#Ou Shi Black

[still-a-morosexual-help]

Not Just Bagels

summary: They were a barista. They didn't have the financial stability to be a sugar daddy. Yet were they going to throw that all away just because this one guy had a cute smile?

Yes.

[Fic on AO3]

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUS-"

They stifled a yawn.

"I don't see why I shou-"

Shuffling their feet, they eyed the wall clock.

"I'm your broth-"

Just seven more minutes.

"I don't see how that applie-"

They'd been on their feet for so long now.

"It does! Stop being stin-"

They craned their neck. Squinting their eyes, they try to make out any patterns on the ceiling.

"I wouldn't have to be stingy if you weren't being gree-"

That small discolouring on the left looks like a duck.

"I'm not being greedy! Ya just an assh-"

Eyes back on the clock. Just three more minutes.

"What did you call m-"

There was no one else in the shop. Except, well, them.

"I said what I said! An' I ain't takin' back shi-"

They tried to blow at a speck of dust that drifted too close.

"How dare y- ...After everything I've don-"

They sneezed.

"Ya always do this! Gettin' mad over the smal-"

They tried to stifle a yawn.

"I have the right to get mad when all you do is act ou-"

They looked back at the clock.

"It's not like you'd notice if I did anything el-"

Oh.

"You know that's not true Mamm-"

"It's closing time."

They looked over at their boss, who was towering over one of his brothers. In his perfectly ironed full black suit with its red accents, Lucifer looked more like the particularly ruthless CEO of a world dominating company rather than just a particularly sadistic coffee shop owner. His brother- Mammon? - with his rumpled clothes and partially unbuttoned shirt, instead looked like he had just rolled out of bed.

Lucifer cleared his throat. Standing back, he fixed his suit jacket and gave them an icy glare. He looked remarkably unlike a man who just seconds ago was ready to tackle one of his brothers at his shop's counter.

"Very well," Lucifer said after taking a quick look at the clock. "You can leave after closing up." And with a curt nod, he marched back to his office, without a backwards glance at Mammon, who still stood hunched, with his gaze firmly directed at the ground. His balled fists were trembling.

They went about closing up, making enough noise that Mammon would know they were busy and weren't actually staring at him from the corner of their eye. Which. They weren't.

Once they had finally finished up, they eyed the last remaining item in the display case before making a split second decision and bagging it up. They turned back to Mammon, who had yet to move. At least he had stopped trembling.

"So a bagel, huh?"

Mammon flinches, startling out of whatever daze he had fallen into and whipping his head up to meet their eyes.

"Wha'?"

"A bagel. All that for a bagel, isn't it a bit... much?"

"Wha! No! It ain't a bit 'much'! And who the hell are you anyway!"

"I work here," they say, shrugging carelessly as they tap at their nametag. To be fair, the only reason they knew his name, as opposed to his brothers, was solely due to the number of times they'd heard Lucifer scream it in nothing but unfiltered frustration.

"Yeah, well! That doesn't mean ya can just butt inta our family business," he says with a scowl before proceeding to tell them exactly what family business had led to this latest spat. "An' it's not just 'bout the bagel either! Which is a savoury bagel, just so ya know. It's Lucifer! He never respects me. Never considers anything I say. I'm the second oldest ya know, and he treats me like all I am's a scummy, no good, lying, dumb-"

He stops.

Blinking at them as if he just remembered they were there. With a muttered "Whatever," he turns away but it's not quick enough for them to miss the glazed sheen of built up tears in his eyes nor the subtle trembling that had returned to his hands.

Shit.

Feeling decidedly more uncomfortable, they place the bag on the counter and push it towards him.

"Here."

He looks at them, while using a hand to unsuccessfully hide a sniffle, and looks down at the bag.

"What's this?"

"A bagel. Sorry, a savoury bagel."

He looks at the empty display case and back at the bag and back up at them.

"Why..."

"Cause you wanted one."

"But I don't have money."

"You don't have to pay for it."

"Are ya crazy! Lucifer'll kill m-"

"It's on me. I'll pay for it."

"What. Why!?"

"Cause you wanted one."

They nudge the bag closer to him with a finger.

His hands finally close around it, crinkling the paper as he stares at them, utterly and purely bewildered.

Hasn't anyone ever-

His eyes widen in some kind of realisation and his face flushes a deep scarlet.

"Listen," he says, in a whisper, eyes darting to the door leading to the back. His shoulders do a little shimmy. He licks his lips. "I've, ah, I haven't got any money to pay ya back, 'kay? But, ugh, if ya want anything else..."

He swallows.

What exactly...

He lowers his eyes and looks at them through thick lashes.

What.

"If there's anything ya want me to do..."

What the fuck.

His teeth catch his trembling bottom lip.

WHAT THE FUCK.

"If there's anything ya want from me..."

"I'M NOT EXCHANGING SEXUAL FAVOURS FOR A FUCKING SAVOURY BAGEL!"

Mammon jerks back.

"What! That's not- what!? Then what do you want!"

"Nothing! It's just a bagel! You can just take it! I don't need anything!"

"WHY!"

"BECAUSE YOU WANT IT!"

"Oh."

It's a miracle their screaming hasn't dragged Lucifer out. He's probably listening to his music again, they think, as they eye Mammon's wide-eyed stare. He looks a bit lost. Like someone had pulled the rug right out from under him. Like someone had revealed some secret of the universe that he had not been privy to. Like someone had just told him he didn't need to give something back in return when he was given a simple treat.

"Oh," he says again, softly. Then it happens. His face flushes again when he smiles. A bright lopsided smile with dimples and too many sharp teeth. Even from across the counter, his eyes shine a deep blue with specks of pure gold and oh.

Oh no.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

They notice him after that.

Not that they didn't notice him before, he tended to be too loud and energetic to ignore. But now. Now they notice him.

They noticed his loud, obnoxious laugh.

His bright eyes.

The stupid sunglasses he usually wore indoors.

The way he'd trail after Lucifer like a yappy pup.

The way he prefered their savoury items to their sweet ones.

The way he'd whip his head away when they looked up and caught him staring at them.

In short, they thought their hard-ass boss's brother was cute.

In short, they were in trouble.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The first time he came to the counter after that day, they'd slid a bagged savoury bagel to him as he reached into his wallet.

"Forget it," they'd said, eyeing a spot over his left ear.

"Hmm?"

"It's on me."

"What?" He'd squawked, reminding them of a bird of some sort.

"It's on me."

"Oh?"

"Yup."

And he smiled. That same silly, bright smile and their stomach flipped.

It was a crow, they remembered.

You're in trouble, they remembered.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It was a bit ridiculous, honestly. They were spending money just because the way a man smiled gave them butterflies.

They were a barista. They didn't have the financial stability to be a sugar daddy or whatever the fuck else this was.

Then Mammon smiled that smile again, and all thoughts of not wasting anymore money on savoury bagels immediately died off.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It's almost a month later that Mammon asks for a plate.

"It's closing time."

"I know," he says with a careless shrug. He makes grabby hands towards them, "Now give me my savoury bagel."

He has long since stopped pretending to reach for his wallet, and they hand over the said bagel with an overly fond roll of their eyes.

He sits himself at the counter and watches them go about cleaning up. He talks about his day and whines about his brothers and then asks them about theirs.

When they turn back around, he's watching them with something just as overly fond.

He doesn't rush to cover it up like is his usual. Instead, he hops off his stool and tilts his head towards the door.

"Headin' out? I can walk with ya?"

The smile on his face isn't the one they've paid good money and savoury bagels to see. Instead, it's something new and soft and delicate and just as beautiful.

Their breath catches.

They nod.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It becomes their new routine.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"This is ridiculous."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about and you need to stop enabling him."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Lucifer calls out their name with a sharp snap, so similar to how he had spoken to them during their first few months here. But after nights of him complaining about the insane shenanigans one can only face when living with six younger brothers, over bottles of expensive wine, they'd come to see a softer side to him. Which is why the tone of his voice comes as an unpleasant shock.

"Yeah?" They ask, still aiming at innocence.

"What are you doing?"

"Cleaning the -"

"With Mammon."

"...nothing?".

"Don't lie to me."

"It's just a bagel. It's, you know, our thing. You know friends have things. You'd know friends have things if you didn't have such a huge stick shoved up your-"

"It's not just a bagel".

" Well, no. It's a savoury bage-"

"And it's not just a friend thing. Is it?"

"I mean..."

"At least, it's not for Mammon."

"That's- what."

"Now I need to know, is it just a friend thing to you. Is it just a savoury bagel."

"I - "

"The truth."

"No."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"I do have one thing to say."

"...okay."

"If you break my baby brother's heart I'll feed you to my dogs."

"If I break Mammon's heart I'll feed myself to your dogs."

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"YO! Dummy! Where are ya?"

"In the back! Give me a sec."

"HURRY UP!"

"Fine, jeez! You're the one who's late, I already finished cleaning up," they're back in their casual clothes when they walk out.

Rounding the counter, they grab the bagged bagel, "Here, you'll have to eat it on the way. I need to close up."

"Ah, don't worry 'bout it. Lucifer said he'll close up."

"Lucifer said?"

"Yup," he says, popping the p and rocking back on his heels. He places the bag back on the counter, "Don't need this either."

His face is flushed, but his lips are pulled back in a proud little smile.

"Oh? Finally figured out cream bagels are where it's at?"

"Ha! Cream bagels ain't ever gonna be 'where it's at'."

"Yeah? Well, then what's wrong?"

"Well," his face turns a deeper shade of red, but that small smile never leaves his face. "See, I got a whole bunch of gigs lately."

"Right?"

"Meaning I got a whole bunch of cash right now..."

"Okay?"

"Meaning if I wanted to, ya know, take someone out to, say? A carnival that's just come into town. And then maybe, a dinner at a nice restaurant?"

"Yeah?"

"That'd be something that's...possible."

"Right. But who'd you take?"

"See, there's this real dumbass barista who's been blowing their paycheck on savoury bagels for the owner's brother for months now."

"Man, they sound like a real idiot."

"They are. So, ya know, it'd only be right if someone as kind and generous and amazing -"

"- and great as The Great Mammon?"

"Right! Took 'em out."

"On a date?"

"If ya wanna put it inta words, then sure?"

"Well," they say. Their face is flushed and their stomach is rolling and their heart is thudding a frantic beat against their chest. They lean forward and press a soft kiss to the corner of Mammon's mouth. "I'm sure this dumbass of yours will love that."

He reaches forward to hold their hands in his, giving them a squeeze, Mammon leans his forehead against theirs.

"Yeah?"

The brilliant goofy smile that stretches across his face is mirrored back in theirs.

"Yeah."

->

[First Posted: 4th August 2020]

[Fic on AO3]

[thecozykirin]

Day 1 - Casualty

( Husband felt super inspired and decided to lend him my account to write one himself ) ( Trigger Warning for Violence and Death of a child )

@daily-writing-challenge Do you blame yourself?

Yasashi's teeth clenched, fangs bared and reflecting the warm glow of the fire that rose on either side as his hammer caved in the torso of the swarm-born with a crunch that he'd have described as satisfying if he were in a different place. "Hold the line!" His commander yelled from his position. "Protect the archers!" It's just quite common in these situations for someone to feel a kind of guilt...he was your responsibility, wasn't he?

"Yasashi..." Yong Shi Jadespirit, a Pandaren woman of a gentle but stern disposition stumbled towards the armor clad behemoth as he quickly closed the door to the guard tower behind him. They had moved the injured and the acolytes into here, white scarves adorning the necks of cubs no older than thirteen and no younger than nine sat huddled in a corner. Yasashi's eyes swept over them and he froze. "Where's Yuz?" His acolyte was not among them, the brown and cream furred boy's absence immediately sending another spike of adrenaline through his body. "I'm...I'm not sure." Yong Shi bowed her head. "I think he may have slipped out, h-he was here one moment and gone the next." "Slipped out?!" Yasashi's head snapped towards his comrade. "Woman, how does he just slip ou--" Something heavy slammed into the side of the wall and the acolytes lost their nerve, their screams rising into the air. He was a bit on the young side too, wasn't he? Eight when he passed and twelve when he accompanied you to the wall. Such a tragedy, no one could have known they'd swarm so early.

The Mantid that stood over the boy was one of the tallest he had seen. This wasn't one who had been sent here to prove itself to the hive, but rather, some sort of overseer who must have gotten a bit too wistful of the days of its own trial to abstain. Yuz was pinned against the side of the wall by his arm, the pointed tip of one of the mantid's forelimbs cutting through the meat to hold him there while the overseer busied itself eviscerating one of Yasashi's comrades who had attempted to intercept it with its free limbs. Yasashi's eyes darted about, there were too many between himself and Yuz to reach him, but he could see through them just enough that his eyes met with that of his acolyte. And Yuz cried out for him with the same energy of a cub crying out for his father.

I imagine it must have been horrible for you. I've only heard stories of your family's brew. Is it true that the animal blood sends you into a blind rage? I couldn't imagine --

Paternal instinct had won out over logic and Yasashi fumbled for the metal flask that was looped to his belt. It hung heavy in his paw, and once he popped off the cap the scent of thick copper filled the air. Blood surged into his ears as raw and sweet rage filled his veins, leaving a syrupy sweet taste on the back of his tongue that mingled with the flavor of black blood and chitin as he abandoned his civilized weapons in favor of his fangs and claws. The world was red and black, and so too were his paws when he came to, the haze lifting from his eyes like a light shroud, and replaced with cold horror.

Mantid don't bleed red.

But it was just an accident.

Had he done this?

Yasashi?

He hadn't meant to.

Yasashi!

He gathered the broken body of the boy up from the heap that had once been the overseer, shaking him lightly, voice cracking from desperatio-- ----------------------------------- "Yasashi!" Yasashi snapped free from his thoughts with a sharp inhale through his teeth, and his eyes darted to that of his comrade, Kenichi, who had been patching up his knuckles and clipping the split edges of his claws. "Are you okay?" The question was a careful one, Kenichi leaning back in his seat slightly.

Yasashi blinked once, twice, three times before looking away. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine." he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "It was...it was just an accident."

[votestaynight]

13th day "infinity arms"/14th day "moonlight (I)" (scene 1)

Saber raises her sword. She is already within striking distance.

"――No. Don't do it, Saber." But I run to Saber as if driven by the pulse of my heart.

"What?" Saber suddenly stops. It's not that Caster did something. Saber felt 'something' from Caster and stopped herself.

"You――" Saber instantly tries to dodge it. But. Caster must have hidden something in the ground as hands of bone burst out of the ground and grasp Saber's feet――!

"――Hm. I was not expecting you to have instinctive foresight, but this is it, Saber!" A blade emerges from Caster's black robe.

It's a weirdly shaped dagger. It's thin and brittle. A blade not suitable for killing. But Saber detests this blade, and Caster swings it as if this is her chance for victory.

Saber must be surprised, getting her feet grabbed from the ground. She does not even repel the dagger and takes it in astonishment―― "Y――ouuuuuuuuuuu…!"

"Wha――" I can hear Caster's voice behind me. I can't see what the robe's expression is like. All I could do was stand in front of Saber and take the blade in her place.

"Gu――ou…!!!!" …But it wasn't a good job. I didn't have enough confidence to block Caster's dagger straight on. So I figured out it would be more certain if I covered Saber, and I held her in my arms as if to hide her. As a result, Caster's dagger wrenched open my back.

"Gu, ga…!!!!" I stop myself from crying because of the pain and strengthen my grip on Saber.

"Shi… rou…?" I can't tell what words are being said beside my ear. "Get… away――Saber, go… back…" Before I can tell her to jump away, Saber must have understood.

My body moves. Saber jumps back as if to shake off the hands coming from the ground, and I'm carried with her.

"Shirou, your wound――――!" Saber's voice is urgent. Even though she laid me on the ground softly, the pain in my back just increases. It's like having my back cut with scissors, then having lead driven into it. From this pain, it feels like a cell phone is being pushed in the wound――

"Shirou, please hold on, Shirou――!" …I guess she's not panicking. But the loud voice rare for Saber makes me rather calm.

"――Hey, I can hear you even if you don't shout. This just hurts, so it's nothing. Take care of Caster instead…" Nodding my head, I point at where Caster should be.

"――Yes. I will finish things right away. Please hold on for a little while." …Saber faces Caster once again.

"So that is your Noble Phantasm, Caster?" Saber's voice sounds threatening. The dark shadow clucks her tongue in irritation and raises the warped dagger in her hand.

"…Yes. It is blunt as you can see, and it cannot kill even one person. But as you have sensed, it is a magical mark said to be almighty in one aspect. …If you do not wish to touch it, I suggest that you do not come near me, Saber."

Even though she says so, I can sense less composure in Caster than before. Even as powerful as Caster is, as long as she uses magic, she won't be able to hurt Saber. No matter what kind of a Noble Phantasm that dagger is, it won't do any good against Saber now.

"…Don't mind it, Saber. Her secret is revealed. You should be able to beat her without a… problem… now." I order her, gritting my teeth.

"Oh, is that fine, Saber? You can certainly corner me, Saber. But who will protect that man while you do so? I do not think I need to say this, but you are the only one that is immune to my magic. Can you not guess what I will do to that boy if I am cornered?"

"――You…" Saber says from the bottom of her lungs.

――The sound of the bones increases. They surround us.

"Da――mn." …I made a mistake. Even if I could save Saber, it's pointless if I'm hurt like this. I'll only be a burden like this. If it was just Saber, Caster wouldn't even be a match for her.

"…So you said you came here to talk, Caster." "Wha――Sa… ber…" "Please do not say anything, Master. This is the right choice for now."

Saber lowers her sword. I think I hear Caster laugh amidst the surrounding sounds of bones.

"I shall listen to you, Caster. I may let you go depending on your conditions." "Are you sane? I hold your lives in my hands. If you act so boldly, I might just crush you."

"Do not get me wrong. All you have is my Master's life, not mine. ――But if you assault that, I will not hold back. If you are to kill my Master, I will be sure to defeat you with everything I have before I disappear."

The air freezes. Even the bones around Caster are cowed by Saber's words.

"…Fine. I will not do anything to that boy. My target was you to begin with. There is nothing wrong with releasing a Master or two." "…? I was your target to begin with…?"

"Right. There is no reason to ignore a hero that can even defeat Berserker. The only remaining Servants are me, you, and Lancer. If you become my ally, Lancer is nothing."

"――Three are left? Then Assassin is already defeated?" "Who knows? He is not here anymore, so I assume he was defeated. It is only natural for a Servant who cannot protect their Master to disappear."

"―――――!" Assassin was beaten…? Then the Master at Ryudou Temple is no more? I didn't even know his identity, but that means another Master has disappeared. The only remaining Servants are Saber, Caster, and Lancer, who has not shown himself since that first night――

"…Hm. This is the only useless talk I will engage in. All I want is your Noble Phantasm. Give me your sword if you do not want your Master killed."

"――That is useless. I am the only one able to use this sword. A heroic spirit must surely know that only the possessor of a Noble Phantasm may use it."

"Oh, you are right. Then in that case, I will just have to obtain you as well. However superior the knight, I can persuade it to be on my side… and more than anything, I like you. It would be fun to control you."

Caster sounds really delighted. "…!" My lacerated consciousness boils up. I kick the pain in my back aside and get up.

"Don't be ridiculous――" I can't let Saber fall under Caster's control just because of me. I decided to protect Saber, so I can't stay down with this kind of a wound――!

I take the wooden sword in my hand and swing at the bone creatures surrounding me.

"No, Shirou…!" Saber's voice sounds urgent. "Oh? If you want to commit suicide, I won't stop you." Caster sounds delighted. The sound of many bones hitting against each other.

As if to nullify all of those sounds… All the bone creatures are swept away instantly by a heavy rain of arrows.

"Wha――" I stand there dumbfounded. The arrows that showered down like rain have disappeared as if they were an illusion. But it cannot be an illusion. The swarming bone creatures do not exist anymore.

"Kuh, who is it――!?" Caster looks up. "―――――" Saber must have already noticed this guy. Saber is looking up at the 'thing' on top of the wall with surprise.

"―――――" There's something unexpected there. The man with his back to the moon is golden. The man clad in gold is looking down at the yard with a cruel smile――

"W-Who――" She must have instinctively realized that he has destroyed her troops as Caster raises her voice.

"―――――" The man doesn't answer. No, he hasn't even taken notice of Caster. He is only looking at one person. The silver knight beside me.

"Answer! I am asking you who you are…!" Caster's voice sounds emotional. And with that, the man finally looks at Caster.

"―――――!" Caster gasps, stared at by those red eyes. The man's stare is so cold. ――That thing isn't treating Caster as human. Even I can tell from here. It's only natural for Caster, the target of that stare, to be terrified by that pressure.

"W-Why are you getting in my way――?" She asks in a trembling voice. She must know she'll be swallowed if she doesn't do so. ――But.

"I have no reason to name myself to a lowlife. Get out of my sight, you fool." The man answers with a verdict of death.

A snap. When I realize the sound is of his fingers snapping, the tragedy has already begun.

Many weapons suddenly appear in space and shoot at Caster like a machine gun.

"――[margos]――!" Caster raises her arm. Concept of a shield. A film like glass is created right above Caster.

――It probably has strength equaling Berserker's body. But was it useless because it was made of glass? Built like a crystal, it cannot even block one of the showering weapons and shatters into pieces.

"Eh――?" A dumbfounded voice. Without showing any concern for Caster's question, they pierce the black robe. There's no mercy at all. The robe is pierced by lances. As the robe is blown away, more lances pierce it.

The sword into her falling body, an arrow into the arm falling to the ground, and the axe into her pained head. Each becomes a deadly guillotine. Survival is impossible. Caster is completely cut apart and dismantled, and she now looks like a mountain of red meat.

…Wind blows. The black robe who lost its master floats away. Floating away. The shredded robe still barely keeps its form. …Now, it is all that remains of what used to be Caster.

"―――――" I can't say anything. My strained mind just watches the black robe floating miserably in the wind.

In that instant. "――How insolent. I told you to get out of my sight. It should only be polite to kill yourself quickly!" The golden man roars in a voice full of contempt.

"Wha――" It's not an illusion. The black robe twists like a wave, grows black wings, and tries to fly away.

But it's too late. I don't know what the man did. It's just that a crack ran through the night sky. The dislocation in the sky swallows the black robe. It reminds me of someone getting run over by a steamroller.

"Ah――Ah…!" The black robe falls. Underneath it is Caster, unscathed. There… The storm of swords showers onto her.

"Hi, ah, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" …The scream echoes through the night. The swords multiply in response to the scream, and the scream gets louder in turn.

"Ah, ha, it hurts, take it out, it hurts, take it out, plea… se…!!!" Caster must have regenerative powers like Saber. She cannot die even when swords are stabbed into her, so her figure is just too miserable.

…The rain doesn't stop. The weapons each differ in shape, and none of them are the same. And I don't want to admit it, but――each one of those weapons equals the 'Noble Phantasms' of the Servants.

"No, this cannot… be――such a… ridiculous… number――" The merciless rain of Noble Phantasms. Caster struggling under it is just――

"Guh, ah, I am… dying…? I, am going to die? Die… in such… ridiculous fashion… no, aha… This is too funny… no… this is not… true… aha, aha… Haha… Ahahahaha, ahahahahahahahahahahahaha Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha Hahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh――――――――!!!!!"

…And that ends it. With a black mist hiding Caster, the Servant disappears.

The infinite cycle of torture that I thought would last forever lasted only about ten seconds in reality. Through it all. Saber stares at the golden knight standing on top of the wall.

"Huh. It is a great sin for a mere magus to even speak of capturing the king of knights. It is rightly mine as I am the king. Such a skewering befits a fool pursuing the king's treasure."

"So, long time no see, Saber. Do you remember the decision I made?" The man says in an intimate manner. "―――――" Saber doesn't answer. But her glare is different from before. "Why that face? Are you still not ready? It has been ten years. That should be enough time to decide――oh, well… that's only for me. It must be like yesterday for you. …Geez, what a silly woman. Making a man wait."

The man laughs happily. …My chest is hurting. Partly from seeing that tragedy. But more than that, I feel sick when that man looks down on Saber with such a ridiculous expression――

"――. So there are more lowlifes left." Commenting unhappily, the man turns to the mansion. "…?" There――on the porch in front of the living room are Ilya and Tohsaka.

"…What is that…" Ilya is looking up at the man as if she's seen a ghost. Straining her eyes, she shakes her head saying it's impossible.

"No――who are you?" "Huh? Fool, you cannot tell? I am one of the heroic spirits you know so well." "――Liar!" Ilya jumps off the porch and glares at the man.

"I don't know. I don't know you. A Servant I don't know about shouldn't exist…!"

"Wha――hold on, Ilya……!" My call to restrain her comes too late. The cluster of magical energy Ilya releases shoots straight for that man.

A clanging sound. The man didn't do anything. A mirror-like shield appeared in front of him and reflected Ilya's magical energy shot.

"Eh――?" As she fired the magical energy in anger, there's no way she can react to it. Ilya stands dumbfounded before the magical energy she fired――

"…! ――That hurts…" She is barely saved by Tohsaka, who instantly blocked it.

"…Hm. I see. It is a strange hybrid this time. I assume they have schemed a bit so as not to make the same mistakes as last time." The man looks at Ilya. A cold stare like the one directed at Saber… a stare prizing a possession.

"…No. No, no, nononononononono…! I-I hate you…!" Ilya still glares at the man, pinned by Tohsaka.

"I do not care about your circumstances. Open it quickly. You are the fifth one." The man speaks plainly. What kind of effect does it have? "Ah――no――" Ilya shakes violently and faints.

That's it. That's all that'll happen. All Tohsaka and I can do is look up at that man. …We both understand. He isn't looking at us. We would just share Caster's fate if we raised our voices.

"―――――" But Saber is different. She is staring at the gold knight in a different kind of silence.

"――Let me ask you one thing. Why are you still in this world, Archer?" Saber tries to control her voice. Tohsaka and I can only be shocked by her words.

"There need be no reason. The Holy Grail is mine. What is wrong with coming to collect what is mine?" "How foolish. You are not a hero like that. No, first of all――"

"Stop. If you say any more, we will have to fight. ――Well, that was my original intention, but I lost interest. This place is too shabby to celebrate our reunion."

Saying so, the man turns away. He turns his back as if saying he has no interest in us. "We shall meet again sometime. My decision has not changed since that time. Be prepared by the time of our next meeting."

The man disappears. With that, the tension in the air vanishes and the yard returns to its usual silence. But that's the only thing that returned. My home is ruined, and Ilya is unconscious. Saber, keeping her back to us, still bears that heavy silence.

I lay a futon down in the living room and place Ilya on it. Even though she's unconscious, Ilya's face looks calm and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her.

"Hey, don't look away! The bandage will slide off." She hits my back.

"Ow…! Tohsaka, that's no way to treat a wounded guy!" "Shut up. I'm treating your wounds, so be quiet for a while. Here, raise your right hand. I don't think it's necessary, but I'll put some medicine on it as well."

"Tch――it's cold." "It's fine if you can feel. Here, we'll wrap this up next." She skillfully wraps the bandage around my right shoulder.

It's past ten. After returning to the living room, Tohsaka started to treat my wounds. She started, but the wounds have mostly already healed, so all that's left is to treat them just for show.

