Disclaimer: I do not own Fate/Stay Night or Highschool DxD, or any of its characters.


It's strange how I often reflect on the past.

Things used to be different back then.

They were definitely halcyon days.

Little by little they went by and became nothing more than memories.

Memories that I hold onto.

Like a sword that I depend on.


Chapter 21:

Guests


I thought it was a while since I last saw this landscape.

A part of me thought that these nightmares were over.

It seems I was wrong… very wrong.

Once again… I found myself surrounded by a sea of flames. What were once just fast flashes were now very lucid dreams.

This made the experience all the more excruciating. For I could see all the death and carnage around me oh so clearly.

"Hey!" My scream struggled to be heard, muffled by the sounds of things burning around me. "Is anyone there!?"

I walked.

I walked.

I walked.

I walked so much yet I couldn't find any survivors in this blazing inferno.

Only the remains of the many corpses surrounded me.

"Dammit!" Frustration was quickly building within me, the very fact that I couldn't even find just one survivor was clawing at me from within my chest. "Someone! Anyone!"

I walked.

I walked.

I just walked.

It was all I could do.

When my limit shattered I started to look for any possible survivors underneath the rubble, ignoring the searing pain in my hands caused by the scorching rocks as I did so.

Yet no matter how long I searched or where I looked all I found was one thing.

Corpses.

This was the only thing I could find.

Crushed, burnt, mutilated, dismembered, suffocated, and so much more.

Their deaths were caused by a variety of ways.

And all of it made me feel enraged.

For the simple fact that I wasn't fast enough to reach any of them.

"Looking for survivors?" A male voice called out, it's shadowy figure loomed over me. But when I turned around there was no one there. "You won't find any here."

I could feel the shadow once again behind me, yet once again there was no one there when I turned around.

In spite of not seeing him, I realized he may be my only chance of getting any answers as to what had occured here. "What happened here?!"

"You don't know?" His tone was somewhat curious and amused, as if my question was a joke to him.

"No, I just woke up here and everything was like this!"

"You don't say." The voice trailed off behind me, shifting its presence whenever I tried to spot him. "You of all people should know what is going on here."

I froze in my tracks. "What?"

"Nothing, just realizing how easy it is to forget your sins."

My tongue clicked in mild annoyance, though it might have been more from the confusion I was feeling. "You're not making any sense! Tell me what's going on!"

"No, that's not my place to do so." He spoke grimly, the voice finally visible. A cloaked figure appeared before me without any clear features. In spite of showing himself, he slowly turned around to walk away. "You have to find the answers yourself."

"Wait!" I shouted as I reached out for him, by sheer instinct tracing a copy of Bakuya as I grabbed him by the shoulder.

However, because the ground was cracked and filled with rubble I slipped and fell. Pulling the man down together with me.

I found myself toppled over the hooded person, my blade stabbed in the ground right next to his head. The light of the still burning flames were reflecting off the sword's surface, falling on the man's face, revealing his appearance.

Time seemed to stop while cracks spread throughout the very world around me.

The person within the hood was me.

With eyes devoid of life, 'I' spoke. "Though I wonder, will you accept them once you find them?"

Unknown to me as to why I did it, but at that very moment, I screamed.

The world around me shattered like glass.


"Gahh!" I gasped as my eyes snapped open.

My vision was fuzzy but I knew someone's hand was close to my throat. I traced Bakuya and leaped onto my would be assailant, tackling them down to the ground.

"Kyahh!" There was a pause as I noticed how femine my attackers' screams were. I took a moment and blinked a couple of times, seeing clearly who's throat I was currently pressing my blade's edge against. "Dammit Shi-chan, I missed you as well, but don't go pushing me down like this!"

"... Tomoe?" I muttered somewhat baffled, slowly realizing where I was, only to grow further confused by what was going on. "What are you doing in my room?"

Tomoe on her part was giving me an annoyed glare. "Well I was trying to wake you up until you suddenly went all movie slasher killer on me."

That did answer why she was in my room, but not how she got here.

I was about to ask her about that, if not for the chuckling I was hearing from the door.

"Told you that was a bad idea." The familiar blue haired girl snickered and waved her hand when my eyes were on her. "Morning carrot-top, welcome back on native soil."

This was definitely not how I was used to waking up in the morning. "Oh, you're here too Tsubasa."

The bluenette rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Wow, took you long enough to notice, you'd think blue haired people like me stood out like a sore thumb."

"No need to give me that look."

"Yeah, not sure about that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" In spite of asking that, I didn't get to find out as I felt my cheek getting pulled by the person below me.

Tomoe was smiling sweetly but I felt a small amount of danger from it, that and she was jamming her fingers into my ribs. "Not to be that girl and interrupt this fascinating conversation, but would you please get off me?"

I blinked for a few moments and realized that I was still mounted over her with a sword pressed against her throat. To say that I was feeling awkward was an understatement. "Right, sorry Tomoe."

As the two of us got back up, Tomoe took a moment to smooth out the wrinkles in her clothes I just made. Tsubasa stepped up next to us while sporting a toothy grin. "You'd think a girl would enjoy getting pushed down by a guy like you."

Tomoe let out a strained snort like sound. "You'd actually think that, but if it's always this painful then I'm gonna skip that part."

I stood silent in my spot, slowly observing what was going on and attempting to find some sort of explanation.

"Uh, girls…" my voice got both my unexpected guest's attention. "Would you be so kind as to tell me what you're doing in my room?"

"We're visiting, duh." Tsubasa rolled her eyes, stating her answer like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "All of us got invited over."

"Invited, by wh-" A sudden chill ran down my spine and silenced me, suddenly a foreboding feeling slowly began building up inside the pit of my stomach. While I wasn't sure what the cause itself was, I knew for sure it was bad. "Wait, when you say 'all of us' you mean-"

"The whole student council, yep." Tomoe answered before I managed to finish my sentence.

Suddenly that foreboding feeling of dread just went up a couple of ranks.

I took a deep breath struggling to keep my emotions under control. "...Where are the others?"

Tsubasa tilted her head as she answered, a big, 'to the ears' grin forming on her face. "Down in the living room with your mom."

And just like that, the situation went from bad to worse.

"What?!" I wasn't sure why I suddenly panicked upon hearing this, nor why I turned tail and immediately dashed downstairs. All I knew was I had to get there fast.

"Ain't you gonna change big guy?"

I ignored Tsubasa's amused question and kept on running, when I reached the staircase at the end of the first floor my legs froze in place at the image that laid before me.

Here, in the living room, the student council body was lounging around together with my mother. All of them in the process of enjoying tea and snacks.

While in most scenarios this would be quite the innocent scene, to me it was triggering all kinds of alarms in the back of my head.

My mother beamed at me with a smile the moment she saw me. "Oh, good morning Shirou, also welcome back home."

I slowly nodded in understanding, keeping track of the fact that I arrived very late last night and everyone was asleep, so technically this was me reuniting with my family as well.

After a moment of just staring at the guests I finally spoke. "What are you guys doing here?"

Before any of them could answer me I felt an arm wrap around my neck and pulled me down. Tsubusa snickered as she gave my head an enthusiastic nuggie. "What, not happy to see the gang all back together?"

After freeing myself from her grip I rubbed my head and sighed. "I didn't say that, just… surprised by the visit."

If the facial reactions from the other student council members were anything to go by, they also seemed a bit awkward about being here. Sona was the one to speak on their behalf after she placed her tea cup down. "Apologies for dropping unannounced like this Shirou, everyone was rather excited that you were finally back and couldn't wait to see you again."

Well, I guess that explained that. "It's no problem, but try to give me a heads up next time so I can actually prepare."

"Yes, but certain circumstances led to all of us eventually dropping by like this."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I originally called just to see if you had arrived safely. After talking a bit with Sella-san, your mother took the phone from her and invited all of us over." She explained sheepishly, a few drops of sweat forming on her forehead. "Saying no to her turned out to be rather… difficult."

A long moment of silence passed as I took all of this in, my left eye shortly started twitching soon after.

"Really Iri?" I dryly asked the woman sitting on the sofa. "Did you have to do that?"

If my mother was bothered by my reaction, she clearly wasn't showing it with how casual she appeared about all of this. "Well, I don't see you ever inviting any friends over so I thought it would be a nice change of pace."

For some reason that remark made me feel a tad awkward. "... I do call friends over… sometimes."

Iri's reaction to my response was a half bored stare. "Ayako-chan doesn't count since you only invite her to work on homework or study for exams, you never call her to hang out."

In spite of wracking my brains to deny it, I couldn't come up with a retort to that as it was true.

As I stood in silence unable to respond, the others seem to have found this subject rather interesting, Momo being the one to ask my mom. "That bad huh?"

Iri closed her eyes and sighed tiredly lamenting the fact. "You have no idea."

"Could be worse, he could have brought some shady people over." Tsubasa chuckled as she took her seat next to Ruruko.

"Shady like devils?" Iri half joked, gaining a few chuckles from the people present.

"Touche." Tsubasa snickered in approval.

As the laughter continued I felt a hand pressed on my back, with a quick glance I noticed it was Sella, the petite maid giving me a light push. "Shirou stop standing there and take a seat."

A few blinks later I nodded. "Sure…"

While our living room was fairly spacious normally, today it felt smaller with the number of people present.

Finding a place to sit down was actually rather challenging.

After a bit of surveying I somehow managed to find a seat on one of the sofa's arms. It wasn't a proper seat, but I guess beggars can't be choosers.

I stood silent for a bit until the person sitting next to me greeted me in a whisper. "Hey man."

"Hi Saji." My reply came out as quietly as his.

"Rough night?"

"Not really, though I arrived late last night so I barely got any sleep."

