I exhale heavily as my bare back hits the top of the cold, wooden floor below. I shiver slightly, and goosebumps dapple the sides of my arms and the back of my neck.

"Shirou…" Irisviel whispers to me "are you nervous?" I shake my head.

"Not really… I just didn't expect you to push me down on the floor immediately…" She giggles playfully and slowly traces her fingers along my arm until her hand rests atop my own.

"But of course I pushed you down immediately. We have to be quick, there's not much time; Saber is waiting for you in the dojo, remember?" She picks up my hand and places it against her chest before wrapping her other arm around it to hold it closely.

"A-Actually, Irisviel… on second thought, I don't think I'm ready for this." She smiles at me warmly and leans down so that her mouth is only a short distance from my ear.

"Don't worry, sweetheart." She breathes hotly into my ear. "I've done this before… just leave everything to mama." As soon as she whispers out the last word, she swiftly snaps the ulna bone of my right arm that she has trapped in a bear hug.

"AGH!" I shout and flinch from the sudden snap and jolt of pain.

"I-I'm almost done Shirou! Just sit still!" I nod while biting my lower lip, trying to hold back tears. It's a lot more painful when you don't have adrenaline pumping… She quickly casts the soft glow of her healing magic on the arm after shifting the bone around a bit and it doesn't take long for the tension in my body to dissipate.

"Ahh… that's better." I sigh in relief as the source of pain vanishes and wait patiently while Irisviel inspects the arm.

"I thiiiiink- yep, that should do it. Thankfully only one bone was still messed up; otherwise, that would've hurt a lot more." I nod in agreement and wait patiently for Irisviel to get off of me. After she just stares at me blankly and makes no indication of moving, I stand up and she yelps while rolling off my lap. "Shirou! Why'd you do that! It was comfy on your lap." I frown at her while walking to my closet to find a clean shirt to put on.

"You said it yourself, Saber's waiting for me. I don't have time to waste being your chair." She grumbles in frustration before standing up and leaving the room.

After hearing her leave the doorway, I quickly check to make sure she's gone… but no. She's standing outside the room, looking in with a pout.

"Why are you in such a tissy?" I nervously ask. She glares at me and sticks her tongue out before stomping away. What did I do?

I flex my re-healed hand tentatively while walking to the dojo. It's back to normal now, I think. It isn't easy to tell, so I probably won't know for sure until I try taking some shots with my bow again.

While inspecting my appendage, I glance out the hallway's window to see the sun that's almost done setting. Memories of Horizon Creek flash through my mind.

After returning from my short journey, I found Irisviel and Saber made it home before me. I immediately pressed Saber to train me, but Irisviel insisted I go with her to have my Ulna bone reset. For whatever reason, she was oddly insistent with me going with her, despite me protesting that I wanted Saber to train with me first. In the end, I adhered to her wishes, as always, but still… Then she got all mad when I left to go meet Saber. Seriously, what's her deal?

Upon entering the dojo, I'm surprised to see the dust has all been cleaned up and the lights are on. Jeez, this place looks good as new. Saber waits in the middle of the dojo on her knees with two Shinai next to her.

"Ah, Shirou." She calls out upon noticing I've arrived. "You're finally here. Did Irisviel adjust your bone already?" I nod and roll up my sleeve to display my arm to her. "I see. Does it feel alright?"

"Yeah it's not bothering me anymore." I hoist up the bow I brought and wrap my hand around the grip. "However, the best way to tell is to give it a test run." She nods.

"Indeed so," she answers, "but not with that bow." I look at her in confusion.

"What do you mean?" She rises to her feet with a shinai in each hand. She tosses me one and I drop the bow to grab it.

"I want to check something first. So, if you don't mind entertaining me, I want to see your skills with the sword." She wants to check "something"?

"I mean yeah, I guess we can spar with these first. Can I ask what you're so curious about though?" She wraps her hands around the handle and readies her stance.

"When you told us what happened yesterday," she answers "you said you interlocked blades with the servant and came out on top from it. It's already hard to believe that, given you're just a normal human, but it's even stranger when I hear you say that you're a bowman and lack proper training with the sword." I figured as much… it seems like she doesn't fully believe what I claimed.

"Fine, but you'll regret doubting me." As soon as I get my hands around the handle, Saber lunges at me. I don't have time to block. She jabs the tip of her shinai into my forehead and shoves me back. "Ugh!" I fall back on my hand and jump up to my feet.

