"So you're saying, this guy is my dad? And your my mom?" Shirou asks, pointing at the still twitching magus under the desk and before looking up at the panting woman who clobbered the CEO into unconsciousness.
But if they're relationship, he wouldn't judge. He had dealt with Rin, Sakura, Medea and Saber to know not to step on that kind of landmine. Still, the revelation is some what disconcerting.
All his life with Kiritsugu, Shirou already thought that his an orphan. He's family and everyone related to him dead in the Fuyuki Fire. Yet this woman practically flipped that knowledge and set it on fire.
His real name is Sahashi Shirou, eldest child of Sahashi Takami and Hiroto Minaka.
"How?" Shirou asks again, curios at the set of events that turned his life in drama.
"...You got measles. Minato hasn't been vaccinated at the time and I was heavily pregnant. I sent you to your grandparents in Fuyuki instead." Takami began with a shuddering breath, taking a seat on Minaka's desk as she looks at her missing son for the first time.
Tired. Tired and All grown up.
That's what she could see on the young man in front of her. Gone was the small smiling boy that constantly annoy her with her job. Gone was the boy she raised. What stood in front of her is a stranger wearing his son's face, tired and all grown up after so many years. Looking at him, life wasn't merciful at his son.
"Then the fire happened." Takami continued, pulling out a cigarette and rummaging her pockets for a lighter. She knew she packed one.
"Don't smoke." Her cigarette was taken out of her mouth. In front of her, Shirou threw the stick out of sight.
"Please. I need this one if I'm going to do this." Takami sighs.
"Shame then cause I won't let you." Shirou replies. Takami chuckles at the response, she did remember her boy was too critical about her health back then. It looks like he still have it.
"Alright then." Takami resigns, "Back to the fire. After the news, I practically stormed back to the city. I even got this man to help me in looking for you but nothing. We failed in finding you." She sighs, pain at the memory resurfacing.
"We looked at everywhere. Hospitals, orphanage, and temporary homes. Heck, we even invaded child services to find you. No luck at all. But as it turns out, you we're already adopted by a terrorist." Takami spat the last part.
"Okay, I'm agree that Kiritsugu's a terrorist but please don't badmouth the old man in front of me." Shirou asks, feeling uncomfortable of the sight of his biological mother cursing his adopted father.
"Fuck that man, Shirou! If it we're not for him, we would have already found you already!" Shirou can't refute that statement, "Not to mention, how the hell he got to you first before us?"
Shirou scratched his head, "Well actually, he was the one who saved me from the fire. He personally found me in the blaze. Then came my amnesia and he offered me adoption. I accepted of course."
"...Amnesia? You mean to tell me our efforts got fucked over by amnesia?" Takami asks with a hard glare. Shirou nodded with a wince.
"...I need a fucking drink." Takami pinches the bridge of her nose.
Oh so many years of crying and depression, just because of an amnesia.
"You know what? Let's drop this. Let's go at the important part. My granddaughter." Shirou blinked.
"Your granddaughter?" He repeats.
"Yes, my granddaughter." Takami grounded her teeth, pointing at the young man. "I don't know what that man taught you but I didn't raise a boy only for him to be a father in his teenage years! How? What happened? Who's the mother and when do I get to meet my grandchild!?"
Shirou sweatdrops. Aaaah, looks like he's finally gonna receive his long-time coming scolding for becoming a teen dad.
Wonder what the others are doing?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Miya! Hel-ssshhhh!!!" It was Uzume who greeted Homura first, shushing him while he carries a heavily wounded Yashima.
"Zip it Homura! Miya and Sakura-chan is sleeping and I don't wanna wake up that kind of bear!!!" Uzume half-whispered and half-screamed at the male Sekirei.
"But-"
"Don't worry, Matsu already told me everything. I got the dining room ready with medical supplies, now hurry and get her in!" Uzume cuts him off again, reminding him of his unconscious cargo.
Following the girl to the dining room, where the table is removed and the tatami floor covered in layers of cloth and plastic. Medical supplies already placed nearby. Homura gently placed the unconscious Sekirei on the cloth while Uzume began to pull out what she needed to treat the wounded girl.
"Sheesh, this girl went through the ringer. It's a miracle she hasn't been terminated yet." Uzume whispers in awe and disgusts at the amount of wounds Yashima accumulated in the fight.
