To love a sword

Beta read by Shigiya, FabledLife and Paragon of Awesomeness.

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-Verdun Mountains-

"What is he?"

Looking in from an outside perspective, not much had occurred since they left that buggy village filled with erroneous NPCs.

With Ren being the sole casualty, who 'nobly sacrificed' himself to calm the frantic villagers, they were able to continue their journey towards the main quest, which consisted of saving the princess from the "oh-so-terrifying" demon lord. Their current party consisted of capable individuals, mostly mages, and three support classes all in the form of a bunny girl, a florist, and a chef. It wasn't balanced at all, to say the least; they still needed a healer, a tank, and a melee DPS.

That was how a normal party should be composed, and it would be just enough to clear the obstacles that lay in front of them. Yet, this belief had been completely thrown into the gutters when faced with the sight before them. 

A loud thud echoed in the surrounding fields.

An Earth Bear, a rather common monster regularly spawned in dense forest-like areas, fell flat on its stomach in front of them. Momo gritted her teeth, she had been prepared to ensnare it in a vine trap, thus letting Mikan and her sister deal most of the damage through powerful spells and a wave of summoned undead, with some assistance from Golden Darkness, as her class allowed her to buff allies via cheers. 

The gathered experience points would then be shared by everyone in their party thanks to her ability as a leader, and hopefully impress Emiya. Yet, she couldn't even start uttering the first syllable of her spell when the projectile came from behind her and pierced the monster's eye, taking out only a small sliver of its health, but it was still enough to stagger it. 

This was followed by an onslaught of chef knives that rained down, all aimed at vital spots and causing the bear to suffer from the bleeding status effect. The monster desperately tried to crush its opponent who just jumped around, dodging the attacks so casually as if he had precognition. The entire time he kept grabbing more knives from his inventory before stabbing the creature again and again till the bear resembled a porcupine more than anything else. Even its original brown color of its fur was no longer visible under all the steel and blood. 

This was the first time she felt pity for a creature in this game. It was just a mob, but still…

In the end, the Earth Bear failed to react in time before another volley of santoku blades struck its other eye, depleting the little amount of health it had left. 

[+30 XP!]

She stared blankly at the prompt from the game that appeared in front of her, seeing the bar growing ever so consistently, quickly causing her to level up.

"Level six, this is interesting. Which stats should I invest in again? I am a chef so, hm, let's go for intelligence, it should increase the yield from gathering certain plants." She heard the anomaly speak, gazing passively at his status screen while scratching his chin. 

He gathered some of the knives from the corpse and placed them in a satchel around his waist, filled to the brim with countless chef knives he had bought from a passing merchant. These were some of the few bladed weapons he was allowed to wield, given his class' restrictions, which excluded swords, daggers, spears and so on which were only usable for dedicated melee classes. 

This 'weapon', which should have served little to no purpose in combat — perhaps doing a bit more damage than the trowel currently equipped by Rito — had now managed to kill a monster like the Earth Bear.

"So, it's a bear-like monster. It looks similar to a brown bear from the Himalayan region but with some parts of its body protected by a layer of rocks. It's interesting to see that even alien creatures hold so many similarities with the animals on Earth. In any case, since I'm getting the prompt to harvest it, it should provide me with new ingredients." 

She had never seen such an eager stare in his eyes before, as he grabbed one of the many remaining knives lying on the ground and started to skin and carve up the animal. The trait of his class allowed him to acquire more materials compared to most others when harvesting plants or monsters, which was represented by the body of the monster disappearing and leaving behind a stack of fatty steaks, a large low-quality pelt, and a pile of bones—all of which were collected by Emiya. 

"Eh, monster bone chef knife? Still need some wood to forge it from a blacksmith, but at least the base damage is higher than my current ones."

He was definitely having fun. 

That was a good thing, right?

"So, come on, where to next?" Momo swallowed her saliva at the sight of his smile. It wasn't a smirk nor a grin, but a genuine one that she wasn't used to seeing from him. 

It was like seeing an ultra-rare legendary creature.

Was this the same guy who made so many threats against them and her father in the past? 

It felt nice being on the receiving end of such a smile, her own expression started to mirror his until her reasoning came crashing in and stopping this train of thought — the whiplash was enough to pull Momo back to focus on what was more important!

"What kind of chef are you!?" Momo, still having a blush, shouted out loud at Emiya. "What kind of chef-class character is able to kill a monster like this by throwing kitchen knives at it!? Are you an archer!? No, you're not! I checked! So how can this be possible!? You can only unlock dual classes when you hit level ten!" 

Her own staff, which was made from the remains of a purple lesser basilisk, was a level five weapon capable of doing nearly fifty magical and ten physical damage. 

The trowel Rito had only done a measly two damage despite being a higher level than hers, which clearly showed how it wasn't made to be used in battle. Meanwhile, a cooking knife, which also wasn't even classified as a combat dagger like the ones used by the rogue class, only did six damage. 

Was she going crazy? How could a weapon that did so little damage kill that bear?

"Let me see…" Grabbing one of the many knives lying around her, she examined it and became even more confused.

[High-Quality Butcher Knife Lvl 6: Great for beginner chefs, forged from high carbon steel and oak wood for the handle.

Effects: Grants a 10% increase in success for getting additional items/drops when carving.

+6 Physical Damage

+2 Defense

Rarity: Common

Value: 10 Bronze Coins/500 Loveroons]

It really was just a regular chef's knife!

The stats of the weapon in question were so painfully low and pitiful that the grisly image of the monster being slaughtered by nearly hundreds of such weapons couldn't be comprehended by the Devilukian princess' mind.

"E-Emiya… are you sure y-you should take the risk of facing monsters on your own? …That's our job."

The man hummed in agreement, without looking displeased or even angry at what she said. "I guess that's true. It is annoying that I can't wield any kind of sword or ranged weapon other than those assigned to my class. But there is nothing that states that I can't use these knives in battle, so what's the harm? And it makes it more interesting. I've never had to fight like this before, so I got curious about what else I could do. Also, it feels weird staying in the backline and having others cover for me."

