Chapter 4: Normality II

I don't own anything.

Kirei Kotomine sat on one of the pews in the hall of the Kotomine church. It was six in the morning and there wasn't a single other person in the hall of the church except the fake priest. Even though Kirei wasn't an actual priest, he still was a member of the church and thus has duties he has to attend to. He also was a father so a of young man and a guardian of his teachers daughter, which also came as a duty of sorts. A duty he found some amusement and enjoyment from, as he took care of the two childhood friends, but mostly amusement.

When both Hakuno and Rin become old enough Kirei sent both of them to learn in a school in Miyama Town. And from that time Hakuno started creating his daily routine. He woke up five hours in the morning cooked something for breakfast which was meant for Gilgamesh, if he was in the church at the time, while Hakuno kept his stomach empty since he always ate at Rin's house and Kirei preferred to keep eating Mapo Tofu which his son usually brings back. At five thirty both Kirei and Hakuno always done their Bajiquan exercises for twenty minutes and during the next ten minutes Hakuno changed in to his school uniform and brainstormed about a certain issue that bothers both him and his childhood friend till this day. At six Hakuno heeded out towards Rin's house, which took either an hour if he was in a mood for a walk or twenty minutes. There Hakuno wakes the girl up, cook's breakfast for the both himself and Rin, and they head out to school together.

Even on weekend Hakuno and Rin spend most of the time together, unless the younger Kotomine has to help out in the church, then his friend comes herself, that is if she feels like it. Rin started to make a habit of coming to the Kotomine church herself, where she is required to interact with Kirei and 'Goldie'.

Kirei continued to make sure that the two of the childhood friend would grow up in to upstanding members of society, at least as much as he could. Gilgamesh continued to broaden Hakunos world view, and to a much lesser extent Rin's. The golden king didn't want for the boy to grow up into a gullible and boring person.

Whatever Kirei was thinking about was interrupted by the sounds of footsteps, which started to ring out from the right door in the chancel. There are two doors that lead to different parts of the church. The left door led to the study, Hakuno's room, and other rooms like the kitchen. While the right led to the courtyard, the basement, and a couple of unused rooms and a couple of used ones.

Hakuno came out the right door. He was wearing a male Homurahara academy uniform, the upper part of the school-jacket was opened reviling the upper part of Hakunos favorite shirt and golden cross. He was rubbing the bridge of his nose with his right hand, while his right hand was holding his backpack.

"It only morning and you are already working hard my son, is there something bothering you?" Kirei said with a smirk as he kept his gaze on Hakuno.

"Good morning dad. There's only one thing in this whole entire church that can bothers me and give both me and Rin a headache." The young man lowered the hand that was rubbing his nose in to his right pocket.

"I see." Kirei said and stood up from the pew and faced his son. Even though Hakuno is sixteen years old he still needs to raise his head to look in to his father's face. "And what of Gilgamesh, did he offer any advice?"

"He did explain a few things about Vimana's inner workings, but then he told me 'I am not its creator but its owner, do you understand the difference, mongrel.' or something like that." The younger Kotomine tried to do his best Gilgamesh impression.

"Then consider this as a challenge from god, and I have a hunch that Gilgamesh would be displeased if you even think of giving up." the priest chuckled, he knew that his son is not someone who backs of when his mind is set on something. "Oh and don't overwork yourself, I don't want you getting sick for half a month again."

"It only happened once. And it's not like I ever got sick again." what the young's man father said was true. Hakuno only got sick once, and that only happened because he did something really stupid. The stupid thing was, staying too long in the river trying to pull a piece of Vimana from the bottom. In the end Rin and Kirei had to look after him, it was the moment when the girl started to come and visit the church more often. Then Hakuno went silent for a moment, to which his father raised an eyebrow. "Now that you mentioned it, where is Gilgamesh anyway? He wasn't in the study like usually."

"Gilgamesh hasn't returned from his late night escapades yet, but he will soon."

"How are you so sure?" the priest just lifted the right sleeve of his uniform and showed his irregular command seal. "Ah, so how long till he's back?" the younger Kotomine questioned, and the older one just kept silent until the churches entrance door opened.

Hakuno turned his gaze towards the door while Kirei didn't turn around since he already knew who it was. The ancient king of Uruk entered the church. He was wearing black pants, a black leather jacket, and a white shirt underneath. Also unlike usually the king's hair was down, and his golden accessories weren't present ether. Hakuno considers that Gilgamesh looks like a biker in this outfit.

"Has anything of interest caught your attention, Gilgamesh?" Kirei spoke with his usual tone as he gave his servant a glance, which showed neither annoyance nor anger. Neither did the priest annoyance, just curiosity to his servant's actions. "You have started to take more time on your nightly walks."

"Hoping to find anything that is worth my time in this city is absurd. My walks are just whims, and I intend to follow my whims for as long as I wish." the golden king said as he walked over towards the father and son. "Your consent matters little to me." the priest just sighted.

"As long as you are discreet and don't draw any attention to yourself I will have no issues with your actions, I ask nothing else but that." Kirei returned his gaze back to his son. "You should head out; being late for school would put Rin in a foul mood."

"…Maybe I should buy her an alarm clock." Hakuno mumbles to himself.

"I don't think she would like that." Kirei said with a wider smirk, but before his son could say anything, the priest already started to talk. "Oh and before I forget…" now the priest got interrupted.

"I'll bring some Mapo Tofu on my way back." Kirei gave a satisfied nod, but unlike his master Gilgamesh gave the young man a murderous glare. "And what do you wish to have for dinner tonight, Gilgamesh." Hakuno said without even flinching. The younger Kotomine is used to the kings habits, it's not like they lived for nine years together for nothing.

"Anything half-decent shall suffice, I do hope it's not too much to ask you, mongrel." after Gilgamesh hearin

"Of course it's not." the youngest resident of the Kotomine church said with a sight. "Well then, I'm heading out." as Hakuno said that he turned towards the main door of the church and started to walk away, of course before he left he gave his father and guardian a back-wards wave.

After the door was shut, only Kirei and Gilgamesh were left in the church.

"Are not interested in Hakuno's progress, concerning your former belonging?" Kirei suddenly spoke up.

"If I'd have done that, it would mean that I actually have expectations of him." the golden king answered calmly.

"Hmmm, I see." Kirei wasn't very convinced about that answer, but he decided not to ruin Gilgamesh's mood. The golden Archer noticed the priests tone, but decided to ignore it, unlike all of his nightly walks today's was surprisingly pleasant for him.

"Now, Kirei there's something I would like to ask you." the priests smirk had faded away. "What's inside the case that you've brought eight years ago."

"Oh, that." Kirei sounded somewhat bored now. "You noticed it after all."

"Who do you take me for, my knowledge is vast and much greater than you think."

"As expected of the King of Heroes." Kirei chuckled. "As for the contents of the case, you are aware of the upcoming Holy Grail War, are you not?" the priest didn't see the need to tell the golden king what exactly was in the case. The servant is very perceptive after all.

"A catalyst, hmmm." Gilgamesh sounded interested. "And what Heroic spirit is it connected to?"

"… Your guess is good as mine." the servant raised an eyebrow at the priest's words. "I wasn't informed about the artifacts origins, and all of my investigations were rendered pointless. All I know is that the catalyst is connected to a powerful Heroic Spirit, or so my associates."

"And what is the catalyst itself?" the king continued to question Kirei.

