"Regarding that, it shouldn't be the case."
Listening to Tokiomi's words, Kirei actually thought carefully about the possibility of his Assassin secretly drinking his treasured red wine.
The final result was also very clear: impossible. Not to mention that Assassin had only been summoned a short while ago, just considering the practical benefits of the Holy Grail War, no Servant would slack off and secretly drink alcohol.
Besides, his Assassin was Souji, a Japanese swordsman. Just in terms of taste, she wouldn't covet the Western liquor he preferred.
As for his master Tokiomi, although he never said it openly, Kirei knew very well that Tokiomi's taste in wine was not very good. Since she wouldn't even steal his own wine, let alone Tokiomi's.
Tokiomi felt a little more depressed after hearing Kirei's answer.
He had prepared for this Holy Grail War so meticulously, even going to great lengths to obtain the first ancient snake skin from the Two Rivers region. It should have been a guaranteed victory, but why were both his and his disciple's Heroic Spirit summons and intelligence gathering all going wrong?
First, Tokiomi was very certain that all the mishaps were definitely not his fault. It must be that something had gone wrong with this Holy Grail War again.
So much so that Tokiomi even started to consider just giving up, abandoning this Holy Grail War, and instead preparing for the Fifth Holy Grail War for future generations.
But after a brief moment of hesitation, Tokiomi decisively chose to continue the Holy Grail War. What if he won?
"How about it? Do you need me to have Assassin ambush Rider?" Seeing Tokiomi's silence, Kirei offered another suggestion. "If it's now, perhaps Rider could be eliminated in one go."
Upon hearing this, Tokiomi's eyes revealed an extremely strong suspicion. This distrust was not directed at Kirei; he trusted Kirei implicitly.
This was mainly directed at Kirei's Servant. That Assassin hardly even knew how to conceal her presence. Asking her to ambush Rider would probably result in her life support system breaking down by accident, triggering a wave of illness and gracefully delivering her head.
If that happened, his advantage in the Holy Grail War would be almost nonexistent. This couldn't happen, absolutely not.
...No need. Assassin's mission is still reconnaissance... try to reconnoiter.
——————
Meanwhile, on the other side, Haku had wrapped Tom around his neck again, as they had already reached the city.
It was much better than during the day; at least the night was colder, so using Tom as a scarf wasn't stuffy at all. On the contrary, it was quite warm.
To be honest, when Tom was lying still and sleeping, it was fine, but once he started moving, it would become very obvious that he was truly nothing like an ordinary cat.
First, there was his face. Not to mention that his movements were completely beyond what a normal cat could do, just looking at his extremely rich, almost exaggerated facial expressions, one could tell that this cat was extraordinary.
Normal cats usually only have basic expressions like ferocious, wronged, or blank. As for Tom? Haku didn't even know how many expressions he had.
It could even be said with certainty that in terms of facial expressions alone, Tom was the Jim Carrey of the cat world!
Then there was Tom's logic of action. Sometimes he might walk on all fours, but from Haku's observation, Tom seemed to particularly dislike walking on all fours all the time. Basically, even when Haku asked him to act like a normal cat, Tom would still end up walking on two legs.
Among these, when walking side by side and listening to Haku speak, Tom would almost certainly stand up. Perhaps he found walking on all fours too short, making it difficult to hear him speak?
Haku wasn't too sure about this yet and needed further observation, but it was probably something along those lines.
In short, he probably wouldn't be able to walk a cat in public... Of course, Tom himself didn't seem too keen on going out for walks, preferring to lie around the house and slack off.
...Can Ryunosuke get any poorer?" Haku casually pulled out Ryunosuke's wallet and looked at the meager amount of money inside. He felt a huge stone ring around his neck, making it difficult for him to breathe.
Food and drink were already a worry, and what's more, he had promised to treat Tom to something delicious earlier, which would cost a lot more money.
He was broke before transmigrating, and he was still struggling with money after transmigrating. What kind of tragic life was this?
It made Haku somewhat regret not extorting a ransom from Waver earlier when he let him go, but on second thought, Waver seemed pretty poor too, so he gave up on the idea.
"Speaking of which, why do I feel like it's getting harder and harder to breathe... Tom?!" As he walked, he felt increasingly uncomfortable, so Haku prepared to loosen Tom, who was wrapped around his neck, with his hand. But when he looked down, he was startled—Tom's head was gone!
Upon closer inspection, Haku realized that Tom's upper body was currently pressed against the glass window of the convenience store behind them. By this point, Haku had walked four or five meters past it, which caused Tom's upper body to be stretched several meters long.
Fortunately, no one seemed to have noticed yet. Haku quickly walked while coiling the stretched Tom into a loop, successfully retracting him.
Just as he was about to continue, Haku found that Tom was gripping the glass window tightly, refusing to let go. "Tom, let go!"
"Shhh~~~" Just as Haku was about to use the so-called 'delicious food' to entice Tom again, Tom put a paw to his mouth and'shushed' him, then pointed with his right hand to the bento section of the convenience store.
He saw a store clerk holding a stack of half-price labels, about to stick them on those bentos!
"This... catching the special offer... boo hoo hoo!" Upon seeing this, Haku's eyes immediately lit up. Just as he was about to speak, Tom, with lightning speed, covered Haku's mouth, while also pointing to several aunties nearby who hadn't noticed yet.
Realizing he couldn't let others discover, Haku quickly nodded. Tom then let go with relief and continued to pretend to be a scarf around Haku's neck.
The thought of grabbing these bentos not only reducing living expenses but also using half-price bentos as 'delicious food' to appease Tom made Haku very excited!
There was no time to waste outside. Haku pushed open the convenience store door with determination and resolutely walked in, heading straight for the bento section.
Because there were... half-price bentos that would allow him and Tom to continue surviving!