Fear the Superhero

by xolef225

Karasuba never had any intention of finding her "Destined One"; to spill blood, any Ashikabi would do. With that said, she was never supposed to meet a genocidal maniac as sick and twisted as Emiya Shirou. Maybe romance wasn't dead after all.

21. High Jump

X

"What the heck, Mom!?"

"Trust me, Yukari. It's for your own good. Just calm down, okay?"

"Calm down? What do you mean 'calm down'? You had your guys arrest me!"

Moving the phone away from her ear for a second, Takami sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She took a second or two to recompose herself.

"They didn't 'arrest' you. They're not cops."

"I definitely felt arrested!"

"There was some dangerous stuff going on in the area you just so happened to be in. I just wanted to make sure you were kept safe." At this, her voice took a hard edge. "It's not like you had anything in particular to do there, right?"

"...Haha… uhm… yeah! That's right… yeah. You're right, Mom. I'll talk to you later, 'kay? Bye!"

Her wayward daughter dropped the line the moment she suspected that her mother was on to her.

Figures.

Listlessly, she shuffled through the reports on her desk that piled up leading up to this moment.

Sekirei one-oh-seven, Shiina. Winged by Sahashi Yukari.

Of course you wouldn't be able to hide something like this from me you stupid girl.

Takami hadn't brought it up yet if only because she didn't know how to broach the subject; the implications were complicated, to say the least, considering her position at MBI.

She was an idiot to think that girl would be able to stay out of trouble. She could admit that much was on her as a parent. The danger posed by the Sekirei plan was no laughing matter, however.

It was bad enough that Minato had to be brought into this, but unfortunately, Minaka made sure that was out of her control.

Besides, it was too late for her to pretend to be a good mother now.

A good mother would have never allowed her job to get in the way of keeping her children safe. A good mother would have picked him up at the first sign of danger and shipped him off to his grandparents.

"It's too late for that now" was what she kept telling herself, but it was a load of horseshit, wasn't it? She could do just that right now if she really wanted. With Minato and Yukari both.

Sekirei zero-seven, Homura. Winged by Sahashi Minato.

Homura's winging was a shitshow. She knew the man: it was always going to be a shitshow. The number of men MBI had to mobilize to keep everything running smoothly behind the scenes was just plain ludicrous and even then it was a small miracle that no Ashikabi bit the dust.

Of course it would be Minato who wings that unreasonable jackass.

She thought that she could look past her son being an Ashikabi if she could convince herself that there was no other option, but how was she supposed to predict this? Six incredibly powerful Sekirei? Sleeping under Miya's roof? There was no safety in being called the Ashikabi of the North.

She wouldn't even get started on whatever the fuck he was thinking hanging out with Karasuba's boy toy. Did he forget the part where the man was trying to kill him!?

Her son was special, but not in a good way. It was very much a bad, "stop doing stupid shit" way. She didn't know if it was the influence of the people around him, if he was just like that or what, but it drove her up the wall.

And it made her worry.

She picked Yukari up by the scruff of the neck and got her where she wanted her. She could do the same for Minato, couldn't she?

"..."

What an awful hypocrite she was.

"I need a smoke."

No one was in her office to hear her disgruntled moanings. Takami grabbed a pack and headed for the door.

She wanted a little while to clear her head. If someone needed something from her in the time that she was gone then they could just shove it.

X

"The way that you Sekirei love is rotten. Can you even call it love at all? Who can say that anyone actually wants this if their feelings don't matter after the fact?... Yeah. Karasuba?... I love you too… I'll come pick you up soon, then."

Uzume was being conscious not to breathe too loudly out of fear that the man she was kind-of-sort-of spying on had super good ears.

…She wasn't trying to spy on him! It kind of just… happened. He was taking longer than she thought he would so she came to get him. She didn't expect him to be on the phone, let alone with Karasuba! Were they keeping in touch this whole time? How were they managing that?

And so she was stuck in the awkward position of either waiting for him to finish or just coming back later.

And well… yeah.

What did he mean by "pick her up soon"? No way that he was gonna—

Emiya Shirou got to his feet and started walking away. It was the wrong way.

"Wait!" she exclaimed without thinking. He stopped in his tracks and looked over his shoulder.

"Uzume-san?"

For a moment, she struggled to figure out what she was going to say.

"...We're just, uh… I noticed you were taking a while! I came to get you so that we can all head back together." His silence threw her off. She had to keep talking. "You're not… going after Karasuba alone, are you?"

"..."

He still wouldn't say anything. Her fears were confirmed.

"This is not something that you can solve alone, Shirou!" she all but yelled. She was frantic. "What do you think you're gonna do against a guy with—who knows how many Sekirei? On his home court, to boot? Be more reasonable. I'm sure Minato—"

"I am aware Minato said he would help."

"Then why—"

"There's no reason for me to drag him into this."

"..."

This guy was really going to get himself killed, wasn't he?

They weren't super close. Hell, until the other day, she was convinced that she hated his guts. With that said, though, she did know that he was a pretty decent guy and she didn't want to see him throwing his life away when she could help him see reason.

He turned back around. It was clear that he was about to walk away and leave their discussion as it was.

"I get how you feel, you know?" Uzume muttered, mulling over her own words. Shirou stopped again. "I'm in the same position as you are."

Shirou blinked. "Forgive me, but I very much doubt that."

"He's got—! It happened to me too. Higa's got me by the short hairs and there's nothing that I can do."

She could make out the confused look on his face.

"You mentioned your Ashikabi being at a hospital," he remarked. "Is that what you meant?"

Uzume wore a complicated expression.

"Yeah, I guess." The less she talked about Chiho, the better. "For the last while, Higa has been holding my Ashikabi over my head." She took a deep breath. Shirou allowed her a moment. "I'm his agent. He's been using me to do his bidding. Even now, what I do and to whom could be taken out of my hands in an instant. It's what he wants to do with Karasuba, I think."

Shirou had the decency to look surprised.

"I… didn't know," he responded lamely.

He didn't seem angry. Or betrayed. Or anything, really. She could suppose that was a good sign. It was a stupid idea to be saying all of this but if Shirou was right and Minato did say he was going to help then it wasn't like confrontation could be avoided anyway. She could figure out a way to continue Chiho's treatment when the time came; the immediate concern was making sure that her girl didn't get caught up in the middle of this and picking a side was the only way to do it.

"Higa is… ruthless. You coming to him is exactly what he wants. He'll capture you and force Karasuba to become another one of his toys, just like me."

"...It's better if I go alone."

Did he not hear what she—

"You're human!" she stressed. "I'm a Sekirei—stronger than any human—and look where that got me. Nowhere! Please. Is there a reason you won't do this the smart way?"

"..."

"If—"

"Sorry."

He abruptly spun on his heel and turned a corner. By the time Uzume caught on and chased him, he was out of sight.

She sprinted after him with the knowledge that she could catch him in an instant—

Where was he?

He had completely disappeared. How?

She scaled the nearest building and tried her best to spot movement nearby. Nothing.

Damn it!

I'm not gonna let your stupid decisions be the reason why my Ashikabi doesn't make it out of this in one piece!

X

"Don't you get too cozy with my husband, you hussy."

"Hussy!?"

"Yay! Kagari-san is okay! Does Minato-san like boys?"

"You've come to your senses. I'm glad, Homura."

Minato watched his Sekirei argue amongst themselves with a big smile splitting his face. This all could have gone so badly. Homura could have died. Another Ashikabi could have gotten to him first and made a bad situation even worse; they made it out just fine, he thought. It was all thanks to Musubi-san, Tsukiumi-san, Kazehana-san and Shirou-san.

He… felt bad about the whole thing, still. There was no way around that. Kagari—Homura-san made his wishes perfectly clear, but even still…

"I'm sitting next to Minato at dinner tonight!"

"Okay. I'll bathe with him, then!"

"Wha—no one gets to bathe with him!"

"Hm? I've done it before, but—"

"That doesn't count, Homura! You stay out of this!"

Yes. This was without a doubt the best possible outcome. He wasn't wrong to be selfish.

"Minato!"

Hm?

He and everyone else stopped whatever they were doing and turned to Uzume-san, who had just shown up totally out of breath. She looked like she sprinted here or something!

"Uzume-san? Is something—"

"Shirou just took off toward Higa's hospital on his own. You said that you'd help him, right?"

