10

009 - Fallouts

… Well, shit. Rin turned me down.

I'm not going to lie, that was unexpected and it really shouldn't have been. I guess things going my way for so long has made me grow overconfident, huh? Rin is a difficult woman to sway from her priorities even in the best circumstances, and those weren't the best circumstances to begin with.

She's affected by [Mr. Steal your girl], so the effect of my social perks on her is limited. Even after two years cultivating good relationships with her, some things are just out of reach, I guess. My situation is also different from Shirou's, who was lost and alone in the middle of a battle royale.

I'm not an innocent victim, she hasn't just recently saved my life at great personal cost and I have a support network already. Any of the reasons that would've canonically made Rin inclined to ignore her best judgement to involve herself with the Emiya are gone. I had assumed my closer relationship with her would've made up for this, but… Magus and killing emotions, you know how this is.

Which I guess says something about the fact she still doesn't seem terribly opposed to joining a harem, and I mean good things.

There's also the fact that, out of absolutely everyone in the war, Rin is the least likely to give up the true price. She's not here for a wish that can be satisfied some other way, but to punch a hole in reality to reach the Root.

Fortunately, she can be dissuaded. She gives up her goal in all the canonical timelines, after all. But that's something that will have to happen naturally during the course of the war and won't be easy. I can't even have Haku dangle a projection of the Jeweled Sword of Zelretch in front of her, because her Tracing skill doesn't work like that of the original Shirou.

And the less is said about her Servant, the better.

What a mess… Let's hope I can make better use of the next chance.

At least the rest of the school day goes by, without anything worse than Shinji being a smug bastard with an 'I know something you don't' attitude. I'm starting to suspect he just recently got control of Rider and is still riding the power high.

… Heh, 'riding'.

Which reminds me, there might be a gruesome death waiting for him once he gets back home. Should I… prevent that? I mean, I hate Shinji with the fury of a thousand suns, but Sakura still loves him like the brother he's not been for years, and I seem to remember redemption was still possible for him. Then again, the possibility of redemtion hardly justifies giving him free reign to rape and kill in the meanwhile.

Sakura can only forgive him for what he's done to her, after all.

On the other hand, punishing someone for what he's going to do goes into that Minority Report pre-crime bullshit, which is bullshit. On the other other hand… Shinji.

"What do you think, Haku?"

"About what?"

"Should we warn Shinji about the Crest Worms?"

"... It's our moral obligation."

"Yeah, pretty much our responsibility."

"Would we be able to sleep soundly at night if we didn't?"

"You raise a fair question there."

"... Pffff—" She cracks first. "Ahahahahaha!"

Her cackles are contagious and soon we're both laughing our asses off. It actually takes us a couple of minutes to catch our breaths back. Like hell we'd lose sleep over him.

"I might need him to cause trouble at school, though." I continue once I catch my breath. "My talk with Rin didn't exactly go as I hoped."

"Tohsaka-san really doesn't know what's best for her." Haku sighs in disappointment. "I hope I don't have to beat some sense into her."

… Haku is scary when she wants to be.

In the end, we learn that he has a date tonight and, knowing him, the earliest he'll get back home would be late into the night. If he bothers getting back at all. By then, our magnificently competent Second Owner should've dealt with the threat. Who would've known his playboy habits would save his skin one day?

Speaking of Rin, we leave school without crossing paths with her again, so I have no idea how she's taking that last bit of intel I generously gave up for free. Which suits me just fine. I mean, I went through great pains to make sure I wouldn't see her again until tomorrow, after all.

"So, I wanted to buy groceries for a Mexican meal." I call as we're halfway back home, suddenly remembering that Sakura will be undisposed. "What do you think?"

"I think that you're underestimating Sakura-chan's determination if you think she'll surrender the kitchen." Haku answers cheerfully. "But it's been a while since we last had Mexican, I'm sure someone will be pleased to cook something different."

"That sounds suspiciously like you know something I don't." Haku refuses to comment beyond a smug smile and I deflate as my hopes and dreams crash and burn. "I can never win."

"You are the one who wanted a harem, Nii-san." She chirps cheerfully. "Better get used to it."

Apparently there's something worse than the women in your life being at each other's throats. And that's them getting along with each other. I'm doomed.

"Stop monologuing in your own head, Nii-chan!" Haku chides from ahead of me. "Sakura-chan is waiting for us!"

DOOMED!

Of course, I was the one who had to carry the groceries back home. As a defender of true gender equality, I take offense to that. Not that I really notice these sort of loads anymore, but it's the principle of the matter.

"We are home!"

