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To Love a Sword Chapter 29: Risa? Part 1
🕑 Added 2024-10-25 16:56:57 +0000 UTCPartially beta read by Paragon of Awesomeness.
Chapter was pretty important to cover a certain part of the story so I couldn't add the bonus scene and decided to fully flesh out the chapter instead. I'll be saving the bonus content for next chapter.
Next update is Fake Familiar Reborn followed by Nanoha.
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-???-
Deep within the confines of space come up a large spaceship hovered over the Earth, bearing the colors of the Deviluke Empire and adorned with countless weapons to ward off all kinds of threats.
Within the ship, an entire group of Devilukians worked with the team currently stationed on Earth, the screen showing Zastin and his subordinates now adorned in their armor and suits greeting the newest arrival with an equal part of fear and admiration.
“General Zastin, is the ground clear for landing? I have received reports of several incursions of attacks from outside forces. Explain yourself.”
The oldest person on the bridge of the ship demanded with a stern voice, even speaking arrogantly at one of the emperor's most trusted warriors without any fear.
“There have been outside forces who attempted to harm Lala-sama and her fiance with the goal to take his place but failed in the end. We have also had an unexpected encounter with the forces of Solgam who were taken care of by the emperor himself.” Zastin answered truthfully without wasting time. “We went to great lengths to keep the city safe after we have received news of your arrival.”
“Humph, I will take your words on this.” The old man ended the call, his stern face disappearing and being replaced by that of submission and respect as he faced the person sitting in the middle of the room on top of her throne.
The woman's face hidden behind a veil yet it did little to hinder her overall beauty.
“Your Majesty, we shall be landing shortly. Our team has confirmed the location of Princess Lala and her sisters along with tracking the one who is currently betrothed to her.”
The woman on the other hand did not give him an immediate answer, her attention completely taken by the tablet she held showcasing a video taken by one of the scouts she sent a while ago.
The scene showing a chaotic fight between hundreds of people against a single woman. Moving around nimbly yet wielding enough strength to toss a person shaped like a wrecking ball across the street. Then the video ended around the time where a nurse approached the young girl who then got surrounded by a plume of smoke which dispersed soon after showing a naked man.
A melodious laugh spread across the ship's main room, leading many of the present crew members to sport a healthy blush on their faces just from hearing the Queen's voice alone.
“Oh my, what an interesting person Lala found, no wonder Gid is interested in him.”
{Break}
-Yuuki house-
"Waaaah, this is the first time I’ve dealt with something like this! We should test out your body more, Shirou!"
Not even an entire day had passed since his grand battle royale with the members of the Anti-Emiya Alliance. Something that could only be described as a full-on circus act the likes of which were only seen in humorous plays rather than in real life.
A lot happened in such a short amount of time that spanned for barely two days. First was the ridiculous disaster that occurred when he was meeting with Run, the exact one that turned him into a female. Then his goal to reverse that issue led to going to find Mikado, an event somehow leading to a large majority of the boys from school being hospitalized, with the main attacker — his female self — currently being talked about on many different social platforms.
Rather than being angry, many were curious about the identity of the woman who took down so many men with such little effort. Some had even started a fan page with pictures of him taken from different angles they somehow managed to capture, much to his irritation.
But he wasn’t that worried.
His female self would no longer appear in the public eye, nor in private, so anyone hoping to see her again would just be chasing a futile dream. The same applied to anyone who approached him, asking about a potential family member he never mentioned.
To those people, the only thing he would say would be to deny their dream girl’s very existence.
In any case, that entire issue was behind him, and for now, he was having his body checked by Lala, just to make sure there weren't going to be any unnecessary side effects.
“Is it something I should be worried about? And no, I would rather let Zastin clean this entire house instead than go through that again.” He said with a dry tone, just the picture of a ruined house making him frown in disgust.
“Eh? He is not very good at that sort of thing though.”
“I know, and it’d probably be easier to rebuild the whole house than to clean up after him. That clumsy bodyguard of yours can't even wash the dishes properly without destroying most of them.”
“Hahaha! He is more of a fighter rather than being as talented as Shirou when it comes to chores.” Lala chuckled, already aware of how flawed the so-called greatest swordsman in her father's army was. "Anyways, going back to the previous topic, from what I'm seeing, your body managed to overload the effects of my invention.”
“Overload?”
"Before you left, I was certain the effects would last for at least another day before naturally dissipating. But your actions and the amazing fight against those boys cut that time down until it eventually ran out — I think.”
“You sound awfully certain for this to be just a guess.”
She shrugged, “there is no other explanation other than that. I still don't understand how this Magical Energy thing and your circuits work exactly.”
This caused Emiya to massage his temples. "Hah… had I known about such a thing, I wouldn't have taken the risk of going outside the house to find Mikado and bring her over. Instead, I would have just stayed here and constantly circulated my energy all day or continuously Traced a number of swords.”
"Magic is so awesome!" she said with childlike wonder. "So, does that mean the next time you change, you can just forcefully deactivate the transformation whenever you want?"
At that, he flicked her forehead.
"Ouch!" the girl exclaimed with a pained expression before she started rubbing the now tender spot. “Shirou?”
"What do you mean by 'next time'? I will do everything in my power never to end up in a similar situation again, even resorting to using those around me as a shield if I have to."
He didn’t want to admit it, but Emiya was starting to feel very sorry for Run and Ren. Unlike him, who just temporarily had his body altered, both of those people had different personalities that shared a single body, which was much worse than his case. They had to live that way from the beginning, prisoners of their own flesh in a sense, unable to take control whenever they wanted to for who knows how long.