"Hmph." She resumes her stance while slowly sidestepping. "That was a pretty terrible reaction time, but your recovery was superb."

I rush at her and begin swinging wildly. Every swing I make, she blocks and parries seamlessly.

"Are you serious, Shirou?" She parries my next strike and swats me in my stomach.

"D-Dammit!" I fall back and rub my stomach gingerly. For a girl, she hits like a truck. She frowns at me and breaks her stance while sighing.

"Shirou…" What? Why does she looks so disappointed? "You have no form at all, you're just swinging blindly." I shake my head.

"Maybe that is my form, Saber. Besides, I told you I don't know anything about fighting with a sword." She unhands her shinai and lets it fall to the floor. "What? What do you think you're doing?" She shakes her head.

"You told me I would regret doubting you, and I'd hoped you were telling the truth. If this is how you fight though, it really makes me doubt the validity of your encounter with that servant." I already held suspicions that this was how she felt but hearing her say it really pisses me off.

"You doubt the validity? So, what? You think I made up the whole story? That I made that hole in my arm myself?" She shakes her head.

"I don't doubt you encountered a servant; I doubt how the encounter unfolded." Now, I drop my own shinai and I begin stomping to the doorway to pick up my bow and leave.

"Think whatever you want, I don't care. Just remember that an arrow is a lot different from a sword. And my bow is what helped me finish her, not my swordplay!" I reach down to grab my bow.

"If this is how you fight with a sword…" she responds, "I doubt your skills in any capacity of fighting can be very good." My hand freezes an inch away from my bow. I turn to look at her, feeling my anger beginning to peak. "That includes archery."

I walk to the rack on the wall. I grab another Shinai. I approach Saber as she looks at me curiously.

"En garde." I state. Her eyes light up with enthusiasm and she reaches down to reclaim her own weapon.

"I see I struck a soft spot." She enters her stance. "I'm glad you're not fini-" I take one giant bound to cover the remaining gap between us. Both of my hands tighten around the grip. I turn to the left midair and lower the wooden sword. I stomp my right foot firmly on the ground.

Saber takes a vertical strike instead of defending. I feel the handle crack under the weight of my grip. I swing up to meet Saber's own strike. In the last moment I grit my teeth and put everything into my swing. Break through!

Our swords collide, and I feel my wrists jam, but I don't pause. I push. Saber's face lights up in surprise as the sword gets pried from her fingers and knocked out. I release my grip on my own and let it fly away too.

"How?" She asks in disbelief. My mind stays honed on the heat of the moment and I turn on my heel while cocking my right arm back. While caught up in shock, Saber doesn't realize my fist is flying right at her.

My already aching, jammed wrist screams even louder in pain as my knuckle collides into Saber's jawline. She falters and takes a step back. I retract my burning hand and bound a step back before affixing my gaze onto her, anticipating her next move.

After waiting a moment longer, Saber finally raises her left hand up. She reaches up to her face before gingerly touching the cheek I hit.

"Tch!" She whimpers, ever so quietly, after brushing her finger against the affected area. Upon hearing her stifled, surprisingly girlish, whine, realization dawns upon me. I-I just punched a girl! In the face!

"Saber, I-I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me. I didn't mean… I didn't mean to." My jumbled apology apparently doesn't reach her, as she continues to rub her finger on the spot where I struck her.

"It… hurt." She finally mumbles. Guilt spills out of my heart and pools throughout me after hearing her words.

"I'm sorry Saber, that was so stupid of me. I didn't mean to hurt you." She pulls her hand down and stares at it inquisitively while I continue begging for forgiveness. "I guess I let my temper get the best of me. Even though we were sparring, there's still a line not to cross…" Finally, she responds to me by shaking her head.

"Please, pay it no mind, Shirou. 'Hurt' wasn't quite the appropriate word to use. I should've said it stung." Her face reassumes its normal, composed visage.

I feel slightly relieved to see that she doesn't seem fazed by it. I suppose it wasn't painful. I must've just surprised her. Saber walks a few steps away and gathers the two shinai I slung from our grips. Yeah, that must be it. After all, things like punches and normal arrows can't harm a servant.

My time in the dojo with Saber continues to drag on into the night. I was taken aback when, after the incident where I decked her in the face, Saber insisted we continue. For the past few hours she's been instructing me on combat tactics, placement during a fight, and extra information about the Grail War.

