Chapter 5 / A Little Excursion Wouldn't Hurt Anyone, Right?

My body roughly fell backwards and ended in a slump.

There was always the conceiving motion that training would always be difficult, but it always seemed better on paper than in reality, especially for someone who hadn't experienced any intensive exercise like this. I wasn't keen on being down for the count though, so I slowly got back onto my feet. Though, it really felt like gravity was against me this time.

"You surely have the tenacity, but it takes more than that to be able to stand a chance against an opponent. Tenacity is nothing without anything to back it up."

"One more time! I…! I can keep going!"

"Very well. Try to approach me once more."

Archer stood at the other side of the empty field, rolling her wrist rather casually. For someone who appears to have small arms, she certainly made up for it with how quickly she was moving. Not that she was pulling anything back. Her punches weren't anything to scoff at, but she said that her own direct attacks were on the weaker side of Servants. It made me shudder imagining what a punch from a stronger Servant could do against me.

That's why Archer advised me to never confront them if it's not needed. Those fights should be left for her to deal with and while some Masters were apparently capable of fighting alongside their Servants, I certainly wasn't one of them. My improvement here was for me to be able to buy time against other Masters who would decide to take things into their own hands and go off to eliminate the Master for themselves.

That little thought made me realize something. Couldn't the other Masters just, like, pull a gun on me or something? What the hell was I supposed to do at that point? If they were willing to confront another person and kill them for the sake of a miraculous wish, I wouldn't doubt that they would import an illegal firearm to Japan's borders for the Holy Grail War.

Nevertheless, I kept that part to myself.

Part of the reason was to spend some time alone with Archer, even if she was on the side that was basically pummeling me, but there still weren't any downsides to getting actively fit for my own health and safety. Besides, I've already come to the conclusion that I have to try my best in this war for her, so this was the least I could do to spur some confidence between ourselves.

"Here I come! Rargh!"

It had been a few days since Archer started helping out at the cafe. I got back into the groove of things after Riku's little pep talk with me, worrying about the same old things I used to focus on before Archer showed up. In doing so, I was able to return to my typical working state. Working in tandem with Archer was slightly difficult, since she had a tendency to cover most of what was happening in the fast-paced environment, but I shouldn't have let that bother me in the first place.

I was happy that she quickly got used to the job.

"When you're going on the offense, you shouldn't blindly strike forwards," Archer said, catching my incoming fist and blocking the rest of my blindly-outputted flurry. She retaliated with a quick strike of her own between my attacks, forcing me to cross my arms to take it. "Every movement should be done with five more steps being made. If you can't see ahead of your opponent's actions, you will not see the next day's morning."

Her attacks were relentless, forcing me to keep up as best as I could in defense. Though, it might have been too much to ask a normal human to keep up with someone with such intensive speeds. Archer sincerely didn't know how to gradually ease me into the realm of fighting, tossing me down into the lion's den without a second thought.

A gut punch slipped through, causing me to back off with weakened legs and resulting in a collapse of my knees. It wasn't anything too serious, but my fatigue was starting to catch up with me. We've been training for an hour straight in the morning's dew and I hadn't caught a break since we started. Though, I wasn't looking for one anyways.

The day after Archer's first shift, we started going out to a secluded field I knew about that hadn't been too far away from my house. On the guise of going out for some exercise, we instead went out to train ourselves. My parents were surprised, since I never really did any daily forms of exercises, but seeing Archer accompany me, they didn't say anything and allowed us to go on our ways.

However, I felt as terrible as I was on the first day we trained together. It was like I wasn't improving in the slightest, but I suppose a combined total of a few hours wouldn't have made such a difference. People would train their entire lives for some sporting events, so I shouldn't get the notion that I was someone special that could get used to this in a comparatively quick manner.

However, the logic of close-quarters combat was very clear to me.

When fighting against an opponent, I had to be able to study their movements before they got a study of my own. In knowing how they moved, I would be able to calculate which attacks to where at what timing would be the most effective. Once that opening shows itself, I could unleash most of my strength into a heavy blow there. It certainly won't be enough to take a Master down, much less a Servant, but it's primarily meant to stagger them enough to give me time to escape or if things are getting messy, provide myself with slightly more time for Archer to return to my side.

It was simply my body that couldn't keep up with my head. My muscles were always getting sore and my torso would never turn the way I wanted it to in order to dodge Archer's flurry of blows. Even so, I needed to be stubborn in my training, or else I would never improve. I should have been thankful that Archer was willing to assist me on this front and I couldn't have been more gracious for her to put time out in order to do this.

Though, I suspected she didn't have much else to do.

"We should be heading back. That'll give you enough time to recover for today."

"Y-Yeah. We might not be working today, but rest… is always great…"

I struggled to stand back up, but Archer's hand extended to me. She hadn't done it before in our other training days, so I was a bit surprised when I saw her gesture, but I did need to help. Grabbing her hand, it felt soft in my weak grip, but there were a few hardened places on her palm that contrasted greatly. There must have been a story of hardships behind it, but I worried about getting on my feet first.