"Well, at least this is over. So, what are you doing now?" he said, while looking at the pink-haired princess, who was fiddling with a funny-looking weapon on her desk, wearing goggles, gloves and holding a magical girl wand-like tool named, “Almighty Tool.” that retracted and extended several kinds of attachments — looking no different from a whimsical mad scientist.
Who would have thought that such an innocent-looking girl would genuinely start to terrify him whenever she focused on her inventions like this? It only meant she was creating something more troublesome.
"It's Pai-Pai Rocket-Kun, the thing that turned you into a girl!”
What a horrendous name indeed.
“Normally, its effect should have only been to increase my boob size, but for some reason, it had a different effect on you. So, I'm trying to see if I can fix that. But it still works as intended on me, I checked!”
"Why do you even have such an invention? You never struck me as someone with low self-esteem, especially about your own chest of all things. So why keep working on it? In fact, you have many inventions that the most flattering way I can describe them would be ‘extremely situational.’"
A part of him had the urge to just rush forward and smash the damn thing into thousands of pieces. But he had to keep a semblance of control over his emotions and just stayed in his spot.
"Why do you keep making them?"
The question caught her by surprise, so she took a second to think about it, humming silently.
"Because it's fun. It’s like you are making all those weapons in your shed, even though you never use them. I guess you can call it a hobby?”
A hobby huh… well when phrased like that, it would be a lie if he said he couldn't understand her to some degree.
"You have to be the only person I’ve ever known who can talk about the ability to create a black hole and other spatial disorientations as nothing but a small hobby. But for some reason, I can’t help but believe you.”
"It’s more fun than you might think! Once you get an idea — any kind of idea — you can just create it anytime you want! It can be something as simple as making a robot that follows you around just to hold your bag, all the way to bending space and time to make things more convenient in your daily life. Want me to show you?"
"Are you seriously asking whether I want to create inventions similar to yours?"
"Yes!" Lala answered cheerfully without missing a beat. "Something tells me that if Shirou tries hard enough, he can reach my level very soon!"
At that, the red-headed boy couldn’t help but laugh, his reaction even surprising Lala who never saw him laugh like this.
"I may be many things, but a genius is not one of them — especially not of your caliber. I can’t just conjure up any kind of item I desire out of convenience."
The irony was not lost on him; his Magecraft technically allowed him to do something similar to Lala, but on a much, much lesser scale.
And all of them were items that already existed.
"Didn’t you tell me about a Structural Analysis spell you have?"
"It’s a basic spell that anyone with the slightest talent in magecraft can conjure. It’s not anything groundbreaking whatsoever."
"But still! If I had such an ability, it would have made my life so much easier — to be able to analyze the inner structure of my inventions in a second without missing anything! If I had this spell, all of my creations would be far more stable and harder to control by anyone other than me!”
He doubted such a spell would be that useful when the very thing she just said could already be accomplished by a pair of goggles she’d already built herself. If only she’d remember to actually use them. "I did have thoughts about using Structural Analysis on your weapons and inventions. The first time I did, I suffered a headache that I don’t want to experience again. I’m perfectly fine the way I am now."
"Was it that bad?"
"It wasn’t whether your invention was bad or faulty; rather, there was just too much information somehow cramped into your creations. It goes far beyond anything humanly possible — something I doubt will be replicated by humanity even in a hundred years."
"But you won't know that until you at least give it a go! Try it, and I am not asking you to make something complicated. Come on, it will be fun! I'll show you how to do it," she continued to insist, which was a bit odd to the former Counter Guardian.
All of this felt strange, she was being far too insistent.
"Is there a particular reason why you're trying to make me meddle with your stuff?" he asked, seeing Lala shift her eyes a bit, making his suspicions grow, especially when she tried to whistle but failed.
"Well, would you look at that. It's not like you to have ulterior motives with such things," he said jokingly, not at all worried that she was trying to do something bad, necessarily, as the girl was far too honest for that. But he was curious as to what she had in mind that made her so reluctant to share with him.
"Hehehehe, nothing gets past you… I just wanted to share my hobby with you, since you've done the same with me."
"I don't remember letting you enter my shed anytime recently other than to have a quick look."
"I mean helping you around the kitchen. Mikan told me how you are very strict about who comes over there and won't even let Rito near it."
"Because he is a klutz and I am afraid he might slip and either fall on something he shouldn't or fall while holding a hot dish, then end up burning himself or others. For all the chaos you cause, you don't seem to have any issues with that, so I am comfortable letting you do minor things around the kitchen. Also, you made those machines that help out with the cleaning, so it was the least I could do."
"And I want to do the same! Shirou is always protecting us and making us delicious food every day, so I wanted to try doing the same for you. And also because you give me the impression of being someone who can help me with such things by using your magic! My sisters were never interested… nor was Papa or Mama, so I thought we would give it a try together…”
It was a big surprise to see her speak with this low of a voice. It was clear that the girl in her youth was so far beyond her peers that she just didn't have anyone around her age capable of doing the same things as her. Sure, she had some friends like Run, but that was the only friend — so to say — he ever heard of from all three sisters. Momo even mentioned that Lala would spend most of her time creating new inventions and helping many of the most esteemed scientists the galaxy had to offer. It wouldn't be surprising if a large chunk of her father's empire's weapon systems were designed by her alone.
He could certainly see it as being a lonely existence, having no one else within her own age range whom she felt she could relate to. Perhaps she hadn't even realized it herself — how lonely she was — and maybe that was the reason she created Peke; a sentient robot who was always by her side and helped her with all her inventions.
For a brief moment, he did feel genuinely sorry for the girl before him. He also wasn't above believing that he was perhaps overthinking the entire thing, but there was no harm in such a train of thought, so he wasn't that worried.
Taking his silence as approval, she got more excited. "We can design all kinds of things that can help Shirou in combat, like an amazing armor that will protect you from everything, a cool sword that can shoot out laser beams, Anti Gravity Wings like mine, or even a battery that can store your magic power to be used later on!”