She continues to fervently spout out piles of information onto me while I struggle to keep up. What's with this history lesson? I just wanted help practicing with my bow…

"Saber? Shirou?" Saber pauses her lecture after we hear a voice call quietly from the doorway. We turn to see Irisviel peeking in from behind the door. "Can we eat yet? It's way past dinner time…" As soon as Irisviel mentions food, I hear a loud, angry growl erupt from Saber's stomach. She reacts by blushing and covering her, apparently hungry, stomach.

"Uh, yeah. You're right, dinner sounds like a great idea." I respond to Irisviel while standing to my feet. "That is, if it's ok with you, Saber." She joins me in standing while nodding.

"I suppose we can take a break for some food… since you insist." I smile at her vain attempt to seem uninterested in food.

Saber walks to the door and joins Irisiviel while I gather up the shinai to return to the rack. As I place them back on their wooden hangers, I notice the handle of one is crooked. I grab the bent handle and wiggle it slightly to confirm it is indeed broken. I thought I felt it crack earlier when I swung at Saber… Oh well, must've been too worn down and old. I hang it up regardless and walk to join the girls outside the dojo.

When we enter the kitchen, I notice our unwelcomed guest has returned. Tohsaka sits at the table, contently drinking tea.

"What are you doing here?" I ask, sounding slightly more agitated than I meant to.

"Well, it's nice to see you too, Emiya." She responds with an equal amount of agitation in her tone. "I came here to follow up on the leads I sent you all to check out. So that we may then discuss our next move." I grumble in response while walking to the kitchen to throw together some food.

"Please pardon Shirou's manners, Rin." Saber states while taking a seat at the table. "He's quite exhausted and grouchy. I've been training him throughout today. I apparently went too far with my teasing, too."

"What do you mean?" Tohsaka inquires.

"In an attempt to get him pumped up, I mocked his fighting capabilities. He responded by striking me on the cheek." I stare at her in shock from how she just painted me out as a villain.

"Shirou!" Irisviel shouts. "How could you punch Saber?!" I stammer to answer while Irisviel glares at me from the dining room. I glance at Saber, to which she responds by sticking her tongue out and pulling down her lower eyelid. You she-devil! I thought we were past our little feud!

Despite Irisviel glaring daggers at me for my, overly-inflated, mistake, Tohsaka didn't say anything about it. In fact, she didn't react to what Saber said at all. She's just staring down into her teacup, apparently lost in thought.

After finally calming down Irisviel and explaining what happened, I finish making our meal. It's just a simple hamburger steak with grilled peppers, but it's also one of Irisviel's favorites.

I finish arranging the plates before lining the four of them on my arms and stepping into the dining room. Each of the recipients take their plate and thank me… except for one. I stare at Tohsaka in annoyance as she places her plate on the table, looking at it with discontent.

"There a problem, Tohsaka?" She glances up at me from her plate.

"Nope, but I could use some ketchup, while you're up." I clench my fist and grumble out some not-so-polite things while backtracking to the kitchen to get the princess her ketchup. After returning, she takes it from my hand without saying anything.

"Isn't there something you should say?" I ask, impatiently.

"Oh! You're right." She responds, before looking across the table to Irisviel. "How did you and Saber's investigation go? Did it yield any good results?" I grit my teeth and walk around the table to take my seat next to Irisviel, before Tohsaka's impoliteness makes me bust a vein.

"Hmmm, well…" Irisviel begins, while tapping her fork against the rim of her plate. "We checked all the locations but didn't find anything explicitly out of the ordinary." I take a bite of my steak.

"I see… that's too bad." Tohsaka responds, sounding disheartened. Irisviel questions her while Saber and I continue to diminish our steaks.

"What about you, Rin? Did your search tell you anything?" Tohsaka nods.

"Yes… I was lucky enough to happen upon an apartment complex that had a 'gas leak' only moments before I arrived. Once inside, I checked on some of the inhabitants and confirmed my suspicion. Caster has been going to these densely populated buildings and siphoning the mana of the inhabitants." Irisviel's expression morphs into concern and grief.

"Just as we feared…" She murmurs.

"That's not all." Tohsaka continues. "While inside, some of Caster's familiars attacked me. They were all some kind of bone golem. They weren't too strong, but they were quite numerous." I look to Irisviel while taking another huge bite of my steak.