"… I forgot to mention…" the master ignored the question, making Gilgamesh irritated but the golden servant decided to hear what Kirei had to say. "Apparently the catalyst had a weak connection to the hero, unless Hakuno's and the heroic spirit's connection is sufficient the Grail will reject the catalyst and provide him with a servant similar to himself, but due to the state that it was bestowed upon me the connection decreased even further. As for what it is…"

"…Kirei, you received a destroyed catalyst, haven't you." Kirei just sighted but it seemed like he was mocking the catalyst instead of worried about the it, which was enough as an answer for the king. The golden Archer's face twisted into a murderous glare, it wasn't meant for anyone but it could throw anyone in to a cold sweat. "…Those accursed rats… What kind of buffoon came up with the idea of a useless catalyst." said the golden king in a chilling and murderous voice.

"A fool, that's who." Kirei answered with the same mocking voice.

"Yep, today's weather is great. Considering that it's April." Hakuno said as he walked downhill. The Kotomine church was build on one of the few elevated areas in Shinto, since most of them were removed to make place for the new buildings. There almost isn't an any single hill in Shinto, but there are quite a few in Miyama town.

Hakuno was the only person on the streets right now, considering that there were only a few small apartment complexes build on the way to the church this wasn't surprising. Lifting his head up Hakuno could see a couple of sky scrapers in the distance.

The priest's son sees the sight of the building almost every single day as he walks to school. Shinto was rebuild when Hakuno was thirteen and most of the schools there were destroyed so he was forced to enroll in to school in Miyama. And something told him that Rin wouldn't be too thrilled by going to school in Shinto.

Hakuno finally climbed downhill and in front of him the familiar bus stop was as usually empty. The bus stop was nothing fancy, just a single metal bench and nothing else, not many people use the bus here. Since the church is some distance away from the center of Shinto the rebuilding never reached this area, and most of the buildings were left untouched.

Usually Hakuno would wait for the bus since it's quicker that way, but…

"It's not a bad day for a walk." Hakuno mumbled to himself as he turned towards the bridge. Taking a walk once in a while isn't bad. After stifling a yawn the younger Kotomine continued on his way.

"Rin, hey Rin, wake up. It's morning already." a voice greeted the girl as she awoke from her dream. Rin was used to hearing this voice, it acted as an alarm clock of sorts for her and Rin got used to it so much that she would probably be startled if instead of Hakuno's voice an actual alarm clock would wake her up in the morning.

There was no way she would actually admit that to anyone. Especially Hakuno, or anyone who lives in the Kotomine church for that matter.

Rin Tohsaka sluggishly lifted her upper body, and after rubbing her eyes for a few seconds turned to the right with half-opened eyes. Hakuno was looking at her whit a pleasant smile, but that smile annoyed Rin, not because she disliked seeing him smiling, in fact she liked seeing him smiling, but Hakuno looked at a her as if she was a cute animal. He was wearing the Homurahara school uniform; the jacket was unbuttoned and reviled a golden cross an identical on to Kirei's.

"Why are you smiling." the girl said in a drowsy voice.

"Well, I'm just happy to see that you have an easier time waking up than before." Hakuno said with a chuckle as he remembered that the girl had much more trouble waking up when they were kids.

"…that sounded like a backhanded insult." Rin spoke in the same tired voice and turned her face towards Hakuno. She could see that Hakuno looks like usual, but there was some sleepiness in his eyes. Rin guesses that Hakuno worked on something and she had an idea on what the young man was working on.

"It's just your imagination, you aren't fully awake. School will start in an hour, so could you start preparing?"

"…" a short silence. "…Yeah." Rin removed the blanked from herself and slowly staggered towards the hallway in her dress like pajama. Hakuno quietly followed her to the hallway; as usual he left the door to Rin's room opened. Just in case that she is so sleepy that she accidently hit's the door. Of course as usually the girl walked out of her room, went towards the bathroom door, had a little trouble grabbing the door handle and entered. Hakuno watched, just in case.

Again as usually he had no reason to worry. A small yawn came from him. Hakuno didn't intend to feel this tired during the whole day, and to change that there was only one thing he could do…

"… I need some coffee." Hakuno mumbled to himself after stifling his own yawn, and went downstairs.

Rin stood in front of a mirror and looked at her reflection. Her hair was pretty messy due to not being tied by her ribbons and her eyes were only half open. After stifling her yawn she started to wash her face with cool water. Bit by bit she started to wake up and her mind started to work more clearly. After washing her face Rin pulled out her ribbons form a pocket of her pajamas.

In the mirror Rin could see her reflection, her hair was messy and there was even some bed hair, maybe that's why Hakuno smiles at her. Her face still looked tired and unmotivated, something she couldn't let anyone but Hakuno see. She had an image to uphold in Homurahara academy.

After washing her face the girl went back to her room and quickly changed in to her school uniform. After going downstairs and entering the living room, Rin saw Hakuno sitting in his usual spot on the couch. There were two plates placed on the table, guessing from the smell one cup was filled with black tea which means that it was for Rin, and the other one was filled with coffee which Hakuno made for himself. On each of the plates there were two flatbreads but they were rolled in a tube and she could see various ingredients inside like cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. The other plate was empty, which means he already ate his breakfast.

"You know, if you want to drink some good coffee you could just take some coffee beans from the kitchen, instead of that insult." Rin said that as she sat down on the couch, Hakuno being on the girls left while she was on his right, even though they grew up the habit of sitting near each other didn't fade away, but only became stronger.

"I decided to take a walk instead of riding the bus today, so I don't really have time to brew some real coffee for myself." he said and continued to sip his coffee "It's not that bad anyway."

"I see, so what did you make for breakfast today?" the girl said after turning her attention on her plate.

"Piadina, it's a dish from Italy, the flat bread itself is called piadina and you can basically eat anything you want with it. I just decided to put stuff like ham, tomatoes and other generic stuff like that, I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not, you know better about foreign dishes than I do." Rin picked up one of the two piadina's and took a bite out of it. Unsurprisingly it tasted really good, the girl expected it to be dry dish but it seems Hakuno put some kind of sauce in the piadina. "Just when you think that I ate everything you can cook, you make something new for me. I don't think it's a understatement to say that you are full of surprises."

"Considering that my guardian's whims change almost every minute, I kind of have to." Rin noted that while Hakuno sounded a little bit annoyed, there was some satisfaction in it. Knowing him it probably comes from the fact that he learns something new, and watching people that he cares about enjoying his food also helps. "Well how is it?"

"Do you really want to keep asking that after every time I eat something that you made?"

"I just want to make sure that it's to your liking." Hakuno replied in his usual voice. The girl just sighted and replied. "So is it good?"

"It's good as always. No wonder that Goldie enjoys you're cooking."

"Good to hear." Hakuno replied and continued to drink his coffee. But his childhood friend didn't remove her eyes away from him. He seemed to be a little annoyed by something and a more tired than usual, since he's drinking coffee right now and that's not a daily occurrence.

"You look more tired than usual. Did something happen?" the Tohsaka heir just questioned her friend, there wasn't a reason not to and she was a little worried.

"So, you've noticed…" Hakuno said and scratched his cheek in embarrassment. He really would just prefer that Rin would have a calm day instead of constantly worrying about him.

"We've known each other since we were kids, even the tiniest change is enough froe me to understand that something's wrong with." Rin sounded a little bit proud about the fact. "Just give up and tell me what's wrong"

"…there is only one thing that can put me in this kind of mood; it also applies to you too."

"I see… no progress as usual. It's the same on my end." the girl lemented and sighted. Hakuno sighted as well after hearing Rin's answer, looks like they've really hit a dead end.

Both of the childhood yawned as they walked through the school gates, a usual sight. Even though Hakuno wakes up early and is generally more energetic than Rin today he felt as tired as his childhood friend. But both of the childhood hid they're tiredness well. There weren't any students around since there weren't any club activities today, and it was a little early for the start of classes so. Of course both of the childhood friends didn't come this early without a reason; both of them meet an interesting individual who they quickly got along with. Hakuno was surprised that Rin formed a sort of friendship with the other person, especially considering that the Tohsaka heir prefers to keep distance from other people, the Kotomine family being an exception of course.

