I will admit, I'm not fully satisfied with the chapter as I didn't focus enough on the student-servant pair to really show how they would gel together, despite their contrasts. I feel like I wasn't doing enough "show, don't tell" for this one in particular.
Not helped by the fact that second semester has now started for me, so I ended up having less time to develop some of the ideas I have.
I feel like the limits I set for myself might very will inevitably come back to bite me...
Happy reading... I guess?
"I've got him in my sights…"
Uzawa Reisa smiled to herself, as she watched a masculine figure wearing a trench coat and fedora walking down the streets.
This was it. The moment where she can actually catch a bad guy and even get it right for once!
"I got you!" She exclaimed.
The aspiring vigilante jumped out of her spot and wasted no time tackling the figure to the ground.
"Oi! What the bloody hell are you doing!?" The figure asked in a thick accent, trying to push her off of him.
"I've got you right where I want you!" Reisa said, grinning confidently.
In the midst of their shared struggle, the fedora fell off the figure's head, revealing the face of a young man with black hair and brown eyes, along with a light gray halo.
Reisa was quick to recognize him and widened her eyes in surprise, along with her mouth falling open.
"Eh? Houki?" She asked, her grip quickly loosening.
"Didn't recognize your fellow vigilante, lassie?" Houki remarked, pushing the girl off him and slowly got up on his feet.
In response, Reisa crossed her arms and huffed. "Not my fault you looked suspicious!"
"… You do know that there's only one person in the crew that dresses like this, yeah?" Houki dryly said with a raised eyebrow, crossing his arms.
Hearing this, the girl had the decency to laugh sheepishly and said. "Uh, I forgot…?"
"… Regardless, tonight is my turn on night patrol duty." The young man shook his head, and then added. "If anything, I should be the one asking you why you're out here when your turn is next week on Tuesday after Morizuki."
Reisa had no way to respond and simply looked down at the ground, grinning awkwardly all the while.
"You should get home now." Houki said, placing his fedora back on. "Your mum would be worried sick if you stayed out too late."
Without saying anything else, he turned around and waved at her as he walked away, his gradually distant footsteps being the last thing she heard.
" … " Reisa stared forward at the direction her fellow vigilante had left her and then said. "Ah, dang it…"
"Being vigilant is all well and good, but you should really be more observant of others before jumping to conclusions." A new voice seemed to speak up out of thin air.
As if on cue, blue particles appeared and a new figure materialized behind Reisa, with an air of mystery and death.
Said figure was a dark-skinned man with short white hair, wearing red cloth that was a mix of a scarf and hood over a dark bodysuit and metal chestplate, complete with a utility belt containing daggers and guns and arm guards.
The tall man before the girl was her servant.
"Ehehe, I'll keep that in mind, Kerry." Reisa said, chuckling sheepishly.
Knowing that she has nothing left to do at the moment, her grayish blue eyes scanned her surroundings and then found a nearby vending machine.
The girl let out a sigh and walked towards the machine, reaching out for a coin inside her skirt as she did.
Clink. Thud.
Reisa picked up the can of soda dropped by the vending machine and popped it open, before proceeding to drink its contents.
"It's past your bedtime." Kerry said, crossing his arms. "I suggest that you go home and save your energy."
"But it's still Friday and there's no classes tomorrow!" Reisa argued, lowering her soda can. "I can handle staying up late if it means stopping bad guys from plotting something!"
"… Like your teammate told you, your mother would be greatly worried if you stayed out for too long." Her servant said dryly, clearly unmoved. "You have already done enough by mistaking them for someone suspicious."
"Ack!" She winced at the words, but decided not to argue further. "Alright, I guess I'll go home now…"
Reisa finished the rest of her soda and threw the empty can inside a nearby trash bin, before walking towards the direction of a fairly large neighborhood.
As much as she wanted to keep going, she knew that her mother would be all over her if she came home around even at eleven o' clock in the evening.