"But, but, but, but, the throwing skill is only reserved for rogue-class and archer-class players… Without them, you can only perform at the same level as you would in real life," she said pitifully, only for the man to shrug his shoulders. "You got lucky that it was a common monster. But against a scaled beast with higher defense, you would barely do even a single point of damage…" 

"Well, I can always just get better knives forged. Also, I don't have that skill. Just like you said, I'm simply using my base real-life experience without them being amplified by anything in the game, so it shouldn't be a problem."

It shouldn't be a problem… 

It shouldn't be a problem… 

It shouldn't be a problem…

Those words continued to echo in her mind. Momo had previously believed that Emiya's amazing ability to defeat all those opponents who came to hunt her sister was due to his weird magical abilities that boosted his human body enough that he was able to contend against powerful aliens. After all, she had heard how capable he was when fighting against Zastin and his subordinates, to the point of exerting a level of strength that was not possible for a normal human body. So, it made sense to her that during those times, he would boost himself using magic to bridge that gap. 

But this was not possible in this game; he shouldn't be able to use his magical abilities at all, only being able to utilize the skills and knowledge that he had in real life. 

"Wow, Nii-san is awesome! You think you can make a new dish with those ingredients?" Unbothered by her distress, Rito went ahead and discussed the new materials gathered with his brother.

"I can try to make a new dish with this. But I must admit, this will be the first time I've cooked using bear meat, let alone any kind of alien bear. Regular bear meat is supposed to be very gamey and tough to eat on Earth, and I'd imagine a bear with parts of its flesh covered in rock would be just as bad, if not worse. Maybe I can marinate it with a salt or vinegar solution for a day with some of the newer plants I've gathered to reduce it further." He continued to ponder with a surprisingly focused expression, taking the matter very seriously, with both his siblings nodding at his words, both just going along with the ridiculousness of this situation as though it made perfect sense. 

"Mikan, help me pick up these knives, will you?"

Forget it; perhaps this wasn't the time to ponder such things, they still had a quest to complete. As she was about to make her way forward, Nana came nearby and whispered closely in her ear. "So, what should we do about the custom character? Since she is here, we don't really have any use for it."

Oh, Momo had completely forgotten about that part, and if it weren't for her sister, she would have never remembered until they reached the demon lord's castle. It was a small present they had prepared for Emiya in the past, but they never had the opportunity to lure him into the virtual world previously, given how fast things went by.

"We'll think about it later; maybe we can even reduce her stats a bit and use her as a possible mini-boss." Honestly though, with how weirdly the NPCs reacted back in the village, Momo was feeling a lot more hesitant about bringing it into the game, fearing it could cause some unexpected issues if things didn't go as planned.

"For now, let's just get to the main city as soon as possible." Hopefully once they were there, she would be able to get things back under control, and they'd all be able to go on a fun adventure together to save the princess.

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-Mantik City-

(A few hours later)

It didn't take long for Momo to start feeling anxious shortly after they arrived at the main area of their destination. Unlike the small villages that both halves of their parties were first transported into, this main area was a fortified castle surrounded by a small town with towering walls defending them from any monsters outside. The population itself was easily in the thousands. The number of stores and types of materials they could acquire was vastly increased, and the items being sold were likewise far superior in terms of quality. 

While here, Nana took the liberty to take the Yuuki siblings and Golden Darkness to sell some of the valuables they'd gathered for extra coin. 

"Wait, Mikan." Emiya stopped the young mage, who looked back curiously as she received a message saying he was giving her a couple of items. "My inventory is filled with foodstuffs I made as part of several experiments I conducted on our way here. They didn't turn out as good as I would have liked them to be, so I don't have plans on having our party consume them. The description says that they can be sold, so see if you can fetch a good deal on these."

"Sure, but are you certain you want to sell them? The effects may not be up to your standard but I'll bet they still taste quite good." 

He shook his head, "There is no need for that. I don't want to feed you all something I'm not happy with, so best to sell it or even give it away for free." 

Mikan pursed her lips, a bad feeling itching in her mind at the idea of giving away these dishes to others. "We… won't get in any trouble if we do, right?" 

"Trouble? They're not poisonous, you know I wouldn't do that." 

"I… I guess not. Never mind, guess I'm just overthinking things."

Momo on the sidelines watched the two siblings converse, not wanting to butt in. Waiting patiently for her to finally have some alone time with him. Soon the two groups separated, but instead of being happy about reaching their destination without further issues and going to the Adventurers' Guild to get their next quest, she found herself acquiring a new role, which turned out to be Emiya's guardian.

Pa!

"H-Help!!" 

She took her eyes off him for a literal second, and out of nowhere, a young maiden fell right at his feet, holding her head while showing an expression of pain. 

"Are you okay?" Of course, he turned his attention to her, extending his hands to aid her back to her feet. The young girl wore an expression of awe as she grasped his hand and pleaded with a desperate expression. 

"Mister, please help me! Those people are chasing me and demanding money I do not have!"

Bandits? Momo looked in the distance to find a group of your standard hooligans rushing toward them with malicious intent. The names above their heads were colored in red to indicate hostile NPCs that they could kill without the game stopping them.

Wasn't this a golden opportunity for her to finally show off?

"I'll take care of them." It was something that she had barely managed to accomplish this entire time, given how quickly the man before her dispatched the beasts with his ridiculous knife-throwing skills that still didn't make sense for a chef, she summoned a vast array of vines that entangled themselves around the bandits, quickly making short work of them. Seeing her work, the young princess couldn't help but puff her chest out in pride, fully expecting the white-haired redhead to be in awe of her ability and willing to put more trust in her. 

[ Minor Quest: Maiden in distress COMPLETED! ]

[ Reward: +10 XP 

+ 5 Dirty bandanas 

+ 3 Rusted swords 

+ 20 copper coins ]

"See? This is what a green mage is capable— hah?"

Unfortunately, rather than seeing the surprised faces of the duo and being showered with compliments, she turned to find the redhead on the other side of the street, helping a small child in beggar's clothes near a food stall, where the owner seemed to be throwing various items to shoo her away. 

"Get that thief away from here! She stole one of my goods again, I'll call the guards this time and take her to the dungeons! You! You are with her? If you don't pay, then I'll have to be thrown into the dungeon for being an accomplice to this criminal!" The obese merchant rudely shouted, his spit flying everywhere while the little beggar girl used Emiya as a shield, shaking like a leaf.