There was something bothering Rin, well not really bothering but puzzling would be a more correct term. And that was…

"Why did you take a pillow from my house?" Rin said as both of them were heading towards the archery club. Hakuno was carrying his school bag in one hand and a lunchbox in the other, this become a usual sight for anyone who attends the same school as the younger Kotomine and the Tohsaka heir. But one unusual thing today was a pillow that Hakuno had for whatever reason. He just suddenly took it from the Tohsaka mansion, Rin decided to keep quiet and not ask questions, but she got curios and just decided to ask. And that was her pillow in the first place so she kind of had to know what Hakuno planned to do with it.

"Well you didn't seem to mind so I took it with me." he sounded as if this was completely natural.

"Not that. Why did you take a pillow to school? Don't tell me that you're planning to take a nap during class." the Tohsaka heir sounded annoyed, and Hakuno didn't want her to be annoyed with him so he just told a little bit of what she needs to know

"Well, you know that Taiga's my homeroom teacher…" Hakuno said as if that's everything the girl needs to know. And indeed Rin quickly understood what the younger Kotomine wanted to say.

"…I swear Miss Fujimura is the most outlandish person I ever met. Not counting Goldie." Rin said with a somewhat bothered and curios voice. But before she could ask what exactly does Hakuno plan to do with the pillow.

"Sup, you two seem to be doing fine as usual." a voice that came from the Archery dojo greeted them. Near the entrance of the dojo stood a familiar girl with short brown hair, a female Homurahara uniform, and a cheerful smirk on her face

"Good morning to as well Mitsuduri-san." Rin switched to her school persona and greeted her classmate.

"Hey." Hakuno just gave a small wave as a greeting.

"If I didn't know any better I would have thought that the two of you are dating? Since you're always together and all." spoke in a joking matter.

"Isn't it a little rude to assume things that you aren't even certain about." Rin would usually blush but since she's in school keeping her fake persona up is important, Hakuno got a little red but turned his head away from Ayako so she wouldn't see his face and scratched his own cheek.

"You can't really blame that on me, you're always walking together so it's only natural that rumors would spread." the brunette spoke apologetically. "And some people always see the both of hang out together during the weekends too. Some have even seen you walking into walking into a church together." she was aware that Hakuno was a son of a priest, but she didn't want to let a chance to tease them slip away. Hakuno was blushing while Rin tried her best not to.

"Is this really a topic you want to talk about the first thing in the morning?" Hakuno finally wiped away his blush from the face and faced his childhood friend's classmate.

"Not really, the first thing I actually wanted to invite you to the Archery club."

"Again, isn't this the third time this week." Rin mockingly added.

"Come on Tohsaka, you don't really need to keep reminding me about my failures." and Ayako just gave a little laugh. She wanted for Hakuno to join the Archery club, the only reason being that his physique is really muscular. And in Ayako's opinion he would do really well in the club.

"I appreciate the offer, but no thanks. I get enough from the training dad gives me." Hakuno spoke apologetically. There is nothing useful he could gain from archery, the way of the bow isn't really meant for him. And the bow has no use to him anyway, the young member of the church needs only one thing, 'Black Key's', and nothing else.

"Looks like another failure." the brunette grumbled beneath her nose. "Well I kind of expected this." and then a curios facial expression suddenly appeared on her face. "Wait a sec isn't your dad a priest, what kind of training could a priest gives to someone."

"An unusual kind of training." Rin remarked.

"Oh do you know something?"

"Mitsuduri-san, it's not polite to meddle around in other peoples affairs." the Tohsaka hair said with a somewhat cold smile. Kirei gives her some training as well so she has some knowledge of what Hakuno goes through.

"… You two sure are secretive." now the brunette was a little annoyed, this attitude annoyed her sometimes.

"Well, sorry for that." Hakuno didn't really look apologetic. "Well I'm going to head to my classroom."

"Oh, you're not joining us?" Ayako gained a surprised look.

"I got something need to take care today." the younger Kotomine turned towards his child hood friend. "I'll see you later Rin." Hakuno turned and started to walk towards the direction of the school building.

"Yes, yes, just don't get in to trouble." she looked in the young man's direction as he walked away. After watching him leave Rin enter decided to enter the Archery dojo but…

"Hey, Tohsaka can I ask you something?" as Rin was about to enter the Archery dojo her classmate spoke up.

"What is it?" when Rin turned to her classmate she could see a grin plastered all over Ayako's face.

"Has anyone told you that you act like an old married couple?"

Hakuno entered in to the classroom where he is assigned. Some of his classmates had already gathered some were sitting behind their desks chatting with one another, some were quietly keeping to themselves, and the rest were spacing out. It was peaceful and Hakuno definitely prefers this atmosphere over the fakeness in the Moon Cell.

Hakuno walked towards the desk farthest from near the window, set his schoolbag near his desk, sat down and started a conversation with the person sitting in front of him.

"You're still in a bad mood?" Hakuno said to the blue haired young man in front of him.

"Shut up, you're just pissing me of even more."

"Is it really that big of a deal? Didn't you get the position of vice-captain in the Archery club?"

"As I said, I wouldn't expect for a third-rate like you to understand. The position of the captain of the club proves that I'm, but getting stuck as second just sucks. I deserve better than that." Shinji turned towards Hakuno with an annoyed look on his face.

"Yeah, you're right." the brunette decided to end the short argument right there. "By the way where's Shirou and Issei?"

"Four-eyes is probably helping out with his student council work, as for Emiya who knows, probably doing something stupid as always." Shinji now sounded a little bit less annoyed. "And what the hell is with that pillow?" now he pointed towards the pillow that Hakuno held in his hand.

"You'll see." was the only thing Hakuno said, with a tiny Kirei-ish smirk. It was enough to say that seeing this facial expression is rear. Shinji got a little interested, on that note the younger Kotomine always made sure not to smirk this way in front of Rin, she definitely wouldn't like it.

Hakuno just stood and walked towards the door where Taiga usually comes running through, near the door in a specific location he put down the pillow and after doing that he returned to his own desk. Interestingly enough nobody noticed this, only Shinji who was sitting and watching the brunette.

"…That's it?" now the Matou was disappointed. The brunette just sat back at his seat.

"You'll see." Hakuno just repeated the same sentence again. Shinji just looked annoyed for a moment and turned away from the brunette.

'Looks like his still annoyed.' Hakuno thought to himself and turned his face to the window and started to contemplate, about his situation, which is a daily occurrence for him.

Some people would find it strange that Hakuno is still confused about his situation, even thought ten years have passed since he appeared in this world. But he had his reasons for doing that, and those reasons were pretty paranoid.

The former Kishinami felt like he was mocked by this whole set up. He might have accepted the meeting with Rin and Kirei as a coincidence, and would even have shrugged of the real Holy Grails existence. But the existence of Taiga Fujimura, Sakura and Shinji Matou just added to his unease, Issei Ryuudou didn't help for that matter. And the school known as Honomurahara Academy only added to the young man's worry. The reasons for that were simple, the school was a carbon copy of Tsukumihara Academy or maybe the school in the Moon Cell was the copy that was based around this school. In the end it didn't matter to Hakuno, the coincidences in this world were getting to him, even if they were just coincidences the young man still couldn't take his mind of these things.

Even though it brought displeasure he still felt happy. Having a 'family', friends, and having Rin by his side once again certainly brought a lot of joy to the Kotomine. It's strange that those feelings haven't disappeared even after nine years. But he was still cautious something just didn't let him to fully relax and it never will. But he was getting this dreadful feeling which he could not explain, Hakuno always pushed it aside just as paranoia but it will always remain. The Holy Grail thought him that coincidences aren't something to hope for, but instead something to dread since nothing good ever comes from 'coincidences'.