"So you want to create something similar to Jewelcraft?"
Lala blinked. "Jewelcraft?"
Ah, that came out without much of a thought. "Nothing, just thinking aloud about something from the past. I would be lying to say that your ideas don't sound interesting, but truth be told, I don’t see myself having much need for a suit that can fly or a sword that can shoot lasers, since I already have a couple of the latter. As for an armor that can protect me from all harm… let's avoid that since I fear the system might malfunction and interpret all kinds of everyday things as threats.”
"Oh…" Lala looked downward with a disappointed expression, which was fairly hidden behind a forced smile. "I understand. Shirou already has an awesome array of magic powers, so you wouldn't need—"
"—But I don't mind helping you out in the process of designing some of your inventions."
"Eh!?" Her head whipped upwards in pure shock, and she saw him with a light smirk of amusement on his face, as if he had expected and was looking forward to her reaction.
"Why not? This way, I’ll be able to keep a closer eye on you and what you're creating. I won't have to worry about you making something ridiculous for which I have to then suffer the consequences until you manage to work out the kinks. I'm not as knowledgeable about such things as you might think, but I'm always willing to learn."
He did have some knowledge about certain technology that humanity built in the future, and both his own bow and armor were made of an alloy that had yet to exist. But none of them held a candle to what he had seen this girl before him create on a whim within a single afternoon. Still, he felt he could use this arrangement as a chance to at least try and understand what she was creating, stop her when she was about to go too far, and perhaps even expand on what he knew. It wasn't exactly every day he had someone of her caliber willing to teach you how to create items far beyond anything humanly possible.
"Yay!" Lala jumped up from her chair and wrapped her arms around him. She squeezed hard enough to restrict his airflow with that insane strength of hers, but thankfully she managed to keep it under control and not crack anything.
"So, what do you want to create?” she asked excitedly. “Anything special in mind? I can make you a talking chef's knife kind of like Peke, that can help you cook and transform into any utensil you want!"
“T-That sounds dangerous, Lala-sama!” The hairpin on her head, Peke, spoke nervously. “I don't want a sibling who is a knife or anything like this man! He's already a magnet for bad luck!”
“…”
Ignoring Peke’s comment, he was getting a bit overwhelmed, so the man grabbed her shoulders and settled her back into her seat with an awkward smile.
"Let's just start with something simple."
“Okay! Follow me!”
Without wasting a single second, she grabbed his wrist and dragged him to her main workshop. This was one of the few times Emiya had seen Lala be so energetic, at least more so than her usual self, which made him a bit happy.
In the end, he was just going to help her out for an hour at most and then go back to focusing on his own activities.
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“Look, this is Sui-Sui Board-Kun! Useful as an ironing board and can also be used as a mode of transportation faster than a rocke—ouch!” A rolled-up magazine struck the girl's head, while Emiya shook his head in disapproval.
“Just a simple ironing board is enough! No rockets!”
“B-But… then it's just going to be a regular ironing board.”
“Then add a sensor that adjusts the temperature of the heated iron depending on the type of materials placed on it.”
“Oh! That's actually a good idea! Grab the Almighty Tool, I'll show you how to use it!”
It started out simple as he mentioned, with Lala just showing him some of the inventions she was already working on, and soon enough there was an initial prototype of the ironing board in front of them. However…
“Lala…”
“Yes?”
“Why are the clothes on fire?
“Hm… I think I forgot the heating feature which is supposed to instantly dry the clothes. But I forgot to put a limit—owie!” He once again gently struck her head with the rolled up magazine. Turning off and analyzing the board after putting out the fire, he found the component responsible and began working on removing it after realizing this thing wasn't as complicated as her other inventions.
“Your wiring needs work surpassingly enough with these less complicated builds. I don't even know how that is possible. You're just asking for something to burn with how close they are to the heater.”
Whenever he encountered something simple, Lala always mentioned some ridiculous secondary function that earned her another tap on the head from his trusted magazine turned blunt force weapon. Many of which were strangely items related to housework.
"Moving on… you mentioned a design for a vacuum cleaner?"
“Huh? Oh yeah, Mikan wanted a new one after the old one stopped working yesterday.”
“This sounds simple enough. Walk me through what you have in mind”
The sun outside slowly settled, and the seconds ticked by until minutes turned into an entire hour. But both Emiya and Lala were completely unaware of the passage of time, with the girl continuing to work on something while the redhead watched over her vast gallery of resources with interest.
"I can take the suction device from Go Go Vacuum-Kun and add it into this vacuum cleaner!” Lala cheerfully explained.
“This… already sounds incredibly dangerous.”
“It creates enough force to suck up any debris and stains from the dirtiest carpet in the galaxy!"
“Well, it’s probably worth at least some kind of beta test. I'll handle making the frame, so don't think about creating anything animal-like.”
“Eh? Do you already have a design in mind?”
“A couple.”
Their back and forth continued, the pile of scrap metal and discarded tools littering the ground growing by the minute till the entire room became unrecognizable after another hour passed. The sun had long since settled and the clock read eight o'clock in the evening.
“This chip will be enough to give it some basic form of artificial intelligence to sweep around the house and avoid getting stuck. Though we'll need to change its program a bit for it to work on a vacuum cleaner.”
“Wow! I didn't know earthlings used such technology inside fishing poles as well!”
“They don't.” He answered without missing a beat. “Just found it during one of my… outings. Anyways, are you sure this will be safe?”
Lala nodded her head vigorously, "Completely! We can even test it out if you want."
"I don't want to purposefully stain the furniture and house, only to regret it afterward if this doesn't work."
"I have a test chamber where he can create simulated environments. We can do it over there."
