Kaida drew in a deep breath and tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach. This was it. She was standing in front of the gates to the mansion in which the eighth Campione lived and getting ready to present herself to him and ask him to take her into his service.
Behind her she heard the shuffle of Manaka's feet and was quietly glad for her presence. Their friendship was an odd one given how dissimilar their personalities were. They should have clashed too much for any kind of relationship to have developed.
Instead the brown haired warrior witch's personality and skills ended up both complimenting and being complimented by the powerful Hime-Miko. She possessed the social talents, spiritual training and calm rationality that Manaka had either not bothered to develop or simply didn't possess. On the other hand her bodyguard was far more experienced both in the outside world and in the arts of combat.
This was the greatest challenge they could have been assigned. They were the official envoys of the largest supernatural organization in the country to one of the two most powerful men to live in the nation. For a moment her calm wavered once more as the enormity of her task bore down on her.
Then she felt a hand on her shoulder, it was callused and contained a terrible strength but it simply squeezed her gently.
Right. Manaka had absolute faith in her, even though Kaida had no idea of exactly why; all she needed to do was have a small fraction of that faith in herself.
Squaring her shoulders subconsciously, the Hime-Miko reached out and firmly pressed the contact button on the gate's intercom.
There was an electronic buzz, a brief wait and then the voice of an older man answered.
"Yes?"
"I would like to speak to Emiya-sama; may I and my companion enter?"
There was a pause, and then the voice answered again. This time though there was a certain hardness to its tone.
"And just what is it that you wish to discuss with Emiya-sama?"
Kaida paused for a second as she tried to organize her thought to produce the best answer that she could for the situation. She had read the information that the Committee had on the eighth Campione, so she knew that she was probably speaking to Yamada Yusuke. Since his resurrection the undead accountant had served as the chief assistant and general right hand man to his King. His skills in both legal and illegal areas had been of great aid to Emiya-sama, especially given the Campione's relative youth. Yamada-san served as the supposed guardian of him and his white haired younger companion.
By all account the man was not only extremely resourceful and canny, he was also either fiercely loyal to his lord or very tightly controlled. Since his return to the mortal plane he had had a number of opportunities to swindle his liege out of vast sums of money, but he had never taken them.
"My name is Renjou Kaida; I am here a representative of the History Compilation Committee to the eighth Campione to offer my self both into his service and as an envoy from my organization."
There, she had put the best face on it that she had been able to think of, with any luck it would serve to get the in the door and hopefully speak to the young devil king face to face. It was a suitably formal and would hopefully set the tone for the meeting that she hoped would come.
There was a pause once more, this time significantly longer than the last.
"Am I to understand that you are the representative of an organization involved in the more . . . supernatural aspect of the world? And that you are here specifically to meet with Emiya-sama and discuss the possibility of opening communications?"
A slight frown crossed Kaida's face as she heard that. That had been a rather unusual choice of words. Did it mean that nobody else had contacted them? If that was so then why? Campione were giants amongst those who moved in the world of magic, and that meant that such individuals were as admired as they were feared. For no-one to have already contacted Emiya-sama . . . it was unthinkable.
"Yes, that is correct." Despite her thoughts she answered as simply as she could. There were just too many unanswered questions here; perhaps she'd be able to get some answers when she spoke to the Campione himself.
There was a longer pause this time, as though the speaker on the other end of the electronic devise was taking his time preparing his answer.
"If that is the case then I can guarantee that Emiya-sama would be eager to speak to you. Unfortunately he isn't at home right now, and I can't invite you in since his orders are not to allow any known magic users access to his dwellings unless he is himself here. Could I ask you to return here at about five o'clock this afternoon? By then he should have returned and be ready for you."
Kaida stared at the small loudspeaker from which the voice was coming as though it had suddenly begun to warble a song about the benefits of swimming in a pool of chocolate milkshake. He wasn't in? She had spent the last half hour mentally preparing herself for what would most likely be the most harrowing meeting of her life and the object of all that worry wasn't even there? This was so absurd as to almost be comical.
With a deliberate effort she choked down the slightly hysterical laughter that she had felt starting to bubble up from inside her. Now was not the time to lose her composure, she had to remain in control and ensure that she left a good impression upon this servant of the eighth devil king.
"I quite understand," she said, honestly surprised at how calm and even her voice sounded. "I and my companion will return at the time that you have suggested and hope that Emiya-sama will be kind enough to receive us."
She paused for a second before giving in to curiosity.
"If it would be permissible could you tell me where his majesty has gone? I was given to understand that he was normally in residence at this time of the morning."
There was another short pause from the man on the other end of the line, and then she was slightly startled to hear a soft chuckle.
"His highness, Emiya-sama, had to get up early today because it was his first day back to school, and he was very keen not to be late. The taxi driver came and picked him and his sister up only about half an hour ago."
Once again Kaida could only stare at the loudspeaker and wonder just what in the name of all the heavens was going on. When Yuri-sama had told her to expect the unexpected from Campione she had certainly never expected this. Which in itself made a twisted kind of sense, since she had been caught unawares by it she should have foreseen it, but if she had expected it then she would have expected something else. But then that would mean she was expecting that so . . .
With another mental effort the dark haired Hime-Miko pulled her thoughts out of that endless spiral. If kept on thinking about that particular endless argument then the only thing she'd accomplish would be to drive herself out of her mind.
Still, no matter how hard she tried she couldn't quite get her mind around the idea of the eighth Campione, the ruthless killer that had slain three deities in less than a week, was going to SCHOOL. That was so . . . ordinary. Campione were meant to be these larger than life giants that loomed over all humanity, absolute monarchs that could snap their fingers and have kings kneel before them.
Why on earth would such a one wish to go to school?
-()-
Shirou pulled at the collar of his new short sleeved shirt and tried to remember again exactly why he had thought that this was a good idea.
"Neh, Shirou? Can we meet on the roof to have lunch together? You did remember to bring your bento didn't you? Hey, do you think we should join an after-school club? Should we take different ones? I'm thinking about joining the tea ceremony club, I've always wanted to try that. Or maybe flower arranging. Or maybe I should try . . ."
