A note from the author!
HA ha ha ha haHAAAAAA HA HA HA HA HA ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaa!
*ahem*
Please ignore that.
I'm somewhat disappointed no one noticed the Easter Egg last chapter. It had something to do with the title. Oh well. I put a lot of effort into it. Getting that anagram to fit with the theme of the chapter was decently challenging.
Anyways, here's a new chapter. See you all in another six months.
Chapter Five
Rin's Day
"It's been a while since we've spoken like this," Ayako opened up with as she spun around to greet one of her closest friends.
Rin shut the door to the roof behind her as she strolled inward. It was a good half-hour before classes would start. There hadn't been any words exchanged when the two saw each other earlier in the quad. Rin had just crossed through the gates while Ayako was leaving the archery dojo. Their eyes met and a silent agreement was made; they were to meet up on the roof.
"A lot's been happening lately on my end," Rin nodded as she approached. She offered a Tohsaka-worthy apologetic smile and a friendly wave of her hand. "Sorry I haven't been able to catch up. How have you been?"
Ayako studied her friend for a brief moment. She crossed her arms while maintaining a concerned expression, "Everything alright, Rin? You don't seem like yourself."
"How do you mean?" Rin asked with genuine curiosity. If Ayako could read through her then who knows what else she let slip.
"You're asking about me instead of talking about yourself."
"I'm not that selfish of a person!" she argued with a slight flush.
Ayako gave her a flat look. She tried to hold it but she couldn't. She let it collapse as she fell into a fit of giggles. "Sorry, sorry. It might just be me. You've been so busy lately, you're right, we haven't been able to catch up."
Rin shared a few giggles as she walked up to Ayako. The two of them stood close to the chain fence at the edge. They could see the other students starting to arrive through the gates down below.
Truthfully, Rin was using this as an excuse to scout the area in the daytime. There was another Master attending school either as a student or a member of the faculty staff. The Bounded Field she had discovered had been tampered with. It meant sometime yesterday the assailant had done work right under her nose.
She had yet to find the culprit. She needed to before the Bounded Field was finished and its magic was unleashed onto the innocents down below.
There were three possibilities. The first was Matou Shinji.
…She immediately tossed him out of the metaphorical window. For one, the Matou line has been so diluted they could no longer produce magi. She checked; Shinji had no magic circuits whatsoever.
Second, Shinji was too stupid to try anything like this.
The other possibility was Emiya Shirou. The school's Fake Janitor had an excuse to get around school whenever he wanted. His reputation was built on going around helping others no matter how arduous the task. Combined with the fact he had a Caster as a Servant made her suspicions of him that more solid.
He was also just as fake as she was. She remembered what he was like when they first met all those years ago.
The last of the possibilities was… unnerving. It was possible neither Shirou nor Shinji were responsible for this. There could be another Master besides them.
…Could Sakura be a part of this?
Rin didn't want to know.
"I've just been dealing with a bit of stress at home," Rin replied to her friend. "I got a member of family from out of the country to visit. I was busy getting the house ready for him."
Ayako blinked, "Family? But don't you live alone? Are you sure it's safe for someone you hardly know to be living with you so suddenly?"
"It's fine," Rin waved it off. "He knows better than to try anything. We've had this discussion before."
…At the cost of a Command Seal.
"Besides," she continued with a shrug and a chipper smile, "he makes himself useful. I have him making me meals and doing all the chores while all I need to worry about is school."
"You're terrible," Ayako laughed lightly. "Still, if you need a place to run to…"
"Thanks," Rin glanced at her with a small smile, "but I'm fine. He won't be staying for long."
They were quiet while they were watching the students flood in.
Rin's brow twitched.
She spotted a patch of rust-colored hair. As though sensing her eyes, Emiya Shirou glanced up at the roof. Gold met sapphire. He offered a smile and a wave.
"…That idiot," she growled beneath her breath.
Why was he here? Did he not understand anything that happened last night? Or did he think he was invincible because he warded off Berserker with his two Servants? She had made her intentions as clear as could be with him. Yes, there had been a few fumbling when he had tried to ask her about the rules of engagement in the middle of a death battle. Still.
The Command Seals on her hand weren't reacting. It meant Shirou had come alone.
He wasn't arrogant. He was stupid.
Did he really think just because he was in school was he safe from the war?
"Hoh…?" Ayako breathed out as her eyes caught what Rin was staring at. "I didn't think you would remember Shirou-kun. Or have you been seeing him behind my back this entire time?"
She decided to ignore Shirou in favor of her friend, "Where do you get that from this?"
"That's a pretty strong reaction as soon as you saw him," Ayako chided. "Whenever Shinji asks you out, you put up this smile but breathe fire. Here you're just breathing fire. What did he do this time?"
This time?
"Emiya-kun and I had the misfortune of running into each other last night," Rin surmised… poorly and vaguely. But she had to give Ayako something or she'll never let it go. "Suffice to say… it wasn't a very pleasant evening."
Ayako nodded while coming to her own conclusion, "I see, I see. Maybe you should clear something up with Sakura then."
"Sakura?" Rin blinked. "You mean Matou-san? Why do you say that?"
"You know how close those two are," Ayako sighed while watching Shirou continue his pace. "Sakura was really out of it this morning. Anyone can tell its heartache. She wouldn't tell us what's wrong but it's obviously Shirou-kun's fault."
"…I don't think whatever's happening between them has anything to do with me," Rin said through a forced smile. She really didn't want to get between a teenage lover's spat. Besides, she was legally obliged through contract to not form any sort of connection with Sakura.
"Then you're really not dating Shirou-kun?"
"I am not!"
Ayako curled her fingers beneath her chin as she thought to herself. Rin didn't want to disturb anything else make any conclusions worse than they were going to be.
"Taiga also seemed pretty upset…" Ayako commented.
"Fujimura-sensei?" Rin inquired.
Ayako nodded a few times, "Oh yeah. She was grumbling when I passed by her earlier. I'm not sure if you remember, but she's Shirou-kun's legal guardian. Shirou-kun must have messed up pretty badly if both Sakura and Taiga are acting like this. I wonder what he did…"
Rin had actually forgotten about that detail regarding the Tiger of Fuyuki. If she had figured it sooner, she could have made a better connection between her and the nameless goddess. After all, the phantasmal woman was wearing Fujimura's dress. Shirou could have gotten easy access to it and force the goddess to put it on.
That boy was more trouble than he was worth. She would have been better off believing he was some harmless vanilla human.
"You're surprisingly distanced from this," Rin commented. "You always talk about wanting to find a boyfriend. I thought you liked Emiya-kun. I remember when you introduced me to him."
Ayako had a somewhat bitter smile. "Maybe I did. I can't really say. My life revolved around him at the time because he saved me from a bunch of creeps. But now? We share a couple of greetings every now and then and argue about trying to get him back into archery. I think I can take a hint. He doesn't seem interested in me that way."
"Better for you to realize now than to hold on," Rin said sagely.
"Yeah, no kidding," Ayako snickered. "I'm not like one of Shinji's girls. I mean, have you seen the way they flaunt over him?"
"Have you seen the way he treats them?" Rin countered.
"I know!"
They both laughed. They shouldn't. It really was terrible. But, to Rin, she couldn't help but mock the idiocy and brainlessness of those girls. Shinji was good-looking, sure, but his charm was entirely fake. They both knew he was a really awful person. Too bad his followers couldn't see it.
