Grail War of Retribution: Heaven's Fall

by SSJeanne35

Within the infamous City of Science, Touma Kamijou encounters Rin Tohsaka, and the two find themselves in a conflict the likes of which they've never experienced before. Even after gaining valuable allies, dark forces from the past and present make themselves known; seeking vengeance against all those who have wronged them. (Full Type-Moon/Index Crossover)

46. A Certain Sunny Day

A/N: (August 24th)

Hey everyone. Guess you didn't expect another upload, did ya? XD

For those of you who were wondering where I've been, well, here I am!

I actually meant to post this on the 22nd, since at that point it would have been two months since the final chapter, but I got delayed with some personal things.

It's been ten months since this story started, and two since it ended. Since then, I've been trying to get some other projects going that I hope to get off the ground in the near future, if all goes well. Hint: they're both Index-related, and they both don't have to do with the potential Heaven's Fall sequels.

I'll post them when I post them. I don't have a solid upload schedule yet.

To be honest, I have been in sort of a nebulous slump ever since this story ended. It was…well, one of the biggest undertakings I've done in a while, maybe ever, and I poured everything I could into it. Once it was over…I didn't really know where to go from there.

I could continue sequels and stuff, but I guess the first time finishing a long-form story really does hit different.

Consider this chapter essentially…a message to myself that I still have what it takes. That I can still write well, even if a project I made was already long over.

I hope you enjoy it. It takes place after the events of Heaven's Fall.

I'll see you below.

---

Special: A Certain Sunny Day

Lying awake in his hospital bed, Touma Kamijou could only sigh. The azure moonlight filtered through the translucent window curtains, meeting his slightly shaken onyx eyes.

The day was long for him. He had, in his ever microscopic luck, gotten embroiled in some high-risk conflict in Academy City involving Mikoto Misaka's mother.

Apparently, Misuzu Misaka was an important figure in the Recovery Movement, which sought to take their children home after the city-wide tragedy that was the 09/30 Incident. Since it was in Academy City's best interest to keep those with Esper Abilities within its borders, they had marked Misuzu as a target for elimination— which would effectively cause the Recovery Movement to fall apart once they realized how powerful Academy City was.

While he wasn't the only one responsible, Touma did play a key part in stopping their plans in hiring members of Skill-Out to assassinate her.

But like always, the resulting fight left him here. In the hospital.

Honestly, he's probably slept in this bed more than he has his actual apartment.

Sighing, Touma rolled over as he remembered what the half— fully drunken Misuzu had asked him earlier that night.

"D'ya know where my little Mikoto is? I haven't been able to contact her…though Anti-Skill and Judgment keep tellin' me she's alllright…I really do hope Tokiwadai's been taking care of her…"

…He didn't know what to tell her.

She was alright; but not in a place that Misuzu likely would want her at all. Respecting Azaka Kokutou's wishes, however, he decided to let that specific situation be.

"…She has a pretty great roommate, y'know? Shirai, I think her name was?"

"…Ah, dammit."

He sighed again.

A part of him knew he really should have told Misuzu at least where Mikoto was.

'But that could lead to her finding out the truth behind the 09/30 Incident, and…'

And it would just spiral out of control from there. He didn't want to be the one to break open the thin line between the public and the supernatural. Lives were at stake here.

For now, he'd keep up the secrecy. But it didn't mean he wasn't torn up about it.

"…My luck really is garbage, isn't it?" He muttered aloud. If Index were here, she'd be smacking him upside the head for being so self-loathing, but he couldn't really help himself.

He was a mess.

Sure, he had stopped Misuzu's assassination. Honestly, after the conflict that was the Holy Grail War, a Dark Side conspiracy seemed more like a walk in the park to him, but…

'That War…gah, that was hard as hell.'

He told himself the most no-shit-Sherlock phrase he's probably ever told himself.

Sure, he had put an end to it. What did he have to show for it, though? A few dead friends, several-thousand dead bystanders…

…thoughts of that tangly black shadow suddenly flash in his mind, mixing with a certain lilac flower.

'…and a whole lotta post-trauma stress.'

That frog-faced doctor told him that those dark thoughts were going to stick with him for a while. He was offered a chance to meet a specialized psychiatrist, but he refused. School and remedial lessons took too much of his time; not to mention the regular asks from Tsuchimikado to deal with new magical threats that he was certain was going to continue.

He honestly didn't know how he hadn't broken down yet. He could feel the pressure in tha back of his throat all this time, even several days after the Grail War's ending, but he refused to let it burst.

The conflict was over. He could finally grieve.

…He didn't know why he couldn't, though. The best he could do was apparently lay down in his pity until his eyelids became too heavy.

Rrrrrring.

Just before he could roll over once more, he heard his phone vibrate on the nightstand table.

'At this hour? Probably Tsuchimikado, or something.'

Without looking, he grabbed and flipped it open, expecting it to be either a debrief of the fallout, or another request to go to deal with some other rowdy mage.

Quite frankly, he wasn't in the mood. He'd like nothing better to just take the next day or two off at the very least.

He swipes over to the texting app.

"Ah, what do you want now, Tsuchimika…

…do…?"

"Hey. You awake?

Rin T."

His eyes blinked. He then rubbed the sleepiness from them, thinking he was delirious.

He was not.

Rin Tohsaka had just texted him. In fact, it was the first time she had ever contacted him since they parted from the train station in Mifune.

He didn't exactly blame her for the radio silence. She must have been busy: between getting settled back into her school, while simultaneously trying to get Sakura to settle into her new home, she likely didn't have much, if any free time.

Considering he just got finished with a rough conflict between dark side forces himself, he didn't have much in the way of free time, either.

This late at night really was the only time he, and likely she, could ever afford to relax.

Index and Sakura, however, were a different case. Since they were both mostly at-home for the moment, Index took lots of time out of her day— usually when Touma was at school— to call Sakura up and keep her company.

That, at least, was something he could commend Index for. Even if she didn't clean up after herself, commandeered his bed, and rarely, if ever cooked, taking so much time to help out someone who needed it was something that he had to pardon the rest of her downsides for. Well, for the most part.

Letting the tiniest of smiles come across his lips, he lifts his phone up with both hands and types a snarky response.

"U know u don't have to sign ur name after the message, rite? I can see ur contact name."

"Ahh. Didn't know that. Thanks. Work on your grammar skills."

"Eh? It makes typing ez-r."

"'Ez-r'? The heck does that mean?"

"Whatever. Lol. That means laugh-out-loud, by the way."

"I knew that, dummy."

"Did you, tho?"

…

…

"So what have you been up to?"

Touma snickered quietly at the time it took for her to respond. To answer her question, though, he chose to be truthful…up to a point, at least.

"Ah…y'know, the usual. Got stuck in hospital. Long story."

"Eh? You ok?"

"Yeah. I'm checking out tomorrow."

"Good. Jeez, Kamijou-kun, stop going to the damn hospital. Index told me how often you go there."

"Can't say I can promise that. This bed and I are practically married."

"Heheh. Still."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll try and be more careful."

Because of how long it took to type out the correct symbols, each message took a minute or more between each other. Before Kamijou knew it, the two of them had been talking for nearly twenty minutes or longer.

He didn't mind the clock passing by, though. The sleepiness had gone away, as well as the bubbling in his chest. Even if it was temporary, he felt a modicum of relief.

"Hbu?" He typed.

"?"

"How about you? Sry, forgot I was dealing with an amateur texter."

"You…ahh, nevermind. I'm fine. Sakura's getting along with my classmates well…though it's been rough telling them how we're sisters, but we were separated when we were young and only just got together now."

Touma nodded at his phone screen in understanding. Indeed, telling a fantastical story like that would be hard to believe— especially if Tohsaka hadn't told or even given any hints about her sister to her classmates.

"I guess being gone for a week helped with the story, rite? Since maybe they think it was you dealing with that stuff…"

"…Yeah. Guess so."

…

The air took an awkward turn. 'Oh man, did I just mess up? Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned her being gone for a week, since it reminds us both of…

…wait, where is there to mess up about? Dammit, brain!'

Before he could fall into his self-made pit of admonishment, he saw the chat bubble that indicated Tohsaka was typing pop up again.

"…Hey, wanna catch up more in-person? Tomorrow's our day off, isn't it?"

Kamijou felt something skip in his chest, but he chose to deny it ever happened and texted back casually.

"Sure. Tho you probably have to come here…being a visitor coming in is easier than being a resident trying to leave. Might still be hard…text Tsuchimikado about it."

"Gotcha. I'll do that. When do you get out of the hospital?"

"Erm…in the morning. Nine, maybe?"

"How does twelve sound, then? We can get lunch and go from there."

"Sure. I'll bring Index, too. She'll be excited to actually eat out for once, lol."

"…Oh. Yeah, I'll take Sakura along with me, too. So we'll meet you at your place tomorrow?"

"Yeah. I'll see you guys then."

"Mm. Goodnight, Kamijou-kun."

"Nite."

Kamijou flipped his phone closed, and set it carefully, yet excitedly on the bedside table.

Rolling over with a purpose, he relaxed his head on the hospital bed pillow and closed his eyes.

Because now, he had something to look forward to in the morning.

xXx

Rin Tohsaka covered her eyes with her arms, blocking her vision from the little streaks of moonlight streaming through the window. She had already set her phone aside for the night.

"…Ah."

Back then, Ciel and Sakura had asked her what she felt about that spiky-haired idiot living in Academy City.

It didn't take her too long to realize what it was. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

The racing in her chest hastenly beat away, and she bit her lip as she forced it to stifle back down to a normal pace.

She wasn't used to feeling this way. In many ways, she hated it.

At the same time, she supposed it was better this way. '…Yeah. It's too soon, after all. I was just…I was just being selfish. It's good he's bringing Index along with him. Sakura will find the day fun, too, if she's there.'

She rolled over in her bed, and a tiny smile of acceptance came across her face. "…Still. Woulda been nice."

xXx

Now that he thought about it, Kamijou definitely should have asked if they could meet a little later.