A small smile crossed the young Emiya's lips as he let his adopted sisters excited chatter wash over him. She'd been like this for the whole of the morning and most of the day before, it seemed that the thought of attending school had given her an inexhaustible supply of excited energy.
For the last few days, ever since they had taken their placement tests, they had been carefully going over the story of their new false history. For the most part it mirrored what had really happened to them, but naturally excluded any mention of magic.
Right now it was about half an hour until the start of lessons and he and Illya were seated outside the office of the schools principal. It seemed he had a habit of personally greeting new students on their first day. Not a standard practice perhaps, but Shirou could understand where he was coming from.
Unfortunately it seemed that the principal had somehow been delayed, because the pair of them had been waiting for over a quarter of an hour, and there was still no sign of the man.
Still with Illya's constant stream of questions, suggestions and exclamations it had hardly been boring.
His thoughts were interrupted as someone sat down in the chair next to him. Mildly curious as to who had joined them the red haired teen glanced to the side.
The girl who had sat down was dressed in the same blue and white summer uniform that Illya was wearing. Her features, lovely though they were, clearly marked her as a foreigner rather than Japanese, however the thing that most caught his attention was her hair.
In all truth Shirou was quite accustomed to people with unusual hair colours. Sakura had possessed an odd shade of plum purple while Shinji's had been a rather bold blue. Then during the Holy Grail war he had met Illya with her snow white hair and Rider with her own impossibly long pale violet locks. This girl's hair was an odd shade of pale silver the likes of which he had never seen before.
"You've got very pretty hair."
Shirou blinked in surprise and turned his head to see that his adopted sister had gotten out of her chair and come round to inspect the new arrival.
In her new uniform Illya looked almost too cute for words. The colours of her clothing complimented her pale skin and the white of her hair quite nicely. This combined with the book bag she was carrying made her look like a traditional young schoolgirl, like in one of those anime she had become so fond of.
"Errr . . . thank you?" the rather confused girl answered in perfect Japanese.
"Oh . . . how rude of me." A look of embarrassment passed over the younger girls face before she took the edges of her skirt and performed as close to a curtsy as she could with the school issue uniform. "I am Illyasviel Von Einzbern, pleased to make your acquaintance."
The silver haired girl seemed startled to have received such an introduction, but recovered quickly, stood up and bowed formally back to the younger girl.
"I am Liliana Kranjcar; I am pleased to make your acquaintance Illyasviel-san."
Illya smiled and then turned her head to look at Shirou with a rather expectant look on her face. Getting out of his chair the young Emiya bowed politely and introduced himself.
"I'm Emiya Shirou, this young lady's brother, pleased to meet you Kranjcar-san."
"Her . . . brother?" A look of mild confusion flitted across the silver haired girl's features.
"I'm adopted." Shirou said by way of explanation.
"Ah, I see." Said Liliana as she sat back down.
"So Kranjcar-san, what brings you to Jounan Academy? Your Japanese is excellent but with that accent I'm guessing that it's not your first language."
"Ah, that is quite correct. I have only recently transferred to this school as an exchange student from Italy."
"Oh? That's a coincidence," commented Illya as she also retook her seat, "Me and onii-chan only got back from a trip to Italy about a month or two back. Which part are you from, maybe it was near to where we were staying?"
"I haven't really had a permanent address for some time," admitted the fairy-like girl, "I moved around quite a bit due to . . . family responsibilities. When I did stay anywhere for any length of time it was always Milan though, so I suppose one could say I'm from there"
"So what brings you to Japan then?" enquired Shirou. "Were you looking for a change of pace perhaps?"
A small blush played across Liliana's face, but her posture grew straighter and her shoulders squared. For some reason that he couldn't quite put his finger on she reminded him of Saber. Her posture, her baring, even her expression, all of it was tantalizingly close to the manner of his lost friend and Servant.
"There is a man to whom I have sworn my destiny in this academy. It was only natural that I should follow him here so as to be close to him."
The tone she used was . . . majestic was the closest word that would come to Shirou off the top of his head. She was obviously slightly embarrassed by her admission, but at the same time there didn't seem to be a shred of shame to her. Such an odd combination.
"Oh? So Liliana-san followed her boyfriend all the way from Italy to Japan? That's some impressive affection."
Illya's tone was light and teasing and it caused the slight flush on the older seeming girl's face to deepen.
"I-I assure you I am not his lover. I am simply following him here so as to keep my oath to him. And anyway I met him after I came to Japan, not before."
Shirou allowed himself a small smile as he watched Illya continue to light heartedly tease the other girl, however his mind was focussed on trying to figure out what it was about the slight girl that reminded him of Saber.
There was of course a superficial physical resemblance. Both of them possessed European features and had a more or less similar figure. But apart from that there wasn't too much that was shared by both. What really got him was the manner, the way in which they both held themselves. Granted it was by no means identical, with Liliana it was far less pronounced, but the similarity was definitely there.
Perhaps he was looking at this from the wrong angle. Rather than try to work out what it was about the girl in front of him that struck such a sharp cord he should try and think what it was about Saber that stood out the most. Let's see . . . she had been regal, even before he had learnt of her real identity she had always possessed an overpowering aura of majesty to her. She had also been stern, all business at first, only becoming a bit friendlier as they had managed to get to know each other a bit better. She had also always conducted herself with chivalry, always fighting as a knight rather than some common killer.
That thought struck a cord. Chivalrous, knightly, that was a good way to describe the way Liliana was carrying herself. It was subtle, so much so that it would have been easy to miss if one weren't paying attention for it. But Shirou had spent time with one who could be regarded as that which all knights tried in vain to be, and he supposed that gave him a certain edge in spotting these things. Granted the difference between them was great, Saber had possessed a subdued but powerful presence that he doubted any human could have matched. Still there was a certain similarity there, enough to know that this girl was at least trying to be a knight.
Still that realization brought up more questions than it answered. Why would a modern day knight have apparently sworn herself to some high school student? For that matter why would the girl even need to be a knight in modern times?
Questions, questions, questions, it would seem that he would always be confronted with more every time he managed to work something out.