The sound of the classroom door being opened returned Hakuno back to reality and scattered his thoughts. Turning his head towards the direction of the noise the brunette saw both Issei and Shirou enter the classroom. Both of them walked over to Hakuno's and Shinji's desk, since both of them coincidently sat next to the Matou and the younger Kotomine.

"Morning." Shirou lifted his hand in greeting and started to walk towards the Kotomine and the Matou. Shinji didn't react in any way and Hakuno just raised his hand in greeting. "You don't look very energetic, something up."

"Nothing much just some family stuff." Hakuno avoided the question, he just stayed up most of the night. "You up to your usual 'help the student council activities'?" Issei was the one who answered.

"Yes, the much of the school equipment is old and it won't last for long." he answered in a troubled voice.

"And the school lacks coherent budged, so I want to help wherever I can." Shirou added, since Issei nags about it from time to time it feels like the read-head needs to help as much as he can. The new school year recently started and making sure that the year would go smoothly Shirou decided to help. Plus Hakuno, Shinji, Issei and Shirou himself were new in this school, so making it comfortable for them was also a rewarding in a way.

"Sounds troublesome, maybe I could help in any way?" Hakuno sugested

"There's no, need this is the student councils business, Emiya's help is enough already more than enough. I don't feel comfortable with asking someone else for help."

"If he wants to help then what's the problem?" Shirou asked Issei and received just received a annoyed look from Issei he decided to drop the issue. "Um, there's something I'd like to ask."

Hakuno didn't respond and just waited for Shirou to say what he wanted. The red-head found the silence and the questioning glance that come from the younger Kotomine a bit weird but continued to talk.

"Would you like to join the archery club?" that sentence sounded a bit stiff.

"Huh! Wait Emiya why are you why are you inviting Kotomine to join the club all of a sudden, it doesn't concern him!" Shinji looked both confused and angry, while some of Hakuno's classmates were surprised by this outburst and turned towards Shinji.

Hakuno, Shiro and Issei weren't surprised at the Matou's reaction, Issei expected this sort of reaction since it was Shinji, Shiro is used to it, and while Hakuno didn't expect an outburst because of a such small thing, but due to living with a certain king Hakuno learned to keep his mind calm plus the training Kirei gives him helps.

"Well, Ayako asked me to do this." Shiro replied with the same calm voice. "So I just asked right away without beating around the bush."

"Then why him, he doesn't know anything about archery, he'll just be dead weight." Shinji still protested.

"Why indeed?" Issei spoke up. "While I mean no offence, but Kotomine doesn't seem well versed in archery won't he just be a bother since the club is already formed? And additionally why is Mitsuduri so interested in him?"

"Ah, well, that's kind of my fault." Shiro scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"You're fault, what do you mean?" the younger Kotomine was a little confused.

"Well, Ayako asked me if I knew someone who is good at any kind of sport so I suggested you."

"That doesn't really explain anything." Issei remarked. "And what do you mean good at sport?"

"Never mind, it's just a hunch I had." Hakuno raised an eyebrow to the sentence, while the other two students were confused.

"What the hell are you even talking about?" Shinji didn't get what this hunch was.

The four's conversation was soon interrupted by the bell.

"We can talk about this later; right now take your seat Emiya." Issei said and walked over to his seat. Shiro did the same but first he gave the Kotomine an apologetic smile. Shinji looked annoyed, Hakuno was just indifferent.

As the classroom quieted down Hakuno thought a little bit about this 'hunch' that Shirou had. The younger Kotomine while is physically fit and good with physical exercises, he doesn't like to stand out so he doesn't show of his full physical abilities. He even hides his muscles under a sports jacket on the hottest of days. Luckily he never collapsed from the heat, so Rin can't scold him because of it.

On the subject of the Tohsaka heir, Hakuno wasn't really surprised of her popularity; it was the same way in the Moon Cell, at least at the start. Rin still keeps prefers to keep people at an arm's length, Hakuno being the only exception.

Soon footsteps could be heard through coming from the hallway, with someone shouting "I'm late, I'm late." in an overly comedic manner.

Okay, this is the moment that Hakuno has been waiting for.

The sounds of the running footsteps don't stop; it felt like the individual who was running is going to crash through the door of the classroom. Without stopping the person opened the door and the person who stormed in to the class room, obviously it was Taiga.

"Everyone sorry for being late-"every single student in the classroom already expected this to happened, it was a daily occurrence after all.

…But the sound of Taigas head hitting the concrete didn't sound through the classroom surprising everyone, everyone except Hakuno and Shinji who already understood why the younger Kotomine had a pillow with him. After a moment of silence, the homeroom teacher stood up with a red pillow in her hand pillow in her hand.

After a sometime passed, both Hakuno and Rin went to their usual spot on the roof. The cafeteria is always busy during the lunch break and buying anything there is a hellish chore, so both of the childhood friends always come up to the roof with the lunch that either Hakuno or Rin makes. The roof it's always empty which isn't strange since most people eat in their classrooms. It could be said that the roof is a sort of personal space for both Rin and Hakuno. Both of the childhood friends were sitting on only bench on the roof.

"…does that happen every time you have homeroom?" Rin questioned and looked at Hakuno as if he told her something insane. She was holding a juice box, it was apple, while leaning against the fence on the roof. The younger Kotomine told his childhood friend about the event that transpired during the homeroom, the event itself wasn't important, in Hakuno's opinion, but he needed a better explanation on why he took the pillow.

"I'm serious." Hakuno responded and drank some green tea from the bottle in his right hand. "She just stood up as if nothing happened and asked who dropped the pillow."

"…" Rin was giving Hakuno a look of doubt. "At least warn me if you plan on using my stuff."

"Yeah, I will. Should I go and take it back? I haven't really asked for miss Fujimura to return it."

"No I'll just get another one; it's just a pillow after all." Rin didn't really ask for a reason on why Hakuno took the pillow. Taiga Fujimura is a unique creature, so it was obliviously for a unique reason. "Any progress with the golden birdie?"

"No not really." the younger Kotomine responded to Rin's question about Vimana. There was couple of reason why Rin used such, in Gilgamesh's opinion, disrespectful name. The Tohsaka heir did not know the name of the flying contraption and Hakuno did not tell her, for obvious reasons. It was enough that Rin questioned about how Gilgamesh even knew about Vimana in the first place, answering honestly wasn't really an option. How could Hakuno explain that 'Goldie' is a servant who just happens to be a ancient king and that he lost his contraption in the river. "Did you?"

"You know, I think I did." the younger Kotomine turned towards the girl with a surprised facial expression, and could see that Rin didn't look really sure of the statement she made herself.

"You did?"

"Well, at the very least I figured out how it runs." Rin turned towards Hakuno with a now relaxed face. "Remember those wing shaped objects that are made out of some sort of crystals?"

"Yeah, what about those wings?" there was only one of Vimana that Rin could be talking about. The green wing shaped objects; they were probably made out of some sort crystals or gems.

"Their probably made out of solar crystals, you can guess what that means." she didn't need to spell everything to the younger Kotomine.

"…it's powered by the sun?"

"It's just a guess, but it's the best one I got." Rin is no mechanic, and even if she was how Rin is supposed to know how a device that was created centuries ago is supposed to work. She's just a magus, a really good magus.

"It's at least something, I haven't got much of a success in putting the contraption together." than he sighted. "I never imagined that putting it together would be this difficult. I thought it would be at least a bit easier." now he knew how real mechanics feel.

"That's overly optimistic."

