38

037 - Dawn of the Fourth Day.

I wake up to discover I've become the foundation of a flesh pile during my sleep. The soft forms of Medea's body on my right side, the lithe and athletic shape of Haku to my left and the light pressure of a small body sitting on my thighs. I open my eyes to find myself staring straight into the glowy silver of Jakie's own.

She holds my gaze for exactly long enough to make it uncomfortable before getting off me and pointedly looking away. That would've been adorable if it hadn't been so unsettling. Jackie truly is a cat, isn't she?

I clearly remember only having sex with one of the three tonight, so how the hell did this happen?

With a sigh, I slip away from the two-pronged binding, holding back a chuckle as I watch the two women simultaneously let out a groan of discontentment and watch with amusement how they feel around blindly for their missing heat source.

Then Jackie seizes the chance and slips between the two of them to take my place. They settle down, wrapping their arms around the tiny Assassin and going back into deep sleep. Jackie finally looks at me again, sending me a victorious grin full of smugness before closing her eyes and immediately falling asleep.

I have to run out of the room, hurriedly escaping into the courtyard to roll on the floor laughing somewhere I wouldn't wake up anyone.

It takes me a while to calm down enough to plop my back against the floor and lay spread-eagled there, watching the stars while I catch my breath. The sun hasn't even come out yet, huh? Considering how late into the night it got yesterday while I was (fucking into a coma) pampering Medea, that's a bit worrying.

I have been sleeping less and less the closer the War got, justifying it with the need to get ready, but it has only gotten worse since it actually started and I don't really have a justification for it beyond feeling restless about the whole thing. Magecraft is a wonderful tool that can help drastically cut down sleep time and [Invictus] is an utterly broken perk that guarantees sleep deprivation cannot distort or otherwise alter my thought patterns, but that doesn't mean I won't slow down due to exhaustion.

Every day that passes puts me closer to the inevitable confrontation with Gilgamesh. I have plans for that, and plans for him knowing my plans, and plans for him knowing my plans for him knowing my plans, and… you get the gist of it. But when the Golden Half-breed is involved, that's hardly a guarantee of success. I can't really afford to be feeling anything less than my utter best when it finally happens.

Thinking about it, is there a reason to keep going to school now that I can't get Rin on my side and Bloodfort Andromeda isn't a threat anymore? No, there really isn't. I should call in sick and use the extra free time to rest properly.

If Fuji-nee has a problem with it I'll just hypnotize her. It's for a good cause.

… Well, I can't do that today, Rin is supposedly bringing the Geas Scrolls for us to sign today and will blow a gasket if I stand her up.

So… yeah. Tomorrow

Tomorrow I'll call in sick (and laze around all day) to focus on the important stuff.

Nodding to myself, I get up and walk towards the center of the courtyard for my morning routine. Today is Thursday, so I [Project] a quarterstaff and start my exercises. It's been a while, which is a bit of a shame. Not that any kind of practice is bad or disliked but I'm particularly fond of this weapon in particular.

During his lifetime, Jearom fought over ten thousand times, in battle and single combat. He was defeated once. By a farmer with a quarterstaff!(1)

As I start moving though, I can't help but feel something's wrong. I know the sun isn't up yet, but isn't the morning a bit… breezy? Plus I'm feeling might dangly down– I frown for a moment, letting out a low groan once realization hits.

"I'm naked." I ask resignedly to the Heavens. "Aren't I?"

"Oh, please." I freeze as an unexpected voice answers my question from behind me. "Don't stop on my account."

"Mitsuzuri?" I ask without moving. "You're an early bird, I see."

"Try having a good night's sleep after yesterday's revelations." She tries to sound cheerful as she answers, but I don't need to be a social expert to notice it's forced. And I'm kind of a social expert anyway. "Now are you going to start shaking around that pretty ass of yours or what?"

"Oh, I could." I answer with a smile,[Projecting] some boxers as I turn around to face her. "But would you take responsibility afterwards?"

"You know? I was looking forward to seeing more magic in action, but not if it was going to ruin the view." She laments, adopting a flawless 'woe is me' pose. I can't help but chuckle at the theatrics. The girl knows how to play the game, I'll give her that. "There goes my chance to verify the rumors."

"Though luck, but you at least get to see my tightly coiled leg muscles and fabulous upper body in action." I shrug before restarting my routine. "I know for a fact some girls back at school would gladly knife you for the chance to take your place."

"The sad part is that I can't even call you arrogant for saying that." I can feel her eyes on my like a starving lion eyeing prime steak. "Damn you're jacked. How come you never joined any sports club?"