"Done. But you sure do have a strange body. Only vampires have bodies with such healing powers. Are you really human?" …I think she asked me something similar a while ago.

"Hey, I'm a normal human being. I don't even know how this is happening, so I can't give you an answer."

"Don't play with me. Would a normal human be up and running after they've had their spinal cord cut? I never asked because it was useful, but it's getting too freaky now. Maybe you're from some place where people can only be killed by decapitation?"

"……" The worst part is, Tohsaka is seriously considering that. She might come after my neck one day with an axe in hand.

"Hey, don't you think so too, Saber? I think you're the cause, but it's still too far beyond human."

"Huh…? Shirou's healing power is not his own?"

"Of course not. Do you think someone who only knows 'strengthening' magic could do such high class magic? His absurdity must come from being connected with you. I can only guess that your healing power is flowing into him."

"…Is that so? I have never felt such a connection. If that were the case, my magical energy should be flowing to Shirou even now. More importantly, my healing power is not as strong as Shir――"

"Saber? Why the sudden pale face?" "――" Saber is staring into space as if she can't hear Tohsaka.

"…No, it cannot be…" Shaking her head, Saber looks away.

"…?" "…?" Tohsaka and I look at each other. Saber's acting strange. …No, I know why. Saber's spirit has been low since that golden knight appeared.

"…Well, let's put the matter of Shirou on hold. More importantly, Saber, did you know that gold guy? He was saying you were his."

"……" Saber doesn't answer. It's obviously something she doesn't want to talk about. But I still want to know. Tohsaka's question is mine as well.

"――Saber. Tell me if you know. Who was that guy? You called him Archer."

"…Yes. I do not wish to admit it, but I do know him. But it is impossible. There are only seven Servants. He cannot be summoned." "Servants――so, he is a Servant."

No, that's obvious. But in that case, there's a big problem.

"He is of class Archer. Of course, he is not the Archer whom Rin made a contract with. His abilities and character are too different."

…I know that too. It only lasted a short while, but I was able to feel how much of a monster he was.

"Hold on. That's not right. If he's the Servant Archer, that makes eight. Seven should be the limit of the summons in a single period. It's not like they restock when some of them disappear. After all, even the Holy Grail doesn't have the magical energy to summon more than seven."

"There are seven Servants because that's the basic limit, right? Then how can they summon an eighth――hold on. Saber, you met him in the previous war?"

"…Yes, Rin. On the last day of the previous Holy Grail War, I fought against him in a sea of fire." "――" My body tenses up for an instant. Saber fought him in a sea of fire…?

…It's nothing new. Kotomine already told me that the fire was caused by the Holy Grail War. So this shouldn't be a surprise. It's just――I was unconsciously trying not to think about it until now.

"What happened? Did you beat him?" "No, I did not… no, I could not beat him. Because I…" "――You were beaten instead? He's someone you couldn't beat even when you were properly summoned?"

Saber hangs her head and doesn't answer. That pretty much answers her question.

"Saber――couldn't win?" Not just the imperfect Saber as she is now, but Saber with her full power? …Is that even possible? If you look at her skill as a swordsman, Saber certainly is invincible. Admittedly, Saber was the weaker against Berserker. But Saber has that Noble Phantasm.

The Noble Phantasms of other Servants are powerful, but Saber's exceeds even them. I don't think there's any hero she can't beat using her holy sword――

"Then there's only one possible explanation. He's not a Servant summoned in this war, but a Servant that remains from the previous war. It only makes sense when that's true."

"――!" My mind stops. It's not that I agree with Tohsaka. But what she said matches what I've been hoping for since yesterday.

"…But that is…" "That's the only possible explanation. Only seven Servants can be summoned each Holy Grail War. If there are any other Servants, they must be the 'winner' of the previous Holy Grail War. Am I wrong?"

…A heavy silence. But. Why is she in such a good mood?

"Tohsaka. What are you so happy about?"

"Of course I'm happy. There's a precedent. I don't know who he is, but he's the guy who won the last Holy Grail War, right? Then he must have obtained the Holy Grail. And he's staying in this world because of its blessing." "――"

"In other words, he's proof that you can keep your Servant in this world if you obtain the Holy Grail. I want to capture him and question him about it."

――Yeah, you're right. I don't know who he is, but he's a Servant and he's still here after the previous war. That means there's a way for Saber to stay in this world like him.

"Well, we don't know who he is or what his motive is, but I'm sure he's an enemy we'll need to defeat. So Saber, what's his true identity?"

"…I do not know. Even at the end, I could not tell who he was. That hero did not have a Noble Phantasm symbolic of him."

"He doesn't have a symbolic Noble Phantasm…? That can't be true. A Servant without a Noble Phantasm can't be a Servant. "And besides, he――"

"Yeah, he was using so many. It should be easy to work out his true identity with so many Noble Phantasms. You just need to identify the appropriate hero for them."

"Then let me ask you. Did you recognize any of those Noble Phantasms?" "Of course. Let's see…"

Tohsaka ponders, She thinks about it for a minute. But then, she tilts her head in confusion.

"――No way. That's impossible…" "…? What's wrong, Tohsaka? What's impossible?"

"――I can't believe it. The bloody one was probably Dainsleif, and the one like a sickle was Herpe. There was one that looked Chinese and another that looked like a Buddha thing――"

Tohsaka looks crazy, talking to herself. I guess this is what you call digging yourself a hole.

"Um, that one was similar to Saber's sword, but it should be different. It seems like it's from Northern Europe judging from its simple design, and most forms of demonic sword are from Northern Europe, but――" She starts to grit her teeth.

"Hey, Tohsaka." There's no point in leaving her like that. I have to stop her now or there'll be some damage. I don't need to add that I'll be the one damaged.

"Tohsaka, Tohsaka. Come back." "Geez, be quiet Shirou! I'm getting confused because you're bothering me!"

"I'm not trying to disturb you. It's about his Noble Phantasm, right? I saw Dainsleif, Herpe, Durandal, Vajra, and Kaladbolg. Oh, and I saw Gae Bolg. I couldn't identify the Chinese one, but those are the most famous ones, right?"

"Ugh… you're right." She glares at me in irritation. I'm hurt if she makes a face like that. I'm not knowledgeable, but it just popped into my head.

"But what does that mean!? No hero has that many Noble Phantasms. No, more importantly, the sources are all different. I don't understand it――"

"Yes. That is why I could not tell his true identity. He has an abundance of Noble Phantasms, the proofs of a hero. I could not narrow down his true identity because he had so many."

The two ponder. Well, there's certainly no way to tell if he has that many. It's like hiding a tree in a forest, or something.

"Shirou. Do you have anything?" She glares at me. Yeah, she's definitely taking it out on me.

"Have what?" "Anything you noticed or guessed. Anything that popped into your head. What we need are unexpected opinions. Only accidents solve a deadlock situation." Hm, she might be right.

"Hahaha, I see. ――You're making fun of me, right?" "Don't be rude. I just think you're useless. So, do you have anything?" "Nothing." I give up honestly. Tohsaka groans in regret.

"…Then there's only one answer. Saber, don't you think they're all fakes? Nothing else can explain it." "I feel the same way. However――"

"…? No, they're not fakes." How did they arrive at that answer? First of all, he wouldn't have been able to pierce Caster with fake Noble Phantasms.

"Oh. What do you base that on, Emiya-kun?" "I'm saying those are real. Rather, everything else seems fake." "Huh?"

"Well, it's just my intuition. …Um, it's hard to explain, but those are all real. Lancer's Gae Bolg is real, but I think the Gae Bolg he used is real as well."

"…?" Gah, it's harder to explain if she makes a face like that. No, forgetting that, why did I think that? It's just that all the things he used were Noble Phantasms. I can feel that.

…Is it because I used 'projection' against Berserker? I could tell they were real Noble Phantasms just by looking at them. Conception dwells in superior weapons, and something is missing from weapons that merely imitate them in shape. I realized that when I imitated Saber's sword. By that argument, I think that all the Noble Phantasms he used were perfect――

"…Well. Putting what Shirou said aside…. As we don't know his true identity, his objective is next." Tohsaka sneaks a glance at Saber.

"We already know he's after the Holy Grail, but there's one other point I'm curious about. Can I ask you directly, Saber?" Man. Why does she put on that really evil smile when it comes to this kind of subject?

"…What do you mean, Rin? You do not need to hold back if you wish to ask me something."

"Really? Then I'll ask. What do you think of him? From the way he spoke, it seemed like he really has the hots for you." "……"

…I'm not following Tohsaka's lead, but I sneak a glance at Saber. Tohsaka is saying it wrong, but it's true he was attached to Saber. No, it wasn't that nice. He saw Saber as his and only his.

"I do not care what he thinks about. …But, I remember that he did propose marriage to me in the previous war. Naturally, I deflected it with my sword." Marriage, you mean――!? "Wha――" What is that Servant thinking――!?

"Wow. I don't know if you should be happy in this case, but you don't feel too bad about it, right? You must be happy as a woman to be proposed to even after you became a Servant."

"That is not true. I have no such freedom to begin with. My goal is to obtain the Holy Grail. ――Honestly, such nonsense irritates me."

"Really? Even if you feel that way, he was pretty into you. His type doesn't care how much they're rejected. You're stubborn too, so he might be a good match for you."

I don't know what's so funny, but Tohsaka's words are irresponsible. Tohsaka seems to be happy to be talking to Saber about this kind of thing. Saber seems to have no interest, but… "I am telling you that I have no interest in such a thing. He is certainly a superior heroic spirit, but his way of thinking is too different from mine." Saber answers honestly.

"Ohhhh. Did you hear that, Shirou? Saber has no interest in men. Are you relieved?" "Rin, I believe that is of no concern to Shirou. Your statement is a little strange."

"I would think so. That was a mistake on my part. But the strange part is the funny part." Tohsaka laughs evilly. Her eyes seem to be laughing not only at Saber, but at me as well.

"―――――" It irritates me for some reason and I stand up. "Huh? Where are you going, Shirou?" "Tea. I'm thirsty. I'll get some for everyone while I'm at it."

I spit that out and go to the kitchen. I don't know why, but I'm irritated. So I think I'll prepare extra bitter tea for Tohsaka.

"Then, I'll go back to my room. Let's have the complicated talk tomorrow after Ilya wakes up." After messing a lot with Saber, she drinks the bitter tea and stands up.

"Yeah, go to sleep. Don't come back." "Yeah, yeah. I'll leave the rest to you, then." I don't know what's so funny, but Tohsaka leaves in a good mood.

"――What are you going to do, Shirou? You should not push yourself even if your wounds have healed, so I think you should rest for tonight."

"Yeah, that's my plan. But I'll watch over Ilya for a bit longer. I'll move her to a room if there doesn't seem to be any problem, and I'll go to bed after that." "I see. Then, I shall accompany you."

Our conversation ends there. It gets really awkward once it's quiet as Tohsaka was the loud one. …No, awkward isn't the right word. There are things I'm worried about and things I need to say, so my mind is impatient. Come to think of it, what I want to tell her is all in a mess.

About the Holy Grail. About her still being alive. …Even if she does obtain the Holy Grail, there's no salvation for the girl called Arturia. I don't even need to say why. She has no wish for herself even now.

"…Saber, about what we were discussing before…." Our eyes meet. Her awkward eyes seem to know what I'm going to say.

"Yes, what is it, Shirou?" She tries to block my question with a calm voice. …But I have to tell her.

"About what we were saying earlier. Tohsaka said it too that Servants can stay if they obtain the Holy Grail, right? Then――"

"No, I have no intention of staying here. I will return to my original time once I obtain the Holy Grail." "And you're going to redo the selection of the king? You're going to start everything over and not save yourself on the verge of death?"

"Right. It is the duty of a king to protect the country. My powers were not enough, so I must at least select an appropriate king in my place." "――" Her words really make me angry.

"――You idiot! Wake up…! The duty of the king doesn't matter! You're here, so you should do what you want to now――!" "――"

"I won't allow you to have any other goals. You're strong, right? Then finish this battle quickly, obtain the Holy Grail, and quit being a Servant…! If you have a wish, don't go to the past and redo everything. If you want to change yourself, don't change the past, but change who you are now――!"

…Saber doesn't answer. She gives a small sigh. "You are obstinate, Shirou. I want you to stop bringing this up." She firmly rejects my opinion.

"And it is not as if one can stay if one obtains the Holy Grail. Archer… that Servant does not remain in this time because of the Holy Grail. It was impossible for anyone to obtain the Holy Grail in the last war."

"…? Saber, what does that――" "It is impossible to obtain what does not exist. On that day when the town was in flames, the Holy Grail was destroyed. By the Master who betrayed me, Emiya Kiritsugu."

"――" My vision closes in. I hold my body steady with my hands as it's about to fall.

"Emiya… Kiritsugu…?"

"Yes. He was my Master ten years ago in the previous Holy Grail War. I won to the end, and the Holy Grail came into Kiritsugu's hands. Archer and his Master still remained, so the Holy Grail War should have been ended by their defeat."

"But Kiritsugu threw the Holy Grail away. As a result, the town went into flames. …That man ordered me to destroy the Holy Grail because Servants are the only ones that can touch the Holy Grail. Kiritsugu used his last Command Spell to force me to destroy the Holy Grail."

"Servants cannot stay in this world once the Holy Grail disappears. Kiritsugu did not try to keep me here either. My memory ends there. I could not ask him about the betrayal nor settle my match against Archer."

"―――――" Well, it's not like I never thought about it. Father was a magus. If he lived in this town all his life, he must have been involved in a Holy Grail War. But still――

"Why didn't you tell me that my father was a Master, Saber?"

"…Usually, a Servant does not hold memories of previous summonings. The same hero will not be summoned as a Servant again. I am an exception to this rule. So I believed I should not mention this fact to you, Shirou. …And I did not wish to tell you what kind of Master Kiritsugu was."

"…? Why wouldn't you want to tell me?" "Shirou. As you have seen my past in your dreams, I also saw your past. …I was surprised by your past, but I could not believe how much Kiritsugu had changed. Emiya Kiritsugu is a great person in your memories. But he is not like that in my memories."

"…To state it simply, he was a typical magus. He was only interested in his objectives and he eliminated everything in his way. I could not see any human emotion in him. He only spoke to me three times during the whole war. …I do not think I need to tell you when he spoke to me.

"―――――"

"He was not cruel nor a born killer. But he did not have anything that you would call emotion. Just as he treated me only as a tool, he treated himself only as an object."

"…Kiritsugu killed every emotion and killed every enemy. I do not know what he believed in to make him do so, but he ordered me to destroy the Holy Grail when it was in front of him. To be honest…. I have never cursed the Command Spell or a Master who has betrayed me, more than I did at that time.

――There's some truth in Saber's words. No, they must all be true.

Come to think of it, I don't know what Kiritsugu was like before that time ten years ago. I couldn't guess anything about him before that time, and I saw no need to learn about such things. It doesn't change a thing even if Kiritsugu was cold-hearted. The man that adopted me was really childlike. So my memory is my only truth.

But what hurts my heart is…. If Kiritsugu was really a cold person, his last moments were just too empty――

"…I see. Maybe I was able to summon you because I'm his son."

"…I do not know. Kiritsugu summoned me in a legitimate way. As Kiritsugu's aptitude as a Master was high, he was hired by a magus family with a long history and entered the Holy Grail War. I heard that everything he needed to become a Master was provided by that family."

"They had excavated King Arthur's artifact from Cornwall and gave it to Kiritsugu to use in the Holy Grail War. Kiritsugu used it as a catalyst to summon me. So Kiritsugu himself does not have any factor to summon me nor is his attribute close to mine. You probably summoned me because of some other factor."

…I get it. It's not too surprising that Father used to be a Master. What's surprising is that his Servant was King Arthur… the one standing in front of me right now.

And one more thing. Saber said that the Holy Grail was destroyed. Then――isn't this war completely meaningless?

"…I don't get it. You already knew there's no Holy Grail anymore, right? So why did you decide to take part in this ridiculous battle?"

"…I certainly do not know if the Holy Grail actually exists. But it would be strange for there to be no Holy Grail if I am summoned. Have you forgotten, Shirou? I became a Servant to obtain the Holy Grail. To put it another way, I will not be summoned unless the Holy Grail is present."

"Ah――well, then. The Holy Grail can restore itself even if it's destroyed?" "No. The Holy Grail is not something easily replaceable. It would be impossible for a destroyed Holy Grail to be restored."

"Then――" "But it should exist. Servants are summoned since they are drawn to the Holy Grail. Servants would not exist if there is no Holy Grail. That priest said so as well."

"Priest――oh, him." The supervisor of the Holy Grail War living at the church. That man that manages the Holy Grail must be able to answer all my questions.

The end of the previous war. What happened to the destroyed Holy Grail and to the Servant Archer? And yes――what did Kiritsugu see at the end of the battle to make him destroy the Holy Grail?

I wake up alone. Even if she has recovered, Saber still has to sleep periodically. Saber went to bed right away after that, and I went to bed too to relieve Saber.

That was an hour ago. It's past midnight. …I'll be able to sneak out without Saber or Tohsaka finding out now.

I go out without making a sound. I thought about using the bicycle, but it'd be a problem if I wake them up by doing so. I guess I'll walk there.

There's no one around. Even if it's midnight, this silence is abnormal. The air is frozen and I can't sense life from any of the buildings.

On the other hand, I feel a contradictory heat under the road as if there's a whirlpool of something black. …Has something happened to the town in the few days I was held at Ilya's place? It feels like ill omens are everywhere.

"…It's not just me." I look up at the mountain in the distance. The Ryudou Temple which is far away from the city just looks like a black lump from here. It's just that… It seems like it's throbbing along with the night wind.

I cross the dark river and walk to Shinto. "――That's right. It's already been ten days since then." That day. That night I first met Saber and walked on this bridge with Tohsaka seems like so long ago.

――I see the church. "I've never been to the church." Even though I told Tohsaka that, I do have a connection to this church. I was supposed to be entrusted to the church and adopted somewhere later.

"…The Emiya household or the church. Come to think of it, it was a big turning point."

Ten years ago. All the children in that hospital were orphans, and they were all temporarily entrusted to the church. I was the only one of them adopted from the hospital.

That must be why. I felt kind of guilty and unconsciously avoided the church. That's why I told Tohsaka it was my first time visiting the church on the night eleven days ago.

The lights in the church are still on. …I don't like that priest, but there's something I need to ask him. "――Well, let's go." I take a deep breath and go through the heavy doors.

"Priest Kotomine, are you here?" I keep on walking while I call out. I can't sense anyone in the chapel. Even though the lights are on, it's so big and quiet that I feel more afraid than I would in complete darkness.

"Hey, is anyone here?" …There's no reply. I can't go in any farther, so maybe I should give up and go home for tonight――

"…!" I instantly turn toward the sound. "So, it is Emiya Shirou. What are you doing here at this time?"

"―――――" The sudden encounter leaves me speechless.

"It is late. I was going to sleep――but your expression suggests that you seek confession here." Kotomine says so and returns to the door he emerged from.

"Oh――no, wait. Um, I had something I wanted to ask you." "I know. I will not turn anyone away even if they come at odd hours." So saying, Kotomine opens the door to the back of the chapel.

"Follow me. I'm sure it has to do with the Holy Grail War. I cannot have us talk about such bloody subjects here." Kotomine disappears into the back without waiting for my reply.

"――!" I've come this far, so I can't go back empty-handed. I renew my determination not to be intimidated by Kotomine and follow him.

"Wow――the outside was brilliant, but the inside is exquisite as well…" Is this a courtyard? There's a park and passageway that seems too elegant for Kotomine to live in alone.

"What are you doing? Come here if you have something to talk about." The priest turns yet another corner.

"…Damn, he really doesn't wait." I follow him, complaining. The church is like a small maze, so I have to follow him obediently.

"―――――" It's a modest room made of stone. This inelegant room seems to be Kotomine's.

"I am unfortunately out of alcohol. I have nothing to welcome you with, but forgive me." Kotomine says so while sitting down.

"―――――" …Is this the faint smell of wine? He must really like it if the smell is lingering in this room.

"What? Did you not have something to talk to me about? It is bothersome if you just stand there dumbfounded." "I-I'm not dumbfounded! I was just surprised by this room, and I'll go home right away once I'm done with my business…!"

"Good. I do not have enough leisure time to socialize with children either. Keep your questions concise." "…!" …As expected, I hate this guy. It feels like he can read my mind, and I feel intimidated when I talk to him.

"So, what is it that you want to talk about, Emiya Shirou? I believe I have already told you everything I can."

"…Don't lie. You must have known about it. My father was Saber's Master and he destroyed the Holy Grail. You're the supervisor that manages the Holy Grail, so you must…!"

"Oh. Did Saber say that?" "Um… yeah, I heard that's how the previous Holy Grail War ended." "―――――" The priest sinks into silence as if pondering.

"…Hm. It is unusual for a Servant to retain their previous memories. Maybe Saber is a failure or Saber herself is abnormal. Either way, you cannot claim she is a normal Servant."

"Heroic spirits do not retain memories. There would be contradictions if they did since they are summoned into many ages: the past, present, and future. All they have are memories from when they were alive. Anything that happens to them after they become a heroic spirit should not remain in their memory――"

The priest ponders as he must not assent to the fact. …I see. He doesn't know that Saber isn't a complete heroic spirit yet, so he's having trouble understanding.

"No, that's wrong. It seems that Saber's circumstances are different from the other Servants'." "Different circumstances? …I see, so that must be why you came here. All right, go ahead."

"―――――" I don't like his haughty attitude, but this is no time to oppose him. I don't like it, but this priest might give me some answers.

"It seems Saber isn't dead yet. She still hasn't completed the contract to become a heroic spirit. Something like, she wished for the Holy Grail on the verge of her death and she agreed to become a heroic spirit as a price for obtaining it. So she isn't dead yet. She won't die until she obtains the Holy Grail, and she said she'll become a complete Servant once she does so."

"Not dead… then that must mean Saber is still in the cycle of rebirth. So she is not removed from the concept of time like other heroic spirits?"

"Right, I think that's it. Tohsaka said Saber's frozen in time by herself." "――I see. So rather than disappearing after she accomplishes something, she continues to be summoned as a heroic spirit until she obtains the Holy Grail."

"But the Holy Grail has not yet been obtained, so she returns to her deathbed every time she fails. And she has been summoned into this time as well, bearing all her previous memories. ――Ha. Obtaining the Holy Grail in order to die… I do not understand heroes. And even if she does obtain it, all that is left for her is to be summoned as a Servant."

"…That's right. Even if she does obtain the Holy Grail and gets her wish granted――she'll just become like the other Servants, right? …I don't like that. Anyways, what are Servants? They say it's making heroes your familiars, but can that even be possible for a contradictory hero like Saber?"

"I do not understand the system. …Eternal continuation of the soul. The Servant system is constructed by imitating that secret process. Only the deviser would know about this."

"…? ――Eternal continuation of the soul…?" "No, that is just the past. It has nothing to do with this matter, so forget about it.

"So, Emiya Shirou. You are saying that you want her to stop being a Servant, correct?"

"――" Did he guess right? I certainly think Saber's situation is strange. It's fine that she wants to obtain the Holy Grail. But all that awaits is her elimination.

If a king other than King Arthur is chosen and King Arthur is no more… I think it's wrong for her to be summoned as the hero King Arthur after that. So――if she can stop being a Servant and live as a normal human being――

"That is impossible. Dead people will not come back to life. Even if her time is stopped, Saber is already dead for us. The power of the Holy Grail summons her into this time because she accepted the price of becoming a heroic spirit. If she does not seek the Holy Grail, she will not be summoned as a Servant. And as long as she seeks the Holy Grail, she will become a complete Servant sooner or later."

"…Even if she fails this time, she has infinite chances. Since Saber is still in the loop of time, she cannot be in two chances to obtain the Holy Grail at once, and she cannot redo a chance she has already failed. She will fail a chance she has already failed, no matter how many times she tries. Once she has experienced the result, she will not be able to change it."

"But still, it should only be a matter of time before she obtains the Holy Grail. This is not the only opportunity for her. Trials to obtain the Holy Grail exist in all ages. If she continues to challenge each one, she will obtain the Holy Grail."

"…From the beginning, she is being summoned as a heroic spirit because she obtains the Holy Grail as a result. From the moment she appeared in front of you, there was no way to stop her from becoming a Servant."

"――" …I thought so. As long as Saber seeks the Holy Grail, there's no way to stop her from being a Servant. After all, she'll continue like this unless Saber herself decides to use the Holy Grail for her own sake.

Even if this Holy Grail War ends and there's no need to fight any more. She will go on to the next chance to obtain the Holy Grail if she cannot obtain it this time. Once she obtains it, she'll become this heroic spirit thing and be sent out to many ages――

"…Then, she'll continue to be a Servant whether she obtains the Holy Grail or not?" "No, that is not the case. If the Holy Grail is truly omnipotent, it will be able to save Saber."

"Huh――? But you just said that was impossible――"

"Yes, it is impossible to stop Saber from becoming a Servant. But your wish is for her to stay in this world, is it not? Then it is not that difficult. You are able to keep her here as a human even after the Holy Grail War ends. Although, she will return once she dies."

"――How do I do that?" "The heroic spirits and Servants are spurious. Normally, what is summoned as a heroic spirit does not have a mind. It is summoned as a tool to meet an objective and disappears."

"But Servants are different. They are the true body summoned by the Holy Grail. So they can live as humans just by keeping them in this world."

"You can do such a thing? Saber said she disappeared when the Holy Grail was destroyed. Isn't it true that Servants can't stay if the Holy Grail is gone?"

"Of course. The Holy Grail merely summons these Servants, and it is the role of the Master to maintain them after that. But that is possible only because the Holy Grail is aiding the Master. The magical energy of a magus is not enough to maintain a Servant. If one does not have a donor called the Holy Grail, their Servant will disappear."

"…I thought so. Then…" "No. If you do not have enough, all you need do is compensate for that. For Servants, furnishing magical energy is only an act of compensation. It is their true nature to consume souls. If their existence starts to fade, it can be replenished using other souls."

"Wha――" Does that mean attacking random people like Shinji did?

"Don't be ridiculous! I can't do such a thing…! First of all, Saber wouldn't want to stay if she had to go that far…!"

"I see. Then you would have to use the contents of the Holy Grail. ――It is simple. If you want Saber to live as a human being, have her consume the Holy Grail."

He must have predicted my response. The priest's expression tells me that he was waiting to reach this conclusion from the beginning.

"――You mean, have the Holy Grail grant my wish?"

"No. It has nothing to do with your wish. It is the contents of the Holy Grail itself. Did you not hear from Rin? Servants are able to start a second life by drinking the water of the Holy Grail? That only means they have become a familiar summoned in this age. Their bodies will still be that of a Servant, but they will be able to stay in this world as long as their Master is alive."

"――But that means…" That hasn't solved anything. Even if she can stay in this world, it's meaningless if she's still a Servant. She can't exist without magical energy from her Master, and even if she stays in this world like that, she returns to that hill after she dies.

…And Saber wouldn't do it. She isn't interested in a second life, and she's said she's going to use the Holy Grail for another purpose. Oh, but first of all――the key to everything is the Holy Grail��� Does it mean it still exists in this world?

