Beta read by Shigiya, Paragon of Awesomeness, FabledLife and GamerCrusher55
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-Demon Capital Tokyo-
"Why has that bitch been so fucking happy lately?"
There were only a few things in the world that could catch Oboro's attention. Ironically, though, there were just as many things that brought on her ire.
Yet rarely was it ever both of those at the same time. In fact, the woman had always believed that the only subject worthy of her interest was anything related to Black, whether it be the man himself or his own interests, be it mundane or carnal. For the better part of her new life, she had lived for the sole reason to satisfy his every desire, to have him finally acknowledge her for her efforts and devotion, and bring her to his side as his one and only right-hand woman.
But here she stood, staring at a certain pink-haired Hell Knight who outranked her and who was working as usual... except this time she was also humming songs under her breath and seemed to have a nauseating amount of pep in her step. Rather, she never even imagined that this stuck-up bitch knight even had the ability to hum any sort of song, let alone smile while doing so.
It annoyed her; she hated it with every part of her being and wanted nothing more than to cut that smile off her face.
'Why the hell is she happy? Don't tell me... something happened between her and Black-sama...' The worst outcome possible, was for something to actually bloom between Hell Knight and her master despite all evidence pointing to the latter having no interest in her.
'That woman is always by his side for a reason after all.'
Biting her nail, Oboro started to go through what led to the Hell Knight's good mood, but realized that it was pointless, as such progress could not have happened given that Black had already recently left the Tokyo region for some private matters beforehand.
But then, that statement finally gave her an idea of what was going on.
"Ah, I see."
With confidence brimming within herself, she went ahead with confident strides until Ingrid finally spotted her, and that bright smile on her face melted immediately into a scowl, her annoyance and disgust for the former Taimanin evident.
Oboro relished it.
"Oh my, is that an appropriate reaction to have towards your colleague? If I didn't know better, I would assume you were having thoughts of shoving your sword through my face."
"You're not far off. Now step aside, I do not have time for you or your nonsense."
Seeing how she was not going to budge, Ingrid just rolled her eyes and walked past her, without even throwing one of her customary scathing remarks at her, which Oboro noticeably found odd. Usually, she would stare her down as if looking at a worthless insect while holding her tongue until one thing or another would pull them away. It was unexpected, out of the norm, and out of her calculations and so she didn't like it. "What the hell is wrong with you today? You've been way too chipper lately. Did you finally find someone desperate enough to fuck you or something?"
"..."
Unexpectedly, her words seemed to end up hitting the mark, but not in the way Oboro would believe, as Ingrid paused. This sudden reaction just further fueled Oboro's curiosity, making her smile as Ingrid responded.
"You should mind your own business and get back to work, Oboro."
"Oh, but this is my business. You are property of Nomad just like I am. Anything that might interest you, I believe, is logical that I should know about as well. Since I need to make sure it does not cause any trouble for Black-sama."
This kind of conversation had happened hundreds, if not thousands of times at least that would probably be how much it was if Oboro had any desire to keep count. So much so that even the other branches of the organization would sneakily try to keep both of them apart at any given point, not that she minded. Not seeing this bitch's face on a daily basis was a boon, and she had her own duties to attend to as well.
"I am merely in a good mood today, Oboro. Let's just say I have found a good way to de-stress lately, and I am planning on seeing it continued. Your words today will not affect me as they used to. So go waste someone else's time, or better yet, isn't it about time that you got around to finally completing that task Black-sama gave you? Or did you suffer yet another setback?"
""...What the fuck did you just say?"
Wrong, something definitely felt terribly wrong at this point! She seemed far too composed, far too relaxed compared to her past self. It annoyed her, it really did. Especially when they kept going ahead to the elevator leading to Black's office, where they could speak to him either physically or through a communication line.
On the way the woman racked her brain once again, trying to recall every single moment that could have changed Ingrid in such a way.
'This bitch started acting weird only recently. Pretty sure it happened just a few days before Black-sama left. She was acting like herself then, bitching and whining at anyone who wasn't doing what she was telling them. But now, not so much as a glare from her. Seriously, what is wrong with her?'
Just like Ingrid, Oboro had been granted unlimited resources by Black. Whether it involved monetary or experimental assets, none were denied to her. Hell, she even had her own team composed of spies and other subordinates willing to fight for her when she was too busy or didn't feel like dealing with it herself. A handful of them were also participants in the upcoming arena event...ones who were eager to have a turn with the target she was about to capture.
'Damn it, if it were not for my duties, I could have had someone find out what the hell is going on and put this bitch in her place.'
As for why she wanted this information? Simply, so she could learn the best way to rip away that smile, and to prove to Black that every single one of his minions was trash compared to her.
'It ends today either way, Kyousuke should already be going through my orders.' With her curse spreading across his body for days now, it had already spread enough that the man had fully fallen under her control.
She would have preferred to have fused with him and turned him into her ideal hostage, but Black had already gone out of his way to provide a perfectly powerful body for her, and she didn't wish to discard it. Instead she used a parasitic being made from her own flesh that would create the same result.
Resistance? He may have done a bit of that at first, but now Kyousuke was not able to even think about doing anything that was not a direct order from her. Through their connection, she could even observe what was going on now that the parasite had developed enough to grow eyes hidden from sight.
'Let me see how it's going now. Asagi should be alone by hers-what?'
The earlier smirk vanished instantly, right as she gazed at the scene presented before her through Kyousuke, stunned.
{Break}
-Igawa Residence-
(An hour earlier)
"Make sure you eat a lot today. I literally prepared a true feast for you!"
Back at the Igawa house, the atmosphere could only be described as light and boisterous. As soon as EMIYA made his way to the dining table, a certain blonde girl made sure to fill his plate with every bit of food that could fit on it, creating a small edible mountain in front of him.
"Sakura, you shouldn't be treating our guests this boldly! Also, what do you mean by you 'alone' prepared the feast? You didn't make anything!" A certain black-haired former Taimanin exclaimed with both embarrassment and mortification at how her younger sister behaved in front of the café owner.
"Don't say that! I helped! Did I not make the miso soup earlier? I did, right?"
"You made absolutely nothing aside from heating up the water, and even then, you put cold water inside the pan, which took twice as long to boil...mmph!"
"Shhh! He doesn't need to know that Onee-chan!"
The younger girl stepped forward and clamped a hand over Asagi's mouth before another word could escape. She leaned in close to her sister's ear, lowering her voice so it would not carry across the kitchen and to a certain white-haired man.
"Are you trying to humiliate me, Onee-chan?" Sakura said with suspicion. "Just pretend I made something, pretty please? I want to impress my boss with my cooking skills!"
Asagi was able to pry Sakura's hand off her for a bit to speak, "Once again, what cooking skills?"
"Onee-chan, stop being mean!"
Asagi tried to protest, but her reply came out muffled beneath her sister's palm. Her brows pulled together as she attempted to pry the hand away, though she made no real effort to struggle.
Across from them, the Counter Guardian observed the exchange in silence. A quiet laugh slipped from him before he could stop it. The sight in front of him felt ordinary in a way he rarely got to witness. The man already understood that Sakura cared deeply for her sister, and that feeling had always gone both ways.
After all, he had heard enough stories during slow afternoons at the café to piece that much together.
Even so, watching them argue over something as small as which of them had prepared a bowl of soup carried a different overall feeling. There were no grotesque scenes of torture and rape, no twisted outcomes from loops where he had arrived too late... whether it be by a factor of days or years. No lingering images of blood or ruin. Just two sisters bickering, trying to save face over a simple meal.
