Chapter 19: Solgam

Beta read by Shigiya and Paragon of Awesomeness.

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-Mikado Clinic-

"Fuu," exhaling a cloud of white fog from the cool temperature that would be dispelled once the sun rose, Mikado rubbed her hands together as she sat outside her house, a steaming cup of coffee nearby to help her warm up. "Even in a city like this, these early hours before dawn are quite peaceful, aren't they?" 

"Indeed, though it is a bit sad that the stars aren't as visible as they were a couple of decades ago." Shizu Murasame, the ghost girl, floated right next to the brunette peacefully enjoying their time stargazing together. Both of them had decided to take some time enjoying a quiet moment together before they'd begin a long day of working at the clinic. The number of patients had increased, going from a handful to easily half a hundred of them coming in this week alone. This was most likely due to what she suspected were rumors about Lala's presence on the planet. 

Then again, she wasn't entirely sure about that, given it was mostly just a guess on her part. It could just as easily be chalked up to Earth slowly becoming a more and more popular tourist spot for species across the Milky Way. Not that she could blame them, after all the planet itself presented itself as a beautiful haven in comparison to many other planets. There were no dangerous plants waiting to eat passing travelers within the forest. No monsters capable of destroying entire towns or ruins from ancient civilizations releasing countless murderous robots. So putting all those facts together, Earth was certainly a safe place for aliens to gather and relax. 

"I'm proud of how much you've been helping me lately, Shizu. At the rate you're progressing, you honestly might be able to replace me fully in the near future. At that point I'll finally be able to retire and you can take on my duties as doctor." This comment led to the blue haired girl getting flustered as she swiftly shook her head. 

"What are you saying Mikado-sensei? I still have a lot to learn, and I tend to mess up quite frequently unless I have you by my side. I'm afraid I'll do something  stupid and resort back to my old habits if you're not watching over me, and I'll just cause a lot of damage." 

"Fufufufu~! You worry too much. You only need to get more familiar with the patients, gather some more experience under your belt, and learn to go past your fears. Once you accomplish that, you'll be completely set. Most of the people that come looking for me don't require extensive knowledge to help out. Most aliens have more similar physiology than you;d first expect, and you can always make use of my own notes on each species to assist you as a step by step guide. Unless you're dealing with someone like Golden Darkness, but at that point I'll naturally be there to step up and take care of her."

Shizu felt that the doctor was overestimating her, as she was still very new to her role as a medical assistant. But it warmed her heart knowing that there was someone who believed in her capabilities. Having been a ghost wandering the land for many, many centuries, the spirit didn't have any hopes or true goals to accomplish in the future. After all, what was a ghost able to do without a physical body? Nothing but haunt people, and that had never suited her tastes. 

"What's with you speaking about retirement all of a sudden? Do you have any plans for what you'd do if you're not busy looking after patients, Mikado-sensei?" The woman always gave her the impression of being very dedicated to her craft, with a burning passion and love rivaled only by a few.

Mikado hummed, taking a few moments to think about her answer. "Not really. All my life I've been very focused on one aspect, and strived to reach a height no one else has with the help of a friend of mine. She and I had lofty goals, working for people we shouldn't have, and held flawed beliefs of the future. So to end up where I am today is a reality I am grateful to live in. Aside from living a quiet life… who knows? I'll probably get married to someone who at least shares my taste in humor and matches well with my personality." 

"Y-You have someone you like?" Shizu asked excitedly, for this was the first time she'd gotten to hear such a thing. Mikado on the other hand couldn't stop herself as she saw those hopeful, shining eyes looking at her with enough innocence to make that itch in her grow. The desire to tease Shizu got so strong that she couldn't let go of this opportunity. 

"Who knows~! Maybe I'll get lucky and be taken as a concubine by a certain future Emperor. Too bad you are too scared of him, I would have done everything in my power to bring you along." She rested a hand on her cheek and let out a lamenting sigh. "To think, we could have been harem sisters." 

The ghost's body turned slightly more translucent as she became even paler than usual. "Y-Y-You can't be s-serious… don't drag me near that person!" 

Unable to hold herself together, Mikado released a soft chuckle at Shizu's reaction, letting the girl realize how she had fallen into one of her verbal traps again.

"Ah come on! It's not funny!" She pouted, unamused at being taken advantage of like that. But then again, she had gotten used to it a bit. 

"Sorry, I couldn't hold myself back." She honestly didn't believe Emiya would look at her that way in the first place, given how many times she teased him with nothing to show for it. And she did not want to become a burden to him in any way, more than happy to be that one person he could lower his guard around and speak to her as an equal. Mikado felt that she was close to that point, but a part of her knew that there still existed a barrier between them. How long it would take her to break past it was unknown. Or rather… she needed him to take the first step instead. To reach a point where they had nothing to hide from each other. 

'Who am I kidding, even now I'm not being fully honest with him. Guess we both have a long road ahead of us.' Though she didn't mind this, quite the opposite in fact. She looked forward to the journey that would take them to that particular goal. A fun little moment in her life that in the future she'd be able to look back on as a fond memory. 'Though I also wouldn't mind if he looked at me in a certain other way. But he'll likely still need to add a few more years to his age.'

"By the way, I got a call from Ren as we were closing up last evening. He's going to come by tomorrow and get a check-up. Run as well, she needs to get checked also." 

Ren? Shizu remembered him as the young man who tried to impress Princess Lala multiple times in the past — at least according to Mikado-sensei. She herself never met him face to face but knew that he was also an alien with a particularly interesting ability unique to his race. The fact that he could switch between two completely people with just a sneeze was amazing to think about. 

"Is Yami-chan also going to stop by tomorrow? She won't be accompanied by him… right?" 

The nurse, hearing Shizu's question, rolled her eyes, "What did I tell you last time? He isn't a bad person and won't try to cut you up like you're imagining it. What happened the first time you encountered him was honestly an accident that Emiya likely wasn't even aware of, and he won't be hostile against you so long as you don't give him any reason to be. But to answer your question, no, only Yami-chan will be stopping by tomorrow."

