"Ritsuka, Gudako, over here! Hakuno and Hakushi are already inside!"

Visiting the Emiya Household always brought a certain awe to Ritsuka. Constructed with the utmost dedication to maintaining traditional architecture, coming into Shirou's home felt like a step back in time, a stark contrast to the modernity that stuffed their surroundings. That wasn't to say it was lacking in any way – far from it. Every convenience one could expect of a modern home and more was present. It was just that there was regardless a rustic charm that permeated the Emiya Household's atmosphere.

"Yo. Sorry about the wait, Shirou!" Ritsuka called back as he and Gudako approached, met by a beaming smile from Shirou. Said smile only grew when Ritsuka suddenly threw an arm around Gudako's shoulders, a squeal escaping her as his fist dug into her scalp. "Apparently, Gudako here thought it would be nice not to tell me about your breakfast invitation until first thing in the morning. Needed some time to get myself ready."

"No worries at all. It was a bit of a last-minute thing on our end as well." Shirou was quick to assure with a wave of his hand. "Some of the folks I was helping out had some extra produce they had no idea what to do with, so they handed it over as part of their payment. I was wondering what to do with it before Gudako suggested a game party of sorts."

"You mean those grocery store guys who had the weird AC thing? Cool." Ritsuka muttered as he stepped into the household at Shirou's beckoning. After all, it was far from the first time he had heard such a story. With the amount of random handiwork Shirou did for pretty much anyone, the kind of rewards he managed to accrue were nothing less than eclectic. Honestly, just some groceries were on the tamer end of things. "Wait, Gudako's suggestion?"

"…To be fair, I didn't lie?" came the sheepish response from the girl as a steely stare poured down onto her. Not even a wink and a stuck-out tongue were enough to remove the mild malice from it. "Shirou and his mum really did invite us over to breakfast!"

"Ah, Ritsuka. Gudako. Hello." Fortunately for her, Hakuno's presence was more than enough to prevent Gudako's punishment. Without even a moment of hesitation, Gudako threw herself through the living room door, Hakuno reacting with little more than widened eyes when she suddenly found the redhead practically cowering behind her. Faced with such a scene, all that Ritsuka could do was sigh. There were times and places – he'd sort Gudako out sooner or later. "You actually made it. I wasn't sure if you had the time."

"Well, the alternative was getting Monday's homework done. Not much of a difficult decision there," replied Ritsuka, drawing forth a small smile from Hakuno. Not that he was particularly bothered by the rather tame response; Hakuno had always been more a reserved girl than anything. Resolute once she put her mind to something, certainly. Open to more comedic moments of naivety, certainly. Skilled at her expressing herself? Not so much. "Where's your brother? Seeing how he was the one who introduce the game to you, I figured he'd be here as well."

"He's helping out Mrs Shiraishi with her computer."

Such was the curse of a person skilled with IT. while Shirou was a whiz with his hands, those abilities didn't stretch to include the digital world. Thus, with the greatest interest in computers and technology out of them, it often fell onto Hakuno's brother Hakushi to pick up the slack. Whether he wanted to or not, on occasion. Ritsuka could only send a silent prayer for Hakushi if he had to deal with Mrs Shiraishi's… personality. Thank God he didn't have any particular skills that could be of use to her.

"My, if it isn't Ritsuka and Gudako!" their little reverie was soon interrupted by the intrusion of Shirou's mother, a pair of maids of all things behind her with several trays that soon filled up the table. Such was the reason this kind of meeting often occurred in the Emiya Household. With the size of the estate and the number of people they usually fed, they were probably the only people out of those gathered who could prepare the right quantity on a whim. It made Ritsuka wonder just what kind of family Irisviel Emiya came from. "I'm glad to see you made it! When your parents mentioned how you two were interested in attending that blood donation, I figured this was a lost cause until Gudako said otherwise."

"Blood appointments can be rescheduled!" the way Gudako declared that without a single ounce of hesitation and remorse, planting his face into his hands was the least that Ritsuka could do. At least the statement managed to earn some exasperated chuckles from around the table. "Oh, by the way, where's Illya? Is she not eating or something? Usually, she's clinging off Shirou."

"Well, she and Kiritsugu are-"

"It's here!" a shocked squawk escaped Shirou as a white-haired bullet slammed into his stomach, Hakuno shuffling to the side lest she get caught in the tumbling bodies that crashed through where she had been sitting. With a movement that smooth, there was no way it couldn't have been practised – heavily at that. How often did Hakuno have to deal with that kind of scenario? "The figures are here, Shirou!"

"Oi, Illya! What have I told you about doing that?" spoke up Kiritsugu with a withered sigh as he stepped through the door. Not that anyone was paying particular attention to him, least of all Illya. After all, the box he carried in with him managed to draw most of the gathered crowd's attention. "Oh, you're all here. Good. Eat up, then you can play. I don't want you skipping out on food just to mess around with your new toys."

"Right!" Illya and Gudako chirped in unison.

