Episode Two (Oct 5th/6th - Night)

"Tonight's goal is gathering. Mana and information. Don't directly engage in combat. Don't expend too much energy. And don't get killed." Kogane spoke sternly. It seemed like her Servant wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to her tonight. She constantly felt the need to restate things.

"I know what I'm doing," he told her with a smile. There wasn't any irritation in his voice, for once. He just sounded... Serious. Joyous, but serious. Kogane sighed internally.

"... Right. I'm expecting great results, then."

She turned away from the house's entrance, walking back into the dining room as her Servant chuckled and departed. She glanced out the window at the horizon, watching as it swallowed the last rays of light from the sun.

"Well then. I suppose I should get started on my part."

Neal had been lost in through, considering what his next move would be while the TV flicked from channel to channel. Lancer seemed to have taken to channel surfing and was content with it for the time being. But when the channel flicked past a local news program Neal sat up straight "Wait, go back three channels." Lancer quicked an eyebrow slightly and did so. It was a piece on the Tomiya killer that had been killing women. Neal hadn't really thought much of it till now, he had thought that it was just another scum bag murderer, but seeing the story now made him wonder. It could very well simply be a coincidence, but it wouldn't pay off to simply dismiss it as such. "You think it might be one of us doing that stuff?" Lancer piped up as he watched the TV screen with a faint frown.

"I don't know. But we won't know till we check it out. If it is a servant, we need to stop them. If it isn't...we might still be able to stop whoever it is. First thing is first though." Neal climbed to his feet and went over to the bookcase that dominated one entire wall of the living room. "Could you clear off the coffee table? It is time to get some work done."

As Neal went about selecting a large book from one of the top shelves, Lancer made quick work of cleaning up his mess "What are you planning on doing Master?" Neal glanced at the young man a little oddly "We have two things we need to do tonight. First is erect a detection enchantment around that school, second...we are going to head out and do a bit of detective work on the locations where those murder victims were found. If the murderer isn't a servant, then we won't need to worry about it, but if it is, then that means there is someone out there trying to buff up their Servant with human life force. We can't allow that." Neal sat down on the couch and laid the large book on the coffee table. Opening the book revealed that it was actually hallowed out and it held a few objects.

Neal pulled out a folded paper, which he unfolded and laid out on the coffee table, it was a map of the area. Grabbing a pen from the end table he circled the school he had been visiting earlier in the day. "I'm going to do this remotely.. erecting the detection ward at the site would be a bit too risky right after showing my face there today." He also removed four small tea lights from the book and placed them in in the position of north, south east and west before removing a small pendulum. He closed the book and set it aside before lighting the candles with a single snap of his fingers. It was strange to be using his magic like this again. He wasn't rusty by any means, but to be using it for a clear and distinct purpose, rather then simply practicing, was a unique feeling.

Lancer returned from the kitchen and folded his arms, leaning againt the door frame and watched in silence, much to his credit, he seemed to realize when was the appropriate moment to speak and when it was best to be quiet. Neal suspended the pendulum over the map at the precise spot that indicated the school and started to utter in gaelic. As he did so, the pendulum started to circle, trailing behind it a white arcane light till a circle was drawn. The circle became brighter with each pass of the pendulum until finally it stopped dead, directly over the school and the circle became a small luminescent dome

***

Back at the school, what few lights had been left on, flickered as the power fluctuated for a brief moment. One of the flood lights located out near the main gate suddenly blew and the tinkle of broken glass was heard before everything returned to normal, just as the sun dipped down under the horizon.

***

The luminescent dome faded as the gaelic incantation finished and Neal made quick work of packing things back into the book. "That should do it...At least for now." He closed the book and stood, making his way back over to the bookcase, glancing at Lancer. "We are going to go to the scenes of those murders, I want you out of sight and on your guard. We are going to determine tonight, if the murderer is a Servant or not, that is our only goal. I don't think we will run into any trouble, but in case we do, I want you to be ready."

Neal went to the closet and pulled out a sweater jacket with a hood, it was starting to get fairly chilly out at night. Lancer pushed off from the door frame and stretched "Alright, I'll stay out of sight...but you should too. I know the murder victims have all been women so far, but you never know." Neal had a feeling there was a subtle "You aren't the most manly" message hidden in the statement but decided not to make a big deal of it. He then turned and headed out the front door, hood pulled up and hands in his pockets, he could sense Lancer's presence nearby but when he looked the young man was nowhere to be seen. Excellent, now it was time to do a little bit of snooping.

A harmless smile and a few kind words.

Honoka stomped out of the resturant to scan the night's empty streets. No sign of him. She irritably eyed her watch, grumbling under her breath. Almost an hour late. Each impatient tap of her foot made her more certain that her boyfriend had stood her up. Some romantic birthday dinner this has turned out to be. Of course, it was entirely possible he'd really gotten into an accident or something. It seemed that, lately, there was always an accident. Or a relative died. Or something came up. But she wouldn't get to hear the new excuse until later. Even if all of those things had been the truth, the man should at least have the decency to call her. He certainly wasn't the prince on a white horse she'd dreamed of when she was younger.

She checked her watch again, knowing well enough how little time had passed but seeking confirmation anyway. Over an hour, now. Growling to herself, Honoka finally gave up and turned to walk back to her apartment.

"... I swear... When I get ahold of--"

And crashed right into someone. The impact of the man's stride meeting her own knocked her onto her rear. "Ah, my apologies. How rude of me for paying such little attention." His accent was a bit strange. Probably a foreigner. Honoka squinted up at him, but she'd lost her glasses somewhere in the fall and couldn't make out his features.

"No... No, it's my fault." She fumbled around, patting the sidewalk in search of her eyewear. "Sorry. I was just so angry, and..."

A gloved hand gently touched her chin, raising her head, and the man slid her glasses slid back onto her face. "There you are." The man smiled at her, a charming expression, and straightened to hold one of his gloved hands out to her to help her up. Honoka's now-clearer vision confirmed that he was a foreigner. He was very tall, with a wild length of dark red hair and even some red-rimmed spectacles of his own. His features were sharp and his eyes slightly sunken, but he was somewhat handsome regardless. Honoka found herself accepting his helping hand as she rose.

"Can't be walking around blind. It's just not safe at night. Are you all right?" There was something... Odd about him. Odder than most foreigners, that is. Perhaps it was just the too-intimate contact of putting her glasses on for her. Most people would have just handed them back. Or maybe it was the soullessness in his eyes, or the way his clothing stood out. Had there even been anyone in the street a moment ago? He should have been easy to spot with that kind of getup... Right?

"No.. Er, I mean, yes. I'm okay." She could feel the heat rising in her face at her own flustered voice. The man nodded to her, charming smile still plastered to his face, unchanging as a noh mask.

"Were you waiting for someone?" It was her turn to nod. "But he didn't show up, so I was just heading home..." She distantly realized that she was staring, but it didn't seem as important as it should have. Until she figured out exactly what was strange about him, she felt as if she didn't want to look away.

"... your organs." Honoka blinked. "... Hai?" She hadn't really been listening to what he was saying and only caught the last part, but it sounded to her like he'd just said something incredulous. He continued smiling as if it was nothing. Was it just her imagination? "It's dangerous to walk home alone, what with all the murders recently, so I wonder if you wouldn't mind walking with me."

"That would be..." She caught herself before she said 'fine' and looked away from the man, grinding her teeth. He really didn't seem like the safest person to walk home with, letalone someone who'd be able to stand up to a murderer. And yet, something... "I, I wouldn't want to trouble you..."

"I'd be far more troubled leaving a lovely lady to walk home on her own." Honoka raised her eyes to him again as he spoke, feeling her face heat up again at the complement. "You'd be much safer if someone was with you. A killer wouldn't target a pair of people, after all. It's too risky. Besides, I'm currently employed as a bodyguard of sorts anyway."

He was right. It was almost like he spoke from personal experience. And what harm would there be in walking with a charming gentleman of a foreigner? It was certainly better than standing and waiting for her unreliable boyfriend, and regardless of potential danger, better than being alone. She finally nodded in assent, giving him a polite smile and starting back in the direction of her apartment. He followed, quietly keeping pace beside her.

Staring at her.

It didn't take very long for her to start regretting the decision. Now that she was consciously avoiding looking at him, all of the flaws in her previous line of reasoning started gnawing at her. Why had she not noticed them before? Why choose to walk with a total stranger at night in a town that murders were being committed in? And what he'd said before, the line that seemed strange... Honoka ground her teeth again in frustration. It just wasn't right.

"It's odd, though." he said suddenly, breaking the silence. There was none of his previous politeness in his voice. Even hearing his smooth voice now sent trembles of fear down her spine. "How, even given circumstances such as these," Honoka started to tense up. She was suddenly terrified of this man. She had to get away from him. To run. Or she would be next. "a woman will still be so trusting." An alley. There was an alley coming up to her left. The Business District's alleyways were like a maze. She should be able to lose him in there. "So naive..."

Honoka pivoted and took off down the long alley. The man merely stopped in place, smiling wickedly to himself without even looking after her. "It's almost... Disgusting."

The alley was long. Longer than she'd thought. But the man didn't move to go after her, and she safely (albeit frightenedly) rounded the corner at the end. And the next corner, into another longish alley. And the next. At an intersection, she darted to the right, then left at the next to avoid a dead end. Maybe the alleys were more of a maze than she'd thought. Panting heavily and desperately craning her next to see behind her, she turned the next corner.