"…I get it. That just means I have to obtain the Holy Grail, right? But does the Holy Grail still exist? If my father destroyed it, then…." "Then what?"

"…If there's no Holy Grail, there's no reason to fight. This ridiculous fight is pointless." "You have no reason to fight, huh? Why do you say that now? ――You had no reason to fight from the very beginning." As he says so. Time freezes.

――No reason to fight. That's what this priest told me before. At that time――I just became a Master and I didn't have much of a reason to fight. That's why I ignored it, and I thought it was just sarcasm.

But what about now? I have a reason to fight. If there is a Holy Grail, I want to end this fight and give it to Saber.

I have a reason to fight. I have a reason to fight. So why do his words make my body shake so much that I want to vomit――?

"――We'll forget about that for now. Now is not the time to open up your wounds." …I hear a voice. A voice I don't want to hear. But it makes my mysterious nausea stop.

"There is a Holy Grail. The Holy Grail is only a vessel anyways. If it goes away, the preparer will prepare another one." "…? …The preparer will prepare another one? ….. Is the Holy Grail that easy to make?"

"Just making the vessel is. Of course, one needs an appropriate skill, but the Holy Grail War could not come to be without such a skill."

"…First of all, the Holy Grail is not a cup that received the blood of God. It was based on a magical pot passed down from ancient times. You should know about it if you are a magus. Utopia. It means 'an unreachable place' in Greek. It is said that an omnipotent vessel exists there. And there were magi who tried to reproduce this omnipotent vessel."

"They were the three families: Einzbern, Makiri, and Tohsaka. They spent many generations researching the ritual to reproduce the omnipotent vessel and completed it two hundred years ago. That was the first Holy Grail War――the ritual that summoned the omnipotent vessel to the artificial Holy Grail to open up the path."

"Einzbern…? You mean, Ilya's family?"

"Yes. The Einzberns specialized in 'the golden rule of the line'. They were the best suited to make an imitation of the Holy Grail. But they cannot summon the Holy Grail with just that. They need a suitable land and a strong curse. The ones who provided these were the Tohsaka and the Makiri."

"At that time, the Church and the Magic Association were in the middle of a bloody war. A far eastern land was chosen as the place for the ritual. Einzbern must have invited Tohsaka in because Tohsaka was in charge of the land around here and their master was a master of summoning. For Einzbern, the summoning of the Holy Grail would be impossible without the help of Tohsaka."

"But betrayal could easily occur with two families involved. They must have thought three should be involved as they also brought in the Makiri family." The Makiris are a family with history as well. They were the family most skilled with familiars. It was they that came up with the Command Spell to bind the Servants."

"…And they worked together to summon the Holy Grail, but when they succeeded, what came after was bloody killing. The first summoning of the Holy Grail ended while they were busy killing each other. As generations passed, they made rules called the Holy Grail War and went back to cooperating, at least in form."

"Tohsaka provided this land and the system to model the Servants, and Makiri provided the Command Spell to bind these Servants. And Einzbern supplies the vessel for the Holy Grail to dwell in. That is the cooperation they decided on."

The priest continues happily as if something pleases him. But, I see… they say the Holy Grail War is a ritual, but Ilya's family was the original proposer.

"So, that is it. It was the Einzberns that prepared the Holy Grail. As they were betrayed by Kiritsugu last time, they have thrown in their greatest trump card. The daughter of Einzbern probably holds the Holy Grail."

"――?" Ilya has the Holy Grail…? …That's weird. I don't think she had anything with her….

"Well, are you happy now? I do not know what troubles you. But the only way to solve it is to use the Holy Grail. Now that you know that, go home. The battle is not yet over. You are crazy to be walking about without having Saber by your side."

"That's none of your business. I know there's still Lancer's Master――" Hold on. There's one more thing I need to ask him.

"――Kotomine. Servants will disappear once the Holy Grail disappears. That's what you said, right?" "Yes. Do you have a problem with that?" "I do. I don't know who it is, but there is an eighth Servant. According to Saber, he has remained in this world since the previous war."

"Wha――t?" It must have been a surprise. Kotomine opens his eyes and mutters in disbelief.

"What's going on? I came here since I thought you would know."

"…So, you are saying there is a Servant that did not disappear? It is not that strange. The previous war ended with Saber destroying the Holy Grail. So in other words, there was still another Servant left."

"Saber disappeared by her own will, but if a Servant wished to stay, then the answer is simple. He must have acquired the magical energy he needed by feeding on souls and lived these past ten years."

"――That's ridiculous. His presence was absurd. You or my father certainly would've noticed if that thing had been around for ten years."

"…I know. Someone was probably hiding him. The Servant's Master, or…." "Or what?"

"A magus who knew about the Holy Grail War but did not become a Master. I know one such person, but that is impossible as well. The old Makiri has already retired." Kotomine must be satisfied, as he gets up from the sofa.

"This is it. I cannot let this be as a supervisor. I shall investigate that Servant. You should concentrate on your remaining battle with Lancer." Kotomine walks to the exit as if there's nothing more to talk about.

"―――――" …Well, there's certainly nothing more to be gained from being here. I leave the dark room and follow Kotomine, who leads me to the exit silently.

I leave the church. Behind me, "Saber will die once she obtains the Holy Grail. You know what that means, don't you, Emiya Shirou?" The priest asks as if confirming it.

"――" The priest is looking down at me from the doorway.

…Saber will die if she obtains the Holy Grail. I already know that. Saber's goal is to obtain the Holy Grail, and she doesn't want the Holy Grail's power. Once she obtains the Holy Grail, nothing will bind her. She will be freed from her situation, frozen on the verge of death, and――she will die an unrewarded death on that hill.

"What's wrong? You're not the type to give that kind of a warning, are you?"

"I was just happy that you are supporting Saber. I am warning you out of kindness. Saber will disappear once she obtains the Holy Grail. If you wish to be with her, you should give up the Holy Grail."

"…That's even more of a contradiction. I won't be able to keep Saber here if I don't have the Holy Grail."

"You do not need to rely on the Holy Grail. It's just like that Servant we were talking about. If you want to keep Saber, all you need to do is feed her souls."

"――Don't play with me. I can't do that." I glare at the priest. "I see. That is too bad." He must not even care about my glare as the priest is laughing.

"Then your only hope is the contents of the Holy Grail. Even if your Servant does not wish it, all you have to do is keep one Command Spell. Your wish will be granted that way."

――The priest is saying… That it doesn't matter even if Saber doesn't want it. That if I am a Master, I can just force Saber to drink using the power of the Command Spell.

"―――――" "Oh, did I offend you? Don't glare at me so much. That was just a warning. Well, you could also respect Saber's choice. It is her life. We have no right to say anything about it."

"I shall investigate that Servant tomorrow. Come here again if you feel like it." The door to the church closes. Looking up at the church, I grit my teeth telling myself that I will never come here again.

I cross the moonlit bridge. This is the place where I walked with Saber. At that time, I was just looking at the scenery, not thinking about anything.

'Saber will die if she obtains the Holy Grail. You know what that means, Emiya Shirou――'

"――!" I know. I know without him telling me. …But why is everything so complicated? Saber must not obtain the Holy Grail. But it is the only thing that can save her.

'If you wish to be with her, you should give up the Holy Grail. If you want to keep Saber, all you need to do is feed her souls――'

…I can't do that. Even if I accepted that, Saber wouldn't. She would rather disappear than do such things. She would disappear and repeat this kind of war?

'Then, keep one Command Spell. ――That way, your wish shall be granted.'

"…! Damn, shut up, you shitty priest…!" I stop and punch at the rails as if shaking off the Command Spell. A hard steel sound echoes through the night. …That's the only sound around here. There're no people nor cars around.

"Damn… why am I even thinking about it?" I lean on the rail and spit it out. I know I should just ignore Kotomine's opinion. But his words had a charm that make me unable to ignore them.

…What did I want to do and what was I trying to fight for? At first, it was to end the Holy Grail War. When did that purpose fade away and become secondary? Was it when I was obstinate about fighting by myself? Was it when I decided to cooperate with Saber, after I painfully realized how powerless I was?

Or. Is it from that time I made a sword for her, after that night in the ruins?

――I'm just trying to deceive myself with all that. I don't even need to think about it. Back then. When I met her in the moonlight in that shed, my mind was already made up――

"――" But that would have been fine. If I hadn't found out because of the dreams, this probably would've ended before I knew it. But I found out. I couldn't leave her alone and decided I didn't want to lose her.

I want to stay like this. I want to keep watching her smile――

"――Ow." The girl, watching the sunset alone on that hill of swords. My chest hurts thinking back to it. She never had time that was her own. …I just don't like that.

Kiritsugu said we shouldn't let girls cry. I think a smiling face is much better than a crying one. That's why I was irritated when Saber wasn't smiling. But when I told her to smile. She said that it was better if she saw me smiling. ――That's… It's like seeing stars through a telescope that you can never reach.

"――――Dammit." I look up at the night sky. Looking up at the star I can never reach, Drip. An unnoticed tear falls down my cheek.

"――I like her." I say so to no one. However dull I am, I have to admit it. There's nothing I can do about it. I like her so much that I can cry for no reason.

"Welcome back. You were pretty late." ――And then. Tohsaka is standing in the doorway.

"T-Tohsaka…? Why are you――" "Let's talk inside. Come in, you seem tired." She takes my arm without asking me and starts to walk… And takes me to her room.

"Here's some tea. It must've been cold outside." She says so rather bluntly, but she's thoughtful.

"…Yeah, thanks." Honestly, I appreciate the hot tea. It's about an hour to the neighboring town. Since I walked slowly, my body is freezing cold.

"So, did you go to Kirei's place?" She asks me directly. …I see. So Tohsaka knew all along. But she didn't even stop me, just waited for me to come home, and prepared me some tea.

…I've made up my mind, and I appreciate Tohsaka's thoughtfulness. That must be why. "Yeah, I did. I had something I wanted to ask him." I reply honestly, not hiding anything.

"I see. I won't ask what you went to do. That's fine with you, right?" "Yeah. It wasn't anything too useful either. I just confirmed the situation."

"I see. But I'm surprised that Saber isn't a complete Servant yet. It's like a bad joke that the strongest Servant is the least complete." "Yeah. Saber shouldn't have become a Servant." I nod.

"That's a surprise. Maybe you and Archer could've gotten along. He said the same thing you did." "…Eh? Archer, you mean…?"

"Yeah. Archer said he regrets it, so he doesn't want Saber to experience the same thing." "…? Why would he worry about Saber? Didn't he hate her?"

"That's true. But I think he might have been a knight with some connection to Saber. He was obviously going easy when he first fought Saber, right? I suspected it after that."

"Really? But it didn't seem like Saber recognized him." "Is that so? But Saber was the king, right? So she can't have known all her people, and there's also the possibility that she's forgotten him."

"…Hey now. We'll never get anywhere if you start saying things like that. If she sees him and doesn't recognize him, I think that means she doesn't know him."

"That might not be true. According to the legend, there were many knights that got chased out of Camelot. He might have been one of them. If he was hiding his identity because of Saber, that would make sense."

Tohsaka's actively talking to me. "―――――" Is she trying to care for me? I don't think it's having much effect, but she's a nice girl. She's usually merciless, but she tries to help people when they're weakened.

…And so, we drink tea together for a while. She must have run out of patience as she looks at me seriously.

"So. What do you want to do, Shirou?" "Hm. I'll go on a date tomorrow." I can't think of anything else, and I already decided so on my way home. …And then.

Where did that solemn atmosphere go? After making a really rude face, Tohsaka… "Ha――Haha, ahahahahahahahaha!" …Bursts into laughter.

"Heehee, hold on, I-I wasn't ready for that, aha, ahahaha! That's great, that's so amazingly selfish, Shirou!" …Damn! Now that I think about it calmly, I should have known this was going to happen. I'm such an idiot…!

"S-Shut up! What's wrong with being selfish? I know this isn't the right time, but I won't let you interfere!" "N-No, no. Shirou, Shirou, you're too funny, hahahaha." Tohsaka hits my back, holding her stomach.

"Guh…" Could this be the worst treatment I've taken so far?

"Ha, haha, ha――oh, I'm laughing my heart out." She tries to catch her breath. "…That's good for you. It's not funny at all for me." I complain. Then.

"Do your best on the date. I like you guys." Tohsaka says so, her attitude completely changed.

"Ah… uh. Yeah, I will." I manage to reply. …That was a real surprise attack. If she says that kind of a thing with that kind of an expression, all I can do is nod――

I return to my room. Saber is still asleep, and the mansion is quiet like nothing has happened.

It was raining today, but what will the weather be like tomorrow? Looking up at the moving clouds, I step out of character and wish for it to be sunny tomorrow.

――So. Before I realize it, it's morning already.

"…I'm useless. I couldn't get any sleep at all." I stop the alarm clock with a sigh. Today is my date with Saber, no matter what she says. I'm going to go take her to places she hasn't been and play around, and the most important thing is for her to enjoy herself. I was trying to use the knowledge I don't have to come up with a plan for the day, but the alarm clock went off before I noticed the time.

"……" I set the alarm clock, just in case. I couldn't come up with any good plans last night, so I borrowed it from Tohsaka thinking I might take a long time to come up with a plan. I used it going against my principles, but it was useless in the end.

"…Come to think of it, I've never gone on a date before." I sigh again. That's the problem. Even more shocking than the fact that I couldn't get any sleep is the fact that I couldn't come up with any plan that might make a girl happy, even though I thought about it all night.

"――Fine. I'll leave this to luck. I'll take her everywhere and make her realize what it means to have fun…!"

Saber is a girl. If we go to cute-looking stores, she's bound to have fun. Well, I think the plan has some weak points, but I've made up my mind so that's what I'm going to do. It's not like I have any other ideas, so I'm going to entertain her today until she gives up.

"Then Ilyasviel has not woken up yet?"

"Nope, she's still asleep. It looks like it'll take her a bit longer to wake up, but I guess that's good luck today. If she were awake, she'd be following Shirou around and bothering him."

"Yes. We cannot have her continue to accompany Shirou as she has been. It ended like that last night, but we are going to start seriously searching for the remaining Master today. Shirou cannot be concerned with Ilyasviel."

"Oh, that's not what I meant, but… oh well. It won't do any good if I tell you, and this is yours and Shirou's problem." Tohsaka tries to hide her laughter.

"Huh? A problem for me and Shirou…?" Saber's expression questions me. "―――――"

We're done eating breakfast, so this is a good time. Saber is ready to go and search for Masters, but I have willpower as well. I just need to come out with it like a man.

"About that, Saber. We'll be going into the neighboring town today. So if you need to get ready, do so now."

"Looking for the Master? In that case, I would have thought the suburbs would be a better choice than the neighboring town――" "No. We're going to go hang out, so there's no point in going to the suburbs."

"Huh――?" Saber freezes. …I'll really have to get back at the person behind her who's trying not to laugh.

"Um, Shirou… what do you mean by that? You are not going to go hang out with Rin, but, um…" "I'm going, so who else but you will come with me? Tohsaka has nothing to do with this since she'll be staying here to take care of Ilya."

"――How ridiculous. We would not accomplish much even if we did search the neighboring town. Doing such a thing is meaningless. What are you trying to do?"

Saber complains directly. …This is what I expected, but the future looks troublesome as she still thinks we're going to town to look for the Master even after I told her clearly.

"…Geez. You don't understand when I put it this clearly? In other words, I'm saying let's go on a date. How about it?"

I ask, ignoring Tohsaka's stare. I don't know how much she understands. "I do not understand what you are saying. Can you give me a concrete description?" She asks, even less happily.

"―――――" That flips a switch within me. …It seems like caring for her has the opposite effect when it comes to things like this. It seems it would be to both our benefits to state it clearly.

"Shirou. I will obey if you want to go into town, but please explain to me what you mean by going to this 'date'. Even though I am familiar with this age, there are words I still do not understand. Please do not use technical vocabulary."

"It's not a technical vocabulary. I'll tell you since you don't know. Going on a date means going out to play with a girl." "Huh――?" Saber freezes.

"…? A girl… you mean, me…?" She murmurs, still astonished. When I nod, Saber frowns even more unhappily.

"…I understand the meaning of the word, but I do not understand your intent. What is the reasoning behind such a thing?"

"――Hm." Her reaction is unexpected. The intention of a date is obvious, but I'm a bit hesitant to tell Saber straight on――

"Geez. She's misunderstanding because of the words you're using. Don't use the word date, explain it to her in simpler terms." Tohsaka interrupts as if unable to ignore us.

"Look, Saber. A date is basically a rendezvous. Shirou says he's going to play, but it's a chance for a man to appeal to a woman he likes."

"――!" I cough. Tohsaka is right, but I think a date and a rendezvous are vastly different.

"―――――" …But I shouldn't interrupt. It seems Saber finally understands what a date is.

"――That's right, Saber. We're not going to fight today, but we're going to go into town instead. After all, we won't be able to fight during the daytime since there are a lot of people around. So, we should be able to do whatever we want right now."

"――That is true, but… this is too meaningless. There is no benefit for you in doing this."

"That's not true. Even if it were, I wouldn't mind. I've already decided to spend today for you, so don't worry about me. Anyways, we're going into town today. I won't change my mind no matter what." I stare straight on at Saber.

"―――――" After thinking with a serious face for a while… "…Then will you go into town by yourself even if I do not go?"

"Yeah, I'm definitely going. Or the stuff I thought about all night will go to waste." "…Then I will have to go with you. As a Servant, I cannot leave my Master alone."

With a deep sigh, Saber answers in her usual manner.

"―――――" I get really angry about her following me because she's my Servant. But I managed to succeed in getting Saber out. So I just have to take Saber to places without thinking too much about it――

"See ya. Bring me back something." I gesture to Tohsaka to go to hell as she makes fun of me right to the end, and we go outside.

"――So. What are we going to do exactly, Shirou?" "We'll go the neighboring town. There's a bus from the intersection, so let's take that."

The road is awfully quiet. It's past nine on a weekday. The town is starting to come alive, but it must be a bit too early for people to start going anywhere. There's no one out on the road, and it's like we have the place to ourselves.

"…Come to think of it, I'm starting to feel no resistance to skipping school. I've been at home all the time recently."

"Of course. You are a Master, so it would be strange for you to be out walking."

She replies sharply. …She's walking behind me as usual, but it feels different today. To put it nicely, I feel pressure from behind me. Anyways, Saber is going to be harder to handle today.

We get on the bus. It would have been full of people an hour ago, but there aren't many people using it at this time. The only people on the bus are an old lady and a kid, so it's like we have this place to ourselves.

"Let's sit at the back, Saber." I call out to Saber, about to sit right at the front, and sit at the back end of the bus.

"……" Saber watches the passing scenery silently.

…Looking at her, I realize how crazy I'm being right now. The bus to the neighboring town is ordinary for me. But in this ordinary thing, there is something extraordinary.

…Well, in short… To be honest, my mind starts to twist like a Rubik's cube realizing we're about to go on a date.

"―――――" ――Oh. Crap, I'm getting really nervous.

"―――――" I take a deep breath, trying not to let Saber notice. And I know I shouldn't, but I sneak one more glance at Saber.

"――!" My heart jumps. …The Saber sitting next to me is a Saber I don't know. No, Saber herself is the same. All that's changed is the place.

But still. Just that makes me realize she is 'different'. Something I didn't notice back at my place. This ordinary scene seems like a different world just because it has Saber in it.

Her hair is like golden silk, and her green eyes are so beautiful that their mere presence is overwhelming. There wasn't much to compare her against up to now, so I forgot about it.

…I remember the time I first met Saber. I was probably avoiding her because I was embarrassed about being fascinated by her. No matter what Saber says, she is a girl before she is a swordsman for me. I didn't know how to approach her and didn't realize my feelings for her.

"……" It seems I got the order wrong. I was finally able to believe in Saber with everything I have, and then I decided to go on a date with her. Just those two are in the wrong order. And I finally realize when our day is about to begin, just how big a deal it is to go on a date with a girl you like.

But so what? I can only do my best, so I can't back out now.

"―――――" I calm myself and shake off my weak spirits. The bus has crossed the bridge and it's going into the developing area where the buildings are. I breathe out and prepare myself. The announcer I'm so used to hearing announces the next stop, Shinto station.

It's still nine in the morning, but the area in front of the station is crowded.

Most shops open at ten, but cafes and bookstores are already open. There are already many more people than there were at Miyama City, and this place is as crowded as it is on weekends.

"……" Getting off the bus, Saber looks around unhappily. …It's only natural. Saber was against this date and people passing by are looking at her curiously. She must not feel too good about that.

"…Ugh. Come to think of it, this was bound to happen if I brought Saber here in the morning." But that's going to follow us around for the whole day. If there's a way to calm it down, it's to make Saber have so much fun that she forgets about the people staring at her.

"――All right." I pound a fist and turn to Saber.

"Saber. I'll ask you first. Is there any place you want to go? We've come all the way here, so we should at least do whatever we want today."

"I do not know. I have no place that interests me. Before even that, I have no knowledge on which to base such a decision."

"Really? …That's too bad. Then I guess it's really up to luck. The future looks bad if you don't have anywhere you want to go and I don't have any idea where to go."

"…I don't want to ask this, but you do not have a plan, Shirou?" "Hm? Well, I have a few, but no details. Let's just go to random stores."

Well, that's still difficult. I know places where I won't get bored, but I can't even imagine where a girl would be happy to go to. …Geez, if it's going to end up like this, I wish I'd gone out with a girl just once….

"…Honestly. Please do not take offence, but there is something wrong with you. Your plan to take a rest is fine, but how can you not even have a plan for that rest?"

Oh, Saber enters her scolding mode. …This is the first time she's started to complain about something outside of the dojo. I knew she was irritated not being up for this and being looked at by curious eyes, but I didn't think she was this irritated.

"I have always wanted to object to your lack of planning. You are closely aware of everyone around you, but you treat yourself too carelessly. As a result, you yourself have to pay the price for this discrepancy. ――Are you listening to me, Shirou!?"

"I am. So basically, you're not happy about being here right now, right? Well, it's natural you wouldn't like it since it's pretty obvious it's going to be boring going anywhere with me."

"Eh――um, it is not that, but I――I am saying, now is not the time to be doing such things."

"I know that too. But I won't listen since I've already decided to have you accompany me today. I won't change my mind no matter what." I look at Saber. Saber just looks back at me in shock.

"――But I'll listen if you have something to say. I'm sure you have complaints, so tell me them right now. I won't have to worry about making you unhappy if you do so. If you say you don't want to go on a date, I'll think of something else."

"Um… no, I do not think you need to go that far… I, um…." Saber averts her gaze and runs out of words.

"You have no complaints? Then let's go. You have no requests, so don't get mad at me wherever we go." I'm considering an ordinary place like an aquarium. I decide and grab Saber's hand.

"H-Hey, Shirou! I-I have no complaints, but there is no need to hold my hand!" "…? I don't want to waste time, so we'll be running for a while. I'll show you the way, so follow me."

"Eh… no, I cannot do so in a situation like this…!" I start to run without waiting for Saber's reply. Since I've talked big to Saber, I can't act miserable now. I just have to take her to every possible place I can think of.

I run, holding Saber's hand. She must have accepted it as Saber finally stops complaining and follows me quietly.

Well, it's before ten o'clock. I'll make the two hours before lunchtime worthwhile and surprise her――

To summarize, the two hours went by like a storm.

We went to a boutique I usually don't go to, and we played bowling while I taught her the rules. I couldn't find an aquarium, but we fed some birds in a park. We also went to an antique store, and I still think it was best not to go to the movie theater. Anyways, I kept taking her to places a girl might like for the past two hours and there were many results: honorable defeats and total defeats.

…But I don't think this is what people would call a date. This is more like a contest, a fight to the death where the first one to give up loses.

Saber is the same as usual no matter where I take her, and she sometimes goes so quiet that I seriously start wondering if she's really mad. She gives no reaction, so I became desperate to make her happy at the next place I take her to.

As a result, I became obstinate about making Saber smile and ran around different places all morning. But it's already noon without much success.

So. As Saber reminded me it's time for lunch, I decided to take a short break, but…

"…What is this place?" I complain once we're seated at a table.

"I recommend the restaurant by the river if you're going to have lunch." That was the only advice Tohsaka gave me last night. I trusted her and chose this place, but I never thought it would be so fastidious.

"……" I look at the menu. Fortunately, the menu has a version in Japanese as well, so I have no problems reading it. But the trouble is, I can't understand what kind of food it is from the name and the prices are outrageous.

"…Am I on Mars? I seriously don't know what I should order…." I groan, looking at the menu.

"Shirou…? Did we not come by here to eat lunch?" I hear a rather frail voice from the other side of the table. "Yeah, but it's too different from what I'm used to…"

I raise my head. And then. There is Saber, with an expression like a cornered rabbit.

"Saber…?" "If this place is not suitable for lunch, let us return to the mansion. I prefer the food you prepare, Shirou."

"Eh… you mean, you want to go home?" "No, I do not want to go back home, but, um… today has been really exhausting, so I am more tired than usual."

"Really? …I see, I thought about going out into town again after eating, but… if you're tired, we can rest here for a while."

"No, that is not what I meant! Tired was not the word I meant. Um, it should have been…"

Saber stops. The small gurgling sound was fortunately small enough that only I could hear. …Oh. If she was hungry, she could've just told me.

"Excuse me. So in other words, I am saying it would be helpful for us to have lunch quickly." "Roger. Yeah, it's no fun, but let's order something safe and get our food quickly."

It's simple if all we want are light snacks. I order two things from the lunch menu and decide to eat quickly.

I consider what to do in the afternoon while drinking the after-meal coffee. What I learned this morning is that anything physical is not good.

Saber gets serious when it comes to contests. That's good for me, but it makes Saber stand out even more. After we finished a game, Saber got angry because she caught all the attention she wanted to avoid.

"So we should avoid anywhere that involves moving around… Hey, Saber? I'm asking for the second time, but is there anywhere you want to go?"

"Me? No, there is not. I cannot tell, so I will leave it up to you."

Saying so, Saber lifts her teacup. Saber ordered English tea and it seems she really likes the taste. We don't have much English tea at my place, and even if we did, it's all instant tea-bags. It seems Saber was a bit dissatisfied with the drinks at my house as she seems to like English tea. I should put that into consideration starting tonight.

"―――――" Saber is sitting there and drinking tea. She doesn't seem happy or bored.

If I had to use one word to describe her, it'd be that she looks natural. She drinks her tea, sitting up straight in the shadows of the streaming sunlight. Even though this is the first time I've seen such a thing, it doesn't seem strange. It feels like I've seen such a scene before. …Why do I feel that? The Saber I know is a tense girl, who's always holding a sword and fighting.

"――Oh, I see." But it's only natural. I also know her attitude after she lets go of her sword. Once she stops fighting, Saber has always been calm and gentle.

This scene looks natural rather than new because this is her true nature. No matter how superior she is as a swordsman, it is natural for Saber to be like this. Rather, it's abnormal for her to hold a sword at all.

…I once thought in my dream that she wasn't suited for fighting. I don't think I'm wrong. No matter how superior her technique or no matter how many battles she's experienced… As long as she is who she is, it can't have been a comfortable place to be.

