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


It had always been this way

Jumping headfirst to save someone

Ignoring all concern for myself.

Yet, never seeing the real problem until it was too late

Always… blind to the things that really mattered.


Chapter 22:

The ever shifting normalcy


"So…" my voice trailed as I kept washing the dishes, enjoying the peace and quiet after breakfast. "Anything interesting happened at home while I was gone?"

Sella hummed to herself, her hands never stopped moving as she wiped the dinner table clean. "Nothing too important, just the usual, though I have to admit it's been awfully quiet with you gone."

"That's good, I guess?" I wasn't quite sure how to take that.

Though honestly that was good news, I was gone for just a few days and yet it feels like it's been months.

A lot had happened over in France, then there was Issei Hyoudou's death and revival, so I'm glad at least no other problems took place at home.

As I was thinking about this, Sella stepped in front of me and gestured for me to follow her. I silently nodded and did as per her request.

The moment we stepped in the living room the maid started talking. "If you're thinking about that little 'feathery' skirmish that Sona-san mentioned, we also found out about it when it was already wrapping up."

There was a pause in my walking, but it was short. The couch made a small rubbing sound as I took a seat and Sella followed suit by sitting on the nearby sofa.

Now that she brought up the subject regarding those fallen angels, might as well see what Sella knew about it. "I don't suppose you tried to help out, did you?"

To this question the white haired maid let out a sigh. "You should already know this Shirou, 'we' don't get involved with their affairs directly, unless our help is requested or we have any connection to the matter involved."

Of course I knew of this, but that didn't mean I quite agreed with it. "... I see."

"Look Shirou, try not to linger on it too much, it's not healthy." Sella told me with concern present in her voice, I guess after living together for so many years she knows how I think.

"I'll try."

She nodded and then coughed lightly into her fist to get my full attention. "By the way Shirou, I looked over that book you showed me last night."

My brow rose curiously at that. Among the magic tomes that I kept for myself one in particular seemed to cover the subject of runes.

At first I didn't think much about it but then I recalled when Sella first started her magecraft lessons with me, stating that runecraft was a subject she believed may be well suited for my unique magical alignment. However she lacked any proper experience on the matter herself, nor did she have any actual materials to work with.

That said, I showed it to Sella immediately and asked if she could find any use for whatever was written in it.

She was quite surprised when I told her about how I acquired them, but then proceeded to smack me over the head as soon as I mentioned that I already gave a large number of books to the Sitri team before giving her a chance to look them over.

From that moment onward, it's been officially established as a household rule that should I find any sort of magical literature or artifacts in nature, I must first go through Sella's hands before I decide to do anything with them.

Errors have been made I guess, better be more careful next time.

All of that aside, I was quite eager to hear what Sella found out. "So what do you think?"

"For one thing you have the most unusual luck at times." The roll of her eyes only accentuated how ridiculous this seemed to her. "That aside, I believe you just got yourself new material to use in your magecraft training."

A small spark of excitement ignited within me. "Does that mean you can teach me it?"

"Fairly certain." Sella nodded and smiled gently. "It contains advanced studies and theories on runecraft as well as an analysis and description on Norse runes." However, there was a small frown before she went on. "What I find interesting is that the spellbook mostly describes the means to use them for combat, and a few other mischievous ways, yet hardly possesses any of its application for research oriented areas."

"That's great if you ask me."

Anything that I can use to expand my skills in battle is welcomed.

"I know, but from my knowledge runecraft should have a much broader field of application." A sigh escaped her lips as she sank on the sofa. "Limiting them to what I found in here seems like such a waste to me."

"... If you say so." I nodded and brought up the next issue. "Anyway, when do you think we can start practicing them?"

"I believe we can begin tonight." The petite maid pondered for a few moments. "By the time you're back from school I should have all the materials we need ready."

A small smile crept on my face. "That sounds perfect to me."

Sella returned the smile. "Good, now get ready for school."

"No need to tell me twice." I let out a light laugh as I spoke.

"You look rather eager." She chuckled at this.

I rubbed the back of my head and laughed a bit awkwardly back. "Well, I've been gone the past few days, so I gotta catch up with everything."

"Boring." The voice of Leysritt echoed behind me.

At that moment, I felt something wet and soft pressed against my head.

Boing!

My eyes went wide while my whole face went rigid. There was a certain familiarity to the sensation I was experiencing behind my head. It was slightly damp, large, warm, soft, yet springy. I could be wrong… or maybe I hoped I was wrong but...

With a dull mechanical voice I slowly started. "Liz…?"

"Yes?" The short haired maid spoke in her usual flat tone.

First things first, I had to get the unknown factor out of the way. "Why do I feel something wet?"

"Got out of the shower." She simply stated.

That wasn't that bad, yet my instincts were still screaming at me to do something. "Okay… and what are you pressing against my head?"

"My boobs." She said, completely undisturbed by what she was doing as her breasts further pressed onto me. "Popsicle?

I could already feel my face burning red, my blood rushing so fast in my veins that a nosebleed felt imminent. It was a struggle to not give into that alluring sensation but I held my ground.

In order to prevent another episode of chaos in the Emiya household, I tried to channel my best impression of dad whenever he was dealing with my mother's antics.

"You know what, I'm not even gonna even try." I sighed in an uncaring tone, shifting my dull eyes over to the gawking maid on the sofa. "... Sella, a little help here?"

My voice apparently was enough to jolt the slender maid out of her state of shock. The very next moment she leaped up and tried to intercept her sister.

Said woman behind me had casually caught the strike that was aimed at her, and I couldn't help but sweat drop at this. The wind pressure I just felt let me know how that definitely would have sent a normal person flying, yet Leysritt caught it as easily as an adult would catch a child's punch.

It's moments like this that I'm reminded how much more physically stronger and resilient these two are than a normal human, especially Liz.

"Ouch." The busty maid whined, but it seemed more for show than anything. "That hurt Sella."

"The only thing hurting here is the morals of this household!" Sella glared with burning flames in her eyes, once again triggered by her sibling's antics. "How are our wards supposed to become fine members of society with you strolling around like that?!"

Leysritt paused for a moment, looking down to check out her current state. However, she only deadpanned in response afterwards. "I'm wearing a towel."

Seeing an opening, I managed to slip away from the impending war that would soon take place. It was right on time too as Sella tried to use her free hand to attack, but the latter once again caught it as well, the two sisters now stuck in a stalemate. Miraculously the towel still stayed on, despite the sudden movements causing Leysritt's large breasts to bounce around.

Sella's glare only intensified as she shifted from Leysritt's face to below it. "One flimsy towel can hardly cover... those... those... things!"

Liz paused, then stared at the same place Sella mentioned, after a few moments of pondering a smug smile slowly formed on her lips.

"Heh. You mad sis?" She hummed with her usual flat tone, but there was a clear touch of amusement present in it as she puffed out her sizable chest. The towel straining to keep them contained. "That you don't have boobs?"

The sound of glass cracking soon followed and I began taking slow steps back lest I draw attention to myself. Sella turned her head with a loud crack, the sinister look she currently wore screaming how utterly livid she was.

"Shirou, would you be a dear and leave Leysritt and I alone?" A terrifying smile now present on her face, one that felt right at home in a slasher movie. "It seems like I need to educate my little sister about respecting her older sibling."

I was probably sweating bullets at this point, but I somehow cracked a smile and stepped out. "... I'm just gonna go head to school now."

"Good boy." Sella stated.

Lucky for me I was already dressed and ready to go. I dashed out of the house, just as the sound of a war zone erupted from within it.

Yep, just another day at the Emiya house.


The peace and quiet of my walk towards school sadly was short lived as a certain someone decided to butt in. "Well that was fun."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at that remark. "If pushing Sella's buttons like that is fun then sure, it was hilarious."

Archer only shrugged his shoulders. "Not my fault she has a complex about her chest."

"I don't really get why she's bothered by it." I sighed at this.

"Most people without complexes can't understand those with one." The white haired man explained casually. "It's an involuntary human reaction to compare ourselves to others."

"Yeah, yeah, comparison is bad. Still, Sella being jealous of Liz is still kind of weird to me."

"When you consider how much Leysritt enjoys teasing her sister with her more notable assets, I'm not surprised."

As much as I would like to say otherwise, from as long as I could remember, the lazy maid had always enjoyed rubbing her figure in Sella's face. "Still find it weird…"

"Wasn't expecting you to understand." Archer shrugged once more. "Not like you have any complaints about your body now do you?"

"... I could be a bit taller."

In spite of not looking at him, I knew Archer was rolling his eyes at this. "You're still growing, give it time, you may experience a last minute growth spurt."

"Somehow I doubt that."

"Suit yourself."

As I was about to bicker further with the bowman, I spotted a familiar mop of brown hair near the school gate.

She also noticed me, I raised my hand and waved at her, offering her a smile."Oh hey Ayak-"

But upon seeing me her cheeks puffed up and a scowl became present, she turned around and began walking away from me in clear annoyance.

I blinked and stood frozen in place for a few minutes, a bit baffled by what just happened.

"... Seems like someones in the dog house."


As the day went on, things definitely didn't go the way I expected.

Sure, I did manage to catch up with my classmates and all, but that's besides the point.

Perhaps that's why I was just staring at my lunch box and not really eating anything.

This didn't go unnoticed, before I knew it Momo was in front of my desk and started poking my face. "So, what's got you in the dumps Shirou?"

I lifted my head and it seemed like the other members of the student council had their eyes on me. The only ones missing being Sona and Saji.

It was quite strange how suddenly I felt cornered in spite of everyone being spread out in the council room. I contemplated for a few moments whether or not I should tell them what's bothering me, but in the end I spoke up. "... Well, I think I screwed up with Ayako."

"The kyūdō captain?" Reya spoke as she got up from her seat, appearing quite surprised. "What happened?"

Now I began sweating, feeling rather awkward about telling this. "It's kind of a long story... "

"Hey, it's lunch break so we have time." Tomoe perked up as she also joined in and surrounded me. With Ruruko, Tsubasa, and Tsubaki soon following suit.

Now I really felt like I was a cornered animal, all the girls were literally leaning against my desk, their bodies cutting off all escape routes.

"Yeah, let us give you a hand for a change." In spite of how friendly it was worded, the tone in Tsubasa's voice and the look in her eyes made it feel like it was more of a threat than helpful concern.

A subtle way of saying 'You're not leaving until you tell us.'

With a sigh of defeat I lifted my hands in mock surrender. "Well, if you insist."

The following ten minutes I spent telling them about the whole deal with Ayako and why it was bothering me.

Starting with the whole promise of us going to the movies and how I unintentionally stood her up when I left for Paris. Then going on how I spent this morning trying to talk with her and properly explain myself, but her only response was silence and ignoring my very existence.

By the time I finished explaining everything, the girls were all staring at me with half closed eyes with a few even groaning.

Reya was the first one to give her input on the matter. "Shirou, you're an idiot."

"... That bad, huh?" I muttered dejectedly, if the usually gentle Reya was the one telling me that, then I really must have really screwed up.

Tsubasa rolled her eyes with a sour expression. "Honestly man, if I was the archery captain I'd tell you to go eat a dick."

"... So it's really that bad." I sighed and banged my head against the desk, this really wasn't my day.

"Okay, let's all calm down and see if we can help salvage this somehow." The Sitri Queen spoke and gathered everyone's attention. "Did you properly apologize to her?"

At that question I began sweating, scratching the back of my hand while looking off to the side nervously. "I did… kinda…"

The others immediately knew I did something wrong and gave me small glares in response. "What does 'kinda' mean exactly?"

"I did apologize… on the phone."

There was a deep pause among the group, staring at me as if I grew a second head, until they all eventually let out a long sighs. Momo for one facepalming herself at my remark. "Shirou, no offense, but you're a moron."

Before I could make any other comments Tsubasa yanked my shirt and pulled me close to her face, she was less than happy it seemed. "Okay, Imma make this easy for you to understand, are we clear?"

"What exactly are you planni-"

She didn't really let me speak and smacked her head against mine. "Are. We. Clear?!"

I gulped nervously, at this point my compliance wasn't a factor it seemed. "Yes ma'am."

"Good." The bluennette nodded and let go of my shirt. "Okay listen up, since you're clearly as good at this as a blind guy at driving, I'll spare you and us some headaches and just tell it to you straight. Here's what you have to do, you go find her and do whatever you can to make her talk with you, then apologize like you mean it, do a dogeza if necessary."

As I tried to process this little plan of action, Ruruko raised her hand and threw in her own two cents. "Maybe a gift or something could sweeten her up a little?"

"...I do have the souvenir I got for her in my bag."

I wasn't sure if the look that Tomoe was giving me was one of being impressed or baffled. "... You've been carrying it in your bag all day?"

"I never got the chance to give it to her."

"Whatever." Tsubasa clicked her teeth and pointed her index finger at me. "Anyhow, go apologize fast, she probably has been waiting for you to do so all day, the more you postpone it the more pissed off she will get."

"Right now?" I muttered a bit unsure, not that I didn't want to do it, but lunch break is almost over, and Sona tends to chew us out if we are late for class outside of actual council work.

"No, do it after school." The Rook's smile quickly morphed into a pissed off sneer. "NOW YOU JACKASS!"

Before I knew it I was already up and running. "That's it, run like there's no tomorrow!"

Me running around was bound to gather attention, but I didn't really let that bother me and instead focused on finding Ayako.

While the way Tsubasa pushed me to do it was a bit brash, at the end of the day she was absolutely right.

The first thing I should have done when I saw Ayako was properly apologize, of course the apology I did over the phone wouldn't cut it!

As I reached the archery club I spotted the person in question slowly walking towards it.

"Hey Ayako!" When I called her out, she turned to see who it was, but her expression soured when she realized it was me and tried to walk away. "Wait up!"

Fortunately, she was strolling quite casually so I managed to catch up to her and cut her path.

She stared at me for a few moments but didn't seem to really take my presence as anything special and tried to walk past me. I threw my arm at the wall and blocked her path. "Are you really gonna ignore me all day?"

Once again, Ayako wasn't impressed. "... Do you have any business with me Emiya?"

Ouch.

The cold disinterested tone she had was really screaming how annoyed she was with me. I took a deep breath and spoke. "... I wanted to talk and sort things out."

"I don't believe there's anything to talk about." She puffed up her cheeks and tried to walk away.

No matter what she said, I wasn't going to back away until we had a proper talk.

I spun on my heel and once again cut her path with my arm, only this time from both sides, pretty much pinning her with the back against the wall. "Oh no you don't."

There was an obvious surprise at first as she froze, but eventually she let out a small whistle. "Wow... now this is new, usually you're a pretty passive kind of guy."

Though she said that, I wasn't going to play around. "I think recent events may or may not have made me a bit more open minded."

"You know, I could just scream and call for help."

"I know you can, but I also know you don't want to."

An amused smile formed on her lips, followed by a brief chuckle. "Ho... this is interesting, since when do you know what I want?"

My fingers were clawing at the wall and Iet out a tired sigh. "Look... just give me a chance to explain, then you can ignore me all you want if you still feel like it."

The brown haired girl pondered on this for a moment, but she eventually nodded. "Okay, lets see what you have to say."

I was about to speak, before a thought suddenly dawned on me.

I rushed over here without thinking about what I should even say.

My teeth clicked in annoyance and I just went with the flow, hoping the pumping adrenaline in me could help push me through this.

"I'm sorry, I screwed up, okay?" I finally managed to mutter out, my eyes drifting awkwardly to the side. "I promised we would go to the movies together and I stood you up. I get that you got excited and everything, then here I was canceling everything at the last minute like a jerk. You must have been really angry for that, and I understand, but don't for a second think that I don't feel bad about it as well."

I said all I wanted to say, whether she forgives me or not either way is fine, I admit my mistake and accept the consequences.

As I stood here and awaited Ayako's reply, the girl in question was just staring at me, but much to my confusion she seemed completely baffled by what I said.

