20—Works of Blade and Body

Tohsaka takes a moment to make certain the singed grass isn't about to ignite into a rampaging firestorm before she, Archer and Taiasu, still concerned over his recently rediscovered plight, make their way back into her house. Once they've returned to her comfortable living room, Archer relaxes himself on her couch, sitting cross-legged. Taiasu reclaims his initial seat, and Tohsaka again seats herself across from him.

After having seen the catastrophe outside, he's hesitant to pass over the five shards that, along with the fire shard he'd let her use to such devastating effect, would form a complete set. But as they're lacking the complementary piece, they serve no use for him.

He frowns down at his side pack before flipping it open and digging inside.

Well… She seems to know what she's doing.

Five shards, none of them that heated, glowing red color, clink across the table in quick succession, and Taiasu clips his pack closed. Each one Tohsaka reaches for, she has to fight her instinct to recoil.

The violet shard makes her skin tingle, like a less severe strike to her funny bone. The amber makes her want for lotion, for how dry it makes her skin to feel. The sapphire colored shard sends goosebumps up her arm and down her back, and she's surprised not to see her breath as she holds it.

The emerald-colored shard places some unseen pressure on her chest, like she's trapped in a gust of wind trying to force itself into her lungs.

The lapis shard just makes her skin feel clammy.

As she turns each in her hand, it's the amber one which widens her eyes as she recalls something else she's recently seen.

This one… It's the same color as that other…

She sets that shard back on the table, then looks across at her new guest.

"So, these are different from that other stone?"

"Huh?" Finished securing his pack, Taiasu glances up. "Other stone?"

"The one you held before you glowed like a lightbulb, and your clothes changed."

"Lightbulb? What—nevermind. But that? Yeah, it's different. These are just aether…" He returns her gaze from across the table. "That one's special. It's…"

He frowns, furrowing his brow, trying to think how best to describe them.

"The shortest version—" Archer smirks at his choice of words. "—is that it's a vast library of knowledge, accumulated and stored over several generations."

He re-opens his pack, then digs around inside briefly before bringing out the stone in question. Taking a moment, he regards it with a warm smile as one might an old friend, before he sets it on the table.

"This one—" He slides forward the amber colored stone. Small, flat, and ill-defined in shape, with three golden parallel lines etched in the center. "—houses many lifetimes' worth of knowledge about the ways of the monks of Ala Mhigo. The longer we have them in our possession, and the more we build our skills with them, the more the books in those libraries become open to us."

"Wow…" She stares at the stone for a moment, then lifts her head, tilting it slightly. "Wait, we? As in, there are more people with these?"

Taiasu nods.

"There are. They're rare, but not unique. Without these, becoming a skilled monk would take years. Becoming a master would require decades of undistracted focus, and put me well past my prime to go adventuring. And forget learning, let alone mastering, any of the other martial disciplines."

"More…?" Her eyes widen further. "There are more than—"

She stops mid-thought, frowning and sighing inwardly.

Dumb… Of course, there are. Sakura said he had a sword when they first met. Then, there was what he was swinging around against Archer. Those bladed rings he showed us in the shed, and what he's got right now… Obviously, they're somehow tied to whatever weapon he has strapped to his waist at the moment. I wonder how, though…

From the corner of her eye, she catches him nodding again.

"They're all pretty similar. Most of them are about this flat, so you could easily skip them across a lake. I mean, I wouldn't…" He chuckles lightly. "They're all small enough you can hold them in your palm, and they each have a deep and unknowable treasure trove of knowledge."

From his pack, he brings out each of the remaining four he's carrying. The first, that obsidian, throwing-star shaped stone with the swirl in the center. The second is rose gold, and formed like a misshapen heart with a sigil in the center like a smoother version of its overall shape.

The third looks like carved granite or burnished steel, shaped into a sort of pentagonal prism, with its broadest face dominated by a figure etched in black encircled in what could be lines of flame.

Finally, the last is pale green, with what is clearly a harp etched in gold in its center.

The same one to which he'd attuned the past evening.

"There are more… I just sort of stumbled into these." Taiasu takes his time, fondly caressing each one. "Skill, persistence, or just dumb luck, but I have this many."

"So you've mastered five martial disciplines, then?" Finally intrigued, Archer leans forward some, glancing them over as he comments.