Who else needed to speak? Given the number of antics the pair had gotten into, Kiritsugu's warning couldn't have been aimed at anyone else. Honestly, it was probably the only thing that allowed breakfast to pass as peacefully as it did. After all, the moment that the casual chatter died away and the dishes were taken away by the maids, both were practically ready to pounce on the box beside Kiritsugu. Only the man dragging it outside of their range managed to stay their hands.

"If you aren't going to be careful with these things, I might as well return them now. I didn't spend all this money just for you to break them in the first five minutes." Kiritsugu immediately warned, pointedly trying to ignore the snickers that came from his daughter. Considering the kind of casual luxury the Emiya household could indulge in, Ritsuka couldn't blame Illya for her scepticism. "Understood? Good. Here then, three each, just like you asked."

"Wha-? Hey, you can't just hand them out, Papa!" Illya was quick to interject, throwing her hands forth before Kiritsugu's figure selection hit the table. Met with a raised eyebrow, a smug expression settled on Illya's face as she stood. "Part of the fun is grabbing random figures and finding out which Servants you managed to get!"

"And you don't get the same experience when I pick random ones for you?" was Kiritsugu's deadpan reply, earning himself an emphatic shake of the head from Illya.

"It's all about instinct, right? About trusting yourself to pick the Servant you know suits you best, even if you can't see who they are!" Gudako added.

She was always the more spiritually open of the Fujimaru siblings, that girl. Whenever their mother had decided to regale them with all sorts of fairytales, it was Gudako who was most receptive. If either of them was going to get sucked into Illya's stories of 'the heart of the figures' and all that, it was going to be her. As it was, Ritsuka, Shirou and Hakuno could only share an amused smile as Gudako and Illya shared a high-five at her answer. Or maybe it was the exasperated sigh that it drew from Kiritsugu.

"…Fine. Whatever. Go for it then." It was either submit or face the disapproval of Illya all day. Hardly a choice, really. Well, maybe that was a slight exaggeration – Illya would probably forget all about it once she started playing – but Kiritsugu was nothing if not a pragmatist. So long as the possibility was real, and it most certainly was with Illya, he might as well save himself the pain. Placing the toys on the table, Kiritsugu sat back with a stern expression until he felt his wife's hands fall on his shoulders.

"Oh, let them have their fun. What difference will it make?" at her words, there was no argument. Thus, whatever hesitation the others may have shown in Kiritsugu's wake melted away immediately.

"Alright!" Illya muttered, already hovering over the box with eyes better suited to a predator than a child of her age. With a ferocity often reserved for only the fiercest of foes, her hands dived in and out of the selection with reckless abandon, not a second wasted in deliberation before she already had her selection. Just what drove the girl to pick those, no one present knew. A part of Ritsuka mused that it was probably for the best. "Let's go with these! Shirou, your turn!"

"Hey, what about me?" Gudako whined in response, not that she made any efforts to stop Illya from passing the box over to her brother. Truthfully, there wasn't any other way it could go. Illya always did leave people wondering how much love for a brother was too much.

"If you say so…" there wasn't as much thought put into Shirou's choice of figures. The first three his hand fell across were good enough for him. Faced with such casual decision-making, Shirou found himself subject to three inscrutable stares – Illya's, Gudako's, and of all people, Kiritsugu's. "What? Illya was talking about using instinct, right? Grabbing the three closest is still using instinct."

"Boo! That's no fun." Gudako countered as she accepted the box from the boy, a minute passing in deliberation. Compared to Illya's passion and Shirou's nonchalance, it looked as if the girl was locked in a battle with herself, a whole monologue escaping beneath her breath as her fingers flitted from figure to figure. Given how antsy Illya was becoming, unable and unwilling to open her toys until everyone had theirs, Ritsuka was almost about to hurry her along before Gudako suddenly shot forth. "These! These are gonna be absolute winners! Okay, go for it, Ritsuka."

"Nah, let Hakuno have the choice. I'm fine with the remainder." Ritsuka answered with a dismissive wave. After all, for all that the world seemed to hype it up, FGO Duel was still a game at the end of the day. If the figures were already randomised, then 'instinct' wasn't going to make much of a difference. Might as well let someone else have at it if it'd make their experience better.

"Okay. Thank you." As for Hakuno, her decision was a happy medium between the others. Not so immediate as Shirou's selection, yet the lack of options made the choice rather brief. In no time at all, everyone had their figures prepared. All that was left was the grand reveal. "Are we all opening them at the same time?"

"Might as well," Ritsuka spoke with a shrug. "Ready… Go!"

A series of gasps and confused sounds soon served as their background music, Illya and Gudako wasting no time in explaining who grabbed who. With names like Muramasa, Bunyan, and Sitonai being thrown about so casually, Ritsuka was almost impressed by the scale of their historical knowledge. It was just a shame they didn't apply the same level of studious fervour to their actual schoolwork; the grades those two could've achieved…

"King Gilgamesh, Tamamo-no-Mae, and… Nero Claudius?" Hakuno spoke, a pair of blonde figures in hand while a third fox-like figure sat on the table in front of her. That alone was reasonable, until one noticed the fact that of her three, there was only one male figure. "Did, did I get the names mixed up or something?"

