TYPE-MOON Universe, Earth, Japan, Fuyuki City.
At the Grand Hyatt Hotel, while Elicia and Sakura were sleeping soundly, Tatsuo and Rider were sitting in the suite's living room. While Tatsuo was sitting on the couch cross legged and circulating his [Energy] through his heart, purifying it with every revolution, Rider sat quietly in a recliner, watching the Assassin Servant while he meditated.
However, at about one in the morning, Tatsuo opened his eyes abruptly. Then, both he and Rider turned their heads in the direction of Miyama Town.
"It looks like Rin summoned her Servant tonight." Tatsuo muttered with a somewhat uncomfortable expression on his face.
'She's been watching me ever since I sat on the couch.' Tatsuo thought to himself while glancing at Rider from the corner of his eye. 'And I started circulating my [Energy] when the others went to bed at about eleven. On top of that, she's been doing this ever since the first day she was summoned. What's the deal with her. It's kinda creepy.'
"So, it would seem." Rider replied, completely unaware of Tatsuo's thoughts. Though, she did feel his gaze shift to her for a moment. "I wonder what decision she made. Will she work with us, or against us?"
"I hope she decides to help us." Tatsuo said. "Honestly, I'd rather not have to fight her. For Sakura's sake, anyway. I wouldn't mind fighting whoever she summoned, though."
'Damn right I wanna fight Archer.' Tatsuo thought to himself. 'With all those different weapons he can [Project], I'll be able to fill up an armory in no time.'
With that thought, Tatsuo could not help but smile. Meanwhile, Rider, whose attention had always been partially on Tatsuo, noticed the change in his demeanor. Feeling the excitement Tatsuo exuded, she was tempted to take off her face mask to see the expression on his face. But she squashed that impulse almost immediately.
'No, I can't.' Rider thought to herself as she shook her head lightly. 'If I did, he would die. And that would make Sakura sad.'
With her attention now focused on Tatsuo again, Tatsuo felt it. And once again, his expression turned slightly uncomfortable.
'She's watching me again.' Tatsuo thought to himself. 'Well… Not exactly watching me. But she's paying really close attention to me. And without being able to see her eyes, it's really hard to tell what she's thinking. It's kind of creepy. But at the same time, I can't feel any animosity. So hard to understand.'
With that, the room remained silent for the next couple hours. However, Tatsuo eventually returned to his meditation when they could no longer feel Archer's presence so clearly. Meanwhile, Rider went back to observing Tatsuo while he circulated his [Energy].
Like that, a few more hours passed. Eventually, Sakura's bedroom door opened. Shortly after that, Sakura came out rubbing her eyes sleepily. At the same time, Tatsuo uncrossed his legs and stood up from the couch.
"Good morning, Sakura." Tatsuo said as Sakura entered the living room. "I'll get breakfast started right away."
"Mmm…. Good morning, Assassin." Sakura muttered. She then turned to Rider and continued. "Good morning to you, too, Rider. How were things last night?"
"Good morning." Rider replied. "Things were quiet last night. It would seem that your sister summoned her Servant, though."
Sakura paused for a moment when she heard that. However, she quickly recovered and made her way towards the kitchen to assist Tatsuo. Rider stood up shortly afterwards, following the two into the kitchen before sitting at the kitchen table.
"I see." Sakura said as she looked at the ingredients Tatsuo took out of the suite's refrigerator. "I wonder if she's made her decision yet."
"I'm sure we'll find out soon enough." Tatsuo replied while arranging the ingredients. Until then, we can only do our own thing."
Nodding in response, Sakura started helping Tatsuo prepare the ingredients for breakfast. Then, after a short time, the sound of sizzling and the scent of grilled fish started to waft around the suite.
After that, it did not take long for another bedroom door to open. And to no one's surprise, Elicia, still half-asleep, stepped out of the room and stumbled towards the kitchen.
"Mornin'." Elicia muttered as she flopped down into a chair across from Rider.
"Good morning, Taylor-San." Sakura said while stirring a pot of miso soup. "Did you sleep well?"