"Well…" Taiasu ponders a moment, then shakes his head. "I wouldn't say mastered, since it's impossible to know how much knowledge each stone contains."

He eyes the bowman from the side, showing a confident smile.

"But I'd be fine with saying I'm comfortable in my skills with each. This one—" He lifts the amber stone from the table. "—is the one I cut my teeth with. I got my start as a pugilist."

He glances from the stone up at Tohsaka, who's tilting her head, holding her brow arched.

"Ah… Punching, kicking, that sort of thing?"

Her expression relaxes, and she shows an understanding smile, gesturing for him to go on. Like Sakura, she's quickly finding herself drawn in, wanting to know more. Archer scoffs as he hears the art described.

"Fighting without weapons sounds like suicide, if you ask me."

Taiasu smirks.

"You'd think so, but it works well enough. And I'll tell you this." His smirk lifts into a full grin. "There's little and less more satisfying for one knee-high to an ant than walking up to a dragon and socking it in the jaw."

Archer chuckles, mirroring his smirk.

"I could see that…?" His smirk then drops as the rest of the words finish sinking in. "Wait, did you say dragon?"

Taiasu nods, but doesn't elaborate on that point, continuing with his story.

"After I learned what I could about Pugilism, I'd plateaued. Then, I chanced upon someone in need of…" He frowns thoughtfully, folding his arms. "Well, he said he needed a research assistant, but the truth was, he just needed someone to keep him alive. He talked a lot about aether, and ancient battlegrounds, but…"

He glances at the floor, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I didn't pay that much attention. He was pretty high-minded and arrogant. It made it difficult for me to care what he had to say. But I agreed to help him, and a man is only as good as his word, so there was no taking back my offer."

He glances up from the floor, first toward Tohsaka, who continues regarding him with her full attention, then over at Archer, who's since leaned back into the couch, and is currently staring outside, through a window.

After a small shrug, he continues.

"The man had another research assistant. An Ala Mhigan monk named Widargelt. The researcher found him lacking," Taiasu says, frowning. "He dragged me to this old battlefield. The researcher, that is. Told me to dispatch some of the resident denizens as part of his experiment. Had most of them dealt with when the last one started casting this rather dangerous looking spell."

"Denizens?"

Taiasu turns his gaze back to see Tohsaka's brow arched again, and he nods.

"Er, yeah… You know…?" She shakes her head, and he frowns. "Ah, er… right, no, you wouldn't, sorry… Hydaelyn has a lot of… Uh, unfriendly fauna. Monsters, basically. Most people don't go wandering far outside their towns and settlements for that reason."

"Oh? But you do?"

Nodding, Taiasu laughs.

"Me and every other adventurer! They're what we tend to fight most of the time. People, less so…" He sighs, his smile and laugh fading. "When I can help it."

He continues.

"So the last of those fiends was about to blast me with whatever it was cooking up. I wasn't sure what to do, but that's when Widargelt showed up, decked out in the strangest looking yellow armor I'd ever seen. He landed this insane flying kick on it."

Taiasu stands on the chair, kicking his leg out in imitation.

"Took the beast out right there and then. Never saw anything like it before then," he says, smiling as he lowers his leg and returns to his seat. "After that, we both started glowing like the sun, and I felt something in me… open, I guess? I can't think of any other way to describe it. Widargelt said it was my 'chakra' opening."

He shakes his head.

"No idea what he meant at the time. Said something about the leftover energy of an ancient battle flowing through me. Still don't fully understand the what of it. Just had to agree with him like a dope. But he was right in that something had awakened in me that day."

Tohsaka strokes her chin thoughtfully.

"Well… I don't know how things work on your world, but it sounds similar to what we call leylines here. A place where magical energy just seems to accumulate. This house was built on one."

"I…" Taiasu's face blanks. "I can't even pretend to understand half of that."

"Really?" Tohsaka's brow lifts with her inflection. "They don't have mages in your world?"

"No, they do…" Taiasu says, shaking his head. "I just never got around to learning the magic disciplines. I intended to, at some point. Still do. Anyroad, Widargelt told me he was a monk, and their way was to train their mind and body."

He stands in his seat again, pantomiming.

"'The fist is our weapon,' he said. 'The energy within us moves the fist. The chakra is the seat of that energy.'"

