The Morning After
(Shirou)
Damnit.
Shirou frowned as ate his Servant's breakfast. It wasn't that the omelet and greens tasted bad, though the really light and fluffy eggs weren't quite what he usually associated with the dish. Rather, the reversal of the usual morning routine brought to mind that.
The palpable sense of despair that had caused Sasaku much concern earlier was not due to Rin, or Kuro's actions but rather...
That wasn't the knowledge I really need at the moment.
Even realizing what was amiss, and thus the fact it was a dream of some sort, did not allow him to escape. Though I can see why Sasaku got starry-eyed talking about her husband.And though he was fairly sure that was actually part of the dream rather than his own evaluation, it still troubled him.
While literally burning to death, at some point the brain just stopped caring, but apparently experiencing someone else's memories didn't have that 'issue'. Honestly, he was both relieved, but also disturbingly confused to be back in a male, which is to say his body upon waking up.
This must be due to her tinkering.
"Bah," he almost choked on the totally inoffensive egg dish and quickly grabbed some tea. Sasaku looked up from her meal, doubtless wondering if he really was unharmed by her experimentation.
His mind was hurriedly working to forget everything, but... there was no guarantee that it wouldn't happen again. Especially if it was linked to Sasaku's work, since he really did want any bit of power possible for the War.
Or perhaps I'm not that upset about it? There was some sort of scraping sound as his mind tried to purge the stray thought.
I just have to keep telling myself it isn't my memories.
Wait, that was an actual sound!
It was the sound of Sasaku roughly pushing her chair back as she looked at the main entrance with a raised hand. As Shirou looked curiously at her pose, a while later the doorbell rang.
"It's Rin." She said in a tone that was all business. He in turn glanced at the clock before replying, "Right on time too."
"Come in, it's open!"
As Rin hungrily devoured the food set before her, Kuro looked at their host with some worry. "Did you not get enough sleep last night?" she asked innocently.
"Something like that," he muttered darkly.
"There's no real need to worry," Rin said confidently, taking a sip of tea. "Sasaku, do you have any coffee?"
"I can have some ready in a couple of minutes," the girl replied in a soft voice, receiving a nod in return.
Shirou suddenly realized that his Servant wasn't weak to other girls or perhaps just aggressive people like he had thought earlier. Rather, she just enjoyed acting submissive even if she was plotting against the person in question. I guess I can understand that.
He coughed and tried to ignore the intruding thought that didn't belong. "I think I'll have some too, if you don't mind."
(After discussing the plan, on the way to their school)
"Sasaku, do you have any plans if we do encounter an enemy? Not that Kuro lacks skill, I'm sure, but another Knight or say a Berserker would be problematic, right?"
"I don't have anything prepared that would work outside of my Realm, so there's no choice. If it comes to it, run."
"I won't just leave you to die. In any case I would die soon after as a Servant would easily catch me, you know."
"I meant use a Command Spell to allow the two of us to teleport back. If the enemy still chases us there, I'll be ready."
"Oh. I forgot they had that use."
"Master, even if I lack a hardwired instinct, I have plenty of reasons to continue existing. And even if one might have ways around it, being blase or cavalier about your own death tends to prevent that. Living, I mean."
"I see... wait, you have a way around dying?"
"Only a maybe. But it definitely won't work if you yourself die or otherwise become ineligible to be a Master before I return. Or any number of other things that will cause me to stay 100-percent dead."
"Hm."
Their first stop was the Archery club. Shirou looked about but didn't see Sakura there, which was a bit unusual as the other club members were already in the middle of practice.
The captain Mitsuzuri Ayako's eagle eyes immediately spotted her two friends and the talked-about new arrival. She immediately made her way over the trio who were looking about. "Emiya-kun, are you here to watch the practice? Tohsaka... what a surprise. " She grinned suddenly. "Oh, perhaps I'm interrupting someth-"
"I'm with Emiya-chan," the other student replied a touch hastily.
"Hm, hm, hm," she said teasingly. "Well Emiya-chan is much cuter I suppose. Have you ever shot a bow?" Rin spluttered impotently at the comment her friend had snuck in just to poke her.
"I'm not very good at it, I don't prefer bows," the addressed girl said after a moment.
"Oh, so you do shoot then? What do they shoot out west?" Ayako continued, her interest piqued by the odd response.
"Arbalest." (Sasaku just said it in English)
"Huh, what's an Aru-Ba-Res-Tu?" She didn't understand the odd term used.
"It's a... crossbow," Shirou explained after asking and receiving an answer mentally from Sasaku.
"Oh. Would you like to try one of the bows here? They're different from the Western ones, maybe they'll fit you better?" offered the captain.
