Fate Chapter 21-22: Possessive

Haruki settled on summoning Artoria for two reasons—her ideals and her strength. The former he despised a little, but he couldn’t deny her usefulness against Semiramis. She would butt heads with Semiramis as she led her life with chivalry and honor. The latter was just brilliant. With his magical energy, her stats could be near max. Once she got the Avalon, not even a true magic would be able to harm her.

His victory would be all but guaranteed.

But, there was a tiny problem with his plan.

‘Avalon.’

The artifact capable of granting Artoria absolute defense as well as being the catalyst to summon her—it was inside Shirou’s body at this very moment.

‘Time to yeet Shirou, I guess.’

Shirou could still be a hero of justice without the Avalon. Despite understanding the root of Shirou’s trauma and his desire, Haruki had no qualms about stealing Avalon from him.

‘Medea, any progress on the mystic code spear?’

“I have finished the design and abilities. I can make it during the night.”

‘Go home and work on it now.’

He had plans to explore the dungeon tonight. The lack of a weapon would drastically increase the difficulty.

“There is a servant nearby. Thus, I cannot leave your side.”

Haruki sighed and got up from his seat. His teacher, Suichirou Kuzuki, turned around and fixed his glasses. The former assassin gave Haruki a stare bereft of any emotion.

“I’m not feeling well, Sensei. Can I rest in the infirmary?”

“You may.”

Like other teachers, Souichirou also knew what had happened to his mother. With Haruki’s near top academic results, Souichirou allowed him freedom for a few days.

Haruki took his bag and headed outside.

“Wait, where are you going?”

Rin stopped him in his path. Chin high, arms crossed—she gave him a proud tsundere look. Haruki groaned inwardly. This tsundere was making his life difficult for no reason.

“Gonna sleep in the infirmary. Don’t worry, I’ll be here after school.”

“Good,” Rin looked away with a huff and murmured to herself, “Why does Sakura like this jerk?”

Haruki stopped himself from cursing her seven generations and sighed. “Hey Rin, do you love Sakura?”

The question caught Rin off guard. She put her hands on her waist and leaned forward. Subjected to her curious gaze, any high schooler would be flustered and lose their calm. But Haruki just smiled, maintaining eye contact with her.

“What kind of question is that, Hayashi-kun?”

“Can’t answer a simple question? As expected, all members of the Tohsaka clan are socially inept on top of being losers.”

Rin almost pointed her finger at him and cast Gandr to blow him into oblivion. Every word that came out of his mouth triggered her.

Haruki revealed a broad smirk at her frustration. He was having a good time making her explode. “I’m Sakura’s friend, remember? She’ll be sad if you hurt me?”

Gritting her teeth, she pressed the boiling anger. A magus wouldn’t fall into such an obvious blackmail attempt. Thinking, she managed to calm down.

“Master, what are you doing? Won’t it worsen our relationship with her?”

Medea had no idea what he was trying to achieve with Rin.

‘I was having some fun… my bad.’

“What do you want?” Rin asked, glaring at him.

“I’ll be honest. I want you to make up with Sakura.”

It was the only thing he wanted, which would make Rin give up on winning the Holy Grail. Bonded with her sister, Sakura might give up on him… in the worst-case scenario, her feelings for him will soar higher.

‘I have no choice but to accept her.’

It wasn’t like he didn’t find Sakura beautiful. It was far from the truth as she was one of the most beautiful girls in his life. Sweet and gentle, yet stronger than anyone he knew. Still, his care for her only stretched until the limits of a brother, or so he believed.

“Are you sure about that?” Arch questioned softly. “What if Sakura left you for someone else? Would you still say that?”

Haruki felt like a boulder fell on his head. The mere thought of Sakura being with someone made his skin red.

‘When did I become so possessive?’

“Ufufu. Perks of being a dragon.”

Arch’s playful explanation made him sigh. Being a dragon brought a fair share of troubles.

Rin waved her hand in his face. “Sleeping?”

“I was thinking about possibilities.”

“Possibilities?”

“The chances of Sakura becoming a Lesser Grail in this war.”

“Sakura and Lesser Grail? What do you mean?”

With a look of utter confusion, she questioned. She couldn’t find any relationship between the two. Even Archer was confused.

As Haruki was about to reply, the classroom door behind him opened and Kuzuki appeared.

“What are you two doing?”

Rin clutched her head. “Ah, Sensei. My head is throbbing!”

Writhing in agony, Rin gave a top-notch performance. The former assassin easily saw through her tricks, but he didn't point it out.

“Hayashi, take Tohsaka to the infirmary.”

“Roger, Sensei.”

Haruki took Rin’s hand and dragged her toward the infirmary. Midway, he took a cut to the stairs.

“Hayashi.”

They bumped into Shinji, who happened to be coming down the rooftop. His wide eyes fell on Haruki’s hand joined with Rin’s. Rin yanked her hand from Hayashi’s grasp and gave a forced smile.

“Matou-kun, would you please move?”

“Move, Seaweed,” Hayashi ordered, acting like a typical bully.

Shinji swallowed the hatred down his throat. With Rin present, he couldn’t summon Rider. Although he wasn’t fully assured, a competitive girl like Tohsaka had high chances of participating in the Holy Grail.