Her panic was quickly transferred over to him. Him and everyone else.

Homura-san froze. Tsukiumi-san, who was throwing all her weight against the Sekirei, lost her balance and fell forward.

"Wha—" his newest Sekirei stuttered.

Kazehana clicked her tongue but didn't say anything.

Musubi-san ran up to him and grabbed him by the shoulders, rattling him a little.

"Minato-san! We have to do something! What if something happens to Karasuba-sama's Destined One?"

He was silent for a second. Everything was happening so quickly… what was that about Emiya—

"Emiya-san!?" he squawked. "Uzume-san. Please tell me what happened!"

She shook her head.

"We don't have time for that. I can't let him get there on his own and do something stupid for my own reasons. How about you?"

Me?

He… felt bad. It was decidedly a bad feeling when someone you offered a hand to just blew you off like that. There were lots of questions going through his mind at that moment. Why he did it, most notably. Did he feel like Minato just wasn't good enough? That he was too inexperienced? That he was just a kid? What about the others?

Beyond that, however…

"Yeah!" he agreed quickly. "We gotta get to him first!"

He thought about it for a moment.

"Uh… I'm happy that you came to me about this but if you couldn't catch him then, how—" his eyes widened and he pulled out his cellphone.

"...Matsu-san!" he quickly shouted into the speaker once he could make out someone picking up the line. "Can you track—"

"Emiya? Of course I can. I have the GPS signal of his phone locked in right now."

He stuttered. He didn't expect her to catch on so quickly.

"E-eh? How do you—"

"I'm always listening, silly!"

That was… mildly concerning to think about but right now that was really convenient!

"That's great!" he cheered. While they weren't privy to the conversation, everyone around him took his exclamation as a positive sign. "Do you think we'll be able to get to him in time?"

"..."

"Matsu?"

"Minato. You know how I feel about Karasuba and that man—"

"But—!"

"—but even so, please believe that I'm being truthful when I say that I don't think any of you would be able to catch up to him in time. I don't know how he's doing it, but he's moving very quickly. My guess would be a car, but even then that wouldn't explain how he's seemingly avoiding traffic without any issues. If I had access to a satellite that would be one thing, but—"

"Can you call his phone?"

"Huh?"

"Can you try to get him on this call?" he clarified.

"Wha—I mean, I can try but I don't see how that would help any. If your past efforts are any indication, it doesn't seem like he's the type to be easily swayed by words."

He didn't let that get to him. She was probably right.

"Please, Matsu."

"...I can try."

"Thank you."

Everyone was looking at him with consternated expressions, clearly wondering what was going on. He was just as worried as the phone started ringing, waiting for a line connecting Emiya-san to him and Matsu-san.

He heard a click.

"E-Emiya-san!" he spat out, caught off guard. A part of him expected the man to ignore them.

Homura-san and Uzume-san's very visible displays of surprise were a good reflection of that.

"...Sahashi Minato."

"I thought we had a deal!" was the first thing that came to mind.

"Look. I'm just doing what I think is best. Please don't worry about me."

"It's not just about you," Matsu-san interjected. "There are twenty Sekirei currently occupying that building, most of them working for Higa involuntarily as their Ashikabi is held hostage. You make the wrong move and they're all done for. You understand that's a big number, don't you? There's nothing that you can do against such forces to begin with."

"..."

Emiya-san must not have been expecting Matsu-san's interjection, either because it was sudden or simply because he didn't know that she was on the line in the first place. Regardless, it gave him pause which was a good thing.

…Hold on. That's right! Matsu's warning reminded him; he knew what Emiya-san might want.

"You wanted information, right? Matsu-san has it. If you agree to hold on until we can think of a better plan, I promise I'll get her to give you access to MBI's participant file list."

Matsu-san gasped loudly.

"Minato! No!"

"I don't think your partner is willing to make that trade, Sahashi-san."

"Please, Matsu. Trust me on this one."

What harm could it cause? Matsu-san gave him info on the other Sekirei and Ashikabi whenever they needed it, so it wasn't like he didn't understand that it was useful, but that didn't mean that it was some sort of ticking time bomb that would ruin them all if it landed in the wrong hands and he didn't know why Matsu-san was acting like it was.

There were other brain-type Sekirei who could probably manage to do the same thing—the one working for Higa, for example—but information wasn't the end-all-be-all that all those TV shows and military documentaries made it out to be. Sekirei were different. They were literally superhuman. You could read anything and everything about a Sekirei but you still wouldn't be ready to fight it or know what it was truly capable of until it came down to it.

At the absolute worst, it would level the playing field. If this could help him iron out a truce—maybe even more—with Emiya-san and Karasuba-san, then it was absolutely worth it.

"Minato… I don't know…"

She wasn't going to see things his way and he just did not have the time to change her mind.

"Matsu! We need to do this!" he snapped.

"O-okay… I… I trust you, Minato."

Matsu-san's voice was very small. She sounded incredibly vulnerable. He… he would make it up to her later, he promised himself.

"Thank you."

"..."

I could only wait to see how Emiya-san would react. Was he even still on the line?

"...Okay." said Emiya-san. "Your Sekirei knows where I am. I'll wait here for you."

It was like a weight was lifted from Minato's chest.

"Thank you! For hearing us out. We'll be right there."

There was the sound of a dropped line. Emiya-san hung up.

"...And thank you, Matsu-san."

"Mhm," she mumbled. For a moment, Minato was worried that he had upset her when he raised his voice. "I'll send you his location by text. Stay safe, okay? Mwah!"

The call dropped. Minato smiled.

"He'll hear us out!" he announced.

Musubi-san cheered the loudest but he was confident that everyone else felt the same way, more or less.

Except for Homura-san.

Homura-san looked perplexed.

"Emiya Shirou… Karasuba's Ashikabi? I don't understand, Minato. I know that Karasuba's in a tough spot right now but why are you and Uzume so dead-set on helping them out? You don't know the guy. Not well enough to do… this. Neither one of them is an innocent bystander that you have to protect."

Kazehana-san slapped the Sekirei on the back.

"Et tu? Where would you be right now if Ashikabi-kun didn't act the way he did?"

Her rhetoric was met with scrunched brows and a tight face.

"That's not—"

"If you need to start looking for reasons to help people then something isn't right," Minato answered clearly. Homura-san's rebuttal was stopped in its tracks.

For a moment, they just stared at each other silently.

Finally, the sekirei huffed.

"...I guess you're right."

Minato grinned.

X

"So?" Sahashi Minato asked him cautiously. "What do you think?"

Shirou didn't answer right away. He stood in front of the kid, stone-faced, as he scrolled through the new-found information on his phone, saving it all directly onto the device as he went along.

It was incredible.

Names. Addresses. Dates. Occupations. Abilities. Anything he would need or even want to know about the competitors of the Sekirei plan was all here. On top of the information on those that had already been eliminated, all forty-four Ashikabi and sixty-one Sekirei were quite literally in the palm of his hand.

"You said there were twenty Sekirei working for Higa right now? That's almost a quarter of the remaining competition; I can't imagine there are that many sickly Ashikabi for him to blackmail."

"The hospital is just one of many means to an end," Uzume answered grimly. She stood off to the side with her arms crossed. "Gambling debts, familial obligations, you name it. He's got the connections to grab damn near everyone on the board by the collar, time permitting, and don't forget the odd Ashikabi with multiple partners, our present company included."

Minato scratched his head sheepishly.

"And you're telling me they're all at the hospital right now?" he clarified.

Minato nodded.

"Matsu-san said that every Sekirei has a tracker; you can see that in their files. All the ones working for Higa are bunched up in one place."

Shirou quickly tested out that bit of information by clicking on a random data entry.

So it would seem.

Uzume had her own input to add.

"It's probable that he's expecting Minato and his Sekirei to be backing you. Homura, Nee-chan and Tsukiumi are all incredibly powerful single digits and Matsu is a brain-type. That's not even mentioning Musubi. He's smart enough to know that putting all of his eggs in one basket is the only way for him to keep the edge here."

Minato shifted his weight from side to side, clearly affected by his own nerves.

"Were we able to change your mind, Emiya-san?" he asked.

His original plan wouldn't work.