Maybe it would be a good idea after all to have the two of them meet in the near future, it wasn't good to let the girl's fear of Emiya fester to such a degree and see him as some kind of bloodthirsty monster. Ah, tomorrow she could ask him to stop by as well, not like he was going to decline her offer, and she also needed to ask him a couple of things concerning Lala. Such as a bit of news she'd happened across concerning her as-of-yesterday missing sisters. 

As the two continued to sit outside in silence, Mikado's eyes caught something in the distance. "—!" Her expression changed immediately as a row of hooded strangers stopped in a row in front of her house, standing there ominously. Their features were hidden, but the clothes they wore made it very clear that these bunch were not from Earth. 

"Shizu, go back inside and stay quiet no matter what happens." 

"Huh?" The ghost watched the people outside with a fearful gaze. " Wha-What is going on here?" she asked, wondering if bad people came over to cause trouble. But rather than answering her, Mikado gave her a stern glare, those pair of eyes screaming at her to retreat inside the house and stay there. As much as she didn't want to leave her alone… Shizu begrudgingly followed her command.

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"Ara Ara, I can't remember the last time I've seen you. It's been how many years? Three, perhaps?" She spoke calmly, though her smile was long gone as she kept her guard up. 

A man stepped forward, letting his features be seen: short hair on top of his head, blue skin, and a large, prominent scar over his right eye. He smirked seeing the nurse's frown. 

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Ryouko Mikado. It wasn't easy to find you, having to systematically search through thousands of planets one by one just to find a single person takes a tremendous amount of resources and manpower, the likes of which you can't even begin to comprehend." 

"I'm flattered to know your group would hold me in such high regard that you'd be willing to go to such lengths just for me." 

"Humph, don't get so ahead of yourself. Now that I've found you, I want to make this quick: Solgam is in need of your expertise, and you must come with us, Doctor." 

This was a nightmare. She made sure to erase all traces of her past, yet these people still managed to find her in just a few years… It had to be due to the fiancé candidates incident! But even then, she made sure to never go out in public until  after that matter had calmed down. It didn't really matter though, since in the end, it had all been for naught. "Of course you do, Keize. All of you have the exact same goal as you did back then, and I'm more than happy to tell you that this is no longer possible. I have retired from my past life and now live as just a normal doctor. So you have to find someone else to help with your little project." 

Keize, for his part, did not seem upset about her declining his offer. Rather he smirked, the sight of which created an ominous feeling inside Mikado's heart. 

"I'm afraid that is not an option for you, Doctor. I know you still share our desire to see a free galaxy.  Emperor Gid Lucione Deviluke is a plague that endangers the lives of everyone across countless planets by simply existing, even if we were to disregard all the atrocities he has committed. We cannot let him rule us all however he pleases with an iron fist any longer. A being who casually destroys the lives of billions without giving them so much as an afterthought can never be allowed to be an emperor of an entire galaxy if the people living in are to prosper. The war has gone on for far too long, and we have suffered far too much to back down. That is why we need to end this once and for all to achieve true peace. But that peace cannot be attained without you by our side, Mikado."

Silence lasted for a couple of seconds before she started chuckling, almost outright laughing at the ridiculousness at what the man before her had just spewed, "Peace? How laughable. We both know that Solgam cares nothing for that kind of outcome. You just want to use my knowledge to create super soldiers and take over the galaxy for yourselves and probably become a worse monster than even Gid. He may be ruling with an iron fist and subjugating his enemies by the billions, but at least he knows how to rule and not just start turning his own people into slaves. That man is the lesser evil compared to the likes of you, that is why I have no desire to go back." 

Keize's smirk remained unchanged. "What a nice speech, you almost swayed my men. But I don't think you understand what I mean by you not having any choice here." With a snap of his fingers, a screen appeared before Mikado's eyes showing a few images and videos that made her heart stop. 

"What is the meaning of this…" she growled, clenching her fists as she saw the images taken of Emiya's house and videos of his little sister and brother walking back home. 

"You know better than anyone on how we operate, dear doctor. According to our research, you've been getting along with this little redheaded human boy over here. Would be a shame if today turned out to be his last one in this world, or if he had to lose any of his younger siblings. I don't need to tell you the fate that will befall on his whole family if you don't cooperate. Our ranks are always willing to welcome new members — whether they are willing or not." 

Mikado nearly attacked this man from those words alone, just barely able to hold herself back with pure willpower. 

"You're committing a grave mistake. Do you have any idea who Emiya is looking af—"

"—The Devilukean princess, right?" He finished her sentence. "Oh we've taken her into consideration as well. She will fetch a high price amongst her fiancé candidates, many are even willing to donate a few planets to our cause just to get her. Even if the Emperor finds out it was us, then good… Let him suffer knowing his daughter got captured by us. Coming back to the boy, we've gotten a few rumors concerning his… special abilities. Even if they're true, I doubt even he can take on an entire platoon of our best enhanced soldiers. Only death awaits him on that end if he tries to cross us. Oh, maybe seeing his body in front of you might be the motivation you need to come with us?" 

"No! Don't do that!" Panic settled as a horrifying image settled inside her mind. Never, she could never let any harm come to Emiya. Even if he defeated someone like Golden Darkness, she wouldn't let him endanger himself again for someone like her. Mikado refused to become a burden in his life, never desiring to bring any sort of misfortune upon him or his family with everything he was already dealing with. Solgam… it wasn't an entity he could handle regardless of his magic. 

"If you touch a single strand of his hair, then Solgam will have to extract any knowledge about those super soldiers you want so badly from my cold dead body." 

Unfortunately, it seemed her peaceful life on Earth had come to an end. Unable to live out that quiet life of hers with that special someone by her side. In a way, Mikado always knew such a day would come eventually, but she just kept denying it all this time until the cruel reality was right in front of her home. 

"Only if you agree to come with us. Do that, and we will leave this planet and every single one of its denizens alone." 