"... Wow." The archery captain finally muttered. "I knew this whole thing would get you riled up, but not like this."

I blinked a few times at that. "Huh?"

"The whole cold shoulder treatment." She slowly elaborated. "Sure, I was pretty furious the first couple of days after you stood me up, but I did cool off and understood that you didn't mean it."

As I carefully processed what she had said I could only stand silently and stare at her.

A small awkward laugh escaped her lips and her body fidgeted a couple of times. "Still… I did want to prank you a little because of it and a classmate suggested I act like a total ice queen. Though, I didn't expect you to go all out like this."

The moment I put everything together it all dawned to me. All of the times she treated me coldy today was because she was simply trying to get back at me, not because she was truly angry.

Still, I had to confirm it. "So… you're not mad at me?"

"Nah, I got over it but wanted to have some fun out of it." replied Ayako.

My arms slowly lowered down and I took a deep breath. This whole encounter was so taxing on my mind that I just leaned up against the wall, all exhausted and overall feeling like a complete fool.

Much to my surprise Ayako began patting me on the back. "Easy there big guy, you look like you ran a marathon."

A small chuckled escaped my lips, I must have looked really stupid right now. "Yeah, sure, just give me a minute."

If I was the one that initially was awkward about all of this, it seemed that Ayako was now following suit. "Man, you sure took it seriously."

"Wouldn't you have done the same if you were in my shoes?"

She hummed lightly at this. "... Maybe?"

It was weird.

The weight that I felt building all this time as we talked was lifted by her smile. "I see."

"Well, I wasn't kidding when I said that I was running late to the archery ground, so how about we talk later and you tell me about your little Paris adventure?"

"... I'd like that."

She smiled and waved at me. "Great, see you later."

"Wait."

Her stare turned curious as I began digging in my backpack.

"Before you go." I took out the package and presented it to Ayako. "I got you a souvenir."

"Trying to bribe me after you stood me up?" She asked with lidded eyes and I started to panic inwardly, believing I had made a mistake. Ayako however immediately burst out laughing. "I'm joking, sheesh."

As she accepted my gift, she hugged it lightly and her smile grew ever so slightly. "Thanks a lot, but really, you didn't have to bother,"

"I think I actually did."

"Heh, you're one weird guy Shirou, but I guess that's one of your charming points." Before I knew it she was giving me a light hug, my cheeks instantly burning. I was about to try and protest but she quickly let go and waved. "See you later."

I spent the following minutes standing still like a statue, breaking out of my stupor only when I heard the school bell.

Well, weird as it was, I guess Ayako and I made up?


"That went rather well." Tsubaki chuckled as the two of us made our way through the school halls.

When I got back to the student council room, sadly peace and quiet were not the things I was granted, the others immediately cornered and interrogated me about how it went.

The girls in the group kept squeezing me for more details on the matter.

Luckily for me Sona soon walked in on us and didn't seem happy with what she was seeing, subtly and elegantly she distributed stacks of paper telling us to get back to work.

I was never happier to do paperwork in my life.

Yet, even then I didn't really escape the gossip. As Sona gave me work to do together with Tsubaki, specifically going around the school info boards and changing the papers on them, I was once again questioned on what happened.

Though to be fair, she was much more 'delicate' when bringing up the subject and wasn't as insistent as the others.

At this point I was too mentally tired and just went with the flow. "Trust me, you're not more surprised than I am."

The Sitri Queen slightly smiled at this. "I guess Mitsuzuri-san isn't as petty as I thought."

To be fair, now that I look over what happened, Ayako doing all of that just as a joke, well... I guess that was a bit mean on her part.

Still, I kind of deserved it.

This made me only sigh. "She had all the right to be mad at me regardless."

"I know, but it's not like you did it intentionally. People make mistakes, it happens."

There was truth in that, yet I couldn't ignore it. "Still doesn't justify it."

The Sitri Queen could only sigh at my response. "...You're one stubborn guy, you know that Shirou?"

My expression was likely a deadpan as I replied. "Considering that people keep pointing that out, I guess it must be true."

Strangely, that made her gently laugh. "If you say so."

As we made our ways through the halls I tilted my head in her direction. "So, anything else we need to do?"

"Besides posting these fliers, I think that's about it for today." She elaborated with a small smile appearing at ease, most likely glad we were done with the work. "You can place them on this floor board while I go do the upper one."

"Sounds good." With a nod I took a right at the next corner and headed to my destination.

"Oh, before I forget, Sona said she wanted to talk with you." I heard her shout from around the corner.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Now alone I shortly arrived and began changing the papers. I would occasionally take a moment and look over what was written on the new ones while placing the old ones.

Surprise came rather often at what some of the students were requesting for approval.

Some of the stuff was reasonable in my opinion.

A freshman was requesting if it was possible to modify the school uniform. Nothing too major, just make the skirts a little longer. When one took a moment to realize how short the skirts were and how easily they would reveal what's underneath, either due to a strong breeze or if a student bent over a little too much, it was a very understandable request.

Another request was for the swimming classes to be made coed. Again, nothing major, but a certain amount of female students may not feel comfortable with that, especially when you have guys like the perverted trio around that may ogle or in more serious cases take pictures of them during class.

The next one was a 'lost and found' request. A student has lost her necklace and is asking whoever finds it, to please contact her and return it.

All in all they were pretty reasonable requests.

"Kyahhh!"

My hand froze on the board at the sudden scream echoing through the hall, a cold chill running down my spine.

Not because of the scream itself, but because I could recognize the person it belonged to.

"Tsubaki-senpai…?" The words escaped my mouth, dropping all the papers that I had and dashed towards her.

My mind was racing as to what it could have been to make her scream like that. All I could do was pray that she was okay.

I quickly reached the second floor and saw the students gathered around, whispering and gossiping. The ideas were flooding in my mind as I made my way through the group.

When I reached the center my blood went cold at what I saw.

Tsubaki Shinra was on her knees, tightly gripping her arms as she trembled violently, her eyes dilated and shaking as she was unable to keep her jaw from quivering.

The expression on her face… so terrified and vulnerable.

I felt something snap in my mind.

"Who did this to her?" I asked slowly, voice flat and sharp, the murmurs around going silent.

My eyes slowly drifted at the people around me, two of them flinching when they made eye contact with me.

It was those two friends of Hyoudou Issei.

They were sweating nervously and fidgeting as my gaze hardened in on them.

When the realization dawned on me, I saw red.

I took a step forward to them, the words sharply escaping my mouth. "What did you do to her?"

"I-I-I, w-we-"

Whatever control I had slipped as I lunged at the two, yanking them up by their shirts and holding them in the air. "Dammit, I asked you what you did to her?!"

I was seething, the very thought that they caused her to be like that made my blood boil and I didn't care how much they were squirming in my grasp.

"Holy, calm down!" Someone grabbed onto my arm but it didn't budge, when I glared in their direction it was captain of the kendo club Murayama, the latter jumping back as soon as my eyes met hers. It took her a good five seconds before she was able to speak again. "T-Trust me, the last thing I want to do is to stand up for these two pervs. But they really didn't do anything!"

This rage in me refused to yield no matter how many deep breaths I took. It was only when I saw how everyone was staring at me in fear that I somehow managed to muster up some level of control in my mind.

I let go of the two suspects and they fell roughly on the floor. My glare never left them, but the least I could do was hear what they had to say before I did anything more rash. "Explain what happened. Now."

While I couldn't see what expression I had, it must have been a rather nasty one given how violently the two were shaking under my glare.

"T-The vice president dropped some of her papers and they picked them up, when the bald one tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention she freaked out all of a sudden."

I took a moment to process this. It made no sense to me, while getting touched all of a sudden can startle a person if taken by surprise, making them freak out like that just didn't add up.

A part of me wasn't buying it, there must have been more to it. "Is that true?"

The one with the shaved head waved his arms desperately. "Y-Yeah, she just went ballistic all of a sudden."

The one with the glasses trembled and tried getting behind his friend for protection. "L-Look I know we don't have the most illustrious of reputations but we didn't do anything to scare her like that. Hell, I don't know how we of all people could scare her, she's the school's freaking naginata champion."

My teeth were grinding in frustration.

This wasn't getting anywhere, I had to get some damn answers before-

I felt a tug on my leg, when I looked at what it was, it felt like a bucket of cold water was poured over me.

Tsubaki's shaking hand was gripping onto my leg.

"S-Shirou…" her voice was strained and shaken, a smile present, one that was obviously forced. "I-Its fine… I just o-overreacted…"

She was pale and sweating, her legs weak and unable to even keep her standing.

A sick realization struck me.

While I was letting my anger get the better of me, I ignored her in this vulnerable state.

"I j-just need some rest… somewhere q-quiet…" she said as she tried to assure me. Slowly my fists unclenched and I carefully kneeled next to her.

I really am an idiot.

"Okay." I nodded and carefully picked her up in my arms, for she was in no condition to walk. With a slow motion I stood up and leaned her head against my chest.

There was not much response from her in spite of picking her up like this. She probably just wanted all of this to be over with.

"I hope you're telling me the truth." I threw one last glare at the two suspects before slowly walking away, my hands tugging tightly on the girl in my arms. "It's okay, I've got you."

As I walked away the sea of students parted and made way for us, many whispers and murmurs being made as we passed by.

I didn't care what they believed or said, because right now I have someone who needed me.

"When the fuck did Emiya get so scary?!"


I eventually took Tsubaki-senpai to the infirmary and let her rest on the bed there.

She covered herself with a blanket as she sat on the bed, staring absentmindedly forward, most likely avoiding eye contact with me.

There was so much I wanted to say but I kept myself back, silently sitting on a nearby chair, waiting for the Sitri Queen to calm down.

The minutes slowly ticked by, and before I knew it half an hour soon passed. But the blackhaired girl had yet to speak. Not that she didn't try, there were many moments when she was about to say something but stopped at the last moment.

With a sigh, I opened up the subject to try and find what was causing her distress. "What happened back there?"

"I'm not sure…" she whispered weakly, her eyes still avoiding mine. "Everything was fine until I realized that someone was touching my shoulder… from there on I just blacked out."

I took a moment to take in what Tsubaki told me, before comparing it to what I heard previously.

So what Murayama was telling me was true. Now I felt bad that I overreacted and almost strangled those two guys.

Still, that didn't solve the main issue.

"I don't get it, what could have caused you to react like that?"

Her fingers gripped on the bed sheets. "I wish I knew…"

"So I take it this the first time this has happened." I muttered to myself and tried to think. "Then I guess we need to figure out what's bothering you?"

She simply gave a weak nod in response.

"Okay, let's backtrack a little and list possible causes, were you perhaps feeling ill, did you get sick recently?" I asked.

"Not really, devils hardly get sick by human diseases. So I haven't been like that for years." Tsubaki said.

"Okay…" I muttered and tried going over what else it could have been. "Did anything happen while I was away?"

"Hardly, we spent the days while you were gone recovering. Nothing else really happened to get us involved."

"Stress… maybe?"

"I doubt it… while we've been through a lot recently, I can hardly see stress making me react that way."

"This sure isn't easy." My hands were scathing the side of my head in frustration. "It feels like everything was fine before I left after the Zepar incide-"

The words died in my mouth.

Cold shivers running down on my back, something dark slowly appearing in my mind.

A thought formed in my head as I recalled the events that took place there. At what happened shortly after I woke up and how everyone was shackled and vulnerable.

At what almost happened to the girl in front of me.

"Tsubaki-senpai…" I spoke slowly and unsure if what I deduced was true or just my imagination. Personally, I hoped I was wrong. "A-Are you… is this about what happened during the Zepar incident... when that man almost-"

Her skin went pale and her eyes dilated the very moment I mentioned what happened, pulling the blanket to cover her body as if to hide herself away.

Dammit...

"How could I have been so blind?" I almost punched the nearby countertop from the emotions raging within me. "Of course you wouldn't be fine about that… who the hell would feel fine and dandy after almost getting raped!?"

Bitter laughter followed, slowly I turned around and found her looking at me with weak eyes. "I guess… I'm not as fine as I thought?"

Something in me felt like it was getting squeezed and crushed. I leaned back in my chair and took a long breath. "You never really got a chance to talk about what happened did you?"

"It's not something I'm comfortable talking about." She admitted weakly. "Though, perhaps it may have been better if I did."

"... Would it be okay if we talked about it?" I asked.

"We could try…" she said, looking fragile all the while.

"So… how are you feeling after... everything?" I eventually fumbled out.

"I probably didn't realize it." A long pause followed. "Since I got back to school I kept having this anxious feeling whenever I was around any male students. Now that I look back on it, I've purposely kept a distance between myself and any men without realizing it."

Her eyes slowly drifted around the room and ended up gazing at the ceiling.

"I must look quite pathetic don't I?" A dark self-mocking tone echoed as she dropped back on the bed. "That man only managed to cop a few feels on me and here I am behaving like he actually did rape me."

"Just because it almost happened doesn't make it any less horrible." Forcing my tone to be gentle never felt this hard before, I just wanted to scream and tell her that it's not her fault, but I felt doing so wouldn't help in this case. "People often get traumatized from something 'almost' happening to them. Like, say you almost get run over by a car, or almost get shot by a bullet. It's understandable that you would become anxious around the thing that almost caused a tragedy."

"I understand Shirou, but still…" she bit her lower lip, hurting herself. "I feel so frustrated with myself for being so weak. Not only was I unable to defend myself, but now I'm moping over it."

"Look…" I took a moment and composed myself, trying to find the right words. "There's nothing wrong with what you're doing. You've been through a lot, it's understandable that it got to you like this."

"... If you say so." In spite of saying that, her tone betrayed her. Whatever this was, it will be a long time before she fully comes to terms with it.

Her head slowly tilted towards me and a complicated expression formed on her face. "W-Would it be too much to ask if you could stay with me for a bit?"

I forced a smile, trying to reassure her if even by a small amount. "... Anytime, if you ever feel like you need some support, just give me a call. I'll do whatever I can."

"... Thank you, Shirou."


I was a fool to believe that the worst had passed regarding the matter with Tsubaki.

While she did eventually calm down and fall asleep in the infirmary there was still another issue that I did not consider at the time.

The aftermath, and how the others would react once they learnt of what happened.

When I told Sona everything, she didn't take it well, in fact I believe she took it worse than I did.

There we were, the two of us in the student council room, with Sona sitting at her desk, her forehead pressed against its hard surface.

"How could I have been so blind?"

I've seen her have a rough day before, but nothing like this. She looked as if all her energy had been drained and was barely hanging on.

"I knew of what happened, and yet I didn't do anything."

My arms were crossed under my chest and I was gripping my elbows. It felt like I couldn't sit in place unless I did so. "What could you have done?"

"I don't know!" She snapped and smacked her hand against her desk. "Anything was better than nothing!"

The student council president paused as she realized how she just reacted, with a click of her tongue she tried to compose herself, though it was easier said than done.

"When we were all recovering from the Zepar incident, I asked her if she was alright." Her voice was weaker now, but the subtle frustration was still present in it. "She said yes, it seemed so honest that I didn't take a moment to question it whatsoever."

There was a spike of power in the room. The water in the nearby tea pot became restless, causing the kitchen utensils to dance in place.

"And look at her now!" She hissed, looking like there was nothing more she wanted but to break something. "She almost had a mental breakdown!"

I sighed and tried to think of what to say.

Truth be told, she was right to a certain extent. Perhaps this wouldn't have happened if she was just a little more insistent when she brought up the matter and Tsubaki was given more care. But then again what about me?

"... I don't know if it's any consolation, but I was there, I saw what happened to her, and what 'could' have happened to her." That memory made my blood boil, how I could have prevented it all if I was just a bit faster that day. "Yet, I never took a moment to consider how she was doing once the heat died down."

However my remark didn't seem to do any good, quite the opposite in fact.