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Another couple of hours passed and both Emiya and Lala stood around a burnt device that resembled a disk shaped vacuum cleaner. Sparks of electricity flying out from time to time, this only contrasted by their blackened dust covered faces and messy hair.
"So the test was a failure. I told you the suction force was too much." He was the first one to speak, grabbing a towel, cleaning his face and Lala's afterwards. The latter enjoyed the sensation at first before catching up on what he just said.
"It wasn't that bad…"
That earlier confidence was gone and now replaced with slight embarrassment.
"Half of the fake house disappeared into a mini black hole."
"Like I said, it's not that bad. At its maximum capacity, the suction would've been able to absorb half the city."
"Why are we trying to stuff a black hole inside a vacuum cleaner again?"
“…"
She had no words.
“Lala.”
“…Yes?”
Pa!
“Ah!”
The fearsome magazine struck her head once more, this being the twentieth time he'd done so. “No more black holes.”
“But—”
“No buts.”
“It's cool!”
“Staying safe and having a roof over our head is cooler.”
“Okay…”
“Back to the drawing board and this time, no more alien technology. I'll take the lead.”
Hours passed, and the duo continued to plan tests and create various kinds of items, all of which were only useful for household chores and daily activities like cooking and cleaning. Any kind of weapons for body morphing, all banned.
There were a few more magazine slaps that happened afterwards, but Lala’s smile only grew wider. The failures no longer disappointed her, she even began anticipating them in hopes both of them would work on it afterwards. Her heart sang with a newfound joy she hadn't experienced so far, beating with vigor whenever he would stand behind her going over the schematics she proposed. Whenever his breath touched her ears, a strange sensation started to group within her body.
Absentmindedly watching him learn to use her tools after a single try with ease and work on the projects they planned together made Lala's eyes grow hazy.
‘Am I having a fever? No, that can't be it…’
It was very foreign, uncomfortable as if her chest was getting stuffed… yet pleasant at the same time.
She didn't dislike it and wanted this moment to last for as long as possible.
At this point, the clock on the wall showed that it had already been past midnight with neither of the duo seemingly even tired. The doors to Lala's room opened, with Mikan and Rito curiously coming over to wonder what these two were up to since morning. Mikan had a bad premonition when her usual punctual brother missed both dinner and doing the dishes.
Fearing that the two crossed a line they shouldn't, she quickly rushed upwards only to find the main room empty, with various lights and drilling sounds coming from the door on the other side leading to Lala's workshop.
Even the twins got curious.
"What are they doing inside?" she said, with a shocked expression. Rito stood behind her, having a similar reaction just as she was about to go over to call both of them in. He stopped her with a serious expression.
"Wait, this is a rare moment where Nii-san spends time with Lala. Usually, he's always busy, and she is always demanding his attention, so this is the best opportunity to let those two hang out together for a bit."
The young girl was caught off guard by this remark and looked at the stranger behind her, unable to stop herself from saying, "Who the hell are you, and what have you done with my dense brother?"
“Mikan!?”
“Tell me quickly before I call the cops; my brother can't be this smart.”
“That hurts!”
While these two quarreled with one another, the twins, on the other hand, held an intrigued reaction. Momo smiled like usual, without her inner thoughts being shown, while Nana, on the other hand, seemed oddly frustrated.
{Break}
(The next day)
“What do you think they were doing inside, Nana?”
Having been forced to sleep all night with all the noise happening. She barely got enough sleep and the dark circles around her eyes were proof of that, now both sisters lazily watched the TV, going through the local news that no longer spoke about the battle that happened yesterday. Suspiciously glossing over the entire thing, a bit weird in Nana's opinion… this couldn't be Zastin’s doing.
“What do you mean by that?” Nana said, knowing that Momo was up to something. “They probably are still working on whatever inventions Onee-sama brought up.”
“Which is weird, Emiya never struck me as someone interested in such things.”
“Maybe he's just making sure she doesn't make something prone to malfunctioning.”
“Or maybe,” her younger sister purposefully stretched the last part of her sentence. “Maybe they got intimate in the heat of the moment and spent all night getting to know each other's bodies better~”
“Shut up, Momo!” Incensed by her sister's behavior, she threw a pillow at her face. Her face grew bright crimson. “Onee-sama wouldn't do something like that and the same applies to Emiy—oof!” She got hit by the pillow this time.
“What's so strange about them being together? Both are grown individuals and engaged.” There was a clear presence of mirth, a sign of this being a trap but one Nana couldn't ignore as easily for some reason.
“H-He… they aren't actually engaged… it's just to force dad to get off our sister's back.”
“And what if they genuinely fall in love with each other? Onee-sama is already in love with him from the beginning, and you know this.”
Yes, Lala was head over heels for Emiya Shirou, that much anyone could figure out. Even the youngest brother in the Yuuki household could see it. Not once did their sister ever have any romantic feelings back in their home planet Deviluke, despite the countless marriage candidates who tried every trick under the book failed to catch her attention but somehow a random human she stumbled upon by pure chance managed to do so within a matter of days.
“I guess so…” She said with a small voice, not wanting to continue this conversation any longer.
“You look dissatisfied with what I said.”
Momo loved to talk a lot, sometimes Nana wished the former would shut up. Her headache from the lack of sleep wasn't helping at keeping her cool.
“Shut up.”
“You've been acting like this since he had that secret date with Run.”
“I said shut up.”
“I've even heard from Mikan-chan and Rito how he's been quite close with plenty of other girls at school. Like a lot of them, including Haruna Sairenji who came over last time. There was definitely something strange going on between them.”
Of course she knew all of that!
They spent all day together, so whatever Momo knew, so did she. The nurse, the rich heir, the school friend, a perverted classmate who liked to touch her sister's chests daily, the wannabe rival and class president all. All of them she heard from various sources and their interactions with Emiya.
