little more at that explanation.

"I see…" it was clear to Rin that Ilyasviel was not happy with that situation one bit, "anyway, there is something I need to tell you Onii-chan."

Now she was definitely interested, something that the little girl had to tell him was probably going to be important.

"What is it Ilya-chan?" and then the girl started to talk.

"Well… I didn't tell you that I am a homunculus did I?" he blinked, "or that my family adjusted me while I was still in my mother's womb," he took on a confused frown, "or that because of those modifications, I'll probably die within the year."

At that statement, Rin saw Shiro's eyes widen in disbelief before he started talking.

"Wait, you mean we've only just met and you'll die so soon?" she began to plot the girls suffering, to put Shiro in such a state when she could've easily kept him in the dark and given him a chance to enjoy the short amount of time they had together.

"You want a container with vast quantities of prana in it don't you?" Caster stated with a blank expression on her face, earning a small, nervous grin off the snow haired girl.

"… yes?" she didn't sound particularly confident in that admission though Rin now understood what she was wanting.

After all, if you threw around enough power then you could cause a miracle to occur regardless of your skill or knowledge.

"What good would that do Caster?" Shirou asked, clearly he wasn't as read up on this as she was.

"Because with enough prana she could basically force the world to change for her… it is the same way the Grail grants wishes," the robed woman stated with an amused tone.

"So if I give Ilya enough power she should be capable of fixing her body?" he asked in surprise.

"Correct, though it will require about seven servants worth of power to make it work, that isn't much as far as you are concerned is it?" clearly the servant of the spell knew exactly what was required.

Though for a normal magus that would be a ludicrous amount to need, for a True Magician, such a thing would be about as difficult as taking a shower.

"Ah… alright then," and with that he closed his eyes and then just like before, without a single trace of prana being used, he was holding something.

"…"

Everyone could only stare as they noted the container he made for the godly amounts of prana he had just produced.

A plain old mug.

Enough power to destroy the world… contained in a coffee mug.

Rin had to admit it was rather anti-climactic.

"Here you go Ilya-chan," and with that the red head gave the cup to the dumbfounded girl and then she used it.

XXX XXX XXX

Shirou could only blink upon seeing the results of Ilya's use of the power he created.

Why did she look so much older now?

"Uh… Ilya-chan, what did you do?" he asked out of curiosity as she proceeded to pat herself down in surprise… he had to admit, the sudden growth had not been good on her clothes and she was now showing a rather large amount of skin.

"I… I gave myself a natural body," she said almost disbelievingly.

"But why do you look so much older now?" he asked, after all, having a natural body shouldn't have done anything to her age.

"Well… I am nineteen," his brain froze.

Nineteen?

Nineteen?

Ilya was NINETEEN?!

"Onii-chan…" her voice was low and she was looking at the ground, "THANK YOU!"

And with that he found himself about to get glomped by the very attractive older sister he had found just earlier.

And then his mind went blank again.

"…"

"…"

Why were their lips touching?

"EINZBERN!"