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002 - The war is upon us

Magecraft lessons with Rin are a treat. Like everything in life, she takes teaching me very seriously. I have learnt a lot under her, though between her unreasonable talent and my [Talented in every field], her experiences with teaching and learning magic don't exactly match with reality. I'm afraid her idea of what an average magus can do will end up pretty skewed.

Not only that, using the private time together I've gradually managed to grind past my demerit's influence and Rin's own standoffish nature to the point where she's begun lowering her guard around me, showing more of her real self. It's a bit funny, how she's objectively a worse person that she portrays herself as, but I find it more pleasant to deal with her without masks.

… Maybe I have some masochistic tendencies.

I'm sure she's noticed how we're getting closer in spite of her better judgement, but be it my natural charm or her professional pride -probably the later, to be honest- she has shown no intent of cancelling our lessons or going back on our agreement in any other way to keep her distance.

"Have you ever considered joining a harem, sensei?" She takes a second to react, turning to look at me and arching a brow.

"I don't even want to know what sort of twisted mental process prompted you to ask that." Without another word, she goes back to focus on her own work. Three… two… one… "Okay, why would I ever want to join a harem?"

"Well, you wouldn't need to look for excuses when you're not in the mood, for one." I joke. Which is poorly received, by the way. Tough crowd here. "Obviously I'm not talking about the typical porn harem, because I have no idea how to sell to any girl with half a brain that she should join other women in dedicating their lives to serve a man."

I sink back in the sinfully comfortable chair Rin lets me use when we're studying at her home, putting my thoughts into place.

"I think about it as… a family. As the couple becomes a polyhedron, the relationship becomes… more. A support net if you would, by tying your life and fate to those of people you can trust and rely on, by making their goals yours as they make yours theirs, you gain a family you can trust above all."

"And this theoretical support net differs from simply joining a magus association in?" She snorts incredulously. "What's the point in the romantic and sexual implications in the first place?"

"For one, the idea isn't to leech off everyone else while keeping them from trying to leech off you, but to join a whole that becomes more than the sum of the parts, contributing as much as you enjoy their contributions. More importantly though, romantic and sexual implications are the main point!"

I wave my arms around for emphasis, getting an amused chuckle out of Rin. I'll count that as a win.

"Right." She drawls, putting her pen down and crossing her arms, still looking sceptical but willing to hear me out. "You are going to have to elaborate on that."

"A working relationship is a feeble bond, easy to break or ignore, hard to rely on. A tight-knit group includes intimacy and trust." Now that she's actually considering my words, a small wistful smile makes its way into her lips. No matter how talented a magus she is, no human being enjoys growing up in isolation, with secrets as their only friends. "A shoulder to cry on, a warm body to share your bed with, or even someone to wrap your arms around comfortingly when they're the ones who feel down. That's what creates bonds, that's what makes life worth living."

"What about all the jealousy and power plays?" Because she has to ask the cynical question. In her defence, is a legitimate worry.

"What about them?" I shrug. "They aren't part of a healthy relationship where everyone loves and comforts each other. Granted, they may still pop up from time to time, but that just means there's a need to work through them to keep things ideal. Think of it like gardening. You can't have a beautiful garden if you don't take the time to make it beautiful."

"Wait, when you say everyone loves and comforts each other you don't just mean the women towards the man, do you?" She blushes a bit. Your tendencies are showing, sensei. "Is that love in a platonic way or…?"

"Maybe? I mean, it's not something I believe should be a hard limit, but if some of the women want to find they own warmth and comfort in joining together… It could only reinforce the bonds, don't you think?" I let out a low chuckle, before admitting the elephant in the room. "That and all the kinky sex, but it goes without saying, I guess."

"Do I look like the sort of girl interested in kinky sex?" The girls with glazed eyes and flushed cheeks asks, trying to convey an indignation she clearly isn't feeling with a frown and an arched brow.

"Sensei, you're a healthy teenager. It's not a matter of appearances." I smirk petulantly. "If there's anything I'm sure of about you, it's that you're interested in kinky sex."

"Family sounds kind of nice though." She continues without dignifying my wisecrack with an answer "I had a sister once—" She catches herself, before rambling about something she's in no way ready to share with me. "Nevermind, I'll give it to you that it doesn't actually sound bad when put that way, but things don't work like that for us magi."

I don't push anymore, but the seeds are already planted. I'm a bit surprised she hasn't mentioned the possibility of bringing more men into the relationship, but I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Good evening, Nii-san." Haku's voice takes me out of my last reverie. "You didn't have to wait for me to finish my club activities."

"You say the same every single day." I smile at her, putting the grimoire I was reading back in my pocket. "And I always answer the same way."

"Maybe I love hearing your answer, Nii-san."

