"Orders… I don't have anything like that yet."
"I see. But there are other Masters and Servants here, and an explanation is needed. Are we allies?"
Saber pointed her invisible sword at us and asked Shirō.
"We're not allies yet… or should I consider us allies? Ahaha…"
"I would like a clear answer."
As Saber urged Shirō, Rin stepped in and said,
"We're allies. Servant Saber! We helped your Master perform the summoning."
Saber looked at Shirō to confirm if this was true.
"It's true. They helped me."
Hearing Shirō's words, Saber lowered her sword.
"Understood."
Rin quietly asked me, "Jin, could you win if you fought Saber?"
"Hahaha, even if there were about a hundred Sabers, I could still win."
"Oh, stop lying… Saber is said to be the strongest among Servants."
Tōsaka Rin was a Saber fanboy even in the original story. She had tried hard to summon Saber for the Holy Grail War, so her saying this was understandable, but saying it in front of me hurt my pride a little.
"Tsk, you don't believe me. Are you really my butler? I told you, you summoned the strongest Servant."
Saber, who had been listening quietly, frowned and said, "I cannot let that statement pass."
"I only speak the truth. Don't be overconfident in your abilities, Saber!"
"It's Saber! Very well, it wouldn't hurt for allies to test each other's strength."
"Indeed."
Just as Saber and I seemed about to fight, Shirō hurriedly tried to stop us.
"Wait, Saber!"
"Master, if I endure such an insult, I can no longer call myself a knight."
Rin, curious herself, started egging us on. "Yeah, Shirō. It's just a light sparring match."
"But a girl like her shouldn't be swinging a weapon around."
When Shirō said that, Saber looked flustered. Seeing that, I pointed at Shirō and shouted,
"Here we have a sexist!!"
At that, all the women glared at Emiya Shirō and each had something to say.
Tōsaka Rin: "Shirō, I'm disappointed. What era do you think this is, saying something like that!"
Saber: "I never imagined my Master would be such a person. Are you disappointed that your Servant is a woman?"
Rider: "Sakura! I think you need to seriously reconsider this Shirō person!"
Matō Sakura: "Senpai…"
Shirō panicked and quickly made an excuse.
"No, wait! I said that because Saber looks like a cute girl, and I was worried she might get hurt…"
I pointed at Emiya Shirō again and shouted,
"Here we have a habitual sexist offender!!"
Then the women all went over to Shirō and started scolding him.
"Shirō, that's really too much. Are you saying women should just stay at home and cook and do laundry?"
"That's right, Master. You need to correct your views on women!"
"Sakura, may I hit this guy just once?"
"Senpai…"
And so, Shirō was reduced to a cowering figure surrounded by the women, and had to listen to their lectures for a whole hour. Even Sakura didn't try to stop them and seemed to be enjoying the situation.
Wow… women are scary…
Because so much had happened today, it was already 1 AM. I said to the women, who were still lecturing,
"Alright, enough. It's late, let's go to sleep. It's already 1 AM."
When I told them the time, everyone stopped their lectures. Rin looked at the clock in the dojo and asked Shirō,
"You're right, it's already that late… Let's sleep quickly. We'll stay over tonight, so give us a room."
"Y-yeah…"
Shirō, staggering as if the long lecture had built up psychic damage, showed us to the rooms. Since we had just formed an alliance today, we divided the rooms considering each Master and Servant.
Fortunately, Rin and my room was assigned a room with a bed. Rin jumped onto the bed and lay down.
"Ugh… I'm tired. A lot happened today."
I covered Rin with a blanket, then laid out the blanket Shirō had given me on the floor and lay down.
"By the way, why did you tell Shirō that we're dating?"
Rin turned over on the bed and looked at me. Apparently Shirō had told her about it while I was briefly away dealing with Caster.
"Well, I had no excuse to give someone who didn't know anything. Saying we're dating makes it easier to move around from now on, doesn't it?"
Rin's face suddenly flushed, and she said, "Really, is that the only reason?"
"Disappointed? Do you want to date for real?"
Rin quickly covered her face with the blanket and turned over. She was extremely embarrassed.
"Wha-what are you saying!"
"Not a bad idea."
"…"
Rin was quiet for a moment. Then she asked me about myself.
"By any chance, in the future… I mean, in the world where Jin lived, was there someone you were dating?"