The other male member of the student council gave me an understanding nod together with an awkward laugh. "Not enough to deal with this, huh?"

If I was perfectly honest, I might be unable to deal with the current situation even if I had a full night of sleep. "Pretty much."

The blond boy chuckled awkwardly. "Well, if it's any consolation, we all were kinda suddenly called over. Imagine my surprise getting woken up by my phone ringing and Kaichou telling me to get dressed and meet her here."

The urge to rub the bridge of my nose was a strong one as I heard this. While calling people over isn't a bad thing, doing it out of the blue is kind of inconsiderate. "Sorry about that, my mom tends to get a bit overzealous with this kind of stuff."

"I noticed…" the tense laugh that came from him only made my eye twitch, something definitely happened before I dropped here.

"What did she do?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Nothing much, just subtly interrogate us over tea and cookies about you. How you're doing at school, how popular you are with girls, and so on. She was really insistent on details about the girls part I might add."

A groan escaped my lips as I face palmed, contemplating excuses to get out of here and regroup. "I swear that woman enjoys making me feel embarrassed."

"...I think there's a bigger issue here."

For a moment the air in the room felt like it turned ice cold. "Which is?"

With a sympathetic and grim look, Saji pointed his finger at the group currently gathered around my mother on the couch. "Your mother brought out what seems to be a photo album."

One moment had passed and nothing had happened.

Yet, I could have sworn that the soundtrack of that old american horror movie I saw with Ayako that one time began playing in the back of my head. While I couldn't quite remember the name of said movie; I clearly remember the shower murder scene, the scream, and the violin screeching sound that was played during it.

Shit.

Without any clue about my internal freakout, Iri was happily flipping through the album page by page, pointing out various pictures with a blissful smile on her face. "And this is little Shirou when he was entertaining his sister."

The girls were all sporting a varied assortment of expressions in response to those pictures. Reya, Momo, Ruruko and Sona all seemed to smile with flushed cheeks, while Tsubasa and Tomoe sported amused grins. Tsubaki-senpai seemed more composed, sporting only a warm gentle smile, appearing more curious than anything. "Did he really dress up like that?"

My mother could only nod in approval. "He was just adorable, putting on a helmet and scarf, posing and shouting 'Henshin! I am Kamen Rider EMIYA!'."

My dark past was revealed.

Having a baby sister was challenging at times, especially when dealing with unexpected crying fits. Sometimes one had to improvise means on calming them down or entertaining them.

In my case I would dress up like a tokusatsu hero, posing and behaving as one. While very awkward at times, it was highly effective.

That being said, while I don't think what I did was anything to be truly embarrassed about, I still couldn't help but have the desire of wanting to find a hole and bury my head in it.

By this point, my eyes just lifelessly stared at what was going on in front of me. In the end I simply accepted my fate. "Saji, please kill me."

"Nope."

"Traitor."

"Sorry man, nightmarish monsters I can handle, interrupting the gathering of a group of girl's is something I ain't touching."

I opened my mouth to retort on this but found no reply. "You know what, I don't blame you."

If the situation were reversed, I'd probably avoid getting anywhere near that danger zone too.

At this point all I could do was assume the position and let the torture continue, then maybe I will get lucky and it will all be over soon.

If anything the girls seemed to enjoy my suffering. Momo in particular appeared quite ecstatic as she spoke to my mom. "I must say Iri-san, your daughter sure resembles you."

"Does she now?" Iri tilted her head ever so slightly in thought. "I always thought Illya took more from her father."

The group surrounding her took a moment and just stared at her in awkward silence, not that I could blame them though. "...You're joking right?"

"Speaking of Illya." Iri seemed to ignore the looks of disbelief the others were giving her and instead focused on the maid currently lazing around on the sofa. "Liz, would you be a dear and wake Illya up, it's such a shame for her to sleep when we have so many guests here."

Before Leysritt got the chance to even respond I shot up from my seat and got everyone's attention. "I'll go do it, you can relax and take it easy Liz."

To my luck she didn't protest at all to this. "Neat."

Just as I was about to leave, Sona stopped me and stared blankly at me. "I would recommend you also stop by your room and change Shirou."

I took a moment and just stared at her in confusion. "What?"

Her cheeks became pink as she let out a small cough into her fist. "While I'm sure some of the people in the room wouldn't mind your attire, it's poor manners to entertain guests like that."

"..." I blinked a couple of times and stared down at my clothes, almost slapping myself when I finally got what she was referring to.

Apparently in my rush to get down here I forgot to consider how I was currently dressed. While it wasn't exactly indecent, just as Sona pointed out, it was bad manners to greet guests dressed in a tank top and a pair of sweatpants while barefoot.

… At least now I knew why I was getting funny looks from some of the people present every so often.

"I did tell you to change, but perhaps you were simply too eager to show off." Tsubasa snickered from her seat.

"Honestly I don't know why you were hiding those guns." Tomoe remarked with a chuckle. "You really should wear tighter shirts."

"That's what I keep telling him, but he just won't listen." Iri added with a sigh.

My left eye throbbed yet again and I started walking before this disaster started to get out of hand.

As I passed by the couch I was stopped in my tracks once again, this time however it seemed to be by Momo and Reya respectively. "Mind if we tag along?"

In any other case I might have said no, but right now I just wanted to leave. "Sure, whatever."

The moment we were out of the living room and everyone's eyesight, I leaned against a nearby wall and let out a long tired sigh. My head turned around as I felt something on my back, it was Reya giving me soft pats while trying to comfort me. "Looking for reasons to get out of the room, I take it?"

My sigh only grew more strained. "Am I that transparent?"

Momo scratched her face, showing a small amount of awkwardness. "Not really, but I guess it was getting rather embarrassing there."

That didn't make me feel any better, in fact I felt even more embarrassed. "... I thought I was long past being embarrassed by her, but it seems I have underestimated how crafty she can be."

"Well, you can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family." Reya chuckled lightly, but her face paled and morphed into a panicked one. "Oops."

While her mood shift was sudden, it didn't take long for me to figure out what caused her to react like that.

"Don't worry, I take no offense to that." My neck let out a loud pop as I bent it. "I'm not bothered by the fact that I'm adopted."

The braided girl let out a sigh of relief, clearly concerned by the insinuation she just accidentally made. "Oh okay, just making sure, I don't want to be insensitive."

My fingers lightly scratched the side of my head as I shook it. "Don't worry about it, you weren't, for me at least."

There seemed to be a slightly awkward pause before Momo decided to interject. "I'm curious, if you're okay with it, then why don't you call Iri-san 'mom'?"

A shiver ran down my spine as painful flashbacks rushed through my mind. "... I can't do that."

The white haired bishop laughed awkwardly, probably believing she said something bad. "Well, I guess it's not the same since your not related and-"

"That's not why." I cut her off and stared blankly at her, I was unable to hide the visible cringe I had on my face. "Bad things happen whenever I call her 'mom'."

The looks both girls had was just a testament to how confused they were by what I said. "Like what?"

"You don't want to know." I half sighed as I started walking towards Illya's room, the two bishops following suit. A minute or so later we had arrived at our destination. "Well we're here so-"

"Can we come in?" Momo asked with an eager smile on her face.

That kind of confused me, I looked over at Reya for some answers, luckily for me the braided girl understood even without me asking. "Momo is weak to cute things, don't judge her."

A half annoyed pout appeared on the white haired girl's face. "I am not."

Honestly at this point I was simply going along with the flow. "Look, just don't make too much noise, I don't want to scare her."

We quietly stepped in the room and took notice of Illya sleeping on her bed while hugging her pillow as if it were a teddy bear. Before I could try and wake her up I heard a muffled scream behind me. There Momo stood with a complex look on her face. "OMFG, she's so precious!"

The white haired bishop was about to leap forward but was stopped by Reya holding her back by her shirt's collar. "Down Momo, you don't want to scare her."

"But she's so freaking adorable!" She silently protested and pouted as her body leaned above Illya's sleeping form. "Shirou you jerk why didn't you ever let us meet her?"

I could only stare dryly at her. "... This is the first time you guys came over here, you know?"

"Semantics!"

"Whatever." I whispered as my hand slowly started tapping the sleeping girl's shoulder. "Illya, wake up, we have guests."

There was a small yawn as my little sister turned around and stared at us half asleep with barely opened eyes. "...O-Onii-chan?"

A chill went down my spine as I immediately felt that something bad was about to happen. I quickly took a step backwards and called out to the other person right next to Illya. "Momo get away from her quickly!"

"What are you-" The faux white-haired girl blinked as she felt a pair of small hands wrap around her neck. "Eh?"

"Welcome home kiss." Iylla murmured as she leaned in.

I tried to stop it, but I failed to react in time.

Momo's eyes went wide and dilated as she realized that my little sister was kissing her.

Both Reya and I were so taken aback by what we were seeing that neither of us said or did anything.

Finally it all came to an end when Illya was finally fully awake.

Her red orbs blinked as she stared into the unfamiliar blue ones of the unknown girl she found herself making out with.

The reaction that soon followed was as expected.

"Ehhh?!" She leapt backwards and smacked herself against the headboard. "Who are you?! What are you doing in my room?!"

Momo did not respond, merely standing there limply in place, appearing so shocked that I could have sworn I was seeing her soul trying to leave out of her body.

The small girl finally seemed to take notice of the other people in the room, tackling me and pulling on my shirt in a panic. "Onii-chan who are these girls?!"

"My classmates…" I muttered as I facepalmed at the ridiculousness of this situation.

"What are they doing in my room?!"

"I was about to wake you up, they tagged along." The muttered words I was producing was a testament as to how much this whole situation was baffling me. With a sigh I turned over to Reya and gave her an apologetic look. "How about you give me five minutes to clear things up?"