He checked out of the hospital around ten— but between getting back to his apartment, realizing that he had an assignment due the next day and rushing to finish it, as well as cooking a meal for the ever-starved Index, Touma barely had any time to freshen up and shower before noon.

Hopping out of the bathtub and drying himself off, the luck-empty teen flipped open his phone to find that it was already ten past twelve.

'Such misfor…no! Have to keep moving!'

Perhaps it was a bit of a blessing that Tohsaka also seemed to be running a bit late herself; it gave him some extra time that he thought he didn't have.

In one fell swoop, and in two minutes flat, he had somehow gelled his hair, brushed his teeth, and gotten his clothes on all at the same time.

Just as he had finished putting on his socks, he winced as he heard a light but asserting knocking at the bathroom door.

"Toumaaaa! Hurry it up in there! You're running late!"

"I'm already pretty much ready, hold on! And don't you need to shower, too?!"

"Hah! Like a perfect young lady like myself needs to shower in the morning like some neanderthal! I already showered last night! Hmph!"

Touma was honestly more surprised that Index knew what a neanderthal even was. Opening the door, he spotted Index filling Sphynx's bowl with some cat food to hold him over until they got back.

"Alright…" Touma took a breath. He rushed, but he made it; and they hadn't even arrived yet. "…now we wait."

Seeing as they still had a few minutes, he sat down at his kotatsu and started clicking through channels on his television. Most of the major news stations were talking about the Recovery Movement and the ongoing investigation that was 09/30— but for now, he just needed some entertainment.

As soon as he got to a show he could tolerate, he heard Index call out to him in the kitchen. She apparently couldn't wait any longer and was making herself a small sandwich. "So, Touma…whose idea was it to meet up with Rin? Seems a bit short notice, huh?"

"Yeah, to be honest…" Touma chuckled sheepishly. "Not really the best planner, but we both have the day off from school today, so this really is the best time."

"I see…" He heard Index toss some silverware into the sink before coming out with a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The fact that the meals were suddenly so simple made Touma realize that he should probably go out and get groceries soon. "…So was it your idea, or her's?" Index asked again.

"Oh. Uh…her's. I suggested we invite you and Sakura too, so we could all spend time together."

"…Uh."

Index made a face that Touma couldn't immediately read; although it was something along the lines of shock and disappointment. "Touma…lemme see your phone."

"What? Why?" Kamijou protested.

"To determine if I'm living with an idiot or not."

"…"

For some reason, he handed it over. He saw Index scroll about a few times, before seeming to find the direct messages between him and Tohsaka.

She read them over for a moment. Touma could feel the disappointment in her eyes swelling, like a parent looking at their delinquent child's report card.

"I still don't know why you asked me to hand over my—"

Index sighed, completely cutting him off. "Touma, you're a big, dumb idiot. Your skull is so thick that I'm not sure how you even survived before I got here."

"Wha—?!" Touma actually felt that jab cut deeper than it should have, and nearly slammed his arms on the table as he sat up with contained anger. "Me? I could say the same about you, you know! Who cooks around here? And cleans? And actually goes to school and doesn't laze around like a freeloader?!"

"Yeah yeah, but that's all regular smart things." Index waved off his protests with…a strangely calm demeanor. Kamijou expected the conversation to escalate into an argument— but upon seeing how settled her gaze was, he felt guilty for anticipating that. "You need to learn about people smart. Like, I dunno, learning the hints that people give."

"Hints?" Touma sat back down, his brow raised in perplexion. "What hints?"

"Oh my Lord in Heaven…" Index pinched her nose. "Ciel, I'm so sorry…"

"What? What does Ciel have to do with any of this—?"

"Nothing." Index huffed and crossed her arms. "You know what? I'm not going to tell you anything. I'm just gonna let ya learn for yourself. You know what they say: the best way to teach a kid how to swim is to throw them in the deep end!"

"That's…the worst way, actually." Touma replied.

"Shut up. I will bite you."

As if on cue to liberate Touma from a regular, Index-laced cranial injury, the doorbell to his apartment rang. It was accompanied by a soft three-part knock.

"I'll get it." Touma said, promptly getting to his feet. Even walking to the door, he could sense Index's ire-filled stare just behind him.

'Seriously, the heck is she talking about?'

Shrugging his shoulders and assuming Index was just being her Index self, he straightened his back and gently opened the door.

"Hey you two. I'm glad you could make…

…it…"

His breath stuck in his throat as soon as he made eye contact with the young woman standing on the other side of the entrance.

Rin Tohsaka gave him a polite smile and bow, allowing him a second or two to realize her wardrobe was not what he was used to at all from her. Her main theme seemed to be red before, but today it was blue: a long, pleated ocean-colored skirt that paired nicely with a warm white button-up. Black leggings and brown shoes completed the bottom half, while a blue ribbon around her collar literally and figuratively tied everything together. She also seemed to be carrying the only bag between her and her sister.

Speaking of, Sakura didn't look half bad herself: with a white, knee-length dress held together by a black cardigan.

'I uh…'

He glanced down at his own choice of clothing, which was his usual dark jeans and, since it was getting cooler, a white hoodie with a purple interior.

Put lightly, the difference in formality was, while not too obvious, was large enough that it made him sweat a little.

'I definitely underdressed. I think.'

After reciprocating a bow of his own, the older sister spoke up first. "Nice to see you, Kamijou-kun."

"Yeah. You as well, Tohsa…"

He trailed off, realizing that both of them could be called by that name. He'd have to distinct between them somehow, but…

'…I've never called her that before.'

He bit his lip for a half-second. So as to not make the exchange any more awkward than he already felt it was, he forced it out as best he could. "…R-Rin. Sakura." He nodded to both. "You look…"

He glanced down at their outfits again. They were modest, yet extremely flattering.

"Awesome, right?" Her voice caused him to lock eyes with her, and he couldn't help but notice how well the color of her eyes went with the theme of her outfit. "That is what you called me back then, right?" Her expression narrowed with a tinge of jest.

"U-Uh. Yeah." Touma nodded fervently. 'That's definitely what I was gonna say.'

"In any case…" Rin poked her head to the side, to see further into his apartment. "Is Index coming?"

Touma nodded again, turning to see if his freelo— roommate was as ready to go as they were. "Yeah, should be ready any mome—"

A colossal smack! to the top of his skull nearly toppled him over. "Agh—! Index, what the hell?!"

"E-Eh? Kamijou-kun are you—?!"

Rin was cut off by the huff of a young nun, who callously stepped to the side with closed, irate eyes of fury.

"Don't mind him, Rin. Sakura." Index said to both of them. "Just dealing with a stupidhead."

"What a…" Touma rubbed his head as he slowly clamored back to his feet. Despite the hit not actually hurting that much, his pride of being humiliated in front of two formally-dressed women definitely mortally wounded his pride. "…what a mature insult, Index…"

"Can it, stupidhead. Let's go. We're all hungry."

xXx

Touma was expecting them to go to some sort of diner or café to eat, since it was the height of lunchtime on their only day off, but his heart finally filled with hope upon learning that Rin had other plans.

"I woke up earlier than usual to make us all food. It's not anything crazy, but I figured it would cut the wait time if I just brought lunch for all of us."

Not only did it cut them needing to wait to be seated— since every student in Academy City had the day off— but it also salvaged Touma's wallet from being drained absolutely bone dry.

'I can't thank you enough, Rin Tohsaka-sama.'

Sitting down at a circular wooden table outdoors, the four of them opened up Rin's picnic bag, revealing a handful of drinks as well as a good dozen or so sandwich halves. With different varieties of meats and cheeses, accompanied by a selection of sauces and condiments, it was a sandwich-lover's dream.

"Dig in, everyone!" Rin exclaimed. "Sakura and I worked hard, so enjoy it."

The two sisters gave knowing nods to one another, just as Index decided to help herself first, excitedly digging two sandwiches out of the container immediately.

Touma waited for all of the girls to grab their share before nabbing one of his own. He hadn't eaten anything up to this point, so he knew he'd probably have to make like Index and grab a second serving, too. There was enough for everyone even if he did so, anyway.

"Sooo?" Rin leaned in a bit closer to him, a curious expression on her face. Touma could see Index and Sakura making small talk on the other side of the table— though it was mostly the former talking— leaving the two of them to their own conversation. "Tell me how it is."

Touma took that as permission, and took a healthy bite. His sandwich in particular consisted of a classic ham and cheese with a gourmet twist: the ham was lightly fried, and paired with lettuce, tomato, egg and a douse of mayonnaise.

All-in-all, it was a combination that left a positive taste on Touma's taste buds. "Not bad…pretty good, actually." He admitted. "You really are a good cook, aren't ya?"

"W-Well…" Rin nodded apprehensively. "…Yeah. Guess you could say that. I dabble in my free time. It's not like sandwiches are that difficult to make, in any case…"

"True. I really did need this, though." Touma took a second bite. The medium-fried yolk burst in his mouth, giving everything a smooth, eggy texture. "Woah…yeah, this really is up there."

"Heh…T-Thanks." Tohsaka cleared her throat and brushed her hair behind her ear in confidence— actions that Touma had realized he had caught himself staring at. "So…now that things have been calming down, how have you been with school?"

"Guh." Touma felt a shiver go up and down his spine. "Don't remind me…so much missing work…" He sighed. "…Luckily, the teachers are giving a lot of students extra time to finish any missing work, since the 09/30 Incident affected a lot of lives…but we still have to get it done by the end of October."

Rin smiled in understanding. "Ah, the month just started. I'm sure you'll get through it."

"You don't understand…" Touma lamented, "…when it comes to missing work, you could call me the king of it. Though it's a crown that I definitely do not wanna wear."

"Mm. I see." Rin sipped from a juice box, her fixated eyes telling him that she was pondering something. "…What if I help you?"