Behind her back, Kerry simply closed his eyes and went back into spirit form to continue observing her.
Once he was absolutely sure that his master was sound asleep inside her room, Emiya Kiritsugu was inside the Uzawa household's living room.
The household itself was decently sized and modest in appearance, which stood in contrast to Uzawa Reisa's own over-the-top enthusiasm for justice.
"Kivotos…"
He didn't have a single clue on how he was summoned to a place like this, nor what brought him to be summoned by such an energetic master…
XXX (Two Weeks Ago) XXX
"What the…?"
The girl looked up at him with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, trying to process what had just happened.
On her right hand, red markings appeared and its shape was that of the halo on top of her head, but she was currently unaware of this.
"Servant Assassin, so you're the one that called upon me." He spoke in a cold and detached tone.
Judging from how she was still looking at him in shock, it didn't surprise him that she was-
"Wow~!" The girl bounced out of her current state and was grinning widely. "You look so coooool~!"
The Counter Guardian blinked at how quickly the girl recovered from her shock and was already admiring him like a child at the candy store.
"You even have a gun like me! What does it do? What kind of bullets does it fire? Can I touch it?" She was asking questions left and right. "Those blades look cool too! Where did you get them? Who made them for you? I don't think Trinity has those…"
Kiritsugu cleared his throat and said. "I assume that you know nothing about how I got here, correct?"
This got the girl to stare at him again for a while, before she placed her fist into her palm and opened her mouth again.
"Ah! I almost forgot!" She wasted no time introducing herself. "My name is Uzawa Reisa of Trinity's Vigilante Crew, what's yours?"
So this girl, Uzawa Reisa, proclaimed herself as a vigilante of all things. She hardly looked the part and more of a clueless child still finding her place in the world around her.
"You may call me Assassin, master." He simply answered.
"Alrighty then!" Reisa chirped, placing her hands on her hips. "You can call me Reisa to keep things friendly between us!"
His new master was no doubt naive and already expressed a desire to form a connection, and yet, he sensed that said desire was genuinely from the goodness of her heart.
The Counter Guardian could even sense the one feeling that he threw away a long time ago.
Hope.
XXX (The Present) XXX
Even after two weeks, Kiritsugu had no answer on how his new master had somehow wormed her way into his stone cold heart in such a relatively short amount of time.
Perhaps it was her innocence that prevented him from treating her with complete apathy?
"Excuse me," A new voice called out to him. "I believe this is our first time meeting, correct?"
In response, the servant whirled his head towards the source of the voice, even reaching his hand for one of his daggers.
However, all sense of defending himself immediately died down when he saw who it was.
Standing before him was a short yet mature-looking woman in her late thirties, despite her youthful looks, with long baby pink hair, light blue eyes behind white-framed glasses, and a lavender halo that's shaped as a ring with a crescent moon in the center.
She was currently wearing an open gray bedroom robe over a short white nightgown that hugged her mature figure, complete with light blue fluffy slippers.
"My name is Uzawa Rumika," The woman introduced herself. "And who might you be?"
On the outside, Kiritsugu remained as composed as he usually does, but on the inside, he was having an internal debate to himself.
Should he reveal his true name right then and there?
On one hand, his true name was still a sore topic to him and didn't want anyone to find out. It was only by pure chance that his master started referring to him as "Kerry", in which he only went along with it to keep his name hidden.
On the other hand, it was abundantly clear that the woman standing in front of him was the mother of his master, and gaining her trust could potentially be a huge benefit.
What should he do…?
"Uhmm, if you're having trouble, then you don't have to tell me." Rumika spoke up in a reassuring tone. "I don't wish to bring discomfort to you, sir."
"Interesting…" Kiritsugu thought to himself. "She partially sensed my thoughts from just watching me, yet still respectful about her boundaries."
This only served to slightly soften his posture, even moving his hand away from his dagger as he made the decision.
"… You may call me 'Kerry'." He introduced himself in return. "That is what your daughter refers to me."