"Eh… Because then I'd have to do the same thing every day for the rest of my school life." I answer, taking maybe a bit too much pleasure in watching her eyes trail my body as my actions make different muscle groups stand out. "I don't want to sink that much time into a single activity, you know?"

"Now that's a first world problem if I've ever heard one." Then continues with an apparent non-sequitur. "Tohsaka must hate you."

"Eh… I'd say about fifty-fifty." I answer honestly, quickly getting where she's coming from. Rin is kind of an excessively competitive overachiever. "She does seem to have a soft spot for me when she forgets to put on that hardass mask of hers."

"Damn. Good grades, good at sports and handsome enough for Miss Perfect School Idol." She answers with a whistle, not commenting on what I said about Rin's masks. If someone at school has seen through Rin's persona, it's Ayako. "Is there anything you're bad at?"

"Not really, Master is a monster of talent." With those words, Medea materializes beside Ayako and promptly joins her in watching. Maybe I should start selling tickets? "He needs much less practice than a normal person to get things down and whatever skills he gains don't deteriorate with disuse. As long as he keeps his body in top condition, he'll always be a superb… well, a superb everything."

"Flattery will get you everywhere, Princess." I greet her. "Is there anything in particular you wanted me for?"

"Can't a girl enjoy her man getting all hot and sweaty?" She asks with a fond smile before letting out a soft sigh. "But I indeed have news. There's been a… development in Fuyuki."

"How did you even– Oh, Haku-san told me about that! You're a witch of legend or something, right? With a crystal ball and everything?"

"Scrying through water, actually. I can also adapt the spell to use a television screen instead." Medea humble-brags in a way that has me rolling my eyes. "Normally, nothing in the city escapes my notice, but this happened yesterday while I was… otherwise occupied."

"You were having too much fun tormenting Shinji and forgot to keep an eye on the big picture." I deadpan as she looks away and refuses to elaborate. "Didn't you?"

"I– It doesn't matter now!" She continues heatedly, cheeks turning an adorable shade of red as she does her best to advance the conversation past this point. "This morning I caught the Einzbern Maids abandoning their mansion and making their way to the Tohsaka residence, luggage in hand. They were welcomed in without fanfare."

"Rin and Illya joined forces?" I easily put two and two together with a frown. "Well… that complicates things."

I failed to get Rin on my side from the start. I also failed at leveraging Shinji's threat, both as himself and as the mysterious magus threatening the school, to change that. Somehow, Illya's potential threat not only failed to materialize, but went all the way around to become the absolute opposite. I mean, it's not the end of the world, but in some ways this is the worst possible outcome. It's obvious what's gone wrong.

My position is too strong. Neither Illya nor Rin are stupid. Far from it, actually. As much as their means and motivations remain the same from that Visual Novel I so enjoyed years ago, the situation is far from the same. Of course they haven't reacted the same way. I'm the Last Boss in this War. Which would be a great position to be in if there wasn't a Secret Boss in Gilgamesh.

Don't get me wrong, I knew from the very start that butterflies would be a thing. Expecting everything to go the same way, or for all changes to work in my favor, would be both pretentious and dumb. I don't believe in trying to make plans for every possible development, but that doesn't mean I haven't thought about how to go from here at all either.

It's just… vexing. My foreknowledge gave me the advantage at the start, allowing me to abuse knowledge I shouldn't have in the first place to screw with everyone. Some of that advantage still remains, but the players have adapted to my presence. Things will be harder from here on.

"Hey, Emiya." Ayako interrupts my reflections, a somewhat worried expression in her face. "I'm grateful you saved my life and told me about the Moonlit World instead of mind-raping me and everything, but… Tohsaka is kind of my friend."

"Oh?" I arch an eyebrow, hiding my amusement at her attempts to protect her friend behind a façade of curiosity. "Don't get this the wrong way, but I never thought I'd hear you say that, Mitsuzuri."

"She's a prickly bitch with a chip on her shoulder, that's why she doesn't have any other friends." She grumbles, as her turn to look away with reddening cheeks arrives. "But we get along and I have a feeling that she won't have anyone else in her corner if I abandon her here."

"You are a good woman, Mitsuzuri. Don't worry, my plan has never included killing her."

"Well that's a reli– "

"Trample her dreams, ruin her duties and reputation, force her to abandon the ambitions of her family and probably kill her responsible adult, sure." I continue idly, focusing back on my exercises. "But I really don't want to kill her."

"Emiya."

"Yes, Mitsuzuri?"

"I'm going to assume there's a good reason for doing that and that you're only putting it that way to take the piss at me. But if I ever learn otherwise, all the Servants in the world won't save you from a knife in the back."

"Sharp too." I smile at her rather convincing attempt at threatening me. "I'll be counting on you for that, Mitsuzuri."

