Chapter 2 / An Experience That Was Much Tougher Than I Expected

Oh, please tell me I didn't just say that.

Nevermore have I ever regretted saying anything in my life so, so quickly. It didn't take long for me to realize what I said, but I couldn't say the same about my silence that lingered around. I didn't know what to say to resolve this. The moment I started making excuses, it merely descended to a stuttering mess.

"O-Oh! I-I, uhm…! T-That's not what I-I... !"

If my face hadn't been red, it would be rose crimson right now. Like my brain was short-circuiting, I was burning up so hard that someone could mistake it as a bad fever. My composure was ruined, leaving nothing except the shell of my former self. I needed some time to recollect myself, but something told me that as long as this woman was in my presence, I would have a difficult time doing that.

Where was Eriko when I needed her!? She could easily bail me out of here, even if it was at my own expense! Please save me from this romantic suicide mission! Hell, I'll even take Riku! Just throw me a bone here, somebody!

However, it wasn't as if my words were one of a tasteless joker. I… I think I really did fall hard for her at first sight. I couldn't explain it properly, but my body was trembling in such unfamiliarity. Perhaps it was the initial ecstasy, but even in this silence, I still didn't know what it was that I wanted to say in its stead. Was I the idiot here?

There had to be some hint of her reactions written on her expression, but no matter how long I looked at her, I couldn't figure out what she was thinking. It was all stoic, leaving no room for the imagination which ironically left me to imagine all the worse case scenarios. Needless to say, this was probably the fastest way that someone messed up a potential relationship.

Was love always this difficult to manage?

"You do not seem experienced."

Tell me something I don't know. Though, I hesitate to say that we were speaking of the same topic here. Instead of responding to my words, it was as if she was studying my body language and jittery movements. Not sure if that was worse or not, but I did my best to keep up the pace.

"I-I, uhm…"

"However," she continued, " there could have been scenarios worse than what is before me. A naive Master to the Holy Grail War is more acceptable than a Master capable of unspeakable deeds. Although it may prove difficult in these circumstances, I believe it won't be entirely impossible to achieve victory."

Okay, scratch any of what I said. If I had to keep up with the pace of this conversation, then my actual skill was shrunk to being unable to walk on my own two feet. Seriously, every third word she said went over my head, leaving me nothing to grasp on the side of this unscalable cliff.

To be frank, my embarrassment of providing the most random marriage proposal was immediately sidelined. My new objective was to figure out what type of foriegn language and terminology she was speaking with that voice, one that was honey to the ears.

"H-Hold on a moment…" Raising my hand, I tried to slow her down. "What are you going on about here? Master? Holy Grail War? What do you mean by achieving victory?"

"Excuse me?" Her ears slanted forwards, as did with her emerald eyes. "Do you mean to say that, despite the Master, you truly have no experience? Not even the recollection of what you just did?"

"Sorry, I'm not sure what you're talking about. I don't recall signing up for anything at all here!"

If she said something about being a Master, the first thought was concerning those entire butler/maid ordeals for nobles in more fantastical settings, or perhaps even the historical backgrounds. Those people would always call the head of the household a Master, right? Though, I'm entirely unsure what that has to do with my situation as of now.

"That's particularly interesting." She rubbed her chin, analyzing me again from head to toe. "Have I mistaken you as one? There's no one around that could have initiated the summoning, but perhaps…"

She took the moment to scan the area once more, but no matter where she looked, it didn't look like she was satisfied with its result. I couldn't be sure; her face remained the same as before.

"It doesn't seem to be the case," she announced, turning back to me. "Raise your hand. We'll understand immediately if you are the Master or not."

"M-My hand? What would my hand have to do anything about this?"

Despite my confusion, I did as I was told and it ended with a surprise. My eyes widened, seeing an unusual mark on the back side of my right hand. How did it get there? The instinct took over, causing me to make my attempt to rub it out, but all I felt was my own flesh and skin. For all intents and purposes, it was like it wasn't even there, aside from the visuals.

A red tattoo, endowed in a pattern of a flame, was drawn. A red line struck right through it in a diagonal slash, as if it was catching on fire while retaining its sharp trail. I had to admit that it looked really cool, but I wasn't so keen on it showing up on my body without permission.

"What the hell is this?"

"They are your Command Seals. They would be the sufficient confirmation that you are to participate in the Holy Grail War as my Master. Since I do sense some level of strength from within you, I would highly suggest that you do your best to keep up with me as best as you can. Your lack of knowledge may hinder us otherwise."

"Hold on, you're not waiting a moment here! None of this is making any sense!"

With a raised voice, I figured I was coming off as a bit rude. Not that the woman showed any reaction to it, but I stammered to recover my stance and backpedalled.

"I-I mean… With all due respect, I don't have the slightest clue what's happening here as I've been saying this entire time. Could you stop for a moment and explain some things to me?"

"So you truly aren't acting daft." She narrowed her eyes, glaring at my new tattoo with scrutiny. "I wonder how such a thing could come to be, but it is not as if I could do much about it now. The Holy Grail accepted your role as a Master and found you worthy enough to summon me here."

Again, more with the terminologies that I don't understand! I didn't want to say anything aloud since she wasn't finished with her thoughts and that was being rude to her. She waved over to the magic circle for me to observe for myself, in which it was losing its light source. In just a few seconds, the colours were lost, leaving only a shadow of its former self.