"I see then," Rumika seemed to accept this and nodded. "So you're truly here for a reason."
The Counter Guardian was intrigued by how quickly she was fairly putting two and two together from just their short interaction so far.
"Would you like some tea, Mr. Kerry?" The woman offered with a polite smile.
"Of course." He decided to play along for now.
It didn't take long for the tea to be made as soon as the woman left the living room and into the kitchen.
She placed down a silver tray, which contained a teapot and some cups, as well as a bowl of sugar.
"Some sugar?" Rumika asked, holding up the small bowl.
"I'm fine." Kiritsugu replied, holding up the cup before taking a small sip.
Both adults sat in a comfortable silence for a good while, with the only sounds being the occasional sipping from the teacups.
Clink.
Rumika placed down the teacup and adjusted her glasses, before fixing the dark-skinned man with a serious expression.
"How much do you know about my daughter?" She asked, getting straight to the point. "She never told me about having a possible guardian."
Kiritsugu could respect that the woman sitting across from him wasn't beating around the bush and was being completely honest.
"Not much." He answered, placing down the teacup as well. "Even after becoming her guardian, as you stated, the most I know about her so far is that she's dedicated to her cause of heroism."
It wasn't exactly a lie on his part. There still wasn't much that he knew about his master, apart from her sincere love for enforcing justice and current lack of foresight, but decided to leave out the second detail.
"I suppose that's understandable." Rumika nodded. "Reisa is always one to wear her heart on her sleeves without thinking too much."
He wasn't surprised that she knew about this, since she was the mother of his master after all.
"… Although I don't really fault her for it." The woman added, closing her eyes. "She inherited her father's personality."
"Her father?" Kiritsugu inquired.
"That's right." Rumika replied, nodding with a bittersweet smile. "Reisa is just like him in many ways, being impulsive, stubborn, yet full of heart."
"I assume that he's no longer in you and your daughter's lives?" He continued.
The servant could easily tell from how his master and her mother were the only ones living in the house.
"… Yes, he died in the line of duty when Reisa was still two years old," Rumika said, gripping the teacup in her hands. "I still remember that day, when the doctor told me his halo had been shattered…"
So it was possible for residents of Kivotos to die. It didn't surprise him in the slightest that it was tied to the halos on top of their heads.
However, the residents themselves had little-to-no acknowledgement of them, only that they provided great physical resistance, especially to bullets.
"I'm scared for her." Rumika confessed, looking up at the man in front of her. "I know that she has her halo to shield her from the usual gunfights, but I'm concerned that it wouldn't be enough."
He could see her point. The fact that his master's father had perished was proof of that, and it also meant that their halos weren't entirely invincible.
As he watched the woman show clear concern for her daughter, he knew that he had to say something.
"I've only known her for two weeks, but…" Kiritsugu spoke up, fixing his gaze into the mother's eyes. "I swear that she will not lose her life in her pursuits."
Rumika was taken by this and replied. "Truly?"
The Counter Guardian nodded and added. "She has shown passion and dedication to what she does, and I will see to it that she will not lose her heart."
"… I know that this is only our first meeting, and yet…" Rumika slowly smiled at him. "I feel that I can trust you with this. Thank you."
Even with his master's blunder in mistaking her fellow vigilante for someone suspicious, he could tell that she was genuinely serious in being a hero.
Uzawa Reisa's ideals will not falter under his watch.
Morning arrived at the Uzawa household, with the surrounding houses slowly going up and about to their usual routines.
Reisa was no different as she let out a yawn, stretching her arms when she sat up, before moving to get out of her bed.
She was wearing lavender-colored pajamas with a cartoonish star pattern and her hair was messy in place of her usual pigtailed hairstyle.
"Another day, another time patrolling the streets." The girl thought to herself.
Letting out another yawn, Reisa made her way downstairs and into the kitchen, looking forward to her usual routine for the day.
"Guhh… mmm… mornin'…" She greeted, her voice muffled by yet another yawn.