The braided girl picked up her fellow bishop and started dragging her out of the room like a dummy. "Sure thing."


Kusaka Reya was expecting a rather hectic day today, but this certainly wasn't among the things she imagined that could happen.

When Sona called her and said they were going to visit the Emiya household she was somewhat eager to see Shirou again.

Meeting his mom was certainly… a new experience to say the least.

Yet, all of that mattered little to what she just saw happen a minute ago. She had heard of people being half asleep and doing stupid things in that state, but this one took the cake.

The braided bishop eventually digressed, it wasn't like she was the one who was going through such a shocking situation, that honor belonged to her fellow bishop next to her.

"So… how was it?" Reya asked in a rather casual tone.

It was about a minute before Momo seemed to regain some level of composure, but it quickly turned to embarrassment, the white haired girl hiding her face with her hands. "... It felt wayyyy too good in spite of how wrong it was."

Well, that wasn't the answer Reya expected, a sweat drop running down her face. "Is that so?"

"... Fuck my life." Momo half screamed in her palms. "I was just kissed by a little girl and I liked it."

"So you did Momo." In spite of keeping a calm facade, Reya was beginning to feel a tad embarrassed by this discussion in spite of starting it herself. "So you did."

Momo felt like something snapped in her mind, lunging onto Reya in desperate need for answers. "Does that make a lesbian, a lolicon, or just a sick pedo?!"

"... Not sure I'm the best person to ask this Momo." She replied with a strained laugh.

"Gahhh!" The white haired bishop took a step back and began biting her nails in sheer frustration. "It makes no sense! I'm into guys so why did it feel so good!?"

"I'm sure you can figure things out if you calm down and-"

"Just a couple of weeks ago I was fawning over Kiba at school like a crazy fan girl, so I can't be a lesbian!"

"Never said you were, so just-"

"I mean come on, I was touching myself while thinking of him, heck recently I even started imagining him together with Shirou!"

"Kinky, I will admit that, but too much information there Momo-"

"Ahhh! I don't know what to think of anymore!"

Reya sighed at her friend's mental breakdown, it didn't seem like it was anywhere close to ending. Not to mention Shirou would be back here any minute. With how things currently were it would only make things even more awkward.

With that in mind she began considering her options and how she could break her friend out of her hysteria. Words seemed to have little effect so perhaps a little shock therapy might do the trick.

A blush formed on her cheeks as an idea popped in her head.

Well… desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Momo." Reya slowly called her out but she still did not respond, she only seemed to realize something was off when her friend's hands grabbed onto her cheeks and pulled her close. Soft lips met each other in a soft kiss, the contact lasting for ten long seconds. Once Reya pulled away she asked with a flushed face. "... Better?"

Momo stood still completely unresponsive at what just happened.

When her mind finally rebooted there was only one thing she could say in this kind of situation. "The fuck Reya?!"

"I just kissed you." The braided girl remarked, her face still bright red in spite of sounding casual about it. "That's just it, a kiss, I did it in spite of liking guys myself. Does that make me a lesbian?"

Momo opened her mouth to speak but no response came forth. She eventually gave up and face palmed at the ridiculousness of this situation. "... I'm having so many complicated feelings right now."

"Look Momo, I honestly don't have any experience in this kind of stuff but I do read a lot of books with characters having doubts about their sexual orientation." Reya elaborated, but instead of calming the other bishop down this only made Momo somewhat more concerned about what kind of books her friend was reading. "Panicking is the worst thing you can do if you ask me."

Momo's left eye twitched strongly as she processed all of this. "And you thought that kissing me was the solution?"

An embarrassed laugh followed as she scratched her cheek. "It was the only idea that came to mind."

Her eye twitching did not stop, rather it only intensified. "A very gay idea if you ask me."

"... Okay, it kinda is." Reya finally admitted, though an impish smile formed on her lips, one that set alarms off in Momo's head. "By the way, how was my kiss?"

Perhaps it was frustration, perhaps she just wanted Reya to shut up, so she said the first thing that came to her mind. "... Shirou's sister was better."

Reya had to do a double take at that. "... What?"

"... It may sound crazy but she somehow had more technique than you."

The choking sound she made further highlighted her shock and disbelief. "B-But she's a middle schooler... "

"She is, but she definitely knew how to use her mouth."

The corner of Reya's mouth was unable to contain the twitch. "... I don't know why, but I feel like my pride as a woman just took a serious blow by the fact that a little girl is better at kissing than me."

"Righttttt, that's definitely the biggest thing to cry about." Momo grumbled, not like she was the one that got kissed by said little girl or that it was her first kiss too no less!

"... L-Let's just forget about all of this for a bit, before things start turning weird."

The impassive glare she gave Reya really showed how much she was bothered by this. "... You already kissed me Reya, it's kinda late for that,"

"... Maybe I jumped the horse a little."

"Now I'm worried about you Reya…"

"I'm still into men Momo."

"Could've fooled me…"

"We can either keep this conversation going and make you feel more awkward or move on and try to forget any of this ever happened."

Both highschool girls stared at each other as an awkward air continued to build between them. Until finally Momo sighed and relented. "... Let's go with the latter."

"I thought so." replied Reya.

As the awkward discussion was finally put to an end, Shirou then emerged from his sister's room.

"Well, I'm done explaining everything to Illya, she'll be down with us in a minute after she changes." The redhead explained casually to his friends, pausing as he felt like something was off with the two bishops. "Did something happen?"

"Nothing." Momo replied with a forced smile, she wasn't starting that discussion again. "Nothing at all."

Shirou raised a curious eyebrow at that, but decided not to dig deeper. He had more important things to do. Like changing into some proper clothes.


Well, as hectic as things originally started, they managed to cool down somewhat after I came back down in the living room.

Presenting Illya to everyone also seemed to go smoothly, the girls of the group instantly gushing over her, calling her super cute and stuff.

While it did look like Illya was at first feeling a tad embarrassed from all the attention she was receiving, in time she seemed to hit it off quite well with most of the girls from the student council.

Except Momo, for obvious reasons I don't feel like bringing up.

All in all everyone seemed to be getting along with my family, and fortunately Iri put aside the accursed photo album and focused on some casual chit chat with the girls instead.

I leaned back in my seat and crossed my arms behind my neck, trying to relax as I scanned the room. Everyone seemed fine as it was, but I couldn't help but feel like something was off here.

My eyes landed on Saji who while trying to be discreet was obviously staring with an intense and concentrated gaze in his eyes. That got me curious and made that ever nagging sensation in the back of my head grow tenfold, as such I slowly got closer to him to try and see what he was looking at.

He seemed to be staring at the girls chatting together with my mom. At first I didn't get what the target of his glare was, but something in me seemed to click as I took a closer look at my mom, more specifically at the rather short skirt she was wearing.

Then like a bolt of lightning it all hit me.

"Saji." I put my hand on his shoulder, giving him a gentle squeeze and a friendly smile.

He seemed to have been taken aback by my actions, flinching backwards the moment he saw me. "Y-Yeah?"

My smile never faltered. "Would you mind answering a question for me?"

"Sure…" Saji nervously replied.

"Hypothetically speaking, if I were to visit your house and ogle your mother like a dog in heat. What would be your reaction?"

Saji stood there nervously for a few seconds before he finally answered. "... I'd probably punch you square in the face."

"An understandable reaction." I nodded and tightened my grip around his shoulder ever so slightly. "By all means, keep staring at my mother like that and I will make sure to react that way."

If the way he went pale and started sweating bullets was anything to go by, I made my point. "C-Chill dude, I wasn't doing anything."

I finally let go of him and gave a light pat on his shoulder before retracting my arm. "You'd better not."

However at that moment a shiver ran down my spine, a foreboding feeling screaming from the deepest part of my gut warning me of impending danger. Before I even got a chance to react though, a pair of hands appeared from behind and pulled me into a warm albeit strong embrace.

Said person began patting me on the head like a child while cooing happily. "Ohhh~ isn't he just adorable when he's all grumpy and protective."

I could actually feel how red my face was turning right now. "Iri, stop that, not in front of everyone!"

Normally I could deal with my mother's displays of affection to a certain extent, but that was exclusive to just when the family is around who are all pretty much used to Iri's antics.

Having to deal with it in front of my friends was a whole new level of embarrassment.

If that wasn't bad enough the looks I was getting from everyone just made it that much worse.

"Wow... who would've thought Shirou's such a mama's boy." Tomoe remarked, quite baffled.

Momo gave a grim nod in response. "... Suddenly his issues with women started making sense."

"I thought he was just dense…" Ruruko added.

Reya hummed to herself for a moment before explaining ."Maybe he has a hard time noticing attention from other women. He is so used to getting fawned by his mom that he can't really spot any subtle signs or body language from a girl that's interested in him."

"In translation: You have to be direct, otherwise he won't figure it out." Momo followed up with a sigh.

"I still think he's dense." Stated the twin tailed pawn.

Tsubasa gave an annoyed scoff. "I'm lucky I ain't into him, I'd probably start losing hairs trying to make him notice me."

"You think that's annoying?" Sella interjected as she placed a new tray of tea on the coffee table. "His mother wants grandchildren, so she reallyyyyyyyy gets annoyed when she sees Shirou being dense around girls."

There was a collective nod from the girls, all of them seemingly understanding what Sella was on about.

"Well, it's not like she doesn't have other options." Tsubaki-senpai tried to lighten the mood a little. "There's also Illya-chan."

"Nope." All girls present turned and stared at Leysritt, surprised by her remark.

There was a moment of awkwardness at the unexpected rejection, the long haired Queen of the Sitri group letting out a weak chuckle. "I guess it's a bit early, just saying that later on when she's older she'll find a boyfriend and-"

"Not happening." Leysritt denied once more, further confusing the group.

