Donuts and Dreams

Akina (POV)

"That was my right arm…" Kuu says for like the 13th time since we retreated from the battle with Manaka and Minori.

"Are you still on about that? Come on what's one arm to a servant-" I begin only to find a blade whizzing past my head and embedding itself into the wall behind me with a soft thunk.

"If I take your right arm I don't think you'll continue to be so nonchalant about this." Kuu says flatly though it's easy to tell she's irritated,

"So impulsive, Now you're feeling a bit more like Minori~" I tease,

'I get that we lost but why is she so angry about it?' I wonder as Kuu stands up angrily, well angrily for her I mean.

"I dislike being compared to Calico." She says flatly,

"Do you hate Minori like false archer hates Emiya?" I question,

"Archer Alter doesn't hate Emiya…"

"My question still stands though~"

Kuu stays quiet for a moment while slowly bringing a hand up to her eyepatch,

"No… I couldn't possibly hate someone in her situation. It is annoying however that the two of us are often mistaken for each other."

"So you really aren't Minori huh?"

"Technically speaking yes but no. Explaining it would be troublesome." She says while making her way to the door of the church,

"Multiverse theory I'm guessing." I say, well if she isn't Minori but is at the same time then that's the obvious answer I mean of course it's not a conclusion any normal person could immediately jump to, but I'm a psychic I have the power of LATERAL THINKING on my side. An impressive ability for this day and age I know.

"I truly do wish it were that simple however let's just go with that." With that horribly dissatisfying and vague answer, she opens the door with her left hand and begins to leave,

"Where are you even going?" I ask,

"I'm going to go get myself killed so I can get my arm back."

'What? 2 + 2 =Pi??? In what world does killing yourself heal you?'

"Don't give me that look. You should remember that I'm just a glorified ghost right now. I won't die if I'm killed."

"I'm not sure that's how that works, though I'm sure you know what you're doing. Be safe~" With a slight nod, Kuu then disappears through the front doors into the night.

After a few more minutes heavy footsteps sound from the staircase leading to the basement.

"Is that guy still down there?" I ask Frank as she appears at the top of the steps,

"Arg," she grunts while nodding her head in confirmation,

"I swear either that guy likes kids or dead bodies or both because I've been hearing some awfully weird noises coming from the basement as of late." I complain, honestly, that Zouken is a real freak. If I get the opportunity… well obviously I'll take my chance to win this game.

"Nrgg," Frank grunts while taking a seat directly next to me near the church altar.

Slowly I push and pull the light around us in order to the image of a bouquet of flowers in my hands.

"Arng,"

"I know it's not the same," I say with a slight sigh letting the light disperse,

"Nirg…"

"You're welcome, Frank."

--

(Manaka POV)

After stopping for donuts as Minori suggested we arrive at my house late in the evening just at the cusp of sunset.

"You know Manaka, if Kuu was after you, why didn't she send like Boobtoria? I'm sure she knows that's the only person that could even touch a cheater like you." Minori asks while taking a bite out of a cream filled donut,

"I don't know how I feel about being called a cheater by you of all people but, Artoria costs a great deal of Od to use." I respond while taking the donut out of her hand and biting into it myself, this earns a slight pout from her as a faint blush takes place on her cheeks.

"I thought servants used mana, not Od." She says after swallowing, my eyes widen a bit at the fact that she actually seems to understand the difference at least on a superficial level,

"Well, Artoria is an alter servant so it's different." I respond while walking past her towards the dining room,

"You can't just say 'it's different' then stop you imp, explain." She calls as she sets the box of donuts onto the long dining room table.

'Imp? That's a new one.'

"The reason even a failure like your brother can have a servant is that the grail powers them, an alter servant instead is a servant directly contracted to their master." I continue having arrived past the dining room and in the kitchen.

Entering just after me Minori looks curiously my way. I can't help but smile slightly at the way she tilts her head, even more, when I pull out two aprons and toss one at her.

"We just got donuts though." Minori says finally clocking on to what we're doing in the kitchen,

"Yes but my sister probably hasn't eaten anything. Plus donuts are a dessert, we'll eat them after dinner." I say with a smile, truthfully while what I said might be true I also simply enjoy cooking with Minori. After the first time we cooked together the kitchen just seems so lonely without her.

"Well alright, then I guess. What are we making?" She questions while putting on her apron adorned with roughly stitched pictures of cats.