"Compared to the first day, you've been moving quicker."

"R-Really?" We were walking back to my house, reviewing a bit about the training session. In the heat of training, it was entirely possible that my head wouldn't absorb everything she said. "I don't feel any faster, so is that really the case?"

"I didn't mean your actual movements. I was talking about your reaction to moving. I move quickly in order for you to heighten your senses in combat. If you can predict where the next strike will come from, you will have more time to act accordingly."

"Honestly? I'm not exactly sure if the enemy is going to need that long of a time to beat me up. I could only start to make a vague guess after we've been doing this for a few days. I'm probably going to be given a few minutes, tops, to get familiar with the opponent before I go down."

"Perhaps I overlooked that." Archer relaxed to a pondering expression. "Nevertheless, the skills you received in training can be somewhat transferred over to a quick skirmish, it is not as if you are learning useless tactics. But my apologies, I never aided in someone's training before, especially if they are unskilled in all parameters."

"Yeah, yeah. Rub more salt in my wounds, why don't you?"

We returned back home, making sure that my body hadn't been too visually hurt from the training. My father's cafe was already open for business as I walked through the front. I said my greetings to the employee that had his shift today before heading to the kitchen to segway back into the house portion of the building.

However, my father called out to us before he got through.

"Kurogane. I need a favour to ask for you."

"Huh? Yeah, anything you need?"

"We got the custom order for Archer's uniform at the usual place. Could you go along with your mother to pick it up for us? Of course, take Archer along with you. We gave the measurements, but there could be room for improvement and I'm certain your mother will be able to troubleshoot it in my steed."

"That took longer than expected. Almost a week has passed since she started."

"Yeah, I'm unsure either, but as long as we get what we paid for, it doesn't matter. Though, I did hear that it was merely an issue of manufacturing at some point, so it's understandable."

"Alright, then I guess we'll be heading out. See you later, Dad."

After relaxing my muscle a bit, aiding it with a cold shower to get the sweat off my body, I promptly changed into something more fitting for an outdoor excursion. Some jeans and a polo shirt were more than enough to be presentable on the streets. I did my best to make it flow together though, but when I returned, Archer was wearing the same things as always. I wondered if she had another set of clothing, before I started speaking without thinking as I grabbed a black jacket out from my closet.

"Do you not want to take off those clothes?"

"..."

Only then, I realized the phrasing of my question.

"N-No, no! Wait! I mean, is that the only clothes that you have!? I haven't seen you change into a different outfit or anything of that sort! If we do, you can certainly put it in along with our laundry to get it all cleaned up and anything! There wasn't any other intention in asking other than that!"

Nice one, Kurogane. Dig your grave deeper - let's see how that plays out.

Thankfully, Archer read the message and answered it properly, ignoring the rest of the pretext. Either I was lucky, or she was going to bring it up later on, so I could cringe in my past words. Kinda leaning on the latter from past experience, but I still ended up throwing on my jacket to hide my fluster.

"These clothes are simply part of my spirit origin. It is not impossible for me to change into something else, but I merely assumed this clothing was good enough."

"O-Oh, no. It's a great dress, a beautiful one. Don't get me wrong, but I just had a lingering curiosity. That's all. If I was thinking along the same lines as you do, then I would assume that your clothing would pull attention to yourself. Would that be a fair assumption?"

"Would it?" She glanced at her own outfit before returning the gaze to me, raising an eyebrow. "I see no reason as to why it should be changed though. Usually, other competent Masters would likely know at first encounter that I was a Servant and thus, their enemy. I suspect that normal people would not pay much heed to my clothing, other than leaving a few seconds of their time to observe."

During the conversation, Shiro barged in with Kuko in her arms. She leapt to Archer's side while Kuko escaped her arms at the last moment, to avoid being crushed in between, to land onto my shoulder. It took a second to notice that my sister was all dressed up for an outing with her favourite white blouse. She even had her pale sunhat, sported with a fake sunflower on the rim.

"Oh, I guess you're coming with us?"

"Yep, yep! Mommy said it would be a great time to show Big Sis around downtown!"

"Ah, then I guess Kuko is coming along for the ride as well?"

"Meow…"

My cat usually got lonely pretty easily, as suggested from how he waited for me at the front the night I brought Archer home. In most cases, whenever everyone was busy outside of the house, I'd bring Kuko along with me wherever I was heading, considering how he's rather content with staying on my shoulder most of the time. He was surprisingly very obedient for the little training I gave to him.

"Then let's head out as quickly as possible," I smiled, feeling the momentum of the prior conversation was lost. "We don't want to be wasting away the sunlight, right? It's a nice day outside, perfect for a little excursion like this."

Shiro excitedly pulled Archer along out of the room, leaving me to laugh a bit with Kuko at her childish display. It was honestly something that this household loved to have and I couldn't bother to imagine how it might be like when my sister was all grown up, but I digress.

