Chapter 16: Contract

Beta read by Shigiya, Paragon of Awesomeness and Darklord331

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-Sainan,Yuuki Residence-

With the early rays of the sun shining upon Sainan, Mikan once again found herself preparing lunch for her family. As it was the weekend, she already made sure to finish up her homework and menial chores around the house so she could enjoy her time off to the fullest. 

The pan sizzled, and the aroma of cooked garlic, chili, and fish wafted around the room. Her tongue salivated slightly until her mind forced her back to focusing on thinly slicing the vegetables for another dish she personally wanted to try out after watching a movie with her brothers about a certain chef rat and his quirky human. 

Her attention span did not manage to hold on for long; golden-brown eyes stole glances at the man next to her, silently standing there with a rare relaxed expression, occasionally scooping up the melted butter from the pan and basting the fish with it. His movements were so fluid, comparable to that of the best professional chefs she saw on TV. The enticing fragrance he always managed to create in all his dishes made her wonder just who in the family he got his talent from when it came to cooking. Their father barely knew how to fry an egg and boil some instant noodles. Not much better could be said about their mother, who despite traveling across the world, couldn't cook that many dishes aside from the simplest ones, and they were nothing special. 

As for Rito… that boy was a wild card, sometimes he would show an adequate amount of mastery in the kitchen but at other times he would be nothing less than a constant safety hazard with how accident-prone he could be in any given situation, let alone when in the vicinity of a kitchen. One time he helped their brother with a meal with enough skill to earn a compliment from Shirou, which was an incredibly high bar to achieve,  but on another days he had proven himself to hold what could only be described supernatural abilities in the realm of bad luck since the boy had somehow managed to turn the simple task of heating up the leftovers and boiling water into incidents that almost caused the whole house to catch fire that were it not for her older brother's timely interventions with the help of a fire extinguisher. 

An enigma that gave her a never-ending headache to this day. 

"Shirou, I can do it by myself you know…" she spoke, having taken the responsibility for cooking this morning's meal for everyone upon herself. "I was planning on making some braised beef and potato—mmf!" 

Chopsticks holding a small piece of cooked fish met her tongue. Her dismay momentarily turned into blissful delight as the taste and texture melted inside her mouth with the satisfying crunch of the skin acting as the small cherry on top. A small addition of spice she didn't recognize was present, which he must have added to elevate the overall taste, and she could confirm it worked as intended. Fortunately, despite being fresh off the pan, it did not burn her tongue, being cold enough for her to safely eat it and hot enough to entice her taste buds. Her brother could take a handful of simple ingredients and somehow make them dance so perfectly together, a task she still failed to replicate to this day.

If she couldn't beat him when it came to European dishes as it seemed he was better in that department, then Mikan swore to elevate his Japanese culinary skills beyond his in the future.

Hopefully…

"Ah!" Wait, did he just try to shut her up in his own way? He tried to distract her! "Shiroooou!"

"Do you like it?" The redhead spoke gently, wearing the apron she brought him last year as a birthday gift, and his hair combed backward as usual with mirroring golden brown eyes turning over to meet hers. "I personally feel like it needs a bit more salt." 

Of course, he thought that, no matter how perfect his dishes tasted, her brother only kept finding the flaws when there were none. "You don't have to keep doing this, you know. I can handle this by myself." She argued, fully capable of handling such tasks. 

"I don't need a reason to help my little sister with simple chores. And besides, it's a big brother's duty to take care of his younger siblings, not the other way around. Here, open your mouth." 

"Ah," it embarrassed her how naturally she listened to his words and let him feed her another piece of exquisitely cooked fish. A habit from her younger years when she just started to attend her first year of elementary school. Peeking over the counter on a stool, curious about her big brother's activities, and always getting a snack when their parents weren't watching. But that was her old self, Mikan wanted to show her brother how she had grown up and became a mature and responsible girl. 

Yet even now she couldn't help but regress to her past self at such moments. 

"This isn't fair… at this rate, nothing will ever change." She whispered quietly, unconsciously leaning her head against his arms. The news about Lala being an alien princess surprised her at first, even if she acted calm and collected. The disbelief coupled with wariness was all overpowered by the realization that officially her brother somehow managed to hold the title of Lala's fiancé. 

'Don't worry, it's just a bothersome title I got stuck with. We are not officially engaged and I don't plan on marrying any time soon. Lala is just a person I'm helping.' He said to reassure her and Rito, but that helped little to diminish the worry within her heart. Rito seemed to believe him blindly, but for Mikan that was an attitude she could not imitate, as the mere idea of Shirou leaving their family's home and going off somewhere else to live where she'll never be able even to visit horrified her more than anything else in her life. 

She didn't want him to leave, to not get taken away and forget about her…

To relieve some of her frustration, she began snacking on a bag of mochi she brought recently at a discounted price, as it just sounded like a good idea. "I bought some mochi… want to have a taste?" 

Her offer was met with a nod, "My hands are a bit preoccupied, though. Bring it closer." 

Confused by his request, the girl still brought the sweetened red bean paste stuffed treat closer to his face as per her request. Her body flinched as her brother leaned down and ate the mochi straight from her hand. "Hm, it tastes nice. Buy some more next time, I'll add some to your bento."

"..." 

No wonder he was surrounded by girls if he behaved at all similarly with them. Though she doubted Shirou would do anything like this with anyone but her. Then again… she did find him with a naked Lala on his bed just a couple days ago. Her friends did mention how high school girls preferred bad boys, and her brother tended to behave like one with his attitude at times — giving off the wrong impression to those unfamiliar with his character. 

"Hump, we're out of sugar." He mentioned, sighing audibly before looking at the time. "I guess I can make a small stop at the convenience store before everyone comes down to eat. Hm? Mikan…" 

So caught up in her inner thoughts, the young girl barely heard him call out her name. "Yes?" One thing she noticed these last few days was the increasing amount of white hair strands on Shirou's head. It worried her when she first saw them, asking him to visit a doctor, only for him to have brushed off the suggestion. Stating that the matter was small and had no effect on his health. 

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. 

"I can't exactly go to the store if you keep holding me like that." 

