As the darkness was repainted by a bright emerging glow, a new day began.

The rays of sun fell on the awakening Natsumi, who straightened her hands, which protested in disagreement. The girl covered her yawn and opened her sparkling hazel eyes.

A cute sound could be heard.

"Fuwa-fua, I shouldn't have stayed up late after all." Lamented the black-haired girl after which she forced herself to get up early. The sun was just rising and she was stretched out across the entire bed.

If anyone were to see her now, they would notice how her eyes continued to blink unconsciously, unaccustomed to light.

Oh man, her mouth was dry and she wanted to drink.

It was 6 a.m. so early, but Natsumi's body itself naturally forced her to wake up. She couldn't help it, her father from a younger age had often woken her up in the morning for what he called "Special Tasks" of all things, waking her up in all sorts of ways.

At the very thought of her father without shirt and waking her up with a bandana wrapped around his head, performing gymnastic exercises on the spot, she got the shivers. Her father was like that, forever trying to find her a work to do.

In other words, mornings were hell.

However, at times she felt that in the content of her upbringing, her father treated her like a boy for a while, often taking her to football plays at the stadium or children's festivals.

A soft smile graced her lips as she thought about the old days, and Natsumi's body relaxed and she lay back and gazed at the ceiling. The black-haired girl cherished these moments with unimaginable sentiment, times when her thoughts were not warped by worries and relationships were more easily formed into bonds.

If Natsumi were to be honest, just a few days ago she would have considered shamelessly staying home and ignoring classes in favor of her own personal whims, the past few days have made her reconsider everything. The chance for a change was making its presence known, and she couldn't waste it like that.

The girl with night-colored hair knew that if she didn't work on herself one last time, she would regret it for the rest of her life.

A sigh was heard, "I guess it's time to get up huh."

After lying down for a while, the girl bent her legs, feeling their strain, straightened up with a groan and went to the bathroom on her bare feet, experiencing a throbbing feeling of cold.

Entering the bathroom, she looked in the mirror and whined, "Uh, you look bad Natsumi." Her hair was straightened in all directions, and her eyes could terrify even a horror main movie antagonist, being darkened from lack of sleep and the abuse of looking at a screen.

Natsumi tried to pull her hair back, partially imitating her father's hairstyle, but this proved impossible, her long hair making this impossible.

How annoying.

After a few minutes, she realized that the only way was to take an early bath, and she didn't feel like mixing tap water with her hair and playing with it.

The high-schooler could be seen walking down the stairs toward the kitchen after a while.

While Natsumi entered the kitchen, she noticed a note on the table along the way. Curious, she picked it up and read its contents.

- I'm going out to the store, if you need anything then message me!

~ 'Love you, mom 3

Well, she was hungry. She checked the fridge for what, in search of the holy stuff, being the most important ingredient for breakfast of course!

Her eyes scanned the fridge like a hungry shark when she saw her prey.

Mayonnaise, checked.

She grabbed the mayonnaise jar in both hands and hugged it, paying no attention to its coldness. With a satisfied smile, Natsumi closed the refrigerator and turned around. Everything tastes good with mayonnaise after all.

We are saved captain, she quietly holded up her fist in satisfaction.

For her, mayonnaise was the food of the gods, you hear that Naruto!?

There is no way that day could end badly.

Looking at her phone, the girl noticed that she didn't have much time left to leave. After eating breakfast, Natsumi left her house and walked toward the bus stop, strangely not thinking about anything other than how nice the weather was today.

Natsumi was wondering whether she should approach and greet Emiya when she saw the distinctive auburn hair color among the bus occupants. The reason that strengthened her conviction that it was indeed Emiya was the fact that he was the first to give up his seat by noticing an old woman entering through the opening door. Without thinking, the red-haired boy as if by instinct, got up from his seat.

The black-haired girl silently considered how he did it without hesitation, as if he didn't even give a thought to what he had done.

People eventually had at least a thinking mechanism in which they would think a moment, agree with the consensus of moral action and only then act.

Yup, that sounded plausible and smart to her thoughts, nodded the girl.

Generally speaking, Emiya was at the front of the bus, while she stood leaning against one of the seats, convicted of her invisibility and looking at him with what someone might describe as a perplexed face.

So back to the previous case, Natsumi was fighting a battle with a rather difficult question for an anti-social type like her. A decision that was quite difficult to make because of its impact on socializing with a potential acquaintance.

To approach and say hello or... not.

To her horror, however, her legs and mouth were not cooperative enough, having thought the situation as too unnecessary.

So she tried, along with her stubborn mind, to force this cooperation. There was now a battle of convictions going on in her mind, between the old Natsumi, the one who would move forward without hesitation, and the one who had already been treated cruelly by high school life.

The fight went on, many battles were fought, but the war was not yet won, she thought too much. The red-haired boy was not yet so familiar to her that she could do so.

In the end, she refrained from greeting him and went alone, her failed attempt adrift on her mind and undecided between failure and tactical withdrawal, then maybe attacking next time.

