Fate: Hammer Time

by TedTheRabbit

Shirou Emiya wanted to become a hero. That was clear to all who truly know him. For a long time though, he lacked the power to actually achieve that goal. No longer. No longer will he lack the power, now that the Hammer of the Odinson has chosen him as new wielder. Prepare for Thunder. ShirouxMultiple, Thor-Shirou.

25. The Resolution of Many Matters

The Resolution of Many Matters

---

"…"

Eyes blinked slowly, gazes locked onto each other with laser-like intensity, as neither girl wanted to break the staring contest first.

"…"

Bodies were tense, coiled almost, ready to jump into action at a moment's notice.

"…"

"…"

"…"

This was not at all going as planned!

Ayako had to forcibly suppress a powerful sigh as she looked at Sakura and Rin, who were staring at each other without speaking a word.

They had been going at it for almost ten minutes now, ten straight minutes of wordless staring while they shifted around like they were about to launch into combat.

It had all started so well too. Ayako had almost squealed in delight when Rin called Sakura 'imouto' and Sakura called Rin 'Onee-san' in turn. She'd thought that such a start would mean that the rest of the conversation would go smoothly too, that Shirou would come home to the sight of two sisters having reconciliated already.

Instead, at this rate, he would come home to cold stares and awkward silence.

Should Ayako do something herself? Would that be welcome, or would the sisters be annoyed at her interruption? Was there anything she could do?

She'd already made tea and served the biscuits and cakes Sakura had prepared for today, which had prompted no reaction from either of them, and neither had loudly clearing her throat, several times, done anything to break the stalemate.

At this point, she was seriously considering knocking their heads together, if only to break the oppressive silence. They were both already leaning forward in their seats, their full attention on each other. Grabbing the back of their heads and smashing them together should be easy.

It wasn't exactly a kind thing to do, but she was getting desperate here.

Ayako stood up slowly, carefully, not making a sound. Equally as carefully, she ghosted forward, reaching out until her hands were behind the sisters' heads, preparing to knock them together just hard enough to slightly hurt-

"Is everything to your satisfaction, Nee-san?"

-Only to scramble back into her seat when Sakura suddenly spoke up, her heart almost jumping out of her chest in shock.

It didn't seem like Sakura had done it on purpose, but hell, had she given Ayako a fright there.

At least they were talking again.

"Huh?" Rin blinked several times, as if she had just woken up, before frowning slightly with an apologetic expression. "Excuse me, what did you say? I wasn't listening."

"Is everything to your satisfaction?" Sakura repeated, gesturing towards the tea and biscuits. "You haven't touched any of it yet."

Neither had Sakura though, but Rin refrained from mentioning that in favour of taking a sip of her tea.

"It's excellent." She praised as she put the cup down again and took a slice of cake, nibbling daintily from it. "The cake is delicious too."

"Thank you." Sakura smiled shyly. "I made it this afternoon. I remembered you liked cinnamon, so I added a little to the cake."

"You remembered that?" The corners of Rin's lips twitched upwards for a moment, before they settled back into a neutral position. "That is very kind of you, but you could have thought about yourself as well. You could have made one with chocolate-sprinkles for instance, I remember you really liked them."

Sakura looked confused for a moment, before understanding dawned and her eyes brightened.

"Chocolate-sprinkles! That's right, I loved them." She said enthusiastically. "Mom brought them with her once when she came back from a journey, from Europe, right?"

"Y-Yeah, the Netherlands. You didn't remember?"

"No, I had forgotten about them." Sakura shook her head. "We never had them at… w-well, you know, so…"

"…I'm sure you can get them again now." Rin tried cautiously, bracing herself in case Sakura would react badly.

"I suppose I can." Sakura agreed, looking slightly more upbeat again. "Y-Yes, I don't see why not. I'll have to find a proper shop, b-but that shouldn't be a problem."

"Well, if you're going to the shops anyway, maybe you can also try lemon-drops?" Rin proposed, gaining courage again when Sakura seemed open to her suggestions. "I recall we both liked the lemon-drops that mother took from England."

"Oh yes, l-lemon drops. W-What were those again?"

Ayako looked on with narrowed eyes as the sisters discussed their favourite kinds of candy from long ago, still not happy with how the conversation was going.

Sure, it was progress to have them talk with each other so easily, but this was just small talk, meaningless chatter, while the purpose of this meeting was to lay their issues to rest.

Then again, maybe this was just a prelude building up to that fateful discussion. Perhaps the sisters were just gathering courage by talking about nothing of particular importance. She could probably let them be for a few more minutes.

Those few minutes eventually became close to thirty minutes though, as Ayako couldn't bring herself to break up the aimable and peaceful conversation. It was almost like Rin and Sakura were really just sisters seeing each other again after spending some time apart, happily chatting about their recent experiences.

"And then he asked me out, just like that, in the middle of a crowded hallway." Rin scoffed, flipping her hair. "I was astounded he had the nerve to do that after breaking three promises to me in a row and after I had Mikasa tell him I didn't like him at all. Everyone around us was cheering though, so I suppose they liked the spectacle."

"Ridiculous." Sakura shook her head. "I hope you didn't say yes, Nee-san."

"Of course not!" Rin huffed, looking vaguely sick at the idea. "I kicked him between his legs and sent him packing. I already told him I wasn't interested, and I'm definitely not accepting such a proposal after overhearing him bragging to his friends about 'having bagged me'."

"He didn't!?" Sakura gasped. "How incredibly rude of him. He deserved everything you did to him and more, Nee-san."

"I'm glad you see it my way too, little sis." Rin smiled proudly, before her lips twisted into a pout. "I just wish people would learn from instances like that. You'd think seeing their fellow man get humiliated would be enough to stave off the rest of them, but no, they just keep coming, some of them multiple times even."

"Multiple times?" Sakura pressed a hand to her mouth in shock, though Ayako could see that it was mostly to hide a smile. Not that the brunette blamed Sakura for having to smile, she too had to hide a grin at Rin's indignation.

"Yeah, though I suppose that's my fault." Rin rubbed the back of her head in a very Shirou-like fashion. "Some of them weren't all that bad, so I tried to turn them down gently. That just encouraged a few of them to try again though, so in the end I had to be hard again."

"The perils of being a school-idol." Sakura reached out to softly pat Rin on the shoulder.

"Ugh, don't even talk about school-idols." Rin groused, clearly not happy with her title. "I have no idea how I became popular enough to be called such."

"Nee-san, of course you do. You are kind, smart, helpful, charismatic, and well-spoken. It is only natural other teens flock to you."

"H-Hey now, there's no need to exaggerate." Rin ducked her head, a faint dusting of red visible on her cheeks. "I'm not that amazing."

"But you are." Sakura smiled tenderly.

"T-Thanks." Rin smiled, raising her head again. She didn't say anything more, and Sakura remained quiet too, leading to a few seconds of silence.

Rin then bit her lip, her expression becoming pensive, before she crossed her arms almost defensively. "Sakura, about last time, I-I wanted to apologise."

It was as if a switch had been flipped.

The calm atmosphere was utterly shattered by Rin's words, and Ayako had to suppress a wince at the sudden change, keeping a sharp eye on both girls to head off any possible confrontations.

Sakura remained still for a few seconds, clearly taken by surprise, while Rin leaned back, as if expecting some kind of outburst from the girl.

No such outburst followed however, to Ayako's relief, and Sakura also adopted an apologetic look.

"I apologise as well, Tohsaka-san." She said, bowing her head to show her sincerity, though the change from 'Nee-san' back to 'Tohsaka-san' was jarring. "I should not have behaved like I did. It was entirely inappropriate of me, and you didn't deserve any of it."

"Well, I probably deserved some of it." Rin made an attempt at a light tone and a smile. "I did come in here accusing you of things you didn't do, not to mention I said stuff I really shouldn't have said."

"So did I." Sakura said ruefully. "I said awful things about you, things I really didn't mean. Please don't think that's how I really think about you."

"Y-Yes, none of what I said in my anger was what I really thought either." Rin nodded quickly. "How about we forget what happened last time and try again?"

"Try again?" Sakura seemed tentatively interested, but also confused. "What would we try again?"

"Meeting after all these years." Rin huffed, as if it was obvious. "You're finally away from that monster, I finally know what my father has done to you, and we can address the actual issues here, such as the fact that I messed up completely and what I can do to make up for it."

Sakura blinked several times, her mouth falling open slightly, but Rin continued talking before she could reply.

"I know- I know I am asking for a lot. I abandoned you for all these years and I can't make up for that with just an apology, and it's stupid to try, I know that." Rin professed, pressing her hands to her heart. "But… maybe you'll give me a chance to prove that I really want to be better? So that… so that we can, maybe… be sisters again?"

Rin then bowed her head deeply, looking at the ground as she spoke. "Sakura, I am so, so sorry for abandoning you. I am sorry for ignoring you for all those years and looking away when you needed my help. I am sorry for letting you be abused by Zouken. I am sorry that I fell out against you after you finally managed to escape from him."

The girl took a deep breath, and then finished her apology. "I am sorry that I was such a terrible sister for so long."

Ayako felt her mouth fall open. For a moment, she honestly doubted the person sitting there across from Sakura was really Rin.

Rin, that overly proud, independent girl, admitting that she made a massive mistake and directly apologising for it, while allowing herself to be judged?

That wasn't at all like the Rin she'd come to know.

The brunette's confusion didn't last long though, and pride took its place. Rin had overcome her arrogance and pride, allowing her to sincerely apologise for mistakes she made, and Ayako applauded her for it.

The brunette crossed her fingers, looking at Sakura, hoping fiercely that the plum-haired girl would accept Rin's apology.

"I… It's… It's been years since we have been sisters, since I have spoken to you as family. I can barely remember what that felt like." Sakura began slowly, looking dazed and overwhelmed by Rin's words. "I don't think I even know you anymore, or that you know me. Everything has changed, and so many things cannot possibly go back to what they once were."

Okay, not the best beginning, but Ayako wasn't going to give up hope just yet.

"The bond of our childhood has been broken completely, and things will never be the same again." Sakura continued, as Rin's features became more and more distraught with every word spoken. "The Tohsaka-family is not my family, I want nothing to do with them anymore and I will never acknowledge them as relatives ever again. They are all dead to me."

Okay, that wasn't good, and Ayako was about to interfere, to get Sakura to stop, when the plum-haired girl suddenly smiled, leaning over to take Rin's hand in her own.

"But that doesn't mean we cannot start anything new. I may not be a Tohsaka anymore, but that doesn't mean I will push you away. I-I am willing to make an exception, just for you."

Rin perked up, while Ayako sat back down, now cautiously hopeful.

"So if you want to try to become my sister again, I won't refuse." Sakura's voice became a whisper. "I-I accept your apology, and I look forward to getting to know you again, O-Onee-san."

Rin's apology had been whole-heartedly accepted by Sakura.

It took every ounce of self-control Ayako had not to jump up in joy, to hug the sisters tightly and swing them around in exuberance.

But while Ayako managed to control herself, Rin did not.

The black-haired girl did jump up from her seat, she did hug Sakura tightly, and she did swing her around in exuberance, laughing and crying at the same time as the overflow of emotions temporarily overpowered her self-control.

It only lasted for a few seconds before Rin realised what she was doing and put her down again, an embarrassed blush on her face as she wiped away the happy tears, but it was enough to make Sakura shine with joy, her own unshed tears of happiness glimmering in her eyes.

"T-That's great, Sakura-sa-, Sakura." Rin said after composing herself, sitting down again and trying to re-establish the image of a prim-and-proper young lady, though her massive smile didn't wane for a second. "D-Do you have any terms though? Are there any conditions I should be aware of if we're going to be speaking and interacting on a frequent basis?"

"Ah, well, I suppose so." Sakura nodded slowly, looking apologetic but unyielding nevertheless. "First of all, I'm not moving. This is my home now, and I'm not going back to the Tohsaka-manor."

"Completely understandable." Rin nodded in agreement.

"I am also not doing or practising any sort of Magecraft for the foreseeable future. I have had quite enough of it."

"Very well."

"I do not want to talk about the Matous in any way. Senpai said you could direct any questions you have about them to him."

"I shall not talk about them with you unless you want to."

"I think that was it." Sakura said thoughtfully. "I do not really have any rules, except those three. I would really appreciate if you could follow them, Nee-san."

"I shall do my very best to adhere to them." Rin promised sincerely. "And do let me know if I say something wrong, I wish to accommodate you as much as I can."

"Thank you, Nee-san." Sakura smiled, before looking at Rin with a questioning gaze. "What about you? I imagine you have rules as well?"

"…No, I do not think there is anything in particular." Rin said after a few seconds of thinking, slowly shaking her head. "But if you don't mind, there are several things I want to ask."

"Oh, well, sure." Sakura nodded happily. "What do you want to know?"

"What's her deal?" Rin was entirely blunt as she pointed at Ayako, who could only blink in response. "Why does she know so much about Magecraft? What did you tell her?"

Ayako contemplated for a moment to answer for herself, but ultimately decided to let Sakura take care of it. The plum-haired girl understood the ins and outs better than she did after all.

"Senpai and I told Ayako about Magecraft." Sakura admitted with a small shrug. "After what happened with Zouken, there was only the choice of telling her the truth or wiping her mind of everything that was connected to us and then forever avoid her. She was really close to figuring it out herself, Nee-san."

Now that wasn't strictly true, as Ayako didn't feel like she'd been anywhere close to finding out the truth, but she wasn't going to contradict Sakura on this.

"Right." Rin pondered that for a moment, before giving Sakura a cold stare. "Should any of this ever get out to the Clocktower, and they decide they don't like it, I will blame it all on you."

"That's perfectly acceptable." Sakura agreed happily. "I do not think they'd particularly care if there are no incidents, but if they do, we will take full responsibility."

"Hm." Rin nodded haughtily, and Ayako was glad her friend was returning to her normal mannerisms. She wouldn't be Tohsaka Rin if there wasn't a fair share of arrogance present in her demeanour, no matter how annoying it might be to some people.

Ayako just thought it was endearing, honestly.

"To confirm, Mitsuzuri-san is just an outsider who has been informed of Magecraft? She isn't a Magecraft-user herself?" Rin continued her questioning, relaxing slightly when Sakura nodded again. "Alright, that's a relief, I haven't gone completely blind then. What about Emiya-kun?"

"What about me?"

With a superior sense of timing, Shirou entered the living room just when he was mentioned, smiling kindly at the three of them. Poor Rin, who'd had her back to the door, squeaked in shock at the sudden sound, before she turned around to glare at him.

"Shirou, finally back, are you?" Ayako grinned widely, resisting the urge to tease Rin about her reaction. "You missed a lot."

"Did I now?" He asked, looking over at Sakura for confirmation.

"You did, Senpai." The plum-haired girl nodded, a triumphant expression on her face. "Nee-san and I managed to settle our differences."

"Hey, that's great!" Shirou's smile widened by a large margin as he stepped forward to pat Sakura on the head. "I told you it would be alright."

"Ah, yes, Senpai." Sakura said, trying to pretend she wasn't enjoying his attention and failing miserably at it. Ayako on the other hand felt slightly envious, while Rin looked perplexed at the casual display of affection.

"O-Oi, Emiya!" The black-haired girl eventually called out, her face slightly red. "W-What are you doing?"

"Hm?" Shirou turned towards her in confusion, before smiling understandingly. "Right! This is also your victory."

Then Ayako had to hold back laughter as Shirou started to pat Rin's head as well, smiling proudly at her, leaving the poor girl even more bewildered than before.

He had to be acting. Even Shirou wouldn't be so oblivious to think Rin had called out because she wanted praise as well. He was totally messing with her.

"T-That's enough!" Rin squeaked after a few moments, pushing Shirou's hand away and retreating several steps. "D-Don't touch me all of a sudden! What do you think you're doing?"

"Being glad that you and Sakura made peace again?" Shirou said, his voice still perfectly under control, with the slightest amount of confusion present in it. "I mean, that's a happy occasion, isn't it?"

"I-I suppose it is." Rin spluttered, still looking baffled, before she suddenly narrowed her eyes. "Wait a second. Are you messing with me?"

"Messing with you? Tohsaka-san, I would never!"

"You totally are! Emiya-kun!"

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist." Shirou grinned, dropping the innocent act, prompting Ayako to finally burst out in laughter, which immediately drew Rin's ire towards her.

"Don't laugh!" She screamed, again appearing completely out of her depth. "Stop laughing, or I'll use you as target-practise for my Gandr-shots!"

Ayako had no idea what Gandr-shots were, and she doubted it was anything Shirou couldn't deal with, but she nevertheless got her laughter under control again, enough to notice that Sakura was also giggling behind her hand.

Rin held up her glare for a few more seconds, before she slumped tiredly.

"I expected nothing else from you." She told Ayako, who could only agree with the assessment, before she turned to Sakura, a betrayed look in her eyes. "But why are you laughing? Stop it, or I'll… I'll…"

"No one is using anyone for target-practise," Shirou spoke up when Rin's voice tapered off, trying to sooth the situation, his signature kind smile still on his face. "Ayako, Sakura, stop teasing Rin."

"You started it though." Ayako protested indignantly, though without any heat.

"And now I'm ending it." Shirou replied without a hitch, still smiling brightly. "I'm sure there is a lot Rin wants to discuss with us, and we can't do that if we keep upsetting her."

"Indeed, Emiya-kun." Rin nodded, giving him a grateful look, before her eyes narrowed again. "So if we're going to discuss things, then first of all, I'd like to know what is going on with you."

Shirou blinked. "With me?"

---

A few minutes earlier

"Shirou, welcome." Raiga rumbled as the redhead entered the old Yakuza-boss' office, the old man pointing at the chair across his desk. "Take a seat and pay attention. A unique chance has presented itself to us."

"You know where our enemy is?" Shirou asked immediately as he sat down in the chair. "You have found the Brat?"

"We have found the Brat." Raiga confirmed with a grim smile. "Tomorrow-evening, the Brat, whose real name turns out to be Jonatan van Galen, will arrive in Fuyuki-City, at his hideout at the harbour."

"You know the location of this hideout?" Shirou asked, to which Raiga nodded. "Good. Does that mean I can go and take him down tomorrow?"

"I would really like to say 'yes' to that question," Raiga scowled, and Shirou sensed a 'but' coming. "But you can't. I do not doubt that you can easily deal with the Brat and everything he can throw at you, but if you attack his base directly, the police will come and make your job a whole lot more difficult."

"I take it that's not just because I am a vigilante." Shirou concluded, easily able to see what Raiga was hinting at. "You mean there are corrupt officers who will fight for Galen."

"Yes." Raiga nodded sharply. "I have no doubt that Galen either has himself guarded by police-officers all the time or that he has them on speed-dial in case of emergencies. If you go there to fight him and his gang, it is entirely possible you will find yourself fighting those officers as well."

Shirou frowned at the news. That was bad. Not because police-officers were so great at fighting or something like that, but because directly attacking officers of the law would instantly turn the rest of law-enforcement against him. That was something he'd rather not deal with.

"I would rather avoid you making a direct enemy out of law-enforcement." Raiga echoed his thoughts. "So you'll have to be very careful, even more than normally, when you go to Galen's hideout. You must make sure not to alert anyone to your presence. Focus all your efforts on the Brat alone. Don't attack his gang, just sneak inside and ambush Galen before he even knows you're there, and then get out again with him as your prisoner."

"I understand." Shirou nodded, reasonably sure a mix of sneakiness and Hypnosis would be enough to get past the guards. "That should be… doable."

"Don't you worry, I have something that will make it more than just 'doable'." Raiga grinned proudly. "Remember I told you the Brat is coming to a hideout in the harbour?"

"Yes?"

"I just so happen to possess the floorplan of that very hideout." Raiga laughed uproariously. "Want to take a look at it?"

"That would be very helpful." Shirou smiled, not wasting time on wondering where the old man had gotten that floorplan from.

"I thought it would be." Raiga reached into a drawer to grab the floorplans, before spreading them out on his desk. "As you can see, it is a rather large building. There are three floors, each of them covering a larger area than your entire house, garden, and shed together. It is right next to the sea, and all the doors and windows are at the front-side. Try to imagine the building as a concrete box that only has openings on one side and you have a pretty good idea. The Brat has of course taken the room at the back end, as deep into the building as possible, far away from any doors or windows. To get to him, you would have to make your way through the entire hideout, which would almost guarantee that you are spotted before you can reach your target."

"So there is no way to reach him before he can warn the police?" Shirou frowned, leaning forward to better study the floorplans. "Can't I just break through one of the walls?"

"You probably could, but there is a way inside that does not involve such wanton destruction." Raiga smirked, pointing at a specific spot on the floorplans. "This right here is a secret tunnel you can use to enter the building unseen. A small warning though, the entrance is below sea-level."

"Huh?" Shirou focused on the tunnel Raiga was pointing at. "Below sea-level?"

"Yes, it was meant to serve as a get-away route, and apparently the builders thought hiding the entrance under water was their best bet. To get to the entrance, you need to get to the back of the building, which is right up against the sea at the very edge of a dock, and dive a few metres down. If you swim through the tunnel, you'll end up in a room right below the Brat's office."