She hated it.
He should be with her sister yet there were so many women around him! She wanted to call him a beast, a shameless person who just was a cold-hearted bastard taking her sister's love and throwing it into the garbage!
‘But…what can I even do about that?’
Truth be told, Nana slightly feared him. Whenever her anger flared up at his shameless flirting with other girls when outside the house, any thoughts of reprimanding him would get stuck in her throat when facing him.
This was the same person who actually threatened their father!
So calling him a crazed maniac felt accurate.
Yet despite all of that, the image he showed in the house around his siblings made it really difficult for her anger to hit the ceiling — quite the opposite in fact.
She couldn’t make sense of the man before her.
On one hand, he had given them a place to stay, looked after Celine like a mother would, and cooked meals so delicious they made her forget, if only for a moment, reality. He had shown kindness, almost warmth. But on the other hand, she couldn’t shake the image from the videos Zastin had shown her—the man ruthlessly killing Lacospo without a flicker of hesitation. That same man had spoken in a voice so cold, so devoid of emotion, when he first told them to leave his house. The memory of it sent a shiver down her spine.
How could someone be both so caring and so merciless? She didn’t know how to reconcile the two sides of him, and it left her deeply unsettled.
‘Am I the only one who feels like this?’ She truly couldn't tell, Momo herself was difficult to read at times.
“Hehehe, your frown has grown. You must be really looking forward to seeing him become our brother-in-law or maybe you had something else in mind? Perhaps wanting to be spoiled rotten with some… sensual requests he only reserves for our sister. I'm sure he wouldn't mind.”
“—!” I'm able to deal with her sister anymore, no no through another pillow at her which she managed to dodge in time. Not that she cared as she went to the stairs hastily. “Stop wasting my time without your jokes, Momo! I'm going to wake up in my room!”
“Ah, Make sure to wake up those two love birds and tell them to come and have breakfast~! Though make sure you don't get in between their lovemaki—”
“AHH YOU'RE ANNOYING! SHUT UP!” She hastened her steps until in less than a handful of seconds the girl had arrived in front of the rooms the sisters shared with her hands stopping just shy of the doorknob. Momo's Lost woods haunting her mind for a brief moment till she shook her head exaggeratedly. “What the hell am I thinking!? They weren't there when we woke up.”
Slapping her face a couple of times, she opened the door and secretly let out a sigh of relief when she discovered the two hadn't come out yet and the noise stopped. Though There was still a bit of unrest that remained gnawing at her heart, so she approached the entrance leasing to Lala's workshop and room.
“Huh?” She blinked in surprise, expecting to find the usual mess—piles of trash, scraps of metal, and scattered bits of paper. But instead, she stood before a pristine room that nearly gleamed in the light. Everything was in perfect order, not a speck of dust in sight, and not even the usual clutter of notes and tools that always seemed to pile up whenever her sister worked on a project.
And there, amidst the spotless surroundings, she saw it—"Ah!" Her sister, fast asleep, curled up next to Emiya. Her clothes were missing, bare skin and chest tightly pressed against his, legs tangled together as though they had sought out each other’s warmth in sleep. Her head rested gently on his right arm, using it as a pillow, her face peaceful, almost content.
The slow rise and fall of their breathing was the only movement in the room, a silent rhythm that echoed within the room.
Emiya on the other hand wasn't completely naked, only missing his upper clothes with burn marks on his pants. His entire body was visible to the second Devilukian princess unconsciously gulping as her heartbeat soared when gazing at his rather fit body that had built up quite a bit of muscles for someone his age. “T-This p-pervert… sle-sleeping with her like this!”
She didn't need to look into a mirror to know that her face had turned once more completely red. Her blush had spread all the way to the tip of her ears.
At least in his sleep he didn't look nearly as scary as before.
“Mmm, you're being too rough… Shirou… you'll break the… device…” Nana's body stiffened when she heard Lala murmur in her sleep, coming back to her senses she inexplicably found herself wanting to stare at the sight longer.
‘What am I thinking!?’
She turned her attention back to Lala, the latter having a serene expression, a face that was almost glowing with satisfaction that differed from her usual self. Perhaps because of Momo's influence, her mind started to wander to places it never had. “Did these two… last night…”
No! No no no, her sister wasn't that kind of person! And most importantly, his pants were still on! “It must have been him who tricked her to sleep with him like this! I just know it! He's no different to his brother after all, I'll teach him a lesson!”
She shook her head, uncertain how to even wake either of these two up. But not willing to just stand there for the entire day, Nana hesitated a bit before taking a step forward.
As she moved through the dim room, Nana accidentally stubbed her foot against something hard, crying out in pain. "Ouch!" The sharp sting broke her focus, and before she could catch herself, she tumbled forward—right onto the bed. Instinctively reached out, hoping to grab something to soften her fall.
“Urgh!” The girl barely had time to register what happened before realizing, to her horror, that she’d landed directly on top of the sleeping Emiya. Her face pressing against his bare chest, the heat spreading across her cheeks and his scent filling her nose.
“Hm?” The unexpected weight seemed enough to stir him awake, his golden-brown eyes fluttering open, locking onto her own with a bleary confusion. For a second, she froze, her body refusing to move under his sleepy gaze. “Nana?” he murmured, his voice thick with sleep, as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing.
His words seemed to rouse Lala, who lay beside him, stretching with a sensual moan as she opened her eyes. “Oh, is it morning already?” she mumbled, half-awake and oblivious to her sister’s presence. Moving closer to Emiya, resting her head against his neck with a contented sigh. "Last night was amazing, Shirou. We should do it again—it was very fun!"