And slammed right into the man she was fleeing from. Panicked, she turned to flee the way she'd came. But he caught her, laughing, holding her in a strong, frigid embrace with a single arm even as she tried to struggle free. "Ahh, my apologies. How rude of me for paying such little attention." His words were oddly emphasized, and with his free hand he slowly raised a jagged knife to her jaw, pricking her gently with it's serrated edge. Horrified, she halted her wild movements, instead leaning as far away from the weapon as she could. She wanted to call out; she tried, but she was so terrified that her own fear paralyzed the noise in her throat. She couldn't say anything. Couldn't call for help. Couldn't scream. Her voice barely managed to come as a choking gurgle.

"... Now, fear... Is so much better. So much more fitting..." Honoka felt the man's cold, wet tongue against her cheek as the knife sunk into her flesh. "So much more delicious."

Neal was walking quietly through the business district, his hands stuffed in his sweater-jacket's pockets and his hood pulled up. It was late so the streets were fairly deserted, but he was stuck walking them, cause his car had decided it wouldn't be starting tonight. The walk would do him well anyway. But that also meant he would have a fairly long ways to go. The business district was a maze of buildings and narrow alleys, none of which seemed particularly safe, but Neal himself didn't really feel all that intimidated. It wasn't just cause he had a Servant watching over him, but he was confident that he could handle any human trouble he may come across.

He turned down a particular alley he thought would be a short cut through this particular part of the district and leisurely strolled away from the lighted main street into the dark of the alley. That in and of itself might look odd to any onlookers, thankfully however, there were none that he noticed. Neal was getting to the point where he actually wasn't entirely sure what direction he was heading, he had taken a few turns, and he thought he had been cutting through the maze on a diagonal zig zag but it didn't seem to have an end. As he rounded the next corner, hoping to maybe come across a main street once again, he stopped cold as his gaze fell upon a grisly scene.

A red-maned man was laying on the ground with the corpse of the dark-haired, bespectacled young japanese woman, an arm around her as though caringly cradling her in a time of strife, all the while slicing slow incisions into her stomach with his other, knife-weilding hand. The weapon itself twisted and writhed, it's blade taking a new shape with each cut. Naturally, a pool of blood surrounded them, the both of them up against the wall in the middle of it. The light directly above the man and the woman flickered on and off, illuminating the horrific scene sporadically. But he took no immediate notice of Neal.

For what seemed like an eternity, Neal just stood there, gaping at what he saw. However in reality it was only a handfull of seconds, before he ducked back around the corner he had come from and leaned against the wall, his heart racing. Quickly he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, flipping it open with the intention of calling the authorities.

"... Oho..? I smell... Fear.." There was a mad giggle in his voice as he spoke. Some wet shuffling noises sounded, presumably as the man stood up, and started toward the corner the Neal had ducked back behind. His steps sounded loudly, damply. Slow, and precise. Perfect for generating even more of the very emotion he claimed to have caught the scent of. "... The dead don't fear... That must mean..." His voice dropped into another low giggle.

Neal fumbled with his phone, it was like suddenly the numbers were simply too small, or his fingers suddenly got bigger, cause he couldn't seem to dial properly. But there wasn't even time for that now, some deranged killer was heading his way...He glanced around quickly at the alley, there was a broken pallet near by, it was the best he had to work with as far as weapons went. Quickly he reached over and pulled one of the broken pieces of wood from the pallet, large enough for it to be a bat like weapon, though it was an awkward shape, it was certainly better then nothing..

The light flickered, casting a tall, writhing wild-haired shadow on the opposite wall of the alley from the corner. The steps stopped, just around the corner, and the light buzzed and flicked off again. For a few seconds, nothing. Then, ".. Did you... See? You saw it, didn't you? My.. Art." He chuckled again, and a grinding noise came from around the dark corner, as though he were running the knife along the wall. "It's cursed, you know. Everyone who sees it this... Fresh.. Tends to wind up a work of art themselves... Ehe, ehehehehah.."

Neal held his breath, his grip on the length of wood tightening in preperation, briefly sizing up his weapon, taking note of the nails sticking out of the one side. Finally, after taking a deep breath, he whirled around the corner swinging the bit of wood upward at where the crazed man's jaw should be, his own pulse thundering in his ears.

The light flicked back on. And the alley was empty, except for the pool of blood, it's ragged contents, and a guy swinging a plank up through the air. Something shoved Neal from behind toward the pool, with a mocking, "What are you doing?" Neal stumbled forward but managed to keep his balance, and pivoted quickly, he could see the slightly darker figure lurking in the darkness. "I...could ask you the same thing..." The adrenaline coursing through his veins was such that even his voice was just slightly shaky, the smell of blood was so thick, it felt suffocating.

The man's wild-maned outline cocked it's head, glasses glinting in the light on his shadowed face. "Eating." His voice was curious, as though the answer was obvious. "I suppose you could say that the meal is already done. This is.. Dessert." It wasn't visible in the darkness outside the buzzing light's range, but judging from his voice, he was smiling. "And you, interloper? Your reason for inturrupting my enjoyment?"

"I...was actually just passing through..." It sounded lame, even to Neal's own ears, but it was the truth, no matter how lame it sounded. "You're the one that did the other...works of art..then?"

"Hah-how can even I be sure?" He asked, a laugh breaking the first word. "It's so confusing sometimes, who does what. There could be plenty of other murderers." He shrugged, lightheartedly. "I'm just one of them."

"..Apparently...You know, I called the cops....if you want to get out of here, you better start running now..." Neal continued to brandish the bit of wood, he wasn't letting this guy get another opening.

"Ahh, the authorities. Such fond memories, albeit in a completely different location... Well then." The tall man rolled his shoulders with series of sickening bony pops. "I suppose I should quickly eat you so I can be on my way. We can't let them catch me now, can we?" He turned away from Neal, or seemed to, in the dark. "Want to try for a second swing? I don't really enjoy killing men, so I can't promise loving treatment.. But I'll give you a fair chance to fight, as compensation."

Neal narrowed his gaze from under the shadow cast by his hood. Something didn't feel right. fear was natural in a situation like this, but he felt terrified, and he wasn't normally one to be so easily intimidated. "Are you going to at least let me see the face of the person I'm going to be fighting? Since you are going to kill me anyway, no harm in coming out of the shadows now right?"

"Hmph.. The compensation is not up for negotiation.. Sorry, boy. A free swing is all you get." He impatiently glanced back, glasses reflecting again in the werelight. "Hurry up. The next time the light goes out, I won't be able to hold back."

It was obvious to Neal that this man, was toying with him. Fleeing wasn't much of an option seeing as how that was a good way to get blind sided. Attacking wasn't much of an option either, Neal was relatively certain that there wasn't a chance he would be able to land a hit on this guy. So instead, Neal stood there, readying himself. "Last chance to make your escape..."

"Ahahaheheheh.. You read the script. Isn't that my line?" Neal's heart pounded "No script...I'm just trying to avoid a fight." The light went out. A pair of heavy steps came toward Neal in the darkness. Not stomps, per se, but heavier steps than a thin man should be making nevertheless. Just like the deliberate ones before. "My, my.. Too late. Adlibbing is time-consuming. But the play goes on!" Another step. "This is the part where you bleed to death, boy." And another, the last one making a wet noise as it entered the tip of the puddle.

"Now would be..."There was the sound of something metal flying through the air at such speed it quite literally sang and there was a spark and a clang as something intercepted the incoming knife with incredible force somewhere in the dark. A skittering noise as a metal object, presumably a knife, flew off. There was an audiable, "Tsk," from the red-haired man, and the light flickered to show his vague outline outside it's light range again, although the knife, or one like it, was still in his hand.

In front of Neal stood Lancer in what looked like some sort of gladiator-ish armour and a very large spear held out to one side as though it weighed nothing at all. His expression was a serious one. Neal blinked, and breathed a slight sigh of relief. "Good timing...." Lancer didn't so much as glance at Neal "We are going to need to train you a bit bett...Oh, I see what the problem is...We'll find away around that for you. IF he survives....I'll try my best to not let that happen." Neal wasn't entirely sure what Lancer was talking about but was greatful for his presence anyway.

"... What..." The man fell into silence for a moment. Then, "Aha, ahahaha.." started laughing. Again. "Perfect. It's not exactly what we, wanted.. But this is unexpected and welcome information. More than worth the inturruption. Thank you."

Lancer smirked "Less talk, more fight." And with those four words, Lancer lunged forward, brandishing the huge spear, and moving quickly before Neal could voice his objection to the attack."Would you stop and THINK for a..." But it was useless, Lancer closed the distance between himself and the red haired man and performed a powerful thrust attack aimed at the man's throat. The man slipped to the side with unnerving speed, around the corner and away from the spear. Completely in his apparent element in the shadows, his silhouette wasn't even visible against the light further off in the alley behind him, though he could just be crouching beside something. "Ah, brutish. No good, it's obvious I'm, we're, no match for you, yet." But his voice was slowly creeping farther away.

Lancer smirked "And you never will be" The armoured young man started to move to follow the mysterious character but was stopped as Neal moved to put a hand on his shoulder "No, right now he has the advantage, and if you hadn't opened your big mouth, it might have stayed a relatively small advantage, you need to be a little more careful about what you say. But on the other hand, we also got some good information tonight." Neal sighed, that gut renching fear was easing. They may have gotten good information, but he was also put in a situation of a possible major headache. His gaze trailed down to the pool of blood he was standing in. Simply leaving was now out of the question, he would end up a suspect. Now he was going to have to deal with the police. "You better make yourself scarse...I have to call the police and report this. This is going to cause more trouble then we want...but it is better to make the call then to have them find me on their own accord. Lancer nodded for a moment before glancing at Neal "I mean what I said. You and I have some work to do on your combat skills." Neal frowned slightly "Lets worry about that later. For now just keep watch out of sight while I deal with the authorities." Neal pulled out his cell phone and was able to properly dial this time. Now he just needed to wait.