…So this is natural. Saber is resting, not holding a sword. This calm scene is the way she should be.

We do the same thing in the afternoon. I go to every place I can think of, and Saber follows me silently. But it's not as painful as it was in the morning.

I don't know if it's because I'm getting used to it or whether Saber is complying. Saber still isn't talkative, but if I look closely, her expression isn't like it is when she's mad. There's a feeling of accomplishment and happiness when I see Saber leave a shop with light steps.

――So. Considering many factors that might make Saber happy from many angles…

I'm a bit dubious, but I've determined that this shop will be the best suited for Saber.

"Wha――" Saber stands there dumbfounded. I don't know if her shoulders are shaking because she's angry or because she's deeply moved.

"S-Shirou, this is…?" "The biggest stuffed animal shop in town. I've never been here before since men aren't allowed in."

Of course, there's actually not a rule like that. But since there're only women and no men, it's like an unwritten rule. To prove it, there are only girls in here.

The golden-haired Saber is being stared at, but being a guy, I'm being glared at. I'm sure they want to tell me not to come into their sanctuary. …I feel the same way. I would not approve of men entering this place.

"Well, let's ignore everyone and look around since we're here. Saber, is there an animal you like?"

"Eh… um, I feel that lions and panthers are lovely, but… is that strange?" She asks me with upturned eyes.

"――!" I look away instantly and contain my laughter. The funny thing is, Saber is strange for thinking she's strange for thinking lions are cute.

"…Shirou, that gesture was unnatural. I feel unreasonable anger, but perhaps it is just my imagination?"

"Oh, sorry. Liking lions is so like you, so I had to laugh."

"…! How dare you laugh at other people's preferences!? There is nothing wrong with lions!" "I'm telling you I'm sorry. I'll take you somewhere good as an apology, so don't get mad."

I go into the store while trying to hold my laughter. Well, it looks like the stuffed animals are that way.

So. It's taken about an hour to go around the store. I looked at Saber staring at stuffed animals and felt really nervous with all the girls there. Anyways, it was the most tiring hour so far.

But the worst part is, we've only looked through half the store. It took us this long to look at just half of it because Saber was frequently paralyzed… I mean, Saber kept staring down stuffed animals. It looks like Saber is interested in the other half too, so I'll have to accompany her…

"Shirou…? Why are you sighing? Are you tired from walking…?"

"Hm…? Yeah, I'm a bit tired. I'm usually not so weak, but this place is special. I guess I shouldn't be doing things I'm not accustomed to."

I let out a big sigh. I don't mind being looked at by other people while walking with Saber, but a girls-only place like this is really uncomfortable. Boredom sometimes tires one's body.

"How about you? This must be your first time in a place like this. Tell me if you're tired."

"I certainly do not feel calm, but you look more uncomfortable. Not just here, but you seemed this way in the previous store and the store before that. …I do not want to think this, but are you choosing places you do not wish to go to?"

"―――――" For me… Saber's words are enough to cast away my worries.

"Yeah. To be honest, I'm choosing places I don't like."

"…As I thought. Why do you continue to choose places you are unfamiliar with? You will…"

"Well, because these kinds of places are suitable for girls. I'm the one that started this whole thing and today's your day as well."

"――" "And it's not that uncomfortable either. It's fine since you're with me. I have such a cute girl with me, so people might get jealous, but I'll never be out of place."

"H-How ridiculous. I am a Servant even though I am not armed. You do not need to treat me as a woman just because we are not fighting. Please treat me as a Servant as usual."

"You're the ridiculous one. You're a girl to begin with. It's not like I'm treating you differently today. Am I acting any differently?"

"Oh――" In astonishment, Saber opens her mouth as if she's just realized that.

"No, you are the same. You are acting the same as always, Shirou." "Yeah. So you don't need to worry about me. So let's go. We're going to buy the one you like the most, so we have to go look at the remaining half."

I take Saber's hand. Saber silently follows me. "…That is right. It has been like this from the start, but I did not realize it until this moment…" She murmurs to herself.

The unusual day goes by quickly. Saber never laughed nor could I laugh from my heart.

It's not like there was any memorable moments nor were it so boring that I regret doing it. To be frank, this was nothing. Saber might have been happier if we'd stayed at the mansion and trained together.

But today wasn't bad. It wasn't fun or boring, but I can be proud of it in the end. …After the battle is over and everything goes back to normal… It would be too sad if all the time Saber and I had was spent fighting.

Even if it's something stupid, she has to spend some time not fighting, or there's no point in her being here. So I can be proud of myself for now. …The end is near. When everything comes to an end and when there's no more need to fight… If Saber will remember this moment and remember that this happened, that alone is enough for me to be proud of.

We go home on foot. Because Saber said, "Let us walk home." …Just as I decided to go home by bus.

There's some wind now. The vivid setting sun is lighting the bridge red. "――Oh." Saber notices something and stops. She is watching a mountain of rubble.

It's not that tall even though it's a 'mountain' of rubble. Steel frames and the likes are piled right up to the water surface and are slightly distorting the flow of the river. I don't know why, but it seems like a ship sank or something, and pieces of it flowed into a mountain. I heard the local residents have been demanding its removal for a long time since it damages the beautiful sight.

"…? What's wrong, Saber? Did that catch your attention?" "No, I was noticing that it still remains because I was the cause of it. I used the Noble Phantasm here, having fought on water in the previous war. The only damage was that the river dried up, but I also destroyed the ship that was unfortunately anchored there."

"Huh――? You mean Excalibur!?" "Y-Yes. But fortunately, nobody was on board and the damage was minimal. The river is back to normal, so you should not get so mad. "…I regret it as well."

"……" …I should watch out. I have to take care to only use Excalibur in an open place like this.

"Shirou…? Are you still mad?"

"Eh? No, I'm not mad. I was just surprised. And I was just thinking how many traces there are from the last war. The rubble in the river shouldn't be a problem compared to the wasteland in that park. Well, I guess it was unfortunate for the owner of that ship."

"Please do not worry as Kiritsugu said the owner had insurance. He parked the ship there as a buffer, so he used the ship as a wall to reduce the power of the Noble Phantasm."

"…Oh. So you destroyed the ship knowing it was there?"

"I did not know! Kiritsugu prepared it without telling me. …I think Kiritsugu knew how the battle would turn out. I did not notice since he never said anything before or after he prepared the ship."

Saber looks down at the river yearningly. The water surface reflects the sunset. The wind coming from the river is a bit strong and flutters Saber's hair.

…Is it because she looks so beautiful like that? "Saber, did you have fun today?" I was assaulted by a sudden fear that Saber might just disappear, and I ask something I don't need to ask.

"Huh? Did you say something, Shirou?" "Yeah. I asked you if you had fun today." …She gasps. Saber opens her eyes in amazement.

"Yes. I would be lying if I said this was not new to me." She says so in a voice of hope. As if such a thing will never happen again.

"――" …I knew what her answer would be. All I can do now is nod and just go home. Everything can return to the way it was――just like that.

"I see." I nod, looking at Saber. "Then let's go again. It's not like this has to be the last time." And I say something I won't be able to take back.

"―――――" Saber freezes. …She must have realized what I want to say. She shakes her head, looking directly at me. As if saying there won't be a next time. As if this mistake is only for today.

"――Why?" I know Saber's answer. But I ask, not liking the answer I expect.

"I do not even need to explain. Servants exist to fight. A day like today is merely denying my own existence. I obeyed since you decided to take a rest, but I believe resting should not be necessary from now on. There are only a few enemies left. I would like to start searching for Lancer right now if you would order me to…"

She looks at me with eyes full of fire. Saber is saying she will start fighting right now if I order it. That… …Causes me to get mad about all the things I can't approve of.

"――What's with that? You really want to fight that much?" "Of course. I draw closer to the Holy Grail the more I fight. Battle should be prioritized over everything. You should know that as well."

"Yeah, I understand. That's why it's strange. I've always wanted to say this, but you're contradicting yourself. You say fighting is important, but you don't like fighting. You're fighting against your will because there's no other way, right?"

"Wha… that is not true. I do not hesitate to fight. I have already told you that I will do anything to win." Yeah, she did say that. But that's not a reason to like fighting.

"As far as you can manage, right? …Look, Saber. If you just want to defeat other Masters and obtain the Holy Grail, you could just attack people and take their power. But you don't want to do that, right?"

"――That is…"

"It's not that you don't want to involve innocent people. You know well enough that people will be dying once you start fighting. That's why you want to minimize the battles. People will die if you fight, so you want to end the battle as quickly as possible. ――In other words, you're frightened of fights with victims."

"―――――" She gasps. After opening her eyes as if she's seen a ghost, she grits her teeth and straightens her stare.

"You are wrong. I do not fear battles." "…Yeah. I don't think you were ever scared. Because an individual's fear must have been suppressed by what you call the king's mission." "――!"

"But you still fear battles. You were strong and good at fighting. But that's not a talent you ever wanted, right? ――I'll say this honestly. Fighting doesn't suit you. You must have hated even pulling out that sword. Your claim that fighting is your only objective is just an excuse to try to deceive yourself."

――It's so simple. Why didn't you or anybody around you notice it?

"――Shirou. I will not tolerate any more insults even from you." "You can't stand it because it's the truth, right? You won't be able to fight anymore if you admit it."

She grits her teeth. Saber glares at me in anger. "―――――" I can't back away. If I believe I'm right, I can't run away.

"…So, you should stop. You want to stop too, right? You must know fighting doesn't suit you. So just quit it. Stop being a Servant and do something that suits you."

She needs to regain the happiness she should have had as a human. For that, I――

"――How ridiculous. I have no choices besides fighting. I only exist to obtain the Holy Grail. I submitted my body to fulfill my promise as king. I cannot allow any other use for myself."

"You――" 'I only exist to obtain the Holy Grail'. That annoys me the most. Why does she say ridiculous things like that as if to convince herself? Everyone around her took her word because she kept saying things like that.

"You idiot! That's not true…! There are infinite ways! You're here and different from before…! So――you have to live for yourself. Don't make any mistakes and don't use the Holy Grail…"

――The final wish she's permitted.

"…Don't use it for people you don't care about. If you're here, you need to be happy here."

I hear the wind. Saber doesn't answer. She doesn't even nod. She just looks back at me.

"――I cannot accept your words. I made a contract to obey you, but I did not give you my heart, Master." She replies with a strong voice.

"I cannot forsake my oath as a king. There is a duty I must fulfill as the king. King Arthur's goal is to obtain the Holy Grail. Even if I achieve that goal, I will not return to being Arturia. I have only ever had one wish. ――This wish has never changed since I pulled out the sword."

"…Why? That's not a thing you have to do. It's wrong for you to be unrewarded for your actions. You don't need the Holy Grail. And…"

…And Saber's wish won't come true. It's impossible to erase everything that's happened.

"Saber. You can't redo what's already done. …No, I think it's something you mustn't do. You should know that."

"…No. That is not true."

"――I'll tell you. However bad the result, you can't change what's happened. Wanting to redo something because you couldn't do it is just childish selfishness…!"

…Our words end there. Saber doesn't say anything, and I don't have anything to say. The wind has stopped as well. No. The wind hasn't stopped, it's only died down for a second.

Another sound of wind. Just as I feel the wind on my cheek… "――I thought you would understand, Shirou." The wind has changed into a headwind.

"Is that all you wanted to say after wasting this meaningless day?" A cold voice. It contains only rejection.

"Do not be so conceited. What makes you think you understand me? You have no right to invade me. Do not fight? What are you saying when you need me to protect you? Please, give me that nonsense after you are able to fight on your own. ――Humph. I do not think that will ever occur."

"No――it's not nonsense…!"

"It is nonsense. Think about myself? That goes for you as well. You do not consider your life. You say I am mistaken, but you are even more mistaken. …Only corpses consider others more important than themselves. How can a fool who does not even know the value of his own life address me so?"

"Wha――Saber, you…"

"Did I annoy you? Then I will not mind if you dissolve your contract with me. You do not need the Holy Grail anyway. I will defeat the remaining Masters by myself and obtain the Holy Grail myself. …If you do not wish to fight, you can go and hide somewhere far away."

"Saber. Are you serious?" I ask with a trembling voice. My teeth are chattering because I'm suppressing my emotion.

"Of course. My only goal is the Holy Grail. Everything else is unnecessary. ――You are no exception, Shirou."

The hammer comes down. I bear my head going white and stop myself from raising my fist.

"You blockhead…! Fine, if you want to fight, go ahead and do what you want! I don't care anymore!"

But I can't stop my emotions. I yell what sounds like an excuse and run away from Saber. I get away from her. But, for a moment. I think I see Saber standing there absent-mindedly.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit…!" I run. I keep running, not knowing what's so vexing or maddening.

'Everything else is unnecessary. You are no exception, Shirou.'

"…!" I grit my teeth hard and stop myself from yelling out. Just remembering it makes me white out and I might run into a pole or something.

…No, it would be easy if I could do that. If I was just angry at Saber, I could just take it out on something. But that's not the cause of this fury. It's not just Saber that I'm mad at. It's so vexing, and I keep running so hard because I hate how weak I am.

…Saber was standing there absent-mindedly. The words she said, just as the wind changed directions.

'I thought you would understand, Shirou――'

"…! Damn it! You idiot, I don't understand…!" I spit that out, then regret it so much that I almost fall. …What was it about? Her voice like a farewell sounded like she was crying. Come to think of it, maybe those words were the only honest thing she said.

Those words murmured with her head hung. A voice of hope, disappointment, and wishes. ――Then… Who was the betrayer, and who was betrayed?

I run into my room and shut the door. I collapse. I don't want to stand up. I just want to lie down and go to sleep.

"Haa――Haa, haa, ha――" But my body is still burning. My heart feels like it's splitting open and my lungs are desperate for air. I ran full speed from the bridge to here. My body must be exhausted. I haven't run enough emotionally, but my body is telling me to calm down.

"Haa… haa, haa, ha――" I slowly calm down. I take a deep breath and let it out.

"Haa… haa… haa." And after I settle my breathing. All that fills my head is the question of why I was so enraged.

"―――――" …I don't even have to think about it. I ran as if throwing something off me because I was so powerless.

…I can't save Saber. That fact is so vexing that I was angry at myself. I can't do anything. I promised to make her laugh. I promised to protect her, but I can't do anything. That makes me furious.

"…But what can I do? It's useless for anyone to say anything if Saber herself doesn't want happiness." That's why I tried hard, so she'd be able to find her own happiness. But she told me that was meaningless, and on top of that, she called me a fool.

"A fool who doesn't even know the value of his own life, huh?" …What can I do when she says that? I value my life as well and I don't want to do anything that might endanger it.

But this has nothing to do with Saber. I think it's unfair of her to bring it up right there. No matter how stupid I am, I'm sure Saber's wrong. But if she denies me like that, I can't do anything――

"…Dammit. Man, she can do whatever she likes…!" I turn over and lie on my stomach. The floor is the only view, so I close my eyes to black out my mind.

"……" That's it. I don't care about Saber anymore. If the Holy Grail is so important to her, she can go marry it. She is so obstinate that she doesn't understand after I've told her this much. I'll be burned if I associate with her any more. No, I'll be seriously hurt.

"――!" I've already been hurt, though. Not just burned. I met her, fought with her many times, and even had sex with her even though it was just to survive.

The heat of that night wasn't a burn, but it almost killed my brain. Why――Why do I recall such a thing when I'm so pissed off? If I recall that, it won't matter what Saber says.

"…Something only used to fight? Then don't show your weak parts…" …Anyways, Saber is unfair. I don't know what's so unfair, but I think it's unfair that I don't know what's unfair.

I can't hate her even though I'm this mad, and the more I try to ignore her, the more I can't. It's such a contradiction. Her whole existence is unfair. I can't hate her no matter what.

"――Damn it. I guess the one who's in love loses…" …But I can't help it. If I can't give up no matter how useless she tells me it is, I have to keep trying until the end. No matter how much Saber hates it or rejects me, if I believe I'm right――

'I thought you would understand, Shirou――'

"…!" I remember her face, about to cry. In the future. Will she make that kind of a face every time I repeat this?

"…But still. I can't agree no matter what." …Even if I'm wrong and Saber's right. If she's really important to me, I can never apologize to her――

I thought I heard a sound. …When did the sun set? The room is dark. The sound of the second hand on the clock is annoying.

"Hey, how long are you going to sleep? I need you to wake up."

"――?" "Wake up already. It's past ten o'clock. Ilya's bugging me to get dinner ready, so wake up and go keep her company." An angry voice. That wakes me up completely.

"P-Past ten――!?" I get up quickly.

"Yup. Ten-seventeen to be exact. It's way past dinnertime." Tohsaka looks flabbergasted.

"…Sorry, I fell asleep. I'll go right away, so wait for me in the living room." "That's fine, but where's Saber?" "…? Well, if she's not here, she must be in the dojo or the living room."

"Shirou. I'm asking you because she's not here." "――" Tohsaka is serious. That tells me what the situation is in an instant. "She's not back…!?"

"Hold on, Shirou! What do you mean by that…!?" Tohsaka runs out of the room after me. But I don't have time to explain. I run outside, ignoring Tohsaka's words behind me.

The town is quiet. A world like yesterday, where all signs of people have vanished. I don't have enough composure to think it strange now.

Saber isn't back. …Come to think of it, that's only natural. We argued so much. She said she would fight by herself. So――considering her personality, she really would go and fight by herself.

Saber could be anywhere. It's possible that I won't find her, and that she's fighting Lancer right now.

…But still, I came here first. The air by the river is cold. The park is so cold that it feels like frost is packed here. My breath is white, and my cheeks and ears hurt. It's so cold here, so how cold must it be on the bridge where the wind from the river rises?

That is where she is standing. Right where I fled from her. Saber is looking out at the river, not doing anything.

…Is she looking at the long-gone sunset? Her gaze into the distance seems to be watching a red horizon that has already disappeared.

"―――――" That makes me realize. She's strong, yet so weak. Her gallant figure must be proof that she could live without anybody's help. But she is also so weak that my hand might go through her if I reach out. She can't do it alone, but she defends her pride until the end.

――That's why… It was the same for me, watching stars that cannot be reached.

…The girl stares at the distant set sun, as if she knows nothing else. I can't leave her alone. If I lost, it was a complete loss for me. It made me swear to myself that I would never let her make such a face.

I walk on the bridge. I'm making sounds, but Saber doesn't notice. "―――――" I walk towards her in silence and stand next to her.

"Saber. You'll freeze if you stay out here." She jumps. …She must finally have noticed me.

"――Shirou?" Saber turns around as if to question me.

"What are you doing out so late? Tohsaka was worried since you didn't come home." "――I see. I should apologize to her."

"…It's fine. But why were you here? …Well, it doesn't matter since it was easy for me to find you."

"…I was still here because I did not yet know where to go. You told me to do as I wished. So I tried to do so. But I could not think what I should do or where I want to go. So I was thinking all this time about where I should be going."

She speaks like a lost child. She must feel guilty, as Saber keeps averting her gaze. …We did have that big fight. It's only natural for her to think I'm still mad.

"…I am sorry. Please tell Rin she has helped me very much. I shall return to you once I defeat Lancer and obtain the Holy Grail, so until then――" Is she saying she'll wander around without a place to return to?

"What are you talking about? You're coming back to my house, right? I've prepared your bed and your food."

"――But you said you do not understand me…" "That's right. I don't know what you're thinking." So saying, I take Saber's hand.

"――Shirou." "Let's go home. Even a Servant will catch a cold if they stay out here this long. Let's hurry back and eat something warm." "――U-Um, but I…"

"And I won't apologize to you. If you have any complaints, tell me now." I say so rudely, looking away from Saber.

"―――――" She looks at me, astonished. She looks like she wants to apologize, but I ignore her.

…That must have worked on her. Saber doesn't say anything and follows while holding my hand.

We come down from the bridge and into the park. …It's eleven o'clock. There's nobody in the park, but it's overly decorated with things like the fountain and street lights.

"―――――" "―――――" We keep walking. Saber is walking slowly.

…She was standing on that bridge for more than five hours. She must be freezing and be tired as well. She falls forward sometimes as I pull her by the hand.

"Should I walk slower, Saber? You don't seem to be doing well." I turn around to check on her.

"N-No. I feel fine…! It is just that… it is not because of Rin, but it really seems like a rendezvous if we are holding hands like this…."

"Eh――?" So. Hearing that, I feel my face burn up in an instant.

"Y-Yeah. …Um, should I let go? Um, I mean, if you don't like it…" "No, this is fine. Your hand is warm and very comforting."

…Our conversation ends right there. I walk on to hide my embarrassment. Saber silently accompanies me.

How much further is it to the mansion? I feel embarrassed by the warmth in my hand as I leave the park. …Many things happened today. But if it ends with this warmth, I can change religion and start to pray with that priest. But the instant I think so…

"――Where are you going? Do not take what is mine, kid." ――We meet someone we never should have met.

My happy mind freezes in an instant. Goosebumps form all over my body, and my throat won't move as if it's forgotten how to breathe.

"…Shi… rou." It must be the same for Saber behind me. Her hand holds me tightly. ――Just as I feel an unavoidable death. Saber too feels an inconcealable desperation.

"I have kept you waiting, Saber. I have come for you as promised."

…His voice sounds like it's sneering. Haughty and merciless. I can feel no human emotion in his arrogance, nothing that has ever considered the opinions of others.

"Ar… cher―――――" My voice is shaking. ――The golden Servant. The unknown heroic spirit who swept away the bone creatures and even Caster herself without any difficulty.

That monster is in front of us. He's so close to us. At a distance with which we could start fighting if we wanted to face a "death" greater than Berserker.

"What's wrong, Saber? I have come specially for you. It would be rude to stay silent. Or――do you intend to play around for a bit before you become mine, king of knights?"

Archer stifles his laughter happily. His eyes aren't looking at me. He's only watching Saber. With his rude red eyes, he's looking at her as if evaluating a work of art.

Saber's presence changes. …She must have prepared herself. Unlike me unable to even move a finger, she is already glaring at that enemy Servant.

"…Shirou, I will block his first attack no matter what. Please retreat from here in that time. …I know how hard that is, but that is all I can manage against this Servant."

Her back asks me to forgive her. …Even Saber can only manage to block his first attack. The chance of success of retreating from a guy like this is low.

Saber is asking for my forgiveness for that low chance. …Probably… …She knows she has no way to defeat that Servant.

"―――――" She can't do that. This is different from when we fought Berserker. For some reason, I know that making Saber fight this Servant would be bad.

…No, I may know the reason. I felt it when I saw his Noble Phantasms last night. ――Saber will not be able to beat this man no matter what. It's not about skills as a swordsman. Before that, the prerequisites are wrong. As long as they are heroic spirits, no heroic spirit will be able to beat him――

"――No. You're the one who's running away, Saber." "Shirou…!?" I cover Saber and face Archer.

"Oh――yeah, you had a Master, huh? He was so shabby that I thought he was a dog or something." He says happily. The man raises his hand and slowly brings his fingers together. "――" I feel sick. I'll be killed if I don't retreat now. There's no reason or logic behind it. I just feel instinctively that I'll be killed if I stay in front of him, and――

"――Go, Saber…! The church is nearby. It should be able to shelter you even against him――!"

I push Saber away and run as if shaking off the premonition of death attacking me. There's only one thing to do. I'll run up to him, "project" Saber's sword like when I fought Berserker, and――

"――" My body flies. ――What happened? The instant that man clicked his fingers, something appeared right beside me.

"O――w." I can tell it was a big hammer, and that I was smashed away flying across the ground like trash.

"Ha――ah." I can't move. I feel like all the bones in my body are broken. I can't feel my limbs, my pain is numbed, and I can't even tell if I'm alive or not.

"I will not kill you. Saber would disappear if I killed you now. It is against my will, but I shall let you live until the Holy Grail appears." The man laughs.

"Ah――kuh――" I move my hands to try to get up, but my body won't move at all. My blood isn't flowing. It feels like the energy to move my body has stopped reaching my limbs.

"But do not be conceited, lowlife. There are ways to let a Servant stay in this world without you. It is just that this is the least troublesome state. I will kill you if you annoy me."

"――" That kills my mind. He will kill me. If I move any more, he will do so without hesitation.

"―――――" How could anyone move after being told that――?

"Shirou――!" Saber tries to run to me.

"Where are you going? There is no one left to intrude. That piece of shit is not the man you should be running to." But the man won't allow that. He stands before me and waits for Saber to come to him.

"――!" Saber stops and glares at the man. There's about ten meters between them. It's a distance Saber would be able to close instantly, but――

"…Huh. It seems you are not willing to come to me. I find that hard to understand. A heroic spirit like you must know how valuable it is to be chosen by me." "――Nonsense. I am a king even though I am a heroic spirit. I will not submit to you."

"Is that so? Even if you are a king, you are still a woman. It should be a woman's joy to be held down and be violated. So why do you refuse? It is not like you are a virgin. Are you scared to become mine?"

"You――" "Do not resent me so. I do not only take. I shall give you pleasure equally. If you are to become mine, I will literally give you everything in this world. Be proud, I have accepted that you have such value."

…The man moves. He opens his arms as if to accept Saber.

"That is right. You do not need to be a guardian nor will you return to your point of death. I will say this once more, Saber. Be mine. Let us enjoy our second lives in this world."

"――I refuse. I have no interest in such things, and most of all――I do not want to live with you." She does not nod or retreat. Saber looks at Archer head on.

"Ku――fu, haha, hahahahahahahahaha!" He stops. I don't know what's so funny, but the man starts laughing.

"Great, that is what I expect from the woman I chose! Yes, there must be at least one that will not obey me…!

"All right. Then I shall do so by force. After I obtain the Holy Grail, I shall pour the contents onto you.

"――Rejoice, Saber. You will not need your Master after that. You will be taking in all the power of the omnipotent vessel. You shall not be a familiar to humans like the Servants."

The man says so with satisfaction. To that, Saber replies.

"…Archer. What is your intention?" She must have realized that fighting is the only way. Saber asks for her enemy's reasons at the end. ――But. The man's answer is an unexpected one.

"Intention? I do not remember. Unfortunately, I have obtained everything, so there is nothing I wish for." "Wha――then, you do not seek the Holy Grail?"

"The Holy Grail? Oh, immortality. Heh, I gave that to the snake." "――You gave immortality to a snake…?" Saber's presence freezes. …What was that conversation? Saber shakes her head and tries to deny the word.

"――But this world is interesting. The basic principles do not change, but the decorations are so elaborate that it seems different when it has come this far. In this case, it will not be too bad to reign over this world. …Yes, I think that is my intent. If it will let me do that efficiently, the Holy Grail is not without use."

"…The desire to rule? You are despicable, Archer. You seek the Holy Grail for such a purpose?"

"I do not seek it. Everything in this world is mine. I just do not like others using what is mine. You too should hate having your holy sword used by strangers, king of knights." "―――――"

――Saber's body grows misty. After a brief flash, Saber is wearing her silver armor. "Oh――" The man does not even move. In the next instant, Saber dashes forward. She runs up to the man instantly and slashes her invisible sword with deadly speed――!