"Wait, hold on…" Tohsaka raises her hand like she's in a classroom, stopping Taiasu's train of thought.

"Huh?" He looks from the ceiling back down at her.

"Sorry, what did you say? 'Anyroad?'"

"Yeah, anyroad… Oh, right. You guys say 'anyway' here…" He grins, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "I forgot that… Wait, you've heard me say that before. I know you have."

"I have…?"

With her head tilted, Tohsaka thinks back to their past interactions and realizes he's right.

Oh, yeah… On the roof at the school, and in the shed, too, I think… Even here, I think? Why did I just catch it now?

Sighing, she shrugs. "Right, sorry. I guess I just didn't notice before. Didn't mean to interrupt."

Taiasu mirrors her shrug with his own, then goes on with his story.

"Widargelt said that the chakra exists within all living things, but that not all living things can open them. Not without a great deal of training and discipline, anyroad, er, anyway—"

Tohsaka holds out her palm, shaking her head.

"Don't change how you talk on my account, Taruko-kun."

"Er, okay…" He goes a shade of red as he flops down in his seat. "So… he said that, but that apparently I was an exception. Something about my great inner strength forcing them open."

He smirks dryly, before letting out a hearty laugh.

"Never heard anyone use words like that to describe me before. Said he'd never seen it happen. Told me I was meant to walk the monk's path. Then he gave me that crystal." He points at the amber stone. "First one I'd ever seen, let alone held, and I just blundered right into it. Called it a 'mark of his order', but for me it was a catapult off that plateau."

"Sounds like fate was kind to you…" Tohsaka muses, smiling thoughtfully, resting her face between her hands.

Taiasu stares fondly at the stone for a few seconds more, then returns it to his pack.

"Maybe it was."

He takes up the black stone with the red swirl next, staring at it for another few seconds.

"I learned how to be a rogue, and later a ninja. I owe that to Yugiri Mistwalker." Point to point, he pins the stone between his finger and the table, then sets about spinning it in place. "Each one of these has a precious memory attached, and a long story to go with it."

"Hold on…" She sits up fully again, her eyes widening. "Rogue? Like a highwayman?"

No way… He doesn't seem the sort. I can't even imagine. I mean, what would he say? 'Give me your money or lose a toe!'?

She chuckles at the thought, and, showing a soft smile, Taiasu shakes his head, slow and thoughtful-like.

"Not exactly. I mean, they use the same set of skills, but it's how you use those skills that matter. One of my friends, Thancred…" His smile shifts subtly. To something far-off and long-looking. "He's a bit of a lady's man. But he used to run with that sort of crowd, and he's who got me interested…"

For a moment, his voice trails off as his thoughts threaten to drift, and he has to shake his head to get them back on track.

"Let's just say I owe a lot of my interests to a lot of my friends."

Silently smiling, Tohsaka nods her head.

"I'd had my work with the rogue's guild finished for some time when I got a call from their leader, Jacke. I was doing well to make out every other sentence he spoke. He's big on thieves' cant, but even the Echo has trouble translating that sometimes."

He pauses a moment, glancing up, but Tohsaka only nods again.

"Yes, thieves' cant. I'm familiar. Go on."

Taiasu mirrors her nod, then does just that.

"He said his men had eyes on some newcomers at Wineport. What struck him odd was how little and less they knew about them, so he wanted me to do some digging." His expression warms with another soft smile. "Figured that I owed him for helping me learn my way around the sharp end of a knife, so I agreed."

"Sounds like he didn't want people muscling in on his turf," Archer mutters, his expression placid as he keeps his stare focused out the window.

"Maybe. Jacke had said they claimed to be refugees, but something about them still rubbed him wrong." Taiasu's warm smile shifts into a knowing smirk. "Turns out, he's got some keen intuition. Made my way to Wineport, but no sooner it was that I'd arrived and met my contact than things got… bizarre. We came running at the sound of a scuffle to see this waif of a woman standing over three unconscious thugs. Two of 'em must've weighed three times what she did."

Tohsaka lets slip a light laugh. "Nothing suspicious about that."

"Yeah, our first thought as well," Taiasu says, laughing too. "It was almost cliché. She laid it on thick. 'I had just come to town to purchase some supplies,' she said. 'I was suddenly accosted by three burly drunkards.'"