"Unlike me Shirou, you don't have a responsibility towards the peerage as their King." The glare she had looked like it could cut glass. "It's my duty to make sure that everyone will be able to return home to their families and friends."

In a way, she was right. The king of a peerage had a duty to all their pieces. Knowing how Sona is, this must have felt like a big blow to her ego, letting such a thing happen.

Still, a part of me was annoyed that she was acting like it was her fault alone.

"And you don't think I have any sort of duty towards my friends?"

"I never said that!" She snapped once more and her magical power flared, the tea in the nearby cups erupting like geysers. There was a moment of awkwardness and the Sitri heiress face fell down in shame. "... Sorry."

I sighed and traced a mop, inwardly thanking Sella for suggesting that I try practicing tracing mundane things.

When I was done cleaning I took the nearby tea pot and prepared a new batch of tea. At least her little bout of anger caused the water in it to boil saving me some preparation time

With a click I offered Sona a cup. "Here, let's both try to calm down."

"That would be appreciated." She gave a weak nod and accepted it.

Both of us took a long sip and gave a deep sigh.

My eyes were focused on my tea, staring at my reflection in it. "So where do we go from here?"

"I guess I first need to talk with Tsubaki myself and see what we can agree on." Her tone was uncertain as she went on. "Therapy is an option, but it's up to her if she wants to do it or not."

That was a good idea actually, and given how she reacted earlier, there's not much doubt. "I think she needs it."

"What we think is besides the point, it's what she wants that will determine our next step. If she developed Haphephobia or anything similar I need to figure out some ways to help her manage herself for a while."

"How do you even do that?" I asked carefully, taking mental notes. "Last time I checked our school is still coed."

"Not sure, for now I suppose I can give her only desk work so she doesn't have to interact with the male half of the student body." She took a small sip of her tea. "While it's not the best solution it's all I can think of at the moment, I also need to inform the others about this and tell them to keep and eye on Tsubaki. I should probably also tell Saji to avoid any physical contact so she doesn't get startled again."

I gave a small nod. "That's a start..."

"... I will need some time to think this over." She took her tea and drowned the rest in one go, letting out a long sigh at the end. "Just go home for today Shirou."

I was about to get up, but recalled my discussion with the team's Queen before her semi-breakdown. "Before I go, Tsubaki-senpai told me you wanted to talk with me about something."

There was a pause and Sona seemed to take a moment and think about it. "Oh… I forgot about that."

"So what is it?"

"Forget it, I doubt you're in the mood for it right now." Sona stated.

"It seemed important, so at least tell me what it is?"

And if I was perfectly honest, at this point, I didn't really give a damn.

The look Sona had was reminiscent of biting a lemon. "Fine, I'll humor you. I believe you heard of the recent incident involving Hyoudou Issei and those fallen angels."

Bringing up that subject left a sour taste in my mouth. "I did…"

"Well that makes things easier." She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "I wanted to ask if you would mind keeping an eye on the nun that also joined Rias peerage at the end of that incident."

"The nun?"

"Yes, her name is Asia Argento and from what I found out about her, she is quite sheltered. That being said, I'm concerned about how well she will integrate here. Both as a student but also as a devil as well. While I do trust Rias, I'd rather not have any surprises, it's more often than naught that sheltered people are overwhelmed by their new life in a collective environment and unsavory people may try and take advantage of them."

Huh… that was actually a fair point, supernatural aside, it's not exactly easy to place a sheltered person in school and expect everything to be fine. Heck, I heard that many students have a rough time just transferring from one school to another.

I eventually gave a nod and stood up, finding the request simple enough. "Sure, I'll keep an eye out."

As I was about to step away I felt Sona tug on my sleeve. "... Shirou, I'm sure you're worried about Tsubaki, but try not to let it get to you. While it's a good thing to show support, we shouldn't become overbearing."

"I don't plan to."

A small glare was then directed at me. "That means not threatening anyone that may trigger her panic attack."

Hearing that made me feel a bit guilty about what I did earlier two those two. "I jumped the gun, I won't deny that."

"Just try to keep it under control." She sighed and let go of me. "I know Tsubaki and she'd really hate it if you started beating people up in her name."

"I'll… try to behave."


The following week had passed rather quickly in my opinion, but that most likely meant that I kept doing whatever I could to keep my mind busy and not get caught up in my own dark thoughts.

At the very least Sella and I had started studying up on runes and began experimenting with them a little bit. The strange part about runecraft is that you don't just scribble them down and bam something happens.

First thing you need to do is actually learn the runes like the letters of the alphabet. That normally wouldn't be so bad, but apparently a single rune can signify several different words all at once, and its meaning and power that it can enact depends on the very meaning of that rune.

It may not be important if you want some basic functions, but if I'm aiming to utilize the more advanced rune sequences you need to understand how the meaning of the runes can change and alter depending how they are placed and used.

That said, Sella made it pretty clear that if she catches me experimenting with runes without her supervision she'll ban me from the kitchen.

As one could imagine I reluctantly agreed.

That aside, I did as Sona asked of me and kept an eye out for the former nun. While I was told she was sheltered, I quickly learned it was understatement. If it weren't for Issei Hyoudou always hanging out with her I'm pretty sure some rather unscrupulous individual would have taken advantage of her naivete by now just as Sona mentioned. It was surprising how protective and supportive he was of her despite his terrible reputation. Underneath all that perversion may very well be a good guy.

Watching her often from afar felt like watching a confused puppy trying to find its way through a crowded street.

All in all I'm surprised the two of them never really noticed that I kept an eye on them. I wasn't quite sure if I was just good at stealth or if they were just that bad at noticing their surroundings.

Today was the same, it even reached the point that Momo and Tomoe were taking bets whether they actually figured it out before someone told them or not.

Their antics aside, at least there haven't been any other incidents.

The day eventually went by and classes were done, but we were still at school. With the exception of Sona and Tsubaki, the rest of us were in the school gym working out.

I for one was currently busy doing bench presses with Saji spotting me.

Perhaps he was just bored, but the blond eventually pointed out to me.

"You sure looked tired."

That remark didn't stop me from pushing the bar. "Haven't been sleeping all that well lately."

"Is that so?" His eyes turned half closed as he stared at the bar. "Well, it sure isn't affecting your lifting game."

"To be fair, I'm using reinforcement on my muscles. I'd probably have ripped something by now without it."

"That's cheating man." he grumbled under his voice.

"I prefer to think it's making the most out of what you have." I remarked cryptically, not bringing up again the fact that I have limited choices when it comes to what kind of spells I can utilize. So with what little I have I must use them to the fullest extent.

Saji though, didn't seem to like it. "Yeah, tell that to the guy that can't lift half of what you got on the barbell."

I stopped mid push and gestured to the side with my head. "If you think I'm an annoying case, look over at Tsubasa."

When he looked to where I pointed he instantly paled, as the image of Tsubasa lifting dumbbells with what probably weighed twice of what I was currently lifting came into view, each one individually might I add. "Hey that's not really fair, she has the raw strength of a Rook backing her up."

I could only deadpan and continue my set. "What's keeping you from promoting and doing the same?"

He was about to complain, but stopped and facepalmed. "... Why didn't I think of that?"

"Honestly, I also have my moments when I don't figure out easy answers, so you're not alone."

It wasn't so bad when you forget stuff like that in your daily life.

What matters is not doing it during battle or when it truly counts.

When someone could get hurt…

I clicked my teeth in annoyance and with a large huff I lifted the bar a final time and placed it back in its hold.

"And set." I sighed, pulling myself up, giving a chance for my arms to recover a little. "Pweh."

Saji took a seat next to me on the work betch, shoving a water bottle in my chest. It took me a few tries to pick it up, my fingers not having much force left in them.

"Good thing Kaichou lets us use the school gym to train after hours."

I took a small sip of the water, enjoying it slowly, more to rinse my mouth than outright quench my first. "I think the good thing is that she got us this equipment to use, since I doubt we have a bodybuilding club."

That elicited a small smirk from the blonde pawn. "I guess."

There was an awkward moment of silence, the two us looking over at what the others were doing.

"So…" I began and got closer to Saji, making sure to keep everything I said under a whisper. "Have you noticed anything new with Tsubaki-senpai?"

"Not really." He followed with his own voice low. "The others also kept an eye on her, and fortunately she didn't have another episode."

"That's good… I guess."

"Not too happy about it?" His eyes narrowed at me.

I shook my head in disdain. "That's not it, I'm just worried she could have another panic attack if she isn't careful."

It was at this that Saji's expression softened. "She must have really been bad if you are this freaked out."

"You didn't see her when it happened." I muttered and my hand tightened around the water bottle. "I never saw her so terrified before."

"I only know what I was told, you know it the best out of all of us."

"Maybe…" I said while drifting off in thought.

Yeah… I knew it the best, so I probably knew how bad it could be if it happens again. It was one thing if it happened at school or on the street, but then I imagined what may happen if she had a breakdown in midfight.

Freezing and becoming unresponsive, a perfect opening for the enemy to seize.

It would be fatal.

… And I was probably the only one that figured this out.

I glanced at my side as Saji was poking me with his elbow, a shit eating grin present on his face. "On a funnier note, some spicy rumors began circulating after that incident."

A part of me instantly regretted this before I even asked. "What kind of rumors?"

"Don't worry, it's nothing bad, at least depending on how you look at it." The blonde said.

Somehow, that wasn't reassuring me. "Just tell me already."

With a shrug he went on. "Apparently the rumors are about you."

"Me?" I asked in confusion.

"Well, they're more or less about you and the viceprez having a little fling going on." He clarified for me with a big grin.

I stared.

I blinked.

My jaw dropped as my brain crashed.

"... What?"

"From what I gather the way you lashed out at those two idiots and the protective way you acted around her was wayyyyy too intense for how a 'just a friend' would react." The Pawn elaborated. "The way you reacted was more like a guy protecting the girl he likes."

"You gotta be kidding me." My head dropped down from the sheer stupidity of this rumor making me facepalm, hard. "Please tell me Tsubaki-senpai didn't hear any of these rumors."

Saji gave me a pat on the back. "I think it's safe, me and the others have been doing a little damage control, but it won't last long. Keeping gossip in check is a losing battle after all."

It would have been WAY better if there wasn't any gossip to begin with.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose in frustration. "Like she didn't have enough on her plate as it is."

"We'll figure it out later, for now we need to help her out with her real issue."

"Yeah… right..."

As I tried to squeeze my brain and figure out how to deal with this new information, I felt my head being pulled into an arm lock.

When I looked at the source, Saji was being subjected to the same treatment, the perpetrator being a grinning Tsubasa.

"Am I interrupting a bromance moment?" She asked teasingly.

Saji immediately coughed and got out of her lock. "As if."

Tsubasa's fun seemed to have been ruined and she let go of me as well, jumping next to me on the bench. "Well then, if you're done with the benchpress let me have a go."

"Be my guest." I remarked and gave her room to continue.

When she assumed position I took a moment and looked at her arms, how well defined her muscles were, quite noticeable after all of those dumbbells sets. "Triple the weights Saji, i want to actually work up a sweat."

Both me and Saji sweat dropped at the request, the grey eyed boy giving me a knowing stare. "You were saying earlier?"

"Have fun there." I waved off and left before this began getting any weirder.

As I made my way through the gym my eyes landed on our team's resident knight.

She was just… standing.

Her stance was a common one in kendo, with her sword facing forward. What was curious was that she was keeping her eyes closed, and I could feel faint traces of demonic energy dancing around the blade.

The cursed aura of the sword felt… off, for a lack of better term.

While I knew breaking her out of her concentration wasn't a nice thing to do while training, this really got me curious. "You okay there Tomoe?"

It took a bit before she finally responded and snapped her eyes back open.

"Oh, Shi-chan!" She barked excitingly, a total shift from the previous calm and serene state she was in. "I'm fine, just trying out something."

"Like what?"

"Well that book you gave me had an interesting type of spell in it." The knight elaborated and gestured to her weapon. "I thought I could use it through my sword."

At the moment I couldn't recall which of the spell books she had picked, so I wasn't entirely sure what she was trying to do. "I see, then how is it going?"

"Not that well." She half laughed and sighed. "I'm more used to swinging a sword rather than channeling spells through it."

"I could say the same."

Though, my case was a bit different. I was using a spell to recreate weapons, not using a spell on an already existing one.

The idea did sound promising I had to admit. Perhaps if Tomoe figures something out she may be willing to teach me.

"Still!" Her sudden shout made me take an involuntary step. "Not gonna let that get me down! I will figure this out and become a badass magic swordswoman!"

Well… if anything she was at least in high spirits regardless of how little progress she was making. It was actually quite endearing.

A small smile made its way on my face. "You do that."

"Aye, sir!"

She paused her salute and sniffed the air, her nose wrinkling in disgust.

"By the way, not to be that girl, but go take a shower." She used her sword and pointed to my armpits. "We're visiting the Gremory gang later and we don't want to smell like a football locker."

I looked over and didn't realize just how much I've been sweating this past training session, my shirt was pretty damp, and the smell… yeah, that needs to be dealt with.

"... I'll go hit the showers."


It was moments like this that I felt a sort of appreciation towards my position in the student council.

In addition to securing the gym equipment for us to use, Sona had also commissioned a private locker room for council members as well. Not to mention a high quality shower that I enjoyed using after working out.

I did once ask her if the shower was a bit too much, but her reply only served to confuse me.

'If Rias can install a shower in her clubhouse, then I will have one too.'

Or something along those lines.

Still, it can be awkward at times for two guys and seven girls to share a room like this. How there hasn't been an accidental incident about nudity until now was quite the mystery. That said, it wasn't uncommon for one of the girls to come in randomly.

Reya for instance just walked in, but luckily for me I was already dressed, only lingering a bit more to dry my hair.

The Bishop looked like she worked up quite a sweat herself given how damp her clothes were.

I did notice that she was practicing some weird spells during our workout earlier, and whatever they were required quite an effort on her part.

That said, I tried my best to avoid looking anywhere beneath her face. The damp clothes were sticking to her skin rather noticeably in certain places, revealing certain bits that I shouldn't stare at.

I pulled the towel on my head further down, my cheeks burning slightly. "So, what are we meeting up with the ORC for?"

Reya took a seat on a nearby bench and let out a long tired sigh. "Oh right, you weren't there this morning with us when Kaichou told us."

"I was helping out Ayako over at the archery range."

"Aha." The Bishop gave a weak nod and further spread out tiredly on the bench. "Well long story short, the familiar forest will be open soon for business and Kaichou wants to call dibs with Gremory-senpai."

My brow rose slightly at that. "Familiar forest?"

"Basically a place filled with all sorts of magical creatures that we devils can go and bind as our familiar."

While the concept itself didn't sound too bad, the context however felt a bit off to me."... And we can just go there and get one, just like that?"

Reya didn't seem to catch my point. "Pretty much."

"I find it a bit weird that it sounds so simple."

"To be fair, you aren't guaranteed to get one." She elaborated further, picking herself up. "From what I noticed, it's kind of like going fishing on a private lake. Regardless of whether you catch something or not is besides the point, you still need to pay for entry. Anyway, last time I visited Momo and Tomoe were also there to get a familiar, but only I managed to catch one. They had to wait until next time to get their own familiars."

I nodded and made a mental note, so kinda like an actual hunt, even if you go to a hunting spot, you're not guaranteed to catch anything, luck being something of a big factor. "Do you literally catch them or is there more to it?"

A proud smile graced the Bishop's face. "In my case it was pretty easy, I lured my familiar with food and it took a liking to me, the binding contract went smoothly after that."

I took a moment to just let it sink in that she apparently caught and contracted a magical creature by luring it with food… was it really that simple or was I missing something?

"What kind of familiar do you have?"

"Look and behold." She waved her hand and a magic circle flashed. Once the lights faded a small creature was now resting in Reya's lap. "This is Ferrell."

