CHAPTER 2

"I might as well go home. I'll see him tomorrow anyway. Yeah, we can talk tomorrow." Tohsaka told herself as she left the classroom. She walked towards home while admiring the serenity of the summer evening, soon after she reached the intersection.

"That's right. I can always talk to him tomorrow." Tohsaka said to herself as if she was reaffirming something to herself.

Moments later

"I ended up going to his house, nothing wrong with a schoolmate visiting right? It's not like I haven't been in his place before, even Fujimura-Sensei saw me, right, right?" Tohsaka said to herself again and again as if she was justifying her action. She repeated this as she walked towards the door.

"Shirou? Shirou? Are you home?" Tohsaka said as she entered the house.

"Tohsaka? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"W-well I felt bad missing our appointment so I'm here to teach you, I can spend the night right?" Tohsaka replied.

"Ah yeah, sure, do you have a change of clothes?" I asked.

"W-well, this is kind of spur of the moment so, no. I can just borrow a shirt right?" Tohsaka replied as if she was teasing me as she went to the living room.

My face became red quickly. "Really, that girl knows how to push my buttons." I muttered. "Ah, I forgot to tell her Sakura is here. She should've noticed the shoes though." I thought to myself.

I made my way to the living room. I saw Tohsaka quietly drinking tea while Sakura was still preparing dinner, but there was a heavy atmosphere, though I have no idea why.

"T-Tohsaka is everything alright?" I asked.

"Yeah, everything is fine Emiya-kun." Tohsaka replied with a smile, the kind of smile that sends shivers down my spine, but at the same time her eyes looked a little sad.

"I-is that so?" I replied while going to Sakura.

"Hey Sakura, did something happen?" I whispered to Sakura.

"Nothing, I guess we're just uncomfortable with each other?" Sakura replied with a sad look in her eyes.

"If you say so..." I replied as we continued to prepare dinner.

We finished preparing dinner. The three of us ate and the awkward silence continued.

"Uhm...Tohsaka-Senpai, what are you doing here?" Sakura broke the silence with her question.

"I'm here to study with Emiya-kun, right Emiya-kun?" Tohsaka replied while she looked at me expecting me to take her side on something.

"Y-yeah, that's right, I asked her to teach me something." I added with a hint of nervousness in my voice.

"Is that so..." Sakura said as she looked down.

There it is again, that sadness in her eyes. I accidentally looked at Tohsaka and she has the exact same expression as Sakura. I could not understand why, but there was something that happened between the two of them that they are not telling. Although I don't want to pry, I want them to get along. Another awkward silence ensued.

"Uhmm, what exactly happened between the two of you? I asked to break the silence. I looked at the two of them and saw tears running down their eyes. "H-hey! What's wrong with the two of you? What happened?" I asked while trying to comfort them.

After calming down, Tohsaka proceeded to explain things.

"Matou-No, Sakura is my little sister." Tohsaka said.

I was shocked, I didn't understand. Sakura is her sister? I looked at Sakura. She had the same confused look as I had, but why were tears falling down from her eyes?

"Sa-Sakura? What's wrong?" I asked her as I went to her side to wipe her tears.

"Ne-Nee-san?" Sakura muttered?

"Sa-Sakura?" Tohsaka asked bewildered by Sakura's reaction.

"I-I remember now, Nee-san." Sakura said as she was crying, but this time her eyes were filled with happiness.

"Sakura!" Tohsaka exclaimed as she stood up, rushed to Sakura's side, and embraced her.

The two of them cried, but I wasn't worried. Why? Because the tears they were shedding were not of loneliness, but out of joy for their reunion. Still, I hope they fill me in on what's going on.

After the two of them calmed down, Tohsaka explained to me why Sakura was adopted by the Matou family.

"I see, so what Shinji said was true, but even so, why was Shinji Rider's master?" I asked Sakura.

Sakura explained everything, from the time of her adoption, to summoning Rider. I almost vomited in disgust, thinking of what Shinji did, what her adoptive family did to her, then it occurred to me, if this is what I am feeling and I am just a friend, what could Tohsaka be feeling right now? I looked at Tohsaka, her eyes were filled with anger, sadness, and regret that all she could do right now was to embrace her sister as hard as she could now and repeating "I'm sorry, I'm very sorry" over and over again. I embraced the both of them to assure them that the both of them have me, that they can depend on me, and that I will protect them from harm.

"Sakura, you don't have to live in that house anymore, you can stay with me, back to our house, our home, just the two of us." Tohsaka said to Sakura as she continued to embrace her.

"N-Nee-san, what about brother and grandfather?" Sakura asked with a smile but her eyes spoke of concern for Shinji.

"I'll take care of Shinji, don't worry about him, I won't let him touch you or hurt you again. I haven't met your grandfather, but if he tries to hurt you, Tohsaka and I will protect you." I replied with determination.

"Shirou, thank you." Tohsaka replied with a smile on her face.

"N-nee-san, s-senpai..." Sakura replied with a smile on her face as she closed her eyes and tears began to fall from her eyes once again.

I left the sisters alone so that they can catch up all the years that they were separated.

Outside the house

"If you can hear me, you probably know what I'll say by now, I will never regret it, for moments like these, if I can prevent what happened to her from happening to anyone else, what I, no what we sacrificed is all worth it isn't it?" I said to the wind as I closed my eyes, hoping my words would reach the red knight's ears. For a moment I thought I saw him smile and say, "Yeah.", which put a smile on my face.

I look at the living room to check on the sisters. I saw them laughing and smiling from the bottom of their hearts.

"As if I could intrude on that, I'd stay here in the meantime." I told myself as I looked at the full moon.

Meanwhile at the living room

"N-nee-san! You were supposed to study with Emiya-Senpai, I'm sorry for taking your time." Sakura apologetically said to Tohsaka.

