Chapter 16: Parting the Veil, Part 2

*Campbell*

"Brace!" The call came over the shortwave headsets was the only warning before the straps of my rigging dug into my chest and shoulders as the transport helicopter banked sharply. The pitch-black sea-facing window erupted into red and orange and the sound of the explosion temporarily eclipsed the sound of the whirling blades, despite the heavy ear protection.

"Fuck, that isn't going to come out of our pay, is it?" Jenkins complained.

"Stow it." Growled Johnson. "Look sharp people, we're approaching the LZ."

The transport dipped, ducking under the rising smoke and leveling out above the surface of the water. Spotlights snapped on, roaming the water and the docks like roving eyes as we circled. Metal rattled as the side doors opened, allowing the HMGs to spool out on overwatch and sending torrents of wind whipping through the cabin.

Ugh, the scent of burning oil carried on the wind singed my nose hair and threatened to upset my stomach – making me wish I had a gas mask instead of a half-visor.

"Thermal's out." The blaze consuming the ship saw to that. "NVG's blind. Someone, get me a visual."

I leaned out of my seat as far as the straps would allow, looking over the door-gunner's shoulder as the massive spotlights panned the LZ. Water white-capped near the ship and for a second, I swear the light refracted into scintillating patterns for a brief moment.

Wait…what? That almost looked like–

"I got movement!" Someone from the lead bird called over the TacNet. "11 o'clock low, by the waterline."

The sweeping of the searchlights tightened, swinging around to illuminate the area called out when great plumes of white water erupted around the burning vessel. Something sparkled in the light, breaking off from the ship in great chunks and sending water churning as the vessel began to sink into the harbor.

There!

"Contact! Figure in red." The call came over as guns and lights aligned on a figure – sex indeterminate from such a long distance – walking back away from the docks towards the warehouses and away from the water roiling around the now sinking cargo transport. They were approaching three more figures – hard to see as they were all in all black – flickering in and out of the beams.

"Three more contacts," I spoke over the radio, even as a niggling thought wormed its way through my brain. One red… three black… "Sargent! Are we broadcasting on DS channels?"

The middle figure in black lit a flare, signaling with it over their head.

"Negative response from DS Actual. Flare confirmed. RR03 and RR05, you're clear for approach. RR01, 02, and 04 maintain overwatch." RR03 and RR05 were my squad and Johnson's – the Rapid Response squads that were assigned to Shirou Emiya. The cabin was a flurry of activity – harnesses unbuckling and tethers buckling onto the rappel lines – as the transport banked in and came to hover over the docks.

Line in hand, the brief feeling of my organs trying to escape through my chest took hold – right before gravity took hold and I slid down the line. Boots impacted the concrete – rifle up and safety off – as I cleared the way for the rest of the team. 30 seconds later the helicopter was peeling off to rejoin its circling brethren.

"Holy hell…" Jenkins muttered – thankfully off the radio – next to me as the tac-lights illuminated the off-duty half of the Disciplinary Squad. "How'd they get here so fast? Don't they ever sleep?"

The question went unanswered as Emiya approached.

"I need a radio." Emiya was all business. Gone was the fancy suite the DS agent was usually stuffed into, replaced by some high-end body armor. Tactical webbing and supply pouches were stretched between or buckled over – were those ceramic plates? – a Kevlar vest. On his back, strapped tight over one shoulder, was a large duffel bag and a bow – the same bow I signed to him along with his sidearm – held in one hand.

I felt my spine stiffen, seeing as the steel in his voice commanded the others to respond – part training but also… if he had spoken like this and worn this dress for our first assignment, there would have been less growing pain that first day.

…and fewer fights in the barracks defending him.

"Yessir!" Yusuf saluted, fishing out a spare earpiece and radio from his vest and handing it over as we took up guard positions around Emiya and the Sekirei. "We're on channel 22. DS Actual is on 20. Sitrep?"

"Grail Actual, come in. This is Grail 01." Shirou barked tersely into the radio.

"Good morning Grail 01." Agent Ichinomi's calm, collected voice came over the line. "I'm surprised you're on site. What are we dealing with?"

"Multiple civilian casualties. The perpetrator has fled but enemy forces may still be nearby. I need authorization for all forces to swap to lethal rounds. Authorization Delta Sierra Zero Tango Charlie Foxtrot. Challenge: Breaker."

There was a heavy, pregnant pause as the words registered. Dead civies? Karasuba's blade dripped onto the concrete. There was red on the pavement, the crimson blood almost glowing under the light.

Shit…

"Confirmation: Starlight. Roger that, Grail 01. Authorization for lethal force granted. Transferring command over to you Shirou." There was a half-second – less than a heartbeat of bewildered hesitation – before training took over. I ejected the magazine of S-tranqs, cleared the chamber, and pulled a fresh mag of live rounds from its designated pouch on my tac-vest.

"I need a grid search," Emiya spoke into the flurry of activity. "One motorboat, traveling north, ten-minute lead. One lifeboat, traveling south, eight-minute lead. Set up a perimeter of the docks, no one in or out until we're done. Set up a sweep. Sekirei protocols are in effect. If you see a body, do. Not. Approach. Double tap it in the head and call for Karasuba or myself."

All motion ceased.

"Sir…?" Yusuf, bless him, asked.

"You heard me." Emiya's voice was as cold as Akitsu's fucking personal prisons – the chill cutting through to the bone. "If you find a body, moving or not, you do not approach. Shoot it in the head. Then you shoot it again and call it in. Do you read me?"

"Yessir!" Training overrode the sheer incredulous confusion.

"Good. Karasuba and Akitsu, you two follow RR05 and take the perimeter. Work your way inwards. Haihane, you're with me and RR03. We'll start here and work out."

"Sir, permission to speak freely?" Yusuf leaned towards Shirou, the two of them speaking quietly as the teams got their ass in gear.

"Shoot the head? what are we fighting, fucking zombies?" Martinez asked, forming up on my six as I took my position heading out.

"That was my joke." It was only familiarity and sheer fucking willpower that I didn't jump as the Blue Sekirei rasped the words out behind me. God DAMN we needed to put a bell on her silent ass. But for once… she didn't laugh at her own terrible joke. That alone made me look at the strange, woman-shaped science project.

Her clothes were torn. The skin – what little there was visible through the holes in her clothing and at her neck and face – was abraded like she'd been dragged across something rough. Blood coated her claws – only slightly less nightmarish looking than the Freddy Kruger ones she used to have. More importantly… there was a look in her eye.

There was no follow-up. No innuendo. No joke. She just kept walking through to Emiya's side. I wasn't sure if it was a comfort or not to have the Black Dog of MBI strut through our formation to take point or not. The strongest, toughest woman/thing I'd ever seen had her eyes on a swivel. Emiya's Crimson Shadow – and fuck, I maintained that was a dumb nickname, it should be something more on theme – drew up the rear.

Fuck me…. Emiya was normally terse or frustratingly vague, but the lingering silence from the birds was the most telling: things were going to get bad.

*Minato*

Something was… different.

I wasn't sure what it was, but the pervasive thought dragged me – slowly and resentfully – from the depths of sleep. The first thing I noticed was not that it was much warmer than when I'd gone to bed, nor was it the feeling of others in my bed when I should have been alone. At this point, I was very accustomed to my Sekirei's habit of sleepwalking into my bed at night – on the rare occasions they didn't bother with the pretense and just tucked themselves in with me.

No… the first thing I noticed was that it was slightly harder to breathe than I was used to. The weight on my chest was heavier than Kusano. Did… did Musubi or Matsu roll Kusano off and take her place?

The second thing I noticed was that my pillow was harder than normal. My head was tilted forward, the back of it pressed against something firm and unforgiving, while something smooth and heavy (but strangely soft?) pressed into my cheek.

It was odd, to think that a few months ago I hadn't even received a hug from a non-family member of the opposite sex, and now I didn't even need to open my eyes to tell my head had been tucked into a girl's sternum. Pale white arms – firm and strong but yielding – curled loosely around my head made me think it was Matsu behind me but… well, the 'weight' against my face was off and the toned muscularity of the arms wasn't right for the terminally online redhead.

It might have been the half-awake delirium, but was it strange that I could tell without even a glance?

My own arms were – quite expectedly – pinned to my sides, and the tell-tale glow of sunlight off shimmering blonde hair let me know that Kusano had claimed one as her own instead of just laying bodily on top of me for once. But then… who was on my chest?

I looked down, expecting to see Matsu's bright red or Musubi's dark brown hair. The bare-naked torso greeting me was (surprisingly enough) a regular enough sight at this point that it didn't give me pause (even if parts of me did start to take notice). That alone wasn't enough to shock my brain into gear.

That was reserved for seeing light brown hair draped across said chest – that wasn't the right shade to be Musubi's, and the wrong color entirely for it to be Matsu's.

What…?

The woman (as I traced my eyes towards her face was startlingly familiar, but who I was fairly confident was not one of my Sekirei) was splayed diagonally sideways across me. Her hips were mostly on the woman behind me who was using me as a body pillow and her head resting on an unusually long and full-bodied Kusano. Eyes finally reaching her face, I was not greeted with Matsu or Musubi. There, sleeping in my room – lying mostly naked on top of me – was Uzume.

Oh… fuck. I was dead.

The slightly uncomfortable warmth of the involuntary cuddle pile turned suddenly stifling. I… I needed to not be here. Though Uzume wouldn't care; she had little to no regard for me (or anyone else, apparently) seeing her in various stages of undress. Despite Miya-san's rules against indecency, Uzume still often walked about in nothing but her underwear and stripped down in the halls… and sometimes the backyard.

It was more that even if I didn't know how I ended up in this position – even if I was asleep for god's sake – I needed to escape before I got caught (undeservedly, in my opinion) in the crossfire when (not if) Musubi, or Matsu or Miya-san (or god forbid, Yukari!) found the unabashedly and habitually naked Sekirei in my room. If I was still here when that happened I–

A flash of gold in the sunlight caught my gaze. Wait… if Uzume was here and the girl using me as a teddy bear wasn't Matsu or Musubi… then that meant…

Woodenly, I turned my head towards the head of blond hair shining in the dappled morning light. Long – long enough to be Kusano's – but despite how the little Sekirei had grown in the last few weeks, she hadn't grown that much to be able to match the height of the figure clutching my hand, nor had puberty so much as touched the tiny Sekirei – let alone allow her to develop that much overnight.

Which meant…

My whole body tensed, muscles petrifying in fear as Tsukiumi's face – and not Kusano's – greeted me. My reaction was noticed as she drew her eyebrows together when her 'pillow' shifted and let out a plaintive groan, burying her head further into the crook of my arm in an attempt to escape back into deeper sleep.

I tried (with mixed success) to smother a panicked squeak.

Oh, I was so, so dead.

"Mmm…?" An unfamiliar voice groaned in my ear, carrying the smell of morning breath and stale alcohol with it. "Mina-kun…?" She slurred, half asleep as she nuzzled my hair.

Mina-kun? What?

I struggled not to move as her hands unwound from around my head, sightlessly groping my face and trailing down my neck and shoulders. "Hmm," She purred, "Is it morning or are you just surprised to see me?"

What?

"Mina-kun?" A different, more familiar voice distracted me as Uzume's eyes fluttered open. "Huh. Hey bro." She nonchalantly greeted me, blinking sleep from her eyes. "Looks like Tsu-chan picked the wrong room after all." With a groan – and with complete disregard to her state of dress (or lack thereof) – Uzume stretched languidly, sending tremors through her body as she held the pose. As she was on top of the three of us, the tremors traveled through her body and shook us all. "I see Kazehana is up. How about you, Princess? You still alive?"

"Ugh…" Tsukiumi groaned, and I could see my life expectancy flip inversely proportionally with her awakening state. "Mphglf…." She tucked her head further into my arm, trying to tunnel into it and the blankets as if to hide back in the refuge of darkness and return to sleep. "… die…"

"Yup." Uzume nodded to herself. "Welcome to the morning after. Hmmm…" She hummed, considering something. I didn't like the twinkle that sparkled in her eyes as her gaze traced from Tsukiumi back to me. Then, slowly, to my mounting horror, a smile spread across her face. "Well, if that's how you feel… Oh! Good morning, Minato-kun!"

That traitor!

"Minato?" The stranger's – Kazehana's – hands (thankfully) withdrew from their wayward explorations.