"Just a regular stew. I don't feel like being fancy today." I respond putting on my own rabbit adorned apron,

"Do you really need me just for that?" Minori whines slightly though she does still help gather the cooking utensils,

"I don't NEED you Minori but I won't make you any food if you leave~"

"Muu, what makes you think I need to eat anything but donuts?"

"You skipped breakfast this morning and I watched you sleep through lunch. It should be a given that you'd be hungry now." To my answer, Minori gives me a slightly weird face where she scrunches up her eyebrows and frowns deeply, giggling at the blatantly over exaggerated expression I ask,

"What is it?"

"How do you know that I didn't eat this morning?"

"I would tell you but then I'd have to kill you~," I say knowing that a quote she knows could easily distract her from her previous question,

"Ughh, that line was cool like the first time someone said it but now it's just a meme."

"Is that so? Then what is a good quote?"

"Did you know bungee gum possesses both the properties of rubber and gum?" Despite that also sounding like some kind of meme rather than a quote looking through the Akashic records I'm not getting anything,

'How odd, what could she even be quoting?' I wonder curiously, although I'm quite used to Minori making odd quotes and references that don't show up in the Akashic records it doesn't make it any less interesting,

Slowly I take out the ingredients and pass them over to Minori who cuts them cleanly and with a kind of precision you wouldn't ever expect from a borderline sociopath with issues handling her impulse control,

After a while of cooking while speaking on simple miscellaneous topics, we carry the steaming bowls to the table only to find the box of donuts open with only a single lone donut left inside. The only clue as to what could have happened is Lancer and Ayaka staring guiltily at the top of the table,

"Are you serious right now?" Minori says in disbelief,

"Oh dear, it looks like we'll have to share the last one~," I say keeping my smile on my face,

"You knew this would happen?" Minori asks looking at me with a betrayed look,

"Probably?" I say with a tilt of my head,

"I-I tried to stop her but she still ate all of them…" Ayaka says not looking up from the table,

"It was tasty." Lancer states plainly as she plays with the straps of her purple one piece dress.

"Thanks, I didn't know that," Minori says sarcastically while setting the stew on the table.

"I'm sorry." My sister says softly when I put a bowl of stew in front of her,

"It's not a problem big sister, now me and Minori can-" I start before noticing that the donut is gone. Looking over at Minori I notice that she has crumbs on her face as she puts another bowl in front of Lancer,

"Did you eat it already?" I ask now in my own disbelief,

"Probably~" She responds in a high pitched almost mocking tone,

"How rude, but I think you're forgetting something~"

"Huh? Like what?"

"Did you forget the whole reason you came home with me?" I ask knowing for a fact that she probably did, I can almost see the gears turning in her head as she stares at me with her small fang digging into her lip.

"Ah! You have a gift for me!" She exclaims,

"Bingo!"

"Muuu…" realizing where I'm going with this she sits down in the seat next to mine at the dinner table

"Say ahh~" I coo at her much to her chagrin, though she still opens her mouth,

"Why do you like doing this so much?" She asks me with a slight blush on her face,

"It's a brainwashing technique. Eventually, you'll get so used to us acting romantically you'll just start doing it on your own."

"I don't think you're supposed to tell the victim that though…" She says while opening her mouth for another bite of food this time unprompted,

"T-That was a fluke!" She says realizing her mistake,

"Alright, Minori~"

—

The moment I open my eyes I can tell I'm dreaming. Well, it isn't hard to see when the whole sky is grey and oddly lopsided skyscrapers sway and bend to a hauntingly mysterious song playing in the background. The music is not dissimilar to what you might find in a carnival.

'What's going on?' I think,

"Before asking something like that shouldn't you greet your dance partner?" A voice sounds from behind me causing me to turn around rapidly and stumble as somehow I'm wearing high heels. The girl catches me with practiced ease letting me land softly in her warm arms.

"What do you mean by dance partner?" I ask, but instead of receiving an answer the girl who oddly enough looks extremely similar to me except with purple hair locks our hands together and sways to the rhythm of the song in the background while dragging me with her.

"I don't remember you being someone who'd ask such simple questions." She stated simply while swaying to the right slightly,

"I don't know what you're talking about," I say defensively, for some reason I can't pull my eyes nor my body away from this hauntingly beautiful girl.

"Then doesn't that mean you should already know who I am? I'm your friendly neighborhood-"

"You're not Minori." I interject,

"Is that so?"

