Tohsaka Rin inwardly sighed, her twintails fluttering back and forth as she walked casually through the store.

The middle schooler had been trying her best to keep an elegant appearance while in the midst of grocery shopping, but she had the distinct impression she was failing.

In spite of trying to clear her mind while also restocking her pantry, the Tohsaka heir couldn't help but reflect on the meeting that took place at the beginning of the week and the cause of it.

The strange crater that was discovered months ago in the forest at the city outskirts had been nothing but a wild goose chase. Just like she and that fake priest initially assessed, the sheer disruption of the energy in the area had made it so that any possible means of magically tracking the source had been essentially useless.

It was so bad it was even affecting physical objects. An example of this was her watch for instance which was reacting whenever she investigated that area, causing its hands to spin wildly like a rampant windmill.

In the end, their only clue was some tire tracks, the kind that belonged to something small, like a cart. That sort of lead could only take them so far, backtracking them to reaching the paved ground, then the trail was cut off.

No matter what spells she had learned in her studies, nothing was particularly useful for this current situation. If only she would have felt the surge of power that day, maybe she could have rushed there and caught the culprit in the act.

Kirei can preach all he wanted, no pun intended, it's not her fault the whole thing happened early in the morning while she was muddled. So she was a heavy sleeper, that isn't a crime! If some outrageous anomaly was going to happen couldn't it have happened at a decent time later in the day or night instead of some ungodly hour in the morning!

Besides, Kirei has no right to judge her for being late and missing the culprit as well since he did the very same thing too. So what if it was during his sermon at church, she was sure he could have come up with some explanation to the attendants and excused himself.

A part of her quite frankly believes the former executor did it on purpose just so he can give her a hard time.

Needless to say, no real progress had been made on their part with this mystery and it annoyed her to no end. She was the Second Owner of this territory, it was her responsibility to make sure nothing supernaturally related happened on her turf without her knowledge, otherwise, she can be held accountable should something go horribly bad.

If all of that would've been the bulk of her problems, it may have been more tolerable, what really got under her skin was the very thing that took place just recently.

The worst part had to be the meeting with Matou Zouken.

By the old agreement that had been made between her ancestors and the Matous, they were more or less tenants within her territory.

Except without the benefit of paying rent much to Rin's disappointment.

That being said, they have the right to know of any potentially supernatural or serious incidents taking place in the city as it may also affect them in some shape or form, and Zouken wanted to be kept updated on the situation. Instead of just staying home and waiting for a letter like all good retired senile old men do, he wanted to be told in person.

Something Rin wanted to avoid like the plague.

If there was something that she and her 'guardian' agreed on, it was that Matou Zouken's very presence was something that disturbed them immensely. He may keep up the facade of a frail and harmless old man in public, but to those in the know of the supernatural or have connections, he would flash snippets of something that was utterly inhuman within those sunken beady eyes.

That said, she kept everything during the meeting to a minimum, being terse and direct with the facts. The faster the old fossil was out of her house, the better.

Zouken for his part didn't really seem to be bothered by the lack of progress, not one bit. Not even when he shared about how his own investigation was going and that it also lacked progress.

Apparently, the surge of power had managed to affect his control over his familiars to some extent, causing him to be unable to scatter and search the area in time.

In conclusion, this meeting did not result in any breakthroughs and was basically fruitless with no pertinent findings for this strange case.

Though if that was really the case and Zouken was already aware of it, him coming here in person seemed rather redundant to her. Honestly, if she didn't know any better, Rin would believe he was just looking for a reason to get out of the house.

At the end of the meeting with him, she felt the urge to take a long shower, trying to get rid of this slimy sensation she had been experiencing all throughout their conversation.

However when Zouken left though, she experienced a different type of urge, Rin just wanted to cave his face in.

"By the way, Tohsaka-san, aren't you being awfully cold towards Sakura?" The ancient magus smiled all the way to his ears, something dark and disgusting shining in his beady eyes. "I'm sure she would be happy if you at the very least would act as if she exists."

When he was gone Rin kicked the couch in pure rage.

That thing knew all too well of the complicated situation her family had faced years ago and the rift between her and Sakura, in spite of all of that, the old worm had the gall to reopen that old wound.

It would have been so easy to just blow his head off while he was leaving… but that would only make their already difficult situation worse, so like always, she had to bottle up her emotions inside.

Although strangely, if she did go through with it a part of her felt like Kirei would've been more than happy to help her clean up the mess afterward.

There was also a part of her that believed that the old skeleton was hiding something. That he knew something important about the investigation and wasn't sharing with them.