A jolt of lightning struck her body as she noticed her hand had at one point clutched the fabric of his clothes. Mortification coupled with a new level of embarrassment struck her as she let go of her brother in a hurry and tried to create some distance… only to trip over her feets in her panic. 

"Wah!" 

Her panic barely lasted a second before she got picked up by the redhead at the last second. This time, she was unable to hold back a strong blush from covering her face. "Woah, careful there. It would have been dangerous if you were holding a knife. Are you feeling sick or something today?" 

"N-No, it was just an accident. P-Put me down now." The last thing she wanted was for Rito or Lala to see her like this. 

"Alright," he nodded as he set her back down on her feet. "I'll be back in a few minutes, it won't take long."

No, he was just using the sugar as an excuse to buy groceries for the whole week and not have her go outside by herself. At first, she wondered why he became so protective, but that soon got answered after she learned about Lala's true story. Honestly, he worried too much, Zastin had promised that no harm would come to them with his men keeping a tight watch for any intruders.

"Wait… can I come as well?" She asked, not wanting to sit by and do nothing. He frowned slightly, his mouth beginning to open to probably decline her request, so she pushed the idea before he could say anything. "It's been a while since we last went to the store together. Plus I need some fresh air to clear up my head, I've been stuck in this house for to long." 

If she wanted him to stop treating her as a fragile child, the best option was to prove herself capable of handling anything once again. 

"Please?" Her puppy dog eyes seemed to shake his resolve. At least she knew one weakness of his that not even Lala grasped. 

"…Fine, let me check up on Lala first, she's been in her room the whole day." With that said, he soon left upstairs where the alien princess had built an entirely new room for herself. 

{Break}

"It's going to be fine," Emiya muttered to himself while walking the stairs. The quiet atmosphere brought forth a sense of unease as it belied the commotion caused by Lala on a daily basis he'd grown used to. Her endless energy and joyful personality affected those around her — which included both his siblings. 

"She's been very quiet since the festival. A little too quiet…" She'd been holed up inside her new room which she created within a separate space connected by a single door built in next to his room. How that worked, he had not the slightest clue, nor did he desire to dwell on the matter any longer than necessary. "Did the small dispute with Saki affect her that much?" 

Unlikely. Lala did not give him the impression of being someone who got affected by such outcomes. Given how open and carefree her personality was, she gave him the impression of enjoying such small squabbles. Nevertheless, this new constant silence began to worry him, which ended up being the main reason why he was now on his way to check up on the princess. 

Knock

Knock

Of course, she'd choose a pink door made from an alien alloy. A small wooden plank with the name Lala engraved on its surface, a small gift from Risa. Apparently, she made it herself, a nice gesture that further cemented the friendship between those two. At first, Emiya was glad that Lala had someone else she could pester with her ceaseless questions and another human who could help showcase how regular people behaved on Earth. Unfortunately, he instantly retracted that line of thought as he remembered how Lala had recently gained the habit of massaging Haruna's breasts as a form of greeting. 

He should have known…

"Lala," he called out, once again knocking on the door a couple of times. The chances of her being in the middle of changing were minimal, but still there — not to mention it was rude to barge into anyone's room. "If only Rito learned this habit." 

For years, he tried his best to have the boy become more cautious with his actions. On more than one occasion did he almost accidentally walk inside Mikan's room these last few months. Mikan, on top of that, never locked her own door even when he explicitly told her to do so with her only response being, "Why bother? It's only you two inside the house, plus we've already taken baths together with Mom and Dad." 

Safe to say he never felt so helpless with the people of this world. 

Click

"Hm?" The door opened on its own, with the inside of the room coming into view. A semi-dome, with walls made of the same alien material as the door with screens acting as windows showing the outside view. A large king-sized bed with plenty of pillows of all sizes occupied the far wall, while gears, bolts, and spanners littered the ground with a distinct smell of… rubbing alcohol meeting his nose. "What are you doing?" 

He walked inside, making sure to not accidentally step on any of her inventions as she distinctly mentioned one time that a few had the ability to change the wielder's gender by touch alone. He found the girl next to her bedframe with a small coffee table in front of her, using a piece of cloth dipped with pure alcohol to polish a familiar bracelet. A thin wire connects it to a computer as a series of information flashes before the screen.

Peke on the other hand napped on the other side of the room, charging up most likely. 

'She sure feels different when focusing on her work.' The Lala before him and the one that jumped around the room laughing with Risa and others felt like two completely different people. She was pouring such a great amount of focus into working on her bracelet that she probably hadn't noticed his arrival yet. 

A pleasant moment, he admitted. 

'If only she acted like this normally.' 

Not wishing to disturb her, Emiya leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. He decided to wait for her to finish up, which seemed like it would happen at any minute now. Finally, she disconnected the wire and put the bracelet around her wrist with a hesitant expression. "How curious, have you made any modifications to the teleportation device?"

He absolutely refused to call it Warp Warp Pyon-kun or whatever ridiculous and redundant name she'd given the thing. 

"Ah, Shirou!" The girl called his name after noticing his arrival. Her usual smile returned, though not as bright as he remembered. "When did you get here?" 

"Just now. I knocked and the door opened by itself. Sorry if I disturbed you, it looked like you were in the middle of creating or upgrading another of your inventions. Rather not cause an explosion in my house." 

"Hehehe, I programmed the door to automatically open whenever you knocked." 

"You sure are very trusting, you'll come to regret that one day." Not that anyone in this household posed any threats to the princess, but it was still better to remain vigilant. Also, Emiya asked himself, why did everyone here dislike the idea of locking their doors? First Mikan and now her…

"No, you misunderstood. I meant the door will automatically open when you're the one trying to enter, Shirou." 

"…" 

This girl trusted him more than he did himself, but at least she had some common sense. 

He sighed, having no comments to add to that. "I appreciate the trust, I guess. Anyways, Mikan and I will be heading out to buy some groceries. While we are out, be sure to set up the table like I showed you last time, and be sure to call Rito — he's supposed to be studying right now but if I know him well enough, he's probably playing video games right now." Out of everyone in the family, Rito had the biggest reaction to Lala's origin at first, though he grew to accept that after a few reassurances from him. 