"Honestly, I'm so sorry about her," Asagi finally managed to say, successfully pushing Sakura's hand away from her face. Asagi shot her sister a glare with no real teeth behind it, the latter returning the gesture by exposing her tongue, before offering Emiya an apologetic smile. "She gets a little... enthusiastic. It's not every day that she invites a guest here."
Emiya waved a hand dismissively, a small, amused smile on his face. "Don't worry about it. As I said before, she can be a handful at the café, too. I'm used to it." He picked up his chopsticks, looking down at the mountain of food on his plate. "This all looks incredible. Thank you for the meal."
He took a bite of the grilled mackerel, the flavor rich and perfectly seasoned. He hummed in appreciation. "This is delicious as well. Now I'm starting to think Sakura is underselling your skills."
Sakura, who had been hovering expectantly, puffed out her chest with pride. "See? I told you! My sister's cooking is almost on par with yours, boss!"
Genuinely intrigued, Emiya turned his attention to a dish he hadn't tried yet, a plate of beautifully arranged nikujaga. He scooped up a piece of the simmered beef and potato, letting the savory aroma fill his nose before tasting it. His eyes widened slightly. The balance of the soy sauce, mirin, and sugar was masterful, the meat tender enough to fall apart on his tongue. He swallowed and set his chopsticks down for a moment.
For a moment there, he became genuinely impressed by the taste and even curious about it.
"You're underselling yourself," he said, looking directly at Asagi. "I have to agree with Sakura. I've rarely tasted food this good before. This is restaurant-quality, it's rare for me to eat something as good as this, and I mean it."
A deep blush spread across Asagi's cheeks, and she immediately looked down at her own plate, suddenly finding it very interesting. "O-oh, come on now. It's not that good. It's just... simple home cooking."
"It's not just simple~!" Sakura chimed in, a mischievous glint in her eye. "You should have seen her when we were younger. She would spend hours every day trying to get better at her cooking just to impress Kyousuke. I still remember the first time she started to experiment with it and almost burned down half the kitchen trying to perfect a single recipe."
"Sakura!" Asagi's head snapped up, her face now completely red. She reached across the table to grab her sister, but Sakura nimbly danced out of the way, laughing. "Be quiet! Don't tell them that!"
"But it's true!" Sakura giggled from the safety of the other side of the room.
Emiya watched the exchange with a faint smile, but his gaze subtly shifted to the man sitting quietly at the head of the table. Kyousuke. He hadn't said much throughout the entire meal, just picking at his food. For a brief moment, his eyes seemed distant, almost vacant, lost in a haze. Then, just as quickly, the fog cleared, and they reverted to normal, locking onto him. The shift was so fast, so subtle, that neither of the playfully bickering sisters noticed a thing.
'Just how much of this person before me is truly Kyousuke? Granted, I never spoke to him, and this is the first time I even dealt with Oboro's ability without just going for her head.' Usually, during each reset, that woman just either got killed as part of the collateral damage while he went for Black alongside many other demons and humans, or already had died by Asagi's hand. His encounters with that woman were actually fewer than even Ingrid's, as Oboro is usually dead by his bombardment. 'There's some trace presence of energy, extremely faint but there all the same. So definitely mystical in nature.'
The ability itself, to control others, reminded him of Zouken and a handful of Dead Apostles he'd hunted down. Then another distant memory surfaced, consisting of one of his encounters with a particularly gifted yet blind Magus who'd attempted to summon a Demon Pillar amongst many other horrors which had possessed him without anyone noticing till it was too late - thus triggering the Counter Force to intervene.
Regardless, such cases were very tricky to deal with, and rarely did the possessed individual come out intact, assuming they were even still alive as they were being puppeted.
While these thoughts brewed in his mind, on the outside, nothing slipped out, and he held his gaze for a second before offering a small nod. "You are a lucky man," he said calmly.
Kyousuke blinked, then let out a short, slightly hollow laugh. "Yeah," he said, his eyes flicking towards Asagi. "I know."
"Eh, are you feeling well, Kyousuke? You haven't eaten much tonight; this is your favorite, too." Asagi asked worriedly, seeing her fiancé behaving a bit weirdly.
"O-Oh, it's nothing, really. I-I am just not that hungry since I had a bit too much to eat at lunch."
That seemed to have convinced the woman somewhat, but she still kept her eyes on him for a few more seconds. "If you say so... Tell me if you feel sick, we can go to the doctor later."
"Yes, don't worry about me. I'll let you know, Asagi." His words managed to soothe her worries away, along with that peaceful smile he showcased.
'Interesting,' Emiya thought, his expression unchanged as he picked up his chopsticks again. 'Hard to say just how effective this ability is. If Oboro is using her usual parasite as a surveillance tool, she might be able to hear everything said in this room. I need to stay vigilant. One wrong word could tip her off or even have her transmit what she heard to Black.' He made a mental note to filter his speech extra carefully.
The conversation eventually died down, and the atmosphere settled into a comfortable quiet. Of course, none other than Sakura broke it, leaning forward with her elbows on the table, her curiosity finally getting the better of her. "Hey, boss... I just realized something. I don't actually know much about you, do I?"
That made him raise an eyebrow. A rather bold statement to make out of the blue, but still something he could not deny. For he did keep a vast part of himself a secret for obvious reasons, and thankfully, Sakura never tried to pry too deeply.
Though he figured she did that mostly because those kinds of questions never came up. Not something she did out of consideration. 'I guess it's a good topic to bring up at a dinner table.'
"Unfortunately, there is not much to learn about me. My life story is pretty boring." The lie came easily as he took another bite and enjoyed the flavor, having half a mind to be a bit shameless and ask for the recipe. Could serve as a new addition to the menu... no, the savouriness would linger for too long and clash with the fragrance of coffee and tea.
"Oh, come on, don't say that. No way you don't have an interesting story to tell, don't take this the wrong way, but your face just screams all kinds of interesting things. Don't you agree with me, Onee-sama?"
Unsure what to say, the dark-haired beauty took a few seconds to answer. "Um, I-I do have to agree with Sakura; everyone has a unique story to tell. But one shouldn't be forced to reveal it if you're uncomfortable with it. Besides, you know all about us from the café, but we only know you as 'Emiya-san.' You never even told us your full name."
He didn't expect both sisters to team up like this.
"Yeah!" Sakura added excitedly. "And where did you learn to cook like that? Are you from Tokyo? Or somewhere else? You just kind of... appeared one day and opened the best café in the seediest part of town?"
Kinda scary how close she came to hitting the mark. Women's intuition was a frightening experience. Having gotten caught off guard by it countless times, he knew not to dismiss them - even if it was mentioned as a joke.
"Heh, alright, I suppose you deserve to hear a bit about me. So, what do you want to know?"
The first one to ask a question was Sakura. "Is your name actually just Emiya? I know I call you boss and all, but it's kind of weird I haven't heard the rest. Is it a secret! Like you're actually from a super-rich and famous family, and you ran away from them, in order to pursue your dream to become a café owner, and meet the love of your life there one day?"
Emiya paused, a piece of beef halfway to his mouth. He set his chopsticks down, gave them a thoughtful look, and came to a single conclusion. "You've either read too much manga or watched too many movies. Also, Emiya is my family name, so your little fantasy of hiding such a secret falls apart there already."
"Hey, it was worth a try. You never know," replied the girl with a shrug.
"Shirou," he said simply. "Emiya Shirou, that's my name. But you can just call me as you usually do, I'm used to that."