Lancer faded from view and and Neal moved over against the wall, sliding down it to sit, and keeping his makeshift weapon in hand. "This isn't what I wanted to happen tonight..." he muttered to himself. Who was that Servant? He was going to have to start researching. It was the first lead he had to work with, as good a start as any he supposed.

Annoyance, that was the dominant feeling of the night. After Caster had berated him about his underestimating the other servants she stood and said "I'll return" in her usual simple monotone. So Kaito was alone, but what annoyed him was his servant's actions, after all he was the master right? He rolled over on the air mattress he had brought from home. Caster had seemed confident in whatever her plan was, and hadn't really included him in the planning or the execution. He rolled back and forth, finding it impossible to overcome his restlessness and fall asleep. Lights from the many candles around the room danced across the ceiling casting eerie shadows all around. With a sigh he abandoned all hope of falling asleep and grabbed a book labeled 'Theory: The Mind of the Magi'

Caster was on a much different adventure, she decided to take it upon herself to set up detection fields at random places throughout their new forest home. They were small and mediocre, but too much would draw attention and invite enemies to attack before either of them were prepared. 'one night' she thought peering up into the sky 'I don't have the necessary mana to activate it yet' she thought back on how fatigued her master was from the summoning 'but I should be able to lay the pieces down on my own, and protect him until he has recovered'. She muttered again and again a mantra that she would protect the boy, yet she was concerned about the uncertainty she felt, and couldn't help but think of another she had failed to protect.

Once the last field was set, she began to think of further magics that could assist them. Mana wasn't an issue, but the more elaborate the spell the higher the chances were that they would be found too early. Was it worth the trade off? The uncertainties continued to grow. Her fall from grace, the loss, the pain... The memory became more vivid, it grew and grew until... "Caster" it went away as her young master approached.

He had seen her through the window looking back and forth, a conflicted look plastered over her usually emotionless face. Once she was inside she went through and described all of her boundary fields. "With these in place I can easily travel and leave you here". Kaito glared but Caster simply continued "With a transference spell I can be back to protect you".

"Why would you have to leave m-" Caster decided to interrupt him yet again. "Information and mana" she said simply "I'll gather these in secret until you recover". Kaito flopped back on the mattress with a sigh. He couldn't argue, since this was for his sake after all. The spell reinforcing his eyes began to fade and the room around him blurred, he had been overexerting himself and was suffering the consequences. He finally gave up and pulled the blanket up to his neck. He felt much more relaxed now that Caster had returned and he fell asleep rather quickly.

After reapplying the spell on her master's eyes, she left silently to gather information as she had promised.

Neal heard the siren and the screeching of tires as he sat there staring at the pavement between his feet. Sure he had been training for this sort of thing for most of his life, but what he had seen, the state of that body, it was impossible for him to have been prepared for -that-. He still gripped the piece of wood in his hands when he heard footsteps. They seemed distant though, as his mind wandered in so many directions at once. Was he going to be a suspect? He didn't really think he would be, seeing as how he had so little blood on himself.

His gaze drifted over the pavement and he noticed the bit of blood on his shoes. Should he tell the flat out truth? Or should he keep the details vague to prevent the police from getting too involved? It wasn't like the cops would be able to do anything in the war anyway. They wouldn't catch the Servant that did it, the situation was out of their league.

It was at that point that Neal realized someone was right there, speaking to him "Hai, watashi wa Detective Akashi Kotomine." Neal's gaze shifted to the detective that was knelt before him "Are you wounded? We have medical personnel on the way, though I may give you first aid if necessary. If you can speak, you must tell me everything you can. Any slight detail could make a world of difference."

Neal was about to ask to see the man's badge, but decided not to, if he seemed too composed it would seem odd. "I'm....I'm okay. I'm not hurt." Just how much detail should he give to this guy? "I...was walking to a friend's place....I just turned the corner and saw them...He was...tall. With long hair and strange clothes...That is all I remember..." Neal knew it wasn't unheard of for shock to cause temporary memory loss in a situation like this. Throwing the detective a vague description would probably be enough to satisfy the man temporarily, but he had a feeling he was going to be seeing the detective more in the days to come.

He could hear more sirens approaching, off in the distance, sounded like there were a lot of them too. This serial killer was becoming a big deal. He wouldn't be surprised if some reporters had already gotten their hands on a tip and were heading to this location in choppers in hopes of an exclusive. "Can....can I go home now?..."

It wasn't very long before the area was crawling with cops. The ambulance arrived, more just for the purpose of carting off the body, then for any other purpose. One of the police noticed some blood on the back of Neal's sweater jacket, and thus it was collected for evidence purposes. A paramedic gave him a blanket to use to keep warm, as it had gotten quiet chilly. The officers were giving him a bit of time to settle down before bombarding him with too many questions. In fact, they seemed to be reserving the majority of their questions for once they were at the station. There was no way Neal was going to be able to squirm out of this, so he was going to have to play the part of the traumatized witness for now.

Neal pulled the blanket tightly around himself, as he listened to a group of officers speaking to one another, deciding on who would take the witness to the station for proper questioning and evidence gathering. A young officer nodded to his superior and made his way over to Neal. "Um...excuse me, Sir. But We would like to take you to the station to ask a few questions, would you come with me please?" Neal simply nodded and stood slowly, letting the plank of wood clatter to the ground as he started to follow the young cop. His dazed state wasn't entirely contrived, as he was deep in thought. Should he tell them the actual description of the killer? It wasn't like they would ever actually see the Servant. If he gave them a false description it would lead them on a wild goose chase but that could come back to bite him in the ass later. The real description as outlandish as it was, would probably dismissed as unreliable anyway.

The young cop opened the back door of his cruiser and ushered Neal into the vehicle. Lancer would be following in his spirit form, so Neal wasn't too concerned about being attacked while in this situation, but still this whol thing was one big headache. "My name is Officer Yoshikai. We'll get you to the station and get you something warm to drink. Do you have any family or friends that you could call to have them bring a change of clothes for you? They are going to be needing your current clothes for evidence purposes." The cop was quite obviously a rookie, just in the way he spoke and his slightly timid behavior. "No, I live with my cousin, but he isn't home right now...I don't have his cell number..." Neal muttered, keeping his eyes half lidded. The rest of the drive passed in relative silence till they arrived at the station.

Neal spent the next several hours in a room, sipping coffee and answering the same questions over and over again. He gave the officers a description of the servant, though it seemed to perplex them to a degree. The strange clothes, the long red hair, it seemed like someone like that would stand out like a sore thumb and would be rather easy to find, yet they hadn't found the person as of yet. They also had the courtesy of sending an officer to Neal's home to retrieve a set of clothes. He could tell even while sitting in the drab room, that nothing of importance had been disturbed by the officer who went to fetch the change of clothes. Once he was changed and had finished putting on his spare pair of sneakers he closed his eyes tiredly and raked a hand back through his hair.

He was waiting to be informed that he could leave, when he heard a light knock on the door and the young rookie cop poked his head in. "Excuse me, but may I come in?" Neal nodded and the young cop hurried in and moved to take a seat oposite to Neal. "They are just wrapping up a few things, when they are done I'll take you home so you can get some rest, you look really tired." Neal simply nodded "Right...rest...if I can sleep without seeing that image in my head...." The young cop paused awkwardly before speaking again "It is perfectly natural to have nightmares after seeing something like that....but they will pass. I promise." Neal said nothing and took a sip of the warm coffee. Neal had made a point of not mentioning the clear threat that the Servant had made, about all that see his art becoming a work of art themselves. That would just cause them to post a guard detail and that wasn't something he wanted at this point. Or ever. These people had absolutely no idea what they were meddling in.

However...If that servant was who Neal thought he was...There was a very good chance that the Police would be taunted and mocked., probably via a letter or maybe even a phone call. When he got home, he was gonig to need to do a bit of research. The door to the room opened and an older officer with salt and pepper hair poked his head in "Mr Doyle, you are free to go home now. We will stay in touch. If you think of anything you neglected to tell us, or simply forgot to tell us, I'll have Officer Yoshikai give you the contact information for the detectives working this case." Again Neal simply nodded and stood, gathering the jacket that had been brought from his home, and slipping it on as Officer Yoshikai stood as well.

The drive home was quiet, not for lack of effort on the rookie's part however. after about three minutes of talking with no real response he gave up. At least untill they reached the apartment where Neal lived. "Here is the contact information for the case and...." the young officer offered another card with a hand printed phone number on it. "This is my contact information...if you want to talk, off the record....feel free to give me a call, any time, day or night. Okay?" Neal took the card and glanced it over for a moment before wordlessly opening the door and exiting the police cruiser. Yoshikai watched as Neal moved around the car and headed to the front door of the apartment before calling out "My name is Tonda, I never caught your name..."

Neal opened the door of his apartment and stepped in without saying another word, and closed the door securely behind him before leaning back against the door heavily and letting out a tired sigh. "So much for covert espionage...." He muttered to himself before tiredly making his way toward the living room.

A steaming cup of ramen in hand, Kogane descended into her basement. It was the very same stone room she'd used for her summoning ritual. Only a few days had passed since then, but the room was a bit different now. The brazier in the middle of the room had been removed, as had all other sources of light and heat. Most of the ash still remained, however, and the room was in need of a cleaning for it. It was also rather cold without the aforementioned heat sources. Not that the chill made a difference for Kogane, of course. The only illumination came from the door that was up the stone steps behind her.