She wanted to say no, to fight back and try to get into contact with Zastin. But she knew it was hopeless. The very idea of Keize sending his forces to ambush Emiya made her feel nauseous and sick. At least if she made this small sacrifice, then it wouldn't be as bad, and she could reassure herself with the knowledge that he would still be alive and well. 'Yes, at least then, he can continue enjoying his life with his siblings and Lala. Becoming enemies with Solgam is probably even worse than earning Gid Lucione's wrath. These people are ruthless and willing to do anything to get what they want.' 

With a heavy heart, she nodded. Feeling weak, she forced herself to follow them and agree with their demands. 

"Smart choice, Doctor. Everyone, search her house and make sure to take any information that might have anything to do with her research!" 

"Yes boss!" 

Mikado hoped Shizu remained hidden from the bunch. At least there would still be someone here good enough to help out the people and aliens in Sainan. She'd manage just fine.

{Break}

-Yuuki Residence-

"Is something the matter, Nii-san?" A few days passed since the festival, and in that time the siblings of the Yuuki household took advantage of the two days off from school that the holidays provided them to check in on their father to see how he was handling his upcoming deadline, as well as just relax in their house. 

Rito was more than content with watching movies every night, while his sister and brother had a cook-off with him acting as the judge and Lala as the cheerleader. He himself was in a good mood, not just for the peace and quiet — but also due to his successful date with Sairenji at the recent festival. Sure there were some less-than-perfect moments, but overall both of them had enjoyed their time together. And in the end, wasn't that what a date was all about in the first place? He couldn't stop blushing and chuckling at that thought, which creeped out Mikan anytime she noticed. 

Though at the end, Sairenji did behave a bit odd… having gone all quiet suddenly, which worried him at first. But afterwards she mentioned how she had a lot of fun, and hearing that relieved his heart. 

"The plant is not looking too good," he listened to his brother who stood next to the giant plant Lala brought them as a present. Emiya inspected both the leaves and the soil below with a frown on his face. "It's not wilting, that much is clear, but it's obviously not doing well either. I'll have to ask Lala about what this actually is and why it's happening to it." 

For the most part, the two of them hadn't talked much about the festival, keeping quiet and reserved about the event. When Rito asked how it went, his brother always answered with a shrug and a short phrase, "It was okay." 

A weird answer, not even mentioning anything about the fireworks or the tanzaku. 

"By the way, where is Yami-chan? I haven't seen her since this morning." Upon asking that question, Rito's mind pondered the topic of the alien assassin who they took in for a brief period. Lala wanted to have her stay at the house permanently, but Mikan wasn't too keen on the idea. Even Yami herself declined the offer initially, stating that her presence would potentially just invite future trouble from her former enemies. 

Honestly, Rito hadn't even thought about that possibility; the whole idea that aliens existed still remained a hard pill to swallow, and the revelation that this little girl was an elite assassin that came to this planet to kill his brother just made it that harder to believe. 

"She went to visit the nurse. Seems she still needed another check-up on her physical condition." The giant flower head lowered, letting Emiya rub its head and so it could enjoy the food he brought as well. Much like a human, the plant consumed about anything he gave it with little to no side effects to its health. But recently, the plant started to behave less energetically, even losing a few shades of its vibrant green color. Though the others hadn't noticed, both he and Rito did. "Hah… I see no other solution than adding more water to the soil. I'll also change up your diet to include more greens and cut down on all those sugars you've been taking secretly — don't think I didn't notice that." 

As his response, the flower whined, whimpering and softly pushing its head next against Emiya's chest as if trying to convince him otherwise. Though nothing broke through his stern glare, taking a stance with his arms crossed. Rito found it funny. 

"RRRRRR…." 

"I don't care if you've been causing less trouble lately or helped around the house. You need a healthier diet, and I'll make sure you get it even if I have to force vitamins pills along with one of Mikado's personal concoctions down your throat with my bare hands. Now, be a good plant and do as I say." 

Unable to hold it any longer, Rito started laughing. 

"What's so funny?" Emiya asked, his eyes flashing over to him for an instant.

"Hahahahaha! I-I-It's… it's just that, you're talking to that flower like a parent would their disobedient child!" He said in between breaths, holding his stomach as the redhead sighed at that comment. 

In a strange way, it wasn't an inaccurate sentiment. In the time it had been here, this plant had become another member of the Yuuki household in all but name. He might have thought of it as a pet at first, but the amount of sentience it had repeatedly displayed, on top of its apparent ability to learn and understand human speech so easily, made it hard to genuinely think of it as a pet. 

'Might as well call it another member of the family with how Mikan and Rito treat it.' Soft to the touch, the petals had the texture of skin more than anything else, and the mouth possessed a massive set of sharp teeth. Truly, not seeing it as anything other than a pet turned out to be harder to imagine — but if his siblings saw it as a person then he didn't put too much thought into the matter.

Giving the plant another pat on the head and emptying the water can into the surrounding soil, Emiya walked back inside the house with Rito in tow. His younger sibling went to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water while he sat down on the sofa. Golden brown eyes following his movement for a brief moment before sighing. "Rito, I know this may sound sudden, but when are you planning on seriously confessing to Haruna?" 

"Pft!" Water spurt out of his mouth as he heard the question, followed by a fit of coughing as his older brother continued to stare at him with a rather focused gaze. "W-What's with that question!?" 

"It's a serious one, I'm not messing around with you. I know you think your time at the festival went smoothly, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I don't blame you for some of the incidents that happened, as you genuinely can't seem to control the sheer spontaneity of your… many slip-ups around women. But if you want Haruna to have a better impression of you and not question whether you're interested in someone else, it's better to get more firm with your behavior." 

"I-I-I'm actually trying to be better… I don't do those t-things intentionally you know… and I'm scared she's going to turn me down if I just come up to her and  ask her to be my girlfriend."