That name meant nothing to these people or this world, so he had no problem just throwing it out there without any second thoughts. Unlike the Fuyuki Holy Grail War, no redhead was running around doing idiotic things in the name of a fundamentally flawed and borrowed ideal, and no overly curious woman who could connect the dots had summoned him.
That name would also mean nothing if Black were to hear it, so he did not worry about Oboro learning it. If by some misfortune there happened to be an ability that held the capabilities of using his name as a catalyst he'd be worried, but he had yet to meet anyone that could produce a technique that powerful.
Aside from that, he noticed how both Sakura's and Asagi's gazes went from his hair to his face, and then back and forth between each of them several times. Confused by their reactions, it took him a second to realize why they were doing so, and when he did, it caused him to let out a chuckle.
"Haha... before you ask, no, I was not born with white hair. It just happened to be a coincidence that occurred later in my life. As for my original hair color." He specifically stared at Sakura, who looked the most excited to hear the answer, most likely hoping it would be something similar to hers. A mischievous part of him surfaced, and he just placed his finger in front of his lips. "Let's just keep that a secret for now."
"Really!? Ah, come on! It's only a hair color, can't you just say it? Please tell me you were blond..."
"Just like that owl in that old lollipop commercial, 'We may never know'." He answered with a shrug, ignoring her pleas, and took a sip of his beverage. "Any other questions?"
"Then Mr. Emiya Shirou, where did you come from? Have you been to Tokyo before you came to open your cafe restaurant?" This time, Asagi took the lead and asked away, surprisingly.
A simple and uncomplicated question at first glance, Emiya noticed the faint changes in her overall temperament upon asking that particular question. How her fingers momentarily clenched around her cup, how, before she even asked it, her mind seemed to be somewhere else, as if trying to recall something.
'Ah, is she still suspicious?'
He figured that getting rid of every bit of suspicion within her would not be an easy task, given that he was not even sure she remembered anything at all. It could be nothing more than just a faint sensation of deja vu as opposed to actual memories involving him.
"Where I'm from... that's a long story. The name of the place is one you won't even recognize, given how secluded it is in Kobe, and I haven't been there for a long time." Technically he was from the Ōita Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū, but Fuyuki had shared so many similarities with Kobe that he could pass off for one without anyone the wiser. "Let's just say if you seem to think I'm more worldly that I've traveled a lot and have been living practically like a nomad until recently."
"So after years of travelling, you decided to settle down and open a café." Sakura continued. "Doesn't that kind of past make your boring life not so boring actually? Sounds to me like you have a lot of stories to tell, given how much you've travelled. Aside from that, why the sudden change? If you don't mind me asking."
"I suppose it was because I kept encountering a particularly frustrating situation again and again. It was starting to get on my nerves, and no matter how much I travelled, it just kept happening again and bringing me right back to square one. So I decided to change things up a bit and try something new. The café randomly came to mind, and I decided why not?" He answered with the vaguest truth possible, with it revealing practically everything but also nothing at the same time.
"Heh... I guess I can understand that. I've also dealt with frustrating moments in my life. Still, I'm glad you decided to open up that café. With your skills, it would have been a sin not to showcase them like that, and I wouldn't have gotten a job otherwise."
"Still, why a café in particular?" Asagi asked.
"Familiarity, I guess. Many years may have passed, but I do still hold some memories from a similar bygone chapter of my life. I remember once working at another café...well more of an alcohol store that doubled as one, which shares the same name as my current establishment. It had a rather...particular owner, to say the least. It seems to have stuck to me, more so than I ever imagined now that I think about it."
Now that he pondered upon it, was this really the reason? The café itself had been a split-second decision as he happened to be more focused on the mission than living through his nostalgia. Emiya figured his last summoning and the memories that came from it must have carried a lot this time for moments involving that café to be more apparent.
"Sometimes it's the small things you don't notice that have the biggest impact on one's life."
He nodded in agreement with the eldest Igawa sibling's words.
While the conversation went on with Sakura continuing to ask one question after another, followed along with Asagi chiming in with her own questions from time to time, time slowly went by. Yet he never stopped checking the time, or Kyousuke, who sat next to him only chiming in with a passing comment that was slowly becoming rarer and rarer as his eyes seemed to drift away. Emiya kept waiting for a particular moment when he knew when the other party would get involved.
Fortunately, he did not need to wait for long, as around half an hour later, he felt a strange, unusual warmth start to build up from within his body. This sudden change alerted him, but he made sure not to show it to any observers. A quick self-checkup gave him the answer he needed.
'I see. Some sort of slow-acting substance ended up being slipped either into the food or beverage... or both.'
He highly doubted it had anything to do with Asagi's intentions, given that the woman herself now looked a bit strange, along with her sister.
The only one unaffected was none other than Kyousuke. 'So, it's time."
"I don't... feel... so..." Sakura nurtured something under her breath as her voice drooped. Almost sounding like a drunkard.
As for the poison itself, Emiya did not worry about it. While the substance in question would easily knock out a human, his body was anything but that of a human. Without even needing to cycle his magical energy, the effects were instantly overwhelmed and dissipated by the sheer amount of condensed energy that coursed through his body.
"What... What's go... ing on...?"
On the other hand, Asagi began to notice the strange change in her body and tried to regain control over herself. Turning around to see her sister already unconscious on the table, and towards him, as he feigned the same by just closing his eyes... hearing her as she uttered more words as she tried not to succumb to it, pleading to him her deepest wish.
"R-Run... ta-take... Sa... ku..."
But the effects were too strong, and no matter how much she tried, her body eventually failed, and just like her sister, she fell onto the table unconscious. Even in her weakest state, getting drowned by an overpowering sense of drowsiness, she still looked after her younger sister.
A moment of silence followed, with nothing but the sound of the grandfather clock ticking by in the background.
Kyousuke, who had been mostly quiet the entire time, remained the only one unaffected by whatever was put inside the food and drinks. Instead something more horrific happened, as Emiya heard the sound of something monstrous start to emerge from the man next to him. A red gooey substance started to encroach upon his skin to the point that the kimono was no longer able to hide it completely. Angry red bubbles of flesh poured out of his being as if to forcefully replace the original humanity underneath. Sharp eyes began to emerge out of his flesh, but struggled to form along the angry bubbles.
Opening his eyes Emiya looked at the person in question, as he hummed out loud. "So it really is worse than I imagined."
"-!"
The brown-haired man's eyes widened at the sound of his voice, most likely expecting to see him fall unconscious just like Asagi and Sakura. Their eyes met once more, this time a stunned face stared back at a calm expression. The exchange only lasted for a couple of seconds, with Kyousuke knowing that his secret had been fully revealed, thus moved, not bothering to hide or hold back anything at all.
"Raaah!"
Like a maddened beast, he lunged towards Emiya, the parasite upon his body coming to life with tendrils reaching all the way to his face. A bloodthirsty expression formed, which, rather than earning a horrified look from their guest, instead found itself seeing a flash of steel before everything turned dark for it.
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(An unknown time later, Moments before Asagi fell into her subconscious)
The heat in her cheeks was a stubborn reminder of her earlier clumsiness. And it was refusing to die down anytime soon despite her best efforts to hide it.
Even now, sitting at her own dining table, Asagi could feel the phantom sensation of tripping over her own feet in front of Emiya. It was mortifying. She took a slow breath, pushing the memory down. An elite Taimanin who had gone on countless deadly missions now dreads an awkward atmosphere - how unbecoming.
Nevertheless, she had to handle a simple dinner without turning into a blushing mess. For Sakura's sake at the very least.
