Hello everyone.
I'm back.
XXX Chapter Start XXX
Wednesday: 14th Jan 2004
With consciousness came a wave of exhaustion Shirou hadn't expected.
Morning had come around and his training the previous day had clearly taken it's toll on him.
It had been a long time since he had been this tired first thing in the morning after all.
Shaking his head clear, he tried to remember just what he had learnt from Caster the previous night.
It was apparently all really basic, mainly the concept of element and origin, something that apparently flavoured a person's prana signature.
That was the first bit of information he got off the guy.
The next part was how to detect people based on their prana… an action that used a sense as a medium to translate the information into something recognisable.
Caster even mentioned that his method was to use his sense of smell.
But to find out that Caster had actually determined that he had a non-standard element was something interesting to consider… what with how he apparently smelt of tempered steel.
He shook his head clear again.
He was still learning the basics and Caster hadn't taught him anything about spells yet but it was still nice to finally get somewhere in his magecraft.
Rising from his bed, he proceeded to stretch a few times to ready himself for the day to come.
The first thing he would have to do was get changed and then head to the kitchen and start preparing breakfast.
He couldn't stop himself from letting out a smile of relief as he remembered Luvia helping with the finances for the food, otherwise he was sure he'd be broke by the end of the week given the sheer number of mouths he had to feed.
Opening the door, he made his way along the corridor as quietly as he could, eager to avoid waking anyone if possible; letting them sleep in would give him more time to make enough food for everyone after all.
As he made his way towards the sitting room he let out a sigh as he heard a noise coming from within.
Slowly opening the door and taking a peek inside, he was unsurprised to find Nobunaga draped over the table with the television on once again.
She really needed to realise that she wasn't capable of staying awake every hour of the day.
Sneaking through the room, he made his way into the kitchen and quietly made a start in collecting all of the dishes he would need and began laying them out, ready to be used when needed.
Going through the refrigerator, he picked out the food that would likely take the longest to cook and anything else that he would have to cook too much of to be done in a single batch before extracting them and gently closing the door.
Glancing over at the former tyrannical despot, he noted that she was still sleeping peacefully and let out a small smile at the fact he had managed to avoid waking her.
Now for the hard part.
Opening the drawer containing all the cutlery, he started picking them out one at a time, doing his best to minimise the noise he made when collecting it all even as he hoped the television would drown out whatever noises might be made.
Satisfied that he had all the tools he needed to start for the day, he turned on the stove and started his preparations, knowing that Nobunaga would be woken up eventually.
He just hoped it would be by the scent of breakfast as opposed to any noise he made.
That would almost certainly be more pleasant.
XXX Fate/Golden Order XXX
Sakura couldn't stop herself from smiling as she made her way towards sempai's house with Rider in tow, dressed in casual clothes so she wouldn't draw too much attention.
Of course, she was naturally going to draw attention from men with her divine beauty but at least she wouldn't be drawing them out due to her rarther risque clothing choices when she was summoned.
"Are you certain this is a good idea?" Rider's voice called out and she couldn't stop the smile that crossed her face.
"Yes, Sempai is honest," she declared; she knew her sempai well enough to know that his actions since the whole 'Golden Order' thing had been sincere.
The fact that he hadn't changed the way he treated her despite learning she was a magus only made her even more comfortable spending time there.
It was most certainly better than her actual home.
Not that being better than her actual home was hard.
Simply being able to get away from her grandfather and brother was enough for her to consider sempai's household her sanctuary… but to find out that he didn't care if she was a magus only made her feel even more relieved to have gotten the chance to meet him.
Rider however looked rather put out by her complete trust in her sempai.
But then again, Rider didn't know the sort of person he was.
"Sempai would have done something yesterday if he was trying to do anything against us," she decided to declare.
It was something she was confident about.
Especially given how she had been required to step in to make sure he didn't do anything to her brother when some of the bruises he had given her had been visible.
Her sempai wasn't the type of person to plot against anyone.
It was one of the reasons she was currently feeling a little uncomfortable about leaving his house now.
She knew he was genuine but she had no idea about the foreigners.
There was no telling what they were planning while taking advantage of his hospitality.
She wanted to trust them like sempai did… but given her life, she simply couldn't bring herself to believe a group of magi.
Finally arriving outside his house, she looked up and saw something waving in the wind on the roof.
Except there was no wind.
So it was most likely Avenger.
"Ah, Avenger-san… you should probably get down before anyone sees you," she spoke, hoping the Servant of the church girl would be reasonable about it.
The fluttering disappeared almost immediately before she felf a presence behind her.
"Oh? Are you acting all nice and friendly again?"
The voice of the Servant spoke up from behind her.
With a sense of trepidation, she turned to face the man who wore a vicious smirk.
"W-what do you mean?" she had to ask even as she saw Rider already poised to strike the man.
"There's no need to hide it," the man declared even as his cloak blew in a non-existant wind, "I can smell the resentment within you."
She swallowd nervously at that declaration.
"That bitterness of being wronged by those you trusted," he continued, "the pain of isolation as your world comes crashing down."
"S-stop it…" she said.
The last thing she wanted was for this man to reveal the pain and resentment she felt to sempai.
It was one thing for him to find out she was raised as a magus; it would be another entirely for him to learn just how dark her mind could get.
"Enough," Rider spoke up and the Avenger class Servant looked at her, "if you continue to harass my master I will deal with you."
The man dressed in green simply let out a small chuckle.
"Don't think you're the only ones here with demons they're hiding," the servant declared and she felt her heart sink.
And without another word, the man vanished around the corner and she was once again alone with Rider.
She took a few seconds to calm herself down before she let the tension that had built up in her body evaporate.
That had been stressful.
Whoever that Servant was, they were definitely not someone she wanted to spend extended periods of time around.
"Master?" Rider spoke up and she offered the bespectacled woman a soft smile.
"I'm fine Rider," she said with the hope of placating her, "Sempai will probably be waiting for us."
Turning back towards the front door she placed her hand on the handle and tested it to see if it was open or not.
She wasn't surprised to find the door still locked and pulled out the key he had given her over a year ago.
Unlocking the front door, she made her way in, being careful to be quiet just in case anyone could hear her.
She had witnessed Edelfelt's archer sleeping at the table the previous morning so she didn't want to disturb the girl if she was undergoing a repeat performance.
Moving through the hallway, she soon reached the door to the living area and opened it quietly before peeking inside.
The first thing she saw was her sempai working away in the kitchen quietly, before she looked further to her left and saw that the one who proclaimed herself 'demon archer' was once again slumped against the table breathing deeply.
