Chat group, become my wings!

Sakura Matou gripped the fabric of both Kevin Cross and Izumi Uchiha's clothes tightly, her small hands pale from the strain.

"As for arrangements, I think there's a certain magus family in Finland that might be the best choice," Kevin said, rubbing his chin. "They're distant relatives of the Tohsaka family and are known to be a powerful mage lineage. If Sakura went there, they could both protect her and train her in magic. I remember reading somewhere that in one of the alternate timelines, Sakura was sent there and became quite formidable on par with Lady Crane-Lift, if I'm not mistaken."

The truth was, Kevin's understanding of the Fate universe wasn't all that deep.

After all, the franchise started as an adult visual novel, riddled with cuckoldry, infidelity tropes, and heavy content. Even though it cleaned up its act after gaining mainstream success, those early elements left a lasting impression. Back when Kevin was younger, he couldn't stomach that sort of plot, and even after Fate got popular, he remained wary of it because of that first impression. He only really watched the Holy Grail War arcs, and never dove too far beyond that. What he remembered of Sakura Matou came from occasional discussions online vague mentions of an alternate future. He didn't even know the name of the Finnish family connected to the Tohsakas.

(That said, Fate was massively popular on Chinese platforms like Ciweimao, but not so much on other sites.)

"Finland… where is that? Is it easy to get to?" Izumi asked.

"Well…" Kevin scratched his head. "Shouldn't be too hard. But we'd need to do some digging first. Sakura, do you happen to know what that relative family's name is? The one from Finland?"

Sakura shook her head, confused. She had no idea. All she knew was that it felt like she was about to be sent away again.

She didn't want to be sent off again, but her gentle personality made it hard to speak up or reject others. Her wide eyes glistened with unshed tears, and she tried her best to hold them back.

Kevin noticed her expression and paused. He'd been so focused on completing the mission, he'd completely overlooked how Sakura might feel about it.

"Sakura, what do you want to do?" he asked gently.

Her large, watery eyes looked up at Kevin, lips parting slightly but no words came out.

Kevin scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Kevin, let's focus on dealing with the real threat in this world first," Izumi said, shaking her head. "Once we've handled that, then we can talk about Sakura's future."

"Yeah, you're right," Kevin agreed. "Let's take out Zouken Matou first. Once that old monster's gone, we'll just leave the Matou estate to Sakura."

"Zouken Matou? That was the old guy from earlier?"

"Yup. He's actually lived for several centuries. He used to be a decent person, but now his only obsession is staying alive. He's long since abandoned any original ideals. At this point, he's just a rotting, parasitic corpse of a man."

"I see. Kevin, why don't you upload what you know about this world's story to the group chat? That way I can get a better idea of what we're dealing with and Sakura can learn more about her own world and future too," Izumi suggested.

"Oh, right! Good idea. Give me a sec."

Kevin uploaded everything he could remember about the two Holy Grail Wars into the chat group.

Following Izumi's suggestion, Sakura opened the files and began reading about the Holy Grail War about her own world, and the future that could have been hers. Izumi read through it as well.

Meanwhile, the rest of the chat group members were more interested in the mission's status. When they saw Kevin had uploaded those files, they quickly pinged him.

"Kevin, is the mission complete yet?"

"Not yet," Kevin replied. "We've rescued Sakura, but the core danger hasn't been resolved. By the way, Sakura Matou is the one labeled 'helpless little girl.'"

"Is the mission that hard?"

"There's definitely some difficulty, but not too much danger," Kevin explained. "This world's power system is strong, but the real threats are the Heroic Spirits. The Grail War hasn't started yet, so none of them are around. As things are now, there's nothing that poses a serious threat to us."

"Heroic Spirits?" Brunhilde perked up. As a Valkyrie, that was her domain. "Are those the same Heroic Spirits we know?"

"More or less," Kevin said. "But there are some differences."

"Differences?" Brunhilde's interest grew. "How powerful are they in this world?"

"They're probably on par with gods from your world. They all have unique skills and Noble Phantasms think divine artifacts with special properties. Some of them are ridiculously strong."

Brunhilde's eyes sparkled. "Now you've got my attention. I'll check out the files you uploaded."

"Heroic Spirits, huh?" said Kumoko. "Oh, and Sakura too? That means you're in the Fate universe, right? Awesome! 'Fill it up, fill it up, fill it up, fill it up, fill it up. Five is the number, cycles repeat…' Wow, I'm hyped. And the moment they're summoned: 'Are you my Master?' Hahaha… sorry, I got carried away. Too many meme videos back home."

"You've seen Fate?"

"Of course! It's famous! How could I not? I've watched the anime and even played the game. Super cool!"

"That's perfect. I don't know all that much about Fate, so if there are future story arcs or missions involving it, I'll count on you to help fill in the gaps."

"Sure thing! I'd love to help! Honestly, I've always wanted to summon a Heroic Spirit especially Saber. Total Saber simp here. Kinda sucks that Sakura joined instead of our King!"

"Umm… I'm sorry," Sakura typed timidly.

"Huh? No, no! I didn't mean it like that," Kumoko rushed to clarify. "I don't dislike you or anything, Sakura. Actually, it's really good that you joined. You've suffered so much… if this group can help change your fate, that's a wonderful thing. I want to help you too. So… yeah, hang in there."

Kumoko had zero resistance to kids like Sakura especially ones this quiet, polite, and heartbreakingly gentle.

____________________

NEXT CHAPTER : Esdeath

(Esdeath officially joins the harem chat group—and she's thrilled. A multiverse full of powerful foes and thrilling missions? It's everything the Ice Queen ever dreamed of. Meanwhile, Kevin and Izumi comfort the traumatized Sakura Matou and vow to eliminate Zouken for good. But the Matou mansion is a hive of horrors. As swarms of grotesque insects close in, Kevin and Izumi unleash fire and lightning, ready to end this nightmare. With Esdeath lurking, Sakura healing, and danger thick in the air—this mission is far from over.)

Want to read 35 chapters ahead? Join me on P@treon, the story is on sale now!

[email protected]/_tey 

Change @ to a.