Cold. Dirty. Dark. Isolated. It was the perfect place to keep a prisoner.

The individual in question, a girl Kogane's own age, was slumped on the stone floor in front of the wall opposite the door. She had long, light-colored hair not so different from Kogane's own. Her arms were suspended above her, held by a pair of heavy chains attached to a large metal ring, similar to the ones set in the other walls, that would have normally held a torch. She had already been deprived of her clothing and was covered in minor bruises. They mingled with the smudges of ash to the point that it was hard to tell which was which. She wasn't dirty enough to cover her scars, however. In particular, a long slash ran from her collar to mid-stomach. Every few minutes, a drop of water would fall from a vent in the ceiling, meant as both an exit for smoke and entrance for air, and land on the back of her lowered head.

The girl didn't look up as Kogane entered. She might not even have realized someone was there, at this point. Even as Kogane approached, she just sat there, shivering lightly, unfocused eyes toward the floor. Kogane stared down at her for a moment, silently sweeping the girl's hair to the side. A scar of identical make as the one on her body ran down her face, through her left eye. It was a pitiable state she was in, but Kogane had put her here herself. The scars, at least, had not been Kogane's fault. However, a little compassion couldn't hurt. It might even work in her favor, knowing this girl.

Kogane knelt, used her chopsticks to remove a few noodles from the cup, softly blew on them to cool them off, and began to carefully feed her prisoner.


"Caring for your pet?" Her Servant's mocking query assaulted Kogane as she was securing the basement's steel door.

"Ara, you're back already," she responded in an almost-bored tone, ignoring the question entirely. "You have something to report?" Assassin was leaning on the wall beside the door, looking no different than he always did. He gave her one of his usual soulless smiles.

"I was interrupted in tonight's hunt. A young man with a Servant," he said, casually.

The fighting had begun, then. Kogane frowned and eyed him, wasting no time pressing for information. "Which Servant? What did they look like?"

Assassin shook is head, smile still plastered to his face. "The Servant had a spear, the Master a bit of wood. He didn't actually use any magic. He wore a jacket with his hood up." He went on to roughly describe the events in the alleyway. Kogane listened silently. "It was too dark to make out any of the details," he said in conclusion, "but I'd easily know him if we met again."

Kogane raised her bandaged hand to rub at her temple, thinking. A headache was already well on it's way. "He probably didn't see you very well in the dark, either... But I don't think much of a description would be necessary, in your case. Either way, we've gained more information from this than they have. Lancer, huh... A strong one, too. For now, a frontal attack is terrible for us. You did well to retreat."

"Perhaps, a fitting reward..." The red-maned Servant gave the door beside him a hungry look.

Kogane crossed her arms, glaring up at him. "Absolutely not. You will not go anywhere near her. She is extremely important."

The tall man growled, his expression shifting between anger and annoyance as though he couldn't decide which was more important. He opened his mouth, most likely to voice his complaints, but fell short as a chime sounded from the direction of the entryway.

The doorbell..? Kogane closed her eyes, extending her senses to the wards around the house. Everything was as it should be, which meant it probably wasn't anybody with ill intentions. Still, she couldn't very well ignore them. She turned on her heel, casting a steely glance over her shoulder at Assassin, and went to answer the door.

Clink-clink, clink. The tinkling sound of silverware on porcelain rang softly in the air. Being a pleasant tone, clear and distinct, it mingled with the city's usual ambient noises before fading away. Thin wisps of steam rose up from coffee cups, their respective owners sitting tranquilly at their tables. The Caffe Veloce, known for its austere design and excellent brews. A wide, open interior allowed open conversation, and the coffee shop's signature large windows gave viewers a nearly unrestricted range of vision. A winning combination.

Maybe the customers come here simply... because of the sound?

Perhaps that was the purpose of the coffee shop's outdoor area. Victor thoughtfully stirred his cappuccino, ignoring the chaos his spoon inflicted in the foamed latte's fern design. Sometimes one had to be ruthless. He ran his short monologue to Akashi again in his mind, remembering all the nuances communicated, all the calculated outcomes. It had gone perfectly. Then what was it that that was making him feel so troubled?

"Archer, what do you think of - " She was nowhere in sight. "Archer?"

He noticed a flurry of rippling fabric. It was the one thing that saved him.

"Chance!" She darted in from the side, metal glinting briefly in her hands before disappearing in a lightning-fast attack.

Victor's response was instantaneous. Snapping up the teaspoon in his hand, he deftly parried the metallic object that would have pierced his heart. The impact shocked his fingers and instantly ended his thoughts.

"What on earth are you - " He stopped, sensing a dangerous aura. Was that a butter knife in her hands?

"Oho! So you've avoided the first attack, have you? You'd better get up," she grinned, "because I'm about to get serious!"

Nonplussed, Victor numbly complied. He switched his hold of the teaspoon to a reverse grip, clinging stubbornly to the slightest chance of being able to weather the onslaught. Archer dashed forward. A flurry of blows suddenly filled his vision.

Steel clashed on steel as Victor barely managed to divert the attacks. He noticed several passersby stopping to watch. "Archer! There's a crowd gathering!" A few whistles sounded in the background.

"Of course I know there's a crowd! Why'd you think I let you survive this long? And now-" with a slice she knocked away Victor's battered teaspoon - "The coup de grâce! You're mine!" The spoon fell with a clatter as Archer triumphantly pointed the butter knife at his chest.

Victor sighed as he glanced around at the clapping crowd. He decided it would be a wise choice to raise his hands. "What can I say? I surrender," he answered wearily. Archer gave no reply, but instead a superior smirk at Victor.

"Hey, that's a pretty feisty girlfriend you've got there! You sure you can stand her?"

"Has she ever beaten you up?"

He ignored the comments and stared at Archer. "Would you like to head inside the shop now?" he drily asked. It didn't look as if the spectators were going anywhere, and he was beginning to dislike the attention.

Archer lowered the butter knife. "Of course," she beamed charmingly.

The bells at the entrance gave a little jingle as Victor opened it to let Archer through. He walked in slightly behind her. "This is the time I start asking for explanations. Now." He groaned inwardly as he heard several more chiming sounds behind him. Apparently some of the observers were tailing him.

"Aww, phooey. Can't you take a little joke once in a while?" Victor scowled at Archer. "No? Come on!"

She suddenly gave him a serious look. "Do you really want to know?" Taken aback, he only managed to nod slightly. Archer gazed at Victor's face. "The reason... is..." she paused for effect.

"Because it was extremely funny! Hahahaha!"

"What?!"

"Just-just give me a moment. That look on your face was priceless," laughed Archer. She turned serious again. "This time I mean it. I did what I did because of four reasons. Firstly: were you really planning to talk with that Detective-san in that state? You looked like your grandmother just died!"

He wanted to argue, but knew she was right. "And the other three reasons?"

"Sorry, it's a secret," she replied, winking. "I've already told you two."

Victor closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was going to be a long night. "All right. Let's find a table before this group takes up all the seats."

"Ah, Yuumitsu..."

Kogane eyed the boy standing at her doorstep.

"What the hell do you want?" For some reason the boy whose name she could not remember stood before her. Jittery. Closed eyes. She knew he could still see, though. He was just that squinty. She was already angry from disciplining her own Servant. Having classmates bother her too... If this kept up, someone was going to get burned.

"Ah, well, um... I brought today's schoolwork." She stared at him for a moment. "A-ah... From, you know, class?"

I kind of gathered that. How stupid can you get? "I kind of gathered that. How stupid can you get?" Oops. She was so irritated that she'd said exactly what she was thinking. Careful now, before we burn the house down...

"Ah... W-well, I have it, and you skipped, so, um. I thought you might want it, or, need it, or something." He held several pages of paper out to her, nervousness causing his sentences to break and pause oddly. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"So, you brought a delinquent who left class on her own accord some schoolwork? And you expect her to want it?"

"Ah, well, I sort of... I made copies. Of my own. Er, my own work, that is. So you don't have to, um... Do it yourself." ... It was hard to admit it, but that actually did make a difference. Nagata or Nobutoga or whatever his name was did have fairly good scores, and more importantly, it would save her time she couldn't spare otherwise. It was basically free points for her suffering grades.

Not that school seemed all that important in the face of other things, but still. Free points. Kogane snatched the papers from him, glancing briefly down at the top page to make sure it was indeed filled out.

"This is..." She trailed off as a slight rumble caught her attention. What the hell? The house started to shake around her. Dishes were rattling in the kitchen and a loud crash came from the basement hallway. Kogane quickly looked over her shoulder toward the source of the noise, alarmed. The rumbling seemed to have reached it's peak at the crash and was quickly subsiding, thankfully.

"A-wh-wh-wh, what's going on? What was that?"

"Damn... Damnit, damnit." Kogane sharply looked up at the boy. "Go away," she blurted. She started to close the door, then opened it to look at him again. She'd have to give him one last push, otherwise he'd try to help. "If you don't leave right now, I'll hate you." Then she slammed the door and ran off toward the basement without waiting for a response.


Kokoro stared listlessly at the floor of her prison, her arms uncomfortably suspended above her by the chains. The water from above still hadn't stopped. Drip. Drip. It probably wouldn't stop any time soon. Not that she had any sense of time beyond counting the drops of water.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Clank. Drip. Drip.

Wait. Was that a different noise? Drip. There was another noise... Wasn't there? Drip. Maybe Nee-san was back. Maybe she was going to be fed again.

