-Page 4 B) I cannot take Cirno with me to school-

I cannot take Cirno with me to school. That will simply create complicated problems I don't want to deal with. Therefore she has to stay and guard home.

"Uhm… her school celebrates…" It's the second of February, what's to celebrate on this day… uhm… is there actually any special celebration on this day?

"Groundhog day. We celebrate it every year, and we have holidays until valentine's day." Cirno answers in her Scholar form. "Which means I can do whatever I want for today."

"Yeah, she can take care of herself." I look at Cirno, somewhat trying to make clear that I'm leaving hidden messages in my speech. "Knowing her she will probably go out in the city, trying to find others like her." I look at Cirno, who seems to have understood that I want her to scout through the city in search for other servants. Having no more need for her scholar form she returns once more to her normal form, now continuing eating her food while bragging about how awesome she is.

"Oh, if you say so, Sempai." Sakura looks a bit… sad? I don't really understand why, but I want to see her happy again. Therefore I will talk to her and make her smile brightly once more. We talk a bit, all not really important stuff, but at least Sakura laughs again.

"Hey guys, I'm going to school now!" Fuji-nee calls out as she runs to the outside door. I follow her, making sure everything is all right as she leaves. I wave her goodbyeknowing that we'll see each other again in an hour. When she is out of sight I return back inside, to Sakura and Cirno, who are eating the last bits of their food. I already finished, probably because I take bigger bites than them, letting me finish earlier.

"Sakura, are you almost ready?" Quickly she shoves the last few pieces of her food in her mouth before proclaiming that she's ready to go. We leave Cirno in the house and start walking to school.

The route to school is around thirty minutes on foot. Some parts are done in silence, others with some unimportant smalltalk, and only part of the walk was even slightly memorable:

Twenty minutes into walking towards the school, I start talking about Sakura's situation at home: "So Sakura, how's it back at your house?"

"Everything's fine, Sempai." She says from slightly behind me. Whenever we walk together she tends to walk three steps behind me. While I don't mind that, it does make talking a bit awkward.

"Okay, if you say so. And how is Shinji these days? Still shirking any form of work and responsibility?" I know Shinji is not per se a bad guy. He's a nice person, somewhat knowledgeable of those around him, and a very good talker. But his ability to shove work onto others almost got me killed. I turn to Sakura, and see her slightly unhappy.

"You shouldn't talk about Shinji like that, Sempai. Sure, he's lazy," True, "has an annoying laugh," also true, "tends to hit me," Very true, "and contributes absolutely nothing to society," Obviously! "but he's still my brother."

"Yes, as they say, even evil has loved on-hold on, what was the third thing you said?"

"Nothing, nothing!" She says quickly, hiding her eyes with her bangs, "And he still has some good qualities!"

Of course, this allows me to ask one of the most impossible questions in the universe: "Name three."

"Well, uhm…" She's clearly struggling with giving even one answer, let alone three. This is an impossible request equal to one of the five in The Tale of Princess Kaguya. She will be unable to give even one. "He used to be a sweet kid…" Okay, unable to give two… "Oh, and his failure serves to make the beautiful, brave and pure me look better!" Two, I'll give her that. But three…

It's impossible. She thinks for five minutes, but cannot come up with anything. There are no other good qualities about Shinji. "But still, he isn't doing anything despicable to you, Sakura?" I still remember those times that Shinji used to hit Sakura for nonsensical things, I hope that he broke off the habit after I told him about it.

"…" She stays quiet, and as I turn to her I see her painfully look away out of my view. Hrrgh… Shinji… I feel quite angered by Shinji, and almost want to punch his face in. If he tries something like that again I won't hesitate.

"Sakura." But for now I need to cheer her up. "If something happens, just talk to me. I will save you in case something bad happens to you. So don't worry."

"Sempai…" She holds back the few tears that would've flown, strengthened by my words. "I… I will tell you when something bothers me, Sempai!" I feel I understand Sakura a little more.

(Ka-Shinnnng! Ranku u-I mean, you gained 2 Sakura Points!)

Again the same kind of strange pop-up message appears, This time claiming I have… Sakura points? What am I supposed to do with them? Gather up enough of them to redeem them for special items at the Grail shop? If only Cirno was here to answer me, she would solve this without problem.

