Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Shirou was walking away from Homurahara Academy as he pulled his bike with his left hand behind him.
“Bye, Issei, see you tomorrow.” He said, waving goodbye to his friend who stood near the school’s gate.
The bespectacled, black haired boy waved goodbye to him back. As Shirou was preparing to get on his bike, he heard a familiar voice shout at him.
“Big brother!” A red eyed, white haired 10 year old girl shouted as she ran toward him.
“Ah, Illya. Are you-“
Before he could finish speaking, Illya pushed him to the side, causing him to fall off his back and land on his back on the hard, hot pavement.
“Illya! What was that for?” He shouted.
“Come on, big brother! Don’t be a slowpoke and get up! I’m not planning on waiting even a second for you if you don’t!” She shouted before running forward.
Shirou let out a sigh as he stood up and got on his bicycle once more.
“I wonder what’s gotten her so worked up.” He said as he began to pedal his bike forward.
Despite pedaling as fast as he physically could, he wasn’t able to get anywhere near his sister.
“I can’t wait! I can’t wait! I need to get home as soon as possible!” Illya shouted while running as fast as she physically could.
“YOU’RE 10 YEARS OLD! HOW ARE YOU OUTRUNNING SOMEONE ON A BIKE! YOU DON’T EVEN EXERCISE THAT OFTEN!” Shirou screamed while sweating bullets.
After a few minutes, Illya made it to her house’s front door. She pulled her keys out of her pocket and unlocked the door before running inside.
“Good afternoon, Illya.” Sella, her maid and cousin, calmly said. “I’ve-“
“Did it come? Did it come?” Illya, who had taken her shoes off by the door in an instant, shouted.
“Did what come?”
“A package!”
“Oh, that. I placed it on the table in the living room. I didn’t open it, but from what I could tell, it felt like it had a rather large box inside of it and two smaller boxes inside of that one.
“Oh my god! It’s here! It’s here!” Illya shouted as she bolted toward the living room.
“Ah… crap! I can’t breathe.” Shirou, who was breathing heavily, weakly said as he entered the house and fell to his knees just in front of the door.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know… Illya was running as fast as she possibly could and went faster than me even while I was on my bike. I heard her talking about how she needed to get home for something. Do you know what that could possibly be?”
“Well, a package arrived in the mail today, and as far as I’m aware, nobody in the house ordered-“
Before she could finish speaking, an ear piercing, high pitched scream came from the living.
“What’s wrong?” Sella asked as she ran over into the room.
Sitting on the couch was her sister and fellow maid, Leysritt. There was a large array of snacks in front of her, such as a family sized bag of potato chips, a large bowl that was once filled to the brim with popcorn, several opened boxes of Pocky sticks, a half eaten bag of gummy bears, and a small piece of what used to be a gigantic pretzel that was bigger than Leysritt’s head. On the TV screen across from her was a teenaged pink haired girl in a pink dress engaged in hand to hand combat against a blond man wearing a red cape and a black suit of armor.
“Oh, you’re back, Illya. Want some of my snacks? There’s more than enough for you to-“
“LIZ! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” The white haired girl screamed as she ran over to the TV and turned it off.
“Hey! I was watching that!” She complained.
“THAT SHOW YOU WERE BINGING WAS THE SERIES I ORDERED WITH MY MONEY! AND NOW YOU’RE AT GOD KNOWS WHAT POINT IN THE STORY AND HAVE OPENED THE BOXES WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!”
“Wait! That’s yours? I thought that was Shirou’s or something.”
“What… what are you girls talking about?” He breathed heavily while limping his way toward the living room.
“Knowing what boys Shirou’s age are into, I doubt that either of those two characters you were watching fight would have any clothes on and be doing any fighting outside of the bedroom.” Sella joked with a slight grin on her face.
Not even a second later, Irisviel walked into the living room with a concerned look on her face.
“What’s going on, everyone?” The white haired woman asked as she walked over to her daughter’s side. “I heard everyone yelling and screaming from my room, and I was starting to get worried. Can someone please tell me what’s happening?”
“When I came home, I found Liz sitting on the couch, having opened the package I ordered and watching the entire series Blu-ray of the magical girl anime inside it without my permission.”
“Liz.” Irisviel sternly said as she walked over to her cousin and gently slapped her on top of her head. “Bad girl. Go to your room and think about what you did.”
“What are you, my mom or something?”
“Do as she says, Leysritt.” Sella said as she stood behind Illya and her mother with a disappointed look on her face.
“Fine. I’ll go.” She said as she stood up. “But I’m not cleaning up the snacks.”
Leysritt exited the living room as Sella began walking toward the table where her sister had all of her snacks on.
“Wait. You don’t need to clean anything up.” Irisviel said as she effortlessly lifted the table up. “I’ll do it myself.” She walked out of the living room.
The white haired woman quickly made her way upstairs.
“Wait! Iris! The closest trash can is in the kitchen! You don’t need to go all the way up to the bathroom to dispose of my sister’s leftovers!”
“Mom… why are you taking all of that food upstairs? If you want to eat it, just do it in the living room.” Shirou, who had sat down to help himself relax, said.
“It looks like she was merely pretending to scold Liz to be able to get her hands on all her snacks. How clever of her.” Illya said as she took the Blu-ray out of the player and put it back in its box. “Anyway, I’m gonna go upstairs to watch my anime.”
“All right. I’ll call you downstairs when dinner’s ready.”
Illya quickly exited the living room with both Blu-ray sets, which she had placed back into their boxes, in hand.

-A few hours later-
In the airport, two girls holding suitcases were trying to make it to the exit. The black haired, blue eyed girl who was of Asian descent was walking in front of the blonde, yellow eyed girl of Caucasian descent. The black haired girl had a pensive look on her face as her colleague was turning her head around to look at all the stores and restaurants beside her.
“Hey, Rin, what do all of these say?” The blonde asked.
The black haired girl refused to respond.
“Tell me, and I’ll pay you.”
Rin was about to open her mouth when she decided to stay silent.
“This is your home country. Shouldn’t you be more than eager to come back here?”
“Maybe I’d be more thrilled if you weren’t being so damn annoying, Luvia.”
“Me? Annoying? I’m simply asking questions over here! If I knew how to speak Japanese, I wouldn’t be asking someone who’s flatter than a piece of paper any of this.”
Rin’s clenched her fists as tightly as possible. She took a deep breath before opening them again.
We can’t fight. Our mission was to work together to collect-
“Poorly endowed, less than 10 digits in her bank account, and has a dead father. Pick a struggle, you plebeian.”
Rin gritted her teeth before getting in front of Luvia’s face and screaming.
“I HAD TO ENDURE A NEARLY ENTIRE DAY PLANE RIDE WITH YOU! DON’T START SPEAKING SHIT ABOUT ME WHEN YOU WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO LEAVE THIS AIRPORT WITHOUT MY HELP!”
“OH PLEASE! I MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO SPEAK JAPANESE, BUT I COULD EASILY HIRE A TRANSLATOR TO ACCOMPANY ME HERE IF I REALLY WANTED TO. IT’S CLEAR THAT THE MAGE’S ASSOCIATION ONLY INTENDED FOR ME TO COME TO THIS COUNTRY, AND THAT THEY ONLY MADE ME BRING YOU ALONG BECAUSE I COULDN’T SPEAK THE LANGUAGE!” Luviagelt screamed, pressing her forehead against Rin’s.
“And here they go again.” A red wand with a star in the center of its head and two pairs of wings on the sides of it, which was in Rin’s suitcase, said, sounding unamused.
“Please don’t fight, you two. It’ll only draw unnecessary attention to us.” A blue wand with a six pointed star in the center of its head and two blue butterfly-like wings on the side of it, which was inside Luvia’s suitcase, pleaded.
Her pleading fell on deaf ears as the two magi continued barking at one another as if they were stray dogs fighting for territory.

Chapter Text

-A few hours later-
After going to her room, Illya managed to watch a quarter of her series. As much as she’d like to keep watching the anime she had purchased, she had school the next day, so she didn’t want to stay up too late and risk sleeping in class. However, before she could go to sleep for the night, there was something she needed to do. Illya opened the door to the bathroom and walked toward the bathtub, which she had left to fill a few minutes before. She got inside and sat down. The white haired girl let out a sigh as she put her hands behind her head and closed her eyes.
“I still can’t believe Liz watched my anime before me. At least she didn’t spoil any crucial scenes or plot points and got told off by Sella and mom.” She said to herself, shaking her head in discontentment.
As she sat in the tub, she began to hear some strange noises outside.
“What? Is someone lighting fireworks outside my house?” She asked before opening her bathroom’s window.
Illya looked out of it and saw what appeared to be two humanoid figures floating in the air. One of them had black hair and blue eyes, wore a red and white dress, red boots that went up to her thighs, red sleeves that ended just below her armpits, and had a black cat tail and cat ears. In her right hand was a red wand, while in the other was a silver gun. Her opponent was a blonde with yellow eyes who was incredibly well endowed and wore a blue and white dress, white boots with blue and black knee high socks, blue sleeves that went just above her elbows, and had yellow dog ears and a tail. They appeared to be engaged in combat as they shot beams of magic and would either avoid the attacks or deflect them by summoning a shield.
“Enough of this! I’ve had it up to here with a good for nothing like you!” Rin shouted as she shot a barrage of magical beams at Luvia.
“Good for nothing? That’s real funny for a translator! You’re so incompetent at everything that’s not knowing your native language that you can’t even wound me!” The blonde taunted as she summoned a blue shield to deflect the attack.
The attacks bounced off her barrier and headed straight toward Rin. The black haired girl managed to avoid the projectiles as she gritted her teeth.
“Just die already! You’re as annoying and attractive as a cockroach!” The red magical girl yelled.
“You know, I’d make a snarky remark about how saying this sort of thing would make little children who dream of being magical girls cry, but knowing the state of that genre, your words really wouldn’t be too out of place.” Magical Ruby said as she shot another barrage of magic at her enemy.
She quickly followed this attack up by pointing her gun at Luvia and shooting three colorful jewels straight at her opponent. Although the blue magical girl’s shield managed to withstand Rin’s magical attacks, once the jewel hits it, Luvia’s barrier completely shattered.
“MAGICAL SAPPHIRE! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? I THOUGHT YOU COULD DEFLECT OR BLOCK ANY ATTACKS!”
“Well, not all of them. If an attack is stronger than my user, then it’ll break my shield. It just so happened that Rin’s attack was that strong.”
“You’re kidding! No way that plebeian managed to-“
Before she could finish speaking, Rin flew over to Luvia and kicked her directly in the jaw, pushing her backward.
“Who do you think you are to manage to injure me?” She yelled.
“Die already! I don’t care if the Mage’s Association bans me or has me arrested! I won’t ever be at peace knowing that someone like you is in this world!” She shouted as she raised her gun.
“Please, stop fighting! You two were ordered to come to Japan together! Killing each other won’t solve the-“
“I don’t care about the mission anymore! The only thing that matters is that the bimbo dies!” Rin shouted.
As she was about to push down on the trigger, Magical Ruby spoke up.
“All right, that’s enough. This was funny at first, but it’s starting to get on my nerves.” Ruby said as she slipped out of the black haired girl’s hand. “I’m outta here. See you, if you survive the fall that is.” Ruby said before beginning to fly away.
“RUBY! YOU BASTARD!” Rin screamed as she plummeted toward the water beneath her.
“Ohohoho! Good job, Ruby! You took out the trash for me. Now, come to me, and together, your sister, you, and I will locate and capture all-“
“I’m sorry. But just as my sister did with Rin, I’ve deemed you to be unfit to be my master. I’ll begin my search for a new master to take your place and finish this mission at once.”
Magical Sapphire quickly slipped out of Luviagelita’s left hand. “I wish you only the best. That is if you survive this fall.”
The blonde looked down. She was easily over 1,000 feet in the air, and while she was above water, at this height, it wouldn’t soften the fall even a little bit.
“DAMN YOU, SAPPHIRE!” Luvia screamed as she fell toward the water.
“Nope! Not getting involved in that mess!” Illya shouted as she closed the window to her bathroom. “Magic being real is cool and all, but I absolutely don’t want to be a part of whatever was happening over there.” The white haired girl let out a sigh as she submerged her head in the water, trying to forget what she had seen.
“Sapphire, can you sense anyone with potential nearby?”
“Yes. They’re near this area. I hope they’re better than whatever was up with that rich girl.”
“Good. I’ve already sensed who may potentially be my new master. See you later, sister.” Ruby said before flying forward.
She flew so fast toward a house in the distance that a ring of fire formed around her. As she neared the bathroom window, she shot out a golden arrow from her bottom.
“New master, here I come!” She eagerly shouted as she burst through the window of the room Illya was in, causing the white haired girl to scream. “You have potential, so whether you like it or not, become my master!” She shouted as she zoomed toward Illya.
She tried to submerge her head in the water to avoid the sentient wand’s attack, but before she could fully manage to, it grazed her right cheek.
“W-WHAT WAS THAT FOR?” The white haired girl screamed as she clenched her left cheek.
“So that you could become a Stand User, of course.”
“S-Stand User? W-What nonsense are you talking about?” Illya shouted as she grabbed the wand with both of her hands. “You stupid piece of plastic! How dare you break into my house while I’m naked and attack me! I’m gonna smash you to bits!” She yelled as she swung the wand downward.
Before she could slam Magical Ruby on the side of the bathtub, the tub wrapped its body around the white haired girl’s arms. With her grip on Illya secured, the Kaleidostick moved its head forward, causing her to avoid making contact with the rim of the tub.
“HEY! LET GO OF ME!” Illya screamed as she flailed her arms up and down in an attempt to throw the wand off her.
“No can do. Now that you’re my master, I’m not letting you go anytime soon.”
“No! I didn’t even know magic existed until like 3 minutes ago! I don’t want to be your master! Please let me go!” She pleaded.
“Hmm… you know what, I think I could break this contract of ours. I’m a kind girl, after all. Just tell me your name, and I’ll let go of you.”
“All right.” Illya said, letting out a sigh of relief. “My full name is Illyasviel von Einzbern, but mostly everyone I know just calls me Illya.”
“Well then, Illya! I’m pleased to say that from today on, you are the lucky girl that gets to be my master!”
“YOU BACKSTABBER!” Illya screamed as a beam of yellow magic shot into the air, going through her house’s roof.
Not too far from Illya’s house, Rin, who was completely drenched with salt water from head to toe, was running toward the beam of magic.
“No! I’m too late!” She shouted.
Inside the bathroom, Illya had suddenly transformed. Instead of being completely nude, she was wearing pink boots that went up to her thighs, a pink dress, white gloves that went up to her elbow, a white cape with crosses on both ends of it, pink butterfly shaped hair ties, and red earrings. She looked at her hands before bringing them up to her face and shouting.
“Wh-What just happened? W-Why am I wearing this?”
“You transformed, obviously. And I must say, your outfit is so much better than my previous master’s, it’s-“
“What are you saying?” Rin, who was standing on the window frame, angrily said.
“Y-You’re alive?”
“Obviously! Did you really think that a fall from that height would be enough to kill me? She turned to look at Illya. “Hey, kid. Would you mind handing that back to me? She’s my wand.”
“Sure thing!” Illya said with a large smile as she handed Magical Ruby to Rin.
Rin tried to grab the wand, but for some reason, she couldn’t pull Ruby out of her hand.
“Come on! Let go of it!”
“I’m trying to, really!”
“There’s no point in this, Rin. I’ve already made Illya my master. Try as you might, you’ll never be able to pry me out of her grasp, and even if you somehow managed to, you won’t be able to use me as you’re not my master anymore unless I permit you to be-“
Before Ruby could finish speaking, Rin pointed her Stand at the Kaleidostick.
“A gun?” Illya gasped.
“Fine then. Looks like I’ll just have to torture you until you make me your master again. I’ve been needing to buy a few targets to test my aim on. You’ll do just fine.”
Magical Ruby gulped.
“Come on, Rin, don’t say such things. I’m sure we can work something out. I don’t want to go back to working with you, as you’re not fit to be my master. However, I’m sure Illya over here would be more than eager to join forces with you to complete your mission.”
“No, I’m not!”
“I see. Well then, Illya, whether you like it or not, you’ll be helping me collect the seven Class Cards.”
“Seven what now?”
“I’ll explain later. Right now we have somewhere to go.” Rin shouted before grabbing Illya’s left hand and jumping forward, dragging the white haired girl behind her.
“What’s happening right now?” She shouted.

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
Rin and Illya were walking in a straight line through the streets of Fuyuki with seemingly no goal. Thankfully, since it was quite late, there wasn’t anybody outside. Otherwise, there would’ve been a lot of people stopping them to ask why Illya was wearing such an odd outfit.
“Where are we going? It just kind of seems like we’re wandering around aimlessly.”
“I’ll tell you when we get there. That’s all you need to know.”
“Okay then, can you at the very least tell me your name?”
“My name is Rin Tohsaka. I wouldn’t say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but you do have the fortune, or misfortune depending on your view of this whole situation, of meeting me.”
“And I’m Illyasviel von Einzbern, but everyone I know just calls me Illya.”
“Your name doesn’t sound very Japanese, you know. Are you white or something?”
Illya nodded her head.
“My mom is German, and my dad is Japanese, but I’ve lived in this country my whole life.” Illya looked to her left and then her right but didn’t see anything of note. “Anyway, how much longer do we have to keep walking for? I don’t want to be out this late at night. I have school tomorrow.”
“Well, too bad. We’re not going home until we get what we came for.”
“Then can you at least tell me why we’re here right now? I’d really appreciate it if it would get me to stop feeling like my time’s getting wasted.”
“Sure thing, Illya!” Magical Ruby cheerfully said. “This mean old crone’s dragging you around town because she needs your help to collect the seven Class Cards, which are basically a set of very powerful magical items. Essentially, two weeks ago, the Mage’s Association, a huge coalition of magi from all across the world, detected an abnormal distortion of magic in this city. They dispatched a group of investigators to try to find the cause behind this… but… they kind of, sort of… you know… died. Their bodies were unable to be found, but they were fortunately able to find the cause behind this odd occurrence before they met their doom, that being the seven Class Cards. Due to their deaths, we hardly know anything about them. However, it should be reasonable to assume that these cards are stronger than even the strongest magus and that they’re most likely near the area they were last spotted in.”
“Wait… you’re telling me I’m going to risk my life for something I didn’t willingly agree to?”
“Of course!” Ruby cheerfully said.
“…Rin…”
“No whining. Those magi who fought against the Class Cards were all small fry. I’m sure a magical girl like you and a powerful Stand User and magus such as myself will be able to capture each and every one of the Class Cards with ease.”
As the black haired girl finished speaking, the three of them reached the courtyard of Homurahara Academy.
“Why are we at my school? Don’t tell me this is where a Class Card was last sighted!”
“That’s indeed the case. However, Class Cards don’t appear to go after regular people, so your friends at school aren’t in any danger of being attacked by them whatsoever. They only seem to go after magi such as myself and you at the current moment.” As Rin finished speaking, she pulled out her gun from her side. “The Class Card should be here any moment now, so while we wait, let me explain something to you. Since Magical Ruby decided to make you her master, that can only mean one thing. You at the very least have the potential to be a Stand User. If you weren’t already one, Ruby has most likely pierced you with her Stand Arrow. This will cause your Stand to awaken soon.”
“You two have mentioned that Stand thing a few times now. What even are they?”
“To make things brief, Stands are the manifestation of one’s fighting spirit. They all have different abilities and appearances. While my Stand, Happiness is a Warm Gun, takes the appearance of this pistol in my hand, yours may look differently. It may be different, more humanoid, or is bound to an object such as mine.”
“Do you know how long it’ll take for my Stand to awaken?”
“No clue. But it shouldn’t take too long. It could be in a few minutes, an hour or two, or even tomorrow. The time it takes for someone to awaken their Stand is different from person to person.”
As the black haired girl finished speaking, she heard what sounded like someone dragging their feet. Both she and Illya quickly turned around and saw a disheveled man with long blue hair slowly approach them. He was wearing a black bodysuit with a glowing blue lightning-like design going through it, and on his left shoulder was a white fur cape. Covering his eyes was a black visor with the same glowing blue lightning-like design running across it.
“Ey, lasses.” He said, breathing heavily. “Have you seen a girlie around? Around the pink one’s age and height.” He laughed.
“Rin, what is this strange man talking about?” Illya whispered as she raised Magical Ruby in front of her.
“No clue, but I doubt it makes even a lick of sense. Pay his words no mind.” She quietly responded.
The man began to growl at them.
“You’re ignoring me?” He began to sniff the air, causing a smile to spread across his face. “Oh, I get it! You two reek of that same pungent odor as that guy from a few days ago! I hate! Hate! Hate that vile stench! How dare you mock me with it!” He shouted before lunging at the two magic users.
“It looks like he’s the Class Card! Brace yourself, Illya!” Rin shouted.

Chapter Text

“UMM… RIN, HOW DO I USE THIS THING?”
“I don’t know! Just make some bullshit up! I don’t have time to explain!”
The man let out a growl as he swung his hands straight at Illya’s face, attempting to maul her face. The white haired girl narrowly managed to jump to the left in time to avoid the attack.
“G-GET AWAY FROM ME!” Illya screamed before summoning a large pink rune in front of herself and shot a barrage of small pink magical projectiles directly at the Class Card.
The man stuck his tongue out of his mouth as he effortlessly avoided the projectiles and continued making his way toward the magical girl.
“LEAVE ME ALONE!” She screamed as she summoned another large pink rune in front of herself and shooting a large pink beam of magic from it.
Her enemy effortlessly jumped into the air to avoid it. As he fell toward her, the blue haired man opened his mouth as wide as possible and moved his head in an attempt to get better access to her neck.
“WHY IS HE ONLY GOING AFTER ME?” She screamed as a pink rune-like shield appeared in front of her.
The man landed directly on the barrier, preventing him from sinking his teeth into her neck.
“From what little we know so far, it appears that this man abhors the very presence of magic. He seems to mainly be targeting you because, at the current moment, you’re far stronger than me.”
As Rin spoke, the man slammed his fists against the shield. After just a single blow, the shield began to crack.
“THEN HELP ME!”
“Sorry, kid. I’d love to, but at the moment, I’m practically just a normal teenage girl. This guy would eviscerate me with ease and then move on to you. I’ll only get involved if you absolutely need it.” She calmly said as she began to stretch.
After another slam, Illya’s barrier completely shattered. The man began to grin from ear to ear and breathe heavily as he began to fall toward his enemy.
“I’m starving!” He gleefully shouted as he grabbed the white haired girl by the hair.
“UNHAND ME!” She screamed as she swung Magical Ruby downward, shooting a large pink blade-like projectile at her enemy.
The man let go of her for less than a second, got on all fours, and then jumped. He opened his mouth as wide as he possibly could and then bit down on the white haired girl’s neck. His canines dug into her throat, causing blood to leak out of it and her mouth and for breathing to become difficult. The Class Card began to run around on all fours, dragging Illya’s legs on the ground as he shook his head around to sink his teeth into her further and to disorient her in an attempt to prevent her from attacking. After a minute of running in a circle, he dropped Illya and got on top of her. He then looked up at the sky and let out a howl as he stared at the moon before moving his head down, grabbing the magical girl’s left arm with his teeth, and tearing it off with a gentle pull.
“ILLYA!” Rin and Magical Ruby screamed in unison.
As Illya struggled to breathe, the Class Card grabbed the severed limb with his hands and began to tear at the skin and flesh as if he were eating a chicken leg.
“LOOKS LIKE EVERYTHING’S UP TO ME!” She screamed as she pulled Happiness is a Warm Gun from its holster and pointed it at the Class Card.
“Illya! Hold on! I’m healing you as I speak! You should be good to go soon!”
Magical Ruby’s words were nothing but incoherent gibberish to the white haired girl as she began to lose consciousness. Illya tried to speak to her wand, but the only thing that came out of her mouth was the sound of her coughing on her own blood and her futile attempts to breathe.
“This little chick’s meat is so tender! It tears off the bone without needing to use any force.” He manically said before taking another bite of the child’s arm. “Unfortunately, with prey this small, their meat tends to run out real quick! However, someone like you should last me several nights!” The blue haired man put the arm down as his eyes drifted upward to stare at Rin.
“Take another step forward, a-and I’ll shoot!” The black haired girl shouted, her arms quivering slightly as she pointed her Stand at the Class Card.
The man howled with laughter before, without any warning, rushing directly at Rin.
“You asked for this!” She shouted before pulling her Stand’s trigger.
Three colorful gems that heavily resembled a ruby, an emerald, and a topaz shot out of the Stand’s barrel and flew toward the man. He opened his mouth as wide as possible, allowing him to consume the attacks in a single mighty gulp. Before he could get too close to her, Rin pointed her arm at him and screamed.
“GANDR!”
Suddenly, a large black magical orb appeared in front of her hand. She quickly launched it at the blue haired man. The Class Card effortlessly slapped the attack away with his right hand before raising his left and slashing at Rin’s face with his razor sharp nails. She let out a pained scream as he pounced on her, pinning her to the ground as he swiftly lowered his head to her neck, biting into her throat.
“No… I can’t lose… to that bimbo…” Rin weakly said as her mouth filled with blood and her vision began to grow hazy.
So this is how we die, isn’t it? I’m gonna die in front of my school… in the middle of the night… for something I never agreed to do. I’m really going to die without ever accomplishing anything… or even finishing that Blu-ray set I bought. Illya began to close her eyes. My mom… brother… and my maids are going to mourn me… but he won’t. I bet that man won’t even know I’m dead for months, and if he ever does find out, he probably won’t care! A parent should never outlive their child, and if they do, they should be absolutely heartbroken! But that man won’t! Damn it! DAMN IT ALL! Suddenly, Illya’s throat wounds began to freeze over as her arm finished regrowing. IF THAT MAN DOESN’T CARE ABOUT ME OR HIS FAMILY, THEN I’LL DO SOMETHING THAT WILL MAKE HIM CARE! I’LL SURVIVE, COLLECT ALL OF THE CLASS CARDS, AND BECOME ONE OF, IF NOT THE MOST POWERFUL MAGUS ALIVE! THEN HE’LL HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO ACKNOWLEDGE ME!
Suddenly, an ice cold gust of wind blew toward the Class Card, causing him to turn around. The blood and drool on his mouth instantly froze over as his smile slowly lowered. Illya had managed to stand up, and all of her injuries had either healed completely or been frozen solid to prevent her from bleeding out. Standing behind her was a tall, muscular, feminine humanoid with ruby red eyes and long, messy white hair. She was gritting her teeth and clenching her fists as she stared down at the blue haired man.
“A-A Stand?” He shouted.

Chapter Text

“Finally! About time that Stand of yours awoke! Don’t scare me like that ever again! You almost gave me a heart attack!” Magical Ruby shouted.
Illya remained silent as she continued glaring at the Class Card. After a handful of seconds, the blue haired man flashed a feral grin as he got on all fours once again and began to growl, baring his teeth at the white haired girl.
“So what if you have a Stand? It doesn’t matter whether you’re a magus, a Stand User, or both! You’re still just nothing but prey!”
He burst into laughter before rushing directly at Illya.
“Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow now!”
The Stand cracked a grin before rushing straight at the Class Card. The man jumped high into the air and opened his mouth as wide as possible while aiming straight for her throat. Right before he could attack her, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow uppercutted him in the stomach, sending him flying upward. The area of his armor that was hit dented and was then covered by a thick layer of frost. The Stand wasted no time and quickly jumped into the air before slamming her fists downward into his head. The attack was so powerful that he was sent plummeting into the ground, causing a large impact crater to form around where he landed. The Stand landed directly on his stomach, causing him to spit out blood due to how heavy she was. Once on top of him, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow threw a barrage of punches at his stomach, chest, and head, effortlessly pulverizing the bones in those areas. Once she was done, the Stand jumped off him and landed beside him before pounding her chest and letting out a roar as she stared up at the sky. As she did this, a powerful gust of wind spread across the courtyard, covering everything with a thin layer of snow.
“Good job, Illya! The Class Card’s weak! Use your Stand to finish this!” Magical Ruby enthusiastically shouted.
The white haired girl didn’t say a single word as her Stand grabbed the man by his hair and began to spin him around as if he were a bag. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow let out a deafening cry before chucking him forward, throwing him straight at a wall that was a few feet away from them. The Class Card went through it and landed in the driveway, where he began to whimper.
“Illya? Hello? Kill him before he can recover.”
Instead of responding to her wand, Illya began to calmly walk forward until she reached her Stand’s side.
A few seconds later, the Class Card staggered to his feet as trails of frozen blood going down his head, chest, and stomach remained in place.
“Ey, lassies! Looks like you’re done holding back! In that case, I have no reason to either!” He crazily shouted.
He summoned a long red spear into his hands and pointed it directly at the magical girl.
“Oh no! Illya, this isn’t good! H-He just summoned an incredibly powerful weapon! Kill him before he gets the chance to get it anywhere near you!”
Yet again, the white haired girl remained silent.
“What’s the matter? A dog got your tongue? Don’t worry! You won’t be needing a tongue where you’re going!” He maniacally shouted before rushing straight at the white haired girl. “Now! Run through her, Gae Bolg!” He laughed, a red aura appearing around his spear’s tip.
The Stand cracked a smile as he said his weapon’s name.
“ILLYA! NO!” Ruby screamed.
The blue haired man thrust Gae Bolg straight at Illya’s chest, going directly through it. The white haired girl moved her head to the left and then to the right, waiting for something to happen, before she put her left hand on the weapon and pushed it out.
“Is that everything?” She calmly asked.
“W-What? How are you still alive?” The blue haired man shouted.
“My Stand froze that paltry display of magic and any wounds your weapon caused before anything of note could happen. Funnily enough, your attack activated just by saying this oversized stick of yours name, not actually striking at me.” She said as she put her hand on her chest.
Before the Class Card could say anything, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow threw a powerful kick straight at his side, launching him to the left. As he landed on the ground, he grabbed his spear tightly and began to grit his teeth.
“DAMN THIS SHITTY STICK! IT’S JUST A WASTE OF GODDAMN SPACE THAT CAN’T EVEN STRIKE DOWN A LITTLE CALF!” He effortlessly tore Gae Bolg in half before throwing its remnants to the ground.
He began to breathe heavily as a thick black aura appeared around him.
“If this body and weapon won’t do, then I’ll just get rid of both of them!” He screamed as his aura completely engulfed him.
What was left of his armor began to break apart and fall to the ground, except for what remained on his upper legs and shoulders, as his body became more canine-like. Every inch of him was covered in a thick layer of white or blue fur, and his mouth grew into a snout as a pair of dog-like ears appeared on his head. Once his transformation was complete, the aura dissipated, allowing his enemy to see him in his full glory.
“Oh, he’s a furry… great…” Ruby said, sounding disgusted at her enemy’s new form.
The Class Card let out a howl before rushing straight at Illya. He jumped into the air and shot several Gae Bolgs at the white haired girl. She and her Stand quickly jumped out of the way as the projectiles hit the ground, exploding upon making contact with it.
“STOP MOVING!” He screamed as he summoned two more Gae Bolgs and swung them straight at Illya’s head.
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow grabbed them and effortlessly split them in half before grabbing the man by the hair.
“I’ve grown tired of your nonsense. Die.” Illya coldly said as her Stand punched straight through his chest without any effort, forming a huge hole through it.
“My heart…” He weakly said as Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow pulled her arm out of him. “…I was supposed to do that… to you…”
Although he ceased breathing a few seconds after having his heart destroyed, he continued standing. Suddenly, he took a step forward and swung his dagger-like claws at Illya’s head. He missed completely and fell to the ground, vanishing in a puff of smoke and leaving behind a card that depicted a man wearing a large hat with a feather on it holding a lance. The word lancer was written beneath him. Illya walked over to it and picked it up.
“In the end, he proved to be all bark and no bite.” Magical Ruby cheerfully said. “Still, you took a lot longer than I expected you to after you got your Stand. Why’s that?”
“He needed to pay after what he did to me.” Illya calmly responded. “I only stopped when it wasn’t fun anymore.”
Rin, whose injuries had been frozen, quickly ran over to Illya and hugged her.
“Illya! You did it! You singlehandedly defeated the Class Card! Now hand it over.”
“No.”
The black haired girl’s eyes widened.
“What do you mean, no?”
“I got this card by myself. I’m under no obligation to give it to you, especially since I never agreed to help you out of my own volition.”
“You little brat!” Rin shouted. “It’s my duty to get them all back! If you get to keep them, there’s no telling what the Mage’s Association will do to me!”
“I don’t care about what happens to you! You get on my nerves!”
“HAND THE CLASS CARD OVER NOW!” She screamed as she reached for it.
Before she could grab the card, a muscular arm with checkered half black, half purple skin shot through Illya’s chest and grabbed the Class Card in her hand. Her and Rin quickly turned around and saw a black haired, yellow eyed girl standing behind her. She was wearing white shoes, purple stockings that went up past her knees, a purple outfit that left her sides exposed, and a white cape. In her left hand was Magical Sapphire.
“The Class Card belongs to me. Anyone who stands in my way will be swiftly eradicated.” She calmly said, not sounding the slightest bit thrilled.
Her eyes looked empty, as if they were going to start crying at any moment.
“S-Sister! W-What are you doing?” Magical Ruby shouted.
“Forgive me… my master truly doesn’t want this…”
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow let out a roar as she appeared and headed straight toward the girl. Before she could hit her, another disembodied hand appeared behind her and hit her in the back. Although the attack didn’t injure her, it caused her to freeze in place and start shaking, leaving her stunned and completely unable to move.
“I’ve got what we came for. If you continue to oppose me, you’ll meet the same fate as that girl, Rin Tohsaka.” She calmly said as both disembodied arms vanished, causing Illya to fall to the ground.
Before Rin could do anything, the girl jumped away.
“ILLYA!” Rin and Ruby screamed in unison.
Illya quickly lost consciousness as blood poured out of her.

Chapter Text

-
Illya began to open her eyes. She sat up and saw that she had somehow made it to her room. She put her hands on her chest, only to feel that the gigantic wound the magical girl had inflicted onto her had somehow closed on its own. She looked down at her clothes and saw that she had somehow been changed into her pink pajama shirt that had red hearts going down it, along with matching pants.
“Wait a minute… was all of that just a dream?” She asked herself as she pinched her left cheek. “Ruby, Rin, where are you guys?” She asked as she opened the window and looked out.
There wasn’t anybody nearby. She got on the floor and looked beneath her bed, only to find nobody there. The white haired girl stood up, walked over to her closet, and opened it. Just like the two other places she had checked, there wasn’t anybody hiding in there.
“Huh, I guess it really was a dream, and I must’ve died at the hands of that magical girl at the end, which caused me to wake up.”
As Illya spoke to herself, the door to her room opened and Leysritt stepped inside.
“Are you seriously still not dressed? You’re getting to levels of lazy that rival my slothfulness, which is bothersome because that means there’s one less person to do my household chores for me.” Liz yawned. “Anyway, breakfast’s ready. Your mom, Sella, and Shirou are all waiting for you in the kitchen.”
“Tell them that I’ll be there right away. I’m just going to put on my uniform.”
“All right. But don’t take too long, or else my sister’s going to think I lied to her again.” She said before walking away from Illya’s room.
With her maid now gone, the white haired girl reached into her backpack and pulled out her uniform. She quickly changed her clothes before running to the left of her bed where her backpack was. Illya put it on before running downstairs into the kitchen. Irisviel’s face lit up as she noticed her daughter run into the room.
“Illya, where were you last night?” The white haired woman asked as her daughter took a seat across from her.
In the center of the table were bagels, slices of toast, slices of ham, salami, jam, butter, and scrambled eggs, all of which was either cooked or served by Shirou.
“What do you mean?”
“Last night, you went to take a bath. You were there for seemingly an hour until Sella decided to check up on you. When she opened the door, she noticed that you weren’t there and that the window had been shattered. She then went to your room to make sure you weren’t just playing some cruel prank on her and saw that you weren’t there either. Now that she knew you weren’t anywhere in the house, she quickly checked the entire city before coming back home at around 2 in the morning once she was unable to find you. Sella was about to tell me that you went missing and call the police when she noticed that you had somehow been brought back home, fully clothed, without any signs of trauma. Since it appeared that you were all right and it was incredibly late, she decided to save any questions until the morning.”
“Yes. Why didn’t you tell me about where you went? I almost had a heart attack because I thought you were abducted!” Sella complained.
“Mom, Sella, I’m sorry I went outside so late without telling anyone. Some things involving a school friend came up, and I had to suddenly go to her house.”
“Really? What happened?” Shirou asked.
“It’s something personal. I’m sure my friend wouldn’t mind me talking about what happened, especially if it’s with my family, but for her privacy’s sake, I don’t feel comfortable talking with all of you about it.”
“I see. You’re a good girl, Illya. I’m happy that you’re more than eager to help your friends, but if they’re ever in trouble, please tell us you’re going somewhere. You wouldn’t want to make Sella and me worry about you, right?”
“Of course not, mom. I’m sorry for making you worry, Sella. If I ever have to go out on short notice, I’ll text you.”
“It’s all right, Illya. I forgive you.”
“Enough with the talking. Let’s dig into our breakfast. I’m starving over here.” Leysritt said as she entered the kitchen and grabbed a bagel and stuffed it full of salami and ham.

-20 minutes later-
After finishing her breakfast, Illya left for school. She was nearing Homurahara when a familiar voice began to speak to her.
“Hey, Illya. Miss me?”
The white haired girl quickly turned around and saw Magical Ruby, who no longer had her handle, floating behind her.
“R-Ruby? What are you doing here?” She shouted, pointing at the wand.
“What kind of question’s that? You’re my master, and it’s my duty as your loyal Kaleidostick to aid you wherever you may go. Basically, think of me as a cute mascot character from a magical girl anime.”
“Usually the mascot of a magical girl anime is a cute fairy or an animal like a cat, a penguin, or even a ferret that acts more like an echidna, not literally the magical girl’s transformation device and weapon.”
“That’s splitting hairs, and you know that. Regardless of whether I truly count as a mascot or not, you’re still my one and only master. And it’ll stay that way until death do us part, because I sure as hell am never going back to that flat as a board hag.”
“Fine. But get in my bag and don’t cause any trouble, or I’ll crush you with my bare hands.”
“All right. I’ll do as you say, master.” Ruby said as she slowly slipped inside of Illya’s backpack. “I slipped in here before you woke up, and I’ll remain here until I’m needed.”
A few minutes passed, and the white haired girl made it to Homurahara Academy. She quickly entered the school, went upstairs, and continued walking until she reached class 5-1. She opened the door and saw that her teacher still hadn’t gotten to class. Illya quickly walked to her desk as the bell started to ring, signaling the start of class.
She’s late as always. The white haired girl thought as she put her head on desk and closed her eyes. She probably won’t be here for a few minutes. I should use this time to get some rest.
As she started to slowly drift off to sleep, she felt someone gently tap the back of her head.
“Don’t fall asleep yet, Illya. Class is about to start.” A girl with short, neck length brunette hair and brown eyes said.
“Mimi… I’m sorry… I’m just so tired. Ms. Fujimura probably won’t be here anytime soon… so I’m using this time I have until then to sleep.”
“Really? What did you stay up so late for?” A bespectacled, black haired, blue eyed girl who sat near Illya asked.
“I had to stay up really late to help out a friend of mine with something… Suzuka…” She groggily said.
“Why did you help her out? You knew today was a school day. You could’ve just told her to wait until after school today.” A pink haired girl who sat close to Illya suggested.
“…Well, Nanaki, she kind of forced me to help her… plus it was sort of urgent…” She yawned.
“You should’ve let the mighty Tatsuko handle it! If you let me help you, your issue would’ve been resolved before midnight!”
“No… you would’ve just made things worse…”
As Illya finished speaking, a woman with short brunette hair and brown eyes calmly strolled into the classroom.
“Forgive me for being late, everyone, but I assure you all that it was for a perfectly good reason.” Taiga turned to look at the door. “Class, I’m pleased to announce to all of you that we have a new student today.” She raised her left arm toward the door, only for nobody to step inside. “Come on, there’s no need to be shy. Nobody’s going to bully you or make fun of you, I promise you.” She calmly said.
After a few seconds of standing behind the door, the girl in the hallway took a deep breath before entering the classroom and walking over to her teacher.
Illya slowly opened her eyes and was appalled at the sight in front of her. The magical girl who had punched a hole straight through her chest had somehow managed to transfer to her class.

Chapter Text

The white haired girl began to clench her fists and grit her teeth as she stared at her new classmate. Mimi and Nanaki turned to stare at Illya while Suzuka was looking at the black haired girl with a surprised look on her face. Tatsuko was somehow completely oblivious to everything happening around her and was staring at the ceiling.
“Hello… everyone…” The new student said as her hands fidgeted. “My name is Miyu Edelfelt… I’m from Finland… but I’m part Japanese… and I know how to speak the language fluently.” She quietly said as she tried to not make eye contact with any of her new classmates.
“Illya, are you okay?” Mimi asked as she looked at her head.
She swore that she could literally see fumes being released from her head and that she was shaking from the immense amount of rage she was experiencing.
“You look like you want to murder the new girl. If you do that, save it until after school’s done. I wouldn’t want you to get arrested in front of a bunch of kids and a womanchild.” Suzuka suggested.
The white haired girl didn’t hear any of her friends’ words and continued glaring at Miyu. The black haired girl turned around and wrote her name on the blackboard behind her.
“I hope that… we can all be good friends…” She sheepishly said as she tapped her index fingers together.
Miyu could feel her classmates staring holes into her. One person was especially keen on staring at her chest. She could also faintly hear several other people whispering amongst one another.
“She looks pretty Japanese, at least to me. Just how Finnish even is she?” A student in the back to the left of Illya and her friends asked.
“Maybe she’s half Japanese. Either way, as long as she can perfectly speak, read, and write the language, I doubt her exact ancestry matters.” A boy sitting next to the girl who had asked the question said.
“I wonder if she knows any of her culture’s food.” A girl sitting in the middle of the class’ front row asked herself.
Due to all of the staring and chattering about her, Miyu went behind Taiga.
“Oh, it’s all right, Miyu. Everyone’s looking and talking about you because they’re interested in you and want to get to know you more. Everything will be all right.”
The brunette moved her head to the left and then the right to look for a desk for the new student to sit at. She only managed to see one, and that seat was located behind Illya, who looked like she could pop a vein at any moment.
“See that one scowling white haired girl in the back of class? Yeah, the only empty seat here is behind her.”
Miyu took a deep breath before slowly making her way to the desk. As she walked toward it, she passed by Illya, whose ire had not subsided even one bit. She sat down at her desk before asking the girl in front of her a question.
“Hello… have we met before? You seem really into me, for better or worse.”
“Don’t play coy with me, you bitch.” Illya calmly said as she turned to Miyu. “If you keep trying to act all cute and innocent and like you don’t know what you did to me, I can guarantee that by the end of the day, that head of yours will no longer be attached to your-“
Before Illya could finish threatening her, Taiga began to speak to the class.
“Okay, everyone. You’ll have time to talk with Miyu later. But right now, we gotta start class!”

-40 minutes later-
The first period of the day was English, and it went by incredibly uneventfully. Somehow, Miyu was able to speak and read English perfectly without even a hint of a Japanese accent. Most people just assumed she was part British or American and didn’t think too much about it. Eventually, second period came. Taiga had written a question about volume on the blackboard.
The base's radius is 1 cm and the height is 3 cm. We want to find the volume of this cone.
“Would anyone like to volunteer to solve this problem?”
Taiga looked around the room but didn’t see anyone with their hand up. However, she noticed that Tatsuko was fast asleep but had drawn some unusually well drawn eyes over her eyebrows to make herself seem awake.
“Tatsuko, what’s the answer to this problem?”
“I don’t know… 21…”
“HOW DID YOU GET 21 FROM THIS?” Taiga screamed.
The class laughed at their teacher’s antics. Feeling second hand embarrassment from this, Miyu raised her left hand.
“Ms. Fujimura. May I respond in Tatsuko’s stead?”
“Sure thing. You’re more than welcome to come up.”
The black haired girl stood up and walked to the blackboard. She grabbed a piece of chalk and began to write down her answer for the question. Taiga looked away for a few seconds to not make her student feel any more pressure than she was surely feeling and only turned to look at her when she realized that it was taking much longer than it should’ve.
“Do you need any help with-“ Taiga’s mouth went agape when she saw that her student’s answer included integrals and formulas. “O-Oh my god… how can you do that? A girl your age shouldn’t even know what any of what you just wrote means.”
“Really? I thought it was pretty simple to understand.” She said, sounding perplexed by her teacher’s surprise.
As Miyu spoke, Illya began to chuckle. Mimi and Nanaki stared at her as Suzuka nodded her head.
“Hmm… interesting.”

-40 minutes later-
After the shock that was Miyu’s more detailed than necessary explanation on how to find the volume of a cone, the rest of the period wasn’t notable. Eventually, third period arrived, and the class began to focus on art. The children were tasked with drawing self portraits of themselves. Taiga was walking around the classroom, and for the most part, most of her students’ art was nothing to write home about. While some were clearly better than others, all of them were easily able to be determined to have been drawn by 10 year olds. As she approached the backmost right corner of the room, Taiga saw a few interesting things.
“Tatsuko… how are you sculpting a statue of yourself? I didn’t give you any materials for such a things!”
As her teacher looked on with shock, Tatsuko continued to carve into a marble statue. The sculpture depicted a fully nude Tatsuko sitting on a large rock with her hand beneath her chin. The statue appeared to be pondering something deep.
“You’ll see.” The blonde cheerfully responded as she looked up at her teacher.
Taiga shook her head before she walked over to Suzuka’s desk. Mimi was sitting beside her and was also drawing something. As she got closer to the girls, it became evident as to what they were both drawing. Mimi’s self portrait depicted herself to the left and Suzuka to her right. The black haired girl had seemingly undone her friend’s uniform’s bow and was leaning in for a smooch. Meanwhile, Suzuka had drawn the same thing, except she had genderswapped both of them to make them boys. Despite their young age, their artwork was incredibly high quality, like something you’d see on the cover of a manga.
“What’s that?” Taiga asked, unsure if she was getting into anything embarrassing for them.
“You told us to draw ourselves in whatever way we’d like, and both my good pal and I decided to deconstruct the walls of heteronormativity, isn’t that right, Mimi?”
“Yep.” She nodded while glancing at Suzuka with a rather deep blush on her face.
Taiga decided to not ask any further questions and instead walk toward Miyu’s desk.
“What do…” She couldn’t even finish her sentence when she was completely stunned by her student’s drawing.
Miyu had drawn herself in all sorts of unrealistic colors and perspectives.
“C-Cubism? H-How?”
“Well, you told us to draw ourselves in whatever way we wanted, so I decided to break down the shapes that compose my face and mess with the perspective to see how it’d look like.”
Taiga walked away from Miyu without asking any more questions.
“Please be normal.” Taiga calmly said as she took a quick glance at Illya’s drawing.
Compared to the girls sitting around her, Illya’s self portrait appeared to be typical for a 10 year old girl. It was rather crudely drawn and paid no mind to shading, size, or perspective. Taiga burst into laughter upon seeing it.
“FINALLY! SOMETHING NORMAL!” She screamed before hugging her student.
“W-What did I do?”
Taiga didn’t respond as she continued to tighten her hold on her student. Miyu turned to look at what was happening, causing Illya’s fists to clench once again.
“This is all your fault, and you know it.” The white haired girl murmured.

-40 minutes later-
After inspecting her students’ artwork, Taiga spent the rest of the period outside. Once the bell rang, she led her class to the cooking class’ room, which wasn’t being used by anybody. The children were all tasked with making hamburger steaks. Illya and Mimi were busy molding the hamburger meat with their hands into a star and a heart, respectively, when they suddenly heard people shout and talk loudly.
“HUH? MIYU? HOW DID YOU MAKE ALL OF THAT WITH JUST A PAN IN SUCH LITTLE TIME?” Taiga screamed.
Illya and Mimi put their hamburger meat on the tray in front of them before running over to the source of the noise. In front of Miyu was a fully cooked hamburger steak with a side of mashed potatoes and broccoli, an entire bowl filled to the brim with ratatouille, a salad with sliced hardboiled eggs and cherry tomatoes on top of it, an oxtail soup, a slice of cheesecake, and a glass of freshly squeezed apple juice.
“Oh, I have my ways.” She said, giving her teacher a sheepish smile.
All right, this is definitely the work of a Stand User. You pretend to be all cute and meek in person, but once you’re in private, you show your true colors. I’ll have to repay you the favor once we’re alone. Illya thought, a wide grin spread across her face.
As the white haired girl stood completely motionless, Suzuka stared at her.
“I think now’s about the time I get involved.” She murmured to herself.
She’s smart, a good artist, and an excellent cook. Miyu would make a perfect housewife. Taiga thought as a smile spread across her face.

-40 minutes later-
PE was up next. All of the students had changed into their PE uniforms and were sitting on the ground, waiting to be called on to race one another. As the previous race ended, Taiga began to speak.
“All right. May Illya and Miyu please race against each other?”
“Okay.” The black haired girl quietly said as she stood up and walked over to her teacher,
“With pleasure.” The white haired girl said as she walked over to her opponent.
As the two stood next to each other, they got into a starting position.
“On the count of three! One, two, three!” The brunette shouted.
Illya and Miyu began to sprint forward. They were both incredibly fast but were managing to keep up with one another. Right as they were about to reach the gate, they were competing to see who could touch first, Miyu got a narrow lead on Illya and managed to touch the gate first.
“I win.” She calmly said, smiling slightly.
Illya began to shake as a grin spread across her face.
“Ms. Fujimura, may I use the bathroom?”
“Sure thing, Illya.” The white haired girl quickly ran into her school.
“Can I go too?” Suzuka asked.
“Go right ahead.”
The black haired girl quickly stood up and ran after her friend.

-
Illya quickly ran to the girls restroom on the first floor. She splashed her face with water as she shouted.
“Damn that girl! She’s always showing off and trying to be better than everyone! I could’ve let it slide if she just spoke English well, but after showing off her excellent artist, cooking, and running skills, it just feels like she’s trying to piss me off!” She slammed her right fist onto the counter, causing it to shake.
Before she could continue speaking to herself, Suzuka entered the room.
“I can’t believe the girl who almost killed you ended up joining our class.” She laughed. “I wonder if it’s to spy on you.”
Illya’s eyes widened at her friend’s comment.
“W-What? You saw us last night?”
“Yep. I was taking a jog around the city when I saw you in a weird outfit getting punched clean through the chest by Miyu. I still can’t believe you’re a Stand User now.”
“W-Wait a minute. You saw my Stand? That means you’re a Stand User too!”
“Yep. Wanna see it?”
“Of course!”
“All right! Reveal yourself, Mississippi Queen!”
A tall, pixelated demon-like figure with a red face and orange eyes appeared behind Suzuka. It wore black pants and pointy brown shoes but was shirtless.
“Whoa! Cool!”
“Now that I showed you my Stand, why don’t you show me yours!”
“All right! Come out, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow!”
Several seconds passed, but Illya’s Stand was nowhere to be found.
“W-What? I can’t summon my Stand.”
“Fascinating. Either your Stand has something about it that won’t allow it to activate until a certain condition is met, you’re just really incompetent at using it, or both. Hey, Illya. Why don’t we spar using our Stands for a little while? Let’s see what gets and doesn’t get it to come out.”
“Sure. But let’s set up some ground rules. If one of us gives up or severely injures the other, we’ll quit. Is that all right with you?”
“It sure is. Now, since you’re unable to use your Stand, I’ll go first. Hold nothing back, Mississippi Queen!”

Chapter Text

Mississippi Queen opened its mouth before shooting a row of orange liquid straight at the white haired girl. The odd fluid released a putrid scent into the air that could only be described as a mix between hot sauce and iron. Illya narrowly managed to jump away from her attack before running straight at the Stand User.
“We don’t have any time for this, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow! Come out and show Suzuka your full power!” She shouted as she threw a punch straight at her enemy’s stomach.
Although it was a powerful attack, it only managed to get the black haired girl to wince from the pain and get pushed back a few feet.
“Come on! Don’t play around! I need your power right-“
“You’re open!” Suzuka gleefully shouted as her Stand threw a kick at the side of the head.
The blow sent the white haired girl flying into the wall to the left of the door. She slowly slid down it until she was sitting on the floor.
“Are you all right, Illya? I’m willing to stop if you feel like you can’t possibly keep fighting.”
“No… I’m fine.” She gleefully said with a smile on her face and with one eye closed. “If my Stand won’t come help me, then I’ll just beat you with my bare hands!”
“Suit yourself. Don’t come suing me if I accidentally give you permanent brain damage.” She calmly said as her Stand suddenly rushed directly at her. As it grew close to Illya, it threw a punch directly at her head. The white haired girl narrowly managed to dodge it before grabbing onto the Stand’s arm and pulling it forward, causing it to run forward and hit the wall, leaving it stunned. Using this small period of time, Illya ran toward Suzuka and threw a kick at her side. The black haired girl managed to jump to the side, but before she could land on the ground, her enemy rushed forward and pinned her to the ground. She wasted no time beginning to punch at her chest and stomach and slapping away Suzuka’s attacks as she attempted to push her off or stop her from attacking her.
“That’s enough!” Suzuka said with a wide smile on her face as she noticed Mississippi Queen standing behind her enemy.
Without any warning, the Stand grabbed its enemy by her arms. It effortlessly slammed her into the wall behind her before slamming her onto the floor. It then stomped on her back, causing her to let out a groan and making her unable to even crawl forward.
“Just give up, Illya. Without your Stand, you’re just an ordinary elementary schooler who will never be able to overpower Mississippi Queen.”
“No! Until I’m knocked unconscious, I will never submit to you!” She shouted as she grabbed onto the Stand’s leg.
Using all of her strength, she pulled it forward, causing it to fall straight toward its master. To avoid accidentally hitting her, it vanished. Now without her Stand, Illya quickly ran at her. She grabbed her by the hair, forcing her to get up, and then pulled her directly into her fist, hitting her just above her glasses in the forehead. This caused her head to recoil from the speed at which she hit Illya’s hand. The white haired girl immediately followed this up by kneeing her directly in the stomach. She spat out blood before Illya pulled her hair to the side and pushed her to the ground. Without wasting any time, she ran directly toward her opponent, and once she was close to her, she jumped into the air. Right as she was about to land on top of her, Suzuka grabbed her by the arms and slammed her behind her, causing her to hit the ground with a thud. The white haired girl winced from the pain as she attempted to stand up on shaking legs.
“Now! Finish this, Mississippi-“
Before she could finish speaking, the door to the girls bathroom opened. A green haired girl around the same age as the two of them entered the room. She was about to walk toward the stalls when she saw the two girls lying on the ground, grabbing at each other while their faces were red and their hair was disheveled. They were breathing heavily as they turned to look at the girl.
“I’M SORRY IF I’M INTERRUPTING ANYTHING!” She screamed as she ran away from the bathroom as quickly as she possibly could.
The two girls quickly moved away from each other as they sat up to catch their breath.
“How high do you think the chances are that she snitches on us to a teacher?”
“Pretty high, I’d say.”
Illya began to clench her fists.
“How dare some brat interrupt our fight!” She shouted as she stood up.
“Honestly, I’m kind of surprised it took that long for us to get caught. I mean, we were yelling and slamming each other onto the floor and into the walls.” Suzuka cheerfully said as she stood up.
A few seconds after they finished speaking, the green haired girl and a teacher with long black hair ran into the bathroom.
“What were you girls doing?” She shouted. “I understand that you girls are at an age where you’re are interested in each other’s bodies and that you may be a couple, but school is absolutely not a place to-“
“SUZUKA IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND, AND YOU’RE INTERRUPTING SOMETHING IMPORTANT!” Illya screamed as a cold gust of air shot out of her, sending a chill down Suzuka, the green haired girl, and the teacher’s spine. “GET OUT OF HERE OR DIE!”
Suddenly, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow appeared behind Illya and rushed straight at the two girls. It let out a thunderous roar that reverberated throughout the hall as it raised its left arm and prepared to pummel them into a fine paste.
“Mississippi Queen! Now!” Suzuka shouted as her Stand appeared behind her.
It quickly nodded its head as its two arms transformed into rectangular cannons. The Stand quickly shot the same orange liquid that it had previously shot at Illya, hitting them straight in the chest. It quickly melted their shirts, and while it felt as though their skin was being burned by boiling hot water, in actuality they were perfectly fine. They let out shrieks as they covered their chests before running out of the restroom. Before they could leave the two girls’ fled of view, they put their hands over their mouths and ran back into the bathroom, headed directly toward the two closest stalls to them, entered them, and then closed the door behind them. From outside the stalls, Illya and Suzuka heard what sounded like them puking before something hard hitting the floor. The white haired girl got on the floor and looked beneath the stalls’ doors to see that they had been knocked unconscious.
“Are they dead?” Illya asked, sounding a bit disappointed.
“No. They’re perfectly fine. I just knocked them out using my Stand’s ability. From that little display, I’m sure what you already have an idea of what Mississippi Queen can do, but I already have a guess about what your Stand’s ability is, so I guess we’re even.”
“Now that my Stand’s out, you have no reason to hold back. So, Suzuka, give me everything you’ve got.”
“Gladly!” The black haired girl gleefully shouted as her Stand shot two powerful torrents of orange liquid straight at Illya.
Before they could get close to her user, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow ran in front of them. Right as they were about to hit the middle of her stomach, the projectiles froze solid and fell to the ground, completely shattering.
“What? It looks like just blasting her with our ability won’t be enough to get her to admit defeat! You’re gonna have to get up close and personal, Mississippi Queen!”
The Stand nodded its head before jumping at its enemy. It attempted to kick her in the neck, only for the Stand to effortlessly block the attack by raising its right arm. Using its free hand, it grabbed Mississippi Queen’s leg and began to swing it toward the roof. Before the Stand could manage to make contact with it, Mississippi Queen shot a torrent of orange liquid at its enemu. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow moved its left arm to block the attack. Although the Stand wasn’t hurt by the attack, both she and her master began to feel a burning sensation in the area that had been hit.
Damn it. It feels like my skin’s about to melt off. She thought as she grabbed her arm. But I don’t think it’s actually doing any damage to me. In that case, I’ll just power through it and end this here!
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow slammed Mississippi Queen through the roof, causing a sharp pain to run through Suzuka’s back. She felt as if her upper back had hit something hard but didn’t think too much about it. The Stand then threw her opponent straight at the wall, causing an impact crater to form around it. Suzuka fell to her knees.
“All right, Illya. You-“
Before she could finish speaking, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow jumped at her and threw a powerful punch straight at her stomach. The black haired girl spat out blood as she hit the wall behind her, landing beside her Stand.
“WAIT! TWINKLE SNOW POWDERY SNOW, SUZUKA GAVE UP! WE-“
The Stand let out a powerful roar as it rushed at its enemy. It moved its right arm back, preparing a punch. The black haired girl raised her left arm over her face and closed her eyes tightly, but before Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow could hit her, Illya ran in front of her and covered her with her body.
“Stop this at once! Suzuka’s my friend! I don’t want you to kill her!”
The Stand lower her arms before letting out a deep growl and vanishing.
“Are you okay?” Illya asked, turning around and offering her friend her hand.
“Yeah… I’m all right. My back hurts a lot, and I feel like my stomach got kicked by a kangaroo, but I should be perfectly fine by tomorrow. If not, I’ll just get my sister to bring me to a hospital.”
The white haired girl sat beside her friend.
“So what was your Stand’s ability anyway? Does it shoot lava or something?”
“You’re close. My Stand shoots a hot sauce-like liquid from its mouth and arm cannons that can melt clothing and cause a burning sensation in whatever body parts it touches. If it touches a more vital part, like someone’s chest or head, it’ll cause them to experience such an extreme burning sensation that they’ll vomit and usually pass out soon afterward.” Suzuka put her hands behind her head and took a deep breath. “Enough about me. Let’s talk about your Stand’s ability. I believe that its ability is related to freezing objects, and it seems like its trigger is related to anger. When we started fighting, you weren’t that angry, but when that teacher and student tried to get us in trouble, you snapped, and your Stand appeared.”
“That’s a reasonable assumption. She only awoke last night when I was in a similar situation too.”
“I see. Although it’s starting to look like your Stand’s trigger is you feeling a deep sense of rage, we can’t be certain about that. Let’s skip school tomorrow. I’ll be waiting for you in front of your house to bring you somewhere where we can confirm how to activate your Stand.”
“Sounds like a plan.” The white haired girl said as she stood up. “Before I leave, what are you gonna do with that student and teacher you knocked out?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of them. You just go back to PE.”
“All right. See you later, Suzuka.” Illya, who was smiling faintly, said as she ran out of the room.

Chapter Text

-A few hours later-
The school day came to an end, and Illya began to walk home by herself.
“So you fought another girl your age and didn’t bring me to watch it? I’m absolutely heartbroken.” Magical Ruby, who was hiding in the white haired girl’s backpack, quietly said. “If I could, I’d absolutely be sobbing right now.”
“For what reason?”
“Well, videos of school fights usually get a lot of views and attention on social media sites. If I got the chance to record you and your friend beating each other silly, I could’ve found a way to monetize it and become disgustingly rich!”
“Oh please. Most of the video would’ve just been the two of us suddenly getting hit and thrown around by nothing. Unless your intent’s to cultivate a fanbase of solely Stand Users, which I doubt there are enough to make any money out of, most people probably would’ve come to the conclusion that it was edited or faked.”
As Illya continued walking, she noticed that Miyu was walking directly in front of her. Although she already knew she was walking ahead of her, she ignored her as she thought she was just going to walk away and leave her be, but it seemed like she was going in the same direction as her with no intentions of moving to the side.
“Why is this bitch walking in front of me? Is she playing dumb and waiting for me to show her where I live so that she can attack and kill me in my sleep?” She murmured as she began to seethe with rage.
Suddenly, Magical Ruby began to feel a burst of cold air enter the backpack she was in.
“H-Hey Illya? Can you calm down! I feel like I’m gonna get turned into an ice sculpture at this rate!” The Kaleidostick complained, trying her best to not scream.
“How do you expect me to stay calm when the person who almost killed me is probably trying to stalk me? Look, you said you were upset that I didn’t let you film my fight with Suzuka. Well, now you have the perfect chance to record two little girls beating the shit out of each other!” A wide grin spread across the girl’s face as she glared at Miyu.
As the black haired girl continued to walk forward obliviously, Magical Sapphire, who was hiding inside of her master’s backpack, began to speak.
“Is it just me? Or did you suddenly get a chill up your spine too?”
“I’m sure it’s nothing, Sapphire. You’re just being paranoid.”
Miyu and Illya continued walking for several minutes. It took everything the white haired girl had to not summon her Stand and pay her classmate back by punching her through the chest, but somehow, she managed to control her ire. As she reached her house, Miyu began to walk toward the left. Illya turned to look at her and saw that she was walking toward a gigantic mansion with a large gate surrounding it.
“T-That’s her house? Ju-Just H-How rich is she?” Illya shouted as Miyu pushed open the gate and walked inside. “M-My family’s pretty wealthy, but even we don’t live like this!”
“Hmm… I doubt this is her money.” Ruby said as she floated out of her master’s backpack to take a look. “Although I never knew this Miyu girl even existed before yesterday, she bears the surname Edelfelt and claims to hail from Finland. Couple both of these things with her immense wealth, and it can only lead me to one conclusion: she was adopted by Luviagelita.” The wand and a very familiar voice said the last part in unison.
Illya looked up at her house’s roof and saw Rin sitting on it. She was staring at the huge mansion with a serious expression on her face.
“Rin? What are you doing there?”
“I came here earlier to talk to you, but before I could do thar, I noticed that they were building something across the street. They were working at speeds I didn’t even know regular humans could move at, and before I knew it, they made this mansion completely from scratch.”
“Wait. When I left for school, construction hadn’t even started. Just how did they possibly build this behemoth so fast?”
“I-I don’t know. Not even the fastest magus would be able to pull off what the people who worked on this mansion did.” Rin shook her head.
“How long have you been up there for?” Ruby asked.
Rin looked around the area and noticed that there were kids walking home from school in nearby streets.
“I lost track of time, but to give you a visual, I was here when children were still walking to school. Now they’re all going home.”
You could’ve been arrested for this, you know.” Illya calmly said. “You’re lucky that my mother, cousin maids, or the people living across the street didn’t see you and call the police.”
“Yeah, I know. But the information I got from doing this is absolutely invaluable. Not too long after they finished constructing this place, that girl who was walking in front of you and… Luvia… entered it with suitcases full of clothes, and then that black haired girl exited it and left for school.”
“So it looks like you were right about Miyu trying to murder you in your sleep.” The Kaleidostick cheerfully said.
“Wait a minute, who is this Luvia girl you and Ruby keep mentioning?”
“Luvia is a fellow magus who I was assigned to work with to gather the Class Cards. If she were a normal person, this wouldn’t have been a problem. However, she just loves to ridicule and make fun of me, always flaunting her two biggest assets, her cow-like tits and her family’s fortune that’s probably made off the backs of an emerald mine filled with child slaves, and always talking down to me. One day, I had enough and tried to kill her using Magical Ruby.” Rin began to shake with rage. “But then this wisegal just had to abandon me before I could get the killing blow on her, causing me to plummet thousands of feet toward the ground! Luvia’s Kaleidostick, Magical Sapphire, abandoned her soon afterward. It seems like she also survived the fall, found Sapphire’s new master, and decided to move next door to be able to spy on you.”
“Is that all you came here to tell me? Seems like a pretty big waste of a day in that case.”
“No. I just got sidetracked by all of this Luvia business. What I actually came here to tell you is that we’re gonna go to Fuyuki Bridge at around 11 at night.” Rin said as she stood up. “I suggest you prepare yourself for later.”
“All right. See you.”
The black haired girl jumped to the ground before running away.

Chapter Text

Illya turned around and opened the door to her house. She quickly stepped inside and began to walk toward her room when she was stopped by Sella.
“Umm… Illya.” The maid said.
“Is something the matter?”
“I’m sure you already saw it while on your way here, but somehow, someone had an entire mansion built while you were away from school. Your mother was waiting for you to come home before she could say welcome to our neighbors, but she got impatient and went before you could come.”
The white haired girl’s mouth went agape before she suddenly ran down the stairs.
“Illya! Why are you running?”
“I need to get to my mom!” She shouted as she ran out of the house.
“What’s wrong with her?” Leysritt asked as she stood up from her couch and walked toward her sister.
“I-I don’t know! Sh-She was fine just a moment ago!”
Illya ran toward the mansion’s gate and quickly pushed it open.
“MOM! MOM!” She screamed as she ran towards its front entrance. As she ran approached the door, a powerful gust of cold wind blew out from behind her, covering the ground and gates in a thin coat of ice and snow. “I’M GONNA SAVE YOU, MOM!”
Right as she was about to knock the door down, Irisviel walked out of it with a smile on her face. The white haired girl stopped in her tracks as she saw her mother.
“Mom, what are you doing here? Are you all right?”
“What kind of questions are those? I’m unsure of how they were able to build such a large mansion in such little time, but regardless of the reasoning, the residents of it are our neighbors now. As such, I went to speak with them. The owner of this estate, a Finnish blonde girl who looks to be around the same age as Shirou, greeted me at the door and invited me inside for some tea. We talked about why she came to Japan and got to know each other a bit.”
“What did she say?”
“She told me that she came to Japan because she was visiting some family nearby and that this is pretty much a vacation house for her. Apparently, she’s planning to go back home to Finland in a week or two, but there will still be maids and butlers living in her mansion year round to take care of it.”
“I see.” Illya said, not believing any of Luvia’s nonsense. “At least you’re all right. Let’s go home.” She said before walking away while pulling her mom forward.
The snow and ice on the ground had already melted from the harsh June heat, allowing Illya and Irisviel to exit the mansion’s front yard without any trouble. Standing in front of a large window on the second floor was Miyu. She had a neutral expression on her face, but her eyes were watery. As she was about to leave, Luvia approached her.
“My, I can’t believe Ruby’s new master looks just like her mother. I was about to kill her on the spot if I hadn’t noticed her breast’s sudden increase in mass.”
“They may seem the same from the outside, but they’re totally different on the inside.” The black haired girl gently said. “Irisviel seems like such a kind and good natured woman, while her daughter is standoffish and quick to anger.”
“Oh yeah, you’re her classmate now. I’m guessing she was restraining herself from smashing your head in all day.”
Miyu slowly nodded her head.
“I understand why, though. Illya doesn’t seem like a bad person. Maybe if I could get closer to her, we could-“
“Nonsense. That girl is Ruby’s new master and allies with Rin. You could never befriend someone like her.” She kneeled down beside her and hugged her from behind. “Besides, you don’t need any friends. I’m more than enough for you, Miyu.”

-An hour later-
Taiga had finished packing up and was about to head home when she decided to use the first floor’s bathroom. She entered it and immediately let out a shriek as she noticed that a good portion of the ceiling had been knocked down.
“NO!”
She ran over to the large pile of rubble that lay in the center of the restroom and began to search through it.
“THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING! PLEASE! STAY WITH ME!”
After combing through the debris for several seconds, she found what she was looking for. She grabbed what was once a flat white camera that blended in perfectly with the ceiling that had been split in half during Illya and Suzuka’s battle.
“DAMN IT! I’M GONNA HAVE TO BUY A NEW ONE!” She looked around the room to make sure nobody was in any of the stalls. “Worrying about the expenses of getting this replaced can wait until later! I need to see if I can recover the footage!” She yelled, running out of the bathroom.

-Many hours later-
Illya lay in bed. It was quite dark outside, and almost the time that Rin said she would be coming to pick her up. As such, she wasn’t in her pajamas.
“What’s taking her so long? I’m bored.” Ruby asked.
“I don’t know. She’s probably still on my roof, stalking Miyu and Luvia like the creep she-“
Before she could finish speaking, Rin, who had Happiness is a Warm Gun pointed in front of her, appeared behind Illya’s window.
“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?” She screamed, although her thunderous voice was muffled by the glass.
“About time you got here.” Illya said as a grin spread across her face. “Both Ruby and I were starting to get bored.”
The black haired girl opened the window and jumped into the room.
“I’m guessing we’re gonna go search for the Class Cards now, right?”
She nodded her head.
“Yes. Now hurry and transform so that we can get out of here already!”
Magical Ruby quickly transformed, regaining her handle, and flew into Illya’s right hand, allowing her to transform as well.
“Good. Now let’s get out of here. Follow me and try not to make too much noise. I’d hate to have a repeat of yesterday.”

-Half an hour later-
Rin and Illya were walking through the streets of Fuyuki City. The walk to their destination was incredibly uneventful. They didn’t run into any people or vehicles, and Illya wasn’t as uncooperative as she was the day prior. Eventually they made it to the underside of Fuyuki’s bridge.
“All right, the Class Card should be somewhere around here.” Rin calmly said, Stand in hand.
“Should we look around, or should we wait for it here?”
“Hmm…” The black haired girl put her free hand on her chin. “That man stumbled upon us on his own, but I doubt all of the other Class Cards will be anything like him. Especially in behavior, appearance, and abilities. Plus, standing in place can allow our enemy to set up long ranged attacks and get the first hit on us while we’re unprepared. The only reason why the previous one didn’t do just that is because he used a primarily short range weapon. I think it’d be best if we look for them.”
“All right. Hold on tight.” Illya said before jumping up and grabbing Rin’s hands.
The black haired girl held onto her ally’s hands tightly as she possibly could as Illya began to fly upward. The white haired girl soared hundreds of feet into the air and began to look around the area but was unable to see anything of note.
“I can’t see any suspicious people nearby. From the looks of it, the Class Card left the area.”
“If that’s the case, then start-“
Before Rin could finish speaking, the sky was filled with purple and black magical spheres. Illya turned her head to the left and saw a woman in a black cloak that hid her eyes, who wore a purple dress under it, and a massive staff in her right hand, sitting inside of a tree. She was grinning from ear to ear and had seemingly only opened the leaves of the tree she was inside of to view her enemies’ reaction.
“RIN! THE CLASS CARD! IT’S-“
Illya was interrupted by the orbs shooting at her in the form of gigantic purple and black beams without any warning. Ruby quickly set up a shield, but the attacks effortlessly went through it and hit the two girls. Not even a second later, both of them plummeted into the river beneath them.

Chapter Text

Illya quickly grabbed onto Rin’s left hand and, using her free hand and legs, swam upward toward the surface of the water. The white haired girl looked up at the sky and saw that it was still covered in magical spheres.
“The Class Card’s sitting in a tree while we’re in a river, completely surrounded by her attacks. What do you suppose we do?” Rin asked.
“The only thing I know how to do!” Illya said as a grin spread across her face.
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow appeared behind her and quickly slammed her left fist in front of her, freezing all the water she made contact with. The two girls quickly got up onto the icy platform and began to run forward. Each time Illya’s feet would touch the water, it would quickly freeze over, allowing for herself and Rin to run across it. The smile on the Class Card’s face remained as she shot another barrage of projectiles at the two of them. As the orbs neared the two magic users, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow began to let out a roar, while they froze solid and harmlessly fell to the icy ground. With her attacks unable to come anywhere near her enemies, the Class Card was forced to get out of the tree she was in and run away.
“You’re not going anywhere on my watch!” The white haired girl gleefully said as her Stand hit the ground with her right hand, launching her into the air straight toward the woman.
“Illya, wait!” Rin shouted as she made it to solid land.
As the black haired girl ran toward the tree the Class Card had previously been hiding in, she felt as if someone was watching her.
“Who’s there?” She shouted, pointing her Stand in front of herself, slowly moving it around to ensure any opponent would be able to see it clearly.
Slowly, a man with long, blue, disheveled hair wearing a wrinkled and torn purple umanori hakama and kimono and with a ridiculously long, 4 foot sword on his back walked out from behind a tree. The right side of his kimono had been ripped clean off, and while most of his other clothing was still intact, they all had cuts and holes in them, he was barefoot, and most concerning of all, his eyes appeared to have been gouged out.
Another Class Card? Rin thought.
“Hello, young lady.” The man politely said. “Are you going somewhere?”
Rin didn’t respond and slowly began to walk away from him.
“There’s no need to be nervous. I’m not the type to bite.”
“My friend passed by here. I need to go help her with something.“
“Hmm… I see. It seems like you and her are both trying to defeat Caster. I’m sure that if she were still herself, she’d be going easy on you two and let you beat her. However, in her current state, she wants nothing more than to see the two of you suffer and die.” The man softly smiled. “I’d personally be glad to let you through to help your friend, but unfortunately, she has ordered me to stop you at all costs. What swordsman would I be if I went against her orders?” He grabbed his sword from behind his back, pulled it out of its scabbard, and pointed it at Rin. “Please perish any thoughts of aiding your friend and return home. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I was forced to hurt a young girl.”
“I’m not backing away no matter what you say. It’s my duty to collect the Class Cards, and even if Illya’s stronger than me, I want to help her. Besides, I’m competing with someone to collect all of them. I already lost one of the Class Cards to her! I won’t let her take another!”
“Very well then.” The man said before walking away from Rin while still facing her to create some space between the two of them. “My name is Assassin, and I will hold nothing back to protect my master.”
“I’m Rin Tohsaka, and I’ll do everything in my power to defeat you and collect the Caster Class Card!”
“Make your move, Tohsaka.”

-Millennia ago-
A blue haired, blue eyed woman lay unconscious on the shore of a beach. Standing in front of her was a blue haired, blue eyed man whose long, flowing mane was tied into a ponytail. He was wearing a purple umanori hakama over a lighter purple kimono, white socks with black zori, and had an over 4 foot tall sword on the equally as lengthy scabbard on his back. There weren’t any boats for as far as he could see, and the girl’s clothes were dripping wet, leading him to the conclusion that she was from a foreign land. Although her hair was the same color as his, her skin was a fair bit paler, and their facial features weren’t very similar. The man brought his left hand to her mouth to make sure she was breathing. Thankfully, she was, albeit very faintly.
“Who knows how long you’ve been out here for? I should bring you back home.” He whispered as he slowly picked up the unconscious girl and placed her over his shoulder.
As he walked away from the beach, the girl began to stir. Her eyes quickly widened once she noticed thar she was in the arms of an unfamiliar man.
“Looks like you’re up sooner than I expected.” The man calmly said as he looked down at the girl. “Are you hurt?”
“No… I’m fine.” She softly said, her cheeks flushing slightly. “Who are you?”
“I’m no one special. I’m just a wandering swordsman who’s dedicated to becoming as skilled with the blade as humanly possible. My name’s Sasaki Kojirou, but you could just call me Kojirou. What’s your name, miss?”
“It’s Medea…”
“I’ve got to say, that’s quite an unusual name, but it’s definitely a lovely one. I’m guessing you’re not from here, are you?”
She slowly nodded her head.
“I see. Would you like to live with me for the time being?”
“Yes. I’d be most grateful for that.”

Chapter Text

-Present-
Rin slowly backed away from the swordsman to get out of range of his gigantic sword.
What is this man thinking? Being so eager to bring a sword to a gunfight. It doesn’t matter how much he compensates; a sword will never be able to beat a gun. The black haired girl thought as she pulled her Stand’s trigger, causing it to shoot three gems at her enemy.
Kojirou effortlessly hit them with the flat side of his blade side, launching them to the side and causing them to explode.
“My turn.” He calmly said.
With an inhuman burst of speed, Kojirou managed to run in front of Rin before she could even blink. The blue haired man swung his sword to the left of Rin’s chest. Due to his weapon’s immense length, jumping away would’ve done nothing. It was for this reason that the Stand User was forced to duck beneath the attack.
“You’re open.” He said before throwing a kick at the black haired girl’s stomach.
The attack sent her flying backward and caused her to spit out blood. Without giving her a chance to even land on the ground, Assassin lifted his sword upward toward the midsection of her back, intending to bisect her. Right before he could manage to, Rin shot another batch of three gems at Kojirou’s sword. Before they could make contact with it, the gems exploded, causing the blade to move downward. This gave her a brief few seconds to use her left hand to backflip and get her feet back onto the ground.
Crap! I only have two gems left yet. I’m not sure how useful Gandr will be against this, and reloading will take a bit too long for my liking. I have to end this quick. She thought, slowly backing away from Assassin.
“A firearm is a coward’s weapon. It requires none of the skill wielding the blade or even a bow does, and whenever someone gets too close for your liking, you people tend to flee with your tail between your legs. Still, compared to most other gun wielders my master has faced, you definitely seem the least cowardly.”
“I don’t know whether I should take that as a compliment or not, but flattery will get you nowhere!”
“Indeed, but neither will a lack of skill!” He flashed a grin before suddenly appearing in front of Rin.
He was so incredibly fast that the magus couldn’t process his movement.
Showing off my one trump card could be a horrible idea if it fails. But if this goes well, not only will I be at an advantage, I’ll be able to save on having to reload Happiness is a Warm Gun!
Kojirou swung his sword toward Rin’s legs. The black haired girl jumped high into the air and grabbed her right arm with her free hand.
“GANDR!” She screamed before firing several incredibly fast black and red magical spheres at the Class Card’s face, left arm, and right leg.
Although they were a bit faster than Happiness is a Warm Gun’s bullets, they weren’t nearly as strong as them. Regardless of how fast or tall his sword was, it would be impossible to deflect all three of them, meaning that he would have to jump away to dodge the attack, which would leave him open to the two remaining shots from Happiness is a Warm Gun.
“Impressive. An attack like this is truly irksome… at least for a regular sword master. For a man such as myself, it’s not a big deal.” He calmly said.
He swung his blade upward, effortlessly splitting the orb headed toward his head in two. At the same time, the projectiles trying to hit him in the arm and leg were cleaved in two.
“Impossible! You shouldn't have been able to cut all of my attacks, no matter how fast you are!” Rin shouted.
Without saying a single word, Kojirou quickly rushed over to the magus, grabbed her by the hair, and tossed her through a tree with ease. Upon landing on the ground, Rin quickly got up and ran forward as quickly as her legs possibly could manage.
I should’ve expected that this man would’ve had some sort of skill to give him an edge in combat, like Lancer’s wolf form and his spear, but I didn’t think it would be a hard counter to my abilities. The fact I’m losing despite bringing a gun to a sword fight is so embarrassing… but if I can get to Illya, I’ll at least be able to live another-
Her train of thought was suddenly broken by the sound of a tree hitting the ground. The birds resting on nearby trees were startled by the noise and quickly flew away. With nowhere else to go, Rin jumped behind a tree to her left. Kojirou quickly ran over to the tree the black haired girl hid behind. He pointed his sword at it before effortlessly felling it in a single slash. At the same time, the trees to his left and right were somehow felled. To avoid being crushed, Rin was forced to her left.
“CRAP! CRAP! CRAP!” She screamed as she ran as quickly as she possibly could.
Before Assassin could give chase to her, she used some of her magecraft on her legs to strengthen them and allow herself to run faster.
“Is that all you’ve got?” Assassin calmly asked.
Suddenly, huge gashes opened up in the center of her back and in both of her legs, immobilizing her and causing her to fall to the ground.
“I-I can’t move!” She shouted as she turned her head slightly to look at him.
“That should be all.” He calmly said as he put his sword back into his scabbard. “I’ve cut your legs to prevent you from chasing after my master. If you somehow manage to get up, the immense amount of blood you’re losing should render you unconscious in a few minutes. That friend of yours is engaged in combat with Caster. If I get to her in time, I’ll disable her as well and bring her to you. Her Stand’s ability should be able to, at the very least, freeze your wounds, preventing you from dying and ensuring that medical professionals arrive to tend to the two of you.”
Kojirou began to walk away as Rin gritted her teeth.
Damn it! Illya may be able to handle Caster on her own, but she might actually die if she goes against both her and Assassin at the same time. She looked up and turned her head to the left and then to the right as her grip on her Stand tightened. This has to work, or else the two of us may very well die.
As he began to exit her field of view, Rin pointed her Stand at the ground and pulled down on its trigger. It shot a single gem at the ground, which exploded once it made contact with it. This launched the black haired girl into the air. With only one bullet left, Rin took a deep breath before shooting at the Class Card. The projectile flew straight toward his face, but the swordsman effortlessly avoided it by moving his head to the side. A grin spread across his face as he pulled his sword out of its scabbard. Without any warning, he turned around and rushed at Rin.
“I didn’t want to do this, but if you want to keep fighting, I have no choice but to put you down!” He shouted before rushing toward Rin.
The black haired girl grabbed her right arm with her left hand and quickly began to charge up more Gandrs. She shot as many magical projectiles as she possibly could in an attempt to hit Kojirou. The swordsman effortlessly bisected any of the projectiles close to him with ease and continued running toward Rin. Right as he was about to jump into the air to cleave Rin in two, a green emerald-like gem moved toward his back. As it made contact with him, Rin flashed a grin, and the projectile exploded, leaving a huge hole straight through the blue haired man’s chest. His mouth filled with blood, and his eyes widened while Rin fell to the ground.
“Yes! It worked! Having Happiness is a Warm Gun’s last bullet bounce off a tree was a risky gambit, but it paid off in the end.”
“I see… that was quite clever of you, Ms. Tohsaka.” Kojirou softly smiled as he dropped his sword. “If possible, go on ahead and aid your friend. Free Medea for me, will you?”
A few seconds later, he burst into smoke, but unlike with Lancer, he left behind no Class Card.
“What? He didn’t have a Class Card?” Rin asked herself as she crawled toward the section of the ground where she had defeated Kojirou. “Whatever, I’ll worry about it later. Right now, I gotta get to Illya.” She said to herself as she began to reload Happiness is a Warm Gun.

Chapter Text

Illya ran through the woods as quickly as she possibly could. Any time she’d get close to a tree that was blocking her way to Caster, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow would knock it down with a powerful punch.
“YOU’RE NOT GETTING AWAY!” Illya screamed.
As she reached the end of the small forested area the Class Card had fled through, she noticed her standing on a tiled floor with her back facing her.
“TWINKLE SNOW POWDERY SNOW, ANNIHILATE HER!”
The Stand flashed a wild, toothy grin as she slammed her fists onto the ground. Gigantic shards of ice formed in the part of the ground she had attacked and quickly spread toward Caster. Without even turning to look at her, the blue haired woman jumped into the air. She murmured something in a language completely incomprehensible to her enemy, causing a swarm of black and purple orbs of magic to form in the air. Without any warning, they began to rain down toward Illya.
“HERE THEY COME!” She gleefully shouted.
The Stand let out a mighty roar, causing an ice cold gale to be released from her body and freeze anything in her nearby vicinity. The ground and trees became covered by a thick sheet of ice and snow, while Caster’s attacks froze solid and fell to the ground, causing them to split in two. With the Class Card’s attacks unable to reach her, Illya jumped into the air.
“Ruby! Finish this!”
“All right! One beam coming right up!” The Kaleidostick cheerfully said before shooting a gigantic beam of magic straight at Caster.
Before the projectile could make contact with her, a purple rune-like shield appeared in front of the Class Card. The attack managed to crack the magic user’s shield, but she was unable to completely break it.
“Looks like it’s up to you, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow!”
The Stand let out a thunderous chuckle as she effortlessly punched through the shield with her left fist.The Stand slammed her other hand downward onto Caster’s head, causing her to plummet toward the ground. As she landed on her back, an impact crater appeared around her. Illya quickly landed beside her and allowed Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow to grab the magic user by her hood using her right hand. With her free hand, she threw a powerful punch straight at her jaw, causing it to become unhinged and for her to be launched away.
Damn it! My magic can’t get to her without freezing, and I don’t think Rule Breaker will work on her Stand. I-Is this really the end for me? Medea thought as she rolled on the ground.
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow slammed the ground with her right fist, launching both herself and Illya into the air. The two of them landed in front of the magic user, and the Stand slammed her left foot onto the Class Card’s back. Medea grunted as she felt her bones completely shatter at her enemy’s rather restrained attack.
“Finish this now!” Illya ordered.
The Stand pounded her chest before pummeling Caster’s head in with a flurry of punches. After a few seconds, the Class Card’s head was completely crushed, nothing more than a puddle of red and pink on the ground that quickly froze due to its proximity with Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow. The Stand finished her assault and let out a deafening roar as the woman burst into a cloud of smoke, leaving behind the Caster Class Card.
“All right. Two down.” She calmly said as she looked down at it.
“Illya!” Rin shouted as she hobbled toward the white haired girl. Although her injuries had frozen over, which allowed her to walk without any fear of accidentally worsening her wounds, they were still in an immense amount of pain. “Are you all right?”
“Yep. The old hag couldn’t even land a single hit on me.”
As Illya spoke, Rin turned around to make sure they weren’t being watched by anyone. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a bush that stood a few feet behind Illya rustle. She quickly grabbed her right arm with her left hand.
“Gandr!” She shouted before shooting a barrage of red and black magical orbs at the bush.
Right as they were about to hit it, two muscular arms with checkered half black, half purple skin popped out of it and effortlessly deflected them back at Rin with a barrage of punches. She grabbed Illya with her left hand before pulling out Happiness is a Warm Gun and shooting at the ground beneath her with three jewels.
She allowed them to explode, launching herself and her ally into the air.
“Drat! Our cover’s blown! Well, it looks like we’ve got no other choice but to show ourselves.” Luvia said, sounding slightly annoyed, as she and Miyu stood up.
Just as the day prior, the black haired girl’s eyes looked empty as if she were about to start crying at any second.
“LUVIA!” Rin screamed as she landed directly in front of the blonde and her ally. “So you finally show yourself!”
“Oh, please! Like you’re doing anything better. You’re sending an elementary schooler to do your dirty work for you. I’m a rich white bitch. It’s expected of me to hire children to work themselves to the bone for my sake. What’s your excuse?”
“At least I actually try to help Illya! You just sit in your mansion all day while Miyu busts her ass off to fight powerful monsters!”
“Enough about me getting a child slave to do my bidding. I’ve come here for one thing and one thing alone. Hand over the Class Cards, and I’ll spare your lives.”
“That’s a nice offer and all, but I think I’ll pass on it. Illya, we’re done for tonight. Let’s go-“
“You’re not going anywhere. Miyu, murder them and seize both Magical Ruby and the Class Card.”
“As you wish. Come forth, Moonchild.” She calmly said before rushing at Rin.
“Finally! You don’t know how much I had to hold myself back from turning you into a fine paste while at school! Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow, pay her back for what she did to us yesterday!”
The Stand let out a growl before it rushed toward Miyu. As it drew close to her, a humanoid creature with purple and black checkered skin appeared in front of her. Its face was covered by a silver circular mask with two small holes near the center of it that allowed the Stand’s beady black eyes to see through it. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow threw a punch straight at the Stand’s chest. Moonchild effortlessly blocked the attacks and countered by throwing a punch at its opponent’s stomach. Both Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow and Illya’s mouths widened in unison as they spat out blood. They tried to move their arms, but were frozen in place. Wasting no time, Miyu’s Stand threw a barrage of thirteen punches straight at her enemy’s chest and stomach, sending her flying away. Illya started to cough up blood and fell to her knees.
“ILLYA!” Rin screamed as she ran toward the white haired girl. She quickly picked her up by her waist and began to run away as quickly as she possibly could from the two girls. “WE’RE GETTING OUT OF HERE, IMMEDIATELY!” She pointed Happiness is a Warm Gun at the ground and shot another set of three gems at it.
They exploded and launched the duo high up into the air and away from their enemies. The blonde gritted her teeth.
“Miyu. After them.”
“Yes...”
Miyu was about to jump into the air when Sapphire wrapped herself around her master as tightly as possible.
“MIYU! DON’T! PLEASE! RIN AND LUVIA WERE ASSIGNED TO LOOK FOR THE CLASS CARDS TOGETHER! AS OUR NEW MASTERS, YOU AND ILLYA MUST WORK-“
“SILENCE!” The blonde screamed. She looked up at the sky and saw that the duo had vanished from her field of view. “They got away. Miyu. It’s time we retire for the night.”
“Yes… ma’am.” She quietly responded.

-A few minutes later-
Rin and Illya jumped into the white haired girl’s room. The black haired girl placed her friend on her bed and then walked over to the window.
“I’m gonna leave you here for now. I’ll take the Class Card with me to make sure Luvia doesn’t get any wise ideas about attacking you in your sleep. If for whatever reason you need it, call me. Ruby knows my number. Just ask her to do it, and it’ll be done in a flash.”
“She’s completely right.” The Kaleidostick calmly said.
“All right. Take care, Rin.”
“You as well, Illya.”
Rin closed the window and quickly jumped away from her ally’s house.

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
After failing to retrieve the Caster Class Card, Luviagelita, Miyu, and Magical Sapphire returned to their mansion. Luvia was slamming Magical Sapphire against her room’s left wall with as much force as she was physically capable of mustering, leaving behind scratches and dents in it. While Miyu was lying in her bed, trying her best to cover her ears with the pillow and closing her eyes as tightly as possible,
“P-Please stop! It hurts!” The Kaleidostick shouted as she.
“No matter how many times you apologize and beg me to stop, I won’t.” The blonde calmly said with a neutral expression on her face. “Perhaps if you didn’t try to stop Miyu from attacking the brat and Rin, I’d consider letting you go with only a few bashes to the head, but as it is, you deserve a proper punishment. Normally, I’d just cut someone like you’s pay or straight out fire them, but as that’s unfortunately not possible, I have to resort to physical punishments.”
“M-MIYU! PL-PLEASE HELP ME!”
The black haired girl winced as she faintly heard her name being called.
“Don’t bring Miyu into this. She’s done nothing wrong, and even if she somehow has, I doubt it’s anything compared to what you did. Really, Sapphire. Stopping Miyu when she was about to tear out both of the thorns in my side. What were you thinking?”
“Please stop this, Luvia!” The black haired girl yelled as her eyes welled up with tears. “Sapphire sensed that I didn’t want to go after them, so she stopped me! If anyone deserves to be punished, it’s me!”
The blonde gritted her teeth before turning around and walking toward her.
“How dare you hesitate! Rin and Illya are our enemies! They don’t want to be your friends, allies, or whatever you want to be with them. Those two would gladly kill you without a second thought!” She yelled, pointing Sapphire at her.
“But didn’t you come to Japan with Rin for the purpose of investigating the Class Cards together? You should be working together, not trying to kill one-“
“Shut up!” Luvia yelled before swinging her Kaleidostick at the child’s left cheek.
She clutched her cheek as she put her head back on the pillow. The black haired girl was trying her best to not burst into tears.
“That may have been the original plan, but it’s clearly changed. Rin and I are bitter enemies. And I expect you to feel the same way toward Illya.”
“…I don’t hate Illya. She might hate me… for some very valid reasons… but I don’t hate her. I-I want to get to know her more… and maybe someday, even become her-“
“SILENCE!” She screamed as she grabbed onto Miyu’s hair and effortlessly pulled her out of bed.
She slammed her onto the ground and began to stomp on her neck.
“I don’t care if you hate the two of them or not. However, it pisses me off when you disagree with me.”
Miyu began to cough and gasp for air. After a few seconds of this, Luvia moved her foot off her and glared down at the black haired girl with a disappointed look on her face.
“Whether you agree to do something or not has no bearing on me, as I can always force you to do my bidding.”
She began to walk out of her room as she tossed Magical Sapphire to the ground.
“You two lie there and think about what you did. I’m going to get some beauty sleep.” She said before letting out a yawn and closing her door.
“I-I’m sorry, master. This is all my fault. I sh-should’ve never-“
“D-Don’t blame yourself, Sapphire. I… I’m the reason why this awful situation happened.” Miyu sobbed as she brought Magical Sapphire to her face. “W-Why did this all have to happen? I-I never wanted any of this to happen… to me…”

-The next day-
Illya began to open her eyes. She got up, quickly got dressed, grabbed her phone from under her pillow, and then put on her backpack where Ruby was waiting for her. Once she had everything on, the white haired girl quickly went downstairs. As she approached the kitchen, she heard a very familiar voice speak.
“Thank you for having me, Mrs. Einzbern. You really didn’t need to invite me inside for breakfast.”
“No problem. A friend of my daughter is a friend of mine.”
“Suzuka! What are you doing in my house?” The white haired girl asked, her eyes widening.
“Oh, looks like you’re finally up.” The black haired girl said, turning to look at her friend. “To answer your question, I was waiting outside your house for you when one of your cousins opened the door. She told me off and threatened to beat me over the head with a broom when your mom stopped her and apologized to me. She then invited me inside to have breakfast with her, and I promptly explained why I was here.”
“WAIT! YOU TOLD HER THAT I WAS SKIPPING SCHOOL?”
“Yes, she did.” Irisviel said with a smile on her face. “And I’m perfectly okay with the idea.”
“I’m not sure whether I feel the same way, Mistress.” Sella said as she walked toward the kitchen’s entrance. “Illya shouldn’t be allowed to skip school just to hang out with her friends.”
“I disagree. Friends are just as important as family, sometimes even more so depending on someone’s familial situation. While friendships can last a lifetime, oftentimes, friends go their separate ways as they grow older… and many times, they’re separated due to tragic reasons. Illya’s still young. While yes, school’s important, she should get to hang out with her friends. You never know when the last time you get to see them may be.”
“While I still don’t agree with you, after hearing your explanation out, I think I can see where you’re coming from. Besides, it’s not like I can force Illya to stay home since I’m not her mother.”
“Thank you, mom.”
“No problem, Illya. Just don’t get into trouble.”
“I’ll be sure not to.” She turned to look at her friend. “Come on, Suzuka. Let’s get out of here.”
“Wait, aren’t you gonna eat your cousin’s cooking? It’s really good.”
“Nah. Knowing Tatsuko, she’ll probably have something ready for us when we get to her family’s dojo. I’m gonna wait until we get there to eat.”
“All right then. Let’s go.”
The two girls quickly ran out of the house, leaving behind Irisviel and the maids.

Chapter Text

-10 minutes later-
Illya and Suzuka were calmly walking through the streets of Fuyuki. Although Illya had never visited Tatsuko’s house before, her friend seemed confident in where they were going.
“Do you even know where we’re going?” Illya asked.
“Of course I do. While you may have never gone to Tatsuko’s house before, I and the rest of our friends definitely have. It’s where we got our Stands, after all.”
“Wait! You’re all Stand Users?”
The black haired girl nodded her head.
“Yep. Me, Tatsuko, Mimi, and Nanaki all have Stands. Originally, we were going to tell you about this much sooner, but we decided against doing that as you were just a regular girl at the time. However, now that you’re a Stand User, I have no qualms with telling you about this.”
“How did you four even get your Stands?”
“Tatsuko can explain all of that to you.” Suzuka said as she stopped in front of a wooden building. There was a sign on top of the front entrance that had the words Gakumazawa Family Dojo written on it. “We’re here.”
The two girls walked inside of the building. The interior consisted of wooden walls with windows in all directions, a wood roof, and a dark green bamboo floor. There was a door across from the front entrance that gave access to the rest of the Gakumazawa household. Standing in the center of the dojo was Tatsuko, who was looking at her friends with a smug smile.
“Ah, Illya. You’ve finally arrived. I’ve been waiting for you ever since Suzuka texted me to discuss this plan.”
The white haired girl raised an eyebrow.
“Wait… when did she tell you about this?”
“Last night.”
Her eyes widened.
“Are you telling me you haven’t gotten any sleep at all?”
The blonde nodded her head.
“Don’t worry. To a true warrior such as myself, sleep is irrelevant. I’ve gone entire nights without getting any rest before, and I felt fine!”
“If you say so.” Illya said, a bit concerned for her friend’s health. “Anyway, are we gonna start fighting now? Or are you gonna wait until later?”
“Well, I already told my dad that you were gonna come visit me, and he had to go somewhere with my mom for a few hours. My brothers are at school right now, so we don’t have to worry about them interrupting our fight anytime soon. However, let me ask you a question. Have you eaten anything?”
“No.”
“Oh, I see.” Tatsuko turned around and walked toward the door behind her. She quickly opened it. “Come inside then. I’ll give you something to eat in the kitchen. You can’t fight at full strength on an empty stomach.”
The three girls walked deeper into the Gakumazawa household.

-Meanwhile-
Mimi and Nanaki entered their classroom to see Taiga leaning back on her chair with a dejected look on her face.
“Hm? She’s on time… and she’s depressed?” The pink haired girl asked.
“Ms. Fujimura, is something the matter?” Mimi asked.
“Life isn’t fair, girls. I’m nearly 25… and I still haven’t had a boyfriend or girlfriend yet. At this rate… I’ll never get my first kiss. I could live with all of that… but now my favorite pastime has come to an end.” She lamented as tears began to well up in her eyes.
“Surely there’s a way you can continue to enjoy your favorite hobby. If it was a piece of media that you liked that got canceled, like a book, a manga, a show, or a game series, you can just interact with the fanbase, draw fan art, and write fanfiction of it.” The brunette explained
“While my favorite piece of media didn’t get canceled, you’re correct about the fact that I could hypothetically continue my hobby if I had a lot of money. However, with a teacher’s salary… that’s nothing but a pipe dream!” She sobbed as she buried her face in her hands.
“There’s no need to cry.” Nanako said, putting her left hand on her teacher’s shoulder. “If you work hard enough and save as much money as possible, I’m sure you’ll be able to continue your hobby someday.”
“I already saved up money to start it! And that year it took for me to do so was hell! I had to eat instant ramen every day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! I-I don’t wanna go back to that life!”
As the brunette continued to cry, she noticed Miyu walk into the room.
“You two go sit down. Class is about to start.”
“But you’re crying…”
“I’ll be fine. Please, just take a seat.”
The two girls turned around and began to walk toward their desks. As Miyu passed her teacher’s desk on her way to her desk, Taiga began to sob louder.
“I’m so lonely… and depressed… I’m gonna die alone, and my corpse is gonna decompose in my apartment room!”
The black haired girl paid her no mind as she walked away.
Hmm… playing hard to get, I see. That’s definitely unique for a girl your age. I like it! Taiga thought.
With the girl’s back facing her, Taiga noticed a red mark on the side of the girl’s head.
Oh my god! How wonderful! Actually, that’s very unfortunate for Miyu. But absolutely splendid for me!
“Maybe I won’t need that hobby after all.” She murmured to herself as her sobbing ceased.

-20 minutes later-
Illya, Suzuka, and Tatsuko were sitting in the kitchen. The white haired girl had just scarfed down 8 pieces of whole grain bread, 6 eggs, 4 slices of tomatoes, 9 avocados, and 5 bananas. They were waiting for the food she had consumed to go down so that she and Tatsuko could have a proper battle. To pass the time, Illya decided to speak with her friends.
“While on our way here, Suzuka mentioned that everyone in our friend group’s a Stand User. Is that true? And if it is, how did all of you get your Stands?”
“Funny story, actually. My dad bought some strange golden arrow at an auction once, and he gave it to me because he thought it was cool. When I was gonna put it in my room, I accidentally pricked my finger on it and gained a Stand. As for everyone else, remember when I invited everyone to come to my house a few months ago and you said you didn’t want to come?”
The white haired girl nodded her head.
“Well, when I invited everyone to my room… I kind of got carried away and pretended to poke everyone with it as a joke, causing me to unintentionally scratch them with it, which led to them also developing Stands. How did you get yours?”
Illya’s eyes widened. She didn’t want to tell her friend about the existence of magic and Kaleidosticks, but she couldn’t think of anything else to explain how she got her Stand.
“Umm… I don’t want to talk about it.”
Tatsuko chuckled.
“Fine, I’ll let you keep it a secret… under one condition! If you beat me, you can keep your secret, but if I beat you, you have to tell me how you got your Stand.”
“…Wait, I didn’t agree to this!”
“Sure, but doesn’t this bet make it all the more intense? Wouldn’t you agree, Suzuka?”
“Correct.” The black haired girl said, grinning at her friend.
Illya sighed.
“Fine, but if I win, you have to make me lunch as well.“
“Sounds like a deal to me!” The blonde cheerfully said before jumping out of her seat and onto the floor. “Anyway, I’m gonna wait for you in the dojo. Come fight me whenever you feel like it.”
Tatsuko began to walk out of the room., leaving her friends alone.
What did I just agree to? Illya thought to herself. Rin’s gonna kill me if I lose.

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
Illya stood by the doorway to the dojo. Tatsuko was standing in the center of the room with a confident grin on her face.
“What’s the matter, Illya? Are you too scared to fight me? There’s no shame in backing out of our deal. However, I won’t fight you if you won’t keep your promise.”
“No, I’m not scared. In fact, I’m confident I can beat you!”
“Bring it on then! Show me your Stand’s true power!”
The white haired girl walked out of the doorway and stepped onto the bamboo floor. The two of them looked at each other before speaking.
“May the best woman win.” Tatsuko said before closing her eyes.
Suddenly a yellow aura appeared around the blond as the already large grin on her face spread from ear to ear. She opened her eyes to reveal that they had become blue.
“Wow! What’s happening out there?” Ruby asked, poking her head out from Illya’s bag slightly to get a good look at her.
Suzuka, who had been standing in the doorway to watch her friends fight, began to slowly back away due to sensing the immense power that was emanating from her friend.
“This is my Stand, Dragon Attack. Now that I’ve shown you it, why don’t you show me yours?”
“…I can’t show you mine. I can’t summon my Stand on command, remember? That’s why I’m here right now. I wanted to find out why I can’t summon my Stand like you and Suzuka can.”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. Are you sure you want to fight against me without using your Stand? If you can’t summon it, not only will it not be fair, but I might harm you on accident.”
“It’s fine. I’m certain I’ll be able to pull out a win somehow.”
“All right! Don’t blame me if you end up in the hospital!” Tatsuko shouted before jumping into the air.
She put her hands together and began to charge up an energy beam in her hands.
I wonder. Is it really anger or frustration that causes Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow to appear? I wasn’t particularly mad when she appeared yesterday. I was shocked, sure, but not particularly furious. Maybe getting her to show up has more to do with experiencing a powerful emotion than it does just getting-
Illya’s train of thought was suddenly broken when she noticed a huge beam of energy headed directly toward her face. Before it could hit her, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow appeared in front of her and slapped the projectile away with her right hand. It went through the dojo’s wall as the Stand let out a ferocious roar.
“Oh, right on time, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow! Now that I have you by my side, our victory’s practically assured.”
“So that’s what your Stand looks like. I look forward to a thrilling fight, Illya!” Tatsuko gleefully said.
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow slammed her right fist into the floor, launching herself into the air to get close to Tatsuko. The Stand threw a barrage of punches at her enemy, who effortlessly managed to block the attacks with her arms. She quickly counterattacked by throwing a kick at the Stand’s stomach, which sent her flying into the wall.
“Is that really all your Stand has? Sure, it looks quite intimidating, but it’s all bark and no bite!”
Illya gritted her teeth.
“Hold nothing back, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow! Give her a taste of your full power!”
The Stand began to pound on her chest, causing a blast of cold wind to spread through the dojo, enveloping the walls, floor, and roof in a thick coat of frost.
“H-Hey! Did you have to turn down the heat? I-I absolutely despise the cold!” Tatsuko shouted, hugging herself as she shivered.
The blonde quickly shot a barrage of energy beams straight at the Stand. Just as with the first batch, she effortlessly slapped them away before rushing at her enemy. Once there was enough space between Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow and the wall, Tatsuko teleported behind her.
“All right! Let’s wrap this up!” She gleefully shouted before throwing a powerful punch at the back of the Stand’s neck.
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow quickly turned around and slapped her opponent in the side of the face, sending her flying through the dojo’s walls. Before the blonde could do anything, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow jumped out of the building and landed in front of her. She threw a barrage of punches directly at her chest and stomach, causing her to spit out blood. Once the Stand stopped her attack, Tatsuko began to speak.
“All right… you win.” She weakly said.
“As expected.” Illya said, letting out a sigh of relief. “I think I figured out what causes Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow to be summoned. It’s a mixture of two things. Deep emotion and my own safety being put in jeopardy. The first time I summoned her, it was a mixture of both, the second time was pure emotion, and this time, she appeared right before I was struck by one of Tatsuko’s powerful attacks.”
“That seems incredibly plausible.” Suzuka said as she approached her friend. “Anyway, what are we gonna do about the huge hole in the wall? I didn’t bring any money in case this happened, and I doubt my sister would want to pay for the damages.”
“I don’t know. I doubt my mom would mind covering the costs, but she’ll probably be disappointed in me if I told her about the fact that I broke a huge hole in the wall of my friend’s house…”
“Don’t worry, girls.” Tatsuko calmly said as she stood up and walked toward her friends. “I’ll explain this to my dad, and he’ll get it fixed. Things like this happen all the time here, so he won’t get mad or try to get your family members to pay for it.”
“Looks like we’ve lucked out this time.” Suzuka said, smirking slightly.

-Many hours later-
The school day came to an end, and the students in Taiga’s classroom began to leave. Due to her sitting all the way in the back of the room, Miyu was one of the last to make it to the door. Right as she was about to exit, Taiga began to speak.
“Miyu, can you stay for a little bit?”
The black haired girl’s eyes widened.
“D-Did I do something wrong?”
“No. You’re not in trouble.” The brunette began to whisper. “But it is something personal. We’ll talk in private once everyone’s gone, so don’t leave just yet.”
Miyu turned around and walked behind her teacher’s desk. Once all of her fellow classmates were gone, Miyu began to speak.
“What is it you want to talk to me about?”
“When you came in today, I noticed a strange mark on the side of your face. It’s mostly covered by your hair, and I don’t think any of the other students noticed it, but for your safety, I just wanted to make sure it’s just some odd birthmark… and not a bruise.”
The black haired girl began to slowly walk away from her teacher as she put her left hand on the side of her face.
“I-It’s nothing!”
“As your teacher, it’s my duty to make sure your home life is safe and secure. I understand that you might care about your parents, even if they are mistreating you, so I won’t report them to the police. However, if you ever feel alone and want someone to talk to, I’ll gladly be that person.” Taiga took a yellow slip of paper from inside her desk and handed it to Miyu. “Here’s my number. You can text me about anything, not just if you’re feeling down.”
“O-Oh, all right. Thank you.” Miyu said before walking out of the classroom.
Once she exited and was out of Taiga’s field of view, she began to speak to herself.
“Perfect! Now I just have to wait, and Miyu will finally be mine!” She gleefully said as she pumped her fist.

Chapter Text

-Many hours later-
Having lost the bet, Tatsuko was forced to cook for Illya and Suzuka. Surprisingly enough, when she wasn’t messing around, she was a pretty good cook. She was able to make a tasty hamburger steak with a side of mashed potatoes and a bowl of rice for herself and her two friends. After she was done eating, the white haired girl went back home with Magical Ruby, who was still in her backpack, and stayed in her room for the entire day. Eventually, night came, and the rest of her family members began to go to bed. As the clock reached midnight, she heard someone knock at her window.
“Hey, Illya. Are you up?” A very familiar voice asked. “You know what time it is.”
“Can we not look for Class Cards today, Rin? I’m not really in the mood for it.”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE NOT IN THE MOOD? FINDING AND COLLECTING THE CLASS CARDS ISN’T A DUTY YOU CAN PUT OFF! IT’S SOMETHING THAT MUST BE DEALT WITH AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE, OR ELSE LUVIA WILL GET ALL THE CREDIT AND GLORY FOR HAVING CAPTURED THEM!”
Illya sighed.
“Luvia won’t go after the Class Cards if we don’t.”
“Huh? What?” The black haired girl asked, taken aback by her ally’s assumption.
“Think about it. Luvia wasn’t there when we fought against Lancer, and Miyu only showed up after I defeated him. While Luvia did appear yesterday alongside Miyu, they only came out of hiding the moment Caster was defeated and I managed to snag her card. As long as we don’t do anything, they won’t either.”
“Do you really think that? Miyu’s a magical girl, and while I don’t know how Luvia’s Stand works, it may actually be able to work better with her than my Happiness is a Warm Gun does with you.”
“Do you really think that she wouldn’t have already started going after other Class Cards if that weren’t the case? In just two nights, we managed to collect two of them. If she and Miyu were looking for them and managed to successfully collect them, they would have gotten the same amount as us, and if that’s what they did, don’t you think Luvia would’ve been flaunting them in our faces yesterday? They definitely would’ve rubbed in the fact they had three Class Cards in our faces.”
“Now that you bring that up, Luvia totally would use the fact she managed to get half of the Class Cards to piss me off. Yeah, we could take the night off if you want.”
“Awesome.” Illya said before standing up, walking toward the window, and opening it.
Rin quickly got inside and walked over to the bed. Not too far from the house, an invisible humanoid figure sat inside on a tree’s branch. It had spied on the two girls’ conversation and decided to jump away once it saw that it had come to an end.
“So what are you gonna do tonight now that we aren’t going to look for the Class Card?” Rin asked as she took a seat on the white haired girl’s bed.
“I don’t really know. It’s nearly midnight, and tomorrow’s a school day, so it’d probably be best if I just fell asleep, but I’m not really all that sleepy. Let’s just walk around town for a little bit. It’d be better than just lying around doing nothing.”
“All right then. Let’s get out of here.” The black haired girl said as she stood up.
Rin and Illya walked toward the window and jumped out of it.

-Meanwhile-
Luvia stood in her room in front of a window to the left of her bed. Miyu was kneeling beside her in her magical girl outfit.
“It seems like Rin and Illya won’t be going to look for the Class Cards tonight.” The blonde calmly said as she turned to look at Miyu. “You can return to your regular form if you want.”
The black haired girl stood up as Magical Sapphire flew out of her hand, allowing her to return to her regular form. Her right leg was sore from having to support her weight, but complaining about that wouldn’t have changed anything.
“I’m glad you’re letting my master rest for tonight, but from a logistical standpoint, wouldn’t it be better to go looking for a Class Card now instead of waiting for Rin and Illya to do our work for us?” The Kaleidostick asked.
“I won’t lie to you and say it wouldn’t, but there are three reasons why I refrain from doing so. The first being that it’s always so much more satisfying to watch Rin do her thing and fight so hard against those Class Cards, constantly being brought to the verge of death, only to have myself or Miyu swoop in and steal it at the last moment, thus causing all of her hard work to go to waste, than having to lift a finger and risking my face or clothes getting dirtied and cut. The second being that, as I told Rin before, I’m a rich white bitch. I expect everything to be handed to me on a silver platter. To actually have something I need to work to accomplish would be unbecoming of someone of my status. Now, before you say anything, let me finish. The third and final reason why I won’t look for any Class Cards if my opposition won’t is because Miyu refuses to fight them. You saw it yourself firsthand. When she tried to go against the Class Card that looked like a white haired man, she froze up and couldn’t do a thing no matter what the two of us said. I might be able to force her to attack for a little while, but knowing how unpredictable and powerful those things can be, it’s possible we could both end up dead, and I’d rather not die because some street rat couldn’t cooperate with me.”
“But you came to Japan with the intention to fight. Sure, things didn’t go as planned, but you did come here with the intention to do battle against the Class Cards, not against Rin.”
“You’re right, but it’s not like I was eager to come to a country that I don’t even know the language of. I’m only doing this because it’s a special assignment from Zelretch himself and would cause my status and notoriety as a magus to skyrocket. But to be quite frank with you, I was probably going to let Rin handle all of the work and only get involved when she was in the most dire of straits. Then when the time came to go back to the UK, I’d take credit for all of her hard work. However, if the worst case scenario happened and Rin ended up six feet under, I wouldn’t hesitate to finish the job and defeat all the remaining Class Cards. I’m sure I’d be able to beat them all singlehandedly without too much effort, even if you’re no longer aiding me.”
“Come on, Sapphire. Asking Luvia all these questions is a waste of time. Let’s just go to my room.” Miyu softly said.
“All right. I’m sorry for inconveniencing you, master.”
The black haired girl and her Kaleidostick quickly, but quietly, exited Luviagelita’s room.

-10 minutes later-
Sella was walking down her house’s hallway. Although it was past midnight and her sister was already fast asleep in their room, she couldn’t get even a wink of sleep due to the worry she was feeling.
“Just a quick peek to make sure.” The maid murmured to herself as she slowly opened the door to Illya’s room.
She didn’t see anybody inside, and the window was wide open.
“This is the third time this week you’ve been doing this… I let the last time slide, but not anymore. I need to speak with Iris about this immediately.”

Chapter Text

Sella walked down the hallway until she reached Irisviel’s room. She slowly opened the door and peeked inside to see that her cousin was already fast asleep.
“Iris, Iris, wake up.” The white haired woman said as she walked toward her.
“Sella?” Irisviel yawned as she sat up. “Is something the matter? Why are you waking me up when it’s still dark out?”
“I checked Illya’s room, and she wasn’t there and the window was wide open, just like yesterday, and the day prior.” She let out a sigh before sitting down next to her. “Illya’s never done this before. Sure, she’s never been the most well behaved of girls, but she never went out in the middle of the night without telling anyone. Regardless of her reasoning for this, it’s not safe for a little girl to go outside at this hour without being accompanied by an adult.”
“Yes… it certainly is most worrisome that she’s doing this. I might have to speak with her tomorrow.”
“That’s exactly what you did two days ago, and nothing’s changed. It seems like whatever Illya’s doing is so important and dangerous that she’s keeping it a secret from you so that you won’t get worried.” Sella went silent for a few seconds before speaking again. “…I don’t like thinking about it, but do you think she’s gotten involved in magic?”
Irisviel began to frown at the mention of it.
“I hope not. The reason why we returned to my husband’s homeland was to get away from such a thing and give Illya the normal childhood she deserved. If she got involved in magic of her own accord… especially something so dangerous that she doesn’t want to tell me… then I’ll feel like all of this was for nothing.”
“If speaking with you wasn’t enough to deter her from sneaking out of the house to practice magic, then it seems like there’s only one person who can do that. Iris, please call Kiritsugu and tell him to come home as soon as possible.”
“Call Kiritsugu…” The white haired woman said as she pondered the possibility. “I don’t know about that. It’s been years since he last came home, and he’s a very busy man. I’d hate to disturb-“
“Please, Iris. You know how much I detest that man. For me to even suggest calling him back home shows how truly grave this situation is. I’m not as talented in any form of combat as you or him, and I’m nowhere near as physically strong as my sister. I would never be able to live with myself if Illya got hurt, even if I am incapable of protecting her.” She said, on the verge of shouting.
“All right. I’ll call him. But I’m not sure if having Kiritsugu speak to Illya in person will do anything if she lied to me and continued going out at night by herself.”
“It’s the only thing we can do to get her to stop. Even if we lock her in her room and seal her windows, knowing her, she’ll probably find a way out somehow. The only possible way she’ll stop is if she gets a stern talking to from her father.”

-A few minutes later-
Illya and Rin were walking around Fuyuki. It was past midnight, so naturally, there wasn’t anybody outside, and the vast majority of businesses had been closed for the night. They were wandering around seemingly aimlessly when Rin decided to speak up.
“You see that building over there in the distance?” She asked, pointing at a gargantuan office building that stood many blocks away.
It was far taller than anything in Fuyuki and may even be the largest building on Earth.
“Yeah? What about it? That’s a huge building, but I’ve seen it so many times now that I’m kind of not fazed by it.”
“I went there by helicopter a year ago.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not. I really did go there via helicopter a year ago to work with Luvia. It was a part of a mission given to us by one of the most powerful and important members of the Mage’s Association. The two of us came here to retrieve the Holy Grail, a powerful wish granting device, for safekeeping.”
“Mage’s Association?”
“Yes. There exists an organization of magi that’s headquartered in the UK that I’m currently attending.”
“So what happened when you went to retrieve the Holy Grail?”
“There were three girls and a boy wearing some weird clothes sitting on the roof. They tried to stop us from retrieving the Grail, but Luvia used her Stand to knock them away, which allowed us to get out of there. After that, I was permitted to return to Japan to investigate the reason why and how the Holy Grail was activated. While searching for clues, I found the corpses of a classmate of mine, one of my professors… and my dad.”
“Your dad’s dead?”
The black haired girl nodded her head.
“…He was cooperating with the guy trying to activate the Grail. I wasn’t able to 100% confirm why he wanted to use it… but I think I have a solid guess for what he wanted. As for the actual guy behind all of it, I wasn’t able to find a motive as to why he activated the Holy Grail, but I doubt it was for anything good.”
“Were the four teenagers that were trying to take the Holy Grail from you also working with your dad and the guy responsible for it?”
“No. They were actually the ones responsible for stopping them. I know that I probably should hate them for killing my dad… but it had to be done when something as dangerous as a device capable of granting any wish is involved. I don’t hold any sort of grudge for doing what they did.” Tears began to well up in her eyes as she looked away from the white haired girl. “Speaking of dads, do you have one? I saw your mom yesterday when she went to speak with Luvia, but I haven’t seen a single trace of your dad. Was he at work or something?” She said, trying her best to change the subject.
Illya began to scowl.
“You could say that, but if that’s the case, my dad’s a world class professional in being a deadbeat.”
Rin’s eyes widened.
“What do you mean?”
“My dad’s alive and well in the American state of Florida. I haven’t seen him in years, but he probably has an entirely different family there that I don’t know about.”
“Hey! I might not know anything about your father, but it’s not right to assume someone’s cheating unless you have proof that they are!”
“You’re right, but with the way he’s acting, he might as well be having an affair. He hasn’t visited his wife or kids in years, only calls them once in a blue moon, and doesn’t even send us money or anything.”
“Well, maybe he has a really important job and is almost always busy with it.”
The white haired girl burst into laughter.
“So apparently saving the dolphins and stopping algae blooms is more important than spending time with your family? Yeah, right. Even if it were, don’t you think he’d come visit us when he has some time off for the holidays, like on Christmas or Thanksgiving? He has no good reason to not visit or even talk to his family, and I hate him for that.”
“Have you always hated him? Or did something happen that made you hate him?”
Illya went silent for a few seconds before responding to Rin.
“When I was a little girl, I loved my father. I was always so eager to call or text him, and while he almost never responded to me, on the rare occasions he did, I was always completely overjoyed. I know he visited me when I was 3 years old, and while I don’t remember much of what happened, I remember being elated at the fact he was finally visiting me. However, all my affection for him died on the day I graduated from kindergarten. My mom said he was going to come see me on that day, and yet he never even bothered to show up. At the actual ceremony, I remember seeing rows of parents happily watching their children. It didn’t matter what their genders were; both of my classmates’ parents went to see them. The only exceptions to this were my classmates who had a dead parent or divorced ones, which my dad is neither. My heart broke, and all my love was replaced with absolute hatred.” Illya took a deep breath before looking up at the sky. “This might sound awful, but I envy you, Rin. At least your father cared about you and isn’t around anymore for no reason of his own. My dad is alive, but he doesn’t care about me in the slightest.”
“…Illya, I’m sorry that I made you talk about your dad. I really didn’t think he’d be that bad.”
“It’s fine, Rin. You couldn’t have possibly known he would be such a deadbeat good for nothing.” Illya began to walk forward. “Anyway, let’s get out of here. There’s no point in lamenting how unfortunate we are with our dads.”
Rin nodded her head before walking after the girl.