She held the door open as Rider followed her in and gave the room a quick look over before moving to sit at the table.
"Good morning sempai," she practically whispered once she had reached the kitchen.
"Good morning Sakura," he responded just as quietly as she started to join him in preparing breakfast for everyone.
It was strange having to work so quietly but at the same time she found herself relaxing as she got straight into the rhythm of the kitchenwork with him.
Timed passed by smoothly as they worked in perfect harmony, something that she felt had been missing the previous night with the addition of the maid in the kitchen.
Not that she was going to complain; Sella had most certainly helped with preparing such a large quantity of food but it had been just her and sempai for so long that adding another body to the kitchen felt wrong.
Maybe she just felt territorial?
After all, the kitchen was the place where she and her sempai could work together harmoniously, so having someone intrude on that might have been what had made her so uneasy.
But it was just a pragmatic thing to do.
There were too many people for just the two of them to cook for quickly enough, so gaining the aid of another cook was a clear benefit.
But it still felt wrong to her.
*sniff sniff*
She found her attention drawn towards the table as the unconscious archer started to shift.
Eventually the dark haired girl rose from her slumped position and started sniffing at the air.
"Good morning Archer-san," sempai called out and she found herself following his lead.
"Good morning," she said.
"Huh?…" the red-eyed girl looked genuinely confused as she blinked owlishly before she started to return to the waking world properly, "oh… g'morning."
"Sorry about waking you up but you make it hard to avoid it when you fall asleep there," sempai declared and she felt a small smile tug at her lips.
It was so typical of him to apologise for waking someone up when they chose an awkward place to sleep.
"Food?" the archer asked, clearly unconcerned with the fact she had just woken up and instead being more concerned about the thing that woke her.
"The first batch shouldn't be long," Sempai declared and she nodded in agreement.
"… is it European?" the Servant asked and she looked at the food that was currently cooking.
Food that included eggs, bacon and sausages.
"Yeah," her sempai responded, earning a wide grin from the girl dressed in red.
"HAHAHA!" and without warning the girl laughed raucously, "excellent!"
She couldn't stop herself from staring at the girl in disbelief.
The mere fact that she had reacted to outrageously to something as simple as hearing that breakfast was going to be European was ridiculous.
She was brought out of her thoughts as the door opened and a woman with long red hair emerged from the other side.
"Do you think you could keep the volume down until I've at least had my coffee?" Aozaki-san asked.
"Screw that," the girl in red declared bluntly, "I'll be as loud as I want!"
"Good morning Red-san," her sempai spoke easily even as the woman walked to the table, dressed in the same clothes she had always seen her in.
"Morning Emiya," the woman responded, "could I get some coffee?"
"Of course, though I only have instant," he responded.
"That's fine, I drink plenty of it anyway," the red-haired magician said easily.
"All right then, how would you like it?" he asked the woman.
"Strong," Aozaki-san responded bluntly.
It was pretty vague but her sempai simply nodded before he started to prepare a drink for the woman.
"Thanks."
She almost felt like calling out the woman for being so disrespectful but decided against it.
The woman wasn't only one of the most powerful people in the world but also clearly still half-asleep.
So a bit of bluntness was only to be expected.
And she doubted her sempai would appreciate her confronting his guests over something that he clearly didn't care about.
"Now could you please keep it down until I'm actually awake?" the woman with the white shirt asked the Servant once again.
"Like I said!" the archer called out once again before she was cut off.
"Archer-san, if you don't show a little courtesy, you can go without breakfast," she almost laughed at her sempai's threat to the boisterous servant.
The fact the servant stalled at that before crossing her arms and glaring at him said everything she needed to know.
It was an effective threat.
"Thank you Emiya," the red-head said and she felt herself smile at the woman recognising her sempai's actions.
"No problem Red-san."
Now it was just a matter of getting everything cooked and distributed for when everyone woke up.
XXX Fate/Golden Order XXX
Bazett wasn't sure of what to do.
She had spent so long waiting for the chance to partake in the Holy Grail War just so she could summon Cu Chulainn, the legendary hero of Ireland.
But never had she expected to be put into a position like this.
Yes, she had summoned Cu Chulainn… but she had gotten him as a druid instead of the warrior he was famed as.
It might have diminished the awe she felt for him a little but he was still the Cu Chulainn so she was still satisfied.
Beyond that, he was apparently here to stay since the Grail War had been called off by a Servant that had apparently survived the previous war.
Plus, she knew that there were only supposed to be seven masters in the war and there were already ten who had summoned a servant.
Meaning that the spiel spewed by the man who dressed in gold armour was likely true.
It was… surprisingly comforting.
As a freelancer for the Mages Association and Church she had seen the worst of what magi could bring to the world, faced off against monsters that the average human couldn't even begin to believe existed and faced death more than she could care to count.
So when she had been branded as a participant in the Grail War, she had arrived fully expecting a brutal conflict where she may have very well died in numerous ways.
Instead, she had found herself being hired to act as an enforcer for the oldest known legend who had decided he would try to return to his throne as 'The King Of Humanity'.
She'd even gotten a free room to sleep and free food to eat courtesy of that Emiya kid.
To find out Emiya Kiritsugu had died wasn't a surprise to her; she knew that the man had participated in the Fourth Grail War but even before then he had spent nearly a decade under the radar, the only reason she even knew about him was because of hearing some of the older generation talk about him.
But what she had heard had painted quite the picture of the man.
A picture that made her assume he could have never raised a kid as kind as Shirou.
She honestly found herself wondering just how many of the stories were false and how much were misinterpreting his motives.
Either way, she would never find out now the man had passed on.
She finished putting on her clothes and couldn't stop a grimace from forming.
She would have to ask Emiya if she could do her laundry while he was at school.
Moving out of the room she had managed to get in the Emiya house she found herself once again facing his yard.
It was scenic, though it could have probably done with a pond of some sort to break up the area.
But then again, she had a feeling the house was meant to be more practical than decorative despite it's size.
"So finally up eh?""
Jerking around she saw her servant sitting not far away.
The smirk on his face made it clear he had taken amusement in her surprise.
"Y-yes I am Caster," she acknowledged.
"And you're pretty relaxed despite being so exposed," he said and she found herself silently agreeing.
She was currently in the home of another magus, surrounded by several other prominent magi who had all been selected as masters and had their servants with them.
And yet for some reason, she actually felt safe here.
Perhaps it was Emiya and Matou.
There was just something about the way they ran the house that made it feel like everyone was welcome despite their status as magi.
It actually felt more homely than her own home had done before she left it.