"M-Minato?!" Tsukiumi launched herself upright, scattering the blanket covering her as she looked around wildly. Her gaze went first to Uzume, who had a traitorously pleased smile as she looked up at the blonde – like the cat who ate the canary – and then to Kazehana who I couldn't see, and then her gaze slowly dropped to me.

"Eeeek!" She seized the blankets, tearing them off me (inadvertently dislodging Uzume as well) and covering herself with them. "M-Minato?! P-p-pervert! W-what are you doing in my room?!"

Apparently, and thankfully, it seemed that covering herself was more important than dispensing undeserved justice. Still, I averted my eyes from her, feeling the heat in my cheeks.

"I'm pretty sure it's his room, Tsu-chan." Uzume sat up, sliding off me and stretching her arms up, one curling behind her head and the other her back as she arched into the stretch. The pose did not help my morning problem or my (fledgling and failing) attempts not to stare as her stretch accentuated certain aspects of her features. I turned my head further away from the common – but no less awkward – sight of her so blasely exposing herself to–

Erk! My brain temporarily whited out, filled only with the sight of lily-white skin, smoothed over wide hips and training down plump legs. Kazehana was on hands and knees, stretching out her back by lifting her hips into the air and stretching her arms forward like a cat. Long, dark black hair cascaded over her shoulder as she flexed and – Woah…. I was mesmerized by the full sway of her body. Those had to be nearly as big as my head…

"Minato!" I jumped. "What are you looking at?" Tsukiumi growled in my ear. Her hands latched onto my cheeks and twisted my head (quickly and more than a bit painfully) to face her. Er… face her direction. She was sitting on her legs and though she was normally only slightly shorter than me, the extra height made it so when she pulled me towards her, we weren't quite staring face-to-face. "If you're going to look at anyone, you should be looking at me!"

I looked – Pink! – Oh god, I looked. I raised my eyes (as I couldn't move my head firmly clamped in her grasp) in horror to see the wide open and shocked blues of her own… and then traced the furious blush that bloomed at her cheeks and crawled down her neck, dipping well below her shoulders.

"That's too much!" She shouted and my world went dark. I struggled, flailing and dizzy, to breathe through the downy pillow she was trying to fuse into my face. "Beast! Fiend!"

"You might want to lay off Tsu-chan," Uzume commented blithely, the traitor turned unexpected savior seemingly unbothered by being caught in only her underwear. Again. "Besides," she followed up, "it's not like it's anything he hasn't seen before."

Nope… still a traitor. Was she trying to ensure my encroaching death by suffocation? My attempts to free myself were nothing compared to the Sekirei's strength holding me down.

"Wait, what?" The unrecognized voice – must be Kazehana's – sultry tones mixed with a little grogginess chimed in. "Do you two flash him regularly?"

"Kazehana!" Tsukiumi let go of my head to scold the other woman. Sweet, glorious air reentered my lungs and I tried to crawl away from the blonde.

"Well, yeah." Uzume shrugged, a move that I could hear set Tsukiumi's teeth to grind against each other. "Pretty much all the time."

"You, maybe!" The prickly Sekirei hissed.

"Oh? So I see." I looked up to see Kazehana looking down at me with an expression I couldn't quite place but felt inextricably pinned by. Like I was a rabbit staring up at a fox. Though… she wasn't looking me in the eye. Instead, her gaze was much lower than my face–

"Out!" Tsukiumi shouted, pushing the still mostly naked women off the futon and towards the door. Whatever clothes were within hand's reach were grabbed and shoved into their arms as she tried to corral the two of them out the door.

"Sure, sure, Tsu-chan~." Uzume giggled, letting herself be shoved out of the room. "We'll leave him all to you~."

"Make sure to leave enough to share later~!" Kazehana practically purred, hips swaying hypnotically as she left. The door closed on them, trapping me in the room with just Tsukiumi. From how her shoulders tensed and how her breathing was in ragged pants, I could tell she was pissed.

"Y-you!" She rounded on me, hackles raised. "You will be taking r-responsibility for this."

"Responsibility?" I balked. "Me?!"

"Y-yes!" She took a step forward, but I was already on my feet.

"For what?" I approached her. "No, actually for what? The only thing I know I've done is go to sleep alone for the first time in weeks." She took a step back, but I pursued. "Yet I still end up with company. Only this time, since waking I have been belittled, insulted, manhandled, assaulted–"

Bam!

–the sound of my hand hitting the wall over her head echoed between us as I pressed close to her, practically pinning her to it with my accusations.

"So what, Tsukiumi, am I taking responsibility for doing?" Almost nose-to-nose, I captured her stare with a glare of my own. My voice lowered, almost whispering the words, "What. Did. I. Do?"

Her mouth opened and closed, forming words she didn't speak. We both breathed heavily, the air hot as our exhales entwined. This close, I could see her muscles trembling in her arms and shoulders. Her eyes were dark, pupils wide as she searched for the no-doubt scathing reply for whatever imagined slights I'd given her.

Something soft and slightly pointed poked into my chest, gently but firmly pressing against me. I blinked – and action mirrored by Tsukiumi – as the spell of anger passed from us both. As one, we looked down at where our bare chests were pressed together.

"Ah…" I choked, stepping back and turning away. I heard more than saw as she did the same. "I, um… I didn't mean…" It was hard to find the right words.

"No, it is…" She replied, the heat gone from either of our voices. "I am… equally to blame…"

Neither of us spoke for a moment. We just… stood there, back-to-back in the otherwise empty bedroom. The atmosphere felt… charged. Different from how it was when we were yelling at one another, but I couldn't quite place how.

"Minato…" It was Tsukiumi who broke the silence first, her voice unusually soft. "Would you… I mean… What are your plans for today?"

"Today?" I blinked, almost turning back to face her before I remembered our predicament and stopped. "Seo will be coming by for lunch and bringing the twins. He's an Ashikabi. I don't… I don't think you have anything to be worried about, but I'll make sure he leaves you alone if you wish. I just… I felt you should know…"

"An Ashikabi." Were she any less proper, she might have spat at how she said the word. "I… Thank you. For telling me. And for your offer."

"You don't… need to thank me. It's just the right thing to do." I refuted her thanks. There wasn't a need for it because…

"Is that why you're sticking your neck out for those… those…" I felt her hair brush across my back as she turned to face me.

"Haruka and Kuno need help." Because it was just… what made sense to me. "If someone needs help, I should think… no, I want to be someone who won't hesitate. Especially those I care about. Tsukiumi, you are one of those people. Unless… would you still, after all this time, rather I didn't?"

She was quiet. too Quiet. I risked a glance at her face. Red. Dammit. I must have fucked up. Instead of laying into me, however, she tore her gaze away and stormed out of the room with a huff.

"Ah… crap." I sighed. Once… just once I wished… I wished I could talk to her without messing something up.

By the time I had dressed and tended to the bedding, I had put myself more at ease. I… was no closer to understanding Tsukiumi – her moods were as mercurial as the tides, a fitting testament to the water-wielding Sekirei – but I couldn't control how she reacted. I could only do what felt right. With that thought in mind, before I left the room I folded her forgotten clothes – placing them in a neat pile on the dresser for her to pick up later.

Hopefully, she wouldn't be upset about that either...

Making my way downstairs, I was more than a little surprised that not one of Musubi, Matsu, or Kusano had barged in to complicate this morning's misadventure. It was later in the morning than I was used to. Perhaps… perhaps they had taken the morning to sleep in? Last night had been yet another late (or rather, an early morning) and fruitless search for the Veiled Sekirei…

Or not? I heard voices coming from downstairs but wasn't able to understand what they were saying. Still, I felt the call for both company and breakfast and made my way down.

"–We can discuss this further at another time." Matsu's voice and words became distinguishable as I approached the last step. "For now… good morning, Minato-kun."

Matsu greeted me before I even turned the corner into the living room, her tone going from serious to childish mid-sentence. As I entered the room, I saw that she was seated at the kotatsu with Miya-san and the strange woman from this morning – Kazehana. Thankfully, this time Kazehana had clothes on… not that the purple minidress was much better with how high the hem was or how low the cut was at the neck… or how it was tied together at the sides near her hips, thighs, and both over and under the shoulders without any fabric in between.

I was… pretty sure that if not for her long hair or how she was seated with her thighs pressed together, she'd be giving off quite a show with a dress that short. Even still, she was showing a lot of skin. My cheeks burned as Kazehana winked at me, catching me staring.

"G-good morning, Matsu. Miya-san. Kazehana-san." I stuttered. "Are the others awake? How is Kagari-san doing today?"

"That depends," Kazehana spoke up before Miya-san or Matsu could. "Is water-girl capable of walking?"

Capable of walking? We weren't… we didn't fight that badly! Also, of the two of us, Tsukiumi was much, much stronger than I was. If there was anyone at risk of being injured, it was me. Unless… I didn't come across as a violent man, did I?!

"Kazehana, be nice." Matsu chided, swatting at the dark-haired woman. I was relieved to see the redhead was lacking the distinctive purple bags under her eyes she had yesterday. My sometimes-problematic, often-insomniac Sekirei must have slept last night. "Minato-kun is sensitive."

Matsu! I was not!

"Kagari-san is still unwell, unfortunately, and I believe they are still getting dressed," Miya-san spoke as I approached, sitting down next to Matsu at my usual spot at the table. As I passed her, I lightly brushed my hand against the tip of her braid in warning. The faint dusting of red on her nose as she squirmed conveyed that she got my warning.

I was not sensitive. I was an empathetic and mature young man. My Mom even said so.

"Would you care for some breakfast, Minato-kun?" Miya-san continued, seeing yet ignoring the byplay. I had the feeling that nothing that happened under her roof got by the young landlady.

"Thank you." I accepted the portion of breakfast and tea she prepared and settled in. Slowly at first, but then in larger, more frequent groups, the rest of the tenants (minus Kagari) of the Izumo filled in around the table.

Yukari and Shiina were the last ones down.

"Shirou? Shirou, pick up your damn phone for once." Yukari growled, glaring at her phone and pacing near the table while Shiina assisted Miya-san in making her a plate. She killed the call with an angry huff and tossed it to the side.

"No luck I take it?" I asked, knowing the answer. Shirou hadn't returned any of Yukari's calls or texts since yesterday morning. My last text was also left on 'unread'. As much as Yukari wanted (and she was right that it might be a good idea) to include him in our plans… that would require him to be present.

"No!" She threw up her hands in frustration, plopping down at the table with a jarring thump. "Ugh, I know there's a murderer on the loose and all, but does he have to pick now of all times to shut down again? At this rate, I'll have no reliable brothers!"

Hey! That was unkind.

"Hey." I verbally echoed the thought. Bratty sister.

"Fine…" Yukari rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry, Minato. Thank you for at least being present. That makes you the responsible brother by default."

"Wow… I feel so honored." I deadpanned, clearing the incredibly low bar. Still, Yukari was right: this was unusual. The last time Shirou isolated himself was…

"It's just… I feel like this is just like when Mom got hurt." Yukari continued. "Shirou seems to just… disappear when we need him. I know he's new to this whole family thing, but he needs to reach out to us and not shut down when things get stressful!"

Wait…

"Yukari. Go back." Something began to grow in the pit of my stomach. Sharp and nauseating, like bad ramen. "What did you just say?"

"What?" Yukari blinked. "I just said that Shirou really shut down when Mom got hurt. Remember how he didn't answer his phone after that first call from the hospital? If it wasn't for having Akitsu with me, I probably would have gone insane."

She… she didn't know? That's right… Yukari wasn't there with us when we rescued Ku-chan. I… I hadn't told her or Mom what happened when I thought Shirou was dead. Neither of them knew about the girl Shirou killed.

"That's unfortunate," Miya-san said. "But many people experience – and process – grief and stress differently. It may not be ideal, but you cannot blame your brother for–"

"Shirou doesn't shut down." I interrupted. I looked down, past my bowl. Past the table. The grass was red and slick. The faintest curl of steam rose where the hot blood touched the dew-laden soil. My ears rang with the last, whispered gasp of confusion. The sound of flesh tearing and spilling. "The Veiled Sekirei is going to die. Soon, if she isn't already."

"W-what?" Uzume practically choked on her tea.

"Uzume!" Tsukiumi curled her nose in disgust, almost catching the full spray in the face. "Decorum, please!"

"Minato…" Matsu's whisper was so quiet that if she weren't right next to me, I wouldn't have heard it.