"I better get going," Ayako said suddenly. "It's been fun but I still need to finish my calculus before Kuzuki-sensei shows up!"
"No worries," Rin shook her head. "It was good talking to you again. I'm going to linger here and avoid the crowds for a bit."
"The problems of being the most popular girl in school," Ayako sighed with heavy sarcasm. She smiled warmly at her friend, gave a departing wave, and left for the door.
Rin waited until she was gone to leave the fence. She had work to do. Now that no one was present, she started to search for the sigil that anchored this Bounded Field. She would only have a few minutes before classes would drag her away.
Not even the threatening death of an entire academy could throw her off of her perfect attendance record.
0-0-0
His Master was a most unfair creature. A tyrant, truly. While she was away pretending to be a teenage idol in school, she had left a grotesquely long list of tasks for him to accomplish. She was grossly abusing the term Servant.
Imagine Archer's surprise when she pulled out a dictionary and read to him the definition. She didn't believe him watching the fort was good enough. No. She had to put him to work as though he needed to pay a rent for services he didn't use.
Really, she was abusing her Command Seal as much as possible. She was going to squeeze out every last drop of the magic binding him to her whims. It wasn't his fault she lived in a mansion all by herself and had failed to maintain all of its structure even with magic.
But the challenge was accepted.
The best part was… he didn't have to lift a finger.
He tossed off his cloak— it being caught and neatly folded. He sat down on the couch and kicked up his feet onto the coffee table. A cup of tea was handed to him. It was brewed exactly how he would have made it.
Getting a part of his memories back was a godsend. He'd have been doing everything on the list by hand if he didn't remember how to use these abilities.
His specialty was swords. And swords he made. It was swords which did the work for him.
He may have… tweaked a few of them.
Some were vacuuming. Some were dusting. Some were washing. The rest, stationed elsewhere such as the other floors and outside, were repairing any damages wrought onto the household due to old age and negligence.
Hardly any of them resembled swords at this point but swords they still were. They may have been modified to the point of no longer being recognizable but their origins remained. So twisted and altered and eschewed from their legend might they be called something new entirely.
The one massaging his shoulders may or may not resemble his current Master a little too much.
Let his damn shishou call him a Faker this time.
"Someone's coming," said the one just… staring out the window. It was supposed to be cleaning the window but it was instead staring out. Not all of his creations could be perfect or work as intended.
He had sensed it as soon as the intruders crossed over Rin's Bounded Field. There were only two of them. But he sensed one of them had been a Servant.
By the time he had planted his feet onto the ground were his constructs altered further. They now resembled cleaning appliances as was their purpose in existence.
…Though he had no idea why one of them had turned into a toaster.
Donning his cloak once more, he stepped into the front foyer, crossed through the hallway, and stepped out of the front door.
He was ready to fight. Instead, he was met by a sight that made his brows fall into a flat line.
"A-Archer!" a flustered Saber greeted him.
His eyes flicked over to her attire. While she wasn't wearing her extravagant battle gown, she was dressed in boyish clothes such as a T-shirt and washed-out jeans. He could only assume it was some of her Master's old clothes based on the size and wear.
"I did not mean to invade you and your Master's territory," Saber spoke sharply. "It was not my intention to come here! I was only—"
"Ahhhhhhhhh," said the earthbound creature tugging at his sleeve.
Archer gave her a flat look. He had thought— hoped, actually— that she would leave him alone. He shouldn't be surprised all of reality would treat him this poorly. If anything, he should have expected reality to go out of its way to enjoy what peace he could get away from his Master.
"I could not deter her from her path…" Saber muttered with slight embarrassment. "My Master tasked me with keeping her in his abode. But… nothing I could do could quell her."
He looked around. He only sensed two presences enter the territory. But if Saber was here…
"Where's Caster?" he asked.
Saber's face fell into a blank expression.
0-0-0
"Are you kidding me?!" Medea, Servant of the Spell, yelled at the television with a mouthful of shrimp chips. "Takashi-kun, you oaf! Can't you see that Ayame-sempai is in love with you! Go after her you before it's too late!"
0-0-0
"She's occupied with something back in my Master's dwelling," Saber said with a voice lacking any emotion.
With someone like Caster, he assumed she was either finishing setting up protections or working some diabolical project to make his involvement in the war hell. But… with the way Saber responded, he couldn't assume anything.
"I have no obligation to treat you as a welcomed guest," he said curtly. "You do realize I am another Servant after the same prize, right?"
"I understand," she replied, falling back onto her regal personality. "I give you my word I did not come here to pursue that goal. But it is cause for concern should I have let this woman wander on her own. I could have waited outside your territory— and perhaps I should have— but I did not want you to believe I was doing anything untoward."
How noble. He almost snickered at the folly of chivalry. He understood the principles of it but found them to be horrendously inefficient. Chivalry often got idiots killed in order to uphold empty words. By him, most of the time. Chivalry didn't protect people from getting six inches of steel through the chest.
He glanced at the creature with moonlight eyes. She was staring at him with a blank expression, completely void of human emotion despite her outward appearance. Her eyes were forever locked on his without the smallest twitch or blink. She was like a cat, glaring at him with imperial expectancy.
"You expect me to believe that if I lower my guard you won't stab me in the back?" Archer mused with a snarky tone.
Saber's brows furrowed the smallest of margins. He hit a sore spot. "On my honor as a knight, Archer. When we fight, it shall be in an honorable duel."
"Honor, huh," he tasted the word and found it to be a bitter wine. "You would say something like that to the one who kill you while you were distracted by Berserker?"
Saber paused for a moment. Not because she was caught flatfooted. Far from it. He could see her eyes flash with the memory and he watched her mind search for an appropriate response. He knew what she was going to say before she did.
"I have no right to judge your method of battle," she began in a steady voice. "We are all Heroes of various legends and tactics. This is the path I've sworn myself by and to throw it away would be to throw away my life."
He stared at her, searching her expression. She didn't say anything further. She didn't react. But that didn't mean she didn't give anything away.
Sometimes, the act of doing nothing is a telling of itself.
"Wait right here," he said while pulling his arm free. The creature never let go until he forced her off. He eyed her and her attire. "I just mopped the floor. It would be bothersome to have to do it again."
Though the moonlit creature had been bathed, she had accumulated a new layer of dirt since last night. She either slept underground again or rolled around in Saber's Master's flowerbed.
He stepped back into his Master's manor, all without turning his back on Saber and the creature. The creature could kill him in a heartbeat, no doubt faster if she wanted to. Trusting her meant nothing. But it was the Saber he was still wary about.
He shut the door and finally turned.
He glared at the crowd in front of him.
His swords had huddled in the hallway like a pack of teenage schoolgirls. They all pretended to be doing their chores when they were supposed to be hiding. The one who resembled Illya had raised the toaster over her head and nearly bashed his skull, only to pull back at the last instance when it realized it was Archer crossing through.
He brushed past them. They followed, less out of loyalty and more from programming. Though they resembled a human counterpart of his previous life (if one were to squint their eyes hard enough), they knew less about the human condition than the creature outside. They were even less than machines or magical constructs despite how much he altered their functions.
They were swords. Purely. And swords had no such human comprehension.
Just the same, his reaction with them was just as programmed.