Emiya rubbed his forehead. On one end he understood his brother's fear, as it was a normal feeling for any young teenager, or basically anyone with a crush in general. But this path Rito was walking was proving to be far from ideal. Even if he got a girlfriend, if he kept getting into lewd accidents and constantly getting flustered to the point he became a blushing and stuttering mess, then the relationship was going to stagger and break apart about as quickly as it would take for Rito to trip over the closest available obstacle. 

Of course, the former Counter Guardian never considered himself in any way as a connoisseur in the field of love. His past self getting into countless life threatening scenarios in the middle of a war-torn country had been far too preoccupied to even consider having any romantic relationships. But there were moments whenever he took up a new mission that such instances occured... sometimes multiple times. Though he wanted to chalk it up to extremely rare instances and these relationships never lasted. if he had to make a comparison, it would have been like those James Bond movies.

Still, he didn't need to be an expert on romance to correct Rito's stance on the subject. 

"Listen, even Mikan knows that for any relationship to be successful, you need to know more about your partner. Hang out with her more often, don't wait for something like a festival or some other event to help you make the day special. Just approach her like any other normal human being and start a conversation at school." He lost track of the number of times he spotted his brother 'stalking' Haruna or sneakily looking at her from far away. Afraid to even say hello in the beginning, that unfortunately progressed to Rito stuttering furiously  and falling on her in awkward positions if she so much as looked at him. Just thinking about it made him feel a great amount of pity for his brother.

"Easier said than done. I'm… not like you." 

"I don't want you to be like me, Rito. Both Mikan and I know what you're like without all that fear and nervousness making you do stupid things. Just talk to her like you would with us." 

"But talking to a girl like her is hard!" Rito insisted, more than anyone he wanted to follow his brother's advice, but he always got a heavy blush just at the thought of speaking to Sairenji the way he did with his siblings and having that closeness between them. 

"I mean, I can talk to girls in general just fine. But with Sairenji, I am just very self conscious… I always get so worried I'm just gonna mess everything up and look like a complete idiot or jerk." 

Emiya shook his head, silently thinking the other boy was a bit too late if he didn't want to look foolish. Honestly, even the most dense versions of his past self had never been this bad with women. And Emiya Shirou usually only went as far as being comfortable with having Sakura Matou use his kitchen nearly every morning. During his time as Rin's Servant, he recalled the boy even holding a conversation with a girl who was the archery club captain without any issue. Of course, Emiya himself didn't even remember her name anymore, having not seen Mitsuzuri Ayako again after leaving Fuyuki. 

"There must be a way to have you get better at holding conversations with girls in general, to help you be more at ease around Haruna." 

Rito nodded, before something crossed his mind that seemed odd. "Nii-san, why are you so invested with this? Ah, not that I don't appreciate it or anything like that, but you were never this pushy for me to get together with Sairenji before." He asked, getting a few moments of silence from the redhead before the latter shrugged. 

A brief memory of the past flashed before Emiya's eyes when he opened that slip of paper. 

"…You can chalk it up to a combination of a caring sibling wanting his younger brother to be happy, and frustration at your continued indecisiveness. Anyways, I believe we should think about a solution to your little problem. Can't exactly have you approach random women or girls, I'm afraid you'll be taken away by the cops for sexual assault in a matter of seconds." 

"Nii-san!?" 

"I'm joking." No, he absolutely was not. Emiya really did fear that letting his nervous wreck of a brother approach a random woman on the street or at school and attempt to just strike up a normal conversation would offend whatever mysterious entity of bad luck that haunted the brown haired boy, and cause a big mess that he would be forced to clean up. 

"I can help~!" From the stairs, Lala came down hastily while wearing nothing but one of his shirts, a sight that nearly knocked out Rito and made Emiya want to cover his face in exasperation. Her hair was still damp, giving off a fresh floral scent that filled the room which made it clear that she must have come out of the bath very recently. 

The alien princess, ignoring their reactions, sat on the carpet next to the table and faced both boys. "I have a surefire way that will not only help Rito get super comfortable with women, but also help him confess his love to Haruna-chi in a matter of days! The chances of her saying yes can practically be guaranteed!" 

Just about when Emiya was about to decline her offer for the safety of his own sanity with whatever crazy idea she had in mind, Rito with stars in his eyes spoke first before he could. "Really!? You can do that?" 

His reaction made Lala's grin wider. "Yup~! The problem is very simple as far as I can see. You just need to talk to a girl like Haruna-chi and get more comfortable, right?"

Rito's enthusiasm faltered before he hesitantly nodded his head. 

"Then come by my room in a few hours, I have all my tools ready to assembl—" 

"Hold your horses, both of you!" Lightly smacking his hand on the table, the redhead managed to get their attention before they went too far. "Before either of you runs off and starts causing chaos that I'll probably have to deal with — especially you, Lala — I want to hear more about this 'solution' of yours first, in detail." 

"Mou, you really don't have enough faith in me, Shirou!" Rightfully so in his opinion. "Here's my plan, I'll build a replica of Haruna-chi in the form of a robot specially designed to generate similar responses and reactions to the original. Think of her as one of those characters in dating games, like the ones I found on Mikan-chan's computer." 

"Say what now?" Emiya did a double take at the last piece of information. His sister played such games? Hard to believe it honestly… but then again, she was at the age where girls in general started to get interested in such things. 

"It will also give feedback in case Rito says anything that the original wouldn't like, and even train you on how to figure out her favorite topic of conversation. To make talking to it easier, I can do a one to one replica of her features. What do you think? Amazing right?" The amount of pride and excitement on her face was almost blinding. Much to his dismay, Rito actually had a blush on his face, most likely looking forward to seeing this invention.

But unfortunately, he did not share their excitement.

"Isn't talking to actual people easier…" he said. Perhaps the idea of Rito speaking with others wasn't so bad, at least by comparison. He much preferred having his brother risk getting arrested or slapped compared to trying out one of Lala's untested inventions. Oh, he could probably ask Risa to help 

"You're too old-fashioned, Shirou. The real life process is not reliable and would take too long to give any satisfying results, and it's not as fun either!" He was very certain the only reason why she wanted to choose her method was for the entertainment value rather than it having anything to do with reliability. 