"What do you mean?" Yukari's question had me looking back up to face her and we locked eyes. "Minato…" For once, she looked like she was listening. Like she was serious. "What happened?"

"When Mom got hurt…" I was unsure of where best to start. "No, before that. What do you know about the Green Girl Incident?"

Kusano stopped eating and turned around in my lap. I held her as she tucked her head into my shoulder, gently stroking her hair. That day… that day held painful memories for us both.

"Takami-mama." Unheard by anyone but me, the little blonde whispered into my shoulder. That was right. I had ignored it before – or rather, I hadn't known how to go about broaching the subject – but Kusano knew who Mom was. Mom was injured around the same time Kusano started appearing in my dreams, asking for help.

Mom… also knew about Musubi. I had bought the checkup excuse since Mom worked at the hospital before but…

Mom worked with Shirou… and Shirou worked for Mid Bio Informatics. Where the Sekirei came from. Somehow, in some way, Mom was involved in the Sekirei Plan and was hiding it from us.

"The Green Girl Incident?" Yukari repeated my words, jolting me from my mental tangent. "What's that?"

"That was about the weird forest that grew in the middle of the city, right?" Haruka spoke up. "I remember getting a text from the CEO claiming a girl was in the forest but…" He trailed off as Kuno pouted at him. "I already had Kuno at that time. Besides, with all the Ashikabi fighting outside the forest, it was too dangerous for us to get involved."

Tsukiumi snorted, drawing a glare from Haruka and a wince from Kuno, but she otherwise held her piece. Maybe something I said this morning got through to her?

"Did you get involved in the Green Girl Incident?" Haruka continued, looking about the table. When his eyes met mine, they trailed down to the blonde girl in my arms. I could see as the pieces clicked in his brain, linking together the intimidating vines and roots that Kusano used to threaten the older girls (and him and Kuno the one time) with the creation of the unnatural forest. "Is she?"

"If you're asking if the Green Girl was Ku-chan, then yes," I confirmed. "A Sekirei named Yomi attacked her to take her back to her Ashikabi. Kusano made the forest to hide in and MBI…" made hunting her into a game. Huh. Look at me, parroting Seo's spiteful words from back then. "Let the other Ashikabi know where she was."

"Ugh. Ashikabi are the worst." Tsukiumi scowled. She… wasn't wrong about that one. She knew firsthand what would have happened to Kusano if someone else found her before we did.

"I didn't know about the text at first," I continued, "but Ku-chan was appearing to me in my dreams, calling for help. Seo and I, along with the twins, Musubi, and Homura managed to find Kusano in the forest and save her from Yomi just as she was about to haul her off."

"I mean, I'm glad that Kusano is okay." Yukari broke in. "Little sweetheart is adorable, but how does Shirou fit into this? Don't think I haven't noticed his conspicuous absence from this story."

"Because that was when Shirou found us all. I think… No, I'm sure that Mom wasn't hurt in a lab accident like she and Shirou said she was. She was hurt by the same Sekirei who attacked Kusano and forced her to make the forest to hide in. Shirou must have found out the truth behind Mom's injuries when he was taken to visit her in the hospital."

If…If that was even where she really was.

"Wait, what?" Yukari's eyes widened. "What do you mean, 'he found you'?"

"I mean that when Shirou stopped answering our calls… he didn't shut down. He was hunting the Sekirei who hurt Mom. Somehow, he found out who that Sekirei was and tracked her down through the entire city and into the forest. Just after we rescued Kusano from her…" I swallowed the bile, "Shirou found her too. And then he killed her. Just like that."

All told, from the moment Shirou called us with Mom's condition to when he tracked down, found, and killed Yomi only took him about a day. We had been looking for the Veiled Sekirei for two.

"The Veiled Sekirei might have been able to dodge our ability to find them the last few nights, but if Shirou has been hunting them this whole time too? If he hasn't found them yet, which I doubt, it won't be long until he does find them. When he does…" I had hoped we'd find them first. That we'd be able to find a peaceful solution to get them to stop hurting people, because if Shirou found them before we did then… then… "He's going to kill them."

It was telling how silent the table was at the end of my statement. Kusano had her head still buried in my chest. Matsu, for once, looked serious as she started across the table – tablet nowhere to be seen. Haruka and Kuno looked shaken (as was often their state). Miya-san seemed pensive, contemplating both the table – how I'd ruined the mood – and her teacup, withholding her commentary. Uzume looked pale and Tsukiumi grimaced, holding her stomach. Yukari didn't seem phased, though Shiina seemed to be warring between several conflicting emotions.

Musubi alone hadn't stopped eating during the conversation – not that I should have been surprised.

"Bummer." Kazehana sipped on… was that a carafe of liquor? "So uh, what's a Veiled Sekirei?"

A knock at the door interrupted whatever the reply to that was going to be.

"Ah. That must be Seo. Please excuse me." Miya-san stood, taking the opportunity for what it was, and went to get the door.

"Indeed. That may be our cue to leave as well." Tsukiumi rose. "Right, Uzume?" Uzume didn't answer, her gaze staring at nothing. "Uzume?" Tsukiumi repeated.

"What?" Uzume blinked. "Oh, right. Sure thing, Princess."

"Stop calling me that," Tsukiumi growled, shoulders arching as she hissed like a ruffled cat. She swatted at the irreverent Sekirei, but missed as Uzume dodged.

"Aww, but you're so cute Tsu-chan." Uzume teased before fleeing from the irate blonde. Tsukiumi lunged for her and the sound of their chase carried up the stairs towards their room.

"Those two really aren't fooling anyone…" Yukari muttered, causing Matsu and Kazehana to snort.

What? Fooling who?

"I suppose I should go chaperone them?" Kazehana practically floated to her feet. "Besides, I'm guessing I don't want to be involved in whatever you'll be discussing, given what Tsukiumi was saying last night."

"That's up to you. You're always welcome at our table." Matsu said, suddenly leaning against me. It was only Musubi on my other side (and the extra weight of Kusano on my lap balancing me) that kept me from tipping onto the floor. "But give them a few minutes, it'll be funnier that way."

"Oh? I'll do that." The dark-haired woman gracefully strutted out of the room to Yukari's call of "Take pictures!"

Pictures? Why would there be a need for pictures? I shook my head, pushing the matter out of my thoughts. Girls were weird. Yukari and Matsu were incomprehensible.

"What does… oh! Woah…" Haruka muttered for some reason, red staining his cheeks– "Ah!" before being set upon by Kuno rabbit-punching his arm as fast as she could. Despite being a Sekirei (and supposedly having the same super-human strength as the rest of them), her attack was surprisingly ineffective.

Footsteps heralded the approach of our guests, so I turned to face them instead of watching Haruka try to reassure the jealous Sekirei. The tall, dark-haired beauty that walked in first was not Miya-san, as I had been expecting.

"Oh no." Hikari drawled as she crossed the threshold, a teasing smirk on her lips. "The twerps are multiplying."

"Strong words for someone who hasn't won a single fight." Matsu challenged, sharing a fist-bump with Yukari as the barb sent Hikari bristling.

"Hikari, be nice." Hibiki chided her sister, pushing her growling twin aside. "Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for hosting us."

"Yo!" Seo followed, trailing lazily behind his Sekirei and raising a hand in greeting. Tucked under his other arm was a long paper cylinder. "I heard there's going to be food?"

"Have some respect, idiot!" Hikari elbowed her Ashikabi's side, turning her rage on him, but suspiciously didn't contradict the desire for a free meal.

"Seo…" Hibiki elbowed his other side. "Hikari and I work hard to provide for us. We're guests right now, stop trying to mooch off Miya-san."

"Wow. We really are desperate if we're relying on the wonder twins and tall, dark, and scraggly." Yukari deadpanned, giving a gimlet stare at Seo and the twins before rolling her eyes my way. "This is who you want to rely on instead of Shirou?"

"And how was inviting Shirou over going?" I countered, scoring as she grimaced.

"Kuno thinks we're going to die…" Kuno whispered to Haruka, who nodded.

"Chin up, buttercup!" Seo stepped forward, unrolling the tube he carried onto the table to reveal a giant map of the city. "You want to stick one to MBI and escape the city I hear? Well, that makes me just the man for the job."

"Despite how he looks, Seo is quite reliable," I said, looking over the map. Wow, this was… how did he get such a detailed map? It was black and white, but it included all of the buildings, houses, bridges, and roads. "If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have made it to Kusano in time."

"Minato…" Seo's eyebrow ticked in irritation, but I merely smiled. This was just revenge for the tricks you played on me in the Forest, Seo. Hikari and Hibiki nodded with me as they took their seats. "Right, whatever. Before we begin, how much are you all aware of the current state of the city?"

"There are checkpoints at all the major roads, bridges, the port and the airport." Haruka started off and Seo began to mark those locations in black marker – starting with a thick black line around the outskirts of the city. "We tried to cross at the river, but that has patrols too."

Once Seo was done encircling the city, he circled a large chunk of downtown in black as well.

"This is Mid Bio Informatics headquarters." He said, tapping the new section. "These sections are where there are full-time guard postings, checkpoints, or scanners." He then tapped the major inroads to the city. "Like you mentioned, there are also roaming patrols on foot, by vehicle, and the occasional helicopter."

"Boats too." Matsu chimed in.

"Oh! And the skylight!" Musubi threw her hand up like she was in class.

"Right." Matsu agreed. "MBI has orbital satellites monitoring the city. Each checkpoint is equipped with gene scanners and facial recognition software. Any Sekirei that approaches one is going to get tagged, alerting all nearby patrols. That isn't even the worst part."

"The worst part is here." Seo tapped the MBI headquarters again. "In addition to its own private army, MBI has its own squad of Sekirei – known as the Disciplinary Squad."

"That's Shirou's group." Yukari butt in. It was but… The way Matsu explained it, the Disciplinary was composed of hardened and unrepentant killers. Shirou was even the Ashikabi of the worst of them – Karasuba: a Sekirei so steeped in the blood of others that the other Sekirei (minus Musubi) rarely dared to speak her name. The same Sekirei that I had (mistakenly) thought had killed Shirou way back when.

"And you wanted to invite them here?" Haruka jumped in surprise. "Wouldn't they just kill us?"

"Of course not." Yukari denied, baselessly in my opinion. Shirou had already killed a Sekirei. It was disconcerting how well he might fit in with the rest of the Disciplinary Squad. "If you're with us, you'll be fine. Who better to get us past MBI security than MBI security?"

"We should aim to avoid getting any attention." I countered, trying to redirect the conversation back to more constructive – and reasonable – lines.

"Minato is right." Seo took a green colored marker and started circling an area in the South, encompassing most of the business districts. "I'm not sure how often you check the Ashikabi message boards, but there's been a new development in the past couple of days."

"The Four Great Ashikabi post?" Yukari spoke up. I… was more than a little surprised that there were message boards set up for communication between Ashikabi.

"Right." Seo nodded as he drew three more large sections of the city off in different colors. One was yellow, one was red, and the last one in blue. "Apparently, one of the Ashikabi managing the forum is a real computer whiz. They pinned a post for new Ashikabi concerning rules, things to know, frequently asked questions, guides, and some other useful stuff. One of the recent additions contained two things: areas within the city that were places for new Ashikabi to avoid and the strongest Ashikabi in the Plan."

Strongest Ashikabi? Despite myself… I was curious.

"OH! Oh!" Yukari looked too excited to be healthy. "Are we up there? Who are the strongest? I bet we can take them."

"Does it say anything about their Sekirei?" Musubi matched my sister's enthusiasm, stars practically shining in her eyes.

"Starting at the top," Seo tapped the green area, "is the Ashikabi of the South, Mikogami Hayato. Even suffering a few losses so far, he has the most Sekirei out of any other participant in the game and has been one of the most aggressive Ashikabi about pursuing newly released Sekirei."

An aggressive and powerful Ashikabi? I didn't like the sound of that. Worse, his territory almost fully encompassed the city around MBI. It was a strategic choke point if they wanted to try and ambush Sekirei as they left MBI headquarters… as well as Ashikabi living in the most populous part of the city.

Wait…

"Did you say Mikogami?" The name was familiar.

"Ew, gross!" Yukari yelled. "You mean that creepy kid is the strongest? Minato, we're going back out tonight and fixing that! I won't allow this to stand."