No, more than that, with what he now knew he could say with absolute certainty that it wasn't even an ideal course of action. He wouldn't need to break into the hospital. He wouldn't have to sneak around under their noses and pick at them slowly. He wouldn't have to go on a wild goose chase tracking down number twenty-two while they were hyper-fixated on Karasuba.

It was all clear to him now.

"Yes, Minato. This changes everything."

"That's great!" The boy cheered. His Sekirei looked pleased with themselves. Or at least, most of them did. The fire Sekirei still held onto a tight expression.

"So, you got a plan?" Uzume asked. She was looking at Minato expectantly.

He looked surprised.

"You're going to help us?"

She glanced at Shirou and offered a tiny smile.

"I might as well. I said I had my own reasons, didn't I?"

"That's wonderful!" Musubi exclaimed. "We'll be able to rescue Karasuba-sama that much quicker!"

Minato looked pumped up.

"I spoke with Matsu-san about this, actually," he mentioned. "I'll call her now. I think she mentioned that she'd be able to get ahold of their security systems…"

Shirou was silent but remained attentive. He did his best to listen to what they were saying as they ran through and ironed out their plan of action, only agreeing whenever they asked for his own input.

It was a good plan, in theory. In practice too, most likely. Really, assuming they were correctly judging their own strengths and weaknesses, there was little that he would change assuming the objective was as they presented it. The brain-type was meticulous and made sure to account for as many things as possible.

His polite smile melted into something a little more melancholic.

Almost everything.

X

Shirou suspected that the opposition would have machinations of their own, but he couldn't say that he expected Higa to have his secretary standing guard at the entrance of the building. There were only two Sekirei of his own in sight; did he expect to be able to push back Sahashi Minato's show of force with just that?

Obviously not, he decided. His purpose for being here was something beyond a physical defence.

Nonetheless, the white-haired man eyed the pair like a hawk. How many of the other eighteen were out here too? How many were left inside?

Kakizaki seemed calm. He adjusted his glasses languidly.

The boy, Minato, stood confidently; Kazehana, Homura, Musubi and Tsukiumi were at his back.

"We're here to rescue Karasuba," Minato declared.

"Well, you're certainly free to try," Kakizaki answered right away. "What are you waiting for? Go on in; I won't stop you."

Well… there it was.

Shirou stared back impassively while his supporters stood by with uneasy postures. The bespectacled man showed them a look of mock surprise.

"Oh? Is there something wrong? You aren't afraid of inconveniencing the unaware residents of this hospital, are you? Why, I'm sure you understand that casualties are just the cost of doing business."

"We would never harm innocent people!" Minato shot back. Shirou was impressed by his new-found confidence; a really strong wind must have caught his sails.

"Then you simply don't want her back badly enough."

The accusation evidently got under the kid's skin. Still, his head was screwed on tightly enough to remember that the words were little more than just that.

"We won't harm innocent people because we don't have to harm innocent people."

As if spurred into action by some sort of signal—Shirou knew that wasn't the case; it must have been some degree of intuition on the girl's part—Musubi sprung forward. It was a testament to her own strength that it took both of Kakizaki's bodyguards to hold her back.

The desired effect was achieved nonetheless; Kakizaki had no one on hand to stop the rest of the group from moving as it pleased.

Of course, the man remained unhurried. Unpanicked.

"Higa-sama is with the chained Zero-Four on the highest floor of this building. Four Sekirei are with him and two Sekirei are stationed on every floor leading up to them. You're not fighting your way through that. I don't care how strong you think you are, Sahashi; if you hold back for the sake of patients and staff, your efforts won't be enough. The moment this became a moral dilemma for you, you lost."

That's eighteen.

Minato's Sekirei looked disgusted by the man, but even now, they remained silent.

"That's awful!" Minato spoke on their behalf.

And yet, he didn't try to speak against what Kakizaki was saying. With what they had planned, he didn't have to.

"..."

"..."

The two Sekirei that Musubi was fighting pulled away to catch their breaths. The girl returned to Minato's side with a stern expression on her face. A tense, uncertain moment of silence overtook both groups.

Passive as he was until now, Shirou deemed it an opportune moment to ask a question that had been nagging at him for the past while.

"What do you gain from this, exactly?" he asked Kakizaki.

Higa's assistant looked stumped for a moment.

"What do you mean? I would think that you know better than anyone how useful Single Numbers are. Karasuba is an especially powerful specimen. With her, Higa—"

"No, I meant this," Shirou interjected, his expression still blank. "How do you plan on making her listen to you? Suppose you capture me. Do you honestly think anything you say or do to me will make a difference? If I were you I'd cut my losses and try to find a way to kill us both."

Musubi gasped. Minato and Tsukiumi stared at the white-haired man in surprise while Kazehana and Homura held consternated expressions.

Minato started to babble, unsure of his own words. Whatever confidence he held in his ability to keep control over the situation was struck down by the haunting remark that came out of left-field.

"Shi-Emiya-san, you can't—"

"We'll find a way," Kakizaki insisted, talking over the boy. "A military force like the Black Sekirei is worth it. Don't underestimate Higa-sama."

…So that's how it was. If they said so. Given a little more time alone with her, they would have caught on eventually.

Shirou smiled sheepishly at the group that he had unsettled.

"Sorry, sorry. I was just speaking in hypotheticals."

Such things weren't in the books for them anymore.

"Check your lap," Shirou blurted out not a second later.

The order that left his lips was so random and unrelated to any current subject matter that Minato couldn't help but look down out of instinct. Musubi mimicked him.

"Uh…what?"

X

Uzume's stomach was in knots as she observed the head-on confrontation from a safe distance. There was nothing that she wanted to do more than to slap that bastard across the face but it wasn't time for her to show herself.

For all Higa knew, she was still on their side—or at least, not in a position to oppose them. Chiho's safety depended on her executing her end of things to a tee.

A part of her always knew that Higa was the sort of scumbag that would be willing to sacrifice so many lives for the sake of coming out on top, but hearing it out loud was another matter entirely. It was only the knowledge that such threats could be circumvented that stopped her from jumping down there in a frenzied rage.

While Minato and Shirou took all the attention upon themselves, she would sneak in, extract Chiho and physically disable all security systems while she was in there. It was a good thing that she was here for the job; Matsu couldn't do it remotely as long as Higa still had that Brain-Type.

The hospital was a pretty simple single-tower building that had five points of entry: two side doors, two garages and, of course, the front entrance. Counter-intuitively, breaking in through the front entrance was currently the method with the highest odds of success.

The building was littered with cameras, the positions of which she knew like the back of her hand. Most of the ones inside could be evaded with her particular skill set, but doors were bottlenecks that were incredibly difficult to sneak by unnoticed. Taking out the cameras too early was a problem too; it would alert Higa to the fact that there was an intruder.

The difference between those doors and the front entrance, beyond there being a larger area to keep track of thanks to the sizable campus, was that there were currently a half-dozen aliens flinging themselves at each other.

She could do this.

Right as she was about to make her move, something in Shirou's hands caught her eye. She didn't recognize whatever it was. Did he have that on him this whole time?

She squinted.

"Is that a…?"

X

Higa was starting to think that the Black Sekirei just wasn't worth it. She wasn't right; he couldn't think of a viable way to put her in a situation in which she would behave the way he wanted her to.

So, he captures her Ashikabi, gets rid of Sahashi, and what then? Does he use the man as a hostage? He'd love to, but the more he dragged this woman into his office the more he thought that she'd be fine with letting both of them kick the bucket just because.

He ignored her smile that had somehow grown more infuriating in the short time between now and their previous 'talk' for a little longer as he continued to watch the live feed from the front of his hospital. Any second now, they would be trying to get to him. They would fail, of course—a few strong Sekirei were nothing against his twenty. His paramilitary force, while smaller than MBI's, was nothing to sneeze at either—but it was inevitable that he would lose a fair number of assets here. A substantial number, even.

All for a single Sekirei.

It truly was a strong example of the sunk cost fallacy, but he was just too tired to care anymore. Karasuba made him too tired to care anymore. A part of him truly respected her Ashikabi for being able to put up with her.

If he reached the end of this mess with all the cards falling in his favour, he wasn't sure if he would be able to do the same.

"Do you see that window behind me?" he asked her tiredly, not looking up from his screen. "What you see looking out would not be what someone else sees looking in. They're thirty thousand euro per panel, just so you know."