"Welcome home Master." Medea, wearing a frilly apron over her casual clothes, greets us with a deep bow as soon as we step into the living room. "Would you have a bath first or dinner first? Or maybe… me?"

"A bath sounds great about now, actually." I groan while dropping the groceries on the kitchen stand, before I turn to eye her up and down with a lecherous grin. "And who says I can't have you at the same time?"

"Oh, my!" She protests, fanning herself with a hand and showing a wide smile on her lips that betrays her act. "Master is a beast! Whatever am I going to do?"

Oblivious to our games, Ecchan materializes directly in her seat, reaching for volume three of 'I'm a spider, so what?' and promptly forgetting there's a world out here, and that she's supposed to be part of it. Haku sends a look our way, biting her lip in indecision before shaking her head and putting us out of her mind. Getting some chestnut past bars from the kitche, she sits beside Ecchan instead.

"As much as I'd enjoy showing you exactly how much of a beast I am…" I let out one of those low growls I know get her engine revving. "Maybe we should keep our priorities straight. How's Sakura?"

"Coherent and healthy, Master." She recovers magnificently, becoming the very picture of calm efficiency in the blink of an eye. "She's still lying down, but I foresee no further complications. She let me know she'd like to speak with you at your earliest convenience."

"She knows I know?"

"I don't know how much she thinks you know, Master." She nods. "But I let her know you know things nobody knows how you know."

I can't help but let the silence stretch for a bit after her words. "... Really?"

"... Honestly Master, it sounded better in my head." She answers, cheeks reddening slightly. "I think I'll leave alliterations and repetitions to Haku-chan in the future."

"Come on now, it wasn't that bad." If anything, her embarrassment seems to increase. "I'll go speak with Sakura then, how about the other business?"

"The Shrine is ripe for the taking, Master. I'm honestly surprised no other Master has tried to do the same, or sabotage our efforts." As soon as she focuses back on our scheming, the blushing vanishes as if it had never been there. A less secure man might wonder whether it wasn't all an act in the first place. "I plan on finishing Taiga-chan's protective charm tonight and then we'll be ready to move without a fuss."

"Good, good." It would suck for someone else to turn Taiga against us like Medea did in the UBW route, and it won't be easy to keep an eye on her while living away from home without something like that. Uh… "What excuse are we using to stay in the temple again?"

"Pest extermination Master, we have a bad termite infestation." She smiles mischievously "Might need to work on replacing the woods afterwards, we won't be able to tell for sure until we can make a damage assessment afterward."

"Pest extermination…? Fitting." Downright hilarious, considering we just offed Zouken here. "See you in the bath afterwards? I have time to kill since someone has made clear I'm not welcome in the kitchens."

"I'll be wearing my best suit, Master."

In case it's not obvious, her best suit is her birthday suit.

Sakura is sitting against the wall, with her legs still inside the futon and a book atop her lap. She looks as healthy as ever, not a hint of pallor on her skin nor tiredness in her posture. There's even a small smile in her lips as she watches me come in.

"Sakura, how are you feeling?"

"Better than I've been in years, Senpai." Her smile widens in honest happiness, and I can't help fidgeting in place a bit.

To say I feel a bit awkward right now is putting it lightly. Sakura is a meek girl, whose spirit was beaten down again and again to the point where she has trouble expressing strong emotions. I was half-expecting her to close her guard shut and hide behind her well-practiced mask of gentle contentment in spite of what happened in the morning.

Or maybe just because of it. I did horribly abuse her trust, after all.

"I'm glad to hear that." I say instead. "Caster tells me the two of you have talked already?"

"Ah, yes!" For some reason, my mention of Medea causes her to blush something exactly has that woman done? "We talked a bit about the… War. And the future."

"I see." I'll have to drill Medea later. What has that scheming woman been doing behind my back? "You're probably wondering how much I know about the whole thing."

"Yes! I mean, you obviously know a lot, but I wouldn't mind filling the blanks and…"

"I know the broad strokes of everything. About the deal between Tohasaka and Matou that put you where you are now, about the training, about the experiments and about… "

Then I pause, doing my best to hide my horrified shock when I realize I have no idea who her Servant actually is. And how much I could be screwed if she summoned someone else. To assume really makes an ass out of you and me.

Still, I can't really backtrack here without ruining the mood, and there is a very good chance my assumptions are right. So I smile knowingly and play my silence as a dramatic pause before taking a shot in the actually-not-so-dark.

"Medusa." The widening of her eyes is all the confirmation I need to let out a breath of relief. I'll have to make sure to interrogate her on the details later, to make sure it really is the version I expect, but I'm feeling optimistic again. Then, incapable of resisting the impulse, the smile on my lips turns mischievous. "I even know about the secondary effects the Crest Worms had on your body."

