Part 134: Training, meditation / Tohsaka Rin (II)

"…No, that's wrong. I mostly heard Fuji-Nee's laughter."
But still, it's true that it was loud in that room.
It's not good for my mental health to have girls my age being rowdy in the same house.

They might derail his healthy, normal thoughts about Archerkins.

"Damn. My sleepiness went away thinking about them."
Things like Saber's troubled face,
if Saber and Sakura are getting along,
and whether Fuji-Nee is thinking at all or not.

I get a headache the more I think about them. If it's like this, it might've been better to have Saber sleep in the room next to mine.

""
It's eleven o'clock.
The lights are out and the house is dead silent.
I quietly make my way to the door so I won't wake them up.







"…Shoot at least 200 arrows a day, huh?"
The teaching of archery focuses on accuracy, piercing strength, and endurance.
Accuracy is how well one can hit the target.
Piercing strength is the power to pierce the target.
And endurance is to maintain the accuracy and piercing strength.

…I think there was something in an archery manual…
Something about continuing forever after one masters the true meaning of archery.
…And how one should shoot more than 200 arrows a day…

"…Yeah. I don't know what to do as a Master, so I should at least train my magic."
I sit down and take a deep breath.



Imagining strong, manly swords is the only way to wash out all those filthy thoughts about girls.



"Trace, on."
I narrow my eyes and breathe out.



But during the process…
The thought that Tohsaka might be doing the same training never escapes my head.



Music: Whirlpool of Fate 2





""
She grits her teeth.
The darkness is helping her as she cannot see well.
The air in this room is filled with the rotten smell of a plant.

"What is this smell? Can you tell, Archer?"
Opening the door and the windows, she asks someone behind her.
There is no one there.
But there is a presence thicker than air behind her.

"It must be a witch's potion. The one that destroys love."
"…Hemlock? What? The culprit not only took their magical energy, but made the men impotent as well?"

"Then it must be a woman. I don't know what kind of a grudge she has, but it must be a big one to keep taking it out on people even after she became a Servant."
"Stop talking and open the windows. …They are still breathing. I guess it makes no difference if they are found now or tomorrow.
Let's get away from here after we're done, Archer."

She opens the windows and treats those who are in especially bad condition. After that, she leaves the room.
"…Damn. I have to get my clothes to the dry cleaner's."
She sniffs her coat.
She didn't touch it in particular, but her coat smells like rusted iron.
The room was sealed.
And the floor of that room was covered in blood that the people threw up.



"So? Are they all flowing towards the Ryudou Temple?"
"…Yeah. All the life energy is flowing towards the mountain. The coma incidents in Shinto are all that Master's doing. I don't know what kind of a Master it is, but such a thing is beyond human powers. If there's anyone capable of doing it, it'd be the Servant Caster."
"A witch at the Ryudou Temple, huh? Then I guess we made a mistake last night."

"Mistake…? You're talking about how we got away from Berserker? I think that was the best possible outcome."
"Really? If Caster has such a large network, I am sure she saw our fight last night.
But we could not defeat Berserker, we let Saber go, and we gave away the scope of our power. What part of this is good for us?"
He speaks sarcastically.
But Rin does not answer him.

It's not a mistake that she made Berserker retreat and helped Saber.
And most of allArcher has not shown the full scope of his power yet.
Last night.
It's true that the "arrow" Archer fired stopped Berserker.
But Rin has yet to figure out its true identitythe identity of that powerful "Noble Phantasm".

"Rin."
…No, she knows the principle behind it.
That was just a bomb.
He just exploded the bomb called the "Noble Phantasm" in front of his enemy.
It does not need to be said how extraordinary that was.
That was a one-time explosion of magical energy, using the strongest phantasm possible.
Broken Phantasm.
That is the name of the Noble Phantasm this knight in red possesses.



"Rin."
It's not easy to fix a destroyed Noble Phantasm.
It's like committing suicide for a Servant to destroy his Noble Phantasm.

"Rin."
In other words, Archer abandoned his strongest weapon when he still had six more enemies he needed to defeat.
No, first of all, he destroyed the proof of his heroism under his own will. It's so crazy that other Servants would faint from shock if they would find out about this



The previous battle…
Bone Golems that were swarming in the hallway.
She defeated them all by herself.



""
She did not suffer any wounds from the battle.
Except one.
Since she fought while suppressing her nausea, she cut her lip from biting down on it.

"We're going after Caster. You can still feel her presence, right? We'll finish this off before she can run to the Ryudou Temple."
"What? I'm surprised. I thought it was your principle not to do anything impossible."
"…Yeah. I don't do anything that I see as impossible.
But this is different, right? I'm sure we'll find some clue if we hurry, and most of all"

"You have to start the fight, huh?
Man. You're letting the easy enemies run loose while going after the most difficult enemy?"
"…Hey now. We can let Saber be. We can finish them off any time, so we don't have to worry about them.
We don't have to go out of our way if they're not going to do anything. I'm going to let them go as long as they hide away in their house."

"…Hm. So will it be a different story if that Master is in front of you? For example, if Emiya Shirou shows up in front of you without a care that he's a Master…"
His words are meant to test her.
Looking down at the night town…
"I'll kill him.
I have no kindness to give to someone who wouldn't understand such a simple fact."
Tohsaka Rin answers as if convincing herself.