A tired sigh escaped Rin's lips as she made her way through the store aisles, it was no good letting that fossil rile her up, she had better things to do.

Like deciding what she will make for dinner tonight, inwardly swearing never to let Kirei near her kitchen ever again after what she experienced.

She gets it!

The guy loves eating mapo tofu, good for him, but stop making it every single time it's your turn to cook. She is certain that eating at the level of oil and spiciness that he partakes in is lethal to one's health.

How that damn priest hadn't burnt his heart out yet from constantly eating like that was beyond her.

Rin swore, the man was either a masochist that enjoys the self-inflicted pain from eating a dish so spicy it felt like it would burn your very soul or a sadist that takes extreme pleasure from seeing others eat his food and wither in pain while suffering from dehydration.

… Maybe both.

Well, none of that today. Today she will make something light without any trace of heat in it, and she won't share any of it with Kirei.

Oh, half-off eggs! Nice!

She reached for the last carton of eggs, but something buzzed past her at high speed, sending her hair flying. Rin blinked confused, there were no more eggs in the store aisle.

Her head quickly turned to the side and identified the source of her bafflement. There a few meters away, the culprit was rushing back and forth from shelf to shelf, her eggs in his basket.

Said culprit paused, looked at her for a moment then bowed.

"Sorry about that, but I'm in a real hurry!"

Just as she was about to reply, he started dashing once more around the supermarket.

Rin couldn't help but stand still and be utterly dumbfounded.

What just happened? And why did that kid seem vaguely familiar?

Wait! She knew that mop of red hair! It was that one kid at her school that always hangs out with that annoying Shinji.

How can she not recognize him, those two stick out like sore thumbs? How many people have natural red and blue hair respectively here in Japan?

She couldn't recall his name, the two of them never actually being formally introduced.

In spite of feeling a tad annoyed that he beat her to the last egg carton, Rin somehow was more curious about what made him dash in such a hurry.

Hot…

It was so damn hot…

Waver Velvet honestly didn't know how hot the summer really was or how humid the air felt in Japan. The last time the British citizen was in the land of the rising sun, it was the middle of winter.

Traveling was strange like that at times. When he boarded the plane at Heathrow airport, it was cold and raining outside. But after he finally landed at Oita airport, as if to mock him it was so damn hot and sunny.

Summer barely began but he already felt like he was melting. He really should've checked the weather forecast before departing, that would've at least given him the idea of choosing some lighter clothes instead of the suit and trench coat he picked. Even after taking the trenchcoat, blazer, tie off, and unbuttoning his shirt, he was still sweating like a pig.

He really should have dressed more lightly.

Though, if he were completely honest, what clothes he chose for this trip was hardly at the top of his list of concerns at the moment.

After that strange and threatening conversation on his computer had concluded, the long-haired man kept contemplating it and couldn't help but try and figure out what was amiss here.

Call him paranoid, but considering his life as a magus, his experiences in the Fourth Holy Grail War, almost a decade as a member of the Clock Tower, and surviving his position as a Lord El-Melloi II the man had developed a sort of intuitive sense when it comes to 'shady' things.

The whole situation to him just screamed that something was off but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

Whoever this contact of his was, they definitely weren't ordinary, that much he was sure.

He did have a student that was more tech-savvy than he was and that he consulted on this matter, intentionally omitting key factors, like the fact that he was more or less being blackmailed.

If anything, he wanted to know if there was a way to locate whoever this mysterious individual was. Fortunately, his student did not question him too much about it and agreed to inspect his computer and try to look for any clues.

The results were rather… concerning.

His student wasn't an IT genius by any means, but he knew more than most, and the way he paled and sweated by the end was just screaming something was wrong. He used a ton of words and terminology Waver didn't quite understand, but the gist of it was that whoever this person was, they had left absolutely no trace.

No matter what he did, it was like there was never a conversation on his computer, to begin with.

Then there was the matter of what happened with the commercial screen down the street from his apartment. Waver asked his student how difficult it would be to take control of it.

What he learned from that, made him grow all the more anxious about whoever his blackmailer was. From what Waver managed to put together, this person was far more resourceful when it came to modern technology available to the public than anyone had a right to be.

For all, he knew they might be some sort of technological genius that had yet to make themselves public… a thought that was far more concerning than one would initially think.

Technology had been advancing far too quickly in recent years, far more than the magus community liked to admit or even think about.

It was growing more and more difficult to do cover-ups as computers and telecommunication that are able to prove the existence of the supernatural were becoming more and more advanced and available for everyday people.