"No!" Seo, Haruka, Matsu, Shiina, and I all echoed at once, with Shiina's dissent adding a 'please, mistress Yukari' in front of the 'no'.

"Okay!" Cheered Musubi and even little Ku-chan threw her hands up. I gently pushed them down.

"Mikogami is the only other Ashikabi outside of MBI that has one of the original Disciplinary Squad members." Matsu expounded. "And though this Matsu-tan is very impressive, I'm not a combat type like Mutsu or Karasuba. Even though I'm also a single digit, I won't be able to contest him in a standup fight."

"As much as I hate to say this," Hikari bit out with a grimace, "but twin tails is right. There is a huge power difference between us later numbers and the single digits. In a fair fight between all of us here and just the Number 05 we might be able to take him…"

"…but that leaves all the other Sekirei unaccounted for." Hibiki finished for her sister. Those were… terrible odds. Were single digits really that strong? Then again… Akitsu was able to hold out against Hikari, Hibiki, and Homura fighting her three-on-one.

"If Matsu says fighting him is a bad idea, then it's a bad idea." I tried to hammer the nail in that idea. Tsukiumi was a single digit, but I didn't want to put her in danger by bringing her near such a fight – even in the rare event she would want to participate in it. "Besides, remember how I just said our goal was to avoid attracting attention."

The more I learned, the more I was convinced fighting was the worst option.

"Yeah, but he's a creep and if we just take him out, we won't have to avoid him." Yukari petulantly grumbled but sat back down.

"Moving on," Seo pointed at the section highlighted in red, "is the territory of the Ashikabi of the East, Higa Izumi." The territory wrapped around one side of Mikogami's and spread further into the outskirts and small business and residential areas – up until it ran into a solid blue wall around the old suburban homes. "Unlike Mikogami, Higa doesn't appear to have all that many Sekirei himself, but…" Seo trailed off.

"Matsu-tan has heard some unsettling rumors." The redhead frowned. As the most informed (and deviant) member of the household, anything that she paused at saying was bad news. "He uses his company to force other Ashikabi to work for him and uses that leverage to maintain his power."

"Where Mikogami might be the Ashikabi with the most Sekirei as an individual, Higa has a large enough group of Ashikabi and their Sekirei to overwhelm just about any other participant." A real battle of quality vs quantity.

"Whatever plan we come up with, I think we should avoid Higa's territory no matter what." I frowned as I studied the map. We hadn't encountered any other Ashikabi in our nightly adventures since facing off against Mikogami that first night. If I was correct… then our paths had taken us through the territory of Mikogami, Higa, and the yet unnamed Ashikabi holding the blue territory. "With Mikogami… we've only encountered him once and if he's the biggest threat, we can probably move through his territory easiest without being noticed. With Higa… there are too many possible eyes. Who knows what house or apartment could be hiding someone."

"We could ask either group if they want in…" Yukari didn't sound enthused, even as she said it. Normally, I was the one to suggest cooperation and she was the lone wolf but… "I doubt the strongest groups would want to give away their leverage." She continued. "I don't think anyone in first place ever wants to reset the game halfway through."

There might be more Ashikabi and Sekirei desperate not to fight and to leave the city, but it would be impossible to tell if we could trust other groups in the first place. Yukari and I locked eyes across the table, sharing that same thought.

"We can probably apply the same logic for the last Ashikabi then." Seo segued into the red territory. "Sanada, the Ashikabi of the West has been making a name for himself. Rumor is he's some sort of current or ex-biker gang member. Whatever else he might be, he's transient and alone so information is hard to come by, and depending on what resources he has available, there is a possibility he isn't aware of his reputation."

Based on how weirdly shaped his territory was… that might be the case. It looked random, with parts jutting out and sections cut deep into it. More like a spider or an octopus than a shape that made sense. That alone might make him (and his territory) a place to avoid.

"What about this last section?" I asked, pointing to the blue area. It might have been the smallest territory, but if it was where I thought it was – mostly containing the old suburban districts and a few parks – quite defendable. "You skipped over the Ashikabi of the…" All the others had been named for cardinal directions, so that left only, "North."

"Ah, well, not to put too fine a point on it, that's the two of you." I sputtered and Seo chuckled at my dumbstruck expression as Yukari cackled.

"We have our own territory? Yes!" She cheered. Oh no. Nonono. I needed to nip this in the bud right now. "Hear that, bro? We're warlords! Oh! How do I go about getting my own servants – the ones with big palm leaves and grapes?"

"Yukari…" Shiina whined.

"Yukari, no forcing the neighbors into indentured servitude." That I even had to spell it out… How was I the only good sibling?

"You'd look so cute as a cabana-boy." Yukari gushed, speaking over her poor Sekirei and ignoring me. "Minato!" or not… "We need to make a beach trip with the Sekirei."

What… no. Just… ignore her.

"Yay! Beach!" Ignoring Yukari became nearly impossible as Musubi glomped herself onto my head.

"Minato-kun, Matsu-tan wants to go to the beach too." Matsu dropped her voice to a soft purr.

"Hn!" Kusano poked my chest in agreement.

"I…" I started, already knowing I was going to capitulate. "We'll see." As the girls cheered, I already knew I'd lost the war. "Seo," I tried to get back to the important topic: mainly how we accidentally took over part of a city, "How? What?"

"The little spitfire has been making a name for herself taking out Ashikabi over the past few weeks, but that wasn't enough to get her on the list quite yet." Seo smirked. That was… Shirou had mentioned something about Yukari sneaking out at night… I'd forgotten to bring it up with her in the distraction about the Veiled Sekirei and Haruka. "But the last few nights of you both roaming around the streets with a large contingent of Sekirei has been making waves. That you got Mikogami to stand down when you all met up was just the final nail in the coffin."

Seo knew about that? How? Wait, did everyone know about that? I felt the world turn on its axis, slowly spinning out of control. It was only when my head hit Matsu's lap that I realized the world had actually spun.

"Aww, poor Minato-kun." The bespeckled Sekirei smiled down at me, raking a hand through my hair. "Since it looks like two of the Ashikabi are out of commission–" two? "–I think it might be time for a break. From what I'm seeing, we might need to gather more information on MBI's patrol schedules before we come up with a coherent plan."

I nodded into the surprisingly comfortable pillow. We'd need to be more subtle too. No wonder we hadn't caught the Veiled Sekirei yet if we were so transparent. That meant…

We would…

Need…

A…

Distraction.

My eyes closed and a soothing darkness carried my thoughts away.

*Kochou*

"Might I remind you, Emiya," Lord Higa spoke. "Grisly murders in the middle of the street and explosions in the harbor are bad for business. Any business. If these attacks continue then it is only a matter of time before the Sekirei Plan is discovered. I understand your constraints, but once more I must advise you to share what data you can with me. I can have my people and my Mind-Types go through it as well. The faster this… Veiled Sekirei incident is resolved, the better."

"And there are no further clues as to…" Lord Higa paused. I stood demurely at attention, unable to hear the other side of the conversation as my Lord spoke into the phone reserved for my contact with the Brute. "A Dead Apostle? Are you certain? I see. I must confess, I was hoping that we were dealing with the actions of an idiot of the mundane variety. What is MBI's handle on the situation? Might I suggest we take a page from a familiar ritual's book and push for a pause to the Plan for the time being?"

"He can't be serious?" I very studiously didn't flinch at Lord Higa's rise in tone. "Of all the times for Hiroto to be a short-sighted buffoon, he chooses this one… I can see the smoke from my office, Emiya. What if we work around him? If an official pause to the Plan is off the table, what if we convene an unofficial alliance? I can reach out to the other three Great Ashikabi. I had thought it a shame when my sources told me that Mikogami and Sahashi almost came to blows the other night, but – you're aware?"

Lord Higa's voice showed no change in inflection as he furiously tore a page out of a planner, writing 'Mikogami in contact with Emiya?' and underlining it. I tensed. That plan going awry continued to have consequences for me. I had been so sure that putting the Brute on a collision course with Lord Higa's rival would have ended with the young boy's removal from the Plan – if not the mortal coil. Instead, whatever happened in that penthouse room had apparently brought the two camps together.

"I see." Lord Higa paced away from his desk. "If you've already spoken to Mikogami and…" He broke off, stilling just in front of me. "And the Sahashi's… then allow me to pull some weight in our alliance. I'll track down the last Ashikabi. Sanada Nishi's a vagrant, but even he must see some reason. Between all of us, we can force a temporary hold on the Plan. The fewer people running around at night, the slower and more manageable the spread will be."

I forced myself not to move – not to breathe – lest I gain his attention.

"A shipment?" My Ashikabi tensed in my peripheral vision, but Lord Higa didn't react past asking the question. "Yes... I had some materials I was shipping in, as well as handling requests for some of the domestic families outside the city. I'm sure you are aware, that too, is one of the responsibilities of a Second Owner. As for a complete list…" My Ashikabi took the cue for what it was and started writing on his own notepad. "I will see what I can do. The other families may not be as forthcoming. Yes. Do your job and kill this thing, Emiya. I am more than capable of dealing with any inquiries from abroad. I'll ensure we have no further visitors."

Lord Higa hung up, tossing the phone onto the desk.

"My Lord…" My Ashikabi started, "The murders… could they really be–"

"Brother and sister…" Lord Higa whispered. It was the only alert I had before he lashed out, striking me fully across the face.

"Ah!" I gasped in surprise and pain as the slap sent me sprawling to the floor. I could taste blood in my mouth.

"Fuck. Fuck! How could you be so incompetent?" The well-polished Italian leather shoe dug into my floating rib once… twice… three times. I delved into my power, letting the annals of my Records take away the searing sting of the rebuke… and the horrid throbbing of my ribs and cheek. I cast my mind into my power, dividing my consciousness from my body's experience… trying to find what I missed – what action I did or didn't do to deserve my Lord's attention.

Instead of answers, a deluge of thoughts and feelings – recordings that were mine and yet not! – flooded into awareness.

No… not awareness. Remembrance.

I didn't speak – tried not to make any noise – and kept my head pressed against the poor reflection on the polished tile. I had to bite my lips, hard and firm, to prevent any blood from dripping onto the floor – once more knowing that if I did either, my treatment would only be worse…

…and that if I screamed, he would enjoy it more.

"Emiya is a Sahashi?!" Higa thundered. Thankfully, he stopped kicking me before I felt anything break. From the way it felt, the bastard was only using a light strength enhancement. "How did that slip through the net?"

"He is?" My Ashik – no, remember! – Kakizaki asked, barely sparing my insensate form a glance. "Our records only go so far as to cover his actions since joining the Association. Mid Bio Informatics' security is unsurprisingly tight, given the existence of the technopathic Number 02. However… I do recall a report by your father's men confirming the death of Ichirou Sahashi."

"It seems…" Higa ground out, "that the report of his death may have been greatly exaggerated."

"I see… I shall make a note to relay our displeasure to the surviving members of the team. As well as their next of kin." When that failed to cheer the monstrous Magus, Kakizaki continued. "My Lord… forgive my impertinence, but I fail to see how Emiya being a Sahashi changes anything? He is already a loose end we planned to tie up upon the conclusion of this Sekirei business. Besides, we were already aware that Hiroto hid his children under their mother's name for later use in the Sekirei Plan – corroborated by the fact that each was given Sekirei that are either single digits and/or were personally raised by Hiroto and Dr. Sahashi themselves. Does one more surviving child truly matter?"

Shit… The Brute's – Emiya's – files within MBI's servers were air-gapped. I hadn't been able to penetrate the information – likely an unintended yet effective consequence of the company hardening its digital security in the wake of Number 02's defection – that protected other key MBI personnel and their families. Key personnel like Minaka Hiroto and Dr. Takami Sahashi…

… and their three children together.

"Because it means that Hiroto has been planning his endgame since even before defeating my father at Kamikura!" Higa whirled, sending a paperweight flying off his desk. I stayed still, hoping they'd forget about me if I didn't move – even as the weight crashed next to my head and shattered where it fell. "It means that Shirou Emiya, not Minato Sahashi, is Minaka Hiroto's oldest child! His Heir! Given away to be trained and hidden by the god-dammed Magus Killer – a survivor of a Grail War himself –as soon as Kamikura was discovered. Do you think it's a coincidence that Hiroto gave his heir to a Grail War survivor? An heir that just so happens to go on and survive their own Grail War, only to come home just in time to participate in a suspiciously similar ritual orchestrated by his father? No…"

Higa brooded, placing his palms on his desk, and glared at the barely visible MBI clocktower across the Shin Tokyo skyline.