"E-Eh?" Touma blinked. He remembered her telling him how much she had on her plate: between studying for school, studying for Magecraft and English, and going overseas over the summer…

'…Not to mention taking care of Sakura now…'

"How's that gonna work?" He asked. "We both got pretty busy schedules, right? And it'll have to be over call…"

Rin shrugged and waved off his concern. "We'll figure something out. Don't you worry: I will get you to the next grade."

"Is that a challenge, Tohsaka?"

"Nope." She replied confidently. "It's a promise. I don't half-ass the things that I set out to do, y'know. Whether it be Holy Grail Wars, or helping some idiot with their homework, I'll give it all I got."

Touma resigned with another bite of his sandwich. 'Guess it's official.'

"Thanks. It means a lot."

"Mm."

Of course, there was certainly one thing that Rin Tohsaka was half-assing at the moment, and that was mostly because she didn't know if she should even proceed with it.

The heart and the mind. Two parts of the human body that wish for its survival, but go about it in very opposite ways.

Rin in particular didn't like how both voices were nearly pulling her head apart. It was a miracle that she managed to keep a calm demeanor as she and Touma continued to talk.

'Helping with homework, huh? Sure. Keep telling yourself that's why you want to call him more regularly. A jury would toootally believe you.'

She let an eyebrow twitch, mostly at her own inner monologue. Luckily, the lead-headed Kamijou didn't seem to be any the wiser.

"Oh, I've actually been meaning to ask," Kamijou started, "but what's Fuyuki like? Last time I was there, well…"

They both recalled that night at the Einzbern Castle, and laughed awkwardly. It wasn't exactly a fond memory to look back upon, but at least it was in the past— even if it was recent. "…Yeah."

"Well, hopefully next time you visit, there won't be any Heroic Spirits shoving each other through walls, but…" Rin looked up into the air, pondering the home she's always known and grown in. "…I'd say it's pretty peaceful. Definitely less hustle-and-bustle than here, for sure. The population is probably about a fifth of Academy City…and definitely much more rural. We built out more, while you guys built up."

At first, Kamijou didn't know how to feel about being lumped in with the other two-plus million residents, considering that a lot of them had intentions that were…less-than humane, but he supposed that he did live here. Whether he liked it or not, this was his home for now.

"Aside from that stuff, the people there are nice." Rin continued. "I go to a school called Homurahara…everyone there is friendly, and the classes are a bit more laid-back than a school in the heart of Tokyo, for example. Oh, the Student Council President has a total stick up his butt, though."

"Eh?" Touma watched as Rin crossed her arms in a huff. She and whoever she was talking about seemed to have some deep-seeded history that he didn't exactly think it wise to pry upon.

So, he did anyway. "Really? What did he do to you?"

"Oh, nothing." The elder Tohsaka sister flipped her hair. "Let's just say that I was the vice president. Was."

Kamijou gulped. He could garner the story just based on that single sentence.

"Ah well, what can you do?" Rin shrugged her shoulders. "Didn't get along for two years, so I figured the same would happen with our third and last. The current Vice President is a better match for him, anyway…Ayaka, right, that's her name."

"Um…" Kamijou had the sudden realization that Rin might have forgotten he was there, and was just starting to vent.

"…Heh. Sorry." Luckily she didn't forget, and Rin gave a slump of her shoulders with a hefty sigh. "School drama stuff. I could tell you all about it, honestly. Never made my headaches any better."

The azure-dressed Tohsaka turned a bit more toward him. "So what about you? How's your school life? Aside from that uh, remedial stuff."

Kamijou blinked, and gazed off across the street, amongst the small streams of people passing by as he recalled his class.

His ever-so rowdy class. Full of hijinks, hysteria, and things that definitely should be reported as sexual assault— thanks to Aogami and Tsuchimikado— but for some miraculous reason never were.

Honestly, the only person he considered normal in that class was Ciel, and that's only because she was a new student. He certainly wasn't exempt, and even their home room teacher looked like she belonged in First Year…of primary school.

"…Dumb." Touma decided on saying.

Rin's brow raised. "Dumb?"

"The thing that Index calls me a lot, yes. Which…I don't even know why she's been calling me dumb recently, anyway."

"Um…Kamijou-kun, you do realize that she's…?"

"I mean really," Touma sighed as he broke open a juice box with a straw, sipping away like he was at a bar ranting to its tender, "I don't know what I did to deserve that kind of slander. Yeah, I guess I am dumb, but that's more for me to call out, not other people—"

"Kamijou-kun." He promptly shushed as Rin tugged him on the sleeve and gestured to the opposite bench.

He gasped as he finally laid eyes upon his mistake. The young nun in question was sitting across the table from him, a viciously dark aura beginning to saturate around her body.

Even Sakura closed her eyes and shook her head at him, as if simultaneously grieving his loss while also admitting that it was all his fault.

"…Toumaaa…"

He saw the fangs silver-haired nun pry out from between her lips.

All he could do was hope and gulp as the girl leapt across the table like a gazelle. Or in this case, a snow-white tiger hellbent with wrath.

"Index, wait, let's talk about thiiiiIIIISSS—!"

Thus the jaw chomped down, and the cries of the misfortuned echoed through the land.

xXx

Needless to say, the subsequent walk to the local arcade was quite awkward. They were still a few blocks away, so they still had several minutes of walking through the crisp noon air of Academy City.

The sun was relatively high in the sky for autumn, though Kamijou could tell the air temperature didn't quite match with the warmth of the sunlight. Indeed, Summer has since passed.

The four of them broke into their pairs again, with Touma and the older Tohsaka leading the way. Every so often, Kamijou would glance back at Sakura, but would quickly jolt away before she noticed he was looking at her.

'What do I say to her…?'

Their last proper conversation was damn near a heart-to-heart, just before they parted ways at the train station. At this point, one of the two had to break the ice— and knowing Sakura, it in turn had to be Touma.

He felt a pang in his chest for not saying much of anything to her so far. Before he could beat himself too much over it, however, Touma felt a gingerly tap on his shoulder.

"Index really did a number on you, huh?" Rin joked, gesturing to the bright red bite marks now blatantly obvious on his forehead. It was a quite perfect sculpture of the young nun's dental structure. "Does she do that regularly? I remember her doing that to you way back when, when we first met."

Touma nodded in defeat. The amount of times Index had done that to him could be counted beyond not just his two hands, but probably his toes, too. "Don't…don't even get me started."

Rin giggled. "It's good that she cares, though. I see it as her way of showing she does. I think."

"You think? Isn't this like, straight up abuse?"

"Only if you think it is. But you seem to be fine with it, right? Or at least tolerating it?"

"…" Touma pondered that thought for a moment. It was true; he never really told Index off much, if at all, for actions like that. Not to mention she only ever did it during more casual times of peace— in serious situations, she knew when to hit the brakes.

The bites also never really hurt for more than the moment, anyway. It was more like getting smacked by a dodgeball: it hurts in the moment, maybe one's pride is shattered, but it was easy for him to shrug off.

"…You have a point. It's what I've been thinking for a while, actually…though I don't know what Index will think if I point that out to her face."

"I think she might appreciate it."

"I think she might bite me."

"Why not both?" Rin responded with a smirk. "Never too late to be honest about your feelings.

…which…speaking of."

Her face reverted back to a neutral gaze as she instinctively bit her inner lip.

Touma blinked at her, none the wiser. Honestly, she couldn't blame him; she was quite decent at seeming completely fine on the outside while fighting a thousand different emotions on the inside. As a mage, being able to compartmentalize her humanity and her mage-ferocity was a part of the profession.

She glanced back behind her, then sighed. "…So how are you feeling about Sakura?"

'And I strike out again.

…this is a much more important topic, though.'

"Oh…you realized?" Touma scratched the back of his head with an awkward chuckle. "Yeah…I'm finding it a bit difficult to break the ice with her. Don't really know…much of what to say."

'What do I even say to her to begin with?' He thought.

The mage of red clicked her tongue. "Ahh. Yeah, I can see why Index calls you a dummy."

"Hey—!"

"Just be casual. She's…well, I don't really think I need to tell you what she's feeling. But just be as nice as you can to her. She's…she's my family. It'd be nice if we could all get along well, y'know?"

Touma finally resolved into a smile. Of course, he'd try his best to be kind to her.

Yes, there was the fact that she was, technically, a former enemy— as much as Kamijou didn't like to think that she was. Talking to those that he had opposed in the past wasn't out of the ordinary for him either, though…

'…I guess the scale of the conflict…is really what's making us both apprehensive.'

He's dealt with mages before that have wanted to achieve a myriad of crazy goals; but none of them were ever on the mass scale that the Holy Grail War was.

Not to mention, this one resulted in life lost that he still couldn't really fathom. The only ones that felt real to him at the moment were the ones that were close to him and Misaka, but there were still tens of thousands of others.

'It wasn't her fault. At the very least…it wasn't entirely her's.

…that guy gave her the gun. If he never enabled her in the first place, then…'

He shook his head. He's thought enough about that dilemma the past several days. Today was a day to have fun.

And to try and mend some wounds.

"Of course. Thanks for the pep talk, Tohsaka." Kamijou replied. "Man…guess it was my turn to lean on you for a bit, huh?"

His chuckles caused the twintailed mage to turn forward, her face partially obscured from his view. All he could tell was that her face was a tinge blushed— though he attributed that to the coolness of the air at the moment. "…Y-Yeah. It's not an issue, really.

O-Oh, look, it's the arcade! Let's get checked in, Kamijou-kun."

xXx

The arcade had three large floors, with two above street level and one below, which also connected to the famous Underground Mall of District 7. Inside there were a vast variety of games aimed toward young adults and adolescents, and gave the almost two-million students a chance to mingle and hang out in the otherwise hustle-and-bustle environment of Academy City.

Since it was the day off for students, the arcade was practically filled to capacity. Touma and the others were lucky that there was still space to squeeze them in as they were each handed a cup full of tokens and told to have fun.

