"So, what was your Archer like?" I asked as we walked back to the inn. Neither I nor my counterpart had talked to each other much since the end of our spar, so my sudden question to him made him start in surprise. Admittedly it was something of an odd question, but from what I'd inferred, his Archer had all of Troper's abilities and was an alternate future version of him just like mine was. Given how my Archer had been broken and betrayed by the ideals which I once (and for the most part still somewhat) had, I had a sort of morbid curiosity of what a person like Troper would become when subjected to the same kind of trials.

After the moment of surprise had passed, Troper looked down at the ground in thought before eventually replying "Terrifying."

I gave a small chuckle. "Yeah, I think I know what you mean." I said, thinking back to my duel with the Counter Guardian and how he managed to outclass me at everything I did.

"No, I don't think you do." He said, shaking his head. "I'm not sure if your Archer mentioned this, but every counter guardian has limited access to the Akashic Records. They have to in order to do their job, what with all the Timey Wimey Ball nonsense. It's anyone's guess how much that version of myself managed to learn, but…"

"But…?"

Troper gave a frown before continuing. "It's a little difficult to explain just how my abilities work, but the short of it is that in a similar manner to how you get stronger by seeing more swords and weapons, I get stronger by seeing and being a part of stories."

My eyebrows rose at this. "… and he managed to get access to every story in existence." I remarked. "That is impressive, but I still don't see why you think I don't understand. I'm pretty sure that my Archer had just about every weapon every made plus the years of skill to use them."

Again, Troper shook his head. "It's more to it than that. It's not just that I get more tropes to use. The more I see a particular trope, and the more I use it, the more efficient and powerful it becomes. I didn't fully realize the scope of what he had been through until we fought." He gave a grimace. "It was then I realized that even without the power of the World behind him that the man was capable of almost anything. I have no doubt that if he really wanted to, he could have taken out all of the other Servants – including Gilgamesh – with ease."

"He must have been really strong, Troper-san!" Musubi sudden said from behind us, startling both me and my counterpart.

"Do you even know what we're talking about?" I asked.

"Not really!" She admitted with far too much exuberance for such a statement. "I just know that you're talking about really strong people!"

Troper small laugh as he looked back at the bear Sekirei. "Well, yes, you could definitely say that he was a strong person."

"But if he was that powerful, why didn't he just kill all the other Servants?" I said with a raised eyebrow.

"Because it would have made for a terrible story." I gave him an incredulous look before he elaborated. "Have you ever heard of someone Awakening their Origin?"

I gave it some thought for a moment before I said "No. What is that?"

"The short of it is that a person can become so in tune with their Origin aspect that it becomes impossible for them to deviate from it. They also become more powerful when acting in alignment to their Origin aspect. I don't know if it happened to Archer as soon as he saw the Akashic Records or at some point later, but he became Awakened to Tropes. He could play with tropes all he wanted, but he was literally incapable of acting in a way that would result in a bad story. He could have taken out everyone in the war in a day, but no one would want to read about it."

I gave a low whistle. "That must have been frustrating for him."

Troper gave a grimace. "Not… really. There's something you have to understand. There have been people with Awakened Origins. There have been incarnations. There have been people with Reality Marbles. However, I don't think there has been anyone beside him who managed all three at once. I don't know if it could happen with a different combination of things, but that man really couldn't be considered human anymore, in both mind and body. He was more of an… anthromorphic personification, if anything."

I was silent for a few moments as I took this information in. I couldn't help but wonder What would happen to me if I Awakened my Origin? I decided that I'd rather not think about it, and eventually said "So, I'm guessing that he didn't care about being a Counter Guardian? Because mine hated it. He actually tried to kill me in the small chance that it would cause a paradox and wipe him from existence."

"Really?" Troper asked with some interest. "As a matter of fact, mine tried to kill me too."

"Yeah, but that was because the story demanded it, right?"

"No. I think it was actually the only think he did that wasn't because the story demanded it. Oddly enough, it was probably the most human thing he tried to do. Though it wasn't to paradox himself out of existence."

"Then, why?"

"He hated me because I reminded him of all the humanity he had lost." Troper turned and gave me glance. "Spiritual osmosis goes both ways you know."

"So, what happened to him?"

Troper looked at the ground in front of him, a sad look on his face. "I… don't know. I suspect that the small bit of humanity left in him still looking for that Everdistant Utopia." His face contorted a little as a hint of bitterness entered his voice. "I guess it's ironic now that I…"

"That you what?" I asked with some confusion after he trailed off.

Troper shook his head. "Never mind."

Frowning at his sudden melancholy, I decided to bring up something that had been bugging me. "So, if you ended up absorbing his skill and tropes, why aren't you 'capable of almost anything'? You said it yourself that there are a number of tropes that you simply can't use very well."

