“If you make a joke about me liking little boys, Rin, I swear to God Himself that you will regret it.”
“…Tch. You’re no fun.”
Shirou watched the two banter without a word. Kotomine Kirei… that was the mastermind behind most of the routes in this war. Him and Gilgamesh. Therefore, he was someone to watch out for. The Master of Lancer, Gilgamesh. Not only that, he was someone skilled at close combat, even if he had declined over the years.
Shirou lowered his head and said, “A pleasure to meet you, Father Kirei. I am Emiya Shirou.”
“See, Rin? Even your crush has better manners than you. Where did I go wrong in raising you?”
“Oh shut up,” Rin said. “Just hurry up and explain things so we can leave already.”
Kirei laughed. “Very well. So, Emiya Shirou. Where would you like me to begin?”
“I already got most of the information from Rin, actually. She mentioned something about me having to report to you…?”
“Ah.” Kirei shook his head. “There is no need for that. I already realized who you were after Rin called me, Master of Saber.”
“What?” Rin scowled. “Than why did you tell me to bring him to see you?”
Kirei smiled. “Can I not wish to see the girl I raised up all these years?”
“Raised?! You damned-“ Rin took a deep breath and then said, “…Fine. You saw me. Happy?”
“Oh, very much so. However, I would ask something of you, Emiya Shirou.”
Shirou frowned. “What is it?”
“Tell me. Was your father’s name Kiritsugu?”
A strange turn of affairs. Shirou felt something was off about the exchange, but he couldn’t help it. There was already so much that had changed since he became ‘Emiya Shirou’. After a moment of contemplating, Shirou nodded. “That’s right. Is it important?”
Kirei shook his head. “Not particularly. It was just a curiosity of mine… although quite amusing.”
“Whatever!” Rin shouted and grabbed Shirou’s arm. “Come on, Emiya-kun. We’re wasting time here.” She started dragging him away.
Shirou simply followed her lead. He didn’t want to spend any more time in the church than he had to either.
As they left, however, Kirei’s voice echoed. “Remember that the church’s doors are always open in case you lose your Servant or decide to rescind your role as a Master.”
After that, the church doors closed behind the pair and Kirei’s form and voice were no longer observable.
===
“That damned annoying priest… I should have known he was just doing this to piss me off.” Rin grumbled to herself as she and Shirou walked out of the church.
“Problems with the guy?”
Rin shook her head. “It’s a long story… but in any case.” Rin came to a stop in the middle of the church’s front yard. “I’m sorry that he wasn’t much help, Emiya-kun.”
“Hm? Don’t worry about that.” Shirou shook his head. “You already told me what I needed to know and showed me where to go if things get hairy. This is the second time you’ve saved my life you know?”
Rin blushed. “Wh-what do you mean? I never-“
“You’re always helping me out when I run into a tough spot in school and now this… thanks, Tohsaka.”
“…Rin.”
“Hm?”
“It’s nothing! Anyway, Emiya-kun!” Rin took a step back and pointed at him. “From this point on, we’re enemies! Got it? So don’t expect me to keep acting buddy buddy with you!”
Shirou laughed and walked over to Saber. “Sure, Tohsaka. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You… Hmph.”
Shirou shook his head and waved at Saber.
She smiled and greeted him. “Welcome back, Master. I presume the meeting went well?”
“Yeah. The priest was a bit weird, but nothing too terrible happened.”
“Good. Then will we be heading back, or going out to patrol?”
“Let’s just head back for now. I still need to make some arrangements if we’re going to be fighting people like Lancer in the near future.”
“Understood.”
With that, Shirou turned around to face Rin. She seemed to be in a heated argument with Archer. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but from the harsh glares Rin was sending, it didn’t seem pretty. Since she was preoccupied, Shirou called out to get her attention. “Well, thanks for everything, Tohsaka!” Shirou waved. “We’ll be heading back now.”
“Ah, wait Emiya-kun!” Rin ran up to Shirou. “Why are you in such a hurry? We’re going to walk most of the same path back, so we might as well stick together.”
Saber glanced between Rin and Shirou before smiling. “Master. It seems you are quite the charismatic individual.”
Rin flushed. “I-It’s not like that! I just… don’t want anyone else killing Shirou off before I do! Yeah, that’s right!”
A lame excuse. Shirou could tell the truth of the matter without thinking, but he decided to act dense. “Well, if that’s alright with you, Tohsaka, we can walk back together.”
Rin nodded. “That’s what I want!”
“…Right.”
Rin was acting really deredere… was that the result of him poking a bit at her softer sides or could this have happened from the get go if Shirou was a bit more assertive? He didn’t know, but it was amusing.
There was also ARcher’s absence. It seemed that the crimson Servant was going to go about and scout to ensure a safe journey back.
“Well,” Shirou said. “Shall we go?”
===
The trio, Archer having gone somewhere for surveillance and independent action, headed back towards the residential district in Fuyuki. Rin and Shirou walked side by side while Saber walked behind them. In a pinch, she would be able to prevent ambushes from behind while Shirou was capable enough to stop frontal assaults for a few blows. Rin… was probably alright.
The moon was high in the sky now, lighting up everything with its pale radiance.
Shirou mulled over the events and his future tasks. First of all, he needed to desparately improve his combat abilities. That could be done by sparring with Saber. After that, he needed to account for her presence and explain to Sakura…
Sakura. Right. There was that whole plotline with her becoming the Shadow. He had to nip that in its bud. And to do that he needed to kill Matou Zouken.
Scratch everything else. The first priority was finding and anti-soul weapon to eradicate that bastard from the face of the Earth. The rest of the war could come later.
“S-So. Emiya-kun.”
“Hm?” Shirou looked over to Rin.
She immediately looked away, but shifted her gaze to look at him in the corner of her eyes. “H-How’s Sakura-chan doing these days?”
“…Fine? She’s been pretty happy, actually. But why do you ask?”
“No reason! It’s just… having that Shinji as a brother, I kind of pitied her.”
Another lame excuse. Was this the ripple effect of him being there? Still, it let Shirou have some fun knowing their secrets.
“What? Wanted to check up on your younger sister or something?”