I checked up everything I could need, like my wallet and a small bag to wear for accommodations, and headed out to follow them. Everyone else was already waiting by the back entrance after I finished up a final check around the house.

"Ready to see what Tokuwa District's urban area looks like, Archer?"

"Perhaps we'll see."

As one might expect, the downtown area of the Tokuwa District was filled with life. As busy as it could be, you could always find stories of people playing through the casual sights, from those hanging out with their friends on this refreshing summer day or a person heading to their workplace quickly because they were late. Buildings weren't overly tall like how people would see them in metropolis areas within Tokyo, but it was a sizable height that I could notice them peering over the horizons from my house's third floor.

My mother found some parking space out on the streets, particularly just outside of the place we needed to stop by. The entirety of the building had been a shopping mall, but there was a store within that collaborated with my father in making custom uniforms for our cafe. Apparently, their owner was a longtime friend of his, hailing all the way back to elementary school, but that's quite the unimportant story for now. Anyways, pulling these types of connections was familiar territory for my father.

We made our way with no need for haste, showing Archer around the shopping mall as we went deeper in. If I had to be honest, I thought the place was too big for my personal preference and the layout made it look more like a maze than an actual mall. It could have been the aesthetic that the contractors and the architects were trying to go for, but they could have done something simpler and got the same result of customer traffic.

"It's quite spacious and easy to move around here."

"I guess you can say. All these branching paths give me a headache though."

"Big Bro's being silly! We can always use one of the maps at the glowing billboard thing if we ever get lost! Or we can ask Mommy, she never gets lost, so we have to stick with her no matter what!"

"Hey, now. I'm not lost here, Shiro. Your big brother is better than that, you know."

Archer glanced up to the upper floors, held crossing by with some bridges.

"Perhaps I might have the advantage here if it becomes…"

"Hold up, hold up. What exactly are you thinking about? Is that what you meant by it being spacious and easy to move around here?"

Shiro looked at me a bit confusingly, tilting her head, but she didn't really inquire much about it. I suppose she assumed she wasn't going to understand, even if I explained it, but I was still careful in treading the topic vaguely. The essence of the Holy Grail War must have been kept as a secret for some reason and to Archer's request, I needed to keep it as one.

"Just take it easy, Archer. Nothing is going to happen here. Besides, there's always a fair amount of people here, so no one would be stupid enough to, uhm, engage here."

"Meow, meow!" Kuko cried, as if trying to affirm what I was saying - as if he actually was understanding what I was saying.

"Is that right? Then we'll leave it at that."

We eventually brought ourselves over to one of the stores, after showing Archer places like the food court and some of our favourite places, where the custom order had been waiting. My mother walked up in front of us and spoke with one of the salespeople, asking for the owner. The salesperson must have been told that we were coming because she promptly got the owner out as quickly as possible.

"Oh, it's been some time since I last saw you! Usually, it would be Daisuke who would come pick it up for himself, but I'm surprised to see that the entire family is here! No Daisuke though, but he's probably having his hands filled with the cafe. Speaking about which, how has the cafe been recently?"

"We've still turned good and comfortable profits, though Daisuke would never like talking about the net loss from the last few months. Beggars can't be choosers though, especially with everything going on with the recent news."

"Ah, right. The disappearances over those three months. I recently hope the police can get all of that sorted out eventually." The owner clapped her hands rather energetically, accompanied with a smile. "Enough about that dreary stuff. I see that everyone has grown up so much now!"

She glanced over to us, excited to meet us again. It wasn't as if I never came around these parts of the shopping mall, after all Eriko was one of my friends that liked to pull Riku and I over here, but the owner doesn't really do much in terms of front work if I recall correctly. The last time I properly met my father's acquaintance was when I was in elementary school.

"Kurogane is so handsome now!"

"I, uhm, appreciate the compliment, Miss."

"And Shiro is still as adorable as ever!"

"Hehehe!"

"You even brought Kuko! Hello, little one!"

"Meow!"

"And there's even..."

Her words trailed off when she noticed Archer's presence here. With widened and blanked eyes, she was leading an empty mind, trying to figure out if she met this mysterious person before. To that question, the answer was a resounding no, but she didn't want to admit that on the chance that she was supposed to know her.

"My future daughter-in-law."

"My new big sister!"

Instead, both my mother and my sister tag-teamed to make me feel as embarrassed as I could. I groaned to ease my fluster, but when I caught myself quickly from falling, it seemed like the owner was sharpening her glinting eyes to my direction. She wasn't going to listen to anything I was going to say, was she? Archer glanced at me in the meanwhile, expecting for me to clear things up.

"S-She's just a friend who's starting work at the cafe, alright?" I begrudgingly explained properly. "There's nothing more than that right now. That's why we're coming to pick up a uniform today. It's going to be reserved for her."

"Hmm. Is that right?"

Yep. That mischievous smirk meant she didn't buy it.

"Well, let's not dwindle on that topic for now. I have the uniform in the back, so if you'll give me some time, I'll bring it out. We'll be able to make minor changes to the uniform if necessary."

