Part 161: Thinking in the night

…I hear the students that were in the same classroom as Rider need to stay in the hospital for a long time, but most students just have anemia.
School's not going to close down, and we'll be having classes like normal tomorrow.


"Shirou, what did Rin say?"
"She said school's going on as normal. So we'll go to school tomorrow and look for Caster's Master."

"…I see. So nobody in that building suffered seriously?"
"Except for a few. Oh, I think Fuji-Nee's not home because she's busy with a staff meeting or something."



Yeah, that's a relief for me as well.
Well, since her energy is extraordinary, I stopped worrying about her when I heard everyone's all right.

Music: Gentle Everyday



"…Ugh. So you haven't given up yet?"


"Of course not. I will sleep in your room so we won't repeat last night's mistake. There is nothing for you to complain about, right?"
""
I do have complaints.
Having Saber sleep in the same room as me is like telling me to die.

Ew, girls!


"Shirou. First of all, it is your fault for being affected by such a long-range hypnotism.
I cannot protect you from Caster's magic, so it is natural for me to at least stay in the same room."


"Magic can be better sensed the closer I am to it. If Caster is to go after you, I must sleep close to you."
"Well, that is a very sound argument, but…"
I think that Caster won't use the same strategy since she failed once.

I think so, but if I say that to Saber right now…



"You are too optimistic! You were deceived by a heretic like Caster and insulted by someone with a twisted personality like Archer because you think like that!"

…I bet she would object like that…



Saber glares at me and makes her declaration.

"Her eyes are accusing, as though she's seen my poster of Archerkins."

…Ugh, so she even anticipated that I was going to run away to the shed.
I'll hold my ground and try to get her to agree on a compromise.



"But not in the same room. You know there's an empty room next to mine, right? The one on the other side of the sliding screen?"


"…? Yes, I know, but what about it?"
"Um, that place should be good enough to protect me while I'm asleep, right? No, first of all, the enemy won't come in if we're sleeping in the same room.
So you should stand by in the next room so that you can surprise attack the enemy when they come for me."


Oh, I think this sounds pretty logical.

"That's fine, right, Saber? Honestly, I don't know about two people sleeping in that small room. We can't physically fit. I think it's bad for a Servant to be the cause of her Master's lack of sleep."



Sounds like cause for celebration! Let's get champagne.


I understand. It sounds like an excuse to me, but I am fine with that. I will compromise on that plan."
Saber reluctantly withdraws.

"Phew."
Good.
Man, being a Master is hard enough.
If I sleep in the same room as Saber on top of that, I bet my brain will overheat.

Music: The End of Reminiscence



It's becoming more like a habit now as I trained with Saber until eleven and spent an hour doing my routine in the shed.
I get back to my room when the date changes. I hear Saber's breathing from the next room.



"………Man, I can't sleep that easily."
I try not to be conscious of Saber and recall what happened today.
The red school…
The boundary field of blood that would have created lots of victims if we hadn't stopped it.

""
That causes my restless mind to stop.
The students on the floor of the red classroom.
She was desperately bearing all of it: Rider on the floor and the students that looked like they were dead.

…Oh, I remember now.
At that instant, I figured out the deep part of her.



She acted as a magus, but she never crossed the final line.
She's firm, strong-willed, and magnificent, but she's outrageously good-natured.

That difference must be her burden.
…How clumsy of her.
The more she tries to act as a magus, the more she kills her true self as Tohsaka Rin.