"Calm down, it's just a fruit, here." Without even looking, he threw a handful of copper coins at the man and grabbed a few more fruits, putting them into a basket before handing them over to the young child. "This should be enough for a few people, take them," he said with a somewhat blank face, displaying no emotion other than his usual frown, which initially scared the girl. 

Thankfully, she managed to calm down and accepted his gift.

"Thank you! Thank you, thank you! I didn't have enough money to buy food for me and my sick mother. With this, she will hopefully be able to get better soon…" 

"Your mother is sick? Well, if I remember correctly, one of my dishes has the ability to heal certain ailments. Maybe I can—"

A terrible chill crept up Momo's back as she quickly ran over there. 

"—Wait!" Getting between the two, a sparkling potion in her hand, which she pushed into the girl's grasp. "This is a Tier 1 healing potion, which should be enough to cure any kind of regular sickness. Take it and go heal your mom." 

"Thank you!" 

[ Minor Quest: Mysterious benefactor COMPLETED ]

[ Reward: +5 XP 

+ 1 unknown bronze locket ]

The young girl accepted the gift with a large smile and rushed back to her house. The notification of the quest being completed chimed in Momo's ears, who was honestly too distracted to pay any attention to the rewards as she discovered that this time — Emiya was being approached by another NPC.

"Kyah!" A young buxom redhead sporting a choker and a jacket that left little to the imagination stumbled right in front of them. Her bountiful breasts, rivaling even Momo's sister in size, nearly spilled out as she face-planted onto the cobblestones. The contents of the box she was carrying scattered across the street as she let out a frustrated groan, her cleavage squishing against the ground.

Until another redhead got down onto his knees and started collecting them one by one, handing them back to her. 

"Are you okay? You should be careful when walking in the middle of the streets carrying so many items all at once–Hm?"

One of the items, a strange medallion he picked up, behaved weirdly. It started to glow an eerie red color as soon as he touched it. 

"This can't be! Are you really…?" the girl exclaimed in shock. "The thousand-year-old heirloom my father has been researching for years never gave off such a reaction! He mentioned it was used by our ancestor who found it during her time as a mercenary!" 

"Isn't that from…" Momo couldn't stay idle, snatching the piece right away from Emiya's grasp before throwing it into the sky. The medallion opened, creating a large portal that would have sucked in whoever was holding it. 

"A trap item!" Momo's staff glowed a fiery red color before firing a small blast of pure energy, which engulfed and destroyed the item in an instant. 

"Phew, that was a close one. You should be more careful, Emiya. Looks like those are trap items, each having a specific effect—" he was gone. "Again!?"

"Let me go!" A familiar scene played before her eyes. 

Once again, the man behind her disappeared, and she heard the voice of a startled woman inside a dark alley, exclaiming fearfully as a group of men surrounded her, grabbing her wrists. Their eyes gleamed with lustful intentions with a few caressing the woman's thighs. "I told you, I don't want any trouble!"

"Hey, hey, hey! We just wanted to play, young miss. So why don't you just accompany us for a few seconds? Besides, no one is gonna hear you, so don't even try to scream."

The woman struggled to break free from the bandit's grasp but was unsuccessful, crying out for help until…

"Boss, watch out!" one of the henchmen exclaimed loudly, pushing his leader just in time to dodge a chef's knife piercing the wall right next to the girl's head — having nearly hit the leader. 

"Who is it!?" 

"Ambush!"

"There!" 

At the other entrance of the alley where a single person stood, his shadow casting upon them. Emiya's figure, shrouded in a hood, stood in place without making a sound, glaring at the three people surrounding the woman with a sharp edge to his gaze. The chef's knife he held made the scene even more eerie.

"I suggest you let her go before—Oof!"

This time, a certain pink-haired princess wouldn't let him finish. Rushing behind him with her staff held high, she smashed his head with all her strength to induce a dazed state. 

Thankfully, this was enough to momentarily stun him, giving her time to summon a multitude of vines bursting from the ground, surrounding the man, and lifting him from his spot. More vines knocked out the remaining degenerates at the end of the alleyway, but she paid them no attention and started to run as fast as possible toward the guild, followed by her vines still holding Emiya.

"Stop falling for such obvious baits! At this rate, you'll end up accepting everyone's quests, side quests, and minor quests and spend days completing them! We have more important things to do! Also! Not all quests are good for you, some are traps set to squeeze you dry!" 

There was one aspect of the boy she had learned over the past few days staying with him. Despite his stern behavior, portraying a personality that threatened to throw them out of the house for the slightest inconvenience, he was surprisingly willing to help basically everyone so far. 

These few encounters and his circumstances in the buggy village, she came to a conclusion.

"You're surprisingly generous." 

…

(A few minutes later)

"Even if this is a game, getting hit hurts just as much as in real life. It wasn't like I was going to accept all of them." Emiya uttered those words while rubbing the back of his head, though even he didn't believe those words. "I should have added some points into strength and endurance, this body is far too weak compared to my original one." 

"S-Sorry… I panicked and was afraid you were going to disappear again if I turned my attention away from you again." 

"Hah, it's fine. I'm to blame as well, guess I got a bit too immersed in this world." It was just so easy to forget that these characters were digitally created entities rather than real people. The moment he reached the main city, this realization hadn't fully settled in, and he ended up getting a bit carried away. "I'll be more careful for now, so don't worry. Wait, are you sulking?"

"A bit," Momo confessed honestly, her head hung low as she couldn't look him in the eyes, or perhaps she was just exhausted. "I just wanted to have some one-on-one alone time with you while the others dealt with their own matters. You spend the entire day with Onee-sama or with your siblings. I rarely get to speak to you on a normal day, so… I wanted to change that with this game." 

That was… unexpected, sure he rarely conversed with the twins, but he never imagined it would lead Momo to feel left out like this. It wasn't like he was doing so intentionally, believing the girls were already more than busy with their own things. 

"But seeing how everything is going lately, especially in this town with everyone after you, I suppose it won't be possible." She spoke with a sort of melancholic expression. "I didn't even get the chance to show off how awesome I am to you this entire time. At most, I only killed a couple of slimes and a single Kobold, while you and Mikan handled everything else… even Rito and Nana did more than me."

So that was why she was like this. He was aware of how differently the girl had been behaving ever since they arrived in town. He could tell she was genuinely serious about showing off how capable she was and wanting the group to depend on her. But truthfully, she didn't need to go this far to impress him.