"With proper preparations as this one, its creation must have been intentional. If you were not the one to create this summoning ritual, then it obviously stands to reason that another person must have made it. Although, I do not see the use of a catalyst here. That is the only thing that is missing."

I've given up. The chances that I'll get an explanation are slim right now, so it's better to lay down in the river and the water current carry me with its flow. At least I have a beautiful girl to look at to help myself cope with the situation.

"However, I see no one else to attribute these actions and there doesn't seem to be any person nearby that would be returning to this summoning. Perhaps you dealt with them in order to take their place as a Master, albeit unintentionally?"

"Uh, no? If I'm up to date with what you're trying to say, I didn't do any of that."

Wait, what did she mean by "dealing with them"? My gut says that I shouldn't be liking the implication of those words.

"Then how did you come about this summoning?"

"I literally just walked up and found this mysterious location, all with the circle ready for whatever it was doing. It suddenly ignited with a bright light, sent me flying and now, here we are! If you ask me, I think anyone would have been able to stumble across this place, but in this scenario, the unlucky guy was me. Or maybe I was lucky, but…"

"Oh?" Her eyebrow raised, ignoring my trailing comment. "And tell me, what do you think you're doing in a place like this? Do you not have a sense of danger in trespassing onto other people's plans?"

"Other people's plans?"

The woman sighed, as if she was dealing with a toddler. Well, I would apologize, but she's ramping me up to a university-level course when I haven't even been given the fundamental breakdown. I think I have the right to be confused as a toddler here.

"If you are not the one to make this ritual, then someone else did. If you did not deal with that person, then would it not be obvious that they will return at some point?"

Not knowing the real implications, I decided to pretend.

"O-Oh, crap. T-Then I must be in some severe trouble, huh?"

"Being your Servant, I would suggest that we leave the area to avoid any confrontation. Judging from your attributes, you won't be in a state to engage in conflict if the situation escalates to such heights."

Was she suggesting that I might get into a fight somewhere? Strength wasn't really my fortitude, so I wasn't sure how far I could take myself in a brawl. Frankly said, no normal person could gauge themselves in a fight without being in one previously, so I merely gave her a blank stare.

However, her suggestion was more outlandish to me when I realized what she said. It completely clashed with the original intention I had in coming here, in which I needed to stop on this tangent and get moving immediately. It didn't matter if there was this cute girl that suddenly showed up; Eriko and Riku were still somewhere in the forest and I needed to find them.

"I can't do that. Sorry."

"May I ask the reason?"

"I got friends who are lost in this forest. I don't know if you know where you are, but this is the Mihoji Forest. It's densely packed over a large area of land, so it's easy to get lost here. I came here to figure out where my friends went because of a phone call I got from them."

"Is it now? It doesn't look so bad. I've seen places that were much worse for navigation."

"Huh? Seriously?"

"I can also tell you that I'm not feeling any presence within the area. Unless they're actively trying to hide their presence, you are in the wrong place to search for your friends."

That announcement threw me off so much, I believed in her words. However, that would discount what Eriko told me over the phone. Her ominous voice suggested that they were involved in something in the forest, but if this woman is saying that they're not here, I didn't really know what to do. She didn't have a reason to lie; at least, I don't think so.

Was it stupid of me to simply believe her? Yes, it probably was.

Did I believe her anyways? Well, I ended up convinced by her alluring words.

"If you say so. I mean, that's not going to put myself at rest until I know for sure, but if you have a better grasp at what's going on, I guess I should scram out of here before problems start to grow on me."

I scratched my head, not wanting to leave her here, but her reasons for me to leave seemed valid for now. I only wished that she could come with me, so I can get to know her better. That wasn't a weird thing to think about, right? However, it turned out those wishes had some immediate results.

"Then let's move."

"... Huh? You're coming with me?"

As I tried to walk away, I noticed that she was following me.

"Of course. I am your Servant. I'll need to stay by your side if we are to be the ones to come out on top. As a Master selected by the Grail, you must have a wish that is worth granting."

"I… guess…?" Without any idea of what I was saying, I tilted my head in attempts to keep my sanity intact. "I don't know if you would call it a wish, but what you're saying is that you're coming with me. Is that right?"

"It is correct. Without my strengths, you will never be able to reach the Holy Grail."

"Okay, you're assuming again."

As exasperated as I could get with her, I clapped my hands to try and get things to restart. It didn't work like that, but it helped me to concentrate by clearing some of my thoughts in order to make room for new ones. With a deep breath, I was ready to tell her what's really going on.

"I'm going to repeat this again. I have no clue what you're talking about and given such a dilemma, I would ask that you stop assuming that I know as much as you do. Alternatively, you can start explaining yourself as to what's going on here."

"Those are not the words of a foolish jester, but a bewildered civilian."

"Trust me, I would rather play the foolish jester because on that front, I would actually know what's going on. Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of picking that role."

"I believe this will make things more complicated, though not impossible to deal with," she pondered aloud. She was lucky that her thinking expression was so cute. Any displeasure I had bellowing in my chest was immediately cleansed.

"And so? Are you going to explain anything to me?"