He made his way to the kitchen. The stove was lit with a pan warming up while he gathered the necessary ingredients. He supposed he should apologize to his Master later… or just explain to her how he didn't want to get mauled by what she thought was a goddess.
Now for the preparations.
Its name was lost forever. The One and Only had named this weapon for it was His to wield. In His pursuit to destroy His true equal, He casted the sword down into the mortal plane for it to grow. For sin was its power source. It has been wielded by Heroes of all kind. Often, it was used to bring about a new age of rule. Red was its color. Creyroux, the last name given by its last wielder.
Archer threw it around his neck and tied it around his waist. It was the perfect apron. Any splatter of grease would alter its path from his hands or countertop and land on the red shimmering fabric.
Next, he raised his hand to grab onto something.
It was a holy relic. It was forged out of the purist of metals with its hilt sealing four pieces of saints. It could cut through anything, would never break or wear away, and it can grant three miracles. Its name was Durandal.
He used it on the ingredients. A dicer at first, then a peeler, and then sheers. It changed per each request. Instead of putting it down (and accidentally cutting straight through his Master's counter and possibly cutting straight through to the center of the earth) he dismissed it into the nothingness.
He put a lid over the pan and let things simmer… and then he felt it. He head snapped around.
"Watch the stove!" he shouted and hurried out of the house.
The door slammed open and he had the cursed sword Gram in his hand. His head spun at precisely what was wrong.
"A-Archer!" Saber gasped as she leapt back onto her feet. There was a pile of rubble beneath her where had once been a garden wall. "I tried to stop her! But she…"
Off to the side was the creature. Scattered around her were the splinters and chunks belonging to a shovel and rake. His shovel and rake. Their names were Asi and Halayudha.
And the beast was chewing off of the spade head of Halayudha. Her eyes were scornful as though the innocent instrument had done her harm.
No. Smacking her with Gram wasn't good enough. Introducing her to Balmung, its upgrade, wouldn't be any better. Not even the toxic weapons of Angra Mainyu was good enough. She deserved the worst punishment imaginable.
He reached for the garden hose, turned the nozzle, and splashed her in the back of the head.
She hissed and flew away, becoming the wind. Her body was a mist for a moment before rematerializing in her humanoid form. Alas, the clothes she donned could not vanish just as she had; they fell into a pile near what remained of his instruments.
She was glaring at him with absolute death. He had just pissed off the one creature on the entire planet who stood above all others. And yet, he met her gaze with one of his own. Silver and steel clashed. He refused to budge.
"If you won't behave," he spoke in a firm voice, "then I have no reason to treat you as a guest. That includes, of course, lunch."
She glared more at him, unblinking. She couldn't understand a word coming out of his mouth. She was nothing but pure animal.
But she understood intentions.
Without a shift in her expression, she crossed her legs and sat on the grass. She never looked away from him or lessen her murderous glare.
"Archer," Saber spoke up. "I apologize for bringing you such trouble. I'm… also sorry for the damage wrought on your Master's property."
His eyes flicked over to behind her. He could piece out the creature knocked her back hard enough to crumble the low brick wall. It wasn't anything he couldn't fix.
He grunted anyways, turned away, and went back inside the house.
Today was going to be one of those days.
0-0-0
Rin watched him like a hawk. She couldn't always keep an eye on him since the two of them were in different classes and in different social circles. She couldn't always follow him or else get his attention or lose her spotlight as the school idol. The glamor of it was nice, sure, but there was a reason why she put up with this fake personality. Besides, there were ways to keep track of him without being on him at all times or using magecraft.
When she couldn't follow him, she listened to her peers. She listened to the conversations around her. Most of it was pointless gossip but every now and then she would hear a miniscule detail regarding the School Janitor.
He was hard at work, they would say.
To her, he had an excuse to move around the school during breaks. They thought he was doing favors for everyone. But what if it weren't true at all? The more she listened, the more her suspicions were coming to light.
There was no way anyone could support two Servants without extreme mana fatigue. Even someone like her, who had top notch magic circuits and the reserves to supply them, wouldn't be able to carry two Servants without feeling down by the second day.
Shirou had to be getting the extra juice somewhere. But the Bounded Field wasn't complete. Since it was designed to drain everyone of their mana… it meant he was fine with committing genocide on the entirety of the school. Did that also mean he was the one responsible for bleeding innocent bystanders of their mana on a nightly basis?
And he had the audacity to question whether she was going to harm innocents. It was all just a ruse. A misdirection. She felt sick for believing him.
"Emiya-kun," she called out to him once school ended.
"Ah, hi, Tohsaka-san," he greeted with a smile. She noticed him pocket something, turning his body away so she couldn't see what it was.
"What are you doing here so late?" she pressed. Her façade was down. There was no reason to keep it up for him.
"There's something I promised Issei yesterday," he said with a sigh. "I completely forgot about it and I can't just forgo it. Fuji-nee is going to be upset with me. Ah, never mind that. What about you? I thought you went home a while ago."
Ryuudou Issei. He was the student council president and known to ask for Shirou's assistance from time to time. One might say they were close friends. It would also be a good resource on his part for this position. If he was just roaming around, he could just point at the president and everything would be cleared.
Such as right now.
"There's something that's been bothering me," she said but didn't share, trying to lure him into confessing. "That reminds me, Emiya-kun. It's pretty impressive for you to be the Master of two Servants. I don't think it's ever happened before in the history of the Grail War."
"You really think so…?" he asked, looking a little upset by her untoward compliment. He looked more upset with himself than at her. "It's not even normal in magus standards?"
"It's anything but normal," she said. "Nothing short of the best magi on the planet can support two Servants without shortening their abilities. Even then, you wouldn't be in any condition to go to school. It puts too much of a strain on the body. One Servant alone is enough."
He considered her words very carefully. He had a thoughtful expression while wrapping a few fingers under his chin.
"Then it has nothing to do with Caster's circumstance," he muttered below his breath, just loud enough for her to hear. "The problem lies with me. Neh, Tohsaka-san, for a point of reference, how are you feeling from having Archer?"
She refused to answer that question. She was a Tohsaka. She had the power to support her Servant. The only strain onto her was the enormously raging headache whenever that man opened his mouth.
"What are you up to, Emiya?" she asked, dropping the honorifics. She took a few steps forward. She was mentally preparing herself for this. She was warming up her magic circuits to strike him. She only needed a confession out of him.
"What do you mean?" he asked with a blank expression. Not clueless. He was observant, watching her approach with a clinical eye. "You're not talking about the war, are you?"
"I am. In a manner of speaking anyways. Tell me the truth. What are you really doing around school at this hour?"
The sun was starting to set. The PA went off not long ago, telling all of the students it was past club activity time and for everyone to go home.
He frowned at her. For all his cluelessness, he wasn't a complete idiot. He knew when he was being pushed into a corner. He knew when she was instigating something out of him.
"There's… something surrounding the school," he said, eyes flickering towards the window and surrounding walls. "I don't know what it is. I wanted to talk to you about it earlier but I couldn't find an opportunity. You seemed busy earlier talking to all those people."
She didn't blink at that but she felt a ting of surprise. He had been keeping tabs on her just as she had of him? At least he hadn't noticed she had been spying on him. Or… was this yet another one of his masques? Was he really trying to deflect the situation to appear as something innocent?