Kokoro tried to lift her head to look toward the stairs, but it didn't want to lift. She was too sleepy. It wasn't for lack of trying, of course. The water kept her awake. The other aches and pains, the discomfort of her position and the cold floor, the lingering pain from the beating she'd received more drips ago than she could count... None of those really mattered. If not for the water, the dripping, she could have been asleep a long time ago.

Drip. They hadn't made any noise in their approach, but someone was in front of her. Someone's feet were there.

"Haah..." A man's voice. Drip. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, slowly, as if savoring the air. "I'm not much for torture or imprisonment, but I have to admit this has it's charm." This wasn't Nee-san, of course. Nee-san's a girl.

A foot poked her in the side, experimentally, and then kicked her. It hurt, but that wasn't anything new. Drip. She sagged back into place and went back to staring. "It'd be nice if she'd picked one a little more responsive, though. You're one frigid bitch." She? Was he talking about Nee-san? Drip. A gloved hand roughly pulled her hair, lifting her head up. She continued to stare, her eye unfocused, at and past the man in front of her.

"You've been broken before, haven't you? That's why, isn't it?" Her head was tossed to the side. Yes. She was broken. But it hadn't 'happened before'. She'd always been this way. Useless. It was useless. She was useless. The man repeatedly uttered the exact same word. Kokoro had trouble separating what he was saying from her own thoughts for a drip or two.

"I'm already tired of this... But I can't exist without a Master, you know?" Drip. His feet were pacing the length of the small room, back and fourth. "I don't even know if I'm me. But the me that I am now can't find out whether or not I'm me without her help. Haha... It's torture. But she'll get hers, eventually..." There shouldn't be another 'she' out there. Not in this house. It had to be Nee-san. Was he going to hurt her?

Drip. "You know..?" The feet paused, turned toward her, and her head was pulled up again. The man had a--something--in his hand. Thump-thump. Drip. There was a different noise again. Water leaked down her forehead into her eye. "I think I'm going to cut you." Thump-thump. The something waved around in her face. She couldn't make it out, but she was sure it would hurt. Drip. It would hurt more than her other pains. A lot more.

"She told me not to..." Thump-thump. Ah. The different noise was her heart. "But to hell with her orders. I'll kill her too." He was going to hurt her? Hurt Nee-san? No. No no no.

The sound of chains dragging against each other. "Wh-what?" The man took a step back from her in surprise, letting her go. Thump-thump. Drip. She didn't realize until she heard it, but now she was on her knees, trying to reach the man her eye wouldn't focus on. She couldn't reach him, of course, because she was stuck to the wall. The chains held.

"L-... L-l..." Kokoro heard someone cough. She belatedly understood that it was herself. Drip.

"Aaah, so you want to talk now. What is it?" The man creeped closer to her again, having recovered from his previous start. Even right in front of her, he was still well out of her reach.

"... L-lea..." The man laughed at her while she struggled to form words. Drip. Thump-thump. Her dry throat and the slight chatter to her teeth made it more difficult than it should have been.

"You want to beg, right? Beg for your life? That's what this is, isn't it?" He waved the something in her face again, as though he couldn't decide what to do with it. Then he settled for poking her in the cheek. Thump-thump. It hurt, just like she thought it would.

"... Leave... A..lone..." Tracing it down her face, over her left eye. Thump-thump. Burned. It burned. Her heartbeats were becoming more irregular, faster.

"Go on, say it. I'll wait." He was still amused. Still writing on her face. Say it. She had to say it.

"... Le... Leave Nee-san alone!" Her shout echoed through the soundproof room. Her heart beat. Drip. Nothing happened. Then the man frowned. It quickly lead the way for an angry expression. Or so she thought. It was still difficult to see him clearly.

"You're not even... You're worried about someone else entirely? In this situation!?" His voice gave way to a yell of his own. He made a disgusted noise. "You know what? This isn't fun anymore. I think I'll just kill you." He lifted the something to her throat. Drip. Extremely cold metal pressed against her skin.

"And then I'll find your precious 'Nee-san'..." No. Thump-thump. Nonono. Thump-thump. She had to protect Nee-san. Thump-thump. The knife trembled at her throat. Or was she the one shaking as she kept trying to grab the man? She just had to... To...

"And I'll kill her too." It was so simple. Her breathing was ragged. Her heart was hammering in her chest. She just had to kill him. Drip. But she couldn't reach.

Nee-san... Kokoro closed her eye, wishing with all her strength for the man in front of her to die.

((My apologies if it's a bit short in comparison.. My character is alone after all so I have but one being to work with and I am not going to resort to god gaming.))

Like a voice that could be heard bearing a message that surpasses the will of man.. So did he answer it's calling....

In the dak basement slight wind picked up, which was entirely unprecedented without the use of magic, being a nearly completely sealed off room. However it was soon after that the electricity of what stood to happen filled the air. A slight flicker of light coming from inside the room. Though there was no light followed by momentary perpetual darkness. A distinct aura filled the room, one of darkness and suffering. These events unfolded over mere seconds yet for those vividly in the middle of the experience, it could seem like it took hours. Someone breathing as the light flickered again followed by absolute silence. A crack in the floor opened up, small but noticeable and but a split second after that the lights completely vanished. A deep darkness left in the room. A small orb of light appeared floating in the middle of the room, it seemed to come closer to the people in the room, filled with nothing but darkness it was hard to make out as it did not light up anything but itself.

Rather than growing however, it softly grew.. Until it would have felt to a person like it had come close enough to touch.. A deep tremor grew from the ground followed by whispers of voices.. So many voices, one cannot make out what they say only that they are speaking... Tension slowly building up as with a deep rumbling crash the room lights up in a white light. Blinded one can hear a chain being shaken over the floor, the sound of metal against concrete as the tip of a blade flows past it. The floor is ruined and the light starts flickering, though nearly destroyed by the impact made in this room one can only make out a dark figure, it rises to it's feet and hits the ceiling. Like it moved through fabric the ceiling parted. Two red dots in the darkness, the heavy black shape sported just that and that was all that was shown in the disturbing event that just took place.

With heavy strides he moved straight towards Kokoro, with every movement the chains from his armor rattled in a disturbing symphony in the otherwise silent surroundings. He did not ignore Assassin, and moved towards Kokoro, of course this was a difficult situation. Finally he stood in front of Kokoro.. The lumbering giant was close enough to be seen clearly.. The jagged black armor, the hefty sword in his right arm, held tightly at any given moment. The dark aura emanating from him. He spoke slowly and it seemed that his voice was supported by whispers that said the exact same "Are you my Master" He said with a stern and foreboding intonation. He did not speak his class as of yet, merely he wished to confirm whom he was to serve.. Even though by intuition he knew for there was no one else there but a servant.. It was an interesting situation to be in, even if his mind did not stop to comprehend the dire need of his aid in this situation.

Truly in these few moments, short as they were so much had happened. This was the event.. A new Master had emerged with a being

Neal picked up his briefcase on his way into the living room and flopped down on the couch with a heavy sigh before placing the briefcase on the coffee table and opening it, to reveal his laptop. He gazed around the room tiredly as the computer went through its boot up cycle "Lancer? You here?" when his gaze returned to the computer monitor he noticed someone sitting right beside him and jumped slightly. Lancer was sitting there in his lazy manner, dressed in the street clothes he had been wearing before "You nearly gave me a heart attack...don't do that again..."

Lancer smirked slightly and picked up the TV remote and flicked it on, hunting through the channels for something with enough breasts to keep his interest. Neal sighed and turned his attention to his computer again, logging onto the internet to begin his search for the murderous Servant's identity. "Tomorrow we need to buy a new house." Lancer said idly as he relaxed on the couch. Neal glanced at him oddly "Buy a new house? You do know that costs money right?" his fingers tapped lightly on the keys of the laptop as he began his search. Typing key words into a search engine and hitting enter. "Yes, we need a bigger place. More isolated and with a place I can train you better."

"Right, I'll go to the money tree in the back and get the cash we need for that. We'll go shopping tomorrow and maybe pick up some expensive weapons while we are at it...Do I look like I am made of money?" Neal was a little annoyed. he had made his own way up until now, but he couldn't deny that living here in a close cramped apartment could prove to be a problem. He wasn't keen on the idea of using the funds his parents had left him. He felt it was a bit like cheating. But on the flip side, that money was meant for this purpose. The Holy Grail War. "Right....we'll find a place tomorrow...But we are keeping this place as well." he felt a light punch to his shoulder and Lancer's distracted sounding voice "That's the spirit.....And I'll teach you how to be a real fighter. That fear aura really got to you tonight, can't let that happen again. You need to be prepared for it." Neal glanced at the TV "Baywatch?.....honestly...what is wrong with you?" Neal shook his head and returned his gaze to the computer monitor which had brought up a list of sites that met his search criteria.

he furrowed his brow as he clicked the first of the links that had been listed. It was a list of the top five serial killers. Zodiac, Bathory, Ja... "Jack the Ripper. That's our man. The clothes fit the time period, and he was never caught. Fits with him saying getting caught now would be silly. He targeted prostitutes...cut them up. Seems he isn't limiting himself to prostitutes this time around though. Granted...with the clothes now a days it is hard to tell a normal woman from one that works a street corner...there aren't many classes a person like that would fit into. So I think it is safe to say that we have identified our first Servant.

