A.N. (1/26/24) - It's back!

Route (8) - Discussion

To claim that he was prepared for the upcoming talk with Sakura would be a bold statement. Many thoughts were running through his mind at the moment regarding his friend and underclassman who he knew surprisingly little about. Even now, Shirou still had trouble reconciling the fact that Sakura was someone like him, a person involved in the world of magecraft.

How did he not notice before? No, he understood the reason why he never thought to question it. Even if there were obvious clues in hindsight, the relationship between the two of them was something that did not allow him to look deeper into the other girl's situation. Their friendship was something that allowed them to feel normal, an escape from the burden and tragedy of the other parts of their lives. There were no hints of her true nature because Shirou never bothered to look for them.

And most likely, the same could probably be said for Sakura as well.

He had to be careful. Shriou was unsure whether Sakura knew he was a magus, but he doubted that she suspected he knew she was one as well. Confronting her without a plan would only cause her unneeded worry and stress if he suddenly went up to her and revealed that fact.

Then there was his earlier interaction with the man who introduced himself as Zepia. Once he allowed himself to calm down and think, that name felt familiar to him for some reason. Maybe Kiritsugu mentioned it to him before during one of their lessons, although that didn't seem right to him. He didn't recall the name Zepia from their lessons on notable Dead Apostles, and Shirou knew that for certain since his adopted father made sure he memorized a list of individuals that should be avoided at all costs.

Either way, his identity was not as important as what he revealed to him. According to his words, if Shirou wanted to succeed in saving his sister then certain conditions had to be met. One was bringing Sakura back home with him. Another was meeting someone named Reines El-Melloi Archisorte.

And the third…

Shirou shook his head. He didn't want to think about that now, not when there were so many other things to worry about. Ignoring the first and third conditions, it was the second one that had him troubled. After all, all he knew about them was that it was someone from outside Fuyuki. That did not exactly specify where or how he was even going to meet them, much less convince them to help aid him in attacking an ancient magi family without a good reason.

Zepia claimed that he supposedly already had the necessary tools to win her over, but what did that mean? He didn't have any rare or valuable materials that a magus would want unless you counted his deceased adopted father's weapons. And while they were useful in the right hands, Shirou doubted that was what the Dead Apostle meant.

Before long, he came upon the location where Sakura supposedly lived. It was a simple house that did not stand out amongst the other homes in the neighborhood. Supposedly, Sakura once lived in a large western-styled mansion by herself until recently. According to her, she inherited from her deceased family but bought a smaller home that was closer to school sometime in the past few years. She gave him an address a long time ago, but this would be the first time Shirou ever visited.

Once he neared the building, he felt something in the air shift. He wouldn't have noticed it if he was unaware of her true nature, but now that Shirou knew he could guess as to what he was feeling. Even someone as ignorant as him in magical energy could feel the coldness and the unusual nature of this house. But whether this was a bounded field or not, it didn't appear to do anything to stop him from approaching the building.

Hopefully, there weren't any traps that he had to worry about. At the very least, he doubted that anything would happen from simply ringing the doorbell.

The sound of footsteps grew louder once he did so, and the door opened soon after to reveal the figure of a beaming Sakura. "Good afternoon, Senpai." She gestured for him to enter. "It's quite unlike you to visit, especially given your recent mood at school."

"Sorry for intruding."

"No need for apologies, you're always welcome to my home."

He glanced briefly around as he entered, noticing that other than the fact that the previous cold feeling had disappeared there was nothing noteworthy. As the two entered the living room, he took in the sight of a simple but homely space with a small table and cushions for the both of them to sit at. A single steaming cup lay on top of the wooden surface, and Sakura gestured for him to sit.

"I'll prepare you some tea."

Before he could refuse, she had already whipped out a teapot from out of nowhere and was already pouring into a new cup before him. Resigning himself to the situation, he sat across from her as the two settled into a comfortable atmosphere.

Neither of them spoke.

When should I bring it up? Shirou thought to himself. As a matter of fact, how am I even going to start this conversation? Hey, Sakura. I know that you're a magus too, and I need your help to meet with the head of another magi family because one of their members is my best friend who kidnapped my sister because she's a Child of God.

There was no doubt in his mind that Sakura was a friend, but how far was she willing to go for their friendship? He didn't even know whether his request would be possible for her, not when he had no clue how significant her status as the current head of the Makiri family was.

"Senpai." It was Sakura who spoke first. "That girl from yesterday, you should be careful around her. She can't be trusted."

For a moment, he did not understand what she was talking about. "You mean Zenjou? Do you know something about her?"

At the name, Sakura's eyes widened in shock and… recognition?

"I can't explain everything, but that girl should not be here. Even though it's not my place to tell you what to do, I want you to promise me that you'll avoid that person if you ever see them again."

He blinked.

How was he supposed to respond to that? Sure, he had his own suspicions regarding Zenjou. But despite everything he felt about the mysterious girl, their relationship was something that proved valuable to him and his efforts in combating the Ainsworths. On the other hand, he couldn't dismiss Sakura's concerns either. If there was something that she knew about Zenjou that she wasn't telling him, then maybe he needed to keep his guard up.

But it was simpler to simply ask for clarification. "What do you mean," he replied. "Is there something about her that I have to watch out for?"

