14—Diamond and Spade

With her back turned, Rin doesn't see Archer materialize.

She doesn't see the bow appear in his hand, or the arrow nocked and drawn, but she can feel it whizz past, whistling as it slices the air. A little close for comfort, but the way it spins past, dragging with it a few of her fine, loose hairs in its wake, reveals the peerless precision and caliber of his deadly aim.

Still, the closeness of it brings to her expression an annoyed frown.

I don't know if he needed to do that, or if he's just showing off…

Turning her head, she follows the arrow's path.

Or she would, if it hadn't already made its mark, so she sees that instead.

For a moment, the shaft of the arrow vibrates like a plucked string suspended in midair.

Briefly.

One moment it's there, quivering, and the next there's someone as if having appeared from nothing, standing there, clutching it.

Someone who, for a moment, she thinks she could almost recognize.


Before Taiasu can drop his concealment, speak out, or even duck, the released arrow has found its mark, burying itself tip-first into his shoulder.

Reflexively, he grinds his against the searing pain radiating outward, forcing the cancellation of his concealment. Trying to hold his arm up results in it protesting furiously, and he's forced to let it drop to his side.

As it does, he can feel the arrow's tip shift in his shoulder, causing his stomach to churn.

There's no time to think. No chance for pleasantries or banter, as the now foe, bearing a sharp and irritated frown, has already nocked another arrow and taken aim with it.

"That was supposed to be your heart." His eyes narrow. "This one won't miss."

His voice is bereft of humorous wit, and Taiasu doesn't doubt his words for a moment. The sound of his bow's string slicing through the early evening's air reaches his ears, followed by another missile's whistle, on a path proving the tan man's words as true as his aim.

D-Damn it—!

One of the many things that was never effectively explained to him is how, when he's attuned with the Ninja's Soul Crystal, he always seems to have a limitless supply of kunai, small and aerodynamic throwing knives, available. Any time he reaches his hand into his pack to fish them out, though he's never stored a single one, there's always a few waiting for him.

Sure, it might take a second to find the next set, but as reliable as the sunrise, they're always there.

Maybe it's the pack working with the crystal and my aether to form them—why in every HELL am I thinking about this now?!

It's fortunate it proves as true this time as every other, as he reaches into his pack with his good hand and pulls one free. He swings the small blade upward just before the arrow finds its target.

Briefly reflecting in the green of his eyes, sparks fly from the arrow's tip striking the pointed metal blade's broad side. The force of the two objects colliding sends another shock through his shoulder, causing him to wince, but the defensive maneuver proves a success, shattering the shaft of the arrow into radiant shards of light which disintegrate into the evening's twilight.

Archer's sharp frown deepens as he pulls from thin air another arrow and quickly nocks it.

Before he's able to loose it, Taiasu takes aim with his own missile and sends it flying.

The small kunai doesn't whistle as it slices the air, but his aim with it proves true as it strikes the taut string of Archer's bow, snapping it and sending the nocked arrow tumbling impotently to the ground.

Grabbing the knife, deflecting the arrow, and snapping the bowstring.

Each movement comes with a cost, shifting the arrow still buried in his shoulder, which sends another searing throb pulsing throughout his body.

Taiasu and Archer exchange steely, narrow-eyed glares before the former winces, grabbing his shoulder. As the moment has presented itself conveniently, he takes it, seizing the shaft of the arrow.

Gritting his teeth, he snaps it in half.

As expected, the sudden, violent force required causes another seething burst of pain in his shoulder. Fortunately, and quickly, it fades. He glances over at the shattered missile in time to spot the fragmented shards of light into which it's been reduced fading into the twilight.

Okay, that's good… It means I won't have to pull it out or force it through. The other one did that, too… Weird…

He raises his gaze from the ground, meeting Archer's narrowed eyes and scowling face. It's already feeling like a repeat of yesterday's encounter with Illya's Servant, but for his focus so centered on the one in red standing before him, he's already forgotten that it's not just them there right now.

"So, do you want to tell me what's going on?" Taiasu keeps his hand pressed to the minor injury, mostly to keep the red from running down and staining his outfit. "Why are you attacking me?"