"Not here. Even if there isn't any presence around the area, it does not mean there are not any hostile entities that are looming about. I believe it's better to speak in depth about your circumstances when we're in a secured location."

"I'm not sure if you want some maximum security details, but if there's anywhere I'd call safe, it'll always have to be a home, right? I don't think it's anything special, but it should be a good place to stay if we want to talk. It shouldn't be too far away with all the rain being lifted and everything."

"That would be acceptable. As much as I know of the situation, I come here without the knowledge of this land's geography. If you'll be useful in any sort of information, it will be knowledge of your surroundings and your sense of familiarity to them."

"T-Thanks?"

"That wasn't a compliment."

"S-Sorry?"

Being such a nervous wreck, even giving myself some time here, I still didn't know how to conduct myself with her. Talking to strangers was part of my job as a waiter, but this was on an entirely different level. If I could just act like it was part of my job, this would have been easy, but my restless heart wouldn't allow that to happen.

Especially with that awful first impression.

I was tempted to leave it there and start my path back to the forest's entrance, only to realize that I should know about this situation immediately. If she was going to stick with me, for whatever reason she had, I had to know something important. I turned my head back to the woman.

"H-Hey, uhm… Do you have a name I could call you by?"

"Archer."

"... Come again?"

"You may call me Archer," she responded, unhesitantly. "I am the heroic spirit of the archer class, so that is what you may call me for now."

"Archer isn't…"

I wanted to say that Archer didn't feel like a real name, chalking it more up to a code name than anything else. However, if it was the name she was giving to me to use for her, I should probably respect her decision. Though, I would have personally liked to hear her real name; surely, it was something as beautiful as her appearances, but I'll have to force myself into leaving it to my imagination.

"Never mind. Archer, it is," I sighed. "In any case, my name is Kurogane Yoshida. It's a pleasure to meet you, Archer."

"I would say the same, but I have a minor distaste for people who randomly present marriage offers to those they don't know."

I started screaming internally, thinking that she was about to dismiss it from her memories, only for her to rub salt right into those wounds. If I didn't die from the surging embarrassment, that would be a fate worse than death! My face burrowed my hands, trying to hide from the trembling weight of my own consequences.

"Please, that was a mistake! I didn't mean to say that!"

"Don't make it into such a big deal. You were not the first to perform such ridiculousness." Spite was seeping from her words, causing me to think that her issue with the proposal was different than I was thinking. "As long as you keep the objective in mind, I'll tolerate it as an honest mistake. Though, I'm unsure if what you speak of is the truth."

It was true that I fell in love with her at first sight, but it was looking like that topic was very sensitive to her. Picking up the hints, I decided to leave that conversation at that and tried to move on with a slight tangent.

"W-Well, if you want, you don't have to call me Kurogane. Kuro is a shorter nickname for me and if you want to use that, I'll be perfectly fine with—"

"I won't be calling you by your name. There was no reason for me to learn it."

"Pardon me?"

"I will be referring to you as my Master. That is who you are, so that is what is important to me. Besides, it would be extremely careless to be using each other's true names in the face of an enemy."

"... I'm sorry?"

It must be a Sunday today, because I kept apologizing for everything I was doing. Here, I thought it would have been common manners to offer your name to someone if you're asking for it, but apparently that wasn't the case in her eyes. Her focus seemed to be on something entirely different, setted aside from courtesy.

"Shall we cease this and keep our minds on what we need to do?"

"Oh, right. I'll lead the way, I guess."

Pulling out my phone, it was still really dark in the forest. I was lucky that the flashlight option was still functioning, but none of the other applications had been working. With Archer following my lead, I traversed through the Mihoji Forest in reverse, hoping that I'll be able to figure out how the hell I managed to get there in the first place.

My nose was starting to get a bit stuffy, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. The night's cold breeze must have been too much for my body to handle, especially being this late out at night. My sense of time was entirely screwed up thanks to that meeting with Archer. Every second felt a minute within her divine ambience, even if there wasn't anything holy about her.

It probably was my imagination, but it felt like it was taking a lot less time going out than it did to go in. It didn't take any serious time for me to escape the forest with my bike waiting where I left it. Perhaps it was all those strange flashes of images that helped make the journey feel longer, but even taking that into account, it only took up fractions of seconds to get through them.

Huh? How strange.

It's raining again, just as it was before I entered the forest.

I threw up my rain jacket's hood and watched the rain carefully, extending my hand out to feel it for myself. It definitely had the coldness of rain, so more questions were starting to rise. Why wasn't it raining where that magic circle was? Why weren't there any rain clouds above to cover the pleasant skies? All of that was a concerning observation, but I didn't really want to spend time on that.

"Are you fine with riding on the back of my bike? You'll just have to hold onto me while I…" The thought of Archer holding onto my stomach made my brain short-circuit into a fluster, trying to utter the words out as best as I could. Steam might have been evident to see from Archer's perspective.

"That is not necessary. Go as fast as you can on the bike by yourself."

"The way that you say that, it sounds like you're going to try and run behind me."

"That is not true. I have confidence that I'll be able to keep up next to you on my feet."

I know that my top biking speed isn't as fast as Riku's, especially as I have to be careful with the rain making the ground more slippery, but I was still in disbelief when hearing that she admitted to being able to match my pace.