It was for that reason that the Clock Tower had recruited people of high interest within that field in order to have consultants when such matters became a problem for them.

Take cameras and video recorders for instance.

The Clock Tower had to task several groups to infiltrate and make sure that production companies followed specific schematics when building said devices, to ensure that in the off case that a person was to encounter something supernaturally related, even if they were to take a photo or film it, nothing incriminating will appear later on when viewing.

It was for reasons like this that so-called 'ghost photos' were far more prevalent in the previous decades.

All of that aside, Waver has been trying to develop a profile of the person who contacted him, to anticipate what may take place during the meeting.

The fact that the person in question picked their meeting spot to be Fuyuki city of all places really set off alarms in the back of his head.

Were they toying with him perhaps, asking him to go to the one place that he held so much bitterness towards?

Was it merely a convenience, as it was a city he was familiar with?

Was this perhaps a clue to the identity of the person he was supposed to access?

As it stood, Fuyuki city was the home to only two known mage families. First was the Tohsaka, who were the ones acting as the Second Owner of this territory, and the second was the Matou who were allowed residence here by the Second Owner.

Could it be that one of the current generations of mages from those families was his client?

That was a distinct possibility to consider.

From what he learned over the years, the previous Head of the Tohsaka family had died during the Fourth Holy Grail War, leaving only a single heir behind. The father may have failed to teach their child the proper intricacies of their craft before passing away, leaving the child to struggle alone in vain.

The Matou's were also another possibility. Rumors have been circulating at the Clock Tower how the Matou, formerly known as the Makiri, has been slowly declining throughout the generations in terms of their bloodline. The once renowned family of Russian origins was now a mere shadow of its former glory.

Perhaps the current heir might be suffering the result of that degradation and is facing difficulties in mastering the mystic arts.

Many possibilities to consider.

Only one real answer.

One truth prevails.

The magus stepped out of the taxi after paying, right in front of the address he was provided. Upon seeing the house, he couldn't help but take in the architecture, it was very traditional, so to say. While many of the buildings in the city have a large western influence in their design, this one, from the exterior at least, was the picture of what a traditional Japanese house looked like, though perhaps calling it a house may have been a stretch, it was more akin to an estate.

Waver made his way to the main entrance and knocked on the front door. A minute or so later, someone opened it for him.

"Welcome to Fuyuki, Mister Velvet."

The British magus took a moment before he answered, the way he was addressed was something that made some dots connect in his mind. "So I take it you are the person I talked to on my computer?"

The foreign woman in front of him nodded stoically. "Correct."

Okay… all previous theories that he'd been going over up until just now went down the drain. He was now trying to piece together how the Einzbern family was connected to all of this.

Afterall, why else would there be one of their homunculi in front of him?

The very moment he saw this girl, it was like he was encountering that white-haired woman from almost a decade ago once more.

They obviously weren't the same person, that much obvious, but the similarities between them were more than a few.

She stepped aside and gestured with her hand. "Please come inside."

"Thank you." Without much time to waste, he did as instructed, mentally being grateful that the inside of the house was much cooler than the outside.

As they made their way into the living room, the woman set herself on a pillow at a nearby table. "Please have a seat."

Waver put his luggage and clothes aside, taking a seat in front of the beautiful woman, feeling a tad uncomfortable with the position. He actually forgot how people in this country had a habit of sitting directly on the floor and how odd it felt.

"I hope there haven't been any issues with your arrival."

"No, everything went smoothly for the most part." He shook his head. "If anything I could hardly get a wink of sleep, the passenger next to me snored for most of the flight."

That was an understatement, if the sound that came out of that person would have been weaponized, it could easily cut logs with it.

"I see." She nodded.

Waver ran a hand through his long locks, fixing his disheveled strands. Once that was done, he narrowed his eyes on his host. "Now then, shall we talk about the nature of our business?"

"Not yet." She shook her head. "We still have to wait for the proprietor of the estate to arrive."

"Is that so?" That made sense, after all, this transaction involved them. "Any idea how long that will be?"

"If I'm not wrong, he should arrive-"

Before the girl could finish her sentence, the door was slammed open and a red-haired teen rushed inside. "2B! I'm so sorry I'm late! How long do we have before the guest arri-"

He froze in his tracks as his eyes locked with the foreigner in his room. He was far later than he expected.

Putting the two huge bags of groceries aside, the teen immediately bowed to him. "Oh! Hello!"

"Uh, hello?"

"You must be Velvet-san, I'm so sorry I wasn't here to greet you, but the line at the butcher was just crazy."

"I see…?"