I took a long stare at it, unsure if what I was seeing was right. "You have a magical ferret… called Ferrell…"

"I bet you were expecting something big and scary as a familiar."

"... A bit." Truth be told I was more baffled by the name rather than what it was. "So… what does it do?"

"Many things." Reya beamed and the ferret straightened. "He can turn his tail on fire and use it to fight, it's several times more nimble than regular ferrets so it's hard to keep track off, and its teeth and claws can easily rip off human flesh."

As per its master's instruction the small critter lighted its tail on fire, started leaping around the room at ridiculous speed and even took a small bite out of the wooden bench.

Once it was done with the demonstration, it jumped on Reya's shoulder and rubbed its head against her cheek. "Also, he's very fluffy and makes for a great pillow to cuddle with."

"That sounds… nice." I muttered baffled, that last part not something I would expect to use a familiar for.

"Oh, if you get a bird familiar, don't show it to him."

"Why?"

"He tends to pounce on any bird it sees." Her smile strained as she said this. "Momo's pigeon familiar would attest to that."

"Noted."

"Great, say goodbye Ferrell." The ferret made a bizarre sound, vanishing soon afterwards.

"Well, I think I should also get ready for the meeting." The bishop stood and tugged her shirt slowly lifting it up, she stopped half way as her navel was exposed. A smile beamed on her face as she noticed me staring at her. "Unless you want to stay and watch me undress, I'd advise you to give me some privacy."

My jaw dropped slightly and I immediately stood up, shaking my head of any impure thoughts. "Appreciate the warning."

Just as I stepped outside Reya called me out. "By the way, if you see Momo tell her I'm waiting for her in the shower."

"Uh, okay?" I nodded and closed the door behind me.

After the first few steps a small realization hit me.

Wait… do those two take showers together?

Is it wrong that I'm overthinking things, or is it just me?


It was about an hour before everyone was done and ready to go. Saji in particular drew the short straw showering last, while everyone kept bugging him to hurry up.

The irony of it all was the fact the girls were the ones who spent the most time there. It was quite the challenge not to point it out to them even if I knew it would end poorly for me.

"What's got you so worked up Shirou-senpai?" Ruruko asked me as we made our way through the schoolyard.

I barely looked in her direction as I deadpanned. "I don't get why we are going to the ORC."

The pawn didn't see my point. "To tell them we're going to get familiars?"

"I already know that, what I meant is why bother going there instead of just giving them a call." I remarked and eyed everyone. "More than that, why do we all have to go there?"

No matter how you put it, to me it seemed like a waste of time to have everyone go.

"You do have a point." mused Ruruko.

"It's called courtesy." Sona spoke in mild annoyance, having heard everything in spite of Ruruko and I being at the back of the group while she was ahead at the front. "This occasion is also a good opportunity to present our newest members."

Tsubaki turned her head and continued. "While Rias-san is aware of you and Saji, her peerage hasn't officially been introduced to either of you nor has her newest members met the rest of the student council."

"I see." I suppose formalities like this are a big deal in devil culture.

As we reached the Occult Research Club, I stopped in my tracks and just stared at the old building they were assigned. Momo took notice of this. "What is it?"

My eyes half closed as I started walking back. "You know, I always wondered how come no one ever made a fuss about the ORC having a whole building to themselves when they have only a handful of members."

That caused most of the people present minus Sona to blink. "Huh, never really thought about it."

The moment I took my first step inside the building I could feel all of the magic lingering around the hall. Most likely from whatever wards or other spells were placed inside.

We shortly arrived at what appeared to be the door to the main office, Sona throwing us a cold glare. "You better not make a scene and embarrass us."

If that was meant to intimidate some of us, others like Tomoe laughed it off. "Oh come on Kaichou, when did we ever do anything like that?"

The Sitri devil straightened her glasses. "Need I remind you of the time you pestered Kiba Yuuto to have a duel with him the very first time you met him."

Tomoe instantly recoiled back at that, resulting with Tsubasa snickering at her. "Heh, burned."

"You are in no position to laugh about it Tsubasa, remember the cat fight you had with Toujou Koneko over a cookie."

A crimson blush exploded on the bluennet's face and she turned to the side. "..."

In spite of not wanting to add more fuel to the fire, I couldn't help but let out a small whistle.

"... Seems like you guys had fun even before I came along."

"Oh shut up!" Tsubasa snapped, her face turning even redder.

"If you two are done, we don't have all day." With those words from the Sitri heiress, both of us shut up and Sona finally opened the door.

When we stepped in the occupants of the room were clearly surprised by our unannounced visit. From what I noticed all the members of the Gremory group were currently accounted for, including the new ones.

Hyoudou jumped from his seat the moment he saw us. "The student council?!"

Rias Gremory shifted in her seat, her eyebrow rising in surprise. "Oh my, I wasn't expecting you Sona."

The Sitri heiress in question sported a pleasant smile. "I'm sure you weren't Rias."

"So, to what do we owe the pleasure?" The blue eyed devil asked.

"I considered that it would be a good time to reintroduce our peerages considering we both recently gained new members."

"I didn't know there were other devils here besides us."The blonde girl said in bewilderment.

My eyes momentarily drifted to her, while I didn't personally know her, I knew who she was.

She certainly stood out in the room. A foreigner, around my age with long blond hair, eyes the color of emeralds, and an innocent expression gracing her soft features.

Asia Argento, the former holy maiden that Sona told me about. The very same girl that got murdered by those rogue fallen angels.

Her eyes shortly met mine and she seemed to flinch under my stare, moving ever so slightly behind Hyoudou. This being the first time we actually stood in front of each other, the past week I've been observing her from afar.

… She certainly appeared the way Sona described her, and now I was seeing it up close with my own eyes.

Buzz!

Something was wrong.

Buzz!

My eyes throbbed and cringed, a ringing sound rushed through my ears.

Buzz!

There was something off about the girl. Her hair was no longer let down, it was instead tied behind in an elaborate bun, her eyes no longer showing off innocence and uncertainty, instead they were strong and dignified.

Buzz!

The ringing sound was gone. I blinked and everything was back to the way it was.

What… was that?

"Wait... " I heard Hyoudou gasp, pointing a trembling finger at our group. "You mean to tell me that not only Shitori Souna, but the whole student council are also devils?!"

"Indeed." Kiba Yuuto nodded with his usual charming smile. "Issei-kun, this is Sona Sitri, and just like our master, she is the heiress to the Sitri clan."

The boy's eyebrows shot up, clearly surprised by our presence. Given that he was recently made a devil it was understandable that he didn't know everything going on.

Though, not like I can really talk about this. I've been together with the Sitri team for a few months now and I hardly interacted with the ORC members in that time. There was the occasional 'Hello', but not much more beyond that.

"Hold on!" Hyoudou half choked as his eyes landed on me. "Emiya is also one?!"

I could only stare at him with flat eyes. Did it really take him that long to notice me?

"Circumstances, what can I say." I explained bluntly.

"Why don't you properly present yourselves then?" the ORC president suggested with a charming smile.

Hyoudou stiffened and took a small bow. "R-Right, I'm Hyoudou Issei, Pawn of Rias Gremory."

The blonde girl noticed this and followed suit, looking a bit bashful. "A-Asia Argento, Bishop of Rias Gremory."

"Saji Genshiro, Pawn of Sona Sitri."

The eyes were then focused on me. A part of me didn't like keeping this charade, but sadly I couldn't just come clean and tell them that I'm actually human. "... Emiya Shirou, Pawn of Sona Sitri."

After the introductions were done, The brown haired boy seemed to brighten up. "Wow, there are other pawns at school, you guys are just like me."

While the remark did make me feel a bit awkward, in Saji's case it made him cringe. "Sheesh, being compared to one of the top three perverts on campus sure is a nasty feeling."

Said pervert in question frowned and clicked his tongue. "Are you looking for a fight jackass?!"

I could only roll my eyes. "No, really Saji, are you actually looking for a fight?"

The look he threw me was quite the confused one, looking rather betrayed. "The hell… don't tell me you're sticking up for this creep Emiya?"

"I just want some peace and quiet, and you picking on Hyoudou seems counterproductive to that."

As the boys were about to further complain, a person slid between them and patted each of them on the shoulder, a sweet yet alluring smile present. "Now, now boys, I'm sure it's perfectly normal to bicker, but doing it in front of your masters isn't very nice."

Both of them blushed and lost all traces of hostility, her actions and soothing words acting like a sedative. Making them both immediately apologize.

"Sorry about that."

"Sorry, Akeno-san."

"Good boys." Her eyes slowly shifted to me, her smile growing ever so slightly.

"So this is the infamous swordsman that Sona recruited." She mused. "I believe this is the first time we've spoken in person, I am Himejima Akeno, Queen of Rias Gremory and vice president of the Occult Research Club, a pleasure to meet you."

"I don't believe I did anything really worth the praise, but likewise I am Emiya Shirou. a pleasure to meet you senpai." I took a moment and eyed the girl from head to toe. This was hardly the first time that I saw her, I passed by her many times in the school's halls, but like she just said, this was the first time we properly spoke face to face.

It was quite easy to see why she was considered one of the most beautiful girls in our school. If Rias Gremory's most striking features were her long crimson hair and foreign looks, then in Himejima Akeno's case it was most likely how well she embodied the look of a Yamato Nadeshiko, possessing a cascade of black hair tied in a long ponytail reaching all the way down to her legs, being kept in place by one orange ribbon.

Some may take a moment and doubt that she is a highschool student. Sure, she is a senior here, but many would find it hard to believe that a person her age would have such poise. Not to mention possessing such a curvaceous figure, with a bustline that most certainly outshined even that of my maid Leysritt.

Perhaps what stood out the most for me were the amethyst colored eyes she had. Most humans would find them breathtaking, but I could see something more when I looked at them, something inhuman.

I personally didn't want to start suspecting things, it's not my problem if she wasn't fully human or something else before she became a devil.

She is currently the Queen of Rias Gremory, and if Sona tells me they can be trusted, then I will hold my doubts.

Her smile dropped and she let out a small gasp. "Oh my, how careless of me, I need to make more tea."

"No need to bother Himejima-san, we will be on our way shortly." Sona said.

"Oh no, I insist."

As the girl walked away my eyes refused to leave her be. "She seems nice."

"Easy there tiger." Tsubasa snickered, pulling my head into an armlock. "She may look all sweet and graceful, but I hear she's into quite the freaky stuff, of the whips and ropes variety."

When I got my head free I threw a deadpan look at her. "... I find that rather hard to believe."

No matter how much I tried I just couldn't picture the girl anything like how Tsubasa described. Then again, my mom was also a very sweet woman but had moments when I felt she was outright evil… though that was mostly only when her shenanigans were involved.

"Just wait until we ever get to fight together, you'll see what she's all about." The Sitri Rook shrugged, an toothy grin following suit. "Unless our boy scout over here is secretly also into kinky stuff."

My eye twitched at that remark, sometimes it felt like I was talking to a dude with how Tsubasa was at times. "... I'm fairly certain my preferences are normal."

Much to my own misfortune, that only made her smile grow bigger. "Oh? Like what? Do tell."

Sometimes I wonder how it is that I can continue to dig my own hole like this.

"Do you honestly expect me to answer that?"

"Not really, still worth a shot, plus your face is priceless."

I rolled my eyes at her antics and just stared around the room.

All her jokes aside, now that she mentioned it.

There was something about the Gremory Queen's smile.

As pleasant as it was, there was something off about it. Perhaps it was just my imagination, but it felt fake to me.

I shook my head and tried to get rid of those thoughts. As my eyes wandered around the room I noticed that someone was keeping a close eye on me.

"Hey there Toujou." I greeted the white haired girl casually.

She responded in her usual bored tone. "Sup."

Tomoe seemed surprised by this. "You two know each other?"

A wry smile graced my face. "... You could say that."

I said that, but I may have skipped a few details regarding this.

For the past week I've been keeping an eye on Hyoudou and Argento-san and while they didn't notice me, Toujou on the other hand did, actually calling me out on it.

She initially believed I might be stalking them, and wanted some answers.

I explained the situation to her more or less and fortunately she was fairly understanding. She agreed to leave me be and not report it to her master under the condition that I give her my lunch box that day.

That request seemed odd to me, but it wasn't an unreasonable one, so I agreed.

…The weird part was that the deal was just for that one single day yet she would continue to catch me the following week and each time demand the same payment.

I more or less ended up giving her a free meal each day.

It's not so bad since I often make extra food in general, but it sure felt awkward getting extorted for my lunch by a little girl.

I'm not sure if that meant I'm very gullible, or that Toujou is just that persuasive.

… Or maybe I just had a hard time saying no to her since she reminded me a lot of Illya.

That aside, we ended up having this strange dynamic and much to my own surprise it wasn't all investment and no profit. Toujou apparently is pretty good at tracking people, and whenever I need to find someone she's a great help.

She was pretty nice all in all, and quite easy to get along with.

Something that I noticed was lacking with some of the people in the room.

The whole meeting seemed to go pretty well, all things said.

Things however took a bad turn when the whole familiar issue was brought up. It seemed that Rias Gremory was also planning to go and acquire familiars for her new pieces.

This led to a whole new issue.

"So then how are we going to decide who gets priority?" Sona asked as she rearranged her glasses.

A smile graced the face of the Gremory heiress. "I may have an idea."


I had a feeling things wouldn't go well today.

Damn, I sure hate it when I'm right about things like this.

"Not enjoying the view Shirou?" Tsubasa snickered from the side.

I could only deadpan and point around us. "Actually I'm annoyed that things turned out like this. This was supposed to be a quiet match, and yet somehow it spiraled into a full blown competition with noisy spectators."

After a little deliberating the two devil kings had eventually decided to settle who gets priority by a friendly game of tennis. Specifically playing Doubles with their Queen's as their respective partners.

The girls didn't even get to step onto the tennis field and we were already surrounded by over a dozen students, all cheering excitedly for their favorite team to win.

My guess is that the students instantly figured where they were heading off and what they were planning judging by the tennis clothes and equipment they were carrying.

It wasn't long before news spread and others came along to watch and more shortly followed suit. Which is ironic since most of the matches played by the actual members of the tennis club barely got five or six people to stop and watch.

Tsubasa apparently saw my confusion and decided to fill me in on some details.

"Most are here for panty shots." She deadpanned and pointed at the flimsy tennis skirts the girls were wearing. "Especially since it's our school's so-called top four beauties."

My eyes drifted to the side at the boys holding onto the fence, ogling and drooling like dogs in heat, with the brown haired pervert in front of the lot of them. "... I noticed."

"Sorry, Issei-kun is a bit… let's say over the top when it comes to this." The blonde knight scratched his chin, the smile he had on obviously strained from his comrades perverted antics.

I could only deadpan in response. "...You don't say?"

Ruruko sighed and hid her face in her palms. "Well, we aren't much better with Saji-senpai over there."

I looked around and felt the urge to facepalm, for Saji was on top of the fence waving a large flag and cheering for Sona.

Well, given how the girls seem evenly matched, it will probably be a while before this is over. With that in mind, I decided to get a few answers.

I took a few steps to the right, making sure I was next to Kiba and Toujou.

"So… how have things been on your side?" I spoke in a restrained tone, while I'm fairly certain that most of the students were focused entirely on the match, I still took a few measures to make sure no one else heard me. "I hear you had a 'feathery' problem recently?"

There was a momentary surprise on the Gremory Knight's face, but he smiled shortly. "A bit hectic I'd say given how the 'crow' incident kept us busy."

"Must have been rough."

"It wasn't pleasant, but fortunately things worked out in the end."

"I see." I muttered and stared at the newly reincarnated devil drooling over the girls, making me wonder if he was truly the same person that recently got murdered. "What about Hyoudou, is he adapting well to his new changes?"

"Lets just say he was more receptive towards it than we anticipated." Kiba stated.

"Really?" I said, surprised he managed to adapt so quickly.