"I see." Shirou nodded, memorising the location of the secret entrance. "Is there no way for him to escape after I enter through this secret tunnel?"

"No. All other exits are located at the front-side of the building, well away from the Brat's office. Once you've entered the building through the secret tunnel, you will be able to reach the Brat in seconds, while he will have nowhere to run."

Shirou froze for a split-second, before continuing on like nothing happened. Raiga fortunately hadn't noticed his slip-up, but Shirou's heart was beating fast.

Raiga had just lied to him.

He didn't know what the man had lied about, where in his story the lie had been slipped in, or the size or importance of the lie, but something Raiga had just said was plain not true.

Shirou studied the floorplans yet again, searching for any hints that Raiga had been untruthful, but it only confirmed what the man had said. Aside from several doors and windows at the front of the building, there really was no way to leave the hideout. It was very much a concrete box with holes only in the front side.

"You're absolutely sure there's no way for him to flee?" He asked again.

"Absolutely sure. Once you're inside, he'll be trapped like a rat in a cage."

Shirou sucked in breath as Raiga lied to him again, keeping his eyes fixed on the floorplans to hide his reaction. Something was definitely wrong here.

"Oh, and Shirou." The redhead looked up at Raiga. "Make sure you stay away from that building until I say that it's time. We wouldn't want to tip our enemies off. What I mean is, don't go snooping around there tonight."

"…Very well." Shirou acquiesced hesitantly.

"Splendid." Raiga grinned, putting the floorplans back in the drawer and grabbing some other files to read. "I'll be in touch."

Recognising the dismissal for what it was, Shirou rose from his seat and left the man's office again.

Something smelled fishy about all of this, and it wasn't the harbour. Raiga was clearly hiding something from him, and Shirou didn't like it at all.

That was a matter for later however. He had his girls waiting for him at home after all, and right, now they took precedence over any gangs or crime-lords.

Shirou left the Fujimura-estate in a hurry. He was already late, very late, and he could not afford to waste any more time.

Rin and Sakura were in his house right now, talking with each other, and Shirou couldn't help but worry.

What if they started fighting again? What if the fighting actually turned physical? Sakura and Ayako were strong girls, but Rin had her Magecraft at her disposal. Not that he thought she would use it, but there was a chance, however small, that she would.

Of course, the Wards would prevent anything from happening –they would neutralise any spell Cast with hostile intent towards one of the inhabitants of the house– but that still didn't stop him from worrying either.

So when he entered his house and found the girls all sitting together, no sign of aggression present anywhere, he let out a large sigh of relief.

They hadn't noticed him yet, and Rin was just in the process of saying something.

"-Gone totally blind then. What about Emiya-kun?"

Well, that was the best opening he was probably going to get.

"What about me?" He asked as he walked into the room, startling the girls for a moment.

Ayako was quick to snap back however, and after he and the girls had teased Rin for a bit, the black-haired girl decided to make an unexpected move.

"To begin with, I'd like to know what's going on with you."

That actually took Shirou by surprise. Based on what had happened and what Rin had just learned, he would have expected her to ask about Sakura, about Zouken and his practices, about Shinji or about her own father even.

He hadn't expected her to ask about him of all people.

"With me?" He asked dumbly, unable to think of anything better to say.

"Yes, with you." Rin nodded sharply, looking at him with just a tinge of apprehension. "Sakura told me you killed Zouken and that you took her away from the Matou-manor."

"I did." Shirou confirmed, glancing at Sakura from the corner of his eye, only to see her looking just as confused as he. "Is there a problem with that? Do you not agree with my actions?"

"No no, I definitely do not have a problem with what you did." Rin hastily assured him, holding her hands up defensively. "Zouken was a monster and deserved to die. In fact, he should have died centuries ago, and you were right in executing him. What I do have a problem with is that you were capable of killing him at all."

That… didn't make it any clearer. Shirou had no idea what she meant, and neither did Sakura and Ayako, judging by their questioning gazes.

Rin had to have noticed that too, for she let out a sound that seemed like a mix of a growl and a whine. It sounded oddly cute actually.

"You… You really don't understand?" Rin frowned deeply, baring her teeth. "Emiya, do you have any idea what you did? How impossible your actions were?"

"They can't have been that impossible. I managed to do it after all." Shirou huffed. That seemed to be the wrong response however, as Rin's stare became incredulous.

"Emiya, you broke into a Magus's home, you countered and neutralised every Ward and Bounded Field around that home in minutes, and then killed said Magus, inside of his own Workshop, before stealing his heir and walking out. That should be impossible." She growled, anger now the dominant emotion in her expression. "In fact, I'm willing to bet that it was you who caused the storm that night as well. That was you, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was." Shirou confirmed, seeing no need to lie. "But just so you know, I didn't 'counter' or 'neutralise' anything. I didn't even notice there were any Bounded Fields or Wards that night, I just entered the house because I was angry and wanted to take Sakura away from there."

He wasn't some sort of genius or expert on Bounded Fields. He'd only managed to break into the Matou-estate using brute force, and it was important that Rin didn't get the wrong idea.

"You…" Rin blinked several times. "Are you telling me you just broke through Zouken's defences?"

"Yes." Shirou nodded. "As I said, I just went inside. I didn't care for any Bounded Fields."

Rin's gaze turned blank. "What kind of monster are you, Emiya?"

"Oi! That was uncalled for!" Ayako shouted, rising from her seat and placing herself between Shirou and Rin. "Don't call Shirou a monster, Rin!"

"But it's the truth!" Rin protested, not breaking eye-contact with him for a second, which honestly kind of weirded Shirou out. "He has to be some kind of monster!"

"Why?" Sakura asked calmly, clearly making an effort to stay composed even though she looked like she wanted to do some shouting herself. "Nee-san, I know you are very smart, and you always have good ideas, but, right now, you really are exaggerating. Certainly, what Senpai did wasn't that impressive?"

Rin's mouth opened and closed several times, the black-haired girl rendered speechless by her sister's words, before she violently shook her head, so violently that Shirou felt a twinge of worry for her neck.

"Not impressive?" Rin asked incredulously. "Sakura, I have inspected the Matou-Manor several times in the past, and every time I did so, I concluded that only Dead Apostle Ancestors, Sorcerers, and perhaps the greatest of Magi could pierce those Bounded Fields in any reasonable timeframe. If Shirou is amongst that group, then of course he is a monster."

Shirou really wished he could present a counterargument to Rin's words, but since he had been… not quite sane while storming the Matou-estate, there wasn't anything he could say about the defences around that place.

Still, there was one thing that needed to be said.

"Aren't you severely overestimating the Matous now?" He asked sceptically, unwilling to give that family any kind of credit. "I mean, Dead Apostle Ancestors and Sorcerers are seriously powerful-"

He stopped when Rin began violently shaking her head again.

"I can see why you would think that, Emiya-kun, I hate giving them any kind of praise as well, but the Matou, or Zouken specifically, had hundreds of years to build those defences, and no matter what you might think of his character, Zouken was a very powerful Magus. I myself wouldn't be able to pierce his defences in a thousand years as I am now. It would have taken ten Magi specialised in breaking Bounded Fields days to get in, so to hear that you just stormed straight in without even acknowledging the defences…"

Rin's voice tapered off, and she looked to the side, allowing Shirou a moment to collect his thoughts.

He hadn't thought his attack on the Matou-estate was anything special. It might have been a little unusual because of his Madness, but he'd never thought he'd done something amazing.

Kiritsugu had gotten past every Bounded Field or Ward in his way after all, and he had been a below-average Magus even before he was cursed.

If Rin was right though, he'd done something incredible, something that would probably raise several eyebrows at the Clocktower if he was careless in telling the tale, which was just about the exact opposite of what he wanted. If it could lead to him being Sealed…

"So it was something special?" He asked eventually, just to verify one last time.

"Yes." Rin confirmed with a shaky smile. "It was very special."

"Well, since you are the most knowledgeable person here, I'll take your word for it." Shirou muttered, rubbing the back of his head. "Any chance I can convince you not to report this to the Clocktower?"

"Report this to the Clocktower?" Rin asked incredulously. "You mean letting them know just how badly I fu- messed this up? That I missed an outrageously powerful Magus living in my territory for years? That a lethal conflict between families happened under my watch? Emiya-kun, I would greatly appreciate it if we never mentioned this whole situation to any outsider at all."

"You got it." Shirou jumped on the opportunity Rin had just served him on a silver platter. "You won't inform the Clocktower, and I won't say a single word about this to anyone coming summer."

"Coming summer?" Rin frowned at him, tilting her head in confusion. "Why would you not say anything about this mess specifically at that time?"

"Because I'll be going to the Clocktower then." Shirou explained with a smile. "I managed to get a sponsorship from one of the lords there, so I'll be following his classes over the summer break."

He did not see the harm in sharing that with Rin. It wasn't forbidden after all, rather it was encouraged for young Magi to go and study at the Clocktower. It was considered an honour, and even more so if you had a lord sponsoring you.

Shirou had expected Rin to give him a smile in reaction to the news, maybe a praising word or two, perhaps a thumbs-up like Ayako tended to give when she approved of something.

He had not expected her to fling herself at him and grab the collar of his shirt with an almost deranged expression on her face.

"You are going where?!" She shouted in his face, and Shirou got the impression she would have shaken him back and forth had she been strong enough to do so. "You managed to get what?!"

"Nee-san!" "Rin!"

Sakura and Ayako rose from their seats and grabbed Rin's arms, pulling the manic girl away from Shirou, who was too busy staring in stupefaction to push her away himself.

"What are you doing, Rin?!" Ayako asked incredulously, shaking Rin back and forth in turn. "Since when are you so violent?!"

"What am I doing!?" Rin looked just as incredulous as the brunette. "A better question would be what he is doing! How did you get a sponsorship, Emiya?! HOW?!"

"Calm yourself, Tohsaka-san." Shirou said sternly, having recovered from the shock of having the girl throw herself at him. "We cannot talk if you are behaving like this, so please calm down."

Rin glared at him for a few seconds more, before she seemed to realise what she was doing, the rage in her expression ebbing away.

"Right." She breathed out as the other two girls let go of her, before she collapsed backwards on one of the couches, looking exhausted all of a sudden. "My apologies, I don't know what came over me."

"It's alright. You just surprised me, that's all." Shirou assured her. "Now, why don't you tell me what was bothering you?"

"Did you really get a sponsorship at the Clocktower?" Rin asked him, her eye twitching when he nodded. "From whom? How?"

"That is a long story, Tohsaka-san, and I'm not sure I should tell you this now." Shirou sighed, looking at the clock. "This evening was supposed to be dedicated to you and Sakura, remember? Can we go back to that and talk about me another time?"

Rin frowned deeply, before she looked at Sakura with a conflicted expression. She probably knew that she was supposed to be talking with her sister, but her raging curiosity was demanding she continue questioning him.

"Oh, I don't mind at all." Sakura suddenly piped up. "You can talk with Nee-san, Senpai, and I will help you tell the story. We can have it both ways."

"Shouldn't you talk about yourself instead?" Shirou frowned, unsure how to feel about being so blatantly used as a topic for gossip between the two sisters. "You probably have a lot of catching up to do, don't you?"

"Not really. I really only had the worms and you for most of my life, while Nee-san only had her Magecraft and her idol-persona." Sakura gave him a beautiful smile. "Senpai is so much more interesting than us; it would be much easier to talk about you."

"It's a lot less personal too." Ayako piped up, grinning widely even as Shirou gave her an exasperated look for siding against him. "I think it'll be healthy for them to discuss something that does not involve themselves too much, and I think your adventures definitely qualify for that."

In other words, Ayako and Sakura were just looking forward to rendering Rin speechless with stories about him.

Judging by how Rin had reacted to some of his lesser feats, they would likely succeed at that too.

Shirou didn't begrudge them their fun, and Rin had asked for it herself, but he wasn't sure about the black-haired girl knowing everything about him. She was still a Magus after all.

If she found out about his more… esoteric abilities and properties, well, she wouldn't report him to the Clocktower, but only because she'd want to dissect and study him herself.

Then again, maybe his opinion of her was too low. She might just surprise him and do nothing with that knowledge. She had certainly surprised him before already, so it wasn't unfeasible.

"Please, Senpai. We just want to tell her how awesome you are." Sakura pleaded, giving him a hard stare that didn't fit her soft words at all. "You are a really good Magus after all, with a lot of talent and dedication."

Ah, so Sakura had also thought about what to tell her sister. Well, if she was content to wave all his feats away as his 'natural talent', then who was he to deny it?

"Very well." He acquiesced, making a big show of sighing loudly. "Please do try not to bore Tohsaka-san too much."

"Of course, Senpai." Sakura beamed, while Ayako shot him a grin that made him question his decision immediately. "Well then, Nee-san, what would you like to know?"

"From what I just heard, I can conclude that Emiya-kun is a very powerful Magus." Rin began, to which Sakura nodded. "Alright, well, I guess he'd have to be, but how did you become a Magus, Emiya-kun? Did your- did your father teach you?"

"He did." Shirou confirmed. "Emiya Kiritsugu, you probably know him as the Magus-killer, adopted me after the Great Fire, where I lost my family and my memories, and then raised me as his son. He also trained me in Magecraft and a variety of other skills, most of them combat-related."

"So he raised you as his heir?" Rin asked, before blinking in surprise when Shirou shook his head. "Then, why did he train you?"

"Because I asked him to." Shirou smiled at the incredulous expression on Rin's face. "I wanted to become a hero, and dad agreed to train me to help me with that. He didn't give me a Crest or any Emiya-family spells if that's what you're wondering, but he did teach me the basics."

Rin opened her mouth to ask more, but Shirou cut her off. "For any further questions, please remember that you are meant to ask Sakura. This evening is for her benefit as much as yours after all, not for mine."

"Ah, right, I'm sorry." Rin stammered, turning towards Sakura. "Eh, I suppose- ehm, h-how did you meet Emiya-kun?"

"He helped me carry my shopping bags one day when I was five, and protected me from bullies the next day." Sakura smiled brightly. "We've been friends ever since."

"Friends?" Rin narrowed her eyes at Sakura, and Shirou wondered why the atmosphere suddenly became tense again. "Just friends?"

"Yes." Sakura confirmed, her lips pursing slightly. "Yes, just friends."

Shirou could almost swear he heard a whispered 'for now' follow the sentence, but he wasn't completely sure, and Sakura continued before he could verify it.

"Senpai and his father, Emiya-san, were always very kind to me and welcomed me into their house. It felt much more like a family than the Matous honestly."

Rin gave an understanding nod, before she turned to Ayako. "And how do you fit into this, Mitsuzuri?"

"I am so glad you ask; I was beginning to think I had been forgotten." The brunette said, though her smile took the sting from her words. "To make a long story short, I met Sakura at school, where I saw immediately that she was the only intelligent person around, except yours truly of course, and thus befriended her. She told me of her kind Senpai, who I met several months later when I quite literally ran into him. We hit off fast and before I knew it, I was their friend."

"…So it is really that easy." Rin whispered, looking forlorn and… slightly jealous?

"Don't look like that, Rin." Ayako appeared to have seen it as well. "You are my friend as well. Being a Magus and an Owner does not change anything about that."

"A Second Owner, and don't be so presumptuous. W-We aren't friends." Rin hissed, her hackles rising slightly, before they fell down again as she meekly looked to the side.

"Suuuuure." Ayako smirked at Rin's words. "Denial is not just a river in Egypt apparently."

"Silence!" Rin half-shouted. "E-Eh, w-when exactly did they tell you of Magecraft?"

"Ehg, another business-question." Ayako groused, and Shirou shook his head in exasperation at Rin's obvious attempt at changing the subject. "They told me a few days after the whole debacle with Zouken."

"And why did you tell her?" Rin asked, turning towards Sakura again, apparently forgetting she had asked that question already.

"Because she was getting very close to us and we didn't want to continue lying to her." Sakura explained without hesitation. "Not to mention Ayako is a smart girl, and she would have figured out something was wrong before long."

Rin bit her lip slightly as she thought about that, before she shook her head with a tired sigh. "You know what, never mind. Mitsuzuri knows about Magecraft, whatever, just don't tell anyone else without checking with me first."

"No promises, Nee-san."

"No, I guess not." Rin took a moment to compose herself again. "Did you tell anyone else?"

"Well, sort of, though these people already knew." Sakura hesitated, looking at Shirou for a moment, who nodded encouragingly. "The Fujimuras know about Magecraft, but they have apparently known for years already, since the Grail Wars weren't as hidden as everyone thought."

"Noted." Rin's voice was neutral, but the split-second glance in the direction of the Fujimura-estate gave away the fact that she was unnerved by the information. "Was that everyone?"

"As far as we know." Sakura nodded, and Rin let out a relieved sigh. "Anything else you want to ask, Nee-san?"

"Yes, about you three, how proficient are you at Magecraft?"

"I don't use Magecraft anymore. Maybe I'll take it up again later, but not so soon after…" Sakura's voice tapered off, and Rin have her an understanding nod. "Ayako isn't capable of any Magecraft." The brunette gave a wave, an impish smile on her face. "But Senpai is really good. He specialises in Wind-Magecraft, though perhaps calling it Storm-Magecraft would be more accurate, as well as Runes and Reinforcement."

Shirou blinked once. That was an excellent way of explaining his power without giving away his esoteric features, and Sakura had just come up with it on the fly. He hoped she wouldn't mind him stealing her idea because he was definitely going to use that explanation at the Clocktower.

"I noticed." Rin huffed, glaring slightly at him. "The storms you caused weren't exactly discrete."

"But no one associated them with magic, and that it what counts." Shirou smiled, and Rin nodded reluctantly. "On that note, please forgive my interruption, but should I request your permission for building a Workshop within your city-limits after we're done here?"

"Would you actually leave or stop practising Magecraft if I refused?" Rin asked, to which he shook his head. "I thought not. I appreciate the thought, Emiya-kun, but you don't need to bother anymore at this point."

"Very well. Thank you for letting me live here then."

"It's not necessarily that you need my permission to live here." Rin suddenly launched into an explanation, raising a finger and placing the other hand on her elbow in one of her favourite lecturing poses. "Technically, you only need my permission to do Magecraft in my territory, and even then, that's not strictly necessary as long as you don't cause any trouble for anyone."

"What?" That was news to Shirou. "Then why would anyone register with the Second Owners and the Clocktower if they don't have to?"

"Because the Clocktower provides certain benefits to registered members, the most important of which is the possibility of studying there. I guess you already have that covered though."

"I suppose I do." Lord El-Melloi had given him a sponsorship after all, without even checking whether he was registered with the Clocktower. Apparently, he hadn't appreciated that as much as he should have.

"Can I ask how he accomplished that?" Rin turned back to Sakura to ask that question. "I would ask that idiot, but he would probably just try to explain it away as no big deal without giving much detail, while I need details. Sakura, please give me the details."

"Senpai caught several of lord El-Melloi's enemies." Sakura explained, glancing over at him for a moment. "They were abducting people from all over Japan to use in their experiments, so Senpai tracked them down and apprehended them, before turning them over to lord El-Melloi for sentencing and punishment."

"Abducting people and using them in experiments? That… that sounds familiar for some reason." Rin placed a finger on her chin in thought. "I could swear I heard that before. In fact, lord El-Melloi… I feel like I should know him too."

Rin was silent for a few seconds longer before she snapped her fingers with a look a realisation on her face.

"Of course, lord El-Melloi." She exclaimed. "Shirou! What did he look like? Tall? Black-haired? Glasses and cigar? A red-haired woman at his side?"

"…Yes, yes that's right." Shirou nodded after a moment of surprise. "Do you know them?"

"They visited me some time ago." Rin explained with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Nothing to worry about. They just told me they had apprehended some Magi who were planning to… to…"

"Nee-san?" Sakura prompted her gently when the girl fell silent, before rising in shock when Rin turned deadly pale. "Nee-san?!"

"They were planning to abduct me." Rin whispered. "Emiya-kun, they were planning to-"

"To use you in their experiments or as their slave, I know." Shirou finished for her, wondering how much lord El-Melloi had told her exactly. "The Magi revealed that to me themselves. They had chosen you because you were the most isolated Magus in the region, but had they been successful, they would have done it to other Magi as well."

"You saved my life." Rin whispered, before rapidly shaking her head. "No, no, hold up. I would have dealt with them myself if they'd come near me. I didn't need you. Don't get arrogant, Emiya."

"Rin, do you remember that night we spent in Hikone for the swimming exam?" Ayako gently cut in, prompting a confused look from the girl. "Shirou captured a mercenary right outside of our room. He'd already opened our door and he would have abducted you and killed Sakura and me had Shirou not interfered."

Rin froze, her face becoming even paler, as her breathing became ragged, and her hands started shaking.

Shirou understood of course. Realising that you had been very close to a nasty fate was unsettling.

He wasn't the only sympathetic one either, as Sakura immediately moved forward to take her sister into a hug, which Ayako joined a second later.

It had a noticeably positive effect, as Rin's breathing became less ragged, her face regained colour, and her body stopped shaking.

"T-Tsch." Rin then scoffed, already having regained her usual bluster. "I suppose that was the mercenary who was later delivered to Kirei?"

"Indeed."