And she could feel that atmosphere having an effect on the other masters within the walls as well.
In other words, she was confident that she was safe despite the current situation.
"Yeah, I guess I am," she admitted.
The druid simply chuckled.
"Can't blame ya," she had to blink at that, "Shirou is genuinely nice, that Sakura girl is obviously smitten with him so she won't do anything against us, that Luvia girl clearly has a soft spot for him already so she won't act out, that Waver guy is too focused on his Servant to waste his time trying to screw us over and that Aoko lady clearly just doesn't care."
She had to agree with his summary of the other masters.
But she also noticed that he left out Ciel and Sion from his descriptions.
Did that mean that he didn't trust them?
Even if he didn't, she had a feeling that if they were to try anything, they would quickly be dispatched by the rest of the occupants.
It was such a strange feeling all things considered.
"So… how did your session with Emiya-san go?" she asked him, earning a small shrug in response.
"He's a total novice, even more so than I was when I first started learning Runes," she found herself unsurprised by that declaration; according to Gilgamesh the boy hadn't even opened his magic circuits yet, "so we just went over some basic stuff."
She nodded in understanding.
A strong foundation was the most important thing for practising anything, let alone something as potentially dangerous as Magecraft.
"Have you had breakfast yet?" she asked him, wondering just how late she was by the standards of the household.
"Nah, decided I should wait for my master to get up before stuffing my face," he declared with a rogueish grin.
She could actually feel her cheeks heat up at that.
Despite being older than she had expected, he was still the Hound of Chulainn.
"I guess I shouldn't keep you waiting any longer then," she declared, earning a small chuckle off the man as he rose from his seated position.
"Yeah, just don't expect the same courtesy every morning," he told her and she had to smile.
She hadn't even expected it this morning.
XXX Fate/Golden Order XXX
Arturia Pendragon was not happy.
Not one bit.
Not only had her master refused to sleep in the same room as her even though there were several masters in the area, he hadn't even woken her up when he had gotten up himself.
And now, he was serving breakfast for a table filled with Masters and Servants.
The figures included that Matou girl and her Rider who was currently wearing glasses, the red-haired woman everyone appeared to be scared of, that Edelfelt girl's archer and now, both that Irish Woman and her Druid.
There was also a presence that had unsettled her the moment she lay her eyes on them.
The girl that had come with Waver Velvet, the one dressed in a cloak and referred to as 'Gray'.
She shouldn't be looking upon another person baring her face.
The only other person that had shared her face before had been Mordred; but Mordred had been her 'son' so the resemblance was to be expected.
But this stranger was thousands of years out of place to look like her.
But she did.
And she doubted she would get a decent explanation for the matter off an enemy master.
"Good morning Saber," her master spoke in a somewhat choppy version of English and she looked at him, her face kept intentionally blank.
"Master… may I ask why you chose to ignore my advise about staying with me around other masters?" she asked him.
She had a suspicion that he wasn't going to give a good explanation for why he chose to leave her but she would give him a chance.
"Because we're not enemies," he declared without hesitation.
"You do not know that," she pointed out and he simply shrugged in response.
"I'm comfortable taking that risk," his statement made her jaw go slack.
He just admitted it was a risk but that he was going to take it anyway.
What sort of fool was he?
The sheer naivety of him to expect other magi to not take advantage of his trust was ludicrous!
"You…" she didn't know what to say.
"Just drop it Saber," she turned to glare at the Caster who looked like he was happily eating away, "your master is probably the main reason no fight have broken out yet."
She had to blink at that.
"What do you mean Caster?" it was Shirou himself who asked that.
"Simple, you're showing everyone enough hospitality that we actually feel like we should respect it and behave," the druid declared.
She doubted that.
Masters couldn't be trusted to not act against their word when the Grail was at stake, she knew that much from experience.
"And you expect me to believe you have no ill intentions?" she had to wonder if the man seriously thought she was going to believe him so easily.
"Hey, if I was a Lancer then I'd probably be trying to fight you right now," his response made her blink, "but that's because I was young and hot-headed back then… like this though, I don't really care for fighting."
A lancer?
So he was a warrior more than a druid.
There was no guarantee that would help narrow down the possibilities of who he was; after all, being a warrior was a common trait of Celtic Heroes.
"Caster… do you think it's a good idea to actually let her know that?" the man's master asked and she found herself agreeing with the short-haired magus.
"Doesn't matter," the other red-head at the table declared as she put down a coffee mug, "all this suspicion is pointless."
She found herself blinking at the woman.
"And what makes you think our suspicion is pointless?" she asked firmly.
"It's simple, the Fuyuki Grail only summoned seven servants for seven masters," the woman declared, "right now we have ten masters and ten servants, plus the servants are manifesting differently to how they're supposed to… there is also the fact that people like me, the Executor and the Vampire have command seals when we're not only not members of the three founding families but also actively wish to stay out of the whole farce anyway."
She had to blink at that.
Had this woman just declared the Grail War a farce?
She clearly didn't understand the power the Grail possessed.
"Aozaki-san, just because you're a True Magician doesn't mean the Grail War is a farce," the master of Caster declared with trepidation.
She looked at the woman who was now asking her master for another coffee and examined her.
There was something about the woman that simply felt off but she just couldn't pinpoint the reason no matter how hard she tried.
The part about her being a True Magician however was something she could comprehend even if only due to the Grail granting her some amount of knowledge of the modern era.
From what she could tell, the True Magicians were likely some of the most powerful magi in the world, quite possibly powerful enough to fight a servant one on one and win… though it wasn't a guarantee.
She wasn't going to let herself be intimidated though.
"Even if you claim that, I have no evidence to support how safe you are around my master," she pointed out firmly.
Hopefully the woman would understand where she was coming from with that statement.
"Yeah… I get that," the woman admitted as Shirou took her cup off her, "but it's still annoying to see you constantly complaining because your master got the memo."
She had to blink.
The True Magician was more annoyed at how often she was complaining about the matter?
She shook her head.
Despite everything they had been told, the one responsible for the formation of the group was Archer and she wasn't going to trust that man.
"So Saber, what do you want for breakfast?" her master asked and she frowned.
She had a feeling the boy was simply trying to distract her but she couldn't stop herself from thinking about the breakfast he could be preparing.
The previous day he had made do with what he already had in the kitchen, but today… today he was actually using food bought with the express purpose of feeding every master and servant in the house.
Which meant the selection would likely be far superior to what he had presented them the previous day.
The fact that she had learnt to never turn down a meal when she was still training to become a knight only made it harder to resist the urge to push her issues with his behaviour aside.