"I put in ten thousand yen for each of us, so that means a hundred tokens a head." Rin commented casually. "That should be good for a couple hours."

Touma paused. She was so casual about that statement, in fact, that he had almost glossed over the fact that she spent ten thousand yen. For each of them, individually. "W-Wait, Rin, did you just say that you—?"

Rin nodded, seemingly getting what he was about to say before he said it. "Yeah. Stop being a worrywart, I goooot it." She smirked, flicking him on the forehead. "Now come on! Where do you guys want to go first?"

"Hmm…" Index stroked her chin, staring at the brass and gold-colored coins in her hand. "Hey Sakura, wanna head up to the top floor? There's crane games up there; I wanna see if I can win a big stuffed animal!"

The younger Tohsaka twirled her hair, an ever-present unsure gaze in her eyes. "U-Um…sure…though, Neesan," she turned to Rin, "are you sure you're okay with giving this many coins? Y-You guys should have most of it, so—"

As soon as Sakura tried to raise her arms to offer her cup to them, Rin immediately, yet gently, grabbed her wrist and lowered it back down. "…It's yours, Sakura. It's okay: let's indulge a little. Index seems to know all about that, anyway."

"Yep yep!" Index grinned. "To the upstairs! Whether you like it or not!"

The silver nun gripped the lilac flower's hand, and guided her— more like dragged her— to the escalator. Sakura's protests quickly drowned out in the rivers of passing people, but the face she made caused Rin to sigh in relief.

'She'll be okay.' She thought.

Turning to the only one of the party left, Rin tilted her head to the direction of the air hockey tables. There were about half a dozen installed on the west wing of the arcade, and due to being a little out of the way, there still seemed to be one or two unoccupied.

Touma noticed the direction she was gesturing, and slowly began to understand her motive. "…Ah. I see. Wanting to test my reflexes, are ya?"

"Bingo." Rin nodded. "You were able to keep pace with Servants…granted, it wasn't exactly ever in a winning position, but simply staying alive against one when you're a human is impressive."

The two of them weaved their way through the walkways, and eventually found themselves at opposite ends of one of the free hockey tables.

"Let's see…" Rin glanced at the price listed near the coin slot. "Four tokens per game…let's split the price. But…"

"…But whoever loses has to do something for the winner?" Touma finished for her.

Rin grinned confidently. "Exactly! A penalty game. Got it right on the mark."

Air hockey was strictly a game of hand-eye coordination, speed, and agility. All three of those aspects were as important in the battlefield as it was in the game they were about to be ensnared in.

Rin figured that at their current level, Touma likely surpassed her in most physical qualities just by virtue of being male; generally, they had more muscle mass.

However, taking into account her experience in martial arts…

'…I got this in the bag.' She concluded, well before they even put a single coin in.

Touma handed her two of his tokens. After slotting four in, the hundreds of tiny holes in the table began to blow air, causing the hockey puck situated in the middle to begin to float, if ever so slightly.

The two competitors gripped their disc-shaped paddles. Touma gestured over to the puck, a snide look across his face. "Ladies first."

Rin snickered. "Then go ahead."

Smirking, because he knew he really did run into that joke, Touma relaxed his body, took in a hefty, slow breath, and—!

'NOW!'

He flung his arm forward as fast as he could, slamming his paddle forward. A resounding, ear-splitting crack of a puck fired outward like a gunshot as Touma launched it directly at the goal.

Rin's arm was slightly off to the side by several centimeters. A fast, instinctual movement like that was intentional; even if it was directly down the middle, the sheer speed of such an attack would certainly catch anyone off gua—

'W-Wha—?'

He felt a tiny whoosh of wind breeze past his face at an angle as an even more massive sound pierced into his ears. Not even an eyeblink later, he saw a blur shoot between his hands.

Glancing over, and not even fully processing what had happened, Touma looked at the scoreboard affixed on either side of the fighters' ring.

"One-to-zero, in favor of…"

He narrowed his eyes at the cunning— and the cat-like agile— twintailed vixen, who was leaning over the table with a sly grin as if she was already declaring her superiority.

"C'mon, milady. Give it another go, I'm sure you got this." Rin giggled.

Calmly, and ever so methodically, the Purifier of God and Slayer of Demons took the puck from the bottom, and gingerly placed it back on his side.

His normally frazzled, gelled hair started to swoop down from his sudden beading sweat, partially covering his eyes as he readied himself.

The glare he gave was one of vengeance.

"Then it's war, Tohsaka."

Rin's eyes widened as she saw the straight-laced, absolutely serious composure of the young man across from her. 'W-Woah…he really is taking this seriously.'

His deathly committed gaze was not one to be trifled with. She had to meet him with equal conviction.

Rin took a breath. "One…"

The two fighters readied.

"Two…" Touma braced.

And their battle commenced with proverbial gunfire.

"THREE!"

xXx

As a clash hitherto undreamt of waged on in the lower floors, a certain nun and lilac flower paroused through the other great attractor of an arcade and recreation center: the crane games.

Unlike the arcade floor, whose color scheming was darker to give a more dystopian, sci-fi theme, the crane game floor could be more compared to a hospital hallway: white, sterile and bright.

Rows upon rows of mute-colored crane machines stretched several dozen meters in either direction, offering prizes anywhere between plushies, to anime figures, to even electronics. Index noticed that couples tended to flock the plush section to win a prize for their boyfriend or girlfriend, while…mostly male students were crowded around the figurines, who were modeled to wear less-than-modest clothing.

Index found it amusing, in any case. Grabbing Sakura's arm, she directed her in the former direction. "See anything you like? If you want it, go for it."

They moved a bit closer. With plush toys ranging from the palm of one's hand to the size of a beach ball, and from a myriad of different TV series and manga, even Index would have a hard time choosing.

And for Sakura…

'…Right.' Index internally reprimanded herself. 'She wouldn't know much of any of this, since…'

She shook her thoughts away and pointed at a large crane machine that had a peculiar prize: a plush beret, mainly blue in color with a red hem, a gold etching on the left side, as well as a built-in bow on the back for decoration. It was large enough that it could be worn on essentially anyone's head. "Look at that, Sakura!"

The girl in question pondered at the beret sitting in the middle of its glass cage.

'…I…'

She reached out for it.

Yet before she could even lift up her arm, she held it back down. "…N-No, it's okay, Index-san. I don't…I don't need anything."

Index scoffed. "Well of course. You don't need anything here. This is all about want. What you desire, rather than what you have to have."

She walked up into Sakura's hunched-over, despondent vision, and grabbed her chin and held it up. Upon meeting eyes, the lilac girl nearly winced away from the warmth radiation from Index's gaze. "Sakura…I…I know it's probably hard for you. And nothing about what anyone went through before will be fixed in just a few weeks, or with a silly outing like this.

But…"

Her eyes tightened. "If I can help you mend some wounds, I'm going to. It's the pledge I made when I decided to become a nun, so by the Lord's Will, I will see to it that we'll get through this. Together. Alright?"

Sakura nearly wanted to retort, but held her tongue. Letting Index's words sink in made the shaking in her eyes stop.

Her anxious heartbeat quelled, if ever slightly.

"B-But still…"

Sakura shook her head. "…After causing so much…does a person like me even deserve…to…?"

"Yes. Ab. So. Lute. Ly." Index nodded over and over again, making sure her affirmations made it through Sakura's lilac eyes and into the depth of her soul. "Every person on this Earth that, deep in their hearts, wants salvation, is deserving of happiness. I'm not even talking religiously: just in general. If you want to be a good person, and work towards it, then you deserve rewards. You deserve good things.

So tell me Sakura…even if you don't think you're a good person right now…do you want to be?"

Index grabbed her hands. Sakura paused, her mind once again going blank from the silver-hair's words.

"Even if I…don't think I'm…" Sakura muttered. 'Is it…really okay if I…?'

She bit her lip.

Index sensed that she was just at that line, and just needed that gentle push across the finish. She said all she wanted to say: at this point, the only thing that could get her on that brighter road was her own actions.

Stepping aside, she gestured to the crane machine. "Come on," Index said, "I can tell you were eyeing that hat up. Try and get it, and I'll cheer you on."

Nodding apprehensively, but carefully, the younger Tohsaka gripped her token cup tightly, inserting a coin into a slot. The machine hummed to life, and the three-pronged claw opened and closed up top, letting them know that it was working.

Index pointed at the panel at roughly hip-level. "That stick right there is to move it around, it goes in eight directions. That button is to lower it…once you think it's low enough, press it again to stop it, and it'll grip the item. If you get it right, you should win it."

Sakura nodded at her, and began the ever arduous task.

'I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.'

She gripped the red-balled joystick, moving it ever so carefully toward the dead center of the glass box.

Index tried her best to fit her head in the gap between machines, just so she could get a third dimension and make sure Sakura had the angle exactly correct. "Little more…liiiittle mooooreeee…there, that should be good."

Everything was lined up. Sakura stared down at the button…and with a light inhale, pressed down.

On command, so did the claw, descending from above to liberate the beret from its shackles and to its rightful owner.

Its prongs started to envelope the hat, and Sakura quickly pressed again.

Indeed, the claw gripped down, and lifted up into the air—

"…Ah."

Only to carry it for barely a second, and drop it with a defeated plop back on the ground.

'…Of course.' Sakura inwardly sighed. It was never going to be that easy.

She stepped away— intending to just move on, but blinked as Index took a coin from her own cup and slotted it in, starting the game once more.

"No one ever gets these games on the first try, Sakura." Index said. "Whoever does are lucky butts, but ignore them. That means they have too much time on their hands.

C'mon, give it another go. These games are about perseverance."

Furrowing her brow and deepening her resolve, Sakura stepped forward again and gripped the joystick.

xXx

The war between Kamijou and Tohsaka lasted for nearly an hour. While an ordinary air hockey game would only go on for a few minutes at most, their banter, trash talk, and the…force behind their blows caused quite a scene.

