Hey everyone! I'm back from my impromptu break from this story.

Before anything else, I want to give a huge thanks to Sherlock. I was a hot mess while writing this and he really helped to turn this into something safe for human consumption. We cut out about a third of the original text, recycled the passable parts for a more suitable (future) chapter, fixed the order of some things, chapter flow and much, much more.

Unfortunately, there won't be an illustration accompanying this chapter– or at least, not right away. My tablet bit the dust and my friend lent me his for the time being, but the amount of setup that I need to go through to make this usable (for me) is not insignificant. I'll make a new author's post (on the sites where I can post the illustration to begin with) once the illustration for this chapter is done. It's already been voted for by .

Thank you for your patience, everyone!

X

Having put a reasonable distance between himself and the conflict at hand, Kakizaki was decently sure that he was out of harm's way; Seventy-Nine was close by to guard him and Kocho should anything happen. As such, as he took the time to sulk and bite his thumbnail anxiously, he wasn't particularly worried about being caught in any kind of crossfire.

But Higa-sama's plan didn't account for this.

Sahashi Minato and his Sekirei. That odd woman.

They made everything infinitely more difficult. Getting through a single Sekirei was one thing, but now that there was enough opposition to hold up each fighter individually, the Ashikabi were untouchable.

His instructions had been very clear.

Hiyamakai Enterprises' ambitions were never in alignment with those of Mid Bio Informatics', but pretending to go along with whatever Sahashi Takami was scheming was an excellent opportunity for them to further them. While Karasuba was busy with Mutsu and whatever else Takami was willing to throw at her, Numbers Eighty-Six, Sixteen and Seventy-Nine would focus their efforts on getting closer to Emiya Shirou once the opportunity presented itself.

If executed properly, everything would line up perfectly for them. Number Four would be forced to do their bidding lest something happen to the one standing between her continued existence and termination, and just like that, they would have a force capable of opposing MBI – with proper direction, of course – dancing in the palms of their hands.

It was practically a dream come true for Higa-sama. He was the kind of person who deserved to stand at the top, but for as long as he could remember, his company had been relegated to the shadows amidst MBI's inexplicable rise to fame.

It would be nothing short of the sweetest irony should their own prized dog be the cause of their downfall.

Up until this point, Kakizaki had been committed to being the one who made Hiyamakai Enterprises' success a reality.

Given that it was now near impossible to get to Emiya Shirou, however…

He had to improvise. Surely an opening would present itself. Something. Anything.

"Chiyome," he spoke quietly, getting Seventy-Nine's attention. "Here's what I want you to do."

X

As hectic as the situation had initially been, everything following Emiya Shirou's greeting had regressed to an awkward standoff where no one was really sure what to do next.

On one end of the hallway stood the remnants of the disciplinary squad. With one member taken out of commission and the other gravely injured, their attention –and their Ashikabi's– was split between licking their wounds and keeping an eye out for any sudden developments.

Trapping Shirou and Karasuba from the front and back were Mutsu and the group of Sekirei that seemed to be working with him. Whether they shared an Ashikabi or were simply colluding for the sake of this operation, Shirou did not know.

In the room behind Mutsu was Sekirei Twenty-Two, her Ashikabi and the ninja-like Sekirei that was hanging back to guard them. Takami had stepped out in front and was still more focused on her son's sudden appearance than capturing her targets.

In contrast, Minato, his flock and Karasuba were much more interested in whatever was happening between Emiya and the strange lady that only he seemed to recognize. Karasuba in particular observed the pair with a hawk-like focus as opposed to the general apathy with which she treated most things.

The white-haired man could not bury the sense of foreboding that swelled within him. Tohsaka Rin being here could only mean one thing, and one thing only.

Somehow, he had failed.

Up until this point, he had been under the impression that they'd been doing a pretty good job of keeping the Sekirei Plan contained to Shinto Teito itself. And it was in MBI's best interests to isolate the city from the rest of the world to boot, so that was even a point that worked in his favour.

It had to have been London.

Despite his valiant efforts, Karasuba did a poor job of playing her role –not that he thought that she tried very hard– so it wasn't unthinkable that someone important caught wind of something that they shouldn't have. Worse, there was a good chance that that "someone" was the Queen of the Clock Tower, Lorelei Barthomeloi herself. He could think of few others who possessed the power to force Tohsaka Rin to come all the way back to Japan, and all its… history.

