Fate/Bonds Beyond Humanity
Okay… not using Zero as reference, Gilgamesh still used children as batteries… Can be argued it was a corrupt version of him but still… In the game you have the heavens feel route… Sakura's life on cannon is the definition of 'mistakes were made' because everyone can agree mistakes were made there… a lot of them.
Also it was brought to my attention that Waver's explanation may have been too short… it is just that I was having him explain what was relevant to most of his class, magicians who may be interested in the CT, devils and other entities from Japan, in this chapter I put an addition that may resolve that.
About runes, hold that thought. There is a certain pantheon that specialises on them and they will come into play later… is that a spoiler? Some probably already guessed.
…..
5- Politics of Fuyuki
Investigation of a crime scene involves lots of people, there are those that took out prints, those who took pictures, those who made sure that no further alteration happened after the place was isolated. Yoruichi was dealing with that and more.
The cat-like woman was growing more and more frustrated, she had over 100 people working on the site of Homurahara's ley line and most of them couldn't agree on what exactly happened there.
Sure the Gremory's report was confirmed more than once and her facts were straight, they found proof that the place was tainted and purification was still ongoing. The damage was ugly, there was no other way to describe it.
If the noble woman could say anything about the whole fiasco was that the school got lucky, it should have fallen apart in some way shape or form a long time ago, at least a year or two ago. And yet it was still standing, there was some structural damage and the bad luck was starting to rot the place but it was still there and that was a miracle.
But that was irrelevant, while watching the specialists working after coming back checking the city, again, for any leads there was only one question on her mind. "HOW DID THIS JUST SHOWED UP HERE AND NONE OF YOU HAD FOUND SOMETHING YET?" Finally her patience was at an end.
"Yoruichi-sama." One of the members of her personal unit, dressed like a typical ninja or assassin, knelt before her. "We apologize but-"
"NO! I'M NOT TALKING WITH YOU!" She turns to the closest spiritualist and the closest mana tracker. "BUT WITH THIS BOZZOS! EXPLAIN WHY AFTER MONTHS WE HAVE SQUAT!"
The woman could be patient, the fact that she lasted this long without raising her voice spoke of her patience. She had let everyone do their work and made sure that they stayed out of each other's way.
But she was also the one taking the heat from everyone that wanted to know 'how' the mess started. The devils wanted to know how something like that happened on their territory, magicians, spiritualists and diviners wanted to know how a new ley line could appear like that and the yokai wanted to know how all of that happened and who let it get this bad.
Most were just not believing that a ley line came out of nowhere with a minority that insisted that it was not only possible since that contracted everything they knew about and goes against all logic since even if a new one showed up by external action it would be small.
Others were saying that nobody knew everything and it was possible, Yoruichi was inclined to agree with that argument… if she didn't want it to just end in the first place and someone just told her "How no one noticed this earlier?" Silence was her answer.
Around the place where the stray had made his nest there were at least thirty people investigating every single detail and none could give her a straight answer for almost anything.
Sitting on the ground she starts to try and piece the facts together: at some point in the last ten years a stray devil known as the 'Hamelin's Flutist' sets up shop in a previously unknown ley line below a school, because the ley line started to be corrupted the place starts to pass for some difficult times and stuff starts to go wrong little by little in escalation but not enough for the thing to fall apart.
"Was it planned?" The noble woman thinks out loud and continues without waiting for an answer. "If some great tragedy happened on the school grounds that would get too much attention but he was gorging on the ley line without a care which indicates that it wasn't planned…"
Could a mad man plan? The answer to that question was relevant to the situation because if he had planned then everything made a little bit more sense but if he didn't there was some external factor.
"Bring me the reports and blueprints of the school! I want everything from the area to the minimal details." When she gave the order she left the cave and moved to the school.
Homurahara Academy should have had students at that point, instead it was full of adults rushing around investigating it. Even after months the investigation just kept going with changes of personnel, specialists and anyone that could be considered useful at the time.
Only she remained constantly, neglecting her responsibilities in Kyoto to try and figure out everything while keeping people from killing each other. 'Want to see a fight happen fast? Place two scholars with opposite opinions in front of each other and grab popcorn.' She thinks in mirth, even smiling.
Yoruichi arrives at her office, a classroom that was big enough for her to do whatever she wanted. Getting a bigger table, a punching bag, a huge bed and changing it to her tastes are some of the things she did as she used it to rest or to work.
"Yoruichi-sama." Another of her agents approached before she could enter. She likes the ninja uniforms, covering everything but the eyes, it was a family tradition. "Here is everything that was gathered until today." After that he kneels waiting for more instructions.
"Have some coffee sent in… this is going to take a while." Resigned, the woman sits on her chair and starts to work.
The process was tedious and she could have someone doing it for her but then she could also miss something. That was one of the reasons why she was the one leading both this operation and most of Japan's cover ops on the supernatural, if it was left for the others then things would be way more messy.
'Of the noble houses I'm the most reckless. I can admit that without shame.' Yoruichi thinks while building a wall with documents and maps, using threads with different colors for associations. 'But I'm reckless because I know when I can be. Is It recklessness when you plan for it?' She smiles in the middle of her work.
Every picture was used, every plant and the reports were separated for reference. When finally it was over she had a picture of all it was determined about the Academy, including the names of every magician that studied there.
"Following the Gremory secondary report, Tohsaka Rin was the first one who discovered the stray. She claims that it was luck, finding a rat and feeling mana on it. Following the rat she found the stray." A picture of the girl was planted besides the devil's. "Lucky… yes. It may be a coincidence but then why is this school still standing?"
That was the only part that didn't make sense. The devil was around for too long and sooner or later someone would stumble on him, maybe even did in the past but he could just use hypnosis and then back so there was no harm and no foul. Only when someone who could resist showed up was that the events started to move and with three magus on the school that was bound to happen sooner or later if it was to happen but even then the odds were in favor of the stray.
'I have no choice.' She sighs in regret. 'Unless someone with foresight shows up to help get a clue, I will need to expand the investigation.' Yoruichi turns to the door and waits for a minute… nothing. "Well... Really was hoping for a miracle here. Is there even an oracle in Fuyuki?"
Checking her cell and finding nothing she knew that there was no grand vision of the future to help her out.
'Not uncommon these days, can't even remember the last prophecy that happened in the last fifty years.' Some took the lack of visions as meaning the times were changing, frankly she just thought stuff got more interesting but also problematic.
Observing her wall the satisfaction she was feeling was muted from the fact that there was little alternative but to expand the investigation for the rest of the town and that was going to either take another few months, maybe even years, something that didn't bothered creatures that lived for centuries or she needs definity proof that something was really wrong.
'When in doubt go for the internet.' The yellow eyes of the woman focus on the notebook at her desk. She turns it on and starts to look for any suspicious events that happened in the town. 'The city was founded over 180 years ago, considering the last time evaluation of the ley lines was when the devils brought it then I have at least… 50 years of story to catch up.'
Taking a deep breath she starts working… She is going to need a lot of coffee.
…..
Waking up after a long night of study with her father, Rin felt the exhaustion of the previous night weighing on her shoulders but she still got out of bed. After looking at the clock at the side she almost panics. "I'M GONNA BE LATE!" She starts to rush to leave and get ready.
Running through the hall she sees her sister passing calmly. "Good morning, nee-san."
"Morning Sakura!" Rin was about to get to the bathroom when she noticed something. "Wait! Why aren't you dressed for school already?"
The girl tilts her head, the two sisters looked similar, same hair color and same eyes. The similarities ended there however, the hair types were different with Rin, the older sibling having wave hair and Sakura having a more simple one, Rin was also less developed, something apparent on her kitten pajamas while her sister was already dressed in a pink vest and red long skirt.
"Nee-san… today is Sunday." Her smile was serene.
It was extremely embarrassing to the older sister to leave the 'running man' position she was with her shoulders dropping with a simple. "Oh." Leaving her lips to express her opinion on the matter. "I completely forgot."
"It's fine, I was just going to wake you up." Sakura patiently turns her sister back and escorts her to the bathroom. "Now, wash yourself up. Breakfast is in half an hour."
Nodding, the elder of the pair moves to get ready. Once she was done she was received by her family on the table, her father was there reading a newspaper with a glass of wine, while her mother, from whom she got many of her looks, was placing the dishes at the table with her sibling.
When younger Rin would offer to help with the task but now she, as the future head of the Tohsaka, is not supposed to do such a task. 'Always be elegant' is the family motto that the head of the family is to follow at all times in any situation.
Looking at her father from whom both her and her sister got their eyes from, she could say for certain that Tohsaka Tokiomi was the personification of elegance. His posture was always perfect, the red suits he wore always on point and even his hair looked perfect in her opinion, not too short but not too long.
Besides all that the man was a magus of great skill and knowledge who made a point to follow the traditions in the best way he can while giving his eldest the best education he could give and money could buy.
Once the wife and daughter placed all the food on the table everyone waited for the actual head to start eating to follow suit. The man folded the newspaper and started talking. "Good morning to all, today is a special occasion. Our allies of the Matou family are going to visit us later for dinner."
Rin looked at her sister but she just nodded with a smile, their mother also accented to the comment and she didn't like it, she didn't like it at all. The Matous may be allies of the Tohsakas but Rin is not a friend to their heir.
His father says a few more things, but her thoughts are focusing on other things. 'I didn't want to see that worm today.' Once all the small talk was given he picked his fork and took the first bite of steak and the breakfast officially began.
It was a silent affair, anything that needed to be said would be before the food or after everyone had their fill. Even for a typical japanese family the meal was european in form.
Plenty of meat, vegetables, potatoes, carrots, wine for the adults and tea for the teenagers. Talking while eating was not the problem, they just didn't have anything useful to say at the moment. Most of the normal conversations happen during the week and any talk about magic is basically forbidden for the last five years.
In the Tohsaka mansion, not the biggest one ever built but considered the biggest residence in the city of Fuyuki, the only place to talk magecraft was in the parent workshop, anywhere else was forbidden.
Looking at her sister again Rin lets out a sigh and keeps eating. Since it was Sunday she needed to think about what she would do with her day. Usually her father lets her do whatever she wants but only on the condition that she was up to par with her own research, something he started to challenge more and more from her in the hopes she would still make a pact.
Once the breakfast was done more small talk began again, normal stuff for a family. The parents asked how they were going at school and such. Aoi, the mother of the family and wife of Tokiomi was the one leading that simple conversation, her husband having no problems and just enjoying his wine.
Rin can't complain, she was doing pretty much the same thing but for different reasons, letting her sister take all the conversation to avoid drawing attention to herself.
"Rin… why don't you tell us how you are doing at school?" Unfortunately for her, Tokiomi had no intention of letting his eldest daughter stay silent.
"It is going fine father." She knew it was not gonna be enough so she added. "The extra course from Velvet-sensei will undoubtedly be invaluable when I move to the Clocktower."
The man was nodding at every word she was saying but that was still not what he wanted to hear. "And any news about the decision of the other heiresses on campus?"
"No sir." Rin controls her voice. "After the Gremory heiress made a pact the other two had made no moves to secure anyone for themselves."
"There has been any official announcement or return to any magician?" Was the follow up question.
"Nothing as of Friday." That seemed to appease the man somewhat.
"Did you already finish your project for the next special class?"
"Yes. I have created a spell that shall allow one gem to hear and see where it is when paired to another gem." For a moment she thought she made a mistake, sharing details about her spells while on the table but her father just smiled.
"Fascinating. I just find it odd that you chose to focus on such a utilitarian approach when familiars are already used for that." That was her cue to give her reasoning.
"The magus that managed a pact with the Gremory… his approach is an adaptation of existent spells in more utilitarian means."