"You're not serious, right?"

"Why don't you see for yourself?"

Being against leaving her behind, she was strangely persistent about this. I was tempted to go really slow, so that she doesn't tire herself out. With a bike, it was about a fifteen to twenty minute ride over to my house, so she would have to keep up for that long.

"A-Alright, but if you slow down, I'll slow down with you. Don't feel the need that you have to constantly keep up with me."

"I should tell you the same."

… W-What does she mean by that? Why am I very concerned that I'm going to be surprised?

Before I started moving, my phone rang suddenly with a notification. I leaned my bike on my person, pulling out my phone again to check what was going on. Suddenly, I've received my cellular signal and my data, alongside a restoration of the glitches that were happening on my phone.

Apparently, it's half past midnight already. That was going to serve a few problems for me, but I could push away from them for now. What was more important were the messages that were being sent to me. However, I frowned the moment I saw them.

It was from Eriko and Riku. With unread messages and missed calls, it appeared to be that they were trying to contact me. I opened up Riku's inbox first, discovering that he did end up responding to my text and he said to hold onto it until tomorrow morning. He didn't check his pockets until he came home and was too lazy to come back. Although, the time that this was sent mystified me.

It was supposed to have reached me minutes after I sent him the original message.

… So that meant by the time I left the cafe, he was already at home?

Trying to wrap my head around it, I immediately switched over to Eriko's inbox. She was the one that dragged me all the way to the Mihoji Forest for the sake of my worries, so I wanted an explanation from her. Her texts imply the same story as Riku's, but I was much more suspicious of it. There was something at the end that caught me off guard.

["Thanks for finding Riku's wallet and checking up on us."]

["Seriously. I mean it."]

I felt like there was some type of sub-context I was missing between the lines. It left me scratching my head for concerns that I'll talk to Eriko about the next time I meet her. Though, I was expecting something that wasn't a straight answer, but if they were safe, that would lessen the worries I had. Even if it caused me to waste more of my time, ironically enough.

Though, I was a bit unnerved when I saw the time stamp.

It was marked as a few minutes ago.

"Huh. Weird."

"Is there a problem, Master?"

"No, it's nothing. Anyways, let's head back to my house." I straddled myself onto my bike, giving Archer a casual glance. "You're willing to tell me as much as you can once we're there, right?"

"Of course. I wouldn't want my Master to be left in the dark with such a disadvantage."

Kicking off for a head start, I petalled a bit down the street. I noticed that the street lights were all repaired from their flickering states, another odd observation to add with the disappearing rain. However, my mind was focused on Archer. I was going a bit slowly to make sure she could actually keep up, but when I turned around, I was in for a jump.

She was casually keeping up with me, running through the rain without breaking a sweat. I immediately stopped out of surprise and she followed my brakes.

"How!?"

She tilted her head like I was the crazy one here. "I just told you. I have confidence in my speed and my footwork. In the past, I would never lose in a footrace."

"I'm on a bike though!?"

"I don't see why you must make a big reaction from this. You should be dismissing such a feat like it was nothing and continue on our way. We have our destination we must reach."

"Y-Yeah… I guess so…"

At this point, she could snipe an enemy in another city with that bow of hers and I shouldn't have been surprised. Speaking of which, I have no idea where her bow went. At some point in speaking with her, the bow just… somehow disappeared? Questions for another day.

Though, I couldn't really move along. Watching Archer being soaked in the rain like that, getting her outfit dampened and her hair all drenched, was displeasing to me. I really didn't want to see that, so before I started back on my return, I took off my rain jacket and gave it to her.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like? Just wear it. You're going to get sick from the rain."

"It's impossible for Servants to get sick."

"I still don't know what you're going about, but as a guy, I can't let a beautiful woman like you be wet like that. First impressions aside, I…" I wasn't sure what I was going to say, but I shook my head to dismiss it. "Anyways, just wear it. You'll stay drier that way."

She glanced at the rain jacket for a moment before taking it into her hands skeptically. It certainly didn't look like she approved of his command, but she reluctantly did put it on. The jacket was a "one size to fit all", so I didn't have any concern if it was too small or too big.

If I had to say anything though, he did look slightly ridiculous with such beautiful garments covered up with a somewhat transparent rain jacket. I couldn't contain my amusement, turning away to chuckle a bit. She didn't seem too pleased by it, likely thinking that I gave it to her as a joke, but she said nothing about it.

"If you can really keep up, I won't have to worry. We'll stop when we reach my home."

"As it should be intended."

There was no waste of any additional time, making a straight path from the Mihoji Forest to the Yoshida Residence. All in the meanwhile, Archer was able to pace herself with my speed, even occasionally jumping ahead when it was a straight road and waited for me at the turn. It was like she had some unnatural power in her body, like in those fantasy settings, but that was probably going to be explained to me later.

The rain was much colder than I expected though. In hoping that Archer didn't get a cold, I just hoped I wasn't going to get one either. There weren't any extra tissues in my pockets, so I had to deal with my nose the old fashion way of sniffling.

Thankfully, we managed to get back before my nose could take down my health. Archer stood by the back door as I moved my bike back into the shed. My keys were taken out and with some shuffling, I unlocked the back door for us to enter. With a deep breath to enunciate the fact I was home, a heavy weight was lifted off my shoulders.