He really would have liked the opportunity to think about this a little better, but–

CLANG!

Karasuba stretched out her arm in front of him and caught Mutsu's sword with her own before Sekirei Number Five could take his head off. The alien swordsman wasn't a fan of tense, uncomfortable silence, it would seem.

And then many things happened at once.

Karasuba readied herself to draw her blade to launch a counter no sooner than a gust of wind blasted Mutsu off his feet and sent him barreling into the Disciplinary Squad across the hall. Those scattered Sekirei surrounding Shirou and Karasuba snapped out of their wariness and prepared themselves for combat once more.

The new party led by Sahashi Minato stood by the pair resolutely; the boy's partners – save for Number 03, who had engaged in combat with Mutsu – seemed to be waiting for his instructions.

Sahashi Takami's jaw dropped, not needing long to figure out what it was that her son was doing.

Emiya Shirou felt a lump bubbling in his throat. No matter how much he tried to breathe and swallow it down, it still felt like he was being left gasping for breath. The longer his eyes stayed affixed to Tohsaka Rin's relaxed face, that feeling continued to worsen.

They weren't here to help Takami. They were here to get in her way.

But why? He wasn't going to pretend that he knew anything about Sahashi Minato –putting aside the fact that he almost killed the kid– but a Clock Tower Magus shouldn't have jad any reason to get herself involved in this situation in this way. What was she doing? Was forcefully inserting herself just a way for her to learn more about these aliens before dealing with them as was asked of her?

He could only hope that she wasn't here to wipe out Japan's most populated city. It was unlikely that a single person would be sent to accomplish something of such a scale, but while there were few people who could accomplish such a thing, let alone be asked to do it, she was definitely one of those very people.

"Minato! Explain yourself!"

Takami's yell, filled in equal parts with rage and panic, broke him out of his thoughts.

The younger man stepped forward resolutely. He was either uncaring of the danger that surrounded him or just didn't register it.

Minato puffed out his chest.

"Emiya-san… Karasuba-san… we're… here to help!"

Not a single person occupying the decimated airport hallway wasn't caught flat-footed by that announcement.

Karasuba kept flipping her head between the kid who stared right back with passion and resolve burning strongly in his eyes, and her Ashikabi, who was staring at the kid with an expression halfway between rueful and utterly flabbergasted.

She couldn't help it: She broke the silence with a cackle. And surprise, surprise, it didn't do anything to lift Takami's very enraged spirits.

"Minato! I don't know what hare-brained, misconceived delusion you have about these two, but they're dangerous! Get away from them!"

It was at this declaration that Tohsaka Rin brought a finger up to her chin.

"Oh?" she spoke. "Are you lot not oppressors? The ones leading this strange, supernatural death game? The ones that have thrown an international airport into a state of panic in order to assassinate your own employee and her partner?"

Takami wouldn't take such accusations lying down.

"And who are you, lady? What stake do you have in this? You're not an Ashikabi, are you? What makes you think you even know what you're talking about?"

She did not miss the way that her son had stared back at Tohsaka in shock; it seemed he was just as surprised by her knowledge as she was.

A soft and practiced laugh escaped the magus' lips.

"A little birdie told me, you see."

One of the enemies, the green-haired one with the staff, seemed to have had enough of this exchange that turned into some sort of open discussion.

"Your back is open, Number Four!" she yelled, weapon raised as she ran straight at the grey-haired woman from behind.

Takami saw the attempt for what it really was.

"Stop!" MBI's head researcher yelled. She dropped the gun and dashed straight back into the comm room to find some semblance of safety.

Chaos resumed in that same instant.

Karasuba didn't bother to dodge. She lifted her arm and caught the staff against her wrist with nary a wince.

Retaliation on the Black Sekirei's part wasn't even necessary. The haughty-looking blonde that had come with Sahashi Minato blasted the green-haired woman straight in the face with a fist-sized ball of water.

Sahashi Minato's Sekirei advanced, wasting no time in finding an opponent to engage in direct combat. The blonde used her hydrokinetic powers to fend off the Sekirei that had come in as Takami's reinforcements while the Disciplinary Squad's sole functional member forced Musubi to engage in a fist fight.

When the two ex-Disciplinary Squad members, Zero Three and Zero Five, once more met blades of wind with shattered earth, the magnitude of the battle's escalation had been made clear to everyone present.