In the end though, her stomach won out.
"I will have whatever is available," she declared.
She didn't know what he would produce but she wasn't picky about what she ate.
As long as it was tasty and edible then that was all that really mattered.
"Then help yourself to whatever is left on the table," Shirou told her.
Looking specifically at the selection that was already on the table, she found her mouth starting to water.
There was already a good amount of food available and all of it looked like it would satisfy her tastebuds.
"So, will you join us Saber?" Caster asked and she found herself wanting to deny the invitation but also knowing she didn't want to turn down the food.
"Hmph…" Oda Nobunaga simply huffed as she took more food that was clearly inspired by modern British sensibilities.
In the end though, her stomach won out.
"I suppose I don't have much choice," she declared before moving to take a seat at the table.
She didn't feel entirely comfortable in the area, not with the Caster currently seated but at the very least she knew about the Archer's identity.
There was also the matter of her once again being summoned without her sheath.
A fact that hampered her strength in the long term.
But she would simply deal with it.
While she may have been stronger with her sheath, it didn't change the fact that she was more than powerful enough to win against most servants without it.
Naturally there were some exceptions, such as Archer… no, Gilgamesh and Sir Lancelot.
Those two had been beyond her ability to defeat in the fourth war.
The Lancer had been the only real member of the war to treat her how she most appreciated… as an honourable knight and king.
Gilgamesh had treated her as a possession, Iskander had tried to make her his subject, Assassin was an assassin so it wasn't a surprise they were liable to hide instead of fight, Caster had been deranged and had needed to be stopped and Berserker suffered from Mental Pollution due to his class and was therefore little more than a mad dog chasing after her.
So only Lancer had actually given her an honourable duel.
At least, until Kiritsugu had intervened.
Just thinking about it was enough to make her clench her fist.
To have a master who would commit such underhanded tricks and then leave a man to die painfully due to his own actions was probably the greatest shame she had in that war.
"What's the matter Saber?" Caster spoke up and she found her attention drawing to him, "you look pretty sour right now."
She kept her silence.
There was no point in trying to lie to a hero who may very well have some ability to read her but she wasn't going to open up to the other servant when they could potentially use that as a way to attack her.
"You really don't like being here do you?" the woman with long red hair asked and she looked at her.
The woman seemed to be perking up now she had some coffee in her but she simply couldn't trust her.
"It isn't the location that is the issue… it's the company," she declared bluntly.
"Yeah… I guess having a bunch of other masters around must set you on edge," the woman with the blue jeans acknowledged before she finished off her cup, "but at the very least, some of us have no intention of doing anything here."
She doubted that.
"Do you honestly expect me to believe you?"
"Well… there's enough evidence for me to believe it," she turned to face Caster's master who suddenly looked uncertain.
"What do you mean by that?" she wanted to know just what 'evidence' the woman would produce and whether it was actually worth considering.
"W-well… there are ten masters right now," the short haired woman declared, "I've never heard of any Grail War with anything other than seven masters."
She frowned at that.
It was true but there could always been factors affecting the number of masters.
Such as her destruction of the Grail in the last war.
"Then there's the whole matter of Servants being unable ot astralize," she continued, "from what I've heard, Servants are just familiars in temporary bodies, so they can usually go incorporeal to preserve Prana… but none of you can and you still require less Prana than normal to maintain."
That… that was probably the biggest factor out of them all.
For her it was normal to be unable to astralize due to the process she underwent just to be summoned, but that wasn't something that applied to other servants.
"Then there is the selection of masters," Bazett continued, "I know that I wanted to be a master, but it's clear from people like Sion, Ciel and Aozaki-san being chosen that the criteria has changed."
"The criteria has been changed?" she asked.
"Yeah, Gilgamesh said he'd changed the selection process so that only magi who are willing to work to save the world would be selected," it was her master that had said that.
She had to blink at that.
The mere thought of the extremely arrogant king doing something like that felt alien to her given his actions in the fourth war.
"I find that hard to believe," she declared.
"Well, if you don't believe it, then that's your problem," the woman named Aoko declared with a shrug.
She couldn't stop a frown from marring her face at that.
Was it actually possible that the magi gathered here actually weren't going to try and backstab her master?
Even if it was possible she couldn't just assume it to be true.
Because if she was wrong, then her master would die.
There were no ifs or buts about it.
He was simply too weak to even consider fighting a servant.
But… if he genuinely believed that they were all allies then there was no guarantee that she'd be able to change his mind.
So she would simply have to wait and be ready to strike when someone decided to try and kill her master.
Shovelling some food onto her plate, she finally started to eat her breakfast.
It was just as good as she had expected.
XXX Fate/Golden Order XXX
Oda Nobunaga couldn't stop herself from feeling irritation.
Having to keep quiet because the boy who ran the house threatened to starve her was not something she appreciated.
But the biggest problem was that her own Master would likely take issue if she tried to deal with the boy.
After all, even she was capable of seeing how the girl was already growing fond of him.
If she didn't know better she would have thought that the two had known each other for several years at least but nope… they had literally just met minutes before she had been summoned.
The speed of their connection was stupid.
But then again, she wasn't exactly the best at forming friendly connections with anyone.
Beyond that however, there was another matter that she couldn't stop herself from considering.
The Temple.
The boy had declared he would do everything he could to keep her away from it since he apparently had a friend who lived there, but she wasn't going ot be stopped so easily.
Burning down temples was one of the things she was really good at.
Besides, the town had a church, that was more than enough when it came to places of worship.
So getting rid of a single temple wouldn't hurt.
But of course her master would disagree with her desire to burn it down.
Even if only due to her having a soft-spot for the boy.
The boy who seemed to act like a glue to bind all the different masters into a cohesive whole.
It was actually surprising to see such a foolish boy achieve something like that through sheer pleasantness.
Perhaps she could try using the same tactic when she got to conquering the world.
After all, ruling through fear was one thing; ruling because everyone else actually wanted you to rule was another all together.
She shovelled more food into her mouth as Saber fell quiet and Caster started up a conversation with the Aozaki woman… apparently he was more than willing to dine with potential enemies.
Of course, the keyword there was potential.
She doubted Emiya would become her enemy.
Because outside of him expecting a certain level of courtesy for others in his house, he hadn't been particularly strict with his rules; instead just allowing his guests to do what they wanted to as long as they didn't disturb anyone else.
But even she understood that a host was meant to keep everyone happy.
It was just a shame her master wouldn't let her get a tank or fighter jet.
She may not have had the Riding Skill, but she would have had a lot of fun learning how to work one of them and then charge it through the country with her muskets firing all around them.