The family members not involved in the conversation started to move to collect the dishes and remove themselves from the conversation while the man looked curious. "Please, explain."
"Devil's magic is easier than ours and pacts are about mutual assistance." Rin drinks a bit of water to help her throat. "At this point after centuries the only pacts still around are the old ones, that is because they are having difficulty in finding external help. However the Gremory made a pact with a magus or, any magician for that matter, for the first time since Solomon. The heiress demonstrated what he did to succeed. It was the creation of something mundane that could do magic."
"Yes. I am happy you managed to find some leeway to talk about it."
"We are all under contract and if we tell anyone details about her talent show she will have the right to use the full might of the Gremory to ruin us." It was the only reason they were allowed close to the club that day in the first place by signing and sending a magical contract of secrecy of the events that happened there. "But little by little I think we can talk about it if we are smart."
"A pity we found no loopholes." Tokiomi was curious about what exactly the relatively unknown magus did.
"There are, I found a few but… it's a risk." Since it first arrived on their house via familiar both analysed the document minutiously before she signed, they even managed to make a copy before the little bat familiar left by the circle they summoned it.
"Considering how many magus showed their craft, including the one who already had the deal it can only be said that the heiress is right to be cautious." The only good thing out of the geass was that the consequence of it was the information of the talker would go to the heiress and at that point the person should prepare for the worst.
"Either way, that is what I am trying to do: To make the process of magecraft… easier." The very idea was contradictory to them. Magecraft was something developed with time and the older it was the stronger it got but the goal of it was to essentially become a 'god', it was powerful but selfish and the knowledge of it was supposed to be hoarded not spread.
Yet there was a magus that figured out a way to allow magecraft to be used by anyone if they have the mana to do it, once that Tokiomi managed to understand what his daughter was saying using some small loopholes he was both impressed and disgusted.
"I hope this unusual approach pays off." And with that the older magus got up from the table and left the room, either to research or to take care of business.
Rin let out a breath of relief. 'That could have gone way worse.' She was the last one leaving the table and moved to her workshop.
Upon reaching it she couldn't help but be disappointed since most of her time was spent on her father's own workshop hers was lacking compared to his. There were less books, materials, gems… everything.
The best stuff is always in her father's office or workshop and most of the place is used to work on her own projects. She can at any time enter her father's or ask for his stuff, she was never denied since her education was paramount but the space was for her to work and study alone to develop some independence.
The girl never had problems with that. Rin actually liked to work alone and manage to figure out stuff by herself, it gave her a sense of accomplishment, even her father was impressed on how she managed to reach his level of research in record time, the proud smile he wore on his face that day was once one of Rin's best memories.
It wasn't anymore.
Later on the day she manages to find her sister. "Sakura." The other girl was fixing some flowers in the garden when Rin showed up.
"Nee-san." The younger sister gives out a small smile. "Done with your research for the day? You better be resting."
"I sure am, just wanted to see what you were doing." The garden of the Tohsaka mansion was protected by many boundary fields but none of them helped in the maintenance of that part of the property.
Sakura had requested that she was allowed to do it herself. "Just checking the roses. They are going along nicely. Ah. I also want to make sure some space is set up in case you want to use it for something."
"Nah, I doubt it." Rin sits down at her sister's side offering her help, the younger accepted. "Most of my work is indoors anyway and any bigger practice I can use one of the empty rooms."
"Maybe one day you can work on a bigger project."
"Maybe…" Silence reigns for a few minutes while the sisters work, to anyone else it would be two sibiling just doing some gardening together. That was until Tohsaka said. "We should find your origin and expand your studies." Sakura froze in place.
"Nee-san-" Only to be interrupted.
"Hear me out, I know that you are going to move out and the Matou family has different traditions than ours but there is nothing wrong in knowing how to defend yourself." The speech was practiced and the older sibling spoke confidently.
"You know I can't. We," Sakura looked to the sides to make sure there was nothing around them, "already did too much. You taught me too much, if father-"
"Father knows nothing." Rin exclaimed exasperated. "Don't worry about it and let your older sister take care of everything-"
"Rin." The fact that Sakura called her name was enough to silence the older sister. "It's fine, you did all you could."
"It 's not fine. And it's not over." Rin denied with all her strength. "I can still convince him, all I have to do is get a pact and-"
"Rin." This time Sakura's voice was sad while she holded her sister's hand. "You almost died finding that stray. You already have done enough and I have a duty with the Tohsaka family."
The words sounded hollow to the older sibling. "You don't know what you are talking about."
"But it's the truth, I am just a spare and you are the heir. My job is to secure the alliance with the Matou family for another generation."
"We don't need them if we can find someone better. We don't need them if I can get something better." But her words fell on deaf ears.
"I understand that you don't like Shinji but-" Now Rin was starting to get angry.
"'Like Shinji'? Sakura, that guy is a condescending bastard. He doesn't care about anything other than his own nose."
"Like most magus then?" That was accurate enough that Rin could just shut up. "Nee-san, it's okay. I don't mind who I have to marry and it's not like he is going to stop me from doing what I want anyway."
"You don't know that…'' Looking to the ground the elder sister tries to think for a bit before saying. "You don't want to marry him."
"To be fair, I don't want to marry anyone right now." She replied with a small smile. "Part of me wants to run away from here. Maybe to another country and make a life for myself." Rin stayed silent while her sister talked. "But that would mean abandoning you, mother and father. At that point what would I have if I was all alone." With that, Sakura got up and started going to the house. "We have to get ready for later."
Rin couldn't say anything else as she watched her sister go, after a few more minutes she got up and followed the same path towards the house.
…
The meeting between the families was not really an unusual affair. At least once a month both sides eat on the house of the other, a show of trust between the parts. When they ate at the Matou household it was an extravagant affair with their servants serving many different dishes.
On the other hand the Tohsaka could only put on the table whatever they knew how to cook, the reason for that was two fold. One, the magecraft of the Tohsaka focused on gemcraft and was expensive. Two, they were in the red in terms of money.
The main source of money for the Tohsaka family were the patents of old research and some small businesses in the city, businesses that were sold years ago because of an endeavor that Rin's grandparents wanted to start but failed.
The Matou also had a lot involved in the experiment in question but thanks to their own brand of magecraft and later just magic they managed to enter in pharmaceutics and make a killing. Insects were useful to the growth of plants and the fast cultivation of medicine with help of their magecraft that allowed them to cultivate special insects.
For a good century and a half the two families kept being allies, there was no conflict amongst them since they were the most powerful humans in terms of magecraft and magic in Japan and managed to get along by forming an alliance where they would not get into each other's way and would support one another.
That changed and now the Matou were the clear superior power on the partnership, if the last two generations hadn't completely failed to produce heirs with circuits then the Tohsaka would be in deep trouble since they wanted to get back some magecraft, not to make it absolute but the presence and use of circuits could strengthen other forms of magic.
The affair started normal enough, both father and older daughter received the Matou family easily enough. There were just two of them because of some internal disputes on who was going to succeed the family, to avoid killing his weaker sibling the other left leaving Matou Byakuya in charge of the family.
Father and son truly looked alike, it was almost looking at who Shinji would be in the future with the same blue hair but longer, both were using blue suits with the actual head of the Matou smiling relaxed while Shinji had the same smile Rin hated.
"Welcome my friends." Tokiomi welcomes both with open arms and gives his ally a hug and shakes his hand. "How have you been Byakuya?"
"Same as usual I suppose." Then the Tohsaka turns to Shinji.
"And you young Shinji? How are you?"
First he looked to Rin before answering with a smile. "Great Tokiome-san, school has been truly fun now that we can work on our magic during it."
"Yes, Rin told me everything about the special class." The man motions inside the house. "But let's not dilydalee. Today the food promises to be really special."
The Tohsakas were also dressed more formally or elegantly, not to the point of being able to go for a party but it was still a meeting of allies and respect was shown. To Rin it felt like they were pandering the other family.
"It's nice to see you again Rin." Shinji says with a smile putting a small emphasis on her name regardless of how many times she protested for him to not do so.
Unfortunately for her this was not the venue for such a discussion. "You as well Matou-kun." He offers his arm and she takes the offer silently.
Both follow their parents to the dining room and she tries to think of what Shinji may have told his father about her… failure, for it was a failure even if she wanted to deny that. Rin didn't tell it to her father, only her sister knew of her scheme besides every mage and devil that saw her being outed by Rias Gremory. Maybe the geass prevented it from being told since it was at the same event? She could only hope.
Part of her was angry at the pureblood devil because of her actions, but another knew that it was her own fault and that she should have prepared better. All that was irrelevant now, if her father wasn't close she would interrogate Shinji on what he told his father.
They arrived at the table, standing in waiting were both Aoi and Sakura. Shinji disengaged from Rin and moved to his fiance. "You are beautiful today Sakura." He said in his usual charm.
"Thank you Shinji." Sakura replies with a small bow, it was an interaction that was familiar to all the present ever since the two had been children, their future defined since they were small..
While the adults smiled Rin refused to look directly at the interaction. Shinji is charismatic to those that didn't know the real him but Rin knew, she saw in first hand what the boy could do.
Dinner begins and it was like any other, in contrast with the breakfast conversation going around constantly with questions and comments from both parties. As the chef of the house and his ally both adult men were sitting at the most distant points on the table, the corners signifying their status, at the right of Tokiomi were first his wife then his heir.
At Matou's right side were Shinji and then Sakura, leaving the sisters to look at each other but that was all Rin could do, their communication impossible with the parents dominating the conversation.
There was little for her to do but eat and watch her sister, whose interactions with Shinji were almost enough to make her sick. Sakura was giving him the benefit of the doubt but Rin already told her to not trust the boy more than once. "Tell me something Tokiomi, have your daughter told you about her project from Velvet's-sensei class?" Byakuya asks for his third cup of wine.
Tokiomi replied on his first. "Yes she did. Why do you ask?" The man in red acted like a true magus, holding his cards close to his chest.
"Well, Shinji here refused to tell me for days and even now he just said he was making a new type of medicine that would allow anyone with mana fast healing. An innovation that would save many lives."
'That son of a- No! Rin, calm down. There is no need to drag his mother on it. Let her soul rest in peace.' It was not the fact that he was stealing Emiya Shirou's idea that grated at her nerves, it was that and the fact he was attempting the same thing that booted them out of the competition and calling it his idea.
Then it clicked in her mind the possibility that he didn't tell his father about the fact she had attempted to contact Gremory prior to the selection, he was keeping quiet her secret so she can't call out his own since she could say he was copping someone she knew and avoid consequences.
But right now she focuses on looking at him, she needs her father to ask the right question to gauge where Shinji is on his research.
"Impressive. Healing magic is truly complicated and can take years to learn. If a medicine is made that can accelerate the process it would certainly be quite the accomplishment." Tokiomi was a magus and he could see the attention his daughter was directing to Shinji, he didn't know why but he could guess. "And how far are you in such research Shinji-kun?"
That was what Rin needed and she would see if Shinji was lying by how he answered it. "Progress is going smoothly Tokiomi-san. There is no doubt in my mind that I will manage it by the end of the year, maybe early. Unfortunately it won't be ready for the first presentation but I have hope that by presenting an early draft I can get a good grade either way."
The blue haired boy had an awful tell since he was little, it was almost unfair how Rin could ready him easily. He always made a motion of grandiosity with his hands, pretending to fix his hair when he was lying. It was almost pathetic and Rin never called him on that because that was a useful weakness.
Her posture relaxed then, there were two possibilities on that lie, either he already got a medicine that is the equivalent of Phoenix Tears or he didn't and is not even close. Rin would gamble her life on the second since she knew that the possibility of the first was remote at best with his skills.
