Chapter Six

It was a week later, and well past midnight in the harbor of Fuyuki City.

Shirou crouched down on top of a large stack of crates where the shadows offered him ideal cover without being in the most obvious sniping position available. He was wearing the black protective suit crafted for him by Ciel. An advanced composite material made possible by new technologies which yielded lighter and sturdier bulletproofing covered his torso but left his arms exposed so he could freely draw his bow and wield his swords. It came with pants that combined seamlessly with his metal covered boots by various straps all over the legs. The fabric in his pants was soft and flexible, but was sturdy enough for even a motorcyclist to take a fall and not get road rash.

Ciel had meant well when she wanted to surprise him by making him a set of battle cloths that was as good as her own. But the final result of what she diligently crafted for him was something Shirou had seen long before he'd ever met the woman.

Needless to say, he hated wearing this stuff, but it was a necessary evil at the moment.

At least it didn't come with the stupid red mantle thing and matching butt cape… Shirou still had no idea where Archer got that from, or what Archer was high on when he thought it looked good enough to actually wear.

With his bow held at the ready he spoke into the headset connected to his phone. "Servant Archer," he groaned with the most indignation anyone had ever yet heard from him, "I'm in position."

Ciel snickered into her own bluetooth headset, "Servant Lancer. In position. Why am I Lancer again by the way? What part of my Black Keys is a lance?" she asked while turning her gaze up to where she knew Shirou was hiding in the shadows.

Shirou watched Ciel as she took up her hiding place below. Her own combat gear wasn't very dissimilar from his own, but there was always something about Ciel when she wore that outfit. It was a set with thigh high blue boots, tight tank top accenting her curves and a short skirt. And of course, there was the mandatory gap between the top of her boots and the bottom of her skirt that just maximized her sex appeal.

There was one other thing about his costume, and Ciel's which Shirou couldn't get out of his mind no matter how hard he tried. It was something he learned by accident during a night of drinking with Shiki on one of those rare occasions they managed to get along.

Ciel has a costume fetish.

In another life. Maybe that could have be fun to try with her. But in this life, it was one of those little tidbits of useful information Shirou kept in reserve for when he would really need it. Just incase any of them ever let slip something he didn't know they knew about him that they weren't suppose to know.

But what if Archer had in his life? Stop thinking about this Shirou… Damn it you're not attracted to Ciel! No matter how hot she looks right now!

Screw you Archer! You did miss your chance with Rin and then you hooked up with Ciel later didn't you? That's why you turned into such an asshole! Because you had to deal with Shiki afterwards! Just admit it! It's not me that's attracted to Ciel right now, it's the part of me that's you! You bastard! You knew this would happen and that I'd figure it out didn't you?!

This could also be Ryouko's fault though to be fair... She's been aggressively flirting with me all week over the phone and now I can't keep my mind right!

No. I can't blame Ryouko. She's been great. No. This is completely Archer's fault. That's what I'm deciding! Everything bad is his fault. No exceptions. Shit! Damn it all. He really did!

Say something snarky to Ciel! Quickly! Before you end up the protagonist of your own smutty visual novel!

Shirou took very deep breath while mustering up his snark, "Because you have blue hair, and so did he. And since you insisted I be Archer, then you get to be Lancer. While we're on the subject, you have something else in common with him. He also stabbed me the first time I met him."

"This again?" the executor said with a roll of her eyes, "It was an accident!"

"Yes. I'm sure your Black Key accidentally got stuck in my left ass cheek..." groaned Shirou.

"Then you should just be more mindful of where you sit!" she whisper-yelled at him.

"Hehehehe! You two are funny! Oh yeah! Servant Saber! I'm where you told me to be!" Tohka laughed and exclaimed loudly and proudly to remind the world of her complete lack of common sense.

Shirou vividly imagined Saber herself facepalming at this scene, wherever she was now.