Emiya worried about his brother's future. Whether he was too trusting, clumsy or gullible, none of them was a good outcome. On top of that, his inability to have a normal conversation with girls without freaking out and falling on them at some point, turned into full-on panic attacks whenever Haruna was even brought up as a topic of conversation. 'Will it work if I organize a date between those two? I can call Haruna for a meetup and bring Rito along. Then I can ask Saibai to call me at a specific time and use it as an excuse to get out of there.'

Truly, if all of his efforts bore no fruit to bring those two together, then Emiya planned to just leave and let those two sort things out by themselves. Rito without his anxiety was quite capable of handling most cases on his own; he had the capabilities but lacked the confidence.

"Wait!" 

"Oomf!" He choked as Lala jumped behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck, throwing off his balance with her unexpected action. He fell onto the bed, with Lala quickly getting on top of him with a strange expression. "I swear you almost killed me there." 

"Shirou… do you like big boobs?" She grabbed his hands and made them press against her breasts, "My sisters always commented how they wanted to become big like mine, and Mama's are even bigger, so they're still growing." 

"..." 

Lala was behaving more strangely than usual. Did she fall sick? She looked at him expectantly, almost waiting for a specific reaction from him.

"…That's good to know, I guess. I hope this is not a random Deviluke culture thing that holds a hidden meaning. Can you let go of my hands now?" 

She pouted, displeased by his reaction. Not much he could do about that. If she hoped for him to get flustered and blush for some reason then this kind of stimuli wouldn't bring forth such a reaction. He wasn't his idiot younger self after all.

"Mouuu… why aren't you reacting the same as last time? Do you really like Saki-chan's that much more than mine?" 

Saki? Last time? 

At first, he imagined their first meeting inside the bathroom, but then she brought up the name of the heiress which threw off that line of thought. Then it finally clicked, his little incident with the blonde back in class during the school festival, though that had been just a small accident. "Are you talking about the time at the bug cafe when Saki and I fell down together?" 

"Yes!" She answered without hesitation. "When you touched her boob, you showed a face you didn't make when we first met! You were all angry with me but with her, you were so gentle, excited, and shy!" 

He certainly wasn't shy last he remembered, what kind of delusional scenario did her memory create of that day? "Wait, you're salty about losing to her, aren't you… Or perhaps you're jealous?" 

"You think so?" Lala genuinely asked, thinking deeply about his words. "I'm not sure, I don't hate Saki-chan and I liked playing her games. She's very funny and I want to become friends with her like I am with Haruna-chi and Risa."

"But you didn't like that she won that day, or how I 'reacted' when touching her chest?" 

She nodded enthusiastically, "Right, it felt weird and my heart didn't feel right, I even ran a bunch of tests on myself today, to see if I'm sick — but nothing came up. So I don't know…"

He was starting to see the bigger picture, Lala turned out to be more innocent and naive to common emotions than he ever believed to be possible for someone her age. Maybe geniuses like her lacked a common trait with regular humans, thus running on certain aspects in their emotions. He did meet some eccentric people along the course of his life, hailed as great savants by the masses but in private they behaved quite outside of the norm, sometimes even child-like. 

"That is jealousy," he said patiently, feeling her quickened heartbeat as she still strongly held his hands on her chest. "It's most likely the first time you experienced it, thus you don't know how to handle it." 

"Is it a bad thing?" 

"Of course not, it's a completely normal emotion many feel at multiple points in their lives. Though it's strange that you've never experienced it before, I'll blame it on the environment and the people around you. Regardless, you don't have to worry about it, give it time and relax. It will go away eventually." 

"Did Shirou ever feel jealous over someone else?"

"I have," whenever he saw the boy, who unlike him, chose a different path in life that wouldn't lead to the creation of Counter Guardian EMIYA. Knowing that despite having an equally harsh road ahead of him, he'd live on without regrets over his past choices and forever be free from the chains that bound him to Alaya. Yes, he did feel a certain amount of jealousy. But such feelings tended to get offset by relief, one that assured him that the same mistakes wouldn't happen twice. This relief ended up outweighing any and all resentment or jealousy for his alternate selves who avoided his own fate — but that did nothing to erase his regret. "So many times that I lost count at some point and just learned to live with it."

She lowered her head, coming closer and closer. With no impure intentions within her eyes, she asked, "Was it with someone you love?" 

That made him chuckle, "Fortunately no, I have long since made peace with that part of my life." 

"But why don't I feel bad when you're together with Risa and Haruna-chi?" She asked quizzically. 

"Probably because I don't go around grabbing their chest, or be forced to in your case. And we're just friends, Risa in her case is just following me for food." 

"I don't know." She whispered.

"Then why Saki?" 

Her shoulders dropped, "I really don't know, I should be feeling the same way with her but can't. Are you sure it's jealousy?" 

"I'm not a psychologist," Emiya shrugged, "so don't expect me to hold all the answers to your mental state. It could be something else, there is a chance that it's not even related to Saki at all — but who am I to say."

"I'll feel better if Shirou tells me that he loves me the most!" 

"Not happening," he replied without hesitation. "I'm not currently searching for a relationship and you're too young for me." Chaotic as well. Emiya knew that if by some miracle on Lala's side, he were to get married to her, then his everyday life would turn into a circus show. 

"Young… huh, good thing I made this to solve that problem!" Before he could even ask what she meant by that, the bracelet on her wrist started to glow bright pink. Dread crept into his heart as past experience had made it all too clear to him how horribly dangerous Lala's inventions could become. "Hehe, don't worry, Shirou. I modified Pyon Pyon Warp-kun to include a secondary feature that will use the energy cell I placed inside that will only work on me." 

From his hands on her chest, he felt it as her breasts started growing bigger. His eyes widened as several changes occurred to Lala's body, her eyes becoming sharper, more noticeably plump lips, and a more mature face that did not belong to a girl her age. The weight on his body grew as her hips widened and she even became somewhat taller. Her clothes and especially the fabric of her shirt became more stretched, nearly tearing away from how big her breasts became. "It worked!" 

Even her voice became deeper. 