"Rin-chan, why are you scoffing like that?" She didn't manage to school her features in time and Byakuya caught her.
"I am sorry Byakuya-sama." She needs to be diplomatic. "I just find the concept of such an easy resource hard to believe." 'For Shinji.' She completed in her mind since she couldn't deny that such a resource already existed, it was just not mass produced yet but if it was made once it can be again or Emiya wouldn't have a pact.
"And what have you been working on then Rin?" Shinji asked with a smile.
In an elegant maneuver, Rin deflects. "I am working on the same thing but more generalized."
"Generalized?" Byakuya was curious.
"Yes, instead of just going for healing I will find a way for mana to be used for any spell in a gem." She gives an impish smile to Shinji since technically it was true. She just decided that then and there. "For now it is just vigilance, must start small before going for a big leap."
Shinji's eyebrow twitched at the comment, all the adults could see what she was saying: He is rushing too much but we are going for the same goal.
That was the first time Tokiomi heard of that but before he could say anything, Aoi got up. "I should get the dessert, it is a pudding that I found the recipe just the other week. You all are going to love it."
The attention gathered by Aoi and then the dessert were enough to change the subject and the dinner went smoothly but all the while Shinji avoided starting conversations with Rin. Byakuya was still curious how fast Rin would do what promised but even she didn't have many answers.
"The vigilance gems are never going to be ready by Thursday and like Shinji I will present the blueprints and ask for it to be graded."
"So you are also in the initial stages?"
"I already have a prototype ready, I just don't know for sure if anyone can use it or if it's just magus with knowledge of magecraft." Shinji decides to place an observation.
"Sakura has circuits and she doesn't know the art. Why not let her try?" Rin didn't want to hear that, mostly because Sakura did have some knowledge.
It is supposed to be a secret, Rin taught Sakura a lot of stuff that their father said that she shouldn't learn, even the basics were denied to her since if the Matou family had any plans they would have priority and anything else would be a breach of contract.
Rin tried to think fast on what to say, a solution to deflect that idea but she wasn't fast enough, not because her father accepted the suggestion but because he unexpectedly rejected it. "I am afraid that is impossible at the moment since Rin didn't finish the prototype completely and it would be unwise to rush the work."
The older girl on the table knew that her father was lying. When she looked at him he didn't give any sign of it, any tell or indication of he was in fact lying or why he was lying. "I see… A pity then." Byakuya accepted the argument and the dinner came to an end after the dessert.
Once they finished the dessert the good byes begin. Shinji made a point to kiss Sakura's hand while the two male adults shook each other's trading promises to eat at the Matou residence next time.
After the guests left Tokiomi spoke. "Did you really think I didn't know you were teaching your sister." He literally barely had closed the door and didn't turn to his family yet. "Did you?"
Everyone was silent, both sisters looked to each other."Father-"
"Sakura, stay silent." Tokiomi didn't turn around, he kept himself calm and composed, waiting for something. Finally he grew tired of and turned to look directly at Rin. "Well? Did you think I didn't know?"
The sisters looked at each other and Sakura moved first. "Father-"
"Sakura, if I have to repeat for you to stay silent a third time there are going to be consequences." Now the younger sibling lowers her head while the father turns and looks to the older. "Now Rin, I gave you explicit orders to not teach your sibling anything from our family craft. I told you explicitly that could be prejudicial for our alliance with the Matou family and that she shouldn't be trained unless it was by them." The man took a deep breath to recover his composure. "But I saw no problem in letting you teach her the basics, even unlocking her not a problem since they would do it themselves in the future. But I seem to have made a mistake if that made you think you know enough to practically spit on our allies, allies that we need."
"But father-"
"We are bankrupt." Rin paled at the words.
"What… do you mean?"
"The patents that the Tohsaka family held for generations are officially obsolete." Tokiomi moved to the stairs to go to his room. "Our family has stopped receiving any money from the continent for the last five years."
"Five years- THAT WAS WHEN-"
"Lower your voice!" For the first time from Rin's memory her father raised his voice at her. "Yes, that was more or less the time I started looking for a husband for your sister, the downery of the marriage will help sustain the family for the next few years."
"But- how? Why? You are telling me there wasn't any other solution?" Rin wsa perplexed but her father just shook his head.
"We grew complacent on our fortune but in highsight it was inevitable that sooner or later our methods of magecraft could and were replaced." Tokiomi massages his eyes to starve off a headache. "Unlike many families that adapted to the modern day, we arrived late to the 'party', I had to learn investments to keep us afloat and keep going with our research but we need help and our allies can give it."
While Rin could understand the money problem, considering their magecraft was expensive, she couldn't help but protest. "And your best solution was just to sell Sakura! Just like that?"
"What father doesn't want the best for his daughter?" He looks at her with pity, that only makes Rin mad. "She is going to be the mother of the next generation of the Matou family, a rich family that managed to adapt and grow by adding magic beyond magecraft and our family will benefit from it. What is the problem when Sakura can live a happy life and we lose some of our problems?"
But Rin saw the problem, more than one even. "Father you don't understand. Shinji is not someone who we can trust."
"Oh! Do tell." If the man had his staff he would be using it to support himself but he just laid an arm at the side and waited. "Tell me why we can't trust him?"
"He is a thief." Was the first accusation. "In school he used hypnosis to get the work of other classmates and pass it as his own."
"Yes, and…"
"He used magic to steal, not because he needed to but just to get something he wanted."
"Yes, and…" He repeats in an amused tone of voice.
"He… is an idiot." Rin tried to appeal to a more 'pragmatic' argument.
"Rin," the moment the girl resorted to name calling, he decided to end the charade, "everything you described are things most magus do. If it is idiotic to use magic to reach their goals them we are all, as you said, 'idiots'."
"But he- He is not good enough for Sakura! He is selfish! A liar! Lazy!" All Tokiomi did was nod at every word, his face indiferent.
"And that… is how you can describe most magicians. Why work hard when you can have anything with," he snaps his fingers for emphasis, "just this? And all their whims can be done in a moment with the legacy of their ancestors. Even I fell into that trap. It wasn't until recently I saw the damage it was doing to our family."
"But-"
"But nothing." The man just raised a hand. "It is obvious I gave you too much space too soon. Disobeying me is one thing, the fact you forgot this is my house first was amusing but you didn't share with Sakura any of our secrets and I saw no problem with letting you educate her if just for your peace of mind." Disappointment shows in Tokiomi's face. "But now this is over. Sakura, from now on you are completely forbidden from having lessons with your sister."
"You can't-"
"I!" Tokiomi raises his voice again. "Am the head of this family! What I say is law! You broke my rules but I let one time slide! No more!" He was angry, that was a rarity for a man who was proud of his composure. "You are still too young to understand."
Rin didn't care for the disappointment in his voice. "I don't care! Sakura won't be happy with him! He will do anything to get his way!"
Tokiomi just shook his head. "I can't believe my daughter has grown so naive."
"'Naive'? You are the one offering your family like cattle!"
"Yes, naive." It was obvious that Tokiomi had grown uninterested in the discussion. "You better fix your act, RIn. Or else I fear for the future of the Tohsaka family." With that the man left for his workshop.
Frustrated Rin wanted to scream, it was the hand on her shoulder that stopped her. "My little Spark, you need to calm down." Aoi was there hugging her daughter.
"Mother…" Rin could only keep going. "Shinji is bad, mom. I had to fight to keep my friend in my old school away from him."
Remembering those times only depressed Rin. "Why didn't you say anything before?" The mother asked.
"I… had no proof. Shinji got really good at hypnosis, most of his victims barely have signs of being affected at this point. Unless he tried on someone with a really strong mind or with some magic then…" That was only part of the reason, Rin was confident that if she had gotten the pact with a heiress then she could ask them to make pressure on the other family and 'convince' them to back off.
Any power that the Matou family has accumulated couldn't compete with a family that was there building business and connection when commerce actually became a thing. Even his father couldn't argue against that, even if she didn't know they were in deep water financially there would be no need to worry if the pact lasted more than her lifetime.
The weight of her failure started to truly appear on her conscience to the point she almost fell to the ground, only her mother's presence managed to stop it.
"Shh, shh. It's okay my little Spark. It 's okay…"
Sakura could only stand there watching her mother try to cheer her sister on. It placed a sad smile on the younger sibling's face, while Rin spent time with their father and learned magic she was with her mother during the day.
When Aoi received the news of her daughter's engagement she picked the youngest Tohsaka and talked with her. There was crying, a lot of crying. But the mother reminded her child that she wouldn't be leaving that soon, it would take years before it happened.
When Rin heard the news first she refused and promised Sakura she was going to do something, only to fail. But Sakura is not upset by the failures, Rin tried, risked her life not realizing that if she died Sakura would be the most hurt by it.
Time is almost up, next year instead of going to high school she is going to move to the Matou manor and learn what she would need about their magic and take care of the house, her duty being the same as her mother is… to be the mother of the next generation of a family.
…..
Ryudou Issei was called to the director's office for misconduct… that never had happened before. Even as a small child he was composed, educated and never got into trouble at school. This was the first time and he got into a fight in his whole life. If the incident could be called an actual fight. He would call it a set of unfortunate circumstances.
But it wasn't him who threw the first punch, neither was his counterpart, Hyudou Issei. The day started normally for them, after the first week it became routine, the brown haired teen would do something perverted and black haired one would go to stop him, if only to protect his name at that point since he was convinced it was impossible to stop the other antics.
That was until a hurricane named Kiryuu Aika decided to throw wood into the fire and started to make jokes about them, the class took it well even if he didn't but Ryudou had thick skin and managed to ignore the teasing about being brothers or being gay, his father was a monk and his mother a saint on his eyes and surprisingly his counterpart felt the same about his own parents.
It was one of the few things both agreed, to not let Aika get her way and worsen the situation… then it was off to 'debating'.
But that day while the duo of Isseis were in the middle of another of their… 'debates', when someone rushed them, he didn't see who was but he tried to recover his balance and ended up grabbing his counterpart shirt to avoid the fall unsuccessfully.
The two had the same name and thought alike since pervert Issei also tried to grab someone else, the person he did grab didn't like that and threw the first punch and it was all downhill from there.
If calm heads had prevailed then maybe he wouldn't be there, neither Issei attacked each other and while they were aggressive with one another they never traded punches, in their most heated moments they still kept just using words and logic to explain why the other was wrong.
Now they were both sitting outside the director's office, just the two of them in a couple of chairs of distance and the secretary keeping her eye on them so there would be no more problems. "This is the worst day of my life."
"Wow man, relax a bit." Hyoudou said, looking confused. "This can't be the first time you are called to the office."
"Yes it is!"
"Ssshhhh." The secretary didn't get up but the way she was looking was enough to calm Ryudou down.
"Sorry ma'am." The black haired boy got up and bowed in apology but the woman didn't even bother to look away from her work.
"God, you are constipated or something?" Hyoudou wondered out loud.
"What is the problem of being decent?" He sits closer to his counterpart to avoid bothering the school's employee.
"None, I suppose." The two just glared at each other until Ryoudou took a deep breath.
"Why are you like this?" He questions. "What is with your obsession with women?"
"Is there a problem with liking women?"
"There is on liking a thing too much, you are basically harassing them." The other didn't like that.
"Hey. I haven't touched them, I just look."
"Isn't one of your friends trying to find a way to peak on one of the clubs while they changed?"
"That… is true." He admitted. "But if the girls report us it is fair. We know the risks and we are ready for it."
"But-but… Why?"
"Because." That was all he said but it wasn't enough.
"No, there has to be a reason, a good reason." Taking out and cleaning his glasses once he placed it on his face again he repeated a question that he asked more than once at this point.