"Of course it was. I suppose I owe you then, Emiya-kun. F-Feel free to cash in whenever you like."

"Really, gangster-quotes?" Ayako lifted an eyebrow with a perfect deadpan. "Those aren't exactly elegant, Rin."

"Shut up! I just heard it somewhere and I thought it was cool."

"It was very cool." Shirou nodded solemnly, aware that smiling at this point would just set her off again. "Thank you, Tohsaka-san. I will make sure that any favour I ask of you won't force you to do anything illegal or dishonour yourself or your family."

Now Sakura and Ayako were giving him odd looks, probably because of his sudden formality, but at least Rin seemed mollified by his respectful treatment of her words.

A silence then fell, none of the four having anything more to say on the subject.

"S-So," Rin cleared her throat loudly. "You managed to get yourself a sponsorship at the Clocktower by apprehending wanted criminals? I suppose that's something I should remember."

"Please don't try to mimic me." Shirou warned, hoping the black-haired girl wasn't planning on doing anything foolish. "While you are a very proficient Magus and you have shown repeatedly that you are extremely competent, I do not think you possess the necessary combat-skills to become a bounty-hunter."

"Of course not." Rin dismissed the possibility with another scoff. "I never intended to do something like that. I'm not capable of breaking through centuries-worth of Bounded Fields with ease after all. All I'm saying is that I should have you capture more criminals for when I want to make a pitch to join the Clocktower myself. They seem to appreciate that."

"Me?" Shirou asked, pointing at himself.

"Yes, you." Rin nodded as if it were obvious. "I might owe you for saving my life and freedom, but you owe me in turn for all those months of sleepless nights you caused me after you wracked havoc in my territory."

"I already gave you those gems in return." Shirou protested half-heartedly, before flinching as he remembered that was still supposed to be a secret.

"Yes, I already suspected that was you." Rin said with a satisfied nod, giving him a smug look. "But a couple of gems is hardly enough to repay me, and it won't get me access to the Clocktower either."

"Excuse me," Ayako cut in again, raising her hand. "but if I may ask, can someone explain to me why these gems are so important? Are you a greedy person, Rin?"

"Yes." Sakura answered before Rin could. "Nee-san is indeed a very greedy person."

"That's not true." Rin protested, before turning towards Ayako, placing a hand on her hip and raising the other with the index finger pointing to the air in another classic lecturing pose. "My family's Magecraft-speciality is Gemcraft, Mitsuzuri-san. Simply said, we use gems to cast spells, store Magical Energy, and do research. Unfortunately, gems tend to break when you use them for such a purpose, so I need constant replacements, which is very expensive. That's why I am grateful to Shirou for providing me with several of them. It's definitely not because I am greedy."

"Ah, I see." Ayako smiled, giving Rin a grateful nod for her thorough explanation. "But can you not create more gems yourself? You have Magic, right?"

"It doesn't work that way. Gems need to have formed naturally, or they won't be infused with enough natural Mana to be of any use for Magecraft." Rin explained patiently. "Ultimately, my best sources of gems are regular jewellery-shops, which sometimes have great bargains, and Magus-suppliers whose entire career consists of selling gems and other resources to Magi who are in need of them."

"And that is expensive?" Ayako asked with a sympathetic wince.

"Extremely." Rin nodded fervently. "Which is another reason I want to go to the Clocktower, as people working or studying there get large discounts on resources such as gems."

"Then I can certainly understand your eagerness to join." Shirou nodded, though he had to say he was on the fence about helping her with it. His entire policy concerning Magi so far had been to avoid them as much as possible after all, and the fact that Sakura and Rin were getting closer on a personal level didn't mean he had to help the black-haired girl on a professional level now.

He would gladly protect Rin from anything that threatened her, he would give her any gem he came across, and he would happily help her get closer to Sakura again, but to help her in politics was another thing entirely.

It wasn't that he didn't want to help her, because he certainly did, but there were just so many downsides to it.

In order to get her into the Clocktower, he would need to either capture more high-value bounties and exchange them for a sponsorship for Rin, or somehow convince a high-ranking lord that she was good enough for admittance, which would mean he would need to network a lot, gain friends in high places, and then promote Rin's work to them.

It would be a lot of work, there was no guarantee of success, and it would attract far too much attention to him. He needed to save Illya and then stay under the radar, not arrange sponsorships for others in ways that would place him firmly in the spotlight.

On the other hand, while directly arranging a sponsorship might be too much, it wasn't like he couldn't do anything to help Rin. He could already think of several ways he could at least give her a foot in the door or something.

It would still be a lot of work, but that had never bothered him before, and he genuinely did want to help her.

Ultimately, it came down to one thing.

Could he help Rin get into the Clocktower without endangering his chances of saving Illya?

If so, then he would do it. If not, then he would have to refuse.

"Senpai?"

Shirou turned his attention back to the three girls upon hearing Sakura address him, only to find them looking at him in askance, making him realise he'd been quiet for a while now.

"Ah, sorry, girls. I wasn't paying attention." Shirou sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "What were you talking about?"

"Will you help Nee-san get a sponsorship?" Sakura asked, her purple eyes large and pleading. "It really is important to her."

"C'mon, Shirou." Ayako fell in when Shirou continued hesitating. "I know you want to help her, so why don't you stop worrying and just follow your instincts?"

"I am not asking you to do all the work, Emiya-kun." Rin added, resolutely crossing her arms. "When I said you had to catch criminals for me, I was joking, and I don't expect you to convince a lord to give me a sponsorship for free either. Actually, you don't even need a lord to give me a sponsorship, you can do that yourself."

"…What?"

He could give her a sponsorship? Since when was he a lord? Had his father been a lot more important than he'd let on?

"You can give me a sponsorship." Rin repeated without batting an eye. "If a Magus manages to obtain a sponsorship from an important lord, and lord El-Melloi of the Archibald-family definitely qualifies as important, and that Magus does well enough at their classes and research, they are allowed to take several apprentices in turn. I was hoping you'd consider me for that."

"You would become my apprentice?" Shirou asked, thrown for a loop by the new information. "Are you sure about that?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Rin asked, looking puzzled at the question. "You are a powerful Magus, close friends with my sister, you would allow me to do my own research, which you would never take for yourself, you won't take advantage of me, and you… y-you a-are my f-f-friend."

Rin voice became very soft at the end as she looked at the floor to hide her blush, shuffling her feet for a bit.

Well, if she presented it that way...

Shirou had to smile at the reasons Rin gave. It was heart-warming to know that she trusted him so much. Some might argue that she was just being manipulative, but he was good enough at reading her to know she was being sincere, if a bit more flattering that usual.

Accepting her request might not be that much of a problem if it was put like that. Shirou was confident he would be able to do well enough to be allowed to take apprentices, and since that was apparently a normal thing to do, it wouldn't put him in the spotlight either, making it unlikely that it would interfere with his mission to save Illya.

He also had a more selfish reason to accept Rin's request however, centred around one of his oldest and most important projects.

Shutting down the Holy Grail.

Rin was a Tohsaka, a founding-member of the Heaven's Feel Ritual and someone who almost certainly possessed knowledge concerning the Grail's inner workings.

Shirou knew Angra Mainyu was still lurking in that Grail, and in order to prevent something like the Fire from ever happening again, Shirou needed to dismantle not only the Grail itself, but the entire system that made the Holy Grail Wars possible.

To do that, he would need a lot of information, information that was probably only available to the founding-families; The Matous, the Einzbern, and the Tohsakas.

The Matou were extinct, the Einzbern would not help him, so he only had Rin to look at for aid. If she was willing to help him dismantle the Grail, it would make his work a lot easier.

She probably wouldn't like it however, that he was planning to destroy her family's greatest achievement, so an apprenticeship might be precisely what he needed to sooth her with.

The last reason for him to agree however, and the most urgent one, was the pleading looks of not only Rin, but also Sakura and Ayako.

Shirou had always thought of himself as a stubborn man, stubborn to a fault even, but the sight of the three girls in front of him now, Sakura looking at him with large pleading eyes, Ayako giving him a hopeful grin, and Rin shuffling her feet ever so slightly in adorable nervousness, was too much even for him.

His perseverance was shattered by the combined attack, and his shoulders slumped as he sighed deeply. How was a man supposed to refuse under these circumstances?

"Very well." He nodded, giving the girls a warm smile. "I'll do the best I can and if possible, I will give you an apprenticeship. You have my word, Tohsaka-san."

For a moment, it looked like Rin wanted to jump in place and cheer at the top of her lungs, but she controlled herself, choosing to give him a blinding smile instead.

"I am very grateful, Emiya-kun." She bowed deeply as she spoke. "I will endeavour to make myself worthy of your sponsoring, and I will bring glory to us both, that is my oath to you."

"Ah, thanks, but you can just do your own thing." Shirou smiled sheepishly, feeling himself blush slightly in the face of her sudden sincerity. "You should do what you want to do, there is no need to bother with results, at least not for my sake. As long as you are happy, I will be happy. Now, do you want to write a contract?"

"No!" Rin refused immediately, taking him aback with her vehemence. "No, not yet. In the kind of sponsorship-contract I would like to have, you have to list the accomplishments of the student. I have no accomplishments to speak of right now, so please wait a few months more."

"Does it actually matter how many accomplishments you have?" Shirou frowned. "I mean, does it influence the contract itself?"

"No, but I will not shame you by asking that you take my unaccomplished, inexperienced self as your apprentice. Please wait until I can approach you proudly with a list of achievements before writing up a contract, a-and don't take any other apprentices before me, please."

"Alright, I'll wait." Shirou promised, placing a hand on his heart. "I swear you will be my first apprentice, except of course if you find someone better to sponsor you."

"I appreciate it, Emiya-kun, truly." Rin gave him a relieved smile, before wincing slightly. "I just hope my gem-supply is big enough for me to actually accomplish something within a few months."

"Oh, then please take these." Shirou retrieved the bag with the remaining gems from the Sealing Designee Burgon from his Vault, pretending to take them out of his pocket, before handing them over to Rin. "I can't do anything with them, but you probably can."

Rin's eyes went wide at the sight of the gems, before she looked back at him, her eyes almost misty.

"Thank you, Emiya-kun." Rin beamed, taking a step forward as if to hug him, before she seemed to realise what she was doing and immediately stepped back, clearing her throat as she did so. "Ahem, yes, uhm, thank you too, Sakura, Mitsuzuri-san, for your help in convincing him."

"Ayako." The brunette pouted. "I get that you don't want to address Shirou in a familiar way, since he is very attractive and a boy and you don't want to admit you like him, but can you at least call me Ayako?"

"Eh?" Rin turned to the brunette with wide eyes, a blush forming on her cheeks as she protested the notion of her liking him. Sakura looked on with a smile, while Shirou was glad no one was looking at him, as Ayako's description of him as attractive made his face burn slightly as well.

Nevertheless, he was glad everyone was being so relaxed now, and though he would have to discuss the precise terms of the apprenticeship with Rin later, he let that topic go for now, and just watched with a smile as the conversation moved away from matter of Magecraft and towards normal, everyday topics instead.

Sakura sniggered loudly when Ayako demanded to know the colour of Rin's underwear and Shirou had to shield the brunette from a red-faced Rin's wrath. Shirou was then praised for having had nothing but perfect scores at school for three years straight, before they all listened with sympathy as Rin complained about always having to play the idol at school.

All in all, it was a very pleasant evening, and Shirou couldn't even pretend to be surprised when Sakura and Ayako forced Rin to stay the night, though she didn't stay in the same room as them, and they made sure not to mention the fact that the three of them did sleep in the same room.

As he laid on his futon, Sakura and Ayako on either side of him, Shirou could feel nothing but content after a successful day.

Now he just needed to capture Galen, save Illya and deter the Einzbern from following them, and become a Hero of Justice, and his life would be truly complete.

---

"Do you see them, Senpai?" Yomaura whispered, half-sitting on the armrest of his chair and pretending to study a report laid out on his desk. "They're not doing much, but if they do something, we'll notice it at once."

"I'm sure we will." Osaki said agreeably, or as agreeably as he could under the circumstances. "You know, you can just watch them from your own desk, instead of hanging around mine all the time."

It wasn't that he minded having his Kohai be so close to him, but people were already turning their heads to stare at them. It was after all rather weird for Yomaura to be sitting on his armrest, something she normally never did.

"Yes, but if they do something suspicious, I'll have to come over to you to discuss it, and they might notice that and discover we're spying on them." Yomaura countered, still watching their targets, not even blinking as she did so.

"You give them far too much credit. If you just pretend you actually have something to talk about and don't look at them, they won't suspect a thing."

"But if it happens multiple times, it would be really obvious I keep coming over whenever they do something out of the ordinary, and they will notice that something is amiss."

"I don't think you sitting here all the time is any less obvious to them." Osaki complained, sighing when his Kohai ignored him again.

Following Tomita's suggestion, they were keeping an eye out for any suspicious behaviour from their two corrupt colleagues, Nakagawa and Azuma. Iwata was too high on the command chain for them to have constant access to, so it fell to Tomita to watch him.

To avoid any suspicion, Osaki and Yomaura were working on the Rakurai-case. Well, they weren't really getting any work done, as they were both otherwise occupied, but they at least managed to pretend to be working on it.

So far, no one had approached them to comment on their behaviour or their lack of progress. They'd gotten some weird looks, but no suspicious ones, not even from the people they were after.

Osaki supposed it was a rather large jump to go from 'those two straightlaced pencil pushers are talking a lot today' to 'they are spying on us in an effort to gather enough information to convict us for our corruption'.

That was fortunate, and Osaki was slightly happy they had that much going for them at least, though it was tempered by the fact they still had absolutely nothing on either Nakagawa or Azuma.

The men were awfully lazy, and Osaki constantly had to suppress the urge to go over and reprimand them, but they hadn't done anything yet that even hinted at a possibly illegal action.

That wasn't strange or unexpected, since it was fairly normal for surveillance work to take a long time, but that didn't improve his mood much. If this had been a normal surveillance job, they would at least have had back-up, approval of their superiors, professional equipment and, above all, they wouldn't have had to pretend they were working on something else.

"Wait, Senpai!" Yomaura suddenly hissed, perking up as she spotted something. "Nakagawa is picking up his phone, maybe he'll say something we can use."

Osaki didn't lift his gaze from his report, but he did turn his head to listen closely to what Nakagawa would say. The man was seated quite far away from them, so it was unlikely they'd be able to hear the full conversation, but maybe some parts would be audible-

"Hey, darling!" Nakagawa laughed as he brought the phone to his ear, talking loud enough for the entire floor to hear him. "I missed you too, honey. No, I couldn't stay with you this morning, I have work to do here. Yes, I'll make it up to you tonight, anything you want, honeydrop, anything you want."

For the first few sentences, Osaki was willing to entertain the possibility that Nakagawa might be talking in code, but when the conversation deteriorated to borderline sex-talk, he stopped listening.

"I think that was a bit of a bust." He remarked casually to his kohai, who was blushing a bit. "I really don't think any criminal leader would tolerate being talked to like this, even if they were trying to talk in code."

Yomaura sighed loudly as she slumped again.

That was a mistake.

She'd already been unbalanced on the narrow armrest of his chair, so when she let herself fall back on it, she slipped and fell-

Right into his lap.

Osaki stiffened in shock as Yomaura gasped, her hands seizing the armrests tightly as if to prevent her from falling further.

A quick check pointed out that she was unharmed, though Osaki also couldn't help but notice she was a lot lighter than he'd expected, and softer, and that she smelled a lot really good-

He turned his head brusquely away from his partner, looking out over the floor instead, where he saw exactly what he had been expecting.

People giggling and chuckling, pointing at them with hidden and not-so-hidden grins. They were just plain enjoying this, though Osaki had to admit he didn't know what some of the gestures they made were supposed to mean.

Why were some of his colleagues winking at him? Why was Uchiyama, who Osaki saw as a friend, giving him a thumbs-up of all things? Why were those female friends of Yomaura pretending to be swooning?

He didn't know, and he doubted he wanted to find out.

"I'm sorry, Senpai." Yomaura's small voice drew his attention towards her, and he noticed she still hadn't moved since falling into his lap. "I didn't mean for this to happen."

"I know. It was an accident." Osaki nodded, wondering why she was being so repentant when he had clearly seen she didn't mean for it to happen. "Would you mind getting off though?"

"Y-Yes. I-I mean, n-no." Yomaura stammered, before rising as fast as she could. "Eh, I-I'll j-just be over at m-my desk."

"Right." Osaki nodded. "Continue with the mission, and do not hesitate to come to me if you notice something suspicious."

His kohai nodded rapidly, before she speedwalked to her own desk and sat down, burying her face in reports, pointedly avoiding any look in his direction.

A slightly exaggerated reaction if you asked him. Yes, it was somewhat awkward to accidently sit down in your partner's lap, but it was hardly a reason to get that embarrassed. Only teenagers would behave like that. Certainly, adults could wave off such a small matter as something to laugh about later?

On the other hand, if she'd had the kind of childhood that he was beginning to expect she'd had, it would make sense she was little underdeveloped in that specific area.

He wasn't an expert of course, but he'd heard such a thing was possible.

Well, in that case, he really should be more understanding of his kohai's plight. He was supposed to be the responsible Senpai after all, so he should take her feelings into account.

With that in mind, he decided he would do his best to forget about the incident and he would tell the others to do the same.

If it made Yomaura happier, then it was a small effort to make.

---

"Park the car in the garage of that place." Galen ordered his chauffeur, pointing at an out-of-the-way, decrepit looking house. "Then wait for further orders."

The chauffeur did as he was ordered, turning the car and driving straight into the garage of the old house, only pausing for a few seconds so Galen could open the garage door with a remote.

Galen had bought the house several months ago, through several stooges and offshore bank accounts, for this exact purpose. It provided a haven for him in Fuyuki-City, where he could safely arrive and leave his car.

Now, he wasn't planning on holing up in the garage for the entirety of his stay in Fuyuki-City of course, he already had a perfectly good, not-decrepit safehouse at the harbour for that, but the garage was a convenient place to ditch the car, in case it was being tracked by anyone. There was no sense in leading his enemies to his base after all.

He would make his way to his safehouse on foot, alongside several of his best and most loyal men, who were due to arrive at the garage fifteen minutes after he'd entered, through the door connecting with the house.

Galen never went anywhere without bodyguards. Even now, sitting in his reinforced car with blinded windows made of bulletproof glass, he had men sitting on either side of him, as protection against snipers and other kinds of assassins. One couldn't be careful enough after all.

Galen and his men waited for fifteen minutes in the car, in complete silence, as he didn't like idle chatter, before ten more men entered the garage. They had approached the house on foot and had entered through the front door, acting as if they owned the house and were just coming home after an evening spent at the cafes and pubs. Their casual, loose-fitting clothing, full of stains, served both to reinforce that image and hide the weapons they were carrying.

"Wait thirty minutes after we've left and then drive back to Hikone." Galen ordered the chauffeur, before he and his two guards exited the vehicle, and he addressed the ten men now waiting for him. "Greetings. You know the drill; form up around me and do not leave position unless we are attacked."

They wordlessly followed his command, the tallest of them surrounding him tightly as a protection against snipers hoping to get a lucky shot in, while the rest stood either several metres in front of him or several metres behind.

"Move out." Galen ordered as soon as everyone was in position, and the group left the garage, his scouts going first to check their surroundings, followed by Galen and his bodyguards, while the rear-guards prevented anyone from following them.

They walked like that for close to an hour, using backroads and complicated routes in order to deter any stalkers who might have escaped the vigilance of his rear-guard.

It was a slightly boring walk, but it was peaceful and quiet, without any unfortunate incidents whatsoever. He must have had Fujimura totally fooled if he could walk around unimpeded in Fuyuki-City like this.

The only downside was the helicopter flying above the city. Galen had thought at first that it was a police-helicopter, or perhaps a trauma-helicopter from the local hospital, but it had flown around for the entire time he was walking, not going anywhere in particular.

It probably was a private helicopter, from some rich guy hoping to impress his latest tart with a little evening-flight.

He could already picture the conversation in his mind.

"Oh, dear, this is so beautiful, all those pretty lights below. Are those actual houses?"

"Houses, cars, people, streetlights. We can see them all from up here, honeybun."

"It's so amazing. Oh, I never could have thought I would ever experience such a thing. I am so glad this was possible because of you, my love."

"Of course, honeybun. Only the best for you."

Disgusting. That idiot couldn't even see he was being used by a gold-digger.

Galen was rightfully pissed off, but he managed to get that under control by the time they arrived at his safehouse.

Though it looked perfectly abandoned and neglected from the outside, his discerning eye managed to flawlessly spot the hidden guards stationed outside and inside the building.

They were perfectly dispersed over the area, ensuring no one, not even Rakurai, could ever hope to enter unseen.

Should that blasted vigilante, or anyone else, ever try to enter his safehouse, they would be filled with lead faster than they could realise how bad an idea that had been.

On top of the secrecy and the perfect defence, Galen also had several contacts within the local police, who would inform him at once should law enforcement ever come close to finding out the location of the base. Not that he expected such a thing, but better safe than sorry.

