View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L10BJjMjKNU&ab_channel=LashS
[] [Head to the Castle]
It was a longshot, but maybe Illya knew something.
Thanks to @Armoury for the beta!
—
"My sister." You say quietly. The concept was still… odd to you, but you believed her regardless. She knew too much about your father. "My sister lives in a castle outside of town, Caster knows the way there."
"Your sister?" Sakura says, raw confusion in her voice. "Shirou, you've never mentioned a sister."
"That's because until a few days ago I wasn't aware she existed, then her servant kidnapped me so that we could get to know each other better." You reply dryly. It was just one of many confusing things that had happened to you recently. Many, many confusing things. "I want to check on her, and ask for her help."
"That… your sister
kidnapped you?" Sakura asks, disbelief in her voice. "And you want to go
back?"
You look back towards Sakura. "It makes as much sense as anything else has in this war. In her case it was merely her way of saying hello."
You shake your head, controlling yourself. Your inner thoughts were seeping out. Allowing yourself to relax, or try to relax in any case, you return your focus on the scarred girl. "Do you want to come with me? I'm looking for your servant regardless."
Fujimaru opens her mouth like she wants to say something, then she closes her, her gaze searching your face for several seconds before she nods.
You sigh. "Good, we'll find her and get this sorted out."
Straightening yourself up, you move to adjust your uniform, then glare down at your bandaged and burned hands. Frowning, you lower the hands again, it was… just too much this week. "Are you actually participating in classes?" you ask, looking at Fujimaru.
Fujimaru nods once more. "For appearances."
With the amount of scars she had, it was a surprise you hadn't heard students talk about her until now. But then, you had both no idea what class she was
in, and you hadn't been exactly a model student lately either. Still, that made things at least somewhat simpler. Few things were, these days. "Right, come to the archery club after school today. I'll come get you."
Technically you had club duties today.
But you were rather useless at the moment as far as hands went, and beyond that… seeing Ayako seemed more than a little awkward at present. You wanted to make things up to her, but you weren't exactly sure how to best apologize for letting someone get stabbed. It seemed a bit more than a card from the local convenience store could make up for. You couldn't exactly blame her if she was nervous even being
around you, given that Mordred was still living in that house.
It was just one of many problems you were dealing with at the moment. And, like most of them, it wasn't one you had an easy answer for either.
… But you were going to try regardless.
Fujimaru, not knowing your thoughts, continues on. "Alright."
You smile. "Thank you," then you turn your attention to Sakura. "Can you head to class without me? There's someone I need to talk to."
Sakura blinks, confusion on her features once more. "Sure?"
—
It took effort to open the door to Class 2A, but you managed. It was still a good half hour before homeroom started, but it was near full regardless, students milling about, talking amongst themselves, or simply sitting at their desks waiting for the morning rituals to begin. You didn't pay much attention to any of them, instead you focused on the woman sitting near the front of the room, chin resting on her hand as a member of the track team talked to her.
Ayako's eyes flitted towards the door at the sound of it opening, then widened at the sight of you. It was a look of surprise at least, not anger. That gave you some solace. There were many things you could have said that wouldn't have caused an uproar, wouldn't have spread yet
more rumors, but you were rather blunt. "Ayako, can I speak to you privately?"
The frantic whispers that caused were ignorable, the embarrassment on Ayako's face, wasn't.
—
She followed you up to the roof, something you were rather grateful for. The cold was something you were far less grateful for, but at the moment, you were too distracted by mixed emotions and worry to really pay much attention to it despite the fact that your jacket was now sitting in your locker. Ayako had followed you with nary a word as you lead her through the school building and up onto the room, and as you watched, she closed the door behind you both, leaning against it. Her eyes met your own for a moment, and then look away. "What do you want to talk about Shirou?"
The upcoming test. What else could you possibly be here to talk about? You debate saying that and you almost do, but you rein in your emotions. She doesn't deserve that.
"Last night." You say bluntly.
Ayako's hands dart to her side the moment the words leave your lips, and a stricken look crosses her face. "I'm… fine." She says, though she doesn't sound sure of it even to herself.
You let out a long and slow breath, trying to figure out what you can say to that. "Mordred is…" There was no gentle way to put this. "She's insane."
Ayako's looks back towards me, but says nothing.
"She's a berserker, she has no control over herself, and she barely seems to be there at all mentally."
"Why are you keeping her around then?"
Why were you? It was a good question, but it only had one answer. Pity. "Because she's not in control of herself. She's broken, crazy, sometime's she's an entirely different person, lively, actually talkative, but those moments are few and far between. But I want to help her if I can." You shake your head from side to side, thinking on the few hints of Mordred's personality you've actually seen. "She's hurting, and I'm not going to simply abandon her."
"Shirou, she stabbed me."
"And if she ever does anything like that again I'll kill her
myself." You reply. "But as I said, she's not in control of herself, and as her master I have to take care of her."
"And what if she goes after you?" Ayako asks, crossing her arms.
"Then I'll deal with it, it wouldn't be the first time I've been attacked in this 'war'." You frown, "there's a reason people don't talk about this. The magic. It's dangerous. Beyond just keeping secrets for greed, telling someone about it that doesn't have any ability does little more than put them in danger."
"So? You going to wipe my memory or something?" Ayako asks.
You shake your head. "I couldn't, and don't want to regardless. But I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to distance yourself from me either. I just wanted to apologize for dragging you into this mess to begin with."