"Can you stop? You ask this almost every day."
"It just makes no sense to me. How someone with my name can be so different."
"Hey, if I was born first then it was my name first."
"As if, with the way you are immature. I wouldn't be surprised if you were born yesterday."
"Why you-"
"By the way both of you are acting I would believe both were born yesterday." A third voice came out and both Isseis turned to see a familiar sight for one of them while the other only heard about her in passing.
"Shitori-fukukaichou." Ryoudou gets up from his chair but before he could say anything else the young woman stops him.
"Save it." She looks at the two of them. "I heard about two boys with similar names fighting everyday last week but I didn't expect to find you both starting another fight in the principal's office.
"Fukukaichou, this is a misunderstanding." Ryoudou tried to defend himself.
"Weren't you both having a, in the most generous of terms, heated argument?" The black haired boy had no retort.
Ryoudou was fumbling, trying to find an answer. It didn't even cross his mind that the person before him was another student and technically had no authority over him. If he tried he would fail to remember the last time he was in such a position because he never was, even if the person before him had the usual authority he would still be confused.
His confusion didn't stop him from listening while she talked. "I never thought that I would see such behavior so fast. It is disappointing to hear how new students that just started are already making a mess. And a fight at that."
Ryoudou didn't know but his face had a scowl while he looked to the ground in disappointment. Not to others but to himself, he barely knew this woman but her words were cutting him deep even if he didn't know why.
But someone else noticed, he stayed silent for a while but seeing the suffering in front of him gave him something that he was lacking for the other boy. Empathy. "Actually, it was my fault this time."
Both turned to look at Hyoudou. "And what you mean with that, Hyoudou-san."
'Okay… what do I say now.' Looking to Ryoudou he had an epiphany. "You see, my fellow student here was trying to teach me restraint while I was trying to teach him the wonders of the feminine form."
"Oh?" Sona turns her head, her curiosity evidently peaked and demonstrated with a raised eyebrow. "Explain."
"Well…" He stalled for a few seconds. "Ah, we just have these debates pretty much everyday. We never fought and the incident today was a complete accident."
"An accident you say?" She hummed, not sounding convinced.
"Yes, I fell and I grabbed him and we fell on someone else." The other Issei twitched at that comment and it was noticed.
"Is that true?" The question carried no anger or threat, yet Issei could not lie.
"No, I was the one who fell first and grabbed him. All devolved from there, it was my fault because… I was being overbearing." Considering that Hyoudou tried to take all the blame unto himself the other couldn't allow that.
The girl looks between the two and hums a bit before saying. "I recognize you," pointing to the black haired Issei, "if I am not mistaken you are trying to join the student council correct?" He nods. "You aren't going to be able if you keep acting like that. And you are going to keep getting into trouble." The last bit she said to the other Issei.
"We won't fight anymore, I promise." The Issei with a red shirt replies while the other is still dizzy from all the mess.
"If you want to join the council, fix your act." She then motions to the door. "Now off you go, both of you."
"We still need to talk with the principal." The Issei with glasses said.
"I have a meeting with her today and I would like for it to go smoothly and quickly, consider this your only warning, you two get into another problem and there is not going to be another."
And with that the small woman turns to leave, the secretary getting up to open the door for her leaving the other two perplexed. The brown haired teen decided to touch his counterpart shoulder, motioning him to the door.
Once they were outside Ryoudou lets out a deep breath. "God, this is the worst day of my life." This time he had no response for a bit until Hyoudou decided to say.
"Hey man, relax." He tried to console the other one. "I mean… we just got out without anything other than a warning. That is a win."
"Ah… But Fukukaichou is upset with me… I have no chance of joining the student council now." He fell to the ground and the other student could see a dark cloud forming above his head.
Looking around and seeing no one Hyoudou sits besides Ryoudou. "Come on man, it's not that bad." He tried to find something to say to help the other student. He was failing. "I mean, she is beautiful alright but there are plenty of other girls around."
"What are you talking about?" Frustration was on his voice.
"That is why you want to join right? To stay close to Shirori-senpai?"
"What? No! I... I wanted to join the council, become it's president to help the students. It is my duty." The way he spoke bothered the other boy.
"Duty? Why?" In his opinion both of them were too young to have such a job.
"It doesn't matter." Seeing as the other Issei was not going to talk any further, Hyoudou felt sympathy for him. He didn't believe in the duty thing and in his opinion Ryoudou just wanted to be noticed by his senpai like any normal guy with a crush.
In his mind it could only be that and the impression he got also helped in his resolve. "Hey… I know we have classes right now but… want to go to an arcade later?" That surprised the other boy.
"An… arcade… I…" For a minute both stared at each other.
"Yeah, you need something to distract you from all this mess today." Moving to help the depressed student he says. "Come on man, you haven't lost anything yet. If you want to get into the council you can't give up… you could relax a bit in my opinion, but don't give up on what you want."
"Don't give up…" The thought had crossed his mind but the words sounded nice to hear from another person. "But… I got into a fight and my record…"
"Doesn't matter." He was interrupted in an instant. "I mean, sure we made mistakes, both of us, but we can improve."
"That is kind of hypocritical for you to say. You just want to see naked girls."
"Yes, and that is part of the problem." The brown haired teen recognized that. "But not for the reasons you are thinking." He was going for a different approach now. "The problem we have here is that we can't tolerate each other. I don't like your attitude." He offered his hand.
"And I don't like your antics." The hand was taken. "But… It is not fair to try to correct- no change you, if you don't want to. If you are ready to face the consequences… then I suppose I can let it go since it is not my job to do anything about it."
"Yet." Hyoudou says with a smile.
"I don't think my chances are that good right now." Admitted the more strict of them.
"Oh no, you aren't quitting. Your name is also 'Issei'. If you quit I will also get a bad rep." Both were smiling.
"Oh, you are worried for your reputation now? Then don't worry. I won't quit."
"That is right you won't." Both hear the signal. "It's better if we go to our next class."
"Yes, we should… can you do me a favor?"
"Depends."
"Can you and your friends… tone down the peeking thing." After thinking for a bit the answer was.
"I make no promises about the other two. But I will relax for today but only if you go to the arcade with us today." And with that a deal was made. "We really should have had this conversation sooner."
"Yeah, we still need to figure out how to call each other without making a mess."
"That is easy." The brown haired student said, getting a raised eyebrow from the black haired one.
"How so?" Curiosity followed his tone as other students moved around on a small break.
"Since you are more formal you go by Issei and since I'm cooler I go Ise."
While he could disagree with the description, Issei shrugged. "Okay then Ise. I will refrain from being overbearing and you will tone down your habits, deal?"
"Deal."
…
Most students have a favorite subject that they do well, most of them make these subjects their favorite class for many reasons. Applicability to the future, passing or greater interest, or just a class that the students can kick back and relax that becomes their favorite class.
"Wrong." 'Math' with Weaver Velvet was not one of these classes for the majority at the moment. "I will repeat again, I wanted something that you made with your own skills. This is not it. You think I don't recognize a simple wind manipulation spell?"
The students came in high spirits, ready to present the result of years of research from their families, things they did work on… but not that they made themselves and that was the problem.
"No, you are using the normal familiar method. If it was an original recipient or it did something different or unusual I could consider it. Stop pretending it is anything different." Teaching was about understanding and adapting and Velvet was being kind on his rejections.
It came to the point that someone finally did it when they were called. "I am sorry sir, but I have nothing."
"And that is fine." Was the answer, getting everyone's attention. "This is just an extra credit." The reveal was surprising to many. "The better you do here the less you need to do on the official tests. That will in turn give you more time to work on your own projects."
"Sensei! Why didn't you tell us sooner?" The question actually raised an eyebrow from the teacher.
"So you half assed your work?" It was soft, audible enough for all to hear but there was no malice. "Whatever your way of life after school you all live in the moonlit world. Surprise and mystery are in every corner. Expect the unexpected and when something happens ask yourselves 'why' it is happening. Now, let's continue."
More students are called with few attempts to try and pass their work, only two or three admitted that they had nothing while others tried to argue that their family spells were part of their work only to receive a raised eyebrow and a breakdown of where the spell originally was from, how it worked and how it was being implemented.
Most non magician students were starting to enjoy the lesson, it was extra and they were not falling, they were learning something useful. Even stopping to ask how they wanted to implement the spell and fail only for Waver to give some advice and recommend some avenues of research. But most magicians were too prideful and didn't appreciate their teacher's method, most of them since some did recognize what the teacher was doing in trying to help them develop their own research.
When someone asked about sacred gears he said. "I will bring some works written by the leader of the Grigori, Azazel. He is the biggest researcher on the subject in the whole planet uncontested, but be warned that there is a good chance that he kept a lot out of it. I will give ideas to anyone who asks but mostly you will need to develop it by yourself. My door is always open, within reason."
The order of presentation was the order the class was seated, and with time it was Emiya Shirou's turn, he stood up and pulled out a knife out of his bag. "Here." He said presenting it to the teacher who took it.
"Hmm." There were no words for a while, Waver just examined the knife. "Interesting, I can't see anything special about it… so what is it?"
"I developed a way to forge magic into the metal." Asking for the knife back Shirou used a bit of mana to make fire, a small flame covering the edge of the knife. "With this intensity you can make sure your food is always warm. The more mana you put, the better the fire will be."
"And it is not enchanted or anything." The teacher asks for the knife again and tests it himself. "The spell is not on the blade, it is part of it. There are no runes and no additional magic around it. Is it the metal- No, analysis indicated that there is nothing other than steel on it besides some impurities, but they are at minimal. Can this be classified as a mystic code? It has no external signs of mana..."
While their teacher studied the objects and mumbled, plenty heard what was said and what Shirou said. The duo that was spared with him previously still didn't understand all the mechanics properly. They still got that it was a new thing and that was the first reaction of wonder the teacher got.
To Shirou 's peers as a magician, especially a certain pair of magus, that was a bucket of cold ice water falling on their heads. Shinji was grinding his teeth hard enough that some people with more advanced hearing could hear it constantly while Rin was looking at her table pensative.
'It makes sense.' She thinks. 'If you consider that the final project is the creation of a healing instrument that could work for anyone with mana there was always a high chance there would be prototypes with others, less costly, spells.' Biting her lip, she could feel her shoulders drop. 'I assumed that once he finished the process he didn't attempt to diversify it but that was what a normal magus would do.'
Realizing that Emiya Shirou was not normal even to magus standards changed her perspective of him, if he developed the method of… 'standardization'? She honestly didn't know how to call it and didn't know if he gave a name to the process yet but if the goal was not a single spell but a variety of things that could do multiple things…
Rin felt bad for downplaying Shirou in her assumptions, part of it was how she was raised while another part was her confidence in her own skills. Either way it didn't mean her work was in vain or useless, she can still build something from it by using his work as inspiration even if she didn't know the details of how he did she can find her own path for the same solution.
Didn't change the fact she didn't like being 2nd place. "I can admit for certain that this is the first time I see a spell that is completely part of something using a common material. At least this completely." He returned the knife. "Congratulations on being the first student of this class on getting extra credit… So? What it will be?"
"What do you mean sensei?" Confusion was visible on the redhead's face.
"As said previously I can give you some help on the tests, or in the ones that aren't going to be exhibited in the school I can give you a free pass or you will never have to do homework for the rest of your first year. I honestly knew that potentially someone would get the reward but not this early. Kudos for you."
And there was a thing that any student would agree to do on that point. "No homework please." Waver nods.
"Very well, unless it is a project that needs to be graded or of your own volition, you Emiya Shirou don't need to do any homework for this class. Even the work from the break that I will eventually give is already dismissed, you shall receive full marks."