"L-Lala?" 

"Ah, wow, I almost look like Mama!" She acted the same way, but somehow her voice on top of sounding deeper became similar to that of Mikado. "I call this, Womp Womp Time Warp-chan! With this, I can change into Shirou's ideal woman without having to wait for years!"

This was dangerous.

"H-Hey, I told you to be more careful with your inventions! This can end badly if you use it on yourself like this. Now get off of me, I need to go—" 

To his dismay, Lala pressed her finger against his lips and actually smirked, squinting her eyes with a mischievous glint flashing by. "Ara, I finally get to see you flustered… I like it~! Also, I kept my promise, I'm not using it on anyone else or on you, but on myself instead."

Even her speech pattern had changed, this was not the Lala he knew! This device must have caused her brain to develop as well, but with the change being so rapid she had to be overwhelmed with hormones and emotions. Her face flushed as she started panting with her body pressed against him. "Shirou, my chest hurts, can you help me? Hm~!" 

"Hm?" At first, he intended to throw her off and walk out of the room and let her fix her own mess. But his attention got stolen away by the feeling of her chest, which continued to grow. "Oh no.." 

Woosh!

"Kya!" 

With a quick use of his strength, Emiya pushed her around and on the bed, having a clear view of the ongoing changes happening to her body. "Lala, why is your chest still growing!?"

"E-Eh?" Broken off from her previous state, the girl peered down and grew shocked to see that her breasts, which had grown twice their previous size by now, were starting to rip apart her shirt. "Ah-hah, Womp Womp Time Warp-kun? A-Ah, i-it isn't stopping!" 

She tried pressing a few commands on the device but to no avail as smoke started to come off it. The redhead who saw the scene knew this was bad news. 

"What should I d-do, Shirou? It's getting harder to breathe!" 

Damnit, this invention of hers was getting more troublesome! Left with no other choice, Emiya decided to take more drastic measures. 

A small dagger appeared within his palm which he pressed against the fabric of her clothes. 

"Don't move, I'll handle it." 

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"Why is he taking so long?" 

Fully dressed with a small cute bear-themed purse, Mikan impatiently walked towards Lala's room. The food was going to get cold if they wasted too much time. 

"Ah, he left the door open, he can be so forgetful at times." 

Poof!

Mikan flinched as what sounded like an explosion came from the room with a large wave of smoke that filled the hall. "Cough, w-what happened?" Waving her hand around to clear some of it, she walked inside the room to see what happened — only to end up frozen with shock. "Shirou?" 

On the bed, her brother sat on top of Lala with her clothes ripped open and holding onto her wrist with a broken bracelet falling to the ground. Both of their faces were flushed as Lala panted loudly, a scene straight out of those adult movies Rito tried to hide. 

Then Lala smiled joyfully when she noticed her. "Oh, hiya, Mikan! Shirou and I were just trying out some new stuff!" 

Mikan slowly closed the door, giving her brother a deadpan stare. "Couldn't hold it in, I see." 

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"Hah, finally." Putting aside the unfortunate timing of Mikan's arrival, Emiya managed to break off the bracelet right as it started to show signs of blowing up. He even had to cut Lala's clothes as they started to restrict her breathing.

"Awww, I was sure it would work… stupid bracelet!" 

That familiar expression and way of speaking, Emiya let out a heavy sigh of relief. "Thank god, you're back to the old Lala I know." 

"You're not sad about it? I thought you didn't like young—ouch!" Emiya chopped her head lightly. 

"Idiot, you're taking the context too literally. And yes, I much rather prefer your current self, so please don't do anything stupid like that in the future." She was easier to handle right now, her 'older' self back then just did not make him feel safe at all. 

'Even her strength grew…' he checked his wrist, some faint red marks from Lala's grip on him still remained. Truly, Devilukeans were a dangerous species with how strong they can become, given he saw one of Zastin's henchmen pick up an entire truck once with little effort. Thankfully, in Lala's case, it wasn't something he couldn't handle, using Reinforcement would have been enough. 

"Eeeeh, Shirou finally said he loved me!" Lala showed a bright smile, one he hadn't seen for the last few days. She cupped her cheeks, rolling around full of energy and joy. 

'I'm pretty sure I didn't say that I love her.'

Alright, it was time for him to leave and clear up some misunderstandings with Mikan.

"Before I go, I'll add another condition: you're not allowed to use any of your inventions with such effects on yourself. Imagine what would have happened if I wasn't here. The answer is a disaster. Create something simpler to occupy your time, one that won't cause a mass explosion if or when something malfunctions. Or better yet, just spend some time with Mikan or Rito, let them get to know you." 

She enthusiastically nodded her head, that should keep her distracted for a while. 

"By the way, how is that little request of mine going?" 

"Oh right, I almost forgot about that!" She rushed to her bed, tossing several pillows around and creating a bigger mess of her already disorderly room before returning two small bracelets — one blue and the other pink. "They are still prototypes and have a smaller energy cell. But it should be enough for a single use and I no longer have any more material to make more. Still, I made sure to give it my absolute best and can guarantee you that there are no faults in it!" She said it with pride, handing over the items without a shred of doubt with her statement. 

"I hope there never comes a time that these will be used, but it's better to be vigilant." It was risky to rely on her inventions for such a matter, but it was better than nothing.

{Break}

"Have a good day, you two." 

Near the park, both Emiya and Mikan waved their goodbyes to the old lady working at a vegetable stand as they concluded their little grocery run. They walked all the way here and it was quiet for the most part and awkward, he should have expected that since she saw a weird scene back there after all. 

"Still thinking about what happened before?" He asked, better to rip the band-aid off in one go and fix the misunderstanding. "If it helps, Lala got in trouble with one of her inventions and I had to use… extreme measures to help her." 

"Which involved you tearing her clothes off?" 

"It does sound bad, but yes." How else was he going to explain she saw with her own eyes? Better to stay honest and clear with his explanation. "A lot of her inventions tend to malfunction in ways that lead to the people caught up in them, one of them being that they tend to lose her clothes. Don't think anything intimate is going on between us. Just cleaning up another mess."