"... Why?"

There was a pause and the lazy maid made eye contact with everyone present, as if to give them a warning with her eyes. "Guns."

If the group was confused before, now they were completely puzzled. "Guns…?"

"Guns." The buxom maid firmly said once again.

"I see." Tsubaki-senpai nodded, slowly turning over to the other, her expression betraying her previous statement. "Do any of you guys have a clue what she meant by that?"

There was a collective silence, they all eventually looked over at me for some answers, still disregarding that I was still caught in the loving vise that was my mother's hugs.

"I'm as confused as you are." I managed to grunt out as my hand finally managed to slide in between my neck and Iri's grip.

After what seemed like an eternity I finally slipped out, trying my best to endure the disappointed pout Iri was currently making.

I quickly tried to think of something to change the subject and distract my mom.

"Oh right, I forgot." I spoke up and nodded my head, gathering the attention of everyone present. "I got souvenirs for you."

I paused and stared at the Sitri peerage, making sure I got my point across. "That includes you guys as well."

While some of them seemed rather excited at the prospects of gifts, others were looking a bit awkward about it. The Queen of the group being one of them. "You didn't have to Shirou."

"Someone might beg to differ?" I remarked while giving a small stare at Sona.

The girl in question simply sipped her tea and showed no reaction at the small jab. "I have no idea of what you are talking about."

Tsubaki-senpai and the Sitri devils all nodded in understanding. "Sona strong armed you into spending with that golden credit card didn't she?"

Strangely enough, I didn't find that shocking, yet it still surprised me a little. "Does she do it often?"

"Only when we are on vacation." Tsubaki-senpai replied with a small sigh. "She believes in making the best of our free time so when we go back to work we have our batteries fully charged."

While that wasn't a bad idea, I wasn't sure about the method of doing it. "And that includes shopping?"

"Most girls enjoy it."

My eyes narrowed and I couldn't help but tease her a little. "Does that count you as well?"

"Maybe…" The small smile that followed from her was quite nice to see.

Ding Dong

The doorbell caught my attention and I got up to the door. Wondering who it could be since everyone was already here.

When I opened the I was greeted by none other than Aunt Maiya. "Morning Shirou."

She wasn't alone, right next to her was Miyu. "Good morning Shirou-niichan."

"Lemme guess." I sighed and didn't even bother greeting them, which I admit was kind of rude on my part, but this day was just getting more and more chaotic. "Iri called you over."

"Bullseye."

Aunt Maiya's reply made my eye twitch. "At this rate we're gonna need a bigger house."

"Are that many people here?" Miyu asked rather surprised.

My mouth was a flat line as I pointed with my thumb behind me. "Come in and see it for yourself."

As the two new guests entered the house, Miyu offered me the box she was carrying. "We brought cakes."

I stared at the box for a few seconds and sighed. "You shouldn't have gone through all the trouble."

Aunt Maiya smiled sweetly, but that smile was far more scary than her usual cold glare. "Miyu made them herself, so if you say no I will be mad."

Once again I have proven that the women in my life can be scarier than most of the supernatural stuff I deal with. "Noted."

As we returned to the living room all of the people in it turned around to see the new guests.

"Guys it seems we have more guests." I announced and looked at the box in hand. "...And cake."

"Not sure if you ever met, but this my aunt Maiya and that's my cousin Miyu." I explained while pointing to them. "These are my friends from school and the members of the student council."

Everyone quickly gave my cousin and aunt their respective greetings after my brief introduction..

"A pleasure to meet you all."

"Hello."

I slowly eyed the others and they overall seemed pleased to meet them. Strangely though, Reya was poking Momo in her ribs and had a very amused look on her face. "Not gonna react again Momo?"

Momo on the other hand looked like she just had a lemon in her mouth. "I think I've been traumatized enough, so no."

"Hello Illya."

"Hey Miyu."

"I see there are a lot of guests." replied Maiya as she surveyed the room.

"You wouldn't believe my surprise when I woke up." I replied wryly. "I need to go make lunch, so just get to know the others."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Aunt Maiya asked rather skeptically.

"What's the worst that can happen?" I sighed and exited the room.

Somehow feeling like I just jinxed myself right then for some reason.


At first Miyu was quite excited when she heard that Shirou-nii was finally back from his little trip to France and couldn't wait to see him again. She was so excited in fact that she went and made a big cake to celebrate his return.

When her adoptive mother Maiya told her that there were also other guests over at the Emiya house she didn't really mind it so much. They were just Shirou's schoolmates, nothing to worry about.

That thought however came to an immediate halt when she actually saw said schoolmates.

No one had thought it important to mention how almost all of Shirou's friends were gorgeous girls.

For some reason, Miyu felt like her territory was being invaded… even though this wasn't her house.

No, she shouldn't jump to conclusions.

Not without assessing the situation properly first.

"Status report." Miyu started stoically next to Illya.

Her friend, classmate, and apparent cousin didn't waste a second figuring out what Miyu meant. "Hard to establish given the current amount of data we have."

Miyu nodded and scanned each one of the unknown girls currently in the room.

"Anyone that stands out?"

"Lets see…" Illya hummed to herself as her eyes landed on Tsubaki. "The tall one with glasses sure was giving Onii-chan long stares."

Miyu checked and she felt a tad sense of strange envy. There are more than a few physical similarities between them, and quite frankly Tsubaki looked like what she'd envisioned herself when she got older, albeit without the glasses. It gave her mixed feelings. "Did she try anything?"

Illya shook her head at this. "Not really, she mostly just keeps to herself and observes." Her red eyes next shifted to Tomoe and Tsubasa. "Those two seemed on pretty good terms with him, but I'd say it's friendzone mostly."

The black haired middle schooler took this as it is, but still took a moment to observe those two. They did seem rather tomboyish, but that wasn't really a detrimental factor.

After all, Miyu did meet Ayako who was of similar nature, but they all knew how she felt about Shirou-nii… except Shirou-nii that is.

For now she will place those two in the grey area.

With a nod Miyu shifted her attention towards Momo. "What about the white haired one?"

Illya shivered as a recent memory replayed in her mind. "... That one may be a danger in a different way."

That remark only served to confuse Miyu. "Such as?"

"You don't want to know Miyu…" Illya muttered, her face growing redder the more she thought about the incident earlier. With the intention to get her mind out of the gutter she shifted her focus to Reya. "Her friend seems nice though, but I can't really figure her out behind all those smiles."

"So in the grey zone then." Miyu said, but also made a mental note not to let her guard down, she may not have any expertise in such matters, but she did read that the 'silent ones' are usually the most dangerous ones. "What about the twin tailed one?"

Illya then focused on Ruruko, but didn't bother long on her and gave a sigh of relief. "I'd say she's safe, most of the attention is on that guy there."

Amber-like eyes blinked in confusion and Miyu looked over to where Illya was pointing. Oh right, there was another boy in the room too, for some reason she didn't notice him. "He seems nice."

As much as Illya wanted to agree, she sadly couldn't. "Yeah, but I think he's a pervert."

A shiver ran down Miyu's spine at the mention of this, fearing the potential corruption of her brother figure. Even worse than that, dreading the possibility of Shirou delving in the dark (yet strangely alluring) world of Yaoi. "...Why?"

The look Illya had was one that Miyu never saw before on her, if anything, it looked like Illya was trying to make an impression of her dad's scary eyes. "... I hear he was checking out mama earlier."

Her mouth slightly parted and Miyu was left speechless, while the very idea sounded revolting in her mind… it strangely didn't sound that impossible?

"... For some reason, I can't fault him. Iri-san is very beautiful."

"He also did it with Liz."

Whatever understanding Miyu may have had for Saji before, it was now replaced by distaste. She took a moment and looked over at Leysritt who was busy munching on snacks.

Boing

Yeah, it didn't take a genius to figure Saji out.

"... Boobs?"

"Boobs."

If Saji was on the potential threat list before, now he was simply on Miyu's black list. No reason for her to bother dealing with him, that's where Kiritsugu-san comes in. "Did he also check out Sella-san?"

"No, that he didn't do." Illya shook her head. "Though I'm not sure if its lack of interest or the fact that the blue haired one smacked him over the head when she caught him staring at Liz and he learnt his lesson."

"Debatable." Miyu stated

"What about the ones with the pink glasses?"

"Well I think she's mostly-" Illya froze mid sentence, realizing that Miyu wasn't the one that asked that.

Illya and Miyu slowly turned their head back and felt caught red handed as Maiya stared at them with a sharp glare. "... How much did you hear aunty Maiya?"

Maiya for one rolled her eyes at the two middle schoolers attics. "Enough to know that you girls need to get a hobby."

"... We were just talking." Miyu half pouted in an attempt to calm her mother figure down.

Sadly, It did not work.

"In front of guests, and about them might I add." The older woman lectured the middle school duo. "Which, if you ask me, is a very rude thing to do girls. So cut it out and try to be nice to Shirou's friends, you can do all the gossip that you want later.

Both Miyu and Illya downcasted their eyes and apologized. "Yes…"

"Good." Maiya sighed and contemplated having a talk later with Miyu, her whole childhood crush thing while somewhat cute, was becoming rather troublesome when acting like this. The same can be said about Illya, but that's Irisviel's job not hers. Those things though could wait though, right now they were here and should try to mingle with Shirou's friends. "Hey girls, do you have any funny stories about Shirou?"

"I do!" Tomoe literally jumped from her seat to this. "Lemme tell you about that one he got stuck standing one foot while trying to balance three piles of papers on his arms and other foot.

That declaration had completely shifted the air in the room and everyone present was now focused on Tomoe's story.


The following hours fortunately passed by rather nicely, and the headaches from my mother's antics were kept to a minimum.