Puzzled by this strange new info I silently continue walking to school. Eventually the two of us arrive, and with a final bye we go to our specific classrooms, where the lessons start.

These classes are… as uneventful as usual. It's boring and dull, even with its few bright moments. The almost standard tripping of Fuji-nee, the wacky antics of this class' joker, the witty and snarky remarks of our English teacher; it's the things in life that you won't forget even when you're a pensioned, the things that make plain life interesting.

But still, it's a bit small compared to what I want. I dream of being a hero of justice. That beautiful dream is of massive magnitude, something not fitting for an ordinary person. Of course, I don't consider myself normal. I am a magus, after all, even if I am just third-rate. It's nothing compared to those wacky TV-shows with their ideas and upholders of justice.

Heck, fulfilling said dream would be a lot easier if I were one of these, how do they call it again… ah, anime characters. I would live in some fantasy world, gather a party of daring heroes, go on quests to help the populace, grow stronger, and eventually defeat the demon lord threatening to destroy the world. If I'm lucky I have one of my party members falling in love with me and the two of us live happily ever after as a family, after being lauded as the world saving heroes. And with that the story ends, and everyone is happy ever after.

But this is real life. Such a thing will never happen here. First of all, were I to be a main protagonist of some heroic story, I would need to live an ordinary high school life, before accidentally stumbling upon some sort of "magical" event, This is usually something along the lines of meeting an absurdly beautiful girl who for some reason has taken an interest in you because of hidden powers/is forced to work with for some reason/accidentally involved you in some supernatural stuff; Then I will get along better with her, as I get stronger/face my problems/fight difficult enemies. And eventually I 'win' the ending, getting a happily ever after.

But it's not like that…. could… happen…

…

That… actually happened. Meet a cute girl = meeting Cirno. Sure, she's doesn't have the looks of a sexy lady (unless this is an anime made for pedophiles. That would be… disturbing, mainly because it will end with me being one), but she's cute for the her age and capable of shifting forms. Who says she doesn't have a form or two that turns her into an adult?

And then there's the face that she's forced to work with me to win a supernatural tournament for an even more supernatural prize. And I don't know about any hidden powers of mine, but there just might be some sort of magical world hidden in my mind.

Is this… am I sure this is not an anime? Can I really be a figment of someone else's imagination?

No! Get ahold of yourself, Shirou. This is real life, even if it contains magecraft. I will just perform a few random tests to see if this is an anime or not.

First of all, hair. Is the hair of the other important persons shaped or colored in some abnormal way? Let's start with myself. Style is normal, red hair color is uncommon but existing. My friends have normal-shaped black and wavy blue hair. The servants… well, the only one with a slightly ridiculous hairstyle is Lancer, but one person can happen, right? Otherwise everyone has normal hair colors: Black, Brown, Blonde, Red and Blue. Clearly a sign that this is probably not an anime.

A test to finalize my hypothesis: The names of my classmates. Animes tend to not give names to unimportant classmates. If I can name them all then this is not an anime.! Let's start: There's Issei, of course, and Shinji. There's Minori, who's a member of the Archery club… uhm… there's Gai… and… and… why can't I name the other twenty characters in my class? This cannot be!

No, calm down, I am probably still somewhat shaken from suddenly being cast into a magical war. When it is over surely I can remember their names again! Right?

Let's test something else: If I am an anime character then where is my harem of girls? I mean, there's absolutely no girl interested in me. I'm not like Shinji who acts like a pimp to get a ton of girls. I'll probably end up without wife because I am too busy being a superhero. I will probably be a virgin for life!

…Why do I feel like the world is laughing at me? It's true, I don't have a harem of girls that love me unlike those fake fragments of human imagination!

…

Stop laughing!

And there are many, many more reasons why this is not an anime: Everyone's eyes are normal shaped, no ridiculously messy hairstyles, no strange visual gags like popping veins or completely blank faces, no sparkly bishonens or bishoujos, this is clearly normal life! I am real! This is nor-

*Twack*

As I was busy thinking about the reality of living a piece of school chalk hits my forehead. "Emiya, stop daydreaming." Oh yeah, I've lessons to follow right now. I forget my silly thoughts and refocus on the lessons. I apologize to the teacher and continue with full focus for the rest of the classes… that still suck.