"This still sounds suspiciously similar to a clone… and how are you even going to generate replies like what the real Haruna would give?" 

"Oh, that's easy. I'll just use Copy Paste Memory-kun!" 

"That name already sounds like trouble in its own right." Now he was almost certain she was planning to make a clone of Haruna! How she could even accomplish such a feat was something he had learned to stop questioning, blaming it all on the sheer bullshit that was experimental alien technology — and of course Lala's own insane genius that brought it into the world.

"No it's not! It'll be a machine solely programmed to help Rito get better, and it'll have Haruna-chi's likeness. Very different from a clone. If I wanted to make one of those, then it would take at least a few days to grow it." 

"..." 

Of course she could also do that if she wanted. At this point he wasn't even surprised. He could already imagine the chaos someone like Lala would cause in the Supernatural world if ever let loose. Thankfully this would never happen.

"Please, Nii-san," his brother begged, now completely onboard with the pink haired girl's idea. "It'll be much safer and you won't have to worry about me falling on it." 

"Like Rito said, completely safe!" 

For some reason, he just couldn't bring himself to trust either of those statements. 

"I can remove the legs and hands for more security." Lala proposed, getting a horrified look from Rito and a weird stare from Emiya. But seeing the puppy dog eyes Rito kept showing him after hearing that, he gritted his teeth before relenting. 

"Hah… damn it. Alright, I'm willing to let you try out this new invention of yours." 

"Yay—"

"—But!" He cut her off in the middle of her celebration. "I have a few rules that you have to respect, or else no robot." 

She readily nodded her head, paying rapt attention to him. 

"First, don't make anything too extreme when you copy Haruna's personality and looks. It is immoral to do so without her knowledge and permission — I'm pretty sure she would hate the idea. Second of all, don't add any bombs or weapons within it, it's just a simple machine to assist with interactions and nothing more. And third, I'll be inspecting it personally before Rito so much as lays eyes on the thing. If I see anything wrong with it, then you'll scrap the thing without complaints lest I do it myself." He had to take all these precautions with Lala's inventions, as the risk of letting them malfunction or go out of control seemed to be a constant theme with her. 

"I agree!" She exclaimed, happy enough to jump up and wrap her arms around his neck with a tight hug that he'd grown used to by now. "I promise you won't regret your decision!"

"I already am," he said, just waiting for something to go wrong and for Rito to learn at least one important lesson from this: to never fully trust Lala's inventions. On the other hand, if it actually ended up working as intended, then it meant Lala actually learned something. 

"Hm?" 

The front door opened, Yami walking inside and stumbling onto the scene in front without much of a reaction and then proceeding to quietly stand next to him. 

"Yami-chan!" Lala finally let go of him and went to grab onto Yami who made no attempts to dodge the princess, as usual. Emiya even suspected she was actually enjoying the affectionate gesture to some extent. "You came back early, didn't you leave like ten minutes ago?" 

"I did. But Ryouko Mikado's clinic is closed, so I came back." 

Closed? Weird, she didn't mention anything about closing the clinic today, and he even made sure to confirm Yami's appointment yesterday. "Did she leave a note or something to explain the reason why it's closed today?" 

"No, I did not find any traces of the doctor." 

Curious to know what happened, he decided to make a quick call, having her number added to his contact list for a while, though this would be the first time he actually called her. 

*Sorry, the number you've dialed is currently unavailable. Please try again later.*

Even calling her wasn't working. A frown slowly developed on his face as, for the next hour, he called her again two more times, each with the same result. 

"This isn't like her." Mikado, for all her teasing, was an orderly and punctual person. For her to not only close the clinic but to also disappear without sending him or any of her patients a message to inform them, it simply did not suit her. 

The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to assess this situation himself. 

"Where are you going, Shirou?" Lala asked, seeing him put on his shoes near the doorway.

"I'm just going for a walk to check on some things. I'll be back soon." 

"Ah, wait, can I come? It's been a while since I left the house and I want to go out with you as well. Don't worry about the robot, I already asked Peke to take care of it while I'm gone, so it should be done on time regardless." 

He wasn't particularly worried about that side of things right now. Perhaps that was why he didn't immediately reject her. Plus she spoke truthfully about not having left the house for a good while other than going to school or the festival. Lala needed to get out more and had been pretty calm lately, plus having her tagging along didn't change anything. 

"Come on then, let's go." 

With her hands linked around his arm, both walked out of the house leaving Yami behind who returned to Lala's room to rest. 

{Break}

"Neh, Shirou, are we going to visit Ryouko-san?" Lala asked, recognizing the road they took and asking the boy who remained silent during most of the walk. Not that she minded, as she enjoyed the shared moment. 

"Yes, we're just going to pass by and see how she's doing." He just wanted to make sure everything was alright with the nurse. Her help had been very invaluable ever since he knew the woman. Now that he found out she was also an alien doctor who could treat Lala or Yami in the event that they got sick from an illness and their alien biology left human doctors unreliable — that put him at ease. Also she was ready to act as his informant in case he needed help with certain matters. 

"By the way, how did you meet Ryouko-san in the first place? You two seem to be very close." Lala asked out of curiosity. 

"We haven't known each other for that long, and it took a while for us to even begin talking. I first met her about three years ago when she got hired as a nurse when I was still in middle school. As you can imagine, she turned out to be very popular amongst the male population right from the get go." Back then, everyone kept talking about her over and over again. During the breaks, many sneaked through the hallway just to catch a glimpse of her. 

"Really? Wow, she's been here longer than I thought then. Were you also interested in her since everyone else was as well?" 

To that, Emiya chuckled. "Far from it. My initial impression of her was… less than favorable." 

"Eh, really? That's kinda hard to believe given how I've seen you two talk to each other. Especially back at school during my orientation and the costume cafe class project." She pointed out, with the mention of the latter event bringing up memories of Saki's unfortunate incident where she nearly exposed her body to the entire school. What a crazy time. 