There was another awkward laugh that he made before continuing. "Apparently out of all the potential bonuses joining us entailed, the notion that he can rise to power and one day create a peerage full of beautiful women was enough to help him get over losing his humanity."

Toujou deadpanned, rather loudly might I add. "The perv wants a harem, go figure."

"Hey, 'the perv' can hear you!" Hyoudou roared in indignation, having most likely heard the last part.

"Admitting your problem, progress."

It was certainly interesting to look how the white haired girl reacted to her new teammate. "I see you don't really like him Toujou?"

"Do you like habitual perverts?" The younger girl asked.

"... You make a valid point."

"Indeed." Kiba-san nodded as well.

"You all suck!" Hyoudou further roared.

"Says the guy that's a total simp." Toujou snarked.

"I'm glad Asia is on the other side of the field." At this point Hyoudou had enough and focused back at the game, half sobbing.

My nose wrinkled and my eyes drifted back to the match in front of me.

I could only stare in disbelief. "Did they just start using magic?"

"... I should have expected this." The blonde haired boy sighed in defeat.

Tsubasa followed suit. "Yep, Kaichou and Rias-senpai always escalate whatever game they play."

"Remember that time they played basketball and filled the field with holes?" Momo remarked.

"Or that time they swam and accidentally got all the water out of the pool?" Ruruko added.

"What about the time they were playing video games and vaporized the console?" Tomoe further added.

As their tennis match began getting more and more fired up, I could only nod to what the others said. "I get it, things go bad when those two are competing."

"Yep." Toujou nodded.

"This probably will take a while even like this." Kiba-san remarked.

"Most certainly." Tomoe agreed.

"Anyone want something to eat?" I asked out of boredom.

Everyone nodded, Toujou seemed particularly keen on that idea. "I'm game."


I stared... long and hard, unblinkingly.

No matter how I tried, nothing changed.

The tennis racquets still looked like they took a freaking cannonball through them.

When we got back from our snack break the game was over, and the end result was a tie. The result from both sides ruining their racquets.

An awkward atmosphere was floating around both Kings.

The walk back to the ORC building was also equally awkward.

After putting down the ruined equipment I shifted my gaze to Sona, the girl fidgeting as she noticed this. "You know, for someone that keeps reminding us not to use our powers recklessly in public, you sure are packing a lot of magic in those tennis balls."

The burning blush in her cheeks and pout on her face was quite the rare sight. "... Leave me alone."

"Just saying." I took a nearby water bottle and offered it to our Queen. "Good work out there Tsubaki-senpai."

She humbly accepted it, offering me a small smile. "... Thank you."

For some reason, Sona's pout seemed to further increase after seeing this. "Why is Tsubaki the only one to get praised?"

"Well, for one she and Himejima-senpai tried to play by the rules."

"Tsubaki used magic as well!" She pointed out with an accusing finger.

"Only when you and Gremory-senpai started going ham with the magically enhanced serves, they had no choice but use magic just to keep up." I said with a deadpan.

"Am I the only one finding this whole scene weird?" The crimson haired beauty's face was quite baffled at what she was seeing.

Momo only shrugged and replied. "Not really, normally Kaichou is the one chewing out Shirou for doing something stupid, not the other way around."

"I should have taken pictures." The Gremory Queen smiled all too sweetly. "Serafall-sama would've paid nicely for shots of her sister all embarrassed like this."

"Fine!" Sona jumped up from her seat surprising everyone. "I jumped the gun and got too heated out there, I apologize for the inconvenience."

The crimson haired King sweatdropped at her. "Sona, no one was really asking you to apollo-"

"Moving on!" She cut her off, straightening her glasses. "Since our equipment broke and the game ended without a victor, Rias and I decided to hold a dodgeball game tomorrow night to decide who gets priority for the trip to the familiar forest."

Her now icy glare turned to her peerage. "So I want all of you to rest well and be in tip top shape for tomorrow."

I sighed and leaned back on my seat, looking over at Reya and whispering. "Would it have killed them to decide it by a coin toss?"

"Oh, where's the fun in that?" Reya cheerfully replied.

"I just… after what I saw today I can't help but fear of what may take place tomorrow."

"Don't be silly, what's the worst that can happen Shirou?"


"I knew it… I just knew it."

The very moment I woke up the next day I felt it would be a bad day, I could feel it in my bones. Everything went by without any problem during the day, until the time for our game of dodgeball finally arrived.

The girls even decided on special rules to make sure we wouldn't have another debacle like the tennis match.

One of them being the moment you utilize magic you automatically get eliminated.

Because of that eliminations followed up rather fast.

Sadly that wasn't what bothered me.

After a long rough game filled with accidental crotch shots, tangling moments, and that one time Momo slipped as I tried to catch her but somehow resulted with her butt on my face. As galling as that was, it still did not compare to the end result, that one just made me facepalm.

Another tie.

There were others who looked as baffled by the result as I was.

I just couldn't help myself and snark about this. "... You know, the new rules might have come to bite Sona in the end."

Tomoe chuckled, but I could tell it was a strained one. "To be fair, Shi-chan, most devil's use magic as their means for battle, take that away and some of them are no better than regular humans."

Himejima-senpai didn't seem to mind this turn of events that much and lightly giggled to herself. "Who would've thought that Sona and Rias would be the first ones to get eliminated."

"Tell me about it, I sure lost that bet." Tsubasa groaned in frustration.

I could only widen my eyes at her in disbelief. "You were taking bets?"

The blue haired rook did not show any remorse at all. "Yeah, I was betting that the perv and nun on their side would be first to fall."

A tired sigh escaped my lips and I stared at the other Sitri devils, particularly at the ones looking rather skittish at the moment. "Anyone bet on me going down first?"

"Tomoe actually." Momo remarked, and the accused girl half choked at the betrayal. "She said you'd most likely step in and take the fall for someone else."

"Really?" I asked, my tone flat.

"Honestly pretty much everyone busted on their bets." The Sitri knight stated. "Except for Tsubaki-san and Himejima-senpai. They both betted on their Kings going down first."

Even our vice president, I wasn't expecting that at all. "I'm surprised Tsubaki-senpai even agreed to this in the first place, let alone bet on Sona."

Tomoe just shrugged. "Guess its revenge for making her wear that mini skirt during the tennis match, hear she wanted to wear gym shorts but kaichou insisted they both wear skirts otherwise they would look mismatched."

The corner of my mouth twitched. "You girls just confuse me sometimes."

"At least you didn't get your balls crushed by a stray shot like Saji and Hyoudou."

There was an involuntary cross of my legs at Tsubasa's remark, recalling the nut shot the two Pawns took. However, my thoughts were cut short when I heard our leader speak.

"So then, how are we supposed to decide?" Sona asked.

Alarms began ringing in my head as I realized where this was going..

"I guess another game is required, perhaps-"

"Stop." I spoke loudly and cut Gremory-senpai off, all eyes in the room quickly shifting at me. "I think we can all agree that this is enough."

The crimson haired beauty was surprised by me, but did not seem to be offended, instead she seemed curious. "If you don't want to play any other games to decide, how do you propose we handle it?"

… I didn't think that through actually.

While I did want all of this to be over, unfortunately I had no concrete solution.

Might as well do what I do in battle and figure something out on the spot.

When I took a moment and looked at all of the people in the room, an idea suddenly hit me.

"Okay, look, just answer me this." I spoke slowly to the two Kings. "Is there any rule that forbids two groups from visiting at the same time?"

The two girls seemed to ponder on my question for a bit, Sona speaking first.

"Well, not necessarily, but there's usually a limited number of familiars that can be found, so the smaller the group the better the chances of each person getting one. It's only fair, I'm sure some would be disappointed if the others got familiars and they didn't."

I nodded in understanding and then pointed with my thumb to the people behind. "While that is fair and all, how many people are in the room currently?"

The girls looked at me like I was saying something dumb, Gremory-senpai rolling her eyes. "Fifteen, which is a far too big group and-"

"And how many of us actually need familiars?"

The blue eyed devil was about to say something but went silent, her eyes widening as she most likely figured what I was getting at. "... Four."

My eyes narrowed as I looked at the people present. "So, maybe it's just my belief, but if we go there and ask nicely perhaps they won't mind the extra people coming along. The rest will be there watching while we acquire familiars, and I'm pretty sure we can find four of them in a forest."

Everyone present seemed surprised by my proposal. Tsubaki for one looked like she wanted to facepalm. "That... does sound like a reasonable request."

Momo tried to laugh but winced while rubbing her sore ribs, the strike that took her out being delivered by Koneko and her rook enhanced strength. "The Familiar Master might just agree with us, he seemed like an understanding man."

Saji seemed less stellar about this, the way he was walking indicating he was still sore after the game. "Emiya, on one hand I want to congratulate you, but on the other I'm rather annoyed you didn't mention this earlier. I got hit in the nuts man!"

I wanted to say sorry, but at this point, it wouldn't make much difference. "It hit me just now."

"Well better late than never!" Tomoe laughed wholeheartedly, ignoring the fact that most of her shirt got torn to shreds revealing her bra. "Lets get changed and go!"

"If we would've done this earlier… my balls wouldn't have had to suffer." Hyoudou half cried.

"Hey, whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Tsubasa snickered from afar.

"Everyone, it's decided, after we all take a long and well deserved break we will head off to the familiar forest." Himejima-senpai declared warmly after consulting herself with the two Kings. "Anyone who feels the need for a shower please go right ahead."

There was a collective 'Yes' from the group and everyone spread out. Some of us were arguing about who goes first for the shower while others were just sitting down, trying to recover some energy after the wild dodgeball game.

I for one walked to a nearby wall and leaned against it, making notes of what I should consider when looking for a familiar.

Small gasps got my attention and I looked over at my right. It seemed that the former nun had also chosen this wall to lean on. Though in her case, it was more like she leaned and slowly slid down against it until ending up on the floor.

She clearly was the most winded out of everyone present, most likely not used to this kind of physical exertion. While I'm not really aware of what a holy nun's itinerary is, I doubt it involved anything overly taxing or rough as dodgeball.

In between heavy breathing, her eyes took notice of me staring at her, a smile gracing her innocent face as she started waving her hand at me.

I suddenly felt awkward for being caught unaware like this, but I tried to make something out of it. "Well that was a total waste of time."

She seemed confused about what I was talking about, but she caught on as I pointed at the playing field.

"I wouldn't say that." She chuckled lightly, wiping away the sweat from her brow. "I had lots of fun playing with everyone like this."

While this wasn't exactly my definition of a fun time, I had to admit, it wasn't boring either. It certainly was better than paperwork at least.

A short bark of laughter eventually escaped my lips. "I guess it was a bit entertaining."

"It was, very much so, I never had the chance to experience such activities before." replied Asia.

When she mentioned that, I debated whether I should ask or not. It wasn't my place to get involved, but a part of me wanted to know. "Back when you were with the church you mean?"

Her smile instantly became strained, green eyes shifting and staring at the floor dejectedly. "... Yes."

"Don't worry, I hardly care about that." I instantly made it clear, before she further misunderstood. My blunt way of asking probably made her feel like I was questioning her. "Was never much of a person of faith, so the fact that you were a member of the church before means little to me."

"O-Oh, I see."

She may have said that, but her eyes still avoided making contact with mine. "How is school life treating you?"

"W-Well, I guess it's all new to me so I'm not very sure." She admitted after a bit of pondering, gripping strongly on her knees. "I think everyones very nice to me."

"Nobody is giving you trouble, are they?"

Panic took her over and she waved her hands frantically. "N-No, like I said, they are all nice to me."

"I see…" I muttered slowly, my eyes looking at her up and down. I had a hard time believing that someone could mistreat such an innocent looking girl. But then again, ever since I got involved in the supernatural, I slowly came to realize that life isn't as simple as I took it for.

Things are far more complex than I originally believed. More often than naught I have to reach out to truly get a grip on things.

Perhaps that's why I couldn't hold myself back and asked her. "How are you holding out?"

The nun blinked a couple of times, her head tilting slightly. "Pardon?"

"This… all of this." The words felt like they were being dragged out my throat, feeling as if I was making a mistake by further pushing this discussion to such sensitive matters. "Your life suddenly got turned upside down, and you ended up from being the holy maiden of the church to a bishop of a devil noble. It's not my place to speak, but I don't believe that's easy."

There was a moment of heavy silence and the blonde girl simply stared at me. Slowly, almost mechanically her eyes drifted down.

"... It isn't." She smiled bitterly, a forced smile that looked like it could break at any moment. "Everything happened so fast, I just didn't know what was going on anymore."

Her lips quivered and her breathing became haggard, a blank unfocused look present in her eyes. "... I j-just did what I t-thought was the right thing to do and yet… they… they…"

"Breathe." I gently grabbed onto her shoulder and shook her lightly. The sudden jolt returning the focus in her eyes. "Breathe in and out, try to calm down. You don't have to force yourself."

As per my instructions the girl took long deep breaths, her shaking slowly receding.

"Better?" I asked.

"Mm." Her nod was weak, but at least it was without panic.

Sona was spot on, this girl is hardly okay after everything that happened to her.

In spite of observing her the past week I only began truly interacting with her the past two days. However, I did notice a thing or two up until this point.

Her kind and sacrificing nature.

Each time someone got a little bit roughened up or lightly injured during the game she would immediately jump in and offer to heal them, not taking no for an answer. Even if said person was from the enemy team and not healing them would have been more beneficial for her own team.

That didn't just pertain to healing alone, the past days that I kept an eye on her, whenever someone seemed in need of help. She would offer to aid them even if she didn't know how to help them.

What was more concerning though were the moments she thought she did something wrong, she would panic and mope over it.

I wasn't too sure if this was how she always had been up until now, or if there was something more to it.

All I did know was that this girl was carrying a heavy weight on her shoulders, hidden beneath her kind smiles.

I wouldn't be surprised if she was crying to herself whenever she was all alone.

It plagued my mind when I saw similarities that weren't there.

Of the girl that hid her troubles until they came crashing down crushing her.

I saw with my own eyes where that can lead.

Never again.

I took a deep breath and gave the girl a small pat on her head.

"You don't have to tell me anything about what happened." My voice was soft, yet it was also firm. "There's just one thing I want to know."

"W-what is it?"

"Do you think you will be alright where you are now?"

She took a moment and thought over what I said, hugging her knees tightly to her chest. "I-I'm not sure… everything is still very new to me, but I do know everyone is kind and will help me."

She took a deep breath before she began once more.

"Koneko-chan acts like she doesn't care very much about most things, but she told me if anyone picks on me I just need to give her a call and she will 'beat them up' as she said."

"Kiba-san helped me familiarize with the city, the school, and taught me how to use a cellphone so I can always stay in touch with everyone."

"Akeno-san has been helping me learn how to write Japanese, as well as learn many of the local customs I wasn't aware of."

"Rias-san helped me enroll here and gave me a roof over my head when I had nowhere left to go."

"Issei-san may not be liked by many people at this school, but I've seen with my own eyes how much of a good person he is at heart. I probably wouldn't even be here if it weren't for him fighting so hard for my sake, a girl he barely knew."

Her lips pursed and she tightened the embrace around her knees. "I won't deny it, there are times when everything feels so surreal from what I know, overwhelming, and even suffocating. That at the moment I mistep something bad will happen and it will all crumble away."

However, the corners of her mouth curved up ever so slightly. "Still… I also feel happy… like this is the place I was always meant to end up, no matter what might've happened previously. So even if these fun days are just a passing dream, I want to live them to the fullest."

I just stared at her, there was so much more I wanted to ask, but I think that was enough for one day.

A small smile eventually formed on my lips."... That's good, I'm happy for you."

I slowly got up and gave her a reassuring grin. "Well, if you ever are in trouble or just need someone to listen to your concerns, just drop by the student council room. Now that you're a student here it's my job to make sure your school life will be a great one."

Her eyes opened wide and she began rubbing them, most likely to get rid of the tears that were beginning to form.