Eventually it is lunchbreak. After a bunch of rather boring lessons that I forced myself through it's finally time to eat some food and do stuff that makes people happy. In my case, it generally amounts to fixing broken mechanical tools for the school. It's the reason I got the nickname Fake Janitor, as I do more good for the school than the real janitor. Not to insult the janitor, but it's simply the truth. But I won't brag, I'm only beating him because my magecraft gives me the edge. If he has the same skills as me he will beat me with sheer experience.

To help I normally go to the student council room, at these times only occupied by its president, my friend Ryuudou Issei. I usually help him by fixing things, we talk a bit together, and spend some good time, and I'm planning to do the same today.

"Emiya?" I hear a feminine voice say from next to me. I turn my head, looking at she who called me out… and curse my luck. It's Tohsaka Rin, the perfect school idol, or as I figured out from yesterday, the secret magus and master in this war. If I could choose I would prefer not to see her today.

"Ah, what is it, Tohsaka? Do you need my help with something?" This is bad. The only reason I imagine her talking to me is that she saw me yesterday.

"Actually, yes. Do you remember what happened yesterday evening?"

!

Oh crap. Startled I take a step back, and I feel a few sweat drops running over my forehead.

"I'll take that as a yes." She steps towards me, looking slightly up to my face. "Don't worry, Emiya, I have no intention of silencing you by murder." At least that is something not bad. "Just a bit of hypnosis will do." Argh!

I try to run away, to prevent that from happening, but she catches me by surprise. She looks me in the eyes, and for some reason I find myself unable to do anything but submit.

…

I'm Shirou Emiya, 17 years old, currently in second year of high school. Yesterday I cleaned up the Archery hall, went home, ate, slept, woke up, ate breakfast with Sakura and Fuji-nee, and went to school. Right now I'm on the third floor, leaning against a wall, before going on my way to help Issei with the school's electrical devices, because the one special ability I have in my ordinary life is my talent as a mechanic.

Except that the above is complete bull. I know that I've been a magus and adopted son of one for ten years, which is everything except ordinary. Even me fixing machinery is simple a product of magecraft. So why am I thinking that I was an ordinary magecraftless person for only yesterday evening and today? And what's up with these strange red markings on my right hand?

I formulate a few possibilities, but one of them is the most obvious: memory manipulation. According to old man Kiritsugu that's one of the skills most magi learn so they have a non-violent solution in case a non-magi interrupts their business. I saw something I shouldn't have seen, and because the magi that I interrupted thought I was a normal person he or she decided to hypnotize me to make it like I never saw it.

It's no use simply thinking hard to try and remember. The prana from the magus lingering in my body prevents that. What I need to do is expel that energy, but that costs some time.

I first go to the student council room. I make an excuse that my head hurts because of a painful blunt force against it, and that I want to rest in the nurse room for the break. Issei, of course, has no problem with it, but hopes that I can come tomorrow if possible.

In the nursery room I explain my symptoms, and the nurse says I have a slight concussion, which actually fits quite well. She prepares a bed for me to rest in, and I put myself down on it, getting the advice to nap for a few hours.

Closing the curtains I start my magecraft: "Release Prana. Open neural gates." Softly whispering spellwords of suggestion I let the prana inside my body flow in a circular motion. Like a river that moves mud away from the source I try to expel the foreign prana from my body. It flows round in my body, the foreign prana slowly dissipating as I start to recover memories:

I am a participant in the Holy Grail war. I am joined by a servant, who is named… Cirno, yeah that's her name. These seals on my right hand are command seals, to either give absolute orders to my servant or temporarily boost her abilities. Today I've walked to school with Sakura, and had ridiculous thoughts about the reality of the current world. And the one who hypnotized me is Tohsaka Rin, the school idol. Does this mean she is a magus?