Nana’s cheeks burned as she watched her sister cuddle against him, mortified and unable to tear her eyes away from the scene. Her mind was already conjuring up images of the interaction between these two which only made more blood rush to her face.
“Ah? Nana?” Unfortunately, before Nana managed to rush out of the room, Lala Finally noticed her presents. Fear settled in the younger sibling's heart as her current position could easily be misunderstood as her taking advantage of the sleeping man.
“This… this isn't what it looks like!”
But much to her shock, there was no expression of anger or distrust appearing on Lala's face, rather it was pure joy. “Eeeeh? Did you and Shirou finally become close enough to share the same bed? That's great! He's very warm isn't he?”
“...” Rendered speechless by her sister's reaction, a wave of shame descended upon her mind where she could do nothing more than cover her blushing face and rush out of the room. “I'm sorry!”
Whatever plans she had previously vanished into thin air, desire to teach him a lesson or even scold the man being pushed back into the farthest corner of her mind with the only dominating thought being to get out of this place as soon as possible.
…
“Eh? Nana!” Surprised by her sister's frantic reaction and how she just ran away like a frightened rabbit, Lala momentarily pulled herself away from Emiya and looked towards the door with confusion showing on her face. “Did something happen while I was asleep, Shirou? It's very unlike her to act like that.”
The answer she got was an eyeball from Emiya, the latter Getting up from the bed whilst sorting out his mind trying to understand what just happened.
“Either she is spending too much time with Rito and some of his luck rubbed onto her, or it was just an unfortunate accident. Yes, for her running away, well your choice of words didn't help.”
That was the most logical explanation you could come up with. Before he could continue thinking about this topic, memories from what happened last night soon rushed into his mind and for the first time in a long while the counter guardian felt genuinely embarrassed with himself.
“Damn it, I got too distracted.”
It was only supposed to be an hour yet here he was sleeping topless next to a naked lala after their clothes were burnt away from the many failures last night. The first chance he took to rest his eyes for a couple of minutes ended up making him fall asleep here instead of his room and Lala must have joined him.
[Cleaning complete. Waiting for further instructions.]
His self-scolding ended as soon as he heard the mechanical noise of a talking robot come from nearby, looking next to the bed frame where a disc shaped vacuum cleaner he made with Lala awaited his orders. Behind it the previously ruined room now in pristine condition, almost sparkling.
“Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad.”
Lala next to him chuckled, “I'm so proud of Alaya, it didn't blow up like its predecessors!”
The embarrassment returned tenfold, in his last moment before falling asleep, he remembered Lala asking him to name this new invention.
That name just came out naturally as a joke, yet here it was.
“Can we… just change its name?”
“Oh, I already lasered the name onto Sweep Sweep Alaya-chan’s body.”
Something inside him broke when hearing that name.
“Let's just go to school.”
{Break}
After the whole headache-inducing moment from this morning, Emiya, Rito and Lala made their way to school. Before leaving, they all had breakfast and he noticed how Nana just refused to look at him whatsoever. Nothing he could do for now other than wait for the girl to calm her nerves and talk things out later on.
“Wow, this place is empty.”
As one might expect, The number of a boy's attending today was far less than usual. The normally crowded streets seemed more empty and As far as he could see, both he and Rito were one of the few boys present.
“After everything that happened that day, I don't think they'll be getting out of the hospital anytime soon.” Rito mentioned, Having seen footage of the carnage online just like many others did.
Even as they hung out in class waiting for the bell to ring, there were only female students around them with at least a third of them empty.
“You can see this as a blessing, as for today alone the place won't be filled to the brim with perverted students and a criminal principal who should be behind bars charged with hundreds of cases of sexual harassment.” Emiya replied without feeling any guilt. “And for the few boys present today, either day or one of the few who are actually normal ones and most likely a couple who hadn't attended the parade.”
Strangely enough, even Risa was absent today with Mio mentioning how the girl caught a fever and was bedridden. The bespectacled girl looked especially worried when she mentioned that Risa's parents are never home so she was worried the girl didn't have anyone to look after her.
‘I will stop by her house with Mio later.’
Just for a quick check up to make sure she was alright. That idiot was a stubborn one, there was a high likelihood she would never call anyone for help in such a scenario.
“Emiya!” Both of the boys turned to find a certain brunette class president standing behind them with a stern look on her face. “The absence of this many students today, it's your fault isn't it?”
“Oh, Yui.”
Somehow he shouldn't have expected for her to appear.
“I have nothing to do with this.” He lied before Rito said anything he shouldn't, that boy was unable to lie.
“Do you honestly expect me to believe that? The last time something similar happened was at school with you going into a fight with half the students and hitting them unconscious. I had to drag them to the infirmary all by myself. And now something similar happened once again.” She insisted, her initiation better than he imagined.
Then again, it wasn't enough. “So let me get this straight, you think I disguised myself as a girl, somehow able to make myself thinner and shorter just to go around beating some brats?” He mentioned his points one by one, marching closer to Yui while she took a step back each time till her back reached the wall. “I don't know if you noticed, but the person in the video looks very different from me and only has similar hair color. Take a closer look at my face and tell me again that I'm responsible.”
He noticed how flustered the girl became, a part of him did feel bad for her but he had to make sure she wouldn't keep any kind of misunderstanding that could make things harder for him.
“E-Emiya…” she whispered, her whole body shaking while he remained calm. It wasn't until a few seconds later where she lowered her gaze, “I was wrong… S-Sorry.”
He smiled, “it's alright. Mistakes happen.”
“...”
Rather than say anything else, the girl quickly ran out of the class, breaking her own rules of not running in the hallways. He felt Rito's gaze behind him and turned to find a face of awe.
“Wow, I never saw Kotegawa act like that. How did you do that, Nii-san? I hope she's not angry with you.”