"I understand your confusion, she's still the same now as she was three years ago. Always teasing, flirting and trying to get a reaction out of everyone, especially me. I found her efforts to be unneeded and even annoying at times — believing that the principal only hired Mikado for her looks. Though I still think that part is true." 

He honestly believed back then that the woman wasn't even competent at her job, just going to work for the high pay the principal must have promised and acting as a beacon for more students to join the school if only so they could admire and fantasize about her. Or basically just act as eye candy for the principal to enjoy. 

"She did something amazing to change your mind, didn't she?" Lala grinned, almost knowing what he was going to say next. "It's hard to please or even impress you, so for her to have done that must have been an amazing feat."

"Well, it wasn't anything amazing like you're thinking about. No magic, no alien technology involved as far as I know. In fact, Rito is the reason why I got this close to her." 

"Rito?" 

Closing his eyes for a brief moment, he reminisced about that particular day. "Back then, he was part of the football club and regularly played with his team after school hours nearly every day. So, both Mikan and I would see him return late in the afternoon. But one day, he didn't come back on time. At first, I didn't think too much of it, believing he must have gotten held up for a little bit longer or went to hang out with his friends. But then night fell, and it started to rain… and I started getting worried. I tried to call his phone, but he wouldn't pick up, it wasn't until I got a call from an unknown number did I hear Mikado's voice telling me that Rito was at the hospital for a leg injury — I rushed right over as soon as I heard that." 

"Ah, poor Rito! I hope it wasn't anything too bad…" 

"Well, after I arrived I found out that this little brother of mine had tried to rescue an injured kitten he saw dangling at the edge of a bridge by himself, slipping at the end and falling into the river below. He was lucky that he only suffered minor fractures that would heal in a month or two of recovery. It was there I found Mikado outside the room, soaked from the rain and wearing a dirty lab cloak. Rito mentioned that she found and carried him all the way to the hospital herself. If she hadn't been there, then who knows when he might have gotten any help — it was at that moment that I realized how quick I was to judge and decided to approach her myself more frequently, if only to express my gratitude and respect. I don't believe she knew about my ability to use Magecraft back then or about my nature, so she was genuinely trying to help Rito." He smiled, a story that he knew the nurse in question would have shot down with the comment that it wasn't anything worthy of note. 

"Hm, that sounds like Ryouko-san alright. But I think you two would have gotten friendly with each regardless of that incident. You both are very similar." 

Emiya gave her a side glance followed by a scoff. "Similar? Forgive me, but I don't see it. We couldn't be any more different aside from sharing a particular taste for bitter coffee." 

"Nope~! You both like to help people, you just act like you are forced to do so. And you also have a habit of teasing Mikan-chan and Rito."

"Oh please, I only do that with the two of them. And I don't use my body or anything sensual to tease like Mikado, my methods focus more on snide sarcasm and clever mocking." 

"Don't know, it sounds the same to me." 

His eyes twitched, ready to confront the girl on the matter before stopping himself as he saw the playful glint in her eyes. Speechess, the redhead couldn't believe he actually fell for something like this from her of all people, and clicked his tongue. 

"Well would you look at that. Never thought I'd fall for one of your traps." 

"Hehehe, Shirou got a taste of his own medicine." 

Putting his hands up, he let her have this little victory. He would have never seen it coming from someone as innocent and honest as her. Guess she had to pick it up at some point eventually, what with her living with him and Mikan. 

"Congratulations, want me to give you a prize?" 

"How about a kiss? Couples should be kissing each other often and it grants them powers!" 

"Hurgh… stop watching that Magical Kyouko show so much. It's rotting your head and filling what's left with ridiculous ideas." Even his sister and brother started to watch the show along with Lala almost every day, while he on the other hand never was a fan of 'Magical Girls' or their ridiculous powers of love and friendship. 

"We won't know until we try it! We can do an experiment where you shoot a sword missile before we kiss and one after. Comparing the results will give us the definitive answer about the power of love! What do you say?" 

"...No."

"Aw… a smell peck on the lips won't hurt," pouted the girl, getting some amused reactions from the people around them and occasional jealous glare from the male population. 

"I'm afraid you might get too into it and won't know when to stop. Don't forget about your little incident from not too long ago in your room." 

"Aha! I knew you loved my adult form! I can use it again when we sleep together tonight~!" 

"Don't you dare!" Emiya exclaimed, feeling a sense of dread at the idea of having to deal with that version of Lala again. Nevermind how clouded her mind got in that state from the hormone overload, but her strength had also increased to a ridiculous degree that he feared she could snap his reinforced bones just from getting a bit too handsy in her sleep. 

"Hehehe, I'm joking! You'll meet her again in a few years anyways. For now you have me, and I'm not going anywhere any time soon." She said, having fun at his reaction. Cheeky girl, he hoped she wouldn't start behaving like this constantly.

"Humph, as if I'll let that happen."

{Break}

-Ryouko Clinic-

"So this is the place?" Lala said, looking at the house before them that resembled a small castle with how it was built. 

"Yeah, this is it." Standing in front of the gate, Emiya observed the place with a deep frown on his face. Just like Yami mentioned, the place was closed with all the locks in place. Yet there wasn't a notice or anything that mentioned why she was gone or how long. "Weird, her car is still here." 

Upon further observation, more and more odd details started to become visible to his eye. The lights on the outside were still lit, which coupled with the car, made it seem like she must have not woken up yet. But the chain around the gate had clearly been locked from the outside. And even if she had gone out for a walk of some kind why would she leave without turning her lights off? Let alone do so without even notifying her patients of the need to reschedule?

"Hey, are you guys here for a consultation as well?" A middle aged man approached them, a person whom he immediately suspected to be an alien, as only those kind of patients came over to her personal clinic for treatment. "I've been coming by here since dawn every hour or so, yet still haven't seen any sign of the doctor. She isn't replying to anyone's calls, and none of us were informed about her absence."