The events of yesterday are covered with more prana, which makes sense if the events I shouldn't have witnessed was yesterday. It's like a second layer of prana is protecting these thoughts. I slightly increase the speed of the circulation, and with great effect. I start remembering, beginning with the talk Cirno and I had about this war. The information streams into my head, but suddenly I feel pain in my neck, as a small blood vessel there pops. I return the circulation to my previous speed, the largest defense of yesterday's memories broken. Slowly even the last parts return.

Sharing ice cream with Cirno, the fight with the demonic skeleton warriors, that… thing with the gay servant, summoning my own servant, and finally, the battle I witnessed between two servants, with Tohsaka standing there as a master.

My memories fully restored, I realize that Tohsaka is my opponent in this war. However ,she thinks I'm a normal person. I should remember this for later events, it might be useful.

I stand up from the bed, open the curtains around it, and look at the clock. I have spent most of lunchbreak recovering my memories, but at least I'm still in time for the next set of classes.

The nurse comes over to me, asking how I feel. After hearing from me that I feel quite fine and want to rejoin classes she lets me rejoin without objections. She just leaves me with the advice to take it easy for the next two or three days. I almost want to apologize, knowing that I'll spend those days opposing the pinnacles of myths and legends in magical battles. She greets me off, and I return to my classroom, just in time for the next lesson.

Afternoon classes are just as boring as the morning classes. I honestly didn't expect anything less. I remember that I thought about whether or not this is a fictional world or not, but that's not important. Even if this world is fake I still experience it as real. No, the question is what I should do with this knowledge. If this really follows the rules of a b-rated anime show than the only reason classes exist is to give me a simple exposition on a certain subject that will help me gain knowledge about something that's actually important. To prevent it from being too long and boring these explanations are usually cut short to five minutes tops. Now the question is when it will happen so I can daze through the rest.

Let's see my schedule: right now I have Math, which will probably not help me. Then I have three more hours of English, History and… no, the last one doesn't matter. I'm almost completely sure that the useful knowledge will come out during History. After all, I'm in a war with legendary heroic spirits, who are people with their names marked in history. If my deductions are correct then one of my opponents will be discussed during History.

One long time of spend in a daze later, and enough time has passed for history classes to begin. Our English teacher leaves and after a minute he is replaced with our history teacher. His name is Kuzuki Souichirou, teaching in World History and Ethics. He is strict, austere, impersonal and emotionless, but he still manages to teach fairly.

"Class, today's lesson is about classical mythology." Okay, now I'm even more sure that this is going to be useful. So who is it going to be? Who are we getting taught about? Hercules? Perseus? "Open page 278 from your textbooks, I am going teach you about the Argonauts."

The Argonauts, huh? I quickly open my History book and look at the pages about the subject:

The Argonauts are the crew of the Argo, a ship build by shipwright Argus and blessed by the goddess Hera herself. They helped the captain of the ship, Jason, to find the legendary golden fleece. Does this mean that one of my opponents is Jason? It is certainly possible, ships can be summoned under the Rider class, making Jason a very plausible Rider. Or perhaps it is one of his crew?

I look at the list of all Argonauts, listed in chart three and four of the textbook: Acastus, Actor, Admetus, Aethalides, Amphiaraus, Amphidamas, Amphion, Amyrus, Ancaeus, Areius, Argus, another Argus, Ascalaphus, Asclepius, Asterion, Asterius, Atalanta, Augeas, Autolycus, Azorus, and that's just the crew whose name starts with the letter A!

"-It is considered to be the first massive crossover story. Almost every Greek hero of its time was part of the crew." I hear Kuzuki say, as I turn a bit sour inside. One of my opponents is a Greek. Considering the large amount of famous Greek heroes I wouldn't be surprised if half of my opponents is from that country! I even doubt that there has been a Grail war without Greek heroes!

I honestly didn't expect to gain the name of an enemy servant, but still, I can always hope for it. Perhaps Cirno has a better time finding out stuff about the enemy. Half-focused I continue with following the lessons, not really learning anything, and after two hours classes are finally over.

Talk to Shinji after school

School is finally over, which means that it is back to the Grail War for me. I don't have any club activities, so I can go to Cirno as quickly as possible and ask what she learned of our opponents. I quickly walk through the school's hallways, trying to get home as quickly as possible. There's no one that needs my help, nobody who I need to save, so I can finally do what I wa-

"Hey Emiya…" Damn it all! Why now! I look at the where I presume my caller stands, and see Shinji standing there.