"I guess." the Kotomine couldn't deny that claim.

Then a silence, Hakuno drank his tea and Rin the apple juice. After a couple second the brunette reached in to his school uniform pocket and pulled out a golden card. After thinking it over he decided to keep it with himself for now, he will give this to Rin on a later date there isn't really a reason to do it now.

While Hakuno was looking at the card Rin was looking at his face. He seemed more worn out today, even thought even on the best days he has a blank facial expression unless you start a conversation with him Rin knew the Kotomine for almost ten years, she could tell what he was feeling most of the time.

Then a bell rang out signifying the end of the lunch break.

"We should head back to our classrooms." as Hakuno stood up from the bench he noticed that the Tohsaka heir was looking into his face. "What's wrong?"

"Make sure you go to sleep on time tonight."

"Huh?"

"Someone has to wake me up tomorrow." she hid her concern with those words. But the young man knew her well and smiled at her concern.

"You look more and more dissatisfied by the second, something wrong Gilgamesh?" Kirei said as he sat behind his desk in the study of the church. "Are the contents of the case really that unbearable to look upon?" the golden king who was dressed in his resting attire sat on his usual spot on the couch didn't answer but just continued to stare at the contents of the case for a moment. Silence lasted for a moment and the priest just continued to observe his servant waiting for any words to come.

"…The world has truly became worthless, if something like this can be called a catalyst, it nothing more than ash." Gilgamesh removed his gaze from the case and turned towards Kirei. What the golden servant said was true inside the case a smaller silver box lied inside, even though the priest told him that the catalyst was destroyed Gilgamesh expected to see the remains of an relic not the relics actual ashes. His master noted that the golden Archer didn't look as wrathful but a look of disappointment and annoyance was on his face. But most surprisingly there was a little bit of worry on the servants face, but it's barely noticeable. "Are there really no Heroes on this soil who aren't connected to worthless dirt?"

"Who knows, maybe Saber?" Gilgamesh didn't react to this, and just waited for the priest to answer properly. Kirei just sighted and decided to stop fooling around. "Considering that you are a servant yourself you're dissatisfaction proves that it's worthless."

"Yes this catalyst certainly is 'near' worthless." Kirei noted that his companion had put an emphasis on the word 'near'.

"It seems that there is some hope for the catalyst to work." Kirei sank in to his chair but his neutral expression didn't change, but his words caught Gilgamesh attention.

"Don't flatter this rubble with the word 'catalyst'. It is near useless furthermore the only hope for the connection is Hakuno's psyche, well that is if he is worthy enough to be chosen by the grail once again." he paused and continued. "And aren't you thinking too far ahead in to the future Kirei? There is no grantee that the mongrel will be chosen once again."

"I was a bit skeptical about this, but at the very least there is some hope for this to work if what you said is indeed true." Kirei smirk was present but barely. "And if the command seals appeared on his hand when he was a child, they will appear again."

"Hoh, have do you posses any proof that to make such bold claims?"

"No proof just intuition." Kire confidently answered.

"Hmm, I see." Gilgamesh just smirked but Kirei could see that Archer was still dissatisfied. "Well then, we shall change the subject to something more trivial this small talk had put me into a foul mood."

"And what is it you wish to talk about?"

"Wine." he quickly answered.

"…Wine?" and Kirei questioned.

"Yes, for all these years I have been drinking through you're reserve, in the process it is running short and nothing will be left. I suggest you stock up on some of the same brand, I have grown fond of it during the years"

…Well this should at the very least put Gilgamesh in something resembling a good mood. Of course the King of Heroes had wine of his own , but apparently there weren't any accessions worth celebrating over.

Kirei decided to do as he told and for the pries it just didn't feel right without having a cellar lacking in wine, also upsetting Gilgamesh isn't the best of ideas.

Walking out the shopping district Hakuno was contemplating about a certain subject, school ended a couple of hours ago and Hakuno was buying some Mapo Tofu before Rin finished making dinner. Vaimānika Śāstra is the 'subject' that Hakuno was thinking about. The younger Kotomine remembered Gilgamesh mention that some 'foul scripture' has some sort of information about Vimana.

So the young man decided to look for this 'foul scripture' after school, and since Rin was making dinner he could walk around the shopping district. There were many different shops there so it wasn't lack of places to look at specifically old book stores. By some stroke of luck Hakuno found a book Vaimānika Śāstra, I can only be considered luck that Hakuno chose to look at the book and the word Vimanika was the thing that drew his attention. He skimmed over the book and by luck again managed to find something interesting. It stated that vimana's use mercury as fuel, there were other things written in the book but Hakuno found what he needed. After finding the part that he was looking for Hakuno debated one thing.

'Should I buy this book, or should I not.'

He decided to go against buying the book. The young man really didn't want to spend any extra money. So he went on his way and bought the Mapo Tofu from his and his father's favorite restaurant.

Stinginess was a trait that Hakuno Kishinami was born with, even when he competed in the Holy Grail War, spending money isn't something that Hakuno liked. He always saved his money even if there was something he needed to buy and never wasted his money on anything useless. The young man found it ironic especially considering who his servant was. Whether good or bad this 'stinginess' only become stronger due to Kirei' and Gilgamesh's influence. Kirei didn't seem to like spending so the father and son had that in common. While it's debatable if the King of Heroes was stingy or not it seemed that way to Hakuno. Gilgamesh seemed to only be interested in keeping with a lifestyle of a king, but other than that he didn't seem to like the idea of even thinking of giving his treasures to anyone.

"Hakuno!" that was the sound of the younger Kotomine's pace being disturbed. Turning he saw Taiga running towards him from the direction of the shops. She was still dressed in her usual green dress and striped shirt.

"Miss Fujimura? What are you doing here?" Hakuno questioned as his teacher runed towards him.

"Shopping." as she was running up to him, Hakuno noticed that Taiga was carrying a shopping bag. "Shirou asked to buy a couple of things for tonight's dinner."

"I see, do you need something of me?"

"Huh, how do you know that?" Taiga asked suprised.

"You were running after me, so I assume you need my help for something. And this isn't the first time you're running after me like that."

"Ah, well, you see I kind of forgot a forgot my favorite shinai back at school so I kind of wanted" shinai? Hakuno searched his memory his memory.

"You mean that shinai with tige-" Hkuno felt bloodlust coming from his teacher and decided to keep that sentence to himself. "You want me to bring it back to you, why can't you bring it back yourself?"

"I can't today, both Shirou and Sakura-chan are making tonight's dinner and I just can't-"

"You're drooling." Hakuno pointed out interrupting Taiga.

"Ah sorry, so you see I can't go tonight that's why I decided to ask my favorite student for help."

"Sure I don't see why not. Where did you leave that shinai anyway?"

"In the teachers room I remember puting it somewhere there. Oh, before I forget I need to mention, the door to the room is closed." Hakuno waited for his teacher to say something else regarding the door but he only meet silence

"…and?"

"That's it." …Hakuno felt a stupid for agreeing without asking for more information.

"Then how am I supposed to get inside the teachers room?" Hakuno asked a perfectly normal question and was answered with…

"You're a big boy you can figure it out, we'll see you soon." without waiting for the young man's answer Hakuno turned around and runed of towards the Emiya residence. Hakuno just stood in silence without moving from his spot. This wasn't the first time the Taiga of this world asked for a favor of him, so it wasn't the request that surprised him, he was just wondering how in the world he is supposed to get in to the teachers room.

If Hakuno remembers it correctly the teacher room is on the first floor.

When Taiga returned to the Emiya residence the food Sakura and Shirou made was ready. Sakura made various Japanese cuisines ranging from tempura to noodles, while Shirou cooked western dishes like steak.

