Caster, at least in the main routes, lacks reasons to help. Arguably most of the plot of heavens feel could have been sidestepped just by getting Medea on side. There's a reason why she's restricted to antagonist roles in the fate and UBW routes.
Can't help but think of how its pretty heavily hinted that originally they wanted to make a Medea route- or at least have the option to work with Medea.
We its mentioned they wanted to have a caster route where she seduced and then backstabbed Medusa and we know that in Fate/Side Materials 4 we have the concept art of Medea Lily.
How Nasu wanted there to be four main routes (Saber, Rin, Sakura, Illya) while also having what seem to be some divergent some of the routes (Saber route- Option to work with Shinji and see his more positive side, UBW- Possibly Medea involving her Lily form)
Can't help but think of how its pretty heavily hinted that originally they wanted to make a Medea route- or at least have the option to work with Medea.
We its mentioned they wanted to have a caster route where she seduced and then backstabbed Medusa and we know that in Fate/Side Materials 4 we have the concept art of Medea Lily.
How Nasu wanted there to be four main routes (Saber, Rin, Sakura, Illya) while also having what seem to be some divergent some of the routes (Saber route- Option to work with Shinji and see his more positive side, UBW- Possibly Medea involving her Lily form)
Isn't Tsukihime getting a remake? The day may come when Nasu does a Fate/Stay Night remake, and we get a gloriously retooled Fate route, complete with additions from Realta Nua, plus rewritten dialogue and narration all the way down the line. Maybe even a proper Illya route (although that one has some pitfalls that will need to be handled with delicacy), or Medea route.
But...it doesn't look like it's in the cards anytime soon, so for now, you get to read me doing my best to make Medea a deuteragonist.
Isn't Tsukihime getting a remake? The day may come when Nasu does a Fate/Stay Night remake, and we get a gloriously retooled Fate route, complete with additions from Realta Nua, plus rewritten dialogue and narration all the way down the line. Maybe even a proper Illya route (although that one has some pitfalls that will need to be handled with delicacy), or Medea route.
I think a part of it is that while HF is the most ""traditonally"" heroic story, I feel that Shirou and Sakura... sort of belong with each other. Shirou is the sort of person that only really derives happiness and contentment with his life if he's saving someone, and the ending of HF is basically him dedicating himself to constancy saving Sakura. Other people have already gone over how messed up Sakura is as a person, and while an unhealthy codependant relationship, I genuinely believe that with time, something resembling a healthy romance can form between the two. It just sort of feels like two people messed up in just the right ways to fit together.
Oof. Ow. That's... while very accurate, still kind of harsh. Now to see if he did anything different in regards to their relationship though. Rin is very hands-off, but Yukio?
Oof. Ow. That's... while very accurate, still kind of harsh. Now to see if he did anything different in regards to their relationship though. Rin is very hands-off, but Yukio?
If you look at what Yukio says in the narration about why his ability to help Shirou is limited, it should tell you something about how he's interacted with Sakura.
There'd been a light dusting of snow over the weekend, but it hadn't stayed on the ground long enough to settle, so classes were set to resume right on schedule. Naturally, since I raced through high school as quickly as I'd possibly been able, I had no real reason to be up so early in the morning, because I'd finally gotten over my jetlag and started sleeping normal hours. I could have stayed in bed, snuggled up and warm, and awoken at my leisure.
Instead, I was up at the godawful hour of six-thirty, pulling myself sleepily from the cocoon of my blankets. My bathrobe was pulled on over my pajamas more out of habit than intent, and my cold feet were stuffed into a pair of slippers, before I made my way to start the day.
A glance down the hall as I opened my door showed Rin's still closed shut. I had probably half an hour before she actually managed to pull herself from her bed, because this was the first day back to school and she'd let herself fall out of the habit of getting up at six-thirty on the dot.
Why was I forcing myself to wake up this early, again? Oh right. Plans. Plans that I had to stick to, since they were literally a matter of life and death.
If only the Holy Grail War could have done us all the courtesy of happening during summer vacation. At least if we were all risking our lives in a dangerous battle royale, couldn't we have been doing it comfortably warm?
"Of course not," I groused to the open air. "That would make too much sense, wouldn't it?"
And common sense and magi weren't on speaking terms, let alone a first name basis.
Down the stairs I went, and with a little bit of effort, I fumbled my way through putting on a pot of tea for myself. While the water was heating up, I set about making a quick breakfast, a simple meal that I wasn't sure I didn't put together sleepwalking. I did make sure, though, to make some toast for Rin and put a pot on for some sencha. That girl would probably go the rest of the day until lunch without having touched anything else in terms of food.
The torture she put herself through because she was scared of putting on just one extra pound.
By the time I was finished eating, my tea was ready, so I sweetened it to my liking and took it to the living room, where I sat down with a sigh and relaxed a little. Since I was going to be getting precious little of that in the coming days, I fully intended to grab what I could as and when I could. Stress was the enemy, and I was soon to be beset from all sides.
For those precious few minutes, I sipped tranquilly at my tea. The room around me was silent, but for the ticking of the clock. There was something to be said for the quiet of suburban living, even if this was still technically a part of Fuyuki city. The calm, peaceful atmosphere, devoid of the hustle and bustle of a living city thriving just outside your window, was much easier to enjoy than trying to ignore the eleventh car backfiring or thousandth gasp of one streaking down the street.
Just shy of seven o'clock, a thump sounded from upstairs, and it was followed a moment later by a series of slower, softer thumps as someone dragged herself out of bed begrudgingly.
I hummed and took another sip of tea. Looked like Rin was finally awake.
Sure enough, a minute or two later, she stalked down the steps, disheveled and bleary-eyed and dressed only in her nightgown and a pair of slippers. She held onto the bannister, swaying slightly and tilting dangerously, as though it was the only thing keeping her from falling. It just might have been.
"Morning, Rin," I greeted mildly.
"Mo — orning, Yukio," she mumbled back, interrupted by a yawn halfway through.
"I made you some toast and put some water on for sencha," I called out to her as she stumbled her way over to the kitchen. She offered me a muttered, incoherent thanks, and shuffled towards the smell of her toast.
That girl… Really not a morning person, huh?
She came in about five or ten minutes later, one piece of toast hanging limply from her mouth and the other set on a plate she was carrying with her. In her other hand, she held a steaming mug of sweet-smelling sencha, and she set it on a saucer on the coffee table, then plopped down next to me unceremoniously.
"Hey!" I said, holding up my mug as the tea inside sloshed. "Watch it! If this had been full, you'd be cleaning up a mess!"
She grunted something unintelligible around her toast, and then proceeded to ignore me and munch on it over her plate. When she'd finished off the first piece, she set down the plate with the second, picked up her mug of sencha, and took a deep, long sip.
"Mmmm," she hummed slowly. "I feel like a human being, again."
My lips quirked to one side. "As opposed to what? A vegetable?"
"A vampire." She slid me a glance. "I was thinking of sucking some of your blood, but then I realized I'd probably get diabetes, so I decided it was better to just have some regular food."
"Good thing, too," I said, playing into the joke. "I like my blood just where it is, thank you."
She snorted and picked up her second piece of toast. "What's the word for that? Tyranophobia?"
"A good thing there aren't any more T-rexes walking around, or else I might be in trouble," I said dryly. "The word you're looking for is trypanophobia. And it's not. I have a perfectly rational aversion to having sharp, thin objects jabbed into my body."
"Really? It doesn't sound very rational to me."
"This from the woman who just recently bemoaned my lack of Japanese preference in tea, and yet herself prefers milk teas instead of matcha or sencha."
"H-hey!" she said indignantly. "Milk tea is a perfectly Japanese tea preference, I'll have you know! For that matter, do they even sell them in England? Seems strange to me, considering they add milk to their tea anyway!"
"It's not a very traditionally Japanese preference, though, is it?" I remarked mildly.
Rin huffed. "Better than guzzling down sweetened black tea all the time. How have you not put on fifty pounds from all the sweets you eat?"
"By working out. Vigorously." I slid her a suggestive glance, and a moment later, her cheeks exploded with bright red. "But mostly understanding this thing called moderation. It's fine to enjoy desserts and sweet snacks, as long as you know how much you should and shouldn't have. Plus, well, there are a few perks to being an expert in medicinal magecraft."