Friend for at least a few years? Check. Current relations: a bit strained, mainly because he picks too much on his little sister, which I dislike. There's also the fact that he somewhat helped in me abstaining from rejoining the archery club, but I've forgiven him for that.

The only recent problem I have is that his last request almost killed me. Of course, I doubt that he knew that two servants would fight each other to the death on that night. Even though I have never done this before I'm afraid that if he asks me for another request I have to turn him off.

"Shinji, what do you want?" I turn to my friend, seeing him wielding a strange book in his hands. For some reason my body tenses, as if expecting a battle. I ready a command seal in my mind, just in case I need to summon my servant for something. "I have something I want to do tonight, and it would help if you wouldn't shove your request onto me."

"Oh, that's pretty unusual of you to say, Emiya. Although knowing you you would probably still do my request if I asked." Well, he has a point there. I've a pretty hard time saying no to the problems of others. Heck, Shinji even called me a fool for doing so when we first met, but he also complimented me on my way of doing things, which is something I do appreciate. As I said, my relationship is something in between 'friend' and 'makes me want to strangle him'.

"True, I would probably still accept. However, if you can do it yourself I would like you to do it yourself, your last request turned out to be deadly."

Shinji laughs, followed by a mocking "yeah, right." He finishes laughing after a few seconds, before giving me a creepy grin. "But is, by any chance, this thing you're going to do tonight scouting the city for servants, my dear fellow master?"

WHAT?!

He knows that I'm a master? I quickly glance at my hand, realizing that I should've covered it up. I probably was lucky that Tohsaka didn't see it.

I ready myself for a fight with Shinji. This guy in front of me claims to be the same as me, also a master, which means that his servant is probably nearby. I'm unarmed, see nothing that I can really use in my surroundings, and the best thing I can do is to make some distance and summon Cirno with a command seal. I set my left foot a step back, and am ready to set the second one back too, fleeing if needed.

"Don't worry, don't worry, Emiya. I'm not planning to fight right now." Good. I lose a bit of my tension, but I still keep my body in a fight-or-flight state. "It's the opposite. I just want to peacefully discuss some things with you."

"Discuss?" I ask, slightly puzzled. That's an actual possibility.

"Obviously." He replies calmly.

"Hmm…" There's no harm in discussing this matter with him.

"We should discuss this elsewhere." But I cannot do this here in the school hallways. There are too many people still around, and people can just sneak by.

Shinji agrees, and opens the nearby door to the chemistry lab. That's weird, it's completely empty even though the science club normally uses it at this time. "Shinji, did you?" He couldn't have killed them, did he?

"Of course not, idiot! I simply spread an official rumor that a slightly dangerous liquid was dropped in this room by accident, and that they have to wait until tomorrow before it can be entered again." Phew. I guess that these kind of tricks are just the magi kind of tricks. Hypnotizing, like Tohsaka uses; Or simply covering up the truth like Shinji. This war really is a secret thing, huh.

"Okay, Shinji. Let's hear what you have to say." I am willing to listen to his words. Now Shinji just need to show me a good reason.

"Yes, yes, I'll come to it. But first, Rider!" With the snap of his fingers Shinji summons his servant. Appearing out of thin air comes a tall woman with the most ridiculous hairstyle I've seen in my entire life: pink hair with length that goes beyond her feet. Clad in black leather clothes with purple tints and a purplish blindfold, even though I feel that blind like that she sees more than of her surroundings then people like me do. Her power is far beyond that of a normal human. Clearly she is a servant.

However, she still feels… off. Compared to the monstrous agility of Lancer, the feats of Caster's magecraft, the wide array of skills of Cirno; compared to them, she isn't an equal. Compared to them, she is a lesser being. The fear I have for the rest isn't nearly as big with her. Is she hiding her power, or is this the extend of Shinji's ability?

I see her bow down slightly for Shinji, addressing him as master. "So, you've summoned servant Rider, Shinji?" I ask to him, seeing how these two interact with each other.