He shrugged, “I don't think Yui would get angry over something like this or else she would have mentioned it already, most likely just shy. Anyways, take care, I'll be going to my class.”
After accompanying his brother to his class, he walked towards the door and was surprised to find Saruyama entered covered in bandages head to toe.
The boy's eyes brightened up when he saw Emiya which sent a chill up the latter's spine. “Oh, It's nice to see you come here for a visit, Emiya! It's wonderful weather we're having today isn't it?”
Rather than approach him with clear hostility like he used to do every time, the boy instead greeted him politely with the largest smile on his face.
Going so far as to shake his hand and even bow his head politely.
This display serving to only raise his suspicions.
“Sayuyama. You have seen better days.” Not to make a scene come up He decided to just greet the boy as usual and even make a comment on his appearance whilst feigning ignorance over the cause. Which to be fair, he had no recollection of kicking or hurting this guy during the march, there were just too many people around so perhaps he got hit by the principal's body like many did.
“Hahaha! Strict as usual aren't you, Emiya. But you don't have to treat me like a stranger, we've known each other for a long time haven't we? As for these bandages, hahaha! You won't believe it, but I just fell down the stairs!”
True, he didn't believe it.
And he had to agree that they weren't strangers, but the one-sided hostility between them couldn't be ignored. “I suppose I should consider you as an enemy then, since you are part of the Anti-Emiya Alliance. Stop with the pretending and just tell me why you approached me.”
Once again, the boy laughed and reacted as if he hadn't heard his words, continuing to behave friendly. “Man you're so cold, but that's what I like about you! I always told Rito how cool his brother is and how he's lucky to have you as family!”
The longer he spoke, the more sick the redhead felt to his stomach.
“I'm leaving, have a good day.”
He tried to leave the place again, this time with hurried steps but was once again stopped by the boy who had the audacity to out of nowhere have his hand around his neck as if they were close friends.
“Wait! Wait, wait! I'm just being friendly to you man, since we've known each other for so long you're more than just a friend, in fact we could even be considered as brothers! I consider Rito as a dear brother as well, so no need to be so cold towards me, bro!” He said with a giant grin on his face.
Another wave of goosebumps spread across Emiya's skin.
“Don’t call me bro. What do you want?” Best to get into the crux of the matter immediately, clearly this person wanted something from him and was acting so weirdly. “Spill it or else I'm leaving.”
His previous frown turned into a sharp look warning the boy to not waste his time. His message fortunately seemed to have gone through with Saruyama trembling slightly under his glare and visibly took a deep breath.
“It's… well it's about your cousin. I heard she came over to Sainan and is still unfamiliar with the place.” A blue formed on his face but he kept a confident look. “I am more familiar with the city than anyone else in school! So I wanted to offer her an opportunity to have a look around and get familiar with the places. So perhaps you can put the both of us in contact with one another? You can trust me, we're good friends after all!”
“... My cousin?” A bad feeling arose within his heart.
“Oh no need to play ignorant, I won't tell a soul about her and even keep her safe!” He stated loudly, taking out his phone and showing him a picture of his… uh… female self walking with Mikado and Rin.
Oh no…
“So, can you please present me to her? Hehehe, I promise we will get along wonderfully! I'll treat her like a princess!” His previous expression slowly morphed into that of admiration and pure love, longingly looking at the picture on his phone. “Hah… had I known you had such a sex—um, beautiful cousin, then I would have—ah, wait! Emiya? Where are you going? Emiya! Ouch!”
He failed to run after the redhead as his forehead struck the door as soon as he was about to rush out of the class.
His loud voice reached the counter guardians' ears which the latter paid no heed to and continued to make his way to his class with hasten steps as if trying to get away from something horrifying as soon as possible.
“I should have known about this.” He was this close from punching the boy in his stomach to render him unconscious but his rational side kicked in at the last second and he managed to keep himself under control. “A few days, all of this will disappear and everything will turn back to normal in a few days.”
Those words repeated a couple of times in his head like a mantra, hoping that these perverted boys would instead pay more attention to the girls nearby rather than to that one person who they confronted a few days ago.
“Y-Yuuki Emiya Shirou,” He heard someone call his name, turning around he found Saki followed by Rin and Aya. Unlike her usual self, the blonde looked a bit shy.
Then again, she probably remembers what happened to her after getting affected by Celine's pollen. He couldn't fault her for that, it was a scenario completely out of her control after all.
Though she wasn't completely innocent, he still recalled the weirdly fortified measures deployed around the house.
“Good to see you, Saki. I'm sorry about what happened last time and the destroyed walls.” He spoke first, genuinely apologizing for what the twins had done. “I wasn't able to become the butler you wanted.”
Saki was initially taken aback by his words and proceeded to shake her head, “It's not your fault, I also didn't plan things out accordingly and was too hasty. Rin mentioned everything you have done and how you saved me as well… so thank you.”
She sincerely thanked him, he watched Rin in the distance wondering just how much the girl told her. Rin acted like she didn't notice his gaze and just continued to stare at the clouds.
That girl…
Before he could even ask just what Saki knew about everything, the blonde made her move first and handed him an invitation card. “It is going to be my birthday soon and we will be celebrating on a private island owned by my family. So to make up for the disaster from last time, I wish to invite you and your family on this outing!”
A private island?
Somehow he had a bad feeling about this.
“Thanks, I'll try my best to attend.” He said, neither giving a yes or no, taking the invitation which still made a giant smile appear on Saki's face.
“Great! I'll be waiting for you then, make sure to bring your sister as well!” She said and left the area.
“I need some fresh air,” Even though he just got inside, Emiya I could already feel several gazes focused on him from some of the boys. It didn't take a genius to figure out what they were after and he hoped that Rito wasn't having a hard time as well. “Lala should be with Mikado for a check up, so I don't have to worry about her for now.”