That thought brought a smile to her face.
The idea of charging the fields of battle with a tank and mowing down all her foes was priceless.
"You look happy Archer," Caster said and she found herself frowning at the man.
"Just imagining what it would be like to charge my foes in a tank," she admittedly without reservation.
"Seriously?" the Caster looked perplexed by her declaration, "I take it you don't care for honourable battle then."
Eh?
She couldn't stop herself from staring at him.
Did he honestly think such a thing mattered when chasing victory?
"Why would I care about 'honourable' battle when what I seek is victory?" she asked him, earning a snort from the man.
"So… you only care about the outcome," the man sounded almost condescending with his statement.
"Of course! The outcome is what is most important in a war," she said plainly, "what good is honour if you lose?"
The Caster definitely didn't look impressed with her.
"It's about the thrill of battle," the man declared and she had to blink.
"Oh god… you're one of those types," she couldn't stop herself from saying as she processed his words.
They weren't the most common but she had occasionally come across individuals who care more about the fighting than actually winning.
They were always a pain to deal with because you could never tell what they'd do next.
But she shook her head.
There was no use dwelling on that right now, not when they weren't actually enemies yet.
"Heh, I guess I probably am," at least the Druid seemed to understand what she meant.
"What do you mean?" the girl that looked like Saber asked… her name was Gray if she remembered correctly.
"She means I'm a battle maniac," Caster admitted and she found herself nodding in agreement, "my kind tend to cause problems for generals if we're under their command."
No shit.
The idea of having to work alongside a battle nut Druid of all things was not something he considered to be a particularly good possibility.
But there was something she had to ask.
"And why is a Druid a battle nut in the first place?" she asked, earning a simple shrug off the man.
"It's not a class I'm supposed to be in," he admitted, "all the magecraft I know is Runes."
She had to blink.
The guy outright admitted he was a shitty Caster.
"So if Caster isn't a good class for you, what class is your best?" perhaps he'd answer her and give away something she could use if necessary.
She saw the Servant look at his master with an eyebrow raised questioningly.
It seemed he actually cared about his identity being kept secret.
The short haired woman simply nodded after a couple of seconds of thinking.
"All right then, since my master is allowing it… my best class is a Lancer," he said with a grin, "if I was in that class right now then I'd probably be hounding Saber for a spar."
"You would not get it," the blonde declared without a moment to even think about it.
"Yeah, I figured," the Caster said with his own shrug, "you'd probably take it as an attemmpt to probe your skills before actually having to fight you wouldn't you?"
The Saber narrowed her eyes at him.
Clearly he had hit the nail on the head with that one.
Not that it was hard to; Saber was acting so paranoid right now that it was outright hilarious.
But none of it really mattered in the end.
They were apparently not enemies and beyond that there was only so much preparation you could do against most servants.
She was the perfect example.
Even if her foes knew she was an anti-divine specialist with a reality marble for her Noble Phantasm, there was a limit to how much they could do to counteract those abilities.
After a silence that dragged on for far too long, the door opened once again, this time showing a familiar head of blonde wearing a blue dress.
"Good morning Shero," her master said and she found herself wondering just why her master referred to him in such a way.
If she wasn't fluent in Japanese then she could understand, but she knew that her master was indeed capable of speaking it freely.
So it felt kind of pointless to mispronounce it in such a manner.
"Good morning Luvia," Shirou's response was just as pleasant as ever and her master quickly proceeded to take a place at the table that was quickly getting cramped, "what would you like for breakfast?"
"Oh, I am certain whatever you make will be good enough," the girl declared and she nodded in agreement.
For while the duo in the kitchen may have been young, their cooking skills were certainly up to snuff.
"Oh? An Edelfelt giving praise so freely?" the woman with long red hair sounded somewhat amused, "what is the world coming to."
Luvia seemed to take that in stride.
"An Edelfelt gives praise where it is due," her master declared, "and from what Shero produced for us yesterday, I believe it is safe to say that he deserves such praise."
"Uh… thanks?" Shirou himself sounded almost uncertain of how to take it but quickly continued, "but I can't take all the credit, Sakura-chan is a big help and even Sella helped a lot yesterday."
"Of course," her master agreed.
"Yeah, those two make quite the couple," the master of Caster declared.
The response was almost immediate.
Specifically the way the two currently in the kitchen both seemed to lose their composure and nearly drop what they were holding.
"W-we're not a couple," Shirou declared and she found herself watching as both of their faces flushed and the purple haired girl nodded in confirmation.
"Really?" the master of Caster asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah," Shirou confirmed and the red-head nodded.
Returning her look to her master, she noticed a twitch at the corner of her lips that made it clear she was trying to suppress a smile.
Huh… perhaps that was why her master had given him that silly nickname.
It seemed she was crushing on the boy despite how little time they'd spent together.
Oh well, it didn't really matter either way.
As long as she got her chance at conquering the world then she was fine with whatever her master decided to do.
It still sucked not being allowed to get a tank though.
XXX Fate/Golden Order XXX
Luvia had to resist the urge to smile when both Shirou and Sakura denied being a couple.
After all, it meant Shirou wouldn't have any hangups about cheating on his girlfriend.
The fact that she had found him to be extremely pleasant to be around and to share some of her own sensibilities was the main reason she had decided she might actually pursue him.
That he held the Emiya name would also make him a reasonable candidate for her to partner with given her own family's traditional line of work.
After all, the son of the Magus Killer would be looked on favourably even if he was only adopted.
It was just a shame he hadn't actually been trained properly.
If he had been, then there wouldn't have been any issue whatsoever.
Even his lack of a Magic Crest wouldn't be that big of a deal breaker given how complex her family's crest already was.
But simply being able to claim the lineage of one of the greatest assassins of the past century would be enough.
The fact that he could also cook only made him even better.
It was just a matter of seeing if he could bring himself up to the notoriety that his adopted father had managed to achieve.
Of course, the current situation made the point of such considerations less important; after all, if the whole deal with the Grail and Gilgamesh was true, then it was entirely plausible that they could be working together for quite some time.
Plus, haivng servants was enough to put someone much higher on the list of dangerous individuals.
The real question was exactly how the Mages Association and the Church would react when word of the first known hero being alive and taking an interest in human affairs came out.
She had worked with both organisations so she was confident that the Church would probably be reasonable about the whole matter; after all, Gilgamesh was forming an organisation with the purpose of protecting humanity and killing Apostles, so an alliance was perfectly plausible.
But the Mages Association… that was much harder to identify how it would end up leaning as a whole.