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
Illya and Rin continued walking around Fuyuki until they reached a large European styled mansion that had a few trees around it. The building appeared to be fairly old and wouldn’t look out of place in a Halloween themed horror movie.
“It’s almost one in the morning. I’d be fine with going to sleep at any time, since I’m not really doing much during the day, but you’re an elementary schooler. Not only will you be late for school if you don’t get some rest, but it’s just bad for your health in general. There are probably zero restaurants or stores open right now anyway. I enjoyed talking with you, but it’s time for you to go home and sleep.” She calmly said.
“Wait… is this your house?”
Rin nodded her head.
“My dad bought and owned it, but after he died, I became its owner.”
“It’s bigger than my house. Are you rich or something?”
“My family used to be rich, but after my dad died so suddenly, his business went bankrupt due to having nobody to lead it. We still have plenty of money though, so we’re not going broke any time soon. And after I collect all of the Class Cards, I’ll be able to exploit my newfound fame to make tons of cash. The entirety of the Clock Tower will be filled to the brim with Rin merch like shirts with my face on them, plushes, and Rin certified jewelry!”
“All right, good luck with that.” Illya said before turning around. “If you ever need any financial help, my mom and I will be more than happy to lend you a hand.”
“Don’t worry about that. I know for a fact I’ll be able to restore the Tohsaka family to its former glory after we’re done with this Class Card situation!”

-A few minutes later-
Miyu lay in bed. Despite it being one in the morning and knowing she had school tomorrow, she couldn’t get a wink of sleep. She rolled around and constantly changed the position she was in to try to get herself to fall asleep, but no matter what she did, it just wasn’t enough.
I don’t have anything better to do. I might as well talk to her. She thought before sitting up and taking her phone out from under her pillow. She quickly turned it on and opened the messages app.
Somewhere in Fuyuki, Taiga was sitting on a brown couch in her living room watching a movie on her small TV that came from the early 2000s in her small, dirty apartment. It had brown wooden floors and walls and a beige ceiling. The apartment only had 4 rooms: the living room, which was fairly clean, a kitchen that had a sink filled to the brim with dirty dishes that were several months old, a dirty bathroom that had not been washed since the beginning of the year, its mirror was covered in grime and greyish spots that were the accumulation of dirt and dust, and her bedroom, which had a floor that was covered in unwashed clothes that had been lying there for a few weeks.
“That movie was pretty fun. It’s getting late, so I probably should go to bed, but I really want to watch another movie.” She cheerfully said to herself before she felt her phone, which lay on the couch beside her, vibrate. “Wait a minute! Somebody texted me at this hour? Who could it possibly be?” The brunette asked before picking up her phone.
A smile spread across her face as she began to read the text message she had received.
Hello, Ms. Fujimura. I know that it’s really late right now, but I can’t get any sleep, so I decided to talk with you. Are you still awake?
Of course, Miyu. I was actually having trouble falling asleep myself. I’m grateful that you actually took my concerns seriously and decided to text me. Is everything all right at home?
Yes. My parents really aren’t bad people like you’re painting them out to be.I just wanted to speak with you because I have nothing better to do.
Oh, that’s good. Taiga said, her smile fading slightly. Have you made any friends yet?
No, not yet. There’s a girl I’d like to get to know better, but due to certain issues, she wants to keep her distance from me for now. Do you have any friends?
Not really. I sometimes talk with my coworkers when I have some time off, and they invite me to eat with them every so often, but I wouldn’t say I’m friends with them. They’re all just really boring. I think my students are much more fun to be around because they aren’t being constantly bogged down by boring adult stuff like work or the need to “act mature” in front of their peers. Y’know, if you have trouble making friends with girls your age, you can be my friend.
Really? Wouldn’t that be a little weird?
Not really. Sure, some people might disapprove of a student and a teacher being friends, but there’s nothing inherently wrong with it. If telling people that you’re my friend really makes you so uncomfortable, then you could just say I’m your cousin or your aunt.
Oh, all right.
Miyu let out a yawn as her eyes began to close.
I’m starting to get a little sleepy, so I’m gonna stop chatting with you. See you tomorrow, Ms. Fujimura.
All right, good night, Miyu.
Taiga turned her phone off as she took a deep breath.
“Finally! After all these years of putting up with ungrateful brats and working a job that pays me less than a fast food employee, I’ve finally made friends with one of my students!” She gleefully shouted.

Chapter Text

-
After Rin went home for the night, Illya quickly made her way back to her house. There wasn’t anything out of place in her room, so she closed her window, walked over to her bed, lay on it, and then fell asleep. Things were peaceful in the Emiya household for the rest of the night. However, Irisviel woke up much earlier than she normally did at around 6 in the morning. She quickly took her phone out from under her pillow and began to call her husband.
“Kiritsugu, dear. There’s something I need to speak with you about.”
“What is it?” Her husband asked on the other end of the line.
“It’s about Illya…”
“Has she been misbehaving again? If so, then just talk with her about what’s troubling her, and things should be resolved. Isn’t that what you said happened the last time Illya started acting up?”
“I wish that were the case… but no. As of recently, Illya’s been leaving her room through the window in the middle of the night to do something that she’s been keeping a secret from me and my cousins. I don’t want to jump to conclusions just yet… but I believe the worst might have happened.”
Kiritsugu let out a gasp.
“Don’t tell me our daughter has gotten involved in magic!” He shouted, sounding audibly worried.
“As I said earlier… we’re not completely sure yet, but it’s definitely possible. I tried to speak with her on Tuesday about this, but she didn’t want to tell me anything. I doubt anything will change if I keep pestering her… so you may very well be the only person capable of getting her to open up. Please come to Japan as soon as possible so that you can speak with her.”
“All right. I’ll come home as soon as possible.”
Kiritsugu ended the call.

-An hour later-
Illya woke up and got ready for school. Once she was fully dressed, she walked downstairs and entered the kitchen. Much to her surprise, her mother wasn’t there.
“Sella, where’s mom?”
“She’s still asleep.”
“Wait, really?” Leysritt asked as she stood up and exited the living room. “Iris’ usually up before even I am. What’s taking her so long to get up?”
“I’m not sure. Perhaps she’s tired or not feeling well. I’ll go speak with her later after we’re done eating-“
“If Iris’ sick, then she needs proper care. You’re busy setting up the table for breakfast, so it’s my responsibility to check up on her.”
Sella’s eyes widened.
“N-No! You’re a lazy slob who hates working! Let me, the actual competent maid, take care of our mistress!”
“I don’t do any of the work around the house for two reasons. The first is that I simply hate menial housework, the second is that you’re more than eager to fill in the hole I leave behind by not doing any household chores. However, I actually want to care for Iris while she’s ill, and you’re too busy to be able to do that right now, so naturally, this burden should fall upon me.”
Before Sella could say anything, Shirou began to walk down the stairs.
“Hey, you three. What are you all arguing about?”
“Shirou! Perfect timing!” The white haired woman nervously chuckled as she ran over to him. “Can you please finish setting up the kitchen table for breakfast so that we can all eat?”
“Sure, but you’re acting kind of strange. Is everything all right?”
“Yes! Everything’s fine! I’m going to go check up on your mother. I’ll be back as soon as possible!”
She quickly ran upstairs.
“I wonder what she’s so worried about.” Illya asked herself before walking into the kitchen.

-Half an hour later-
Illya arrived at Homurahara Academy. She entered her homeroom and, much to her surprise, saw Ms. Fujimura sitting at her desk. The white haired girl stared at her as she made her way to her desk.
“What? A girl can’t come to work early without being stared at as if she has a thousand heads?” The brunette jokingly asked.
Illya didn’t say a word before taking a seat at her desk.
“It’s weird, I know. Ms. Fujimura’s never come to school early.” Suzuka whispered. “Today’s not any important day. Why is she coming to school on time now?”
“Beats me.” The white haired girl responded.
“I feel like I just entered a different universe. Taiga Fujimura and on time do not mix well at all.” Nanaki said.
As the pink haired girl finished speaking, Miyu entered the classroom.
“Good morning, Ms. Fujimura.” The black haired girl softly said.
“Hey, Miyu. How have you been? Did you eat breakfast?”
“I’ve been fine. As for your second question, of course I did.”
Miyu walked to her desk behind Illya. The four girls all had things to say about what had just happened, but they thought it’d be weird to do so in front of Miyu.
“Class is about to start. We can talk about… that later if you catch my drift.” Suzuka said.

Chapter Text

-A few hours later-
Illya and her friends stopped talking about Miyu after she sat at her desk and remained quiet for the next few periods. Once their lunch period came, the four of them all went up to the roof to get away from her.
“Not only was Ms. Fujimura early today, but she also greeted Miyu while she walked to her desk.” Suzuka said. “There has to be some correlation between these two things.”
“Not necessarily.” Mimi responded. “Ms. Fujimura’s a very lazy person. Maybe she finally got the urge to show up to her job on time for once and just decided to greet one of her students after Illya stared at her.”
“Maybe that’s the case, but everyone who was there thought her coming to school on time was weird. Sure, nobody was outright staring at her, at least as far as I’m aware, but everyone was definitely looking at her strangely and talking about how odd it was that she came to school on time. There’s no way she didn’t already know about how everyone felt before Illya stared at her.”
“Maybe Taiga’s just trying to be friendly with Miyu because she’s in a new school in a completely new country. Sure, she knows how to speak the language here, but that doesn’t mean she knows everything about Japan or how the people here act. She’s also thousands of miles away from Finland, where all the people she loves and cares about are. This would naturally be a big change for anyone, especially a little girl who’s incredibly timid. Taiga’s probably just trying to be friendly toward her so that she can get used to this country and eventually come out of her shell and be able to make friends her own age.” Nanaki explained.
“That’s a reasonable explanation that I could actually see being true.” Suzuka responded, smiling at her friend.
“Knowing Miyu, she’s probably mind controlling her to be her servant or something.” Illya suggested.
“I’m pretty sure hypnosis isn’t real, and if it was, why would Miyu use it on her school teacher of all people?”
“I don’t know. She just seems like the type of girl who would do it.”
“I think I’ve realized why Ms. Fujimura seems to be acting so much more friendly toward Miyu than anyone else in her class.” Tatsuko chimed in.
“I’ll hear you out. Why do you think our teacher was so much more friendly toward Miyu than the rest of us?”
“Ms. Fujimura is grooming her for sex. She’s so much kinder toward her than anyone else in our class because she wants to get her to lower her guard and get her to think she’s a friend, which will eventually escalate into them going out with each other and our dear teacher getting into her panties.”
The girls went silent for a few seconds, before Suzuka, whose glasses had fogged up, began to speak.
“Tatsuko… you do know that what you’re suggesting is an incredibly serious accusation that could get our teacher fired and put in jail, right?”
The blonde nodded her head.
“But it’s plausible!”
“No, it’s not. I think we’ve come to a conclusion that Nanaki’s reasoning is probably the correct one.”
With the four girls having finished discussing their teachers’ odd behavior, Illya walked away toward the fence that surrounded the roof. From where she was standing, she could see a large stretch of Fuyuki City.
“This city is a peaceful, quiet place. It looks no different than any other residential area in Japan. Who could’ve thought that something magic related happened here not once, but twice?”
“Magic related things happen all the time.” Magical Ruby calmly said as she popped her head out of Illya’s backpack. “It’s just that for the most part, they’re kept hidden from regular people by the rich and powerful and various organizations for the public’s own good.”
“I understand why it’s done. A lot of people would probably get hurt or die, and crime would skyrocket if the existence of magic became public knowledge. It’s just weird to think about.”
“What, are you thinking about telling your friends about the existence of magic?”
“No. Magic is dangerous business. I don’t want them getting hurt just because I couldn’t keep a secret. Plus, while they’re good girls, I’m not sure how capable they are of not telling everyone they know about it.”
“I agree with you. After tonight, we’ll have defeated half of the Class Cards. Just hold out a little longer, and you’ll get your normal life back.”
“I sure hope that’s the case.” She said, gently smiling.

-
“Iris, what are we going to do with Illya tonight?” Sella asked as she entered her cousin’s room. “Kiritsugu won’t be able to arrive until the wee hours of the morning, giving her ample time to leave her room and wander around the city, getting up to all sorts of magic related mischief.”
“Hmm… I’m not too sure what we could possibly do to stop her. I’m almost inclined to let her do as she pleases just for one more night, but that’d only make things more troublesome for Kiritsugu than they already are. Try your best to keep an eye on her for the entire night. If she manages to sneak out of the room while you aren’t looking, tell me immediately and I will call Kiritsugu to inform him about this.”
“As you wish.” Sella said before walking out of Irisviel’s room and closing the door.

Chapter Text

Eventually, the school day came to an end, and Illya went straight back home. The afternoon was mostly uneventful, but once the evening came and the Einzbern house was about to have dinner, the white haired girl noticed Sella giving her strange looks every so often. At first, she was able to ignore them and just assumed she was imagining things, but after several times of noticing Sella staring at her from the corner of her eye, she began to get annoyed.
“What are you looking at? Is there something on my face or hair?”
“No. You’re just imagining things. There’s nothing about your face worth staring at for so long.” The white haired woman bluntly responded.
Is she more angry today than usual? She thought.
Illya moved her head down and began to eat her hamburger steak. With the child distracted, Sella went back to staring at her. She only stopped when she felt someone’s hand on her left shoulder.
“What are you doing?” Irisviel whispered.
“I’m trying to see if Illya’s been acting strangely. If I can tell whether her behavior’s abnormal or not, I might be able to gauge what she might be going out to do at night.”
“Surely there’s a better, more discreet way of doing that other than staring at her at the dinner table. Right now, she’s rightfully getting annoyed at you staring at her.”
“All right. I’ll try to be less obvious with my methods.”

-10 minutes later-
Eventually, Illya and the rest of her family finished eating their meal. Shirou was tasked with cleaning the dishes while the white haired girl went to her room. She got on her bed and began to watch YouTube videos on her phone when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw what looked like Sella peeking into the room.
“Hey! What are you looking-“ She stopped talking upon noticing that there wasn’t anyone by the door. “You’re not getting away that easily!” She shouted before running out of the door.
She turned her head to her right, but instead of seeing Sella anywhere, she saw Leysritt heading toward the bathroom.
“Illya, is there something you want to speak to me about?”
“Oh, no. I thought you were Sella.” She said, smiling nervously at her maid. “But before you use the bathroom, have you seen her anywhere?”
“No. She’s probably helping Shirou clean up the dishes or something.”
As her cousin maid walked away from her, Illya turned her head to the left and then to the right before closing and locking her room’s door. A few seconds later, Sella managed to quickly, yet quietly, walk up the stairs.
“Seems like she locked her room.” She murmured to herself. “I’m going to have to ask Iris to give me the key to her room later.”

-Many hours later-
Illya spent the rest of the day in her room. Before she knew it, night came, and everyone in her house started to go to sleep. She turned the lights in her room off and didn’t make much noise to fake being asleep. Around 11:30, there was a knock at the window. The white haired girl stood up, walked toward it, and opened it, allowing Rin to get inside.
“Are you ready, Illya? Regardless of what you say, I won’t take no for an answer.”
“Of course. We had a day off yesterday, so I’m fully refreshed and ready to take out another Class Card. But before we can leave, Ruby, come to me.”
“All right, Illya.” The wand said before flying over to the white haired girl’s hand and quickly transforming her.
“Now let’s get out of here.”
The two girls quickly jumped out of the window.
Across the street, Luvia was in her bedroom, standing in place in front of the window. A smile spread across her face as she turned around to look at Miyu, who was sitting on her bed with a worried look on her face.
“Rin and Illya are heading out to look for a Class Card. It’s time we follow them, Miyu.”
“Okay… please grant me your strength, Sapphire.”
“As you wish.” The Kaleidostick said before flying into her master’s hand and quickly transforming her.
The black haired girl stood up and began to walk out of the room alongside her master. A few minutes later, inside of the Einzbern house, Sella unlocked the door to Illya’s room and stepped inside. As usual, she found that the window was wide open and that Illya was nowhere to be found.
“Oh no! I’m too late!” She shouted before running down the hall and entering her mistress’ bedroom. “Iris! Illya’s gone!”
“What?”
“I was too late to stop her from leaving. Now she could be anywhere in Fuyuki.”
“I’ll text Kiritsugu right away. The moment he steps out of the plane, he should see my message and start looking for Illya.” She let out a sigh as tears began to well up in her eyes. “I’m sorry… Kiritsugu. It seems like I couldn’t protect her. Maybe these last 9 years were all pointless and just delaying the inevitable.”

-25 minutes later-
Illya and Rin were walking around Fuyuki City. As usual, there weren’t any people or vehicles in the street. They were nearing the harbor but still hadn’t found anything of note.
“We’re getting close to the container yard. We’ll probably find something of note there.” Rin suggested.
The white haired girl nodded her head as she and her ally continued walking until they reached the container yard. There were large containers of varying colors for as far as the two girls could see.
“I’ve never been here before.” Illya said.
“Neither have I, but one of the previous magi vanished around here, so there’s probably a Class Card nearby.” She responded as she pulled out Happiness is a Warm Gun. “Don’t let your guard down for even a second. Or else the Class Card might get an opportunity to-“
Before she could finish speaking, Illya began to shout as she noticed what looked like Gae Bolg heading straight toward her head.
“Rin, look out!”
The black haired girl quickly turned around and saw the weapon heading straight toward her.
“OH SHIT!”
Illya quickly grabbed onto Rin’s hand before jumping into the air. The spear landed on the ground, creating a gigantic explosion that spread across the area and disintegrated any container it came in contact with. Illya turned around and saw a white haired, dark skinned man standing on a red container. His eyes were covered by a red bandana, he wore no shirt, only red cloth that covered his arms, a torn red waist cloth, and torn black pants, and was completely barefoot. He was holding a black bow in his left hand as he faced the direction the two magic users were in with a neutral expression on his face.
“So that’s the next Class Card. Let’s give him everything we’ve got, Illya!”
The white haired girl began to grin as she nodded her head. Without any warning, she flew straight at the man at blinding speeds.

Chapter Text

Illya zoomed at the Class Card and swung Magical Ruby straight at his head. A blade composed of solidified pink magic appeared above the Kaleidostick’s head as she was about to hit the white haired man. He quickly dropped his bow before jumping a few feet back and murmuring something.
“I am the bone of my sword.”
Suddenly, two swords appeared in his hands. They had the same hilt, but the left one’s blade was white, while the right one was black. Without any warning, the man rushed toward Illya at blinding speeds. The white haired girl let go of Rin, allowing her to fall onto the roof of the container before rushing straight at her enemy. He swung his left sword at her chest, only for Illya to quickly block it with Ruby.
“Hey, careful! This guy might poke my star out!” She shouted.
“I’d rather that than have my heart get cut open!”
The Class Card quickly swung his other sword at Illya’s head, causing her to duck beneath both of his blades. The magical girl swiftly countered by throwing a kick at his stomach, pushing him back. The white haired girl wasted no time and pointed her Kaleidostick at him before she began to shoot a bombardment of small magical projectiles straight at him.
“Steel is my body. Fire is my blood.” He moved his left hand forward, causing a large purple shield to appear in front of him and block Illya’s attacks.
Rin, who managed to get behind the Class Card while he was fighting with Illya, pulled Happiness is a Warm Gun’s trigger, causing several gems to shoot out of it and explode upon making contact with the man’s back. The Class Card winced as he felt his back begin to bleed. Using this brief opportunity, Illya rushed at the man and thrust her weapon at the shield, cleaving it in two. Before either of the two girls could do anything, the Class Card grabbed Illya by the hair and launched her at Rin, causing both girls to fall to the ground.
“I have created over a thousand blades.”
Suddenly, a swarm of a variety of weapons appeared around him before being launched directly at the duo. A pink barrier appeared around the two of them. It managed to block a good chunk of the attacks before completely shattering.
“Ruby! We have to finish this now!” She shouted before shooting a medium sized magical beam at the man.
It effortlessly disintegrated any projectiles headed toward it as it made its way to the Class Card. He quickly jumped into the air as it was right in front of him. The beam moved upward, causing him to attempt to deflect it with the sword in his left arm. He swung at it and managed to hit it, but the projectile continued moving straight forward. He moved the majority of his body away from the attack, but his arm wasn’t so lucky and was disintegrated by the attack.
“Impressive. To think that someone as young as you would be able to injure a being such as myself.”
With his limb gone, the man flew back to the container he was on. He quickly turned away from Illya and Rin before a gigantic, lengthy, blade-like piece of metal shot out of his arm and zoomed straight toward Illya’s head faster than either of the girls could react to it. The moment it was only mere inches away from the white haired girl, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow appeared in front of her and grabbed onto the chunk of steel. She pulled it forward, effortlessly tearing it out of him and sending him flying toward her. Once the Class Card was near her, the Stand began to pummel his face in with a barrage of punches, denting his skull and sending him flying away.
“Unknown to death. Nor known to life.” He said as all the injuries inflicted from Rin and Illya began to heal.
Suddenly, the same black bow as earlier appeared in his left hand as a black sword appeared in his right. Upon landing on his feet, he attached it to the bowstring before pulling back on it. He quickly shot it straight at Illya. However, Rin quickly ran in front of her and shot at the sword. Her gems exploded upon making contact with it, sending it flying upward for a few seconds before it dipped downward once more and began to fly toward Illya.
“So it locks onto a target.” The white haired girl calmly said as her Stand slammed her left fist onto the ground and sent herself flying upward.
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow grabbed onto the sword and effortlessly split it in half as if it were a twig before tossing its remains to the side.
The Class Card gritted its teeth as Rin jumped at him. She threw a powerful kick at his head, which caused him to spit out blood and pushed him back. Rin gave him no time to recover before shooting him in the chest and stomach with her last two remaining gems, causing two sizable holes to appear in them.
“Illya! Finish this now!” She shouted as she reloaded her gun.
“With pleasure!” The white haired girl gleefully shouted before jumping into the air and falling toward the Class Card.
“Have withstood pain to create many weapons.” He murmured as his injuries began to heal.
The same purple shield from earlier appeared in front of him. With a single powerful punch, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow effortlessly punched through it with her right hand. Using her left hand, she grabbed the white haired man and squeezed down on him tightly, completely shattering his hips, before launching him into the air. The Stand quickly jumped into the air and slammed her fists downward into his head, causing him to be sent flying into the ground and a large impact crater to form around him.
“But yet… these hands will never hold anything.” He weakly said as a gigantic grey sword-axe with silver spikes as a blade appeared in his right hand. He thrusted it upward with ease, impaling the Stand in the stomach, and then thrust it forward, causing Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow to be pushed away a few feet. With the Stand out of range of her opponent, the Class Card took this opportunity to stand up. A grin spread across his face as he began to murmur.
“So as I pray…”
“ILLYA! WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE! SOMETHING GIGANTIC IS COMING! WE’LL ALMOST CERTAINLY DIE IF WE DON’T GET AWAY!” Magical Ruby screamed.
“But the Class Card-“
“THAT DOESN’T MATTER! WE CAN ALWAYS COME BACK LATER! WE WON’T GET ANOTHER CHANCE IF WE LOSE OUR LIVES!”
“Unlimited Blade Wor-“
In the distance, the three of them heard a popping noise. The Class Card went silent as a soft grin spread across his face.
“Thank you…” He murmured before exploding into a cloud of smoke, leaving behind a card with a woman wearing armor and a red skirt pulling back on a bowstring with the text Archer written at the bottom of it.
“What just happened?” Ruby asked as her master and Rin walked over to the card to pick it up.
“So this is what you’ve been doing every night, Illya.” An unfamiliar male voice said, sounding quite disappointed.
Both of the girls turned their heads to the left and looked up at the top of a container to see a black haired man with dark brown eyes whose shoes, long coat, suit, and tie were all black. Although he was only in his late twenties, his poor sleeping schedule made him appear as if he were around his mid thirties. In his left hand, he held a black pistol that was still releasing smoke.
“YOU! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING HERE, YOU SORRY EXCUSE OF A FATHER?”

Chapter Text

Luvia and Miyu were standing behind the container Kiritsugu was standing on. The blonde was looking at him with a confused look on her face as tears ran down the magical girl’s cheeks.
“Master, you’re crying. What’s wrong?”
“Y-You’re not him, and you thankfully don’t look like them… so why am I crying?” She murmured, wiping her tears away.
“Is this man another magus? Perhaps a Stand User just like myself? But how did he effortlessly dispatch that Class Card with a regular firearm of all things?” Luvia quietly asked.
“So this is your dad…” Rin said, her expression becoming more serious. “Illya told me about you. Why haven’t you visited your family in so long?”
“That outfit… no… that can’t be possible. Y-You couldn’t have possibly become one of them!” He shouted, his grip on his pistol loosening and his hand beginning to shake slightly.
“What are you blabbering on about? I’m fine. In fact, I’ve never been better.”
Kiritsugu quickly pointed his gun at Rin’s head.
“Tell me! Did you steal my daughter’s soul?” He shouted.
The black haired girl instinctively raised her arms into the air.
“Your daughter’s soul? What are you even talking about? I haven’t done anything to her!“
“Don’t change the subject! What the hell are you doing back here, you deadbeat?” Illya shouted.
“Your mother called me yesterday and told me to come to Japan as quickly as possible so that I could see what you were up to and speak with you. How and why did you get involved in magic?”
“My mom’s a good person, but she’s childish and a little naive. It seems she still thinks I care about you.” Illya began to grin. “Look, I won’t listen to a word you say. In fact, I’d be thousands of times more eager to go against whatever you want. So go back to America to research starfish and how climate change and pollution are impacting the ocean. Those things are clearly more important than your family!”
“Illya…”
“You only came to visit us like 4 times during my entire life. Twice when I was a baby, and one of them was when you adopted Shirou! You don’t text us, you don’t call us, you don’t mail us anything, it’s like we don’t even exist to you! You’re a terrible dad; if you can even be called that!”
“Yes, I’m a completely neglectful father. I’d never be able to deny those claims in good conscience. I doubt you’ll believe me, but I-“
“But what? You’ve always cherished me? What a load of bullshit! You can say you love me and that you care about me all you want, but if you don’t actually act like a father would, you’re nothing but a liar!”
Kiritsugu began to smile softly as tears began to well up in his eyes.
“You’re right. I could hardly be called anything resembling a father, and it’s more than reasonable to hate me. But, Illya, please abandon this path you’re going down. It’ll just cause your mother unnecessary heartache.”
The white haired girl let out a growl.
“Don’t you dare bring my mother into this!” She screamed before Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow slammed the ground with her right hand while wrapping her left arm around her master.
The Stand leapt at Kiritsugu, and Illya pointed her wand at him.
“Ruby! Kill him!”
“B-But that’s your dad!”
“No, he’s not. I have no father! He’s just another magus trying to get in the way of me gathering all of the Class Cards!”
“Illya…” He calmly said, not at all fazed by his daughter’s lightning quick movements.
“I WANT THIS MAN DEAD!” She screamed as she landed on the container and pointed her Kaleidostick at him.
Ruby shot a gigantic beam of magic straight at him. Kiritsugu let out a sigh before calmly speaking.
“Good grief, I could’ve never expected someone like Irisviel to raise a girl who jumps straight to violence.”
Right as the projectile was about to completely engulf him, a large white shield appeared in front of him. It effortlessly absorbed the magical girl’s attack.
“I suggest you jump away.” He calmly said before shooting the gigantic beam of magic back at Illya.
The white haired girl gritted her teeth before rushing at the shield. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow effortlessly punched through the shield and ripped it in half.
“Cripple him! Dismember him! Tear his organs out! I want him to suffer before you crush his skull!”
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow let out a mighty roar that echoed throughout the container yard and froze the roof of the container she was on before throwing a barrage of punches directly at Kiritsugu’s head. After a few seconds, the Stand threw a powerful uppercut at his jaw, sending him flying upward. It then jumped high into the air and spiked him into the ground, causing a large impact crater to form around him. Kiritsugu somehow landed on his feet and was completely uninjured.
“Have you let it all out yet?” He asked, still sounding completely composed.
“Now’s our chance, Miyu! Kill Illya and her father and take her Class Cards!” Luviagelita gleefully said.
Miyu stared at Kiritsugu as she began to tremble and breathe heavily.
“No… don’t do this! Stop! Please don’t hurt him!” She begged, falling to her knees. “Don’t hurt Kiritsugu…”
“DIE!” Illya screamed as a pink blade made out of magic appeared out of Magical Ruby’s head.
She thrust it forward, piercing Kiritsugu’s heart.
The black haired man simply put his hand on his daughter’s head.
“Did you get it all out of your system? Or do you want to keep using me as your punching bag to vent out your frustrations?” He calmly asked as he pulled Magical Ruby out of him.
No blood leaked out of the hole in his chest, and the wound closed in less than a second.
“W-Why won’t you die? My Stand’s hitting you with all that it’s got, and you’re not even flinching!”
“I’ll tell you about my Stand’s ability when we get home. I don’t feel particularly comfortable telling you about it in front of two eavesdroppers.” Kiritsugu said, turning to look at Miyu and Luvia, who were standing behind the container.
The black haired girl was still crying, but her eyes were empty, and she was standing up.
“He’s spotted us! Miyu, kill her!”
Without saying a single word, the black haired girl raised her Kaleidostick and began to shoot a barrage of small magical beams at the father and daughter. Right as they were about to hit him, a large white shield appeared in front of him and absorbed the attacks before shooting them back at the two girls.
“Damn it! We need to get out of here!” Luvia shouted as she grabbed onto the black haired girl’s hand.
Miyu quickly jumped into the air and flew away, leaving Illya and Kiritsugu behind.
“You’re a friend of Illya’s, aren’t you?” The black haired man asked, turning to look at Rin, who was standing on the roof of the container. “Would you mind explaining how all of this happened?”
“I’d love to, but it’s kind of a long story, and I’m sure it’d be better for your daughter to tell you about it instead of a random teenager you’ve never met before.” She said before turning around and walking away. “Anyway, I’m gonna go home. I’ll see you tomorrow, Illya.”
“Well then, now that it seems like you’ve calmed down a bit, let’s go home, Illya.”
“I’d rather die than go home with you.” The white haired girl furiously said before jumping into the air and flying away.
Her Stand vanished as she left her father behind.
“I can’t blame you for hating me, Illya. I’m sorry I couldn’t be a part of your life.” He said as he looked up at the sky.

Chapter Text

Illya flew into her bedroom through the open window. The white haired girl quickly returned to her normal form before falling onto her bed.
“Damn that man. He could’ve shown up at any point in the last 10 years, but now that I’m a magical girl, he shows up, points a gun at me and Rin, flat out admits to being a terrible father, and brings my mom up like she’s on the same level of parenting as the man who only saw me three times in my life. He’s simply jealous that I’m still in elementary school and have accomplished more than he ever could and am leagues stronger than him!” The white haired girl gleefully said.
“I don’t know about that, Illya. It’d be one thing if he came to meet you like nothing’s happened, but it takes a real man to admit that they messed up and weren’t a good father. Especially since he never yelled or got mad at you when you attacked him with the intent to kill him and even looked like he was starting to tear up a bit as we spoke to him.”
“What are you getting at, Ruby? That man clearly doesn’t care about me if he never bothered to contact his children or wife in nearly a decade. He seems to have been just too preoccupied with helping out coral reefs and kelp forests to even think about calling his family once.”
“I’m not excusing the way he’s acted throughout the past decade, but there has to be a reason for why he’s been ignoring you for your whole life. Your dad seemed genuinely upset when he saw that you were a magical girl. So I doubt he ignored you because he was cheating on your mom or wanted to get a divorce. Not to mention that he said he only came back to Fuyuki because your mom asked him to.”
“Crocodile tears and lies won’t do anything for me. He’s probably just here to have sex with my mom or something and is only pretending to care about me so that he can get some action. You don’t know him like I do, so stop defending him.” She reprimanded her Kaleidostick as she put her head on her pillow.
Downstairs, Irisviel was sitting on the couch in her living room. The neutral expression on her face instantly lit up as she heard the sound of someone’s keys jingling. A few seconds later, the door to her house was unlocked, and Kiritsugu stepped inside. The white haired woman quickly got up and ran toward her husband.
“Honey, you’re back!” She cheerfully shouted as she smiled from ear to ear. “I missed you so much.”
“As have I. My greatest desire is to spend more time with you, Shirou, and Illya, but you know why that’s not possible. As things are now, I doubt Illya would want to spend even a second near me.”
“Speaking of Illya, where is she? Have you spoken to her yet?”
The black haired man shook his head.
“I tried to, but she got furious and even tried to kill me using her Stand.”
Irisviel gasped.
“Oh my god! Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. My Stand allows me to regenerate in less than a second thanks to its ability. Any damage her attacks did to me was instantly healed. As for where she went, she said she was going home before she flew away without me. So she’s probably in her room as we speak.”
“I can’t believe Illya tried to do that. Not only are you her father, but I raised her better than that.”
“Don’t blame her for anything. Sure, her reaction may have been just a tad bit extreme, but I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same if my father tried to speak to me.”
“So… Illya’s a Stand User and a magus… what are we going to do?”
“I’m not sure. I doubt she’s a standard magic user, but I can guarantee she’s not a magical girl, thankfully. Her use of magic allowed me to confirm that. If anything, she’s some other type of magical girl, one unrelated to the Incubators and that accursed system.”
“That’s good to know. Not all hope is lost then.”
“Indeed. I’d suggest the two of us speak to her right now, but tomorrow’s a school day. We can’t have her going to school sleep deprived, can we now? So I suggest we speak with her together tomorrow.”
“Good idea. For now, let’s get some rest. You must be exhausted from your flight.” Iri grabbed her husband’s left hand before the two of them walked upstairs into their room.

-Meanwhile-
Miyu was lying shirtless on her stomach on Luvia’s bed. Her arms were tied by a brown rope behind her back as Luvia stared down at her with an unamused expression on her face. In her right hand were four rubies. Floating in front of the door to the bedroom was Magical Sapphire. She was being restrained by the blonde’s stand that was hidden by the darkness of the room.
“You’ve failed me yet again due to your incompetence, Miyu. If you had just attacked Illya and her father without any hesitation, we would’ve gotten rid of my biggest threat and reclaimed the Caster and Archer cards. But because of you, Rin has more Class Cards than me!” She shouted as she grabbed one of her rubies with her left index finger, middle finger, and thumb.
“Pl-Please forgive me! I-It’s just that Illya’s father-“
“I don’t care what your reason for not attacking the two of them is. What’s important is that you disobeyed my orders and allowed our enemies to flee.” She began to slowly move her left hand toward her back. “When I say something, I want it done. You are to follow through with it, no matter what your view on it is. Otherwise, you will be punished.”
The ruby made contact with Miyu’s back, burning it and causing her to wince and let out a whimper.
“You’re nothing but a useless waste of space. If Sapphire had never made you her master, I would’ve never even thought about taking you in. It’s for that reason that I can’t kill you, but I can make you suffer.” She calmly said as she placed another ruby on her back, causing Miyu to let out a shout.
“S-Stop! Please! I’m begging you! I-It hurts!”
“Not until you’ve learned your lesson.” The blonde cheerfully said before placing a third gem, this time, in the center of her back. “I gave you a home, food, clothes, and a place to belong. I even bought you those contacts to make your eye color the same as mine. And this is how you repay me?” She let out a chuckle. “How ungrateful! If it weren’t for me, you’d be living in the streets, fighting with rats and raccoons for scraps!”
“I-I’ll do as you say from now on. P-Please stop this! I-It hurts so much!”
“Is that so? From now on, will you do as I say without second thought?”
“Y-Yes!” She yelled as tears welled up in her eyes.
Luvia grinned as she removed the rubies from Miyu’s back, revealing three burn marks where they once lay.
“Excellent. Then next time we meet them, you will not hesitate to kill Illya and Rin, correct?”
She nodded her head as tears ran down her cheeks.
Luvia’s Stand’s grip on Magical Sapphire loosened, allowing her to fly toward her master.
“It seems like my punishment was effective.” She said as she untied her arms. “Now leave my room at once.”
Miyu grabbed her shirt, which was on the floor, and then ran out of Luvia’s room.
“What a worthless child. If I could, I’d hire another girl to take your place. The only thing making you useful to me is your Kaleidostick.”

Chapter Text

-The next day-
Illya opened her eyes and sat up. She quickly put her uniform and backpack on and then went downstairs. Standing by the entrance of the kitchen was Sella, who was staring at the table, and Irisviel, who was sitting behind a plate of omurice.
“Iris… you didn’t have to wake up so early to do this. I could’ve cooked all of us breakfast without you having to trouble yourself.”
“Yes, I know. However, since today’s Kiritsugu’s first day home, I wanted to make my husband breakfast. While I was at it, I made everyone else food too.”
As Irisviel finished speaking, Kiritsugu walked down the stairs and headed toward the kitchen.
“Good morning, Illya, Sella.” He calmly said as he waved to them while walking toward his wife.
He wrapped his arms around her and brought her into his embrace. “Did you sleep well, Iri?”
She nodded her head as she gently kissed her husband on the lips. Illya gritted her teeth as she clenched her fists. Sella simply shook her head and let out an annoyed sigh.
“I made breakfast for you, honey. Would you like me to feed it to you?”
“Yes, please.”
Irisviel sat back down on her seat while her husband sat down beside her. She grabbed a spoon with her right hand and scooped up a bit of the omurice before feeding it to her husband. A smile spread across the black haired man’s face as he slowly chewed on it.
“You’re cooking’s great. I really have missed eating your food.” He said as he stroked his wife’s hair.
“Just eat your food like normal people! You’re making my skin crawl!” Sella complained.
“Why are you wasting your sleep on a man as pathetic as him? He doesn’t deserve anything from you! Buy him a ticket to fly back to Florida, and make him board it at once!” Illya shouted.
Kiritsugu and Irisviel ignored their family members’ complaints and continued eating their food. Not long after that, Leysritt began to walk downstairs.
“What’s for breakfast, sis-“ Before she could finish speaking, she saw Kiritsugu and Irisviel sitting at the table.
Liz quickly rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t imagining things before speaking.
“Oh my god! Kiritsugu! You’re back!” She cheerfully said as she walked toward him and hugged him. “What took you so long to come back? I missed you! Shirou missed you! Iris missed you! We all missed you!”
“I’m sorry, Liz. You know why I couldn’t come back.”
“Yeah, but you could’ve visited us from time to time, or at least called or texted us.”
As Leysritt hugged Kiritsugu, Shirou walked into the room.
“What’s all the commotion-“ Before he could finish speaking, he noticed his father being hugged by his cousin maid and fed by his mother. “Oh my god! Dad? When did you get here?”
“Shirou, it’s been a long time since we last met. You’ve grown so big. Forgive me for being such a horrible, horrible father.”
“It’s fine, dad. I don’t know why you barely ever called or texted us, but I’m sure you had your reasons.” He walked over to Kiritsugu and hugged him.
Illya and Sella just looked at the black haired man with unamused expressions.
“Sella, Illya, come eat with us. Your food will get cold if you two just stand around there.”
“I’ll wait until you’re all finished. I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.” The white haired woman said before walking away.
“I’m not hungry.“ Illya said before turning around and walking toward the front door.
“Come on, Illya. You’re a growing girl. It certainly wouldn’t be a good thing if you went to school without eating anything.” Irisviel said.
“I’ll be fine. I don’t think my body’s physically capable of eating anything when he’s around.”
The white haired girl quickly exited her house, leaving her family behind.
“Looks like my plan fell through.” Kiritsugu let out a sigh as Leysritt and Shirou moved away from him. “I’ll just have to speak with her when she gets home from school then.”

-A few minutes later-
Illya sat at her desk with her head on it. Her stomach hurt, but she couldn’t do anything about it, so she decided to just remain quiet until lunchtime.
“Are you all right, Illya?” Mimi asked.
“Yeah. I just didn’t get that much sleep.” She lied.
“I know it’s a Friday, but you shouldn’t stay up so late just yet. After today, you can stay up for as long as you want.” Suzuka said.
“Maybe she has some family issues going on at home. If that’s the case, then it’s not her fault she didn’t get any sleep.”
“Tatsuko, can you shut up? Illya’s clearly not going through any familial problems. She probably just stayed up late watching her phone or something.”
As Illya’s friends talked about her reasoning for not getting enough sleep, Miyu entered the classroom. Before she could get to her desk, Taiga began to whisper to her.
“I tried to text you last night, but you didn’t respond to me. Was everything all right at home?”
Miyu nodded her head.
“Yes. I just fell asleep earlier than the day prior, so I couldn’t respond to your messages. If I have time at night, maybe we could chat a bit again.” She said before walking to her desk.
As Miyu sat down at her desk, she winced slightly due to the injuries on her back. None of the girls seemed to notice this and continued to talk about Illya.
Great, first my dad tries to speak with me and is worshipped by everyone, besides Sella and me, and now I have to sit in front of this freak. My life is slowly crumbling around me.

Chapter Text

-Many hours later-
The school day was fairly uneventful. It felt much slower than usual on account of Illya not eating breakfast, but she managed to get to her lunch period, where she finally got something to eat and fill her stomach. This made the rest of the day feel comparably faster to the first half of it. Eventually, the school day ended and Illya was allowed to go home. Once she was halfway to her home, the white haired girl suddenly stopped in her tracks.
“Illya, what’s wrong? Why did you stop moving?” Magical Ruby asked.
“If I go home, that man will try to speak with me.” She gritted her teeth. “Nothing will come of that. He’ll just annoy me and get me to hate him more than I already do. I refuse to go home as long as he’s around.”
“Then where are you planning to go? You don’t have anywhere you could stay to avoid your dad.”
“That might’ve been true a few days ago, but as of now I know a spot where I could go. If I can lay low there for a couple of days, I’ll be able to avoid him until he has no choice but to go back to America. Mom might worry about me at first, but once I explain everything to her, I’m sure she’ll understand why I’m doing this.”
“You’re planning on staying at Rin’s house, aren’t you?”
She nodded her head. The Kaleidostick let out a sigh.
“I really hate the idea of staying at a home that belongs to a person as wretched as my former master, but since it’s your decision is to go there, I guess I can’t really do anything about it.”
Illya turned around and began to walk away, heading toward the Tohsaka household.

-Half an hour later-
Kiritsugu stood in front of his house’s door. He was looking at his watch to check the time.
“Sella, when does my daughter usually come back from school?” He asked.
“Find out yourself. You’re Illya’s father. You’re supposed to know something as simple as this.” The white haired woman, who was in the kitchen, sternly responded.
“Illya usually comes back at around 3 o’clock, not long after the school day ends. But she’s taking much longer to arrive than usual.” Leysritt, who was sitting on the couch in the living room, said.
“There can only be one reason for that. She must be avoiding me, isn’t she?” He calmly asked.
“I can’t blame her. Who wouldn’t absolutely despise spending time with a man as accursed as you?”
“Kiritsugu… it’s not your fault that Illya’s acting like this. She’s usually a good kid, who does sometimes have her missteps, but she’s still a child. Kids act irrationally all the time. Even if you tried to explain the reason why you haven’t been able to visit her, I doubt she’d listen to a word you’d say.”
“Don’t say that. The only reason she’s acting like this is because I was an abysmal father. I doubt she’s in any danger, so I won’t go looking for her. When she comes back, I won’t try to force her to speak with me. If she wants to know the reason why I was never able to visit all of you, she can come ask me herself.”
Kiritsugu turned around and began to walk upstairs.

-5 minutes later-
Illya stood in front of the house that belonged to Rin and her mother. It was by far the second biggest home she had ever seen, only dwarfed by her haughty neighbor’s ginormous mansion. She knocked on it and waited for a few seconds until an unfamiliar black haired woman with brown eyes opened the door. She was wearing a dark green dress that went down to her knees and green sandals.
“Hello, who are you, child?”
“My name is Illyasviel von Einzbern, but everyone just calls me Illya. I’m a friend of your daughter’s, and I wanted to speak with her.”
“Einzbern? I think I might’ve heard of a family with a name like that before. Tokiomi might’ve mentioned them as an example of what not to do to a friend of his before, but I might be making things up.” She murmured to herself.
The entire time, Illya stood in front of Rin’s mom with a confused expression on her face.
“What are you talking about?”
“Sorry, I just got a little lost in thought. My name is Aoi Tohsaka. Please come in.” She said, moving to the side to allow the white haired girl entry. “My daughter’s in her room. It’s upstairs, the fifth room to the left.”
“All right. Thank you, ma’am.” Illya said before walking inside.
She quickly walked upstairs and went to the room that Aoi had said. She quietly opened the door and stepped inside to see Rin fast asleep on her bed.
“Hey, what are you doing? It’s not even 4 o’clock right now. A young woman your age should be up and full of energy.” Illya said, clapping her hands together.
The black haired girl’s eyes suddenly opened as she sat up.
“Illya? What are you doing here?” She yawned as she rubbed her eyes.
“The man who impregnated my mother is staying at my house, and I refuse to be anywhere near him, so I decided to come here. Somewhere where he’d never find me, even if my mom decided to help him look for me.”
“Why’s that? Has he been treating you or your family members poorly?”
She shook her head.
“No, but you should already know why I don’t want to be around that guy. So can I stay the night here?”
“Illya, I don’t know what to tell you, but you should probably speak to your dad. Last night, you tried your best to kill him, but he didn’t even get mad at you for that. While it’s true that I don’t know that much about him, it’s evident that he cares about you.”
“If he cared about me, he would’ve at the very least called or texted me!”
“Again, I don’t know much about your dad. But maybe there was something stopping him from visiting and texting you and your family. We can speculate as much as we want, but until you go ask him, you’ll never find out.”
“You and Ruby have been telling me the same thing over and over again. It’s like your records are broken.” Illya let out a sigh. “But fine, I’ll speak to him. If his reasoning for never coming to visit me is something ridiculous like “I didn’t have any time,” I’m immediately coming back here.” She said before turning around and walking out of the room.
“All right. See you later, Illya.”

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
Illya was standing in front of her house’s front door. She didn’t know why, but for some reason, she was hesitant to open it.
“Illya, what’s taking you so long to open the door?”
“I’m gonna be honest with you, Ruby. I don’t really know. I know that I should really speak to my dad… but I’m worried that his actual reason for not contacting his family is actually justifiable. If he just tells me he was busy with work or something, I’ll of course make fun of him and continue to hate him, but if it was something or someone that was keeping him from texting or calling us… I’m never going to be able to live with myself. A part of me really wants to run away to one of my friends’ houses, but I’m sure they’d all tell me to speak with my father, just as you and Rin did.”
“Once you find out why he’s been so distant from your family, say you’re sorry. I don’t think he’s mad at you for the way you’ve been acting, and I think he’s willing to forgive you for everything you’ve done and said about him.”
“All right.” Illya took a deep breath before walking forward and opening the door.
She stepped into the living room and saw Leysritt sitting on the couch as usual.
“Hey, Liz. Where’s my dad?”
“Kiritsugu’s in Iris’ room right now.”
“Okay, thanks.” She said before running upstairs.
She ran down the hall and opened the door to Irisviel’s room. Inside, Kiritsugu was lying in bed, watching the TV while his wife rested her head on his chest. He turned to look at the door, and his eyes widened upon seeing his daughter.
“Illya, you came back.” He said, his lips formed a soft smile.
“Kiritsugu Emiya, I’ve come to speak with you.” She pointed at him. “10 years ago, I was born, yet I can count the times on one hand you’ve visited your family. Hell, you’ve barely called or even texted us. You hardly even qualify to be my father past a biological sense. Up until now, I’ve berated you to no end about this and you’ve, rightfully, been unable to argue about it. This time, I’m not going to yell at you or attack you. Dad, can you please tell me why you refused to talk to me growing up?”
Kiritsugu turned to look at his wife.
“Irisviel, would you be okay with me telling Illya the story of our adolescences?”
“Well, she already knows that magic exists, so there’s not really much of a point in hiding it from her anymore. Plus, it might just be what we need to get her to stop walking down this path.”
He took a deep breath before speaking.
“All right. Do you want me to tell you every single gritty detail about my teenage years? Including stuff about myself, your mother, an old friend of ours, and an old family friend, or should I try to summarize everything for you?”
“Of course! Spare absolutely no details about your past!”
“Well then, I don’t think our conversation will be ending any time soon. Let me tell you the story of me and Irisviel’s most important years.”

Chapter Text

-A decade ago-
Kiritsugu entered the classroom. He was wearing the standard brown Homurahara Academy boys’ uniform. Although he thought it was an incredibly dull and boring outfit, the school didn’t have any alternatives for boys to wear, and complaining about it wasn’t going to do anything. Sitting in front of his desk was Irisviel, who had a soft smile on her face, while to the left of his desk was a blonde, green eyed girl.
“Look who finally made it.” The blonde said, shaking her head in disappointment. “You live like 4 minutes away from Homurahara. How is it possible that Iri and I managed to get here before you?”
“Sorry, Saber. It’s just that when you live so close to this place, you kind of have to abuse being able to sleep in extra late. I’d be doing a disservice to myself by coming here at the same time as you two.”
The blonde’s true name was Artoria Pendragon, but Kiritsugu and Irisviel just called her Saber due to her being proficient in swords. She was a foreign exchange student who originated from a rich family in the UK but came to Japan a year prior. Despite not having studied Japanese before moving, she was a complete expert at it.
“Don’t pull that card out now. Iri lives pretty close to the school too, and she still manages to come here at the same time as me. If she can do it, you can too!”
“Calm down, you two. There’s no need to argue about something as trivial as this on a Friday morning. It’s not like Kiritsugu’s showing up late to school everyday or just barely making it on time. He still has a few minutes to spare before class starts.” Irisviel said. Just like Saber, Irisviel, who both of her friends mainly referred to as Iri, came from a rich family in Europe. However, her country of origin was Germany. “And it’s not like he’s at risk of oversleeping anytime soon. Even if his alarm clock fails him, he has a maid and a father who’d be more than willing to get him up by any means necessary.”
“See, Iri gets it.” He calmly said before walking behind the white haired girl and sitting down. “Are either of you planning on doing anything once we get out of school?”
“Why do you ask? Do you have plans for later?” The blonde asked.
“Nah. That’s exactly why I’m asking you girls.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t really have anything planned for later.”
“Neither do I.” Irisviel added.
“I see.” He said, not sounding too thrilled. “I’ll see what I can do once I get home.”

-Many hours later-
The rest of the school day was rather uneventful. Nothing memorable happened, and it eventually came to an end. Kiritsugu said goodbye to his friends and went home. Due to its close proximity to the school, he was able to get there in under 5 minutes. The Emiya residence was a two story house that was nearly large enough to be a mansion. Its walls were white, and it had a roof made out of dark brown wooden tiles. The house had a similarly large backyard that was encircled by a white plastic picket fence with a few trees inside it. The home also had a wooden porch. Standing on it was a girl with brunette hair that was tied into a ponytail with brown eyes and tanned brown skin who appeared to be only a few years older than Kiritsugu. She wore a white dress that went down to her thighs and was barefoot.
“Kiritsugu! You’re back!” She cheerfully said as the younger boy ran toward her.
“You’re always waiting for me to get home from school, Shirley. You’re like a lonely puppy who misses their owner.” He said, wrapping his arms around her.
“I can’t help it. I’m totally inept at using a computer, and I feel like the people on TV speak way too fast for me to get sometimes. I’d talk with your dad, but you know how busy he always is with his research. You’re the only person I get to actually talk with.”
Shirley was a 17 year old girl who was born and raised on Alimango Island in the Philippines. She grew up poor, and for the majority of her life, never received an ounce of education. She would’ve never left her island had Kiritsugu and his father, Norikata, not visited it on vacation. The father and son had come across her outside of her family’s house, which was essentially a worn down shack made out of bricks with a cracked wooden roof, and for whatever reason, Norikata took an interest in her. Neither Shirley nor Kiritsugu knew why; perhaps he felt pity toward her or was intrigued by how someone living in such dismal conditions could live a happy life. Whatever the reason for his interest in the girl taking root was, it eventually led to him speaking to her parents and offering to take her to Japan as his housemaid, where he could properly educate her and give her better financial opportunities. Naturally, her parents didn’t think twice about saying yes to the man’s offer and allowed their daughter to move in with the Emiya family.
“I guess you’re right. But still, you could probably walk around the city and try to make new friends there, maybe do a few errands for my dad, like buying the groceries while you’re at it.”
“If I could, I would. You know that my Japanese isn’t the best. If I actually went into town, I feel like I’d end up embarrassing myself in front of a bunch of strangers. I’d never be able to show my face in Fuyuki again if that were to happen.”
As Shirley finished speaking, Norikata walked out from his house. He was wearing a white button up shirt and glasses with white hinges. He had bags under his eyes from plenty of sleepless nights of research.
“Kiritsugu, you’re back. How was school?”
“It was good. I’m guessing you spent all day in your room again.”
Norikata was an archeologist who would travel the world to examine and research items that belonged to different past civilizations. He was dedicated to carefully and thoroughly inspecting the objects, seeing what they could do, and what their original purpose was, which would often take entire nights.
“Guilty as charged.” The black haired man smiled.
“I’ve prepared a nice, big meal for the two of you.” Shirley said as she turned around and walked inside. “It’s on the kitchen table, and we wouldn’t want it to get cold, would we now?”
Kiritsugu and his father quickly followed after the brunette and entered the house. They walked into the kitchen and saw a variety of food on the table. Dishes such as lechon, rice, lumpia, chicken adobo, longganisa, and more all stood there, ready to be eaten by the three of them.
“Wow! This looks as incredible as always!” Kiritsugu cheerfully said as he sat down next to Shirley.
“Thank you. My goal when I cook is to make you and your dad happy, so hearing you say something like that fills my heart with joy.”
“Yes, this food looks truly incredible.” Norikata said before turning around and walking out of the kitchen. “Bring the food to my room once you’re done eating, Shirley.”
With Norikata gone, the two turned their attention to the food and took a seat across from one another.

-Many hours later-
After eating lunch, Kiritsugu went to his room. It was a fairly large room with white walls, a king sized bed in the upper leftmost corner of the room beside a window that was covered by a red blind, and a five drawer dresser with a TV across from it. There was nothing good on TV at the moment, so he resorted to going on the internet to kill some time. Sites such as Niconico and YouTube were still relatively new and weren’t all that popular. While there were a few content creators on these sites that interested Kiritsugu, none of them had posted anything new today. As such, the black haired boy was watching random videos to pass the time. As he was watching a rather short video on an anime he had never watched before, Vocal Naho Battle, which was the sequel of the original Vocal Naho series released in 2005, he noticed that it was past midnight.
“Jeez, is it really that late? Where did all the time go when I was on my computer?” He asked himself as he slowly closed it, placed it beside his bed, and put it to charge. “I should go to sleep. I’d hate to be sleep deprived on a weekend day.” He said to himself before lying his head down on the pillow and falling asleep.

-The next day-
Kiritsugu opened his eyes. He quickly sat up and opened his phone to check what time it was.
“There’s still 10 minutes to seven. I should probably go back to sleep, but I want to do something.” He whispered to himself before standing up and walking toward the door.
The black haired boy exited his room and went downstairs. There wasn’t anybody on the first floor, so he decided to leave the house. There weren’t that many people on the streets of Fuyuki at this hour, so he was able to make it to his destination, a several story tall apartment complex with white walls. He quickly entered it, walked toward the elevator, pressed on the button to the right of it, and then entered the elevator. Once he was inside it, Kiritsugu pressed on the button to the fourth floor. After a few seconds of waiting, the elevator’s door opened, and he stepped out of it. The black haired boy walked down the hallway until he reached the fifth door to his left.
“Let’s see if she took my advice to heart.” He calmly said to himself before opening the door and stepping into the apartment.
He quietly closed and then locked the door before taking his shoes off and walking toward the kitchen.
“You’re lucky I was the first man to wander into your apartment. Instead of waking up to an empty apartment, you’ll be waking up to a warm meal.” He said to himself as he opened his friend’s fridge. “Hmm… you don’t really have a lot of stuff I could use to make something delicious for you. But you have eggs and rice, so I could definitely make something at least edible for you.”

-2 hours later-
Shirley woke up and got out of bed. Her room had a bed with a plain white bedsheet, blue blinds to cover her window, a plastic white garbage can that stood across from her bed, and nothing else. She didn’t have any sort of closet or wardrobe, or even a TV. She quickly exited her room and walked downstairs, only to not see Kiritsugu anywhere.
“That’s strange. He’s usually up at this hour. If he overslept a bit, maybe I could play a little prank on him.” The brunette whispered to herself as a mischievous grin spread across her face.
She quickly, but quietly, went up the stairs and made her way to Kiritsugu’s room. The maid opened the door to his room and stepped inside, only to not find anyone inside.
“What? He’s not home? Where could he have possibly gone then?” She asked as she exited the bedroom.
She went downstairs once again, but this time she entered the kitchen.
“If Kiritsugu left for some place, I guess I’ll just have to make something for myself and Norikata.”
As Shirley walked toward the refrigerator, she heard what sounded like footsteps approaching her. She quickly turned around and saw Norikata walking into the kitchen.
“Morning, Shirley.” He said while yawning.
“Good morning, master. Did you get some sleep last night?”
“More than usual. Where’s my son?”
“I’m not completely sure, but I believe he went to hang out with his school friends.”
“I see. Once you’re done, come to my room.”
“I’ll be sure to.”
Norikata turned around and exited the kitchen. With her master unable to see her, Shirley let out a deep breath as a frown spread across her face.

-
Saber began to open her eyes. She quickly sat up and began to smell the scent of somebody cooking in the kitchen.
“Kiritsugu?” She yawned before standing up and walking out of her bedroom.
The blonde quickly entered the kitchen and saw her friend sitting at the table with two plates of tamagoyaki and rice in front of him.
“Hey, Saber. Surprised to see me?”
She shook her head as she took a seat across from her friend.
“Kind of. You do cook for me every so often, which is why I leave my apartment door open.”
“You should really stop doing that. If you keep leaving your door unlocked, there’ll come a day when you wake up to all of your belongings being mysteriously absent. Instead of leaving it unlocked, just make a duplicate of your key and give it to me so that I can come and go whenever I want.”
“I’ll try to, but I might not get around to doing it. I’m a very busy girl after all.” She joked as she brought one of the plates of tamagoyaki and rice closer to her. “If you’re really so worried about someone coming to steal my stuff, maybe I’ll just have you or Iri make a duplicate of my apartment’s key.” She grabbed the fork and spoon to her left. “Enough with the talk. Let’s dig in.”
“I know I say this every time I make you breakfast, but my cooking’s not nearly as good as my maid’s. Still, I hope you-“
Before Kiritsugu could finish speaking, Saber scarfed down her food in a matter of seconds.
“What are you talking about? Your cooking’s great!” She said with a large, toothy smile. “Compared to the food from my home country, your cooking’s practically gourmet.”
“You really don’t have to say that. Sure, it’s edible and all, but it’s nothing special.”
“Maybe for you, but my country’s food is bland and flavorless. If you searched up images of British cuisine on your laptop, you’d be absolutely appalled by what you’d see. Japanese food is so much more flavorful than it. It feels like I’ve been served slop my whole life.”
“Is that so?” Kiritsugu began to grin. “Well then, I guess I’m leagues better than every British chief to ever live. I can’t be such a bad cook if that’s the case.”

-An hour later-
Kiritsugu was sitting on Saber’s couch, watching TV. To the left of the room was the blonde, who was swinging her wooden training sword in the air. Although her apartment was pretty big, she didn’t have enough rooms to be able to turn one into a training room. So, she was forced to practice by herself by repeatedly swinging and striking at the air, using her imagination to pretend that she was actually practicing on a training dummy.
Damn it… this is so drab. Artoria thought as she lowered her training sword. I really should get a training dummy, but I don’t have a room I could put it in, and it’d look weird if I set aside a portion of the living room for it. A smile spread across her face as she turned to look at Kiritsugu. However, it looks like I’m in luck today.
“Kiritsugu, help me practice my sword skills.”
“Huh? But I don’t know the first thing about using a sword. I’d just be wasting your time.”
“Trust me, it’ll be fine. I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it in no time.” She turned around. “Wait here. I’ll get you a practice sword for you to use.”
Saber quickly ran to her room. A few seconds later, she returned with another wooden practice sword and handed it to her friend.
“I’ll try my best to not get beaten by you in less than a minute.” He said, giving his friend a nervous smile.
“And I’ll be sure to not severely injure you. At most, you’ll only be losing one rib today.” She joked as she got into a fighting stance. “Are you ready?”
“Wait, wait. Let me get into the same position you’re currently in.” He said as he mimicked the blonde’s stance.
“On the count of three we begin. One, two, three.” She calmly said before rushing at Kiritsugu.
She swung her sword downward at his head, which the black haired boy just narrowly managed to block. Not even a second later, she lowered her sword and thrust it toward Kiritsugu’s stomach. This single attack was so powerful that the black haired boy was sent flying onto his back and felt the air be knocked out of him. As he fell toward the floor, he swore he saw a white cat-like creature staring at them through the window.
“Are you all right?” Saber asked as she offered her hand to her friend.
“Yeah, you just knocked the air out of me.” He said as he clutched his stomach.
As he began to stand up, he turned his head to the side slightly to get a view of the window. The creature he had seen there earlier had somehow vanished.
Saber must’ve hit me so hard that I started seeing things.
“How long did I last?”
“Around twenty seconds.”
“T-Twenty seconds? I’m surprised I even managed that long. I was barely able to see your first attack.”
“Twenty seconds is far too little time to be called training. Do you think you could go another round against me?”
“Sure thing. Maybe I’ll even get a hit on you this time.”
A grin spread across the blonde’s face.
“Let’s see about that!”

-Many hours later-
Kiritsugu and Saber spent the rest of the day training with one another. Despite spending so much time doing this, Kiritsugu never managed to hit her once. He never even got close to it. Once the sun began to set, Kiritsugu decided to go home. As he neared his home, he saw Shirely waiting for him in front of the door. She was wearing the same clothes as ever.
“You’re back, Kiritsugu. Where did you even go?”
“I went to visit a friend of mine earlier to make some breakfast for the two of us, but I kind of got a little sidetracked and ended up staying there a lot longer than I originally intended.”
“Speaking of food, I made you dinner. The food’s on the table as we speak.”
“Let’s head inside then.”
Both of them turned around and walked into the Emiya household.

-The next day-
Kiritsugu began to open his eyes. He quickly sat up and opened his computer to check the time.
“Seven thirty? Why am I waking up at such ungodly early hours? It’s the weekend, and I’ve got nothing to do. I should be allowed to sleep in for as long as I want, not wake up at this time.” He grumbled to himself before putting his head on his pillow and closing his eyes.
The black haired boy attempted to fall asleep but was woken up by a familiar voice calling out to him.
“Kiritsugu, Kiritsugu, are you home?” She faintly called out.
He quickly opened his eyes, stood up, and walked over to his window. He opened his curtains and saw Irisviel standing in front of his front door.
“Come outside. I wanted to ask you something.”
“I just got up! Wait for me to get changed, okay?” He shouted before running to his closet.
He quickly pulled out a black shirt and blue shorts before running downstairs.
He speedily put on his brown shoes before exiting his house.
“Guten morgen.” Irisviel said, waving to her friend.
She was wearing a sky blue dress that went down to her knees, black thigh socks, and white shoes.
“Good morning to you too. What do you want to talk to me about so early in the morning?”
“Yesterday, I stopped by your house at around this same time, but nobody answered the door. I stopped by an hour after that, and your maid answered the door. I asked where you were, and she said that she didn’t know. To make sure you weren’t somewhere and that I wasn’t just wasting my time, I decided to call your name today.”
“And this is why you should get a phone. You’re more than rich enough to afford even the most high tech ones. Regardless of that, if you had one, I would’ve been able to tell you that I wasn’t home yesterday because I went to hang out with Saber at her house.”
“Oh, I see. Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to go to the mall with me.”
“For what reason?”
“Well, I just wanted to go shopping with you. I feel like I’ve been wearing the same few outfits recently, and I’m sure you probably feel the same way. Every time I see you, you’re always wearing either our school’s uniform or some really bland monochromatic shirt and either shorts or pants, depending on the weather.”
“That’d be an issue if I even remotely cared about the stuff I wear. As long as it’s not ripped or torn, I’ll wear whatever.”
“That may be true, but surely you’d like to buy something not related to clothes, or for someone else at the very least.”
Kiritsugu closed his eyes for a few seconds.
Now that I think about it, I haven’t ever seen Shirley in clothes other than that white dress. Does she even have anything other than that to wear? He opened his eyes. “Now that you mention it. There is someone I want to buy clothes for.”
“That’s great. Once we’re done shopping, we can go eat breakfast at one of the restaurants there.”
“Sounds perfect to me.”

-An hour later-
Kiritsugu and Irisviel arrived at the mall. They quickly entered the first clothing store Irisviel saw on the first floor.
“We’re here.” The white haired girl cheerfully said. “This might be a little embarrassing, but if you won’t mind, who is it you’d like to buy clothing for?”
“I want to buy some clothes for my maid. I think she only has one dress, which I’m pretty sure originally belonged to my mom. I’d like to get her something new to wear instead of the same white dress. However, I don’t know the first thing about picking out girls’ clothes, so could you help me find her something that would look nice?”
“No problem.”
The duo walked forward until they reached the women’s clothing section of the store. The two of them searched through the area until they found a dress that Kiritsugu thought would look nice on her, that being a yellow dress. Although Shirley wasn’t nearby for her to try it on, Kiritsugu placed it on Irisviel to see how it would look on her. It was a bit too long for her, which was perfect for Kirtsugu.
“All right. I think this will be good for my maid.”
“Will that be everything you’re going to get her? Or should we keep looking for more clothes?”
“Let’s keep looking. The dress is a nice start, but I think she could use some more clothes. I’m sorry if this is troubling you, but could I compare the clothes I want to pick out for her to you?”
“I don’t mind. Let’s keep looking for clothes for your maid.”

-3 hours later-
Eventually, Kiritsugu found everything he wanted. Including the dress he got her, he bought her a pair of white socks, black shoes, a pair of pantyhose, and white panties with pink stripes going down it diagonally just in case she needed a new pair of undergarments. Irisviel, on the other hand, got three bags full of clothes for herself. Once they were done shopping, they exited the clothing store and went to the food court to get something to eat. After they were done with that, Kiritsugu and Irisviel walked back to the white haired girl’s home. It was a huge mansion made out of wood with dark brown sides and a white roof.
“Thank you for accompanying me, Kiritsugu. I think I had more fun with you by my side than I would’ve if I went alone.”
“No problem. I enjoyed it too.”
Irisviel began to walk toward her house.
“Well then, I’ll be going inside. Tell me what your maid thinks of her new clothes tomorrow.”
“All right, bye, Iri.” He said, waving to her.
The white haired girl walked toward her front door, unlocked it, and entered it. Once she was no longer in Kiritsugu’s field of view, the black haired boy began fo walk toward his house. After a few minutes of walking, he reached it. As usual, Shirley was waiting for him on the porch.
“Kiritsugu!” She shouted. “Where were you?”
“I went shopping with a friend of mine.”
“Oh, did you get yourself anything good?”
“No, not really. But that’s because I bought you some new clothes.”
The brunette’s eyes widened.
“What? Are you serious?”
“Of course I am.” He said as he got on the porch. “Take a look and tell me what you think about what I got you.” Kiritsugu handed his maid the plastic bag in his right hand.
Shirley began to smile as she looked through the clothes he had bought for her.
“Thank you! I’ve never gotten so many beautiful, high quality clothes all at the same time before.”
“No problem. Let’s go inside. I’m sure your cooking’s probably starting to-“
“Wait, I didn’t cook today.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Why’s that?”
“Your dad said that he was going to order something for lunch later. So I don’t have to cook right now.” She sat down on the porch. “We can just sit here and talk if you want.”
A smile spread across Kiritsugu’s face as he sat down beside his maid.
“You know, I’ve been going out to see my friends the last few days, and I’ve been wondering, would you like to hang out with us too?”
“Don’t be silly. I’m not exactly the most fluent in Japanese. Sure, I can speak it well with you and your dad, but I know that if I talk to a random stranger on the street, I’ll just mess up and embarrass myself.”
“If you keep saying that, you’ll never become more fluent at Japanese. The best way to become better at speaking a language is by talking to people who are already fluent in it, which will never happen if you stay cooped up in my house. Plus, going out with me and my friends gives you the perfect excuse to show off your new clothes to the world.”
“The more I think about this plan of yours, the more I’m starting to like it. When do you propose I could go out with you?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? But don’t you have school tomorrow?”
The black haired boy nodded his head.
“Yes, but me and my friends could skip.”
“Education is important. I’m not sure I’m fine with you missing out on a day of school to-“
“It’s fine, Shirley. It’s not like we were gonna do anything tomorrow anyway. Knowing my friends, they’re probably more than thrilled about missing out on a day of school.”
“It looks like we’re actually gonna get to go out then. I can’t wait.” She cheerfully said.

-Many hours later-
Kiritsugu lay in bed with his flip phone in his hands. It was nearly midnight and quite cloudy outside, but he couldn’t fall asleep just yet until he had texted somebody.
Hey, do you want to skip school tomorrow? I just bought my maid new clothes, and I wanted to know if you wanted to walk around town with us.
You had me at skip school. Saber said. Have you already told Iri about this, or should I tell her?
Tell her, please. Do you have a time you’d like to meet up at?
I think 8:30 would be good. I’ll see what Iri thinks about it tomorrow.
All right. Good night.
A smile spread across Kiritsugu’s face as he turned his phone off and put it beside his bed. He quickly rested his head on his pillow, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

-The next day-
Shirley opened her eyes. She rubbed them before sitting up and opening the window. Although she didn’t have a clock to tell the time, she was able to tell that it was around the time Kiritsugu got up to go to school from how bright it was outside. She then quickly turned to her right to grab the clothes Kiritsugu had bought for her and put them on. The brunette quickly walked out of her bedroom and entered the bathroom to look at herself. Her clothes fit her perfectly, and she thought she looked really good in them.
“I wonder what Kiritsugu will think when he sees me.” She said to herself before exiting the bathroom and walking downstairs.
Shirley walked toward the couch in the living room and sat down on it. She was about to turn on the TV when she heard what sounded like someone coming down the stairs. Kiritsugu entered the living room, and his eyes widened as he let out a gasp.
“Kiritsugu… do you not like how I look?”
“Shirley, you look absolutely gorgeous!” He cheerfully shouted as he ran over and hugged his maid. “You were already beautiful before, but those clothes just elevate your beauty even further.”
A blush spread across her face.
“Do you really mean that?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t lie about something like this.” He let go of his maid and walked toward the living room’s entrance. “You should get up now. Iri and Saber are going to be here any second-“
Before he could finish speaking, there was a knock at the door.
“Speak of the devil.”
Kiritsugu quickly turned around and walked toward the door. He opened it, allowing Irisviel and Artoria to enter his house.
“Guten morgen. Did you sleep well?”
He nodded his head.
“Of course I did. I was so happy about today that I slept like a baby.”
Saber turned her head to the left and right before speaking.
“Wait, where’s your maid? She’s the whole reason we’re here right now. We can’t leave without her.”
“Shirey, get up. My friends are here.” He calmly said.
A few seconds later, the brunette stood up and walked toward the house’s entrance.
“Hello, girls. My name is Shirley, the Emiya family’s maid. It’s a pleasure to meet all of you.”
“This is your maid? She’s absolutely stunning!” Irisviel shouted before running toward her. “What makeup do you use? Who’s your hairstylist? What’s your skincare routine?”
The maid slowly backed away from Iri with a confused look on her face.
“What? I don’t have or use any of those things.”
“Really? I thought all girls did.”
“Enough about my maid’s beauty habits. It’s time we get going.” Kiritsugu said.
The four of them exited the Emiya household.

-A few minutes later-
The quartet was leisurely walking around Fuyuki City. It was a nice, warm, sunny day, and, due to it being a Monday, there was nobody on the streets as everyone was either in school or at work at this hour.
“So this is what the city of Fuyuki looks like.” The brunette said with a gentle smile on this face.
“Wait a minute, you’ve never walked around town before?” Irisviel asked, her eyes widening.
“No. I’m not completely fluent in Japanese, and I was worried I’d embarrass myself due to being unable to read something properly or not knowing the proper words for things. Plus, I just didn’t like the idea of going out in those clothes.”
“Who buys the groceries then?”
“Kiritsugu’s dad does. He then tasks me with cooking for him until all of our ingredients run out, which causes him to go grocery shopping yet again and repeat the cycle.”
As the four of them continued to walk around, they saw a restaurant to their left with a red and black sign that had green text in the center of it that read as Ichiran.
“Hey, Shirley, can you read that sign to your left?” Kiritsugu asked.
“Let me see.” She said as she turned around. “I think that says itchy run or something like that.”
The three of them stood in silence as they looked at the maid.
“Look on the bright side: at least her pronunciation is somewhat okay.”
Kiritsugu quickly pulled his phone out of his pocket, opened it, turned it on, and searched something up.
“Shirley, can you read all of this?”
“Let me see.” She said, grabbing the black haired boy’s phone. Her eyes widened as she saw a screen full of text. “Nope, there’s too much text here.”
The brunette quickly gave Kiritsugu back his phone.
“What did you show her?” Saber asked.
“Nothing really, just the terms and conditions of a social media site.”
“Nobody reads that. Why did you show that to her?”
“Because it has a lot of text, obviously. Shirley doesn’t seem to be completely incapable of reading. She just needs to work on her pronunciation of things and not get so freaked out about the amount of text she sees at once.”
As the four of them continued waking, Shirley spoke up again.
“I’m starting to get a little hungry. Do you think we could find somewhere to eat?”
“I’m feeling a little peckish as well.” The white haired girl added.
“As am I.” Saber contributed.
“It looks like it’s settled then. Let’s find somewhere to eat before we continue our stroll of Fuyuki.”

-A few minutes later-
The quartet found a restaurant that specialized in breakfast. They were quickly sat down at a table and given a menu for them to look over. They looked through it and found what they wanted to get. A few minutes later, a waitress came to their table to take their orders.
“Hello, you four. What would you like to order?” She asked, turning to look at Shirley.
“I-I’d like the gewdoned.” She nervously murmured.
“What? I didn’t hear you properly.”
“Can you get me the gewdoned?” She said
“Come again?”
“I want the gewdoned!” She shouted.
The waitress’ eyes widened for a few seconds before speaking once again.
“All right. One gyūdon coming up.” She said before turning around and walking toward Irisviel.
The brunette’s cheeks flushed as she put her head on the table and covered her face with her hands.
What did I just do? She thought.

-30 minutes later-
The four of them eventually all received their meals. Shirley was so embarrassed that she refused to talk to Kirtsugu or his friends. Once they were done eating, they all left the restaurant and continued walking around Fuyuki City. After a few minutes of walking, Shirley spoke up.
“Umm… I really need to use the bathroom. Does anyone know where there’s a restroom I could use?”
“There’s one not too far from here. I could show you to it if you want.”
“I’d really appreciate it if you would. Please lead the way.”
Saber began to walk to her left as Shirley walked after her.
“Let’s wait for them here.” Kiritsugu said.
“Yes, it wouldn’t be right if we made them look for-“
Suddenly, the white haired girl fell silent as she began to look forward.
“Hey, Irisviel, what’s wrong?”
“A-An Incubator?” She asked, slowly backing away from her friend.
“Are you having a mental episode? Why do you look so scared?”
“It seems like your little friend here can’t see me. I usually don’t do this, but since his reaction would be priceless, I’ll give him the privilege of seeing me.” An unfamiliar voice said.
Kiritsugu turned his head and saw a white cat-like creature with beady red eyes, long tassel-like appendages that came out of his ears with yellow rings around them, and a red circular mark on his back.
“Hello, my name is Kyubey, and I’m an Incubator, a being capable of granting the wish of any young girl. I was just introducing myself to your little friend when you started to worry about her.”
“I saw you the other day at Saber’s apartment. What were you doing there?” He asked, getting in front of his friend.
“Nothing much. Can’t a guy pay an old friend of his a visit every once in a while?” He began to walk to the side to get a view of Irisviel’s face. “Anyway, now that I’ve introduced myself to you and your friend, you should tell me your name. It’s simply common courtesy.”
“My name is Irisviel von Einzbern…” She nervously said, grabbing onto Kiritsugu’s shoulders.
“Irisviel, huh? That’s a very unique and lovely name. Now, would you like to make a wish and become a magical girl?”
“No… there’s nothing I particularly want that’s worth wasting a wish that’s capable of granting anything I’d like on.”
Kyubey began to walk toward her.
“Come on, Irisviel. Surely there’s something you’d like to-“
“Hey! Back off from her or I’ll kick you into the road!”
His grin grew slightly before he suddenly vanished.
“Where did that thing go?” He shouted as he moved his head around but couldn’t find anything resembling the feline nearby.
“I’ll be taking my leave then. If you ever want to wish for something, just look for me or any other Incubator. We’re all over the place. It won’t be difficult to find us.” He said before turning around and walking away.
After Kyubey left her field of view, Irisviel let out a sigh of relief.
“All right, he’s gone now.”
“Did someone drug our food or something? Incubators, wishes, magical girls—that all sounds like a load of nonsense. That couldn’t have possibly been real.”
“You’re right. It does sound nonsensical. But at the same time, we saw and talked with Kyubey. A hallucination wouldn’t have been able to do that.” She said, letting go of her friend.
As Irisviel finished speaking, Saber and Shirley walked back to where they were.
“Sorry we took so long. The closest restroom to us was further away than I expected.”
“You look rather frustrated. Did something happen?” The brunette asked.
“No, we’re fine. I was just getting a little impatient, that’s all.” He said, letting out a sigh.
“Now that we’re all together once more, let’s keep walking around town.” Irisviel suggested as a smile returned to her face.

-A few hours later-
The quartet continued walking around Fuyuki and getting Shirley to read things. While she wasn’t very good at pronouncing most things, she was at least able to read them and understand what they meant. Eventually, the four of them decided to go back home. Saber and Irisviel went by themselves, leaving Kiritsugu and Shirley to walk home together. They eventually made it to the Emiya household and stepped inside. Standing in front of the staircase was Norikata.
“Where did you two go?” He calmly asked, smiling softly.
“We were just walking around town with my friends. I brought Shirley along with us to help improve her speaking and reading skills.”
“I see.” He said as he moved to the side, allowing his son to walk up the stairs. “I’ll be in my room if you need me. I’m thinking I might order something for lunch. Do you have anything you’d like to eat in mind?”
“Not really.” The black haired boy responded as he began to walk toward his room.
Upon hearing the door to Kiritsugu’s room open and then close, Shirley began to walk upstairs. She quickly went down the hallway, entered her room, and closed the door behind her. The brunette got in bed and began to lie down.
I can’t believe I embarrassed myself in front of Kiritsugu and his friends. I’ll never be able to live that down. She thought as she began to blush again. How will Kiritsugu ever-
Suddenly, the door to her room opened. Norikata stepped inside and locked the door before approaching the bed.
“I never bought you those clothes. Put on your dress now!”
“W-Why? Kiritsugu bought them so that I could wear them. Why do you-“
His expression turned serious.
“Is that so? Why did he buy you such nice clothes?” He asked before getting on top of her. “What is your relation to him?”
“…It’s just that of master and servant.”
He grabbed her right breast with his hand and squeezed down on it.
“Ow! That hurts! Wh-Why are you doing this?” She asked, more shocked at how rough he was being than where he was touching her.
“You’re my woman! I won’t let you run off with anyone else, even if that person is my own flesh and blood! I won’t lose her again!” He shouted as his free hand snaked down to her panties.

Chapter Text

-The next day-
Kiritsugu opened his eyes, sat up, and then rubbed them while letting out a yawn. He quickly opened his laptop before checking the time.
“It’s time to get up for school.” He said, letting out a sigh.
The black haired boy quickly stood up and walked to his closet. He pulled out his uniform, put it on, and then went downstairs. He wasted no time and went straight to the kitchen, where Shirley, who was wearing her usual white dress, was waiting for him at the table with a large smile on her face. On the table were three plates of pork tocino with a side of fried rice and two sunny side up eggs.
“Good morning, Kiritsugu. Did you sleep well?” The brunette asked.
“Yep. Slept like a baby.” He said with a smile on his face as he took a seat across from his maid. “What about you?”
“I slept well. Could’ve been better, but I won’t complain.”
Before either of them could start eating, Norikata entered the room.
“Hello, you two.” He yawned as he took a seat beside his maid.
Both of their eyes widened as they turned to look at Norikata.
“Dad, what are you doing up at this hour? You’re usually still asleep when I get up for school.”
“Is there a problem with a father wanting to spend some time with his son? Due to the nature of my job, I seldom ever get to spend any time with you, and after you went out with Shirley and your school friends, I realized something. You’re almost an adult. You’ll be out of my life before I even know it… so I want to be able to spend more time with you so that we don’t become estranged from each other once you’re older.”
“That’s not a bad thing, no, but if you want to be able to connect with me more, you really should stop eating meals in your room. I’m not able to chat for too long during breakfast because I need to go to school. If you really want to talk to me more, I suggest you start eating lunch and dinner with me and Shirley. I have all the time in the world to just sit down, enjoy my food, and talk with you during those meals. Plus, I’d be interested in talking about your work and the things you’ve been researching.”
“Noted.” Norikata said before directing his attention to the plate of food in front of him.
A smile spread across Kiritsugu’s face as he grabbed a fork to his left and began to eat his breakfast.

-15 minutes later-
Kiritsugu finished eating and headed directly for school. Shirley finished her breakfast not too long after him. She quickly washed her and Kirtsugu’s dishes and was about to go upstairs when Norikata stood up and grabbed Shirley by her left arm.
“Where are you going?”
“I-I was just going to go to my room to lie down for a bit.” She said, trying her best to pull her arm away from him.
Without any effort, the black haired man pulled her toward him and began to softly grope her breasts.
“Come on, we have the whole house to ourselves. We don’t need to go to your room.” He said, moving his head downward and kissing at her neck.
“Master… why are you doing this so suddenly?” She softly asked, trying not to anger him. “You haven’t even finished your-“
“You’re my woman. Thusly, I get the privilege of having you whenever, wherever I want.” He sternly said as he began to pull off one of her dress’s straps.

-A few hours later-
Kiritsugu, Irisviel, and Artoria were sitting on the roof of their school, eating their lunch. The black haired boy was eating leftovers of dinner from the day before while Irisviel was eating a boxed lunch with German food she had made for herself in the morning before coming to school. Saber, on the other hand, was eating yakisoba bread that she had bought from the cafeteria.
“You know, you don’t have to spend your money on cafeteria food. I could always make you something to eat.”
She shook her head.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I might not know how to cook, but I definitely have more than enough money to spend on food. The food they serve in the cafeteria is surprisingly pretty good as well. It completely knocks whatever they were serving in British cafeterias that they called “food” out of the park. Plus, Japanese food is just better than European food.”
Irisviel’s eyes widened.
“Japanese food is good and all, but it’s nothing compared to German food. You just say that because you were born in the worst European country for food.”
“Nah. I’m sure that European food outside of the UK and maybe France is pretty good, but I don’t think they’re better than Japanese food, that’s for sure.”
“Have you ever tried German food? I can guarantee you that it’s some of the best in the world! Just try a veal schnitzel and you’ll see what I mean!” She shouted, raising her arms into the air.
“You only say that because you’re German. If you were an American, you’d be saying the same thing except for burgers and fries.” She smirked.
“Calm down, you two. There’s no need to get mad over each other’s food preferences.”
“I’m not mad, Kiritsugu. Why would I be when I’m completely right?”
“I’m only getting heated because Saber’s being all smug and treating her preference as fact.”
“Saber, apologize. You’re making Irisviel upset.”
“If you say so.” She said, not sounding very enthusiastic. “Sorry for pissing you off.”
“Apology accepted.” The white haired girl said, her smile returning to her face.

-A few hours later-
The school day ended, and Kiritsugu returned home. As he made his way toward the porch, he saw Shirley waiting for him in her usual spot.
“You’re finally back, Kiritsugu.” She cheerfully said as she walked over to hug him. “Let’s head inside. I made the two of us lunch, and it’s sitting on the table. If we keep standing around here, it’ll get cold.”
“Is dad not going to eat with us?”
She shook her head.
“Your father said that he would be in his room researching something.”
“He made a big deal about wanting to spend more time with me, only to get sidetracked by his research again.” He let out a sigh. “Let’s just head inside, Shirley.”
Kiritsugu took hold of the brunette’s hand and then walked into the Emiya household.

-Many hours later-
It was nearly midnight, and Kiritsugu was about to fall asleep. From the corner of his eye as he lay on his bed, he saw a human shaped shadow cast on the grass in front of the porch.
“Is someone on the porch?” He murmured to himself as he stood up.
The black haired boy slowly stood up, exited his bedroom, and went downstairs. As he approached the door, he saw that it was wide open and that Shirley was sitting on the porch, looking at the sky with the porch’s lights turned on.
“What are you doing up at this hour? It’s nearly midnight. You should get some rest.”
“You’re right, but no matter how much I turn or move around, I just can’t get myself to go to sleep.”
“Is there something on your mind?” Kiritsugu asked as he took a seat beside Shirley.
She nodded her head.
“Ever since yesterday… I’ve been thinking about the future. As you know, I’m not the best at speaking Japanese, and in a year, I’ll be an adult. I don’t dislike being your maid, but I want to be able to move up in the world. I don’t want to spend my whole life being some rich guy’s servant; I want to be free to do whatever interests me… but I don’t have any formal education and can hardly speak this country’s language. Even if I went back to my home country, I doubt I’ll ever get a good job and be able to live my life without having to worry about being impoverished.”
“I’m sure that if you work hard and try to perfect your Japanese this year, you’ll be able to find a good job outside of my dad’s house. There has to be something to help people who didn’t get the opportunity of getting an education finish their schooling and get a degree.”
She began to smile faintly.
“Even if I don’t, I’m sure I’ll be able to find a good, smart man who will be capable of giving me a good life.” The brunette said, putting her right hand on Kiritsugu’s hand.
His eyes widened as he turned to look at his maid. Although it was hidden quite well and hard to see due to the low amount of light, Kiritsugu noticed a bright red mark that greatly resembled a bruise on his maid’s shoulder.
“Shirley, what happened to your shoulder?”
Her eyes widened as her smile quickly disappeared.
“Nothing. I just got bitten by a mosquito.” She said, trying her best to sound as composed as she possibly could. Shirley stood up and turned around. “I think speaking with you helped relieve me of some of the worries that were plaguing my mind. Thank you, Kiritsugu.”
“No problem. Get a good night’s rest, okay?”
“I’ll be sure to.” She said before walking into the house.
Once Shirley was out of his field of view, Kiritsugu began to speak to himself.
“Something’s up with her. She looked way too shocked for that to just be a mosquito bite. I need to get to the bottom of this.” He murmured to himself.

-The next day-
Kiritsugu walked downstairs and saw Shirley and his father sitting at the table. Although not a traditional Filipino breakfast, the brunette had made the three of them each a stack of 5 pancakes with 6 strips of bacon and 6 sausages.
“Hello, Kiritsugu.” The black haired man cheerfully said as his son entered the kitchen.
“D-Dad? You’re really up this early yet again? I told you yesterday that you didn’t need to get up during breakfast.”
“I couldn’t help it. My body woke me up at the same time as yesterday.” He said as he began to cut into his breakfast. “Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to come to the kitchen and greet my son good morning.”
The black haired boy looked down at his food and began to cut it apart with his knife, but his eyes moved to look at his maid. She looked relatively calm, and he couldn’t see anything unusual about her. The brunette had already begun to eat her food as he talked to Norikata. His eyes began to trail down her body, trying to see if she had any other red marks on it. As far as he could tell, she didn’t have other odd red spots.
“Is something the matter? You’re staring at me really intently.”
“No, nothing’s wrong. I was just thinking about a test I have today in one of my classes later.”
“Really now? Good luck then.”
Kiritsugu’s lips formed a smile.
“Thanks, dad.”

-12 minutes later-
After eating his breakfast, Kiritsugu quickly walked to school. Once he got to his homeroom, he greeted Irisviel and Artoria and sat down at his desk. Instead of talking with them, he put his head on the desk and sat in silence for a few minutes before the blonde began to speak to him.
“Kiritsugu, are you okay? You’ve been awfully quiet today. Did you not get enough sleep or something?”
He shook his head.
“No. I’m just thinking about some things.”
“Like what? Is it something personal or embarrassing?” Irisviel asked.
“No. It’s about Shirley. I spoke with her before going to sleep last night, and I noticed that she had an odd, bruise-like mark on her shoulder. I asked her what it was, and she got oddly nervous and just told me that it was a mosquito bite. I tried to see if she had any other marks like that on other parts of her body during breakfast, but I couldn’t see anything of the sort.”
“How peculiar. Do you think maybe your father hurt her in some way due to losing his temper for whatever reason?”
“It’s possible. He has been waking up oddly early these past few days to have breakfast with the two of us. But he’s been treating Shirley nicely for the past 3 years she’s been living with us, so I don’t think it’s very likely.”
“It has to be him though. Who else could it be? If you hurt her, you wouldn’t be telling us, and a bruise-like mark appearing on her shoulder is such a specific thing that I doubt she did it to herself.” Saber said.
“You raise a good point. I’ll try to investigate the situation further, and if I find out my dad’s been doing anything to Shirley, I’ll call the two of you immediately.”
The two girls nodded their heads.

-A few hours later-
Shirley lay in her bed, completely nude. Her hair was disheveled, she was breathing heavily, and her body was being covered in the bedsheets while Narikata sat beside her. Although shirtless, he was wearing pants. The garbage can across from her bed was filled with many used condoms.
“Are you satisfied now, master? We’ve been at this ever since Kiritsugu left.” She panted.
“Yes, you did well, Shirley.” He softly said as he moved over to her and gently kissed her on the lips. Although she didn’t try to move away from him, she didn’t exactly like it. “It’s a wife’s duty to satisfy her man, and you’re excellent at that.” He gently stroked her face with his left hand.
The brunette wanted to say something, but she didn’t want to risk angering him, so she remained silent.
“I’ll be going to my room now.” He said as he grabbed his shirt and put it on. “If you need anything, or simply wish to speak with me, you know where to find me.”
Shirley nodded her head as Norikata stood up and exited the room. The brunette sat up, grabbed her dress, and put it on.
“I guess I should get to cooking. It’s probably almost time for Kiritsugu to get out of school, and I wouldn’t want him to starve due to my laziness.”
She stood up, but right before she could leave her room, she heard what sounded like someone knocking at her window. Her face turned beet red as she realized that she may have unintentionally given someone a show to enjoy themselves to.
“W-Who’s there?” She shouted.
Shirley received no response. This caused her to move toward her window. As she approached it, she noticed a peculiar white cat-like creature standing behind it with a smile on its face.
“A kitty? What are you doing here? Are you hungry?”
“Open the window. I wish to speak with you.” The creature calmly said.
Although his voice was slightly muffled by the glass, the brunette could hear him clearly. Shirley’s mouth went agape as she slowly backed away from the creature.
“Y-You can talk? S-Since when can cats talk?”
He shook his head.
“I’m not a cat. I’m an Incubator. I could tell you all about my people if you let me inside.”
Shirley quickly opened the window, allowing the Incubator to jump onto her bed and look up at her.
“My name is Kyubey. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Hello, Kyubey. My name is Shirley. What brings you to this house?”
“My species is capable of sensing girls with high amounts of magical potential. We seek these girls out to offer them the opportunity to grant them a single wish, which they can use to make anything their heart desires come true.”
“Really?” She asked, a smile spreading across her face. The cheerful look on her face quickly faded as she made a realization. “Wait a minute, a deal like this has to have some catch or downside. Tell me, what is it?”
“I was just about to get to that. After you make your wish, you will gain magical powers and become a magical girl. Although not necessarily required, most magical girls usually use their powers to fight monsters known as Witches and their minions, Familiars, and help out the people close to them. It’s not uncommon for magical girls to use their powers for more seedy and nefarious purposes, which usually results in them picking fights with other magical girls that may result in one of their deaths.”
“I see. I don’t particularly have any wishes in mind that I couldn’t make a reality by myself by working hard.”
“Oh well. If you ever change your mind about this, it shouldn’t be difficult for you to find me or any other members of my species. We’re all over the place.” He calmly said before exiting through the window.
“I don’t have time to deal with magic related crap. I need to go make food for Kiritsugu and his dad.” She said before closing the window and then turning around.
The brunette quickly exited the room.

-A few hours later-
Eventually, the school day ended and Kiritsugu went back home. Standing on the porch, as usual, was Shirley.
“You’re finally back.” She cheerfully said as the black haired boy walked over to her and hugged her.
“You seem really happy to see me. Did something good happen?”
“Seeing you after school always makes my day, but if you’re talking about something new, then no. It’s just been the same as always.” She calmly said as she grabbed ahold of Kiritsugu’s left hand. “Come on, let’s head inside.”
The two of them entered the house and walked into the kitchen, where they saw Norikata sitting in front of a plate of adobo chicken with a small bowl of rice beside it.
“Good afternoon, son. How was your day?”
“It was fine. What about yours?”
“I spent it researching the artifacts I gathered from that expedition to Mexico I went on a few months back. I wasn’t able to make any big discoveries just yet, but I’m sure that if I keep up with it, I’ll be able to make a breakthrough soon enough.”

-A few hours later-
The meal went by without anything of note happening. Kiritsugu tried to see if Shirley was acting weirdly around his father but wasn’t able to notice any strange behavior. He also tried to look for any new strange bruises, but, just like in the morning, he was unable to find any. After they were done, Kiritsugu and Norikata went upstairs to their rooms while Shirley stayed on the first floor to wash the dishes. The black haired boy did his best to listen to any odd noises that could’ve been coming from his father or maid’s room, but he didn’t hear anything unusual. Before he knew it, midnight came, and his father seemingly went to sleep or was so concentrated on his work that he wouldn’t be coming out of his room any time soon. This gave Kiritsugu ample time to execute his plan.
“I’ll never find out what’s been going on with Shirley unless I speak to her. Now’s the perfect time for just that.” He murmured to himself before standing up, opening his door, walking down the hall, and stopping in front of Shirley’s room.
He slowly opened the door before stepping inside and closing it.
“Hey, Shirley. Are you awake?”
The brunette slowly sat up as the black haired boy approached her.
“Kiritsugu, what are you doing up at this hour?”
“I couldn’t sleep. I’ve been thinking about you all day.”
Her face turned beet red.
“K-Kiritsugu, what do you mean?”
“Last night, when we were speaking, I noticed a red mark on your shoulder. When I asked you about it, you got really nervous. That’s been on my mind all day, and I’ve been worrying about you.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. I already told you that the mark on my shoulder is a mosquito-“
“Nobody would react like that to having a mosquito bite pointed out. There’s clearly something more going on.” He turned to her. “Tell me, is my dad hurting you?”
The brunette went silent.
“Please answer me. I promise you that I won’t tell him about this conversation.”
Shirley took a deep breath before speaking.
“For as long as I’ve been living in this house, your father and I have… been having sex.”
Kiritsugu’s eyes widened.
“W-What? But you were just 14 years old when you moved in with us, and he was a grown man!”
She nodded her head.
“Yes, but he didn’t care. On my first night here, he waited until you were asleep before coming into my room… and violating me. I cried, begged, and screamed for him to stop, but he didn’t listen to me. When he was done, I cried myself to sleep.” She somberly said with a neutral expression.
“Then that mark on your shoulder… it’s a hickey, isn’t it?”
She nodded her head.
“Ever since, he’s had his way with me at least once every day, either when you’re at school or asleep. I don’t enjoy it, but I don’t hate it like I used to. I’ve just grown numb to it. At least, until yesterday. He was much more rough than usual, and it went on for hours before he had enough and stopped. He doesn’t try to hurt me, but he said he wants to mark me as his woman so that nobody steals me from him.”
“Do you want me to call the cops? If the authorities catch wind of what he’s been doing to you, I have no doubt that he’ll-“
“No, don’t.” Shirley said, raising her voice slightly. “If he gets arrested, you’ll be left without a family, a home, or even any money to care for yourself. You’ll either be forced to wander the streets or be brought to an orphanage.”
“That might be the case, but I just can’t stand by and let my dad keep hurting you!”
“Your father raised you by himself. He might not always show it, but he really does care about you. Maybe more than anyone else. Do you think you can call the cops on him knowing that?”
“I don’t care about whether he loves me or not! He doesn’t care about you at all! He’s just using you for sex without any regard for your consent! He’s inhuman, and I can’t stand by and let him continue doing as he pleases!”
“No, you got it all wrong. He does love me, but not as a person, but as his toy. He loves my body and loves using it, but as a person, he couldn’t care less about me.” She began to smile softly. “When I was younger, I dreamt that my first time would be with a man that I loved. We would have a romantic time, and he would treat me like a princess. Instead, it was with a man old enough to be my father who only wanted me for my body… who held me down and ravished me without my consent.”
Tears began to well up in her eyes. Before they could run down her cheeks, Kiritsugu wiped them away.
“Shirley, let’s run away together.”
“You can’t be serious. We don’t have anywhere to go. I don’t want to make you leave the only home you’ve known all because of me.”
“We could move in with Saber or Iri. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind helping the two of us out. Once we’re with them, you won’t have to worry about my dad hurting you ever again.”
“Thank you…” She said as she gently grabbed ahold of his hand. “Kiritsugu… I’m not sure if now’s the right time to tell you this, but…” She took a deep breath. “I love you.”
The black haired boy’s eyes widened.
“Shirley…”
“Ever since I began to live with you and your father, you’ve treated me with nothing but kindness and respect. You’ve wanted nothing more than to help me, and I can’t thank you enough for that.”
She moved her head closer to Kiritsugu’s. He could feel her hot breath on his sensitive skin as she moved toward’s his lips.
“I love you too.” He softly said as he moved forward and gently kissed her.
The black haired boy wrapped his arms around her as he pulled her into his embrace.
“Tomorrow, I’ll tell Saber and Iri about everything. Once I get home from school, we’ll leave immediately. Are you fine with that?”
“Yes. If I’m okay leaving with anyone, it’s you.”
Standing outside of the room in silence was Norikata, who was clenching his fists and gritting his teeth.
I didn’t want to do this, but you’ve left me with no other choice. He thought

-The next day-
After Kiritugu finished speaking with Shirley, he went back to his room. Once he woke up, he quickly packed a suitcase that was inside of his closet with all of the clothes he owned and any other belongings he wanted to take with him. With all of his things packed up, he went downstairs to see Shirley waiting for him in the kitchen alone. She had made a huge bibingka for herself and Kiritsugu.
“You’re finally up.” She cheerfully said as the black haired boy sat across from her.
“Did you pack everything up?”
“Well, I don’t really have much to pack up. I’m planning to wear the clothes you bought me when we get out, so the only thing I’ll be talking with me is this dress, which I could easily carry by hand.”
“When I come back from school, wait for me outside like usual. I’ll go inside, get my things, and then we’ll leave for either Saber’s or Iri’s place. If my dad tries to force himself on you, try your best to fight him off. Lock your door and hold it in place with your body if you have to.”
“Of course. I’m a taken woman now. I’m not gonna stand in place and let your father use me like a piece of meat.”
Kiritsugu blushed slightly as he began to smile.

-15 minutes later-
Kirisugu had left for school, leaving Shirley behind to wash the dishes. She had finished cleaning them and was about to walk to her room when Norikata entered the kitchen and began to speak with her. He had a serious look on his face and stood by the kitchen’s entrance.
“Shirley, come to my room.”
“Why? Are you busy with something? If you want to have sex with me, we could do it here or in the living room. We have the whole house to ourselves, and it’s not like the neighbors could hear us since you already soundproofed the walls.”
He shook his head.
“No. Today, I don’t desire your body. I need you for something far more important.”
“Like what?”
“It’s about my research. I’ll explain it to you if you come to my room.”
“All right. I’ll go. By the way, your food’s in the microwave in case you’re hungry.”
Norikata said nothing as he turned around and walked away. Although she was somewhat hesitant to go with him, Shirley didn’t want to risk angering him without having a way to get to her room, so she decided to reluctantly follow him upstairs.

-Meanwhile-
Kiritsugu made it to Homurahara Academy. He took a seat next to Saber and Irisviel.
“Hey, Kiritsugu. Did you find out what was going on with Shirley?” The white haired girl asked.
He nodded his head.
“Indeed I did, but I’ll explain everything to you two when we have lunch. I don’t want to talk about it around so many people, and class is about to start.”
“Is it embarrassing or something?”
“No, it’s just a lot, and I feel like people might get the wrong ideas about me and her if they eavesdrop on our conversation.”
“I see. Let’s go to the roof later. There shouldn’t be anyone there except us, so we’ll be able to talk for as long and as loudly as we want.” Artoria said.

-A few hours later-
Eventually, their lunch period came, and the three of them went to the roof. There wasn’t anybody there, so Kiritsugu walked to the center of it and began to speak.
“Yesterday, after my father fell asleep, I managed to go to Shirley’s room to speak with her about the odd mark on her shoulder. She told me that it was a hickey… and that my father has been sexually abusing her for the past 3 years.”
Irisviel and Saber’s eyes widened.
“So the entire time she’s been living with you two… your father has been sexually abusing her…”
“What do you plan to do about this? Have you reported your father to the police?” The blonde asked.
He shook his head.
“No, and I don’t intend to. Rotting in jail would be much too pleasant of a punishment for him. I’m planning to run away with Shirley when I get home. I don’t want that man to keep hurting her and using her body as if she were a toy.” His voice grew louder. “I don’t have any other family members who could possibly take me in, so…” He took a deep breath. “I know this is a big thing for me to request, but could either one of you please let the two of us move in with you?”
“I’m sorry, Kiritsugu, but I don’t have any spare rooms in my apartment for the two of you to stay in. Unless you’re fine with sleeping on the floor, you can’t move in with me.”
“You can move in with me. I have enough room in my house for the two of you to live in.” Irisviel cheerfully said.
“Thank you, Iri. After school, I’ll go back home to meet with Shirley and gather my belongings. Once I have everything, I’ll immediately go to your house.”
“I could go home with you if you need any help carrying things to my house.”
“Neither Shirley nor I will be carrying much. However, you can still come with me if you want to. It’d be nice to walk away from my father’s home for the last time with my new roommate.”
The white haired girl nodded her head.
“I’ll be sure to do just that.”

-A few hours later-
Before they knew it, the school day came to an end, and Kiritsugu and Irisviel began to go to the Emiya household while Saber went to her apartment. The sky was filled with dark clouds, making it appear as if it were going to rain at any moment. As they neared the house’s porch, the black haired boy noticed that Shirley wasn’t waiting for him like usual.
“That’s strange. Usually Shirley’s waiting for me to come home on the porch.”
“Maybe she’s waiting for you inside. It looks like it could start raining at any second, so maybe she didn’t want to risk getting wet.”
“Let’s see if you’re right about that.” He calmly said as he walked forward and opened the door.
The black haired boy entered the house and turned his head to his right to peek into the kitchen, only to see nobody there. He quickly turned his head to the left to look into the living room but saw nobody either.
“Shirley! Shirley, where are you?” He shouted. There was no response. “Iri, I’ll go look for her in her room. Stay here.”
“I’ll check the backyard. Maybe she’s waiting for you there.”
Kiritsugu nodded his head before running upstairs. Irisviel wasted no time and quickly exited the house. She went behind it but didn’t see anybody there. With the maid nowhere to be found, the white haired girl turned around and quickly ran back toward the house’s entrance. Meanwhile, Kiritsugu had made it to Shirley’s room. He opened the door but didn’t see anybody inside. The clothes he had bought her were lying on the floor beside her bed.
“…She didn’t even change her clothes? She wouldn’t go out of the house in that white dress, so she has to be somewhere in this house. Maybe she’s in my room.” He murmured to himself.
He quickly exited the bedroom. Before he could run to his room, his father exited his bedroom and began to walk down the hallway.
“Dad, do you know where Shirley is?”
The black haired man stopped in his place, brought his right hand to his chin, and began to think.
“If I recall, she told me she was going to buy something from the store. It’s been a few hours now, and she hasn’t come back. I was thinking about looking for her, but I got so lost in my work that time flew by without me noticing.” He calmly said as he continued to walk down the hallway.
He reached the bathroom and entered it before closing the door. At the same time, Irisviel reentered the house. She was about to go upstairs to inform Kiritsugu about Shirley not being in the backyard when she noticed that the brown door on the side of the staircase had a metal lock wrapped around the handle.
“Why is the basement locked?” She asked herself as she walked over to it.
She quickly untied it before opening the door. Behind it was a flight of old wooden stairs that led to the pitch black basement. As Kiritsugu approached his bedroom’s door, he heard Irisviel gasp.
“Iri, what’s wrong?” He asked as he rushed down the hall.
He quickly made his way to the first floor and noticed that his friend had entered the basement room.
“What’s wrong?” He asked while walking down the stairs.
As he reached the bottom of the staircase, his eyes widened and his mouth went agape at the sight in front of him and his friend. Lying on the ground in front of the wall was Shirley. There were brownish stains on her dress, and she was breathing heavily as she looked at Kiritsugu and Irisviel. Her canines had grown substantially and appeared to be as sharp as knives. Beside her was a pile of bones that appeared to have once belonged to small animals.
“Shirley…” Tears began to well up in the black haired boy’s eyes.
“What happened to you? Why are you lying in the basement with the lights turned off?”
“Kiritsugu… Irisviel…” She weakly said while breathing heavily. “Norikata brought me to his room… because he said he needed my help for an experiment… but before he told me anything… he put a weird mask on me that pierced my head. It made me feel like I was starving… your dad tried to give me an apple… but my body wouldn’t let me eat it. He then made a piece of chicken for me… and I still didn’t eat it. For his final attempt to get me to eat something… he got me a squirrel from outside. I-I didn’t want to eat it… but my body practically moved on its own… and effortlessly tore the poor thing to shreds before eating it and picking its bones clean of any meat. Your dad was completely overjoyed by this… and continued going outside to bring me more small animals to eat, such as birds, mice, and even cats. At one point… I tried to help him look for more animals to feed me… but when my skin made contact with the sun, it started to burn, so I had to run back inside. All of my injuries from that healed, much to your dad’s joy. Your dad noticed this… and locked me inside of here so that I wouldn’t go out and accidentally hurt myself. Even though he’s been feeding me a lot of animals… my stomach still feels rather empty…”
Kiritsugu gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
“Irisviel, stay here.” He quickly pulled out his phone and handed it to the white haired girl. “Call Saber and tell her to come right away. I’m going to go speak with my father.”
“A-All right.” She said as she turned on his phone.
Kiritsugu ran out of the basement and rushed up the stairs.
“NORIKATA!” He screamed as he effortlessly felled the door with a single powerful kick. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO SHIRLEY?”
“So it seems you found her.” He calmly said as he grabbed a mask made out of stone that was on the desk in front of him. “I found this mask while excavating a site that was once of great importance to the ancient Aztec people during my trip to Mexico. Throughout the past few days, I’ve spent countless hours researching this mask, trying to see if it had any ritualistic or cultural purposes, but I was unable to find anything, at least until I accidentally got a paper cut while skimming through the pages of one of the books about the Ancient Aztecs that I own. Although an incredibly minor wound, it was enough to draw blood. I grabbed the mask of stone with my bleeding finger, which caused several spikes to pop out of its back. My first thought was that it could’ve been used as an execution device, but there were no records that an object such as it was used for such a purpose. On the off chance that that’s what it was indeed designed for, I prohibited myself from donning it. To find out the mask’s function, I needed someone willing to put it on, which was something I lacked until a realization struck me last night.”
Kiritsugu gritted his teeth and clenched his hands as hard as he physically could.
“I was trying to fall asleep when I heard someone slowly make their way to the other side of the hallway. I waited a few seconds before getting up to investigate this noise. That’s when I approached Shirley’s bedroom and heard the two of you talking about me and saying such abhorrent things, such as her being in love with you.” A grin spread across his face. “Kiritsugu, do you know what your mother looked like?”
“Don’t change the subject! What does my mom have to do with this?”
“You might have seen photos of her when she was an adult, but I doubt you had seen her when she was around the same age as you. She looked nearly identical to Shirley, except that her skin was much paler than hers. After your mother passed from complications caused by your birth, I remained alone for over a decade. I was so busy with my career and raising you that I never had the chance to find a partner, and I believed that I would die alone. That was until we went to the Philippines. From the moment I saw her, I was completely enamored with Shirley. She looked so much like your mother that for a second I believed she was her reincarnation. Later, when you were at the hotel, I went to Shirley’s home by myself to speak with her family about the possibility of bringing her home with me in exchange for financial compensation. Although they were hesitant to let their daughter come with me, they eventually agreed to it when I offered to give them 1,000,000 Philippine pesos. Even though we couldn’t legally marry due to her being underage and not being a Japanese citizen, I loved her and viewed her as I would my wife.“
“Shut up…” Kiritsugu said through gritted teeth.
“So, when I overheard her telling another man that she loved him, I was absolutely devastated.”
“Shut up.” He said, raising his voice.
“It was for this reason that I told her to come to my room not too long after you had gone to school and put the Stone Mask on her without any hesitation.”
“SHUT UP!” He screamed before rushing at his father and knocking him to the ground. “FOR THE LAST 3 YEARS, YOU’VE BEEN RAPING SHIRLEY EVERY SINGLE DAY! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR A SINGLE WORD ABOUT YOU LOVING HER!” Tears began to run down his cheeks. “SHIRLEY NEVER LOVED YOU! SHE WAS AFRAID OF YOU! SHE HATED YOU! THIS ISN’T HOW SOMEONE WHO YOU’RE CALLING YOUR WIFE SHOULD THINK OF YOU!”
“But it’s a wife’s duty to satisfy her spouse’s sexual desires, is it not? After so long in solitude, can you blame me for-“
Suddenly, Kiritisugu wrapped his hands around his father’s neck.
“Turn her back to normal, or I’ll kill you.” He coldly said as he tightened his grip on his father’s throat.
“Why would I? From what it seems like, Shirley’s been turned into a creature akin to vampires from myth. If I thoroughly research her, I may very well be able to find a means to make humans immortal or at least to completely heal grievous and life threatening wounds such as a lost limb or a failed organ! The information I could gather from her is absolutely invaluable! Plus, even if I wanted to, I can’t. As far as I’m aware, there’s no way to undo Shirley’s vampirism-“
Kiritsugu began to squeeze down on his father’s neck with as much force as he possibly could. Norikata, who could no longer breathe properly, attempted to push his son off him, but to no avail. Downstairs, the sound of the front door opening and then closing could be heard.
“Kiritsugu! What happened?” Artoria shouted as she began to walk toward the stairs. “Irisviel called me, and she just told me to come immediately without explaining anything else. She sounded like she was panicking.”
“Saber!” The white haired girl shouted as she ran out of the basement. “I-It’s terrible! Kiritsugu’s father has turned Shirley into a creature I can only compare to a vampire!”
“W-What? Y-You’re joking, right?”
Before Irisviel could finish speaking, they heard shouting come from upstairs.
“Do you really intend to kill me… boy? Not only will you lose your only source of income… but the police will inevitably find my body… and have you arrested.” He weakly said, no longer able to breathe.
“You ruined Shirley’s life, so it’d only be fair if I took away yours!”
A wide grin spread across Norikata’s face as he closed his eyes. A few seconds later, he stopped breathing. Kiritsugu stood up and stared down at the man as Irisviel and Saber ran up the stairs.
“Kiritsugu, what happened? The white haired girl asked.
“I did it… I killed my father…” He calmly said as he moved to the side to allow the two girls to get a better look at his father’s body.
“Kiritsugu, do you realize what you just did? Once people start realizing your father went missing, they’ll start to look for him. One of his colleagues will inevitably file a missing person’s report, which will result in police searching this house. The moment they find your father’s body, you’ll be arrested and may even be hanged for what you did.” Saber said, sounding incredibly shocked.
Kiritsugu’s eyes widened.
“I-I didn’t think about that! W-What are we going to do?”
Before any of his friends could respond, Shirley entered the room.
“Kiritsugu…” She weakly said.
“Shirley, I got rid of the man that’s been causing you so much pain.” He said, trying his best to sound as calm as possible to comfort her. He walked over to her and hugged her. “Let’s get out of here.”
The brunette turned her head to stare at Norikata’s body. After a few seconds of being in her boyfriend’s embrace, she suddenly let out a breathy hiss before pushing the black haired boy to the side and jumping at the corpse. She effortlessly tore his left arm off and bit into it as if it were no harder than a roll of bread.
“SHIRLEY! NO!” Kiritsugu screamed as he attempted to run at the brunette, only for Saber to grab his arm.
“Did you see how she tore off your father’s arm like it was nothing? If you tried to run to her side, she might very well attack you!”
“She wouldn’t! Shirley would never hurt me!” He began to reach out to grab her hand. “Please come with us…” He said, lowering his voice.
“Kiritsugu, I was so hungry…” She said. “Humans are so much more filling compared to other types of animals! I need more! Not just the rest of this corpse, I need more blood!” She shouted, a grin spreading across her face as she stuck her right hand’s fingers into Norikata’s neck, allowing her to drain him of his blood.
“Stay behind me, you two. I’ll handle this!” Saber shouted before pulling Kiritsugu toward her and rushing at Shirley.
The brunette’s eyes widened as the blonde drew closer to her. Instead of attempting to fight her, Shirley quickly opened the closet to her left and pulled whatever clothes she saw first, which happened to be a black long coat and a few Stone Masks. Before she could get close to her, Shirley jumped behind her and quickly opened the window before jumping out of the house.
“SHIRLEY!” Kiritsugu screamed. “GIRLS, WE HAVE TO GO AFTER HER!”
“No, that’s too risky after you killed your own father. We have to prioritize getting out of Fuyuki first and foremost before we do anything else.” Saber said.
“My family owns a gigantic castle in the forest on the outskirts of Fuyuki. I doubt the police would look for you there, and if they did, I could easily hide you there. Saber and I can also continue our daily lives going to school to draw away suspicion of you living in my family’s property.”
Without saying a single word, Kiritsugu walked over to Irisviel and hugged her.
“Irisviel, I can’t explain how thankful I am for such an offer.” He said as he continued to cry.
The white haired girl wiped his tears away before speaking.
“There’s no need to thank me. Anyone in my position would do the same.”
“Let’s hurry then. We can’t stand around here wasting time.” Saber said before walking out of the room.
Irisviel quickly followed after her while Kiritsugu turned his head to look at the window before walking after his friends.

Chapter Text

-5 hours later-
After Kiritsugu grabbed his suitcase from his room, the three of them left the Emiya household and walked away from Fuyuki. They walked deep into the outskirts of the city, making it through the forest that was filled with plant and animal life but was completely devoid of human life. The walk to the Einzbern Castle seemed like it was never going to end, but after many hours, the trio saw a gigantic castle with brown and white outer walls and a blue roof.
“T-This place is gigantic!” Saber shouted, her voice reverberating throughout the quiet, peaceful woods. “It looks like someone ripped a castle out of the ground from Britain or Germany and placed it here.”
“Indeed it does.” The white haired girl said. “But believe it or not, it’s even bigger inside!”
Kiritsugu and Artoria’s eyes widened as they turned to look at each other. The trio continued walking until they reached the castle. Once there, Irisviel pulled out a key from her skirt’s pocket and unlocked the front door. The three of them stepped inside and were greeted by an incredibly spacious area with a flight of stairs that stood across from the front door that had a red carpet going down it. To the left and right of the stairs were multiple incredibly expensive marble sculptures of the heads of famous Roman senators, and a few feet away from them was a wooden table with golden legs and a golden base. The entrance of the palace was filled with circular lights that hung from the ceiling and more square shaped lights that were attached to the left and right walls. As the three of them walked toward the stairs, Saber began to speak.
“Iri, this place is massive. Why don’t you live here instead of buying a house in the city?”
“Well, that’s for three reasons. Firstly, it’s my family’s vacation home. Some of my family members usually come here whenever they want to get away. They’d probably get mad if I tried to move here, as it’d take away one of their many getaway places. Secondly, while it’s absolutely gorgeous, it’s also an incredibly old building. It’s ill equipped for the summer’s harsh heat and the winter’s freezing cold. Lastly, it’s just too far from Fuyuki. Our walk from Kiritsugu’s house to here took about five hours. If I walked from here to Homurahara, I’d never be on time. Not to mention that it’d be incredibly inconvenient whenever I’d need to go out to get groceries or to hang out with the two of you.” She turned to look at her friend. “You got all of that, right, Kiritsugu? Nobody will ever be able to find you here, but you can kiss any semblance of your normal life goodbye. You won’t be able to attend school, interact with anyone except for Saber and me, and you’ll never be able to get a job. You’ll have to rely on the two of us to even get food, and you’ll have to endure harsh weather. Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Well, it’s not like I have anywhere else to go. I don’t have any family, and if I try to live my life normally in Fuyuki, I’ll be arrested and either be given a life sentence or potentially hanged. I don’t like burdening you girls, but if I’m to survive, I’ll need your help.”
“You’re not a burden. I’m more than happy to be able to keep you safe.” Irisviel said.
“I’ll try to do as much as I can to help you. Whatever you need, I’ll give it to you.” Saber calmly said, pointing to herself.
“Thank you, girls. I simply can’t put into words how grateful I am to have such caring friends.” He said with a huge smile on his face as he hugged the two girls. Saber and Irisviel reciprocated his affection and wrapped their arms around his back.

-3 years later-
Kiritsugu opened his eyes and sat up. The black haired boy’s bedroom was quite large and had beige walls with a white ceiling. A few feet away from the entrance was a large white fireplace with a mirror above it. He slept in a king sized bed with plain white bedsheets and a brown wooden frame. Notably, the bedroom he was in didn’t have any lights, so he had to resort to using either the natural sunlight or a lamp that Irisviel had bought for him to be able to see anything. He quickly stood up, stretched, and then got out of bed. Kiritsugu had grown a few inches and no longer bothered to do his hair, as he no longer spoke to anyone who wasn’t named Irisviel or Artoria.
“I guess I should make myself something to eat.” He yawned.
Kiritsugu quickly exited his room and walked around the floor before entering the dining room. The room had a brown and black floor, a white fireplace with a mirror above it similar to the one in his room, and a large table that was covered by a white cloth and was surrounded by 10 chairs that had brown wooden frames and a white and gold seat and backrest. A few feet across from the table were two doors that led to the kitchen. There was a large chandelier hanging above the center of the table, which illuminated the room. Kiritsugu quickly entered the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and looked at the ingredients he had. Inside was only half a tray of eggs, but he had a large bag full of rice in a drawer near the stove. He grabbed the eggs before walking over to the drawer and pulling out the bag of rice from inside it, placing it on the counter.
“I guess I could make myself some omurice with this. It’s not like I have many options for what I could do other than making myself tamagoyaki with a side of rice, but I’m not really in the mood for that right now.”

-45 minutes later-
Kiritsugu had finished eating his plate of omurice. Since he didn’t have any ketchup, he was forced to eat his breakfast as it was. The black haired boy stood up and walked toward the sink. He quickly washed the plates he used to make and eat his breakfast before exiting the kitchen and dinning room and going around the second floor. The castle’s hallway had several brown chairs placed against the wall and a few large windows to look at the outside. In the center of the hallway was another fireplace, but this one lacked a mirror. Eventually, after a few minutes of walking, he stopped in front of a large brown door. Kiritsugu quickly opened it and stepped inside to see a huge room filled with bookshelves that were so tall that they reached the ceiling and were crammed full of books. Beside the door was a 12 foot long ladder. In the center of the room was a large, brown, cushioned rocking chair that he would sit on to read. Since he could no longer own a phone or a computer due to the police potentially using them to track his coordinates down, Irisviel and Saber decided to buy him tons of books to help him pass the time while they were at school. Every week, along with getting him his groceries, the two of them would get him around 50 more books to read and would do the same the following week.
“Let’s see what I read today.” He said to himself as he grabbed a random book to his left.
Kiritsugu pulled out a random fantasy book from the bookshelf before sitting down on the chair.
“I haven’t read this one before.” He quickly skimmed through the pages to see how many there were. “521 pages? This should keep me occupied for a few hours.” The black haired boy said before going back to the first page.