"That's…"

Her voice was low and soft, barely audible. From the look on her face, it was clear to him that she struggled to come up with a response. Either she herself didn't know the answer or some other reason was holding her back. Not knowing what else to do, Shirou took a sip of his tea while he watched the other girl struggle to form words.

Shirou assumed that she was trying to gather her wits and explain herself. Instead, he was taken aback when tears began to suddenly flow down her face.

"Sakura!?"

"S-Sorry… I got dust in my eyes."

It was an obvious lie. Hurrying to stand, he moved around the table to console her despite not knowing what to do. He didn't have to think too hard, since Sakura immediately clung to his chest while continuing to cry and making his shirt wet.

This was the most vulnerable that Sakura has ever been around him, and Shirou felt ashamed at the fact that he had no clue what he was supposed to do in this situation. His father never taught him how to handle women before, and Miyu was never one to have emotional outbursts like this. Sudden bouts of emotions were quite rare in the Emiya household, not unless he counted that one time his father got angry at him when he brought up Miyu's growing age, and Shirou liked to forget about that incident if possible.

Time passed as the two continued like this. Shirou awkwardly patted her while she kept crying into his chest. The close proximity with a full figured girl like Sakura would have caused most hot-blooded males to become flustered, yet the reality was less sexy and more uncomfortable to him. Crying girls tended to do that, and Shirou wasn't the type to find that appealing in a situation like this.

It must have been an eternity before she finally calmed herself down and separated from him. Her eyes were puffy and red, unable to hide the clear raw emotion and pain in them. She did not appear to notice how ruffled her appearance looked, with disheveled hair and tear stains still apparent on her face.

"I'm also a Zenjou."

"Huh?"

"I'm also a Zenjou," Sakura repeated. "Or rather, my mother's side of the family is called the Zenjou family. That would make them my relatives, except I never met them before. Not when my father decided to have me adopted into another family, and not when I lost everyone I knew during that incident five years ago."

Shirou was stunned.

"My name wasn't always Matou Sakura. I used to have another name and a different family. I used to have a kind mother who always had a gentle smile on her face. I used to have a cold father who always seemed to know everything except how to treat his family. And I also used to have a sister."

"Sister?"

"Tohsaka Rin." Sakura lowered her gaze. "My older sister, and the true heir to the Tohsaka family."

True heir?

Sakura might not have realized how much she had given away in that statement, but Shirou began to piece the clues together regarding her situation. In a magi family, there was only one magic crest that could be inherited and passed on. Families with multiple children had their own ways of determining who received the crest, but the majority of them went to either the eldest or most talented child. Depending on how harsh the family treated their children, the favoritism towards the one who inherited the family crest versus the other members that didn't could cause family tension and resentment.

It was difficult to accept, but Shirou could see the cold logic behind Sakura's father's decision to send her to a different family. Even though Sakura was the sole remaining member alive, she was technically the head and representative of the Makiri family. That position gave her benefits that others would kill to have, one being the right to participate in the current holy grail war.

Not that it mattered to Shirou. What kind of father gave up their daughter to someone else like that? Separating Sakura from her immediate relatives and having her raised by another magi family, how would any child feel about that?

If this was before the incident five years ago, then that meant that Sakura must have joined the Matous when she was at most ten or eleven years old. That was almost the same age as his sister, Miyu.

Hold on a second…

"Then wouldn't that make Zenjou your relative?"

Was that why Sakura had such an extreme reaction upon seeing her? But something felt off. There was a tiny detail that he was missing that continued to bother his thoughts until he recalled exactly what it was.

Yesterday, when his circuits connected with Zenjou, there was something that he noticed almost immediately. The quantity of magical energy coming from her far outclassed his own, and that could not be justified solely due to having first-rate circuits.

No, that amount of energy could only be explained away if Zenjou had a magic crest.

So what did that mean? Did that mean that she was the heir and was granted the magic crest of the Zenjou family? But that didn't explain Sakura's reaction. She claimed to have never met her relatives from the Zenjou side before, so merely seeing her wouldn't make sense. And it wasn't like Sakura knew her name until Shirou said it either today.

He was still missing something.

Sakura's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "I suppose so. She does share a close physical resemblance to my mother, so it would make sense if she were related to me. But why would she appear here now? Why after all this time would she come here?"

Why indeed?

It dawned upon him that Zenjou was the one who told him about Sakura's status as the Makiri family head. Now that he heard Sakura's explanation, it was understandable why Zenjou would know of her role if she was actually a relative of Sakura. Except didn't she also pretend not to know Sakura when they first met? What was that about?

An idea crossed his mind.

Well, he thought to himself. I was planning on bringing her back with me after all. Looks like I now have a good enough reason to convince her.

"Let's ask," Shirou said. "If we confront her, then we can get the answers to our questions."

"Eh?"

Maybe he was forgetting about his original goal, but Shirou felt that this was more important at the moment. After all, he could just talk to Sakura regarding the other matter once everything was settled with.

"Come on." He smiled at her. "Let's go talk to Zenjou and have her explain herself."

Wow, it's been a while huh?

Got a new job this year, so I've been trying to balance the new worklife schedule with my hobbies. This was mostly lying in my Google Drive for the past few months until I found the right inspiration to finish it.

I'm trying to include more alternating perspectives in a natural way so that it won't always be from the pov of Rin. So far, I'm mostly focusing on Shirou since he's the only other character involving himself with her. But eventually, I'll add more character perspectives as the cast grows.