His somewhat gloomy thoughts were cut off by the arrival of a short and rather stout man with thinning hair and wearing a small pair of round glasses. He was breathing hard and carried a brown leather briefcase under one arm. In effect he seemed as though someone had taken every cliché about the hard working salaryman and combined them into a single individual.
"I'm- I'm sorry to have kept you young people waiting," he panted out between puffing for air, "I'm afraid that there was a traffic accident, so I ended up running late."
A small self deprecating smile crossed the short man's face.
"Now there's a fine example I'm setting, showing up late to greet my new students on their first day."
Walking past them he took out a set of keys and unlocked the door to the office in front of which they had been waiting.
"I am principle Tanaka, please join me in my office so we can get our introductions and orientation all sorted out before classes start."
Moving into his office the principle waved for them to come in.
In fairly short order all three of them were sitting on chairs facing Tanaka-san's large work desk.
"Well now Emiya-san, Kranjcar-san, Einzbern-san, please let me be the first to welcome you to Jounan Academy. We're always happy to accept new students here. I hope your time with us with prove to be both educational and enjoyable." As he spoke the stout principle began to root about the mounds of disorganized paper work that seemed to cover most of his desk.
"Now then lets see . . . due to all of you having applied a bit on the late side your enrolment was a somewhat last minute. That's why we haven't been able to let you know what class you were assigned to ahead of time. Here we go . . ." he muttered as he pulled a sheet of paper out from under several others.
"Einzbern-san, you will be enrolling in our middle school's third year, class Four. I know that your fellow students will be a year or two older than you, but I'm sure there won't be any problems."
That had been one surprise that had been sprung on Shirou just under a week ago. Since neither he nor Illya had any kind of education history that they could provide to Yusuke they had needed to undergo a series of placement tests that he had had set up for them. The young Emiya had scored completely average, however Illya's scores had been quite surprising.
As far as mathematics and science went she was closer to being a university teacher than she was a student. It would that the training she had undergone for even the rudimentary Alchemy she had learnt had left her with a particular affinity for those subjects. However aside from that the only other subject that she showed any promise in was Japanese language. She could speak, understand and read the language without difficulty; her problem was in writing in kanji, hiragana or katakana. As far as that went she was absolutely hopeless. The same went for geography, Japanese history and traditional arts. She was only slightly better at computer studies and arts and crafts.
A few days of intense tutoring from Shirou and Yusuke had managed to improve her abilities at Japanese writing to the point where it was legible more often than not, as opposed to looking like the work of a drunken baboon with a pen.
All in all the final decision was that the snow haired girl would not be placed in the first year of middle school, but would instead be placed in the third year with students a year or two older than her physical age. The story would be that she was a gifted student who had skipped a couple of grades while attending school in Europe.
Illya had at first protested, stating that she would be happier with people her own physical age. But after a bit of consideration she agreed that the more advanced classes would probably be more interesting and that her mental level would also be more at home with the older students. Actually the truth was that the young Einzbern rather liked the idea of being the young genius of her class, it fit in with her sense of narrative expectation. However that was a fact that she was keeping secret from her brother and his retainer.
"Emiya-san, you will enroll in Year two, class three. Everything has been prepared so I see no problems there."
Shirou silently nodded, though internally he was a little annoyed. Before he'd become embroiled in the Holy Grail war he had been about two thirds of the way through his school year, now due to the difference in time that travelling between the worlds had brought about, he was having to retake this term again. And to top it all of he was going to be doing it with knowledge that was about eight years out of date. Oh well, what could you do. Coming to school had been his idea, so he could hardly back out of it at this point.
"And Kranjcar-san, I believe that we have found you a place in Year one, class two. I think . . ."
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but it is essential that I am in class five." Liliana broke in.
"Class Five? Oh, you mean the same class that Blandelli-san transferred into. Well I can understand wanting to be in the same class as her if she is a friend of yours, but I'm afraid that class five is all filled up at this point. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to make plenty of friends in class two, and you'll be able to see Blandelli-san during the lunch break and after school."
The silver haired girl stood up and moved over to the desk so that she was standing directly in front of the principle.
"I don't think you quite understand. You have to transfer me into class five. It's for my mission after all, so please make it happen."
The principles eyes widened in surprise for an instant, then went slightly glazed before seemingly returning to normal.
"Ah, well if you feel so strongly about it Kranjcar-san I think I might be able to arrange something." Looking up at the two still seated new students he smiled at them while holding out two sheets of paper. "These are directions your home rooms and your timetables, why don't you two head to them while me and Kranjcar-san see what we can manage in regard to her class?"
With a smile he gently waved them out of the room.
The adopted siblings simply nodded and wordlessly took their sheets before leaving. As soon as they were in the offices hallway Illya turned to Shirou.
"She was using some form of hypnosis in there. It wasn't like any type I know of, but it was definitely some kind of magic." The snow haired girl's words were hushed but excited.
"That's what I thought too," agreed the Campione, "What was odd though was that she didn't react to either of us, if she is at this school on business then we don't seem to be her target. Do you think that she's sworn herself to one of the teachers? I suppose one of them could be a magus."
"If she has then she's got a crush on them. Did you see the way she blushed when I talked about her boyfriend? It was so cute, there's definitely someone that she likes."
Shirou cast a sideways glance at the girl who was now walking next to him. He had noticed that Illya had undergone some character changes since they had arrived on this world. For all her childishness he knew that she had a serious side to her. And he had been seeing that side of her a fair bit more of late. What was new though was the enjoyment that she seemed to take in light-heartedly teasing others, especially in regards to their romances. It was . . . different.
"More questions and still not enough answers." Shirou muttered to himself.
The truth was that he was actually a little annoyed with himself. After his preparations to defend the manor had been completed he had been all set to try and make contact with the magical community in Tokyo. Then the memories he had inherited from Archers arm had completed their integration and all plans of contact were shelved until he was able to get his mind straight. Then once he had managed to get the memories into some sort of order he had begun planning his contact again, only then the business of enrolment at school had come up and his plans had fallen to the wayside. Those placement tests, getting Illya up to speed on her writing, even getting their story straight, it had all pushed thoughts of other magi to the back of his mind.
And now here he was with one of those magic users not more than a few yards from where he was and he was unsure of how to proceed.