Karasuba's pleasant grin was pulled up even further. All facades were dropped. Every part of her was now enjoying these developments undoubtedly for all the wrong reasons.

In comparison, Emiya Shirou didn't have much of an outward reaction at all. He was still too paranoid to look away from Tohsaka out of fear of what she'd do were she to leave his sight.

And yet Tohsaka Rin was content to stand still where she was. As if she was but in the eye of a hurricane, she held a pleased expression as she watched the proceedings with interest.

The ground rumbled and groaned, splintering into great cracks. Mutsu had to conjure a particularly significant fissure to protect himself from Kazehana's following attack: a spiralling ball of compressed air that was surely more devastating than anything else she had dared to use to that point. The entire airport shook below everyone's feet; it wouldn't come to much surprise if the building collapsed at any second.

"Get over here, boy!" Takami screamed at her son as she tried her best to wave him over to the communications room, which at least wasn't in the direct path of ground zero. Her duty as a mother outweighed any desire to preserve any sort of strategic advantage in this worsening situation. "You'll die if you stay out there in the open!"

At this point, she was past trying to get him to back off and leave. She could beat some sense into that damn kid once she saw that he'd headed to safety –

"No," Minato responded succinctly. "That's not something that I can do right now."

"…"

Amidst the clangs of swords, she heard that blasted cackle again.

She didn't know how to take that, honestly. She knew her son his whole life, and while he could whine and complain with the best of them, not once had he so explicitly disobeyed her when she told him to do something.

Independence was good and all, and a small part of her was pleased with her idiot son finally growing a backbone, but now was certainly not the time for her child to be discovering it.

"You fool–"

His Sekirei tensed.

Something flew straight at her son. The object was too quick for her to identify –whether it was debris, a stray Sekirei attack or what– but it was of a significant enough size that she knew he'd be done for if it reached its target. In the split instant before anything happened, they all turned to him in horror.

Before Takami could yell out anything else, Karasuba's katana flew from her grasp and struck the object –a jagged tile segment– pinning it to the nearby wall.

Minato was safe if a little shaken.

Karasuba.

Karasuba did that. She saved her kid.

But–

"She's unarmed!" Kakizaki announced, and Takami nearly swore as he revealed his presence once more, walking out from behind her. "Everyone! Target Sekirei Number Four now that we have the chance!"

Karasuba, who had until that point somehow been forgotten in favour of Minato's Sekirei despite her being the actual target, was once again forced into the limelight. Higa Izumi's forces swerved around those holding them at bay and made an all-or-nothing push for the woman that they believed to be defenceless.

Takami didn't buy it. Karasuba could be given nothing but the clothes on her back and still find a way to eviscerate most things that MBI could throw at her. Hell, she wasn't even convinced that the woman was as unarmed as she claimed to be. She hadn't forgotten where that katana of hers had come from– or rather, the fact that she didn't know where it had come from.

Only… She wasn't putting up much of a fight at all now.

Sure, she was going through the motions, and Sekirei Number Sixteen, Toyotama, and Eighty-Six, Katsuragi, didn't give the Black Sekirei a moment to breathe, but if Takami didn't know any better, she'd say that the woman was being driven into a corner.

"Tsukiumi-san! Musubi-san!" her son shouted to the ones that were best equipped to reorder their priorities. "Help her!"

Strangely enough, Minato was showing more worry for the woman than Karasuba's Ashikabi himself. Either she had misjudged the man's intentions or, as she thought, something was amiss.

Something to do with that brunette, probably. Those two were still loitering without showing any clear engagement with the bedlam surrounding them.

Musubi knocked Benitsubasa to the ground while Tsukiumi pushed herself to catch up to the ones that slipped by her. With the back of a fist redirecting a staff and a jet of water slamming into a tracksuit-wearing woman's leg, the pair were able to force the two Sekirei's attention back on themselves before they could do anything to Karasuba.

For a moment, it seemed as though Minato's group had regained the upper hand. However…

"Mutsu, you–"

Kazehana's hand was on Zero Five's stomach. The man's entire upper body was littered with gashes of varying severity.

He allowed the strike to land. He immediately latched onto her wrist so that she couldn't pull away.

His Katana was stabbed into the ground. Kazehana's eyes widened, the woman having realized that he had prevented her from interfering,

"Kill her now!" the man yelled.

The wall behind Karasuba burst outward, knocking her, Musubi and Tsukiumi off balance. It was the opening that they had been waiting for.