However, the moment she took a step inside, her eyes widened at the first thing she saw at the dining table.
Her grayish blue eyes were greeted with the sight of her mother Rumika and her servant Kerry sitting across each other at the table, with neither minding the other's presence.
"Ah, you're finally awake."
It didn't take long for her mother to notice her, smiling warmly like she usually did.
"I prepared breakfast earlier, so come eat." She said, showing a bowl of rice and eggs.
Reisa stared at the unlikely duo for a few more seconds, before she ultimately shrugged and made her way towards her seat.
She didn't know how her mom and Kerry were getting along, but she wasn't going to question it whatsoever, especially with the quick look her servant gave her.
As soon as she took her seat, she wasted no time digging into her meal, eyeing both adults at the table as she did.
"Wmmm… whn'd yuh… mff… two m't?" She asked, her face filled with rice.
"Sweetie, don't chew with your mouth full." Mom lightly scolded.
Swallowing the rice, Reisa smiled sheepishly and asked again. "When did you guys meet?"
"Last night." Kerry answered for her, his eyes focused on the newspaper he was holding. "We had a… fruitful discussion."
"Huh?" Reisa tilted her head in confusion.
"He just means we had a nice talk, don't mind him." Mom said with a small laugh.
The girl accepted the answer and continued to dig into her breakfast, humming to herself as she did.
Afterwards, a comfortable silence was shared between all three of them at the table, each of them doing their own thing.
"Ah~!" Reisa placed down her empty bowl. "Alrighty, I'm gonna-"
"Sweetie."
"Hm?" She looked at her mother.
"Today is Saturday, and well…" Mom slowly stood up from her seat. "I want to spend it with you since I'm free from work today."
"Oh…!" Reisa widened her eyes at that. "Okay then~!"
As much as she loved patrolling the streets for potential bad guys, she loved spending time with her mother just as much.
Plus, if she saw anyone in trouble, she would even impress her with her hard work and how much she wanted to be a hero!
Kerry placed down his newspaper and nodded too, showing that he was onboard with the idea without saying anything.
It was going to be a new kind of day for her.
"Come on, mom!"
"Sweetie, please slow down."
Reisa giggled as she skipped forward on the streets, with her mother following from right behind and Kerry at the far back.
Because today was a Saturday, the streets of the city area were a lot more lively and busy, with students and citizens walking everywhere.
She wanted to bring her shotgun with her, but Mom insisted that she leave it home for at least today.
"Hmmm…" Reisa hummed, cupping her chin. "Where should we-"
"Hey! Please get down from there."
"Can someone help us!"
The Vigilante Crew member stopped in her tracks and was already on alert, which gave Mom and Kerry pause.
She scanned her surroundings and quickly saw three children standing near a tree, trying to reach out for an orange cat that was stuck on a branch that was high up.
"I see trouble!" Reisa declared, before rushing towards the tree.
As she got close enough, she saw that the children consisted of two boys and one girl, with the girl noticing her and then making a sad frown.
"Miss, can you help us?" The girl asked.
"Of course, dear citizen!" Reisa grinned, placing her hands on her hips. "I, the superstar Uzawa Reisa, am here to help!"
"My sister's cat is stuck on the tree." One of the boys said. "We've been trying to get him down for an hour, but he's too scared to reach out."
"Fear not!" Reisa held up her hand in reassurance. "I'll save your poor cat!"
Without missing a beat, she turned her body towards the tree and proceeded to climb up in a surprising display of agility, as it didn't take her long to reach the branch where the cat was stuck in.
"Come on, little kitty~." Reisa called out in a cutesy yet gentle tone. "I won't hurt you."
The orange tabby cat looked hesitant at first, before it slowly moved out of its spot and leapt into her arms.
"Good kitty~." She cooed, smoothly making her way down the tree.
"Thank you, big sis!" The girl said with a smile, reaching her arms out.
"Yeah, that was so cool!" The other boy added with a grin of his own.