Forcing herself to join the conversation, she tried to focus on the words being exchanged between them at first. But it proved to be quite difficult. Her eyes, as if with a will of their own, kept drifting back to Emiya in particular.
'Something about him...'
She told herself it was just a simple observation, but it continued to last almost a full minute; her eyes just refusing to look away, no matter how much she tried to do so. The dark-haired woman found herself staring at the shape of his jaw, the way strands of his white hair fell slightly over his brow, the light sheen of his grey eyes. It was when her gaze settled on his lips, tracing their shape for a moment too long, that a powerful bolt coursed through her, before leaving just as quickly with nothing but a jolt of shame shooting through her instead.
"Ah..."
She snapped her head down, staring at her plate. 'What is wrong with me!?' Asagi thought, her heart thumping a little faster.
When thinking about what just happened carefully, she was certain about one aspect and one aspect alone; this wasn't lust.
Nor some kind of crude desire she was secretly harbouring for a man who was basically a stranger. That would make even less sense, as her own love for Kyousuke stayed true no matter what. This was something else, something a bit more complicated to explain even to herself. A nagging feeling in the back of her mind, a quiet voice insisting that she knew him. That she had seen that face before, in a time and place she couldn't quite grasp.
'Am I just going crazy?'
Even after he spoke about where he came from, mentioning a secluded place in Kobe, she found nothing to connect the dots with. No memory, no connection. The frustration mounted.
'Why does he feel so familiar? It's like it is on the tip of my tongue, but I can't seem to pin it down. Maybe the elder knows something?' She clenched her fork, the metal digging into her fingers, with the utensil starting to bend as her control over her superhuman strength started to slip.
But as the conversation flowed, the distracting moments began to ebb away. Listening to Sakura chatter animatedly - her face alit with genuine joy that had been growing rarer in recent days before she started to work at Emiya's store - Asagi felt a warmth spread through her chest. This felt... normal. Natural. Putting aside her own past as a Taimanin, right now, she was just an elder sister joining her younger sibling in sharing a pleasant dinner with a kind man, along with her dearest fiancé.
A simple but soothing image, one she wished to live in forever.
A part of her, a large part, wished she could see Sakura like this more often.
Her thoughts drifted, as they often did lately, to Gosha Village.
'I wonder how everyone back there is doing... I barely heard from any of them after retiring. Are all of them still alive and doing well? Unlikely... But for some like Murasaki, I doubt she is in any trouble she can't handle.' A wave of nostalgia washed over her. 'Maybe I should try to call her... It's been so long tha-ah! My head...'
It was then that a strange feeling began to creep in. A lightness in her head, a sudden added weight in her limbs.
'Is this... a migraine? I can't be catching a cold, that's for certain,' she wondered, pressing a hand to her temple. She hadn't been sleeping well; the nightmares were getting worse.
But this felt different.
The sudden drowsiness was overwhelming, a thick fog rolling into her mind, muffling the sounds of the table. 'Something's not right!' Panic began to set in when not a single part of her body responded.
Her head barely shifted up, vision swimming as if she were in a state of intoxication. She looked for Sakura and saw her sister slumped over the table, already unconscious. Her eyes darted to Emiya, and the last thing she saw before her own world went dark was him calmly closing his own eyes.
...
At some point, Asagi started to question if those particular dreams had any meaning. Were they her subconscious trying to tell her something? Maybe a sign of how stressed she had been lately?
The last thing she wanted was for this to become a regular occurrence.
But then, another idea sparked in her mind as her subconscious mind attempted to rationalize the nightmares as a Taimanin. This one sounded far crazier than anything she came up with before, but in an inexplicable way, it somehow made more sense.
'It's impossible but... too real to be dreams...'
The possibility that these nightmares were a vision of sorts, of perhaps futures awaiting her-r possible scenarios that could occur, given just how life-like it felt.
But there was nothing in her clan's lineage of any oracle-like abilities. So if that wasn't the reason she was having these nightmares, then what was?
'Not only that...those images...feel more like memories than prophecies...'
Asagi's consciousness returned not with a jolt, but with a slow, creeping dread that manifested right as sudden memories burst right back to the surface, some of the nightmares that started out the same exact horrifying way.
Faced with such sights...her mind shut down before restarting as she left her subconscious for reality.
...
'Ugh... It feels...'
The first thing she registered was the smell. And not the comforting aroma of her home, but rather a disgusting stench of long-unwashed bodies and something metallic and coppery tagging along with them. The metal smell completely took over the fragrance of her home. The second thing was the rough, slimy grip on her arms and legs.
"Hn... Where... Where am I?"
Her eyes shot open.
This was her living room, yet all the furniture had been violently thrown to the side with damage all throughout the wall. As for her, Asagi found herself on her knees, her arms pulled behind her and held fast by several massive, green-skinned figures.
Orcs. Their hot, foul breath was on her neck.
"N-No... this is..."
This was exactly like one of the many nightmares she had. Details that she believed to have forgotten now rushed back into her head like a raging tsunami.
Panic flared, and her breathing already began to become uneven, as the woman struggled hyperventilating, but the orcs' grip on her was like iron. They pulled once more and that was when her mind finally registered their grasp painfully as if her nerves and muscles were on fire. Her eyes scanned the room, desperately seeking answers.
That's when she saw her-an individual she never imagined seeing once again-for this person had been killed by her own hand.
Yet now she stood before Asagi with a triumphant smirk, her arms crossed.
Wearing that same red battle suit with a prominent V-cut, which showcased a large portion of her belly and breasts. No better than bedware than any attire appropriate for public outings, paired with high heels and monstrous claw vambraces linked to both her wrists. And worse of all was that cropped violet hair framing that crazed and narrow pointed gaze filled with malicious intent.
"You..."
"Ah, glad to see you still recognize me. This entire revenge plan of mine wouldn't have been as sweet had you forgotten your past deeds, Asagi." The violet-haired former Taimanin said with a smug grin, the same face she always made in Asagi's dreams.
And beside her...
"Kyousuke!"
Her most terrifying nightmares came true, eyes widening with horror and denial.
From a quick glance alone, his body was no longer human. Instead, he was wholly engulfed in a writhing, pulsating mass of red, parasitic tissue. Tendrils snaked across his skin, and his eyes glowed with a malevolent, inhuman intent. Even those eyes within the flesh across his body felt like they were all looking at her with an equal amount of sadistic curiosity just like Oboro's.
No, they were no different from Oboro's own eyes.
At Oboro's feet, lying in a heap like a discarded doll, was Sakura, still unconscious.
A cold, burning rage began to replace the panic in Asagi's heart. She knew, with a certainty that chilled her to the bone, that the warm, safe dinner from moments ago had been nothing more than a prelude to a nightmare. One she could not wake up from anymore.
Oboro moved to where she was, her heels clicking against the wooden floor like the ticking of a clock counting down Asagi's misery. She circled the kneeling woman, inspecting her like a piece of meat. "Well, well. Look at you," she sneered, her voice dripping with mock sympathy. "Tied up like a little doll. But hey, at least you're not alone. We're all in this together, aren't we?"
Asagi gritted her teeth, the ropes biting into her wrists. "Let me go, Oboro. And keep your hands off my sister."
"Oh, relax. I'm just admiring the view," Oboro said, turning her attention to Kyousuke. Reaching out, her fingers trailed lightly down his chest, over the fabric of his kimono. She stopped at the waist, her eyes glinting with a cruel, teasing light. "You know, Kyousuke..." She giggled, a sound that made Asagi's blood boil. "I'm actually a little curious. I wonder what kind of face you'd make if you were buried deep inside of me? Or maybe..." Her smile twisted into something wicked, her hand moving to grip him firmly, while deliberately glancing at Sakura. "Maybe you'd prefer a younger girl? Someone sweet and innocent?"