She rolled her eyes.
"By cheating, you mean," she said flatly.
"If you're not cheating, you're not playing to win," I said, dry as bone. "Besides. Cheating is only cheating when the other guy is doing it."
Rin snorted a little.
"As long as you're the one telling the story, you get to say it was just an application of creative thinking, is that right?"
"Now you're catching on!" I said brightly. "Welcome to History 101, Rin-chan! If you're the winner, you get to spin the story however you want!"
She shook her head, drained the last of her sencha with something of a grimace, and promptly stood.
"I'd better get going," she said wryly. "If I sit here with you too long, all of that hypocrisy is liable to rub off on me, and then where would I be?"
"The same place you are now: pretending you're nothing more than an ordinary school idol, bright but completely and utterly normal."
She chuckled and disappeared back up the stairs. I sighed and looked mournfully down at my empty mug of tea.
"Guess I'd better get going, too," I said to myself. "If I dawdle too much, she'll leave before me, and then things will just be awkward, won't they?"
My mug went into the sink, to be washed later, and I climbed the stairs back up to my room to quickly go through my morning ablutions. Then, I dressed in my usual attire, a white button-up, a black vest, a blue silk tie, and a pair of nice jeans, a masculine mirror to one of my sister's outfits that I couldn't actually remember her ever wearing.
I slipped on a black jacket and my favorite red scarf and made my way downstairs, but Rin was faster than me, because I'd fallen out of practice since I hadn't had to rush to get ready for school in years, and she was already sliding her shoes on at the front door. It was already shutting behind her by the time I made it to the shallow well at the entrance where my own shoes were set aside. I had to race through putting them on, and then I lost several seconds more activating the defenses of the house's bounded field.
Rin was already well on her way to school, so I had to make long, quick strides as I tried to catch up with her, but I knew I'd get an earful if I broke our family's "image" of elegance and grace, so I made sure not to break into a run. When I'd finally managed to get within arm's length of her, I put on an extra little spurt of speed, slid up next to her —
"Leaving without me?"
— and hooked my arm around hers.
She stumbled and turned to look at me, eyes wide and expression completely unguarded. "Yukio?" she blurted out. "What are you doing?"
"Walking you to school. What does it look like I'm doing?" I told her with an utterly innocent smile.
She blanched and quickly looked around, then leaned in and hissed, "You can't! Do you have any idea what that would look like to my classmates, having my older brother escorting me to high school?"
"Oh, so you admit that I'm older, now," I said, mercilessly attacking her weak points.
"That's not what I — !"
She clamped her mouth shut before anyone could notice her raised voice. Quieter, she said, "That's not what I meant, and you know it! It's a matter of their perceptions, and since you've already graduated, they think of you as being more mature."
"You worry too much." I waved her off. "People will be more focused on the fact I'm there than the fact I came with you. It won't be that unusual, anyway. We used to walk to school together every day, after all."
"That's not how that works, don't pretend otherwise!"
"Plus," I deployed my trump card, "I wanted to check up on Sakura."
She paused, the words she'd been about to say frozen on the tip of her tongue, and then she sighed. "Fine," she said, and then she pulled her arm free of mine, "but we're not going there arm in arm. I don't know what sort of crazy nonsense you've been exposed to in London, but here in Japan, public displays of affection like that are considered culturally inappropriate."
"You can only hide behind that excuse for so long, Rin-chan."
Her cheeks flushed. "Idiot. Why did I have to be stuck with someone like you for a twin brother, anyway? And stop calling me Rin-chan!"
We made the trek to Homurahara in mostly silence. Rin didn't try to strike up much conversation — in fact, as we walked and more and more of her classmates saw us, staring at me and muttering, she tried to shrink in on herself and her face became increasingly red. I could almost hear the litany of embarrassed moaning that must have been going on in her head as she mentally lamented my presence.
I took it all in stride. Really, in the Clock Tower, learning how to ignore insults and just keep moving on with your life was an essential skill if you wanted to last with your sanity intact past the first month.
A bunch of teenagers gossiping while they thought I couldn't hear was nothing when compared to snide comments from rich and powerful magi who knew I could.
We arrived at the school gates with something of a crowd around us, all giving us wide berth as they passed us by, and standing there as though she had been specifically waiting for us —
"Yo, good morning, Tohsak — aaaaaaaaaah?"
— was a familiar tomboyish archer.
"Good morning, Mitsuzuri-san," Rin said politely. "Is there something off about my appearance, today? I'm not sure what I've done to warrant a response like that."
Mitsuzuri Ayako's face twisted. "I… You… Just… You brought your brother here?"
"I didn't bring him so much as he brought himself," Rin replied sardonically. "No matter what I might have said on the matter."
"Good morning, Mitsuzuri-san," I told her. "Ah, don't mind me. I'm just indulging some nostalgia, right now."
"Nostalgia?" Mitsuzuri asked incredulously. The way Rin eyed me said that she didn't believe a single word of it, either.
"It's been a few years, so I wanted to come back and relive a little of the experience of attending high school."
Neither of them believed that, either. Well. That wasn't as important as keeping the real reason secret. You didn't have to lie well to throw someone off. You just had to lie so badly that they never realized what you were trying to avoid admitting to.
"Perhaps he misses the days when he had legions of schoolgirls pining after him day and night," Rin suggested cruelly.
"Oh, that's only natural," Mitsuzuri agreed, picking up the thread and running with it. "After all, he's only a teenage boy. Imagine what it must be like to be considered so desirable by so many girls?"
"It was never legions." But I couldn't stop the thread of doubt that wormed its way into my gut, and despite knowing I was walking into a trap, I couldn't stop my mouth, either. "Was it?"
Mitsuzuri and Rin shared a conspiring look and a devious smile.
"Oh, there were so very many, Yukio, and they've only grown more numerous in your absence."
"There's even an unofficial fan club dedicated to you in the school," Mitsuzuri added. "In fact, I've heard that they've made attempts to be officially recognized by the administration."
I didn't need a mirror to know exactly how ugly the horrified grimace was on my face.
"Please tell me you're joking and none of that is actually true."
"I didn't tell you before?" Rin asked mildly, tossing her hair back over her shoulder. She acted like she'd just realized she hadn't told me she bought a new pair of shoes. "I suppose I'd simply forgotten to mention it. It's true, Yukio. All of the girls pining after you are trying to make an official Tohsaka Yukio fanclub. I hear they've even got a shrine dedicated to you in one of the clubrooms they frequent. Somehow, they even managed to acquire a lock of your hair."
"Oh, that reminds me," said Mitsuzuri. "Yukio-kun, I know I'm not your type of girl. After all, I don't have long, dark hair or startling blue eyes —"
Rin sputtered. "Just what are you trying to imply there, Ayako!"
I felt my cheeks grow hot.
"— but would you consider being my boyfriend?"
"Wait!" Rin interjected. "Don't tell me this is how you intend on winning our bet!"
"Why not?" said Mitsuzuri, unfazed. "He's handsome, respectable, talented, and I had a crush on him for quite a while. There was never any rule in our bet that I couldn't hook up with your brother, Tohsaka."
"That's cheating!" Rin protested.
"Ah, Mitsuzuri…" I tried. "That is, it's not that I dislike you, per se, but… U-um, how should I say this…"
"That's a no, huh?" She didn't seem surprised; she just shrugged. "Yeah, it was a longshot. Worth a try, though, right?"
"Don't you have club practice to go to?" Rin pointed out irritably.
Mitsuzuri didn't stop grinning. "I guess I do. I should probably get to that, then. See you around, Tohsaka, Yukio!"
A miserable groan slipped out of my lips as she walked away, and I had to rub at my eyes just so that I could cover up my flaming cheeks and disguise my embarrassment. "You're sure she's over her crush?" I asked my sister.
"Sometimes, I wonder," Rin answered sardonically. She huffed. "I don't know what she was thinking, asking you of all people to go out with her. She knows —"
Her mouth suddenly clamped shut, and I looked over at her curiously.
"She knows what?"
"She knows how important you are to me," Rin managed, sounding with every word as though she were dragging the admission out of some box with rusted hinges where she'd locked it away a long time ago. "She knows that I would never forgive her if she toyed with you and broke your heart."