The Atlas Institute could very well ignore the matter entirely, or determine Gilgamesh a threat to the world and take action with their array of horrifically destructive weapons.
The Clock Tower could easily treat the whole matter as competition and attempt to reign in the masters; they could also just as easily try and strike a deal with the organisation for personal gain.
And The Wandering Sea was probably the single hardest part of the organisation to predict simply because it was so hard to pin down in any way at all.
Even it's location was constantly shifting; so the idea of figuring out exactly how they'd react to a servant forming an organisation that included other servants was likely impossible.
But in the end, it was going to happen sooner or later and it was up to Gilgamesh how he reacted to the reactions to his presence.
Admittedly, she doubted he'd take the Clock Tower all that well, there was too much politicking and vying for power within the factions and she had the impression a man who was once considered the king of all mankind wouldn't appreciate people trying to rise above their station.
But none of that was relevant.
So she decided to simply make polite talk with the boy.
"So Shero, how is your time at school?" it was a simple question, one she hadn't really considered asking before but it would be interesting to know just how he was doing with his academics.
"Oh, I don't really care about it that much," the boy admitted, "most of the classes have no relevance to my dream."
His dream?
… oh yeah, he apparently wanted to be a 'hero' when he grew up didn't he?
The woman named Taiga had said that and despite how childish it may have sounded, the plausibility of it grew when you knew what sort of monsters existed in the world.
If you simply defined a Hero as someone who fought against those sorts of things then his dream wasn't so far fetched.
But of course, in order to fight things like that, he would need strength.
And without proper tuition in magecraft, there was a definitive ceiling that he would hit early on.
From everything she had learnt so far, it sounded very much like he had already hit that before the whole issue with the 'Golden Order' had popped up.
But now, she was there and so was Caster.
She doubted the Servant would teach him much given his druidic leanings, but something was better than nothing and having a strong foundation was the key to improving in any art.
And that was most certainly what magecraft was.
An artform.
Yes, it had scientific explanations for everything but the creation process itself was heavily reliant on the individual who was learning and casting the magecraft.
And even art could be distilled down into scientific jargon when it was being analysed.
"But I also spend a bit of time helping out the student council president," the last magus to bear the Emiya name declared.
"So you're a part of the student council?" she had to admit, she hadn't expected that.
"No, I just help out when he needs a hand," ah, that sounded rather appropriate for Shirou given what she knew of his character.
"Perhaps you should join it officially then?" she asked him and he shook his head.
"It's fine, I don't need it on my CV," the boy declared and she couldn't stop herself from letting out a small chuckle at that.
"While true, it sounds like you're already acting as a member of it anyway," she pointed out.
"Sempai practically is," Sakura spoke up, her tone soft and holding a hint of amusement, "he's the only person who really helps out Ryuudou-san when he needs it."
Oh?
So there was only one person on the student council?
"It's not that bad Sakura-chan," he argued in a tone that made her want to pity the boy, "I only help out with the stuff the others can't."
Ah, so it wasn't that there was only one member, it was simply that he possessed skills the others didn't.
"Even so, you never know what skills you could take away from officially joining the Student Council," she found herself declaring, wondering what he would think of that.
He simply grunted before returning to cooking.
Obviously he wasn't all that concerned about any skills he could learn from pencil pushing.
"So… what do you actually do with the student council?" she decided to ask, wondering if he did anything that could be worth considering.
"I mostly just help him fix stuff around the school," she had to blink at that, "you know, like the heaters and stuff."
She could do little more than stare at him for that.
"… you can fix machinery?" that was actually surprising as far as she was concerned.
"Yeah, I used broken stuff to practise my structural analysis and reinforcement so I got pretty good at it," Shirou's acknowledgement made her nod in acknowledgement.
It was rare for magi to learn to fix technology; even those who were trying to bring the Clock Tower up to the twenty-first century weren't adepts at simply using it, instead generally just using the new tech that came out in it's barest functionality.
Lord El-Melloi was one such magus.
He had a mobile phone but he tended to just use it to call his student when necessary… he occassionally texted her but that was about the grand total of what he used it for.
But the Traditionallists were much worse, still going so far as to use abacus's to perform calculations instead of buying a cheap calculator to make things quicker and easier.
So finding out Shirou could actually repair the stuff gave him an extremely rare skillset among magi.
"Have you ever considered charging for your services?" she enquired.
"I did consider it a while ago… but the idea felt wrong so I never bothered," his response made her nod.
For as stupid as it felt for him to not charge people for his repair services, it still fit with what she knew of his character.
A character that she was growing more and more confident in the authenticity of.
He just answered too quickly for him to be faking it.
So she decided to not press any further.
Instead, she would press on a slightly different subject.
"So… how good are you with technology in general?" it would be interesting to see how he ranked among the people she knew.
"Ah… I usually don't do much with it, at the most I'll record a TV show I'm missing," he answered her and she started to frown.
Sure he must know how things work if he could fix them.
"But surely you must understand how they work if you can fix them?" she said and he looked at her while blinking owlishly.
"What do you mean?"
"For you to know how to fix things you need to know how they function in the first place," she repeated, "so surely you understand how they function?"
"Like I said, I practised my structural analysis on junk, so I got pretty good at fixing things," he actually sounded confused.
So she took a deep breath before speaking once again.
"But how do you know how to fix it?" it was an obvious question and she was actually starting to find herself losing her patience.
"Because I use structural analysis?" he sounded like he didn't understand why she couldn't figure it out herself.
She was about to continue when a thought clicked in her head.
"Tell me Shero… just… how does structural analysis work?" she noticed the way the Fraga looked at her with a raised eyebrow, clearly surprised at her asking such a basic question.
It was the Blue's smile that made her wonder if she had just managed to ask a question that the woman thought appropriate.
"Well… it let's me analyse the structure of an object," Shirou stated bluntly.
"And how much detail do you get?" was it possible that he was capable of learning more from the spell than others and simply didn't realise it?
"Well… I can get a complete diagram of the object in my head, I know the composition, the history, the-"
"Wait… the history of the object?!" she was certain he was about to carry on but that one titbit was enough to get her attention.
"Well… yeah, isn't that normal?" he asked.
"Not even close," it was Aozaki who spoke up this time, causing the boy to look at the red-headed monster with obvious surprise, "normal magi can only get a basic outline for an object when they try ot analyse it."
Looking back at Shirou, she could see the complete shock on his face.
"In other words, a normal magus wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of the components inside a machine and where they were supposed to go," she explained to him.
