55

055 - Team Emiya Assemble!

After school let up for the day, everyone was to gather back in the Temple. Not just the regular group, but also Rin and Illya, their Servants and the Einzbern maids. I wasn't a jerk about it, but the conversation we had on the rooftop was nothing short of an unconditional surrender. I call the shots now and everyone falls in line, more or less begrudgingly.

Which means I'm now responsible for each and every single one of their lives. Isn't that just lovely?

I watch with some amusement as our new allies climb the stairs and cross into Temple grounds. An astralized Servant that can only be Altera leads the group, with Rin and Illya walking right behind. To anyone without supernatural senses, it would look like the two of them are walking at the front, perfectly side to side and leading the rest of the group.

Atalanta walks right behind, eyes alert and ears perked up as she scans the environment for any danger. Very tellingly, she doesn't seem to spare any worry at Rin's presence right beside her Master. Their group seems to have grown surprisingly close while they were still aligned against me.

This has clearly grown beyond an alliance of convenience in just a few nights. Never thought I'd see a world where Rin and Illya would have such a good relationship, but that's the infinite Kaleidoscope for you, I guess.

Leysritt and Sella close the line. Sella carries herself stiffly, with her back very straight and glaring everywhere with patent disapproval, where Leysritt looks bored out of her skull and carries a disproportionately big and unwieldy furoshiki pack on her back.

'Master?' Medea's voice resonates through our bond, in spite of her standing right beside me. When I take a side glance at her, I notice the smile in her lips is a somewhat strained one. 'What are those… things the homunculus are wearing?'

'Their clothes?'

I answer in kind, feeling vaguely amused by the topic, maybe I should've seen it coming. 'That's the Einzbern Maid Uniform.'

'I… see.'

She drawls with clear distaste in her voice. 'It appears I don't quite understand European fashion anymore.'

'You can just say it, Princess. They're fugly as hell.'

'Fu… gly? Oh.'

She enunciates slowly, trying to figure out the meaning of the jargon word for a moment before it finally hits her. 'I would never be so uncouth, Master. I'd just say they're hideous.'

'Well… That sounds like something else we'd need to see about changing, Princess.'

'Truly, our duty never ends.'

Sending a last burst of amusement through the bond, I focus my attention back on the newcomers.

"Well, here we are." Rin announces unnecessarily. If I needed confirmation of their unease, that would be it. I guess it makes sense. They know I'm the strongest contender and their best chance at survival, but they don't really know what I'm planning to do.

I'm not sure if the sexual tension is helping or not in this situation, but I'd need to be blind and deaf to miss it… probably lose my sense of smell too. For a moment, I consider cracking a joke or teasing her about it, but… this probably isn't the time.

"That's all you have with you?" I ask instead, pointing at the bundle Leysritt is still carrying. Is that her halberd poking out from the top?

"We didn't really have much in the mansion worth the time of a caster from the Age of Gods besides supplies." Illya shrugs. "It's not like Ach-jii let us get any real valuable artifact from the family vault."

I turn towards the blatantly empty-handed Rin, who just huffs and looks away.

"After Lancer rampaged through our ancestral home like a bull in a china shop, the Tohsaka Family Craft has been reduced to the Crest I carry with myself and a few baubles that fit in my pocket." She admits bitterly. "If there were any hidden caches or secret grimoires somewhere else, that bastard Kirei never told me about them."

I arch an eyebrow at the sheer vitriol in her voice and the lack of her usual moniker for him. It seems like, in spite of everything, his betrayal has cut deep. Not for the first time, I wonder whether I should tell her the truth about her father's death, but…

There'll be time for that later, when the threat of a gold-plated jerk isn't looming over us and we can safely get blind drunk. Maybe I'll even raise a glass for the man. Tokiomi was a pompous fool with more pride than sense, but he wasn't a bad person, for a magus.

"Ah, but that means the truly important things are still safe and sound, right? I know you'll rebuild everything, you're too stubborn to accept anything else." I answer with a roguish grin and a wink that has her looking away again with a far less sullen look in her face. "For now though, we need to survive an overpowered manchild and win a War. Let's get inside and talk strategy."

Without further ado, I guide the group inside.

There's a small problem with Leysritt's pack not fitting through the door but, being the enterprising girl she is, she promptly solves it by simply dropping it outside. Which causes the ground to shake. In a world of ridiculously superhuman Servants, it's maybe too easy to forget about the more casually superhuman individuals. This works just fine as a reminder

Everyone else is already sitting down at a long table in the living room when we arrive, and I can't help but notice how Rin's eyes fall on Ayako after briefly scanning the room. Her face doesn't show anything, but it's not hard to notice she's deep in thought about something.