He actually had more to fear from rival-gangs than from the police. Fujimura might be a senile old fool who couldn't control his men or his territory, but there were many other, far more competent people out there who would love to kill Galen should the opportunity present itself.

For those people however, he had his men, plenty of guns, and in a worst-case scenario, he would just call the officers in his service the fix the problem for him.

The police were so useful if you knew how to make proper use of them.

Galen and his guards entered the hideout, after which his bodyguards dispersed and he emerged from between them, like a king making his entrance into the throne room.

"Everyone." He called out, addressing both the men who had accompanied him and the people who'd already been in the safehouse. "I am here, standing before you safe and sound. We can begin our operations against the Fujimura-clan shortly. Fuyuki-City will be ours. We will become the most powerful organisation of the entire country and no one, not even Rakurai, will be able to stop us."

Cheers erupted in response to his words, and Galen allowed himself to bask in the adoration of his followers for a few moments.

Then he ordered everyone back to work and made his way over to his personal office, at the very back of the building, where no intruder could possibly reach him without his loyal soldiers stopping them.

Once he reached his office, he sent away the men who had accompanied him, closed the door, and walked to the back of the room, towards his personal bookcase. He pushed aside several of the books and pressed the nigh-invisible panel that had been revealed.

A secret door next to the bookcase opened, just as it was supposed to, and Galen took a moment to ensure the mechanism hadn't been compromised and everything worked as it should.

He had never been to Fuyuki before, and thus had never seen this secret tunnel in his life, but the underling responsible for preparing his office, this very office, had been more observant than Galen had given him credit for, and had brought him the news about the panel behind the bookcase and the secret tunnel leading to another warehouse close-by.

The underling had expected a large reward. He had gotten a bullet in the head instead. It was a shame, a damn shame, but Galen had to do it. The man knew too much and could potentially have revealed the existence of the tunnel to his many enemies, and he really didn't want such a thing to happen.

The man was better off dead.

Another press on the panel closed the secret entrance again and Galen placed the books back in front of it, hiding it from view.

It would be his escape-route in case something did in fact manage to get past his men, so that the intruder would only find an empty office. Perhaps he should place a camera in the room to see their disappointed faces once they realised that they'd failed.

Galen allowed himself a moment to indulge in the pleasant fantasies, before he sat down at his desk and grabbed a few reports.

He had work to do. Cities didn't take over themselves after all.

---

"Jonathan van Galen entered his safehouse three hours ago." Raiga's informant told him. "I managed to follow him as he walked from the border of the city to the harbour, and I saw enough of him to be certain it is really him in there."

"Very good." Raiga nodded approvingly. "Was it very difficult to follow him?"

"Well, he did employ some tricks like abandoning his car in a random house and walking a complicated road, as well as having his men be on the look-out for anyone who might be following them, but nothing truly impressive."

"How did you manage to keep observing him then, if he was so smart about ensuring he wouldn't be followed by anyone?" Raiga asked curiously, though he had a suspicion already.

"I used my helicopter." The man grinned widely, holding up a pair of binoculars.

"Ha." Raiga laughed, slapping himself on the thigh in amusement. "I approve. The simplest solutions are often the best. They didn't see you then?"

"At one point, I thought Galen might have seen me." The informant admitted. "He suddenly looked at me, or my helicopter I guess, with a glare, but he didn't do anything after that and never looked again. I think he was just annoyed by the noise."

"Thank you. Dismissed." Raiga said, and the informant nodded and walked out of the office. Raiga took a moment to watch him leave and wondered what the man would say if he knew Raiga was about to send a teenager to do the fighting for them.

He also wondered what Shirou would do when he realised that Raiga had lied to him and had omitted the existence of the secret tunnel leading from Galen's office to a building further along the street.

Raiga didn't doubt the Brat had found it, and that he would use it once he found out he'd been trapped. Galen would run through the tunnel, but upon exiting it, he wouldn't find freedom, but instead several of Raiga's men.

And then he would die.

It was the only solution, and Raiga hoped Shirou would be able to forgive him for the deception one day, though he was prepared to face the boy's wrath.

For now though, he couldn't be consumed by guilt. He had far too much to do.

---

Sakura was sitting on the couch after having enjoyed an excellent dinner with her loved ones, reflecting on how well life had treated her over the past weeks.

It was like Fortune had taken a look at her situation and decided she deserved a little extra to recompense her for the difficult years under Zouken's 'care'.

First of all, she had Senpai and Ayako at her side, providing her with the loving family she'd always wanted to have. Second, Zouken was now dead, killed by Shirou, who had then carried her off to live with him. Third, she had somewhat reconciled with her actual blood-sister.

The third point was a bit wavery though. They had only patched their relationship yesterday, and it was far too early to say if it would stick.

Sakura was hopeful though, and had every intention of working hard to keep things civil or even friendly between them.

Yesterday had been a good start. After a long and strange evening, during which they'd discussed Senpai's life far more than hers or Rin's, they had made a lot of progress and had agreed to meet more often to stay in touch as much as they could.

They had even managed to convince Rin to stay the night.

The morning after, Shirou, Ayako and Sakura had made sure to get out of a bed a little earlier than usual, so that Rin wouldn't catch them together. There was no use in making an unnecessary fuss by letting Rin know about their unusual relationship after all.

It turned out they needn't have bothered. Sakura had forgotten it over the past years, but her elder sister was terrible at getting up in the morning, and Senpai eventually had to physically lift her out of bed and carry her to the dining room after she'd ignored several calls to get up.

It had taken a hearty breakfast and several cups of tea to get the black-haired girl cognitive again, making Sakura wonder how she handled herself on a normal morning, when Senpai wasn't around to force her out of bed.

She had asked, and the answer to that question was that Rin normally went to bed a lot earlier than she had the night before, and that normal mornings were difficult enough as they were.

Sakura would have liked to hear more about it, but by that time, they all had to leave for school.

Rin had again promised to visit more often though, so that was good. They would just have to set a few dates and times, and they could hang out again. At her house or Rin's, they would have to see about that.

Anyway, after school, Ayako, Shirou, and she had come home again, where they had prepared dinner. Fujimura-Sensei had entered right before they began eating and had happily joined in, chattering about nothing in particular.

At least, until she had told Senpai he had to follow her to her house because Fujimura-sama wanted to talk again in preparation for the mission of the next day.

Shirou had agreed, and after finishing dinner, had accompanied Fujimura-Sensei to her home.

Ayako and Sakura had cleaned up the table and the kitchen, before sitting down in the living room, to discuss their shared project, which incidentally was also one of the few blemishes on Sakura's spotless life-record of the past weeks.

"We still haven't told Shirou that we love him." Ayako bemoaned loudly, letting herself fall backwards onto the couch, her head landing in Sakura's lap. "With all this stuff going on right now, there just wasn't any time. I wonder if we're ever going to manage it."

"There, there." Sakura said soothingly, stroking Ayako's hair softly. "I'm sure there'll be an opportunity soon enough. We just need to keep our eyes open. There can't always be a crisis."

"I just hope we can tell him before he goes to the Clocktower." Ayako sighed, before making a face. "Ugh, so we have a deadline after all, even though mom said we should avoid those because we'd be putting too much pressure on ourselves."

"We still have plenty of time." Sakura lightly tapped the tip of Ayako's nose. "How about we tell him right after he catches that terrible man Galen?"

"At his moment of triumph? I… I think that's a good idea. Yes, let's do it right after he returns victoriously from that mission."

"Excellent." Sakura smiled, stroking Ayako's cheek, before leaning in to steal a quick kiss. "Do you want to start planning on what to say?"

"…Let's not go into too much detail, but I suppose we can prepare a general outline."

"Then let us do that."

---

The next day. Evening.

When the sun fell below the horizon, Shirou found himself in Fuyuki-City's harbour, looking out over a rather unusual street. It had been built on an artificial, concrete peninsula, about fifty metres wide, sticking out into the ocean, with one end of the street leading into the rest of the harbour and the other end leading right to a dock, where ships could drop off or receive their cargo.

Warehouses had been placed along either side of the peninsula, giving an impression of guards standing along the road.

One of those buildings was Galen's safehouse, and that was the one Shirou was going to infiltrate.

A quick observation had told him that the only guards present on the peninsula were all posted at the front of the hideout, and since he was planning on going around to the back, they wouldn't be in his way.

Having ascertained that, Shirou jumped from his vantage point to begin the operation to capture Galen and end this gang-war in Fuyuki before it could even begin.

The hideout looked exactly like Raiga had described it. It was a concrete box, located along the side of the artificial peninsula, with the only entrances at the front-side, and the backside right up against the sea.

To the left and right there were other buildings of similar make, but there were alleys between them that Shirou could slip through to get to the back.

Moving through the shadows, avoiding the gazes of the guards, Shirou slipped into the alley at the right-side of Galen's safehouse, before he stopped and waited. When no one sounded any sort of alarm, he continued again, walking for around a hundred metres before he got to the end of the alley, where the sea was waiting for him.

Standing at the very edge, the water only a meter below him and the safehouse to his left, Shirou took a deep breath and jumped forward, into the sea.

The cold hit him harder than any criminal ever had, almost making him gasp for air. A powerful kick saw him emerge from the water again, and Shirou breathed in greedily, the cold, dark water feeling almost oppressive for a few seconds.

Shirou then turned to his left and began swimming along the backside of the hideout, which stood ominously above him, seeming even bigger from his current point of view.

He kept swimming until he was halfway past the building, arriving exactly at the middle. Once there, he stopped, took a deep breath, and dived straight down.

It was of course completely dark down there. It was night, so there wasn't much light to begin with, but it was worse underwater. If Shirou had been normal person, there was no way he'd have been able to see anything at all.

Fortunately, he wasn't a normal person, and the rays of the moon and stars, feeble as they were, were enough to light his way.

In front of him, there was the foundation of the peninsula, a large concrete slab that went down to the bottom of the sea, upon which the dock and the buildings had been placed. Behind him, there was the open sea, hiding many things from him in her shadows.

Shirou kept swimming down, until he arrived at a hole in the foundation.

The hole had a diameter of about two metres, and had been closed off with iron bars, placed vertically in the hole, though with enough space between them to allow a full-grown man to pass. Behind the bars, a tunnel with only more shadows awaited him.

It looked like a simple drainage hole for the sewers of the city, yet Shirou knew that it was the opening of the secret tunnel into Galen's hideout. It was through here that he could enter the building unseen.

Shirou swam through the bars without any trouble, continuing for another ten metres, before the tunnel ended abruptly, seemingly with a dead end, as only concrete could be seen in front of him.

Shirou had seen the floorplans of the building however, and he looked up, knowing the tunnel continued in an upwards direction.

Shirou swam upwards, and before long, he emerged from the water. After taking several deep breaths, he discovered that he'd ended up in a very small space, only extending twenty centimetres above the surface of the water before there was a ceiling of sorts.

This ceiling however was just the floor tile that hid the tunnel, so Shirou raised his arms and lifted the tile from its place, placing it to the side as he emerged from the hole.

Looking around, he saw that he'd arrived in a dark room.

After checking there was no one else around, Shirou dried himself with a quick use of his fire-Runes and placed the tile back onto the entrance, hiding it from view again, before walking to the only door.

He could still remember the route he was supposed to take to Galen's office. It had been marked clearly on the floorplan of the building and he had memorised it completely. All he had to do was follow it.

Then Shirou opened the heavily reinforced door of the room and discovered two things. Two things that made his stomach drop.

One, the lay-out of the building wasn't at all like the floorplan said it was supposed to be. The stairs were at completely different places, the hallways went into different directions, and the doors were somewhere else entirely. The route he was supposed to take didn't exist.

Two, there were all kinds of sounds coming from outside. Gunshots, shouts, screams, and the roars of motorised vehicles were clearly audible, all of it coming from the front of the building, most likely indicating an attack by another faction.

Shirou understood immediately what was going on.

He'd been right before. Raiga had indeed lied to him.

The floorplans had been complete nonsense, worth nothing except for the secret tunnel.

Worse, the old man had started an attack on the building despite saying that he wouldn't.

Shirou had been fooled, and he'd even seen it coming.

The only thing he didn't know however was why. Why would Raiga lie to him? What was there to gain?

The false floorplans had probably been an attempt at slowing him down, making him have to search the entire building for Galen's office.

Shirou was not going to play along with that. He slammed his hand on the nearest wall and promptly did a Structural Analysis on the entire building, fully mapping it out.

Within a second, he'd found Galen's office, as well as the route to it from his current position. Now he just had to make his way over there and-

There was a secret escape route!

Shirou snarled when he saw it. Despite Raiga's assurances, now proven false, there was in fact a way for Galen to escape from his office without having to get past Shirou. There was another secret tunnel, and now that an attack on the building had been started, the man was no doubt already using it to flee.

Shirou could literally feel through his ongoing Structural Analysis how Galen opened a secret door and ran through it into a tunnel.

The redhead pulled away from the wall and started running at once, going as fast as he could, battering down any door in his way.

He didn't know what Raiga's game was, but he wasn't just going to play along.

Galen wouldn't escape from him.

---

Raiga sighed deeply as he looked at the chaos through his binoculars.

He was currently standing on a building several hundred meters away from the hideout of the Brat, looking on as his men attacked said hideout.

He'd commanded them to make as much noise as possible while taking as little risk as they could. They had to shout loudly, fire their guns in the general direction of the hideout, drive their cars around with abandon, and generally make a mess of things.

The Brat's men had been taken by surprise, completely and utterly, and were now in disarray, either shooting back, hiding behind cover, or trying to flee into the building, nicely contributing to the total chaos that the scene had become.

It was the complete opposite of what he'd promised Shirou; that he and his Yakuza would sit back and let him capture the Brat for the police, but Raiga had never had any intention of following that promise, just like he didn't intend on capturing the Brat.

Galen was too dangerous, too well-connected, and above all, had to serve as an example to all who might follow his lead in taking advantage of the chaos Rakurai had created.

All the shooting and shouting would cause Galen to run through the secret entrance, and since he'd given Shirou false floorplans, the boy would not be in time to stop the Brat from fleeing.

The Brat would then proceed to run through the escape-tunnel until he would arrive at its end, but instead of freedom, he'd find six gun barrels aimed at him.

Then he would die.

It was necessary, and Raiga didn't feel the least bit bad about it.

He did feel bad about deceiving Shirou, but he'd repent later, and take any punishment the boy would give him.

Right now, it was time for action.

"Attention, team B." He barked into his phone. "The package is heading your way. Be ready."

The plot was thickening, and it was time to start his retreat.

After the Brat was dead, Shirou could handle the rest.

---

They'd found him.

He had absolutely no idea how, but they'd found him.

The Fujimura-clan was besieging his safehouse, and his men couldn't stop them.

"Sir, I've no idea what's happening! There's gunfire everywhere, my men are going down quick, and our enemies just keep coming! There's hundreds of them! Sir, we're losing!"

Galen sneered at his walkie-talkie, before pressing the 'talk'-button.

"Then die nobly and with honour." He barked. "I will make sure the cause lives on."

"Sir, please-"

Galen threw the walkie-talkie against the wall, shattering it beyond repair. He pulled out his phone next and dialled the number of one of his police-flunkies.

"Hello, how can I help you-"

"Nakagawa! My base is under attack! Get the others together and get your ass moving! I want every Fujimura-man attacking my hideout dead or in jail by morning, you hear me!?"

"Y-Yes, b-boss. It will be done, boss."

Galen smirked, turning off his phone and stuffing it into his pocket. Fujimura may have won this battle, but it would be a pyrrhic victory.

Galen would only lose a safehouse and a few incompetent underlings. Fujimura's men, probably his best, would either be dead or in jail by morning, or they'd be cop-killers that would be hunted forever.

Yes, Fujimura had won the battle, but Galen would win the war, he was certain of it.

He then proceeded to stuff all his personal possessions into a backpack, before pressing the panel behind the bookcase. The secret entrance opened, and Galen ran into the tunnel.

He laughed as he ran, enjoying the feeling of being the long-term victor. He laughed harder when he realised Fujimura would have to receive the news that Galen had outwitted him by using a secret entrance.

Galen descended a set of stairs, ran a few metres, and then ascended again, following the tunnel that would lead him to freedom.

Eventually, he arrived at yet another secret door. He'd only have to open that door with a button somewhere on the tunnel wall, and he'd be in a building further along the street, from where he could easily leave the peninsula and head towards a safe place, before calling on his personal driver to pick him up from this ghastly city.

The button was easily found, and Galen pressed it to open the door, before stepping out-

"There you are."

Galen froze, panic and terror taken over his mind as he saw the men standing in front of him.

There were six of them, clad in long, grey overcoats, all of them aiming a gun at him, all of them grinning or smirking.

"W-Who are you?!" Galen asked, his voice half-hysterical. "Who sent you?!"

"It isn't important who we are." A man on his right said, his grin becoming wider. "All that matters is that we're the ones who will end you."

"NO! WAIT! I have money! I have power! I can give you whatever you-"

'BANG'

Six guns were fired simultaneously, and Galen felt pain explode in his torso.

He dropped to the ground, his legs no longer capable of holding him up, and as he laid there, dying, darkness overtaking his vision, he heard one last thing.

"Fujimura Raiga sends his regards."

---

"Senpai, look."

Osaki looked up at hearing the voice of his partner. He had just managed to immerse himself in the flow of filing reports, but now he'd lost it again.

"Over there, Senpai. Look at Nakagawa."

He did, and he saw what his partner meant. Nakagawa's face was pale, his brows furrowed, and his jaw clenched hard. His hands were balled into fists, and as Osaki looked, he started going around, tapping other officers on the shoulder or back, before whispering something into their ear.

"Does that qualify as suspicious, Senpai?" Yomaura asked him eagerly. "Because I think it does."

"I quite agree." Osaki nodded sharply, watching as every officer addressed by Nakagawa began to prepare for leaving, grabbing their coats and guns, before moving towards the elevators. "They are going to do something."

"Yes, but what?" Yomaura wondered with a heavy frown. "They are all going, so whatever they want to do, it has to be big, but I haven't noticed anything that would require such a response."

"The precise details do not matter yet, we can find that out later." Osaki threw his reports in a drawer, before rising from his chair. "Yomaura, go to Tomita-san and inform her of this development. I will follow them and keep you appraised as much as I can over the phone."

"But I can help with that-"

"Yomaura!" Osaki interrupted the expected protest. "I know you can help, but right now, it is more important that Tomita knows what is going on so she can call reinforcements. I will make sure to be discrete and avoid any risks. Trust me, I can handle shadowing a few corrupt officers."

Yomaura didn't seem at all happy with his words, but after a few seconds, she nodded, though very reluctantly.

"Very well, Senpai." She spoke, also grabbing her coat. "I will go to Tomita. If you discover something, anything at all, please call me so I can relay it to the superiors."

"Of course." Osaki agreed, before the two detectives went their separate ways.

Sneaking after his traitor-colleagues, following them into the precinct's garage, Osaki watched as they entered their service-cars, before tearing away with the sirens turned on.

By the time they reached the exit of the garage, Osaki had taken a car of his own and sped after them, catching up quickly as they drove towards the harbour.

The fact that they were using their service cars removed any possibility of this being a legal action. If something had happened that required almost two dozen officers on duty to deal with, they should have reported that before they even left the building, but they hadn't.

Still, they had their uniforms on and their badges with them, so they did want to pretend they were in function.

Osaki pondered for a few moments longer about the possible motives of the traitors, before his phone started ringing. He picked up immediately.

"Osaki here." He snapped, keeping his eye on the road and hoping no one would witness him being on the phone while driving.

"Senpai, I have informed Tomita and she is calling reinforcements right now." His partner informed him. "She just needs to know where to send them."

"I am still following them, I don't know where to, but-"

"Are they going towards the harbour?"

"…How do you know that?"

"We're receiving dozens of calls now. People say a part of the harbour has changed into a warzone. Apparently, the Fujimura-clan is attacking a rival."

"A rival? Do you mean that crime-lord we heard about? This… Brat?"

"I think they do, Senpai, that makes the most sense." Yomaura agreed, before her voice became even sharper. "Nakagawa and the rest, they might be in the Brat's employ."

"You mean they are going there to support one of the factions?" Osaki asked incredulously, before gritting his teeth. "Of course they are. That explains a lot."

"They are going to kill as many men from the Fujimura-clan as possible, before arresting who's left." Yomaura said darkly. "Senpai, if you're going to try and stop them, please remember the reinforcements are still an hour away."

Osaki grimaced. That was far from an ideal situation, but he couldn't do nothing. He would not stand by as police-officers acted like thugs and executioners. He would do his very best to stop them, even if it killed him.

"I'm going in." He told his partner in a tone that accepted no protests.

"…Understood, Senpai." She said after a few moments. "Koyo, please be careful."

"I will be as careful as I can be." He promised, before hanging up the phone and diverting all his attention back on the road.

The cars of the traitors were still in front of him, and none of them had noticed him yet as far as he could see.

He just hoped he'd think of something to stop them before they arrived.

---

Upon reaching Galen's office, Shirou didn't bother slowing down and rammed through the door, reducing it to splinters.

He immediately spotted the secret tunnel, its door left wide open by Galen after he'd fled through it, the empty office holding nothing else of interest.