"What part of 'stealth' was unclear when we explained it?" asked Shirou over the conference call they were using to communicate with each other. "You're being so loud I can hear you from over here without the phone…"

"Oh… sorry," Tohka answered mournfully.

"It's alright. Just remember to mind the volume of your voice…" Shirou said and then sighed deeply, "You know... It isn't too late for you to back out of this. None of us will think less of you for it. We can handle it all on our own. You don't have to come with us and get involved. You even said yourself that you didn't want to fight anymore," said Shirou in a calm and even tone.

Tohka took a breath and began speaking again, but this time with what Shirou had come to call her 'serious' voice. "How could I do that? When I said I didn't want to fight anymore, that didn't mean I wouldn't fight for you if you ever needed me to,

"I only meant that I didn't want things to go back to how they were before I met all of you. You've all been so wonderful and patient with me. I know you only fight to help and protect everyone you can. Back then I fought for nothing. But when I'm with you, I can fight for something important. When I'm with you I can even fight for them and prove them wrong about me! So if you ever need my strength, it's yours!"

Shirou suddenly imagined Saber looking up from her palm and proudly smiling down on this woman.

"Overseer reporting, I'm in position here. Good speech by the way," said Kotori over the line.

"Lancer… Tell me again why we decided to bring her along?" asked a growling Shirou as he loaded a sword into his bow.

"Because none of you know how to make the encrypted voice call app work properly without me here to make sure we're all connected. And without it, your little plan is FUBAR."

"Language Overseer!" scolded Ciel.

"I didn't actually say it. The acronym doesn't count. And my point stands," answered Kotori.

Ciel snickered over the line, "She does indeed have a point Archer, besides, all things considered this is pretty much SNAFU for us isn't it? We always do these things as a family, why should this be different?"

"Don't remind me. Anyway, I have eyes on the first target. Three black SUVs rolling into the harbor now. Seems our other guests are late," observed Shirou.

"No. They're right on time. I can see one sedan and two SUVs from where I'm sitting, they're driving in the opposite way from you," said Kotori as she watched from a hidden vantage point overlooking the entrance to the harbour's south side.

"Understood. Just hold your position and stick to the plan Overseer. Don't move from there unless Lancer or I tell you otherwise. That goes double for you Saber. And remember, don't draw your weapon or activate your special powers until you need to use them. Remember, we're dealing with an 'enemy master' here and he'll be able to sense you the moment you use them," explained Shirou while observing a group of men emerging from the SUVs with automatic weapons at the ready, each checking their surroundings for potential threats.

"I understand. But what were 'enemy masters' again? Grrah! I should have written this all down!" said Tohka in a loud whisper.

"It doesn't matter right now Saber. Just do what I tell you," he said to her, then Shirou heard tiny steps from behind him and turned his head to see the black cat taking a seat beside him. "All done?"

Len nodded her head lazily before licking her paw and using it to scrub something off her face.

"Servant Caster reports mission accomplished. It's on us now," he said while holding out another bluetooth headset and phone to Len which she accepted once she shifted back into her human form and put the device in her ear and the phone in her coat pocket.

"The group I'm watching have just entered the harbor. You should see them any moment now," reported Kotori.

"Understood Overseer. I see them now," acknowledged Ciel.

"I have them too. Everyone get ready and move after Caster's mouse trap is sprung."

"Let our our grail war commence!" said a smirking Kotori.

As the targets gathered Shirou stood up and drew his bow, morphing his sword as he prepared it to be launched.

"Now!" he said loudly and clearly to the small familiar beside him who stood up and prepared to activate her trap while Shirou launched his sword and then reloaded for more successive shots to eliminate one group of men armed with automatic rifles.

Meanwhile, Len reached out with a hand and activated a Bounded Field around the people they had just ambushed. The field had the simple purpose of forbidding anyone in the affected area from fleeing the battle. There could be no witnesses to what would transpire here.

"Lancer! Saber! Go!" yelled Shirou while ducking down to avoid being shot by return fire.