This time, his impression falls flat. Even he can tell, and he coughs away his slight embarrassment and the tint of red from his complexion.

"She said they were mugging her, but when they saw how little she had, they got into it with each other, and next she knew they were all splayed out on the ground like we'd seen when we first arrived." His smirk returns with fervor. "Would have been plausible, but the 'burly drunkards' were relatively unscathed. That didn't help sell her story. Rather than challenge her tale there, we let her be on her way, and shadowed her."

Tohsaka leans her chin into her hands, resting her elbows on the table, some fascination and curiosity shining in her eyes.

"So what happened next?"

"Well…" Finished with the slight theatrics of the waifly woman's story, he reseats himself. "We were following her and came across this trio of men in peasant garb. They weren't, though. Just masquerading. At least by the arms they carried. No peasant walks around with knives like these guys had. All three were down, and two were already…"

He frowns sadly, shaking his head.

"Last one was on his way out. Said he'd failed, passed me this stone…" He points at the obsidian stone, balanced carefully on one of its points. "Bloke's last words were to take it to some folks named Oboro and Tsubame. Never even heard their names before, but…"

He swallows down hard, staring at that stone.

"It was his dying request."

"Ever the philanthropist," Archer mutters dryly.

Taiasu shoots him a sharp glare. "Hey, if you can help someone, you do it! I mean… that's how it should be, anyroad…"

Archer's dry smirk dissolves into a full-on frown, and Taiasu tilts his head.

"What? Something else to say?"

Archer shakes his head.

"No… Just… That sounded familiar. Thought I was remembering something. But never mind me. By all means, please—" He gestures dismissively, his dry, sarcastic smirk back in full. "—regale us."

Frowning, Taiasu sighs, then refolds his arms, letting the stone rest on the table.

"Yeah.. well, what I was saying… Right, the woman. We caught up with her, and another trio of downed 'peasants'." He does the full-on air quotes. "That's when things got weird. This guy… Long black hair…"

His eyes slip closed as he recalls his appearance.

"Had his face painted black around his eyes. Was wearing this red chest piece with chain sleeves and black leggings." His eyes snap open as he recalls what happened next. "Drops in from nowhere. Starts chiding this woman, claiming she was hiding from him. The way he was talking and moving, it was hard to take him seriously."

His frown cuts in deeper.

"Then things got dangerous. I'd stepped between them, since it seemed this guy meant her harm, but she just rushes past me with these two blades out at her sides. Guy had his out in a second, too. Then this shuriken flies out, striking the ground between 'em, stopping them both dead in their tracks."

"Sounds like your first contact with an actual ninja," Tohsaka says, smiling softly, leaning forward again.

"No, that was Yugiri… But I can talk about her later. I don't want to get off track." His frown reforms again. "Not again, anyroad. So, seeing this guy in red was pretty jarring. Guy's name was Karasu, but he acted little like I thought a ninja would. Seemed big on theatrics. Yugiri's a more proper ninja than this guy could ever hope to be. Or maybe he was about breaking stereotypes…"

Taiasu muses over that thought for a moment, then shrugs.

"So Oboro was the guy who threw that shuriken. That's what the weirdo, Karasu, called him. It was clear then that the woman must have been this Tsubame person," Taiasu says, now grasping the stone in his hand. "They were the two meant to receive this."

Recalling what happens next, Taiasu shudders.

"That weird one, Karasu, called me and my mate 'extras'. Like the whole thing was just some stage play to him. Then he tried to off me. Before I could see it, he'd sent this shuriken flying at my head. Guess my body just reacted, because the next thing I knew, I could feel the wind from it grazing my ear, and hear it burying itself into the stone face of a cliff behind me."

He acts out the movements his body had done at the time, leaning steeply back and to one side.

"Guess that rogue training came in handy?" Tohsaka says, nodding thoughtfully.

"Probably. It was useful for a lot, but that just made me feel even more indebted to Jacke." He lets out another deep sigh. "I'll never be able to repay every debt I owe. So after that, Karasu left with some flashy display and some smoke bombs to cover his exit. We get the rundown from the two. Said they came from a small village in the province of Doma. Called themselves shinobi. Talked about how they fought against…"

He frowns, shaking his head.

"No, that'd take too long to get into."