Multiple cuts and lacerations on her body, mostly in her arms. A deep wound on her shoulders, still bleeding. Bruises all over the body, practically deep shades of purple by now. Uzume wasn't lying when she said Yashima should be already terminated, this amount of damage alone is equivalent to a level 2-3 termination.
"Shut it and treat her, I need to go to Matsu." Homura told her as he left, leaving the girl to treat their guest.
Quietly but with hurried steps, Homura climbed up the stairs and rounded up to Matsu's hidden room.
"Homura, nice to see that your fine." Matsu says as he enters, the woman herself at work in her computers.
"What's the news?" Homura asked, wanting to know the consequences of their actions immediately.
"Bad." Matsu winced before bringing up multiple profiles.
"In one afternoon, about ten Sekirei are terminated today in Yashima's defense and the chase scene. Lots of damaged property that MBI is having hard time keeping undercover and a ton of police reports in the residential area where Yashima and Mutsu dueled." Homura winced at the mention of the older Sekirei.
"Mutsu. Did he survive? Was he terminated from his wounds?" He asked with a hopeful tone. He is immediately disappointed when Matsu shook her head.
"Despite his injuries, Mutsu's a tough cookie. Losing an arm was a huge blow to him but it doesn't mean he can't bounce back. He's still in the game, he just needs a month or so to recover. But that's our problem later, we have something much more concerning."
"What? Is MBI gonna take action to us? Miya is still here and I doubt they would risk it." MBI and Miya had an agreement, a simple non-aggression pact to leave to widow in peace alone. It's a testament of Miya's strength and reputation to be able to scare the company by her inaction alone.
Yet it looks like MBI will risk it.
"Whatever Yashima did, MBI is spooked." Matsu says as she open up Yashima's updated profile. "By her performance alone, she's been reclassified as unsuitable to society. They want her back to MBI labs for adjustments immediately."
"What?" Homura didn't expect that.
"My reaction too. Accessing Yashima's old pre-adjustment records, her explosive increase in performance outshined her pre-adjustment records. MBI is already theorizing that she had turned herself as a scrap number yet capable of being winged." Matsu continued, making Homura hiss.
Scrap Numbers, a designation given to Sekirei who failed in the adjustment periods. They're deemed too strong to fit in the human world where one mistake could end up killing their own partner by accident due to their own strength. Scrap Numbers are also incapable of finding an Ashikabi due to them winging themselves. If Yashima somehow bypassed this limit and found an Ashikabi;
The girl would become much more stronger!
He had seen the power and destruction Yashima left in her duel with Mutsu. She even managed to beat him, permanently crippling his combat power by amputating his main hand.
The thought of empowering the girl further scares him.
"What's MBI's next move now?" He asks Matsu.
"...The CEO is going for a visit, he's asking for a date." It felt like cold bucket of water was dropped over Homura after hearing that sentence.
The CEO? Hiroto Minaka is visiting them?!
"I found it when I hacked the MBI mainframe. Minaka left an email for me to find and that's what is written there. He would like to speak to Miya and Yashima." Matsu continued.
"... This is bad." Homura collapsed on the floor, confused and have no idea what to do.
"I second that. Like what are we gonna do?!" Matsu shouted, the room is fortunately soundproofed so she could melt down as loud as she wants. She too is scared and confused what to do.
"Not to mention, there's more shocking news!"
"Oh great! There's more..." Homura muttered flatly, preparing himself at the next mind-blowing information Matsu will reveal to him.
"...Shirou-kun is a Sahashi. He's real name is Sahashi Shirou. The missing eldest child of Takami and Minaka."
"...I need a fucking drink, Matsu."
"Get some for me too."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After some mental breakdown, Minato and Musubi finally arrived by sunset. Miya and Sakura-chan also woke up from their afternoon nap too, the woman surprised at the sudden guest but accepted Yashima into her home after seeing her injuries. Although they had to move the unconscious girl to an empty room in the second floor to free the living room for tonight's dinner. While Miya cooked tonight's dinner, Musubi and Minato grilled the male Sekirei of what had happened before they got separated.
"So you're saying we just met someone very powerful?" Minato said, reflecting on what Homura shared to them.