"――!" Repelled, Saber jumps backward. If Saber's armor is materialized from her magical energy, his armor must be the same as well. In the short battle, the enemy has armed himself.

"―――――" Saber looks calmly at Archer, holding her sword ready. Even with her stare, the man does not stop smiling.

"――All right. I shall allow you to oppose me, Saber." The enemy happily announces the beginning of the battle.

The white light runs through the darkness. Saber, running up to the golden knight without hesitation, slashes her sword down surrounded by lightning――

One blow, two, three, four――! Each time Saber's sword finds the enemy, blinding light is released. Combinations like a strobe. It's just like when I first saw Saber when she fought Lancer. Saber drives magical energy into her sword and strikes with it like lightning.

The sword and armor clash. The man hasn't even drawn his weapon yet. With Saber's sword in front of him, he is just protecting his head with his hands. That man does not have the skill to block Saber's sword. Saber is much better than this man at sword techniques.

And on top of that, Saber's sword is invisible. Even if the man had a weapon, I don't think he would be able to block that invisible sword.

The invisible sword keeps hitting the man's armor. The sword smashes against the armor, shaves it, letting off lightning sparks. All the man can do is to protect his head with his hands. This isn't even a match. This is just one-sided elimination.

――But. Still, the golden armor retains its shape. If the armor is free of damage even after taking Saber's attacks so many times… …Could it be that his Noble Phantasm is his golden armor――?

"…Heh. I guess any more would be bad. You certainly do have a large supply of magical energy. My armor does not give out often, but――" The enemy who was merely defending raises his arm. Not toward Saber. I don't know why, but the man raises his hand to the night sky, and――

"Enough playing around. Offer me your body, right here." ――Is it an illusion? In his hand. A shortsword like a key is in his hand.

"――!" Saber attacks with all her power. But… …The enemy repels it with his dark red sword.

"…! ――That is a Noble Phantasm bearing a curse of vengeance――!?" Saber distances herself and glares at the sword in her enemy's hand. …The fact that the enemy has revealed his weapon is a threat. But at the same time, it means that the enemy's attacks are revealed. It doesn't matter if his Noble Phantasm is a sword or armor. As long as you can see it, you're able to deal with it.

Saber readies herself. …As the man said, his armor is at its limit. If Saber relaunches her fierce barrage of attacks, she should be able to slash him through his armor. Even if he has brought out his Noble Phantasm, it won't make a difference to the fact that the next blow will decide the match.

"――This is it. Let us decide the match we could not finish before, Archer." The sword in her hand is still invisible. Readying the holy sword sealed in wind, Saber stares at her enemy. …It seems Saber knows what that Noble Phantasm is.

That's why she intentionally distanced herself. And since she knows how to deal with it, she's confronting the enemy straight on. If their Noble Phantasms are swords and if the swords' abilities are equal, the deciding factor will be their own sword techniques. By that theory, Saber has to win.

"All right――then come at me. In deference to your sword, I shall show you everything I have." The man laughs. "Fine――!" Saber charges without hesitation.

――Saber's sword will slash his armor for sure. The instant I think that.

"――Gate of Babylon."

An invisible "door" opens behind the man.

"Wh――at…!?" Saber's body stops. The weapons the enemy takes are different from the previous dark red sword. The first is an invisible sword like Saber's. As soon as Saber defends against it, the man is holding yet another sword.

This sword is of ice. She twists her body to avoid it, but the space the sword goes through freezes. Saber retreats, covered in ice. As the ice starts to break, the enemy holds a sickle-like weapon.

"――――!" She instantly tries to block the weapon approaching her neck with her gauntlet. But it's useless. The sickle goes through her arm like the gauntlet isn't there and takes away her magical energy. …As if cutting away her bone and not her flesh or blood.

"Ah――kuh…!" Saber totters, but manages to stay standing. …It is a different kind of retreat now. Not to distance herself and prepare for the next attack. It's a desperate retreat, just to get away from the enemy――

"That is――impossible." Saber glares at the enemy, drawing magical energy into her arm. …Many handles are floating around the man. That's what slaughtered Caster, …And those are the Noble Phantasms of the golden knight who cornered Saber.

It's a scene that makes even me want to doubt my own eyes.

Those handles floating behind him are surely those of Noble Phantasms. Not just ten or twenty. No, even though I can't see them, I can feel that they are infinite. From all times and places. As if to say, that Servant has all the divine mysteries from every legend――

"Archer. Who are you?" Saber's voice is trembling. A Servant will not answer when asked their true identity. But the enemy's Noble Phantasm is so strange that Saber has to ask.

"Answer me, Archer…! A heroic spirit can only have one Noble Phantasm. No, some have more, but two should be the limit. ――A heroic spirit with infinite Noble Phantasms cannot exist…!"

"Cannot exist…? You are jumping to conclusions, Saber. Heroic spirits' Noble Phantasms are the weapons they had when they were alive. So this is a simple story. All these Noble Phantasms are things I collected while I was alive."

"――Are you insulting me, Archer? That is even more impossible. No matter who you are, it would be impossible for you to collect all the Noble Phantasms, the symbols of other heroic spirits. No such heroic spirit exists."

Saber is right. All the Noble Phantasms he has are real. There are demonic swords from Northern Europe, and demonic swords from South America. No hero made his name in so many different places. And first of all, only Lancer has Gae Bolg.

Heroic spirits' Noble Phantasms are the weapons they had when they were alive. By that rule, as soon as he has Gae Bolg, he has to be Cu Chulainn.

But he isn't Cu Chulainn. So that lance cannot be Gae Bolg. But the thing is, that is definitely the real Gae Bolg. This could be all explained if it was a fake. But as long as it's real, this contradiction is…. No, hold on. Original――the model of weapon……?

"――It can't be. But, wait…" It is possible. Myths and legends do not start from nothing. All myths have common points because a single foundation became their model. Because legends that become objects of faith are only those that originate in that land. I think demonic swords and holy swords start having special abilities around that time.

So, before that. What if the Noble Phantasms in myths and legends had a form before they were given names――?

"Oh. It seems your Master is not so bad after all. It seems he has a hunch about my true identity." "Eh――?"

Saber looks towards me. …So far away. I can't even help her if she's so far away. My body has only recovered to the point where I can barely move my fingers.

"Run… Saber――his… Noble Phantasm is…"

"Real, right? Yes, it is really simple, Saber. Let me tell you about the most ancient time, when the world was still one. That kingdom flourished, and the king collected every treasure in the world. There was nothing he could not collect, and he lacked nothing. The king had a perfect treasury, and the masses of weapons in there were never used, but instead went to sleep with the king."

"――The story is that simple. After the king's death, the contents of the treasury room spread all over the world. They were valued because they were splendid swords, and they eventually became Noble Phantasms. …Do you understand, king of knights? The Noble Phantasms you use are just the king's possessions."

…It's like inheritance. If you go back far enough, a "model" must exist. So it is only natural for every legend, myth, folklore, and Noble Phantasm to have an original model. And――in the distant past, if it was possible to collect all of their models, then one could possess all of the Noble Phantasms.

Only one hero could correspond to that. One with origins in a legend far older than that of King Arthur or Hercules. One said to rule over ancient Mesopotamia. The half-god, half-human king who collected treasures as he wished and sought immortality at the end. His name was――

"Gilgamesh――mankind's oldest king of heroes――" Saber sounds shocked. The golden knight――Gilgamesh accepts the shock with satisfaction.

"――Indeed. I am the strongest heroic spirit. You shall be no match."

And the golden knight moves forward. ――There's nothing else to talk about. All that remains is for him to use his many Noble Phantasms to defeat his enemy.

"Oh? You would still oppose me even after you know my name? You must know you have no chance of winning." "――I do not know unless I try. Even the king of heroes must have something he cannot surpass."

Saber's surroundings waver. The wind starts to twirl and becomes a raging gale to protect her. At the same time, the golden sword appears. "――No, Saber…" …It can't be. Saber's going to use the Excalibur here…!?

Gilgamesh stops. He too must know the holy sword's power as his composure vanishes. Saber keeps staring at Gilgamesh and looks in my direction for an instant.

"……" Is she telling me to run? Gilgamesh has his back to the river. And Saber is over here. It must have been when she attacked him earlier. Before I realize it, Saber is confronting Gilgamesh to protect me.

"――No. You can't use it here――" I pour strength into my limbs. Even if I try to move my numb body, all I can move is one of my arms. But I still collect all the magical energy in my body to raise my body with that one arm.

"Guh――damn it――!" My senses were gone, but every bone in my body starts to scream once I start moving. The pain is a warning. The pain is telling me I will break if I move any further.

"――! …!" I ignore it and raise my body up. "Ah――haa, ha――ah…!" I bear my pain. I don't have time to deal with it. I have to get up quickly and protect Saber.

――Because I have a bad feeling about this. A premonition I felt when I faced that enemy. She will never be able to beat him. The instinctive feeling that I should never let Saber fight him won't go away――

"――Humph. A holy sword, huh? Fine." The twirling wind is now a raging storm. Even with the holy sword shining in front of him, the golden knight does not back away.

Moreover… "Then, I shall use a weapon appropriate against it." He pulls an incongruous 'sword' from the gate behind him.

――That's the cause of my bad feeling. That sword does not appear in any legend. I could identify every one of the Noble Phantasms that were floating behind him. But even I cannot tell what that sword is.

"I have the original models of all the Noble Phantasms. But they are all nameless, and I am not their only possessor." A cylindrical sword. The sword is made of three parts, and each part is turning slowly in different directions. It looks like a rock drill to pierce through a hard surface.

"But this is different. This sword is truly a sword that only the king of heroes possesses. ――It has no name, so I just call it Ea."

"――Are you saying we shall just compare the strengths of our Noble Phantasms…?" The light concentrates. There's only about ten meters between them. Within that distance, Gilgamesh shouldn't even be able to dodge her attack.

"Right. You do not need to hold back. I have always wanted to take the sword said to be the most powerful." His laughter echoes through the park. She must consider that provocation.

"――All right. Then try to defend yourself against my sword…!" Saber's sword moves. Her lips move to say its true name. There's nowhere to run now. The Noble Phantasm released with its true name will smash all of its power onto Gilgamesh.

"It's your turn. Wake up, Ea." The cylindrical sword, Ea, roars. In response to Gilgamesh's words, the three blades turn with a whirring sound. If Saber's Excalibur brings on a whirlwind by releasing the wind, Gilgamesh's Ea creates a storm by swallowing the surrounding winds――

"EX――" Saber is more experienced with anti-castle Noble Phantasms. It is faster than Ea's roar. Saber pours magical energy into the sword up to its limit in a matter of seconds and executes it with the greatest power―― "――CALIBUR――!!" There's no hesitation. Saber releases the holy sword that can even split a river in two――!

Just before that.

"Enuma Elish――"

A light of the same magnitude takes on Excalibur's light.

A huge impact――!! The raging wind knocks over trees, and the crashing lights become an exploding sun burning my eyes…!

"Ha… no, my body――" My body is almost blown away by the wind. I manage to dig myself into the ground with one hand and endure the waves of light and heat.

――How long will the conflict last? The battle of the two rumblings that make me fear the Earth is going to split into two is… "Ku――ah…!" …Suddenly ended with her figure surrounded by a white light.

A crash. I hear something falling right beside me. "――Sa… ber…?" What it is. I can tell even with my blinded eyes.

――I thought she might be dead. That's how torn up Saber is. "Fu――haha, kuhahahahahahahahahahaha!" In the distance. The golden knight is laughing crazily, unscathed.

"Ha, so the most powerful holy sword is only that strong, huh!? Humanity's illusions are mere child's play after all!" His laugh is high pitched, and it seems like it will carry over the burning air into the heavens. ――Is it that much fun? He doesn't even look at Saber as he laughs only for his own sake.

"Sa… ber――" …There's no reply. But blood gushes out from her mouth as she tries to gasp.

"―――――" My vision turns red. ――What was I doing? I knew this was going to happen. I knew Saber wouldn't be able to beat Gilgamesh, so why didn't I stop her or even use my Command Spell?

"But this is rather boring. A complete victory for me, huh!? I am disappointed that you could not even offset my attack, Saber. Oh, I see. I should have taken it easier on you. After all, I am fighting women and children!" His irritating laugh. The responsibility is mine.

…I thought she could win. No matter how bad it felt, I thought Saber's Excalibur would be able to beat him. That's why even though I told her to stop, my Command Spell didn't react.

――I wasn't serious. If I really wanted to protect Saber, I could have made her run away using my Command Spell――and there would have been infinite ways for me to fight by myself.

"Well then. Let me have you now. You are dirtied, but you would have eventually ended up the same way. It is no problem that you are hurt now."

The laughter approaches. "――" She must have noticed that, as Saber faintly opens her eyes.

"…! Saber, are you all right…!?" I can see her breathing, but I can't touch her even if I reach out. My body still won't move and I can't even run to her. So I can only call out to her.

"Saber…! Saber, Saber…!" "…Ah…"

Saber's mouth opens. She breathes in as if asking for help, and coughs as if even that is painful.

"…Shirou…? Are you… there…?" She raises a faint voice, telling me she cannot see me.

"――Hold on. I'll――" I can't say I'll help her. I'm on the ground too, and I can only move my arms. I can only call out to her and encourage her. …She can't even see me in this ugly state?

"…Oh, I see. I have been defeated…" She speaks in a soft voice and looks at me with no light in her eyes. "――I am sorry… please run away, Master…" She says something absurd while coughing up blood.

"―――――" My vision turns red with anger. I completely depended on Saber unconsciously, and this is the result? I can't even stand up after a sudden attack? ――I grab my head with the only arm that moves. I want to kill myself. So I put strength into my hand as if to squash my head.

A firing hammer goes down. I take the switch to turn myself into a magus and smash it on with a hammer instead of my finger.

"――Never use it again. Projection magic is beyond your level――" Tohsaka's words. She says magic beyond one's level will turn the caster into a cripple.

So what? She's more important than that. If I can't protect her, I don't need my body. She has helped me many times. There never has been anyone I cared so much about. So. If I can't protect her, Emiya Shirou can just die here――!

…I can hear sounds of metal. Metallic magical energy reinforces all the bones in my body and all the broken parts of my body. I'll give it everything I have. I'll put it in the highest gear in the highest rotation from the start, and ignoring my limits, I'll create as much magical energy as possible…!

"―――――Gih." My spine catches fire and my whole body grows red hot. I bite my tongue to bear the feeling of my brain melting. I bite down on the pink flesh. If I can keep my consciousness just by making a hole in my tongue, there's no problem.

"――What?" The footsteps stop. His laughter stops as well.

"What――Shirou…? W-What are you doing…!? If you do that, your body will…!" She must feel it even though she can't see. Saber screams, trying to get back up.

――That makes my last powers turn on. I stand back up. The body that wouldn't obey me starts to move because of the magical energy poured in past its limits. This is like setting my body on fire to make it run towards water.

But I don't care. It's better than watching Saber get hurt. …That's right. I finally realize, with a mind that's about to burn away. From the beginning. I swore to hold the sword because I didn't want to see her hurt.

"Wha――I am telling you to run, so why…!?"

I obstruct the enemy. Saber is behind me. Now… I cannot even take one step backwards.

"Trace, on." …I hold down my brain which is rolling around on fire and manage my mind. I am imaging only one thing. I'll divide the projection into eight sections to create the lost sword――

I feel something hard in my left hand. …I don't even need to look to check. The second manufacture of the sword proved successful without slowing down even once.

"My… sword――n-no, that is still not enough. You must know you cannot beat him with that…! If you can move, please run away――"

"I won't. I came to pick you up, so I can't run home by myself." I ready my sword. I hold the sword, heavier than a shinai, and glare at the enemy.

"――Stop, Shirou. This man is――" I shake off Saber's words and step forward.

…There're four meters between us. If I step forward with all my might, I'll be able to attack him. The enemy doesn't move. Gilgamesh watches me for a second, then laughs. "――I guess I'll kill you." He says in an emotionless voice.

"――!" I instantly block the attack swung at me――! "――! You――!" I sway my body to the side to avoid the attack.

"――!!" But I'm not fast enough. If the first attack was a sudden gust, the next barrage of attacks is a raging wind. "Ha――kuh, guh…!" Parrying is all I can do. No, I wouldn't even have been able to block the first attack by myself.

It is fortunate that I also reproduced its memory when I reproduced the sword. A sword with a long past holds will and experience. This sword must already be familiar with such attacks. I can't judge Gilgamesh's attacks, but this sword is able to.

So the sword reacts to his attacks before my hands do. I swing to follow the sword, and as a result, I can block his attacks.

"Ha――Haa, guh――!" But that doesn't last long. My fingers numb every time I swing, and slowly, I cannot catch up with the sword.

"――Lowlife. You are worse than unsightly." He must dislike even the slight resistance. He glares at me in anger and retreats a bit.

"Ah… haa, haa, ha――" …Thank God. If he had kept attacking me, I would not have lasted more than a few seconds. I take a deep breath and try to control my breathing. ――And then.

"You filthy imitator. If you like it so much, I shall show you the real one." He takes out a sword.

"Wha――" That… is a familiar sword. The ornamentation on it is different. But its true nature, the idea of its creation, and its soul are too close to those of this sword――

"It can't be――this sword's model…"

"It is. But its strength as a Noble Phantasm is incomparable. What you have, 'the sword in the stone', originated from the legend of 'the sword of supremacy in the tree' from Northern Europe――But this is the original model, the foundation of the sacred right to select the king."

The sword of supremacy in the tree――Gram, the demonic sword of Sigmund, hero of northern Europe――its original model…?

"Children cannot defeat their parents. An imitation that deteriorates every time it is renewed cannot match the original model――!" Light runs. The sword understands better than anything that this is the same attack that terminated Berserker in one slash.

"――!" It must be protecting its owner. The sword in my hand goes for the enemy's sword with its utmost power. The name of the Noble Phantasm is Caliburn (Golden Sword of Assured Victory). But… …It is destroyed without a trace by the sword called Merodach.

I hear something sliding on the ground. Sliding. Is the ground of the park slippery because it's level? I slide across the ground and finally come to a stop.

"Shirou――Shirou, Shirou…!!!!" That voice makes me realize I'm still alive.

"Oh. Saber, you're pretty near me." Thinking so, I'm relieved. It felt like I was blown away, but it's fine if Saber's nearby. So all I have to do is get up and I can run to Saber――

"Hu――h?" I look at my arm while I stay on the ground. It's red. My arm is surrounded by a red membrane and there's no blood coming out of it.

"Do not move…! Please, please do not move, Shirou…!" …I can hear Saber's voice. It seems my body has been injured.

That attack. I'm sure I was blown away by Gilgamesh's sword. So the wound must be――oh, I see. Now I understand why Saber is acting like that.

I can only move my right hand. My left hand won't move. First of all, my left shoulder isn't attached to my body.

"―――――Ha." I can't even breathe. Diagonally down from my left shoulder. As my body is cut from the shoulder down, it's separated like lego pieces that don't fit together.

It looks like a ginkgo leaf. I've been cut from my shoulder down to my waist. It's strange that I'm alive.

…But that miracle should soon run out. I'm barely conscious right now, and my vision narrows by the second. First of all, my insides will fall out if I move. Maybe I'm already dead and my mind is lingering like a ghost.

"Fu, hahahahahahaha! I see, I thought you would be scattered, but you are rather tough. I see! Clinging to life is the only merit of a lowlife!"

He laughs. ――Honestly, I'm thankful. The more irritating he is, the more my mind stays conscious.

"But that is all. A lion doesn't suit you. I will take that woman." Footsteps. The sound of him walking to obtain Saber for sure this time.

[moinsbienquekaworu]

My beloved, qu'est-ce que votre titre dit? (Ist "le titre" le mot correct? Por les mots en japonais?)

Et aussi bonne nuit, don't stay up too late!

MON AMOUR!!! 🥺🥺🥺 Oui titre c'est le bon mot! C'est mignon le vouvoiement accidentel aussi haha

C'est les deux premières lignes d'un pangramme japonais, une version alternative de l'Iroha. Je pense que tu sais ce que c'est un pangramme mais au cas où, c'est une phrase avec toutes les lettres de l'alphabet, et généralement si la phrase ne veut rien dire elle ne compte pas vraiment comme un pangramme. En anglais le standard c'est "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" mais les gens aiment bien "sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow", en français on a des accents et le c cédille (ç) donc c'est un peu plus compliqué, le plus connu c'est "portez ce vieux whisky au juge blond qui fume" et il y a aussi "voix ambiguë d'un cœur qui, au zéphyr, préfère les jattes de kiwis" avec des accents (je te le traduis parce que j'ai pas confiance en google trad sur ce coup là: "ambiguous voice of a heart which, at zephyr, prefers kiwi bowls") Oui celui là il est un peu bizarre mais c'est la phrase standard pour tester les polices de caractère en français parce qu'elle comprend des accents en plus de toutes les lettres. Tu verrais le nombre de fois où j'ai dû supprimer une police de caractère que j'avais téléchargée parce qu'elle n'avait pas d'accents!

Enfin du coup, en japonais, comme leur système d'écriture n'est pas un alphabet mais deux syllabaires et des milliers de signes, c'est un peu différent. L'Iroha c'est un très vieux poème qui utilise toutes les syllabes une seule fois tout en ayant du sens. Il est extrêmement connu, et il sert même d'ordre "alphabétique", voire parfois de système de numérotation à la place de chiffres arabes (que ça soit 1234 ou 一二三四). Les dictionnaires utilisant l'alphabet latin vont dans l'ordre alphabétique, A B C D, mais les dictionnaires japonais vont soit dans l'ordre de l'Iroha soit dans l'ordre des syllabaires. Pour contexte les syllabes c'est les voyelles, a i u e o d'abord toutes seules puis avec une consonne devant: a i u e o, ka ki ku ke ko, sa shi su se so, ta chi tsu te to, etc. (Si on était face à face je te dessinerai le tableau mais tu peux aller le voir en ligne en cherchant "hiragana" ou "katakana").

Voici le lien de la page wikipédia (anglaise) de l'Iroha, pour que tu voies un peu à quoi il ressemble. C'est pas intuitif quand on a l'habitude d'un ordre alphabétique qui commence par a et finit par z d'aller chercher un mot dans un dictionnaire ou l'ordre c'est i ro ha ni o e do, mais je trouve que c'est cool qu'ils aient leur propre version.

Bref, mon titre! C'est les deux premières lignes d'un autre pangramme japonaise, comme l'Iroha, qui est sur la page française de l'Iroha mais qui n'a pas l'air très connu. La page ne cite pas de source mais appelle le poème le Tori naku, et donc mon titre c'est 鳥(tori)鳴(na)く(ku)声(koe)す(su) / 夢(yume)覚(sa)ま(ma)せ(se) - 鳥鳴く声す veut dire "le chant des oiseaux", 夢覚ませ veut dire "me réveille d'un rêve" ou "me rappelle un rêve".

Au début j'avais mis le titre d'une chanson de Daoko que j'aime bien (la chanson et son titre), 夢見てたのあたし, Yume miteta no atashi, "Le moi que j'ai vu dans un rêve", mais après je me suis dit que c'était mieux de mettre un poème. J'ai aussi hésité avec un autre titre de chanson, 命の食べ方, Inochi no tabekata, "Comment manger une vie", mais pareil, j'ai trouvé ça un peu trop simple. J'aime beaucoup ces titres parce que les chansons sont bonnes ET que j'arrive à les comprendre avec mon A1/A2 en japonais haha.

Merci de la question et de me souhaiter une bonne nuit <3 !!! Il me semble que tu vas aller te coucher dans pas longtemps aussi, alors bonne nuit à toi aussi <3

(je crois que t'avais pris des cours de français, est-ce que t'as écrit le message tout seul?? Ça serait trop trop mignon que t'aies fait un effort vu que c'est pas ta langue 🥺)

[shortpplfedup]

The nominees for BL Fashun King, so far:

Tang Yi, HIStory 3: Trapped

Khun Tankhun Theerapanyakul, KinnPorsche The Series La Forte

Tay, KinnPorsche The Series La Forte

Time, KinnPorsche The Series La Forte

Vegas Kornwit Theerapanyakul, KinnPorsche The Series La Forte

Kim Kimhan Theerapanyakul, KinnPorsche The Series La Forte

Porsche Pachara Kittisawasd, KinnPorsche The Series La Forte

Pete Pongsakorn Saengtham, KinnPorsche The Series La Forte

Som, Secret Crush On You

Sky, Secret Crush On You

Daisy, Secret Crush On You

Pat Napat Jindapat, Bad Buddy

Pran Parakul Siridechawat, Bad Buddy

Fiat, Don't Say No

Teng Mu Ren, HIStory 4: Close To You

Oh Aew Panwa Suramontha: I Promised You the Moon

White Sawet Potiyakorn, Not Me

Black Potiyakorn, Not Me

Todd, Not Me

Sean, Not Me

Namo, Not Me

Jang Jae Young, Semantic Error

Choi Yu Na, Semantic Error

Khai, Theory of Love

Third, Theory of Love

Tops, Ingredients

Nuea, Y-Destiny

Kaeng, Y-Destiny

Masuk, Y-Destiny

Kiyoi Sou, Utsukushii Kare (My Beautiful Man)

Jay Gemini, Cutie Pie

Kuea Keerati, Cutie Pie

Kurosawa Yuichi, 30-sai made Dotei Da to Mahotsukai ni Nareru rashii (Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You A Wizard?!)

Tum, Lovely Writer

Tiffy, Lovely Writer

Prince, Star and Sky: Sky In My Heart

Win, Until We Meet Again

Team, Until We Meet Again

Gavreel Alarcon, Gameboys

Aoki Sota, Kieta Hatsukoi (My Love Mix Up)

Cha Si Won, Blueming

Yoon Oh, Peach of Time

Kang Seo Joon, To My Star/To My Star 2

Kim Pil Hyun, To My Star/To My Star 2

Woo Tae Kyung, Light On Me

Jose Vladimir Austria, Gaya Sa Pelikula (Like in the Movies)

Karl Frederick Almasen, Gaya Sa Pelikula (Like in the Movies)

Tian Sopasitsakun, A Tale of Thousand Stars

Jin Yu Zhen, Be Loved In House: I Do

Gao Shi De, We Best Love: Fighting Mr. 2nd

Zhou Shu Yi, We Best Love: Fighting Mr. 2nd

Prince Zeyn/Art, Rainbow Prince

Aiaoon, The Tuxedo

Nawee, The Tuxedo

Tan Wiraphong Inkhamwiang, Manner of Death

Wen Ke Xing, Word of Honor

Gu Xiang, Word of Honor

Korn Ariyasakul, Until We Meet Again

Intouch Chatpokin, Until We Meet Again

Kang Yo Han, The Devil Judge*

Dai Ou Wen, Love Is Science?*

Neo, 3 Will Be Free*

Miw, 3 Will Be Free*

Simon, Project S: Skate Our Souls*

*not technically BL, so idk if we'll keep it, but it's in for now

Edit: from looking at the nominees so far the 4 brackets are shaping up to be:

Suited and Booted

High Fashion

Sexy Sexy

Lesbian Chic (I feel like this is non-gender-specific)

If you have any suggestions or better bracket ideas feel free to hit me up!