"We're not here for a consultation, we just came by to check on Mikado after a friend informed us of her unexpected absence." Emiya answered, to which the man gave a nod of understanding before he left again. He was finding this whole scenario odd, and it was growing more worrisome by the minute. 

"Aniki?" 

His attention got pulled to the side as someone else approached him, one who both he and Lala instantly recognized. "Ah it's Ron!" 

"My name's Ren!" Shouted the white haired boy with a depressed expression. "It can't be that hard to remember my name… It's just one syllable." 

Emiya found it weird that out of everyone, this boy who was a childhood friend of Lala's was the only one whose name she couldn't remember, mispronouncing or even just outright forgetting it many times. Surprisingly though, out of all the mispronunciations and failed recollections, the one that would always get the biggest reaction out of the boy were the times she mistakenly called him 'Run'.

"What are you doing here, Ren?" He asked, "Are you also getting a check-up from Mikado?" 

Recovering from his depressed state, Ren nodded his head. "She is the only available doctor for aliens in this city, and I can't go to regular hospitals or else I risk getting into a lot of trouble because of how Memorzan biology differs from humans. But anyways, why are you here as well, Lala?" 

"I just wanted to spend more time with Shirou!" 

"Urgh!" Those words hit him like a sledgehammer, causing more damage to the boy than an actual punch to the face. Not wanting for him to have another episode of trying to 'become a man' or challenging him in some asinine manner, Emiya decided to turn the other boy's attention away from Lala before she could break him any further. 

"Have you tried to get in touch with Mikado?" 

"Huh? O-Oh, yes, we spoke last night when scheduling my consultation, and she said to come by at this hour." Even Ren got an appointment with her yesterday, just like the alien before him. If Mikado truly had an emergency matter to take care of, then she would have still given them a notice in advance. Now worried more than ever, he couldn't look past her absence without getting some ominous presumptions in his mind as to the reason behind it. 

Given his recent battle against Golden Darkness and killing of Prince Lacospo, he could understand why Lala's other fiancé candidates might be hesitant to come after him. But even so, what stopped other aliens from targeting those around him instead? No, that couldn't be. Mikado never interacted with him in a way that would lead any one of Lala's fiancé candidates to believe that she was aiding him, and he made sure that no one would see him bringing Yami to her clinic when he visited a few days ago. 

"Lala, I'm going to go inside and see if I can find any kind of clue as to what's going on. You stay here and see if you can find anything on the outside, okay?" Seeing the slightly tense atmosphere, the princess didn't argue against his words nor try to make a joke or start another one of her antics. 

"Wait, where are you going, Aniki?" asked Ren as he saw Emiya approaching the gate. 

"I'm just going to go inside and see if everything is truly okay with her. It's not like her to just blow off patients." With no humans around to see him and to speed things up, he pulled himself on top of the gate and jumped to the other side with little difficulty. As far as he knew, Mikado possessed no security measures around here. 

The display of his physical prowess left Ren stupefied with his jaw hanging open. "Wait-Wait! I can help you as well, Aniki! Let me get over there fast." Wanting to not look bad or even uncool in front of Lala, he tried to mimic Emiya's previous moves. The wall wasn't so high that he was all that worried. 

Rather, he felt a strange sense of discomfort looming over him as he tried to prepare himself to jump over the fence, but shook it off — he trained for years specifically for moments like this dammit! 

"Look at me Lala, I'll also go inside to find the nurse just for you!" 

With his legs tensed, he got a running start and tried to jump right over the obstacle before him with a single leap. But much to his horror, he didn't add enough power behind his jump as the metallic arrows at the top of the fence caught the crotch of his pants and pulled on it as his body began to descend towards the ground. 

"HIIIIIIYYAAAHHHH!!!" 

The pain that followed could only be described as pure hell, the sensation pushing out the loudest shriek of horrifying pain that echoed throughout the neighborhood. Fortunately, the fabric failed to hold on and tore itself apart and let the boy plummet to the ground below. 

"..." Emiya was rendered speechless, feeling bad for the boy, as even he couldn't imagine the pain he just went through. "Oi, go back home, Ren. I don't think you're fit to even walk at this point after that."

"I-I can't… do that! I… I have to show Lala… m-my manly side… and not… retreat like a coward!" Ren forced out, holding in his tears

"We aren't going into some kind of battlefield, you idiot. You have nothing to prove here."

Just what was wrong with this boy and his obsession with becoming a man in Lala's eyes that it was taken to such an extreme? It wasn't like following him and mimicking his actions would make Lala magically fall in love with him. At this point he was just going to further embarrass himself in front of the girl who on top of everything else was currently giggling in the background; not even attempting to help him when he got stuck on the gate. 

…And she was even taking pictures. 

"Now I can see how he was traumatized so badly in the past if Lala behaved like this with him all the time."

Not wanting to waste any more time with this bunch when there were more pressing matters to be addressed, he walked up to the clinic, looking around to try and find anything out of the ordinary. 

"Hmm, seems fine at first glance, aside from Mikado still not being here." A couple knocks on the door got him no response, so he walked to the side and gazed inside the window. "What?" 

What little he could see revealed a messy scene with various items laying strewn about on the ground. "Something did happen after all." No longer having any reservations, Emiya forced his way inside the house by cutting through the door, and what greeted him was worse than he thought. 

Clothes, cupboards, shelves, tables, every piece of furniture and anything else she owned were all in complete disarray. "And yet, none of the valuables were taken." This couldn't have been a normal case of mere burglary, whoever came here was specifically looking for something. 

Or someone.

"Mikado!" He shouted her name, running to her lab and once again finding more chaos. The tubes where Yami had been submerged during her first visit here were all destroyed, and all of her notes and computer were nowhere to be seen. 

"Shiro—! What happened here!?" Lala called out to him, coming inside the house and getting shocked by the scene as well. "Oh no, is Ryouko-san okay?" 

"She's not here," he answered, feeling frustrated that he couldn't find any clues on who could have taken her and where she was taken. "Lala, could this have been the work of one of your fiancé candidates?" 