"Indeed, Emiya. This my servant, the great Rider!" He laughs somewhat loudly, as Rider simply stands beside her master. "And, who did you summon?" He asks, wanting compensation for showing his servants.

"Saber." Another half-truth of mine, this one meant to not unsettle Shinji. Who knows what he might think when I tell him that my servant is classless and can take the form of nine other classes. "She looks like a ten year old, has blue hair, dressed in blue and tends to brag about how great she is."

"Tsk." He speaks with annoyance as his face turns from a cocky smile to an irritated gaze. "To think that you would pick the best class, Emiya. Damn it."

Best? "There are different ranks in classes?" This is the first I've heard of this. Did Cirno really forget to mention something that sounds as important as that? Although… knowing her she would simply say that she's the strongest and ignore class levels.

"You really don't know? Didn't you even do your homework before summoning your servant?" He says, both annoyed and amused by my ignorance.

"Apologies, Shinji, but I never really wanted to participate in the Grail War." It's true. I see no need to lie about this one. "I just summoned my servant so another wouldn't kill me."

"Aargh!" He screams out in frustration. "To think that someone like you gets the best class, someone who doesn't even know what he is doing." Well, sor-ry. I honestly start to get annoyed by these outlets of him. "But no matter." Quickly he turns back to his sophisticated jerk persona, and looks me in the face. "Let's return to business. First, would you mind to have an information exchange? If we both have more knowledge in the war we can give each other an edge above the other five, you see?"

Hmm… I cannot disagree with that. There's nothing wrong with simply exchanging information about the enemy masters and servant. However, that's not what I want. "I don't mind me telling you about the servants I encountered, but there are some other questions I'm more interested in. If you can answer those for me, I'll tell you what I know."

Shinji thinks hard about this, not sure what to answer on such a sudden change of this talk's direction. Rider seems to give some advice to Shinji by whispering something in his ear, but he seems to dismiss her strategies. "Okay, Emiya. I don't mind teaching you a bit, but under two conditions: No extremely revealing stuff, like the name or abilities of my servant, and you'll only get one question per servant you inform me about."

The terms are agreeable, so I do as told: "Sure. Let's start with the first servant, Lancer. I met him for the first time yesterday evening, where he was fighting against another servant, but not mine. He's a man with blue hair and in blue body thighs. He wields a red spear with utmost precision. He tried to kill me after I accidentally interrupted the fight, and that's when I summoned my own servant. He eventually fled after a fourth servant joined in. This one made Lancer flee, although that was by Lancer's own volition. His most dangerous abilities are his speed and precision." He nods, taking it all in. "Now my first question; Why do you want the Grail?"

The most important question. I want to know why he is driven to fight for an omnipotent wishing machine. Something like ten years ago must be prevented at all costs. With open ears I listen to his answer: "Emiya, if you know even a bit of the history of the war, which I doubt, then you should know that my family is a prestigious magus family that is one of the founders of the Grail we're fighting for. However, we've been in a decline of power ever since, and the latest successor, me, can only barely be called a magus. I want to use the grail to restore my family to its original glory by granting me an extreme number of magic circuits. Second servant, Shirou."

I find his reasoning… not wrong. It's not heroic, but it isn't evil either. It's a neutral wish, only involving his own improvement, so I can accept that as a wish upon the grail.

"Servant Caster. Unable to be mistaken for someone else, she's the only person in this age to still wear a heavy, cloaked robe. She stands at the pinnacle of magecraft. Summoning a hundred battle-hardened and armed skeleton warriors is something she can do with the back of the hand. When we met she wasn't that interested in fighting, simply leaving after calling up those fighters." I explained all about the second servant, so now I get to ask my second question: "So, how about you explain that stuff about servant classes you were going on about earlier?"

"Sure, sure:" He says with small glee, which always happens when you stroke his ego. "You know the seven classes, right?" I nod. "Good, that makes it easier to explain. Saber, Lancer and Archer. These three were the first classes to be designed 200 years ago, one for each of the founding family. However, there needed to be a total of seven servants, so they had to create four more servants. Because the founders want to win they made the other four weaker, but not too much lest there are no others willing to join in. Saber was meant to portray the stalwart knight, Lancer the swift footsoldier, and Archer the long-ranged sniper. All three have good one-on-one combat abilities and good Noble Phantasms, and they have mastered their weapon to the utmost limit."