Honestly, there were people in other worldlines, but I decided to talk only about the real world.
"No, there wasn't. I was just busy trying to survive in the bunker. The surface was all contaminated with radiation."
"I see…"
"Go to sleep. It's good to get as much sleep as you can."
"O-okay…"
It was quiet again for a while. Then Rin said quietly from under the blanket,
"S-so… well… after the Holy Grail War is over… I think I'd be okay with dating you…"
"Okay, let's do that."
"It's a promise!"
With those words, Rin truly fell asleep. I lay there for a while, checking the [Lesser Grail] ability I had obtained today. I needed to see if it was contaminated.
(SS) Lesser Grail – Mana +500. Can store souls. (Key to the Greater Grail)
Fortunately, there was no description of contamination. It seemed that only the pure Lesser Grail had been transferred during the snatch.
That's a relief.
Just then, I sensed someone outside. Since Rin was asleep, I quietly got up and went outside. Rider approached me.
"I have something to say. Follow me."
"Is it okay for us to leave?"
"Saber is here, so it should be fine."
"Alright."
Following Rider's lead, I went to an old, worn-down shrine on a small hill a little ways from Shirō's house. The shrine seemed to have had no caretaker for a long time; it was broken down in several places.
Rider suddenly started taking off her clothes. Honestly, I was a bit flustered.
"What are you doing?"
"Sakura summoned me with no catalyst at all. In that case, a Servant close in nature to the Master is chosen. I didn't want Sakura to become like me, but regardless of my will, things kept flowing in that bad direction."
"That's when I appeared."
"Yes, and I'm truly grateful. You gave me the helping hand of salvation that I never could have received. You didn't just save Sakura; you saved me as well. So I wondered how I could repay you."
"So you chose this?"
"Yes. This is the only thing I can give."
I shook my head and said to Rider,
"I'm sorry, but I already have someone in my heart."
"You mean Sakura's sister, right? Don't worry. I'll keep the secret. Or is it that I'm not attractive enough?"
"…"
When I remained silent, Rider, her face flushed, approached me, took both my hands in hers, and placed them on her chest.
Wow! This, I really can't resist.
I engaged in passionate relations with Rider at the old shrine, then returned to Shirō's house.
"That was enjoyable. If you want it again, tell me anytime. Next time, I might be the one who wants it. Hehe."
Rider smiled and went to the room where Sakura was sleeping. I felt guilty toward Tōsaka Rin, but I wondered what man, unless he were a eunuch, could resist Rider's naked seduction. That night, I didn't sleep but spent the time on the roof, keeping watch of the surroundings. It was past the time to sleep anyway.
The next day, after washing up simply, we ate the breakfast I made and tried to go to school. It didn't matter for me and Rider, but Saber, having become a Servant while still alive, couldn't turn into spirit form, so it was hard for her to come along.
However, she insisted on following to protect her Master. Shirō tried to use a Command Spell to order her not to, but in the end, she had no choice but to guard the house.
"Then, I leave my Master in your hands."
"Understood."
Saber entrusted Shirō to me. And so classes began. During class, police came to take Sakura away. I alerted Shirō, and he went to the police station with her as her guardian.
It was probably because of the Matō house fire, but thanks to the testimonies of Shirō and Fujimura Taiga, Sakura was able to return to school safely. With this, Sakura gained complete freedom.
After school, I went to Shirō's house and decided to learn Projection Magecraft and Reinforcement Magecraft from him. Rin tried to stop me.
"Learning that kind of thing is useless. Just learn something else."
"Rin, think about it. Even if they're fakes, if I could copy jewels and use them, it would consume a lot of magical energy, but wouldn't it definitely reduce jewel consumption?"
"Oh… that's true. Jin! Are you a genius?"
"Hmph~ For things like this, you need a change in perspective."
I told her in advance what Tōsaka Rin would learn and use in the future. Anyway, Tōsaka Rin and I learned Projection and Reinforcement from Shirō in his yard. Shirō was happy that he could teach magic to others and taught us enthusiastically.
"Aish! Why does it not work so well?"
"Like I said, the image is important."
Tōsaka Rin was struggling quite a bit, but after watching Shirō's demonstration, I understood it immediately. This seemed to be largely due to the effects of [Eyes], [Matter Manipulation], and [Genius]. My high understanding of magecraft in the Fate universe also played a part.