Ciel sprung into action, Black Keys held close and tight behind her as she ran into battle. Ahead of her emerged Tohka with Sandalphon held high. The three of them combined had taken all of their enemies by surprise from above, infront, and behind.

When the gunfire stopped, and the night became still once again, Shirou took Len in his arms and jumped down from his vantage point before gently setting her down again. With a wave of her hand the familiar disabled her bounded field as the two approached Ciel and Tohka who had one man still alive and held prisoner.

"Len. Go to Kotori, then go with her to the meeting place we talked about. Keep her safe," ordered Shirou.

Len give a quick nod and transformed herself while running towards where Kotori was still hiding.

"Shirou Emiya?! What is the meaning of this?!"

Shirou blinked at the man who was on his knees and held there with a set of Ciel's Black Keys inches from his throat.

"That's a good question. I was told there would be a magus at this meeting, instead I find you here. A 'magus' who's totally incapable of any magecraft, who's suppose to be doing the job of a magus. But why am I not surprised Shinji…"

"You actually know this guy Shirou?" asked Ciel when gesturing to the man on the ground before her. He had dark blue hair that looked less like hair and more like kelp attached to his head and same colored eyes which were narrowed and furious at what was transpiring around him. He wasn't in any kind of decent physical fitness unlike Ciel and Shirou, and after what Shirou said about his lack of any magecraft, she rated him as no threat whatsoever. But that didn't mean she wasn't enjoying intimidating him.

Shirou knelt down in front of Shinji Matou and sighed at what he saw, "Unfortunately… So how did you get a job at DEM? Did you just forget to put sadist, rapist, and incompetent evil mastermind on your resume Matou?"

"Matou? This is Shinji Matou?" asked Ciel.

Shinji smiled up at her, "You've heard of me?"

Ciel instantly gave him three shallow stabs in the chest with her Black Keys.

"Ahhhh! You bitch!" he loudly screamed.

"Oh. So sorry about that… I meant to say 'yes' but I stabbed you instead," Ciel said before whistling innocently.

Shirou smirked up at Ciel, "Now that's two things you have in common with Lancer. You stabbed us both the first time you met us."

"I know," said Ciel with a devilish grin, "She told me that story. That's why I did it. I think Rin would have wanted it this way."

"I'm bleeding here!"

"Shut up!" Shrou and Ciel yelled in unison before laughing at each other.

"But one thing does make sense now…" started Shirou while looking back at Shinji. "I heard there was a mix up between the Branch Manager and one of his junior executives which resulted in some people coming after myself and Ciel. Was that you Shinji?"

"Of course it was me!"

"After Rin risked her own life to save yours, against even my better judgement. Here you are being a little prick all over again," Shirou groaned in annoyance and then looked up at Ciel. "And here we were thinking the whole thing had to be part of some master plan by DEM to set us up for something…"

"Haha! Lesson learned, never attribute to villainy that which simply results from stupidity," laughed Ciel.

"Do any of you have idea what you're messing with or what's going to happen when they find out about this?" asked a snarling Shinji.

"Look who's talking… Which one of us ended up as the core of the Holy Grail and needed to be rescued by his enemies because of his own incompetence again?" groaned Shirou while standing.

"What's with the outfits Emiya? You playing hero while cosplaying as a gigolo Archer, stripper Lancer, and hooker Saber now?"

"Keep an eye on him Ciel, if he tries to run cut off his legs. If he says something else stupid, cut out his tongue," said Shirou while walking away.

"Believe me… That's not all I'm going to cut off… I also heard about Rin's sister," she said while holding all her Black Keys in the man's twitching and sweating face where she started crossing and opening them as if they were scissors.

"Tohka, could you give me a hand over here?" he asked while passing the woman.

"Sure thing Shirou!"