"Shirou?"
His adopted sister's voice brought him out of his thought. He realized he had stopped his slow walk and was instead just standing at the end of the hall that led to waiting room in front of the principles office. Illya was looking at him with a mildly curious look on her face.
"Let . . . lets just go to our home rooms for now. Liliana-san is a student here as well so there should be no problem finding her again if we need to." As smile crossed his face as he glanced down at the shorter girl. "We'd best hurry if we don't want to be late."
-()-
Illya stood at the front of the classroom, next to the teacher's desk, and gazed back at the students who were all staring at her.
"Well class, this is our new transfer student form Germany. Illyasviel, please introduce yourself."
The snow haired girl almost moved to curtsy as she had done earlier when introducing herself to Liliana, however this time she remembered and stopped just in time. Instead she politely bowed in the way that Yusuke-san had taught her.
"I'm Illyasviel Von Einzbern. I'm very pleased to be joining you all and I ask you to take good care of me."
Oh, this was just like one of those anime she had seen. Internally she grinned as the thought crossed her mind that she was technically a magical girl since she was a magus. Privately she wondered if she should make a costume in her spare time just for fun. Magical Girl Illya-chan, it had a certain appeal to it.
"Err, aren't you a little young to be in this class?"
The question was asked by one of the boys in the front row. She estimated his age to be about fifteen or fourteen; he was of average height, fairly good looking and wearing rectangular glasses. He had an intelligent and confident feel about him which led her to think that he was probably someone fairly high up in the social ranks of this class.
She had also been expecting someone to ask that question. After all while her aging might have begun once more its effects so far had been subtle for the most part. The only real difference was that now no-one would think her younger than twelve. According to her new birth certificate, provide by Yusuke's excellent contacts, she was thirteen years and four months old. Admittedly a little young for this class, but she had her story ready.
"I was able to skip a year in Germany due to doing well in some subjects. I'm still a bit weak in other subjects though, and I'm told my Katakana is barely readable. That's one of the things I'm hoping to change here."
Her smile, deliberately sweet seemed to disarm most of initial uncertainty about her. Responding smiles appeared on most of the faces before her and questions began to be asked of her, she tried to answer them as best she could while keeping the answers short.
"What was it like living in Germany?"
"Colder, much colder. You've got better weather here."
"What brought you to Japan?"
"I came to meet my adopted onii-chan. We then went back to Europe and then came back here to live."
"Oh, is your onii-chan attending school here too?"
"Yes, he's in the second high school year."
"What're your hobbies?"
"How old are you?"
What do you like most about Japan?"
The questions eventually began to come faster than Illya could answer and the teacher had to step I to calm down the class.
"Now now, I'm sure you all still have plenty of questions but it's time for lessons to begin. Would one of you be so kind as to act as a guide for Einzbern-san until she's more familiar with the school?"
In response to her question more than three quarters of the class raised their arms to volunteer for the duty.
"Alright then, how about . . . you, Shizuka-chan?"
At the teacher's words a girl stood up and waved Illya over. She was a girl of average height, with her brown hair done up rather unusually in a couple of buns on either side of her head which were covered by pink hair bands. Her large green eyes were . . . measuring, not hostile or unfriendly, rather observing how she acted. An honest judgement, that was the best way to describe it.
There was an empty desk next to the older girl, walking over to it the snow haired girl put down her book bag and smiled at the girl who had been assigned to be her guide.
"I'm pleased to meet you," the girl said with a smile, "I'm Kusanagi Shizuka, pleased to meet you Illyasviel-san"
"Please treat me kindly." Answered Illya with another smile of her own.
-()-
Shirou sat in his class and tried to listen to his teacher lecture on the laws of physics. It wasn't that he was bored; it was just that his thoughts kept on wandering back to the subject of mages and magic associations.
He supposed that fear had been at the root of his over cautious preparations. He had understood that he was a Campione, and a Campione was a great power in the magical communities if what the magus had said was to be believed. The problem was that Shirou had no idea of exactly what it was that gave people like him this seemingly royal authority. Did he have to act in a certain way? Did he have to take territory from someone else and declare it his own?
In the end the securest course of action that he could think of had been to build up his resources, establish a base of sorts and then reinforce its defences as much as he could.
Now that he thought about it perhaps his reluctance to take that last step and make contact had been due to fear. If he did make contact and the magi of the city were hostile then he would have been faced with the choice of fight or flight. He probably would have chosen to fight rather than flee. Not from stubbornness or pride, but rather because it would have been the best logical choice.
If he was being forced to flee then it stood to reason that he would have eventually had to face his pursuers. Better to take them on in a place of his choosing where the preparations he had made would give him the advantage.
The problem was that in such a battle lives would inevitably be lost. The memories he had inherited from EMIYA lent him ample fodder for gruesome thoughts of torn corpses littering the tidy paths of his manors gardens. Shirou knew he was no innocent; he had blood on his hands. Yet despite that some part of him had constantly managed to procrastinate about trying to contact the local magi out of fear for that worst outcome.
His thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the lunch bell. All around him the students of his class began to get up and put their book away.
Gathering up his own things Shirou got up and began to head towards the staircase to the building's roof, the place where he had agreed to meet Illya for lunch.
His introduction to the class he was now a part of had gone about as well as could be expected. His reception had been fairly pleasant and apart from having to state that red was his natural hair colour everything had gone smoothly. He supposed he could have made an effort to be a bit friendlier, but at the time he had been worried about how his sister had been doing in her own introductions.
He loved Illya as though she was a blood sibling, but she had been raised to fight in a violent and bloody battle royal for most of her life. Even though she was affectionate and sweet for those she liked, he knew that she could just as easily be ruthless and callous to those who irritated her. Granted she no longer had an invincible magical juggernaut as her personal attack dog, but given her personal power and talents he had no doubt she could slaughter her entire class if she so chose.
He knew that Illya wouldn't do something that, if not from compassion then certainly from intelligence. But his treacherous imagination had supplied him luridly gruesome images of the snow fairy like girl losing her temper and wreaking havoc and slaughter upon her class with her magecraft. As a result he had probably been less personable with his new classmates than he should have been. Ah well, he'd see about being friendlier later. First he wanted to settle his frayed nerves down by confirming his faith in Illya.