"Nah, that's just how they are!" Gudako was quick to reassure, holding up a pair of her figures in response. With all three being women as well, you'd be hard-pressed to believe that the names connected to them were correct at first glance. "See, in FGO Duel, there's a load of people in history that were actually girls, but got recorded as men for various reasons. Like Okita here, there's always been a lot of focus on how beautiful Okita was in life, to the point where there were times where he was portrayed by actresses – so they made him a woman."

"Oh, okay." Hakuno absently replied, before her head tilted in confusion. "Then, why did Nero get the same treatment?"

"Ah… Illya?"

"Um…"

"I'm sure they have their reasons." Ritsuka was forced to intervene once it was clear no answer would be forthcoming. That wasn't a lie, of course, they probably did; the fact it was undoubtedly intended to be fanservice just didn't need to be said. The others would probably be fine with it, but given how the youngest of the group were taking it so seriously, Ritsuka might be charged with defamation. "Anyway, let me just confirm some names or I'm never gonna remember them all if they're any random design the creators could think of. Hakuno's got Gilgamesh, Tamamo-no-Mae, and Nero Claudius. Gudako, you've got Okita and who?"

"Hehe, meet Paul Bunyan and Oda Nobunaga!" the girl cheered as she pushed her figures, all three remarkably feminine considering not a single woman's name was mentioned. A legendary lumberjack who reshaped an entire continent in their wake, a genius samurai who reached the height of swordplay within the Shinsengumi, and a revolutionary warlord who dragged feudal Japan into the modern era through their battle tactics. Their faces if they knew what their legacies would become… "I just know they'll be the strongest team ever!"

"As if! You can't say that when I have Herakles on my team!" Illya eagerly intervened, and with good reason. A paragon of Greek heroism, Herakles was a demi-god blessed with wit, skill, and strength in equal abundance. So long as the game developers didn't stray too far from his legend, then there was barely any chance of his figure being a weak one. "Plus, I got Sitonai and Muramasa on my team as well. That's a god and a demigod!"

"And a blacksmith, right?"

"And a blacksm-Shirou!" the bright smile on his face showed just how apologetic Shirou was for the move, plucking Muramasa out of Illya's hands. "Don't be mean to him! His being a blacksmith doesn't mean he can't be strong! You have to be if you wanna work with swords, right?"

"Fair enough, far enough." Conceded Shirou, earning him a pout that would probably last all of a minute. "Well, I've got Ishtar, Parvati, and… Artoria? What, is that a misprinting or something?"

"Eh, you've got two gods? No fair!" the pride that inflated Illya's posture soon fled at that fact, something that managed to get a decent chuckle out of most present. Only most, seeing how Kiritsugu chuckling would probably signal the end of the world. "Oh, Artoria is the name they use for King Arthur – here, she was born a woman, but ended up disguising herself as a man so she could rule over Camelot."

"…Alright, but then why does she get a different name when the others got to keep theirs the same?" Shirou then asked, Illya's miniature depression fading for a moment so she could roll her eyes.

"Because the male Arthur is a different character! You don't want to get the two confused, so you have to give them slightly different names so you don't mix them up!" she declared. Spoken with such confidence, it almost sounded reasonable to Ritsuka's ears – for somewhere around five seconds before he was left wondering why a female version was necessary in the first place if they were just going to feature the standard King Arthur anyway. "I'd say Artoria's the better draw though. Plus, you managed to get both the Mesopotamian and Indian Goddesses of Love as well. That's got to be another pretty decent team."

"Oh? Ritsuka, you didn't open yours?" with everyone else accounted for, it was only natural for eyes to turn back to Ritsuka and his collection. Consequently, when they realised said collection was still safely encased despite Ritsuka being the one to prompt them, it was no surprise that someone like Hakuno would speak up.

"Hmm? Oh, no, I didn't." Ritsuka replied, scratching the back of his head with a grin. "Guess I got a little caught up in watching everyone else's reactions. Plus, a little suspense never hurt anyone. Just makes the grand reveal all the more thrilling. Here I go then!"

After seeing some of the leading luminaries the others had managed to attain, Ritsuka could hardly be blamed if he found himself anticipating something dramatic. Thus, when the resulting figure turned out to be an unnervingly undressed waif of a woman, he wasn't quite sure how to react. That Gudako happily explained that she was meant to be the nationally famed Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune under their childhood name of Ushiwakamaru merely added to the confusion. in the end though, it was a famous name and neither Gudako nor Illya seemed particularly concerned. That was enough to assuage Ritsuka.

"Ah, Edmond Dantes. I think I remember reading about this one." Ritsuka muttered when the next figure came out. Draped in a dark suit with burning red eyes, the intimidating aura it bore certainly suited the Count of Monte Cristo. If he remembered his brief glimpse into the book correctly, the man was a soul capable of ending several lives through his machinations and wealth – not exactly what someone could describe as a gentle character. "As for the last one…hm?"

"What's up Ritsuka? Another name you don't recognise?" Shirou spoke up, an absent nod acting as Ritsuka's reply as his third figure was exposed to light.

"Yeah. Mashu… Kyrielight."