Asagi's eyes widened in horror. "Don't you dare..."
"Oh, don't worry," Oboro whispered, her breath hot against Kyousuke's ear. "I'm just thinking out loud. What do you think, Kyousuke? Would you rather have Asagi over here? She's your fiancée, after all. But what if she ends up getting used by these orcs over here instead of you, her lover? Would you still desire a broken toy? Ah, it is also a shame that that other potential toy managed to escape, we could have reversed the situation for the blond brat instead. But no matter, he's just a random nobody who can serve as excellent appetizers for my little pets once I find him~!"
As if to further prove the weight behind her threats, some of the orcs pulled on Asagi's clothes with one strong movement and easily ripped them away while Oboro sent a foreboding look toward Sakura. "I bet she's been secretly waiting for you for, oh so long. Wouldn't it be fun to break her in front of her big sister while Asagi is violated by those orcs? A fresh young pussy... There is nothing better than that."
Her dainty finger lightly stroked the already erect member of her puppet. A lustful look befell her face as she licked her lips, her tongue gliding against his neck to his own lips.
"Shut up! Oboro!" Asagi screamed, her voice cracking with rage. "Don't you touch them! IF YOU SO MUCH AS A LAY A SINGLE FINGER ON MY SISTER, I WILL KILL YOU! I SWEAR ON MY LIFE, I WILL END YOU, OBORO!"
Oboro ignored her, turning her back on the furious Taimanin. Asagi felt a fist smash into her face making her spit out blood as the orc that hit her addressed her. "Keep your trap shut! Empty threats will get you nowhere!"
Uncaring of what lay behind her Oboro clapped her hands together, her voice commanding and cruel. "Well? What are you waiting for Kyousuke? Show her who you belong to. Fuck Sakura. And you..." She pointed a manicured finger at the green-skinned orcs holding Asagi. "Don't just stand there after getting her naked. Have some fun with the big bad Taimanin."
The orcs grunted in agreement, their eyes fixed on Asagi's bare body with lust, their excitement evident as their groins jutted up like fleshy pillars under their pants. Kyousuke stood frozen, his body trembling slightly. He looked at Sakura with vacant eyes, not a trace of his former self left to be seen, his eyes filled with a hunger that Oboro found amusing.
"..."
Yet contrary to what he was told, he just stood there without making a single move.
"Didn't you hear me? I said to fuck her!" Oboro shouted, her patience wearing thin.
Kyousuke didn't respond.
Oboro's face contorted with fury. "Do it! Now! What is wrong with yo-!?"
Suddenly, the parasite on Kyousuke's body reacted to her anger. The red tendrils began to writhe violently, squirming against his skin with a grotesque, wet sound. Kyousuke let out a low, pained moan, his body arching as the parasite seemed to be tightening its hold on him.
"Argh!" Oboro cried out as a sudden, violent movement caught her off guard. Kyousuke's eyes, now glowing with a fierce light, snapped open. A thick, red tentacle shot out from his shoulder, striking Oboro with incredible force. She screamed as she was sent flying backward, crashing into the stone wall with a sickening thud.
Before she or Asagi could even properly react, another tentacle lashed out, snatching a nearby orc as he was dropping his pants by the neck and snapping the vertebrae within.
As the body of their comrade collapsed lifeless the remaining orcs released her and backed away in a panic. Asagi watched in shock, her mouth agape. Kyousuke was moving with a ferocity she had never seen before as he sent more of his tendrils to batter where Oboro had been launched.
The tendrils continued to extend, grabbing and even tossing some of the orcs at her, causing the remaining three to back away from him in terror. The wave of impacts finally jotted her back to her senses. Taking advantage of the chaos, years of training kicked in, and Asagi scanned the room, quickly spotting a jagged shard of metal from a broken table nearby.
The woman snatched the shard up from the floor, her grip white-knuckled. Adrenaline surged through her veins, drowning out the fear. "Die!" she snarled, her voice low and dangerous.
She lunged at the nearest orc, driving the shard upward into its jugular in a brutal arc. The creature gurgled, blood spraying across Asagi's face as it collapsed. She didn't hesitate and kicked the body aside and spun, hurling the shard like a dagger. It embedded itself deep into the chest of the second orc, pinning it to the stone floor. The third orc roared, charging at her, but she dodged with relative ease, grabbing the beast by its head and twisting with sickening force, snapping its neck instantly.
Silence fell over the room, broken only by the heavy breathing of the victor. "Hah... hah... hah..." Asagi stood amidst the carnage, her chest heaving. "Kyousuke!" She held the shard and immediately turned to Kyousuke.
He was lying on the ground, his body writhing in agony. The red parasite was still active, with bulging veins visible under his skin as it seemed to be feeding on his life force. He clawed at the stone floor, leaving deep grooves as the tendril tunneled underneath locking them down.
"Kyousuke!" Asagi cried out, dropping to her knees beside him. She reached out to touch his shoulder, but he flinched violently, shaking her off. Undeterred, Asagi just moved onto the next course of action. "W-We need to get you to a doctor immediately!"
"N-No... Asa... gi..." he choked out, his voice ragged. "Don't... don't touch me. Can't control. It. For too... long."
"Kyousuke, look at me! It's me, Asagi!" She grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her. His eyes were just like hers, bloodshot, and filled with tears of pain and terror. At this point, she wanted nothing more than to avoid a certain outcome she had seen several times in her worst nightmares.
"I... cough! I can't..." he moaned, his body arching as another wave of pain wracked him. "It hurts... it's growing... Inside me... it won't stop...!"
Tears started to roll down her own cheek. "I won't let it! We'll get you out of this. Just hold on!"
"Please..." He looked at her with desperate eyes, his hand trembling as he reached out to grip her wrist. "I... I don't want... to turn into... that and hurt... you or Sakura. Stop me... for... Hn! M-My sake."
"What are you saying? I won't let you die, Kyousuke!"
Even in his current state, he managed to gather enough strength to gently caress the woman's hair. Wiping her tears away and trying to show a smile on his face. "I don't have any regrets in my life. These past... few years with you have been no-nothing less... than heaven... and I am grateful to have experienced them."
"Don't say that... Please don't make me do this!"
Yet he continued despite her pleas.
"The parasite... It's controlling me. It wants to consume everything I used to be and leave behind nothing but a lustful demon who will defile anything and anyone. I can feel it... It's going to take over again soon. I don't want to become a monster. Something that would try to hurt you." He looked back at her, his gaze pleading. "It's okay, everything will be all right. You are... so very powerful. Amongst the best. I know it. That's why you know what needs to be done. And I also know I have been holding you back from pursuing your desire to be a Taimanin once more."
As those words were being mentioned, more and more memories of her nightmares in which she and Sakura were tortured and defiled by countless demons and different versions of her fiancé. As if going through the same thing herself, she could do nothing but listen, despair, and feel sadness.
"But my dream was also to have a life with you..." she said in between sobs.
The man before her wasn't that monster. Her lifelong partner, to stand shoulder to shoulder along with Sakura.
"I know you will keep protecting Sakura... just like you, I don't want her to get involved with this... Same goes for Kosuke."
Asagi stared at him, her heart shattering. She wanted to scream, to fight, to do something, anything. But she could see the truth in his eyes. He was in pain and barely hanging on.
"Kyousuke..." she whispered, her voice cracking. "I can't... I can't kill you."