"That is so." Even if Minori might act as though she were completely out of her mind sometimes what with her lack of aversion to fighting and attacking with the intent to kill without hesitation, she isn't by any means actually crazy. This girl's crimson red eyes hold a kind of obsessive madness that makes me feel like shivering, a far cry from the indulgent ignorance of Minoris's own purple ones.

'She's looking at me as if I were a juicy piece of meat…'

"Ah well, I guess it makes sense that you'd come to such a conclusion." Her black dress seems to ruffle slightly as if to emphasize her disappointment,

"What do you want from me?"

"Before that, here's a fun fact for you! Did you know that Bungee gum possesses both the properties of rubber and gum?" My eyes widen slightly at the purple haired girls intentional choice of words,

"Y-You-"

"Manaka for someone so smart you really are still just a kid you know? Where are we right now?"

'Oh we're in my head so of course, she might have some access to my most immediate memories'

Blushing slightly I allow the red eyed girl to whisk me away in another dance motion,

"You know you've always reminded me a lot of this kid I used to know in my past life. She was a bit of a know it all too despite how many questions she would always ask me."

'Past life?'

"Yeah yeah, reincarnation and the like. Or isekai if that's what you're into." She responds to my unsaid inquiry with a shrug,

"It's a bit intrusive if you're constantly reading my mind."

"It's not as if I can help it." The girl says with a slight pout,

"Right…" I respond awkwardly,

"Anyway I didn't just show up here to see your adorable face once again you know, I came to warn you!" She exclaims excitedly her hand tightening in my own,

"Warn me about what?"

"About the water, seems like it's starting to turn our frogs gay or something~"

"Come on Minori, be serious." I say only to get a great big crazed smile the moment I realize my mistake,

"How cute~" She coos,

"You're messing with my head…"

"You should wake up now, a certain Kuudere has come to meet you." She says ignoring my last statement,

"That couldn't have been what you wanted to warn me about." I say trying to squeeze out even the slightest bit more from the mysterious girl however the moment she lets go of my hands the entire world goes dark.

—

Waking up from my slumber the first thing I notice is the Akashic records telling me that someone is in my room though oddly enough it feels almost blurry? As if it were a Tv having its signal messed with.

'How strange,'

Groggily I stand up from my comfortable spot on the couch next to Minori, slowly I make my way to my room with Lancer trailing behind me.

"Lancer, don't attack her unless she does so first. We wouldn't want to wake up the entire house." I say as we reach the door, with Lancer simply nodding in affirmation.

"Hello, False Assassin." I say as a figure appears in view sitting on my window sill with her only arm resting on her left leg.

"…" instead of speaking, she stares at me silently as if looking for something,

"You didn't just come here to stare at me did you?" I ask with a slight smile,

"I wouldn't trust her if I were you." She says,

"Trust who?"

"The black cat"

"Are you referring to my dream?" I question,

"Mhm," She affirms,

"I wasn't really planning on trusting a shifty little girl like her in the first place but thank you for the advice," I say while lifting my hand to point at her with my finger to form a finger gun,

"I think you might be hanging around Minori too much." She says dryly,

"What do you mean by that?" I ask with a slight tilt of my head,

"I know that you're about to blast me into bits." Her cold uncaring voice makes it seem as though such an outcome might be a minor inconvenience rather than flat out death.

"An alter servant like you can't come back if you die you know?" I say slightly confused by her blatant nonchalance,

"A gamer has three lives. I'll be fine."

"Is that so?" I mumble slightly, as she reaches into her cloak and pulls out a jagged, iridescent ceremonial dagger,

"When I come back I won't be a false version of Calico, therefore I won't have access to various noble phantasms." She starts before throwing me Rule Breaker, forcing me to drop my hand to catch it, "So I'll give this to you as a kind of insurance, for if- when things start to go south… good luck." That last part comes out almost sarcastically.

With that, the assassin rushes towards me only to be cut in half in the same instant by Lancer.

"What was the point of that?" I ask looking up from the dagger in my hands,

"By the way Manaka, check your connection to the root. That should be definitive proof that black cats and throne usurpers shouldn't be trusted." After those final lines, she disappears into prana leaving behind a set of simple ribbons.

'Hmm, I don't think I want Minori to have these back. How would I ever see everything she has to offer if she continues to hold herself back?' I think as I pick up the ribbons and put them away in my closet.