He met up with his sister where they had agreed to meet, but to his surprise he found that she was not alone. Another girl, who looked to be about fifteen and who had her hair done up into two buns that were wrapped in pink hair bands, was with her.
As she saw him turning the corner Illya waved at him enthusiastically. As he drew nearer she turned to her companion.
"Shizuka, this is my onii-chan, Emiya Shirou. Shirou, this is Kusanagi Shizuka, she's acting as my guide and says it'll be okay for us to join her, her onii-chan and his friends on the roof."
"Thank you Kusanagi-san," the young Emiya addressed the girl while making sure he had a friendly smile on his face. "It's always nicer to eat with others than on your own."
"No problem, now lets get up there, onii-chan and his girls should be there already."
The trio walked up the stairs and came out onto a rooftop that had clearly been prepared with students eating there in mind. The entire edge of the roof was fenced off in one way or another and benches were set up around large potted plants. With the pleasant weather and clear sky the atmosphere on the roof was actually quite pleasant.
However despite the pleasantness of the location it was surprisingly uncrowded. In fact there were only three people there, they were seated on a blue sheet that had been spread on the concrete rooftop and were apparently having a sort of picnic. There was a fairly tall boy with black hair, a lovely young woman with long chestnut brown hair, and a second girl whom both the adopted siblings immediately recognized. It was her that was passionately speaking as they came out onto the roof.
"Combining carbohydrates with carbohydrates is reckless at best. So long as my heart beats, I shall not permit that kind of crude meal."
She was apparently addressing the boy of their group because she snatched a packaged bread from his hand and immediately replaced it with what was clearly a home made sandwich.
"A meal like this is appropriate for a warrior. Now, please eat up."
"Ah, hello again Liliana-san," Illya happily waved at their fellow transfer student, "Is this the one you swore your destiny to?"
"E-Einzbern-san? What are you doing here?"
Liliana was surprised enough by the white haired girl's enthusiastic greeting that her attention was diverted. Shirou noted that the black haired boy took advantage of the distraction to grab his packaged bread back from where the silver haired girl had set it down and quickly hid it in his bag. Quick hands he idly noted.
"Don't you know? All the main characters always have their lunches on the rooftop, it's practically a rule."
The young head of the Emiya clan, such as it was, glanced sideways at her as Illya nodded to herself in a sage-like style, utterly convinced with the truth of what she had just said. Maybe he had been a little overindulgent in letting her watch anime; clearly it had warped her thought process slightly.
"Shizuka, why don't you introduce us?"
The boys question was friendly and mildly curious. In response the bun haired girl inclined her head towards her classmate.
"This is Einzbern Illyasviel, she just transferred into my class today and I volunteered to show her around. She mentioned that she and her brother were planning to eat on the rooftop, so I thought I might as well invite them to join us." Her stare suddenly took on a suspicious cast and she leaned forwards to glare at the boy.
"Never mind that though, who's this?" she asked gesturing towards Liliana. "Onii-chan, did you pick up another girl over the holidays? What do Erica-san and Mariya-san think about it?"
"Ah, well, you see . . ."
The boy's fumbled replies only seemed to add to the accusing and suspicious glare that his younger sister was directing at him. However before he could stutter out something that would no doubt only end up digging him deeper into the hole he was already in something caught Shirou's attention.
"Is that proper rye bread?"
Shirou might be an almighty Campione, he might be a former Master of the Holy Grail war, he might even be a dangerous magus when he put his mind to it, but before all that he was a cook. Well, as long there wasn't anything too important going on at least.
Since acquiring the Rule of the Underworld and his new manor one of his more relaxing activities had been the cooking of some of the more expensive and exotic dishes he could think of. Just last week he had taken advantage of his enormous oven to properly roast an entire boar's carcass. Granted there had been so much left over meat after him, Illya and Yusuke had gorged themselves that much of it had to be placed in the freezer. Still it had been the realization of a childish dream.
However one thing that had vexed him was an inability to find a decent loaf of rye bread. It was laughable really, here he was with a mass of wealth at his disposal and he couldn't find a loaf of the bread, something to do with a supplier problem. There were times that he truly wondered at just how strange the world could be.
"Err . . . yes. I just cut it open this morning."
"Where did you get it from? I've been trying to get some decent rye bread for ages, but I've had no luck."
Somewhat taken aback by Shirou's sudden interest in her meal Liliana had to take a couple of seconds to think up an answer to his question.
"I'm-I'm not quite sure. My maid Karen is the one who handles the shopping. If you'd like I can ask her where she got it from."
"I'd really appreciate it if you could." Shirou's answer was enthused as his mind quickly filled with plans for various simple but elegant sandwiches.
"Sorry about onii-chan," Illya apologised for he brother. "He gets it into his head that he wants to make something and then when he can't he starts to mope about it."
Her expression turned mischievous and slightly devilish.
"But what's this I'm hearing Kusanagi-san? Not only do you have Liliana-san here, but you also have an Erica-san and a Mariya-san as well?"
As she asked her question the snow haired girl noticed that the chestnut haired girl was flushing deep red.
"Oh? Are you Mariya-san? So you've got a stern and dutiful girl like Liliana-san and a classic beauty like Mariya-san here. And you've also got this Erica-san as well, is this the legendary 'Harem Ending' that I've heard all young Japanese men aspire to?"
By the end of Illya's seemingly innocent questions both the named girls and the black haired boy were all flushing such a deep shade of crimson that the eighth Campione was actually beginning to worry about their health.
"I-I am not here to be Godou-san's woman," Liliana declared somewhat hotly, "I am merely here to take care of him because our relationship binds us with the same fate. As a result we are one in body and soul!"
The young Einzbern didn't even bother to verbally reply; she simply looked at the silver haired girl and raised one eyebrow questioningly.
"Liliana-san, please don't say things that can be easily misinterpreted." Godou's request was delivered in an almost painfully pleading tone.
"Ano . . . are you friends of Liliana-san?"
The brown haired Mariya-san spoke up for the first time, clearly hoping to change the topic of conversation.