"Yes, you can." He said calmly, firmly holding her hand. "If there is one way I want to leave this world, it is by your hand and no one else's."
Asagi stared at him, at the man she loved, the man she had given up everything for. His face was contorted in pain, but his eyes... his eyes were still his. They were pleading with her, begging her for a release she couldn't bring herself to give.
"I can't," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "I can't do it."
"Please," Kyousuke continued, his voice cracking, the red flesh of the parasite realising throbbing that had the man trembling. "I believe in you. Do this for me, for your sake, and for Sakuras. I know it sounds cruel, but you will understand later on. Quick... hn! I d-don't think I can stay in control much longer! Please, it's the only way to avoid a worst case scenario!"
Asagi's heart was shattering into a million pieces with every sentence he spoke. But... she...she knew he was right. She knew what she had to do. It was the one thing she could never bring herself to do painlessly, yet fate proved itself to be a cruel mistress.
"I love you," she whispered, her voice breaking. "I will always love you."
She reached out, her hand trembling as she cupped his cheek. He leaned into her touch, his eyes closing as a single tear rolled down his face, and both shared one last kiss.
"I know," he whispered back. "I love you too. May you live happy, free, and true to yourself."
Asagi took a deep breath, her hand moving down to his neck. She could feel his pulse, weak and erratic, beneath her fingertips. She closed her eyes, her own tears now streaming down her face.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
With a swift, decisive motion, she plunged the impromptu weapon that was her metal shard through the side of his head and into his brain. Quickly giving him the least painful and swiftest death possible.
Kyousuke's body went limp in her arms, his head lolling to the side. A faint smile played on his lips, a final, peaceful expression that broke Asagi's heart all over again.
"No..." she sobbed, her body shaking with grief. "No, no, no..."
She held him close, tears soaking through his shirt. How long she remained like that, sitting amid the now ruined living room of her house, Asagi could not tell. Time blurred, stretching into minutes and to her blurred senses, hours. Slowly, the grief in her chest hardened, cooling into what could only be described as hatred. At last, her head lifted. Fire burned in her eyes, seeking to find the one who started this, and end them.
"Oboro," she snarled, her voice low and dangerous, before booming to the ends of the world. "OBOROOOOO!!!"
But the room was empty. Oboro was gone. Fleeing from Kyousuke's rampaging tendrils and orc attack rather than facing Asagi in combat.
Asagi was rooted in place, nowhere to direct her rage as she stood there inconsolable.
Eventually she turned, seeing the still form of Sakura lying nearby. The sight of her sister's chest still raising, proving she was alive brought her back to sanity. Asagi forced her anger down and quickly went to check on her sister. She released a sigh of relief upon seeing that she was still just unconscious.
She still had someone she deeply loved still alive.
While standing there, it finally dawned on her that she was forgetting someone.
"Ah, where's Emiya?"
Looking around, not a single trace of that man could be found. And then she remembered Oboro mentioning a toy that managed to escape. Did that mean he got lucky and got to avoid this tragedy?
'I'll have to check on him.'
If he ended up also being infected by a parasite, then it was her duty to make sure what happened today would not happen to Sakura.
At that moment, Asagi picked up the blade again. Not to fight for the sake of her fallen comrades or sense of duty - but for revenge on killing the ones responsible for today's tragedy.
...
-???-
A good distance away from the scene of tragedy, Emiya stood on the roof of a several-story-tall building, the wind whipping at his hair and clothes.
The outside of Asagi's house was coated in the blood and corpses of several demons who tried to intervene as reinforcements for Oboro. A bit tricky to kill them with all the surveillance, but he managed to find every possible blind spot around. Good thing one didn't have to be within camera range for an arrow to pierce an opponent from afar.
He stood there quietly while a certain black bow shimmered into non-existence, slowly dissipating into the air in thousands of blue motes of fading light.
An outcome he wished to avoid had not come to pass, giving him a faint sight of relief.
He looked down at the house in the distance, his expression unreadable. "Things went better than I anticipated," he murmured to himself. "I wasn't sure if she would have the strength to do it. If she hadn't, I would have had to intervene."
Even from so far away, he saw everything as if he were in the room, including the path Oboro took to run away after seeing her remaining demonic forces killed. And despite this being a retired Asagi armed with only an improvised weapon, that woman still did not feel safe facing her alone.
Contemplating killing her right then and there, Emiya hesitated. Unlike those demons, Black actually cared about his close subordinates enough to investigate how they died. Also, he recalled one particular reset where she apparently came back after dying due to Black resurrecting her as a vampire. He could never truly confirm it since his Broken Phantasm ended up bombarding the place the next second, killing her before she could show him anything valuable.
If there was even a chance killing Oboro planted suspicion on him from Black it would be an outcome he would prefer to avoid. Actually, there was someone who was better suited to it, and someone Black wouldn't bat an eyelash in suspicion if they cut her down.
He turned his gaze back to the city, his eyes scanning the rooftops below.
Asagi showed great skill for someone who was supposed to be retired, and her speed alone made her move beyond what a human was capable of accomplishing.
Perhaps Kyousuke was right after all.
Thinking about that man, EMIYA sighed once more upon recalling their last conversation. He took out the remains of a cup of soju previously drunk and poured it down in honor.
.
.
.
(Flashback)
The dining room settled into an extended moment of nothing but silence.
Asagi and Sakura were slumped over the table, their breathing shallow. Across from him, the creature wearing Kyousuke's face lunged, a maddened beast propelled by a parasitic will staring back at him. The Counter Guardian didn't move, his expression utterly calm as the creature moved with the goal of violently tearing him to pieces.
In the space between heartbeats, a dagger materialized in his hand.
"Raaaah!"
From a quick glance, one could confuse it for a deceptively simple, but wicked-looking weapon. The blade was short, almost like a twisted letter opener, with a purple hue that seemed to devour the light. The hilt was ornate, crafted from a dark, swirling metal that coiled around a central, eye-like gemstone.
There was no certainty it would even work, and to EMIYA's own mind, it was more of a guess than anything else.
The parasitized Kyousuke closed the distance, tendrils of red flesh lashing out. But EMIYA deftly sidestepped the clumsy charge, his body a blur, and plunged the dagger deep into the largest, most grotesque eye-like bulge on the man's chest with a swift thrust.
"Uuuurgh!"
There was no spray of blood. Instead, a high-pitched, unearthly shriek echoed through the room, coming from Kyousuke himself. The parasite convulsed violently, the red tendrils writhing as if they were aflame and the eyes grew dim as if losing their light. Kyousuke froze mid-lunge, his body seizing up before he took several staggering steps back and collapsed to his knees, with Rule Breaker still embedded in his chest.
"U-Ugh-Aaarrh..."
After a brief moment of struggle, he went quiet, his head bowed.
Emiya waited patiently, not taking his eyes off him even once. Then, slowly, Kyousuke looked up with a pale face. The mad, bloodthirsty light in his eyes was now fully gone, replaced by a dawning, horrified clarity.
"Hah... hah... Cough... W-What?"
Emiya uncrossed his arms, making his presence known by taking a few steps towards him so that both men stood face to face. "I believe this is the first time we've actually met, Kyousuke, at least to a point we can talk," he said with a calm voice.
"K-Kyousuke...?" the man repeated, his voice a hoarse whisper as if he did not even recognize his own name. Looking around the room, his eyes wide with confusion. "What... what happened?" His gaze then fell to his own chest, and he saw the ornate, purple dagger protruding from it. He stared for a moment with shock that soon turned into a grim face laced with despair. He looked at the ceiling with his eyes closed, a frustrated, weary sigh escaping his lips. "Of course," he muttered to himself. "I remember now...It was... all real."