"Huh?" Tohsaka raises an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"Well, it's just… politics and stuff." He pokes his tongue through a thin frown, like he's just tasted something sour. "It's all connected, and it's too much to talk about right now. This was part of that. Tsubame said they could have won freedom for Doma, but that this Karasu guy sold them out. Oboro was lamenting the loss of his fallen kin when I made to hand him this."

He gestures with the small, black stone, and Tohsaka nods, stifling a yawn.

"That's when it started shining. Oboro said it was calling out to me. Called it a sign. Said we were 'fated to fight as one'." He chuckles softly. "Tad dramatic for my tastes. Were it not for Yugiri and our fond friendship, I'd have just handed the stone to him and been done with it. But that's not what happened."

Another fine smile warms his expression.

"When I saw Yugiri fight, I'd been in awe, and I wanted to learn more about that. Then this all falls into my lap. Oboro said he'd train me as a ninja if I helped them learn the ins and outs of the country they'd come to. They were new to Eorzea, so they knew little and less. I agreed, and they started teaching me ninjutsu. And that's how I came into possession of this stone, and how I got my start as a ninja."

Taiasu slips the stone into his pack, then reaches for the next, but before he can, Tohsaka palms his hand, pinning it lightly to the table.

"Taruko-kun, I'm sorry. I really am. This is fascinating and I would love to hear more about it. I really would, but—"

Her minor protest is cut off by an enormous yawn, and Taiasu's eyes go fully wide.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I just got so into this, I didn't even think about the time!"

She nods, letting his hand go, and he quickly scoops up the remaining stones, hurrying them into his pack.

"Everything just builds up, you know? I got to talk a bit before about this stuff with Sakura, but beyond that, I've only really ever known people who know it all already… I don't get to share it often. Except with Khloe, and that's only once a week." With that said, he slips the last stone into his pack, then looks up across the table again. "But I'm glad you liked them! I don't want people to forget… These might be tools to some, but they're much and more than that to me…"

He stands, then drops from the chair and cuts himself low with a deep bow.

"Thanks for listening…"

She blinks down at him a few times. Unlike with Archer, toward whom she's been vacillating, her opinion of the small man is forming into something more steady. Similar to that of others who know at least part of the truth, she's coming to find in him more than just a strangely dressed fish-out-of-water, but something fascinating and endearing.

"No… not at all. Like I said, it was all really interesting."

"Yeah, but you could learn to trim the fat," Archer says, still wearing that dry smirk.


Tohsaka shows Taiasu to her room.

"You'll be sleeping here," she says, gesturing to a hastily unrolled futon and bedding.

"In here?" Taiasu looks around, taking everything in. "This is a pretty nice guest room."

"No," Tohsaka says, shaking her head. "This is my room."

"Ah, your—!" Flashes of last night burn through his mind. "Uh… W-wait, I can't sleep in your room…"

"Huh?" She blinks down at him a few times. "Why?"

"That's…" He glances at the floor, fidgeting and turning red. "I just can't. I'll go find someplace else. There are a lot of options, I'm sure."

Kneeling down, he goes to gather the bedspread.

"What? No way!"

Tohsaka can already feel herself growing irritated again.

"I will not be responsible for whatever extra-dimensional, diplomatic… firestorm… would erupt from you wandering around my house, getting into god only knows what." She glares down at him. "You're staying here, where I can keep both my eyes on you."

Still staring down, trying to collect the futon, Taiasu shakes his head slowly.

"No, it's fine—"

It's instinct, or something else, but it quickly feels like someone is trying to burn two holes in his head. He drops what he's gathered, and when he looks up, the increasing irritation in Tohsaka's heated stare helps him to reconsider. Her gaze traces down to his feet, and her frown sharpens as she folds her arms.

"And usually, when a guest enters a house, they remove their footwear."

"Ah… um…" He sighs, slumping forward. "Sorry. I forgot…"

Leaning down, he removes his red leather boots, then glances around the room. Evidently, the place where he'll be sleeping for the night.

It's a lot for just one person, but I think it suits her well. Still…

"I'm really uncomfortable with this…" he mutters the rest of his thought, digging his toes into the carpet.

"What's the problem?"

He looks up to find Tohsaka's eyes narrowed, her arms still folded as she locks him in place with her stare. But as far as he can tell, her minor irritation has burned off.