They spoke about various things the past, the future, how far Sakura's cooking has progressed and so on. They were more concerned about which high school will Sakura start attending next year. Taiga 'subtly' suggested that the plumed haired girl should enroll into Homurahara Academy. Shirou agreed with the energetic teacher's suggestion and earned a blush from Sakura.

Then they heard a knock on the door, Shirou briefly wondered who could it be but before he could go and check Taiga spoke up.

"Oh that was fast!" she said while still chewing.

"Miss Fujimura are you expecting someone?" Sakura questioned.

"Yes I am, Shirou go open the door."

"Yeah, yeah… Don't talk with your mouth full." without arguing Shirou stood up from the table and went over to the front door.

The knocking repeated, Shitou took note that whoever was waiting by the door wasn't in a hurry, since there were only two knocks at most and it didn't seem like the person was putting much force in to his knocks.

Shirou finished walking through the hallway and was standing right in front of the entrance door.

He unlocked and slide the door open. As he opened the door he saw Hakuno standing in front of the door with his head down it, it seems he was kicking the dirt while waiting for someone to open the door. Hakuno raised his head and quickly understood that both him and Shirou were standing really close to each other.

"…" Hakuno took a step back to make more space between himself and Shirou.

"Hakuno?" Shirou looked at him questioningly, but then he saw that he had a familiar looking shinai with tiger stripes in his hand and a bag with a couple of take out boxes in it. He looked pale, it wasn't that bad but he definitely was much paler than the last time Shirou saw the Kotomine, and it was just a few hours ago. "You alright, you seem a little pale did something happen?" Shirou ignored the tiger striped shinai and instead spoke in a concerned voice.

"…It's nothing, just a really tiresome day." even his voice sounded a weaker, not that his voice was ever energetic but now it sounded like he was completely worn out and devoid of any energy. "Miss Fujimura asked me to bring this to her." he then looked at the shinai in his own hands.

"Come in, we're having dinner maybe you want to join us?"

"Thanks for the offer, but someone else is waiting for me. I have to refuse."

"At least come in for a little, Fuji-nee will probably want to thank you." the redhead insisted.

"…Sure, but only for a while." Shirou felt relived at Hakuno's answer and stepped away from the door, making space for Hakuno.

"Excuse me for the intrusion." Hakuno said as he entered. The younger Kotomine took of his shoes and put the bag with the Mapo Tofu on the floor.

As they came in Taiga quickly looked over Hakuno the first thing she paid attention to was the shinai Hakuno had in his hand.

"You're quick as usual and right on time for-" Taiga's energetic voice died down in her throat when she saw Hakuno. It was extremely apparent to her that her student was very tired, since she only saw him a half an hour ago. "You look tired you should sit down."

"I'm just here to give the shinai back, I don't really want to overstay my-"

"No, this is an order from you're teacher, sit down." the Kotomines homeroom teacher spoke in a domineering voice interrupting him, she still didn't sound too serious thought.

"…Yes ma'am." Hakuno complied and heavily sat down on the floor near the table. He wanted to lie down but he could do that later.

"…good evening, Kotomine-senpai." . He didn't notice her, looks like he really is tired. Both Shirou and Taiga didn't notice the atmosphere between Hakuno and Sakura. Looks like he sat right next to her.

"Yeah, good evening. " Hakuno didn't speak the plumed haired girls name, he was on first name base with almost everyone, and most of people accepted that but it seem that Sakura didn't find it too pleasant to , actually she didn't really like to hold conversation with him no matter what. Much to Hakuno's confusion…

"I brought you're shinai back as you asked." the brunette gave the shinai to Taiga who was sitting on the other side of the table. The energetic teacher took a look at the shinai and nodded satisfyingly at the state it was in.

"I expected no less of my favorite student. How did you get it back?" Taiga was expected Hakuno to get Tora Shinai back but she wanted to know how he did it.

"The window was open so I climbed through it." Hakuno lied. He didn't climb in thought it Hakuno broke in through it, with his fist. Hakuno couldn't think of a more practical way of getting inside. Why was that the most practical way? Because the younger Kotomine, could fix the broken window, during the years Rin had thought him a certain spell that can turn back objects in their original state, it was very similar to Reinforcement the only difference being that instead of changing the structure it returns objects into their original state. So it could be considered a very basic spell. At least it's a simple spell to Rin, while Hakuno could bearlly make it work, it tires him out and leaves him in pain for a short time. The younger Kotomine found it strange that he could use it but the pain and exhaustion still hit him. Considering that he wasn't feeling well to begin with now he just felt terrible.

"Fuji-nee did you forget to lock the window?" Shirou spoke in disbelief.

"It wasn't me, why does it always have to be me, maybe it was another teacher!" Taiga decided to draw the attention away from the subject. "Well anyway thanks for the work, as a reward I've got something for you." she put her hand under the table seeming like she was looking for something. Then she grinned and pulled something out. "Tada!" it was a picture frame, a oversized picture frame like the one you could see in mansions or castles.

"…were you keeping that thing under the table this whole time?" Shirou spoke with the same voice of disbelief.

"Yep, I'm surprise that neither you nor Sakura-chan noticed it." Taiga spoke as if she was making fun of the redhead. He just kept looking at her in disbelief. But Hakuno looked honestly surprised it looked exactly like the picture frame from the Moon Cell, the one he used for the picture of himself and Saber. She really liked that picture, her master liked it too.

"What's wrong?" Shirou noticed Hakuno's surprised look

"It… reminds me of something…" Hakuno said, both Shirou and Taiga noticed that the Kotomine was more energetic. Shirou raised an eyebrow in question but he didn't question Hakuno, since it looks like he felt better.

"Yep, looks like I chose wisely." Taiga crossed her arms and said smugly.

"Where did you even get it?" Shirou asked.

"Don't underestimate me Shirou I have my ways." he didn't get his question answered.

Hakuno suddenly stood up and

"Thank you Miss Fujimura, I would stay for a little longer but I already have plans."

"Are you having dinner with Rin-chan today?" Taiga knew that and just wanted the brunettes acknowledgment.

"Yes, Rin's waiting for me I don't want her to be mad at me." that was the last thing he wanted.

"Okay have a safe trip, Shirou lead our guest out." to this the redhead just gave her a look that was saying 'You don't have to tell me that.'

As both of the boys left, Taiga realized something. Sakura didn't say a word after greeting Hakuno, which was strange since she seemed to be in a good mood. Taiga turned towards the plumed haired girl,

"Hmm, Sakura-chan is something wrong?" she asked in a concerned voice.

"It's nothing…"

"Oh before you leave there's something I need to tell you." Shirou spoke when both he and Hakuno stood outside of the Emiya residence. Hakuno was just about to leave with the bag and the picture frame when Shirou suddenly spoke up to him.

"What is it?"

"I got the pillow back, you know the one you put for Fuji-nee. Thanks for softening her landing by the way." Shirou sounded honest with his thanks.

"How did you know that it was me?" …wait. "Did Shinji tell you?"

"Yeah he came up to me during lunch time when me and Issei were having lunch. Do you want me to give it back right now?"

Hakuno was silent for a brief moment.

"Could you bring it back to me tomorrow at school?"

"Sure, no problem also there's one thing I should mention."

"One more thing?"

"Yeah." Shirou nodded. "In return Shinji asked me why did I recommend you to Ayako as a new club member."

"I'm actually curious too, why did you suggest me?"

"Well years ago I once saw you climbing out of the Mion River and… I noticed you're muscles." Shirou spoke awkwardly.

"…" …Hakuno knew how Shiro saw him. When searching for pieces of Vimana he usually dived on to the bottom of the river and look for the pieces and bring them back to the surface. Rin acted as a lookout since even as a child she could hypnotize people and keep them away from the scene or keep them away from the golden pieces of Vimana. There were of couple of times when he searched for the pieces alone, even thought he was careful not to be seen it still was possible to be noticed.