"I– Um!" She stammers, trying to protest in mortification. "Those were–!"

"Perfectly reasonable reactions considering the circumstances, and which I'm not judging." I hurry to reassure here. "But, just for the record, I do like a girl who can get properly naugthy when the mood is right."

She covers her face with her hands, steam almost visibly coming out of her ears. I'm tempted to keep teasing, just to see see whether I can make her faint from embarrassment alone. But she's still recovering and that's not exactly healthy so I hold back and get to the next point of the conversation.

It's… Not exactly a happy point, but I'd rather solve it before it becomes a problem.

"We should probably talk about the War." I speak out slowly, watching for her reactions. "And what you want to get out of it."

"Yes… We should probably talk about that, huh?" She nods with a defeated tone, her smile nowhere to be found anymore. "I didn't want anything to do with it, but now it's unavoidable."

"Now, Sakura, that's not what I meant. You don't have to–"

"Rider will abandon Shinji if I ask her to, I think." She continues, eyes fixed on her lap as she stubbornly talks over my protests. "They don't seem to get along very well. She also had much better stats when she was connected directly to me, so that would increase her value."

"That's good to know, but for now you don't–"

"And I don't know what Ojii-sama did to my body." There's a hitch of her shoulders that can only be a held back sob. Her voice is slowly turning frail and hollow, but she presses on. "But I'm sure Senpai will find a way to turn it into an advantage too."

"Sakura!"

"Don't worry, senpai!" She turns towards me again, a big smile on her lips. There's no happiness behind it, though. It's a frail, heartbreaking thing that talks of hopelessness and stubborn determination. "I'll do my best to help you protect your important people."

"My… 'Important people'? Are you kidding right now!?" How can she speak about torturing herself so easily and then claim that… Oh. I reach with a hand to cup her face, forcing her to keep eye contact in spite of her attempt to look away once more. "Sakura. You are important. I want to protect you too."

"Se...mpai?"

"If you don't want to participate in the War, we can keep you and Rider in reserve." I explain gently, running my other hand through her hair to get her bangs behind her ear. "I can't promise you won't see combat, but it should diminish your exposure quite a bit."

"But I am…" She's babbling again, but this isn't simple embarrassment. She still looks on the verge of tears and it occurs to me that we haven't really addressed my abuse of trust just yet. "I don't…"

"Look, Sakura." I pull my hands away with a sigh. Time to face the music like a man. "I understand if you're angry about how I've handled everything, I would've been too, if someone had knocked me out and operated me without consent or warning, but–"

"No! I said I trust you, and that's still the truth!" For the first time during this conversation, Sakura looks angry as she leans forward. She catches my hands, clenching almost to the point of being painful. "How could I not? You've saved me, Senpai! From something I had resigned myself to suffer forever! I'll never be able to pay you back for this!"

There's a long pause after that, Sakura catching her breath and quickly blushing up a storm as her actions catch up to her, and myself still shocked by her outburst, mind reeling as it puts her declaration in context and rearranges my understanding of the situation.

I really shouldn't underestimate my social perks like this. Or the effect of being a decent human being can have on an abused person like Sakura. Or Sakura herself. In my defence, overconfidence just blew on my face not a day ago.

"Then it's fortunate that I require no payment, isn't it?" I finally break the silence with a smile once I get a hold of myself. "Rest for now, Sakura. You still need to recover."

I get up to leave, only to be called again right as I'm opening the door.

"Senpai?"

"Yes, Sakura?" I turn around to find Sakura gripping the futon and studiously looking at her lap once more.

"Do you think you could maybe" Her voice becomes an unintelligible mumble for whatever she says next, and I only manage to catch the last word. "Tonight?"

"I'm sorry, you are going to speak a bit louder."

Sakura takes a deep breath, but still refuses to look up as she repeats her question. "Do you think you could maybe sleep here with me tonight?"

… I think I know now what Medea has been talking about with her. Something of my thoughts must've shown on my face, because Sakura blushes again as soon as she steals a peek at my face and trips over herself to explain.

"I– I mean! I know my body is still recovering and I can't do that yet!" She splutters, waving her hands in front of her in denial. "I just want… to have you near tonight, so I won't be alone if I wake up during the night."

"Yet, huh?" I can't help a chuckle at her mortified whine "See you tonight, Sakura."

Well, I think I can consider this talk a success. We haven't been able to really plan anything and there hasn't been a chance to talk about Shinji just yet, but there's been a lot of progress anyway.

Now, I think I'll finally have that bath, Medea must be bored of waiting by now.