"Hmm, not bad, Tree," Gilgamesh commented, swirling the wine in his glass.
"Glad you like it. Nice clothes, by the way. Good to see you're opening yourself to modern fashion," I said, motioning to Gilgamesh's leather jacket and black jeans.
"One of the few things this modern world has not failed to gain my attention with is their fashion," Gilgamesh said, sipping his wine.
We were in the café. The kids and their Servants were standing in the background, watching this happen with confused faces, except for Sakura who went behind the counter to prepare refreshments.
The wine Gilgamesh was enjoying is from Scathach. She's the one who stole it from the gods during one of her feuds with them. I may have... borrowed it without asking.
And, I also may have left a note saying it was Cu Chullain.
Obviously, she won't fall for it. She's the one who taught me how to write in my puppet body. She'll recognise the handwriting instantly. Luckily for me, she's locked up in the Land of Shadows.
"Rin, can you help Sakura prepare snacks and drinks, Emiya's family is coming to confirm Berserker's Summoning," I told the still shocked student.
"Huh? Oh, uh, okay," Rin hesitantly nodded before heading behind the counter to help her sister, all while keeping an eye on Gilgamesh.
"Zack," Artoria finally spoke, her body tense since they got here. "You... know this person?"
"Oh, yeah, Gilgamesh and I go way back," I answered.
Rin sputtered from behind the counter. "D-Don't just reveal my Servant's True Name!"
I raised an eyebrow at her before turning to Gilgamesh. "Hey, Gil, do you care?"
"Does it look I care to you, Tree?" Gilgamesh, as expected, sounded almost insulted.
I did a 'see?' motion at Gilgamesh while looking at Rin, who just groaned and went back to helping Sakura, looking close to giving up on life.
"Why don't you join us?" I offered to the other Servants since the kids weren't of drinking age.
"I don't really like drinking," Medusa replied and shrugged her shoulders.
Well, that fits. Drinking has always been her sisters' thing.
"I'm more of a Sake man, myself," Assassin declined with a shrug.
Artoria, on the other hand, stepped forward and took a seat. She reached for a wine glass with one hand, but I can tell she was still holding Excalibur in the other.
Taking a sip of wine, her eyes widened. "This is good!"
"Well, it has to be, less Gil destroys my cafe," I stated and Gil didn't even pretend to not agree with the look on his face.
A tray was almost slammed on the table. "I'm still mad you've been hiding drinking wine, dad," Sakura grumbled, placing her hands on her waist and looking disappointed.
I shrugged my shoulders. "Hey, like I said, I don't drink this stuff. I only keep it for guests."
"I can vouch for that. I've never seen Zack drink any alcohol before," Artoria backed me up.
"He didn't even drink or eat when we knew each other," Medusa added.
"Hmph, seems you still lack taste in the finer things in life, Tree," Gilgamesh added.
Sakura stared at me for a few more moments before sighing in defeat. "Fine, I believe you," she then went back to the counter with her sister.
"Well, with that out of the way," I turned back to Gilgamesh and Artoria. "Wanna play Uno until Emiya's family shows up?"
Third POV:
Rin truly didn't know how to react to what was going on. Things were happening too fast in her life for the past few days.
First, a Holy Grail began. She managed to Summon a Servant, and an incredibly powerful one at that, only for them to be a slave driver that had her running around left and right for his entertainment, and, in the end, was still unsatisfied.
Then, her Servant went rogue and attempted to attack some of her classmates, some of which were Masters themselves. She didn't even know Shirou had any connection to the world of Mystics, let alone have a Servant.
And then, Sakura had her own Servant who saved her from her rogue Servant before Sakura's father came in and talked to her rogue Servant into calming down.
The final nail in the coffin is hearing how Sakura's father apparently knew her Servant from their life, which made no sense because Rin knew who her Servant is -so did everyone now, she guessed-, and are now playing Uno of all things as they waited for Emiya's family.
Rin fully believed that the only reason she hasn't had a mental breakdown yet is because she's too busy actually processing what's happening.