Dozens of onlookers had already latched themselves onto this battle. From an outsider's perspective, it would have looked like the two were having the most aggressive lover's quarrel ever: as if they had finally relented years' worth of annoyance onto one another all at once.

Both of them could hear the murmurs of the onlookers as they placed bets and started picking sides. From what he heard, the majority were picking the well-dressed young lady across from him.

'Gee, thanks guys. Underdog in my own City, huh?'

Touma had agreed to first-to-fifty, in which they had to insert four more coins each to keep the game going that long. Glancing at the scoreboard for only a second, he had slightly pulled ahead 42-to-44.

Between the two of them, they had scored eighty-six points, and the equivalent of several games all in a row.

Across the table, he saw the sweat beading down from Rin's forehead. She had long since folded up her sleeves and unbuttoned her collar. Now wasn't the time for ladylike formalness: it was a matter of life and death.

Er, punishment and bragging rights.

Rin grit her teeth, and fired the puck across the table diagonally, shooting into the wall and bouncing it at a perfect angle toward Touma's goal.

It was at paces that matched, and may have even surpassed professional air hockey players. The arcade of the Underground Mall was bearing witness to the birth of two hockey giants; absolute monsters that could snuff any competition…except for each other.

Without even thinking, and just relying on his muscle memory and reflexes alone, Touma's wrist flicked downward and deflected Rin's attack, sending it careening back to her.

To his surprise, she hadn't properly guarded, and her deflection proved to be far too weak. It floated back over to his side, providing him a chance to—!

"HYAH!"

In his mind, he imagined throwing his fist forward; a signature right hook that normally ended any fight he had, whether it be against an Esper…or one stubborn, twintailed mage.

He heard Rin grunt, and the crowd gasped in shock and awe as the puck flung forward.

The scoreboard ticked up one for him.

The puck rolled back down to Rin's side of the return.

And Touma Kamijou couldn't help but smirk, through his hastened breath and matted hair. "What's wrong, Tohsaka? This is the largest lead of the game so far. Where'd all that energy go?"

Tohsaka gripped the puck tightly. It was an exact reverse of what happened when they hhad first started playing, only this time it was coming down to the wire.

"I am so going to have you do all my remedial work," Kamijou said, "the look on Komoe-sensei's face when she sees I have it all finished, and perfectly at that."

"…Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Oh yeah?" Rin's azure irises hardened into diamonds as she rolled her sleeves back down.

"Whatcha doing that for?" Touma snidely remarked. "Forfeiting? Was your one-hundred percent not good enough?"

"…Heh." Rin gripped the paddle, and slowly began to set the puck back on the hockey table. "I told you, Kamijou-kun. I don't half-ass things to begin with. You wanted a hundred percent?"

She tensed her body. Touma's eyes widened as he sensed a resolve in her swell that he hadn't sensed since that fateful night in September.

"…Well here…is…one…THOUSAND!"

Her arm hadn't even moved from his perspective.

Yet the puck crashed into his goal, before he could even take the time to twitch a finger.

"…Huh?"

43-44.

Touma watched from the periphery as some of the crowd began to walk away, as if to say "Yeah, we know how this wind is blowing. Sorry, dude."

'Oh come on! I'm still winning at least, right?!'

He picked the puck back up from the return, only to meet Rin's sneaky grin once more.

"You think you're sooo good, huh?"

"I have my moments, I suppose." She commented coyly.

"I think someone should put you in your place." Touma huffed, readying himself once again. It was getting extremely hot under his hoodie, but he felt the sweat and tears were simply making him stronger, so he chose not to take it off.

He coiled his arm back. "So I'll be the one to—!"

xXx

"…not…do that…"

The crowd had dispersed, for the spectacle was over. The war had been well-fought and struggled, yet in the end…

"Ahhh, it's okay Kamijou-kuuuun~" Tohsaka patted him on the back with a jovial, almost shit-eating grin on her face as the young man relented over the now de-activated hockey table.

The score read 50-44. Ever since Tohsaka's second wind, Kamijou never had another goal. What was worse: thanks to the amount of students onlooking and likely recording, video and pictures of his failure were probably going to be posted all over the internet.

Put lightly, he was in for the long haul of disappointment. "Yep. Just my luck…"

"Hey hey, don't put yourself down like that." Rin lightly chopped the back of his despondent head. "We can have a rematch some other time."

"Sure, sure…" He muttered. Although, if he had to be honest with himself…

'…Yeah. That was a lot of fun.'

No real stakes, no unbeatable or wrongful enemy…rather, a rather worthy, and extremely stubborn opponent.

Her stubbornness to claim victory matched his. In this case in particular, she even surpassed him.

He lifted his head up, and felt his face form a tired, yet genuine smile. "Thanks, Tohsaka."

"Oh, don't thank me just yet," Tohsaka's smile curled back into a wry smirk, "this was a penalty game, remember?"

Touma's heart sank. 'Ah…and so the misfortune continues.'

Rin seemed to read the words his eyes gave her, and shook her head. "Nah, I'm not asking for anything crazy. I just…

…"

She trailed off. Touma tilted his head, and could tell cogs were turning in her head on what to say next: many cogs in particular, which were probably causing a jam.

Once her face started to blush, Kamijou took that as a sign to speak up. "Erm…you alright, Tohsaka?" Touma asked. He reached out to touch her arm out of concern, but she quickly yelped and jolted away.

"U-Uh! Yeah!" She nodded, catching back up to the beat and clearing her throat. "M'kay, I have an idea. Follow me— let's go up to the crane games."

xXx

Before she subjected Kamijou to the penalty game, her first order of business was to meet back up with Index and Sakura. Mostly because she wanted to check up on them…but also partially so that they could see his punishment, too.

'Is that weird? That's not weird, is it?' She thought to herself. The two of them reached the top of the escalator, and walked into the crane game floor. Now in the mid afternoon hours, the arcade was especially bustling now, since lunchtime had come to a close and students were looking for places to relax and recreate.

She eyed down each row, expecting to see a lilac and silver-haired duo in at least one of them.

'No…Not there…ah! There they are!'

She grabbed Touma by the sleeve as she noticed something rather large at Sakura's feet. "Kamijou-kun look, isn't that…?"

They both gasped, glancing at each other for affirmation before gazing at the decent-sized, white prize bag at Sakura and Index's feet.

"They won quite a bit of stuff," Kamijou said, "must have been because I wasn't there."

"Oh come on, your luck isn't that bad."

"What do you call the last five minutes of our hockey game, then?"

"Skill."

For some reason, a strike harder than any of Rin's hockey moves pierced into his soul. "A-Anyway, let's go meet up with them."

Kamijou and Tohsaka bobbed and weaved through the crowd toward the other half of their party. As they approached, Index glanced over her shoulder and noticed them, but put up a finger to quiet their approach.

"Uhhh…?" Kamijou raised a brow.

"Shhhhhhh!" Index hushed them, ironically not that silently. "Sakura's in concentration mode! Let's not break it!"

The three of them watched on as Sakura slightly twitched her wrist back and forth, adjusting the crane above by millimeters as she targeted the beret sitting on the bottom of the glass case.

"She kept not getting it after several tries, so I suggested we go to other crane games and come back to this one later," Index whispered, "which is why we have a few prizes down there. They were all prizes I won, though; she told me she's dead set on this one."

Rin and Touma both nodded, and watched as Sakura finally settled on a location to drop the claw. The lilac flower observed the claw twirl around a little from the momentum of her dragging it to and fro, until…

"…There." Sakura muttered. It stopped moving, and she took in a gentle inhale as she pressed the button to let it fall.

This time, she was going to get it. She didn't really have any internal, main strategy aside from lining it up; she just had a gut feeling it would work out this time.

The claw enveloped its three-pronged hand around the plush beret, pressing down until it was firmly grasped completely around it.

And with conviction, Sakura tapped her fingers down. The claw tightened and lifted,

And kept lifting,

And continued to lift, as it ascended to the ceiling and moved toward the corner of the glass cage, and—

"E-Eh?"

Sakura blinked as the beret fell, right into the prize collection.

Index's eyes lit up with jubilation. "Sakura! You did it! You got it! It took a lot of work, but you did it!"

"I…" Sakura finally had the space to breathe, and she nearly stumbled as she bent over to finally collect the fruits of her labor. "I did…it…"

She felt the beret in her hands. It was soft, felt, and pliable— perfect for ubiquitously fitting on nearly anyone's head.

As she turned toward the group, only then did she notice Rin and Kamijou standing there, their expressions like two proud older siblings watching their youngest hit a home run.

"Congrats, Sakura." Touma gave a modest, but meaningful golf clap as Rin stepped up to her.

"N-Neesan, I—"

Rin gently grabbed Sakura's hands, directing her to place the beret on her head. It fit surprisingly well— not just on her head, but on her as an actual accessory.

'Heh. Need to go shopping for a real one for her, then.' Rin thought.

"Looks good on you, Sakura." She said.

"R-Really…?" Her sister glanced up at her from underneath the cap…her eyes shaking from uncertainty and confidence and fear and hopefulness all at once.

Rin's heart nearly melted from the glimmer in her sister's eyes. It was the first time in years that she's seen that hopeful glint.

…Even if it was only temporary, she wished she could keep that sight in her heart for ever and ever.

"Really. I'll get a real one custom-ordered…or if there's a real deal out there, I think you should wear it. It really does look great. And not to mention…you won that. On your own. That, I think you should be proud of."

"T-Thank you…" Sakura muttered, then shifted her gaze toward Touma. Despite her building confidence, he could still tell she had a little trouble looking at him directly in the eyes. "U-Um…Kamijou-san!"

"Yes?" He replied.

Sakura bit her lip, then seemed to will some inner resolve as she straightened her back and stared right at him. "A-As a boy…I-If I were to wear a proper one, how do you think I would look?"

Touma blinked. It was quite the icebreaker of question for the two of them, but he was glad she asked it. "Well, I can say one thing for certain: if you can find the right outfit for it, you'll definitely be quite the looker."