I blinked, and something warm kindled in my chest.
"Rin…"
"Wipe that stupid look off your face," she grumbled, a faint dusting of pink spreading over her cheeks. "I didn't say anything unusual, so stop acting like it's strange that I actually care about you."
I smiled and let it go with a laugh. "Sorry. I guess I just don't hear it very often from you, so I cherish it when I do."
She mumbled something under her breath that might have been "idiot," and then shook her head. "I'm going to go to class, before I'm late," she announced, like she didn't have almost half an hour before school officially started. "Don't do something unnecessary, like coming to pick me up after school, got it?"
My smile gained teeth and she groaned.
"You totally will, won't you? Ugh. I can't deal with this, right now. It's way too early in the morning."
And without another word, she strode off, heading towards the campus's main building. A fond sigh whistled out past my lips as I watched her go.
"That girl…"
I shook my head and turned towards the archery range — and nearly bowled over a short, dark-haired girl dressed in a Homurahara uniform who seemed to have been waiting behind us for Rin to walk away. She gave out a high-pitched squeak as I steadied her and myself so we didn't topple, because the very last thing I wanted right now was to be the protagonist in some romantic comedy and fall on top of her.
The absolute worst thing would be if I accidentally copped a feel in the process. Like this was some kind of shoujo anime.
"Are you okay?" I asked her politely.
"Y-yes!" she said nervously.
"Sorry, I wasn't paying enough attention and I almost knocked you over."
"I-it's fine!" she exclaimed.
Movement from behind her caught my eye, and I looked over her shoulder — over her head, really, because I might have been average in London, but here I was tall — and spied a group of girls off to the side, watching us. Like vultures waiting for their prey to finally die, refusing to look away for even a second.
The dots connected, and I drew the only conclusion that made sense.
Oh. Oh dear. Please don't let this be what I think it is.
I looked back at the girl, took her in again, examining the details more closely this time. Dark hair, pale skin, slender and waifish, and while that was so generic a description that it could fit just about any Japanese schoolgirl, there was a niggling sense of familiarity. Old, worn, like I hadn't touched it in years.
She was one of my classmates, wasn't she? From back before I tested out and graduated early.
The only trouble was…I'd paid about as much attention to my yearmates back then as a fox might a flea — engaging with them only when it was unavoidable, and only so long as it took to convince them to leave me alone while still fulfilling my social obligations.
"Was there something you needed?" I specifically used a diminutive, whatever that said about me, to try and convey that I saw her as young and immature, hoping she got the hint.
"U-um… That is, I… I've…"
Oh, Christ above, this is painful.
"Yes?"
At last, she seemed to draw herself up and muster her courage, rallying behind some well of determination.
"Yukio-kun," the girl said, and for the life of me, I couldn't remember her name. "I-I've been waiting for you to come back to Fuyuki. These past few m-months, I've been preparing my h-heart, and that's why… That's why I…"
She thrust out her hands, and held tight between her fingers was a plain, white envelope. Her cheeks were bright red, and just keeping eye contact seemed like it was a Herculean task for her.
"This!"
The gaggle of girls behind her gasped and broke out into whispers — the vultures circling. I did my best to pretend they weren't there as I looked down at the simple, unadorned envelope with resignation. My gut twisted up into knots.
I hated what I was about to do to this girl. I hated that I had to do it. It made me feel like a jerk, like I was kicking a puppy that just wanted to be petted.
But it wasn't fair to me to have to pretend, and it wasn't fair to her for me to lead her on.
"Listen," I said quietly, pointedly ignoring the envelope, "this isn't what you're going to want to hear, and I know it's going to feel like your heart is getting ripped out of your chest —"
Her hands began to tremble and her eyes started to water, like she could sense the blow coming and couldn't get out of the way.
"— but I'm not interested. It's nothing to do with you or your age or —"
But she'd already turned away, sobbing, and raced off past her group of friends. They all gave a gasp and a horrified shout as one and spared me only the time and effort of a fiery glare before they gave chase. No doubt, by the end of the day, the same girls who had told her to take the chance would be telling her that I was a no good, evil scoundrel, and she was better off without me.
"Or how attractive you are," I told the air. "In fact, I'm sure you're a very lovely girl. It's just that I have no room in my life for romance, right now. You should definitely find love with someone who actually remembers your name."
I carded a hand through my hair, sighing, and frowned at the empty space they'd all occupied. Nothing to be done about it, really. At least she hadn't broken down and collapsed into tears on the ground in front of me.
Trying to put the incident out of my mind, I continued my journey to the archery range and stepped inside.
By this point, everyone who was going to arrive for the Archery Club's morning practice was already there, suited up and practicing. The thwip of bowstrings cutting through the air was thick, and most of them were so focused on the task that they didn't notice me come in at all.
Most of them. Mitsuzuri noticed me immediately and came over.
"Did you rethink my offer, Yukio?" she asked with a sly, foxlike grin.
My lips twitched, but I managed to keep my grimace mostly contained.
"Not at all," I said casually, affecting polite disinterest. "I simply came to check up on an old friend."
I let my gaze wander the line until it found a particular head of dark hair perched atop a particular pair of shoulders. The ornamentation was still in place, and it made my heart ache every time I saw it.
But I couldn't afford to linger and I couldn't afford for my attention to be noted by a particular person especially, so I took only as long as I thought would go unnoticed — only long enough to drink in the sight of my target, to make sure they were as okay as could be expected, only long enough to sate my conscience — before I turned my eyes back to Mitsuzuri.
"It looks like you still haven't managed to get Emiya-kun back into the club, though."
Mitsuzuri sighed and put her hands on her hips. "Yeah, that guy just can't be persuaded. No matter how much I or Fujimura-sensei tries, he still refuses to return to the Archery Club. With a guy like him on the team, we could take any championship we wanted."
"Some people just can't be convinced, I suppose." I shook my head for effect. "Well, that's all I was here for, so there's no reason for me to stay. Have a good day, Mitsuzuri-san."
"Later, Yukio."
I stole one last glance back at the line of archery students, one last glance at the person who still suffered only because I wasn't good enough.
It looks like you're doing okay, Sakura, at least for now.
And then I turned and did the hardest thing.
I walked away.
— o.0.O.O.0.o —
So many hints and clues sprinkled throughout this chapter. So many of them.
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For those precious few minutes, I sipped tranquilly at my tea. The room around me was silent, but for the ticking of the clock. There was something to be said for the quiet of suburban living, even if this was still technically a part of Fuyuki city. The calm, peaceful atmosphere, devoid of the hustle and bustle of a living city thriving just outside your window, was much easier to enjoy than trying to ignore the eleventh car backfiring or thousandth gasp of one streaking down the street.
"By working out. Vigorously." I slid her a suggestive glance, and a moment later, her cheeks exploded with bright red. "But mostly understanding this thing called moderation. It's fine to enjoy desserts and sweet snacks, as long as you know how much you should and shouldn't have. Plus, well, there are a few perks to being an expert in medicinal magecraft."
"Walking you to school. What does it look like I'm doing?" I told her with an utterly innocent smile.
She blanched and quickly looked around, then leaned in and hissed, "You can't! Do you have any idea what that would look like to my classmates, having my older brother escorting me to high school?"
"Oh, so you admit that I'm older, now," I said, mercilessly attacking her weak points.
"I didn't tell you before?" Rin asked mildly, tossing her hair back over her shoulder. She acted like she'd just realized she hadn't told me she bought a new pair of shoes. "I suppose I'd simply forgotten to mention it. It's true, Yukio. All of the girls pining after you are trying to make an official Tohsaka Yukio fanclub. I hear they've even got a shrine dedicated to you in one of the clubrooms they frequent. Somehow, they even managed to acquire a lock of your hair."
"Wait!" Rin interjected. "Don't tell me this is how you intend on winning our bet!"
"Why not?" said Mitsuzuri, unfazed. "He's handsome, respectable, talented, and I had a crush on him for quite a while. There was never any rule in our bet that I couldn't hook up with your brother, Tohsaka."
I shook my head and turned towards the archery range — and nearly bowled over a short, dark-haired girl dressed in a Homurahara uniform who seemed to have been waiting behind us for Rin to walk away. She gave out a high-pitched squeak as I steadied her and myself so we didn't topple, because the very last thing I wanted right now was to be the protagonist in some romantic comedy and fall on top of her.