"Ah-Ah, yeah..." Tohsaka replied with sadness in her voice.

"Nah, don't mind it, family is more important isn't it?" I said to the two of them with a smile on my face while I entered the living room.

"Sh-Shirou.." Tohsaka replied with a smile.

"S-Senpai.." Sakura replied in the same manner.

"Well since it's late, why don't the two of you stay here for the night?" I proposed to them. They both agreed, in fact I think they were both hoping that this would happen.

"W-wait a second, my girlfriend and her sister, who could possibly (probably) have a crush on me, would be staying in the same room. That's bad isn't it? "It's bad" A voice said. Damn it, I think I'm hearing Archer's voice, I'd bet he's laughing at me from somewhere." I thought to myself.

"E-mi-ya-kun." A voice slowly whispered to my ears. I jumped out of surprise.

"To-Tohsaka! What are you doing?!" I asked her.

"Thank you for the support and for taking care of Sakura." Tohsaka replied while hugging me from behind.

"Ah, never mind that, she's like family to me already." I replied.

"Shirou..." Tohsaka said.

"Well you know, she took care of me before and ever since then, I've seen her as family, even before I met you." I added.

"You really know how to kill the mood don't you?" Tohsaka replied with a hint of irritation on her voice. "I'll tell her tonight." She added.

"Tell her what?" I asked.

"That we're dating, she has the right to know." Tohsaka replied.

"Wh-Why? I thought you wanted to keep it a secret?" I asked while I held her shoulder.

"You can't be that dense. You should have had felt it too, she likes you as a man, not as an older brother. To be honest, I feel a little jealous of her." Tohsaka replied.

"That can't be." I said.

"It is true though." Tohsaka replied.

"No, I believe Sakura might have a crush on me, what I can't believe is that you admitted you were jealous." I said as if I was teasing her.

Tohsaka's face turned bright red and she smiled her all too familiar smile and said, "YOU REALLY KNOW HOW TO KILL THE MOOD."

She slapped and hit my head. Well I'm just glad she's feeling better already. That's one burden off my shoulder. I guess I'd better take a bath and go to bed, tonight was quite heavy after all.

Next morning

I opened my eyes and looked at my clock, its 5:30 a.m. "Alright, it's a new day. I'd better start making breakfast for 4 people. I'd bet Fuji-nee would be surprised to see Tohsaka here today." I told myself as I was psyching myself. "Come to think of it, Bazett didn't come home last night. She must be doing some odd job again." I added.

I walked out to the living room I saw Tohsaka and Sakura sitting near the dining table. I walked towards them to greet them a good morning, but they both didn't respond to me.

"D-did I do something wrong?" I asked myself as I started to prepare breakfast.

"Uhh...Breakfast is ready." I said as I brought them breakfast but the heavy atmosphere lingered.

"D-did I do something wrong?" I asked the two of them but they just glared at me.

"Nee-san." Sakura said breaking the heavy silence.

"Let's go to school Sakura." Tohsaka said as they both left.

"Wh-What was that about?" I asked myself.

"Shirou-chan, is breakfast ready?!" Fuji-nee shouted as she opened the door. "Whoah! What is with the negative energy here?!" She added.

"I'd like to know that myself." I replied with worry in my voice as I stood up and proceeded with my daily routine.

"Shirou-chan?" Fuji-nee asked as if she was worried.

I walked to the school with Fuji-nee. As usual, she was talking about a lot of things that I don't understand. Then it occurred to me, how long has it been since it was just the two of us. Sakura and Tohsaka's face came to my mind and I felt really sad, it was as if I was missing something important in my life right now. Before I knew it, tears began to fall from my eyes.

"Shirou?! Why are you crying?!" Fuji-nee asked me

"Haha, it's nothing. It's just that without those two, it feels lonely somehow." I replied.

"What happened with Tohsaka-san and Sakura-chan?" Fuji-nee asked as we continued walking.

"I honestly don't know-wait, you knew Tohsaka was there?" I replied with confusion in my voice.

"Of course, she's been coming over a lot lately right? I honestly thought you liked Sakura-chan. I never thought you'd go for Tohsaka-san though." Fuji-nee replied with a big grin on her face as if she's saying I can't hide anything from her.

I felt blood rushing to my face, I'd bet I was red as a tomato by now, "Y-yeah, but you know, I still don't know what happened..." I replied.

"Don't worry about it, just talk to them. It will be okay in the end." Fuji-nee said with a sincere smile.

"Fuji-nee, I never expected you to give a decent advice." I replied with the intention of teasing her. She then hit me with a shinai over the head. Where exactly does she keep those?

When we reached the gate, a familiar figure approached me.

"Senpai!" The familiar-looking girl said as she waved and ran towards me and grabbed my arm.

"Ah! Yayoi-san right?" I retorted as I unhinged my arm from her.

"So stingy Senpai! We're going out aren't we?" Yayoi replied trying to grab my arm again.

"Uhm, about that-" I tried replied to her, but Fuji-nee interrupted me.

"Emiya-kun, you should be aware of your surroundings. *fufu*" Fuji-nee said with a mischievous smile on her face.

I didn't get what she meant at first, but then I felt a piercing stare from behind me and when I turned around, there she was, with her twin tails and her smile that seemed to mask her anger.

"Emiya-kun, please refrain from public display of affection so early in the morning. I believe that is also forbidden in the schools rules." Tohsaka said maintaining that smile of hers as she walked towards the school building.

"Ah yeah, sorry..." I replied. "Yayoi-san, I have something to do, I'll see you later I guess?" I added as I went to the school building to ask Tohsaka about what happened to her and Sakura this morning.

"Emiya-Senpai!" Yayoi exclaimed as she tried to grab my hand, but I was too far already.