"That's…" he genuinely looked astounded by the knowledge that he was actually better at his magecraft than others.
"Still… with that sort of detail in your analysis, you should probably ignore general advise," Aozaki stated and she had to nod in agreement.
After all, if his analysis abilities were so freakishly good, then there was no telling what other differences might exist in his personal abilities as a magus.
"What do you mean by that?" Shirou sounded confused.
"Well, if your structural analyiss is so different to what other people can do with it, there's no telling what else you could have different talents in," she explained, causing him to frown.
"Have you ever tried Projection Magecraft?" Aozaki asked and the boy blinked.
"Yeah, but Kiritsugu said I shouldn't bother with something like that," his response made her chuckle, "what's so funny?"
"That Shero, is general advise," she declared to him with a smirk, "the reason projection is generally considered worthless is because most people can't create an image strong enough for it to be worth the prana cost."
Shirou nodded.
"Yeah, Kiritsugu told me Projection was inefficient," the boy declared.
"But… if you could apply that level of detail to a projection then that changes everything," she explained, causing him to blink.
"How does it change everything?" he was definitely interested now.
"Well… normal projections are so obviously imitations that Gaia rejects their presence in a matter of maybe an hour at the most," she declared and he suddenly spoke up.
"But… whenever I practice my projections, they stick around for months," he declared and she froze, her mouth still open from when she was about to continue.
"… okay… that's just freaky," Bazett declared bluntly and she found herself nodding in agreement.
From what he had just said, it was obvious that his projections were so detailed that even Gaia had difficulty telling them apart from the real thing.
Which made Shirou's projection skills far more impressive than anyone elses she knew.
"Hmm…" the Caster sounded thoughtful before a smirk graced his lips, "hey Saber, do you think you could show your master your Noble Phantasm?"
She was about to try and chastise the Caster for suggesting such a thing but froze as the reasoning clicked into her head.
Was it possible?
"No," Saber's declaration was immediate and clear.
"I guess that means simply looking at your Noble Phantasm would make it obvious who you are," the druid said before taking another bit of his breakfast, "I guess we'll just have to see if someone else would be willing to show him their Noble Phantasm."
"Sorry… but what's a Noble Phantasm?" Shirou asked.
"I guess you could call it the crystalisation of our abilities," the Caster declared, "like… if King Arthur was a Servant then his Noble Phantasm would be Excalibur."
"Oh… so their greatest weapon?" Shirou asked.
"Or a renowned ability of theirs," the servant with the staff declared before speaking once again, "like… the Gorgon Medusa's Noble Phantasm would probably be her eyes."
Luvia found herself nodding in acknowledgement.
With such famous examples there was no way Shirou wouldn't be able to understand it.
"Ah, okay, thanks for the lesson," the red-headed boy's thanks were accepted by the Caster graciously.
"Don't mention it, given our current alliance, if I was a Lancer I'd probably let you see my spear just to try out your ability to replicate Noble Phamtasms," the Druid declared with a boyish grin.
"Even so…" Luvia had to say aas she thought about the situation, "should we really risk Shero attempting to project something like that?"
"What do you mean?" this time it was Lord El-Melloi's aprpentice that asked the question.
"Noble Phantasms are extremely potent crystallisations of mythology, the sheer amount of magical energy required to even attempt projecting something like that could prove fatal for Shero," it was a simple fact.
Projecting a Noble Phantasm could push Shirou past his limits and tear apart his magic circuits without him even succeeding.
"Who knows," the Caster said with a smirk still on his lips, "after all… his structural analysis is beyond anything you've heard of before, his projections last longer than anyone else's and… his magic smells of steel."
She had to blink at that.
"What?"
"I'm confident Shirou here has a non-stantard element, so there's no telling just what he might be capable of until we test it," the blue haired servant declared.
"I am still against this," she said, "there is a limit to how far we should push his abilities."
"While true… we could easily start off with simple mystic codes and work our way up on the testing," Aozaki declared, "until it reaches the point where he's struggling to project something properly."
Shirou himself nodded in agreement to that suggestion and she felt herself deflate at the fact that he was so willing to put his health on the line.
But then again, any magus would be when there was the potential to progress by doing so.
"Very well… but I expect to be there to ensure he isn't pushed too hard," she relented.
"Yeah, I thought you'd probably want that," the Caster declared and she found herself blinking.
Was it possible that the Servant had already figured her out?
"Do you expect me to sit by idly while you experiment with my master's abilities?" Saber spoke up and she looked at the other blonde.
It was clear she wasn't happy with the current converstaion just from the distaste that was currently marring her face.
She noticed the door open as the familiar stature of Lord El-Melloi and his Servant made their way into the room.
"Good morning!" the Rider called out and she could almost feel the glare Saber was already giving Iskander.
"Sorry Iskander but we were in the middle of a conversation," she decided to address the servant by his real name since Shirous' legal guardian hadn't arrived yet.
"Oh? Is it important?" the servant asked with a hint of curiousity clear on his face.
"It is concerning Shero's abilities as a magus," she declared.
"And that couldn't wait until you weren't in the dining room because…?" the best teacher in the Clock Tower asked with a certain grumpiness in his tone.
It was obvious he wasn't ready to deal with anything that the rest of the group was throwing about this early in the day.
"It just came up in normal conversation," the Fraga woman declared with a shrug, "you can blame Edelfelt for that one."
She had to blink before offering the woman a small glare.
"Do you wish to make this a fight?" she asked the woman who tensed up in response.
Then again, the Fraga was considered an extremely competent freelancer but even a competent freelancer wouldn't be willing to underestimate her capabilities in a fight.
After all, there was a reason some people had started calling her 'the modern Hercules'.
… though now the modern Herakles was in fact the real deal summoned as a Berserker.
Meaning the nickname would probably lose it's traction once the Einzbern girl's servant became more common knowledge.
But it didn't stop her from being considered one of the most powerful human combatants in the world… probably only really rivalled by The Queen Of The Clocktower, her personal hitsquad and the two red-heads currently sitting at the same table as her.
However, that was still an impressive position to be in.
Especially given her current age and the possibliity of her strength growing as she reached full maturity.
"That's enough," she was forced to stall as Shirou made that declaration, "I don't want anyone here fighting each other okay?"
She felt herself deflate as she looked at the boy who had stopped his kitchenwork to lay down the law of the house.
"Of course Shero," she gave in without any argument.
While she may have not liked being blamed for the talk of magecraft coming up, she wasn't going to defy his will in his own home.
"Look, I don't care who brought it up," Waver Velvet declared with a sigh, "but talk about magecraft doesn't seem like the sort of thing that should happen in the main house… perhaps in the Dojo or shed out back, but not in the main house."
