Well, a plot bunny got this far along before running out of steam. Figured, eh, might as well put it up. So yes, this is a one-shot broken down into 3 chapters. If I do return to it, I might continue it but right now, my muse is on other things.

Inspired by Pallan Minerva's The Saga of Shirou's Summons. This idea started by the combination of thoughts about Shirou getting a Servant who fully supported the idea of not having to fight, the realization that half of all the Masters were in the same high school, the desire to have Mata Hari have a Grail War she actually has a shot at winning, and what would it take for Shirou to become a James Bond type spy.

The Fifth Assassin is a Spy

Mata Hari was summoned into a dinky shed full of random items.

However, her gaze was for the only other one there, which was a young man sprawled out, a teenager judging by his face and height. His clothes implied a school uniform except it had a hole in his shirt right around his heart-

"Are you alright?" Mata Hari asked as she stepped away from the summoning circle and bent over her Master, whose shirt was stained with blood. "That looks like it hurt. Are you injured?"

"Ah," the boy gaped at her, his eyes failing to reach her own and instead landing a bit…lower on her body.

She was used to it. She was Mata Hari, the spy, dancer, and now Servant. Indeed, with her current skill set, seduction was all she was good for.

Pheromone and Espionage. Those two skills were all she had. She might have more, like the Double Cross skill, if she were summoned in Western or Northern Europe but this was Japan. She doubted that even professional Japanese dancers would know of her.

However, she was acutely aware that she didn't have the Presence Concealment skill. The standard Assassin class skill and she didn't have it. Oh dear.

Instantly, Mata Hari activated her Espionage skill, preventing others from perceiving her or her presence as hostile. Fortunately, at A++, no one would think of her as hostile until she was betrayed. Well, unless they had some skill that rendered them very resistant to mental influences. Hopefully the other Servants wouldn't have any. She didn't know how to fight. Not even martial arts. She could possibly shoot a gun but she would have better luck hitting a barn than a Servant and even then, she would have to be right next to the barn.

At least she had a Noble Phantasm that represented her legend. But if she was confronted by someone who wasn't willing to let her give a last dance, then it was as good as useless.

The boy shook his head.

"Sorry," he apologized, forcing his eyes up to meet her own. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright, Master," she forgave. "There is nothing to be sorry for."

"It's not alright-wait, Master?" the boy blinked. "What do you mean by Master?"

"Oh," Mata Hari's hand flew to her mouth. "I forgot."

Standing up, the Servant stepped back and twirled, her yellow dancer's outfit flaring out about her.

"I am Servant class Assassin," she spun to face her Master, posing cutely with both hands in V-sign. The Grail informed her this was something that girls did to be cute nowadays. Things had changed in the last 90 years since she had been alive. "I go by the name of Mata Hari." Smiling brightly, she closed her eyes. "Nice to meet you, Master."

"Ah," opening her eyes just a crack, not enough to be noticed, she could see her Master blush. How cute of him. He was so young. "I'm Shirou Emiya. Nice to meet you."

Getting up, her Master patted himself off.

Mata Hari opened her mouth to ask a question but paused as she not only noticed him opening his own mouth but also heard a clang of metal repeated in rapid succession. Paying attention to the surroundings, she noticed two strong magical signatures outside the place. Servants.

"Oh no!" The boy cried in dismay as he heard it too. "You have to hide! They'll try to kill you too!"

Mata Hari nodded. Yes, she was a Servant and Servants have to kill each other. Her Espionage should convince them that she was an ally but as soon as they thought about it, they should realize that they didn't have an ally. Well, unless they already did but with only 7 Servants in the Grail War and her being the last one summoned, she doubted that any alliances had been formed already.

And if her Master wanted her to hide, then she would. She wouldn't complain about not being sent to the frontline to die. So far, she was liking what she saw of her Master. Not being sent to die once they learned how useless she was, was an improvement over her usual summons. She thinks. Once on the Throne, it was hard to make new memories.

Mata Hari astralized and moved towards the only exit, causing the boy to blink and wave his hand through where she used to be.

"Hello?" The boy called out before shaking his head. "Maybe I was seeing things. No way a pretty lady like her would be in my shed."

Ah, how cute. He thought she was a figment of his imagination. Which was a tad worrying to be honest. He summoned her after all. But a quick check of her bond to her Master revealed that it was weak. Only a trickle of energy flowed through it. Was she summoned improperly or was he just that weak of a magus?

Another loud clang of metal sounded as she walked through the open door.

"Ah, have to get something," Mata Hari's Master scrambled for a pile of junk and started throwing things around while muttering. "There's got to be something here I can use."

Mata Hari, still astralized, looked around at her summoning location. She was in a courtyard near some classic Japanese architecture. The building opposite her looked like a gym, a dojo, the Grail whispered the term to her. To her left was a wall with shrubbery and trees. Opposite the wall, on her right was a sprawling complex of hallways and rooms.

From the sounds she could hear and the mana signatures she could feel, she could tell that the two Servants were on the other side of the complex.

Jumping, Mata Hari leaped onto the wall. As a professional dancer, she could easily land and tumble and do acrobatics like this. And now that she had a body 10x better than her flesh one, she could even make jumps that would have been impossible for her when alive.

Taking another quick jump into a tree, Mata Hari sat on a tree branch and looked down at the fighting she could now see. This should be good enough for hiding. The other Servants could detect her mana signature after all so hiding further was pointless.

Clashing together was a Servant, a dual sword wielding white-haired man in red, with his Master behind him, who also wore a red jacket, and a blue tights spearman.

Well, that was easy enough. She didn't need to be smart to know who these were. Saber, Lancer, and Saber's Master.

The Master, a trained martial artist girl, Mata Hari could tell by the way she moved if the skirt and hair wasn't enough, was shouting something at Lancer.

"-I'll take care of removing the witness," she was saying, no, she was pleading. "I'll hypnotize him into suppressing the memory. On my word as the Second Owner, that should be sufficient for your Master, right?"

Mata Hari could hear the desperation in the girl's voice. For some reason, she needed to erase some guy's memories and it mattered a great deal to her.

The Lancer didn't stop but clashed a few more times with the Saber, breaking one of the Saber's swords only for it to reform in his hand. Odd. She thought that Noble Phantasms would be sturdier than that.

Then the Lancer jumped back, spear lowering but not completely down yet.

"Tch," the guy looked unhappy. "Fine. My Master accepts. He says to make sure he doesn't remember anything or I'll kill him again."

"Of course," the girl huffed and brushed out her hair. Mata Hari could detect the slightest tremor of relief. The girl needed better training as an actress. "What kind of Second Owner would I be if I couldn't?"

With that, the Lancer ran and jumped, landing onto rooftops and the top of walls before running off at ridiculously high speeds. Yep, definitely a Lancer.

The Saber kept his eyes on his opponent until neither he nor Mata Hari could see the Lancer. Then he muttered something to his Master and both turned to look up at the tree she was sitting in.

Mata Hari materialized and smiled, waving a hand in greeting like they were friends.

Please don't have mental contamination, please don't have mental contamination, please don't have mental contamination.

The pair relaxed and Mata Hari subtly exhaled in relief. Her espionage skill was working. The Saber was still wary and keeping an eye out including one towards her but that just seemed like it was a habit for him to keep track of everyone.

Then the Master Servant pair walked to the door to the complex she was in.

Oh, Mata Hari belatedly realized. They were going to erase her Master's memories. That was who they were talking about. Oh dear.

Master? She asked across the Master-Servant bond. Master?

Silence.

Oh dear, what was she supposed to do now?

Master, an enemy Servant and Master are coming for you. She sent, hoping that he was just being silent instead of not being able to hear her. Do you have any plans?

The sound of feet sounded as the boy raced out of his shed, metal pipe in hand. Mata Hari blinked as she wasn't sure that doing any plumbing would help in this case. And innuendo about plumbing worked better if the girl brought the biological plumbing, not the guy.

Her Master stopped in the yard and inhaled then exhaled.

Suddenly the trickle of energy flowing into her increased. It wasn't much of an increase but it was enough, when combined with the Grail and the atmospheric mana, to keep her materialization upkeep full. Astralized as she currently was, she actually was getting more energy than she expended.

The Servant and Master opened the door to the complex and the bells inside the house, in the shed, and in the dojo chimed as one.

The boy kicked off, running towards the front of his house even as the Saber burst forward in a blur of motion.

"Hey, leave- Tohsaka?"

THUD!

The boy collapsed, the pipe rolling from his spread, palm-up hands as he crumbled to the ground, face-up after the Saber hit him on the top of the head with the hilt of his sword. The Saber then raised the second sword hilt and slammed it down on her sprawled and already unconscious Master's head.

Mata Hari winced as the second blow seemed excessive but stayed where she was. Her Master said to hide so that was what she would do. She would stay hidden in the tree despite everyone knowing she was here. Yes, she could go down, but she wasn't a fighter and Saber would kill her.

"Rin," the Saber called out. "He's unconscious as you ordered."

"Good work Archer," the Rin Tohsaka complimented as she strolled down towards Shirou.

Archer huh? Well, she guesses that he wasn't Saber after all. But why would he use swords instead of a bow? Oh wait, the enemy had been fighting in melee range. It wouldn't make sense to use a bow.

"Still think killing him would be better and easier," Archer grumbled.

"No, no killing. We are not killing an innocent bystander," Archer's Master sharply ordered before turning towards Assassin in her tree. "Speaking of bystanders, aren't you going to come down now?"

"As you wish," Mata Hari called out as she pushed off and dropped to the ground, doing a little roll on the grass to bleed off speed. Maybe she didn't need to as a Servant but old dancing habits were hard to break. When she came up, both the Archer and his Master had a hint of a blush on their cheeks. Ah, they had both seen the flash of skin and underwear from her tumble that her diaphanous outfit had shown off.

Oh? So Rin Tohsaka was interested in girls? Well now, that meant potential was here. Mata Hari wasn't sure if her Noble Phantasm would be as effective on a lesbian as it was on a male but it couldn't be worse than nothing.

"Hello," Mata Hari greeted cheerfully and warmly. "Sorry for watching but I saw your fight and was curious." She shrugged, aware of how the movement caused her chest to jiggle. "Hope you don't mind."