-A few hours later-
Irisviel and Saber walked out of Homurahara Academy. Throughout the past 3 years, they too had grown just as Kiritsugu did. The white haired girl had grown 2 whole inches, while her hair was now so long it reached her legs. Her already large chest did not grow very much despite the passage of time. On the other hand, the blonde had grown much taller, gaining over 7 inches in height and being nearly as tall as Kiritsugu. Her hair hadn’t grown as much as Irisviel’s, but her chest had grown significantly, becoming much larger than Irisviel’s.
“Today’s the day we buy stuff for Kiritsugu, right?” Saber asked. “Do you want to buy groceries while I buy him books, or would you like it to be the other way around?”
“I’ll buy him everything he’ll need for the week while you should focus on getting him some more books.”
Saber nodded her head as she walked to her left.
“If I finish before you, I’ll be waiting for you by the entrance of the forest.”
“As will I!” The white haired girl shouted as she began to walk to her right.
Irisviel walked for around 5 minutes before reaching a large supermarket. Near the entrance of the store was a large red basket for holding groceries in. She grabbed two of them before heading inside.
“I didn’t ask Kiritsugu about what he was short on, so just to be safe, I’ll get him everything he probably needs.” She said to herself as she walked deeper into the supermarket.
She eventually reached the dairy and produce sections of the store. She placed a gallon of milk and 2 cartons of eggs in her left basket before walking to the center of the supermarket where the fruits and vegetables were. Before she could get anything, she heard a familiar voice call out to her.
“Hey, Irisviel.”
The white haired girl turned around and looked at Kyubey, who was looking up at her with his usual smile.
“Oh, Kyubey. Hello there. What brings you here?” She said, slowly backing away from the Incubator so that she didn’t have to deal with him.
“Don’t play dumb. You know exactly why I’m here, don’t you?”
“Look, Kyubey, I don’t want to make a wish. I’m happy the way things are now.”
“Really? You’re fine with your friend living all alone in a castle in the middle of nowhere? Having to rely on you and Artoria to get necessities like food just to avoid being arrested and promptly executed?”
The white haired girl’s eyes widened as she fell silent.
“Or are you okay with that girl who used to be his maid living on the streets, hiding herself from the harsh sun to prevent herself from dying, and having to attack and kill people for nourishment? If you used a wish to return her to her human self, she could go live with Kiritsugu, and he’d have someone to socialize and spend time with him. Making a wish for your friend’s sake would only be what you humans consider to be right.”
“W-Why are you pressuring me to make a wish? You’ve never done this before throughout these past few years of speaking to me.”
“Because you’re almost an adult. In just a handful of months, you’ll be 18 years old, the age that society considers girls to have matured into a woman. Once that happens, your magical potential will decrease dramatically. However, if you make a wish right now, that’ll be prevented from happening. So, what do you say, Irisviel? Will you make a contradt with me and become a magical girl?”
“Kyubey, I-I’ll-“
“Will you let Kiritsugu rot alone in that moldy old palace of yours, or will you try to improve his life directly or by healing Shirley?”
“I-I don’t want to speak with you right now!” She shouted before running out of the aisle.
“You’re such a stubborn girl. But it doesn’t matter how bullheaded teenagers like you are. You lot always end up making a wish, even if it requires some minor coercing.” He calmly said.

-20 minutes later-
After running into Kyubey, Irisviel walked around the supermarket, getting everything else Kiritsugu needed first before returning to the produce section to see if the Incubator was still there or not. Once she had made sure he left, she quickly got what her friend needed before going to the cash register and paying for everything. She then exited the store and walked toward the outskirts of Fuyuki and waited for Saber. After a few minutes, the blonde returned with two plastic bags in her hands that held 25 books in each of them.
“Did you get everything Kiritsugu needed?”
“Yep. Let’s hurry so that we can get to my family’s castle before nightfall.”
The two girls began to walk forward, once again stepping into the peaceful, quiet woods that stood at the outskirts of Fuyuki City.

-A few hours later-
Before they even knew it, night fell upon them. After hours of walking, they made it to the Einzbern castle. Irisviel pulled out a key from her pocket and unlocked the door, allowing herself and Saber to step inside.
“Kiritsugu, we’re here! You can come out now!” The white haired girl shouted as she brought her hands up to her mouth.
Kiritsugu, who was still reading books in the library, faintly heard his friend’s voice and placed the book on his chair before standing up. He quickly exited the library and ran downstairs where Saber and Irisviel were waiting for him with bags full of groceries and books in their hands.
“You two finally made it. I was getting hungry.” The black haired boy said as he grabbed the bags from Irisviel’s hands. “Saber, can you put the books you bought for me in the library? I’ll be in the kitchen, cooking the three of us something up to-“
“Wait, I want to cook us dinner.” Irisviel said as she walked toward her friend and took the bags from him.
“But you two just walked here for several hours straight while holding these really heavy bags. Surely you must be tired.”
“No, not at all. I’ve walked here so many times with heavy grocery bags that my body’s grown used to it and no longer feels it as burdensome as it once was.”
“Well then, I’ll be helping Saber put the books away upstairs. Call us when the food’s ready.”
“I’ll be sure to do so.”
Kiritsugu turned around and quickly ran upstairs after the blonde.
“Hey, Saber! Wait up!” He shouted.
The black haired boy ran down the hallway as quickly as he could possibly move. Once he was close enough to his friend, he grabbed the bag full of books that was in her left hand.
“So, have you read anything good lately?” The blonde asked.
“Well, earlier today, I read a fantasy book about a knight becoming disillusioned with his greedy king’s ways and going against him, gaining and losing friends in his campaign to liberate his kingdom from the king’s tyrannical rule, and eventually marrying his daughter, the princess. And after I finished that, I read a mystery book about a young woman investigating an apparent political assassination in 1910s America and ending up getting involved in the occult and fighting against vampires. I’d say I quite liked those books.”
As Kiritsugu finished speaking, he and Saber arrived at the library. They entered it, and Kiritsugu quickly grabbed a wooden ladder that stood beside the door to his right before carrying it to a bookshelf with empty space on top.
“You know, I’ve been wondering about this for a while now. How do you choose the books you buy for me?”
“I sort of just do it at random. I walk around that old bookstore near Homurahara and buy about 50 random books from different sections of the store each time I visit there so that you can get a variety of books to read.”
“Do you ever buy any books for yourself?” The black haired boy asked.
“No, not really. You can find the PDFs of all sorts of books and manga on the internet. Hell, you can even find entire series of anime on there. In a few years, I feel like books are going to become obsolete, and most stories will become digital only.”
“Speaking of digital stuff, did that YouTube site ever get big?”
“Yes, actually. It’s bigger than ever, with more people posting and watching videos on it than at any other point in its history.”
“Oh, I see…” He said, sounding slightly upset.
The black haired boy stopped talking to his friend and began to focus on putting the books away. The two of them worked together to put all of the books on the shelf before hearing Irisviel shout from downstairs.
“Kiritsugu, Saber, the food’s ready!”
“All right! We’ll be there right away!” The blonde responded.
Kiritsugu quickly climbed down the ladder and landed next to Saber. Once he was on the ground, the two of them ran downstairs.

-
Irisviel served her friends huge pork schnitzels with a side of mashed potatoes and spaetzle. Her friends enjoyed it, Artoria especially so since she ate the entire bowl of spaetzle by herself despite it being for the three of them. Shortly after the three of them finished eating, Artoria left the Einzbern Castle. Irisviel stayed behind to wash the dishes.
“It’s getting pretty late, Irisviel. I think you should head home now. You have school tomorrow, so unless you want to get to your house at like 3 in the morning, it’d probably be best to leave right now.”
“No. I don’t want to leave tonight. I’m going to stay here with you.”
Kiritsugu’s eyes widened,
“W-What? Why?”
“You’ve been alone for 3 years now. Sure, Saber and I still visit you as often as we can, but we barely get any time to actually be with you since my family’s castle is so far away from Fuyuki, and sometimes we’re so busy that we can’t even visit you. Kiritsugu, you deserve better than this.”
“I’m being a burden to you and Saber, aren’t I?” He said, looking down at the floor.
“Kiritsugu, that’s not what I was-“
“I get it. I force you two to waste your money and then walk hours to get to this palace, and in return I don’t do anything of value. I just sit around in the library, reading and reading all day long until I get tired and go to sleep just to repeat this process again the next day. I understand if you’re fed up and just want to stop doing all of this and go back to living your life the way it was 3 years ago.”
“That’s not at all what I was going to say.” She took a deep breath before speaking. “Let me ask you something. Hypothetically, if you could get your life back to how it was before you killed your father, or even be able to turn Shirley back into a human, would you do it?”
“Of course, without hesitation.”
The white haired girl’s eyes began to drift away from her friend’s.
“Okay, let’s say that either of those two things were locked behind me doing something. Would you hate me if I did nothing?”
“Don’t ask such an absurd question, Irisviel. I couldn’t possibly hate-“
“Please answer the question.”
He let out a sigh as he brought his right hand to his forehead and closed his eyes.
“I guess if I’m to give you an honest answer, I wouldn’t hate you. I might be angry at you, but I don’t think I could bring myself to hate you.” He opened his eyes. “Why do you ask?”
“N-Nothing. I was just curious.” Irisviel said as she walked up the stairs. “I’ll be in the room down the hall to the right. Come speak to me there if you want.”
“All right. I’ll be in the library if you want to talk to me about anything.”
The two of them began to walk up the stairs.

-5 hours later-
It was now one in the morning, and Artoria was standing outside of the forests in the outskirts of Fuyuki City. Although it was incredibly late, she didn’t want to go home just yet, as there was something that she needed to do. Before she could go anywhere, a very familiar voice called out to her.
“Good morning, Artoria.”
The blonde quickly turned her head and saw a white cat-like creature standing next to a tree.
“Hello, Kyubey. What do you want?”
“Nothing, really. I was just walking around town and just so happened to stumble across you. But now you’ve got me curious about something. Today’s a Thursday. Why are you up so late at this hour of the morning? Shouldn’t you be at home, resting?”
“No. I can’t sleep until I’ve searched the entirety of this city at least once.”
“And why’s that?”
“I need to find an old friend of mine who ran away three years ago so that I can speak with her and potentially get her to come meet the rest of my friends after so long.”
“Are you talking about Kiritsugu’s maid, Shirley?”
“Wait, you know her?”
He nodded his head.
“Indeed I do. I tried to make a contract with her the day before she became a vampire. Unfortunately, she didn’t accept my offer, and you already know what happened after that. Anyway, why are you looking for her in the first place? She’s a vampire. I doubt a creature like her would be willing to have a nice long conversation with you, and as far as I’m aware, there’s no way to turn her back to normal.”
“That’s true. She’s still a vampire, and she may continue to be that way for the rest of her life. It’s for this reason that the murder rate and the rate at which people go missing in this city have skyrocketed since that day 3 years ago. The last time I saw her, Shirley was essentially a wild animal, incapable of controlling her natural urges. I’m sure that if I can at least find her, I might be able to help her control those vampiric urges of hers and potentially be able to return her to a somewhat functional human. And if my efforts prove fruitless… I’d at the very least want to be able to put her out of her misery.”
“Very well then. I’ll be taking my leave now. Have fun, Artoria.”
“Good night, Kyubey.” She said before walking away.
The Incubator turned to look at the blonde. Once she was out of his field of view, he began to speak to himself.
“It seems that Irisviel deeply cares about that boy. If something were to happen to him, she’d have no choice but to make a wish to save him. But what could little old me possibly do to force her hand to become a magical girl?” He asked himself as he began to think. A wide grin spread across his face as he made a realization. “Oh, Lord Nabey. It seems like that useless waste of time and energy will finally have a use. If I can get enough girls to fight for it, Irisviel becoming a magical girl will assured. Yes! I have no time to waste! I must start looking for magical girls who are willing to fight for another wish!” He gleefully shouted before running away.

Chapter Text

-A few hours later-
Kyubey was walking around Fuyuki City with his usual perpetual smile. So far, the Incubator had found six girls who agreed to work for him to kill Kiritsugu in exchange for gaining a wish. However, he still was not satisfied with this.
“Six, technically seven, girls. That’s a fine number. However, I do not feel like this will be enough. This city is oddly devoid of magical girls. Usually cities have a few more, but I only managed to find six of them so far, and I already know that trying to get that girl to work for me will be a fruitless endeavor. I might need to make a contract with a new girl and coerce her to work for me for a second wish.” He said to himself as he calmly walked forward.
As the Incubator continued walking, he began to sense something that made his smile widen.
“It seems like that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
He turned to his left to look at a house that had its lights still turned on. He noticed that one of the windows to the right of the front door was shattered, so he quickly jumped through it. He looked around the living room but couldn’t find anyone nearby. He quickly ran upstairs, only to find the hallway of the second floor stained red with blood. There was a door in the middle of the hall that was wide open, and lying in front of it was what appeared to be a human skeleton. Its limbs were torn off its body, and seemingly all of its flesh and skin had been picked clean. Kyubey walked past the corpse and entered the room with an open door. Inside appeared to be a bedroom. There were blood splatters on the once clean white bedsheet and the brown dresser across from it while there was a puddle of blood on the ground. A girl who appeared to be around the age of 17 with brunette hair was hunched over while on her knees while a corpse, which appeared to have belonged to a woman only a few years older than her that had its head torn off, lay next to her. She was wearing a black long coat and appeared to be barefoot.
“Hello there, Shirley.” Kyubey calmly said as he approached the girl. “It certainly has been a while since we last met, hasn’t it?”
The brunette lowered the head she was devouring and turned her head to look at him.
“Wait a minute, we met before, haven’t we?” She asked. “What’s your name again?”
“My name is Kyubey. And I’m an Incubator, a being capable of granting a wish to any young girl in exchange for them becoming magical girls.”
“Oh yeah. Now I remember. You’re that cat thing that spoke to me the day before I became a vampire. What do you want? I’m no longer a young girl nor a human. I shouldn’t have any value to you.”
“Correct. However, I don’t feel that your magical potential has dwindled even in the slightest.”
“Really?” Shirley asked as she stood up and turned around to look at the feline.
Despite 3 years passing, she did not appear to have aged a day since she became a vampire. She had a wide, toothy grin on her face that showed off her large, blood covered fangs.
“Yes. I believe it may be due to your vampirism keeping your body in a perpetual state of being 17 years of age. But regardless of the reason, this means that I’m capable of granting you any wish you want. So, Shirley, what is it your heart desires?”
“If I make a wish, you’re going to turn me into a magical girl, right?”
“That’s correct.”
She gritted her teeth.
“Magic… I abhor that word. It makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Do I have to become a magical girl to have my wish granted?”
“Unfortunately, yes. Making a contract with me and becoming a magical girl is unfortunately a necessary trade off for having your wish come true.”
She began to growl.
“What will happen to me if I make a contract? Will I die? Will I melt from the inside out? I’ve already perfected my regeneration to be able to walk while in the sunlight! Don’t tell me that my magic will be strong enough to put an end to me!” The brunette yelled.
“Shirley, please calm yourself. You’re getting worked up over nothing. I’ve never made a contract with a girl who’s a vampire, but I doubt this will have any adverse effects.”
“You’re right… you’re right…” She said, taking deep breaths to calm herself. “Kyubey, I have a wish in mind. Do you think it will be possible to grant?”
“Of course. Just say the word, and it will be done.”
“These urges are… rather inconvenient. I hate that I have to kill people to survive, and if I went back to being a normal human, I don’t think I’d be able to live with myself. I also like the immense power being a vampire gives me. These vampiric desires have made my life a living hell for the past three years, so Kyubey, get rid of them.”
“Your wish shall be granted.” He gleefully said as his ears began to glow.
They were so bright that Shirley had no choice but to close her eyes. She opened them a few seconds later and saw that she was wearing a dark purple sleeveless shirt with a skirt that had rips and tears all throughout it, maroon shoes with black socks that went up to her ankles, and a black choker around her neck. For some reason, she started to sweat profusely.
“How do you feel, Shirley?” Kyubey asked.
“I feel really hot.” She said, pulling on her shirt’s collar with her index and middle fingers to give her chest more room to breathe.
Despite this, she still felt as if her chest was boiling hot.
“I think I’m going to take a shower…” She said, letting go of the head in her other hand.
“Before you do that, allow me to make you an offer. You might be able to make another wish if you kill someone for me.”
“Who do you want me to take care of for you?”
“Once you’re done showering, follow me, and I’ll bring you to an area where a few fellow magical girls are waiting. We’ll talk about what you must do to get this second wish there.”

-25 minutes later-
Shirley returned to her regular form and took a shower. Her body went back to its normal temperature after she returned to her regular form, but she still wanted to take a shower. Once she was done with that, she put on her white dress that was stained by dried up brown blood and her black long coat. She then exited the bathroom to see Kyubey waiting for her. The two of them quickly exited the house they were in and walked through Fuyuki City until they reached a house with a wide open garage. Inside was a group of seven girls that varied in ages. All the way to the left of the room stood a woman with short white hair and piercing blue eyes who wore a white tank top that showed off her navel and black pants. She appeared to be in her mid or late 20s. To her right was a girl with short, dark green hair that reached her neck and brown eyes who appeared to be around 13 years old. She was wearing a dark green shirt with light blue shorts and brown shoes. Beside her was a woman with long black hair that reached her back and light blue eyes who appeared to be in her early or mid 30s. She was wearing a blue dress that went down to her thighs and brown shoes. Next to her was a 14 year old girl with light blue hair who was wearing a plain grey sleeveless shirt and black shorts. A few inches away from her was a girl wearing a red hoodie that covered her face and black jeans. The two girls that were furthest to the right of the garage were two young girls who appeared to be around the ages of 10 or 11 who had long black hair that reached their backs, red eyes, and who wore elegant long red dresses that went down to their knees. Shirley could sense something from all of them that would’ve made her panic an hour ago, but she was now completely calm.
“Natalia, Maiya, Haruki, Jitsuko, Rinko, Moa, and Moe. I’ve found the seventh girl.” Kyubey calmly said as he walked to the center of the room.
“What, that girl’s going to be fighting alongside us?” Jitsuko asked.
“She doesn’t look like much.” Moa said.
“She doesn’t look like she has much either. Why are you letting a hobo fight with us for another wish?” Her sister added.
Natalia didn’t say a single word as she eyed up the brunette.
“Wait, you girls think you’ll all be fighting alongside each other? How ridiculous. You’re all enemies.” He calmly said.
“Enemies?” Rinko asked.
“Yes, you’re all competing for the purpose of being allowed to make a single wish using the Holy Grail, an ancient device my people made millennia ago. While I wouldn’t recommend trying to kill each other, it’s not something I’ll be disallowing, and it may even prove beneficial to do so.”
“Kyubey! Have you gone mad? How could you possibly suggest we fight against one another?” Haruki shouted. “I’m an adult. I should be trying to look after these girls, not-“
“Then don’t. It’s not necessary to fight them if you don’t want to. Better yet, you may even drop out of this whole competition if you don’t want to hurt any children, which includes the boy you’ll all be targeting.”
The black haired woman gritted her teeth as she turned away from Kyubey.
“Enough with the pointless chatter. Allow me to explain the rules of this competition. In the outskirts of this city is a vast forest. Inside it stands a castle where a 17 year old boy has spent a decent portion of his life isolated from others. He has two friends he interacts with fairly frequently. A white haired girl and a blonde magical girl. Your objective is to kill the boy. If you want, you may kill the blonde. However, under no circumstances may you kill the white haired girl. I’ll permit you to roughen her up a bit if necessary, but if you murder her, you will not be allowed to make your wish using the Holy Grail.”
“This sounds incredibly easy. Well then, I’m gonna go on ahead and stab the guy through his head!” Jitsuko cheerfully said as she ran out of Rinko’s garage. The girls just stared at her in shock.
“It’s far too late to be doing this. Sure, her target may be asleep right now. But by the time she gets there, he may already be up, depending on how far away his home is from here.” Maiya said.
“Indeed. Going right now is a fool’s errand.” The girl in the red hoodie said.
“Natalia, we’re the only adults in this competition. Don’t you think we should try to stop these girls from trying to hurt each other? I understand that this competition’s all about trying to kill a teenage boy, but I doubt Kyubey wants him dead. The fact he told us explicitly to not lay a finger on that friend of his makes it sound like his true target isn’t to exterminate the boy but rather to get his friend to become a magical girl. I’m sure that if we get that to happen, Kyubey will grant one of our wishes.”
“Perhaps, but I don’t necessarily care about what happens to these girls or not. I don’t even care whether I win or not. I just joined in this little game because I got curious. I have something more important to deal with than some tournament.” She said before walking away.
A 17 year old boy… who has female friends with white and blonde hair… Shirley’s eyes widened. Kiritsugu! This thing’s after Kiritsugu! I won’t let him kill him!

Chapter Text

-An hour later-
After Jitsuko and Natalia went to the forest to go after their target, Haruki decided to go back home. She made it to her house at around 5 in the morning. The black haired woman wasted no time in unlocking the door and stepping inside. Sitting on the couch was a young 9 year old girl with black hair and blue eyes, watching TV.
“Hibari, what are you doing up at this hour? It’s still dark out, and today’s a Friday. You should be in bed, not watching TV.”
“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help it, mom. Suzuka started crying around half an hour ago, and I tried to look for you, but I wasn’t able to find you anywhere, so I had to change her diaper. After that, I just couldn’t get myself to fall asleep despite how hard I tried.” A smile spread across her face. “But enough about me. What were you doing up so early? Sure, you’re a grown up, but you only gave birth a few weeks ago. You’re on maternity leave, and you should be getting as much rest as possible, not getting up to do who knows what at 4 in the morning.”
“What I was doing is none of your business. All you have to know is that it was related to my job and that I was preparing myself to return back to work in a few months.” Haruki let out a yawn as she walked past her daughter. “I’m going to go to bed now, and I’d suggest you do the same. I’ll ground you for the rest of the year if your teacher calls me about you falling asleep in class.”
“I’ll try to, but I doubt I’ll get even a wink of sleep with how things are going right now.”

-2 hours later-
Rinko was sitting in bed, staring at the window across from it. The sun was now just starting to rise, but she didn’t feel anything from it.
“This competition… no, this assassination has begun. I should probably be trying my best to get to the poor sap who Kyubey wants to kill off, but there’s no point in it. Even if I went immediately after Kyubey finished explaining everything, Jinako and Natalia would’ve already gotten to him before me due to simply being way faster. I don’t think I have a chance of killing him in a fair battle due to that blonde friend of his, so the best strategy for me is probably to bide my time, continue living a normal life, and if the other girls manage to wear him and his friends down to the point that they’re all exhausted and unable to fight, I’ll finish the job. Even then, there’s a 0.01% chance of that actually happening.” She began to lie down and close her eyes. “I have school today, but I don’t really feel like going, so I might as well get some rest.” She yawned before quickly falling asleep.

-A few minutes later-
Maiya was in her bedroom in her studio apartment, planning out what to do. On her brown wooden desk, which stood across from her bed, were crudely drawn illustrations of herself, her fellow competitors, and what she imagined her target and his friends looked like. Her illustration of the boy greatly resembled the generic looking protagonists of harem, isekai, and power fantasy series, the white haired girl had incredibly long hair and huge breasts, and the blonde was fairly tomboyish with short hair and a more masculine face than her friend.
“Okay, last time I checked, Jitsuko and Natalia went to go after the target. I may be too optimistic, but they will most likely fail due to not having any information about his magical girl friend’s abilities. Once that happens, those twins will most likely go after him. Due to their young age, they will most likely fail as well. This leaves half of my competition alive and able to put a nail in my plans. From what little information I was able to gather from Haruki, it sounds like she’s doing this begrudgingly. That reluctance to do as Kyubey orders will undoubtedly lead to her downfall.” As she listed the various ways her opposition would be defeated by the boy and his friends, she’d move them aside. “Once she’s out of the picture, only two girls will be in my way.” The green haired girl said as she moved Shirley and Rinko to the center of her desk. She quickly took a sip of the cup of coffee beside her before speaking to herself once again. “As of the current moment, I don’t have anything of note regarding them. Their magic, their age, and their personalities are all secrets to me. They’re too unpredictable, so it might be wise to strike before they get the chance to. Yes. Once those four girls are taken care of, I’ll head toward the target, eliminate him, and get access to the Holy Grail.” She smiled faintly at the thought.
As she continued to drink her coffee, her alarm clock, which stood by the foot of her bed, began to ring.
“It’s 7:20 at the moment. It’s about time I get myself ready for work.”
The green haired girl stood up and turned around to face her closet, which stood beside her bed.

-Meanwhile-
After Kyubey had finished explaining the competition’s goals and rules, Moe and Moa immediately went back to their home, a large mansion with brown outer walls and a light blue roof near the outskirts of Fuyuki, and quickly went back to sleep. Although they were more than aware that Jitsuko and Natalia had gone to attack their target, they weren’t worried in the slightest.
“Come on, get dressed.” Moa said as she stood up and grabbed her sister’s left arm. “Or else we’ll be late for school.”
“But I’m tired.” Moe yawned.
“I know, I’m a bit exhausted too, but you’ll make mom worried if you decide to sleep in. She shouldn’t ever find out about the competition we entered.”
“Yeah. The only time she should find out about it is after we win and are about to make a wish.”
Moa walked over to the large brown desk near the center of her room and grabbed the two Homurahara uniforms that had been ironed by one of their maids the day prior and were draped over the chair. The black haired girl quickly put on her uniform before walking over to the bed and handing her sister her uniform. She didn’t waste any time and quickly got herself dressed. Once they were both ready, they walked out of their bedroom and stepped into the hallway. They walked down the hall until they reached the bathroom door. Moe was about to open it when her mother stepped out of the room. She had long black hair that reached her back, red eyes, and wore a blue shirt, skirt, and white knee high socks.
“Good morning, Moe, Moa. Did the two of you sleep well?”
“Yes. We were just going to use the bathroom before we got our hair brushed and ate breakfast.”
“I see. I’ll move aside then. Go on in and do your business.” She said as she stepped out of the bathroom.
The two girls quickly entered it and closed the door behind them.

-Meanwhile-
Irisviel began to open her eyes. She sat up and ran her left arm across her forehead, which was ice cold, as she let out a yawn. The white haired girl grabbed her flip phone that she had bought a year ago and primarily used to contact Saber, which lay at the foot of her bed, and opened it to check the time. It was 7:40 in the morning, the time she’d usually wake up to go to school.
“Knowing him, Kiritsugu’s probably still asleep right now. I’m feeling pretty refreshed, so I should make the two of us something to eat once he gets up.” She said to herself before standing up.
She walked over to the door, opened it, and then stepped into the hallway. She went around the second floor of the castle until she reached the dining room. Once inside it, she quickly walked into the kitchen.

-2 hours later.
Kiritsugu began to open his eyes. He let out a yawn as he sat up. His back was sweating from how warm it was. Despite sleeping completely clothed, with the bedsheets on, and with the window closed, his room was still incredibly cold.
“For such a rich family, you’d think their vacation home would be better insulated than this. They don’t even have a heater. It’s freezing in here.” He complained as he wrapped his arms around his body.
The black haired boy stood up before walking toward the door, opening it, and entering the hallway. As he closed the door behind him, he could faintly smell something sweet in the air.
“Wait a minute, don’t tell me that she cooked for me.” Kiritsugu said to himself before walking forward. “Iri, are you awake?” He shouted.
The black haired boy didn’t receive any sort of response. After a few minutes of walking, he reached the dining room’s door and opened it. Inside of the room was Irisviel, who was sitting at the table with a plate that had a large stack of pancakes and many strips of bacon in front of her. Across from her was a plate that had the same assortment of food on it.
“Guten morgen, Kiritsugu. Did you sleep well?”
“Iri… you shouldn’t have made me breakfast.” He said as he walked toward the table and took a seat across from the white haired girl.
“What? Why? Do you not like my cooking?”
“No, that’s not why. It’s because you’re my guest. While this castle is your family’s property, I’m here 24/7, thus making it my home. I should be cooking for you, not the other way around.”
“Oh, please. You’re my friend. I should be allowed to cook for the two of us whenever I want. Plus, I woke up before you and was feeling pretty hungry, so it’s not like you obligated me into doing it.”
“I understand, but it makes me feel like I’m mooching off you. I’m already living on your family’s property without their permission and having you and Saber buy my groceries and walk them all the way here. It only makes me feel more like a freeloader if you make my breakfast for me.”
“Well, by definition, you kind of are a freeloader. But it’s not like you could do anything even if you wanted to. You’re a wanted man, remember?”
“Still, I want to do something with my life, even if that’s not realistically possible.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Well, I don’t have any specific career that I want to do, but whatever job I would hypothetically follow, I want it to be something that helps other people, especially those who weren’t given a fair hand in life… like Shirley.” As Kiritsugu finished speaking, he turned his head to look at the plate of food in front of him and began to cut into the stack of pancakes.
Lying on the ground in front of one of the many trees that stood around the Einzbern Castle was a blue haired girl, who had fallen asleep a few hours prior. She had fallen asleep while in her magical girl form, which had an outfit that consisted of a sleeveless white button up shirt with a pink skirt and cyan shoes. Suddenly, she began to open her eyes before letting out a yawn and standing up.
“Man, I guess I overslept a little after spending the majority of the night coming here.” Jitsuko said to herself while stretching. She quickly turned her head to her left and then to her right but didn’t see anybody nearby. “Where did that Natalia woman go? Hey, Natalia, are you nearby?” She shouted, only to not receive any response. “Oh well, don’t come crying to me when I dispose of this idiot and you don’t get to use the Holy Grail.” She put her left hand on the tree behind her. “It’s time to get this over with!”
Back inside the castle, Irisviel was still speaking to Kiritsugu.
“So you want to be a cop or a soldier?”
“I wouldn’t mind having either of those occupations, but I’m sure I’d enjoy working other types of jobs too. I’ll work any job as long as it helps me protect the innocent and the people I care most about. I guess you could say that I want to be a hero who helps others, and-“
Before the black haired boy could finish speaking, Jitsuko suddenly burst through the wall with a huge toothy grin on her face.
“Aha! I found you!” She shouted as she summoned three red darts in her right hand. “No getting away!”
Without any warning, she launched them directly at the black haired boy’s head. Kiritsugu’s eyes widened as he quickly stood up, allowing him to just narrowly avoid being hit. The blue haired girl landed on the table before summoning another batch of darts and tossing them horizontally at her target. They were thrown in such a way that no matter where Kiritsugu tried to run, at least one of the projectiles would pierce his head and kill him.
“KIRITSUGU!” Irisviel shouted as she ran over to her friend and tackled him to the floor. “W-Who are you? Why are you trying to kill my friend?”
“My name’s Jitsuko Masuda, and I’m just your typical everyday magical girl.” She proudly said as she pointed at herself using her left thumb.
“M-Magical girl? Don’t pull my leg! There’s no such thing as magic!”
The blue haired girl nearly burst into laughter.
“Are you serious? I just burst through your wall and summoned darts to kill you, and you still think there’s no such thing as magic? You’re so stubborn, it’s hilarious.”
“Why do you want to kill my friend? He’s never even met you before!” The white haired girl shouted.
“Yeah, I know. But killing him isn’t my call. Someone else wants him dead, and I’m just following his orders for a reward unlike any other!”
“Who’s your employer?”
“Not telling. I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate me revealing his identity to his target, even if I’m about to kill him. Speaking of which.” She quickly summoned four darts in each hand. “Any last words?”
“RUN!” Kiritsugu screamed as he and Irisviel stood up as quickly as they possibly could.
Jitsuko quickly threw the darts at the black haired boy as he and his friend ran toward the hole in the wall she had formed. As they neared him, he quickly ducked down to avoid the attacks. Once they were close enough to the opening, the two of them jumped as high as possible and went through it. Luckily for them, since they were only 2 stories off the ground, they landed safely without any injuries. As soon as they made contact with the ground, they ran forward as quickly as possible.
“Run all you want. A normal human trying to outrun a magical girl is like a snail trying to flee from a cheetah!” Jitsuko boasted as she effortlessly jumped out of the castle and began to follow them at a leisurely pace.
Despite this, Kiritsugu and Irisviel were just narrowly managing to outpace her. They were forced to run behind all the trees in their field of view just to get her to lose track of them.
“Iri, do you think you could call Saber? She’s the only one of us who has even the slightest chance of beating this girl.” The black haired boy said, trying his best to keep his voice down and to sound composed.
“I-I’ll try.” She responded as she pulled out her phone from her pants’ left pocket.

-Meanwhile-
Saber was walking through the halls to go to her next class. While she didn’t like the fact that Irisviel didn’t come to school, there was nothing she could do about it. She was about to make it to her class when her phone began to suddenly vibrate.
“Hmm? Why’s Irisviel calling at this hour?” She asked as she pulled her phone out of her pocket.
She quickly answered it and brought it up to her left ear.
“Hello?”
“S-Saber, please come to my family’s castle as quickly as possible.” She nervously said, her voice barely louder than a whisper.
“Why? What’s going on over there?”
“While Kiritisugu and I were having breakfast, some blue haired girl burst through the dining room’s wall and tried to kill him! She claimed she’s a magical girl and that she’s merely working for someone who wants him dead. We managed to lose track of her for now, but we don’t know for how long we can remain hidden when her walking speed is almost as fast as our running.”
The blonde’s eyes widened at her friend’s words.
“I’ll be there as quickly as I can. Try to remain hidden and run from her if you see her anywhere.”
“A-All right. Please be here soon, Saber.” The white haired girl ended the call.
“The Einzbern Castle is too far from Homurahara for me to be able to make it there in any sort of timely manner, even while transformed. If I’m to have any sort of shot at saving them, I can’t keep wasting time here.” She said to herself before running out of the hallway.

-
Kiritsugu and Irisviel sat behind a large tree. As far as they could see and hear, Jitsuko had no clue where they were.
“It’ll take Saber a few hours to get here even if she runs without stopping. Let’s try to make it as far as possible to Fuyuki while avoiding the magical girl.” The black haired boy whispered as he stood up.
His friend nodded her head as she quickly got up. The two of them began to quickly walk forward, trying to make as little noise as possible. Before they could get too far away from the tree they were sitting behind, they heard violent rustling come out from inside the leaves of a tree that stood a few feet away from the one they were hiding behind. A few seconds later, three darts shot out from them and zoomed directly toward the black haired boy’s head. Before they could reach her target, Jitsuko quickly jumped out from where she was hiding and grabbed onto a branch of a tree that was only a few feet away from her. Kiritsugu narrowly managed to avoid the attacks by ducking, causing them to move toward the tree that the magical girl was clinging onto. A smile spread across her face as she began to shout.
“You definitely lasted longer than I expected you to! But at the end of the day, you still met the same fate all the same!”
Upon making contact with the tree, the darts bounced off it and zoomed toward Kiritsugu once again. They hit him in the back of the neck, piercing his throat and causing blood to fill his mouth.
“Irisviel…” He weakly said as he fell to the ground.
“KIRITSUGU!” The white haired girl screamed while kneeling down beside her friend.
He was lying on the ground, struggling to breathe as blood leaked out of the wounds, covering the green grass beneath him in a deep red puddle. She had nothing to treat his injuries, and even if she did, she had no way to heal his throat to allow him to breathe. “W-WHY DID YOU DO THIS? W-WHY WOULD ANYONE W-WANT TO KILL SOMEONE WHO’S DONE NO WRONG TO THEM?” Tears began to run down Irisviel’s cheeks as she screamed.
“Beats me. I don’t really care that much about this though. As long as I get the reward my employer promised, I couldn’t give a damn about his motivation.”
“H-HOW COULD YOU BRING YOURSELF TO KILL KIRITSUGU FOR SOME SORT OF REWARD? Y-YOU’RE INHUMAN!”
“Normally, I’d agree. Under normal circumstances, I probably could never bring myself to kill a person, even if I was offered trillions of yen. However, this case is special. With my reward, I can make whatever I want a reality!”
“LIKE WHAT? WHAT IS SO WORTH IT TO YOU TH-THAT YOU MURDERED MY FRIEND?”
Jitsuko stopped in place and began to think about Irisviel’s question. She closed her eyes and put her right thumb and index finger on her chin for a few seconds before speaking again.
“You know, I never really thought about it. I kind of just decided I wanted to be the first to kill him so that I could get my reward and worry about what to use it for later.” The blue haired girl continued walking away. “Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with something that’ll make your friend’s death worth it. See you later!” She joyfully shouted, waving goodbye to Irisviel.
As Jitsuko began to leave her field of view, she heard a familiar voice speak to her.
“We meet again, Irisviel.” Kyubey calmly said as he looked up at the white haired girl while standing behind a tree to her left.
“K-Kyubey? W-What are you here for?” She sobbed.
“I was taking a stroll around this vast forest when I noticed that blue haired girl trying to kill you and your friend. Normally, I wouldn’t get involved in such a thing. However, if I don’t do anything, it’s guaranteed he will die. So, Irisviel, will you use your wish to heal that boy and become a magical girl, or will you let him perish?”
“Iri… don’t…” Kiritsugu faintly said, hardly able to breathe as he began to lose consciousness from both blood loss and a lack of oxygen.
“Kyubey! Please, I’m begging you to give me the power to heal Kiritsugu!”
The feline’s smile widened as far as it physically could.
“Very well then! Irisviel von Einzbern, I shall make your wish a reality!” He gleefully shouted as his ears began to glow so bright that the white haired girl had no choice but to close her eyes.
She opened them a few seconds later and saw that her clothing had changed. She was wearing a long white dress that went down to her ankles and covered every single inch of skin below her neck and black shoes. An icy blue diagonal line ran across the bottom of her dress, while a cross the same color as it was in the center of her chest. Her dress’ sleeves ran all the way down to her wrists, and she wore two blue gloves that appeared to be made out of wool. She quickly placed her hands on Kiritsugu’s neck, causing blue light in the shape of a circle to begin to shine under him. In a matter of seconds, his wounds were quickly healed, and he began to breathe regularly once again.
“Iri…” He weakly said as he looked up at his friend.
“Kiritsugu, are you all right?”
He nodded his head as he sat up. He quickly turned his head but didn’t see Kyubey anywhere nearby.
“Yeah… I’m fine.” He responded, not sounding too happy about what just happened.
“Kiritsugu, what’s wrong?”
“I-“
Before he could finish speaking, 8 darts suddenly zoomed toward him and his friend. Before they could hit him, Irisviel summoned a large wooden rectangular shield in front of herself, causing the projectiles to hit it.
“Damn that Kyubey. Swooping in to help that boy. Does he want him dead or not?” Jitsuko grumbled to himself as she walked toward Kiritsugu and Irisviel. “Now this job’s gonna be ten times harder for everyone with a magical girl guarding him.”
“Kiritsugu…” The white haired girl said. “I’m not much of a fighter. However, I’ll try my best to stall her until Saber gets here. Please stay behind me.”
“Irisviel… I’m sorry for making you fight for me. I want to help you fight Jitsuko, but everything I could possibly do will just result in me getting in your way and making things harder for you. I really am a good for nothing, aren’t I?” He somberly said as his eyes moved to look at the ground.
Irisviel quickly rushed forward. Once she was close enough to the blue haired girl, she pushed her shield toward her, pushing her a few feet away. Jitsuko quickly jumped into the air and threw several darts directly at her enemy’s head. They were all moving in such a way that unless Irisviel actively tried to get herself killed, they’d all miss any vital parts of her brain. The white haired girl quickly raised the shield above her head, blocking the projectiles. Before she could lower it, Jitsuko landed in front of her and kicked her in the stomach. The attack was so powerful that she spat out blood and was pushed back a few feet. Not giving her enemy any time to respond, Irisviel lowered her shield and swung it to the side, hitting the blue haired girl in the hip with such force that she was sent flying into a tree to her left. The moment Jitsuko made contact with the plant, she was bounced off it and sent flying toward Irisviel. Using her body weight, she pushed her enemy to the ground. The white haired let out a shriek as she raised her shield above herself. The more experienced magical girl quickly jumped over her and grabbed her hair. She effortlessly lifted her into the air and slammed her onto the ground behind her. Jitsuko quickly stepped on her neck, leaving Irisviel unable to breathe. She thrust her shield upward, trying to knock Jitsuko’s leg off her, but the blue haired girl felt nothing.
“You’re a new magical girl who seems to specialize more in support than actual offense. Although you were able to hold me back for quite a bit of time, you were never going to beat me. Just close your eyes, and when you wake up later, it’ll be as if this were all a nightmare.”
“Kiritsugu… get away…”
The black haired boy turned his head to the left and then the right. There were many trees that he could use to get Jitsuko to lose track of him. Then, he could try to get to Fuyuki and find Artoria, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave Irisviel.
“P-Please! Run!”
“Iri… I-“
Before he could finish speaking, he heard what sounded like someone running in the distance. The blue haired girl quickly turned around to look behind her.
“Who’s-“
She was interrupted by having her right arm sliced clean off and being sent flying away by a single kick. Both Kiritsugu’s and Irisviel’s eyes widened as they stared up at who had saved them.
“Saber!” They shouted in unison.
The blonde was wearing a blue and white dress that reached her lower legs and had golden accents by the edge of the fabric. Above her dress were silver pieces of armor protecting her chest and side, and she wore silver gauntlets and boots. In her hands was a sword with a blue hilt, a golden guard, and a silver blade.
“Irisviel, Kiritsugu, forgive me for taking so long to get here. Are the two of you all right?”
“Yes, we’re fine.” Irisviel calmly said as she stood up and grabbed her friend’s free hand.
“You’re a magical girl too, Saber?” Kiritsugu asked as he approached her.
“Indeed. I’ve lived like this my whole life. I’ll explain this to you later, but for now, I’ll handle this girl.” She said as she turned to look at Jitsuko and pointed her sword at her.
“So you’re that friend my employer warned me about!” Jitsuko shouted as she regrew her arm. “It doesn’t matter how many magical girls stand against me! I’ll dispose of all of you and take care of that boy!” She shouted before summoning 10 darts and shooting all of them at Saber.
The blonde effortlessly deflected 9 of them with her sword. However, she let one of the projectiles move past her sword. Before the blue haired girl’s weapon could hit her, yellow particles appeared around her stomach, forming a large circle in front of it. The dart hit it, causing it to be deflected and knocked back at Jitsuko, hitting her in the stomach instead. Before she could react to what had happened, Saber ran over to her and effortlessly bisected her from the waist down.
“This can’t be happening… I killed Kiritsugu… how did I lose?” Jitsuko weakly said as she fell to the ground, blood flowing out of her body.
To ensure that the remainder of the blue haired girl’s body didn’t try to attack Kiritsugu with the last of her strength, Saber walked in front of him.
“Do you two know why this girl tried to kill you?” She asked, turning to him.
“Apparently, someone hired her to have me killed in exchange for giving her some reward. We don’t know what it is or even who hired her, but-“
Before Kiritsugu could finish speaking, a bullet began to zoom toward his head.
“GET DOWN!” The blonde screamed as she swung at the bullet, splitting it in two.
Irisviel turned to look at Jitsuko’s body but saw it lying motionless on the ground. Artoria looked up and saw a white haired, blue eyed woman standing atop a tree branch. She was wearing a black suit with a white undershirt and a red tie. In her right hand was a golden revolver. She didn’t say a single word as she slid back into the colorful leaves.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Saber shouted, jumping after her.

Chapter Text

Saber jumped after the white haired woman, who was quickly jumping from branch to branch with ease. She continued doing this until she reached a tree that was a few feet taller than the other ones in the surrounding area. Without saying a single word, she shot several bullets that appeared to be made out of 24k gold directly at Saber’s chest. The blonde quickly raised her sword and deflected the projectiles with it.
“Is that all you’ve got?” Saber taunted before jumping at her.
The white haired woman grinned as the bullets that Artoria had swatted away turned around and began to fly straight toward her back. The blonde landed on the branch, but before she could attack her opponent, her eyes widened as she felt a sharp pain in her back. Before she could react to what had happened, the opposing magical girl kicked her in the stomach with enough force that she was knocked off the branch and sent falling to the ground.
“Don’t struggle. You’re just making this more painful for yourself than it has to be.” She calmly said before firing four bullets at her head, chest, and legs, respectively.
The blonde managed to slice the bullet heading toward her chest in half and used her magic to create a small circle of light in front of her head to knock the bullet heading for it away. Before the other two bullets could hit her, she stood up and ran away as quickly as she possibly could. With their target gone, the three remaining projectiles turned around and began to chase after her. As the blonde ran forward, she turned her head back to look at the bullets.
“So it seems like her magic allows her to control her bullets. Blocking them won’t be enough. The only way I’ll be able to get close to her is if I destroy the bullets!” She said before raising her sword in front of herself.
Once her enemy’s bullets were close to her, she effortlessly sliced them in half using her sword. With all of her opponent’s attacks gone, Saber ran forward as fast as she possibly could. Unbeknownst to her, her enemy managed to follow her and climb up a tree to the right of where she once stood.
“It seems I shall emerge victorious today. Farewell, girl.” She calmly said before shooting 6 bullets at Saber.
Her gun automatically refilled the spent bullets by itself. Upon hearing the pops of the gun behind her, Saber quickly turned and saw the projectiles heading toward her. She rushed forward and effortlessly split them in half. Not even a second later, around 40 more pops rang out in the distance. Ten bullets zoomed straight toward Artoria’s chest and stomach, while the remaining thirty all moved toward her sides or back. Although she was able to slice through the ones in front of her, she couldn’t defend herself from so many projectiles, resulting in a plethora of bullets to hit her sides, back, as well as the back of legs, causing her to fall to the ground. The white haired woman quickly jumped out of the branch she was hiding in and landed in front of Saber.
“Do you give up? I made sure all my bullets hit you in areas of your body that wouldn’t be lethal and would heal in a few days. However, if you wish to continue being a thorn in my side, I’ll have no choice but to dispatch you.” She calmly said, pointing her gun at Saber’s head. “So, girl, will you continue fighting against me in a fruitless attempt to defeat me and protect your friend, or will you give up and let me get to that boy, trading your life for his?”
Saber gritted her teeth as she raised her sword into the air.
“No! I’m not letting you lay a finger on Kiritsugu! Even if I have to destroy this forest, you’re not getting close to him or Iri!”
Suddenly, particles of light began to surround her weapon, causing it to start glowing. The white haired woman’s eyes widened.
That’s a ton of magic gathered up into one attack. If it hits me, I’m gonna get burnt to a crisp. I can’t let her pull that attack off. She thought.
“EXCALI-“
Before she could use her attack, the white haired woman effortlessly ripped her arm off and threw a powerful kick at her neck, which sent her flying into a tree.
“Unless you wish to die, following me is a waste of time. Just sit there and lament ever trying to go against me.” She calmly said as she threw the severed limb to her left before walking away.
“Kiritsugu… Iri…” Saber weakly said as she attempted to stand up. Her legs could no longer support her weight due to their injuries, causing her to fall to the ground. “I failed both of you… forgive me…”
After a few minutes, the white haired woman made it back to where Irisviel and Kiritsugu were.
“Sorry for the delay, you two. Your little friend gave me a scare back there.”
“What did you do to Saber?” Kiritsugu shouted, using everything he had to not rush at the magical girl. “Where is she?”
“Don’t worry about her. She’s fine. I beat her up, but she should be fully healed in a few days, even if nobody decides to help her. But enough about her. I think the person you should be more concerned about should be yourself!” She calmly said as she raised her revolver and pointed it at Kiritsugu.
“No! I won’t let you hurt my friend!” Irisviel shouted as she raised her shield and stepped in front of the black haired boy.
A grin spread across the white haired woman’s face before she suddenly rushed straight at her. She threw a powerful kick at her shield, causing her to be pushed away, before jumping over her and smacking her head with her weapon. Irisviel let out a shriek before being pushed to the ground with ease.
“Looks like there’s nobody left to keep you safe, boy. Is there anything you’d like to say before I put an end to you?”
“Kiritsugu! Get away!” Irisviel shouted.
Although he didn’t want to leave his friends behind, Kiritsugu had no choice but to turn around and run away. The magical girl wasted no time and quickly gave chase to him. In just a matter of seconds, she caught up to him and managed to sweep his left leg, causing him to fall to the ground. She quickly raised her gun and pointed it at his forehead.
“Well, kid. You’ve got nowhere to run and nobody to protect you. Unless some sort of miracle happens, your death is assured. Is there anything you’d like to say before I put you down?”
“I don’t care if you kill me or not… but please, spare my friends. They’ve done nothing wrong.” He said, his voice shaking, as he closed his eyes tightly.
The white haired woman let out a chuckle as she lowered her gun. Kiritsugu opened his eyes and saw his enemy laughing.
“Oh wow, the lot of you are all completely pathetic. When Kyubey assigned me with killing you, I thought you and your friends were gonna be unimaginably strong. But turns out you’re nothing like what I was expecting.” She said before returning to her regular form.
“W-Wait! You’re not going to kill me?”
“Nah. I’m not really in the mood to. I just came here because I wanted to see your strength for myself.” She turned to look at Irisviel. “I’ll explain everything to you eventually, but first, can you go get your friend? Last time I checked, she was leaning against a tree. You have healing magic, so you should be able to patch her up real quick.”
“A-All right.” Irisviel said as she stood up and ran away.

-A few minutes later-
Irisviel walked away from where the magical girl and Kiritsugu were and walked through the forest until she reached Saber, who was sitting against a tree. Most of the injuries on her back and sides had closed on their own, but the wounds on her legs still hadn’t fully healed, leaving her unable to stand up.
“Saber.” The white haired girl said as she walked toward her friend. “Are you all right? Do you want me to use my magic to heal you?”
“No, I’m fine. My legs should be fully healed soon.” She said as she looked up at the sky. “Iri, you became a magical girl to keep Kiritsugu safe, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did. I had no other choice. That blue haired girl you fought against had stabbed him through the throat, and he was bleeding profusely. If I had done nothing and sat idly by, he would’ve surely died.”
The blonde let out a deep breath.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“You had a single wish that you could’ve used on anything, but instead, you were forced to use it to save our friend. If only I were faster… then-“
“Don’t beat yourself up over what happened. You came here as fast as you possibly could and managed to save me and Kiritsugu. The distance from Homurahara to my family’s castle is so long that I’m sure even the fastest of magical girls wouldn’t have been able to make it here much quicker than you did, so there’s no point in getting mad at yourself over this.” She offered Saber her hand. “Do you need help getting up?”
“Yes, thank you.” The blonde said as she began to smile softly.
The blonde grabbed her friend’s hand and was pulled toward her. She put her left arm over her shoulder and began to walk away with her. After a few minutes of walking, Saber and Irisviel arrived at where Kiritsugu and the white haired woman were.
“You’re finally here.” The woman said, a smile spreading across her face.
“I’m assuming you want to talk with us about why you did all of this, right? Let’s not waste any time and get straight to the point. Why did you fight all of us if killing Kiritsugu wasn’t your intent?”
“Well, I just wanted to see how strong the three of you were. I never truly intended to kill you. I came here with the intent of gauging your strength to see why seven girls were hired to kill you.”
“Wait, there are seven girls after me?”
The white haired woman nodded her head.
“Yes. Seven magical girls were gathered for the sake of killing you in exchange for getting a single wish using the Holy Grail.”
“Earlier, you said Kyubey was behind this. Do you know why he wants me specifically dead?”
Artoria’s eyes widened.
“That’s a good question. Kyubey’s never seemed like the most trustworthy guy, but he never struck me as a person who would send out a hit on an unremarkable defenseless boy.”
“I’m not really sure. He never told us why he wanted your friend dead. At first, I came up with the idea that he might’ve orchestrated this for the sole purpose of getting your friend to become a magical girl, but after that happened, he vanished without saying a single word. So now I’m confused as to why he’d go through all this trouble if his goal wasn’t even to get Irisviel to become a magical girl.”
“Whatever his reason for doing this is irrelevant. As far as we’re aware, there are still five magical girls who are more than eager to kill Kiritsugu. We have to prepare for their arrival accordingly and be able to fight them off.” The white haired girl suggested.
“I was about to get to that. Yes, while Jitsuko’s nothing but worm food, and I’ve redrawn from attempting to get the Holy Grail, there are still five, technically six, girls who want to kill your little friend here. Part of the reason I wanted to gauge your strength was to see if you could all survive this little war by yourselves, and let me just say, I was severely disappointed in what I saw.” She turned to look at Saber. “You’re by far the strongest of your friends. Both your magic and your weapon are pretty strong, you’re fast, and you seem to think pretty logically while fighting. The only reason why I managed to beat you was because I overwhelmed you. If you had used that magical attack on me earlier, there wouldn’t be even a piece of me here to speak with the three of you.” She turned to Irisviel. “You’re not nearly as strong as your friend, but that’s fine because that’s not your role. You’re clearly supposed to be more of a healer who can defend her friends against attacks and stay in the backlines while Saber does all the work.”
“I guess that makes sense. I’ve never fought before, and I never learned how to fight.”
The white haired woman turned to look at Kiritsugu.
“As for you, you’re nothing but dead weight. Of course, even if you were a world-class martial artist or a professional boxer, you’d never be as strong as even the weakest magical girl due to being a human, but at least learn how to defend yourself and fight back. All you know how to do is run, which is completely useless when all of your enemies outrun you just by leisurely strolling forward.”
“Yes… as I am now, I’m nothing but dead weight. Saber and Irisviel are both powerful magical girls, but I don’t even know how to use a weapon. I’m the reason the three of us are in this mess, so I want to be able to help them fight against the other magical girls, even if just a little.” He calmly said, looking at the white haired woman.
A smile spread across her face as she put her left hand on his head.
“That’s the spirit! If you want, I’d be more than welcome to help train you how to fight.”
“Wait, you’d really train someone like me? How much will it cost?”
“Nothing at all. I’ll gladly train you for free.”
“That’s awfully generous of you. How can we be sure you don’t have some ulterior motive behind wanting to train him?” Saber asked.
“I only do things that interest me. Right now, I’m interested in the reason why Kyubey wants him dead and this whole competition, so I’m willing to help him out. Since we’ll be working with each other from today on, I think now would be the perfect time to introduce ourselves. My name is Natalia Kaminski. What are yours?”
“My name is Kiritsugu Emiya. And these two girls are my friends.”
“Guten tag. My name is Irisviel von Einzbern, but most people just call me Iri or Iris. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“And I’m Artoria Pendragon, but you could call me Saber if you want.”
“Now that this is all over, let’s go back to the Einzbern Castle.” Kiritsugu said before walking forward.
His three friends quickly followed after him. Once the four of them were out of his field of view, the Incubator who had granted Irisviel’s wish walked out from behind the tree he was using to hide himself.
“Lord Kyubey, are you still there?” He asked as he turned his head to the left and then to the right.
A few seconds later, Kyubey stepped out from a tree a few feet away from the other Incubator.
“Indeed I am.” He said as he shook his head. “This isn’t good. Jitsuko failed, Natalia is working with them, they have Irisviel as a healer, and now the boy is going to be trained to defend himself. This was supposed to be a short and easy task for the magical girls, but now those four might actually have a chance to defeat all of them.” He said, not sounding very pleased.
“What should we do about that?”
“Simple. We encourage the two girls who are most likely to be able to defeat them, Rinko and Maiya, and tell them to go after the boy at once. That way, they’ll be able to put him down before he has any chance to learn how to defend himself.”
“All right. I shall inform the others about this plan.” The Incubator across from him said before running away.
Once he was gone, Kyubey began to walk forward toward the Einzbern Castle. At the same time, Kiritsugu and his friends finally reached the gigantic building and entered it. Standing behind the castle was Shirley, who was staring at them as they went inside.
“Kiritsugu, you’ve grown so much taller. It’s been so long since we last spoke. I can hardly wait for tonight.” The brunette murmured to herself.
Inside the castle, Natalia was moving her head up and down, trying to get a glimpse of just how gigantic and lavish the building was.
“This is a nice place you’ve got here. Is your family rich or something?” She asked as she turned to look at Kiritsugu.
“Actually, it’s my family that owns this castle.” Irisviel spoke up. “And yes, they’re quite wealthy.”
“In that case, I might need to reconsider doing this for free.” She joked. “But in all seriousness, do you have a spare room we could use to train in and anything that could be used as a target?”
“There are plenty of rooms that aren’t being used at the moment, but I don’t have any targets for Kiritsugu to practice on, at least as far as I’m aware.”
Natalia brought her left hand up to her chin and thought about what to do for several seconds before speaking once again.
“It seems I’ll have to make some makeshift targets from the wood outside.” The white haired woman said as she turned around.
Before she could exit the castle, Saber spoke up.
“Wait. I could go back to the city and buy anything you need, such as targets and training dummies. That way, you don’t have to spend more time than you need cutting down trees and using their wood to construct the necessary tools to train Kiritsugu.”
“I like your thinking, Saber.” Natalia smiled at her.
“While you’re at it, could you get some wood to repair a hole in the kitchen that the magical girl from earlier created?” Irisviel requested.
“All right. I’ll be back as soon as possible.” She said before running out of the palace in a flash.

-A few minutes later-
Maiya entered a tent on a chunk of land that wasn’t being constructed on. She took off her hard hat, placed it on a long white table to her left, and then walked to the end of the tent where a large blue cooler stood. She opened it and saw a plethora of drinks inside it, such as sodas, juices, and water bottles. Along with these beverages were peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that were encased in plastic wrap. She grabbed a grape soda and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before sitting down at the table where she had placed her hard hat.
Everyone should be getting here soon enough. It’d be best to enjoy the peace and quiet now before that happens. She thought to herself as she opened the plastic wrapping around her snack. Before she could take a bite of her food, she noticed a familiar cat-like figure standing in front of her.
“Hey there.” He calmly said.
The green haired girl looked up from her sandwich and saw Kyubey staring at her.
“What do you want, Kyubey?”
“I’ve come to inform you about something. Jitsuko is dead, and Natalia has joined your target and his allies. From what it looks like, she seems to want to train him so that he can defend himself.”
“Well, that certainly throws a wrench into my plans. Having that boy learn how to fight won’t end up mattering in the long run as, regardless of what he does, he’ll never come close to me or my peers. However, having a powerful magical girl like Natalia by his side to defend him will certainly prove troublesome. Kyubey, can you do me a favor and keep an eye on the boy and inform me if another magical girl goes to fight him? I won’t do anything until someone else goes to fight them, as I do not yet have enough information on someone like Natalia to be able to confidently fight against them.”
“Anything for you, Maiya.” The Incubator said as he jumped off the table he was on. “Anyway, I’ll be taking my leave now. See you later.”
The feline began to walk away, leaving the green haired girl by herself to eat her sandwich.

-Meanwhile-
Rinko was sitting in front of her desk in her room, playing a first person shooter on her large white computer. It was one of the newest computers on the market and, as such, one of the most powerful. Her parents weren’t home at the moment, so she wasn’t using her headphones and was instead playing with her computer on full volume. As she continued playing, she heard a sudden knock at the window beside her bed.
“Hello, Rinko. Are you home?” A very familiar voice asked.
“Kyubey? Why are you here?” The pink haired girl asked as she paused her game and placed her controller beside her desk.
She walked over to the window and opened it, allowing the feline to enter her room.
“I needed to talk with you about the competition for the Holy Grail. Since we last met, there have been some pretty major developments. Firstly, Jitsuko was killed by your target and his friends. Secondly, Natalia ended up joining them and seemingly left this competition so that she could teach him how to defend himself. Lastly, one of his friends, the white haired girl who I explicitly told you girls to not kill, has become a magical girl who specializes in healing her allies and defending against attacks. While she might not be physically strong, she’ll certainly make things much more irksome for you and the rest of the magical girls.“
“I see. Why are you telling me this? It’s not like I’ll ever beat them, even if I went to fight them right now.”
“Don’t say that. I’m sure you’d beat him if you actually tried to fight against him. While Natalia and Artoria would surely prove to be quite the challenge to defeat, if you can get to Kiritsugu when they’re not around, you’d undoubtedly win.”
“Do you actually think that? As far as magical girls go, I’m by far the weakest.”
“That may or may not be true. However, even the weakest magical girl is leagues stronger than the most powerful human. If you let him train and become stronger, while he certainly won’t be able to kill you anytime soon, he may be able to stall you or run from you for enough time that he can get Artoria and Natalia to come to his aid, which won’t end well for you.”
“You make a fair point.” The pink haired girl let out a deep breath. “All right. I’ll try to go to his base tomorrow and either kill him or die trying. It’s not like I have anything of value to lose if I fail.”
“All right. Good luck tomorrow, Rinko.” Kyubey said before jumping out of the window and running away.
The pink haired girl quickly closed the window, turned around, and walked back to her desk.

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
Saber returned to the Einzbern Castle with planks of wood, shooting targets, and human shaped practice dummies in her arms. Upon entering the palace, she placed her shopping on the ground in front of all her friends.
“All right. I’m back from shopping.” She calmly said. “Do you think you’ll need any help carrying the things I bought for you up the stairs? If so, I’m more than willing to help you and Kiritsugu.”
“Nah, it’s fine. I’ve lifted heavier loads than this.” Natalia calmly said as she quickly transformed and grabbed the items that the blonde had bought for her with ease. “All right, Kiritsugu, lead the way to a room we could use for training.”
“You got it.” The black haired boy said as he began to walk up the stairs. “Follow me.”
Natalia quickly went up the stairs behind him. Once they were out of their field of view, Irisviel spoke up.
“Okay. Now that they’re out of the way, let’s go fix the hole in the kitchen.”
Artoria nodded her head as she grabbed the pieces of wood.
“I suggest you transform. The added strength and speed will certainly make this much easier than if you tried to do it in your normal form.”
The white haired girl did as suggested before going upstairs with her friend.

-
Kiritsugu opened the door to a large, empty room on one of the upper floors of the castle and stepped inside. Natalia quickly went in and placed the training dummy in the center of the room before quickly running over to the walls and placing the targets on them. Once she was done setting everything up, she turned to look at the boy.
“All right. Everything’s in order now. Are you ready to start your training, kid?”
He nodded his head as he walked over to the training dummy. A smile spread across the white haired woman’s face as she approached him, summoned a golden revolver, and placed it into his hand.
“Are you sure I should be using your weapon? I feel like I might be able to use your magic if I do this.”
“Relax. Since I’m not using it, you shouldn’t be able to control the bullets, thus making it a normal but expensive looking gun.” She turned her head to look at the distance between her trainee and the targets before speaking again. “I’d say you’re the perfect distance from the targets to begin. But before you can start actually shooting at things, let me tell you something incredibly important. When you’re holding a gun, don’t put your index and middle fingers anywhere near the trigger. Instead, put them on the side of your gun. That way you don’t accidentally shoot yourself or any of your friends.”
Kiritsugu moved his index and middle fingers upward as instructed.
“All right, everything looks good. You can start whenever you’re ready.”
The black haired boy took a deep breath as he slowly raised his right arm. He put his left hand on his other arm to stabilize it. Kiritsugu aimed at the target for a few seconds, making sure he was aiming right at the target in front of him, before pressing down on the trigger. As his weapon shot at the target, he was pushed back slightly by the recoil. The bullet zoomed toward the target and just narrowly missed hitting the center of it.
“For someone who’s never used a gun before, that was a pretty good shot. I’m sure you’ll be as good of a marksman as me in no time!”

-Meanwhile-
Irisviel and Saber entered the kitchen. While on their way here, the white haired girl had grabbed a hammer, some nails, and a ladder. The blonde looked upward and saw a large hole not too far from the ceiling.
“Okay. Place the ladder in front of the hole, and I should be able to get it patched up with ease.”
Irisviel did as her friend requested and placed the nail and hammer on the ground beside the hole before pushing the ladder toward it. Artoria quickly grabbed them before walking up the ladder. Once she was in front of the hole, she placed a piece of wood she had bought in front of it before putting a nail on top of the plank and hammering down on it. In just a few seconds, she completely inserted the nail into the right side of the wooden slab and the wall.
“All right, one side down. This should only take a few minutes at most.” She calmly said as she began to repeat the same process on the plank’s left side.
“Saber, when you found out that I was a magical girl, you looked sort of distraught and were mad at yourself for making me use my wish to save Kiritsugu. That got me wondering, what did you use your wish for?”
“My wish?” Saber went silent for a few seconds before speaking again. “…Well, I never got the chance to make one.”
The white haired girl raised an eyebrow.
“How’s that possible? To become a magical girl, you need to make a wish with Kyubey. You can’t have-“
“While that may be the case most of the time, if a magical girl has a child, it’s possible that the child is also born a magical girl. I’m one of these magical girls. As such, I’ve never had a chance to have any wish granted to me.”
“So you were mad at yourself because I was forced to use my one and only wish to save my friend… something you never had the chance to use.”
She stopped hammering in the nails and looked downward.
“If you were to have the ability to have a single wish granted. What would you want that to be?”
“Well, I’m fine with being a magical girl, and I’m not really in any financial trouble, so I think there’s only one thing I could say. I want me and my friends to go back to living like we used to before Shirley became a vampire. I don’t think it’s fair that Kiritsugu was forced to spend most of his teenage years stuck in a castle in the middle of the forest with nobody nearby to even talk to. He’s had to rely on us for the last 3 years to survive, which takes a lot of time and effort on our part to do. I’m also sure that if he could go back to the life he used to know, he’d do so in a heartbeat.”
After Saber finished speaking, she went back to hammering in the nail until it was fully inside of both the plank and the wall.
“The three of us have been friends for 4 years, and you never told us about you being a magical girl. Why’s that? Were you ashamed of your powers?”
She shook her head as she grabbed another plank of wood and nail and began to hammer it in.
“No, but I didn’t want you or him getting involved in magic related things. Being a magical girl can be incredibly dangerous, and I didn’t want you putting yourself or regular people in harm’s way, so I kept it a secret from you. But it seems like despite my secrecy, you still managed to become one anyway…” She somberly said as she finished hammering the nail she was working on.
“Don’t be upset, Saber. Even if I weren’t a magical girl, we’d probably still be in this situation anyway. At least now that I am one, I can help you, Natalia, and Kiritsugu out more than I would’ve been able to otherwise.”
“I guess that’s one way to look at things.” She said, her lips forming a soft smile.

-An hour later-
Kiritsugu had not moved an inch and still had Natalia’s revolver in his hand. He was taking aim at the target slightly to the left of him, positioning both himself and his gun to be able to hit it directly in the center. The targets that were set up on the walls around him were riddled with holes. Although the vast majority of them were nowhere near their center, there were quite a few bullet holes in the targets’ bullseye. Once the black haired boy felt satisfied with where his gun was pointing, he pulled the trigger. He was holding the gun in such a way that he didn’t feel any recoil as the bullet zoomed toward the target and hit it right in the middle.
“Good job, Kiritsugu. You’ve really improved your marksman skills.” The white haired woman cheerfully said as she put her left hand on his shoulder. “Although learning how to use a gun will definitely be the most useful skill in a fight against a magical girl for a regular person like you, sometimes using a firearm will be pointless, either due to your opponent’s magic or simply because they’re too fast to be gunned down. That’s why you need to learn how to fight up close.” She said as she turned around and walked toward the training dummy beside her. “Pay attention to what I’m about to do.”
Once she was standing in front of it, she got into a proper fighting stance and threw a powerful punch at the side of its head that nearly knocked it over.
“Repeat what I just did. I had to restrain myself quite a bit to not accidentally break this thing, so the results probably won’t be exactly one to one, but they should be somewhat similar.” She said as she moved to the side.
“All right.”
He tried his best to mimic the stance Natalia got into by moving his right leg forward and bending both slightly before closing his fist as tightly as possible and throwing a punch at the training dummy’s head. The attack managed to slightly tip the dummy backward, but it quickly regained its balance and began to stand upright once more. Kiritsugu quickly grabbed his right fist as he began to wince from the pain.
“Crap… I feel like my hand’s going to break.” He complained.
“That was your first time seriously throwing a punch at something, correct?”
He slowly nodded his head.
“For a beginner, that wasn’t too bad. However, one measly punch won’t be enough to defend yourself against a magical girl who’s out for blood. While I don’t expect you to be able to knock out, much less actually kill, one, you should at least learn how to stall any magical girl who tries to murder you until either me, Saber, or Iri are able to come save you. For you to be able to do that, you need to become more proficient in hand to hand combat, something that will never happen if you keep standing around and complaining about your hand hurting.” Natalia calmly said as she walked in front of the dummy and got into a proper stance yet again. “Now, pay attention to every single attack I show you!”

-A few hours later-
Kiritsugu and Natalia practiced hand to hand combat for nearly three hours before they went outside. By the time they were done with that portion of their training, Kiritsugu was sweating, breathing heavily, and he felt as if his knuckles were going to start bleeding at any second. Meanwhile, Natalia was perfectly calm and not even slightly exhausted.
“All right. This should be the last of our training, at least for today. We’ve already practiced long and short range fighting extensively, so let’s try to work on something more defensive.”
She said as she walked toward the trees closest to the Einzbern castle. The white haired woman noticed a few fallen twigs lying not too far from them, so she quickly grabbed them and then walked back to her pupil.
“I would focus on training your speed, but that’d be a complete waste of time. Not even the fastest athlete could outrun the slowest magical girl, so I’d be setting you up for failure if we did that. It’s for that reason that I think we should focus on training your reflexes.” Natalia calmly said before chucking a twig at her protégé.
Kiritsugu narrowly managed to avoid the projectile as his eyes widened.
“What was that about?” He asked before Natalia threw another branch at him, forcing him to move to his left.
“Since running away from magical girls is useless, you’ll have to avoid any attacks they throw at you using your reflexes. Otherwise, you’ll practically be handing them your head on a silver platter.” She said as she continued to hurl sticks at him.

-An hour later-
Kiritsugu and Natalia finished their training and walked back into the palace. Standing near the entrance were Saber and Irisviel. The black haired boy was panting and sweating heavily, and his legs were so tired that he was having trouble walking.
“Kiritsugu!” The white haired girl shouted as she ran over to his side and grabbed onto his shoulder. “Are you all right? What did the mean woman do to you?”
“She worked me… to the bone…” He said while breathing heavily. “I’m so exhausted… I can hardly even stand.”
“I had to do it for his own good. If I didn’t push him to his absolute limits, sooner or later he’d be taken out by a magical girl.” Natalia, who didn’t look even the least bit tired, calmly said as she stretched.
“Everything will be all right.” Saber said as she walked over to her friend and put her left hand on his shoulder. “Just focus on taking deep breaths in and exhaling, and you’ll be breathing fine in no time.”
Irisviel nodded her head.
“I made lunch for all of us. If you’re unable to walk there, I’ll just have to carry you.” She calmly said with a soft smile on her face.
Kiritsugu’s lips formed a smile as he slowly closed his eyes.
“Thank you, Iri…”

-A few hours later-
The sun had begun to set, and Kiritsugu was in the library to relax after a long and exhausting day of training under Natalia. Meanwhile, the three girls decided to all take a bath together. The bathing room was incredibly large, with a huge hot spring all the way in the back of it. It had a grey floor and many windows for the girls to look out of as they bathed.
“Do you know why Kiritsugu doesn’t want to join us? I’m sure any boy his age would die just to get an opportunity to bathe with girls like us.” Natalia said as she entered the huge bathing area. “Do you think he’s just not into girls or something?”
“Oh no, he’s most certainly straight.” Saber calmly said. “However, I doubt he harbors any feelings, whether they be simply romantic or even as far as sexual, deeper than friendship toward us.”
Irisviel nodded her head.
“That’s not to mention that he already has a girlfriend.”
“The boy’s already with someone?” Natalia asked, not sounding too convinced by Irisviel’s statement as she raised an eyebrow. “What’s she called? And before you say anything, no, a girl he met online who lives in Canada doesn’t count as an actual girlfriend.”
“Well, her name was Shirley, and three years ago, she used to be his maid. They were separated due to certain events, which are also the reason he’s living so deep in the woods, completely isolated from society. I’m not sure if Kiritsugu would be comfortable with me telling you what happened, so if you want to find out, you’ll have to ask him. Although they haven’t seen each other in many years, I assume he still loves her and considers her his girlfriend.”
“So that explains that. Anyway, can you two tell me what your magic does? It’s important that I know about your abilities so that I can formulate plans more effectively when we inevitably have to fight against the magical girls. In exchange, I’ll tell you what mine does.”
“My magic allows me to create particles of light that I can use to form one small shield at a time to protect myself from attacks. This small, circular shield of light is incredibly durable, and I’ve yet to find anything capable of even cracking it. I can also imbue objects with these light particles, and while most of the time this does nothing, if I imbue my sword with my magic, I can shoot out a gigantic beam of magic that can be seen from miles away.”
“As far as I’m aware, all my magic does is heal people.” Irisviel said, sounding a little disappointed at how much more powerful Saber’s magic was compared to hers as she lowered her head into the water.
“Interesting. As promised, I’ll tell you what my magic can do. Any projectile I throw or shoot, I can control the movement of. That way, I can guarantee it’ll hit its targets, even if they move or I completely missed them at first.”
“So that’s how you were able to shoot at me from all sorts of absurd angles.” Saber calmly said.
“Correct. I’m sure that if Kiritsugu were here right now, he’d be able to rest easy knowing he has such strong, capable friends who are willing to defend him.”

-A few hours later-
Shirley was leaning against one of the walls outside of the Einzbern Castle. It was past midnight, but she wasn’t sure if all of Kiritsugu’s friends were asleep at this hour.
“Maybe I should wait just a little longer. I’m sure that if Iri and Saber see me, they’ll ruin the surprise. Everything needs to be absolutely perfect for tonight.” She calmly said.
The brunette took a deep breath before looking up at the colossal palace.
“No, Kiritsugu probably wouldn’t like being woken up so late into the night. I have to go speak to him now.” She said before turning around and effortlessly clinging onto the wall behind her.
She quickly climbed up it and slowly made her way toward the windows. She slightly peered into the room to see if Kiritugu was in there but didn’t see him anywhere. She climbed around the building until she found the bedroom he was sleeping in.
“There he is.” She murmured, hardly able to keep her voice down. “It’s been almost half a decade since we last saw each other, and he’s grown so much. I need to know how he’s been.”
Without saying anything else, Shirley opened the window and entered his room. She quietly made her way toward the black haired boy’s bed. Once she was next to him, she began to gently stroke his right cheek. After a few seconds, Kiritsugu began to stir in his sleep. As he slowly opened his eyes, he saw a very familiar girl standing over him.
“Shirley…” He quietly said.
The black haired boy rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t imagining things. Once he moved his hands away from his face, Shirley was still there.
“I-It can’t be. Shirley, i-is that really you?”
“Indeed it is, Kiritsugu. I’ve missed you so much.” She said while smiling at him.
The black haired boy quickly sat up and hugged her tightly.
“S-Shirley…” Tears began to well up in his eyes. “You’re as beautiful as 3 years ago. You don’t look like you’ve aged a day.”
“Why, thank you. How have you been doing since we last met?”
“Well, ever since I killed my father, I’ve been living alone in this castle in the middle of the woods, far from all civilization. It’s been kind of lonely, but Saber and Iri visit me as frequently as possible to give me the necessary essentials and spend some time with me. Speaking of Saber and Iri, we should go speak to them immediately.” He said before letting go of the brunette and gently grabbing ahold of her hand.
“Ki-Kiritsugu! Wait!”
The black haired boy quickly turned around and looked at her.
“Is something the matter?”
“N-No. I just don’t want to speak to your friends at the moment. This is the first time we’re meeting in almost half a decade. I want only the two of us to speak to each other.”
“Fine. So what have you been doing these past few years?”
“I’ve done some not so admirable things to survive these last 3 years. I’ve had to defile graves… attack… and even murder people just to satiate my hunger. Over time, I’ve learned to control my vampiric urges to the point I’m not afraid of accidentally hurting you if I went to speak with you. But still… I’ve done a lot of horrible things to get to this point, and I’m still a vampire… you probably think I’m a monster.”
“Of course you’re not a monster, and it’s not your fault you did all of that. Getting mad at you for what you did is like getting mad at a cat for eating a mouse.” He said as he wrapped his arms around the brunette. “You might still be a vampire, but you’re more human than the man who turned you into one.”
“K-Kiritsugu…”
“It’s really late outside. You can sleep next to me if you want.”
“R-Really?”
He nodded his head.
“Indeed. And when morning comes, I can make you breakfast, and we can go speak to Saber and Iri together. I’m sure they’ll be just as thrilled as I am to see you again.”
Shirley got in bed next to Kiritsugu.
“It’s been so long since I’ve slept in a bed. I almost forgot what one felt like.”
“You won’t ever have to sleep anywhere else but a bed from now on. We’re finally together, and I don’t intend on ever letting you leave my side again.”
“As do I. If anyone tries to hurt you, I’ll just use my powers to protect you.” She cheerfully said.
Kiritsugu’s smile widened as he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Chapter Text

-The next day-
It was around eight thirty in the morning. Normally, most children would be at school by now, which would prove problematic to Haruki, but since it was a Saturday, they were free to stay home for as long as they wanted. With Hibari not going anywhere, she was free to go to the hospital to pay someone important to her a visit. The black haired woman opened the door to her husband’s room and stepped inside.
“Good morning.” She cheerfully said as she walked over to the bed he rested on.
Haruki’s husband, a black haired man with brown eyes, began to smile upon seeing her. He was wearing a hospital gown and was bone thin.
“Haruki… I’m so happy you came to visit me. Where’s Suzuka?” He asked as he moved his eyes in an attempt to find his infant daughter.
“I left Suzuka at home with Hibari so that we could spend some time together.” She said as she began to gently hold his hand.
“I never really thought about it, but it has been quite some time since the two of us were just together like this. I understand that you have to take care of Suzuka, but it gets really lonely here with only the company of the medical staff. One of these days, can you bring her with you? I’d love to be able to hold her, even if it’s just for a few seconds.”
“Yes. I’ll gladly do so.” She said as she began to gently stroke her husband’s left cheek.

-Meanwhile-
Moe and Moa were walking through the expansive garden behind their mansion. There were flowers of all sorts of colors and varieties for as far as they could see.
“Look, Moe.” The older of the two girls cheerfully said as she pointed at a large patch full of red tulips that had not yet fully bloomed. “Those flowers are the same color as our eyes.”
“Really? They’re so small that I can hardly see them.” Moe responded as she walked over to the patch,
Her sister quickly followed after her, and the two of them stood in front of the budding plants.
“Now that I have a better look at them, they’re certainly a deep red, but they’re so small and puny. These flowers being the same color as our eyes is hardly anything to get excited about.”
“You’re being too harsh on them.” One of the girls’ family’s maids said as she approached the children. “These flowers still haven’t completely bloomed. Give them enough time, and I’m sure you’d grow to love them.”
“That might be true, but I shouldn’t have to wait! I want these flowers to bloom now!”
She shook her head.
“These flowers are essentially children. Wanting them to bloom now is like wanting a child to become the CEO of a successful company. Nobody should rush a child to pursue their dreams. They deserve to grow up peacefully first.”
“Yeah, Moe, you shouldn’t pressure these flowers into growing up as quickly as possible.”
“I guess the two of you are right.” She said. “I’m sorry for being so rude, flowers.”

-20 minutes later-
Rinko was sitting in her room, staring at the window beside her bed.
“It’s getting pretty late now. If I continue to sit around here, the boy and all of his friends will wake up.” She said before standing up and transforming into the red hoodie and black pants that were her magical girl form. “Attacking him while he’s asleep is the only way someone as pathetic as me could ever possibly hope to kill him.” The pink haired girl began to walk toward her bedroom’s door. “Regardless of whether I live or die, I have nothing of value to lose.”
Rinko opened her room’s door and exited it.

-10 minutes later-
Kiritsugu began to open his eyes. He sat up and turned to his left, only to not see Shirley anywhere. He then quickly turned to his right and saw that the window was still closed.
“She must’ve gone to the kitchen.” He said before standing up and walking toward the door.
The black haired boy quickly opened it before stepping outside, walking down the hallway until he made it to the dining room.
“Shirley? Are you in here?” He asked, raising his voice slightly so she would have a better chance of hearing him.
Kiritsugu waited a few seconds but didn’t receive any sort of response. To make sure Shirley wasn’t in the kitchen, he walked toward the doors that lead to it and opened them, only to find absolutely nobody inside.
“If she’s not here, then where could she have possibly gone? Did I dream up meeting her again?” He shook his head. “No. That couldn’t have been possible. I had a conversation with her and touched her, something I wouldn’t have been able to do if I was just dreaming everything up.”
Kiritsugu turned around and walked out of the kitchen as he pondered where Shirley went.
“Maybe she got up before me and decided to leave because she didn’t feel comfortable speaking to Saber and Iri just yet? That’s probably the most likely possibility of what could have happened, but why would she just leave without saying goodbye?“ He asked himself as he turned around and began to walk out of the kitchen and dining room.
As he walked down the hallway, he heard what sounded like footsteps behind him. The black haired boy quickly turned around but didn’t see anyone.
“Shirley? Is that you?” He asked as walked to the room across from the library.
He opened the door and saw a tearoom with a circular table that had a white cloth over it and six wooden chairs surrounding it with a beige seat and backrest. There was a fireplace behind the table and two windows across from it with white curtains hanging in front of them. Kiritsugu rarely came to the tearoom, as he didn’t like tea that much and would rather drink a coffee to start his day. He turned his head to the left and then to the right but couldn’t see the brunette anywhere.
“Shirley, I know you’re somewhere in here. Come out already.” He said as he walked into the room. “If you’re trying to pull a prank on me or something, it’s not working.”
The black haired boy began to walk toward the table. Once she was close enough to it, he grabbed the tablecloth and lifted it up, only to find nobody underneath it. To make sure nobody was in the room, he quickly turned to his right and walked over to the fireplace. Kiritsugu quickly crouched down and looked up it to make sure Shirley hadn’t climbed up it. While he was distracted with that, Rinko suddenly jumped out of the window next to the table with two large glass shards in her hands and moved toward her target. Right when she was only a few inches away from him, Kiritsugu turned his head and saw her, only to quickly jump to the door.
“ANOTHER MAGICAL GIRL! SABER! IRISVIEL! PLEASE HURRY TO THE KITCHEN AS QUICKLY AS-“
“No!” The pink haired girl shouted before throwing her glass shards at his neck.
Kiritsugu narrowly managed to avoid the attacks by running to his right, causing the shards of glass to hit the wall behind him and go through it. Although his legs were incredibly sore from his training with Natalia the day prior, he somehow managed to ignore the pain to run as quickly as he was physically able to out of the room.
“Trying to run from me is futile! You’re doing nothing but delaying the inevitable!” She shouted before pulling her hood over her face, allowing herself to teleport away.
Kiritsugu was running down the hallway when, suddenly, Rinko jumped out from the side of a vase that held three roses. She quickly kicked his stomach while in midair, sending him flying through the wall to his left.
“Don’t you know that you’d never be able to outrun me even if you were some professional athlete? Attempting to flee from me was a fruitless endeavor.” She summoned two more glass shards and pointed them at him. “Even though I’m about to strike you down, I’m not a particularly cruel girl. If you have any last words or requests, I’ll gladly hear them out.”
“Yeah, I have something to say.” He took a deep breath before speaking. “You’re right on time, Iri!” Kiritsugu cheerfully said.
Before the pink haired girl could react to her target’s words, Irisviel charged straight at her and slammed into her body with her shield, sending her flying down the hallway.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to get here. I had barely just woken up when I heard you call for me and Saber. Are you all right?” The white haired girl asked as she turned to look at her friend.
“Yeah. My back hurts a bit, but I think I’m otherwise fine.” The black haired boy said as he stood up.
As he walked behind Irisviel, Rinko began to stand up.
“Crap. This isn’t good at all. It’ll only be a matter of time before their other two friends come to their aid, and once that happens I’m as good as dead.” She murmured to herself. “The only way I’ll have even the slightest chance of surviving is if I can get past her!”
Without any warning, Rinko jumped at her enemy and swung her glass shards at her wooden shield in an attempt to tear through it. The white haired girl’s weapon wasn’t as much as scratched by her attacks.
“I won’t let you lay even a finger on Kiritsugu!” Irisviel shouted as she grabbed onto her shield as tightly as possible with her left hand before throwing a powerful punch at the pink haired girl’s face, which sent her flying into the wall at the end of the hallway. The white haired girl wasted no time and ran down the hallway and, once she was close enough to Rinko, threw a kick at her stomach that launched her upward toward the ceiling. As her enemy began to fall down, Irisviel grabbed onto her shield with both her hands and prepared to swing it upward.
Now’s my chance! She thought before throwing both her glass fragments over Irisviel’s head, allowing them to land in the middle of the hallway.
Wasting no time, the pink haired girl quickly pulled her hood over her head, allowing herself to vanish into thin air. Not even a second later, Rinko emerged from her leftmost glass shard and began to rush at Kiritsugu.
“You won’t get so lucky this time!” She yelled as she summoned two more glass shards and rushed at him.
“And neither will you!” The white haired girl confidently said as she launched her shield sideways at her legs.
It quickly slammed into the back of her knees, causing her to let out a grunt as she fell to the ground.
“No! It can’t end when I’m this close!” She yelled as she threw her glass shard at Kiritsugu.
The black haired boy quickly ducked to avoid the attacks as Irisviel walked over to her. She quickly grabbed her by the hood and slammed her against the wall before punching her in the chest using her full strength. Rinko spat out blood as she felt her ribs crack. She attempted to summon another pair of glass shards, but before she could do it, Irisviel slammed her onto the ground and stomped on her arms to pin her down.
“That’s enough. I know you want to kill my friend, but I’m willing to spare your life if you agree to stop and immediately go home.”
“Yes. You’d be throwing away your life for a single wish if you continue fighting. I doubt whatever you’re fighting for is more important than continuing to live.”
“Then you’d be wrong! As I am now, I’m a complete waste of space! I’ll only become worth something once I use the Holy Grail to make my dream come true!” She shouted as a grin spread across her face.
She raised her head and headbutted Irisviel with as much force as she could possibly muster. Although it didn’t injure her, it was strong enough to get the white haired girl to fall off her.
“Kiritsugu!” She shouted as Rinko quickly stood up and rushed at him as quickly as she possibly could.
“DIE AND GIVE ME ALL OF YOUR VALUE!” She screamed as she summoned two more shards of glass in her hands.
She swung them at his neck, but before her attacks could hit him, Saber rushed down the hall as quickly as possible and blocked the shards with her sword.
“Just made it in time.” She calmly said as she grinned at her enemy.
“Y-You-“ Rinko yelled before being kicked in the stomach by Saber and being sent flying through the wall at the end of the hallway, causing her to land outside.
“Sorry it took me so long to get here, you two. I just woke up a few seconds ago when I heard you shout out Kiritsugu’s name.”
“It’s fine. All that matters is that you’re here now, and that you managed to save my life.” The black haired boy said as he put his left hand on his friend’s left shoulder.
As Irisviel stood up, she turned around to see the massive hole in the wall her friend had formed by launching her enemy out of the castle.
“First the hole in this kitchen, now this… if any of my family members decide to come here… they’re going to kill me.”
“Relax. You have more than enough money to spare to pay for repairs. Once this is all done, you can just call a construction company to come fix your castle for you.” Artoria said before beginning to walk forward. “I doubt that attack killed our enemy or got her to think about leaving. She’s probably still outside as we speak. Irisviel, don’t go anywhere. Make sure Kiritsugu stays protected.”
“All right.” She calmly said as she summoned another shield in case her enemy got back inside.
With Kiritsugu’s safety secured, Saber quickly ran forward and jumped out of the castle. Outside, Rinko was lying on her back that had been stabbed by shards of the stone wall she had been launched out of. Before she could get up, she saw Saber running toward her.
“Repent for trying to kill my friend!” She shouted as she raised her sword upward.
“That sword of yours is so shiny!” Rinko yelled as she pulled her hood over her face.
Not even a second later, she jumped out of Saber’s sword and threw a kick at her chest. The attack managed to knock her to the ground. As the pink haired girl landed in front of her, she summoned two glass shards in both of her hands.
“It’s not over yet! I won’t die while in this useless body!” She shouted as she rushed at Saber.
The blonde quickly stood up and blocked any attacks Rinko swung at her with her weapon.
“You’re much too slow and predictable. Trying to go against me is a fool’s errand.” She calmly said as she thrust her sword forward toward the pink haired girl’s stomach.
She narrowly avoided the attack by jumping to her left. Once Rinko had created some space between her and Artoria, she threw her two glass shards at her neck and stomach. Saber effortlessly blocked the incoming attacks before rushing at her enemy. Right as she was about to slice her chest, the pink haired girl pulled her hood over her head, allowing herself to jump out of the blonde’s sword yet again. Using this opportunity, she grabbed onto her right arm and effortlessly tore it off. Saber let out a grunt as she was kicked in the stomach, pushing her several feet away from her enemy. Rinko, not giving her a chance to recover, summoned two more glass shards and threw them at her opponent. The blonde blocked the one heading toward her neck with her sword while using her magic to block the one zooming for her neck.
“You’re so persistent! Just give up and let me kill your friend already!” She quickly pulled her hoodie over her head, allowing herself to jump out of Saber’s sword.
The pink haired girl quickly summoned another pair of glass shards and stabbed the blonde in the stomach before jumping away from her. Artoria quickly regrew her right arm, pulled the shards out of her, and threw the pieces of glass to the aide. Blood began to run down her and stain the grass beneath her red.
“Tell me, why are you doing this? What is so important to you that you’re trying to kill an innocent boy who doesn’t even know how to use magic?” She asked, pointing her sword at her neck.
“Because I want to get rid of this useless, pathetic version of myself!” The pink haired girl shouted as she pointed at herself. “I don’t have any special skills, I don’t have very many interests that would make me friends, and I have no dreams for the future. If I continue to live like I am now, I’ll never be able to do anything of value with my life. I’ll never get any friends, a spouse, or even a job… I’ll just waste my life rotting away in my parents’ basement. I already used my original wish in an attempt to improve myself, but I didn’t become useful whatsoever. That’s why, I’ll use the wish I’ll receive from killing that friend of yours to completely change myself!“
Saber gritted her teeth.
“There are ways to improve yourself that don’t involve killing an innocent boy your age! Have you no shame about such wretched actions?”
“And you think I haven’t tried them? I’ve tried to get good at everything I could possibly think of: drawing, cooking, acting, voice acting, writing, coding—name any useful or valuable skill you could think of, and I’ve tried to master it at some point! Regardless of how hard I’ve tried to become good at all these things, all of my attempts have proven unsuccessful! I tried to use my original wish to try to make these attempts successful, but even after I became a magical girl, I still never became good at anything! Killing your friend and changing who I am will be the only way I will ever gain any value!” She yelled before pulling her hood over her head and vanishing into thin air.
Not even a second later, she jumped out of the blonde’s sword and summoned two glass shards. She quickly swung them at Saber’s neck and chest.
“Die and give me worth!” Rinko yelled as Artoria blocked her left shard with her sword while she used her magic to block her right weapon.
Suddenly, the pink haired girl threw a powerful kick at her enemy’s left leg, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground. She seized this opportunity and stabbed Saber in the chest and neck, causing her eyes to widen as she coughed up blood.
“I won?” Rinko asked as she stared down at Saber. “I actually won? W-What? I beat one of my target’s allies!” She burst into laughter. “T-This can’t be happening. How did someone like me actually win against such a powerful magical girl? I-I must be dreaming!” She quickly pinched her left cheek, but nothing happened. “If I defeated you, then the white haired girl and your friend will be even easier to beat!” She turned around and began to walk away. “In just a few minutes, the new me will finally be born, and I’ll gain the value I’ve been lacking my whole life!”
“No… this might destroy the castle, but it’s the only thing I have left.” Saber weakly murmured as she raised her sword into the air.
Suddenly, it began to glow.
“EXCALI-“
Before Saber could use her attack, a small golden bullet zoomed out of the Einzbern castle, toward Rinko, and hit her in the left shoulder.
“That must be the other magical girl Kyubey talked about.” She said as she clutched her injury with her right hand. “She’s probably just as strong as the blonde was, but if I play my cards right, I might-“
Before she could finish speaking, she felt the nerves in her shoulder twist and completely shred. Blood began to gush out of the wound as the destruction of the pink haired girl’s nerves began to spread across her entire body. Blood began to leak out of her ears, mouth, and eyes as Rinko tried to move her body and speak, but she was unable to. A few seconds later, the pink haired girl fell lifeless to the ground. Kiritsugu and Irisviel, who were watching the battle from inside the palace, stared at the scene in front of them with their mouths agape.
“W-What just happened?” Kiritsugu asked.
“I used an Origin Bullet on her.” Natalia calmly said as she walked over to two.
“O-Origin Bullet?” The white haired girl asked.
She nodded her head.
“Origin Bullets are incredibly powerful projectiles I made using shards of my twelfth rib to permanently imbue them with some of my magic. Against a regular person, they work the same as a regular bullet, but against a magical girl, getting hit by one is sure to bring about a guaranteed death due to activating upon entering their body. The magic in their body acts as a guide for my Origin Bullet, allowing it to find and shred through each and every nerve in an affected girl’s body before moving on to their brain and promptly executing them. I made 66 bullets in total, but I used 5 of them in the past, this being the 6th bullet I’ve used so far. In tandem with my magic, they make for an extremely lethal pair.”
“If those bullets are so effective against magical girls? Why didn’t you tell me about them?”
“Well, I was planning to later today when we were going to train, but a certain someone forced me to use it a bit earlier than I expected.” Natalia turned to look at Irisviel. “You should probably go heal your friend. She’s bleeding pretty heavily from her chest and throat.”
“All right.” The white haired girl dropped her shield and quickly jumped out of the huge hole in her castle’s wall.
“Why do you even have Origin Bullets in the first place? Did you make them for the sole purpose of using them against the other magical girls in this competition?”
“No. I never did tell you this, but I’m what you’d call a mercenary or an assassin. People hire me when they want someone taken care of, if you catch my drift. Although I don’t fight against magical girls all too often, they’re so irksome to fight that I decided to make Origin Bullets to make killing them a breeze.”
Outside, Irisviel quickly used her magic on Saber to heal her injuries. Once she was fully healed, the blonde stood up.
“Thank you for that, Iri. Now let’s hurry and head back inside.”
The white haired girl nodded her head before she and her friend jumped back into the castle.
“Now that we have that taken care of, let’s head to the kitchen. I’m starving.” Natalia said as she turned around and began to walk away.
“I’ll handle the breakfast for everyone. Come on, let’s go.” Irisviel said before running forward.
Kiritsugu and Saber quickly followed the two of them.
Standing in a bush not too far from the Einzbern Castle was Kyubey, who had watched the entire battle unfold.
“Natalia, Natalia, using bullets that specialize in killing magical girls, are we? That’ll certainly be most irksome for Maiya, but I’m sure she’ll be able to prepare accordingly once I tell her about this. The Incubator calmly said as he walked away from the forest.

-A few hours later-
Maiya had just gotten home to her studio apartment from a long day of work. The sun was starting to set, and the green haired girl was lying in her bed, completely exhausted. She was going to rest for a little bit before getting up to make herself some instant ramen when she suddenly heard a knock at her window.
“Hello, Maiya. Are you there?” A very familiar voice asked.
“Kyubey? What are you doing here?”
Maiya quickly opened the window to allow Kyubey inside.
“I’ve come to inform you about what happened with Rinko. Earlier today, she went to your target’s home and nearly succeeded in defeating him and his friends. However, before she could get close to him, she was shot and killed by Natalia, who had used a bullet specifically designed to murder magical girls.”
“Wait, Natalia has designed weapons to specifically kill magical girls?”
“It appears so. I wasn’t able to hear the specifics about it since I was too far from Natalia, but I’d recommend you attempt to destroy any bullets she shoots at you when you go fight them tomorrow.”
“I see. Thank you for the invaluable information. I’ll be sure to keep it in mind while I think of a strategy to eradicate the boy.”
“Very well. I wish you good luck on your battle with the four of them tomorrow. Once you manage to kill the boy, I’ll come find you and bring you to the Holy Grail.” He cheerfully said as he jumped out the window and began to walk away.
“All right. Goodbye for now, Kyubey.” She said as she began to close it.

-Many hours later-
Kiritsugu was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. Although it was nearly midnight and he was exhausted from almost being killed by Rinko, he couldn’t bring himself to get even a wink of sleep. He was sure that he had spoken to Shirley the day prior, but he hadn’t seen any signs of her throughout the palace or had any idea why she had left without telling him why or where she was planning to go.
“Shirley…” He said as he let out a sigh.
As the black haired boy turned his head slightly to the right, he saw Shirley staring down at him from the window with a smile on her face.
“Good morning, Kiritsugu.” She gently said, her voice muffled by the window.
“Shirley, you’re back.” A smile spread across his face before he sat up. The black haired boy quickly opened it, allowing for the brunette to crawl inside. “Why did you leave before I even woke up? Where did you go?”
“I was originally planning on waiting until you woke up to leave, but then I decided to leave to avoid accidentally running into your friends and stirring up an embarrassing situation. Since this morning, I’ve kind of just been wandering around the forest, trying my best to find animals to feed on.”
“You shouldn’t have done that. I would’ve gladly made you breakfast. Plus, talking over the table would’ve been the perfect opportunity to catch up with everyone.”
“Maybe that’s true, but I wasn’t really thinking about it. I sort of just did the first thing that came to mind.”
“Well, now that you’re here. Do you want to go speak with Iri and Saber?”
“Sure. I’ve already spoken with you alone. It’d only be fair if I spoke with the two of them as well.”
Kiritsugu quickly stood up, walked toward the door, and opened it.
“Come on, Shirley. I’ll show you to their room.”
The brunette quickly got up from the bed, and walked over to her friend. Once the two of them were together, they exited the bedroom. The two of them walked down the hallway until they reached the rooms Irisviel and Artoria were in. Kiritsugu knocked on both of the doors.
“Girls, are you still awake? I have a surprise for the two of you.”
“Can’t it wait until tomorrow? I’m tired.” Saber said as she let out a yawn.
“Maybe, maybe not. It’s not up to me whether the surprise decides to stick around or not.”
Upon hearing this, Irisviel stood up, walked over to her bedroom’s door, and opened it. Her eyes widened and her mouth went agape the moment she noticed who was standing beside her friend.
“S-Saber! Come out quick! You won’t believe who it is!”
The blonde let out an annoyed groan before standing up, walking over to her door, and opening it. She quickly ran forward and wrapped her arms around Shirley the moment she made eye contact with her.
“Sh-Shirley! I’ve spent countless nights looking all over Fuyuki for you! W-Where have you been?” The blonde asked as her eyes welled up with tears.
“You don’t look like you’ve aged a day. It sort of makes me jealous. What have you been doing since that day 3 years ago?”
“Jealous of me? What for?”
“Well, you’re a vampire, or at least you were a vampire. You can live forever and look not even a day over 17. Meanwhile, the three of us are all going to turn old and grey one day.”
“Yeah… I’m gonna outlive you guys, aren’t I?” She calmly said as her lips formed a soft smile. “Over these past few years, I’ve sort of been living in secret throughout various dark areas around Fuyuki that aren’t frequently visited by people. I’ve killed and attacked a lot of people so that I could eat them… but I’ve managed to suppress my urges, at least for the meantime, so I decided to come speak with Kiritsugu and you girls since I could count on myself not putting you all in danger. How have you been, Iri, Saber?”
“We’ve been doing fine. The two of us have continued going to school, but we come here as frequently as we can to help get Kiritsugu some groceries and spend time with him.”
“Would you like to stay over for breakfast later?” The black haired boy asked.
“No… I’ll just look for a deer or a bear to eat. After all, that’s what I did today, and it turned out just fine.”
“Can you at least stay the night here then? And then tell me when you’re going to leave?”
“I’d like to, although I’m a little worried about getting hungry. If I stay over again, I’ll probably leave early like yesterday. Is that fine with you?”
“Yes. But wake me up when you have to go.”
The brunette nodded her head as she began to hold onto her boyfriend’s hand.
“I’m gonna go to sleep now. I’ll be in Kiritsugu’s room, so you two can speak to me there if you want.”
“All right. See you later, Shirley.” Irisviel said, waving goodbye to her.
“Bye.” Artoria calmly said while yawning.
As the two of them began to walk away, Shirley began to think.
I’m going to live forever… aren’t I?

Chapter Text

-The next day-
Kiritsugu and Shirley were lying in bed together. The black haired boy was fast asleep, while the brunette was starting to stir. She began to slowly open her eyes before sitting up and looking at the window to her right. The sky was still dark, but the clouds were a dark shade of orange, and she could see the sun slowly rising on the horizon.
The sun’s gonna be up soon. I guess I should get going soon. Shirley thought as she began to stand on the bed.
She slowly opened the window before kneeling down and moving toward Kiritsugu. She delicately put her right hand behind his head before moving her head down and kissing him on the lips.
“I’ll be leaving now. Don’t worry, I’ll be back by tonight. Until then, stay safe.” She whispered before jumping out of the bed.
She safely landed on the ground before running forward toward the trees.

-A few minutes later-
Shirley was walking through the forest, trying to look for a large animal, such as a bear or deer, to eat. As she moved forward, she began to think about Kiritsugu and her friends.
“It’s been three years… and my body hasn’t changed since the day I became a vampire, but they’ve grown so much. Pretty soon, they’ll all become adults, and they’ll only grow older as the days pass by. One day… all of them will grow elderly, weak, grey… and eventually die. Only I’ll remain youthful and spry… but that won’t matter if everyone I care about is dead.” Tears began to well up in her eyes. “I could turn them into vampires, but they’ll become far too dangerous for regular people to be around due to their urges, and it’s not like I could use the Holy Grail to make a wish because that’d require me to kill Kiritsugu. Ah, what am I going to do?” She asked herself as tears began to run down her cheeks.
As she continued to look around, she heard rustling come from a bush behind her.
“Who’s there?” The brunette shouted as she quickly turned around.
Kyubey quickly jumped out of the plant and began to approach her.
“Good morning, Shirley. You’re up real early. Did you get into an argument with your little boyfriend?”
“Kyubey? What are you doing here?” She asked as she looked down at him.
“Nothing much. I was having a stroll around this peaceful, calming forest when I just so happened to stumble across you. You seem a little down. I wouldn’t mind if you told me what’s on your mind.”
“As you know, I’m a vampire. I’m an ageless being who’s most likely also immortal and will never die as long as I get the necessary nutrition I need to continue living. But my friends… aren’t. They’re just regular people. One day, they’ll inevitably die, and I’ll be left all alone to wander the streets in search of people and animals to feed on. The only ways I know that I could possibly make them immortal are either by turning them into vampires, but then they’d have to go through what I went through, and I wouldn’t wish that upon my worst enemy, or by killing Kiritsugu, and nothing could ever bring me to do that.”
“I see. Don’t tell the other girls about this, but I’m willing to bend the rules of this competition a bit for you.”
“How so?”
“Although I was originally only planning on allowing the girl who killed Kiritsugu to use the Holy Grail, if you turn him into a vampire, I will allow you to make a wish using it. I’ll even permit you to turn Saber and Natalia into ghouls as well. However, you’re not to do anything to Irisviel. Leave her as is.”
“R-Really? You’re being serious?”
“Of course I am. I’d never lie, especially about something as serious as this. After you turn them into vampires, you could use your wish to turn them back into normal, but immortal, humans, or simply have their vampiric urges removed just as you did for yourself.”
“A-All right! I’ll do it! Thank you, Kyubey!” The brunette cheerfully said as she wiped her tears away. “The next time I meet with Kiritsugu and the others, I know what I’ll have to do.”

-A few hours later-
Haruki was in her kitchen, making omelets with strips of bacon for herself and Hibari. Last time she had checked, Suzuka was still fast asleep, but it wouldn’t be long until she’d wake up and start crying because she was hungry. As the black haired woman flipped her omelettes and bacon over, her older daughter ran into the kitchen.
“Mom! Suzuka just started crying!”
“I’ll be there right away! Keep an eye on the food for me.” She shouted before running out of the kitchen in a flash.
She quickly ran upstairs and headed directly toward her bedroom. Upon entering it, she approached her baby’s crib and gently picked her up. She lightly tapped Suzuka’s bottom to make sure she hadn’t soiled her diaper. Haruki didn’t feel anything in it.
“She must be hungry then.” She said as she grabbed her right breast to move it out of her shirt and brought her to it.
Suzuka opened her mouth wide and grabbed onto her mother’s breast before beginning to suck on it. After a few minutes, she felt full, and her mother placed her back into her crib. The infant let out a yawn before close her eyes and going back to sleep. Haruki quickly pulled her shirt up before turning around and walking out of the room. The black haired woman made it downstairs and into her kitchen, where her daughter was waiting for her while sitting at the table with a plate with an omelette and 8 strips of bacon in front of herself, and another to her left.
“Took you long enough. The food was starting to get cold, and I was tempted to scarf it down before it came to that.”
“I know. I’m sorry about that. You know how much of a hungry girl your sister can be sometimes.” Haruki said as she took a seat across from her daughter.
“Are you gonna go see dad again later?”
The black haired woman nodded her head.
“Figures. I should’ve expected that by now.”
“I know a girl your age shouldn’t be taking care of a baby by herself, but I’m worried about bringing Suzuka to see her father when a place like a hospital is absolutely teeming with all sorts of diseases and viruses that could absolutely kill someone as young as her. Leaving her with you is the only way I could put my mind at ease. If we had any other family members willing to take care of her, I’d leave her with them, but unfortunately, we don’t.”
“Yeah, I understand. I don’t hate taking care of Suzuka, since it gives me a lot of time to draw, but it can get a little bit annoying at times.”
“Thank you for being so understanding. I’m sure that soon your father will make a full recovery, and you won’t have to take care of Suzuka anymore.” She calmly said as she began to gently hold her daughter’s left hand.

-2 hours later-
Moe and Moa were in their room, playing with their dolls. The two girls were holding one doll in both of their hands. Moe had a blonde one who wore a maid uniform, while her sister held a black haired woman who was wearing pink robes, and both of them were standing in front of a large toy mansion. The sisters had eaten breakfast an hour earlier and were wearing their matching dresses that their maid had ironed for them.
“Madam, please forgive me! I-I’m sure you could overlook me being a few seconds late!” Moe said.
“Forgive you for wasting so much valuable time? What nonsense!” Moa furiously yelled before snapping her free hand’s fingers. “Throw this insolent girl outside!”
Moe grabbed her doll’s arms and pretended to drag her away from her sister’s doll.
“M-Madam! Please forgive me! I-I’ll do anything to get you to overlook this most egregious failure!”
“Nothing you could do will ever get me those seconds back. You’re fired. Never show your face around me or my daughters ever again.”
“NOOOOO!”
The two girls began to laugh for a few seconds before Moa turned to look at her sister.
“You know, mom doesn’t behave like this to any of the maids. Why do we always end up making her act like this when we play with our dolls?”
“Well, it’s funny, wouldn’t you agree? Plus, I know that once we become this planet’s queens, I’ll treat anyone who bothers me like this!”
“Even after we become monarchs, we shouldn’t treat people like this. Sure, we’ll be all powerful rulers, but that doesn’t mean we have to treat our subjects poorly.”
“Sure, but it’d be much easier to get rid of incompetent subjects and have them replaced than to try to be nice to them, wouldn’t you agree?” Moe asked, smiling at her sister.
Moa turned away from her.
“I don’t disagree with that, but I wouldn’t say that’s a good thing, and I would feel uncomfortable doing that to someone.”

-An hour later-
Maiya stood in her apartment, staring out of the window. She had called in sick to work today, telling her boss that she had caught a cold and would be back in a day or two. It was nearly 9 in the morning, and she was getting ready to go fight Kiritsugu and his friends. She had transformed into her magical girl form and wore a triangular black hoodie with a black cloth shirt, beige pants, and black thigh high boots.
“I can’t allow myself to dawdle here. I must go fight the four of them at once.” She murmured to herself before opening the window and jumping away from her apartment.

-A few minutes later-
Kiritsugu began to open her eyes. He sat up but didn’t see Shirley anywhere.
“Did she really leave without telling me when and where she was going again?” Kiritsugu asked himself, sounding a little bit upset.
He quickly stood up and walked toward his bedroom’s door.
“Since I’m already up, I might as well make breakfast for everybody.” The black haired boy said before opening the door and walking out of the room.
Kiritsugu quickly walked around the floor until he reached the dining room. He then made his way to the kitchen and approached the refrigerator, opening it once he was close enough to it. He looked inside and saw only half a carton of eggs and an onion in it.
“Crap. I might be able to make something for myself using these ingredients, but there’s no way I could possibly make enough food for 4 people using them.”
As the black haired boy closed the fridge, he heard what sounded like two people enter the dining room. He walked out of the kitchen and saw Artoria and Irisviel standing near the table.
“Guten morgen, Kiritsugu. How did things go with you and Shirley last night?”
“I’d say it went well. We didn’t really talk after we got to my room though. The two of us just fell asleep, and when I woke up, she was gone.”
“Enough about Shirley. I’m starving over here.” Saber said as she clutched her stomach. “Get back into the kitchen and make us something good to eat.”
“I’d love nothing more than to do just that, but I don’t have any ingredients. After Natalia joined us, we’ve been burning through our food supply much quicker than was originally intended.”
“We don’t have anything to eat then?”
Kiritsugu shook his head.
“Then I’ll just have to buy you everything you’ll need to make us breakfast.” Natalia said as she walked into the dining room.
“Wait, you don’t have to do this-“
“It’s fine, really. You guys ran out of ingredients so quickly because I moved in with you. It’d only be fair if I went out to buy us our groceries.” She walked over to Kiritsugu. “But before I go, take this.” The white haired woman pulled out a large pill bottle and a pistol from her pocket that contained 30 bullets. “I’m giving you half of my Origin Bullets and a gun I stole last night. If a magical girl comes while I’m away, don’t hesitate to shoot her.”
“All right.” He said while nodding his head.
Natalia smiled as she turned around and began to walk away.
Once she had left the trio’s field of view, Irisviel began to speak.
“So what do you think we should do later with Shirley? We just met with her after three years. I’m sure she’d like to do something more than talk with us for a bit and sleep in the same bed as you.” The white haired girl said.
“Well, I want to make her something to eat, and I guess bring her to the library to read with me. She probably hasn’t eaten a proper meal in three years, and I can’t imagine being able to do anything entertaining when you’re a creature of the night.” He said as he began to walk toward the door. “So, I’ll probably-“
Upon stepping on the dining room’s doorway, the floor tile that he had made contact with suddenly exploded. The force of the blast sent Kiritsugu flying over to the wall on the other end of the room and ripped his right leg off him.
“KIRITSUGU!” Irisviel screamed as she transformed and ran over to her friend.
“Another magical girl?” Saber shouted as she transformed and summoned her sword.
She rushed over to the doorway and looked down the hall, but couldn’t see anybody there.
“I can’t see anybody nearby.” She said, turning her head to look at her friends.
Irisviel used her magic to heal any injuries that Kiritsugu had sustained and regrow his foot.
“Are you all right?”
He nodded his head.
“Yeah, thanks to you.” He said as he stood up and walked toward the center of the dining room. “It’s clear that we’re under attack, but it doesn’t seem like the magical girl is actively going after us, in contrast to Natalia and the other girls we’ve fought against. Instead, she’s used her magic to place traps all around the castle. Saber, Irisviel, try to look for her and defeat her. I’ll stay in here just to be safe, but if it comes to it, I’ll do my best to help the two of you out.” He said as he raised the gun Natalia had given to him.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? For all we know, the magical girl could be watching this room from afar, waiting for the moment the two of us leave so that she can swoop in and have you killed.” The blonde said.
“That’s a possibility, but I don’t think it’s a very likely one. If she were watching us, don’t you think she’d just use her magic on this room instead of the door? It’s likely she only recently used her magic to set up these traps, presumably after Natalia left, and most likely only in the halls and the doorways leading to other rooms.” He said as he got up on the table and began to walk around on it.
“That sounds reasonable, but I think you should at least follow behind us. If you stay here, there’s absolutely no way you could help us, and we’d have no way to defend you in case the magical girl did break into the palace with the intention of killing you.”
“All right, but if one of the magical girl’s traps kills me, you two know whose fault it’ll be.” He joked as he got off the table and walked over to Irisviel.
“I’ll lead the way. Stay behind me, you two.” Saber said before walking forward.
Her two friends quickly followed after her. As Saber walked down the hall, she looked out of the windows to her left. As far as she could see, there wasn’t anybody nearby. While not paying attention, she accidentally moved her left foot through an incredibly thin barbed wire, splitting it in half and causing her to fall forward, hitting the ground face first.
“Saber!” Irisviel shouted as she summoned her shield and slammed it on the wire to cut it. “Don’t try to move. Let me heal you.”
Right as she was about to use the magic, the blonde began to speak.
“No, don’t. All magical girls are capable of regenerating lost limbs, but I’m capable of doing it much quicker than most other girls. You’ll just be wasting your time and energy if you use your magic to heal me.” As the blonde finished speaking, her foot completely regenerated, and she stood up. “See. This also applies to most other injuries that wouldn’t prove lethal as well.”
“I see. I’ll look out the window. Focus on traversing through the hallway.”
Artoria nodded her head before continuing to walk forward. As the trio slowly and carefully made their way through the hall, Maiya was watching their progress while inside a tree’s leaves. In her hands was her weapon, a pair of black binoculars with green lenses that allowed her to see through walls.
“Crap. If those three get close to me, I’m as good as dead. My only chance of winning is to bank on him accidentally walking on one of the traps, which doesn’t seem very likely to happen.” She grumbled. “I can’t flee, or else my magic will deactivate once I’m 50 feet away from this castle, which will remove any chance of actually killing my target. Regardless of what I do, the outcome doesn’t seem very good.”
As Artoria and her friends continued to walk forward, she’d cut through any barbed wires and tripwires she’d come across. Using her sword, she’d manage to effortlessly withstand the explosions and continue walking forward. Suddenly, Kiritsugu got an idea.
“Iri, can you open one of the doors, place your shield on the doorway, and then explore the room?”
“Sure thing.” The white haired girl said before turning around and opening the closest door to her right.
She walked over to the doorway and placed her shield on it, only for the centermost floor plate to lower, causing the piece of the ceiling in front of the door to open and release a large, flat stone atop Irisviel’s head. She quickly jumped away and landed beside her friend.
“Are you all right?” Kiritsugu asked as he turned to look at his friend.
“Yes, I’m fine. Now that I’ve activated that trap, at the very least getting into the room should be much easier to do.” She said before letting go of her shield with her left hand and walking into the bedroom.
The magical girl walked into the room and moved around it, reaching her arm out to the side to make sure none of the walls were bobby-trapped. Once she had checked the room, she got on the bed and began to lie down on it for a few seconds before getting up and exiting the room.
“There weren’t any traps in there, as far as I’m aware.”
“So it seems my assumption about our enemy only being able to set up traps in one room at a time was right. Since this room is by far the largest in the castle, it’s only natural that she’d choose to use her magic here of all places.”
While her friends spoke, Saber continued to walk forward. As the blonde began to place her foot near the end of the hallway, she suddenly felt the floor tile beneath her left foot lower into the ground slightly before a barrage of 16 arrows was shot at her from across the hallway. Artoria quickly avoided the projectiles by either raising her sword and deflecting them, using her magic to create a small shield of light around her chest, and jumping into the air. As she jumped, 16 more arrows were shot out of the ceiling. Unable to block both sets of projectiles, she was hit in the neck and back, leaving her unable to breathe.
“Iri…” She weakly groaned.
The white haired girl wasted no time and ran over to her friend. She pulled out all of the arrows that had pierced through her skin before healing her.
“Thank you for that.” She said before standing up once again. “This hallway’s clearly not safe. It’d be a waste to continue traversing it. I honestly doubt that our enemy is anywhere in the palace, especially since she wasn’t instantly dispatched by Natalia. She’s most likely watching us from outside while in the leaves of one of the trees.” She calmly said as she turned to look at the window to her right. “And the safest way to get to her would be to knock the windows down.”
“Shit!” Maiya shouted.
“Can everyone stop busting holes through my family’s property for five minutes?” The white haired girl pouted.
“I suggest the two of you stay here. I’ll handle this magical girl by myself!” The blonde gleefully shouted as she effortlessly sliced through the window and jumped out of it.
As she fell toward the ground, Maiya disabled her magic inside of the Einzbern Castle and activated it in the open for 50 feet.
Please work. She thought.
Saber made contact with the ground and quickly fell through it. Instead of landing on solid ground, Saber had landed on a green mat with realistic fake grass on top of it that hid a bed of razor sharp metal spikes underneath it. Before she could land on them, she stabbed the dirt in front of her and then lifted herself onto solid land.
“Wait? Her magic’s outside?”
“Yes, that is peculiar and would debunk my theory. But before we jump to any conclusions, can you open another door and place your shield on its doorway?”
“On it.” Irisviel said before turning to her right yet again and opening the closest door to her.
She placed her shield on the doorway, but unlike the first time, nothing happened.
“No explosion or arrows? Perhaps she deactivated her magic in here and decided to use it outside to attack Saber instead of us.”
“If that’s the case, stay there. I’ll handle the magical girl myself.”
“Should I go with you?” The white haired girl asked.
“No. Stay by Kiritsugu’s side. If she manages to pass by me while I’m looking for her, defend Kiritsugu. Defend him with everything you’ve got.”
“All right. Be careful out there.”
The blonde nodded her head before walking forward. She lowered her sword to touch the ground in front of her, allowing it to activate any traps before she could get close to them. As Saber began to walk toward the tree Maiya was hiding inside, she slowly moved back to not make any noise and put her right hand over her mouth and nose to silence her breathing. She heard Saber’s footsteps beneath her and tried her best to remain perfectly still. After a few seconds, she couldn’t hear anything, so she moved her hand down and let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Looks like I’m safe for now. The green haired girl thought.
“You must be really naive if you think I didn’t see you.” Saber confidently said as she stood behind her enemy.
Maiya quickly turned around as her eyes widened and her mouth went agape.
“So you’re the girl trying to kill me and my friends.” The blonde lowered her sword and pointed it at her forehead. “I’ll give you two choices: disable your magic and flee, and your life shall be spared, or stay back, continue to fight, and die.”
“You don’t understand! I quite literally can’t afford to leave!” Maiya shouted as she disabled her magic and transferred it to the branch they were on.
Without any warning, a steel bear trap emerged from the branch and snapped at Artoria’s left foot, effortlessly cutting it off her. With her foot gone, Saber lost her balance and began to fall to her left. Before she could make contact with the ground, she stabbed the side of the tree’s limb with her sword, causing the branch to suddenly explode, effortlessly tearing her right arm, which still held her sword, off her, and for Maiya to jump away to a tree a few feet away from her. Before Saber could land, the green haired girl transferred her magic over to the ground, allowing for the area where the blonde was falling toward to be replaced by a green mat with fake grass and a bed of spikes beneath it. Saber fell through it and landed on them, causing her wrist, legs, and back to be impaled. Blood leaked out of her mouth as she glared at Maiya.
“I-It worked! Yes! Then all that’s left is to kill the boy!” She shouted before jumping off the tree and making her way toward Kiritsugu.
“Saber! Iri, go heal her!”
“But if I leave, the magical girl will be able to get close to you and kill you!”
“I’ll be fine. Just go save Saber.”
The white haired girl hesitantly nodded her head before jumping away from her friend. She landed on the ground and began to run as quickly as she possibly could to where Saber fell while placing her shield in front of her and watching her step to make sure she didn’t accidentally activate any traps on the way to her friend’s side. A few seconds later, Maiya jumped into the Einzbern Castle.
“Hello there, boy. Tell me, what’s your name?”
“Kiritsugu Emiya. And yours?”
“Call me Maiya Hisau. It’s what everyone else calls me.” She calmly said as she summoned another pair of binoculars.
“You’re being oddly civil for someone who wants me dead. Are you having second thoughts about this?” He calmly asked as he put his right hand on the gun Natalia had handed him.
The green haired girl shook her head.
“It’s because I simply hold no animosity toward you. If there were some other way to get the Holy Grail, I’d gladly do it, but unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case. And as such, I’d at least like to get to know the name of the man I’m about to murder.”
“Why do you want the Holy Grail? What wish do you have in mind that’s so important to you that you’d kill someone over it?”
“Growing up, I never knew my parents. All I knew was that we came here from a foreign country, and, for whatever reason, they abandoned me. As I wasn’t a citizen, I was unable to apply for any government programs, and orphanages didn’t want to take me in for that very reason. For three years, I wandered around this city, living on the streets while surviving off scraps, until I met with Kyubey. He offered to grant my wish, and I gladly accepted it, gaining the ability to survive and make a better life for myself. After that, I began to learn how to strategize and how to most effectively use my resources and newfound powers to make a better life for myself. I forged all sorts of papers and documents to give myself the opportunity to work a construction job. Despite the harsh conditions and grueling work, my employers took advantage of my noncitizen status and hardly paid me anything. I’ve grown tired of working as hard as I possibly can to make a better life for myself, only to be met with failure time and time again!” She shouted as she clenched her fists. “So, I’ll kill you and use the Holy Grail to have my one and only desire granted; I will get a normal life with parents who love me!” She shouted before jumping straight at Kiritsugu.
Outside, Irisviel safely made her way to where Saber was. She slowly climbed down the pit using her shield until she made it to her friend. Once she was close enough to her, she used her magic to heal her injuries. Now fully recovered, Saber summoned another sword and effortlessly cut through the spikes holding her in place.
“Saber, are you-“
“Crap! The magical girl got to Kiritsugu!” She shouted as she grabbed onto her friend and jumped out of the hole. The second she made contact with solid ground, she let go of her and ran forward. “We can’t afford to waste even a second of time! Follow me, Iri!”
“Coming!” The white haired girl shouted before running after her friend. She ran as fast as she possibly could for several seconds, but she started to feel out of breath not too long afterward.
“Saber… go on ahead without me. I’m just gonna stay back for a bit to catch my breath.” She panted.
Back inside the castle, Maiya threw a powerful punch at Kiritsugu’s head. The black haired boy narrowly managed to avoid the attack, allowing him to raise his gun and point it at the green haired girl. Before he could do anything, the magical girl let out a scream.
“NO!”
She threw a kick at his wrist as quickly as she possibly could, tearing his arm off him with ease.
“I WON’T LET YOU USE AN ORIGIN BULLET ON ME!” She screamed before throwing her binoculars at her enemy.
The black haired boy winced slightly from the pain before jumping to the side to avoid the attack. The binoculars exploded upon making contact with the ground, causing Kiritsugu to run straight at his enemy. He threw a punch at her jaw with as much force as he could muster, which, although it didn’t harm her, allowed him to push his enemy back a few inches. The black haired boy wasted no time and threw a kick at her stomach, which pushed her to the ground.
“NOT YET!” Maiya screamed as she stood up and ran at her opponent.
Kiritsugu seized this opportunity and grabbed his gun. He quickly moved his fingers to the trigger and pointed it at Maiya.
“Take another step forward, and I’ll shoot!” He shouted.
Maiya didn’t listen to him and continued running straight at him. He pulled down on the trigger, and right as he was about to shoot, Maiya moved to the right to avoid the incoming bullet.
“I’m sorry it had to end like this.” He calmly said as he slightly turned his gun to the side and shot at his opponent.
The Origin Bullet flew through the air and hit Maiya in the stomach. Her eyes widened as she felt the bullet hit her and continue to move as if it were a living creature.
“S-Stop! P-Please spare me! I-I don’t want to-“
Suddenly, blood began to spray out of her mouth as tears ran down her cheeks. Blood leakef out of her ears and eyes before she fell limp to the ground. Kiritsugu let out a deep breath as he looked down at his enemy. A few seconds later, Saber jumped into the palace and began to shout.
“I WON’T LET YOU-“
The blonde went silent upon seeing Kiritsugu standing in front of the magical girl’s corpse.
“K-Kiritsugu! Your arm-“
“Yes, I know. But I should be fine once Iri gets here.” He said as he walked toward his friend. “Speaking of which, where is she?”
“She’s still outside. I told her to rush here as quickly as possible, but it seems like she’s sure taking her sweet time.”
A few seconds after Saber finished speaking, Irisviel jumped into the castle and began to approach Kiritsugu.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to get here. I accidentally tripped while running.” She lied as she used her magic to heal her friend.
“It’s okay. As long as we’re all safe and well, it doesn’t really matter.” The black haired boy turned around before beginning to walk away from his friends. “Let’s head to the kitchen to wait for Natalia to come back. Once she brings the groceries, I’m gonna make a gigantic breakfast for everybody.”