The absolute worst thing would be if I accidentally copped a feel in the process. Like this was some kind of shoujo anime.
I hated what I was about to do to this girl. I hated that I had to do it. It made me feel like a jerk, like I was kicking a puppy that just wanted to be petted.
But it wasn't fair to me to have to pretend, and it wasn't fair to her for me to lead her on.
I let my gaze wander the line until it found a particular head of dark hair perched atop a particular pair of shoulders. The ornamentation was still in place, and it made my heart ache every time I saw it.
"I know. I can't call it a complete victory unless I beat you with a relationship you would really be jealous of.
Well, that's the biggest problem for us. No matter how good a guy it is, there's no point if we can't bring ourselves to love him."
Perhaps Ayako sees something, that she believes "Rin will be jealous of me if I have a serious relationship with her twin brother." Perhaps it says something else that Rin seems to agree she's right.
This feels like a time travel chapter, desperately trying to remember the character flags and conversation trees of the visual novel otome game you've been stuck inside of while realizing that non of their names stuck with you properly and you are wracking your brain for which one was the secret route trigger.
reads chapter. huh yukio didnt meet shinji at all. wonder whats shinji's opinion of yukio is. that being said he also didnt meet kotomine too (it is understandable if he didnt want to meet kotomine at all). also dark-haired sakura. curious indeed.
After checking up on Sakura, I didn't linger, because I knew that my resolve to stay out of the way until all of my plans came together would disappear just that quickly if I stayed.
Ten years had already been ten years too long. It was only knowing exactly how fearsome my enemy was that kept me from turning back around, running to her, and promising I would rescue her from the hell that she was currently living.
So I left Homurahara and kept on walking, making sure I didn't fall prey to the trap of looking back behind me. So close to the finish line, I didn't intend on stumbling before the race was over.
The first place I went was back home, to grab an umbrella. We weren't forecast to have any rain today, but reliability and weathermen weren't always on the best of terms, and I was going to be prepared, just in case.
I didn't actually expect it to rain.
With an umbrella tucked beneath one arm, I left the house again and began my trek back in the direction of the school, but when I got there, I didn't stop, I kept going until I'd passed it and found myself on the outskirts of town, where the plots of land were larger and the houses sparser. Fuyuki's sprawling metropolis was a distant blob, and even the residential district that the Tohsaka called home was a vague blur behind me.
I had a moment of trepidation as I came upon the stairs that led up the mountain and to the temple that sat at its summit, and an entirely unrelated thrill shot through my stomach at the idea that she could be here, already, lying in the grass off to the side of the path, desperate and fading and trying to reach the top for herself. I could start working on my bigger plans, put the things I'd been brainstorming for the better part of ten years into action. My Holy Grail War could finally begin.
But no. I already knew she wasn't here, yet. The image in my head was vague and fragmented, like a watercolor painting that had run together, but I could distinctly remember rain and the evening sky.
"It's not going to be anything truly dangerous that kills me," I told the air. "No Servants, no magi, no curses, spells, or Noble Phantasms. Instead, if these stairs don't do me in, I'll die of the waiting."
That didn't mean there wasn't any point to what I was about to do, though, and so, with a miserable, exhausted sigh, I put one foot in front of the other and began my journey up the steps to Ryūdō Temple.
It was torture.
Although that might be a bit of an extreme way of putting it. I wasn't out of shape or anything, no, not when everything hinged on me being able to outperform the most ridiculous kung fu master since Li Shuwen, but even I felt the burn walking up all of those steps. Forget my excuses and my other plans — making this trip every day just for the workout might have been a worthwhile idea.
I could only imagine how many elderly folk died of heart attacks or strokes trying to make it all the way to the top for pilgrimage.
Nonetheless, I struggled through it and forced myself to go on. There might have been breaks involved. Okay, yes, there were breaks involved. But I didn't back down and retreat, I faced my enemy head on and pushed past my limits to achieve my goal.
That was how Tohsaka Yukio conquered the stairs of Fuyuki City's Ryūdō Temple.
If I had to take one more break at the top in front of the gate, just outside of view of any of the monks living there, well, no one actually had to know about that, did they?
And so I was perfectly poised and casual as I strode into the main compound like it was any other day and I belonged there.
So it was only natural that a man a few years older than me in monk's robes with a head of hair so closely cropped it might as well have been shaved came out of the temple to greet me.
"Yukio-kun," he said to me with a friendly smile.
"Ryūdō-san," I returned with an equally polite one.
"It's been quite a long time," Ryūdō Reikan commented. "What brings you back to our temple, today?"
"Would you believe me if I said I came to pay respects to my father?"
Reikan's smile grew into a grin. "I might, if I was not already aware that you and your family are devout Christians, and your father is buried in the Christian cemetery."
One side of my smile slanted a little further. "And if I were instead to claim that I sought out the tranquility of the temple, so that I might meditate on my life and the meaning of my existence, to purify myself of impure thoughts?"
Reikan laughed. "A little more believable, but I'm afraid I still know you better than to think that's the truth!"
I sighed and ran a hand across the back of my neck. The smile I offered him this time was a little sheepish.
"It seems your brother isn't the only one with an eerie talent for seeing through to people's true selves," I told him.
It always amused me that Issei so easily saw through Rin's "innocent school idol" facade and to the girl beneath it, and I was decently sure she got a kick out of messing with him whenever he accused her of duplicitousness. No, who was I kidding? Rin absolutely enjoyed winding him up over it, just as I had during the short time I'd spent on the student council, back in the day.
"I have nothing of the sort, unlike Issei," Reikan denied. "My surety comes entirely from knowing what kind of person you are, Yukio-kun."
"Fair enough." I shrugged. "Well. To condense a long story into something a bit more bite-sized, an acquaintance of mine is scheduled to meet me here sometime in the next week or two. Originally, I hadn't expected to be back in town early enough to greet her, and Rin would have been rather, ah, cross with me, to put it mildly, for inviting a stranger into our home without consulting her first, so I asked her to come here where she might receive your hospitality."
"Rather than putting this mystery woman of yours up in a hotel?" Reikan asked a little skeptically.
"She wouldn't accept my charity, because she thinks such gender roles are old-fashioned, but she also doesn't have the money to afford a good hotel in Shinto, so there weren't many options."
Lie, lie, lie, lie, but at least this was one I had practiced and prepared and schooled myself in a long time ago, so it rolled off my tongue as easily and effortlessly as the truth would have. It wasn't like I could tell him that a Servant, the spirit of a distant figure from mythology temporarily revived in a corporeal form, from a secretive magical event called the Holy Grail War would be making her way to the Ryūdō Temple because it sat atop the most powerful ley line in the city and I intended to intercept her.
The worst part of that wouldn't be him refusing to believe me. The worst part would be what might happen and what might have to happen if he did.
One of Reikan's eyebrows rose. "You can't contact her and tell her you've arrived home earlier than expected? I would think it much easier to meet her at the station than forcing her to walk all the way across the city to here."
An exaggerated, put-upon sigh left my mouth. "Unfortunately, I don't have any method of getting in touch with her. She has my home phone number, and she's supposed to call once she's made it up here, but in between now and then, I don't have any way of contacting her. She doesn't have a cell phone, you see."
"That is rather inconvenient," Reikan allowed. "Ah, it's fine, Yukio-kun. As long as her stay isn't particularly long, we here at the Ryūdō Temple would be happy to accommodate this acquaintance of yours. We'll gladly show her our hospitality."
A knot in my stomach that I hadn't realized was there eased, and I checked another point off of my list.
"Thank you, Ryūdō-san," I said politely. "Ah, just to be clear, though. I intend to visit the temple every day until she gets here. My business with her is somewhat time-sensitive."
"Oh?" Reikan grinned. "Perhaps Yukio-kun has fallen for an attractive foreign beauty? An acquaintance, indeed. I should remind you, Yukio-kun, that the temple grounds are not to be used for any illicit meetings. We are not a love hotel."
Heat flooded my cheeks and I let out a low, quiet groan. "Really? It's nothing of the sort, Ryūdō-san. My business with her is strictly that — business. I am not sneaking a foreign lover into the country under my sister's nose or whatever other ludicrous scenario has entered your head."