While I did have some reservations regarding the gifts that I got everyone, thinking that they may not like what I chose for them, it seemed like it was mostly in my head.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the souvenirs I got for them, some of them telling me that next time they'll make sure they get me something nice as well. While I discussed this, I told them it wasn't a big deal and they didn't have to do it, they insisted that I shut up and let them do what they want.

I then went on with Sella in the kitchen and finished working on lunch for everyone. It was more work to do than usual given the number of people we had over, and it made me feel a bit bad towards Sella.

While I did apologize for the inconvenience, she instead seemed to take pleasure from it. Saying that she wouldn't be a proper Einzbern maid if she couldn't handle something like this.

Well, whatever floats her boat I guess.

As we finished lunch and I was helping out with clearing the table, Sella tapped me on the shoulder. "By the way Shirou, you got a package this morning."

It took a moment to realize what package it was. Though that wasn't too hard to do given that I only had one package I was waiting for. Still I was surprised nonetheless. "That was fast…"

I placed the dishes in the sink and went together with Sella at the backroom, returning shortly to the living room with a fairly large cardboard box with me.

This caught everyone's attention. Tomoe looked the most curious out of the bunch. "What'cha got there Shi-chan?"

"Something I wanted to show you guys actually." After confirming that Illya and Miyu were up stairs, I opened the package and showed everyone its contents. "Found these magic tomes and thought you guys may be interested in them."

There was a murmur of collective awe and they gathered around, looking very surprised by what I was showing them. "How did you find these things?"

I laughed awkwardly at Momo's question, not wanting to tell them that I found them by crashing through a wall. "It's a long story."

Luckily the others didn't press me about it, and instead focused on the spellbooks that I procured. Picking and flipping through them, many looking quite confused by what they were reading.

"Hm, I never quite heard of these titles before." Reya tilted her slightly. "There doesn't seem to be any author names on them either."

The others seem to have similar thoughts as the Sitri group's braided bishop.

Well, that was a bummer, I was hoping they would have an easier time figuring these books than I did. "To be honest I was going to bring them to school and hand them over to you since I don't really know what to do with them."

"But why don't you keep them Shirou-senpai?" Ruruko asked, somewhat confused.

"Well, I skimmed through them and feel like they are beyond me." I admitted with a sigh of defeat. "I did decide to keep a book called 'Art of the Runes' and another named 'Mystic Armaments Theory'.

I reached toward the box and grabbed said books from the pile. "Plus, there's only so much I can try at once. While I'm experimenting with one of the books the others will only gather dust, so I thought some of you may want to try them out."

The others nodded and kept looking through the collection of books, some looking confused while others were rather surprised. Sona for one looked rather insulted if anything. "Did someone actually print these?"

Her tone when she talked about it made me rather curious. "Is that a problem?"

"More of a tradition issue than anything, it's considered sacrilegious to print spellbooks instead of writing them by hand." Sona explained in mild annoyance. "It's one of those things you just don't do."

"Like putting pineapple on a pizza?" Ruruko half joked in response.

Tsubasa didn't seem that amused, in fact she took Ruruko's head in an iron claw as a result. "You have five seconds to take that back."

There was a collective sweat drop as we saw the Pawn try to wriggle herself free in midair.

Somehow we all decided to ignore that and went back at the tomes. Momo looked quite awkward as she continued. "These are some rather weird titles for these books now that I look closer at them… oh!"

This got a reaction from the others and they looked carefully at the titles each book had. Some of them got confused by what they read.

"Channelling of Vibrokinesis?" Tomoe stared unblinkingly.

"Manipulation of Vitrikinesis?" Tsubaki-senpai tilted her head slightly.

I rubbed the back of my head and sighed. "Yeah, I also don't get what some of those titles mean."

"This certainly seems to be more advanced arcane theory than what you made us study up on until now Kaichou." Reya muttered as she flipped another page. "I can't speak for all, but I think I can figure this out if given some time."

"To be fair, this seems more closer to spells used by magicians rather than devil kind." Tsubaki-senpai elaborated. "Devils are naturally more attuned to the mystic arts compared to humans and can wield them more freely, relying on imagination alone to do so."

"Yeah, not gonna lie, not sure if imagination alone is enough to use what I'm reading here." Tsubasa grunted in mild annoyance.

It was curious to say the least how they all seemed to be quite interested in the tomes that I brought over. If I was being honest, I was expecting the stuff that I found to be rather common and only worth a cursory look.

At least they had something to entertain themselves for a while. "Well, you guys have fun with those. I have to do the dishes."


As I got back in the kitchen and began washing the dishes I felt a lingering gaze from behind me.

I stood silently simply continuing my work and waiting for the person to speak..

Minutes went by and nothing happened, not even a word was said. All that could be heard was the sound of water running in the sink.

I eventually got bored of waiting and called out to her. "You know, I can feel you staring at me."

Sona chuckled from the kitchen entrance. "Apologies, but most men that I know don't willingly do the dishes."

"Am I like most men you know?" I asked.

"... A fair point." An amused tone laced the Sitri heir's voice.

"Why don't you take a seat?" I gestured to the chair next to me. It would be weird to keep talking with my back to her. "It must be uncomfortable there."

Her shoes echoed in the room as she seated herself next to me, giving me a small smile. "Thank you."

I nodded and got back to washing the dishes.

The following minutes were once again spent in silence, Sona just watching over me as I did my thing. She did hand me other plates that had to be done, but not much else besides that.

It was clear she didn't know how to start this discussion.

That being said, I took some initiative in what I believed was bothering her. "So Loup Garou huh?"

The pure blooded devil sighed lightly as she leaned against the kitchen counter. "I take it your encounter wasn't exactly the best?"

That sure was an understatement given all the shit I went through just to have a proper talk with the man, but there was no point complaining to Sona about all of this.

Still, I did feel the need to comment a little about it. "You forgot to mention how grumpy the guy was."

"Was he?" Sona seemed intrigued by this. "I recall him being rather hard headed, but overall a pleasant person."

"... You don't say." Perhaps that may be true, but I didn't get to see it. At the time the guy seemed like he had a stick up his ass. "Well I guess he had a reason to be rather pissed recently."

"Care to explain?" She asked me curiously.

While it wasn't my place to reveal personal matters like this without the person's approval, I believe Sona had the right to know given how she was indirectly involved in all of this.

With a sigh I started describing everything from the beginning. From our first encounter to our goodbyes at the cafe.

Sona took in everything that I said and appeared stoic for most of the discussion, finally letting out a resigned sigh as I finished my part.

"I see…" she muttered to herself as she leaned against the kitchen counter. "His father didn't give me any details as to why he was on this mad hunt. I was expecting a serious reason behind it, but I didn't know about what happened to his mother."

"While I don't approve, I guess it's understandable to a certain extent." My words trailed off as I recalled the vindictive fury in the Frenchman's yellow eyes.

There were times when I felt boiling anger upon seeing others getting hurt, and that was in response to seeing it happen to strangers. How much more might I feel if it was a loved one?

If I were to experience something similar to what happened to Loup Garou, there's a high possibility that I may end up in a similar state he was in.

"I could say the same." Sona half chuckled. "I fear what my sister would do if I were to get crippled by someone."

A shiver ran down my spine as I recalled 'that thing' that was Sona's sister. "Like what happened to Segrif?"

"No." Her flat tone was enough to show how serious she was about this. "I fear my sister would do a lot of collateral damage in sheer rage. What she did to Segrif would look like child's play."

I inwardly gulped at the scenarios forming in my head.

Somehow the notion that beings of such power existed in the world terrified me. If I were to fight someone remotely close that level of power in my current state, the result was quite obvious.

I would be destroyed.

She is strong, that comes without a doubt, stronger than I can even begin to fathom.

Still… that meant very little in the grand scheme of things.

Yes... what truly terrified me was the fact that Sona's sister wasn't even considered to be one of the tops dogs on the food chain.

I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose. Lingering over thoughts like this was bad.

With that in mind I decided to shift the topic of discussion a little. "... Speaking of Segrif, how's the aftermath of what happened?"

"It's manageable at the moment." Sona admitted with a small scowl. "The scandal that erupted the first days has calmed, and things appear to have cooled down."

"Appear?" I couldn't help but ask.

"To say that the Zepar family is pissed is putting it lightly."

I nodded and she went on. "As it stands the Zepar family's image has been pretty completely tarnished by what he did, and it affects all of them. That being said, several of their associates and business partners are now backing away to protect their own images."

Guess being associated with the family of the one responsible of abducting and trying to brainwash the sister of a Maou was a bad idea. While it may not be fair that the whole Zepar clan gets mistreated for the mistakes of one single member, in the end it couldn't be helped.

After all, given what Sona told us about how devil aristocracy takes extreme care when it comes to their image in society, a result like this was bound to happen.

The only thing I can hope is that things will eventually die down and the Zepar clan will get a chance to repair their image.

"I see." I muttered in mild annoyance. "Does this put us in a bad spot?"

"Somewhat… It's easier for them to hold a grudge against me and the Sitri clan in general for what happened rather than blame Segrif for it." She admitted plainly, yet there didn't seem to be any noticeable concern present. "However, they aren't that stupid to do anything at the moment. Everyone is keeping a close eye on their movements so they wouldn't risk digging themselves into a hole any deeper than it already is."

Well when she put it like that, things are still rather heated for them presently, it would be a borderline retarded move for someone to try and pull something right now. Especially when everyone is expecting them to react in the first place.

"In time things will die out and hopefully their grudge will also go away." Sona breathed in solace. "Also, I'm fairly certain they are too scared to do anything after what they saw my sister did to the desert that she found us in."

"Right…" The words felt very strained in my throat as I recalled the event. If I were in their shoes I'd most likely wouldn't make a move after seeing that display either. "So in conclusion we're safe for the moment, but should still keep an open eye out just in case."

