I had… mixed feelings about getting princess carried by a woman shorter than me. On the one hand, I loved a woman that could manhandle me, as proven by my intimacy with a Finnish princess infamous for her literal wrestling skills. On the other hand, there was already someone in my heart. That same princess, to be precise.
In the end, I didn't enjoy the ride all that much.
Thankfully, Rider moved with the speed one would expect from a servant of her class. That was to say, a mere moment after picking me up, the lanky lady was already dropping me off, with more care than I'd expected.
She even made sure to put me down feet first, delicately enough that I didn't even stumble.
…That was odd.
There was no time to ponder over what had happened however. Rider brought me to an awfully familiar place instead of the hideout I was expecting. The Emiya Residence, I immediately recognized. I deadpanned harder than ever when I made the connection.
"Of course, she's here." I wiped my face with my hand.
Shirou Emiya had all the makings of a varsity shonen protagonist, after all. He instantly forgave me for nearly murdering him over a misunderstanding. Rin had been concerned enough to waste years worth of stored magical energy to save his life. Then, beyond all that, the weird youth desired my tutelage all so that he could become a 'hero of justice'.
The thought made me want to cackle and cry at the same time.
"You are familiar with him?" Rider inquired blandly.
I pursed my lips, "I guess you could say that."
Shaking my head, I knocked on the door. A moment passed in silence, then I heard tender footsteps on the other side. Then, one of the double doors was pulled open… by Saber. She'd forgone her plate armour for a neat, white blouse and a navy skirt that fell to her knees, with thigh-high black stockings underneath. There was even a cute little ribbon tied around her neck.
I raised a clenched fist, and spoke through gritted teeth.
"Gray's better."
No matter what, I had to rep my adopted introvert.
Saber's expression soured.
"Hey, King Ar-"
She slammed the door in my face.
"Woah."
"She does not like you much." Rider noted.
I couldn't help but snort, "Thank you, Sherlock. Any other genius observations I should know about?"
"None. What now?"
I inhaled deeply, feeling the cold air rasp along my throat. Then, I began knocking the door like I was a loan shark and it owed me money. This time, I heard heavier footsteps alongside the tender ones and even the muffled sounds of an argument.
"I can't just refuse someone knocking at my door-"
"You can when it is an enemy-"
I knocked even harder.
The aged hinges trembled under the force. A bit more strength, and I was positive they'd fall over. Thankfully, the master of the house ended up opening both of them before I acted on those particular intrusive thoughts.
"Henry, how can I help you?" Shirou asked plainly.
I looked between him, Saber, and Rider. These people were always so inexpressive for some god-awful reason. They needed someone like me in their lives for sure, else there was a decent chance they'd just awkwardly stare at one another for half the day.
"You have a Matou with you."
Shirou stared at me for a good while.
"What do you want with her?" He clenched his fist, and eyed me with suspicion.
He hadn't been this defensive about his own life. Damn.
"Before that, can I come inside? I don't think we want the neighbors getting curious."
After another pause, he gave a slow nod.
-
Saber, King Arthur, sat across from me, legs folded. If not for the low table between us, I wasn't sure I'd be able to sit in the same room as her with how hard she was staring at me. She… expected me to try something. I couldn't really blame her either.
I definitely would have tried something if she wasn't standing guard.
"So… nice weather?"
Like before, she gave no answer.
"Is that your servant?" Shirou asked from the kitchenette, sticking his head out the side.
Oh?
He was finally taking an interest in the war I'd inadvertently forced him into. That was good. Apparently, his visit to Kirei had done him some good at least. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to tell just what his decision was regarding the war yet.
I turned to Rider sitting beside me, "Are you my servant?"
The purple-haired lady shook her head from side to side.
"My Master is Sakura Matou."
He froze for a moment.
"You heard her." I leaned on the table, resting my chin atop my palm. "From how relaxed you guys are, I guess I rushed here for no reason."
Outside, the wind picked up, howling and rasping through hollows.
"Sakura is… resting." Shirou said. "But, she looked scared when she came to me, and her cheek was bruised."
I raised a brow.
As per usual, there was no tone to his words. Shirou gave away nothing of what he actually felt about the matter. But, I could at least put together that this 'Sakura Matou' was possibly the girl I'd seen him heading to school with when I first came to this port city.