Turning back to me he said "That's because while I did inherit his entire library of tropes, it seems that I only got the skills he had with the tropes he used during the war." He gave a sigh. "I have to restate that I only have speculation on how all this worked, and I'm still rather confused about number of things. It's also important to note that a lot of my abilities are affected by how things relate to each other conceptually. As such, the simplest explanation I can come up for this is that the tropes I absorbed proficiency for were the ones that he used for the war because they were the ones that I also happened to use for the war, and I think were the ones that he used in the war before he became a Counter Guardian."

I blinked several times while trying to understand what my counterpart just said. "My head hurts." I concluded.

"Try living it." Troper retorted.

"If that's the sort of thing you routinely have to deal with in your life, it's a small wonder that the magus that tried to read your mind went crazy."

My doppelganger donned a contemplative look. "Didn't you say that someone tried a similar thing on you? What happened to them?"

I shifted uncomfortably as I remembered one of the more gruesome events of the previous day. "He suffered from sword gashes and wounds spontaneously appearing all over his body. There was probably a great deal of internal damage as well."

Troper gave a grimace. "Ouch. I wasn't aware that your mind was so… sharp."

I gave him deadpan look in response to the pun before I lowered my voice a bit. "Thanks, but I think the fact that I had my Reality Marble internally deployed at the time might have had something to do with it."

"What?!" He suddenly yelled, causing me to jump back somewhat in surprise. "How in God's name did things get to the point where you had to do something so insanely dangerous?!"

My entire flock (as well as myself) stared at Troper in surprise at his sudden outburst. I was particularly confused about why he thought that internally deploying my Reality Marble was 'insanely dangerous'. Sure it was tricky, and there were a number of this that could potentially go wrong if I screwed up, but it wasn't nearly as dangerous as Troper seemed to think it was. I blinked a few time before responding. "I… needed a way to defend myself against the Etherlite, and that was the best thing I could think of. I only did it for a few seconds."

Now it was Troper's turn to look confused. "Only for… wait, what exactly happens when you internally deploy it?"

Not quite sure what he was getting at, I slowly said "My body becomes made out of swords."

"…And?"

"And that's it." I finished with a frown on my face. "It's useful as a defensive measure and for suddenly making blades pop out of my body. I don't see how that's any more dangerous that what I do normally."

"Oh." My counterpart replied, all the tension leaving his body. "Well, in that case, just ignore what I said."

We had just reached the fence of the inn when I said "Wait, what did you think it would do? Have you ever internally-"

That was as far as I got before I heard someone call out my name. Turning towards the street, I was surprised to see Haruka and Kuno running towards me of all people. I didn't know why they were here though; Haruka made it quite clear how much he didn't like me and the last I heard of them was that they fled when Yukari was kidnapped. I then remember how it would be bad if anyone happened to see me and Troper at the same time, so I turned to him to tell him to him to hide. However, by the time I turned around he had already donned the bandana/Stetson combo which he was wearing during yesterday's events. How did he put those on so fast? And for that matter, where was he keeping them?

Before I could ask, Haruka had closed the distance between the two of us and was now panting heavily in front of me. "Shirou-san!" He panted between gasping for air. "Someone has kidnapped you sister!"

I stared at him blankly for a moment before Face Palming. Either my sister had been kidnapped twice in as many days, or he was just really late in telling me this. Giving how much Takami would be watching Yukari after we recovered her, I was inclined to believe the later. "And why are you telling me this now? This happened yesterday."

The young man flinched a bit before continuing. "I-I ran away and hid. I was too afraid to do anything." He looked into my eyes resolutely. "But I can't do that anymore! Yukari's really weird and perverted, but she doesn't deserve to be kidnapped! And you, you may be a blood thirsty maniac, but you still deserve to know! And-" he suddenly cut himself off and blinked in confusion. "Wait, how did you know that it happened yesterday?"

I stared at him dumbfounded at his sudden (and somewhat insulting) declaration. Up until this point I had believed that he was pretty much only concerned with himself and his Sekirei, but now he was trying to be helpful to me for the sake of my sister. It was somewhat hard to believe, but maybe my sister was actually a good influence on him? "While I do appreciate you coming to tell me, you're a bit too late. Shiina told me about it yesterday and we already rescued her."

"Oh." Haruka replied, somewhat deflated that his new resolve was unneeded. "Well, uh, in that case, I guess I'll be going."

I gave a sigh as I held out my hand to stop him. "Wait. Look, I really do appreciate that you have enough concern for my sister that you would come to me about it. Why don't you come back for dinner later?"

Kuno's face brightened at this. "His food is really good…" she said, looking at her Ashikabi with pleading eyes

Haruka hesitated for a moment before capitulating. "Well, alright." He gave a last glance at the rest of my flock and Troper before saying "I'll see you later, I guess." and walking away.

"That was… odd." Troper remarked. "Who was he?"

"I'll tell you about it later." I said and walked into the Izumo House. "We're back!" I announced before setting off to see Miya to tell her I would probably be spending a good amount of time in the bath.