She took a minute to head into the back, returning with a dress covered in the plastic protection. It had the same usual colour palette of black and white, having a professional atmosphere in its design. It was crafted with flexibility in mind, knowing that the person who wore it would be moving around a fair amount in the cafe. It had to be made, as well, in the case where it could easily be washed if it were to get dirty in any sort of accident.

However, I started to realize something. My father should have easily ordered a uniform and had it packaged in the mail. A standard uniform would have been separated into the three typical sizes of small to large, like how mine had been given to me. Adversely, Archer's uniform had a different process to it, considering how it was custom made with her measurements that my mother did for her.

And that certainly didn't look like the normal female uniform. It looked much nicer than anything I've seen, making it feel like a waste whenever it would get dirty. Also, the fact that my mother was coming to help with this little errand and it made it seem like this was…

… Oh, son of a bitch.

When my realization made me fluster, my mother must have known that I've seen through what their collaborated tactics were. She patted me on the back, as if congratulating me on figuring it out, only to dismiss it with a mischievous chuckle of her own. There was no certainty which side she was on, only the path that got her what she wanted in the end.

"How about you change into it and let us see how you look, Archer?" My mother was handed over the outfit and held it before the unknowing victim's face. "It should only take a moment."

"Very well. I'm not used to these types of clothing though."

"Then I'll come to help out! Do you want to come help out as well, Shiro?"

"Of course! I want to help out Big Sis!"

"Fufufu. That's the spirit. Oh, and Kurogane? You won't be allowed to help out for obvious reasons. You'll have to let the lady change in peace."

"L-Like I had the desire for that!"

And even then, something tells me she won't get that peace while my mother and my little sister were around her. My assistance would probably be hindering her less, setting aside the fact that I wouldn't be able to look at Archer straight during those moments. Regretful images were already starting to cloud my thinking, so I turned my rose-coloured face, trying to calm myself down.

"Besides, I think some of the pleasure comes in the surprise. Don't you think so, Kurogane?"

"L-Like I would know. J-Just hurry on already!"

"Oh my, oh my. Eager to see Archer in her new uniform?"

"N-No, that's not what I meant!"

Some days, I find myself wanting to roll up and die. This was not one of those days. It was even worse than that, a true nightmare of being picked on, but a reward sweeter than any honey out there. All I had to be was buckled down for the early storm. If it wasn't obvious, I was indeed looking forward to seeing Archer in her new clothes and all, but in the way my mother phrased it, there was nothing left to retain except for obligatory shame.

Putting Kuko on my lap, I found a seat in the store as my mother and my sister brought Archer over to a changing stall. Their sounds of shuffling was something I needed to grow quickly accustomed to, hearing my mother and my sister step too much over Archer's boundaries. Their victim was trying her best to keep calm, but I suppose the girls of the Yoshida family were victorious in their advances. It left much to the imagination, as I instinctively tried to look away from the direction where they went off to.

I could feel the owner's contentment to see a young boy, cursed with unrequited love, behind me. She wasn't saying anything, but the silence probably spoke more than any words she could say. There could have been something I could say to clear more of it up, but I wasn't keen on saying more than needed, in the case I made it worse.

Was love something to be shy about? Archer already knew I was in love with her, so it wasn't as if it needed to be a secret. Nevertheless, shivers would always consume my body's senses on the sheer mention of it. Likely, it was my mind's immaturity about what love could be. There weren't any other explanations that I could muster, but hopefully, I'd be more comfortable with in the future.

The only thing that was comfortable was Kuko's pelt, as rubbing his head and body was always something I could relax to. Kuko certainly had the time of his life, purring to my playful motions.

A few minutes later and my mother would be exiting the changing area first.

"Finished already? How is it?"

"How about you tell me? Shiro, could you please bring Archer out here?"

"Come, come! Big Sis, you have to show yourself to Big Bro!"

"I-I, uhm…"

Hearing Archer's voice trembling in discomfort caused me to gulp a bit. My eyes were attracted straight towards the changing area where I saw my sister pulling Archer ahead by the hand. To that, I felt like I was about to sustain a sudden heart attack just by looking at her.

"Is this truly fine?" Skepticism certainly filled her tone.

In my perspective, the dress itself felt like there were more details to it or rather, I had been inspecting it more closely than before now that she was wearing it. The buttons, the frills, and even the ribbon on the backside all worked together in one coherent flow. Some verdant colours popped out along the white portions, trying to capitalize on Archer's hair and eyes. The apron on the front was a perfect size and the skirt hadn't been too long or too short, letting some of her leggings see the light. In short, Archer was painted out to be like a goddess.

But how exactly do I describe my opinion without sounding like a mess?

"Big Sis looks super pretty, more than usual! Right, Big Bro?"

"I… I guess you could say that…"

"Aw, look! My little Kurogane is burning up!"

"M-Mom! Please spare me!"

"Oh, seriously? We're just getting started."