The lilac-haired Tohsaka felt her face flush just a degree. The resolve she had melted down, and she found herself looking at the ground again.

"Th-Thank you…"

It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, though.

Carefully, Sakura took the plush beret off her head and set it in the prize bag. "W-Well…I think I got what I came here for, so…"

"Eh?" Rin glanced at Sakura's token cup. As it turned out, Index still had quite a bit left in her's as well; and since she and Kamijou spent all that time hogging that one air hockey table… "Huh, we still have a lot. Guess we can just save them for next time.

Exceeeept—!"

She turned on her heels and pointed at the only male in their group, that same, signature smirk growing on her lips. "It's time, Kamijou-kun! You lost the game, so here comes your penalty!"

He only had one phrase to respond with.

"Just my luck."

'Thought I would be able to get out of it, but nope. She's one-hundred percent serious.'

"E-Eh?" Sakura tilted her head. "Kamijou-san lost a game? What was it?"

"Lemme guess…" Index chimed in. As she and Sakura were walking around the crane games, she overheard conversations of a brutal battle happening on the arcade floor. "…Air hockey?"

"Yep," Rin thumbs-upped. "Got absolutely trounced, too."

Touma crossed his arms in defiance. He wasn't about to be slandered like that. "You won by six. Out of fifty points."

"Shush, they don't need to hear the details, dummy." Rin puffed her cheeks. "Any way you slice it, though, you lost. So here's what you have to do…"

She extended her arm towards the crane game machines— assumedly, gesturing to all of them. "You, Kamijou-kun, have to win me a prize. And I get to pick it."

…Of all the things.

Of all the things she could have given the most bottomest-barreled, anti-luck person in the world, Rin Tohsaka had to choose crane games.

Sure, some of it was skill. But Kamijou knew how arcades ran: they were effectively casinos, but altered to not only follow the law, but to appeal to adolescents and children.

Essentially, much of it was random chance. For many machines, the crane claw had a setting where it would randomly select how firmly or softly to grab an object, leaning more likely to be the latter.

Over time, and after multiple runs, the crane will eventually make the chances of it firmly gripping the prize more and more plausible, but how fast it would raise those chances was left up to the discretion of the arcade.

This was the precise reason why many, many, many crane games were not merely tests of skill, but rather mostly of luck.

And Rin had just told him, the guy who nearly gets mugged every time he steps out of his apartment, to play them.

"Do you…do you want us to be here all day, Rin?" Touma sighed.

Rin paused on his comment for a moment and twirled her hair. "I wouldn't be against it. Now let's get walkin', punishee."

"That's not even a word…"

"Shut it, punishee."

xXx

It didn't take long for Rin to find something that she wanted. After looping through a few rows of questionably-dressed anime figures, the older Tohsaka's eyes peeled onto something that grabbed her very soul.

"Oh my…"

Rin paused as she looked at a certain, fairly large crane machine. Within, was one, singular plushie: according to the hastily-written sign on the glass, all others had been sold out.

And way more importantly… "Is that a…? Kamijou-kun! That one!"

She pointed with a purpose, directing the group's attention to the single plushie, plumply sitting in the opposite corner of the machine from the prize collection hole.

"E-Eh?" Touma turned his head, and examined the plushie a little closer. It was a good-sized one, too— large enough to barely fit in one's lap.

Of course, the design itself was what caught his attention. It wasn't anything like the other stuffed animals or anime-inspired plushies: out of all them, this one had a unique design.

It was ovular in shape, with long, sakura-colored felt hair and beady, silvery blue eyes. A cute, anime-esq, V-shaped smile adorned its center, with two small nubs in the front that represented its hands. In the back, its 'hair' was tied by a shuriken-shaped head ornament with a red accent at the top.

"It's a…Miyamoto Musashi plushie…" Rin's eyes glimmered with the hope that such an elusive object would eventually be in her hands. "Kamijou-kun, you have to get that! You have to!"

Miyamoto Musashi was, of course, one of the most popular swordmasters in Japan; not just because they were a unique swordmaster with a dual-sword fighting style, but also because, unlike most of their peers during that era, she was a female.

She was rather elusive, however, and she didn't even describe her appearance in the Go Rin no Sho, or The Book of Five Rings, which she wrote late in her life. Thus, scholars around the world have searched through many different sources that may have told of her appearance— but no one description was ever the same.

Due to the rising popularity of samurai flicks and anime, many different media outlets had taken liberties to depict what she looked like.

The plushie right in front of Rin was based on the depiction of Musashi in a movie she had watched with Caren five years ago. Since Musashi was a lone-wolf rōnin who trained, fought, and relied essentially only on her own, she was a figure that Rin could really look up to. It helped that the sound of her name was in the book that the swordmaster wrote, too.

Rin, however, never got around to buying the merchandise from the movie for a while, mostly due to school— and when she finally got around to it, the ever famous Musashi plushie was a low-supply, high-demand exclusive that only came around every so often. She even heard rumors that they were going to stop manufacturing of it.

Long-story short, this could be the only moment Rin ever had left to get one.

Kamijou saw the pleading in her eyes…and simply sighed with a defeated grin.

How could he say no to a face like that?

"Alright, alright, step aside. Kamijou's got this." He stood tall, setting as best of an example as he could for the trio of girls behind him as he slipped a coin into the slot. "This is gonna be a piece of cake. Watch this."

'This is not going to be a piece of cake. I am, in fact, going to fail horribly.

But it's fine. It's part of the game. Losing a few times just comes with the experience.'

xXx

"How is this…?"

He stared at his token cup, in which remained but a handful of coins.

His body slumped over the control panel, nearly admitting defeat. The only reason why he didn't give up yet was because his mind was still too much in disbelief.

Glancing behind him, Index and Sakura had long since left to go get ice cream at the lower floor. The only one still watching him was Rin…and he really didn't feel like looking her in the eyes right now.

For some reason, he hadn't felt more embarrassed in his entire life. He had spent upwards of ninety coins— or, since it was one coin per try, ninety-plus attempts— and all he had to show for it was a deflated pride and unequivocal proof that he, indeed, had the worst luck of all the unlucky.

"How is this…even possible…?" He muttered, his eyes twitching. At this point, the self-loathing was starting to be replaced by amazement. The machine must have had artificially raised the chances of the claw's grip strength to be strong by more than 95% at this point— so he couldn't understand why it continued not to work.

Should he ask for help again? Considering that he had already done that thrice and with no such success, he didn't feel like annoying any of the employees again. He could also tell that they were giving him a look of pity and embarrassment under their worker caps.

At some point, the game would give him hard pity and grip the plushie properly…but he had no idea when that would come.

Gulping and gritting his teeth, he inserted another coin.

Yet the same song and dance happened.

"Oh come on! Really?! Really?!"

The infamous Musashi plushie lifted up…only to plop back down. Its beady blue eyes stared into his soul, mocking him for his incompetence.

"Grr…!"

Another coin.

Plop.

Yet another.

Plop.

Rin had long since stopped her teasing and goading and was just watching on in silence. Indeed, she couldn't believe it, either.

She knew that Kamijou had bad luck, but… 'this is really taking the piss. Eh? Isn't that a British phrase? I've been going there too much…'

She expected him to at least get it within twenty, maybe thirty attempts, since that was the maximum amount before a crane machine would show pity on its player and essentially hand them their prize on a silver platter.

This machine was not like the others, however. It was ruthless, heartless, and absolutely merciless.

An unlucky kid like Kamijou never stood a chance, really. The only reason why Rin hadn't stopped him was because, technically, it wasn't his money he was wasting.

After seeing the plushie land back in the center of the case once again, Rin took a breath and decided that it was her time to show some mercy. Grabbing his wrist, she shook her head. "Th-That's enough, Kamijou-kun."

"NO!"

Touma Kamijou lifted up his fist in vengeful rage. "This crane machine challenged me…and I will overcome it, dammit! If not by luck, then by brute force!"

He pulled out the last coin in his cup, throwing the useless piece of plastic aside as he declared one more battle; one more show of willpower!

"Damn cute Musashi plushie, you will be mi—!"

"It dropped on the floor." Rin deadpanned.

"…"

He fell to his knees.

He had been bested.

"…Sorry, Tohsaka…I wasted all of the coins you got me on that…"

Rin shook her head as she grabbed his shoulders and gently pulled him back to his feet. "It was me who said to keep playing until you got it, so…nah, don't worry about it. That was on me. You've already sacrificed so much for me, so…it's alright. Let me try the next one."

After seeing how sure she was, Kamijou let her take the next turn, though not without a warning. "I dunno, Tohsaka. This machine is the worst of the worst. Sucked up all my tokens like a vacuum…now I guess I know how Misaka felt when that vending machine ate her yen, too…"

He watched as she placed one of her coins in the slot, jerked around the claw a little, then casually moved it down without thinking about it too hard.

The claws gripped.

And kept gripping.

Before he knew it, the plushie had already fallen into the bottom right corne—

'WHY?! HOW?!'

He had half a mind to go up to the manager of the establishment and complain that every machine was Kamijou-proof, but he stopped himself once he turned to Tohsaka.

She gestured to the bottom of the machine, where the prize was waiting just behind a metal swing-door. "Kamijou-kun. My prize, please."

"But…you won it, though."

"Nah, you loosened the pickle jar. All it did was lift the lid off."

"You're meaning to tell me that I was one win away from getting it?"

Rin shrugged her shoulders. "So it would seem. Guess the establishment didn't wanna let go of the plush so easily…makes sense, since I don't think that they produce them anymore. But in any case, get it for me. Consider it…the last order of the penalty game."

"A-Alright…" He scratched the back of his head as he kneeled down, lifted the door up and freed the final Musashi from her glass prison.

It was invariably soft, and the width of his torso. A good-sized plush that fits extremely well as either decoration or something to rest one's head on. "Well, here you go. One Musashi plushie, for the lady."