"It's all right." 

It was at moments like these that Emiya would momentarily see Mikan in Momo's place. The brunette in the past, and even currently, would show such a face that his body moved on its own without him realizing it, gently tussling her hair. Momo's body froze as she looked at him with wide eyes. 

Guess he went too far.

"You're misunderstanding something. While it's true that you're not wrong to try to show off how reliable you are, you have already surprised me more than enough times in the past. This game, though vastly different from what I am used to, is still something that I've ended up enjoying. I am grateful that you gave me a chance to experience it, and I'm looking forward to the adventures you have prepared for me. Even Mikan and Rito are enjoying themselves, that alone makes me very happy, so thank you, Momo."

"A-Ah… Aaaah…" The young girl was rendered speechless, most likely unprepared for him to say such a thing. Not that he could blame her, given how he had treated the sisters ever since they arrived. He didn't regret his actions, as they were also responsible for him treating them coldly in the beginning. But it wasn't like he was always angry. "…not fair that you met Onee-sama first." 

"Hm?" His ears twitched, having missed what she said, but the latter didn't repeat it and just gently shook her head. "So, what is the next course of action?"

Still unable to meet his gaze, Momo absentmindedly pointed at a random quest on the board without even looking, her eyes constantly pinned on him, which he didn't pay any mind to. "Oh—this quest? Well, it does look very interesting, so why not?" 

Grabbing the quest, he applied for it at the counter and stopped at the exit, looking back. "Come on, there is still some time before the others show up, so let's go on a quest together. You can show me what you're capable of."

{Break}

[Status Page: EMIYA

Class: Chef, ? (Sealed)

Level: 9 (+6), ? (Sealed)

**Attributes:**

Health Points (HP): 250 / 250

Mana Points (MP): 100 / 100

Strength (STR): 10 (+1)

Intelligence (INT): 11 (+3)

Dexterity (DEX): 10 (+2)

Wisdom (WIS): 11

Endurance (END): 8

Luck (LCK): 1]

All in all, the day went well, and he managed to reach level nine thanks to Momo's help, a single level away from level ten which would allow him to get another class. It wasn't that big of a leap compared to the others, but he was quite satisfied with what he had gained in terms of both ingredients and seeing everyone smile.

"Two moons, huh? It is quite beautiful." Once again, he was reminded that this digital world was not exactly a copy of Earth, with two giant celestial bodies floating in the sky illuminating his surroundings. With music playing in the streets and plenty of people still active at night, he decided to take a stroll around the town with no real goal in mind other than to just sightsee.

"I do wonder how the others are doing." 

Momo mentioned that there were others playing the game as well. He was curious to see how some of the people he knew would behave in a game like this. A few of them, including none other than Rin, would love an environment like this where she could fight and go completely berserk if she so desired. "That is if she gets a class that uses a sword. Unless her luck is as bad as mine, she'll be fine."

Then there was Mikado, so he was pretty certain the nurse would just follow others around or settle down in a random town as a healer or something similar. She wasn't exactly an active person, though that could differ in a game, so he wanted to see if that was really the case. 

"Hm?" Just as he was about to head back home, a strange sensation began to envelop him, his senses going awry and goosebumps spreading across his skin.

"Who…?" he voiced out carefully, moving into a more secluded area with his chef's knife held firmly in his grasp. 

Initially dismissing it as paranoia, Emiya found the unsettling feeling only intensified. His battle-honed instincts blared warnings of imminent danger. Cautiously, he scanned his surroundings, knife at the ready. Who would be bold enough to stalk him in the supposed safety of town? Then again, given the erratic behavior of NPCs he'd encountered so far, he wouldn't be shocked if hostile mobs operated here too. Best to stay alert and see what emerges from the shadows.

"There!" At the corner of his eye, he saw a strange shadow leaping towards him. His body moved the next instant; his legs swept through the air where the shadow tried to escape, Exerting as much strength as possible with this body and rotating around, he pulled the figure down ruthlessly to the cobblestone floor.

Bam!

[-6 damage!]

The prompt appeared within his eyes, yet he couldn't help but curse at how low the numbers were. "Only six… I'll have to focus on strength after this." 

Putting aside his little musings, he focused on the shadow on the ground that twitched before slowly taking the shape of a person. 

"What?" he exclaimed, filled with surprise as what he believed to be a wraith or ghost-type monster soon took the appearance of a young girl. "Don't tell me she is…" 

He tried to think rationally, but that thought was thrown away when he noticed the individual's face—having seen her countless times in the series his sister and Lala loved to watch. The one with the surprisingly good visual effects for a series that didn't have the same budget as some of the bigger films.

Clad in scandalously skimpy attire that could barely be called clothing, the girl's voluptuous figure was on full display. Her ample chest and alluring curves were barely contained by a bikini top that seemed a size too small, threatening to burst free at any moment. The only other article of clothing on her body was a vibrant red cape that fluttered behind her, drawing even more attention to her exposed skin. Atop her head sat an oversized witch's hat, the bright crimson color matching her cape. In her hand, she gripped a broom that appeared to have seen better days, its charred and singed bristles still smoldering with flickering embers.

He threw her a suspicious stare, "So this is the kind of clothes you prefer when not in front of the camera. Magical Kid Kyo…mi?" 

"It's Magical Girl Kyoko!" She shouted, her face flushed crimson as she massaged her sore neck. "A-And I didn't choose these clothes! They appeared on my body when I entered the game, and they also have really good stats…"

"Humph, sure." 

Tears started to appear in her eyes at his clear lack of belief in her words, "I-It's true! I'm-I'm not a perve—wait, that's not why I'm here!" Her pathetic reaction aside, he felt bad about the red bruise swelling on her face, which visibly healed right before his eyes in moments. "A-Are you the one she calls Emiya Shirou!? You do look like him! Please, the princess—the princess has gone mad! She took over my castle and has taken my title as Demon Lord!"

The princess? Wasn't that Lala he was tasked to save or something?

"She has already assembled an army and is about to wage war!" 

He was rendered speechless. What the hell was Lala doing?

(Bonus Part 3 End)

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-Sainan-

Once again, it was a strange day for the counter guardian.

