Fate/Far Side: Origami Blades

Chapter 4

Violet Hydrangea

"Shirou Emiya!"

I glanced up from the list I had made to find Sougen Jinan-sensei once more before me, his customary traditional clothing standing out amidst the otherwise modern grocery. He was giving me an appraising look, one that I sometimes got from the people back home: so you're doing chores for someone else, again? I smiled. "Good day."

"Indeed," he said, briefly stroking that long mustache of his. "Is Kohaku-chan sick? Does Akiha-san have you doing the shopping now?"

I did have to hold back on a snicker. "Nah, Tohno-san and the others have been great to me. I'm just trying to return the favor." Though that was only half-true. While they were generous and accommodating, I was worried about whatever was bothering Tohno-san physically. I had begged her to stay home that day instead of return to school—which she had credit for already and missing one's last days of class, while nostalgic, weren't that important compared to maintaining good health. Actually, running into Jinan-sensei was probably a good thing. "Tohno-san has been feeling a little ill lately, though she would never admit it, and I thought I would try to show my thanks by helping her recover."

"Really now?" The doctor looked a little concerned, his eyes following my hands as I picked out a couple of different soup stocks that I could use as a base for a good meal. "Is she feeling faint?"

I nodded, glancing at him briefly. "That and coughing up a storm. Is it a preexisting condition?" At this rate, I would wage war with Kohaku for at least temporary control of that kitchen if there was something I could do to help.

Jinan-sensei frowned, the peaks of his eyebrows shooting down and giving him a very hawk-like appearance. "The coughing is new. Hmm." He turned his gaze up to the ceiling in thought. "If she has been stumbling around or even fainting, though, that is something she holds in common with her brother."

"I see." So, a family trait perhaps. "If you're a doctor, should you be disclosing this sort of information?"

He shrugged. "Akiha-san is not actually my direct patient, though she has consulted me on occasion." His frown gave way to a slight smirk, and he leaned in toward me for a stage whisper. "And you must already know how stubborn she can be at accepting help."

Well, she hasn't quite resisted as much as one prideful witch I know of. Though it is pretty clear she can be fairly touchy. It's actually a nice thing to know, that my time with Tohsaka has resulted in knowing how to deal with someone like her, when to defer and when to push, and when to duck and run.

Maybe I shouldn't be so happy, now that I think of it.

"Yeah, I can see where she could be that way," I said. "Is there anything you would recommend to make her feel better?"

Jinan-sensei looked at me sadly. "Do you want my honest opinion?"

I frowned at him. I hated it when people gave me rhetorical questions like that; not only was it just a logical thing, it always meant there was going to be an issue they did not want to discuss. "Yes."

"I think you should make this your final evening at the Tohno residence and go home."

Admittedly, I did not see that as one of the possibilities, even. Of course, I've always been blind to the concept of not trying to help somehow. "I don't understand."

The older man sighed, crossing his arms, his own shopping basket hanging from an elbow, rocking back and forth quietly like a nursing parent. "Akiha-san is dealing with something quite frustrating and painful, something that the average person is not equipped to deal with, physically or emotionally." He gave me a slight smile. "I know that you are not exactly average, but it is a very daunting thing, stepping into her world. Just as daunting as someone at random stepping into yours, Emiya-san."

I suppose I understood that, at the very least. The Tohno family seemed to have its own skeletons and some kind of ties to the world I knew. Even Jinan-sensei himself seemed to be some kind of indirect link to that.

"Our talk earlier had me concerned about your," Jinan-sensei continued on. "Your words and…state…suggest many things to me, the least of which that you seek trouble."

I smirked. "I wouldn't say that. I think trouble knows how to find me just fine. No need to go looking."

"Emiya-san, I'm being serious. If you persist in trying to help Akiha-san, you may end up only knowing harm instead. She is a very proud young woman, and I would imagine that she does not want you to interfere as well, for your own good."

Yeah, I get that a lot. "Sorry, Jinan-sensei. But if you want to talk trouble, if there's anything I can do to curb it with these hands, I'll try. It really isn't in me not to." I glanced to my basket, at the food acquired. "Besides, there's nothing she can do to me that can harm me further. Not anymore than I've already experienced, anyway."

I returned that afternoon to the Tohno residence, Jinan-sensei's words still in my head. Though I certainly had no desire to turn away if I could be of help to Tohno-san, the excuse I had to stay really was weak now that I had been directed to Jinan-sensei and spoken with him about my old man. I could only impose on them for so long.