"It's ok, Shirou-nii was just taking me around to lo-"
"Give it a try," Rin suddenly spoke up. "I wonder what you'll look like as an Archer."
Shirou, Sasaku, and probably Kuro who was in spirit form nearby all gave her immediate frowns, which they removed before anyone else caught on.
With a bow in hand and arrow nocked, Sasaku experimentally drew the small bow she had been given. Rin was grinning, probably at the thought that, as a Servant, Sasaku could probably pull bows that no one else in the room could, except for Kuro of course.
*thwip*
*thud*
*plonk*
Sasaku's shot went fairly wide. The arrow tumbled inelegantly towards the target, struck it near the edge and then spinning fell onto the ground rather than sticking in.
"Oh." was all Ayako said in response. She wasn't sure if simply hitting the target at all was impressive. Perhaps not if the small girl had any actual practice in the past. "I guess it would have a different balance than what you're used to."
With that, Shirou quickly led his two followers away. Neither had noticed anything magical in nature in the room, so there was no need to stay any longer.
"Can you really not use an eastern-styled bow?"
"Wouldn't it be odder if I could?"
"...so you can, then."
"Don't be so surprised, bows are somewhat easier than martial arts where you duel directly. Targets don't try to parry and riposte your shot."
"I see."
l
"Yeah, there's a focal point up there," Sasaku said, pointing to an area on the wall a little above the top of the blackboard. "Can you give me a hand?"
"Uh, what?" Shirou said in confusion, while Rin glanced at the spot and nodded.
"Hold me up," she explained, looking at the door behind him, which was closed. "My Realm doesn't extend much beyond my actual body like this, so it would help to be able to actually touch the area."
"They must be pretty tall," Rin commented, as Shirou lifted his Servant up easily, who in turn extended a hand and tapped the wall. Her eyes narrowed almost immediately. "Wait a moment, what did you do?"
"Broke it down into magical energy and absorbed it."
"Instantly? I... guess you are a Caster," she muttered. "Well, can you tell what it's supposed to do?"
"It's only part of a larger whole, perhaps if I disassemble a few more, I will have enough information for an accurate guess."
l
"How odd to see you here," Issei commented upon seeing Rin in Shirou's little group. His raised eyebrow said to his fellow male Do you need some help?
"Just taking a tour of the clubs meeting on Saturday," Shirou replied with a shrug that said Nah, I got it under control. " Some student council business to take care of?
"Nothing major, I just felt like getting out rather than watch nii-san fistfight some strange foreign woman who's been hanging around the temple."
"Kuzuki-sensei does martial arts?" Rin interjected suddenly. "Wait, he's trading punches with a woman?"
"I guess," Issei said flippantly while walking away. "See you around, I could always use your help when you're free." I really hope you know what you're getting into.
l
After that, they visited several other clubs and ducked into unused classrooms. Shirou noticed that Caster or not, Rin actually seemed to have a better range in terms of detecting the enemy magus' work than Sasaku did. The latter put it down to -all the magical energy in this place being foreign-. That said, Rin was not really able to take apart the magical circles, which she said were unrecognizable to her, though that could be simply due to the usual secrecy of magi.
Just out of curiosity, Shirou visited the Archery club a few more times, but Sakura seemed to have been staying at home for the whole day, which he found odd. This didn't go unnoticed by Rin, though she didn't comment on it.
Sometime in the early afternoon, they finished the daytime portion of the operation some hours earlier than Rin had estimated for a complete sweep of the accessible areas. As a result, they decided to leave and return later. Rin suggested late in the night, to avoid the risk of running into anyone who might be there in the evening.
(Later, at an eatery in the shopping center)
"After all, at this rate, there's no real time pressure. We should be able to remove everything well before the sun rises even if we return only after darkness has set in."
Kuro simply nodded, thinking about what desert to get afterwards - because Shirou was paying. Based on what she had seen at the Tohsaka house, the Emiya family probably had more wealth, which was ironic given how much Rin chased the resources needed for her brand of magecraft.
"Hello nee-san, it's good to see you."
All four present turned as one to see the short blond-haired boy who had boldly walked to their table and addressed Sasaku. They also stiffened upon realizing he was a Servant.
"Um yes. It's a surprise to meet you here," Sasaku said in her usual soft manner. "Is something interesting going on?"
"Nee-san must feel like quite the foreigner if your first thought is to eat the western food here," the boy Servant said, immediately catching her sharp attention, a fact which he did not miss.
"Y-yes," she replied, unease creeping into her voice and coloring each word that followed. "I'm visiting family."
"Hmm, I don't doubt that," he said, clearly doubting that. "Bit far away from home though."