Good Job, Mutsu.

Only, it would seem that someone else had other plans.

Before anyone could do anything, the kunoichi, who had until this point been sticking by Kakizaki, jumped out from seemingly nowhere and wrapped a length of wire around Karasuba's frame.

"No!" Minato shouted.

Karasuba wiggled her fingers a little. It was the extent to which she could currently move from the hips up.

"Oh dear," she muttered, deadpan. "It seems you've defeated me."

Amidst her incredulity, Takami bit back a scoff. What a load of horse shit.

Kakizaki calmly stepped forward and stopped in the middle of the battlefield.

"We have the upper hand now," he announced coolly. "The Black Sekirei is now in the custody of Hiyamakai Enterprises. If her Ashikabi wishes to live, I suggest that he comes along with us without putting up a fight. Otherwise, we'll have to leave him at the mercy of MBI. I doubt that he'll last very long that way, however."

The brain-type and the Sekirei belonging to Higa stepped forward with him. Karasuba was being pulled along without much of a fight.

It took a moment for everyone to realize what had just happened.

Takami took out her box of cigarettes and put one to her lips. The nicotine was the only thing that would stop her from blowing her top off right now.

"That bastard Higa never had any intention of being reasonable, huh?" she remarked matter-of-factly. They'd been betrayed. It was somewhat expected, but she would have liked to think that these morons had enough between the ears to realize that playing games with the Black Sekirei just wasn't worth it.

And yet, watching as Karasuba eyed her Ashikabi with amusement and expectation, it still felt like the Black Sekirei was the ones playing games with them, somehow.

X

Shirou-san looked like he was about to say something, but Minato stepped in front of him protectively before he could. The man was clearly upset– he knew he would be if one of his friends were taken right under his nose like that.

"Don't worry!" Minato shouted as reassuringly as he could. He did his best to not allow his tone to waver. "We'll free you, Karasuba-san!"

This was awful. If Karasuba-san had her sword then she definitely wouldn't have had an issue with those guys! It was a dirty trick, and…

It was his fault. Again, she had to protect him. Only this time, she was the one who suffered the consequences.

Across the hall from them, that tiny pink-haired Disciplinary Squad member shakily got to her feet. She gently pushed aside her Ashikabi's hand when he offered to help her stand.

"The fuck… The fuck are you people doing?!" she sputtered out between laboured breaths. "Custody? Kill the bitch! You have her right where we need her!"

The strong male Sekirei placed a hand on her shoulder before she could do anything rash.

"It seems we've been had. Save your breath."

"I'm waiting for your answer, Ashikabi," Kakizaki stated. His posture was composed and his face was stone cold. His Sekirei wordlessly regrouped behind him whilst Karasuba-san was content to survey the proceedings in complete apathy at her current predicament.

"As if!" Musubi-san yelled, meeting her fists together. "We're taking Karasuba-sama back from you guys! You won't get in the way of her love… not when it's finally within her grasp!"

While Tsukiumi-san and Kazehana-san were decidedly less enthusiastic than their partner, they still made a point of standing by her.

Kakizaki turned his head and his glasses caught the light shining through the hole in the wall.

"…So be it. Katsuragi. Chiyome. Toyotama. Kochou. Let's go."

The girl and the tracksuit and the tall one with the staff grabbed those that were less physically mobile and jumped out through the smashed wall. Musubi-san, acting before thinking, ran toward the ledge and gasped.

"They had cars waiting for them!"

Minato could hear the sound of tires screeching, and knew it was too late:

They were gone.

He gritted his teeth.

Damn it!

Was there really nothing else they could have done?

As he mulled over what could have been, the Ashikabi of the Disciplinary Squad summed up most of their thoughts pretty well.

"Well… that was unexpected. The chance of Karasuba getting away from us was always there, but I must admit, this wasn't quite what I had envisioned."

The pink-haired one had a thought that put Minato on edge.

"…Then we just go after the Ashikabi, right? That's allowed. Takami said so."

There was an immediate shift in tone. Even as Shirou-san had remained motionless, Musubi-san, Tsukiumi-san and Kazehana-san stood in front of the three humans behind them protectively.

His mom dropped her cigarette and stomped it out.

"Be reasonable, Minato. You don't have the upper hand anymore. Karasuba is gone. Emiya Shirou is an incredibly dangerous criminal. Hand him in and we can talk this over later. I'll explain everything properly."