"My sister and I were the other two transfer students who joined classes today. We met Kranjcar-san this morning when we were all meeting the principle for our official welcome to the academy."
He smiled towards the knightly girl.
"I suppose you were able to convince the principle to put you in class five then?"
"Yes," she replied with an attempt to regain her tattered dignity, "after I explained the situation he proved reasonable and was willing to go along with my request."
"He's your brother?" Godou asked in some confusion, "But you're so different."
His face reddened once more as he realized that he'd said that out loud.
"Sorry, I didn't mean . . ."
"It's okay," Shirou assured him, "I've been expecting this for some time, so I suppose I should explain it to you all. If anyone asks you feel free to pass it on, it'll probably save me the trouble of having to repeat myself later.
"Do you mind?" He asked and waited for several nods and smiles before both he and Illya sat down on the sheet.
"Go ahead." Said Godou amiably.
As they opened up their bentos Shirou ran over the story, which they had spent the last week getting straight, once again in his mind. Yusuke had been helpful in hammering out the hole, but he had advised them to keep it simple, according to him simple was always best.
"Well first off I'm adopted, that's why me and Illya look so different.
"What happened was that my dad married into the Einzbern family. He was a talented individual who had drawn their attention. Apparently their blood had been getting a bit too thick so they elected to bring in an outsider to add something new to the bloodline. Dad married Irisviel and a couple of years later Illya here was born.
"Things went wrong about eight years ago. Dad and Irisviel were here in Japan on business for the Einzberns when there was an accident, a big one. Irisviel was killed, I lost my whole family and dad was seriously injured.
"The head of the Einzberns chose to use the accident for his own plans. He'd never approved of dad so he used the accident as an excuse to throw him out of the family. The bastard also managed to get a good legal team together so dad lost all custody of Illya, hell they even put a restraining order on him.
"Dad would have fought them more, but he didn't have the money or the influence. He adopted me and then died about five years ago due to the wounds he got in the accident. Thanks to the old meddler it wasn't until about four months ago that I even knew I had a sister."
Illya patted him comfortingly on the shoulder and then took up her side of the story.
"Grandfather always told me that father had abandoned me after letting mother die. He even said father had adopted onii-chan to replace me."
Illya allowed some of her contempt for Jubstacheit von Einzbern to enter her tone.
"After he finally died I had a bit more freedom and travelled to Japan to confront onii-chan. I was all set for a really big fight, but as soon as he found out who I was he started treating me like a real sister. I almost wish grandfather was still alive, learning that I'd made up with father's heir would probably have been enough to finish him off."
The white haired girl's face was set in a cruel smile now, the same one she had worn when she ordered Berserker to kill him, Rin and Saber. Involuntarily a small shudder ran down his back. Adorable though she may be Shirou still found the memory of that smile alone to be enough to unnerve him.
Glancing around he saw expressions of sympathy and pity on the faces of their audience. In all truth he had been a bit unsure of the story that the three of them had managed to cook up. To him it had sounded like one of the plotlines that could be found in a day time soap opera. Romance, tragedy, betrayal, reconciliation, so many essential elements were there that he feared it would come off as being a bit too contrived.
Yusuke had assured him that that would not be the case. Indeed the drama of the tale would help add to its believability. People would be caught in the tale and their own feelings of sympathy and interest would lead to them reaffirming its authenticity in their own heads which would make them less prone to questioning it at a later point.
Well it seemed that the resurrected accountant's instincts had been dead on again. He seriously doubted that anyone here would be harbouring any suspicions as to the truth of what they had heard.
"Still, everything worked out fairly well in the end; I even got an imouto out of it so I'm not complaining too much."
The light hearted comment was deliberately meant to dispel the somewhat solemn atmosphere that had descended on the small gathering. His words, along with him affectionately rubbing the top of Illya's head, produced the desired response as smile returned to the faces or their small audience.
A puzzled frown suddenly creased Shizuka's forehead.
"So . . . who're you living with? You said your dad was dead and now so's your grandfather. Who's your legal guardian?"
"Dad made arrangements before he passed on." Explained Shirou. "When he died one of his friends became my legal guardian. After Illya's grandfather died a lot of the legal blocks that he'd had set up lost their driving force and my and Illya's inheritance became available to us. It's currently in a trust being overseen by my dad's friend until we're old enough to legally take charge of it."
"What made you decide to move to Japan Einzbern-san?" Yuri-san asked.
"Because I never really liked it in Germany with the rest of the Einzberns." Answered the snow haired girl before biting into a sausage, with perhaps more force than was strictly necessary.
"They never really treated me as part of the family. It was always: 'Illyasviel, we expect much of you in the future.' Or: 'Remember that you must not fail in your duty.' They never let me have any fun or go out, all they did was make me study and go on about how 'uncouth' and 'vulgar' all the 'commons' had become." She glanced up at the teens that were now all paying close attention to what she was saying.
"The Einzbern were once powerful nobility you know. But over the last few centuries they've lost a lot of the influence and stature that they once enjoyed. These days the whole family's just mooning over the 'good old days' and wishing for some miracle to restore everything to the way it once was.
"That's one of the reasons they were willing to let father into the family. The Einzbern name might have rank and old money but nobodies got any ideas, any drive. Father was going to change that, he was going to get things moving again. But when the accident screwed things up grandfather decided to abandon him and focus on raising me to be the perfect little heir.
"Me coming to Japan in the first place was meant to be a rite of passage. I was to denounce onii-chan, use my resources to ruin him and leave him penniless in the gutter."
Shirou was honestly impressed with how well his adopted sister was spinning her tale. The four teens who were now hanging on her every word all bore expressions of sympathy or outrage on their faces as they listened to the adapted version of Illya's life.
"The problem was that the Einzbern family had a few rivals that didn't want to see us improve our lot. My leaving the family grounds for the first time was a golden chance to have me kidnapped so they could extort my family. They bribed my minder and would have managed it if onii-chan hadn't blundered into things at just the right time.