"I should have seen it in how he reacted when we spoke." The furious Magus bit out. "Oh, how he must have been laughing at us. At me!" I silently trembled as he trailed off for a moment. "We were wrong. Emiya isn't just another Association Dog to be used and discarded like the others."

"Sir?"

"Have your wits completely left you? Who was it who killed Dr. Iwao in Roanapur? It made sense at the time to believe his untimely death was incidental to the apostle outbreak that took the city, but it was Emiya who was assigned to that hunt. Emiya alone, of three entire teams of enforcers, who survived the dead city and could report as to what happened to the Association."

"You think that was arranged?" Kakizaki asked. "That would mean…"

"That Hiroto is further ahead of us than even my father thought," Higa confirmed. Had they forgotten about me? They were never so loose-lipped about their plans around Sekirei and especially around me – the strongest of the Mind-Types chained to Higa's whims. Though I was having trouble following their conversation, a simple search showed that Roanapur was destroyed by an earthquake and consumed by the subsequent fires. The way they were speaking… that sounded like a cover story for something else. Something the Brute did. "In light of this new information, it cannot be a coincidence that Emiya was the one assigned to investigate the same backwater city where our stolen research data was stored. No… the more I think about it, the more I see Hiroto's hand moving the pieces behind the scenes."

"Then… what of the asset?" Asset? What asset? Was Kakizaki talking about the various Ashikabi I'd been assigned to track down? Was one of them… also a magus? "If Emiya and Hiroto are this far ahead of us, could they be aware of them as well? They have a copy of all of the data we've managed to collect so far. If MBI manages to find them, or if they are…"

"We haven't been able to locate them?" Higa fumed.

"Not since their security detail stopped responding." Was the reply. "The men I sent to investigate the workshop we provided reported that it had been trashed and abandoned. Also… the files we provided are missing. It seems whoever cleaned the workshop took the data with them."

"Send another team to confirm and see if they can't find a trail," Higa ordered. "Ensure they have a Sekirei escort. We need to find or silence them before Hiroto gets wind of our plan. Do it quickly and quietly. The loss of both the Asset and the shipment will set us behind. Hopefully, Emiya lives up to his reputation, and the fire at the docks destroys anything that could be linked back to us."

"Speaking of material…" Kakizaki started. "We can still use Ms.–"

"Oh? Did you suddenly learn how to perform Spiritual Surgery in the last few minutes, Kakizaki?" Higa interrupted him. "Are you suddenly able to perform Mysteries without a grimoire? The whole point of luring the Asset here was to repair the damage Dr. Iwao's viral curses infected her circuits with when we took over this territory. Without curing her infection, we can't extract her Crest and we need her circuits. Even her meat is useless to me right now…"

Ah… they could only be talking about her. Chiho Hidaka and the disposable asset attached to her… who just happened to be one of the targets the Brute was unwittingly hunting. While there was no love lost between me and the Sekirei (Oh, I could Record my sympathies for her, even if she was a right bitch), I held no animosity towards the crippled Ashikabi.

Fortunately for her, it seemed, her affliction prevented her from sharing a fate similar to my own. I tried (and failed) not to be resentful.

"Emiya is aware and hunting both." My Ashi – Kakizaki, remember – echoed my thoughts. Even in the throes of my ability, I still felt the urge, the need to raise myself up in his presence. To be noticed by him. To… please him. "Of the two, the girl leads directly back to our operation. While it is unfortunate to lose such a prized asset as Number 10, she is swiftly becoming more of a risk than she's worth. Worse, if the Association were to find out she still–"

"The Association will not care that the territory changed hands." Higa interrupted again. "Not in Japan. Not so long as the land is being taken care of and they get their due. However… you are not wrong that without the Asset, she is nothing but a liability at the moment. Hmm… perhaps there is one last task for her to accomplish before her usefulness comes to an end. The Sekirei is well positioned to get our own bit of revenge on Hiroto before we tie things up."

That was… it was one thing to make Uzume suffer to spite her arrogant ass, but to let her Ashikabi be used and killed… worse, to be part of it – even if through inaction… did I want to be that type of person? Was the me that was me and not Kakizaki's that sort of person? Accessing my Records was effortless – and more importantly, had no outward tells. Despite weeks having passed since I had invested my powers into the directory of the burner phone I chose to access, once something was entered into my Records I could access and alter it at will.

It was all too easy to type a new message – a simple message. After all, it was only a name and an address. No sender. I'd ensure it would be seen one way or another.

"I shall see it done, my lord. Kochou. Get up." My Askikabi's order shocked me out of the grip of my power and back into focus.

Blinking, I came back to awareness in Lord Higa's office. Oh no… I must have spaced out again.

"Yes, Master Kakizaki. Lord Higa." I numbly picked myself off the floor. I felt warm… then hot with shame.

"You're still here?" My Lord Higa sneered.

"Kochou, you're bleeding." My Ashikabi approached, pulling out a handkerchief. I leaned into his rough touch as he scoured the blood off my face. I held still for him, even if it hurt. I had failed him after all.

"My apologies, Master Kakizaki." I smiled, basking in his harsh, almost impersonal affections. Strangely, bile filled my throat even as my heart beat faster. How odd. I Recorded the feeling, logging the thought to examine later; I didn't want to be distracted as I attended to my Ashikabi.

*Shirou*

"Home at last!" Haihane exhaustedly cheered as we finally piled into the apartment. "Sleep! It calls to me." She left her shoes scattered at the threshold as she fell into the living room. Normally, I would scold her but…

"Don't run in your socks! You'll fall!" I called after her as I shucked my shoes and various belts and pouches at the door as well. Cleaning up could be future Shirou's problem, but for now… I was beat. I'd barely had time to grab Karasuba from the bowels of the ship and scuttle the damn thing before MBI's forces flew in. Unfortunately, as the Disciplinary Squad lead on-site when the soldiers hit the docks, I then became the de facto lead of coordinating the cleanup of the harbor.

"If she falls, she falls," Karasuba muttered as she dropped her boots next to mine. The only bit of care she took was to prop her sword up safely by the door and drape her cloak over it. "Though if she falls and dies, I'm going to laugh."

"Ah…" Akitsu – ever-watching, observant Akitsu – was the last to take off her shoes, neatly placing them on the other side of mine. She then carefully folded and placed the Shroud of Martin on top of them. It was… well, the spirit was there. Upon seeing her happy (but clearly quite tired), tiny smile I couldn't help but return it.

Though… not a second later I had to stifle a yawn.

"That… Higa person you were on the phone with." Karasuba caught my attention, her eyes narrowed. "He is an Ashikabi. His company is a business rival of ours." It shouldn't have been a surprise that the captain of MBI's personal magical hit-squad knew the key players of the company's competition. Karasuba was a company woman, through and through. "I don't think I like you talking with him."

Of course, Karasuba had been listening in. It had been impossible to hide my (unfortunately much-needed) coordination with the Magus and fellow Ashikabi from my Sekirei during our trip home.

"That makes two of us," I grumbled, leading us (or rather, following Haihane's trail) further in. I'd had enough experience with Higa's kind of Magus that I couldn't trust him. Our alliance was one of convenience – of trying to figure out and counter the deeper mystery (or Mystery) behind the Sekirei Plan. One that was always going to become complicated once our common enemy was dealt with.

However, that was before finding out that a disproportionate amount of thaumaturgical material was heading towards the city's hospitals – or would have been, were they not taken by the Dead Apostle. As Second Owner… there was no way he was unaware.

"However, he is the Second Owner of this territory." On the way through the apartment, I dropped my duffle bag near the table next to my spare gear bag. My clothes were dry from my near tumble into the sea last night but… the scent of seawater and oil clung to them. I wouldn't be repacking those until they went through a thorough cleaning. "To put it in perspective, think of it this way: if MBI owns the mundane aspects of the city and runs the day-to-day activities, he is the Moonlit World's equivalent. All trade, travel, and dealings should be going through him. If anyone has the standing and resources to help us find where the Dead Apostle fled, it will be him."

"I'm sorry." Haihane – lacking pants, but her arm guards were still strapped to her sleeves, and thus her top remained on – pouted. "I let them get away…"

I couldn't stop my jaw from clenching and Haihane shrunk in on herself, looking pathetic. The truth was… I was furious. But not with her.

The search hadn't found any more bodies… but it did reveal a lot of missing boatmen and dockworkers. One of the teams managed to find the lifeboat that Akitsu and Haihane tried to stop from launching while I was busy getting exploded and attempting to drown floating next to a storm drain. Empty.

The Dead Apostle could have used the culvert to get to any number of places outside the temporary cordon I'd managed to put in place. Of the other vessel – the one I'd let flee into the night – there was no sign. Between the two… last night was almost a complete loss.

"It isn't your fault. You did the best you could – no." I shook my head, collapsing on the sofa. If anything, the fault lay with me. "That's not giving you enough credit. The target – both targets – escaped me first. This was your first encounter with a Dead Apostle, and you survived. That's all I can ask for – and more than most can achieve."

I had the shot – even if for only a moment. I could have been faster. Could have been smarter. Could have used better tactics. No, I couldn't blame my failures on the girls – except maybe Karasuba, whose stupid, arrogantly reckless charge precluded other strategies from being employed.

"Okay…" She kept pouting but approached me as I sat. "Okay. In that case: Shirou, claws." Even though the hydraulic tiger claws gave her full use of her hands, she still held her arms out for me to undo her straps – as had become the nightly ritual with her old pair.

Despite myself, I felt my lips quirk up and snorted in fond exasperation.

"I'm not gonna lie." She started as I began to unbuckle the straps. "Tonight was… a lot. It was emotional…" The first claw came away and I gently placed it on the floor by our feet before moving to the other. "It was terrifying…" The second claw soon joined its sibling. "And I'm more than a little overwhelmed."

My eyes widened as her newly freed hands ghosted across my cheeks, brushing past my ears to pet through the hair at the back of my head.

"So I can only imagine how you're feeling right now," She continued, "if this is what you deal with all alone."

"Ah… I'm used to it." Something ticked in the back of my head, telling me I should pull away. Put distance between us, but… her ministrations felt… good.

"Somehow," She smiled sadly down at me, "I figured you'd say that." She took a deep, fortifying breath. "I'm going to give you a hug now."

"What – hey, Haihane!" It was the only warning I had, and I braced myself as she plopped side-saddle into my lap. One of her arms wrapped around my shoulder to help support her position as the other pressed my head to her cheek. Even sitting on my lap, she was short enough that it wasn't a strain on my back.

"Shush." She hummed. "Hug time." Akitsu took the opportunity to sit next to me, leaning against Haihane's back and my shoulder – lending her support while staying her customary distance away from the shared body heat.

I…

I relaxed? The knots of tension in my back didn't unwind, but… maybe they felt a little looser. It felt… when was the last time I hugged someone? Just… held someone in a way that held no demands or expectations? Wasn't an indulgence of family, or in consolation, or a desperate refutation of mortality? Slowly, I found one of my arms curling around Haihane's waist to support her as well.

"Ugh. That's not how you comfort someone." Karasuba sauntered after letting the other girls pile on me for a moment. "Shove off."

"Ah!" Haihane yelped as the taller Sekirei 'gently' nudged her out of the hug with her foot, sending the shorter girl sprawling over into Akitu's lap.

"That stupid, mushy, touchy-feely crap is worthless," Karasuba claimed as she took a seat on my other side. I noticed (but didn't dare comment on) how she lifted Haihane's legs that were curled around mine and placed them in her own lap. The result had Haihane lying almost supine against the three of our laps and her head slumped against Akitsu's torso.

"Ah… what do you suggest?" Akitsu preempted my (possibly more sarcastic) snark along the same line.

"Simple. As he is merely human, Shirou-kun is soft and sentimental." She huffed, smirking when I barked a warning "hey" – one that was completely ignored. "I want to see little Musubi. I am assuming you also wish to see your filthy and annoying siblings."

That…

"Heh." I huffed in irritated amusement. I didn't quite appreciate the phrasing, but I had to admit she had me dead to rights. "Yeah, I would… but there's one last thing I need to do before I can allow myself to go see them."

"Is it track down the evil wizard?" Haihane looked downcast.