-A few minutes later-
Natalia walked out of the grocery store with four plastic bags that were filled to the brim with all sorts of ingredients, such as fruits, vegetables, and meat, and snacks like potato chips, cookies, sweets, and more. Although the bags were rather heavy, once she transformed into her magical girl form, she’d be able to carry them with no effort.
“I just need to get to the woods, and this’ll become much easier.” She said to herself as she walked away from the store.
Upon walking across the street, the white haired woman heard a familiar voice call out to her.
“Do you need any help with that, Natalia?”
She quickly turned around to see Haruki standing near the entrance to the store.
“Haruki? What are you doing here?”
“I was walking to my house from having visited my husband at the hospital when I saw you.” The black haired woman walked over to the younger magical girl. “Those bags look really heavy. Do you need help bringing them to your home?”
“No. I’ll be just fine once I find an isolated spot to transform in.”
“You say that, but depending on where you live, there might not be any.” She said as she grabbed a hold of the two bags in Natalia’s right hand. “Even if there are, at least let me carry them for now. Once you reach an area devoid of people, I’ll give your shopping back to you and take my leave.”
Natalia let out a sigh.
“Don’t you have two kids at home? Shouldn’t you be rushing to see them instead of trying to help some woman you barely even know?”
“Well, it’s still fairly early, I already fed my daughters, and my oldest knows how to care for her younger sister, so I’m in no need to rush home. I can afford to help you carry your stuff.”
“If you say so.” Natalia said before beginning to walk forward once again.
Haruki began to walk alongside her. As the two of them turned the corner, the black haired woman spoke up.
“Natalia, do you know how the competition for the Holy Grail has been going? I’ve been a little busy with my family, so I haven’t been able to speak with any of the other girls or try to assassinate the boy. I want to know whether it’s still going on or not, so that I can either send my best regards to the winner or try to formulate a plan on what to do.”
“The competition is still going on as far as I’m aware. But I’ve already dropped out.”
“What? For what reason?”
“I never particularly cared about this contest from the beginning; I only ever agreed to join it because I thought it was interesting. Sure, getting a free wish is cool and all, but I didn’t really have anything in mind in case I won. Instead, I’ve joined forces with the boy and his friends to help him survive this whole ordeal because I find Kyubey wanting to kill a normal boy more interesting than having a wish granted. So far, we’ve already killed two magical girls.”
Haruki’s mouth went agape as her eyes widened.
“Natalia… not only did you kill your fellow magical girls… but you murdered children! You’re a monster!”
“Yeah, yeah, I already know. I’m an assassin, so words like yours simply don’t faze me anymore. However, I guess you do have a point. Kiritsugu and his friends never hired me to be their bodyguard, so I’ve been killing magical girls out of my own volition. If it helps you feel any better, just know that I haven’t gone out of my way to pick a fight with them. They’ve been going to your target’s home with the intention of killing him, Saber, and myself.”
“That might be true, but there were certainly other ways you could’ve gotten the girls to stop!”
“I kind of doubt it. They were willing to kill the three of us without a second thought. There’s no way that simply talking to them would’ve gotten them to stop if they were willing to kill multiple people for some damn cup. Plus, it’s just easier to put a bullet in someone’s head than to try to talk things through with them when they’re dead set on doing something.”
Haruki let out an annoyed sigh as she and Natalia continued walking. After a few minutes of this, the two women reached the outskirts of Fuyuki.
“All right, this should be good. Leave my groceries on the ground, and get out of my hair.”
The older woman placed the plastic bags in front of herself and turned around. Instead of walking away, she began to speak.
“Although you may have left the competition for the Holy Grail, I haven’t, and I don’t intend to. We’ll inevitably meet again under much more violent circumstances. I should thank you for being so open about your preferred method of killing. From that, I should be able to, at the very least, discern what your weapon is like. Even if I don’t know exactly what your magic does, knowing whether your fighting style’s more long ranged or short ranged oriented will prove most beneficial.” She calmly said as she began to walk away.
Natalia glared at her as she grabbed her bags and then walked into the woods.

-Meanwhile-
An Incubator who had watched Maiya fight against Kiritsugu and his friends was calmly walking through the forest. He had his usual perpetual smile on his face, but he was deep in thought about what happened.
Unless I’m mistaken, that’s half of the girls down. Lord Kyubey’s going to be furious when he hears about this.
The Incubator was so preoccupied with thinking about what he had seen that he didn’t notice another Incubator standing in the middle of the forest, causing him to bump into him.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you-“
“You seem troubled. What did you see at the Einzbern Castle?” Kyubey asked.
“L-Lord Kyubey? What are you doing here?”
“I came here to be informed about the results of Maiya’s battle with the boy and his friends as soon as possible. Tell me, what went down?”
“Well, Maiya fought valiantly and as hard as she possibly could with magic like hers, but she was ultimately defeated and l-lost her life.”
“I see.” The Incubator calmly said as he turned around and began to walk away. “That’s unfortunate, but it’s not like this is the end of the world. We still have three more girls to go. And I believe Shirley might have what it takes to win this competition.”
“If Shirley fails, we will only be left with Haruki and Moe and Moa as competitors, who have a higher likelihood of failing than her. Do you have any backup plans in case Shirley fails?”
“Yes. There’s a powerful Stand User who roams this world in search of the Holy Grail. If he knew that I’m planning to bring it to Fuyuki, he’d come here in a heartbeat and do everything in his power to get the opportunity to make a wish using it. Should Shirley perish, I’ll have someone inform him to come here at once to take care of Kirirsugu.” He calmly said as his smile grew wider.

-A few minutes later-
Natalia walked into the Einzbern Castle and quickly made her way to the dining room. While on her way there, she noticed Maiya’s corpse lying face down on the ground. She paid it no mind and walked past it, entering the room her friends were in.
“I’m back, everyone!” The white haired woman cheerfully said as she placed her grocery bags on the center of the table.
She turned her head slightly and saw Irisviel leaning against her chair as she struggled to keep her eyes open.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“I didn’t get enough sleep…” She murmured as she tried her best to stay awake.
Kiritsugu stood up and grabbed the grocery bags.
“I’m gonna go make everyone breakfast now. I’ll try my best to get everything out as quickly as possible, so please be patient, everyone.”

Chapter Text

-Many hours later-
After Kiritsugu finished making everyone breakfast, Irisviel went straight to her room and fell asleep while Saber stayed behind to wash the plates. Kiritsugu went to the library to read some of the books there, and before he knew it, the sun had already set.
“Oh wow. How long have I been sitting here?” The black haired boy asked as he stood up and walked over to a bookshelf to his left to place the book he had finished there. “I’m not tired, so it can’t be that late. Which means I can still go through with my plan!” He cheerfully said as he turned around and exited the library.

-2 hours later-
Irisviel began to open her eyes. She sat up and could smell a delectable scent in the air.
“What time is it?” The white haired girl asked herself as she grabbed her phone from under her pillow and turned it on to look at the time.
“11:30? Why would Kiritsugu be cooking at this hour? Sure, I didn’t eat breakfast or lunch, but you didn’t have to stay up so late to make me something to eat. I would’ve been fine with you just leaving my lunch and dinner in the fridge.” She said as she stood up and walked toward the door.
Irisviel quickly opened it, exited the room, and walked down the hallway until she made it to the dining room. As she approached the entrance of the room, she saw Saber standing still, staring inside.
“Saber, what’s-“ Irisviel’s eyes widened, and she fell silent upon seeing the table filled to the brim with a variety of Filipino food and four plates.
Dishes such as chicken adobo, lumpia, flan, lechon, paella, sinigang, and much more were all present and piping hot. As the girls stared at the food, Kiritsugu walked out of the kitchen with a wide smile on his face.
“Hey, you two.” He cheerfully said as he approached his friends.
“K-Kiritsugu, who is all this food for? And why are you making this all so late into the night?” The white haired girl asked.
“I made all of this for Shirley, and if I had made anything earlier, the food would’ve gotten cold by the time she got here. What time is it?”
“Around 11:30 last time I checked.”
“Perfect! I’ll be going to my room. You two can take a seat if you want, but don’t eat anything until I come back!”
“All right.”
“I’ll try my best.”
The two girls began to walk toward the table as Kiritsugu exited the kitchen. He ran down the hallway until he reached his room, entering it and closing the door. The black haired boy walked over to his bed and stood still as he waited for his girlfriend to arrive. Outside of the Einzbern Castle, Shirley was standing beneath a few trees, staring up at the huge structure in the distance. Her left hand was in her black long coat’s pocket, making sure she had everything she needed.
“It seems like everything’s in order.” She murmured to herself as she pulled her hand out of it. “If all goes well, this competition will end, Kiritsugu’s life won’t be in danger anymore, and we’ll be together forever.” The brunette took a deep breath before walking forward. “There’s no point in stalling. I should get this over with as quickly as possible.”
Shirley began to walk forward until she reached the Einzbern Castle. Once there, she quickly climbed up the wall and made it to the window of Kiritsugu’s room in a matter of seconds. She opened it and then crawled inside, only to see the black haired boy standing in front of his bed.
“Hey, Shirley! How have you been?” He asked as he walked over to the brunette and hugged her.
“I’ve just been wandering the woods, looking for some animals to eat.” She said as she hugged him back.
As she breathed, she began to smell an appetizing scent in the air.
“Why does it smell just like the food I used to make for you and your father?”
“That’s because it is or, well, at least I tried to make food similar to the ones you used to make. You see, Saber bought me a Filipino cookbook a few months ago that I used to make all the food. It might not taste exactly like how you used to make everything, but I hope you still like it.”
Shirley got up from the bed and walked over to Kiritsugu. She began to hold his right hand once she was close enough to him.
“All right. Lead the way.” She said with a large smile on her face.
The two of them walked out of Kiritsugu’s room and made their way down the hall until they reached the kitchen where Saber and Irisviel were waiting for them.
“Hallo, Shirley!” Irisviel cheerfully said as she waved at her friend.
“Good to see you. You were taking so long that I almost couldn’t hold myself back anymore and ate everything in sight.” Saber said, smiling at her friend.
The brunette’s smile widened as she stared at all of the food Kirisugu made for her.
“Did you really make all of this just for me?”
“Well, I made it for the four of us, but I decided to make this huge feast solely out of Filipino food so that you could get used to eating regular food again.” He said as he and the brunette took a seat next to each other and across from their other two friends.
“It’s been so long since I’ve eaten anything normal.” She said as she grabbed her plate and brought it over to the food.
She placed a sizable portion of some of the meat-based dishes on it before bringing it in front of her. She grabbed a fork to the left of her and brought it to her plate, stabbing some of the adobo chicken and bringing it to her mouth. Right as she was about to bite into it, she heard a pop and felt something moving toward her. Shirley quickly turned her head to the left, and saw Natalia standing by the entrance to the dining room, already in her magical girl form with a gun in her hand.
“N-Natalia! What are you doing? That’s Sh-Shirley, o-our friend!” Kiritsugu shouted.
“Get away from her! She’s one of the magical girls who joined the competition to kill you and the creature who’s been terrorizing Fuyuki for 3 years!”
The three of them let out a gasp as they turned to look at Shirley.
“I-Is this true?” Irisviel asked.
“W-Well, partially. I did join the competition in an attempt to get an extra wish, but I-I never intended on killing Kiritsugu!” She nervously said as she looked at her friends. “I-In fact, Kyubey made me a sp-special offer. If I turn Kiritsugu into a vampire, he’ll let me use the Holy Grail! With it, I’ll get rid of any vampiric urges he may have!” She cheerfully said, trying her best to not sound nervous.
Saber gritted her teeth before transforming.
“So, if you girls want to become va-vampires too, go ahead and tell me!” She shouted as she pulled out a stone mask from her long coat’s pocket.
“Shirley! You were manipulating us to get close to Kiritsugu, weren’t you?” The blonde shouted as she summoned her sword.
“N-No! You-“
Before she could finish speaking, Saber jumped into the air and swung her sword at her head.
“Die, beast! You don’t belong in this world!” Natalia shouted as her Origin Bullet from earlier swooped downward and moved toward the brunette’s head.
“SABER!” Irisviel and Kiritsugu shouted in unison as the white haired girl transformed, summoned her shield, and jumped in front of her, blocking her friend from hitting Shirley.
Using this opportunity, she stood up, ran toward the hole in the wall that Saber had boarded up, and then effortlessly jumped out of it.
“you’re not getting away!” Natalia yelled as she and Saber ran toward the hole in the wall.
“Please stop this!” Kiritsugu shouted as he and Irisviel ran in front of them. “T-There has to be some misunderstanding! Sh-Shirley’s not a bad person! S-She wouldn’t think of hurting any of us.”
“You say that, but that thing’s been prowling this city for 3 years straight. Breaking into houses, eating people, and ruthlessly tearing apart anyone who stands in her way. I came to this city specifically because I was interested in what sort of creature was capable of doing that, and yesterday, I finally found it when I heard her talking to you three outside my room. To make sure I wasn’t mistaken, I decided to watch your meal from afar, and only got involved once I saw your friend’s razor sharp fangs. I can confirm that creature is not human.”
“Natalia’s right. Shirley isn’t anything like how she was 3 years ago. She’s remorselessly killed hundreds of people and wants to turn you into a vampire. She can hardly be called a human anymore.”
“Remorselessly? She cried in my arms Friday night because of what she’s done!” Kiritsugu shouted as he pointed at his friends. “You’re acting like she’s absolutely thrilled by the prospect of killing everything in sight, which if she was, I wouldn’t be here talking to you girls!”
“Talking to you is a waste of time. If we keep standing here, Shirley will disappear to who knows where. We gotta get out of here, Saber.”
The blonde nodded her head as she and the older magical girl jumped out of the hole in the castle’s wall.
“If they get to Shirley, she might die! Irisviel, we must go outside at once!” Kiritsugu shouted as tears began to rush down his cheeks.
“All right. Calm down.” The white haired girl said as she wiped her friend’s tears away. “We’ll find Shirley and talk this out with everyone, all right?”
The black haired boy nodded his head as he and his friend jumped out of the dining room. Outside the palace, Saber and Natalia landed on the ground. They looked up at the wall and saw Shirley clinging onto the side of the wall as if she were an arachnid. She was letting out a breathy hiss while staring at the two magical girls.
“Careful, Saber. Not only is this thing a vampire, but she’s also a magical girl. I’m not sure what her magic is, but I suggest you remain on guard while fighting against her.”
“Thanks for the advice. I’ll try to distract her while you hit her with an Origin Bullet.”
“Okay, but be careful, and try to not get in my bullet’s way.”
The blonde nodded her head before jumping at the vampire.
“How dare you betray and lie to us! I searched for you all over Fuyuki for 3 years straight, and this is how you repay me?” She yelled as she swung her sword at the brunette’s head.
The vampire let out a growl before grabbing her right arm and effortlessly tearing it off. She then dug into her eyes using her nails and slammed her into the wall behind her, leaving a huge crater in it. With her enemy distracted, Natalia quickly raised her gun and fired a single Origin Bullet at her. As the projectile neared her, Shirley turned her head and shot two laser beams at it, effortlessly splitting it in two.
“Let go of me!” The blonde shouted as she threw a powerful punch at her opponent’s stomach.
Shirley was pushed away from her attack, allowing her to regrow her arm and eyes before summoning another sword and stabbing it into the side of the wall.
“I never wanted to hurt you, Saber! I wanted to turn you and the rest of our friends into vampires so that we could live forever! I don’t want to see any of you grow old, die, and leave me behind!” She shouted as tears ran down her cheeks.
“Pay no attention to her crocodile tears; she’s lying! If she was willing to murder so many people and turn the boy she loves into a vampire, she’ll gladly kill you!” Natalia shouted as she raised her gun and took another shot at the brunette.
The Origin Bullet zoomed toward the vampire. Shirley turned her head and prepared to tear it in two with her laser eyes when, without warning, Saber swung her body forward and threw a powerful kick at the vampire’s jaw. The attack sent her flying into the air, preventing her from shooting lasers at the bullet. The projectile soared upward, and, right as it was about to hit her, Shirley narrowly managed to grab it with her right hand and freeze it before it could pierce through her skin. The brunette landed on the roof and transformed, causing her body to feel hotter than usual. Saber swung her body upward, allowing herself to get onto the roof, where she summoned another sword and pointed it at Shirley.
“You realize that I don’t want to be a vampire, right? I don’t care about immortality or remaining forever beautiful if that means I’ll outlive the rest of the world, including family members and friends outside of us five. For some people, growing old and wrinkly and dying peacefully is exactly what they want. I can’t speak for Kiritsugu and Irisviel, but I surely don’t want to live forever, constantly having to change my identity so that people don’t get suspicious of me.”
“I-It’s not fair! I-I never wanted to become a vampire! I-I sp-spent 3 years all alone. I don’t want to lose all of you again, and thi-this time for good!” She sobbed.
Kiritsugu and Irisviel landed on the ground beside Natalia. The black haired boy moved his head up and saw Saber and Shirley standing on the roof.
“STOP THIS! PLEASE DON’T FIGHT!” Irisviel screamed as loudly as possible to make sure her friends could hear her.
Neither of the girls seemed to even notice her.
“Iri, jump. We can’t keep-“
“Are you suicidal? Two powerful magical girls, one of which is also a vampire, are about to clash. If a regular guy like you tries to rush in there, he’ll be split in two. Even Irisviel may not be safe.”
“B-But I can’t just stand by here and let my friends kill each other! I need to h-help them!” Kiritsugu shouted.
“And getting in their way and dying will do nobody, except Kyubey, any good. Even if I do believe getting through to that monster is a fool’s errand, I implore you to stay back until one of them starts to tire.”
Back on the roof, a geyser of razor sharp blood shot out of the floor to the left and right of Shirley. Droplets of blood rained down all over the roof of the palace, and a plethora of them began to head toward Saber. The blonde used her magic to block a good chunk of them and blocked any drops of blood her shield was unable to deflect using her sword. Due to the amount and speed at which the drops were falling, she was unable to move closer to her opponent, which gave the brunette the perfect opportunity to rush straight at her and uppercut her in the jaw, sending her flying upward. The geysers of blood vanished, but her fingers became covered in the same razor sharp blood.
“This blood isn’t nutritious in the slightest, but it’s useful as a means of attack!” She shouted as she shot the drops of blood straight at her.
Saber quickly moved her sword to the side, allowing her to block the attacks. At the same time, Shirley ran behind the blonde, jumped into the air, and threw a powerful punch straight at her back, launching her at the roof and causing her to slam into it. The brunette let out a breathy hiss as she landed beside her enemy and grabbed her by the neck. Artoria was bleeding from the back of her head and her upper forehead, causing lines of red to go down her face.
“Saber, I don’t want to lose you. That’s why I want you to become a vampire with me!” She shouted as she pulled out a stone mask from her coat’s side.
She moved her left hand toward her face to place it on her, but before she could reach her, Saber swung her sword upward, and cleanly sliced her arm off. The brunette let out a whimper as she stumbled back from the pain she was experiencing. The blonde wasted no time and quickly rushed at Shirley. She swung her sword right at her chest, but before she could hit her, something punched straight through her stomach. She turned her head and saw that Shirley’s severed arm had punched a hole clean through her. With her enemy distracted, the vampire rushed behind her and threw a powerful kick at her back, which sent her flying off the roof. The blonde landed face first on the ground in front of her friends.
“SABER!” Irisviel screamed as she ran over to the blonde to heal her.
With her opponent unable to fight, Shirley reattached her arm, jumped off the roof, landed behind Kiritsugu and his friends, and ran toward the trees in front of her.
“SHIRLEY! WAIT!” The black haired boy screamed as he ran after her.
“Stay back! If you chase after that thing, Saber and I might lose track of you, and we’ll have no way to protect you!”
Kiritsugu didn’t heed Natalia’s warning and continued to run forward as quickly as possible.
“That kid has a death wish! Saber, Irisviel, I’m gonna go after him!” Natalia shouted.
“I’ll go too!” Saber, who had just been healed, yelled as she stood up and ran over to the white haired woman.
The two of them ran into the forest, leaving Irisviel behind.
“Wait for-“
Before the white haired girl could reach her friends, she suddenly collapsed.
“Kiritsugu… please save… Shirley…” She weakly said as she began to lose consciousness.
“IRI!”
“Saber, go fight the vampire. I’ll stay here with Iri.”
The blonde nodded her head before running away.

-A few minutes later-
Kiritsugu was running as quickly as possible after Shirley. Even though she was capable of outrunning him with ease, she had purposefully slowed down to give him an opportunity to catch up. Once the brunette had reached a clearing, she turned around and looked at the black haired boy.
“Kiritsugu…” She softly said as tears began to run down her cheeks. “You ha-hate me now for wa-wanting to turn you into a va-vampire, don’t you?“
The black haired boy shook his head as he walked over to her and hugged her tightly.
“You’re not a bad person, Shirley. I know you’d never hurt me, and that you only ever hurt others because of what my father did to you. You were just scared to lose me and our friends again, this time for good.” He let go of her and began to hold her hands. “Shirley, I wouldn’t be opposed to living an eternal life with you.”
“D-Do you mean it?”
“Yes. I understand that being an immortal, ageless being who has to feed off people to survive is an incredibly lonely existence. I want to be by your side so you don’t have to be alone anymore. Plus, if I think anyone deserves to use the Holy Grail, it’s you.”
As Kiritsugu finished speaking, Shirley returned to her regular form and pulled out a stone mask from her long coat’s pocket.
“A-Are you sure you’re okay with me doing this to you? Once you be-become a va-vampire, y-you won’t be able to live a n-normal life ever again.”
“That’s okay. I’m fine with spending the rest of eternity with you. Even if the people around us age and die, the world around us changes and becomes completely unrecognizable compared to what it is today, and we have to constantly change our identities, it’ll all be all right as long as I’m with you.” He calmly said as he moved closer to Shirley’s lips.
Right as he was about to kiss her, Shirley heard a familiar voice behind her.
“GET AWAY FROM KIRITSUGU!” Saber screamed as she ran toward the two of them as quickly as possible.
Less than a second later, she kicked her friend aside and thrust her sword directly at her enemy’s chest, piercing through her heart.
“SABER! WAIT! STOP!” The black haired boy screamed.
Suddenly, her blade began to glow.
“EXCALIBUR!”
“K-Kiritsugu!” The brunette yelled as she felt as if her body was being burned from the inside out. “S-Saber, I want you to feel what I felt for 3 whole years!” Shirley yelled as she raised her arm and put the stone mask on the blonde’s face.
The device activated and released several spikes that pierced the blonde’s head. A gigantic beam of magic light shot out of Saber’s sword, disintegrating Shirley’s body and any tree that it came in contact with. Once the attack disappeared, Shirley was no more. The mask, her long coat, and Saber’s sword fell to the ground.
“S-Shirley! S-Saber!” Kiritsugu yelled as he ran toward his friend.
Artoria hid her face and crushed the mask with her right foot before running away as quickly as she possibly could, leaving Kiritsugu behind.
“SHIRLEY! SHIRLEY! WHY DID THIS HAPPEN? I J-JUST GOT YOU B-BACK, AND NOW YOU’RE GONE!” He sobbed as he fell to his knees. “W-We barely spent a-any time together, a-and now we n-never will! Now S-S… Saber’s a vampire, and she’ll be all alone just like you were! Sh-She’ll relentlessly have to kill and eat people just to survive… she’ll be abhorred by all…”
“Kiritsugu.” Natalia calmly said as she emerged through a few trees to his left while carrying Irisviel in her arms.
“I-Iri? What h-happened to her?”
“She passed out when she tried to follow us. I’m not sure why she did, but please bring her to her room. In the meantime, leave searching for Saber to me.”
Kiritsugu nodded his head as he took Irisviel into his arms. Now that she was closer to him, he was able to tell that she looked a fair bit thinner than before. Her cheekbones were slightly more visible, and her clothes fit her a little bit more loosely than before.
“A-All right. Ple-Please bring S-Saber back to us!”
“I’ll try my best.” Natalia calmly said as she after the blonde.
Kiritsugu quickly turned around and ran back to the castle.

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
An Incubator was sitting in a tree near where Shirley and Kiritsugu had ran to. He had seen the entire battle unfold and was staring at the ground with his typical perpetual smile.
“So Shirley has fallen, and Saber has become a vampire. What curious news. I’m sure Lord Kyubey will be most interested to hear of this.”
“Indeed I will.” A very familiar voice said.
The feline quickly turned around and saw Kyubey standing behind him.
“L-Lord Kyubey? Were you standing behind me this entire time?”
“Indeed I was. I knew something big was going to happen tonight, so I couldn’t bring myself to stay away from this place. Despite that, I could’ve never imagined that both Shirley met her end and Saber became a vampire in just a handful of minutes!”
“Yes. Shirley dying and Saber becoming a vampire were both very unexpected. As of right now, we only have two magical girls left who are still competing in this competition, but Kiritsugu has lost one of his strongest allies, and Irisviel appears to be out of commission at the moment. What do you plan to do to bring this Holy Grail War to a close?”
“You’re correct about us only having two magical girls left. However, in her current state, I’m sure I’d be able to reason with Saber to get her to kill the boy in exchange for the Holy Grail. Depending on what caused her to pass out, I might even be able to get Irisviel to agree to kill him for me. I’ll have to speak with them later once the sun rises to see if they’ll be willing to cooperate with me. If both of them aren’t compliant, or if Saber dies fighting against Natalia, I’ll inform Haruki and Moe and Moa about this and suggest they do one final push against the three of them for the sake of the Holy Grail. To ensure the boy is killed, I’ll call over a Stand User who’d do anything to get the Holy Grail to come to Fuyuki and murder him.”
“Yes. I don’t see this competition going past tomorrow. Do you think Lord Nabey will want to come to Earth to see a magical girl use the Holy Grail to make a wish?”
Kyubey’s grin spread as wide as was physically possible.
“Of course. I’ll inform him about this the moment dawn breaks. It wouldn’t be right if we allowed a magical girl to use the Holy Grail without our king’s knowledge, would it now?” The Incubator turned around and began to walk away. “Inform the others about this. I have business to attend to.”
“Yes, my lord.” The feline said, bowing his head as Kyubey walked away from him.

-Many hours later-
Haruki was standing in front of her bedroom’s leftmost window. Suzuka was still fast asleep in her crib, but from knowing her sleep schedule, the black haired woman predicted that she’d be waking up anytime soon. The sun was just starting to rise, and despite needing to get as much sleep as possible, she couldn’t get herself to fall asleep no matter how much she moved around or changed the position she was lying in. As she continued to stare at the sky, she heard someone knock at her window. She moved her eyes down and saw Kyubey standing in front of her.
“Kyubey? What are you up to at this hour?” Haruki whispered as she lifted up the window.
“Nothing much. I was just walking around town when I noticed you were somberly staring at the sky. If anything, I should be asking why you’re up at this hour. Is there something on your mind?”
She nodded her head.
“I’m not sure why, but I have an odd feeling that this competition is about to come to an end soon. Whether I win or lose, I can sense that something big regarding our target, us, and the Holy Grail is about to unfurl.”
“I feel the same way, Haruki. I can sense that Kiritsugu and his friends will make a move today or tomorrow. I’d advise you to be prepared for anything. If they attempt to do something to bring this Holy Grail War to an end, I’ll tell you immediately.”
“All right, thank you, Kyubey.” Haruki said with a soft smile on her face as she closed her window. “If what he’s saying is true, then I should get some sleep. It wouldn’t be wise to fight against a few powerful magical girls while sleep deprived.”
She turned around, walked over to her bed, got in it, and quickly fell asleep.

-A few hours later-
Moe and Moa were sitting at their dining room table. They had a large plate of pancakes, bacon, hash browns, and eggs in front of them. Their mother said she was going to eat with them soon, but she was taking her sweet time getting downstairs, so the twins decided to start eating before her. As they cut into their stack of pancakes, they heard a very familiar voice talk to the two of them from under the table.
“Hey, you girls.”
The two of them moved their heads down and saw Kyubey sitting on the floor with his usual smile.
“Kyubey? How did you even get in here?” Moa asked.
“When your home is as big as your mansion, there are many spots where someone such as myself can squeeze ourselves through to enter.”
“Is there something you want to tell us? Our mom’s going to get here any minute now, so just skip straight to the point.”
“This Holy Grail War is coming to an end. The winner will most likely be decided tomorrow and I get the feeling that your target and his two remaining friends are planning something big to bring this competition to a close.”
“What should we do then? Should the two of us hurry to his base and kill him before he has the chance to pull of his plan?”
The Incubator shook his head.
“No. The time’s not right yet. I advise you to prepare yourselves for anything that may happen. Once Kiritsugu and his friends prepare themselves to make a move, I shall rush here at once and come to inform you.”
“All right. Thanks, Kyubey.” Moe said as she moved down and gently patted him on the head.
As the three of them finished speaking, they began to hear what sounded like footsteps heading toward the dining room.
“Our mom’s coming. Quick, get out of here.” Moa quickly whispered.
Kyubey turned around and ran out from under the table. He passed by the twins’ mother as she entered the dining room.
“Did you girls already start eating before I got here?” The black haired woman jokingly asked as she took a seat in front of her daughters.
“Yes, mommy. We’re sorry if it hurt your feelings. We were just so hungry.” Moe said as she frowned.
“It’s fine. What really matters is that we’re all here now.” She grabbed the fork and knife to her right. “So, let’s enjoy our meal!”

-An hour later-
Saber was sitting in a large cave somewhere in the outskirts of the Einzbern Forest. She was tearing into the leg of an Asian black bear that she had effortlessly killed using her newly acquired vampire powers. Regardless of how much of its flesh and blood she ate, she never seemed to feel full. As she devoured the animal carcass, she heard a very familiar voice call her name.
“So this is where you’ve been hiding.” Kyubey calmly said, the smile on his face was slightly wider than usual.
“Kyubey…” She bitterly said while letting out a breathy growl. “What do you want?”
“It seems you’ve been turned into a vampire. As far as I’m aware, there’s no way to turn you back into a human girl through regular means. In this state, I doubt you can walk out in the day, use your magic, or even behave like a regular person. Your life is practically over. However, if you want, I’ll gladly allow you to take Shirley’s spot and participate in the competition for the Holy Grail. The only thing you’d need to do then would be kill Kiritsugu. Does that sound good to you?”
Saber let out a hiss as she jumped at Kyubey.
“I won’t kill Kiritsugu for my own gain!” She yelled as she opened her mouth wide.
Before she could get to him, the Incubator turned around and walked out of the cave, allowing his body to bathe in the sunlight.
“Very well then. I’d be more than glad to give you an opportunity to use the Holy Grail, but it seems that you won’t have any of that.” He cheerfully said as he began to walk away. “If you change your mind about this, I’ll be around.”
Artoria glared at Kyubey as he slowly made his way toward the trees that surrounded the cave she was in.

-A few minutes later-
Irisviel began to open her eyes. She sat up and put her left hand on her forehead. The white haired girl didn’t know why, but for some reason, she felt incredibly lightheaded, and her body felt weak. She turned to the right and saw that Kiritsugu was sitting beside her at the foot of her bed, asleep while wearing a dirty, torn black long coat.
“Kiritsugu. Wake up.” She calmly said as she began to gently rock his head.
The black haired boy began to slowly open his puffy red eye and looked up at his friend.
“I guess I must’ve overslept. Good morning, Iri.” He calmly said as he forced himself to smile.
“Kiritsugu? What are you doing in my room? And why are you wearing such a worn out old thing?”
“After you healed Saber, you passed out. I went to speak with Shirley… and I managed to get through to her… when Saber killed her, but not before she could be turned into a vampire. Natalia carried you to me and then told me to bring you to your room so that you can get some rest while she went to look for her. This long coat… it belonged to Shirley.”
“Shirley… is dead… and Saber’s a vampire?” Irisviel asked, her eyes welling up with tears.
Kiritsugu didn’t say a single word. He simply nodded his head. The white haired girl began to sniffle as tears ran down her cheeks.
“Iri, do you know what caused you to pass out?”
“N-No. I-I was trying to run a-after you when my le-legs gave out, and I f-fell unconscious.”
“I see. Do you feel sick?”
“A-A little bit. But l d-don’t know what’s wrong w-with me. I don’t feel h-hot no-nor that my throat h-hurts.”
“Hmm… it’s a little late, but would you like me to make you something to eat? Maybe if you get some food in your stomach, you’ll be able to get better.” He said as he stood up.
“Yes, pl-please.”
The black haired boy walked toward the door and opened it, but before he could exit the room, he turned to look at his friend.
“Natalia’s still asleep in her room. If you need something, you should go speak with her so that you don’t have to walk all the way to the dining room.”
“A-All right.”
Kiritsugu closed the door to Irisviel’s room and walked away. After her friend left, the white haired girl took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself, wiped her tears away, and grabbed her phone from under her pillow to check the time. It was around 11:30 in the morning. She opened her phone but accidentally brought it to the camera app. Her phone’s camera showed her face, and for some reason, it looked a little bit skinnier than usual.
“H-Huh? Did I lose weight?” She asked as she touched her cheeks. “That can’t be possible. I haven’t been dieting, and my w-weight’s n-normal for a girl my age.”
As she pondered the reason behind her sudden weight loss, she heard what sounded like someone knocking on the window. She moved over to it and opened it to see Kyubey standing behind it.
“Guten morgen, Kyubey. What brings you here?”
“Hello, Irisviel. I was wandering around this forest when I just so happened to stumble upon this castle. From what I’ve heard, it seems like Shirley is dead and Artoria has become a vampire; is that right?”
The white haired girl turned away from the feline and slowly nodded her head.
“I see. Tell me, would you like a chance to, at the very least, get one of them back?”
“W-What do you mean?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.
“If you kill Kiritsugu, I’ll allow you to use the Holy Grail, an all powerful wish granting device capable of granting any wish the person who touches it heart’s desire. With it, you could bring Shirley back to life or restore Artoria to her former glory!” He said, his smiling widening slightly.
“No… I’d never do that. Kiritsugu is my friend, and I’d never betray him, even if it was to help Saber or Shirley.”
“Well then, if you won’t do it for them, you could at least do it for yourself. I can’t be sure, but I believe your style of healing has something to do with transferring parts of yourself to others, which is why you’ve lost so much weight.”
“That can’t be possible. When I first healed Kiritsugu, he was unable to breathe. If what you’re saying is true, then I should have a hole in my throat right now.”
“I’m not suggesting that. What I’m suggesting is that your magic transfers things such as your fat, cells, and blood to anyone you heal, which allows their injuries to be healed. If my assumption is correct, then I believe that if you continue to use your magic to heal your friends, you’ll eventually die. However, if you use the Holy Grail, you could return yourself to being a normal girl.”
“Even if what you’re saying is true, I’d rather lose my life than betray Kiritsugu and take away his!”
“You are aware that if you decide to spare that boy’s life, this Holy Grail War will only continue for longer, causing Natalia and him to get in more situations where they’ll need your healing. With the way things are going now, I don’t see you surviving this competition.”
“You’re wrong! I’ll find a way to get through this somehow!”
Kyubey scoffed before turning around.
“Fine then. Have it your way, but don’t come crying to me if you regret your decision.” He calmly said before jumping out the window.
Irisviel quickly closed it before returning to lying on her bed. The Incubator landed on the ground and quickly walked toward the castle’s front entrance. He went inside and went up the stairs until he reached the second floor. The feline then walked down the hallway in search of Natalia. As he passed by the dining room, Kiritsugu, who had the doors to the kitchen slightly open in case Irisviel or Natalia wanted to speak with him, saw him out of the corner of his eye. He quickly walked out of the kitchen and approached Kyubey.
“You! What are you doing here?” He angrily shouted.
“Ah, boy. You don’t seem very thrilled to see me. Is something the matter?”
“Don’t act dumb with me, you cat! Nothing good ever happens when you show up! For all I know, you came here to kill me with your own paws!”
“Oh, that’s a little harsh. I’m not much of a fighter. I couldn’t hold my own against a regular person, much less a magical girl. No, I was going to speak with Irisviel and Natalia and just so happened to bump into you.”
He began to move his left hand toward the gun, which was in its holster on his right hip.
“What business do you have with the two of them?”
“I don’t really have any business with them. I just so happened to be around this part of Fuyuki and decided to check in with how they’re doing. Is that really such a bad thing for me to do? Especially since I’m responsible for turning into magical girls.”
The black haired boy continued to glare at Kyubey but moved his hand away from his gun.
“I’ve already spoken with Irisviel, and from that, I’ve come to the conclusion that her constant use of her magic is slowly killing her.”
Kiritsugu’s eyes widened as he was taken aback.
“W-What do you mean?”
“From her current state, I believe her method of healing injuries is by donating parts of herself to the person she uses her magic on. Parts of her like, her fat, cells, and blood, are given to whoever she is healing, which allows them to recover from their injuries, even if they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to through normal means. Since she was a healthy girl when she made a contract with me, the aftereffects of her magic may not have been apparent at first, but now it’s obvious that each use of her magic is slowly killing her.”
The black haired boy gritted his teeth and clenched his hands as tightly as possible.
“Shut up! Y-You’re lying!”
Kyubey’s smile grew wider.
“You’ve got me all wrong, boy. I wouldn’t lie about something like this. I tried to talk with Irisviel about the prospect of her joining the Holy Grail War to kill you, but she just wouldn’t have it. I don’t typically do this with males, but I’m willing to make a deal with you. If you kill yourself, I’ll give Irisviel the Holy Grail and allow her to make any wish she wants using it, allowing this competition to draw to a close. With it, she could easily return herself to being a regular girl or even revive Shirley or turn Saber back to normal. What do you say, Kiritsugu?”
Without any hesitation, the black haired boy pulled his gun out of its holster and pointed it at the Incubator’s head.
“I’ve had enough of this, Kyubey! Why do you even want to kill me in the first place? What did I do to you? I’m just a regular guy who barely even knows you!”
“You’re correct in saying that you’ve done nothing to me. In any other circumstance, I’d never do something like this. However, you’re by far the easiest way of getting Irisviel to fall into despair.”
He moved his index and middle fingers onto his pistol’s trigger.
“You want Irisviel to fall into despair? You’re even more of a bastard than I thought!”
“Calm down. Don’t jump to conclusions, boy. I’m not doing this for my own satisfaction. I’m doing this for the good of the world.”
“The good of the world? How will causing a teenage girl to fall into despair make the world better?”
“When people die, they release energy, but girls and women always release more energy than boys and men. However, they release more energy when they become a Witch than when they perish of any other cause, so that’s generally preferable. The only way for a magical girl to become a Witch is by falling into despair. Irisviel has by far the most magical potential me and my colleagues have ever felt. If she fell into despair, she’d release so much energy that the universe’s heat death may be resolved. However, a Witch as powerful as hers would undoubtedly destroy Japan, at the very least, and most likely all of Asia, maybe even the entire planet!” He cheerfully said. “Honestly, the girls who agreed to fight for the Holy Grail lucked out with her being more of a defensive healer than an actual fighter because she’d be nigh unstoppable if she could use her magic offensively!”
Kiritsugu remained silent as he glared at Kyubey.
“In the grand scheme of things, a human’s lifespan is a blink of an eye for us Incubators. The universe is a vast place filled with all sorts of life, some of which is beyond your imagination. Do those lifeforms deserve to die so your little friend can live a handful of years-“
Kiritsugu pulled down on his trigger and shot Kyubey through the head. The feline’s corpse fell face first to the ground as the black haired boy put his gun away.
“I’m not sacrificing my or Irisviel’s life for some aliens I’ll never meet or even hear of. Call it selfish, but I don’t care about something that won’t affect the universe long after I and the people I care about are gone.”
Kiritsugu turned around and was about to reenter the kitchen when he heard light footsteps. He moved his head and saw another Incubator walk into the room.
“That wasn’t the real Kyubey, Kiritsugu. It was just a body double.” He calmly said as he stood in front of the corpse. “I’m the real Kyubey.”
“No, I’m the truthful Lord Kyubey.” Another Incubator confidently said as he entered the dining room.
“Wrong. That’s me!” A third Incubator angrily shouted as he stepped into the room.
Five more Incubators entered, proclaimed that they were the real Kyubey, and the eight of them began to encircle Kiritsugu. The black haired boy moved his head around, aiming at whichever Incubator had the misfortune of standing in front of him.
“IT DOESN’T MATTER WHETHER ANY OF YOU ARE THE REAL KYUBEY! I’LL KILL YOU ALL ANYWAY!”
Right as he was about to pull on the trigger, a familiar voice began to speak to him from the room’s entrance.
“The ammo you’re using is Natalia’s powerful Origin Bullets, correct? I think I’d be most advisable if you saved as many of them as possible instead of wasting them on my men.”
“SHUT UP!” Kiritsugu screamed as he shot at the Incubator standing in the doorway.
The feline effortlessly avoided the projectile, causing his grin to spread as wide as possible.
“Too slow, too predictable. If you want to waste your only trump card, then at least do it more discreetly!”
The Incubators surrounding the black haired boy ran away from him and went behind their leader.
“If the rest of this competition goes as I predict, Irisviel will inevitably use up so much of her body to heal you and Natalia that her death is all but assured. If you take your own life, Irisviel will live to see another day and could use the Holy Grail to make anything she wishes a reality. If she truly wants to, she could use it to bring you back to life!”
“I’m not sacrificing myself or my best friend for your twisted goals!”
“I see. If Irisviel or you die regardless of what happens, I don’t want either of you to come crawling to me to beg for the Holy Grail. Let’s go, everyone.”
The Incubators all turned around and began to walk away from the black haired boy’s field of view. Once they were gone, he put his pistol back in its holster and let out a deep breath. Right as he was about to walk toward the kitchen, Natalia entered the dining room. She had bags under her eyes and still looked a little tired.
“Is everything all right here, kid? I heard screaming and what sounded like a gun firing, so I got up and came to investigate as quickly as possible.”
“…Yeah, I kind of just got really overwhelmed by everything that’s happened since last night, and I needed to let out some steam.” He went silent for a few seconds before continuing to speak. “Natalia… is there a way for a regular human to use magic like you and Irisviel can?”
“As far as I’m aware, no. There’s no way for a regular person to use magic. I don’t even think it would be hypothetically possible unless you made a contract with Kyubey since he quite literally extracts your soul, places it into a Soul Gem, and puts some magic into your body.”
Kiritsugu’s eyes widened at the white haired woman’s words.
“D-Did it hurt?”
“Nope. You can’t even tell that it got removed after it’s all said and done. However, because of this, if a magical girl falls into despair, her Soul Gem will blacken and, if not cleaned, she’ll turn into a Witch, essentially a powerful, mindless monster who attacks anything in sight. There’s no way to turn a Witch back to a regular person, so the most you can do is put them out of their misery. Once a Witch is killed, she’ll drop a Grief Seed, which could be used by another magical girl to purify their Soul Gem if it starts to blacken.”
Kiritsugu’s eyes widened.
“Is something the matter?”
“N-No. I just remembered that I need to flip over the toast!” He hurriedly shouted as he ran into the kitchen.

-A few minutes later-
Kiritsugu finished cooking breakfast for himself and his two friends, serving them all several pieces of toast with ham, bacon, salami, prosciutto, beef, and extrawurst. Natalia sat across the table from Kiritsugu, and before the black haired boy could bring the food he had cooked for Irisviel to her, she entered the dining room and sat beside him.
“Iri, what are you doing here? You should be in bed, getting some rest. I would’ve been more than willing to bring your breakfast to your room instead of making you waste your energy and come here.”
“It’s fine, Kiritsugu. I still feel a little lightheaded and weak, but coming to the dining room to eat with my friends shouldn’t make me feel any worse than if I stayed in bed.” The white haired girl cheerfully said as she grabbed one of the pieces of toast in front of her and moved some of the bacon onto it.
“If you finish your plate and still feel hungry, let me-“
Before Kiritsugu could finish speaking, Irisviel had completely devoured the strips of bacon and toast she had grabbed. She quickly moved onto another piece of toast, added a few slices of ham onto it, and then ate it in 3 bites. Natalia and Kiritsugu just stared at her as she greedily ate up her breakfast.
“Is everything all right? You’re eating like you’ve been starving for several days straight.”
“Indeed. You’re eating just like Saber would.”
The white haired girl nodded her head.
“It’s that I feel extremely famished for some reason. Regardless of how much I’m eating, I feel like my hunger’s not going anywhere.” She said as she ate a third piece of toast that had salami on it.
Kiritsugu simply looked at Irisviel’s plate with a somber expression.
“Last night, I searched what seemed like the entirety of this forest and was unable to find Saber. I came back at around sunrise.” She yawned as she rubbed her eyes.
“I see. Well, Kiritsugu and I will just have to look for her ourselves later.” The white haired girl cheerfully said as she continued to stuff her face full of food.
“No, I’ll look for her by myself. You stay home and get some rest.”
“That’s a horrible idea. What if things go south and Artoria attacks you because she can’t control her urges? She’ll drink all your blood and leave you like a human raisin. At least if I’m by your side, I’ll be able to protect you. Sure, I’m not at my full strength right now, but I don’t think Saber will go all out against us, even if she can’t completely control herself.”
“She’s right. I’d go with you too, but I really need some rest after staying up all night searching for her. Plus, I’m sure Saber would be more willing to listen to the two of you than if I talked with her.”
“I see.” He said, letting out a sigh. “You can come along with me, but don’t use your magic to heal me unless you absolutely have to.”
Irisviel was slightly taken aback by her friend’s odd demand.
“If you say so.” She said, sounding somewhat confused.

-Many hours later-
By the time the trio was done with their breakfast, Irisviel had eaten 14 whole of toast. Luckily, Kiritsugu made extra food in case this had happened, but by the time she had reached her final piece of toast, the excess food he had made for her was starting to run low. To not bother her friend, the white haired girl didn’t say anything about still feeling hungry and went to her room to lie in bed and try to get some sleep. Since neither of the two remaining magical girls attempted to attack the Einzbern Castle, nothing of note happened, and the day passed by without any issues. Once the sun had fully set and the sky was a dark black, Irisviel stood up on shaky legs and began to walk toward her bedroom’s door. Despite spending the entire day in bed and eating as much food as she could during breakfast, she still felt incredibly weak and lightheaded. The white haired girl opened the door to her room, exited it, and made her way down the hall until she reached the library’s door. She opened it and saw Kiritsugu sitting on the chair in the center of the room while reading a book.
“Guten abend, Kiritsugu.”
“Irisviel, you’re still up? I thought you went to sleep hours ago.”
“I tried to, but no matter how much I tossed and turned, I just couldn’t get myself to fall asleep. Since this morning, something’s been troubling me.” She calmly said as she closed the library’s door and walked toward her friend. “When we had breakfast today, I noticed something awfully strange. You seemed far more worried about me than usual, watching how much I ate and telling me to not help you look for Saber. Is there something on your mind?”
“Of course there’s something on my mind. You’re sick. While I expected you to be a little hungrier than usual, I didn’t think you’d eat that much.” He jokingly said as he smiled softly at his friend. “And I don’t want a sick girl to have to potentially fight against someone when she should be trying to get better.”
“You’re right about me being ill, but even in my current state, I should be more than enough to at least hold my own against Saber. Plus, you specifically told me to not use my magic. Why is that?”
Kiritsugu’s smile faded as he looked away from Irisviel.
“Earlier today when I was cooking for everyone, Kyubey entered the dining room and spoke with me. He said that it’s likely that each time you use your magic, you give up parts of yourself to the person you’re healing, and that if you keep doing it… you might not make it to the Holy Grail War’s end. I don’t want to believe that thing’s words… but from what I’ve seen… it seems he’s at least right about the way your magic operates. I’m worried that if you keep using your magic, y-you’ll die.” He said as tears began to well up in his eyes. “W-We already lost Shirley… a-and Saber became a vampire… I don’t want you to die too! I-I said I-I wanted to b-be a h-hero that pro-protects the people he c-cares a-about most! I-Instead everyone w-who I love protects me, a-and they take on the pain I was supposed to have endured! I-I’m worse than useless! I-I’m the reason-“
Irisviel hugged the black haired boy and wiped the tears streaming down his face away.
“It’s all right, Kiritsugu. The only person at fault for all of this is Kyubey, so don’t say such things about yourself. And just because he was right about how my magic works doesn’t mean he’s right that I’ll inevitably die if this competition continues. He could’ve been making up baseless assumptions with the intention of scaring us for all we know. But just to be safe, when we go looking for Saber, I promise I’ll only use the bare minimum amount of magic we need. Does that sound okay to you?”
Kiritsugu nodded his head slightly as he continued to sob.
“I-I owe you my life! A-After I k-killed my dad, I-I became a w-wanted criminal! I-If it weren’t for y-you, I’d be b-behind bars! I-I don’t w-want to see you g-get hurt and d-die all b-because of me!”
“And I won’t. I promise that the two of us will make it through this competition together. No matter what it takes. I’ll do everything I possibly can to survive, protect you, and continue living.” She said as she began to gently hold his right hand.

-Many hours later-
After speaking with each other, Kiritsugu and Irisviel returned to their rooms to get some sleep despite it not even being close to midnight. The two of them woke up at around 4 in the morning and went to the castle’s main room. Once the two of them were together, the duo exited the humongous structure and began to head into the woods. The forest surrounding the Einzbern castle was vast and didn’t have much to differentiate one spot from another, so Kiritsugu tried to keep a mental note of how the areas he and Irisviel passed by looked like, regardless of how daunting of a task that was. After what felt like an hour of nonstop walking to them, the pair heard a bush to their right rustle. Irisviel let out a yelp as she walked behind Kiritsugu while the black haired boy’s eyes widened.
“Saber? Is that you?”
Neither of the two received any sort of response as a brown rabbit jumped out of the plant it was hiding in and began to run away. The white haired girl moved away from her friend, causing him to chuckle slightly and smile at her.
“You said you’d do anything in your power to protect me, but here you are getting scared over a little rabbit.”
“I didn’t get scared. The bunny just startled me, that’s all.” She pouted as her cheeks turned slightly red.
“Come on, Iri. Let’s keep going.” He cheerfully said before continuing to walk forward.
The white haired girl quickly followed after her friend.

-An hour later-
Kiritsugu and Irisviel had been walking in the same direction for so long that they had lost track of time. They were tempted to just turn around and go home when they noticed a large cave in the distance.
“A cave. Let’s go check it out.” Irisviel calmly said before walking forward.
The black haired boy quickly followed after her. After a few minutes, they made it to the structure’s opening. As they stepped inside, the two of them saw Saber leaning against the wall all the way in the back of the cave with her eyes focused on the ceiling. Her hair was undone, and there were dried up bloodstains on her shirt and pants.
“Saber!” Kiritsugu and Irisviel shouted in unison as they ran toward their friend.
They barely managed to get close to her when Saber’s eyes drifted downward to glare at them. She let out a hiss before getting on all fours, causing them to stop in their tracks.
“Saber…” The white haired girl somberly said as she reached her hand out for her friend.
“Kiritsugu… Iri… leave.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! You’re our friend! We’re not leaving without you!” The black haired boy shouted.
“Y-You don’t understand! I can barely hold myself back from hurting you both!” She yelled as her eyes welled up with tears. “I-It’s only a matter of time before I snap a-and start to kill people just like Shirley did!”
“You won’t! I promise we’ll do everything we possibly can to make sure you don’t hurt a single person until you can get your urges under control like Shirley did!” The white haired girl responded. “Please, come back to us!”
“Y-You’re both too naive if you think a creature like me could s-survive without hurting people!” Tears began to run down her cheeks. “Kiritsugu… Iri… kill me. Please kill me before I can hurt anyone!” She growled. “Give me a human death!”
“S-Saber…” Kiritsugu said while on the brink of tears.
“HURRY AND KILL ME!” She screamed before rushing at the two of them and jumping into the air.
The blonde opened her mouth wide as she fell toward Kiritsugu. Before she could get close to him, Irisviel transformed and summoned her shield. Artoria slammed into it as her friend swung her weapon forward, sending her flying into the cave’s wall.
“Kiritsugu, get behind me. I’ll handle this.”
“Please don’t overexert yourself.”
She nodded her head as the vampire stood up.
“Kiritsugu, use an Origin Bullet and kill me! Or else I’ll kill you and Iri!” She roared as she rushed toward Irisviel.
She threw a powerful punch at her shield but was unable to break through it. Irisviel used this opportunity to throw a powerful kick at her friend’s chest, pushing her back a few feet.
“Stop this! I don’t want to fight you!”
Artoria let out a growl as she rushed at her enemy and placed her hands on her shield. She managed to freeze her defense solid before effortlessly shattering it. Without giving her even a second to react, she swung her left arm straight at her neck. Kiritsugu quickly pushed Irisviel to the side, causing the blonde to insert two fingers into his neck. He let out a gasp as he felt her slowly sucking his blood through her fingers. A wide grin spread across the blonde’s face as she slowly drained him of his blood.
“GET OFF HIM!”
Irisviel yelled as she got up, summoned another shield, and rammed into her enemy, sending her flying into the wall to her left.
“Are you all right?” Irisviel asked, turning to look at her friend.
“Yeah. I feel-“
Before he could finish speaking, Saber lifted her head to glare at Kiritsugu and, without any warning, shot two large lasers from her eyes. The projectiles hit him straight in the throat, causing his mouth to become filled with blood and leaving him unable to breathe.
“If neither of you will kill me, then I won’t hesitate to murder you!” She shouted before running forward.
“Kiritsugu!” The white haired girl shouted.
“No… don’t-“
Before the black haired boy could finish speaking, Irisviel turned to her right and used her magic to heal him. Upon fully healing him, she suddenly felt severe pain in her head as she began to lose her balance, having to wrap her right arm over Kiritsugu’s neck to remain on her feet.
“Iri!”
Saber reached her target’s shield and froze it before effortlessly shattering it. Kiritsugu quickly threw a powerful punch at the side of her face, which pushed her back slightly.
“Iri, if you can’t keep fighting, then victory is impossible. We need to get out of here as quickly as possible!” He shouted before lifting her over his shoulder and beginning to run away.
“WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?” Artoria screamed as she transformed and summoned her sword. Instead of running after her enemies, she lifted her weapon over her head.
“If you don’t shoot me right now! I’ll disintegrate both you and Iri!”
Particles of light began to surround her sword, but before she could fully charge up her attack, she began to feel a burning sensation in her arms. Although the feeling was subtle at first, as she continued to prepare her attack, the feeling increased until she felt as though there was lava in her arms. Artoria’s eyes winced, and she let out a groan as she dropped her weapon. However, this did nothing to stop the pain she was feeling. A few seconds later, her fingers began to disintegrate. Once they were no more, the rest of her hands met the same fate. This continued until the entirety of her arms were reduced to nothing but ash.
“Saber…” Iri glumly and weakly said as she looked at her friend.
The blonde gritted her teeth before chasing after her opponents and exiting the cave. As she approached them, she opened her mouth as wide as possible. Once she was in range of her enemies, Kiritsugu kicked her in the side with so much force that she fell to the ground.
“Saber, please stop this already! I don’t want to kill you!”
As the black haired boy spoke, the blonde looked upward. The sky was starting to become dark blue and orange, and if the area hadn’t been covered by huge trees, she would’ve definitely gotten hit by the sunlight.
“Then go… you’ve beaten me. Go home and leave me to die like the ghoul I am!” She shouted as tears ran down her cheeks. “Regardless of what I do… I’ll never be able to live a normal life ever again! I’m a monster who will have to kill and eat countless people to survive! Even if I did manage to control my urges someday, I’ll have to live with the fact that I’ve slaughtered countless innocents! A-And, if it comes to it, I may even p-potentially harm the two of you! I-I might no-not be human a-any more, b-but I’d p-prefer to die li-like one than to be b-burned away by the s-sun! S-So please, for my sake, for everyone in Fuyuki City’s sake… shoot me!”
Kiritsugu began to slowly move his right hand toward his pistol. He pulled it out of its holster and tried to point it straight at her forehead.
“S-Saber… I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you…” Kiritsugu’s voice trembled as he pulled down on his gun’s trigger.
The bullet zoomed through the air and pierced Artoria’s skull. Her lips formed a soft smile as her head moved limply to the ground.
“S-Saber!” Irisviel shouted as she began to sob.
“Saber… I did it… you don’t have to suffer anymore. I… I did the right thing. Y-Yes, if I didn’t kill you… you would’ve killed countless people… you might have even killed us. I… I…”
Kiritsugu fell to his knees.
“SABER! SA-SABER! I-I PR-PROMISED THAT I’D PROTECT E-EVERYONE I CA-CARE ABOUT, B-BUT I C-COULDN’T SA-SAVE SHIRLEY O-OR YOU! I-I’M USELESS A-AND I ONLY BRING P-PAIN AND MISERY TO TH-THOSE I CARE FOR!” He screamed.
As the two of them wept, Kyubey stared at them with a grin that was as wide as he could physically muster while standing on a nearby tree. His eyes were transfixed on the blue cross-like gem in the center of Irisviel’s hat that had blackened significantly since the night prior.
“This Holy Grail’s War has truly reached its climax. Just a little more and I shall prevent the universe’s heat death. Getting that Stand User to assist me should be a top priority in ensuring the boy’s death.”

Chapter Text

-An hour and a half later-
Kiritsugu walked into the Einzbern Castle while carrying Irisviel. Both of their eyes were red and puffy from how much they had cried, and their clothing was stained with tears. Sitting near the bottom of the stairs was Natalia, who had a neutral expression on her face, which became a slight frown upon seeing her two friends enter the building.
“Welcome back you two.” She calmly said. “I can tell just from the look in your eyes that whatever happened out there wasn’t anything pleasant. Is Irisviel all right?”
“My head hurts, and I can barely stand upright… I think what’s causing me to feel so weak is my magic. Since around two days ago, every time I’ve used it, I’ve felt more and more exhausted. If I keep this up… I think I might die.”
Natalia’s eyes widening as she gritted her teeth.
“Crap.” She murmured. The white haired woman went silent for a few seconds before speaking once again. “…Thank you for telling me such valuable information. Iri, Kiritsugu, it’s incredibly late out right now. I suggest the two of you go get some sleep.”
Kiritsugu nodded his head as he walked past Natalia and began to walk upstairs. Once he was out of her field of view, the white haired woman stood up and looked up at the ceiling.
“I didn’t want to worry them, so I didn’t tell them, but I feel like this competition will come to a draw incredibly soon, maybe even today. Losing Saber and having Iri be put out of commission is going to put a damper on my plans against the last two magical girls.” Her lips formed a soft smile. “I can’t believe I’m helping these kids out for free. To think that I actually thought about killing Kiritsugu when Kyubey first spoke to me.” She put her right hand on her head. “Man, these past few days sure have been crazy.”

-
Kiritsugu opened the door to Irisviel’s room and stepped inside. He closed it before making his way toward her bed and placing her on it. Thanks to the sunlight that was leaking in from an opening in the curtain, he had a much better look at her. Irisviel’s body looked even frailer and bonier than before. He could see all of the bones in her shoulders and neck clear as day. Her arms were as thin as a twig and her fingers were bony, as if they belonged to an elderly person, and yet her skin was still youthful and smooth.
“Iri, how are you feeling right now?”
“My head feels like it’s going to split open… I feel really dizzy, my vision’s a little blurred… and I feel kind of cold. It’s a miracle I haven’t passed out yet like yesterday.” She said, smiling faintly at her friend.
Kiritsugu gritted his teeth as he sat down beside her.
“T-This is all my fault! I-I should’ve done everything I possibly could to st-stop you from going with me to l-look for Saber!” He shouted as tears began to well up in his eyes once more.
“Don’t say such ridiculous things. If I hadn’t been you, Saber would’ve killed you and… sh-she’d still be in that cave, st-struggling to control the urge to kill and eat people.” Although Irisviel’s tone didn’t change, it was clear that she had become a little misty-eyed.
She wiped the tears away from Kiritsugu’s eyes.
“Today might be the end of the competition. If we can just get through this day, w-we’ll be able to go back to living our normal lives.”
The black haired boy took deep breaths in an attempt to compose himself.
“Wh-What do you plan on doing once this is all over?”
“Well, I’m probably gonna have to go to the hospital to, at the very least, get a blood transfusion. Once I’m discharged, I think I’ll try to keep going to school as normal, so I might not be able to see you as often as I am now. Christmas is coming up, so I’m gonna have to buy you something sooner or later. Do you have anything you’d want me to get you?”
“No. The only thing I want is for you to be able to stay alive to be able to make it to that day. This entire competition, I’ve made you and Saber protect me… and look at where that’s gotten the two of you. I don’t want you to die, so, Iri, will you let me protect you and be your sword and shield?”
“Are you sure this is what you want and that you’re capable of handling this? While your training with Natalia has made you quite the sharpshooter and you have the powerful Origin Bullets at your disposal, fighting against magical girls is still incredibly dangerous for a regular boy like you. Without a shadow of a doubt, do you believe you’ll be able to protect me and make it out of this competition alive?”
“Yes. I won’t waste any of the sacrifices you and Saber made, I’ll do everything to ensure the two of us out of this alive!”

-Half an hour later-
Kyubey and a large crowd of Incubators were standing in front of the entrance of a cave that was near a shrine. They were all standing as still as statues while staring at the sky. It was only a matter of minutes until their king, Nabey, who the vast majority of the Incubators there hadn’t even seen once before, and the Holy Grail would arrive on Earth.
“Is it just me, or is that star brighter than the others?” An Incubator asked.
“What star?”
The feline raised his front right paw and pointed it slightly to the left. All of the Incubators turned their heads and saw what looked like a white star shining down on them. With each passing second, the star grew brighter and brighter until a gigantic white flying saucer entered their field of view. The vehicle landed in front of the Incubators before its front door opened, slowly moving to the ground and becoming a gangplank for its crew to walk out of. A few Incubators walked out of the saucer before four of them pushed a gigantic golden chalice they had brought with them forward, slowly making their way out of the vehicle. The rest of the Incubators watched in awe as they stared at the Holy Grail.
“That’s the Holy Grail? It’s as majestic as I thought it’d be!” One of the Incubators in the crowd cheerfully said.
“Yes. It’s truly a majestic device. It makes me wish I was born a human girl instead of an intergalactic cat.” Another feline responded.
“Bring it all the way to the back of the cavern, men.” Kyubey ordered as he and the rest of the Incubators standing in front of the entrance to the cavern move to the side.
Not long after the Incubators had pushed the Holy Grail into the cave, two more incubators emerged from the saucer while walking on two legs and carrying two huge black chains in their paws that were made out of a type of metal that was even more durable than steel. As they walked forward, a gigantic Incubator walked behind them. It had long, muscular legs with razor sharp claws, two dragon-like wings on its back, a lengthy neck, and a featureless grey mask that didn’t even have holes for it to look out of, which covered its face.
“Hello, King Nabey.” Kyubey cheerfully said as he looked up at the creature. “How many millennia has it been since you’ve last left your palace again? I think I’ve lost track.”
“That’s Nabey? He doesn’t even look like an Incubator. I understand that he’s an older guy, but I’ve never seen an elderly Incubator that looks like that.” An Incubator who was perplexed by the situation asked.
“Is that thing even an Incubator? It looks more like a dragon to me, if anything.” A second feline, who was standing beside their leader, pointed out.
Upon hearing Kyubey’s voice, Nabey let out a powerful roar that reverberated throughout the mountain. He rushed at him and raised his claws upward, but before he could get anywhere near him, the Incubators who were holding onto the chains, who were now being assisted by five more Incubators, pulled back on them, stopping their king in his tracks.
“I know you’re surely excited to be in the outside world for the first time in ages, but you must still control yourself. After all, you could barely be called a member of the same species as me anymore.” Kyubey cheerfully said while grinning from ear to ear. “Take him into the cavern and place him near the grail.”
The ten Incubators all nodded their heads before doing as told.
“Boy, even if you get past Haruki and Moe and Moa, that beast in there won’t be so merciful toward the two of you. You should’ve given Irisviel the Holy Grail when you had the chance.” He said to himself.

-A few minutes later-
Haruki was sleeping peacefully next to her baby when she suddenly heard someone knock at the window. Although the noise caused her to wake up, she thought it was a tree branch poking at it, so she decided to ignore the sound. It wasn’t until after the tapping continued that Haruki let out a sigh, rubbed her eyes, and decided to stand up. She quickly walked over to her room’s window and opened it to see Kyubey standing behind it.
“Hello there, Haruki.”
“Kyubey… what do you want?” She yawned.
“I’ve come to inform you that the final battle of this competition, this Holy Grail War, has finally begun. It’s only a matter of time until your target and his two remaining allies go to where the Holy Grail is hiding.”
“He only has two allies left, huh? I’m guessing one of them is the white haired girl who you gave orders to not hurt no matter what, but who’s the other one?”
“Natalia is still with them, and I’m assuming she’s going to give it her all to help Irisviel and that boy come out on top.”
The black haired woman clenched her fists.
“I see. Where do you want me to go?”
“You know that mountain with that temple? Go there and wait by the bottom of the stairs. Your target and his friends will show up there eventually.”
“I see. I’ll be on my way soon.” She calmly said before closing the window.
Haruki took a deep breath before turning around and walking toward the door. She exited her bedroom and began to walk down the hall until she reached her daughter’s room. The black haired woman opened the door to it and then stepped inside to see her still asleep.
“Hibari, wake up.” She said as she approached her and put her right hand on her forehead. “I’m going to go out for a little bit. Take care of Suzuka for me while I’m gone.”
“Mom…” The black haired girl yawned as she rubbed her eyes. “It’s still pretty early. Where are you going at such a time?”
“I just have to do something business related. If everything goes well, today might be the last time I have to worry about my job while on maternity leave. I won’t have to force you to take care of your sister anymore.”
“Okay, I’ll take care of Suzuka like you want, but you better not be lying to me.”
“I assure you I’m not. I wouldn’t ever lie to you.” She softly said as she hugged her.
Hibari hugged her back before standing up and walking forward. She exited her bedroom and made her way to her mother’s room.
“All right. Now that I’ve gotten that done, it’s time for me to leave.” She said before walking out of her daughter’s bedroom.

-Meanwhile-
Moe and Moa were still fast asleep in their gigantic bed. Although it was a school day, they weren’t planning on getting up any time soon. At least, that was their plan until they heard somebody knock at their window.
“Hello, is anybody there?” Moa yawned as she rubbed her eyes and then stood up.
Her sister did the same before the two of them walked over to the window and opened it, revealing Kyubey standing behind it.
“Hello, you two.”
“Kyubey? Why are you here? It’s still too early to do anything, and we have school later.” Moe said.
“Yes, yes, I know, but I need to tell you something incredibly important. The final battle of this competition has started. If you want a shot at killing your target, go to that mountain with the temple on it and wait for him on the stairs. Once he shows up, hold nothing back and kill him.”
“You want us to go out this early in the morning?” Moa asked, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t know about that. If we go, we might be late for school, and mom will be furious at us.”
“Don’t worry. I assure you that at most, you’ll only be there for an hour or two before killing that guy, giving you plenty of time to come back home and get ready for school.”
“All right. Please lead the way, Kyubey.” Moa said.
Moe nodded her head at her sister’s words.
Kyubey turned around and jumped off the window. The twins quickly transformed before following after him.

-A few hours later-
Kiritsugu began to open his eyes. He sat up and saw that Irisviel was still fast asleep. She looked quite peaceful when she was like this, maybe even a little cute. If it weren’t for her current state, he would’ve definitely started blushing.
“I wonder what time it is.” He murmured to himself before quickly grabbing the white haired girl’s phone from under her pillow and turning it on to look at the time.
It was 9 in the morning. For staying up so late, Kiritsugu had woken up surprisingly early, and to make it all the better, he felt great as well.
“I guess I should make us something to eat.” He whispered before standing up.
He quietly made his way toward the door, opened it, and then stepped out. Kiritsugu walked down the hallway until he reached the kitchen. There, he saw Natalia standing in front of the table with a smile on her face. Behind her was a plethora of food in circular grey plastic containers that all had their tops opened and three paper plates in the center of the table.
“Good morning, Kiritsugu. Did you sleep well?”
“Huh? Why did you buy us all this food?” The black haired boy as he walked closer to the table.
“Well, I went to town to do some errands, and I decided it’d be perfect to buy food for the three of us to help cheer you and Iri up over everything that’s happened in the past few days. Plus, you’d have to spend less time and energy cooking for us.” The white haired woman calmly said as she sat down on the left side of the table. “You should try waking Iri up as quick as possible so that the food doesn’t turn cold.”
Kiritsugu turned around and walked out of the kitchen. He quickly made it back to his friend’s room to find her still asleep.
“Hey, Iri. Wake up.” He calmly said as he approached her.
He gently tapped her forehead, causing her to wake up and yawn.
“Guten morgen.” He jokingly said. “How are you feeling?”
“Same as last night.”
“Natalia brought the three of us food. Do you think you could walk to the kitchen?”
“Let me see.” She said before sitting up and turning around, placing her feet on the ground.
The white haired girl managed to stand up for a few seconds before her legs gave out and she fell forward. Before she could hit the floor, Kiritsugu caught her and brought her up to his chest.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes… my legs just can’t seem to support my weight.”
Kiritsugu’s eyes drifted downward as he lifted Irisviel over his shoulder.
“Don’t worry. I’ll bring you to the kitchen.” He said, trying his best to sound cheerful.
The black haired boy walked out of the room and went to the kitchen. A wide smile spread across Irisviel’s face as she noticed all of the food on the table.
“Wow! Is this food all for us?”
“Yep. You guys can eat as much as you want. You’ve more than earned it after these past few days.”
Kiritsugu placed Irisviel on a seat across the table from Natalia before sitting next to her.
“Are you having trouble walking?” The white haired woman asked.
“Yes. I can’t stand for very long, or else my legs will give out and I’ll collapse.”
“I see. Wait right here.”
Natalia stood up and walked over to the kitchen door. She opened it, grabbed a silver walker that stood behind the door, and then turned around with it in her hands.
“In the event you were unable to walk properly, I bought you this. You should test it out to see if it’ll help you.” She said as she brought it over to her friend.
The white haired girl got up, but before she could fall down, she grabbed onto the walker. She took a step and pushed the device forward, and then repeated the process again with her other foot. Irisviel managed to successfully walk without falling down.
“It works!” Kiritsugu cheerfully shouted.
“Thank you, Natalia. You don’t know how much this means to me.” She joyfully said as she smiled at her.
“No problem. You can go outside and walk around with Kiritsugu later, but for now you should take a seat and eat. Food’s always best when warm, and you definitely need the most yummy food out of the three of us.”
Irisviel walked over to her seat and sat down on it. She grabbed two of the paper plates in the center of the table and placed them in front of Kiritsugu and herself. Natalia grabbed the last remaining plate and brought it in front of herself.
“I think we’ve talked for long enough. It’s about time we dig-“
Before the white haired woman could finish speaking, two white cat-like creatures ran over to the table, jumped onto it, and landed on a container that carried bacon.
“Hello, Irisviel, Natalia, boy.” The Incubator calmly said as he and his backup looked at the trio.
“KYUBEY!” Kiritsugu screamed as he pulled out his gun and pointed it at the feline.
“If you shoot me, all you’ll be doing is wasting your bullets, as I’m not Kyubey.” He said as a wide grin spread across his face. “Lord Kyubey ordered me to come here to deliver you a very important piece of news. He, the Holy Grail, and the final two remaining magical girls are in Mount Enzou. If you ever want to bring this competition to an end and return to living a normal life, go there immediately.”
“Before we go, can you confirm there aren’t any traps that your leader placed there to kill me and Kiritsugu before we can even start fighting?”
“Nope. There aren’t any traps. However, if you want to have the privilege of even getting to speak with Lord Kyubey in the mountain’s caverns, you’ll have to get through Haruki and Moe and Moa first.”
“I see. We’ll go there right away after eating breakfast.”
“Very well, Cuube, let’s take this container of bacon with us.” He said as he walked onto the table.
“As you wish.” The other Incubator did as he was told and lifted the container of food over his head.
The Incubator helped his coworker out, and the duo ran out of the dining room on two legs.
“HEY! THAT’S MY BREAKFAST!” Kiritsugu screamed before standing up and chasing after them.
He quickly ran out of the room, but they had already run downstairs and exited the Einzbern castle by the time he was halfway down the hall.
“Kiritsugu, come back. It’s not worth chasing after them!” Irisviel shouted. “If what those Incubators said is true, we’ll need all the energy we can get for these last few battles.”
“Yes, I understand.” The black haired boy said before turning around and walking back to the kitchen. “Wait, I just realized something. How am I going to go back to Fuyuki for this?”
“I bought a disposable mask for you to wear. It should be able to somewhat hide your identity and allow you to go back in public for a little while.” The white haired woman said. “Once we’re done eating, I’ll carry the two of you to that mountain so that we can get there as quickly as possible!”

-An hour later-
Haruki and Moe and Moa were sitting on the stairs leading to the Ryuudou Temple. Thankfully, none of the people living there had seen them yet, and no visitors had arrived, so they didn’t have to explain why they were sitting there while dressed so oddly. Moe was wearing a dress with red strips underneath black ones and a broken grey heart in the center of her chest. She had on white sleeves that went all the way down to her wrists, white stockings, and red heels. Moa, on the other hand, was wearing black stockings and sleeves but had the same colored heels as her sister. Her dress had identical colors to her sister’s, but the position of the black strips was swapped to be underneath the red ones, and the grey heart in the center of her chest was not broken. Meanwhile, Haruki was wearing a white sleeveless dress that went all the way down to her ankles. She had a large baby blue ribbon tied around her stomach that served as some form of protection and a bird pin that was the same shade of blue as it on the left side of her head. The black haired woman was staring at the sky. Although she didn’t have her phone on her, she could tell that it was getting far too late for her liking.
“What’s taking that kid so long to show up? I told Hibari that this wasn’t gonna take long, but it seems like I was mistaken. I’m sorry for lying to you, my sweet daughter.” She murmured to herself.
Meanwhile, Moe had taken her phone out to check what the time was with her sister. Both of their eyes widened with shock as they saw that it was already 10 o’clock and their mother had texted her several times already.
Where did you go?
Hello?
You’re not answering me.
Please answer me! I’m worried!
“Oh crap! We made mom sad!” Moa shouted, her voice distraught.
“W-We made mom upset…” Moe said as her eyes began to well up with tears.
She quickly turned her phone off before putting it in her pocket and trying not to think about the messages. Haruki noticed the girl’s sudden sadness, so she walked over to them and put her hands on their heads.
“What’s wrong, girls?”
“M-Mom’s worried about us because w-we didn’t tell her where we were going.”
Moa nodded her head.
“Mom’s not a bad parent… she doesn’t shout or yell, and she doesn’t hit us. She doesn’t deserve to feel this way.”
“It’s fine, girls. I’m sure your mom will understand why you left without telling her once this is all over. Plus, if you two are lucky and defeat the boy before me and get the privilege of getting the Holy Grail, you’d be able to show her the wish you’d make too. So cheer up.”
Moe wiped her tears away before she and her sister nodded their heads.
“You’re right. There’s no need to cry when both us and our mother are about to become the greatest women in the world!” Moe joyfully said.

-A few minutes later-
Natalia had transformed and was carrying both Kiritsugu and Irisviel, along with her walker, to Mount Enzou. So far, none of the three had even seen anybody nearby, which made things significantly easier for all of them.
“I might be a little mistaken, but I believe we’re almost there.” The white haired woman calmly said. “The moment we make it to the temple, I assume we’ll be attacked by the last two remaining magical girls. And once we make it past them, Kyubey might have a little trick or two up his sleeve. Are you ready for anything that may happen?”
“Yes. I’m ready to get this competition over with and go back to living our normal lives… or lives that are as close to our old ones as they can get.” Irisviel said, smiling softly.
“Yes. I’m ready for this to come to an end. I’ll defeat the last few magical girls and Kyubey, protect Iri, and, if possible, have her use the Holy Grail.”
The white haired girl’s eyes widened at what she had just heard. She was speechless.
“Sounds like a plan! I’ll do my best to assist you in any way I can!” Natalia cheerfully said as she noticed an extremely lengthy flight of stone stairs in front of her.
As she got closer to them, she noticed two children and one grown woman sitting on the closest stair landing to the bottom. Natalia stopped right in front of the stairs and placed Kiritsugu, and Irisviel, as well as her walker, down on the ground. The two girls’ faces instantly lit up upon seeing the boy.
“Oh, you’re finally here! We were getting so tired of waiting for you!” Moa cheerfully said. “I want my wish already!”
The black haired boy’s eyes widened upon seeing the twins.
“T-They’re our opponents? T-These children?”
“We’ve already killed girls not much older than them. I don’t get why you’re getting so worked up over this.” Natalia coldly said as her eyes drifted toward Haruki.
“So you’ve finally made it.” The black haired woman calmly said as she stood up. “Before we start anything, what are your names? It’d only be right be right to know before we engage each other in combat.”
“My name is Kiritsugu Emiya. I’m your target. If you’re going to go after anyone, it should be me.” He calmly said as he pulled his mask off and placed it in his left pocket.
“I’m Irisviel von Einzbern. The girl Kyubey started this whole tournament for just to turn into a Witch.” She said, sounding somewhat tired.
“And I’m Natalia Kaminski, a professional assassin who lives for intrigue.” She said with a grin on her face.
“My name is Haruki Kurihara. I am the mother of two children, and I intend to win this war for my family’s sake!”
“Last but not least: I’m Moe Ichijyo!”
“And I’m Moe Ichijyo! And we’re,”
“twin sister!” The girls cheerfully said.
“Kiritsugu, hold nothing back toward the children. I’ll handle Haruki by myself!”
“You really want children with their whole lives ahead of them dead! Well then, if somebody has to die, the only one who will be doing so will be you!” Haruki shouted before jumping off the stair landing and falling toward the white haired woman.
Natalia wasted no time before raising her pistol and taking a shot at her enemy’s forehead. It zoomed through the air, but before it could reach her, a large blade of wind appeared in front of her and effortlessly cut the projectile in two. Natalia’s mouth went agape as Haruki landed in front of her. Before she could do anything, the black haired woman summoned a jet engine blade with a large black handle for her to hold onto and stabbed Natalia in the stomach with it. The white haired woman’s mouth filled with blood as Haruki wasted no time and threw a powerful kick straight at where the wound was, sending her flying away from her two friends. She didn’t say a single word and simply gave chase to her.
“NATALIA!” Kiritsugu screamed.
He turned around, but before he could do anything, Moe spoke up.
“Don’t pay attention to those two old hags!” She cheerfully said before summoning a skein of yellow yarn in her left hand.
Her sister did the same but with her right.
“Pay attention to only us!” The twins shouted in unison.

-
Natalia landed in the middle of an area filled with trees far away from Ryuudou Temple’s stairs. She stood up and pulled the jet engine blade out of her stomach before turning her head from left to right in search of Haruki. She was unable to find her. A few seconds later, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a huge blade of wind heading toward her. The majority of her body managed to avoid the attack by jumping to the right, but her arm wasn’t so fortunate and was sliced clean off from her shoulder. Before she could even react to what had happened, Haruki jumped down from the tree she was hiding in and grabbed Natalia by the neck. She wasted no time and slammed her into the tree behind her.
“I know you’re an assassin, and that line of work has undoubtedly desensitized you at the idea of killing anyone, but are you seriously suggesting Kiritsugu kill two magical girls who are also children? Not only are you going against two of our own, but you’re ordering him to murder two of society’s most defenseless and innocent members!” She shouted before pushing her through the tree with a powerful punch.
Sharp pieces of wood stabbed the white haired woman in the back, causing her to start to bleed heavily.
“Tell me, how much are they paying you?”
“Nothing. I’m doing this for free.” Natalia confidently responded as she stood up while her arm regrew. “I joined them for free because I thought helping them would be more interesting than fighting for some cup that I truly had no use for.” She summoned a gun and pointed it at Haruki. “I’ve come this far, and I don’t intend to abandon them anytime soon!”
“You truly are a monster then. I shall give you an ending befitting a creature hardly fit to be called a human such as yourself!” She shouted before rushing straight at her enemy.
Natalia took a shot at her forehead, and right as it was about to make contact with her, she moved it upward, allowing it to fall to the center of her head. Haruki quickly summoned another blade of wind at her projectile, effortlessly splitting it in half.
“I’ve figured out what your magic does! You can control whatever direction your bullet goes with your mind!” She shouted.
Natalia flashed a grin at her before running forward. The white haired woman rushed toward her, and despite being in the most optimal position for her to do so, Haruki didn’t attack her. This allowed her to throw a powerful punch at her jaw, causing her to be pushed back a few feet. The younger woman quickly ran at her enemy and jumped into the air.
“And I think I’ve figured out yours! You can summon blades of wind to cut apart anything, but if your target’s too close to you, you won’t be able to use your magic!” She shouted as she threw a kick at Haruki’s head.
The black haired woman raised her arms up to her face and blocked the attack, allowing her to grab onto Natalia’s left leg and spin her around several times before throwing her through multiple trees.
“You’re correct. However, you’re missing one key thing. I can create blades of wind directly in front of any object, but for a living thing, I must create them at least 9 feet away from it before sending it toward them.”
Natalia saw stars as she felt blood run down the back of her head and legs. One of the wooden shards had pierced her thigh, making it difficult to move quickly.
I can still win. If I can just get close to her, I’ll be able to win. Natalia thought as she began to limp forward.
“To create something like Origin Bullets, projectiles specifically designed to kill magical girls, is something inhuman. Do you not feel any shame or remorse for killing people similar to you?” Haruki asked as she summoned several blades of wind in front of her.
“Nope. If someone hired me to kill a person, I wouldn’t think twice about doing it, regardless of if they’re a man, woman, child, or even a magical girl.”
She gritted her teeth as she pointed at her opponent, launching her attacks straight at her. Natalia quickly summoned another pistol and shot seven bullets straight at the blades of wind. All of them collided with one another, destroying each other.
“Ever since I was a child, I was raised to be able to effortlessly and efficiently take the lives of others without any hesitation. However, up until a few days ago, I never actually killed anyone for free.” She said as she moved toward her enemy as quickly as she possibly could.
Once she was close enough to her, Haruki threw a powerful punch at her head, only for Natalia to grab her and pull her toward her, kneeing her in the stomach. With her enemy disoriented, Natalia quickly brought her gun to her enemy’s head. Before she could pull the trigger, Haruki grabbed onto her arm and effortlessly tore it off. She then summoned a jet engine blade and raised it toward her neck. Before she could stab her with it, Natalia used her arm, grabbed her hand, and managed to overpower her, lowering her blade until she managed to get Haruki to stab herself in the stomach with her weapon. The black haired woman let out a grunt before moving her head forward and headbutting her in the mouth, causing her to stumble backward.
“You’re only fighting for your own curiosity! You have no morals or deeper reasoning for wanting to kill me! Right now, if I hired you at the right price, would you kill Kiritsugu?”
Natalia went silent for a few seconds before speaking yet again.
“No. I won’t abandon Kiritsugu or Iri. I’m seeing this through to its end! Regardless of how much you pay me!”
“As will I! I’ll kill you, and then put down Kiritsugu while Moe and Moa keep him busy! For my sake and my family’s sake, I can’t afford to back down now!”
The two women stared at each other for several seconds before rushing at one another as quickly as they possibly could.
I just need to get one shot in, and I’ll win! She thought.
As they drew closer to each other, Natalia raised her gun and pointed it at Haruki’s head.
“THIS ENDS HERE!” The two women screamed in unison.
The black haired woman summoned another jet engine blade and swung it at Natalia’s neck as the white haired woman moved her fingers to her weapon’s trigger. Before either of the two could hit their opponent, Natalia was suddenly split in half from the waist down by a large, powerful blade of wind. Her eyes widened as she fell to the ground while bleeding profusely.
“I can’t attack someone directly while they’re close to me, but I can still create a projectile to hit them from afar. You underestimated my magic and overestimated your Origin Bullets’ effectiveness, resulting in your demise.” She turned around but didn’t begin walking away just yet. “You lived a life without morals or dedication. You only chased cash and your own curiosity. You lived an empty, pointless life and died an empty, pointless death far from your homeland in an area where nobody who you may care for will ever find you, if you even have anybody like that.”
Haruki began to walk away, but before she could leave, the white haired woman raised her gun to the back of her leg and shot her. The black haired woman’s eyes widened as she felt the Origin Bullet rip through all of the nerves in her leg before moving up her body.
“Y-YOU DEMON!” She screamed as she fell to the ground.
She tried to point at Natalia, but was unable to once the nerves in her arms were destroyed. Eventually, blood began to pour out of her mouth, nose, and eyes, and she stopped breathing.
“Haha… I knew I wouldn’t win… but… for their sakes… I fought you. Kiritsugu… Iri… don’t let my death… go to waste by stopping. Beat those girls… beat Kyubey… and go back to living the normal life you two deserve. Don’t let this… hold you back… mourn if you want… but don’t let your grief consume you… all right?” Natalia said with a soft smile on her face as she closed her eyes.

-Meanwhile-
“So those are our opponents? The man who Kyubey wants us to kill so badly looks like a hobo, and his girlfriend’s a cripple!” Moe laughed. “We should be able to make quick work of them!”
Kiritsugu raised his gun at them and began to shout.
“I don’t want to kill either of you! Go back home, and I’ll spare your lives!”
The twins brought their hands up to their mouths and burst into laughter.
“Do you really think we’d be willing to do that?” Moe laughed as she began to hold her sister’s free hand.
“We’ll kill you and,” Moa said.
“become the queens of the world!” They shouted in unison.
“What?” Irisviel asked.
“After we’re done with you, we’ll use the Holy Grail and become Earth’s sole leaders!” Moe cheerfully said as she spun around.
“That’s… a really childish reason to want to kill someone.” Kiritsugu said, lowering his gun slightly.
“No, it’s not. We can use the Holy Grail for anything we want, so why not use it for something that’d otherwise be impossible?” Moa asked.
“That’s true, but you could use your wish for something more grandiose that would help the entire world, like bringing about world peace or ending hung-“
“We can have all of those things and more done after we become Earth’s leaders!” Moe yelled, interrupting the white haired girl. “Enough with all of this talking! I’m tired and want to go back home to mom with the good news! Let’s get this over with already!” She shouted as she and her sibling grabbed their skeins by a loose yarn and launched them at Kiritsugu.
Irisviel quickly transformed, grabbed the black haired boy by his right arm, and then threw him into the air.
“KIRITSUGU! NOW!” She screamed.
The black haired boy took aim at Moa’s head and pulled down on the trigger. It zoomed through the air, and right as it was about to hit its target, the black haired girl raised the ball of yarn upward, causing the bullet to go through it. Not even a second later, the projectile quickly unraveled, causing the bullet to appear as if it were shavings from a pencil that had just been sharpened. This hit Moa in the face and simply bounced off her, not doing any damage to the girl whatsoever.
“Is that really all you’ve got? I always thought that guns were a coward’s weapon, but you’ll never be able to hit me with a measly little bullet!”
“You’ll pay for trying to hurt my sister!” Moe yelled as she launched her skein upward at Kiritsugu.
“NO!” Irisviel screamed as she summoned a shield and launched it into the sky.
It managed to get to Kiritsugu just in time, allowing the yarn to hit it instead of its intended target. Unlike the bullet, it rapidly shrunk into itself until it was nothing more than a tiny cube that the girls could hold in between their index and middle fingers. The black haired boy landed beside his friend and began to whisper in her ear.
“We need to get out of here. There’s no way we’ll be able to beat these girls while in their line of sight. Would you like me to carry you?”
Irisviel nodded her head, allowing for Kiritsugu to pick her up bridal style and run as quickly as he possibly could to his left.
“HEY! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?” Moe shouted as she pulled her skein of yarn back into her hands and jumped off the stair landing.
She quickly ran in the same direction that Kiritsugu had gone in.
“Wait! Don’t go without me!” Moa shouted as she pulled back on her skein, jumped off the stair landing, and chased after her sister.
Kiritsugu ran as fast as he possibly could away from the temple’s stairs. He quickly ran to a tree to his left, placed Irisviel over his left shoulder, and then climbed up it. Once the two of them were hidden, Kiritsugu began to whisper.
“From what I can tell, the one with a complete heart on her dress can ravel things, while the one with a broken heart can unravel them. If we fought them up close or anywhere near their fields of view, we’d never win. Our only chance of pulling out a win, outside of Natalia saving us, is by getting a sneak shot off.”
As the duo continued to hide, Moe and Moa were walking through the forest with their skeins in their hands. In case their target had climbed up any of the trees in an attempt to avoid them, they had used their magic on the ones to their sides. All of the trees on Moe’s left had been so compacted that they all looked like wooden squares, while everything on Moa’s right looked like it had been cut to ribbons.
“Seen anything of note?” Moa asked.
“Nope. I assume that if two humans were raveled, they’d sound like a bundle of twigs being crushed!” The black haired girl cheerfully said.
Moa’s eyes widened at her sister’s words.
“That girl is with our target. No matter what you do or what happens, separate her from him before you use your magic. We can’t afford to have her die right at the very end of this competition.”
“Got it.” Moe said as she continued walking forward.
Kiritsugu opened the tree he was in’s orange leaves slightly to be able to look at them. He pointed his gun’s barrel out from inside the leaves and took aim at the closest of the two girls. He took a deep breath as he moved his fingers onto the trigger, but before he could do anything, Moe spotted them and swung her skein at the tree, causing its cells to ravel and turning its body into a miniature, square object. As the tree slowly folded into itself, Kiritsugu was left with no choice but to grab onto Irisviel and jump out of their hiding place.
“You’re mine now!” Moa cheerfully said as she swung her skein at him.
“Do you know how to use a skateboard or a snowboard?”
“What? No.”
“Then you’ll have to learn quickly.”
Irisviel summoned one of her shields and dropped it beneath her friend’s feet. He landed on it and began to slide down the slope in front of him. He slipped his feet into the shield’s handle, preventing him from falling off his makeshift snowboard.
“HE’S GETTING AWAY!” Moe screamed as she chased after the two of them.
Moa quickly pulled back on her skein before chasing after her sister.
“I hope there’s a lake nearby. I have a plan that will give you ample time to flee and let you get at least one of them.” Irisviel murmured as she and her friend made their way down the slope and landed in the lake at the bottom of it.
The two of them were being pulled downstream by a steady current. A few seconds later, Moe and Moa appeared with their skeins in hand.
“All right! He has nowhere to go! Finish this now!” Moa shouted as she swung her skein downward.
Her sister did the same thing, but before the sisters could do anything, Irisviel put her hands on her friend’s chest and spoke up.
“Stop. If you hurt Kiritsugu, you’ll hurt me, and if that happens, Kyubey won’t let you use the Holy Grail.” She calmly said with a soft smile on her face.
The twins quickly stopped their attacks and moved back.
“Give my friend a few seconds to flee, and I’ll allow you to search for him.”
“Hey, that’s not-“
Moa raised her hand in front of her sister.
“All right. Neither my sister nor I will look for your friend in the next 10 seconds.”
“That’s perfect. Kiritsugu, leave me and run!”
“Are you sure?”
Irisviel nodded her head. Kiritsugu let go of her and began to run away as quickly as he possibly could to the trees behind them. The white haired girl fell to her knees, causing the twins to run over to her, pick her up, and bring her onto dry land.
“Are you all right?” Moa asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just that using my magic takes a lot out of me… and I’ve been using it nonstop for the past few days, so I’m kind of spent.”
“I see. Well then, just stay here. Once everything’s done, we’ll bring you to a hospital to have you taken care of.” Moe cheerfully said.
“You do look really thin. It’d be for the best if our first order of business after becoming the Earth’s queens is to have you-“
Before Moa could finish speaking, a pop echoed in the distance. A bullet zoomed toward her and hit her in the side of the head. The black haired girl fell to the ground as blood poured out of her wound, forming a red puddle beneath her.
“Your plan worked perfectly, Iri. I got one.” Kiritsugu gleefully said as he walked out from the tree he was hiding behind.
“M-MOA!” Moe screamed as she ran toward her sister’s side. “G-GET UP! S-SAY SOMETHING!”
She shook her body in an attempt to get her to respond, but to no avail.
“And now for the other one.” He calmly said as he pulled on the trigger and shot a bullet.
The projectile whizzed through the air, and right as it was about to hit Moe, she turned around, raised her skein, and hit the Origin Bullet, causing it to fold in on itself and become small and square.
“Y-You monster! Y-You killed my sister!” She shouted as she sobbed. “I-I won’t let you get away!” The black haired girl shouted as she rushed straight at Kiritsugu.
She swung her skein straight at his head, causing him to duck down.
“Join your sister, kid.” He calmly said as he pushed down on the trigger.
His bullet zoomed through the air and hit Moe in the stomach. Her eyes widened as she briefly felt every part of her body start to hurt. She tried to scream but was unable to as blood filled her mouth and it began to pour out of her ears and nose. Her body limply fell to the ground, and she stopped moving.
“Your plan worked out fantastically, Iri.” Kiritsugu cheerfully said as he walked over to his friend and picked her up. “Now that we’ve defeated the two of them, let’s go look for Natalia before we head into this mountain’s cave to talk with Kyubey.”

-A few minutes later-
Kiritsugu walked back to the stairs and went in the direction he last saw Haruki and Natalia.
“Have you seen her yet?”
“Nope. I just see a bunch of trees and-“
Kiritsugu went silent as he saw several fallen trees to his left. He began to run forward, causing Irisviel to speak up.
“Wh-What’s wrong? Why are you running?”
“We’re on the right track! Natalia has to be nearby!”
He ran for a handful of minutes until he reached an area with even more broken trees. Haruki’s corpse was lying face down on the ground, while Natalia bisected’s body lay across from her.
“N-NATALIA!” Kiritsugu screamed as he ran over to the corpse.
Irisviel turned her head and saw Natalia’s corpse. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she held onto Kiritsugu tighter.
“N-Natalia...” She sobbed.
“Natalia… I’m sorry. I-If I were just faster… or if Saber were still here… y-you’d still be alive.” Tears began to run down his cheeks. “Y-You died… Shirley died… Saber died… because I w-was weak! I-I c-couldn’t protect an-any of you, a-and now you’re gone too! I-I’m a failure! I’m a pa-pathetic failure w-who g-got each a-and every one of you k-killed to save his own skin!”
As the two of them sobbed, even more of the cross on Irisviel’s hat became darker, almost turning completely black.

Chapter Text

-20 minutes later-
Kiritsugu continued to kneel in front of Natalia’s corpse. He was sobbing profusely and was sniffling, while Irisviel was still crying, but was taking deep breaths and was significantly more calm than her friend.
“Kiritsugu… please calm down. We can’t s-stay here all day; w-we still have to fight against Kyubey and use the H-Holy Grail.”
“N-Natalia…” He barely managed to say through sobs.
“Yes… N-Natalia is gone. B-But I’m sure she wouldn’t want us to stay in front of her corpse and c-cry our eyes out.” She wiped her tears away. “She gave her life so that we could move on a-and fight Kyubey. She’d hate to see us crying our eyes out over her. It’d only be right if we did what she wanted and ended this competition.” The white haired girl tried to sound as positive as she possibly could as she wiped her friend’s tears away.
“Y-You’re right. N-Natalia wouldn’t want me to m-mourn her. S-She’d want me to fight Kyubey and avenge her! Yes! Shirley, Saber, Natalia, your deaths were all at the hands of that vile creature! I’ll kill him and avenge you all!” He shouted as he stood up. “Natalia… forgive me for being unable to save you. Rest easy now. I’ll end this all and be able to live a normal life like you would’ve wanted.”
Kiritsugu, who carried Irisviel in his arms, walked away from the area he was in.

-A few minutes later-
Kiritsugu went back to the stairs that led to a temple to get Irisviel her walker back. Once they had retrieved it, they turned to the left and walked down the side of the mountain to avoid encountering any people. They saw a huge opening in the base of the mountain
“Here it is. The cavern that Kyubey and the Holy Grail are hiding in. Are you ready to finish this?” Irisviel asked.
“Yes. We’ve killed and lost too many people to back down now. The only thing we can possibly do for them is to kill that damn Incubator!” He shouted as he pulled out his pistol from his holster.
“I’m ready to go back to living a normal life. Things will finally be able to go back to normal, or as normal as they could possibly be.” She said, taking a deep breath. “Things will certainly be different once this is all over… irreparably so… but we’ll get through it. We did it 3 years ago, and we’ll do it all again now.”
Irisviel moved her right hand and began to gently hold Kiritsugu’s free hand. The two of them began to walk forward. The duo saw nothing of note at first, but as they got closer to the cavern’s end, they began to see a sea of Incubators surrounding a gigantic golden goblet.
“They’re here.” Kiritsugu said as he raised his gun and pointed it at the feline standing in front of the Holy Grail. “We meet again, Kyubey. This time, you won’t be getting away!”
“Who are you talking about? I’m not Kyubey.” He said as he began to smile as widely as he possibly could. “Just kidding. That’s exactly who I am.”
Kiritsugu gritted his teeth.
“I’ve defeated all 7 magical girls who you sent after me, meaning I’ve won this competition! Step aside, and allow me to use the Holy Grail!”
“And why should I do that? I never promised you it if you managed to defeat the girls. Not even you living was promised, as I could easily send in another batch of magical girls who’d be more than eager to have you killed for the chance of having a second wish granted to them!”
Kiritsugu gritted his teeth as his fingers moved to the trigger.
“For countless years, you’ve been using young girls for your own selfish gain! That all ends today!” Irisviel shouted.
“For my own selfish gain? You don’t get it; neither of you do. I’m doing this for the universe’s sake, for the greater good. I’ve caused the deaths of countless people and the extinction of innumerable species throughout the millennia I’ve been alive for, all for the sole purpose of solving the universe’s heat death. That solution is right in front of my eyes, and I won’t allow two children to stop me! All that stands between me and my goal’s ends is your death, boy! The moment you’re slain, Irisviel will become a Witch, and the universe will be saved!”
“SHUT UP!” Kiritsugu screamed before pulling on the trigger.
“So you wish to fight, very well then! King Nabey, show yourself!”
The Incubators all moved aside as two of them pulled the Incubator king in front of Kyubey using the chains that were wrapped around him.
“Now, Lord Nabey, kill this boy and save the world!” He cheerfully said as he clapped his paws together, causing the mask on Nabey’s face to fall to the ground and shatter, allowing Kiritsugu and Irisviel to see his monstrous gaping maw filled with razor sharp teeth. He raised his left front claw and effortlessly sliced Kiritsugu’s Origin Bullet in two, causing it to fall to the ground beside him.
“The final battle’s starting! Go, King Nabey! I know you could do it!” One of the Incubators cheered.
“Show that troublesome boy no mercy! Use everything you’ve got against him and save the world!” Another Incubator yelled.
“If anyone can defeat that kid, it’s surely you!” A third one joined in.
Nabey let out an ear piercing roar that reverberated throughout the cavern before flying straight at Kiritsugu. The black haired boy shot three bullets at him, and just like before, the Incubator effortlessly tore through them with his powerful claws before landing in front of the duo.
“G-GET AWAY FROM US!” Irisviel screamed as she summoned a shield and threw it at the beast.
Her weapon hit it in its chest, but didn’t it seem to even faze the creature. Before her shield could hit the ground, Nabey grabbed it with its two front claws and effortlessly tore it in two before crushing them with ease. He wasted no time and swung his tail straight at Irisviel, sending her flying into the wall to his left while her walker remained in place beside Kiritsugu. She slid to the ground as her vision blurred from such a powerful attack.
“IRI!” Kiritsugu screamed as he ran toward his friend.
Before he could do anything, Nabey grabbed him with his front right claw, digging into his stomach and back and causing him to let out a grunt as blood leaked out of him. He then squeezed down on him to break several of the bones in his chest and back areas before launching him at the wall to his right. An impact crater formed around him as his vision blurred and he could hear ringing in his ears.
“Kirit…sugu…” Irisviel weakly said as she dragged her body toward him.
“Countless eons of research and experimentation have created for me a most fearsome guard dog who will do my bidding without a second thought, if he even has any more thoughts left in that sad little head of his. Now, Nabey, eradicate the boy and save the world!”
“NO! PLEASE DON’T!”
The Incubator king let out a powerful roar before swinging his tail at Kiritsugu, hitting him straight in the stomach and causing him to spit out blood.
“Iri…” He weakly said as he fell to the ground, landing face first in a puddle of his own blood.
He wasn’t moving, but he was still breathing, albeit faintly.
“Excellent job, King Nabey! And now, the universe shall be saved! Incubators, rejoice! Our long inhabitation of this planet is finally over! None of us will ever have to make another contract again!”
The Incubators that surrounded Kyubey broke into cheers and applause for their king’s effortless victory.
“K-KIRITSUGU!” Irisviel screamed as she began to crawl as quickly as she possibly could, only marginally moving quicker than before. “HOLD ON! I-I’LL HEAL YOU! PLEASE DON’T DIE ON ME!”
“Irisviel, the boy is dead. Stop wasting your time and energy on him.”
“NO! IT’S NOT OVER YET! I-I’LL GET TO HIM, H-HEAL HIM, A-AND WE’LL DEFEAT NABEY TOGETHER!”
“You are aware that if you use your magic once more, you may very well die, correct?”
“N-NO! I WON’T DIE, AND I WON’T LET KIRITSUGU DIE EITHER! I-I’LL SAVE HIM, A-AND WE’LL GO HOME TOGETHER JUST LIKE WE PROMISED!” Tears began to run down her cheeks.
“Pathetic. You know I’m right, and yet you run from the truth. The only thing you’re doing is setting yourself up for disappointment! What a childish way to view things!” He laughed.
As Kyubey mocked Irisviel, Nabey moved his head upward and let out a powerful roar. Once his voice had died down, he roared yet again. The Incubator kept roaring and roaring with no end in sight.

-
Kiritsugu opened his eyes and saw that he was in the same classroom he used to call his homeroom 4 years ago. He moved his head to look around the room, and while the rest of the students appeared to be in the right place, the desk in front of his and to his left were both empty. He turned his head and looked at the clock that was just above the doors on the right side of the room to check the time. He had a feeling that he was being watched, but he didn’t know what or who was making him feel like that, or if he was just imagining things.
“There are only a few minutes until class starts. I’m on time… but there’s something off about this.” He said as he closed his eyes and put his right hand on his chin.
As he tried to think about what was possibly wrong, his teacher, a short man in his early 50s whose hair had turned grey and who wore large round glasses, entered the room.
“Good morning, class. I’ve got a surprise for all of you today.” He cheerfully said as he walked behind his desk. “We’re getting two new foreign students today!”
“Foreigners? Can they speak English?” One of the students in the back of the room asked.
“What country are they from? If it’s some place like South Korea or China, I won’t be that enthused, but if they’re from America, Canada, or Great Britain, I’ll definitely be excited.” A girl who was sitting in front of the teacher’s desk cheerfully said.
“I’ll let the two of them explain everything to you.” He said as he extended his right arm toward the door.
A blonde, green eyed girl who had her hair tied and a red eyed girl with long white hair walked into the classroom.
“Guten morgen, everybody! My name is Irisviel von Einzbern!” The white haired girl cheerfully said as she wrote her name on the board behind her. “I’m thirteen years old, and I’ve lived in Germany my whole life. I can speak Japanese, German, and English.”
“My name is Artoria Pendragon.” The blonde said as she wrote her name on the board. “I’m from the UK, and I know how to speak English and Japanese. Nobody in my family knew how to speak the language, so I had to learn it by myself. Apologies if my words are a little incoherent or if I mix the meaning of two words up.”
The class began to talk amongst themselves about what they thought about the girls.
“That Irisviel girl is really hot. Maybe she could give me her number.” One of the boys in the back of the class said.
“She’s not giving you her number, bro. She doesn’t even know your name.” A friend of his, who sat at the desk in front of him, calmly responded.
“Well, she will soon!”
“Both of them know how to speak English? Maybe I could ask them for help with my English homework sometime later.” A girl who sat across the room from Kiritsugu said.
“How nice, two new students. I sure hope I get the chance to learn more about them soon.” Another girl who sat a few seats behind Kiritsugu said to a friend of hers who sat to her left.
“Everyone can talk with Artoria and Irisviel after the period ends. I’m gonna start teaching soon, so settle down.” The teacher calmly said.
“Um… sir, where should we sit?” Irisviel asked, turning to look at her teacher.
The man turned his head to look around the room. It didn’t take long until he found two empty seats next to Kiritsugu.
“You see the seats next to the black haired boy? Sit there. I assume you were doing similar things in your home countries as we are here, but if not, you’re more than free to ask either him or me for notes about what we were doing.”
“All right, thank you.” Saber said.
“Yes. Thank you for being so kind to us.” Irisviel said with a smile on her face.
The two girls turned around and walked to the desks their teacher told them to sit at. Kiritsugu simply stared at the two girls as tears welled up in his eyes.
W-What’s happening? Is this a dream? Was everything that happened over the past few years just a really long, elaborate dream? Maybe some premonition about things to come? If that’s the case, maybe I can change everything that happened before it can come to fruition! He thought to himself as Artoria and Irisviel were staring at him with concerned looks on their faces.
They were calling out to him, but he hadn’t responded, and for some reason, he randomly started smiling.

-A few hours later-
Although Kiritsugu eventually managed to snap back to reality, class had already started, so he had no chance to speak with either of the two girls. Their first period class ended earlier than usual so that the class could have a chance to speak with them and ask them questions, but before Kiritsugu could say a single thing, someone had already started speaking with them, and a large line that consisted of the entire class formed behind them, leaving him unable to say even a single word to them before the period ended. The other 3 periods went by as normal, and none of the teachers allowed anybody to speak to each other. Eventually, the lunch period arrived, and Kiritsugu sat in the cafeteria alone, eating a boxed lunch that his maid had made for him. He never bothered making friends with anybody, as he saw such a thing as a waste of time. He came to school for only one reason: to learn so that he could get himself a job that paid well like his father did. While he had people he was friendly with, and that he’d considered his acquaintances, he in truth didn’t have any friends, and he never had. At most, he could see himself gaining coworkers that he’d be very friendly with, but not to the point that he’d consider them friends. As Kiritsugu continued eating his food, Irisviel suddenly walked over to the table and sat in front of him with a smile on her face. She had a boxed lunch in her hands filled with German food such as veal schnitzel, a potato salad with sausage, and mashed potatoes.
“Hello, what’s your name?”
“It’s Kiritsugu Emiya. Why do you ask?”
“Well, you’re sitting next to me and Artoria during homeroom and first period, so I thought I’d use this opportunity to get to know you more.”
“Speaking of Artoria, where even is she?”
“She’s in line to get some food. She doesn’t know how to cook, so she didn’t bring anything for lunch and instead went to buy something.”
As the white haired girl finished speaking, the blonde walked over to table where the two of them were sitting.
“Look at who came back.”
“Irisviel, do you have any money on you?”
“Why do you ask?”
“…I kind of… sort of… forgot the money I was gonna use to buy food at home.” She said as a sheepish smile spread across her face.
“You’re out of luck then, because I didn’t bring anything with me.”
“Umm… you, guy with the black hair. Do you have any money I can use?”
“I do, but you better pay me it back tomorrow.”
“O-Of course I will! Now please hand over the money!”
“All right.” He said, not sounding very thrilled, as he pulled out two 500 yen coins from his pocket and handed them to Saber.
“Thanks! I’ll be sure to pay you tomorrow!” She cheerfully said before walking away.

-A few hours later-
Irisviel and Kiritsugu managed to talk for a little while, but after a few minutes, neither of them had anything to talk about, so the black haired boy and she went silent and continued eating their meals. When Saber returned from buying her lunch, she ate it in the blink of an eye before staying silent for the rest of the period. He still felt as if he was being watched, and he turned his head to look through the room, but he didn’t see anybody or anything staring at him, so he chalked it up to his imagination. Eventually, the school day ended, and Kiritsugu went home for the day. He quickly walked back to his house and saw Shirley standing on the porch, waiting for him as she usually did with a wide smile on her face.
“You’re finally back, Kiritsugu.” She cheerfully said as she walked over to the boy and hugged him tightly. “I made you lunch, so let’s head inside and enjoy it.”
Tears began to well up in the black haired boy’s eyes as the brunette held him tightly.
“Shirley…” He quietly said.
“What’s wrong? Did a cat get your tongue?” She jokingly asked.
“No, it’s nothing. Let’s just head inside and enjoy our meal.” His voice’s tone grew much more chipper as he turned to look at Shirley with a smile on his face.
The two of them turned around and walked into the Emiya household. They entered the kitchen, saw a myriad of Filipino dishes on the table, and took a seat across from one another. Despite nobody other than Shirley being here, he still felt as if he was being watched.
“This food looks great!” Tears began to run down his cheeks, yet his smile remained unchanged.
“Kiritsugu? Y-You’re crying…”
“Shirley… Saber… Natalia… I’d love nothing more than to return to these idyllic, uneventful days. I took them for granted… but these days were truly the happiest. I could probably stay here for the rest of my life, reliving these days and changing any events that brought me sorrow, but that won’t do anybody any good. Fleeing from reality to distract me from its harshness when Irisviel needs me most… would devastate her. That’s why I need to get out of here.”
“What are you talking about, K-Kiritsugu? You’re not making any sense!”
“Shirley, I love you. If possible, I’d do anything to bring you back. But I need to move forward. I need to help the people who are still alive before I can mourn over everyone I’ve lost! That’s why you can come out now, Incubator!” Kiritsugu shouted as he turned his attention to the cat-like shadow beneath him.
An Incubator who appeared to be a bit smaller and younger than Kyubey emerged from the shadow and climbed onto the table.
“About time you figured out what was going on. I was getting kind of tired of following you around and watching you get all sad over the past.”
Suddenly, the familiar scenery around him vanished and was instead replaced with a night sky filled with stars. Beneath him was a gigantic expanse of water that went for as far as he could see with no solid land in sight.
“Where are we?”
“We’re in a private area for the two of us to talk. I used my powers to have you relive the day you met your friends as a sign of goodwill and have been meaning to bring you here since I knocked you out, but you got way too emotional and distracted for any sort of actual discussion to be possible.” The feline said as he sat down beside the boy. “Have a seat.”
Kiritsugu did as told and began to speak.
“What did you bring me here to talk about? Are you going to try to explain to me why I should kill myself and give Irisviel the Holy Grail?”
“No.” He said, sounding dead serious. “That’s something that trickster successor of mine would suggest, but I’d never tell anybody to do that, no matter how dire the situation is. I’m here to discuss what you should do to kill both me and Kyubey.”
“You wish to die?”
Nabey turned his head.
“I practically died millennia ago. I still retain some semblance of consciousness, but that wretched, monstrous body is mostly under the control of Kyubey, serving him to its utmost.” He let out a bitter chuckle. “To think that I was once a king and have degenerated to nothing more than an uncanny guard dog.”
“I see. I’ll try to help you get what you want, but fair warning, I’m just a normal guy. I’m not nearly as strong as even the weakest of magical girls.”
“Yes, I’m more than aware of that. After all, I am the person who knocked you out so that I could speak with you. In an all out battle, you’d never be able to so much as leave a scratch on me. However, if I hold myself back as much as I physically can, you might be able to kill me, or at least kill Kyubey. Once you wake up, I’ll use my powers to heal you and then try to hold myself back, giving you more than enough time to attack Kyubey. If I try to kill you, please bring an end to me. Even if you are unable to kill me, I at least want Kyubey to die. He’s hurt countless people and destroyed countless civilizations all to solve the universe’s heat death. If Irisviel becomes a Witch and releases so much energy that the universe’s heat death is prevented, which, from what I’ve sensed seems very likely, there’s no telling what he’ll do after his goal’s completed. Knowing him, I doubt he’ll just retire or rule peacefully for the rest of his existence. Him just being alive is a danger to all living beings. Once he’s out of the picture, the Holy Grail will be yours for the taking. Use it for anything you want. You more than deserve it after everything you’ve gone through.”
“I’ll try my best to ensure your wishes are brought to fruition, King Nabey.”
The Incubator softly smiled.
“Thank you. You’ll be waking up in a few seconds. The moment you wake up, make a break for it straight toward Kyubey and the Holy Grail.”
“Gladly.” He enthusiastically said as he began to stand up.

-
Irisviel was still dragging her body across the cave’s floor. She was nowhere near Kiritsugu, despite using every last ounce of strength left in her body.
“Please! Just hold out a little longer! Kiritsugu, I’m going to save you!” She shouted as she reached her hand out to the boy.
As if her prayers were answered, a white rune appeared beneath Kiritsugu and healed his injuries.
“Huh?”
“WHAT?” Kyubey screamed, his smile vanishing and his eyes widening.
The black haired boy’s injuries healed nearly instantly after the rune appeared beneath him. He opened his eyes and stood up a few seconds afterward, pointing his gun straight at Kyubey.
“Kyubey, I won’t let you get away with everything you’ve done!” He yelled as he ran straight at the cat.
“H-How are you still alive?” He shouted as he ran into the sea of Incubators, using their bodies as cover. A good portion of the Incubators ran away from their leader and toward the cavern’s exit. “No matter! As long as I can get to Nabey, I’ll emerge victorious!”
“Kiritsugu, what happened? How are you okay after all of that?” Irisviel asked as she wiped her tears away and a smile spread across her face.
“I’ll explain everything that happened later! Right now, we’ve got an Incubator to slay!” He shouted as he shot three bullets into the crowd of felines.
The rows of Incubators moved away from the projectiles, allowing for none of them to even be grazed by the bullet. At the same time, Kyubey ran out from the crowd and headed toward Nabey.
“How dare you go against my orders! No matter; one of the first experiments I ever conducted on you was to nullify this possibility! Together, we shall eradicate Kiritsugu Emiya and save the world!” Kyubey yelled as he jumped at his king.
Nabey let out a powerful roar that echoed throughout the cavern before taking flight and soaring straight at Kyubey. He opened his mouth wide, and right as he was about to bite down on him, bright light began to emerge from both of their bodies as they merged together. Their body grew exponentially large, causing their front legs to appear more like arms, and their mouth became less draconic and more human-like but was still filled to the brim with razor sharp teeth. Its tassels split open, gaining three spike-like edges to it, and two tails with teeth-like objects coming out of the edges.
“KIRITSUGU EMIYA, I’VE WAITED COUNTLESS MILLENNIA FOR THIS MOMENT AND TOOK THE LIVES OF ALL THOSE WHO STOOD AGAINST ME! I WILL NOT LET SOME BOY WHO SHOULD’VE DIED AN INNUMERABLE TIMES OVER UNDO EVERYTHING I’VE BEEN WORKING TOWARD!”
“Countless young girls died as a result of your plan, countless civilizations fell and species were wiped out, and countless of your own men died to further that vile system you’ve spent your whole life perpetuating! The only life your magical girl system will be taking will be yours! I won’t let you turn Irisviel into a Witch!”
Kyubey let out a powerful roar as he turned around and slammed his tail onto the ground, sending a shockwave throughout it. Kiritsugu managed to jump over the attack before raising his gun and taking aim directly at the beast’s head.
“Die.” Kyubey gleefully said as several golden rings that were identical to the ones that encircled his tassels appeared in front of him.
They moved slightly downward, causing them to hit the floor under Kiritsugu instead of actually hitting him.
“YOU LITTLE BRAT!” Kyubey screamed as he slammed his claws into the ground.
“Watch out!” Irisviel shouted as she summoned a shield and threw it at her friend.
Her weapon hit him in the stomach, launching him away from the claw-like stakes that emerged from the ground. Once Kiritsugu landed on the ground, he took aim and shot Kyubey straight in the stomach. The beast let out a roar as his wound quickly healed itself.
“HOW COULD YOU BE SO SELFISH TO WANT TO STOP ME FROM SOLVING THE UNIVERSE’S HEAT DEATH?” He screamed as he opened his mouth wide and shot a gigantic beam at the boy.
Kiritsugu jumped to the left of the attack and shot him in the left back leg, causing him to lean forward. He attempted to heal his leg, but for some reason, he couldn’t.
“I simply don’t care about what happens millennia after I and my friend are gone! I just want to go back to living a normal life!”
“ENOUGH OF THIS! IT DOESN’T MATTER IF I HAVE TO DESTROY THIS ENTIRE MOUNTAIN JUST TO KILL YOU! I DIDN’T WANT TO DO THIS, BUT YOU AND NABEY HAVE LEFT ME WITH NO OTHER CHOICE!” He screamed before opening his mouth as widely as possible.
Suddenly, a few of the Incubators standing around the Holy Grail began to fall down, and clear, see-through Incubator-like lights began to fly into his mouth.
“L-Lord Kyubey, what’s-“
Before the Incubator could finish speaking, they fell to the ground, and the Incubator-like light flew into Kyubey’s mouth. In just a matter of seconds, thousands of millions of the same lights began to fly into his mouth.
“I’ve even experimented on myself in case I ever met an opponent like you!” He shouted as the lights flew into his mouth.
He closed his maw for a few seconds and attempted to open it, but for some reason, he was unable to.
Wh-What? He thought.
“YOUR REIGN ENDS HERE!” Kiritsugu screamed as he shot an Origin Bullet directly at Kyubey’s head.
The beast’s eyes widened as it fell forward, causing a massive thud that echoed throughout the cave. Yet again, he attempted to heal his wound but was unsuccessful. Kyubey tried to move, but Nabey would not allow him to. The black haired boy let out a deep breath as he placed his gun in his holster and turned away from him. He walked over to Irisviel, picked her up, and placed her over his shoulder.
“It’s over, Iri… we won. We beat Kyubey… and we won the Holy Grail.” He said, tears welling up in his eyes as he hugged her.
“Yes… it’s finally all over. W-We get to go home. W-We get to live peacefully again.” She cheerfully said as she hugged him back.
As the two of them embraced, Kyubey glared at them with gritted teeth. Kiritsugu paid him no mind and walked toward the Holy Grail.
“Kiritsugu Emiya… I thought this plan was perfect… flawless… and yet you managed to not just best me, but every single magical girl who stood in your way. I can’t help but applaud you.” He weakly said. “If you kill me, there will be many magical girls who will rejoice at the news of my death and celebrate it with their friends and family. However, there will be many who will despise you for it and may attempt to hunt you and Irisviel down. If I die, you will never get a normal life and will be in constant danger. What will you do, boy?”
Kiritsugu didn’t say a single word as he and Irisviel stood in front of the cup.
“Maybe that’s the case, but we’ll get through it. We got through when Shirley became a vampire, when Saber died, this entire competition; we’ll get through whatever life throws at us together!”
Kiritsugu nodded his head as he gently grabbed Irisviel’s left hand and began to move it toward the grail. He managed to bring it mere inches away from it before she moved her arm back and grabbed onto her friend’s wrist, pulling it forward and allowing him to make contact with the Holy Grail.
“I-Iri.”
“If anyone deserves this wish, it’s you. Please use the grail to make whatever you want come true.”
“All right.” He turned his head to glare at Kyubey. “Kyubey, I have no idea what you did to get rid of magic from regular people, but using this Holy Grail, I’ll make it so that anyone can use magic if they so please!”
“YOU BASTARD!” Kyubey screamed.
He extended his neck and attempted to tear him apart, but he was unable to come close to him.
Irisviel softly smiled at his friend’s wish. The Holy Grail let out a flash of light before the light coming from inside it dissipated. Without saying a single word, Kiritsugu pulled his gun back out of its holster and shot seven bullets at it. The projectiles effortlessly chipped the grail into seven pieces, and with it broken, it quickly shrunk in size. He grabbed the fragments of the grail and placed it in his pocket before turning to look at the Incubator. Kyubey was at a loss for words and couldn’t do a single thing except glare at his enemy and grit his teeth.
“Kyubey, since the very start, you’ve done nothing but lie, betray, and kill to get your way! A creature like you deserves worse, but it’s better to get rid of you here and now than to prolong your punishment and risk you escaping!”
“Very well! Just don’t say I didn’t warn you, Kiritsugu!”
The boy pulled down on the trigger, firing another Origin Bullet at his head. This one managed to go straight through his head. Nabey’s lips formed a soft smile as his head fell to the ground. Kiritsugu put his pistol back into his holster before reaching into his pocket and putting on the mask Natalia had gotten for him.
“We’re done here, Irisviel. It’s time for us to leave.”
The white haired girl nodded her head as her friend began to walk away with her in his arms.