"Of course not," Rin Tohsaka disclaimed even as she couldn't help but stare for a moment. Whether it be of lust or envy, Mata Hari wasn't sure yet. Wouldn't matter in regard to her Noble Phantasm but knowing which would help in social maneuvering. "You obviously don't mean any harm else we would be fighting not talking right now."

"Oh good," Mata Hari clapped her hands together and gave a relieved smile, making sure to turn on her Pheromone skill. Contrary to popular media, Pheromone wouldn't drive everyone into a lustful state. Her skill would only dissolve the wariness of people unless she made a mistake and set off alarms. And if she activated it earlier, the pair would be suspicious of why they weren't suspicious of her. "I'm not a fighter and the war is scary."

Mata Hari pretended to shiver.

"Yes, well," Rin stuttered for a moment before leaning down to examine Mata Hari's Master. What was his name anyway? "Of course it is. The ritual is meant to kill Servants after all. But what are you doing here if you aren't here to fight?"

"Oh, you know," Mata Hari dismissed her suspicions with an airy wave even as she decided on a good lie. "Just wanted to take a break from the Throne of Heroes, stretch my legs a little," both Servant and Master's eyes dipped to her long, smooth bare expanse of skin. Innuendo was, as always, useful. "and see how life is now. It's so amazing, isn't it?"

"Of course it is," Rin dismissed with a snort as she pulled up one of Shirou's eyelids. "We humans are the type to build off the work of our ancestors. One generation leaves a better foundation for the next generation who leaves a better foundation of knowledge and resources for the next. That is what makes humans human."

"How true," Mata Hari agreed. She would never have become an amazing dancer if she hadn't been trained in the traditional Indonesian dancing customs or if she hadn't listened to her dancing instructors. "Traditions are passed on from parent to child and become refined."

Not that all such were good, Mata Hari believed. Her own father had some habits that she hoped that she would not have passed onto her own children if she had been able to raise them.

"Yes, exactly," Rin nodded in agreement and her Archer seemed to unhappily agree judging by his stance. "Were you just taking a look around and you saw our fight? Decided to watch and hope that Lancer wouldn't kill you?"

"Well," Mata Hari shrugged. "If I die, I die again. Not much I can do about that. But at least I will have lived for a short while. Maybe even have a moment of happiness."

Mata Hari glanced away, her expression artistically wistful.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw both Archer and his Master's expression drop. It looked like neither of them were accustomed to happiness either.

"Well, I need to suppress this one's memories," Rin said as she laid both hands on Shirou's head and started to chant as part of her arm glowed. The girl was speaking In German, Mata Hari noted, allowing her to understand what the magus was saying.

"Suppression of memory. Take the key of remembrance and hide it with me. Believe not in the Mystery of reality. Conform to the common sense of the Order of Man." Rin chanted. "Memory Manipulation."

Assuming that the magus's words corresponded to the spell, Mata Hari noted, this should mean her Master would still remember tonight. He just wouldn't recall remembering it.

Well, this was interesting, she realized. As a Servant, her greatest weakness was her allies. If they betrayed her, her espionage skill wouldn't work. If she messed up, something much more likely to happen when an overbearing person decided they knew the art of spycraft better than she and started giving orders that wouldn't work, then she would die. If someone was crazy or black hearted enough to murder their allies, she was helpless. But if you removed the Master from the picture… Most of the problems went away.

Mata Hari took care not to let her thoughts show on her face.

"Well, that should do it," Rin commented as she got up from the ground, brushing her skirt off. "Shall we head back?"

"Um, wouldn't it be suspicious if he woke up out here with a hole in his shirt?" Mata Hari pointed out. "I mean, without memory of why he was out here or how he got stabbed."

"Unless you are the type to sleep outside on the ground in the middle of winter," Archer drawled. "I believe most people would wonder how they managed to get a hole through their chest but not have a single injury."

"Right," Rin blushed in embarrassment. "We need to put him in his room."

"And change his clothes," Archer said before quickly adding. "Not it."

"Hey!" Rin protested. "You are the only male here! I'm not going to do it! And you're my Servant!"

"I'll take care of it," Mata Hari volunteered only for Rin to make a complicated expression, like she had half a dozen different emotions about the idea, several negative. Quickly, Mata Hari added. "I've changed children's clothes before and his pants look fine. And while I'm at it, I'll follow him around to see how much he remembers and if he'll need another memory manipulation. That should keep the Lancer's Master satisfied."

This was the best option for her. With how little energy her Master provided, she had to stay close. And if everyone knew she was following this guy around in order to keep an eye on him, no one would suspect that he was actually her Master. And once everyone knew it and realized how weak she was, which anyone with any degree of magical sensitivity would realize, they would understand why their Master didn't want to associate with their Servant lest they die in an attack.

Rin looked relieved at the offer.

"Thank you," She said. "But what about your Master?"

"My Master is okay letting me take care of this loose end," Mata Hari lied after a pause to make it seem like her Master was speaking to her through a familiar bond.

"If you are sure," Rin tentatively accepted, obviously not wanting to assign her Servant to make sure that Shirou didn't remember somehow. Mata Hari nodded in affirmation. "Then I believe that will be all. Let's go Archer."

"Yes, Master," Archer gave one last glance at Mata Hari before dropping his gaze to the sleeping boy. Then he astralized and moved away after his Master.

"Bye-bye!" Mata Hari waved them farewell. Rin gave a last glance back before moving through the door and back to the streets.

Mata Hari looked down at her unconscious Master and flipped over his left hand, revealing the three red Command Spells emblazoned onto its back.

Looks like while the magus might have altered his memory, she hadn't removed or noticed the Command Spell telling the world that he was a Master. What a stroke of luck.

Carefully, Mata Hari grabbed her Master and hauled his arm over her shoulder. The sleeping boy didn't react. Carrying him into the house, Mata Hari went from room to room, looking for the one that looked like it had someone living in it.

She found two, but the first one looked like it hadn't been stepped into for years. A light coat of dust covered everything. The other was more subtle, almost identical to the other Japanese style rooms but Mata Hari's trained eye could make out hints that things had been moved around on a regular basis, such as the futon rolled up in the corner.

Rolling it out and placing her Master next to the blanket, she didn't want to get blood stains on it, Mata Hari sighed and sat down.

"You know, Master?" Servant Assassin commented to her still sleeping Master as she turned over his hand to reveal his Command Spells. "I don't know if you are the luckiest Master alive or really unlucky. I guess we'll just have to see if you can break the memory spell on your own."

If he could, then she would encourage him to take advantage of this lucky break. He was dismissed as unimportant and neutralized, which was excellent for a spy. She couldn't fight so if she could persuade him to just let her act as a spy, things would go well. If he didn't break the spell and forgot that he had summoned her, then she would hold her tongue until she needed a Command Spell for something. Not that she would, considering that she had no intention of fighting.

"Now let's see," Mata Hari got up and looked through the doors to the room, hoping to find a closet. "Do you have a shirt- oh."

She had found his closet. And in it, was half a dozen different shirts, all of which were identical blue and white shirts. There were also a few black and white jackets, several brown jackets, brown school uniform pants, and several blue jeans. All in the same style as the clothes he currently had on.

"You are not a shopper are you," Mata Hari sighed. Boys. Only they would think that buying one style of outfit in bulk was all the clothes they would need.

Pulling off the boy's ruined shirt, Mata Hari used the clean parts to wipe off the blood. Didn't want to leave any signs that he had nearly died last night. And judging by the fact that the hole in the front of his shirt had a hole in the same spot on the back, she could guess her Master somehow had survived being stabbed through the chest and healed it in less than an hour. Odd how he could survive something like that but get knocked out by two strikes to the head.

But maybe healing himself took all the magical energy he had. Mata Hari didn't know. She knew rather little about her Master other than he seemed to value her life and he didn't know much magic. Or maybe he didn't intend to summon a Servant. He either was a master actor pretending to know less than he knew or he didn't know that Servants could astralize. Judging by the fact that he had said he had imagined her when only she could hear, she would guess the latter. But it might be possible that he was the overly clever type given to too much subterfuge. Though, judging by how he had charged out to meet Archer and his Master, she doubted it.

But she was pretty sure of one thing. Her Master was a good man and cared enough to send her away while he fought instead. Given how she had died, betrayed by both Germans and the French in the World War and framed for their own incompetence, she would take a Master who actually wanted to keep her away from the fighting.

Finishing pulling the boy's shirt on, Mata Hari put him into his bed and examined her Master by moonlight.

The boy slept deeply. He seemed like an average kid, if one of the bolder or nobler types without common sense.

But he was a magus. He had summoned her after all. And while she had been unaware of the secret side of reality while alive, as a Servant, she was not unaware of its existence. Perhaps the boy had a mask, a disguise in which he could pretend to be someone else while actually being on the other side.

But that was fine. She was the dancer and spy Mata Hari after all. She knew the role of masks and disguises.

"Hmm," Mata Hari tapped her cheek in thought. "We probably should do something about your Command Spells. Too visible as they are now. But covering them up would be too suspicious as well. Oh, what to do, what to do?"

A thought occurred as she bent down to examine his skin tone more carefully. " I wonder, could we use make-up to cover them?"

She had learned the art of concealing wounds from her ex-husband, the abuser that he was. The right kind of make-up would go a long way to pretending that everything was alright, even if the bruises were out where they would be visible.

Getting up, Mata Hari astralized to help her better search through the cupboards and rooms of the house.

And while she was doing that, she might as well put together a list of things she could use to help her spy on the other Masters and Servants of the war. If her Master broke the memory spell, she would need them. If he didn't, she would probably still want them, it would just be harder to get a hold of them.

And the first thing on the list, after make-up for his hand, would be different outfits. She needed something that would be more inconspicuous than her dancer's outfit. It was excellent for distracting opponents but it was far too attention grabbing for moving around in the daylight. But on second thought, it might be better if she did that herself.

Sunday morning, Shirou really didn't have anything to do. Sakura had personal errands until tomorrow, Taiga didn't come over on Sundays, and the house was rather empty.

That said, he had certainly slept in. Shirou thought as he closed the door to the house behind him. It had been just breaking 6:30 when he had woken up in his room. Guess he hadn't fallen asleep training last night. Still felt rather tired though.