"Sensei," someone raises their hand, "isn't that a bit too much?"
"It was something I expected to give to someone on the fourth or fifth time we did this." Waver says with a smile. "But that is the thing about life, it is full of surprises. To those that still want to find their way don't worry, you all will have the chance of getting your rewards… months from now, you need time to adjust and start yourselves." After everyone presented their work or admitted they had more to do, the bell rings. "Now that we all have some more ground to build, the next class is going to be the major powers of the world. We are going to start with one that doesn't have much presence in Japan or most of your own lifes but many have heard about: the Church and it's divisions in many factions… not that much different from the Clocktower in a sense but far more united and powerful."
With that all were allowed to go to the cafeteria or where else they wanted to eat lunch. Rin usually eats a bento her mother makes and because of that she didn't need to leave the classroom while others found places to eat.
For her wounded pride, most for her own fault and she recognized that, Rin couldn't help but glare at Emiya once again as he left the classroom with his friends. She wasn't used to being 2nd place, even the other magicians that she met weren't competition but now she felt defeated.
It wasn't a real competition, he didn't know what she planned but the redhead had still managed to outplay her. She was not ready to scrap that avenue of research just yet, the possibilities are too many for her to just quit. 'He can do whatever he wants, I can do better.'
Her thoughts were interrupted when a small girl approached her. "Are you Tohsaka Rin?" She looked young and the school uniform made her look like a middle schooler if nothing else, with short black hair and green eyes she tilts her head and asks again. "Tohsaka Rin?"
"Yes? Can I help you?" The person before her looked too young to be there, but with a smile she nodded and Rin so understood what she was.
"My master wishes to speak with you." There were a couple of people with the title of master in the school, less so with the need to call a magus.
"Of course." Rin replied with a smile. 'Things may be looking up.' She followed the girl, passing by her fellow students while they left the classroom.
Making their way to the corridors she wondered who was the girl's master, the best hypothesis at that point was the Sitri heiress since she was sure all of the Gremory's were watching on the first day, that meant the person guiding her couldn't be one of them. The other possibilities were another heiress or the Phenex… she hoped it was the former.
Getting to a more isolated corner of the school they entered into a classroom, there Rin noticed that the room was turned into some sort of bar, or at least a relaxation lounge. There were chairs on a round table with playing cards on it, a pool table, a mini bar and sitting on an extravagant chair was one of the four main devils of Kuoh, Rutal Phenex, the one Rin had less expectations about. "Welcome Tohsaka Rin." He welcomes her with a smile on his lips and a drink on his hands.
Training from a young age stopped her from showing her disappointment, this was still an opportunity. "Lord Phenex." The devil before her was no real lord but the title was a demonstration of respect, something the devil evidently liked since his smile grew.
"Tohsaka, please come in, make yourself comfortable. I have a proposition for you and if you accept we can both help each other." She accepts the offer, one of his men gets up and offers her a chair. A woman with long hair in a feminine business suit approaches with a cup. "Any preference? I can even offer alcohol if you want. It will be our little secret."
There were at least a hundred reasons for her to refuse any drinks, but she needed to do it tactfully or risk alienating the person before her. "No, thank you. I am planning to have lunch later." The woman retreats, giving her a chance to look around, there were four men in the room and excluding her there were two women.'They must be part of his peerage.'
It was a flimsy excuse but it was the truth and the man nodded. "Very well, then let's talk business really fast so you can enjoy the break." He snaps his fingers and the older woman moves closer to him with a file. "This little document here says you are an average one correct? Capable of using all the five standard elements with ease?"
"I can only guess my lord, since I don't know where this document came from." She could guess.
"It was the one you sent to Sona, your 'resume'." Reading a bit more of it, or apparenting to since he may be doing it to her benefit, he continued. "Specialized on gemcraft, coming from a prominent family from Japan with a good story behind them… it is a pity that this one was with Sona's rejects."
That little tidbit of information was ignored in favor of what was happening at the moment, even if she was rejected by the other heiress. The reality was that she expected such a result even if she didn't want it. "What can I do for you lord Phenex?" She allowed a little annoyance on her tone, no one liked being blindsided with a rejection.
"I noticed that you have the potential to one day accoplish great things and I am ready to make a pact with you." While the last place on the list of anyone wishing for a pact, it was still a pact and someone from a prominent family.
"I would be honored." The devil's smile said he expected such an answer.
"Of course. I can already see many of the great things we can do together, I have a vast sum of money and have the need of someone to help me with some endeavors." For Rin, the speech was weird, even if he wanted to flaunt his fortune he shouldn't be saying that. "But before that… I have another small test, a trial that I want to see if you can fulfill my expectatives."
Biting back a growl the magus just nods. "Of course, such a lord can only have the best after all."
"I am happy you agree." Appears to, not that he noticed. "To form a pact I believe that both sides have to establish some trust between each other. Nothing outrageous mind you, just something that can benefit both parts."
She was listening carefully but there wasn't much that she could do before he said what he wanted. "And what do you need me to do Rutal-sama?"
"For clarification, I need someone that can give me some information on topics of magecraft, a consultant if you will." He relaxed on his chair and plucked some more files. "These files were from Sona and in them there is information on some of her candidates, nothing much or damning, just a detail or another that you must clarificate to the best of your ability."
"I shall do my best." What followed next was a round of questions and answers about diverses types of magic, she nailed every single one of them. There were no problems in the basics and the general of magecraft or even other kinds of magic. Even other devils in the room looked impressed by her demonstration of knowledge.
"Fantastic work so far." Rutal complements her and he means it, he made sure to throw some curveballs around but the questions but she analysed them and made references where the origins of the spell came from. Closing the file, feeling he had questioned her enough, he prepared to go for his goal. "Now… I need proof that you are going to be loyal to our partnership."
"I ask once again; what do you need Rutal-sama?" Rin felt she was a shoe in of a profitable partnership but just as she was almost ready to celebrate her success he asked the question.
"Tell me, do you know the magecraft used by Emiya Shirou?"
The moment the question was asked Rin's mind was running to try to understand what that meant, it didn't stop her from answering. "Yes." Direct simple and contrary to the other answers before, way too simple.
"Elaborate please." While it was in the tone of a request it was anything but. Rin needed to be careful there.
"Projection is a magecraft that consists of creating something from memory." She says looking to the ceiling, giving only the broad strokes. "Because of the flaw of human imagination and memory it is impossible to reproduce something perfectly."
"And Emiya Shirou reproduced something perfectly." She nods, technically she was not saying anything about the person, just a magecraft she knew about and moving her head for any reason, not breaking any contract. Not very different from when she 'told' her father the same. "And what did he make?"
"... I can't tell you. For the sake of my family and my life, I can't tell you." She says on uncertain terms, not daring to cross the line with the Gremory clan.
The devil didn't look disappointed, he got up and approached her, going behind her chair and placing his hands on her shoulder. "Rias must really have scared you, didn't she? She can be really intense about her… protectorate. She can be so selfish at times, even holding secrets from us, her kin…"
"I still can't tell you, she will know." Rin didn't need to look to know the man was growing frustrated, the small pressure on her shoulders told her as much.
"I am sure we can come to some sort of agreement." The man lets go of her and snaps his fingers. The adult woman, Rin had deduced she must be his Queen, approaches with a checkbook. "I heard that the Tohsaka family has been having some… difficult times in the last few decades…"
He opens the small book and writes a number before taking the paper off and showing it to her. Rin did a spit take, never before she has seen this much zeros in her life.
"This could certainly help… wouldn't it?" She fought to say nothing. "While I can understand that Rias comes from an intimidating family with a powerful reputation I can promise you that the Phenex look over each other. She wouldn't dare to do nothing to you if we make a pact." His voice was soft while he placed the check on her hands. "Think about the possibilities, Tohsaka Rin. You could get any gem you wanted, expand your research and that is just the beginning. With the Phenex fortune you would be able to reach greater highs."
There is a thing called stereotypes and if this wasn't one of those then Rin was going to eat her favorite sweater. All it was being promised was exactly what she needed, she could use the money to convince her father to not 'sell' her sister and much more.
'This is too good to be true.' Now Rin was looking around the room once more, everyone was paying attention to her to the point she found it weird but she couldn't just look at them and focused on the check on her hands making sure to make a face of wonder. 'Coming here alone was a mistake, just following a devil inside their den was a bigger one.'
But there was little she could do to change her situation because she was a bit isolated in her classroom, the only other magus proper was Emiya Shirou while the rest were from other schools of magic. Maybe she could get closer to other magicians, except that Shinji was their leader and she would be damned before she joins his group.
The rest she had nothing in common, all she can do is be polite and respectful to one day build real connections but for the time being she was alone in this school, no allies or even friends since her 'mundane' friends didn't move to it since most were female and the school was already full.
There was no pointing in lamenting her situation, she is in a precarious position and she needs a plan fast. "This… is too much money." She needs to stall.
"Of course." He was happy she was impressed. "My clan has built an immense fortune during the last few centuries. Ranting Games truly are an amazing thing… for business." Yes, she knew that but it was useful that he kept talking. "Phoenix Tears are far from a simple commodity and now that we aren't at war and instead they are used for sport. That was literally the best thing that could ever happen to us. We are now the richest clan in the Underworld."
While the brag was true to devils there were some entities that could claim more riches but Rin wouldn't dare to interrupt the devil while he bragged, every word was another moment she had to think. All she had to do is pay some attention and pretend to be admired when she was actually anything but.
Sure it was a lot of money but he must have a reason to offer this much, Rin already noticed that the previous questions were to butter her up and to get all ready for the offer, an offer she couldn't refuse, not surrounded by the devils peerage. Even if she escapes now, she could be pursued later, her family would also be in peril if she did anything wrong.
After a long monologue Rin closed her eyes and asked. "Can I have some time? I need to speak with my father, the head of the family, about this." Technically not a lie, except that she could use the pact itself to overwrite any of her father's complaints since she would be the power of the family.
But the question had the desired effect, the devil smiled once again convinced that he had her. "Of course. I wouldn't wish to impose on your elders. If you wish you can have your lunch here before going back to your classroom while we hash out some more details."
Fortunately for her she had the perfect excuse for that. "I left my lunch in the classroom… Unless you have some food here I need to go back and the class will start soon." Contempt showed up on the devil's face.
"Very well." The fact he was ready to let her go easily said a lot. "I shall wait for a positive response tomorrow." He said with a confident smile.
Once she was escorted out of the room Rin made a calm trek to her table in class but she completely lost her appetite. For the next few hours she stood completely still, holding back the panic on the back of her mind.
'What to do? What to do? What to do? What do I do?' She wasn't unfamiliar with fear, since little her father made sure she knew the horrors of the supernatural or what a mistake in her magecraft would entail. 'I can't go back there, I can't join that guy's side. He wants to go against Gremory? His problem not mine.'
Yes, the money would help a lot and a pact with someone so rich could help her both with immediate problems and in the long run. Forgetting the fact that Rias Gremory was the biggest threat for a moment, whatever reasons he had for wanting to know more about Shirou's magecraft was not of his business… or it was?
There was something there, something she was not able to see yet, the picture was complicated and she was missing the context but she knew there was something there. It wasn't just curiosity that moved that devil, she knew she was good in terms of magecraft and the story about a consultant sounded plausible.
But that file probably had to have details about the spells themselves and even if they didn't it was not something worth making a pact about. She knows she is good, her training and dedication meant she was confident in her skills but she knew she wasn't special, not yet at least.
All things considered the best thing she could do was to try and find some way of telling Rutal that she was not interested, in a place with a lot of people and after making some preparations just in case… she may have to ask for Shinji's help… Rin definitivaly didn't like that idea.