He started by opening the trunk of the sedan Shinji had arrived in. Inside was a large suitcase which he opened to find full of money. All US Dollars. He then closed it back up and simply left it there while walking over to the other group of cars. One by one he opened their trunks until he found what it was he was looking for.

A large black bag which opened and found exactly what they'd come here for. He closed the bag back up and took it with him.

"We got the package. Let's get going," ordered Shirou.

"What about him?" asked Ciel, referring to her prisoner.

"Oh right… Make him forget we were ever here. We could kill him but it'll be more fun to see what happens to him if he's proven incompetent a second time," he answered while walking away with Tohka.

"Archer, Lancer, Saber! Get out of there now!" yelled Kotori over their phone line.

"What's wrong Overseer?" asked a worried Shirou.

"I see them coming. In the air. The flying soldiers!"

"The mecha-mecha squad?! They've found me!"

Shirou turned to glare at Shinji, "Did you call them in?!"

Shinji grinned, "Who? The AST? No they're coming for your friend over there. Not me. Oh the things they're going to do to her when they take her back to DEM… I wish I could be there for it but-"

"But you'll be dead," said Shirou after throwing a projected a knife at Shinji's head.

Ciel quickly caught up to Shirou and Tohka as they started making a hasty departure. "Not that he didn't deserve it but I thought you didn't want to kill him?" asked Ciel.

"I changed my mind."

"I'm sorry Shirou! They've finally come for me. I should go and lead them away from you!" said Tohka while turning to start running in the opposite direction but Shirou grabbed her by the arm and forced her to stay by his side as they continued moving.

"Not! Going! To! Happen! Don't ever let me hear you talk like that again! You fought for us just now. And we'll fight for you if we have to! But I think I have a plan to evade them so just stay with me! Both of you!"

"Right! Lead on Shirou!" acknowledged Ciel.

"Overseer? Where are you now?" asked Shirou into his headset.

"Caster and I are moving towards the meeting place now," Kotori answered calmly while moving briskly towards the river bank away from the harbor.

"Good. Keep moving and don't stop for anything. We'll handle the other problem just let me know when you get there," answered Shirou.

"Right! Talk to you then. Be safe!" answered Kotori while running beside Len. She then took off her earpiece and quickly regretted hanging up the call.

Suddenly right out in front of them were a group of armed men. Kotori and Len both stopped and Len stepped out in front of Kotori with her arms held out protectively.

"Who are you people? What do you want from us?!" she demanded in a frightened voice to the men blocking their way while reaching into her pocket.

"We'd like you to come with us," said one man while Kotori was unwrapping her lollipop.

Kotori smirked, "Like hell we will!" she raged while tossing the lollipop into her mouth with one hand while raising her other hand toward the man but Len caught it before it could go any higher.

When Kotori looked down at the little demon she was shaking her head at her.

"Don't tell me you want us to go with them? I can totally take these guys!"

Len shook her head again, and to Kotori's unspeakable surprise, Len spoke!

"Shirou said to keep you safe," Len said in a very quiet voice while using her free hand to reach into her hair and tear out a strand of it.

"Oh. So you're saying you've got this?" asked Kotori with a curious eyebrow raised.

Len simply nodded and infused prana into the strand of hair, giving it new form and function, suddenly instead of a hair she was holding a blue glowing scythe that looked as it was literally drawn into the world with an artist's pen, not a strand of this demon's hair.

Okay, this I have to see!

Len exploited the moment of shock in the mundane people ahead of her to activate her magic circuits and rushed them. By the time they started shooting it was already too late. Len was among them, and she was cutting through them all as if they were simply crops to be harvested.

It was all over in a few blinks of Kotori's eyes. She then started leisurely walking and Len fell into step with her as she passed them by, allowing her scythe to return to its original form and then simply discarded the loose hair.

"That was Alchemy wasn't it? That was so great! You're amazing Len! I've been trying to practice magecraft like that but I can't get it to work... You have to teach me! Please Len! I beg of you! I've been tearing my hair out trying to understand what I'm doing wrong! But with that trick I could tear my hair out and use it instead of spending all my allowance on silver wires!"