"... Wait, what?"

Both Archer and I glanced at my mother with widened eyes, both having different reasons to stare, but ultimately concluding simultaneously that we probably could take any more of this. Nevertheless, my mother was never any good with playing in tune with other people, constantly strolling at her own rhythm, especially when she was keen on seeing something through.

For once, we were thinking the same thing.

"Mom? W-What do you mean by that?"

"Y-Yes, Missus Yoshida. Could you please elaborate on that?"

"It's exactly what it sounds like. I'd like you to rate Archer's uniform first before we continue onwards with our little fashion show."

"A… fashion show?"

Having no idea whether my mother wants to help me or wants to kill me, my remaining brain cells were only able to nod alongside her sly smile. Archer probably had more things to say against my mother's request, but the excitement of my sister was more than enough to sway her in the other direction. She kept pulling Archer along, trying to get a better look at her without ever getting tired of the sight.

It was considerably something I could relate to.

My mother had to do a few legitimate fixes, asking Archer to move in certain ways and asking if it had been uncomfortable to do so or if a certain part of the body felt too tight. She noted all of it for the owner to address for today before the uniform was taken off.

However, she came back out in another set of clothing. Her beauty was just as parallel as the uniform's appearance, but in an entirely different manner. Instead of keeping it professional, my mother brought Archer clothes that suggested a casual theme, having a soft green blouse and tight jeans to emphasize her legs. There were a handful of other casual outfits that were worn afterwards, but this had to be the one that suited her the most. It took a few minutes for me to even recover between each change of wardrobe and as such, I kept forgetting Kuko was on my lap.

My mother kept taking pictures, enunciating the gorgeous style that Archer retained between each change. Everytime, she lowered herself to me, showing me the picture to let me check if it was able to capture the essence that Archer was emitting at the time.

To be honest? I was happy as long as the image was clear to see. That was how much power I had left in the brain. By the time we exhausted all of the outfits that my mother and the owner collaborated on providing to Archer, I was completely exhausted emotionally. My sister's eyes kept sparkling all the way through whereas I was scared where my eyes were about to wander. Some of the clothing felt slightly too mature for my heart to handle, but Shiro, being the innocent kid that she was, didn't see any problems.

I could tell that Archer was tired by the end of it, but she kept a smiling expression for Shiro's sake. The difference between us had been how I couldn't disguise my own tiredness, needing to walk to one of the benches outside of the store while my mother bought a decent amount of the clothing for Archer to take home. Even Kuko felt like sighing with me, as much as a cat could sigh anyways.

"Ah, there's no need for you to buy all of this for me, Missus Yoshida."

"Nonsense, nonsense! You've been wearing the same thing everyday and while you might have a way to keep it washed and cleaned, that doesn't excuse the fact that it's only one sight to behold! We still haven't actually bought any underwear for you, but maybe we'll go buy that in our own time. Perhaps when we get some woman time to ourselves without Kurogane."

"Really, this isn't necessarily a need for myself."

"Whelp, it might not be a need for you, but it's something I would like to do anyways. You can think of it like a fun, little investment of mine!"

"An… investment, you say?"

"Hopefully, you'll be staying around for a bit, but until you leave, you're considered a member that's a part of the Yoshida household. I won't have any disagreements about that and when you're considered a part of us, you'll be treated the same!"

"I-I… T-That's…"

"Don't you worry about holding yourself back. If you're worried about the income, you shouldn't. My husband's income is more than enough for things like this!"

"That hadn't been the problem though!"

I could hear the conversation between my mother and Archer from a distance. It was obvious to see who had more control over its flow there, but that was simply my mother's nature at work. The only surprising part was her ability to crack down Archer at such an alarming rate, allowing me to see Archer's scarcely rare fluster.

The uniform was sent back for the few fixes, something my mother said she'll pick up by herself tomorrow, while another sum of money was dropped to give Archer about eight or nine sets of clothes to pick from, ranging from casual, outside, inside, and there was even some sleeping clothes that snuck itself in there without Archer wearing it.

I couldn't fathom how much it could have cost, but the owner was feeling generous, for whatever reason, and marked a special discount off the total price for forty percent off.

As she left the premise, Archer's spirit started to escape her as she tried to uplift herself with reminders that Shiro had lots of fun with it. It was amusing to see her like that, especially how stern she had been with me for the week, but I wasn't going to disturb her mood by pointing it out. I merely got back on my legs, shaking off the fatigue, before helping in holding Archer's clothes in the bags.

… There was so much. Holy shit. It didn't look like much when it was being checked out from my distance, but in holding them, I was forced to figure out that I was severely wrong.

"Do you need help in holding them?"

Archer turned around, noticing my slight struggle to keep them in my hands.

"N-No, it should be fine. It's not heavy, but it's more difficult to hold it all. It's not impossible though, so don't think too much about it."

"I have a spare hand I use to hold a few bags. Besides, your mother went to buy all of that because I was here. As with such reasons, it would make sense if I were to carry them."

