A woman with blonde hair and blue eyes whistled a small tune to herself as she sat against a rock. Her greave-covered feet kicked idly in a bit of childish fun as she waited.
What she waited for; she didn't quite know. But in her bid to "escape that which was trying to corrupt her", she had been led to this location to wait. So, until the feeling of needing to wait subsided, she would follow the instructions of her Lord and wait patiently. Though she did wish that she had some form of entertainment, it was a little boring just waiting around here.
"Mesa mis, que reste-t-il, Á ce Dauphin si gentil?" The girl began to hum.
Her pitch was off and her timing a little poor, but the sound was nonetheless ethereally beautiful. Like a master performer's effect on a crowd transformed and brought specifically to this small gap of forest that she sat in, where the only listeners were herself.
"Orléans, Beaugency, Notre-Dame de Cléry, Vendôme, Vendôme!"
There was something deeply wrong with this current Holy Grail War, that she knew, and it was wrong in more than just one aspect as well. Her summoning had gone perfectly but nothing should have known where she was going to appear exactly to set a trap, and nothing like that should have existed in the first place. Additionally, the Grail had far too much of a power buildup, even for being able to begin a Great Holy Grail War in the first place. Something was wrong with the Grail, something that was being purposefully hidden.
"Les ennemis ont tout pris Ne lui laissant par mépris Qu'Orléans, Beaugency, Notre-Dame de Cléry, Vendôme, Vendôme!"
The feeling was beginning to subside. For whatever purpose she had been led and kept here, it was beginning to end or draw near. Slowly, she rose to her feet and wiped off her dress on habit, an innocently quizzical look on her face as the sound of metal on metal echoed through the trees from a specific direction. And then her gaze slid to the left, the sudden appearance of a dark-skinned, white-haired girl catching her by surprise. Pale golden eyes met deep blue as the Servant—Saber Class she realized— turned to look at her in turn.
"You feel a type of 'call' as well… Master wishes not to ruin negotiations before they can begin. So please kindly deal with him until he recovers." And with a shift of their foot, the Servant flickered about thirty meters to the right, a red-haired teen appearing right in the spot where she had been standing.
Behind him floated a diamond of ever-shifting cubes with completely different scenery on the other side. The diamond disappeared a second later as a second one opened and a rather buxom blonde dropped next to the white-haired Servant. Said Servant wrapped an arm around her waist and took a step. The both of them disappeared entirely as she did.
"Seriously? Show up to my house and then lead me all the way out here…" The teen sighed, the strange intensity that had been enshrouding him a moment earlier gone as he sighed and sheathed the ancient-styled blade in his hand.
With a cock of his right leg, the teen rested his weight almost entirely on his left as he scratched the back of his head. Appearing as confused about the situation as she felt, at least until she looked down at his right hand and saw a set of deep red markings.
"You're a Master?" She asked before she could stop herself.
Slowly, the teens' eyes slid over to her, showing her the pattern very prevalent in one of them and somewhat murky in the other.
"And you're a Servant…Nice to meet you, Jeanne."
A wary gaze slid onto her face as she slid a foot back and lowered her center of gravity ever so slightly.
"I am…"
"Relax." The teen turned his head away from her and waved his hand dismissively in her direction. "We're sort of trying to avoid fighting as many Servants as possible."
"But, why? The point of the Holy Grail War is for Servants to enter combat with one another." Jeanne frowned, was he one of the ones messing up the proper order of the war…?
"Ordinarily, yeah. But this one is out of the norm. The Greater Grail has been corrupted, so any wish that is made will end in the destruction of humanity."
Lies. Deceit. Listen not. End him.
The whispers that entered her mind were gone almost as quickly as they appeared. But rather than convince her of their words or compel her like they had been trying to do, all they did was put a creeping doubt in her heart. That voice had come from the Grail, she knew that in her heart of hearts, somehow, but that most certainly wasn't what it was meant to sound like. That dark, deceitful, and hateful voice…it was wrong.
"So…You're saying that the corruption was what tainted the proceedings of the Holy Grail War?"
"Yeah, I suppose so."
"Then it is my enemy too."
"You came to that conclusion rather quickly?" The teen beside her raised an eyebrow and tilted a corner of his mouth up in amusement.
"Because it is my one and only wish that the Holy Grail War proceed how it should. As Servant Ruler, I should serve only the Grail as the arbiter of this war. But I am not a machine." Jeanne smiled softly and disarmingly at the spiky-haired teen, "I know that the corruption and its orders are not that of the Grail."