Neal ran his hand back through his hair with a sight. "It is a start, if nothing else. Hopefully the boundary field I put up around that school will either eliminate or confirm our other possible target. I'll check the map in the morning after school has started....should give us a good idea of......." Neal stopped mid sentence. he sensed something...at the very edge of his perceptive range, he sensed a spike of some sort. Lancer's gaze tore away from the TV and gazed off at some distant point "Yeah, that is another one, just keep yourself under the radar for now Neal. We've had one run in tonight, lets not push our luck with another one." Lancer's gaze returned to the TV as he spoke again "You know, a Master like you would have been better suited for Caster. You have the mana for it. Seems a little silly for a Servant with such low mana needs to have a Master with such a big mana supply. But I'm not com....woah...are those real?" Lancer leaned forward staring at the TV. Neal facepalmed and shook his head in silence.

Kokoro's consciousness drifted. She was so sleepy that she couldn't think. Distantly, she could hear the cracking of concrete, the clanks and scrapes of metal on stone and the purr of the ground quaking; but the cacophony seemed far removed from her own senses. Perhaps it was from another world entirely. There was nothing but darkness in this world, after all. Just quiet, peaceful emptiness.

A world with no noise.
A world with no pain.
A world with no hunger.

After what seemed like hours, she realized there was no meaning to this existence. Nothing changes. Nothing happens. Her delusion of peace began to crumble under her own selfishness. The lack of sound became ringing silence. The lack of others gave way to cold loneliness. The lack of happiness bred deep sorrow.

A world with no warmth.
A world with no love.
A world with no Nee-san.

A nightmare.

How easy it would have been to endure those hardships for the chance to see her again...


It took Kogane several moments before she fully understood what had happened. The basement--her basement--was a mess of dust and broken stone. Part of the ceiling had fallen through and, upon looking through it, she could see a portion of the mostly empty shelving in the pantry above. A giant in an extremely heavy suit of armor stood near the center of it all, facing the far wall. Beyond it, she could barely make out her own Servant, Assassin, awkwardly crouching behind her prisoner, Serizawa. He had a hand through her hair, holding her head back at a painful angle, a knife at her throat, and was coolly staring at the large Servant Kogane was peeking around. He wasn't smiling. In fact, this was the most serious expression Kogane had seen on him.

Serizawa herself had her eyes, scarred and otherwise, closed. Her face held quite a few new cuts, but they weren't bleeding much due to the dust and ash. They would get infected if she was not cleaned quickly, but otherwise wouldn't be the cause of any immediate worry. Her neck, on the other hand, was covered in red, but Kogane couldn't see any actual wounds from her place behind the hulking Servant. The girl was too relaxed for the situation at hand. Either she had collapsed of exhaustion or, whether it be from blood loss, the immense fatigue from the summoning or some combination of the two, was dead. Kogane mechanically noted all of these details before her emotions could catch up.

Then she all but screamed at her own Servant in frustration and anger. "What... Do you think... You're doing..?" Or, so she thought. Surprisingly, her voice came out rather quiet, though it was tight with anger.

"In the future, Kogane," Assassin spoke, his own voice calm and collected, "It would be prudent to tell me exactly what you have planned. I cannot take full measure of the consequences of our actions without first knowing the cards our partner holds." The intellectual seriousness of his reply nearly drove her back a step. His demeanor was so different from usual that she couldn't retort immediately like she should have. What was worse is that he was correct.

But that didn't change the fact that this was his fault. It would have been much better for Serizawa's summoning to have taken place in a more controlled environment. One with less violence. Kogane clenched her bandaged fist. "If you'd do what I say, that wouldn't be a problem. Get away from her."

"And release my only lifeline? I think not. Instead, why don't you negotiate with this man and get him to stand aside so I feel secure enough to release her?"

Kogane let out an irritated sigh. The girl was also her lifeline right now. Perhaps that hadn't been such an intelligent order. She looked up at the giant in front of her, her stomach fluttering, and formally addressed it from as far away as she could be without leaving the remains of the small room. She was afraid, but her distance wasn't from fear. It was to ensure she wasn't killed on the spot when the Servant turned around.

"Servant. We do not wish harm upon your Master. She is a relative of a friend and I am currently taking care of her." She hesitated for a moment, casting a sad glance toward Assassin and the girl in question. "Wounded and tired as she is from summoning you, she might not live through the night. If you will allow us to do so without harm, Assassin will leave and I will nurse her back to health."

The situation was dire indeed, Legion stood there pondering over the situation, His gaze moved towards Assassin and he knew that even if he would be able to kill him, the state his Master was in would certainly arrange for her death as well. They spoke of him, trying to control the situation and bargaining.

The voices started to harass his thinking process, making him idle for a while longer creating a tense silence. "Don't listen to the woman, they will kill her anyway and you know it.. It's war". The voice hadn't even finished what it had said and the next followed up. "What choice do you have, surrender... We want to live! What can you do without a master?". The voices did not cease and a discussion erupted in the inner workings of his brain. "You don't need that much to beat them, kill them.. If you kill the Servant before you and your own master then the other master would have no choice but to make a contract with you".

"But what if she mingles in the fight and you are forced to kill her as well?". This discussion had yet to see it's end and with so many different voices vouching to handle the situation differently a rage built up in him, however she had summoned him.. "You need a Master with strength.. She is weak, look at her" Legion pondered, even though all these beings inside of him were part of him.. He was still the one whom made the final decision. He spoke out loud in return to his voices. "I need to achieve my goal.. I cannot kill yet". His voice was brutish and heavy but it was obvious he was not speaking to anyone standing in the room with him. And the moment he said such the voices returned in conversation.

Meanwhile the tense silence remained, Legion gripped his sword intently and lifted the tip of his blade a few inches off the ground. "If you want to stay loyal you need to do as they say.. You can always kill them later". And that was a voice he could find himself in.. This would have to do for now.

He looked to Assassin intently for a moment "Let her go... I agree". Few words but they made the point clear. However nearly none of his actions outside of battle were ever left alone. "You could kill him the moment he steps away!". Legion pondered the idea for a moment "No" He said in an agitated tone of voice as he moved aside, looking towards the other Master once and waiting for Assassin to move away.. For now he would stay loyal.. It was indeed an unfortunate way to start the war.

His steps were heavy and the blade moved across the concrete as he stepped aside, ever cautious and ready if they decided to try and take him. He was not able to use his Noble Phantasm in this situation, he needed his Master to back him up for that, however he could still fight on his own. His energy was on a good level as he had just been summoned and his thirst for bloody even desired them to make a move. The menacing figure his other side however knew that if he wished to win this war.. His bloodlust would have to wait a while longer.

(Tell me if there are any problems I got a bit more active than I'm used to, and a bit too close to an enemies hq)

The cold night sent a shiver down her spine, or how badly she wished that was the case. Alas, she was but a spirit now and therefore unaffected by the cold. In her heart and more importantly in her mind she knew the cause, another summoning had taken place. It wasn't too far from her, a mere 2 or 3 blocks, if that. So, she was faced with a dilemma, she had promised her master information and mana. The location of the summoning could be called information, no she was sure it was really good information. But, there was something about the summoning, it was massive, as most spirits would be, yet it didn't seem to even make an attempt at hiding itself and even the master didn't seem to be trying to cover it up. Her glance met the cold pavement she was standing on. Her master was counting on her, she repeated this over and over again in her mind as her consciousness began to spread. The many fibers that made up her mind split again and again, spreading outward. forward they went further and further. They split again, soon 10 threads had formed and drifted on an imaginary wind towards the mana spike.

They stopped abruptly around 15 meters from a large home and spread outward to the neighboring homes. She felt it, small sources of life. 3 children, a mother, and a father in one home, a widowed woman and 2 cats in another, and in a third slept a rather young newlywed couple. The threads slipped easily through the walls and attached themselves to their targets. After a moment Caster finally exhaled her breath. The connections were complete, their fates were tied to the threads. She gazed at the red threads, the manifestation of her dormant noble phantasm, with them like this she could easily activate them if the need arose. She shivered again and drifted away from the neighborhood and towards the shopping district.

'Next target mana'

From a distance Victor noted the man entering the room, carefully checking his clothing for any concealed weapons. He saw none.

Black pants and coat, with a white shirt?

An interesting style. Most attempting to go undercover would have preferred casual clothing, but this Kotomine's choice of a professional look actually seemed to work. It was the same in Britain: for some bizarre reason, anyone wearing a shirt saying "MI6" would be immediately overlooked. Outfits aside, the man also carried a alert air around him - which told Victor he had only a few more minutes before Kotomine would realize he was being watched.

Victor slowly leaned back in his seat and spoke without turning his head.

"He's here."

Archer glided almost imperceptibly forward from the background. She stopped beside Victor. "The situation is currently stable and your bodyguard awaits her orders. Besides that, would Sir like milk or sugar with his coffee?"

Something was off with that statement. Victor stole a quick glance at Archer - and ended up staring in surprise. She was wearing a close-fitting black women's suit, complete with a blouse and tie.

"How did you-"

She held up a finger. "Ssh. I couldn't give myself away without a good explanation, now could I?"

Victor thought of several possibilities behind that answer, but it seemed better not to ask. He finally nodded and caught another glimpse of Akashi behind the moving customers. "All right. We'd better introduce ourselves before our friend sees us. Looks like I'll be the only one standing out, then?"

Archer gave no answer. Instead, she wordlessly lifted a pair of sunglasses to her eyes. Victor decided not to make any more comments on appearances.


He dialed Akashi's number once again on his phone. Victor waited until he was sure he saw his target receive the call.

"I'm in the back of the room. Someone might have been following you, so make sure you mingle with the group before you approach me. We're dealing with a lot more than what meets the eye here. I look forward to our meeting, Kotomine Akashi."

