67

067 - The ones left behind.

Mitsuzuri Ayako

I run.

I run under a crushing sense of urgency.

I run towards the forest, accompanied only by two white-haired maids who aren't fully human.

I run leaving behind friends I've both known for years and only recently met.

I run with heavy breath and sweaty brows.

I run abandoning those who represent hope for the future.

I run abandoning the place where I can finally fit in without the constant pressures and disapproval of my birth family.

I run abandoning those who I've quickly begun to consider my new family.

I run to reach the mansion in the middle of the woods, that's the only thing that matters.

Because… Because of something. An ace in the hole the Einzbern kept stashed away in case things went South, I guess. I didn't quite get the details. Things have certainly gone South, that's for sure.

We make our way into the forest proper, breaking through the illusion of wild underbush to find ourselves following a modest trail between the shadowed trees. Somehow, the air becomes even more oppressive under the cape of trees. Wet and thick and claustrophobic, feeding my worries and sense of urgency.

I think that paranoia is the only reason I manage to stop myself and jump back in time when a blur of vivid red materializes out of nowhere to pounce at me. Looking up, I find myself face to face with what looks like an animated skeleton. A skeleton with blood-red bones and pitch black eyeshockets, illuminated only by tiny pinpricks of blue light coming from deep inside.

As I'm trying to figure out why that particular shade of blue looks so familiar, both homunculus maids charge past me. There is no hesitation in their motions, no words of argument or agreement traded before the two of them jump at one at the skeleton without even breaking their run.

… Why the hell was I taking the lead in the first place, anyway?

I can only watch as the two of them fight the undead figure, Leysritt wielding a halberd bigger than herself -Where the hell was she even keeping it?- while magic glows in Sella's fists. In spite of the urgency of the moment, in spite of the need to reach our goal, there's nothing I can do.

If only I had that Mystic Code Caster was preparing for me…

Or just my bow, really. Something.

To my dismay, I watch the skeleton easily keep up with the maids. Shrugging off the weight behind Leysritt's strikes and not even fazed by Sella's magic, it's only a matter of moments before it makes short work of them.

(then he turns to face me). Then he's on me.

I back down with a yelp, trying to make distance… only for my back to violently hit against a tree. Wincing in pain and with my eyes tearing up, I frantically look around as the skeleton leisurely closes the last couple of steps of distance between us.

There's nowhere to run, nothing to do, I'm…. useless.

But…

BUT!

I must get to the mansion,( right?) I can't fail here…( right!?) They (don't) need me!

The cursed skeleton closes the last of the distance, letting out a rattling noise that sounds like a mocking cackle as its grinning skull gets closer to my face… and then its clawed fingers sink straight into my chest.

I wake up with a start, springing into a sitting position and dropping the blanket covering my body as I take a deep breath to cry in pain… only to realize at the last moment that I'm not actually hurting anywhere. And there's no cursed skeleton out to get me. And this isn't the forest. In fact… I frown in confusion, taking a glance at the luxurious but distinctly out of fashion room I find myself in.

Where the hell am I?

"Ayako." Leysritt's voice, cool and deceithfully uncaring, startles me into looking behind me, where I find sitting at a dining table and playing with a curl of hair. "Good morning, sleepyhead."

"Wha– where?"

"You are in the Einzbern Mansion." Sella answers from what's now behind me, making me turn around yet again to watch her walk into the room with a tray cart. "You were struggling too much, so Leysritt knocked you out."

I'm about to ask whatever she's even talking about and ask whether they're doing this on purpose to give me whiplash when memories from early today start flowing in.

Of the Temple being under attack, of Rider collapsing Caster's Workshop entrance to delay an enemy she didn't feel confident about taking on in a straight fight, of Emiya-kun apparently vanishing into thin air in front of Tohasaka…

Of an inhuman monster looking like a cute little girl and being ordered to retreat to a safe location. Of protesting and arguing, of trying to stay behind and fight. Of wanting to be useful in some way and being unreasonable about it, declaring they'll have to drag me away kicking and screaming.

Of a sharp pain in the back of my neck and everything going dark.

Blood floods my face as I go through the embarrassing memories. Is this really all I amount to in a crisis, after all? Just a nuisance so over her head that she can be swept aside with negligent ease regardless of her will?

I take a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down as I go back over the nightmare whose details are already vanishing from my memories. The broad strokes remain though. The urge to do something, anything in the face of a crisis, without even knowing what or how. The feeling of powerlessness as others fight and I watch, as I die or live by their achievements.

It damn well nails my issues with the current situation. That's how things are.

For now. That's how things are for now. I'm just a nuisance for now.

I may lack the innate advantages of a magus, but that can be made up for with the right tools. Everything else is just a matter of effort and study. So yes, the dream had a point in the worst of ways, I am useless at the moment. There's nothing I can do in the current crisis but pray and wait…

But I'll be ready for the next one. There, epiphany had.

Having reaffirmed my goals and convictions in the privacy of my mind instead of making a spectacle out of myself with some pointless grandstanding like a shounen protagonist, I focus back on the current situation. Getting up from the couch I was lying on to join the maids at the table.

"What now?"

"Illya-sama's last update was to let us know everything seems to be under control." Sella answers matter of factly as she serves tea for three. "The only fatalities are the mastermind and the wounded woman Caster was taking care of in her Workshop. The invader was safely defeated and has been taken into custody instead."