"Servant Ruler….didn't Illya say something about that…?" The teen muttered to himself.
"Pardon?"
"Oh. I've been out of it the last couple of days creating this blade here. I think my sister mentioned something about your class during that time but it's really foggy…" He clicked his tongue in annoyance and scrunched his eyes up, scratching his head as he tried to think about what Illya had talked to him about.
But nope, all that he could remember was the exact step in the forging process he had been on when she had been speaking.
"I see. Is that a common occurrence?" She questioned; she had no idea that blacksmiths got so absorbed in their work…
"Not to the same extent. This blade is special though." The teen pats the pommel of the blade with a soft, tender look on his face, "So I put everything that I had into it and sort of lost myself. That fight that you saw earlier was sort of started because I needed to test it in combat."
"I see. Well from what I saw, it was a marvelously well-made blade." Jeanne nodded with a small smile, "But may I ask your name and more about this fight you just finished?"
"Oh, sorry. My name is Shirou. And as for the fight…"
XXXxxxXXX
Muramasa Residence, Five Minutes Earlier
"What do you want?" The half-lidded, slightly dazed eye of Shirou bore into the buxom blonde-haired girl standing at the door of his house.
His thoughts were clearer than they had been in days but there was still a murky obsession that lingered on the fringe of his conscious mind at all times. Keeping his senses wired for any kind of combat, to the point that the world around him felt like it was moving through water. He was fairly certain that this wasn't safe for his health if it continued but he had Avalon, so he'd last a fair while before anything annoying or worrying happened.
Probably.
"You said to come to you directly, did you not? That the cloak and dagger approach was 'boring'?"
"Just let them know if they want a fight to come to me directly, ok? The cloak and dagger stuff gets real boring after the first few families give it a try."
The memory was forced to the forefront of Shirou's mind with all the speed and subtlety of a supersonic missile and his response was equally as drastic. The edge of Kuro impacted the edge of a long black katana with a deep crimson Ha (edge) in a crack of wind and an almost literal explosion of sparks.
It was only after the clash, in the brief stalemate that followed, that the blonde-haired girl reacted. Flinching back and pressing her lips thin together.
"What a hostile reaction…" She muttered.
"He is not fully here. His mind is clouded and hazy." Saber mumbled, flickering in and out of reality to avoid the swipe at her neck when her stance was blown open.
"Not ideal. I hardly came here for a fight. But if it's inevitable…" The woman muttered, swiping her hand through the air and replacing the entire front lawn of the Muramasa residence with a portal that opened over the forest outside Fuyuki.
The sensation of weightlessness hit Shirou for only a single moment before he fell into the canopy of the forest, his feet touching a branch and promptly cracking it with his push-off. Kuro impacted the edge of the black blade- Rengoku- before a portal opened beneath him and dropped him on the ground, away from the Master and Servant combination.
"My name is Angelica Ainsworth. I have matters I wish to discuss with you." Angelica spoke again, only getting a slow breath out from the red-haired teen as he sheathed Kuro at his side and pulled the brand-new blade from its own sheath.
"I suppose I should use the whole thing to test it out…" Shirou mumbled to himself before slowly sliding into a stance.
The blade itself was a bright, brilliant gold with a double-edged design modelled after the types of blades common to be found around the area of Mesopotamia. The blade a reasonable 33 centimeters in length and the 'handguard' was only as wide as the blade itself. It left no defense for the hand in case of a sliding blade, but it hardly needed to, it wasn't the type of sword meant to be locked with another in stalemate after all.
"Gilgamesh." The blade in his hands seemed to become heavier, as if reacting to its name being called, despite not actually having any form of intelligence like Add or, apparently, the blade held in second Saber's hands.
"I'm just trying to test this out. But your portals are getting annoying." Shirou mumbled to himself, clicking his tongue and launching in once more for a close-quarters fight.
Yet without the surprise on his side, evidently Angelica was better than the norm because she actually began to react faster than most Magi could. Nothing on the level of Servants or true monsters, but certainly admirable.
"Tyranny." The portal forming in front of him glitched in and out of reality before collapsing in on itself and deactivating, a surprised sound leaving Angelica's mouth.
'What!? I used the correct amount of Od and the correct formula. Even on the worst days the Orb's degeneration hasn't caused a portal to collapse. Did he do something?'
Gilgamesh and Rengoku met in a flurry of blows. Saber continually lost ground with each and every exchange that they made. The difference in their technique was just that apparent in their every blow.