The teen turned on his heel, directing a look at the white-haired woman. "2B please keep him company until I change. I'll be right back!"

Just like he barged out of nowhere, he similarly dashed out, leaving Waver quite baffled by what just happened.

"… Who was that?" The Brit asked curiously, as things were not exactly the way he speculated this meeting would go.

"The person I spoke of." 2B informed him.

"Not exactly what I was expecting." Waver admitted as he cupped his chin, if anything he had imagined much grimmer circumstances in his mind when he was contemplating his client. "Given the seriousness of your messages, I imagined he would look far worse for health."

2B nodded, seeing the logic in his statement. "That is understandable, but make no mistake, I am certain he does require the expertise of a third party."

"If you say so. He should be pretty desperate to rely on such methods to contact me."

There was a moment of silence before the woman in front of him replied. "... In regards to that matter, he does not know the details of our contract, and I will prefer if that were to remain the case."

Waver's expression was calm, noticing that it appeared the two of them weren't exactly on the same page from certain points. "So… he doesn't know you more or less blackmailed me into helping?"

Sure, he was still getting paid for his work, but he was still strong armed into this.

"... He may not agree with such methods." 2B remarked, that her visage was perfectly calm in spite of the implications. "However, I find them necessary if needed."

"I would once again advise you to be careful with whom you attempt such methods in the future." Waver reiterated the warning he gave the first time she contacted him. "What was it he called you when he entered… 2B?"

The android paused and considered what she should tell this man. "... Publicly I go by the name of Iris Nines. Privately, I am designated as 2B."

Waver pondered on this name he was given.

2B?

That was hardly a name, and this came from a man who dealt with people with the most ridiculous names.

Was that some kind of codename? If so, what did it stand for?

Production number perhaps for her homunculus batch?

Curious inquiry, but not a particularly important one. He had bigger concerns to worry about, such as the host that just returned.

"Sorry for the wait." The teen greeted him with a bright smile, now changed and dry, running back home with the groceries in this heat really did a number on him.

"It's fine."

With that out of the way, Shirou made his way to the kitchen with the groceries. "Anyway, I'm so glad you were able to visit Velvet-san, I was just baffled when 2B told me she found you."

"Is that so?" A dark brow rose curiously, wondering what this woman actually told him about their conversation.

"Are you thirsty, have you had anything to eat yet?"

That was a very tempting offer.

Normally he had the policy to avoid partaking in anything offered to him from magi he doesn't know or trust to a certain extent… then again, the boy before him didn't give anything remotely similar to the vibe that he got from traditional magi. "If you have anything cold, I would appreciate it."

"Right away." Shirou said in an almost chirp-like tone. "If you're hungry I can whip something up real quick."

Another tempting offer, but that one can be delayed. "Food can wait, I'd prefer to talk business first."

"Okay."

When the tea was served, Shirou finally took a seat next to 2B, joining the group properly. Waver however took a moment to cast a quick spell on the cup's contents, there was no reaction, meaning there was no tampering with it like poisons or curses.

With his test done, he finally quenched his thirst.

"That hit the spot." Waver sighed in bliss, he honestly forgot how good cold barley tea was. "If I'm not too curious, may I know who I have the pleasure of working for?"

Shirou blinked a few times before he started rubbing the back of his neck. "Ah, sorry about that, it slipped my mind. "

With a slight bow, he presented himself. "I'm Shirou, Emiya Shirou."

Like a movie that was paused, Waver froze on the spot mid-way as he was attempting to take another sip of his tea.

Pupils dilated as the eyes refused to blink.

Images that he suppressed from nearly a decade ago, resurfaced violently in his mind.

The clashing of the peanicle of weaponry.

The image of the room filled with the mutilated corpses of so many innocent children.

The sound of reality itself shattering, unable to bear the might of the mightiest of Phantasms, the army of old swallowed in the vacuum of the void.

The red eyes of the monster that could destroy the world itself if he so desired.

"Mister Velvet."

The sound of his name snapped him back to reality, the lump of air that was stuck in his throat finally unclogging, allowing him to breathe. Cold beads of sweat dripping on his back.

… He should've known that this trip would be a nightmare.

Of all names he expected to hear about, that one name was quite literally the worst one possible.

"Emiya… " That name was muttered slowly, mind hoping that it was not the name that he was told. "As in, Emiya Kiritsugu by any chance?"

With that question, it was Shirou's turn to get overwhelmed by shock. "You... you knew my dad?"