Len looked up at Kotori with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Is that a 'meh, why not?' or a 'meh, leave me alone peasant' because I can't always tell with you..."

Len looked up at Kotori and smiled while leaning her head forward. Kotori could swear she saw the demon's black bow flapping in a demanding manner.

Kotori breathed out in resignation while petting Len's head. "Thanks for saving our butts Len. We'll buy ourselves something sweet on the way home. Sound good?"

Len smiled eagerly.

"How the hell do they keep finding us?" Shirou complained as he Tohka, and Ciel ran out of their hiding place in the New City park while under the umbrella of Tohka's shield to protect them from the hail of gunfire.

"No idea but we can theorize later!" yelled Ciel while the three of them jumped into some bushes.

"This doesn't make any damn sense. I couldn't have found me in some of those spots!" said Shirou. He then traced a new set of Black Keys in his free hand. "And I still have no idea why Black Keys are working and not anything else."

"Have you tried any of those noble phantasms yet?" question Ciel.

"No… I haven't…"

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to kill them if I don't have to! Its easier to wound rather than kill with these things," he explained while holding up the Black Keys.

"Do you see them holding back?!"

"Tell you what. If we run out of luck again in this spot… Then I'll bring one out."

"Damn you spirits!" a woman yelled from up the air above and ahead of them.

Shirou froze in his place, "Can't be… Was that…?"

"I was suppose to be on a date tomorrow but because of your bullshit I have to cancel and do paperwork all day!" she screamed at their hiding place.

"Wow she's mad…" Shirou and Ciel said in unison.

Shirou looked out into the distance with his eyes reinforced. "Oh shit…"

Flying in the air with the biggest gun Shirou Emiya had ever seen a single person carrying was Ryouko Kusakabe. A moment after he caught sight of her the six barrels of her gatling gun started rotating rapidly.

"Ummm… RUN!" Shirou ordered them while pulling them by their arms to get as far away from where they were standing as they possibly could.

"You think you can do whatever you want and we won't retaliate?!" she screamed just before her cannon started unleashing upon the area they'd just been hiding in.

Damn it… If she sees me here like this a messy break up would be a mercy!

Shirou lead them behind a stone wall which looked sturdy enough to take cover from the metal storm being unleashed by his angry girlfriend.

"Shirou! What is it with you and tsunderes?! First you married Rin, then you adopted Kotori… Now you're dating that psycho!" Ciel loudly complained over the sound of heavy gunfire striking the wall they were hiding behind.

"She's just working right now, she's a lot nicer when she isn't on the clock!" he defended for Ryouko.

"How can you say that?! She's shooting at you!" barked Ciel.

"Well she obviously doesn't know it's me!" he defended her again.

The bullets suddenly stopped and Shirou was about to breath a sigh of relief when Ryouko started screaming again from the darkness.

"You should do yourselves a favor and just lie down and die!" she yelled while throwing a hand grenade at their position.

"Run!" Shirou, Ciel, and Tohka all yelled while turning around and bolting to put distance between themselves and the explosive which detonated and flung the three of them into the next treeline.

"Alright troops! Give 'em hell! Just because it's a work day doesn't mean we can't have a little fun!"

"I really don't like the sound of that…" groaned Ciel while pulling off bits of tree branches from her person.

Shirou gulped while standing up to see what was happening. Then his eyes widened as he saw Ryouko and about a dozen of her subordinates cocking their weapons. He then looked behind them to find an escape route but this was the end of the line. Beyond here, there was nowhere left to take cover. Just open field and then the city itself. The city was starting to look like an attractive option, but the distance to cover was just too great for a stealthy escape. She would see him.