"I see why I must watch you." Saber spoke, stepping back after a failed parry and flickering out of reality right as Shirou would have slashed clean through her torso.
Appearing next to Angelica, the Servant quickly raised her blade back into a defensive stance.
"Alright, that's working. Now for the flip side…"
"He's coming again, Master."
Without a verbal response, Angelica raised her hand. Creating yet another portal, but this time reinforcing it with more Od than usual to avoid another potential collapse of the highly technical spell.
"Benevolence."
The portal ballooned in size, expanding to easily two or three times the size that Angelica had meant to make it. Her eyes widened as she realized that it had something to do with Shirou, not her or The Orb, that was messing with her portals. Which was rather dangerous all things considered.
"We cannot afford for this engagement to go on any longer." She quickly informed her Servant.
"Understood, I sense another Servant close by." Saber responded, before her blade once more clashed with Shirou's, and her defense was thoroughly shattered.
Though not as much as it had been at the start of the engagement…
"Lead the way, Saber!"
"Understood, Master."
XXXxxxXXX
"And then they led me here and you know the res- why are you looking at me like that?"
"You just attacked them out of the blue, Shirou." Jeanne gave a flat look to the teen beside her.
"Yeah, I did." Shirou admitted shamelessly, a small shrug accompanying his words. "And if I hadn't been all fuzzy in the head I wouldn't have. But she doesn't seem to have taken it to heart, and I got to test Gilgamesh, so it's all good."
"I hardly believe so…Though Gilgamesh is an interesting name for your blade?"
"Heh, yeah. Its full name is Gilgamesh: The Wedge that Drives Divinity from Man. Which is a bit of a mouthful but fits perfectly, given who it was made from."
"Pardon, but….'who' it was made from?"
"Gilgamesh, King of Heroes. It's made from his remains."
Shirou was almost able to see the question marks floating above her head. Getting a small sigh from him as he hung his head and shook it a little.
"There's a lot to discuss and I'm probably not the best one to explain it all. I can bring you to meet with my family and friends, they can fill you in better than I can."
"That sounds wonderful, thank you for the opportunity."
XXXxxxXXX
Muramasa Estate, Half an Hour later
"Shirou how could you!?" The teen leaned back as if physically buffeted by the sound of Rin's shout, having not even been able to say something after opening his front door before she shouted at him.
"There's a lot of things that could apply to…"
"Leaving the house after days of no rest or nutrients and meeting with another Servant!?"
"Two and I fought one."
"What?" Rin's expression went stone-cold as she glared at her boyfriend.
"Oh, Sherou!" Luvia circled her rival and hugged Shirou tightly, "I'm glad that you're alright. When I heard that you'd met with an unknown Servant without any kind of backup I feared the worst."
"You know that I wouldn't fall through a short skirmish with another Servant, Luvia…" Shirou raised an eyebrow at her.
"Of course not, but damage isn't the only thing they can do. And death is hardly the only bad outcome from a fight with a Servant." Luvia huffed herself, yelping as she was pulled off Shirou by a still stone-faced Rin.
"He deserves none of your worry for being an idiot."
"Just because you don't care for his safety, Miss Gorilla. That doesn't mean that I have to as well."
"Excuse you!?" Rin and Luvia began to butt heads while grinding their teeth together, the twin-tailed girls' anger rapidly turning from ice-cold to burning hot.
"Um, excuse me. But I feel that such interactions are a tad too violent for allies…no?" Both girls froze at the sound of a soft, and feminine, French-accented voice, their gazes and heads sliding to the side to see the nervously waving form of Jeanne.
"Rin, Luvia." Sakura smiled pleasantly and nodded at the both of them from Jeanne's side, "This is Jeanne, Servant Ruler of the new Great Holy Grail War."
"Servant Ruler?" Rin questioned skeptically and warily, squinting her eyes at the Servant as if trying to discern her true goals just from the way she held herself and her expression.
"Yes, I've had brief conversations with both Shirou and Sakura about the state of the war and assured them that I'm not an enemy. But I truthfully had no idea that Shirou was nobility when I first met him…"
"Eh?" Rin and Luvia looked between Shirou and Jeanne with slightly confused expressions, not even realizing how in sync they were.
"Jeanne please don't start again…" Shirou sighed, placing his head in his palm.