"..."

Her non-answer didn't bother him. He kept speaking.

"It's not possible to find my office by spying from the outside in. There is no official floor plan for this level; it's entirely private. The only way for your Ashikabi and his friends to reach us would be for them to climb all the way up and find us. Don't make this difficult. Just give up, Karasuba."

"..."

Even now, it felt like she was off in her own little world. Like she was too busy listening to someone else to give him the time of day. Somehow, this fact alone picked at his nerves more than anything.

It was fine, though. He learned to move past it.

The woman was staring down at her lap. Restrained from neck to toe as she was, there wasn't much else that she could do in terms of movement.

… Enough of this.

Higa motioned for Sekirei one-oh-one, eighteen, sixty-six and seventy-nine, all standing by in the corners, to grab her and pull her to the side. Just because he needed Karasuba in the room didn't mean that he had to keep looking at her.

Thunk.

Higa stilled. It was the sound of something solid dropping onto his carpeted floor.

His brain couldn't piece things together quickly enough but the same couldn't be said for his Sekirei. All four of them suddenly leapt at the woman as though in an effort to tackle her. Higa's instincts kicked in and he pushed himself away from his desk, the wheels on his chair allowing him to roll back until he was stopped by the wall.

Splat.

What… what just happened?

The man did his best to soak in the sight before him.

There was blood. On the floor. On his desk. On the walls.

Karasuba was standing upright. There was a sword in her hand. That had blood on it too. What happened to her restraints? Where did she get that sword? It didn't make any sense.

His eyes widened once he realized that the how didn't matter. What mattered was that he was not three paces away from her and she was armed and dangerous.

"Kaiha!" he called out to number sixty-six. "Get—"

He cut himself off as he noticed the girl's decapitated head on the ground to the side of his desk.

Slowly, his eyes tracked from right to left.

One… two… three… four headless bodies. She killed them all in the time that it took his chair to hit the wall.

Higa finally snapped out of it. Clumsily, he stumbled toward his desk and pulled a pistol out of one of the drawers. It was a painfully slow affair, his hands trembling as they were, but Karasuba didn't bother trying to stop him. She kept her patient smile and tapped the backside of her blade against her shoulder rhythmically, humouring him.

The gun was pointed at her head. Before he could pull the trigger, the top half of the pistol was sliced off by the tip of her Katana.

He dropped the useless item to the ground listlessly. His jaw was clenched as feelings of uncertainty swelled within him.

Five seconds.

It only took about five seconds for everything to get flipped on its head.

Karasuba mockingly wagged her finger in front of his face. Slowly, she picked something up off the ground—whatever had fallen to the ground just a moment ago, most likely—and circled the desk in order to stand right in front of him.

He was still as a statue as she patted him on the cheek.

"Hold on to this, will you? Hubby says we don't gotta play anymore."

…What?

She pushed whatever it was into his hand. He looked down.

X

Shirou walked up to and past Kakizaki. As promised, the black-haired man made no move to stop him and neither did his Sekirei.

He pushed up his glasses as Minato and his own flock made to follow. They all stopped in their tracks, however, when they noticed that Shirou wasn't walking toward the entrance. Instead, he stopped in front of the nearest wall and placed his hand on it.

"I am the bone of my sword."

Trace, on.

What could only be described as giant metal contraptions seemingly sprouted out of the brick and wound themselves around the entirety of the building. All the doors, all the windows, and all the vents were totally blocked off.

Being the closest to him and on edge as they were, Kakizaki's Sekirei were the first to react. They threw themselves at the man as they could only assume that he was somehow responsible.

Though they weren't exactly sure what was going on themselves, Homura and Kazehana had the experience and reaction time necessary to get in the way of an attack before they could kill Emiya Shirou. They had the two weaker Sekirei pinned to the ground in an instant.

It was only then that everyone else was given the opportunity to catch on.

Kakizaki clicked his tongue.

"Damn it. What did you do, Emiya?"

From the man's reaction, it was clear that Higa's people had nothing to do with this.

"Emiya-san?" Minato called out to him uncertainly. "How did you—"

"Explain yourself, Emiya!" Tsukiumi demanded, arms crossed. Inexperienced as she was, it was made clear by the way her eyes kept darting back and forth that she was still trying to wrap her head around what was going on.

Musubi tilted her head and turned to ask her Ashikabi a question.

"Wasn't Uzume-san supposed to sneak past everyone? Musubi is confused…"

"Shirou!?"

Uzume had blown her cover. She jumped out into the middle of the field, her posture that of a startled animal.

"What are you doing out here?" snapped Homura, still keeping the enemy in a headlock. "That's not part of the plan!"

"This wasn't part of the plan!" she yelled in response before giving Shirou her undivided attention "Do you have some other Sekirei we don't know about? There's no way for me to get in now!"

Shirou looked at her. Only her. Her heart dropped down to her stomach when she saw the look of sheer pity in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Uzume."

Slowly, her eyes widened. A sense of realization had begun to set in. That thing he was holding against his body… no one else seemed to notice, but she did.

Unfortunately, that realization came quicker to some than others.

X

It was a…

"A grenade?" Higa asked. This was a very out-of-body experience for him. Even now he didn't understand how he had landed in this position.

"You know…" she mused, "you keep taking me out of the cell, putting me back in, in and out, in and out… Shirou-kun has placed all kinds of bombs all over the place by now. I didn't think we'd be doing things this way but I was given this one just now. So… here ya go."

Whatever Higa would have liked to say was put on hold as a loud screeching noise could be heard coming from outside. That distraction was put to an end as Karasuba pulled his head back toward her by his chin.

She patted him on the cheek one last time.

"That's my ride," she explained sotto voce.

The woman swiped the grenade out of his hand, pulling the pin and dropping it down his shirt.

It was as though the metallic click caused his mind to catch up with the entirety of what had just transpired. His eyes widened and he whipped his head around.

"KARASU—"

X

BOOM!

A series of vicious explosions ran through the hospital from top to bottom. The blast was so strong and unexpected that Kakizaki and Minato were blown off their feet. Their Sekirei had to keep them upright.

The air pressure at Shirou's back blew his suit jacket open and ruffled his hair, but he remained steady on his feet with his thumb on the switch. Knowing what he had done, he refused to drop eye contact with Uzume.

She stumbled toward him, the rage in her eyes slowly making way for emptiness with every step. He knew that she would want to curse him out if she could.

Her body was trembling as she fought against the inevitable. Her hands were raised to grab his neck but all she was able to do was hang onto his jacket as she fell forward. He caught her knowing that she had nothing left to put up any resistance.

Her dying breath was nothing more than a nonverbal wheeze. What should have been a painless ordeal—likened to a puppet with its strings cut—was dragged out by anguish and resentment.

He smiled down at her kindly and lowered her body to the ground.

No one—not even Kakizaki—could do more than to stare at him with expressions that demonstrated a clear lack of understanding of the current situation. It took a little longer for feelings of abject horror settled in with Minato, Kazehana, Homura, Tsukiumi and Musubi.

"Mina…. Minato? Minato! Can you h… me?" Matsu's voice came from the boy's pocket. The transmission was of poor quality—was it being interfered with?—but it was loud enough to be heard by all. "I can't see what's happening, so speak to me! A bunch of Sekirei j… got wiped off… radar all at once! If…"

Her voice got cut off entirely. In their current states, however, the lack of reaction made it seem as though Matsu had not tried to make contact at all.

Through the wild crackling of smouldering flames, the shrieking of bending metal could be heard from one of the top floors.

A chunk of the mysterious structure growing out of the walls fell to the paved road below with a large crash. Smoke billowed out of the broken window as a figure emerged.

Minato tilted his head up to see Karasuba. The horrified expression on his face brought a smile to hers.

Whatever clothes the woman was wearing were in burnt tatters. Her hair was a matted mess. Soot was smeared across her face.

She locked on to Shirou and jumped. The man's eyes widened and he braced himself as he was forced to catch her once she jumped into his arms from an extreme elevation. He would have been crushed if it weren't for him reinforcing his body.

"Oomf—mm!"

She smushed his cheeks together and just looked at him. Her expression was soft.

"What kept you?" She had the audacity to ask.

Fingers clamping his cheeks together, it was all the man could do but raise an unamused brow in response.