Edit: we have a new bracket rec: Casual Friday

Edit: Full deck! Time to set up the brackets!

[absolutebl]

Top BLs with great chemistry?

What a great ask!!!

Reminder I define good chemistry as having 3 things:

emotional resonance (AKA emotional empathy - heart)

physical reactions (AKA sexual feedback - body)

sympathetic execution (AKA intellectual connection - mind)

In other words, as an audience member I want to feel that the characters  

like each emotionally

desire each other physically

are enjoying it (AKA understand each others needs intellectually)

So putting aside heat levels, quality of production, and story here are my... 

11 BLs with the BEST Chemistry

in order 

1. Tharn & Type in TharnType (Thailand) obviously. I may have my issues with this flipping show but chemistry is NOT one of them. 

Burn style? Nitric acid

2. Shi De & Shu Yi in We Best Love (Taiwan). The ache with these two just never goes away even when they are happily together. 

Burn style? Oxygen deprivation 

3. Fighter & Tutor in Why R U? (Thailand) They are just really really hot together, okay? 

Burn style? Sulfuric acid 

(Also Zee does a banging job in Cutie Pie. If we had a stand alone chemistry king, it would probubly be Zee.) 

4. Wild Dog & Black Dagger in Long Time No See (Korea). Mixing up violence and tenderness in a very tasty way. 

Burn style? Road rash 

5. Tutor Tan & Dr Bun in Manner of Death (Thailand). You just jump into bed with the enemy THAT fast? 

Burn style? Taser 

(MaxTul are the Kings of Thai BL pairs, no one can touch them for consistent chemistry across all their series, branding, and queer friendly community relations.) 

6. Teh & Oh-aew in I Told Sunset About You (Thailand). Would you like a side of chemistry with your teen angst? 

Burn style? Bad sunburn 

7. Tang Yi & Shao Fei in HIStory 3: Trapped (Taiwan). These two did a GREAT job of showcasing mature chemistry. The side dishes in this series are wonderful too. It’s the only one on this list with consistent chemistry for all characters. 

Burn style? Aged whiskey 

8. Gu Hai & Bai Luo Yin in Addicted (China). Just rolling in the stuff, and we got to kinda see how it might have gone without censorship... so they make the list. 

Burn style? Douse in gasoline and light that match 

9. Yu Zhen & Shi Lei in Be Loved In House: I Do. Sure it takes them a while but once they get there the pay out is killer. 

Burn style? Sweet chili dipping sauce 

10. Ace & Sky in My Day the series (Pinoy). How sugary can you take your chemistry? 

Burn Style? Cinnamon candy  

11. Jaeyoung & Sangwoo in Semantic Error (Korea). Perfectly balanced spicy, sweet, salty, and chewy. 

Burn style? Spicy tteokbokki 

* Lovey Writer & Ingredients & HIStory 2 almost made the list. 

** New 2022 additions: KinnPorsche (2 pairs: KP & VegasPete, kinky cheesy chemistry), Love Mechanics (messy angsty chemistry), Old Fashion Cupcake (low heat but still hot chemistry), and Secret Crush On You (fantastic chemistry but the ultimate cringe). 

10 Great Spicy Side Dishes? 

in no particular order 

Pitch & Bank in Golden Blood (Thailand)

Forth & Beam in 2 Moons 2 (Thailand) 

Win & Team in Until We Meet Again (Thailand) 

Ram & King in My Engineer (Thailand) 

Frame & Book in Make it Right 2 (Thailand) 

Khun & Kaow in Brothers (Thailand)

Bo Xiang & Zhi Gang in HIStory 3: Make Our Day’s Count (Taiwan) 

Jack & Zhao in HIStory 3: Trapped (Taiwan) 

Yong Jie & Xing Si in HIStory 4: Close to You (Taiwan) 

Ou Wen & Mark in Love is Science? (Taiwan) 

Short Series Honorable Mention

The KaengPuth episode from Y-Destiny (Thailand)

Just Friends (Korea)

HIStory Obsessed (Taiwan) 

Some More (Korea)

Dishonorable Mention: Crazy High Heat Chemistry Without Reason

The Pornographer Series (Japan) 

Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese (Japan) 

Irresistible Love (China) 

Light (Taiwan) 

Best chemistry that never went anywhere? 

The Devil Judge (Korea)

Nitman (Thailand) 

Friend Forever (Thailand)

My Dear Loser - InnSun side dishes (Thailand) 

Love By Chance 2: A Chance at Love - KeenTum side dishes (Thailand)

Love O2O - KO & Hao Mai side dishes (China) 

Word of Honor (China)

The Untamed (China)

Advance Bravely (China) 

(dated July 2022, judgments based on current offerings)

(source)

[91percentpynch]

jean moreau + dogs

i‘m combining my two favourite things like ever: jean „the loml“ moreau and d o g s,,, it‘s a mess and kinda long but this made me so emotional and happy

jean gets his first dog when he‘s at the trojans. as he can never be alone and has a lot of issues for obvious reasons his therapist said he should get a dog for emotional support

it‘s a dachshund, her name is chérie which means darling in french

jeremy is quite jealous cause he wants jean to call him that (but that‘s a different post)

okay so jean takes chéreie everywhere - classes, training, nights out with the team

chérie brings back exy balls, jean‘s new favouirte hobby is playing exy with her

jean talks to her when he‘s upset/ sad/ lonely

he will just sit on the floor, softly stroking her, tears running down his cheeks and tell her what bothers him

„chérie, you‘re my only friend. i love you. i just wish someone would hug me and hold my hand. but i don‘t need these assholes, i got you right?“, he mumbles in french, his voice soft, sometimes through a sob. chérie will lick his tears off his hands. jeremy watches from the kitchen and his heart b r e a k s

so with chérie he is doing way better, he makes friends, he opens up, she helps him with his trauma and anxiety and his countless issues

the second dog is his graduation gift from kevin. it‘s an irish red setter. he calls him flamme (which is fire in french)

chérie and flamme are the most important things in his life - besides perhaps his boyfriend jeremy knox

he takes his pups everywhere and every morning he takes them on his morning run with jeremy, each of them holding a dog, soft laughter in the early morning hours and it‘s the happiest moment in jean‘s day

flamme always sleeps on jean‘s torso, he just jumps on the bed and sleeps on his human. chérie sleeps on his feet, as she did since he got her. jeremy just wants to cuddle his boyfriend but the dogs said no and he can‘t hide but smile everytime he sees it. his lockscreen is jean sleeping with the two dogs on him, a soft smile on his lips, hair messy, scarred hands on the dogs

the third dog comes quite shortly after flamme. it‘s a tiny black and white shi tzu. she might look innocent but she‘s like a little tornado, licking everyone‘s feet and hiding under furniture because she is just a tiny little bit scared of this gigantic human and the other dude who comes and goes at what seems random times

jeremy goes pro, jean doesn‘t but that‘s again another post

so jean just sits on the floor for h ou r s calling the tiny dog and he remembers the days in evermore and he u n d e r s t a n d s the tiny little girl

so he calls her lune cause that‘s what jeremy calls him and it makes him think of how strong he is and he get e m o t i o n a l

anygays so he sits at the floor for h o u r s for like three weeks and lune got more and more couragous and eventually she comes out of whatever furniture she would hide under and carefully come to him and he pets her and she lays on her back so he can scratch her tiny little stomach and he does and flamme and chérie come and he‘s surrounded by dogs who lick his face and arms and legs and he gives them so much love and just pets them and they‘re all so in love and he just talks to them

so when jeremy came back that day lune was about to run away but jeremy talked to her in french, very softly and she slowly came back to him and sat next to him and jean told jeremy to carefully come to him and sit down and let her smell his hand and then stroke her and he did and lune stopped being scared

„she reminds me of you mi amor“, jeremy says softly to jean. „that‘s what i thought. that‘s why i called her lune. you used to call me that and it made me feel as if i made it“

jerejean weren‘t lunes‘ first humans, she was with another man before and he used to hit her. that‘s why she hides when your hand comes from a certain angle (my dog does that, lune is basically my dog)

she never loses that habit, even though she knows nothing will happen to her with jerejean and the other dogs

so chérie adopts lune and she‘s really protective of her and so is flamme. on their morning runs jean would hold lune and chérie and jermey would run with flamme, which is funny cuz just imagine 6“5 jean moreau with these tiny little dogs and his boyfriend (5“3 in my head) with this big ass dog and i‘m getting too emotionally attached to that now

so to jean and jeremy‘s one/ two year annivarsary jeremy comes back home form training with this gigantic puppy. and jean looks at him with heart eyes.

„you got another dog?“ jean would say with so much love in his voice.

„look i know they make you happy and i love your smile more than anything and i thought ‚why don‘t we ge the most beautiful man in the entire universe a dog for our anniverssary‘ and just got him. well actually getting him took m o n t h s did you know you have interviews for puppies? apparently this dude here is a very special little snowflake. anyways it‘s an irish wolfhound and those dogs are gigantic, i think they‘re getting 3 feet high? okay i‘m talking too much i‘m sorry i hope you like him because i kind can‘t bring him back“, jeremy started to scratch the back of his head somewhere in the middle of his rant

„i love him, almost as much as i love you“ jean got on his feet and he runs to his boyfriend and he bends down and kisses him and then he takes the dog from him and lune follows him every step he takes and behind her are flamme and chérie and it just makes jeremy feel so much love and happiness

„i only got you this“, jean said, handing jeremy a little portrait of him with a poem on the back. „i made it for you“, jean said, blushing. „jean i love this, i love you and i feel so honored that you d r e w me. oh lord i love you so much“, jeremy starts to cry

anygays jean sits on the floor and introduces the new puppy to the other dogs. he calls him géant (which means giant in french).

so the sleeping arrangments change: flamme still sleeps on jean‘s torso, he‘s just taller and it may or may not become a bit uncomfortable to sleep on his human but he won‘t stop. like ever. and chérie still sleeps on his feet. lune sleeps on his side, always touching him somewhere, his hand on her sides, they are like spooning. and géant sleeps on either above or under lune, as well always touching jean somewhere. jeremy almost doesn‘t fit in the bed anymore.

so the next day they‘re getting a bigger bed. for the dog‘s sack. yes.

so jean spends his days drawing and playing the piano. talking to his dogs. going for walks with his songs. meeting friends, with his dogs. he won‘t leave the house without at least one dog. actually he won‘t leave without all of his dogs.

one day jeremy walked in on him sitting on the floor, the dogs and him sitting in a perfect circle, a tiny tea cup in front of each dogs. they were having tea. on the floor. jeremy took a picture of it and sent it to kevin and andrew. this was his family and he felt so many emotions and he started to cry because it was just so c u t e. there was his tall ass boyfriend, who looked quite scary, on the floor, talking softly in french with his four dogs. and he was just about to leave them be when he said a bit louder „you can join us darling. i left a cup for you on here“ and jeremy just went to his boyfriend and their four dogs and they had tea on the floor in front of the tall windows watching the moon replace the sun

it became kind of an tradition

just like the dogs sleeping in their beds

i like to think that each dogs represents a part of them: chérie is jeremy in college, lune is jean in colllege, flamme is jeremy now and géante is jean now

okay so jean gave up exy in my head BUT he still plays exy with the dogs

jean makes jeremy and him matching jumpers with the dogs in winter

the apartment is full and i mean FULL with pictures of the dogs and jean with the dogs and jeremy with the dogs and jerejean of the dogs, like every wall is full with pictures, every shelf that doesn‘t have drawings of jean is full with pictures of them with the dogs, the piano jean plays on each day when jeremy comes back from training is full of dog pictures, they are literally everywhere. there is even one on the toilet

sometimes when their friends over it gets just Too Much and he has to leave the room and the dogs follow him and he just has to sit on the floor and talk to them and stroke them and everything gets better

jean loves his dogs so much, they are like his best friends, they understand him, they make sure he is never alone, even when jeremy has to leave for away games or interviews and comes home late

jeremy might have put his pieces together but the dogs are like the glue that keeps them together

it also became tradition that jeremy always takes the tall dogs on their morning runs and jean runs with the small ones. when lune and chérie are tired he will carry them

sometimes you will find jean moreau with jeremy knox on his back, lune and chérie in each hand and flamme and géante on each side

people sometimes look funny at him, but he doesn‘t care

the dogs saved his life, made it something happy and bright, like jeremy knox. never did he dare to think jean could be that happy. but now he is in this bright apartement, sitting on the floor, painting a portrait of jeremy, dogs all around him sleeping and he just can‘t help but smile

[yullen]

Okay, so... I made a list starting from 2015. Of characters I wanted to draw in a crowd of white-haired characters, and black haired characters. That I’ll probably never get around to lol.

〖 WHITE 〗

Allen Walker (D.Gray-man), Shion (No.6), and Isana Yashiro (K) would be in the centre of the white group. And then Robin (ZONE), Sasha (Seikon no Qwaser), Add (Elsword), Senel Coolidge (Tales of Legendia), Hokuto (Shikabane Hime), Shinigami (Shinigami-chan ga Yuku), then Konoha (Kagerou Project), Shinya (Akuma no Riddle), Haseo (.hack//G.U.) Surrounding them are Xi Duanmu (Ling Qi), Ves (White Flame), Ren (I-Ren), Arthur (Mahoutsukai no Yakusoku), Kaneki (Tokyo Ghoul), Horne (Horne.red), Honebami Toushirou Toku (Touken Ranbu) The above feature some or many of the following: white hair, eye scars/markings, eye powers, red eyes, silver eyes, silver-blue or blue eyes, yandere tendencies, tragic pasts, seems like they are prone to dying, and/or have a counterpart with a high black ponytail with sidebangs etc.

And then the third and then fourth layers would be more simply characters that have some of the above, and may also have traits such as being sly/calculative/schemey, are smart, age fuckery/immortal/etc, or are otherwise part of a ship that smells like yin/yang bullshit: Akise (Mirai Nikki), Art (Hamatora), Al Saiduq/Alcor (Devil Survivor 2), Fate (Negima), Bell Cranel (DanMachi), Frey (Fisheye Placebo), L-Elf (Valvrave), Nai (Karneval), Gauche/Noir (Tegami Bachi), Kakashi (Naruto), Gojou Satoru (Jujutsu Kaisen), Nakigitsune (Touken Ranbu), Tsurumaru Kuninaga (Touken Ranbu), Killua (Hunter X Hunter), Clear (DMMD), Near (Death Note), Zero (Vampire Knight), Kinshirou (Bouei-bu), Gintoki (Gintama), Makishima (Psycho-Pass), Jafar (Magi), Arslan (Arslan Senki), Sion Astal (Denyuuden), Furuichi (Beelzebub), Snake (Kuroshitsuji), Hope Estheim (FFXIII), Mitsuru Tenjou (Barajou no Kiss), Azul Ashengrotto (Twisted Wonderland), Break (Pandora Hearts), Victor Nikiforov (Yuuri!!! on ICE), Nakajima Atsushi (Bungou Stray Dogs) Will probably omit: Mikleo (Tales of Zestria), Totsuka Saika (OreGairu), Aizawa Kouichi (Nabari no Ou), Decim (Death Parade), Ban (Nanatsu no Taizai)

And then where Kaworu Nagisa (NGE) and Akise Aru (Mirai Nikki) are, it bleeds out to the grey/off-white-haired characters with a similar vibe with aforementioned personality features: Joshua Kiryuu (TWEWY), Komaeda (DR2), Hotsuin Yamato (Devil Survivor 2), Yukito (Cardcaptor Sakura), Snake (999), Bakura (and Yami Bakura, and Thief King Bakura) Honorary mention/omitted: Elios (My Deepest Secret), Flynn Scifo (Yuri Lowell's counterpart) (Tales of Vesperia), Suzuya Juuzou (Tokyo Ghoul), Hitsugaya Toushirou (Bleach)

【 BLACK 】

Kanda Yuu (D.Gray-man), Yatogami Kuroh (K), Ling Hao (White Flame), Kiran (I-Ren), Gakupo (Vocaloid), Saotome Alto (Macross), Ouni (Children of the Whales), Kanzaki Souma (Ensemble Stars), Oz (Mahoutsukai no Yakusoku), Yuzuki (Harvest Moon), Narugo Kaoru (Actors), Oogami Banri (Idolish7), Wei WuXian (Mo Dao Zu Shi), and Kurojou Tamamo (Momomoke Restaurant) would be in the centre of the black group. Tokisaka Kuroumaru (UQ Holder), Yogaru (Horne), Yuri Lowell (Vesperia), Katsura Koutarou (Gintama), Li Xing Ke (Code Geass), Nezumi (No.6), Yang Jinghua (Ling Qi/Spiritpact), Ning Yang (Ling Qi/Spiritpact), Namazuo Toushirou Toku (Touken Ranbu), Speed of Sound Sonic (OnePunch-Man), Miran (Denyuuden), Athrun (Beelzebub)

Black counterparts of or related to characters in the white list not included: Amon Koutarou (Tokyo Ghoul), Kuze Hibiki (Devil Survivor 2), Vance Lee (Fisheye Placebo), Gareki (Karneval), Gon (Hunter X Hunter), Kinugawa Atsushi (Bouei-bu), Hijikata Toushirou (Gintama), Kougami Shinya (Psycho-Pass), Sinbad (Magi)(disclaimer: I don't ship Sin/far), Daryoon (Arslan Senki), Ryner Lute (Denyuuden), Yukinoshita Yukino (manga v5 cover) (OreGairu), Oga Tatsumi (Beelzebub), Katsuki Yuuri (Yuuri!!! on ICE), Mutsuki Kurama (Barajou no Kiss), Ryunosuke Akutagawa (Bungou Stray Dogs), Ikari Shinji (NGE), Amano Yukiteru (Mirai Nikki), Kinomoto Touya (Cardcaptor Sakura)

Not included, but: Izuminokami Kanesada (Touken Ranbu)

last updated: 2020-12-26

[shalebridge-cradle]

When You Smile and it Tears Your Face (It’s Time for the Inhuman Race)

Warnings: Blood. Implied Violence.

“Anna?”

Anna von Kleve, former minor noble of the Holy Roman Empire, pries open her eyes. It’s well into the night – the heavy curtains are drawn, as usual, the grandfather clock is ticking away, and the electric light flickers ominously above her.

She herself is sprawled on the sofa, with her date’s head in her lap. Ah, yes. A night on the town, a few drinks (well, more than a few on her part)… she hopes he’d had a good time.

“In the drawing room,” she calls, lazily.

“Have you seen my book?”

Anna has seen lots of her housemate’s beloved books. So very many volumes she’s collected over the years – in her day, the emperor himself would be hard-pressed to afford such a selection. Still, she’s proud it was a German who invented the printing press and started the whole thing off.

“Which one?”

“Pride and Prejudice, volume three. It’s got a red-brown cover.”

von Kleve frowns, looks around herself, lifts up her date to check under him.

She grimaces.

If the book didn’t have a red cover to begin with, it certainly did now. She never intends for the whole biting-people-and-drinking-their-blood business to be messy, but it always ends up that way. Strange how that happens.

She quickly drops the man’s unconscious body back on top of the book, just as her housemate materialises in the doorway.

Catherine Parr sighs. “Seriously? What have I told you about putting down plastic when you bring your food home?”

“I know, but we get kind of… into it, you know? You know me, I live in the moment – well, not live, but… you get what I’m saying.”

“That’s the problem, hence, the need for plastic.”

A pause.

Anna knows what she’s about to say, and preempts her. “No, not your type. Not terrible, but he couldn’t talk about anything that wasn’t his football team.”

“Oh. A pity.” Another pause. “Have you seen my book, though?”

“No books here. Did you leave it at Seymour’s?”

Parr hums. “Possibly. I’ll visit later. It’s your job to get rid of the poor soul, though.”

“Yes, yes, personal responsibility and all that.”

Before Anna leaves, she tucks the first edition under the sofa cushions, and hopes her housemate doesn’t look that hard for her precious book.

~~~

The shovel plunges deep into the black, wet soil, and out again. In, out, in, out, methodical and practiced. The hole needs to be deep enough, and wide enough. She’s underestimated the size before, and that simply causes problems. There are bits that need to stay underground.

Once she is satisfied, and with great care, Jane Seymour places the rose bush into its new home.

Gardening might be considered an odd hobby for someone like her to have. Even if she rarely gets to see the fruits of her labour (which is most certainly a metaphor for something), it keeps her busy and helps her feel productive. It’s terribly easy to fall into a rut if you don’t have something to do, and caring for plants gives her plenty of that.

Just so long as they survive everything.

There is a loud bang from inside the house. Jane turns briefly, listening for something further, before she goes back to patting down the soil.

Another bang, followed by a crash.

Jane squeezes her eyes shut, and growls under her breath. That had better not be anything important.

Really, she should go in and stop them from doing any more damage, but they’d probably just ignore her like they usually do. Maybe you shouldn’t have your thrice-bedamned battle in the house, where there are things that you both like and are easily breakable all over the place. Is that such an unreasonable concept?

A third bang.

“For heaven’s sake,” she grumbles, and makes to get up, turning to her gardening tools. Initially, she shies away from some of them out of instinct, but… then again… this may the only way they’ll listen…

-

The fearsome duel is still going on when Jane reaches the hall.

One combatant has a name she knows well, mostly because she insists on using the whole thing whenever she is introduced. Catalina Trastámara de Aragón, former Spanish infanta. The other has gone by many different but similar names – Anna de Boullan, Anna Bolina, Nan Bullen, but she generally responds to ‘Anne’, so that’s what they go with.

Catalina has her hand around Anne’s neck, hoisting her up in the air, whilst Anne has a hold on Catalina’s arm, hissing up a storm. Another bang – Catalina slamming Anne against the wall – sends a cloud of dust trickling down on top of them.

Jane enters, in her gardening smock, boots too big for her, a straw hat (you must always wear a hat while gardening, though Jane isn’t sure why), and with a wooden gardening stake in each hand.

“Down! Both of you!”

Anne turns her head slightly, and her eyes widen when she sees what Jane’s holding. “Shit.”

This gets Catalina’s attention, too, but she manages to keep the quiet part quiet. She releases her grip, and Anne sinks to the floor.

“What are you doing?” Catalina recovers her regal demeanour, or at least part of it. “Have you gone quite mad?”

“Have you? Look at what you’re doing! What on earth is noble and queenly about repeatedly smacking your housemate into a wall?!” Jane stops to compose herself. “What is it this time? Territorial dispute? Long-standing grudge you refuse to talk about? Monopoly?”

“Anne? How many glasses would you say are in the sink?”

...No.

Anne rubs her neck. “Well, maybe less if you weren’t such a toff and drank like the rest of us.”

That can’t be right. Was that it?

“Unlike you, I like to keep some of my dignity about me.”

“Oh, don’t you fucking talk to me about dignity -”

Jane is between them in a blink. “Anne, do the bloody dishes.” Anne groans, probably at the unintended pun, but is interrupted. “We have the chore wheel for a reason. We have standards.”

“You’re no fun.”

“I know. Dishes now, fight later.”

Anne huffs, and stomps into the kitchen. Jane’s attention turns to Catalina, who is trying very hard to suppress the smug smile on her face.

“How many languages to you know, Catalina?” She already knows the answer to this question, but Catalina will happily tell her anyway.

“Five. Spanish, Latin, French, Greek, English.”

“Five languages, and you still don’t know how to use your words?”

Catalina simply stares at her.

“You would have been very upset if you knocked any of your paintings down, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes, but we couldn’t take it outside. You would have been upset if we crushed your plants.”

“Well, that simply reinforces my point. Violence is very rarely the answer when it comes to who you live with.”

“You’re threatening me with a lethal weapon right now.”

Oh, right, she forgot about them. Jane looks down at the stakes, flinches again, and throws them unceremoniously to one side. “Fine. We all need to work on discussing things, and remember we all have our part to play. Anne’s doing the dishes now -” There’s a clatter from the kitchen – “I’ve been taking out the rubbish; can you tell me your royal responsibility, or do I have to check?”

Catalina’s eyes are everywhere but on Jane. She brushes a bit of powder off of her sleeve, and mumbles “Dusting.”

~~~

“Look what I found.”

Parr looks up. It is a whole entire person Anna has come to show off, which usually isn’t something Catherine needs to see – it does not pay to get attached. This girl has her long hair tied up, dyed an almost neon pink at the ends, and is clad in one of Anna’s oversized fur coats. She seems to be faltering under Parr’s gaze, trying to make herself look as small and insignificant as possible.

“I see no plastic in the drawing room,” Catherine says to von Kleve, as a warning.

“What? No! No, no, no. Not that. Big smile, Katie.”

The girl’s lips curl into a rictus grin, revealing a set of fangs not unlike Parr’s own.

“Oh!” Immediately, Catherine’s attitude shifts, and speaks with a soft, comforting voice (she hopes), “Okay, hello. I’m Catherine Parr, of the Westmorland Parrs, and this is Anna von Jülich-Kleve-Berg of the Holy Roman Empire. Neither of us are going to hurt you. Please, take a seat.”

She gestures to a nearby chair. The girl walks over to it, unsteady on her feet, and sits down.

“It’s been a bad week,” she mumbles.

“Tell us about it.”

“Well, it started with a night I couldn’t remember, which always freaks me out, and then I was really sick, and then I’m pretty sure I died – no, I did die… I died…” She goes quiet once more, aghast at the revelation.

“Found her ripping some dude’s throat out behind a nightclub,” Anna explains, then shrugs. “It happens.”

The girl shuts her eyes tightly, as if she is trying to block out the memory. Parr takes her hand, and gives it a gentle squeeze. “Katie, is it?”

“Or Kate. Or Kat, or Katherine – but, that’s you as well. I’m rambling.”

“That’s alright. The transition can be stressful. May I call you Kat?”

Kat nods.

“Good. Now, from what you’ve told us, it sounds like nobody explained to you how this works. What is it that you think is going on?”

“’M a vampire. Right?” Parr hums an affirmation, and Kat laughs, without humour. “And, because I’m a vampire, and I was going insane with how thirsty I was and because he wouldn’t stop talking and he kept touching me after I told him not to…” She looks to Anna. “That man. He was my boyfriend. I killed my boyfriend.”

It’s usually cold in the house, but it seems to get even colder after that statement.

While Catherine intimately knows the feeling of wanting to murder your former significant others (Thomas – Foul rake! Blackguard! She shall curse his name after death and beyond!), she is aware that this may not be the case for Kat. Most couples these days actually quite like each other – one need not rely on a husband to vote for them anymore, after all. She’s been looking out for someone like that, but she hasn’t found them yet. Maybe someday.

There have been so very many days…

Thankfully, Anna is there with a kind word, so she need not answer nor dwell on her failure to find love. It is just one word, however, and it is not spoken with great compassion.

“Condolences?”

Kat waves a hand, shakes her head. “The only good thing about dating Francis is – was – that he gave me a place to stay. Everything else… I don’t think anyone will be that upset he’s dead, put it that way.” Her voice drops to a whisper. “It was so easy. Too easy.”

Well, it’s good to know that nothing of value was lost, at least.

“Subtlety and control are the results of practice,” Catherine tells the girl, “and that will come, in time. Until then, since the one who turned you is not around to help, I humbly request that you allow us to assist you.”

“We have a spare room. Um. Not that you have to take it, or anything, but the option’s there -”

Kat cuts Anna off. Nobody’s had the gall to do that for centuries.