Think Shirou… Think… Think! You girlfriend is in the mecha-mecha squad… She's one of the people hunting Tohka, and one of the people who would hunt Kotori if she ever found out about her. But that's fine. If it comes to it you have bigger bombshells you can drop on her. Wait… That's it!

"So go ahead!" screamed Ryouko at the absolute top of her lungs.

"We have to get serious about this now…" Shirou said while tracing his bow.

"About time…" said Ciel while calling forth two sets of Black Keys.

"Annihilate! Slaughter! Eradicate! Eliminate! Kill! And Destroy those pieces of trash!"

"No Ciel. I have another idea..." he said to her while handing her the case he'd be carrying since this started.

Ciel put away her weapons and took the case from him. "Oh? What're you planning?" she asked with a grin. "You've got that look that says you're about to do something very ill-advised…"

"Something like that…" he said while holding up his free hand and tracing a peculiar looking sword which had Tohka closely inspecting it in fascination.

"Ahh… ill-advised indeed. I haven't seen that thing in a looong time…" Ciel said with a growing smile.

"Well, you did want me to bring out a Noble Phantasm..." he said with a shrug.

"If any of you have any bullets left when this is all over, that ammunition will be shoved up your asses! So use it all!"

"Tohka… I'm going to need you to shield us right after I fire this thing. I'm about to put your power to the test."

The flying soldiers all started shooting at them, thankfully they were literally shooting in the dark so Tohka and Ciel ducked while Shirou loaded his bow.

"A test? Alright! I hope I don't fail!"

"You and me both…" he said while reconfiguring the sword, stretching it out so that it was long and thin while also flooding it with prana. "You'll know when it's safe to lower your shield. After that, I want you to put away your angel, and your spirit dress."

"Why?" asked Tohka.

"Just do what he says. I understand his plan now and I think he's onto something," answered Ciel.

"If I can't go on my date then this is the only fun any of us are going to have this weekend!"

Shirou continued to flood the projectile until it started glowing a dangerous red. The mana around him gathering and rising like smoke. "Oh well… Nobody likes this park anyway. Least of all me!"

He then raised his bow into the air, carefully calculating the distance it had to travel and where he wanted it to land and when he wanted it to land. Then it happened, in his mind, the arrow already existed in the target, all he had to do now was release it.

There was a momentary lull in the gunfire while the soldiers were reloading, or just freaking out about the light show his broken phantasm was producing.

"I am, the bone of my sword!" He growled loudly enough to cut through the night as he prepared to release the arrow. "Caladbolg!"

Tohka raised her shield immediately after he launched the projectile as instructed but she was also looking out curiously at the high trajectory of the arrow which was causing a vicious looking vortex of wind behind it as it streaked through the night sky. "You missed them all Shirou?"

Ciel was the one to answer by shaking her head. "No… He didn't."

The broken phantasm went up, and eventually, as all things inevitably must, came back down. It landed directly between their position and Ryouko's soldiers where it exploded in a brilliant spherical flash of light and fire.

Shirou, Ciel, and Tohka all sat down on a bus stop bench. All except for Tohka were beaten, bloody, and tired. Not far away from them they saw emergency services responding to the explosion and fire in the park. Shirou's reinforced eyes were gazing down at it where he saw Ryouko arguing with the responders along with all of her troops. Aside from bruises and minor burns, and a few who would probably need stitches after their encounters with the Black Keys… He was relieved to see that they were all surprisingly unharmed as they climbed into a military truck to be driven back to their base.

His eyes then drifted to the fire which was beginning to burn brighter and lingered there for a very long time until Ciel was standing over him and snapping her fingers in his face to get his attention.

Shirou looked up at her. "Shirou… The bus is here. Or do you want to catch the next one?" she asked him sarcastically while offering him her hand.

Shirou sheepishly scratched the back of his head while giving his signature smile with closed eyes. "Yeah. Sorry Ciel. Let's go get the kids and go home," he said while taking her hand and standing up to board the bus together.