"Hey…" Minato mumbled, breaking the silence. "We… came here to help you, right? We came to rescue you, right? Emiya-san… you just killed a lot of people, you know? Uzume-san… I think Uzume-san is dead…"

Languidly, Karasuba removed herself from her Ashikabi. She chuckled.

"Maybe she's just tired."

"KARASUBA!"

Kazehana was the first one to snap. Tears swelled in her eyes as she threw blades of wind at her enemy with careless abandon.

The air was cut with a single swing of Karasuba's sword. She leapt at the woman and brought the blade down to take her head; it was only Kazehana blasting as much wind out of her hands as she could before catching it that kept her alive beyond that.

"You've always been an evil bitch," Kazehana snarled, her calm and easygoing demeanour falling apart. "Always will be, too. It makes sense that your Ashikabi is just as much of a scumbag as you are."

"It does, doesn't it?" the grey-haired woman agreed easily. The sword pressed deeper into Kazehana's hand. The wind current, unimaginably powerful as it was, was still having a tough time fighting against it; the blade had already cut halfway through her palm.

Kazehana pushed herself away but little time was spared before Tsukiumi and Musubi tried their hands at a frontal assault.

One that Karasuba had an easy time holding at bay..

"Karasuba-sama!" Musubi shouted as she weaved around lazy sword swings and tried her best to throw a few counters. "All the love that those people had…" another failed punch. "It's gone now!"

Karasuba dropped her sword, surprising them both. She grabbed the blonde by her hair and swung her into the pugilist like a flail. They were both sent toppling back, though they were caught by streams of wind courtesy of Kazehana.

"How is it my problem that you didn't stop us?"

As the taunt left her lips, a burning figure rushed her. She smirked, expecting Homura to try his hand, but her eyes widened as the Sekirei ignored her completely and beelined toward her Ashikabi.

"That sniper at the hotel," the Sekirei spat, literally ablaze with righteous fury, "it was you too, wasn't it?!"

Shirou could see the fury in Homura's eyes.

A sense of betrayal.

Embarrassment.

Mourning.

But none as strong as the anger.

"Trace, on!"

The assailant didn't have time to move out of the way before slamming into some sort of… barrier.

It was almost the same as the strange metal that was on the building, but now that Homura was face-to-face with it, it actually looked like…

"Swords?"

Countless tiny swords. So small that they could pass for a sea of mass-produced trinkets but they just looked so real.

Minato's four Sekirei reconvened in a protective formation in front of their Ashikabi.

The boy was still on his knees, preferring to stare emptily at the giant pyre than the enemies before him. His head wasn't in it.

Kazehana clicked her tongue.

"I'm sure of it. Emiya has another Sekirei hiding—"

"Nuh-uh! I'm the only one!"

Karasuba brandished her sword and the other four took it as a signal to attack once more. None of them had the luxury of being able to think about how it was that she was holding the thing, considering the fact that she had dropped it just a moment ago.

They did their best to work as a team; Tsukiumi and Kazehana pelted the Black Sekirei from a distance while Homura and Musubi did their best to make the woman uncomfortable in close quarters with powerful strikes and blistering flames.

Shirou wasn't even paying attention to them. The man was scrolling through the data list on his phone.

…All twenty Sekirei were taken care of. He would have to wait for the next day's news to determine whether their Ashikabi were on the scene or somewhere else entirely. A problem for another time, however.

His eyes tracked to the two collapsed Sekirei that had accompanied Kakizaki.

Higa was taken care of. That much was beyond doubt. Their Ashikabi died—and they along with him—but Kakizaki was 's last remaining employee had done a runner.

"Karasuba," he called out. "We need to wrap things up and grab Kakizaki before he gets too far.

"Who?" she asked, throwing her head to the side in order to avoid having it fried to a crisp.

"The man with the glasses who was just here."

"Oh. I'll be right back, then. Hold on."

The aura surrounding the woman shifted. A feeling of intense trepidation swelled within her four opponents.

"Minato!" Musubi shouted, trying to get her Ashikabi's attention. "We should do the Norito! Quickly!"

It was no use. The boy didn't react. Even still, it wouldn't have made a difference.

It was like a switch had been flipped. Sekirei Zero Three, Zero Six, Zero Nine and Eighty-Eight were all kept on their back heel by a single opponent.

"Ha!" Musubi exhaled. Her expression wild, a fist was thrown harder—faster—than ever before. Hyperfocus brought her a moment of clarity; she could have sworn that she saw an opening in Karasuba's next strike.

Until that strike came from two completely different directions at once.

"Ghka!"

An ugly, pained exclamation left her lips as Karasuba nearly cut her in half.

"Musubi!" Tsukiumi screamed.

The other three allowed their worries to get the better of them. Caught off guard, they weren't able to do anything before Karasuba grabbed Homura by the face, covering Zero Six's mouth with the palm of her hand.

Homura let out a muffled, panicked scream. A blast of fire was instinctively released but Karasuba ignored the flames eating her arm and hurtled her captive straight into the wind Sekirei.

"Shit!" Kazehana cursed. She threw a blast of wind at Homura in an attempt to slow something down but instead, all she managed to accomplish was fanning the flames. She was forced to jump out of the way and allow her partner to shoot past her while enveloped by a giant fireball.

"Homura! Are-are you okay?" she called out with an unwanted stutter.

"What's wrong, Kazehana-chan? You seem nervous."

Cold sweats dripped down Kazehana's back. She was strong. A former Disciplinary Squad member with more experience than most Sekirei combined. Even so, as she glared at Karasuba who was nudging Tsukiumi's immobile body with her foot, she couldn't help but feel like she didn't know what to do.

"You… You weren't this strong before. Those swords are all you, aren't they?"

Karasuba hummed.

"I don't feel like telling you?" was her playful answer. "Maybe it's the power of love!"

Kazehana heard a squelch before she felt the pain in her gut.

Her body began trembling more and more. Slowly, she looked down. A katana was in her stomach. Karasuba's hand was attached to that katana.

Karasuba tapped her on the nose before shoving her off the blade and allowing her to crumple onto the ground.

"I gotta keep the lot of you alive a little bit longer, so I went easier on you. I'm sure you'll be fine. Just sleep it off or something."

She admired her work for a moment, about-faced, and walked away.

"I'll be right back~" she singsonged before taking off with a pep in her step.

"..."

Shirou observed the sight before him. He was certain that Minato still hadn't come to his senses; he hadn't yet reacted to his four Sekirei strewn about around him.

He walked up to the boy.

"...Are you going to kill me now, Emiya-san?"

"No, not yet."

The boy tilted his head up. Tears of frustration trickled down his cheeks.

"And why is that?" he choked out, his volume barely louder than a whisper.

"...Sorry," was all that Shirou could offer him. His tone and expression were sympathetic. "I don't have an explanation to give you."

"Why!" Minato hissed forcefully. Resentfully. "I… I put my faith in you! I trusted you when Mtasu-san and the others told me not to! Now… now Homura… Kazehana… Tsukiumi… Musubi…!"

"They're not dead, you know. Karasuba was very careful."

"Uzume is dead! And that's not the point and you know it!" He shouted, voice wracked with sobs as he shuddered in grief.

"I just want to know, Emiya-san, how could you do this!? Why would you even want to do this? Do you have any idea how many people—innocent people—are dead because of you? So many of them… were my… friends…"

Minato hiccuped. Shirou's understanding smile turned mournful.

"I know. They didn't deserve it."

"Then—!"

"It's just the way it has to be. You're young, Minato. Naive. You don't understand the evil that could come of allowing such an unhinged 'game' to continue as is."

"Sekirei aren't evil!" the boy screamed. "They want love! Kindness! They only fight because some asshole is making them fight! Can't you see that if we… if we just dismantled MBI's Sekirei plan, no one would have had to die!?"

"Mm. You're probably right," Shirou agreed.

The ease in which the older man acquiesced to his outburst caught Minato off guard.

The white-haired man could practically see the gears turning in the younger one's head.

"I… I don't understand you at all, Emiya-san. Nothing you're saying and doing makes any sense."

Before Shirou could reply, his ear twitched. His attention was stolen by a glowing light emanating from Musubi's gravely injured body.

Minato stared at her incredulously, daring to hope.

"Mu… su… bi?"