"Anyway once the dust had settled I'd finally worked out that grandfather had been lying through his teeth to me for the better part of a decade. We both went back to Europe together to have it out with the rest of the family; only when we got there it turned out that with old age having finally done the old man in the various factions within the family were engaging in a mini civil war. So we grabbed what we legally could while no one was looking and came back here.
"You asked why I decided to move to Japan Mariya-san? It was because it's much more fun here. I can watch anime and play games. I can read comics and play with dolls and toys. I don't have to study business planning every day or listen to sermons about 'proper decorum' or 'ignoring the banalities of the masses'. I can live with onii-chan, go to school, have friends and have fun!"
As Illya spoke the last word she used her fork to spear the last piece of rolled egg in her bento with an almost savage but exultant movement.
Shirou felt a surge of sympathy and protectiveness for the small white haired girl that was his sister now. Illya didn't speak of her life with her family much, but from what he'd been able to coax out of her it hadn't been a happy time for her.
His memories, gained from EMIYA, told him that Illya had originally been intended to be the core of the Holy Grail, a task she would not have been able to survive. That alone gave him a good hint of just how her family had viewed her.
So . . . what do you most want to do now that you're going to school?"
The question, hesitant and a little unsure, came from Godou-san. His face looked a bit troubled by what he had just heard.
"I . . . want to learn how to do Japanese tea ceremony." Illya declared after a short pause.
"Oh?" Shizuka's interest was now clearly visible. "Why's that?"
"Father tried to teach mother how to do it once," the young Einzbern confided, "it's one of my earliest memories. Mother was absolutely terrible at it; she kept on spilling the tea and knocking things over with her sleeves. She was upset about it because she didn't want to let father down, but he was alright with it. He said that when I was old enough they'd let me try to see if I took after him or mother in doing it."
Her smile towards the end of her explanation was bitter sweet. He could tell that the memory she had just shared was a precious one, and he wondered what it was that had prompted her to share it with pretty much total strangers.
"Well . . . I'm part of the Tea Ceremony club and so is Mariya-san, if you like we could show you the basics and see how you like it." Shizuka's voice sounded pleased at the thought of gaining a new recruit for her club.
"Will I get to wear one of those lovely kimonos?" Illya asked eagerly. "I've been meaning to get one, but I don't know how to put one on properly."
As the three girls began to chatter in earnest Shirou allowed his mind to wander as he mechanically ate his food. As he watched the other teens he became more aware of the looks that both Mariya-san and Liliana-san were directing at the elder Kusanagi sibling. There was affection there, as well as some uncertainty. Idly he thanked whatever force was in charge of his fortune for that small blessing. Ever since he had finished assimilating the memories of EMIYA and his other selves he had had an easier time picking up on the subtler emotional actions of those around him. Looking back on his own memories he often wanted to smack himself over the head for not realizing Sakura's feelings for him sooner.
Sakura, both his greatest treasure and his most abominable failure. So many joys and so many regrets all attached to one person.
Again he wondered how his girlfriend was doing right now.
Girlfriend.
It was such an . . . inadequate word to use to describe his feelings for the plum haired girl. It was meant to describe a couple who were in a relationship to see how they got on. For most his age it was about dates at the cinema, making out in some quiet spot, just enjoyable activities together as they built up to something more. His own relationship with Sakura had been . . . more. More intimate, more forged, more chaotic. She had been his lover, his enemy, his friend to protect and his woman to save. He had seen her at her lowest points, when her rage overwhelmed her and when her self loathing consumed her. He had pushed himself to the brink of destruction and beyond simply to save her and he had slain a god in order to protect her.
And he didn't even know if he had been successful in the end. He had no way of knowing what had happened to either Sakura or Rin after Rider had carried them out of that crumbling cavern. For all he knew Rin could be dead, Rider could have faded away without a Master and Sakura could be dead or insane from her experiences.
Still he couldn't allow himself to fall into such a spiral of thoughts. If got caught on such a path he might never be able to drag himself off it. He had to have faith, faith in the will that had allowed Sakura to endure her torture for years, faith Rin's stubborn ability to defy all common sense, faith in Rider's unswerving loyalty to the unhappy girl that had summoned her.
Shirou blinked in surprise as he was pulled from his thoughts by the fact that he seemed to have finished all his food without even realizing it. Glancing up at the school clock he noted that it would only be a few more minutes until it was time to go back to class.
Standing up he nodded towards Illya, noting that her conversation seemed to have wound down.
"Thanks for having had us, but I think we should get going, it'll soon be time to head back to classes and we've still got a couple of things to do."
With an answering nod of her own the young Einzbern stood up and politely bowed to the four students with whom she and her brother had shared lunch.
"Thank you for your kindness, this has been very pleasant and I hope we'll be able to do it again."
"It's been a pleasure for us as well Einzbern-san," Yuri-san replied with a warm smile, "I'm afraid the Tea Ceremony club isn't on today, but it will begin again next week, Shizuka-san can tell you when and we'd be more than happy to have you see if you like it."
"Please treat my sister kindly Mariya-san." The young Emiya said jokingly as he and his adopted sister began walking towards the stairs that led back into the main building.
"Oh, I just realized, you never told us your name."
Godou's exclamation brought Shirou up short as he quickly went over their conversation in his head. What do you know; the young man was right he hadn't mentioned his name once during the whole time he'd been up on the roof. Mentally he chided himself for his unintentional bad manners.
"Sorry, that was my mistake," he ruefully admitted, "I'm Emiya Shirou; thanks for having let us join you."
After a quick bow he turned and followed Illya down the stairs.
It was actually a pity he didn't stick around a little longer. If he had it would have been . . . informative.
-()-
Yuri went stock still as Emiya-san left the rooftop.
No, it couldn't be. The thought that the eighth Campione would simply come to a regular public school was absolutely absurd. Except . . . that was what the seventh did, so maybe it wasn't quite so outlandish a possibility.
Vaguely she was aware of Shizuka also leaving after saying something about speaking to someone; the Hime-Miko was even able to manage a distracted nod of goodbye. Her whole mind seemed to be stuck on the fact that her lunchtime had been the ground zero for the first meeting of two of the most powerful individuals in the world, and neither of them had realized it.
"Mariya, are you okay?"
