Chapter 385

Chapter 385: Chapter 385

At the dining table, Kiriya, Ryuu, Jeanne, and Esdeath were enjoying breakfast, offering enthusiastic praise for Sakura’s cooking between bites.

As usual, Sakura responded with a mixture of embarrassment and quiet pride.

However, when she noticed the atmosphere between Rider and Caster, her happiness became tinged with worry.

The two Servants were glaring at each other like fighting roosters, their eyes practically shooting daggers.

Neither had said anything openly hostile since sitting down, but Sakura could almost imagine sparks flying between them.

She was genuinely afraid they might start fighting at any moment, making it rather difficult for her to enjoy her own breakfast.

"Hm? How strange. What’s going on with those two?"

Illya, meanwhile, was happily stuffing her cheeks with food, her bright crimson eyes gleaming with curiosity.

’Did I miss something interesting?’

Ding-dong!

Just as Sakura was becoming increasingly uncomfortable, the doorbell rang.

She immediately seized the opportunity to escape the dining room and hurried toward the entrance, feeling as though she had just been rescued.

However, when she opened the front door, she found two faces she had never expected to see here.

"Senpai? And Nee—Tohsaka-senpai?"

Standing on the left was a boy dressed in casual blue-and-white clothing.

He had short reddish-brown hair, determined eyes, and an honest, earnest face that naturally inspired trust.

Beside him stood a beautiful young woman with her dark hair tied into twin tails.

She wore a neatly arranged school uniform beneath a red coat, and her tall, graceful figure and elegant bearing immediately suggested the excellent upbringing of a young lady from a distinguished family.

The two visitors were none other than Shirou Emiya and Rin Tohsaka.

"Hey, Sakura! Morning!"

Shirou greeted her with his usual bright, easygoing smile, making Sakura smile in return.

"Good morning, Senpai."

She returned his greeting politely before tilting her head in confusion.

"Is something wrong? What brings you here so early?"

"Well, actually..."

Shirou glanced toward Rin, suddenly unsure how to explain their visit.

Fortunately, Rin had no such difficulty.

"It’s your teachers and the student council," she said smoothly. "You missed an entire day of school without saying anything, and everyone was worried. They asked us to come and check on you."

"We went to the Matou residence first," Shirou added, "but the place was completely deserted. We couldn’t find you anywhere."

"We spent yesterday looking all over for you," Rin continued. "In the end, we happened to run into some of the servants you dismissed from the Matou household. That’s how we finally learned you were staying here."

As she spoke, her voice grew increasingly urgent, eventually taking on a distinctly stern edge.

"Sakura, what exactly happened? Why are you staying here instead of at home? And where are the other members of the Matou family? What happened to them?"

"That’s right, Sakura." Shirou nodded earnestly. "If something’s wrong, you can tell us. Tohsaka and I will help you however we can."

Hearing the genuine concern in their voices filled Sakura’s heart with warmth.

Nevertheless, she eventually shook her head.

"Thank you, Senpai. And thank you too, Tohsaka-senpai."

Her lips curved into a brilliant smile.

"But I’m fine. Really! In fact, I’m happier now than I’ve ever been in my entire life!"

Shirou and Rin both froze.

Neither of them had ever seen Sakura smile quite like that.

In the past, Sakura had always been gentle and polite, greeting everyone with a warm expression and treating others with unfailing consideration.

Yet beneath that pleasant exterior, there had always seemed to be something heavy weighing on her.

A faint shadow.

A quiet sadness that neither of them could properly identify, yet both could somehow sense.

Now, however, that invisible burden seemed to have disappeared entirely.

There was no trace of the familiar gloom behind Sakura’s eyes.

The girl standing before them was smiling with genuine happiness, without the slightest hint of the restraint that had previously defined her.

’What on earth happened to her?’

The same question appeared in both their minds.

"Since you’ve come all this way, why not come inside and sit for a while?"

A clear, pleasant voice interrupted their thoughts.

Shirou and Rin turned toward its source.

Kiriya was approaching the entrance with Ryuu and the others, his gaze carrying a trace of curiosity as he examined the two unexpected visitors.

’Seriously? Does this guy have to be that good looking?’

Rin muttered irritably under her breath.

Shirou, meanwhile, was staring at the group accompanying Kiriya.

’There are... so many beautiful women?’

The boy who had sworn to become a hero of justice found himself experiencing a tiny, unfamiliar emotion.

Envy.

Just a little though!

Compared with the relatively restrained reactions of the two teenagers, however, the figures concealed nearby responded far more dramatically.

"Rin, be careful!"