"You mean the Bounded Field?" Rin crossed her arms, her eyes narrowing slightly. "What can you tell me about it?"
"Bounded Field…" he repeated the term. "You mean like the thing around my house? Ah. I knew I was going to need Caster's help. Well, I picked up a few extra chores today so I could wander around the main building. I found a lot of hotspots on my own. I don't know what to do with them, though."
He pulled out what he had hidden from his pocket. It was a foldup sheet of the school's map. It was something handed out to the first-years so they could find their classrooms and get better accustomed to the school. He had marked several rooms and made notes on the side.
When she eyed it, she noticed he was watching her reaction just as much as she was watching him. While he had a small grimace from being badgered by her, she felt it was nothing more than a mask. His eyes were sharp and piercing, trying to read everything about her.
"Emiya, where are your Servants?" she breathed out.
This map. It was all the evidence she needed.
Shirou's brows rose as he folded the map back into its compact square and pocketed it. "Home, I guess. I left Saber there to take care of things while I'm here but… Caster was supposed to meet me as soon as school ended. I've no idea what's keeping her."
There was some truth in there. She didn't fully believe his words but she could at least confirm Saber and Caster weren't present.
"Then you're just here by yourself?" she asked.
"Yes?" he more asked than answered.
"Alone, when you are aware there is a war going on," now it was a statement.
He didn't reply. All expression washed away from his face. He realized where this was going.
"You're either an idiot… or you think you're invincible," she spoke softly but lined with a layer of malevolence.
"The sun's still up," he nearly croaked. He pointed at the window behind them. "I thought the war was supposed to be a secret."
"It is," she agreed. "But do you see anyone with us?"
There was a pregnant silence as he looked around. His head swiveled left and right. The hallway was empty. His eyes went towards the window. She saw him searching for something. His lips pressed into a thin line as the silence dragged on.
"I don't want to fight you, Tohsaka-san," he said in a low voice. "I meant it when I said I can't see you as my enemy."
She almost laughed at that.
His eyes widened as he sensed her intentions. He moved without hesitation. He jerked to the right, threw his feet over the edge of the staircase, and leapt down.
She ran to the edge and peered over, dazed he had done something so rash. She saw him land perfectly on one set of stairs, feet planted flat on a step. He looked up for a second; their eyes meeting briefly. It was the only pause he took as he twisted himself around and began to flee.
The height wasn't anything excruciating. But for a regular human without any sort of mystic reinforcement? He should have been tumbling down from the landing.
She didn't attempt the same feat. She went around, rushing down the stairs, nearly leaping at every other step after him. While doing so, she rolled up the sleeve of left arm. There, blazing with the glow of her magic, was her family's magic crest.
When she reached the bottom floor, she saw him turn around another corner down the hallway and keep going. She clicked her tongue, frustrated she couldn't take a shot at him. But she pursued.
She cheated. No, this wasn't a game. This was her duty not only as a Master but also as the Second Owner. She threw aside all code of conduct when she used reinforcement magic. Now she ran twice, nearly thrice as fast as the regular human.
She skidded across the floor at the last leap and pointed a finger around the corner. When she passed the wall, a black orb formed at her fingertip, ready to be launched by a mental command.
She blinked. Once again, at the end of the hallway, she saw Shirou turn at the last instance.
She growled but kept up the chase. Her surroundings became a blur as she moved forward. She crossed the hallway in a matter of seconds, deciding to keep up the pace if it meant to reach him. Instead of sliding or pausing to aim, she banked off the side wall, leaping up onto the other corner, and flew down the hallway Shirou had just entered. A finger was raised to fire as soon as she saw his back.
…Instead, she caught a glimpse of him before he slipped through another corner.
What the hell?!
Caster had to have given him something. She had to. There was no way he was going to go to school without protection of some kind.
Still, Rin pushed on. She followed Shirou through the school.
He led her through a frenzy of twists and turns. Most of the time she could only catch the briefest of glimpses as he escaped her sight. Sometimes she caught him just before he could turn and fire off a few Gandr spells. But, as though he had eyes in the back of his skull, he dodged them without losing momentum.
And sometimes he would disappear completely until he made noise… behind her. Such as the opening of doors or tripping over things left out in the hallway.
This… This was a game to him. He wasn't even trying to escape! He wasn't trying to fight back! He was just toying with her!
She couldn't give up. If she let him go then it would be impossible to get at him again. He had a Caster and a Saber under his command. Trying to assault his house would just backfire horrendously. Trying to lure him back to school another day would only endanger everyone else. She had to stop him here and now.
Forgoing finesse, she blew out the windows, hoping some of the glass flying everywhere would cut into him. She blew apart the ground, hoping he would trip over and lose his footing. She tried to shoot him through the walls, hoping to get lucky.
Eventually, the game came to an end. He cornered himself.
"Tohsaka-san…" he put up a hand as he took a few steps back. His back hit the wall. "Can't we talk about this?"
She didn't realize how hard she was breathing until this little chase of theirs came to a conclusion. Her blouse was drenched in her sweat and she needed a moment before she could speak. Her cheeks were flushed in both irritation and exertion.
"You don't get it, do you?" she breathed out— it wasn't a gasp. "This is war, Emiya-kun. I am a Master; you are a Master. We're both enemies no matter what."
"But I don't want to fight you…" he muttered with a sour expression.
She realized he was hardly winded. Whatever Caster gave him didn't exhaust his stamina as much as it had Rin's. As expected of someone summoned under the Caster class. But it was still unfair.
"I haven't killed you yet Emiya-kun because there's something I need you to do," she said while keeping a finger pointed at him. There was nowhere for him to run now. The only way was to get through her and the moment he did would she fire.
He didn't say anything. He was listening intently.
"Take down the Bounded Field," she ordered.
His eyes locked straight with hers, searching through her. "You mean you won't kill me if I do."
"No, I'll still kill you," she said bluntly. "You just won't suffer for it."
She fired a shot at his feet. The black orb of curses made a crack on the floor and sizzled for a moment.
"The Gandr spell isn't lethal," she explained. "At least not by itself. Getting hit by this would put you in bed for the entire day. But get hit enough by it? You'll be in a world of misery."
His eyes moved from the ground back to hers. He spoke in a steady voice… almost unfazed, "And why would you do that?"
"You're kidding, right?" she scoffed. "This Bounded Field is designed to suck the mana straight out of everyone within it! With something at this level, you'd be killing everyone inside!"
"The proctor said it's not against the rules for innocents to get involved," he pointed out.
She nearly saw red by his reaction. She was tempted to just shoot him here and now. "Maybe some other magus would use this to win. But not me. It's sickening. I'm not going to throw away all those lives even if it would assure my victory."
All expression within him changed. He no longer regarded her as a threat.
Instead… he smiled.
"That's a relief," he said with a heavily relieved voice. "So you're not the one who set it up. I knew you were a better person than that."
She stared at him for a long moment.
"…Tohsaka-san?"
And then she shot him directly in the chest.
He stumbled back by the shock of it while the black orb pierced through his clothes and sank into the skin underneath. The curse would take effect depending on his magic resistance and he would have the worst case of the flu imaginable.
"Don't try to weasel yourself out of this one, Emiya," she spat. "Don't try and pretend you have nothing to do with this! Don't you dare pretend to be the one looking for the culprit all along!"