Godou's concerned words brought her back to the present from her thoughts of the disastrous possibilities that could have taken place.
"I think she's just realized who it was that you've had lunch with."
Erica's slightly teasing and self serving voice drew all their gazes to where she was standing on the far side of the rooftop. With total poise and self assured grace she strode over to their little gathering and sat herself down next to her sworn king. Before anyone could protest she reached out and grabbed the last of her old friends neaten sandwiches.
"What do you mean?" Asked Liliana, scowling slightly at the fact that the blonde knight had taken a closer seat to their mutual liege than herself.
"That was Emiya Shirou, the eighth Campione."
Silence reigned supreme across the rooftop as everyone just stared at the Diavolo Rosso. Yuri's gaze was resigned as her suspicions were confirmed. Godou's stare was disbelieving, unable to reconcile the quiet but pleasant sempai he had just eaten with, with the likes of the ruthless Voban or the idiotic but brilliant Salvatore Doni. Liliana simply gaped at the news that there even was an eighth Campione at all.
"Are . . . Are you sure?" asked Godou.
"Well his name matches, his hair is red, his skin is slightly tanned, he's in the company of a white haired girl a few years younger than himself and he's here in Japan having recently returned from Europe. That seems to go with everything that we know about the latest of the god-slaying kings."
"But-but I haven't heard anything about a new King being born," protested the silver haired witch knight. "Surely I'd have been informed if something so important took place."
"Well there are several factors that would do that," commented Erica airily as she took another bite of her purloined sandwich. "Here in the east you're a bit off the normal lines of communication that your order uses. Also right now you're a bit on the unpopular side after you broke the alliance with Marquis Voban. Also I understand that the Bronze-Black Cross is having a few administrative problems right now. Mind you I think the main problem is that nobody in Europe actually knows much of anythingabout him."
Godou's brow furrowed slightly in confusion.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean what I say; nobody knows much of anything about Emiya-sama for certain. There's a lot of guessing and speculation, but there's very little that anyone knows for sure.
"What we are sure of is that a couple of months ago Emiya-sama faced an unknown god in Naples and somehow managed to kill him, three days later he fights the hero god Perseus and kills him as well, then two days later he gets into a fight with the Greek god Hades and manages to slay him as well. Then he uses one of his Authorities to get a Pegasus to carry him and his companion all the way to Japan."
Liliana's eyes were wide at this point as she tried to mesh the information she was hearing with her memories of the pleasant older teen she had met that morning.
"He killed three gods in less than a week?" Her voice was slightly strangled.
"Yes, the last time that happened was nearly a hundred years ago, when Marquis Voban personally hunted down and slew all three of the Chinese weather gods that had descended to the mortal realm." Erica looked up at them and gave them a beatific smile. "That was after he was more than a hundred years old and had mastered all his Authorities. Emiya-sama managed it straight after becoming a Campione in the first place. Talented wouldn't you say?"
Liliana had actually gone a bit pale while Godou was starting to look a bit on the hunted side.
"So . . . he went out and hunted down two gods right after becoming a Campione?" He asked. His mind was already wondering just what kind of person Emiya-san really was. Could it be that under that pleasant exterior he was actually a power hungry murderer? Godou could understand fighting Heretic Gods if they were causing a disaster, he could even understand the need to finish them off in certain circumstances. But to actually go out and hunt them down so as to add to ones own power? That he had trouble understanding, at least on an emotional level. Mentally he understood a desire to increase ones strength and eliminate threats, but still . . .
"No actually," the blonde knight replied, "At least as far as the latter two are concerned he actually tried to do all he could to avoid battle. He only killed them when he had no other choice."
Well that was something at least.
"What does this mean then?" asked Liliana, her mind already going over the potential threats to her king that this development raised. "Will Emiya-sama challenge Godou-san for control of Japan? Historically it's inevitable that Campione will come into conflict, what preparations can be made?"
"In all truth Lili I don't thinks there's much that can be done." Erica's words were . . . not resigned, but rather they hinted at tiredness, "no-one knows anything about him, nobody even knows what Authorities he's got. He hasn't made contact with any of the mage organizations and no-one has any idea what his goals are."
All present looked at the Copper-Black Cross knight in concern and a little worry. That last admission had been quite out of character for the young woman. Erica was one who always carried herself with absolute confidence and certainty in her own abilities. She never expressed or even admitted to failure or weakness.
However the show of fatigue lasted only for an instant. In an almost visible transformation they saw her force of personality reassert itself, driving the weakness and uncertainty from her.
"On the other hand we now at least know the public version of his life. With that and a little research I should be able to find something. And since he's now a registered student here it shouldn't be too hard to find out what his home address would be. The information he's provided might be false, but even that's worth looking into."
"Ah, Erica-san?" Yuri's tentative voice spoke up, "If you want to know where Emiya-san lives then I already know."
It was a good thing that Erica had regained her composure, otherwise she would have gaped at the Hime-Miko like some slack jawed buffoon.
"How?"
"The Committee has been preparing to contact Emiya-sama for a while now. I just found out about it a couple of days ago when one of the selected emissaries came to me to ask for my advise about how to interact with Campione."
"Does the Committee have much information on him?" asked Liliana.
"There's a file, not a big one, but it does hold everything that they've been able to get together."
"See if you can get us a copy," The blonde knight said firmly, "If you say that it's at Godou's request then there should be no trouble."
"I'll do my best to have it here by tomorrow." The chestnut haired shrine girl agreed.
"Good. Now Godou, in light of this potential threat I don't think it would be wise to leave you unguarded until we have our information complete. With that in mind I think it would be best if I stayed at your house tonight. In fact if we're sleeping together then I'll be able to protect you even more completely."
It took the seventh Campione a couple of seconds realize just what it was that Erica was so casually suggesting, but when it did register his face immediately lit up like a red crossing light.
"Erica-san, that is an improper suggestion!" Yuri declared as she stood up.
"Indeed," Liliana agreed, her face flushing rather deeply, "As Godou-san's knight it is my task to watch over him. I-I'll join him in-in his b-bed tonight and ensure his safety."
"That's not what I meant Liliana-san!" Yuri nearly shouted as she turned to face the silver haired witch knight.