The atmosphere became a little awkward…

"Hey, sorry about Fuji-nee." Shirou apologized and shifting the subject as he and Hakuno stood outside of the Emiya residence.

"Don't apologize, it's not like I mind, and it's not like Miss Fujimura asked me to fight against a gang or to do something dangerous." …yet. "And anyway, I got compensated for the job." Hakuno pated the huge picture frame that he carried.

"You could just say 'no' to her otherwise she'll just keep asking for these 'favors'." Shirou really didn't want her to cause trouble for anyone.

"As I said, 'I don't mind', the world needs people like her or otherwise this world would be too gloomy." the brunette said with a smirk. He knew the energetic teacher for a long time and it seems the redhead was unaware of Hakuno's and Rin's longstanding relationship with Taiga. Now that the brunette, it's surprising that Taiga didn't tell anyone that she knew the younger Kotomine and the Tohsaka heir since they were children.

"I see, if you say so, well, see you tomorrow then, stay safe."

"You too Shirou, have a good night." Hakuno said and started to walk in to the direction of the southern district.

He heard the door being shut which means that Shirou went back inside, when Hakuno was descending the slope that lead to the Emiya residence, he started thinking about a certain someone. Taiga and Shirou didn't notice but Sakura was constantly diverting her gaze from Hakuno, it wasn't unusual for her to do that and at first the younger Kotomine ignored this kind of behavior, but even after nine years she still acted like this. Hakuno and Sakura never actually had an actuall conversation, they only had short exchanges between each other and Sakura always seemed uncomfortable around him.

"Did I do something wrong." Hakuno asked himself as he searched his own memory for the 'wrong thing' that might have hurt Sakura in some way.

He drew a blank nothing really came to him. Even during their first meeting the plum haired girl was already acting like this.

The younger Kotomine diverted his thoughts from Sakura Matou and just decided to keep his own head free from any thoughts. But still something was bugging Hakuno about Sakura's attitude, something was very wrong you don't need to be a genius to figure that out.

After returning back home, Hakuno heated up the Mapo Tofu he brought and cooked steak for dinner, he wasn't really in the mood to make anything complex. Strangely enough Kirei seemed a little off as well of it and didn't offer any training today, Gilgamesh on the other hand was as usually other hand seemed more brightened up in terms of spirit that he didn't even berate Hakuno for making a 'simple dish' like a steak and just calmly ate it without rising any objections.

Right now all of the church residents were sitting in Kirei's study doing their own thing. Kirei was filing some papers both related to the 'Kotomine church' and the 'Church'. Gilgamesh was fully occupying the couch while lying on it and sipping the wine from his glass, his eyes were closed so he didn't want to be disturbed. As for Hakuno after changing into his church uniform he came to the study and started to read a book, he has a lot of history books in his room and he prefers to read them in the study.

Kirei raised his eyes and look at the book his son was reading. The title was 'The rise and fall of Rome.' This one of Hakuno's strange reading habits. Hakuno often read's different books on different time periods and countries, but for some reason the younger Kotomine mostly reads books on Roman history. Of course the priest could already guess the reason but he still wanted to make sure he decided to ask.

"Another book on Rome, at the very least you could read something more… diverseve." the priest spoke up.

"I just find this the most interesting." the young man answered without drawing his eyes away from the book. Hakuno wasn't lying but he wasn't telling the full reason. The winner of the Holy Grail war didn't feel secure without reading 'certain books'. Those certain books were history books, or to be more specific books on various historical figures. He needed that knowledge stored in his head, not because he likes or wants it, but because something told him that he will need it.

"And you re-read different book on the same subject for that sole reason?" Kirei didn't believe that being interested was his son's only reason for reading those books.

"I guess I just don't have a problem with repeating the same things all over again, plus not everything that is written in all if the books could be true so seeing opinion of different people isn't bad at in my opinion." the younger Kotomine's voice still sounded calm but it felt like another emotion was present in it.

"I see…" the priest responded with his usual tone. He still felt like his son didn't reveal all of his reasons, but it didn't matter in the end. And Hakuno's interest in books explained why his best subject at school was history. Kirei didn't dwell on the subject for long and decided to speak of something else.

"…Where did you get that picture frame?" the priest asked and threw a glanced towards the surprisingly big that stood that was leaned against the wall near the door. Hakuno raised his eyes from the book and looked towards the picture frame. He looked uncomfortable for a second which didn't go unnoticed by his father and Gilgamesh, the golden king didn't even open his eyes to notice that.

"Taiga-sensei gave it to me." Hakuno answered with a sight.

"That high-strung woman gave it to you?" the King of Heroes examined the strangely big and decorated picture frame. "By the gods, only that woman could find such outlandish antiques in this age." he looked over the frame and lost interest. "Such an uninteresting tribute it's not worthy of a place in my treasury, you may keep it for yourself mongrel." after that he raised himself from the couch and as usual took the glass filled with wine that stood on the table. Hakuno wasn't really surprised at Gilgamesh's instinct to take the 'unusual' picture frame for himself. He might do that later if the fancy strikes him.

"Uninterested? That is surprising; I would have imagined that you would have used it to show of your own image." Kirei said.

"Are you are implying there's something that can show my glory?" Gilgamesh looked furious but didn't sound all that mad, but rather there was a hint of curiosity in his voice. "For such a claim I will demand retribution."

"Hmm, very well and what might you have in mind with your 'retribution'." the priest honestly wanted to know what he meant to do.

"Oh so you are actually willing to let me speak of whatever I wish, while your acceptance doesn't matter it is nonetheless pleasant that you submit to me." Gilgamesh spoke in an honest voice. "As for what is the meaning of retribution, I just wish to see a certain thing."

"And what might that be?" Kirei was honestly bit interested in what Gilgamesh wanted to say.

"Hmm. Have you ever bothered to wonder how your daughter has been doing?"

…..

"…. huh?" Hakuno let out a flat sound from his mouth. The silence lasted for a moment until Kirei spoke up again not really moved by any of this.

"I see so that is what you meant by 'something that wasn't soposed to be known by me'." Kirei didn't sound distressed and his face shifted in to a similar smirk like his servants. "And why did you ask about this off all things?" Gilgamesh just sent a glance at the younger Kotomine who was the only one who looked off-guard. "Is retrebution you're only reason."

Gilgamesh didn't answer and just kept silent, he did have another reason but it was insignificant. He just wanted to see the raction of the older and younger Kotomine's. Kirei's reaction was sadly disappointing. Maybe the mongrel would react in a more entertaining manner.

"Wait…." Hakuno spoke in a surprised tone, his face also showed surprise. "Does this mean… that I have a sister?" those words came out unnaturally out of his lips. Never in a million years would Hakuno imagine even having a sister, hell

"…" Kirei keept silent, in actuality he never even thought about what would Hakuno's and Caren's relationship is. And in the priests opinion his daughter probably has no wish to associate with him in any way. After a short silence, the older Kotomine spoke up "…Yes, I guess you do in a way."

A silence hanged over the room, there wasn't any tension naturally. Each family member had different facial expressions, Hakuno had a look of confusion, Kirei had calm face and just waited for his son to speak up, and the golden king of Uruk had the face of disappointment, the reaction of both the father and son were boring to observe. He expected something more unusual than a simple acknowledgment from Kirei and a face of stupidity from Hakuno.

It seems like Kirei passed quite a few traits to his son.

"Dad, why didn't you tell me that I have a… sister?" Hakuno spoke awkwardly.