"I see, and what about the other four?"

"Riders, like mine, have high speed and strong Noble Phantasms, but they're not so well versed in close combat, relying more on their most powerful attacks. Caster is the ultimate magus," obviously, "but severely hindered in ability because the three knight classes have some form of Magic Resistance. Assassin is skilled at killing the enemy masters with swift attacks, but would lose to a normal servant in a duel. Berserker is the most powerful servant, but he has no intelligence of its own, costs a lot of prana, and is very weak to the magic of Caster. In other words, the knight classes have far less exploitable weaknesses than the other three."

"Ah…" I never really thought about it, but there seems to be quite a story behind it. "Anyways, the third servant: Clad in red and black, this white-hared servant fought Lancer at the schoolyard. He dual-wields Chinese shortswords, but I don't know what class he exactly is. However, his master is Tohsaka Rin."

"Tohsaka huh? At least we know what her servant looks like."

"Hold on, do you mean to say that you know she is a master in this war?"

"Of course she is! The three founding families are Matou, Tohsaka and Von Einzbern. These three are forced to participate every time a war happens. She's the only one of whom I was sure to be an enemy in the war."

"So she should know that you're an enemy too, right?" He nods, claiming that they're both aware of the fact that they are their enemy. "Okay then, my question I-"

"What are you talking about, Emiya? I just answered two of you." Oh, you son of a bitch! I look at his face, realizing that he made me play into his trap. "So that means you owe me a servant. You'll get the next question after giving me your info about the last two servants."

Hmph. I smile a bit cockily. He hasn't realized yet that he dug his own grave: "Other two servants: not yet met." He looks in horror at me, realizing his mistake. I smile at him, and he start to almost growl like a wild lion. "So, time for you to answer my last question, Shinji."

"Y-Y-You!" He stutters, like he usually does when he has his momentum shaken off, "Did you just trick me? Did Emiya Shirou of all people just trick me?" Yes, apparently I did.

"I'm sorry, Shinji, but I'm only answering that question if I also get to have another question." He shouts out his frustration, and do I see his servant… smiling? Hmm, I think their relationship is a bit strangled if she likes her master's agony. "Anyway, my last question: Is Sakura involved in this war?"

Shinji, having heard the last question, straightens himself like his outburst never happened and calmly answers: "Of course not. Don't you know that only the firstborn child inherits the magic crest from his parents? Every child after the first is simply excluded from all magecraft practice and lives a normal, ignorant and blissful life." Good. I don't want to see Sakura tangled up in this mess. Having her over during the war is the maximum I can involve her with this.

Now that I'm out of info to give and questions to ask, I take a step back. "Thanks, Shinji." Even if he's a jerk, this was a pretty good idea. I've lost some of my worries, gained a few bits of new info, and Cirno is probably going to be happy with this. So now that this exchange is over I can go.

"Hold on, Emiya, there's one last question from me." He says, somehow still wanting more. But what can I give, and more importantly, what do I want?

"Sorry, Shinji, but I've no more questions. Perhaps later we can exchange information again."

"This is not about exchanging information, Emiya." He speaks to me… seriously? Only once, maybe twice, have I heard him speak somewhat seriously. "I want to make an alliance with you."

Just like when I found out he is a master, "WHAT?!"

Did I just speak that out loud?

"An alliance! We're perfect allies." Shnji starts to explain, giving his reason for why the two of us are a perfect combinaiton. "I have the wisdom of a magus, but lack the circuits. You have the circuits, but lack the knowledge. What's more, my Rider's speed combined with your Saber's strength makes for an incredibly powerful force! We defeat the other five and then have our two servants duke it out for the finals! That way either one of us will have his noble goal fulfilled!" He reaches me the hand, hoping for a deal. But what should I do? What are my options?

I think it all over, and only one thing comes to mind: that is to…

A) Join Shinji

B) Punch Shinji - go to page 63

C) Kill Shinji

-Page 50 end-