"Eh? I-I don't think so. A lot of them are bad people, like Lacospo, but they wouldn't target Ryouko-san and not tell me about it if they're trying to get to me. And Zastin didn't mention any one of them having arrived on Earth recently." 

Putting aside the fact that Zastin of all people could track them from the beginning and still did not bother to mention these kind of important details to him, Emiya tried to brainstorm any possible path or solution he could use to give him a clue as to the nurse's whereabouts. 

"Waaah!" From another room, both of them heard the sound of Ren screaming all of a sudden. 

"What happened?" He went over to see the boy backpedaling away from Mikado's bedroom with a small bump forming on his head. 

"There is something in there!" Ren screamed while pointing at the room.

Looking inside, Emiya found a couple of items floating in the air with something strange… or rather someone strange floating in the middle shaking while looking at him with terror. A girl?

"It's a ghost!" Exclaimed Lala, much to his confusion as this wasn't what he expected a ghost to be like. "Woah… I've never actually seen one before!" 

At her statement, the ghost girl panicked and disappeared into the ground. 

"Wait! We are searching for Ryouko-san! Did something happen here?" Lala asked, putting her ears against the floor as if trying to hear for something. "Hello? Please talk to us, we are her friends and want to help!" 

"Wait, look over there." Emiya said, pointing at paper where a pen hovered above it. Whoever this ghost girl was didn't seem to want to talk directly to them, but she wrote a simple sentence. 

"Please save Mikado-sensei, she got kidnapped by Keize!" 

"..." Whoever this ghost girl was he put to the back of his mind, why she was here no longer mattered. 

"Lala, I need your help." 

At times like these, he had no choice but to rely on her despite his consciousness telling him otherwise.

{Break}

(A few hours later)

"You didn't need to chain me up. I already agreed to follow you without resistance." Back in their ship, Mikado found herself locked inside a cell with her hands shackled up. "It's not like I pose any threat to any one of you here, I'm just a researcher in the end and not a fighter." 

"So you say, yet I like to take precautions," answered Keize, having his subordinates start up the spaceship and get ready for departure. With each shake of the spacecraft her heart shook, as the realization that she was leaving Earth for good started to settle in for her. She would never see any of the people here again. Her job, her home, her friends and her assistant, she had to leave them all behind in order to protect them. 

"At least they're safe." She whispered, trying to console herself, though her darkened eyes were unable to hide the pain and regret. Mikado wished she could have done more, live out her life doing many fun activities with those she knew and treasured. "Hah… forget it. It was nice while it lasted."

Even if Lala ordered Zastin to find her, she doubted Solgam was going to keep her anywhere traceable. They'd managed to stay hidden from the Emperor for so long, so keeping her hidden wouldn't be a challenge. 

Her body trembled as she saw the land beneath her get further and further away as the spacecraft started to ascend. She took this moment to look out at Sainan from the little window next to her one last time, taking in the beautiful landscape of this wonderful planet with an avalanche of memories of these last three years flashing before her eyes. She could see everything from the little window, the beautiful park, the school, her own house, the forest, a giant pink mechanical dog with wings flying towards them, the mounta— "Wait, what?" 

Before her mind could even comprehend what she had just seen, the entire ship suddenly shook.

"—!" 

"What's going on!" Shouted Keize with the entire hall getting submerged in red lights as their ascent slowed down. Dozens of crew members were running around and checking the ship's parts to see if anything broke until one of the men found out what happened. 

"Sir, there is something on top of the ship!" 

"Put it on screen!" Ordered their leader, his men immediately following his instructions. The subordinates hastily brought up footage where they found a giant pink mechanical dog sitting on top of the ship with rockets pushing against the entire spacecraft. "What the hell is that!?" 

As soon as he said that, another camera went offline as a flurry of giant fists made of blonde hair destroyed all of them one by one. "Enemy attack, sir!" 

On another screen, Mikado watched with complete shock as it showcased Lala garbed with Peke standing on top of the engines. A rarely seen frown was on her face as her hand morphed into a shape thrice its size. Just before the camera footage got destroyed by a blonde hair blade, they witnessed the princess sending a single strike hurtling downwards. 

Bang! 

The entire craft shook again, much worse than the first time. 

"Shit, one of our engines got destroyed!" 

"Send people up there to get rid of them damn it! Kill them before Zastin finds u—" Keize's voice got cut off by the high pitched screech of metal tearing. 

Everyone went completely silent as they gazed at a large spear that had pierced right through the ceiling and nearly impaled a now shaking Keize.

Shck!

Schk!

Another similar sound from before sounded, and this time a set of blades cut through the metal with ease as if it were made of butter. Sparks flew everywhere as a hole was cut within seconds followed by a single figure jumping inside holding black and white dual swords. 

"E…miya-kun," Mikado whispered, unable to believe her eyes. Yet she couldn't feel any joy, as worry now filled her heart at the implications of his actions and the new enemy he just made in rescuing her. Now, living that peaceful life he desired was nearly impossible with this act now marking him as an enemy of Solgam.

"Why… why did you have to come?" 

To that, he just gave her a single response. 

"I still owe you a lot."

***

Back in Sainan, a figure stood on top of a skyscraper, lazily watching the scene several kilometers off in the distance. To his back, Zastin knelt alongside his two subordinates, all three of them wearing expressions of fear and respect. 

Neither him, Smutts, nor Maul dared to make a sound, fearing the slightest mistake could earn the ire of the being before them. 

His trident-like tail twirled in the air as a grin revealing rows of almost fang-like teeth formed on his face. Covered in golden jewels and a jacket suiting Earth's current fashion, the entity seemed to be enjoying the battle happening in the sky. Sparks arced across his body, glee and anticipation evident in his being as a whole. 

"Hoh… That kid is more interesting than I imagined. Now, show me more of what you're capable of, Emiya Shirou. To be worthy of marrying my daughter, you must be nothing less than the greatest man in the universe." 

--------------

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.