As the game was going, the Emiya family's care stopped in front of the café. Kiritsugu, Irisveil, and Illya all stepped out of the vehicle and came in to the cafe.
Just as anyone would expect, they were confused by what's happening. "Are you playing Uno?"
"I am WINNING Uno," Gilgamesh gloated, holding only one last card in his hand.
"He is surprisingly good at this," Saber confessed, holding more than few cards in her hand.
"Well, I sadly have to quit to tend to my guests. Guess you win this one, Gil," Zack said, placing his cards down and standing up.
"Ha! Running away from defeat, Tree? How unlike you," Gilgamesh gloated again, making Zack roll his eyes.
"I have not lost yet, and I will not surrender," Saber, despite the clear disadvantage, didn't seem to consider quitting.
"Admirable, if foolish," Gil grinned at her.
Zack turned from them to face the Emiya family. "It's good to see you again, Kiritsugu, Irisveil. You, too, Illya, how have you been?"
"We've been well, thank you, Zack," Irisveil nodded back at the greeting with a smile while her husband kept his neutral frown.
"I guess you're the master of Berserker?" Zack rhetorically asked, looking at Illya.
"Yup!" Illyasveil replied with a nod before looking over her shoulder. "Berserker! You can come out now!"
The Servant appeared in a flash of gold and everyone but Zack and Gilgamesh nearly jumped at the size of the man. "Huh, so it's this guy, huh?" Zack turned to look at Sakura. "See? I didn't know this guy when he was alive. I just knew of him like Caster."
Sakura rolled her eyes and shook her head, finishing up the refreshments and taking them out. "Food is ready," picking up a tray as her sister picked another, they took them out from behind the counter and placed them two different tables.
"Please make yourselves at home," Zack said to the Emiya family before turning to the other Masters and Servants. "You guys, too. You've just been standing there for a while."
"Because we have no idea what's going on!" Shinji finally cried out what was going on through the minds of most people in the café.
"I'll explain anything you want to know while you set and eat. There's no reason to shout in my cafe," Zack deadpanned at Shinji.
It didn't take long for them to join a few tables to sit around with, though Gilgamesh had his own table with his own food and drinks, and Berserker chose to sit on the floor because he was too big for the chairs.
"First things first," Kiritsugu was the first to speak after they sat down. "Who are you?"
Zack raised an amused eyebrow. "I mean, I already introduced myself to you before and said I'm the Overseer so..."
"You know what I meant," Kiritsugu groaned, while his wife gave him a disappointed look.
Zack, however, just smiled. "Kiritsugu, I know you are looking out for your family. I'd be disappointed if you didn't. But, I assure you, I told you no lies when we first met. My name is Zack. I just own a café and am trying to give my daughter a good life. Does my past really matter when I have the present to worry about?"
Kiritsugu stared at Zack for a few seconds before sighing. "No, I suppose not," he knew that he himself was in a similar situation. "But how come you're daughter is one of the Masters if you want to.keep her safe?"
"Are you worried I'm plotting to get the Grail myself? Well, I can assure you I have no interest in the Holy Grail," Zack guessed, shrugging his shoulders and crossing his arms. "I got Sakura to be a Master so I can have someone I know for a fact I can trust amongst the Masters and avoid having any Rogue Servants. Rider's wish for the Grail was something I had access to without the Grail, so I gave it to her. She doesn't need or want the Grail anymore. As for Sakura herself..." He trailed off and turned to his daughter to speak for herself.
"You always taught me that stuff like that is more trouble than it's worth, dad. I know the Grail isn't just sunshine and rainbows where you immediately get what you want," Sakura replied with a shake of her head before putting a hand on her chin. "Then again... I guess endless plushies and sweets aren't too bad..."
Zack snorted. "Sweetie, you said that out loud."
Sakura froze and realised most eyes were on her. Her face turned red as she began frantically waving her hands. "I didn't mean-! I wasn't gonna-! I was just-! It wasn't-!" She gave up on trying to come up with an excuse and simply covered her face with her hands while groaning.