"You must admit, it's suspicious." And he was definitely teasing me, now. "After all, you've never kept company with other women before, aside from your sister and your attorney."
"In Fuyuki, perhaps," I said, a little sharper than I intended. "I've spent the last six months in the presence of quite a few women, many of them quite attractive, and all of them only for the purposes of contractual obligations. Quite frankly, Ryūdō-san, I have no room for a love life, right now."
"Message received." Reikan held up his hands in the universal sign of surrender. "Can you at least tell me what to expect of this acquaintance of yours? How would I recognize her, aside from the fact she's coming here in the first place?"
A sardonic smirk curled one side of my mouth. "You can't miss her. If you put aside her bright blue eyes, she's also probably going to be dressed like something out of a Greek play. For all that she chides me for being old-fashioned, she's quite the traditionalist herself."
"She sounds like a complicated person."
A secret smile curled the edges of my lips. A joke that only I was in on.
"In ways and to degrees that you wouldn't believe, Ryūdō-san."
With his agreement and permission to continue my daily pilgrimage to the temple, I bade my goodbyes, turned back around, and began my trek down the mountain. It wasn't exactly enjoyable, but it was far and away easier on me and my legs than the journey up had been. I was probably going to have sore legs for the foreseeable future, even still.
The things I did for my family and their future.
Halfway down, I paused a moment, closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and as the mirror in my head cracked and shattered, I reached out with that nebulous sixth sense with which I could feel the flow of magical energy. It stretched as far as I was able, up and down the mountain, until I felt like I was spreading myself through the trees and the blades of grass and the very air — and I found nothing.
There were no major sources of magical power nearby. No elfin waif struggling to hold on just a little bit longer so that she could make it to the top. No harried sorceress racing towards the peak. All I could feel was the distant barrier that surrounded the temple and the pulse of the ley line buried deep beneath me. Even when I chanced a glance into the underbrush, there was not the slightest sign.
I sighed and kept going.
It wasn't like I'd been expecting her so soon. For all that these early stages would be some of the most critical to get right, my timeline on the sequence of events was admittedly fuzzy. Because my previous self had never known for sure, neither could I.
When I reached the bottom, I stopped long enough to look up at the sky, and I was greeted by clear blue, with thin, lazy clouds drifting across the expanse like puffs of cotton candy.
It made me feel like a stranger. Out of place. A pervasive sense that I didn't belong settled in my gut, just under my diaphragm, and for a single moment, I was seized by a sudden certainty that I was going to fail and there was nothing I could do to change it.
But that was nothing new. I'd had nightmares as a kid, vivid dreams where I could only watch as a highlight reel of my family's suffering played behind my eyelids, because nothing I'd done had stopped any of it. Learning to live with the doubt had been one of the hardest challenges I'd faced in those early days.
I just had to remind myself that nothing would change if I didn't try. Failure was the same as doing nothing at all.
Sucking a deep breath in through my nose braced me against my fears, like an impenetrable bulwark between me and despair, a castle wall that pushed out that sense of unbelonging. Bolstered, I stepped out onto the sidewalk and started to make my way back home.
There was nothing to be done about it, now. Medea would make her way to the temple eventually, I just had to be diligent and make sure I found her before Kuzuki could snatch her heart. I wasn't fool enough to try and assault Atrum Galliasta in the little workshop he'd set up for himself, even if I was fairly sure I could have beat him in a fight. Not when he could simply order Medea to do me in with one of his Command Spells.
I just wished I had a better idea of when she would show up than "a rainy afternoon in mid-January."
"Well, it can't be too easy, can it?" I asked the open air. "It would just be boring if there weren't a few stumbling blocks here and there. It's no fun if I don't have to work for it."
Now if only I could actually bring myself to believe that.
It couldn't be helped, so I made my way back home, the winter chill on my cheeks and the bleak sun on the back of my neck. I stopped back by the house only long enough to put away my umbrella, now that I was absolutely certain I had no use for it, and to make sure I had both my wallet and the shoulder bag with my laptop on hand before I left and began the trek to Shinto, the modern, more industrial half of the city where all of the businesses and big department stores had set up shop.
Call me old-fashioned, but I preferred the sleepy, less busy little town of Miyama, Fuyuki's residential district where most of the city's people actually lived, particularly its oldest and longest settled families. There was some wonderful history to London, and the old, Victorian era buildings that still stood even now had a charm of their own, but as incredible as it had been to feel like I was stepping back in time in some places, there was just something homey and magnificently archaic about Fuyuki's Miyama district.
Shinto felt cold and indifferent by comparison. An unfeeling monument to capitalism in all its terrible glory, crowding out everything that wasn't of use to the machine of corporate profits.
Well, maybe I was being a little too harsh. Modern cityscapes had their own beauty, it just wasn't to my particular preferences.
There were a handful of tourists milling about in the city proper as I walked, some housewives out shopping with their friends because they had nothing better to do with their free time, but I paid them no mind as I made a beeline for the electronics shop that was my destination to pick up the order I'd placed earlier in the month.
Waiting had been an exercise in patience. Rakuden, the store in question, had had my order days ago, but Rin would have asked way too many questions if she'd seen me come home with a bunch of tiny surveillance cameras specifically designed to be hidden and unnoticeable. "Spy cameras," as it were. She would have asked way too many questions that I really didn't want to answer. Couldn't answer, not truthfully, not without ruining a whole load of my plans, and while I was a decent liar, Rin was way too perceptive to take the chances that she might catch me out.
With my wallet a little lighter and my arms a little heavier, I left Rakuden carrying a couple of plastic bags and made my way on a meandering path out of the city proper and towards the edges. Deliberately, I avoided any road that swung too close to the old Catholic church on the hill, because the very last person whose suspicions I needed to arouse was Kotomine Kirei, and the very last person whose interest I needed to catch was the golden-haired king currently living with him.
Finally, as the sun peaked and noon fast approached, I found myself coming upon the old ghost house, a mansion that had last been occupied almost seventy years ago, during the Third Holy Grail War. One of two, in fact, originally owned by the Edelfelt sisters from that War. Luviagelita had only been too happy to sell the deed for the other one to me — for an exorbitant sum, of course, and even if I had talked her down, I'd still paid well over market value — but this one technically belonged to the Association, now.
Which meant, of course, that it was the Association's foothold in the city, and if anyone decided to come take part in the Holy Grail War on the Association's behalf, well, this was as good a place as any to set up base, wasn't it? Old, Western, upscale, for what and where it was, and already mostly prepared for just that.
Fortunately, no one had yet claimed it, so there was still plenty of time to put one of my side plans into action. A contingency, if you would, to make sure my endgame went off properly, even if other parts went awry.
The front door was locked when I came upon it, but the spell needed to undo that lock was the same as it had been for the other house, so it didn't take much effort to get inside and find myself in a well-maintained mansion. Carpet, flooring, furniture, furnishings — everything had been perfectly preserved by the bounded field, kept neat and clean over the decades while the house waited for its owner to return.
Was Luvia's grandmother still around? I wondered. It had been sixty years, after all. Was that spiteful, old hag still spitting mad over my grandfather seducing her twin sister?
Well, it wasn't like I had any plans of finding out, so I guess it didn't matter.
I dropped my bags on the seat of one plush armchair and set about exploring as I pulled one of the cameras out of its packaging. There were only so many for me to plant, and the very last thing I needed to do was hide one of my limited number of spycams in a useless place — or worse, in such plain sight that it was easily noticed.
"If it's anything like the other mansion…" I muttered to myself. "A top floor, a middle floor, a ground floor, a basement…"
And naturally, the best place to perform a Servant Summoning would be…
"Probably the basement."
Isolated, closed off, private, it would be ideal for keeping the magical energy from spreading out, and it would be the easiest place to avoid the attention of snooping neighbors. Or in this case, neighborhood kids who wanted to get a look at the mysterious ghost house and mistook strange lights and sounds for an actual haunting.
It took a little searching, but eventually, I found my way downstairs and walked the perimeter of the basement, looking for a good place to set up the camera where it wouldn't be noticed. There weren't many options, because the place was pretty sparse, but fortunately, the basement was dark and didn't have much in the way of lighting, so when I nestled it in the crevice of the brickwork, it all but disappeared. It had the benefit of a good view of most of the basement, too, although there were a few places where it didn't have line of sight.