…That wasn't really true, was it? Kazehana-san seemed perfectly fine matched up against that male Sekirei, and Musubi-san and Tsukiumi-san would only have to deal with the pink-haired one now. The other one in the bandages didn't seem to be moving.

His mom was lying. There was nothing she could do.

"Let's go!" he shouted. "We're running away!"

His mom's eyes widened.

"Wait, you–"

Before she could finish her sentence, the three Sekirei each grabbed a human by the waist and left through the same exit as Kakizaki.

"…"

The conscious MBI agents and Mutsu shared the same bitter expression.

"Fuck me," Takami ground out through a sigh.

X

Gingerly, Musubi-san lowered him to his feet at the gates of Izumo Inn. Kazehana-san and Tsukiumi-san did the same for Emiya-san and Tohsaka-san.

They were safe now.

Minato could feel his heart beating wildly in his chest. He needed to take a few seconds to calm himself down.

After a moment, he did his best to clear his throat without being too obvious about it.

He could feel the eyes of the person they'd taken lingering on him. He was a bit nervous.

"Emiya-san, right?" This would be the first proper conversation between them. "My name is Sahashi Minato. It's… nice to meet you."

He didn't really know what else he was supposed to say at a time like this.

Emiya-san stared at him as if he had a screw loose, which made him squirm. His eyes flicked to Tohsaka-san for a moment – her eyes still alight with mirth – before landing on him once more.

"Sahashi-san, then." He finally said. "Forgive me for being blunt, but why did you come?"

Minato blinked.

"Pardon?"

"I've almost been responsible for your death on a number of occasions. If anything, you should have wanted for MBI to have captured us. You said you came to help us. Why?"

Minato frowned. He wondered why everyone else had asked the same thing.

"Did you?"

"What?"

"Did you kill me?"

The ensuing silence might have been funerary were it not for the rustling of leaves in the garden within.

"... It wasn't for a lack of trying," Emiya-san finally said.

Minato disagreed, but that aside for now…

He glanced at the three companions that had come with him. None of this would have been possible without them, yet he knew that he had been asking for a lot. They had been put in harm's way for his own selfish interests, and it was for that reason that he was both thankful and aware of the fact that he couldn't say what he was about to say lightly.

Musubi-san nodded. So did Tsukiumi-san. Kazehana-san was deep in her own thoughts, but she hummed in acknowledgement regardless when he gave her a look.

It was settled, then.

"MBI… My mom might be working for them, but what they tried to do to you isn't right. The same thing goes for the people that took Karasuba-san."

"Do you know that for a fact?" Emiya-san countered almost instantly.

"You and Karasuba-san deserve to be happy!" Musubi-san shouted. The man seemed caught off guard by her enthusiasm but she had the right idea. "Getting into fights is fine, but standing in the way of love is just wrong!"

Emiya-san could only offer the girl a mild smile.

"Thank you for your kind words, then."

Minato exhaled.

"Please, let us help you rescue Karasuba-san!" he proposed.

Emiya-san was genuinely caught by surprise.

"I don't–" he paused and shook his head. "No. You saved me. You did enough, didn't you? It's in your best interest for me to leave now."

"There's no reason why we can't save everyone!" Minato countered fervently.

Emiya tensed.

He refused to look away from Emiya-san's unflinching - suddenly frozen - gaze. Admittedly, his odd, silver eyes made it a bit difficult but he stood his ground regardless. Somehow it would have felt like backing down, otherwise.

For whatever reason, Tohsaka san burst out in laughter. Was it some sort of inside joke that he had missed? Maybe not. Emiya-san didn't seem to have any outward reaction to anything he said.

No one could help but direct their attention to the woman.

Realizing what she had done, she brought her fingers to her lips daintily.

Her movements were exaggerated. Mocking, even.

"Ah, sorry, sorry. Dear me, my apologies. Please, pay me no mind. But yes, the question remains… you'll let us help you, won't you, Emiya-kun?"

And at that, Shirou-san returned his attention back to their other guest, and they stared at each other without another word being uttered.

Tohsaka-san had called him an acquaintance. And then she'd gone on to describe him as a detestable person. A rabid mutt. A husk of a human being.

And yet…

Her final utterance of his name could only be described as… familiar? Indulgent?

Once again, Minato had the sinking feeling that the relationship between the two wasn't as simple as he would have liked it to be.