"No." I patted her thigh with my other hand. "Our leads as to where they might be hiding have dried up for the moment. Without a solid clue, I don't think we'll be able to track them down until they show themselves once more. Thankfully, between the four of us, the majority of the Familiars they'd managed to gather have been destroyed. They won't be able to launch another attack anytime soon – and now that they're aware that they're being hunted, it will be too dangerous to show themselves until they can restock their forces."

It was unfortunate. Not only because it would give the Dead Apostle time to prepare – both against me and MBI…but it also meant that more people were going to die.

"No, for now, I think I have something more important to take care of." Rather, it was more something that I could do now instead of searching fruitlessly through an entire city.

That statement got several reactions: Akitsu's eyes sharpened despite her exhausted state and her head turned to focus on me. Haihane leaned back, using one arm to hold onto Akitsu for support and through the other across her face and groaned. For her part, Karasuba's eyes narrowed and the gentle (gentle?!) smirk on her face gave way to an annoyed scowl.

"And what, pray tell, would that be?" She didn't quite growl. Based on the other girls' expressions, she was speaking for the group.

"Well…" I tried to drawl, keeping my voice casual and unimpressed. "How would you all like to see a little magic? Something a bit… tamer than last night?"

"Oh?" Karasuba raised an elegant eyebrow, matching my tone. "If you're going to twist my arm about it. Show me." She finished with a demand. "Though, know that if I am unimpressed, there will be a punishment."

Tough crowd.

"Yes!" Haihane peeked out from behind the arm covering her face. "I haven't seen anything more than fangs and nightmares so far."

"Ah…" Akitsu threw in her support. "I too wish to see."

"Alright. Before I can do anything though, I'll need some materials. That means I have one last errand to run." I didn't flinch as the girls collectively glared at me. "Something quick. Unimportant." As I spoke, I felt Haihane's hips and legs tense and flex atop mine. It was a struggle to keep my voice even and without inflection. "No chance of combat either. Say, Haihane, would you like to–"

"Yes!" She squealed breathlessly. It sounded weird with how raspy her voice was, but I couldn't help but chuckle at her enthusiasm. "It's a date!"

"Good. We'll need to get you a disguise, but we can pick something up from Mom – er, Takami." I still had the lab coat from yesterday – god, was that all only just yesterday? We could pick up some scrubs and… yeah. That would work. "We can go–"

"Later," Karasuba grunted, pulling herself free. "I want a shower and to go to bed. If anyone wakes me, there will be repercussions." She glowered, giving the sign that we should all get ready for bed before she got cranky.

Truly, I had found myself another troublesome master.

"And you all smell disgusting. Clean yourselves or sleep on the balcony."

"Ooh! If we share the shower, we can go to sleep faster!" Haihane giggled.

"Ah…" Akitsu tilted her head–

"No!" Karasuba and I vetoed that idea in unison – hopefully before Akitsu could finish her calculations on that faulty logic.

"I don't want to deal with your bony elbows while I wash my hair." Karasuba sniffed, going to claim the first shower.

"It's best if we all prep separately." I agreed, knowing that I would be facing an all too different manner of attack if the bathroom became a shared space. I needed my private sanctuary... "Throw your clothes together and I'll start the wash. If we treat it fast enough the smell won't set. Come on everybody, let's get ready. Oh, and Haihane?"

"Hmm?" She looked up at me in question.

"Good work last night." I ruffled her hair, amused at how her eyes widened and her cheeks bloomed red. "Akitsu." I turned to her next. "Thank you. You saved my life last night." And then I ruffled hers. She blinked, confused, but somehow that didn't stop her from leaning into my palm.

"And Karasuba." The grey-haired swordswoman turned her nose up imperiously, feigning that she wasn't interested in similar complements – though she stayed well out of reach. "Yeah…" I sighed and hefted Haihane up, carrying the giggling Sekirei in my arms. "Time to get ready for bed, you lot."

"What?! Get back here, you stupid human!" I leapt over Karasuba's kick trying to trip me up. "Get back here and praise me!"

It took some work shooing the girls along, dodging the occasional thrown clothing as they stripped, so that I could finally rest. Eventually, however, the laundry was running, all showers were taken and all teeth were brushed, and everyone had put on fresh pajamas before we were finally able to collapse into bed.

"Shirou." Karasuba sleepily said my name as she dominated her side of the bed. I grunted in response. "You may speak more about your magic until I fall asleep." She ordered.

Ah… what?

"Story! Story!" Haihane chanted, and a quick glance at Akitsu showed her equally invested in this joint little rebellion.

"Be quick about it." Karasuba lightly kicked my leg under the covers.

"Ah… fine…" I had nowhere to flee and was too exhausted to fight. Not three on one and trapped as I was. "Where should I start then?" I mused. Telling them that magic existed in the head of the moment before a fight (if only because I was forced to) was one thing… but I never had to be the one explaining the existence of magic to someone else before. Well, not anyone that managed to– "Never mind. I'll start where I started, I suppose. When I was little, there was a great fire in the city I lived in. I don't remember anything before that time, but I'll always remember the man who saved my life. When I was eventually healed, I had no family to speak of and no memory of who I was. Kiritsugu Emiya, the man who saved me, offered to take me in and it wasn't long before he told me that he was a magus. Once I learned magic was real, I begged him to be one too…"

*Shirou*

I pulled the van into the parking lot for Shin Tokyo's Hiyamakai Hospital. My last foray to the location had given me a pretty solid idea of the external and internal layouts, as well as how to act. With the staff Hypnotized to ignore irregularities – something I was assuming but not counting on being similar to Caster's takeover of the Fukiyuki Temple – I'd come up with a simple game plan.

"You know the plan, right Haihane?" I asked, moving from the driver seat into the back of the van to start setting up the collapsable wheelchair stored back there. We'd borrowed it, the clothes I hadn't given back yet and the pair of scrubs Haihane was currently changing into from Mom's labs – making sure any identifying information had been removed first.

It would be a stupid mistake to enter the hospital with a coat labelled with MBI on it.

"Yessir!" She smiled, giving a jaunty half-salute. "Oh! I mean, I obey." She dropped her voice flat – or tried to anyway – to mimic Akitsu's normal speaking tone.

"Haihane…" I sighed. "Be nice."

It wasn't easy to forget that the Sekirei had been born and raised in a lab. Karasuba had her… well, Karasuba-ness. Haihane may have been the most socially adjusted of the three, but that was only if you ignored that she had a 'box room' and took too many cues from television and the internet, and Akitsu… Akitsu was very literal. On top of whatever other damages that I wasn't going to think about.

The end result was that whatever it was, the scientists at MBI had deigned to teach the Sekirei about the world around them, but there were clear and noticeable gaps in their context and socialization. Each had their own quirks and Akitsu's was her clear dedication… sometimes to the point of single-mindedness.

"I am nice! 'Kitsu-chan isn't here with us, so it's my job to take her role, Shirou-kun." Haihane giggled before wagging her eyebrows. "Though you might need to undo some of my buttons for that."

"Scrubs don't have buttons." I deadpanned.

"Oh, they don't?" She rasped coyly, looking down to find– "So they don't. I suppose you'll just have to take it off me entirely then."

"Focus, Haihane." I chided her. "Don't make me break out the codenames."

"Yes, yes." She held out her hands so I could undo the hydraulic claws. "Work first, roleplay later."

I… wasn't going to touch that one, I decided, removing her first claw and putting it into the storage pouch hidden at the back of the wheelchair. We shouldn't need any weapons and Haihane was strong and fast enough without them to deal with people who might try to stop us, but it was good to have contingencies.

"Alright. Chiho is in a private ward. Last time I was able to get in without much trouble." I finished, dropping the second claw into the pouch. With that, the wheelchair was set and our gear stowed and concealed, I opened the back of the van to unload it. "In and out, fifteen minutes or less. Ready?"

"Sorry!" She snickered, cutting herself off as I raised an eyebrow. "Sorry. Last one, promise." She took a deep breath and hopped out of the van. "Right. Ready."

Oh… this was going to go so well.

"Right… timer starts." I pulled out my phone to check the time and–

The Ashikabi of the Veiled Sekirei is Chiho Hidaka.

She's in Hiyamakai Hospital, Room 303. She's going to die.

–an unread message popped up on my screen. Sent… fuck! While I was asleep this morning.

"The targets in trouble." I barked, pushing the empty wheelchair ahead of me. "Double time it."

We cut across the lot and into the building, Haihane close in my wake. Thankfully, getting into the hospital was - much like the last time I'd entered – trivially simple. Once more dressed the part of a doctor (and with a nurse following in my wake), the incoming patients made a gap for us to slip through. Without the need to ask for directions or track down Chiho Hidaka's whereabouts, I led us to the private ward in no time.

The door was unlocked and unguarded, though this time I could see through the windows that the overhead lights to the hallway were already on. Shit… was it supposed to be that way or were we already too late?

As soon as the ward doors opened, the horrible reek of curses flooded the hallway, despite the closed door leading to the young Magus's room. It was no wonder there were so few patients and staff outside of the private ward; the miasma of Chiho's tainted magical presence hung thick in the air, choking it with dread. Much like the cursed scar on the land that was Fuyuki Memorial Park, people naturally avoided heavily cursed areas and the feelings of negativity, violence, and despair they evoked.

"Shirou-kun, what… what is that?" Haihane asked, a full-body shiver running through her. "It feels like someone just walked over my grave… Shirou-kun? Shirou." I was almost startled by the light touch at my elbow. Haihane was staring at me, worrying her lip. "You stopped."

I had? I hadn't realized.

"Is something wrong? Did we trigger a trap?" She glanced about, looking for cameras and traps… or maybe evil wizards and zombie vampires. It… may have been hard to tell.

"I'm–" The pseudo-scent of tainted prana in the air was unpleasant… but I didn't see the conjured specter of Sakura. Nor was Archer taunting me that I was too late to save another poor victim. No illusions or hallucinations. I was… "Fine. I'm sorry, I'm fine." I tried to assure her.

No recriminating voices of the past come to haunt me once more – only real ones coming from Chiho's room.

Wait…

"Wait, listen. Voices." I cocked my ear. "There's someone in the room."

The tones were soft. Conversational. The identifiable presence of prana in the hall meant that the Bounded Field I'd broken with Rule Breaker had yet to be repaired. Several possibilities flew through my mind. The first and most likely was that Chihou wasn't the architect of the bounded field that had contained her putrid aura. Either that or she was no longer able to recreate it. If so, it further lent credence to the belief that she was yet another victim and not the mastermind I'd originally thought she was.

The second – I thought as Haihane and I crept forward on light toes, leaving the wheelchair behind – was that unless this was a particularly inept (or somehow astoundingly clever) trap, then my prior infiltration had not been detected by the Magus who did create the bounded field. It was either that or…

As we approached, I could discern that one of the voices was Chiho's. She was quiet, her voice strained and weak, but I couldn't detect any notes of stress, anger, or fear coloring her tone. Not even the resigned acceptance she'd faced me with when I was about to end her life.

A quick peek into the room revealed a nurse fiddling near Chiho's bed – the owner of the calm and droning second voice that filled in much of the conversation. In their hands, below Chiho's gurney, was a syringe that they were maneuvering towards her IV line while they distracted her with conversation.

… the last option: it wasn't a trap. The Magus didn't repair the bounded field because it was no longer needed.

"Haihane. Stop him." I whispered the order in a single breath and shoved the door open. The nurse and Chiho startled – honey-brown eyes widening – but before either could react, Haihane moved. The swiftest of my Sekirei scuttled through the gap in the door, practically flying across the distance to her target before I could even blink. Her right hand grabbed the wrist of the hand holding the syringe just as her foot impacted the inside of his left knee. He didn't even have time to scream as she climbed him like a spider pouncing on a fly, twisting, and pulling at his limbs as she overburdened and took him down – weaving herself around his arms and head. They hit the floor hard – the impact painfully driving the air out of the nurse's lungs as she maneuvered him to hit first.

I followed a hairsbreadth behind, prana coursing through me as the firing pin in the back of my mind slammed home. Light flashed, a wickedly curved dagger filling my once empty hand–

"Don't kill him!" Chiho coughed quickly, eyes widening in recognition. "Sedative, top drawer, 3mL."

–and diverted, grabbing the sedative from her cart and loading it into a syringe with my other hand. Haihane jerked the man's head painfully to the side as I slid down next to them. The knife in my left hand swept across the skin of his exposed neck and I jammed the syringe in my right slammed home immediately after. The nurse's body jerked, wordlessly trying to struggle against Haihane's ironclad hold. Once…

…twice…

…and weakly thrice before stilling.

