Chapter 12: New base

Kiritsugu was in an empty room talking on the phone. - "Maya, how is our new base?" - asked Kiritsugu on the phone.

"Tomorrow morning, I'll take Saber, Itadori and Madame there." - Maya said on the phone.

"I understand, I'm counting on you." Kiritsugu said after hanging up the phone. The man got up to look at the photo wall that contained the locations of all the masters.

Kiritsugu looked at Tohsaka's photo. - 'No activity at the Tohsaka house. Tokiomi has locked himself there since the Assassin's attack on the first day. The silence is almost unsettling.' - thought the man.

'Master Matou seems defenseless, an easy target. But... Berserker should probably be left alive due to his strange special ability, to distract Archer and Tohsaka. Maybe Itadori can deal with Archer, since he was able to counter Berserker's attacks.' - thought Kiritsugu looking at Matou's photo.

Kiritsugu looked at the photo of Lord El-Melloi. - 'Lord El-Melloi must be out of the running... But Lancer continues. I need to discover the identity of your new Master as quickly as possible.' - thought the tired man.

'Caster's location remains unknown. But last night, several children disappeared from the city again. They will probably continue their atrocities without holding back.' - thought Kiritsugu.

'Rider always rides with his master in his flying Hougo. Tracking him is difficult. Although he appears generous, he is an extremely dangerous enemy. But, most importantly...-' thought Kiritsugu after remembering Maya's words.

"Can we assume that the Assassin has been completely eliminated this time?" - That was Maya's words that Kiritsugu remembered. - 'In that case, his Master... If his plan was to work with Tohsaka and use Assassin to spy on others, then he shouldn't have taken a single step outside the Fuyuki Church. But that's not what happened. His attack on the Einzbern Forest... Both are inexplicable. The good thing is that Itadori managed to defeat his servant once and for all, maybe I should use him... It would all make sense if he was after me from the beginning. But why? Why chase me?' - thought Kiritsugu after lighting a cigarette.

'Two days ago, there was no way for him to know that I am Saber's master... But with Itadori's unexpected arrival, there would be no way to hide it for long. Kotomine Kirei, who are you?' - thought Kiritsugu looking at Kirei's photo.

The next morning, the quartet drove to their new location. Saber was driving the car, while Irisviel was in the front seat and Itadori was in the back seat. Maya had her own car that guided the trio to their new base.

"How does it feel to drive a car, Saber?" - asked Irisviel.

"It really is a splendid thing to drive. I can't help but wonder what it would have been like if this had existed in my day." - Said Saber driving the car.

"If the Holy Grail is like a magic lamp where you can make various wishes, you could wish for cars to exist in Britain." Itadori said, playing with Saber.

Irisviel couldn't contain herself and started laughing at Itadori's comments, it had been a while since the boy behaved like that. Despite being at war, it wasn't the same as it was in Shibuya or Shinjuku, there was no space for games like that there.

"Irisviel, are you sure I can drive this vehicle? You seemed to enjoy driving it." - said Saber.

'I'm sorry Iri... But please, Saber. Don't ever let that woman drive this car again.' - Itadori thought just remembering that scene.

"It's okay. I'm happy if you're happy. But I have to admit, a Servant's skills are incredible. This is your first time operating this machine and yet, you're driving it perfectly." Irisviel said.

"I feel a strange sensation myself, but it's as if I'm using skills I learned a long time ago. Instead of understanding it intellectually, my body knows what to do next instinctively." - said Saber.

"Aw man... I wish I had that Servant skill." - Itadori said.

"Maybe in the next invocation, Yuji." - Saber said jokingly back.

After making small talk, they focused on talking about the mission. - "The place that will be our new base of operations is right in the middle of the battlefield. Won't that be a problem?" - Itadori said worriedly.

"No need to worry about that. Fighting in secret is the biggest rule of the Holy Grail War. The Tohsaka and the Matous maintain their bases in the city. The Einzberns acted differently by setting up that castle in such a distant location. Since the location is not It's known to others, the base that Kiritsugu prepared for us must be more advantageous than the castle we were using." Irisviel said to Itadori.

The quartet arrived at their new base of operations. Irisviel looked at the old building in amazement. - "That's another strange construction." - said Irisviel.

"From now on, this will be your new base of operations." - Maya said, handing the keys to Irisviel.

"Ah, if you could give them to Saber..." - Irisviel said, a little uneasy.

"Understood, Irisviel." - Said Saber, taking the key, the girl with golden hair looked at the old house key. - "Maya, what key is this? It seems to be very different from the others."

"It's the key to the storage room in the garden. It's old, but I've personally confirmed that it's a solid construction. No preparations have been made, so it might look like something like a residence is missing." - Maya said looking at the old house.

"It doesn't matter. I have nothing to complain about as long as it shelters us from the rain and wind." - said Irisviel.

Maya says goodbye to the others and leaves in her black car.

"So let's explore our new home!" - Irisviel said excitedly.

"Okay." - Saber said, apparently excited.

"Here we go!" - Itadori said very excitedly.

The trio entered the old house, and it really wasn't in its best condition. But that's what they had for now.

"This place looks like one of those old houses in horror movies... I just know it's going to take some work to clean it all up." - Itadori said.

"Come on Itadori, don't think that way. A good cleaning in this place becomes a work of art. I bet the hallways have wooden floors, while the rooms are covered in tatami mats and have partitions made of paper! I once said I wanted see a Japanese mansion. Maybe Kiritsugu remembered that." - said Irisviel, extremely excited.

Itadori and Saber were dazzled by Irisviel's sudden excitement and just followed the woman deeper into the Japanese mansion.

The trio walked around the house and after a while, they went to the garden. Irisviel looked too serious. - "Wasn't that what you expected?" - said Saber.

