It has been about a week since the Grail War has started. Even though we were out of Fuyuki, we still know what's going on. So far, Assassin has faked his death and the first true battle had happened. Still, not a single Servant has died yet. I do admit, sometimes I do wish that I was helping him. I don't trust Kirei one bit. He just feels like someone I shouldn't trust.
I frowned slightly as Rin and I walked home from school. I was a little surprised when our mom said that we could walk home like usual. I figured she would want to drive us since the War started. "Jean, do you think father will be alright?"
Rin's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked down at her before nodding, "I'm sure he will be fine, Rin. He's a powerful mage after all!" I don't know who exactly I was trying to convince. Her or me? "Now come on, mom wants us home before dark and that little stop we made didn't exactly help."
Rin had decided to check on one of her friend's houses since she didn't come to school today. I was slightly worried too since she lives in Fuyuki and the war was happening there. When we had gone there, they simply said that she was fine and was sick. I brought my jacket closer as the sun started to set. It was getting colder and by the looks of it, we wouldn't get home by dark.
I looked around, there didn't seem to be anyone on the streets and we weren't far from the house. I turned towards Rin before stopping. She walked ahead a little bit before realizing I had stopped. "Rin, get on my back," I kneeled and waited.
"Why?"
"Because I don't want us to get in trouble with mom. What I'm about to do, is a spell you can't do yet," Rin nodded in understanding. She went on my back while I concentrated mana into my legs. "Eriftips."
As the words left my mouth, I started to run. We went faster than our normal speed, which made us get home fast. My eyes went to the sky for a brief moment to gauge what time it was. It was roughly 6:10, which meant I would have to hurry. I sped up a little more by using my magic circuits.
I skidded to a stop in front of the house, doing that made me almost drop Rin. "Sorry, Rin."
"It's alright," she mumbled.
I walked up to the front door and walked in, we were a few minutes late but it was better than being an hour late. I set Rin down before trying to find our mom to tell her we were home. Once I did, I walked upstairs to do homework.
When I went to school the next day, I wasn't surprised when my friend gave me her usual death hug. "Jay!" I flinched as my friend screamed in my ear. One of my best friends was named Seri Tadaomi, her family was a mage family as well. But, they haven't been around as long as the Tohsaka's or Matou's, they have about two generations on them.
Seri has short brown hair that went to her shoulders, it was usually pulled back in a ponytail though. Some of her bangs covered her face but some were held up with red pins. She was a little pale but had hazel eyes that normally glowed red when she was using her magic. She was a 1st rate mage like me but she can be more obnoxious and improper than most.
"It's great to see you!"
"It's good to see you too, Seri," I replied, sneaking out of her hold.
"So, how have you been?" She asked seriously with a hint of worry. To everyone that might just be a regular conversation with a friend. I knew the secret meaning behind her words. She was asking if I was worrying over my father and the Grail War last night.
"A little worried but I'm fine," I gave her a small smile. She nodded returning the smile with one of her own. "What about you?"
"Awesome, Brooke had been practicing with me."
Brooke Stagger was the third person in our best friend group. She came to Japan about two years ago from the United States. She was black with dark brown hair and eyes. Like Seri, her eyes glow when she uses specific spells. She's working on becoming a 1st rate mage with Seri and me. It's tough for her though, she has a non-magical mother, and her father, the true mage in the family, died before he was able to teach her anything. Hence, why Seri and I are teaching her.
It's complicated because as the Tohsaka's use gem magic and Seri's family uses projection, Brooke's uses air. Which is tough to teach because it's so much different than Seri's and I's magic.
"That's great, how is she doing with her studies?" I questioned.
"I'm doing great! I finally learned how to use the air around me to slice through things!" Brooke nearly yelled. A few heads turned to us, I laughed nervously.
"Sorry guys, just talking about a great game. You know how Brooke gets!" I said, the heads that turned to us shrugged and went back to what they were doing. I turned to Brooke and sent a small glare at her. "What have we said about talking like that when we are around outsiders?" I whispered harshly.
She pouted slightly and crossed her arms, "Sorry."
Before any of us could say anything else, we all looked towards the door as the teacher came in. "We'll talk later, because you still have to tell us about the war," Seri stated. I frowned slightly before nodding.
Once school was over, I ran towards Rin's school. "Dang it! Why did class have to get out late?!" I stopped and leaned over after I got to the gate of Rin's school.
"Ms. Tohsaka?"
I turned to one of the teachers still at the gate. "I'm so sorry for being late. My class got out late, I rushed here as soon as I could." The teacher looked slightly surprised at me. But, I figured that was because I was rarely late.
"It's alright, but Rin's not here."
My eyes widened slightly before a confused look went on my face. "Come again?"
"Rin's not here. She told me that she was walking home by herself today since you were sick."
I frowned, no, no. She wouldn't. Oh, what am I kidding? Of course, she would! "Okay, thanks," I smiled slightly to give her a hint that everything was fine. Even though it wasn't. I turned and ran straight to the train station, I should still have a little bit of money to be able to take a train to Fuyuki and call my mom.
I stopped at a payphone and told mom everything. About how Rin was gone and that I was going to Fuyuki to look for her. She was hesitant with me going to the city first, but I was luckily able to convince her that the more eyes the better.