"If you say so, Shirou," her tone did not sound the least bit convincing. "Lala has been feeling down lately, so if whatever you're doing is to cheer her up, then I don't mind. I know you're not the type to lie or get easily blinded by a pretty girl." 

Now Emiya felt a little bad, he did lie plenty of times to his siblings, even if it was for their own good and safety. 

"But don't invite another girl to our house, okay? I don't want you to start your little harem with Rito and I still around." She scoffed, before switching into a thinking pose "Though I must admit, it'll be funny to watch the daily drama. Better than what's on tv at the moment." 

"What a heartless sister I have, to find amusement in her dearest brother's suffering."

"What a deceitful brother I have, playing with young maidens' hearts without realizing it." 

Both exchanged glances, staring at each other for a few seconds before laughing together. "You've gotten better, Mikan. You used to be so innocent and pure when you were young. Now look at you, so well-versed with sarcasm." 

"I get enough practice at school." 

"Really? I hope you don't lose your friends with that kind of attitude." 

Mikan rolled her eyes, "Of course not, they'd start crying if I acted like you with them. I only do it to those annoyingly clingy boys, they never seem to get the message."

"Boys?" Emiya's eyes narrowed, fearing that his sister might be getting harassed in school by other kids. 

"You're making a scary face, Shirou." Mikan bumped her shoulder against him, a mischievous smirk on her face. "Don't tell me you're getting overprotective over me against those dumb boys?" 

"I am your older brother, if you hadn't noticed by now. So it's natural for me to feel worried about your safety, kids these days can be very cruel and careless." 

"Oi, stop talking like an old man. Doesn't help that your hair is already starting to lose its color. Fair warning, I'll call you Oji-chan if it turns completely white." 

Emiya smiled, wondering how Mikan would react if she saw him in his older form. Unlike in his last life, Emiya barely used his Magecraft to its full extent here — having little knowledge as to why these changes continued to occur. The changes to his body were an outcome he could not change and accepted a long time ago. Blaming it on his genetics was the easier route as no one knew about his biological parents in this world, so it was very possible for them to think he got it from either one of those two. 

"Let's hope you don't follow in my footsteps as well, you tend to stress too much, a lot of the time."

"And whose fault is that?" 

"It certainly can't be me, I am the epitome of responsibility and zen." He joked, earning another laugh from Mikan. 

"Yeah right, this coming from the man who somehow became the first in line fiancé candidate of the Galactic Emperor's daughter. Really, nothing stressful about this at all." At moments like these, Emiya tended to forget about the fact that he came from another reality and Mikan wasn't his real little sister, because right now, it felt like talking to a real family member. Unconsciously rubbing her head — messing up her hair again, much to her annoyance — the former Counter Guardian allowed himself to cherish this moment. 

"That girl, is she a cosplayer?" Both siblings stopped in their tracks, spotting a young girl with long blonde hair standing aimlessly before them. "Woah, cosplayers these days sure do wear risque clothing. Also, her hair is so long! Even more than Lala's."

"Don't mind her, just keep on walking." People had weird tastes — especially in this world — and something about this girl did not feel right to him. So without saying much, he passed her, holding Mikan's hand. 

"Yuuki Emiya Shirou." 

"—!?"

Both paused, goosebumps spreading all over his skin as he witnessed a glint of light reflecting from a bladed weapon. The presence of killing intent and an unknown stranger standing so close to them… 

'An assassin!' It didn't take him long to figure out her role.

"Eh, who are y—" Mikan turned around, having not realized the danger of the assassin nearly came to see the blades rushing behind him. 

Clang!

Only for it to slash the ground beneath the boy as the latter jumped to the side with his sister held firmly within his arms. The blade cleaved the pavement in two pieces as if slicing through butter. "Hair?" He noted the anomaly before him, the blade attached to this girl's hair… no, rather the ends had morphed into the shape of a weapon. 

Using the dust as cover, he rushed to the bottom of a bridge where he carefully dropped Mikan and wrapped the bracelet Lala gave him around her wrist before pressing the button. It glowed bright pink, followed by a dome forming around the girl. 

"What is going on!?" Still in shock, his sister tried to reach for him, only to end up getting blocked by the translucent wall. "Eh?" 

"Stay here, Zastin should be here soon, or most likely Lala will find you sooner." In addition to creating a force field, the bracelet automatically sent out a distress signal upon activation. "I'll make sure to get that girl as far away from here as possible." 

"W-Wait, S-Shirou, what are you saying?" She started to panic, seeing her brother walk away to confront that dangerous person. "What do you think you're doing!? Come back! She's dangerous! You'll get hur— Onii-chan!" Desperately calling out for him proved fruitless as he disappeared from her sight. 

***

The target managed to escape. Surprising, given how she made sure to reduce the distance between them and attack him from behind at point-blank range upon confirming his identity. 

"…" 

Her eyes montered her surroundings, searching for traces of where he could have disappeared to. "—?" Only for her hair to cover her face as it blocked an… arrow? Tracing back the trajectory where it had been fired from, she found the redheaded boy standing on top of a building on the other side of a nearby bridge. Alone without the other girl, not that it mattered since she wasn't the objective. "Target located." 

She rushed, seeing the boy turn around and start running as well. As she drew closer, her hair morphed into multiple fists which all flew straight at the boy, but missing every time as he dodged them at the last second. 

"Tch," Agile, more so than what her intel had suggested. "Stop running." At the end, she just cleaved through all of the obstacles before her and the building itself. Blocking off most paths available to the boy, forcing him further and further into a closed corner. This continued on for a few minutes until he came to face a giant wall of rocks. "You are cornered, Yuuki Emiya Shirou." 

"Looks like it," he answered calmly, not sounding the least bit winded from the run or afraid of his own impending death. Curious, maybe he accepted his imminent demise? Good for him, plus it made her job easier. "Tell me, are you an assassin?" 

"…"

"Take it as a last request from a soon-to-be dead man, whether I know the truth or not won't pose a hindrance to you in the future. Can you not grant me that at the very least?" He truly had accepted his end, so finding no issue with his request, Golden Darkness answered with a single word. 

"Yes." 

"You nearly hurt my sister, don't tell me your client is after her as well?" 