“Why are you doing this? Any of this?! You want something from me, don’t you? Otherwise, I’d still be out there, dealing with my boyfriend’s corpse! Be honest with me, please. What is it you want me to do?!”

She is looking into both of their eyes, searching for an ulterior motive like she knows it’s there – Parr gets that, unfortunately, and she’s disgusted that something has happened to the poor girl to prompt such suspicion and mistrust.

Catherine does not raise her voice, speaks calmly and carefully, just like she was taught. “We are not doing this in the hopes of a favour, or any material gain. We – or, at least, I – am behaving in this way because I want to see you turn out well. Perhaps there is a vain hope of a new friendship out of this, but that is the loftiest of my wishes, and you should not feel obligated to fulfil it if you don’t want to.”

“You’re the most interesting thing that’s happened in at least a decade,” says Anna.

“But you’re vampires. Why are you helping a competitor?”

“Why not? Just because we’re bloodsucking monsters doesn’t mean we can’t be nice about it. Plenty of fish in the sea.”

“Okay. Okay. In that case… might I ‘humbly request’… a hug, please?”

~~~

“How do you feel about it?”

Catalina does not turn away from her painting; yet another Spanish vista. She has been told that the Inquisition is over, that she can return for a holiday, but there is no doubt in her mind that what is there now must be wildly different from what she remembers. The latter is what she puts to canvas, to show off what she knows, what mortal eyes can no longer see.

“You shall have to be more specific,” she says to Anne, her voice clipped.

“You know.” She refuses to give Anne the satisfaction of looking at her, but she can feel the fluttering eyelashes, the lazy grin, just from her cadence. “Us. What we have.”

“What on earth are you implying?”

“That thing we do. The one where I press all your buttons, and you beat the shit out of me. Great way to work out that tension, yeah? But then there’s Jane – Plain Insane Jane – putting stakes in our faces and telling us to end it.”

“Would you have listened to her if she hadn’t?”

“Nah.” No hesitation whatsoever. No hint of shame. “But it’s fun. Don’t you think so?”

…Frankly, Catalina does not know. She knows it is not a healthy way of relieving stress. She knows Jane is justified in her motivations to stop it, if not her methods (though both of them make it difficult for her to use a softer touch).

But, if she is truly honest with herself, she likes to feel powerful sometimes. Yes, she is powerful when compared to a regular human – but that was true when she was alive, too. Now, she is no longer in the line of succession, she is no longer a princess. She is ‘just’ a vampire, and that fact irks her more than it should.

But she doesn’t tell Anne any of that. She puts her brush down, and turns to the source of her self-reflection. She’s hanging in the air, as if she were watching Catalina from an invisible sofa.

“You’ve been out drinking, haven’t you?”

Their kind can, in fact, get drunk. It’s more of a roundabout process than it is for mortals – one must find someone that’s absolutely cup-shotten, take them somewhere quiet, and… share their blood alcohol content. Catalina knows this because Anne is a master of the process.

“Of course I have!” Anne replies, with a funny sort of smile. “That’s why you go out, why Jane goes out. To have a drink!”

Oh, she definitely has been. She’s wearing the silly spectacles again, the ones where you can’t see her eyes properly.

“I’m not having this conversation with you while you’re out of your wits,” Catalina carefully enunciates.

“I always have my wits. Do you even listen to my jokes, princess?”

“You’re drunk.”

“And? You don’t talk when I’m sober, you won’t talk when I’m toxed – what is it that you need me to be for you to be honest?”

There is a knock at the door, and Jane’s voice comes through loud and clear. “Catalina? We have a guest.”

That’s interesting. They don’t often have guests – well, not ones that aren’t ‘invited for dinner’, and Jane likes to keep that private, if it’s her. It can’t be Parr or von Kleve; Jane would have said as much.

Perhaps it is someone important, she thinks, and immediately her mood sours.

“Who do you think it is?” Anne asks.

“I don’t know. All I ask is that you don’t make a complete fool of yourself.”

“And what if I do?”

“Then I take no responsibility for your actions.”

-

“She’s very new, apparently,” Jane tells them, and she is doing only a slightly better job than Anne at holding in her excitement. “She doesn’t remember who turned her. Cathy thinks it’s Thomas, but you know how she is.”

Yes, Catalina does. Thomas may be responsible for a lot of things, but if he showed his face in this part of town, he’d probably find himself dismembered by his very angry ex-wife.

They reach the top of the staircase. Below them, on the ground level, Cathy is speaking quietly to – good Lord! That woman’s hair is pink! How is it that vibrant a shade?!

Anne gasps in delight. “A baby! You’ve found a little baby, Cathy!”

“I’m not a baby. I’m nineteen.”

“Exactly. Two-digit age. Baby.”

“I apologise for her conduct,” Catalina sighs. “Someone had a bit too much to drink, and she had too much of them. I am Catalina Trastámara de Aragón.”

“And I’m Anne. Sometimes.”

The girl blinks. Probably thrown off by that introduction. “Oh-kay. Uh, well, I’m Kat Howard. Katherine, actually, but you see how that will cause problems. I’m moving in with Cathy and Anna, and Anna thought it might be good to introduce myself.”

There is an image of vampires being solitary creatures, living in ruined castles and moping about in their every waking hour. It’s not untrue, but Catalina hated it when she had a go. Eternity? With no-one around her? What torture!

No. Ever since she found Jane sobbing in front of her own grave, since Anne had her chance encounter with a Spanish princess, she’s resolved never to be alone again. She shall, of course, extend that invitation to this new girl.

It’s practically her duty.

“I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, Kat.”

~~~

Vampires own nightclubs.

That makes sense, right? They only operate at night, they attract a crowd, many people there aren’t expecting to remember what happened there, only that they had a good time and feel terrible in the morning, if they make it that far.

Well, Anna doesn’t own a nightclub. She owns a chain of 24-hour off-licences. But, she can hypnotise the bouncer into letting them in, so that’s alright.

The music thrums in place of Kat’s heart as she watches the mass of bodies swaying and jumping with absolutely no sense of rhythm. Coloured lights flash, the DJ plies his trade, glasses clink and sweat permeates the air.

Anna is watching only her.

“See anyone?”

Kat scans the crowds, a grim expression on her face. “No-one looks particularly appetising.”

“Well, of course they don’t. We’re not looking for the cream of the crop here, we’re looking for someone who deserves it.”

Kat leans her head on her hand. Anna told her she could come to her for anything – so, Kat had, when she started to feel hungry again, and so Anna planned this little night out.

“There are two choices,” she’d said. “Either you pick someone out yourself, or you go mad with hunger and some other poor sod ends up like your boyfriend.”

“You’re sure of that?” Kat questioned.

“Oh, yeah. I speak from experience – I’ve always regretted what happened to the Duke of Lorraine…”

Anna had refused to say anything more about that.

Kat has… mixed feelings about what happened with Dereham. Okay, she’s horrified that she murdered him, but she doesn’t feel bad that she wiped that arrogant look from his eyes for a few seconds (before he, you know, died). He didn’t care that she was sick, didn’t answer her texts when she told him her reflection had vanished, or that she was bleeding from her eyes – and as soon as he got back from his work trip, he dragged her to a nightclub to ‘show her off’ and pretended nothing was wrong…!

…Okay, she’s getting a bit heated. The man’s funeral was three days ago. No point in holding a grudge, now.

“What about that one?”

Kat follows Anna’s gaze. A man is swaggering over to the bar with a confidence that nothing about him implies he’s earned. She gets the feeling this man used to be handsome, or liked, and no-one has told him otherwise just yet.

“Dunno. Maybe.”

“Do you want me to stay?”

Kat automatically bites her lip, before remembering that’s probably a bad idea now. She doesn’t want to be alone, exactly, but at the same time…

“Is it alright if you hang out slightly further away?” She asks. “If I need your help, I’ll laugh really loudly.”

Anna smiles in acknowledgement, nods, and wanders off. Kat might be wrong, but she seems almost gleeful.

Thankfully (or not), the once-handsome man notices her staring, and saunters over. Kat’s skin crawls.

“Hey.”

Kat gives a small, brief smile in return.

“You here alone?”

She risks a quick glance over to Anna – she still has an eye on her. Kat isn’t alone. “Yeah. Just… needed to get out, you know?”

“I do.” He smirks, points to himself. “Henry. You know Tudor Real Estate?” She does, and the man grins at the recognition she must be showing. “I’m the co-owner.”

Kat doesn’t want to say the wrong thing, but this guy has only a passing resemblance to the man on the ‘for sale’ signs.

“Must be an important job,” she tries.

“Very. My brother relies on me for a lot.” Oh, okay, he’s the brother. Wait, the brother she’d read articles about? The one who got acquitted last year? “Sometimes I just need to blow off some steam, you know? Have some fun. Speaking of, can I buy you a drink or two?”

Wow. That look in his eyes. He clearly hasn’t changed as much as the judge thought he had.

“I don’t drink… alcohol.”

He scoffs. “Listen. You heard how important I am, right? Nothing will happen to you without my say-so. We can have fun if you just let me help you.”

This man is made of red flags, isn’t he? A blind woman could see the warning signs. He’s a creep with overly-inflated self-esteem, seems to have spent his whole life getting everything he’s ever wanted…

And that means he’s perfect.

“I guess you’re right,” she says, quietly. She doesn’t have to fear his kind any more. “I am here for a good time. If you’re offering…”

Henry grins. “Anything you want, babe! Name it, and it’s yours!”

“Anything?” Money and connections won’t protect you from me.

“Anything at all, princess.”

“Hmm…” Kat makes a show of looking him up and down. Yes, this is the one. “Maybe we can take this somewhere private?”

Henry is clearly thrilled at the prospect. He grabs her hand, roughly (though Kat is sure she could break his arm if the need arose), and leans in close.

“I know just the place.”

He leads her away, to a location where there are no witnesses, no-one to save him. From across the club, Anna gives her a thumbs up.

Kat returns the gesture.

-

She comes in the front door with her phone in her hand. Henry has a Wikipedia page. Not very long, pretty much goes on about his brief stint in custody and that he’s Arthur Tudor’s brother.

Or, was. They might have to change the tense, soon.

Cath is on the sofa, chatting quietly with… Kat wants to say… Jane…? Yeah, Jane sounds right. She’s friendly enough, but always seems like she’s on her second-last nerve.

“How did it go?” Cath asks.

Anna grins. She’s been like this all night, and Kat feels conflicted about all the praise she’s received.“Oh, fantastic! Kat was a natural; that idiot fell for it hook, line, and sinker.”

“Turns out I have a vendetta against people who can’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” Kat adds.

Parr’s smile grows sharp, but her eyes still sparkle. “Well, there won’t be any shortage of those. Come, sit with us.”

So, Kat does. The things they speak of are so normal, Kat is initially confused. Jane’s gardening is a topic of discussion, as is Cath’s ever-expanding collection of stuff she finds interesting. When Jane asks about Kat’s “little slate-thing”, they both listen with rapt attention at her explanation of modern technology.

Kat had forgotten what it’s like to have people listen. It’s a shame she had to die to experience it.

~~~

“Yes, I’ve received a notice recently about outstanding bills owed – no, no, don’t shut off the – listen to me. The account has been paid in full. Enter that into the system. Okay, great. Thanks for that – no, no, everyone makes mistakes. Alright, bye.”

Anne hangs up. Great, power bills are sorted.

Contrary to popular opinion, she actually does do her share of work around the house. Yeah, the dishes are her least favourite task. Vampires shouldn’t have to do the dishes. But, that doesn’t stop her from helping in other ways.

She’s just about to start dialling the telephone company, when there is a knock at the door. Few are brave enough to do that at this place. As she stalks over, she wonders if it might a debt collector – if it is, that means she can have a snack, too.

The heavy oaken door swings open with an agonising creak, and the eyes of the figure on the other side glow in the evening gloom.

Oh, it’s that pink-haired girl. Katie, maybe? Anne can’t actually remember her name, and at this point she’s too afraid to ask.

“Hi.” The girl waves slightly. “Can I come in?”

Do you really want to? Anne thinks, but she says, “Uh, sure.”

With a sigh of relief, Kiara steps over the threshold.

“Apparently I called you a baby last time you were here,” Anne says. “Sorry about that. That’s not fair to you, and you don’t scare the shit out of me like an actual vampire infant would. But, I’m guessing you’re not here for an apology.”

Kitty smiles awkwardly. “Uh, no. I’m here to try and fix your computer. Um, the little television-box-thing you never use?”

“Oh! That! Yeah, I never knew how to get that thing working.”

“Yeah, no promises,” Kelly says, “but Jane thought it might help you… connect.”

That really gets Anne’s attention. She’s not surprised it was Jane who told her, because of the way Kim described the computer, but that part about connecting.

Anne wants honesty, for once. If Kat (that sounds right) is offering, she will take it.

-

To Anne’s surprise (and shame), Kat is able to get la machine infernale up and running in just a few minutes. She explains the mouse, the monitor, and the programs built into the operating system. The computer is not to get wet, nor is it to be fed. Do not sacrifice anything to it in an attempt to make it work properly.

Why Kat felt the need to include that instruction is a mystery, but it was probably necessary.

“Now, I had this whole speech with my step-grandma – back when I talked with my family – and I’ll give the same to you. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet. A lot of it’s lies, or personal opinion. On that note, not everyone you talk to is who they say they are. Don’t do things like send money or give out personal details if someone asks, and don’t meet with someone without people around.”

“Okay, I’m absolutely going to do that last one – but for the rest of them? Sure!”

Kat genuinely smiles. Wow, when was the last time Anne did that, and didn’t eat the person afterwards? Must have been ages, because it feels like she’s come across an oasis after months in a desert.

“So,” she goes on, “what exactly is the internet? I know I pay the bill for it -” ‘pay’ is a strong word - “but I don’t actually know what it entails.”

“Okay, well, you know… books?”

“Yes.”

“You know the television?”

“Yeeesss.”

“You know those coffee shops where people yelled at each other about philosophy, in the eighteenth century?”

“Yep, yep, yep.” Even though she was never invited, the sexist pricks.

“The internet is all of those things together,” Kat explains, “but worse.”

Anne gasps. “I love it already.”

-

The room is dark. No lights, curtains shut. The only source of light is the faint white glow of the monitor.

The internet is, as Kat had warned, a shitshow. Anne thinks it’s just the best thing. University professors and the lowest common denominator share the same spaces, and send vile, scathing messages to one another over fictional characters. Maybe she should do some research, just so she can play along. It’d be just like her days at court, getting one person at another’s throat, playing them off each other… ah, she misses that, if nothing else. It’s just not the same, now.

Oh, but then there are the videos. Little mortal Anne would never have thought it possible. What an idea! What awful and wonderful things humans create when they’re not being killed!

Anne’s exploration is interrupted when the light from the hallway fills the room.

“Ah. So you haven’t left.”

Catalina? Come to check on her? Anne turns – yes, it is her, likely wondering why her evening hasn’t been ruined yet. Or, maybe not. Anne has a terrible habit of putting words in other people’s mouths.

“You haven’t been downstairs this evening,” Her housemate continues. “Jane was worried about you.”

Anne doubts that’s true. Not that Jane doesn’t worry, she worries about almost everything (who cares if her teeth show when she smiles?), but she would be thrilled to know Anne is being quiet.

“Just looking at things,” Anne mumbles.

“Hm. Ominous. What ‘things’?”

Well, the best way to explain would be to show, right?

Anne plays the video. Normal night sky, a deep navy. Then, violet, then orange, and the fiery sun rises over the horizon, accented by the crimson heavens.

There’s a thump from behind her. Catalina has flattened herself against the opposite wall, eyes wide, fangs bared.

“I will not die so easily, Boleyn!” she snarls. “I’ve survived assassination attempts before, and I’ll do it again!”

“I’m not trying to kill you, girl! It’s a video! Do you almost die every time you put the sun in one of your paintings? Because that would be a much bigger problem than me showing you this.”

She presses the button to make the video play once more, and makes a show of standing in front of the screen, conspicuously not combusting.

Catalina stares at her. Then, at the monitor. She approaches, slowly.

“Can you make it go again?”

Anne does. The sun is reflected in Catalina’s eyes for the first time in over five hundred years.

“…I miss it, sometimes.”

Oh God, it’s happening, Anne thinks. Out loud, she says, “Miss what?”

“The sunrise.” From the sound of her voice, calm and quiet, Anne gets the impression Catalina’s not really here. “My home. My family. It doesn’t matter how far away I am, in years or in miles. They’re gone, and the name Trastámara means nothing.”

Oh, that’s it. Of course it is.

Anne did not what it was like to be a princess in the early 1400s, partially because she wasn’t born yet. She knows from her own experiences with Whatever the Fuck the Sun King Was Playing At that the nobility was constantly having to be perfect at all times; not even a twitch of emotion could play upon your face, even as you drain all your resources to support the near-impossible standards of fashion, or it could easily be all for naught.

She’s just been thinking, maybe, something like that might be why Catalina has the sort of aversion to talking about her emotions that would normally be reserved for holy symbols.

“Catalina. You’re not a princess anymore.”

Catalina sneers, all traces of vulnerability gone. “Yes, you have taunted me about that many times before.”

“Not a taunt.” Sometimes. “A reminder you no longer have to try and be perfect. I’m not gonna tell any peers of the realm if you feel sad sometimes.”

“So you feel the need to drive me to madness in the hopes I accept your view?”

Okay, so maybe Anne’s been a little coarse. In fairness, she tried passive-aggressive behaviour and it didn’t work. There’s a reason she goes after Catalina, and it’s not just because it’s easy.

Anne points to herself. “Unstoppable force.” To Catalina. “Immovable object. You move, I stop.”

“…Right. Okay.” A pause. “I know, logically, that you are right – about that particular thing. But, it makes me feel like I’m ignoring part of myself.”

“Just have the good without the bad. If the King of Spain has anything to say about it, kill him and rule the country as their immortal god-queen.”

“I would never be so rash,” Catalina huffs. “I’ll try. Just… don’t mock me for it. If I’m keeping at least one good thing about my life, it will be threatening anyone who insults me with imprisonment.”

“Yessssss…”

Both Anne and Catalina jump at the voice from outside the room. Anne acts first – she opens the door a crack, and sees Jane’s eye on the other side.

“You’ve been at it for two hundred years,” Jane says. “Two. Hundred. Years. I don’t care if you don’t get along straight away, let me have this.”

And, fearing her ire, they do.

~~~

Anna’s on the roof again.

There are two main reasons for this. One, her room is in the attic and it’s the easiest way out of the house. Two, it’s a good place to sit, look up at the stars (at least the ones you can still see, anyway) and think about things.

Kat is on her right, arms around her knees, looking up at the moon. Anna does not think she’s paying much attention to it, however.

“Whatcha thinking about?”

Kat doesn’t answer straight away. “Just how things are better.”

“…They are?”

“I’m living… uh, residing in a house with people I actually like. This is the first time that’s happened since I was about eight, I think.”

Wow. Anna hadn’t had a terribly good time when she was alive – no rights, no fun allowed, go marry some dude you’ve never even met, and no you can’t have fun then either – but Kat’s life might beat out Cathy’s hopeless search for love, in terms of tragedy.

“I cannot truly speak for you, but I have found this…” Anna waves her hands, trying to find the right way to put it, “whole thing to be very affirming. There is no-one to hold you down. No-one to stop you from doing what you like. Well, except priests, but they can be ignored, mostly.”

“You don’t brood about it too much?”

“Why would I? It’s the only reason I’ve been able to see the things I’ve seen. To be here, now, talking to you.” All because she told the wrong (or right) person about how bored she was. Of course she would accept the offer to have fun, even if the whole process wasn’t. “Do you?”

Kat stops to think again, so that’s a ‘yes’. “I’m still getting used to it. But, I don’t mind it. I’m not scared of the things I used to be afraid of. That’s good, right?”

“Sounds good to me. But, if you falter, that’s okay, too. We have supported Cathy, who was the youngest before you, we can do the same here – so long as you support us in turn.”

“Oh, yeah. She’s got that thing about finding the one.” How does Kat manage to fit so much bitterness in only two words? “Don’t get it. She’s got people who love her already. You, and those three around the corner. She doesn’t need them.”

“That’s a very good way of putting it, actually.” Anna’s argument against serious dating has been that three of the people Parr’s courted have tried to murder her, and her ex-husband technically succeeded. It hasn’t worked, but maybe a more positive viewpoint might win out against two centuries of stubbornness.

“Anna von Kleve.”

von Kleve looks down. Ah, speak of the devil. She’s on the balcony below them.

“Cathy! Kat has had some good thoughts about love!”

“Oh? How wonderful.”

She doesn’t seem like she thinks it is, though. She almost looks angry, with the hard eyes and pursed lips and the red-brown mottled book in her hand -

Oh no.

“I think, Anna,” Cathy intones, her voice sharper than any stake, “that we should talk about personal responsibility first.”

[rainbowredrobin]

Fandoms Page

Main Fandoms

COMICS

DC & Watchmen & Stormwatch / The Authority Comics

Marvel Comics

ANIME / MANGA

Bleach

Pokemon

Haikyuu!! & Big Wind Up!

JJBA / JOJO

Naruto & Boruto

Yu Yu Hakusho

Deathnote

OHSHC

DBZ / Dragonball

Sailor Moon

Inuyasha

FMA / Full Metal Alchemist

Casshern Sins

Pandora Hearts

xxxholic

Nana

Space Dandy

Wolf’s Rain

Blood+

Gundam : IBO

Lupin the III

One Piece

Sengoku Basara

Nabari no Ou

Mushi-Shi

Detective Conan / Case Closed

Parasyte : the Maxim

HunterxHunter

Fruits Basket

MOVIES / BOOKS

LOTR / The Hobbit

Star Wars

Breakfast Club

Studio Ghibli movies

TV SHOWS / BOOKS

ASOIAF / GOT

X-Files

Teen Wolf

Power Puff Girls

Hey Arnold!

Thundercats

Ed, Edd N Eddy

GAMES

Ace Attorney

Yakuza games

Fire Emblem

The Wolf Among Us

Resident Evil

Dream Daddy / DDADDS

Until Dawn

Among Us

Yuppie Psycho

Devil May Cry (+ the anime)

Kingdom Hearts

Metal Gear

Vincent : The Secret of Myers / Therapy with Dr. Albert Krueger

OTHER

Critical Role

19 Days

H & H Roman Company

Here U Are

Back to School

At the End of the Road

King��s Maker

Greek Lore

Getting Into

Demon Slayer / KNY

Kuroko’s Basketball

Jujutsu Kaisen

Yuukoku no Moriarity

Revoluntionary Girl Utena

Berserk

Princess Jellyfish

Beast Stars

Steven Universe

Black Clover

YOI / Yuri On Ice

Deadman Wonderland

D.Grayman

Free!

Durarara!!

Death Parade

Yona of the Dawn

Burn the Witch

How to Use an Angel

The Way of the Househusband

Bungou Stray Dogs

Seven Deadly Sins

Dr. Stone

Used to be Into

Twilight

Supernatural

BBC Sherlock & BBC Merlin

SNK / Attack on Titan

Harry Potter

Hannibal

South Park

Glee

House

Blue Exorcist

Black Butler

Corpse Party

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Outlast games

The Walking Dead

Star Trek

Hellboy

Norgami

[theprofessionalpromptmaker]

list your fandoms and one character from each that you identify with.

I surprisingly have basically no fandoms in the traditional sense. I like the source media (when my ADHD lets me focus enough to actually consume media), but I rarely interact with the fandoms of those medias.

So here's some that I thought of right off the bat:

Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji (I prefer the manga and stopped keeping up with the various animes): I don't know if I identify with Ciel exactly, but I really love how I can relate to how his PTSD is depicted. Like, honestly the manga depicts PTSD pretty truthfully, and I enjoy that aspect of Ciel's character. [This ask reminded me I have to catch up on the manga, basically I just binge it for a few days and then don't read it for several months to a year.]

The Arcana: I guess Muriel? I mean, I generally prefer to be on my own. I am happiest when I'm alone (even people I deeply love and care about I can't stand being in their presence for more than 4 hours before I'm emotionally exhausted).

Kamisama Kiss: I don’t relate to any of the characters closely but that one scene between Akura-Ou and Tomoe in one of the movies (I recently rewatched the anime and the movies and I need to re-read the manga because my memory is crap) where they’re just chilling on a fluffy rug in a castle they took over and live in together in and talking about moving and also eating a god to get immortality and then forehead touching -- that is just such strong best friend/platonic partner goals. I sent my own platonic partner screenshots of that scene, because that scene gave me new goals.

(And an “Honorary Mention” of an old fandom I was in, but I never actually finished it and probably never will due to a lot of bad memories) Homestuck: Probably Jade Harley, because I am nerdy in various ways and I have a lot of indoor plants -- though my platonic partner compares me to Dave Strider, because I keep to myself and there’s a lot more to me than my first impression gives off, according to her.

I have other fandoms but I honestly can't think of anyone in those fandoms I can relate too but that could be because I need to get caught up (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, The Dragon Prince, Fruits Basket, My Hero Academia, Lucifer, Carmen Sandiego, Castlevania, MXTX’s 2 gorgeous chinese animes [Heaven’s Official Blessing/Tian Guan Ci Fu and Mo Dao Zu Shi] -- most of these things I am way behind on).

My friends from high school like to compare me to Harley Quinn, and my brother has made me to watch the first season of the animated series, and I can see where my friends made that comparison. I am very chaotic energy wise, among other things.

Wow, this took me way longer than I thought it would! And I probably left out quite a few series.

[celestianstars]

Soft Gestures

Florian Munteanu x Reader

For @kati-1997 who requested a fic where the reader is an actress and sings in Creed II with Tessa and Florian falls for her.

This is such a cute idea! I made it fluffy so I hope you like it!

Also, feel free to send requests, headcanons, etc, my asks are open 😊

(Chapter 2 of Falling Is the Easiest Thing will be up either later tonight or tomorrow morning depending on when I get home lol, so stay tuned y’all)

——————————————————————————

Tessa’s role as Bianca was expanding this time as the second installment in the Creed franchise began filming. Her performances were going to be bigger than before and this time around they wanted to have another singer make an appearance as a headliner for a big show she was doing.

You auditioned for the part as soon as your agent found out about it, spending the weeks in between your audition and the confirmation of a yes or no, in a nervous panic. 

The role was such a big opportunity for you, your love of singing and songwriting on the side went hand in hand with your passion for acting and to have the possibility at working with such an amazing lineup of actors was a dream.

The news came eventually though and you basically lost it when you found out you were given the part.

And the first time you met everyone was probably one of those days you’d remember till you died. The sheer amount of star power from Tessa and Michael to Stallone and Dolph, it was insane that you were here and getting to share a creative space with them.

With being a newcomer though, you ended up gravitating more towards Florian since he was new to the party too and it was nice that he knew how you felt and vice versa.

Not only was he incredibly good looking but he was also so talented when it came to acting, he was just a natural and you could see that clear as day.

And when it came to you, Florian thought the same. You had a gift with your voice and your words and acting just enhanced that.

“So are they letting you write your own song or do they want you to write about something specific?” Florian asked you one day while Tessa and Mike were in your kitchen.