First, he was invited to an announcement by Ren's sister, who clearly had hidden motives or some kind of prejudice against Lala, hoping to use him as a means to some obscure plot. 

Then, out of nowhere, he got hit by a beam that turned him into… this. It was a change that struck his very core with pure absurdity, one he was willing to go to any length to reverse. So, he had to act as soon as possible, even if Lala mentioned that it would disappear on its own. 

He didn't even want to get started on the ghost who screamed like a banshee as soon as she saw him causing chaos.

"Can you stop touching my face?" Before they left, the nurse insisted on doing a quick check-up on his body — which he agreed to and soon regretted. 

The mature woman's fingers ran across his hair, and face and even squeezed his cheeks making his face stretch. "To think that such a rugged man whose mean stares can make a baby cry can have such a delicate appearance. Supple lips, soft skin, and silky hair… you're making me feel jealous, Emiya-chan~!" 

"I agree. No calluses, elastic skin, and frustratingly smooth legs," even Rin joined in, checking the rest of his body. Starting from his hands, stomach, and legs. Doing so until her eyes reached his chest and he saw her hands reach for them. "How are they so much bigger than Saki-sama's?" 

"—!" 

That felt so wrong on many levels! Jumping away, he glared at both. His body never felt much in danger since… well ever. "Knock it off! This was supposed to be just a quick check-up for any issues, not an excuse for you two to grope me!"

Mikado chuckled while Rin's turned slightly red, looking downwards at his groin and focusing there for a good second. "Have you also lost your pen—"

"—Shut up, Rin!" 

He really, REALLY didn't want to think about that and feel even worse than he already was. "Let's just get this over with, I'm not comfortable in this body at all. Even my strength has lessened compared to my original body." 

"You're weaker?" Rin repeated, a dangerous glean flashing in her eyes as she scanned him up and down once more and got closer to her for a better look. Even though he lost some height, he remained taller than Rin who looked at him. "So if I experience the same thing as you did and change into a male… I would be more powerful. Ah!"

He didn't like where Rin's mind was heading at all, pushing aside his uncomfortableness, he grabbed her shoulders looking deep into those brown eyes. 

"Stop it. I know you want to get to my level one day, but taking such a route will only destroy everything you've built so far and you'll only become hungry for more." The way she was thinking started to remind him of some of those unstable Magi who were willing to experiment with their bodies in any way shape or form to attain even the slightest bit of power or in order to uncover more secrets of their Magecraft. 

In the end, most ended up dying or succumbing to their folly. 

Rin wasn't a Magus, she was just a regular high school girl who just wanted to get better with the sword. 

"Y-You can let go of me… Emiya Shirou…" Thankfully, Rin saw reason and backed away. "I was thinking out loud… I wouldn't give up my body and take a shortcut. Don't look down on me." 

"Good." Letting out a sigh of relief, he let her go and turned his attention to the amused Mikado in the background. "Since you are satisfied with this little scene, I hope you're ready to head to my house."

"Fufufu~! It's just so fascinating seeing young people flirt with one another so openly." His eyes twitched, and this woman knew that she was getting under his skin. "In any case, I was scanning your body for any anomalies earlier. While I was having some fun, sure, I still took my work seriously. Everything looks normal and perfectly fine, but there is something I'm worried about." 

At that, her tone dropped and she got up from her chair, walking closer till her face was close enough that he could feel her breath. "I couldn't tell at first, but there are some unusual signs of stress on your physical body. I'm not talking about mental stress… And it wasn't there last time I gave you a physical." 

"…"

"I've always been curious about your skin getting more tanned and your hair losing color. This… it's definitely not premature graying given how quickly it's happening. If this keeps on going, I'm worried that your body will break and I won't be able to treat you." She sounded genuinely worried, this being one of the few rare times he saw the nurse showing such a glare. "You know what I'm talking about, so don't hide it from me, please." 

His gradually tanned skin, white hair, and soon enough gray eyes would become far too obvious to hide behind a flimsy excuse like this being the fault of genes to someone like Mikado. Recently he even started using his Magecraft far more frequently than in the past, so it started taxing his current younger body. 

"…"

"If you tell me that you have an incurable disease and you never mentioned it before, or if you are engaging in dangerous activities without supervision, I will not hesitate to restrain you and take you to a facility off of this planet for treatment. Trust me on that."

She wasn't joking. 

There was no mischief in those eyes, 

"Hah," Emiya let out a dry chuckle, running his fingers through his fading hair. He held his ground, mulling over his words carefully. A quick glance at Rin revealed her wide-eyed shock; clearly, she'd jumped to all the wrong conclusions. "Look, it's not as dire as you're making it out to be. I'm not wasting away or harboring some secret illness. My body's fine, really. This whole… transformation? What you've just noticed is just the side effects of being exposed to radiation in a nuclear power plant." 

"What!?" Both women repeated at the same time, losing all color from their faces. 

"It was a joke." He said it dryly, but not without having a smirk on his face at their shocked reactions. 

Pa!

Rin hit his legs while Mikado grabbed him by the collar, taking a deep breath, and showing a smile but her eyes had a completely different emotion to them. "Do that again, and I'll go through with my promise and really get angry." She whispered to his ears, sending a shiver down his spine. Proceeding to then let him go and drink some of the leftover covers from her mug. 

"Your sense of humor sucks, Emiya," Rin added, massaging her temples. 

Right, she was mad.

"So, what is it then?" 

He shrugged, "Just signs of me overusing my Magecraft. If you haven't noticed, I've been facing plenty of different opponents lately than I have in the past. It's nothing dangerous, just a side effect that will only change my outer appearance with time and nothing else." 

There was no need to mention how this transformation was still far too fast compared to how it progressed in his past life.

"You're not lying to me, are you?" 

"Have I ever lied to you before?" 

"Yes." 

"You didn't need to answer it so quickly, some hesitation would have helped." Another joke almost came out of his mouth but remembering their previous reaction, best to just leave it. "Alright, enough wasting time. Let's leave, I want to return to my old body." 

"Of course, but before we go," the mature woman crossed her arms, consequentially pushing up her ample breasts making them almost pop out from that rather loose pink garment if she pushed any more. "Stand there for a moment." 

Rummaging through her belongings, the nurse soon came back holding a small camera, and passed it onto Rin. "Mind taking a picture of us? I want to remember this moment forever, this is an opportunity I can't let go." 