Slowly, the girl rose to her feet.

There was something… different about her. The wound on her stomach somehow seemed less severe than it did before.

The intensity in her gaze was not like Musubi at all.

Even Shirou, who knew very little about the girl, could tell that there was something not right about her right now. Karasuba had made a concerted effort to not outright kill any of Sahashi Minato's Sekirei, but even still, none of them should have been able to move around like this.

"Emiya Shirou," Musubi called out to him confidently. Her expression was stern; the way that she said his name made it sound like she was mulling over how each letter felt at the tip of her tongue. It was quite judgemental, in a way.

"Who are you?" he had to ask.

"I am…"

An aura surrounded her. It wasn't quite magical energy; it was visible to the naked eye.

"Number Zero Eight!"

Minato looked just as confused as he was. Shirou's circuits blared to life—

She shook her head.

"You're not the one that I need to fight, Emiya-san."

"...Pardon?"

The Sekirei wasn't looking at him anymore. She was looking past him.

The man didn't have to wonder who it was that she was referring to for much longer. He felt her before he saw her: Karasuba had blitzed back from wherever and however far away she was.

His Sekirei slowed to a grinding halt beside him. Monohoshi Zao's edge was stained with fresh blood, likely as a result of her having found Kakizaki.

She looked dead serious. None of the sardonicism or flippancy that he had grown used to could be heard.

"Yume…" Karasuba uttered under her breath.

X

The Black Sekirei had dreamed of this moment for years. She dreamed of the words they'd exchange, the smiles, the precise crossing of blades and fists, but even she had to admit she never imagined it happening quite like this.

Their reunion was sudden; the surrealness of the situation made it such that she didn't even know how she felt about it.

Was it too soon?

Was this really the "big defining moment"?

Nonetheless, Karasuba soaked in Yume's form.

…Well, it was still Musubi's form, technically. Even so, it was clearly Yume. The way that she held herself. The way that she looked at her.

Belatedly, she forced her usual pleasantness across her face.

Or at least, she tried to. Her lips didn't so much as twitch.

She was here this whole time. Inside of Musubi.

How did this make her feel? Really, she didn't know.

She expected to feel…

…

What was she expecting? Anger? Resentment? Satisfaction, maybe?

Her Ashikabi took a single step back. It wasn't much, but she knew what it meant.

He would stay out of this.

She was grateful.

Her mouth opened, but no words came out.

Again.

Again.

"..."

What did she want to say? Was there anything that needed to be said? Of course there was. She was just drawing a blank. That was all.

Her hand gripped the handle of her sword so tightly that she could feel the ray skin warping under the silk rope.

Yume was looking at her—through her, from her eyes to the back of her skull. Into her. As though trying to pick apart a puzzle.

She was still trying to phrase the suddenly absent whirlwind of feelings in her mind when Yume finally spoke.

"Is this your love, Karasuba?"

A smile clawed its way back onto her lips. It was genuine.

"Yes."

A fist was thrown at her face.

If Musubi's was a mallet then Yume's was a wrecking ball. Even as she lifted Monohoshi Zao, her Ashikabi's strange magical weapon, to protect herself, the impact sent tremors down her arms.

This was the first person to ever make her acknowledge them as an equal.

After the first one, soon came another. And another. Yume was just as swift as she was powerful; Karasuba couldn't remember the last time a Sekirei made her throw her weapon all over the place like this.

The calm and caring Yume that she remembered wasn't here right now. Karasuba must have dragged this new Yume out. One whose eyes were burning with a different kind of conviction.

"This man, your Ashikabi…" Yume slapped a sword swing out of the way. "Is the one closest to you truly someone who'd toss you to the side so carelessly?"

Karasuba had to allow her muscle memory to carry herself through the next few movements as she tried to figure out what it was that Yume was referring to.

…The explosion? At that time, he…

She smirked.

"Do you think he threw me away?"

Yume's eyes widened. She was about to catch a blade to the side of the neck but she was agile enough to smack it away from her with the back of her hand.

"He wishes it was that simple." she continued. The sword came back around. This time, it wasn't something that Yume could so easily redirect. She had to dodge, and even then, she barely made it out of Karasuba's reach in time. "But it doesn't matter what he wishes. It doesn't matter that neither one of us wanted this. He can't get rid of me even if he wanted to."

She swung and the ensuing shockwave was enough to move Yume back a few paces, fists crossed in front of her face. Karasuba raised her sword, pointing it straight towards her opponent.

"It's all right." She smiled. "Because I don't need to be saved."

X

Though the words were directed at Yume, Shirou was the one who felt them the most.

"Don't worry… I won't die no matter what you do, no matter how much you want me to drop dead.

"I want you to suffer; I want you to despair, but know that I won't let you make me the cause of your pain."

She said something like that, didn't she? The first time they fought. Or was it the second?

There was no "plan" to get Karasuba out of the building. She didn't ask for one and he simply trusted that she would be able to fend for herself.

That didn't make sense, in retrospect. The plan would absolutely kill everyone in that building by design, and yet because she didn't seem worried, neither was he. The moral dilemma never even occurred to him.

The calculations only included the lives of the people in the hospital against the lives of everyone else in the city. She wasn't even a part of the equation.

"Could you do to Karasuba what you did to Sakura?"

He could hear Rin's voice in his head, and yet now those words no longer haunted him. His mind felt clear. He understood now.

The many were of more value than the few. To save the most lives meant that he was doing the most good. This was the truth of Emiya Shirou and nothing would change that. Karasuba did not change that.

She had no place on a weighted scale because Shirou had no reason to save Karasuba to begin with. She was just an extension of Emiya Shirou.

Sakura could have never been Karasuba.

When Yume made space between them, Karasuba turned around to face him and saw him smiling at her.

X

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree.

Her heart was beating at what she felt was the speed of light. She felt weightless.

Shirou…

That smile was for her. Only her. No one else.

Shirou's smile.

"I understand now. This is what you wanted. It always has been."

Yume's words made her remember that the woman was there.

A healthy blush tinted Karasuba's cheeks as she laughed.

"You were right, Yume!" Her smile was more mirthful than it was outright mocking. "Isn't love wonderful?"

Number Eight's body language remained frigid.

And then it relaxed.

She looked unbearably sad.

"No, I was wrong. I was so certain that love would have been able to help you if you just let it, but now I see that I was just forcing my own ideals on you. If—"

"That's not true." Karasuba insisted before she could finish. "It helped me lots. See?"

Yume's sadness turned into emotional pain and discomfort; the woman closed her eyes. Her silence spoke volumes, through it was drowned out by the roarings of the raging inferno behind her.

"I'm sorry," Yume whispered. "I'm so, so sorry."

Everything became clear to Karasuba in that moment.

Karasuba went on the attack.

Yume barely had time for a sharp intake of breath before a kick to her chest sent her crashing down to the pavement. The force of it was so great that a crater five metres across formed around her. Crawling onto all fours, the brunette tried to exclaim her shock but all that came out was a loud, wet coughing fit.

Another kick was coming for her midsection while she was down; this time, at least, she was able to roll out of the way before she was hit. Trying to stand back up, she was able to do little more than push Karasuba's weapon to the side when it was about to pierce her between the eyes.

"Gyah!"

Yume bit back a scream as the blade pierced straight through her shoulder. Karasuba ripped it out with a swipe, taking a good slice out of the arm.

With blood dripping down her chin, Yume glared up at her old partner.

All that Karasuba could see in that glare was pity.

"You're… ha… ha… stronger than you used… to be."

"Of course I am," the grey-haired one agreed easily, "That's because my love is stronger than yours."

Yume's look of non-understanding told her that she needed to offer additional information.

"When you assured me that one day, I would find my destined one and reach new heights, What were you expecting him to be, exactly? What kind of person did you think I could love? That could love me in equal measure?"

Her eyes roamed across the plaza, at the incapacitated bodies of Minato's Sekirei, and scoffed.

"I'm not like that one over there," she said, pointing at Homura's unmoving body. "You thought love would change me. That it would make me more like you."

"No," she protested weakly, "I never once thought that I wanted you to turn into me."

"Directly? No," Karasuba agreed again. "In the ways that matter? In how you view the world? Ourselves? Absolutely. But… recently, for the first time in my life, I've come around to thinking that my way may not be wrong either."