"The world is small nowadays, isn't it?" she muttered, trying to inject a bit of lightness that fooled no one listening.
"It sure is," he sighed, before turning to Kuro, who shrank back a bit against Rin in response. "Einzbern-chan, was it?"
Shirou and Rin both blinked, though only the latter actually knew the name. Kuro just nodded silently, which seemed to satisfy him. "Your family's reputation precedes you. Well, have a good day."
He left without speaking a word to the two Masters.
Shirou glanced at Sasaku, who was rather fearfully watching the boy's retreating back."Who was that?"
"I don't know, but... I hope we don't have to fight him."
"Any other magi around?"
"...not that I can tell."
"Well," said Rin after a moment while getting up. "Kuro and I will drop by for dinner, sound good?"
Shirou nodded. About the time they finished it should be getting dark, and then they'd move onto the school. As a bonus, Taiga was unlikely to appear then if she hadn't already. Though if she did, that might be for the best as they could 'handle' her and not have the uncertainty of a visit when they were not around to do so.
(Later on, Emiya house)
Besides, Issei, most of the other boys they encountered on their school 'tour' appeared envious or disapproving, depending on who specifically it was that spotted the two Masters and one Servant at their secret task. There were a few who were with Issei in being suspicious of Rin, which by this point, Shirou thoroughly understood.
But it doesn't help to give me that 'that poor fool is going to get used by Tohsaka' look, I already know it!
"Hey, Sasaku," he said, trying to get his mind off the matter. "Why did you say something about being married in front of our classmates?"
According to Rin, who had heard it from Kuro, who had been eavesdropping in spirit form, the female half who were in on the gossip were rather evenly divided on who was trying to manipulate who. Of course, even if they thought Sasaku was the plotting one (due to Shirou's own rather good reputation), many still supported her anyway.
Sort of, it was complicated and Rin didn't want to explain.
"There was no way it would ever not cause complications, right?"
"Um, that's true," she said after a moment of pressure-by-silence. "It reminded me too much of chats with my seers about things like that: romance, men, love, you know. The usual."
Didn't you say something twice there? No wait, let's not think about that right now.
"You had... seers?" He wasn't quite sure what that term meant.
"Prophetesses, priestesses? How would you translate it?"
"You kept company with a bunch of shrine maidens?" He didn't remember seeing any in the temple Issei lived at, which instead had rather sturdy monks who knew a lot about enlightenment, or so on. He was a bad listener when younger.
"Eh, they were my servants."
"Eh?"
"Didn't I mention it before?" She shrugged, not seeing the import of her statement.
"Well, erm, you said you were some sort of divine being, but I thought you also mentioned that animals existed with more divinity than you, not that you had worshipers."
She blinked as though he had said something monumentally stupid. Or insulting. "No they are literally only my servants, they don't worship me."
After a pause, Sasaku continued with a more lecturing tone, "The reason I have the attribute at all is probably just a quirk of the system. I'm not only a foreigner here, but I'm myself a servant."
"Oh. Sorry if it's a touchy subject."
"I'm more like a governor anyway, why else do you think so much got tied to the Realm we're sitting in?" She waved a hand about in the air.
It was at her insistence that he had been going to school on time rather than early, and leaving rather than helping around. Well, it was necessary anyway, since otherwise energy supply would become a serious issue due to the resulting down-scaling on her ((Higher Connection)).
Which they had thankfully been able to keep from Rin by simply arguing that Sasaku's bounded field (Realm) was collecting ambient energy. Which is was, just nowhere near what her skill generated under the right conditions. They hadn't been able, though, to prevent the greedy magus from constantly taking from it whenever she was around.
"You're immortal though?" He remembered her husband saying he was in the dream.
"All Servants are I think, unless we get killed or run out of magical energy." Being a Servant seemed pretty decent, the whole starving to death without mana or having your supply able to force commands on you aside. Actually, those are pretty big drawbacks.
"I meant in your original form, from everything."
"Hmm yeah. Well I can probably be killed, but I won't stay dead if my Owner decides to bring me back."
Shirou suddenly had a flash of insight. "So, that's how your 'way around' dying works."
"It won't bloody work if you're dead or don't count as a Master anymore, I'm sure of that. The description the Grail gave me isn't very dependable."
"Can I ask what it is?" This might be important. Also, I see why she decided to ask Rin to protect me if she died.
"Return after a delay of several days, even after being defeated, to a suitable anchor (Master) via repeat-summoning process. Certain manners of death may further delay or inhibit triggering."
"Umm, it's probably related to the ((Battle Continuation)) skill, since the Grail called it ((War Continuation)) Well a bunch of my skills seem to just be like that."
"It doesn't say what suitable or certain are, huh."
"Yes."