Archer walked in behind me, looking around her surroundings like a new animal pet being brought into a home. Though, I wouldn't want to call her that, but it was difficult considering the cat motif she had on her. What was with the ears and tails anyways? I mean, it's really cute and all, but it was still really confusing. Like everything else in this situation.

"Meow!"

"Huh? K-Kuko? What are you doing here?"

My cat strided around the entrance hallway and started to lazily rub its head against my leg. I didn't even take off my shoes yet, so I lifted Kuko up into my lap as I sat down to remove my shoes.

"I thought I told you to sleep along with Shiro."

"Meow, meow!"

"Ugh, but seriously. Why did you wait for me? It's already past midnight."

Kuko was tired from waiting around and he must have gone straight down to the entrance hall, once he realized that I wasn't coming back up. I rubbed behind his ear, letting his tail wag happily from side to side. It was always relaxing to tend to the cat's selfish wishes.

"Head up first, Kuko."

"Meow…"

"No, I'm not coming for like another half an hour. That's why I told you to go sleep with Shiro, but considering the time, it'll be troublesome if you accidentally wake her up."

Archer took off my rain jacket and handed it to me. I lifted Kuko and placed him onto the ground, moving over to put the rain jacket back in the closet. Kuko kept following me disobediently.

"Oh, come on," I sighed, narrowing my eyes. "You have to go back up. Stop being so stubborn, Kuko. You're better than this, or is it because you're tired that you've stopped listening to me?"

Kuko suddenly made a huge jump onto my shoulder and started to snuggle up against my neck. The moment I put my hand on his head, he started to purr himself to sleep. It was slightly uncomfortable to have a sleeping cat on my shoulder as I figured out what's going on with Archer.

"Nothing I could do about it," I shrugged.

"Is this your cat?"

"Yeah, he's a bit of a hassle, but he's great all around. I wouldn't ask for another pet, mainly because they'll never really act the same way that Kuko does."

"And you understand him?"

I frowned, raising my eyebrows.

"It seemed like you were talking with him."

No one really mentioned it in serious before, but I remember how Riku would offhandedly mention that I do such things with my cat. I always dismissed it as banter, but when my first love pointed it out, it suddenly became a topic of embarrassment. It wasn't as if I was going to stop, but it wasn't something I was necessarily proud of anymore.

"N-Never mind that for now," I blushed. "I still have to figure out something here. With everything that you have to tell me, I have to come up with how I'm going to tell my parents about you. I mean, I'm just assuming, but when you said that you'll be by my side…"

"That's exactly correct. I will remain by your side until everything is wrapped. Until then, I do not mind having a roof over my head."

"Oh, thank goodness."

Though, I wasn't sure if I could survive with the constant pounding of my chest. She didn't even have to say anything and it would go off by itself. It was so much of a problem that Kuko seemed to have been feeling restless and started tossing and turning as much as he could on my shoulder.

"However, I believe you'll have to find a way to explain yourself immediately."

"Huh? What do you mean by—?"

"Ahem."

Shit. I didn't realize we weren't the only ones in the entrance hallway. I slowly turned my head to where the cleared cough came from, trembling with a wryly laugh. It was the only thing I could in order to offset the terrified nervousness that shook me up.

"H-Hey, Dad. H-How's it going?"

"It's been fine." My father stood from the door of a storage room, likely finished doing some stock for tomorrow. His arms were crossed with each other and his wrinkles were countable as it furrowed with a dry smile. "How was your late night, after midnight, stroll?"

"It was interesting, to say the least," I gulped.

"Alright. That's great." With his eyes rolling over to Archer and then back to me, I knew that it was a matter of time. "Now that's out of the way, why don't you go tell me what you're up to?"

Question. How does one explain something that one does not understand?

Answer. I have no idea! Please, I'd like to phone a friend!

"Y-Yes…?"

"What?"

"No… M-Maybe…?"

"Kurogane? What are you trying to say?"

"I… wished I could answer you, but I'm unsure myself."

The real response was being weird enough to buy time for myself in order to figure out what to say. However, it wasn't a strategy that was effective enough, not that I pinned many hopes on that excursion.

"Kurogane. Answer me immediately. What's going on, as such that you would have to bring a stranger into our house past midnight?"

"Ah, she's not a stranger!" I fibbed out of my mind. "She's one of my friends, dad!"

"I've never seen her before. You don't hang out with many people other than Eriko and Riku."

"Ah, no! She's one of my online friends! She was going to visit the cafe today, but she got so lost that it came down to a midnight rescue operation! She's new to the Tokuwa District, so I had to lend her a hand or else risk her spending the night outside."

"Is that right? Is there a reason that I'm not convinced?"

"Maybe you're too skeptical? Things don't have to be like that, Dad."

"I'll ask one more time. What is going on?"

Being caught red-handed, I was entirely unsure how to continue this. It wasn't as if there was any type of serious punishment awaiting me at the end of the line, but I don't want my father to get any wrong ideas here. If the objective was to let my father allow Archer to stay here for a bit, I needed a proper explanation and quickly.

However, Archer took a step forward and spoke in my place.

