Part 41: Festival

Of course you do. We must be on the Iron Chef path.

Music: Gentle Everyday




"Really? Tohsaka-Senpai, you seemed like you didn't like sweet things."


"Nonsense, no such girl exists. It's not that I don't like sugar, but I can't take it. If I let my guard down, I grow where you can't see, so I can only eat sweets once a week."




"I eat sugar in the mornings. I have to eat at least a bit, or the backlash later on could get scary."


"I see. Even if you eat only twice a day, it will get worse if you eat twice as much."


"That's right. …Hey, I wasn't going to say anything, but you eat a lot, Saber. You have a small frame, but you're eating as much as Sakura."


_{"Blond-haired, sword-wielding hussy…!"}




"T-That's not true…! You, Tohsaka-Senpai, and I all have two slices of toast."


"But the thickness is different. Ours are one centimeter thick while yours are two, so you are eating a lot. You are in your growing period, so it is good to get energy. How about eating not just one but actually finishing your share, Rin?"


"I'm telling you I can't. It's not like I'm Sakura and all the nutrients go to my chest. If I eat a lot in the morning, it'll increase. I usually don't eat breakfast, so I'm compromising already."


"…Tohsaka-Senpai, um, please don't talk about that in front of Senpai."

I can't believe even the game is talking about chest sizes now. You guys just pre-empted it by a few updates.




"Well, it's about those things you can't see. Oh well, you can see Sakura's, so you can leave her out of this."


"S-So please don't talk about it!"

""
I take a bite of the well-done toast.
Perhaps my brain just doesn't follow what's going in front of me, but I'm eating toast and not joining the conversation.
…Well, the truth is that there's no room for me to cut into the conversation.

A shockingly wise move. I'd be staying the hell away from a conversation like that... especially between those two.

"…I guess I didn't need to worry."
They seem to have a good relationship for now.
Tohsaka is the same as always, and Saber is more open than she was last night.
Sakura is… well, she still seems to be a bit resistant to Saber, but it doesn't look like she dislikes her.

"…I'm worried that Fuji-Nee isn't here, but she should be here tonight……"
The shock last night must have been a big one.
Well, she will probably come and eat dinner, so I'd think she'll have calmed down by then.

Music: Tender Scenery




"Senpai, is it really okay leaving all the cleaning up to you?"

"Yeah, I'll do it. You have a club to go to.
There was that incident yesterday, so you should go."


"…Yes. Then I'll go on ahead, Senpai."

Sakura bows also to Tohsaka and leaves the living room in a hurry.
That leaves the three of us.
Which means, once Sakura leaves, the three of us who know the secret remain.



"See ya, Saber. I'll look after Shirou, so please take care of this place while we're gone."

"Yes. Please take care of Shirou, Rin."
Bowing lightly to Tohsaka, Saber returns to her room.

…Well, there's nothing to do here.
So she must want to save her energy by sleeping, but……

Music: Stop

"…Geez. Does she only think about fighting?"


"Of course. You should start to show some willingness or Saber will lose patience with you.
Even though her wound isn't healed yet, she's not one to stay quiet forever, right?"

A clicking sound.
As she makes a scary comment, Tohsaka turns on the TV.



"They're saying there was another gas leak incident over in the Shinto area.
…That's stupid. That kind of thing is happening here too."
"?"
Hold on.
Did Tohsaka say something really worrying?

"Tohsaka, what do you mean by that?"


"It's that the people are weakening with no obvious cause, right? People that have lost consciousness without an obvious cause, carried off to the hospital in a coma.
There must be a lot of them by now. There doesn't seem to be a danger in the victims' lives right now, but what happens in the future will depend on what the instigator decides."

"Wha"
Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Not only in the neighboring town, but over here too?
Comas with no cause?
Numerous victims?
No, the problem is

"Tohsaka, are you saying it's the work of another Master?"


"Who else could it be? Please get used to it. You are a Master too, you know."
"That'strue. …But, why didn't you tell me before, Tohsaka?"


"This incident isn't as simple.
The Master that put up the boundary field at school is third class, but this Master is first class. He isn't killing anyone. He's just storing power by absorbing half of their lives."

"…Well, it is true that the speed is slower, it doesn't break the rules of magi. And there's also no need to push oneself. This Master is stealing the simplest form of magical energy, 'life force', out of people in the city from a place far away."

"A place far away… can this person collect magical energy from such a distance?"


"It must be a really skilled magus.
Both Shinto and Miyama City. Only great magi can create an 'absorption' that can cover two towns."


"…Or maybe the Master has secured a superior spiritual ground. My father was saying something about a ley line in Fuyuki City, so if one took up a position there, it would be easy to collect life force…"

"…? Hey, Tohsaka."


"There weren't any references to it in Father's study, so if there is one, it'll be in the master's room… Oh man, that place is so weird even now, so I'd like to stay away from it if I can.
…But then, all I can do is ask Kirei… no, I can't. I can't be in debt to him."

"Tohsaka, hey"
There's no answer.


…It's no good. Tohsaka is immersed in talking to herself.

Music: Surrounded by Smiling Faces



Masters sapping people's life forces, students guarding themselves from supernatural assault... y'know, normal.

""
But still, there is an odd feel to it.
I went through the front gate without noticing it yesterday, but I can certainly sense it if I look for it.
…How can I put this… it's so calm that even my instincts go numb.




"Oh, that's the way you feel it, huh? …You're unskilled at detecting magical energy, but you might be sensitive to disorders in the world."


Tohsaka ponders.


"But sweet honey, huh? Speaking figuratively, like an insectivorous plant?
Yeah, that's a good way of putting it."
"…An insectivorous plant… that image is really bad."


"Really? I don't think your instinct is off. Because in this school, everyone will be eaten alive when the lid of the boundary field closes."

"!"
She sees through the aspect I didn't say, and I gasp.


"As I thought. You're fun because you're easy to understand."
"Whatever. It's not fun for me."


"Don't get mad. Don't worry because I know what you want to say. You're thinking you don't want to involve the students here, and I don't want to use this place as a battlefield. So there's only one thing to do, right?"

"……"
These are words to test me.
Tohsaka is telling me…
The Holy Grail Warthe "enemy" I said I will fight against, the Master who is willing to drag in innocent people in order to win, is at this school.

"I know. We have to find the Master who constructed this boundary field and do something about it. And if he isn't willing to remove the boundary field, we'll just beat him."


"That's right. I'm glad you understand."

"Well then, I'll look for whoever constructed the boundary field, so you go and check suspicious areas.
I already looked around, but there might have been something I missed. You seem to be good at finding these points, so I'll let you do it."
Tohsaka waves her hand and runs into the school building.



Just look for a place where the honey is really sweet!"
She yells back, running.

And Tohsaka disappears into the school building.
"…What is she? Running away suddenly like that, I don't get what she's thinkin"

Music: Stop

"Oh."
The bell for homeroom rings.



The anime treats this part a little differently (like it treats all parts, really), causing an extra scene that would roughly occur between this update and the next. It's kind of amusing, so I uploaded a short clip. In this scene, Shirou uses his senses to sniff out 'suspicious areas' and Rin follows along to erase them.

Video: Anime - Erasure (mirror)