"I might not need to, but I want to." I repeat the same words I've said more times that I care to remember in the last twelve months. "How was your first day with kouhais? Are the new members promising?"

She starts walking down the street, aware of the true question but unsure how to answer.

"Some of them are." She finally answers. "The Matou girl looks like a wallflower though."

Ah, so she's disappointed. I might've focused too much on who Sakura can grow out to be, and too little on who she is right now. An abused and defenseless girl, whose defiance and hope have been beaten out of her by tortures crueler than anything we can imagine.

"She's dead inside, Haku." I mock-reprimand her. "Give her some time, and some kindness, let's see if we can revive her."

"I've never played the senpai role before," She jokes. "Should be fun."

"Remember, having her on our side would be good, but it's not necessary." Something in her tone scares me a little… I didn't raise my sister to be yandere, didn't I? "Our priority isn't to get her to join us, but simply to help her out."

"Yes, yes, you're too nice for your own good, Nii-san." I've said it before but, with every day, it's harder to see the shadow of Shirou Emiya in my dear sister. As far as I'm concerned, that's a good thing. "Thankfully you have me around to make sure nobody takes advantage of you."

"Who was it again that had to explain to you why letting others take advantage of you is a bad thing again?"

"That was years ago!" She sputters in protest. "Nowadays you're the one running himself ragged to help others."

"I plan on manipulating the events of a Grail War to our benefit and have cheated and lied without shame of regret to achieve it. How does that count as helping others?"

"How many people will be happier after your plans succeed?"

"... Point." I'm not sure manipulating people so they'll be happier with me counts as a good deed, no matter what she says. But I can recognise a losing argument when I see one. "What should we do for dinner tonight?"

"Ah! There's no 'we', Nii-san!" She immediately jumps. "It's my turn to cook!"

Seems like I just can't win today…

"We're home!"

"Ah, thanks for having me."

With that, two figures enter the house. It's still nerve-wracking to leave school before Haku finishes with her club, but since Shinji decided he was too hot to be tied down to the Archer club, things aren't that bad anymore.

Still no hint of him using magecraft trinkets to stick his dick where he shouldn't, but I'm not going to lower my guard. I can't wait for the war to start so I can hang him by his own guts.

"Welcome home, Haku." I call from the living room, waiting until they enter to greet the person I'm not supposed to know. "You must be Matou Sakura-san. Haku has only good things to say about you."

She doesn't look very energetic.

"Ah, thank you very much." She takes a deep bow, a bit robotically. Still, just the fact she's accepted the invitation means Haku has begun healing her already, that's good. "Nii-san also talks about you often."

"Nothing good, I'm sure." I joke without heat, acting as if I don't notice her slight wince. "Come, sit. Haku told me you had trouble with some lessons?"

"Um, yes. I do well with most of the coursework, but English is a bit…"

"And since I'm not all that good myself." Haku interrupts with a wink. "I decided to ask my wise and dependable Nii-san for help."

If there's something I love about our close brother-sister relationship, is how we know each other enough to ad-lib any plot. Adds a lot of freshness to life, not having to follow a script. It's easier to manipulate people when your interactions are actually natural.

"Don't let Taiga-nee know I'm giving you lessons though, or she'll bully her way into them." I say with a wink. English teacher she might be, but she has the maturity of a five years old. "Alright, why don't you show me where you're having trouble right now and we go from there?"

"I'll make some snacks for the two of you and go practice my forms." Haku calls, already putting on an apron and walking into the kitchen. "After we're done with this we can start those cooking lessons I promised, Sakura-chan!"

Yeesh… welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly.

I'm writing down the finishing touches for my newest sealing array project when Haku enters the room with a tray holding a bottle of sake and two cups. I recognise that bottle.

"Old man Fujimura's special gift?" I ask, Haku might think I don't know the circumstances surrounding this particular gift, but she's ten years too early to hide something like this from me. "Are we celebrating something special?"

"The phone call right now was from our contact in Germany." She explains, sitting in front of me and pouring the cups. "Little Big Sis was finally sighted in the wilderness surrounding the Einzbern castle. She was accompanied by a single other. Descriptions of this other figure… do not match Herakles. Not by a long shot."

"So my little gambit paid off, after all. I can toast to that."

"To Nii-san's crazy expensive plans bearing fruit." She says, raising her cup.

"To secretly replacing entire ruins with similar-looking ones to influence enemy summons." I laugh, raising my own.

We drink, and she pours more sake.

"I can't believe you'd waste a fortune to secretly replace the temple of Herakles." She comments, nursing the newly poured cup. "Where did you even find the ruins of a temple of Atalante to replace it with?"

"You're just mad it actually worked." I tease. "And that was before my disastrous deal with Rin. I had money to burn back then, so I just did."

