A short chapter since I'm working on other stuff too, but here you go.


Chapter 11 - Enforcing Justice; Part 2

"...Sorry, can you say that again?"

The Fujimura heiress was seated on the sofa of Emiya residence's living room, face perplexed as she heard what had been said to her on the phone.

"There's no one here, none of the Ancient Sect people you were talking about." Tohsaka replied on the other side of the line. "This place looks like it was destroyed, though. Are you sure they didn't move bases?"

Taiga's eyes narrowed as she heard the new information.

It was night in Fuyuki, and Saitama was out once again with Tohsaka. After Taiga received the report from her men about the current whereabouts of the sect, and after a long time of preparation to soothe Taiga's worries for Saitama's safety, they decided to attack them to stop the sect and retrieve the monster body.

She had to admit, she was nervous about what would happen to her little brother even when she acknowledged just how strong he was (she just saw him defeat a monster in one hit and destroy a damn building in the process, for crying out loud!) and she monitored any updates on her phone. She hoped that things would go smoothly, so when it started ringing indicating a call she thought that things took a turn for the worst.

However, she didn't expect that she would be met with… whatever was happening.

"So?" Tohsaka's voice broke her from her thoughts.

"The information was accurate. That should've been the place they were at." she confirmed, walking to the table where she had put the files for the reports given to her. "There's traces of witness reports from the police database that showed them before it was wiped. Probably used hypnosis or something."

"You say that, but I'm not seeing any of them." Tohsaka replied.

"I've had my men patrolling near the area there. Not too close since we didn't want to risk their attention, but there hasn't been any movement from them." Taiga supplied. "Are you sure there aren't any hidden entrances, like a basement? It's not in the floor plan of the house, but they might have made one on their own."

There was a heavy thud on the other side of the line that made Taiga jerk slightly from surprise before she heard the faint voice of Saitama. "Hey Tohsaka! Just finished checking those large crates. There wasn't anything under those." he called out.

Taiga blinked. Did he just lift one?

"Well, you heard him." Tohsaka sighed. "We already checked everything around the place. There's no hidden entrances. No bounded field either, which is weird considering this is supposed to be their workshop… then there's also the matter of whatever caused this destruction. Actually, hold on for a moment."

There was a pause and Taiga waited patiently. She heard the girl whisper something that she recognized as an incantation from her limited magecraft knowledge. For a moment Tohsaka focused on casting a spell, then she heard the girl speak up again.

"...Damn it."

"What? What did you do?" Taiga asked.

The girl grumbled. "I just casted a Structural Grasping spell. It's covered up expertly, but there's undoubtedly traces of blood." she explained with distaste. "Someone fought here."

"Which means someone else attacked their base first." Taiga concluded, cursing in her mind as she recognized the implications. "You said that the place looked trashed?" she asked.

"Yes… And now that I'm looking at it closely, it's not the type of wanton destruction caused by monsters either. No, this looks like something a person would do."

Taiga bit her thumb as she read through the files. "Maybe. Could also be a particularly smart monster. We can't be sure." her eyes narrowed. "...There wasn't any report of anything amiss in that particular area for the past few days."

"...You're thinking this might be something new?" she could hear the frown on her voice.

Taiga sighed, feeling her stress increase as the possibility of another threat appearing in the city presented itself. Because for some reason that God only knows, this city just had so many things happening in it!

"I'll try to find out more about it, see if there's anything coming outside town or some new monster popping up." she muttered. "For the meantime… since you're there anyway, mind if you take a picture of the place? It might help."

"...Sure."

"Alright, I'll just call you back if I get anything." she was about to hang up before she paused, and she decided to say one more thing. "Saitama! Take care, alright!?"

The girl on the other side of the line yelped from her sudden shout, and faintly she could hear her brother's dispassionate voice replying with a simple'Yeah'. With that, Taiga nodded in satisfaction, and she decided to hang up.

Taiga put down her phone, mind racing as she pondered on what to do in light of this new situation. Her men had recovered from the attack, but they were spread too thin to investigate more—especially since there were other threats to deal with as well. From the looks of it, the sect was removed from the equation, and that was a priority…

"But now we're dealing with something we don't know, and the same couldn't be said about it. Until we can know what it really is, then it would be best if we prioritize the stuff that needs dealing with first…" she muttered.

She sent a text ordering her men to take a second look at the information relevant to the sect, and while she was waiting, she reviewed the files and the picture Tohsaka sent, conducting an investigation on her own.