Rin reached over and began rubbing her sister's back in support.
"As for whether or not you need proof on me not wanting the Grail, just ask Rider, Saber, and Gilgamesh. They've known me for a long time," Zack went back to the discussion.
"I can vouch that Zack isn't the kind of person to seek the Grail," Rider said. "In fact, if he had someone he can trust with it, he would have probably gave them the Grail and made them the Overseer while he went back to travelling the world."
"That indeed sounds like something Zack would do," Saber added her own opinion.
"It does sound like your trail of thoughts, Tree," Gilgamesh added, taking a sip of wine.
"Yup, that's dad alright," Sakura added.
"Ouch, I mean, you're not wrong, but still," Zack groaned, crossing his arms.
"I have a question!" Illya suddenly raised her hand, turning the attention to herself. "What's this I hear about Sabers being the strongest! Just look at Berserker!" Illya motioned to her Servant. "He's obviously the strongest!"
"Oh, that," Zack uncrossed his arms and placed them on the table. "The matter of fact is, a blank Servant Saint Graph is actually equally strong in any Class. The reason for the rumours of Sabers being the strongest is that most of that Class is made up of people with strong legends. But, in the end, it depends on the Servant and which Class is best for them to be Summoned in. Berserker and Gil here are actually an exception to that. They're strong regardless of which Class they're Summoned in because of how powerful they were in life."
"Well, I have a question," Shinji spoke up. "How do we decide who gets the Grail now?"
"Went right to the big question, huh?" Zack smirked. "Basically, we do it tournament style. Since there's six Servants that want the Grail now, we have three matches. Lancer's Master is arriving in a couple of days. That should give me enough time to prepare an arena or something, so we can start then. The fights will be decided by random chance."
Hope blossomed in Rin's chest. Even with her Servant being mostly docile during this meeting, she had been worried it would not end with her getting a shot at the Holy Grail.
"And why should I take part in your little game, Tree?" Gilgamesh suddenly asked.
... For several days now, Rin had to put up with her Servant practically treating her like a slave, running around like moron to do his errands in the hopes he would agree to help her with the Holy Grail War. She even got hopeful when Sakura's father seemingly can talk sense into him.
And now, after all that, he saw no reason to help.
Something inside Rin just snapped.
"Oh, would you agree to something already!" Rin jumped off her chair and smacked her hands on the table. "You're the King of Heroes! You have a chance to show off your position and establish your superiority to other Heroic Spirits! And all you can say is 'why should I?'?! What kind of King just let's a chance to show his greatness pass by! Have you no pride in your position?!"
It wasn't until she was finished yelling that Rin actually realised what she had been doing. Everyone else, bar Gilgamesh and Zack, were looking at her as if she had just hung herself.
Gilgamesh himself was staring at her with narrowed eyes and a deep frown. Not a glare, but a look of judgement for someone that truly overstepped their boundaries.
"(Well, that's it, I'm gonna die,)" Rin thought, hanging her head. "(At least I can say I went out telling off the King of Heroes.)".
"... Heh... hehe... FuhaHAHAHA!" Gilgamesh broke the silence by throwing his head back in loud laughter.
Everyone looked at him as he laughed so hard he almost fell out of his chair. Zack had simply kept staring at Gil with a knowing smile.
"So you do have backbone after all!" Gilgamesh said after getting his laughter under control. "Here I thought you were just another spineless fool that believed licking my feet hard enough will earn you my favor! Very well. For the amusement you have provided, I shall humour your request and offer my time. However, it will be for ONE fight only!"
Rin truly didn't know what to do beyond slowly sit back down.
"Well, there you gave it," Zack clapped his hands. "Gil is going first. As for the Servant fighting him, that'll be decided after I prepare a place for the fight to take place."
"Then what?" Shirou asked, looking concerned. "With six fighters, there's gonna be an uneven number for the next round."
Zack simply waved his hand. "We'll worry about that when we get to it.