"But I was looking for—"
She fired another shot. He dodged it this time. His body sank to the floor until he was sitting in a corner.
"H-Hold on!" he sputtered, throwing his hands up to shield himself. "I'm being serious!"
"Get real!" her face was turning crimson with outrage. "You expect me to believe you of all people can support two Servants on your own?! You have to be getting support somehow! Who else would be going around draining people of mana while setting up a Bounded Field to do the same thing at a larger scale?!"
"…Draining people?" his hands lowered somewhat. "Wait. Tohsaka-san, what do you mean by draining people? People have been dying because of the war?"
Her eyes fell flat. There was no point talking to him anymore.
She almost shot him in the head.
The only thing stopping her was the shrill scream of terror echoing throughout the building.
Her head whipped around in response. It was an instinct.
She saw movement in the corner of her eye. Shirou was getting up and trying to rush past her. She spun back around and fired another spell.
"Move," he said in a sharp voice. His eyes were hard. He turned his body out of the way with little effort and without losing stride of his feet. With just as little effort, he put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her aside. The suddenness of it all caught her off balance.
She fell onto her rear and he was sprinting back down the hallway.
She didn't need the moment to regain her footing. She needed the moment to not scream herself.
She had him cornered and he blew right past her! Way to go Rin!
0-0-0
Danger. She sensed danger. Something was approaching. Another Servant? She couldn't tell. Whatever it was tickled her sense of danger.
It was why she didn't finish devouring the girl. She slipped away and out the door before this other entity approached.
What came startled her. At first, she was bombarded with the stench of steel with this approaching figure. But her other senses read something different. In the end, all she found was a young man no older than her proxy Master.
He approached her victim, knelt down, and began to check on her vitals. The girl will survive, maybe have a few years shaved off of her life. But she will keep on living.
She wasn't sure what she had sensed earlier. Maybe in her weakened state was she rattled and paranoid. She was not at the peak of her power under the servitude of her current Master. She knew she could not last long against the more formidable Servants such as the Saber or Berserker. The slightest sense of danger made her cautious, much to her Master's ire.
She realized she had sensed the arrival of another Master. This boy was a Master, which meant a Servant couldn't be far behind.
Or was it not? She could not detect the presence of another Servant. Unless that Servant in question was an Assassin. Well, even if it was, she was confident she could defeat the arguably weakest class in the war.
She didn't move yet. There was something else.
Another Master arrived, barking out nonsense until the scene was explored. This one was a young woman in the same age. Yet, just as curiously, there was still no Servant. Two Masters but no Servants?
She waited patiently. There was no trap. No Servant materialized as the two of them conversed and tried to treat the victim. The boy could do nothing other than diagnose. The girl, a proper magus, was doing what she could to revitalize the victim.
Slinking between the trees, Rider materialized and drew upon her daggers. The more obvious threat was the magus. The boy, despite being a Master, was just as unimpressive as her own Master.
Like a serpent, she waited.
And then struck.
She threw her chained dagger through the air, slipping through the smallest gaps within the trees. It was aimed directly at the magus' head.
The boy intercepted. He shoved the girl out of the way. In doing so, his arm was impaled by her dagger.
Her nose crinkled. She didn't smell blood despite hearing the splatter of liquid. She smelled… only more steel. Curious.
It didn't matter. One Master out of the war was still better than nothing.
She pulled. The boy flew off his feet and she kept pulling. He was dragged through the ground, bumping into trees and bushes. He did not scream. He did not fight. He willed it to happen.
Jumping around the trees while pulling on the chain allowed her to create a net. When he was near her vicinity, the dagger pulled him upwards until he was hanging several meters off the ground. His body dangled while lazily swinging and spinning by his dead arm.
She observed his behavior.
"You are not afraid," she noticed.
He didn't respond right away. He was searching for the right words to use in this situation.
"You're not the worst I've come across," he decided to say in the end.
His eyes went to where she was hiding. He had no difficulty finding her despite the web of chains she had created. Following them to their end would have been an arduous task. Yet he had no difficulty finding her. No. It was more like he always knew where she was.
He studied her just as she was studying him. There was no expression on his face. She likened him to a doll, void of all life.
He noticed her observation. Expression returned to his face. It wasn't natural; he had to remind himself he needed to express emotion.
"Were you the one who almost killed that girl?" he asked.
"I have no reason to answer that," she replied in monotone. He was still an enemy Master. He would still need to die in the end.
"Why?" he asked next.
He wasn't asking about her silence. He was asking about the girl.
"I have no reason to answer that," she repeated.
He frowned, "This puts me in a bad spot. I promised Saber I would let her fight the other Servants in the war."
She tilted her head. How curious. He spoke as though he could challenge a Servant. Even as weakened as she was, there was no possible way a mundane human could oppose her.
She felt insulted this boy could garnish the idea.
"I guess that's fine," he said while scratching the top of his head with his other hand.
The marks in the back of his hand lit up.
"Saber, by this Command Seal—"
Rider moved. The trap she wove was spun.
The chains wrapped around him in irregular ways. It wasn't to encase him and bind him into place. It was to snap and break him.
Bones shattered and soft muscle was crushed. His neck was compressed.
The stench of steel was more prominent than ever.
Something wasn't right.
"Come forth!" he finished, raising his hand up despite the chains keeping him in place and despite having his vitals crushed. He should be dead. He should be immobilized. Yet his strength defied hers and her constrictions.
The Command Seal lit up before going dim. One of the three lines became nothing more than a light blemish.
There came a swirl of wind and a torrent of power. Light exploded on the ground.
A maiden appeared, bearing a weapon sheathed in wind and light.
The Saber's eyes locked immediately on Rider's hidden form.
Rider swore under her breath.
0-0-0
Rin heard the clash of conflict. Explosive conflict. The likes of which only Servants can pull off.
The proof was one such explosion that uprooted an entire tree and sending it a few meters above the forest head. Following that was the thunderous boom of the tree crashing onto its counterparts, knocking others down, and creating a domino effect until the force was properly dispersed.
Yup. Definitely the fight of Servants.
Archer just where the hell are you?
"Rin," the telepathic voice of her Servant answered by her call. "I'm almost there. Don't be alarmed but… I have a tail."
She lowered the head of the school girl. She did everything she could. The girl was drained of mana but not at a lethal level.
She considered Archer's comment.
…That goddess went back to the house, didn't she?
"I've yet to get rid of her," he confirmed. "Never mind her. What's your situation?"
Emiya-kun was just dragged away by another Servant. I'm guessing he used a Command Seal to summon his Servant.
"Saber did suddenly vanish…" she heard him mutter lowly.
Her brow twitched.
What was that about Saber? Are you telling me she was at MY house?!
"…It's a long story. One I will gladly share with you another time, Master. For now, get clear. I'm going to be engaging once I arrive."
She quirked a brow. There was no question of commands or suggesting of priorities. Archer didn't even ask for her opinion. He was dead-set on attacking. Did he even know which Servant they were up against?
Or… was he still determined on fighting Shirou and his Servants because of the night before?
"Hold on, Archer," she said aloud this time. "Something came up. I don't think Emiya-kun is responsible for the Bounded Field after all."
"You could have fooled me," he snorted. It sounded like he knew all along about Shirou.
…Did he? And not tell her?