"I am under no obligation to answer that, I already said enough." 

He took a deep breath, "Then there is only one way to ensure you don't go after her too." 

Something felt odd as she drew closer, but she was prepared for anything this human could throw, her hands turning into vicious claws made of steel as she planned to end him in a single quick strike. As she prepared to launch the attack, her instincts all of a sudden blared with the boy in front turning around faster than before. 

What sounded similar to a whir of wind brought forth a horrifying realization as for a split second, she felt the cold touch of a blade digging into her flesh.

"—!"

Crash!

{Break}

The impact of his back against the boulders pushed the air out of his lung. "Damnit, I wasn't fast enough." Emiya cursed whilst taking deep breaths, having not anticipated for her hair to move that erratically within such a short amount of time. He carefully observed the girl on the other side of the path, holding onto her neck with traces of blood dripping from the cut he'd managed to inflict — momentarily speechless at the injury.

'The wound itself isn't that deep, I even felt some resistance as her flesh turned what felt like steel for a split second.' Equally as baffled as his opponent at that occurrence, Emiya had to acknowledge that this person posed a far bigger threat than the Ghi Bree fellow. 

"Blood? My own blood?" The blonde commented, the warm sensation of her blood staining the palms of her hand, bringing forth a forgotten emotion from the past. "…You aren't human." 

"Who knows!" Emiya charged forth, running at speeds beyond that was considered possible for a human, and already reached halfway to where she was. 

"Stay away," With what almost sounded like a panicked voice, Golden Darkness sent forth a volley of attacks with her hair in the form of punches and blades. Emiya's instincts and battle experience kicked in as he weaved and dodged through the barrage of hair attacks.

'Her blade slashes are faster than before, and she's aiming for my limbs and focusing the punches towards my upper body and head.' Each movement he made as he dodged and continued to close the distance was precise and calculated, a testament to his honed reflexes despite his limiting body. 

Light illuminated the dark street as he deflected the hair-blades with Kanshou and Bakuya, sparks flying with the weapons clashing. 

"Hn!" Emiya gritted his teeths as all of the hairs combined into a gigantic fist which struck his body hard enough to send him airborne. "Hah… she can… hah…morph them into any shape she wants, and they are not easy to cut." 

A head-on battle was not ideal for him, using the distance created once again, he Traced his bow and fired a slew of arrows at the girl, his eyes locked onto Golden Darkness' dark red gaze. She had proven to be a formidable opponent, and he needed to find a way to breach her troublesome defenses.

Golden Darkness' expression shifted from her usual calm demeanor to a troubled one as she struggled to defend herself. Each projectile flew at speeds she could barely react to. Dozens of her hair blades were cutting them into pieces and some hand-shaped tendrils crushed a few that got past those, but it still wasn't enough to stop a single arrow from nicking her cheeks. "Ah!" Soon, a faint amount of panic settled it, and she channeled her energy into a concentrated attack. Her hair converged into a single, massive whip that crackled with power. With a swift motion, she swung it toward Emiya, the force behind the strike creating a shockwave that tore through the air.

Emiya's eyes narrowed as he anticipated the attack. He swiftly sidestepped, allowing the whip to whiz past him, the gust of air it created ruffling his clothes even as the blade of wind-generated sliced through an entire building. Before Golden Darkness could retract her weapon, Emiya lunged forward, his dual blades slashing with precision. He aimed to sever the strands of hair that connected the alien assassin to her deadly weapon.

The blades and hair clashed against each other dozens of times, each exchange getting increasingly intense the closer he got. 'She's keeping up.' 

Despite what the appearance of the young girl suggested, each of her moves carried out showed a vault of past experience. 'She has the advantage in terms of quantity with her hair being able to split into so many different forms, but it feels like each has a mind of its own.' 

They were not perfect by any means, but enough to impress him.

"Got you," grabbing onto the ends of one of the blades, Emiya poured Magical Energy into Bakuya and his arms before slashing full force.

"Ah!" Darkness cried in pain, trying to attack him again only for the boy to dodge at the last second. "What?" To her absolute shock, she watched as a few strands of hair within Emiya's hand fell to the ground before instantly losing their color. "H-How…" The severed strands writhed and disintegrated into energy, dissipating into the atmosphere. 

"So they can be cut after all. I'm a bit surprised it took so much effort for just a few strands." Kanshou and Bakuya, despite their rather middling ranks as Noble Phantasms and Projections on top of that, were still deadly weapons which could cut through nearly anything that didn't have any form of mysteries — even other Noble Phantasms as well under the right conditions. So for them to not immediately chop off her hair just showed how durable they were. And given the sheer amount of hair she had… this might take some time, but at least her flesh did not possess the same traits unless she changed that part into a blade. 

That thought got further cemented when Golden Darkness staggered back, her hair retracting and weaving around her defensively with her limbs turning into blades. 

"Can you turn every part of your body into a sword?" 

"My entire body is a weapon," she whispered, keeping her defenses up rather than recklessly attacking like before. 

"Humph, a body made of blades, how ironic." He scoffed, somewhat starting to see the girl in a new light. "Are you really an assassin?" 

She affirmed his question with a single nod again. 

"Then, surely you know the name of the person who sent you to claim my neck — tell me who it is."

"Under no circumstances will the client's confidentiality be revealed or leaked to the opposing party. My orders are absolute and my prime directive is to eliminate Yuuki Emiya Shirou under any means necessary." She spoke with a monotone, soulless voice that irked Emiya. 

"I'm not one to talk a whole lot, but I honestly feel you can do better than this. Living your life following orders blindly, killing one target after another again and again… that is not living." 

"The data on you was incorrect, you are not human." 

"Is that all you have to say?" There was no need to go that far and attempt to change her stance on life, his current action stemmed from pity more than anything else. If she was unwilling to let go of her mission… "Then so be it."

Emiya seized the opportunity, his blades ready, gleaming from the use of Reinforcement as he dashed forward. 

"No," no longer having the confidence to confront him in a close-quarters combat scenario, wings unfurled behind her back as she tried to fly away and create a distance he couldn't shorten. "Hurgh!" 

