When the first ray of morning sunlight fell upon Akatsuki's face, she silently pulled the curtains, unwilling to leave Matou Sakura's warm and soft body.
Sharing this sentiment with Akatsuki were the sisters, Matou Sakura and Tohsaka Rin.
The former disliked daylight after turning into a Dead Apostle, while the latter simply stayed in bed due to low blood pressure.
In the early morning, after finishing his workout, Shirou Emiya first took a shower in the bathroom and then put on an apron to start preparing breakfast.
With so many people living in the Emiya Residence, Shirou Emiya, as the head chef, faced a serious challenge every day.
Taiga Fujimura, Akatsuki, Matou Sakura, Tohsaka Rin, Saber, and himself—breakfast for a total of six people.
"Hmm? The bread in the fridge is gone..."
Shirou Emiya scratched his head and tried to recall, "I'm sure it was supposed to be right here..."
"It must be Rin." Just then, Akatsuki walked out of the guest room, yawning. "She probably got hungry during the night and came out to scavenge. Good morning. Is there anything you need help with?"
Shirou Emiya looked at the sleepy-eyed Akatsuki and said with some concern, "Are you okay? You look like you didn't sleep well. Do you want to go back to bed for a bit?"
"Thank you for your concern, but my physical exhaustion is fully recovered. This is just a habit from when I was human." Akatsuki then opened the window, and the cold wind blowing into the room woke her up quite a bit. "It's already late winter, yet it still hasn't snowed."
"That's just how the geography of Fuyuki City is. It rarely snows in previous years as well," Shirou Emiya said to Akatsuki with a smile.
"So, what's for breakfast today?"
"Well..." "Shirou! I'm here!"
Before Shirou Emiya could answer, an energetic voice interrupted him. From the sound of it, it was the tiger of fuyuki—Taiga Fujimura. It seemed she had completely recovered from the blow Tohsaka Rin dealt her last night.
"Please wait a moment, Ms. Akatsuki. Breakfast will be ready soon."
Watching the figure busy in the kitchen, Akatsuki sat on the sofa and picked up the remote to turn on the TV.
"Late last night, dozens of cases of unexplained comas occurred in the residential area. All victims have been sent to Fuyuki Hospital. Meanwhile, multiple car accidents happened in the neighboring city last night. According to witnesses, they saw a giant and a Gilgamesh shadow fighting on the national highway. The witness has been diagnosed with a mental illness, and the cause of the accidents remains unknown..."
A giant? That must be Berserker.
Gilgamesh? This is Gilgamesh, right?
"But why were they fighting in the neighboring city?"
Akatsuki frowned. Based on the news report, the battle between Gilgamesh and Berserker had a massive impact; the economic losses in the neighboring city exceeded one billion, and they almost destroyed the local power station.
In the end, they probably reached a truce for some reason.
"Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon is a bit troublesome. If he pulls out some treasure with an anti-True Ancestor attribute, wouldn't I have to deal with another Assassin?"
"No, no, I really need to find a way to overcome this weakness!"
One cannot let others hold onto their weaknesses forever; they must find a way to overcome them. Playing to one's strengths and avoiding weaknesses is only temporary; facing one's flaws and actively seeking solutions is the right path.
"Akatsuki, you're up so early?"
A neatly dressed Tohsaka Rin looked at Akatsuki in surprise.
"Because of my previous job, I had to get up early every morning to watch the news."
After turning off the TV, Akatsuki looked at Tohsaka Rin and smiled.
"On the other hand, it's rare to see you not sleeping in today."
Tohsaka Rin's face flushed. "None of your business!"
"Yes, yes." Akatsuki's nostrils twitched. "It's about time for breakfast. Rin, go wake Sakura up."
After breakfast, Taiga Fujimura went to deal with the mass coma incident at the school yesterday, while Shirou Emiya and the others began an investigation into what happened in Fuyuki City last night.
"First of all, it's certain that more than one battle occurred last night. Preliminary estimates suggest two directions: the neighboring city and the outskirts of Fuyuki City."
"Rider, Saber, and Archer are all on our side, so last night's battle must have involved Berserker, Assassin, Lancer, and Caster?"
Tohsaka Rin said somewhat uncertainly while looking at the two locations Akatsuki had marked on the map of Fuyuki City.
"Perhaps."
"What do you mean 'perhaps'? We have three Servants on our side, so the ones fighting last night should have been the other four Servants!"
Akatsuki picked up a pencil and drew a circle around the location of Ryūdō Temple.
"Ryūdō Temple is one of the four major spiritual pulses in Fuyuki City and hasn't been occupied by a Magician. So, if Caster wanted to establish a base, she would definitely choose this place."
"Indeed. Based on the flow of mana in the ley lines, a large amount of mana has been flowing toward Ryūdō Temple recently. It seems the unexplained comas in Fuyuki City are related to Caster at Ryūdō Temple."
Hearing Tohsaka Rin say this, Akatsuki nodded in satisfaction, then drew another circle around a castle on the outskirts of Fuyuki City.
"This castle is the Einzbern Family's base in Japan. Although it was heavily damaged during the last Holy Grail War, it has been restored enough to be habitable. Judging by Berserker's size, the Einzbern Master should be using this place as their base."
"What about Lancer and Assassin?" Tohsaka Rin couldn't help but ask after hearing Akatsuki's reasoning.
Akatsuki rubbed her chin and thought, "You all saw Assassin's Master back then—that cat-girl who looks like a plushie. I don't know much about her."
"As for Lancer..." Akatsuki thought for a moment and decided to tell everyone. Since she was already fully embroiled in this Holy Grail War, a little spoiler wouldn't hurt. "His Master is Kirei Kotomine."
"Kirei Kotomine?!" Tohsaka Rin said in shock. "Isn't he the supervisor from the Church? Why would he be Lancer's Master... Wait, are you saying he's cheating?"
Snap.
Akatsuki snapped her fingers. "Congratulations, young lady, you got it right. However, there is no prize."
"That priest is actually a participant, and he's Lancer's Master?!"
Shirou Emiya clutched his chest. A phantom pain still lingered where Lancer's spear had once pierced him.
---------------------------------
Hope you enjoy this fanfiction if you do and would like to read the next 30 chapters in advance, pls do check out my Patreon.
patreon.com/TLScarlet
Also don't forget to give me a Power Stone if you do like this fiction. Your support really motivates me to continue doing my best in translating, Thanks!!