"You forget, Master, this is war. You said so yourself. You were going to be treating Emiya as an enemy Master and not give him any chances. We can't take any chances when he's that big of a threat. Weren't those your words exactly last night? I'm merely following your orders."
Bullshit. Since when does he follow her orders so willingly? It took her a wasted Command Seal for him to listen the first time!
"There's more at work here, Archer," she argued. "What if Emiya-kun really was trying to undo the Bounded Field? With Caster, he could pull it off. If you kill him then we might not be able to—"
"Sorry, what was that?" Archer cut in. "Master. I can't hear you. You're… breaking up…"
Her mind came to a halt.
"THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS!" she shouted with shaking fists.
He didn't respond. He was blocking their connection.
She kicked a nearby trashcan. Was her own Servant pulling off that amount of idiocy?! Unbelievable!
She was biting her thumb she was so frustrated. She was going to get wrinkles and gray hairs by the end of the week at this rate! If not by Shirou then by her own Servant!
Stay away, he said?
He wouldn't be so willing to take the shot if his own Master was in danger, would he?
Groaning once more, she set off to join the fray.
0-0-0
Saber deflected another large nail that was her enemy's weapon of choice. It was an odd thing. But it didn't mean it was harmless. On the contraire, the danger didn't lie in its penetrating tip.
The danger lied in the chains attached to the nails. There were two weapons and each one held a nearly endless thread of chains. One was always thrown as a distraction while the other as harm. Sometimes the one meant for harm was the distraction and the other was used to lay a trap.
The longer Saber fought against the Servant, the more she realized she was surrounding herself in a spider's web. The Servant lacked the strength of Berserker but made up in its agility and cunning. Saber could scarcely find it standing still longer than a blink as it leapt from tree to tree.
As clever as it was, using a method like a spider's web could never hope to restrain a lion.
"Strike Air!" she commanded and brought her weapon forward.
The sheath of air hiding her weapon exploded with her swing. The hammer of the fairy king was unleashed. It toppled trees and undid the anchors maintaining the foundations of the trap. The efforts of this Servant were undone with a single swing.
And with it, her Master was set free. His body fell to the ground.
She expected him to land gracefully on his feet. Instead, he landed flat on his back, grunting as all the air escaped his lungs.
…Surely this wasn't the invincible Master from the night before. Or was this all just a ruse to confuse the enemy? Why do such a thing? He hid nothing against the Beserker and Illyasviel. Or was he hiding his true strength because the Master of this Servant wasn't present?
It didn't matter. There would be no point in learning the identity of the Master if the Servant was defeated. And if the Master was cowardly enough to hide in the first place, then they will likely seek safety in the church.
Saber continued to rush forward. She didn't need to worry about defending her Master. It meant she could focus everything on pursuing this Servant. This Servant, who continued to try and escape. It knew it was outmatched.
But, like a lion on the hunt, Saber was willing to chase it down to the ends of the earth. The Servant knew it too and was fighting desperately to find that window to slip through.
"Do you know who I am?" she heard in the distance.
It was as soft as a whisper… but as powerful and as imposing as the sun. It drew upon the attention of both Servants.
She could not look away from it. And, she knew, the enemy Servant couldn't either. Whatever it was forced her to look upon it and acknowledge its greatness. It was like when she pulled Excalibur for the first time and seeing its immaculate beauty.
"SABER!" cried her Master.
She blinked as she realized it was a glamour. Some sorcery to distract her. Something to lull her mind and seduce her. The outcry of genuine panic— the first, true, raw emotion she had ever heard come from her Master— rattled her mind and broke the compulsion.
It was just in time to see the multicolored blade come straight for her.
Excalibur was brought around to deflect it. The projectile was a thin sword with a narrow tip. It was designed for stabbing over slashing, to pierce through the gaps in armor. Parrying it would be child's play.
And yet… when Excalibur met it, her bones rattled as though she had just tried to parry a battering ram. The projectile hardly nudged off its course when she was struck. Instead of being pierced through the chest was she struck in the shoulder.
The impact sent her spiraling off her feet and tumbling over the ground. The world around her was a blur as she bounced off of fallen trees and the sloping lands.
Her spinning was halted by a cushion. It was not soft.
Her Master had caught her, wrapping his arms around hers while his feet slid against the ground. He had moved impossibly fast to intercept her. His eyes were looking outward instead of examining her. He was focused on the next projectile to come.
Nothing happened. The forest was silent.
This silence… it meant the enemy Servant had escaped.
"Thank you, Shirou," Saber said. Her eyes glanced down onto the arms around her waist. "You can release me now."
…Her feet couldn't touch the floor.
He wasn't flustered or apologetic about it. He let her down without a word while keeping his eyes locked forward. He didn't blink. He wouldn't dare to.
His posture relaxed but his face fell into one of extreme grievance. Something was upsetting him. However, she couldn't tell if this was another raw emotion or if this was one of his façades.
"What is it?" she asked.
"…Archer," he answered. "He's coming towards us to meet Tohsaka-san. He's not going to fight us right now. I don't think he was aiming to kill you… but I don't know why."
A brow was raised. She could argue against that notion. The projectile was aimed at her heart. Had she not been able to snap out of whatever glamour Archer used then she would have been dead.
"I am sorry, Shirou," she said with a hardened look. "You used a Command Seal and I was unable to fulfill my duty. The enemy Servant escaped."
"It's fine," he said in reassurance… though with a groan. He ran a hand through his hair out of habit. So habitual, in fact, he failed to notice he had used the arm with a gaping wound through it. A large hole oozed blood; large enough for Saber to stick a few fingers through if she wanted.
He noticed her staring and lowered his hand. He grimaced, grumbling something under his breath, and pull off his uniform coat. He used it to wrap the arm.
Should it not be cleaned? That was, of course, assuming Shirou was susceptible to such infections. But what about the bleeding? Should the wound not be sealed shut? Or was he hiding it until his regenerative abilities could repair the damage?
"Emiya-kun!" Rin called out as she broke through the trees and entered the clearing. It wasn't a clearing at first, until Saber arrived.
"Tohsaka-san," Shirou nodded at her. His face fell into something more welcoming lined with concerned. "How's the girl? Will she be fine?"
Rin stopped pacing and stared at him as though he had just insulted her. "She's fine. Shouldn't you be concerned about yourself? Just look at you! That arm is bleeding! You need to have that taken care of as soon as possible!"
"It's not as bad as it looks," he argued, lifting his arm and flexing his fingers. With such a wound, it shouldn't be possible. But the jacket hid how dreadful it truly was. "See? I'm fine. But thank you for the concern."
She could only scowl at him. In the end, she huffed and turned her head suddenly to the side.
"Archer! Get out here!"
"I wasn't exactly hiding, Master," rebuked the Servant of the Bow. He stepped through the trees and joined them. He had a thick scowl of annoyance on his face.
"You let the thing who was feeding on a student get away!" Rin barked.
"Not by my own hand, I promise," he muttered. He reached behind him and grabbed the strange woman by her collar and pulled her forward. His eyes glared down at Shirou, "I believe this is yours?"
The mystery woman looked between Archer and Shirou with a perplexed look.
"…She's more of a stray," Shirou commented dryly while his eyes never looked away from Archer.