Her musings were interrupted when her phone rang, indicating a text. For a moment she thought that it was the information she was looking for, and Taiga opened her phone to look—

"What!?"

—before standing up in shock, as she stared intently at what was sent to her.

Traces of hypnosis on the men stationed around the warehouse!? Then that means, whoever is responsible of that…!

She quickly punched in the number of Tohsaka and bit her thumb as the phone rang.

…Taiga hoped that she'll make it in time.


In the warehouse, on the supposed base of operations of the Ancient Cultivator Sect just after Taiga had hung up, Tohsaka was fuming as she stared at the phone in her hands with an expression of annoyance.

"That woman, suddenly shouting like that… what's her problem!?" she growled with a red face, embarrassed at the way she reacted. "I almost dropped my phone!"

"So what did Taiga say? I only really heard the last part." Emiya asked next to her cluelessly.

Tohsaka sighed before dropping the matter.

"She said she's going to find out more about what's happening. If we can't find anything substantial from our investigations here, then maybe she could." she explained.

"So we're just going to wait for her?"

"I suppose so. She did say to send her some pictures of the place since we're here…"

Tohsaka then started fiddling with her phone, starting to do the task…

Then she frowned.

"...You can send pictures to other people?" she muttered softly.

"Yeah? You didn't know?"

The girl stiffened and turned to see that Emiya somehow managed to hear her, giving her a look of confusion. "Wha—O-Of course I know!" she shouted unconsciously, giving him a glare. "Why wouldn't I know how to use my phone!?"

Emiya stared at her with his usual blank face. "Okay?"

Her brow twitched, feeling as if there's something amiss in that tone. But she quickly looked back at her phone with a frustrated expression. "Shut up, just watch me do it!"

You can do this, Rin. It's just a phone, you've used it countless times already—how hard can that be?

The sounds of her tapping the buttons as she used her phone echoed in the silent warehouse, trying to send Taiga a picture.

...

The tapping continued.

...

It continued some more.

"Do you… need help…?" Emiya asked as he stared at the shaking Tohsaka.

The girl didn't answer for a few moments, but then she slowly nodded while facing away from him. He didn't get to see her expression because of it, but he could see just how red her ears had gotten.

"...Please." she muttered softly, giving the phone to him.

Emiya took her phone and did just that, tapping the buttons on the phone. "Huh. I didn't know you were bad with your phone, Tohsaka." he commented, unknowingly making the girl stiffen. "I thought you were the type to use it a lot, having lots of people to talk to and all."

Her pride could only take so much, and the dam broke.

"I-I can't help it! So what if I don't know how to use my phone!?" Tohsaka suddenly shouted as she turned to face him, showing her very red face. "All magi are incompatible with modern technology! And I already have to deal with so many magecraft disciplines, so dealing with things like electronics is hard!"

Emiya blinked. "Hm? Ah, I just meant I didn't expect it, Tohsaka. I wasn't saying it as an insult or anything." he looked down on the phone. "I even thought it was kind of cute."

Wha—!

Unnoticed by him the girl paused at that, and somehow, her already blushed face turned redder. Before Tohsaka could stutter out anything though, Saitama gave her the phone.

"There, it's done." he said, and Tohsaka stared at him for a few seconds before gingerly taking the phone from his hands.

She was quiet for a few moments as she looked at the phone to see what he did, before huffing and turning her head to the side. "Hmph, so it's just that. I could've gotten this on my own eventually."

She turned around and pocketed it.

"...Thanks." she muttered after a moment.

"Don't mention it." Emiya said, before he looked around the warehouse with a blank face. "...So, what do we do now?"

Tohsaka latched on to the change of topic and she cleared her throat.

"Ahem! W-Well, as I said, right now we need to see if Fujimura-sensei can give us any relevant information." she explained. "If the sect is still out there and they just changed bases, then we'll continue our attack. Otherwise we move onto other things, like other monsters for example. We can't really stay here when there are more things to focus on after all."

"Is that so…" Emiya muttered, before blinking and whipping his head to look at the side.

She gave him a perplexed look at his sudden action. "...What?'

Emiya's eyes narrowed. "I… think there's something—"

It happened suddenly.

There was a whistling sound that appeared out of nowhere, and before Rin could do anything her arm was suddenly pulled by Emiya, making her yelp as she was suddenly hugged tight by him. What followed was a loud crash of glass in the warehouse being broken followed by a rain of glass shards that would've hurt her if it weren't for Saitama covering her with his body.

