It was good 2 hours later before I found myself on the porch looking up at the starry sky. Takami, once she got over the shock of finding out magic was real, had slipped into scientist mode and started question me one absolutely everything thing I knew about magic. Normally I would have just simplified things to speed things along, but my mother insisted that she be given every possible detail, no matter how small. It wasn't unreasonable, as she needed to know everything she could about the people who threaten the Sekirei in order to come up with a sufficient counter for their abilities. Unfortunately for her, I was still a third rate magus, so my knowledge of the more nuanced parts of magic were limited at best, and that's not even counting the fact that magi are very secretive about their craft in general. In the end, I had managed to give her a general base of knowledge of the mystic arts, though it was far from complete. One of the subjects I hadn't really touched on was of course Reality Marbles. I had managed to placate Takami by telling her what my 'super magic' did rather than what it meant. If my past record for keeping secrets was any indication, I'm probably going to have to elaborate on that particular part of myself to my flock at some point, but I was still not looking forward to it. As Troper had implied when I first met him, I was pretty such they would be unhappy when they learned that 'my body is made of swords' was not always a metaphor.

I frowned to myself as I thought back to when Takami finally had enough details about magic and turned to Troper for an explanation of himself. His previous joking manner hadn't helped him with this, as it took him a solid five minutes to convince Takami that he was being serious when he said he as from another dimension. I'm still not sure if she believed him by the time she left, but that didn't stop her from questioning him and Rin about all they knew about dimensional travel and mechanics. Thankfully for me, Rin maintained the lie that her name was Sakura. I'm sure that my mother wouldn't be nearly as bad as my sister if she found out that she was my former lover's counterpart, but I had already had enough drama for one day. In any case, before she left she pulled me aside and told me to "be careful around those two. We can't be sure they are who they say they are." I kept the conversation which I had eavesdropped on to myself, but I assured her that that they were telling the truth.

I heard footsteps approach me from the right. Turning my head, I saw Troper walking towards me with a slightly stiff posture. When he got to me, looked past me and said "Akitsu, would you mind if Shirou and I had a moment to talk alone?"

Akitsu, in her usual position slightly behind me and to my left, hesitated briefly before looking at me for confirmation. I think that she was slightly surprised that Troper addressed her rather than me for this, as her passive nature causes most people to ignore her during conversation. I nodded my head, and she got up and walked back into the house.

Troper sat down next to me, but he didn't immediately start talking, instead looking up at the night sky in thought. I could feel a slight tension between the two of us, but I'm not sure why it was there. In fact, there had been a slight tension between me, him and Rin ever since dinner. I don't remember saying anything that would have insulted or alienated the two. Maybe my mother somehow rubbed them the wrong way?

After a while, I decided to take the initiative and said "So, what did you want to talk about?"

He sighed, turning away from the stars and looking at me. "I... Look, I know this isn't any of my business but," he paused awkwardly for a moment before continuing. "You winged Akitsu with a prana transfer ritual?"

"Ah..." I said, it now being my turn to feel incredibly awkward. "Well, yes." I said simply.

"Why?" Troper asked just as simply.

I felt uncomfortable, but I pressed on. "Well, it was the only thing I could think of that might work." I said. "You wouldn't know because you got here after the fact, but Akitsu used to be something called a scrapped number." Troper tilted his head in confusion, and I continued. "The short of it means that she supposedly 'winged herself', and that she couldn't be winged by normal means. From what research I had done on Aksitu and the Sekirei in general, I found that they take prana from their Ashikabi when they get winged as part of the imprinting process. In Akitsu's case, the prana she took would end up being redirected to a crest on her forehead and then dissipate rather than being absorbed normally. I figured that if I could supply her with much more prana than normal, I could overwhelm crest and the excess that leaked out of it would be absorbed like a normal Sekirei."

Troper looked off to the side, nodding to himself thoughtfully. "Hmm... I suppose that could work..." He stared off into space for a few moments longer before he shook his head and turned back to me. "However, while that partially answers my question, that's not what I meant. I didn't want to know the how of your Deus Sex Machina, I want to know why you did it."

"What do you mean?" I asked in confusion. "Akitsu wanted to be winged by me. Why wouldn't I do everything I could to help her?"

Troper's expression unexpectedly became an angry glare when I said that. "Because certain things would end up hurting the people who care about you." He said flatly.

For a moment I blinked in surprise, but I then felt a mixture of shame and anger settle in my gut as I realized what he was getting at. "You're talking about my Rin and Saber, aren't you?" I replied, my own tone becoming flat.