"Is he… is he dead?" Chiho asked. Tears were pooling in the corners of her eyes. How odd… why did she react so… strangely to yet another would-be assassin?

"No…" And why didn't I finish him? It would have been faster. Easier. Instead, Rule Breaker shattered in my hand as I withdrew the now empty syringe. Nothing more than a dollop of blood spilled from the unconscious nurse's neck. I tapped Haihane to loosen her hold, gently getting her to release him and place him in the recovery position.

Still breathing. Pulse strong. Good. His leg would need a brace later, but it wasn't broken. However the skin around his knee and at his neck were already starting to bruise. He'd be in for a rough awakening, but he'd live. Rule Breaker should nullify any buried instructions in the Hypnosis that would cause self-termination or other unpleasant consequences.

"Good, the sedative worked." Chiho breathed a sigh of relief. "I… um… I didn't expect to see you again." She wasn't afraid, though I could see when the conditioning – the Auto-Hypnosis mindset needed to be a Magus – faded from her eyes. "I didn't… expect to see anyone again."

I didn't say that that had been my intention. I didn't need to.

"Our last conversation left me with some… unanswered questions," I said instead, rising to my feet. On the way, I snatched up the syringe that had fallen from the nurse's grasp. It looked familiar – the same color and dosage as what I'd given Chiho yesterday. Was this… "Do you need medicine right now?"

I… hadn't given much thought to either the Hypnotized staff or Chiho's treatment schedule when I'd planned the timing of this operation. Partially, because the document I'd stolen didn't have her drug schedule on it.

"You aren't much of an assassin, are you?" Chiho giggled weakly. Pained, now that I was looking for it. The 'scent' of curses momentarily spiked with her wince. "But yes. The disease… eats away at my body. So far, the treatments have been able to hold off its advance but… it hurts. Constantly."

Ah… I glanced down at the nurse lying on the floor. So, he wasn't here to clean up the possible loose end that Chiho Hidaka might be the real Second Owner of the Shin Tokyo leyline. It was… good… that I hadn't killed him then.

"Haihane, would you go and get our gear?" I said as I approached Chiho's bedside.

"Roger!" Haihane hopped to it, skipping out of the room. Chiho's eyes tracked her as she left.

"Is she…" Chiho spoke hesitantly, eyes on the open doorway. "She looks like Uzume-chan." Haihane did? Really? I didn't see that comparison at all. "Is she a Sekirei too?"

"She is," I confirmed. There wasn't any harm in admitting as much to another Ashikabi, even if she were a Magus.

"You must be a good person then." What? "I'm glad it was you who found me." She smiled, nostalgically. No, seriously, what? "Is there… something that you need from me?"

"Like I said: I've uncovered some mysteries that I believe you may be the key to answering," I responded as Haihane returned with the wheelchair and our gear. Chiho's eyes darted towards her momentarily as the Sekirei returned and I caught the wince she was trying to suppress – along with the slight fluctuation in the scent of rot and disease.

It was an educated shot in the dark, but I was starting to think that whatever curse Dr. Iwao had afflicted her with was the cause of her unbearable tainted prana.

"I'd like to hear your story, but I'm afraid we don't have the time right now." I pulled free my phone, turning it on to reveal the faceplate – and the message on it – and gave it to her. Now that I was looking for it, I saw the tremors in her hands and the pinching of the skin at her eyes as she tried to keep the pain and fear off her face.

"I'm going to give you a choice." I continued, extending my left hand towards her. Resting in my open palm was the intact syringe I'd pulled from the nurse. "In return for answering my questions, I can take you out of here. I can't promise you a treatment or a cure, but I have contacts at the Mages Association and MBI. If you help me, I will do my best to protect you and leverage those assets. Or…" I presented my other hand. A small dagger, simple and without embellishments, formed in my palm. "If you choose, after you answer my questions, I can make your passing as painless and comfortable as possible."

"But either way, you get what you want." It should have been jarring, watching that mental switch flip back into place. Perhaps if I weren't also a Magus it would have been.

"Yes." But in the end, cold, ruthless logic won out.

"You misunderstand." She gave a brief, mirthless chuckle. "I told you before, Mr. Assassin. I have had a lot of pain in my life. Maybe too much. If it's my time… I'd like it to be without any more…" I tried not to flinch. I… wanted to help her. Like I couldn't help Rebecca – or any of the other victims of the mad Dead Apostle Dr. Iwao. "But the life of a Magus is pain."

My eyes widened as she grabbed the syringe.

"You might not be able to promise me anything, Mr. Assassin." She continued as I stared at her, poleaxed. "No one has been. But let me tell you something that my most treasured person has said to me: just because you don't know the way forward, doesn't mean you can't see the sky, or the mountains or the ocean. She would tell me to have faith. That you can't promise me a solution doesn't change my situation any. The doctors haven't been able to do anything but slow my disease for years. But Uzume would want me to hope for a different fate. I'll put my faith in you too, Mr. Assassin, to help me reach for that clear blue sky."

Ah…

"Wait…" She looked confused as I grabbed her wrist before she could inject herself.

"What? Did I pick wrong?" She looked… honestly, adorably confused in a way that pulled at my glass heart.

"No, just… that syringe was prepped by someone who might have been trying to kill you." I finished lamely.

"Oh…" She trailed off, both of us looking at the syringe.

"Yeah…" I agreed.

"Snrk." Haihane tried to smother her chuckle but ended up snorting. "And here I thought only my Ashikabi was adorkable. You wizards are precious."

"Haihane…" I sighed as Chiho giggled – actually giggled. With her guidance – and the assistance of her medical chart – Haihane and I were able to reprepare and administer her medication and get her set up in the wheelchair. I replaced her body in the bed with the unconscious nurse, hooking him up to the monitors, as Haihane began stuffing everything she could from Chiho's medicine cart into the storage pouches on the chair.

Not too long into our final preparation, Chiho's head began to droop as the medicine took effect. By the time we were wheeling her through the hospital floor back to the van, she was fast asleep. Haihane walked in front, partially shielding Chiho's insensate form from scrutiny and half shepherding us through the crowd.

Keeping an eye out for any of the Hypnotized doctors and nurses getting too close an eye on her, my mind wandered to something that had been bothering me.

The first time my burner phone had received a random message like the one warning me about Chiho, it was sent by an unknown number – one that neither Junko nor I had been able to trace despite MBI's substantial resources. At first… I had assumed it was the work of Higa's mind-type, Kochou – the Sekirei who had assisted me in rescuing Yukari from Mikogami. Though I didn't entirely grasp how the Sekirei's powers worked from reading the reports on her, I knew enough to realize she was more capable than she was letting on.

Plus, she had both access to my phone and a vested interest in keeping her activities hidden from MBI.

But that message had only referenced Uzume, even containing proof of her identity as the Veiled Sekirei. If that message was from Kochou… then Higa wouldn't have made a point of asking me for information on the Veiled Sekirei this morning.

This newest message didn't mention Uzume at all, only Chiho. It was enough to cause me to… revisit those assumptions. There were only two Sekirei – and I was confident the culprit was a Sekirei – who both knew about my secret phone and had the capabilities to perform such a feat. The first was Higa's Sekirei, Kochou (of that I was fairly confident). The second was Minato's Sekirei, Matsu.

What I didn't understand was which message came from which… or why…

I suppose I'd have to wait until Chiho was safe and awake before I could solve this particular riddle.

*Shirou*

"Shirou…" Karasuba's elegant eyebrow rose as she stared down her nose at the fidgeting little girl in the wheelchair propped up next to the table. "Let this be a warning to you, but if you return home with another strange woman without my permission, there will be consequences."

"Uuu…." Chiho shrank in on herself curling around the fresh cup of tea in her hands. If it were anyone else, I'd have told the girl not to worry, that the bark was worse than the bite.

But Karasuba's bite was much worse and despite being… no. No, I couldn't in good faith even think Karasuba's behavior was improving – just because she hadn't attacked me since forcefully dragging me into her being her Ashikabi didn't mean she was any less prone to violence.

"Noted…" I commented dryly, mostly ignoring her Karasuba-ness as I worked on the Formalcraft circle I was drawing on the floor of the living room. It was… well, not the most ideal place to be crafting the ritual circle, but I had yet to set up a Workshop in the city.

"And you… whatever it is you're doing, stop it." Karasuba turned her ire back to Chiho. I wasn't sure how sensitive Sekirei normally were to magecraft, but in this instance they didn't need to be. The unpleasant aura surrounding Chiho was impossible to miss even for those without any mystical awareness. Thus, my attempt to recreate a minor bounded field to isolate her (and her putrid signature) from the surrounding mana much like how her hospital room was shielded. "Had I known magic was this unpleasant I would not have given my consent."

"Ah… you don't know the half of it…" Chiho and I griped as one.

"Don't worry," I continued, checking to make sure I'd not smudged any of the powered silver chalk I'd been drawing on the floor with. "Once this is finished things should feel a bit better…"

For us at least. Now… I just needed to use some blood as a catalyst and not burn a hole in the floor–

"Hey, Shirou? What's a command seal?" Haihane asked.

"It's a single order that can't be disobeyed without consequence," I answered offhand. "Why do you – hey!" I looked over to the couch Akitsu and Haihane perched themselves on to watch me work after moving it to the side. Haihane was holding Rin's letter while Akitsu read over her shoulder, examining the massive jewel hanging from her fingers on its silver chain. "Both of you put that back! Don't go poking around without asking."

"Why, will it explode?" The two of them gave the pretty gem a dubious glance, but at least the two of them did what I asked.

"If it did, we wouldn't know," I grumbled, going back to my working. "If I know Rin, that has enough prana stored in it to take out half the building…"

I caught the girls blinking and sharing a look between each other, but the gem – and the letter – were returned to my bag.

Hmm… right. Looked good enough. A drop of blood hit the silver and – "Trace on!" – the silvered chalk ignited, not in flames, but with a soft silver light.

"Woah…" Haihane gasped. "A real magic circle…"

"Ah… pretty." Akitsu nodded, leaning forward towards the heatless light.

"That's it?" My eyebrow twitched as Karasuba finished her teacup and moved onto mine. "After all that buildup, I thought your magic trick would be more impressive."

"First off…" I trailed off, seeing the hint of a smug grin tug at her lips. That bloody crow! She was baiting me! "…if that's how you feel, you can take the next overnight shift. I'll just do the cool stuff with Haihane and Akitsu."

I failed to hide my grin at her answering scowl.

"Score!" Haihane practically leaped off the couch, throwing her hands into the air. "Is there summoning magic? Oh! Are succubi real? Oh! OH! Is there sex magic?"

"Oh my…" Chiho gave a soft gasp.

"Haihane, no corrupting our guest." I sighed.

"Hear that 'Kistu-chan?" Haihane stage whispered to her unwitting partner in crime. "I didn't hear a no~."

"Girls." I sighed. "Behave." Two of the three of my Sekirei straightened their backs. The third finished off my cup of tea.

"Now… this should be similar to the bounded field that lined your hospital room." I told the young Magus as I picked her up, maneuvering her (chair and all) into the barrier. "Once inside, it should cut you off from the ambient mana of the environment and vice versa. If anything feels wrong, let me know immediately."

"There was a bounded field in my room?" She tilted her head in confusion. Ah… well, that may have answered that question, not that it mattered anymore. "I don't feel any different. Should I?"

"Good. And no." Though, to be fair, it wasn't like I studied the bounded field she had been kept in before destroying it. The only property I knew it had was that it contained the tainted prana leaking out of her. "How much do you know about Formalcraft?"

"I…" Chiho looked down into her nearly empty cup of tea. "I must confess, not a lot."

What? But…

"Aren't you the heir of the Hidaka family? The Second Owner of the Shin Tokyo leyline?" Did I have the wrong Chiho Hidaka? One who just happened to also be a Magus? Unless… she wasn't the heir.

"Wait, you said that that Higa person was the Second Owner." Karasuba glared at me. "Now she is?"

"That…" Chiho hesitated. "I am. Mama was the Second Owner, but…" She shook her head. "I am not. Not really."