I found her, and surprisingly enough Rin and Saber, drinking tea together in the dining room. The three of them turned to our assembled group as we walked in. "Ah, Emiya-kun, it seems that you and Troper-kun had a most eventful sparing match." Miya said, looking at the torn and dirty state of our cloths. "I'm a little surprised considering how tired the two of you looked when you left."

"It's a shame it wasn't more 'eventful'…" Rin grumbled into her tea. Oddly enough, I found this thinly veiled hope for my physical harm somewhat encouraging, as that was her usual response whenever I did something incredibly stupid. It was a sign the she was returning to her normal state of mind.

Such was what one lived with when they were in love with a tsundere.

"It was… interesting to say the least." I replied. "In any case we were able to fight at full strength due to a spell that Troper cast on us which removed our exhaustion." I frowned in thought and turned to my counterpart. "Didn't you say that would catch up to us and cause us to collapse after the battle? Why hasn't that happened yet?"

Troper waved his hand around vaguely. "Oh, that's because it won't kick in until the most inopportune or comically appropriate ti-" That was as far as he got before he pitched forward and landed face first on the ground with a thud.

I sighed as I looked at his prone form. I probably should have guessed such a thing would happen with a man driven by Narrative Causality.

"Ara ara, such an interesting young man!" Miya exclaimed with her eyes crinkled shut. "Could one of you bring him to his room?"

"I will, landlady!" Musubi exclaimed, and then proceed to dump Troper's body unceremoniously over her shoulder in a fireman carry and dashed away.

I gave the three women sipping tea speculative glance. "So, you seem to be getting along."

Saber nodded. "Miya-dono has been a most gracious host."

"Even though she seems to have some rather absurd ideas about where magic comes from." Rin huffed.

I gave Miya an exasperated glance. The landlady was still stubbornly sticking to the belief that magi all had a secret Sekirei lineage in spite of everything I had shown her. Hell, Troper was from another dimension for god's sake and that still didn't convince her.

Miya simply gave a sigh. "I suppose I must admit that it is possible that magic is in fact separate from Sekirei power. Your lovers have been showing me a great many things that I'm having trouble explaining otherwise." The No. 1 Sekirei tone somehow turned petulant. "Like how Saber–kun managed to beat me in our own spar."

"What?!" I said with some alarm. "The two of you fought?! But the neighborhood is still in one piece!" I could only speculate how powerful Miya was compared to Saber, but I knew that she was at least strong enough to give the blonde swordwoman a decent challenge.

Saber turned to me. "Don't worry, Shirou. We fought in the plot adjacent to the inn and limited ourselves so we would not draw too much attention." She turned back to Miya. "And you should not feel ashamed of your loss. You fought with honor and skill. Do not take this as an insult, but the reason I was victorious was because I have much more experience in combat that you." She tilted her head to the side and smiled. "Skilled though you are, you are still a fairly young woman."

Amused as I was by the landlady's blushing at Saber's comment, I still thought about how the fact that the Heroic Spirit had more experience was an understatement. Even ignoring all of the battles she had against fellow Servants, Saber still had a lifetime of warfare under her belt. In spite of her looks, the former king of Brittan was (subjectively) in her forties, so it's a small wonder that she had more skill.

"That pervert woman with the glasses made a recording if you want to watch it later." Rin remarked to me. She then gave a small sigh and put down her cup. Getting to her feet, faced me with her arms crossed imperiously over her chest and a dark look on her face. "Shirou, we-"

That's as far as she got before she was interrupted by the sound of the front door slamming open and a familiar cry of "Onii-chan!" came rushing towards me from behind. Wasting no time, I Reinforced myself just a little bit to compensate for my exhaustion and turned just in time have my little sister crash into me.

"Onii-chan! Mom told me how you came to save me and you beat all those mean guys up so I wanted to come and thank you but she wouldn't let me out of the building but I managed to sneak away anyway and-" she suddenly stopped to take a breath, but rather than continuing she noticed Rin and Saber standing behind me. "Oh, Sakura-san! I should thank you too for setting me free in the first place!"

Rin, looking very annoyed that she had been interrupted, said "Why do you keep calling me Sakura? My name is Rin, damn it!"

Oh crap.

Yukari's eyes widened. "Wait, you mean you're one of Onii-chan's former lovers?" She turned to the Heroic Spirit. "And does that mean you're Saber?"

"Yes!" Rin said in frustration.

Yukari's face twisted into a frown. "So you're the ones who broke my gentle Onii-chan's heart!"

Rin's eyebrow twitched. "We broke his heart?" she said, her hand moving toward the pouch where I knew she kept her prana infused jewels.

Saber returned a frown of her own. "I do not approve of what you are implying." She said as she rose to her feet with a ridged stance.

My sister drew herself up imperiously as well. "Imply nothing! I'm saying that-"

"Yukari!" I said in a panic. I had to get things under control and fast. "Please don't fight! I can explain every-"

And that was as far as I got everything suddenly went black and I felt myself pitching forward. Stupid Troper. I'm blaming him if the house burns down.