Shirou pursued, running into the tunnel at full speed, using his abnormally sharp eyes to plot his way.

In his mind, he was cursing. He cursed Raiga for lying to him, he cursed Galen for being a criminal and a problem in the first place, he cursed the building for having so many secret tunnels and doors, and above all, he cursed himself.

He'd known that Raiga was lying. He'd noticed it the moment the lies had left the man's mouth, yet he hadn't done anything. He hadn't even visited the hideout for himself, while a quick Structural Analysis would immediately have revealed the extend of Raiga's lies.

He'd just assumed the floorplans were correct, that he could trust Raiga, and now he was paying the price for his naivety.

What was Raiga's plan anyway? How did the Yakuza-boss profit from Galen getting away?

The man hadn't lied when he said he wanted Galen out of the way. He hadn't lied when he declared that he would do anything to help Shirou deal with the crime-lord.

So what was the purpose of this deception?

Furiously thinking it over, Shirou descended a set of stairs and then ascended another, before arriving at the end of the tunnel…

Where he found a dead body.

The redhead froze for a split second upon seeing it, the unexpectedness of the sight momentarily halting him, before he continued and knelt next to the body, feeling for a pulse.

There was none, the man was dead.

Not that it could be any different with no less than six bullet-holes in his chest.

Though he'd never seen a picture of Galen before, Shirou was willing to bet this was him, and with that, everything became crystal clear.

Raiga had never intended for Shirou to arrest Galen. He'd always been planning to have the man killed.

He never told Shirou of the secret tunnel in the office, because he wanted Galen to flee through it. That also explained the sudden attack on the hideout. It was meant to spook Galen into fleeing before Shirou could get to him.

Galen had fled through the secret tunnel, and it had delivered him straight into the arms of Raiga's men, who had promptly killed him.

Rising again from his kneeling position, Shirou ran out the room and towards the exit of the building he had found himself in.

He'd only just made it outside when he saw a very inconspicuous car speeding away towards town, and though it was of a very common make, Shirou still recognised it as one of Raiga's cars.

That was all the proof he needed.

Shirou frowned heavily, looking on as the car drove away, immediately followed by over a dozen other cars, all of them filled with Raiga's men, who were fleeing the scene now that the mission had been accomplished.

He could catch up to them if he wanted to, but that would serve no purpose. There wasn't anything he needed to know from them, nor was he going to knock them out and deliver them to the police.

He would first hear what Raiga had to say to explain himself, before deciding whether or not to take action against him.

For now, there were plenty of gang-members to catch instead.

Shirou ran back to Galen's safehouse, which was only a bit further up the road.

There he found a warzone.

On one side of the street, Galen's men had taken cover behind anything that was available. Hiding behind cars, streetlamps and within the buildings, all of them riddled with bullet holes, they were cautiously emerging again, now that Raiga's men had left.

On the other side of the street, where Raiga's men had made their stand, there was a similar scene, though without any people present anymore.

It didn't seem like anything heavier than guns had been used, which Shirou was happy about, for the level of destruction was high enough already.

The cars were utterly ruined, some of them even being on fire at that very moment, providing the light that the broken streetlamps no longer could provide. The buildings had cracks everywhere, and the street was no longer safe to drive on because of the wear and tear.

Having taken in the scene, Shirou acted, charging at Galen's men, determined to make sure they would never do something like this again.

He reached them quickly, and the first man he encountered, frail and pale, hiding behind a car, didn't even have time to notice Shirou before he was knocked unconscious.

The redhead proceeded to take down the criminals standing outside, swiftly and efficiently, not even giving them the time to draw their guns.

By the time he was done with that, the gang-members inside the building had noticed him and started to aim for him, shouting at their fellows that the attack was not over yet.

There were around two dozen left, all of them now panicking and crying about their lack of leadership as they saw their fellows lying motionless on the ground.

Shirou entered the building through the nearest door, before swiftly taking down three men who had desperately charged at him, their guns forgotten as they bodily threw themselves at him in a blind panic.

From there on, he rapidly knocked down any criminal he came across, which was made easier by the fact that they were running around like chickens without heads, most of them not even thinking about working together anymore, but just panicking as they scrambled around in their attempts to fight him.

Eventually, once only three criminals were left, the panic became too much.

They broke and ran, screaming as they made for the emergency exit, throwing their guns away as they tried to escape, frightened beyond measure, probably also traumatised for life, and Shirou couldn't help but feel like some kind of horror-monster or slasher villain.

The men ran out of the building, but he caught up to them easily enough.

Before he could take them down however, he suddenly heard sirens. Looking to the side, he saw six or seven blue cars racing in his direction, driving over the peninsula with wild abandon.

The police had arrived.

That was only logical of course, after what had happened here. Lengthy firefights did not go unnoticed in a city, and someone must have called the police in response to all the noise.

It did mean he had to leave quickly though. He had no interest in interacting with the police.

With a quick burst of speed, he reached the three remaining criminals and knocked them out.

Shirou then looked up again, seeing the police cars pull over close to him, the doors opening before numerous officers emerged, around two dozen in total, all of them looking straight at him.

They knew what he looked like now, meaning that at least a part of his secrecy had been lost, but that didn't matter anymore, seeing that Rakurai was about to leave for quite some time, if not forever.

Maybe he should tell that to the officers? It would be the kind thing to do and would save them a lot of headaches down the line.

With that in mind, perhaps he should in fact tell them that this was his last action as Rakurai. From a safe distance of course, and he'd leave immediately after, but they deserved to know that much-

'BANG'

Shirou jumped to the side, only narrowly dodging a bullet fired at him.

Fired at him by one of the officers.

It wasn't a fluke either, as many other officers also pulled out their guns, all of them aiming straight at him.

"Hey!" Shirou protested as they all started firing and he had to practically breakdance to dodge all the bullets. "What are you doing?!"

"Shut up and die, vigilante." One of the officers barked at him, none of them showing any sign of hesitation or doubt. "You will pay for attacking the boss."

The boss?

Did he mean Galen?

Were these officers on Galen's payroll?

It made sense. Galen must have called these people the moment Raiga attacked his base, in order to have them defend him.

The redhead didn't want to fight police-officers, he'd much rather keep law enforcement a professional enemy he barely interacted with, but it seemed he didn't have a choice this time.

Not only because he wouldn't let criminals walk away if they presented themselves to him so willingly, but also because they couldn't be allowed to remember the fact that he was dodging bullets, which was unnatural to say the least.

He had to take these people down and modify their memories, in order to protect the secret of the Moonlit World.

Shirou dodged yet another bullet, and then rushed forward, straight at the line of officers.

The first three he knocked out with one back-handed slap, and the remaining fifteen he tapped on the head, using their own forces as cover, forcing them to stop shooting lest they hit each other and themselves.

They were even less of a challenge than the average gang.

Having taken them all down, Shirou quickly used Hypnosis to modify their memories, something that was possible even when the victim was unconscious, to make them believe they'd been ambushed by a large group of masked people.

That would have to do for now.

Dropping the last of the officers back on the ground, Shirou pondered over what to do.

He should call the police of course, but he didn't just have an unconscious gang on his hands now, but also the corpse of one of Japan's most wanted men and a bunch of knocked out corrupt officers.

"What a mess." He groaned out loud, feeling the need to express his discontent. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you became a vigilante?"

Shirou's heart skipped a beat in shock, but he didn't outwardly react to the voice, except by slightly turning his head towards the source, discovering it to be a rather young police-officer- no, a detective.

He had to suppress a full-body flinch upon discovering it was Osaki Koyo of all people.

"What are you doing here?!" Shirou asked incredulously.

What was going on here? Did everything just have to go wrong tonight?

---

Yomaura impatiently tapped her foot, glaring at the screen of a nearby computer as she tried to calm herself down.

Her Senpai was currently risking his life in the name of justice, while she was standing in the precinct, perfectly safe, doing nothing but wait until Tomita would return with the latest updates on the reinforcements.

It was incredibly annoying and nerve-wracking, but Yomaura persisted nonetheless.

Senpai had ordered her to stay at the precinct to coordinate the police-efforts, and she would follow his orders.

Unlike the Magus Rakurai, firefights between gangs and Yakuza were a part of the job, something they'd signed up for when they first entered the police-academy, so she didn't have the right, moral or lawful, to break protocol and disobey orders from her direct superior.

She wasn't going to break the rules for something that didn't involve Magecraft.

So she stood in silence, counting down the seconds until reinforcements would arrive or she would be allowed to leave for the harbour too.

"Taya."

Her contemplations were disturbed by a voice calling out to her, and Tomita walked into view.

"Taya. I have informed the minister of what's happening here." The elderly woman said gravely. "He wasn't happy at all, but he has ordered every available officer from the surrounding cities to come to Fuyuki and arrest all those accused of corruption."

"You have given him our evidence?"

"I have, and he agreed that it definitely warranted a closer look. Combined with the actions of Nakagawa and his fellows tonight –leaving while on duty and not even reporting it to his superiors– it is likely they will all be convicted."

"Great!" Yomaura grinned, before she frowned. "The reinforcements?"

"Still fifty minutes away."

"Ugh."

She'd already informed Senpai ten minutes ago that reinforcements were still an hour out, and that he should be careful, so calling him again to tell him it would now be fifty minutes was useless.

She did want to call him, just to make sure he was okay, but that could compromise his position if he was in a difficult situation where he had to stay hidden.

She'd seen enough films to know she would probably call at the most inopportune moment possible.

So she waited.

"Ma'am!"

Until she was disturbed again by yet another voice, this time from one of the phone-operators that worked at the precinct of Fuyuki, doing things such as taking calls from the emergency-number.

This specific operator ran into the room and immediately addressed Tomita.

"Ma'am. We've been getting new calls from the harbour."

"What do they say?" Yomaura asked immediately, her worry rising sharply at yet another unforeseen complication, as she stepped up to the man.

The operator looked somewhat unsure at her, but after a nod from Tomita, he continued.

"People are saying that the firefight has ended. Apparently, the Fujimura-men are gone, and the other faction has gone complete silent too. They are claiming that Rakurai is there now."

Yomaura froze.

Rakurai?

"Ma'am, if Rakurai is there, and the corrupt officers are there too, won't that go very wrong?" The operator asked nervously.

"Excellent work on telling me this, operator. Go back to your post, let us handle the rest."

"Yes, Ma'am." The operator bowed, before he walked away, looking relieved he wouldn't have to deal with this mess himself.

Rakurai was there?

There were corrupt officers on their way to the location of the firefight, and Rakurai was there too?

Yomaura could feel how all the blood drained from her face.

If the traitors saw Rakurai at the scene of the battle, they wouldn't arrest him. They would try to shoot him for costing them so much money and benefactors. They would try to kill him for getting in their way.

Rakurai would retaliate.

Senpai was there too. Senpai, who at best would be seen as another corrupt cop and killed along with the rest by an angry Rakurai, and at worst would be recognised as the man who had hunted the Magus-vigilante for so long, which would guarantee him a far worse fate.

She had to go there immediately. Her Senpai's life was at stake.

For this, she would break every rule in the book!

"Tomita-san." Yomaura turned towards the formidable woman, before kneeling down in a Dogeza-position, visibly surprising her superior. "Please let me go there. I must help Koyo."

That was all she said. She didn't offer an explanation or reason, as that would take too long. If the woman refused, she would leave anyway, but it would be better and more efficient to have her permission, if only to ensure no one would try to stop her on the way.

Tomita was silent for a few seconds, before she huffed.

"It is against all protocol to send one officer into such a dangerous situation." She began. "That fool Koyo was already due to get in trouble for his rash actions in following his corrupt colleagues on his own, and now you want to go as well."

Yomaura didn't reply, keeping her forehead on the ground.

"It is against every rule in the book, but unprecedented events ask for unprecedented actions." Tomita sighed deeply. "Go with my blessing then, get that idiot out of there alive, but be aware that you will both get the scolding of your lives when you get back."

Immense relief filled Yomaura's entire body, and she shot back up, grabbing Tomita's hand tightly.

"Thank you." She whispered, feeling how tears were running over her cheeks, before she turned around and sprinted away.

She still didn't dare call her Senpai, so she couldn't make sure he was alright.

She could only pray to every god she'd ever learned the name of that she would be in time to save him.

---

Osaki followed the cars of his corrupt colleagues all the way to the end of the docks, where they drove onto a rather abandoned-looking peninsula.

It turned out not to be so abandoned however, as plenty of new-looking cars were standing on the side of the street –though the bullet-holes in them kinda ruined the picture– and there was a lot of light coming from two of the buildings.

When they got closer and his colleagues parked on the side of the road, Osaki could see bodies lying on the ground in front of the largest building, which also had the most light coming from it. He hoped they were just unconscious, but he feared the worst.

It seemed they had missed most of the action. Clearly, there had been a massive firefight here, but right now it was a quiet scene.

Osaki didn't know what had happened precisely or who had won, but it was clear enough that the fighting was over. Which was why he was surprised when his colleagues jumped out of the cars with their guns out.

That was when he saw it.

Rakurai!

The vigilante stood there, amidst the bodies of the gang-members, looking entirely at ease with the situation.

It was the first time Osaki had ever seen the vigilante, his nemesis, in person and for a few seconds, he could do nothing but stare.

The first thing he noticed was the dark clothing the vigilante was wearing, which corresponded perfectly with witness-reports. The second thing was the rather cool mask in front of the lower face and the hood over the head.

There was light coming from the building behind Rakurai, as well as from the headlights of his colleagues' cars, meaning Osaki could see the mask well enough, but he was too far away to say anything about the eyes, which were just about the only things visible of the vigilante's face.

Osaki also noticed that Rakurai was indeed rather short, but that didn't mean anything. Some people were just short, and Rakurai had shown he didn't lack in strength one bit.

He and Yomaura had entertained the notion that Rakurai might be a teenager, but they'd long since accepted that they'd been entirely wrong. No teenager could do what Rakurai did, so he was likely just a short adult.

Being as far away as he was, Osaki couldn't see anything more. Nevertheless, he tried to take in as many details as he could, certain that the vigilante would run away in a moment and give them the slip again.

Only he didn't.

Rakurai remained standing where he was, not moving an inch as the officers closed in on him.

Osaki began to worry once his colleagues were almost in shooting range. They were employed by one of the factions here, and he was willing to bet every yen he had that they were not going to arrest Rakurai.

They were going to kill him.

Osaki scrambled to get out of his car, desperately hoping he'd be quick enough to shout a warning to the vigilante, when-

'BANG'

A gun was fired.

"Dam-"

The vigilante dodged.

"-nit?"

Osaki froze halfway out of his car, his mouth falling open, as he beheld over twenty men opening fire on one target, and that target neatly dodging every shot.

It was something out of fiction, out of a storybook. A superhero evading countless bullets fired at point-blank range, effortlessly twisting his body to ensure no single shot landed.

For a few seconds, the spectacle continued.

Then the vigilante attacked.

For the first time ever, Osaki saw the vigilante at work. He had a prime seat even, to watch as Rakurai bull rushed his colleagues and smacked them around like children.

He was blindingly fast, to the point Osaki could only see his afterimages. He was incredibly strong, able to manhandle three fully grown men at once as if they were new-born kittens. He was insanely precise, knocking his opponents out without killing a single one of them.

This was the man who had taken down so many criminals on his own. The man who had shaken Japan's underworld on its foundation. The man who had written history through sheer fighting-prowess.

This was the man who he had been hunting for so long.

It wasn't even a minute later that the last of the officers dropped to the ground, unconscious. Rakurai had utterly steamrolled them, without any effort.

The vigilante then went around, for some reason pulling the eyes of the downed officers open for a few seconds, before letting go again.

Then, he spoke.

"What a mess." The vigilante groaned in an astoundingly young voice. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you became a vigilante?"

Osaki didn't know when he had fully exited his car. He didn't know when he'd walked up the vigilante. He didn't know why on Earth his brain had deemed it a good idea to speak up, but when Rakurai turned his gaze towards him, golden eyes meeting Osaki's brown ones, the detective realised it might have been a better idea to stay in the car and pretend he wasn't there.

"What are you doing here?!"

It took Osaki a second to realise the vigilante had spoken to him, and another two seconds to comprehend what had been said, before his eyes widened in shock.

The vigilante knew him?

The emphasis of the 'you' in that sentence was enough of an indication, and Osaki was conflicted about whether to be happy that Rakurai knew of him after all or panicked that Rakurai knew of him after all.

It would all depend on the vigilante's next actions, he supposed.

"I was following these officers." Osaki found himself saying, not seeing any reason to hide that. "They are under investigation for corruption, and I kept them under surveillance, so when they all suddenly decided to leave without calling it in, I decided to follow them."

"Corrupt? Yes, I think they are." Rakurai nodded sharply. "According to my sources, they are working for Jonathan van Galen, a gang-leader who's been on the rise over the past months."

"We know of him." Osaki said, glaring down at the downed officers who had once and for all been confirmed to be corrupt. "We also had intel claiming that he was coming to Fuyuki."

"He did come, but he is dead now. You can find his body in that building." The vigilante pointed down the street at a specific warehouse, but Osaki did not turn, instead keeping his eyes on his conversation-partner.

"Dead?" He asked, his voice far calmer than he felt. "Your work?"

"No. I wanted to arrest him and hand him over to you, but it seems his other enemies got to him before I could." Rakurai's voice became frustrated as he said that.

So one of the major players of the conflict was dead now. Osaki couldn't help but feel relieved at that. It wasn't very proper, being happy at the death of a man, but it would save his city a lot of trouble down the line.

The conversation stalled after that. Rakurai didn't say anything more, but he also didn't leave, while Osaki had many questions he wanted to ask, but couldn't get them out of his mouth.

Mostly because Rakurai suddenly seemed otherwise occupied. The vigilante turned his head from left to right, as if searching for something, before he shook his head, mumbling something about 'strange happenings' and 'weird power-spikes'.

"I'm sorry, Osaki-san, you were saying?" He then spoke up again, diverting his attention back to the detective.

"…If I were to tell you you're under arrest, would you come quietly?" Osaki asked eventually, having decided that was his first priority.

"No." Rakurai huffed, his eyes shining in amusement for a second. "No, I don't think I will. I have nothing but respect for you, detective Osaki Koyo, for chasing me for all this time, but I am not planning on going to jail."

"I didn't think you would." Osaki sighed, trying not to show how unnerved he was that Rakurai knew his name and his function. "Can I convince you to stop your vigilante-actions at least?"

"Yes."

"Come on, man, you have to admit you're making a mess out of thin- Wait, what?" Osaki did a double take at the easy acceptance of the vigilante. "For real?"

"Yes, me being Rakurai will do nothing but cause further conflict right now." The vigilante sounded forlorn, almost saddened. "I must cease my actions, at least for a few years. I have much to learn before I can become a proper Hero of Justice."

A Hero of Justice?

The man actually wanted to be a superhero?

Wasn't he a bit old for dreams like that?

Actually, now that he thought about it, how old was Rakurai? His voice was far less deep that Osaki had expected, and that was when it was muffled and distorted by the mask.

Could it be…?

"How old are you?" The detective asked, now paying more attention to how Rakurai sounded, to the inflections and tone of his voice. "You sound awfully young."

"That is because I am young." Rakurai actually laughed now. "I am not even twenty years old yet, Osaki-san."

"Nonsense." The response came involuntarily. "No teenager can do what you did. Actually, now that I think about it, neither could any adult. You dodged all those bullets. What on God's green Earth are you, Rakurai?"

That was the greatest problem that had troubled Osaki over the past months. Just how the vigilante did what he did.

How he could take down hundreds of men on his own; how he could move from city to city in one night or less; how he forced so many confessions out of the criminals he left in his wake, and above all, how he was still alive after fighting so many people out to kill him.

If he could get the answer to those questions, then perhaps he could understand why his kohai was so frightened of this man.

Rakurai seemed to stiffen at the question, his eyes flitting around as if searching for a way to quickly escape. His calm and peaceful attitude was instantly replaced with wariness and suspicion, and Osaki braced himself for sudden violence in return.

"I am a simple man whose physical capabilities are greater than average." The vigilante eventually said slowly, giving a very vague answer. "I'm afraid I can't tell you any more than that."

"Can't or won't?"

"Both, Osaki-san. Telling you everything would just put you in danger, or at the very least destroy your worldview. People like you, straightforward, hardworking people, have no business asking those kinds of questions. You wouldn't believe me anyway, even if I told you."

"Try me, kid." Osaki scoffed. "I've dealt with a lot in my life, and I think I can handle whatever you are about to throw at me perfectly fine."

"…Fine. If you insist. I used Magic."

Osaki waited a few seconds more, but Rakurai didn't say anything else.

The detective frowned, certain the vigilante was just being obstructive and sarcastic.

"Kid, I'm serious."

"So am I, Osaki-san."

"Preposterous. Magic? Magic isn't real, kid, and if you think you can just attribute all your actions to some kind of mystic force, you are mistaken."

"No, detective-san. It is you who is mistaken, about a great many things."

With those words, Rakurai lifted his hand…

…And a flame sprang to life from the palm.

Osaki lifted an eyebrow at the sight, and then the other when the flame just kept on burning.