"I apologize for the intrusion." My father remained silent, letting Archer talk. "For now, most of the details cannot be foretold, but when I was in need, your son greatly assisted me. Even when it required him to come in the midst of the night, it was only even more appreciated."

"And who are you to Kurogane?"

"It is as he says, as I am a mere friend. However, the situation is more complicated than I could elaborate at the moment. I won't be able to speak of it, even if I desire to."

I know I introduced her as a friend first, but from the way that she says it, it really started to hurt more. As if there was nothing left in the future between the two of us, as if she was clearly making the line to say that she wasn't interested in letting my pursuit of affection find fruition.

My father looked at me, as skeptical as he could be.

"It's as she says. I'm not sure how else I could explain it to you or Mom, so I just went with the simplest thing I could think of. Frankly said, I still don't have an idea on how I could explain the entire situation, but when I do find the words, I'll be sure to come back for a talk."

"Is that right?" My father stroked his gray beard as he considered our words carefully. From his perspective, it must have been suspicious to have a stranger suddenly show herself to his home with his son. Not only that, his son was advocating to let her stay here.

He stayed in silence before gesturing to me to come with him.

"Kurogane, we'll talk a bit in the kitchen about this. Ask your friend to wait a few moments at the entrance hall here. I want some privacy."

"R-Right, Dad."

I walked over rather slowly, being mindful that Kuko was still on my shoulder, while leaving Archer to wait by herself. I noticed that she started looking at the picture frames that were hung up around the area, so that would keep her busy for a short time.

My father turned on the lights and closed the door behind us, making sure Archer wouldn't be able to hear us. Not only that, it's more important to point out that I wouldn't have Archer's support and quick thinking to make more excuses for myself.

"I have to hand it to you, Kurogane. I didn't expect you to pull such a stunt like this."

"Look, I'm really sorry. Things happened and I didn't mean to go out to—"

"To think you finally brought home a girl. I'm starting to feel proud."

"... Come again?"

Was my father being serious now? Your son comes home in such a crazy manner here, but all you can be concerned about is the fact that he brought home a girl? Past midnight, to add onto that?

"Do I have to be the one to play my own parent, Dad?"

"Of course not. I am somewhat wary that you might have gotten yourself into trouble, but I have enough confidence in your answer that you know what you're doing. You're old enough to know if you're doing something bad or not."

He couldn't have been further than the truth, but my father was always like that. The fear of disappointing him, scaring him, or making him worry was always on my mind, so that was one of the few reasons I didn't want to tell him the full story of what happened.

"Wait, so why do you want to talk to me in private again? Surely, you didn't pull me into the kitchen, just to talk about the strange girl I brought home. Unless…"

"No, no. Obviously, that wasn't the case. I'm certainly going to allow your friend to stay here if she wants. We got the space for another person on the third floor that's primarily reserved for distant relatives, so she can physically fit into the family."

"Then what's the problem?"

"You're the one that's asking to let her stay, so if anything happens that concerns her, it will be your responsibility to control the issue. I believe that will go without saying."

"That's obvious. Is that all you wanted to tell me?"

"More or less. I just wanted to confirm that with you. I'll figure out more of the specifics on the conditions that she'll have to abide by if she wants to live under the Yoshida Household, but it's getting really late. I'll also be busy for the next few days, so until that point, just use your common sense."

I nodded to his agreement, but he had more to say.

"But if that was all I had to say, I wouldn't have pulled you in here."

"Huh? Then what else do you want?"

"To wish you good luck." Without a clue at what my father was saying, I merely blinked blanklessly at him. "It might be difficult in the future, but if you keep your head up, I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for."

"Dad, I literally have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't worry about it," he chuckled.

My father slapped on my free shoulder, walking away with a smirk as I was left wondering what his cryptic message was. The small movement was unfortunately enough to make Kuko half-awake and he cried out a bit, lazily looking at the culprit that stole his dormant state.

"Meow…"

"Yeah, I don't know either."

Today certainly felt like a day where I was entirely clueless to my surroundings.

Following my father out, I watched as he climbed up the stairs to settle in for the night. He had to wake up early in order to get food preparations out for the kitchen, a typical task he needs to get done whenever the cafe opens. The only sleep-in he gets is Sundays, where the cafe opens up later in the day.

At the entrance hall, Archer was still looking at the pictures on the walls. They were photos of my family, spanning across our entire lives. There were photos where my parents were getting married and then there were family photos professionally done at studios.

However, Archer was attracted to a certain one. That photo was taken at one of the amusement parks when we had a family road trip to my grandparents. It was merely a few years ago, just as I was leaving middle school. Everyone in the picture had a goofy smile on their face and looking back, it was a pretty good memory. I would have loved to come back to that amusement park someday.

I watched her be lost in the image, but I couldn't help to feel some level of bittersweetness coming from his expression. There was no way I could stand seeing her like that, so I approached her quickly and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Archer. I got the matter finished with my father for now. It might come back in a little while, but it'll give enough time to settle down and see what's going on. Erhm, for me to see what's going on."

Her eyes slowly tore away from the photo, glancing back at me. "I suppose this is the part where you wish to hear about the situation you're in. Where should we speak?"

"There's a front part to the cafe. I'll show you the place, then we'll sit down there."