Blood ran cold in Waver's veins. It was a long shot, but he couldn't help but put all of his hope that it was all just a name coincidence, having his fingers crossed that maybe 'Emiya' wasn't a unique name around these parts. But he should have known better and realized things sooner.

The approach that was used to contact and blackmail him.

The city he was last seen operating in.

The Einzbern homunculus.

And now a boy sharing the same name and calling him father.

Far too many coincidences as was the case with that last point of fact being particularly damning.

"... Your dad?" He spoke slowly, almost mechanical, carefully standing up from his seat. "Honestly I should have expected this, only he is the kind of person to rely on such unprecedented methods."

There were very few mages that had partaken in utilizing modern machinery. Among the known ones, there was one man above all that stood out from the rest.

Probably by how efficiently he utilized said modern methods to mercilessly murder his fellow mages.

Emiya Kiritsugu, the Magus Killer.

It goes without saying, Waver was on very thin ice… no the ice was already cracking and he might drown at the smallest twitch of his body.

"You can come out, Emiya Kiritsugu, there is no need to hide, " Waver said in a neutral tone, his hands held up in surrender, making sure he didn't show any sign of aggression. "Just tell me what this is about and we can negotiate on amicable terms."

Waver was pretty scared… oh who was he kidding, he was shitting bricks right now. If the Magus Killer himself was behind this, it most likely will end with someone dead or at the very least physically or mentally scarred.

What Waver had been repeating in his mind over and over like a prayer is that hopefully, the man isn't after his life. He had no doubt in his mind that if Emiya Kiritsugu was after his head, he would've been in a body bag already.

This couldn't be a simple matter of settling old scores.

Considering that he doesn't have a bullet in his brain yet, the current situation is telling him that his services are required, so killing him would be redundant… for now at least.

All he could do is keep on a brave facade and hope to not regress to his old whiny self.

Strangely, the so-called son seemed rather confused by his actions. "Ah… Velvet-san, I think you're mistaken here, Kiritsugu-"

"He is dead." 2B stated, cutting Shirou off, her voice devoid of any emotion. "Emiya Kiritsugu is dead."

Mechanically, Wavers' neck turned to the blindfolded woman.

"... Dead?" The word just felt wrong, it simply did not match with that man's name, it was like saying that Hitler was nice, or that Satan was a great landlord, it just didn't fit in the context of that sentence. "Him… of all people, is dead?"

Shirou's eyes would drift to the side, the cheerfulness he had shown earlier evaporating almost instantly. "... Yeah, it's been about three years since his passing."

"Are you sure?" Waver double-checked, it may have been rude to ask, but there have been a ton of reports of the Magus Killer's alleged death over the past decades that turned out to be a boatload of crap. "Did you really see his dead body?"

There were many rumors about the man's whereabouts after he vanished.

Many people speculated that after the events of eight years ago, he went into hiding. Theories such as he perhaps suffered grave injuries that forced him to retire, or that he is biding his time, waiting for another shot at the fabled Grail.

There were many other plausible theories about what may have happened to him, however, the idea of him finally kicking the bucket was the least believable one.

Amber-like eyes struggled for a bit, holding back the painful memories that replayed in his mind… the image of Kiritsugu's cold lifeless body on the back porch. "... I did."

There was a moment of pause and Waver saw it, the familiar look of loss in the boy's features. Some emotions were easy to fake, others not so much.

… It seemed that hell froze over and the Magus Killer really was dead.

Yet, it strangely didn't seem to make him feel any more comfortable about the situation he found himself in.

If the son was anything like the father, he wasn't out of the woods yet.

"... I see." Waver muttered slowly, bowing his head ever so slightly. "Apologies for my insensitivity, but I had to make sure."

Whatever relationship this boy had with his father, it was clear that he cared for him and what he asked was inappropriate.

Shirou wasn't very sure how the discussion went this way. He did expect the man to mention his dad since he was the one that taught him, but not in such a manner. "... Umm, did you know the old man by any chance?"

"I didn't have the pleasure of meeting him personally, however, his name was widely known within the magus cycles."

"I had no idea." Shirou nodded, feeling a tad bewildered. "Kiritsugu didn't seem like the type to stand out."

Waver took a moment, something wasn't right, something wasn't adding up here.

"Shirou, was it?" He said his name for the first time. "From my knowledge, Emiya Kiritsugu was a capable magus in his own right, so I have to ask how is it that you are in this current situation requesting my services?"

Say what you will about the Magus Killer, but he was a man with a lot of connections. Something that Waver was certain would have come in handy and helped to solve whatever problem the Japanese youth had long before reaching out to him if only he reached out for outside help.

So why not just do that?