Once home, Shirou, Tohka, Kotori, and Ciel were seated around the table. Len meanwhile had gone straight to sleep on an extra pillow beside Kotori and everyone except Ciel looked envious of the cat. They all wanted to be asleep too.

Shirou's eyes fell upon the black case sitting on the table. "So. Now that we have it. Would you mind explaining to me exactly what 'it' actually is?" he asked the room, but really only to Ciel.

"Right. Yes. Remember when we were all in the workshop talking about the spirits, and angels, and all that?"

Everyone all slowly nodded to Ciel, struggling to keep their eyes open and wondering how she was still so awake.

After adjusting her glasses she reached over to open the latches on the case. "Well... After doing some light reading and making a few discreet enquiries…" she then opened the case fully. "I have concluded that this is a spirit," she said while gesturing to a glowing orb like crystal inside the case about the same size as tennis ball. "More or less."

"More or less?" asked Shirou with a raised eyebrow.

Tohka and Kotori both suddenly woke up properly again and stood up to gaze into the crystal.

"More specifically then. This is an angel. Not a particularly powerful one mind you, hence why this was so easy to obtain."

"Your definition of easy is not the same as mine…" remarked Kotori.

"Remind me to tell you about Somalia sometime," said Ciel with a raised finger.

Shirou quickly cleared his throat, "That's not a story she needs to hear..."

"Now I wanna hear it even more. But anyway, back to this. You said this is an angel?"

"Yes Kotori. It is. More or less," answered Ciel.

"More or less again? Could you just tell us what we've got here?" asked Shirou who was getting frustrated with the conversation while reaching out to pick up the crystal.

Ciel quickly slapped his hand away. "No touchy!" she commanded. "The person at the Church I spoke to warned me not to touch it."

"You trust this person?" asked Shirou, already knowing the answer.

"Of course not. But he has no reason to lie to me about this. He said people have died touching these things," she explained.

Kotori, Tohka, and Shirou all pulled their hands as far away from the crystal as they could get them while still being able to look at the crystal, but now with morbid fascination instead of intellectual.

Ciel nodded, "Leaving all the theology out of it for the moment… What we have here is called a Sephira Crystal. The Church has a few of these. And others have popped up over the centuries. All over the place. A few members of the Church have studied them over the years but never got very far with it. They're considered a curiosity more than anything else really. They say they contain the raw powers of the Angels themselves but, nobody's ever managed to do anything with it."

"So what does this have to do with Kotori and Tohka?" asked Shirou while palming his face in growing annoyance.

"I was just getting to that! This particular crystal, according to the DEM lackey one of my familiars was following, contains the power of Nuriel. They were buying it off those other guys to send to London for research purposes. Keeping theology aside for now, the power in this one has something to do with hailstorms."

"Interesting. But again…"

"Will you just let me finish?!" she demanded to Shirou.

He then made a gesture as if he were zipping his lips.

"Thank you. Anyway. Tohka's is Sandalphon. One of the Archangels. Meaning she's plenty powerful, as we've seen. So here's my theory-"

"Finally…" said Shirou.

"Sorry Shirou! I'm not as good at making things concise like Rin could. God rest her soul. Anyway. My theory is that Tohka and Kotori's spirit powers are somehow related to these crystals. Somehow. I think. Tohka and Kotori had encounters with these crystals at some point in their lives and gained their powers through them."

"How? And more importantly, does that mean you know who my angel is?" asked a suddenly hopeful Kotori.

"No idea to both. Angels with powers related to fire are quite numerous. I'm compiling a short list of potential candidates and I should have it for you in a couple days," said Ciel with a smile which had Kotori looking elated.

"Dare I ask how many crystals or angels there actually are? Might lead us to a decent guesstimate of how many spirits are actually out there,"

Ciel scratched her head, "Off the top of my head? Thousands. How many spirits are actually out there? I dunno. How many spacequakes happen around the world every year?"

"Lots…" said Shirou, conceding the point.