But now it was 8:30, and though he didn't have school, he had already completed his morning training. Which meant he was bored. Hmm, what to do, what to do. Maybe he could go restock on groceries. Taiga always ate a lot and he could always use another bag of rice.

So it was that Shirou opened the door to leave his home-

-and saw a poor, half-dressed, brown-haired young woman leaning against the wall, just outside his door.

Shirou blinked and rubbed his eyes. Yup, there was a woman he had never seen before, wearing almost nothing, which nothing looked like what Shirou could imagine was the usual attire for a sultan's harem, all flowing silks and exposed skin. And she had a lot of it, Shirou couldn't help but notice her long, smooth white legs and large, glistening, pale orbs held up by her clearly visible bra.

Wait no, focus Shirou! What is she doing here?

"Hey, are you alright?" Shirou asked, moving closer and forgetting about his plan to go get groceries. But as he took a step, he noticed something he should have noticed earlier. Splots of purple bruises on her flat stomach and arms. "Oh no, I'll call the hospital!"

"No, please," the woman opened her blue eyes and weakly held out her hand in his direction. "Don't call the hospital. I-I don't want to go back."

Shirou paused. She looked like she was in trouble. But it also looked like someone had beat her. But if going to the hospital meant that she would go back… Shirou's hand tightened in outrage. It meant that it was her family who had hurt her. The hospital would call her family and the person who had hurt her would find her and take her back. Somebody had betrayed the bonds of family and hurt a woman, someone they should love, respect, cherish, and protect.

Unacceptable.

"Alright," he agreed, pushing the door further open and coming over to her. "Come on in then, I'll run down to the pharmacy and get something for you."

He reached out to support her but hesitated. What if she didn't like being touched? What if touching her reminded her of the man who had beaten her?

The woman moaned in pain and fell towards him, causing Shirou to reflexively catch her. She was soft, he couldn't help but to notice. Warm and very, very soft. And she smelled wonderful. Like warm bread rolls fresh from the oven, like the scent of a field of flowers in warm sunlight after rain.

If Shirou had a free hand, he would have slapped himself. Focus, Shirou! Now is not the time to be randy! You have an injured woman in your arms.

Moving her around into a princess carry, careful to avoid the purple bruises, which were way too easy to see through her clothes, Shirou carried the stranger into his house.

"So, mind telling me who you are and why you don't want to go to the hospital?" Her acting ignorant Master asked before an expression of belated surprise and shame flashed onto his face. "Oh, sorry, my name is Shirou Emiya."

"My name is Margaretha Zelle," Mata Hair told Shirou her real name, which ironically wasn't her True Name. How often was it that a Servant had a True Name that wasn't her real name? And how did her stage name become her True Name? Maybe if her Master hadn't been wiped of his memories, she could ask him but she kind of figured that if his mind was so easily wiped by a magus, he probably wouldn't know the answer either.

She let herself hesitate, the game of spying, conversation, deception, manipulation, and persuasion coming to her aid, "And I am, was, a spy. Until I was betrayed by my boss and coworkers."

All true. Not a word of it was a lie. She was a spy and she is still a spy, even after being summoned as an Assassin. The only part that was a lie was the implication that it hadn't happened during the Great War, now the First World War.

"What?" Shirou looked disbelieving. Which was natural. You didn't just encounter spies outside your door. Unless you were being spied on of course, which Shirou now was. "But why?"

"I don't know?" Mata Hari shrugged, her blanket sliding off of one of her covered shoulders, drawing Shirou's eyes towards the exposed flesh. "I think there was some kind of failure and they wanted to pin it on me, even though I had nothing to do with it."

"But that's-" Shirou looked offended as he had to stop and shake his head before starting again. "But that's wrong. You can't betray your fellow like that."

His indignation was real, Mata Hari felt confident in taking that bet. Of course, the best of spies could fake any emotion. But Mata Hari couldn't see any point in running such an elaborate deception on weak, little her.

"I mean, you're a spy, right? Who can a spy trust if they don't trust their coworker?" Shirou continued his mind working through the logic. "Who would want to go through life unable to trust everyone they knew?"

Oh, you lucky yet naïve child.

Mata Hari felt her heart go out to her Master. There were many people who would choose to live life like that. But it looked like her Master was not one of them. It seemed her Master was the noble type, not the sneaky spy type like she was. Made her wonder how he had summoned her. It couldn't be compatibility.

However, unless they were being spied on magically, which she didn't think they were, but she wasn't a magus so who knows how a magus could magically spy on a person, this interaction was pointing to him not breaking the memory seal spell.

"You'd be surprised," Mata Hari tilted her head down to give the impression of feeling down. Relax those muscles, tighten these and she'd look like she was remembering something unpleasant. "To save themselves, people will throw others to the wolves."

From under her eyelashes, Mata Hari could see Shirou's face fall into a morose expression. Oh? Was there a history here? Did her Master once have a less noble past and decided to go against it and change himself? Not impossible if he was a high school student. A child's formative years are full of experiences that could change a boy in a 180.

"Well, that is still wrong," Shirou frowned, crossing his arms in a subconsciously defensive gesture. Unless he was just really deceptive and doing it consciously to make her think that he wasn't manipulating her concept of himself.

Ah, the chance she had been waiting for.

"Mr. Emiya," Mata Hari let her eyes fasten onto the three red Command Seals on the back of his left hand. "What is that?"

"What is what?" Shirou blinked in confusion before following her eyes to his hand. "Huh? When did I get a tattoo? Did Fuji-nee do that?"

"Fuji-nee?" Mata Hari prompted, displaying curiosity and interest by leaning forward and tilting her head.

"My guardian, though she is more like an older sister," Shirou explained, caught up in examining his hand. "She likes to play pranks sometimes. Though, this looks more like a tattoo than anything she would do but she has surprised me before."

"It looks like an identification mark," Mata Hari suggested.

"But nobody would take this as a Yakuza mark…" Shirou trailed off, his brows creasing. "Nobody but maybe Taiga and her grandfather Raiga that is. But I'm not part of the Yakuza and Raiga would refuse to take me in so young even if I wanted."

"Yakuza?" Mata Hari widened her eyes and leaned away, acting a bit scared.

"No worries," Shirou hurried to console her. "I'm not part of the Yakuza. I just help them out with vehicle maintenance from time to time. Oh, and they won't harm you. You're my guest."

"Oh good," Mata Hari relaxed her shoulders before tensing them again. "But that means they are known to the area."

"Ah, yeah, I suppose," Shirou looked confused, judging by his furrowed brow.

"Then my pursuers will know of them!" Mata Hari surged up before faking a stagger. "I have to-"

"Hey, they won't sell you out," Shirou protested. "They aren't like that."

"Maybe," Mata Hari continued, putting one hand on the wall like she was tired and unable to walk on her own. "But even if they don't, my enemies will keep an eye on them simply because they are here. If the Yakuza find out about me, then they will soon learn where I am!"

"Then we won't tell them," Shirou stepped over to her side, almost laying his hands on her shoulder before hesitating. Probably about touching her against her will, she would guess. "It shouldn't be that hard. Well, Taiga might find out because she's unpredictable like that, but if you tell her, she'll probably promise to keep it quiet."

"Oh," Mata Hari stopped raising her leg as if she were struggling to take another step. "Do you trust her?"

"In something like this, yes," Shirou said firmly.

"Are you sure?" She peered at him,

That should sell her story that she was hunted by enemy spies. Which should keep him from telling people about her while also making an easy excuse for her eventual disappearance. She would be defeated in this Grail War as the Servants whittle each other down and any pretense for alliance would soon become betrayed. It was simple to figure that out.

"Yes," Shirou nodded. "I am sure."

Mata Hari gave a small frown, like she was thinking it over.

"Okay, I'll trust you." She agreed, slumping back down. Now, he'll be doubly sure to conceal her presence.

"Well, thanks," Shirou looked away, seeming like a flustered kid given an unexpected compliment. "But you should lie back down and heal. Do you need anything?"

"Do you have some soup?" She asked as she lowered herself onto the bed. She needed to keep up a pretense of being human and nothing would break it like not needing to eat or drink.

"I'll make some," Shirou promised.

"Thank you," Mata pulled the blanket back over her and gave Shirou a sweet smile. "I appreciate it."

"Well, I hope it will be good," Shirou's ears were red. How cute. "I'll go and make some."

He turned around and was heading for the door.

"Oh," Mata Hari added in like she had just thought of it rather than working her way towards it for the last few minutes. "Do you think you could cover that mark up?"

"Huh?" Shirou stopped before the door as he turned his head to look over his shoulder. "Why?"

"Well, if I thought that the mark might be a sign of affiliation, then the other spies might do so too," Mata Hari put a scared expression on her face, widening her eyes a little. "And if they do, they will probably follow you back here."

"But I'm not part of the Yakuza," Shirou objected. "And they don't have a symbol like this."

"That is even worse," Mata Hari shook her head. "If I don't recognize it, then neither will they. But given that they are spies, they probably will assume that the markings mean you are part of an enemy gang or organization. And you know how paranoid spies can be…"

She let herself trail off, wondering if she had convinced Shirou.

The boy had turned around and was frowning but after a second, nodded. "Alright. If it'll help keep you safe, then let's get rid of it."

"This close to your end-of-year exams?" Mata Hari scolded as she remembered the Grail's information that April was the last month of the Japanese school system. "Don't sabotage your education, Shirou."

"How did you know I was a student?" Shirou asked curiously.

Mata Hari gave him one of her 'scolding mother to rambunctious child' looks.

"Right," Shirou gave a rueful chuckle, drawing his own conclusion. "Spy. Of course, you put it together."

Mata Hari nodded, not even lying. It wasn't hard to guess he was a high school student. A uniform and teenage years didn't mix in many other ways. And it wasn't a military uniform either.

"I'll find a glove to put on before going outside," Shirou promised.

Mata Hari shook her head.

"Too suspicious," She declared. "Unless you usually wear a glove, changing so suddenly will raise suspicion."

"So, go and get it removed?" Shirou hazarded a guess.

"Again, they might be watching any place that could do that," Mata Hari countered. "How about make-up?"

"Make-up?" Shirou looked confused. Such a guy. Never even considered painting it over. "You mean just paint it over?"