"Tohsaka?" A hand is placed on her shoulder and she almost panics until she sees Emiya looking at her worried. "Are you alright?"
"Yes." She managed to reply after a few seconds. "I lost myself for a second."
Raising an eyebrow Shirou just said. "Tohsaka… you have been still since lunch. I barely saw you blink and classes are already over."
Looking around Rin could see that most of her classmates had already left, there was only Shirou, his friends and herself. "Oh… I may have been more distracted than I thought."
"For a moment I thought you were having a panic attack." Setsuna says with a frown. "Your respiration got erratic a good number of times."
"I just… had a lot to think about."
Deciding to be direct Shirou asked." Do you need help with something, Tohsaka?"
"No, I am fine." No one was buying it. "It is…" She wanted to say it wasn't his business but it was his business. "Let's just say that I have some problems… and that I don't know exactly what to do about them."
"What can I do to help?" The offer wasn't a surprise for her, even if it looked a bit off putting to the others but in their old school Shirou had a reputation of always offering assistance on anything. Part of her was glad that didn't change.
"I don't think you can do anything to help. It is a matter of the Tohsaka family." In technicality only.
"Does it have anything to do with the moonlit world?" The fact he asked so directly almost made her gag. Looking for the hanyou and the devil behind him the woman had no reaction while the blonde just gave her a small smile.
'To be fair there is only us here.' Deciding that there was little to fear at the moment she nodded. "A mixture of both worlds." Shirou stays silent for a moment, waiting for her to continue, when she notices that she remarks. "You can't help me with this."
"Well… I can't if you don't tell me what the problem is?"
"And if I don't want to?"
"Then don't." Was the simple reply. "Won't stop me from offering." He waits a few more seconds to see what she would do. For her part Rin could see that his friends are already used to some of his antics since there was little reaction to his comment.
"Unless you can understand political maneuvering and the risks certain actions can entail..." Humoring his request she says this just to see his reaction.
"Well… I can't help with that…" Shirou frowned at his own admission.
"If I may give a suggestion." Kiba talks for the first time in this conversation. "If this is a matter of politics you should talk with our sensei."
"That… is a good idea." Waver Velvet did come from the Clocktower, the closest equivalent to a nest of vipers that humanity ever conceived and could actually participate in. "But where would he be at this time?"
Once again the devil had the answers. "Unlike most teachers, Velvet-sensei has his own office since it would be… hard to explain if someone ever read some of the papers he has to grade."
"Great. Do you know where I could find it?"
"Of course, it is on the way from where we are going." Kiba said, keeping his smile. "We could escort you there."
"I would appreciate it." Rin already followed a devil today, why not another? The difference was that the devil before was following the wishes of her master while the actual was just doing a favor.
Moving to a direction that appeared random for her, Rin could still see students going one way or another or talking with each other. "Have you decided what you are going to try?" Shirou asked Setsuna who gave him a nod.
"Since anything physical would be unfair I want to try something more… artistic? I am going for arts."
"Take your time. Try to find something you enjoy." Shirou said but Setsuna shook her head.
"I will but I also want time to go to the club. I think I won't be joining any clubs, just going to see if it would work for me." The redhead let out a sigh.
"That…" He didn't know what to say.
"School clubs are here to help students find passions or hobbies." The girl continued. "I want that but not a club in itself. I kinda want to help you in the club."
"You know you don't need-"
"Also we can spar more if I am part of the Occult Research Club." He lets out a sign and accepts her logic.
Meanwhile in the front Kiba just keeps escorting them throughout the school, the routes already memorized by him. Where he passed he made sure to say a 'hi' or 'hello' to anyone they passed by, always with the same smile. Rin, on the other hand, was too focused on the route, she waved at some people but in general just kept looking forward, both metaphorically and literally.
Finally they turned a corner, it was a dead end but there was a simple door 'Deposit'. "Are we in the right place?" She asked just to be sure.
"Indeed." Kiba replies, the other two also curious. The devil approaches the door and knocks on it three times. After a minute or so he does it again.
"I am going! Give me a minute!" After hearing their teacher's voice Kiba turns to Tohsaka.
"Here you are, don't worry about being seen by the students. There is a small boundary field that makes them ignore this area." He then moves to the others. "We better get going if we want Setsuna to take a look into other clubs today."
The two give him nods. "Good luck Tohsaka." Shirou says.
"Thank you Emiya." And with that they were gone, leaving Rin to wait for a few more minutes before the door finally opened
"Ah. Tohsaka Rin." Unlike when he is in the classroom, Waver's long hair was more unkempt and he was with just his shirt with the sleeves rolled up and no tie, he also ditched the shoes having only socks and to his feet, red in contrast with his black pants. "Come on in."
"Excuse me." Inside the office it was a mess, the teacher's table had a lot of books and papers open, at the corner she could see a magic circle, a black board with a lot of notes and equations and everything in general looked chaotic.
Cleansing his desk the teacher sits on his chair, takes off his glasses and pour coffee from a thermos at his side. "I wish I had an assistant." He mumbles but Rin hears him. "Please, sit and tell me what I can do for you, Tohsaka-san."
Looking to the office as it was it was hard to believe that the man before her was the same composed teacher that always appears to have all the answers or able to deduct spells with barely a glance. "I have a problem." He nods to show he was listening. "I don't know exactly how to describe it."
"Give me the broad strokes if you want, avoid names if there are any or just say whatever comes to your mind." After giving his advice he just takes a sip of his coffee and waits.
"What would you do… hypothetically speaking, if someone came to you with a deal that was too good to be true."
"I would reject them." Rin then elaborate some more.
"But… what if that deal is the only thing that could protect someone you cared about? What if it was the only way?" A hand comes to the teacher's chin and he comments."
"Depends on the deal I suppose. It would be awful if the person you are protecting felt guilty out of the sacrifice you made… hypothetically of course."
"Of course..." Rin then stops to think, this decision may save the family and protect Sakura but Sakura didn't even know she needed protecting and the fact that she would make an enemy of the Gremory heiress was enough to make her shiver.
"Oh, I forgot to offer you something to drink." The man gets up and goes to a wall where he opens it revealing a fridge in disguise. "What do you want? Tea? Soda? Water?
"Sensei? What is that?"
"A fridge?" He didn't understand the question.
"I can see that but why is it disguised as a wall?"
"To save space."
"Okay… I don't want anything right now… kinda too worried to drink anything." She said, lowering her head.
"And that is fine." He closes the wall and goes back to his desk. "Tell me why you are worried. Avoid details if you want but I can only help if I have a picture to work with."
She couldn't disagree with that. "I am in a difficult spot, on one hand I have a chance to get everything I want but it will make me a powerful enemy as well. There is no way that both sides can conciliate since the… information that I have is too important for one and the other wants it figured out."
Waver nods and asks. "And the reason you can't tell me?"
"A geass was made with one of the parts…" Rin said, a half lie since the geass was from previous events but she didn't want to place her teacher in a bad situation with any devils.
Waver stayed silent for a moment, waiting to see if Rin was going to say anything else, since there was no more he decided to offer a single word. "Why?"
"'Why'? Why what?" Rin was confused, much to Waver's amusement.
"Why are you in this situation, why are the two sides in conflict, why can't they conciliate for instance? There are plenty of questions that you aren't asking." Waver then picked some papers and started to organize them. "A lot of things can be solved if one worked first by asking 'why'. For instance, do you believe my office is always this messy? Sure I gave a better impression than that." Since the younger magus made no comments, he continued. "'Whydunnit' sometimes can lead to conclusions much more easily than the 'how' or even 'who' depending on the circumstances. It is not about the people or the means but the reason behind them. Ask yourself this Tohsaka Rin; Why are they in conflict? If you figure that out then you may be able to find your solution."
Rin understood what her teacher meant, either she gives him more details or she figures what to do by herself. She just needs to find out the 'why'…
Waver was patient, he just kept working on his research until Rin did something. What she did was jump out of the chair and run out of the office. "Thank you for the help, sensei!"
Looking at his wrist watch Waver commented. "Just shy of five minutes. I suppose I will only know her decision properly tomorrow at earliest."
What he didn't mention is that the 'why' she was doing it was also obvious to him once he processed all the information available.
There is only one pureblood devil that would want intel from Rias Gremory, who made a talent show previously where a geass would be needed, the only one she had a bad relationship with was Rutal Phenex and the point of contention would be info on Emiya Shirou's production method, something that Waver started to look around and research on his books.
If it is considered that Rias Gremory wasn't reckless and had a good reason for her early and fast pact it meant that he was beyond just kitchen knives and fire. But that was something he started investigating out of curiosity more than anything else.
Turning his thoughts back to his student's plight he could think on more than one solution that could help her situation… he just didn't say it and instead started her to find something for herself for her own sake. It was good to instill some independence on their students once in a while.
Going back to his research he thinks about getting into contact with other magicians, mostly magus, to try and figure out how Emiya did it. Not from the Clocktower, there was a good reason he left that place even if it was the more accessible academically, with a greater variety and easier entrance it left a lot to be desired by its nepotism and annoying nobles.
If he found possible he would try for one of the more restricted organizations but he doubted he would find any. Still it was something to do while he worked, trying to figure out what was done could be as interesting as doing it in the first place.
…..
After coming to the human world Rutal got used to the more… modern aspects of it. The Underworld adapted slowly to the new technologies that popped up, mostly because devils lived centuries, and it was a rarity for new stuff to build roots on their world, especially since magic can do most of their functions by itself.
All things considered it was fascinating to watch as a mechanical owl called for a meeting in his private room, a familiar of Tohsaka Rin that looked like a real bird but was actually a manufacturer of magecraft that he never saw before.
'Hell, even telephones are common in the Underworld at this point and the girl didn't have a cellphone?' To be fair he didn't give his number to her. 'But why must we meet on the rooftop?' It wasn't the location he minded, Rutal liked to stand on the roof from time to time, basking into the sun.
It was contradictory for most devils, the sun was the greatest source of light, something that was toxic for them. But the heat it gave was something most his clan enjoyed, any heat source could do but the sun for some reason was special… It was one of the reasons why the phoenix bird was associated with it.
Arriving there he notices that Tohsaka was already present and wondered when she got there. "I don't know why you wanted to meet here but I do enjoy the place." Rutal stated.
"Good morning Rutal-sama." Rin answers respectively. "I heard that you liked this place and thought that it was the best one for this kind of meeting."
Raising an eyebrow the devil looked at her for a second before shrugging. "I am happy you looked for ways to ease our partnership even more." He found her attempt to understand him amusing.
Moving around a bit the devil once again basked in the sun, not caring much for the magus who just stayed silent and just watched as he enjoyed the heat not saying a word or interrupting the fun the devil was having. After a good while just enjoying himself the devil turns to the magus once again.
"While I appreciate the avenue, I hope you have sorted out the problems with the head of your family." Not that he cared much anyway, if the information is good he may allow the girl to keep the money and that was it.
"Indeed I did, it didn't even take too long once I told him that a devil of the highest caliber was ready to make a deal with me." Rin replied with a smile on her face, one that looked positively impish and the devil nodded.
"That is great news. It brings me great joy knowing that we are going to enter into a very prosperous relationship." He said with all the pomp and proper attitude before pulling out a contract from his pocket. "We can start once you sign this… but before that I have the need for you to prove you are committed."
And what he wanted was obvious. "Would you let me sign the contract first?"
"Of course." He approaches and hands it to her, completely willing to have her sign the paper.
"The real contract if you want to do this, please." Rin's impish smile grew a bit bigger while Rutal looks irritated.
"What are you talking about? This is a real contract for a pact."
"Is it?" Then where is the symbol of your clan?"