"You have a property of this size all to yourself. You live with quite envious wealth, have a maid, and stand within the good graces of multiple high-standing parties and factions within both the city and the thaumaturgical world, do you not?" Jeanne ticked off on her fingers, tilting her head to the side.
"By technicality, Senpai has two maids. But Liz is rather lazy and shirks her duties quite often…" Sakura tacked on.
"When put like that, Sherou, she's not wrong~" Luvia giggled, and even despite her anger at him Rin couldn't help but grin teasingly at him too.
"Master!" The shout of Saber immediately sobered the vibe of the conversation, with the blonde-haired Servant barreling past Rin and Luvia to check over her Master.
And despite Shirou's best protests and efforts, the woman was clearly quite adamant in making sure that absolutely no harm or ill-effect had befallen him in the time that she had been gone.
"Saber. I promise I'm fine."
"I'll be the judge of that." Saber said stonily, grabbing the back of his shirt and beginning to drag him through his house.
"Wha- where are you taking me, Saber!?"
"I am checking your body for injuries."
"I'm fine and I have Avalon!"
"Avalon is not perfect." Artoria rebutted as she dragged him around the corner, leaving the three girls and Servant alone in the entryway of the Muramasa estate.
"While Saber does that, how about we discuss what has and may come to pass with Jeanne, here?" Sakura suggested diplomatically, getting a small hum from Rin as the four women moved into the loungeroom of the estate.
XXXxxxXXX
A short while later
Shirou looked over as Luvia walked into his room by herself. Saber finally left him alone after he had made a joke about her undressing him while they were alone. But in the present moment, he just raised an eyebrow and gave a small wave to her as he oiled Kuro.
"I should have known that your room here would smell just like your dorm at the Clock Tower." Luvia smiled humorously and sat down on the edge of his bed while watching the teen carefully coat and rub the blade in the special blend of oil that he had chosen for the care and maintenance of his many, many blades.
"When you love something, you know?" Shirou responded, giving her a small smile before turning back to his blade.
"Ah, uh." Luvia muttered with a small blush on her cheeks from his words and actions. "I just heard from Jeanne what happened to you. Meeting both her and the enemy Saber…"
"Not so sure how much of an enemy she is. Her master clearly didn't want to fight. But some of Saber's comments were confusing."
"That comment about watching you, right?"
"That's right." Shirou nodded.
"It was dangerous to go by yourself and outright attack them like that, Sherou."
"Yeah, I know. I'll probably hear the same from Kaa-chan and Tou-san too."
"Because we all care for you, Sherou."
"Yeah, I know." Shirou nodded, placing his blade gently down on the bench in front of him. "All of you worry about me-"
"No." Luvia cut him off, standing up and walking over before taking one of his hands and kneeling to be eye-level with him. "Sherou. We don't just worry. We fret and we get angry and yes, we worry, but it's so much worse for us than you probably realize. Because we all love you dearly. As friends, as family, and as lovers. You're special to us, and we'll repeat these admonishments as many times as necessary because we want you to understand as well."
"Thanks, Luvia. You're a great friend." And while most in Luvia's place might have lost hope or reacted negatively in some kind of way, the woman in question only smiled a little and leaned in slightly closer.
"You may see me that way, Sherou. But I do wish to grow closer to you. To reach where Sakura and Miss Gorilla currently stand." Shirou's lone-open eye widened a little as what exactly was happening dawned on him. "I know that it may not be possible. I've known that since arriving here. But I won't stop, especially not if Miss Gorilla of all people could make the cut."
Behind the closed door of Shirou's room, Artoria paused while reaching for the handle of his door. Her enhanced senses caught the conversation rather easily.
"You…want to be my girlfriend as well?"
"More than quite a lot of things in my life, yes." She giggled a little. "I understand that this position could be highly awkward, but I needed to say these words before I burst. They're truly how I feel, Sherou."
"I see. Honestly, I think this is the most normal proposal of love I've ever gotten." Shirou laughed sheepishly.
"Truly?"
"Well…Sakura's was sort of immediately followed by sex. And Rin's attempted to do the same thing." Shirou admitted, scratching his cheek.
"Truly? That crass woman. How she believes she could be a proper Magi of the Clock Tower is beyond me." Luvia huffed while shaking her head in disappointment.
"And I can't say that I don't feel something for you as well. But saying yes without speaking to Sakura and Rin first…"
"I see." Luvia replied, biting her lip for a moment before smiling and clapping her hands together. "Then how about we speak of it right now?"
"Huh?"
"Stay right here Sherou! I'll be back in a moment!"