Mata Hari nodded. "With the right skin toner, I can make it look like the tattoo isn't even there."

"Wouldn't that wash off in the water or sweat?" Shirou asked.

"Not if you get the right kind," Mata Hari smiled. "I'm a spy and a girl. Trust me on this."

"Alright," Shirou readily agreed. "I might be able to find some of Taiga's make-up. She might have some here stashed somewhere around here."

"If not, I can just give you the name of a few brands," Mata Hari suggested. Taiga did have some make-up but they weren't fit for a task like this. And the Holy Grail gave her the knowledge she needed to be a spy in modern times. For instance, how to program a virus to spy on someone as it was part of modern-day espionage or how to get around passwords and usernames. It also included a stunning array of dies, toners, and modern-day make-up and what they were good for.

"But won't that mean going out first?" Shirou frowned. "How would I hide the tattoo while shopping?"

"Then put on some gloves," Mata Hari suggested. "Just until you get back home. It wouldn't be too suspicious as it is cold here."

She shivered like she was remembering a chill in the air that she couldn't feel in truth.

"I think that is due to your outfit," Shirou snarked.

"Hey!" Mata Hari forced the blood in her face to rush, causing a blush like she was embarrassed. She turned her head to the side to reinforce it and grumbled. "I wasn't expecting to be on the street in this."

"That was rude of me, sorry," Shirou apologized.

"No, don't be," Mata Hari slumped. "You're probably right."

"Well," Shirou seemed a little awkward before getting a bright idea to escape the awkward situation. "I'll go make some soup now."

"Oh, and can you bring me something that is more comfortable to wear too?" Mata Hari raised her voice to be heard by the rushing teen.

"Sure," he replied over his shoulder. "Let me get the water boiling first."

"Take your time," Mata Hari called after him. "I'm not going anywhere."

She was actually telling the truth this time. She might as well just stay in a nice warm bed while he started on the food. But when he went out to get make-up, she would be following along. She needed to know who he was better and she couldn't go too far from him. He wasn't supplying enough for her to break even outside of his vicinity.

Time passed. Even with a run-away spy inside his house, nothing really much changed. Well, other than the run to buy some make-up which had the clerk smirking at him for buying a large variety of brands off of a list. That was embarrassing. At least she wasn't a classmate so he wouldn't have to worry about rumors at school. But if anything, the main difference was that Shirou didn't have anything to do and it felt irresponsible to leave a hunted woman alone in his house while he went to see if the Copenhagen needed any help. At least there was a cooking show on TV and while porridge wasn't something Shirou was inclined to make often, he wouldn't turn down an opportunity to get better. Come around dinner time, Shirou took it upon himself to knock on her door.

"Ms. Zelle," he called before reaching for the door handle and stopping suddenly. "Are you decent?"

"You can call me Margaretha, Shirou," the woman called from inside. "And yes I am. You can come in."

Shirou opened the door to see the beautiful woman sitting up in bed. Shirou was once again struck with how sheer her dress was and how exposed she was.

Flushing, he looked away. They obviously had different definitions of decent. Those looked like nightclothes, not clothes you met others in, especially guys like him.

"Just wanted to say dinner was ready," he informed the floor. What nice wooden planks. It wasn't his room's tatami mats but this was a Western style room, not a Japanese style one.

"Thank you," the woman warmly said. "I'll be there in a bit."

"Um," Shirou looked up to see her sliding to the edge of the bed before sliding one long, pretty leg out from underneath the covers and looked back down. "Do you want me to bring you some clothes?"

"I would appreciate it," Margaretha agreed. "These aren't the best for polite company."

"Yeah, I noticed." Shirou said before blushing as the possible interpretation of his words struck him. "No, not like that-!"

She laughed merrily. Shirou hazarded a glance up to see her smiling. And her bosom was shaking with her laughter.

"I thought you had," Shirou could hear her amusement. "Don't worry, Shirou. I was a teenager once too."

"Yeah, but you were a girl teenager," Shirou said as he spun around and left to go looking for some of Taiga's clothes. They were around the same size, right? And if not, then…Shirou didn't know but he didn't want to think of his older sister figure like that.

"Hormones don't care," Margaretha called after him as he left the room. "I knew some girls that were more…thirsty than any guy."

"Too much information," Shirou mumbled under his breath. "Too much information."

He hoped he was imagining the snickers from behind him.

"Thank you Shirou," Margaretha said, leaning back from the table and patting her stomach. "That was excellent."

"It's no problem," Shirou said automatically as he loaded up the dishes. She ate almost as much as Taiga.

"Oh, let me do the dishes," Margaretha started getting up.

"No," Shirou refused, taking some steps back. "You are still hurt so I'll do them."

"I can't let my host do all the work," Margaretha protested as she continued getting to her feet slowly.

"A host can't let a guest push herself," Shirou countered. Now if only that logic had worked on Sakura.

Sakura.

"Oh, I forgot." Shirou let himself take a few steps to the kitchen to put the empty dishes in the sink.

"Forgot what?" Margaretha asked curiously.

"I have guests over usually, every day but Sunday actually." Shirou turned around to see Margaretha sitting down again. She was turned towards him, head on her hand and a curious look in her eyes. At least Taiga's clothes fit her. Not very well as her bustline looked strained but they looked smaller than in the sultan's outfit. A lot less visible too, which Shirou felt a mixed relief over. Sure, it was awkward to have them always on display but he was still a guy and liked seeing breasts as much as the next guy.

"Who are they?" Margaretha asked before a sly smile crossed her face. "Are they girls?"

"What? No, well, yes, they are," Shirou protested only to realize that yes, Sakura and Taiga were girls.

"Fu, fu," Margaretha laughed, covering her mouth with one hand. "Only, what, 17, and already having multiple girls over?"

"18," Shirou corrected. "And one is my guardian and the other is my old friend's sister. His younger sister."

"Well, start when they are young and," Margaretha's teasing grin didn't need to be seen to be heard.

"It's not like that!" Shirou protested. "Sakura doesn't like me in that way. And neither does Taiga."

"Alright, alright," Margaretha's smile never disappeared. "I'll believe you."

Shirou sighed in relief. Taiga and her teasing was bad enough. He didn't know if he could handle another woman teasing Sakura and him about their friendly relationship. Even if Sakura was turning more and more beautiful by the day. He really shouldn't be noticing that. It made him feel like a creep to notice that about Shinji's sister.

"So they will be coming over tomorrow?" Margaretha prodded.

"Yeah, for breakfast and dinner," Shirou nodded as he turned on the hot water. "So, I don't know. Do you want to let them know you are here?"

"Hmm," Margaretha hummed in thought. "Is this the same Taiga that is part of the Yakuza and your guardian?"

"More like a Yakuza princess than a Yakuza member," Shirou corrected. "But if anyone was to stumble over you, it would be her. She's…"

Shirou trailed off, trying to find a word to describe Taiga Fujimura.

"She's Taiga." He concluded. "She does her own thing."

"Ah," Margaretha nodded. Shirou tested the water and found it hot enough to be used in washing the dishes. "I see. I think I know the type of person you are talking about."
"There's more people like her?" Shirou's eyes widened, wondering how the world managed to survive more people like Taiga.

"Persons who are larger than life and actually live up to it." Margaretha nodded. "And people who live every moment of their life happily, no matter the chaos they bring. Yes, I have met a few people like either of those two types."

"Huh," Shirou resolved that Taiga and whoever Margaretha knew must never meet. He didn't know how it would go but likely they would start bouncing crazier and crazier ideas off of each other. And nobody wanted that.

"But as to telling them if I am here," Shirou could hear the tapping of her fingernails on the table. "You said you trusted Taiga, right? Would you trust Sakura too?"

"If you told Sakura, I am confident she wouldn't betray your trust," Shirou assured her before hesitating. "Taiga might let it slip though."

"Alright," Margaretha nodded. "How about we tell them only part of the truth?"

Shirou looked over his shoulder. Margaretha smiled and winked at him. "Keep the truth between us. Our little secret?"

Shirou coughed as he snapped his head around, cheeks turning red.

"Sure," He mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Sure," he repeated. "We could just say that I found you outside my home and homeless. Would that work?"

"Hmm, maybe if I say that I was being hunted by some people who think I know something I shouldn't." Margaretha suggested. "Tell them that I was framed and they have no interest in letting the truth be found so I had to run and leave everything behind. Or maybe just have me fleeing an abusive husband."

"Would that work?" Shirou questioned, somewhat doubting it himself.

"It could," Margaretha was somewhat hesitant. "I'll need to have a better grasp on their characters though. Maybe I can listen in on them before meeting them? I don't have to meet them tomorrow, do I?"

"No, I suppose that is an option," Shirou accepted. "So, just hide you tomorrow and let you meet them on Tuesday?"

"We'll decide tomorrow, after school," Margaretha decided. "That will give me some more time to heal and get better."

"Oh, right," Shirou suddenly remembered part of why he had gone to talk to Margaretha. He had forgotten upon seeing the state of her clothes. "Do you need any help in getting back?"

"I got here alright, didn't I?" Margaretha rhetorically answered. "And now that I've eaten, I should be stronger, ah-aahh."

She yawned, a cute little yawn that set Shirou's pulse speed to fast.

"You need some sleep," Shirou said, turning off the water and drying his hands. He could finish the dishes later.

"Sounds good," the spy agreed as she got up. "See you tomorrow Shirou."

"If you want, I can carry you," Shirou offered, not wanting her to push herself.

"I've been in bed all day," Margaretha shook her head. "Let me walk, please?"

Shirou couldn't say no to those imploring eyes.

Breakfast was normal, even with Margaretha waiting in a storage room next to the kitchen and eavesdropping on them. Shirou had purposefully made too much, part of which had gone into Taiga's (and Sakura's) lunches but there was still enough to put in containers in the fridge.

Dinner was harder to hide her.

"Um, Senpai?" Sakura frowned as she combed through the refrigerator. "What happened to the leftovers?"

"Oh," Shirou started sweating. Oops. Of course Sakura would notice the food that Margaretha ate. "Um…"
"Senpai?" Sakura was frowning at him. She suspected something! "Senpai, is there something wrong?"

"No, not really," Shirou evasively replied.