The end was said in such a low tone that only Yume could have possibly heard it.

She wasn't the person Yume wanted her to be. Yume wasn't the person Karasuba thought she would be right now. This moment had been built up in her head so much. Right now, it didn't feel like it was important in any capacity.

And she was okay with that.

And she was okay with that.

"That's not it."

"Hm?"

Yume met her gaze. "That was never it, Karasuba."

"Then what was it?" Karasuba's eyes narrowed. "What was it, if not you wanting me to change?"

At this she faltered, eyes flitting downwards before gathering her courage once more.

"...Some part of me was always jealous of you."

The Black Sekirei blinked.

"Only 1 out of 108 of us little birds had a full Sekirei core from the start. Just one. A complete body that did not need to be winged. A soul that would not intersect with another no matter how hard they tried. Just me.

"And there you were, Karasuba. Even then, brooding and sullen and pouty as you were, you still had the chance to be winged! To meet your destined one. It didn't matter that you didn't want to, you still could! And I told you that he would be wonderful, and kind, and warm and loving, because… because…"

At this she gazed forlornly as Minato, still gazing in dull shock at the spectacle.

"Because all this time, I guess I was describing the Ashikabi I wanted," she admitted. A sad smile adorned on her face. "I was describing the Ashikabi I had in the end, after so long. Some small part of me desperately wanted to live through you, wanted you to meet your destined one, even if I couldn't, because then… at least then… you would be happy."

Karasuba had gone very still.

"You're my greatest friend, Karasuba. If you met your destined one and you were happy, I would be happy too."

Her voice was small, but it did not lack conviction, and the truth of the matter hung between the two, intangible but borne at last.

One moment had passed. Two.

And then, Karasuba unclenched her teeth.

"Mm… Yume. Catch this next one or you'll probably die."

Yume exhaled and slammed the palms of her hands together over the blade, trying to snap it in two. To her great surprise, it didn't so much as bend.

Positioned as they were, it took an unbearable amount of strength to keep the katana from escaping her trembling grip.

"You never understood, did you?" Karasuba leaned forward, her face carefully blank. "I didn't need to meet my destined one. I was happy. I had you."

Yume blinked, and the blade immediately slipped between her grip by a fraction, and she locked up, teeth clenched as she held it back with all her might.

"For the longest time, I was angry that you went and left me alone again." The Black Sekirei muttered, pursing her lips. "You were enough for me. Why wasn't I enough for you?"

"That has nothing to do with it!" Yume struggled, moving the blade steadily away from her face. "Musubi needed a chance to live—to explore all the wonderful things life had to offer! She needed a chance to find love! I at least had already–"

Words failed her as she took in Karasuba's expectant gaze.

Finally, Karasuba sighed.

"I guess it doesn't matter. You can't reach me anymore, Yume. I think it's time for me to move on."

"No!"

And just like that, Yume gained a second wind, and Karasuba blinked as she felt her hands get pushed by the pommel bit by bit.

"Musubi… can beat you!"

In her struggle, the affirmation emerged resolute.

Karasuba looked doubtful.

"How do you figure?"

"She believes in everything I do and more!" Unbelievably, she began rising up, hands still affixed onto the blade. "She has the potential to be greater than I ever was! She has her destined one and with them she will make you see you were wrong. She will surpass you!"

Karasuba's eyes widened as Yume slowly levelled with her. "She has love!" Yume declared, "She has me! And she will reach heights greater than the both of us have dreamed of because of it! I know it!"

The Black Sekirei mulled over her words, Monohoshi Zao marking the distance between them.

"But Yume…" She finally said, face blank. "So do I."

Karasuba went slack, relaxing as she stopped pressing against the pommel of her blade.. Once both parties untensed, she allowed the sword to fall down to her side.

"But a promise is a promise. I guess it's only appropriate that I see it through to the end."

She would do as much for Yume, at least.

All the fight seemed to have left the Sekirei of Fate as she heard those words.

Belatedly, her gaze landed on Karasuba's Ashikabi who was content to observe the entire affair with an eerie calm.

She wondered how he had come to be: someone perfect for her greatest friend, who could entertain her frivolities and deal with her resentment better than she had.

Karasuba, smiling, seemed to have understood the gist of her thoughts, noticing her focusing on Shirou.

"Had we the time, I'd love to stay and show him off, you know?" Karasuba grinned. "Like you always pictured yourself doing if you had one."

Yume smiled sadly. "If we had the time, I'd happily put up with it."

A part of the Black Sekirei was certain… that in another life, she would have been perfectly content if things returned to how it used to be. Working for MBI. Killing the enemy. Just her and Yume, forever.

But that was not her anymore.

Emiya Shirou had changed that.

Inwardly, she noted with some confusion and melancholy that she really was at peace.

It no longer mattered, and thus she did not bring it up.

She held Musubi's gloved hand.

"...Goodbye, Yume."

The hand gently squeezed back, trusting it could convey all that could not be said.

"Goodbye, Karasuba…" Her eyes drooped. "I hope you're happy."

Yume's eyes fluttered closed and she slumped forward. That aura disappeared. Forever, maybe.

"..."

Number Four stood over Number Eighty Eight for a moment longer before stepping away. Her old friend's Ashikabi scurried past her, fully ignoring the danger she posed, and knelt over the unconscious body catatonically. She was more than happy to ignore him entirely in favour of stalking towards her Ashikabi.

"Eighteen?" she asked the man.

"Twenty," Shirou corrected. Karasuba started walking away from the hospital; his eyes were glued to his phone as he absentmindedly followed closely behind her.

"Oh. That number makes a little more sense, yeah. Come to think of it, there were just some guys I forgot about."

"Mm."

Emiya Shirou glanced upward and paused.

Unusually, Karasuba's eyes were firmly open, resolute chips of grey, even as they walked away from the others. In the dull orange glow of twilight, his Sekirei looked even more unreadable than usual.

"... Are you ok, Karasuba?"

She did not answer him immediately. Instead she stopped, taking a precursory look back at the funeral pyre that was once Hiyamakai Enterprises. At where her friend laid.

"It doesn't matter anymore." She muttered, and Emiya wondered if he was imagining the air of melancholy and wonder those words carried. "None of it."

Emiya Shirou blinked.

Karasuba did not bother to elaborate.

For the lack of anything better to do, he gently laid a hand on her shoulder, nearly flinching at the speed in which she returned her attention towards him.

For a long while, her gaze was inscrutable, harkening to the early days of their partnership before he knew better, and before she knew him better.

Then, the visage of pleasantness was back.

"I'm just tired, Shirou. Let's go home."

And that was that. The two continued walking. The fires continued burning. The two did not say a word for the rest of the journey home.

X

"Hey… Musubi… Musubi… You're alive, right? You're okay?"

Minato didn't even bother touching her. He just continued staring down at her helplessly.

He didn't want her to die. He didn't want any of them to die. Kazehana had to be alive. Homura had to be alive. Tsukiumi had to be alive.

He could vaguely make out the sound of helicopter blades slicing through the air in the distance. The fact that they could be made out over the fiery hell around him meant that they were probably closer than he thought they were. It was MBI coming to clean up the mess left behind, probably.

There was a crunching sound too. One that was much, much closer. His head weakly turned to the side; he realised that it was the sound of high heels treading through rubble.

"My, my. This looks pretty bad, Sahashi-kun."

"Tohsaka…san…"

Tohsaka Rin leaned forward and propped herself on her knees. She gave a friendly smile.

"Would you like some help?" she offered.

Minato couldn't make any sense of her presence.

"I don't get it," he mumbled. "No one knew where you were today. Why are you here now?"

Instead of answering, she took a look around.

"Was it Emiya-kun who did all of this?"

Something snapped. Something inside of him.

"Of course it was him! He's… He's… I don't know! But—you do. You know a lot about him, don't you, Tohsaka san!?"

She nodded.

"I do."

"You knew this was going to happen!" he accused her.

"Of course I wouldn't know something like that," she was quick to deny, dismissing the idea as though it were foolish to bring up to begin with. "Do I look like some sort of prophet to you? I already told you that we're acquaintances at best."

He didn't buy it. He could practically feel how disingenuous she was.

"Are you—" he tried to find the words. "Are you even bothered by any of this?"