The answer was already at the tip of his tongue. "I'm not a part of the main family." His speech got less formal as he glared at the girl. "Only they can use our official emblem on pacts."
"That is a lie." Rin said full of confidence. "Any devil who belongs to one of the 72 pillars has to use their marks in documents, together with their signature written on the language of said documents." She points to the paper on his hands. "This thing is worthless."
"And what does a human know about such things?" The devil finally loses his patience just what the third person on the rooftop needed to finally show herself from behind the entrance.
"Oh, I told her that." Coming from behind the entrance, it was Rias Gremory in all her glory. Usually the beautiful girl would get hearts beating of excitement just by looking at her but Rutal felt panic before schooling his features.
"What are you doing here Rias?" He tries to say with a smile, playing dumb.
"Nothing much. Rin-chan here just asked me to accompany her to a meeting and I just made sure to inform her enough for you to not bully her." The redhead had an easy going smile but Rutal was not liking what he was hearing.
"Bully? Perish the thought. I was just-"
"Tricking her to get information on my cute magician?" Rias asked, raising an elegant eyebrow.
"That is a lie. I would never dare." He points to Rin. "I was ready to make a pact with the little minx but apparently she tried to trick you by using me." Glaring at the magus he says. "It is obvious that such a human is not to be trusted."
"I would do such a thing?" Rin asked. "But Rutal-sama, you said you wanted information about what Emiya Shirou could do just yesterday."
"Liar!" He retained his composure before declaring. "You are a liar and a trickster."
"A trickster maybe. A liar? No, all I spoke was 100% the truth." Was the magus' response.
"You have no proof of such a thing."
"Funny you say that." Rias commented. "You see, yesterday nigh she showed up with this…"
While the Phenex looked at the small piece of paper on the heiress' hands she reminded herself of what happened the previous night.
…..
After a normal day of school the supernatural tends to dominate the night, be to do a job or to just practice. "This is complicated." Akeno comments while holding a small pipe in her hand.
"I know but you need to figure out a trigger to turn on your circuits." Shirou tried to explain. He hadn't gone to the forge yet that night, starting with Akeno's education and anyone without work stuck around to watch. "Mine is the trigger of a gun, for example."
"That is how magecraft works?" Setsuna asked, watching attentively. "Most of my things are just muscle and willing things to happen." Rias and Akeno, the only devils present at the moment, nodded in agreement.
"For us is just focusing and thinking about it. If anything it only changes when we need a bigger output." Rias was looking to the pipe. "Even I can tell that it is just copper. There is no need for magic to figure that out."
"But there is more than just what it is made off." Shirou begins to explain. "There is when it was made, how much rust it has, the imperfections of its making." With each example he raised a finger. "Of course I'm not expecting you to get everything on the first try or at all but you have to start from somewhere."
"And this is the first spell you learned." Akeno asks and in getting a nod she can't help but say. "It sure is different from normal magic." At least as far as she could call normal something like magic.
Shrugging, the male redhead sat once again at Liz's side, the woman eating some snacks. "Maybe you are having difficulties because you are trying to do something different but similar to what you are used to?" He offered an explanation.
No one knew what to say about that. Rias was about to comment on it when suddenly she stood up from the sofa. "Someone just entered the boundary field."
"Anyone we know?" Akeno got up as well followed by Shirou, Liz and Setsuna.
"I think is one of the students but not someone I am overly familiar with." She smiles at everyone. "There is no need to be aggressive. They are approaching the building quite fast but they are on foot."
*DING DONG*
"And are polite too. Could you please bring them in Liz-sensei?" Rias said while Liz got up and went to the door, still munching some food.
"Did you know we had a doorbell?" Setsuna asked Shirou who just shrugged.
A few seconds later Liz returns with Tohsaka Rin in tow, she looks nervous and looking around she takes a deep breath and decides to do the first move. "Good evening everyone."
No one was rude or anything, there was some confusion on their faces but they greeted her with some warmth and respect.
But it was Rias Gremory's greeting that put her in the spotlight. "Welcome Tohsaka to our humble home away from home. What can I do for you today?"
Polite but direct and to the point, Rin also didn't have time to waste and fishing from her uniform she gave to Rias a small paper. "Here."
The King looked at it curiously before collecting. "Is this a joke?"
"What is wrong?" Akeno was the first to ask and Rias passed her the paper.
"It's a check." She said. "I don't know why you presented me with this but while the thought may be appreciated I neither need it or care for it's value."
When Shirou caught a glimpse out of it he did a spit take. "That is not a small value at all." Thanks to his parents he never had problems with money but even then he knew when a lot is 'a lot'. He was sure they could buy multiple houses with that.
"Shirou do you need some money for something?" Rias asked worriedly. "If you do, just say it. I can give way more than this small change."
Only the magus on the room could wonder. 'That is a 'small change' for her?' They kept the thoughts to themselves and Rin decided to dispel any doubts. "It isn't my money… It is Rutal's."
"Now that is interesting." Rias admitted. "I doubt you would come here for delivery, I think you have more pride than that." Picking up the check again Rias finally reads the name proper. "Indeed it's his… What did he try to buy?"
Rin didn't hesitate, she told the story from the beginning, going from when she was called from the classroom until the questions the devil did, finishing of course with the one about Shirou's magecraft.
Once Rin finishes explaining, Rias lets out a sigh. "I must apologize to you Tohsaka-san, not only was I a bit rude but your reason to be here is genuine." Showing respect for the magus she looks directly to her eyes. Blue meets aqua and Rias asks. "You must have a reason to come here. Tell me, what do you wish for?"
"I… wish for many things… can we talk in private?"
"Shirou, Akeno, please take your lesson to his workshop. I need to talk with Tohsaka-san alone." Hearing the dismissal everyone prepared to leave but Rin couldn't help herself once everyone was gone.
"Lesson? Is she trying to teach Emiya-kun something?" Rias lets out a giggle.
"No, he is the teacher and is trying to teach her magecraft."
Rin's eyes almost jumped out of her skull at that. "A devil learning magecraft… that is a new one. Does she have circuits?"
"We can talk about that later." Rias dismisses the subject while moving to her desk. "For now, let's talk business. By bringing this to my attention," she refers to the check, "you did me a favor, not a big one since in practically all you did was informing me of something that I already know but a favor nonetheless."
"Enough for you to do me a favor in turn?" Rin asked while placing her bag on the sofa, never taking her eyes off Rias'.
"Indeed." Rias relaxed on her chair. "For that I ask: what do you desire? Depending on the request I may give it to you free of charge."
"I-" Before Rin said anything else the devil interrupted her.
"Before you say anything let me make it clear: I am rewarding you for choosing not to make an enemy of me and showing that someone is willing to poke where they shouldn't. That being said," Rias smiled, "is this all he offered or there was something else?"
"He offered to make a pact with me." The redhead raises an eyebrow.
"I know he is not part of the main family of his clan but it would still be worth it. Why did you choose to come here?" After a second Rias says. "If you are expecting me to give up on Shirou then you better leave now."
"No, I don't want that." The face Rias made told Rin she didn't believe her. "Okay, I want that but it is not going to happen. If he manages to make weapons that can do spells with minimal knowledge and use of mana I can see why he is important to you and, most importantly, how it could be a threat to the Phenex."
"Oh… Do tell." If anything it got the devil curious.
"After I was called by Rutal to hear his proposal and stopped short of telling him too much about Emiya-kun I got myself thinking on how I would reject him to not make an enemy of you." Rias nods, paying complete attention to the magus. "However, I was unable to come up with a solution… Emiya-kun suggested that I talk with Velvet-sensei. It helped because it got me wondering; Why did you make a deal with him so fast? It made no sense on so many levels, even knowing that he managed to make something unique didn't change the fact that if given enough time you could get what you wanted if he developed naturally. You can live for centuries and with a contract and some resources you could just wait… but you can't."
Rin then starts to move around the office and moves her hands frantically mid explanation.
"For some reason that Phenex is here to keep an eye on you. He is not an heir neither is your friend. He has a room from himself that looks more like a bar for him to pass the time and the first chance he gets he goes after some information about you that as far as he knows it may be nothing. Maybe the pact part is not even real but he was willing to pay a lot for it. Then I asked once again: why? Why is he here? You are the answer. The Phenex clan wants something from you, something that you felt the need to take them down a beg to make sure they couldn't get you." Rin stops to take a breath before continuing. "You need EMs, lots of them, so you can break the monopoly the Phenex clan have on fast healing. Once you do, you can force them to lower the prices or just out sell them if you have something cheap enough. The EM is made from a cheaper material and if I am right then it can be used multiple times while the tears can only be of use once making it a better alternative to anything short of fatal, superior in the way that you could spend a set value only once for a long investment. And then the richest house on the Underworld falls, all because a magus did something unconventional."
Applauses, that was what she heard coming from Rias Gremory. "Full marks on that, you skipped a few details but that is the general idea. I plan to topple the richest house in the Underworld to avoid… something unpleasant. Yes, I could wait for Shirou to develop for himself but by then it would be too late. On the other hand I can help him and reach my goal in time to get away from that."
"That is why you made a pact so fast. To help him to get everything he needs to accelerate his goal." To that Rias nodded.
"Yes but he is also a pleasant person in general. I kinda like his disposition." She shrugs nonchalantly. "Either way, I have confidence he will manage to make more in two years at the latest, if not I have other plans but either way I have a magician who is a good person and able to do something new."
"A win-win situation huh?" The timeline clicked on her mind. "You have until graduation then?"
"Basically." The devil didn't bother to deny it. "All that was fun but you still didn't tell me why you are here… what do you want?"
Rin's throat was dry at that point but there was no stopping her. "I need your help." She told Rias her situation, her family situation and her sister's situation. Rias paid close attention and once Rin was done she said.
"Sure."
"'Sure'?" Rin didn't get her hopes up on that.
"I can't make a pact with you, that would be against the law and such." Rias smiled. "But I can employ you and pay a generous fee while giving you protections for as long as you work for me."
"So… a job? You are offering me a job?" Incredulous and confused, Rin asked.
"If you want. I can't do as much for you as I could in a pact… but any material Shirou finds useless for instance I could give it to you…" Rias let Rin fill the blanks.
"Okay. THAT is a good offer." Not all the privileges and she would be dependent on Shirou's wims but she can work with that. "Do I also get paid?" She still can't believe that part.
"Absolutely, but there are going to be some restrictions. First you are going to become a legitimate employee of House Gremory; you can be dismissed with little reason and you won't be able to access the same circles as Shirou could, he will always have a leg up in any business interaction anyway; second, you can't make pacts with any devil outside of my clan, no exceptions. Considering that the next to make a pact is going to be my nephew in maybe or so ten years at the earliest you must understand that he may not even bother with you. Or maybe he will, I am his favorite aunt after all." The only aunt went unsaid.
"Anything else?" Rin pretty much had made her decision the moment she marched to this club.
"Some details here and there. Nothing that will affect you too much… So what do you say?"
What Rias didn't need to say but Rin got was that she was tying herself and the immediate future of the Tohsakas to her and her success until her contract expired. But accepting she is going to alienate an ally, piss off a rich devil and violate a lot of standards of magus… But she didn't trust Shinji and for her Sakura's happiness was paramount, everything else she can work after her sister is not at risk of becoming the wife of someone she found repulsive and unworthy.
…
The moment Rutal saw the check again he knew he was caught, he underestimated the magus, didn't expect her to go to RIas. "You can't make a pact with her." He said to his fellow devil.
"She is working for me. No pacts, just a contract." Both devils chuckles in their mind at her joke. There is always more than 'just a contract'.