"Senpai, is there someone else here?" Sakura's eyes were narrowed.
"Um, err, no there isn't," Shirou lied as his eyes darted for the door, hoping for a miracle that would save him.

"I'm done grading! No more papers to grade! Huzzah!" Taiga threw open the door with full cheer.

Wrong miracle!

Mata Hari didn't make a sound as she listened to Shirou flounder in the face of his friend's suspicion. The boy was hopeless at this, even if he was fine with being taken advantage of at school. Yes, she had followed her Master to school. No, neither he nor anyone else had realized that she was there. Well, excluding Archer's Master who had sensed her following Shirou but that wasn't something to worry about with the cover story Mata Hari had concocted and given to Rin.

Dematerializing, Mata Hari moved through the wall and towards the room she was given. She'd want to double check on her make-up for bruises, preferably before either the lively guardian or the suspicious underclassman investigated. Which might be pretty soon, depending on how well Shirou would be able to deflect interest.

Pity that she had ate the food though. If she had known that this Sakura would notice the missing food from breakfast, Mata Hari would have not eaten. But at the time, she chose to eat in order to alleviate suspicion. After all, if you didn't eat at all, people tended to be suspicious that something was wrong. And right now, her best defense was that no one, not even her Master, knew that Shirou was her Master. As long as Shirou didn't suspect she was a Servant, she probably could continue to fool him and live a normal, happy, life. At least until a Servant came for her head.

Rematerializing, Mata Hari checked the 'bruises' on her upper arm and a few on her torso. Wasn't hard to use make-up to make them look right, especially as she knew what a proper bruise looked and felt like. Hard to forget.

At the scamper of footsteps in her direction, Mata Hari pulled down the short sleeve of her borrowed yellow and black striped shirt, almost covering one of her 'bruises'. Climbing into bed, Mata Hari heard the slam of the door to the neighboring room.

"Not here!" Came the sudden call.

"Fuji-nee, please-"

"No secrets Shirou! You can't hide anything from your older sister!"

"Isn't that what you said about the dessert I made for your birthday that you ate the day before and then complained about not having a birthday cake the next day?"

"That and this are entirely different matters!"

"Can you please calm down! Sakura is upset."

"Please continue, Fujimura-sensei."

"You heard the lady!"

The door to Mata Hari's room flew open with a loud rattle.

"Eh?" Mata Hari made as if she had just woken up, raising her head and rubbing her eyes. "What's going on-Ya-awn."

The lady in a longer sleeved yellow and black shirt and a long green dress stared at her.

"Shirou!" She wailed. "Why are you giving my clothes away to strange women!"

"What!" An upset female voice sounded from out of sight.

"She needed something to wear!" Shirou protested as he ran into view.

"Why did she need my clothes?" Taiga protested. "What about her old clothes?"

"Well, um." Shirou blushed. "They weren't suitable."

"Senpai?" A female voice that sounded remarkably upset was drawing closer and louder. "Not suitable for what?"

Mata Hari was a bit sorry for dumping this on Shirou. She probably should help.

"Oh, are you the woman whose clothes these are?" Mata Hari pinched the cloth at her left shoulder, which raised her sleeve up, making her lower bruise visible. "Thank you very much."

"What is that?" Taiga's eyes landed on her arm.

"Eh?" Mata Hari played dumb.

"Shirou, did you hurt an innocent woman?" Taiga wheeled around on Shirou, waving a finger at him. "I raised you better than this!"

A head of purple hair popped around the corner and examined Mata Hari. Her eyes were narrowed and she looked at Mata Hari like she was an enemy.

Mata Hari blinked and pretended that she was absorbed in Taiga chewing Shirou out for hurting herself.

Well, well, looked like Shirou had a girl in love with him. Either that or Sakura thought Shirou belonged to someone else. Or she just didn't want to have Mata Hari intrude. Or maybe Sakura just disliked Mata Hari on sight.

Sakura glanced at Shirou and back again at Mata Hari. Then at Shirou's hands and back again. Then at Shirou's eyes and back to Mata Hari's chest and then down to her own.

"Then what is this?" Taiga zipped over to Mata Hari's side and grabbed her arm.

Mata Hari gasped as if she were actually in pain.

"Sorry," Taiga apologized and let go but instantly went back to berating Shirou. "Did you run over this poor woman while rushing to school? How could you Shirou!"

"I don't even have a vehicle," Shirou deadpanned.

"You have a bicycle," Taiga whined. "Shirou, how could you run over this young woman and not tell me?"

"Because I didn't run over-" Shirou bit off his words and glanced at Mata Hari.

She could take a cue to give her cover story. She was a spy after all. Although she preferred a cue that wasn't so blatant at being a cue. It indicated that there was a secret here, which meant she had to lay the clues for a secret in her cover story.

"I am Margaretha Zelle," Mata Hari got out of bed, from the side that Taiga wasn't standing at. She eyed the adult woman warily, one arm rubbing the arm that Taiga had grabbed. "I was…recently made homeless and Shirou found me wandering the streets. He kindly let me in."

"But what about the accident?" Taiga pounced.

"What accident?" Mata Hari tilted her head in confusion.

"The accident when you were run over!" Taiga yelled. "That accident!"

"I'm sorry?" Mata Hari blinked as if she didn't know what Taiga was talking about. To be fair, it was rather easy as she didn't know how Taiga got so stuck on the idea of her being run over. "But I wasn't in an accident."

"No accident?" Taiga deflated. "No 16-wheeler truck that almost hit you and sent you to another world?"

She looked depressed. Like her favorite story got canceled.

"There was no truck." Mata Hari denied as Shirou opened his mouth, probably to point out that the last part of Taiga's sentence was only a thing that happened in fantasy. "I haven't seen a truck since…" she made to blink and look up as if trying to recall the last time she had seen a truck. "…since a few years ago, I think."

"Then how did you get those bruises?" Sakura asked, moving in so that she was fully visible. The girl was wearing a brown jacket over a white shirt with red ribbons and a black skirt. If Mata Hari had to guess, she would say that this was a modern day school uniform, which she would have probably enjoyed wearing more than the dour dresses she had had to wear back in her childhood. It probably was the female equivalent to Shirou's school uniform.

"Oh," Mata Hari looked away, bringing up her other arm in a defensive gesture, trying to create the impression of it being an unconscious effort to defend herself while recalling something threatening. "It was an accident. It wasn't on purpose."

Sakura looked worried but Taiga was suspicious.

"An accident? But no truck? Hmmm." Taiga had crossed her arms and was tapping her fingers on her own arm. She was obviously thinking. "And Shirou said he didn't run over you."

"Shirou only found me, he didn't do anything to me. Well, other than let me have a place to sleep where it was warm." Mata Hari loyally defended her Master. All he had done was summon her and send her away from the fighting. She didn't blame him for that. Everything else was just her manipulating him.

"So it wasn't Shirou," Taiga muttered.

"Of course it wasn't Senpai," Sakura frowned at Taiga. "Senpai would never do such a thing."

"Thank you Sakura," Shirou thanked the girl, who blushed and stared at his face for a short moment before looking away. Ah, so it was romantic interest in her Master. Mata Hari was getting a good idea on the relationship situation here. "At least someone believes my innocence."

"Eh? I never said you were the one to do it, Shirou!" The parting shot at Taiga was parried.

"Yes you did," Shirou deflected it back onto course.

"When did I do that?" Taiga blocked.

"A minute ago when you said I ran over her with my bicycle." Shirou punched through the shield like a bullet. Taiga shuddered like she had actually been physically hit.

"Well, now we know you didn't." Taiga raised a flag to show that she wasn't dead yet but was willing to pretend that she hadn't accused her own ward of attacking someone.

A growl echoed through the room. Mata Hari and everyone looked at Taiga, whose stomach had made the noise.

"Well, now that we are all awake," Mata Hari clapped her hands to spare Taiga the embarrassment. A good impression here would go some distance in making her stay acceptable. "How about we have some dinner? I can make something-"

"No." "No, please don't."

Mata Hari blinked at both Shirou and Sakura who had objected at the same time. Shirou turned to look at Sakura whose face turned a slight tinge of red, but not really noticeable. Minor social embarrassment, Mata Hari would guess.

"I like cooking," Shirou explained. "It is something I enjoy doing."

Sakura nodded in agreement. Though, if Mata Hari had to guess, Sakura's reason might be more along the line of who she was cooking with rather than the activity of cooking.

"So, Shirou, what dreams do you have for the future?" Mata Hari asked casually.

Sakura's head seemed to snap to Mata Hari with focused but slightly hostile eyes before turning to look at Shirou with a trace of hope and a load of curiosity.

"Hmm," Shirou hummed as he looked slightly embarrassed. "Dreams for the future? Like what kind of job I want?"

"Yes," Mata Hari smiled, leaning forward to display interest. "Do you see yourself as a surgeon? A father? A mechanic? A cook? Do you want to travel the world? Anything like that?"

Sakura's gaze seemed to gain 10kg weights at the mention of Shirou being a father.

"Well," Shirou dropped his eyes to the plate. "I was thinking of being a lawyer. Never really thought about any other dreams."

"A lawyer?" Mata Hari seemed a little surprised. "Why do you want to be a lawyer?"

"Well, I just want to help justice be done," Shirou explained as he did not meet anyone's eyes. He might be telling the truth but if so, he wasn't telling all of it. "So being a lawyer seems like the best option."

"Like your childhood dream of being a hero?" Sakura asked, slightly disappointed at no mention of Shirou considering a family. The girl was really too easy to read.

"And being a lawyer makes big bucks!" Taiga interrupted, slamming her single can of beer down on the table. She had said she was celebrating finishing all the grading and offered one to Mata Hari. Being informed that drinking together was a social thing in modern Japan, Mata Hari had not refused. But due to being a Heroic Spirit, Mata Hari wasn't drunk at all. Wish that had been a thing back when she was alive. Would have saved her a lot of effort when it came to learning how to handle her liquor. "Not that Shirou uses his money."

"I don't like to touch Dad's inheritance," Shirou objected. "Besides, it isn't as if I need it."

Inheritance? Mata Hari fastened her eyes on Shirou. Was he an orphan? It would make sense and explain why he had a guardian and where his parents were. And she had seen a Japanese shrine while exploring the house when Shirou had been sleeping off Archer's Master's memory wipe.