Natsumi was surprised when, entering the classroom, she didn't see Emiya anywhere, who should have been in front of her. Not even running late, Tani-sensei too looked confused to see that he was absent. The black-haired girl occasionally glanced at the door out of the corner of her eye and wondered when it would be opened in haste.

In the end, it wasn't opened, and Emiya was missing without a trace. She let her eyes wander around the classroom and noticed that no one actually cared as much as she thought they would. Was she mistaken and Emiya didn't make as many friends as she thought during this time?

She was not as good with observation as she thought, it seemed.

Whatever happened did not ultimately concern her, they were not friends but merely acquaintances.

The bell rang, jolting her out of her thoughts and reminding her that the math lesson was over, putting many in a relieved state of mind.

Natsumi had already mentioned that she was prepared to change into a better person, she knew that Emiya could be a stepping stone for her to start feeling a little better about herself. She found it easy to talk to Emiya, she couldn't deny it, the amber-eyed boy had that something about him that attracted her, she didn't know if it was a matter of looks or his aura, but she had a feeling that there was more to Emiya than meets the eye.

She was snapped out of her musings by something completely unexpected.

"Hey, you know where I can find Emiya-san? I haven't seen the guy unfortunately since this morning, and I want to ask him again about joining our club. Goodness, would he finally stop avoiding me I wonder." Somehow the stoic voice was aimed in her direction, making Natsumi look dumbstruck with a paralyzed body at the situation.

The girl in front of her seemed to be looking into her soul, analyzing her worth. Like Natsumi, she had black-hair but cut down to her shoulders and piercing red eyes that looked like they were about to engulf her. She also did have a small nose and a pretty face that Natsumi could never hope to have.

The loner looked to the side, wondering if the scary girl was talking to her, then pointing her finger lightly at herself awkwardly and realizing how silly it looked, "Um, are you talking to me?"

"Yes, you are Natsuki Natsumi." Was that even a question?

"Yes?"

A single brow raised in disbelief, "To whom else should I speak perhaps?"

What was this type of talking anyway?

"Er, sorry, so what do you need exactly?"

"I was looking for Emiya-san, I am the President of the Archery Club, Shinomiya Ayako." She explained, her tone of voice insinuating annoyance, then continued, "Emiya-san promised to think about joining the club yesterday, but despite my request, he didn't even come today. So I ask, why didn't he show up this morning huh!?"

She didn't know, but it was hardly a question for her.

"Well, he said he's quite good at archery though and I think expecting him around the whole day instead of waiting for an answer from him is... well. Maybe you should be more patient." She wasn't defending Emiya and his promises, but she could understand what was going on, the Archery Club President looked pretty scary in her eyes.

"Quite good, quite good!? The guy came to the club when he first toured the school, walked in unnoticed, and when I saw him he said it had been a long time since he'd been archery, so his accuracy might be poor, then he hit the bull's eye straight on! What kind of person does that!?"

Natsumi blinked, then replied somehow weakly, "I mean, he said so in his introduction."

"Hehe, these are Emiya-san's first days at our school, and he's wasting them skipping class and messing around. Just wait until I catch you."

While the girl laughed in a way that could only be called creepy , Natsumi stood still .

"Crazy, right?"

"Aha-haha, yeah." She laughed, refusing to meet her eyes, seemingly indifferent to Emiya's plight.

"So now, you!" The President pointed at her, "You are a friend of Emiya-san right? Come with me, let's see if you have any talent in archery."

"W-what?"

"You heard what I said!" She shouted with a smile promising hard work, "I don't see Emiya-san anywhere, so you come with me while I use you as bait for him, there's no way he'll look away from your efforts in your attempt at archery. This will lure him out of the hiding place he is in, and then let's show him the fire of our determination." Her tone was predatory.

There was no chance, she was delusional.

She understood why Emiya didn't come.

While being pulled by Shinomiya-san, whose grip was surprisingly strong, Natsumi covered her face with her other hand to spare herself embarrassment.

Everyone was looking at her.

Huaaaaaa–!

Please kill her.

"There is no one here anymore, so we can go on as much as we want." The Club President explained.

"Yeah, because there are classes happening right now!"

She wanted to say something, but held back, not knowing how the lunatic would react to it.

The Archery Club was neither too big nor too small and a small area. It consisted of a bow filled storage with mostly Asian ones, but Natsumi could also see a few European ones. However, she wouldn't give her hand for it, since she knew almost nothing about bows. Shouldn't there still be Long Bows, Short Bows, the crossbow was not a bow? Ah, yes that's how mechanical.

The black-haired girl watched as President hummed to herself as she browsed and selected her bow. Just as she was about to ask what she should do, the red-eyed girl spoke up, "Yes, I've already found one. Take it, this one will be yours." Presented to her was a long bow made of probably bamboo and wood, Natsumi touched the texture lightly and took it in hand, meanwhile the archery girl watched her quietly.