She had to agree with that.
"Yeah… we don't want that Taiga woman to find out about magecraft because she walked in at the wrong time," Bazett admitted and she found herself nodding.
"So… new rule, no talk of anything related to magecraft in the main house?" she asked the rest in the room, all of whom nodded, including Shirou himself.
"I guess someone should go and pass on the information to everyone," the Fraga said and she nodded.
"I'll do it," Aozaki declared even as she rose from her sitting position, "after all, I doubt any of them will try and argue with me."
She couldn't agree more with that statement.
XXX Fate/Golden Order XXX
Taiga couldn't stop herself from feeling deflated as she walked along the road towards Shirou's house.
She knew Rider and Waver but there was just something about the sudden presence of such a large group that set her on edge.
Perhaps it was just her protective instincts acting up but she felt that Shirou inviting so many people into his house so quickly was just wrong.
Hell, even Shinji, Issei and Ayako had barely been invited over.
She was pretty confident that the only reason Sakura had become such a staple of the household was because of Shirou injuring his shoulder back then.
Without the excuse of visiting to help him live his daily life, Sakura probably wouldn't have had a reason to visit.
So to find so many strangers lodging at his house was worrying to say the least.
The only good thing was that her grandfather would probably be able to do something if they tried anything that could hurt Shirou.
After all, her grandfather was a Yakuza boss and had a soft spot for the boy almost as large as her own.
Finally reaching his front door, she opened it and was immediately assaulted by the scent of breakfast.
"Shirou! Feed me!" she cried out in English immediately as she made her way to the dining area.
After all, she remembered that at least one of the group was unable to speak Japanese.
The first thing she saw upon walking through the doorway was Rider, currently wearing a simple while t-shirt with a design that was obviously based on a video-game and a large pair of denim jeans.
She was honestly surprised that they had managed to find any that fit the giant of a man.
Next to him was Waver, the man looking almost exasperated as he drank a cup of coffee and had a plate with what was obviously a Full English Breakfast in front of him.
Then there was that Luvia-something-or-other girl that obviously had ulterior motives in her interaction with Shirou.
That the girl was dressed in a blue dress with white highlights only made her look even more out of place than she already had with her long blonde hair.
Then there was also a pair of older women with red-hair, Aozaki and McRemitz if she remembered correctly, with the one with the longer hair dressed incredibly casually while the other wore a burgundy suit.
Then there was of course the man calling himself Caster.
He was dressed in a rather casual attire as well, consisting of a yellow shirt left open over a white t-shirt and blue demin jeans.
Honestly, she wondered just why so many of them were wearing jeans but then again, they were westerners so maybe that had something to do with it.
Then there was also that lavender haired woman with glasses currently wearing a sweater… who she couldn't remember the name of.
And of course, that previous rather boistrous girl with long black hair wearing a red cloak and hat that made her think of a milatary commander… she was pretty sure her name was Archer.
Lastly, there were Saber and the hooded girl named Gray.
Simply looking at the two, it was perfectly obvious that they were twins, what with how the biggest differences between the two being their hair colour, complexion and demeanour.
It was obvious that Saber was the older and more confident of the two.
But in the end, none of that really mattered.
"Good morning Shirou, Sakura-chan!" she called out to the duo managing the kitchen.
"Morning Fuji-nee," Shirou's response was quick and to the point, but then again, he was dealing with food so she couldn't expect him to just stop what he was doing to talk to her.
"Good morning Rider, Waver, Saber, Caster-" she felt like this was going to take forever but was cut off quickly.
"You can just say 'good morning everyone', makes it quicker," Caster declared and she blinked.
While it might have been quicker and easier, she felt that it would be pretty impersonal to refer to them in such a manner.
"Yeah, good morning Taiga," the woman named Aozaki said calmly.
She really didn't know how to react to the casual way she spoke, but then again, most of them appeared to at least spend a lot of time in the west from what she could tell.
Hell, she was confident that the only members among the group that were currently at the table who weren't westerners were Aozaki herself and that Archer girl currently sitting surprisingly quietly.
"Good morning Taiga!" Rider spoke with his usual boistrous tone and she couldn't stop herself from smiling.
There was just something about him that made her want to smile and party.
"Fuji-nee, feel free to get yourself something to eat," Shirou declared and she found her attention immediately turning to the selection of delicacies on display on the currently rather undersized table, "just make sure you leave some for everyone else."
She almost flinched at that.
Of course he wasn't going to let her eat however much she wanted when there were other guests in his house.
"Oh? I thought I bought enough to cover any appetite?" Luvia's words made her freeze.
"Yeah, thank you for that," Shirou spoke while rubbing the back of his head, "but there is a limit to how quickly we can cook it and since we have school later…"
The blonde girl nodded with clear understanding.
"That is fine," the girl responded, "just so long as you're not struggling for supplies."
"No, we're good on that front thanks to you," Shirou said with a smile on his lips.
Taiga looked at the girl and the first thing she noticed was her cheeks flushing.
… oh.
And suddenly the potential reasons for the girl to be acting so nice to him started slipping into place.
She had assumed it was something to do with Shirou's connections with her family or something else like that.
But for the girl to blush simply at being thanked by him painted a slightly different picture.
It seemed Sakura had some competition.
And she didn't know how to feel about that.
For one thing, she knew Sakura clearly had a soft-spot for her surrogate brother and she had been hoping he would finally notice her affections and return them in kind.
Hell, he was clearly fond of the girl himself so it wasn't even implausible.
But now there was another girl getting into the picture who was clearly more confident and more inclined to actively pursue him.
The mere idea of Sakura losing Shirou to this girl was just…
It just felt wrong to her.
"Fuji-nee, is something wrong?" Shirou's voice cut through her thoughts and she found herself shaking her head clear.
"Nope!" she responded probably a little too quickly and firmly for anyone to believe her.
Hell, the look Shirou was giving her told her that not even he believed her.
"Well… if you're fine, then take a seat, I'll get your coffee ready," he declared and she found herself doing as instructed, squeezing in next to Rider as she started gathering up some food.
The worst part was simply knowing that the table would eventually get even more crowded despite already being pretty much full.
She really hoped these visitors found their own places to stay soon.
She didn't know how much longer she could handle them taking up all the room in the house after all.
XXX Chapter End XXX
Anyway... that's all for now.
I am planning on changing the title of this fic at some point.
But a new title hasn't yet been decided upon.
If you have any suggestions then feel free to either review, PM me or join my Discord.
Shadow Out.