"Doesn't seem like it would make much of a difference if I did Shirou." Ayako fires back, an annoyed tone in her voice. "My brother has already been attacked, and I got
stabbed. It took me an hour to convince my mom that I not only
wasn't out doing drugs all night, I also just had a really bad nosebleed that explained the stains on my clothes."
"I'm sorry, Ayako." You say. "I truly am."
Ayako sighs, lowering her head to look at the ground, her arms falling to limply rest against her sides. "I know, that's part of the problem. That crap about you helping everyone around school extends to everyone else, doesn't it?"
"If I can help someone, I will. It's something the right thing to do." You reply. "Servant, human, magus."
Ayako's head lifts, a quizzical look on her face. "Magic… people aren't human anymore?"
"We are," you clarify. "Just because of what we can do, and how we tend to live, a lot of people tend to separate Magus from everyone else. I don't really, but a lot of people look at it differently."
"But you just did," Ayako counters.
"Because I've already met one Magus in this war who does, and expected me to fight her immediately." You reply. That morning with Sakura was less than pleasant, even if it ended well.
When was the last time you had a pleasant morning anyway?
Ayako doesn't say anything, and a silence passes between you before she straightens her shoulders and walks over so that only a foot is left between the two of you. "So that's it then, you're keeping that…
thing around, and I'm just gonna have to deal with her being around."
You blink, "you're going to keep coming around?"
Ayako's eyes narrow. "What, you thought I was just going to run away? Who else is going to look after your stupid ass? Miss Taiga?
Sakura? She couldn't fight her way out of a paper bag. Besides, it's not like the wound was permanent, and I still owe you for my brother."
"I don't want you to put yourself in danger just because you think you owe me Ayako." You reply.
"I'm not
dating you because you saved my brother. That was just… an easy excuse Shirou. Besides, no matter what, I'm involved in this anyway, aren't I? The whole city is."
You nod your head.
"So what do I gain by just running away from you?" Ayako asks. "Besides, you still owe me a nice dinner. I expect you to be putting
all the work into this relationship to make up for involving me in this magic stuff."
"But you just said that you wer-"
A finger is pressed against your lips, silencing you as Ayako grins. "Shirou, a girl is allowed double standards. Now," pulling the finger away she darts forward and plants a kiss against your cheek. She pulls away a second later, grinning and blushing. "We've got to get to class don't we?" Then, spinning on her heels she walks away towards the door, leaving you standing there.
…
You don't think you understand girls.
—
Besides the fact that Taiga looked more like a mummy than a proper teacher, the day went without incident. And, much to your relief, she told precisely
nobody at the school why she was injured. Something you were rather grateful for, and, for that matter, surprised by.
You didn't see Fujimaru again during the day, but come the evening she was indeed waiting at the Archery Club building, and from there…
—
"So we're looking for her servant," you say, leaning back against your bed.
The 'meeting' you had called had involved everyone you knew in the building save for Raiga. Fujimaru was sitting, rather awkwardly you admit, on the bed itself, her fingers tapping together in her lap as a group of masters and servants stare at her.
"Are you… certain of this course of action master?" Caster asks, in a tone you were learning to recognize.
It was the tone she used when she was questioning one of your decisions with gusto, but was too polite to do it publicly. "For now, yes." You reply. "I believe what she told me."
"As do I," Assassin says, smiling.
"And you wish to seek out the girl who kidnapped you again, because you believe she may somehow have a lead." Caster continues.
"Yes." You answer. "That, and I just want to check up on her in general."
"I don't need to stress why this is a bad idea, do I?" Caster says.
A giggle draws the eyes of everyone in the room. Circe, who had been leaning against the wall near the door steps away from it, a slight skip to her step as she moves across the room. "I think it's a fine idea. Unless you wish for a rematch against that ranger servant? Or perhaps you wanted to work on your wards, and didn't plan on joining him?"
"Of course I'll be going with him," Caster hisses. "That does not make it a good idea."
"Seems like a fine plan to me," Archer's voice speaks up. "We have the numbers to find anyone easily. I can join Mata Hari in her search of the city in the meantime. With your permission of course, Master." Archer finishes, looking at Sakura.
Sakura blinks, realizing that the conversation was now focusing on her. "Go ahead, I'll be going with Shirou."
Archer smiles broadly, then nods, patting Sakura on the shoulder all the while.
"I still can't believe that Kiritsugu had a
daughter." Taiga says, the mummy frowning. "He never told me."
"He never told me either," you say, "so that makes two of us."
"It's more common than you think," Assassin says, smiling impishly. "When are you leaving, Shirou?"
You tilt your head towards Fujimaru. "As soon as she has had a chance to bathe and eat. Can you show her around Taiga?"
Taiga grins. "Just leave it up to big sis~"
With that, everyone filtered out of the room, Caster being last, leaving you to your thoughts as you figured out how you would deal with Illya: and Fujimaru, and Ayako, and Sakura and… everything else you suppose. It was a lot to handle all at once, especially when you didn't have working hands.
Still, you were going to get to the bottom of all of this.
It took a good hour and change before you finally left, and in that time-
—
Choose two, winners are based on the number of times they are voted for, not by plan. Time for that bonus vote!
[] [Medea wanted to talk about… herself?]
[] [Circe wanted to comfort you]
[] [Taiga expressed some frustration]
[] [Sakura needed some company]
[] [Archer stopped by]
[] [Assassin checked up on you]