Well, some of the things that a spy often needed were tools, alibis, and information. All of which, money could help buy. But as she didn't have anything with which she could use to actually beat another Servant, it really didn't matter, now did it?

"Oh come on," Taiga stretched out over the table like a cat. "There are plenty of stuff you could buy. Like food!"

"I already buy food. Sakura is the only one who sometimes helps to pay for it despite a certain freeloader," Shirou deadpanned.

"And games! You could buy games!" Taiga pounded the table. "Like one of those, PlayStations! Yeah, you should buy a PlayStation 2!"

"That sounds like something you would want," Shirou noted.

"Yes!" Taiga smiled. "Imagine coming home to a kitchen full of the smells of good food and having a fun game to play while snacking on snacks Shirou makes!"

"Sounds like a lot of work and little play for the person buying the game." Shirou noticed.

"Don't worry, your big sis will help you learn how to play the game!" Taiga thumped her own chest proudly. "I'm an expert on playing games!"

"Because you never stop playing around?" Shirou pointedly asked.

"I get serious!" Taiga protested. "Like, when I eat food!"

"You played a prank at the breakfast table just a few days ago," Shirou countered.

The two fell to friendly arguing as Mata Hari made sure to remember what the discussion had revealed about her own Master. Sakura was also quiet with her own thoughts, the Assassin noted.

"Hey, Margaretha," Taiga whined after Shirou and Sakura once again refused Mata Hari's offer to clean the dishes. Given that she was supposed to be recovering, it would be suspicious if she didn't take it easy so Mata Hari could do nothing but pout. Shirou had wavered but Sakura had metaphorically dragged him back into the kitchen before Shirou had given in. "When will I get my clothes back?"

"I'm sorry," Mata Hari picked at her clothes. "I just don't have anything decent to wear. I didn't have time to pick a wardrobe before…"

She trailed off, trying to imply towards her cover story of being in an abusive household before she was abandoned and kicked out. Of course, she hadn't told them that. She had just dropped allusions and hints and let Taiga and Sakura build their own conclusions.

"Then we should buy some!" Taiga pounded a hand into her fist, obviously looking pleased at her own genius. She wasn't seriously drunk but it was obvious Taiga had only drunk enough to give herself a light buzz.

"I don't think that is a good idea!" Shirou hurriedly interrupted from the kitchen. Mata Hari repressed a sigh. Thank you for being a knight in shining armor but if you act like this, they might get suspicious Shirou. "She might, um, run into some people."

"Eh?" Taiga blinked languidly. "But she's wearing my clothes. I want them back."

"You left them here last summer," Shirou countered. "I don't think that leaves you with any qualification on taking them back."

"It's not finder's keepers, Shirou!" Taiga pouted. "They are my clothes and it feels weird to see another person wearing them."

"That isn't what you said about the snacks in the cupboard and the ice-cream," Shirou shot back. "I recall it being very much 'finder's keeper's eaters'."

"Well, I'd rather not leave here for a while," Mata Hari headed off another upcoming family argument. "But I could use some clothes that could fit me."

Mata Hari touched where the dress was tight on her bustline and saw Taiga glare at it.

"Yeah, that too," Taiga said darkly. "I refuse to have someone looking better than me in my own clothing!"

"But-" Shirou protested before subsiding after Mata Hari shot him a quick look. Sakura glanced between Shirou and Mata Hari with a slightly worried frown. Drat, the girl was getting suspicious again. At least Sakura didn't know about magecraft or the Grail War so she wouldn't suspect the actual truth.

"Well, I might run into someone I don't want to meet at the mall," Mata Hari offered up a compromise. "Could there be a smaller clothing store I could visit? One out of the way, perhaps?"

"Out of the way?" Taiga seemed to think about it for a moment before jumping up. "Yeah, I know of one! Let's go!"

"Right now?" Mata Hari blinked in surprise.

"Right now, right now," Taiga ran to behind Mata Hari before hauling her up and started pushing her towards the door.

"Ow!" Mata Hari faked a wince at Taiga's hands landing on her back.

"Sorry, are you okay?" Taiga seemed sympathetic.

"I'm fine," Mata Hari gave a bad lie. "Just, could we take a taxi or something? I don't want to walk there right now."

Shirou relaxed behind her, which caused Sakura to look a little less worried.

"Sure, sure, now let's go!" Taiga waved it off as she ran around to pull Mata Hari forward by the wrist.

Mata Hari loved dealing with happy drunks or people lightly buzzed. They were so easy to make suggestions to.

And so it was that upon Taiga's credit card, Mata Hari got several outfits, including underwear, casual clothes which included an orange tube top in the same shade as her summoned attire, snug short jeans with pockets (Taiga had proudly showed off her own green dress's pockets), some comfortable moccasin shoes, more red flower decorations, and a beautiful grey dress gown that went from mid-thigh all the way up to her shoulders and down to just past her elbows. Taiga got really into it and before Mata Hari knew it, she also had matching pantyhose and a cheap pearl necklace, not to mention some cosmetics and a nice perfume.

All in all, Mata Hari considered it a job well done. Now if there had been spies hunting her, she might have been worried as she had taken two taxis and interacted with store clerks, not to mention how attention grabbing Taiga was. But she was the only spy in town and as long as she was with a civilian unrelated to the war, a Servant would steer clear.

"Thanks for your help, Shirou," Issei Ryoudou said as Shirou walked past the blond woman meditating next to the gate. She was heart-stopping beautiful but Shirou didn't want to make a fool of himself staring like he had when he had first seen her while climbing the stairs.

"No problem, Issei," Shirou replied as he stretched his arms a little. Kuzuki-sensei had needed some help with moving some stuff around for a friend. So he had asked Issei to round up some help and Shirou didn't have anything really better to do.

It had taken a bit longer than Shirou had expected. It was dark out now, well past sundown, and he had come here from after school.

Huh, it hadn't felt nearly that long. He didn't remember time passing so quickly. Must have been having fun.

"No, seriously," Issei pressed. "Thank you. I shudder to think of much longer it would have taken if you hadn't been here."

"Well, you better go have dinner," Shirou said awkwardly. "I need to go home and whip something up for Taiga."

"I would ask if I could go with you," Issei looked up at the night sky. "But the curfew has already started. Are you sure you shouldn't spend the night? We can find you a bed if you want."

"Nah. Taiga would get worried and is hungry by now," Shirou shook his head. "And you know that not feeding a tiger is a bad idea."

"True," Issei reluctantly sighed at Shirou's slight joke. "I have heard the stories of what happens when she is hungry. For your own good, you probably should go."

"Well, see you tomorrow," Shirou bid farewell.

"Be safe," Issei returned.

The two friends nodded and went their separate ways. As Shirou walked down, he felt like someone was watching him.

"Well, that didn't work as well as I had hoped," Caster winced as she saw her newly bespelled Master get smacked around by Heracles. The guy knew nothing about the Grail War. In fact, he didn't even know that he was in the Grail War or was a Master. It had been but the work of a moment to modify his memories to hide that she had even questioned him. Surprisingly, the kid was a magus, but he was training wrong. Didn't even know how to open his Magic Circuits or knew the basics. Hedge witches were better practitioners than him.

But he was still an enemy Master, even if he was the Master of an Assassin who couldn't even fight even as she astrally stood, rooted in place by pure terror behind her Master. Medea couldn't blame her for that as angry Heracles was something that civilians would respond to like how a rabbit would freeze in the presence of a predatory snake. This incident just proved that Mata Hari, or Margaretha Zelle, as Shirou knew her, was useless to Medea. Medea was more than capable of scrying or divining out what information she needed. Taking the upkeep of a spy Servant was more burden than benefit.

So she had laid three commands into him. One was to never harm her or her Master. Second was to go and tell her any information about the Grail War he discovered or will discover. Third was to die if she ordered it.

And considering that he had yet to even realize his memories had already been messed with, Medea had just removed the memories of her questioning him and called it good enough. No need to overdo something and considering that the rule of three was magically significant, ordering him to never reveal anything about her when he knew nothing about her was simply redundant.

Then she sent him off as neither he nor Mata Hari were a threat to her. But another pair of listening ears never hurt anyone. And once the more dangerous Servants were dealt with, she could deal with Assassin at her leisure. And since the grail will manifest once there are only two Servants left, the ability to have time to modify the Grail could be very valuable. Assuming that Assassin didn't die before then, why waste more magic killing a Servant than she had to? If a competitor did it, she lost nothing. If they didn't, she stood to gain the resource of time without any risk to her.

But it looked like her work would soon be pointless as Heracles was using the boy as a ball. And no ball could survive Heracles.

Then a flash of silver and blue interposed itself between the battered boy and the Servant.

Caster groaned as she realized that Berserker was within eyesight of the Temple gate, the one that she had ordered Saber to guard via Saber's Master.

"Halt," Saber declared as she stood in front of the badly battered boy. "You will not proceed further in harming this civilian."

Medea pressed one hand to her forehead and sighed. Trust Saber to be a knight in shining armor. She could get Luvia to summon her Servant back but that would create tension and the sort-of amiable alliance was not something to be sacrificed lightly at this stage. It removed friction that could prove distracting when they went up against more dangerous foes. Such as now.

Also, while she knew how strong Heracles was, she didn't know how strong Servant Heracles was. Too strong, she would guess but stronger than Saber or not? And the boy might still be useful.

But how did the Master of Berserker know about Shirou? Right now, only her, Souichirou, and Assassin knew that Shirou was a Master. Archer and his Master had somehow missed the Command Seals, so much for eagle-eyed Archers. Lancer never saw him after he got the Command Seals. And Medea had been unaware of any familiars near the Emiya estate.

Which reminded her, she could possibly set up the Emiya estate as a decoy or a hideout. She had her former Master's place as a distant hideout but you could never have too many boltholes.

Then Medea's eyes caught onto something.

The boy was healing. In front of her eyes, the boy was visibly getting better. But he had never described his abilities in magecraft as including an ability to heal. And he had been truthful, her spell had made sure of that. Which meant, Medea sighed, which meant that the boy didn't know everything about himself and his abilities. Or something he thought was normal was actually a Mystic Code involving healing. Should she bring him back and examine him more closely?