"What do you mean, 'not really'?" Dr. Iwao became a Dead Apostle a little over three years ago and was a Sealing Designate for only slightly longer. In order for him to be Chiho's attending doctor (assuming she was as old as I thought she was), it would have had to be before he went on the run… but that still should have been enough time for her to finish her training and inherit her family's Magic Crest – much like Rin had as the heir of the Tohsaka line.

Unless… unless she was a second child. If her mother was recognized as the second owner by the Mages Association, there had to be a Hidaka Magic Crest, but if Chiho weren't the heir to the family… it would explain her inability to create her own Formalcraft barriers as they were one of the fundamental learning blocks of higher rituals. Most Magus families, with few exceptions, only had one child – their heir who would inherit the family along with the Magic Crest.

Any other children were… well, their fates were seldom kind. The lucky ones merely lived in ignorance and excluded – never to be told about or educated in magecraft lest they weaken the family Mysteries. Others… well, others ended up like Sakura.

"I… I fell ill when I was very little." Chiho started quietly. I could see the mental switch flick in her mind; no longer was she Chiho the Magus, but merely Chiho the dying girl. "It was just after inheriting Mama's Magic Crest. I don't remember a lot from around then, but… I developed a fever during my recovery. When nothing Mama did seemed to work, she brought in one of the neighboring families to make sure it wasn't a complication from being implanted before I'd fully completed my training."

She was… she was only an Initiate?! She… for being born to an established Mage Family, she might know less about the Moonlit world than I did when I fell into the Grail War. Dammit… the idea of having a competent Magus in my debt to help with both the looming situation with the Dead Apostle and the Sekirei Plan died before it had a chance to fully form.

"So, magic is hereditary?" Karasuba put a strange emphasis on the words, a knowing (knowing what, I had no idea) glimmer in her eye. "How interesting."

"Oh!" Hiahane bounced on the couch in excitement. "Is that magic crest thing how you create swords?"

"Yes and no. The ability to practice magecraft isn't exactly hereditary, but if at least one parent has Magic Circuits then it is more likely for their children to develop their own. Having Magic Circuits is required to channel prana and conduct thaumaturgy." I explained. "A Magic Crest is a collection of research and spells in the form of an artificial Magic Circuit that is implanted into its recipient. Each holder of a Magic Crest holds the responsibility to add their contribution to their family's Mysteries to it and pass it down; in essence, acting as a living repository of the legacy of a family. And no, Haihane. I was adopted, so I never received Kiritsugu's Magic Crest. I wasn't aware there even was an Emiya family crest until I was an adult."

"So, then your swords would be more closely related to your parents?" Karasuba drawled.

"Normally, you'd be right, but I'm something of a special case." I was a rare type of Magus, with both my element and my origin being 'sword' – something even rarer than Rin's coveted nature of Average One. That, and the creation of Unlimited Blade Works, my Reality Marble – a feat few humans could boast of – one that research into had been banned by the Mages Association as most who attempted it either died… or became Dead Apostles. My magecraft was centered around this unique facet and not any potential familial Mysteries.

"That you are." Karasuba's eyes glittered. "Girl, continue."

"Oh, ah… it's Chiho." Chiho continued. "Where was I? Right. I got sick, and Mama tried her best but… she and Papa fell ill too not long afterwards. I was in isolation in the hospital when… when they died. Without Mama and Papa, I had no way to pay the medical bills. The family and friends that should have looked out for me disappeared. People came and took our house and our things. I… I think I would have died then too if it weren't for Mr. Izumi."

Mr. Izumi?! My eyes narrowed. Higa Izumi? Of course… the previous Second Owner dies, its sole heir gets picked up, possibly experimented on by a Sealing Designate, and a lesser local family manages to slip into their role without anyone in the Mages Association noticing. Pieces were uncomfortably slotting into place.

But… then why the warning? Higa should have killed her off as soon as he and I first met. Why didn't he?

"Mr. Izumi said he even called a specialist to see me. Dr. Iwao–" and there it was – "ran test after test, eventually managing to find a treatment for me but… while I've managed to survive my parents, my condition is degenerative. Eventually, Mr. Izumi passed and Dr. Iwao left to treat other patients. Higa-san, Mr. Izumi's son, has been nice enough to pay for my stay in the hospital while the other doctors try to further my treatment but… without Dr. Iwao they've only managed to slow the spread of my degeneration. Oh! I hope Mr. Higa doesn't get too worried that I left without telling him."

"Don't worry." I bit the inside of my cheek, the acrid taste of iron grounding me. If she was under the knife of that butcher before Higa took over the family, then whatever curse eating through her was likely a precursor to the epidemic curse that tore through Roanapanur, killing and turning the infected into Dead, and turning the city into a nightmare. "I'll make sure he gets the message. Personally."

After she finished speaking, Chiho dropped back against her chair, as if the act of talking so much exhausted her. I gently took her empty teacup from her before she could drop it – noticing as I passed the threshold of the bounded field that the pseudo-scent of curses spiked with her pained grimace.

"Thank you for trying to help me, Mr. Assassin, but despite my wishes… even with my medication, I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to hold on." She sighed. "I promise I'll help you as much as I can though."

"Ah… Shirou-sama is kind." Akitsu spoke up. "Strong. He will help." I barely stopped myself from whipping towards the quiet Sekirei. The confidence in her voice was stunning. Baseless, but spoken with unwavering faith that I could. That I would.

"Our Shirou-kun knows everything." Haihane piled on. "I bet he already has two or three ideas of how to help, right Shirou-kun? He's kinda great that way." She stage-whispered the last sentence to Chiho, who giggled despite her state.

Way to put me on the spot, girls…

Not for the first time since Saber disappeared, I wished she was here with me. If I had access to Avalon, either her Noble Phantasm or rather the Mystic Code that had been implanted in me by Kiritsugu, healing Chiho would be… well, easy.

Unfortunately, I lacked the mana to Trace the magic sheath – and even if I didn't, I wasn't sure my understanding of the fey mysteries would be enough to activate its mystical properties without Saber by my side. That said…

Neither Haihane nor Akitsu were entirely wrong… I had survived my encounter with the Dead Apostle and his viral curse of undeath. Given that Chiho was still alive, the method I used to treat myself should work on her as well. Assuming, of course, the curse affecting her was anything like the one I had been infected with.

"I might have an idea or two." I hedged, ignoring the pair's triumphant grins as Haihane tried to teach Akitsu how to high-five. Instead… I thought about how to phrase what I wanted to say. "I've encountered something like this before. I can't promise that it will help you, but there are two options I have that might help."

"You do?" Oh… I could see how she tried to bury the hope in her eyes under the weight of experience.

"Ah… Yeah." Trace On. The hammer in the back of my mind cocked and pulled, the prana shaping into two small daggers on the table in front of me. "Once, in a coastal city in Asia, I contracted a magical disease. And infection that was infused with curses. My companions were–" consumed, their flesh and minds warping as they tried to hunt me down – "unfortunately not as lucky as I was. They succumbed before I did, but I was able to find a rudimentary counter to the ailment."

"The first option, and probably the most likely to work if your affliction has a thaumaturgical component to it, is this dagger here." I picked up the first knife: a ritual dagger with a jagged purple blade. Rule Breaker was bar none one of – if not the – most useful Noble Phantasms in my arsenal when combatting bounded fields and curses. I… when I'd stabbed myself and severed my connection to Rin, it also severed the connection of the curse to its master. The backlash of the severance had…

…didn't matter. I survived.

"Based on what I can tell from examining you, your disease also acts like a curse. Rule Breaker can sever the curse's connection to you – hopefully allowing you to be treated normally." Her eyes widened. "However, there are complications with using it like this."

"Complications?" She echoed. "Like what?"

"Rule Breaker is indiscriminate. It will sever all bonds of magic, including enchantments, geas, curses, and contracts. I haven't been able to test it yet, but from my experience, that will include the connection you have to your Sekirei that marks you as an Ashikabi."

"What?!" Karasuba hissed over Chiho's shocked gasp, leaning forward in her seat to glare at me. Haihane leaned back, partially hiding behind Akitsu as she stared at the purple ritual dagger as if it were a venomous snake.

"With the bond between you broken, while it may be the key to treating your condition, it will most likely trigger your Sekirei's deactivation."

"Saving myself will mean killing Uzume?" The novice shook her head. "No… I…"

"Before you answer, that is the quickest way." I interrupted. I didn't care one way or the other if Uzume died as a consequence of saving Chiho. The Veiled Sekirei made her bed in attacking Ashikabi, and if that turned out to be her grave, then so be it.

I let Rule Breaker fade away and turned to the second dagger on the table.

"This is the more sanguine option," I said as I lifted the thin, three-sided phurba made of bone, yew, and meteoric iron, "and I do mean that literally." This was not a Noble Phantasm, but one of a set of nine phurbas crafted into a conceptual weapon by a hermit after being guided to a fallen meteor. "Though normally associated with the consecration of land, protection against evil spirits and possessions, and binding demons, this set has a special property that eventually became tied to the formation of acupuncture. When I'd been infected with my own cursed virus, I'd used Rule Breaker and this to purify my blood of the lingering curses, traces of viral particles, and toxins that were building up in my blood."

"I… was short on time back then and it was a desperate measure, but it worked. Think of it as… a sort of magic dialysis machine, only quite a bit more bloody." I laid the dagger back onto the table. "Now, since we have a bit more time on our hands than I did, we can perform a more proper ritual than what I cobbled up back then." By which I meant actually performing a ritual and not just stabbing the damn thing into my liver in the hopes that its purifying attributes would help me clean my system of the lethal curses before I bled out. "I must warn you, however, that to be effective there will need to be at least one of these that will need to be implanted into you. Thus, the sanguine option."

Which meant we'd need a supply of blood. It wouldn't do for the ancient blade to work only for the girl to bleed out and die anyway.

"I… I think I need some time to think about it." Chiho wavered, looking at the dagger. "And I'd like Uzume with me. Can you… would it be possible to bring her here?"

"That sounds like a good idea." I wasn't keen on having my target here, but depending on Chiho's choice, the Veiled Sekirei would either be no longer a factor or no longer a problem. "Do you have a phone?"

"No… um… I never got a mobile phone." She shook her head. "My room had a corded phone that she would call every day."

"Alright. In that case, Haihane, in my bag there is a polaroid camera. Can you grab it for me?"

"What's a polaroid?" She asked, gleefully digging through my things. She grinned as she pulled out the bulky thing. "Woah. Retro."

Taking it from her, I fiddled with the settings to set it up.

"I doubt Uzume would be trusting enough – or foolish enough – to take us at our word if we just walked up to her and asked. We are the Disciplinary Squad, after all." I said, handing the camera back to Haihane. "So, take a picture of Chiho and I."

The flash went off immediately, and I blinked the stars out of my eyes.

"Cooool…" Haihane pulled the picture from the printer at the base of the camera. She and Akitsu stared transfixed as the color slowly faded into the black square. "This is a thing? Hehehehe… Shirou! I want one! Can I have this?"

I… may have made a tactical error.

"We…" No. No! I took the photo from her to look it over. It… huh. That was a surprisingly good picture for none of us being ready for it. I looked up to see Haihane giving me her best attempt at puppy dog eyes, going even so far as to puff out her lower lip. It didn't escape me that she nudged Akitsu's side–

"Ah…" Who… well, didn't quite get it. Still, I was used to Akitsu giving me intense and inscrutable looks.

"… shall see."

Dammit Shirou.

"Right. I have two assignments and I need volunteers–"

"Me!"

"Ah…."

I'd barely gotten the words out before the two on the couch stood. Karasuba merely raised an eyebrow. Yeah. Expected that. I got up to get a pen and started writing.

"Right. Akitsu," I handed her the photo, "here's the address where Uzume is. If she's not there, Minato and Yukari are, so it should be fine to leave that with them." I told her. "Haihane, can you head over to headquarters real quick to pick up this list? Call me if you have trouble and I'll ask Junko to help you."

Haihane took the list, scowling when I mentioned my assistant. "Eh… I'll just ask the red-shirt squad to help."

I… I really hoped she didn't call the MBI death squad I was specifically training to kill Sekirei that to their faces…

Who was I kidding, I knew she did.

"Go." I shooed my mouthy and silent Sekirei out of the balcony towards their tasks.

"In the meantime, I suppose you can ask me any questions you'd like, Chiho."

*End*

A big shoutout to ParadoxicalThought, HibernaLupus, OctZ and GodofChairs for my constantly disrupting their holidays. I hope you all had a happy holidays and have a happy new year.