It didn't matter. As long as I could see people coming and going and had a decent look at what happened inside the room, I didn't need to see everything.
Back upstairs in the living room — parlor? Whatever, I wasn't that old-fashioned — I stuck my next camera in the centerpiece above the fireplace, in plain view but disguised by the structure around it. As long as Kirei didn't have a chance to inspect it too closely, it wouldn't get noticed at all.
I stuck one more camera in the shadow of a painting hanging on the wall.
Upstairs, most of the second floor was residential space. Bedrooms and bathrooms and a decently expansive study. I hid one camera in the corner of a bookshelf there, peering out towards the door. I doubted the summoning would take place here, but just in case, I needed eyes on the largest portion of it I could manage.
The bedrooms and bathrooms, I left alone. It felt a little too invasive to plant cameras in places where I knew people were going to be naked, particularly people of the opposite sex. Less like I was spying on the competition and more like I was either collecting blackmail material or just plain peeping.
No matter how sexy I thought Bazett's abs probably were, they were just going to have to stay in my imagination.
On the top floor, I found attic space. It wasn't like standard attics, of course, because it looked much more like a top floor that was simply a little more squashed and a little more open, like the builders had simply forgotten to finish adding the walls and left only the bare skeletons of the support beams. This wasn't the least likely place in the whole house for someone to attempt a Servant summoning, but of the list of places where casting a spell like that would happen, it was the least likely. I stuck a camera on the far wall and called it a day.
With almost all of my cameras planted, I went outside and put my last one in place, hidden just under the doorbell.
Once that was done, I went back inside, pulled out my laptop, and once it had booted up, I did a systems check to make sure everything was connected properly. Through a clever bit of adaptation, I'd merged technology and magecraft using the same principle as the gramophone in the basement: I connected the information recorded by the cameras with my laptop. I just hadn't been sure it would work until I actually sat down and tried it.
So it was with bated breath that I opened up the program that recorded the cameras' feeds and waited…for the video streams to come in clear and complete. For a few handfuls of seconds, each camera sent back video to my laptop, and then, one by one, they winked off to conserve power. Motion activated. There was a reason I'd had to get them special order.
A laugh bubbled out of my lips, and I pumped my fist with a hissed, "Yes!"
Dear old Dad probably would have had something to say about it. Scratch that, he was probably turning over in his grave right that moment, and if he'd been alive to see the very magecraft he once used on an old timey, antique gramophone adapted to a modern laptop and camera setup, he just might have popped a blood vessel or fainted from sheer, apoplectic rage.
Just to make sure everything was working properly and none of it was a fluke, I stood up with my laptop, went down to the basement, and waved my hand in front of the camera I'd hidden — it was so inconspicuous down there that I actually had a bit of trouble finding it again. Sure enough, the instant it detected movement, it turned on and streamed directly to the feed on my laptop. To be absolutely certain, I went around to each of my other hidden cameras and checked them, too.
Each and every single one of them turned on when I walked in front of them, stayed on as long as I was there, and turned back off after thirty seconds of no movement.
"I could kiss you right now," I told my laptop with a grin. Of course, it didn't reply, because voice activated personal assistants wouldn't be a thing for something like another decade. A shame, because this whole thing would be much more interesting and less lonely with a snarky, AI companion.
With my cameras installed and working, I packed up the bags and the packaging, bundled my laptop back into its bag, and left, making absolutely certain I didn't leave anything conspicuous behind for the next occupant to stumble over. A glance at my watch told me I had about an hour and a half to make it to Miyama in time to walk Rin home from school, and I definitely wasn't making that trip by foot, so I dug out my cellphone and called up a taxi service so I could get back in time.
My dominos were set up and organized. Now, I just had to wait for the right people to come and tip them over, so that my plans could truly be set in motion.
I'd already been waiting ten years. What was another week or two?
— o.0.O.O.0.o —
The ball gets rolling.
Rakuden, incidentally, is a play on words. It combines the first kanji of "paradise," that is "Rakuen," with the kanji used for electronic devices and electricity, "den." Therefore, "Rakuden" is the "paradise for electronics," roughly. I wasn't the first person to come up with this pun, because as I discovered, there was actually a store in Japan that came up with the idea, first.
I'm also fudging things a little bit. Broadband wifi was only just getting its legs under it in 2004, but strictly speaking, Yukio isn't relying on wifi to connect his laptop to those cameras, so it's fine.
Special thanks to all my Patrons who have stayed with me this far, through all the rocky moments and dry stretches. You guys are the best, and your continued support is invaluable. If you like what you're reading and want to support me as a writer so I can pay the bills, I have a Patreon. If Patreon is too long term, I have a Ko-fi page, too. If you want to commission something from me, check out either my Deviantart post or my artist registry page for my rates. Links in my sig. Every little bit helps keep me afloat, even if you can only afford a couple dollars.
I just realized, you could use Bazet as a sort of timer for the Medea situation, after all Kirie attacks her after she sends Lancer to deal with Caster.
I had a moment of trepidation as I came upon the stairs that led up the mountain and to the temple that sat at its summit, and an entirely unrelated thrill shot through my stomach at the idea that she could be here, already, lying in the grass off to the side of the path, desperate and fading and trying to reach the top for herself.
Nonetheless, I struggled through it and forced myself to go on. There might have been breaks involved. Okay, yes, there were breaks involved. But I didn't back down and retreat, I faced my enemy head on and pushed past my limits to achieve my goal.
"It's been quite a long time," Ryūdō Reikan commented. "What brings you back to our temple, today?"
"Would you believe me if I said I came to pay respects to my father?"
Reikan's smile grew into a grin. "I might, if I was not already aware that you and your family are devout Christians, and your father is buried in the Christian cemetery."
One side of my smile slanted a little further. "And if I were instead to claim that I sought out the tranquility of the temple, so that I might meditate on my life and the meaning of my existence, to purify myself of impure thoughts?"
Reikan laughed. "A little more believable, but I'm afraid I still know you better than to think that's the truth!"
An exaggerated, put-upon sigh left my mouth. "Unfortunately, I don't have any method of getting in touch with her. She has my home phone number, and she's supposed to call once she's made it up here, but in between now and then, I don't have any way of contacting her. She doesn't have a cell phone, you see."
Heat flooded my cheeks and I let out a low, quiet groan. "Really? It's nothing of the sort, Ryūdō-san. My business with her is strictly that — business. I am not sneaking a foreign lover into the country under my sister's nose or whatever other ludicrous scenario has entered your head."
"In Fuyuki, perhaps," I said, a little sharper than I intended. "I've spent the last six months in the presence of quite a few women, many of them quite attractive, and all of them only for the purposes of contractual obligations. Quite frankly, Ryūdō-san, I have no room for a love life, right now."
Deliberately, I avoided any road that swung too close to the old Catholic church on the hill, because the very last person whose suspicions I needed to arouse was Kotomine Kirei, and the very last person whose interest I needed to catch was the golden-haired king currently living with him.
Once that was done, I went back inside, pulled out my laptop, and once it had booted up, I did a systems check to make sure everything was connected properly. Through a clever bit of adaptation, I'd merged technology and magecraft using the same principle as the gramophone in the basement: I connected the information recorded by the cameras with my laptop. I just hadn't been sure it would work until I actually sat down and tried it.
So it was with bated breath that I opened up the program that recorded the cameras' feeds and waited…for the video streams to come in clear and complete. For a few handfuls of seconds, each camera sent back video to my laptop, and then, one by one, they winked off to conserve power. Motion activated. There was a reason I'd had to get them special order.
A laugh bubbled out of my lips, and I pumped my fist with a hissed, "Yes!"
You realize that the weather report is going to be covering the entire afternoon, right?
Walking back and forth, up and down the entire staircase, for around 8 hours on every rainy day...
Frustratingly, they were all the same, a blur of mundanity where nothing of import happened. The cameras in the Edelfelt mansion remained off, because no one was there to activate them. My daily pilgrimage to the Ryūdō Temple featured no elfin women, feebly struggling to make it up the stairs. No pale-haired, red-eyed fairies appeared to threaten me or anyone else in a sweet voice with a pleasant smile.