"So, she can summon these bone warriors, probably from a great distance away… There's no telling how far from the building she was when she summoned them to fight you." I jab my fork at the plate to get another bite, but instead I'm met only with a clink as the fork scrapes against the empty plate.

Huh? That's all I had? I stare at my plate in slight disbelief, shocked at how quickly I finished it. Dammit, I'm still hungry. I sigh before picking up my cup of tea to take a sip. Odd, I've never eaten very much, and one plate is normally enough to fill me up.

"There's one other thing." Tohsaka begins. "I went to the street in front of the school, where Saber said she found the giant sword gash in the street. Other than the gash itself, there didn't seem to be anything else of merit… until I found a stray arrow." I choke on my sip of tea.

The three girls look at me in concern as I cough and pound my chest to get the liquid out of my lungs.

"Sh-Shirou!" Irisviel yelps, her eyes brimming with worry. She hastily rubs my back as I finish belting out the liquid I'd accidentally inhaled.

I wipe the corner of my mouth with my napkin while Irisviel continues to rub my back, despite me having finished choking. I stare across the table at Saber, who also looks at me in concern, and to Tohsaka, who's just staring at me knowingly after seeing my reaction to what she said.

"Are you alright?" Saber questions. I nod.

"Yeah… it just went down the wrong pipe is all." I answer, trying to sound convincing.

"If you say so…" Saber turns back to Tohsaka. "Anyways, as you were saying Rin." She shakes her head.

"Nothing. I was just saying there was an arrow near the gash in the street. I thought it was interesting at first, but after investigating it seemed like it was just a stray shot from the school's archery range." Saber and Irisviel both seem to buy what she says, but I can tell by the way she's still looking at me. It's a farce, she thinks it was my arrow. And after the way I reacted to hearing her mention it, she's probably sure of it now… I knew I should've picked it up after fighting Berserker! Dammit, think, think! I need to change the topic before she gets more suspicious.

"I-I suppose you want to hear what I found at Horizon Cree-"

"No, that's alright." Tohsaka responds, cutting me off. "Archer already gave me a full report on what happened. He accompanied you there, no?" I bite my tongue and nervously nod.

"Well, in that case," Saber begins "let's move on to the next topic of interest." Wait! Saber! Please don't say what I think you're about to say! "Shirou ran into, and fought, a servant!" GOD DAMMIT!

"Oh, did he now?" Tohsaka queries, her knowing eyes dragging away from me and affixing to Saber. Saber nods.

"Indeed. She wielded two stakes affixed to chains and tried to kill him by luring him into a trap. Because of this, Irisviel and I think the servant may have been Assassin." Tohsaka turns her gaze back to me.

"Interesting."

"Indeed." Saber continues. "Shirou even claims he managed to inflict some damage on her, though I can't confirm the validity of the statement."

"Very interesting…" Tohsaka mumbles. I glance at Saber, giving her the most dire and disappointed look I can muster. You betrayed me…

"Well then!" Tohsaka states, standing to her feet. I stare at her expectantly, anticipating her telling the other two that I was involved with the servant who caused that gash. "I'm hitting the sack early, goodnight everyone!" Saber, Irisviel, and I all look at her in confusion.

"Eh? Already?" Irisviel asks in disbelief. "It's still pretty early. And I thought you said you wanted to make a game plan ASAP?" Tohsaka stretches her arms out over her head and lets out a, obviously fake, yawn.

"I did." She mumbles. "But I'm a lot sleepier than I thought I'd be, so I'm gonna go ahead and sleep. You all should hurry to bed too! I want everyone bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the morning for our strategy meeting!" With that, she steps around the table and out of the room.

I drop my head to the table and let out a pathetic groan.

"Are you not feeling well, Shirou?" Irisiviel worriedly asks while placing her chin atop the table, next to mine.

"I'm just tired, Irisviel." I mumble. She frowns, apparently thinking there's more to it than that, but doesn't press further. Saber pushes her plate across the table and in front of my face.

"Shirou! Seconds please!" She firmly states. I glance next to her to see Tohsaka's serving, barely even touched.

"There's your seconds right there." I mumble while pointing to the plate. After letting out a pleased "ah!", she grabs the plate and begins digging in. Watching her savor the food makes me begin fidgeting as my stomach lightly growls. "Irisviel, can I trust you to take care of the dishes?" She looks at me with her signature pouty expression.