"Heh, that was no big deal for the superstar!" Reisa smiled, clearly enjoying the praise and knowledge that she made people happy.
From a short distance away, Rumika and Kiritsugu watched it all happen, with the former sporting a small smile on her youthful features.
"She looks so happy," She muttered to herself. "I wish that she would stick to small acts of kindness like this instead of risking her life."
"I understand how you feel," The servant said, briefly glancing at her. "However, you know very well that she wouldn't be satisfied with just that."
"I know," Rumika sighed, closing her eyes. "She really takes a lot from her father."
"Like I said last night," Kiritsugu said, turning his gaze back towards his master. "I will see to it that she will succeed without losing her heart and her life."
"I hope you're right…" Rumika mumbled, watching her daughter play with the children with a bittersweet smile.
Speaking of her daughter, Reisa had put it upon herself to treat the children and their cat to a nearby croissant food truck.
"We'd like three chocolate croissants and a vanilla one!" She ordered, smiling at the food truck chef. "I'm paying for all of us!"
The food truck chef nodded and went inside to prepare the orders.
"Master, are we really stopping here first?"
"Hey, you were the one that pulled me out of bed without letting me eat breakfast first."
Just as Reisa had finished taking the orders, her ears picked up two voices moving towards the food truck, one of which she's very familiar with.
"Cath Palug!" She declared, which mildly startled the three children next to her.
Kyoyama Kazusa turned her attention to who called out to her, and then immediately rolled her pink eyes.
"Oh great, it's you again." She muttered, groaning.
"You have some nerve showing yourself, Cath Palug!" Reisa claimed, pointing an accusatory finger at her. "Just what kind of trouble are you getting up to this time!?"
"Master, who's bothering ya over there?" The unfamiliar voice spoke up.
A blonde-haired young woman appeared next to Kazusa, wearing an open red jacket that showed her midriff-baring tube top, blue short shorts, and black boots.
Reisa couldn't help but feel intimidated by the woman's presence, even though she looked like a normal person.
"Want me to deal with her for ya?" The blonde-haired woman asked with a grin.
"No, she's annoying but ultimately harmless." Kazusa answered, shaking her head. "I'd rather you save your strength against the real annoying ones, Saber."
"She's a servant too!?" Reisa thought, widening her eyes.
Even after two weeks, she never stopped to consider that there could be other servants besides Kerry!
"Miss, your croissants are ready."
As if on cue, Reisa heard the voice of the food truck chef, in which she reached out for her pockets and pulled out some yen.
"Thank you so much!" She bowed, before setting her eyes on Kazusa one last time. "This isn't over yet, Cath Palug!"
"Whatever you say, Uzawa." Kazusa rolled her eyes once more.
With a huff, Reisa turned around and gave the two chocolate croissants and the vanilla one to the three children, and then bit into her own with a small grumble.
"Reisa." She heard Kerry speak from behind her.
Blinking, the girl turned around and saw her dark-skinned servant giving her a blank expression, while her mother smiled awkwardly right beside him.
"Uh…" Reisa opened her mouth, letting some crumbs fall out.
"What did I say about jumping to conclusions without observing someone first." Kerry spoke in a flat tone that showed he was not amused.
She wanted to defend her decision for a quick moment, but realized that the children were still with her and even her mom was nearby.
"Ehehe…" Reisa chuckled, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head. "I couldn't help it…?"
This only served to harden Kerry's face, showing that he didn't buy her answer at all.
"Oh boy…"
As nighttime came once again, nearly every person in Trinity headed back inside their homes to prepare for yet another day.
Reisa and Rumika had returned home from their day out, with the latter heading inside first to unlock the house and prepare dinner, leaving her daughter alone to stare at the night sky.
"Pretty…" She whispered to herself.
The stars were bright as usual, which even matched the shape of her own halo.
However, her current mood was anything but that, as a frown made its way into her features.