After a minute or so, as the flame kept growing bigger and Rakurai even started to switch it from one hand to the other, Osaki held up his hands.

"Okay, magic." He said, deciding to just go with it for now. "That is what you used to do all those impossible things?"

"Indeed, it makes it possible for me to do things that would be considered unnatural to anyone who is not aware." The vigilante nodded, holding up a finger as if he were a teacher giving a lecture. "The ability to use magic is very rare in this world, and those who have it are usually very secretive about it, so it isn't strange you have never heard of it. I must ask you to keep quiet as well."

"Sure." Osaki shrugged. "No one would believe me anyway."

"Yes, and those with the ability would immediately move to shut you up." The corners of Rakurai's eyes crinkled as Osaki deadpanned at him. "We are a very private people."

"'A private people'? That's not nearly enough, kid." Osaki spluttered. "What do you mean, 'shut you up'?"

"Well… It's not entirely proper, and a friend of mine is probably going to be pretty mad at me for this, but I guess I can tell you a few things..."

---

Yomaura had taken the first service car she'd come across after sprinting out of the precinct, and she was currently ignoring every road-safety-law in existence in her mad drive to the harbour.

Yomaura gritted her teeth as she drove, her worry and fear for her Senpai accumulating into a throbbing headache, more annoying than actually painful.

She'd already lost many precious minutes by stopping by her house to grab as many Rune stones as she could, as well as pull on her rune-inscribed clothes, so she couldn't waste time obeying traffic laws, especially since it wasn't even necessary. There was no one else on the road at this time of night.

The stones and clothes she had brought were shoddy, hasty work, nothing like the ones she'd possessed back with the family, but there was nothing that could be done about it. After she'd blown through her reserves several weeks ago and had gotten house-arrest from Senpai as a result, she hadn't had a chance to make anything better.

She could only pray it would be enough.

She activated her Circuits, and then hissed in pain and surprise as they immediately became dangerously overheated. At the same time, her headache intensified sharply, making her vision hazy for a second.

Yomaura felt worry worming its way into her mind at her body's reaction.

She didn't know why this was happening, why her body was suddenly being so difficult. She had rested more than enough over the past weeks, and her Circuits had functioned perfectly well the day before. She shouldn't be in this much pain-

…fsalkdjljf#$%^%^&*^SFGSBTRGSR**************K*LLTH*G*DLIN*NOW!*****ADfadfasfjhglksjdfhlkjhkhh….

The car swerved as something seemed to stab right into her brain, causing her vision to go black for a moment. She lost control over the car, and even as she managed to get it back, her mind became progressively cloudier.

Something was very wrong with her right now.

She pushed her worry away with a snarl however. It didn't matter how she felt, she had to keep going. If she could just make it to Senpai, she would be able to protect him from Rakurai-

…..****%$%^%&$%^$##vakjdhlkjnlcfh**********UNNATUR*L!K*LLN*W!REST*REB*LANCE!**********asdofnrkelnjlkjnkaj $%$^&^%$ #$#%^$YHSG$%^$%

Something was screaming! Screaming inside her head!

Yomaura turned her head left and right, searching for the source, but she found nothing.

Was she just imagining things because of the panic?

%$%^slkjdflajndfkjanlkjjdfk$%$%$&^%^$#$*********KILLTHETHRE*T*****THECO*NT*RFORC*DEMANDSIT!*******alkjdfklglkjfgkldj$%^&^%#$%$#%^$^%$# $#%^%$Y&^%

There it was again!

Yomaura shook her head, as violently as she could while still keeping an eye on the road. It was like words were being carved into her brain, but without anyone actually touching it.

Then, just as abruptly as it had started, it disappeared.

Her headache, the burning pain in her Circuits, and the feeling that someone was stirring her brain were all gone from one moment to the next.

It was extremely unnerving, but Yomaura kept going nonetheless. She didn't know what was going on, but that didn't matter. She had to save Senpai and chase off Rakurai-

KILL RAKURAI!

-Chase off Rakurai and make it clear to him that she wouldn't let him harm her family, no matter what.

Pressing even harder on the gas pedal, she pushed the car to its very limits, praying she would be quick enough. She was only a few streets away now.

Then she turned the last corner, drove onto the peninsula and arrived at the place of the firefight.

There she saw exactly what she'd been fearing.

The corrupt officers were all on the ground, unconscious or worse. The traces of a massive fight were visible everywhere, and right in the middle of the street, in her full view, Rakurai stood.

He was standing right across from her Senpai. The vigilante had been facing her partner, but had turned in her direction now, his eyes visibly widening in shock as she drove straight at him.

He held Koyo by the arm, no doubt intending to rip it off and laugh as her partner screamed in agony and bled to death.

She wouldn't let that happen; she was going stop him-

#$%^%$#Efdlkjfglfdkjs;ljv;ofjnsr******KILLTHEGODLING!******#$%#$&%# #$%âgoirnof adfajdjflkjfoehfrouha;ourjafkdhkahjdhf…..dslafonieuhf;ouaigrnlhafile*******FORTHESAKEOFHUMANITY!*****#$%^%$^lkaflkjdgaknaldjf…..

…..WE'LLDOITOURSELVES!...

The piercing pain in her brain returned with a vengeance, and Yomaura could do nothing but scream as something told hold of her mind, her entire being exploding in agony, before her body started moving on its own.

Her mind was caught in vice grip, her body was dancing to the tunes of something beyond her comprehension, and when she exited her car, she only had one thought in her head.

Kill Rakurai.

---

"Okay." Osaki said after Rakurai had given him a quick explanation of the Moonlit World, Magi, and Magecraft in general. "Okay, I think I get it now. Magic is real."

"Yes, though what I do is called Magecraft, Osaki-san."

"Yeah, yeah, don't care about that right now." Osaki waved away the vigilante's words. "Just let me- wow, I still can't believe it. No, Magic can't be real."

Rakurai's only response to that was to light another fire on his palm.

"Ugh, you have a point there." Osaki groaned, wishing he had a stiff drink. "You wouldn't happen to have any alcohol with you, do you?"

"I do, but I don't think it is wise for you to drink right now."

"I know." Osaki sighed, his rational mind overcoming his baser urges enough for him to acknowledge he shouldn't be drinking, no matter how tempting it sounded to get hammered right now. "You know, when you are not beating up criminals, you actually behave a lot like a goody two shoes. I'm pretty sure someone like you shouldn't be this polite and well-meaning."

"Oh?" Rakurai made a vaguely amused sound. "How should I behave then according to you?"

"Broody. Menacing. Talking with an artificially low voice as you growl at me about your traumas and how you spend your days fighting battles beyond my understanding. I'm pretty sure you should have refused me any explanation and should have disappeared the moment my back was turned."

"That would have been very impolite of me."

"There. That's what I mean." Osaki pointed at Rakurai, not sure if the vigilante was joking or not. "You're being far too polite and mellow for someone… well, someone like you."

"I have been told so before." Rakurai's eyes closed in an obvious smile. "Under normal circumstances, if you'd been a random detective stumbling upon this scene, I would have told you nothing, Osaki-san. Your assumptions about me would have been entirely correct."

"What makes me so special then?" Osaki narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "I'm not going to help you play the hero if that's what you're going for. I might not be entirely happy with how things are done at the police, but that doesn't mean I am now in favour of vigilantes."

"I understand completely, and I wasn't going to ask anything of the sort. Like I said, Rakurai will have to disappear for quite a while after tonight." The vigilante's eyes opened again, studying him closely. "I have told you as much as I did, not only because you have been chasing me for so long and no doubt have many questions that could lead to trouble, but also because the Moonlit World is far closer to you than you think."

"What?"

"It is clear from what you asked me that you had a lot of questions concerning the impossibility of my actions, and that might have caused you to start looking for answers at the wrong places, dangerous places." Rakurai's eyes narrowed to slits. "I believe you understand why that is a very bad idea."

"Tsk, yeah." Osaki did understand that. The vigilante had after all just finished giving him a lecture on crazy wizards that got off on killing people, or something like that. "Don't worry, kid. I'm keeping my nose out of this. It sounds like you Mages can handle yourself perfectly well without my interference in anything."

"…You are not going to condemn our way of life as callous?" Rakurai tilted his head to the side. "I expected you to say something about stopping us."

"Kid, from what you've told me, I stand as much chance at stopping your people as I stand at stopping the Mexican drug-cartels, the Italian mafia, or the American motor-gangs. Which is to say none at all." It was grating of course, but Osaki had long since made peace with the fact that in the great scheme of things, he mattered very little. "Thank you for the explanation, and do not worry. I will keep myself as far from this whole Moonlit World as possible."

Though perhaps he would have to tell his partner about it too. Yomaura had stood by him every step of the way after all, and she deserved an explanation as well.

His daughters… well, he'd wait a few years with that.

Other than that, he was going to avoid this whole matter altogether. It might be cowardly, but Osaki was going to prioritise his family above all. He would do the duty expected of him as a detective, but there was no way in hell he'd go off on some kind of senseless adventure to fight an organisation of wizards.

"I am happy you think about it that way." Rakurai's voice was full of approval and relief, before it turned sheepish. "But like I said, I'm afraid you are already far more involved with the Moonlit World than you realise."

Osaki frowned at the vigilante, trying to think of anything obviously magical in his life, but not able to think of anything.

"Your partner." Rakurai told him, taking Osaki aback. "I am not sure, but I suspect she is a Magus, or at least a spell-caster."

Taya, a wizard? A sorcerer? No, that made absolutely no sense. Taya couldn't be a Mage, she'd never shown any sign she was more than just a normal woman with a complicated past, like so many others out there.

She had trouble with her family, a shady past, and some strange habits, but if that was enough to make someone a wizard, there had to be millions of wizards out there.

Even her strange and concerning behaviour of the past weeks fitted more with depression than with magic.

"No." Osaki shook his head. "No, Rakurai, I respect your expertise in this matter, and I don't mean to insult you, but you are utterly wrong this time."

"If you say so." Rakurai agreed easily. "It doesn't seem like she ever does anything involving Magecraft anyway. Still, when you discuss what you've learned today with her, don't be surprised when she already knows all about it."

"Now listen here-"

Osaki was about to protest against the vigilante's continued attempts at portraying his partner as a Mage, when Rakurai suddenly jerked around, looking at the sky while crouching in a battle-position.

"Something's wrong." He said, before turning back around. "Osaki-san, you need to go. Take your car and leave, something is coming our way."

"What?" Osaki was once more taken by surprise, and felt more than slightly unnerved. "Kid, what's going on?"

"I don't know, Osaki-san, but you have to go." Rakurai insisted, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards his car. "You need to get into the car and get as far away from here as possible. Whatever this thing is, it's coming closer fast, and you don't have a lot of time left."

"What about them?" Osaki pointed at the downed criminals and officers. "Are you going to leave them here?"

"I will do my very best to protect them, but you have to leave, now! It is almost here." Rakurai insisted, before-

'SCREEEEE'

Rakurai and he turned their heads to the source of the sound, only to run for cover when they saw it was a drifting car, coming straight at them.

They dodged by a comfortable margin, and the car skidded to a stop a few metres further along the road, having managed to swerve around all the parked cars in its way, before completely coming to a halt against one of the nearby buildings.

Then the door opened.

"What on Earth do you think you're doing-!" Osaki roared at the driver, because his voice got stuck in his throat as they stepped out of the car.

It was his partner!

It was Taya who was now stepping out of the battered car.

His anger forgotten and worry taking its place, Osaki began running towards her to make sure she was okay, that she hadn't been wounded in the crash, when Rakurai suddenly grabbed his shoulder.

"Don't, Osaki-san!" The vigilante said sternly. "That's no longer your partner."

"What do you mean-?"

That's when he saw it too.

Taya's eyes, normally so clear blue, had gone completely white, no pupil, no iris, nothing except a total blankness.

Blackened veins were protruding from her skin, all over her face, and no doubt the rest of her body as well.

The greatest indication that this wasn't his partner anymore however, was the immense aura exuding from her. An aura of bloodshed and unstoppable progress, fire and steel, smoke and stormclouds. It was as if Osaki wasn't looking at a single woman, but at an army of millions of baying warriors, ready to tear their enemies apart.

This was Taya's body, but she wasn't in there anymore.

Something else had taken over.

As Osaki watched in horror, the 'thing' stood still for a few seconds, coolly studying him and Rakurai, before she snarled, the sound so beastly that he got goosebumps all over his skin.

"What is this?!" Osaki shouted at Rakurai. "What's happened to her?!"

"I have never seen this before, Osaki-san." Rakurai answered calmly, though his body was coiled like a spring, ready to jump into action at a moment's notice. "It seems like possession, but I don't know what exactly possessed her."

Osaki was then lifted from the ground, carried away from his partner, and placed into the nearest building.

"Please stay inside. It is safer there." Rakurai told him, before turning around again. "I will do my best to make sure Yomaura-san survives, you have my word."

With those words, without waiting for an answer, the vigilante charged straight at her.

---

This night just kept getting worse and worse.

After totally blowing his mission to arrest Galen, being too late to save him from Raiga's scheme, he also had to fight police-officers, had been confronted by his personal nemesis, and now this.

He had managed to calm Osaki down by telling him the truth. It had been an impulsive decision to do so, but Shirou felt the man deserved at least that much, not to mention he might have started to do some investigation himself if he didn't get any answers, which would not have ended well.

Osaki had then pleasantly surprised him by not only believing what he said, but also agreeing to stay far away from the Moonlit World and let Shirou deal with it all.

That matter had ended relatively well, but Shirou doubted this next matter would be as easy to handle.

He'd already felt it coming some time ago. An immensely powerful presence attempting to force its way into reality. It had begun around the time that he'd found Galen's corpse, and now it had arrived, in the form of Yomaura Taya.

It was certain now that the woman was a Magus. Shirou could clearly sense the Magical Energy rolling off her in waves. It was a lot of it, indicating the woman was quite powerful, though if she was indeed a member of the family Shirou suspected her to be, that was only natural.

But he was not fighting Yomaura Taya right now. He was fighting the thing that had possessed her, that was using her for its own purposes.

He wished he knew what those purposes were.

"RakuRai." The woman suddenly ground out in an unnaturally echoing voice, the sound making dread slither up Shirou's spine. "You… aRe…NoT of… tHisssssss wOrlD! You…mUsssssT die! HumAniTy muSssssst… bE proTeCted!"

Shirou's blood turned to ice as the implications of those words hit him.

This thing knew him! It knew that he was not of this world! It knew that he was becoming something alien!

It knew that he was unnatural, and it had decided that he had to die for it.

Shirou's mind raced as he tried to figure out what this creature could be, using every clue and piece of evidence at his disposal.

It was incredibly powerful.

It could tell he was not of this world.

It wanted to protect humanity by killing him.

Its aura was that of an army of men, of unstoppable progress that grinded anything that got in its way into dust.

It used humans in order to influence the world.

So, a mysterious being acting upon the world through humanity in order to protect that same humanity? Something that dealt with any unnatural and dangerous factors through lethal violence?

Could this be the Counter Force?

Was it Alaya herself who was speaking to him now?

If so, then he was utterly screwed. He could not defeat the very expression of Humanity's Will, a being that existed across all parallel worlds. He could not hope to fight something that destroyed planets on a regular basis.

Except…

If Alaya truly wanted him dead, he'd normally be dead in a second. Only, he was still very much alive.

Additionally, this whole scenario was nothing like the Counter Force he knew. Possessing the closest Magus and using their body to act was not its normal way of operating.

The Counter Force was something that protected the World of Mankind through the use of Mankind itself. It worked to prevent the extinction of humanity by empowering and inspiring certain individuals to act in order to save the world.

Joan of Arc was a good example, but so was every lawyer and activist working to protect the rainforest from destruction or the polar ice caps from melting.

Never did the Counter Force interfere so blatantly as to just take over someone's body to use as its puppet.

There were of course the Counter Guardians, those who acted once the Counter Force had failed, by utterly destroying every threat and everything related to it. Pompei was a good example, but so were the Black Plague and the Biblical Flood.

If the Counter Guardians were involved though, Fuyuki-City would already be a burning pile of ashes. The Guardians wouldn't possess someone any more than the Counter Force would.

Shirou was still almost completely certain that the being possessing Yomaura was in fact Alaya, but there was no denying she was acting very strangely, and Shirou furiously hoped that was a good thing.

While he was thinking, Yomaura, or rather the thing possessing her, seemed to have decided on a course of action.

"DIE!" She commanded, lifting a hand.

A Rune then appeared before her. She didn't write it, or use an object it had been carved into, the Rune just appeared out of thin air.

An enormous burst of flames, rivalling his own Rune of Fire, erupted from the Rune, coming straight at him, melting the asphalt where it passed.

Shirou couldn't dodge. There were unconscious criminals behind him who would surely die if he did, so he had to take the attack head on and dispel it. Fortunately, fire was a poor element to use against him, and Shirou weathered the burst without trouble.

Then he suddenly received a massive kick to his stomach before the fire had even cleared.

It lifted him from the ground and sending him soaring back all the way to the dock at the end of the peninsula, where he smacked back onto the ground, hackling and coughing as bile tried to work its way out of his throat.

The woman had used the fire for cover in order to get close to him without being seen.

…He would have to remember that trick.

The woman's clothes were now alighted with glowing Runes, confirming once and for all that she was in fact related to Bazett-san, as Shirou had already expected.

That wasn't good. Bazett had been a fearsome opponent, and someone who was so similar her, while also being boosted by the Counter Force, might very well be too much for him.

It was very fortunate she had kicked him so far away from the unconscious men, because if he wanted to survive even just the opening of this fight, he would have to start fighting seriously immediately.

He couldn't hold anything back against this opponent.

Realising that, Shirou immediately summoned Mjolnir and his armour, before going on the offensive, summoning thunderclouds to gather above the harbour.

His storm blotted out the light of the moon and stars, leaving the burning car-wreckages the only sources of light, aside from the glowing Runes on Yomaura's suit and the blue lines on his own armour.

It was more than enough for him.

By now, Yomaura had followed him to the end of the peninsula, charging at him with a strangely stilted walk. He rushed at the woman in turn, dodged the kick she sent at him and shoulder-checked her in the midriff, sending her to the ground, before following it up with a blow from Mjolnir, aimed at her head.

She rolled out of the way in the blink of an eye, leaving the hammer to crater the ground, and just as fast, she rose and punched at his head.

The blow impacted his helmet and sent him reeling, though it had failed to significantly hurt him, fortunately.

Then it was all he could do to survive the rapid flurry of punches and kicks the woman unleashed on him.

Two blows to his midriff were immediately followed by a knee to the stomach and an elbow to his temple, before she punched at his face and tried to take him into a chokehold, and when he miraculously managed to block all of it, she kicked his knee so hard it gave out and he collapsed to the side, which was followed by an uppercut hard enough to send him flying backwards again.

She was far faster and stronger than Bazett had been. She was overwhelming him quickly, and he had to take the initiative if he didn't want to get deadlocked and defeated.

Shirou Reinforced his body and jumped back to his feet, before sending out a burst of lightning at his opponent. The woman dodged it, but it forced her to retreat a few steps, giving him some room to breathe.

He then used Runes of his own to bombard her with fire, ice, wind, and earth, liberally using the Mysterious Power to increase the potency of the Runes.

It tore the street apart, as well as the front-side of the building behind her, but Yomaura dodged it all, though this time it was Shirou who took advantage of the loss of visibility to rush forward and grab her arm, flipping her to the ground and twisting the arm as far as he could on her back, hoping to pin her down.

She ripped her arm free immediately, uncaring of the damage she could do to herself, and Shirou immediately let go to prevent her from tearing her own arm off completely.

It seemed the thing possessing her didn't give a damn about what damage it did to Yomaura's body.

That made this fight a lot more difficult, as Shirou certainly did care.

The woman placed her arms on the ground, lifted herself up, and promptly double-kicked him in the chest.

Her unfavourable angle prevented the blow from carrying much power behind it however, and Shirou, who didn't even stumble back, responded by lashing out with Mjolnir again, swinging horizontally this time.

Yomaura gracefully jumped over the blow, though the effect was ruined when Shirou high-kicked her away in mid-air, sending her flying into a nearby car, which dented from the impact.

She wrenched herself loose immediately, before reaching into her pockets and throwing her arms wide as she advanced again.

Runestones came flying at him, and Shirou, who could see that these were a lot better than the Stones the Sealing Designees had used, responded by sending forks of lightning at them all, prematurely triggering them.

The Stones exploded violently in an array of different effects, from icicles and fireballs to increased-gravity-fields and cutting whirlwinds, tearing the street apart as if planes had dropped dozens of bombs all around.

The creature possessing Yomaura let out a screech of anger when it saw he was still alive, before its eyes suddenly started glowing and her aura of power increased.

Shirou only had a moment to let that sink in before she rushed at him again, far faster than before, and launched a fist straight into his stomach.

He was thrown back again by the force of the punch and smashed into the building behind him, going through the wall even, pieces of concrete falling down all around him as his head rang and the Mysterious Power immediately got to work to heal his wounds.

He didn't even have time to gather his wits before Yomaura appeared again, grabbing his ankle and flinging him out of the building, sending him sprawling to the ground outside. Worse, he lost his grip on Mjolnir, the hammer landing several metres away from him.