"A picture… I don't like it." He commented, not liking the idea of an image of his female self floating around. 

"Oh hush now, it's not like anyone will believe it's you. At most, maybe a sister or relative." 

Rin nodded her head, "You did try to fool me recently about being a relative as well." 

This being a two versus one, he decided to just go with it. She was right after all, it was impossible for anyone to suspect he suddenly turned into a girl, even his past self would find this hard to believe. 

"Fine, just get it done with." This time, she had her arm placed around him and pulled closer, their upper bodies touching, just as Rin was about to press the button, he felt a soft… moist sensation on his cheeks, even touching the corner of his lips, right as the camera flashed. 

"You—!" Rin was startled, while he was more curious than anything else, tracing the sensation of her lips and raising an eyebrow. 

"That was rather forward." 

Mikado was always a bit mischievous with her actions, but this was certainly a new level even for her. 

To his comment, she rolled her eyes and grabbed the camera from Rin's frozen hands. "Think of this as revenge for that horrendous joke you made." 

"…"

What a strange woman. 

{Break}

With his body inspection out of the way, the group made their way back. Rin had decided to join him as she was curious to see the process of him turning back to being a man. 

Since Mikado had a car, all three sat inside as the school nurse took the wheels and started to drive. 

He didn't want to take any risks on his way back, meeting Rin was inevitable he supposed, how the hell did she recognize him through his smell!? That had to be a lie! She must have held doubts as soon as she saw his face and mannerisms, that explanation made sense. 

"Strange, the road is unusually busy this time of the day." Rather than a smooth drive back home, they got stuck in traffic for the better part of an hour. "Usually this area is quiet with barely any traffic." 

"It's a parade," answered the redhead, noticing the many flyers posted on the walls and his ears picking up the sound of music coming in the distance. 

"Ah, I remember. I was supposed to buy some sweets from the parade for Saki-sama." 

Would have been helpful had she mentioned that earlier on. But he couldn't blame her, he also missed the obvious signs when coming over. Having been far too paranoid of being found out that he didn't pay attention. 

"I think it'll be better if we park the car in a lot and then walk to your house instead, we've already driven halfway there. So it shouldn't take long." 

Mikado was right, "I already called Lala and mentioned we're on our way, best to not keep her waiting then. We'll go with your suggestion." 

Finding a place to park didn't take long, though the traffic and ongoing parade did make it a bit troublesome to find a spot on such a crowded day, they got lucky and found one. Walking in a group, Emiya took note of an odd detail about this parade. "These people look familiar." 

Most of the participants at the back were actually students, boys from his school who wore clothes that were completely different from the main group at the front who were wearing pure white robes carrying small shrines. The group at the back were instead wearing all red, carrying large banners rather than shrines and puppets attached to a pole that looked suspiciously similar to him. 

"Isn't that the Anti-Emiya Alliance?" Rin recognized them right as he did, their voices sounding clearer now that they were closer. 

"Rise up brothers! Rise up and we shall put an end to this fucking playboy before he steals all the hot sexy women in school and leaves nothing for us!" 

"Ooh!" 

"Let's spread awareness of his misdeeds so that other girls don't fall for his trap!" 

"Oooh!!" 

"We all want a cute girlfriend as well!" 

"Ooooh!!!" 

"We all want a sexy or cute girlfriend who won't constantly remind us that we should exercise just to look more like that muscular bastard! And make offhand remarks on how your stomach doesn't have abs like a certain fucking bastard who can't help but ALWAYS SHOW THEM OFF DURING PHYSICAL EDUCATION CLASS!" 

"Oooooh!!!!"

Their voices grew louder and louder till they even overshadowed the main parade, leading some to join their march instead without even fully knowing what was going on. 

"We'll all want a loyal girlfriend who won't dump you just because you made an offhand remark of Emiya not being that good-looking and potentially a creep that stalks girls for his own devious schemes and faking his personality! Damn it Sa-chan! Why did you leave me!?" 

"Oooooo!!!!!!" 

"It's all his fault!" 

"HIS FAULT!" 

"We'll avenge our fallen brethren who were mercilessly beaten by him in the past!" 

"AVENGE!" 

"We'll dethrone him and take back all of our women!" 

"KILL!!"

"KILL!!"

"KILL!!" 

"…"

Watching this entire scene happening before him, Emiya felt lightheaded. Unable to believe just how idiotic and persistent the male students in this world were with their grudges and jealousy! At this rate, they hated him more than a certain King of Heroes. 

"Pft-hahahaha!" Of course, Mikado couldn't hold back her laugh, grabbing onto his shoulders as support as she continued laughing. "Oh my! Oh my oh my! It's never boring with you around. To have your own personal parade that is dedicated to hating you! That's definitely a first." 

"…"

He didn't have anything to say, what could he even say in this scenario? They were all out for blood for something he didn't do. 

Steal their girlfriends? He wasn't in a real relationship, to begin with! 

Even at school he rarely spoke with any girls other than a handful!

'What the hell is wrong with these kids,' their combined hatred was enough to make him sense genuine bloodlust. It wouldn't be surprising if, at the end of the day, they made a giant straw man sculpture with his face and then proceeded to burn it down. 

Rin hummed next to him, "They forgot to add some white color to your puppets' hair — Saki-sama will love it. I should buy one, they are selling out quickly. I'll be back in a bit." Without even giving him time to respond, she went over and bought three.

Why three?

Then she started to browse for other things.

Right, other than chanting for his demise, they were also seeking merchandise of their alliance with some of their items being shirts, bandanas, puppets of him crying, and pins with their logo.

Who was even financing all of this?

"Let's… Let's just go. I don't want to lose the last of my sanity with these idiots."

Hopefully, it was just then venting and not making it an issue for him to deal with sooner or later. 

"Hey, isn't that Emiya over there!?" 

"—!?" 

It happened in an instant, the previously boisterous crowd all turned instantly quiet with everyone's gaze now fully focused on none other than himself. The sudden attention made his hair stand up and a sense of dread spread all over. 

His hands twitched but managed to remain calm when he remembered that his face wasn't exactly that of his original self and his figure was still clearly feminine. So with a cold face, he stared back at the one who shouted at his face and let him have a good look at his appearance. 