"Shirou, get back!"

Two voices rang out almost simultaneously, one deep and steady, the other clear and commanding.

A pair of figures appeared in front of Shirou and Rin, weapons at the ready as they placed themselves between their respective Masters and Kiriya.

They were unmistakably Servants.

Kiriya examined the newcomers with interest.

The taller of the two was a muscular man with dark skin and white hair.

He wore a close-fitting outfit of red and black beneath a short coat, and his handsome features carried a perpetually stern expression.

The shorter figure was a young woman of extraordinary beauty, possessing features so perfectly balanced that she might have been the masterpiece of a creator determined to demonstrate the absolute limits of their skill.

Her golden hair was gathered into a neat arrangement with a blue ribbon, although one stubborn strand stood upright above her head.

Despite standing barely 160 centimeters tall, the petite blonde held an invisible weapon firmly in both hands and watched Kiriya with unwavering vigilance.

Neither Servant possessed an ordinary identity.

The tall, white-haired man was none other than Archer—EMIYA, the infamous Counter Guardian whose absurd versatility had earned him a reputation for pulling off seemingly impossible victories.

His talent for turning even ordinary arrows into devastating explosions was practically legendary in its own right.

The petite blonde had an even more illustrious identity.

She was Artoria Pendragon, the world-famous King Arthur of Britain, summoned into the Saber class.

"Oh? So the young lady of the Tohsaka family and our aspiring hero of justice have already summoned their respective Servants?"

Kiriya raised an eyebrow.

’That’s considerably earlier than expected.’

But after thinking about it for a moment, he dismissed the discrepancy.

His own arrival had already changed the course of events.

With a butterfly this large flapping its wings through the Holy Grail War, it would have been stranger if nothing had changed.

Unfortunately, the fact that Kiriya was openly scrutinizing both Servants immediately heightened the vigilance of the two Master-Servant pairs.

Rin, in particular, was growing increasingly irritated.

A young man she had never seen before was standing inside the residence where her younger sister was staying.

To make matters worse, he was surrounded by beautiful women and carried himself with the carefree confidence of someone who had never worried about attracting romantic attention.

Naturally, Rin’s protective instincts flared.

"Hey! Who are you?"

She stepped forward and demanded an explanation.

"And what exactly are you doing in Sakura’s house?"

"My name is Kiriya."

He gave her a perfectly relaxed smile.

"And as you can see, I’m a Master."

Kiriya raised his right hand, displaying the brilliant crimson Command Spells on its back.

The sight nearly made Shirou and Rin’s eyes pop out of their heads.

"One, two, three..."

Rin began counting the marks.

Then she counted them again.

"Eight?! You have eight Command Spells?!"

Her voice rose in disbelief.

"How is that even possible? Each Master only receives three Command Spells when summoning a Servant!"

"That’s right."

Kiriya nodded as though agreeing with something completely ordinary.

"So I went out and stole another two Servants!"

Before Rin could fully process that answer, three powerful presences manifested behind Kiriya.

Rider.

Caster.

Berserker.

All three Servants radiated formidable power individually, but standing together, their combined presence became positively oppressive.

For Shirou and Rin, who were still relatively inexperienced participants in the Holy Grail War, the psychological impact was tremendous.

"Wait, wait, wait!"

Rin grabbed her head, looking as though her understanding of the entire ritual was falling apart.

"All seven Servants were only summoned by last night, and you’ve already stolen two of them?!"

She stared at Kiriya.

"What kind of ridiculous efficiency is that?!"

"I don’t have many outstanding qualities."

Kiriya answered with shameless modesty.

"But if there’s one thing I’m proud of, it’s my ability to act quickly."

He lifted one hand and pointed toward the petite blonde standing beside Archer.

"For example, that Servant over there."

A confident smile spread across his face.

"She’s going to be mine next."

"Not a chance!"

Shirou immediately erupted in anger, raising his voice in protest.

Before he could say anything else, however, Rin seized him by the wrist and started dragging him toward the road.

She also grabbed Sakura and pulled her along with them.

"W-Wait, Tohsaka?"

Shirou looked completely bewildered.

"Idiot! Can’t you see how badly outnumbered we are?"

Rin practically shouted at him as she hurried away.

"He has three Servants! Three! What are we supposed to do, stand around until he captures every last one of us?!"

Shirou finally seemed to understand the seriousness of their situation.

Sakura, on the other hand, was experiencing an entirely different problem.

"Um... Tohsaka-senpai?"

She looked down at the hand firmly gripping her wrist.

"Could you please let go of me first?"

Rin stopped.

"...Huh?"