With the giant Servant's permission, Kogane allowed herself to relax for just a moment. Disaster averted, at least if the armored man kept his inarticulate word. He didn't seem all that intelligent, but that could be due to his class. She wasn't going to take a closer look at him to discern whether it was Saber or Berserker until later. There were more important things to take care of first, provided she lived long enough. She tensed up again on that line of thought, but there was no helping it now. She steeled herself and walked past the giant.

She stopped right in front of Assassin, still holding the battered and bloody form of Serizawa. The tall European Servant hadn't moved a muscle, simply following the giant--and now Kogane--with his eyes. Even his knife, the twisted, ever-writhing blade she'd thought it was, was frozen in the throat-cradling mimicry of a kukri. She stared up at his cool expression, her previous anger flaring back to life now that she wasn't addressing a being that could kill her merely by flicking her forehead.

"Move." She gave him a quiet command, careful not to put too much energy into the word and waste another command spell. Distantly, she felt blood drip from her bandaged right hand, still clenched into a tight fist. Tension had it's benefits after all.

Assassin didn't move immediately. He deliberately waited several moments, his empty eyes staring right back into Kogane's own; both of them, as though he could see what lay beneath her eyepatch. Then he slowly removed the knife, dropped it, and lowered Serizawa to the floor as carefully as one can when holding a girl by their hair. The knife didn't clatter on the broken stone floor. Kogane hadn't followed it as it fell, but it probably hadn't gotten that far before fading into nonexistence. The red-haired man ducked under the chains now supporting the injured girl to get out from behind her. Kogane turned to face him as he started to speak.

And snapped a straight kick into his groin. She immediately followed with a jab into his stomach as he began to lean forward, the wrapped bandages on her fist actually igniting as the punch connected, and contemptuously backhanded his face aside with her left hand as the tall man doubled over from the second blow.

Her heart beating heavily from her sudden violence, Kogane stepped back and watched her Servant recover, idly waving her flaming hand until it went out. It didn't take long for him to shrug off the shock of being attacked and right his posture. Even with the accidental elemental discharge, her physical attacks probably hadn't really hurt him, especially given her size. Had she not taken him completely by surprise, she probably wouldn't have been able to hit him at all. It was the most insulting punishment she could give him immediately.

"Go get me the medical kit from the first floor bathroom," she told him as though nothing had happened, "And a blanket."

After a brief hesitation, her Servant silently left the room, eyes downcast and face a cold, expressionless mask. She'd expected such a result. There wasn't any way he would strike her while she held command spells over him, and killing her, while easily possible for him, would be suicidal. Granted, he was enough of a wild card to do either if he didn't stop to think about it, but with as serious as he'd been in recent circumstances, he was probably thinking plenty. For the moment, at least.

"Why did I have to get stuck with such a useless, rebellious servant..?" Kogane sighed. She glanced at the hulking armored form of Serizawa's Servant, thoughtfully.

No, no time for distractions. There were things that required more immediate attention. Kogane turned back toward her ex-prisoner, kneeling and putting an arm around the naked girl to support her weight. She touched the shackle on one of the girl's wrists and murmured a word, mentally searching for the 'keyhole' in the smooth, flawless metal.

"Aperi."

The shackle snapped open to reveal the raw skin and welts of blood where the girl had cut her own wrists on them, likely by straining against them. Kogane repeated the procedure on the other wrist and carefully lay the limp girl down on the cold floor. Then she frowned and lifted the index finger of her right hand, upon which a candle-sized flame flickered to life. It burned painlessly on her finger and provided enough light for Kogane to see the bandage on her own hand, red with blood where it hadn't been blackened by flame. She ignored it, instead turning her attention back to Serizawa to take stock of the girl's injuries.

Serizawa's modest chest was shallowly rising and falling, which, for Kogane, combined a sense of relief with a stab of jealousy. Her wrists were bleeding lightly and there were some scrapes on her legs. There were also few nicks on her shoulders and around her collar bone from Assassin's blade, and she had a plethora of small bruises that made the pale scar running down the length of her body look all the brighter. There was a shallow cut across her throat from the hostage situation. Thankfully, it didn't look deep enough for her to be in immediate danger. Her face, on the other hand... Her face was bad. Kogane could see that the scar over her eye and down her cheek had been sliced open again, but beyond that there was just too much blood and grime to see the extent of the facial injuries.

Kogane felt a pang of sympathy for the girl. Kokoro had always been quick to heal physical injuries and, provided she didn't freeze to death or get an infection, these wounds probably wouldn't keep her down long. But even so... This amount of violence hadn't been necessary.

The rather intimidating giant followed the actions of the people in the room, gazing from the visor of his helmet... The movement of his eyes were not to be seen as the darkness shrouded his eyes in this dimly lit place. He looked at his Master and the thoughts started to flow through him. "Weak, weak, weak" A voice spoke in his head, he knew exactly what the voice spoke off, the weakness of his Master whom was in such a pitiful state. He shook his head slightly, the metal of his helmet scraping softly against the chain mail around his neck. His hands unconsciously gripped his sword tightly, there were certainly a few things that presented themselves, the Master of the other servant was now unprotected... He could easilly kill her but she would surely take his master with her. "Risky isn't it? But I love a risk, don't you?" Legion always took a long time in a conversation, in his mind were many voices stating their viewpoints and they were part of him, influenced him if only slightly. The voices were not powerful enough to influence his actions alone but at certain times they combined in their opinions and he would not be able to resist following it. "You know with a weak Master like that you aren't going to make it, you will fail" Legion pondered the statement for a moment and spoke out loud in answer. "I will not fail, even with a weak Master." Often times Legion was unable to distinguish between thinking something and saying it out loud when in deeper conversations. Which was essentially a great flaw in him, he could speak of sensitive matters when they were supposed to be kept a secret, or think something when someone was expecting an answer.

"You will make certai-" He stopped mid sentence as his mind became somewhat of a crowded place, trying to keep his focus but failing as one of the voices spoke loudly inside his head. "Take your Master and just go, if she doesn't make it she has shown her weakness, if she does then she has proven worthy of being our Master." Some voices would speak of Legion as a separate person, like they were merely watching events unfold whilst others would speak of them as a whole rather than being separate from Legion. "Maybe" Legion answered, not focused on Kogane for that moment before resuming the sentence he previously left unfinished. "Certain that she will he-" He stopped for a moment and adjusted what he said "Clean her wounds so that we can leave."

With heavy steps he moved over to Kogane and his Master, the tip of his sword scraped eerily across the floor as he came close enough, kneeling down to study his Master from a closer perspective. It was only momentary as he stood up again a few seconds later, standing next to his Master with his sword gripped tightly. He would make certain that whilst she was being treated he would be able to guard her against any threat no matter how close they were.

"Ræna lið afli valda hræzla

Heill vándr lúta vili

Efla vili hluti"

Her mana fluctuated rapidly and encircled the area. The dead lights flickered rapidly and the rooftop groaned as it took in the mana she had placed. The moonlight seemed to grow brighter and brighter, until it was nearly blinding. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the building was once again devoured by the peaceful night. Caster coughed a bit 'that was a bit much' she thought examining the boundary field she had placed. As much as she loathed the idea, the boundary field would take in the mana of those that entered the building, even sucking them dry if they remained there too long. Once it was finished that is, she had set up only the basis for it. In order to finish it she would need a bit more mana from her now resting master, and of course time, around 3 days to be exact.

Caster stretched as she phased through a wall and into the cold night. She drifted about staring into the sky, it had been a long time since she was able to see the stars, and that just made them all the more beautiful. Twinkling in the heavens, so far away from the violence and bloodshed caused by the shackles of fate. It seemed as though none of them had changed, she felt she could still see the stars she had once seen in her lifetime. She took another breath and watched as the wispy clouds drifted by.


The calm night made her feel that the shackles bound around her wrists were heavier than she remembered. "Heresy, heresy heresy" the people chanted, their blazing torches casting horrid shadows across the stone walls.

Right...it had been night then too...

Neal sat on the couch quietly as Lancer flicked through the television channels, his mind elsewhere. He had figured out the identity of one of the servants, not bad for his first night of war. In the morning he should have an accurate count of how many potencial magus are attending the high school nearby, be it as a student or as an instructor. He just hoped that the police would avoid watching him like a hawk. That would make moving around rather difficult.

Lancer sat there, stuffing his face as if he hadn't eaten in days. "You know...you are going to make yourself sick if you keep that up, Lancer. I don't think I've seen anyone eat constantly for two hours before...it is a litte...Isn't that going to slow yo down if you need to suddenly fight?" The young man shrugged "No, it is always good to have a good meal, especially if you are fighting a war." Neal decided not to point out that as a Servant, Lancer didn't need to eat at all. "Suit yourself..."

Neal knew he was going to have a busy day ahead of him, he was planning on finding a new home. Though he intended to keep the apartment as a sort of front. Quietly Neal stood up and started to head to his room. "We will know more in the morning, for now, I am going to sleep. Please leave enough food for me to have breakfast in the morning." That said Neal went into his room and shut the door.

Lancer peered at the door quietly for a long moment. "Waaay too serious..." He shook his head and set down his plate, vanishing from sight. As much as the TV had been holding his attention, he wasn't going to forget he was here to do a job. He had to protect his Master above all else. Yes, there was a boundary field around the building to inform him if someone entered but he wasn't really all that inclined to leave it up to something like that. Instead, he found a perch ontop of the building and sat down, in spirit form and watched the night. It was times like these he wished he had Archer's keen sight, or maybe Caster's ability to sense other Servants at a great distance. But no. He had no such advantage. He found himself wondering why the Grail would place him with a Master that could supply him with so much mana, yet he would never be able to truly make use of all that was available to him. They seemed entirely mismatched. "Doesn't make any sense at all."