He offered it up to her. Rin's eyes glimmered, nearly sparkled with childlike glee as she accepted it with both hands, amazed at the delicate softness of the highly-venerated swordmaster.

A thin smile formed naturally across her lips as she appraised the plush in all directions before holding it tight near her chest. "Thank you, Kamijou-kun. For getting this for me."

"I…uh." The young man found himself able to look anywhere but her eyes at the moment. Her face was so genuine that he couldn't exactly make clear eye contact without blushing. "Y-Yeah…you won it, though…"

A teasing flick on his forehead caused him to break from his stupor. "Dummy. You did most of the work, and you tried so hard, too. So face up, okay?"

As they looked at one another, and as Touma was able to get a view of her features up-close…

…something finally occurred to him.

All of the times that he caught himself staring at her for seconds too-long…even Archer had pointed that out to him.

The fact his face felt warm whenever she got too close, and the fact that her laughs and teases made his heart skip…

'…Yeah. She's…

…She's really pretty. Beautiful, even.

Of course I'd think that, though. I'm a teenage boy, she's a teenage girl. That's just how it is.'

He broke through the first layer of realization. Now that the stress of any magical or scientific conflict was over, he was finally able to admit a part of his feelings.

A part.

The rest, unfortunately, was a wall that he's never climbed before. Nor was he really aware that that wall existed.

Basically, he attributed it to him being a hormonal teenager, and that was that.

'…Do…I…?

No. Heh, really? A guy like me?

No way anyone likes me in that way. I just find her pretty. That's it.'

He broke into a tiny laugh, as he was finally able to fully meet her gaze and words. "Yeah, you're right. You're very welcome, Tohsaka."

For some reason, the brunette mage paused at his words. Touma noticed that the two of them were a step closer than they were normally used to.

A strange, pinkish-red blush started to grow on her cheeks. Before he could notice it becoming too red, she turned away.

"U-Uhm…yeah. Erm…in any…case…"

"Who's the one that needs to face up now, eh?"

"Sh-Shush. It's just hot in here, we've been up here for a while."

She straightened her posture and took a breath. With just a bit of breathing, she sealed the excess emotion down. "Hey, Kamijou-kun…wanna go meet up with Index and Sakura now? Or…"

She showed the amount of coins left in her cup.

"Huh, that's a lot left over." Kamijou said. "Yeah, we can stay here for a bit longer. Wanna go downstairs and play some not luck-demanding games? That's not really a suggestion, I really am begging here—"

Rin interjected with a giggle. "Heh…yeah, let's go to the arcade proper. They also have karaoke, so—"

"Absolutely not. My voice is horrible."

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad."

"It— it really is that bad, Tohsaka. You'll be sitting in that booth, cringing more than when you saw me try and get that plushie."

"Now I'm really curious!" Rin exclaimed.

Her excitement only proved to make Touma's shoulders slump more. "…Is it too late to go back to Index and Sa—?"

"Yep!" She set her plushie in a prize bag and gripped his sleeve, dragging him along once more. "We're not leaving this arcade until my entire cup is bone dry. You better enjoy it, Kamijou~!"

As she guided him down the escalator, Touma found himself staring at the back of her head, and the gentle waves of her brunette hair.

Normally, being dragged around like this would be a chore to him. But in this case…

'Gah, I can't help but smile, . I don't need to say my usual phrase.

This…this is actually fun.'

xXx

While waiting for Rin and Touma to leave the Arcade…

In the Underground District, a few shops down from the entrance to the arcade, a certain silver and lilac pair were sitting at a two-person table, silently enjoying their heaping servings of ice cream. The money had come out of Index's— read: Touma's— wallet, since the young nun had insisted that she treat Sakura.

It had been a good hour or so since they had parted from the other pair of the group at the crane game floor. Index had even gone up and asked for a second order.

Checking the time, it was getting later and later into the afternoon. They both knew that Rin and Touma wouldn't take forever, though— they both had school tomorrow, so the Tohsaka sisters had to return to Fuyuki eventually.

For now, though, they waited. Index had sent Touma a text, but he uncharacteristically hadn't responded yet.

'Huh. Either he got kidnapped, or he's having lots of fun. Knowing him, it's a fifty-fifty.' Index snickered at her own thoughts.

"U-Um…Index-san…"

"Index is fine, Sakura. I'm British. I think."

"Well, Index…" Sakura set her spoon down and took a breath. Since they were now alone together, and in-person, she felt it right to finally ask this question. "It's about Kamijou-san and Neesan…do you…think that they—?"

"Like each other?" Index finished. "Abso-freaking-lutely, without a doubt, one-hundred-percent positive."

Sakura blinked as Index crossed her arms confidently. "H-Huh…that's nice. I'm glad for her."

A smile formed across her face. A real one, with no hint of darkness behind it. Index caught on, and nodded back. "Yeah. It's great that you're glad. You two should support each other as best you can. And just remember— just because she has eyes somewhere else, doesn't mean she'll abandon you! You two are sisters to the end, so just keep that in mind!"

Sakura took a determined bite of her ice cream. 'Index is right. Support…support…

…people have already supported me a lot. I guess it's time I give back to Neesan a little…'

"…I do hope they hurry up, though." Sakura muttered. "My ice cream's melting."

"Yeah, honestly, did those lovebirds forget about us already? Y'know what, I'm gonna call them! Screw their date, I wanna get dinner!"

"W-What about being supportive, Index—?!"

"My stomach comes first!"

xXx

A Few Hours Later.

The sun had long since set, and the day of freedom was coming to an end.

The group of four were standing by the platform, and looked up to see the train was barely a minute away from arriving.

After the arcade, the four of them had gotten dinner at that popular Mapo Tofu restaurant— which apparently, had recently gotten a new owner just a few days ago. Rin was able to flex her spice tolerance, leaving Touma, who tried to also get the spiciest dish out of nothing but competitive spirit, in the dust.

In fact, he was still sipping from a to-go box of milk as they spoke, and his face was still blushed red.

"Wow, did it really hurt you that badly, Kamijou-kun?"

He slurped up the last of the milk, and defeatedly crushed the box and threw it in a nearby trash. "My poor tastebuds all gave their lives today…I won't be able to taste anything for the next week…"

Halting his sulking, he lifted up his posture and resolved to a smile. "Aside from that, good dinner."

Rin giggled at his usual self-deprecating joke, and the two of them watched as Sakura and Index began to say their goodbyes.

They couldn't help but realize that, aside from the absence of Ciel, this entire situation was exactly the same as a week ago.

'Which means that…' Rin thought, '…ah, we're gonna have to hug again, aren't we?'

As she was mentally preparing for that, Index pulled Sakura into one of her own, and whispered quietly into her ear:

"…If Touma does anything to hurt Rin, let me know. I'll be the first to kick his ass all the way to Fuyuki to apologize to her."

Sakura nodded in assurance. "You got it, Index."

"And aside from that…" the two of them parted as Index gripped her hands. "…I'm really, really glad you had fun."

"Yeah." Sakura took a step back to bow to the three of them, making sure it was especially deep. "Thank you…all of you, for taking me out today. I…

…I will try my best to do more fun things in the future."

"We'll always be here, Sakura." Touma said. "Just…give me or Index a call, like you've been doing, and we'll plan stuff. Tsuchimikado gave you those exclusive passports, so you can basically go back and forth whenever you need."

Sakura pulled herself back up with a warm nod, and took a step back…

…because, once again, it was time.

As the two of them stood there, Kamijou found it right to say something first. "So uh—"

But a leap forward, and a tightening of arms around his torso promptly, and assertively, cut him off.

"I had lots. And lots. And lots of fun today, Kamijou-kun. Thank you. Not just for helping Sakura, but…helping me, too.

I told you all of the things I have on my plate…today made me forget all about them. We should do more of these, if we can."

"When we can, ya idiot." Touma reciprocated the hug, while also throwing her teasing back to her. They heard the train start to pull up to the station, but at the moment, it didn't matter. "We all deserve a break every so often. So…we'll definitely do stuff like this again."

"Mhm…"

…

After a few seconds, Kamijou began to release. "Alright, your train's here, so—"

"Wait."

She pressed a little tighter. "Just…stay here. A little longer."

"…You alright?" He asked.

"More than alright, dummy."

…

"…Okay." She took a breath, and the two finally parted.

The waves of people— mostly scientists and other folk who had a similar, exclusive pass like Rin and Sakura did, were already departing and entering. The two Tohsaka sisters nodded at one another, and began their walk off.

"Later, you two!" Index shouted out into the small crowd. "Call us when you get home! I don't care how late it is!"

Index saw a thumbs-up raise into the air, likely from one of the two Tohsaka, before they entered the train's doors which promptly slid shut.

Touma and Index finally relaxed their shoulders, the curtain on their outing finally closing. They still had enough time to get home, and for Touma to crash and get enough hours of sleep for school tomorrow.

"Touma, I got a question." Index asked. The train had begun turning on its wheels, and the spiky-haired teen silently watched as it pulled away.

In fact, Index wasn't even sure if he had heard her, so she lightly smacked his shoulder to get his attention. "Oi! Am I dead meat now, or something?!"

"A-Ah! No! You're good!" Kamijou chuckled. "Sorry, was just…thinking about some stuff."

"Oh?" Index leaned forward and put her hands on her hips, suspiciously curious. "So? Spill the damn beans. Oh, and answer my question: did you figure out why I kept calling you an idiot?"

Touma scratched his chin. Index had posed him with this problem ever since the day started…but he thought he figured out what it was.

"…It's about Tohsaka, right?"

As soon as he said those words, Index's eyes actually widened. It was like discovering her child was actually, unexpectedly, a prodigy.

"Go onnn." Index nodded along.

Touma took a breath. He already internally admitted it, but he wasn't sure about saying it externally. "W-Well…I think that…"

She leaned in even closer. A breakthrough was about to happen that she wanted to see firsthand…

'…Ciel. I'm sorry. But…it might be over for you.'