There could be several explanations for that.

Such as the father never getting the opportunity to share his connections with him before his death.

Or maybe the people he was on good terms with were out of his contact reach.

Or perhaps the father deliberately never shared his connections with him.

While the last one is the least probable, it would explain this apparent surprise in the boy when talking about the father.

"Well, I guess I'm a lousy student," Shirou admitted bitterly, while he wasn't a prideful person, it still didn't exactly feel good to say it. "2B here thinks there may be more to it and that's why she contacted you."

"From personal experience, there is no such thing as a lousy student, only a lousy teacher." This wasn't an exaggeration, not to brag, but Waver had many cases where he helped students improve their craft by not being a stuck-up conservative. To actually bother to think outside the box rather than teach the same thing again and again hoping it sticks. "So, what do you say we discover what the real problem is?"

Shirou blinked a couple of times. "Right now?"

"Are you nervous?"

He shook his head. "No, it just feels a bit fast."

"I'm only here for a couple of days, I'd suggest you make the most of it."

"R-Right."

He cupped his chin and started planning. "Do you have a room where you can lay down?"

"Sure, I'll show you to the guest room, right this way." Shirou stood up and made his way out of the dining area. "2B, do you mind waiting for us here?"

In all honesty, she didn't believe leaving them alone was a logical course of action. "... Are you sure?"

"Yeah, just relax until we're done."

Shirou was already grateful enough that she managed to bring Velvet-san here. That alone was huge, so he didn't want her to bother herself more than she should.

Unfortunately, this sentiment wasn't shared by 2B.

"... Very well."

2B agreed with Shirou's request. She will not leave this room until they are finished.

That however did not mean she will not take some small 'precautions'.

A connection was shortly established.

"Pod, infiltrate the guest room prepared for Mister Velvet, make sure your presence is not noticed. Keep the line connected and show me all that takes place in the room. Should any action that is threatening towards Shirou's safety be shown, you are to interfere and protect him until I arrive."

The reply came in immediately. "[Affirmative.]"

With the precautions done, the female android watched as Shirou and their guest left the room.

Unaware of what was going on through Waver Velvet's mind.

This boy was definitely a fool.

It was roughly two hours since the assessment of Shirou began, and fortunately for the former YoRHa agent, Waver Velvet never showed any signs of violence or ill intentions towards the young Emiya.

The start was something relatively simple, him asking Shirou several questions about how his body is reacting when practicing magecraft in order for him to gain a rough image of what he was dealing with.

Afterward, he made Shirou lay down and had him expose his upper half. For several minutes different areas of his exposed body were examined, his hand glowing in neon light as he made contact with the youth's body.

It would all come to an abrupt end when Waver asked him how he channels magical energy.

Waver Velvet stood up and left the room in a hurry, it wasn't long before he arrived in the dining area with a very dark expression.

"Where is Shirou?" 2B inquired, though she had footage of him in proper condition, she still wanted to hear it.

Waver didn't reply right away, he instead took a seat and pulled out a cigar, uncaring whether or not smoking was even allowed in the house. "Lying on the futon, he will be there for a bit."

"... Did something happen to him?"

The lighter clicked several times before it finally lit the cigar. "No, I just told him he needs to stay still and not move for an hour."

"Does he?"

Finally, he took a deep puff of his vice, alleviating this obnoxious headache and frustration ever so slightly. "No, but he seems to take everything I said at face value."

Far too much for his own taste.

Shirou really listened to everything he said and did not question him. Allowing himself to be so vulnerable for so long and never realizing the danger that he might be potentially in.

Any magus with a smidgeon of common sense wouldn't allow an unknown magus such as himself inside their residence in such an exposed manner like this. In many cases it was like inviting a lion into your house, sure it was happy to come in but, there was little to no guarantee that the beast won't tear you to shreds by the time it leaves.

Such a sheltered fool, if he was some person out for vengeance against his father, Shirou would have been killed over a hundred times by now.

He was really starting to question how this kid was the son of such a meticulous and ruthless man like the Magus Killer.

"Why would you tell him that?"

Black eyes narrowed at the white-haired woman. "So we can talk uninterrupted."

It didn't take long for 2B to get the implications. "… I take it you discovered what the problem is?"

That only deepened his scowl. "Yeah, I discovered what the problem is alright."

2B found this curious, such a reaction would normally indicate a failure. "Then why do you show such frustration?"

"Who wouldn't show frustration to such an asinine discovery?!" His teeth were grinding against the cigar, small pieces of its end reaching his gums. "I expected something serious or beyond my capabilities. Something that was the result of unfortunate circumstances or a genetic disorder."