Archer scoffs. "I could ask you something similar. Why were you skulking around?" His narrow-eyed glare sharpens further. "Looking for a chance to strike while our guard was down?"

"Skulking—!?" Despite the injury being minor, it still protests vehemently, causing him to wince. "Ng, damn it that smarts. I wasn't skulking at all! I was just trying not to cause a scene! And even if I was, you attacked me for no reason! You shot me with a gods damned arrow!"

"Ineffectively," he mutters.

He then extends his hands down.

Just barely, Taiasu can make out movement from his lips, but whatever he's saying is too quiet to be heard. The moment his lips cease moving, a golden, glowing sphere of light appears in his left hand, only briefly, before forming itself into a small sword with an obsidian-black blade, no longer than his forearm.

Where the hilt meets the blade, Taiasu can just make out a curious design.

A circle, half white and half black, the white projecting into the black of the blade, for about a quarter of its length.

"And since you've so effectively rendered my bow useless, I'm afraid I'll have to take a more—" He raises his arm, aiming the blade at Taiasu's head. Despite this, it remains held firmly in his grip. "—personal approach."

"Personal?" Taiasu's eyes widen. "What? Hey, wait! I don't want to fight you!"

The why of his disinclination, he's unable to place.

With Illya and Berserker, it had been what he'd seen from the Echo. With Rider, his initial inclination had come from her overtly hostile aggression toward him, combined with the high of his having recently discovered how he could use his crystals and clusters to infuse himself.

Though the issue resolving itself bled from him any such desire.

There is a reason here, and now, for his hesitancy, but it's all being processed on an unconscious level. Like something his lower mind knows, but lacks the words to effectively articulate to his upper mind.

It might be the presence of the forgotten, silent spectator.

Whatever the case, Archer seems less than taken with his declaration.

"You say that after I shot you with an arrow? As you so astutely observed?" He doesn't flinch, but his head tilts some as he arches his brow. "Are you of sound mind?"

"This again?!" Beneath his mask, Taiasu's mouth curls down in a hard frown. "Look, there's clearly been some sort of misunder—!"

Archer seems finished talking, if his sudden surge forward, leaving a blurring trail of red in his wake, is any indication.

Taiasu's frustrated, narrow-eyed glare swaps for a sudden, wide-eyed gawk as he leaps backward, avoiding the decisive sword-strike which effortlessly parts the hard ground where he'd just been.

Not as flashy, violent or explosive as Berserker's greeting had been, but intimidating for its swiftness.

Though the arrow, shaft and tip, have disintegrated from his shoulder, the hole it left remains, and his teeth again grind as his body unhesitantly and unceasingly protests his sudden movement.

D-Damn it, I can't defend myself with my arm like this! It wasn't even a serious hit! It should have closed by now. What's—!?

Fortunately, as time is at a premium, he doesn't have to think about it long.

Like most of his problems, the answer is the world.

Or rather, it's lack of aether.

In learning the trade, one of the first changes an adventurer's body undergoes is its ability to recover quickly from minor injuries. The speed of the recovery varies.

When the mind and body are focused in battle, it has little to spare for such things.

It's for this reason that those skilled in mending are so highly sought after when venturing in general, but especially into time locked spaces.

Still, even in combat, the process is there.

About a quarter as effective in battle as out.

But for the process to work, it requires a catalyst.

Aether.

And there's none of that here. Damn… I guess I'll just have to use…

His widened eyes narrow again as he leaps to the side, twisting at the last second and swearing internally as the blade passes within what could have been a hair's breadth away from his chest.

As he lands, he exhales a low, slow breath.

There's never a healer around when you need one.

A common complaint among adventurers on the hunt.

But even if that is true, the impressive, passive, rapid recovery rate enjoyed by them is further supplemented by a much more effective recovery method called 'Naitan'.

Though it has its own drawbacks.

Rather than passively consuming the ambient aether to mend flesh and bone, it actively diverts a portion of the body's own aether to the source of the injury, accelerating the natural healing process.

Usable only infrequently, inhibited by the time it takes for the body to recover that lost aether.

As he finishes exhaling, he can feel the effects almost immediately.

He lets his hand slip down to the hilt of his own long blade, and as he lowers his just-recovered arm to the hilt of the other, it offers no complaint.