"I'm telling you, it's fine. If I can't do something as easy as this for you, how could you ever depend on me in the future?"

Archer remained silent after I said something as natural as that. I assumed there was something wrong with my phrasing as always, but she merely chuckled afterwards, providing a different reaction than I was expecting, before paying attention back over to Shiro.

Did I say something weird?

"How about we go back home now?" my mother asked rhetorically, keeping her giggles to herself. "I can see a few people here are getting a bit tired from today, so we'll continue this some other time. There's still so much to go through, but those places aren't going anywhere!"

"Please."

With a breath of exasperation, we headed out to the car. With the popped trunk, I never thought I would have been so glad to have my hands free like that. Some of the plastic handles dug into my palms, leaving a mark on them. A bit sore, but nothing that was warranting a big reaction. Just needed a heavy sigh, mostly to restore some of the sanity I lost today.

Though, a quick look at my hands made me remember that I had Command Seals there. Apparently, none of my family members were able to see such a flame-patterned tattoo on the back of my hand. Since it was something created by magic, whatever Archer meant by that, people who could not perceive it will naturally be unable to see it. It sure beat trying to explain this to my parents and my friends, that was for sure.

"I'm a bit hungry," Shiro suddenly announced before anyone was able to enter the car. "Can we head out to the food court or a diner to eat? I want to eat out with Big Sis while we're here."

"That might be a good idea, but we've already taken a lot of time. Your father thought we would be out for a bit, but we've obviously gone over his expectations here. I have to get back home to help out with the kitchen for a bit."

"Aww…"

"Then why don't you just go home by yourself, Mom?" I suggested. "I'll bring Archer and Shiro over to the food court, so we can enjoy ourselves while you can have the time to help out Dad. We can come home by train, giving Shiro the perfect chance to give Archer a tour of the station, right?"

"Huh? Really?" Shiro leaned forward, smiling a big grin ."I want to do that! I want to do that!"

"Any complaints, Archer?"

"None here. It will take more than that to exhaust my energy."

My mother glanced at us before giving a confident nod and a thumbs-up. "Indeed, indeed! This will do! Good thinking, Kurogane! I knew you had it in you for making plans like this!"

"No, wait. That wasn't the—"

I stopped myself before I spoke any further. Anything I said would have been deflected back against me against my mother, so there wasn't any necessity to cover up any tracks here. My mother's implication wasn't wrong, since I was keen on spending more time with Archer, even if I had to babysit my sister and my cat at the same time. Though, it was probably the best case scenario, considering how I wouldn't be able to deal with Archer's presence by myself.

"Never mind."

"Alright, we'll go ahead with your plans. If you want to take any detours, feel free to do so! Just a quick reminder to bring Shiro home before night falls. Hear me out?"

"Yeah, yeah. I don't even think I can stay out that long by myself either way."

With our words of parting, my mother drove off to leave us behind at the mall. We weren't exactly fishes out of water, but I was the only one that had any grip on our location. My sister was too young to even know the general directions of each store and this was Archer's first time being here. I'm rather certain Kuko wasn't going to contribute to anything considering that, you know, he's a cat.

Shiro, keeping the same energetic motivation to her name, grabbed both our hands as we came back into the mall. She hummed a tune she probably heard from a television show, letting herself to be as free-spirited as a child could be. Despite having less strength than us, she was still leading the way. I had to quietly nudge her along to the food court though, trying to make sure she didn't end up heading in the wrong direction.

"Hurry up, hurry up! Let's buy something from Hikkoran!" Shiro pointed to one of the take-out restaurants. "I want to have some sushi!"

"It's been awhile since we got some. I'd say it would be my treat, but I'm probably the only one with money here," I said, trying to make a joke. It didn't seem like anyone caught it though, so the only person that was assumed was me. "A-Anyways, got something in mind, Shiro?"

"Spicy Salmon! Spicy Salmon!"

"Alright, then I guess I'll grab some normal California Rolls. We can always switch if it's too spicy for you," I teased.

"Hey, I can finish it by myself this time! I'm a big girl now!"

"We'll see about that," I chuckled in the midst of my sister's pout. "As for Archer, do you know what's on the menu there? You can go check it out and I'll buy your portion as well."

With Shiro serving as the chef's recommendation, Archer came up to see what selections they had on the menu. Some sushi places preemptively make their food and place it into a disposable carton, but the one Shiro likes is one that is freshly made before our eyes. Part of the reason was that she loved watching the chefs roll up the sushi and slice it up.

I was surprised to see her wanting to get some California Rolls for herself, but to be honest, I wasn't sure what I should have expected. Everything was bought with ease and we found a good place to sit down. Some fish was peeled off the Spicy Salmon for Kuko to eat for himself as an offering for being out for so long, which he happily took. My sister was having fun using her hand as his bowl, being tickled by his tongue. Archer was beside her, smiling to herself as Shiro kept at it.

The underlying assumption was always there, but I should probably ask.