Standing beside her was Kiritsugu, who was also looking up at the sky with his arms crossed, making small glances at his master every now and then.
"… Hey Kerry?" Reisa asked in a soft tone.
The Counter Guardian was quick to pick up on the change in mood and saw a more vulnerable, contemplative expression that he never saw from her.
"Do you think I'm cut out to be a hero?" She continued, looking up at her servant. "I mean, helping those kids was nice, but I couldn't just shake off what you told me about tackling people without watching first…"
"So it truly does weigh on her." Kiritsugu thought.
He normally would've been blunt and called out the sheer childishness of how individuals like her perceived themselves, yet that wasn't the case here, as he knew that she meant every word of it.
The man knew that he had to put this as delicately as he could.
"… Yes, you do have what it takes." He spoke up, giving the girl his full attention. "Far better than someone like me."
"Really…?" Reisa was surprised to hear this. "But… you look so cool and I feel like you can do anything."
"I was similar to you before, where I was once hopeful about the world around me and believed I could save others." Kiritsugu continued, letting out a tired sigh. "The path itself brought no joy and I was forced to compromise my morals more times than I have counted."
"Kerry…" His master muttered, reaching out a caring hand.
The white-haired man flinched at the sudden physical contact, but didn't reject it outright as he continued.
"Master, no, Reisa…" He corrected himself. "Your methods right now may be childish and even naïve, but you have the heart to become a far better hero than I ever could be."
"You really think so?" Reisa asked, placing her hands over her chest.
"Yes," Kiritsugu answered. "Make no mistake, you still have a long path ahead of you, but I believe you will persevere and become the hero you desire to be."
Reisa looked at her servant for more than a few seconds, before she let out a small giggle and then smiled at him.
"Thanks, I'll do my best for you and everyone I know." She said in a grateful tone.
"Reisa!" Her mother called out from inside the house. "Dinner is ready!"
"Ooooh~!" Reisa turned her gaze towards the door, as some of her cheerfulness returned. "You should come eat with us, Kerry! It would be great to have you!"
Seeing his master bounce back from her previous mood, Kiritsugu felt a small, unnoticeable smile tug at his hardened features.
"You go on ahead, I will follow." He simply said.
Perhaps being contracted to this girl would be fulfilling after all.
Trinity students and their servants:
Tea Party
Nagisa and Lostbelt Morgan Le Fey
Seia and Irisviel
Mika and Karna
The Sisterhood
Sakurako and Saint Martha
Mari and Bedivere
Hinata and Percival
Justice Task Force
Tsurugi and Barghest
Hasumi and Tristan
Mashiro and William Tell
Ichika and Hajime Saito
Remedial Knights
Mine and Gawain
Hanae and Asterios
Serina and King Hassan
Library Committee
Ui and Murasaki Shikibu
Shimiko and Nursery Rhyme
After School Sweets Club
Yoshimi and Ereshkigal
Natsu and Mysterious Heroine X Alter
Airi and Marie Antoinette
Kazusa and Mordred
Vigilante Crew
Suzumi and Robin Hood
Reisa and EMIYA Kiritsugu
Make-Up Work Club
Hifumi and Charlemagne
Azusa and Utsumi Erice
Koharu and Medb
Hanako and Hans Christian Andersen
NEXT CHAPTER: Serika and Ishtar
Yeah, as you just read, Reisa and Kiri only had one dedicated scene together at the very end, so I'm not entirely happy with how the chapter turned out.
This could undergo serious rewrites, or maybe a second focus chapter in the future, but if you enjoyed it, then I'm glad that you can enjoy some of the stuff I attempted.
I wonder if I'm going too far with the concept of students having family members?
Anyways, this next chapter will be about Serika and Ishtar, and thankfully, family members are far less prominent and more focused on the pair itself, and well, you might be surprised by how it will be tackled in it.
Also, the second wave of chapters is slowly coming to an end and the second omake will be in the making, and the third wave after that will put more focus on purely the student-servant pair, I hope.
Happy reading.