"Well this thing made me miss," he grunted while releasing her and crossing his arms. "I was aiming at Rider when she nudged me at the last second. Not that I wouldn't mind taking out Saber, but, you're right, Master. Having her run around like that is too risky. The war might be exposed."
An accident? Truly? The aim was too true to be merely an accident. It was aimed directly at her heart. The only reason why she didn't call him out on it was because he did not deny he was unwilling to kill her.
On another note, Saber learned the enemy Servant was summoned under the Rider class. She wondered if Archer had engaged with her before.
"Emiya-kun, I want to ask you something," Rin spoke up. Her voice was hard.
Shirou continued to stare at Archer for a bit longer. His brows furrowed when he looked away to acknowledge Rin.
"Do you have any part in the Bounded Field around the school? Answer me honestly."
"Only to tear it down and prevent the deaths," he answered without hesitation. "I agreed to participate in the war to prevent needless disasters."
Saber studied Rin's reaction. Rin was searching through Shirou's eyes, scanning for any signs of deception. She could find none but her heart didn't believe it. She continued to look.
Eventually, she found the answer to be satisfactory.
"Alright," she said. "I believe you. I think I owe you an apology, Emiya-kun."
"You don't," he shook his head. "You were thinking reasonably… for the most part. I almost assumed the same thing with you. You're the only mage I know in school."
"In that case, I'd like to propose something to you," she said, crossing one arm under her chest while raising a finger. "An alliance. Only until the Bounded Field is destroyed and the Servant who built it. I also want to discover the identity of the Master."
Shirou had a troubled look as he scratched the ridge of his brow. He didn't say anything at first.
"…First you try to kill me and now you're trying to help me?" he muttered beneath his breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing! Yeah, I'm okay with that. But I think the decision goes to Saber. Saber, what do you think?"
Saber glanced at Archer in the corner of her eye. Truthfully, she didn't trust the man. He had already tried to kill her, twice if she listened to her rarely inaccurate intuition. Even with this alliance, there was no guarantee Archer wouldn't try to aim at her back once more.
"I alone cannot make this decision," she said in the end. "I request time to discuss this with Caster seeing as how she is not present."
"That's fine," Rin waved a hand. "I expect your answer by tomorrow, Emiya-kun. I can't afford to wait around very long while that thing is running rampant."
"You'll have your answer by tomorrow," Shirou assured.
Rin nodded and then glanced at his arm. "Are you sure you're okay? It looked pretty painful back there. If you want, I can at least clean it for you."
"Thank you, Tohsaksa-san," Shirou smiled at her. "But that's fine. I have Caster for things like that. I can already see her now complaining to me about her correcting someone else's magic. That's all she does back at my place…"
Saber saw Rin's brow twitch.
"I have one question, though," Shirou's voice dropped in pitch while he faced Archer.
Archer didn't react. His face was full of expectancy.
"Those words," Shirou said. "Where did you hear those words from?"
He was talking about the aria used in Archer's glamour.
Archer shrugged, "They are a part of my identity, so I'm not going to share with you the exact details. However… this is the Holy Grail War, where Heroic Spirits are summoned. It's not unbelievable for one of us to be summoned."
He said it dispassionately. Yet, it stirred a reaction out of Shirou. Shirou went completely still with both awe… and disgust.
"That sword you used," Shirou spoke up with a heavy frown. "It had no name."
"I named it," Archer countered. He snorted with a cynical smile, "Though I doubt someone like you would like it."
"I don't want to hear it," he protested. "It was disgusting. It was so flawed and broken and… warped. I don't know what that thing was. I've never seen anything like it before."
Archer wasn't insulted. He was amused. He shrugged again.
"Archer, please don't make my day that much worse," Rin growled out while rubbing one of her temples.
"I live to serve, Master," he snorted with heavy sarcasm.
"We're going now," Shirou spoke up. "I'll let you know what's going on tomorrow, Tohsaka-san."
"Please do," she replied. "Good night, Emiya-kun. I'm sorry again about earlier."
"Don't forget to take your dog with you," Archer's chin nudged towards the mystery woman.
"Right, right," grumbled Shirou before speaking a little louder. "Come on. Let's go home. It's getting late. Fuji-nee is probably fuming. I'll treat you to someone once she leaves, okay?"
The mystery woman had no interest at all in their conversation. She looked almost bored. But as soon as Shirou muttered the word 'treat', he had her full attention. She took a few steps forward until she could grab the sleeve of his arm.
The more Saber was around this character, the more she couldn't help but compare her to a domesticated animal. A dog, specifically.
They started to leave when Archer spoke up.
"Personally, I think perfection is flawed."
Shirou stopped moving entirely. His back was turned to Rin and Archer. None other than Saber could see his expression.
What she saw was complete inhuman stillness.
Life returned to him and he began to move again.
The group separated. She and Shirou did not speak again until they both knew they were out of hearing distance from Rin and Archer.
"Did something occur between you and Archer's Master?" Saber inquired.
"She thought I was responsible for the death-barrier around school and tried to kill me," Shirou said casually as though it were an innocent misunderstanding.
Saber could only nod in acceptance.
"Those parting words with Archer," she recalled. "They meant something to you. Do you have an idea on his identity?"
He frowned again. The recollection of Archer irked him somehow.
"He could be anyone," he said begrudgingly, annoyed to admit something she couldn't understand. "I only know he's just like shishou."
Her head tilted with curiosity. He was unwilling to share further. She decided to press later when he was in a better mood. Archer's charade had displeased him.
Once they were out of school grounds and walking down the street, Saber sensed the presence of another Servant. She did not summon Excalibur once again. She was familiar with this signature.
"Caster," Shirou greeted towards the open air.
In a swirl of purple and blue dust did Caster materialize. She had her hood drawn, revealing her lavender hair and pointed ears.
"My, that certainly took longer than expected," Caster returned the greeting with one of her own. "I was wondering why you didn't fight back though, Shirou."
"I didn't want to hurt Tohsaka-san," Shirou said with exasperation. "I don't have much to reprimand anything too squishy. Most of the time I'm trying to kill them or beat them unconscious. The rest of the time I'm running away from them so they don't get hurt."
"Ah, you mean like all the times Taiga smacks you around?" Caster teased with a smile.
"Exactly!" Shirou pointed at her with a bright expression. He mellowed out quickly. "So, what do you think? Did you manage to find anything about the Bounded Field?"
"Nothing aside from what we discussed earlier," Caster shook her head with a sour curve of her lips. "It's crudely made by someone who doesn't understand magecraft at all. Some skill is required, sure, but it seems more like the assembling from a blueprint. There's no signature to it that makes it unique. However, I will need some time if I am to sabotage it. I've no idea why you won't allow me to disperse it with my Rule Breaker, though."
"Destroying the Bounded Field won't solve the problem," he said. "If anything, it will alert them on what we can do and they can try to do it again elsewhere. We need to get rid of them instead."
Saber nodded at these wise words. It was best to go to the source of the problem. Always.
"I did manage to get a good look on the culprit," Caster's face suddenly darkened. "He didn't suspect a thing as I marked him with a tracing spell. Shirou, you know this individual. Are you sure you wish to know who it is?"
Saber almost spoke up. If what she followed was understood, Caster was claiming the Master of Rider was someone Shirou knew well enough to leave an impact on him. Someone close. She could sympathize with the behavior, for she had a number of betrayals at her back.