…even if it came at the cost of a friend.

'But hey! She's a nice girl too, so she'll easily find someone el—"

"…Tohsaka's pretty, don't you think?"

"…"

Index's shoulders slumped. "Is…is that it?"

"Um…yeah. I've been thinking about it for a while, and that must be it, right?"

"I…ah…uh…" The silver-haired nun stepped back, and took a long, arduous, painful breath in. "Touma…you shallow, superficial, dense, thick-skulled, lead-headed…"

Kamijou took two— three steps back as he suddenly realized what was about to happen. "W-Wait, that was it, right?! I mean, yeah, it is pretty obvious in hindsight that I was thinking that subconsciously, so isn't it a good thing that I finally admitted it—?"

"…EVERYONE thinks that! Even me! Probably also every teenage boy and girl that's ever looked at her, ever! AGH—!"

Index ruffled her head so hard that she swore that her headpiece would fall off. "…Touma."

"Y-yes, Index?"

"You have three seconds to start running back to my apartment."

"Isn't it my—?"

"My. Apartment. You lost your privileges. If I catch you…say goodbye to your head. One. Two—"

Needless to say, he turned on his heels and began sprinting away.

"Damn my—!"

"THREE!"

"—LUUUUCKKK!"

xXx

Mifune City, Some Time Later…

Mikoto Misaka…was actually full.

The meal that Mikiya had cooked for them hit exactly right, and she managed, for the first time in what seemed like a long time for her, to fully eat an entire dish.

It was an achievement that none of the Ryougi family nor Saten took lightly, and each of them had taken their time to congratulate her in their own way.

It was still a long road ahead. But at least she was walking.

Rolling back her kimono sleeves and pinching them in place with a clothespin, Mikoto got to work on washing the dishes. Shiki had told her that the best way to keep the clouds from getting to one's mind is to keep distracted and to keep moving, so the young Level 5 had volunteered to do much of the housework for them.

Sweeping, mopping, dusting, as well as dishwashing and general indoor cleaning was her job, as well as keeping Mana company whenever Shiki or Mikiya had to work.

Saten, on the other hand, also primarily took care of Mana, while tending to the inner garden and doing everyone's laundry.

Keeping them busy was the best that Shiki could do for them, outside of providing a roof over their head and food to the table.

They all knew it was only a temporary arrangement— Azaka was going to send them back to their families once she thought they were mentally healthy enough. While Mikoto questioned her a little on the morals of keeping them away from their family, Azaka had explained it to them in a way that made sense.

"If you want your parents to not worry…then coming back to them feeling better will make them feel better. In the meantime, you guys are safe and sound, and I've assured them of that. It's really not too different from when you guys volunteered to be separated from them when you went to Academy City, so…"

It was indeed a little taboo. But, alas, such arrangements was Azaka's whole schtick, so Mikoto and Saten rolled with it.

They weren't not enjoying themselves, in any case. Mikoto glanced up, watching as Saten and Mana were being regaled by the lady of the household's tales.

"And then I jumped off the building." Shiki said with a smirk.

"Y-You what, now?" Saten gasped. "D-Did you get him, Shiki?!"

The kimono-clad mother nodded her head. "Stabbed him right through the chest, using an ancient sword passed down from generation to generation. Huh, when you say it like that, guess that story really does sound like a movie.

In any case, after I woke up, Touko told me that I had killed Souren Araya, and the whole Ogawa Apartment Complex went down in smoke afterward, as if his life was tied to the whole building. And thus was the end of my greatest rival…"

Mikiya snickered from the corner of the room as he was adjusting some documents by a desk. "Did you tell them about Lio?"

Shiki glared at him. "You can tell them about Lio."

"Right, right, story for another time, it seems." Mikiya chuckled, before returning back to his work.

"Woaahhh…" Mana's eyes were practically sparkling in amazement at her mother's story. Apparently, she hadn't been told these tales until right now, either. "Okaa-san's amazing…isn't she, Saten-neesan?"

"Incredible, honestly…" Saten muttered. "You didn't break any bones from falling that far, Shiki?"

"Nope." She replied. "Somehow I only lost consciousness, though. I didn't know how that worked, either."

Mikoto had just finished rinsing off the last pot, and gently set it on a rack to dry as she dried her hands and made her way back to the dinner table. "Well, Shiki…seems like you had your fair share of hardship, too."

Lady Ryougi gave a solemn, but knowing nod. "Indeed. I do have a handful more to tell you all…perhaps I'll save it for later times, hm?"

"Like Lio?" Mana asked.

"I'll…tell you about him when you're older." Shiki sighed. "But for right now, young Mikoto, Saten…" She turned her attention to the both of them again. "…I had my demons in the past as well. And as you can see…"

She gestured to the roof over her head, and Mikiya and Mana that both flanked her. "…Given time, it all eventually worked out. So shall it be the same for you."

Mikoto and Saten looked at each other for a moment, before turning to the lady of the house and nodded astutely.

Their demon was defeated. However, the aftereffects of its horrors would still follow them for some time.

But given time…the effects would weaken. Maybe never vanish for the rest of their lives…but they would certainly lessen.

And when that happened, they could move forward in earnest.

Ding-dong.

A doorbell ring caught all of their ears. Before any of them could move, the still-standing Mikoto volunteered to answer.

They were normally apprehensive about letting her answering the door, since the last time she did she was face-to-face with the Yakuza…

'…Oddly nice people, weirdly enough. Guess it's because Shiki's their boss.'

They relented, however, after that incident. If one answered the door to the Yakuza, one could answer the door to practically anyone.

Mikoto strided down the long hallway, hearing the doorbell ring again. "I'm coming!"

"Eh? That doesn't sound like Shiki's voice."

"Maybe it's Mana?"

"Mana's four, Aoko. That sounded at least like a teenage—"

Mikoto unlatched the lock to the door, and slid it open.

"This is the Ryougi residence, how may I…uh…"

She blinked as she sized up the two redheaded women in front of her. Both were about the same height, with similarly toned reddish hair, though one had their hair loosely down to her upper legs, while the other had it tied into a ponytail.

Their sense of fashion also couldn't be more dissimilar: the lady to her left had a tan trenchoat covering a white button-up and black slacks, while the right had a white T-shirt, jeans, and a modern hoodie.

"Yo. What's your name, kid?" The long-haired redhead asked. "Mine's Aoko, this lady next to me isn't important."

"I drove you here, Aoko." Touko smacked the other woman lightly on the shoulder before sighing. "My name is Touko Aozaki. Apologies about my sister, she hates my guts."

"You literally maimed my roommate and cut my friend in half."

"Didn't we agree that that's all water under the bridge?"

"U-Um…" Mikoto gulped. What the two of them just said was…a lot to take in, put lightly. "Can I…help you two…?"

Touko fixed her glasses and nodded. Aoko seemed to calm down from the banter as well— although it seemed more like arguing about wounds that hadn't quite healed, yet. "Yes. Could you get the lady of the house for us?…oh, nevermind, looks like she's on the way."

Mikoto turned her head and saw Shiki pacing up to the front door with a worried look on her face. She took a step back to let the three adult women converse, yet stayed close in case it was anything important.

"Touko?" Shiki asked. "I haven't seen you in quite a while…though, what are you doing here? I'm assuming you're not just here to say hi to Mana?"

Touko nodded gravely. "I wish we could say hello under better circumstances, but I'll break the ice now. Aoko, if you would."

She gestured to her sister, who reached into her book bag to retrieve some sort of document. "We got a report from overseas…we finally have solid evidence for that thing that Touko told you about a few months ago. This situation was serious enough that it caught my attention, too."

Shiki's eyes trembled by a degree. Mikoto hadn't seen Shiki this shaken up since her Servant-self's conflict against Saber. "…You mean…?" Shiki muttered.

Aoko handed her the paper. It was a photocopied image of a man whose face Mikoto didn't recognize, but to Shiki and the two stranger women, it seemed all-too familiar.

"We found it." Touko said. "…We found the Snake."

---

A/N:

Different writing style, right? I hope you like this new format— it is a bit more traditional, but constantly switching between individual POVs could get kind of confusing sometimes, so I genuinely think sticking to what works— 3rd-Person Omni— works the best.

It's how Nasu and Kamachi write anyway, at least for the most part in a lot of their stories, so I think I'll stick with it.

Whether the chapter is canon to the story or not is up to you— it's kind of like when Shiki and Saten visited Ahnenerbe Café— but I like to think it is.

I've written some pretty messed up stuff…it's a breath of fresh air to finally write something fun, with some of my favorite characters.

Last part's definitely canon though, and a hint at what may come in the future.

And yes I have a ship bias. Shush. XD

Anyway…this is probably the final, final upload now. Any other new updates will be for new stories, so if you want to keep up with them, please follow me, the author, so you can be notified when that happens.

Oh— and if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or recommendations for story ideas, then please let me know in a review or DM. I'll consider it.

Thank you all for reading this chapter, and Heaven's Fall, to its end. It's time to take a step forward and move on.

---

Deep, deep, deep, yet deeper beneath the Earth's surface.

Thousands of kilometers. Dwelling deep within the Inner Sea.

A realm of white flowers stood in a dimension far below, yet beyond humanity.

Among these flowers, stood a tall castle. A massive, spiraling castle millennia old. Grand archways, spinning staircases, and outstretched towers and bridges, stretching as far and high as the eye could see.

The flowers were the castle's garden. Thousands upon millions stretched out beyond the horizon.

Among these flowers lay a sleeping girl. The princess to the castle, whose kingdom has yet to stand.

Perhaps goaded on by an inner voice, or by the actions upon the surface, the girl's eyes slowly eked open.

She didn't know how long she had been resting. Time below didn't match the time above.

All that she knew, was…

"…Ah."

The blonde princess lifted up her naked arm. Her smooth, peachy yet pale hand reached up to the sky.

Toward a bright, shining blue moon.

"…Guess it's that time again.

Roa."