Then all the air was knocked out of his lungs as Yomaura came down upon him, ramming her knees into his torso, before she started wailing on his face, punching him again and again, breaking his mask to pieces and cracking the ground under his head with the force of her blows.

Shirou threw his arms up in a blocking position on either side of his face, deflecting her punches, before he threw a haymaker upwards, right to her temple, knocking her off him and to the ground as well.

He was the first to get up again and summoned Mjolnir back, before sweeping the hammer at Yomaura in an underhand swing, as if he were golfing, Mjolnir was the club, and she was the ball.

The hammer connected, and the woman was sent flying upwards in an arc, seemingly floating through the air, before she landed in the sea with a splash, having been knocked off the dock entirely.

Shirou immediately charged Mjolnir and fired the biggest lightning-bolt he could muster straight at the position in the water where Yomaura had gone under, hoping to electrocute her enough to knock her out.

The lightning bolt slammed into the sea, sending huge clouds of steam upwards as the water was brought to its boiling point in a flash. It should be enough to kill almost every creature alive, and Shirou hoped it had won him the battle.

It was not to be, as Yomaura emerged from the water quickly, jumping back onto the dock, ready for round two.

She did look terrible however. Most of her clothing had been burned away or was heavily singed. Her muscles randomly twitched from the electricity still in her system, and there was blood pooling around her feet, her own blood, coming from several open wounds Shirou had inflicted on her.

Clearly reluctant to fight him hand to hand again, the creature snarled at him, before throwing up its arms and materialising more Runes, creating all sorts of deadly effects in the hope of hitting him.

Next to the icicles, bursts of fire and cutting whirlwinds, there were also explosions, binding-Runes, Disease-Runes, and all kinds of other esoteric effects being thrown around.

Shirou dodged most of them, deflected a few others, and weathered the weakest ones directly, before lifting Mjolnir above his head and slamming it down as hard as he could on the ground in front of him.

With the sound of a thunderclap, the hammer came down upon the dock, cratering the ground and sending a massive wave of force, wind, and lightning forward, aimed at Yomaura.

There was no way for the creature to dodge, and the wave of destruction hit her head on.

Instead of being knocked back again however, the thing just sneered at him, before the eyes began glowing even brighter and she sent out her own wave of force, matching and neutralising Shirou's attack.

Pursing his lips at the new rise in power, Shirou rushed forward again, hoping to catch his opponent off guard, only to meet her midway in another physical battle.

She was even stronger now than before, but it came at a heavy cost. Her muscles and skin were tearing themselves apart, her bones were breaking under the force of her own blows, and her eyes, nose, and ears were bleeding heavily.

Nevertheless, her power had become overwhelming.

Reinforcing himself to the absolute limit, Shirou was only just able to keep up with her punches and kicks, but he was still being forced backwards by the incredible assault.

Two rapid kicks aimed at the side of his head were blocked, the punch at his crotch was immediately deflected, the punch he threw in return was dodged, and the knee to his face was weathered.

Yomaura then jumped high, before viciously kicking at his face. Shirou blocked the kick but was unable to prevent Yomaura from landing on his shoulders, or to prevent her from wrapping her legs around his throat and violently twisting herself so that they both landed on the ground, her legs still keeping him in a chokehold.

It wasn't much of a problem, as he could hold his breath for quite some time and flexing the muscles in his neck helped to mitigate the choking, but he still felt she should do things like this with Osaki-san, not him.

The fact that her legs were mostly bare now didn't help matters at all.

He grabbed the woman's legs and forced them apart, freeing himself, before he used his power of flight to rise into the air, still holding on to her legs. Once he'd ascended high enough, he grabbed Yomaura's ankles and began spinning on his axis.

He spun her around faster and faster, gaining more and more momentum, before letting go, sending her flying off into a building.

She landed with a crash, impacting a wall but failing to break through like he had, before she slumped down, more blood pooling around her body as she seemed to black out for a moment.

It seemed like she was finally weakening, now he just had to finish-

"Taya!"

Shirou growled in displeasure when Osaki ran onto the scene, hurrying to his partner's side, gently taking her into his arms and feeling for a pulse.

Shirou flew down immediately and landed a few metres away.

"Let go of her, Osaki-san." He implored, his eyes fixed on the woman, certain that she wasn't defeated yet. "She is not herself and very dangerous to everyone around her."

"That doesn't mean you have to beat her to a pulp." The detective shouted back. "If you keep going you this, you'll kill her."

"…" Shirou did not have anything to say in return. It was true Yomaura's body was giving out, both because Alaya was channelling far too much power through it and because he'd been attacking her far harder than she could actually take.

It was undeniable that she would indeed die if this fight continued for much longer.

Unfortunately, it wasn't his choice whether to continue the fight or not. The moment Yomaura came back to her senses, the entity possessing her would force her back into the fight, and he couldn't see any way to stop it aside from killing or crippling her.

He too couldn't go on indefinitely. He was running on adrenaline, so he couldn't feel it yet, but the creature's insane attacks had done a lot of damage to his body. He'd broken several bones, including his cheekbones, he had many sprains and bruises, and he didn't even want to know how much blood he had lost already.

If nothing was done, he would have to kill her in order to not die himself.

…Perhaps he could try to reason with it?

Reasoning with the Counter Force... His father would have knocked him on the head for even contemplating it, but it was all he had right now.

"Step aside, Osaki-san." Shirou repeated, holding up his hands defensively when the man sent him a withering glare. "I won't kill her, I merely wish to see if I can contact the entity possessing her."

"It seems to want you dead at all costs, I don't know what there is to reason with." The detective grumbled, but he did step aside-

Only to reveal Yomaura was conscious already and had merely been staring at her partner with a lost gaze, a gaze that instantly sharpened again when she saw Shirou.

Her muscles tensed as if preparing to get up again, but before the body could move, there was a flash in the woman's eyes. There, very faintly, the blue eyes of Yomaura were visible again, and the attempt at getting up from the ground changed into a twist of the upper body in Osaki's direction.

Recognising this as an attempt from Yomaura to take control over her own body again, Shirou felt a spark of hope in his chest. If he could somehow reach out to Yomaura herself-

Then the moment was over.

The creature sprang into action again, charging at him with reckless abandon as her eyes became perfectly blank once more, all of Osaki's influence disappearing.

Shirou dodged two blows and responded with a hard push, shoving her back against the wall.

The two combatants jumped at each other again, intent on unleashing an awful lot of violence, before-

"Stop!"

Osaki jumped in between them, and both Shirou and Yomaura instantly stopped in their tracks.

A twinge of panic passed over Yomaura's face as Osaki came to stand in her way, before she reached out and pushed his shoulder, trying to get him to move to the side.

Osaki merely shook his head in response.

Yomaura's blank expression then turned to one of fear, and she pushed him harder, insisting without words that he get out of her way.

Osaki again shook his head.

Meanwhile, Shirou was looking on with amazement as Yomaura somehow managed to suppress the Will of Humanity itself enough to not instantly kill the obstacle in her way.

That, more than anything else, told him that something was clearly wrong with the situation.

Alaya seemed… incredibly weakened for some reason.

"Ugh."

The moment he reached that conclusion, Yomaura shoved Osaki out of the way, sending him to the ground.

The pained sound that he made caused her to turn her head towards him in concern however, and Shirou capitalised on the opportunity immediately.

He punched her with every bit of strength he could muster, right into her stomach, sending her flying into the wall again. He then followed it up by rushing towards her and hitting her with the largest lightning bolt he could produce.

Ignoring Yomaura's agonised scream and Osaki's roar of anger behind him, Shirou then used a patented, trusted move to finish the fight.

He headbutted her.

Yomaura slumped backwards for a moment, but then rallied again, still not down for the count.

He headbutted her again.

She was still moving.

Yet another headbutt.

She fell backwards, eyes unfocused and unmoving, and Shirou knew he had won.

He didn't have time to be relieved however, as a few seconds later, Yomaura's eyes began glowing brighter and her head lifted again.

This time however, something was different.

The impassive, burning gaze and the intensifying aura and smell surrounding her told Shirou precisely what was going on.

Alaya had taken over completely, and Yomaura had been shoved into a dark corner of her own mind.

For some reason however, Alaya didn't seem capable of moving Yomaura's body, aside from making her lift her head, and once it realised that too, it began speaking.

"GoDliNG." It rasped, looking at him with its empty, glowing eyes. "You… Don'T BeloNG… HeRe! MyPoWEr WaneSSSSSSS BecAUse… of yoU! TheY… PReVENt me… From ReAChing… you! You HaVE… BecomE a… BliND SSSSSPOT!"

Shirou sucked in a breath in response to the creature's words.

Was it implying that the reason it had taken over Yomaura's body because the normal ways, the indirect Counter Force and the Counter Guardians, were somehow blocked to it?

Was the Counter Force no longer functioning?!

No. That wasn't possible. If the Counter Force no longer functioned, everyone would know, mostly because of the immense disasters that would instantly become commonplace.

No, she said that he'd become a 'blind spot'. The Counter Force did work, just not on him for some reason.

In that case, it wasn't all that surprising Alaya had come for him directly. She probably wanted to know what he was, and how it was possible she couldn't influence him.

It was too bad really that she seemed to have decided on killing him in response.

"It is hardly my fault that you cannot see me." He protested, having little hope of convincing her but wanting to try nevertheless. "This is just who I am."

"YoU… aRE a DanGEr… to HuManitY."

"No." Shirou drew himself to his full length, unwilling to let that remark pass. "You may not be able to see me, but that does not mean I am a danger to humanity. I am not, not now and not ever, a threat to mankind. I want to become a Hero of Justice, and no matter how powerful I'll become, that dream will never change. I don't know what you are thinking, but it's completely wrong!"

"…A HeRo… of JusssssssTICe?" The creature rasped, its voice softening, the eyes suddenly set in a curious look. "CoME… CloSSSSSSSEr, boY, anD… reMOvE YouR HElmEt."

Gulping at the sudden intensity in the gaze of the being, Shirou did as he was asked, coming closer and leaning forward, as well as removing his helmet.

The creature studied him for a few seconds, before its eyes widened in recognition.

Then, its mouth split open in a terrifying grin, baring more teeth than a human was supposed to possess.

"Ha, HaHAhahaHAHAHahaaHAHAHAHAHA" It produced a sound that grated at Shirou's ears, sounding as if a thousand nails were scratched over a hundred boards, yet still managing to convey a sense of terrible amusement. "HaAHAHahahahhaHAHAHahahaHAHahahaha"

"What's so funny?" Shirou asked, suppressing the urge to press his hands over his ears.

"EmiYA!" The creature cried out once it stopped laughing. "I sssssssHouLd haVE KnoWn iTwaSSSSSS You, mY FaVouRIte SSSSSSERvanT! HoW CouLD… I noT Have ExpeCTed A… VerSSSSSSIon oF EmiYA?!"

It knew his name too?!

"YoUmaY… liVe, GoDLing." It suddenly proclaimed, doing a complete one-eighty on the matter of his survival. "YoU mAy LIVe, anD tHat pOWer… Will be MiNe SSSSSSSoON! YoU BElonGtO Me!"

With that terrifying proclamation, Yomaura's body lit up in white light, interspersed with flecks of gold. The light intensified more and more, to the point where Shirou couldn't stand to look at it anymore-

Then it disappeared, along with the oppressive aura, leaving only Yomaura Taya to slump against the wall.

The entity had departed, and Shirou was left in a daze.

Alaya had suddenly given up on killing him, claiming that she'd obtain his power soon, and for some reason laughing at his identity.

He didn't have a clue what that was supposed to mean, but he did know that he was going to stay far away from anything involving that goddess for a good long while.

Then Yomaura groaned, claiming his attention again as she tried to open her eyes.

She succeeded, and she blinked several times as she tried to focus them, before she saw Shirou.

"You-"

The woman tried to throw herself at him, no doubt to continue the fight, but her legs couldn't support her weight and she fell over, retching and gasping as the pain of the past minutes hit her full on.

Then she coughed up a thick wad of blood, and Shirou knew he had to act quickly.

"Taya!"

Osaki was faster however. The man returned from where he'd been thrown and immediately knelt at his partner's side, clearly wishing to comfort her yet having no idea how to.

Shirou also noticed to his shock that the man's ears were bleeding, which had no doubt been caused by the horrid voice of the entity.

After quickly checking whether his own ears were bleeding –they weren't– Shirou reached out with a hand towards Yomaura, intending to heal her.

"No!" Yomaura stopped him before he could however, glaring at him with fierce eyes despite her sorry state. "Don't you touch us. I'll kill you!"

"You are close to death, Yomaura-san." Shirou protested, making Osaki grimace and Yomaura grit her teeth. "Please, I can heal you."

"Why?" The woman asked suspiciously, even as blood continued leaking out of her mouth. "Why would you heal us, Magus?"

"Because it's the right thing to do." Shirou said calmly, trying to present his most rational arguments. "I know that you don't trust me, Yomaura-san, and you are right not to, but in this instance, I request that you allow me to help you nonetheless. You quite literally have nothing to lose at this point."

"I'm with the kid on this." Osaki spoke up, placing a hand on his partner's cheek. "He's been nothing but civil with me, at least until you came barging in, so I think we can trust him with this much."

Yomaura's glare didn't let up, but Osaki's words did seem to soften it ever so slightly.

Then, more because of her partner than because of him, she nodded.

"Try to trick us," she hissed, still not paying attention to the blood coming out of her mouth. "And you will die."

"Understood." Shirou nodded solemnly, before he reached out and used the Mysterious Power to heal both of them, restoring them to pristine conditions.

With Osaki, all he had to do was wipe away some bruises and fix the eardrums, as the man had largely stayed out of the conflict.

Yomaura however was far more wounded. She had many broken bones, including almost every rib and all four limbs. She had ruptured organs, open wounds all over her body, a broken spine, and several skull-fractures.

She really wouldn't have had much longer to live if he hadn't healed her.

When he was done however, both were completely fine again.

"…Thank you." Yomaura said after meticulously looking herself over for any sign he'd done something untoward or shifty. "I owe you for this."

"Indeed." Osaki nodded in agreement, looking at Shirou with an impressed look. "You have our gratitude. As repayment, might I suggest you leave, kid? There are reinforcements coming, and I really think you shouldn't be here when they arrive, if only so that we don't get accused of working with you."

"Yes, I'll leave now." Shirou agreed. "Will you be fine on your own?"

Osaki smiled and pointed into the distance, from where sirens were now audible.

The message was clear, and Shirou rose from the ground.

"Be well, Osaki-san, Yomaura-san." He said, to which they nodded. "Might I advise some rest for the both of you, if only so that you can discuss some long overdue topics with each other?"

"I think that would be wise indeed." Osaki nodded, before waving Shirou off. "Now, away with you."

"We will speak again." Yomaura ordered him when he made to follow Osaki's advice. "I still want to know why you became Rakurai and what your plans are, and I want to know what kind of creature just possessed me."

Shirou nodded his acquiescence, before he spun Mjolnir around and flew up into the air to make his way home, making sure to take the long way around to prevent himself from being seen by the incoming reinforcements.

When no one reacted to him passing by, and he reached an altitude high enough to be practically invisible from the ground, he allowed himself to relax slightly, and looked back on the past hours.

It had been an objectively terrible night.

There was really no denying it. Not only had he failed in his last mission as Rakurai, Raiga had also betrayed him to make it so, he had fought the police, his personal nemesis had stumbled upon him, and he'd been forced to fight off the Counter Force itself.

He might have wrapped up several issues that night –Galen being chief among them, despite the way it had ended– but gaining the Counter Force as an opponent-slash-observer made the victory seem hollow.

It was a miracle that he was still alive, and even more that the dock was still in one piece, sort of.

There was a lot he had to think about, especially what he was going to do with the knowledge that Alaya was interested in him, but right now, he just wanted to sleep.

He flew straight home, where he found the girls fast asleep in his room.

He immediately joined them, and was out like a light seconds after.

---

The being on the Moon watched with interest as the new wielder of Mjolnir fought off the Counter Force.

Of course, Alaya had been greatly weakened by the influences of the Beyonder and the Living Tribunal, but it had still been impressive for Shirou to manage to hold it back and even nearly defeat it.

Any further action from Alaya against him would not be tolerated however, though it seemed the goddess wasn't interested in interfering again anyway, now that she'd learned it had been a version of her favourite servant who had caused the disturbances that had attracted her attention in the first place.

Nevertheless, Shirou had now had his first encounter with one of the big players in the Nasuverse, and it would have to be seen if he would learn anything from it.

Nasu the Watcher smiled as he watched the boy return home. He would have to pay Shirou a visit before he went to the Clocktower, if only to tell him a few important things.

And to offer him a deal of course.

---

Tomita Miwa had not expected such an utter mess to land in her lap when she left the ministry in Kyoto to visit Fuyuki-City.

She'd been sent there to check up on the progress that had made in the Rakurai-investigation, or at least, to give that impression. No one expected that the officers responsible had had any success, but they had to give a show for the populace, pretending that they were close to a break-through.

It wasn't the fault of the detectives working on the Rakurai-investigation that there was so little progress though. They did what they could, but with a glaring lack of any kind of evidence, a seemingly random pattern of vigilante-actions, and without a single concrete idea, there wasn't much that could be done.

At the ministry, the general opinion was that they'd have to wait until Rakurai either grew tired of being a vigilante, slipped up catastrophically, or moved to another country.

This was of course kept secret. If it got out that a single vigilante had outwitted the entire ministry of Justice, the faith in law enforcement would erode, which was disastrous for any society.

Thus, Tomita had been sent to Fuyuki for an update.

It was supposed to be a short, simple assignment, one that wouldn't produce any results aside from some goodwill with the public. It would take a few days at most, and then she'd be back to do some actual work.

Instead, she found rampant corruption, an impending gang-war, a crippled police-force, and two of her favourite former students close to a burn-out.

They were hiding it rather well, and probably hadn't even noticed it themselves, but Tomita had seen enough overworked colleagues to know that those two needed a long break, and soon.

Anyway, she'd found a total mess in Fuyuki, but fortunately, said former students were already working hard at finding solutions. Their work at uncovering the corruption was excellent, and if they managed to find a few more pieces of evidence, enough to clean the house in one stroke.

So she had put them on surveillance duty, something that was supposed to be boring and tedious, allowing them some time to breath.

But of course those two had managed to change that task into perhaps the biggest battle in Japan since the terrorist attacks of 1995.

It was a clusterfuck.

The local Yakuza had attacked a new gang that was trying to muscle in on their territory. The boss of this new gang had called in his police-flunkies to help him in the battle. That fool of a Koyo had followed them in the hope of finding enough evidence to arrest them all, blindly storming into a massive firefight without back-up or preparation.

That situation was already bad enough, but then Rakurai had suddenly decided to interfere as well, increasing the chaos even more.

Admittedly though, his actions had eventually resulted in a net-positive effect. He had defeated the new gang and the corrupt officers, after which he had actually spoken with Koyo and Taya, before leaving when the reinforcements arrived with Tomita herself leading the charge.

It had only been eight hours since Tomita had arrived at that scene, but she already knew she would never forget it. The entire street had been turned into a battleground resembling the fabled streets of Berlin during the last months of the Second World War.

Yet somehow, by some miracle, no one had died.

Except for the leader of the new gang. His corpse had been found in one of the buildings, the bullet wounds indicating it had been the Fujimura-clan who had done him in, not Rakurai.

Osaki and Yomaura had then appeared from another building, safe and sound, and had given their witness-statements to the senior officers present.

According to Koyo, the new gang and the Fujimura-clan had used heavy weaponry to fight each other, which explained the torn-up street, the shattered walls, the fires everywhere, and the wrecked cars.

He had missed most of the fight, only arriving when the vigilante was taking down the last of the members of the new gang, but he'd seen enough to conclude it had been a terrible battle.

The corrupt officers had then attacked the vigilante, but had been defeated quickly by Rakurai using their numbers against them.

It was one of the rare instances where the inferior and incomplete training of the Fuyuki-city officers was a good thing.

It had surprised Tomita to hear that the stories about Rakurai's almost inhuman strength and speed were true, but she'd had little trouble accepting it. It was the only explanation for how he kept managing to defeat entire groups of enemies after all.

Koyo had then continued his story, explaining how he had struck up a conversation with the vigilante, during which Rakurai had confessed that he was going to stop after that night, since it was all getting too much for him.

Yomaura had then arrived next at the scene and had threatened Rakurai, but that had been resolved quickly and peacefully once it became clear the vigilante didn't mean them any harm.

The vigilante had then left again, leaving her former students on the scene, to be found by her.

It was a total clusterfuck, but at least it had ended relatively well.

The new gang was beheaded and would soon bleed out, Rakurai was apparently going to stop his career after tonight, there had only been one death, and her former students had gotten away blameless and without a scratch.

They had been utterly exhausted however, so Tomita had sent them home immediately, ordering one of her men to drive them to Koyo's house.

Aside from dotting some I's and crossing some t's, which could be done later, their part in this was over. They could take their well-deserved break.

The rest –persecuting the corrupt officers, handling the damage-claims, writing the reports, and generally handling the administration– would be up to Tomita, and she intended to do it right.