Sneaking in the front door, I caught Hisui moving through the foyer, a huge box in her arms completely obscuring her vision. I put the bag of food down and went to help. "Let me get that."

The maid turned to look over her shoulder at me, quite possibly the only place she could actually see from. The expression she gave me, though equally blank as all the other times I had seen her—sans her instant knockout last night from the drinks—still managed to be disapproving. "I do not require help. I know where everything is."

"Still…" I glanced up over the lip of the box to peer inside, finding various small picture frames and other decorative items inside. "What is all of this?"

"As spring is approaching, it is time to redecorate," she said, matter-of-factly. I could not help but somehow feel like she was reciting something out of a book. "A change of color is essential for the mind to accept the difference in seasons."

Yes, indeed, doldrums is the enemy. I shook my head, wondering if all maids were as strange as these sisters. Or if all sisters were as strange as these maids. "I see." She seemed so against my help, though, that I decided to try and stay out of her way. It was presumptuous to try and help her with her job, especially when I had hardly spoken a word to her. "Where's Kohaku?"

"In the kitchen, I believe, planning dinner."

Hmmm, not good. She was preempting any further incursions into her territory. I would have to adjust my strategy. "And Tohno-san?"

"In the lounge, on the phone with classmates." Hisui readjusted the box, and moved past me. "I would like to express my thanks at that, since Akiha-sama is prone to overwork. Since you noted she was not feeling well and convinced her to stay home for the day, I believe she will be up to speed tomorrow."

Prone to overwork…yeah, something about this entire household felt like that. Big box included. "Happy to help."

I gathered my groceries and headed for the living room space, could make out Tohno-san speaking from down the hall. If I had not been told otherwise, I would have guessed that she were some kind of wheeling-dealing politico or businessperson working out plans for some kind of event, not a high school student apparently trying to get some loose ends at school managed while she was absent. Also, it sounded like she was a little scary to be on the other end of a phone with.

I will have to use that the next time Fuji-nee complains I don't phone home enough. Sorry, Fuji-nee, but if Tohsaka answered, I'd be scared of what she might say.

Tohno-san held out a finger to me, signaling that she would be a moment, the phone still clutched in her other hand. I could faintly make out a long-winded explanation of something from the other end, and could imagine the person making the report on the other end, a diligent student that probably looked up to Tohno-san and was doing her bidding voluntarily. I had this strange feeling that, unlike Tohsaka, Tohno-san's "honor student" air was actually something she defaulted upon normally, not just as a social façade.

"If you need the extra funding, why didn't you try it with Shizume-san?" Tohno-san said into the phone, her voice hinging on irritated. "This isn't something I can fix overnight, and you should be handling it yourself now anyway."

Whoever was on the other end sounded properly chastised, and I grinned. Whatever it was Tohno-san decided she was going to do with her life, I had the feeling she would keep people wrapped around her finger quite well.

"I will be sure to see about that tomorrow, then. Now, I have other things to attend to. Yes. Yes. Well then." She set the phone down, properly dismissing her former issue and turning her gaze up at me, leaning back in her chair as she did so. "You do realize, this is all your fault, Emiya-san."

"Everything is always my fault. All the women in my life have pointed that out to me."

Tohno-san smirked, the kind of look in her eyes that said she was not surprised by my statement, though sly that it was possible to use against me in future conversations. "Interesting that you would not even ask what you are being blamed for."

"The end of the world, no doubt."

She chortled, flipping her hair back behind her shoulder. "No, nothing so severe. Just kohai at school somehow deciding they are helpless without me. I can only imagine what it would be like at a mixed genders school. Now, what can I do for you?"

"You can give me your hand in marriage."

Ha. The look on her face was near perfect—I just wish I could have timed it when she had something liquid at hand, just for the spit-take. "W-w-what?"

"That's what it would be like at a mixed genders school," I said, grinning. "You would probably be getting proposals daily."

Actually, this was probably not the way to endear me toward bossing Kohaku into letting me use the kitchen. Tohno-san gave me this look like she wanted to strike me upside the head for surprising her and twisting her own words against her in such a fashion. Ah, just like home. "You really shouldn't say such things out of the blue like that."

"All the women in my life have pointed that out to me."

Ruefully, completely against her will, the smirk seemed to creep back up on her lips. "Propose to women out of the blue regularly?"

"Only the pretty ones." I shrugged. "Anyway, usually it is followed up by an offer to make them breakfast, but, well, since it is way too late—or early—for that, think I could persuade you to persuade Kohaku to let me back into the kitchen to make dinner instead?"