Only for Emiya to swing his leg up in an arc and hook his foot around the back of her neck and force her back down to the ground with enough momentum to shatter the concrete below. 'She's stunned, but might still use her hair or wings to fly away again. I need to immobilize her.' Black keys came to mind, but her body was too unpredictable to be reliable.

With no time to ponder, Emiya opted for a more efficient way as he Traced four longswords, impaling each of them in her wings and hands. Unlike her hair, they offered little to no resistance and impaled the limbs effortlessly. "Ah!" She shook, her body shaking from four simultaneous jolts of pain before freezing up as a fifth sword was held up to her neck. 

"Are you still going to stay silent?" 

"…" Golden Darkness remained stubborn, staring defiantly at Emiya. "My prime directive is to eliminate Yuuki Emiya Shirou, failure of the mission is only possible through my death or annulment of the contract from the client."

"Why you imbeci…!" That irksome feeling from before grew into a full-blown anger, contorting his face with rage for a split second before he regained his composure. "Is that the life you want for yourself? The hollow life of a machine?"

"…" 

"You are pathetic, there is no honor or code that compels you, just plain emptiness. You are walking down a pointless path for a future that will never come to be. These are not the actions of an assassin, but a machine who can only do one thing." 

Emiya hated the fact that this girl was getting him so riled up. He hated the fact that she almost hurt Mikan, and he abhorred the thought of having his mind draw similarities between them where they didn't exist. 

"…"

"You still don't understand, do you? No, it's my fault, of course, you wouldn't." From the side, the redhead already took notice of the girl's hands changing into sharp claws. Trying to free herself subtly, but it was wasted effort with him. 

If she didn't stop, then he'd have no option but to ki— "WAIT!" 

A voice called out from afar, rushing over with her pink and white costume along with a white blob-like hat, was none other than Lala. Behind her, Zastin was running over with a couple of his subordinates, all carrying swords and guns. 

"Lala…" 

"Mikan is safe, Smutts and Maul brought her back home safely." She said to him before he even asked a single question. "B-But don't kill her, it's not her fault!" She begged on behalf of the assassin, confusing Emiya. 

"You know her?" 

"Nope! But I have heard about her." He nearly facepalmed out of habit. "But I also know the person who hired her, and he should be punished instead of Yami-chan!" 

""Yami-chan?""

Both Emiya and Golden Darkness repeated that name with a monotone voice, equally as confused and awkward.

"Yes, Golden Darkness is too long, so I thought I'd call you Yami-chan instead! It sounds cuter anyway. Don't you think so?"

He suppressed the urge to sigh. Only Lala of all people could act jovial in such a tense atmosphere without a care in the world. On top of that, giving a cute nickname to an assassin who was trying to kill him… 

"Anyways, who is the client?" 

"I can't allow you to know t—Mmmnnn!" Yami tried to protest, though he quickly shut her up by covering her mouth with his hand. She glared at him more intensely than before. 

"Just shut up, I'm already too tired for this." Hopefully, Mikan and Rito wouldn't freak out too much tonight once they saw him. The wounds on his body weren't that grevious. 

"Right, his name is…" 

{Break}

"Prince Lacospo, I'm afraid we have lost visual contact with Golden Darkness. Our team has tried to find her in all the same places she was stationed at, but came back empty-handed." 

Hidden within the woods, a large spaceship camouflaged with the surrounding vegetation could be found, painted with the main colors and insignia of the royal family of planet Gaama, it served as the main transport vehicle for the planet's heir and Lala's fiancé candidate: Prince Lacospo. 

With a few prominent traits that included his small stature, green skin, purple lips, and pointy ears — he easily stood out amongst the rest of the crew which mostly consisted of half-naked humanoid women. His main throne being a large bed where in each hand the alien prince cuddled with one of his many concubines. Unfortunately, no joy or satisfaction came from their presence as his anger easily took over the man with the latest bad news. 

"HOW COULD SHE BE GONE!?" He screamed hysterically, shaking with enough anger to spill the wine he held over his gold embroidered clothes befitting a king. "Don't tell me she went rogue and abandoned the mission!" 

"I-I'm not sure, Your Highness!" The people around him shook with fear, unable to look their prince in the eyes in case he suddenly decided to take out his anger on them. 

"Did that worthless bitch die!?" The mere idea that a renowned assassin like Golden Darkness could perish against a mere human of all creatures was so outlandish that no one would believe it. But his Lala-tan was also there, and her superior intellect and royal guards could possibly have defeated the one he'd hired to deal with this problem. "I should have known she was going to be useless, just like the last one. Urgh, I really have to do everything on my own. Fine, I'll just crush that human myself with the help of my dear Gama-chan, he should be honored!" 

Beep!

"Your Highness, we have someone approaching our ship." Informed one of his subordinates. "It looks like… Princess Lala?" The screen showed Lala all by herself standing outside with her arms crossed and not in a good mood.

"Come out here you stinky idiot! You made me angry!" 

"Lala-tan!" Jumping off of his seat, Lacospo with an ecstatic face quickly rushed out with no hesitation to meet the love of his life who waited for him. "You have finally started to see reason and come back to me, my love!" 

"What love!? You did something stupid today, you made me and Shirou really angry. Mikan almost got hurt!" 

Mikan? He had no idea who that was nor was he interested in finding out. But from the surveillance on Golden Darkness, before the fight started, he remembered the human was accompanying someone else. 

"That was his fault, Lala-tan~! A human-like him holds no right to stand next to a diamond like you, he is merely using your confused state to gain your trust and steal the throne. A mere human with no future, he only cares about your title — unlike me who loves you unconditionally." He declared passionately, hoping his words would reach her heart. "That is why I asked you to become my wife in the past and join my harem. You can become the main wife and the others are just concubines." 

The princess puffed her cheeks with a reddened face resulting from an increasing amount of anger than embarrassment. "Ew, never! You're so disgusting, Lacospo. And Shirou isn't anything like that! This whole time I'm trying to become better so he would accept me as his fiance… I wish it were that easy." 