It was a boring everyday.
How had it turned out that the wait of ten short days felt longer than ten years?
On January the eighteenth, I woke up just as I had the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that, and just as I had those days, I rolled out of bed, bleary-eyed, trekked down the stairs, put a pot of water on for myself to share with my sister, and made a quick breakfast, with two pieces of sparsely buttered toast set aside for Rin. Like every day for the past week and a half, I ate quickly and quietly and sat down to enjoy my mug of tea while I waited for Rin to wake up herself and drag herself out of bed.
As with every day, at exactly six-thirty on the dot, there was a thump from upstairs, like something heavy had been dropped on the floor — or someone had dropped unenthusiastically out of bed. A few minutes later, a girl in pajamas with her long hair askew stumbled down the steps and into the living room, just as bleary-eyed as I had been and half asleep.
As I had every day prior, I gestured with one hand towards the kitchen, and over the rim of my cup, I told her, "Toast and tea on the counter, ready and waiting."
She mumbled something that might charitably have been called a thanks and then staggered off in that direction. There was the clatter of her clumsily fixing up her tea to her preference, and then she came back a minute or two later, half hunched over and swaying a little with every step.
If I didn't know her better, I might have been scared she was going to drop her food or her tea and make a mess, but Rin had always been like this, and she hadn't spilled anything yet. She plopped down next to me with an explosive, exhausted sigh and started nibbling at her food and sipping at her tea as she slowly began to wake up.
"Rough night?" I asked her mildly.
"Yes," she said, and then she lanced me with a sideways glare. "And no, there wasn't a boy involved, so get your head out of the gutter."
"Oh no, I'm getting predictable," I lamented with a smile. "Are you sure you didn't sneak someone in for a little funny business? I won't judge, I promise. You're a healthy teenage girl, after all. It's only natural."
"No, I absolutely didn't! I was trying to make a few last minute preparations, you ass!" she said. "What part of my life right now makes you think I have the time or the interest to invest in a romantic relationship? Enough to…to fool around, at that!"
I chuckled into my tea. "Methinks the lady doth protest too much."
She made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat.
"Could you at least use a Japanese idiom for that? You're not in London anymore, you know!"
My lips quirked to one side. "Are you sure you're awake? We've been talking in English."
She blinked at me, and then her brow furrowed, and at last, a flush spread across her cheeks. She looked away, refusing to meet my eyes, and busied herself with her two meager pieces of toast.
I sighed, set my tea down on the coffee table, and leaned over. "I'm going to start moving out today."
She blinked again and turned to look at me, toast hanging from between her teeth. "Already?" she asked around her food.
"It's the eighteenth," I pointed out. "Might as well get settled in, right? Besides, I thought you'd be glad. Didn't you want me gone before the War got started?"
"Well, yes, but…" She let out an explosive sigh of her own. "I guess I just…got used to having you around again."
I smiled. "Oh, so you do care."
Her cheeks flushed a little again, just the slightest.
"Jerk. How many times are you going to make me say it? You're my twin brother, of course I care."
As many times as I had to, Rin. I was going to cherish every utterance of your affection for as long as I possibly could, because the possibility was very real that it might not be that much longer at all.
"That doesn't mean I don't like hearing it."
She huffed.
"Yeah? Well, don't get used to it! You're not going to be seeing me for most of the next month, after all!"
"Why ever not?" I asked, feigning incredulity. "I'm not moving that far away, Rin. It's just up the street. There's no reason I can't walk you to school every day until things kick off for real."
She looked at me in horror. "You wouldn't."
I just smiled at her. She sighed again and dragged a hand over her face.
"You absolutely would. Are you trying to ruin the elegant image I've spent the last four years crafting?"
"Nope," I said brightly. "I'm trying to ruin mine."
She stared at me for a moment, uncomprehending, and then she snorted and doubled over, clutching her stomach and laughing. Somehow, she kept her mug of tea from spilling, probably because it was mostly gone.
"Oh my god," she managed between gasps. "You're really that desperate to get those girls to leave you alone?"
"If I never have to receive another 'confession' letter," I told her, "then I'll consider it effort well spent."
One was more than enough, but as that girl at Homurahara last week had proven, I didn't have to still be in school to get "confessed" to by one of my old yearmates. It was why I'd also avoided checking up on Sakura more than once or twice since then and left Rin at the front gate, now.
Rin shook her head. "Only you, Yukio. Why, if Shinji were as popular as you were with so little intent on your part, he'd have built a harem by now."
"Not for lack of trying," I said dryly, "at least as far as I understand it."
She cocked one eyebrow and rolled her shoulders in a careless shrug.
"Well, I guess some girls do find him charming, when he's not being sleazy about it."
Even if I hated his guts for what he was party to, I had to admit that she at least had that much right. Still, I couldn't leave it alone and let her walk away without slinging a final, parting insult at him.
"He's the sort of boy who peaks in high school."
She let out another unladylike snort, then sighed and stood, draining the last of her cup. "Sorry to cut this short, but I should get going."
I waved her off.
"Go on without me, today. I need to get a head start on packing all of my stuff up and moving out. But I'm going to be waiting on the curb tomorrow, because you're not getting rid of me that easily. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah. Big, strong Onii-chan there to protect me from the slavering hordes of horny teenage boys."
"I don't know what you're talking about," I said coyly. "I need you to protect me. All of those girls just want me for my body, and you're the only one who can fight them off."
"Not going to claim they're after your virginity?"
"Alas," I said melodramatically, one hand pressed to my heart, "I'm afraid that was stolen from me quite some time ago. It's quite the tragic story, really, and I'm far too traumatized to tell it."
She snorted, shook her head again, and left, bouncing up the stairs much faster and lighter than she had coming down them. About ten minutes later, she came back down, dressed, her school bag in one hand, and her hair styled. She stepped into the living room long enough to say goodbye.
"I'm heading out," she announced to me. "I expect you to at least stay for dinner one last time tonight, got it?"
I blinked at her.
"Huh. You did your hair differently, today."
The parts that she normally styled into her signature twin tails were pulled back and styled into a pair of small braids that were tied together at the back of her head. It actually looked really pretty, gave her more of an office worker look instead of high school girl. Feminine and dignified, rather than girlie.
She blinked back at me, and then her face flushed a bright, brilliant red to match her jacket.
"I-idiot!" she spat. "You're the one who told me I'd look more mature if I wore my hair like this! W-well, not like this, exactly, but it's a compromise! And what's with that delayed reaction, anyway! I've been wearing my hair like this for almost a year!"
Really? And I hadn't noticed?
"You have?"
"Ugh!" She spun around and stomped away. "You're so clueless sometimes, Yukio!"
A minute later, the front door swung open, and still sounding very much angry, Rin called back, "I'm leaving!"
"Go and come safely!" I shouted, more out of reflex than anything else.
The front door shut, a little more firmly than it really needed to, and an exasperated breath hissed out of my nostrils. Good grief. Had I been so distracted by my own preparations for the Grail War that I'd missed something that should have been so incredibly obvious?
"I'll have to make her something extra special for dinner tonight," I told the empty air. "Make it up to her."
Rin had always been pretty, but that more mature look really suited her so incredibly well. The twin tails had been fine for a seven-year-old, cute, even, but as an adult, the hints of sophistication were a much better look.
I didn't know how I hadn't noticed it before. Even as busy as I was trying to get ready, Rin was literally the most important person in my life, so even something as simple as changing her hairstyle should have been like a giant, neon sign glaring at me.
Maybe I should slow down a little, try to relax? Missing something like that might be a sign that I was focusing too much, getting tunnel vision, and that could be just as dangerous in any number of different ways as slacking off and letting the chips fall where they did.
For a few minutes more, I sat alone in the living room, accompanied only by the tick of the mantle clock, and nursed my mug of tea.
When it was all gone, I got up, went to the kitchen, and gave the dishes from both my breakfast and Rin's a quick wash. Ten minutes later, I was upstairs and pulling out my suitcases so I could start packing up everything I would need for the next month.
It was going to be a long one.