Alright, red knight. If this is how you want to play it—!

The tall man's dark blade splits the air as it comes down, but sparks flash in the setting sun's light as it's met head on by the two blades held firmly in each of Taiasu's unshaking hands.

For kodachi, they are quite long.

Nearly as he is tall, they bear all the signature hallmarks of a ninja's weapons. Dark, thin and vorpal, and in the hands of a well-trained assassin they could easily cut to and through bone.

Designed in mind with function over form, there's nothing more to be said about their appearance. He doesn't even have the time to appreciate that it's the first time since his arrival in this world that he's had to draw his weapons for this reason.

It's a daily occurrence, back on Hydaelyn, done to fend off all manner of ill-tempered highwaymen, fauna, and even some carnivorous flora.

Still, like before, some shred of hope remains that things may be talked out before blood is needlessly shed.

Though given that some of his already has been, he's wont to tell that part of himself to shut up.

"Would… you just… listen for a minute… damn it?!" he growls as Archer uses his position and superior physique to his advantage, pressing his blade down further, grinding his blade against the two kodachi which hold it at bay. "I think… there's been some sort of… mistake—!"

"If you have the time to speak, may I suggest you make better use of those impressive-looking blades in your hands?!"

Despite somehow finding no ground gained, even for his obvious and imposing physical advantage, he presses in further, grinding his teeth.

"Or are you enjoying insulting my pride?!"

"But I already told you I don't want to fight—!"

"Such absurd speech!" Archer's grinding scowl hardens. "There is no Servant who does not desire battle! Your poor attempt at deception is an insult!"

Taiasu's eyes widen as Archer holds his free hand up over his head.

A familiar golden glowing light appears in it, and forms into another blade.

Though identical in form to the first, which continues to scratch and scrape against his own blades, its aesthetic is strikingly different.

Where the other blade is black, this blade's white reflects the setting sun's light. And while they both bear the same black and white yin-yang symbol near the hilt, this one extends its black into the white of the blade.

Antithetical mirror images of each other.

Unfortunately, Taiasu is left little time to appreciate the blade's artistry, as the way it's held is as telling as it is menacing.

"See?! Your pathetic ruse has failed!" Archer's eyes narrow as he selects precisely where he'll deliver the decisive blow. "Now die in silence, with some dignity! I'll at least grant you that! Quick and painless!"

"What… ruse—!?"

Taiasu agonizes out the question, but the reply is not delivered with words.

Instead, the white blade flashes like lightning as it descends toward his neck.


From her vantage a fair distance away, Rin watches in quiet awe as the spectacle unfolds.

Where the first arrow struck, the little Assassin-class Servant seems to have already recovered.

Wait… Assassin? Didn't that fake priest say—?

Archer's bow seems to have vanished after having had its string snapped by the precise strike of a small throwing dagger which had just before been used to deftly deflect the second arrow mid-flight.

And now, Archer seems about to end the fight with a precisely delivered quick slice to the small Servant's throat.

Yet something about the encounter feels off-putting, and she can't precisely say what it is without thinking on it.

I couldn't make out everything he said before… Archer shot him, then… He seemed to want to talk? Is that something Servants do in battle? Talk? He hasn't been very aggressive, has he? I mean, if he was hiding in the shadows like Archer said, he'd surely have had plenty of chances to ambush us, so why…?

As she ponders, part of her dismisses the thoughts as meaningless curiosity.

It won't matter in a few seconds, since Archer's white blade, held in his right hand, thrusts viciously down and forward—

—?!

—piercing through an obscuring, dissipating cloud of dust.


Time slows to a crawl as Taiasu works his mind as fast as he ever has, trying to think his way out.

The dark blade over his head, held at bay with his own two blades, is so near to his face he can make out the repeating, red hexagonal pattern etched into it.

If he yields even for a moment, it's sure to cleave his head.

Its counterpart, the white blade, is descending like light, aimed straight at his neck.

This is so dumb…! I can't just let myself get killed here like—!

The only option left to him is a risky gamble.

If he's off by any amount, the best he can hope for is to be maimed.

But it's this, or die for sure.

Rather than yield to the downward force of the dark blade, he diverts it to his left, toward Archer's right, impeding the path of the white blade, and forcing his taller foe to adjust.