When I got off the train to Fuyuki, I started to run around and try to find Rin. The streets were empty, the only sound being a few police sirens and my footsteps. I breathed heavily as I tried to find my sister. "Rin?!" I called out. "Rin?! Where are you?!"
I knew it might've been a bad idea to call out because of the Grail War going on. But, I'm sure I could hold off against a Master if it came down to it. I stopped, trying to catch my breath. I thought about where she might be, I heard that there were kidnappings in Fuyuki at the moment. I'm pretty sure it has something to deal with the war. But, where could she be? There's no way she got kidnapped, is there?
"Why didn't I think about using a location spell when I started to search for her?" I questioned myself. I ran to an alley so I would be out of anyone's view. "Noitacol Latsyrc," I threw a gem in front of me. It floated for a second before falling onto the ground and heading to the main road. "Dang that thing is fast," I commented before following it. "Rin?!" I started calling again.
The gem led me to what looked like an abandoned bar, there seemed to be a lot of mana around it. The gem exploded slightly, indicating that Rin was nearby. "Maybe she did get mixed up with a Master or Servant," I mumbled. I focused my mana into my arm, ready to shoot spells if I needed to. I slowly walked into the bar, it was empty but it had a bunch of tables and chairs knocked over. A few glass pieces were on the ground too with some wrappers.
My blue eyes darted around the area to try and find any hint of Rin. "Rin?" I whispered slightly. I stopped where I was when I started to hear footsteps. "Rin?" I called quietly.
"Well, I did lose the kids but the big guy won't be too mad at me if I at least have one person," my eyes widened and I turned. In front of me was a male about as tall as me, he had orange hair with pale skin. He wore a white shirt with a purple jacket over it, but the most distinctive feature was the crazy look in his brown eyes. I watched him carefully, he moved closer and his hand moved.
My eyes widened slightly in fear, three red Command Seals sat on his hand. He's a Master. I gulped before my face narrowed into a glare, I brought my hand up and immediately started to fire spells. A small bit of smoke popped up from where I missed, which gave me the cover to start running away.
Getaway. Getaway. Getaway.
My legs started to grow tired as some of my adrenaline wore off. I slowed down slightly to catch my breath, but as I did I felt something grab my ankle. I screamed in surprise as I was lifted upside down. I looked at what had grabbed me, a weird octopus-looking monster that had a mouth with sharp teeth on it. Shaking my head to straighten my thoughts, I moved my hand towards the mouth and fired a few Gandr shots.
I fell roughly on my butt, "Ow..." but remembering the situation I was in, I started running again. Another one of those monsters appeared in front of me, and soon I was surrounded by them. "Oh no." I held my arm up looking to see which one would make the first move so I could shoot it. "Keep a calm mind, Jean..." I mumbled to myself as I could feel myself starting to freak out.
"Okay! Listen here! I do not exactly want to get caught up in this entire War thingy, so if you idiots could just let me go, that'd be great," I stated. I was kind of annoyed honestly. Why drag a bunch of random people in the Grail War—actually now that I think about it, he probably summoned his Servant randomly.
"Sorry, I already let a few kids slip away, I'm not letting you."
Well, that's just fantastic! A few monsters started to go and attack me, I frowned before firing Gandr at them. There is no way I'm going to get killed by a bunch of monsters. The last thing I would want to do is to—my eyes widened as in a split second, all of the monsters were dead. "What the—"
"Sorry, I'm late."
My eyes widened at that voice, I recognized it easily. I turned, the person who stood in front of me held one sword in front of him at the Master and Servant. I can't believe I had my back turned to a Servant! The male in front of me holding the sword was the man from my dreams. He, literally, was seriously the guy from my dreams. Blue hair and all. The only difference was that he wasn't wearing any armor. He had a black jacket on that had two white stripes down the sleeves, he also had black jeans on. Who was this guy?
"I'm sorry, who are you?" I questioned.
The man turned slightly towards me, a smirk on his face, "You'll know soon enough."
"Ryunosuke, I think its best we go and find something else to kill for now," the Servant said. He was pale with black hair combed back. He also wore a weird outfit, judging by it though, I'd say he was a Caster.
"If you say so, big guy," then the Master and Servant left. The man in front of me put his sword on his back.
"Once again, sorry for being late," he turned fully towards me.
"And once again, who are you?"
"As I said, you'll know soon enough. I suggest you get back home though, it's not safe with a Grail War going on."
"You think I don't know that?" I glared at him slightly, "My sister is still out there. I need to—"
"You're sisters safe. She met up with your mom not too long ago," the man replied.
I frowned slightly. "And why should I trust you?"
"I just saved your life and this is the thanks I get?" He said, having a slightly playful tone in his voice.
"For your information, I could've handled that. I'm a 1st rate mage after all."
"A 1st rate mage that almost got killed by a Servant's minions."
I glared, "I was not about to get killed!"
"As fun as this conversation is, I better get going, I got other people to save."
Before I could say anything else, he jumped in between the alley close by and jumped the walls until he got on the roof. He leaned over and winked slightly before leaving. "Who the heck is that guy?"
I sighed before walking away from the scene. If Rin is really at home safely, then I should head home too. I don't know until I check, "Gosh, I hope that guy wasn't lying..."