In the hallway, Artoria backpedaled from Shirou's door as fast as she could without making her footfalls too loud, though such precautions were probably unnecessary with the speed and excitement that Luvia burst out of his room and towards the loungeroom where both of Shirou's girlfriends could currently be found.
Slowly she moved forward to poke her head inside Shirou's room, seeing him still giving a confused look at the same doorway that she was looking through.
"She's very excited…" The teen muttered to himself, getting a small smile from the blonde-haired woman.
"Yes, clearly. Shall I speak to Ruler in the meantime?"
"Huh? Oh, do what you wish, Saber." Shirou waved off her words easily, only to blink as she shook her head defiantly.
"You're my Master. If you don't wish me to get so close to such an unknown figure, then I will not."
In response to her words, Shirou just groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"How are we back on this issue again…? Artoria, you're your own person. Don't think I haven't noticed the differences between you and other Servants, and I'm not just talking about being unable to dematerialize."
Artoria paled a little at her Master's words but refused to back down, she stood by what she said.
"…Be that as it may, my words still hold true. I am here right now only because you have summoned me as your Servant, and I have accepted you as my Master. So, Master, shall I speak to Ruler in the meantime?" Artoria just kept a perfectly polite expression on her face even as Shirou aimed a glare just short of withering at her before exhaling deeply.
"Yeah sure, go ahead."
"Very well." Artoria nodded, the barest hint of a vaguely smug smirk crossing her expression before she left his doorway.
And poor, poor Shirou only had about twenty seconds of peace before Luvia burst back into his room, followed shortly by Rin and then Sakura, who closed his door gently behind her.
"Alright Sherou, everyone is here." Luvia announced happily, sitting down on his bed while Rin stood near the wall on the opposite side of the room and Sakura took a position beside Shirou as he sat in his desk chair.
"Luvia said you wanted to speak to us about something?" Rin asked, a vaguely amused smirk ghosting over her lips as she looked at her boyfriend.
"Actually, Rin-" The young woman in question jolted as if she'd been struck, "It was I that had something to speak about. Sherou merely wished to include you both in the conversation and not without reason." Luvia spoke, puffing her chest out just a little bit.
"Alright, what is it this time?" Rin deadpanned.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Shirou deadpanned just as hard in response.
"She used my name; we both know that this is serious."
"Serious doesn't necessarily mean dangerous, Rin." Sakura reminded the twin-tailed girl.
"How very astute, Sakura. I understand that this situation is highly abnormal, but nonetheless, I must say what I have on my mind." Luvia announced, standing up tall and proud.
"And that is?" Rin leaned her hips against the wall, her arms crossed and one of her legs over the other as she gave Luvia a thoroughly unimpressed stare.
"I wish to date Sherou."
'The moment of truth…' Shirou thought to himself, looking back and forth between his girlfriends.
And he could practically see the fuse being lit as Rin began to lean forward and her mouth began to open.
Before Sakura surged forward and placed a palm over her mouth, getting an equal-parts confused and annoyed glare from the Tohsaka-Head in return.
"Rin, please do not make a hasty judgment." The words were quiet and simple.
They were not an order, nor were they said with any force whatsoever, but nonetheless they made Rin pause just long enough for her brain to catch up to her mouth. Getting a silent roll of the girl's eyes before she nodded her head, finally getting Sakura to move her palm.
"These words are not said with any ulterior motive, nor are they a lie. I wish to date Sherou."
"So, you say." Rin spoke coolly, her eyes going from Luvia's feet, up to her head and back down again. "And if we agree that you cannot?"
"Then I will not give up. However, I will respect boundaries."
"Hm."
"Question, Luvia-san."
"Yes, Sakura?" Luvia chirped happily, turning to look at the purple-haired head of the Matou lineage.
"How long have you felt this way?"
"For quite a while now. But to this extent? I'd say a few months."
"Why wait until now?"
"At first it was intimidation. My lovely Sherou already had two girlfriends, and seeing them both face-to-face, bringing up such a topic was difficult. And given the wider circumstances of the war, creating friction between forces was hardly needed."
"I see…"
"Then why now?" Rin cut in, continuing where Sakura left off.
"Because If I did not, I felt as if I was going to explode. The stress of the war so far hasn't helped in that regard."
"Stress you say…?~"
"Down girl." Rin grumbled, weakly karate-chopping her sister on the head.
"Indeed." Luvia merely smiled and nodded.