It buys just long enough for him to release through the soles of his feet a small yet focused burst of aether into the ground, both kicking up a small, misdirecting cloud of dust and propelling him away at impossible speed.

To anyone seeing it from the outside, it would look like he vanished instantly in a cloud.

That's certainly what Archer sees, his eyes widening as his blade passes smoothly through where his target was, striking nothing but air. All of his forward momentum is released, following the path of the blade through the cloud and causing him to stumble a few steps forward, wispy trails of dust following in his wake.

"What—?!"

He blurts out, instinctively spinning toward Rin, the one he's charged with guarding, to see Taiasu glaring in his direction, crouched low just a few meters from her feet. His eyes widen further, as his fierce scowl hardens, it taking him but a moment to process what he's seeing.

"Rin, get back—!"

Though his words come in the imperative, she can detect a measure of concern, almost panic, impelling them. Taiasu glances back over his shoulder, meeting her wide-eyed gaze for a second before snapping his head forward again.

"Oh right, she's—hey!" Irritated, his brow furrows. "Get back?! I'm not gonna—!"

He's left no time before he's diving to the side as Archer slams into the ground, causing it to heave. The earth at his feet binds as he spins and surges forward with a swift cross-slashing cleave.

Still midair, Taiasu is forced to twist to avoid each blade, one passing overhead, the other beneath, carrying a stiff wind in their wake which adds to his spin. One moment, he's seeing the twilight hues painted in the sky. The next, the dull grays and browns of the grass and dirt.

Finally, he lands on his feet a fair distance away, panting but unharmed. His blades still extended, Archer's stiff scowl lifts into a momentarily amused smirk.

"Not bad. I was starting to feel bored."

The ground again buckles as he pushes off from it, storming forward in another red blur.

The uneasy tranquility in the park is shattered once more as their blades meet, steel striking steel echoing and sparks scattering into the air. With each deflected strike, Archer's smirk dissolves further, progressing into another hard scowl.

Stupid… little… fool…! Why isn't he—!?

After breaking their most recent blade-lock, he strikes out again, and the ground again suffers for the little fool vaulting backward.

Their mockery of a battle continues to rage as Archer lashes out with each blade, alternating between alternate and simultaneous swings while Taiasu continues to play an aggressively defensive game filled with ducks, dodges, vaults, lunges, sparks, and steel hammering steel echoing into the early evening with each parried strike.

Whatever he can do to evade Archer's ruthless, relentless onslaught.

"Stand… STILL!"

Driven beyond the bounds of his patience, he spits at the ground as he plunges both weapons forward, missing again as the midget hops sideways.

"Why?!" He lands and spins to face him, readying himself for whatever he has planned next. "So you can gut me?!"

"YES!" Archer roars, glaring as he lunges forward again to make good on his word. "Are you even taking this seriously?!"

Taiasu's frown sharpens.

Damn it, he won't listen to anything I've said! I can't even think like this! Why has everyone's first reaction been fear or violence?!

His deep frown lifts slightly into a mildly amused, self-condemning smirk.

Well, I say that, but I'm not opposed to a good fight, either… Still, I'd at least like to know why before we bury our blades in each other's backs!

Inwardly sighing, he bounces back again, making Archer's next swing miss as well, and adding another in a seemingly endless series of missed attacks to his collection for the evening.

His eyes nearly bulge as he goes full tilt.

As he lands, Taiasu looks up, glaring through narrowed eyes. The light smirk he'd worn beneath his mask has vanished with his blades, which have been returned to their sheaths at his side.

"Fine! You want me to be serious?!"

Archer blinks at the display, unsure of what to make of his threatening words when mixed with his actions, which seem to suggest a yielding spirit.

And that moment is all that's needed.

Through his feet, he releases another hard burst of aether into the ground, engulfing his diminutive foorm in another dark, obscuring cloud. The ground at Archer's feet shifts, and he looks over his shoulder and down to see the enemy there, making two unfamiliar yet distinct gestures with his hands.

Unfamiliar to him, yet well known to Taiasu.

The first, the symbol for earth. The second, for man.

With the knowledge provided by the Ninja's Soul Crystal, the signs meld the aether in the bearer, making it pliable.