"You said your name is Shirou-san, correct?" she asked in between small sobs. "Thank you Shirou-san, you are very kind."

"You're welcome." I gave her a wave as I made my way out.

It may not have been much, perhaps it did not make much of a difference, but it gave me a sense of ease knowing that this time I tried at the very least to do something. With that done, I made my way to the shower and prepped for a trek in some magical woods.


If I were to describe the whole road to the so-called familiar forest, sadly few words would appear.

Anticlimactic would be the one at the top though.

We went through all the mayhem with the tennis and dodgeball matches and yet arriving at the location felt way too easy.

I was expecting some sort of secret location that we had to walk by foot through some elaborate ravine, or something.

Or maybe a disguised area hidden away by a special bounded field that would only allow entry upon certain conditions being fulfilled.

Perhaps a place guarded by some ridiculous phantasmal beast that would demand we best it in combat to give us passage was another thought.

None of that happened.

We just casually teleported there like we owned the place.

I know that I shouldn't complain since that was a good thing, but still… it felt way too easy.

At the very least we weren't here by ourselves. Mere moments after we teleported in we were greeted by a middle aged man who presented himself as Zatouji, the so called Familiar Master of this place, our apparent guide and counselor for the duration of our trip here.

I had many doubts about him the moment I saw him, more specifically due to how he dressed more like a middle schooler than a man his age.

I mean seriously what kind of old man waltzes around in shorts, a tank top and a cap in the middle of the night?

I could buy it if it were scorching hot, but it was in fact rather chilly.

All that aside, Sona and Gremory-senpai vouched for him being the real deal, so I'll just ignore his sense of fashion.

The man was a bit curious about the large number of people present at first, but after a bit of explaining and a couple of sweet smiles from the girls he gave us a thumbs up and green lit the expedition.

Currently our rather large group was being guided in the forest by him.

"Hey Emiya, Emiya!"

The sudden nudging and whispering made me raise a brow. "Yes Saji?"

The blonde haired pawn looked rather disturbed as he explained what was bothering him. "Is it me, or does that guy look as if the main character of Pokemon finally aged?"

I took a moment and gave the guy a long stern look, eventually giving him a firm pat on the shoulder. "... Thank God, so it wasn't just me."

The sudden invoking of the Big Guy's name resulted in a collective groan from most of the devils that heard me.

Tsubasa for one looked half annoyed and half bewildered at me. "... I'm surprised you even know what Pokemon is."

That remark made me roll my eyes. "Illya and Liz like watching it, they drag me in sometimes."

As much as I wanted to call that whole experience a waste of time, I had to admit there were episodes that I found quite nice.

For the early seasons at least.

Maybe it's just me, but it feels like the show loses its luster with each new installment.

Plus I remember two of them really complaining about the current season.

"You think he's a fan?" Saji asked, still creeped out.

"Could be, I don't know and I don't want to know."

"Should we ask?"

"... Something tells me it would be better to just drop it."

Before this very intellectual discussion could escalate any further, the familiar master came at a halt and spinned back at us in mild excitement.

"So what are you kids interested in when it comes to a familiar?!" Zatouji-san yelled abruptly.

Before any of us got a chance to comment, Hyoudou instantly shot up his hand with a perverted grin present. "Do you have any sexy ones?!"

The man was anything but impressed. "Unless you're into furries, not so much."

That killed the Gremory Pawn's mood.

"Do you have any cute ones?" Argento-san asked rather excitedly.

Zatouji-san's attitude did a complete one eighty at the girl's innocent smile. "We sure do, young miss!"

With less enthusiasm the man shifted his focus to Saji and I. "What about you boys?"

"I'm not really picky, a strong one would be nice."

In spite of Saji giving an honest answer, the Familiar Master didn't seem all that impressed either. "Depends on how lucky you are, most species refuse to submit to someone they deem weaker than themselves, so unless you can find a different means to earn their respect you'll have to make due with finding one weaker than you."

"Tsk." A vein throbbed on the blonde pawn's forehead, no doubt being annoyed by the subtle way our guide just called him weak.

"Always the same with boys when they become devils, they get a bit of power and suddenly feel badass enough to think they can command familiars that can tear humans to pieces." With a bored expression he now stared at me. "What about you sonny?"

"Well, it depends what I can find." I answered casually, most likely appearing more disinterested than anything.

If I were perfectly honest, I wasn't all that adamant about getting a familiar. If I got one tonight, good for me, if not, I'm not losing anything so no reason to get worked up over it.

"Do you have any ideas at the very least?" The older man pressed me, likely due to his job.

"I'd say I have two options for what I would like."

"And those are?" He pressed me to continue.

I lifted my index finger.

"First option would be a support type." I began slowly, replaying the mental notes I made the previous night after thinking over what I wanted in a familiar. "A familiar that can be good for reconnaissance or detecting enemies or other stuff that's supernatural in nature. Combat wise I wouldn't want to let them fight my battles for me, so perhaps one that could give me backup from afar without getting itself hurt would be good."

I lifted my second finger.

"The second option would be a familiar that's good indoors for watchdog duty. I'm not always at home, so I'd be at ease knowing that I left someone there to guard it and alert me in case something happens. That said, it can't be too big or inconspicuous otherwise people would figure out it's a magical creature in nature, so if it can resemble a normal pet, that would be most appreciated."

Once I was done the Familiar Master took a moment to take in everything I said while tapping his finger on his cheek.

"Ha!" He eventually burst out laughing as if I just told him the best joke he ever heard. In between laughs he threw a big grin in our leaders direction. "Hey little Sitri missy, looks like this time around you got yourself a guy with an actual head on his shoulders."

If the man was all laughs, Sona was all glares. An annoyed expression was present on her face. "While I do appreciate the praise, please don't make it sound like the rest of my peerage is anything less than capable."

"Sorry, sorry, not trying to speak ill of anybody here." He let out a couple of more chuckles before he finally settled in. "It's pretty rare when I get a client that actually knows what he wants. Most of my clients are all about how strong, how rare, or how sexy in some cases the familiar is. Too many don't bother even thinking about their use in the long run."

Indignation took over the man's face as he pulled a book out of his pocket and began flipping its pages in front of us. "I mean come on, I have a whole encyclopedia with me, and they don't even bother consulting it before they go blindly searching in the forest."

I could only give the book in his hand a long stare.

He didn't bother showing that to us when we first got here.

Maybe it was just me, but I think it should be normal procedure for us to know what's lurking in this forest. I mean it'd be nice to know what's available to choose from at least.

As another page got turned my eyes widened in shock at what I saw.

"Wait!" I snapped and everyone got taken aback by it. My finger trembled as it pointed at the picture in that book. "There's a thing like THAT in this forest?!"

"Hm?" The older man tilted his head confused and flipped his book around. Once he saw the picture he gave an understanding nod. "Oh, Chaos Karma Dragon Tiamat, one of the five Dragon Kings."

"Tiamat!?" Sona half-choked, her glasses almost slipping off her face from the sudden movement. "A being of her power is here?!"

While a few knew why she reacted as such, the newly recruited devils on the other hand only stared on in confusion at the news. Until finally, the blonde Sitri Pawn asked the question they were all thinking. "What's a Dragon King?"

"More or less one of the top strongest dragons in existence." Zatouji-san explained as a matter of fact. "Most of them would give even your ultimate devils a run for their money when it comes to their raw power. Heck, Tiamat herself could probably take out Maou class devils if she put her mind to it."

Reya tilted her head and looked rather curious at her friend's lack of knowledge. "I'm surprised you don't know Saji, considering Vritra is one as well."

Saji only scoffed at the mention of the dragon inhabiting his sacred gear. "Like that lazy ass ever talks about anything with me. All he does is sleep all day."

Huh… I did always wonder if Vritra got the chance to teach Saji anything useful ever since I roughly woke him.

Judging by the Sitri Pawn's response, it seems like that's a 'no' to that question.

Some of us appeared rather skeptical about the reveal. Tsubasa for one staring dryly at the book. "And something of that power… is in an encyclopedia for the familiars in this forest?"

"It's pretty much a joke actually." The man scoffed and shut his book. "Tiamat likes this forest and comes here occasionally to unwind. Since this is a place for catching familiars, someone thought that she was open game and added her in the book."

A moment of silence passed by as I took in that absurd statement. I don't know about the others, but that line of reasoning seemed incredibly stupid to me.

The exasperation was all too present in my voice when I asked. "Didn't she get offended that a dragon of her status was added to an encyclopedia made to help people catch familiars of all things?"

"Believe or not she was actually pretty fine with it. I'd say she enjoys it." The guide responded.

"Enjoy's it?" I repeated, stupefied by what I just heard.

"She most likely finds it amusing everytime some young devil wet behind the ears comes up to her with a different offer and tries to contract her. Most of those idiots don't even need a super powerful dragon for any particular reason besides stroking their ego. No doubt dying to show off how they got a dragon king as their familiar. It's always a field day for me when she rejects them, though the forest does always stink of burnt hair and pork after every failed attempt."

I could only sigh and rub the bridge of my nose as I listened.

The idea that we could potentially run into something as powerful as a Dragon King surely wasn't a pleasant one. It would be completely up to Tiamat's mood for how she would deal with us. We would be completely at her mercy.

I had no idea or means of how to even fight with something like that.

On the other hand… it did make me wonder if Dragon-slaying swords were an actual thing?

Buzz…

Asc***nB*lm**gAro*d**htGr*mAm*-**-H*bak*ri B*lv*r*G*amzzzt~

Buzz…

"Ugh…" My hand gripped my head as an intense pain suddenly gripped me.

For a fraction of a second, several images flashed before my eyes, unsure of what it could be yet feeling incredibly important. However, despite how close I felt to grasping something, in the end I couldn't make sense of it. With a frustrated sigh, I forced myself to let it go and focus back on the task at hand.

As much as it pained me to admit it, this whole trip had been rather fruitless.

So far roughly half an hour had passed but strangely we had yet to encounter a single familiar.

I for one knew they were here since I could still pick up multiple foreign magical scents lingering in the air, but despite that not one of them was in sight.

My best guess was that they could feel us and were intentionally avoiding us. Which in hindsight is probably normal behavior for most animals in response to large groups invading their habitat.

Magical or not, I doubt any creature would just jump out of its lair and offer themselves to be bound to a devil.

Some of the other group members seemed less happy about this than I was.

"You know for a so-called magical forest I sure haven't seen anything interesting." Hyoudou half grumbled under his breath,

Saji gave an equally unenthusiastic nod. "Yeah, you'd think we would have encountered some big scary monster by now."

"I highly doubt that would happen either way."

Argento-san seemed curious about my statement. "Why do you say that Shirou-san?"

"Well, since this place is apparently a spot where people can pick familiars, that means it's made so it can happen without any big issues. I mean, what's stopping people from going and getting a familiar from a different place."

"Oh, sharp ain't ya." The guide cracked a smile. "Your friend's right you know, this place is a natural reservation if you will, where easy to manage familiars can be acquired. Most of the critters here are bought and released in the forest. We have most of them accounted for, but you may occasionally find a couple of them that snuck in here without anyone noticing."

With that little bit of information, suddenly a lot of things made sense. "So that's why you limit the number of people?"

"Exactly, we can't have too many people over at once otherwise the place will become barren."

A howl echoed through the midnight sky causing everyone to put their guards up. In spite of not seeing it, I could tell it was from something big, yet there was something off about it.

The voice was strained, losing its force as the howl came to an end.

Perhaps that was the sound of a wounded beast?

"Did you hear that?" I spoke slowly, carefully checking the trees around us.

"Better not get too far sonny, something dangerous must be out there."

I was about to reply to the Familiar Master, but I felt a sudden surge of magic under my hand. Before I could make head or tails about what was happening, a blinding light engulfed me.


"Okay… what the hell just happened?" I muttered in mild annoyance as my sight finally readjusted.

For some reason I was in a tree. Yes, the branch poking my butt confirmed that I was seeing this right.

Somehow I ended up stuck high up in a tree's branches, like some kids kite.

I reinforced my body and forced my way out, ripping apart whatever branch was caught onto me.

Once I landed down I took a look around me, from what I could see I was still in the forest, but I was all alone.

Several scenarios played out in my mind about what could have happened, a few of which were rather concerning.

However, I had to at the very least try to confirm my whereabouts before I started panicking.

"Well, worth a try." With that in mind I took out my phone and quickly dialed a number.

Much to my own surprise, the person I was calling actually picked up.

"[Shirou?!]" If her shriek was any indication, she must have thrown a fit when I disappeared.

"Hey Sona." I replied rather casually, not sure if the situation didn't seem like a big deal to me, or if I simply started getting used to all of the magical nonsense in my life. "Not to sound like an idiot, but do you have any idea where I am?"

"[How should I know?!]" Her snapping like that was certainly not something I was used to. "[No scratch that, what happened to you?!]"

I could only shrug and sigh, if I knew I wouldn't be asking now would I?

"Your guess is as good as mine…"

"[Let me talk with him.]" I heard a male voice say on the other end.

"[No, I need to find out what he did and-]"

"[Look you can bitch at him later, now gimme that.]" There were some grumbling sounds afterwards, most likely from Sona. "[Hey there sonny.]"

And apparently the older man took the phone. "Hey…"

"[So let's cut the chase, any idea where you are right now?]"

"Well, its looks mostly like where I was and the scent around this place is about the same, so I think I'm still in the same forest."

"[Hm.]" He hummed and did what sounded like finger tapping on the phone. "[What was the last thing you remember before you got sent there?]"

"I just saw a flash of light and suddenly found myself here when it died down."

"[Did you touch anything before it happened?]"

"I think I touched a tree trunk?"

"[Yeah figures...] he clicked his tongue and sounded very annoyed. "[Classic teleportation spell prank, the user places a one way teleportation charm on a small area and whoever touches it gets zapped to the other end.]"

Strangely enough, that sounded awfully familiar. "...Why do you talk like it's a common thing?"

"[Cuz it is.]" His sigh echoed in the phone. "[Lots of pureblood little shits place them around for shits and giggles, then people minding their own business unfortunately get dragged to some stupid places. It's especially cruel towards the familiars, like that one vicious sob that made a harpy teleport into a lamia nest, poor little thing, didn't even knew what hit her.]"

Hm?

Oh.

Ohhhhhh.

Now I remembered, it was Sona who told me that this exact same thing once happened to her.

"...Okay." I sighed and rubbed my eyes, this week was just getting better and better. "Can I get back to you guys, or you go to me?"

"[Nah, like I said, it's a one way spell, once used it vanishes.]" There was a brief pause before he continued. "[Can't you just teleport back to your master?]"

A sweatdrop rolled down my face at that question. "I may have a certain ineptitude towards using that kind of spell."

That, and I wasn't even a devil to begin with.

"[That's gotta suck.]" Even without seeing him I could tell he was rolling his eyes.

"It does at times." I admitted.

"[Well then, gotta improvise.]" He tapped on the phone some more. "[Got any flashy spells or some attack that can reach high in the sky?]"

"Why?"

"[To make a signal duh.]" He clicked his tongue in annoyance. "[Think of it like a rescue flare, you shoot it up high in the sky, and we see where you are.]"

"Oh…" I muttered in mild surprise, that was actually a very good idea. "Uh, give me a sec?"

"[Yeah, yeah, just make it as flashy as you can.]"

Carefully, I placed my phone on the ground right after I switched it to speaker mode.

I traced my bow and a fire arrow I copied during the Zepar incident while taking aim at the night sky. "Okay, I'm shooting now."

The blazing arrow quickly made its way up, looking similar to a festival lantern. When I saw it descend back down I dismissed it together with my bow, not wanting to start a forest fire by accident.

I picked up my phone. "Did you see it?"

"[Yep, clear as day.]" He said with a whistle, most likely impressed by how far the arrow had reached. "[Don't worry, you're not that far away, give or take half an hour of casual stroll. We can meet up with you real easy.]"