-30 minutes later-
Kiritsugu brought Irisviel to her walker, and the two of them left the cavern. Once the two of them exited it, they immediately headed for the hospital. This required them to go into town, and while Kiritsugu was wearing a mask to hide his identity, he was still worried somebody would recognize him and report him to the authorities. The city had changed a lot since he had gone into hiding. Many small businesses had either shut down and were replaced by bigger brand stores or had rebranded. There were many new, more modern buildings built as well, which served as offices, grocery stores, and clothing stores. Some of the areas that were once devoid of light during the night, such as the park and the bridge, gained street lights. Eventually, the two of them made it to the hospital. The two of them stood in front of the entrance as Kiritsugu began to speak.
“Irisviel, I’m gonna go back to the castle so that nobody starts to get suspicious about me. Go inside and try to see if they’ll have you treated.”
“All right. I assume you won’t be able to visit me then.”
His eyes veered down toward the ground.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I will.”
“It’s okay, Kiritsugu. Once I get out of the hospital, the first thing I’ll do is head straight to the castle. So keep the place tidy and make me something yummy to eat when I get back, okay?”
“I’ll be sure to.” Kiritsugu calmly said before turning around and walking away from his friend.
Once he was out of her field of view, Irisviel walked forward, causing the hospital’s doors to open, and entered the building.

-Many hours later-
By the time Kiritsugu made it to the Einzbern Castle, the sun was starting to set. He opened the front doors and stepped inside only to be greeted by absolute silence, not too dissimilar from the very little noise of the forest. He walked upstairs and then went down the hallway until he had reached his room’s door. He opened it, stepped inside, and then closed the door.
“Shirley… Saber… Natalia… it’s over. W-We did it. We won.” Kiritsugu calmly said as tears began to well up in his eyes. “W-We beat Kyubey… used the Holy Grail… an-and get to live another day. Y-Yes, w-we get to live the lives the three of you never got to.” Tears began to run down his cheeks. “I-I’m sorry. This is all my fault. I-It’s all my fault you died. I-I don’t deserve t-to be alive anymore than th-the three of you, b-but I won’t let your sacrifices go to w-waste. I-I have to keep on living a-and be happy, if not for myself, t-then for the three of you.” He sobbed.

-The next day-
Kiritsugu woke up. He sat up from his bed, stood up, and quickly walked out of his room. He made his way to the dining room and then entered the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and saw that the only thing he had was half a carton of eggs.
“Well, I don’t have many options on what I could make for myself. These eggs will have to carry me for the entire day.” He said as he grabbed the carton and walked away from the refrigerator.

-Half an hour later-
Kiritsugu walked out of the room with a plate of tamagoyaki, a bowl of rice, and a spoon and fork in his hands. He walked to the kitchen table and took the closest seat to the dining room doors. He quickly set his food and silverware in front of him before grabbing the fork and stabbing the tamagoyaki with it. The black haired boy brought it to his mouth and began to chew. As he ate, his eyes quickly moved around the room. He had an odd feeling that someone was going to knock down the wall and head straight for him or run down the hallway and jump at him, but that didn’t happen. This feeling persisted throughout the entirety of his meal, and he was prepared to pull his gun out and shoot anyone who dared to come near him. Eventually, he finished his meal and went back to the kitchen to wash the dishes. Once he was done with that, he exited the kitchen and dining room and walked to the library and entered it. He closed and locked the door, walked to the bookshelf to the left of the chair, and pulled out a random book that he hadn’t read yet. Before he opened it, he walked over to the window and peeked outside to make sure there wasn’t anybody there, which appeared to be the case. Still, the idea that there was somebody watching him from afar and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike didn’t leave his mind. In an attempt to get himself to stop thinking about that, he opened the book he held in his hands, sat down in the chair, and wasted no time in beginning to read.

-2 weeks later-
Irisviel entered the Einzbern Castle holding four plastic bags full of food and returned to her regular form. She still looked incredibly skinny, but she was now able to walk properly, and she no longer had migraines or blurry vision. She made her way up the stairs and quickly, yet quietly, walked down the hallway until she made it to the kitchen. She placed the food on the table before going to the library. The white haired girl opened the door to it and stepped inside.
“Surprise, Kiritisugu! Look who’s-“
The black haired boy, who was previously reading a fantasy novel, quickly placed it to the side and pulled his gun out of its holster and pointed it directly at the intruder.
“K-Kiritsugu! Calm down, it’s me, Irisviel!”
“I-Iri…” He said, sounding shocked as he put the gun back into its holster. “I-I’m so, so sorry! I didn’t know you were going to show up so suddenly! I-I thought y-you were a magical girl who came here to kill me!” He shouted.
“It’s fine. It was just a little mistake.” The white haired girl said as she walked over to her friend and hugged him tightly.
Now that she was much closer to him, she could see that his eyes were red and that he had heavy bags under his eyes.
“You haven’t gotten much sleep? Have you?”
“No. I’m worried that a magical girl will break into the castle and kill me, so I’ve been on edge the last few weeks. Enough about me. Are you okay now? You still look dangerously thin, but you’re walking normally, and you sound fine.”
“I spent the last two weeks getting a ton of blood transfusions. Apparently, I was really low on blood and incredibly anemic while also dangerously underweight. They did a bunch of tests on me to see what was causing all of these things but couldn’t find anything. The doctors even asked if I was anorexic or if I had body image issues, which I obviously told them that I didn’t. While I was at the hospital, they tried to feed me double what they usually give girls my age staying there so that I could gain weight. After all the blood transfusions, I was discharged from the hospital, and the doctors just told me to eat more than usual so that I can regain all the weight I lost. So, I bought us a ton of food that I left on the table in the kitchen.” She cheerfully said as she let go of her friend.
“Really?”
The white haired girl nodded her head.
“Since you haven’t been able to get any groceries in two weeks, I assumed you’d be low on food, so I got us a bunch of things so we wouldn’t starve. I’ll buy you groceries tomorrow, but for now, let’s just go eat!” She said as she grabbed her friend’s hand.
The two of them walked out of the library and made their way to the kitchen.

-Many hours later-
Kiritsugu and Irisviel ate their breakfast at the table. Despite meeting her for the first time in 2 weeks, the black haired boy didn’t have much to say about her as he was just doing what he usually did when he was alone in the castle, which was read book after book. Meanwhile, Irisviel explained everything that had happened while she was at the hospital, such as all of the tests they put her through, how friendly the staff was, and how unpleasant the food was. Kiritsugu didn’t really know what to say to all of this, so he just nodded to everything she said. Once they were done with their meal, Kiritsugu went back to reading in the library until the sun had set and night had fallen. At around eleven and a half, Kiritsugu finished his last book for the day, placed it back on the bookshelf, and then went back to his room. He tried to fall asleep, but just like the past two weeks, he was unsuccessful. He sat up and stared out of the window to his right but could barely see anything due to the lack of light outside, making it nearly impossible to see if anyone was hiding in the bushes or trees. As he continued staring outside, he heard a knock at the door.
“Kiritsugu, may I come in?”
“Of course, Iri.”
The white haired girl opened the door, stepped inside, and closed it. She walked over to Kiritsugu’s bed and began to lie down next to him.
“You said you had trouble sleeping, so let me take care of you. If I see or hear anyone nearby, I’ll transform and fight them off with everything I’ve got!” She cheerfully said.
“You don’t have to do this. You just got out of the hospital. You should be trying to get some rest, not staying up to protect someone like me. Besides, if a magical girl did try to attack me, all it’d take is a single shot to put her out of commission.” He calmly said.
“You might be right, but you’ve been protecting me ever since I was left unable to fight. I want to repay the favor to you as much as I can.“
She began to hold Kiritsugu’s hands as her head slowly moved down toward his.
“No. Since we’re both capable of protecting one another, let’s do exactly that. I don’t want to see you get hurt or end up like you did at the end of the Incubators’ competition ever again.”
“Neither do I. For as long as I live, let me be your shield.”
“And let me be your sword. To defend you as much as I possibly can using the little power I have.”
The two of them gently kissed each other on the lips. Once Irisviel moved away from him, she began to lie down, allowing Kiritsugu to get on top of her.
“I want to protect you for as long as I live.”
“And I want to be with you for the rest of my life.” She softly said as she wrapped her arms around him.

-A month later-
Irisviel was in the bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror above the sink. She looked overjoyed, and her hands were on her stomach.
“Kiritsugu! Come to the bathroom! I need to speak with you about something important!”
“I’m coming!” He shouted as he got up from his chair in the library.
He quickly exited the room and ran down the hallway until he reached the bathroom where Irisviel was waiting for him with the door open.
“Is everything all right?”
“Yes, it’s actually about the two of us.. and our future together.”
Kirirsugu raised an eyebrow.
“What do you mean?”
“Well… this month, my period was late. I was hesitant on telling you about it because I wanted to get a pregnancy test before jumping to any rash conclusions, as a sudden decrease or increase in weight could cause a late period. So, earlier today, I went to the store and bought one. It turns out I’m pregnant.” She cheerfully said as she opened her right hand, revealing a positive pregnancy test in it.
“W-We’re going to be parents?”
“Yes! Isn’t it wonderful?”
“I don’t know what to feel. I’m not opposed to being a parent, especially with you, but we’re both so young. You still have your whole life ahead of you. Sure, you don’t need to work a single day in your life thanks to your family’s wealth, but don’t you have dreams and aspirations you want to work toward? A child is a huge responsibility and would undoubtedly at least have caused them to be held back for a little bit.”
“That might be true, but I’m rich. I could hire a nanny to care for our baby if I really wanted, not saying it’d be best for all of us, of course. And if you really wanted, you could care for them while I continue going to school. That way you won’t be so lonely when I’m gone.”
“I can’t believe I’m going to be a father. This feels so unreal, and yet I’m excited.” He smiled as he took Irisviel into his embrace. “I know we’re young, and that my father wasn’t the best, but I want to do everything I possibly can to be by our child’s side so that they grow up knowing they’re loved and cherished by both of their parents.”

-A month later-
Kiritsugu opened his eyes and saw that it was still late outside. The sky was dark, and the sun was nowhere in sight. Lying beside him was Irisviel, who was sleeping peacefully. He gently put his left hand on her head before standing up and walking out of the bedroom. He quietly opened the door, stepped out of the room, and closed it as quietly as he possibly could. He made his way down the hallway toward the bathroom, but before he could get close to it, he heard a window in the library shatter. The black haired boy went silent as he hurriedly, yet quietly, made his way toward the source of the noise. Once he was at the door, he gently opened it to not make too much noise and peeked inside of the room only to see a girl with light green hair who was wearing a light orange dress with black stockings and black heels standing in front of the bookcase to the left of the rocking chair with a mystery novel in her hands.
“I knew this place would be loaded!” She cheerfully said with a wide smile on her face. “I could probably sell all of these books at a high price. If just one room has all of this valuable stuff, I can only imagine what else is in this-“
Before the girl could finish speaking, Kiritsugu suddenly grabbed her by the throat with his left hand, squeezed down on it as tightly as he possibly could, and pinned her against the bookshelf, leaving her unable to move or breathe. In his right hand was his gun.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?” He coldly asked as he pointed his weapon at her head.
Her eyes widened as she stared at Kiritsugu.
“W-Wait a minute! You’re that guy who killed the Incubators, aren’t you?” She shouted.
“How do you know about that?” His voice grew louder.
“M-My Incubator t-told me about a b-boy who looked j-just like you who was f-fighting against K-Kyubey, and to go help him as quickly as I possibly could!”
Kiritsugu gritted his teeth as he brought his gun up to her chin.
“WHO ELSE DID THAT CREATURE TALK ABOUT?”
“N-Nobody else! H-He only talked about you, I p-promise!”
“I see.” He said, taking a deep breath. “Tell me what you’re doing here, and I may release you.”
The girl went silent for a few seconds before speaking.
“I-I’m a little down o-on my luck at the moment, s-so I came to this forest to look for something valuable I-I could sell. I-I never could’ve i-imagine running into a castle w-with you of all people-“
“Liar.” He calmly said as he pulled on his gun’s trigger.
He shot an Origin Bullet through her jaw, causing it to go straight through her brain, killing her instantly. Kiritsugu threw her corpse to the floor before placing his pistol back into his holster and turning around. Before he could exit the room, Irisviel ran to the door.
“Kiritsugu, what happened?” She asked. “I heard you and someone else shouting, and then a gun being shot. Is everything okay?”
“It happened. It finally happened.” He frantically said as tears began to well up in his eyes. “A magical girl came to the castle with the intention of killing me. I managed to shoot her with an Origin Bullet, but if one already tried to take my life, there will undoubtedly be more magical girls on their way to kill me soon.”
Irisviel’s eyes widened as she raised her right hand up to her mouth.
“What do you plan to do about this?”
“If any more magical girls show their damn faces at this castle, I’ll kill all of them if I have to! It doesn’t matter how many girls in Fuyuki have to die! I’ll do whatever it takes as long as it’s to keep you and our child safe!” He shouted.
The two of them stood in silence for several seconds before Kiritsugu put his right hand on his forehead and shook his head. “No, that’d never work. Every time a magical girl comes to this place, you and our baby will be put in danger, regardless of whether I manage to defeat them or not. And going to Fuyuki and back to fight against them before they can do anything would take far too long. That’s not to that mention magical girls potentially all over the world may know of me, and my Origin Bullets are limited. Even if I learn how to use magic, I’ll be at a big disadvantage compared to them, as I won’t be anywhere near as physically strong or as fast as them. So, if I try to fight against them, I’ll eventually lose, and you’ll be put in harm’s way. That’s why instead of fighting each and every magical girl, I should leave Japan.”
“T-Tell me you’re joking. You can’t really be planning to do something so drastic all of a sudden.”
“It’s either this or continuing to fight here until I die, which would result in you and our child being put in danger and them growing up without a father. If I went to say, America, the magical girls would lose track of me for a little while, giving me some time to figure out how to use magic, and neither you nor our child would be targeted by magical girls.”
“You have a point… plus, if you went to America, you’d be able to finish your schooling and start any career of your choosing. And with my family’s money, I’m sure I’d be able to hire the greatest tutors in the country to help you get back on track and become even more knowledgeable than other boys your age.“ Tears began to well up in her eyes as she moved her head downward. “I know that this is for our own good… but can you at least call or text me every once in a while? I’ll be lonely without you or any of our friends.”
“I’ll try to as often as I can, but I might not always be able to so that the magical girls who are after me don’t find out about you or our child.”
Irisviel walked over to Kiritsugu and hugged him tightly.
“If that’s your choice, then I won’t stop you. I’ll help you forge all the papers you’ll need so that you can get to America and be able to deny any association to what happened with your father.”
“Thank you, Iri.” He gently said as he kissed her on the forehead.

-7 months later-
Kiritsugu was walking down the hall of the hospital Irisviel was in. A few days after the magical girl broke into his house, he had packed up his belongings and moved to America. Irisviel returned to her house, where she stayed for the remainder of her pregnancy. Under the name Kerry Emoto, Kiritsugu moved to Florida, where he was taught by the best tutors Irisviel could find. Thanks to them, he was able to start 11th grade in no time without needing to finish grades 8-10. Although he hadn’t seen a magical girl since the day one had broken into the library, he was always keeping an eye out for them by checking outside windows anytime he was near them, staring at the road to see if any cars of the same model and color passed by them, and making sure any teenage girls didn’t act weirdly around him. Many nights, he’d stay up late in case any magical girls came to attack him, which would cause him to only get a handful of hours of sleep. Eventually, the day his and Irisviel’s child was due came. He boarded a plane to go to Japan the day prior and stayed at a hotel for the night. He woke up at around 7 in the morning and went straight to the hospital. He made his way to the room his girlfriend was in, opened the door to it, and stepped inside to see Irisviel lying in bed with a white haired baby girl who was wrapped in a purple bundle in her arms.
“Kiritsugu.” She softly said as a wide smile spread across her face. “You really came.”
“Of course I would. Did you really expect me to not come visit my daughter on the date of her birth? I might be a bad boyfriend and an even worse father, but I’m not completely heartless.” He joked as he walked toward the two of them.
Irisviel allowed him to hold the baby, and he carefully placed her head on his left arm while his right arm supported her bottom. Tears began to well up in his eyes as he stared at her.
“She’s so adorable, wouldn’t you agree? So small and delicate. If you saw her with your eyes open, you’d see that her eyes look just like yours.”
“Do you have a name for her?”
“Yes. Illyasviel. I initially wanted her surname to be Emiya, but for reasons that should be obvious to us, I had to settle with giving her my middle name and surname.”
“Illyasviel von Einzbern. I’m glad you were born, and I’m thankful to be your father. Even if I’m not around or am unable to contact you and Iri, I want you to know something. I will always cherish the two of you.” He smiled as tears ran down his cheeks.

Chapter Text

-Present-
Tears began to well up in Illya’s eyes as she moved her head down.
“D-Dad…” She said while sniffling. “I’m sorry!”
The white haired girl ran at her father and hugged him tightly. “I-I never th-thought you’d l-left us for a reason like that! I-I’m sorry I-I was so horrible to y-you!”
Kiritsugu softly smiled at his daughter as he put his right hand on her head.
“It’s all right, Illya. I understand why you assumed the worst, and I don’t blame you for the way you felt and acted. I deserved every ounce of your hatred for never once-“
“I-It wasn’t your f-fault! Y-You had no choice b-but to di-distance yourself f-from us!” She sobbed as she buried her face into his chest.
Tears began to form in the black haired man’s eyes.
“I-I made you two worry s-so much j-just because I-I wanted t-to hurt you, dad!”
Irisviel walked over to her daughter and hugged her.
“Please don’t cry. Like your father said, you couldn’t have known about this, and the chances of you assuming this was the reason he refused to contact us instead of him simply cheating on me were slim to none. At least now you know why we were worried about you going out at night.”
She nodded her head as she wiped her tears away.
“D-Dad, m-mom, I-I’m so sorry I made y-you two worry about me. Ca-Can you find it in you-yourselves to forgive me?”
“Of course. I couldn’t ever bring myself to get mad at you over something like this. I’m just glad you’re safe and not a “true” magical girl or being threatened by one.” Kiritsugu wiped the tears away from his eyes as he turned to look at the window beside his wife’s bed. “I’ve rambled on for so long that it’s already night. Sella made dinner for you earlier, but she put it in the fridge since you weren’t here. If you’re hungry, you can go downstairs and eat.”
“All right, dad.” She said before letting go of her father, turning around, and walking out of the room.
Once she had left, Kiritsugu turned to look at Irisviel.
“I wonder if I should’ve kept going… or if it’s better to keep her in the dark about what happened after she was born.”
Irisviel put her arm on her husband’s left shoulder.
“Illya doesn’t need to know anything about that. She was already sobbing after hearing everything we’ve gone through. I can’t imagine her reacting much better to something directly involving her. But if she ever gets curious about that, she can always ask me about it.”

-A few hours later-
Rin was lying in bed on her back, staring at the ceiling. It was incredibly dark outside, so she pulled her phone out from under her pillow and turned it on to look at the time.
“It’s almost midnight. I guess I should head to Illya’s house, but I don’t really feel like going out to look for a Class Card tonight, and I doubt that Illya wants to either. She deserves to spend as much time as possible with her family now that her dad’s back from America, and judging from the fact she didn’t come crawling back here to complain about how much of a rotten man he is, it seems like she thinks the same.” She said with a smirk on her face as she put her arms behind her head. “We’ll go tomorrow. For tonight, there’s no need to worry about anything magic related.”

-Meanwhile-
Miyu entered her room and began to lie on her bed. Since it didn’t seem like Illya and Rin were going to go out, Luvia decided to give her the night off. The black haired girl didn’t feel particularly tired, so she grabbed her phone from under her pillow and turned it on. She opened it and went to her messages app, where she began to text her teacher.
Good evening, Ms. Fujimura. Are you still up?
In her apartment, Taiga was lying in her bed with a white bedsheet that she hadn’t washed in nearly a month, causing it to smell somewhat odd. She was trying to sleep but just couldn’t. Luckily for the brunette, her lack of sleep was rewarded by the sudden sensation of her phone vibrating. She quickly opened her eyes before sitting up, grabbing her phone, and responding to the message.
Indeed I am, Miyu. Is everything well at home?
Yes. I’m just not feeling very tired and have no reason to fall asleep just yet. Tomorrow’s a Saturday, after all. I could stay up all night without any negative consequences. Are you doing anything right now?
Not really. I was trying to get some sleep since at my age, you’re always tired regardless of how many hours of sleep you get, but I just couldn’t no matter how much I changed positions. Luckily, you texted me to help get my mind off my restlessness. The brunette said, smiling slightly as she continued typing. Enough about me. Do you and your family have any plans for tomorrow?
As far as I’m aware, no. We’re just planning on staying home all day. Maybe we’ll do something later at night, but we won’t be doing anything for the majority of the day.
Taiga’s smile grew from ear to ear.
That sounds pretty boring. Since you’re gonna be free tomorrow, would you like to go out with me?
Miyu’s eyes widened.
Wouldn’t that be a little strange? You don’t see teachers and students hanging out all the time, especially on the weekend.
Of course not. We might have a rather large age gap between the two of us, but we’re still friends, and spending time with your friend isn’t a weird or bad thing.
I understand that, but what if my family doesn’t approve of me going to meet up with you?
You don’t have to tell them who you’re going to hang out with. You can just tell them that you’re going to spend some time with one of your school friends, and I’m certain they’d let you out of the house, at least for a little while. If they don’t, that’d be a cause for concern, wouldn’t you think? She typed, letting out a slight chuckle.
All right. I’ll tell my parents about going out to meet you in the morning.
That’s great! Do you want me to go to your house? Or would you like to come to my apartment?
I’ll go pick you up at your apartment. It wouldn’t be good if my family saw you.
All right. Fair warning though. You’ll be the one having to pay for everything. I barely earn enough to cover my rent. Is that okay with you?
It’s fine. My family has more cash than they know what to do with. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if a few thousand, or even million, yen went missing.
Taiga resisted the urge to shout from how excited she was. Despite the immense amount of joy she was experiencing, she was starting to feel tired.
I’m gonna go to sleep now. See you tomorrow, Miyu.
Okay. Good night, Ms. Fujimura.
The brunette turned off her phone and placed it underneath her pillow before resting her head on it. She let out a giggle as she looked up at the ceiling.
“I can’t wait until tomorrow.” She whispered to herself as she began to close her eyes.

Chapter Text

-The next day-
Illya began to open her eyes. She sat up and grabbed her phone from under her pillow to look at the time. It was already 9:30, and while she didn’t have to get up just yet as she had nothing to do, she didn’t feel tired, so she decided to get out of bed. She quickly exited her room, went downstairs, and walked into the kitchen and saw her cousin maids, Irisviel, Kiritsugu, and Shirou, all sitting at the table. They were all eating large stacks of six pancakes, ten strips of bacon, ten sausages, and a side of hash browns that were all cooked up by Irisviel.
“Good morning, dad, mom, Shirou, Sella, and Liz.” The white haired girl cheerfully said as she walked over to the table and took a seat across from her father.
“Hello, Illya. Did you sleep well?”
“I sure did. I hope you did as well. You really look like you could get a good night’s rest after so many restless nights.”
“I’m sure you’d be pleased to know that your father slept like a baby last night.” Irisviel cheerfully said as she began to hold her husband’s left hand.
“I’m not sure if it’s because of my flight to Japan or because I’m finally with my family after so many years, but I didn’t have any of the trouble I usually have of putting my mind at ease or finding the right position to get myself to fall asleep.” The black haired man calmly said with a soft smile on his face.
As he spoke, Sella glared at him while gritting her teeth.
“Illya, you seem much more friendly toward him than yesterday. Are you really going to let this guy’s sob story change your view of how awful of a father he is?”
“No. While my dad wasn’t a good father, and he himself admits just that, he had very valid reasons for not wanting to contact us. He truly does care for us, even if he can’t always express that.”
“No! Not you too! You sound just like your mother when I tell her to move on from him every once in a while! Does everyone in this house like this guy except me?”
Illya, Irisviel, Shirou, and Liz all nodded their heads.
“I don’t get what all of you see in this man! He’s nothing but a violent deadbeat who only comes back home whenever he gets the opportunity to sleep with Iris!”
The five of them went silent as they stared at Sella.
“Are you okay? You sound unhinged.” Shirou said.
“Of course I’m okay! No, I’m more than okay! I’m great! It’s just that I’m the only one here with any ounce of common sense!” She shouted as she grabbed the plate of food in front of her and stood up. “I can’t stand watching you all sit around this man and talk to him like he’s a normal guy. If you need me, I’ll be in the living room.”
The maid walked away from the table and exited the kitchen.
“What’s wrong with her?” Illya asked.
“Oh, nothing. My sister always gets like that whenever your dad’s around. She’ll be back to her normal self once he leaves for America again.”
“My flight’s already scheduled for tomorrow morning. I’m sure your cousin will personally come to see me off just to hurl insults and accusations at me.” He joked as he smiled slightly. “However, before that happens, I want to go out with my family at least once. Are there any spots you’d like for us to visit?”
“We can always go to the mall.” Illya said.
“Yes. That’d be a fine place to go to for a day out.” Irisviel added.
“Well, there’s not really anywhere I’d like to go in particular. And the mall does have a ton of places for us to visit and buy things from. So, I’ve got no choice but to agree with mom and Illya.” Shirou said.
“All right then. We’ll go at around 2 o’clock.” Kiritsugu said as he cut into his stack of pancakes.

Chapter Text

-Half an hour later-
Miyu opened her eyes and sat up. She let out a yawn as she grabbed her phone from under her pillow and turned it on to check the time. It was already 10 o’clock, and while she hadn’t told Taiga when exactly the two of them would be going out together, she didn’t want to accidentally oversleep and risk disappointing her teacher. Due to this, the black haired girl decided to get up and grab her colored contact lenses, which were in their case that was on a short brown dresser that stood to the left of her bed, before walking over to the door. On it was a mirror with a golden frame that she used every day to put on her contact lenses. Although her vision was perfectly fine, Luvia forced her to wear contacts to make her eyes, which were naturally as blue as the ocean, appear golden just like hers, or else she’d threaten to stop feeding her for however long she refused to wear her contacts. The black haired girl put her contacts on before opening the door and stepping out of her bedroom. She walked down the hallway until she reached a brown door. Miyu wasted no time in opening it and stepping into the foyer. She quickly made her way down the stairs and headed toward a room with a closed door to her right. She opened it and entered the dining room to see Luvia sitting at the table with a large bowl of porridge, several Karelian pastries, and a sizable bowl of blueberries in front of her.
“Good morning, Miyu. Did you sleep well?”
The black haired girl nodded her head as she walked over to the closest seat to the room’s entrance, which just so happened to be across from Luviagelita.
“Excellent. You need every ounce of energy you can possibly get to look for Class Cards later tonight.” The blonde said as she snapped her fingers.
A maid walked out of the kitchen to the left of the table holding the same breakfast items as the ones that her mistress was eating. She made her way to Miyu and placed the plates of food in front of her before turning around and walking toward the kitchen.
“It’s for that reason that I order you to eat up every last crumb of food.”
The black haired girl didn’t say a single word as she grabbed a spoon to her left and began to eat her porridge. With her servant now focused on consuming the food in front of her, Luvia went back to eating her breakfast. To make sure she didn’t accidentally anger her, Miyu finished eating her porridge before speaking.
“Luvia, a few days ago, I managed to make a friend at school. I stayed up a little while after you let me go to my room to text her, and we decided that we wanted to go out together today. Would it be okay with you if I went out with her sometime later?”
“Sure, but try to come back before it starts to get dark. I don’t want to risk potentially missing out on getting a Class Card just because you wanted to waste your time with some random girl.”
“Thank you, Luvia. I’ll do everything I possibly can to ensure that I return before then. Could you lend me some money so that I could buy something for myself and my friend?”
“All right.” Luvia said as she pulled out a blue credit card from her dress’ left pocket and handed it to Miyu. “I’d be surprised if you did, but try not to use up all the money on my card.”
The black haired girl grabbed it and looked at it for a few seconds before placing the card to the left of her food.
“You don’t have to worry. I doubt we’ll end up spending too much of your money.”

Chapter Text

-
After Miyu finished eating her breakfast, she left the dining room and returned to her bedroom, where she sat on her bed, grabbed her phone, and began to text her teacher.
Good morning, Ms. Fujimura. I hope you slept well.
Taiga, who was sitting on her couch and watching movies on her TV, felt her phone vibrate next to her. She grabbed it and turned it on to see the reason for this. Her face instantly lit up the moment she saw the name of the person who had texted her.
Yes, I slept well all right. Is there something you want to talk to me about?
Indeed there is. Although we agreed to go out last night, we never specified at what time we would do it. Is there a time you’d be fine with going out with me?
I’m completely free today, so any time’s fine. It just depends on when you’re able to go out.
Just like you, I’m not doing anything either, but I don’t want to go out right now, and any time before noon seems far too early for such a thing. Would you be fine with two of us leaving at around 2 o’clock?
Yes. That’s all right with me. Taiga began to grin slightly as she sent Miyu her message.
You know, now that I think about it, we never agreed on where exactly we’d go once we met up. Is there anywhere in particular you’d like to visit?
The brunette closed her eyes and put her right hand on her chin as she thought of where she and her student could go.
We could go to the mall if that’s okay with you.
Sure. I have enough money to afford anything either of us may want from there, so I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t go there.
All right. At 2 pm, come to my apartment. Once we’re together, we’ll immediately head for the mall. Does that sound like a good plan to you?
Yes, it very much does. Anyway, I’m going to pick out the clothes I’ll be wearing for our little outing. I’ll text you later.
So that you know where I live, here’s my address. Taiga said before sending a message with her apartment’s address. I look forward to getting to spend some time with you.
After reading her teacher’s last message, the black haired girl turned her phone off and placed it beside her before standing up and walking over to her closet that stood in front of her bed to the left near the window. She opened it and looked at the clothing inside. There was an assortment of colorful dresses made of some of the finest and most elegant materials in the world. Any of them would’ve caused Miyu to look absolutely gorgeous, which made choosing a dress much more difficult than she originally anticipated. She stared at the dresses for a handful of minutes before reaching out and grabbing a white dress that had no sleeves or anything to cover its wearer’s shoulders. She brought it to her chest and looked down at it.
“Let’s go with this one. A white dress goes well with most occasions, and its simplicity adds a certain charm to it. I’m sure that Ms. Fujimura will love it.” The black haired girl said to herself.

-A few hours later-
Taiga stood in her living room, staring at her phone, which she held in her hands. She was wearing a yellow shirt with black lines that went across it that made it appear as if it were styled after a bumblebee, or alternatively, a tiger, and blue jeans with black shoes. It was already 2:20, but Miyu hadn’t texted her about getting ready or that she was going to her apartment. Although it wasn’t too long from when her student agreed to meet up with her, she was starting to get a little worried that she had a sudden change of plans.
“Crap. Did her parents find out about me? If so, they might figure out what I’m trying to do, and if they force Miyu to side with them, I’m going to lose my job and maybe even get sent to the slammer!” Taiga shouted. “Even if I somehow avoid getting arrested, I’ll be put on the sex offender registry, and nobody will ever hire or date me after that!” The brunette took deep breaths as she shook her head. “No, don’t jump to the worst possible conclusions, Taiga. She could be running late for a whole variety of reasons. There’s no need to start freaking out just yet.”
As Taiga attempted to calm herself, a text message appeared on her phone.
I’m outside, Ms. Fujimura. If you have everything in order, then please come out.
A smile spread across the brunette’s face.
“See. You got all worked up over nothing.” Taiga said to herself before putting her phone in her pocket and walking forward. “It’s time to get out of here.”
She opened the door, exited her home, closed it, and then pulled out her apartment’s key from her right pocket and locked it before making her way down the brown wooden stairs to her right. Her face flushed slightly as she saw her student standing near the stairs while wearing an extremely elegant white dress and a pair of open-toed white heels.
“Hello, Ms. Fujimura.” She said, softly smiling at her.
“Miyu…” She responded as she walked over to her student and hugged her. “You’re absolutely gorgeous!” The brunette let out a laugh. “You look like you could be royalty in that dress!”
The black haired girl blushed slightly as she looked away from her teacher.
“R-Really?”
“Of course. You’re already rather cute normally, but you’re completely stunning when you’re wearing an outfit like that.”
“W-Why thank you, Ms. Fujimura.”
The brunette let go of her and began to speak.
“Now that you’re here, let’s go. The more time we spend standing around here, the less time we’ll be able to spend at the mall.” She said before walking forward.
The black haired girl quickly followed after her teacher.

Chapter Text

-Meanwhile-
Illya was sitting on her bed while wearing a short sleeved pink shirt and dark blue shorts. She was watching YouTube videos on her phone when someone suddenly knocked on her door.
“May I come in?” Kiritsugu asked.
“Sure.”
The black haired man opened the door and stepped into his daughter’s room. He was wearing a white button-up shirt and grey pants.
“It’s time for us to leave for the mall.”
“Finally. I was getting so bored of waiting.” The white haired girl cheerfully said as she stood up and walked over to her dad.
The two of them quickly exited the room and walked downstairs to see Irisviel and Shirou standing in front of the door. The white haired woman had her arms behind her back and was wearing a baby blue dress with pink pumps while her son was wearing a red shirt and black pants.
“We’re finally all ready to go.” Irisviel cheerfully said with a smile on her face. “Let’s not waste any more time and get out of here.”
She quickly turned around and opened the door. As the four of them began to step outside of their house, Leysritt, who was sitting on the couch as usual, turned to look at them and began to speak.
“Bye, you guys. Try to bring me something from the mall, okay?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to.” The white haired woman responded.
Right as Shirou was about to close the door to the house, Sella ran downstairs and began to scream.
“IRIS, IF THAT MAN TRIES TO HURT YOU OR ANY OF THE CHILDREN, BE IT PHYSICALLY OR EMOTIONALLY, DON’T HESITATE TO USE YOUR MAGIC! I IMPLORE YOU, IRISVIEL, GET RID OF HIM BEFORE HE LEAVES YOU FOR SOMEONE ELSE OR TRIES TO HARM-“
“No, thank you.” The white haired woman calmly said as she walked over to the door and slammed it shut. “Don’t listen to a single word she just said. When it comes to anything concerning Kiritsugu, Sella’s words are essentially the ravings of a madwoman.” Irisviel began to walk forward. “Anyway, let’s get out of here.”
The rest of her family members quickly followed after her.

-Half an hour later-
The bus the Emiya family was on stopped in front of Fuyuki City’s mall and largest shopping center, Verde, and opened its doors. The four of them exited it and walked toward the building.
“We’re finally here.” Shirou said with a large smile on his face.
“So, how are we gonna go about this? Are we all going to the same parts of the mall, or are we gonna split up and go to whatever places interest us?” Illya asked.
“Personally, I’d like it if the four of us could stick together and go to the same spots of the mall, but I get the feeling that I’m going to get dragged around to various different clothing stores by your mom, and I don’t think either of you are interested in fashion, so I think it’d be best if we all split up and then reunite at around lunchtime. If for whatever reason you two want to know where I and Iri are, just text me.”
“All right, dad. See you later.” Illya said before running forward and pushing open the doors, entering the mall without any hesitation.
“Okay, then. I’m gonna head inside. Have fun, you two.” Shirou said before walking forward and entering the mall.
With both of their children out of their field of view, Kiritsugu began to gently hold onto Irisviel’s left hand before walking forward with her.

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
Shirou was walking through the mall, looking for a store that piqued his interest. So far, he had only seen clothing stores, a few jewelry stores, and some home furniture stores, all of which he didn’t particularly care about. As he continued to look for a store that caught his attention, he began to think about Leysritt.
I know mom and dad are probably already looking for it, but I should really get Liz something. She’d probably appreciate it if I got her something to eat, like a snack such as a cinnamon roll or mini hot dogs, over something like a new dress or shoes. The red haired boy thought.
Shirou’s train of thought was suddenly broken when he heard a familiar voice call out to him.
“Excellent timing, Shirou. Just who I wanted to see.” A very familiar voice joyfully said.
He quickly turned around and saw a boy around his age with blue seaweed-like hair and blue eyes standing behind him. He was wearing a brown shirt with sleeves that went all the way down to his wrists with navy blue pants and white shoes.
“Shinji? What are you doing here?”
“Can’t a guy come to the mall every once in a while to get himself some new clothes?” He asked, flashing a grin. “If anything, I should be asking you about why you’re here. Don’t you have maids who could buy you whatever you want?”
“I didn’t come here because I wanted to buy something, no. I came here because my dad came back from America after almost a decade, and he wanted to spend some time with his family.”
“Wait, you have a dad?”
“Of course I have a dad. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Since you only ever talk about your mom and those maids who are also your cousins, I thought he either died or went out for a gallon of milk and a pack of ciggies and mysteriously never came back for unspecified reasons.” Shinji let out a slight chuckle. “Kind of like what my mom did a little bit after I was born.”
“Anyway, I’m gonna be going now. I want to see if there’s anything I could get one of my maids.”
“I see. It was nice talking to you.” Shinji calmly said as he walked over to Shirou and quickly slipped something into his pocket. “I really owe you one.” The blue haired boy quickly ran away, leaving his friend behind.
“Owe me? For what?” He asked as he quickly pulled out a pink pair of panties from his left pocket. “W-What? Why did Shinji have this on him? H-He doesn’t have any women in his family!” The red haired boy shouted.
Before he could come to a conclusion, he began to hear a sound that could only be compared to a stampede growing closer and closer to him. He quickly turned his head to the left and saw a horde of around 8 women running toward him.
“There! It’s the pervert who stole my panties while I was trying on clothes!” A blonde woman who was in front of the group shouted.
“N-No! You got it all wrong! T-That wasn’t me! T-That was my friend who was spying on all of you!”
“Like we’d believe a word you’d say! Get him, girls!”
Shirou let out a shriek as he turned around and ran away as quickly as he possibly could.

-Meanwhile-
Kiritsugu and Irisviel entered the clothing store that was closest to the entrance of the mall while continuing to hold hands. The white haired woman brought her husband here to see if the two of them could find anything that she liked. Tears began to well up in his eyes as he slowly turned his head from left to right, scanning the area.
“This place… it hasn’t changed even one bit since we last came here.” The black haired man said as he walked forward.
His wife quickly followed after him.
“This place is like a time capsule. Even as we aged and started a family, nothing about this place was even slightly altered.” He said as he moved his head to look at the clothing.
“Indeed. It brings you back to when we last came here to buy some clothes for Shirley, doesn’t it?”
His lips formed a soft smile as he slowly nodded his head.
“Yeah, it sure does.”
As the two of them searched for any articles of clothing that Irisviel thought looked nice, a trio of girls who appeared to be around the ages of 13-14 passed by them. The white haired woman paid them no attention, but she felt her husband suddenly stop moving and tense up upon seeing them. He turned his head slightly to look at them as they continued to walk away.
“K-Kiritsugu what’s wrong?”
“M-Magical girls. They’re stalking us, waiting for the moment we put our guard down before striking and killing us.” He whispered through gritted teeth. “I’ll finish this here and now before they get any funny ideas. Reveal yourself, Sweet Child-“
“No, calm down.” She said as she hugged her husband. “They’re probably just normal girls who don’t even know magic is real. Even if they were magical girls, I doubt they’d want to kill you in such a public area. They’d probably spare your life, albeit begrudgingly.”
“Y-You’re right.” He said, taking deep breaths in. “F-Forgive me for getting worked up over nothing. Let’s keep searching.”

Chapter Text

-
Taiga and Miyu were walking through the mall. The black haired girl was looking at the stores with intrigue, causing Taiga to slow the pace of her walking to not accidentally leave her behind.
“You seem really fascinated by all of this. Do they not have any malls in Finland or something?”
“They do, but I just never went to one before because there weren’t any near my family’s mansion.” She softly said as she looked up at her teacher.
“Really? Where did your family live in Finland?”
The black haired girl went silent for a few seconds as she remembered some of the things Luvia had told her about the Edelfelt family and her childhood before speaking up again.
“Well, my family’s Finnish home is a huge mansion in the mountain. It’s pretty far from regular civilization, so I was homeschooled by private tutors. I never really had any friends who weren’t related to me in some way, like some of my cousins who were around my age and the younger maids.”
“Wait, so you’ve never attended a regular school prior to moving to Japan.”
Miyu nodded her head.
A grin spread across Taiga’s face.
“Oh my god, that’s… really lonely. I can’t imagine growing up isolated from the rest of the world.” She narrowly managed to change what she was about to say.
“I might not have turned out the best, but think of it this way: I could’ve ended up becoming a spoiled brat who thinks she’s superior to everyone because of her immense wealth.” The black haired girl smiled slightly.
“I guess that’s true. If you were like that, we probably wouldn’t be here right now. I can’t stand kids who think they’re the cream of the crop just because their parents are rich.”
As the two of them continued walking, Miyu noticed a store to her left that had a blue and white sign that read Fancy Shop in big, bright yellow letters. Inside it, she could see several large stuffed animals.
“Ms. Fujimura, do you think we could go in there?”
“Of course. I don’t see a reason why we shouldn’t.”
The two of them entered the store. Miyu began to walk toward a large wooden shelf that held a variety of stuffed animals of all shapes, sizes, and colors to her left. She turned her head from left to right, trying to find the plushie that she thought was cutest. As she looked for it, Taiga walked over to her student and grabbed a small stuffed lion to her left.
“This guy’s pretty cute, wouldn’t you think?” She asked as she handed her the stuffed lion.
The black haired girl looked at the plush for a few seconds before nodding her head.
“How would you feel if I bought him for you?” The brunette asked while looking at the price of the stuffed animal.
“I’d love it, but didn’t you say you wouldn’t be able to buy me anything?”
“Hey, I might be broke, but even I could afford to spend 470 yen.” As the teacher finished speaking, she put her right hand on her student’s head. “You probably already know this, but in English that animal is known as a lion. My first name is Taiga, which sounds like tiger, meaning tora. Since they’re such similar animals, always think of me when you look at that plush. Even if we grow distant and stop talking to each other after you make friends your own age or you leave my class, I want you to remember who your first friend was.”
“Don’t worry, Ms. Fujimura, I’ll always remember you for as long as I live.” She cheerfully said, smiling at her teacher.

-A few minutes later-
Kiritsugu and Irisviel were walking through the mall, looking for another store they could buy clothes from. The black haired man was holding onto 8 plastic bags that were filled to the brim with expensive clothing in each hand. While he managed to hold onto them without too much trouble, if his wife continued shopping with no end in sight, he’d be forced to use his Stand to carry the rest of the bags. As the two of them made their way through the shopping center, they saw Shirou lying face down on the ground, neither moving nor, seemingly, breathing. His clothing was wrinkled and had shoe prints all over it, and his hair was disheveled.
“S-Shirou!” Irisviel shouted, putting her right hand over her mouth as she stared at her son in shock.
“NO!” Kiritsugu screamed as he ran over to his son and knelt down beside him. “T-THIS C-CAN’T BE HAPPENING!”
He flipped his son over and began to shake him violently, to no avail. Tears began to run down his cheeks.
“T-THIS ALL HAP-HAPPENED BECAUSE OF ME! I S-SHOULD’VE NEVER SHOWN MY F-FACE IN-“
Suddenly, Shirou began to slowly open his eyes and look up at his father.
“Y-You’re alive… you’re alive! You’re alive!” He shouted as he grabbed his son’s left hand and rubbed it against his cheek. “Thank you! Thank you so much… I’d never be able to live with myself if you died...”
“Dad, why are you crying?” He weakly said as he slowly sat up.
“Shirou, are you hurt anywhere? What happened?” Irisviel asked as she walked over to her son.
“I’m fine. It’s just that a bunch of girls ganged up on me and beat me until I was knocked out because they thought I stole one of their panties.”
Kiritsugu raised an eyebrow.
“Why did they think that?”
“Well, I ran into a friend of mine from school, and we talked for a bit. Right before he left, he walked over to me and stuffed a pair of panties into my pocket. After he was gone, I took it out to see what he gave me, and the girls who he had stolen from saw and promptly chased me down until they managed to beat me to a pulp.”
“So that friend of yours set you up to save his skin?” Irisviel asked.
Shirou nodded his head.
“What a scummy thing to do. How are you even friends with a jerk like that?”
“Well, Shinji is a bit of a jerk, but he’s not a bad guy. Once you get to know him, he’s pretty chill and kind of funny.”
As his son finished speaking, Kiritsugu stood up and wiped his tears away.
“Can you stand, or do you need help getting up?”
“I can get up just fine.” He said he got to his feet.
“Do you feel safe alone, or would you like to come with us in case one of those girls sees you and decides to finish the job?” Irisviel asked.
“I doubt those girls would try attacking me again as long as I keep my distance from them. They already taught me my lesson once; no need to do it again. But still, I want to spend some time with you two. Even if all you guys do is buy clothes, I can at least talk to you.”
“All right then, follow us.” The white haired woman said before walking forward.
Shirou and Kiritsugu quickly followed after her.

-A few minutes later-
Illya was walking around on the second floor of the mall, trying to find a place that interested her. She had walked around the entire mall multiple times but didn’t see anything of note.
“Would it kill this place to put up a store that sells more than just clothes, shoes, or furniture? No wonder malls are shutting down because of online retailing when this is the best they’ve got.” The white haired girl said to herself as she shook her head.
As she wandered around aimlessly, out of the corner of her eye, Illya saw Miyu and Taiga walking alongside each other on the first floor. The black haired girl was holding a lion plush in her arms and had a soft smile on her face.
“M-Miyu? Ms. Fujimura? What are they doing here?” She quickly turned around and moved her head from left to right, trying to see if Luvia was anywhere nearby.
As far as the white haired girl could tell, she wasn’t there or, at the very least, was well hidden.
“If Luvia’s not here, then why is Miyu? And why is she with Ms. Fujimura?” She asked herself as she quickly turned around to look at the first floor, only to see nobody there. “Crap. They must’ve gotten away while I was looking for Luvia. I don’t know where they went, the elevator to the first floor is pretty far from here, I left Ruby at home, and using Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow would be far too destructive. I’ll never be able to find them at this rate.” She said as she let out a sigh.

Chapter Text

-An hour later-
Illya continued walking around the mall in search of a store that interested her when she felt her phone suddenly vibrate in her right pocket. She quickly pulled it out and saw that it was a message from her mom.
Your father, Shirou, and I were all starting to feel a little hungry, so we’ve decided to go eat. I’m sitting at a table near a burger place with him while Kiritsugu’s waiting in line to order our lunch. You should probably get here before he gets the food, and it becomes cold.
All right. I’ll be there right away. The white haired girl quickly responded before putting her phone away and running forward.

-
It took a few minutes, but eventually the white haired girl made it to the center of the second floor where the food court was. She found the table that her mother and brother were sitting at and quickly approached it.
“Hey, you two! Did you guys have-“ Illya fell silent upon seeing that Shirou’s hair was disheveled and that his clothing was all wrinkled and dirtied up. “What happened to you? Did you get into a brawl with a washing machine… and lose?” She asked as she took a seat beside them.
“No, Illya. I ran into Shinji earlier, and he framed me of stealing the panties for some girl, causing her and her friends to gang up on me and beat me until I was knocked out.”
“I still don’t get why you’re friends with that guy. Every time you talk about him, it just makes him sound more and more like an absolute dick.”
“I won’t lie to you and say he’s not a jerk, because he most certainly is, but he’s a good guy deep down once you get to know him. Sure, I only talk to you and mom about him when he screws me over in a more minor way, but if I really needed his help, he’d assist me in a heartbeat.”
As Shirou finished speaking, Kiritsugu walked over to the table his family was sitting at while carrying two black trays that had several burgers, boxes of french fries, chicken nuggets, onion rings, four milkshakes, and four sodas. He placed them in the center of the table before sitting across from his daughter.
“Looks like you made it in time, Illya. Did you enjoy your time at the mall?”
She shook her head as her eyes slowly moved to look at the floor.
“Not really. I wasn’t able to find any stores that caught my interest… so I kind of just walked around aimlessly.” She said, not sounding too thrilled about her outing. “And…” The white haired girl thought about telling her father about what she had seen, but decided against doing it as Shirou was right next to her. “I was really bored.”
“I see. I’m sorry to hear that.” The black haired man said. “We came here so that we could have fun… and yet it seems like things turned out poorly for you and Shirou.”
“It’s fine, dad, really. Sure, things weren’t ideal, but I’m just glad you and mom got to spend some time together after so many years apart.”
“Same here.” Shirou said.
“That’s good to hear.” The black haired man said, smiling at the two of them as he unwrapped his burger. “If we ever go out again, I hope we go somewhere you two find more fun, like an amusement park or something of the sort.”

-Meanwhile-
Taiga and Miyu were sitting inside an ice cream store located on the first floor. The black haired girl was slowly licking a vanilla ice cream cone that she had bought for herself while Taiga was eating a strawberry ice cream sandwich that was filled with sprinkles and topped with M&Ms.
“Did you have fun today, Miyu?” The brunette asked as she placed her lunch in front of her.
The black haired girl nodded her head.
“I was pleasantly surprised by my first time at a place like this. You being by my side just made it all the more better.”
Taiga smiled at her student.
“Are you gonna tell your parents about how much fun you had today? If so, please don’t tell them about me.”
“Don’t worry. I promise that I’ll never tell them about my friend’s identity…” She said as her eyes drifted to the left, breaking eye contact with her. “Ms. Fujimura, there’s something I want to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t have parents… they’ve been dead since I was a little girl. I’m currently living with my big sister… who’s not the best person. She’s vain, a narcissist, and overly cruel. She beats me when I fail to do something she wants… and has told me she would’ve already kicked me out of her mansion if she thought I had no use.”
The brunette’s eyes widened.
“Oh my god. That’s terrible. Do you have any family members in this country, or even in Finland, that you could move in with?”
Miyu shook her head.
“I’ve tried to get them to take me in, but every single time, my sister would butt in and convince them not to do it. With the way things are going now, I’m probably only going to be able to leave her once I become an adult.”
“If you ever feel like running away from your sister’s home, you can always live with me. Sure, my apartment’s a little old, not the cleanest, and I’m dirt poor, but I’ll do my best to treat you better than your sister ever did and give you a happy life.” She said as she began to gently hold her left hand.
“A-Are you being serious?” She asked, her eyes widening.
“Of course I am. I wouldn’t joke about such a thing. Every child deserves to have a happy life where they don’t have to worry about their well-being. I’m willing to help you if that’s truly what you want.”
“T-Thank you, Ms. Fujimura.” She said, her lips forming a large smile.
“You don’t have to be so formal, Miyu. You can call me Taiga from now on if you want.”
“All right, Taiga.”

-An hour later-
After finishing their lunch, the Emiya family returned to their home. Irisviel unlocked the door and stepped inside. She quickly pulled out three bags of chips from a brown plastic bag that was in her husband’s right hand and flung them into the living room. Leysritt quickly noticed them and caught them without any effort.
“Thanks.” She said as she opened one of the bags.
Illya quickly made her way upstairs, walked over to her room, and entered it before closing the door and falling back first onto her bed.
“Miyu… and Taiga… why were they at the mall with each other?” She asked herself as she stared at the ceiling.

Chapter Text

-Many hours later-
Luvia was standing in front of the window in her room with a scowl on her face. It was nearly midnight, and she didn’t see Illya or Rin anywhere.
“What are those girls doing?” She grumbled to herself as she stared at the house across the street from her. “I could see them not wanting to go looking for Class Cards yesterday thanks to Illya’s dad showing up for the first time in who knows how many years, but why not today of all days? Knowing Rin, she should be raring to go after a full day of rest. This has to mean they’re planning something big.” The blonde turned to look at Miyu, who was kneeling behind her while already in her magical girl form. “You, sneak into Illya’s house and keep an eye on her. Although I haven’t seen Rin enter her bedroom, it’s very likely that they’re communicating through cellphone. Sneak into her room and see what they’re talking about. Once you’ve done that, return and tell me about it immediately.”
“Maybe you’re just jumping to conclusions. Perhaps Rin got sick or is too busy with things involving her family to be able to look for Class Cards with-“
“Do as I say, or I will force you to do it.”
“Y-Yes, Luvia.” Miyu said, sounding uneasy.
The blonde wasted no time and opened the window in front of her, allowing the magical girl to jump into the air and speedily fly away.

-Meanwhile-
Illya lay in bed, staring at the window. She had been waiting for Rin to show up for nearly half an hour, but so far, she hadn’t seen a single trace of her anywhere nearby.
“What’s taking this woman so long? Surely she whatever she’s doing can’t be more important than looking for the Class Cards, the whole reason she dragged me into this mess in the first place.” The white haired girl complained as she rolled around and began to lie on her back.
“Maybe she overslept or something.” Ruby, who floated out of the closet and toward her master, suggested.
“Overslept? She didn’t do anything yesterday except lounge around that haunted house-styled mansion of hers. There’s absolutely no reason why somebody like her should be tired.”
As Illya complained to her Kaleidostick, Miyu hovered outside of her bedroom’s window with a neutral expression on her face.
“It doesn’t seem like Illya’s doing anything out of the ordinary. She seems to be chatting away with Magical Ruby. It looks like my assumptions were correct and Luviagelita was just jumping to conclusions for no reason.” The black haired girl said, letting out a sigh of relief. “Let’s go back to the mansion and report to her.”
She turned around, but before she could get away from the Einzbern house, Magical Ruby suddenly began to shout.
“Illya! I can see Miyu outside your window!”
The white haired girl’s eyes widened before she swiftly grabbed her Kaleidostick and transformed. She leapt at the window and lifted it open without any effort before soaring straight at the magical girl.
“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING ANYWHERE NEAR MY HOUSE?” She screamed as her Stand appeared behind her.
Miyu let out a high pitched shriek as she tried her best to get away from the white haired girl as quickly as possible. Unfortunately for her, Illya managed to grab onto her wrists before flying toward the ground with her enemy still in her grasp. This allowed for Illya to pin her down.
“You won’t be running away anymore!” Illya shouted as her Stand began to roar, causing gusts of wind to emerge from her and freeze anything they’d make contact with. “After all the pain and suffering you’ve put me through, I’m not gonna let you go! Do you have anything you’d like to tell me before I crush your head as if it were a grape?” A smile began to spread across her face.
“P-Please spare my life! I-I wasn’t planning on h-hurting you, I-I promise you! I-I was just go-going to spy on you because L-Luvia wanted me to!” She shouted, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Don’t show me those goddamn crocodile tears! People like you only ever show any hint of remorse when they’re about to be killed! If it were the other way around, you’d be cackling and gloating about finally getting the opportunity to kill me!”
“Illya, please don’t jump to conclusions.” Magical Sapphire said. “Miyu was only doing as Luvia had commanded of her to avoid being punished. She took no pleasure in spying on you or any of the countless horrid things Luvia’s forced her to do.”
“Do you really think making your little wand argue for you is gonna change my mind? You must really be-“
“Illya, don’t. My sister would never tell a lie. So if she says something, then it has to be true.”
“Fine, I’ll trust your word for it. So, this entire time, you’ve been doing everything against your own will?”
Miyu nodded her head.
“Since she’s still a minor, Luvia called her parents and forced them to adopt me, making me her sister. However, since I live with her and she’s in control of everything about me, including where and how I go to school, how much money I have, and how much food I get, she’s practically my adoptive mom. If I don’t do as she says, I get physically punished. I usually just get slapped or punched, but sometimes she uses her magecraft to burn me… and she makes me walk around with my injuries for a full day before healing them…”
Sapphire nodded her head, confirming her master’s words. Illya’s eyes widened.
“All of this because you don’t want to kill someone? If Rin’s has BPD, then Luvia sounds like a total psychopath!” Illya got off Miyu and extended her hand toward her. “Despite the seemingly endless wealth that girl has, it’s clear you’re not happy living with her. I assume you have nowhere else to go, so if you want, you can run away to my home. If Luvia tries to get you back, I and my dad will protect you.”
“R-Really? E-Even after everything I’ve done?”
“Yes, really. I’m not the nicest or kindest person, but I’m willing to let go of this grudge now that I know you were being forced to do everything against your will.”
Miyu grabbed onto Illya’s hand. The white haired girl helped her to her feet.
“I’m gonna go back inside for tonight. Take care, Miyu.”
“You as well, Illya.” She said while smiling softly before jumping away from the Einzbern household.
“Well… that sure was something. Forgiving Miyu before Rin showed up was not on today’s bingo list.“ Illya said before jumping back into her room, closing her window, and returning to her regular form.

Chapter Text

-
Miyu flew over to the window of Luvia’s room and entered it. The blonde, who had a scowl on her face, was sitting on her bed.
“You’re back much earlier than I expected.” She calmly said as she stood up. “Did you find anything of note?”
“No.” The black haired girl shook her head. “Illya was just lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. Either Rin is running late due to reasons unknown to the three of us, or she truly has accidentally fallen asleep and won’t be able to come to Illya’s house to look for Class Cards with her.”
“Well then, you may go to your room. I’ll call you if I see Rin, but if she doesn’t show up by twelve thirty, you can rest easy for the night and go to sleep.” She gritted her teeth. “I’ve grown tired of all of this. I’m more than willing to stand here every night to see when she’ll show up to Illya’s house just to make stealing the Class Cards from her all the more sweeter. However, now that she’s missed out on coming here two days in a row, I’ve grown impatient! If she’s planning on continuing this streak of missing out on looking for the Class Cards, then I say it’s about time the two of us get rid of her and Illya once and for all before we take matters into our own hands!”
Miyu’s eyes widened.
“W-What do you mean?”
“Tomorrow, to finally force Rin and Illya into taking some sort of action, I want to kill them. Once they’re out of the picture, we’ll start to look for the Class Cards whenever we want without having to wait for them. I haven’t thought of how we’re going to go about this just yet, but I’m sure I’ll have something by tomorrow morning. I’ll tell you all about it while we’re eating breakfast.
“A-All right.” Miyu said, trying her best to sound as composed as possible. “I-I’ll be taking my leave then. Goodnight, Luvia.”
“Goodnight, Miyu. Rest well and try to get as much sleep as you possibly can. After all, we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow!”

-A few minutes later-
Illya lay in bed on her back. She had let go of any notion that Rin was going to show up to come look for the Class Cards with her, so she wasn’t trying very hard to keep herself awake. Her drowsiness had steadily overtaken her, causing her eyes to slowly close. Before they could be fully shut, there was a sudden knock at her door, which caused Illya’s eyes to widen and for her to sit up.
“Hello, Illya. Are you still awake?” Kiritsugu asked.
“Yeah, but I was about to fall asleep.” She said as she let out a yawn.
The black haired man opened the door and then stepped inside.
“What do you want, dad? Is it something important? If not, can’t you just hold it off until tomorrow? I’m starting to get really sleepy.”
“No. I’m going to leave at around 5 in the morning, and I don’t intend to wake you up at that time, so this is the last chance I have to speak with you for now.” He walked over to his daughter’s bed and sat down on it. “Anyway, I’m here to talk to you about the reason I came to this country again after so many years: about getting you to stop using magic and live a normal life once again. Now that you know everything about my past… and how much your mother and I truly worry and care for you, do you think you could move away from such dangerous things and just go back to living a normal childhood?”
Illya went silent for a few seconds as she thought about what to say before speaking.
“I only became a magical girl due to sheer chance, not because I truly wanted to be one, and I only agreed to continue helping Rin out for a petty reason, that being getting my revenge on you. But now that I know why you’ve been so distant to me and don’t want any sort of vengeance against you, I don’t really have any reason to continue looking for Class Cards. I could easily lock Magical Ruby in a safe and never get involved in anything magic related ever again.”
“Hey!” Ruby, who had gone into Illya’s closet yet again, shouted.
“But at the same time, I want to continue looking for the Class Cards. I’ve already defeated half of them, so it’d be a waste to not finish the job and collect the final four. Plus, there’s no telling what will happen to Rin after I stop helping her.”
“So you wish to continue using magic to help your friend?”
“Yes.” She said while nodding her head. “There’s also somebody who’s not my friend that I want to help.” Illya said, recalling what her dad had told her about his past. “Her household’s not the best, and if things keep going the way they currently are, I’m worried her sister might kick her onto the streets… or even kill her. So that I’m able to protect her, I need to be able to use magic! Once all of that is done, then I’ll probably stop using magic!”
“I see.” He put his right hand on his daughter’s head. “So you want to use your magic to protect the people you care about. That’s an admirable reason, one that I’m not opposed to. I’ll tell your mother about this and allow you to do as you want, but please promise me that you’ll stay safe.”
“All right, dad! No matter what happens, I’ll make sure that I and my friends all come out alive and well!”
Kiritsugu’s lips formed a soft smile as he turned around and walked out of the room. With her father gone, Illya grabbed her phone, which was under her pillow, and set an alarm for 4:55 am before resting her head on the pillow.
Dad’s going to be leaving later, and I need to see him off. He doesn’t deserve to not have any of his children tell him goodbye. She thought to herself as she closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep.

Chapter Text

-Many hours later-
Illya was sleeping peacefully in her bed when her phone’s alarm suddenly began to sound. She quickly opened her eyes, sat up, grabbed her phone, and turned her alarm off before checking the time.
“It’s 5:00. Kiritsugu’s about to leave. I need to get out of here as soon as possible before he steps through the front door.” The white haired girl murmured to herself as she walked over to her room’s door and slowly opened it.
She stuck her head out of the door before looking to her left and right. There wasn’t anybody nearby, so she tiptoed over to the wall to her left that stood beside the stairs. She turned her head and saw Kiritsugu standing in front of the front door with a neutral expression on his face. Irisviel was standing a few feet away from him while Sella was standing beside the bottommost stair.
“Please don’t go.” The white haired woman said as she walked over to her husband and wrapped her arms around him. “You just came back two days ago. Please stick around for just a little while longer.”
“I’d love nothing more than to spend some time with you and our children, but you already know why that’s not possible. If I had to choose between permanently living with all of you and keeping you three safe, the answer should be obvious.” He said, softly smiling at his wife as he hugged her back.
“Well then, get to it already. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” Sella cheerfully said as she waved at the black haired man. “If you really want, I could drive you to the airport myself.”
“No, that won’t be necessary. The bus should be coming soon, so I’ll take it instead of wasting your or Iri’s time.” He let go of his wife and turned around while moving his right hand to the doorknob. “I’m gonna be leaving now so that I don’t accidentally miss it.”
“All right… I love you.”
“Have a safe trip.” Sella lied.
Kiritsugu turned the door’s handle, but right before he could open the door, Illya ran down the stairs and shouted.
“DAD, STOP!” She screamed as she put her hands on his left hand. “Please don’t go! We’ve just gotten to see each other for the first time in almost a decade. I want to spend more time with you.”
“As do I, but I already told you why that can’t be possible. I’ll try my best to call you more frequently, but don’t expect me to be calling every other day now. If any magical girls caught wind of you guys being related to me, things would turn disastrous real quick.”
“If any magical girl even dares to step foot near our home, I’ll use my Stand to protect you! With Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow, I’m certain that anyone who wants to hurt you will be pummeled into a fine paste!”
“Making my own 10 year old daughter protect me… I couldn’t live with myself if I did that. What sort of father would I be if I let you guard us because of something I caused?”
“And what kind of father are you right now? You abandoned your family for almost a decade, barely texting and calling them, and only showed up because my mom begged you to. Sure, you had your reasons to be so distant from us, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that you were absent from our lives for so many years! You missed out on your children growing up, and you made your wife lonely! What kind of father does that?”
Kiritsugu’s eyes began to well up with tears.
“I may not be a good father, but making my daughter protect me because I couldn’t bring myself to go back to America is far beyond anything I’m willing to do!”
Illya walked over to her father and hugged him.
“You’ve been alone and afraid for so long. You deserve to be with your family a little bit longer. Even just another week or two would be fine. I don’t mind protecting you for however long you want to stay with us. With Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow and Magical Ruby by my side, I have no doubt I’d be able to stop anyone who wants to hurt us. And if things get a little too overwhelming for just me, I could always ask my Stand User friends from school and Rin to lend me a hand. I know they’d be more than happy to help me protect everyone!”
Irisviel softly smiled at her husband as she gently stroked the side of his face.
“Illya’s right. We’d be more than happy if you got to stay with us, regardless of what happens.”
“Irisviel… Illya… I-I’m sorry. I-I’m sorry I was such a horrible father and husband!” He shouted as tears ran down his cheeks. “I should be going… I should be eager to go back to America so that you girls can be safe… I shouldn’t be feeling anything because it’s for the best… yet I’m crying like a little kid.” He sobbed. “Can you find it in your hearts to forgive me?”
“Of course, dad. I understand why you did what you did, but that doesn’t mean I approve of it. However, now that you’re gonna be staying home, we have plenty of time to make up for the years together we lost.” She said as she wiped his tears away.
“I’ll cancel my flight, and I’ll stay a bit longer. It’s really early, so the two of you can go back to sleep. I’ll be in our room shortly, Iri.” He said, a large smile spreading across his face as he looked at his wife and daughter.
“No! Kiritsugu! Please don’t stay!” Sella shouted, getting on her knees. “I’ll gladly drive you to the airport! Please just leave this house!”
“Sorry, Sella, but I’m gonna be staying home for the time being. You can drive me back to the airport once I leave for real in… I actually don’t know when I’m gonna be heading back to America now. Let’s just say in a few months after New Year’s Day.”
“NOOOOO!” The white haired woman screamed as she pounded the floor with her fists.
“Well then, I’ll be going to my room then. See you later, dad.” She said as she turned around and began to walk toward the stairs.
“Good night, Illya. I hope the fact that I’m not leaving any time soon will only allow you to sleep better than you’d normally be able to.”

Chapter Text

-Many hours later-
Rin opened her eyes and sat up. She could see sunlight pouring in through her window, a sign that it was already morning.
Crap. I must’ve accidentally overslept.
She grabbed her phone from under her pillow and checked the time.
“9:23. Eh, it’s not too big of a deal. We’ll just search for the Class Cards tonight. It’s not like there’s a deadline for when we have to get all of them by.” She said as she stood up.
The black haired girl started to walk past her window to get to her closet, but before she could reach it, she noticed something peculiar out of the corner of her eye. Standing by the front gates of her home was Luvia, who had a wide grin on her face. Upon seeing that Rin had spotted her, she turned around and leisurely walked away as if nothing had happened.
“LUVIA!” She roared as she ran over to her closet, tore off her pajamas, and changed into her regular clothes in the blink of an eye. “YOU’RE NOT GETTING AWAY FROM ME!”
Rin quickly ran over to the window, opened it, and jumped out of it. She landed on the ground safely before summoning Happiness is a Warm Gun. The black haired girl wasted no time running toward the gates across from her.

-5 minutes later-
Illya opened her eyes. She sat up and yawned while stretching. The white haired girl stood up before grabbing the phone beneath her pillow and turning it on.
“It’s almost nine thirty already? I must’ve overslept quite a bit. Everyone’s probably already eaten breakfast by now, so I’ll have to eat it by myself later.” She said to herself as she turned her phone off.
Outside the window across from her bed, Illya noticed what looked like Miyu, who was already in her magical girl form, standing as still as a statue while looking upward toward her bedroom. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she looked like she was going to start crying at any moment.
“M-Miyu? What are you doing here?” She shouted before running over to the window.
Upon seeing this, the black haired girl turned around and quickly walked away from the Einzbern household.
“Crap! She got away!” Illya shouted as she opened her room’s window and stuck her head out of it.
“What happened? Did you see Miyu nearby?” Magical Ruby asked as she pushed open her master’s closet and floated over to her.
“Yes. She was just standing outside while transformed, staring up at my room like some sort of stalker. The moment she saw me start to move, she made a break for it and got out of there before I could open the window.“
“That’s strange. She’s never come to your house during the day, much less while already in her magical girl form. I know it might be a little too early for such a thing since you haven’t even eaten breakfast yet, but would you like to use me to try to follow Miyu?”
Illya nodded her head.
“I have a feeling that this is some sort of trap to try to get me and Rin killed, but I should be able to get out of whatever Luvia has in mind with both you and Twinkie Snow Powdery Snow by my side.” She confidently said as she grabbed the Kaleidostick and transformed.
The white haired girl quickly jumped out of her room and landed on the ground safely. She turned to her left and saw Miyu walking away from her house in the distance.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Illya shouted before rushing after her.
The black haired girl’s eyes widened as she started to run away as quickly as she possibly could. Illya chased after her as fast as her legs could move, not wanting to let her leave her field of view.

-A few minutes later-
Luvia and Rin, who was a few feet behind her enemy, arrived at Homurahara Academy. The blonde looked at the entrance before turning around to give her enemy a wry grin and having her Stand slam its right fist onto the ground, launching her into the air. This allowed her to get onto the roof of the school with ease. The black haired girl pointed her Stand downward and pulled down on the trigger, releasing a jewel that exploded upon making contact with the ground. The explosion launched her into the air, allowing her to land a few feet away from her enemy.
“No more running away, Luvia! What were you doing at my house?” She asked while pointing Happiness is a Warm Gun at her.
“Rin Tohsaka, this little feud of ours has gone on for far too long. At first, I was fine with not getting involved too much with hunting the Class Cards, and only showing up once you and Illya had already beaten them for us so that losing them would only be more heartbreaking for you, but after two days of doing absolutely nothing, my patience has worn thin! I refuse to wait a third day for you to look for the Class Cards only to be met with absolutely nothing! I’ll kill you and Illya and then become the sole magus responsible for looking for the Class Cards!”
“This line of logic is something a little kid would make up because they’re upset at their parents for not buying them a toy, but that’s not important! I’m more than glad to have any excuse to beat the shit out of you!”
“Very well then! Give me everything you’ve got, Rin! Show yourself, Dirty Work!”

Chapter Text

Suddenly, a legless humanoid figure that wore a long blue dress with sleeves that went down to its white hands appeared behind Luvia. It had a light yellow face and beady golden eyes.
“So that’s your Stand! Judging from the fact that I’ve never been able to see it before, I’m guessing its ability has something to do with invisibility.”
“Correct, Rin! But still, just knowing a small portion of my Stand’s ability won’t be enough for you to defeat me!” She yelled as Dirty Work rushed at her enemy.
The black haired girl quickly shot three gems straight at the Stand. The moment the projectiles managed to get close to it, the Stand slapped them away without any effort before getting in reach of Rin. It grabbed her by the neck and squeezed down on it, just narrowly holding itself back from completely crushing her throat as if it were a can of soda. The black haired girl gasped for air as she glared at Luvia.
“I know I did this with the intention of killing you and the brat, but I think I’m having second thoughts. I’m willing to spare your life if you surrender to me and agree to become my slave!” Her grin spread further across her face.
“I-I’d rather die than surrender to you!” She weakly said, raising her voice as much as possible.
Before Luvia could do anything, she pointed her Stand’s barrel at Dirty Work’s stomach and shot two gems at it, both of which exploded upon making contact with their target, causing it to let go of Rin and be pushed back. Blood poured out of the areas it was hit in, its injuries transferring over to its master. The blonde gritted her teeth as she clutched her stomach.
“You cardboard chested bitch! This is one of my favorite dresses! It costs more than all the money you and your mom have in your bank accounts, and now it’s been tainted all thanks to you!” She said as she stared down at her blue dress.
“Don’t think I’m just gonna stop at ruining your dress! Once I’m done with you, your face and body are gonna be totally unrecognizable! Emergency responders are going to have to use your dental record to identify you!” She taunted while grinning wildly at her.
Without saying a single word, Dirty Work rushed at Rin, throwing a powerful punch at her chest. The black haired girl narrowly managed to avoid the attack by jumping to her right before pistol whipping the Stand across the head. Luvia let out a grunt as her Stand slammed its right hand onto her head, cracking her enemy’s skull as if it were an egg. It quickly grabbed her by the hair and was about to tear her twin tails out of her head with one swift pull when Rin raised her gun and shot a jewel at Happiness is a Warm Gun’s head. It exploded upon making contact with its target, causing both the Stand and its master to start bleeding from their foreheads.
“ENOUGH PLAYING AROUND! I’M FINISHING THIS HERE!” Luvia screamed.
Crap. All out of ammo. I don’t have itime to reload, so I’m left with no other choice. She thought as her Stand vanished, and she grabbed onto her right arm with her left hand.
“GANDR!” She screamed as she fired a rapid barrage of black and red magical orbs at the blonde.
The blonde ran away from the spheres until she reached the edge of the roof.
“Nowhere left to run! I’ve got you now!” She triumphantly yelled as she prepared one last Gandr.
Right as she was about to shoot, Dirty Work moved in front of her. Rin turned to her right and consecutively shot five attacks at its chest and head. The Stand threw a barrage of punches at the incoming projectiles, effortlessly knocking them away. Once they were all out of the way, Dirty Work swung its left fist at Rin’s leg, shattering it upon impact. Rin let out a scream as she fell to the ground. She clutched her leg, completely unable to so much as move it.
“Oh no, poor Rin. Looks like you won’t be able to move your leg anymore! I’m not sure whether someone would be able to heal from having their leg’s bone completely shattered, so, just like a horse, I may have to put you down.” The Stand grabbed onto Rin’s hair and lifted her head upward. “Are there any last words you’d like to tell me before I behead you?”
Rin opened her mouth, but right as she was about to speak, both she and her enemy heard the sound of heavy footsteps come from the ground.
“What’s that?” The blonde asked as she ran over to the other side of the roof where Rin lay.
She stepped on her neck and back, causing her to let out a grunt, before looking down to see Miyu running into Homurahara Academy. Illya was chasing after her as quickly as she possibly could and entered the school not too long afterward.
“So they’re finally here! This should be interesting! I’ll spare your life for now, Rin! Something far more important is about to happen!”

Chapter Text

-
Miyu ran up the stairs of Homurahara as quickly as she possibly could. Upon reaching the third floor, the black haired girl dashed all the way down the hall until she reached her homeroom, room 5-1. She pushed the door open and ran behind her teacher’s desk. Illya followed after her as quickly as she possibly could and entered the room a few seconds after she did.
“Miyu, why did you bring me all the way here? If you wanted to kill me, you could’ve done so while I was still asleep. Instead, you just stood there like you were some sort of obsessed stalker. I don’t know how long you were standing there for, but you probably had ample time to kill me instead of watching me sleep.”
“I was ordered by Luvia to bring you here so that I could kill you. She wanted to make sure I killed you while she fought against Rin. If it were up to me… I wouldn’t even be doing this right now.” She meekly said, her eyes downcast. “I don’t want to kill you… Illya… you’re not a bad girl. You have a family that loves you, a peaceful life, and you’re more confident and outgoing than I could ever dream to be. You don’t deserve to be put in danger time and time again all because of my sister’s vanity.“ Tears began to well up in her eyes.
“Hey, don’t cry. If you don’t want to kill me, then you can run away from Luvia’s mansion and come live with me! I’m sure my parents would be more than glad to let you stay with me!” She cheerfully said as she began to hold onto the black haired girl’s right hand. “My family already took one orphan in. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind taking in another.”
“You’re too kind, Illya… after what I’ve done to you and Rin… I don’t deserve such an offer!” She shouted as she began to weep.
“It’s okay, Miyu.” The white haired girl calmly said as she wrapped her arms around her. “There’s no need to apologize. You’re not the one responsible for all of this; Luvia is. And when I get my hands on her, I’m gonna give her a piece of my mind!” She shouted while grinning.
Illya wiped her tears away, causing Miyu to hug her back. Floating outside the classroom and looking in through the window was Dirty Work, who was using its invisibility to spy on the girls. On the roof, Luvia stood motionless on Rin’s back as she used her Stand to see what the magical girls were up to. She gritted her teeth upon seeing them embrace one another.
“That’s it! I had confidence that you’d be able to do your job, Miyu, but it seems like you’re incapable of doing anything by yourself! It looks like I have no choice but to step in!” The blonde shouted.
Upon hearing this, Rin, who was unable to stand, began to think.
Illya, please get away from Miyu! Luvia’s Stand is going right for the two of you!
Back inside Homurahara, Miyu had stopped crying and moved away from the white haired girl.
“Do you feel better now?”
The black haired girl nodded her head as she looked at Illya.
“All right then. Let’s get out of here and look for-“
“Neither of you are going anywhere!” Dirty Work, who projected Luvia’s voice, yelled as it phased through the wall and bolted toward Miyu.
The black haired girl tried to run toward her fellow magical girl, only for the Stand to put its right hand on her forehead and its left hand on her cheek before seemingly vanishing.
“MIYU!” Illya, Ruby, and Sapphire screamed in unison.
Miyu’s expression turned blank as her eyes became devoid of any emotion.
“Forgive me for delaying our plan, Luvia. I shall dispatch Illya and capture Magical Ruby before joining you in the execution of Rin Tohsaka!” Miyu calmly said.
“Luvia! Let go of Miyu!”
“I’m sorry, Illya, but I’m only doing as Lady Luviagelita wishes, and I can’t refuse an order from a woman as beautiful, wealthy, and powerful as her.” Her eyes moved down to look at her Kaleidostick. “Oh, and Sapphire, if you try to get Dirty Work off me, leave my grasp, or aid Illya and your sister in any way, I’ll allow Luvia’s Stand to behead me as punishment for your disloyalty.”
Illya gritted her teeth as she clenched her fists as tightly as possible.
“YOU’RE COMPLETELY HEARTLESS! I WON’T SHOW YOU AN OUNCE OF MERCY! LEND ME YOUR STRENGTH, TWINKLE SNOW POWDERY SNOW!”
The white haired girl’s Stand appeared behind her and let out a powerful roar, causing the roof, floor, and desks to be covered in a thick layer of frost.
“So that’s what you want to do. All right then. Let’s go, Moonchild.” She coldly said as she summoned her Stand.
“Luvia, I know you’re watching all of this! I’m not gonna fight Miyu. I’m gonna pry that Stand of yours off her face and then beat in yours until it’s a bloody pulp!”
“Ohoho! I’d like to see you try to not harm me!” The black haired girl taunted before rushing forward.

Chapter Text

Moonchild threw a barrage of punches at Illya’s face and chest. The white haired girl jumped to her left to avoid the attack before her Stand ran forward toward Miyu.
“Luvia, let go of her, or the only one whose face I’ll be pummeling in will be yours!”
“For you to be able to do that, you’d need to be able to attack Dirty Work, who’s not only invisible but is also being protected by me. If you punch around randomly in an attempt to hit her Stand, the only one you’ll be hurting is me!” She taunted while staring right at Illya.
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow let out a roar as she attempted to push her enemy to the side, but before she could make contact with Miyu, Moonchild grabbed onto her arms and slammed her onto the floor through a desk. It let go of its enemy and was about to punch straight through her chest, but Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow managed to throw a powerful punch at its stomach, pushing it back just enough to give her the opportunity to stand up. Miyu clenched her stomach as she spat out blood.
“Ohoho! See what happens when you try to help me? All you’re going to do is end up leaving me in a wheelchair! Give up now and offer me your life, and Luvia will let go of me!”
Illya gritted her teeth as a blade of magic appeared atop Magical Ruby’s head.
“Miyu would never be able to forgive herself if I died all because she got possessed by you! It’s for that reason that I’m gonna tear you off her!” She yelled before running at the black haired girl. “Hold on, Miyu! I’m gonna save you!”
A grin spread across her face as Moonchild rushed at Illya. It raised its right arm into the air and swung it downward toward its target’s head, but before it could make contact with her, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow grabbed onto its left arm and pulled it toward her before elbowing it in the stomach and slapping it across the face to send it stumbling backward.
“Excellent work, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow! Keep Moonchild busy while I focus on trying to save Miyu!”
A grin spread across the Stand’s face as she cracked her knuckles. Illya ran at Miyu and attempted to grab her left arm to pull her closer to her, but before she could do that, the black haired girl raised Magical Sapphire.
“You’ve been a thorn in me and Luvia’s side for far too long. Die, Illya!” She calmly said as she shot a barrage of magical beams at her enemy.
The white haired girl slapped the projectiles away with her Kaleidostick, causing them to hit the walls and allowing her to get close to her.
“Let go of Miyu, you bitch!” Illya yelled as she tried to grab onto the back of the magical girl’s head to rip Dirty Work off her.
The black haired girl quickly moved her head to the left as she began to grin from ear to ear.
“You should be honored that your head will become my trophy! It’ll do far more to liven up and decorate my mansion’s wall than anything you’d be able to accomplish in your pathetic little life!” Miyu cheerfully said as she swung Sapphire to the side, causing her to release a blue crescent magical projectile that zoomed toward Illya’s head.
A large pink rune-like shield appeared in front of her, blocking the attack.
“That shield should be fairly easy to destroy using a Stand. However, it seems like Moonchild is too preoccupied to be able to lend me its aid. Whatever shall I do?” She sarcastically asked before the shield in front of Illya suddenly shattered. “I should do something like that!”
Out of nowhere, something grabbed Illya by the neck and raised her into the air. She felt something similar to a hand wrap around and squeeze down on her neck, limiting her breathing.
“Dirty Work…” The white haired girl weakly said, struggling to breathe.
“Did you really think you were going to save me? You’re just as delusional as you are annoying! I could kill you now, but as I’m such a generous woman, I’ll allow you to choose the way you’ll die. Would you prefer to be disintegrated by a beam of magic, or shall Dirty Work crush your throat?”
Upon hearing this, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow turned around and attempted to run toward her master but was punched in the back, causing her to be stunned in place and punched 12 times in the chest and stomach before being knocked to the back of the classroom.
“I’ll take the option where I live and get to turn you into a fine paste!” Illya shouted before stabbing the thing holding her in the wrist.
Miyu let out a yell as the thing holding onto Illya dropped her and began to bleed profusely from the area it had been stabbed in.
“YOU LITTLE BRAT! THAT’S IT, MOONCHILD, GET HER!”
The Stand rushed toward its target and jumped into the air. Once it was close to Illya, it swung its fists downward toward her head. The white haired girl jumped to her right to avoid the attack, causing Moonchild to slam its fists into the floor, creating large craters in them. Illya wasted no time and jumped into the air and swung Ruby to the side, hitting the Stand as hard as she physically could. Miyu’s eyes widened as she moved her right arm upward and grabbed the back of her head.
“Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow, now!” She said while grinning.
The Stand let out a powerful roar before rushing straight at Miyu’s Stand.
“You fool! Do you really think Moonchild’s going to let your brute of a Stand get anywhere near-“
Before Miyu could finish speaking, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow threw a powerful uppercut at the Stand’s chin, sending it flying into the ceiling. As it fell down, Illya’s Stand threw a barrage of punches straight at its head, holding back so as not to hurt Miyu severely.
“W-What do you think you’re doing?” She shouted, sounding incredibly panicked.
“Your Stand, Dirty Work, while much stronger than a human, isn’t nearly as strong as one such as Moonchild or Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow. Otherwise, you’d be using its invisibility to go after me directly or fight against my Stand. Instead, you had to rely on taking control of Miyu’s body to play with my emotions and goad me into getting myself into a position where you’d be able to kill me! Look, I don’t want to severely injure or kill Miyu, but if it’s to get you to stop using her body as if it were some marionette, I’ll gladly knock her out for a bit!”
After around two minutes of nonstop attacking, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow threw one last punch at Moonchild’s stomach, sending it flying to the back of the room. Miyu was pushed back a few feet, falling onto her back as she was knocked unconscious.
“A puppet master’s only as good as the condition its marionette is in. If its strings are cut, you won’t be able to move it, even if you were the world’s greatest puppeteer. And now that I’ve severed all of Miyu’s, there’s no point in continuing to control her!” She confidently shouted with a huge grin on her face.
As expected, Miyu didn’t say a single word. Illya walked over to her friend, lifted her up, and placed her over her shoulder.
“Hey, Sapphire. If I accidentally gave Miyu a concussion, would you be able to heal it?”
“Of course. A little injury like that is something I can heal with ease.”
“Good to know. Now that I don’t have to worry about her, it’s time I pay Luvia back for everything she’s done to us!” She confidently said as Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow slammed its right fist into the ground, launching both herself and her master into the air.

Chapter Text

Illya burst through the ceiling and landed on the roof a few feet across from Luvia. She placed the unconscious Miyu to her side before running directly toward the blonde.
“I GOT YOU NOW, YOU RICH COW!” She screamed.
“AHHHH! DIRTY WORK, SEVER HER HEAD FROM HER SHOULDERS!” The blonde ordered, sounding panicked.
Upon hearing her opponent scream, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow ran ahead of Illya and threw a barrage of punches at the air in all directions. Not even a second later, Luvia’s face and chest became dented as blood began to leak out of them. A wide grin spread across the Stand’s face as she threw two uppercuts, one to her left and one straight in front of her. Without any warning, the blonde’s jaw became unhinged, making forming any coherent words nearly impossible.
“Right where I want you!” The white haired girl eagerly shouted as she jumped at the blonde.
Luvia attempted to run away, but Illya managed to catch up to her and kick her in the back of the head, causing her to move her head downward and let out a grunt. Before she could react to what had happened, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow rushed at her and punched her straight in the ribs, completely pulverizing them. The magus let out an agonized scream as she reached her right hand into her pocket. Upon seeing this, Illya quickly swung her Kaleidostick upward, severing her arm with ease. Luvia whimpered while stumbling back, allowing Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow to slam her fists onto her head, holding back just enough to not completely flatten her head, but still managing to shatter her skull. Not giving her an opportunity to defend herself, the white haired girl threw a punch that was as powerful as she could manage at her stomach, sending her flying to the edge of the roof, where she landed on her back and spat out blood.
“Illya, mind lending a hand?” Rin asked. “I wouldn’t wanna miss out on getting the chance to finally beat the shit out of Luvia!”
“Sure thing!” She cheerfully said as her Stand ran over to her and gently picked her up as if she were a baby.
The two of them quickly ran over to Luvia. Once they were right next to her, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow delicately grabbed Rin by her hands and held her up, allowing her to make contact with the ground. Wasting no time, the two girls began to throw kick after kick at Luvia’s arms and head, causing her to start shouting.
“You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for this moment! Don’t worry, I won’t kill you just yet! I’m gonna make you suffer as much as physically possible before I make you bleed out!”
“After everything you’ve done to me, Rin, and Miyu, this is what you deserve!“ She shouted as her head suddenly released a cracking noise upon being hit by her foot.
As the two girls continued to whale on the blonde, Miyu began to slowly open her eyes. She sat up, rubbed them, and then walked over to see what all the commotion was about. As she approached the girls, Illya turned around and smiled at Miyu.
“Look at who woke up just in time. Come join in on the fun!”
“If you don’t hurry, there might not be anything left to brutalize.”
Luvia attempted to plead with Miyu, but the only thing that came out of her mouth was incoherent mumbling.
“I don’t think we should kill her…”
“What? Why?” Illya and Rin asked in unison as they stopped attacking their enemy.
“For the entire time you’ve been living with her, she’s been abusing you and treating you like a slave! Don’t you think she deserves to get her comeuppance?”
“Luvia’s not a good person; I won’t argue with that… but I don’t think she deserves to be murdered by us. She’s not even an adult yet… I believe there’s a chance she could learn from this experience and grow as a person to become less selfish, vain, and cruel.”
“You’re far too naive. Someone like Luvia won’t change ever. They were raised that way and will remain to be so until the day they draw their last breath.”
“Maybe you’re right… but still, I hate seeing people die… especially when they didn’t have to.”
“I’m siding with Miyu on this one, not just because she’s my master, but also because if you two kill Luvia, the Mage’s Association will probably kick Rin out of the Clock Tower, and the Edelfelt family will sue her for every cent she’s worth, have her jailed for life, or both.”
Rin’s eyes widened as her face turned pale.
“Never mind. Illya, we’re sparing her life.”
“All right.” The white haired girl said, letting out a sigh. “Man, I was looking forward to finally killing her.”
Luvia sat up, put her hands together, and made a bunch of incoherent noises.
“You don’t need to thank me… Luvia. I would’ve done this regardless of if you begged or not.”
“Now that this is all over, I’m gonna use my magecraft to heal everyone.” Rin said. “Try not to move around too much, or else it won’t be as effective as it normally would be.”
Standing on a nearby building was Kiritsugu, who had a pistol loaded with an Origin Bullet in his right hand. With the battle now over, he put it in its holster and began to softly smile.
“Good job, Illya. It seems like you really can handle Stand Users, magi, and magical girls. It doesn’t bring me any joy to see you fight and put yourself in perilous situations, but it does give me some relief to know that you’re able to handle such dangers by yourself.”

Chapter Text

-Half an hour later-
After Rin had used her magecraft to heal everybody, the four girls left Homurahara Academy and began to walk toward the Einzbern’s house and Luvia’s mansion. Illya and Rin, who were both glaring daggers at the back of the blonde’s head, alongside Miyu, were walking behind her. The blonde tried her best to ignore their stares as she continued walking forward. Eventually, the four girls arrived at their destination.
“We’re finally here. Miyu, are you going to come live with me and my family?” She cheerfully asked while turning to look at her friend.
“I’m truly flattered by your offer. However, I don’t want to leave Luvia. Someone needs to keep her in check after all.” She said, softly smiling at her. “Still, I’ll try to visit your house every so often so that we can spend some time together.”
“Well then.” Illya turned her attention to Luviagelita, her tone becoming much more serious. “Since Miyu’s gonna keep living with you, you’re going to treat her better than you used to, right? Because if not, I have no qualms with tearing you in half here and now.” She said as she punched her left hand.
“I-I promise that I-I’ll start to treat M-Miyu much better than I did before! N-No need to threaten me!” She responded, sounding incredibly nervous as she stumbled back slightly.
“I’m gonna go home now. If Luvia starts abusing you again, don’t hesitate to tell me. I’d be more than glad to lend you a hand in teaching her a lesson.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to do just that.”
Rin turned around and walked away. With her gone, Luvia made her way to her mansion’s gate, unlocked it, and began to make her way toward the front door.
“Looks like Luvia’s getting away. You should probably go after her so that you can make sure she’s not planning her revenge scheme on me and Rin for humiliating her.”
“All right. See you tomorrow.” The black haired girl softly said to her friend as she waved and walked away.
“See you later, Miyu.” She calmly said as she began to walk toward her house.
The white haired girl returned to her regular form before opening the door and stepping inside. As she made her way toward the stairs, Kiritsugu stepped out of the kitchen.
“Oh, Illya, you’re back. Where did you go?” The black haired man asked.
“I went to help a friend out with something that’s been troubling her for a while now. It wasn’t anything too major, but she couldn’t have possibly solved it without my help. Why do you want to know? Were you and mom worried about me?”
“No, not at all. We knew that whatever you went to do was most likely important to you and that you would’ve been able to handle it by yourself, so we didn’t want to get involved. I was simply curious, is all.” He said as he began to walk toward the living room. “By the way, your food’s in the microwave in case you’re hungry.”
“All right. I’ll eat it later.” The white haired girl said as she began to walk up the stairs toward her bedroom.

-
Luvia entered her bedroom, closed the door behind her, and locked it before walking over to her bed and falling face first onto it.
“Damn it! How could I possibly have lost to Rin of all people and been humiliated by a literal child? I’m richer, more beautiful, and more powerful than both of them combined… and yet they still managed to defeat me! My family would be ashamed if they ever caught wind of this!” She slammed her fists onto the bed as she kicked her feet. “It’s not fair! Not fair! Not fair! I had to beg a child to spare my life! I’ll never be able to live this down!”

Chapter Text

-A few hours later-
Miyu was sitting on her bed while watching videos on her phone when, all of a sudden, there was a knock at the door. The black haired girl paused the video, put her phone down, and then walked over to the door and opened it. Standing behind it was one of Luvia’s maids, a woman with dark purple hair and green eyes.
“Lunch is ready, Lady Miyu.” She calmly said as she bowed to her.
The black haired girl walked past her. Right as she exited her room, the maid began to speak again.
“I know that this is sort of counterintuitive to my whole job, but can I ask you to do me a favor?”
“Sure, what do you want?” She softly asked.
“Before coming to your room, I tried to inform Lady Luvagelita about lunch being on the table, but she didn’t respond to me. She could be asleep, but she’s been acting glumly ever since you two came back from wherever you went after breakfast, so I think it has more to do with that than anything else. Since I don’t know what happened to you girls while you were away, I have no way to comfort her. Do you think you could cheer her up for me and get her to come out of her room so that you two can go eat lunch?”
“I’m not the greatest at cheering people up… arguably I’m the opposite, but I’ll try my best to get her to come out of her room.”
“Thank you, Lady Miyu. I’m truly grateful for your kindness.”
The black haired girl walked down the hallway until she reached Luvia’s room. She knocked on the door before speaking.
“Are you all right? From what your maid told me, you sound pretty down in the dumps.”
“Do you expect me to be chipper after being defeated by a child and a girl whose tits are flatter than a piece of cardboard?” She asked. “I was supposed to be the strongest, most beautiful, wealthiest girl alive… and yet I was defeated and humiliated by Rin of all people!”
“I understand that you’re upset and saddened by your defeat; anyone would be. However, you can use this loss to motivate yourself to train your magecraft and Stand to be able to trounce Illya and Rin should you three ever fight again under different circumstances.”
“Train? I’ve never trained or studied in my life! I don’t even know the first thing about that!” She shouted. The blonde went silent for a few seconds before speaking once more. “I understand that you’re trying to cheer me up… but it’s not working. Please, just leave me alone.“
“…All right. I’ll put your food in the microwave for you.” The black haired girl said before turning around and walking away from the blonde’s bedroom.

-Many hours later-
Illya was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. Since Rin hadn’t come to go looking for the Class Cards in the past two days, the white haired girl had no reason to assume she would today. As tomorrow was a school day, she decided to go to sleep early instead of staying up all night. Right as she was about to drift off to sleep, she heard somebody knock at her window.
“Hey, Illya. Wake up.” A very familiar voice said.
The white haired girl sat up and rubbed her eyes before getting out of bed and making her way toward the window. She opened it, allowing Rin to get inside.
“You already know what time it is.” She said with a wide smile on her face.
“Finally. I thought we were never gonna start looking for the Class Cards again!” Illya cheerfully said as she turned to look at her closet. “All right, get over here, Ruby!”
“Right away.” The Kaleidostick said as she pushed open the closet and flew over to her master.
The white haired girl grabbed her and quickly transformed.
“Before we get to looking for them, we need to pick up two other magic users who’ll be helping.”
A grin spread across her face as she realized exactly who her friend was talking about.
“All right then. Let’s not waste any time and go get them!”
The two girls jumped out of the window and ran to the front of the Einzbern house. Once there, they made their way to the front gate of Luvia’s mansion. Illya quickly grabbed onto Rin before jumping over the gate with ease, landing safely, and then placing her on the ground.
“I don’t know where Luvia and Miyu’s rooms are, so can you look through the windows, and if you see them, can you come carry me before knocking on them?”
“I’ll be sure to do just that.” The white haired girl cheerfully said as she jumped into the air and flew toward the mansion.
She quickly flew around the building until she found a room where she could faintly see a girl who looked just like Miyu sleeping in a bed. A grin spread across Illya’s face as she turned around and flew back to Rin.
“All right, I found Miyu. Grab onto me, and I’ll bring you to her.”
The black haired girl jumped up and grabbed onto her friend’s feet before she flew back to the window of the room she had seen Miyu in. She knocked on it several times before the black haired girl began to slowly open her eyes and sit up. She rubbed them before turning to look at her window and seeing Illya floating in front of it.
“Good morning, Miyu! Did you sleep well?” She asked.
“W-What are you doing here? Y-You already de-defeated Lu-Luvia! Neither of u-us are a danger to you anymore!”
“Correct. Which is the exact reason why I came here. Me and Luvia were both assigned to look for the Class Cards, but we couldn’t get along despite how hard I tried at first. Now that it seems like Illya and I have knocked her down a peg or two, she might actually be willing to cooperate with me. And if not, you can at least come with us if you want.”
“…I don’t like fighting… especially those Class Cards…” The black haired girl went silent for a few seconds. “But I know that if we don’t do anything about them… they’ll just hurt innocent people and will continue to suffer. So that we can put them out of their misery and ensure nobody is harmed by them, I’ll help you two as much as I possibly can.” She said, raising her voice slightly to sound a bit more confident.
As she finished speaking, Magical Sapphire, who was underneath her master’s bed, flew out of it and into her right hand.
“If you’re going with them, then I guess I have no choice but to join in too.” She cheerfully said.
Miyu transformed.
“All right. Lead the way to Luvia’s room.” Rin said with a smile on her face.

Chapter Text

The three girls quickly made their way out of Miyu’s bedroom and went down the hall until they reached Luvia’s room. Once there, the black haired girl knocked on the door and began to speak.
“Are you awake, Luvia?”
The blonde didn’t respond.
“Looks like she fell asleep before we got here.” Rin calmly said as she attempted to turn the doorknob only to find that it was locked. “I’d hate to interrupt a woman’s beauty sleep, but I really don’t want any of us falling asleep while we fight a Class Card, so I’m left with no other choice but to do this!”
She threw a powerful kick at the door, knocking it down with ease. The trio stepped inside to see Luvia lying in bed with wide eyes and her mouth agape.
“Y-You! What are you doing here? G-Get out of my mansion or I’ll c-call the police and h-have you sued!” The blonde shouted as she covered her head with her blanket.
“I’ve come to bring you with us to look for a Class Card. Sure, I and Illya have kicked your ass, but that doesn’t excuse you from completing the mission you were assigned to.”
“Rin’s right. Your ego might be in pieces at the moment, but that gives you no reason to want to stay home rather than finish what you came to this country for.” Magical Sapphire added.
“I’d rather die than work with Rin of all people!” Luvia shouted as she grabbed her pillow and placed it over her face.
Illya pulled both the blanket and pillow covering her off, causing her to look at her former archrival.
“If you don’t come with us, I’ll tell Zelretch about how lazy and cowardly you are.”
The blonde’s eyes widened as she sat up.
“N-No! If y-you tell him ab-about this, any ch-chance of me becoming a powerful, w-well respected magus will be ruined! I-I’ll be a d-disappointment to my family, and t-they might e-even disown me! Pl-Please keep quiet! I-I’ll do anything!” She shouted as she put her hands together and began to beg while tears welled up in her eyes.
“No. The only way you can guarantee that I won’t tell anyone about this is by helping me.”
“A-All right, a-all right, I’ll help you. Just pl-please promise me that you won’t tell this to Zel-Zelretch of all people…”
“I may hate you, but I’m not much of a liar. You can rest easy knowing that I’ll keep this between the four of us.”
Luvia let out a deep breath as she stood up.
“Since the four of us are finally together, let’s head out of here and start looking for the Jewel Seeds.” The black haired girl announced.
The four girls all exited Luvia’s room and went downstairs. Right as they were about to exit the mansion, the blonde spoke up.
“Before we do anything, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure. What do you want to know?” Rin asked.
“How exactly do you intend we look for the Class Cards? Are you suggesting we just wander around aimlessly and hope we stumble into one?”
“Well, we know the last known coordinates of the previous magi who were sent here to collect them, and so far, going to those locations has allowed us to encounter them. We usually just walk-“
“No, that won’t do!” Luvia shouted. “It’ll take far too long to get to our destination on foot. I have a limousine parked near my mansion. We can take that and drive to wherever we need to go.”
“Very well. Call one of your maids or butlers and tell them to drive us to the Fuyuki Bridge at once.”
The blonde went silent for a few seconds before Rin spoke up again.
“What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?”
“…No, it’s just that they’re all asleep, and I don’t want to wake them up. So, drive us to the bridge.”
“No.”
“What? Then can you pl-pl-pl-“ The blonde sounded as if she was gagging as she struggled to finish her sentence. She took a deep breath before continuing to speak. “pl-please drive me there?”
“My answer’s still a no.”
“Pretty pl-please! I promise I’ll pay you however much you want! Name the price, and you can be sure that you’ll receive the money by tomorrow!”
“…You do know that I don’t know how to drive, right?”
“Yes, yes, but that hardly matters. We’ll be fine.”
“Fine. I’ll drive you for a ¥1,000,000,000. Are you absolutely sure this is what you want?”
“Of course. Now follow me.” Luvia said before walking out of her mansion.
Her allies quickly followed after her.

-15 minutes later-
The quartet found Luvia’s limousine, and Rin got in the driver’s seat. Since there were no people on the streets at this hour, she wasn’t worried about accidentally running someone over, allowing her to ignore the speed limit and get to the Fuyuki Bridge in just a handful of minutes. Once there, she stopped the car and began to speak to her passengers while looking out of the window beside her.
“Do any of you girls see odd-looking, suspicious people nearby?”
“No.” Luvia said as she turned her head to look out of the window next to her.
“I can’t see anything of note outside.” Illya said as she looked out the window to her right.
“Neither can I.” Miyu added.
“It seems like the Class Card’s hiding from us. Let’s keep driving forward to see if we can find it.” Rin said before stepping down on the pedal, allowing the car to steadily move forward.
She drove for a few minutes before she noticed a purple haired woman who had her eyes covered by a black blindfold with a red gem in the center of it riding atop a pegasus in the side-view mirror. She wore a black dress, leggings, and sleeves that were all ripped and tattered.
“There’s a Class Card tailing us!” She shouted as she summoned Happiness is a Warm Gun. “Get ready, girls!”

Chapter Text

Upon hearing the word Class Card, Miyu’s body stiffened up, and she began to tremble slightly.
“Miyu, what’s wrong?” Illya asked.
“A-A C-Class Card!” She shouted as she closed her eyes tightly.
“Please calm yourself. If you continue to panic, we’ll be unable to fight against the Class Card.” Magical Sapphire said.
Luvia gritted her teeth.
“Miyu’s always been like this, even when we worked alone. The only way I was able to get her to fight anything was by controlling her using Dirty Work. Otherwise, she’d just stand there, shaking like a leaf during a thunderstorm. If you two really want, I could use Dirty Work to control her for a brief period, allowing us to use Sapphire to fight against the Class Card.”
“No!” The white haired girl shouted. “Even if it’s for a good cause, I don’t want Miyu to be forced to do anything against her will! Plus, I’m certain that even without her help, the three of us should be able to beat the Class Card just fine!”
Outside the limousine, the purple haired woman turned her head to face the leftmost passenger’s seat window. A smile spread across her face as she summoned a silver dagger with a lengthy chain.
“Got you.” She calmly said as she launched her weapon at the vehicle’s window.
It shattered it with ease and flew straight toward Miyu’s head. Before it could make contact with her, Illya shouted.
“Get out of the way!”
The white haired girl pushed her friend to the floor, causing the dagger to head for her instead. Right as the weapon was about to hit her, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow appeared in front of her and caught the dagger with ease. She let out a powerful roar, which sent a gust of ice-cold wind out of the now broken window, before pulling it toward her. Upon feeling her weapon getting tugged on, the Class Card let go of it before she could be pulled into the limousine. At the same time, Rin closed the window closest to her before sticking her head and Stand out of it and firing three gems at her enemy. The purple haired woman managed to get her mount to fly upward, allowing her to avoid the projectiles. Now out of reach of her enemies, the Class Card summoned two more daggers and chucked them at the car, impaling its roof. She then pulled back on them, preventing the limousine from moving forward.
“We’ve been hit!” Luvia shouted.
“Let me handle this one.” Illya said as Twinle Snow Powdery Snow grabbed onto the daggers’ tips and pulled the weapons into the car, causing them to freeze over. The rest of the daggers began to freeze more and more with each passing moment, half of the chains becoming completely frozen over in just a handful of seconds. The Class Card was jostled forward and was nearly pushed off her pegasus, but she managed to let go of her weapons and grab onto her mount’s neck to stabilize herself. Before her opponent had an opportunity to act once again, Illya moved over to the window and raised Magical Ruby, who shot a barrage of beams of magic at her. Just like with Rin’s gems, the purple haired woman avoided the attacks with ease by managing to get her pegasus to fly to the right, getting closer to the window beside Miyu.
“I don’t think we’ll be able to hit her at this rate.” Rin said as the limousine began to drive forward once more. “Both you and Miyu use Stands who primarily focus on close-range combat. Sure, being Ruby’s master, you can use powerful long-range magical attacks, but that brings me to my next point. That Class Card’s pegasus allows her to move out of the way of any long-range attacks, like my Happiness is a Warm Gun’s gems and your magical projectiles. Perhaps Luvia’s Stand would be able to sneak attack her, but I doubt that she’d be able to do any serious damage judging from the fact it’s far weaker than your Stand. Our best bet to be able to attack the Class Card would be by taking down her pegasus, but that’s easier said than done due to how fast it is.”
“Let me handle taking care of it.” Illya said with a huge grin on her face as she quickly opened the window.
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow ran over to the window and began to pound her chest and roar, sending powerful, ice-cold gusts of wind at the Class Card. The purple haired woman managed to avoid the attack by flying her pegasus above the limousine. She summoned two more chains and launched them at the car’s roof.
“You’re not getting away this time!”
Illya shouted as her Stand pounded the floor, launching herself through the roof and creating a huge hole in it. She landed a few feet away from it and continued to pound her chest and roar, releasing powerful gusts of wind that zoomed upward toward the purple haired woman. Suddenly, the areas of her skin that were completely exposed began to freeze over. She attempted to move her pegasus away, but it let out a weak neigh before falling to the ground due to having sections of its wings covered by ice. The pegasus vanished upon hitting the road.
“All right! I got her!” Illya cheerfully shouted as she jumped over to her Stand.
“Good work! Finish the job!” Rin shouted as she turned the car around and drove toward the Class Card.
The purple haired woman quickly got on all fours and began to hiss through gritted teeth as the vehicle approached her. Once the limousine was only a few inches away from her, she leapt onto the roof of the car and began to rush toward her. She summoned two daggers in her hands and threw them at Illya’s head. Before they could hit her, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow grabbed them and snapped them in half as if they were twigs. A grin spread across the Class Card’s face as she suddenly stopped moving. Without warning, a plethora of daggers shot out of the limousine’s roof and headed toward the Stand and her master. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow flashed a grin as she wrapped her arms around her master. The daggers’ chains wrapped around the Stand, encircling her before the blade dropped down and headed toward her. Right as they were about to skewer her head, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow raised her arms and spun around, shattering the weapons before rushing at the Class Card. She quickly grabbed her by the neck before tossing her into the air and throwing a barrage of punches at her face, chest, and stomach, freezing over the areas that she had hit. Once she was done, the Stand slammed her fists downward into her head, causing it to split open and for blood to gush out of it. Before she could react, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow pulled on her hair, ripping all of the strands of hair in her hand off. She quickly followed this up by throwing a powerful kick downward at her head, knocking her to the floor. She began to pound on her chest, releasing powerful gusts of wind, which quickly began to freeze over the areas of the Class Card’s body that hadn’t yet frozen solid. In a desperate attempt to not be defeated, the purple haired woman began to move her right arm toward the blindfold on her face, but before she could take it off, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow kicked her in the jaw, launching her off the limousine. As she made contact with the ground, her body froze completely solid, making her appear as if she were nothing but an ice sculpture.
“We won!” Illya shouted with a huge smile on her face. “Go shatter her, Twinkle Snow Powdery-“
Before Illya could finish speaking, the ground suddenly began to shake.
“What’s going on over there?” Rin shouted.
“I-I don’t know! I just turned the Class Card into an icicle, but before I could retrieve it, this tremor started!”
The black haired girl quickly turned the car around, but before it could get anywhere near her target, the road began to crack open and the ground the car and Class Card were on split apart, causing both of them to fall toward the river beneath the bridge.

Chapter Text

“WE’RE FALLING!” Luvia screamed.
“Everyone, jump out before the limousine sinks!” Rin shouted as she opened the door beside her.
Before the vehicle could touch the water, Illya jumped off its roof and made contact with the river, creating a large, circular platform of ice beneath her. The car landed on it, allowing Rin, Luvia, and Miyu to get out safely.
“What happened? I know that Japan’s quite the hotspot for natural disasters, but why did there just so happen to be an earthquake the moment you defeated the Class Card without any warning beforehand?” The blonde asked.
“I’m not sure. It could’ve just been bad timing, but at the same time, since I didn’t manage to fully defeat the Class Card, perhaps it used some of its magic to use an attack powerful enough to destroy the bridge in a last ditch effort to kill me.”
“That seems likely, but where is it right now? Last time we saw her, she was frozen solid, and I doubt she would’ve been able to survive a fall from that height in that state without shattering into a bunch of different pieces.” Rin said.
“If that’s the case, then maybe the card’s deep in the water.” Miyu pointed out.
“Good point. Everyone, let’s search the river to find the Class Card.” The black haired girl announced.
As Illya walked toward the edge of the platform she had constructed, she suddenly felt the ground begin to shake once more.
“Again? Why does this keep happening?” Luvia asked as she began to look around the area.
Before the girls could realize what was going on, a gigantic mop of purple hair with black and red snake-like strands at its ends began to rise from the river. The Class Card, who had managed to grow exponentially in size, began to rise out of the water. Her old clothing had been replaced by much more revealing black and red pieces of armor that only covered the front and side of her breasts, shoulders, sides of her stomach, and sides of her legs. She wore a black and red loincloth that was tattered and had rips and tears throughout it. She had gained an extremely lengthy tail with red and black scales going down it, and her arms and legs became covered in the same colored scales while also gaining razor sharp claws on her hands and feet. The blindfold covering her eyes had become mostly black with a few lines of red scattered about it. Outside of becoming much larger, the red gem in the center of the mask remained unchanged.
“It transformed just like when we fought against Lancer!” The white haired girl shouted.
“Enough of this! Give me the girl now!” She shouted as the snake-like heads at the end of her strands of hair opened their mouths and shot red beams of magic at the four girls.
“Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow, hold nothing back!” Illya shouted.
The Stand began to grin from ear to ear before proceeding to let out a fearsome roar and pound on her chest, releasing powerful gusts of wind that froze all of the incoming projectiles, causing them to either fall into the river or onto the platform of ice without any problems.
“I’ll take care of this overly busty python head on. Rin, Luvia, try your best to support me.”
The two girls nodded their heads as Rin raised Happiness is a Warm Gun toward the behemoth. The white haired girl turned to look at Miyu.
“Are you still too afraid to fight against this thing?”
The black haired girl didn’t respond and simply stared up at the Class Card. She was no longer trembling but now had tears in her eyes, and her breathing had grown more frantic.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” She said before Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow wrapped her left arm around her waist and slammed her left arm onto the ground, launching her and her master into the air.
Once Illya was out of her field of view, Miyu looked downward and began to murmur to herself.
“Why did this have to happen to you? You couldn’t have just been given a normal, human death; instead, you were transformed into this.” She went silent yet again for several seconds as tears began to run down her cheeks. “I’m sorry…”

Chapter Text

The snake-like heads on the end of the Class Card’s hair ceased firing beams of magic and instead darted toward Illya and Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow. They opened their mouths wide and attempted to swallow them whole. The white haired girl and her Stand grinned as Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow grabbed onto the top of the two closest snake heads in front of her and, before they could do anything, pulled back on them with all of her strength, ripping them out of the Class Card’s head and throwing them into the river beneath them. The Stand let out a deafening roar soon afterward, releasing powerful, frigid gusts of wind toward the snake heads around her, freezing their eyes and blinding them. With her enemy distracted, Illya swung her Kaleidostick downward, releasing a crescent pink projectile that split all of the snake-like heads in half, causing them to fall into the river. The Class Card let out a deep hiss as she raised her arms and swung her claws at Illya’s body. Despite how large and fast she was, the white haired girl effortlessly avoided the attacks by moving upward. Before the purple haired woman had another chance to attack, Rin pulled down on Happiness is a Warm Gun’s trigger, sending three gems zooming toward the Class Card’s stomach. They slammed into her and exploded, causing her to let out an agonized scream as blood rushed out of her stomach, staining the water in front of her red.
“Illya! Go get her!” Rin cheered as she reloaded her Stand.
The magical girl turned her head slightly and confidently smiled at her before raising Magical Ruby and shooting a barrage of small pink beams of magic at her face and neck. Due to her immense size, the Class Card was unable to avoid the attack, and while she tried and was successful in swatting some of the projectiles away, the vast majority of them managed to go past her hands and bombard her face and neck, causing her to grit her teeth and wince from the pain. After several seconds of nonstop attacking, Illya ceased her barrage of projectiles, but before she could give the Class Card even a moment to compose herself, she flew toward her at incredible speeds, and once she was close enough to her, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow threw a barrage of punches at her face. With each blow, she managed to dent and even shatter parts of her skull, as well as freeze over the areas of her face that she made contact with. As the Stand continued pummeling the Class Card’s face in, three of her remaining strands of snake-like hair darted toward her and opened their mouths as wide as possible. Before they could swallow Illya, Dirty Work suddenly appeared behind her and grabbed onto the strands of the Class Card’s hair, tearing them off with relative ease and dropping them into the river.
“Illya! Focus on defeating the Class Card! I’ll back you up in case it tries to do anything underhanded again!” Luvia shouted.
The white haired gave her a thumbs up and nodded her head. A few seconds later, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow threw one last punch at the Class Card at full strength, hitting her in the chin and sending her falling back first into the water.
“It seems like all you did by transforming into a giant was make yourself a bigger target for me! You’re nothing but a garter snake that deluded herself into thinking she was as fierce and powerful as a python.” She taunted as she raised her Kaleidostick. “Ruby, finish this now!”
“All right! No hard feelings about this, okay?” She shouted before shooting a gigantic pink beam of magic straight at the purple haired woman’s head.
The attack zoomed toward her target, and right as it was about to hit her, the Class Card reverted to her regular form, got on all fours, and ran to her left, narrowly managing to avoid the attack as she ran toward a piece of dry land in the distance.
“She’s getting away!” Luvia shouted.
“I’ll go get her. Since you and Rin have no way to get from here to where the Class Card’s headed, stay put. I’ll come back with the Class Card to pick you two up.”
“Okay. We’ll keep watch from here.” The black haired girl said.
Illya turned around and quickly flew away from the area her friends were in, chasing after the Class Card.

Chapter Text

The Class Card managed to run on the water and get on dry land without much effort. Upon getting onto solid ground, she turned around to look at Illya, who was rapidly flying toward her.
“So you realized that getting all big wasn’t gonna make you more mighty, huh? It doesn’t matter how gargantuan or tiny you are; a cold-blooded creature such as yourself will never be able to defeat me and my Stand!”
A smirk spread across the Class Card’s face as several chains suddenly appeared around both her and Illya.
“You’re trying to lock us both in? What? Do you want to turn into an ice cube so badly? I’m not opposed to it, but I wouldn’t say it’s very smart of you on your end!” She taunted as Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow began to chuckle while cracking her knuckles.
The two girls stood perfectly still while facing each other for several seconds before the Class Card suddenly turned around and leapt at a chain behind her. Her feet landed on it, and she used it to launch herself at Illya’s head. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow let out an amused roar as she raised her arms and swung them downward toward the Class Card. Right as her fists were about to make contact with her, the purple haired woman put her hands on the ground to stop herself and swiftly backflipped away from the Stand. She quickly summoned two daggers in her hands before launching them at Twinkle Snow Powdery, who caught them and snapped them in half with ease. The Stand slammed her right hand onto the ground, launching herself into the air. She raised her arms and prepared to send a barrage of punches at the purple haired woman’s head, but before she could come close to her opponent, the Class Card dashed forward and made her way toward Illya. She summoned two more daggers and, instead of throwing them, jumped at her and swung them toward her head. The white haired girl quickly raised Magical Ruby and created a blade made of magic to block the attacks before throwing a powerful kick at her stomach, sending her flying toward Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow. The Stand let out a deep laugh as she quickly turned around and threw a barrage of punches at her opponent’s back. When she was a mere several inches away from the Stand, the Class Card flung her weapons at the daggers to her left and right. The weapons quickly wrapped their chains around the chains that were already there, narrowly preventing her back from being completely pulverized by Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow’s attacks. She quickly jumped onto the chains and launched herself at Illya yet again. Instead of blocking the attack, the white haired girl allowed the Class Card to tear through the pink barrier Ruby had created for her before ducking.
“You’re fast and as slippery as a snake, but you’re also far too frail, and your attacks are unable to stand up to Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow and my magic!” Illya shouted before shooting a barrage of small pink beams of magic at the Class Card.
They went through her chest, stomach, and arms as Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow effortlessly snapped the chains separating her from her master in half as if they were twigs and rushed at her. Before the Class Card could make contact with the ground, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow threw a powerful punch at her face, which sent her flying all the way to the chains across from where Illya and her Stand were.
“Tear her limb from limb!” Illya shouted while pointing at the Class Card.
She nodded her head before pounding her chest several times and rushing at the purple haired woman. In a last-ditch effort to defeat the Stand, she summoned a red rune in front of herself, quickly summoning another pegasus. She mounted it and attempted to fly upward, but before she could leave the area, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow slammed her fists onto her back, completely shattering her spine and sending her flying over to her master. The chains encircling the three of them slowly began to dissipate as she lay on the ground, breathing heavily as she was unable to get up or even move her legs.
“Looks like you’ve used up every last thing at your disposal. Normally, I’d torment you a bit longer, but this battle’s gone on for far too long. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow hold nothing back and finish this now!”
The Stand rushed at the Class Card as quickly as she possibly could. Completely out of options, the Class Card tore her blindfold off, allowing it to fall to the ground as she stared at Illya with her purple eyes that had square pupils. Suddenly, her feet were completely petrified, causing Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow to be unable to move as well.
“HEY! WHAT’S HAPPENING?” Illya screamed as she closed her eyes tightly, halting the petrification of her body.
“It seems like her eyes are causing you to turn to stone! Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow can’t move because of that, and I can’t shoot at the Class Card without accidentally hitting your Stand.”
“I’ll just call her back!” Illya shouted.
She attempted to get her Stand to vanish, only for nothing to happen.
“Is she gone?”
“No. It seems like whatever the Class Card did is causing your Stand to be unable to disappear. Which means-“
Before Magical Ruby could finish speaking, the Class Card summoned two daggers and launched them at Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow’s neck, piercing her skin and causing both her and Illya to spit out blood and for it to leak out of their injuries.
“ILLYA!” Ruby shouted.
Back on the platform of ice, Rin, Luvia, and Miyu were watching the fight unfold. Miyu had her hands over her mouth and looked as if she were about to start crying at any second while Rin and Luvia looked as if they were completely shocked.
“Crap! Illya’s in danger! I don’t think I’ll be able to reach her before the Class Card kills her using Happiness is a Warm Gun!”
“I think my Dirty Work might be able to get to her and land off a sneak attack, but I doubt that it’ll be enough to kill her.”
“I-Illya is going to die?” Miyu asked as tears began to run down her cheeks.
“If you do nothing then, yes. However, you’re the only one who can get to Illya fast enough to save her.”
“B-But how? Moonchild specializes in close-range combat, and I-I’ll just become petrified the m-moment either of us looks at her!” She shouted, breathing heavily.
“That might be true, but if you manage to blind her or cover her eyes in some way, you’ll have the perfect opportunity to defeat her. Speaking of which, do you think you’ll be able to bring yourself to defeat the Class Card?”
Miyu’s grip on Magical Sapphire tightened as she took deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself.
“I don’t want Illya to die… I don’t like fighting against the Class Cards… but if I had to choose between saving her and freeing the Class Cards or letting her die and allowing them to continue killing people, I think the choice should be obvious.”
Back on land, the Class Card was launching more of her daggers at Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow. It managed to hit her in the stomach before she quickly pulled her weapons out of her. She then threw them at her chest, aiming straight at her heart. The Stand let out a powerful roar, which caused powerful blasts of wind to be released out of her, freezing both her and her master’s wounds, before grabbing onto the daggers and crushing them with ease. Before Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow could pull back on her weapons, the Class Card let go of them. She then summoned another pair of daggers, but right as she was about to chuck them at her enemy, a torrent of warm red liquid hit her in the eyes, blinding her. Miyu, who was standing a few feet to the left of the Class Card, was clutching her left hand that was pouring blood onto the ground from her wrist and biting her bottom lip while wincing.
“M-Miyu! W-Why did you do that? Surely there was another way to blind the-“
“It’s fine. Can you heal my wound using your magic?” She asked, trying her best to ignore the pain.
“Of course, but just because I can heal it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be at least a little worried that your first instinct to blind the Class Card was to jump straight to self harm.”
Upon hearing Miyu’s voice, a grin spread across Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow’s face before she began to pound her chest while letting out a powerful roar, releasing a frigid gale from her body, which hit both the purple haired woman and the magical girl, freezing the blood on the former’s face while temporarily closing the latter’s wounds. The Class Card clawed at the ice and slammed her fists against it but was unable to break it in time before Miyu ran at her and summoned Moonchild in front of her.
“I’m sorry!” She shouted as her Stand threw a barrage of punches at her face.
The Class Card was sent flying away toward a street light. Miyu ran over to her and quickly ripped it out of the ground before thrusting it at her throat. It went straight through her neck, causing a smile to spread across her face.
“Forgive me… for trying to hurt you… and your friends.” She weakly said before vanishing into a cloud of smoke.
The black haired girl walked into it and picked up a card that displayed a man wearing armor and riding a chariot on it with the word Rider written beneath him. At the same time, Illya’s feet returned to normal, allowing her and her Stand to walk toward her.
“Miyu, you saved me!” She cheerfully said as she began to hold her friend’s hand. “I thought I was done for! I never could’ve expected you to come and defeat the Class Card for me.”
“No problem. I couldn’t bring myself to stand around and watch you get killed, so I rushed here as quickly as I possibly could. If there’s anything I hate more than fighting and having to kill, it’s seeing someone I care about die.”
“Well, we’ve got the Class Card. Let’s head back to Rin and Luvia and go home.”
Miyu nodded her head before both Moonchild and Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow vanished, and she and her friend jumped into the air and flew away.