She owed that much to her brave students.

She hoped they were doing okay, this morning right after that whole mess.

---

"Thank you." Taya whispered softly when her Senpai handed her a cup of tea, before he sat down next to her on the couch, his own cup in hand.

They sat in silence for a while, sipping from their tea and watching the morning-news as it relayed the events of the night before.

Well, a part of the events of the night before.

It was an abbreviated version of the collection of half-truths and plain lies that Koyo and Taya had told Tomita yesterday.

They had left out most of what Rakurai had done, merely giving very short descriptions about him being fast, strong, and good at fighting. They had made no mention of magic or body-possessing entities of course and had omitted most of their conversations with him.

It did leave holes in their story, but no one would be able to prove they were lying, and that was what ultimately mattered.

When the news finished covering that story however and went on to the financial part, Taya turned to her partner, trying to find something to say, yet unable to come up with anything.

After Rakurai had left, they had barely said a word to each other. They had given their witness-statements together, but the drive back to Senpai's house had been in silence, and neither had they spoken when they got home, going straight to bed instead, in silence.

Even Chiho and Suki had noticed their strange behaviour that morning, but hadn't been able to say anything about it because they had to go to school, leaving Taya and Koyo alone again.

At first, Taya hadn't said anything because she was still processing what had happened. With her body being taken over by an unknown entity and Rakurai turning out to not be all that bad, she'd had a lot to think about, and she imagined Senpai did as well.

Later however, when she had decided to shove those matters to the back of her mind until she met with Rakurai again, she just hadn't known what to say to her partner.

She hated it. She hated the silence between them but couldn't find any words to break it.

What was she supposed to say anyway? Should she apologise for keeping a large part of her life secret for so long? For putting him in danger by remaining silent about Rakurai even though she knew the vigilante was a Magus? Should she first explain the Moonlit World to him?

She didn't know.

Unknowingly, Taya echoed the dilemma of Shirou and Sakura about telling Ayako of Magecraft, yet unlike the teens, she had the influence of a strict Magus-childhood working against her, forbidding her from telling her Senpai anything.

What was she supposed to do?

Fortunately, it didn't fall to her to take the first step.

"So," Koyo suddenly spoke up, sounding hesitant yet firm. "You are a Magus?"

"Y-Yes." Taya nodded rapidly, though she was surprised he'd immediately gotten the term right, instead of calling her a witch or sorceress, like most Mundane people tended to do.

With the whole mess from last night, it made sense he knew that magic was a bit more real than he'd always assumed, but to immediately get the term right…

"Before you arrived, Rakurai already told me some stuff about this 'Moonlit World' of yours." Koyo went on, answering her unasked question and making her eyes widen in shock. "So I think I know the basics. That's also when he told me that you were a Magus, Taya."

"…I am indeed." She nodded again, deciding to just tell him what she could. "I was born in an old Magus-family, and raised as a member, before I ran away when I couldn't take it anymore."

"Rakurai did also say it wasn't a pleasant world to live in." Koyo nodded understandingly.

"He was completely correct, Senpai." She professed, leaning forward and looking him straight in the eyes. "It is a terrible place to live. Everything in the Moonlit World is centred around personal advancement. Everything and everyone around you are nothing but tools to use for your benefit, including your own family. Murder, torture, blackmail, it's only forbidden when someone more powerful than you says it is. It's very 'eat or be eaten', the strongest rule and determine the laws. Empathy and kindness are seen as weaknesses, and ruthlessness and cruelty as strength. It is the most cutthroat society you can imagine, with immense pettiness being the main motivator for the political games, and- eh, ah."

Realising she was rambling, Taya cut herself off, feeling a blush rising as her Senpai gave her a lopsided smile.

"Sounds like a fantastic bunch of people." The sarcasm in that sentence was biting, and Yomaura agreed wholeheartedly with it. "I can see why you wanted to get away."

"I just couldn't take it anymore." Taya repeated, shaking her head. "I couldn't do it. I wasn't capable of being ruthless enough to survive, so I ran away before I would be killed, or worse."

"Worse?" Her Senpai's eyes flashed dangerously, as they always did when he became angry at something, and it pleased Taya, just a tiny bit, that he was getting angry for her sake. "What do you mean with that?"

"That they would experiment on me, carve me open to see what makes me tick, what makes me special." Koyo's eyes widened in horror and disgust, which pleased her a little bit more. "I am from the Fraga-family, who are known for having been blessed by a god long ago, which considerably increased our ability to use Runes for our Magecraft. Other Magi would literally commit murder for a chance to research and potentially copy this blessing."

"So instead of risking that, you left." Koyo nodded. "It was the correct decision."

"Thank you, Senpai. I think so too." Yomaura shuffled a bit, wondering if she could get away with sitting a bit closer to him. "I came here, to Fuyuki, took a new name, a new identity, a new job even. I build a new life for myself, and I was happy. At least, until Rakurai came along."

"Yes, I've been thinking about that." Her Senpai gave her a sympathetic look. "You believed he was going to ruin everything, didn't you?"

"Y-Yes. I thought he was being a vigilante because of a nefarious purpose, and that he would kill anyone who got in his way, including you, Senpai, before dissecting me for being a Fraga, so I… overreacted, a little bit."

She still thought her actions had been logical and warranted though. Rakurai may have turned out to be relatively decent, but she couldn't have known that back then.

It was always better to prepare for the worst, that way you'd never be disappointed or caught off guard.

"I understand." Her Senpai suddenly mumbled, more to himself than to her. "So that's why you were behaving like you did. It all makes sense now."

"The reason I fell ill several weeks ago was because I had used too much Magecraft after being inactive for too long." Taya supplied, to which her Senpai nodded. "I wanted to prepare in case Rakurai attacked again. That's also what I meant by family-troubles by the way. It wasn't my actual family, but just a Magus that reminded me of my childhood. I'm sorry for lying, but I didn't- I couldn't- I didn't dare to tell you the truth."

"I understand completely." Koyo assured her. "It is honestly a relief really. I thought you may have been depressed."

Taya flinched. She knew what he had thought, but she had convinced herself that it was safer that way, so she had allowed him to think that.

Yet another thing she would have to make up for.

It did hearten her a little to know he wasn't angry at her, and that he didn't blame her for anything. She wouldn't have known what to do if he had sent her away.

"Well, I'm glad everything worked out in the end." Her Senpai continued, slouching on the couch. "The gang-war has been prevented, the traitors are going to jail, and Rakurai had given his word to not be a vigilante anymore. We even got a month free from work. All's well that ends well."

"Agreed, Senpai." Taya laughed happily, deciding to not let her guilty feelings ruin the moment. "I can tell you everything about my youth and the Moonlit World if you want, now that we have the time."

"I'd gladly listen to anything you have to say." Koyo promised, making her blush. "But there is one question I'd like to ask first."

"Yes, Senpai?"

"You said you got yourself a new name and identity." He started, to which she nodded. "What is your real name, if I may ask? You don't have to answer of course."

Taya froze for a second.

Her real name?

Her birth name?

In all honesty, she'd considered Yomaura Taya to be her true name for years now, and she wasn't sure she wanted to go back to what it had been.

Yomaura Taya was the name her real family used when talking with her, and the name of a person who had built a good, honest life for herself. It was the name of a woman who had found a wonderful partner in her Senpai, who had become the role model of two fantastic little girls, who was a favoured apprentice of one of Japan's most revered women.

Did she really want to go back to the name that the family gave to her? The name of a foolish, scared, little girl, who had been too stupid to realise she was being manipulated, and whose greatest accomplishment was running away and changing that name?

No, she was perfectly content with the name Yomaura Taya.

Well, maybe Osaki Taya would be even better, but-

Rapidly shaking her head to dispel the impure thoughts, Taya looked at her Senpai, and decided to just express how she felt about it.

"My name was Deirdre Fraga." She whispered, placing a hand against her own cheek, feeling very bashful all of a sudden. "B-But I really prefer Yomaura Taya, i-if you wouldn't mind."

"Of course I don't, Taya." He assured her without a second of hesitation. "If you don't want to be called by the name those people gave you, then you will always be Yomaura Taya, to me and to the girls."

"Senpai." She whispered in response, feeling a blush rise to her cheeks.

Heavens, she had turned into a shy, Japanese maiden, blushing because her Senpai had given her a compliment.

Well, she'd always had the shy maiden down, but now it was Japanese.

She found she didn't mind that at all.

---

"Shirou, when this mess is over, you should really go to that Raiga and teach him a lesson." Ayako slammed her fist on the table. "You should tell him straight up that you don't like all that trickery, and that he better never do it again."

"I agree with Ayako." Sakura nodded, a very displeased expression on her face. "To deceive and use you like that, it's despicable."

The three of them were sitting at the dining table, having returned to Shirou's house after school. It was the day after the most difficult night of Shirou's life, and he was discussing it with his girls-

The girls,

To keep them updated on his actions.

Safe to say, they hadn't exactly taken Raiga's actions well.

"Please calm down." He tried to sooth them, though without much success so far. "I don't like what Raiga did either, but there's no use in getting angry now, while he isn't even present."

"I know, but just- ugh." Ayako groaned, holding her head in her hands. "To think he would be so… so-so rude!"

"It's really terrible." Sakura agreed, her face set in a heavy frown that made her look like a displeased queen. "And you cannot let him get away with this, Senpai. At the very least, even if you are going to forgive him, you must demand compensation, or at least an oath he won't do things like that anymore."

"I will do my best, but I can't promise anything." Shirou sighed. He could hardly start throwing Raiga and his men into jail after all.

Well, he could, but he wasn't going to, no matter how insulted he felt by being double-crossed.

"You could also tell Fujimura-Sensei what her grandfather did." Sakura offered with a smile that seemed almost evil. "She will straighten him out for you. She is good at that when she has the moral high ground."

"Ah, thank you, Sakura, I will do that as well." Shirou nodded, an evil smile of his own coming to his face. "Though I will also visit him myself."

"You go, Shirou." Ayako cheered, pumping her fist into the air.

With that topic covered, Shirou continued his story, up to and including the matter with Osaki and Yomaura, and of course, his encounter with Alaya.

"Alaya?" Sakura understood what that meant immediately, and the blood drained from her face. "Senpai, why was she there!? Are you in danger?"

"Alaya?" Ayako frowned in thought. "That was that Goddess who represented humanity, right?"

"The Will of Humanity." Shirou nodded, giving Sakura a reassuring headpat. "It acts to destroy everything that would hinder human survival and progress, though its methods are… extreme."

"Alaya culls anything and everything that no longer contributes to Humanity." Sakura explained when Ayako looked at her in askance. "This includes individuals, but also cities, countries, and even entire worlds."

"Ah, I get it." Ayako nodded. "She-who-almost-has-the-same-name-as-me is not a nice person."

"It isn't about nice or not nice. She just has entirely different priorities and ways of looking at the world than we humans do." Shirou shrugged, knowing that destroying a world was no different to Alaya than swatting a fly. "As for your earlier question, Sakura, no, I'm not in danger, and I'm going to do my best to forget that I ever spoke with her."

"That seems the wise thing to do, Senpai." Sakura nodded frantically, looking relieved he wasn't about to go looking for trouble again. "Ah, what about Osaki-san and Yomaura-san? Are you going to do something about them?"

"No." Shirou shook his head. "As long as they don't make trouble, I will leave them be. At least they now know that Rakurai won't be coming back, so they can stop wasting time on that guy. I did promise them a full explanation later, but I don't expect that to happen for at least a couple of weeks."

"Great! So that means you are finally finished with everything?" Ayako inquired innocently, very innocently, almost suspiciously so.

"Yes." Shirou nodded. "Galen is gone, Rakurai is finished, the police know that I will no longer be around, Fuyuki is safe, Rin is safe, and no further problems have yet appeared, since we are ignoring that goddess who I definitely never met."

"So you are free to go to the Clocktower this summer." Sakura smiled sadly. "We'll miss you, Senpai. A lot."

"I will miss you too, both of you." Shirou smiled back, patting their heads. "But I'll call as often as possible. The two months will be over before you know it."

"I doubt it." Ayako huffed, before she smiled too. "Bring your sister back safely, okay? And look out for yourself."

"I will." Shirou promised.

"Then, Senpai, before you go, Ayako and I have something to tell you." Sakura said slowly, her face turning red for some reason.

"That's still over a month away though." Shirou smiled, wondering what could be so urgent that Sakura and Ayako were now both looking so focused. "You still have plenty of time before-"

"We want to do it now." Ayako interrupted him sternly. "So please just listen, Shirou."

Taken aback at Ayako's words and tone, Shirou nodded wordlessly.

The girls didn't begin immediately, exchanging glances instead, their faces becoming progressively redder. It was almost enough to make him worry for their health.

"Senpai." It was Sakura who spoke up first. "You- you are- you have been… well… you have been my first and best friend ever. You are the one I always rely upon and who I trust above anyone else. You have been my dearest person for years, and someone I could always picture myself growing old with."

"Me too." Ayako fell in when Sakura fell silent. "I might not have known you as long as Sakura, but you've been a fantastic friend nonetheless. I really feel at ease around you and I feel like I can really be myself. When I imagine living with you and Sakura for the rest of my life, I feel nothing but happy and content."

"You have been nothing but amazing to us, Senpai, and we love you, more than you can imagine." Sakura took over again. "We want to be with you, Senpai, because we love you."

By now, Shirou was blushing fiercely. The praise had come entirely unexpected, and while he appreciated it –who wouldn't?– it was also embarrassing to hear such words so bluntly spoken aloud.

Was he supposed to say something back in the same way?

"I-I… I love you too, both of you." He said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment as he struggled to keep his blush down as much as he could. "Ever since I met you two, you've always been at my side, even when I did things that were questionable to say the last. You accepted me, even though I am so broken, and I truly, truly appreciate that. You are the most amazing girls I know. S-So, yeah, I love you too."

"How much?" Sakura suddenly challenged him.

"How much?" Shirou blinked once, before frowning in thought. "Enough that I am always happy when you're nearby. Enough that I want to spend every moment of my life with you two. Enough that I feel perfectly content whenever my girls- ehm, I mean you two are with me."

"Your girls." Ayako repeated, grinning widely. "I really like the sound of that."

"Eh?"

"So you love us a lot?" Sakura pressed, to which he could only nod. "Enough to become our boyfriend?"

Shirou froze at the question, feeling how his blush intensified to the point he probably resembled a tomato more than a human.

"We are not joking, Shirou." Ayako leaned forward over the table, grabbing his hand, while Sakura grabbed the other. "We love you, and we want to be your girlfriends, both of us. We discussed this together, we are fine with this, and we want you."

"Please say 'yes', Senpai." Sakura whispered with a smile. "Nothing would make us happier right now."

Shirou opened his mouth to say something, anything. He wanted to protest, to warn them about his fault and defects, about how they shouldn't love someone like him, but the words utterly refused to leave his mouth.

He could only stare, his jaw dropped like an idiot.

Not just because he was shocked, though that was definitely a factor, but also because he couldn't think of anything to say about himself that they didn't already know.

They knew him, really knew him. He had bared his soul to them on several occasions, but even though they had seen the real him, even though they knew how broken he was, they still wanted to be with him l-like t-t-that?

"You…" Shirou brought out, before he took a deep breath to calm himself. "Y-You are sure of t-this?"

"Absolutely." Sakura professed, red as a tomato but having the fiercest look in her eyes he'd ever seen.

"Totally." Ayako avowed, as red as Sakura, with the same fierce look.

"I-I…" Shirou stuttered, feeling torn.

The darker parts of his mind were screaming at him, telling him he wasn't worthy of being their lover, that he should refuse immediately and never dare to associate with them again, for they were far too good for him.

Every other part of him however, his heart at the front, told him he should say yes. He wanted it, they wanted it, there was absolutely nothing preventing it. He should say yes and then treat them like the princesses they were, loving them with everything he had.

It also didn't escape his notice that Mjolnir was firmly in the second group, cheering him on.

"I-I..." He started, looking the girls in the eyes for one last time, seeing just how serious they were. That look did it for him. "…Yes, if you'll have me."

Ultimately, there was not a single valid reason to refuse. Only his self-hatred stood in the way, and Shirou was done letting that hatred rule his life.

'Remember to save yourself.'

His father's last words echoed in his head, and finally, he felt like he understood them, at least a little.

Kiritsugu had told him not to let his self-hatred rule him, and to not pass up on something amazing merely because he felt he was unworthy.

Kiritsugu truly had been a wise man.

"Of course we'll have you." Ayako cheered, becoming even redder as she suddenly leaned forward, coming closer and closer to his face, her eyes fixed on his lips, before-

-Sakura suddenly appeared from the side and eagerly claimed his lips, kissing him fiercely, while Ayako squawked in indignation.

Shirou was taken by surprise and didn't react for a split-second, but then he reached out and placed his hand on the back of Sakura's head, deepening the kiss.

He knew his face had to be redder than red at the moment, but it became ever redder when Sakura pushed her tongue into his mouth, trying to probe it as much as she could.

For some reason, Shirou felt he couldn't just let that happen, and promptly pushed back with his own tongue, entering her mouth instead.

He found she tasted very nice, like a mixture of mint and a spring breeze.

Eventually, they had to separate for air, and Sakura was immediately pulled away by Ayako.

"My turn now." The brunette hissed, throwing her arms around Shirou's neck. "I have been waiting for this for far too long."

She too kissed him deeply, and once more Shirou reciprocated.

Ayako also tasted wonderfully, like pine trees and summer wind.

When they too separated after a while, Shirou had to take several moments to cool off again, his entire body feeling overheated.

"Uwa." Sakura smiled, a slightly vacant look in her eyes. "Senpai is really good at this."

"Agreed." Ayako bore a similarly vacant look. "We should do that more often, a lot more often."

Blood rushed to his face yet again, but this time he didn't bother to hide it, nor did he try to hide his smile.

"You two are very good too." He smiled back, now finally understanding why some of his more adventurous classmates were always spending every minute of their free time kissing their girlfriends at the edge of the schoolyard.

Kissing was just amazing.

"We're sleeping together again tonight, and the coming nights, as often as we can." Ayako decided. "I want goodnight kisses, a lot of them, and we should contemplate wearing less too."

"Eh? Isn't that going a bit too fast?" Sakura squeaked, looking unsure.

"No, not particularly. I don't see a single reason for instance why Shirou has to wear a shirt at night. I mean, he doesn't need it, we can provide the warmth for him."

"Senpai's upper body… bared? The entire night? Next to us?"

"I see you agree with me then, excellent."

And while the girls planned their nefarious schemes, Shirou took a deep breath, the reality of the situation sinking in.

He had two girlfriends.

No, not just two girlfriends. He was in a relationship with Sakura and Ayako, the most precious people in his life.

What was he supposed to do with that? How was he supposed to react?

Should he tell anyone? Should he stay quiet?

He would definitely have to tell Fuji-nee though, because there was no way he could keep something like this a secret from her. She'd find out no matter what he did.

She probably wouldn't believe him at first though, when he told her.

He still couldn't believe it himself even. Did he really just get Sakura and Ayako, two of the greatest and most beautiful girls in existence, as his girlfriends?

If this was a dream, then it had to be the best dream ever.

If this was reality though, then he swore that he would treat them right, for as long as they would have him.

Aware that he was smiling widely like an idiot, Shirou couldn't bring himself change his expression. He just felt too content, sitting here in the knowledge that Sakura and Ayako wanted to share their lives with him.

For a few seconds, he completely forgot about his old sins and his need to become a Hero of Justice, feeling perfectly tranquil.

Then he shook his head a few times to get his focus back. He had dinner to prepare after all, and he was going to break out the very best ingredients and his greatest skills to prepare a true feast.

If he was going to treat his girls like princesses, he would get started with that right away.

---

And done.

That was a long chapter, but it was a nice one, wasn't it?

Three major happenings.

-Rin and Sakura reconciliated.

-The Brat is gone, and Taya is no longer Shirou's sworn enemy.

-Sakura and Ayako managed to get their boyfriend.

An excellent ending, all things considered. I realise it was a lot for one chapter, but I just wanted to finally wrap this up. Next chapter deals with the next month or two, a few scenes of wholesomeness and happy relationships, as well as finished explanations, and the chapter will end with Shirou arriving in London at last.

I'm looking forward to it, I hope you lot are too. I can't wait to discover what Shirou will get up to.

A fair warning, the El-Melloi case files do not take place this year. They canonically happen around the time of the Grail War, and that's still over a year away, so next summer break.

Now, about Alaya, I'm sure she came as a shock to most of you. There is however a reason I put her in here, but that won't become clear until quite a bit later in the story, during the Grail War. That's all I can say about it right now.

Also, Nasu the Watcher (I take it you all know what Watchers are, if not, look them up on Google by typing Marvel Watchers) will come to Shirou to give him a few helpful tips and to offer him a deal. The precise details you will find out later.

I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter.

Once more my gratitude to Tungstencat, Crazylich79, liamrodhudson110, Manram and Woggie, for their hard work to make this stuff actually readable.

Also, if you're reading this chapter late at night, this is a good point to place the story aside and go to sleep. It will still be there in the morning, after school or work, so don't worry.

Ted out.