"Just… The problem is… I mean, if you don't know…" His complexion goes full-on code-red without the sirens. "It's that… I'm a guy…"

"Huh? Taruko-kun?" Her eyes widen slightly as she tilts her head. "You're a guy?"

The soft carpet muffles the sound of his head slamming into the floor. His eye twitches, a mix of irritation and disbelief swirling around in his head. The ceiling offers no consolation, and he springs first to his feet, then high enough into the air to be at her eye-level, his face as red as her room's carpet.

"YES, I'm a guy!"

His voice comes with enough force to shake the windows and blow her hair back for a second before it flutters down, coming to a rest at her back. At his clearly over-the-top reaction, she has to cover herself to hide her grinning face and suppress a laugh. Seeing that, the red in his face bleeds out and he descends back to said plush, red carpet.

"Oh… You were making a joke…" Arms folded, he exaggerates a pout. "That's mean. You're mean…"

Her grin relaxes into something more natural.

"Sometimes. Anyway, it's fine. Besides what I've already said, I don't have a guest room prepared. I like to consider myself on top of things, but I wasn't expecting to need one when I left this morning." She folds her arms, glancing over at the corner where Archer has stationed himself. "And even if you tried anything, I'm sure Archer could pin you to the wall. Even I could throw you through one of these windows, regardless of how… strong…?"

The thought makes her eyes grow wide, and she tilts her head.

"Hey, how come you're so strong?"

"I'm not that strong." The carpet holds Taiasu's stare fixed in place. "At least, no stronger than your average Hydaelian adventurer."

"Really?" Tohsaka's head tilts in the other direction. "So, all of them are as strong as you?"

He shakes his head. "No, I'm average. I'm stronger than a few, but I'd say weaker than most."

"Wow… So your world has a bunch of people that can go toe-to-toe with a Servant?"

"I guess…?" Taiasu sighs again. "Say, I only heard a little, but what can you tell me? About Servants, I mean?"

"Eh? Uh…"

She fumbles her words for a moment, then slumps forward, kneading her forehead.

"Well, you know Archer is a Servant." She gestures toward him, but he seems content to continue surveying the nothing happening outside. "I'm too tired to explain all the details, but the short of it is they're super strong, skilled, durable—"

Taiasu's brow arches into his hairline.

"Fiends! They're like monsters on Hydaelyn, then!"

That comparison creases Archer's brow inward, cutting his face with a deep frown.

Tohsaka nods.

"If that helps you understand it, then sure. There's more to it, but let's just table it for right now and get back to what I was asking before. How come you're strong enough to fight Archer?"

"So there are monsters in this world, after all…" Distracted, he muses quietly before Tohsaka clears her throat, snapping up his attention again. "Ah, right sorry. Strong enough to fight Archer? Well, it didn't really seem like he was trying that hard…"

"Tch." Archer clicks his tongue in response, his frown deepening. "You try cleaving a kewpie doll, bouncing around on a pogo-stick."

"I don't know what those are," Taiasu says, frowning. "But to answer your question, I'm as strong as I am, mostly because of these."

With his hands, he makes a sweeping gesture over his reds.

"The armor I'm wearing."

Another aspect of adventuring that's never been well explored or explained is the equipment they wear, and the weapons they wield, and how simply wearing a different chest piece can cause their blows to strike harder, with enhanced precision, or with more frequency.

It's simply accepted and exploited.

Had he known, Taiasu could have compared it to components in a computer. Here, he'd be the computer, and his aether would be the electricity which powers it. Each piece of equipment he wears changes how his body uses his aether, like how each piece installed in a computer changes how that computer uses its electricity.

Though slamming a well-built system into a rampaging fiend would only upset the system's owner and the monster, the former more than the latter.

"They also make any hits I take hurt less. Also, these…" He reaches into his pack, pulling from it a fist-sized, red crystal sphere over-laced with silver. "It's called materia."

To continue the computer analogy, melding materia into arms and armor would be like customizing a computer's components. Like replacing its standard cooling system with something more sleek and refined.

With armor and weapons, materia changes further how the body uses its reserves of aether.

And, with or without materia, those well crafted weapons and armor drastically enhance the efficiency with which the body processes that aether, facilitating 'the flashier things adventurers do.'