‘I must wait until Rider’s Noble Phantasm is ready.’

Shinji looked down on others, but he also was a coward by nature, especially in front of Tohsaka who was a genius in magecraft.

Shinji proudly walked down the stairs and bumped his shoulder with Haruki, only to feel like he crashed into an immovable wall.

Haruki smirked and imposed his leg in Shinji’s way. Shinji tumbled down the stairs and smashed his nose into the concrete.

“Later, Seaweed.”

(A/N:- Shinji’s nickname came from his sea-weed-like hair.)

Rin watched the bullying with a blank look. She herself was somewhat of a bully, but Haruki took it to a different level.

“It’s plain harassment,” Rin whispered.

Haruki chuckled to himself. It seemed both sisters had a habit of external monologue.

“I don’t know about that,” Haruki said and observed the crimson magic circle on the wall. It had numerous serpents housed inside an octagon with strange letters drawn on inside and outside the magic circle.

Rin placed her hand over the magic circle and analyzed its structure.

“It’s a bounded field.”

“Indeed,” Medea said, appearing from the shadows. “A dangerous magecraft made with a servant’s blood.”

Medea held her chin. “Master, it’ll become troublesome later. Shall I dismantle it?”

“Don’t bother. I’ll take care of Shinji today.”

If Saber’s summoning goes right, even Zouken would be dead before midnight. Freeing Sakura and taking Rider took priority, then he will take a look into the Ryoudo Temple.

Haruki slumped against the wall. “Back to our topic. You don’t know anything that happened to Sakura?”

Rin slumped beside him, her eyes peering into the sky. “I haven’t really talked to her for years…”

The usual greeting they shared now and then didn’t qualify as a proper conversation.

“Sakura is going through so much at this moment, and only you can help her.”

“Explain.”

Haruki shook his head. “Ask her yourself.”

“You are… annoying, you know?”

“Yup, but I care about Sakura, and Sakura loves you.”

Rin couldn’t comprehend how a high schooler like herself could dwell on these topics so naturally. She had trouble saying more than 'hello' and 'goodbye' to her sister.

“You said something about Lesser Grail. Sakura knows about that too?”

“She doesn’t. And don’t bring it up before her.”

She flinched from his cold eyes. “Okay…”

“Good. You can return now.”

“Huh?”

“Caster, send Rin.”

“Understood, Master.”

“Waaaaaait.”

She had more questions, some were related to him, some to his mother’s background. Her protests had no results on Medea. Haruki’s servant pushed Rin out of the door before locking it shut.

Rin slammed the door in anger. “Jerk. Stupid. Idiot. Numbskull.”

She spouted curses as she left for the class.

Haruki chuckled for an odd moment until a blue window silenced him for good.

[Rin Tohsaka is added to the 'Potential Partners' list.]

‘You want me to conquer both sisters?’

"I am showing you the way. Whether you walk it or not, depends on you."

The prospect of having the sisters in each of his arms tempted him. Just a bit. He immediately checked the genius mage’s status.

Rin Tohsaka: A descendant and inheritor of the Tohsaka Family.

-Current status — Thinking of a way to approach Sakura.

-Relationship Status — 21/100

-Species — Human

-Age — 17

-Gender — Female

-Height, Weight — 159cm/47kg

-Alignment — Lawful Neutral

-Parameters

Strength: 3 (F)

Endurance: 3 (F)

Agility: 3 (F)

Magical energy: 20 (D)

Luck: 11 (E)

-Authorities

None

-Noble Phantasm

None

-Skills

Sorcery Trait: Conversion [A]

Info: This trait increases the effectiveness of storing magical energy in objects.

Sorcery Trait: Reinforcement [B]

Info: This trait increases the effectiveness of reinforcement magic.

Sorcery Element: Earth [D]

Info: One of the five natural elements, gives easier access to Earth Magecraft spells.

Note: This element is currently sealed.

Sorcery Element: Wind [B]

Info: One of the five natural elements, gives easier access to Wind Magecraft spells.

Sorcery Element: Water [D]

Info: One of the five natural elements, gives easier access to Water Magecraft spells.

Sorcery Element: Fire [A]

Info: One of the five natural elements, gives easier access to Fire Magecraft spells.

Martial Arts [D]

Info: Acquired from immense practice in hand to hand combat.

Despite having lower overall stats, she was stacked with skills. She still didn’t have any mana control skills, meaning either it was exclusive to him or Rin was unskilled. The former was more true as even Medea didn’t have the mana flow control.

‘She is strong.’

Unless he managed to close the distance, she would one up him with her Gandr magic and reinforcement magic. It’ll be a tough fight for sure, which made him grin foolishly.

Medea threw a strange glance at him. “I don’t understand you sometimes...”

“What?”

“Why are you being nosy with Rin Tohsaka?” she said as she folded her arms on her waist and looked away.

Haruki blinked his eyes. She seemed to be discontent about this as though talking with Rin made her jealous.

‘That’s kinda cute.’

Haruki smiled and patted the ground. “Come over.”

Medea didn’t ignore his orders. With a sigh, she approached and sat beside him. She still didn’t say a thing and began creating tools to create his mystic code. She could feel his gaze full of curiosity… and warmth on her, but she continued her work, despite a thin blush on her face.

***

Gonna write some chapters for cliche now.