What are her feelings about this, I wonder? Ayako isn't just the closest thing to a childhood friend that Rin has, she's always been a rock of normality to counterbalance Rin's life as a magus too. Is she upset the status quo changed? Relieved she no longer has to keep half her life secret from her friend? Scared of Ayako learning what being a magus truly entails and losing her respect?

Whatever is in Rin's mind, it gets dispelled with a soft huff and a shake of her head.

"I have to admit…" Rin speaks out, taking a seat in front of her friend. "I would've never guessed you'd manage to follow me here, Mitsuzuri."

"Follow you?" It's Ayako's turn to huff. "I'm the one who arrived first."

"Please, I've been part of the moonlit world since birth." Rin rolls her eyes. "Just because you joined Emiya-kun's harem first– "

"Harem? No!" While Ayako splutters her denials, I take the chance to take my own seat between Haku and Medea to enjoy the show. "He hasn't even made a move on me yet!"

"Hasn't made a move on you… 'Yet'?" A teasing smirk appears on Rin's face as she does that thing where she covers it with hand hand without actually hiding it. "Are you… hoping for anything, Mitsuzuri?"

"S-Shut up!" Ayako stutters out, before narrowing her eyes and returning fire. "And what do you mean by joining 'first' anyway?"

"I… Uh…" It's Rins' turn to stutter. Meanwhile, I can feel a shit-eating grin forming on my own lips. "Shut up."

"Oh, you two are adorable." Nevermind not cracking jokes, this is definitely the right time and I was a fool for thinking otherwise. "Is there anything you should be telling me, by any chance?"

"Nee-san sure is good friends with Mitsuzuri-senpai, isn't she?" Sakura pipes in, a vaguely venomous wistfulness in her voice I honestly can't tell whether it's an intentional passive-aggressive snipe or just leftover subconscious resentment. "Must be nice."

Well, I didn't expect her to magically recover from a life of abuse in less than a week. Will have to keep an eye on it in the future, but it's probably best to let it go for now.

"There's a rumor around that the two of them bet on who would nab the best boyfriend." I mention idly. "I wonder… What would happen if the two of them tie?"

Rin and Ayako look at each other, no doubt wondering how that particular tidbit reached the rumor mill -Hint: it didn't, I'm just a cheating cheater who cheats- before their eyes widen at the same time in some sort of horrifying realization.

What follows is a long and uncomfortable silence. Uncomfortable for them, that is.

"...We both win?" Ayako finally asks, hesitantly and with adorably red cheeks.

"... We both win." Rin swiftly nods along.

Suspiciously swiftly. I wonder what sort of clause is tied to 'the loser' of their bet? These two can get downright nasty when they put her mind into it.

"Oh? I wouldn't take you girls for the sort of person who would be satisfied with that." Which, of course, means I have to poke at it. "Wouldn't it be better to say you both lose?"

"We definitely both win!"

"We definitely both win!"

"Well, that's certainly an ego booster." I drawl amusedly, doing my best to keep a straight face in spite of the way I can feel Haku's shoulders shake with barely restrained laughter right beside me. "I didn't know you valued me so highly that I'm an automatic win, but I shall endeavor to live up to the expectation."

"Th– That's not… Shut up!"

While Rin is busy spluttering flustered denials, Ayako remains utterly silent, a small frown in her brows as she reflects on something. Finally, without even shifting her posture, her lips part again.

"Tohsaka?"

"What?"

"When the hell did we ask Emiya out and how the hell did I miss it?"

"Well, we…" Rin's automatic answer trails off as the question sinks in, her own eyes slowly going from embarrassment to annoyance, then puzzlement and finally settling for fixing me with a sharp glare. "Oh, you sneaky bastard…"

"Does that even count in the first place?" Ayako muses.

"... I can keep him to myself if you want to dump him." Rin answers after a brief pause, not trying very hard to make her nonchalance believable. "I won't even consider it your defeat."

"... Just your win, huh? In your dreams, Tohsaka." Ayako smirks sharply, before allowing herself to relax with a deep sigh. "Guess I have a boyfriend now. At least he's hot. My parents will be happy."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, didn you know?" I pipe in, cheerfully dodging Ayako's attempt to reach past Haku to physically silence me. "We had an omiai the other day. I have their parent's blessings for marriage."

"Oho.~? I believe congratulations are in order?"

As the conversation devolves into petty bickering barely hidden under a thin veneer of civility, I allow myself a smile. These two really get along well…

"Well then!" I announce after a while. "Let's start the first official meeting of Emiya's Angels!"

"… We're not calling ourselves that."

"Emiya's Beauties?"

"No."

"Emiya's drop-dead gorgeous supernatural chicks?"

"Don't make me go get the water sprinkler."

"… Team Emiya?"

"Good enough, I guess."