"Yeah yeah… Don't get too cocky about it." She waves a hand dismissively, trying to cover up her embarrassment by acting cool and hurrying to switch topics. "Caster-san, you are kind of a badass super-expert when it comes to the supernatural, right? Can you magic me up?"

"I can do plenty of things with you that fit that description, dear." Medea chuckles amusedly. "Maybe you'd like to be a little more specific?"

"What's this, 'Pick on Ayako Day'? I thought us girls were supposed to gang up to embarrass the hot stud instead!" Ayako grumbles, still stubbornly refusing to act embarrassed. Silly girl, she doesn't realize that's only driving Medea to try harder. "Can you give me magic?"

"I'm going to assume you mean giving you magic circuits so you can practice magecraft." Medea hums contemplatively. "I might be able to drill a hole through reality to reach the source of all creation and throw you into it, but I'm not confident in my ability to reel you back.""

I'm obviously not required for this conversation anymore, so I just pay half an ear to it while focusing back on my routine. I can't help but notice that, even while focusing on my forms, there's a small voice in the back of my mind pointing out how to best position myself to show off to the audience. Is this some deep-rooted reproductive instinct? The urge to show off to gain partners or maintain the ones I already have?

Maybe… maybe. Or maybe I'm just actually an exhibitionist. Hard to say, really.

Medea and Ayako talk shop about her options for getting more involved in the Moonlit World. The problem with giving her Magic Circuits is that, without somehow adding a Magic Crest to the mix, it would effectively turn Ayako into a first generation magus. Those are treated like shit by the wider magus society.

Some other options are brought up, like grafting phantasmal beast body parts into Ayako like Merlin did with Artoria, or replacing parts of her body with magical items to turn her into a sort of technomagical cyborg.

Suddenly, I remember a story I read once in another life, so many years ago. [Invictus] gives me some resistance against forgetfulness, but that was just in the shape of preserving the memories that make up my core personality. After so many years, relatively harmless stuff like vaguely relevant fanfiction I once read for fun is kind of foggy in my mind. Was it... 'A Berserker Heart'(2)?

"Hey, Princess." I chip in, wondering whether it's even worth bringing it up. 0Jordinio0 had some crazy ideas, but this world is crazy enough for them to actually work. "Command Seals are built like overly-specialized Magic Crest, aren't they? Would it be possible to repurpose them into Magic Crests?"

"It's somewhat more complex than that, Master. And the reason Magic Crests are so important for the magi community is the fact that they carry countless generations of magecraft research within them. A Crest made out of Command Seals would only carry specific pieces of the Matou magecraft, with maybe some traces of the Einzbern and Tohsaka..."

Medea's answer is nearly reflexive, but I can see how her eyes gain a considering glint as she goes through it, finally pausing to think about it more carefully.

"There is some merit in that idea, Master, it might be worth exploring it further." She finally concedes. "But aren't all our Command Seals already spoken for in your other plans?"

"Our Seals are, yeah." I nod. I have contingencies to work around that need, just in case we are forced to use Command Spells during the War, but that's not what I had in mind. "The Overseer has a bunch of spares. Assuming he hasn't used them all up to push his pet dog around."

Kirei is the sort of guy to do that, just to screw with us. But I don't think he's actually gone for it. It's part of his duties as Overseer to preserve those, and he's the sort of guy who bends backwards to actually do his duty, even if he often does it in cruelly creative and morally questionable ways.

"In any case, I lack the material means to properly explore any of those options and I refuse to do a hack job with sub-par ingredients." Medea concludes, focusing back on Ayako. "In the meantime, you should focus on self-improvement dear. A sound mind and a sound body will be your most valuable resources when it comes to magecraft. Master could use some practice teaching, and he's more than qualified when it comes to these fields."

I don't need to look towards them to know Ayako's efforts to get her mind out of the gutter and focus on business are now utterly ruined.

'Very subtle there, Princess'

'Some works require precision tools, Master' She answers unapologetically. 'But sometimes a hammer isthe right tool for the job.'

I roll my eyes at those words, but don't bother arguing.

Soon enough, Jackie and Haku join us. Jackie claiming Medea's lap and Haku trying to sit right beside before my unamused glare has her grumpily [Projecting] her own sports clothes to join me in morning practice.

It's not much later that Sakura and Medusa join the peanut gallery.

As we finish the morning routine and walk back in to take a shower, I catch a hint of yellow hair and eyes through the half-closed binders of a window. It disappears when I wink at it. All in all, a nice way to start the day.

1: The Dragon Reborn, Ep. 24', 'The Wheel of Time', Robert Jordan.

2: 'A Berserker Heart', 0Jordinio0