Tohno-san's grin managed full force at that. "I think she doesn't appreciate your monopoly of earlier and would be very resistant to such an idea."

"Still…"

"Still," Tohno-san nodded, "I guess, now that you have spoken with Jinan-sensei, you will probably be planning on heading out soon?"

I half-shrugged, half-nodded, completely non-committal. Well, it was true, though I was still curious as to what was going on here with Tohno-san, and what her ties to the magical world were—

"Then that would mean I might only have tonight to inconvenience Kohaku further. Which, don't tell anyone, I very much enjoy doing, just to see how she'll react."

I couldn't help but smirk at that. Kohaku did have funny ways of showing her displeasure at things not going her way.

"Then, I suppose, I should use that opportunity while I still have the chance." Tohno-san nodded, as if this thought was a hard-won conclusion. "Call her in for me."

A partial victory for me, as Tohno-san made the compromise that Kohaku and I work together at dinner. The maid pouted and whined, but in the end acquiesced to her employer's demands, and we cooked the tataki I had initially thought of yesterday. I thought that the lack of frying would help with whatever was making Tohno-san feel uncomfortable, plus the health factor in general of fish. It went over well, though I think part of that came from the half-argument Kohaku and I continued to have over the plate and our different approaches at flash-searing it.

That night, though, I lay awake and restless, no longer just because of the dreams I thought I might have, but what might be going on elsewhere in the mansion. I calmed myself by mentally organizing the various meals I could make here if I stayed another day, and the ones that I wanted to do for Fuji-nee and Tohsaka once I made my way back to Fuyuki. It did not last as long as I hoped, though, and when I checked the clock, it merely read 12:24 AM.

Still, that was over an hour since Tohno-san had retired to bed, and I decided that I would try and see if my theory was correct. I had not even bothered to change clothes, rolling out of bed and padding out the door in one motion, trying my best to avoid the creaks and groans of the old house's floor.

I know Kohaku at least had also retired at the same time as Tohno-san, though I had not managed to tell whether Hisui had as well; when I spotted a light on downstairs, I debated whether or not to approach since I might just end up surprising the hard-working maid. My suspicion and curiosity got the better of me, though, and I crept down the stairs and back out into the living room lounge space.

Tohno-san was indeed the one awake, standing in the middle of the room at random, wavering in place, like a zombie in one of those B-grade horror films, or Sadako Yamamura ready to curse someone. Her back turned toward me, I considered what to start with conversationally, but she had apparently heard me despite my attempts at stealth. "Emiya-san, go back to bed."

"Says the high school student who should be getting rest to get back to class in the morning." I sighed, frowning at my own words. Sometimes, my mouth just bit back even when it didn't need to. "Let me make you some tea if you're feeling bad still, or help you back to yo—"

"I don't need your help," she said, her voice a low huff, like she were barely spitting them out. "Look, I appreciate the concern, but it isn't your problem."

"Tohno-san, you really don't sound alright, though," I said, and it was true. Even though her words were sure, the waver in her voice made her sound weak, like a jittery diabetic late on a shot.

"I'm fine. I can take care of myself," she spat.

I turned back around to face the way I had come, though mainly to keep from strolling over and shaking her violently by the shoulders. There was a near trance-like state she seemed to be in, and I just wanted to pull her out of it.

Pull her out of it…

I guess, though, it was more like I was forcing my way through to her, and that wasn't working. And really, it shouldn't work, not the way that I knew pride like this to work.

In some ways, pride I understood.

"I thought like that too, not too long ago," I said, crossing my arms in front of my chest. It was a habit I had picked up on when I felt like lecturing, and it was unfortunately something of a pose I loathed. The only reason I had picked up on it was because of him, after all. "And that really didn't work out at all."

"You and I are different," Tohno-san said.

I snorted. "Not really." Maybe, that, ultimately, was what I felt was so frustrating. Though nominally Tohno-san reminded me a lot of Tohsaka, she also reminded me, in some ways, of myself. A stubborn loner. "If you're not going to let me help you, maybe you can help me instead. Tell me what's wrong with this picture."

There was a boy who wanted to do anything he could to protect something precious to him, was willing to sacrifice himself in the service of that thing. He thought he could do so himself, without help. But instead, others were sacrificed to save him, and he realized that he could not protect anything with his own hands…

Origami Blades: Violet Hydrangea, End