"Whaaa? I don't wanna. Why can't you do them?" I rise to my feet, anxious to distance myself from the alluring smell of Saber's second plate.

"I wanted to go practice in the yard now so that I can go to bed a little bit earlier."

"Huh? Didn't you just spend hours practicing with Saber?"

"Yeah, but we didn't so much as look in the direction of a bow. She was too insistent on practicing with swords and history lessons." Despite me complaining about the method of her teaching, Saber doesn't react, being too caught up with her food. Irisviel sighs with a weary look on her face, as though I'm asking her to do some arduous, daunting task.

"Fine…" She finally mumbles. "But only if you keep your word and try to go to bed early! And you owe me for this!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say." I frown while quickly stepping out of the dining room.

After turning on the spotlight, I walk to my usual spot and ready the bow. The braided strand of Berserker's hair slightly billows in the windy night air as I line up with the target.

I draw an arrow from my quiver. After nocking it, I pull the bowstring back and release. It flies seamlessly through the air and hits the straw target. Hm, like I thought, that was pretty easy. The difficulty in drawing the bowstring that first time seems like a distant, bad memory now. Perhaps I was just imagining it back then… I reach to draw another arrow but pause when I feel a familiar chill run throughout me.

"Archer." I call out while turning to face him. Sitting on the back porch, sure enough, is Archer.

"Shirou Emiya." He grumbles in return. I furrow my eyebrows at him, suddenly getting pissed from staring at his face. "Wow, what an expression. I know you're not crazy about me, but you could at least try to hide your contempt."

"Nah, I'd rather make a sour face at you. Thanks for bringing Tohsaka to the aftermath of my encounter with Berserker, by the way. I bet you just couldn't wait to dig up my crossbow bolt and show it to her." He scoffs at my comment while jumping off the porch, onto his feet.

"Oh please. Why would I have any interest in tattling on you? If anything, I covered for you. I tried to dissuade her from checking out the place and even played dumb when she found the arrow. That you so carelessly left behind, might I add. You should thank your lucky stars she didn't find the remnants of the crossbow, too." I grumble while turning back to the target to continue practicing, not believing his explanation but also not wanting to continue talking to him.

Eventually, Archer walks to stand next to me and observe while I shoot at the target. I frown under the weight of his cold gaze but continue shooting anyways.

"I take it the bow is to your liking?" He suddenly asks. I nod.

"Yeah, it works surprisingly well. I had a little trouble at first, but now it fits like a glove."

"Hmph, that right? Your shooting seems pretty mundane to me. How about showing me something actually impressive?" I feel a headache coming on from the obnoxious spirit's excessive blabbering.

"What's with you servants poking fun at my archery? I'm sorry I can't bench press cars or whatever it is you do." He laughs at my obviously annoyed tone.

"Oh, come on, I'm just asking you to up the ante. Show me what you can do." I pull out an arrow and ready it after his suggestion. Alright, I'll show you what I can do. I'm pulling out all the stops. I don't have all three quivers, but I can probably make do with just one.

"If you insist…" I respond while drawing the bowstring back. After taking a sharp inhale, I release my grip on the string. Next one!

My hand swats down and rips the next arrow from the quiver. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6! Out of instinct, my hand darts down once again. And one more!

I fasten it and yank my arm back, releasing my grip as soon as I've drawn it the optimal length. I exhale heavily while watching the arrow lodge itself on a line separating one of the target's white rings from its neighboring red one. I didn't count, but I assume that was less than 10 seconds. I turn to Archer, who's staring at the target with a slight furrow in his brows.

"How was… that, Archer?" He frowns at my question. Instead of answering, he raises his hand in front of him. A blue glow emanates from his palm, similar to when he constructed the bow for me. Within his hand forms a long, black bow.

He hoists the bow up and raises his opposite hand to the string, within which holds a crimson arrow. I watch in confusion as he pulls the string back and aims at the target. He releases his grip. The arrow rips free from the bow and darts towards the target, letting off a small gust as the bow snaps back into shape.

I watch in awe as the arrow glows briefly, before splitting apart into 10, no, 15 more projectiles, in a tight cluster. They all collide into the target, mimicking its shape perfectly. Instead of halting upon impact, the arrows rip through, tearing the straw target to shreds, before shooting into the bamboo stalks behind it.