Then, a shadow cast itself on the moonlight as a figure dropped itself from the roof, landing on the ground and crushed glass on a crouch… who was then followed by a few more, as they all arrived inside the building in an eerily synchronized manner.

She and Emiya reacted quickly, with Emiya letting go of Tohsaka and facing the intruders and with Tohsaka immediately going into a stance with her hand grabbing her gemstones from her pockets.

"Identify yourselves!" she ordered.

The first figure that arrived, the one leading the group, didn't answer and instead walked forward.

There they beheld who they were looking at for the first time.

These people were sharply dressed, wearing suits that gave them a professional air. They looked like killers or hitmen in action movies, and though normally Tohsaka wouldn't bat an eye at that after seeing so much more ridiculous things in Fuyuki… the fact is that she recognized just what this standard uniform meant for people like her.

"Enforcers…" she breathed out.

The enforcer stopped just a bit right in front of them, before speaking.

"Tohsaka Rin… from my understanding, you are said to be the Second Owner of this city, correct?" he asked.

"You know these guys, Tohsaka?" Emiya said next to her. "...Why did they jump off the roof instead of using the door like a normal person?"

"Not now, Emiya!" she whisper-shouted, before turning back to the enforcer with narrowed eyes. "...You would be correct. However, I don't remember getting notified that enforcers would come to my supervised lands. Care to explain?"

"The Association needs not to explain its actions." the enforcer stated coldly.

Tohsaka narrowed her eyes. They weren't showing it in their expressions, but their actions thus far indicate that they don't respect her authority at all. In fact, they might be looking down on her. She recognized her position—in their eyes, she's a teenager trying to act like an adult.

It's easy to deal with that since she knew her way around speaking with others. Politics is a battleground she knew she had confidence in, so she knew she can turn things around if she wants to. However, she focused more on the implications of what they had said.

Did the Association explicitly order them without telling me? Since when did they start taking interest in Fuyuki?

"State your intentions for coming here." she ordered, reminding them of their difference in position.

The enforcer didn't answer, instead glancing at Emiya right next to her. "I believe it would be better for your ears only." he replied. "Not unless this boy is your assistant?"

"He is, and he will stay." Tohsaka declared firmly.

"Is that so… very well, if that is your choice. I suppose your assistant must be capable then, he even noticed us before we even arrived." he commented.

That made her slightly pause, though she didn't show it outwardly.

Tohsaka didn't know what angle the enforcer was going for. Perhaps there was a threat in there somewhere, but they didn't know about Emiya's absurd strength that would prove that would be a mistake. Despite that however, Tohsaka felt rankled as the topic shifted to him.

"My assistant is capable, however I do not remember asking for your opinion." she said with a hint of anger, emotions slipping in for the first time since they started talking. "Speak of your task already, or else I will treat this as a waste of my time."

The enforcer smiled slightly and deferred.

"Very well, I will be direct. This city had sparked the curiosity of others due to the large presence of phantasmal creatures that came forth from it, and thus they demanded an immediate questioning." he answered, and Tohsaka had to force herself not to stiffen. "We advise that you follow through."

They found out…? No, they're just suspecting something. How did they know? Tohsaka's mind raced in light of the new information. Fujimura-sensei must have the tracks covered in such a way that anyone investigating would only give it a passing suspicion… especially since the possibility of having so many phantasmal creatures in one city is ridiculous in the first place!

Her eyes narrowed minutely. Unless… they have proof that shows otherwise. And judging by recent events…

"You are the ones responsible for getting rid of the Ancient Cultivator Sect." Tohsaka guessed.

"We are. The Association had deemed fit to place a bounty on the Orientals." he replied, confirming her suspicions. "We had eliminated them quickly a few hours ago."

Then that means that they found out the existence of monsters, or at least witnessed one, which led them to investigate further. And if they took care of the sect then the Muscle man's body must be with them as well. Tohsaka concluded.

"Is that so? If I remember, it's supposed to be standard procedure to ask for permission before operating on missions in someone's territory, correct? I was just about to deal with them as well. You stole my prey, and now you come here demanding that I come with you immediately?" with a patronizingly disapproving look, she huffed. "Hmph, I suppose such rudeness is only to be expected from spellcasters and failed magi."

