Izumo Inn is bustling with activity today.
The busy house greeted Homura as the male Sekirei finally woke up late in the morning. He had slept most of the morning, dead tired from yesterday. The moment his body finally fell on his bed, all the fatigue of yesterday's incident came crashing on top of him, making him sleep soundly.
The moment he opened the door, the sound of a chaotic late morning came to his ears.
"Minato-sama! Look what Uzume-chan got me!" Musubi's cheerful voice echoed in the house.
"Aauhh! Is that a bunny suit?!" It was followed by Minato's shriek of surprise and embarrassment.
"Hey! It's not that lewd and look at Sakura-chan too, isn't she just adorable?" Uzume's voice followed, cooing at another outfit she made for baby Sakura.
"Oh my, she's indeed cute. Musubi-chan, stop shaking Minato-kun. I think the boy has already passed out." Miya called out, probably in the kitchen making lunch.
"Miya, do you have any nails? I need some to repair the fences." Shirou called out from outside. What's this about the fences?
"I think it's on the shed outside but I think they're all rusty." Miya replied.
Rubbing his eyes, Homura went down to see the commotion. Arriving in the dining room, he found the landlady already cooking for lunch as he expected. On the table, Uzume is entertaining Sakura-chan by playing with an unconscious Minato. The baby herself is poking on her uncle's unresponsive body, dressed in a rabbit onesie with a little hoody and rabbit ears. Musubi is nowhere to be found, she probably moved on to try another outfit from Uzume's collection.
"Morning everyone." Homura greets them, sitting on the table to wait for food.
"It's noon, Homura but good morning to you too." Uzume replied, "Say hi too, Sakura-chan." She said as she carried the infant, waving the baby's tiny fist.
"So what's Emiya doing?" He asks, looking behind her to see the young man checking on the fence.
"We'll remember yesterday?" He nodded, "Yashima and Mutsu's fight created too many shockwaves and mini earthquakes through the entire thing and the inn was close by. The house is not damaged but a part of the fences gave way from the vibrations. Emiya decided to fix it and get some much needed maintenance for the rotting wood while at it." Uzume explains.
"Ooh so that's why." He nodded in understanding before his eyes landed on the unconscious Ashikabi.
"Musubi is currently trying out some of my works." Uzume explained with a hint of pride.
"So a bunny girl suit?" Homura gave her a look.
"Okay, that's one for me. That suit was part of my cosplay set. She accidentally put it on a mix-up because she liked it." Uzume explained with a pout, hugging Sakura-chan as the baby chewed on her own rabbit ears.
"I'm back. What about this one, Minato-sama!?" Lo and behold, said girl returned from her trip on stairs.
Homura whistled at the pure white summer dress Musubi is sporting. A huge contrast to her usual get up as a Sekirei. Without her usual gloves and uniform, the airheaded Sekirei looked like a normal girl.
Uzume on the other hand kicked the unconscious Ashikabi back to the waking world.
"Ouch! Uzume that's-Oh wow, you look good, Musubi." Minato stammers with a blush.
"See, I told you I'm good." Uzume proudly thumps her chest, happy to see her work stun boy, not like he wouldn't be stunned by anything else on a beautiful woman.
Except this time, the outfit is far more innocent and conservative yet a little daring with how it contours around Musubi's curves. It hid the marvelous sight beneath a layer of fabric, teasing onlookers of what lay beneath as a mystery.
"For once, I agree." Homura quips, impressed at Uzume's work. He knew that Uzume's good at working with fabrics but this is impressive for the quirky Sekirei.
"I know right! With Musubi-chan as my model, I had a lot of designs to work with. Thanks for lending Musubi to me, bro." Uzume thanked Minato, who's still staring at his Sekirei with a blush.
"No problem." Minato absently responded, eyes glued at his Sekirei who is happily showing off her dress.
Homura snorted. The two of them are truly meant together, an airheaded girl who doesn't know boundaries and the shy yet boneheaded idiot. They really impressed him yesterday. Minato more so with him showing some spine when it actually matters. Against his girl, he might as well be wet paper but he's dependable when it really matters. He wouldn't mind working with them again if another incident like yesterday happens again. Having a good backup sounds good now that they know Ashikabis are teaming up.
"Speaking about yesterday, how's our guest?" Homura asks Uzumi.
"Still asleep unfortunately. Miya took care of Yashima this morning but there's no sign of her still waking up." Uzumi replied before wincing in pain as little Sakura tugs her hair rather painfully.
"That's unfortunate." Homura huffs.
"...I don't have the position to ask this but is it really okay for Minaka to come here and have your meeting in Miya's inn?" Uzumi asks with a wince, either from the Sakura's rough play or at the question.
Homura sighs, before looking at her.
"I'm also thinking twice about it but we have no choice really. It's either here where we would be safe under Miya's protection or at MBI's suggestion where they could ambush and capture Yashima or worse, terminate others who would be coming along." Homura laid it out.
It's their only choice. With Minaka effectively putting bounties on them, minus Uzumi and Minato, Homura's is now locked down like Matsu in Izumo Inn for the rest of the Sekirei Plan which irritated him. There's still many Sekirei in need of help finding their destined Ashikabi but now he couldn't help him. If he goes out, he will have to be careful if he doesn't want to be eliminated early in the plan.
Then there's trusting MBI.
Hell will freeze first before Homura trusts the company. Homura's grateful the meeting is scheduled in Miya's Inn because of their fear of the senior Sekirei(?). Homura doesn't trust MBI not to take their chances if the meeting is anywhere but here. With how the Black Dog operates, it wouldn't be hard to imagine her breaking the deal to either terminate or kill them entirely.