"You sure you can handle such a responsibility? It's a full-time job you know, being the girlfriend for this sword-obsessed dummy." Rin grinned in a playfully mocking way and pointed a thumb at Shirou.
"I'm certain I can handle that responsibility, or grow to be able to if nothing else."
"I see…Well I, for one, have no issues with it. Given that your feelings for Senpai are genuine."
"I promise you both that they are nothing but genuine." Luvia spoke truthfully, placing a hand over her heart and bowing her head.
"You were easy to win over, weren't you?" Rin levelled a flat gaze on Sakura, only to raise an eyebrow as the girl skipped over and leaned in to whisper something in her ear.
And Luvia truly wished she had the increased senses of a Servant right now because the facial gymnastics that Rin's expression was doing was truly a sight to behold. And the way that Shirou slowly placed his face in his palm, while telling Luvia that he was able to hear the whispering himself, was also telling in his opinion of whatever Sakura was whispering to the other girl.
While Luvia was a little worried about Rin's reaction, she found herself getting more and more intrigued by just whatever Sakura was whispering as the seconds ticked by. Until finally the purple-haired girl stepped back, seeming to let Rin mull over her words for a few seconds before a large smile crossed her features. Luvia's and Rin's eyes locked as the edges of Rin's smile seemed to sharpen ever so slightly.
"Sakura made a few good points. So, I'll agree on two conditions." Rin held up two fingers, very purposefully refusing to look in Shirou's direction as he took his head out of his palm and looked up at her.
"Those being?" Luvia asked, wondering what exactly was going to be thrown her way.
"One. You never seriously hurt Shirou ever." All three of the listening teens could hear the seriousness in Rin's voice as she laid out the first of her two conditions.
Luvia never had any intention of doing so in the first place. But hearing those words and looking at Rin right now, she knew one thing. If she hurt Shirou, it would not be Shirou that she would have to fear, it would be Rin Tohsaka and Sakura Matou.
"Two. You will undergo the same training that Sakura and I did to reach our current levels of strength. Since just being around Shirou puts people in danger."
"I want to refute that. But I can't." Shirou deadpanned from the sidelines.
"It really is." Rin huffed, placing her fists on her hips and narrowing her eyes at her boyfriend.
"Simple training? Very well, I happily agree to both of those 'conditions', Miss Gorilla." Luvia smiled before laughing victoriously into the back of her fist.
"Ooohhh I was hoping you'd say that." Rin laughed ominously, rubbing her hands together. "Shirou, you come along too. You're the only one that can create the kind of environment that we need."
"You can create it too, technically." Shirou rolled his eyes, standing up and rotating one of his shoulders slowly.
"And I'm going to be fighting which will split my attention, Shirou." Rin retorted, poking his chest a couple of times before turning back to Luvia. "Now, let's see if you'll call me 'Miss Gorilla' after this."
XXXxxxXXX
A few hours later, Muramasa Household
Shirou kneeled at the traditional-style table as he placed the last of the food down. All three of his girlfriends kneeling at the table alongside him and Saber outside on the roof of the household since she didn't want to intrude on the occasion but also didn't want to be left in the Emiya Estate with Kiritsugu, despite their meeting earlier.
None of the teens could blame her for not wanting to be inside the house with him but Shirou could also tell that Rin, Luvia, and Sakura were all somewhat thankful that she had chosen to sit out on this particular dinner.
"Oh, this food looks wonderful, Sherou!" Luvia praised him, clapping her hands together.
The sound was a little muffled by the bandages wrapped around her hands, but it wasn't like she was the only one with injuries either.
"It does look good, as always." Rin nodded as well, one of her own hands bandaged up and a small bandage on her left cheek.
"I wanted to try a new sauce with the buri fillets this time so let me know what you all think." Shirou smiled at the three of them, reaching forward to grab some rice for himself.
"My my, experimenting with new recipes? What Gray wouldn't do to be a part of this dinner." Luvia giggled, beginning to politely grab some food of her own.
"I've heard a lot about Gray but have not talked to her at all. How much of a threat is she?" Rin asked, ignoring the thump of Shirou's forehead meeting the table as she grabbed some of the buri fillets.
"From what Senpai has said, she seems like one of his greatest friends." Sakura added on, ever the softening cap to the razor's edge that was Rin.
"Well, Miss Gorilla-" Rin glared and nearly snapped her chopsticks in half just from the twitch of her fingers. "In a romantic sense, none of us have anything to fear from Gray. While she's admitted that Sherou is very attractive-"
"She has!?" Shirou gave a surprised look at Luvia, having never heard about this at all.