The frustration bubbled away in his stomach, the sheer outrage of it all making him want to stomp his foot into the ground.

"But this-" He spat out his ruined cigar, replacing it with a new one. "He was taught the very basics of all practices wrong!"

And so his venting began.

"What took place is an insult to all magi, it's an outrage even." He fumbled away as he tried to light the new cigar, the shaking of his hand making it rather difficult. "It's like teaching a person to paddle on his bike with his hands, or teaching one to chop food with the blunt side of the knife. It's one of those things you can't begin to imagine a rational person doing let alone teaching someone else."

There were so many things he stumbled upon and encountered in his career as a magus that quite frankly made him question if ignorance was an art, but this one deserved a freaking medal.

"... In conclusion, I was correct." 2B summarized, though she did not find this revelation any less concerning than Waver, it gave her a sense of ease that there wasn't something inherently malfunctioning within Shirou's body. "Shirou methods were not the proper ones."

"They weren't, that's for sure," Waver endured the urge to chomp on his new cigar, somehow this whole ordeal made him forget altogether the fear he felt earlier knowing that he was dealing with Emiya Kiritsugu's family.

If the problem was discovered, this meant they could advance in fixing it.

"… What was the cause of his problem?" 2B asked.

Waver paused before replying, given the fact that such a basic mistake had gone unsolved by this woman, it only meant she also was severely lacking in the proper knowledge.

She was completely blind, just as much as her red-haired friend was.

"How much do you know about the inner workings of the mages?"

2B pondered upon this for a moment. "Not enough it would seem."

"Figures." He huffed in mild annoyance, it was a new thing for him to deal with such a lack of basic skills. "I'll try to explain things as simply as I can."

Very simple.

He will leave most of the details and heavy subjects for later, for now, he needed to get a clear image across.

"The most basic concept of practicing magecraft of any kind is harnessing magical energy and utilizing it to enact mysteries." He lifted his arm to demonstrate, turning on his circuits, a glowing pattern manifesting on the member. "To do so, the core requirement is for the person to be in possession of magic circuits, metaphysical nerves that a mage is born with. Your friend back there has been applying a borderline lethal alternative, that of converting his own physical nerves into pseudo-circuits."

While 2B didn't understand the intricacies of human anatomy, if her human nerves are similar to the artificial ones her kind had, this would be very… problematic.

"... How lethal is it?"

"The pain alone is so intense that no sane person would keep attempting it." Waver sneered, the question itself feeling utterly asinine to him, it was like asking how painful getting stabbed felt. "It's nothing short of a miracle that he is still in good health, by all rights he should be crippled by now or dead in the worst-case scenario for doing this for so many years."

The nervous system is one of the most complex and fragile parts of the human anatomy, just the tiniest amount of trauma if applied to a specific nerve can lead to permanent disablement.

The boy was playing Russian Roulette each time he attempted to convert his nerves into magic circuits. The kind where only one single cylinder was empty while all the others were loaded.

It just didn't make sense that this Shirou was still in a healthy physical condition. He would have expected him to be wheelchair-bound and physically impaired like that Stephen Hawking's fellow by this point.

No, that can wait, for now, he had to figure out the current problem.

"I can't even begin to fathom how he came to the conclusion that he needs to make magic circuits instead of using his own. " Waver eventually deflated, his frustration could only burn for so long. "Either Kiritsugu Emiya is quite frankly the worst teacher the magus society has ever seen or he was trying to get the boy to kill himself."

That statement alone made 2B frown beneath her visor, her opinion about Emiya Kiritsugu was already low, to begin with, and this knowledge had only made it worse.

Perhaps it is for the best that he is deceased.

2B might not have reacted very civilly with him after this revelation.

"What is the next course of action?" 2B asked.

There was a pause on Waver's features before he frowned deeply. "... I'm working on that."

With all things considered, there wasn't actually anything wrong with the boys body that needed to be fix, just his idiotic method.

Given the circumstances, he will need to come up with a crash course plan for this kid to cover up literal years' worth of educational neglect… and he was only staying three days.

Waver just knew this trip would be a pain in the ass.

He hated when he was right sometimes.

Omake: An android at Chaldea

2B was growing more curious as the days passed about the intriguing place that was Chaldea, and even more so about its many varied residents.

Besides the information she was provided upon her summoning as a servant, she was also made aware of some of the more intricate rules she was not previously in possession of.

For example, a rule she was led to believe regarding summoning a servant, was that upon each new summon, the servant was a blank slate, lacking any memories they might have gained upon a previous summon.