"That's not it, I enjoyed seeing it. But this isn't really an ideal base for a Mage. The magical fields are well defined, but establishing an atelier here... The design is too open to the outside, so the mana will be easily lost." - Irisviel said.

Saber remembered the old key that Maya had given her. Itadori promptly speaks up. - "Let's go to the basement then, there seems to be a more ideal place to use magic." - Itadori said.

The trio went to the garden basement. Saber uses the key to open the basement of the house. After opening it, Irisviel is the first to enter. - "This is ideal! It's a little small, but I can do my magic here." - said Irisviel.

The basement was quite old and dusty, but Irisviel liked it, so there was no reason to complain. - "It's a little small here, but I think it's worth the expense." - Itadori said.

"That's right, why don't we get started? We're going to draw a magic circle here and it should be enough to make this place mine. Let's get started, will you help me?" - There was no denying it, they would both help.

After the two agreed, Irisviel said something. - "Saber, can you get the ingredients we left in the car for me?" -Irisviel said, Saber seemed like she wanted to ask something, but she hesitated to speak. The girl with golden hair comes out of the basement.

Itadori and Irisviel were alone in the basement, there was something that was bothering Itadori and he wanted to ask. - "Iri, there's something I'd like to know..." - Itadori said worriedly.

"And what would that be, Itadori?" - asked Irisviel.

"It seems a little strange what I'm going to say now, but I just want to know if you're okay. You've been avoiding touching anything today. You didn't want to drive the car, hold the keys and you even asked Saber to get the ingredients for you. .. Am I thinking too much?! I wouldn't care about small things like that. That's why it's important for me to know if something is going on with you, if you're not feeling well just talk to me. After all, I'm your Servant and it is my duty to protect you." - Itadori said.

Irisviel saw that she could no longer hide this secret and decided to speak, she sighed deeply and said. - "I'm sorry. You're right. This isn't something I should hide from you." - Irisviel approached Itadori. - "Put your hand up." - said Irisviel.

Itadori promptly raised his hand with a bit of doubt. - "Itadori, I'm going to shake your hand with all my strength. Ready?" - said Irisviel.

"Yes, go ahead.." - Itadori said. Irisviel held his hand and tried to squeeze as much as she could, but Itadori didn't feel anything. - "I-Iri?" - said the worried boy.

"I'm not kidding. That's all the strength I can use... Pushing your fingers is the most I can do. Holding you or squeezing them is beyond my ability. Getting dressed this morning was pretty difficult too." - Irisviel said, letting go of Itadori's hand.

"W-What's the matter? Don't tell me it was because of that incident in the forest?! It was all my fault!" - Itadori said desperately.

"It wasn't your fault, Itadori. This is inevitable... I wasn't feeling very well so I cut off my sense of touch. Disabling one of the five senses allows me to suppress spirituality well, so it won't interfere with anything I do. I think the ability to do things like this is a perk of being a homunculus." - said Irisviel.

Itadori had forgotten this information. - "You mean this is only going to get worse? I-there's nothing I can do?!" - Itadori said.

"As I had said, Itadori. But I'm not a normal human. When I'm sick, a doctor can't treat me. Well, I guess you could say the problem is my build's fault. Don't worry about it. Although that means I'll need you to help me with all kinds of things." - said Irisviel.

Itadori looked irritated. - "Don't talk like that... DON'T TALK THAT WAY! Don't talk like you're a machine! You're not a robot or something, damn it! You call yourself a homunculus or whatever, but to me you are human! The most human person I've ever met in my entire life!" - Itadori said shouting to Irisviel.

"Wh-what happened, Itadori?" - Irisviel said, impressed.

"What I'm trying to say is that you're not a machine or a cog... You're not like me, you shouldn't resemble me. So please Iri, don't talk like that." - Itadori said, lowering his tone.

The two remained silent for a few seconds, Irisviel just smiled and agreed with Itadori. - "It's okay. I'm sorry, Itadori." - said Irisviel.

Saber finally arrived with the ingredients and the trio prepared to perform their magic.

A while later passed and Itadori was alone, thinking about what the Rider had said to him. The boy was outside the house leaning against the wall.

Something came to his mind, it was about Fuyuki. 'Come to think of it, in my time there was never Fuyuki... Saber told me that when we are summoned, we receive information about the time we are in. Could it be that because I was born in Japan, I received information about a city that didn't exist in my time?!' - thought Itadori. - "My head..."

Itadori was wandering so much in his thoughts that he realized there was a girl staring at him. After a few seconds, Itadori finally realized.

After a few seconds, Itadori finally realized

"Uuuh... Did you miss something here?" - Itadori said. The girl wore a blue jacket with red stripes, her hair was brown with a ponytail.

"S-SORRY FOR STARING!...It's just that I didn't know anyone lived in that abandoned house." - said the brown-haired girl.

"Ah, well... We're still packing things up, so it looks like we're just invading, right?" - Itadori said.

"So you're going to live here now? I always walk around here, so I was just surprised when I saw a car parked at this house." - said the girl.

"Well, we're going to live here for a while, it's going to be very temporary. So... You're one of the first people who hasn't looked at me the wrong way." - Itadori said.

"'A crooked look'? What do you mean?" - said the girl.

Itadori was a little uncomfortable. - "Ah... My scar... Right on my face, you know? People usually think I'm a delinquent." - Itadori said.

"Well, my grandfather was in the Yakuza. So his look isn't scary to me at all." - said the girl.

"Thanks for the compliment, I guess... Anyway, my name is Itadori Yuji, but you can just call me Yuji, what's your name?" - Itadori asked.

"The pleasure is all mine! My name is...

Fujimura Taiga."

End of chapter 12