"She has no romantic emotions or attachments to him."
"Well, that's good." Rin sighed in relief, dipping her fish in the sauce that Shirou had made.
"I've told you this before." Shirou drawled, taking a bite of rice and fish.
"I believe that Rin is just being paranoid, Senpai."
"Call it what you want but you talk about Gray a whole bunch, so I had to make sure." Rin pointed her chopsticks accusingly at Shirou.
"I'm not surprised by that. Sherou and Gray are….an interesting duo." Luvia laughed a little.
"How so?" Sakura tilted her head to the side.
"If I had to say anything about them, it's that they're likely the premier team amongst all the Magi in the Clock Tower. Even leaving behind the pure speed, strength, and finesse that both of them have in spades, their teamwork in duels and combat exercises are in a league of their own."
"You're exaggerating." Shirou rolled his eyes, having actually opened both of them since the training earlier.
"And if you say that to either of them, both of them react just like that." Luvia pointed out, managing to get a short burst of giggles out of both girls.
"I never knew that you could work together with someone else that well, Senpai. Even with King Gilgamesh, you were always following his lead to an extent." Sakura tilted her head and clapped together palms to the side slightly as she spoke.
"Honestly trying to keep up with the pace of Shirou's combat is hard enough. The ability to spawn and fire swords like you do is just broken." Rin groaned, pointing her chopsticks at her boyfriend accusatorily again.
"…Sorry about that?" He raised an eyebrow.
"You should be."
"No don't be, Senpai."
Both Rin and Sakura froze at their conflicting answers, turning to face each other. Seeming to be locked into a staring contest for a couple of moments before they both looked away suddenly, with Rin huffing as she did so.
"Well, I don't know if they've ever been able to fight anything that can handle the both of them going all out, so I'm not sure how well their teamwork fares in such conditions."
"Honestly neither am I." Shirou shrugged, taking another bite of his dinner. "Definitely something worth trying out."
"No."
"No."
"Please do not."
Shirou just sweat-dropped at the immediate response from his three girlfriends, deciding that he wasn't even going to try arguing with them on this point.
"But I'm surprised, Miss Gorilla. You certainly lived up to your name, today."
"Oh really?" Rin's eye twitched as she gave Luvia a stretched-thin smile. "Because to me, I didn't feel like I had much contest at all today. Like throwing around a small rock."
"Well of course it would. Gorillas are known for their freakish strength after all." Luvia smugly responded, her expression turning outright mocking as Rin growled loudly.
"Were you disappointed in your strength today, Luvia-san?" Luvia froze and slowly deflated, staring down at her plate.
"To make a long point short….yes. I am."
"Well don't worry. We'll help you with the training to catch up. It should go quicker with you because you're already at a higher level than we were when we began. And Senpai isn't quite as vindictive as King Gilgamesh…" Sakura ended up finishing with a small mumble, remembering some of the training sessions when Gilgamesh had decided to 'test them' a little.
"That's excellent to hear. Because I refuse to stay at this level if it allows me to stand alongside you all confidently."
"Hmph. You'll never get to my level but believe what you wish, hyena." Rin scoffed, buffing her nails on her sweater.
"Poor delusional Gorilla."
"You want to go!?" Rin growled, leaning forward as the two crystal-using young women slammed their foreheads together.
Electricity practically began to jump between them as both of them clasped their hands together and began to struggle against the other, nearly knocking half of the food and dining ware on the table over in the process.
'This is surprisingly nice…' Shirou thought peacefully to himself, resting an elbow on the table and his chin in the heel of his palm.
"You two are making a mess. Cease." Glowing purple wires wrapped around the delicate joints of the two Magi, making them pause mid-fight as they heard the dark undertone in the purple-haired maid's voice.
'…yeah, this seems about right.' Shirou deadpanned in his own mind, a laugh escaping his mouth.
It was crazy, it was absurd, it was downright strange, but somehow this situation lifted his spirit in a way that didn't even make sense to himself. Getting to be here with the girls as they just…interacted with each other. It calmed him and made something in his gut feel lighter and fluttery. They were girls capable of incredible violence that all held cut-throat, ice-cold ruthlessness beneath the surface of their 'base' personality and yet seeing those aspects of themselves show up in this situation only made the joy and mirth in his soul rise to the surface even faster.