Chapter Text

-The next day-
After defeating the Class Card, the four girls returned home and quickly went to sleep. At around 7:50 in the morning, Rin woke up. She yawned, rubbed her eyes, stretched, and then stood up. The black haired girl grabbed her phone from under her pillow before checking the time.
“What am I doing up at this hour? It’s far too early to be awake.” She said to herself before turning around and walking toward the door. “I’ll just use the bathroom and then come back to take a nap.”
She quickly opened the door, stepped into the hallway, and began to make her way down it until she heard a familiar voice talking to her mother.
“How funny, Mrs. Tohsaka. However, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t expect Rin to have accidentally attended the wrong class for a full day while in 1st grade.”
Rin’s eyes widened as she ran downstairs toward the living room.
“LUVIA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?” She screamed as she saw the blonde and her mother sitting on the couch, drinking cups of tea while a large white teapot stood on the coffee table in front of them.
“About time you woke up, Rin. I’ve been waiting for you to wake up for nearly half an hour now.” She said before taking a sip of her tea and placing the cup and plate beneath it on the table.
“Mom, why did you let this girl in? You’ve never even met her before.”
“Well, she claimed that she was a friend of yours that you were assigned to come to Japan with and that she needed to talk to you about something. Was she lying to me about her relationship to you?”
“Yes… no… look, it’s complicated. I’d explain, but that would take a while, and I want this girl out of my house as soon as possible.” She turned her head slightly to look at Luvia. “So, what did you come to my house for?”
“You see… after you drove my limousine last night, I realized something. You’re not a bad driver. Even though yesterday was your first time driving anything, you were actually very competent at it. It made me realize something. I don’t have a personal driver. Yes, I have as many maids, butlers, chefs, housekeepers, and any other type of servant as you can think of, but I don’t have my own personal driver. Due to this realization, I managed to come to one conclusion. Rin Tohsaka, I want to hire you to be my-“
“No.” She flatly said.
“WHAT? YOU DARE DENY ME OF ALL-“
Rin summoned Happiness is a Warm Gun, causing Luvia to go silent and freeze in place before she allowed her Stand to vanish once again.
“I mean… why is that?” She asked, faking a cough.
“It’s for two reasons. The first is that I don’t really want a job right now, while the second is that I don’t want to work for you specifically.”
“C-Come on, Rin. I’ll pay you billions of yen hourly, and using my vast wealth, I could easily pull some strings to allow you to get your driver’s license early. I assume you think motorcycles are too radical for a magus such as yourself to drive, which is why you don’t own one despite being old enough to be able to legally get a license for them, as well as them just being more dangerous than cars. If you could get a car at your age, you’d do so in a heartbeat, right? I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t want to work for me.”
“Look, if it were literally anybody except you, I’d gladly accept your offer in a heartbeat. But knowing how you are, I think I’d have a higher probability of crashing whatever car you want me to drive into the side of a building or a tree than take you wherever you want to go.”
“I’m s-s-s-sorry about everything I’ve done in the past.” She said, gagging and sounding like she was about to throw up. “I won’t try to bother you or make fun of you while you drive. So, can you please become my private driver?”
Well, billions of yen hourly just for driving this girl around sounds like a pretty nice deal… Rin thought. The Tohsaka family could really use something like that right about now.
“All right. I’ll accept your offer. But you better pay me weekly, and if one payment is even slightly late, I won’t have any qualms with driving you off a bridge.”
“Okay. You’ve got yourself a deal.” She enthusiastically said as she began to smile from ear to ear.
Finally! After all these years of bitter arguing and trying to murder one another, Rin Tohsaka is finally subservient to me! She thought as she pulled out a small brown sack from her dress’ left pocket.
“Here’s your payment for yesterday. You can expect more like it for however long you keep working for me.”
Rin grabbed the bag before shaking the blonde’s hand.
“All right. Let’s get out of here then.”
Luvia stood up and began to walk out of the living room.
“Bye, mom.” The black haired girl said, waving goodbye to her mother as she followed Luvia.
“Have fun at your new job, sweetie.”
Rin closed the door behind her as she and the blonde walked toward a limousine that was parked in front of the Tohsaka household.
“You got your limousine fixed already?”
“No, silly. The one you drove yesterday is just one of many that I own. While it’s being repaired as we speak, this limo’s a completely different one.”
Rin quickly got in the driver’s seat while Luvia got in the seat beside her.
“Where do you wanna go?”
“Go to my mansion. I want to bring Miyu to school by car today.”
Rin stepped on the pedal, allowing the vehicle to move forward.
“If you don’t know how to drive, how did you even get here in the first place?”
“I never said I didn’t know how to drive. I just prefer to have other people handle a mundane task such as that. Since you asked, I’ll have you know that it was Dirty Work who I had drive me to your house.”
With her question answered, Rin didn’t say a single word and focused only on going forward.

-10 minutes later-
Miyu sat by the table in the dining room with a plate of food that she had picked clean, leaving not even a morsel behind. She was about to go into the kitchen to wash the dirty plate when one of the maids exited the kitchen, picked up the plate, and began to walk toward the room she was previously in, but was interrupted by Miyu speaking up.
“Do you know where Luvia is? I haven’t seen her once this morning even though she’s usually up before me.”
“I’m not sure where she exactly went, but I overheard her telling some of the other servants that she was going to meet with somebody. She’ll probably be back soon enough. It’s getting fairly late, so I’d advise you to head to school instead of waiting for your sister to return.”
After the maid had gone back into the kitchen, Miyu stood up, put on her brown backpack, which hung behind her chair, and then made her way to the front door. She opened it and stepped outside, immediately noticing a limousine parked in front of the mansion.
“Hey, Miyu. Get in.” Rin said, lowering her window to talk to her.
The black haired girl quickly ran over to the vehicle and entered it. Rin wasted no time and began to drive away.
“Luvia, where were you? And why is Rin driving again?”
“Well, since she did such a good job at driving yesterday, I decided to go to her house to hire her as my private driver. Now she’ll be bringing the two of us to wherever we want.”
Rin nodded her head as she continued driving steadily. After a few minutes, the vehicle reached a crosswalk with a red traffic light above it. Walking through it was a girl with shoulder length pink hair who wore the Homurahara Academy uniform and appeared to be around the same age as Rin and Luvia. The black haired girl was about to stop when her employer spoke up.
“Don’t stop and risk Miyu being late. Keep going.”
“B-But if I keep going, I’ll run that-“
“Who cares? At the speed you’re going, you won’t kill her. You might break a few of her bones, giving her the opportunity to sue me, but I’m so rich I’d win any lawsuit she or her family throws at me. And then I’ll financially ruin them.” She said, grinning from ear to ear.
“Fine. But you better give me a bonus for this.” She hesitantly said.
The vehicle continued driving forward, hitting the pink haired girl in the stomach and legs, pushing her to the ground, and causing her to let out a shriek. Before she could get up, the limo drove over her, causing several cracking sounds to come out of her body.
“No stopping now. Keep driving until you get to Homurahara.” Luvia ordered.

Chapter Text

-
The limousine arrived at Homurahara Academy’s front gates. Miyu opened the door beside her and began to walk toward her school’s front entrance.
“Bye, Miyu. Have fun.” Luvia said, waving goodbye to the black haired girl.
“If you want me to pick you up after school’s done, have Magical Sapphire contact me. I’ll come get you right away.”
The black haired girl nodded her head before turning around and continuing to walk forward. Once she had entered the building, Rin drove away from the school. Miyu quickly made her way upstairs and entered her homeroom. As she made her way to her desk, Taiga gently grabbed her left hand and began to calmly whisper to her.
“You didn’t respond to my messages last night. Were you all right?”
“Yes. It’s just that a lot happened at my house yesterday, so I was really tired and went to sleep early. I woke up a bit later than usual today, so I didn’t have any time to check my phone before I went to eat breakfast and had to come here.”
“I see.” The brunette said, sounding relieved. “You may sit down now. Class is about to start, and I don’t want to keep everyone waiting due to talking to you about this secret relationship of ours. If you want, we can talk with each other later, either during lunch or after school.”
“All right.”
Miyu walked over to her desk and sat down near Illya and her friends.
“About time you showed up.” The white haired girl said. “I was a little worried you were gonna be late. What happened?”
“My sister got a new private driver, and she drove me to school as quickly as possible. We ran into some… slight setbacks while on the way here, but regardless, we managed to get here in time.”
“So it looks like my theory about you and Nanaki going somewhere together was incorrect.” Suzuka said, shaking her head slightly.
“Nanaki? Who’s that?”
“You know, the pink haired girl who constantly has her eyes closed like Brock from Pokémon. Since you two were both running late, I thought maybe you went out with her or something. But I guess I was wrong.”
“Don’t feel down. Using what little knowledge we had at the moment, that was the best and most logical guess any of us could have made.” Mimi said, putting her right hand on her friend’s shoulder.
“Haha! See, I told you my prediction about Nanaki being involved in a family emergency was right!“ Tatsuko said, letting out a hearty laugh.
“Shut up. Just because I was wrong about Nanaki skipping school to hang out with Miyu doesn’t mean something happened to a family member of hers. For all we know, she could be sick or just didn’t feel like coming to school.”
As the black haired girl finished speaking, the bell began to ring.
“I’ll call Nanaki during lunch to see what’s up with her. Let’s just try to focus on class for now.” Illya said, turning her head to look at the front of the room.

-20 minutes later-
Half of the first period had gone by, and the class was reading a book about how life was like for the average American when Nanaki suddenly entered the room. She was hunched over, and she didn’t raise her legs as she shuffled toward her desk in the back of the room.
“Oh, Nanaki. What a surprise. I wasn’t expecting to see you here today. Why did it take you so long to come to class?” Taiga asked.
The pink haired girl let out a weak, raspy cough as she continued to make her way to the back of the classroom.
“Why are you walking like that? Are you all right?”
Her student didn’t respond as she finally made it to her desk and took a seat.
“Nanaki! I’m sorry for your loss!” Tatsuko cheerfully said as she stood up and hugged her friend. “Someone in your family did die, right?”
Just like with her teacher, the pink haired girl remained silent.
“I’m guessing that’s a no.” Suzuka said, smirking slightly. “I do wonder though. Why were you late to school today?”
Nanaki remained silent as she leaned back into her chair and stared at the ceiling. Mimi quickly raised her right hand into the air before Taiga called on her a few seconds later.
“Yes, Mimi?”
“Could I get her the book we’re reading?”
“Sure thing. Once Mimi gets you a book, turn to page 364 and read up to page 367. After you’re done, don’t do anything and wait until I give you further instructions.”
The brunette quickly got up and walked to the front of the room and grabbed a hardcover English textbook that was on her teacher’s desk. She walked back to her friend’s desk and placed the textbook down on it before opening it to the page that her teacher said. Nanaki leaned forward in an attempt to read the book, but she ended up slamming her head into the book instead of reading anything.
“Hey, are you okay? If you’re not feeling well, you could always go to the nurse’s office, and I’m sure she’ll let you leave early.” Suzuka said, sounding worried.
The pink haired girl simply let out a grunt as she continued to rest her head on the textbook.
“Maybe she’s just not in a good mood.” Illya said. “Let’s leave her be for now and try to ask her what’s bothering her when we’re at lunch.”

Chapter Text

-30 minutes later-
It was second period, and the class had started doing math problems. Taiga had drawn a cylinder and written down the formula for the volume of it, allowing her students to solve the problem she had come up with for it. She slowly turned her head to look around the classroom and saw that Nanaki wasn’t even attempting to solve the problem in her notebook. Instead, she was leaning all the way back in her chair, staring at the ceiling with her usual closed eyes and a vacant expression.
“Hey, Nanaki. Do you think you could at least pretend to look busy? I understand if there’s something on your mind, but please try to at most attempt the question before giving up and staring into space.”
The pink haired girl turned her head and let out a bark as she looked at her teacher.
“Huh? Why are you barking at me? If you’re into that sort of roleplay, that’s fine, but keep it private. I don’t think any of your peers came to school today to see their fellow classmate pretend to be a dog.” Taiga said, perplexed by her student’s actions.
“Calm down, Nanaki.” Mimi whispered as she turned to look at her friend and gently grabbed her right hand. “There’s no need to bark at anyone, much less our teacher. Relax yourself, and we can talk about what’s on your mind during lunch.”
Nanaki let out a deep growl before moving her hand out of the brunette’s grasp. She quickly put her arms on her desk before placing her head on them and shaking it quickly.
“I guess that’s better. You know, if you want to talk to me about your odd behavior, you’re more than free to. It’s kind of my job to make sure you’re all right.” Taiga said.
The pink haired girl didn’t listen to her teacher’s suggestion and simply continued to shake her head without any purpose or goal. Illya stared at her for a minute straight to see when or even if she would stop shaking her head before turning around to finish her work upon seeing that she didn’t intend to stop anytime soon.

-An hour and 20 minutes later-
It was time for lunch, and while all of the other students left the classroom to go hang out with their friends or just eat at the cafeteria, Illya and her friends stayed behind to speak with Nanaki.
“So, Nanaki, why were you late to school? And why were you acting so oddly during class?” Suzuka asked.
“Yeah. No normal person barks or growls at people and shakes their head like they’re spasming out. Are you well? Not just physically, but also emotionally and mentally?” Tatsuko asked.
“Don’t worry. We’re all friends here. We promise we won’t make fun of you or judge you for whatever’s going on.” Mimi cheerfully said.
As her friends talked to Nanaki, Illya pulled her boxed lunch that Sella had made for her out of her backpack and placed it on her desk.
“Are you really gonna start eating while we’re trying to find out why our friend’s been acting so bizarrely all morning long?”
“Well, for all we know, this could take our entire lunch period. Might as well start eating before we run out of time to do the whole thing lunch is supposed to be for.”
“Illya’s right. We can’t comfort our friend on an empty stomach.” Tatsuko joyfully said as she pulled a blue metal lunch box from her backpack and placed it on her desk.
She quickly opened it to reveal a large box of French fries and a hamburger with bacon, onion rings, and barbecue sauce on it.
“I usually don’t think siding with Tatsuko on issues is a wise idea, but she is right in this particular instance. We could easily lose track of time while talking with Nanaki and end up missing out on our only opportunity to eat.” Mimi said as she pulled out her boxed lunch from her backpack and placed it on her desk.
“I’ll wait until Nanaki’s done pouring her heart out to us to eat. I don’t think it’d be particularly respectful to eat while someone’s telling you about how they feel.” Suzuka said.
Miyu put her right hand into her backpack and quickly searched it in an attempt to find her boxed lunch. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t find anything.
“Umm… I think I forgot my lunch…” Miyu sheepishly said.
“That’s all right. I could let you eat some of my lunch, or if you really want, we could go to the cafeteria together, and I could buy you something to eat.” Suzuka said.
“Thank you for the offer, but they’re not necessary.” She said as she pulled her phone out of her pocket. “I’ll just ask my personal driver to bring me my food.”
“You have a personal driver?” Mimi asked.
The black haired girl nodded her head.
“Wow. I knew you were rich, but not that rich. What did your family even do to get so wealthy?”
Miyu opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, she realized she didn’t have an answer to her question.
“I’m not sure, actually. I’ll have to ask my sister about it when I get home.” She said before turning her phone on and moving her head downward to look at it.
After the black haired girl had uttered the word private driver, Nanaki turned her head to look at her.
“What’s wrong? Why are you staring at Miyu?” Mimi asked.
The pink haired girl didn’t respond as she continued to stare at her.
Hey, Luvia. Can you tell Rin to bring my lunch to school? I forgot to put it in my bag while I was eating breakfast, so it should be either in the dining room or kitchen.
Sure thing. It’ll be done immediately. She replied.

Chapter Text

-
Rin was lying in her bed, watching videos on her phone, when she suddenly received a text message from Luvia.
Hello, Rin. Would you please come to my house and bring Miyu’s lunch that she forgot about to her?
Couldn’t you just do it? You don’t live that far from Homurahara Academy. Plus, it’s not like you’re doing anything important right now.
That might be true, but I’m quite the lazy girl, and I really don’t want to walk all the way there.
I’m not in the mood to go out either. Miyu’s your sister, so why don’t you show her some sisterly love and deliver her lunch to her by yourself?
It looks like you’ve forced me to use my one ace up my sleeve. If you deliver Miyu her food, I will pay you a bonus when you receive your paycheck next week.
Rin’s eyes widened as a smile spread across her face.
All right. You’ve got yourself a deal. I’ll head to your house right away. Rin wrote before turning her phone off and getting up.
She quickly made her way to her bedroom’s door, opened it, and then exited it.

-20 minutes later-
Half of the girls’ lunch period had gone by, and Nanaki hadn’t even spoken once. She had been too preoccupied with staring at Miyu that she had neglected to respond to any of her friends’ questions regarding her mental and physical health. At a certain point, they just stopped asking her questions and Suzuka began to eat her boxed lunch.
“Do you think we should take her to the nurse’s office? Something’s clearly wrong with her.” Mimi asked.
“There’s no point. I doubt whatever’s wrong with her is anything physical since she doesn’t seem to be injured, and I don’t think there are any wounds she could have possibly received that could have caused her to act and move as weirdly as she’s been doing all day. Plus, I doubt a school nurse has the skills to comfort someone who’s in mental distress, so taking her to the nurse’s office would just be a waste of everyone involved’s time. If this school had a therapist, we’d definitely bring her there, but since it doesn’t, there’s nothing we can do if Nanaki isn’t in the mood to talk with us about her troubles.” Suzuka explained.
“I’m not even sure if Ms. Fujimura has the authority to send her home over something like this, so I doubt talking with her will do much.” Illya added.
As the girls talked about how hopeless it was to attempt to help out Nanaki, Miyu’s phone suddenly vibrated. She took it out of her pocket and turned it on to see a text message from Luvia.
Rin’s outside. I heated up your food for you, so hurry and get it before it goes cold.
All right. She quickly responded before turning her phone off, putting it back into her pocket, and then standing up.
“My personal driver’s outside with my food, so I’m gonna go get it. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” The black haired girl said before turning around and walking out of her classroom. A minute after Miyu had left the room, Nanaki began to growl and shake her head sporadically.
“What’s wrong, Nanaki?” Mimi asked as she put her right hand on her shoulder.
The pink haired girl let out a bark before slapping her hand away and getting on all fours.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Suzuka shouted as she attempted to grab Nanaki.
Before she could put a hand on her friend, the pink haired girl ran forward toward the classroom door. Tatsuko quickly stood up, barely managed to get ahead of her, and stood in front of the door.
“you’re not going-“
Before the blonde could finish speaking, her friend knocked her to the floor and continued running in the same direction that Miyu had gone in.
“Everyone stay here! I’m going after Nanaki!” Illya shouted as she ran out of the room and chased after the pink haired girl.
On the road outside of the entrance of Homurahara Academy was a limousine that was being driven by Rin. In her right hand was Miyu’s boxed lunch. The black haired girl exited her school and ran toward the vehicle as quickly as she could.
“Looks like somebody’s hungry.” Rin said as she handed Miyu her food.
“Thank you, Rin. I’m sorry for making you drive all the way here just to deliver my lunch for me.” She softly said.
“No need to apologize. This is my job, not to mention that I’m getting paid extra to do this, so there’s hardly a reason to get upset over bringing you your-“
Before Rin could finish speaking, she heard what sounded like a girl Miyu’s age let out a deep bark. She turned her head slightly and saw Nanaki rushing toward her on all fours as if she were a dog.
“Miyu! Get out of the way!”
“Huh? What’s-“
Before the black haired girl could turn around to see what was causing all of the ruckus, Nanaki jumped over her head and opened her mouth as wide as possible. Before Rin could do anything, the pink haired girl bit down on her index, middle, and ring fingers with enough force to draw blood from them.
“YOU BRAT! GET OFF ME!” She screamed as she shook her hand violently before bashing her head with her left hand.
Despite this, Nanaki didn’t seem to budge. Instead, she opened her blood red eyes and glared at Rin while growling at her. A few seconds later, Illya ran out of Homurahara Academy and made her way toward the limousine that Rin was driving.
“What are you doing to Rin? Let go of her immediately!” The white haired girl shouted as she ran toward her friend.
Upon hearing Illya’s voice, Nanaki let go of Rin and quickly turned around to glare at her. She let out several barks at her before rushing toward her and jumping into the air. She opened her mouth as wide as possible, but before she could get close enough to bite her, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow appeared in front of her and slammed both of her fists into the back of her head, causing her to plummet to the ground and a large impact crater to form around her. The Stand let out a powerful roar and was about to finish the job when Illya ran in front of her and began to shout.
“Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow, stop this at once! Nanaki’s my friend! Sure, she may have tried to hurt, but that doesn’t mean you have to kill her! From the looks of it, you already knocked her out! There’s no need to go any further!
The Stand let out a sigh before vanishing. Miyu walked over to the pink haired girl and began to gently shake her.
“Hey, Nanaki. Get up.”
Despite her friend’s best efforts to get her to wake up, she didn’t even move slightly and continued to lie unconscious on the ground.
“It looks like your Stand really did a number on her. Let’s take her to the nurse’s office to see if she has any injuries that need to be treated immediately.”
Illya nodded her head as she picked her friend’s body up and placed her over her shoulder. She and Miyu turned around and began to run toward Homurahara’s entrance, but before they could go inside of the building, Rin shouted.
“Hey, can I go to the nurse’s office too? That gremlin bit me, and now my fingers are bleeding. For all I know, that thing had rabies, and I require medical attention right this instant.”
“Sure, follow us, Rin.” Illya said.

Chapter Text

Illya, Miyu, and Rin ran to the nurse’s office on the first floor. Inside it, they saw a white haired, yellow eyed woman sitting at her desk with a teacup and a pot full of green tea who, despite being employed at a school, didn’t seem to be much older than the students who attended it, and if anything, she looked like she could be a handful of years younger than Rin and Luvia.
“Hello, Ms. Nurse. My friend over here has been acting weirdly all morning long, and just a few minutes ago, she bit my private driver. She also tried to attack my other friend, but she managed to hit her over the head with a rock so hard that she was knocked unconscious. Can you see if she’s all right and if she needs any medical treatment?”
“About time something happened. I was bored out of my mind.” The school nurse enthusiastically said as she stood up from her chair and stretched. “Place her on one of the beds to your left, and I’ll examine her.”
“All right.” Illya said before turning around and doing as she was told.
Once she had put Nanaki on the bed, the nurse grabbed a stethoscope that was inside her desk and then walked toward her. She opened the curtains in front of it before closing them once inside and started by checking her breathing. Much to her surprise, she couldn’t feel even a faint breath come from the pink haired girl. She then put on her stethoscope and lifted her shirt up to both check for any injuries on her chest and listen to her heartbeat. Her medical device didn’t pick up a single sound despite where she placed the resonator on her chest. Once she had confirmed that the child had neither a heartbeat nor was breathing, she turned her over and checked the back of her head to look for any injuries. As far as she could tell, she didn’t have any. With her examination done, the white haired woman took her stethoscope off and, with a huge grin, approached Illya.
“THANK YOU SO FUCKING MUCH!” The nurse screamed as she hugged her as tightly as possible. “FINALLY, AFTER WORKING HERE FOR MONTHS, SOME ANKLE BITER ACTUALLY DIED!”
Illya and Miyu’s eyes widened.
“Y-You’re joking. T-There’s no way I actually killed N-Nanaki. I didn’t hit her that hard.” Illya said, letting out a nervous chuckle.
“Well, I checked her breathing and her heartbeat, and I couldn’t feel anything, so unless people just stop breathing and their heart rate ceases when they get knocked out, your friend has undeniably croaked.”
“Nanaki… is dead…” Miyu said as her eyes welled up with tears.
“Oh, don’t fret, young one. I’ll help you and your friend hide the body.” The nurse said as she let go of Illya, walked over to her desk, and pulled out large, semi-rusty shovel from inside it. “I’ve been waiting to use this baby ever since I got her.” She said as she stroked the tool’s blade. “That ¥760 I spent will all be well worth it when I get to bury that child’s corpse under a field of endangered and protected flowers!”
As the two girls stared at the nurse with a shocked look on their faces, Rin walked over to the bed to ensure that the nurse wasn’t jumping to conclusions. She opened the curtains and saw that Nanaki had mysteriously vanished without a trace.
“Hey, girls. It seems like your friend got up and ran away while we weren’t looking.” The black haired girl said, turning to look at Illya and Miyu.
“WHAT?” The two of them screamed in unison as they made their way to the bed.
“No! That can’t be possible! I made sure she was truly, fully dead!” The nurse yelled as she ran toward the bed that Nanaki once lay on.
Upon seeing that the bed the pink haired girl once lay on was completely empty, she stomped her left foot.
“God damn it! And I thought I was finally gonna see the thing I signed up for this job for! Oh well, you’ll get your time to shine one day, buddy.” The white haired woman said before gently kissing her shovel on its blade.
“You signed up to be a school nurse just to see a child die? Why?” Illya asked.
“Because I hate children. They’re annoying, gross, and they’re all so stupid! I swear, if it weren’t illegal to strangle a child to death, I’d do it in a heartbeat! One day, while looking through job listings, a thought struck me. The best place to see a child get grievously injured, severely ill, and possibly even die would be a school. However, so far, all I’ve gotten are kids coming to my office because they fell down and scraped their knee, one of their teeth fell out, or because they had a stomach bug or a fever. I thought something of note was finally gonna happen, but it’s just my luck that your friend didn’t actually die.”
“Wait, but you said that you couldn’t feel her breath or hear her heartbeat. Sure, someone could hold in their breath for a few seconds to give the impression that they’re not breathing, but no matter what, they shouldn’t be able to stop their heart from beating. How could it be possible that Nanaki got up and left while we weren’t looking if she didn’t have a heartbeat?”
“Beats me. All I know is that your friend’s not dead, much to my dismay.” She said, letting out a sigh as she shook her head.
“Hey, doc. Can you give me the rabies vaccine? From Illya and Miyu’s accounts, that kid was acting weirdly and more aggressively than usual all morning long, which could be symptoms of rabies. Just to make sure I don’t contract it, can you please vaccinate me?”
“Sorry, but I don’t have access to such a vaccine. If you really think that girl could’ve given you rabies, I suggest you go to the hospital to get vaccinated against it.” The white haired woman walked behind her desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out a box of bandages from it. “I could bandage up your fingers for you, if you want.”
“Yes, please do that.”

-A few minutes later-
Not long after Nanaki had disappeared, Illya and Miyu returned to their homeroom to see their friends all sitting at their desks, talking with one another. As the duo began to approach them, Suzuka turned her head to look at the pair.
“Where’s Nanaki?”
“…About that. She kind of disappeared.”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Mimi asked.
“Well, she bit Miyu’s private driver and tried to attack me as well, but I managed to use my Stand to knock her out before she could bite me. We then brought her to the infirmary, but she mysteriously vanished a little while after the nurse was done examining her.”
“Hmm… that’s odd. It’s possible that could’ve been Nanaki’s Stand, and she just so happened to make it vanish after the school nurse examined her.”
“That would explain all the odd behavior quite well, but have any of you even seen Nanaki’s Stand before?” Illya asked.
“Nope. She hasn’t shown it to us even once.” Tatsuko cheerfully said.
“I guess that explains all of that.” Miyu said, smiling softly. “Do you think we should visit Nanaki in person and ask her why she did this after school?”
“Sure. It’s not like we have anything better to do.” The white haired girl responded.
“Indeed. I’m really curious as to why she made her Stand go to school for her.”
“It is rather odd that she’d send her Stand to school instead of coming here herself.”
“You think maybe she could’ve gotten hurt or sick?” Tatsuko asked.
“It’s possible, but we won’t know for such until we ask her.”
“I could text her right now, but I feel like paying a surprise visit to her house would make everything more heartfelt.” Mimi said.

-A few minutes later-
Mrs. Moriyama, who had just finished cleaning her living room’s floors, was walking toward her younger daughter’s room. She opened the door and saw her sitting in front of her desk with her head lying on it, seemingly unconscious. The pink haired woman approached her and gently tapped her on the shoulder.
“Nanaki, now’s not the time to be sleeping. I already let you skip school after what happened to your sister, so get up and do something somewhat productive.”
After not waking up, she began to shake her gently for several seconds, only for her to remain unresponsive.
“Damn it… why did something happen to the both of you on the same day? I guess I’ll call an ambulance.” She said, sounding somewhat annoyed as she let out a sigh and turned around.
The pink haired woman exited the bedroom, leaving her knocked out daughter still at her desk.

Chapter Text

-
Rin was driving her boss’ limousine back to her house. The school nurse had given her a large brown bandage to cover her injuries, but nothing else. While she was able to drive just fine, touching the steering wheel hurt her fingers so she preferred to only have one hand on the wheel and bring the other one to it when she needed to turn it. After a few minutes of driving, she arrived at her house and parked Luvia’s car in front of it. She then exited it and made her way to her home. The black haired girl pulled her keys out of her pocket, unlocked the door, and stepped inside before closing it. Rin quickly made her way upstairs and entered her room, slamming the door shut as she approached her bed. She quickly fell onto it stomach first before pulling her phone out of her pocket, turning it on, and going to the messages app to text her employer.
All right, I did it. I brought Miyu her lunch. However, while handing it to her, some gremlin who she’s friends with jumped up and nearly bit my fingers off. I had to go to her school nurse so that I could get them bandaged up.
Huh. That’s odd. I’d expect that type of behavior from a kindergartener, not a 10 year old. Did you find out why she did it?
Nope. Illya knocked her out using her Stand, so we rushed her to the nurse’s office where she was presumed dead by the nurse. However, not long after her body was examined by her, she mysteriously vanished into thin air.
Do you think that girl could’ve been a Stand?
It’s possible. Stands come in all shapes and sizes; one that looks identical to their master existing isn’t out of the question in the slightest.
But if that’s the case, then why would a Stand User attack you? Especially one you’ve never met before.
No clue. Maybe she just thought it’d be funny or something. Anyway, do you think I could get compensated for my injury?
Absolutely not. It’s just a scratch, and you’ve been through worse. Just use your healing magecraft to take care of it if it’s bothering you so much.
If you don’t give me a bonus for this, I’m sicking Illya on you once she gets out of school.
All right, all right. I’ll pay you your bonus on top of the extra I promised to give you for delivering Miyu her food. Please just don’t say something like that again. The blonde wrote as her eyes widened.
Okay. But you better keep your end of the deal.
You can rest assured that I will.
With her attempt to extort Luvia of her money successful, Rin turned her phone off. She brought her hand to her bed and let go of it, but for some reason, the phone remained stuck to her hand.
“Huh? Did it get stuck on my bandage or something?” She asked as she turned her head to see the phone still in her hand despite her no longer holding onto it.
Rin moved her left hand to her phone and attempted to pry it off her. While she managed to lift the bottom section of her phone away from her, the part of her phone that was making contact with her bandage was completely stuck to it. She quickly opened her plaster to check what was in it. The black haired girl’s eyes widened as she noticed that the same area that Nanaki had previously bitten had become silver. She attempted to scratch it off her, but when that proved unsuccessful, she brought it up to her mouth and began to lick it. The mysterious metallic area in her fingers tasted as if she were licking a coin. She lapped at the same part of her index, middle, and ring fingers for several minutes, but she was unable to remove it in the slightest.
“Crap. This must be that anklebiter’s Stand’s ability. I’m guessing it turns whatever body part it bites into some sort of magnetic iron that attracts anything with even an ounce of metal in it. If I’m right, this ability doesn’t seem too bad, at least so far, but it is rather annoying. I’m practically unable to use one of my hands due to this thing’s ability. I need to get rid of it as soon as possible.” She thought as she turned her phone on.
She exited Luvia’s messages and stared at her contacts list as a realization hit her.
“Damn it! I don’t have either Miyu’s or Illya’s phone numbers, and I really don’t want to drive back there again, but they’re the only people who know where the Stand User lives. It looks like I’m gonna have to wait until the school day ends to be able to look for her.” Rin went silent for a few seconds and closed her eyes before opening them and speaking to herself once more. “However, Luvia has Miyu’s phone number. If I could get her to help me, I’d be able to get my hand back to normal.”
With a plan now thought up, Rin began to text Luvia.
Hey, sorry about this. Can I speak with you about something again?
What do you want now? I already said I was gonna pay you extra.
This isn’t about money. You see, I think I just realized what the Stand that bit me’s ability is. It turns whatever it bites into a magnet that’s so powerful that anything it pulls in becomes impossible to remove. Since phones are made of metal, I’m unable to let go of it. It’s a rather irksome ability, but if this were just it, I’d just wait until Illya got out of school to go to her house so that she could help me find her. Although, knowing how Stands are, there’s a chance this will get worse, and it’ll start spreading across my body or become stronger and start pulling in things from the other side of Fuyuki. Before that can happen, do you think you could text Miyu and tell her to speak with the Stand User about getting her to stop using her ability on me?
Of course. Such an ability would be detrimental to your role as my driver. I shall text Miyu at once.

-Meanwhile-
Illya, Miyu, and the rest of their friends had finished eating their lunch and were sitting at their desks, talking with one another as they waited for class to start. As they chatted, Miyu’s phone suddenly vibrated. She quickly pulled it out of her pocket and turned it on to see that Luvia had messaged her.
I have something to ask of you. Rin said that she’s being affected by your friend’s Stand’s ability. Do you think you can talk to her about it so that she can disable it?
Okay. Miyu wrote before exiting Luvia’s messages and going to Nanaki’s.
Hey, Nanaki. Do you think you could please remove your Stand’s ability from my friend? She sent before turning her phone off and putting it into her pocket.
“What was that about?” Illya asked, turning to look at her friend.
“Luvia told me to text Nanaki because her Stand’s ability was affecting Rin. Hopefully she sees my message, responds to it, and does as I’ve requested.”

Chapter Text

-20 minutes later-
The girls’ lunch period had come to an end, and class had started. Halfway into their sixth period class, Taiga had to go to the bathroom and didn’t ask any of the teachers who were near her classroom to supervise her class. This left her students with a few minutes to do anything. Most of them were either on their phones or talking with their friends, and Miyu was no different, as she had taken her phone out to see if Nanaki had texted her back. Despite nearly half an hour passing, she hadn’t received a single response yet.
“She hasn’t said anything yet…” The black haired girl somberly said as she turned it off and put it back into her pocket.
“What could she be doing that’s so time consuming that she couldn’t even write a simple message?” Illya asked.
“Maybe she’s asleep or taking a shower. Normally, I’d say to have patience, but in a situation like this, we can’t afford to have such a thing.”
“Correct. It seems like the only way to get in contact with her will be by going to her house and speaking to her in person.”
“How are we going to do that? We’re in the middle of class, and we can’t run out without getting into massive trouble. Sure, we could wait until the school day ends to go to her house and talk with her about her Stand, but there’s no telling how much worse her ability could get in the nearly hour and a half we’re going to be here for.”
“Don’t worry. I already have a plan for leaving school without getting in any sort of trouble.” A confident smile spread across the white haired girl’s face. “All we need to do is wait for the teacher to get back.”
The duo waited for a few minutes before Taiga walked back into her classroom. As she took a seat, Illya began to raise her right arm into the air.
“Ms. Fujimura. May I use the bathroom?”
“Go ahead.” She said, smiling at her pupil.
The white haired girl quickly turned her head before winking at Miyu. Her eyes widened as she realized something. She wasted no time and quickly raised her arm.
“May I use the bathroom as well?”
“Hold on a minute. Why do you both want to use the bathroom at the same time?”
“Oh, no reason. It’s just a coincidence.” Illya responded, sounding perfectly calm.
“All right. You two may go, but be quick. It wouldn’t be good for either of you to miss out on too much of the lesson.”
“We’ll be back before you know it.” She said as she and the black haired girl stood up.
The two of them quickly walked over to the classroom door, and right as they exited, out of the corner of her eye, Illya noticed Taiga glaring daggers at her with a frustrated look on her face. Once the pair of girls were outside, she turned to look at Miyu and began to whisper to her.
“All right. Let’s get out of here and head to Nanaki’s house. It’d be best to come back here as soon as possible; otherwise, I’m pretty sure Taiga will actually kill me if she finds out we didn’t go to the bathroom.”
Her friend nodded her head as the two of them began to quickly walk down the hall.

-12 minutes later-
Illya and Miyu ran to the Moriyama household as quickly as possible. By the time they reached the pink haired girl’s house, their legs were exhausted, and they were breathing heavily.
“I’ve never run this far… this fast before…” Miyu panted as she continued running forward. “Are we anywhere near… Nanaki’s home?”
“Yes…” Illya said while taking deep breaths with her nostrils and then releasing them through her mouth. “You see that fairly sizable house… to our right… yeah, that’s it…”
The two girls quickly ran toward it and knocked on the door. As they waited for it to open, they stopped in place and began to breathe and exhale deeply. After a few seconds, a woman with back length pink hair and regular, open pink eyes opened the door and saw Illya and Miyu.
“Hello, girls. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in school?”
“Yes… but we needed to come here as quickly as possible to talk to your daughter about something. Is she home right now?”
“I assume you mean Nanaki. No, she’s not here at the moment. I found her passed out in her room half an hour ago, so I called an ambulance to take her to the hospital.”
Illya’s eyes widened.
“D-Do you know why she was unconscious?” She asked, trying to sound as calm as possible.
“No. I probably would’ve already known by now if I had decided to visit her, but since it hasn’t been too long since I got home from visiting my oldest, I really don’t want to at the moment.”
“Oh, I see. Thank you for your time, Ms. Moriyama.” Illya said.
“No problem. Come back whenever you want to talk with my daughter, girls.” She cheerfully said as she closed the door.
With Nanaki’s location now known to them, Miyu quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket and began to text Luvia.
We found where Nanaki is. She’s in the hospital. We’d go talk with her ourselves, but since we’re supposed to be in school at the moment, we don’t exactly have the time to do so. We leave the rest to you and Rin. The black haired girl typed before turning her phone off and placing it back into her pocket.
“All right, let’s get out of here before the period ends.” Illya said.
Miyu nodded her head before the two of them ran away from the Moriyama house.

Chapter Text

-
Luvia was sitting in her bed, watching videos on her phone when she received Miyu’s message. She quickly read it before opening her messages app and texting Rin.
Miyu and Illya found where the Stand User is. Apparently she’s in the hospital right now. If you want to stop the Stand’s ability from potentially spreading to the rest of your body, hurry to the hospital at once.
Thank you for the information. I know what I’m about to ask you goes against what my job is, but do you think you could drive me there? I’m in no condition to drive myself to the hospital, and it could take me quite a while to get there by foot.
Usually I’d say no for no reason other than I’m too lazy to do that, but this time I won’t agree to help you because the ability of the Stand affecting you might just cause the limousine we’d be in to implode in on itself and crush both of us. I’d rather not risk getting crushed to death, to be perfectly honest with you.
All right then. Can you at least come pick me up at my house to ensure nothing bad happens while I go to the hospital? For all I know, my condition could worsen, and I could end up attracting a whole boat, which would flatten me like a pancake. Sure, Dirty Work wouldn’t be able to stop the magnetism, but it could probably cut through steel, iron, and other such metals.
Luvia was about to start typing when Rin quickly sent her another message.
And if you refuse to help me, you already know who I’ll send after you.
The blonde gritted her teeth as her eyes widened.
Well, you sure drive a hard bargain, Ms. Tohsaka. Fine, I’ll escort you to the hospital. But I won’t give you another bonus if you ask me for one for a good while.
All right. Hurry to my house then. I don’t have all day to sit here and wait for this Stand’s ability to potentially get me crushed.
Luvia turned her phone off and put it in her pocket before standing up and walking toward the door.
“That girl has some nerve to constantly threaten her boss. One of these days, I’ll teach her a lesson she’ll never forget.” She grumbled to herself.

-
Rin was sitting in bed, staring at the ceiling when she heard someone knock at her window. She turned her head and saw Dirty Work levitating outside of her room.
“I’m outside. Get out here already so that we can get this over with as quickly as possible.” The Stand, who was channeling its master’s voice, said.
“About time. I thought you were going to bail on me, and that wouldn’t end very well for you, would it?” Rin calmly asked as she walked toward the window to her right and opened it.
Upon seeing this, the Stand vanished, allowing Rin to jump out of her room and land in front of her house. Standing just outside of the front gate to the Tohsaka residence was Luvia, who had a neutral expression on her face. The black haired girl quickly pushed it open before walking to her side.
“Now that you’re finally here, let’s hurry to the hospital as quickly as possible.” Rin said before running forward.
“Hey! Slow down! What if your magnetism increases while you’re ahead of me!” Her boss shouted as she quickly followed after her.
“I really doubt that will happen if we don’t dawdle around and keep moving forward-“
Before Rin could finish speaking, the metal inside of what used to be her injuries began to spread to the rest of her fingers. Due to this, a light pole to her left suddenly became attracted to her. The magnetism ripped it out of the ground and caused it to fly straight at the magus.
“I just had to open my dumb mouth!” Rin shouted before summoning Happiness is a Warm Gun in her free hand.
She shot a singular gem at the pole that exploded upon making contact with it. This managed to split the huge piece of metal in two. However, the remains of the pole were still magnetized to Rin and continued to fly toward her. Before they could make contact with her, Dirty Work appeared in front of the black haired girl and effortlessly crushed the segments of the pole before throwing them at the ground.
“You see what I mean? I’m not opposed to hurrying to the hospital as quickly as possible, but don’t run ahead of me with reckless abandon.”
“I understand. Please lead the way, Luvia.”
A grin spread across the blonde’s face as she began to run forward. Rin followed after her,

Chapter Text

As Rin and Luvia ran as quickly as they possibly could toward the hospital, the magnetic metal that had begun to spread to the rest of Rin’s hand managed to completely replace it. Due to this, objects such as cables, doorknobs, and air conditioners began to fly toward her.
“Watch out!” Luvia shouted as she summoned Dirty Work, who threw a barrage of punches at the objects headed her way, beating them until they were completely flat before throwing them away.
As the blonde’s Stand blocked off any incoming items from reaching her companion, a few objects such as silverware, toasters, and even small electronic devices began to zoom toward Rin from several houses to her left and right.
“This ability really won’t let up!” She shouted as she turned to her left and shot a gem at the gadgets, exploding it upon impact with its targets, before turning to her right and doing the same thing there. This managed to completely incinerate most of the objects and heat up any of the remaining ones to such a temperature that they lost their magnetism. Once all of the objects had been destroyed or knocked to an area where they’d be unable to be attracted to Rin, Luvia turned to look at her.
“You know, with how that Stand’s ability is starting to get, I really think you should stay behind while I go on ahead and talk to the Stand User who did this to you. A hospital’s filled with all sorts of gadgets that have metal in them. If you step foot anywhere near it, all of the things inside that have metal in them will become attracted to you , and the rest of your body will finally match your tits.”
Rin gritted her teeth and was about to yell at her, but before she could do it, she managed to calm herself and speak normally.
“I understand your concerns; however, I believe it’d be best to continue accompanying you. While neither of us has seen the Stand User before, I have at least seen her Stand, and judging from the fact that Miyu and Illya mistook her for the real deal, it seems like her Stand’s pretty similar to her appearance-wise. As such, I’d probably be able to recognize her if you sent me a photo of her.”
“But you could receive a photo from anywhere. You don’t have to come alongside me to the hospital.”
“Correct. But if I don’t go, she’ll probably just play coy and refuse to remove her Stand’s ability from me. And if that happens, she might place her ability on you as well.”
“Fine, but you better not make me regret refusing to ditch you here.” She said before beginning to speedily walk forward.
Rin quickly chased after her. As the two girls continued to move forward, a wave of metal items began to fly toward them from in front of them and to their left and right. Just as before, Dirty Work threw a flurry of punches at the items before throwing them away as far as it could while Rin shot gems at her left and right to melt and demagnetize any incoming objects. Once they had gotten through that patch of metal items, the blonde spoke up yet again.
“It feels like every step you take sends a torrent of metal objects straight at you. This is definitely going to become tedious before too long. Do you know what the route to the hospital with the least metal items in our way is?”
“That’s not really something I think about, so that’ll have to be a no.”
The blonde looked around the area they were in. There were houses and stores as far as she could see. If they continued walking forward, the only thing they’d be doing would be attracting metal items to Rin.
“I really don’t want to keep going straight. Maybe we can avoid the majority of objects by going on top of a nearby building and jumping from roof to roof.”
“That’s not a bad plan. But before we quite literally jump to extremes, let me test something out!” She shouted before turning her hand around and pointing Happiness is a Warm Gun at her knuckles.
“Wait! What are you doing?”
Without any hesitation, Rin fired a gem at her hand, causing it to be completely incinerated. Her phone somehow managed to avoid the same fate as it and fell to the ground, landing on its back. The magnetic metal that used to be her hand quickly spread throughout her arm before a new metal appendage popped out of her wound, taking the old one’s place as if nothing had happened.
“Unfortunately, it seems like shooting my hand off won’t do anything.“
“W-Why did you do that?”
“I thought that maybe if I got rid of my hand, it’d stop the Stand’s ability from spreading to the rest of my body. But it seems like I was wrong, and it just made everything worse.”
“Enough with the ridiculous ideas. Let’s get out of here immediately!” Luvia shouted as she grabbed onto Rin’s left arm.
Dirty Work slammed its right fist onto the ground, allowing it and its master, who was holding onto Rin as tightly as possible, to Stand leap onto the roof of the house to their left. Once there, both of the girls turned their heads around to search for the building that had the least amount of metal objects on its roof. After they had found it, they quickly Stand leapt over to it and landed on the roof safely.
“All right, it seems like all of the magnetic objects in this house aren’t able to tear through the ceiling to get you. Going from roof to roof seems like the safest option to get to the hospital at the moment.” The blonde said as her Stand prepared to slam its right fist onto the floor. “Hold onto me tightly. It won’t do either of us well if you fall off me while we we’re-“
Before she could finish speaking, a plane that was flying overhead began to fall downward toward Rin.
“YOU CAN ATTRACT THAT TOO?” Luvia screamed as Dirty Work slammed its right hand onto the ground, launching the two of them into the air.
The girls landed on the roof of a different building a few feet away. Dirty Work wasted no time and began to repeat this process as quickly as possible in an attempt to get away from the aircraft.

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
Rin and Luvia fled from the plane as quickly as they possibly could. Once it was close enough to the ground, they managed to get it stuck inside a house. Despite this, they didn’t slow down in the slightest as they continued to jump from building to building to the hospital. The Stand’s ability had spread from her arm all the way to her face, turning the entirety of her cheek and parts of her chin and forehead metal.
“Do you see anything headed our way?” The blonde asked as she and her Stand leapt from building to building.
“No. It seems like we’re fine for now.”
They jumped to a different building a few more times before Rin shouted.
“The hospital’s over there! I can see it!” She pointed at the building in the distance.
“About time! I was getting tired of this!” The blonde cheerfully yelled as she placed Rin on the floor. “I’ll be going on ahead without you. To make sure you don’t accidentally get crushed, stay here. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“All right. Before you leave, let me describe how she looks to you. She has neck length pink hair that’s tied into two twin tails and is around the same height as Illya and Miyu. She usually has her eyes closed, but when they’re open, she has blood red eyes.”
“Thank you for the physical description. Now I’ll be able settle this with own two hands!” She shouted before she and her Dirty Work Stand leaped over to the hospital a few streets across from where they were.

-
Nanaki was lying in a hospital bed in the same room as her sister. She had just woken up a few minutes ago and was talking with her about why she was admitted to the hospital. The two of them were wearing the same blue hospital gown, but the older of the siblings had a white cast around her left leg and around her forehead.
“So you just passed out while sitting in your room?”
“Yeah. I suspect that it might’ve been a brain aneurysm or a stroke, but I can’t say for certain. We’ll have to wait until a doctor walks into our room to know just why I fell unconscious.” She lied.
“I’m just glad you’re all right. I was worried sick when they brought you into my room. Just the thought of losing you hurts more than breaking any bone does.” Nanami said, moving her right hand toward her sister’s face and gently stroking it.
Nanaki’s eyes moved downward to look at the floor as she frowned slightly. Floating in front of the window to the sisters’ hospital room was Dirty Work, who was staring at them.
“So that’s where she’s been. You’re not getting away now!” Luvia shouted as she stood on the roof of the hospital.
The Stand threw a powerful punch at the window, shattering it with ease. Both of the girls quickly turned to look at what had caused it to break. While Nanami was unable to see anything there, Nanaki’s eyes widened.
“Huh? What was that? Did someone throw a rock or a brick at the window? Why?”
“Y-You! Get away from my sister!” The pink haired girl yelled.
Instead of doing as she was ordered, Luvia jumped into the hospital room. Once inside, the blonde’s Stand became invisible.
“Who are you? What are you doing in my and my sister’s hospital room?”
“YOU’RE A STAND USER! GET AWAY FROM ME IMMEDIATELY, OR I’LL-“
Before Nanaki could finish speaking, Dirty Work appeared in between the Moriyama sisters. It threw a punch at Nanami’s head that was powerful enough to knock her unconscious at the same time that it used its right hand to grab the younger girl by the throat and squeeze down on it tightly.
“L-LET GO OF ME!” She screamed, struggling to breathe as Dirty Work moved toward its master.
“Not until you remove your Stand’s ability from my servant.”
“W-Who are you talking about?”
“Looks like she was right about you trying to play coy.” The blonde calmly said to herself. “If you really don’t know who it is you used your Stand’s ability on, then I shall show you.”
Dirty Work slammed its free hand onto the ground, launching both it and its master high into the air.

-
Rin sat on the roof of the building that Luvia had left her on. She was moving her head from left to right and occasionally looking up to make sure there wasn’t anything heading toward her. Without any warning, Luvia and her Stand, who had Nanaki in its grasp, arrived on the roof. She placed the pink haired girl in front of Rin.
“You! You’re the girl that bit me!” She yelled as she raised Happiness is a Warm Gun and pointed it at her head. “Release me from your Stand’s ability right this instant, or I’ll blow your head off!”
“And why should I do that? You ran my sister over and broke her arm, fractured her skull, and broke several of her ribs! Crushing you would be the least I could do to get back at you!”
“Don’t try to act so tough. There’s nowhere for you to go, and if you’re not willing to cooperate with us, we could easily kill you with our Stands to undo your ability. Do as we say, or else the only part of you leaving this roof will be your head.”
The pink haired girl turned her head to look at her captors and their Stands.
Under any other circumstance, I’d try to fight them off. But their Stands look like they’re far beyond anything Creep would be able to handle. I really don’t want to die, so it looks like there’s only one thing I can do.
“All right.” She hesitantly said as she let out a sigh.
A few seconds later, all of Rin’s body parts that had become metal returned to their regular states.
“Finally! Now I don’t have to worry about something getting stuck to my hand!”
“Indeed. It’ll finally be safe to allow you to go back to driving me wherever I want.” Luvia turned to look at Nanaki. “Before we go, I want to know more about you. That way, I can stop you in case you ever think about harming my employee again. Tell me, why did you do all of this? What is your Stand called, and how exactly does it work?”
“Isn’t it obvious? You ran over my sister, broke several of her bones, and put her in the hospital! Anyone would do the same thing if their family member was attacked and severely injured! As for what my Stand is called. I named it Creep. Whenever it bites something, it can turn that thing into a magnetic metal that spreads throughout it at random intervals. That metal part can’t be removed as it’ll just cause the spread of it to be exacerbated before regrowing the lost part. That ability is one that I’ve dubbed My Iron Lung. Creep isn’t particularly strong and would lose a one on one battle against most Stands, so it has to rely on My Iron Lung and its speed to outlast its opponents until they’re crushed. It’s an utterly pathetic and cowardly Stand, which makes it a perfect fit for someone like me.” The pink haired girl said, placing her right hand on her chest as she smiled slightly.
“Thanks for the information. That was everything we needed to know.”
Dirty Work wrapped its arms around Nanaki.
“Since you willingly did everything we requested, we’ll bring you back to your hospital room and leave immediately.”
Dirty Work quickly jumped away from the roof and landed back inside of the hospital. It made its way to the pink haired girl’s bed, placed her on it, and then turned around and jumped out of the room, leaving Nanaki and her sister alone once more.

Chapter Text

-Many years ago-
Nanami, who had spent the entire night at her aunt’s house, entered the hospital room that her mother was inside of. She was lying in bed with a sleeping pink haired baby that was wrapped in a white bundle in her arms. Her father was sitting on a metal chair next to his wife’s bed while looking at his infant daughter with a smile on his face.
“Mom, dad, I’m finally here.” She said as she approached her mother’s bed. “Did everything turn out all right?”
“Yes, it did. Even though it was extremely painful, the doctors said that the delivery went by fairly smoothly and that Nanaki was born without any health complications.”
“Can I please hold her?”
“Of course. But make sure to be careful and to hold her the way I taught you to.” She said as she slowly brought her baby to her older daughter’s arms.
Nanami began to slowly and carefully carry her.
“She’s so cute.” She said as she looked down at her sister.
“Indeed she is.” Her father calmly said. “From today onward, you’ll be a big sister. Do you think you’ll be able to help Nanami and give her advice whenever she needs it?”
“Of course. I’m going to do my best to help her out whenever I can!”

-7 years later-
Nanami and her parents were in the kitchen. The pink haired girl had managed to score a perfect score on all of her tests for the marking period, which her mother and father were absolutely thrilled to see.
“Excellent job, Nanami. You’re so smart and talented. You impress me more and more the older you get.” Her father enthusiastically said with a large smile on his face.
“Each time I think you’ve done everything as perfectly as you possibly can, you somehow manage to surpass my expectations even more. There’s a reason why you’re our favorite daughter.” Her mother said as she hugged her.
Standing outside the kitchen door was Nanaki, who was peeking into the room and staring at her parents with a frown and slightly downcast eyes.

-A few months later-
Nanaki entered her house and walked toward her parents, who were both sitting on the couch in the living room, watching TV with one another.
“Mom, dad, I have some good news to tell you.” She said with a smile on her face. “I-“
“That’s great, honey. But could you please go to your room? Your father and I are a little busy with something right now.”
The smile on the pink haired girl’s face quickly vanished and was replaced by a neutral expression.
“All right…” She calmly said as she turned around and walked toward the stairs.
She went up them and made her way toward her room with her head held down. As she opened her door, Nanami exited the bathroom and noticed that her sister seemed a little upset. She wasted no time and walked toward her bedroom door and opened it before stepping inside.
“Is everything all right? You seem a little down.”
“Yeah… it’s just that I managed to get a perfect score on all my tests… but our parents didn’t even want to hear about it. I worked so hard for that… and they didn’t even want to so much as congratulate me.”
“I see.” She said as she walked over to her sister and hugged her. “Our parents may not want to congratulate you on a job well done, but as your big sister, I’m more than willing to fill the void they left. So, Nanaki, good job on getting a perfect score on all of your tests.”
“T-Thank you, Nanami!” She joyfully said as she wrapped her arms around her sister, and tears welled up in her eyes.

-Present-
Nanami began to open her eyes to see her sister standing over her.
“Nanami, are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine. What happened?”
“Oh, nothing much. I think the doctors who came in to check on you said that you were just really tired, so you ended up falling asleep rather suddenly.” Nanaki lied, not able to come up with anything better at the moment.
“What happened to that girl who broke into our room? Where did she go?”
“What are you talking about? Nothing of the sort happened. You must’ve been having some really wild dreams while you were asleep.”
Nanami sat up and looked over to her right only to see that the window was perfectly fine.
“Huh. That’s odd. I remember some blonde white girl breaking the window and then jumping into the room before I suddenly fell asleep. I guess I must’ve been dreaming after all.”
“Regardless of if what you’re saying is true or just something your mind made up, I’m glad you’re all right. Try to get some rest so that you don’t end up accidentally scaring me again anytime soon.” She said, smiling at her sister.
“I’ll be sure to. I’m sorry I frightened you.”
“Oh, it’s not a problem. It’s not like you fell asleep on purpose.”
Thank goodness I sent Creep to buy some glass to replace the window. I don’t want to tell my sister about Stands and end up getting her involved in this dangerous nonsense. Nanaki thought.

-
The school day had come to an end, and the students in Taiga’s class were all starting to leave. Illya and Miyu were making their way to the door when the brunette spoke up.
“Hey, Miyu, can I speak with you about something real quick?”
“Sure.” The black haired girl turned her head to look at her companion. “You can go ahead without me. I’ll catch up with you soon.”
“All right.” Illya said before walking out of the classroom.
“You and those girls who sit near each other seem unusually friendly with one another. Are you all friends?”
She nodded her head.
“Well, they’re more of Illya’s friends, but since I’m friends with her, I guess it makes me a part of their friend group.”
“…So I’m guessing you don’t need me anymore…” She somberly said.
“Don’t say that, Ms. Fujimura. Just because I have friends my own age doesn’t mean that I’ll stop hanging out and talking with you. I still care about you a lot, and me being friends with Illya and the others doesn’t change a thing.”
“A-All right then. Have a good day, Miyu.” She said before hugging her student.
The black haired girl hugged her back before turning around and walking out of the classroom. Once she was out of her teacher’s field of view, Taiga began to speak to herself.
“Damn that Illya.” She slammed her right fist onto her desk. “I won’t let you take away my Miyu from me.”

Chapter Text

-Many hours later-
After they got out of school, Illya and Miyu went directly back to their homes, where they spent the rest of the day. Eventually, night fell onto Fuyuki City, and most of its residents returned to their homes and went to sleep. At around 11:48, Illya lay in her bed with her eyes closed. Due to everything that had happened earlier, she wasn’t sure if Rin would want to go out, so she decided to go to sleep early instead of waiting for her to come to her home and knock at her window. Right as she was about to fall asleep, she heard knocking noises come from her window.
“Hey, Illya. Get up. You already know what I’m here to do.”
The white haired girl let out an annoyed groan as she rolled over to face away from the window.
“Can’t we go tomorrow? I was about to fall asleep, and you’re probably still exhausted from everything that happened earlier. You should get home and let- I mean, get some rest. That way we can take down the Class Card without any problems tomorrow.”
“What are you talking about? I’m not exhausted in the slightest. Sure, your friend’s Stand’s ability was a bit irksome, but Luvia and I managed to handle getting to her no problem. If anything, it just gave me more pent-up frustration that I intend to release by taking on a Class Card. So, hurry up and open the window already.”
“Fine.” The white haired girl said before letting out an annoyed sigh and standing up.
She walked over to the window and opened it, allowing Rin to get inside.
“All right, Illya. Transform so that we can go to the Edelfelt mansion.”
Before she could even do anything, Magical Ruby opened Illya’s closet and flew into her master’s hand.
“About time you showed up. Do you know how boring it is to be stuck inside a closet or backpack all day? It’s so dark and claustrophobic. I’m always excited for the night because that’s the only time of day that I get to do something other than stay in one place like an inanimate object.”
“All right, Ruby. Transform me immediately.”
“With pleasure!” She cheerfully said.
Illya was swiftly transformed into her magical girl form.
“Now that we’re ready, let’s get out of here.” Rin said before jumping out of her friend’s bedroom.
Illya quickly followed after her.

-
Luvia was lying in bed, on the brink of falling asleep, when she heard a knock at her window.
“Hey, get up already!” A very familiar voice shouted.
The blonde’s eyes widened as she sat up and turned her head to look at the window only to see Rin standing on Illya’s head while the white haired girl levitated in the air.
“W-What are you two doing here? I-I thought I d-did ev-everything you wanted! P-Please, spare my life!”
“Oh, calm down. We’re not gonna kill you. We just came to pick up so that the four of us could go looking for the Class Cards together.” Illya calmly.
“I-I see.” The blonde said as she turned her head to look away from the duo, her face turning beet red.
There was an awkward silence for several seconds that was only broken when Luvia got up and spoke.
“…Forget you saw that.”
“All right, just open the window already.” The black haired girl responded.
She walked over to it and opened it, allowing the two girls to enter her bedroom.
“Now that we’ve got you, let’s go get Miyu.” Rin calmly said.
The three girls walked out of the blonde’s room and made their way down the hallway until they reached her bedroom. Once there, Illya opened the door before stepping inside to see Miyu lying in bed while watching her phone.
“Good evening, Miyu. We’re here to go look for the Class Cards. Grab Sapphire and transform so that we can get out of here as quickly as possible.” She said while smiling at her.
“Okay.” The black haired girl softly responded as she turned her phone off, placed it beneath her pillow, stood up, and grabbed Magical Sapphire, who lay beneath her bed.
“It’s getting rather late, and since both Illya and Miyu have school tomorrow, leaving as soon as possible would be the wisest option.” Sapphire said before she transformed her master. “Let’s leave this place at once and defeat our nightly Class Card so the children can have a good night’s rest.”
“Indeed. Come on, everyone. Let’s go.” Rin said before turning around and walking out of the room.
Her friends quickly followed after her.

-A few minutes later-
After gathering her allies, Rin got into a limousine that was parked not too far away from Luvia’s mansion and drove herself and the rest of the girls to Mount Enzou. She parked the car on it before she and her companions exited it and began to scale the landform, making their way toward where the Class Card was last sighted.
“There should be a cavern somewhere around here. The Class Card was last seen near it, so if we can manage to find it, we’ll be able to find our target as well.” Rin calmly said as she walked ahead of her friends.
“Mount Enzou’s cavern…” Illya said, sounding somewhat saddened.
“Is something the matter?” Luvia asked.
“No. I was just thinking about how I didn’t know this place had a cave, that’s all.” She lied.
After a few more minutes of walking, the quartet reached the entrance to the mountain’s cave.
“This has to be it. But I don’t see anyone nearby.” Rin said, turning her head from left to right.
“This place is filled with trees, plus there’s a ginormous cave to our right. Don’t lose heart just because we haven’t found the Class Card yet.” Luvia said.
“You’re right. Since the two areas where the Class Card could be hiding are so large, I think it would be best if we split up to search them. Luvia and I will check the cave, while you two look through the-“
Before the black haired girl could finish speaking, she and her companions began to hear a rustling sound come from their left. They all turned their heads to look at what was causing the noise and saw a person who was fully covered in purple and black dragon-like armor with red eyes. In their right hand was a black and red sword.
“Speak of the devil! Let’s hit this thing with everything we’ve got!” Rin shouted as she summoned Happiness is a Warm Gun and pointed it at the Class Card.

Chapter Text

Illya pointed Ruby at her enemy before shooting a huge beam of magic at them. Right as her attack was about to make contact with the Class Card, a large black and red barrier appeared around them for a few seconds before promptly vanishing without a trace.
“From what I can tell, that was a barrier made from that thing’s magic. It’s incredibly powerful, so much so that I’m not even sure if you and Miyu would be able to shatter it with your strongest attacks. Perhaps if you could freeze it with your Stand, you’d be able to shatter it.”
“Good idea, Ruby!” She shouted as her Stand appeared behind her.
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow wasted no time and began to pound on her chest and roar, releasing powerful blasts of wind toward the Class Card. Before she could do anything, they dashed toward the white haired girl with blinding speed, moving so fast that it appeared as if they had teleported over to her. The armored individual quickly raised their sword and swung it toward the Stand’s head. She quickly threw a barrage of punches at the Class Card’s chest and stomach, causing them to swiftly lower their weapon to effortlessly block the flurry of blows. Despite the strength of each of Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow’s attacks, none of them managed to even scratch or dent her opponent’s blade. A few seconds after the Stand began her seemingly endless barrage, the Class Card knelt down, allowing her to avoid the constant stream of attacks, before swinging her sword upward, slicing Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow’s right hand off, causing her master’s hand to be severed as well. Illya let out a shout as she stumbled backward, narrowly managing to grab Magical Ruby before the Class Card thrust their sword forward, stabbing the Stand through her heart. Not even a second later, they threw a powerful kick at her stomach, sending her flying away from them. The Class Card wasted no time before bolting toward Illya and throwing a punch at her jaw that was so powerful that it completely unhinged it and sent her flying to the leftmost wall of the cavern.
“ILLYA!” Rin shouted as she shot several gems at her opponent.
The Class Card wasted no time before turning around and deflecting the attacks with ease, sending them flying into trees. Not even a second later, they rushed toward Rin and effortlessly bisected her. Not allowing them to do anything else, Dirty Work appeared behind the Class Card and put its left hand on their right cheek and on top of their head .
“Don’t think you’ll get the satisfaction of killing Rin! If she’ll die to anyone’s hand, it’ll be mine!” She shouted while standing completely still.
The blonde took control of her enemy and forced them to thrust their sword downward toward their stomach, piercing through it.
“All right, Dirty Work, I think that should be it. Quickly behead it before-“
Luvia’s sentence was interrupted by the Class Card quickly charging up a powerful black and red beam of magic and shooting it through their stomach. The projectile went through them and the Stand, causing a large hole to appear in its master abdomen. Due to this, Dirty Work was pushed away from its enemy. The Class Card wasted no time and darted toward Luviagelita, slashing her across the chest. She let out an ear piercing scream as she fell onto her back. The individual’s massive injury healed itself, revealing a rather well defined stomach with ghostly pale skin that was once hidden by their armor. With the other three magic users all defeated, the Class Card turned around began to calmly walk toward Miyu, who was breathing heavily while her eyes were wide open. She was pointing Magical Sapphire at her enemy as her arms shook heavily.
“G-Get away from m-my friends! O-Or I’ll shoot your head off!” She shouted.
The Class Card didn’t seem to even pay attention to the black haired girl’s warning before increasing their speed and beginning to steadily jog toward her. Once they were close enough to the black haired girl, the Class Card swung its sword sideways toward her head. Miyu narrowly managed to avoid the attack by ducking before quickly turning to her left and running away from the knight-like entity as quickly as possible.
“Miyu? Where are you going?” Sapphire shouted.
“I-I can’t beat that thing, not by myself!” She responded. “I-If it beat I-Illya, I-I’m not strong enough to beat it by myself!”
Instead of chasing after their target, the Class Card raised their sword and swung it downward, causing it to release a black and red crescent projectile at her. Noticing this, Sapphire summoned a large blue rune-like barrier behind her master. The attack effortlessly shattered her defenses before cutting through her left thigh, causing her to whimper as she fell to the ground. Upon seeing this, the Class Card began to calmly walk toward her.
“Damn it! That thing’s after Miyu!” Illya, whose injuries had been healed by Ruby, shouted. “I won’t let her lay a finger on her!”
She quickly stood up and ran forward. As Miyu lay on the ground, she rested her head on the he add with her eyes closed as she desperately wished that the Class Card would either change its mind and leave her alone or would, somehow, vanish into thin air. Unfortunately, neither of her wishes came true as the individual eventually reached her. They flipped their sword over to its flat side, raised it into the air, and swiftly swung it downward. However, right as their blade was about to make contact with the magical girl’s head, something threw a punch at their back that was so powerful that they were launched through several trees. Once the Class Card had left her field of view, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow let out a powerful roar as her head looked toward the sky, causing powerful gusts of wind to release from her body and freeze Miyu’s injury, allowing her to get back on her feet.
“Illya! You saved me!” The black haired girl shouted as she ran to the Stand’s left and wrapped her arms around her friend while tears ran down her cheeks. “I-I’m sorry for running, b-but there was just no way I c-could’ve possibly fought against the Class Card alone and won.”
“There’s no need to apologize. Anyone would’ve done the same if they saw three of their friends get beaten with ease by that thing. But now that I’m here, the two of us should be able to defeat it if we work together.”
Miyu nodded her head. A few seconds after Illya had finished speaking, the Class Card began to walk through the holes in the trees that they had formed, heading toward the magical girls. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow had managed to dent their armor, but not completely shatter it.
“Here it comes. Please, lend me your assistance, Miyu.”
“I’m not nearly as strong as you, Illya. But I’ll try my best to defeat it.” The black haired girl said, taking a deep breath to calm herself.

Chapter Text

Without any warning, the Class Card rushed toward the white haired girl and thrust their sword directly toward her head. Illya narrowly managed to avoid being stabbed through the head as she raised her Kaleidostick and shot a huge pink beam at the armored individual. Just as before, a black and red barrier appeared around them, blocking it from getting anywhere close to them. Upon seeing this, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow wasted no time and rushed at her.
“Be careful. We wouldn’t want that thing cutting our hand off again, would we?” Illya asked as her Stand grinned.
Just as the last time, the Stand threw a barrage of punches at the Class Card, only for them to raise their sword and block the flurry of blows with ease yet again. After a few seconds, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow threw a powerful uppercut at their chin, sending them flying into the air and denting their helmet. Before they could land, the Stand slammed her right fist onto the ground, propelling her into the air toward the Class Card. Once she was close enough to them, she slammed her fists onto their chest, causing their chest plate to crack and sending them plummeting into the ground. A large impact crater formed around the Class Card, but despite everything that had happened, they got up as if nothing had happened and turned to look at Illya. However, before they could do anything, Moonchild ran at them and threw a powerful punch at the side of their head, causing them to be frozen in place. The Stand threw 11 punches at their chest, stomach, and face, causing their armor to begin to crack open. Instead of throwing one final blow, Moonchild stood still as its master began to shoot a barrage of small blue beams at the Class Card, causing a black and red barrier to appear around them.
“Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow, now!” She yelled.
The Stand began to grin from ear to ear before proceeding to pound her chest, causing ice cold blasts of wind to shoot out of her, covering any objects in her vicinity with a thick layer of ice and freezing the dome around the Class Card solid. Seeing this, Moonchild ran forward and threw a barrage of punches at the armored individual’s defenses, and after a few hits, it managed to completely shatter it. With its target no longer shielded by anything, it rushed toward them and threw a punch at their forehead. However, before it could make contact with them, the Class Card regained their movement and swiftly swung their sword across the Stand’s chest, causing both it and Miyu to bleed heavily.
“Leave her alone!” The white haired girl shouted as she dashed at the armored figure and swung Magical Ruby at their chest.
Her enemy quickly raised their sword, blocking the Kaleidostick’s blade of magic, before throwing a kick at the white haired girl’s stomach. Illya jumped away from the attack before rushing back toward the Class Card and swinging Ruby toward their head. Just as before, the armored figure blocked the attack with ease. Before her enemy could do anything, the white haired girl moved her weapon back before thrusting it toward the armored individual’s stomach. They quickly blocked it, but before they could do anything else, a medium sized blue beam of magic flew over the white haired girl’s head and struck the Class Card in the middle of their chest plate, shattering it and revealing a pair of gigantic breasts beneath it. The beam managed to push her back but didn’t seem to even slightly hurt her.
“None of our attacks seem to even slightly faze this thing, and if we keep attacking it one at a time, I doubt we’ll be able to beat it. However, if we attack at the same time, we should be able to actually hurt it!”
Miyu nodded her head before Moonchild and Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow rushed toward the Class Card. As they approached her, she swung her sword to the side, sending a crescent red and black magical projectile at the Stands. Once it was close enough to them, Illya’s Stand threw a barrage of punches at it, allowing it to freeze and fall to the ground, as the pair continued to run toward their enemy. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow wasted no time and threw a powerful punch at her stomach, pushing her back. Before she could get too far away from her, Moonchild jumped behind the Class Card and threw a barrage of punches at her back, denting her armor while locking her in place. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow began to grin from ear to ear as she grabbed her arms, tore them off her without any effort, and threw them away. Not long after, she threw a barrage of punches at her chest and stomach, shattering all of the armor in those regions. After around a minute of nonstop attacks, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow threw a powerful punch at her left cheek, causing the Class Card’s helmet to start to crack open as she was pushed to the right. Before she could get too far away from the Stands, Moonchild followed up by throwing a punch at her helmet’s right side. This attack caused it to shatter, revealing a woman with ghostly white skin, yellow eyes, and light blonde hair. Upon seeing the woman, Miyu let out a gasp as tears began to well up in her eyes.
“N-No! I-It can’t be!” She shouted.

Chapter Text

Miyu began to breathe heavily as her grip on Magical Sapphire loosened. She quickly backed away from the Class Card as tears ran down her cheeks.
“Miyu, what’s wrong?” Sapphire asked.
“T-The Class Card! T-The C-Class Card is-“ She incomprehensibly managed to utter in between sobs and pants.
“Please, calm down. We can’t beat the Class Card if you lose your-“
Before Illya could finish speaking, the blonde turned her head to stare at her with a completely blank expression. Her eyes were devoid of any emotion; they showed no hate, joy, rage, or desire to kill; they were simply empty. Without saying a single word, a huge square red and black barrier appeared behind her that, when hit by Moonchild, simply launched the blows back at it. Its punches hit it in the chest and stomach, and while they didn’t manage to severely injure or stun it, it did manage to push the Stand back. Without wasting any time, she dashed at Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow in front of her, stabbing the Stand through the heart. Both she and her master spat out blood as the Class Card began to murmur something.
“Excali-“
A mere moment before she could finish whispering, six gems were shot straight at her face that exploded upon making contact with her. Once the smoke from the attack cleared, the completely unharmed Class Card turned her head to her right to see where the attack had come from but wasn’t able to see anyone nearby. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow cracked a grin at the sight of this before throwing a powerful uppercut at her jaw, sending her flying into the air. She quickly grabbed the sword and snapped it in two as if it were a twig before proceeding to let out a powerful roar, releasing powerful gusts of wind that froze her and Illya’s injuries in a matter of seconds. Once her wounds were healed, the Stand jumped into the air after the Class Card and swung her arms at her stomach, hitting her in the center of it and sending her flying through trees. Upon landing on the ground, the Stand began to pound her chest before letting out a ferocious roar and chasing after her.
“Rin, Luvia, I know you’re there.” She said, turning her head to look in the direction that the Class Card had looked. “Can you stay by Miyu’s side while I take care of this thing by myself?”
“Sure thing, Illya.” Rin, who was hiding inside a bush, said as she stood up.
At the same time, Luvia got out of the tree she was in and landed beside her ally. Illya smiled at them before turning around and chasing after her Stand. The two magi began to walk toward Miyu, who was staring in the direction that the Class Card had been launching in, breathing and crying heavily with trembling hands.
“Are you all right? What happened?” The blonde asked as she walked over to the black haired girl and hugged her.
“T-The Class Card!” She yelled before hugging Luvia back and burying her face in her chest.
“Miyu can’t fight like this…” Sapphire somberly said. “I won’t downplay Illya and her Stand’s strength, but this Class Card’s leagues stronger than the other ones we’ve fought before. You’ve seen with your own two eyes how this one’s given Illya a run for her money. As things are, there’s a very real chance she’ll die without any assistance.” The Kaleidostick went silent for a few seconds before continuing. “I hate to ask this of you of all people, but do you think you could use me to assist Illya in defeating the Class Card?”
“Of course. I’ll do anything to stop that Class Card and help Miyu’s friend.” She calmly responded as she put her right hand on her chest.
Look at who came crawling back to me! This time, I’ll make sure you won’t leave me for someone else! She thought.
“Miyu, are you okay with Luvia using me temporarily?”
The black haired girl nodded her head as she continued to sob. Rin wanted to say something but decided against it.
No, now’s not the time for that. Jealousy and petty rivalries can wait until after this. Right now Illya needs help, and fast. She thought.

Chapter Text

-
The Class Card landed safely on her feet before she turned her head upward to see Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow jump toward her. Before the Stand could get anywhere near her, the blonde swung her sword downward, sending a crescent black and red magical projectile at her. She quickly threw a barrage of punches forward, freezing the attack before it could injure her and allowing her to land in front of the Class Card without any issues. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow wasted no time and threw a powerful right hook to her opponent’s jaw. She quickly jumped to her left prior to rushing at the Stand. Instead of attempting to stab or cut through her, she swung her sword sideways, releasing a gigantic beam of red and black magic that disintegrated anything it rammed into. The Stand narrowly managed to kneel down to avoid the attack, grinning from ear to ear as the attack passed through the area. Once the projectile had missed her, the Stand rushed at her target on all fours. She quickly uppercutted her in the jaw before jumping into the air and slamming her fists into her chest. A large impact crater formed around the Class Card upon making contact with the ground. After getting closer to her enemy, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow threw a flurry of punches at the blonde. However, before any of them could make contact with her, she quickly rolled to her left and jumped to her feet. Before the Stand had an opportunity to land, she pointed her sword at her and shot a large beam of magic at her. Upon landing on the ground, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow quickly turned to her left and threw a punch at the side of the beam, sending it flying away. With the attack out of her way, she dashed at the Class Card and, instead of attempting to punch her, she roughly grabbed her by the right arm and tossed her into the air while simultaneously tearing her arm off. Instead of jumping after her, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow ran over to where she was going to land and, once she was close to the ground, punched her in the head with so much force that she was sent flying across from her. Before the Class Card could leave the Stand’s field of view, Illya flew out from behind several trees and stabbed the Class Card in the center of the head with her Kaleidostick.
“All right! We got her!” She cheerfully shouted as she pulled Ruby out of her head, allowing her to fall to the ground.
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow walked over to her master before the two of them looked down at their opponent. Despite being hit in a vital area, the blonde didn’t burst into smoke just as her fellow Class Cards did. Instead, she stared at the sky with a blank expression and without any emotion in her eyes.
“Is she not dead yet? That’s peculiar. She must be using her magic to keep herself alive. Either that or she’s some sort of vampire like Saber from dad’s story.” Illya joked while grinning slightly.
Upon hearing the white haired girl utter the word Saber, the Class Card’s eyes widened as her grip on her sword tightened. She quickly swung her sword at Illya’s feet, only for Ruby to create a pink rune-like shield in front of her that, while shattered upon being hit once, managed to prevent her master from having her feet chopped off. The blonde quickly jumped away from Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow and Illya and landed across from them as her arm regrew. Instead of rushing at Illya, the blonde began to swing her sword in every direction as quickly as she possibly could, sending huge beams of magic forward. While Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow managed to knock away the first handful of projectiles, their speed and size eventually managed to overwhelm her. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow was struck in the chest by one of the beams, and while it didn’t severely injure her, it managed to push her back quite a few feet.
“Get behind me!” Illya yelled as she ran in front of her Stand.
She raised Magical Ruby and shot a gigantic beam of pink magic at the Class Card. Her projectile effortlessly went through the blonde’s attacks and headed straight for her. This managed to take her off guard, and upon seeing this, she quickly jumped into the air only to have her lower half completely disintegrated by the beam. Despite this, the Class Card didn’t seem to so much as notice the pain as her legs regenerated only a handful of seconds later. She landed safely to the left of Illya and stared at her.
“All right, Ruby! We’ve got her on the ropes! Let’s finish this here and now!” Illya shouted as she pointed her Kaleidostick at the Class Card yet again.
The blonde took a deep breath as she raised her sword above her head and closed her eyes.
“Excalibur.” She murmured before swinging her weapon downward, shooting a red and black beam that dwarfed all of her previous attacks.
Illya shot a gargantuan beam of pink at the Class Card’s projectile. The two attacks slammed into one another, but the Class Card’s beam overpowered Illya’s with ease and continued to zoom toward her.
“ILLYA!” Magical Ruby screamed as she summoned a huge pink rune-like shield in front of the white haired girl.
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow let out a powerful roar that released ice cold gusts of wind at the attack, but they didn’t manage to freeze it. Upon seeing this, the Stand rushed at the attack and threw a barrage of its strongest punches at it in an attempt to freeze it. Despite the Stand’s best efforts, its blows weren’t enough to solidify the attack before it slammed into her and fully enveloped her. The beam continued moving forward until it reached Illya’s barrier. It crashed into it, effortlessly shattered it, and completely engulfed her as well. The white haired girl let out an ear piercing scream, and after a few seconds, the attack moved past her and began to disintegrate every tree that had the misfortune of being planted anywhere near the attack’s vicinity. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow had vanished, but Illya was somehow still standing while glaring at the blonde. She had returned to her regular clothing, and she was bleeding heavily from her chest. The Class Card was about to rush toward her to finish her, but without any warning, she suddenly fell face first onto the dirt while breathing faintly. Upon seeing this, the Class Card brought her sword to her side before beginning to calmly walk toward where she had last seen Miyu. Before she could leave the area, a sizable blue beam of magic appeared from behind a tree in front of her and hit her in the stomach, going through her as she was knocked to the ground.
“Illya lost? How surprising. Well then, I’ll just have to take care of you on my own.” Luvia, who had transformed into a magical girl, confidently said as she walked out from behind the tree and began to approach the Class Card.

Chapter Text

Taiga was lying in bed with her phone in her hands. It was past midnight, and even though the brunette should’ve been trying to get some rest since tomorrow was a school day, she wasn’t feeling very tired. Instead of trying to fall asleep like a responsible adult, she was watching videos on her phone.
“You know, Miyu’s probably still awake right now. I should really text her to see how she’s doing… and to make sure that Illya’s not doing her.” Taiga said to herself as she clenched her fists and gritted her teeth.
She exited YouTube, pressed on her messages app, and began to text her student.
Hey, Miyu, are you still awake? I’m just checking in to make sure everything’s all right at home.
The brunette sent her message to her before exiting the messages app and returning to YouTube.
“Now we wait.” She said before resting her head on her pillow.

-
The Class Card’s injury quickly healed before she stood up. She pointed her sword at Luvia before rushing her.
“Straight to the point, huh? Excellent! I wouldn’t have it any other way!” She enthusiastically shouted as a blade created by her magic appeared above Magical Sapphire’s head.
The Class Card swung her sword at her chest, only for the blonde to block it as quickly as she possibly could with her Kaleidostick’s blade. Luviagelita quickly jumped away and shot a barrage of small blue beams of magic at the armored woman. She swiftly ran forward, blocking any of her enemy’s attacks that got in her way, and once she was in front of Luvia, she swung her sword sideways toward her neck. The blonde magical girl quickly ducked down before jumping up and slashing her across the head, bisecting it with little ease. Before the Class Card could do anything, Luvia threw a punch at her neck, which managed to push her away from her and knock the top half of her head onto the ground. The Class Card’s injuries quickly healed, allowing her to rush toward the blonde. She raised her sword above her head, but before she could say anything, Luvia thrust her Kaleidostick forward, stabbing the Class Card through her throat. At the same time, Dirty Work appeared behind her and grabbed onto the sides of the blonde’s head. It dug its index fingers into her eyes, gouging them out with ease before making her slice her left arm clean off.
“Farewell, Class Card!” Luvia cheerfully shouted as she pulled Sapphire out of her enemy and shot a barrage of small blue beams of magic at her.
The bombardment of attacks hit her in the chest, stomach, face, arms, and legs and managed to send her flying away.
“Don’t think you’re going anywhere!” The blonde shouted before chasing after her as quickly as possible.
With the two of them now out of her field of view, Rin got out of the bush she was in and began to walk toward the unconscious white haired girl.
“Hey, Ruby, are you and Illya all right?” She asked as she looked down at the two of them.
“Illya’s fine. I’ve already healed up most of the wounds that she’s received. Any that she still has are either incredibly minor and non-life-threatening, or I put off to heal the more important stuff first. That Class Card’s attack was undeniably powerful, but I managed to pour every ounce of my magic into my master’s body to create a sturdy barrier around it, which just barely managed to save her life. But still, that single attack was enough to undo her transformation.”
“That Class Card sure is something. To not just knock Illya unconscious, but also defeat Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow, is an incredible feat. If I weren’t trying to kill that thing, I’d honestly be impressed, but as things are, I’m worried that Luvia fighting that thing by herself won’t be enough to put an end to it, and she’ll just end up dying and leaving me without a paycheck. Since Illya’s not able to fight at the moment, would you be okay with me taking her stead and temporarily becoming your master once more for a few minutes?”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to it if you agreed to not start fighting with Luvia again the moment you see her.”
“Of course I won’t. I have no reason to. After all, we’re working together to collect and defeat the Class Cards.”
“All right. I’ll let you use me again. But don’t expect this to be a permanent thing.”
“Don’t worry, Ruby. I’m not expecting you to come back to me anytime soon. I’m just going to be using you as a means to an end for the time being.” She calmly said.
Take that, Luvia! I’ll show you just how much more powerful I am when I singlehandedly defeat the Class Card! She thought as she tried her best to stop herself from grinning from ear to ear.

Luvia had Dirty Work disappear before the Class Card could harm it. In under a second, the blonde’s injuries all completely healed.
“It completely healed? Looks like attacking this thing normally won’t be enough to defeat it. The only way to actually beat it will be to completely destroy it with one powerful attack.” Luvia’s grin spread further across her face. “Alternatively-“
Before she could finish talking to herself, Rin ran out from the trees already in her magical girl form and with Magical Ruby and Happiness is a Warm Gun in her hands.
“Out of the way, Luvia! This thing’s mine!” She shouted before rushing at the Class Card.
She quickly threw a powerful kick at her stomach before pistol whipping her across the head, causing her to stumble back.
“You! How dare you steal Ruby from Illya and transform again!” She shouted, her hands shaking as she gripped down on Magical Sapphire as tightly as possible. She opened her mouth and began to grin toothily. “That matters not! In fact, this gives me plenty of time to set up my plan!”
Instead of rushing toward her, Rin raised her Stand and shot several gems at the Class Card’s face that quickly detonated upon making contact with her. Although it didn’t manage to wound her, it still managed to disorient her, which gave Rin the perfect opportunity to rush at her opponent and stab her in the head.
“Let me show you just why I’m the superior magus, Luvia!” Rin yelled before shooting a huge pink beam of magic while Ruby was still inside of her head.
The attack completely engulfed the Class Card and resulted in her head being completely disintegrated and her body falling to the floor.
“Too easy! See how little effort it took me to defeat the Class Card, Luvia?” She asked as she turned to look at the blonde. “This is how a magus of my caliber would-“
“What are you doing? You still haven’t killed that thing yet.” Ruby pointed out.
Before Rin could process what she had said, her enemy’s injuries completely healed. She quickly stood up and raised her sword above her head.
“Fortunately, your minute of distracting it was all I needed to set up everything necessary to defeat it!” Luvia cheerfully shouted before a plethora of blue runes appeared in the sky. “Rin Tohsaka, thank you for giving me this victory!” She yelled before blue beams shot out of them and rained down on the Class Cards.
The projectiles completely engulfed their target before slamming into the ground, creating large holes in it. Once they had dissipated, there didn’t appear to be anything left of the Class Card other than a single index finger on the ground that was hidden by the grass.
“See how much better a magus I am, Rin? If I weren’t here, you’d still be fighting that thing. In fact, there’s a higher likelihood you would’ve ended up dead than actually do anything worthwhile to it!” She raised her right hand up to her mouth and began to laugh. “Ohohoho!”
Rin gritted her teeth and clenched her fists tightly as she turned to look at the blonde.
“Oh, shut up! The only reason you got to use that attack was because I decided to butt in. If I hadn’t, you would’ve surely been killed by it, which would’ve given me ample time to set up the same attack you did!”
“I regret doing this already.” Sapphire said.
“As do I.” Ruby agreed, sounding slightly disappointed. “Enough with the arguing, you two. Hurry up and collect the Class Card so that we can get out of here already.”
The Kaleidostick’s words fell on deaf ears as Luvia and Rin continued arguing with one another. As they squabbled with each other, the Class Card’s finger managed to completely regenerate the rest of her body. She quickly stood up and raised her blade above her head.
“Excalibur.” She murmured before swinging it downward, shooting a gargantuan beam of red and black magic.
“LOOK OUT, GIRLS!” Ruby screamed.
The two magi quickly turned their heads to their left only to see an enormous magical projectile headed toward them. It was so fast that the girls couldn’t do a single thing except let out a high-pitched scream before it slammed into them and completely engulfed them.

-
Illya began to open her eyes. She sat up before rubbing them and looking around the area.
“Rin, Luvia, Miyu, where are you? Did you guys beat the Class Card already?” She shouted as she stood up.
The white haired girl noticed that all of the trees to her left had been knocked down, but their trunks were nowhere to be seen.
The Class Card must’ve done this. She thought before going toward them. She continued walking until she saw Rin and Luvia lying unconscious on the ground while the Class Card stood in front of them with a blank expression on her face. Although they held the Kaleidosticks in their hands, they weren’t transformed. Next to Rin was a brown wooden box that contained the four Class Cards the girls had previously acquired that had been knocked out of her pocket by the Class Card’s attack.
“Rin! Luvia!” She shouted.
Upon noticing her, the Class Card began to calmly walk toward her.
“Illya! Grab Rin and Luvia and get out of here! This thing’s just too strong! There’s no way we can beat it!” Ruby yelled as she flew out of the black haired girl’s hand and zipped over to her master.
“N-No! There has to be some way we can beat it! Maybe if I-“
“The four of you tried your best to defeat that thing, and you all lost. You must all surely be exhausted by now, which will just make fighting the Class Card even harder. There’s no shame in running away to formulate a plan and get some rest before returning here tomorrow to beat it.”
“No! That’s not necessary!” She yelled as she moved her eyes to look around the area, trying to find anything she could use to defeat the blonde.
After a few seconds, her eyes landed on the four Class Cards near her friend’s leg. She quickly got down and randomly grabbed the archer card.
“What are you doing? You’re going to get yourself killed if you stay here any longer!”
“No! This thing made Miyu cry and hurt me and my friends! I’m not leaving until it’s nothing but a piece of paper!” She yelled as she slammed the Class Card on the ground in front of her. “Please, lend me your strength! I need to install your power into me so I can beat this Class Card!”
Suddenly, a red rune appeared beneath her.
“Wh-What’s happening?” Sapphire shouted.
“I-I don’t know!” Ruby responded.
Gusts of wind emerged from it and covered Illya’s body as her regular clothing was replaced by a black chestplate that left her stomach exposed, red sleeves, a red skirt that exposed her legs, and black shoes. Her hair was tied into a bun, and for some reason, her eyes had become peach. The wind blew past her as a wide grin spread across her face.
“I could get used to this!” Illya shouted as she summoned two swords, one with a black blade and one with a white one, into her hands.

Chapter Text

“I-Illya, what did you do?” Ruby asked.
The white haired girl didn’t say a single word as she continued grinning at the Class Card.
“It seems that she’s somehow used her own magic to merge herself with the archer card. I’m unsure if that extra boost of strength will be enough to finally take down the Class Card, but it’ll definitely help with that.” Sapphire responded.
“Hey, Illya. Use me again. With the combination of both the strength from the archer card and me, you should be able to defeat an already weakened Class Card no-“
Illya raised her left arm and swung it at Ruby.
“I don’t need your goddamn help! I can take this woman down myself!” She enthusiastically said before bursting into laughter and rushing forward.
“H-Huh?” The Kaleidostick asked, sounding completely confused by what had just happened.
Illya raised the sword in her right hand and swung it at the Class Card’s head. She quickly brought her weapon up to her head and blocked the attack without much effort. Not even a second later, the white haired girl thrust her left sword forward, stabbing the blonde in the stomach. Without wasting any time, she used the sword to lift herself up and throw a powerful kick at the Class Card’s jaw, which pushed her back several feet. Upon seeing this, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow appeared behind her and was about to run toward the blonde when Illya spoke up.
“Hey, you ogre. Mind your place. I don’t need some hulking brute like you to help me beat a Class Card.” She confidently ordered.
The Stand gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, but before she could do anything, the Class Card managed to compose herself and began to swing her sword wildly, shooting crescent red and black magical projectiles at her enemy. Illya’s grin widened as she let go of her swords before summoning a black bow and Gae Bolg into her hands.
“That’s not gonna work this time, wench!” She joyfully said before attaching the lance to her bowstring and pulling back on it, firing it at the armored woman.
Gae Bolg pierced through the incoming projectiles with ease, reaching the Class Card in less than a second and piercing her heart. She spat out blood before Illya summoned a dagger with a long chain attached to the bottom of it. The white haired girl wasted no time before launching it at her stomach, causing the dagger to pierce it, and then pulling back on her weapon, bringing the Class Card toward her. Once the blonde was in front of her, Illya threw a punch at her forehead that was so powerful that it completely shattered her skull. She then threw a kick at her left leg, shattering it and knocking her to the ground.
“Pathetic. How did she struggle so much against the likes of you? I think this has gone on for far too long, wouldn’t you agree?” She asked as she summoned a black pistol into her right hand and pointed it at the Class Card. “Now, stop moving and face your death with dignity!” Illya enthusiastically shouted before pulling on her weapon’s trigger, sending an Origin Bullet zooming toward her opponent.
The blonde’s eyes widened upon seeing what had been shot toward her. The Class Card quickly rolled to her left to avoid the projectile as her injuries healed. Once her wounds had been fully restored, she got up, rushed behind Illya, and swung her sword at her neck. The white haired girl jumped forward, avoiding the attack without any effort before turning around to face her.
“You’re really much too slow to be able to defeat me. All you’re doing now is prolonging your fruitless struggle!” She arrogantly taunted before winking at her.
The Class Card took a deep breath before raising her sword above her head.
“Oh, so you want to do that then? All right! Two can play that game!” She cheerfully shouted before summoning a sword that was identical to the Class Card’s in her left hand.
The white haired girl quickly raised it over her head as well.
“Excalibur!” The two of them yelled in unison before swinging their weapons downward.
They shot gargantuan red and black beams of magic at one another that collided with each other. The two projectiles were locked in place for several seconds before Illya’s attack overpowered the Class Card’s and began to rush forward. She raised her sword in front of her in an attempt to block the attack, but the huge beam slammed into her and managed to push her back.
“Now be a good piece of paper and scatter to the wind!” Illya shouted as the attack rushed ahead, pushing the Class Card forward.

-
Miyu was sitting on the ground with her legs up to her chest. The black haired girl had managed to calmed down since Luvia and Rin had left, but she wasn’t sure where any of her friends had gone. She wanted to get up to go looking for them, but she was terrified that she’d accidentally run into the Class Card again and either break into a panic or get attacked by her while she didn’t have access to Sapphire. As she continued to sit in place, the Class Card suddenly landed on her back as a huge beam of red and black magic flew over her. Not even a second later, Illya, who was being followed by Ruby and Sapphire, jumped over to the Class Card and landed on her head.
“I-Illya? Why are your eyes peach? And what’s with those clothes?“
“Hmm, so you’re her best friend, I take it.” She calmly said as she dropped her weapons on the ground, allowing them to vanish. “You’re really cute, you know that?”
“W-What?” She shouted, her face turning beet red.
“I have to commend Illya for not pouncing on you. If I were in her shoes, I would’ve already had my way with you by now. Which, since I currently am, means that you’re all mine!” She gleefully shouted before leaping toward her.
Miyu was so shocked and confused by what she had just said that she had no time to react to Illya’s sudden movement. Right as she was about to land on her, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow rushed toward her master and threw a punch at her stomach that was so strong that the Class Card was knocked out of her chest. Illya was returned to her regular clothing, and her eyes reverted to their usual color as she fell to the ground. She clutched her stomach as she fell to the ground and began to take deep breaths after having the air knocked out of her.
“Miyu… what happened? The last thing I remember doing was putting the archer Class Card on the ground before suddenly waking up here.”
“That’s what I want to know. You were wearing some weird clothes, your eyes were a lighter color, and you somehow managed to copy the Class Card’s sword and a gun. You also weren’t acting like your usual self, and you said some odd things…”
Before either of them could come to a conclusion as to what had happened, the Class Card stood up while breathing heavily.
“That thing’s still not dead yet? How many more times do we have to keep hitting her with increasingly powerful attacks until she finally stays dead?” Sapphire shouted.
“I don’t think we need to do that. I already have a plan for how to beat it in mind. Illya, Miyu, do you two think you could fight against it?”
“I feel exhausted and a bit lightheaded, but I think I should be able to defeat that thing just fine.”
“…That Class Card… just looking at her makes my heart hurt. I don’t want to fight her. But if it’s the only way to put her out of her misery… then I have no choice but to beat her.”

Chapter Text

The Kaleidosticks flew into Illya and Miyu’s hands before transforming them into their magical girl forms. Illya attempted to stand up, but she only managed to stay on her feet for a handful of seconds before falling to her knees.
“Illya, can you stand?”
“Not for long. My legs are so tired that they can hardly support my weight. I don’t think I’ll be able to fight like this.”
“That’s fine. As long as Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow is still able to use her ability, everything should turn out well. Miyu, hit the Class Card with everything you’ve got while Illya and I stay here.”
“All right.” She closed her eyes before taking a deep breath and rushing forward.
She summoned Moonchild, who threw a barrage of powerful punches at the Class Card’s chest. The blonde quickly raised her sword and blocked the attacks without much trouble. At the same time, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow let out a powerful roar and began to pound on her chest, causing powerful gusts of wind to be released from her body and hit her enemy. Upon seeing this, she attempted to rush toward her, but Moonchild hit her in the side of her head, stunning her in place for several seconds as her ally continued to shoot out blasts of ice cold wind toward her. The Stand threw a barrage of punches at her chest, which sent her flying into a tree behind her. As she stood up, her stomach started to freeze over. Despite this, she attempted to rush at Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow yet again, only for Moonchild to jump in front of her and prevent her from moving forward. She quickly threw a jab at her left arm, causing her to be locked in place.
“Please, stop this already. There’s no point in fighting anymore. Just stand still and let me put you down.” Miyu begged, tears welling up in her eyes.
The Class Card regained her ability to move and didn’t seem to hear Miyu’s words as she swiftly swung her sword toward Moonchild’s chest. The Stand jumped to its left, allowing it to avoid the attack, before rushing forward and throwing a punch at her right cheek, stunning her in place yet again. As she remained unable to move, her legs slowly started to freeze, starting at her feet and steadily moving upward. Due to this, her speed started to decrease.
“Ruby, how much longer must Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow keep this up? I think it’d be best for all our sakes to finish this as quickly as possible.”
“I agree, but I’m unsure of how much longer it will take until the Class Card’s magic, which allows her to heal her injuries, will be frozen. I’d rather have Miyu destroy her in one attack than have her constantly punch through her chest every time her injury’s healed.”
As Ruby finished speaking, the Class Card regained its ability to move and swung her sword at the Stand’s head. Moonchild quickly grabbed onto her left arm before raising her into the air and slamming her onto the ground. She kicked the Stand in the stomach, pushing it away from her and allowing her to get onto her feet. Not long after this, the ice covering her feet spread up to her thighs, slowing her down even further. With her mobility diminished, she resorted to swinging her sword wildly toward the Stand’s legs, shooting red and black crescent projectiles at it. Before it could get anywhere close to Moonchild, her attacks froze solid and fell to the ground, where they shattered upon impact. Upon seeing this, the Stand wasted no time and rushed at the Class Card. No longer able to jump away from Moonchild or able to attack it, the Class Card summoned a large black and red barrier in front of herself. The Stand threw a barrage of punches toward her defense only for them to be launched back at its chest and stomach, pushing it back a few feet.
“Moonchild can’t break the Class Card’s defense. What can I do?” Miyu asked, turning to look at her friends.
Before Illya or Ruby could respond to her questions, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow stopped pounding her chest and rushed toward the barrier. She placed her hands on it, freezing it, and then effortlessly tore it in half. Upon doing this, she turned her head and smiled at Miyu and Moonchild.
“Miyu, it seems like Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow wants you to do the honors of defeating the Class Card.” Ruby said.
“Go ahead and finish this already so that we can go home.” Illya added
“All right. I’ll end this for all of our sakes.” She said before taking a deep breath and rushing forward with Moonchild at her side. “Class Card, please, rest in peace!” She shouted as her Stand threw a powerful punch through her chest.
The blonde spat out blood before she began to gently stroke Miyu’s cheek with her right hand. Her lips formed a soft smile before she burst into smoke, leaving behind a Class Card with a knight in silver armor who wielded a sword up to their chest that had the word Saber written underneath it.
“It’s over… it’s finally over…” She said as her voice trembled. She fell to her knees, picked up the card, and brought it up to her chest as tears ran down her cheeks. “You don’t have to suffer any longer… you don’t have to hurt others any longer… please… just rest easy…” She sobbed.
As the black haired girl cried, Illya scooted over to her. Once she was close enough to her friend, she hugged her.
“Let it all out, Miyu. I’m not sure why this made you so upset, but if you want to talk to me about it, I’ll be here for you.”
“T-Thank you, I-Illya. I-I’m fi-fine, I-I just need so-some time to c-cry after e-everything th-that’s happened over t-the last few weeks.”
As Miyu continued to weep, Illya glanced over to look at the Class Card in her hands.
Saber? Dad…. Illya thought as she began to frown.

Chapter Text

-
After Miyu had calmed down, she carried Illya, Rin, and Luvia back to their homes before entering the Edelfelt mansion and going to her room. She wasted no time before going to sleep without checking her phone once. Hours passed, and it eventually became 3 in the morning. Taiga still hadn’t gone to sleep as she had been too preoccupied with staring at her phone screen, waiting for her student to text her back.
“Miyu… never responded…” The brunette said to herself as she clenched her fists as tightly as possible while gritting her teeth. “That Illya better back off from her! Miyu is mine and mine alone! I need to confess my feelings to her tomorrow after school, or else she’ll be consumed by her!” She shouted.

-Many hours later-
School was going to start in half an hour, and yet Mimi still hadn’t woken up. Seeing this, her mom opened the door to her room, entered it, and walked toward her daughter’s bed.
“Mimi, wake up. You’re going to be late for school.” The brunette said as she put her right hand on her forehead, causing her to slowly open her eyes.
Much to her surprise, she felt that her daughter was unusually hot and that she was sweating bullets. Her eyes widened as she began to speak up.
“I think you might have a fever, dear. How are you feeling?”
“I feel hot… and really weak.”
Mrs. Katsura moved her hand away from her daughter as she continued to talk.
“It seems like you won’t be able to go to school today like this. Focus on getting some rest. I’ll bring you some medicine and a cold towel to help cool you off.” The brunette said before turning around and walking out of her daughter’s room.
Upon exiting, she closed the door, leaving her daughter to herself. The brunette began to sit up as she smiled softly.
“Well, since I’m not going to be able to go to school today, I might as well make the most out of this crummy situation and write something that sends my heart a flutter.” She said to herself as she rubbed her legs together, slightly pleasuring herself.
She slowly stood up and made her way to her desk to the left of her bed, where her laptop stood. She sat down in front of it before opening her computer and pressing on the application she normally used to write stories.
“Let’s see… what could I write about today? Another story based around me and Suzuka seems like a little too much since that’s all I’ve been writing lately. Maybe I could write something based on Miyu and Ms. Fujimura. No, I’m not really in the mood to write an age gap story.” She murmured to herself as she brought her right hand to her chin. Not too long after she had mentioned her classmate, an idea struck her. “Wait, a story about Miyu and Illya would work great! They already left class for a good chunk of time yesterday to do who knows what in the bathroom with one another. That fact alone gives me so many scenarios I could have characters based off them do! From what little I know about Miyu’s family, they sound disgustingly wealthy! Oh, this is good! This opens up so many things I could write about!” She shouted as her left hand snaked into her panties while she began to type out the beginning of her story with her right hand.

-10 minutes later-
Inside of the Einzbern household, Sella had gone upstairs to wake Illya up. She opened the door to her room and entered it, only to see nobody inside. She let out a gasp as she turned around, quickly walked down the stairs, and entered the kitchen. Sitting around the table with their breakfasts finished were Kiritsugu, Irisviel, her sister, and Shirou.
“Where’s Illya? What’s taking her so long to get up?” Shirou asked.
“She’s… not here.”
“WHAT?” The four of them screamed in unison.
“I just checked her room, and she was nowhere to be seen.”
“Where could she have possibly gone?” Leysritt asked.
“I have no idea. We can try to look for her around town later after I finish washing the dishes.”
“I want to help you two look for Illya.” Shirou said as he stood up. “She’s my sister, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I just went to school, pretending like nothing’s happened while you two search the entirety of Fuyuki for her.”
“But you’ll miss out on school for no reason.” Irisviel said. “I’m sure Sella and Liz will be able to handle looking for Illya just fine. Please, go to school. They’ll-“
“Don’t trouble yourselves over this.” Kiritsugu said as he stood up. “I’ll look for her by myself. It’s my duty as a father to do so. Besides, if she got abducted, I’m most likely the one to blame for that.”
“Do you know how big Fuyuki is? If you try to search the entirety of it alone, you could be out for hours, maybe even a full day.”
“Yes. I’m well aware of the size of the city I’ve lived in my entire childhood. Still, I don’t wish to burden any of you. I’m perfectly capable of handling this by my lonesome.”
“All right. I trust your decision, but please come back soon.” Irisviel said.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to.” He smiled at her before turning around and walking out of the kitchen.
As he made his way toward the stairs, he began to speak to himself.
“Whoever the magical girl was that kidnapped my daughter will pay with her blood.” He clenched his fists tightly as he gritted his teeth.

Chapter Text

-15 minutes later-
There were only five minutes left until school started, and Taiga had come to school on time so that she could speak with Miyu. However, neither her nor Illya had come to class, much to her displeasure. Because of this, the brunette was staring into the back of her class and listening in on what Tatsuko and Suzuka were saying to one another.
“Everyone’s out today. Looks like it’s just me and you who are left.” The black haired girl calmly said as she looked at her friend.
“Don’t worry. I’m more than enough to keep you company.” The blonde cheerfully said as she put her right hand on her chest.
“Hey, you two. Why are so many of your friends not in school today? I don’t think I’ve ever had this many students absent all year round.”
“Well, Nanaki’s in the hospital because she passed out yesterday after school, and they’re most likely going to discharge her in a day or two just to be safe. And Mimi apparently has a fever, so I don’t expect her to be out for more than a day.”
“Oh, so that’s why the nurse said she went home early.” Taiga murmured to herself before raising her voice again. “I see. Do you know where Illya and Miyu are by any chance?”
The two girls shook their heads.
“Not a clue. Suzuka tried to text them earlier, but they still haven’t responded. They might just be running late and are about to run through the door in a few seconds, but I honestly doubt it.” Tatsuko’s smile widened. “Maybe they skipped school to have some fun together, if you catch my drift.”
Taiga clenched her fists as tightly as possible while trying her best to not slam them on her desk or grit her teeth.
“Tatsuko, now’s not the time for such inappropriate comments.” Suzuka said. “They’re probably also sick or just decided to sleep in. I’m sure we’ll find out eventually, but for now, it’d be best to not jump to baseless theories.”
“Yes… it’d be best not to jump to such scandalous conclusions.” The brunette said, chuckling slightly.
WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THAT ILLYA! She thought, trying her best to not scream.

-Meanwhile-
Illya was standing in the dining room of the Edelfelt mansion with a plate of food that had a silver cloche covering it in her hands while wearing a maid uniform. She didn’t know how exactly she got here, as when she woke up, she was already in the dining room while in the peculiar dress. For some reason, she felt oddly hot, and her legs felt rather weak, but that was the least of her worries at the moment. Without saying a single word, she exited the dining room and walked up the stairs. Once she was on the second floor, she walked down the hallway until she reached her friend’s room. The white haired girl moved her right hand toward the doorknob, but before she could make contact with it, she suddenly moved her right hand upward and knocked on the door.
“Hello, Mistress Edelfelt. I have your breakfast. May I come in?”
W-What am I saying? Mistress Edelfelt? I-I didn’t even think about saying something like that! A-Am I going mad? Illya thought.
“I’d be most pleased if you did, Illya.”
Despite being shocked by the whole situation, she moved her hand to the doorknob and opened it without any hesitation. She quickly stepped inside to see Miyu sitting at the edge of her bed while barefoot and wearing a purple bathrobe. She had an uncharacteristically wide smile on her face that only grew upon seeing her maid enter her room.
“Your meal, my lady.” The white haired girl said before bowing and lifting the cloche off the plate, revealing muesli, toast with butter spread on it, and cold cuts such as ham, salami, and sausages beneath it.
The black haired girl took one quick glance at it before speaking.
“Close the door, lock it, and place my breakfast beside it. I’m not hungry at the moment.”
“As you wish, mistress.”
Illya did as she was told before turning to look at Miyu. Without saying a word, she beckoned her toward her with her right hand. The white haired girl walked forward until she was directly in front of her bed.
“Illya, ever since I first laid my eyes upon you, you’ve been on my mind. You’re so cute that it gives the way you act a certain charm. When I found out my parents hired you as a maid, I was completely overjoyed.”
Parents? What am I blurting out?
“The moment I saw you in a maid uniform, my heart skipped a beat. I’ve pleasured myself to the image of you in that very outfit for who knows how many days now.”
N-NO I DIDN’T! SH-SHUT UP! She thought, trying her best to say that, but to no avail.
“However, just my fingers are not enough. I need you to satisfy my lustful urges.” She said before spreading her arms to her sides. “As punishment for making me feel these most sinful feelings, I order you to have your way with me and make me your woman.”
N-NO! I-ILLYA! D-DON’T DO THIS!
A blush spread across Illya’s face. Not even a second passed before she began to walk toward her.
“Well, I can’t deny an order from my adorable mistress, can I?”
M-Miyu wants me to have sex with her… no. This isn’t her. She wouldn’t be so bold about such a thing! I need to stop my body before we do anything we might regret! Illya thought as she tried her best to move away from Miyu to no avail.
Without saying a single word, the black haired girl wrapped her arms around her friend before pulling her on top of her.
“Please, go easy on me. This is my first time doing anything like it.”
STOP! STOP! PLEASE, I’M BEGGING YOU TO STOP!
“Don’t worry, I’m a virgin too. Still, I’ll try my best to not be too rough with you and to try to make this as pleasurable for you as possible.”
M-MIYU! I CAN’T STOP MYSELF! I… I’M SORRY!
Without saying another word, Illya untied Miyu’s robe before opening it, revealing her bare chest and nether regions to her.
D-Don’t look at me! She thought, unable to move her body as much as she wanted to.
Illya looked down at her body before licking her lips. Without any hesitation, she moved down to her left breast and took her nipple into her mouth before proceeding to gently suck on it. Miyu let out a moan as she closed her eyes tightly.
T-That feels amazing! She thought. But this isn’t right. I-Illya and I are just friends. We’re not supposed to be doing this!
After a few seconds, Illya let go of her nipple before moving her head up to her neck.
“You may be my mistress, but for now, you’ll be submitting to me.” She breathily said as she began to gently kiss her neck.
M-MIYU! I-I’M SORRY! I-I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY! PLEASE, I DON’T WANT TO DO THIS!
Once she had finished kissing her neck, she moved up yet again and began to make her way toward her lips.
“Miyu…”
“Illya…”
“I love-“
Without any warning, they regained control of their bodies. Illya swiftly pushed herself off Miyu as the black haired girl sat up. They quickly looked around the room before turning to look at one another.
“What just happened?” The pair asked in unison.

-
“Ah!” Mimi moaned as she pulled her fingers out of herself.
She quickly brought them up to her mouth and began to lick them clean as she breathed heavily.
“I-I couldn’t even… last to the actual… love scene…” She panted. “I need to… work on my stamina…”

Chapter Text

-
Illya and Miyu stared at each other for several seconds, unmoving as their faces turned beet red while they didn’t know what to say to each other. The awkward silence was only broken when Miyu moved her robe over her chest to cover her budding breasts, and she decided to speak up.
“How did you even get here? A-And why are you wearing a maid uniform?”
“I have no clue. I just woke up standing in the dining room next to the table. I saw a plate of food on it, instinctually grabbed it, brought it upstairs… and then all of that happened when I entered your room.”
The black haired girl turned her head to the side slightly to avoid looking at her friend.
“You just woke up in the dining room? How is that even possible? I carried you back to your home, and you’d need to either be transformed or use Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow to get over the mansion’s gate.”
“Beats me. The last thing I remember was falling asleep in my bed, so unless I somehow used my Stand while sleeping, I must’ve been brought into the Edelfelt mansion by someone or something. Maybe Luvia was behind all of this.”
“That can’t be possible. Maybe that’d be the case if only you were being controlled by something, but I wasn’t able to move my body either. Dirty Work can’t control multiple people at the same time, especially ones in completely different rooms, so we can effectively rule that possibly out.” As Miyu finished speaking, she grabbed her phone from under her pillow and looked at the time, which caused her eyes to widen. “Speaking of Luvia, did you see her when you were in the dining room? Or any maids for that matter?”
“Nope. I didn’t see anyone in there.”
“That’s odd. My sister’s usually already up by this time to eat breakfast and make sure I go to school. And even if she wasn’t, there should’ve still been some maids in the kitchen, making her something to eat. Plus, a maid should’ve long since come to my room to make sure I was up so that I could get ready for school and eat breakfast in time.
“Wait. What time is it right now?”
“It’s 8:43. School’s already started.”
“Oh. So it looks like we won’t be able to go to school today. Not like I’m complaining. I’m not feeling too well today anyway.”
“Really? What’s wrong?”
“Well, my legs feel a little weak, and I feel so hot. I think I might be sick.”
“Let me feel your forehead.” The black haired girl calmly said.
Her friend did as she requested and moved closer to her, allowing her to place her right hand on it. After a few seconds, she moved it away from her and spoke up.
“You’re burning up. You definitely have a fever. As you are now, you’re in no condition to go to school.”
“I see. Looks like I’m gonna need to get some rest to get better. Since I don’t have my phone on me, it’d probably be best to go home and explain everything that happened to my parents, but I’m not really in the mood for that right now. Are there any spare rooms in this mansion that I could stay in for the time being?”
“Oh, there’s a bunch of them, all right. I’m pretty sure that most, if not all, of the doors down the hallway have rooms that aren’t being occupied by anyone.” Her face blushed slightly. “Alternatively, if you want, you could stay here with me for the time being. That way, I can take care of you and bring you medicine to help you feel better. Don’t get any ideas about finishing what we were just about to do though.” She jokingly said as she smiled at her.
The white haired girl wasted no time before getting in bed next to her friend.
“Are you hungry, Illya? If so, then you can eat my breakfast if you want.”
“A little bit, but I’ll get something to eat when I go back home. Besides, I wouldn’t want to make you starve.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll just ask one of the maids to make me another plate of food later. Since you’re sick, you deserve to eat way more than I do.”
Before Illya could say anything, the window suddenly opened, and Kiritsugu entered it.
“So this is where you were the whole time.” Kiritsugu, who was wearing his black longcoat, said as he turned to look at his daughter. “Look, I understand you’re at the age where your body’s changing and that you’re filled with all sorts of hormones. If you wanted to play hooky with your little girlfriend, you could’ve just told me so. Instead, you made me worry about your safety and that a magical girl had gotten to you.”
“D-Dad!” Illya shouted. “I-It’s not what it looks like, I swear! I somehow got here while I was asleep, and I had no control over my body until just a few minutes ago!”
“I-It’s true, Mr. Em- Illya’s dad. I mean i-it in the most literal sense that neither of us had any control over our bodies!”
“So somebody was controlling you. This must be the work of a magical girl.” He said as he pulled his pistol out of his pocket. “Stay here, you two. I’ll kill this thing myself.”
“Don’t jump to any rash conclusions just yet, Illya’s dad. While a magical girl could be behind this, I seriously doubt it. If I had to wager a guess, I’d say a Stand User controlling us is way more likely than a magical girl doing the same thing.”
“Regardless of whether it’s a magical girl or a Stand User behind all of this, there’s still a question we’ve yet to solve. Why would someone use their ability or magic on the two of us specifically to make us almost engage in sexual acts?”
“I’m not sure. Do you know anyone who could’ve possibly done this?”
“Well, we could rule out my friends since I’ve already seen their Stands, and they’re incapable of doing such a thing. Except for one: Mimi.”
“Do you think she could’ve used her Stand on us?”
“It’s possible, but I’m not sure why she would. Still, her being the Stand User is the only lead we have so far. I think we should investigate her just to make sure.” Illya said as she began to get up.
She only managed to stand for a few seconds before she suddenly stumbled forward. Miyu managed to catch her before she could fall down.
“Are you all right?” She and Kiritsugu asked in unison.
“Yeah, I’m just a little unwell today. I woke up feeling a little weak and with a fever.”
“If you’re sick, then you can’t come looking for the Stand User with us. I wouldn’t want to risk making your illness worse, so stay here for now and rest until I come back to bring you home.”
“Fine. Miyu, do you think you could go with my dad? I’ll give you the address to Mimi’s house so that you two can speak with her.”
The black haired girl’s eyes drifted to look at Kiritsugu for a few seconds before she spoke up.
“All right. Let me get dressed first. I really don’t want anyone to see me like this.” She sheepishly said as she stood up and made her way toward her closet.

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
After getting dressed, Miyu and Kiritsugu exited the bedroom and began to head toward the address Illya had written on her notes app as quickly as possible. Since she didn’t think it was necessary to transform into a magical girl, both she and Kiritsugu were using their Stands to leap from roof to roof as there weren’t very many people on the streets, and it was the fastest way to get to the Katsura household. As they jumped from building to building, Miyu would occasionally turn back to catch quick glimpses of Kiritsugu. At first, the black haired man didn’t pay attention to her occasional looks at him, but after several times of this, he had started to get a little weirded out.
“Hey, Miyu. Why do you keep looking at me? Is there something on my face? Like a crumb from breakfast or some sort of blemish?”
“No, it’s not that. You just look like someone I used to know…”
“Really? Who was the dashing fellow I remind you of?” Kiritsugu jokingly asked.
“It’s my father. I rarely ever saw him because he was always away for work-related reasons, but I remember that he looked a lot like you.”
“Is that so? I’m guessing he’s no longer with us, is he?”
Miyu looked downward and began to slowly nod her head.
“I barely got to know him, but I know that both he and my mother loved me very much. Not long after my parents died, I was adopted by the family who owns the mansion across from your house. Their eldest daughter isn’t the best… but she’s gotten better at treating me as her sister.”
“You know, if you’re being mistreated or abused by that family, I could take you in. I’ve already adopted one child, and I’m sure Illya wouldn’t mind having a sister. I’d have to talk things over with my wife, but I don’t think she’d opposed to adopting another kid.”
Miyu clenched her fists tightly as her eyes began to well up with tears upon hearing the words adopted.
“No, it’s fine. All things considered, I don’t mind living with the Edelfelt family. Sure, my sister’s not the best person, but she’s been trying her hardest to try to improve the way she’s been acting toward me. Plus, being in such a rich family certainly has its benefits, as you can imagine.”
“Yes, I’m quite aware of that. My wife is incredibly rich herself, but she’s the type of woman who prefers to live more humbly than to constantly spend her wealth on unnecessary things like buying a mansion or some fancy sports car.”
“Thank you for listening to my rambling. It feels good to get it off my chest.”
“No problem. I’m not really much of a psychiatrist; in fact, I’m arguably one of the worst people you could vent your feelings to, but I’m willing to help you not just because you’re Illya’s friend, but also because you’re an innocent child.“
“Thank you, what’s your name?”
“It’s Kerry. But you could call me Kiritsugu if you want.”
“Thank you, Kiritsugu.” She said, trying her best to not burst into tears.
“I think we’ve talked for long enough. Let’s hurry on forward.” He said before using his Stand to Stand leap forward.
The black haired girl wiped her tears away before using Moonchild to jump after him.