"Don't be too hopeful," Emiya said, his tone devoid of pity and just stating the facts to avoid any misunderstandings. "From the looks of it, Rule Breaker only managed to momentarily sever your connection to the parasite's creator; it didn't destroy the creature itself. You're not free of your predicament; the parasite - despite being magical in nature - is also a biological living being that is deeply fused to your flesh. It's perfect for breaking mystical ties, but not against physical ones. It's only a matter of time before it tries to continue to consume you and take over your body, regardless of whether or not Oboro is here. Removing it is not within my abilities."
Kyousuke went silent, his shoulders slumping. He looked at the unconscious forms of Asagi and Sakura, and a profound sadness settled over him. He nodded slowly, as if accepting a death sentence. "I see. I figured that was the case."
"I'm sorry."
"...So, are you a Taimanin then? One who was posted to watch over Asagi?"
"No, I am not, I have no relation to them. Again, I am sorry."
Kyousuke shook his head, a weak, humorless smile on his face. "It's not your fault. You don't need to apologize for not being able to undo a mistake I failed to notice a long time ago." He gestured vaguely at himself with his human arm. "I was never strong enough. Not powerful enough to keep the people I cared about out of harm's way. And in the end, not even powerful enough to keep myself from being used as a tool against Asagi." He let out a bitter laugh. "What a sorry excuse for a man I turned out to be. I fell completely under Oboro's spell. I... I don't even remember how she found me, my memories are hazy even now."
The Counter Guardian kept his silence, letting Asagi's fiancée wallow in his pain. He walked over to the fridge, pulling the door open, and rummaged inside for a moment before pulling out a green bottle of soju. He proceeded to place it on the table in front of Kyousuke.
"I'm not much of a drinker myself," he said, "but I figured you could use this to calm your thoughts. As good a time as any, ya know."
Kyousuke looked at the bottle, then up at Emiya, and a genuine chuckle escaped him. It was a tired, broken sound that reminded the Counter Guardian of himself.
"Thanks," he said, taking the bottle. He twisted the cap off and took a long, deep swig, his eyes closing as the alcohol burned its way down his throat. Then, lowering the bottle, Kyousuke stared at the pair of unconscious sisters for several passing seconds.
"...We grew up together, you know. In Gosha Village. Sakura had always been that ray of sunshine in everyone's life, the sister that I never had. Asagi... She was always a prodigy. A natural who mastered anything the elders threw at her in record speed. Everyone knew she was destined for great things. Me? I wanted to be a Taimanin just like her. I trained, I really did. Gave my blood, sweat, and tears. But it was never enough. I was just too weak. Always a step behind and never graduated from the academy to earn that title."
Interesting. Emiya never expected this guy to have a past like that. He figured his backstory to be a simple one, a civilian male whom Asagi had fallen in love with.
He took another drink from the bottle. "I watched her become this incredible warrior, this symbol of hope for our village. And I just... stayed in the background. I was the guy who supported her, who cheered for her. I told myself that was enough. That being her rock was my role. But I always hated it. I hated my own weakness. I hated that I could never stand beside her as an equal, only as someone to be protected."
"..."
"Asagi said I was her anchor, the one thing keeping her together through her clan's expectations. She saw me as one of them, but I only wanted to stand beside her as an equal. Only then would the Igawa clan have accepted me."
"But at some point, it did end up working out. You two got engaged after all," Emiya noted.
Kyousuke sighed, "And I am forever grateful to god for that. Never would I imagine my dream of being in a relationship with Igawa Asagi would come true, but I could always tell that, despite retiring so young, part of her misses carrying out her duty as a Taimanin."
"Are Taimanin not allowed to be in a relationship?" he asked curiously.
"Taimanin can certainly have relationships and get married. But... only with the permission of their clan. And the Igawa elders would never support Asagi marrying a failure like me. Many former and retired Taimanins leave the village unauthorized and have kids outside it, but it's impossible to find them all."
Interesting. It seemed that Taimanin marriages were as political in nature as the Daimyo clans of old, or the medieval European nobility.
Different world, same old political bureaucracy.
Kyousuke looked down at the dagger in his chest, his expression grim. "I guess Oboro saw that weakness in me. She saw my desperation to be useful, to have some kind of power. And she used it against me... I was the fool who did not manage to spot the danger before it was too late." He let out a hollow laugh. "All I did was give our enemy the perfect weapon to break the heart of the woman I love."
"I doubt she would have stopped had you been different. She needed a puppet and would have used any means to get to Asagi through you or someone else she loves. Imagine if she'd decided to go for Sakura; I doubt either of you would have liked that outcome."
"But I should have at least offered more resistance against it."
After he finished his story, Kyousuke looked at Emiya, his eyes pleading. "Keep them safe," he said, his voice thick with various emotions. "I don't know who you are, or why you're here. But you went out of your way to give me back a semblance of control, even for a moment. Despite my failing to become a Taimanin, I can still tell that you are powerful. You have your own capabilities that can keep Asagi and Sakura safe. So please... look after them. I have nothing to offer you, and it may be shameful but please don't let the people I love meet a tragic end."
"..."
EMIYA was stunned
Enough to let out a short, humorless laugh. "I'm probably the last person you should be asking that of," he said, shaking his head. "I'm responsible for more of their deaths than you can imagine."
Kyousuke frowned, completely confused as he looked at the two of them sleeping soundly right next to him. "What do you mean by that?"
"I'm like a mercenary," EMIYA explained, his voice becoming flat and devoid of emotion. "I was given a task from a... very obscure and powerful entity that I won't speak much of. To kill a certain vampire named Edwin Black." He paused, letting the name linger for a few seconds just to see if it got a sign of recognition from the man in front of him as his eyes widened. "He has a lot of history with Asagi... You could say he's the driving force behind all of her current suffering, or at least a vast majority of it. The problem is, every time I get close enough to kill him... he uses this ability that resets the entire universe. Everything goes back to the beginning. The people, the places, the events. All of it, wiped clean and started over."
Figuring that Kyousuke didn't have much longer left, and wanting to at least vent somewhat, he told the man everything. He made sure not to reveal that much about himself, and purposely kept some parts vague, but the general layout of the situation and what he'd been through was fair game.
The endless loops, the countless deaths he had witnessed, the deaths he had caused, the variations of the timeline where he arrived too late, where Asagi and Sakura were already broken. He spoke of some of the endless frustrations from these repetitions and how he'd decided to take an unconventional path this time to see what changed.
Kyousuke listened to it all, patiently, and didn't show any sign of disbelief or distrust even though he had all the reason to do so. There were some emotions that flashed across his eyes when he retold his story, but he did not bother to pry any deeper nor was he interested to do so.
When Emiya was finished, the room was silent for a long moment. He figured it to be completely unbelievable, even by the Taimanin standards. The resets, done by the hands of a powerful vampire to achieve his ideal visions and killing everyone over and over while an outside entity got tasked to stop him, regardless of all the death before him. It was absolutely ridiculous, the scale was just too much for anyone to comprehend.
Finally, the listener looked him straight in the eye and said his thoughts on the matter, "It must have been hard on you."
"...huh?"
Well, can't say that he expected that response.
EMIYA was taken aback, for he had expected fear, maybe even condemnation - sympathy never came into the picture. Then let out a cynical self-depreciating laugh, brushing it off to the dying man by his side. "It is what it is," he said, waving a dismissive hand. "But either way, don't trust me so easily. I plan to use Asagi and the others to further my goal to kill Black and stop him from forcing yet another reset. In that way, I'm no different from him. I learned of your demise long ago and never truly went out of my way to prevent it for several reasons. In a way, you're all just pieces on my side of the board. My previous approaches did not work, so I'm turning my attention to the Taimanin here and see if I can get a different result this time if I can use them."