"You… ASSHOLE!" I shout out and turn my infuriated eyes to the Heroic Spirit. "You destroyed my target! Do you have any idea how much those things cost!? That one was supposed to last me for the next few months!" Archer nonchalantly shrugs his shoulders while his bow dissipates from his grasp.

"My apologies." He states while donning a smug grin. "I held back, but I suppose it still wasn't enough. I must not know my own strength." I glare at him, feeling angry enough to commit several different felonies on him.

"I get it, you're trying to belittle me aren't you!?" He turns his gaze from me while whistling innocently. I almost spout off about how I'm gonna kick his ass, when realization dawns upon me. "Ohhh, I get it." His high-and-mighty expression dissipates.

"Get what?"

"You wanted me to show you what I was capable of, thinking I couldn't do anything of merit. Then I plucked my string a little faster than you'd bargained. Instead of admitting I'd surpassed your expectations, you wanted to try and show me up." Archer begins stammering at my assumption.

"Wh-What? That's not true, I just wanted to show how you pale in comparison to a-"

"Yeah, I think I'm spot on." I continue, cutting him off. "In fact, you must be even worse than me, right? You didn't exhibit any skill or anything, you just shot a magic arrow that can split apart. I suppose that means you have to compensate your lack of skill with magic." His expression became progressively more peeved as I continue to press his buttons.

"Now listen here, you little punk!" He begins, while pointing at me. "I could absolutely smear you when it comes to archery, even without my magic. No, especially without my magic! And if you doubt me then let's settle it right here and now!" I stomp my foot, feeling myself lose my cool again at his challenge.

"We can't! You broke the target, dumbass!" His face grows flush at my reminder of him childishly destroying my target.

"Ugh, I don't have time for this." He begrudgingly mumbles. "I can't believe I let myself lose my cool over a child's taunting." After regaining his cool, he jumps up onto the roof while slowly fading away.

"Yeah, that's right!" I shout up to him. "Ruuuun away!" I laugh triumphantly as he vanishes, enjoying the still-bitter expression on his face. Serves you right! After confirming he's gone, I pull an arrow out of my quiver and turn to… the shredded remnants of my target. Dammit…

After retrieving the arrows and bagging up what's left of my target, I drop my bow, quiver, and bagged-up target in the shed before heading inside. I use the illumination from my phone to traverse the house. I wish every once and a while Irisviel would leave the lights on for me.

I quietly tiptoe past Irisviel's door, careful to make sure I don't wake her. After tiptoeing a while longer, I finally arrive at the door to my room. Whew, time for a nice, long rest.

I walk in, fumble around until I find the outlet with my phone charger, plug my phone in, and roll across the floor until I flop over onto my futon. I drag my hand up and shove it beneath my pillow to ensure my lucky arrow is still where I left it. After wrapping my hand around the familiar, wooden shaft I let out a content sigh.

"*yawn* nighty night." I mumble while retracting my hand from beneath the pillow.

"Who said you can go to sleep?" My eyes tear open upon hearing a voice respond to me. I see a shadow fall out from the closet to my left and descend upon me.

"AGHHHHHH!?" I shout in terror and sit straight up as it falls onto my lap. Two cold hands reach up and press against my mouth, pushing me back down against my futon.

"Sh-SHH! Don't scream! You'll make everyone think something's wrong!" The mystery person desperately tries to get me to quiet down.

"Mm mmph?" Wait, I know that voice! I reach up and yank the hands covering my mouth away. "Tohsaka? What are you doing in here?" Despite not being able to see her face, I can tell from the scoff and flip of her hair that she's acting as though it should be obvious.

"Waiting for you, idiot! What took so long? I've been in here for hours." That's creepy!

"I was practicing with my bow for a while. I do it every night. I also had an argument with your cheeky servant." Feeling self conscious, I push Tohsaka off my lap and scuttle back to the door. Upon arriving, I reach up and flick the light switch next to it on.

"Why were you out there wasting time like that?" She angrily questions while glaring at me. "Didn't you get my hint? I said to go to bed extra early! As in, come to your room ASAP, we need to talk." How was I supposed to catch that? I notice that instead of the red shirt and skirt she was wearing earlier, Tohsaka is now sporting yellow, button-up pajamas with a cat pattern. "I mean seriously…" She continues. "Do you know how boring it was waiting in here? There's nothing to do in here, your room is so plain. There aren't even any porno mags."