"Because she can turn into a busty mothgirl with thicc thighs." Leysritt pipes in cheerfully. "And Illya wants to— Hmpf!"

"I don't think that information is in any way relevant to the current situation." Sella states categorically, holding Leysritt's lips shut with a hand. "So we won't be discussing it. Are we clear?"

Leysritt hurries to nod, though Sella still keeps her lips shut for a long moment before finally releasing them to finish serving the tea.

"Illya wants to drink sake from her thighs." Leysritt whispers as soon as Sella turns around, leaning towards me with all the subtlety of a freight train. "As if it was mana from the Holy Grail."

I can only shake my head in amusement. Judging the way Sella goes stiff before taking a deep breath while still facing away from us. Leysritt was also as successful as a freight train.

"Are the monks fine?" I ask, suddenly remembering we weren't exactly alone at Ryuudou Temple. "One of my classmates lives in the temple."

My ability to care for random faceless people when those I actually care about are in danger is limited, but I personally know Issei. He's a decent guy, I'm not sure the school would work without him and it's always a riot to watch Rin butt heads with him.

"Healthy and hale, they slept through it all." Sella answers promptly, taking a weight off my shoulders. "Don't let recent exceptional events color your opinion, Caster-san does good work."

I don't really have the chance to acknowledge her words before Leysritt cries out in a delighted deadpan.

"Oooh! Cookies!"

"Wait Leysritt! Don't eat everything! They're to be saved for— Leysritt!"

"Sho good…"

… Well, I guess this is fine if the crisis is over.

Next time I won't sleep through it, though.

Fujimura Taiga

My name is Fujimura Taiga, I'm eternally sixteen and full of life!

… Or well, usually full of life.

Kirits– The brats' place is closed down, so I can't go there in the mornings to (mooch off breakfast) check on them every day before school.

This is horrible, a catastrophe! It affects my energy levels and I can barely trudge through the day. I got a verbal admonishment yesterday for arriving late (and then falling asleep on my chair and stealing a brat's bento which should be fine because I forgot mine and who's more important here anyway and then maybe I snapped at the vice-director because I was irritable and sleep deprived and sugar deprived and life sucks and I want my free delicious breakfast and my daily dose of adopted siblingonium!) and everything.

I tried to visit the Ryuudou Temple the first morning, but it's damn far away. I don't have the time. And it's uphill. Both ways. Because the Dragon God is a prat and has it out for me.

So I'm now low on both energy and motivation and slogging through the classes is a chore and the brats are especially obnoxious too. The free hour where I can just sit at my desk in the teacher's lounge and have some tea and japanese jelly (and doughnuts and cookies and muffins and candied fruit and a burger with fries) is usually a godsend. The only reason why it's worth getting up in the mornings anymore, really.

Only, today I just totally didn't listen in on a conversation about how not only Sakura-chan was still missing school but both my adoptive siblings were playing hooky too. Plus Tohsaka-san and Mitsuzuri-san which, weird.

The tea cup cracks in my hand, not because I'm worried but because of its lousy design. Taiwanese manufacturers, I'm sure. It's not like I'm worried or anything. Pff, no. If I was worried I would be ignoring my duties as a teacher and running out of the school gate towards the Temple to check on them like I'm doing right no—

… Oh.

Well, okay. I guess I was a bit worried after all. Sue me.

Only, instead of getting to the criminally steep steps of the Ryuudou Temple, I find myself in front of Kirits– the Emiya Residence instead. Funny how habit makes your feet take you to the strangest places when you are distracted, huh?

I (longingly) carelessly eye the empty property. Well… The temple is basically all the way back in the other direction and I guess I'm already here, so I could check it over? Make sure everything is still where it should be and I don't have to (sick gramps' men on) have some words with the pest control guys.

I cross my arms and nod in satisfaction at my genius-level decision. Truly, I'm a model big sister, always looking out for her ungrateful little siblings.

To my frustration but to absolutely nobody's surprise, the door is open, so I just let myself in. I make my way deeper into the house with a weird feeling of anticipation in my gut. It's funny, I've been here hundreds of times before, but finding the place so empty is a bit—

*RIIIIIIIIIIIIIING*

"GNYAAAAH!"

I don't jump out of my skin when the phone rings right as I walk past it, I don't give out a scream that's more a yowl than any sound a human would make and I definitely don't elbow the very expensive flower vase resting on the table when I turn around. It was the pest control guys who dropped it and made it shatter against the floor into a million little pieces, because they are clumsy and inconsiderate and whoever tells you something else is trying to sell you something.

)Sell me out, probably.)

"Emiya residence." Feeling my heart still trying to burst out of my chest. I pick up the phone at the second ring. "Fujimura speaking."

"Fuji-nee?" The voice of the brat that caused all this in the first place comes from the other side of the line( filling me with a deep sense of relief). "What are you doing there?"

As I throw the pest control guys under the bus and try to make up a cool excuse that's definitely not me getting worried for them out of nowhere, I feel a deep sense of relief flood my body, letting me finally breathe easy and relax muscles I didn't know were tense.

Wait, I mean! Of course everything's fine. Who was worried? You were worried? Pfff–! I told you there was no reason to be worried!

Silly worrywart… how uncool of you.