Nothing about any of them made any logical sense or fit together, but in Shirou's mind none of that mattered. All that mattered was getting to spend this time with them before things inevitably, like always, went to shit.
XXXxxxXXX
Omake: Like a Sardine
"Miss Gorilla!" Luvia sang, slamming open Rin's door with a bang that knocked over books and rattled gemstones.
"This better be good." Rin growled, turning away from the gemstone experiment she'd been doing.
She finally, finally, had the perfect alignment and then along came Luvia, having to ruin it as usual.
"I wish to see this famous public transport that this country is known for!"
"At this time? No you don't." Rin deadpanned.
"Nonsense! Show me at once!"
Rin opened her mouth to continue the argument before an idea came to mind that made her grin darkly.
"Alright, sure. Lets go catch a train shall we?"
XXXxxxXXX
"I-I can't breath!"
"Stop struggling for room and let yourself be crushed." Rin snickered at Luvia's discomfort, the both of them packed into a train car with about 70 or 80 other people.
Sure, Rin wasn't happy about being here either, or being squished right up against Luvia. But not only did she know the tricks to avoid being actually crushed, she also had the sheer panic in Luvia's actions to keep her spirits high.
"Oh, by the way the next station will make it worse."
"HOW!?"
XXXxxxXXX
Hello one, Hello all.
We're back with our monthly dosage of HttB and I'm back from Japan, yippee.
Starting off with the chapter, yet another relatively 'downtime' chapter but in return Luvia officially joins the girls and Jeanne is brought into the Square Table so I feel like it pretty well evens out, no issues there whatsoever. Though proper pacing does dictate slow pace at times so it's not like I think this chapter is doing the story a disservice just by existing. Also next chapter is in the works but not yet completed. This is why I create the buffer in the first place XD
As for real life things, here's a quick rundown. My trip to Japan was great. I just got home this morning actually. The first four days? Brilliant, beautiful, amazing. The last three? Terrible, hated them, never again. If you're wondering why, I caught the flu and barely had the energy (with medication) to leave my hotel room for more than three hours the last two days I was there.
But since I wanna get this over with quickly, lets move right along!
Discord: ctMzhq3 or plasmaassassin
REVIEW REPLIES!
silverhawk88: Well I guess you got your wish? XD
NeoNinja73: You're welcome.
Midoriryu: Yeah I get that thing with the viewpoints, I've come across that while writing already tbh. This is the widest that they're ever gonna get, if things stick to plan, but getting through this part is gonna be a little tough. Also yes, it's a build up to Shirou's blade XD
ZooFan: Yeah, Jeanne and Jalter are pretty separated if you take a look at them.
Roland Tepes: Honestly I'd peg it down to ego.
SentinalSlice: All will be revealed.
Draegoon: Your gut was off with this one. Sorry.
Ariadne Venegas: They can be. They aren't automatically.
581: Honestly having the Ainsworth's near Shirou is giving a lot of people PTSD I have no doubts about that. Also idk, but here it is now my dude.
AnimeFan13579: So, how did this chapter fit into your predictions? XD I know for a fact that Gilgamesh's (Sword) ability would have thrown you for a loop.
Lord Naruto: Honestly just wanted to say thank you for all the suggestions it genuinely gave me a lot of inspiration on where to visit.
GSFT: Yes, a headband. For lack of a better term, and also I am sleepy.
Questionable watcher: The beta's are all excited too, for varying reasons.
Adro-Sama: Since it was not Jeanne, I'll be sending agents to collect my money now.
Sons of death: Was it everything you hoped for and more?
Simon334: That'd be pretty funny ngl
4: I'm glad you enjoyed my story so much, I hope to continue delivering quality!
TalonScythe: What if it was just like….a really small meteor?
Fate-RWBY ODST: Sorry, the events of SF won't be taking place in the httb-verse.
WateryPaper: 1. True 2. I'm glad to hear that.
Zukafew119: Hi once again, man almost late this month. Tsk tsk. Though something I just noticed in your review. Its "Oath Under Snow" not "Thunder Snow" XD That's just something I noticed that I had to point out. Also Sakura having the purple wires is nothing new. She's had them since at least the fight with Enhance. Also worry not, character's from other series (outside the Nasuverse) won't be making appearances in this story or the sequel. Also speaking of Armoured Core 6, I'm downloading it as I type this reply out. But with that I'll see you in another 4 weeks!
AND THAT'S IT FOR REVIEW REPLIES!
Hope you all have a great day and know that I now own an Arcueid Brunestud Figurine.