And potentially deadly.

Whatever he's doing, Archer's not about to let him finish if he can help it.

But he's at his back, and so short he's had a hard time getting any serious strikes in even when they were face to face.

Desperately, he swings his blade back at an awkward angle.

But before the arc of his swing is half-complete, he can feel five small fingers clasp the calf of his leg.

His teeth grind as he tries to force the swing to its conclusion.

But starting from his leg and moving up, the deathly chill he feels instantly permeates his entire body, stopping his swing cold, and ending at his head in what can only be described as the sort of brain freeze about which legends are penned.

Wh-what… What is—!?

It's the last thought he's able to muster before his vision is again obscured.

This time, by a haze of light blue.

He hadn't even heard the words Taiasu muttered before being crystalized like ice.


At Archer's warning, Rin looks down in time to catch the shimmering green eyes of the tiny foe clad in black.

The second their eyes meet, she can feel her breath freeze in her lungs.

Her mouth and throat become as arid as the desert, and her heart slams so hard it hurts in her head.

In her mind screams a single, chilling thought.

Oh, shit… I'm dead—!

A thought which proves false.

The figure's eyes narrow, just before he snaps his head around.

The sudden ringing in her ears from her pulse pounding in her head makes it impossible to hear whatever he says, or the sound of the ground heaving in response to Archer's swift repositioning.

The small target leaps backward to avoid the continuous assault, and with that granted reprieve, Rin's lungs resume their function.

Wait… What was that? He had a clear shot, didn't he…? So why wouldn't he…?

The tinnitus in her ears, worsened by the sounds of their blades striking against each other, makes it impossible to hear whatever words they exchange. All she can do is watch as they light up the early evening, each clash releasing a shower of sparks which might threaten to ignite the already dead park were it not for all the standing water.

He still hasn't taken a single swing… What is—!?

As she thinks that thought, the tiny terror slips his blades back into their sheaths.

She can't hear, but suspects he's saying something from the mouth of his mask moving.

Then, he's obscured and gone.

Her eyes trace reflexively toward Archer to spy their foe clapping his calf.

And the battle ends.

Archer's arm stops mid-swing.

From his legs, a chilling blue aura radiates upward, stopping at his head before his entire form is encased in a form-fitting suit of jagged ice.

A-Archer—! He just—!

And the dry feeling in her mouth returns with a vengeance.

It actually never left. She's just more aware of it now, for what she's seeing.

That, and the return of the thought.

The 'I'm dead' thought.


"There." Taiasu slips around, smirking, and raps lightly on the thin sheet of ice with his knuckles. "Serious enough for—!?"

Instinct kicks in, and he springs back just as some streak of dark light slams into the ground a few meters from where he'd been, leaving a small smoking hole at the point of impact.

He traces with his eyes to its origin to see Rin glowering, grinding her teeth, her arm extended, finger outstretched, and moving it toward him.

"Y-You… Two days… And you just… I won't…!"

And she seems to have difficulty parsing her thoughts into words.

Rather than struggle to be articulate, she releases another shot from her finger.

A beam of darkness enveloped in red light, aimed straight at Taiasu's head.

"H-Hey, wait a—!" Before he can finish protesting, he ducks his head, wincing as the beam slams into the ground behind him. "Just hold on a second—!"

"Hold on!?" Rin hollers, releasing another blast, which he narrowly avoids by twisting to one side. "You stupid little—you expect me to just stand here and let you kill me like you did my Archer?!"

"Wh-what?!" Taiasu's jaw falls in his mask. "K-Kill?! I didn't kill him, and I'm not gonna—Ah, crap!"

Again, he's forced to duck to avoid eating one of those strange and rather deadly looking dark beams being rained down on him sideways from a distance.

"Do you think I'm stupid?!"

Her sentence is punctuated with a few more shots, but for having gotten used to them, he's able to evade them more readily, his eyes reading their straight path from the tip of Rin's finger.

Normally, seeing each attack miss would leave her shaken, but given she's far too upset right now, there's no room in her mind to process that fear or concern, and she continues to rain down volley after volley.

"Look at him! You turned him into an ice sculpture! He's a cherry-flavored popsicle!"

Taiasu sighs vehemently.