Your apartment in LA kind of became the go to spot for the four of you in between filming days just to hang out and relax, and also for you and Tessa to write music.

“Nah, they’re letting me write my own song, which I’m grateful for cause I think my personal sound would fit with Tessa’s music as Bianca.” you tapped your pen against the notepad in your lap, an idea for a verse coming into your head.

Florian was sitting on the opposite end of the couch as you but since he was such a giant, it felt like he was closer and you didn’t mind it one bit.

“I’d love to hear it sometime if you don’t mind. I saw your instagram story when you were in the studio and I liked what you were playing. You’re good at it.” he complimented you, an edge of softness in his voice.

Breaking out into a smile you could feel your cheeks getting red. You were gonna get yourself into trouble if you didn’t stop these thoughts but he had been so sweet to you since the moment you met and every time he said something like that you went crazy inside.

“For sure Flo! And thank you, that means a lot coming from you.” you nudged his knee with your foot playfully, unable to contain the smile on your face.

He caught you by the ankle before you could move your foot away, his other hand coming down to tickle your calf which made you jerk your leg out, catching him square in the jaw.

“I should have known that would happen.” the deep rumbling of his laugh filled your ears.

“Oh my god I’m sorry! Noooo!” you had to hold your side for a minute from laughing so hard cause now he was the one with red cheeks.

“Aww wait let me see!” you scooted closer to him, your laughter subsiding a bit as you ran your thumb along his jawline, his beard feeling soft to the touch.

“You think I need stitches, (Y/N)?!” he feigned concern and clutched his chest dramatically, which made you giggle again.

“Oh yeah sorry to break the news to you but you’re gonna have one big scar on that handsome face of yours!” your hand had dropped down to his chest just inches away from his own hand.

“Ah ok so you admit I’m handsome huh?”

“Ok yeah shut up!” you rolled your eyes, silence falling between you two after that, just the slightest bit of tension noticeable as you both just sort of looked at one another, not really having anything else to add but just wanting to be in the moment a bit longer.

Tessa and Michael re-entered your living room with snacks, making you withdraw your hand from Florian’s chest quickly, scooting back to your original position.

Florian sat up just a little straighter too, both of you trying to act normal but failing cause Tessa could already feel what was up, she saw how friendly you were with each other since you had met. 

She didn’t say anything out of respect, however, she was gonna wait to see how far it went because in all honesty, she could see how good a pair you and him were and didn’t want to scare either of you away from each other by announcing her knowledge of anything.

Florian missed the physical contact of your hand on him as soon as you’d moved away and most of all, the way you laughed. It felt so light and joyous and showcased how comfortable you were around him. 

He knew his appearance was a little intimidating and when he first met you he saw the familiar look of awe mixed slightly with fear in your eyes that everyone had when they first laid eyes on him but you never shied away from him after that. Both of you gradually got closer to each other and it just meant a lot to him to have a friend.

Being in LA was new for him, he had no family or friends out here and he couldn’t really tell them much about what was going on with the movie and everything because he felt like they’d know he was struggling most days, even with how grateful he was for the opportunity.

His character, Viktor, was a man filled with a lot of hurt and he had to go to a pretty dark place to get into character. This was also new to him and he couldn’t find a way to get out of character when he wasn’t on camera just yet so his mood was really tanking, even when Michael would drag him out to eat or hang with him or when he would talk to his family.

He missed them, he was a big family person and not having them near was so foreign to him. His apartment here in LA was so empty all the time and his head space was often filled with sadness lately.

But despite that, you were the one thing that was keeping him sane essentially. Admitting it was hard but he knew deep down that he was falling in love with you every day he was around you.

You made him feel seen and understood and you noticed that he was struggling sometimes and wanted to do what you could to help because he was one of the sweetest people you’d ever met, those were the words you used when he asked you about it one day and that only softened his heart for you more.

To you, nothing about him was fake or forced and you tried making a promise with yourself that this was just a small crush on him because he probably had a girlfriend back in Germany or something but the more you were around him, the more intimate things became.

------

After another day of bouncing ideas off Tessa, you decided it was time to take another crack at the song in the studio and invited Florian along, not forgetting about what he said the other day.

You got to work, playing with the beat, not really happy with the way the bass sounded. It felt off and you spent a good fifteen minutes trying different frequencies out, turning to Florian and asking him what he thought.

“Here, I’ll play the track for you without my voice on it first and you tell me what you think.” you sat cross legged in a chair, swiveling around to face him.

He was sitting with both his feet on the floor, his legs positioned wide which you should be used to by now because that’s how he always tended to sit but you weren’t. He looked so damn good, especially with the gold chain he had on and the all black outfit, he was really looking like a snack and it killed you in the best way possible.

The sound of the beginnings of your work filled the room and you studied his face closely as he started bobbing his head to the beat.

“You made this? It’s like...perfect (Y/N)!” his body moving a little bit more in time with the music as he leaned forward towards you.

“Yeah I produce and mix everything I make, I like doing it all myself really, and you think so, not too heavy sounding?” you stretched and ended up resting your legs on his thighs, which he didn’t mind.

“Ahh the lady does it all huh, that’s amazing,” his forearm now rested on top of your legs, the contact making you shiver slightly. “But no, no it’s really good, I like the dark sound to it but it’s just enough to have the right affect. I told you you were good at this.”

He was so impressed and very much a fan of the kind of music you were making and watching you sing was such a turn on. You would close your eyes and move your body with the song and he had nothing but heart eyes for you when you did that.

You thanked him about a dozen times over the course of the few hours you spent in the studio, not able to stop the blush from creeping up on your cheeks when he praised your skills and kept raving about how your voice sounded and that you should drop an album with that “angelic voice” of yours.

His support was one of the best things; it helped you focus a little less of worrying if everything sounded great and more on just letting it all flow out of you as it came naturally.

You showed him how to use all the editing software and how to make a song from scratch, his attention and interest in something you gave so much of your heart to, filling you with another wave of love for him.

He made you feel special. And for Florian, all he wanted to do was make you feel understood and cared for like you always did for him.

----

The sun had set and the stars were out as both of you headed out of the studio, still laughing about the attempt Florian made to make his own music, which you kept insisting sounded amazing and that he wasn’t bad at singing but he kept arguing your points.

The car ride was silent but comfortable as you drove him back to his apartment. He didn’t want to go back there in truth, he knew another lonely night was waiting for him there and he’d give anything to be with you for a little while longer.

His emotions were easy to read for you and you knew he was deep in thought and it didn’t seem like it was about anything fun.

“Hey...you alright?” you moved your hand from the steering wheel for a second to squeeze his hand gently, the red light from the stoplight in front of you illuminating his features.

“Hmm, yeah. I...just don’t really wanna go back to an empty apartment again.” he held your hand, his thumb running over your knuckles.

His voice was quiet and a little solemn and you felt your chest tighten at seeing him this way.

“Then you’re crashing with me tonight. I don’t want you to feel alone Flo. We can watch a movie, I have ice cream and you have a sweet tooth sooo...say no more!” you stated, leaving no room for him to argue even though he did.

You insisted that he wasn’t intruding upon your life, it was the least you could do and in truth you wanted more alone time with him too.

And that’s how you ended up snuggled against his chest, wrapped in a blanket as the two of you finished up a tub of ice cream.

You were feeling bold and seeing him half sprawled out on your couch gave you the idea to just try it, see what he would do, you’d find out how he felt once you did and wouldn’t have to guess anymore, so that’s what you did, lifting up the blanket draped over his torso, settling down against him as the movie started.

Florian couldn’t help but smile and try and remember how to breathe because this was all he’d been thinking about doing with you for months now. Watching Netflix with you in his arms, that was peace right there.

Without hesitation, he wrapped an arm around your waist, pulling you in just a little more, his other hand coming down to hold your chin, gently making you look at him.

“I don’t think I’ve ever told you how much everything you do is so important to me. Thank you, (Y/N), you’re an angel. My angel.” he let his fingers trail from your temple down your cheek, your eyes closing at the sensation, his words making your heart beat faster.

The movie didn’t even matter anymore because all either of you could see was each other.

“I’d do whatever I can for you, Florian. I like you a lot, more than I can express actually.” your voice was a whisper, still reeling from the fact that he called you his angel.

He grinned and his head fell back against the back of your couch for a second, hardly believing that you admitted it, before he returned his attention to you.

“I feel the exact same way.” he tangled his legs with yours, making you clutch his large frame, wanting to be impossibly closer to him as he placed a kiss on your forehead softly.

You felt so safe and loved in his arms like this, relief washing over you that he was just as into you as you were into him and that everything was falling into place.

It all meant something important and deep and neither of you could wait to spend more time, exactly like this.

[absolutebl]

Ok, but I look at their poor fitting suits in Seven days and all I can think is Tang Yi would be disappointed! This is why we leave suits to Taiwan. (God bless Tang Yi, Ou Wen and Zhou Shu Yi for warming my little suit loving heart). Hmm, new BL ranking of best suits. WBL Fighting Mr 2nd for the win? But Shu Yi or Shi Zhe Yu?

FASHION it’s what’s for dinner.

Zhou Shu Yi in suits in We Best Love 2, honestly he does a 3 piece. I LOVE a 3 piece.

But you're right Shi She Yu coordinating with his boyfriend all the time in WBL is TOP TEIR coupledom.

But OuWen does a 3 pieces a couple times too in Love in Science?

And Tang Yi is not to be discounted in HIStory 3: Trapped, that all black look ALONE is a thing of beauty.

OMG Taiwan in... The Great SUIT OFF.

Oh wait.

Suit off...

OuWen wins. 

[anime-otaku-nation]

Anime Recommendations

Blue exorcist, beelzebub, snow white with red hair, is it wrong to try and pick up girls in a dungeon, yona of the dawn, cheer boys, gantz,my hero academia, re;life, mob psycho 100, one punch man, naruto, fairytale, bleach, this boy caught a mermaid, ouran highschool host club, code geoss, himouto umaru chan, d-frag, Tokyo goul, tokyo ravens, black butler, psycho pass, monochrome factor, pokèmon, food wars, chaos dragon, c-money, banana fish, date a live, saiki k, love stage, kirepapa, kamisama kiss, death note death parade, castlevania, the devil is a part timer, erased, gurren lagann, absolute duo, red data girl, the parade of 100 demons, that time I got reincarnated as a slime, in another world with my smartphone, log horizon, sword art online, drarara,parasite, full metal alchemist, cowboy bebop, d gray man, dragon ball, gintama, Charlotte, attack on titan, 7 deadly sins, seraph of the end, haikuu, free, prince of stride alternative, akame ga kill, future diary, ousama game, black cat, noragami, magi, maid sama, fruit basket, vampire knight, soul eater, inuyasha, highschool dxd, bungou stray dogs, goblin slayer, citrus, the kings avatar, guilty crown, a certain magical index, yuri on ice, taboo tatoo, shimoneta: a world where the concept of dirty jokes doesn't exist, assassination classroom, promised Neverland, toradora, Alice in borderland, fate stay night, no game no life, mushi shi, hitorijime my hero, danganronpa, kenlichi the mightiest disciple, aldnoah zero, gargantia, deadman wonderland, servamp, 91 days, over lord, nanbaka, kaze no stigma, divine gate, another, shuffle, clannad, junjou romantica, school days, hetalia, dramatical murder, dakaretai 1 i ni imasu, colorful, the girl who leapt through time, fake, earthian, dokyuusei, beryl and sapphire, grandmaster of demonic cultivation, your cat ears are showing, hybrid child, loveless, no.6, k, gravitation, ai no kusabi (2012), kono danshi, 5 centimeters per minute, your lie in April, re zero, mirage of blaze, no money, saint beast, sex pistols, spirit pact, super lovers, the emperor's strategy, vassalord, yami no matsuei, robotica*robotics, narudoma, togainu no chi, tight rope, marginal prince, Angel's of death, welcome to the n.h.k, my neighbor totoro, kiki's delivery service, princess mononoki, howel's moving castle, kiss him not me, trickster, shiguri, shisha no teikoku, chaos child, melody of oblivion, blame, paprika, kuro no sumika, black bullet, black clover, the morose mononokean, code breaker, c-control, chrome shelled regios, code realize, devil may cry, endride, heaven's lost property, jyu oh sei, karneval, nabari no ou, pop team epic, prison school, radiant, Rosario+vampire, rorouni kenshin, samurai champloo, blood blockade, buddy complex, classroom of the elite, cute high earth defense club love, dances with the dragons, dragonar academy, fafner, fooly cooly, lucky star, miss kobayashi's dragon maid, angel beats, sky wizards academy, the silver guardian, Tokyo majin, world break, harmony, air gear, world trigger, vocaloid, jo jo's bizarre adventures, eye shield 21, nichijou

[strawnarrries]

Hii!!! It’s my birthday so I was wondering if you could do a Harry smut where he buys you a vibrator for your birthday and then uses it on you? Thank you!

Warning(s): birthday sexxxx

POV: 2nd

Happy birthday, babe!!! I hope you had an amazing birthday! Thanks so much for requesting this. I really hope you enjoy it xx

It had been such an amazing birthday. Definitely one at the top of the list. Your amazing boy had woken you up with kisses all over your face and told you he had made breakfast for you. It was your favorite, pancakes with bacon and eggs. Then you did your favorite and sat on the couch, cuddled up in a blanket in front of the fire while you watched your favorite movie. Later this night, you went out to dinner with your whole family to celebrate and then came back home to have cake. That went amazing as well. 

Sadly, the night was over and everyone had left to go home. After cleaning up a little, Harry walked over to you with a big grin on his lips. 

“Have a g’birthday?” he asked, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you into him, canceling out space in between you. 

“I did. Thank you so much, baby.” you smiled, wrapping your arms around him and pulling him into a tight hug. 

“I love you.” he whispered into your ear. 

“I love you too.” you whispered back. 

Pulling away to look at you, you kept your arms wrapped around each other. 

“’ve go’ one mo’ gift fo’ yeh upstairs.” he smirked. 

“Harry, really? You already got me enough. I told you not t’ do that much this year.“  

“I kno’, babe, bu’ I think you’re really gonna like this one. I think we both will.” he smirked and it wasn’t just any smirk, it was his sexy smirk so you kinda had an idea of what it was. 

Smiling softly, he grabbed your hands and began to lead you upstairs to your shared bedroom. You walked in and he closed the door behind him. 

“Okay, I want’ yeh t’ sit righ’ here. I’ll be righ’ back.” he ordered, setting me down at the edge of the bed. 

He walked into your bathroom and you waited patiently for him. Only seconds later, he walked back out with a perfectly wrapped gift. It was big and square, wrapped with white and gold, sparkly, polka dotted wrapping paper. It also had a cute, baby pink bow at the top. 

“Harry, tha’s huge! How much did you spend?”

“It wasn’ much at all, baby. I promise.” he smiled, “I wrapped it myself. ’s good. I know. Yeh don’t have t’ tell me.” he handed the gift to you.

“It is. ’m impressed.” you chuckled softly, taking it from his hands. 

“I jus’ have the gift of wrappin’ presents.” he teased with an awful attempt of a pun.

“’m about t’ not have sex with you.“ 

"Who said we were havin’ sex?” he shrugged. 

You rolled your eyes teasingly, looking down at the box, ready to open it. Pulling on the pink bow, you took it off and dropped it on the floor. You slowly began to rip the wrapping paper off. 

“You’re like a grandma, (Y/N). Rip tha’ shi’ off.” he teased.

You giggled and ripped the rest of the wrapping paper, crumbling it up and dropping it with the bow on the floor. A plain, white box was now in your hands. Lifting the top lid of the box, you removed the pink tissue paper only to see another wrapped present. 

“Really?" 

He giggled, "Go on." 

You smiled and began to rip the wrapping paper off of that. Coming to smaller white box, you opened it to reveal and pink hand-held vibrator laying at the bottom of the box. 

"Harry,” you gasped, grinning, “You naughty boy.”

He giggled and you set the box to the side, thrashing your body onto his and attacking his face with kisses. You fell against the bed and his lips found yours, sharing a few deep ones. 

“I’ll take that as you like it?” he asked. 

“I love it.” you grinned. 

“Good, ‘cause I was hopin’ that we’d try it ou’ t'night.” he offered, pushing a strand of hair behind your ear. 

“By t'night you mean righ’ now?” you asked. 

“By t'night I mean righ’ now.” he repeated, a smirk on his lips. 

The next thing you knew, you were lying on your back, on the soft bed sheets with Harry hovering over your, pressing his soft lips to your neck. Your belly was filled excited butterflies, aggressively futtering around. You hummed and he lifted his head, looking at you. You shared grins before he leaned down, attaching your lips again. His tongue slipped out of his mouth and into yours, exploring.

You let your hands explore his clothed back before you grabbed onto the collar of his black, buttoned shirt, tugging at it. Getting the hint, he sat up and began to unbutton his shirt. The first few buttons were already unbuttoned, showing off his chest. He went slow and watched as you admired him. A smirk was planted on his lips as he dropped his shirt on the floor. 

“You’re so handsome.” you smiled as he hovered over you again. 

He smiled, attaching your lips again. He used his nondominant hand and cupped your right breast in his big palm. He began to massage it softly and you gently ran your fingernails up and down his bare back. Moving his hand down, he slipped it under your dress and cupped your bare breast. 

“You’re no’ wearin’ a bra.” he smirked, squeezing your breast and running his thumb over your nipple.

You had worn a simple, black and white, backless dress. If you wore a bra, people would see your bra strap on your back so you figured to just go braless for the night and you knew Harry would love it. 

“Not a dress you can wear a bra with, silly boy.” you giggled, rubbing your nose up against his. 

He grinned, “Speaking of this dress, it looks gorgeous on yeh but I think it’s time fo’ it t’ come off.”

He rolled off of you and you sat up, pulling your dress up and over your head. Tossing it on the ground, you laid back down and he hovered over you again. 

“My pretty girl.” he whispered into your ear, letting a hand slide down your body. 

You blushed softly, feeling him press his lips to your jaw. 

“Gonna make yeh feel good t'night? Yeh gonna let me?” he asked. 

“Yeah,” you murmured, nodding quickly.

You felt him smirk against your skin before his kisses began to trail down, down, down, all the way to the elastic band of your black, lace panties. He pressed kisses all over your core and inner thighs, nipping at your skin and then soothing it with his tongue.

“Look at you. Soaking through your panties, babe.” he hummed, running a finger up your clothed slit, feeling it soaked with your arousal fabric.

He pressed kisses to your clit over the soft fabric of your panties, running his teeth along it causing gentle pleasure to zap through your body. Your tummy tingled with impatientness. You bucked your hips up slightly and let a soft whimper leave your throat, hoping he’d get the hint. Luckily, he did and slipped his fingers past the band, sitting up and beginning to slide your panties down your smooth legs. He tossed them over his shoulder and grinned at you. Placing his hands on your knees, he opened your legs again, getting comfortable between them. Coming face to face with your exposed core, he smirked, looking up at your through his lashes. 

He wrapped one arm around your thigh, resting his hand on your hip. Using his other hand, he placed his fingertips on your clit, rubbing it oh-so-gently. You closed your eyes and reached down, threading your fingers through his soft hair. Adding pressure, he began to rub it in circles and you bucked your hips up. Turning his head to the side, he pressed his soft lips to your inner thighs again. 

Moving his fingers down, he slid them up and down your slit before entering two of them into your dripping entrance. Curling them up, he ran them across your special spot, causing a moan to leave your lips and your back to arch up off the bed. You heard a soft grunt leave his throat as he began to thrust his fingers in and out of you. 

Pulling them out of you, he looked up at you. 

“How ‘bout we try out that vibrator, yeah?” he offered and you smiled, nodding your head quickly. 

Reaching behind him, he grabbed the box and took the vibrator out of it. He messed around with it for a couple of seconds, trying to get it to turn on and start buzzing. 

“Does this need batteries?” he mumbled to himself, trying to figure out if the vibrator needed batteries or not, “Goddammit, it does. I’ll be back." 

You giggled softly at his frustration as he got up from the bed and ran downstairs to go fetch some batteries to make the vibrator work. You chuckled softly to yourself and waited for him to come back. 

Only minutes later, he walked back to our room, closing the door behind him.  

"It’s working now.” he smiled, lying on his belly in between your legs again. 

“Good.” you smiled as he turned it on and the vibrator started buzzing. 

“Ready?” he grinned up at you, hovering the toy over your throbbing clit. 

You nodded quickly before letting out a moan when you felt the blissful vibration buzz against your sensitive clit. 

“Yeh like it?” Harry asked, grinning at your reaction.

“Yeah, oh yeah,” you moaned, letting your head fall back against the pillow. 

Continuing to please you, whimpers fell from your lips and your orgasm began to rise. He smirked the whole time, watching your every move and hearing your every moan. You gripped onto his hair, tugging at it. Your body was full of pleasure. You’ve never tried anything like this in your life and you’ve been missing out because this is heavenly. You have such an amazing man in your life to try it with. 

Harry is a pleaser in bed. Of course he likes getting pleasure himself, but he’s always pleasuring you, always making sure you’re feeling good. He never makes your cum only once in bed and he never releases without you releasing first. You’re just so grateful for him. 

You bucked your hips up, chasing your orgasm. Your face was flushed and your eyes were squeezed shut. Harry began to move the vibrator, letting it massage every part of your core. You felt the pleasure begin to fade and you let your moans soften. Opening your eyes, you looked down and watched Harry. He was so focused on his movements. His plump lips were parted, small breaths escaping. His hair was a mess from you running your fingers through it. The sight of him could’ve just made your release right then and there. The vibrator got closer and closer to your entrance, massaging the skin around it. 

“Can I put it in yeh?” Harry asked sweetly.

“Yeah.” you nodded, smiling down at him.

“Tell me if you get uncomfortable or it hurts or somethin’." 

"I will." 

Your smile widened at his sweet words. He looked back down at your core and positioned the buzzing toy at your entrance. Slowly pushing it in, your body shook with pleasure and a whine left your lips. 

"Yeh alright?” he asked. 

“Uh huh, feels good.” you breathed out. 

He smiled at you and you closed your eyes. He began to thrust the vibrator in and out of your core. It was definitely a weird and different feeling, but you liked it. You continued to massage his scalp with your painted fingernails. He adjusted the vibrator so it hit your special spot. He knew from the heart where that spot was. Just like with his fingers, you arched your back and let out a moan. You let go of his hair and grabbed onto the sheets you were laying on. You gripped them tightly, tugging at them roughly. 

“No, pull my hair, babe.” he whined. “Don’t wanna hurt you.” you breathed out. 

“Don’t care. Pull my hair. Hey, that rhymed.” he grinned. 

He’s such an idiot. You chuckled softly and tugged on his hair again, pulling at it so he was closer to your core. He licked his lips before leaning down and pressing a soft kiss to your clit. 

“Oh god, yeah, do that.” you moaned, wanting the pleasure of his mouth in the mix as well. 

He chuckled softly, attaching his lips to your pulsing clit. With his mouth sucking on your clit and the buzzing vibrator thrusting in and out of you, you couldn’t help but moan loudly. You knew it wouldn’t be long until you were squirming and screaming under him. 

“Talk to me, babe. Wha’s it feel like?” he hummed, the vibrations from his voice sending a new wave of pleasure throughout your body.

“God, Harry. Feels so fu-ckin’ good. A-always make me feel good.” you stuttered, your breath hitching in your throat. 

“Gonna cum soon?” he asked, his voice deep and raspy. 

“Yeah, ’m almost there,” you breathed out. 

He smirked, beginning to flick his tongue across your clit and sped up the movements of the vibrator in you. Moans spilled from your lips and his free arm wrapped around your waist as you began to squirm around. 

Soon enough, your moans loudened and Harry’s grip on your waist tightened. The ball in your stomach exploded and filled your body with pleasure. You gripped onto the sheets tugging them roughly. You felt Harry’s lips leave your clit and him slowing down the thrusts of the vibrator, letting you ride out your orgasm. You felt like you had entered heaven; everything felt so good. Your toes curled and your mind went fuzzy.

Once your orgasm began to fade, you began to come back to reality. Your chest moved up and down as you breathed heavily. Harry’s grip on you loosened before he pulled the vibrator out of your and turned it off, setting it to the side. Slithering back up your body, he grinned. 

“How was tha’?" 

"Oh, it was so good.” you breathed out, smiling up at him. 

“’m s’ glad,” he grinned, leaning down and sharing a few passionate kisses with you.

“Happy birthday, baby girl." 

"Thank you so much, Harry. I love you." 

"I love you too.”

Smiling, you rolled up over so you were on top, “I think it’s your turn." 

[dmprce]

〘 DAY IN THE LIFE VLOG 〙≡ / ≡ TASK 01. ❜

“Y’all really wanna see the gritty aspects of your favorite producer life, huh? Well kids, I’ma give y’all the PG...maybe PG-13 version. Let’s see what the day holds.” Getting ahold of his daughter’s hand, Dimitri balanced his camera in the other as they walked out of their home and to his car. “If you down for a good time say hey!” As his daughter repeated what was said, it caused a laugh to fall from his mouth before he paused his filming. || 〘 @unrulyrp​ 〙

8:30 AM

With his Canon EOS Rebel mounted onto his dashboard he turned the Home soundtrack on as Aliyah immediately began her attempt at singing along to the songs. “If ya’ll ain’t know, you can see that this is her cut. We do representation around these parts. But we ‘bout to drop her off with her nanny as usual ‘cause bein’ a workin’ parent requires help. Never be too prideful to ask, y’all.” It didn’t take long before he was at the familiar complex and doing the usual trade off when he had to go to the session. “Aight, I’ma get you later, baby girl. Tell these folks bye,” he said with a smile before giving a kiss goodbye.

12:50 PM

“Aight so, we in the stu right now, workin’ on some hot shi— stuff. I was made aware to ya’ know, watch my language and allat. Don’t cuss kids. Ya’ mama just might slap you or sumn.” Dimitri messed around on the soundboard as his frequent collaborator 2 Chainz sat back, nodding his head in approval. “Y’all really don’t get to see the magic this dude be cookin’ up. Nigga from Chicago but can really adapt to any sound. Folks don’t be adaptable like that for real. This what we call talent.”

The few other people that were in the current session all chimed in with agreement, despite the young man’s urge to knock it off. As he settled in to recline in his current chair, he let the beat loop before taking a glance at the camera. “Just know, we ‘bout to have another one. This the first preview?,” he’d questioned while looking around before getting a confirmation that it was. “You heard it here first, folks. Hold on to this ‘til it drops.”

7:15 PM

With Aliyah situated in her booster seat at the table, he held the camera up to pan across the table within the noisy restaurant. “So, as you can see here, we got a lil family dinner thing goin’ on. Besides the lovely woman who made it all possible.” The obvious sarcasm laced in his tone was met with laughter as Omari sent his middle finger to the camera. “Man, fuck her. Bitch was only good for two things.”

“And if you don’t know, now you know, niggas! We be out here doin’ the damn parent thing. ‘Cause who said Black daddies don’t be involved? Miss me wit’ the bullshit,” Dimitri said before handing his daughter another crayon. “But this video is wraps. Everything else for the evening can’t be broadcast on YouTube anyways...maybe one of it’s x-rated counterparts. We out.”