"Ah, you idiot!" One of the boys holding a large banner smacked the boy behind the head. "That's clearly not Emiya!"

"My bad! But doesn't she look suspiciously like him?" 

"You're… you're right. The red hair with some white strands and slightly tanned skin… wait… I heard Emiya and Yuuki Rito had a sister." 

"Wasn't he adopted or something?" 

The more he listened, the less Emiya liked where the conversation between these people started to head. 

"You can't deny the possibility, but damn, she's super cute with a really sexy body, and are you seeing those boobs? She's even hanging out with Mikado sensei! My eyes have been blessed!" 

"She looks to be around our age as well! Are we getting another girl in class!?" 

"Wow, Emiya looks like shit but at least his sister is hot. She's also tall!" 

"Do you think she has a boyfriend?" 

Emiya resisted the urge to throw up. "Let's leave." He urged the nurse behind him, grabbing her by the hand and making his way to his house till his path ended up being blocked by a group of boys who looked at him with a creepy stare. 

"Wow, you're super cute! My name is Hideyoshi, nice to meet you, Emiya's sister! What's your name?" 

"Hey! Stop butting in front! I was about to talk to her first!" 

"My name is Kaneki! Want to exchange Line contacts?" 

"Hi! I'm…"

"Want to grab a drink with…"

"Was your dad a farmer? Cause…"

One by one, they all started to get more rowdy and started to circle him. He instinctively pushed Mikado away, letting Rin take her away before things got too messy. "Listen, I'm not interested in any relationship and would prefer if you all get the hell away from me and give me some space." 

His usual expression would work and intimidate them to back off, but this time it just made them even more excited! 

"Seriously, leave me alone, or else you'll regret it." 

Unfortunately, just like before his threats had the opposite effect, making some who didn't know about personal space get a bit too close for comfort. "That's it! I've had enough!" With his patience reaching its limit, Emiya Traced the same shinai he used against the fools in the past without worrying about them witnessing his Magecraft since their eyes were clearly focused on his chest.

Which in turn made him even more fed up with these idiots!

"I'll save you!" 

"Eurgh!" 

Fortunately… or unfortunately, before his weapon struck the closest boy's face, a fist beat him to it and sent the guy flying. This surprised him, as a head of bluish-white hair filled his vision. 

"Ren?" He called out the boy's name, having not seen him anywhere around here initially. 

"Fret not!" The boy shouted, sweeping his hair backward, trying to mimic his style, and going down on one knee whilst facing him. His expression was completely different from the last time he behaved anything like this, looking at him with an emotion Emiya hadn't seen in a while. 

'Don't tell me this idiot…' 

"It is the duty of a prince to protect those who he holds dear, just like you've taught me." Ren started to speak out loud, ignoring the glares around him and grabbing the back of Emiya's hand as his lips started to draw closer. "I shall protect you against all evil in this difficult period, so rest assured and use my back as your shield, fair maiden. Let us seal this deal with a ki—Mmph!!" 

Torashinai whistled through the air and struck Ren right in the middle of his face, Emiya's eyes having turned deadly with his actions holding the intent to kill. 

"I've had enough. You're all beyond saving." 

"Oof!" Ren's body struck the wall with a loud thud, taking down a few other boys in the path. Somehow, he managed to stay conscious despite having the large crimson red line marked on his face and even showed a complicated face. "This… this sensation… I'm so happy." He said as he lost consciousness, his words stirring up the crowd. 

"Woah, did you see his face? It looked like he enjoyed getting hit!" 

"I got goosebumps when she made that face, she looks hotter than before."

"Wait, is she one of those sadists who enjoys hitting others and gets into a relationship with a guy who enjoys getting hurt? Is she testing us?" 

"Oooh, that must be it. She's also carrying a shinai, she must be one of those…"

"Hey! I like getting hit! It feels good and I don't cry!" 

"Stop cutting through! You're just trying to get her attention!" 

"Shut up!" 

"Hit me! I'll pass your test!" 

"None of you are making sense…" Emiya watched them with a vacant stare, another Torashinai forming within his left hand. He was this close to just bringing out Kanshou and Bakuya, since clearly, these people couldn't possibly be human with a twisted way of thinking like that. They weren't affected by Celine's pollen, and honestly, he just didn't care about trying to find a logical explanation. "I won't hold back like last time." 

His form blurred, everyone losing sight of him for a brief second. 

Pa!

Pa!

Pa!

Pa!

The sound of the wooden weapons hitting multiple targets at the same time echoed across the street. Emiya appeared on another spot, standing on top of another unconscious boy with more falling-like flies around him. All have the same pained yet euphoric expression plastered on their faces. 

"She's definitely testing us! Get out of my way! I'll be the one to win her over!" 

And thus, pure chaos ensued, all of them behaving like starving beasts who caught a whiff of blood, all charging at him with strange and disgusting faces while looking at him — thus making his eyes grow colder until he saw them as lesser humans. 

A boy without a shirt around his size rushed forward, his arms outstretched to grab him. Emiya ducked low, his body reacting on instinct. With a sharp twist of his torso, he swung the wooden swords upward in a powerful arc, connecting with the boy's chin. The attack also left his opponent open for a vicious kick to his solar plexus. The boy crumpled to the ground, gasping for breath for a brief moment until his face sank from Emiya's knees crushing it. 

"Tch," there was no time to celebrate, with more waves coming after him, he had no choice but to abandon the head-on approach due to their sheer number and possibly overwhelming him. 'I'm still not used to this body, might as well not take any risks.'

"That kick was so sexy!" 

"Shut up!" 

Pa!

Pa!

Pa!

Pa!

His assault continued, jumping from one place to another, using their heads as springboards to travel across the masses. 'This body is also surprisingly lightweight and more nimble than I gave it credit for.' 

His moves were faster yet they lacked the usual strength. Yet no matter how many tried to overwhelm him, he managed to escape and counterattack with more kicks. 

From one down to ten, each time someone fell two more came out of nowhere to replace the previous fallen ones. Continuing to shout like fanatics thinking he was testing them for some reason! "You have all lost your minds!" 

Magical Energy continued to flow across his body, his speed going beyond anything humanly possible, yet no one even seemed to notice, their cheering growing louder despite Emiya mercilessly striking them down like rats. 