A vein bulged on the green man's head, hearing the loving way the princess addressed the name of this fool. "Then you're leaving me with no choice but to take drastic measures, Lala-tan. Do you honestly think Golden Darkness was the only assassin I hired? I have more coming on their way here… and this time they won't only target that human alone." 

"Lacospo!" Horrified by his intentions, Lala looked at him in disbelief. "You're willing to hurt his family when they haven't done anything to deserve this? What kind of monster are you!?"

"Everything is fair in love and war, if you want me to cancel the contract then you'll have to follow me back to Gama and become my Queen." 

"...fine," she uttered, catching the alien momentarily off guard with how quickly she agreed to his request. 

"Wait, really?" Stars shined inside his eyes, initially believing that the girl was going to show a lot of resistance and not back down so easily. But to think that she buckled down on his request so easily with a mere mention of harming those other humans… he should kidnap them and use them as a bargaining chip if he she stirred up more trouble in the future or went back on her word. "W-Wonderful! Then let's make haste and go back to the ship." 

Both parties headed inside, one humming with delight and the other secretly sporting a mischievous smirk on her face without the alien prince noticing it. 

"Look, I even prepared for us a grand bed which you can rest comfortably on, Lala-tan. Quick, come over and we can finalize our vows as lovers already!" As he went over to grab hand and place a kiss on her hand, his fingers passed right through Lala with her figure distorting with a static noise. "What?" 

"Bleh, as if I'd ever come in person anywhere near you, dummy. I promised Shirou to take care of Mikan and Rito." Stretching one of her eyes and showing him her tongue as an insult, the form of Lala disappeared to reveal a black box. With a loud mechanical noise, it opened up to pop out a large octopus-like robot in the middle of the ship. 

"WAHHH!" 

Instantly, it started to suck up everything and everyone, each of his girls on the bed getting forcefully pulled inside its mouth by an unimaginable force along with several of his subordinates. 

"I'm not going to be defeated so easily, Gama-chan!" Calling forth his trusted aid, a large toad jumped in between him and the machine, keeping the prince safe from getting pulled away. Then, the alarms around his ship started to blare loudly, filling the whole area with red light. "What's going on now!?" Lacospo shouted, getting increasingly annoyed with everything that had happened ever since he came to this worthless dirtball of a planet. 

"Incoming attack incoming attack, incoming attack!" A robotic voice narrated the text shown on every screen in big bold red letters.

"What!?" Someone else other than Lala dared to attack him? Ridiculous! The prince scoffed, these humans had no idea the extent of his kingdom's defensive capabilities, probably using primitive methods to launch a pointless assault against him. "R-Raise the barrier up and bring up the footage of the outside, I want to see who is stupid enough to do this. I-It can't be the Emperor's minions, I heard he made sure his personal g-guards wouldn't harm any of the candidates." 

He gave the robot who had at this point abducted all of his crew. 

"With Gama-chan with me, you can't use that little invention of yours to get rid of me! I'll have my revenge by going after that human's family and this Mikan!" 

As the screen came up, Lacospo tilted his head up to discover not a single soul outside their ship. Instead, the screen only showed a small red light coming from the sky, flying at great speed to the point that almost as soon as they'd perceived it, it hit the ship's barrier. 

"Pft! Idiots, this shield has been manufactured by the galaxy's smartest scientist with the ability to even shrug off a meteor, a single shot won't damage it in the leas—"

"Shield compromised." The robot voice stated.

Crack!

The alloyed haul of the spaceship suddenly bulged inwards, a red hue slowly spreading all over. The heat of the metal made the space around it bend from the sheer heat. The room's temperature rose rapidly with the carpet near the bed catching fire. Gama screamed. The octopus on the other hand started to glow, reverting back to the form of a black box, and disappeared in a white streak of light out of the exit door. 

"W-Wait, wait! Take with me as well! Don't leave me behind! Look, I'm right over here! Suck me up like the others! Lala-tan! LALA-TAN!" Seeing the incoming danger, he attempted to get absorbed by the robot but was far too late as the ship was torn apart and shredded with ease — having a twisted arrow engulfed in an angry red hue of blood-curdling energy aimed straight for the prince's forehead. 

"Eh?"

BOOOOMM!!!

He didn't even get a moment to process what happened before his entire body got shredded and torn into minuscule pieces, blasting forward followed by an explosion of crimson fire that destroyed every single part of the ship and reduced it to ashes before a mushroom cloud formed over the devastation. 

.

.

.

Woosh!

From the distance, Emiya's hair fluttered wildly in the wake of the shockwave from the explosion reaching all the way to where he stood. By his side, frozen in place was Zastin with his jaw on the floor holding a detained Yami with Lala having returned home as per his request. 

"Huff… Huff… this is… the last time I'm carrying out any favors for you. I'm not made for such missions…" Peke flew over, tired and out of energy while carrying a familiar black box which they handed over to one of Zastin's henchmen.

"Thanks, I'll make sure to pay you back somehow." Said the bowman, starting to change his opinion on Lala's only invention that worked perfectly so far. "There, the contract is no longer valid with the client dead. Any assassin worth their salt will know when to stop." He said calmly, unbothered by sight of a small mushroom cloud of red flames and black smoke became visible in the distance. 

Yami, her eyes widened in shock and just just sat there in a daze, disbelief written all over her face. "You're… you're not human."

"You already said that before," he muttered, "Zastin, make sure to clean that up, I don't want any traces of it to remain by morning."

The Devilukean champion flinched, instinctively straightening his back, "Yes Your Highn— I mean, Emiya!" 

That slipup earned him a weird glance from Emiya, the latter quickly dismissing it as just Zastin being weird as usual before making his way back to his house. 

Unfortunately, even on weekends, he couldn't get any time to rest. But at least this was behind him now. Whatever Yami wanted to do from here on had nothing to do with him, whether she remained on Earth or left was completely up to her.

Using Caladbolg after so many years… it felt weird now that he used it as a human with a teenager's body. He had required much more force just to pull the bow. 

'More of them will appear in the future.' This made him recall the conversation with Mikado during the festival, where she'd warned him about a bounty being placed on him. On that note, he still needed to confront her about her apparent origin. 

"Hah, how troublesome."

-------

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, Hound having 1 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.