Well… at least it was a good thing I wasn't too far. Last thing I wanted was to make the group search for me like some lost child.

"So, do I just wait around here for you guys or come to you?"

"[Normally I'd say not to move around, but tonight the air is off in the forest, I can just feel the familiars getting restless.]" His voice was serious, a stark contrast to his usual jovial tone. "[No, better keep moving. Walk North-West, make sure you do it at a steady pace, not too fast otherwise you don't know what you can rile up in that area.]"

He paused for a moment. "[Got any weapons on you by any chance?]"

For some reason that question vaguely offended me.

It felt like asking my mom if she wants grandkids.

"I think I can solve that issue."

"[Great, keep one close and ready in case anything happens, but don't hold it in any threatening manner. If any dangerous looking creatures happen to show up in your path don't engage them, walk around them without showing hostility. If they do happen to attack you for some reason and feel like you can't get away, you are allowed to fight them. But be careful, many of the creatures lurking here are much more tricky than they appear.]"

"[If you fight something and by chance kill it, leave the body behind and get out of there, the smell of blood will attract the larger predators.]"

"Okay…"

"[Good luck out there, we should meet you at the halfway point, so get a move on.]"

As the call ended and my screen went dark, I sighed tiredly.

Well, this whole trip was a total disaster.

Was I really asking for too much to have a quiet evening without any incidents?

Still, guess I was wrong about Zatouji-san. He may look like a goofball with how he dresses and acts, but he knows his way around here.

Not wasting anymore time I began walking in the indicated direction, keeping my eyes sharp for anything that may pounce on me.

But much to my own surprise, the walk was going rather smoothly.

I did encounter some unusual creatures along the way but avoided them in the manner the guide told me to.

It was very effective advice, much like a normal animal, magical beasts won't just attack you for no reason at all. Still, there certainly were some weird things I saw as I made my way through the forest that's for sure.

Like that zebra unicorn thing that I saw climbing up a tree and eating fruit.

Or that talking red parrot that started insulting me when it caught me staring at it… which even stranger had a voice that sounded like that one old actor/comedian whose name I couldn't recall.

There was also that pair of llamas wearing hats that started spitting bullet like loogies at me as soon as I was in range. The force of which had enough power to almost break trees.

Finally that lamia I stumbled upon. Its reaction when it saw me was… unique… to say the least. At first it appeared startled by me but its expression soon morphed into something that resemble excitement and...hunger? I think?

I wasn't too sure what to make of it when it began playing in the air with her long forked tongue while it wiggled its snake tail back and forth.

Not wanting to stay around and confirm whatever it was doing, I backed away… very quickly.

Strangely enough, the more I walked, the less creatures I spotted. It reached the point that I couldn't see or sense any around me.

Yet, that wasn't the only issue I noticed.

Why did it get quiet all of a sudden?

The forest felt… silent. The previous air and presence in it essentially gone.

My thoughts came to a halt however when I looked at what lay in my path.

"The hell?" I muttered in disbelief as I reached the car sized beast.

It was dead.

Lying splattered on the ground in a pool of its own blood.

"Some kind of giant wolf?"

Its features resembled that of a black wolf, but many times larger. The back on it was flat and strong, like that of a horse. The leg muscles it had were large and bulging. Its fangs were also something else, even the smallest one in its snout seemed sharper than your average sword.

Perhaps it was a bad move to linger around, but if something is out in the forest that can kill a big guy like this, then we may have a problem on our hands.

For whatever killed it, did so without much issue. There weren't really that many signs of injuries on its body or damage in the surroundings.

There were only two notable wounds I could find.

First one was at its snout. It took a strong blow to it, shattering some its fangs, and dislocating its jaw. The damage was probably done by something blunt… maybe a kick?

The second injury was a puncture wound in its throat.

Did something slit it?

No… a small chunk of its throat was ripped off. The wound itself wasn't very big, but it was a perfect hit, it must have bled out quickly.

It was hard to tell what could've done all of this. I wasn't too sure if this was even done by another animal or something else.

Snap.

I broke out of my thoughts at the sudden sound. As I scanned my surroundings my eyes froze on a nearby rock, and at the creature sitting on top of it.

When my eyes met its small amethyst ones, it tilted its head curiously. The lack of reaction from it told me it likely wasn't startled or scared by me.

Since it didn't seem hostile I took a moment and tried to identify what this small animal even was. I did see a fair share of strange creatures tonight, but nothing quite like this one.

It was some kind of… Squirrel? Dog? Fox?

I wasn't too sure.

Its fur was pure white while its size was larger than that of a squirrel, but still small enough to stand on my shoulder. Its features like its snout and paws were dog-like, but its tail was bushy like that of a fox, yet possessed long standing ears like those of a rabbit.

Strangely enough, there was only one word that came to my mind when I looked at it.

Kawaii...

Awkwardly I lifted my hand and waved at it. "Uh, hi there?"

The little creature tilted its head once more at my introduction. "Fou?"

Well, that sure wasn't any animal sound I knew of.

Honestly I started feeling a bit anxious with the way it kept staring at me, perhaps that's why I started talking with it like this. "Say little guy, are you lost?"

"Fou!"

"I kinda am lost myself, so I guess that makes two us."

"Fou! Kyu! Kyu!"

Okay… this was getting weird. I had no idea if it actually understood me or if it was just responding to me talking.

I was about to walk away and just leave it be until I heard a small grumbling sound. The creature's ears dropped weakly as the sound went on.

It didn't take long for me to figure what was going on.

"You hungry there buddy?" I asked it softly and began going through my backpack. Pulling out a bento box, which the creature eyed curiously. "I brought some food with me, didn't know how long we'd be here."

"Here, have some." I opened the box and put it in front of the stone, taking a few steps back. The little guy's eyes lit up as it caught a whiff of the scent from my food. However it didn't start eating, first it circled around the box and took a few cautionary sniffs, appearing like it was debating whether or not it should touch it. "Don't worry, people tell me my cooking is pretty good."

It took a small nibble at first and went stiff, a shudder soon ran through its body as it began chowing down on the food like there was no tomorrow, letting out squeals of delight in between mouthfuls of food. "Fou!"

I silently waited until it was satisfied. Much to my surprise it left nothing in the box.

Poor little fella.

He was absolutely starving.

It turned its heads at me and let out another pleased cry. "Fou!"

A small smile graced my face as I saw how happily he was wagging his tail.

It was only when I accidentally stepped in the pool of blood left by the dead beast that I remembered where I was and the danger that may be lurking around. "We should get out of here, whatever killed this big guy here must still be around."

Strangely or not, the small creature started clawing his way up a tree and proceeded to jump to me once it was at my level, landing gracefully on my shoulder.

I stared at it confused for a few moments. "You want to tag along?"

"Fou." It gave a small nod.

Huh… maybe it did understand me. Though, if it really is a magical creature, its intelligence should be much higher than that or a regular animal.

So this got me thinking.

"You wouldn't happen to know you're way around here do you?"

"Fou?"

"Well, I'm here with some friends and schoolmates. They're all devils if that helps."

He sniffed the air left and right before calling out. "Fou."

"That way?" I stared at the direction it was pointing with its paw. It wasn't the same way I was heading, but truth be told I felt like I've been going around in circles for a while now. "Okay, you're leading."

Surprisingly, the walk this time around went without any sort of trouble.

Any creature that we encountered would immediately get out of the path and run away, as if they were scared of something. Which was honestly weird since I doubt I was that scary without a weapon.

The quiet walk did eventually come to an end when I heard explosions and saw the flashes of a devil seal appear out in the distance.

Sensing the danger I dashed up ahead and traced my twin blades, readying for battle the moment I jumped out.

When I reached the source of the disturbance and saw what was going on, my jaw dropped. "The fuck is going on?!"

The girls were all blasting some kind of green goo like thing with magic, all the while almost butt naked, their clothes looking as if they were melted away.

None of the ladies seemed to notice me, instead it was Zatouji-san that turned around to inform me.

"Slime attack, go figure." He said while pointing around the gooey mess all over the place. An unimpressed look present on his face, together with a nosebleed. "Don't you watch hentai?"

The ridiculousness of his comment made me snap. "I don't watch the freaky stuff!"

The older devil simply shrugged. "Meh, slime porn isn't that freaky, there's much more messed up stuff on the internet. Your friend over here doesn't seem to mind it that much."

When I looked at where he pointed to I felt a vein throb at what I was seeing. Issei Hyoudou was hugging a large blob of slime and protecting it from any attacks.

I didn't even know when I got behind him but I raised my arm, made a fist, and hit Hyoudou square in the shoulder with it. The impact making him let go of the slime, much to his own sorrow as he rubbed where I hit him. "What was that for?!"

That reply made me yell in disbelief. "Why aren't you helping?!"

Shocked, he backed away a few steps and waved his hands in defense. "W-Well, I was about to, but then I kinda realized that this is the familiar I was searching for."

I literally froze as I felt my brain stop working.

I had to take a moment and think so I could respond properly.

Sadly, I couldn't do it.

"...What?"

The Gremory Pawn ignored me and instead shouted at his King who was busy disintegrating said slime. "Buchou! I want to make this slime my familiar!"

There was a loud collective groan of embarrassment from the Gremory peerage in between the sound of explosions.

The stupidity of this was mindboggling. Just who in their right mind would want a slime as a familiar?

I paused as I suddenly thought about why the brown haired boy would want to make a pact with a slime of all things.

The perverted expression he had when he declared his desire for it… the dissolved clothes on the girls… Zatouji-san's comment about hentai.

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

If before I was irritated, now I was seeing red.

"Hyoudou, I swear that if you don't get your act together in the next five seconds I will shove a ten foot long projectile up your-"

I paused for a moment, noticing something flying in circles around the girls and blasting them with electrical attacks, incinerating the slime parts without harming anyone.

"Is that a dragon?" I blinked as I took in its reptile like features.

"A baby sprite dragon actually, specialized in lightning attacks." The Familiar Master explained with a whistle.

By the time the little dragon was done, all traces of the slime had been eradicated and I took a long deep breath, the last few days have seriously been nothing but a drag.

After everyone seemed to calm down, I walked towards them but instantly looked away to the side as I talked. "You guys okay?"

While the slime didn't seem to hurt them physically, their clothes unfortunately were not so lucky. A lot of skin was currently on display leaving little to the imagination.

Tomoe was the first one to talk, letting out a loud groan of frustration." Other than my pride receiving a blow, I'd say we're mostly fine."

I noticed Tsubaki-senpai fumbling with her remaining clothes to cover herself, panic took over me and I quickly took off my jacket, passing it to her. "Here!"

She certainly was surprised by the sudden reaction.

"Shirou, I-"

"Sorry, I should've been here faster-"

"That's not-"

"I know, that isn't an excuse, but if I knew what was going on I would've-"

"Shirou!" She half snapped, her glasses slipping down. "I was going to say I can use magic and make another set of clothes. You didn't have to ruin your jacket."

...Huh.

Now that she mentions it… the other girls were doing just that, using magic to call forth new clothes.

And in front of me Tsubaki-senpai was still covered in that slime, which... is now all over my jacket.

"Oh."

The air around us felt a bit awkward, but much to my own surprise the Sitri Queen let out a small but warm chuckle. "Still, it was very nice of you to try and protect my modesty."

Yeah… sure... if that were only the case.

I was honestly worried this whole event might have triggered another panic attack, given how the gooey green thing was all over their bodies mere minutes ago and thoroughly harassing them.

However, the Sitri Queen seemed… fine?

I did not spot any of the same terror in her eyes like that one time back at school.

Huh…

Perhaps her PTSD didn't kick in since the thing attacking her could hardly be called a male.

I think...?

My head leaned forward as something landed atop it, when I looked up a fluffy tail dropped over my eyes. "Fou!"

It didn't stay long in place and started walking around on my head. Finally jumping on my shoulder and immediately patting my cheek with its paw in what I assumed was an angry fit.

Realization dawned on me that he was missing since I got back here. Looking back, I did suddenly race back without warning as soon as I heard the explosions.

Oops.

"Oh, sorry, I must have dropped you in my rush to help my friends."

He still seemed a bit annoyed, but he at least stopped tapping my face.

Before I knew it all of the girls had surrounded me, staring with wide excited eyes at my new furry friend. I recognized that look, Illya had the same look whenever she saw cats, and wanted so badly to pet them. As I looked around I noticed even our groups usually stoic King looked on with sparkling eyes. "Shirou, what is that creature?"

"Honestly, I have no clue. Met him by chance and he tagged along." I looked over at the older man and shouted. "Hey Zatouji-san, any idea what this little guy is?"

"Well this is a new one." The Familiar Master mused as he made his way through the crowd of excited girls. "Never saw this kind of creature before."

"Given the fur color and its size, it does bear some resemblance to a Great Rabbit, but it also holds a lot of similarities with a Killer Squirrel." He muttered, rubbing his chin, "None of their blood lust though. Strange, real strange, not one of ours, so perhaps it accidentally slipped in the forest perimeter?"

"Did it try attacking you?" He asked me.

"Not really, he seems pretty friendly."

"Then I can cut those options off the list, those two species have a taste for blood and more often than not attack for fun rather than hunger."

That bit of news wasn't exactly reassuring for me who was holding said creature on his shoulder.

I turned my head and nervously smiled at my small companion. "...You don't do that, do you?"

"Fou?" It cutely responded with wide innocent eyes, looking sweet and harmless.

For some reason I felt like an idiot right now for asking that. As if something so cute could be so dangerous.

I sighed at my own paranoia and rubbed him behind his ears, the purr it gave certainly felt nice.

"...Well, he seems pretty docile, if you want to keep him, I won't stop you, but you should add some restrictive seals to the contract in case he starts showing a violent streak."

Huh… keep him he said.

I was mostly indifferent regarding this whole familiar deal. While I wouldn't mind one, I don't desperately need one either.

So this begged the question, should I just take this little fella as my familiar?

He seemed friendly and harmless enough for the most part, also I wasn't sure it was very safe for him to be in this forest. I've seen some pretty dangerous creatures here and there, and he is so small, a cute little guy like this would make for easy prey. Plus Iylla and Miyu would no doubt adore him.

Well, might as well give it a shot.

I lifted his chin with my finger and looked him in the eyes. "Want to become my familiar?"

The little critter seemed to ponder on it for a bit before it let out a loud bark. "Fou!"

"I'll take that as a yes then." I muttered a bit unsure, but if it really were against the idea, it wouldn't be wagging its tail so much… right?

I turned around and looked over at our forest guide. "So, how do we do this?"

"Don't worry, I'll handle it."

The binding ritual didn't take long to set up.

Since apparently the small blue dragon that helped earlier took a liking to Argento-san, she was the first to initiate her pact with it. I used this as an opportunity to see how the ritual is supposed to be executed and all other things involved.

It was a fairly simple process, so much so that I had confidence I could also pull it off.

When everything was set and done, my turn finally came.

"Ready?" The Familiar Master asked me.

I nodded at Zatouji-san and took a deep breath. "Yes."

Slowly and carefully I replicated all steps that I saw, a magic circle flashing strongly beneath the little familiar.

It shined and spun around.

However, cracks soon formed in the formation.

"Fou!" The circle shattering upon the creature's small roar.

Everyone present could only oddly stare at what just happened. I for one rubbed the back of my head rather awkwardly. "...Uh, did I do something wrong?"

"N-No, at least I don't think you did." Our guide muttered in bewilderment. "The ritual just didn't work for some reason."

Well, I would say that I was surprised this happened, but I honestly would be lying. "Does this ever happen?"

"Not often, but it's not unheard off." Himejima-senpai mused.

"Then what could have been the reason?" Gremory-senpai followed.

"There are a few I could think of." The middle aged devil hummed to himself. "It might be possible this little fellow here has some strong innate magic resistance that's preventing it from getting bonded to you."