"The way they explained it to me is that, over time, and through many battles, weapons and armor gradually absorb a great deal of aether. Once it's reached a certain point, we can extract and crystalize it like this." He gestures with the red crystal, then returns it to his pack. "Oh, and it doesn't really look like this, either. My armor, that is."

Tohsaka nods along thoughtfully, mostly grasping the concept.

Sort of sounds like my jewels, or other powerful artifacts the Association looks after…?

Then the rest of his words click in her mind, arching her brow, causing her to tilt her head and narrow her mouth into a curious circle.

"Huh? What do you mean, they don't look like that?"

"Well…"

He sighs, scuffing his foot again.

"It's kind of hard to explain, but we have these—" Once more, from his pack, he brings out a small translucent square pyramid. "—that we can use to make armor, weapons, and clothing look like… well, other armor, weapons and clothes. They're called glamour prisms. I made my armor look like this because these were originally a gift. From a good friend."

He stares thoughtfully at the prism for a moment, then returns it to his pack.

"I really like these, and the way I look wearing them. And capes are cool, you know?"

With one swift motion, he flares out his cape, then pins his fists to his waist in a mighty pose that nearly has Tohsaka on the floor, laughing, for the sudden unexpectedness of it.


"I need to change, so you guys wait out there," Tohsaka says, pointing to the door.

Taiasu nods, then steps out with Archer following in his wake.

No sooner does the door close, and she has her school jacket off, than her eyes fall to her phone stationed on her nightstand.

"—Oh yeah… I have to call Kirei before I go to bed."

Irritated, she frowns.

That annoying priest. He'll probably be getting ready to call in that substitute magus he was blathering on about.

She sighs, picking up the phone.

I really don't care, but he is my guardian, so I should at least do the right thing.

She dials the number, and after a few seconds, the fake priest picks up.

"Kirei? It's me. I formed a contract with a Servant yesterday, so you can officially register me as a Master."

There's no immediate reply. Even from the other side of the phone, she can feel the pressure of his presence.

Finally, he responds.

"Hm. Understood. What happens now? You should come and see me at least once. I have something to give you that I received from your parents. They told me to give it to you only if you become a Master before you've come of age."

"Oh, you mean Father's will?" She smirks. "I already deciphered it and claimed what was inside. I'll come by if I feel like it. Goodbye."

"Wait, Rin. If you are a Master now—"

The phone is already on the way to the hook before he's even started that sentence, and she hangs up before he's finished it.

Listening to his lectures when I'm already this tired won't help me recover my magical energy.

She breathes out another sigh, then glances down at her shirt, and her student's tie.

Crap… And that reminds me. I need to let Sakura know about Taruko-kun. But I don't know Emiya-kun's number. Taruko-kun said he's been in contact with her… That small pearl, right?

Sighing again, she pulls open the door. Taiasu stumbles back a step, turning his head to see her standing there, staring down at him.

"Let me see that pearl. I need to let Sakura know where you're at, or she'll never be able to sleep."

"Ah… Okay…" Fishing into his pack, he brings it out again. "I mean, I could make you one—"

Before he can finish his offer, she's snatched it from his hand.

"Later. I'd rather talk with her in private." She stares at the pearl for a second. "How does it work?"

"Well, you can always direct your thoughts, so only she—"

"Look, I'm too tired right now, so just tell me how it works," she snaps, then sighs, kneading her furrowed brow. "Sorry. Please, tell me how it works."

"Um… okay. Just… think what you want to say at it. That's the best way I can think of how to describe it."

"Think what I want to say…?"

Taiasu nods. "Yeah, and if you wanted it to be just—"

And again, before he can finish, she's cut him off, slipping back inside, closing the door behind her.


Tohsaka stares at the pearl for a second, rolling it in her palm, between her fingers, before resolving to try it out.

Just think what I want to say…?

Sighing, she clasps her hand around it, then gives a firm nod.

Should be simple enough… 'Sakura?'

She winces, nearly dropping the pearl as a squeal she can only assume is Sakura's drills into her head.

'Sakura? Sakura?!'

There's no response, and she can feel color draining from her face. She yanks open the door and seizes a startled Taiasu by the shoulder.

"Hey, what happened?! I heard something, and now I'm not hearing anything from her! It's not working!"

"Really?" Taiasu looks up, tilting his head, his arms folded. "That's odd. Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

He chuckles.

"Cid says that always works."