There was a slight twitch on some of the other members behind the enforcer indicating the effectiveness of her insult. It was well known that freelancers and enforcers are usually composed of magi that failed to get in the Clock Tower. She took note of the sore spot in her mind.

However, the leading enforcer didn't react one bit.

"I suppose it must be. We apologize, Second Owner." he apologized. "Yet it remains that the questioning must be done, as requested by the Association."

Tohsaka immediately went on the offensive from their weakness. "Then I will do so, but not right now. Your unexpected appearance has caused me complications so you're going to have to wait." she drawled out.

She expected protest to follow, but the enforcer just seemed oddly amused instead, as if humoring her act. "If that is your wish. From when shall you come?"

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "...Tomorrow."

"Then the questioning shall be held tomorrow." the enforcer nodded. "...However, there is one thing I'd like to ask of you just in case."

"'Just in case', what? " Tohsaka didn't have to fake the offense in her tone. "Are you accusing me of not honoring our agreement?"

"I meant no offense, Second Owner. However if you insist on delaying the questioning, then those who requested it would be displeased. I believe this way they would be satisfied."

Tohsaka paused at that, weighing the decisions in her mind of potentially offending some magi. Then she sighed. "Alright, speak of it."

The enforcer didn't answer for a moment, instead looking to the side. In response one of the enforcers, a woman with short purple hair, approached them.

"This is one of our younger recruits, and she'll be with you for the time being. I hope you understand." the enforcer said.

The female enforcer gave them a polite bow.

"My name is Bazett Fraga McRemitz," she introduced herself. "It's nice to meet you."

Emiya nodded at her in greeting, but Tohsaka blinked and stared.

Eh? With us?


"Damn it, she's not answering at all!"

Taiga was anxious as she stared at her phone, which had been ringing ever since the moment she had received the information from her men. No matter how much she tried calling Tohsaka, it wouldn't pick up.

"Not unless they're in a fight right now…?" she muttered.

Her mind raced as different possibilities of what occurred appeared in her mind. Saitama is strong—but if that was the case, then shouldn't the fight be over by now? Is the enemy that strong for them to be still fighting? What if they got captured and that's the reason why they can't answer?

"I swear, if she doesn't answer this time then I'll storm that place myself—"

She was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing, and for a moment Taiga paused.

Then she immediately dropped her phone and ran out of the living room, and there she could recognize the twin-tailed silhouette just behind the front door. She immediately ran down the hall and slid the door open with a bang, startling Tohsaka who was right in front of her.

She glared at the girl. "What the hell, Tohsaka!? I've been calling you since earlier! Don't you know how worried I am!" she shouted. "Why didn't you… answer… me…?"

Taiga took a good look at what she was looking at. Tohsaka had a severely exhausted look on her face, and beside her, Taiga was glad to see that Saitama looked fine with that spaced-out look that he wore as usual. However, the one that made her the most concerned was the woman standing right behind the two of them, who nodded at her politely in greeting.

Taiga might not have been aware of many of the things in the moonlit world, with the things she knew being limited on what was thought by Tohsaka, however she was aware of what it means to have someone wearing a professional suit as a uniform and what their reputation is.

She grabbed Tohsaka's shoulders.

"Hey… Tohsaka…"

She stared down at the girl hard, veins bulging even as she gave a serene smile to the girl who suddenly couldn't meet her eyes.

"Do you mind explaining… why you brought a damn enforcer in my house!?"

The poor girl can only sweat profusely at the face of the tiger's wrath.

"Sorry…"

And so, the day ended, with the mission to defeat the sect ending in a bust.

With the Emiya residence somehow finding themselves in the strange situation of housing an enforcer.


Now, Bazett is officially part of the cast. Maybe some people will think that it's a bit forced to put her in this situation, I mean, I kinda feel that way too. The main reason she was sent is to monitor (intimidate) Tohsaka so that she wouldn't bail. Also to appease the ones who ordered the questioning… but wait, since when was there a questioning being ordered? I remember the enforcer saying it for himself, but never being ordered to do so… just what is their aim here?

Anyway, the situation is more complicated than it seems. Things would make sense in further chapters. Or at least, I hope it will when I write it.

No action for now since there's really no reason for the enforcers to fight with them yet. Actually, not much happened in this chapter as a whole. Is it boring, or is it just me? Not like I'd know how to improve it more though, I did my best.

Please leave a review and share me your thoughts. Anyways, that's all. I hope you enjoyed reading!