"Spacequakes happen all the time. Some are huge, and others barely even trigger the alarms," explained Kotori.

"Exactly… So my final point is that-"

"We need more information?" concluded Shirou.

"Yes. We do. A lot more. This whole thing set us on the right track. But there are still unanswered questions."

"Well… I'm going to bed," stated Shirou flatly while standing up.

"Aren't you even a little interested in what else I have to say?"

"You're going to tell me that we need to start finding people who know more about this than we do if we want to start getting real answers. Right?"

"Yes… That's right."

"And you're going to tell me the place to start is with my girlfriend. Right?"

"Yes…. That's also right."

"Good. Then we're on the same page. Good night."

"Actually… That isn't true," said Kotori while holding her hand up to offer a suggestion.

"What do you mean?" Shirou asked while looking at Kotori with a narrowed eye.

"Well… Tobiichi happens to know a lot about this… Errr… How do I put this?"

Shirou's voice hardened a little, "By stating it bluntly…"

"Well… I sort of kept it to myself when I told you everything that happened when i first met Tohka… But… Err… Tobiichi happens to also be a member of the mecha-mecha squad… And I just said that with a straight face didn't I?"

Shirou and Ciel both nodded at her.

"Tohka-isms are as contagious as malaria… Now I'm either going to bed, or sleeping right here. I'd rather sleep in bed. Good night."

"Doesn't that shock you at all pops?!" she asked incredulously.

Shirou stopped in place and took a very, very deep breath before he started talking, without pausing…

"When you wake up to find out you've been selected to participate in a ritual battle royale between seven mages and seven legendary heroic spirits, and then go into your first battle alongside King Arthur who turned out actually be a beautiful woman against a giant monster named Hercules who's the summoned servant of the daughter you never knew your father had before adopting you and didn't find out until long after she was dead and buried by you because you were too weak and pathetic to save her life at the time. Then you find out your scary High School teacher is a rival master…

And just when you thought you really understood the meaning of 'Situation FUBAR' you discover that the Heroic Spirit summoned by your present crush and future wife is actually your future self come back with the goal of killing you to put himself out of his misery by erasing his own existence...

And finally, one day years later... You spend a night fighting for your life against your present girlfriend while wearing the same clothes your future self was wearing when he came to murder you which turned out to be designed by your present best friend who also turns out to be your future self's past lover, and realize you know all of this because you've had all these memories force fed to you in an epic duel to the death between you and your future self and now can't sort out which is you and which is him anymore and wonder if one day soon you're going to wake up and find out you've become that future self... Once all of that has happened to you... THEN you can come talk to me about what is and isn't shocking… Good night."

Shirou then left the room with everyone in a stunned silence.

"Yyyyeah, so which part of all that do you think is the one that's bothering him right now?" Kotori asked rhetorically.

"I hope he's going to be alright… I'm worried now…" said Tohka in a sad tone.

"I know which part of it is bothering me right now…" remarked Ciel while pulling off her glasses and rubbing the bridge of her nose while setting them down on the table. "I'm going to have to think long and hard about something to embarrass him with now… I can't just let that one go unanswered."

"Naaa Ciel… Leave this to me. I've got this," Kotori said while nodding firmly.

The bluenette perked up an eyebrow at the little girl across from her, "Why? What have you got on him?"

Kotori pulled out a lollipop and started twirling it in her finger while choosing her words. "Nothing like that. It's more about me… But... " Kotori paused and took a deep breath, "Can I trust you Ciel?"

"If you even have to ask me that Kotori… I'd ask you what I'm doing wrong. I'm not your mother, and I would never try to be, but she was my very dear friend. She loved you very much and if I ever let you down in anyway, I'd never be able to face her in the afterlife… So for whatever it's worth. If there's ever anything you need which I can do for you on her behalf, you need only ask it of me. Always."

"That means a lot Ciel… Alright then. Better brace yourself…"