Hakuno Kishinami would have never imagined that the priest had a daughter and was married at a certain point it felt surreal. The young man could only consider it a joke but there was only honesty in the priest's words, even his gaze seeped honesty.

"There was no reason for me to do that, even if I told you about your… sibling, I doubt that you would be able to meet anyway."

"Why…" the young man asked. He wanted to say something else or maybe even something different completely, whatever those words were died down in Hakuno's throat. While it doesn't seem apparent, Hakuno was perplexed, and couldn't really think straight. "Why can't we meet?"

"After my wife died I gave my daughter away to some of my wife's relatives. At the moment I wasn't really in a state to take care of her. Thus I left her with my late wife's relative and left to perform my duty as a member of the church." Hakuno wanted to question more but Kirei wasn't done talking yet. Plus it seemed to the younger Kotomine, like he was hit with too much today so he didn't ask for anything else. Kirei continued speaking "And I don't think she would be too happy to see me after all of these year and with an adopted son no less."

"…" whatever plans Hakuno had for this evening were pushed out of his head. He felt mentally drained for some reason. How could one news effect him like this he briefly wondered to himself. "Dad…"

"Yes?"

"…I feel tired all of a sudden. I'm going to bed early tonight." he felt tired during the whole day but now Hakuno felt absolutely drained.

"I see, then go and rest."

"Well goodnight. Goodnight to you as well Gilgamesh." Hakuno stood up from the chair grabbed his book and the unusually big picture frame and stumbled tiredly out of the study.

As he left both Kirei and Gilgamesh were left sitting in the study. Kirei still felt unmoved by the golden king's actions, he noted that the golden king was looking at him with an imperious look.

"What's with that face Gilgamesh, if there is something you want to say go ahead."

"…Disappointing or should I say disheartening, I expected to see something more entertaining than this." now the King of Heroes looked even more bored "Even Hakuno reacted dully, congratulations Kirei it seems you can really be considered that boy's father."

"Thank you for the praise Archer, hearing that from you is certainly unexpected." Kirei had his usual facial expression, and was somewhat annoyed yet amused. He didn't sound even a bit apologetic. "You did manage to drain him of any energy he had left today."

"That wasn't the outcome I desired."

"I see." Kirei said and leaned back in to his chair. "Can I ask you something?" Gilgamesh nodded and diverted his look back at the cup of wine. "Why did you help him out with the retrieval of the aircraft, wasn't that supposed to be a test?"

"He won't show his true worth like that, a mongrel has his own limits while I do not. Giving him a helping hand was also beneficial in a way." Kirei scoffed at Gilgamesh's words, the priest didn't know if the servant was making up excuses or saying the truth considering the following.

The elder Kotomine knew how Hakuno retrieved Vimana, which brought a little amusement to him especially considering Gilgamesh words. First of all Hakuno had to prove Rin that there was actually something at the bottom of the river. How he did it was straight forward, he just dove in to the Mion River and brought back a small piece of Vimana. After that Rin couldn't really consider the thought of something unusual being on the bottom of the river ridiculous, especially considering that Hakuno just kept diving and brining something else. For a few years Hakuno and Rin kept brining back more and more paces of Vimana, everything was going smoothly until Hakuno reached the limit of his physical abilities. Even the smallest paces of the fliyng contraption were surprisingly heavy and at a certain point Hakuno's strength wasn't enough to lift the much heavier paces from the bottom of the river. But then Gilgamesh came to the rescue, and pulled out everything from the bottom of the Mion River. How did he do it? Well, let's just say that the power of money is an extraordinary thing.

"He will show his true worth when the war comes, for now he can continue to live out his life however wishes."

"I suppose so." the priest considered something for a second "…Speaking of the Holy Grail War, I need for you to do something for me."

"Oh, is it of such importance that you can't do it yourself."

"Oh, it's not, it might even be a waste of your time but there is something I need to be sure of. As for why I won't do it myself, I can't really enter someone else's property that would be an offence."

"An offence, huh?" he stopped talking for a second, in the kings opinion his master wasn't really a person who had the right to talk about offences. "…And what is this place you want me to look in to." Gilgamesh sounded displeased but if Kirei asked a favor it had to be something serious.

"The Einzbern castle, which is right outside of the city."

"…Hmm, I see." Gilgamesh nodded in understanding, but didn't stand up. "But first let's drink, I'm fatigued due to your sullen facial expression, a drink should remedy that." and filled the second wine cup. Kirei looked at Gilgamesh, the priest was sure that he didn't have a 'sullen expression', so he just wrote it off as another of Gilgamesh's insults. And wasn't the King of Heroes the one who was sullen?

Now Kirei was certain that Gilgamesh will empty the cellar for certain. While he wasn't very worried, having a full cellar isn't a bad thing; at the very least taming the King of Heroes with wine is easier.

Hakuno opened the window of his room, and the fresh air seeped in. The young man just finished his evening exercises, they weren't anything special just 50 pushups, sit-ups and light exercises. It felt a little stuffy in the room so Hakunno decided to let in some air.

The room wasn't anything spectacular; to some it would seem ugly, that was due to the lack of wallpaper on the walls, Rin didn't like that either but it was Hakuno's room so if he doesn't want to changed anything she won't bother him. The room had a antique lamp hanging from the ceiling, a bed for one, a desk behind which Hakuno spent time doing his homework and only that, on top of a desk stood a small table lamp, and finally a small book shelf which was filled by books.

The books shelf wasn't fully filled only by half and most of the books were history books. There were a couple of mangas there too but not a whole lot. Hakuno isn't very interested in reading them and most of them were given to him by Shinji. Of course there were a couple of them that he found interesting but there weren't many manga series that interested Hakuno, only a few and even in that case he hasn't really bothered to follow that particular series much.

The room was barren in a way and lacked any kind of… personal touches. It's not like the Kotomine's lack the finances or possessions, in fact there is an empty room near Hakuno's where he and Kirei keep unneeded things. While the room isn't by any means full there were some things that Hakuno could use to give some touches to his own room he just had no reason to do so.

His reason to decorate his private room in the Moon Cell was Saber. She did complain that the room was barren so Hakuno did request for Taiga and got various rewards for that, even though he didn't ask for anything. It seemed that Saber seemed to grow happy about the, for the lack of a better word 'wealth' that her master had gathered for her and that Hakuno. In return the young man was happy as well.

Speaking of Taiga some of the stuff in the empty room was given to Hakuno by her as thank you for various favors he had done for her. Something things just don't change, and that isn't bad.

"…" Hakuno was silent, there was weight upon his sole and he can't nor does he want to remove it.

The room was dark since Hakuno didn't left the lights on, and just stared out the window as he sat on top of his bed. Lately he was feeling sentimental, really sentimental. He knew why, he stared and thought for a brief moment.

"…" his mind was made up, he will not remove the weight. Before he allows himself to truly lead a 'normal life' there is one thing he needs to reach.

As he stopped scratching the top of his left hand, the place where that mark used to be, the younger Kotomine lied down on the bed and turned towards the wall. He closed his eyes and stopped thinking about everything; it's easier to rest with an empty mind. But before that he thought of one thing, his 'sister'. It would be nice to meet her someday.

The day is the time for action, while the night is the time of thought and rest, Hakuno Kotomine decided that it's time to rest, it won't be possible to rest with so many thoughts on his mind, there's still tomorrow. That night he had good dreams.

Long time no see… or something like that

This chapter was a long time coming but due to my computer breaking down I lost all of my progress for both 'New Fate' and 'PersonaZero' and I needed to rewrite both of them from the ground up. I dicided to finish chapter 4 of 'New Fate' first and here it is.

Thank you for your patience, and please write a review. I'm not really satisfied with this chapter since I just wanted to finally release it, so I want to know what you think and how I can improve myself.