"Mhmm." Elicia replied groggily. "Just like a baby. I miss Fonzie, though."
"You'll be able to go home soon enough." Tatsuo said while flipping a piece of fish on the stove's grill top. "The sixth Servant was summoned last night. So, the Grail War will start soon enough."
That piece of information was enough to perk Elicia up by quite a bit.
"Oh, who was it?" Elicia asked excitedly. "Was it Rin or the elusive seventh Master."
"It was my Onee-Sama." Sakura replied. "But I wonder who the last one will be."
"I'm sure we'll find out soon." Tatsuo replied. "For now, let's just focus on keeping in top condition. I doubt it will be long before the seventh Master emerges. Then, we'll have to be ready to fight at a moment's notice."
Elicia, Sakura, and rider all nodded in agreement. Then, they started to chat about more casual topics through the rest of the breakfast preparation and while they ate.
Eventually, Sakura, along with Rider, left the suite so that Sakura could attend school. Meanwhile, Tatsuo and Elicia sat together in the suite's living room and talked about more sensitive topics.
"Now that Rin has summoned Archer, she'll probably take him to school with her, right?" Elicia asked.
"If it's anything like the games and the anime." Tatsuo replied. "But they'll probably notice that Rider is with Sakura, though. So, things could change."
"Maybe not, though." Elicia countered. "I mean, Rin already knows that Sakura summoned Rider. So, she probably won't do anything."
"You have a point." Tatsuo said with a nod. "If you're right, things shouldn't' change that much until tonight then. I mean, with Bazett still being Lancer's Master, there's no guarantee they'll fight on the school's sport's field. The question is, if they don't, what will trigger Shirou to summon Saber?"
"I'm not sure." Elicia said with a contemplative expression on her face. A moment later, however, she smiled excitedly. "So, we should go out and see how things play out, shouldn't we?"
Tatsuo also smiled in response.
"That's a good idea." Tatsuo replied. "I'm curious to know how things will change with all the stuff we did before the Grail War started, too."
Elicia seemed equally intrigued to find out how things would change during this iteration of the Holy Grail War. However, she found herself sad when she realized that she would have to wait until nightfall to start seeing what will happen.
Like that, time passed quickly, neither Tatsuo nor Elicia leaving the suite today. Though, they did notice that Bazett, and probably Lancer, left the hotel at some point in the afternoon. Still, neither of them was keen on following them.
However, when the sun started to set, shortly after Sakura returned from school, Tatsuo and Elicia decided that now was the time to see if any of the events from Fate/Stay night would take place.
Meanwhile, Emiya Shirou, after spending all afternoon helping people around the school deal with various problems, was on his way back to his house, a traditional Japanese compound in Miyama Town. Along the way, he had stopped at a grocery store to pick up ingredients for dinner.
"*Sigh* I kinda miss Sakura coming over to help me cook." Shirou muttered to himself while walking down the street with a shopping bag in hand. "It feels kind of lonely without her. But then again, I'm just glad she's okay. When the rest of the Matou Family disappeared, I feared the worst."
Shaking off the negative thoughts that came along with the thought of his old friend, Matou Shinji's unknown status, Shirou continued on his way home.
However, when he reached the next corner, he noticed a girl, looking to be no more than thirteen. But what really made her stand out was her long, straight white hair.
"Looks like there's a foreigner vacationing in Fuyuki." Shirou muttered to himself as he glanced at the girl. "I don't' know what's so great about this city, though. But to each his own, I guess."
Not thinking about the foreign girl any further, Shirou continued to walk forward, eventually crossing paths with the girl.
"You'd better summon yours soon, Big Brother." The girl said as she walked past Shirou's side. "If you don't, you'll… die."
Immediately, Shirou came to a complete stop, his eyes widening in surprise. He then turned around to ask the girl what she meant. However, when he finally managed to turn around, the girl was nowhere to be seen.
"What the hell was that all about?' Shirou muttered to himself while scanning the street. "Or… could she be…?"
A little rattled by the encounter, Shirou eventually turned around and started walking towards his house once again.