"Over simplified but yes." Sona replied.

As I washed and whipped a knife dry, my eyes reflected on the blade's surface. A memory from Paris replaying in my mind. "By the way, before I forget. Loup Garou had a message for you."

"Did he?" That remark surprised Sona, her glasses sliding a bit down on her nose. "And what would that be?"

"He said that he will consider the offer you made to him before."

The Sitri devil was momentarily silent and took her time to digest this. "He actually said that?"

"Yeah, and he seemed pretty serious about it." I shrugged slightly as I replayed the conversation in my mind, yet still felt confused. "Care to give me some context?"

"I extended an invitation for him to join my peerage a while back, he bluntly refused and said he had better things to do."

Somehow, I didn't find that surprising. "I see, not that surprising given his rather wild behavior."

Sona sighed and rearranged her glasses. "While he may be rather gruff, you must have noticed his combat capability."

"I guess…" Images of the Frenchman's werewolf form flashed in my mind.

"In any case I do find this turn of events rather surprising." Sona mused from her chair. "Whatever did you do to change his mind like this?"

If I did or said anything that might have been the source of his change of heart, I sure couldn't remember what it was given the amount of chaos that took place. "I have no idea."

A small chuckle escaped her lips. "Perhaps it was your unusual charm."

I was about to snark at that reply, but I held myself back.

Still... there was one thing that kept bugging me, that little theory that Archer left with me back in Paris. "... You didn't send me there because you thought I could change his mind about joining the team, did you?"

"... Somehow I feel slightly offended by that question." Sona slightly pouted before continuing on. "In case that you had forgotten Shirou you were the one who offered to go when you saw I couldn't find anyone else."

… She did make a good point.

It wasn't like she walked up to me and asked me if I wanted to go, I was the one that insisted on helping her.

"If I did take advantage of anything, it was you still being human. Do recall that this was an under the table mission." Sona stated, her violet eyes looking into mine a slight frown present on her face.

After a few long and awkward moments under her glare I bowed my head in shame.

"...Sorry." I felt the need to rub the back of my head, but abstained since my hands were damp with sink water. "Sorry, didn't mean to insult you or anything."

Sona was silent and just stared at me for a while, she eventually released a huff and her eyes softened. "It's okay, though try to have more tact in the future. Others might react far less civilly than I do towards such accusations."

I nodded and placed another dish in the dryer, the awkward silence returning between us. As I went through the dishes I would occasionally notice with the corner of my eye how Sona would fidget back and forth in her seat.

It didn't take a genius to notice that there was something off.

With a sigh I took a glass cup and started scrubbing its inside. "Do you want to tell me something?"

Sona didn't show any surprise at my question, just mild curiosity. "What made you think that?"

I shrugged my shoulders at that. "Dunno, just have this feeling you want to tell me something, but don't know how."

Coincidentally, Illya acts the same way when she breaks something and doesn't know how to tell us.

"My aren't you suddenly good at reading people?" The chuckle she gave was hollow and rather forced. Perhaps in an attempt to diffuse the gravity of whatever she is about to tell me.

Perhaps I did get somewhat better at reading others ever since I got involved in the supernatural, but that's besides the point. "I'd say it was more of a hunch than anything. Am I wrong?"

The bespectacled girl shook her head. "No, you are in fact correct, I wasn't sure how to tell you this."

That didn't help, it only served to make me feel more anxious. "Just do it."

"Shirou…" She paused for a moment and closed her eyes, sighing in defeat when she opened them back up to look directly at me. "There's been an incident while you were away."

My hand stopped from wiping the glass. "...What happened?"

"A student was attacked by a fallen angel and murdered."

I didn't visibly react to this, but something inside me began to churn and boil. Small cracks formed on the glass cup I was holding. "Who was it?"

"Hyoudou Issei."

Sona made no comment on it, but the glass I was washing shattered in my hand at that moment.


The hours flew by and before I knew it the sun was already setting. A smile was present on my face as I walked all the guests over to the front entrance and we bid our goodbyes. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you guys tomorrow at school."

There were a couple of awkward laughs at this, most likely due to dropping in unannounced like this. "Thanks for having us over Shirou."

Sona gave me an apologetic look. "I hope we haven't been too much trouble."

"Honestly it's been a while since the house was so lively." I murmured with half a chuckle. While it is pretty lively at my house in general, today was a new kind of feeling. "Plus I wanted to see you guys as well so that's a win."

That remark seemed to put everyone one at ease, Tomoe in particular looked moved by it. "Aw, that's sweet."

"Night guys."

"Night Shirou, see you tomorrow."

A smile was present as I waved them goodbye, but it vanished as soon as they closed the front gate.

I stood in place and just stared aimlessly at the courtyard, reminiscing about what Sona told me regarding the attack that took place while I was away.

From what she explained to me a fallen angel named Raynare had murdered Hyoudou Issei in cold blood for being a host to a sacred gear.

I instantly felt something was off with that, since I was previously informed that Azazel, the head honcho of the fallen angels is borderline obsessed with studying sacred gears. Thus the fact that Issei was murdered for having one made no sense to me.

Sona herself was a bit surprised by what happened and speculated that it might have been one of two cases as to why Issei was killed.

The first being that Issei's sacred gear was too much of a danger and thus posed a threat to them.

However, this notion was dismissed as Issei was merely suspected of having one. From what she was able to find out, the boy hadn't even awakened it, let alone learned how to use it in any capacity that could be considered dangerous.

That's where her second hypothesis came into play.

The fallen angel must have killed him for another reason entirely. There were several scenarios that came to mind, but the one Sona was most certain of was that the Fallen angel simply wanted him to suffer out of pure sadism.

While I didn't enjoy thinking about it, there are many supernatural races out there that find humans as nothing more than amusing toys to play with or vermin they can easily squash.

The fact that there were individuals out there taking pleasure in our suffering and death made the blood boil in my veins.

I can only hope that Issei's death was a quick one and that he didn't suffer too much.

...

Fortunately for Issei, things didn't stop there however.

As Issei laid there in a pool of his own blood, with his last dying breath he was able to activate a demonic pamphlet he got earlier, summoning a devil to his aid. To top it all off, the devil in question was none other than Rias Gremory, Sona's oldest friend and co-owner of this territory.

One thing led to another and she managed to revive Issei as her pawn.

Things were most likely very confusing for Issei as he was introduced to the supernatural world so suddenly, I can relate to that, I've been there myself.

That said, it would have been too easy if his troubles ended right after he was resurrected back to life.

After Issei was getting his head around his new circumstances as a reincarnated devil he met a young nun that came to this city, one by the name of Asia Argento, who was also a sacred gear user.

However it turns out that the woman that killed Issei had three other fallen angels working with her, as well in addition to over fifty stray exorcists under her command to boot.

Their end game?

They wanted to extract Asia Argento's sacred gear since apparently it is a rare and very useful one. And much to my own frustration, they actually succeeded. They performed some kind of ritual on her and ripped it right out of the poor nun's body and ripe for Raynare to claim for herself.

In spite of the delicacy of the situation, Issei and the rest of Gremory peerage launched a rescue mission. They had managed to defeat the fallen angels and secure Asia but it was too late.

Extracting the sacred gear out of a person, while it was possible, had one major downside.

The death of the host.

However, in the end Asia Argento was also revived as a Bishop of Rias Gremory.

In the end… she was saved?

They were both saved?

I should be glad that both her and Issei were eventually brought back to life, that would be logical… yet this nagging feeling in my head wouldn't allow me to be satisfied with that.

As I stood unresponsive at the house's front entrance, I couldn't help but wonder.

Would things have been different if I were here?

When Segrif Zepar attacked, if I could've stopped him right then and there preventing our capture, would that have given me the chance to prevent the murder of Hyoudou Issei and all the events that soon followed after?

If maybe I would've been able to solve the situation in Paris and arrived home faster, would have there been enough time to help save the nun at the very least?

These thoughts just kept plaguing me.

I realized that it couldn't be helped, that I cannot be in two places at once and prevent two different disasters at the same time, but the idea that something like this took place in my home town when I was away infuriated me to no end.

The realization that this happened when I wasn't here perhaps was what truly made me seethe with anger. That tragedy will take place the moment I turn my back.

My body reacted by itself and I slammed my fist against the wall, the words coming out by themselves. "Dammit…"

A flash of red entered the corner of my eye, Archer glaring at me with an exasperated look on his face. "Great, just great, you're moping over what has happened."

"... I'm not."

"You sure aren't convincing me."

"... Why wouldn't I be like this?!" I snapped at him, the frustrations that I've been piling down erupting outward. "The vampire escaped, Griselda-san's team was killed and both her and Loup Garou were hurt seriously because I couldn't react properly in time. I come back home and now I find out a student and a nun were murdered while I was gone!"

His face remained unchanged, but his eyes hardened as he spoke. "There you go again, acting like everything is all your fault alone, wake up and see that things don't always work out the way you want them to. Sometimes for every single person you manage to save, you will end up losing ten other people in the process."

"I could've done something dammit!" my teeth gritted, trying to keep my cool. "Looking back I just didn't think things through the way I should've."

Memories flashed through my mind, the events that transpired in Paris replaying itself in my mind. "When Andreea pinned me against the wall with her hair all I had to do was reinforce it until it snapped. It was so simple yet I couldn't figure it out, heck that was the very trick I used to get out of shackles when Segrif Zepar captured us. The fact that I didn't realize it frustrates me to no end."

"Yes, that would have the easiest and perhaps most logical solution, but you failed to realize it when it mattered the most." The casual way Archer talked about this made me wonder if he really didn't care about what happened. "The worst kinds of enemies aren't the ones that are stronger than you but those that can get into your mind."