"What about Matsu? You know what we did was far more serious and I only got away as an accessory to her crime." Uzumi winced at said reminder of what she did. She didn't regret helping the tech savvy Sekirei but the thought more than once crossed her mind.
If she didn't help Matsu, maybe her Ashikabi would…
"She's good. As Miya's mediating the meeting, we will be safe." Homura assured her.
"Really Homura? Using poor old me as a blanket of safety? Oh my, what would my dear Takehito say seeing his widow being used so callously? To think his Inn would become a den of scoundrels and criminals. If he could, he would say…" Homura and Uzume sweatdropped at the woman's melodramatic rant as she continued. Just because Miya agreed to the meeting doesn't mean she has to like it and is currently in a bad mood at the reminder.
If the meeting wouldn't kill them all, Miya would probably do it herself for desecrating her Inn.
######
Outside the inn, Shirou absently hammered a plank to replace the old rotting wood of the fence around the Inn. He already made a trip to get replacement wood and Miya had some old nails lying around so he doesn't need more than his current tools.
But deep inside, he's actually conversing with Archer.
'So you're saying most of them are currently manifesting?"
[That's what I'm saying. Thor was the first one to manifest by using Yashima's little trick to contact you. She used it to speed up the manifestation and when you got close to her, she used Unlimited Blade Works as a medium to manifest in the real world to help the girl.]
'I don't like it.'
[What do you mean?]
'Them having access to my Reality Marble. I made an exception with you, Gilgamesh and that bastard having some control but I'll put my foot down on some shades trying to get access to my only craft.'
Shades. A memory of what once we're. That was what Thor was when she manifested. A pseudo Heroic manifesting on her own due to her weapon being recorded in Unlimited Blade Works. It wasn't supposed to happen. He does have other divine weapons from copying Gilgamesh's collection but none started manifesting shades.
Instead, the ones manifesting their original creators are the weapons Medea…
[She made her decision. You don't have to feel bad about whatever that woman did. Instead, be thankful for her sacrifice.]
'That's a lot of praise on someone you hate, Archer.'
[I definitely hate her for what she did in the war. You are not the only one running around confused at the schemes she made behind the scenes. No one and absolutely no one among the masters or servants even saw what she was doing until that final battle. She did horrible things, yes. But that was for the sake of Sakura and you.]
'Sakura…'
[She loved you and of course you didn't. So she did what she could to make you happy. Her love is twisted yet it saved you in the end.]
'In the expense of everyone's life. Is that a good deal to you, Archer?'
[... No but it's far better what fate awaited you if she didn't act.]
Shirou paused, noticing the deep resentment behind Archer's tone. He knew of the servant's fate after fighting him of course. He knew of his history, his foolishness and his curse. Shirou didn't hate nor reject Archer's ideals and resentment of what he had become. He simply accepted it as what if.
A future to avoid.
Yet it doesn't mean he would throw away everyone's lives just to avoid a bad future!
[My mistake. That was too far for me.] Archer apologized immediately after sensing his anger.
'Don't mention it.' He replied, resuming his work.
[... Whatever Medea did, it irrevocably changed your Reality Marble. It's far too different than mine despite the similarities in function. It's too different. Even now, we still don't know what changes she made. Goldie is already impressed by her feat of altering a Reality Marble and has been studying the place since he got here. Not to mention, little Sakura's birth…]
'You think Sakura-chan's birth affected my Reality Marble?'
[Shirou. Sakura gave birth INSIDE your Reality Marble. That alone definitely affected both you and the baby vice versa]
'You think she had access to my Reality Marble?'
[With what Goldie got out of Thor, it's very likely. Yashima's little psychic trick in calling you out was blocked, remember, and I don't see or hear about you having any defense to such a thing. Instead, it was effectively blocked by someone or something else. Goldie bet your baby did it.]
'She's still a baby, she won't be able to do it.'
[She's a baby who eats people. I still remember the first magus she ate.]
Shirou winced at that particular little tidbit. The first time he found out about that little quirk of hers when they got tracked by one flamboyant magus from the Clocktower. After the incident of the Grail War and subsequent destruction of Fuyuki, magi naturally flocked the nation to investigate and find out what truly happened. Such as one magi, who somehow tracked them down on a rundown motel. Shirou cursed Angra Manyu that day for letting the man true the perimeter they set up only for the personification of evil to reveal one disturbing attribute of his only daughter.
She ate the man like how Sakura's shadow ate the populace of Fuyuki.
[We both know that your baby is not human. Angra Manyu already told us she's meant to be his reincarnation into the world so he could live and wreak havoc to the world before Medea backstabbed him and made some changes to the ritual. Changes that we don't know anything about. Gilgamesh already told us that he felt divinity to the child but different. No matter what it is, we can't simply label her as a regular human baby.]
'She's my daughter.'
[I know and that's what I'm afraid of.]
Archer went silent after that, confusing Shirou. He might hate and pity the guy but Archer is always a welcome help to him. Angra Manyu and his curses lack subtlety and manners while Gilgamesh only helps when it interests him. Dare he say it, he had become reliant on Archer's opinion and insight as an experienced mercenary and killer for his particular set of skills.
Still, it's worrisome to think that his Reality Marble is being compromised.
Again.
First it was Medea, now it's the weapons she imprinted in his very being affecting his inner world. Nevertheless, he is prepared this time. With Angra Manyu's curse and Gilgamesh's presence, nothing will happen inside his Reality Marble without him and Archer knowing about it.
"Shirou-kun, lunch is ready!"
"I'm coming, Miya-san." He responded to the landlady, who's carrying Sakura this time.
Seeing the baby, Shirou smiled. No matter what happens to him, he has to get through all of it. For her sake and to those who sacrificed themselves for this tiny little miracle.
His miracle.