"WHO DO YOU TAKE ME FOR?!" I angrily spit out at her. "More importantly, why are you waiting up in here for hours and going through my stuff? That's weird!" She vehemently shakes her head while blushing.

"Nuh uh! It's your fault for making me wait so long." I rub my temple in annoyance, realizing that there's no arguing with this girl.

"What do you want Tohsaka?" I go straight to the point.

"Do I even need to say it? What are you doing going off at night to fight servants?" I figured that's what she wanted. I let my gaze drift around the room, debating whether I should feign ignorance or try to make light of my involvement. "Hey! Don't try to conjure up a story! Just be honest with me." I sigh in defeat.

"Alright, alright, fine. You win, I'll spill the beans."

I regale the stories of me encountering both Berserker and the pink-haired servant. I make sure to emphasize how both times were mostly accidental, that I wasn't necessarily out hunting servants at night. I even come clean about the little girl, Berserker's master, who's identical to Irisviel.

"I see…" Tohsaka finally mumbles after I finish giving all the details. "And why'd you think it was a good idea to keep Berserker a secret from us?"

"Hey now, I never said I thought it was a good idea. It's just what I chose to do. It's clear to me Irisviel is related to this child, yet she's never said anything. I figured when she's ready, she'll come clean about her." Tohsaka frowns at my reasoning and looks at me like I'm a buffoon.

"That's so childish. We're at war, Emiya. Literally. We don't have time to be considerate about feelings and whatnot. It's not a convenience we're allowed."

"Whatever you say, Tohsaka. Do what you want. You can tell her about Berserker and the kid, but I'd appreciate it if you kept it between us." She shakes her head.

"No, I have to tell her. She's my teammate in this war, we have to be on the same page at all times… However, I can bend the truth a little and say Archer and I ran into Berserker and his master instead of you, if you'd like." I smile at the suggestion and not in agreement.

"Awesome, thanks Tohsaka. You're not so bad after all." She gets noticeably frazzled by my comment and glares at me.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" I laugh at her anger, feeling it suited her more than the generosity she just displayed. "Whatever, on to the next subject. If I'm understanding you correctly, you encountered, not one, but two servants who wanted to kill you and survived both encounters? I find that hard to believe."

"Believe whatever you want, but that's what happened." She frowns at my response.

"You even claim that you had the edge on the second one. You're a human, Emiya. And to boot, you're not even a mage. It's impossible that you could've contested with a servant, even if it's just over the span of seconds."

"I already told you, the only reason I was able to fight against her was because of this." I pull the arrow out from under my pillow and toss it to her. "It was able to withstand clashing against her weapons and it could damage her." Tohsaka lifts the arrow to her face and stares at it intently.

"This… thing?" She mumbles in disbelief. "I don't know how it could, I don't feel any magical presence about it. It's just a shoddy arrow." I snatch it back from her and tuck it under the pillow.

"Shoddy or not, it could cut her. End of story."

"Fine, fine. Now lastly, I want to address something the pink-haired servant said to you." I groan while crawling back to my futon.

"Can't this wait till tomorrow? I've had a long day, it's late, and I want to relax." She frowns at my obvious lack of interest.

"Don't you think this is more important? You have a servant that's targeting you! Aren't you worried?" I wave off the question while snuggling up under my blanket.

"If and when she approaches me again, I'll just fight her off once more."

"Assuming you even did once." Tohsaka spits back at me.

"Yeah, yeah."

"You said that the servant stated her master doesn't like you. You need to tell me all the people who might have a grudge against you so that I can-"

"Ok, I promise. First thing in the morning, when I wake up, I'll be sure to give you a full list." I yawn while turning on my side away from Tohsaka.

"D-Don't ignore me! This is for your sake, not mine!" Yeah, I get that, but I've had my fill of all this craziness for one day. That, and my body is oddly tired.

"Seriously Tohsaka, this can wait till the morning. Just go get some sleep." I hear her grumble angrily. "Oh, and can you turn the light out on your way out?"

"I-I'm not leaving till you get up and take this seriously!" I sigh in defeat and pull my blanket over my head to block the light.

"Knock yourself out then…" Tohsaka continues to mumble and grumble about the way I'm acting.

"Honestly… being all short with me… saying everything sarcastically… he's acting just like him." Him? Who's she talking about? I run the potential candidates through my head. She must be referring to Archer. Nah, me and that guy are nothing alike.