"I tried, but she-"

"However in the heat of battle, sometimes you don't have the luxury of taking your time to figure things out, each second is a matter of life and death, the moment you waste it on something else somebody will get hurt, or somebody will die."

"I already know that, just-"

"Stop being in denial! If someone that needs help is in front of you the first thing you do is rush in head first like a bull, you don't waste time thinking what you are supposed to do, you barely do that as you jump into the fray. "

"..." In spite of trying to rebuke him, I couldn't find an argument to counter him.

"One day, in your haste to save those in front of you, you will make a mistake that will come at a hefty price." A frown was present on Archer as he slowly vanished. "So either learn to keep that urge on a tight leash and not rush in, or temper yourself for when the day you fail comes, so it won't break you."

As the red clothed man was gone, I leaned against the nearby wall and stared at the dusky sky.

No matter how much I wanted to tell him he was wrong, I was unable to do so.

Once again I was facing this inner conflict… I couldn't understand what frustrated me more… Archer's words, or the fact that they might be true.

"Dammit…"


Hours had passed and I grew restless, before I knew it I was back in the shed practicing my magecraft.

After a while of doing just that and breaking most of the things I tried to reinforce I realized how distracted I was so I switched out and started tinkering with whatever I found in here to keep my mind busy.

By the time I realized it, it was already pitch dark outside, the moon was shining brightly through one of the shed's windows.

Perhaps that's why I received a surprise visit from one of the house's denizens. Iri was leaning against the door's entrance for a couple of minutes before she finally called out to me. "A little late to be out here, don't you think Shirou?"

With a sigh I stopped my tinkering and placed down the wrench I was holding onto, a loud pop echoed as I stretched my neck. "I guess I'm not really that tired. I thought of doing some tinkering, hoping maybe it would tire me out."

Iri nodded and tiptoed next to me, her eyes widening in excitement as she saw what I was working on. "Wow, that's a nice motorcycle."

Indeed, Kurosaiga Ichirou's motorcycle had quite the impressive presence to it, a shame it was busted in so many places and in desperate need of repairs.

"Yeah, I guess you can call it spoils of war." I half chuckled as I ran my hand over the vehicle's engine, making a mental note to give it a clean later. "Sona didn't really know what to do with it so she said I could have it."

Strangely, it was like Iri's eyes began sparkling when she heard this. "Ohhh, how nice of her, must be her way of showing how much she appreciates all the work you do for her."

"Either that or she figured this thing is pretty busted up and didn't want to bother finding someone to repair it."

Looking back I did always wonder what Kurosaiga was even doing in this city in the first place. The way I look at it, stopping by in devil territory was a bad move even for him considering how much he was wanted.

From the state of the bike I can pretty much assume it broke down when he was passing through town and couldn't get it to work again. He probably tried to lay low and not draw too much attention but caught wind of the other stray devil in the area. After seeing the way it mutilated its victims, Kurosaiga must've decided to get rid of it in spite of the risk of getting caught.

I guess at the end of the day, our encounter was just pure coincidence.

Still… It makes me feel weird that one of the most important battles of my life was the byproduct of a motorcycle engine problem.

And now I was the one dealing with said engine problem.

I'm sure there was some sort of irony there but I couldn't put my finger on it. Iri on the other hand seemed rather excited by the idea of me having a motorcycle. "You should ask Maiya to teach you how to ride it."

"Aunt Maiya?" That one took me by surprise, especially since I barely saw her drive a car let alone a motorcycle. "She has a motorcycle drivers licence?"

"Yes, and believe or not she's quite the talented rider."

That remark made me feel a bit skeptical. "... Talented like you are with driving a car?"

"Don't be mean Shirou." Iri seemed to take offense to that and puffed out her cheeks, followed by her pulling me in an arm hold and pinching my cheeks. In spite of how uncomfortable and embarrassing it was, I let her do her thing, it also didn't last long before she stopped and asked me once more. "I hear from Sona-chan that your little vacation didn't go too well?"

"Things happened I guess." That question made my hands tighten in frustration.

While Iri was aware that I was going to Paris with work, I had hoped I wouldn't have to tell her and the others about what had happened.

I presume Sona didn't go too into details about what happened, but I would've preferred if she wouldn't have mentioned it at all.

"Oh don't be sad, next time it will be better." Iri said in her usual cheerful tone, but it didn't have much of an effect on me.

"Yeah… next time…" I muttered weakly.

It was strange, but I could feel her smile drop. "Shirou, what's bothering you?"

"I-" my voice paused for a moment. "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to even ask this."

"Why don't you try with some words first of all?"

She said that and yet I still didn't know what was truly bothering me.

Among the many failures that took place over in Paris and in Kuoh while I was gone, there was something else that wouldn't give me peace.

After discussion with Archer ended, it kept repeatedly plaguing my mind.

You're just as messed up as I am.

Her words… Andreea's words kept whispering in the back of my mind like a wind breeze.

Archer was right wasn't he?

The worst enemies are the ones that get into your head.

At this point, I wasn't sure what to think anymore.

My lips parted slowly as my hand reached and softly wrapped itself around my mother's arm. "Iri… am I messed up?"

Her reaction was quite noticeable, her body tensing when I asked this. "Sweety... "

My fingers tightened gently around her arm. "Answer the question… please."

"Shirou you... " She paused, probably trying to find the right words, her breathing heavy and strained. "... You've been through a lot as a child, more than any child, no, any person should go through."

I gazed at her with the corner of my eye, shame overcoming me as I saw how uncomfortable she was feeling under my questioning. "That sort of occurence, scars both the body and heart."

I knew that…

It's all fuzzy in my mind, but I still recall that day.

The pain… that despair… the look of relief on Kiritsugu's face when he saved me.

The events that followed and led me to become 'Emiya Shirou'.

I recall all of that… yet that was all to it.

There was nothing beyond that, but I knew that wasn't the truth. There was more to it that I wasn't aware of and eating at me from the inside. Like there was something that I wasn't supposed to forget, or maybe I shouldn't be allowed to forget.

"If it's really that bad, how come I don't remember much of it?"

"... Some things perhaps are better left forgotten, Shirou." Iri spoke slowly, gone was her usual cheerfulness, in its place there was this melancholic tone that felt so alien coming from her. "It gives room for old wounds to heal."

"That doesn't really solve anything… if you leave a wound alone and try to forget it's there without doing anything about it then it may become even worse in time."

"I'm aware…" Her arms tightened around me, and they were shaking ever so slightly. It felt like she was afraid I would run away at any moment.

As I stood here, I wasn't sure if I should press this matter forward.

In spite of wanting a direct answer, my questions were hurting her.

It made me sick to my stomach.

Perhaps that's why I decided to change the subject. "You know… I've been having these nightmares for a while. They keep coming and going from time to time."

Iri's shaking did stop, but she did give one last twitch when I mentioned this. "What kind of nightmares?"

"Sometimes they are different… but one thing is always the same." The images flashed through my mind, churning my stomach. "A great fire… and so much death."

There was a pause, Iri actually stopped breathing for a bit before she asked. "...How long has this been going on?"

I took a moment and thought about it, while I can't remember the exact date from where it started it has been a while. "I guess since I became aware of the supernatural."

"You never mentioned this all these months?"

"... It didn't cross my mind." I admitted a bit sheepish, they were just dreams so I never gave them that much importance in the first place. "I thought it was just me being stressed."

"I see…" my mother said softly.

A long and heavy silence followed, no more words were exchanged between us as we just sat like this. The air felt awkward and weird, I didn't really know what to say in this situation.

Perhaps my mom also felt the same way.

Iri eventually got up and sat herself in front of me. A complicated look was present on her face, one that I was not accustomed to.

She placed her hands on my shoulders and stared directly into my eyes.

"Do you hate us Shirou?" Her tone was heavy and strained, almost like asking this was hurting her. "For lying to you all these years?"

"That's…" I paused as I digested this, not sure how to take it.

The fact that she even asked me this in the first place baffled me.

"Shirou… please…" my mother said as she looked at me, waiting for a response.

"Hate is… a strong word." Finally I spoke with a long sigh. "There are times when I feel frustrated for being kept in the dark like this, you know."

Like you aren't trusted enough to be made aware of the truth. That actually made me feel hurt inside.

"I know that you did what you thought was right but still…" I took a deep breath, and forced a reassuring smile. "While that may be the truth, I don't hold it against you or blame you because of it. So no, I could never hate you Iri, sure you can be a handful at times, but I still love and care about you and the others."

"... I'm sorry, Shirou." She slowly closed the distance between us and rested her head on my shoulder. "I know there were times where I wasn't the best parent, but I tried doing what I thought was best for you. "You're my one only son and I love you with all my heart."

To say that I felt embarrassed was an understatement, my face felt like it was above a hot stove.

Yet, I also felt touched, somewhat warm and fuzzy inside.

I rubbed the back of my head and sighed, giving Iri a soft pat on the back. "Love you too mom."

… I then realized what I had done.

The sound of a switch being turned on was heard.

It was at that moment that the air shifted, the presence of a predator filling the room.

Iri twitched a couple of times, slowly lifting her head for me to see her eyes. The moment I saw them I wanted to run away before it was too late.

"Awww~" Iri happily cooed as a warm aura soon filled the room.

"Shit…" I didn't have time to react as my mother pounced on me and proceeded to hug the living daylights out of me. "Gahh! Iri let go, you're crushing my bones!"

She shook her head signaling in refusal but was euphoric nonetheless. "I can't help it, you never call me mom anymore these days"

"That's because you always do this whenever I do it!" I accused as I tried to pry her off me. For as long as I could remember whenever I called Iri 'mom', 'mother' or anything remotely similar, a metaphorical 'switch' would flip making her act like this and hug me till I turned blue. Literally smothering me in her affection and motherly love.