Hm? While outside, he felt a gaze upon him, looking around he came across a black cat near the gates looking at him intently. Emiya paid it no heed, merely treating it as a passing animal. “It probably wants some food.” He said, watching the feline jump downwards and disappear into the bushes soon after.
He had a nagging feeling that something was off about that creature.
A familiar?
As far as he knew, there were no mages he had yet to meet, so he couldn't confirm anything about the kind of spells and magecraft used in this world including summoning familiars.
Maybe he was overthinking this matter, it could have just been a regular cat. Thankfully, his attention was drawn to another figure at the gates walking inside.
“Risa?”
The light brunette arrived much to his confusion, since Mio mentioned the latter was bedridden. Looking at her face, it didn't look like she had a fever. There was a healthy glow to her face and she walked without showing any signs of tiredness. It wasn't until she noticed his presence that the girl stopped in her tracks.
“What are you doing here? I heard from Mio you were supposed to be sick.” He said while crossing his arms. “Don't tell me you still came to school with a fever and were too stubborn to lay in bed for another day.”
“O-Oh, didn't expect to see you here… Shirou.”
“Hm?” Strange, she never called him by that name before. “Needed some fresh air and came here because there aren't that many people around. Most of the boys are in the hospital, So this place is more barren than usual. You don't seem to be in great condition, maybe you should take some time to rest at the infirmary and have the nurse check your health.”
If Mikado mentioned she was good to go, then he would trust her judgment. Currently Risa despite looking to be in great shape did not feel like her normal self, she was fidgeting in place and hasn't thrown a single flirtatious remark yet.
A strange method to gauge someone's state, but the most accurate one when it came to the person before him.
“Haha, sorry about that. It's just that things have been a bit hectic at my house lately.”
“Family problem?”
“Something like that.”
Honestly he knew very little about her personal life other than the few snippets she shared in the past. Just like Mio mentioned before, her parents were barely ever present just like his but on top of that their relationship wasn't exactly the most harmonious. But he rather not jump to conclusions without concrete evidence.
“You've been busy yourself, I heard a lot happened this weekend alone.” Again, she spoke calmly and did not try to do anything mischievous. Maybe something bad did happen at home.
“It has become a regular part of my daily life unfortunately, but not much I can do about it other than deal with the issue as soon as it shows up.”
“Hehehe, look at Mr Knight in shining armor here. Always willing to protect the princess from the bad guys. I won't lie and say that I'm not a bit jealous of the treatment she gets over me. I too deserve a gallant knight willing to come at my back and call.” She nudged him slightly, her smile forced. “But I can understand why you have to pay her that much attention. After all she is the princess of an empire that spans across the entire galaxy. If something happens to her then the entire planet will be in trouble.”
“Everything has been going smoothly so far thankfully. There were some bumps but we managed, at least you don't have to fear getting kidnapped anytime soon.”
“Oh I'm not worried about that,” Risa smiled. “Because if I ever was in any trouble, then you'd come and save me.”
Then a complicated face soon emerged.
“Is there something wrong?”
“We are friends, right, Shirou?” Again with that, though this was not the moment to inquire about that part, since it was clear something was weighing down on her mind.
“I thought that was obvious.”
“And friends help each other, right?”
“That they do I suppose.”
“I see.” Risa sighed in relief, her voice trembling ever so slightly. “I was hoping to hear that from you. So please, I… I really need your help right no—”
A split-second later, her sentence was cut short.
Emiya’s instincts roared to life, a wave of dread surging over him. Before he could think, he threw himself forward, his reinforced legs pushing off the ground as he rushed toward her with every ounce of speed he could muster.
Then, a glint—a flash of something white in the corner of his vision. Hostility flared in his mind, cold and unmistakable.
But he was too late. A searing beam of light shot through the air, aimed not at him — but at the original intended target; Risa.
Time seemed to stretch and bend as he watched the beam strike its target, piercing Risa’s chest. Her eyes widened in shock, her mouth half-open in silent surprise as her body began to fall. Emiya reached her just in time, catching her as she crumpled into his arms, her weight impossibly light, her warmth felt across his skin.
He barely noticed, his focus shifting to the figure atop the school wall. Clad in shadow, the assailant stood, feline eyes gleaming with cold confidence, a smoking gun held steady, aimed precisely at its mark. There was no hesitation, no fear in that gaze.
A dark emotion settled over Emiya, his shock sharpening into a singular, lethal intent. He took a steady breath, the air around him crackling with the power of his spell.
"Trace on," he whispered.
In an instant, the air around him filled with dozens of blades, their edges gleaming with merciless purpose. With a single, silent command, he unleashed them all.
Comments
SsanghwaSilver
Huh. Are we having the situation where an alien was disguised as a student to fool a hitman this early on than in canon? Lala falling more in love feels natural here. Nice. Haven't seen much of Yui in this fic so far. Wonder if we are going to get a flashback with her at some point.
iDreamAlot
Peak
Bailey
Someones fucking dying lol
PanzerJ
Naming a cleaning robot alaya. Pure evil haha
DeathFlag24
If I remember correctly in the manga about imposter assassin So Risa is a fake and kuro kill assassin
D D
I haven’t watched To Love Ru, but is Lala always feminizing Ren because they share the same body as his sister?
The_Flying_Wrench
Oh… well, damn.
Sam Grose
Thx
paladar blade
Nah I think it's Kuro, the character who's basically a copy of the MC from the Black Cat series made by the same author of To Love Ru, but as an alien assassin like Yami.
Sam Grose
Has nemisis joined the fray? (If that’s not her name I’m sorry I haven’t watch the show in years.)