Projection Magecraft
Projects and duplicates items.
Reinforcement Magecraft
Raises the performance of a substance.
The reason I wanted to learn Projection Magecraft was not only because the magecraft itself was overpowered, but also because I thought it might eventually lead to [Matter Creation].
Although I had [Matter Manipulation], that was manipulating existing matter to change it into something else, which was clearly different from [Matter Creation].
"Rin."
"Don't talk to me! I'm concentrating."
"Uh… okay."
I sensed Sakura and Rider approaching and tried to tell her, but Rin was so focused on Projection Magecraft that she wouldn't let me speak.
Because of the fire, Sakura had lost everything, so she was going to buy household goods, underwear, and another school uniform. She was out shopping with Rider's escort.
The money was provided by Rin and Shirō. Soon, all of the Matō family's assets would be inherited by Sakura, so she likely wouldn't lack anything in the future. Until then, Rin and Shirō had agreed to help a little. Though Rin was a penny-pincher, she spared no expense for Sakura.
"We're back. We bought groceries for tonight, too."
"Welcome back~"
Sakura's expression had definitely brightened. Now that the things that had bound her had disappeared at once, I could feel her eyes gradually becoming lively and brighter.
"Then, I'll start preparing dinner."
"Yeah, thanks."
I called out to Shirō. "Shirō."
"Huh? What?"
"This is thanks for teaching me magecraft."
I gave him two bracelets made of jewels. I had made these by imitating the necklace left by Rin's father that she always carried, using [Matter Manipulation] and referring to Rin's jewel crafting.
These bracelets had only the function of storing magical energy, but they could store a considerable amount, and I had covered the jewels with an alloy so they wouldn't break easily even during intense movements.
"What's this?"
"I noticed you seem to be severely lacking in magical energy. This should be an alternative. It's a bracelet that can store magical energy. Think of it as a magical energy savings bank."
"Oh~ Thanks."
Certainly, Shirō, as a protagonist overflowing with a sense of justice, could be trusted, so it was necessary to boost him. Moreover, by giving him this bracelet, there was no need for the strange (H) situation in the original story where Tōsaka transferred her magical energy to Shirō through a pass because he was lacking.
I should prevent any potential unfortunate incidents beforehand.
Just then, Saber suddenly ran out into the yard.
"Master! Is something wrong? The magical energy being transmitted suddenly increased."
"I got a magical energy savings bank as a gift from Jin."
Shirō showed Saber the pair of bracelets on his arm.
"That is good news. Jin, thank you."
"Don't mention it. Allies should help each other."
Rin kicked the ground in frustration as she trained. She had high aptitude for other types of magic, but she seemed not very good at this kind.
"Aish! Sigh… Let's eat. By the way, what are those bracelets Shirō is wearing?"
"Apparently, they're magical energy savings banks, a gift from Jin."
"What?"
Rin approached me and held out her hand.
"Huh?"
"Of course, since you gave something like that to a fellow Master and ally, you're going to give me something even better, right?"
"Come on… Didn't you take a pile of jewels this morning?"
"That's because Sakura needed money. Enough talk, give it to me now!"
"Yes, yes. Anyone would think you were depositing them with me."
I gave Rin a few jewels I had prepared in advance.
"Wow~ These contain a considerable amount of magical energy?"
"Save them and only use them in emergencies. I don't want you treating me like an ATM."
"Oh, come on~ Surely I wouldn't do that?"
I couldn't believe those words. In the original story, after the Holy Grail War, Rin had tried hard to create jewels using Shirō's Projection Magecraft.
Sakura called us to eat, so we gathered in the living room and had dinner together. Saber exclaimed in admiration with every bite.
"Oh~ This is delicious."
"That's fried chicken."
"Then what is this?"
"Stir-fried meat and vegetables."
"I see."
Nom, nom, nom!
"Master, I would like another serving, please."
"Y-yeah."
As expected of Saber (Eater). She ate so well that even Shirō seemed surprised.
Rin said to Shirō, "After dinner, I need to go somewhere with you."
"Huh? Where?"
"The church in Shintō."
After finishing our meal, we asked Rider and Sakura to watch the house and headed to the church.
"Is it okay to go at such a late hour?"
"It's fine. When it comes to the Holy Grail War, it's best to hear it from that priest."