Then the explosion of Berserker and Saber's clash happened and she found herself keeping an eye on the battle hoping for any information on their relative capabilities.

A few seconds later, a knock was on her door.

"Caster," Luvia said through the closed door. "Saber is in battle with Berserker. His Master claimed he was Heracles and had Godhand, rendering him able to resurrect 10 more times."

Caster winced. Heracles, as a mortal, was hard enough to face. Being forced to kill him 12 times…

Yeah, she would need a plan to deal with him. Probably more Servants too.

"Well, can you go and bring in the boy your Servant is protecting?" Caster requested. "He is somehow regenerating despite his skill being a disgrace to a novice hedgewitch."

"Oh?" Luvia asked curiously. "Very well. Even a hedgewitch could stumble upon something of interest."

"Exactly," Medea agreed.

"So, this is Saber's Noble Phantasm," Luvia was wide-eyed as she held Avalon in her hands.

"Yes," Caster agreed, hiding her displeasure. A powerful Noble Phantasm like this and because she had decided to let Luvia be the face that Berserker and his Master know, Avalon was now in Saber's hands. Not that it would be useful to her as you needed a tie to Saber for it to work at all. But it looked like being protected by Saber qualified so perhaps it could have helped protect Souichirou.

"How did he get it?" Luvia asked the question on the pair's mind.

"He doesn't know," Caster replied. "I already questioned him about the Servants he had met and his own abilities at magecraft. Also asked if he had any Mystic Codes or special equipment or items purporting to magecraft and he hadn't. If he had known about Avalon, he would have mentioned it."

"Well, I suppose then that this will be a mystery that we will never know the answer to," Luvia clicked her tongue before carefully pressing it into her chest. Her body welcomed the Noble Phantasm and it disappeared from Caster's senses.

Well, it made sense that Saber's Master would seek to protect herself. Saber was one of the strongest Servants. Killing the Master was the same as attacking Saber's weakness.

Pity that Rule Breaker would sever any such ties and render Avalon's healing properties useless to Luvia. Of course, Medea wasn't going to tell Luvia that. The ace up your sleeve was not something you revealed until you needed it. And the voodoo doll Caster was using as insurance to keep Luvia under control would still allow for some curses to be laid onto Luvia without interacting with the protective Noble Phantasm.

"Should we erase his memories?" Luvia asked suddenly. "It is protocol to keep the Grail War hidden and killing him feels like a waste."

"Modify them," Medea countered. "He was badly injured and even with the healing Noble Phantasm, he will be asleep for the rest of the night. Considering that a Servant is keeping an eye on him and living at his home to see if he remembers the Grail War, it would be better to keep the status quo and to have him convinced he just was mugged. If nothing else, Berserker looks like someone who could make living mugging people even if that would be an utter waste of his skills. And if it puts suspicion on Berserker's Master, that will help pressure her movements."

"A Servant at his home? Ah, the astralized Servant who was too scared to even move?" Luvia looked down at the sleeper, a little more interested than she had been. Teenage hormones acting up wasn't hard to notice, even if the teenager was a magus. And Caster could see why a teenage girl would be interested in a handsome boy even if this one wasn't her type. "Is he in the Grail War?"

"No," Caster lied. The lie the Assassin was perpetuating was becoming common knowledge. Archer's Master had told Rider's Master Shinji Matou and the Overseer/Lancer's new Master about Assassin following Shirou around. And Caster wanted to make sure she had an ace to play in case Saber's Master betrayed her. Sure, Assassin wouldn't be able to kill or even touch Saber. But Assassin was still a Servant and keeping her secret would mean that Caster's blackmail of Shirou being Assassin's Master would be stronger. Spreading it out would make the blackmail weaker. And having the spy Assassin owe her a favor while under threat of blackmail was simply a valuable asset in a war. "The Master of Assassin gave up when they realized Assassin was too weak to even kill a Master. Sent her away in order to avoid attention and she stumbled into Shirou Emiya."

"What?" Luvia was surprised. "Too weak to even kill a Master?"

"Assassin is honestly the most pathetic Servant I have ever seen," Medea answered. "Her highest stat is Luck at D. Well, her Noble Phantasm is A+ but it is unable to be used in combat so it is practically useless."

"Oh, who?" Luvia asked, fishing for information.

"Mata Hari," Medea informed. "She is a recent Heroic Spirit."

Given that Mata Hari was going by her real life name of Margaretha, giving up Assassin's True Name was almost meaningless. Add in her espionage and pheromone skills, and Luvia could possibly meet with Assassin and not realize that this was Mata Hari unless she introduced herself as Assassin.

"Who?" Luvia frowned as she didn't recall any legends about someone with that name.

"As I said, recent," Medea answered. "Was executed as a scapegoat for others blunders in some war. Her combat ability is non-existent. A normal human could probably beat her in a fight as long as they know how to fight."

"Ah," Luvia accepted. The information was enough for Luvia to dismiss Assassin as a threat.

"So why is she keeping an eye on this guy?"

"He stumbled upon Lancer and Archer fighting. Got stabbed, Archer's Master healed him then realized she had forgotten to modify his memories, then fought Lancer again over whether to kill or seal his memories." Caster replied. None of this was even useful information. "Assassin stumbled in and lacking anything better to do," literally, keeping an eye on her Master was a good thing for Assassin to do. "she volunteered to make sure he didn't break through the memory seal. He still hasn't even realized his memories were modified."

"And now we are modifying his memories again," Luvia pointed out. "Hopefully he doesn't stumble into more Servants in the Grail War. But from the sounds of it, he has met most of the Servants by now. Lancer, Archer, Assassin, Saber, you, Berserker. All he needs to do now is meet Rider and lose his memories again and he'll have the full set."

Medea paused as she considered the Master's observation. The boy had met all of the Servants and it hadn't even been a week since Assassin was summoned. Of course, Rider had been astralized at the time but it didn't change that somehow, the boy had met with more Servants than even the Servants and Masters themselves. That could not be a coincidence. Did there exist ties of fate between him and each Servant?

Possibly in another world or just the effect of being one of seven Masters in the Grail War, Caster supposed. But even supposing that he had stronger karmic ties than normal, that would be an alternate timeline, not this one. Could she exploit those ties?

Not really. The boy had ties but it looked like it was just ties of meeting in this world. Using him as a spy seemed like the best way to exploit them.

Hmm. A spy Master to go with a spy Servant. And with him already under her grasp… Well, she could insert a desire into him. Getting himself trained as a spy could help improve the efficacy of her tool.

Caster looked down at the boy. It would only be a moment's work to modify him to have the desire to be trained as a spy. And she needed to modify his memories to hide the Grail War anyway. Berserker's Master had let him know about the Grail War and it would be pointless if the boy got obliterated because he started asking around about Servants when his own couldn't even fight.

And it would be mercy to remove how badly he had gotten crippled by Berserker. Medea could be cruel if needed but she didn't see the point in being cruel for no reason.

"Please teach me how to be a spy," Shirou asked out of the blue the day after the night he had met Berserker and got his memories altered (again) to remember getting mugged by a giant of a man.

Mata Hari blinked. She had not been expecting that.

"Okay," she replied. He was her Master so if he wanted to learn spycraft, it was something she could do. And she did feel kind of guilty for not protecting him from both Saber's Master and Berserker and being unable to fight despite being summoned. But… "But why do you want to be a spy? It's not a very rewarding field."

Especially for a magus. Didn't the Grail say that a Magus was more about discovering the mysteries of magic or something? So why would one want to learn how to steal human secrets?

"Because the city is in trouble," Shirou replied. "Students are being attacked, families are being murdered, gas attacks are happening everywhere and no one knows who is responsible for any of them. Also, nobody has ever seen the man who mugged me. The girl he holds hostage has been seen around town but no one has been able to talk to her. And all of this has been going on for over a week now. So, if the police and detectives aren't working, then maybe a spy can. Also, a hero has to know who the bad guys are before he can put them into jail."

Oh, the Grail War. Shirou was noticing the effects of having Servants prey upon the citizens for magical energy. Mata Hari could do the same but she didn't need it. Shirou, even with the minimal amount of energy he was providing, was still managing to provide her with enough energy. And to be honest, if she needed more energy, she would prefer a tantric ritual, which she could easily do with even a stranger if she needed, over eating a person's soul. Eating a soul…yuck. Just the concept of it was repulsive.

But her Master didn't know about the Grail War. If he had, the memories were sealed by Tohsaka or by Saber's Master who had dragged her Master back into the Temple where Saber had initially stopped her from entering.

And Shirou's request didn't cost her anything and gave her something to do.

"Alright," she agreed. She had never taken an apprentice spy before. This could be interesting.

"Great," Shirou smiled. "So what do we start with?"

"First, let's start with your strengths," Mata Hari began. "There are different ways to classify spies but the one I will use today is focused around the location the spies are gathering from, which is broken down into five types. The movie type of spy, the foreign agent. These tend to be the disposable ones as they are more saboteurs, assassins, and recruiters than information gatherers. Then there are the military spies. The spies who gather information on the military from the military. Then there are the government spies, the ones who gather information from the government and its workers. Fourth is the common spies. The spies who are just among the people. Villagers who can say if a military convoy travels near their village and the like. Finally, there are the double agents. The spies among the enemy spies."

"Okay," Shirou trailed off as he was slightly confused. "So which one should I be?"

"Well, you aren't being recruited by another spy, government, or military so for now, I would recommend the villager spy," Mata Hari recommended. "Though, if you intend to be a spy for longer than the current events, we can get started in training you like an agent. But the first thing a spy should know is how to appear as anyone but a spy. We'll start training you in that."

"So not looking like a spy," Shirou hummed. "How would I do that?"

"That is called your cover," Mata Hari wagged her finger in front of Shirou. "My cover was being a dancer. But you aren't a dancer so we need to find something else you can be. So, what are your talents and how can we exploit them?"

"Well," Shirou furrowed his brow in thought, remembering running into Ayako earlier in the day. "I can be an archer. But I stopped as I don't have room to improve and didn't see a need to. But if I need a cover, I can practice archery and claim looking for a range as a reason to move around."

"Alright," Mata Hari agreed. She had been thinking about having him make his cover as a cook but if he wanted to go with archery, that was an option. "I was thinking of having you take being a cook as a cover but archer would work as well. You'd have to gather fame though."