Meanwhile, the white-haired girl, Illyasviel von Einzbern, stood atop a nearby building watching Shirou move into the distance.
"Don't disappoint me, Big Brother." Illyasviel said, a radiant smile spreading across her face. "I'm really looking forward to playing with you."
Though she smiled brightly, had anyone been close enough to see it, they would have probably wanted to flee in terror. The amount of insanity and malice hidden in her gaze was impossible to hide, after all.
Yet, the smile on Illyasviel's face quickly disappeared when she saw Shirou stop, thinking he had felt her killing intent. But that thought quickly disappeared when she saw Shirou turn around and start running back in the direction he came from.
Tilting her head in confusion, Illyasviel was completely dumbfounded when she heard what Shirou said as he ran past the building she was standing on.
"Oh, crap!" Shirou shouted in a somewhat panicked tone. "Did I remember to lock the Archery Dojo when I left? Man, if Mitsuzuri-San finds out that I left the dojo open, she's gonna kill me."
Illyasviel could not help but watch Shirou disappear in the distance. Then when she could no longer see his silhouette, she shook her head and turned away. Deciding she would have a familiar keep an eye on him for now.
"I can't believe Papa abandoned me for someone like that." Illyasviel muttered in an infuriated tone.
Unfortunately, what Illyasviel knew to be true was a fabrication made up by her family. Her father, Emiya Kiritsugu, the Einzbern representative in the last Holy Grail War saved Shirou, the only survivor of the Great Fire of Fuyuki ten years ago. During the time Shirou was hospitalized, Kiritsugu contacted the Einzberns, the family from which is wife hailed, and told them about what happened in the Holy Grail War.
Unfortunately, because he failed to secure the Grail, the Einzberns refused to welcome him back to their headquarters in Germany. They also refused to let him have his daughter, Illyasviel, claiming that she was a member of the Einzbern Family, yet he was an outsider.
So, with no way of reclaiming his daughter, Kiritsugu settled down in Japan, adopting Shirou once he was released from the hospital. And although he taught Shirou a little Magecraft, Kiritsugu had no intention of passing on his Family Crest to Shirou, wanting him to be free from the life of a Magus.
Meanwhile, back in Germany, the Einzberns fed Illyasviel lies about how her father abandoned her, stoking hatred in the young Illyasviel's heart that had been transferred to Shirou after finding out that Kiritsugu had passed away.
Not long later, Shirou finally returned to Homurahara Academy and rushed through the gates, making his way to the Archery dojo. When he arrived, he was relieved to find out that he had, indeed, remembered to lock the door. But at the same time, he could not help but feel like it had been a waste of time to return.
"Man, I'm gonnna get home so late." Shirou muttered to himself as he turned around. "Fuji-Nee's gonna throw a fit if dinner's late, which it will be. I better hurry back so I don't have to deal with another lecture."
*Boom!*
Yet, before Shirou could start moving, the sound of an explosion caught his attention. Then, when he turned around to see what coud have caused it, he saw the flames burning on the school building's roof. So, out of a sense of justice, he started moving in the direction of the explosion without a second thought.
Meanwhile, Tatsuo and Elicia, both concealed with their respective [Stealth] skills, watched Shirou move towards danger.
"Wow… Even after all the stuff we changed, this Grail War is still starting like it did in canon." Elicia muttered as she watched Shirou make his way towards the school's courtyard.
"Yeah…" Tatsuo replied quietly. "Still, I always wondered, why did Shirou go towards the sound? It's like watching a horror movie where the cast always goes to investigate the spooky sound."
"I know, right?" Elicia said with a giggle. "And then when they see what caused it, they all run away. And somehow, even when there's nothing to trip over, one of the white girls falls and ends up dying."
"Yeah, and even though Emiya doesn't actually trip and fall while he's running away, he still gets stabbed in the heart." Tatsuo added. He then shook his head and slightly bent his knees. "Anyway, let's go and see if everything is gonna playout exactly the same way as in the canon."
With that, Tatsuo leapt off the Archery Dojo's roof to follow Shirou, with Elicia following him slightly afterwards.