Remaining Days: 3
This morning goes as the last one, though I am unsure whether I would want kissing Saber to stay as a routine to wake her up or not. I do enjoy it, for some reason, but on the other hand it also feels slightly bad doing it when she is not really there, not really conscious.
But it works and maybe exactly because of this routine she is not as grumpy anymore in the morning, though that would make close to no sense. It is merely a kiss, I cannot see how something as simple would lead to such a change in one's mood.
"So, library time?" Saber asks, already annoyed even though I did not answer yet. Going to the library seems like a great idea, after all, we do know our enemy's True Name. "Seems so," I answer happily. Unlike Saber I found I enjoy reading and the silence of the library. And as much as she does not want to, I will make her aid me in checking books for information.
"Nothing. Plain nothing," Saber groans, and I am about to get just as frustrated. Once, just once we get to know the True Name of our enemy so easily and then we cannot find any records of this person. Nothing at all. We also asked the NPC student responsible for the library if anyone came here to take books or destroy them, since Shinji already had such an approach to keep us from finding crucial data on Rider.
But no, turns out they were not here at all. "Maybe they did it invisible," I say. Yesterday, the second Alice appeared out of thin air and disappeared, so they were able to find a Code Cast that can do such a thing. If they went in and destroyed anything about Jabberwock, then of course no one would notice.
"I think floating books wouldn't go unnoticed," a familiar voice speaks up behind me. I turn around to face her. "Rin," I exclaim, probably a bit too happy since I can see Saber's mood worsening in mere seconds, though it is subtle enough that Rin just might not notice, considering she does not know Saber as well and probably does not care about her as much.
"Why are you so happy?" Of course, Rin would wonder about that. Sure, I am always sort of happy to see her, even more so at the beginning of a new week because it means she survived and I still have another good friend but Saber around. But telling her about this would be weird, she and Saber would just scold me for being too friendly again.
"Well," since we do not have much more of a choice, it could not hurt to ask Rin, "We got to know the True Name of Alice's Servant but can't find anything about them. Does Jabberwock sound any familiar to you?" Rin does not need to think much about it.
"Yes and no… From what I remember, it is part of some kind of fairy tale or something. I can't tell you more, sorry," she says. I am not really surprised that Rin is not that knowledgeable about fairy tales, it would not really suit her. Lancer materialises besides her, though her rarely joins any conversation.
"Yo," he greets Saber as well as me, to which both of us nod at him, "Do you know its Class it least?" Saber, who is resting her head on her arms on the table we are sitting at, answers for me. "Can't be anything but a Berserker, really." Lancer seems to be pondering, it is almost surprising that he is about as much of a help for us as Rin often is.
"How good is his defence?" This follow up question of Rin is important. Usually, from what I have gathered, Berserkers are known for being glass cannons—they are extremely powerful, but at the same time, due to their madness, their defenses and mind suffers greatly. As soon as you have them figured out, most of them are not as difficult to beat, if you can dodge and then attack. I am sure Lancer would barely have any trouble at all, though if he was my Servant even he would be weaker due to the limits.
"Pretty good. Saber's sword didn't even leave a scratch," I say so Saber would not have to admit that herself. Besides, I honestly fear she would pretend we are fine if I left the answering to her. Looking at her is almost enough to prove me right, as she sits there sulking like a child. She can look really cute like this.
"You're still limited?" asks Lancer. I cannot be surprised he knows, since Rin also knows about it. I nod. "Wouldn't be any trouble if I could use my full power, I swear," Saber grumbles, which earns her sympathising expressions from Lancer as well as Rin. I feel bad for holding her back as well.
"You should go to the church, maybe those witches can do something," says Rin. "Also, I can try to work something out for you." Going to the church is a great idea, I am sure Aoko and Touko can help us in some way. Even if it is just another Alteration of Soul—assuming Saber will not refuse it again. "What do you plan to do?" asks Saber warily.
I cannot blame her so much for distrusting Rin, but I still feel she could be a bit less hostile towards her. Without Rin, I am sure we would not have made it as far. "Just a Buff Code Cast for Ritsuka to use, it will improve your sword's strength and add burn damage. If you want to, at least." Great, now Rin joins the hostility.
"Keep it down, ladies," says Lancer, sighing. I can only nod, I could not have put it any better. I just fail to understand why Rin and Saber cannot seem to get along at all. "We'll go to the church then," decides Saber as she pulls my wrist to follow her, though I would have gone along anyway.
"I'll send over the CC by tomorrow morning. Good luck," says Rin and, just as Lancer waves us off before going back into spirit form, faces a bookshelf. She came to search for information herself, huh?
At least now we have some sort of plan.
***
In the chapel, Touko and Aoko do not seem to be too happy upon seeing Saber. Of course, she declined their service rather rudely last week. "Want an Alteration of the Soul, after all?" Touko asks nonchalantly, not holding a grudge. "I'm surprised you made it last week," Aoko is a bit more direct, but I could not be mad.
"No… yes. We need your help," I say, which gains us their full attention, if we did not have it already. "Last week you told me about the penalty and this limiting Saber's stats… Can you do something about that?" I am sure there is some despair in my voice, even Saber does not dare to interrupt me or belittle the fact that we badly need their help. There is not much time left and we have no Trigger yet.
"An Alteration won't do then," Touko informs us, "There are ways but I won't do it. Not sure if it's legal." She looks at Aoko. "Yeah, I don't mind much. It's quasi-legal enough. But it'll strain both your cyberframes, so I would suggest to rest for the remaining time today."
Resting would leave two days for us to get two Triggers. That will be a close call, but we cannot be too picky as there is not much of an alternative. "Okay," I say, "We'll do it." Aoko chuckles. "Not 'we'. It's just you I'll have to work on." Oh . But that is fine, I suppose. After all, it is only because of me that we are in this situation.
Aoko steps close to me, holds up her hand in front of my face and suddenly my consciousness is gone. Completely gone. This must be what it feels like to be dead.
When I come to, I have no idea how much time passed, but my body is numb. "Master!" I hear Saber's familiar voice, but I cannot move much more than turn my head to see her. My Servant, who I am used to see in a red so-called armour that barely covers anything now has her whole body covered in silver armour, the only thing free of it is her head.
"So… it worked?" I croak weakly. Aoko responds in Saber's stead. "Yes, though you were gone for three hours. Your Servant almost cut off my head for it…" Saber blushes, but even this cannot dim her happiness. "This armour will make fighting much easier! My defence should be as good as that Berserker's with this. Though I wish I could use my helmet."
"I can knock out your Master for a few more hours, if you really want to." But Saber declines the offer. "We should go to let you rest now, Master," she says as she dematerialises her armour. "I wish I could… but I can't move." Without missing a beat, Saber takes me onto her arms and carries me bridal-style. With her being quite a bit smaller than me, I somehow keep forgetting how strong this petite girl is. Being carried is somewhat embarrassing, though.
"Thanks, both of you! See ya next week," says Saber as she kicks open the door and then carries me to our room.
I do not think I ever saw her this happy, but just seeing her like this warms my heart. Being comfortable like this, I cannot help but doze off in her arms.