With a guide showing her the way, I brought her through the kitchen. It was the only way to reach the front area from the back entrance and as I turned on the lights, I showed her to a seat at the counter like she was just another customer. It was becoming much more difficult to move, so I saddled Kuko onto the counter for him to continue sleeping.

"M-Meow…"

"Yeah, sleep tight."

I peered over to Archer.

"Hold on for a moment. I have to do something first."

Archer didn't know what I was implying, but I walked back into the kitchen. I remembered that my father would sometimes leave leftover deserts, normally made in batches, in a container. For my father's cafe, his unsold baked goods were always donated to food banks during the next morning, so nothing ever went to waste. It wouldn't hurt for me to take some out.

Grabbing something random out of the boxes, I slid a slice of pie onto a plate and whipped up the decoration and toppings out of instinct. Since I'm the son of the owner, I occasionally helped out in the back. Although I don't do any of the intensive cooking, I do know how to present a dish very cleanly.

I brought the pie out from the kitchen and placed the plate before Archer.

"What is this?" Her eyes narrowed at the food, only for them to look back up to me.

"It's apple pie. My father makes baked goods as part of the menu in the cafe. Although we do have more extravagant meals available there, it was the only thing I could give on such short notice."

"Unfortunately, I believe you're mistaken. Servants do not require food."

Whatever this Servant thing was, I was going to reserve my questions for later. For now, she seemed a bit stubborn to eat my gift to her, so I took a seat next to her.

"It's not to fill you up. People do say that you shouldn't go to sleep with a full stomach."

"Then why have you provided this to me?"

"Have you never heard of eating to enjoy yourself?"

She stared at me as if I was crazy, but she reserved her own comments about it. I handed her a fork, sliding it next to her plate, but it wasn't as if I could force her to eat something she didn't like. Not everyone liked apple pie.

"If you don't want to eat it, that's fine. You can just think of it as pleasantries."

A somber sight escaped her, but I couldn't be sure what it was that she was feeling. Perhaps I did something wrong to offend her. If that was the case, I had to take responsibility and move the conversation along away from her source of displeasure.

"Tell me what's going on."

"Where do you wish for me to begin?"

"Fundamentals. As basic as you can get it."

"I will explain to the best of my abilities."

There were too many things that she had to cover, but everything simply astounded me. There was apparently an entire world that was hidden underneath everyone's reality and I, of all people, was one of the unlucky ones that slipped through one of the few cracks. Where should I begin?

[The Holy Grail War]. That was the origin of everything that all the other terminologies would stem from, so it would have been important for me to understand what this was. As an outsider, I could only summarize as some convoluted battle royale, but if I were to dive a bit into more details…

There's this thing called the Holy Grail. Apparently, it has the ability to grant any wish that a person may have. However, such a power is not easily obtained. To be able to be worthy in holding that wish, someone must first be selected as a participant by the Holy Grail itself, one that would be eligible to receive its blessing. Once the count of participants reaches seven, that is when the true event begins where the participants must fight each other in order to claim the wish for themselves.

That is to say, it was the [Holy Grail War].

They are not to fight by their lonesome. Each participant is allowed to summon something called a Servant, making a contract that would make them the Master. These Servants, for lack of a better term, were those of spirits of great strength, hailing from a place called the [Throne of Heroes]. In fact, Servants were the key to being able to manifest the [Holy Grail] into existence. Without a Servant, one cannot even hold the [Holy Grail], so in a way, one didn't need to kill the Master in order to eliminate someone else from running.

All they had to do was eliminate their corresponding Servant, but there was a catch. Since the Servants were bound to their Master by a contract, it means that the easiest way to eliminate the Servant was to kill the Master and remove their leyline to this world. That option served for those participants who would do what it takes to achieve victory.

Just hearing that sent chills down my spine. It certainly suggested that people have done that before, taking the life of another simply for their own personal gain. Not even this magical underworld was safe from cruelty like that.

I vaguely glanced at my Command Seals and as Archer mentioned before, this was the contract that held Archer here. It was clearly defined by three portions, each one representing an absolute command I could give to Archer. Every Master had them, being a way to control their Servants if they chose to act against the Master's wishes.

In that manner, there was no way I could ever use one. I couldn't imagine forcing Archer to do whatever she disliked, much less anyone else. Do the people of this underworld war find it normal that things like Command Seals would just fly over their heads as there were birds in the skies?

Those, that was enough exposition. I couldn't even catch everything that Archer was talking about, other than those fundamentals. There were probably more that I needed to know about, but this was already too much for me to handle.

However, I still had the capacity to ask something.

"Archer? You said a wish could be granted to the victors of this supposed Holy Grail War, correct? Does that mean you have a wish for your desires?" Putting this new background together with what she said back in the forest, she sounded very adamant about achieving victory.

"I do have a wish I want to be granted, but I don't see the necessity of telling you right now." Figuring that was the case, I sighed in a bit of a humorous light. "However, I must ask of you the same, if it is not so rude of me to do so. Do you have a wish to be granted?"

"Why would I have a wish already? I literally just got told that there was a golden cup—"

"Please don't adlib the Holy Grail as a golden cup."

"—the Holy Grail," I corrected myself, "that can grant any wish. I'm sorry if I don't do anything prepared for that, mainly because people go through their normal lives without ever thinking about that. Something like that simply doesn't exist in our world, so there's no meaning in wondering."