"Turning it..?" She blinks down at him. "Are you being serious? Wait, who's—?"

'Tohsaka-senpai? How?'

Hearing a voice in her head that's not hers, Tohsaka's pale complexion recovers in short order, and she breathes out a relieved sigh.

"Nevermind, it's working now." She frowns down at him. "Jeez, off and on again?"

Shaking her head, she slips back in, closing the door behind her.

'I'm borrowing Taruko-kun's weird pearl… thing… I just thought you might like to know he's staying over at my house.'


Finally, having rescued the pearl from under the bed, Sakura sits back down and clutches it in her grip.

Shirou tilts his head, watching quietly.

"Ah, sorry, Senpai. Just a second. I have a… call?"

It's the best way she can think of to describe it.

'Tohsaka-senpai? How?'


For Taiasu, who's used the method of communication on the regular, it's a fairly rudimentary thing.

For Sakura, and for Rin, it takes some getting used to. The best approach they can find is to think of it exactly as a phone call.

'At your house? Really?'

'Yes, really. I ran into him at the park over in Shinto. He explained to me a bit about what happened.' Briefly, her face sours as she recalls, and the blow she'd struck against his head for it. 'Speaking of, how are you doing now? With what he said happened?'

A moment of silence passes in her mind, and Rin looks down at her clothes, then at the pearl. It's small. No larger than a bauble that might hang from an earring.

I wonder… I mean, if they use them like that… Would it?

Shrugging, she tries slipping it into her ear. It's a strange sensation, where it's at first cool and hard. It then seems to soften, and by the time she's finished squirming uncomfortably, it's formed itself gently into her ear canal.

Ugh… That feels weird. But surprisingly convenient.

'Tohsaka-senpai, he's not listening, is he?'

'He's not, Sakura. This isn't a party line.'

With her hands free, Rin sets to work stripping out of her school clothes.

'Okay… Well, I'm not as upset anymore. Except for when I think about it, but mostly I just feel stunned that he'd do something like that. It feels wholly irresponsible, reckless…'

'I know. I don't have to imagine. When he told me what happened, I had to clobber him to calm down. And I still don't get it either. Different worlds, different… perspectives, I guess?'

'You… clobbered him?'

Rin nods, frowning.

'Well, it was that or stay angry at him. And it'd be hard to get what I needed from him if I was feeling irrational. What's done is done, as they say. So you're over at Emiya-kun's?'

Another silent moment, and she takes the chance to fish out her yellow, cat-faced pajamas from her dresser.

'How did you—?'

'Little guy has loose lips, Sakura. He said that pearl he gave you's been broadcasting your thoughts throughout the day, off and on.'

She pauses a moment, staring at her yellow nightshirt, tilting her head.

I guess she got taken care of whatever she needed to at her house. Probably just had to pick some stuff up, and maybe tell Shinji where she'd be.

Despite her not being there, she can practically feel the heat radiating from Sakura's face as it nearly transforms into a red supergiant.

'I-I-I—' Her voice stammers in Rin's mind for a second.

'It's fine. He only told me that, and apparently it's all you've been thinking about, if what he said is anything to go on.'

Having slipped on her sleepwear, Rin sits herself on her bed, her face relaxing and mouth turning up in a warm smile.

'I'm not sure what's happening over there, but I'm glad for you, Sakura.'

Another beat of quiet.

'Tohsaka-senpai…'

'Anyway, it's like I said. I'm looking after Taruko-kun, so you can take the night off and enjoy yourself. I'll see you at school tomorrow.'

'Wait, Tohsaka-senpai! What am I supposed to tell Senpai about all of this?'

Rin heaves out a deep sigh.

'I don't know, Sakura. Just tell him you know where he is, and that you're not worried.'

'Oh…' Her small sigh of relief sounds around inside Rin's head for a second. 'I see. That could work. Thanks, T… Thanks, Nee-san.'

'Sakura…'

Hearing that, Rin goes quiet for a second. Her smile then lifts and warms a few more degrees.

'It's fine. Good night, Sakura.'

She reaches up into her ear, fearing she might have to dig the alien artifact from her head. Fortunately, the moment she touches it, it retracts from inside, reforming into a simple pearl which falls from her ear into her hand.

She blinks down at it, staring as it rolls to a rest in her palm.

Incredible…