This sort of war wasn't what he was used to. All this sneaking around and hiding, it could hardly be considered true war. "Ugh...I can't wait till a real fight comes our way....hopefully it will be a little bit of a challenge." sighing heavily he continued his vigil, keenly aware of his Master's presence not far away. "Soon....Very soon."

Kogane shook her head, a gesture of mere disapproval.

"She won't like that."

But she wasn't going to fight the issue. Serizawa would doubtlessly come back on her own accord. Kogane briefly debated saying more or giving the Servant a reason, but decided it wasn't worth letting potentially fatal details slip. Instead she kept her eyes on the girl, only looking up when Assassin came back down the stairs with the items he was sent to fetch. She briskly stood and went to claim the blanket and medical kit, careful of the giant Servant on her way past. Somehow it was surprising that the blanket wasn't off of her own bed.

"A change of clothes, too. Bottom drawer of my dresser." She told her Servant, letting her back speak dismissal as she returned to the injured girl. She felt more than heard Assassin leaving again.

Kogane knelt again, going about the repetitive task of nursing the girl she'd previously tortured. Cleaning the cuts with disinfectant, bandaging the larger ones. Some of the wounds should have been surtured back together, but sewing was not one of Kogane's better skills. Certainly not one she would try on human flesh.

On further examination, Serizawa's face wasn't as bad as it could have been. The scar down her eye had been reopened rather deeply, but given that the eye beneath the tissue was useless anyway, there shouldn't be much of a problem beyond pain. It wasn't going to harm her beauty any more than it already had. The girl's left wrist was probably sprained, as well. Her dominant hand, or so Kogane seemed to remember. Sprains weren't anything she could do much about with her supplies, but she'd wrapped both wrists to stop the bleeding anyway.

When Kogane was finished, the girl was reminiscent of a mummy. There were cloth bandages wrapped about her neck and diagonally around her head to cover her scarred eye, as well as a few places on the rest of her body. Not the best work in the world, but it would have to do.

Assassin had returned and left a small pile of clothes nearby. He stood with his arms crossed leaning against the far wall, Kogane noted, somehow managing to look the part of a brooding hero with glasses. Kogane stood to briefly inspect the clothes, nodding in approval. A bit larger than her own. They should fit, since they were... From...

Kogane found herself staring blankly as she put the second sock on Serizawa's other foot. She blinked, reaching up to wipe sweat from her forehead onto the sleeve of her already plenty dirty school uniform. Caring for someone was more tiring than she'd thought it would be. For the moment, she wanted nothing more than a steaming bath. She cast the rest of the clothing on top of the unconscious girl, then wrapped her tightly in the blanket. Serizawa could put the rest of it on herself, provided she ever woke up.

Kogane stood, looking up at the armored giant as she did. She spoke quietly to it, her words lacking both fear and the malice one would associate with a threat. "If you let her get hurt, I will hunt you down." Then she turned and stalked toward the basement's exit. Toward the relative insecurity of her own Servant and the rest of her home.

"Try to destroy as little of the wall as you can when you leave."

Steady... steady....

Victor watched the detective's motions as the man slowly made his way towards the doors. Even he had to admit that the cop was good. From the way Kotomine Akashi moved, it was just as if nothing whatsoever had changed since Victor's call. Unfazed and unhurried - the mark of a true professional. Of course, it also marked several other distinctive qualities as well, which weren't exactly ones that could be sensed by sight alone. Some prior knowledge had helped in the process.

Any second now... Aha. Here he comes.

Kotomine's eyes glanced up and gazed directly into Victor's. As a response, Victor gave a short nod in affirmation before turning his attention once again to stirring his second cappuccino, which for the second time he had no intention of drinking. He wasn't planning to remain jittery for the rest of this night. Nor any of the other ones, for that matter.

When Victor looked up again, he saw Kotomine standing in front of his table. It was time for a greeting.

"Ah, Konbanwa, Hideki-san!" - at this he gave Kotomine a meaningful look - "It's so good to see you again! I apologize for requesting a meeting at such a late hour, but my office closes rather late. Please, please sit."

He noticed Akashi glancing at Archer, as anticipated. Her face hadn't changed since she put on the sunglasses. "I see you've noticed my bodyguard. She's necessary for business, you must understand. Standard company regulations. Have you had a look at the menu? The coffee here is excellent, but I favor this place for the atmosphere."

When he saw Akashi beginning to raise an eyebrow in disbelief, Victor lowered his voice. "All right, Kotomine. I'll dispense with the formalities here. I know you're not here to enjoy the scenery. Before you make any response, I want you to hear me out before you start asking questions. That's the most efficient method." Kotomine had made no reply yet, so Victor went on. "Two words: Grail War. We both have our contact networks, and I sure as hell know you're not as clueless as you make yourself out to be."

"That being said," Victor continued, "there's only one way I could possibly know all this about you, correct? And yes, you're exactly right. I'll hold on to the details until I hear your response. But as an expression of trust I'll give you my name right now: Victor Ortensia."

"You're not new to this material, so I'll keep things short as possible. This is the Sixth War. What I've been trying to uncover is this: what has changed since the Fifth? I have a feeling most Masters will simply fight along, but we both know there has to be more to it than that. For example, is this even the same Grail? And what container will it have this time? For both of us, winning is currently secondary to the information we need to find. And we both need to find it fast."

"And now, about you. Either you already know your true assignment, or you're going to get it soon. You might feel rather prepared set up the way you are right now. But the Association has a way of making mistakes, don't you think? I hear the last one they sent had her arms cut off and her body stashed away before the action even began."

An short beeping came from Victor's phone. He glanced sharply down at it in disbelief before turning back to Akashi. "And if you look at this map on my phone right now - " Victor showed him a display with a pulsing red area in the residential districts - "One of my contacts has already discovered a steady stream of emitted mana in these vicinities. Something's happened. I can't tell what it is yet, but it's something big." He pressed several keys on his phone. The beeping stopped.

"That man had better start moving or he'll be dead before he knows it. I don't intend to share his fate, and my guess is that you don't either. And soon I might even have to get rid of these contacts as well, because all the mind games mages play tend to make a network give off more information than what it gains. Now that you know the situation, I'm asking that we cooperate, or at best form a truce. I'll even wait for you to find a Servant. What do you think?"

There were a few questions, of course, that Victor had been waiting for Akashi to ask in particular. He waited to see what the outcome was.

"Your beloved Daisuke has returned!"

Daisuke closed the door behind him and looked blearily around the darkened, silent entryway of his home.

"What, no fanfares and energetic greeting?" He sighed and sat down to remove his shoes, setting the small paper bag he'd carried home down on the floor next to him. Even doing that was painful; his arms were still burning from all the slave labor he'd been roped into.

"If I don't at least get an--"

"Okaeri." The hall light came on and his mother's gentle voice interrupted him.

"Kaa-san." He squinted up at her, just to confirm the features that resembled his own (only much prettier and more feminine, with a braid over one shoulder and a beauty mark under an eye), and went back to fumbling at his shoelaces. "Just in time. The hero of the story was about to fall into depression with nobody to greet him. And he could really use a massage."

"My... Did they overwork you again?" He had meant it as a joke, but when she laid her hands on his shoulders and began to rub the stiffness out of them, he somehow didn't feel like telling her so. Instead, he made the most exaggerated aah noise he could.

"Marry me."

"That's a pretty troublesome proposition." Even against such inane requests from her own son, the woman was too kind to outright refuse. At least she sounded amused. Daisuke sighed dejectedly, finally managing to slip his shoes off, and pretended to clean his glasses on his shirt in order to prolong the massage.

"They sent me hiking to Nigeria for cheese. It was pretty terrible." He placed his shoes upside-down on either side of the neat row produced by the other two pairs in the entryway. There wasn't any particular reason for it. It just seemed inappropriate enough to do.

"Did you find it? The Nigerian cheese."

"Well.. I discovered a cheese... And several new strains of Bird Flu. You could call it a success." This kind of discussion had become pretty commonplace in this household. His mother, Keiko, was the kind of woman who would go along with the tall tales people told her rather than outright dismissing them. She had to have known better, probably, but it was relaxing for the both of them to indulge in Daisuke's habit. A confirmation of normality.

He finally stood up again, tucking the paper bag under one arm and hugging his mother briefly. "What are you still doing up, anyway? Don't you have work in a few hours?"

"I only just got your sister to bed. She was adamant about staying up until you got back. Something about a broken promise."

... Oops. "A-ah. That. Man, what a troublesome girl.." Keiko studied his reaction, then sighed and shook her head in disapproval.

"I know you probably didn't mean to break it, but.. Girls are sensitive, Daisuke. You should apologize as soon as possible."

"Yeah... I know." He cleared his throat and found himself bowing his head guiltily, shuffling the paper bag into his hands. "We were just so busy, there was no way I could come home early."

After a moment, his mother smiled again. "Well, Nigeria is a long way away. She'll probably forgive you." She turned toward the stairs leading up to the second floor, where all the bedrooms were. "Get some sleep for school in the morning. No wasting time on the internet."

Daisuke smiled wryly, forcing his aching body to follow her. "Somehow, I don't think that will be an issue. Besides, I can fall asleep in seconds. Even standing and with someone rubbing onions into my eyes. Didn't I win an award for it once?"

"That was your sister, actually. When you told her I put onion slices on my eyes at night to stay beautiful."

"Oh. Right."