Sona was first to speak up at this hypothesis. "I don't understand, I've heard of many devils having familiars with strong magic resistance and they were still bound."

"You should know how contracts work devil missy, they are a two way deal." He shrugged. "A creature with magic resistance can still be affected by spells they can normally shrug off if they choose to let themselves be affected."

"My guess is that our little friend here isn't too keen on the whole binding aspect of the contract. So it's unintentionally resisting in spite of wanting to be your familiar."

That… kind of made sense actually, but then it raised the question. If the creature doesn't want to be my familiar, then why appear to agree with me in the first place?

Did it perhaps deep down not really want this?

Curiously I bent my knees and looked closely at its eyes. "Is that true?"

"Fou?" If anything, it looked just as confused as everyone else.

This certainly made things difficult. The whole familiar ritual had more to it than just adopting it, like Zatouji-san said, there were special restrictions placed in case it would start acting out of line.

While it did seem friendly, what guarantees did I really have that it wouldn't attack anyone when I'm not looking. I couldn't just take some unknown animal home without having some insurance; it wouldn't cause any harm.

I also didn't know what it was to begin with. Was this its mature state, or is it closer to a cub and would one day grow larger?

There were honestly more cons than pros for me to take it back with me.

Yet, for some unknown reason, I felt that if I didn't do this and just let it be, I will one day come to regret it.

I picked the dog-like creature up and held it up close to my face. "...Okay look, if we want this to work out I need some cooperation from you. Do you promise to listen and behave if I take you home with me?"

"..." Much to my surprise, it seemed to ponder over what I asked considering the way it tilted its head.

Or at least I think it did.

Well, might as well try a different approach. "I'll make you three meals a day, groom you twice a week, throw in a warm bed, and make you a fur cape."

That seemed to jolt it, jumping out of my hands and landing on my head, barking in excitement. "Fou! Fou!"

"Is that a yes?" Sona asked very skeptically.

"I think so?" Tsubaki followed up sounding quite amused.

There was a collective laugh from the group at this, though it seemed Zatouji-san was less amused about this. "I'll do some checking, see where this little fella came from and what species it is. If I find anything interesting, I'll give you a call, until then, try not to boss him around too much."

"I would appreciate that."

"Well then, I think we can call it a night." The president of the ORC smiled and gestured to the group.

"I agree." Sona nodded.

"Hey no fair!" The indignant roar of Issei Hyoudou got us all to stare over in his direction, the guy was currently crying and cradling the burnt remains of the slime. "My familiar got killed over here!"

I could only facepalm, the others just laughing at it, some sounding more forced than others.

"My condolences Rias."

"Leave me alone Sona."

Just as I was about to comment about Hyoudou, I blinked and looked around the group.

We were missing a person.

"Guys… where's Saji?"

Everyone suddenly went rigid as the realization of our missing pawn sunk in. Ruruko for one going pale. "... Wasn't he with us just a moment ago?"

"Over here…" A strained groan made us all turn around and gawk at the approaching limping pawn. Wrapped around him was the very same lamia I encountered earlier, coiled tightly around his body, rubbing its scaly face against that of the Sitri Pawn like an affectionate kitten. "A little help here?"


Tonight was just a weird night.

Archer sighed as he went over what he saw today.

Truly, it was moments like this that he wondered if bad luck can rub off from one man to another.

However he digressed, for he had other things to do at the moment.

A step forward and the spiritual entity found himself in the never ending labyrinth that was the mindscape of Emiya Shirou.

The boy would often question what he did in his free time when he wasn't pestering him. Little did the fool know that he was in fact exploring the very corners of his mind.

It was a curious experience, his mind acting like a maze with many doors, and behind each of them were certain memories from the boy's life.

For some checking random memories seemed like a waste of time, but Archer had time to spare. Plus, it helped in the long run as piecing together the events of his life can help him get a clear picture of how this Emiya Shirou lived and how he ticked.

The current results were… less than conclusive.

Archer saw many of the boy's memories throughout the months, but they didn't answer any of the important questions.

Still, he had to admit that some of the memories made him feel… odd.

Some were pleasant to watch, while others made him absolutely seeth in anger.

It was just a hunch, but the red clad bowman felt something was being purposely hidden from him in this mental landscape.

He wasn't sure if it was Shirou's mind protecting itself from him, or if there was something more at play here.

So he searched.

Going through door by door, checking whatever memories he could find that may hold some answers. But every time it felt he was close to finding something, it all simply vanished.

Yet, after months of searching he finally caught a lead. It was quite a simple thing really, whenever the boy was under stress his mind would race and the doors would wildly shift around.

It was during those shifts that he sensed and tracked down what he was after.

He now stood in front of a new door, one quite different compared to the rest, for it was wrapped tightly in heavy chains.

Archer simply took a hold of them and ripped the chains away. "So what do we have here?"

His hand reached to grasp the door handle, only for him to blink in confusion, the door having vanished.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Grey eyes widened as a voice spoke from behind him. "Didn't your mother ever teach it's not nice to touch what does not belong to you?"

Archer spinned back and summoned his blades, ready for combat.

Purple bindings spawned from the ground, wrapping around his legs. He was about to use his blades and free himself, but another binding rose from behind him and immobilized his arms as well.

The bowman was now trapped, his warden standing in front of him.

What he saw made the man's eyes sharpen.

It was some kind of mass of light, but it had a humanoid form. The facial features on it were very much nonexistent, with the expression of a grinning mouth present on it's blank face.

If the voice and the particular body curves were any indication, whatever this thing was, it was most certainly female.

"She might have done that, can't really recall sadly." Archer commented casually, but the grip on his blades did not weaken. "What I'm curious about though is what are you supposed to be, and how are you in the kid's mind?"

The 'thing' smirked, soft chuckles echoing. "Oh so many important questions, you'd think a handsome man like you would enjoy a more casual chat."

"Very well, since you want to chat, let me start." Archer let out a smile and inhaled deeply, neon marks appearing over his body. With a flex of his now reinforced muscles, the white haired man broke free of the chains. "Do you really think such a binding can keep me in place?"

"Oh, feisty, I like that in a man." The thing whistled excitedly, but quickly brought its arms up in surrender. "Also, no, I'm fairly sure I have no means to actually immobilize or directly fight a person of your kind of power."

That made Archer narrow his brows further. "Then you won't stop me from getting past that door?"

"I never said that." A ear long grin spread on her face as she snapped her fingers, the door behind Archer vanishing, hundreds of identical ones appearing around the area in its place. "Truth be told, my powers aren't suited for direct combat, but I do have a couple of skills in illusions."

While Archer readied his blades the thing in front cut him off. "And before you try, killing me won't have any effect, what you see in front of you is also an illusion in itself. My real self is somewhere safe where neither you or our redhaired friend can reach."

"So my hands are tied?"

…That didn't sit well with Archer.

His connection with Shirou made him perceive most of what the boy experienced. As such he knew of everything that happened to him and the people he interacted with.

This all led him to wonder.

Just who was it that planted this thing in the kid? And for how long has it been inside of him?

Archer was certain whatever this was, it was inside him long before he moved in his body.

This begged the question of how long?

Days? Weeks? Years?

It was impossible to say at the moment.

The mysterious entity shrugged its shoulders. "Well, if it's any consolation, what is behind that door is only a threat if opened recklessly."

Archer resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "And you just assume I can leave it be now that you told me that."

"I don't see a need to get so worked up." She waved her arm in dismissal. "Or do you actually care for your little landlord?"

"Hardly, but given our connection, if he goes down, I will follow shortly. So threats to him are by extension threats to me as well."

"I see." She nodded and her body vanished, Archer felt her hands slither from behind stroking his chest. "And here I thought it was because of how similar the two of you are?"

The red clothed man did not budge under the cold foreign touch. "... Your point?"

There was warmth near his ear, the thing's mouth close to it. "Lets just say I can see things more clearly than humans, such as how you and Shirou have so much more in common than people believe."

Steel grey eyes focused dangerously, his hands gripping the hilts of his blades tightly. "How much do you know?"

Laughter began to echo, deathly pearly teeth shine as the woman's smile beamed. "More than you want people to know."

Archer turned around but she was gone. He looked around himself but there was no trace of her. It was only when he heard the amused chuckles that he spotted her.

She was floating up above him, resting her head in her arms as if sitting on a bed."... What is your game woman?"

There had to be something.

Whatever this thing was, there had to be a reason why she was here and preventing him from accessing certain memories of the boy.

"Personally, I'd like nothing more than to ravage the boy." The woman replied casually, eliciting a frown from the Counter Guardian. "Oh, don't give me that look, you have no idea how appetizing his life force is, but sadly my boss is adamant that I don't touch a single hair on him."

"Your boss…" Archer mused in thought. "So someone else is in charge?"

"Unfortunately." She sighed and continued to float around. "Apologies but as annoying as I find my current master, I do depend on her so I can't go against her orders."

"I don't suppose you could tell me who this person is?"

"I could….but it's much more fun like this." A mouth splitting grin formed on her featureless face. "However, if it helps you sleep at night, my master's intentions regarding the boy are pure and platonic, as obnoxious as I find that."

Archer took a moment and put everything together.

Whatever this thing was, someone else sent it here, to keep whatever was behind that door locked away.

This only beckons the question, who?

Who could the boy know to have the power to command this creature?

Was it perhaps Sona Sitri?

Some other devil that Shirou might have encountered before he became aware of the supernatural?

Did the boy 'see' something he wasn't supposed to and someone put this thing in his mind to make sure he forgot it?

Or was it something else entirely?

Only time will tell.

"Do you even have a name?"

"Should I tell you, or should I not?" The woman landed in front of him and shrugged her shoulders. "Oh, why not, I barely get the chance to chat with someone else these days."

She bent forward into a mockery of a bow. "You can call me Mira, succubus Queen Mira."


Omake: An Emiya Halloween

My eyes were throbbing as I stared at my current get up, I was less enthusiastic about it than the other people in the room. "Iri, I look ridiculous."

Red dress shirts felt way too bright for me.

White dress pants looked like they would get permanently stained at the first moment of carelessness.

The round rimmed black shades on my face that made me look like a wannabe Lennon fan.

But perhaps the most ridiculous thing was how Iri messed up my apron and modified it.

Writing big and bold on it 'SATAN'.

…The one thing I just couldn't figure was why she also wrote above it in very small letters '(ACTUALLY)'

"Oh, don't be like that sweety, you look adorable." Iri chirped as she walked around in her own costume. A perfectly tailored black suit with a red collared shirt underneath, complete with white gloves, a black tie and a silver sigil on her suit's lapel. The more striking parts however were the pair of white horns sprouting from the sides of her head, the pitched forked tail wiggling behind her back and the spiky tiara she had in her hair. She also had drawn a mole under her left eye. "Our very own little Hellfaker."

Somehow that little title made me stare dryly at her.

For some reason I felt like that title belonged to someone else.

I could only sigh at my mother's antics. When she told me that our Halloween party this year will have a new 'special theme' I was already sweating buckets. Whenever she said stuff like that things always ended in a headache… for me at least. "I still can't believe you made us all dress like this."

Though, in hindsight it could've been worse.

She was one step away from dying my hair black.

And, if I'm perfectly honest, this year's costumes are at least much more tame than the ones Iri would wear and make the maids wear on Halloween parties in previous years.

"I don't see the problem." The matriarch of the house spinned around and struck a pose. I just couldn't make heads or tails to how her suit was accentuating her body in such a way. "You'd think most men would kill to have a harem of gorgeous demon girls all over them."

There was a moment of silence and I felt something twisting in my stomach, my face growing pale and morphing into a cringe. "... Iri, for the love of my sanity, never use the word harem when you are involved in the matter."

"Oh, stop being so serious and learn to take a joke Shirou." she rolled her eyes and pointed her thumb at the other occupants in the room, an amused smirk ever present. "Look, Liz is enjoying this."

"Yep."

Oh, Leysritt was certainly enjoying all of this, but for different reasons than those of Iri.

Those reasons being the chocolate pancakes she was eating. One in each hand, as well as the tray loaded to the brim with them that I was currently holding.

The costume Iri made Leysritt wear was from the same office lady catalogue as hers. In her case though she is wearing a black blazer with a red turtleneck sweater underneath, a black pencil dress skirt slit on both sides, and red leggings.

The horns on top of her head were black instead of white.

And for some reason Liz had heart shaped pupils…

Yeah, I'm just gonna write that off as contact lenses and be done with it.

"She's only doing it for the pancakes." Sella grumbled under her voice, most likely sharing my feelings about the current situation. "That you strong armed Shirou in making, might I add."

While Sella's costume change wasn't that drastic, it certainly wasn't something that matched her usual choice in clothing. Right now she sported black pants with a belt and boots, a black tie with two silver clips attaching it to her red shirt. The black suit jacket that was part of the costume was worn unbuttoned, and around her shoulders. She sported red fingerless gloves with metal tags on the wrists, labelled "HPJ". Perhaps what stood out the most though were the black sunglasses she was wearing.

"And why am I Justice?" Sella grumbled in exasperation, turning to Iri. "While Liz does resemble that Modeus girl, I hardly resemble Justice in looks let alone personality."

"Oh, that one is all on Liz, I personally wanted to dress you like Pandemonica." Iri mused softly.

Sella was silent for a few seconds, shifting her gaze over to her sister. "Okay Liz, I'll bite, why did you choose this one?"

Leysritt did not respond immediately, choosing to finish chewing and swallow her pancake first. "Didn't you hear?"

A lone eyebrow rose on Sella's face. "Hear what?"

With a perfect poker face, the busty maid delivered the punchline. "Flat is Justice."

Sella just stared, confused by what she just heard.

"I'm sorry but what are you talki-" The words died in her mouth, the maid finally connecting the dots of what her sister was going on about. Her head tilted down and stared at her modest chest, it then shifted at the much more generous bust of her sister.

Much to everyone's confusion, a bright light started burning behind her shades, reminiscent of a certain android from the future. "... Leysritt."

The bloodlust in her tone made it clear what was about to happen. I pulled Iri close and whispered to her ear. "I think we should leave."

"You go ahead sweety, I'm totally filming this cat fight." My mother dismissed me with a smile, a camera now present in her hand and already rolling.

I sighed and left by myself, just as Sella pounced on Leysritt and Iri's so called cat fight began.

My eyes slowly drifted down at the tray I was still holding, filled with chocolate pancakes wondering what to do with them. "...Oh well, might as well eat some pancakes."


Author Notes:

Well that's a wrap.

Perhaps the way the chapter is structured may be a bit messy but I think it works overall.

So a while back I originally considered a different way to handle the whole 'familiar' section of the story, but in the end changed my mind. What can I say, Fou grew a lot on me in the meantime.

Originally I planned a big intricate section in it, with an OC waifu familiar, but in the end I decided to get it over with.

I guess the Riser arc starts the next chapter. While I'm sure some of you are rolling your eyes at that, since by this point you've been here and done that to the point nothing really surprises you anymore when it comes to it, let's just say I'm planning something a bit different for it. There will be a fight at the end of it, but not the way you expect it.

The Halloween omake may seem a bit out of place by now, but I wrote it down a while back and finishing the chapter took more than I expected.

In FGO news Eresh just hates my guts… spooked 3 times by Medusa lily while rolling for her… that sucked on so many levels... Maybe when Emperor Qin banner is up my luck may return.

Not so many new servants since the last update. Osakabehime, Sitonai, Danzo, Caster Shuten, Chiron, Saint Martha.

Really curious if the new year's GSSR will give me something interesting.

I'm not sure if I will update by the end of the year, but I will publish a Christmas Special one shot featuring Assassin EMIYA rediscovering the meaning of Christmas.

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


Special thanks to my p(a)treons: CJ, Blacklight007, , EgomaniacalHero, PostScriptum, Maxime Chouinard-Hould, Pietya, Derek, Steel35, Roflarius, GameCrusher55 and Lastmanstanding.

Your support is greatly appreciated.


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