This notion was something 2B was bitterly familiar with, the process being quite similar to the one the YoRHa androids went through upon their destruction and subsequent data transfer to a new body.

There were however some exceptions when it came to servants. From what DaVinci told her, the summoning system Chaldea utilizes, while similar in concept to the one utilized by the system in Fuyuki, possesses certain features that the latter lacked, making it possible for certain servants summoned by it to retain memories from previous iterations.

It certainly made it convenient when 2B encountered familiar faces.

"Relay more tropes to the vanguard, they are getting killed out there!"

Such as encountering Waver Velvet once more, the man now acting as a vessel for the Chinese Heroic Spirit Zhuge Liang. Now normally from what she was told, this unique fusion between a living host and Heroic spirit there should lead to a new persona altogether upon the manifestation, one that's neither truly the host nor the heroic spirit, but a mixture of both entities, usually the heroic spirit's personality and will be the predominant ratio. So by this logic, the personality of the servant manifested in such a way should be mostly that of the Heroic Spirit, with certain traits of the hosts mixed in together.

Strangely, this didn't exactly seem to be the case with Waver Velvet, or Lord El-Melloi the Second as he insists to be called by the staff.

Much to 2B confusion, however, Waver seemed to be in complete control and unchanged for the most part.

A truly curious case.

2B couldn't help but speculate that the Heroic Spirit may have given Waver full control as he didn't want to deal with the ensuing chaos that took place in Chaldea on a daily basis.

… No, that was a ridiculous supposition.

2B did not show any reaction towards Waver's warning. "Negative, they are slowly backing away to draw the enemy in. We have artillery forces positioned on the nearby cliffs, they will rain down on them once in range."

"Ho, so when they are close by, they will take care of them and thin down the numbers, allowing the vanguard a chance to overtake." The voice of the man on her left boomed, a big grin spreading on his face. "A bold move there little missy."

Unlike Waver, the other person in the room seemed to appreciate her choices in military tactics.

That felt nice.

"A bit too bold if you ask me." Waver muttered a bit annoyed, it was too much of a gamble.

2B showed no reaction as she further elaborated. "It is necessary, the other flanks can't spare any troops, if the artillery assault goes unnoticed by the enemy forces when the counterattack begins they won't have time to react."

Quite the fools, the enemy forces, to think that they were so confident simply possessing superior numbers that they didn't consider that they were being drawn into a trap.

A strategy that Iskander, King of Conquerors gave a big thumbs up in approval.

"I like your style!" The huge Macedonian King laughed heartily. "Once the vanguard regroups the tide will shift in our favor!"

It certainly was intriguing reuniting with Waver Velvet like this, it was also intriguing to see the bond that he shared with the King of Conquerors.

Another intriguing thing was the apparent passion the mighty King had for war video games, a passion that he shared with Waver, the two of them gaming together often.

What was perhaps the most baffling was the fact that she somehow got dragged in and was currently playing with them.

They even got her a matching shirt with the one they wore. A white shirt with the emblem 'Admirable Great Tactics' on the chest.

That was nice of them.

She liked T-shirts.

It was also strangely entertaining to see Waver fume over her getting more points than him.

Some things never changed it seemed.

Iskander didn't seem to mind her winning most of the time, he seemed to welcome the challenge.

With a big grin on his face, the Macedonian ordered his troops (in the game). "Onwards!"

Author note:

So apparently Spineless Whiny Bit- I MEAN, the respectable Lord El-Melloi the second has dropped by and is having the most ridiculous case in his career.

Lets see if he has what it takes to make a mage out of Shirou.

I will try not bore you with nitty gritty stuff with shirou's magecraft training arc, since I'm sure most of you aren't here for that.

You all are probably here for 2B's plot… that big round THICCC plot of hers.

All jokes aside, I hear some of you want more conflict in this before the 5th HGW drops, but I like to think this is more about character study than the action spectacle.

Also, the HGW has enough conflict in it depending on how you twist it… and I plan some changes just to spice things up.

There's one particular idea I have for it that will either make you scream in excitement or outrage. So, yeah… still debating whether or not I will implement it.

Also, if I somehow make Rin seem a bit… easy to trigger, i blame FSN UBW Abridged… yeah…

Anyhow, let's see how Waver fixes the problem left by Kiritsugu.

FYI, I'm not bashing Kiritsugu, we all know the shit he's been through and where it led to, but to people like Waver and the others who do not know that context, this whole thing with Shirou looks really bad from their perspective.

Don't forget to review... no seriously review; I could use some constructive criticism.