With his instincts driving his reflexes, dodging the ceaseless assault devolves into something trivial. Still, he glances over his shoulder toward the frozen red knight, frowning thoughtfully.

He shouldn't be like that much longer. Honestly, I'm surprised it's lasted—?

"Hey, you JERK!" Feeling her face growing heated, she blurts out in frustration. "At least look at me while I'm yelling at you!"

"I was going to, but to answer your question, no, I don't think you're stupid, just mistaken! He's not dead!"

More shots rain in, each being evaded with little thought or effort.

"And even if he was—would you STOP THAT?!—I wasn't going to do anything to you! Why would I?!"

"The hell, I will! And because that's what Servants do! They kill other Servants and their Masters!"

"Servant—?!"

Finally, frustrated with trying to hold this discussion while dodging an endless stream of magical blasts of energy, Taiasu releases another sharp burst of aether through his feet into the ground, obscuring his form and propelling himself from her field of view.

Keeping her hand up, finger extended, Rin slowly circles, trying to find where he went.

"Okay, there's definitely been a misunderstanding."

Hearing his voice nearby, she spins around, shooting her glare at the ground, and releasing another blast from her finger, just in case.

Only the ground suffers for her action, receiving the blast in full, leaving another small, smoking hole.

"Oh? And what misunderstanding would that be?!"

Slowly, she resumes turning in a circle, leaving her back exposed to nothing for more than a second.

"Well, first, I'm not a Servant. I thought we covered that when we met yesterday."

Quickly, she pivots again, releasing another blast, which sinks into the ground.

"Don't be stupid! I've never met you before in my life!"

Each time he speaks, she could swear it's coming from behind her, but every time she turns, there's no one there.

"I'd know! It'd be hard to forget a stupid, dime-store Halloween mask like the one you're wearing!"

"Ah…" Again, she can hear him mutter out some minor complaint, and she spins around, releasing another burst into the ground. "Right… The mask… Of course."

This time, there's some irritated realization in his tone.

Something lands softly at Rin's feet, and she hops backward, glaring down to see the same mask she'd just been complaining about. The next thing she sees are two green eyes and a familiar, upside-down face descending into her field of view.

For being so focused on finding where he'd gone, and for his mass being so minor, and his landing so soft, she hadn't even felt him come to rest on her head like a bird using her hair for a nest.

There'd been other factors at play as well, like his masterfully repositioning himself each time she'd spun, trying to find him.

Seeing him so suddenly now, her mouth slips open, flapping wordlessly at the same time he opens his.

"See? We met yesterday, remember?"

All she can spare is a single, disbelieving blink as her mind is assailed in a second by a thousand different thoughts.

S-Sakura's… friend? Wait, so he's a Servant? No, he said he wasn't… Is he, or isn't he? Why's he dressed differently? No, before that, what is he even doing here? He's supposed to be with her, isn't he? Was he following me around? No, Archer would have noticed him before now—oh, no, Archer! He killed Archer—!

At first, her eyes widen, then narrow as she can feel her teeth grinding so hard her jaw hurts. Her heated complexion burns red as she seizes Taiasu by the head, wresting him from his perch, flipping him roughly and glaring death into his eyes.

"What the HELL did you do to my Servant, you little TWERP?!"

Gripping the sides of his head, she squeezes as hard as she can. Despite her intent to either treat it like a stress ball or pop it like a pimple, her efforts avail her little more than a slight cramp in her arms, which for the moment she disregards.

"I didn't want too—but he wouldn't listen! He just kept attacking me!" Dangling from his head, Taiasu flails his feet and arms, his words coming distorted as his face is smooshed between two angrily shaking hands. "So I just had him chill for a while!"

"Ah—!" The lame pun cuts her response short, causing her to seethe and squeeze his head even harder. "Are you making JOKES?! I'm gonna launch you into orbit, you little—!"

Before she's able to make good on her word, something from her periphery catches her notice.

Her eyes shift in that direction in time to notice cracks forming in the thin layer of ice encasing Archer. Some of the red fades from her complexion, though she continues to squeeze and shake Taiasu about like a rag doll.

As the cracks continue forming and deepening, she can feel her breath cutting short.

W-Wait… Is he alright…?