The high school student ran her finger over the soft wood, convincing herself that she was dealing with something incredibly smooth, she curiously continued to analyze its texture, realizing that this tool, this weapon, could potentially injure a person. The only time she could use bows was in some of the RPGs she played, so she didn't have much exposure to them.

While she continued, she paid no attention to the irritated stomping of the leg beside hers, too immersed in her activity.

"Why don't you finish groping that yumi already, huh? Now follow me." She commented impatiently.

"A-ah, yeah, sorry."

"Tch, let's go."

"Um…" Natsumi failed to speak.

"What are you, looking at me like that? I'm not scary am I?"

"No, just, shouldn't it be different one?"

The eyes of Club President narrowed, causing Natsumi to gulp.

"What do you mean by that exactly?"

"Shouldn't I get something called a Compound Bow at the beginning? I've heard they are used to help beginners, and I've never used a bow. What if I break something or shoot someone?"

Bonk!

"Augh!"

There was the sound of wood hitting something hard, followed by a groan of pain.

"You hit me! You seriously just hit me!"

Bonk!

"Ow! You hit me twice in a row!" She cried out, "Stop!"

"Fool. Stop shouting or I'll hit you a third time." The ominous comment made Natsumi go silent, but not before glaring at the girl, "This isn't America, there's no way I'm going to give you something so useless. You learn the best method of practice in the field with real weapons, real equipment and a real arrowhead!" The lunatic explained with evident joy, "To be an archer you need a challenge, shooting your prey, you need to feel like a predator, with your heartbeat counting down the seconds until you shoot. When the arrow hits your prey, you'll feel a satisfaction you've never experienced before in your life!" She laughed maniacally.

Is that why no one attended the Archery Club? Because the President was mad? Natsumi seriously considered it. After all, who would want to participate in archery with such a person in charge!

The black-haired girl felt that if she didn't get out of here as soon as possible it would end badly for her.

Natsumi began to tactically retreat backward with small steps, trying to remain quiet before the monster stopped her.

"I recommend not taking a single step further if you want to live." A very calm voice behind her said, causing her to break into a cold sweat.

She turned around and met red empty eyes staring at her without blinking, a bow in her hands with an already stretched string, more than ready to shoot an arrow, "My father once took me to the woods and left me there for a whole day without food or drink, just given a bow and a couple of arrows. He ordered me to hunt for food and survive until he returned. I was drowning in desperation at the time, but I understood the truth then, I took the bow and shot and shot and shot until I finally managed to kill the prey between its eyes. I was almost killed by a boar, but I survived, so here I am. So don't move."

"A-And why are you telling me this exactly?" Natsumi forced out the words, scared of the answer.

The predator's smile widened, "You ask yourself why? To make you join the Archery Club, of course! There are no members in my club, so the school board wants to replace me. Tch, fools. The previous members were weak and dropped out on the very first day, so I have to have at least two members. I can't continue the club without members, but I won't accept those with weak willpower." She continued with a serious face, the arrow stretched to its maximum potential, threatening to be released, "Don't you want to be strong, Natsuki Natsumi! I see determination in your eyes, but you are weak as you are, you are weak not because you are invisible to others, but because you are invisible to yourself!"

Her words awakened something in the closed-in girl, changing the path her character would take. Shinomiya Ayako may have been crazy, but what she said was not untrue. She was not wrong.

Natsumi then felt that fire, that motivation, that she could move forward and fight for herself.

Because the truth was that Natsumi didn't want to stay where she was now, alone, with no friends, her relationship with her family consisted of a lie she told herself. She tried to pretend that everything was fine, when nothing could be further from the truth.

"Yeah, you're right! I won't give up, I will become a member of the Archery Club!" She shouted with all the strength of her lungs, finding her determination.

"I see." Shinomiya-san only said while lowering her bow, and smiled lighty as if content with everything that just transpired, "Then you passed my test. You are now a true member of the Honorable Archery Klub, be proud."

"You tried to kill me just now, I know you did! You're masking it now with bullshit! And what's with you guys and these lines huh! Did you guys break out of some anime or something!?" Natsumi pointed a blaming finger at her.

She was promply ignored however, "You can call me Ayako, as I'm now officially your second friend." Club President gritted her teeth in obvious anger, "Emiya, that bastard." She even forgot to use the honorifics, "To find such a catch before me. I was surely defeated this time."

However, Natsumi was more than confused, "What're you even saying all of sudden!?"

"Ah, hi? Is this a bad time to interrupt?" A third voice joined the conversation, causing both girls to turn in its direction.

One girl stared at him expectantly, and the other with her pupils slited.

Standing in the open doorway was none other than Emiya Shirou, awkwardly waving at them with one hand while scratching the back of his head with the other, puzzled to meet them there.

It was a confrontation.

""EMIYA!""

Hello again and Merry Christmas!

I will respond to your comments in the next chapter, hope to see you soon hopefully.

Wanna sleep.