The blond man couldn't counter play anything Rias did at that moment. "What happens now?" He gritted his teeth and asked, any amusement gone.
"Unfortunately I can't get rid of you right now. It doesn't matter how much I want to." And both of them knew that, he was still a representative of his clan still and unless he did something grave he could get away scot free.
"After all, all I did was ask some questions." Plausible deniability, both of them knew what he wanted but even if he got it there was no proof he was doing anything wrong. Curiosity was normal for devils as any other race.
"But I would still suggest you stay away from our business." There was a warning, Rias now is going to activale pay attention to his moves and the other heiresses wouldn't hesitate to help her, he is the strange one after all and they had more Pieces than him when combined. "Try to not bother our students if you can."
With a wave RIn moves close to Rias and they both start to leave the rooftop. Rutal was ready to just let them leave but he remembered something. "Hey! What about my money?"
"Oh, this?" Rias lifts the check. "You should look into credit cards, it is a thing humans made that pretty much replaces checks. Besides that, consider this my fee for using my magus services as a consultant."
He had nothing to say on that. Calling Tohsaka Rin an consultant previously was a way that, in case of interrogation, he could say he was playing the pact idea as an incentive and that the plan was just to consult. None devil would blame him for that, most would smile and compliment him for his cunning.
Except the one that would be damaged by it. Rias accepted that Rin was a consultant and since he can't deny that she needs to be paid… for nothing. All he wanted was information on Emiya Shirou and all the questions before that were to lower her guard, he read most about it and all that was irrelevant.
Now he was alone, the sun was still up but he couldn't find in himself to bask on its heat. "DAMN IT!" He punches the ground in frustration. "This isn't over Rias. Not by a long shot."
…..
"No, no, no. You are thinking too much about the wrong thing." Later at the club Rin was trying to teach Akeno how to use her magic circuits. Shirou had already taught her the basics but the devil was still missing some fundamentals. "What you need to do is to find something that clicks with you but you still need to build the spell from the ground up. Make out every detail in your mind."
"Shirou-kun told me I should break it into steps." Akeno replied while trying to produce a small flame… while avoiding using devil magic… that is not going anywhere fast.
"That is correct, for the most part." Rin was at her side with both on the couch while the Queen's hands were on the table just above a candle. "But starting with structure analyses may be a bit too advanced. We are working with two sets of magics at the same time here."
Akeno couldn't help but look unimpressed while Rias giggled a bit. The fact that her manga time is being cut with the lessons didn't bother her since she could see Akeno being frustrated while trying to learn magecraft.
"Since you already know your element we can work it up." Rin declared.
"But my element is lighting and you are telling me to make fire."
"I told you to light the candle… wasn't that clear?" The two looked at each other for a few seconds before Akeno turned to Rias.
"I want Shirou-kun back as my teacher." Rin did a double take.
"Believe or not but I am teaching you how it should be done. Properly like a magus would."
After a second Akeno said. "But Shirou-kun was doing the same, he was just more fun."
"Magecraft is not supposed to be fun." Akeno was pouting at that point.
"Maybe Shirou-kun is a better teacher than you." That got Rin's eyebrow to twitch.
Rias was amused while their discussion just got going. She knew from experience that Akeno was not a bad student but the young woman was more used to a more soft approach with simplified explanations like the ones Shirou gave.
Rin on the other hand was trying to be meticulous in her lecture of the proper way of doing things like a magus. The problem was that her method is a bit more… mechanical was the word Rias would use. Not out of cruelty or spite since it was clear to her that was the way that Rin was taught herself but the method was clashing with Akeno's personality.
As playful as the Queen could be she could also be serious, however when it comes to teaching the best approach with her was not a serious one. Rias could easily say that and she is going to… another day since she is enjoying the show for the moment. Akeno who was usually unflappable finally met her match on Rinl who was headstrong enough to not fall to teases and to insist on the 'proper method'.
At least for this night she is going to let them but heads and tomorrow she is going to give some advice… or one of the women breaks and follows the other, either way it was too much fun for her to stop it at the moment.
"At least tell me you found a switch for your circuits at this point." Rin was at her wits end.
"..." The silence was not reassuring. It lasted until the door opened.
"Setsuna-san." Rias' call snapped the two others from the discussion.
"Buchou." She accented. "Shirou asked if he could borrow Tohsaka-san for a moment."
Once the presents looked to each other their curiosity won and all of them moved to the forge.
The closer they got the higher the sound of hammering got, Rias was debating if she should actualize the boundary field to mute sounds but decided against it. Better to let as it was in case of emergencies.
Once close to the door Setsuna opened it and everyone could feel the heat of the forge getting out. "I brought her." Shirou stops his arm and Liz takes the new blade and puts it into the water.
"Thanks for coming guys but you all didn't need to stop by." Shirou said.
"It wasn't much, these two are having some problems working together." Both blackhaired girls give silent nods, staring at Shirou in silence.
"Really? Do they need help?" Rias smiled at the question.
"Not for now, just communication problems. Right girls?" The two just nod slowly, their eyes not leaving Shirou. "Tell me Shirou, what do you need?"
"Yes, of course." He turns to Rin. "Tohsaka, your speciality is jewelcraft right?" For a few seconds he got no answer. "Tohsaka?"
Rias giggled a bit before snapping her fingers in front of the girl in question. "You can admire it later if you want." Both raven haired girls managed to recover themselves. "I am sure his workshop is something you aren't used to seeing but Akeno, you also should know better."
"Sorry… the heat just surprised me." The Queen managed to say.
"Yeah, I get it." Shirou commented, turning back to the forge and making sure all was truly off. "That is why I recommend light clothing here.
"And why are you without a shirt." Rias said, a smile on her face as she looked at the Queen and the magus with both blushing while the male redhead was distracted.
"Anyway!" Rin says. "Ahem." Clears her throat. "What can I help you with Emiya-kun?" She is ready to demonstrate the proper composture of a magus to all present.
"Right. Ever since I got a workshop I found it easier to use mana here and other stuff but I need to know if there is a way to give my mana to someone else?"
"Oh, yeah. I heard that magecraft had such a method figured out." Rias commented but Rin just stood there refusing to look into anyone's eyes.
"Yes, there is such a method." Hesitating she asks. "Why do you want to know?"
"It's just that I'm a bit stuck." He pulls out EM. "I tried to short cut everything and just brute force another EM with the extra mana… But if it is from one person to another then the process cost way more, to the point that the blade breaks before it finishes."
"Is it because you are using a secondary object and not the spell itself?" Rin asked, the magus taking over the conversation instead of the girl.
"Maybe? Never had that problem before. The spells always keep the same potency, I made two other Analyzers and they work just the same." He pointed to two knives on the wall. "I even used the original to make the two."
"Wait! Wait! You used a knife to make others?" Rin interrupted. "Please explain! Also 'Analyzer'?"
"They are knives that use Structural Analysis." Shirou said with some pride. "I directed the spell inside one to the others and they came out flawlessly."
"Then the process should work with the healing spell." Rias mumbled.
"Maybe it is because you know Structural Analysis too well?" Akeno suggested. "It was your first spell after all."
"Maybe…" Shirou admitted.
"Hold on." Rin asked. "How are you making these swords like that? Wait! Never mind, you better not tell me. I can already feel my sanity slipping."
Everyone took a moment to just look at her. "It's not that bad. I just build the weapon around the spell."
"And sanity is officially out of the building." Rin said resigned. "I doubt anyone else can do the same thing. I don't know how you are doing this but I suppose it's just you."
"I disagree." Shirou responds with a determined look. "Sure that is because I'm doing swords but I'm sure someone can also do something similar."
"Similar? Yes." Rin accepted that. "But I will admit that I was trying to do something like that with my gems… can you see the problem?" When no one answered she said. "It's because I'm working with a complete thing, not building around it. Who the hell does that? Besides you, of course."
"We know that the standard for magic weapons is building them with special materials but that is not that different from a mystic code." Rias comments.
"A mystic code is made to carry spells, not around them." The magus sighed. "Okay… that is why you want a method to transfer mana? To see if you can still use cheaper materials." After a nod she continues. "There are efficient ones, we aren't doing that and I am not explaining them right now, and the inefficient ones that involve blood… fresh blood so nothing to long periods of time. The first option is the best and only choice there."
"Then what is the first option?" Setsuna asked. "It would be better if you told us already so Shirou and I can do it. I want to see if we can make a naginata using my energy and see if It can strengthen my yokai trait."
The comment and the fowardness of the other girl made Rin blush again. "You don't know what you are talking about." She then turns to Shirou. "You have more materials than most mages dream to work with. Find one that you can use the other method." And with that she turns around. "I will be at the office, waiting to continue our lesson."
After she left Rias couldn't help but comment. "The first method must be something terrible for her to be reacting like that."
"I don't know~" Akeno said, almost singing. "She looked more frustrated than anything."
Rias understood immediately. "Oh my~" She then looks at Shirou. "Indeed she is not ready for that. There is no need to force it." Was said with sympathy, much to the only boy on the room confusion.
"Either way, how is the training going?" He asked Akeno.
"I think I got it now." The Queen affirmed.
"You do?" Rias asked sceptical.
"Yes… I just needed a strong image to get magecraft right. I think I found my switch." She said with a smile and, without a magic circle and with her circuits shining a bit, some sparks appeared on her fingers. "I just need to practice now."
Smiling Shirou said. "I'm happy for you." But then his face grew serious. "However I must warn that 'a magus always walks with death'. I don't know how that will work out for a devil but a heads up seems like a good idea."
"Shouldn't you have said that earlier then?" Akeno wondered.
"... I forgot." It was not something said much in his house and they always were cautious.
"Doesn't matter." Rias says. "Akeno was part of the moonlit world anyway. That is probably the reference."
"That and the dangerous experiments." Leysritt said. "While Irisviel-sama always made sure her children did nothing too dangerous, it is by their own work most magus tend to fall."
Silence, absolute silence in the forge. Liz's exposition was enough to surprise everyone, not really by the information since it made sense but the way she was looking at them was enough for everyone to never forget what she was telling them; 'Be careful with magecraft'.
"Don't worry Liz." Shirou started with a smile. "We would never do anything that dangerous. Right Akeno?"
The ponytail balanced as she nodded. "I'm not much of a researcher anyway, if anything I just want to learn the more practical aspects of magecraft so no dangerous experiments from me."
"Good." Was the homunculus reply. "Shirou… I'm hungry."
Everyone gave out small smiles at the comment. "Well, I suppose I can cook something for everyone before we go home."
"Ara, is this the lesson in Reinforcement and how to apply it on the culinary arts?" Akeno almost sounded demanding.
"Not yet. You still need to go for the basics Akeno." It was Rias who stopped the Queen. "Shirou will teach you more once you get more out of Rin."
"But Rias…" The mature girl was whining, a sight that had Shirou chuckling.
"No buts. Look for the bright side, now it can go easier since you have an image on your mind."
"Well, if nothing else is going to be done I will hit the showers." Setsuna was going to do just that.
"Going to the kitchen." Shirou declared while Rias, Akeno and Liz moved to the main office, the homunculus planning to use the shower there.
"By the way Akeno," Rias began with a pensive face, "what exactly was the image of your switch?" She asked with a tease but the Queen had no shame.
"Oh, nothing much." The tables turned as Rias looked a bit frustrated.
"Come on, tell me. You thought of that looking at Shirou didn't you?"
"Maaaaaaaybe." While they moved back to the office Akeno couldn't help but smile a bit more. "Tell you what, it involves me and a whip."
It said much that Rias didn't know if she as kidding or not.
….
Now I can say this with no spoiler: is it my imagination or the Tohsakas are always having financial problems in any reality, with or without the Grail War?