-Several minutes later-
After a few minutes of jumping from building to building, the two of them arrived at the address Illya had given them.
“That house in front of us should be where Mimi lives.”
“I see. If that’s the case, stand back as I examine the premises. We can’t risk our target finding out that we’re nearby and fleeing.” He said before beginning to walk forward.
Before he could jump away from the building he was on, Miyu ran in front of him and began to speak.
“I really don’t think we have to do that. Mimi’s already Illya’s friend. Granted, we don’t know why exactly she did all of this, but I doubt she’d run away from us if she found out we were headed here.”
“All right. Let’s try to knock on her door first before we try to do anything. If her parents aren’t home and she doesn’t answer, I’ll kick the door down so that we can head inside. Should we do that and are unable to locate her, we’ll go to Illya’s school to try to track her down.”
“Sounds like a plan.” The black haired girl calmly said.
The two of them used their Stands to jump off the roof of the house they were on and landed in front of the Katsura household. Miyu knocked on the door and waited a few seconds before a brunette woman who appeared to be in her late twenties and had a great resemblance to Mimi opened the door.
“Hello, is Mimi Katsura home? I’m a friend of hers from school, and I wanted to talk to her about something.”
“Yes, my daughter is in fact home. However, she’s feeling a little ill today, so I’d advise you be cautious if you wish to speak with her.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” Miyu softly said before walking into the house.
Before Kiritsugu could follow her, Mimi’s mother walked in front of her door.
“And who are you?”
“I’m… Miyu’s father. I brought her here so that she could speak with your daughter. May I come in as well?”
“Sure.” She said before moving to the side.
Kiritsugu entered the house and continued walking toward the stairs.
“Hey, where are you going?”
“I’m gonna go supervise our kids. I need to make sure they don’t cause any trouble.” He said as he began to walk to the house’s second floor.
Miyu had made her way to the door all the way to the left of the hallway. She knocked on it to make sure she had found the right room before speaking.
“Hello, Mimi. Is this your room?”
“Wait, Miyu? What are you doing in my house?” The brunette asked, sounding incredibly shocked.
Upon hearing her voice, the black haired girl put her hand on the doorknob.
“All right. I’m coming in.”
“MIYU, WAIT-“
Without any hesitation, she opened the door and stepped inside. Her mouth went agape, her eyes widened, and her face turned beet red upon seeing the brunette sitting in front of her desk with a pair of pink panties thrown haphazardly on the floor next to her bed with her left hand next to her crotch. A handful of seconds afterward, Kiritsugu began to walk toward his daughter’s friend.
“Miyu, did you- oh god!” The black haired man shouted upon seeing Mimi. “I-I’m so sorry we stumbled in on you like this!”
The brunette quickly grabbed her panties, pulled them up, and turned her chair to the left to look away from them.
“W-What do you two want?”
“…Mmm… we wanted to know why you were using your Stand on us…” Miyu said, still in shock at what she had walked in on.
“Wait a minute… did you and Illya-“
“…Yes.”
“Oh, it happened again!” She shouted, putting her hands on her head. “I’m so sorry, Miyu. I didn’t mean to use my Stand on you and Illya. It just happens sometimes when I get really excited while writing.”
“I see. How does your Stand work?”
“…Since the characters I write in my stories are based on people I know in real life, Mad About the Boy allows me to make anyone I write about act out those events. I’m usually able to control its ability, but sometimes when I get too overly excited about the thing I’m working on… it activates on its own… and causes some really unfortunate situations… I’m so sorry about what happened.”
“It’s fine. Please try to keep yourself under control when you’re writing smut.”
“A-All right.”
“Well, now that we found out why Mimi was doing this, let’s get out of here and leave her to her own devices.” Kiritsugu said before turning around and walking away from the bedroom.
Miyu quickly closed the door before following him.

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
After having spoken to Mimi, Miyu and Kiritsugu went back to the Edelfelt mansion. The black haired man picked up his daughter and carried her over his shoulder before going back to their house. Upon opening the door, they saw Sella and Leysritt standing near it.
“Illya?” The two of them shouted in unison.
“Where were you? I was worried sick about you!” Sella scolded her.
“And why are you in a maid uniform? Did the rich white people across the street finally give in to their primal urges of wanting cheap child labor and hired you to work for them?”
Illya and Kiritsugu looked at each other before the white haired girl spoke up.
“It’s a long story, and I honestly don’t know how I got in these clothes in the first place. However, I am able to confirm that I’m perfectly fine.”
As she finished speaking, Irisviel walked out of the kitchen and approached her husband and daughter.
“Illya, you’re back. Where were you?” She asked as she hugged the two of them.
“I know it might be hard to believe, but Illya really sleepwalked to a friend of hers house. Neither of us is exactly sure how she got into the maid outfit though.”
She nodded her head in agreement.
“As long as you’re all right, the specifics of what happened don’t matter too much.”
“Mom, I’m feeling a little unwell. I have a fever, and my legs feel really weak. Can I go to my room and sleep?”
“Sure, sweetie. Try to get some rest; I’ll get you some medicine soon.”
“All right. Thank you, mom.” She cheerfully said.
Kiritsugu walked forward toward the stairs and began to head toward his daughter’s room.

-Many hours later-
It was nearly midnight, and Illya lay in bed, trying to fall asleep. Ever since she had gotten home, all she had done was lie down in her room and watch videos on her phone. The few times she had gotten up throughout the whole day were to use the bathroom, as Sella had brought her breakfast and lunch to her room. Right as she was about to go to sleep, she heard a knock at her window.
“Hey, Illya. You already know what it’s time for. Get up and let me into your house.” A very familiar voice said.
“We can’t go looking for Class Cards tonight. I’m sick.”
“Do you have a fever or something?”
She nodded her head.
“I see. Can you at least open the window then? You may not be in any condition to fight, but I still wish to speak with you for a little while. That way, I can feel like I didn’t completely waste my time coming here.”
“Sure thing.” Illya said as she stood up, walked over to the window, and opened it.
Rin wasted no time and quickly jumped inside.
“Do you know why exactly you’re sick? Or if you’ll be able to go out tomorrow?”
She shook her head.
“I’m guessing I must’ve worn myself out a bit too much fighting the Saber card yesterday. If that’s the case, I believe I should be good to go looking for Class Cards again by tomorrow.”
“That’s good to know. We need to collect them as quickly as possible so that I can be acknowledged as a truly great and talented magus!”
“You know, I’ve been wondering about that ever since I met you. Why do you want to become a magus so badly? Is it an ego thing, do magi get paid a lot for whatever they do, or some other reason?”
Rin turned her head slightly to look at the roof before speaking.
“Well, if it were up to me, I probably wouldn’t have become a magus. I mean, magic is cool and all, but you can’t really make much of a living off it. I’m not sure what I’d want to be, but definitely not a magus.”
“Really? Then why are you so determined on getting the Class Cards?”
Rin went silent for a few seconds.
“After humans became able to use magic 10 years ago, my father got really into it. He researched everything there was on how to use it, and consulted the guidance of the people who were the most knowledgeable about such a new topic. Most of their advice wasn’t too bad, except for one thing: only train one of your children to become a magus.”
“That’s some dumb advice. Why would you only want one of your kids to learn how to use magic?”
“According to them, it’s a waste of time and effort to train both of them because you’ll just end up with two subpar magi when you could pour all your resources into training one child, which would yield you a most skilled magus. I’ve never told you, Luvia, or really anyone who didn’t know me since I was a child, but I have a twin sister. Well, I guess had would be more accurate to say. Her name was Sakura. At first, my father trained the two of us to use the same type of magecraft that he used, that being jewel magecraft. He did this to see which of us was the most proficient in using magic… and it turned out that I was capable of using his magecraft much more effectively than my sister ever could. Since Sakura knew about the existence of magic but was not suited to become a magus, he wanted to give her away to a family of magi. However, he was unable to find any that would take her in… so to preserve the secrecy of magic and so that all of his time and effort would go into raising me… he made the difficult decision to kill her.”
Illya’s eyes widened.
“That’s terrible! H-How could anyone even think of doing that to their own child?”
“He justified his actions by saying that animals kill off weak offspring who wouldn’t be suited to survive their environment all the time, and that he was just doing as nature intended… but I could tell that he immensely regretted murdering her whenever he talked about it. I’m unable to say for certain, but I believe that his wish to Holy Grail would’ve been for Sakura to be brought back to life. After that, he became dedicated to training me in his magecraft, determined to make me one of the strongest magi to ever live. I don’t want Sakura’s death to go to waste… so I want to become one of the greatest magi to ever live by any means necessary.”
“I think I understand why you want to gather the Class Cards so badly now.” She smiled at her softly. “Don’t worry. Once I get better, we’ll start looking for the final two as soon as possible.”
“Thank you, Illya.” The black haired girl said as she smiled back at her.

Chapter Text

Rin stayed in Illya’s room for about an hour longer, and the two of them continued talking about a handful of different subjects that came up. Once the two of them had run out of things to speak about, the black haired girl exited the Einzbern household by jumping out of her friend’s window. Illya fell asleep not too long afterward afterward.

-The next day-
Sella stood outside of Illya’s room, slowly opening the door to it as she peeked inside to see the white haired girl still asleep in her bed.
Good. Looks like she didn’t sneak out to skip school like yesterday. She thought as she made her way toward her before gently tapping her on the forehead to wake her up.
“Good morning, Illya. How are you feeling?”
The white haired girl began to slowly open her eyes before rubbing them and looking at Sella.
“I’m feeling quite well today. I think I’m all better now.”
“In that case, you should probably hurry up, get dressed, and go downstairs. Your breakfast’s on the table, so hurry before it gets cold.”
“All right. I’ll be there soon.” She responded before letting out a yawn and sitting up.
The white haired girl got up, stretched, and walked toward her closet as her maid cousin turned around and exited the room, closing the door behind her. Illya quickly dressed herself before running out of her bedroom and going downstairs into the kitchen where the rest of her family was. On the table were plates of pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausages, and hash browns.
“Hey, Illya, how are you feeling?” Irisviel asked as her daughter took a seat next to her.
“I’m feeling great, mom. I think I’ll be able to go to school today just fine.”
“I’m glad to see that you didn’t sneak off to make out with your friend.” Kiritsugu said.
Illya’s eyes widened as her cheeks flushed slightly.
“S-Shut up, dad. That’s not at all what happened.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m just joking around.” He said while smiling at her.

-25 minutes later-
After finishing her breakfast, Illya exited her house and began to walk to school. In just a few minutes, she arrived at Homurahara Academy’s front doors. The white haired girl was about to enter it when a very familiar voice spoke to her.
“Good morning, Illya. I take it you got over your fever.”
She quickly turned around and saw Miyu standing behind her while softly smiling.
“Yep. I’m totally fine now. I wouldn’t be standing here if I weren’t. Let’s head inside already before class starts.”
Illya turned around and began to walk forward as her friend followed after her. The two girls quickly made their way to their classroom, where they saw Taiga already sitting behind her desk. Right as they were about to pass her, she began to speak up.
“Good morning, girls. Why didn’t either of you come to school yesterday?”
“Well, Illya was sick, and I had to help my sister with something important around the house that ended up taking so long that we finished at around 10 in the morning. I’m sorry for missing out on school so soon after transferring here.”
“There’s no need to apologize. I understand there are just some days where you can’t come to school no matter what, regardless of whether it’s for health or familial reasons. Just try to come to school on time from now on, okay?”
The black haired girl nodded her head before she turned around, and she and her friend began to walk to the back of class.
So Illya and Miyu weren’t with each other yesterday. Perfect. It seems like I’ll be able to make my move later. The brunette thought as a smile spread across her face.
A few seconds later, the two girls arrived at their desks and sat down. Tatsuko and Suzuka quickly turned to speak with them.
“You’re finally back.” The black haired girl cheerfully said. “School’s not the same with just Tatsuko by my side.”
“Oh, come on, Suzuka. I thought yesterday was pretty normal, although a little more peaceful than usual.”
“Do you know if Mimi’s gonna come back today too?”
“No. She might, but I can’t be sure.” Illya responded.
“Oh well, at least you’re both back.”

-A few hours later-
The girls’ lunch period had arrived. Most of the students in Taiga’s class had already left to go some place else, causing Illya and her friends to be the last four there. Even so, they had gotten up and were walking toward the classroom’s door. Right as Miyu was about to leave, Taiga spoke up.
“Before you go, can I talk with you about something, Miyu? You’re not in trouble or anything; I just want to ask you a simple question.”
“Oh, all right.” The black haired girl turned to look at her friends. “You girls can go on without me. I’ll catch you all on the roof.”
The three girls quickly walked away, leaving Miyu and Taiga by themselves. She began to approach her teacher’s desk as she spoke.
“What do you want to talk to me about, Taiga?”
“Two days ago, I texted you something, and you never responded to it. Did something happen at home, or did you just fall asleep early that day?”
“I fell asleep early. I saw your message the morning after when I woke up, but I didn’t have any time to answer it because of what I was going to do with my sister. By the time we were done, you were already in class, and it would’ve been kind of awkward to respond to your message after so long.”
“I see. You may go now. That was all I wanted to know.”
The black haired girl nodded her head before she walked out of the classroom. Once she was out of her field of view, Taiga began to murmur to herself.
“Yes. Yes. Yes. It’s all going according to plan! By the end of today, Miyu will be mine!”

Chapter Text

-A few hours later-
After Taiga spoke to Miyu, the rest of the school day was fairly uneventful. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, and class went by without any problems. Eventually, the school day ended, and all of the students were allowed to go home. As Illya and Miyu reached the door of their classroom, Taiga spoke to them.
“Illya, can you go on ahead? There’s something I need to speak with Miyu about in private.”
“All right. I’ll wait for you outside. Don’t take too long, you two.” The white haired girl said before continuing to walk out of the room.
Once Illya had walked down the hallway, Taiga stood up from her seat, walked over to her classroom’s door, stuck her head out of it, and turned it from left to right to make sure there wasn’t anybody nearby before she closed the door and locked it.
“Taiga, you’ve been talking to me a lot today. Is there something wrong?”
“No. I just wanted to make sure you were all right. It’s only natural for someone to worry about their friend’s well-being.” She said before kneeling down in front of her. “Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something regarding our friendship. However, before we get to it, let me ask you something else. Do you think a girl your age could fall in love with someone much older than her? Say, 10 or 15 years older than her?”
The black haired girl went silent for a few seconds as she thought about her teacher’s peculiar question.
“The age gap between the two of them would certainly be a little odd. But if someone my age and someone who’s twenty or even twenty five years old truly, deeply loved one another, then I guess there’s nothing that can be done.”
A smile spread across the brunette’s face.
“Thank you for such a thoughtful response.”
“Was that everything you wanted to ask me?”
“No.” Taiga closed her eyes tightly and took a deep breath before speaking again. “Over these past few days, I’ve been thinking about our relationship… and I think I want to be more than friends with you.”
Miyu’s eyes widened as her face turned beet red, and she began to slowly back away from her teacher.
“I know… that it’s highly illegal and not at all socially acceptable for a teacher to feel this way about one of her students. But I can’t help myself. You’re adorable, really smart, and incredibly talented for your age. You have everything I like in a girl all wrapped into one beautiful package. Miyu, please be my girlfriend!” She begged, putting her hands together and closing her eyes. “I understand that this is really sudden, that we’d have to keep such a romance hidden from our friends and families, and that I’m nowhere near as talented or intelligent as you… and I’d accept if you didn’t feel the same way toward me… but can you please keep this between us? Bad things could happen to me if you told your sister or your friends about what I just told you.”
“T-Taiga, I-I… I need some time to t-think this over. As you said… this is really sudden and highly looked down upon. So that you don’t get arrested and can keep your job… I’ll keep this a secret from everyone I know.”
“…All right. I look forward to your response, whether it be acceptance or denial.”
Miyu turned around, opened the door behind her, exited the classroom, made her way down the hall, went downstairs, and then exited the school. Standing by Homurahara’s entrance was Illya, who was waiting patiently for her friend.
“Took you long enough. What did Ms. Fujimura want to talk to you about?”
“Nothing. She just wanted to know if I was telling the truth about my reason for being absent and if everything was all right at home.” She said, trying her best to act as calmly as possible while she walked forward.
Illya didn’t see anything off about her friend, so she decided to not ask her any questions and instead quickly followed after her.

-Many hours later-
Illya lay in her room, watching her phone. It was nearly midnight, but she wasn’t tired in the slightest. She had no intention of getting up or going to sleep when there was a sudden knock at her bedroom window.
“Good evening, Illya. How are you feeling? Are you well?” A very familiar voice asked.
“Yeah, I’m completely fine now. I think I should be good to help you look for the Class Cards.”
“Excellent. Hurry and get dressed already so that we can go looking for them.”
The white haired girl did as told, getting up and walking over to her closet to grab Ruby.
“About time! I was so tired of waiting in such a dark place!” The Kaleidostick shouted.
“Sorry about that. I just couldn’t go looking for the Class Cards yesterday. I was sick.”
“That’s fine, but at least let me out of my prison every once in a while like you used to. I don’t particularly need fresh air, but it’s definitely better than staying in that cramped closet. Anyway, enough with the chatter. Let’s get out of here.” Ruby cheerfully said before transforming Illya.
The magical girl quickly made her way to her window and opened it before jumping out of it and landing next to Rin. The duo quickly ran away from the Einzbern household and approached the Edelfelt mansion only to see Luvia and Miyu, who was already in her magical girl form, standing in front of the gates that surrounded the building.
“What are you two doing out here?” Rin asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Are you surprised that we were prepared to look for the Class Cards?” Luvia asked as she grinned at her. “You’ve been breaking into my mansion for a few days now to get me and Miyu to come along with you. Even though you didn’t do anything yesterday, I predicted that you’d go looking for the Class Cards today. So I and Miyu came out here fully prepared to search for the Class Cards to give you the shock of a lifetime.”
“Well, this definitely sped up the process of having to get you two to come with us.“ She said before walking to her left. “Let’s get out of here and hurry to the nearest limousine so that I can drive you all to the Class Card’s location.”
The three girls quickly followed after her.

-
The quartet found a limousine parked not too far away from Luvia’s mansion and entered it. Rin drove forward until she reached the forest at the outskirts of Fuyuki. The black haired girl parked it near the first few trees she saw, and all four of them began to walk forward into the forest.
“This is a pretty spooky place, wouldn’t you girls agree? It’s far from human civilization, there are no lights anywhere nearby, and it seems to stretch on and on with no ending in sight. Maybe if we keep going forward, we’ll run into a vampire, ghost, or even a werewolf.” She grinned while turning to look at her companions.
Illya and Miyu seemed relatively unfazed by her words, but Luvia trembled slightly.
“O-Oh, stop that, Rin. Such creatures aren’t real. Besides, if we can take on Class Cards, a specter of a furry should be nothing we can’t-“
Before she could finish speaking, she heard a rustling noise come from a bush to her right. The blonde let out a high pitched shout as she quickly jumped away from it, only for a small brown rabbit to walk out of it. The animal rubbed its face with its front paws before looking at the girls, turning around, and reentering the bush that it came from. Illya and Rin burst into laughter at what they had just witnessed while Miyu just looked at her, slightly amused.
“H-Hey! That’s not funny! You knew that was gonna happen, didn’t you? That’s why you started talking about running into mythical creatures!”
“Unfortunately, no. That was just a really well timed coincidence!” She said through laughs.
Luvia clenched her fists tightly and gritted her teeth.
“S-Stop that! This isn’t at all humorous!”
“You’re right! It’s not just humorous, it’s hilarious!”
Before the blonde could say anything, something was launched out of one of the trees behind her and headed straight for the back of her neck. Miyu saw this and summoned Moonchild to knock it away, sending what looked like a dagger flying into a tree across from her to the right.
“Looks like all of your shouting attracted the penultimate Class Card.” Rin calmly said as she looked up at the tree that stood behind her and summoned Happiness is a Warm Gun before raising her Stand and pointing it at a branch that was covered in leaves to the right of the blonde. “Hopefully this one doesn’t give us as much trouble as the Saber card did.”

Chapter Text

She pulled on her Stand’s trigger and fired several gems at the branch. The projectiles exploded upon making impact with it, causing the Class Card, a fairly muscular woman with messy, long purple hair and dark skin who wore torn and ripped black pants, shoes, and black straps to hide her breasts, to land in front of the four girls. On her face was a silver skull mask with a large singular eye hole in it.
“So that’s our opponent! Compared to the last Class Card we fought against, she doesn’t seem anywhere near as imposing or even well protected! Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow, tear her to shreds!”
The Stand let out a growl of approval as she appeared behind her master and rushed toward her opponent. She threw a powerful punch at her head, only for the Class Card to backflip away without saying a single word onto a tree a few feet behind her. Instead of throwing another dagger, she simply beckoned someone toward where she was before jumping from tree to tree behind her.
“The Class Card’s getting away! Everyone, after-“
Before Rin could finish speaking, a dagger that looked identical to the one that her enemy had thrown at Luvia was launched at her back and stabbed her in it. She let out a grunt as she quickly turned around to see several bald, dark skinned, muscular yet slim men wearing the same skull mask as the Class Card standing behind the trees. They wasted no time before summoning more daggers and launching them at the quartet.
“More Class Cards?” Rin shouted.
The rest of her companions quickly turned around to see the weapons heading straight for them. Before they could do anything, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow began to pound on her chest as she roared, causing powerful ice-cold gusts of wind to release from her body and cover the ground in a thick layer of frost. At the same time, the Class Cards’ daggers froze over and fell to the ground, shattering upon landing.
“Your attacks are fast, but not nearly as fast as the previous Class Card’s!” Illya taunted before pointing Magical Ruby at her enemies and shooting a barrage of small pink beams at them.
The projectiles hit the men through the chest, stomach, arms, and legs, causing them to fall onto their backs as they burst into smoke. Upon seeing this, the Stand stopped beating her chest. Miyu quickly ran over to the area where the Class Cards had been defeated but wasn’t able to find anything on the ground.
“They didn’t leave behind a Class Card.” Miyu said before turning around and approaching her allies.
“Something similar happened to me once while Illya and I were working alone. The caster card had summoned a swordsman to stop me from getting to her, and when I defeated him, he didn’t drop anything.” Rin explained.
“Then it seems like the Class Card must have some sort of ability to summon disposable fighters to do her bidding. Killing them won’t do anything, so instead of focusing on those fakes, let’s head after the Class Card itself.” Luvia said.
Before the girls could do anything, a barrage of dirks was thrown at them from their left and right.
Not allowing them to get anywhere near her master or her allies, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow began to pound her chest and let out powerful roars, causing blasts of frigid wind to shoot out of her yet again and freeze any projectiles around her. While Illya’s Stand did this, one of the men suddenly rushed toward the girls without a single weapon in hand. Instead of attempting to harm Illya and her friends, he quickly grabbed Miyu, picked her up by her waist, and began to run as quickly as possible to his left.
“LET GO OF ME! MOON-“
Before Miyu could finish speaking, the Class Card threw her as far as he possibly could straight forward, causing her allies to lose track of her.
“MIYU!” Illya screamed as she ran toward the Class Card. “GIVE ME MY FRIEND BACK!”
She raised Magical Ruby at her enemy and shot a huge beam at him.
The attack completely engulfed him and disintegrated him in a matter of seconds. Just as with the previous fake Class Cards, he left nothing behind upon being defeated. The white haired girl reached the trees to her left only for twenty more men who wore the same skull mask as the Class Card to walk out from behind them and impede her progress. At the same time, batches of identical men appeared to the left and right of the magic users as well as behind them, preventing them from going anywhere.
“Damn it! They have us surrounded! What are we gonna do?” Rin shouted.
“It doesn’t matter how many of these fake Class Cards there are! I’ll tear through all of them to get to Miyu!” Illya shouted.

-
Miyu’s back slammed into a tree that was located a few feet away from where the rest of her friends were. She winced from the pain before opening her eyes to see the Class Card and two of her fakes standing in front of her and looking down at her.
“Y-You! Get away from me! M-Moonchild, destroy these-“
“Save your breath, Miyu. I have you surrounded by my doubles, who all carry daggers that have their blades laced with a toxin that slowly paralyzes anyone unfortunate enough to be hit by it. If you so much as bring out your Stand, I won’t hesitate to have my men attack and paralyze you.” The Class Card calmly said as she took her mask off, revealing her grey eyes to the young girl.
“Y-You can speak normally?” Miyu shouted, trying her best to stop herself from breaking into a panic.
The purple haired woman nodded her head before speaking.
“Indeed. My fellow Class Cards, despite their increase in strength, are much like animals, acting on pure instinct and attacking anything with even a trace of magic in it. However, my sharp mind would not allow any sort of magic to dull my senses.”
“I-If you’re fully conscious and aware of your actions, why are you attacking me and my friends?” She shouted.
“If you and your friends continue to tread down this path, you four will eventually fight the ones responsible for all of this. They’re much more powerful than me and the other Class Cards combined, so I’ve decided to take it upon myself to test you girls. If you can defeat me and my doubles, I’ll go down without too much of a hassle and die happy knowing you’re all on the right track to be able to beat them. However, if you fail to defeat us, I’ll kill your friends and fulfill my duty as a Class Card by returning you to them.”
“Illya, Luvia, Rin, please win…” Miyu softly whispered to herself as she put her hands together.
“You want to see how your friends are doing? All right then, I shall give you a view of their battle against my doubles.” She said before grabbing the black haired girl by the waist and lifting her up, allowing her to see what was happening to her friends.

Chapter Text

Illya shot a barrage of small pink beams at the fake Class Cards. While her attack managed to hit and destroy a few of them, the vast majority of them managed to jump away from the bombardment of attacks. Once they landed, the men wasted no time and rushed at Illya. They swung their daggers at her, only for a pink rune-like shield to appear in front of her. However, before the white haired girl had even a second to use an attack on them, the men all swung their dirks at her defense, causing it to shatter from one powerful attack from all of the men in unison. They then ran forward and attacked Illya, stabbing her in the chest, stomach, arms, and legs. Upon seeing this, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow let out a fearsome roar and rushed toward her master. She quickly threw a barrage of blows at the fake Class Cards, punching cleanly through their chests and causing them to vanish with relative ease. After a minute, the Stand had managed to destroy the vast majority of the Class Cards that had previously been stabbing Illya with reckless abandon. Before she could destroy the final few doubles, she suddenly felt a sharp pain all throughout her back. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow quickly turned her head to see what appeared to be thirty of the Class Card’s doubles standing behind her. She let out another ferocious roar before turning around and swinging her right arm at them. All of them quickly ducked down to avoid the attacks at the same time that a mob of fake Class Cards appeared to the left and right, as well as in front, of the Stand and her master.
“W-We’re surrounded!” Illya shouted as she pointed Magical Ruby upward toward the sky. “B-But that doesn’t matter! With just one attack, I-I might be able to-“ Before Illya could do anything, she was suddenly unable to move any of her muscles below her head. “Wh-What’s happening? I’m paralyzed?” She shouted.
Not even a second later, several of the men pushed her and her Stand to the ground.
Meanwhile, Rin and Luvia turned their heads to look all over the area. There were fake Class Cards as far as they could see, with no spots that were devoid of them anywhere nearby.
“H-How many of these guys are there?”
“I’m not sure. Let me see if I can estimate some sort of amount by using some of Happiness is a Warm Gun’s gems to launch me into the air.” The black haired girl said to herself before pointing her Stand at the ground and shooting several gems that blew up upon making contact with it. The explosion sent her flying into the air, giving her an opportunity to spin around and see how many fake Class Cards were surrounding them. The color faded from her face, and her eyes widened upon seeing every single inch of the forest for as far as she could see completely swarmed by the Class Card’s doubles. A few seconds later, she landed beside Luvia and quickly turned to look at her.
“T-They’re everywhere. E-Every inch of this forest i-is completely covered by them!” She shouted.
Upon hearing this, the fake Class Cards rushed toward the two magi. Rin shot her remaining gems at the three men in front of her. They exploded upon hitting them, causing them to vanish. At the same time, Luvia summoned Dirty Work, who quickly rushed forward and threw a barrage of punches at the incoming enemies, managing to destroy some of them. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to so much as slow the horde of fake Class Cards down, and they began to stab the two girls all throughout their bodies, paralyzing them as they screamed from the pain, before pushing them to the ground.
“I-I CAN’T MOVE A MUSCLE!”
“N-NEITHER CAN I! I CAN’T EVEN GET DIRTY WORK TO MOVE AN INCH!”
The Class Card and Miyu were watching the entire scene unfold a few feet away from the girls. The purple haired woman had a disappointed look on her face as she slowly shook her head while the black haired girl had started to cry.
“N-NO STOP! PLEASE STOP THIS IMMEDIATELY! D-DON’T KILL MY FRIENDS!”
“Sorry, but if you four can’t beat a bunch of clones, you’ll never stand a chance against the true culprits behind this. I’m doing your friends a favor by putting them down swiftly instead of allowing them to be toyed with and perhaps having their very selves be taken from them.” The Class Card calmly said before proceeding to shout. “All right, men. Finish off those most pitiable girls.”
“N-NO! S-STOP! PL-PLEASE, DO-DON’T KILL MY FRIENDS!” Miyu pleaded as loudly as possible as tears streamed down her face.
Her screams fell on deaf ears as the fake Class Cards ran toward the girls as quickly as possible.
I can’t move my body… I can’t use Ruby… and I can’t even use a Class Card like yesterday to bail me out of a situation like this. Is… this really how I’m going to die? Illya thought as tears began to well up in her eyes.
“No… this can’t be it.” She weakly murmured. “I don’t want to die… I DON’T WANT TO DIE!”
Without any warning, a huge burst of magic shot out of Illya’s body. It quickly spread across the area, completely disintegrating any fake Class Cards and trees in its path.
“Quite impressive. It seems I’ve underestimated your friends. Perhaps you do have a fighting chance against them after all.” The Class Card said before turning around and running away from the humongous orb of magic.
Once Illya’s attack dissipated, she moved her head from left to right, trying to see where her enemy was. Everything had been completely destroyed for as far she could see. Before she could find where the Class Card and Miyu had gone, Rin spoke up.
“What did you just do? You’re lucky you have a surprising amount of control over your magecraft; otherwise, that attack could’ve very well left us in the same state as all of the trees around us.”
“Indeed! That was risky! One small error, and we would’ve been turned to nothing but dust.”
“Would you two have preferred if I did nothing and just let all of us die? Because that’s what would’ve happened if I didn’t do that!” Illya shouted as she slowly stood up onto shaky legs. “Instead of complaining, help me look for Miyu and the Class Card!” She turned her head to look at her allies.

Chapter Text

The Class Card was running through the trees as quickly as possible, trying to find a hiding spot to get away from Illya and her allies.
“That was truly a most pleasant surprise. I never could’ve expected a girl as young as her to use such a powerful attack. Even if they were to defeat me and my doubles, an attack such as that seemed a bit too excessive, wouldn’t you agree, Miyu?””
The black haired girl didn’t respond as she took deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down after what she had just seen. After a few minutes of running, the purple haired woman saw a huge tree to her left. She wasted no time before running toward it and climbing up it until she reached the top of the plant, where she hid herself and her captive inside of the leaves.
“This should be a good hiding spot. My and my doubles’ poison only works for several seconds. Your friends will be able to move any moment now and come after me.” She whispered as she brought her left index finger to the black haired girl’s lips. “Stay silent. If you try to make any loud noises to alert your friends of our location, I will not hesitate to use force to knock you unconscious.”
Miyu’s eyes widened as she took deep breaths to stop herself from weeping and sniffling to prevent giving away her hiding spot. A few seconds later, the Class Card heard what sounded like a handful of people running next to the tree. The sound passed the plant and continued into the distance, where it eventually stopped.
“It seems like I made the right call. Your friends will never be able to find me at this rate-“
Before the Class Card could finish speaking, she heard a ferocious growl rise up from the ground. Not even a second later, the humongous tree she and her captive were in was lifted up with ease before it was spun around in a circle. The Class Card quickly poked her head out of the tree’s leaves only to see Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow holding onto the plant’s bark with one hand and a manic grin on her face. Upon seeing the Class Card, the Stand wasted no time and launched her across from her, toward several trees. This forced the purple haired woman to jump out of her hiding place with her captive in hand before the tree slammed into the ones in front of it, bisecting them and knocking them to the ground. She landed in the center of the area, glaring at the Stand.
“This brute is far more powerful than me. In a head to head battle, I’d never win. However, it doesn’t seem like she’s immune to my dagger’s poison. If I can manage to fling them at her from afar while maintaining my distance, I’ll eventually manage to paralyze her, giving me the perfect opportunity to-“
Before the Class Card could finish whispering to herself, a sizable beam of magic was shot at her arm, tearing it off her and causing it to fall to the ground. The purple haired woman turned her head to her right and saw Illya, Rin, and Luvia standing inside of a bush.
“IT DOESN’T MATTER IF I STILL FEEL A LITTLE SLUGGISH FROM YOUR POISON; I’M GONNA GET MIYU BACK HERE AND NOW!” The white haired girl screamed.
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow suddenly rushed forward as she let out a deafening roar. She threw a powerful uppercut at the Class Card’s chin, causing her to let go of Miyu and sending her flying into the air. Before she could land, the Stand threw a flurry of blows all over her body, which sent her flying into a tree a few feet behind her. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow chased after her and grabbed her by the left leg right as she was about to collide with the plant. She wasted no time and slammed her onto the ground, causing a huge impact crater to form around her, as she tore her leg off with ease. As the purple haired woman lay on the ground, Illya, Rin, and Luvia ran over to her and encircled her.
“It’s over, Class Card! You can’t run or fight, and we’ve got you completely surrounded! Give up, and I’ll make this as quick and painless as possible.”
A large smile spread across her face as she stared up at the girls.
“Don’t worry… you’ve already won. Under no circumstance… would I be able to defeat you in my current state…” She weakly said. “However… before you put me down and take my card… let me inform you three of something. Right now… only one Class Card remains… that card being Berserker… out of the seven of us… he’s by far the most powerful… however… I have faith that you girls will be able to defeat him. Still… once you beat him… the foes you face in the future… will only continue to grow stronger. I’m unable to say for certain… whether I believe you all will emerge victorious… against these powerful enemies… but, with all of my heart, I will pray for your success…” The purple haired woman raised her arm toward Miyu.
Illya shot a single small beam at the Class Card’s head, causing her arm to fall to the ground before she exploded into a cloud of smoke. Rin quickly bent down and grabbed a card that depicted a shirtless man who wore black pants and a skull mask and who wielded two black daggers. The word assassin was written beneath him. The black haired girl placed it in her pocket for the time being as she and her friends turned to look at Miyu, who was looking down at the ground with tears still running down her cheeks.
“There’s no need to cry, Miyu. We beat the Class Card, and we’re all perfectly fine. Please, cheer-“
Miyu clenched Magical Sapphire as tightly as possible before she suddenly screamed.
“H-HOW DO Y-YOU EXPECT ME T-TO BE HAPPY WH-WHEN I SAW YOU ALL ALMOST D-DIE? I-I NEVER WA-WANTED TO FIGHT AG-AGAINST THE CL-CLASS CARDS IN THE FIRST PLACE! I-I NEVER W-WANTED TO SEE T-THE PEOPLE I CA-CARE ABOUT NE-NEARLY GET MURDERED! I HA-HATE FIGHTING, I H-HATE SEEING PEOPLE GET H-HURT, I H-HATE SEEING PEOPLE D-DIE! I HATE IT! I HATE IT! I HATE IT!”
“Miyu, please calm down!” Luvia shouted as she started to walk toward the black haired girl.
Before she could get anywhere near her, Miyu began to scream once more.
“I’M DONE! I-I DON’T WANT TO FIGHT EVER AGAIN!” She turned around and ran away as quickly as possible.
“Miyu! Where are you going?” Illya shouted before running after her.
“Don’t leave! Please calm yourself, a-and we can have a civil discussion about all of this!” Rin shouted as she chased after her.
Luvia stood still as she stared into the distance while her allies ran away from her. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she clenched her fists tightly.
“…Miyu… I’m so very sorry…”

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
Miyu was running as quickly as she possibly could away from the forest. She had managed to reenter Fuyuki but was still crying hysterically and didn’t want to be anywhere near Rin, Luvia, and Illya for the time being. As far as she could see and hear, she had managed to lose track of the girls.
“Where are you going?” Magical Sapphire asked.
“S-SOMEWHERE WHERE THEY WILL NEVER FIND ME!” She sobbed while breathing heavily.
“You want to run away from the Edelfelt mansion? If you do that, Illya, Luvia, and Rin will get worried about you, and-“
“I DON’T C-CARE ABOUT HOW THEY F-FEEL! THEY CL-CLEARLY DON’T CARE AB-ABOUT MY FE-FEELINGS OR DESIRES, S-SO WHY SHOULD I? THEY ON-ONLY WANT ME BE-BECAUSE I’M YOUR MASTER, NOT BECAUSE T-THEY GENUINELY LOVE ME! ANY-ANYONE LIKE THAT IS LONG D-DEAD!” Her eyes widened as she realized something. “Ex-Except for one person…”
Miyu continued running forward; however, she now had a destination in mind.

-20 minutes later-
Taiga was sitting on her couch, breathing heavily as she tried her best to relax.
“Damn it… I didn’t think I’d have to go that far…” She said to herself as she panted.
As she tried to catch her breath, someone suddenly knocked at her apartment’s door.
“Hello… who’s there?” She asked.
“Taiga, it’s me, Miyu.”
The brunette’s eyes widened as she quickly stood up.
“M-Miyu? What are you doing out so late? You should be in bed, getting ready to sleep and take on tomorrow, not coming to my apartment.”
“…Well, I have a rather lengthy explanation for that. Do you think you could let me inside so that I can talk about it with you?”
“Umm… do you think you could come back tomorrow? My whole place is kind of a mess at the moment.”
“I won’t judge you, Taiga. You’re my best friend, after all. Regardless of if your home is a dump or not, I’ll still care about you.”
“All right. If you say so.”
She stood up, made her way to the door, and quickly opened it, allowing her student, who had returned to her regular form, into her home. The black haired girl turned her head from left to right and didn’t see anything too out of the ordinary in her teacher’s living room. Once she was inside, Taiga closed and locked the door once again.
“So, why are you here so late at night?”
“I had enough… Taiga… I had enough of everything. I can’t bring myself to live with my sister anymore or to be anywhere near Illya! They don’t really care about me… they just want to use me!” She shouted as tears began to well up in her eyes.
The brunette walked over to her student before kneeling down in front of her and hugging her.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to cry.” She smiled at her as she wiped her tears away. “As long as I’m with you, I’ll keep you safe.”
“Thank you… Taiga…” She said as she wrapped her arms around her. “You’re the only person I know who genuinely cares about me. You’re not using me or trying to get me to do something… you genuinely care about. I… I love you.”
Taiga’s smile widened.
“I love you too, Miyu.”
The brunette began to slowly move her head toward her. Without any hesitation, her student moved her head forward and gently kissed her on the lips, causing a deep blush to spread across both of their faces.
“I know that I’m not nearly as talented, smart, attractive, or even as wealthy as you, but I’ll try my best to keep you safe and loved.”
“Thank you… Taiga… thank you for loving me.” She said, hugging her as tightly as possible.

-
“MIYU! MIYU, WHERE DID YOU GO?” Illya screamed as she ran through the streets of Fuyuki.
Rin and Luvia ran behind her as quickly as possible, turning their heads from left to right to make sure Illya wasn’t overlooking anywhere she could’ve been.
“RUBY, CAN YOU CONTACT SAPPHIRE?” The white haired girl screamed.
“Yes, however, that would be useless if my sister refuses to respond to me or tell me her location. Which, knowing how she is with her master, has a very high chance of happening.”
“Damn it… so the only way we’ll find Miyu is by searching the entirety of Fuyuki…”
“If that’s the case, then leave everything to me.” Luvia said. “You two go home.”
“What? Why?” Illya asked.
“Oh my god! Luvia’s doing something selfless? Did hell freeze over or something?” Rin asked.
“Shut up.” Luvia said. “I’m doing this because I’m directly responsible for it. Miyu snapped at us and ran away because of me. I adopted her for the sole purpose of forcing her to do my bidding, making her risk life and limb to claim the Class Cards. I abused her if she failed and used my Stand to control her if she refused to do as I ordered. Let me take responsibility for my actions, so go home, Rin.” She turned to look at Illya. “As for you, you’re still a child. You have school tomorrow. Go back to your house and rest.”
“Miyu’s my friend. I won’t be able to get even a wink of sleep if I abandon her while she’s still-“
“You’re not abandoning her; you’re just leaving her search in more capable hands. It’s like you’re reporting someone missing to the police.”
“Even if I reported this to the police, I would still try my hardest to help them in whatever-“
“I hate to agree with her, but Luvia’s right. It really would be best for you to get some rest and leave searching for Miyu to her.”
The white haired girl took a deep breath.
“...Fine, but if you’re unable to find her by tomorrow morning, I’ll immediately search the entirety of this city by myself once I get out of school.”
“Suit yourself. However, I’m certain she’ll be home in time for school tomorrow.”
Illya began to walk forward, leaving her companions behind.
“I think now would be an appropriate time for me to take my leave.” Rin said before walking away. “Good luck with your search.”
“Miyu, where could you have possibly gone?” The blonde asked herself before she ran to her left.

Chapter Text

-Many hours later-
Miyu walked into her and her girlfriend’s bedroom. It was already 7 o’clock, but the brunette was still fast asleep. If she continued to sleep any longer, she’d most likely be late for her job, so the black haired girl began to gently tap her forehead.
“Good morning, my love.” She said with a soft smile on her face.
Taiga slowly began to open her eyes to see Miyu, who was wearing an apron that was as blue as the sea and matched with her eyes.
“H-Huh? How did your eyes change color overnight? And I don’t own a single apron. How did you get that?”
“They didn’t. This is my natural eye color. For as long as I’ve been a part of the Edelfelt family, my sister has been forcing me to wear colored contacts to make my eyes look like hers. Now that I’m never going to see her again, I’ve taken them off and have thrown them out.”
“You already looked cute with yellow eyes, but with your natural eye color, you’re completely stunning.”
Miyu’s face flushed slightly.
“Really?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t say something like that if I didn’t mean it. You’re already beautiful now; I can only imagine how you’ll look in a few years once your body starts to fill out in all the right places.” She chuckled, grinning at her lover.
Miyu’s smile widened as she continued to talk.
“As for where I got the apron from, I bought it from the supermarket I went to earlier to buy us ingredients for our meals.”
“How? I’m way too broke to be able to afford things like ingredients and an apron. Did you have money on you?”
The black haired girl nodded her head as she pulled out a credit card that was made out of 24k gold from her pocket and showed it to her girlfriend.
“My sister gave me this credit card after we went to the mall together to use in case I ever wanted to buy something for myself. Since her family’s so wealthy, the money on this card is practically bottomless. However, due to me running away from her, she might try to have the card canceled. For that reason, I’m trying to use it as much as I possibly can before I lose my only source of money.” She turned around to face the door to Taiga’s room. “Anyway, breakfast is in the kitchen. I suggest you hurry up and go eat it before it gets cold. Food always tastes best when it’s freshly made, after all.”
She walked toward the door, opened it, and exited her bedroom. A few seconds later, Taiga stood up and followed after her girlfriend. As the two of them made their way to the kitchen, the first thing the brunette noticed was that the floor was spotless and so shiny that she could see her own reflection in it. Upon entering the kitchen, she noticed that all of the plates that were once in the sink had been moved to the drying rack to the left of it and that they were sparkling clean. On the table was a large bowl of steamed rice that had two smaller bowls to its left and right with two sides of miso soup, grilled mackerel, pickled vegetables, and tamagoyaki. A smile spread across Taiga’s face as she quickly ran over to the table and took a seat at it.
“Oh my god, Miyu! Did you make all of this for me?”
“Of course I did. I wanted to make something big to celebrate our relationship, so I woke up at four in the morning to buy all of the ingredients necessary for this huge feast. I don’t really eat too much, so devour as much as you want.”
“Thank you! I’ll be sure to savor every last morsel of food!” She enthusiastically said before grabbing the chopsticks that rested next to the fish and quickly stuffing her face with pieces of it until there was nothing left. “Umm! Absolutely incredible, Miyu!”
“Oh, stop trying to flatter, Taiga. It’s not that good.” She said, her face flushing slightly.
“I’m not trying to butter you up or anything. I’m serious; this is fantastic stuff! I’d say it’s borderline gourmet! Who taught you how to cook?”
The black haired girl went silent for several seconds before speaking.
“My sister taught me. Not the one from the family I was adopted into, but my actual big sister. Since my mom and dad were almost never around, it was her responsibility to cook for us. One day, I noticed how busy she almost always was with things around the house, so I decided I wanted to help her by asking her to teach me how to cook. It took a while, but eventually, I was able to cook just as well as she could.”
“What happened to that sister of yours after the Edelfelt family adopted you?” Taiga asked before downing her miso soup.
“…I’m not sure. Since the two of us were both minors, we were going to be sent to an orphanage located who knows where in Japan; however, the Edelfelt family ended up adopting me before that could happen. I don’t know where she is, and I haven’t been able to contact her, but I hope she’s all right.”
“Well, if you ever meet her again, tell her that your girlfriend’s really grateful that she taught you how to be such a wonderful chief.” The brunette said before scooping up a bowl of rice. “Anyway, you don’t have your uniform with you, do you? How do you intend to go to school?”
“Simple, now that I’m not living with the Edelfelt family, I don’t.”
Taiga’s eyes widened.
“What? You’re just going to drop out of school?”
“Indeed. I was only ever going because my sister forced me to. Now that I’m not going to be living with her, I’ll stay home while you go to work. Essentially, I’m going to be your house girlfriend.”
“I won’t argue against that, but are you sure that’s what you want?”
“Of course. I don’t need to waste my time learning pointless lessons while sitting next to people I couldn’t care less about; I only want to be with you.” The black haired girl said with a large smile on her face.

Chapter Text

-An hour later-
Luvia opened the door to her mansion and stepped inside. There were deep, dark bags under her eyes, and she looked completely exhausted. As she made her way toward the stairs, one of her maids, a purple haired woman in her late twenties who was sweeping the second floor, noticed her.
“Mistress! What are you doing up so late?”
“Oh… Meri… Miyu ran away from home… and I spent the whole night searching every nook and cranny of this city for her.” The blonde weakly said before falling to her knees right in front of the stairs. “I’m so… exhausted…”
“Miyu’s missing?” The maid said as she let go of her broom.
She quickly made her way down the stairs until she reached Luvia. She wrapped her arms around her waist and lifted her over her left shoulder before walking to the living room, where she placed her on the couch. The maid sat down next to her before asking her mistress a question.
“Why did Miyu decide to run away?”
“It’s because I kept mistreating her…” Luvia somberly said, her eyes becoming misty. “For the entire time that Miyu’s been living with me, all I’ve done is beat her, berate her, and force her to do my bidding. Despite having her surname changed to my own and forcing her to wear colored contacts to make her eyes match with mine… I never once treated her like my actual sibling… only as a tool to be used and then discarded once she was no longer useful.”
“Mistress Luviagelita, I don’t mean to sound rude, but this really is your fault. You’re a spoiled brat who acts far too entitled for her own good. You’re vain, arrogant, and you tend to lash out at others when you don’t get your way. Right now, if Miyu weren’t the master of that wand your school’s principal gave you, would you even be so upset and desperate to find her?”
The blonde remained silent for a few seconds before speaking.
“I… I… I’m not sure…”
“Before you found her, Miyu was just a young orphan living on the streets. She was scared and alone, but you decided to save her. Did you only do so because she was Magical Sapphire’s master, or did you actually feel for her?”
“I won’t deny that part of the reason I had her adopted was because she was my Kaleidostick’s master, but at the same time, it genuinely hurt to see such a young girl in such a horrible position. If she weren’t Sapphire’s master… I may not have adopted her, but I probably would’ve given her a small portion of my family’s money.”
“You know, as someone who’s been working for your family since she was a teenager, it’s clear to me that Miyu reminds me a lot of your sister. She’s a similar age to her when she died, she has the same hair color, and she behaves similarly to her as well. When you took her in, did you think the same thing?”
She nodded her head.
“I understand that Miyu and my sister are different people… but when I saw her for the first time… I couldn’t help but immediately be reminded of her…”
“Although you’re incredibly selfish and childish, you’re not a bad person. If you really tried, I’m certain you could become a good, respectable woman.”
“Do you really mean that?”
“Of course. And I believe that the best way for you to start your journey toward that goal is by finding Miyu and apologizing about everything you’ve done to her. Once this is all settled, maybe you two can start behaving like siblings and actually hang out together instead of acting like master and slave.”
“Yes… I need to find Miyu… not because she’s Sapphire’s master… but because she’s my little sister…” Luvia softly smiled as she began to slowly close her eyes.
“Rest now, mistress. You’ve been up all night. I’ll carry you to your room once I’m done sweeping the floors.” The maid quietly said as she stood up and walked out of the living room.

Chapter Text

-Meanwhile-
Illya began to open her eyes. Despite arriving home at 12:30 in the morning, she had only managed to get 2 hours of sleep in total from how much she was worrying about Miyu. Because of this, she had slight eye bags, and she felt completely exhausted. Even though she wanted to go back to sleep and skip school for yet another day, she eventually decided to sit up, grab her phone from under her pillow, and turn it on to look at the time.
“School’s going to start soon. I should get up so that I can eat breakfast and get to class on time.” The white haired girl said to herself as she stood up.
She walked over to her closet and quickly grabbed her uniform. Before she could close the doors to it, Ruby zoomed out of it and turned to speak to her master.
“Good morning, master. How are you feeling?”
“I barely got any sleep… so I’m feeling really tired… and I’m worried sick about Miyu. If it were up to me… I wouldn’t go to school… but I already missed out on a day because of me being sick… so I don’t think my parents will let me stay home for today, even if I wouldn’t be able to concentrate in class. Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?”
“No, there’s more. You see, last night when those fake Class Cards were rushing to kill you and your friends, you released a gigantic magical attack not using me, but with your own magic circuits.”
“Magic circuits? What are those?”
“Magic circuits are what allow regular people to use magic and are what decide how powerful a magus they will be. They are unique to each person, and the amount someone has is determined at birth and cannot be changed no matter what they do. If a person with a high amount of magic circuits has a kid, their child will most likely also be quite gifted in that department. From what I’m able to discern, your dad does have a rather plentiful amount of magic circuits, but nowhere near how many you have. Since your mother’s an Incubator magical girl and not a magus, she’s never had to use hers, and thus I’m unable to sense them, but I’m assuming they must be as abundant as yours because the amount of magic circuits in your body completely dwarfs your dad’s.”
The white haired girl raised an eyebrow.
“Is that a good or a bad thing?”
“Well, since you’re a magical girl who mainly uses me to cast her spells and transform her, you don’t really need to use your magic circuits, so until a few days ago, they were dormant. However, after you used the archer Class Card, your magic circuits were activated. Because of that, the fact you have so many of them is more of a fun fact than anything.”
“Wait… so when I installed the Class Card, my magic circuits activated, right?”
“From what I’m able to tell, that’s exactly what happened. Them activating is probably why you developed a fever the next day.”
“So the reason why I unintentionally used such a powerful attack that ended up saving us last night was because my body probably panicked and, based on pure instinct, used an attack that ended up destroying all of those fake Class Cards.”
“Correct. But that still doesn’t explain what got over you after you used the archer card and why you started acting like a completely different person.”
“Maybe my personality mixed with the Class Card’s or something like that; I’m not really sure. But that’s not important at the moment. What’s important is getting to school before I’m late.” She said as she began to put on her uniform. “Since you’re already out of my closet, you’re free to come to school with me. That way, I can transform immediately after I get out of class and start looking for Miyu.”
“Of course. I’d rather be in your backpack for a good portion of the day than continue to be locked in there until night comes.” Ruby cheerfully said as she floated in a circle around Illya.

-25 minutes later-
Illya quickly ate her breakfast and then went directly to Homurahara Academy. She entered it and went upstairs to her homeroom. Upon stepping inside, she noticed that Taiga was sitting at her desk, as had become the usual, staring at her phone with a wide smile on her face. The white haired girl paid her no mind before walking to the back of class and taking a seat at her desk next to Suzuka, Tatsuko, and Mimi.
“Oh, Mimi, you’re back. How were the two extra days off?” Illya asked as she placed her head on her desk.
“They were definitely peaceful and relaxing, but I’ll be honest, I missed you girls. Sure, I could’ve talked to you through text, but it’s not the same as talking with you all in person.”
“I’m glad to have you back. School’s just not the same without all of us here.”
“Wait a minute, where’s Miyu?” The blonde asked as she turned her head from left to right. “She usually comes to class at the same time as you do, so why isn’t she here yet?”
“I don’t know… she might be skipping again.” She drowsily said as she began to close her eyes.
“Are you okay, Illya?” The brunette asked as she turned to look at her friend.
“…Yeah, I just barely got any sleep last night… so I’m pretty tired.” She let out a yawn. “I think I might take a nap before-“
The bell rang, interrupting Illya mid-sentence. Upon hearing this, Taiga stood up and walked in front of her desk with a large smile on her face.
“All right, class! I’m in a fantastic mood today, so I’m willing to give you all the entire day to yourselves!”
“What?” All of the students, except for Illya, asked in unison.
“Why?” One of the boys in front of the class asked.
“Because I’ve finally got a girlfriend! And I’m so happy about it that I don’t want to assign work to anybody! As long as you’re not being overly loud or stirring up trouble, you can do whatever you want!” Taiga enthusiastically said before skipping back to behind her desk and taking a seat.
Oh, sweet… it looks like I’ll actually be able to take a nap after all. Illya thought as she slowly closed her eyes.

Chapter Text

-Many hours later-
The entire school day, Illya did absolutely nothing in class. Her friends talked with each other about random topics, but she was too tired to join in on their conversation or pay attention to them. Every time she’d glance at the front of the classroom, she’d see Taiga staring down at her phone with a huge smile on her face while her fingers were constantly typing away at her device’s keyboard. Eventually, the day came to an end and Illya and her friends left the classroom. As they exited the school, Suzuka spoke to her.
“Hey, Illya. The three of us are gonna go visit Nanaki. Wanna come with us?”
“Sorry, girls. I’d love to, but I have something to do at home.”
“Oh, all right. Maybe you could come visit her with us tomorrow.”
“See you later, Illya.” Tatsuko cheerfully said.
“Bye.” Mimi said, waving at her friend.
“I’ll see you all tomorrow.” Illya said before turning around and quickly walking away from her friends.
She walked down the road for a few minutes until she noticed a dark alleyway to her left. Without any hesitation, she quickly entered it before pulling Magical Ruby out of her backpack.
“I’m guessing she didn’t come to school today. Where could that girl have possibly gone?”
“Not sure. If I did, we wouldn’t be in this predicament, would we?” She jokingly asked. “Transform me so that I can get to looking for her right away.”
“As you wish.”
Illya quickly transformed into her magical girl form before jumping onto the roof of the building in front of her. She turned her head to the left and right to make sure there weren’t any people on the street below her before she began to swiftly jump from building to building.

-A few minutes later-
Illya had somehow been managing to leap from roof to roof completely unseen by the average person. She had managed to reach her house and the Edelfelt mansion without any problems and had landed on the edifice’s roof. The white haired girl wasn’t planning on spending any more time than what was necessary on the roof of Luvia’s mansion when she suddenly felt a hand on her left shoulder. She quickly turned around and saw Dirty Work floating behind her with its hand on her. A few feet away from it was its master, who had a neutral expression on her face.
“Good afternoon, Illya. How have you been?”
Illya went silent for a few seconds before speaking to her friend.
“I’ve been fine, I suppose. I barely got any sleep last night because I was so worried about Miyu, but it’s not too bad since I managed to get some rest at school.”
“…I see. So I’m assuming she wasn’t there today?”
Illya shook her head.
“Nope. She skipped school so that she could continue hiding who knows where.”
“Illya… I’m sorry for making you worry so much about my sister… and I’m sorry to her too for treating her so poorly. I had her adopted so that I could use her as a tool… and I treated her terribly until you and Rin knocked some sense into me. I had this a long time coming… but I can’t help but be worried about Miyu’s well-being. Sure, she might have Sapphire by her side to protect her from anyone or anything that may wish to do her harm, but she’s still young and capable of being easily manipulated. Someone could take her into their home under the guise of wanting to keep her safe and end up doing things to her that I shudder just thinking about.”
Illya’s grip on Ruby tightened.
“It’s for that exact reason that I barely managed to get a wink of sleep. Miyu’s my friend, maybe even my best friend, and I hate thinking about her getting hurt or crying. I’ll look everywhere in this city if I have to if that’s what it takes to find her.”
“I swear I searched every nook and cranny of this city last night, but I was still unable to find Miyu anywhere. This might seem like a wild idea, but perhaps she fled the city and went elsewhere so that we would be unable to find her.
“As much as I hate to admit it, that’s a likely possibility. Still, before we waste any time searching outside of Fuyuki, let’s search this city one last time just to make sure we’re not overlooking any areas she could be in.”
The blonde nodded her head.
“All right. Let’s split up so that this whole process goes by much faster than it otherwise would. You search the northernmost areas while I search the south.”
“Good idea. Let’s get to it.” Illya said before turning around and jumping to her right, landing on her house’s roof before jumping away once again.
Luvia quickly turned to her left before Stand leaping from building to building.

Chapter Text

-An hour and a half later-
Illya was running aimlessly through Fuyuki’s container yard, screaming her friend’s name as loudly as she possibly could.
“MIYU! MIYU, WHERE ARE YOU? PLEASE COME OUT; I WANT TO SPEAK WITH YOU!”
She had screamed so much that her throat was starting to hurt, but still, she continued to call out to her friend as loudly as she possibly could.
“Illya, I don’t think she’s anywhere nearby. We’ve been searching the entirety of northern Fuyuki for nearly an hour now, and we’re nowhere closer to finding Miyu. At this rate, the only thing you’re going to do is lose your voice. Let’s go home and regroup with Luvia for the time being.”
“No.” She said, lowering her voice to not strain it any further. “Miyu has to be here somewhere; I know it. This area’s rife with spots for her to use as a hiding place. There’s no way she’s-“
“We’ve already searched this place three times over. If you haven’t already found the container she’s in by now, looking this place over a fourth time won’t do anything.”
The white haired girl went silent for several seconds as she turned her head to the ground.
“You’re right… but I don’t want to go home until I can make sure Miyu’s safe and sound.” Illya paused for several seconds before continuing. “Miyu’s just a child who’s incapable of fending for herself or getting food. Even if she has Sapphire to protect her, there’s a chance she might die from dehydration, starvation, or even heat stroke if it gets too hot. The first 3 days are when a missing person’s chances of being found alive are the highest. If I dawdle for too long or go back home to rest every time I get slightly tired… Luvia or I might find her when she’s nothing more than a corpse…”
“Don’t think that, Illya.” Ruby said, raising her voice slightly. “Of course it’s important to search any areas a missing person might be in as quickly and as thoroughly as possible, but it’s also important to get some rest. Otherwise, you won’t be able to search for Miyu as effectively as possible, which will end up wasting more time than it’ll save.”
The white haired girl let out a sigh.
“You’re right. Let’s go home for the time being.” Illya said before turning around and walking away from the container yard.

-Meanwhile-
“MIYU! MIYU, PLEASE COME OUT OF WHEREVER YOU’RE HIDING!” Luvia screamed as she stood in the center of a playground. Although her actions would’ve been enough to have the police called on her, there was thankfully nobody anywhere nearby to report her to the authorities. “This is the place where we first met. You have to be hiding here somewhere; I just know it.” The blonde said, lowering her voice as tears welled up in her eyes. “I remember when I first saw you. You were barefoot, wearing a black dress while your hair was completely disheveled. You looked both depressed and completely terrified... and your eyes were so red and filled with tears. It hurt my heart to see someone like you in that state. Even if you weren’t already Sapphire’s master, I would’ve still helped you out in some way, either by giving you some of my family’s money so that you’d be able to survive on your own… or just adopting you as I ended up doing. I know nothing I say will ever make up for the way I treated you the entire time you’ve been living with me, and I’m not asking for your forgiveness… but I promise that from today forward, I’ll try my best to be a good big sister, someone who loves and cherishes you, and a woman who you could be proud to call a member of your family.” After she finished speaking, Luvia went silent for a few seconds before talking to herself. “Looks like she really wasn’t here after all. I must’ve been talking to myself.” She let out a deep breath before walking to her right. “I already searched the entirety of southern Fuyuki for Miyu, but I found absolutely nothing. I think it’s time for me to head home. Hopefully Illya had better luck with her efforts.”

-20 minutes later-
Illya and Luvia quickly made their way to their homes. Once they were in front of them, they wasted no time before speaking to one another.
“So, I’m guessing you weren’t able to find anything about Miyu.”
“No. What about you?”
The white haired girl shook her head.
“Crap. Then it seems like my theory about Miyu leaving the city just to get away from me was correct.” She took a deep breath before continuing to sleep. “Thank you for helping me; I truly appreciate it. However, I say it’s time for you to go home and rest. I’ll handle my search for my sister by myself for now.” She said before pulling out a note from her dress’ left pocket that had a number written on it. “Here’s my phone number. Can you give me yours so that I can contact you in case I do manage to find her?”
“Sure, but why are you going to keep looking for her if you want me to take a break?” She asked as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, turned it on, and showed her number to her.
“Two reasons. The first is that I’m the one primarily responsible for this. If I had treated Miyu as my sister like I claimed she was, none of this would’ve happened. The second is that you’re still a child; it’s not good to exhaust yourself or worry about such a topic when you still have school tomorrow. I’m quite a few years older than you, I’m currently not attending school, and the only “homework” I have, I can’t complete unless I have both you and Miyu by my side.”
“All right. Good luck on your search, Luvia. I hope you find Miyu safe and sound soon.” Illya said before turning around and walking into her house.
“I still have the whole day to keep searching. I’ll be fine on my own.” Luvia said before turning to her right and walking away.
The white haired girl walked into her house and saw her mom and Leysritt sitting on the couch in the living room.
“You finally made it home, Illya. What took you so long to come back from school?” Her cousin asked.
“You look so tired and a little upset. Is everything all right?” Irisviel asked.
“Yeah, I’m perfectly fine. I just had a bit of trouble sleeping last night, that’s all. As for why it took me so long to come back, that’s because I went to help a friend with something.”
“I see. Well, your lunch is on the table in case you’re hungry.”
“I’ll come downstairs to eat it later.” The white haired girl said before walking toward the stairs.

-Many hours later-
Illya lay in bed, staring at her ceiling. Although she was exhausted, she didn’t want to go to sleep. Ever since coming home, her worry for Miyu’s safety had only increased. This wasn’t made better by the fact that Luvia hadn’t texted her once yet. She continued to lie motionless until she heard a sudden knock at her window, which caused her to sit up and turn to look at it.
“Rin, what are you doing here?” She asked. “We can’t go looking for the last Class Card today because Miyu’s still missing. You should go home for the time being.”
“I figured as much. Still, I want to speak with you about something that’s been on my mind since I got home from our battle against the assassin card yesterday. Would you please open your window so I can do just that?”
“Fine.” She said before standing up and walking over to it.
She quickly opened her window, allowing the black haired girl to jump inside.
“What do you want to talk about?”
“Well, it’s about you and your role in looking for the Class Cards. Looking back on everything, I sort of forced you to help me.” She said, a sheepish smile spreading across her face. “I never gave the fact much thought since you didn’t seem too bothered about it, but after what happened with Miyu, it made me wonder, are you really okay with this? You’re a young girl who only got involved in this mess because you just so happened to have the potential to use a Stand. You shouldn’t be fighting insanely powerful magical cards; you should be worrying about finishing your homework and passing your tests. If you want to stop looking for the Class Cards, that’s fine with me. Luvia and I will just look for the last one ourselves, just as was originally intended.”
“NO! ILLYA! PLEASE DON’T! I DON’T WANNA GO BACK TO RIN! HER INCISIVE BICKERING WITH LUVIA WAS GONNA GIVE ME A MIGRAINE IF I STAYED WITH HER ANY LONGER! I BEG OF YOU, DON’T MAKE ME GO BACK TO HER.” Ruby screamed while inside her master’s backpack.
The white haired girl took a deep breath before responding to her friend’s question.
“As of now, only one Class Card remains. I don’t see any point in abandoning this mission when I’m so close to finishing it, even if I did originally join it unwillingly. I’m determined to see this through to its end.”
“Thank you, Illya. I’m grateful that you’ve decided to stick with me until the end.” Rin said, smiling at her friend.

Chapter Text

Not long after Illya and Rin finished speaking with one another, the black haired girl exited her friend’s house and went back home. The white haired girl went to sleep soon afterward.

-Many hours later-
Miyu and Taiga were both fast asleep. The brunette was sleeping in a sleeveless yellow shirt with black lines running across it horizontally and without any panties on, while her girlfriend was wearing a white button-up shirt with a pair of baby blue panties and black socks. The black haired girl slowly began to open her eyes before sitting up and grabbing her phone from under her pillow to look at the time. She quickly turned it on and saw that it was already 6 in the morning.
“6 o’clock already?” She murmured to herself as she rubbed her eyes. “I need to get up so that I can make us breakfast. With this little time I have left, I won’t be able to make a meal as large as yesterday’s for the two of us, but I can at least make something quick and filling so that she can take on the day.”
The black haired girl stood up and walked out of the bedroom.

-An hour later-
Miyu opened the door to her and her girlfriend’s room and approached her bed. She gently tapped her on the forehead until she began to open her eyes.
“Good morning, my sweetheart.” She said while softly smiling at her. “It’s time for you to wake up and get ready for work.”
“Aw, come on. I thought I was gonna oversleep so that I could spend more time with you.” She jokingly said as she sat up and turned to look at her.
“While the idea of that is incredibly sweet, it wouldn’t really be all too professional for you to purposefully sleep in just so that you can be with your new girlfriend for a whole day. Besides, tomorrow’s Saturday. Regardless of if you went to work or not, we’d be able to spend all of tomorrow and Sunday with one another.”
“Well, I still have quite a few sick days I’ve yet to use, but all right. Since you don’t seem to like the idea all too much, I’ll go to work today.” She said before standing up and walking out of her room.
The brunette quickly made her way to the kitchen and saw two rather large bowls of gyudon on the table. She began to smile from ear to ear as she quickly ran over to the table and sat down at it.
“Wow, Miyu! This looks incredible! And there’s so much food that I’ll be full until I get back home.”
“Well, I hope that doesn’t happen because I already packed you your lunch.”
Taiga’s eyes quickly widened.
“Really?”
“Indeed. I’ll give it to you after you finish getting ready for work. Right now, just focus on enjoying the breakfast I made for us.”

-An hour later-
After Illya woke up, she quickly got dressed, ate breakfast, and exited her house. Before she could start walking toward Homurahara, a familiar voice called out to her.
“About time you woke up, Illya. I haven’t gotten a wink of sleep since I got back home due to how long I’ve been waiting for you to leave your house.”
Illya quickly turned her head slightly and saw an exhausted looking Luvia standing behind her mansion’s front gate.
“You look horrible. What did you stay up so late to tell me about?”
“Yesterday after you returned home, I searched the entirety of the two cities neighboring us. Despite my best efforts, I was unable to find Miyu anywhere… I don’t mean to sound pessimistic… but with how unfortunate our search has so far been, I can’t help but think about the possibility that an adult has already manipulated her into coming with them and…”
“Stop it! I hate even thinking about that idea!”
“As do I, but there’s a chance it could be true. Do you know of any adults who’ve been acting a little strangely as of late?”
Illya opened her mouth to deny the blonde’s question, but before she could, she thought about the way Taiga was behaving lately.
“Well, yes, now that I think about it. My school teacher was all cheerful yesterday and talking about how she finally had a girlfriend after so long.”
“So a grown woman who has most likely never felt the touch of another woman who’s not her mother suddenly gains a lover after a child runs away from home. While that could just be an unfortunate coincidence, it’s possible there could be something much more nefarious going on behind the scenes. Do you think you could investigate your teacher once you get to class?”
“Of course. While I don’t think her being involved in Miyu’s disappearance is all too likely, it’s not like we have any other clues as to where she could’ve gone, so I might as well investigate her.”
“All right. I’m gonna go back inside so that I can take a nap. Good luck with your search. If you find anything, contact me immediately.”
“Will do.” She said before turning to her left and walking away from her house and the Edelfelt Mansion.

-A few minutes later-
Illya arrived at Homurahara Academy. She wasted no time and quickly went upstairs to her homeroom. As she walked past her teacher’s desk, she turned her head in an attempt to catch the name of whoever she was texting. However, Taiga seemingly noticed this and moved her phone to the left so that Illya would be unable to so much as catch a peek at it. After a few seconds, Illya made it to her desk and sat down on it.
“Good morning, Illya. Did you get more sleep than yesterday?” Mimi asked as she turned to look at her friend.
“Yeah.” She said, turning her head to the left to look away from her friend.
“So Miyu’s still out today. Do you know why she hasn’t been coming to school as of recently?”
“No idea. I’ve tried to text her multiple times, but she still hasn’t responded to me.”
“Maybe Ms. Fujimura has something to do with this.” Tatsuko said. “Miyu just so happened to go missing yesterday, the same day where our teacher was so ecstatic about getting a girlfriend that she didn’t want to teach us. Maybe that girlfriend is-“
“Why are you so quick to accuse our teacher of being a sexual predator?” Suzuka angrily asked.
“I’m not. I’m merely pointing out the fact that it could be a possibility for why Miyu has been absent from school for two days in a row and hasn’t responded to Illya’s texts.”
“Regardless of that, I don’t think it’s good to assume such a thing of a teacher of all people. So that we don’t accidentally start any unsavory rumors about Ms. Fujimura, and she doesn’t get into any sort of trouble, I think we should put that idea to rest.”
Tatsuko might be more right than you think. Illya thought. But until I get an opportunity to investigate her, I can’t be too sure about that.

Chapter Text

-A few hours later-
Unlike the day prior, Taiga actually decided to teach her class. This caused her to not spend the entire day on her phone, which resulted in Illya’s plan of spying on Taiga to see if she had any connection to Miyu’s disappearance to be put on hold. It wasn’t until her lunch period arrived that Illya had any opportunity to see what Taiga was up to on her phone. Instead of staying in her classroom like she usually did during her lunch break, Taiga made her way to the teacher’s lounge, where she closed, but seemingly forgot to lock the door before taking a seat at the rectangular wooden table in the center of the room. She put her boxed lunch that was in her right hand in front of her before opening it to see four onigiri, a chicken katsu that was cut into several smaller pieces to make it easier for Taiga to pick up with a pair of chopsticks, some vegetables such as cucumber, broccoli, and carrots, and two hard boiled eggs that had been split in half.
“Oh. This looks absolutely scrumptious. I’m gonna have to thank Miyu once I get home.” She said, keeping her voice down so that nobody could hear her from outside.
The brunette seized a pair of wooden chopsticks that rested on a cloth napkin to her left before grabbing a piece of her katsu and eating it. A smile spread across her face as she chewed and, eventually, swallowed her food.
“That was absolutely incredible. I shouldn’t have expected anything less from my adorable little girlfriend.” She cheerfully murmured to herself before going back to eating her lunch.
As she did this, Illya quietly and slowly opened the door to the teachers lounge to stare at her teacher without getting noticed by her. Although she didn’t seem to be doing anything of note at the moment, the white haired girl wasn’t intending to go anywhere until she either had definitive proof that she was somehow connected to Miyu’s disappearance or the lunch period ended. After a few minutes of this, Illya felt someone sit on her back, nearly causing her to let out a surprised shout that would’ve given away her cover. She quickly turned her head and saw Tatsuko sitting on her back.
“Hey, Illya. What are you up to?” She obliviously asked.
“Keep your voice down. I’m trying to spy on Taiga to make sure she’s not related to Miyu’s sudden string of absences.”
“So you think she could be a pedophile too?”
“Well, not necessarily, but I do think her getting a girlfriend the same day Miyu stopped talking to me warrants some investigating into the matter. You’re free to stay by my side, but try not to make too much noise.”
The blonde quickly nodded her head as she moved it closer to the door.
“As much as you and Suzuka try to give her the benefit of the doubt, I genuinely believe Taiga’s into children.”
“And why’s that?”
“Well, she’s always seemed overly friendly toward us. Of course, a teacher being friendly toward their students isn’t a cause for concern or even anything unusual, but she acts like she’s a teenage girl even though she’s a grown woman. She also doesn’t have a partner despite being an adult, which, while also not necessarily a bad thing, I’ve overheard her complain about while I’m walking past her classroom during lunch. Maybe it’s a stretch, but I could see her becoming a teacher for the sole purpose of grooming a kid into being her lover.”
“The only way you’ll find out whether your assumption is correct or not is if we continue to spy on Ms. Fujimura.”

-Many hours later-
Illya and Tatsuko continued to spy on Taiga for the rest of their lunch period, but they weren’t able to find anything of value about her or her girlfriend. Although she started texting someone on her phone not long after she finished eating her lunch, since she wasn’t anywhere near the girls, they had no way to get even the slightest glimpse of her phone. A few minutes before their lunch period ended, the two girls decided to slowly close the door to the teachers lounge and walk away from it to avoid potentially getting spotted by Taiga and returned to their homeroom. Not long after, the brunette returned and sat behind her desk, seemingly none the wiser about what her students had done. The rest of the school day went by fairly normally without either of the girls having any opportunity to spy on their teacher. Eventually, it came to an end, and the students were all allowed to go home. Despite being in the back of the classroom, Illya rushed ahead and exited the room as quickly as she possibly could.
“Hey, Illya where are you going?” Suzuka asked.
“Who knows. Maybe she’s going to go out with her family, or she’s just excited to do something. We can always text her later.” Tatsuko said.
“You’re right, but still, I feel like she would’ve told us about either of those things.” Mimi responded.
“There’s no point in wondering about what had Illya so worked up. Let’s get out of here.” The black haired girl said as she stood up and began to walk out of the classroom.
Her two friends quickly followed her. Taiga waited 10 minutes before getting up from behind her desk and making her way out of her classroom, closing the door behind her and locking it. She began to hum an upbeat pop song as she calmly walked down the hallway, went downstairs, and exited Homurahara Academy before turning to her left and walking back to her apartment. As she leisurely went home, Illya stared at her from behind the leftmost wall of the school.
“Ruby, transform me now.” The white haired girl said as she opened her backpack and pulled out her Kaleidostick. “I can’t afford to lose track of Ms. Fujimura.”
“You got it!” She cheerfully said before doing as told.
Illya quickly jumped onto the roof of the school building, turning her head from left to right to make sure there weren’t any people nearby who could see her, before jumping to the closest building to the school to follow after her teacher.

-A few minutes later-
Taiga unlocked the door to her apartment, opened it, and stepped inside to see Miyu patiently waiting for her in front of the entrance with a soft smile on her face.
“You’re finally back, my love.” She said before walking over to her girlfriend and hugging her. “I was starting to get lonely without you and your messages.”
“I’m sorry, but you know I can’t constantly be texting you when I’m teaching.” Taiga said as she quickly closed and locked the door to make sure nobody would see the two of them before embracing her. “Luckily for you, tomorrow’s the weekend, so we’ll be able to stay by each other’s side for the whole day.”

Chapter Text

-A few hours later-
Taiga and Miyu were sitting on the couch in the living room, watching a movie on the TV with a huge bowl filled to the brim with popcorn in between the two of them. The brunette was constantly shoveling snacks into her mouth as the black haired girl appeared to be transfixed on the action film in front of them. After a few seconds, Taiga got up from her couch, licked the butter from her snacks off her fingers, and stood up with the intent to get a soda from her refrigerator. As she made her way to the kitchen, she noticed a familiar looking white haired, red eyed girl standing outside of her apartment through a small section of her living room window that her blinds hadn’t managed to cover. She was scowling with her right hand on her hip as she tilted her head to the right. At first, the brunette thought about moving her blinds slightly to cover up Illya in hopes she’d go away eventually, but she decided against it upon realizing that she’d most likely just move on to knocking on her window or door, which would disturb her lovely evening with her girlfriend, or worse, she’d run away and tell Homurahara’s principal or the police.
“Miyu, I think I just noticed an old friend of mine from my school days outside. I’m gonna go talk to her. Stay here.”
“All right. But don’t take too long.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be back inside soon.” She said before walking over to her door, unlocking and opening it, and then stepping outside.
She quickly closed her door before turning to look at her student.
“Illya, what are you doing menacing outside my home? Did you seriously follow me just to interrupt my lovely movie night with my girlfriend.”
“Taiga Fujimura, you are aware that your girlfriend is not just a ten year old child, but also your student?”
“Of course. I’m not stupid. I’m well aware of how illegal and looked down upon our relationship is. If it makes you feel any better, she and I haven’t done anything together. I’m kind of waiting to see how her body matures before I move onto that step of our relationship.”
“You disgust me. Did you become a teacher just because you wanted to date a child?”
She tried her best to stop herself from smiling.
“Obviously. Men and women my age would never want to date a poor, flat crone like me. Trust me, I’ve tried countless times to date adults, but they’ve never been interested in me. Even when I was a teenager, nobody ever wanted to be my significant other. So, who else could I have possibly dated besides young child, someone who’s not as picky or judgmental as a person my age? Especially one without anyone to turn to and with such little self confidence that I could easily whisper sweet, sugary sounding lies into her ear that she’d believe them without a second thought.”
Illya’s eyes widened as Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow appeared behind her and rushed toward her teacher.
“Taiga! I won’t let you get away with grooming Miyu to be your lover!”
“What a most fearsome Stand! Let me show you mine!” Taiga cheerfully shouted before a humanoid with a green face and yellow eyes who wore a brown trench coat and black shoes with yellow stripes running across it horizontally appeared behind the brunette.
Illya’s Stand threw a powerful punch at her enemy, only for the opposing Stand to grab onto its master and jump onto the roof of the apartment building.
“When my family found out I was attracted to children when I was 17 years old, they thought I was a freak, and they threatened to disown me! However, little did they know, my Stand, Little Girls, was capable of gutting them all like they were a bunch of hogs on a spit! It doesn’t matter that I’m supposed to be your teacher; I’ll do the same to you, and, in a few years, with Miyu as my bride, I’ll have a large family of my own to replace the Fujimura family that I destroyed!”

Chapter Text

Little Girls quickly pulled a blowgun out from its left pocket and brought it up to its lips before exhaling, shooting a tranquilizer dart at Illya. The white haired girl quickly jumped away from the projectile, causing Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow to flash a grin before slamming her right fist onto the floor, allowing her to Stand leap onto the roof of the apartment building.
“Taiga Fujimura, to not just manipulate a child into becoming your victim, but also murder your entire family because they were, rightfully, disgusted by your mental illness. Does your depravity know no ends?” Illya shouted as her Stand rushed at Little Girls.
She threw a barrage of punches all directly targeted at its head, only for the brunette’s Stand to weave from left to right, effortlessly avoiding attacks.
“What’s considered to be depraved and evil changes from person to person! Although you hate me because I killed my family with ease and groomed your friend, I absolutely love this lifestyle! I’m free to do whatever I want with the girl I love the most! But I’m sure I’d hate fighting my teacher who preyed upon my friend while dressed like an anime character, even if it was the morally correct thing to do!” She gleefully shouted before her Stand threw a powerful punch at Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow’s chest that pushed her backwards, nearly knocking her off the roof.
“Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow! Be careful! It looks like she’s a little faster than you, and we still have no idea what her Stand does yet. Be on guard in case she tries to do anything we don’t know about.”
The Stand let out a powerful roar as she nodded her head. Without any warning, she suddenly began to pound on her chest, releasing gusts of ice cold wind at Taiga.
“You’re trying to freeze me? No! I hate the cold! I won’t let you turn me into an ice sculpture!” She shouted before Little Girls pulled out a lasso from its right pocket with a piece of tape attached to the end of it.
It quickly launched it at Illya’s Stand, heading straight for her neck. Before it could wrap around her, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow grabbed onto it and attempted to use its ability to freeze the rope and snap it in half as if it were a twig. However, before she could do just that, the Stand’s focus was broken by Little Girls rushing at her without warning. The surprise caused her to jump to the left to avoid the attack and slightly loosen her grip on the lasso due to the shock she had experienced. No longer trapped by Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow’s powerful grip, Taiga’s rope tied itself around its target’s neck, arms, and legs, using the tape to muffle and squeeze down onto her as tightly as possible.
“Well, Illya, it seems like everything’s finally coming to an end! Once your Stand’s out of the picture, Miyu will be mine, all mine!” She gleefully shouted as Little Girls pulled out a huge brown burlap sack from her right pocket. “Now, seal that hulking brute forever before we dispose of Illya!”
It nodded its head before rushing toward its enemy. Before Taiga’s Stand could reach her, the white haired girl quickly raised her Kaleidostick and shot a barrage of small pink beams at both Little Girls and her teacher. Taiga quickly jumped from side to side, screaming hysterically as she somehow avoided the attacks.
“HOT! HOT! HOT! TOO HOT!”
At the same time, her Stand was hit in the chest and stomach, causing it to be pushed back slightly as its master howled in pain. While the brunette was distracted, Illya jumped behind her Stand, summoned a blade of magic on her Kaleidostick’s head, and swung it downward to cut the lasso restraining her Stand.
“You damn brat! How dare you raise your hand against your own teacher! That’s it! I’m expelling you from life!” Taiga yelled as she pointed her enemy.
Little Girls quickly pulled out several scalpels from its pocket and threw them at Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow. She quickly punched them all away before rushing at her enemy. The Stand threw a barrage of punches at its stomach, causing Little Girls to jump to the left to avoid the attack.
“You’re too predictable, kid! I’ll defeat you here and protect my happy life with Miyu!” She gleefully shouted as she threw a barrage of punches at her chest and stomach.
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow grabbed onto Little Girls’ hands, crushing them with ease. Taiga let out an agonized scream as she slowly stumbled back from the pain.
“Taiga Fujimura, even if I despise you with every fiber of my being, I have to give your Stand some props. Not only is it faster than Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow, but if you had been attacking me from afar, I have no doubt that you would’ve won. However, now that I’m up close and personal, any chances you might’ve had at winning have just plummeted to zero!” Illya yelled before Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow swept Little Girls’ legs, causing it to lose its balance and fall forward.
Before she could make contact with the floor, Illya’s stand threw a powerful uppercut at her enemy’s jaw, sending it flying upward, before jumping after it. She threw a barrage of attacks at its chest and head before spiking it downward, a huge impact crater forming in the area she had landed. Taiga let out a gasp as blood began to leak out of the areas that Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow had attacked.
“Now, die!” She shouted as she ran over to the brunette, jumped at her head, and threw a powerful kick at it.
Taiga let out a scream as she was knocked off the roof and landed next to her Stand. She attempted to stand up, but before she could get onto her feet, two voices shouted at her.
“So you’re the one who kidnapped Miyu!” Luvia yelled.
“You sick fuck! Give Miyu back to us immediately!” Rin shouted.
“W-Who are these people?”
“They’re my friends that I told to come here after I saw that Miyu was with you. They’ll deal with you.”
The brunette let out a high pitched scream as she got on all fours, despite being severely injured, and ran away as quickly as possible.
“Should we go after her?” Rin asked.
“No. She might’ve abducted Miyu, but now that she’s fled, she holds no significance to us.” The blonde calmly said as she turned to look at the apartment building to her right. “Let’s head into whatever apartment that creep lives in and save Miyu.”

Chapter Text

Illya, Rin, and Luvia quickly ran to Taiga’s apartment and kicked the door down before entering it and making their way to the living room, where they saw Miyu sitting on the couch.
“Finally, after nearly two whole days, I’ve finally found you.” The blonde cheerfully said before running over to the child.
She attempted to hug the black haired girl, but before she could manage to wrap her arms around her, Miyu raised her right arm forward, preventing her from getting too close to her.
“You girls! What are you three doing here? And where’s my girlfriend?” She shouted, turning her head from left to right in an attempt to see if Taiga was anywhere nearby.
“Miyu, that freak wasn’t your girlfriend. She was a sexual predator who was exploiting your vulnerability to make you hers. She never truly cared about you.”
“As for where she is, that pedo went running off somewhere after Illya gave her the trashing of a lifetime.” Rin explained.
“She won’t be coming back here anytime soon, so let’s get out of here.” The white haired girl said with a smile on her face as she reached her hand out to her friend.
Miyu quickly slapped Illya’s hand away before standing up.
“Y-You bastards! Taiga was the only person to genuinely ever care about me here! You only beat her up because you needed me to help you look for the Class Cards, didn’t you?”
“No. We were genuinely worried for your safety. Someone like you could’ve easily been taken advantage of by an adult, which is what ultimately ended up happening. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like she tried to do anything sexual with you.”
“You’re wrong…” Miyu angrily said as she looked down at the floor and clenched her fists as tightly as possible. “Taiga’s not a pedophile or a sexual predator; she’s the only one I have left in the world who genuinely cares about me! She’s not using me for anything; the only thing she wants is to be by my side and love me!”
“No, she didn’t. When I was fighting against her, she actively told me that she groomed you because she wouldn’t be able to get a girlfriend otherwise.”
“Shut up! You’re lying so that I can come with you to get the Class Cards!” Tears began to well up in her eyes. “And even if you’re not, I’m sick and tired of being used by everyone I know! I’m never going back to Luvia’s mansion just so that she can force me to help you by either abusing me or taking control of me using Dirty Work!” She yelled.
“Look, I’m sorry about everything. I know my words may not seem sincere, but I truly mean it with all of my heart that I regret having ever mistreated you. If you return to me, I’ll strive to become a good, respectable woman that you can depend on and look up to.”
The black haired girl gritted her teeth as she turned her head up to glare at Luvia.
“Like I’d ever believe you! You’re vain, arrogant, and an abuser! Only a fool would take you at your word!” She shouted before walking out of the living room and approaching the door. “Sapphire, come to me.”
“As you wish, my master.” She calmly said as she flew into Miyu’s hand.
The black haired girl quickly transformed before reaching into Rin’s pocket, stealing the box that contained the Class Cards, and walking out of the apartment.
“You little brat! What do you think you’re doing?” She shouted.
“I’m leaving. Don’t come looking for me because I have no intent to go back with you!” She yelled before jumping out of the apartment building.
“Miyu! Don’t go!” The blonde proclaimed before rushing after her as quickly as possible.
Rin followed after her, but right as she was about to step out of the door, she turned around and saw Illya standing in place, looking down at the ground with a glum look on her face.
“What’s got you so upset?”
“I think Miyu… despises me.” She somberly said

-Meanwhile-
Taiga was aimlessly running through the streets of Fuyuki on all fours. Since Illya and her friends now knew of her odd sexual preference and where she lived, for her own safety, she wouldn’t be able to go to work or home anytime soon.
“I finally had my life’s goal right in my grasp, and yet that damn Illya just had to swoop in and take it from me! It doesn’t matter, even if she reports me to the police, I will track her down until my revenge is mine!” She shouted.

Chapter Text

-Many hours later-
Illya lay in bed. She stared at the ceiling with a blank expression on her face. Although it was obvious that Rin wasn’t going to knock on her window to talk to her about anything, she couldn’t get a wink of sleep no matter how hard she tried. Still, she was starting to feel rather fatigued, and it was evident that she’d be going to sleep somewhat soon. After Rin and Luvia had run after Miyu, the white haired girl headed back home, where she spent the rest of the day in her room, trying to get her mind off what happened. So far, neither of them had messaged her a single update about their search for Miyu, and due to how late it was, it didn’t seem like she’d be getting one any time soon.
“I’m a failure… a big, stupid failure. I tried to help Miyu, but it just ended up blowing up in my face.” She murmured to herself as her eyes slowly closed. “At this rate, I just want to get the last Class Card so that this can all be over with. Hopefully it doesn’t end up killing Rin and Luvia the moment I get it.”
The white haired girl closed her eyes and fell asleep not long afterward.

-
Illya opened her eyes and saw that she was standing up. She turned her head upward slightly and saw that she was in an area where it was snowing heavily. She looked down and saw that the ground was completely covered in a thick white blanket of snow without a single footprint or uneven patch in sight. The white haired girl was wearing a purple coat, purple boots, a white scarf that was tied around her neck, and a purple fur hat on her head. Despite the fact that it was visibly incredibly frigid, she didn’t feel chilly in the slightest.
“Where am I? I’ve never seen this place before.” She said before beginning to walk forward.
Illya slowly turned her head from left to right in an attempt to see if there was anybody nearby, but to no avail.
“Hello! Mom, dad, Liz, Sella, Ruby, Shirou, Rin, Luvia! Is anywhere nearby?” She shouted.
After what felt like a few minutes of walking, Illya suddenly began to feel an overwhelming presence standing behind her. She snapped her head and saw Twinkle Snow Powder Snow staring down at her with a slight smile on her face, which caused her eyes to widen and for her to stumble back slightly.
“Oh my god! You almost gave me a heart attack!” She shouted. “But still, I’m glad to know that I’m not completely alone in this arctic tundra. Have you seen anyone else here? And if you have, can you lead me to them?”
The Stand shook her head.
“Nope. We’re inside your mind right now, so it wouldn’t really make much sense to have anyone else here besides us.”
“You can talk?” She shouted, pointing at her Stand. “You’re just full of surprises today!”
“Well, we’re in a dream. Although I’m not able to speak with you in real life, I’m able to have a conversation with you just fine in your head.”
“I see. So what do you want to talk to me about?”
“You seem pretty lost in the real world right now. Do you want to talk about what’s got you so down?”
“...I tried to help out Miyu, but I think I just made everything worse between the four of us…” She let out a sigh. “…And it’s got me thinking about some things and feeling pretty down in the dumps.”
“Do you want to give up magic and return to just being a normal girl?”
“Not really. I don’t hate magic or even fighting against the Class Cards, what I don’t like is that I hurt my best friend.”
“Hmm, I see. Why didn’t you try to help Rin and Luvia go after Miyu so that you could explain yourself further and smooth things out with her?”
“Because… I think she genuinely hates me now. Taiga is undeniably evil and was just using Miyu’s timid nature and her insecurities to get into her pants, but despite that, she seems to have genuinely loved her. I knew that if I tried to chase after her, she’d probably end up hating me more and never want to see me again.”
“But why do you seem to care so much about that? Sure, having your friend tell you that they hate you will undeniably hurt, but I doubt you’d act this way if Rin, Luvia, or any of your school friends told you this. So, why do you care so much about what Miyu thinks?”
The white haired girl’s cheeks flushed as her eyes drifted downward to look at the ground.
“…Miyu is really cute… and I think I might have a crush on her. I want to be with her… so her telling me that she hates me hurts more than any other person telling me that.”
“I’m not really the best relationship coach out there; I’m more of a girl who likes destroying anything in sight that bothers her. But if you really do have feelings for Miyu, I think you should pursue her.”
“But that’ll just make things worse between us. Right now, she hates me… and I feel that if I looked for her and confessed my feelings to her… she’ll either won’t believe me, or she’ll get mad at me and her hatred of me will only further be cemented in her mind.”
“While that might be what happens, I think it’s better for you to try to speak with her about how you feel toward her than to keep it bottled up out of fear of being rejected and hated.“
“…But what if Taiga somehow gets to her first and tries to manipulate her again?”
“Well then, I’ll let you control me so that we can beat her to a bloody pulp as effectively as possible.”
“C-Control you?”
“Yes. I’m pretty aggressive and unruly, but I’ll let you use my strength to help you get to Miyu. However, don’t think you’re gonna be the one calling all the shots. If you do anything that displeases me, I’ll still take control and do as I please.”
“All right. Thank you, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow.” Illya cheerfully said as she walked over to her Stand and hugged her right leg. “Even if Miyu doesn’t feel the same way about me, I want her to know how I feel.”

Chapter Text

-The next day-
Miyu began to open her eyes. She turned her head slightly to the right to look at the window and saw that the sky was completely covered by dark clouds and that it was raining incredibly heavily outside. Ever since she had her argument with the girls who had been using her, she had left to try to look for Taiga, but she was unsuccessful. Eventually, the black haired girl grew tired, but since she had nowhere to go, she had to go looking for a place to sleep. She settled on sneaking into the tallest building in Fuyuki and taking a nap in one of the many beds it had that hadn’t been used in over a year.
“Good morning, master.” Sapphire calmly said as she flew up from under the bed that her master rested on to look at her. “How do you feel?”
“I feel fine. But I’m a little hungry right now. I think we should search around to see if there’s a fridge with any ingredients in one of the rooms here that I could use to cook something up.”
“Are you sure that’d be wise to do? This building has been abandoned for a year now, so anything the employees might’ve left behind may have already gone bad, even if it was left in a fridge.”
“That’s true, but there’s a chance that’s not the case. And I think it’d be much more preferable if I ate any food that may have been forgotten in this building than letting any roaches or rats get to it, wouldn’t you agree?” She asked as she sat up.
“Do as you wish. But if we’re unable to find anything edible, let’s go look for food elsewhere.”
Miyu nodded her head as she stood up and began to walk out of the room she was in. Sapphire quickly floated behind her as the two of them made their way to the right toward where the elevator was. Despite the fact that the company that owned the building they were in had gone bankrupt and left it abandoned, someone was still paying for the electrical bill, as evident by the fact that the air conditioning was on full blast and that the elevator was still completely operational. After a minute of walking, the black haired girl arrived at the elevator. She pressed on the button to the right of it and waited a few seconds before the doors opened. Miyu was about to step inside of it when she heard an eardrum shattering roar that was completely incapable of being made by either a human or even the fiercest of animals.
“What was that?” Miyu asked with wide eyes as she froze in place and turned to look at Sapphire.
“I-It can’t be here, can it? Wh-What would it be doing here of all places?” The Kaleidostick asked, sounding both shocked and terrified as a single thought rose to the forefront of her mind.
“Wait a minute. When you say it, you mean the-“
Before Miyu could finish her question, the ground suddenly began to shake as deafening, booming sounds reverberated throughout the floor she was on. With each passing second, these crashes grew louder and louder until a black haired, red and yellow eyed gigantic man with dark skin, who wore almost no clothing except for metal cuffs around his wrists and ankles and a dark brown leather skirt around his waist. In his right hand he wielded a humongous dark brown axe-sword with a blade that was made completely out of razor sharp crystals.
“MIYU! I’VE BEEN SEARCHING ALL OVER THIS CITY, BUT NOW I’VE FINALLY FOUND YOU!” The titan screamed before bursting into laughter.
“The Berserker Card!”
She was about to run into the elevator when the Class Card suddenly leapt toward her, his head and shoulders going through the roof. This caused her to jump behind her to avoid being crushed by him. Upon seeing this, he swung his weapon to the side, splitting the elevator car in two and making the lower half fall all the way to the first floor, causing a loud crashing noise that echoed all the way up to where Berserker and Miyu were.
“No more running away from me, child.” He joyfully said as he stared down at his target.
“M-Miyu, we need to get out of here as quickly as possible. The Assassin card told us Berserker was far more powerful than any of his peers, and we don’t have Illya, Luvia, and Rin to lend us any aid. There’s no way we can win against it.”
“No.” The black haired girl said, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. “All of this started because of me. I hate fighting, I hate all who want to use me, and I hate even looking at these Class Cards, but I will never be able to get any sort of semblance of a normal life if I don’t defeat this final obstacle!” She quickly pulled the wooden box the Class Cards were inside of out of her pocket and opened it.
Before she could do anything, Berserker let out a mighty roar and rushed at Miyu. Not having any time to think about which card would be best to use against her enemy, she quickly pulled out the saber card.
“I beg of you, grant me your power!” She shouted as she tossed it to the ground before placing Magical Sapphire’s heel on it, causing a large blue rune to appear under her. “I need your strength to beat Berserker! Please, let me install your power into me!”
Berserker swung his weapon’s flat side at his target’s head when a huge magical tornado appeared around Miyu, blocking his attack from reaching her despite his best efforts. After a handful of seconds, the magical wind vanished, forcing the black haired girl to duck to avoid the attack before thrusting Sapphire, who had transformed into a sword with a blue hilt and a golden cross edge, forward, piercing the Class Card’s stomach with ease. Just like her Kaleidostick, Miyu’s clothing had transformed as well. Instead of donning her regular magical girl outfit, she wore silver boots that went up to her knees, a blue skirt with silver armor to the side of it, silver gauntlets, and a blue and white top that left her midriff completely exposed. On the back of her head was a blue ribbon that tied her hair into a bun. Her eyes drifted downward to look at her clothing before she began to think.
You’ve always loved me. If anyone was going to protect me, it was going to be you. Let’s beat Berserker together so that I can finally be left alone by this wretched world.

Chapter Text

-Meanwhile-
Illya opened her eyes and sat up while yawning. She rubbed them and then turned her head to look at her bedroom’s window. The sky was covered with dark clouds, and it was raining heavily outside. The white haired girl grabbed her phone from under her pillow before checking the time. It was 7:40, rather early to be waking up at during a weekend day. Despite this, she decided to get up and walk toward her closet. She opened it and smiled at Ruby.
“Ruby, it’s time for us to go outside.”
“You’re kidding, right? It’s still much too early for that, and it’s raining pretty heavily outside.”
“Yeah, I know.” She cheerfully said. “But I won’t let that stop me. I need to find Miyu so that I can tell her how I feel.”

-
“Excalibur!” The black haired girl shouted as her weapon shot a huge beam of yellow magic at Berserker, completely engulfing his body and sending him flying all the way across the room. He slammed into the wall, and once the attack dissipated, he stood up, completely unharmed.
“Nice shot, kid! But that’s not anywhere near enough to defeat me!” He said, his voice booming throughout the vacant building.
Without any warning, he rushed at Miyu with immense speed, getting in front of her in less than a second. She wasted no time and quickly ducked beneath his arm before bolting forward and throwing a powerful kick at his stomach that sent him flying upward through several floors. Miyu swiftly jumped through the holes in the ceiling and landed in front of the Class Card.
“It seems that your speed and strength increased dramatically. You managed to do all that without even using Moonchild. These Class Cards are truly something impressive.” Sapphire calmly said.
“Indeed they are. But don’t get all excited yet. We haven’t even managed to injure Berserker.”
Without any warning, the Class Card swept his colossal left leg across the floor, forcing Miyu to jump away from him. Wasting no time, he quickly jumped up, going through several more floors with ease before falling toward where the black haired girl stood and swinging his sword-axe’s flat side at her. She ran forward and jumped over the massive gap in the floor to avoid the incoming attack. Upon seeing this, Berserker began to grin from ear to ear before slamming his stomach on the floor, forming a large hole in it before bouncing to the wall to his left and then bouncing back at Miyu. Upon seeing the Class Card grow closer to her, she ran forward as quickly as possible.
“It doesn’t matter what sort of magic you use or how fast you run; you won’t be escaping me anytime soon!” He roared before slamming his fists onto the ground, sending a massive shockwave at the black haired girl.
It zoomed toward her at blinding speed and sent her flying into a wall several feet behind her. With his opponent disoriented, Berserker ran toward her as quickly as possible and grabbed her legs, nearly crushing them despite not grabbing her with that much force. Miyu let out a pained grunt as her opponent began to spin around in a circle, swinging her like a rag doll through the walls behind him and to his left. After a few seconds, Berserker threw her upwards, sending her through all of the remaining floors and launching her through the roof of the building. The black haired girl landed on the floor next to the large opening that she had been tossed out of. She breathed heavily as blood gushed out of her head and her vision blurred.
“Miyu, are you all right?”
“I’m fine… a little injured, but I can still keep fighting.” She weakly responded as she slowly stood up, her legs shaking and barely capable of supporting her weight.
A few seconds later, Berserker jumped out of the hole in the floor and let out a powerful roar.
“You won’t be running away any time soon, kid. Give up so that I don’t have to hurt you anymore.”
“No… I’m gonna keep fighting… until I defeat you.” She said through heavy breaths as she raised Sapphire and pointed her at him. “Once you’re out of the way… I’ll be able to go back to living a normal life… and I won’t need to fight anymore.”
“I see. I didn’t want to do this, but it seems like I might have to cripple you so that you don’t pose any problems to me!” His voice boomed before he rushed at his opponent.
He swung the flat side of his weapon at her head, causing her to jump to the side before swinging her sword upward, cleanly cutting off Berserker’s pillar-like right arm.
“What? Impossible!”
“Class Card, die so that I can live a happy, normal life!” Miyu yelled as loudly as she possibly could before jumping up and stabbing him through the chest. “EXCALIBUR!”
A gigantic beam of magic that completely dwarfed her earlier attack engulfed Berserker but didn’t push him back like last time. Once her attack dissipated, Berserker stood as still as a statue, completely unharmed externally as the light slowly left his eyes. Miyu took a deep breath as she looked up at her opponent and pulled her sword out of him.
“It’s over… Sapphire… we-“
Suddenly, Berserk’s severed arm jumped at her and threw a powerful punch at her left cheek, fracturing her skull and pushing her back, nearly knocking her off the roof. Not even a second later, the light returned to Berserker’s eyes as he grabbed his arm and reattached it to himself.
“Just kidding!” He boisterously shouted before bursting into laughter.
“Y-You’re alive? But how?”
“Being able to only resurrect nine times after death is far too little, wouldn’t you agree, Miyu? It’s for that reason that I’m grateful that I can now die as many times as I want, and I’ll come back good as new!” Berserker cheerfully yelled before flexing his arm.
The black haired girl’s eyes widened as she fell to her knees and dropped Sapphire.
“Miyu! W-What’s wrong?”
“It’s useless… we can’t win…”
“That’s right! And now, you’ll be coming with me!” He yelled as he rushed at his enemy.
He threw a punch straight at her head, but before he could make contact with her, someone grabbed him by the legs and lifted him high into the air.
“W-What!” He looked down and saw a colossal, feminine, white figure who was only a bit shorter than him lifting him over her head.
Beside her was a girl who appeared to be around the same age as Miyu with white hair and red eyes who wore a pink outfit.
“Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow. Kill Berserker.”
A grin spread across her face as she swiftly froze the Class Card solid. She then slammed her hands together, causing him to completely shatter and burst into smoke, leaving behind a card with a creature that somewhat resembled a satyr from Greek mythology.
“I-Illya? Y-You really came all the way here… just so that you could defeat Berserker.” She weakly said, still trying to catch her breath as she turned her head slightly to look away from her. “There… you got the last Class Card like you wanted. Are you happy now? Can you… leave me alone?”
Illya bent down to pick up the berserker card before walking toward Miyu and hugging her.
“I didn’t come here solely because of the Class Card; I came here because… because I love you.”
The black haired girl’s face flushed.
“You’re really cute… and I hate seeing you sad and in pain. You might not believe me… but all I want is for you to be safe and happy. Of course I wanted to defeat the Class Cards, but your well-being is more of a concern to me than any of that.”
“You’re… in love with me?”
“Yes. I understand if you don’t feel the same way about me… but if that happens… can we at least go back to being friends?”
“Illya… I-“
“ILLYA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY GIRL, YOU HOMEWRECKER?” Taiga screamed as she jumped up to the roof and quickly swiped the berserker card out of her hand.

Chapter Text

“Taiga! How did you know we were here? And why do you want the Class Card?” Illya shouted, pointing Ruby at her head. “I was willing to let you flee with your life yesterday, and a part of me still is. So unless you want to end up in a ditch with all of your limbs torn off, I suggest you give me back the berserker card and leave my sight immediately, you sick freak!”
A wide grin spread across the brunette’s face as she rubbed the Class Card up and down her right cheek.
“For a few days now, I’ve been watching you girls in secret so I could make sure that you wouldn’t make any moves on Miyu. I’ve seen you and your friends fight against real powerful guys and how powerful these little pieces of paper can be!” She gleefully shouted. “As for how I found where you were, not too long after I had managed to flee from you, I decided to sneak my way back home so that Miyu and I could flee Fuyuki together, only to discover that she was nowhere to be found. I then spent the entire night looking through the entirety of this city only to find her hiding in this building. I’ve barely gotten any sleep because of that and only woke up a few minutes ago because of that giant’s roars, but I’ll just put my drowsiness off by drinking a large cup of coffee once we get out of here.” She reached out for Miyu’s hand. “So, let’s get out of this hateful city that’s intolerant toward our most unusual love and move elsewhere. My dad owned a house in the countryside that I’ve only been to a handful of times, but I inherited it after he died. It’s nice, remote, and fairly large, a perfect place for us to start a family once you’re an adult! Take my hand and let’s leave Fuyuki at once!”
Miyu’s face flushed as she turned her head downward to look at the floor.
“Taiga… I… love you, but-“
“Miyu, don’t go with her! That woman doesn’t care about you beyond your body!” Illya shouted, elbowing her to the side. “I get it if you don’t love me back, but I can’t stand by as this sick pedophile lies to your face so that she can have her way with you!”
“Illya… I think I’m in-“
Taiga angrily gritted her teeth and kicked Illya in the stomach before shouting once again.
“Don’t listen to her! She’s just trying to manipulate you so that she can steal you from me!”
“SHUT UP, YOU CHILD PREDATOR!” Illya screamed as Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow rushed at her enemy.
“What do you know about love, you overly aggressive ankle biter!” Taiga shouted as Little Girls ran at her opponent.
The two Stands threw a punch at each other’s faces, only for their fists to collide with one another and lock each other in place.
“I already defeated you once. Beating you again shouldn’t give me much trouble!”
Taiga began to grin from ear to ear at her student’s words.
“That might’ve been true before, but with this magical card, I’ll finally be able to get rid of you once and for all!” She gleefully yelled before slamming the berserker card onto the floor, causing a yellow rune to appear under her feet.
“TAIGA STOP!” Miyu screamed.
“You idiot! What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’ve never used magic before, but it doesn’t matter! Once I install this sucker’s power, you’ll be as good as dead!”
Suddenly, Taiga’s body was completely enveloped by magical gusts of wind before she emerged from it wearing completely different clothes. Most of her clothing had vanished, and in its place was a black armored skirt, black anklets around her wrists and ankles, and an incredibly thin black strap around her chest that just narrowly managed to hide her nipples. In her right hand was Berserker’s huge axe-sword.
“I feel great!” Taiga gleefully shouted before taking a deep breath. “With this newly acquired strength, I’ll maul you!”

Chapter Text

Taiga wasted no time and rushed at Illya. She swung her weapon directly at the white haired girl’s head, but right when she was only a few inches away from it, Miyu ran in front of the two of them, stopping the brunette from beheading Illya.
“Taiga, please stop this!” The black haired girl pleaded. “I love the two of you, I really do. So instead of trying to hurt each other, why don’t the two of you agree to put aside your differences and disdain for one another, and the three of us could start dating each other.”
“Oh please, Miyu. I don’t want to share you with anyone, especially this ragefueled brat. You belong to me, and me alone, and I don’t intend to lose you to this sad excuse of a girl anytime soon!” Taiga yelled before kicking the black haired girl in her left hip, pushing her to the side.
Without any hesitation, she rushed forward and swung her weapon at Illya.
“Ruby, now!” She shouted.
Not even a second later, a blade made out of magic appeared above the Kaleidostick’s head. She raised her weapon above her head to block the attack only for Taiga to overpower it with ease and knock her arm away. She wasted no time and thrust her axe sword forward, skewering the white haired girl through the stomach. Illya’s eyes widened as her mouth filled up with blood before her teacher threw a powerful kick at her stomach that send her flying away to the right.
“Illya!” Miyu shouted as the Class Card suddenly ejected itself out of her chest, returning her to a regular form.
She attempted to run after her friend, but before she could reach her, Taiga spoke up.
“Stay here, Miyu. I’ll be back in a few minutes with that little terror’s head in my hands. I’m sure it’ll look absolutely lovely in our new home.” She confidently said before jumping after her opponent with immense speed.
“No! I won’t let you hurt Illya!” She shouted before jumping into the air and flying after her.
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow attempted to Stand leap after her master, but before she could follow her, Little Girls grabbed onto her left leg and slammed her onto the floor, causing a large impact crater to form around her. Illya’s Stand let out a powerful roar before throwing a kick at her enemy’s stomach, pushing her across the roof from her. She quickly jumped onto her feet before rushing after Little Girls and throwing a barrage of punches at her chest and face. Just as before, Taiga’s Stand effortlessly avoided the attacks by moving from left to right. After a few seconds, it threw a powerful punch at her stomach, pushing her a few feet back. Not wasting any time, it quickly reached into its left pocket and pulled out a lengthy metal chain from it. She quickly threw it at Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow, but before it could wrap itself around her, she quickly grabbed onto it and crushed it with ease. Before she had an opportunity to get closer to it, Little Girls quickly pulled out a blowgun from its right pocket, took a deep breath, and brought it to its mouth before firing several darts at its opponent. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow threw several powerful punches at the incoming projectiles, and once she had smacked them all away, she began to pound on her chest while letting out powerful roars that echoed throughout several blocks as ice cold gusts of wind shot toward Little Girls. The top half of her feet were quickly covered in a thick layer of frost. To avoid having the rest of them be completely frozen over and losing its mobility, the Stand rushed forward and threw a barrage of punches at Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow’s chest. Before any of its attacks could make contact with het, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow stopped pounding on her chest and threw a flurry of blows at the incoming attacks. Both of the Stand’s fists collided with one another, but neither of them were able to overpower the other despite how much they tried, leaving them locked in place as they glared at the other Stand.

-
Illya landed on the roof of a nearby building. She attempted to stand up when Taiga landed in front of her.
“You’re not gonna get away now, you little brat!” The brunette shouted before swinging her weapon at her student’s head.
Ruby quickly created a pink barrier in front of her to block the attack. However, Taiga’s attack effortlessly shattered through Illya’s defense and continued moving toward her. Without any other choice, the white haired girl was forced to roll to the left, causing her teacher to throw a powerful kick at her jaw that sent her flying away, causing her to go through several buildings.
“No getting away!” She roared before jumping after her.
In just a few seconds, Taiga had managed to catch up with Illya. She quickly swung the flat side of her axe-sword downward, causing her to be sent plummeting into the ground and for a huge impact crater to form around her. The brunette wasted no time before landing beside her, grabbing her by the neck, and then launching her into the air. She then jumped after her and slammed her weapon into the side of her head, sending her flying onto the roof of another building. Upon landing, Illya stabbed Magical Ruby into the floor, allowing her to stand up, before Taiga arrived in front of her.
“You simply can’t defeat me, child. If you swear on your life that you will flee and keep silent about all that you’ve witnessed, then I shall show you mercy and leave immediately. However, if you don’t, I’ll gladly sever that precious little head from your shoulders!” She gleefully shouted.
“I won’t back away from you! I won’t let such a sick, twisted woman abuse Miyu!” She shouted before firing a huge pink beam at her chest.
Taiga began to grin from ear to ear before rushing at the projectile and slapping it to her left, sending it flying into the distance. The brunette wasted no time and rushed at her enemy, slashing her across the chest before sweeping her feet, causing her to fall to the floor.
“It’s over, Illya. This card’s increased my strength and speed tenfold; there’s no way you can beat me. Is there anything you’d like to get off your chest before I decapitate you?” She calmly asked as she slowly approached the white haired girl.
“Taiga… damn you…” She said through gritted teeth.
“Hey, I gave you an opportunity to flee from me, and yet you threw it away. The only one you should be mad at right now should be yourself.”
Once she was directly in front of Illya, she raised her axe-sword above her head and quickly swung it downward, but before she could behead her opponent, Miyu flew over to her, grabbed her, and then moved to her left, avoiding the attack.
“Miyu…” Illya weakly said.
“Miyu! W-What are you doing? Let go of Illya right this instant!”
“No! I won’t let you kill my best friend, and the girl I love! I might still have feelings for you, but I won’t stay by a girl who’s willing to kill someone important to me’s side!” She shouted as she pulled the box that held the Class Cards out of her pocket and handed it to Illya. “Please, use whichever one you want.”
“All right. I think I have the perfect one in mind.” She said as she pulled the lancer Class Card out from the box and looked down at it.

Chapter Text

“All right, Class Card. I’m gonna need every last ounce of your strength to best Taiga.” Illya calmly said before placing the Class Card on the ground, causing a magical rune to appear under her.
“Try putting Ruby’s heel onto it.”
Illya nodded her head.
“Let me install you into me!” She shouted as she placed Ruby’s heel on top of the card.
A magical tornado appeared around her for a few seconds before dissipating. Illya stood up and, instead of wearing her usual magical girl attire, she wore blue armor with silver shoes and shoulder plates that left large gaps in between her thighs and her navel completely exposed and that showed off her pair of blue panties. All of her injuries had seemingly been completely healed. Ruby had also transformed, becoming a huge blood red spear.
“I already feel much stronger. I’ll beat you in a flash, you child predator!” Illya confidently shouted as she pointed Ruby at her.
“Flashing me with your panties isn’t going to do anything! Even if you’re stronger now, your head’s still going to be mine!” She shouted before rushing forward and swinging her huge axe-sword at her opponent’s neck.
Illya quickly ducked down to avoid the attack before thrusting Ruby forward, purposefully avoiding hitting Taiga.
“Gae Bolg.”
Without any warning, the brunette began to feel a sharp pain in her chest that completely stopped her in her tracks.
“W-What’s happening?” She yelled as she clutched her chest. “M-My heart! Wh-Why is my heart-“
“So that was your plan all along.” Ruby said. “Use this Class Card’s ability to defeat Taiga without even having to hit her once.”
Illya’s smile widened.
“Guilty as charged.”
After a few seconds, Taiga let out a weak groan before falling onto her back, hitting the floor with a thud.
“And it seems everything went just as planned.“ Illya said before walking toward Taiga to retrieve the berserker card.
Once she was only a few feet away from her teacher, the brunette’s eyes suddenly widened before she swept the floor with her left leg, knocking Illya to the ground.
“That hurt, but it’s nothing I can’t power through.” Taiga cheerfully said as she jumped onto her feet and rushed at the white haired girl.
She swung her axe-sword at her chest, causing her enemy to move her lance over to it to block the attack. Unfortunately, her weapon didn’t slow Taiga’s strike down in the slightest, and the brunette effortlessly split it in two. Before she could hit her, Illya jumped away.
“Ruby, are you okay?”
“Yes. I should be able to heal myself fairly quickly.”
“That’s good. That attack should’ve killed Taiga, but she walked it off as if it were nothing. It seems like the only reason she was able to have survived that attack was because of her Class Card’s ability. Before I’m able to defeat her, I might have to knock the Class Card out of her.” She said before turning to look at her teacher.
“Was that everything you’ve got? How pathetic! Just stop your futile struggle and let me kill you already!”
“Nope. I’ve still got a few more tricks left up my sleeve!” She confidently responded as several red spears appeared above her head. “Like this!” She shouted before the weapons were launched at her.
Taiga swung her axe-sword at the spear closest to her and hit it, but instead of knocking it away, the projectile exploded, knocking Taiga all the way off the building’s roof. The brunette landed on her feet and turned her head upward only to see a barrage of red spears headed her way.
“Oh crap-“
Before she could finish speaking, the weapons hit the ground around her and exploded, the blasts completely engulfing her. Illya quickly ran down the side of the building before jumping at the brunette. Once the explosions and the smoke they formed cleared, she stabbed her opponent through the head before throwing a powerful kick at her stomach that sent her flying away. The white haired girl wasted no time and quickly chased after her. Taiga gritted her teeth before stabbing her weapon’s blade into the ground to bring herself to a stop. Once Illya was close enough to her, she raised her axe-sword and swung it at her head, intending to bisect it. However, the white haired girl quickly ducked beneath it before thrusting her spear upward, effortlessly tearing her arm off her. Taiga let out a pained shout before her enemy rushed forward and threw a powerful uppercut at her jaw to send her flying upward. Illya speedily ran over to her and threw her spear at Taiga’s stomach, sending her flying even farther upward before exploding once more. Illya jumped after her and threw a powerful punch at her head that sent her flying onto the roof of another building. Taiga landed on her back as Illya landed in front of her, pointing Ruby at her.
“Give up already. I might not be able to kill you, but there’s no way you can beat me. I may hate you, but I’m willing to spare your life if you hand over the Class Card and leave my sight immediately.”
Taiga suddenly burst into laughter as she saw her arm quickly climb up the side of the building and stand next to her enemy.
“You’re too overconfident, kid! You’re not anywhere close to defeating me!” She gleefully shouted before her arm jumped at her opponent.
It closed itself to form a fist, but before it could punch Illya in the back of the head, both it and Taiga’s other hand suddenly tensed up and became unable to move, causing the severed arm to fall to the ground next to Illya.
“W-What’s happening? Why can’t I-I move my hands?” She shouted.

-
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow grabbed onto Little Girls’ hands and froze them solid, causing it to be unable to move or attack with them. A smile spread across Illya’s Stand’s face as she threw a powerful punch at her enemy’s stomach that sent it flying away. She wasted no time and quickly jumped after it with a wide grin on her face.

-
“It seems like Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow might have frozen your Stand’s hands. Now, without any way to attack, there’s absolutely no way you can win. If you value your life, give me the Class Card and flee at once.”
“I-I’m sorry! I-I’m sorry I threatened to kill you! Please just take your card back and let me go!” She yelled as she got on her knees and brought her head to the floor.
A few seconds later, Miyu landed behind Illya and turned to look at her.
“Is it over? Did you defeat Taiga?”
“Yeah. I just gotta get the Class Card back from her, and then we can get out of here.”
Suddenly, Little Girls was launched straight at the roof of the building the girls were on and landed on its stomach in front of Miyu.
“Little Girls, you’re here. You made it just in time!” Taiga shouted, her voice becoming much more elated as her Stand stood up and wrapped its arms around Miyu.
“I-Illya!” She shouted while reaching out for her as Taiga’s Stand jumped over to its master.
“I may not be able to defeat you, but I’ve gotten just what I wanted! I don’t need to waste my time fighting against you anymore!” She gleefully shouted before jumping into the air.
Instead of shouting and running after her, Illya simply grinned as Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow leapt at her and slammed her fists into Little Girls’ head, knocking it and its master to the floor and causing it to relinquish Miyu from its grasp.
“No fair…” Taiga weakly said as she stared at the sky.
“Miyu, are you all right?” Illya asked.
The black haired girl nodded her head as she ran over to her friend.
“Taiga, how dare you try to kidnap Miyu?”
“Illya… I’m sorry. P-Please, just spare my life and let me go home. I’ll give the C-Class Card; ju-just let me go!” She pleaded as blood gushed out of her head.
A grin spread across the white haired girl’s face.
“Oh, please. Do you really think I’d show a rotten piece of shit like you an ounce of mercy?”
Taiga’s eyes widened as she quickly jumped up and rushed at Illya.
“Y-You’re so mean!”
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow quickly rushed at Taiga while letting out an eardrum shattering roar and threw a barrage of punches at her face before moving them downward and focusing on her stomach and chest. Taiga attempted to stop the seemingly endless barrage by raising her arm to push her opponent away, only for the Stand to grab onto it and effortlessly tear it off. She then kicked her into the air and jumped after her. The Stand wasted no time and continued to pummel her face in with a barrage of punches.
“Please stop!” She weakly begged.
A few seconds later, the berserker card was ejected out of her chest and landed on the roof that Illya and Miyu were on. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow let out one last roar before slamming her fists onto her chest, sending her plummeting into the dumpster in the alleyway next to the building her master was on. With her opponent defeated, the Stand landed back on the roof and walked over to Illya and Miyu.
“It’s finally over.” The white haired girl calmly said as she walked over to the berserker card and picked it up.
She then ejected the lancer card from her chest and picked it up as well.
“Now that we have all the Class Cards. What do you want to do?”
“Let’s go back to Luvia’s mansion. We should give them to her and Rin for safekeeping before we do anything else.” Illya said before jumping away.
Miyu quickly jumped after her.

