She dreamt of a windowless room.

She saw three figures standing around a circular glass table. They were unable to see her. This was not surprising to the girl as she was not truly there.

One of them was someone she recognized as Black Suit, while the other two were equally enigmatic in appearance. One had a dark haze where his head should have been and was wearing a trench coat called Decalcomania. He carried a portrait of a man who was facing backwards called Golconde. The other was a woman called Beatrice who had red skin, multiple eyes, and was wearing a really long white dress.

"Where is Maestro?" Beatrice asked as she opened the fan she was holding. "This meeting cannot start without him."

"Patience, Madame," Golconde said. "Maestro should be arriving shortly."

"Perhaps he had likely taken up my suggestion to see the sword for himself," Black Suit replied. "Sensei's Mysteries have always been closer to his purview of research than mine. I am rather curious to know what he thinks of it."

As if on cue, the person in question, Maestro, entered the room.

"I have returned! " The two-headed sentient doll that wore a tuxedo announced his presence as he took his position.

"What took you so long?" Beatrice demanded an explanation as she tapped a finger on her arm in impatience.

"I had to write down all my discoveries before I came to this meeting! There was so much that even now it hasn't sunk into me yet!" Maestro said as he turned his attention to Black Suit, "I give you my thanks for suggesting to study the sword up close. It truly was a fascinating piece of work! Ah, the artist in me is brimming with inspiration!"

"So what do you think of the sword?" Black Suit asked as he leaned slightly toward Maestro's direction. "Is it the work of Mimesis, after all?"

"Not quite, but I believe the principles are similar, in which the sword is a replica that Sensei recreated," Maestro said. "I might not comprehend the full idea behind the sword, but the aura it exudes is similar to the traces of the Nameless Gods that we've discovered so far. If I didn't already know that Sensei can create multiple copies of similarly special weapons, I might have mistaken it for the genuine article. It is a truly convincing replica of the real thing…"

"A replica that can fool the world itself into thinking it to be a genuine article…"

"Precisely! I must wonder just how Sensei managed to reach that level. It is almost a pity that he uses it almost exclusively for weapons!" Maestro said with excitement.

"Truly a curious man, isn't he?" Black Suit said with a chuckle. "He could have killed me during our first meeting with one of his swords and only stayed his hand because he dislikes senseless deaths."

"For all his power, he is averse to confrontation," Beatrice said. "Yet his position makes him a thorn on our side."

"Not necessarily," Black Suit said. "He is not opposed to researching the Mysteries of Kivotos, so there is a chance to turn him to our side. Until then, he is content to leave us to our own devices unless we truly threaten his students. It is a pity this meant giving up on Takanashi Hoshino, but access to the oasis is a good enough consolation."

"But of course!" Decalcomania exclaimed.

"Much like any reasonable adult, there is no reason for the hero to wage on Gematria after all," Golconde said. "Personally I am curious to see what other changes he might bring to Kivotos' narrative."

Gematria… the girl thought as she noted the term.

"I'm not done yet, just now he—"

"If what you are going to do this entire meeting is sing praises to the Sensei of SCHALE, then I have a better use for my time!" Beatrice interrupted Maestro before she made a disturbing smile. "But don't worry, I will be preparing some countermeasures against Sensei to make sure he doesn't foil my own plans. That, and I do not believe he is as powerful as you say. Now if you'll excuse me."

The girl's gaze followed Beatrice until she left the room before returning to the other adults.

"It's unfortunate that Beatrice interrupted me, though I understand why she was getting impatient," Maestro said.

"It is her loss," Golconde said. "While it is true that Sensei's actions can throw a wrench to Gematria, he also opens up plenty of opportunities for us."

"But of course!" Decalcomania said once more.

"Nevermind her for now. What were you about to say just now?" Black Suit asked.

"Indeed! I happened upon him as I was leaving, so I decided to observe him for a short time," Maestro said with excitement. "Imagine my surprise when I saw Abydos' missing Student Council President walking beside him!"

"Well now…" Golconde said with interest. "This is certainly an interesting turn of events."

"But of course!"

"Are you claiming that you saw Kuchinashi Yume, who we have confirmed to have died, somehow turned out to be alive and has been found by Sensei?"

! Did Sensei do something outrageous again? The girl thought in surprise.

"I wouldn't say she's alive in the strictest sense," Maestro said as he explained how the Abydos Student Council President's body vanished into thin air like she was never there before. "The end result is similar to that of a Mimesis, which I must admit stokes the fuel of rivalry in my heart. Ah, but Sensei's work is also a great source of inspiration! I already have ideas on how to push my own masterpiece to the next stage!"

"Wonderful! I am glad to see that your research is progressing," Golconde said.

"But of course!" Decalcomania exclaimed.

"So Sensei's own Mysteries can do something like this…Or perhaps it's an application based on his understanding of Kivotos' Mysteries…" Black Suit muttered. "In any case, speculations will lead nowhere."

"Speaking of which, there's also the matter of the Eighth Prophet and the Princess of the Nameless Gods in Millennium…perhaps a few more in that district can help?" Maestro said.

"Unfortunately, the might of Millennium's own President is nothing to be scoffed at," Golconde said. "She will immediately notice any men we send there. However, I do believe a confrontation between—"

The scene slowly became blurry.

It seems my time is up, the girl thought as her consciousness slowly left her.

I shall be waiting for you, Sensei.

Once more, the Prophet of Trinity returned to her slumber.

…

…

…

"Hmmm?" Sensei looked around. He felt as if he had heard someone call to him just now before he shrugged it off as he watched over Yume and Hoshino talking in the latter's home.

"Don't worry, Hoshino, I'm really here," Yume said as she gently brushed Hoshino's head. "I have Sensei to thank for that."

"Sensei…you better explain…everything after this…" He heard Hoshino say between her sobs as she hugged Yume tightly, as if afraid she might disappear once more.

"Understood…" Sensei said as he scratched the back of his head.

There were still many things to be done after this, but for now he allowed himself to smile as he watched over the two.

Author's Note:

Just a short chapter on Gematria.

Now I'd like to address a few things.

I see some of you have pointed out the ordering of Shirou's name last chapter. This was actually something I debated about for a while while writing this chapter, and even now I still do sometimes. On a technical level, I should have followed the naming custom of Japan and Kivotos when using Shirou's name, but then I considered reader familiarity. The English-speaking community does tend to call him "Shirou Emiya" rather than "Emiya Shirou", though the latter also gets used frequently enough. In the end my own personal preference for the former made me decide to flout the naming custom just this once.

With that said, I'm pleasantly surprised it took this long across three sites for someone to bring this up.

On another note, it seems that this site broke the dialogue on a few chapters (including last chapter) that made use of the greater/less than signs in lieu of quotation marks. I have replaced the affected dialogue with [ ] markers instead.

In case you're curious, the affected chapters are:
4, 19, 23, and 27

Poor Aris and Kei though. It's their chapters that were affected the most. This is especially obvious with Chapter 23, so at the very least I recommend re-reading the part after Hub got hacked.