— o.0.O.O.0.o —
Right around noon, I had started settling into the old Edelfelt mansion down the street. Fortunately, whatever magecraft had kept the other one in good shape had kept this one just as pristine, so there hadn't been any need to go about dusting or otherwise cleaning the place up and it was just a matter of getting used to living someplace new. Since I'd been spending the better part of the last three years making trips back and forth across the British Isles, staying somewhere I hadn't been before was something I happened to be well accustomed to.
The only thing the house really lacked was food, which meant a shopping trip later in the day was going to be essential. It did mean that I had to go back home to make myself lunch, which turned out to be just as well, since I'd forgotten my laptop when I left.
And while I was there, well, there wasn't any reason not to check on the camera feeds from the ghost house in Shinto, was there?
Unfortunately, just like the last week, there was no sign of anyone having moved in. The Association's representative in the Grail War was still missing in action, and the time for her to show up and prepare her entry was fast dwindling away. Not for the first time and definitely not for the last, I cursed the vagueness of the timeline as I knew it, because all I had to go on was "about a week before Saber's summoning."
Reikan hadn't called me, either, which meant Medea hadn't shown up, yet.
It was all hit and miss. The easy things were going according to plan, exactly how I'd imagined they would for the last ten years, but the important bits kept spiraling off. Fujimura-sensei had beaten me so effortlessly, Medea was missing in action, and the Mage's Association's representative in the Holy Grail War was nowhere to be seen.
Was it just a matter of timing, and I was getting too impatient? Everything before January 31st was murky and unclear, after all, full of estimates and maybes. Or was there something else to it? Something I hadn't thought of, a possibility that I hadn't given enough consideration?
For ten years, I'd been moving forward under the assumption that all of the things filling my head were right. Could it be, was it possible…
My laptop was shut down and stowed back away with a frustrated sigh, and I took it back with me to the Edelfelt mansion before I went out for groceries. By the time I was done with all of that, it was starting to get pretty late in the afternoon, so I grabbed my umbrella and made my daily trip up the mountain to the temple.
It still didn't rain. The skies had been threatening for the better part of a week, but the forecast still only listed a "chance" of showers, although the number kept rising every day. Equally so, there was no sign of an elfin waif along the mountain steps, and Reikan only told me that she hadn't shown up, so my trip was equally fruitless as it had been every other day.
It was as I was stepping back into the Edelfelt mansion that something finally happened.
My cellphone rang, and I fished it out of my pocket to find a number I recognized. It took all of my will power not to flip it open as quickly as I could and instead to take my time so that I didn't give the impression of being in a hurry.
"Appearances are everything" wasn't just a line that applied to the Clocktower, after all.
"This is Tohsaka Yukio," I said politely into the receiver.
"Yukio-san," the voice on the other line greeted me. My heart skipped a beat. I had to wet my lips.
"Raiga-san," I said calmly, like my pulse wasn't thundering in my ears. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"
"I'm repaying the favor I owe you from back then."
Yes, yes, yes, yes! Finally, things are starting to go my way!
I made sure to keep my voice even, my tone distant and disinterested. Politics was such a messy business, but it was even messier when you were playing with people as dangerous as the Yakuza. They were not as nerve-wracking as magi could be, but I didn't intend on underestimating them or their resources anytime soon.
Their resources were the exact reason I'd cultivated that favor, way back when.
"Oh? Should I take it to mean you've found her?"
Please say yes, I begged him silently. Please say yes. Please.
"She was exactly as you described her to me — medium height, slender build, auburn hair, business suit. One Bazett Fraga McRemitz, according to her passport."
A jolt of adrenaline shot through my stomach.
"You've confirmed it, then? She's in Japan?"
"She arrived at the airport in Tokyo just last night," Raiga said. "Given the lines from there to here, she should be in Fuyuki in no later than two days."
Two days. Just two days. That was all the longer I had to wait until things finally got started for real.
"I see. Thank you for your diligence. Consider your favor to me repaid, Raiga-san."
"Not at all. In fact, as a matter of courtesy, I will contact you again when she arrives in Fuyuki."
I swallowed.
"That isn't necessary."
"I insist, Yukio-san. The Fujimura Group doesn't do things by halves. I will not consider our debt fulfilled until then."
"Then, I can only accept your dedication and thoroughness, Raiga-san. Please convey my appreciation to your men for their work."
"I will do so. Good day, Yukio-san."
"Good day, Raiga-san."
I waited until I heard the click of his phone turning off and then ended the call on my end, too, and pumped my fist victoriously.
"Yes!" I shouted to the empty mansion. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! She's on her way! Raiga, you old, cantankerous codger, if you were here right now, I could kiss you!"
Bazett had finally shown up. It was still going to be another few days before she made it to Fuyuki, but finally, finally, things were moving forward and I wasn't just twiddling my thumbs while I waited for something to happen. Ten years of planning and preparing, ten years of worry and nightmares, and there was finally something I could act on, something I could do about it all.
Something tickled my gut from the inside, and I couldn't stop the enormous grin from spreading across my face as I giggled quietly to myself. It was hard to contain my excitement, but too many years of pushing everything down beneath a mask of politeness and elegance just so I would be taken seriously was just as hard to shake.
This was proof, now. Proof that all of those things I'd had in my head for the last decade weren't just the imaginations of a brat who had had a bad fever dream or a reaction I'd had to activating my magic circuits for the first time. It was all real. Medea and Bazett and the Fifth Holy Grail War. Shirou's Reality Marble. Archer, Herakles, Illyasviel, King Arthur, Cúchulainn.
I took a deep breath, and some of my excitement died.
Medusa, Zouken, Shinji, Sakura, the pit of worms, too. The Shadow. Angra Mainyu and the corrupted Holy Grail. Gilgamesh. Those were all real, too.
Maybe it would have been worth it to be wrong if it meant none of that had ever been true.
— o.0.O.O.0.o —
I legitimately almost forgot I was going to post this today.
Rin and Yukio playing off each other continues to be one of the best parts of writing this story.
This chapter suffered in size a little for being a transitional chapter mostly meant to fill the space between last chapter and next chapter. I felt I should at least put this much between them, though, so I didn't just cut it entirely.
Special thanks to all my Patrons who have stayed with me this far, through all the rocky moments and dry stretches. You guys are the best, and your continued support is invaluable. If you like what you're reading and want to support me as a writer so I can pay the bills, I have a Patreon. If Patreon is too long term, I have a Ko-fi page, too. If you want to commission something from me, check out either my Deviantart post or my artist registry page for my rates. Links in my sig. Every little bit helps keep me afloat, even if you can only afford a couple dollars.
As with every day, at exactly six-thirty on the dot, there was a thump from upstairs, like something heavy had been dropped on the floor — or someone had dropped unenthusiastically out of bed.
"Yes," she said, and then she lanced me with a sideways glare. "And no, there wasn't a boy involved, so get your head out of the gutter."
"Oh no, I'm getting predictable," I lamented with a smile. "Are you sure you didn't sneak someone in for a little funny business? I won't judge, I promise. You're a healthy teenage girl, after all. It's only natural."
"No, I absolutely didn't! I was trying to make a few last minute preparations, you ass!" she said. "What part of my life right now makes you think I have the time or the interest to invest in a romantic relationship? Enough to…to fool around, at that!"
"Yeah, yeah. Big, strong Onii-chan there to protect me from the slavering hordes of horny teenage boys."
"I don't know what you're talking about," I said coyly. "I need you to protect me. All of those girls just want me for my body, and you're the only one who can fight them off."
"Not going to claim they're after your virginity?"
"Alas," I said melodramatically, one hand pressed to my heart, "I'm afraid that was stolen from me quite some time ago. It's quite the tragic story, really, and I'm far too traumatized to tell it."
Fortunately, whatever magecraft had kept the other one in good shape had kept this one just as pristine, so there hadn't been any need to go about dusting or otherwise cleaning the place up and it was just a matter of getting used to living someplace new.
"She was exactly as you described her to me — medium height, slender build, auburn hair, business suit. One Bazett Fraga McRemitz, according to her passport."
"Yes!" I shouted to the empty mansion. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! She's on her way! Raiga, you old, cantankerous codger, if you were here right now, I could kiss you!"
"She was exactly as you described her to me — medium height, slender build, auburn hair, business suit. One Bazett Fraga McRemitz, according to her passport."