"She was with Shinji when you attacked Zouken Matou. He sent her away." Rider's lips twitched faintly. "She must have fled here."
Ah.
I regretted murdering Shinji even less now, if I had regretted it at all in the first place.
Unfortunately, this made both Shirou and his servant eyeball me like I was the one in the wrong.
"Ugh… you guys seriously need to show some more emotion~. This feels like I'm talking to a couple of statues!" I threw my hands up in surrender, "Yeah. I attacked Zouken. He got away. I attacked Caster too, and even Berserker. This is a Holy Grail War. Sue me for attacking my enemies."
"I see."
"I understand."
Both master-and-servant nodded at the same time.
I groaned aloud.
What were these people?! I'd even prefer Rin to this… reception. At least she reacted. I felt like a stand-up comedian doing a bit in front of the toughest audience ever. I felt even worse when silence descended upon the living room.
No one said anything.
I felt like all of them were judging me.
For once in my life, I missed Flat-… Hell no. Things were bad, but they weren't THAT bad.
"Tohsaka…" I turned to Shirou so fast I almost snapped my neck, startling him, "Tohsaka asked me to scout the city with her for Berserker."
I grinned sheepishly. "Hm, hm, you and her out at night all alone. Shirou, you dog~"
"What?"
He did not get embarrassed.
Gah!
"No, I… can't leave Sakura when she's like that." He looked truly troubled with the words that left his mouth, "'I want you to take my place."
"Hell no. I have other things to do."
Mostly a fateful fight to the death atop a great steel bridge under the moonlight. As a man, I simply could not pass up the opportunity. I'd never be able to forgive myself for it. Or, that was what I thought up till I accidentally glanced towards Saber… and her blank stare.
"Honor compels you."
"I don't have any honor to begin with." I stuck out my tongue. "Bleh!"
"You would abandon your comrade, one who helped you, for a trivial 'thing'."
Well…
"Shirou's not my comrade." I turned to Shirou. "No offense."
"I don't mind."
"I speak of the Tohsaka princess. She spoke highly of you, as though you were friends." King Arthur attempted to guilt-trip me into doing her master's bidding with no remorse whatsoever. She even leaned in. "As a man, would you abandon her to face a great threat all by herself?"
If such were the case, shouldn't she have been convincing Shirou to go against his decision to stay behind?
No, I saw what she was doing. This honor-bound knight was shamelessly goading me.
"Is any other 'thing' worth that?"
…
Well… Rin was nice. I thought of her as a good friend. She was really fun to tease as well. I WOULD feel bad if she got hurt when I could've easily prevented that… Wait no, that didn't matter right now. I was here to kill Zouken.
But then again…
In the end, I decided to do things my way.
With a sigh, I tapped a finger against the table. A bounded field formed over the entirety of the Emiya Residence. A simple one meant to alarm me for any intruders. Fuyuki City was small enough that I barely needed a second to traverse it if I knew where I was going.
This way, if Zouken came, I would know immediately.
"Rider, you'll protect your master, won't you?"
The blind-folded servant nodded.
"I guess I'll drag Rin into my fight with Lancer."
"That's not-"
I cut Shirou off, "Doesn't matter. There's consequences to actions if you're not me. So, make your decision, stay and protect Sakura. Be her hero. Or, leave me here instead. Prevent any possible casualties that could come from me going."
Of course, there was no actual choice or consequence. I just decided that this way was more fun. In truth, the game was fully rigged from the start in a way that benefitted me either way. My end goal, after all, was simply fighting as many servants and magi as I could, for the opportunity to analyze them and because it was just good fun getting punched in the face but punching back even harder.
"It's justice either way. Mister Hero. But, you'll have to choose the kind of justice yourself."
Saber rose to protest but her words seemed to die in her throat. She likely understood just what I was doing. This way, Shirou Emiya's ideal would be finally grounded… instead of being utterly self-destructive. Otherwise, I was positive he'd try to help even his enemy. No, he was going to do that even now… but at least, this way, he'd start considering the consequences first.
His suicide charge at me… left a rather bad taste in my mouth.
"Ah, I'm such a good person, aren't I~?"
-
As always, hope you enjoyed. Be sure to comment what you thought, and don't hesitate at all if you notice any difference in quality.