"Then is there something you've desired for?"

"Not exactly, no. I don't think I have a wish, but if I keep pondering about it, I might be able to come up with one. Though, I might just say something stupid like to have world peace."

"That is not, in any form, a stupid wish. World peace is admirable."

"Y-Yeah, but it lacks… I don't know, originality?"

It was difficult to explain it as it was, but I couldn't really express myself. With the weight of these circumstances, it was feeling too heavy on my shoulders for me to know those words. Being told I could be targeted was not something I could easily lift my moods from, on the mere instance that I was accidentally in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Are you scared? You're shaking a bit."

"It's obvious? I'm just still in a state of disbelief." I held my hand to stop my nervousness, keeping it flat on the counter. "I haven't been in anything like a fight in my entire life. Excuse me if I come off as a bit frightened when I get pulled into a war."

"You don't have to commit to this war. All participants have the option of dropping out if they resign their Command Seals. After all, there would be no more reason to target a Master that is no longer in the running."

"Wait, but if I do that, then…?"

"I can quickly go find someone that could fulfill a contract as a Master. I can easily find someone that would be more willing to achieve a wish alongside me."

That was great news for Archer. She didn't have to be binded to someone as useless as me for a Master, but in the way that she said that, it was like she was simply going to disappear from my life. If I had to be honest, I was actually more scared of that for some reason.

I clutched my hands together and while it still trembled, I had the chance to take a deep breath.

"If that's the case, I'm not leaving this war."

"How surprising. May I ask for your reason?"

"I may not know what your wish is, but I still want to help grant it for you. I know it might be a bit selfish, but I… wasn't lying about my feelings for you."

"Are you offering another marriage proposal to me?" she sighed, unamused. "If that's the case, perhaps it's best if I—"

"N-No! Not yet! I-I mean, that's not what I was trying to get at! I just want to help you out here! There's nothing more to it than that!" My words might have been sprouting more nonsense, but when it came to anything romantic, I was quick to discover that it was how I would act under its influence. "If I could just stay by your side as your wish is granted, I'd think… it would be a nice feeling."

"It is quite foolish reasoning."

"S-Sorry." I dropped my head in dejection. "I don't quite understand it myself. Maybe I'll think about it a bit more after I go to sleep. Now that I think about it, it is a bit stupid, right?"

There was nothing that some wryly laughter couldn't fix, only for me to realize that the contradiction to that statement was present so clearly before me. It merely resulted in trailed off laughter and an unimpressed Archer. With heavy shoulders and knowing that I already dropped my chances with Archer, I decided to call it a day and picked up Kuko softly into my arms.

Even so, something still persisted in my heart.

"It's… It's going to be a promise!"

Kuko sprawled in my arms after my sudden shout to Archer. Even she looked thrown off from the declaration, but it was something that felt earnest from my heart.

"I may be inexperienced, but I don't go back on my word! If I'm continuing in this Holy Grail War, I'm going to have your wish granted! That's my promise to you, Archer!"

Before she could do anything else, my face became red like rose petals. I was probably making myself look more like a fool than a proper Master to her and in that embarrassment, he was already running back to the kitchen to go to sleep without telling her anything else.

However, I still found the will to stop at the door for one more brief moment.

"A-And when I see that plate, I better see that you've tried a bite of it! It's a really good apple pie and it'll go to waste if you don't taste it, at the very least, I…!"

Without any plan as to how to end that sentence, I merely escaped the area, trying to keep what little dignity I had left. Though, I should have considered sticking through with it if it was already so low. At this point, I just wanted to jump into my bed and forget everything that happened so far.

This was tougher than I expected it to be.

And I haven't even experienced the Holy Grail War for myself yet.

I couldn't help myself in covering my face. I really am such an idiot.

"Meow…"

"Yes! I know I messed up, Kuko! You don't have to rub it in!"

Her unusual Master left her alone with the apple pie. As he ran back in, escaping to wherever he felt more safe, Archer kept looking back at the dessert that she was presented with. Although she claimed that Servants did not need food, the way that her Master decorated it made it look delicious and it wasn't as if she was ruined by such lack of a notion.

She would easily admit that she may have been somewhat stern about all of this, but her Master was not making any of it easy. With how he acted, she doubted how serious he was about his participation in the Holy Grail War. In fact, the entirety of this debriefing was to see if her Master had the potential drive to reach the end of this long battle. She was about to dismiss the entire thing from Kurogane, looking to see if she could possibly find another Master to take his place.

It would have been rather simple to trick the Master into using the Command Seals in a single swoop, only for her to leave the contract by killing him while he was defenseless. Which probably was all the time, but when he uttered such spirited proclamations, something about it seemed too familiar.

The memory of her past echoed the same way that Kurogane spoke out.

"That's just my imagination…"

Whatever it may have been, she decided to hold herself back to see what this unusual feeling had been. What was this sense of nostalgia that she had been missing?

She watched the pie once more with Kurogane's bold promise still ringing in her mind. Despite refusing to eat it before his presence, Archer took up a fork and sliced off a small piece of it. In one bite, she ate it with slow chews before swallowing it down.

It's… really good…

It was silent as she stared at the pie, instinctively going for a second bite.