"Ah! Musubi remembers Mutsu-san! I remember him mentioned by Karasuba-sama!" Homura shivered at how casual the cheerful girl could say the Black dog's name without a hint of fear or malice.
"Yes, that's him. Part of the first Disciplinary Squad, elite task force employed to MBI. Not only they are strong, they're very experienced due to their early deployment and skilled with the amount of time they are free to refine their powers. Even if I'm a single number, I doubt I could take one easily especially Mutsu. He took me out of the fight instantly, trapped me while he fought Yashima."
"He really did a number on her, huh." Minato mutters, having seen the extent of the wounds the rescued Sekirei sustained.
Homura snorts, "You should seen the other guy." This gained the Sekirei and Ashikabi to Homura. Noticing their gaze, Homura elaborated.
"Yashima might be heavily wounded right now but she dealt a far more damage to Mutsu. She crippled him, amputating one of his arms." Minato's jaw dropped while Musubi gasped.
"When I finally caught up to them, Mutsu's missing an arm while Yashima's down and unconscious. Right there, Mutsu decided to retreat than fight me and I immediately brought Yashima here for treatment afterwards." Homura finished.
Minato closed and opened his mouth. He knew that Sekirei fights are violent and dangerous but he wasn't expecting this level of violence. Amputating another person's arm?! That's way beyond violence!
"Is this... normal among Sekirei fights? This level of violence that is." The boy stuttered. Homura shook his head in response.
"As a matter of fact no but it's a possibility. If a Sekirei fight gets very heated, one could potentially go beyond the acceptable levels of violence required in combat." Homura muttered. He is fact guilty of this due to his own powers being so volatile. He can lower the output of his flames to avoid serious injuries but he also can't afford to weaken it so that he would be exposed to other Sekirei. There's no in between in his powers.
"Good to know." Minato replied before staring at Musubi. The girl is currently staring at the kitchen, waiting for dinner. Looking at her, Minato couldn't imagine the cheery girl to commit such violence on her own species yet with how excited and committed the girl is in the Sekirei plan, he can't help but wonder...
Would Musubi one day kill one of her own?
"Oi, save me some! I smell good grub." His train of thoughts we're interrupted by Uzume's arrival. The girl had been taking care of their new guest and just finished apparently as she wiped her wet hands, probably washed off the blood she got from treating Yashima.
"Dinner's just about to come. How's No.83?" Homura invited the girl in to join them on the table.
"She's fine now." Uzume took a seat next to Homura while Minato and Musubi at the other side of the table.
"Where's Sakura-chan?" The newly arrived Sekirei asked.
"She's currently in Miya's room, sleeping." Homura said.
"Good." Uzume sighs, "As for Yashima, I got her cleaned up and wrapped up. I had to throw away the rest of her clothes and your jacket though, it's covered in blood."
"No problem." Homura sighs. He liked that jacket. Good thing he got spares.
"But enough of that! How's your first experience in Sekirei fights, Minato-kun?" Uzume asked, looking at the boy with an expectation.
"Uuuuh-I don't know?" Minato stammers.
"It was great!" Musubi answered in his steed instead.
"We are all on a rooftop in the beginning then there's a lot of Sekirei all around us. I didn't get to fight much, Homura-san and Yashima-san fought most of them in the roof before we jumped on an alley. We found a car, Minato-sama drives and I sat next to him. Everything went fast and there's lots of fire, explosion and screaming! Then we arrived on the bridge where the car got thrown on the canal. I pulled out Minato-sama out of the water and we're so wet and then we went home!"
The rest of the house stared at Musubi, blinking at the chaotic yet informative explanation the girl summarized on the events today.
"So that's where you guys got the car."
"Emiya-san!/ Bro!/ Shirou-kun?" Everyone and Miya exclaimed in surprise as the redhead appeared on the entrance of the living room.
'Crap.' Everyone collectively thought except Miya.
"I think you misheard something, Emiya-san." Minato stammers, trying to explain. Uzume nodded enthusiastically, supporting the boy. She's doesn't want to ruin her friendship with the man. She would rather not have her Bro and his daughter get involved in the game. Homura meanwhile took responsibility in shutting up Musubi's mouth by clamping his palm on the girl's mouth.
"We're talking about a movie, Emiya-san. Right, Minato-kun. Musubi was there too and she got imaginative with the action scenes." Homura explained. Uzume simply mimicked a chicken in response.