"..." she sighed. Her shoulders slumped. "I wish I could have come sooner. Really. I was putting the finishing touches on a project of mine. I came straight here the moment I heard the news."

…News?

He supposed he couldn't be surprised that word of this got out already. No first-responders had shown up yet but it was fair to assume that MBI had a hand in that. They probably wanted to be the first ones on the scene and were waiting for the fight to end.

With that in mind, he really wanted to ask her how she got past them. He didn't bother knowing that she would have avoided the question somehow.

"Could you have stopped this?" he asked instead.

"Hm?"

"Emiya-san. Could you have stopped Emiya-san?"

"Probably."

"Why—" he bit his tongue.

He was just angry right now. He wanted to be angry at someone and Tohsaka-san had the misfortune of being the only one nearby who fit the bill. Speaking in hypotheticals wasn't fair to anyone.

The woman sat down cross-legged next to him. It was a strange look for a woman with such a carefully-manicured and dignified look. She soaked in the sight of four Sekirei in critical condition.

"The way you are now, there's no way for you to overcome those two," she declared.

He didn't take that well. Frustration bubbled within him. There was nothing he wanted more than to bite back in an ugly fashion.

But he couldn't. Not because of any sense of self-restraint but because he didn't know what to say.

She was right.

"Then… what do you expect me to do?"

The anguish in his voice was palpable. Was anything that this woman had to say of any worth? Never had it been more apparent that he knew nothing about her. She could be capable of just as much as Emiya-san.

But… she said they didn't get along. She knew something.

She appeared to think about it for a moment.

"The way I see it, you have two choices." She allowed for a pause. "The first choice would be to accept what's coming for you. Just die."

He didn't want that. He didn't want that at all.

"Of course I can't do that!"

She smiled and reached out to wipe a tear from his cheek.

"Then… do you still want to save Emiya-kun?"

His thoughts came to a grinding halt. "Huh?" was all that he managed to say.

"Do you want to save him?" she repeated. "You either allow death to come or you fight against it. Save everyone."

He started babbling.

"That's—that's not how that works! He—"

"Or do you not think all people are worth saving? Should we pick and choose who lives and who dies? We're not gods."

He slowly shook his head back and forth. He didn't understand it. He didn't understand her. There wasn't any sound reasoning in her argument whatsoever.

"You're talking nonsense. Only a crazy person would think that way."

She tapped her chin with a finger and frowned. It looked as though she was trying to come up with something else.

Something must have come to mind. Her eyes widened by the slightest margin.

"Ah! You just have to kill him, then. That way, they can't do anything bad anymore!"

His stomach dropped.

Kill them?

The very idea was revolting. It had nothing to do with how good or bad the person in question was. To take someone else's life—

Everything that Tohsaka-san was trying to tell him rushed to his head all at once. He wanted to throw up.

Lurched over as he was, he didn't put up a fight as Tohsaka-san pulled him into her shoulder and rubbed his back soothingly.

"There, there," she cooed. "Think about that carefully, okay? It's important."

Neither of them moved. Not even when the MBI helicopters finally landed.

Minato did nothing as the armoured men came rushing out. He did nothing as they brought out all these strange machines; tried to put out the fire and took his Sekirei.

He did nothing even as he noticed his mother jumping out of one of the aircrafts.

"I—what the fuck," was all that she could exclaim once she saw it all first-hand. "Minato! Are you okay? How—" she noticed the woman comforting him. "Who the fuck are you!?"

"Do you think the company's got the gonads to try to pass this one off as a gas leak too?" one of the MBI military men mused jokingly to another. Takami made it a point to step on his foot as she marched up to her kid.

Noticing her approach, Tohsaka-san pulled away and tried to maintain a pleasant and respectful body language. She was totally ignored for now. Takami's eyes bore a hole right through Minato's head.

His throat felt dry when he opened his mouth to speak.

"Mom…!"

She hugged him tightly.

"It's okay, Minato. Everything is going to be okay. You're okay."

X

Minaka was enthralled. He could not turn away. He could not so much as blink.

His monitor was the only source of light in his office at the moment. Having stared at the live feed of the "hospital incident" for so long, his eyes should have been sore. Maybe they were, but that feeling was overpowered by something else.

It was wonderful. Better than anything he could have hoped for. They were wonderful.

Allowing Karasuba to write her own script was the best decision he'd ever made.

It was a problem he needed to deal with eventually: what was he supposed to do with her? It wasn't like he understood her. He couldn't write anything worthwhile for such a complex character. She was wasted during her tenure with MBI.

This was so, so much better.

"I love it!" he hissed. "I love it, I love it, I love it!"

Oh. But now he had to adjust things accordingly, right? This would be a bit… much for everyone else. There was a matchmaking issue. No one would watch or join a battle where the result was obvious. Curbstomps had their appeal, he supposed, but even then there was only so much one could take!

He smiled as he pulled at his lip thoughtfully.

"Would a raid boss be a little more fair than a battle royale? I wonder…"

There was much to think about. Much to think about, indeed!

X

The loud blaring of emergency vehicle sirens was muted a substantial amount by the thick windows of their cosy apartment. They could barely be heard over the sound of a sizzling pan.

"Dinner's ready!" Shirou called out over his shoulder. It didn't take long for Karasuba to walk out of the bathroom with wet hair and a towel wrapped around her body.

She inhaled deeply and allowed the wondrous smells to hit her.

The woman chuckled.

"I'm ready, too!"

"Put clothes on first," he grumbled. He didn't even have to turn around to know that she wasn't decent.

"My, my. How cold. I was trapped in a dark, damp, dreary den of pain and suffering for the longest time. Can't you be a little more welcoming?"

He sighed and turned off the stove. She stared at him with a raised brow, not knowing what he was planning as he finally turned to face her and approached.

"...Ah!"

His arms were wrapped tightly around her. She could feel the heat of the crook of his neck against her face. He smelled of the meal they were about to eat.

"Welcome home," he said.

There was no stopping the flush that took over her face. Her heart was beating quickly.

She wrapped her own arms around his back.

"Mm," she mumbled into his shoulder.

This was nice.

He pulled away to go grab the dishes. She quickly went into their bedroom to steal one of his shirts and came back to sit at the table right as everything was prepared.

It was good to be home.

X

X

As of now, I will be writing the final arc for this story.

This one in particular has been a real roller coaster for me. There were plenty of bumps along the way, but I really do feel like I've grown as an author in so many ways.

It wasn't perfect, and of course, there were bits that I would have liked to have done differently in hindsight or with the acumen that I've developed over these past few years. Even now, the things that I write going forward are built on the foundation set by Past Me; I wouldn't have it any other way, if only because it's proof of my own growth.

I will continue to make blunders as I wrap things up, most likely. It'll be my first time finishing a story: something that seemed so far in the future when I first started writing for real back in 2019.

It's probably too early for all of this considering that I'm not, in fact, done with this story yet, but nonetheless, the idea alone is making me a little verklempt. I'm sending out a big thank you to all of you who have stuck with me this long and another thank you to noschittsherlock, who has been the beta for this story for a good while now.

There was a time (more or less when I was writing the Clock Tower arc) during which my love and passion for the Fate franchise really took a nosedive. Even now, it hasn't made a full recovery. This was probably noticeable across all my fics, but none more so than this one. I cut plot threads prematurely, shut down opportunities to expand the world, and all-in-all made an effort to only write as much as I had to. Cutting "bloat" is generally seen as a good thing, but that wasn't quite what I did.

Sherlock helped me pick up the pieces of this trainwreck and salvage what we could. We gathered my notes, key points and checklists and got that train back on track. It wasn't the same track, but it was the best track that I could hope to find.

Without Sherlock there probably isn't an end to Fear the Superhero.

When this is all said and done, I would like to publish a "definitive" edition of this story. It could never be a full overhaul where I go and fix every last thing that I thought I could have done better, but I would definitely fix the little things. Syntax, grammar, typos, inconsistencies with the character writing, sloppy settings and scenarios, minor plot holes, the works. There is also the matter of most of the illustrations being made on an extreme time crunch, so it could be fun to see what I could do if I gave myself time to really put some effort into them.

Of course, this is a thought for another day. Like I said, I'm getting ahead of myself.

For now, I'll just deal with the fallout of this chapter and take things one step at a time.

I'll see y'all in the next update!