Finally, the ice prison shatters like glass, tumbling to the ground, leaving one Archer glaring across the way at the two of them through sharply narrowed eyes, with his brow cut so low it could serve for a mustache if not for his nose blocking it.

"Rin—!" The blades in his hands vanish, exchanged for a fresh bow identical to the first, though with a functioning string, knocked with a fully drawn arrow aimed at the squirming interloper gripped between her suddenly relaxing hands. "You've… subdued Assassin…?"

She can almost taste his incredulity, and her eyes shift briefly toward the wriggling Taiasu, whose eyes are scrunched closed, his face red and contorted in discomfort, before turning back up to her Servant.

"Archer…? You're alright?"

He nods, then sighs. "I was going to ask the same of you." His bow remains trained on his target. "Whatever he did, I feared his next move would be—"

"You can put your bow away, Archer…"

"What?" His narrowed eyes widen, lifting with his inflection. "Rin? How do you—?!"

"I know this little guy. He's…" Fury fades from her voice and tension from her arms until Taiasu naturally plops down to the ground. "I don't know what he is, honestly. But I'm reasonably certain he's not dangerous."

"Not dangerous?!" The tip of his arrow tracks to where Taiasu lands with a slight bounce, and now stands, massaging his tender cheeks with both hands. "What do you call what he did to me?!"

"Self defense?" Taiasu mutters, letting out a deep sigh. He bends down, collecting his mask and replacing it. "I could have done worse, you know. Hyoton's not even meant for causing harm. Just subduing."

"And I'm supposed to feel better about that?!" Archer spits venomously. "And what the hell is a Hyoton?"

"It's what I used on you." His mask on, and straight, Taiasu turns around to see the arrow still aimed at his head. "It binds a person or creature, in this case, you, in ice, stopping them from doing things for a little while. And considering you wouldn't listen to me, it was all I could think of to stop your rampage."

"Rampage?!" Archer's widened eyes narrow sharply again, his teeth grinding behind his scowl. "It was no such thing! I was acting in defense of my Master, you miserable little—!"

"Defense…? Master?" Taiasu looks from Archer, whose next attack remains steady, ready to go at a moment's notice, up at Rin. "He means you?"

She looks down and nods.

Seeing the slight confirmation, Taiasu's eyes widen briefly, then narrow thoughtfully as he drops his stare to the ground, pock-marked with smoking holes from Rin's assault, and marred with scars from Archer's countless missed sword-swings.

That tall woman… Rider… She did the same thing, back at Sakura's place. In that case…

Frowning deeply, he sighs.

"Damn… I guess I owe you an apology, then."

Something about his words feel familiar, causing his lips to curl up in a smirk.

"Er, well… No, that's wrong. I mean, you were doing the right thing, but your concerns were misplaced. I'm not one of these Servant creatures, and I'm not here to fight anyone. I just happened to be here when I saw her—" He juts with his thumb back at Rin. "—and was going to say 'hi' when you shot me."

His words seem to have little effect, as Archer keeps him locked in his sights, with the arrow still fixed to strike right between his eyes. As if that weren't evidence enough, what he says next seems as conclusive as conclusive can get.

"Rin, I do not trust this person." The bow groans as he draws the string back further. "You should move, in case he—"

"Archer, I said it's fine." Despite moments ago being about to pop, Rin's tone has settled into a state of at least collected composure. "I already told you, I know him. We met yesterday."

"That means nothing. It could simply be a deception to lull you into—"

"To what end?" She sighs, shaking her head. "If that were true, he could have simply ended me yesterday when we met, or here while you were on ice, right?"

Archer's eye shift from Taiasu, up to meet Tohsaka's calm stare. His teeth grind for a few seconds more before he lets out a frustrated sigh, releasing the tension from his bow and letting it vanish into the night.

"Very well, Master…" Though his words are contrite, his tone is heavily seasoned with contempt aimed squarely at the small stranger. "But if he does anything suspect, I will not hesitate to—"

"I'd expect nothing less, Archer," Rin says, smirking. "And as for you…"

"Huh?"

Taiasu turns his head up, spying her standing over him, arms folded and frowning down at him.

And quickly, it feels like he's back where he was when they first met yesterday.

In the school yard, with her tugging on his ear.