"Hey, Archer? Do you have a soft spot for children? You've been putting up with Shiro's antics more than I could ever expect."

"In a way, you may say that. I simply believe children should have their own happiness." Archer smiled gently, merely glancing at Shiro's expression. "That is all, but perhaps that's all there needs to be of that. The cruelty of reality should be kept away from their innocence."

"Cruelty of reality, huh?"

In a way, I felt like it should have hit me harder than it should have. Luck had been on my side for my entire life, now that I think about it. I had good friends, a great family, and a lifestyle that was almost perfect for development and growth. Nothing was tough for me as it stood. Some others don't have that luxury, being provided what the real world is probably like in actuality. I've heard it be called a dog-eat-dog world before, but I still couldn't fathom such a thing yet.

Have I been taking things too lightly here?

"I think it's nice that you have that belief, Archer. I do agree that children should spend their childhood as children, but I think it would be an odd occasion if they weren't. At least, in this society." I opened up the plastic bento box and plopped a California Roll into my mouth. "I can think of a few other places in other countries that might not have that pleasantry of letting children be children."

"Indeed, it's quite unfortunate that not all children have the right to be happy in this world, in which they should be."

"But alas, it's an impossible dream."

Archer silently stared at me, but I didn't notice as I kept rambling on. That was my mistake in not realizing how she was looking at me or rather, she was quietly glaring.

"The world isn't so nice to have things run perfectly. The Earth is no Heaven and as long as that's the case, children somewhere will continue to suffer. It sucks to put it in perspective like that, but not all could be saved here. Not that it matters to me, since I only need to make sure that Shiro is happy. I'm not in any control of what happens in other countries, much less the rest of my own country."

"..."

"... Archer? Hey, what's wrong?"

Her expression was empty for the split moment I glanced back towards her, only for it to disappear as Shiro waltz right into the conversation, oblivious to the odd tension that stirred up between us. She held up one of the Spicy Salmons for Archer to taste, breaking her bleak atmosphere was a smile. Though Shiro couldn't sense it, that smile felt very forced, as if she was trying to not pull Shiro into the issue at hand, to which I still hadn't understood yet.

We ate the rest of the sushi in peace. As I predicted, Shiro couldn't handle the spice of the aforementioned Spicy Salmon, but she surprised me in that she managed to get through a quarter of it before surrendering. We ended up swapping, resulting with three empty trays I threw out afterwards.

However, Archer wouldn't speak too much to me. It was enough that Shiro wouldn't suspect that she was avoiding as many conversations as she could, but it was unpleasantly evident from my angle. I knew Archer could give someone the cold shoulder, as she was doing since we met, but this was taking it to the extreme here.

Nevertheless, we ended up walking out to the train station, enjoying the sights of downtown along the way. Shiro and Archer were in front of me, as I chose to lag behind them with Kuko on my shoulder. My eyes were wandering elsewhere while a heavy heart was left by my side.

What did I do wrong? Was it something I said? Should I apologize without knowing what it had been? It was better for me to realize my errors before I came to any conclusions here. I allowed the scenery to help guide my thoughts in figuring it out, watching as the bustling environment dwindled as we approached the train station. That was to say, my eyes had wandered, but to be honest, it would have been for the best if they hadn't.

"... Huh?"

On the other side, I saw something strange.

It was Eriko, but the circumstances were strange. She had been running down the street quickly, pulling my curiosity to begin with. It shouldn't have been irregular to note that a friend was running, for they could be running for various reasons. My concern laid in the fact that her face didn't look like she was running for fun though. It was too serious, as if she had a destination that she was trying to make before she was late.

There might have been too much being read into it and I was indeed about to ignore it. It was much easier to ask about it in a text message, but she suddenly turned into an alleyway. That's when I noticed what was behind her.

It was a person in hooded clothing, trying to chase her down. They moved in such an irregular manner, but he also turned the corner to follow Eriko. I wasn't sure why that was the case, but seeing that my friend was possibly in danger, there wasn't a reason why I should be standing back. In fact, the recent news of the disappearances were the first things to come to mind and I was afraid that if I called the police right now, they would be too late if something did happen.

Clenching my fist, I looked both ways before crossing the street hastily.

"Archer! Look after Shiro and Kuko for a bit!"

"Hold on a moment! What are you doing?"

Thrusting Kuko into Archer's arms, I didn't stick around to hear Archer's response, needling myself right through the crowd and darting into the alleyway after them. They were moving quickly, much faster than what I could run, but if Eriko couldn't manage to escape her chaser in time, they would have to stop at some point. I only prayed that it didn't have to fall back to something like that.

However, something bothered me.

If a young girl was being chased by a hooded figure in daylight, would it not be obvious that a bystander might say something about it? A good samaritan would try to stop the assailant and call for some help, making sure that the young girl wasn't harmed or troubled in any way.

That being said, Eriko hadn't been stopping to ask for help. In fact, it was as if she was trying to evade the pedestrians, letting them go off to their own days. There was no need to mention that the hood figure did the same thing, all uninterrupted without a problem.