Shirou didn't buy any of that shit. He lived with Rin, Luvia, Illya, Bazette and Shinji under the same roof with their own servants for quite a while in the middle of the 5th war. He learned how to recognize sarcasm, subtle lies and insults thrown around in that chaotic settings.
Mostly with Rin and Luvia arguing, Lancer and Rider's discussions, Shinji's cursing against Illya's barbs, and Saber and Medea's blatant competition.
Yeah, he didn't buy there lie but he won't call them out. He already made an agreement with Minaka afterall.
"Shirou-kun, who's that behind you?" Miya suddenly asked, gaining everyone's attention to the person following behind Shirou.
Minato's jaw dropped a second time this day.
Musubi's eyes glimmered with delight.
Uzume froze, breaking in a cold sweat.
"Hello, Miya. Sorry to impress on you tonight but I would like to see my granddaughter posthaste." Takami asked to the landlady.
"Eh?" Miya blinked, bewildered at the request.
Meanwhile;
"GRANDDAUGHTER!!!???" Minato's jaw dropped further.
Homura facepalmed. He forgot to bring that one detail. In her room, Matsu nervously watched the cameras monitoring Karasuba waiting outside the house. The black dog herself is looking at the camera with an amused smile, already knowing that she's being watched by the hidden Sekirei.
Distracted in terrified by Takami and Karasuba's presence in the house, Matsu never noticed the other camera monitoring baby Sakura. The infant had already woken up, roused by the unfamiliar scent near the house and currently being entertained by one of the entities guarding her.
If Matsu had the audio on, she would've hear the sound of clicking.
Akin to a gun cocking it's hammer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kamihime highlight
Name: Kongming
Class: Rider/Ruler
Master: Shinji Matou
Alignment: Lawful Good
Description:
"Genius tactician with great knowledge and almost foretelling skills. She helps the team with accurate advice, but sometimes she likes to pull pranks."
Skills:
Military Prowess (A) - Grants charisma to command an army.
Heaven's Opportunity (B) - Ambush tactics and attacks or attacking one's weakness increases the rank of said attacks by one rank.
Divine Plan (B)- Grants minor clairvoyance, limited through meditation and needs all factors accounted.
Noble Phantasms:
Divine Grant (EX): An ability that allows Kongming to temporarily enhance a person's parameters beyond normal limits without drawback or backlash. At minimum, this enhancements allows a normal human to fight on par with a low level Kamihime or Eidolon.
Wisdom Fan: Fukuryu - A fan that functions as a Mystic code for Kongming, granting her ability to manipulate elements in massive scale, mostly battlefield and weather manipulations to support her troops.
"Breathe once more, Fukuryu!!!
- Upon Activation, the fan releases it's prisoner. An Eastern dragon tamed by Kongming to lay waste on the battlefield.
Cylindrical Bow - Xiu Jian: A small crossbow attached underneath Kongming's palm, hidden in her sleeves. It's arrows are laced with poison, perfect for assassinations.
Resourceful Strategy - The Eight Trigrams (B+) (Territory Creation)
- Upon Activation, it seals off a massive area localized inside between eight pillars. In this sealed area, Kongming has full omniscience. Everything that happens in the area, she will know.
From schemes to subtle movements mid-combat to the last drop of raindrop.
History: 5th Holy Grail War
Rider was summoned by Sakura but later given to Shinji Matou to hide her status as a master. Instead, Rider finalized the transfer of command seals after hearing the girl's plea and the boy's arrogance. Shinji became Rider's true master but he's not able to sustain her with mana. To remedy this setback, Rider began training the boy for the upcoming Grail War and sustaining herself by draining the boy dry at night, not like Shinji complained after loosing his virginity at very mature and experienced woman and doing it almost everyday.
In the war, Rider and Shinji took upon the role of observers and scavengers. Observing ongoing fights and chasing after wounded and spent targets multiple times. Here, an Enhanced Shinji and Shirou Emiya had a showdown while Luvia and Assasin fight Rider. This led to the accidental summoning of Saber who greatly wounded Rider.
Later on during the incident, Rider and Shinji became crucial members in investigation and retreat against the Shadow. In the final battle, Rider met her end after activating her Eight Trigrams to seal off Fuyuki's Destruction and giving Emiya Shirou her last Divine Grant.