"Isn't being famous a bad thing for a spy?" Shirou asked.

"You don't want to be known as a spy," Mata Hari agreed. Her death was proof of that. "But having some fame helps open doors. After all, the information most people want is about the famous and powerful. If you don't have your own claim to fame, they won't bother with you which will make gathering information difficult."

"I see," Shirou frowned. "If I have to, I guess I can."

"That was why I was thinking of having your cover be a cook," Mata Hari explained. "The rich tend to hire someone else to cook for them. As a cook, you wouldn't be noticed but you could get into their homes. That said, you wouldn't be able to be anywhere other than the kitchen without being suspicious so it is a trade-off. But if you want to have fame and use that as a cover for being a spy, that is an option."

"Well, since I am in training, can we do both?" Shirou asked. "That way I can choose. And then later, I can find out who is hunting you and get them to stop."

Mata Hari had to suppress her smile. The boy was helpful but far too naïve to be an effective spy. It was cute. She would regret having to train that genuine naivety out of him.

"Well, if you want," She was reluctant but the boy could hunt down her 'hunters' and find nobody. The Servants would vanish in less than a month as the Grail War ended and her spy career ended abruptly almost 90 years prior. She was nothing more than a legend to the German and French spies by now. "I won't help you with the later though. It is in the past now and I just want to make a new life for myself."

She wished she could. The desire for a new life, one with a beloved partner and a happy family, was what had drawn her from the Throne of Heroes. But she had no chance of winning. An information gatherer just didn't stand a chance in combat between magi and Servants who had made their legends off of battle. Sure, she could appear unthreatening and gather information but what did that matter when a magus would be willing to turn on their own allies to obtain victory and their own wish? And her Noble Phantasm took too long to invoke if fighting started. The other Servants would have sliced her head off before she could even finish her dance.

No, she had to simply make do with the little nibbles she could get here and there. Sitting at Shirou's table, acting like the responsible adult for both Taiga and Shirou, treating Sakura as the little sister (or sister-in-law, the girl's crush was really easy to see), that was something she wished she could do. Even without a man she loved, she would be content to settle for this life.

But no, too many Servants knew she was here. As the number dropped, the other Servants will go for the easy fruit and kill her despite her not being a threat. All for the sake of their own wishes.

But every day brought with it its own treasure. A treasure worth more than the jewels and treasures she had received as a dancer. Treasured happiness and memories.

But that didn't mean she couldn't teach Shirou her craft.

"Alright," Shirou agreed. "But what if they come after you again?"

"Then I'll deal with it when the time comes," Mata Hari answered. "Now shall we begin? We'll need to craft an effective cover which means we will need to discuss it."

"Now, one of the most important skills a spy can have is their memory," Mata Hari lectured. "If you can recall a sentence word for word hours after you hear it, the information is much more valuable to your employer. The same for anything you see. Sometimes you can only give a document a passing glance. Being able to memorize that document with only a glance means that people won't suspect you but they will suspect you if you spend minutes reading it. That said, unless you are a prodigy, you won't achieve that level of skill in memorization any time soon. It might take you years to get there. So, my first homework assignment will be to memorize the first conversation you have at school today, whatever conversation is just longer than 'hello' or short greetings like that. After school, you will repeat it back to me, okay?"

"Okay," Shirou agreed. He hoped he wouldn't have to memorize a long conversation.

"So," Mata Hari sat down opposite Shirou, her short snug jeans tempting him to look down at her hips and legs as she sat cross-legged. "What was the first conversation you had?"

Shirou told her.

"And what did your classmates talk about between your first and your second class?" She asked when he was done.

"Uh," Shirou frowned. He didn't remember. He had been too busy focusing on remembering the first conversation.

"That is part of what being a spy is about, Shirou," Mata Hari gently reminded. "Gathering information means you can't tunnel vision. If you take only the first bit of information you find, you will miss the rest. A spy can't afford that. And when you can piece together tiny innocuous bits of information like that, you will end up with more information and be better able to catch other people in their lies. And the most dangerous weapon in a spy's arsenal is a lie. Yet, lies are also your most dangerous enemy."

Shirou nodded as he thought about it. The ability to ferret truth from lies. Wasn't that something he wanted to learn from these lessons on how to be a spy? And being able to make a good lie would help him conceal magecraft from other people. He had done well so far but that was because no one had ever caught him practicing magecraft.

Speaking of which, should he tell Mata Hari about him being a magus?

No, he probably shouldn't. She wasn't part of the hidden world. The magical hidden world. Wait, this was becoming complex wasn't it. He was now part of three worlds, the normal world, the magical world, and the underworld that spies operated in.

He hoped he could keep it all straight. But then again, Mata Hari was going to teach him how to do it in regards to the normal world and the underworld. What was adding in one more world into the mess?

"Next lesson is about piecing together information," Mata Hari instructed, sitting at the table. "This is the entire job of a spy. But as we lack a target for you to practice on," A lie. She could but she didn't want to risk her own secrets coming out. "We will instead do a game."

"A game?" Shirou frowned. "How would a game help?"

"Because this game is figuring out what happened just from what I tell you and your own questions," Mata Hari explained. "The rules are simple. I will tell you the details of the situation, like, say, a crime scene. Your job is to figure out who did, how, and why. The only thing you can do is ask questions. As you get better at it, I will raise the difficulty and add on rules. For the start, I will only tell the truth. But as you won't encounter people who only tell the truth as a spy, you will eventually have to start figuring out when I lie to you. But for today, I won't be."

"Oh," Shirou nodded. "I see. Yeah, that sounds good."

"Excellent," Mata Hari clapped her hands together. "Now, shall we begin? A man is found dead inside his hotel room in the morning. He was last seen the previous night at a theater with his fiancé. At the theater, he ordered a bottle of wine. After interviewing the hotel workers, you discover that they are all the morning shift workers and none of them had seen the man enter his room since he left it the previous morning."

Shirou was nodding, his brow furrowed in a crease as he thought deeply. She might have to train him out of that habit. It made for a useful thing to show but he was showing it unintentionally. Controlling his tells would be crucial for his career as a spy. She'd have to note it down somewhere in case she died early. Hmm, maybe she could prepare an instruction book about spycraft for him to use after she leaves.

"So could I ask about who the nightshift workers were?" Shirou asked.

"Of course," Mata Hari nodded. "After getting the names from the management, you go to interview the workers who were resting from their late night work. What questions do you want to ask?"

"Let's start with the basics," Shirou decided. "Did they see the man the previous night? Who was with him?"

"Most of the workers didn't see him," Mata Hari told him. "But the receptionist and the bell worker did. The elevator boy did as well. All three remember him leaning on his fiancé's shoulder."

"Why was he?" Shirou asked.

Mata Hari smiled. "The elevator boy remembers the strong scent of alcohol when the pair took the elevator up to their room."

"So he was drunk," Shirou concluded. Mata Hari kept her smile the same. If she was going to make this harder, she would add in a layer of deception here. Have the man already be dead and his 'fiancé' be the one carrying him back before dumping him in his room to be discovered dead. But in this case, yes, the man was drunk and alive at this point. "How did he die?"

"Returning to the hotel, you examine the man," Mata Hari's narrative continued. "He wasn't stabbed or bleeding anywhere but his face is a blueish purple. Lifting his eyelid, you find his eyes are bloodshot. Also, his couch is disturbed from his death struggles."

"Sounds like suffocation," Shirou commented.

"Is that a question for your fellow examiners?" Mata Hari asked. She was taking it easy on him, assigning him the resources of the police. In later games, he would have to compete against the police to figure it out before they could. Sometimes even sabotage the scene to lead them astray.

"I guess so?" Shirou asked uncertainly. "I mean, why wouldn't I go to the hospital and ask for the cause of death?"

Mata Hari held back a sigh. Her Master was a long way from the level of suspicion he needed to survive as a spy. But that was what this training was for.

"The medical examiners confirm that he choked to death on a fruit they found in his windpipe," Mata Hari concluded. "Further, the fruit they found was the same type of fruit that was in a fruit bowl that the hotel gave as complementary to their customers that rented their first-class hotel rooms. Do you have any more questions?"

"Well, I guess I could conclude that he simply was drunk and tried to swallow more than he could chew," Shirou frowned. "But what happened to his fiancé?"

"She was sleeping in the next room and had just woken up," Mata Hari decided. The fiancé could be out shopping on her own or be an assassin who had already escaped the scene. But this was an introductory game. "She breaks down upon being told of her betrothed's demise."

"Um, I give her consolation? And, I guess the case is closed," Shirou concluded. "The man was drunk and suffocated to death on his own."

Mata Hari nodded in approval and clapped once. "Well done. That was an easy version, later games will be harder. One thing I would recommend is that you try to gather any information you can from a scene before leaving to interview people. Do not assume that everyone is telling you the truth. For example, if the man had been murdered by strangling, that would have changed how he died and the fruit could have been a decoy. In that case, how would you have found out?"

As much as she would have wanted to leave her Master his triumphs, she didn't have the years and months she would need to train him as a spy. She had to teach what she could and complacency would be Shirou's enemy.

"Well," Shirou pondered. "I guess I should have examined the body first. After that, I could have tracked down the fruit and then the fiancé."

Mata Hari nodded. He definitely should have.

"But what else could I have done?" Shirou questioned.

"For starters," Mata Hari drew ln a breath. "What if the elevator boy had snuck into the man's room and you never asked the right question? Ask for information on each person's habits and if there was anything unusual. If the elevator boy had strangled the man and robbed him, you would have needed to know who had taken the elevator to that floor that night after the rich man. In addition, if the boy lied, you would have to figure that out from conversing with him. I'll be modeling conversations with each character in the future so you can practice discerning deception from truth more directly. Further, one of the first things you should have asked is what resources you had available…"

Mata Hari and Shirou discussed ways of investigating and how to use the information she had given to learn more or to figure out how to determine if one piece of information was false or if it also lent itself to an alternative interpretation.

Now, I have a bit of a dilemma. I could take this story in two routes. One well has Shirou unaware of his participation in the Grail War even as he gets trained as a spy. The other throws a lot faster into the deep end. Eh, I'll just show you both. Each in their own chapter.

Thanks to Gruffard for beta-reading.