Shirou shook his head, "I already know who it is. That Servant, the one Archer called Rider, she didn't try to trick us. She went straight to her Master's place."
Caster pouted, "All that work and you figure it out instantly. Honestly, what was the point of pulling me away then?"
"I'm sorry Caster," Shirou put up a hand. "I'll make it up to you, I promise. In the meantime, how are you feeling?"
"Quite," Caster responded curtly. "Today's carbuncle was more of a nuisance than a chore, let alone a labor. I am fine, Shirou."
"How about you, Saber?" he asked her at his side.
"I am hardly troubled, Shirou," she answered rightly. "The skirmish with the Rider was hardly anything. I am not weary in the slightest."
"That's good," he said. "Because we're going after the Rider."
"Hoh?" Caster had a smile full of teasing curiosity. "You mean you have no interest in capturing the Tohsaka girl's heart? This alliance is a good excuse to get to know her, Shirou. If not for personal gain than at least to learn more about her Servant."
"I shall support Shirou's decision," Saber interjected. "Though I must question his judgment. Shirou, being too hasty is the enemy. We cannot just attack their stronghold without a plan."
"Sure we can," he said as he began to walk. She realized he wasn't asking for their permission. He was going and was only letting them know so they can either follow or stay out of his way. "I've been there before a number of times. I know every trap there is in that house. Just to let you know, I'm not going there because of Rider."
Saber scowled at that, "Then what purpose is there if not to vanquish this monster?"
His voice was hardened, "You can deal with Rider if you want. I'm going because a worm broke a deal he wasn't allowed to forget."
She couldn't help but exchange a look with Caster. Caster had a slight frown but understood the situation just as little as she did. All they could do was follow him.
0-0-0
"…You were aiming at Saber," Rin accused.
In his phantasmal state, Archer shrugged, "So what if I was? Alliance or no, she is another Servant. We're going to have to kill each other at some point and I'd rather do it when she's not looking instead of head on. I'd like to pick and choose my battles if I can."
She couldn't withhold the frown as she walked the usual route to her house. The sky was starting to darken. A little quicker than usual, even with the winter season. She was too wired on today's events to pay it any closer attention.
"If Emiya-kun agrees, I don't want you to gun at him or his Servants," she said with a voice that could not be argued with. "Do you understand?"
"Perfectly," he said right away.
She didn't believe him. But she knew the compulsion of the Command Seal would make things difficult for him. It had been such a broad command and yet he couldn't defy her orders other than the regular sarcasm and cynicism.
"You seem to remember a bit of your past," she said next. "Care to share with the class?"
"Not as much as you would like. I remember a fragment of my Noble Phantasm; just enough to use it like I did today. I can't tell you exactly what it is, however. It's more of a feeling than an explanation.
"And I remember the woman. She's not a goddess. She's what you might call a living concept."
"That's exactly what the gods were," she pointed out.
"To a degree, yes. You can say the Concept of Conflict would eventually be revered as the god Mars. But she's different than these gods. To be more specific, from what I understand, she is an Incarnation to a source material."
An Incarnation. Capital 'I'. The only things that were like that were Phantasmal Beasts with an identity. Things like dragons, elementals, and the frightening effigies of Gaia. But instead of being just one of these things, they were the things as a collective whole.
The latest craze exciting the Clock Tower was the Incarnation of Solstice. Who was, ridiculously enough, Santa Clause as was created by the Coca-Cola Corporation.
It's a cute idea until one learns this same Incarnation was the source of the Black Plague.
"So what?" Rin asked over her shoulder. "Do you know which Incarnation she is? The lunar calendar? And how about why she hangs around Emiya-kun so much?"
She could feel him shaking his head, "Don't know. All I know is… I remember sharing meals with her. I remember meals with just the two of us. And then, I remember… sharing meals with her and several others. A family of sorts. They all look like a bunch of oddballs.
"I know the identity of Saber, Master. She was in my memories."
Rin almost stopped walking. This information was priceless.
"She didn't seem to recognize you," she stated.
"Who knows why," he shrugged once more. "My memories aren't exactly clear. I don't know who I am yet. I might learn the reason when they become clearer."
"Do let me know when that happens," she said.
Her nose picked up something. Her eyes lifted up towards the sky.
"There's a fire nearby."
"…So there is," Archer agreed. "Would you like me to scout ahead?"
"It's probably someone who left the stove on," Rin dismissed it. "There's no need for you to do that when I can find out myself. Still… it seems rather close to my house."
She could see the smoke now that she was closer. That was the reason why the sky was getting darker than usual. She told herself there was nothing to worry about. The wards around her house would prevent things like accidental fires. Besides, her house was old. She didn't have the modern gas burners. Everything was old fashioned or fueled by magic.
…It didn't stop her feet from walking faster.
…It didn't stop her from powerwalking.
…It didn't stop her from breaking out into a full sprint.
She stopped dead in her tracks right at the gate. Rather, what remained of her gate. It had been sieged so the fire crew could get onto the lawn and into the building.
Her ruby eyes reflected the dancing flames and smoke rising up to the heavens. Her satchel fell from numb fingers.
"Archer…?" she whispered.
He didn't respond.
"Why is my house on fire?"
The wards should have prevented this. Hell, the response team should have ignored this mess even if there was a fire in the first place! All the magic woven into the foundations of the family grounds should have kept the mundane populace ignorant of whatever happened beyond the walls! How was this happening?!
"Stand back!" one of the firemen said to her. "It's dangerous to go in there."
"That's my house!" she argued. "What are you doing here?! What's going on?! Why is my house on fire?!"
She snapped. She lost her composure.
"This is yours?" the fireman said dumbfounded. Her brow twitched as she was reminded of a certain dumbfounded red-head. "I see. Most of the flames have been contained. The cause of it was… this."
The fireman stepped aside for a moment, retrieved an object from one of the trucks, and handed it to her.
She stared at it with a hollow expression.
It was a toaster. It was in pristine condition despite being the source of the hell within.
Ragnarok was etched in one corner of its smooth surface.
She felt Archer jerk through their connection.
"…I don't even own a toaster," she said in a dead voice.
She didn't. She didn't own a single piece of electronics. She used magic for everything.
"We have everything handled," said the fireman. "But it's too unstable for you to stay here. Do you by chance have somewhere you can stay, miss? Family, perhaps?"
She let out a single bark of laughter. Family. She had no family. Her family was dead. She lived alone in that mansion. That mansion… That mansion was the last heirloom she had from her family and it was now burning into nothingness.
At least, fire or not, nothing would be able to get through to the basement. Her family's magical legacy can be salvaged.
"Rin," Archer's voice called out to her. "Snap out of it and answer the man. Tell him you can check into a hotel. Don't worry about the details."
"I have a place I can stay at," she said in monotone. She wasn't paying much attention until the words escaped her lips.
Did she truly have somewhere she could stay at?
She found the answer as easy as breathing. Hell, she could take complete advantage of the situation enough to call it abuse.
"Yes," she said with a sweet smile. "As a matter of fact, I'll be staying with a classmate of mine."
Only then did she let out a chorus of maniacal laughter, making the fireman take a few steps back.
She didn't know how. Maybe it was a subliminal message from the forgotten gods. But she was pretty fucking sure Emiya Shirou had something to do with this.
She didn't notice the way Archer quivered.