"Grah!"

A voice in pain!?

I flinched when I heard it come from further down the alleyway, fearing the worst already, but never realizing that it hadn't been Eriko's voice that screamed out in agony. When I turned the corner and came closer, I was appalled to see what was happening.

Instead of seeing my friend, she was nowhere to be seen.

In her place, two adults were standing there.

One of the men wore a black suit, one that could be worn to a formal event. His eyes were adorned by some faded dark circles, but his expressions remained ever sharp behind his glasses. He wasn't the definition of young, sporting the range of his forties, but his ebony hair was stroked to the side in a youthful fashion. It all blended in with his thin leather gloves.

However, the other man was the one that caused me to tremble. He wore a black outfit, but it was draped all over with metallic armor. Shoulder pieces were covered in outward spikes, his arms were equipped with powerful gauntlets and his lower legs were endowed with a thick plating. All of it wrapped up into intimidation with the face mask that wrapped around his nose and mouth, leaving only his crystal clear blue eyes behind similar glasses to glare his opponents down. The same way that he did when glaring over to their uninvited visitor.

His hair was split into thirds, with the center being navy blue while the ends were coloured in gray, but it had not been those colours that took my attention. What had been much more prevalent was the red blade that he held in his hand, not to mention the tension it could slice through while it was heavy. A tighter grip merely made my feet unable to move, especially when his outlandish appearance reminded me of Archer's presence.

However, I would realize that something was wrong here if I took a better look at everything.

The hooded figure that was once chasing after my friend had now been pinned to the wall. The swordsman was the one to hold them there and without noticing me yet, his hand gripped on tighter as a faded aura of light emerged from their body.

And then, nothing.

The man dropped the body as it went limp and no more than a few seconds later, it started to fade away like dust disappearing in the wind. How was it that it left behind no evidence? How was somebody supposed to know this happened when a case this unnatural occurred before my eyes?

It was then I started connecting the dots, but if my conclusion was correct, I wasn't sure what I was going to do about it. However hastily I came to the assumption, it was entirely possible that they were the ones behind the Tokuwa District's disappearances. If that was the case, it only made sense that the police couldn't progress if this was how they were dissolving their tracks.

Bracing myself while holding my breath, all that was left was to watch as the black-suited man finally noticed my presence. If looks could kill, I'd already be dead and I was convinced they would be able to finish me just as quickly. It wasn't out of bloodlust though, feeling more like an air of caution.

As if they were on edge just as I was.

"Somebody entered my domain? I was certain that no one would be able to trespass it. Did I miss something, or perhaps…?" The suited man gently stepped forward, as if trying not to scare me off. Without much thought, I bent my legs and clenched my fist, showing an instinctive posture to fight.

"May I suggest a potential hypothesis?" the swordsman inquired, stepping up next to the suited man just like a bodyguard would. His arm raised out, preventing him from going further. "Something tells me that this boy is not a normal civilian. I can sense irregular energy coming from him, although lacking in strength."

"Then there's no need to be this careful. A mere mewling that does not understand might be a victim to mere circumstances. However, this still may be troublesome, so I'll deal with this."

As the swordsman lowered his arm, the black-suited man slowly crept up and rolled his wrist. There was no way in hell I was letting him get close to me, but my feet didn't want to move. It felt frozen in place, but whether it was out of fear or if he had been doing something to stop me, I had no idea. All I did was grit my teeth and glare at him like a cornered animal.

"This won't hurt. I'm simply making sure that you won't remember something you weren't supposed to see."

His hand reached out to me and something felt unnaturally warm. A burning sensation heightened, letting me reclaim my own control in a shock. There was no hesitating in pushing the man back while taking a few steps of my own away, but something stopped me from running. The man looked surprised, but before I could say anything else, an arrow flew over my shoulder.

It would have landed right into the man's forehead if it weren't for the swordsman stepping in and catching it before it made its mark. He snapped the projectile into pieces before glaring at whoever had been the one responsible for it.

"Master! Get down!"

With Archer's familiar voice crying out, I did what I was told, slamming myself down to my knees before seeing a flurry of arrows fly over my head. However, the swordsman was able to draw his blade and break every shot down to the ground without a slightest fault. A mere readjustment of the swordsman's glasses was all that it cost him as Archer ran up to my side, checking if I was unharmed while aiming on her sights.

"It appears that you were correct," the suited man sighed, backing up a bit. "It seems like he is not any ordinary person, but rather a Master of the Holy Grail War."

I flinched, hearing those words come from his mouth. Of knowing the Holy Grail War, there could only be one thing that it meant about the guy in front of me and the swordsman who brandished his blade. With certainty, the day suddenly turned awry on a mere decision of excursions.

"Although this was unexpected, this will be a good opportunity to see what to expect from our enemies. Saber, heed my words. Your objective is to fight against Archer, here and now and if you see it to fit, eliminate her."

"Of course, Sir."

And something tells me we'll need more than luck to get through this one.