She doesn't laugh at that, she and Rin are civil enough, but they're not exactly friends either. Instead, she drains her second cup, putting it back on the table with excessive force. And staring at me with those beautiful and intense eyes of her. Damn but she's come a long way from the emotionless doll she was back then.

"Nii-san, are you planning on seducing Little Big Sis?"

I should've expected that question, the clues were all there. But I didn't, so I choke on my sake.

"What brought that up?" I ask, trying to gain some time. I mean, it's not that I don't know what's going on, but...

"Don't play dumb with me, Nii-san. It was a rhetorical question anyway." Yeah, Haku rarely acts out, but you can be sure that when she does I don't get any breathing room.

"Well.." I admit slowly. "We aren't actually blood related, and she deserves some love in her life."

"So it's something completely selfless?" Haku, thou sarcasm can fell dragons.

"Hell no." I grab my own cup, and down it too, slamming it back into the table. Alright, let's face this like a man. "There are plenty of ways to make her happy. But Little Big Sis is mine. So I'll make her happy myself. Simple as that."

"I'm yours too. Right, Nii-san?" And here it comes.

"That goes without saying." This was kind of unavoidable, Haku breaking out Raiga-jiji's special 'get laid' sake was a dead giveaway.

"And we aren't blood related either." Her cheeks are flushed and her eyes bright, and damn if my sister isn't the prettiest woman in the world right now.

"That we aren't." Not sure that would've stopped me at this point. Much less her.

"Will you… make me happy too?" Even if I wanted to hold back, that last question would've shattered my self-control.

"Right here, right now." I growl as I lean forward to steal her lips.

Go find your porn somewhere else, you perverts. What happens next is private.

"I'm sorry for being pushy." Sakura's soft voice manages to carry all the way from the kitchen to my room… magecraft might be involved. "I know you don't really need help, but I wanted to help somehow, even if just a bit."

"You don't have to apologize, Sakura-chan." Answers my sweet little sis. "We're happy to have you around, cutting our kitchen time is nothing compared with good company, and we can trade recipes and learn from each other! I'll even teach you all of Nii-san's favorites."

Yeah, that's a bait line if I've ever heard one. Not sure if Sakura will take it. Actually, I'm not sure what Sakura thinks of me in the first place. I mean, we get along good enough, but—

"Would you?" Is that a hint of hope in her voice? "I- I mean, I don't want to impose on senpai..."

"Nonsense, the day Nii-san is displeased by the attention of a cutie like you is the day hell freezes over. So don't worry so much and—"

When she starts a detailed accounting on how things would go from making breakfast to steamy, three-way sex, I decide it's time to cut the connection and count the stains in the ceiling. Some of the steps involved weren't physically feasible anyway, even with magecraft. Haku has too much fun flustering Sakura.

It's half an hour of pointedly ignoring my security spells later that Haku knocks my door and opens it without waiting for an answer. It's not like there's anything I'd do she's not welcome to join in anyway.

"You know?" I comment instead, not bothering opening my eyes. "I wasn't sure about Sakura. For the longest time I assumed she'd fall for you instead."

"Oh, she likes me plenty, Nii-san. But I am not Shirou." And thank God for that. "I can't give Sakura-chan what she needs. My story is too similar to her own, only it ends well. And that's because of you, so it's you she feels attracted to. That and a six-pack one can grate cheese against, apparently."

"Don't remind me." I groan at her teasing. "You dry the sweat off your face with your shirt once, you never live it down. Did you know she fainted back then? I had honestly forgotten how much like Hinata she is at this point."

"I don't think you've mentioned that one before, Nii-san. Another target?"

"Maybe at some point, but she's not even from this world." I open an eye to get a look at her face, but if there's jealousy there, it's hidden better than I can see. "She's a cinnamon bun, you'd like her. But enough about potential future conquests in other realities." I really don't deserve someone like Haku by my side, but I'll have her anyway. Guess the least I can do is try and earn it. "There's still some time until school, so how about I show you how much I appreciate you?"

"As tempting as it is… There's a kouhai in the living room, wringing her hands in worry at the idea of you not liking her food. So chop-chop, Nii-san."

"Yes, yes… What a harsh mistress my little sister is..." Never thought about it before, but if I ever feel the need of a head wife, she would fit the bill quite well. Maybe there's something in her of that other legendary Master she looks so much like? There's hoping she cannot strangle Goetia to death with a single hand, that would be scary.

Well, this is it.

Atomic Gatorade presence confirmed in town? Check.

Within a month from the start of the War? Check.

Dark, cloudy evening with threat of rain where the whole world seems to be against you? Check.

Kuzuki-sensei busy at school helping Haku with her extracurricular project? Check.

Let's go get us a Servant, shall we?