Kyousuke shook his head slowly. "I disagree. You're much kinder than you let on. If using us means keeping them safe from harm, to stop those terrible outcomes you described from happening again, then I can accept it. I've known strategists in Gosha that have laid out such plans for keeping people alive. Besides, I disagree with you on the last part, why bother with granting relief to a doomed man if you were heartless? So, for what it's worth... thank you."
"..."
The Heroic Spirit pondered on those words, getting to understand this person before him a bit better. As for his thanks, something to think about as he took a swing of soju for himself.
"She will miss you."
"I know. Even so I'm grateful you were here." Kyousuke looked at the unconscious sisters. "And I agree with your plan. If you want more allies, you should look for the other Taimanin from Gosha Village. Asagi alone, despite all her talents, won't be enough, not against Black and Nomad. And if you focus only on her, it might make Black even more suspicious if he's really as obsessed with her as you've described."
"I'm working on it," EMIYA admitted. "But progress is slow. With all the times I've almost killed him, Black is ready to reset reality at the first sign of me, so I have to be very cautious not to alert him. I usually focus on my target and nothing else, but since that's not working, it looks like I'm gonna need other players."
"Then let me help a bit by giving you a few names while I still can," Kyousuke said, his voice losing a bit of strength. "There are others you can trust. Murasaki... she was always loyal to Asagi and she's a genius in her own right. And Sh-Shiranui, as well, was regarded back in her heyday by some as being as skilled as Asagi herself. There are several more. Ask Asagi to help find the others.... They could be powerful allies if you can convince them or use them from the shadows... Whatever works for you."
But as he continued to speak, a sudden, loud groan of pain escaped his lips. He clutched at his chest, his face contorting in agony. The dagger remained firmly embedded within him, so it was not a matter of the weapon failing, but rather the man's own body reaching its limit.
"I couldn't remove it without killing you; It's already fused to your heart. Rule Breaker was a temporary fix at best."
Kyousuke shook his head in understanding, a weak smile on his face. "It's fine," he gasped, his breathing becoming labored. "You can't save everyone. But... At least I can go out on my own terms. Without becoming a monster that defiles the people I love. Without being Oboro's puppet." He looked at EMIYA, his eyes filled with gratitude. "Thank you."
He nodded, turning to leave. Having done what he could.
"Wait," Kyousuke called out, his voice strained. EMIYA stopped and looked back. "H-How long..."
"Hard to tell. This period of control... it won't last forever. But you should have some time before she gets here. Oboro must have noticed her connection with her parasite being cut by now. I'll be leaving early and handling the rest. Anything you want me to share with them?"
The altered man hesitated, seeing his own body fail, he nodded and began speaking as the Counter Guardian listened patiently.
As a short amount of time passed, Rule Breaker vanished, leaving a gaping hole that was immediately covered with red flesh. Kyousuke took a ragged breath, his eyes fixed on the pair of sleeping women.
"Just... one last thing. One last wish. Keep both Asagi and Sakura safe. Look after them for me."
"...You're really a persistent fellow, you know that."
Kyousuke smiled, "I picked up at least a few things from Asagi."
"Humph, I'll see what I can do. But no promises. She definitely is a special kind of stubborn, especially when she refuses to forget alternate memories."
And with that, the Counter Guardian vanished, leaving Kyousuke standing there alone.
{Break}
-Nomad Headquarters-
The scene shifted to a room steeped in shadow, the only light emanating from a large holographic projector that cast an eerie, crimson glow across the whole of the room. Within it stood the imposing figure of Black, but something about him was different. Beneath his eyes were dark circles. Signs of exhaustion were evident in his posture if one looked closely enough. And those who did notice wouldn't dare speak up about it.
He stared out from the projector with a piercing gaze. "Report."
Standing before the projection, the Hell Knight Ingrid kept her posture professional and formal as usual. But even that could not hide the faint presence of glee within her.
"My lord," she began, her voice steady. "Oboro's mission to capture the Igawa sisters has failed. She lost control of her asset, Asagi's fiancé Kyousuke, and was forced to retreat after the latter attacked her."
With a flick of her wrist, the air next to her shimmered, displaying footage of the chaotic scene. It showed Kyousuke, his body mostly consumed by the parasite, lunging at Oboro and catching her by surprise, then killing one of Oboro's orcs before forcing Oboro to retreat while the rest of her subordinates died at Asagi's hands.
Black watched the playback, his expression unreadable. 'This again,' he thought, an internal sigh of weariness escaping him. 'It isn't the first time. In some instances, more often than not, Oboro's overconfidence gets the better of her, or someone or something takes advantage of it. It's a recurring one that I had to plan around at times.'
He dismissed the thought. It was a minor setback, an insignificant fluctuation in the grand scheme. "It doesn't matter," he said aloud, his voice cold and final. "The next operation will be guaranteed. Failure will not be tolerated a second time."
"Understood," Ingrid said, closing the projection of the fight. "There is one other matter, my lord. During the commotion, a blue-haired Taimanin was caught attempting to infiltrate our base. She has been captured and is currently being held in the sub-levels."
Black's interest, which had already been minimal at best, vanished entirely. He had no time for insignificant prisoners. "I see," he said, his tone utterly dismissive. "She is of no consequence. Handle her as you see fit, Ingrid. Her interrogation is your responsibility."
As the hologram of Black began to flicker, indicating he was about to sever the connection, Ingrid took a hesitant step forward. "My lord, wait."
An almost imperceptible wave of irritation washed over Black. He was still reeling from the past few sleepless nights, his mind racing, trying to find any scrap of information, any clue that could help him identify and finally kill the man who perpetually ruined his plans time and again. He didn't have time for this. No matter if it was from his most loyal subordinate.
"What is it?" he asked, his voice louder than before, making it clear that it better be important.
Ingrid's composure wavered for the first time. Her usual stoic mask cracked, revealing a flicker of vulnerability.
"I have served you faithfully as a Hell Knight for many years," she said, her voice softer than he'd ever heard it. "I have watched you carry this burden, the suffering you've endured lately. I... I wish to know what you think of me. Do you trust me enough to share it? To let me help you carry this weight? I care about you, E-Edwin, more than anybody in this world. Please, allow me such an honor and ease what troubles you."
The question hung in the air for a moment, and Black remained silent for a long moment. Then, a sound escaped him that was closer to a scoff than a laugh. It was a harsh, cutting noise.
"You? Help me?" he repeated, his voice laced with contempt. "This has to be some kind of joke! You would be a liability, nothing more. Do not try to meddle in things you are incapable of understanding. And do not disturb me again with such nonsense. I have neither the time nor the patience for your asinine fantasies, Ingrid."
Without another word, he severed the connection. The hologram vanished, plunging the room back into near-total darkness, leaving Ingrid standing alone.
The knight stood frozen in place, the harsh echo of her lord's dismissal ringing in her ears.
She had hoped, foolishly, that this time would be different. That she could finally confess the loyalty that had long since blossomed into something far more significant to her. Instead, she had been treated like a curious, disobedient child - harshly swatted away for daring to question her master.
A single, hot tear traced a path down her cold cheek, a physical sign of a heart that had just been ruthlessly shattered.
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, and my other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters, Steel Eyed Faker soon to be 3 chapters, Taimanin with 3, Hound having 3 and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.