How were there so many people in the Anti-Emiya Alliance? He was pretty sure there weren't even this many boys in his school.

"—!" 

While he was in the middle of causing more bone fractures with his attacks, Emiya felt his senses scream at him of an approaching danger. The world around him slowed down till he saw a large shadow looming over him coming from the sky. Eyes going upwards, he watched with pure disgust and horror at a large lump of fat lacking any kind of clothing falling straight towards him. 

Those beady black eyes stared at him with pure joy along with a flushed face. 

"Wow! Another new cute girl! Want to become a student in my high school and have some fun with m—A-Argh!" Torashinai's tip struck the criminal right in the middle of his face and was immediately followed by Emiya's heel arching upwards and kicking the weapon's handle with enough strength to shatter it into thousands of bamboo shards. "Waaaahhhhhh!"

Somehow that principal remained awake despite suffering from an attack that should have cracked his skull. 

'If I turn my attention away from him for an instant, he'll just come back.' Emiya thought, getting more frustrated at how long it was taking to take out this many people. Even in his anger, the Counter Guardian was still calm enough to understand he couldn't just start raining down weapons to take them all out swiftly. That was going too far and in an open area like this, risked his powers getting even more exposed. "I'll just use him as a weapon then!" 

Using the crowd as a cover, he Traced a chain with each end having a long nail attached to it. Throwing one end to wrap it around the principal's ankle before pulling him downwards.

Bam!

His large body served to crush a large group of boys faster than Emiya had done previously. "Eh, what's this?" Not caring about his students, the principal just looked down at the chain with confusion. 

"Ha!" Another powerful force pulled him sideways, the chain firmly connected to his ankle while his body served as a bonafide wrecking ball. 

Emiya had to admit, that these chains were very useful in such a scenario, he never had to use them like this. He wondered how Rider would feel looking at her weapon used in such a manner, knowing her, she wouldn't mind. 

"Awawawawa! Sooorrrrryyyy!!!" The principal continued to cry out, having his body crash into various things other than the students. Slamming against the road, walls, and cars, he struck everything and showed no signs of suffering any major injuries! That guy had to be an alien with a body as resilient as that! 

Crash! 

This time, a large crate came flying and crashed into the remaining students who were trying to approach him from behind. The projectile was thrown from the other side where Emiya spotted multiple fists formed from hair rained down upon the crowd. This was followed by seeing Rin jumping from one head to another like he did before, taking down the masses till both girls reached him.

"What are you two doing? Where is Mikado?" 

"Yuuki Mikan asked me to buy the plushies." The first one to answer was Yami, showing him a plastic bag filled with the Anti-Emiya Alliance merchandise. "Then I saw a gathering of perverts… I hate perverts." She emphasized that by merging all of the smaller fists into a large one that struck the ground and easily smashed more than half of the remaining boys. 

"Why the hell is Mikan interested in these things? Actually, how did she even learn of the Anti-Emiya Alliance parade…?" 

Questions for another time. 

He then turned his attention to Rin whose face was exactly the same as last he saw her, "I wanted to try out your way of fighting. I only managed to jump on two heads and then lost my balance. Don't worry about Mikado-sensei, she's bringing over the car." 

Of course, that was what was going through her mind. 

"Never mind, just help me deal with this horde of idiots." Both nodded, each going to their side and handling the decreasing number of students which by now, was nothing more than a few dozen. 

Seconds passed, turned into minutes till the once boisterous street turned deadly quiet with no more than a few screams of pain echoing here and there. 

The principal's body, now no longer serving any use, was thrown into a nearby gutter, not even worried whether he was alive or dead given how long that man kept screaming. Rider's chains fell from his hold onto the ground, breaking down into particles of light and disappearing along with the only remaining Torashinai. 

Looking at the afternoon sun whilst surrounded by a sea of unconscious teenage boys and even plenty of adults amongst them. 

"Hah… Hah… " Surprisingly, this ridiculous battle ended up making him winded. Taking a lungful of air while some sweat trickled down his forehead. "Maybe… hah… maybe I went a bit too hard on them." Most of his effort went into using his makeshift wrecking ball, having to use Reinforcement the entire time just to fling around that fat lard's body. 

"Here," just as he took some time to gather his energy, a person approached him and handed him a blue slushie of sorts. "It's blueberry flavored, they didn't have any iced coffee. You fought for a while, you must be thirsty." 

Mikado had returned, her car at the edge of the sea of 'corpses'.

"…Thanks." Emiya didn't decline the offer, as he really did feel a bit thirsty. "Where did you even get this?" 

"They were selling refreshments near the merchandise store." 

He rolled his eyes, "Hah, of course they were." At this point, he wasn't even surprised. "Hey, Mikado. Instead of worrying about me, perhaps you should do some checkups on the boys in our school and see what's wrong with their brains. At this point, they'll all end up in jail for sexual harassment, say nothing of the principal." 

She chuckled helplessly, before slurping her drink, "I admit they do tend to be rowdy, but even this is too much for them. I'll have to look into it." 

At least he wasn't the only one to recognize what was wrong with them. Shaking his head, he took a sip and immediately spit out the contents — even surprising Mikado. An ugly expression formed on his face as he looked at the drink in his hands, "There's alcohol in this. Someone spiked it." 

"What?" Mikado, equally surprised, snatched the cup from his hand and also took a sip from the same straw, her eyes widening in surprise as she then turned to face the many bruised-up faces around them. "Well, this explains quite a bit… how did no one notice this?" 

"Let's just have the police handle this, I'm too tired to deal with these perverted brats."

Poof! 

Right on cue, a dense cloud covered Emiya's body followed by the sound of clothes ripping apart. At first, Mikado was worried that something bad happened to him till she noticed parts of the clothes Emiya wore previously fall to the ground and a large figure emerging from the cloud taller than his prior female self — coughing. 

"W-What?" He spoke with a gruff voice, the previously feminine voice now completely gone for good, his hair had gotten shorter like they were previously and his muscular chest soon greeted her eyes. "Finally…"

Without even realizing it, her eyes went downwards and a small smile graced her face coupled with a rare blush. 

"Ara, look who's back. You definitely are a grown man. You should consider yourself proud of being above average." 

------------------

The next 5 chapters of Snafu, and my other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters, Steel Eyed Faker soon to be 3 chapters, Hound having 3 and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.