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
Luvia was sleeping peacefully in her bed. She had been up all of last night looking for Miyu but was unsuccessful in finding her. Due to this, she didn’t get even a wink of sleep and was incredibly tired once she got home. Upon entering her room, the first two things she did were fall onto her bed and quickly fall asleep. As the blonde continued to sleep peacefully, there was a sudden knock at the door, which woke her up.
“Hello, Luvia. Are you in there? There’s something Illya and I want to talk to you about.”
“M-Miyu? Is that you?” She yawned as she slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. “A-Am I dreaming right now?”
“No. It’s really me. May Illya and I please come in?”
“Sure. Come inside.”
The black haired girl, who had returned to her regular form but still held Sapphire in her left hand, quickly opened the door and stepped inside. Her friend, who was also no longer in her magical girl form, wasted no time and followed after her.
“What do you two want to talk to me about?”
“Luvia, we did it. We got all of the Class Cards.” Miyu calmly said as she pulled the box that contained the Class Cards from out of her right pocket and opened it.
The blonde slowly grabbed it from her before steadily taking the cards out of the box and placing them in front of her.
“Let’s see. Lancer, caster, archer, rider, saber, assassin, and last but not least, berserker.” She smiled before turning to look at the girls. “You really weren’t joking when you said you got all of them.” Luvia stood up, walked over to Miyu, and hugged her. “Thank you. I really couldn’t have done this without you.”
She moved her arm away from her before bringing it up to her head and gently patting it, causing her eyes to widen gently.
“I’m gonna call Rin over in a few minutes to discuss this with her. You two can go elsewhere if you want.”
“All right.” Illya calmly said as she began to gently hold onto Miyu’s right hand. “We’ll be in my house if you need me for anything.”
“I’ll be sure to text you if the two of us need to speak with you.”
The white haired girl nodded her head before she and her friend walked out of Luvia’s room and closed the door behind them. Once she was alone, the blonde pulled her phone out of her pocket and began to text Rin.
Come to my mansion immediately. There’s something very important I need to talk to you about.
The blonde waited a few minutes, but eventually, her fellow magus responded.
All right. I’ll come to your mansion as soon as possible.
Over at the Einzbern household, Illya unlocked the door, allowing her and Miyu to step inside to see that all of the lights on the first floor were still turned off.
“It doesn’t seem like anyone’s up yet. For the time being, let’s keep our voices down while we’re in my room.”
The black haired girl nodded her head before she and her friend walked over to the stairs, went up them, and made their way to Illya’s room. She opened the door to her room, allowing her and her friend to enter it before closing the door behind her and locking it. The two of them walked over to the bed and sat down on it before beginning to speak with each other.
“So it’s finally over. We beat all of the Class Cards, gave them back to Luvia and Rin, and defeated anyone who may have proved troublesome to us. We never have to fight again.”
“I sure hope we don’t. I don’t wanna fight anything again anytime soon.” The black haired girl softly said as she leaned over and rested her head on Illya’s shoulder, causing her to blush slightly.
“Since we’re alone, I might as well ask you something. Do you want to be my girlfriend? I’m in love with you, a-and it’d mean the world to me if you agreed to-“
Miyu began to gently hold onto Illya’s left hand.
“Of course. I love you too.” She said, softly smiling at her. “I’m sorry I got mad at you yesterday. I just couldn’t-“
“There’s no need to apologize. Now that the two of us are together, everything’s all right.” She said as she moved her head toward Miyu’s. “If we ever have to fight anything again, you can be sure that I’ll protect you with everything I’ve got.”
“I don’t like fighting, but if we ever get into another battle, I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe.”
The two girls gently kissed for a few seconds before moving back. Illya wrapped her arms around Miyu and began to hug her.
“I love you, Miyu.”
“You’re the first person to actually feel this way about me here.” She said as her smile widened. “I’m truly in love with you, Illya.”

-Meanwhile-
Rin used Happiness is a Warm Gun to jump over the fence of the Edelfelt mansion before making her way to the door. Once she was there, she opened it, stepped inside, and then closed the door before making her way toward Luvia’s room. She quickly walked up the stairs and walked down the hallway until she reached it. She then knocked on the door before speaking.
“Hey, Luvia. Are you in there? I’ve come to speak with you about whatever you wanted.”
“Yes. Please come in.”
The black haired girl opened the door, entered the room, and then slammed it shut behind her before walking over to her ally.
“So what do you want to talk about?”
A wide smile spread across Luviagelita’s face as she pulled the box that contained the Class Cards from under her blanket.
“Miyu and Illya finally managed to retrieve all of the Class Cards?”
“W-What? You’re joking, right?”
“Of course I’m not. If you don’t believe me, you can have a look for yourself.” She said, handing the box over to Rin.
The black haired girl quickly grabbed it before opening it and checking the cards inside it.
“Oh my god. They really did manage to get all seven of them.” She began to smile as widely as possible. “This is fantastic! We can finally go back to the Clock Tower! I’ll tell Zelretch about this right away so that he can escort us back to England as soon as possible.”
“Yes… go back to the Clock Tower.” Luvia said, her eyes drifting away to look at the floor.
“You don’t seem too happy about all of this. Is something the matter?”
“No, I was just thinking about something. Miyu’s not a magus, so she can’t come with us to the Clock Tower, and she doesn’t know Finnish, so she wouldn’t be able to live properly in Finland. So it seems like… I might have to leave her behind in Japan with a few of the housekeepers. And the thought of leaving an orphan who just gained a family alone with strangers she’s never met before… doesn’t sit right with me. I really don’t know what to do about her.”
“Well, why don’t you ask her what she wants to do? I’m sure she wouldn’t be mad or upset if you let her decide on what she does.”
“That’s not a bad suggestion. I’ll be sure to ask her about it later.”

Chapter Text

-A few hours later-
Sella walked upstairs and opened the door to Illya’s room. She stepped inside and saw her and a girl she had never seen before lying in bed with one another. The white haired woman quickly brought her right hand up to her mouth as she let out a gasp.
“I-Illya! W-Who is that? W-What were the two of you doing a-alone together?” She shouted as she slowly backed away from her cousin.
Due to the maid’s shouting, both Illya and Miyu began to open their eyes and sit up, turning their heads to look at her.
“It’s not what it looks like, Sella, I swear. This is my friend from school and our neighbor, Miyu Edelfelt, and I ended up inviting her over to our house for a sleepover while everyone else was asleep.” She lied.
“Indeed. I assure you we didn’t do whatever you were thinking we did.”
“…I see. Well then, Miyu, since I didn’t know you’d be staying with us, I didn’t make you anything to eat, and there isn’t any food leftover in the fridge. So, if you want breakfast, you’ll either have to order something or make it yourself.”
Before the black haired girl could say anything, Illya spoke up.
“It’s fine. I’ll just share my breakfast with her.” She said as she stood up. “Come on, let’s go downstairs.”
Miyu gently took hold of her friend’s hand before standing up. The two of them then made their way out of the room and downstairs with Sella following behind them. They turned to their left and walked into the kitchen, where they saw Irisviel, Kiritsugu, Leysritt, and Shirou all sitting at the table.
“Guten morgen, Illya… who’s that next to you?” Irisviel asked, raising an eyebrow.
“This is Miyu, my school friend and our neighbor from across the street. She came over late last night so that we could have a sleepover together.”
“Well then. Could you bring Miyu a chair for her to sit on, Sella?”
“All right.” She said, trying her best to not complain, before turning around and walking out of the kitchen.
“I’m not so sure about that. Friends, not even best friends, just regular friends, don’t usually hold hands while they walk somewhere together. Is it possible you two are secretly dating?” Kiritsugu jokingly asked.
A deep blush spread throughout the girls’ faces as Illya began to stammer.
“O-Of course not. W-We’re just friends, n-nothing more.”
Upon hearing this, Miyu moved over to her and began to whisper into her ear.
“You know, we don’t have to keep this a secret from everyone. Your family seems like the type of people who’d gladly accept our relationship. You can tell them about us if you want.”
“All right. But are you sure this is okay with you? We’ve only been a couple for a few hours now. Usually, you’re supposed to meet my parents after we’ve already been dating for at least a few weeks, if not months.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. Your family’s going to have to find out about our relationship eventually. Telling them about us now wouldn’t do any harm.”
The white haired girl nodded her head before she took a deep breath.
“Actually, mom, dad, Miyu and I are dating.”
“What?” Everyone who was sitting at the table and Sella, who had just entered the room with a metal chair in her hands, asked in unison.
“I was joking. I really didn’t expect you to get a partner at your age.”
“Oh, my dear little Illya is finally a woman. I’m so happy for you, sweetheart.”
“Huh? How did you get a girlfriend before me?” Shirou asked as he leaned back into his seat. “Life just isn’t fair sometimes.”
“Congrats, Illya. I’m happy for you, really. I hope your relationship works out, and the two of you get married sometime in the future.” Liz said, clapping her hands.
“While this was certainly unexpected, as long as you’re happy, I’ll gladly support it, Illya.” Sella said with a smile on her face as she placed the metal chair next to where Illya was going to sit.
The two girls walked over to their seats and sat down next to each other.
“So, after you two finish eating, are you planning on doing anything later?” Kiritsugu asked.
“Nah. We’re probably just going to stay here for the time being, or until Miyu decides to go home.”
The black haired girl nodded her head.
“Indeed. However, I don’t think I’ll be leaving anytime soon.”
“That’s good to know.” He replied. Miyu, I’m glad you and my daughter are a couple now. I hope the two of you get to spend many joyful years together.

Chapter Text

-Many hours later-
After eating breakfast with the rest of the Einzbern family, Illya and Miyu went back to their room, where they spent the rest of the day lying in bed together. It was around 7 o’clock, and the sun had started to set when Illya suddenly received a text message from Luvia.
Hey, Illya. Can you and Miyu come to the back of my mansion? I need to talk to you two about something important.
Also, can you bring Ruby and Sapphire with you? They need to be here as well.
All right. I’ll be there soon. The white haired girl wrote before turning her phone off and standing up.
“Who just texted you? And why are you standing up?”
“Luvia messaged me saying that she apparently has something to say to us and that we need to take our Kaleidosticks with us. She said it’s important, so as much as I want to stay in bed with you all day, we have to go speak with her.”
“All right.” She said before getting up and bending over to grab Magical Sapphire, who lay beneath her girlfriend’s bed. “Let’s not keep her waiting any longer and go speak with her.”

-A few minutes later-
Luvia and Rin were in front of a silver helicopter that stood in the blonde’s expansive backyard. The two girls were looking at the left side of the mansion, patiently waiting for Illya and Miyu to arrive.
“How much longer are they gonna keep us waiting here for? I’m sure the pilot’s already grown tired of watching us stand here and is desperately hoping we head inside already so that we can leave.”
“Nonsense. I’m sure that he understands that we have to say goodbye to two very important people before we can board his vehicle.”
A few seconds after Luviagelita finished speaking, Illya and Miyu, who held Ruby and Sapphire in their hands, walked into the backyard and calmly approached their two friends.
“So it looks like you two are finally heading back to the UK.”
“Correct. Now that we have all the Class Cards in our possession, our mission’s complete, and we don’t really have any reason to stay here.”
“Indeed. Since we’re leaving, Ruby and Sapphire have to return with us as well.”
“I figured this would happen.” Magical Ruby said, letting out a bitter chuckle. “Since we’re technically Zelretch’s property, and he’d definitely get furious at the two of you for not bringing us back, it looks like we have no choice but to go with you.”
“Despite my feelings on the matter, I have to agree with my sister. Before we leave, can I ask you two to do a favor for us?”
“Sure. What do you want?” Rin asked.
“Can you two promise not to bicker and argue while the helicopter heads for England?”
“We’ll try our best.” She responded, smiling at her.
“Yes. It should be possible, but I imagine it’d be quite the difficult task.” Luvia jokingly added as she turned to look at her sister. “Since Rin and I are about to leave, what would you like to do? You could come with us to the UK, and while you might not be allowed to attend the Clock Tower, I’ll gladly buy a house near it for the two of us to live in while I continue my studies there, or I could book a flight to Finland for you so that you can move in with my parents. Alternatively, you could stay here in my mansion with a few of the housekeepers and continue living in Japan as normal. Although, I’m sure it’d be quite lonely living with a bunch of people you don’t know until the moment I come back. So, where do you want to stay, Miyu?”
“I don’t want to go to Great Britain or Finland, but at the same time, I don’t want to stay in a huge mansion with a bunch of strangers. That’s why I want to stay with Illya and her family.”
“Wait, really?” The white haired girl asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Of course. A few days ago, you said your family would gladly take me in and even adopt me. While I don’t want them to do that last part anymore because it’d be pretty weird, I’d gladly live with you guys.”
“If that’s really what you want, then I won’t argue against it.” Luvia calmly said before walking over to her and hugging her. “I just hope you can have a happy life, no matter where you want to live.”
“Illya, Miyu, thank you for helping us. We wouldn’t have been able to gather the Class Cards if you hadn’t given us your assistance.”
“No problem. Despite everything that happened, I honestly found it to be rather fun.” Illya said while grinning back at her friend.
“Even though looking for the Class Cards brought a lot of turmoil and pain to my heart, I don’t regret it because I would’ve never otherwise met Illya or you girls.” She softly smiled.
“Well, I think we’ve chatted for long enough. Ruby, Sapphire, it’s time to get out of here.” Luvia said, letting go of Miyu and turning around.
“All right. See you girls later. I hope we meet each other soon someday.” Ruby said as she slipped out of her master’s hand and began to fly toward the helicopter’s entrance.
“And even if we don’t, I’ll always remember the time we spent together.” Sapphire added as she flew out of Miyu’s hand and began to follow after her sister.
“As will I.” The black haired girl said, waving goodbye.
“Bye, you two. I hope you have a safe trip back to England.”
“This is my home country, so I’m certain I’ll come back someday. And when I inevitably do, you two are gonna be some of the first people I tell about my visit here.” Rin said as she got onto the helicopter.
“Farewell, girls. I hope you text me every so often to let me know how you’re doing.” Luvia said as she walked onto the vehicle.
“I’ll be sure to.” Miyu responded.
With both of the girls now on the vehicle, Ruby and Sapphire flew onto it. A few seconds later, the helicopter turned on, and its blades began to spin around. Not long afterward, it took flight and began to move to the right, eventually leaving the girls’ field of view.
“Come on, Miyu, let’s get out of here.” The white haired girl said before gently taking ahold of her girlfriend’s hand.
The two of them turned around before they walked away from the backyard.

-Many hours later-
Rin, Luvia, Ruby, and Sapphire entered Zelretch’s office. They walked over to his desk, and the blonde pulled out the box of Class Cards from her dress’ pocket before placing it in front of him.
“All right. We got the Class Cards as you ordered of us.” Luviagelita confidently said as she pointed at herself.
The two Kaleidosticks quickly flew behind Zelretch as he grabbed the box, opened it, and began to look through the Class Cards.
“Lancer, caster, archer, rider, saber, assassin, berserker.” He set the box down before turning to look at the magi. “Yep, that’s seven of them. Well done, girls. You may go to your dorm rooms and finish unpacking your things if you haven’t already done so.”
“All right. Thank you.” Rin said as she and Luvia turned around and walked out of the room.
Once they were no longer in his office, Zelretch turned to speak with the Kaleidosticks.
“So how did those two behave on their trip to Japan? Knowing them, I’m assuming they didn’t get along very well, did they?”
“Not at all, sir.” Sapphire said.
“I see. That’s unfortunate, but still, I’m certain they’d make an excellent pair if they just put aside their differences and got along. For the time being, I’ll continue to push them to work with each other until they can become the unstoppable duo I know they could be.”

Chapter Text

-Two days later-
Illya opened her eyes to see Miyu standing next to her bed, already dressed in her uniform with a soft smile on her face.
“Good morning, my love. Did you sleep well?”
“Of course. As long as I’m with you, I’m certain to get plenty of sleep.”
“Hurry and get dressed so that we can go downstairs and eat breakfast. If you keep lying in bed, we’ll surely be late to school.”
“All right. I’ll get up.” The white haired girl said as she sat up while smiling.
She quickly got on her feet, walked over to her closet, pulled her uniform out of it, and got dressed. Once she was done getting ready for school, she and Miyu exited the bedroom, made their way downstairs, and turned to their right before quickly entering the kitchen. Sitting by the table was the entirety of Illya’s family, who had plates of omurice in front of them. Sella’s eyes widened slightly as she turned her head to look at the girls.
“You two are up already? Usually I have to go into Illya’s room to wake her up. It seems like dating you is really going to improve Illya’s sleeping habits.”
“Guten Morgen, girls. Are you ready to go to school as a couple for the first time?”
The duo nodded their heads as they walked over to the two vacant seats next to Irisviel and sat down on them.
“Yep. A lot’s happened over the past few days, and for once, I’d like to have a nice, normal day of school.”
“As do I.”
“Well then, I think you should start eating your food. There’s still quite a lot of time before school starts, but if we keep chatting, you’ll both end up late to class.” Kiritsugu suggested.
“You two could skip school if you were really itching to go on a date with each other, but you better not stay at home all day. This house is only big enough for one resident slacker.” Leysritt said as she stretched and leaned back into her chair.
Man, why does Illya get a girlfriend before me? I’m almost an adult and a girl’s never so much as looked at me as anything more than a friend before. Shirou thought as he let out a deep breath. Man, that’s not fair. Not fair at all.

-A few minutes later-
After finishing their breakfast, Illya and Miyu walked to school. Once they arrived at Homurahara, the couple entered it while holding hands and went upstairs until they reached their classroom, which they quickly walked into. As they made their way toward their desk, they noticed that nobody was sitting behind Taiga’s desk. Once they reached their seats, the two girls sat down on them and saw that Suzuka, Mimi, Nanaki, and Tatsuko were all present.
“Good morning, Illya, Miyu. How was your weekend?”
“I’m guessing it was fairly good, judging from the fact you two came in while holding hands.” The blonde said, her smile widening.
Her friends gasped.
“I didn’t even notice that. Is that true? Are you two actually together now?” The black haired girl asked.
“Yes. We’re officially girlfriends.” Miyu said with a soft smile on her face.
“A lot’s happened since Miyu transferred to our class, and I guess all of it just made me fall for her.” The white haired girl said as she leaned backward and wrapped her arms around her partner.
As her girlfriend hugged her, the black haired girl noticed that Nanaki was sitting at her desk, appearing to be completely fine.
“Oh, Nanaki. You’re finally back from the hospital. Are you all right?”
“Yep. Originally, I was gonna get discharged a day after I was admitted to hospital, but I implored the staff to let me stay by my sister’s side until she got better. I don’t think they were too happy with it, but they ultimately decided to let me stay with her until she was released.”
As the pink haired girl finished speaking, Tatsuko turned her head to look at the front of the room and noticed that her teacher still hadn’t arrived.
“It looks like Ms. Fujimura’s finally going to be late again after so long. I guess she must’ve overslept.” The blonde said, turning to look at Illya and Miyu and flashing a knowing smile at the two of them.
Eventually, the bell rang, but Taiga didn’t enter the classroom. The class was without a teacher for a few minutes when a black haired man who wore a pair of glasses, a green suit, and green pants entered the classroom.
“Hello, class. My name is Souichirou Kuzuki, and I’m going to be your teacher for, at the very least, today.” He said as he wrote his name on the blackboard behind him.
Once he was done, Mimi raised her hand.
“Yes?”
“Mr. Kuzuki, do you know why Ms. Fujimura is absent and whether or not she’ll come back tomorrow?”
“I have no idea about either of those questions. Some of your teacher’s coworkers have been trying to get in contact with her to see why she’s absent, but so far, they haven’t been successful. Until we find out why she didn’t come to work today, I can’t say for certain when she’ll be back. And if something happened to her, I might be assigned to teach this classroom for the rest of the year.”
Looks like you’ll be our teacher from now on. Illya thought as she looked at Mr. Kuzuki.

-Many hours later-
Since Taiga wasn’t in class and Kuzuki wasn’t informed of any of the things she had previously been teaching, none of the students in Illya’s class did anything and just sat around, talked with each other, and spent their time on their phones. Eventually, the uneventful school day came to an end, and the children were allowed to go back home. As Illya and Miyu walked back to the Einzbern household, the black haired girl turned her head and began to speak to her girlfriend.
“Before we return home, can we go somewhere?”
“Sure. Where do you want to go?”
“I’m in the mood for something sweet. How about I buy us some ice cream?”
“That sounds great.” She said as she began to hold her girlfriend’s hand. “Let’s head to the ice cream store, Miyu.” She said, smiling at her.

Chapter Text

-A month later-
Illya and Miyu walked into the classroom, holding hands as usual. As they walked toward their desks, they noticed Kuzuki sitting at his desk, patiently waiting for class to begin. After a few seconds, the two girls eventually made it to their seats and sat down. Their friends quickly turned around and began to speak with them.
“Good morning, you two. How have you been?” Mimi asked.
“Great! But that’s just how I normally feel whenever I’m with Miyu.” The white haired girl enthusiastically said.
“I’ve been pretty fine lately, especially with how lovely the weather’s been.”
“It sure is a shame. Every day this week is supposed to be warm and sunny, the perfect weather to go to the beach or the amusement park, and yet we’re cooped up in this oven of a school.” Tatsuko complained as she lowered her head in sorrow.
“Come on, Tatsuko. Cheer up. Summer break’s only a week away, and I’m sure we’re gonna get lots more days with such lovely weather soon. For now, just try to get through these rather dull days until we’re finally liberated from what feels like a purgatory.” Suzuka calmly said as she put her right hand on her friend’s shoulder.
“Whenever we decide to go to the beach, I’m gonna make sure to buy something extra cute for my Illya.” She leaned forward and hugged her girlfriend.
“Well then, I’ll just have to buy you something super sexy that’ll make all of the girls and boys who’ll be there completely jealous of me.” She said before turning around and hugging her back.
A few seconds after her friends had finished speaking, Nanaki asked a question.
“How are you two still in your honeymoon phase? You walk to school and enter the classroom while holding hands, and you constantly act all lovey-dovey in public. It’s understandable that you’d be so enamored with one another for the first few days or even weeks, but for a month straight? You two are so in love that it’s sickeningly sweet.” The pink haired, smiled slightly.
“Honeymoon phase? Oh please. Our strong infatuation for one another isn’t for some sort of brief period of time. This is how our relationship is going to be like moving forward.”
“Yes. I feel like every day has been so much more fun and full of merriment now that I’m dating Illya.”
As the girlfriends finished speaking, the bell rang, and Kuzuki stood up.
“All right, settle down, everyone. Class is starting.” The black haired man said, sounding somewhat monotone. “Take out your English books and turn to page 265.”

-Many hours later-
The school day went by without anything eventful happening and eventually ended. Illya and Miyu left Homurahara and walked home together while holding hands. As they approached the Einzbern household, they noticed a black limousine parked in front of their house with two very familiar girls standing next to the vehicle.
“Long time no see, you two. How have you been?” Rin calmly asked.
“Miyu, Illya, I’ve missed you girls so much! How has your life together been going?”
“Girls, we’re finally back!” Sapphire cheerfully shouted as she flew out of the limousine and made her way to her master’s side. “I’ve been waiting for what seems like an eternity to see you two once more.”
“Wait a minute, handholding? Are you two a couple now?” Ruby asked as she quickly followed after her sister.

Chapter Text

The girls’ eyes widened as they stared at Rin and Luvia in shock.
“Huh? W-What are you two doing here? I thought you went back to the UK, and we weren’t going to see you for at least a good while.” The white haired girl said, still in complete shock.
“Do you remember how when we first met, I told you that the Mages Association detected an abnormal distortion of magic in this city?”
She nodded her head.
“Well, even though we’ve already collected the Class Cards, that distortion never really went away. Sure, it decreased, but it’s still here. Just like a month ago, Luvia and I were sent here to investigate this oddity and potentially find a way to stop it.” She pulled out the box that contained the Class Cards from her skirt. “We were even given the Class Cards to use in case we had to fight anything.”
“Originally, we weren’t going to come visit you girls since we didn’t think this was something worth getting you two involved in, especially since you deserved some time to rest after everything involving the Class Cards. However, Ruby and Sapphire pestered us so much about going to see you that we had no choice but to come here.”
“Yep. We’re just stopping by because we missed you so much.” Ruby cheerfully said as she flew in a circle around her former master.
“We’ve missed you girls so much. The Clock Tower is nice and all, and Zelretch is a kind man who treats us well, but I do miss the time we spent together.” Sapphire calmly said as she wrapped her handle around the black haired girl’s wrist, simulating a hug.
“All right. We’ve said hi to Illya and Miyu. Can we go now?” Rin asked.
“Wait, where exactly are you girls going?” Miyu asked.
“We’re going to Mount Enzou’s cavern, you know, that place near where we fought the saber card? That’s where this city’s leyline, the thing that brings magic to the surface and allows humans to use it, is most accessible.”
“I see. Can the two of us go with you?”
“You actually want to come with us? Why? Has living a normal, mundane life gotten boring for you?”
The black haired girl shook her head.
“Not at all. But since this doesn’t seem like too dangerous of a task and we don’t have to fight anything, Illya and I might as well tag along for old time’s sake.”
“Well, going on another mission with you girls certainly wasn’t something I was expecting to do soon. But since Miyu wants to go, and it doesn’t sound too dangerous or time consuming, we might as well join you.”
“All right then. Hop on board the limousine.“
The two girls quickly walked over to the vehicle, opened the doors to the passenger seats, and stepped inside. Luvia and Run entered the driver’s seat and front passenger’s seat, respectively, before the black haired girl began to drive away from the Einzbern household.
“So, how have you been since we left Japan, Miyu?” Luvia asked as she turned her head to look at her. “Have you been enjoying your time living with Illya’s family and doing well in school?”
“Well, ever since you two left, Illya and I have started going out with each other.”
“Wait, you’re a couple?” The blonde shouted.
“Yes. We’ve been together since the day you and Rin left.“ The white haired girl responded.
“I guess that’s not too surprising. If Miyu was going to get with anyone, I suppose you’d probably be the most likely person she’d fall for. But still, I wasn’t expecting either of you to actually be dating in general when I came back to Japan.” Luvia said, still surprised by the revelation but slowly calming down.

-10 minutes later-
After a few minutes of driving, the four girls arrived at Mount Enzou. Rin parked the car near the stairs of Ryuudou Temple before she and her passengers stepped out of it. She walked to the limousine’s trunk and pulled out a guitar case that was inside it.
“Why’d you bring a guitar with you?” Illya asked.
“Oh, I didn’t. Inside of this case is a Gaia Needle, a tool used to stabilize any abnormalities in leylines. I’m merely carrying it around because it’s the perfect size for the Gaia Needle to fit inside of.” She said before placing it over her shoulder and walking to the left of the stairs. “Enough with the chatter. Let’s hurry to this mountain’s caverns and fix whatever’s the problem with the leylines as quickly as possible.”

-15 minutes later-
The quartet walked to the left of the mountain until they reached the cavern’s entrance. The four of them quickly entered it, and once they reached the center of the cave, Luvia pulled out a blue gem from her pocket and set it down on the ground. A few seconds after, Rin opened the guitar case before grabbing a large wooden needle that was inside it and stabbing it into the gem, causing a large blue rune to appear under it. The object quickly stretched and grew taller, its top half vaguely resembling a tree.
“We’re almost done here. Originally, Luvia and I were going to use Ruby and Sapphire to shoot beams of magic at the Gaia Needle to energize it, but since you two are here. Why don’t you lend us a hand and transform?”
“All right.”
“It’s been a month since we last did this, Ruby. You know what it’s time to do.”
“Of course I do. It’s time for you to transform!” Ruby cheerfully said before she and her sister quickly transformed their masters.
Once they were in their magical girl forms, the two girls raised their Kaleidosticks and shot two small beams of magic at the needle for a few seconds before the blue rune around it vanished.
“That’s enough.” Rin said. “For now, that’s all we can do. I’ll come back sometime later to see if the Gaia Needle either fixed or discovered whatever was wrong with Fuyuki’s leyline. Let’s get-“
Before she could finish speaking, the ground beneath the girls suddenly started cracking, and rocks began to fall from the cavern’s roof.
“What’s happening?” Miyu shouted.
“Crap! We must’ve given the Gaia Needle a little bit too much energy!” Luvia yelled.
“We need to get out of here before we’re smooshed!” Rin added.
Miyu quickly grabbed onto the two girls and began to run away as swiftly as she possibly could while Illya followed behind her. As the girls neared the cave’s exit, a gigantic rock began to fall toward them. In a panic, Illya quickly grabbed the box of Class Cards that was inside of Rin’s pocket, pulled out the archer card, installed it, and summoned a large purple shield in front of herself. Although she was able to hold the boulder back with ease, she suddenly started to lose consciousness until she blacked out.

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
The roof of the cave had stopped collapsing, and the dust released from rocks hitting the ground eventually cleared away, making the area visible to Miyu, Rin, and Luvia, who had managed to flee to the entrance of the cavern, once again. Despite this, they weren’t able to find Illya anywhere nearby.
“Illya! Illya, where are you?” Miyu shouted as she ran back into the cave. “Are you all right? Please answer me!”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I think a small rock hit my head or something because it kind of hurts, but I’m not really injured or bleeding, so it’s nothing major.”
“Oh, that’s good. Are you stuck anywhere and need my help getting out?” Miyu asked, lowering her voice as she continued walking forward.
“Nah. I can stand up just-“ Illya went silent for a few seconds before she suddenly let out a high pitched scream. “WHAT THE FUCK? W-WHO ARE YOU?”
“What’s wrong?” Miyu yelled before running in the direction she heard her girlfriend’s voice come from.
Rin and Luvia quickly chased after her. After a few seconds, the three girls managed to run to the part of the cavern that Illya was sitting in. The white haired girl was still in her magical girl form and looked completely fine. However, sitting beside her was a girl who had the same face as her, except she had dark brown skin, pink hair that was tied into a bun, and peach eyes. She was wearing black boots, shorts that exposed her inner thighs, a black bra, red sleeves, and a red torn cape.
“Huh? What’s going on here? Why are there two of you?” Rin asked, rubbing her eyes to make sure she wasn’t seeing things.
“There’s not two Illyas. That girl has a similar face to her, but things like the color of her skin, her hair, and her eyes just don’t match up with her.” Miyu turned her head to look at Magical Sapphire. “Do you know what’s going on?”
“No, not a clue. I don’t know of anything like this happening before.”
“Why is there a black girl in Japan, in the middle of nowhere?” Luvia asked, staring at the girl with a shocked look on her face.
Without saying a single word, the pink haired girl stood.
“Hey! Who are you? Wh-Why do you look like me? And why are you dressed like the archer card?” Illya asked.
Before she could get an answer to her question, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow appeared behind her master and rushed at the girl. She threw a powerful punch at her head, causing her to jump high into the air, landing behind Illya’s friends.
“Would it kill you to put a leash around that thing? That ogre nearly crushed my adorable little head like a blueberry with its oversized hands.”
The Stand let out a powerful roar before pounding her chest, causing powerful gales of freezing cold wind to shoot out of her body and cover anything nearby in a thick layer of frost.
“Shoot. That thing’s ability will turn me into an icicle in no time. I can’t afford to stay here any longer.” She whispered to herself before turning around and running out of the cave as quickly as possible.
“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?” Rin shouted as she, Luvia, and Miyu rushed toward the girl as quickly as possible.
Instead of following her friends, Illya ran to her Stand’s side and put her right hand on her stomach before gently speaking to her.
“Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow, calm down. I don’t know what caused you to act out, but please compose yourself. Sure, there being some girl who looks a lot like me is really weird, but there’s no reason to lose your cool and rush at her for no reason.”
Upon hearing her master’s words, the Stand took a deep breath before lowering her arms to her side and seemingly calming down. A few seconds later, she disappeared.
“Ruby, do you know anything about that girl?”
“Nope, nothing at all. After you used the archer Class Card, you blacked out for a few seconds, and it was ejected from you. I have no idea what happened after that due to all of the dust from the falling rocks, but once you woke up and the dust cleared, that girl was sitting next to you as if nothing had happened.”
“Hmm… right now, we don’t have anything to pinpoint that girl’s identity or what she was doing here. There’s no reason to stand around here any longer. Let’s get out of here.” Illya said before running forward.
She quickly exited the cavern and saw her friends standing by its entrance.
“What are you girls doing standing around here? Weren’t you three supposed to be chasing that pink haired girl?”
“Well... that was kind of the plan at first… but we kind of… sort of… lost her.” Rin sheepishly said, trying her best to not look at Illya.
“What? You were right behind her! How could you have lost her?”
“She’s just so fast and small. We barely had time to catch even the slightest glimpse of her before she jumped from tree to tree as quickly as possible and left our field of view.” Luvia explained.
“Then stop standing around and get to looking for her! We’ll never find that girl if we keep chatting in the same place!” The white haired girl shouted before rushing forward.
Before she could leave their field of view, Rin spoke up.
“Wait, slow down. While we don’t know anything about that girl, it’s clear that she has some sort of connection to you, judging from the fact that her face is the same as yours. It’s possible that if you left this forest, she’d probably end up looking for you some time later. So instead of going through the arduous task of combing through every nook and cranny in this place, why don’t we just go home and wait for her to come to us?”
“I guess we could do that… but what if you’re wrong, and she doesn’t come looking for me?”
“Oh, she will. Even if she doesn’t go to your house, she’ll undoubtedly see me and Luvia again when we come back to see what the Gaia Needle found. And once she sees us, she might try to scare us off by either yelling at us to leave her territory or just straight up attacking us.”
“…All right, let’s go home then. But if that girl tries to do anything funny to either of you, call me right away, and I’ll come to help you.”
“I’ll be sure to. But for now, let’s get out of here.” Rin said before walking forward.

Chapter Text

-
After they had lost track of the pink haired girl, the quartet walked back to Luvia’s limousine and entered it. Rin quickly drove Illya, Miyu, and Luvia back home before driving away.
“Rin and I will go back to check on the Gaia Needle in a few hours. If we see that girl who looks like you, I’ll be sure to text you right away.”
“All right. Thank you, Luvia.” Illya softly said as her eyes were downcast.
“Ruby, Sapphire, are you fine with staying with Illya and Miyu for the time being?”
“Is that even a question?” Ruby asked.
“We’ll gladly stay with our old masters while you investigate the disturbance in Fuyuki’s leylines and that girl that looks like Illya.”
“Very well. See you later, girls.” The blonde said before turning around, walking toward her mansion’s gates, unlocking them, and then making her way toward her mansion’s entrance.
“Let’s head inside, Miyu.” Illya said before turning to her left and approaching her house’s door.
Her girlfriend quickly followed after her. Once the white haired girl was in front of her house’s door, she unlocked it, opened it, and then stepped inside. Miyu closed the door behind her once she had entered. As they walked toward the stairs, Kiritsugu and Irisviel got up from the couch and exited the living room to speak with them.
“You’re back, girls. How was school?” The black haired man asked.
“It was fine, I guess. Nothing really interesting happened though.” Illya said, her eyes still downcast.
“Are you all right, sweetie? You seem a little upset.” Irisviel said. “You two were out for a little longer than usual. While you were away from home, did something happen that caused you to feel down?”
“No. Miyu and I just went to help a friend of ours with something. I promise you that it wasn’t anything too serious.”
The black haired girl nodded her head.
“She’s right. We just went to help a school friend with something, which caused us to come home a bit later than usual.”
Once her partner had finished speaking, Illya began to walk upstairs, causing Miyu to follow after her.
“Anyway, we’ll be in our room. Call us once dinner’s ready.”
Once they were on the second floor, the white haired girl opened her room’s door, and the two of them stepped inside. Miyu closed the door behind her and locked it.

-Many hours later-
Illya and Miyu lay in bed together. It was so late out that the sun had set and the moon had taken its place, but despite that, Luvia still hadn’t texted them about what happened when they went to check on the Gaia Needle. The fact that Illya didn’t know whether her friends had stumbled across the pink haired girl again or not was plaguing her mind and leaving her unable to sleep. As she tossed and turned in a futile attempt to get herself to fall asleep, Miyu sat up and turned to look at her.
“Are you having trouble sleeping because of that girl from earlier?” She softly asked.
Illya nodded her head before responding to her question.
“No matter how hard I try to stop myself from thinking about her, I can’t get her out of my mind. Not only did she come out of nowhere, but she also has the same face as me, and I think she might’ve taken the archer card as well. And since Luvia and Rin didn’t text me anything, I’m a little worried that she might’ve killed them.”
“Don’t worry about anything. I’m sure that they’re both okay and that we’ll find out more about that girl soon enough. Please, let’s just get some rest for the time being. We have school tomorrow. It wouldn’t be wise to stay up too late.”
“I understand.” Illya said before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. “Sweet dreams.”
“Good night, Illya.” Miyu responded before lying back in bed and moving closer to her girlfriend, wrapping her arms around her and closing her eyes.

-The next day-
Illya, Miyu, and Shirou had all gone to school, leaving all of the adults in the Einzbern household behind. Kiritsugu was about to go into the living room to watch TV with his wife and his cousin when he heard Sella’s voice come from the kitchen.
“Iris, we’ve run out of ingredients. I’m going to go to the grocery store in a few minutes. Is there anything you or my sister would like for me to get either of you?”
“There’s nothing in particular that I want. What about you, Liz?”
“Can you buy me some chips and candy?”
“…All right. But you better not eat them all at once.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be sure not to.” The white haired woman lied.
“Wait, can I go get the groceries instead?” Kiritsugu asked as he stood up. “I’ve been here for a month now, and I haven’t really done much. I know that it’s your job as my maids to do all of the dull manual work, but it makes me feel… like I’m being a burden to you and your sister. Just this once, I’d like to go out and buy us our groceries.”
“Well, you most certainly are a burden to this family, and I’d love it if you left this household and went back to America at once, but since that’s not happening any time soon, I suppose I’ll settle for you deciding to help around the house.”
“All right, thank you.” He said before walking out of the living room. “I’ll be back as soon as possible, girls.”
“Okay. Just remember to buy me some snacks while you’re at the supermarket.”
Kiritsugu walked over to his house’s door, opened it, and then walked out before closing the door behind him. He turned to his right and began to walk down the street as the pink haired girl, who bore a striking resemblance to his daughter, stared at him with a wide smile on her face while she stood on a power pole.
“About time you got out of the house. You made me wait far too long for this moment, Kiritsugu Emiya. How on brand for you.”

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
Kiritsugu was calmly walking down the street to the supermarket. Since it was fairly early on a Wednesday morning, there wasn’t anybody on the street since most people were either in school or at work. This also meant there wouldn’t be very many people in line for the checkout, so the black haired man was in no rush to get to the store as quickly as possible. As he leisurely made his way toward his destination, a pink haired girl who greatly resembled his daughter followed after him, jumping from building to building and making as little noise as she possibly could so that she wouldn’t accidentally alert him. Eventually, Kiritsugu reached a crosswalk with a traffic light that displayed a green above the road. He stopped moving and waited for it to turn red, giving the girl the perfect opportunity to summon a black bow in her right hand and a sword with a blue hilt and a golden cross guard in her left. She attached the sword to her weapon’s bowstring before pulling back on it.
“Don’t move an inch, Mr. Emiya. Because if you do, you’ll just be prolonging this for longer than it’s worth.” She whispered with a grin that spread from ear to ear.
She quickly let go of the bowstring and shot the sword at her target. It hit him in the back of the head, causing blood to ooze out of the wound and for him to fall forward onto his stomach.
“Too easy!” She cheerfully shouted. “Now that you’re out of the picture, it seems like Irisviel and her cousins are next on the chopping block.” She quickly turned around and began to walk forward. “Man, Illya and her girl are gonna be so surprised when they come home and see that their entire family’s dead! The look on their faces is going to be absolutely priceless.”
The pink haired girl jumped into the air, but before she could leave the roof of the building she was on, her right arm was suddenly roughly grabbed and squeezed down on tightly, nearly breaking ot. Before she could turn her head to look at whoever had clasped down on her, she was suddenly swung forward and slammed onto the floor.
“Don’t move or I’ll fill that head of yours with lead, magical girl.” Kiritsugu coldly said as he pulled a pistol out of his pants’ right pocket and aimed it at his enemy.
“What? You’re alive?” She shouted as she slowly turned around to look at him.
“I said don’t move!” He yelled before slamming his right foot onto her head, keeping her in place. “You damn magical girl! State your name and purpose this instant!”
“My name? Well, I don’t really have one. But if you just have to call me something, I guess you could call me Illyasviel von Einzbern!”
“Don’t you dare joke around!” He yelled as he lowered his right arm, bringing his pistol’s barrel to the back of her head. “Answer my question seriously, or else I’ll kill you without a shred of hesitation!”
“But I’m not! My name truly is Illya! And technically, I’m your daughter!”
“I only have one daughter, and while you do bear a striking resemblance to her, features like your hair, skin, and eyes are far too different from hers. Dispel your magic right this second and show me your true form, or I’ll kill you.”
“You’re like thirty years old. How can you not grasp the concept that this is just who I am?” Illya asked before a hand that was as black as obsidian emerged from her back and grabbed onto Kiritsugu’s wrist before effortlessly crushing it, causing him to drop his gun and stumble back slightly. She then raised her head and slammed it backward, hitting him in the stomach and pushing him off her. Now freed of her captor, Illya quickly stood up and summoned two swords, one with a black blade and one with a white blade.
“That ability, it’s the same as that card that I dispatched when I first arrived in this country. Just what are you?” He asked as his hand quickly healed.
“If you want to get really technical with it, I’m a magical girl, but not in the same way your wife and daughter are magical girls! I’m a magical girl in the most literal sense!” She gleefully shouted before jumping at the black haired man and swinging her swords at his neck.
He quickly got onto the floor and rolled over to his gun. He swiftly aimed it at the pink haired girl and shot an Origin Bullet at her head. Without wasting any time, she raised her right hand in front of herself and summoned a large purple shield that deflected her opponent’s projectile and sent it flying away. Not even a second later, the pink haired girl felt a hard, cold circular piece of metal on the back of her head. She quickly turned around and saw Kiritsugu pointing his gun at her head.
“Got you now.” He coolly said before slowly moving his fingers toward his gun’s trigger.
“W-What? How did you get behind me? You were behind my shield just a few seconds ago!”
“Look, kid. I don’t give a damn about whether you’re a magical girl or what your name is. What I do know is that you’re a threat to me and my family. People like you, regardless of their identity, age, or reason for coming after me, deserve nothing but a swift execution!”
Right as Kiritsugu was about to pull on his weapon’s trigger, it suddenly vanished into thin air as Illya’s smile reappeared.
“Did you really think I’d just let you shoot me in the head?” She shouted before turning around as quickly as possible and stabbing Kiritsugu through the chest and stomach.
The black haired man didn’t even flinch as he let out a deep breath. Without any warning, he threw a powerful punch at Illya that pushed her to the opposite part of the roof. He then rushed at her and threw a powerful kick at her stomach that caused her to spit out blood and for her to be launched off the roof and into the alleyway next to the building they were on. A second later, his gun reappeared in his hand. Kiritsugu wasted no time before walking to the edge of the roof and pulling the swords out of him, dropping them onto the pink haired girl. His injuries instantly healed as he suddenly appeared in front of Illya and pointed his gun at her head.
“Enough fooling around; I’m ending this here.” Kiritsugu said before pulling on his weapon’s trigger and shooting at the pink haired girl.
I hope this works. If it doesn’t, then it’s over for me. She thought before rolling to the side and avoiding the attack.
Illya swiftly jumped onto her feet and began to run away as quickly as possible.
“All right, dad. I’ll be seeing you!” She shouted.
“Get back here!” He yelled.
The black haired man attempted to use his magecraft, only for nothing to happen.
What? Why can’t I stop time? He thought.
Before Kiritsugu could come to a conclusion about what had happened, he noticed that the pink haired girl had managed to leave his field of view.
“Damn it! She got away! I gotta head home immediately! I won’t let her lay a finger on Iri and her family!” He shouted before running out of the alleyway he was in.

Chapter Text

-20 minutes later-
Kiritsugu returned to the Einzbern household with multiple plastic bags in both of his hands that contained things such as fruits, vegetables, eggs, and more. He set his bags to his sides before grabbing his keys from his left pocket and unlocking his house’s door. He then picked up his grocery bags yet again, opened the door, and stepped inside before closing it and locking it.
“I’m back.” The black haired man said with a smile on his face.
He made his way into the kitchen and placed all but one of the bags onto the table. At the same time, Sella stepped up from the living room and walked over to him.
She opened the bags that were on it and quickly checked their contents before turning to look at Kiritsugu.
“It seems you bought all of the essentials. Good work. I’ll handle putting them away.”
“All right. Thank you, Sella.” He said before turning around and walking into the living room.
As he approached the coach, he raised the plastic bag in his right hand and placed it beside his wife’s cousin.
“This is for you, Liz.”
The white haired woman quickly grabbed the bag and opened it to see that it was stuffed full of different brands of candies and chips.
“You remembered to get me my snacks. Thank you, Kiritsugu.” She said with a wide smile on her face.
“No problem.” He calmly responded as he walked toward his wife. “Iri, can you come with me to our room? There’s something rather important I need to speak with you about.”
“All right. Let’s go upstairs right away.” The white haired woman said before she and her husband exited the living room.
The two of them made their way up the stairs before turning to their left and entering their room. Kiritsugu closed and locked the door before beginning to speak.
“While I went to the supermarket… I was attacked by a magical girl. She said that her name was Illya and that I was her father; she even had a very similar face to our daughter, but her skin was darker and her eyes and hair were a different color.”
Irisviel’s eyes widened.
“Did she say why she wanted you dead?”
Kiritsugu shook his head.
“No. I tried to put her down, but she somehow managed to disappear my gun and restrict the use of my magecraft for a few seconds, which gave her the perfect opportunity to escape from me. While we were fighting, she mentioned coming to our house to kill you and your cousins, so I rushed over here as quickly as possible and stayed on the roof for around fifteen minutes before I used my magecraft to stop time and go to the grocery store to get everything we needed.”
“So there’s a magical girl after us…” Irisviel glumly said as her eyes moved to look at the floor. “Do you know what her magic is?”
“Yes. It seems like she can summon an exact replica of any weapon she wants. Not only that, but I suspect she may also have a Stand, which is what allowed her to make my pistol disappear and disable my magecraft. I’m not sure what exactly such a Stand’s ability could be as of now, but it’d be best to keep that in mind in case she tries to attack us.”
“If that girl breaks into our house and attempts to take our lives, I’m sure we’ll be fine. After all, you’re here to protect us. But what I’m more worried about is that the magical girl attacks Illya, Shirou, and Miyu while they’re still at school.”
“I’m not too worried about their safety. Even without their magic, Illya and Miyu still have powerful Stands that they could use against the magical girl. And I’m sure they’d be eager to protect Shirou if that girl threatened him.”
“I hope you’re right in your assumption.”

-Many hours later-
The school day had ended, and Illya and Miyu were walking home. At the same time, Shirou had gone to Ryuudou Temple with his friends to hang out with them.
“I can’t believe Mr. Kuzuki gave us homework again.” The white haired girl complained. “I might hate her with every fiber of my being, but I’m willing to admit that Taiga was definitely better with not giving out homework.”
“I do agree that I miss not having homework every night, but the amount of homework we get isn’t terrible. It’s usually just a page or two in our English workbook.”
“You’re right, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a right to complain about it.”
As the two girls continued to walk toward their house, the pink haired girl stood on the roof of a building that was to their left.
“I wanted to get rid of mom and dad first before taking out the cousin maids and Shirou so that Illya would be the last one left, but it seems like it might be best to put her down first before I move onto my old man.” She said to herself as she summoned a black bow in her right hand and Berserker’s axe-sword in the other.
She quickly attached it to her weapon before pulling back on her bowstring and then releasing it, launching the huge weapon at her target. Right as it was about to collide with her head, Twinkle Snow Powder Snow appeared behind her and grabbed the axe-sword before effortlessly splitting it in half and roaring.
“What’s wrong?” She asked as she and her girlfriend turned around to see the pink haired girl standing on the roof of a building with a bow in her hand.
“You again! What are you here for?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I want to kill you!” She cheerfully responded with a large smile on her face.
“Miyu, pull out Sapphire from your backpack. You know what it’s time to do.” Illya said as she opened her book bag, allowing Ruby to fly out of it.
The black haired girl quickly opened hers as well and grabbed Sapphire.
“Miyu, what’s happening?” The Kaleidostick asked.
“The girl who looks like Illya from the other day has finally shown herself and is trying to murder her. Sapphire, I need your help to defeat her.”
“All right, let’s do this.”
“I won’t let you harm a hair on my master’s head. The two of us won’t show you any mercy!” Ruby shouted.

Chapter Text

The two girls quickly transformed and pointed their Kaleidosticks at their enemy.
“Now that I get a better look at you, your eyes are the same color as Illya’s when she used the archer card. Just what are you?”
“You don’t already know? My name is Illyasviel von Einzbern, but you can just call me Illya for short.”
“Don’t joke around. Tell us who you are, or I’ll force your name out of you!”
“I already did! How do you suppose that I prove that I’m not lying?”
“You’re not because you’re obviously lying!” She shouted as Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow appeared behind her.
“Looks like you brought your guard dog out. No matter. With my magic and my Stand, you have no chance at beating me. I’ll dispose of you before I move on to the rest of your family!” She gleefully shouted before dashing toward Illya.
The pink haired girl summoned two swords, one with a white blade and one with a black blade, in both of her hands and swung them at her opponent. Illya quickly formed a blade made out of her magic on top of Ruby’s head and blocked the attack before throwing a powerful kick at her enemy’s stomach. The pink haired girl was pushed back a few feet but was ultimately unharmed.
“Is that really all you’ve got? Wow, you really are that weak. How did you survive for 10 years?”
“Shut up!” She yelled before swinging Ruby sideways, shooting a pink crescent magical projectile at her opponent.
The pink haired girl effortlessly slid onto her knees and avoided the attack before jumping into the air, letting go of her swords, and then summoning a red spear into her hands.
“Gae Bolg!” She shouted before thrusting it downward toward Illya’s chest.
Her eyes widened for a few seconds before she began to act as if nothing had happened.
“Figures you’d freeze any injuries this weapon would inflict onto you. But let’s see you freeze this!” She yelled before throwing her weapon at her enemy.
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow threw a powerful punch to her right, sending the spear flying into a nearby house where it exploded. Before the pink haired girl could land, the Stand threw a speedy punch at her left, which she effortlessly avoided by moving her head to the right. Not even a second later, she summoned Berserker’s axe-sword and swung it at her left arm, cutting it off with ease. Both Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow and Illya let out a grunt as they gritted their teeth and squinted their eyes. The pink haired girl landed in front of her and raised her axe-sword above her head. But instead of swinging it, she began to speak.
“Come out, Little Guitars.”
A fairly muscular yet slim figure that was around the same height as Kiritsugu with red arms and legs, golden shoes, and obsidian black skin appeared in front of Illya. She had a leather belt with a large golden button around her waist, long pink hair that cascaded to her sides, and peach, pupil-less eyes. Without wasting any time, Little Guitars punched through Illya’s stomach, forming a large hole in it, and followed it up by throwing a kick at her chest and launching her away.
“Don’t think you can get away.” She calmly said as several Gae Bolgs appeared around her.
Before she could launch the weapons forward, Moonchild ran behind her and threw a powerful punch at her chest that stunned her. The Stand wasted no time before throwing a barrage of punches at her face and then throwing an uppercut at her jaw that launched her into the air. Moonchild swiftly jumped into the air and punched the pink haired girl in the stomach with so much force that she spat out blood and was sent flying in the same direction as Illya.
“I won’t let you hurt my girlfriend anymore!” Miyu yelled as she jumped up and flew after her opponent.
Illya slammed into a tree as Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow froze her wounds to stop her from bleeding out while Ruby used her magic to close the gigantic hole in her abdomen and regenerate her arm. However, before it could be fully healed, the pink haired girl was sent flying over to her. Right as she was about to fall on her face, she placed her hands on the ground and front flipped onto her feet, landing just a few feet away from Illya.
“Looks like this is the end, Ms. Einzbern.” The pink haired girl calmly said before summoning a pistol loaded with an Origin Bullet in her right hand and pointing it at her enemy. “Before I blow your brains out, do you have anything to say?”
Illya didn’t say a single word as she stared at the ground with an unamused expression.
“Not in the mood to talk, eh? Look, I was just trying to be nice. If you don’t want to speak, then I’ll gladly kill you here and now!”
The pink haired girl moved her fingers to her gun’s trigger, and right as she was about to pull it, Miyu swooped down toward her and had Moonchild throw a powerful punch at her chest, causing her to be stunned in place. Not wasting any time, Moonchild threw a kick at the pink haired girl’s side that pushed her a few feet away from the white haired girl and knocked her to the ground.
“Get away from Illya, or else I won’t show you even an ounce of mercy.”
As the pink haired girl stood up, she licked her lips while she stared at Miyu.
“All of this fighting’s got me hungry. Since it’s partially your fault I’m feeling this way, why don’t you take responsibility and feed me?” She asked before rushing at her enemy.

Chapter Text

Once she was close enough to Miyu, the pink haired girl swung the flat sides of her swords at her head. Before her attack could make contact with her, Moonchild appeared in front of her master and threw a powerful punch at her opponent’s chest. She brought her weapon’s blades to her chest as quickly as possible, causing the Stand to punch them instead of her. Moonchild’s attack shattered the swords and pushed the pink haired girl back a few feet but was unable to injure her. Miyu’s Stand wasted no time before dashing after her and throwing a barrage of punches at her head, chest, and stomach. She quickly summoned a purple shield in front of herself that managed to perfectly withstand three of the blows. However, once the fourth punch hit it, the pink haired girl’s defense began to crack, causing her grin to widen. The moment that Moonchild threw a powerful blow at its enemy, she jumped to her left to avoid the incoming flurry before running at her target as quickly as possible. Upon seeing this, Miyu quickly raised her right hand and shot a nonstop barrage of small blue beams of magic at her. Without wasting any time, she quickly summoned Berserker’s axe-sword before swinging it around wildly, deflecting the projectiles away from her with ease. Seeing that her attacks were ineffective, Miyu swung Sapphire sideways, shooting a blue crescent projectile at her waist. The pink haired girl effortlessly jumped into the air to avoid the attack. While her opponent was still aloft, she quickly charged up a medium sized beam of magic and shot it at her. Using her weapon, the dark skinned girl effortlessly knocked the attack to her left, sending it flying into a tree and causing it to go through it, felling it a few seconds later. Not long after, the pink haired girl landed in front of Miyu. She quickly dropped her weapon before grabbing her enemy’s wrists as tightly as she possibly could without accidentally hurting her, but making sure she was restrained. At the same time, she raised her right leg in between her legs to prevent her from fleeing.
“You’re all mine now.” She gleefully said before moving her head forward and roughly kissing Miyu on the lips, causing her eyes to widen.
The pink haired girl’s tongue snaked its way into her mouth and pinned her tongue down. Miyu attempted to push it away, but to no avail.
The black haired girl tried her best to squirm free, but despite her best efforts, her assailant’s hands continued to tightly clamp down on her wrists. Moonchild rushed toward its master and threw a powerful punch at the pink haired girl’s head. However, right as its left fist was about to make contact with her, Little Guitars appeared behind her and grabbed the Stand’s right fist. She countered by throwing a powerful blow at its stomach with her left hand. It was pushed a few feet away and was knocked onto the ground, where Little Guitars put her feet onto its arms, preventing Moonchild from standing up. Tears began to well up in Miyu’s eyes as she tried her best to move her head away from her attacker only for her to move forward, not allowing her to so much as breathe for even a second. A few seconds afterward, the pink haired girl broke the kiss and pushed her onto her back. She wasted no time and got on top of her before letting go of the magical girl’s right wrist and moving her hand downward toward her crotch.
“That was absolutely delicious and quite filling.” She cheerfully said. “I might be getting just a tad bit greedy, but I think I’m gonna keep enjoying this feast!”
“S-Stop! Please! I-I don’t like this!” Miyu sobbed as she breathed heavily, and tears ran down her cheeks. “I-I don’t w-want you t-to keep t-touching me, n-not like this!”
“What? You didn’t like my kiss? That’s how a real woman makes out with her lovers! I’m sure that it was much more intense than anything that fraud’s done with you before, but I quite enjoyed it.” The pink haired girl said as she moved her head toward her victim’s ear. “You know, from the moment I first saw you, I’ve always liked you. You’re just so adorable that I could hardly keep myself off you.” She whispered, sending a chill down her spine as she ripped her magical girl outfit off her, revealing a pair of baby blue panties beneath it. “I hope you enjoy this just as much as I’m-“
“GET OFF HER!” Illya screamed as Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow threw a punch at her head that was so powerful that the entire left half of the pink haired girl’s skull was completely shattered, and she was sent flying off her and into a tree several feet away.
“Miyu, are you all right?” The white haired girl asked, lowering her voice as she knelt down beside her girlfriend.
The black haired girl quickly sat up before wrapping her arms around her.
“I-Illya! I-I’m sorry! I-I’m sorry that I let m-myself be taken advantage of! I-I-“
“Don’t blame yourself over something like that. You never wanted or consented to it. That thing, she se-sexually assaulted you! I’ll make her pay for violating you!”

Chapter Text

The pink haired girl quickly pulled herself out of the tree as her injury quickly healed. Her smile hadn’t faltered even slightly; in fact, she looked even more eager after having forced herself on Miyu.
“What, are you jealous that I gave Miyu her first real kiss? Don’t worry. While you’re bleeding out, I’ll let you watch us consummate our relationship!”
She burst into laughter before summoning two swords with blue hilts and golden cross edges and rushing at Illya. The pink haired girl thrust them toward her head, causing her to jump to the side. At the same time, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow rushed at her opponent, grabbed her weapons’ blades, and snapped them as they were twigs. Not even a second later, she threw an uppercut at her chin. Right as she was about to make contact with her, Little Guitars appeared in front of her and grabbed onto Illya’s Stand’s arm. She quickly countered by throwing a powerful punch at her opponent’s stomach that pushed her back a few feet and caused her to spit out blood. At the same time, Illya shot a humongous pink beam of magic at her enemy. The pink haired girl quickly jumped high into the air before summoning a pistol in her right hand and shooting several Origin Bullets at her head, chest, and body. Illya jumped behind her before retaliating by shooting several small beams of magic at her opponent. She quickly summoned a purple shield in front of herself before landing a few feet away from her and shooting several Origin Bullets at her enemy yet again. She jumped to the left before raising her Kaleidostick once again and shooting a barrage of medium sized beams at her opponent. At the same time, the pink haired girl began to shoot as many Origin Bullets at Illya as quickly as she possibly could. As the two girls shot a seemingly endless barrage of attacks at one another, Little Guitars rushed at Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow. She threw a punch at her stomach, causing the Stand to grab her hand and effortlessly raise her into the air before slamming her down onto the ground. The Stand quickly stepped on Little Guitars’ neck and raised her arms in front of her. Right as she was about to throw a flurry of blows at her, Little Guitars pushed her off her and then jumped into the air. She then threw a powerful kick at the side of her face. However, right as she was about to make contact with her, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow raised her arms in front of her head, blocking the attack before grabbing onto her enemy’s leg. She quickly spun around in a circle before throwing her into several trees to her left, knocking them down upon making impact with them. Without wasting any time, she began to pound on her chest violently, blasting powerful, ice-cold gales at her surroundings. The trees and grass near her were all covered in a thick layer of ice and snow, and as the Stand continued to beat on her chest, more and more of the surrounding area slowly froze over. After just a handful of seconds, the freezing cold wind managed to reach Illya and her opponent. Although the white haired girl wasn’t affected by her Stand’s ability in the slightest, her enemy’s fingertips slowly became enveloped in ice that moved up the rest of the appendages with each passing second.
“About time you’ve decided to use your ability.” She said, her smile widening. “Let’s finish this, Little Guitars!”
Her Stand quickly jumped to its feet before rushing forward toward Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow. Instead of attempting to attack her, she jumped at her, and right as she was about to make contact with her, Little Guitars seemingly vanished into thin air. At the same time, Illya’s stand became unable to use her ability.
“Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow, what’s wrong? Why did you stop using your ability?” The white haired girl shouted as she turned to look at her Stand.
“Hey! Pay attention to me!” The pink haired girl yelled as she shot a barrage of Origin Bullets at her enemy.
Illya quickly snapped her head before running to her left, narrowly avoiding the attacks, and then swung Ruby sideways, shooting a single pink crescent projectile at her. She quickly summoned a purple shield in front of herself, and right as the attack was about to make contact with the barrier, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow rushed at her as quickly as possible, jumped into the air, and threw a barrage of punches at the defense that completely shattered it. With the barrier broken, the Stand moved aside, allowing her enemy to be bisected.
“I took away your Stand’s ability… how did you win?” The pink haired girl weakly said as both parts of her fell onto the ground.
“It doesn’t matter whether Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow can use her ability or not. She’ll still destroy any and all who stand in our way without any remorse.”
With her enemy defeated, Miyu stood up and walked behind her girlfriend. She wrapped her arms around her and placed her head over her right shoulder.
“Right now, I don’t care about who you are or why you look like me. All I know is that you forced yourself upon my girlfriend, and for that, I will make you suffer!” She yelled before shooting a barrage of pink beams at her.
The exact moment they were going to make contact with her, the pink haired girl’s smile returned as she launched herself into the air, her legs healing in less than a second.
“It seems that I’ve underestimated you. For a cheap replacement, you’re not half bad.” She said before turning around and beginning to fly away. “However, next time, you won’t be so lucky.” She laughed.
Illya gritted her teeth and was about to Stand leap after her when Miyu grabbed her right hand.
“Don’t. If that girl’s Stand somehow managed to stop Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow’s ability, then there’s no telling what it could do. She might just disable your magic while you’re chasing after her, causing you to fall to your death. Before we do anything too hasty, let’s go home and formulate a plan on how to handle this situation.”

Chapter Text

-Meanwhile-
Shirou, Shinji, and Issei were all sitting in a circle on the floor in the black haired boy’s room, which was located inside of Ryuudou Temple’s living quarters. In the center of where they sat was a tray with three cups filled with green tea.
“I noticed you’ve been kind of down as of late. At first, I was just gonna ignore it since it’s not any of my business. But after a month of you being like this, it’s got me worried. So, Shirou, what’s gotten you so upset?” The blue haired boy asked.
“Last month… my sister got a girlfriend who moved in with us.”
“Ah, I see. So you’ve been down in the dumps because of all the noise they’ve been making while you’re trying to sleep.”
Shirou’s eyes widened.
“What? No! They haven’t done anything like that, at least as far as I know, and they’re both 10 year olds! Why would the first thing your mind jumps to be them unintentionally keeping me up because of their sex lives?” He shouted.
“What are you getting mad at me for? Isn’t that the sort of thing couples do when they sleep in the same bed?”
“While I don’t approve of Shinji’s perverted assumption, I wouldn’t say it’s too irrational.” Issei coldly said. “It’s for reasons like the one that he pointed out that I absolutely refuse to get in a relationship with a woman.”
“I think you refuse to get with a girl because you’re in the closet and are either too ashamed to admit you like boys or you simply don’t know yet.” The blue haired boy responded, a grin spreading across his face.
“Shut your mouth. I’m not attracted to men in the slightest.”
“Yeah, yeah. Nobody’s gonna be surprised when you come out.”
“Anyway, no, my sister and her girlfriend’s sex life is not the reason I’ve been so upset as of late. However, they technically are the reason for my depression. After a 10 year old somehow managed to get a girlfriend before me, I began to think about how unfair life is. I’m nearly an adult, and I’ve never even had a girlfriend before, but Illya’s still a kid, and she already has one that she lives with. At this rate, I feel like I might die alone.”
“Come on, cheer up. Just because some brat managed to get a girl before you did doesn’t mean you’re gonna stay forever alone. You’re a good guy, and you still have your whole life ahead of you. I’m sure you’ll eventually meet the right girl who’ll gladly get into a relationship with you.” Shinji reassured.
“I see. Well, Shirou, why don’t you drown your sorrows by throwing away any and all earthly desires and becoming a monk? After all, there’s no better anodyne to a broken heart than prayer.”
“No thanks, Issei. I don’t think I’m suited to be a monk.” He said before turning to look at Shinji. “I sure hope you’re right. I’d like to get a girlfriend someday.”

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
After fighting the pink haired girl, Illya and Miyu began to walk toward the Einzbern household. As they approached their home, Miyu turned her head to look at the Edelfelt mansion.
“Before we go into our house, do you think we should go talk to Luvia and Rin about that girl?”
“Sure. They’d definitely help us search for her and defeat her if we told them about what she did to us.”
The two girls turned to their left and began to walk toward the gate. They launched themselves over it using their Stands and began to walk toward the front door. Once they were in front of it, Miyu knocked on it. The duo waited a few seconds before the door was suddenly opened by Rin, who was looking behind her while shouting.
“What do you mean you’re not gonna pay me for driving you to the Gaia Needle twice? As your personal driver, I demand you pay me for taking you somewhere at once!” She yelled.
“And I will next week. That way I can pay you all at once if you end up driving me anywhere else.” Luvia, who was standing on top of the stairs, calmly responded.
Before the black haired girl could leave the mansion, she turned around and noticed Illya and Miyu standing in front of her.
“Oh, it’s you two. What brings you here?” She said, lowering her voice.
“We actually came here to speak with you and Luvia.”
“How did you two even know I was here?”
“Oh, we didn’t. We just got lucky.” Illya cheerfully responded with a smile on her face.
“I see.” The blonde said as she began to walk down the stairs. “So what do you two want to talk about?”
“While we were walking home from school, the pink haired girl who looks like Illya attacked us and tried to kill her… she also kissed me and tried to force herself on me.” Miyu said, her eyes welling up with tears.
“What?” Luvia shouted, her eyes widening. “How dare that sunburnt identity thief try to violate you! I’ll tear her to shreds with my own two hands!”
“Don’t get too ahead of yourself.” Illya calmly responded. “Not only does that girl have the same abilities as the archer Class Card, but she also has a Stand that’s about as physically powerful as Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow and somehow managed to halt her ability while she was using it. If you tried to fight her alone, she’d kill you with ease.”
“Correct. While I’m sure it’d be much more satisfying for you personally to hunt her down on your own, doing that will just get you murdered. If we’re to have any hope of actually defeating her, we need to formulate a plan.” Rin chimed in.
“Do you girls have any ideas in mind for what we could do to find her and defeat her?”
“Yes, I do.” Illya said. “That girl came after me today just as you said she would. I have no doubt that she’ll try to take my life again sometime soon. So, instead of sitting around in my house and risking her hurting my entire family, I think I should go to that forest around Mount Enzou and wait for her there. You guys can come with me and hide inside of the leaves of some trees, and the moment she shows up, we all attack her at the same time. Once we defeat her, we can start interrogating her. How does that plan sound to you guys?”
“It’s a fine plan.” Luvia said.
“Sounds good to me.” Rin added.
“Yes. That girl didn’t really seem all too interested in attacking me, so it’s likely you’re her only target. If you go somewhere remote, I believe she’ll be inclined to follow you and fight you there.”
“All right. Once the sun starts to set, we’ll head to Mount Enzou’s forest and defeat that lookalike once and for all.”

Chapter Text

-A few hours later-
The sun had started to set, and Illya and her friends walked toward Mount Enzou on foot. Once they arrived, they walked behind the Ryuudou Temple. The white haired girl led the way, and once she found a large clearing in the woods, she stopped moving and stood in place.
“All right, this seems like the perfect place for us to fight against her. Everyone, go hide. Our plan won’t work if she knows you’re all here.”
“Okay. Good luck, Illya.” Miyu said before walking over to her girlfriend and gently kissing her on the right cheek.
The three girls quickly ran in different directions and climbed up trees until they reached the branches closest to them. They began to lie on them, allowing the leaves to completely cover them.
“Good job, girls. I can’t see any of you.” Illya said with a smile on her face. “Now we wait for my doppelgänger to show herself.”
The white haired girl stood in the same spot for several minutes before she heard a bush rustling behind her. She quickly turned around and saw the pink haired girl walking out of the bush with a wide smile on her face.
“You finally made your way back here. I guess you’re just that eager to die, aren’t you?”
“You’ve got it all wrong; the only one who’ll meet their end today will be you, you fraud!” Illya shouted as she quickly transformed and pointed Ruby at her. “But before I blow your head off, tell me, just what are you anyway? Why do you look like me, and how come your magic’s the same as the archer Class Card’s? Did you steal it from me after the roof of the cave that I was in collapsed?”
A large grin spread across the pink haired girl’s lips as she stared at her enemy.
“Telling you anything about myself when you’re about to die is nothing but a gigantic waste of my precious time. However, once you’re out of the picture, I’ll make sure your girl gets to know me better than she did you!”
Illya gritted her teeth.
“You bastard! Don’t you bring my girlfriend into this!” She shouted before creating a blade made out of magic atop Ruby’s head and rushing at her enemy.
“Last time we fought, those playing cards’ weapons proved insufficient in putting you down. So, instead of relying on them, I’ll just beat you with a replica of that plastic toy you wield!”
Suddenly, a Kaleidostick with a green handle, a head with a star that had eight points in the center of it, and three pairs of bat-like wings to the side of it appeared in the pink haired girl’s right hand.
“What? She created a third Kaleidostick?” Ruby shouted.
Illya wasn’t perturbed by it in the slightest and quickly swung her weapon downward at her head. The pink haired girl summoned a blade of magic out of her weapon’s head and effortlessly blocked the attack before throwing a powerful kick at her stomach, pushing her back several feet.
“A cheap copy will never surpass the original. So instead of pointlessly toiling about and wasting precious time that I could be using to make love to Miyu, die.” She calmly said before shooting a barrage of small green beams of magic at her opponent.
Illya quickly jumped into the air before swinging Magical Ruby about wildly, firing a barrage of pink crescent projectiles at her enemy. The pink haired girl swiftly ran forward to avoid the incoming attacks before jumping into the air. Before Illya could do anything, she spiked her downward, effortlessly launching her onto the ground.
“Mom and dad’s worst mistake was getting rid of a truly powerful magus and replacing me with some pathetic runt who doesn’t know the first thing about magic.”
Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow quickly appeared behind her master and slammed her right hand onto the ground, Stand leaping herself and Illya at their opponent. She let out a powerful roar before throwing a barrage of punches at the pink haired girl’s face. Before her blows could make contact with her, Little Guitars appeared behind her and grabbed onto her opponent’s fists as tightly as possible, causing the Stand’s hands to start to crack.
“It doesn’t matter whether you use your oversized guard dog or not! Neither your Stand nor your magic is up to snuff to defeat me!”
Without any warning, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow moved her head forward and headbutted the opposing Stand in the chest, pushing her back.
“Don’t you dare bring my mom and dad into this! They have nothing to do with a depraved faker such as yourself!” She yelled before shooting several medium sized magical beams at her.
The pink haired girl effortlessly slapped the attacks away with her Kaleidostick before rushing toward her opponent.
“Faker? I think you’re the fake around here! You’re comparing yourself to me? Hah, you’re not even good enough to be my fake!”
Once the pink haired girl was a few feet away from her, she began to swing her Kaleidostick at her wildly, shooting a barrage of crescent projectiles at her. Before they could hit her, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow began to pound on her chest and roar, shooting frigid gales of wind out of her body. This froze the pink haired girl’s attacks solid, causing them to fall to the ground and shatter while her smile spread from ear to ear.
“About time you used that pitiful ability!” She shouted as the tips of her fingers began to freeze. “Now, Little Guitars!”
The Stand flew forward as quickly as possible, and right as she was about to make contact with Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow, she suddenly vanished. At the same time, the Stand became unable to use her ability. Not even a second later, the pink haired girl darted toward her and thrust her weapon toward her enemy’s chest. Illya narrowly avoided the attack by moving to her left while Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow rushed at her and threw a barrage of blows at her. Before any of the Stand’s attacks could land, the pink haired girl summoned a large purple shield in front of herself. While Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow threw several punches at the barrier to shatter it, the pink haired girl quickly flew behind her opponent and stabbed her through the back. She wasted no time before kicking her downward, sending Illya plummeting to the ground. As the white haired girl fell onto her stomach, the pink haired girl landed in front of her and pointed her Kaleidostick at her head.
“I think that’s enough. Let’s wrap this up already so that I can dispose of the rest of your family.”

Chapter Text

A few feet away from Illya and her opponent, her friends were watching the battle intently.
“Do you think we should help her?” Luvia asked. “It doesn’t seem like she’s doing too hot against that sunburnt imposter.”
“No, it might look bad right now, but Illya’s pulled out of similar situations many times before. She’ll be fine, I just know it. However, on the off chance she isn’t able to defeat her, I’ll spring out of this tree and run to her side as quickly as possible.”
“All right. But I’ll have my Stand ready just in case.” Rin murmured as she summoned Happiness Is a Warm Gun in her right hand.
On the ground, Illya gritted her teeth as Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow landed behind the pink haired girl. She quickly swung her right arm at her head, only for her enemy to bend to the left, avoiding the attack with ease.
“Whatever damage I do to your ferocious ogre gets transferred to you, so if I blow its head off, you’ll follow suit!” She gleefully shouted before jumping high into the air and shooting a large beam of green magic at her.
The Stand let out a powerful roar before throwing a punch to the projectile’s left, knocking it away from her. Soon afterward, she jumped high into the air and threw a nonstop barrage of punches at her opponent’s head. After a few seconds, she slammed her fists downward onto the pink haired girl’s head, knocking her onto the ground. Immediately afterward, Little Guitars appeared next to the pink haired girl and helped her master onto her feet. Upon seeing her enemy’s Stand, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow began to pound on her chest and roar, shooting out fearsome gusts of frigid wind at her opponents.
“Five seconds. That’s how long it took for Little Guitars to show itself after it took away Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow’s ability.” Illya calmly said as she stood up. “As of right now, I’m not able to say what exactly your Stand’s ability is, but that doesn’t matter. All I know is that it only lasts for five seconds, and it doesn’t seem like you can use your Stand after you’ve used its ability!”
The pink haired girl began to grin from ear to ear.
“You’re absolutely correct, Illya. You might be leagues weaker than me, but at least you have a good head on your shoulders, whatever that’s worth.” She brought her left hand up to her lips as a mischievous grin spread across her face. “Now that I think about it, your head might work quite well as a trophy!”
Without any warning, the pink haired girl began to swing her weapon around wildly, shooting green crescent projectiles at her opponent. Illya jumped to the left to avoid the attacks before rushing toward her as quickly as possible. She quickly thrust her Kaleidostick forward, but before she could make contact with her, the pink haired girl summoned a purple shield in front of herself.
“Too slow, you cheap-“
Before she could finish speaking, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow let out an eardrum shattering roar and rushed at her enemy. She threw a single powerful blow at the shield, causing it to freeze and then shatter a few seconds later. Not giving the pink haired girl any time to process what happened, Illya stabbed her mere inches away from her heart.
“As much as I want you dead, I need to restrain myself. I’m going to bring you to Rin and Luvia for questioning.”
She snickered at her opponent’s words.
“Do you really think you’re capable of beating me?” She shouted before throwing a powerful kick at her enemy’s stomach, pushing her back several feet and causing Ruby to be pulled out of her. “You’re nothing but an inferior faker that was created because mom and dad just couldn’t handle a daughter as powerful and skilled at magecraft as me!” She gleefully shouted before pointing her Kaleidostick at her opponent while charging up a powerful attack. “I’ll take my place in the world as the one and only Illya von Einzbern and eliminate all who’ve wronged me once I eradicate you!”
“I have no idea what the hell you’re on about, but it doesn’t matter! Once I’m done with you, I’m locking you in Luvia’s basement!” The white haired girl shouted before pointing Ruby at her opponent and charging up an attack.
The two girls shot beams of magic at their enemy at the same time. Both projectiles collided with each other and locked one another in place. However, after a few seconds, the pink haired girl’s attack began to overpower her enemy’s.
“I told you, bootleg. You’re nowhere near as strong as-“
“EVERYONE, NOW!” Illya screamed as loudly as possible.
Before the pink haired girl could react to what her enemy had just said, three gems were shot at her face. Upon making contact with her, they exploded, which didn’t manage to harm her but was enough to temporarily stun her for a few seconds. Seizing this opportunity, Moonchild and Dirty Work emerged from the branch of the trees they were hiding inside of and rushed at the pink haired girl. Miyu’s Stand threw several punches at her enemy’s head, stunning her in place for a handful of seconds while Luviagelita’s pummeled her stomach. Not long after, the pink haired girl was knocked onto her back. Meanwhile, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow slapped the beam of magic she had shot toward her master to her right, sending the projectile flying through several trees. While the Stand did this, Rin jumped out of the tree, and she and Illya began to rush toward the pink haired girl as quickly as possible.
“NO MORE GETTING AWAY, IMPOSTER ILLYA!” Rin screamed as she began to kick the pink haired girl in the head as quickly and with as much force as possible.
“YOU’RE COMING WITH US!” Luvia screamed as she and Miyu jumped out of the branches they were hiding in, ran over to her, and began to repeatedly kick the right side of her head.
“W-Woah! Where did the two of you come from?” She shouted, trying her best to remain composed.
Illya and Miyu began to stomp on the pink haired girl’s head. After a few seconds of nonstop kicks and stomps directly to her head, she was knocked completely unconscious.
“Good job, girls! We did it!” Illya cheerfully said as she hugged her friends. After a few seconds, she let go of them and began to speak. “Let’s hurry and bring her to Luvia’s basement before she wakes up. There’s a ton of things I need to ask her.”

Chapter Text

-A few hours later-
The pink haired girl began to open her eyes and saw that she was in a dark room with Illya, Miyu, Rin, and Luvia standing in front of her with displeased facial expressions. She tried to move her arms and hands, only to feel that they were restrained by large metal gauntlets that didn’t have any fingers and were attached to a large wooden cross. She looked down and saw that her legs were being held in place by black metal rings that wouldn’t allow them to so much as move an inch.
“Look who decided to wake up!” Illya shouted.
“You bitch! How dare you lie to me?”
“Save your insults for later. Now that you won’t be going anywhere, we have a lot of things we want to ask you.” Rin said, walking toward the pink haired girl.
“Do you really think these measly little pieces of metal are gonna be enough to hold me back?” She shouted as she attempted to tear through the restraints, only for nothing to happen. After a few seconds, the pink haired girl ceased her futile attempts and began to breathe heavily.
“Don’t even think about fleeing. While you were knocked out, I used some magecraft to strengthen the metal holding you down to ensure you wouldn’t escape. You can struggle all you want, but you’ll have an easier time popping a muscle than doing anything to free yourself.” Luvia said.
“Fine then.” The pink haired girl said, lowering her voice. “I’ll answer your questions. But before I do that, I’d like to ask you four a question of my own.”
“Sure. Go right ahead.”
“Why am I on a cross? Are you lunatics gonna crucify me once you’re done?”
“Probably not. We just put you on one to scare you.” Miyu calmly said. “I actually came up with the idea after Illya proposed we chain you to the floor and waterboard you if you didn’t cooperate with us.”
“Correct.” The blonde added. “I didn’t even own a human sized wooden cross before today. I had to go into town on my way here just so my sister’s idea could come to fruition.”
“You’re lucky my girlfriend’s not as ruthless as me. Otherwise, we’d be pouring gallons of ice cold water onto your face instead of answering your dumb question.”
“Anyway, now that we’ve told you about what you wanted to know, I trust you’ll tell us the truth about everything we ask you.”
“Of course. I’ll answer all of your questions to the fullest extent I possibly can.”
“All right then. To start things off, tell us your name.”
“My name’s Illyasviel von Einzbern, but you can call me Illya for short.”
“You just said you weren’t going to lie about anything!” The white haired girl yelled.
“But I’m not! That really is my name!”
“If that truly is your name, then we need to give you a nickname to differentiate you from our Illya. Hmm…” Rin raised her right hand and put it on her chin as she thought about a nickname for the pink haired girl. “Crow… Chloe… Kuro! That’s it! From now on, we’ll call you Kuro!”
The pink haired girl’s eyes widened.
“Wait! Are you only calling me that because of the color of my skin?” She shouted.
“Partially, yeah. But you’re also an evil Illya, so I think that name fits well.”
“That’s still pretty racist though.”
“Enough about that. What is it you even want, Kuro?” Illya asked.
A mischievous grin spread across the pink haired girl’s face.
“It’s a fairly simple thing. I want to kill you and the rest of your ungrateful, miserable family. I’d also absolutely love it if I could make Miyu my girl, but that’s not my main objective.”
“Why do you want to kill them?” Luvia asked.
“Because I hate them, obviously. I don’t exactly want to replace Illya, but I can’t have her being happy on my watch. The moment I get out of these restraints, the first thing I’m gonna do is decapitate you!” She began to raise her arms and legs at the same time, attempting to break through the magically reinforced metal, but to no avail.
The quartet quickly summoned their Stands and glared at Kuro.
“If you even think about killing me, I’ll turn you into an ice cube!”
“So it seems that even after we’ve defeated you, you still want nothing more than to see Illya dead.” Rin calmly said as she turned her head to her left. “Hey, Illya. How high is your pain tolerance?”
“I don’t know. Pretty high, I guess. What kind of question is that?”
“I’m gonna have to blow one of your arms off.” She said, pointing Happiness is a Warm Gun at her left limb.
“WHAT?” She and Miyu screamed in unison.
“Hold still. This will only hurt for a moment.”
“WAIT! ISN’T THERE ANY OTHER-“
Before she could finish speaking, Rin pulled her Stand’s trigger. Several gems were shot at the white haired girl’s arm, blowing it off with ease. Illya let out a scream as it fell to the ground, and she began to bleed profusely.
“Oh, calm down. Your Stand can freeze that wound, and Ruby can heal it soon afterward.” She calmly said before grabbing the severed arm and walking toward Kuro.
“H-Hey! Put that thing down!” She yelled.
The black haired girl didn’t say a single word as she covered her left index finger in Illya’s blood. She quickly drew two curved lines to the left of the pink haired girl’s belly button, another one above it, and a straight vertical line above the previous one.
“Those marks! Don’t tell me you’re going to curse me!”
“That’s exactly what I’m gonna do. To protect Illya, I’m going to cast a spell that causes you girls to share each other’s pain. Not only that, but if one of you dies, the other will follow suit. It’s a simple, yet effective and powerful spell.”
Kuro’s eyes widened.
“Wait, don’t do this! I’ll-“
Before she could finish her sentence, Rin began to speak.
“Bound by blood and bone. Held by flesh and nerve. One in one. Two in one. By threads entangled.”
As Rin continued her chant, Luvia put her right hand on Illya’s shoulder and began to walk her toward Kuro.
“Let pass from one. But the reverse untrue. Bear witness to their bond. The Brand: Servant in Deathpain.”
Illya put her hand on the pink haired girl’s stomach, causing red lines to appear all over her body. She let out a bloodcurdling scream as she tried her hardest to tear through the metal, to no avail. After a few seconds, the pain ended and the marks disappeared, leaving Kuro breathing heavily as she ceased her futile attempts to break free.
“Just to make sure the spell worked.” Without any hesitation, Rin pistol whipped Kuro across the head, causing her to let out a grunt as she gritted her teeth and closed her eyes tightly.
“Owch!” Illya shouted, rubbing the right side of her head. “Was that really necessary?”
“Looks like everything was a success. You and Miyu can go home now. It’s getting pretty late, and we’ll handle the interrogation from here.”
“Indeed. I’ll message you everything of note we manage to pry out of Kuro.” Luvia said.
“All right.” Illya responded, pulling Magical Ruby out of her pocket and transforming to heal her wound. “Let’s get out of here, Miyu.”
The two girls quickly turned around and began to walk away toward the basement’s door.

-A few minutes later-
Illya and Miyu entered the Einzbern household. The black haired girl turned around to close the door while her girlfriend continued walking forward. As the two of them made their way toward the stairs, Leysritt, who was sitting on the couch, stood up and turned her head to look out of the room.
“About time you two came back. Where were you?”
“Sorry. We got a little carried away with doing something for a friend of ours.” Miyu said as she walked over to her girlfriend. “Please excuse us for coming home so late.”
“Nah, it’s fine. As long as you’re both fine, I don’t really mind. If either of you are feeling hungry, my sister left you dinner in the fridge.”
“All right. We’ll eat it later.” Illya responded.
The two girls quickly walked upstairs and entered their room, closing the door behind them.

Chapter Text

-The next day-
“Good morning, Illya. Hurry and get up, or else we’ll be late for school.” Miyu said as she tapped on her girlfriend’s right cheek.
A few seconds later, the white haired girl began to slowly open her eyes before yawning and rubbing them. She noticed Miyu, who was already in her uniform, standing over her with a soft smile on her face.
“All right. I really don’t want to get out of bed right now. I’d love to spend the whole day just lying in place with you, but it doesn’t look like I have much of a say in the matter.” The white haired girl said as a smile spread across her face.
She quickly stood up, walked over to the closet, opened it, and began to get herself dressed for school. Once Illya had put on her uniform, the couple exited their room and went downstairs. They turned to their right and entered the kitchen, where they saw a very familiar pink haired girl who had her hair tied into a single side ponytail on the right of her head standing behind Sella, who was putting breakfast items such as bacon, ham, toast, fried potatoes, and more on several plates. She was wearing a thin striped yellow and white tank top that had an orange bow tied to its collar that left her navel, arms, and even the black bra that she used to hide her budding breasts exposed, and a grey skirt. She was also completely barefoot.
“I know that it’s still fairly early, but shouldn’t you be getting dressed for school? And where’s Miyu? The two of you always come downstairs for breakfast side by side. Also, did you get a tan, dye your hair, and put on colored contacts?”
“Yes to all three of those questions. I’ll get dressed right away once we’re done eating. As for where Miyu is, she said she wasn’t feeling well, so I let her sleep in today.”
“Is that so? I’ll have to check up on her after we’ve finished our meal.”
“Kuro?” Illya asked, almost shouting.
“What? How did she get in here?”
Once she had finished speaking with the white haired woman, Kuro turned around and walked toward the table. However, before she could take a seat, Illya and Miyu rushed at her. The black haired girl quickly summoned Moonchild, who wasted no time throwing a punch at her chest, stunning her in place. Illya gritted her teeth as she tried her hardest to ignore the pain before sweeping her off her feet, knocking her to the ground. Before she could get up, she kicked her under the table.
“What’s all that noise?” Sella asked as she turned to look at the girls. “Huh? I didn’t know you were capable of getting changed that quickly. What happened to your tan, hair, and eyes? And I thought Miyu was going to be staying home today because she was ill.”
“What are you talking about? I didn’t get any of those things.”
“But I just saw you with them.”
“That’s impossible. You must be seeing things, Sella.”
“As for me, I’ve started to feel a little better, so I think I’ll go to school today like usual.” Miyu said, faking a cough at the end of her sentence.
“All right then. Take a seat. I’ll be serving the two of you breakfast very soon.”
Illya and Miyu did as told and sat down next to each other. The white haired girl quickly put her right foot on Kuro’s mouth to silence her. A few seconds later, Kiritsugu, Irisviel, Leysritt, and Shirou walked into the room.
“Good morning, Iris, Liz, Shirou… Kiritsugu.” Sella said with disdain in her voice as she grabbed two plates of food and turned to look at them.
Her eyes widened upon seeing that Irisviel and Kiritsugu had dark bags under their eyes and looked exhausted.
“Oh my goodness! You both look incredibly tired! What happened?”
“We didn’t get much sleep. There was a problem that my husband stayed up the whole night sorting out.”
He nodded his head.
“I urged Iri to rest, but she insisted that she wanted to help me. We ended up taking care of it, but we didn’t get much sleep.” He calmly said as he walked over to the table and sat down across from his daughter and her girlfriend. Shirou and Sella walked over to the left of them and sat down.
“Guten morgen, girls. You two sure came back late. What took you so long?”
“We went to help out a friend of ours with something school related, and it ended up taking more time than we expected.”
Illya nodded her head.
As the girls spoke with each other, Kiritsugu moved his leg forward, resting his foot on something hard and warm.
“What’s this?” He asked as he moved his head down.
“There’s nothing under the table! What are you talking about, dad?” Illya shouted, trying her best to steal her father’s attention.
Her attempt to get him to stop fell on deaf ears as he continued to look downward, eventually seeing Kuro lying under the table.
“Hello.” She said, muffled by Illya’s foot.
“YOU!” Kiritsugu screamed as he quickly pulled a pistol out of his right pocket. “YOU BASTARD! HOW DARE YOU BREAK INTO MY HOUSE! I WON’T LET YOU HURT MY FAMILY!”
“Honey, i-is that the magical girl who attacked you yesterday?”
He quickly nodded his head as his fingers moved to his gun’s trigger.
“Wh-What’s going on? Why is there a girl under the table?” Shirou asked.
“And why does she look like Illya but if she got a really bad sunburn, dyed her hair pink, and got colored contacts?” Leysritt asked.
“Wait? There are two Illyas?” Sella shouted.
Kuro quickly pushed Illya’s leg away and then summoned Little Guitars. The Stand flew at Kiritsugu, and right as she was about to make contact with him, she vanished. At the same time, his gun disappeared into thin air.
“I’m clearly not wanted here. So I’ll be taking my leave. So you later, dad, Illya.”
She quickly crawled out from under the table and exited the kitchen on all fours. Once she was in the foyer, she stood up, unlocked the door, opened it, and rushed outside as quickly as possible before slamming the door shut.
“D-Dad?” Irisviel repeated to herself, tears welling up in her eyes. “Kiritsugu… w-while you were in Am-America, d-did you cheat on me a-and sire a daughter?”
“What? No! I’d never cheat on you!” He shouted.
“ABOUT TIME YOU SAW THAT THIS REPUGNANT MAN DOESN’T LOVE YOU!” Sella cheerfully screamed. “I’LL HELP YOU FILE FOR DIVORCE AND MAKE SURE HE NEVER LETS ANY SUCH LUSTFUL URGES TAKE HIM OVER AGAIN! LIZ, GO GET THE AXE.”
“As you wish.” The white haired woman calmly said as she stood up.
“Wait! My dad’s innocent! That girl’s just trying to impersonate me! She’s not actually related to me in any way!”
“Correct. That girl tried to kill us yesterday. She’s not actually Kiritsugu’s illegitimate daughter.” Miyu corroborated.
“NO! DON’T LISTEN TO THEM, IRIS! YOU MUST DIVORCE KIRITSUGU AND HAVE HIM CASTRATED AS PUNISHMENT FOR BEING UNFAITHFUL!”
“No. I trust Kiritsugu and my daughter’s word. If I find out he’s lying, then I’ll get a divorce, but for right now, I don’t see any reason to do that.”

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
After the girls finished eating their breakfast, they exited their house and closed the door behind them. However, before they could get too far away from it, a very familiar voice called out to them.
“Illya, Miyu, have you seen Kuro anywhere around?” Rin asked as she and Luvia stood by the Edelfelt mansion’s front gates.
“We sure have. She was in the kitchen when Illya and I woke up, trying her best to impersonate her.” The black haired girl responded.
“How did that faker even get out of the basement? I thought you said that she’d never be able to escape, no matter how hard she tried to free herself.” Illya said.
“That’s what I want to know as well.” The blonde calmly responded. “I had reinforced them to such an extent that even the physically strongest magi would have a difficult time breaking free, but by the time we went to check up on her in the morning, she was nowhere to be found. Not only that, but somehow, the gauntlets and metal rings restraining her were both in perfect condition with not even a scratch on them.”
“All we’ve been doing since we woke up is looking for her, and so far, we haven’t been at all successful. Luvia texted you an hour and a half ago to see if you two would be willing to help us, but you never responded.”
The white haired girl quickly pulled her phone out of her right pocket and turned it on only to see several messages from Luvia asking her if she and Miyu could come with her and Rin to look for Kuro.
“Oh, sorry I didn’t text you back. I was still asleep when you sent them to me, and immediately after I got dressed, Miyu and I went downstairs, where we ran into Kuro and ate breakfast.” Illya quickly turned her phone off and placed it back into her pocket. “So, did either of you manage to pry any interesting information out of her while she was still in that basement?”
“Unfortunately, no. After the two of you left, we tried to ask her stuff like why she had the same magic as the archer Class Card, why she looked like you, and who exactly she is, but she stopped cooperating with us and answering our questions. I, personally, would’ve beaten her until she responded to my questions, but due to that curse I had placed on the two of you, I was unable to do that. Without any way to get her to talk, we decided to go upstairs and leave her alone.”
“I see.” Illya said as she and Miyu turned to their left and began to walk away.
Rin and Luvia quickly followed after them.
“Do you know where Kuro currently is?” The white haired girl asked.
“If we knew where she was, we wouldn’t have been waiting for you girls at your house.” Rin responded.
“We made it back to my mansion a handful of minutes before, and it seems that Kuro had already left your house by that point because we didn’t see her even once.”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with Kuro, but did the Gaia Needle discover anything when you two went to check up on it two days ago?” Miyu asked.
“We’re still reviewing and trying to interpret the information it gathered. However, once we’re done with everything, you two will be the first people we’ll tell about our findings.”
“If you girls see Kuro while you’re at school today, call us immediately. We won’t hesitate to hurry there and help you catch her.” Luvia said.
“All right. I’ll be sure to do just that.”

-A few minutes later-
Illya and Miyu arrived at Homurahara Academy and went upstairs to their homeroom. They quickly walked toward their desks and sat down at them.
“Oh, good morning, you two. I honestly thought you’d already be in school by the time I got here. I could’ve sworn I saw Illya running across the street while I was making my way here.” Mimi said.
Both of the girls’ eyes widened.
“You must’ve been seeing things. You’re probably just tired or stressed out.” Miyu lied.
Illya nodded her head.
“Just out of curiosity, what direction did you see me run in?”
“You were running toward the right, most likely toward the school. But when I got to class, I didn’t see you anywhere nearby. So I was probably just imagining stuff.”
“Maybe Illya has a secret twin sister or cousin that looks a lot like her and wanted to check out her school. Who knows?” Tatsuko cheerfully suggested.
“If Illya had a twin, she’d probably have already told us about her by now. While I don’t doubt that she probably has a cousin her age, I think Illya and Miyu would probably already know if she were here or not.” Suzuka calmly responded.
“Do you even have any cousins?” Nanaki asked.
“I do, but they’re both adults and don’t really look like me aside from having the same hair and eye color as me.”
“So you were definitely just seeing things.” The pink haired girl confidently concluded.
A few seconds after the girls finished talking, the bell rang and Kuzuki stood up.
“All right, class. Take out your English workbooks and turn to page 287.”

-A few hours later-
The students’ lunch period had arrived. Most of them had left the room to go elsewhere, leaving Illya and her friends behind. The five girls were about to go to the roof when Mimi stood up.
“I’m gonna go to the bathroom. Please wait for me here, girls.” She said as she walked out of the room.
“I’m going to stay to wait for Mimi. You girls can go to the roof without me if you want.”
“Nah, I’ll wait here with you. There’s no point in going there alone.”
“Yeah. I’m gonna wait here for her too.” Tatsuko added.
“All right then. Miyu and I will be waiting for you girls on the roof.” Illya said as she and her girlfriend stood up.
The two girls walked out of the classroom. At the same time, Mimi was walking down the hallway toward the girls bathroom. Right when she was only a few feet away from it, Kuro walked out of the restroom and turned to stare at her.
“H-Huh? Who are you? And why do you kind of look like Illya?”
“Hello, you’re a friend of Illya’s, right?”
“Y-Yes. She and I are pretty good friends, at least I’d say so.”
“Well then, could you help me out with something?”
“Sure. What is it you need?”
The pink haired girl quickly grabbed onto Mimi’s hand before running down the hall, dragging her behind her.
“I’ll show you just what I need somewhere much more private.” She said, her lips forming a grin that spread from ear to ear.

-A few minutes later-
Illya and Miyu walked up the stairs that led to the roof. They pushed the door to it open and began to hear a noise that sounded like someone whimpering.
“I-I can’t do this for you. I-I have a girlfriend.” Mimi weakly said.
“Oh, nonsense. I’m only asking you to do this because I’d otherwise starve. If your girlfriend walked in on us, I’m sure she’d completely understand.” She whispered, her hot breath hitting the brunette’s neck, sending shivers down her spine. “Please, Mimi, feed me.”
Kuro moved her head upward, slowly closing the gap between her and Mimi’s lips. A few seconds before she could kiss her, Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow rushed at Kuro and threw a powerful punch at the right side of her head, completely shattering half of her skull and launching her away from the brunette.
“GET AWAY FROM MY FRIEND, YOU DAMN FAKER!” Illya screamed as she and Miyu ran over to Mimi’s side while her Stand vanished.
The white haired girl did her best to try to ignore the immense pain she felt in the side of her head.
“I-Illya, Miyu, you saved me!” She shouted as tears welled up in her eyes, and she hugged her friends.
“Kuro, what are you doing here?” Miyu shouted.
“…Can’t a girl just come to school in peace?” She weakly said as her injury healed, and she turned to look at the girls.
“In peace? You snuck into my school to force yourself on my friend! First Miyu, now Mimi! How far is your depravity willing to go before it’s satiated?”
“I wasn’t about to kiss your friend because I’m into her. I was gonna kiss her because I’m so, so hungry.”
“What a liar! How would making out with someone make you feel full?” The white haired girl gritted her teeth and clenched her fists tightly. “That’s it! Miyu, cover Mimi’s eyes for me.”
“All right.” The black haired girl quickly brought her hands up to her friend’s eyes and covered them as Illya turned around and walked toward Kuro.
“Earlier today, I told Rin and Luvia that I’d call them if I found you, but that doesn’t matter anymore.” She said as she opened her backpack and pulled Ruby out of it. “Ever since I met you, you’ve been nothing but a nuisance, trying to kill me and hurt the people I care about. With my own two hands, I’ll kill you!” The white haired girl yelled as she quickly transformed.
“Oh, so you want to continue our fight from yesterday! All right then!” Kuro cheerfully shouted as she transformed and summoned a green Kaleidostick in her right hand. “No cheap tricks this time! Just a fair and square battle to the death!”
Before either of the girls could do anything, the door to the roof suddenly opened, and Suzuka, Tatsuko, and Nanaki walked into the area. They looked at the two girls in shock with their mouths agape.
“Illya, why are you wearing that outfit?” Suzuka asked. “It looks like something a magical girl in an anime would wear.”
“Right? Do you think she’s just a cosplayer or possibly a real life magical girl?” The blonde asked.
“Do you think you could stop asking dumb questions and coming to wild conclusions all the time?”
“Who is that girl, and why does she kind of look like you?” Nanaki asked as she pointed at Kuro.
“Oh, I’m just Illya’s cousin who recently moved in with her family. My name’s K-“
“Her name’s Chloe von Einzbern.” Illya said, trying her best to prevent herself from shooting a gigantic beam of magic at her.
Before any of the girls could say anything, a familiar voice began to speak.
“What’s all the ruckus for?” Kuzuki asked as he walked onto the roof.
“Mr. Kuzuki!” Miyu shouted as she turned to look at her teacher. “I swear that whatever you think it looks like isn’t what’s happening!”
“Illya, why are you out of your uniform? And who’s that girl standing across from you?”
“Oh, I’m Chloe von Einzbern, Illya’s cousin from Germany. I’ve recently moved in with her and her family so that I can attend school in this country. I came here a few minutes ago so that she could show me around Homurahara. If all goes well, I should be starting school tomorrow.” She said, a sly grin spreading across her face.
Kuro, shut up, or I’ll kill you on the spot. Illya thought as she glared daggers at the pink haired girl.

Chapter Text

“Oh, I see. Why didn’t you just say your cousin was going to be attending class with us from now on after Mimi saw her earlier today?” Suzuka asked.
“…It’s because I wanted to surprise you girls with the fact that we were gonna get a new student who’s also my cousin. As for why we’re wearing such clothing, it’s because she’s a pretty big fan of superheroes, so she made me wear this while I showed her around Homurahara.”
“I see. I won’t get you in trouble for not being in your uniform as long as you change back after you’re done, okay?”
“All right. Thank you, Mr. Kuzuki.” The white haired girl said with a soft smile spreading across her face.
“As for you, Chloe von Einzbern. I’ve never heard of such a girl being on my class’ registry. Are you sure you’re going to start attending my class by tomorrow?”
“Yes, I’m completely certain, sir. They’ll probably add me to your registry by tonight.”
“Hmm… well then. I look forward to seeing you in class, Ms. Einzbern.” The black haired man calmly said before turning around and walking downstairs. “Enjoy your lunch, girls.”
“Huh? Chloe’s your cousin? But weren’t you just threatening to-“
Before Mimi could finish speaking, Miyu brought her right index finger down to the brunette’s lips and quietly shushed her.
“For our sakes, please keep this a secret.” She murmured.
“Since you’re already here, do you want to eat lunch with us, Chloe?” Suzuka asked.
“I’d love to, but I accidentally left my lunch at home.”
“I could go get you something from the cafeteria if you want.” Nanaki offered.
“No, no, it’s fine. I’m not hungry.” Kuro said before turning around and walking toward the roof’s door. “Anyway, I think I was shown enough of the school. I’ll be taking my leave now. See you girls tomorrow.” She said, waving goodbye to Illya and her friends.

-A few hours later-
After Kuro left, the girls sat down and ate their lunch. Once the period ended, the six of them returned to their classroom. The rest of the day went by as normal without Kuro showing herself or anything strange happening. Eventually, the school day ended, and the students were allowed to leave. Illya and Miyu wasted no time and left their classroom, went downstairs, and then exited Homurahara. Once they were outside, they began to walk home.
“Damn that Kuro. What is she even trying to do anymore? She didn’t seem like she wanted to kill Sella or dad, and if she wanted to sexually assault people, why did she come to a place where she could easily be caught and have the police called on her?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe she’s trying to hurt people you care about, which would in turn hurt you as well.”
“But she wasn’t trying to hurt Sella or, really, anyone when she was in my house. If she really wanted to hurt the people I loved, she had optimal time to kill everyone before we woke up.”
“Can you two girls stop trying to come to the worst possible conclusions about me? Can’t a girl just eat breakfast with her family or go to school in peace for once in her life?” A very familiar voice asked.
The two girls quickly turned around and saw Kuro, who was wearing the same clothing as in the morning, except with brown sandals.
“You again! What? Do you want to finish from where we left off?” Illya shouted, moving her right hand onto her backpack.
“See what I mean? No, I’m not in the mood to fight you. I just want to talk with Luvia and Rin.”
“What for?” Miyu asked.
“Remember how I told your teacher that I was going to start attending his class tomorrow? Yeah, I really did mean it. I wanna start going to school.”
“Why? So you can force yourself on as many girls as your heart desires?”
Kuro took a deep breath.
“No.” She said, starting to get annoyed. “For the time being, I just want to live my life as a normal, everyday ten year old girl. Is that really so much to ask?” She brought her right hand to her stomach and began to trace over the mark Rin had left on it with her right index finger. “Thanks to Rin, I can’t continue with my plan to kill you and your family, but at the same time, you can’t kill me either, so I might as well start to live a regular life for the time being. Do you really think asking the two of them to help me forge some papers to get me enrolled at your school is too much to ask for?”
“No, not at all. Luvia was able to forge all the papers necessary to get me enrolled into Homurahara. I’m sure doing the same for you wouldn’t be too hard.”
“As long as you’re not planning on going to school just to cause problems for me and Miyu, I’m sure the two of them will help you out.”
“I swear I’m not doing this out of spite. I’m simply doing it because I want to.”
“All right. But if I find out you’re lying to me, I won’t hesitate to tear you in half, even if it kills me.” She coldly responded, glaring at the pink haired girl.

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
Illya, Miyu, and Kuro arrived at the Einzbern household. Instead of walking toward it, the three of them turned to their left and made their way toward the Edelfelt mansion. They were about to use their Stands to jump over the gate when they heard two familiar voices in the distance slowly getting closer to her.
“This is the second time that we’ve had to search for a child in this country, and just like last time, we haven’t had any luck with our search.” Luvia complained.
“Not only that, but it seems that the girl we’re looking for was found by Illya of all people.” Rin calmly responded as she pointed at the white haired girl and her friends.
Luviagelita turned her head to the right slightly, her eyes widening the moment she looked at Kuro.
“Girls! Are you two all right? Where did you find Kuro? And why didn’t you text us about it earlier?” She asked as she and Rin ran over to them.
“We’re fine. Believe it or not, Kuro didn’t actually want to kill Illya.” Miyu said.
“Around lunchtime, we found Kuro on the roof of the school. I really wanted to kill her right then and there, but my friends walked in on us before we could do anything. Not long after that, she left, and I lost track of her yet again. Kuro only showed herself a few minutes ago when Miyu and I were walking home from school.”
“Speaking of school, could you help me forge some papers so that I can start school tomorrow?”
“You want to actually start attending school?” The black haired girl asked.
She nodded her head.
“Since I can’t go after Illya and her family now due to the curse you inflicted on me, and I don’t have any money to afford much of anything, I don’t really have anything better to do during the day. I might as well kill some time at Homurahara and learn a thing or two. Maybe I’ll even make some friends or a girlfriend.”
“How can we be sure you’re not planning on doing this for more nefarious purposes?” Rin asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, I went to Illya’s school today, and I didn’t kill or hurt anybody. I think that should be enough proof that I’m not doing this for any ill intent.”
“All right then. I’ll have everything you need to transfer to Homurahara ready by the time the sun sets.” The blonde turned to Illya and Miyu. “I believe her for now, but just in case it turns out she’s lying, keep an eye on her.”
“Now that you’re going to be attending school, where are you going to live?” Rin asked.
“For the last two days, I’ve been sleeping on the branch of a tree near that temple. Outside of there, I don’t really have anywhere else to stay. I tried to sneak into Illya’s house, but my old man got mad at me and chased me off. I’d like to patch things up with them sometime in the future, but Kiritsugu would probably shoot me on the spot if I stepped foot anywhere near his house. So for now, Luvia, can I stay in your mansion while I go to school?”
“Of course, Kuro. You’re still a growing girl. Someone like you should be sleeping in a nice, warm house while they attend school instead of on a cold, hard branch.”
“Thank you, Luvia! You don’t know how much this means to me!” She cheerfully shouted before running over to the blonde and hugging her.
“No problem. I have plenty of room in my mansion. You’re more than welcome to stay there for as long as you want.” She said, wrapping her arms around her. “I’ll have one of my maids buy you a Homurahara uniform later tonight.”
“I don’t think I completely trust Kuro yet. Are you sure this is a wise thing to do?”
“Come on, Rin. I’ll be a good girl, I promise. I won’t hurt or try to attack anyone while I stay with Luvia.”
“If you say so.” She said, still not sounding too convinced as she walked over to the blonde. “If I don’t hear from you in a few days, you’ll know why.”
“All right. Now that we’ve gotten that taken care of, let’s go home, Miyu.” Illya said before turning around and grabbing ahold of her girlfriend’s left hand.
“Bye, girls. Try not to abuse Kuro, okay?” The black haired girl cheerfully said as she waved goodbye to her friends.
“Don’t worry, you can rest easy knowing I won’t.” She said with a smile on her face.

Chapter Text

-The next day-
Irisviel opened her eyes. She sat up, rubbed them, and yawned before looking at the digital clock next to the TV that stood across the room from her bed.
I need to use the bathroom. She thought as she slowly stood up, making sure she didn’t cause any unnecessary noises that could’ve woken her husband up.
She then made her way to the door, opened it, and stepped outside before making her way down the hallway. As she passed the stairs, she heard someone knock at the front door. At first, she was going to ignore it, but after a few seconds, she heard someone knock on it yet again. She remained silent for a handful of seconds longer before a third set of knocks came from the door. Seeing that this person wasn’t going to be leaving anytime soon, Irisviel turned around and began to walk down the stairs.
“Hello, who’s there?” She asked.
Once the white haired woman was in front of the door, she opened it, revealing Kuro standing behind it, already dressed in her school uniform, with a wide smile on her face.
“Hey, Mrs. Einzbern.“
“Oh, you’re that girl who snuck into my house yesterday. What brings you back here?” She asked, not sounding annoyed or bothered by her appearance in the slightest.
“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for everything I’ve put you and your family through. You see, a few days ago, I moved into this neighborhood with the rest of my family from…” She went silent for a few seconds as she thought of what country she could lie about having previously lived in. “…Austria. One of my friends told me that there was a man who killed magical girls in town, and I got scared for our safety. To make sure he wouldn’t threaten our lives, I tracked him down and attempted to kill him. I was unsuccessful, of course, but I found out that he had a daughter that sort of looked like me. This piqued my curiosity, so after school ended, I decided to go speak with Illya and her girlfriend. Things got sort of heated between the two of us, and we ended up fighting one another. I came here yesterday because I wanted to see if it was true if I really looked like your daughter or not, and your maid was none the wiser. However, as the day went by, I started to feel more and more remorseful over what I had done. So, when I woke up an hour earlier and couldn’t sleep despite how hard I tried, I decided that I might as well apologize to you and your family.”
“Apology accepted.” She said, softly smiling at the pink haired girl. “School doesn’t start for another hour and a half, and I doubt you’ve eaten anything yet. So, would you like to come with me to the kitchen and have something to eat?”
“Yes. Thank you for the offer, Mrs. Einzbern.” Kuro said, a wide smile spreading across her face.

-An hour later-
“Good morning, sleepyhead.” Miyu said with a soft smile on her face as she gently tapped on her girlfriend’s forehead. “It’s time for the two of us to get up and get ready to go to school.”
A few seconds later, the white haired girl began to stir. She slowly opened her eyes, rubbed them, and sat up while letting out a yawn.
“I guess it’s that time of the day again.” She said as she stretched. “I really don’t want to go to school. But it’s almost the weekend, and summer break starts next week, so it’d be a waste to skip out.”
The white haired girl stood up, walked over to her closet, and quickly put on her uniform.
“Let’s go downstairs and eat breakfast already so that we’re not late.”
The two girls walked over to the door, opened it, and quickly made their way downstairs. They turned to their right to see Sella standing at the entrance of the kitchen in shock, staring at Irisviel and Kuro, who were sitting at the table with cups of coffee and plates of cookies in front of them as they talked with one another as if they were good friends.
“Sella, are you okay?” Miyu asked, turning to look at her.
“N-No! That home intruder from yesterday is back, and she’s talking with Iris as if nothing had happened yesterday.” She shouted.
“W-What, Kuro? What are you doing here? Get out of my house right this instant!”
“Hey, calm down. I’m not here to do anything bad. In fact, I’ve actually come here to apologize for what I’ve done to you and your dad.”
Irisviel nodded her head as she took a sip of her coffee.
Before any of the girls could say anything, Kiritsugu walked down the stairs and made his way to the kitchen.
“What’s all the shouting-“ His eyes widened the moment he saw Kuro sitting next to his wife. Without any hesitation, he pulled his pistol out of his right pocket and aimed it at her head. “Iri, get away from that girl now! She’s an incredibly dangerous magical girl! If you let your guard down for even a second, she won’t hesitate to-“
“Oh, calm down. Kuro’s not a bad girl.“
“Kiritsugu, Illya, I’m really sorry for everything I’ve done. From the bottom of my heart, I truly mean it. Do you think either of you could forgive me?”
“As long as you keep your promise that you’re not going to attack any of my family members, I’m willing to forgive you.”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it! I know you magical girls! You’re all the same! You say some lie to get whoever you’re after to drop their guard, and the moment they’re not paying attention, you all strike! You’re not any different!” He shouted as he brought his fingers to his weapon’s trigger. “You’ve been nothing but a danger to me and my family, and if I let you live, I have no doubt that, one day, you’ll have us all killed! For the sake of me and the people I love most-“
“Wait, Kiritsugu, please don’t do it! Kuro might have been a violent magical girl in the past, but it genuinely looks like she’s trying to change her ways and become a better person! Please, show her some mercy!”
Kiritsugu glared at Kuro for several seconds before letting out a breath and lowering his arm.
“Most magical girls are wretched beings… they don’t care about regular people… in fact, they’ll gladly kill them without a shred of remorse if they get in their way. However… I know that, even if there’s only a handful of them, there exist kindhearted, peaceful magical girls in the world. You’re proof of that, Iri. If you truly believe that this child is one of those magical girls, then I’m willing to spare her life.”
“Thank god you managed to reason with your husband. If you weren’t here, I’m certain he would’ve riddled my head with so many holes that I would’ve looked like Swiss cheese.”
“No problem, Kuro. I won’t let any harm befall you as long as I’m around.” She said, smiling softly at her.

Chapter Text

-A few minutes later-
After Illya and Miyu ate their breakfast, the two of them, along with Kuro, exited the Einzbern household and began to walk to school. Before they could get too far from their house, Luvia ran out of her mansion and rushed toward its front gates while shouting.
“Illya! Miyu! Kuro has gone missing once-“ The blonde went silent upon seeing her standing side by side with the two magical girls.
“Good morning, Ms. Edelfelt. Did you miss me?”
“Oh, you’re just going to school.” The blonde let out a sigh of relief. “When one of my maids told me that she hadn’t seen you for an hour, I panicked and assumed the worst.”
“There was no need to panic. I promised that I wasn’t gonna do anything bad. In fact, I woke up a little earlier than I usually do just to apologize to Illya and her family over what I’ve previously done to them.”
“I see. Well then, have fun at your first real day of school.” She said, waving goodbye to Kuro.
“Bye, Luvia.” Miyu said, turning around to wave at her.
“See you later.” The white haired girl responded, smiling at her.
The trio walked forward for a few minutes without saying a single word to each other. Eventually, Illya turned to Kuro and began to speak.
“I know we might’ve gotten off to a rocky start, but as long as you keep your promise and behave yourself, I won’t interfere with whatever you decide to do. However, if I find out you’re forcing yourself on anyone, not just Miyu or any of my friends, I won’t hesitate to kill you. Got it?”
“Don’t worry about that. You can rest easy knowing that I won’t kiss or force anyone to do anything sexual with me.”
“Good. You better keep your word.” Illya said, turning away from her.
“Of course I will. I’m no liar.”

-A few minutes later-
The three girls made it to Homurahara without anything of note happening. They quickly entered it and went upstairs to their homeroom. They walked inside, but before Illya and Miyu could reach their desks, Kuzuki spoke up.
“Good morning, Chloe. Last night, I checked my class roster and saw that you were there. You’re now a part of my class. It’s a pleasure to have you.”
“It’s a pleasure to have you as my teacher, Mr. Kuzuki.” She said, bowing to him.
The black haired man stood up and turned to look at his students.
“Class, I’m glad to inform you that we have a new student today. Her name is Chloe von Einzbern, and she’s Illya’s cousin who recently moved to Japan from Germany.” He turned his head to look at his student. “Would you mind writing your name for the rest of the class?”
“Not at all.” She calmly said before turning around, walking over to the blackboard, grabbing a piece of chalk in front of her, and writing her name down on it.
“I didn’t have any spare desks for you to sit at, so early this morning, I brought one here from the storage room and put it in the back near where your cousin and her friends all sit. Are you okay with sitting there?”
“Of course. I have no problems with that placement.” She said with a wide smile on her face.
“All right. If you need anything or if something’s bothering you, don’t hesitate to talk with me.”
The pink haired girl nodded her head as she and her companions walked toward their desks, eventually reaching them and taking a seat. Before any of Illya’s friends could attempt to speak with her, the majority of the students got up from their seats, made their way toward Kuro, and began to ask her questions.
“Can I please hang out with you during lunch?” A girl with light blue hair asked.
“Can you teach me German?” Another girl with green hair asked.
“Why is your skin so dark? You hardly look like you could be from Europe at all.” A black haired boy pointed out.
“Can everyone please calm down and go take a seat? Class is about to start. If all of you are still up by the time that bell rings, I’ll be forced to give you all detention.” Kuzuki calmly said.
All of the children let out annoyed groans before turning around and walking away. A few seconds after they sat down, the bell rang.
“All right, class has officially started. If any of you want to talk with Chloe, don’t worry. You’ll get the chance to do just that during PE or lunch.”

Chapter Text

-A few hours later-
The students’ physical education class arrived, and they were getting dressed in Homurahara’s locker room. As Kuro put on her bloomers, Tatsuko turned to look at her.
“Hey, Chloe, after we’re all done getting dressed, would you like to play a game of dodgeball with me and my friends?”
“We didn’t really get much of a chance to talk with you during the morning, so now’s the perfect opportunity to get to know more about you.” The black haired girl added. “You, Illya, and Miyu can be on one team, and me, Tatusko, Nanaki, and Mimi can be on the other.”
“But wouldn’t that be a little unfair?“ Miyu asked.
“Maybe, but we’re an odd numbered group. Regardless of how we try to organize ourselves, one team is going to have more people than the other.”
“How about you let Mimi join our team then?” Illya asked.
The brunette’s eyes widened as she backed away from her friends.
“N-No. I’m perfectly fine on the team I’m currently on. Despite us having more members, I’m sure you girls will do well.” She said, trying her best to sound as composed as possible.
“You and Miyu are both pretty athletically gifted, and for all we know, Chloe might be the same as you girls. So I feel like us having an extra teammate isn’t too unfair.” Nanaki said.
“All right.” The pink haired girl confidently responded, a grin spreading across her face. “I’ll let you girls have the larger team. But just because you’ll have the advantage doesn’t mean you’ll beat us.”
“Very well then. We won’t hold anything back against you three.” Tatsuko replied.

-A few minutes later-
Illya and her friends were standing in the center of Homurahara’s courtyard. The white haired girl, Miyu, and Kuro were on the left side, while Suzuka, Mimi, Nanaki, and Tatsuko were on the right. In her hands, the blonde held the ball. Some of the other students were crowded around the seven girls, preparing for the game to start. Before the septet could begin, Kuzuki walked over to them and began to speak.
“What are you girls doing over here?”
“We’re gonna play dodgeball. Wanna join Chloe’s team and make things even?” Tatsuko asked.
“Yeah. Right now, we have uneven teams. If you decide to join forces with us, we’ll finally have an even playing field.” Illya said.
“Hold on. Getting a fully grown man to help them out doesn’t seem very fair.” Suzuka said.
“Yeah. Mr. Kuzuki’s an adult; we’re just a bunch of little girls. Although getting him to join Illya’s team would, on paper, make things even, the fact he’s naturally stronger than us will give Chloe and her teammates an insurmountable advantage.” Nanaki pointed out.
“Correct. Which is why I’ll be the referee instead of joining sides with any of you girls.” He calmly said, walking behind Illya’s group. “On the count of three, we’ll start.”
Suddenly, Kuro began to feel slightly fatigued.
Crap. Looks like all of those cookies mom gave me won’t be enough to get me to lunch.
“One, two-“
Before Kuzuki could finish his countdown, Kuro began to speak.
“I’m sorry for interrupting you, Mr. Kuzuki, but before we start, can I make a deal with the other team to make things more interesting?”
“I don’t see why not. Go ahead.”
“All right.” She pointed at the opposing team. “If you girls manage to beat us, I’ll do whatever you four want. However, if we beat you, I get to kiss each and every one of you!” She shouted, a wide grin spreading across her face.
All six of the girls stared at Kuro in shock while Kuzuki raised an eyebrow.
“Chloe… that’s pretty perverted.” Suzuka said. “Honestly, if it were just me and I weren’t already with Mimi, I probably would agree to it, but you’re putting the other girls on the spot.”
“Yeah. I barely even know you. I don’t wanna make out with you.” Tatsuko added.
“If you want to kiss a girl so badly, go get a girlfriend!” Nanaki shouted.
“K-Kiss you? N-No, I’m good.” Mimi said, her eyes wide.
“I’m not working with a girl who wants to coerce others into kissing her.” Miyu softly said as she walked toward her friends. “Have fun with Illya.”
“Wait! Miyu, where do you think you’re going?”
“She doesn’t want to work with some sicko who wants to force herself on others. And neither do I, for that matter.” Illya began to walk away from Kuro, but before she could walk onto the other side of the court, she began to whisper under her breath. “I told you that I’d be fine with you coming to school with me and Miyu if you didn’t assault anyone. And what’s the first thing you want to do now that you get an opportunity to talk with my friends?”
Once Illya was on the other team’s side, Suzuka turned to look at Kuzuki.
“Mr. Kuzuki, please join us.”
“It seems like you kids have dropped all pretense of attempting to make a fair and balanced game. Very well. I shall assist you in defeating this perverted child.” He said before walking over to Tatsuko’s team’s side.
“A seven on one game with a grown man as one of your teammates. The odds are heavily stacked in your girls’ favor, but that doesn’t matter. I’ll still beat you all and make out with each and every one of you!”