"But I love you so much!" My mother exclaimed while beaming.

"Wow… they were right. You ARE such a momma's boy."

I really need to find a way to punch that guy.


It was late in the night and Irisviel was leaning against Shirou's bedroom door. Their little heart to heart session did not last much longer after she got her dose of hugs and cheek rubs, Shirou finally deciding to call it a night.

Her son hit his bed like a rock and fell asleep instantly in spite of claiming earlier he wasn't sleepy. The white haired woman would conclude their little chat was quite tiring for him, she should know as it was quite exhausting for herself as well.

As she stood alone in the hallway of their home she absentmindedly stared at her phone, her usual beaming smile was nowhere to be seen.

It would be quite odd for her to smile currently.

She felt sick and wanted to throw up.

This situation made her feel disgusted with herself. She told herself that she would no longer lie to Shirou, and yet here she was, still keeping him in the dark about the truth… the whole terrible truth.

Irisviel had been able to keep a smile most of the time and act like everything was fine, but it was forced most of the time. A means to hide her own concern for her son's well being.

To some it might have seemed easy, but in truth it was far from it.

She couldn't call herself as the boy's mother if she did not understand him at least on a certain level. If she showed her worry for him Shirou would blame himself for everything even if a lot of what takes place is beyond his control.

And frankly she wasn't sure how long she could keep it up.

Changes needed to be made.

Irisviel opened her phone's agenda and pressed on the name she was looking for, taking it then to her ear. "Please work."

A after minute or so of listening to the phone dial she let out a disappointed sigh. "Of course it didn't-"

"[Hello?]"

When she heard the person pick on the other end her eyes widened in delight. "Kiritsugu!"

The woman realized she almost shouted in the hall and put her hand over her mouth, quickly going to her room and closing the door.

With a deep breath she continued. "... Kiritsugu."

"[Hey Iri, it's been a while.]"

"Too long…" Irisviel half chuckled at this, but she was far from being amused, it's been months since she last saw her husband and she was missing him quite dearly. Especially in times of need like this. "Where are you right now?"

"[Fifth level of Hell.]"

Irisviel resisted the urge to sigh at this, last time she called he was in the seventh level. "What are you doing all the way down there?"

"[Trying to secure a target for the most part.]" He sighed and a clicking noise was heard over the phone. Irisviel instantly knew Kiritsugu was doing maintenance on his gun. "[Sorry, I haven't really called recently, the electromagnetic fields and interdimensional gap here make communications difficult, both magical and mundane.]"

"Kiritsugu…" She tried to keep calm, but her voice couldn't help but be shaken, "Shirou, he…"

The man knew things were bad if his wife was like this, sadly he didn't have the luxury to panic in such moments. "[Iri, what happened?]"

The homunculus bit her lower lip, the frustration getting the better of her. "He's beginning to remember what happened."

There was a long pause before Kiritsugu asked. "[... How much does he know?]"

"He still thinks they're dreams for now… but it won't be long before he realizes the truth." That thought terrified her, the look of betrayal he would show. "The seal we placed on those memories will become undone."

"[Iri-]"

"I'm scared, Kiritsugu!" She almost screamed at her husband. "Of what he will think of us once he learns the truth, the full truth."

This was wrong.

Everything was wrong from the start.

They shouldn't have lied to him, he had the right to know everything from the start, but they stole that from him.

"We've already hurt him by keeping him in the dark of the supernatural all these years, and we are continuing lying to him by not telling him everything."

"[We did what we thought was best Iri.]" The man admitted, a hint of shame present. "[Looking back perhaps it was a mistake, but it was the best we could do at the time.]"

"I know, trust me I know it, but it doesn't make it any less bearable."

Shirou didn't remember, but Irisviel remembered all too well the wreck he was when they took him in.

They really didn't know how to deal with his condition at the time.

This was the only solution they could think of. That if they made him forget the incident that broke him, it would give him room to heal and start over a new leaf.

They always knew it may fail and perhaps backfire, but it was all the couple could figure out during those dark days.

"[Iri, please try to hold on just a little longer.]" Kiritsugu spoke slowly and calmly, an almost unnoticeable warmth present in his voice that only she knew of. "[It won't be long before my mission is over and I will be back home.]"

Her hand tightened around the phone when she heard this. A part from hope while the other from fear.

"[The first thing I'll do when I meet Shirou is talk with him no matter what.]"

"Please hurry Kiritsugu, I don't know how long I can keep lying to him."

"[...I'll try Iri.]"


Omake: A father's duty

Emiya Kiritsugu took a deep breath as he closed his phone and contemplated the discussion he just had with his wife seconds ago.

He took a cigar and lit it, taking a deep breath and letting the cancer inducing stick do its job.

Iri was right, this couldn't keep up anymore.

He had to get home, and fast.

That being said, he had to finish this mission fast.

With a click the man loaded the magazine in his Calico M950.

Time for work.

He was panicking, walking back and forth in his office.

This has been going on for months, constantly on the run, changing bases from one layer of hell to another, always keeping his eyes wide over his shoulder.

All because of his connections with the Khaos Brigade.

Imagine this happening to him.

Him!

A pure blooded devil!

A devil of stature, lineage, and culture!

Hunted down like some kind of animal. Yet, the biggest insult was the one after him.

A human…

One damn measly human scum!

Months ago he would have laughed at the absurdity of the notion, but this man wasn't just any human.

It was him, it was that Maou's damn boogie man that had been taking out his allies one after the other the past decade.

As much as it utterly disgusted him to admit it, he was not someone to be taken lightly.

Underestimating this so-called 'magus killer' is what got many of his allies and friends killed with a damn bullet in the back of their skulls.

And he may just be the next one on this madman's list if he wasn't careful.

No, no, no.

He mustn't lose face and act like the common folk.

Being elegant and calm was what he was taught from before he could even walk.

His eyes landed at the bottle of brandy lying on top of his desk.

In all honesty it was too early for a glass but he needed something to ease his nerves.

He lifted the bottle up to pour himself a drink but stopped half way and blinked.

Why was there a clicking sound when he picked up his bottle of brandy?

BOOM!

Haggard chokes echoed in the room as the man's mind began to function properly again. Replaying the explosion that just took place before his eyes.

Pain.

So much pain.

His eyes slowly drifted down at his body and the surroundings, widening in shock.

Was that his leg a few feet in front of him?!

And where was his right arm?!

He tried to scream in pain and shock, but only a dull squawking sound would come out his mouth, like the sound made by a goose.

It was only that sound and the one of approaching footsteps that the man could hear.

A harsh gasp followed when a pair of polished shoes appeared in front of him.

He froze in place as he knew who it was. It didn't take a genius to realize who was before him.

Death.

That's what awaited him if he looked up. He knew that too well, but still he looked up.

Just a man.

A human male like any you could find in the human world.

One that was currently holding a gun point blank to his forehead.

He could tell, if this were a proper fight he could've easily dispatched him and made an example to all not to cross him.

This human was nothing compared to him and other devils such as himself.

And yet here he was, at the mercy of this human.

Never did the devil feel so small and insignificant in his life as overwhelming fear gripped his mind. Feeling those cold dark brown eyes gazing down on him, any remaining dignity was soon lost. A foul odor and liquid began to emanate from the pure blooded devil as he soiled himself.

Emiya Kiritsugu stared at his target in complete disinterest. He frankly had more important matters to concern himself with than this devil's apparent mental breakdown.

"Sorry about the rough treatment, my orders were to take you in alive, but I'm in a hurry." The Emiya patriarch replied, voice devoid of any emotion, just a cold calculated statement. "My family needs me."

Bang! Bang!


Author notes:

'Sup guys, been a while again. Hope you all are managing to handle these crazy times we are living in.

As you can see, we finally have an idea where we are timeline wise. It's after the so-called 'first arc' of the canon. So apparently I skipped that… yeah

Some may wonder why, well thing is, I couldn't really see for a way Issei and Asia still becoming devils with Shirou around.

I hear it and saw it time and time again in different dxd crossovers, where there is X character there that can easily deal with the first arc enemies, yet Issei still gets speared with him/her there.

He may not be ridiculously strong now, but Shirou could easily deal with Raynare and her group.

While I'm sure some of you may have wanted to see that, yeah, sorry not happening.

I'm sure it feels cheap and cheated to have the events unfold offscreen while Shirou is away, but I personally feel it adds a little bit of reality to this, as in not everything crucial that happens must revolve on the MC. Sometimes shit goes down while you're away somewhere. I'm sure some can relate of going on vacation or some place for a couple of days and 'something big' happened while you were gone (whenever it was for good or worse, that's up to each person)

While there isn't much action going on in this chapter, I think it's nice getting to see the Sitri team interact with the Emiya house.

All that aside, I hope y'all agree with me that Iri is best mom. She may act rather whacky at times, but at the end of the day she cares deeply for her kids.

In FGO news, I hereby take an oath never to roll for dantes ever again. I'll leave it at that and spare you of the despair he inflicted on me..

One the plus side, my roster increased a bit since last time: Lancelot (berserker), Summer Tamamo, Okada, Carmilla, Gorgon, Kiara (GSSR), Skadi (shocking, i know), Summer nobu, Summer medb, summer jeanne, summer jalter, Fion (he spooked me, but I learnt to appreciate even spooks) and summer BB.

I guess that's about it. See you guys next time.

Special thanks to my p(a)treons: CJ, GameCrusher55, EgomaniacalHero, Maxime Chouinard-Hould, Pietya, Derek, AndresGutierrez, Roflarius and

Lastmanstanding

Your support is greatly appreciated.


Don't forget to review... no seriously review; I could use some constructive criticism.