Troper's expression softened and he sighed. "I'm sorry," He apologized. "I didn't mean to make that sound like an accusation. Honestly, I shouldn't concern myself with this at all. You're your own person with your own life and your own decisions. It's just," Again, he paused for a moment before continuing. "Since I met you, I've gotten the impression that you're pretty much me. Sure, some of our mannerisms and history are different, but I figured that put into the same situations, we'd make the same call." He shook his head. "Yet when you said how you winged Akitsu, it just seemed... wrong. Rin told me how much you still feel for your Rin and Saber, so knowing that you slept with another woman is causing some sort of cognitive dissonance for me. I want to understand why you did it."

I looked away from him, trying to calm the several different emotions that were brewing inside of me. I had sometimes wondered if I would ever have to justify my reasons for winging Akitsu to someone else, but the fact that I had to do it to what was basically myself (again) was making it rather difficult. Mostly because I still wasn't sure how to feel about it. After a minute, I finally said "What do you think of Akitsu?"

Troper blinked in surprise. "She's... loyal." he summed up.

I nodded. "She was like before I winged her, too. When I first met her, she said was 'broken' and 'hollow'. When she asked me to be her master, she did it hoping that by going through the same motions as the rest of the Sekirei, she could feel a fraction of what they felt." I felt my chest tighten. "She would do anything thing I ordered, no matter what it was, just she could feel less empty. It hurt so much to watch her try so damn hard to get past being what the rest of her race considered next to worthless." I forced myself to relax a bit before continuing. "To be honest, I wasn't really sure if the ritual would work when I did it, but Akitsu deserved better. She deserved have me try to help her just as hard as she tried to be a normal Sekirei."

Troper said nothing, instead merely watching me with an unreadable expression. Taking his continued silence as an indication to continue, I did so. "Yes, I'd like to be back with Rin and Saber. Yes, I'd like things to go back to the way they were. But I can't. Maybe if I were cleverer or stronger I could figure out a way to get back to them, but I'm not. Not only that, I have a number of women whose biology dictates that they have to love me for the rest of their lives. I never asked for it, but that doesn't change the way things are. I can't ignore the people around me just because I'm wishing for something that will most likely never come. So, I decided that I had to move on." I sighed. "Or at least I thought I had. When I saw Rin, all of those feeling came back, and now I realize that part of me just can't or won't let them go." I buried my face in my hands. "I just... I just don't know..." I trailed off.

After a moment, I heard a groan from Troper. "And I thought my love life was complicated..."
Taking my head out of my hands, I saw him staring at the ground deep in thought. "Why can't things ever be simple?"

"Because the Root is a cruel bastard that gain amusement from our suffering?" I offered dryly. We looked at each other for a moment before we both burst out laughing. The tension between us dissolved, and we went back to staring at the stars for while. I then asked the question that had been gnawing at me since I met his Rin. "So, do you think I right thing?"

Troper continued to look up at the stars as he answered "Even knowing what I do now, I don't believe I would have done what you did." He turned to look at me. "But at the same time, I can't say you were wrong either. Quite simply, I don't know if there is any 'right' way to handle your situation. I guess the fact that you're trying your best to do what's right will have to be enough. For both you," he gave a smirk, "and the part of me that's apparently concerned with your love life. To be fair though, it's probably the part of me that's trying to live vicariously through you to live out my Harem fantasies."

I couldn't help but snort at that last bit. "Most harem fantasies don't worry about whether or not sleeping with another woman counts as cheating."

"Well, my fantasies just happen to be more refined." he said with false dignity. "You know that I'm a seeker of the Happily Ever After. For me, it's the Type 2 Tenchi Solution or bust."

"So I take it you were the one to suggest that you, Saber and Rin become the one true threesome after your Grail War?" I asked, leaning back and giving him a speculative look.

He grinned to himself as he looked off to the side. "No, that was Rin's idea. I was resigned to finding a more sensible solution when she declared the two of us part of her harem and that she wouldn't hear anything to the contrary. A bit ironic all things considered."

He then got up from his seat next to me. Looking down at me, he said "I don't know how this is going to turn out for you. If you ever do meet your Rin and Saber again, I think we both know that things won't be pleasant when they find out what your current situation is. But for what it's worth," he said with a smile on his face, "I hope that the lot of you can find a way to Earn Your Happy Ending."

With that he walked away, and I found myself wondering for the second time which of our situations he thought was better.

The next day I had planned to buy myself some more tools to replace the one's I had lost when the shed exploded, but just before I could leave there was a frantic knocking at the door. Upon opening it, I found Shiina standing on the doorstep.

"Aniki!" he said, his face red and his eyes wet from tears "Someone has taken mistress Yukari!"