001 - What Makes it Hard to Go Home ?

"Ahhh, I'm so tired," Rin collapsed onto the sofa in her living room after returning to her mansion.

Once she was sure Emiya is recovered from his injury, she leaves him and heads home since Rei is nowhere to be seen.

When Suddenly she hears someone say, "Good work, Rin. You managed to save your friend," which makes her open her eyes and look around.

She sees Rei sitting beside her, causing Rin to lift her head and move until she is resting her head on Rei's lap like a pillow.

"I'm so tired today! This morning, I used all my Od to summon a random playboy with too many fiancées, and now I used it again to heal someone!" Rin starts to complaining to Rei while kicking the sofa with her legs.

"Haha, it's fine. You can go to sleep now; you worked really hard today," Rei gently strokes Rin's hair.

Rin seems to be enjoying it and slowly begins to close her eyes until she suddenly realizes what she is doing.

At that moment, she is being pampered by someone she has technically just met that morning, so she quickly stands up. "Ahhhh!?" she screams with her face blushing.

"Huh? Why are you suddenly screaming like that?" Rei asks, confused by Rin's reaction.

Rei watches as Rin takes several deep breaths to calm herself down.

"Hahhh...hahh...hahhhh, I just forgot to ask you where you went earlier," Rin pretends to be calm, but Rei can still hear her heart pounding loudly.

But he decides to ignore it for now and tells her that he is approached by an Archer-class servant earlier.

"So, what does Alaya want from me? Does she want me to kill Type ORT in South America or something?" Rei asked Fujino, who is staring at him with her red eyes.

"No, Alaya just wants you not to use your power at full capacity, and she's not going to try anything against you. As long as you don't try to harm humanity, we won't do anything," Fujino said to Rei in her calm voice.

"I see. You can tell Alaya I'm not going to harm humanity or try to destroy the Earth or anything. I'm here just for Sakura and Rin," Rei said seriously to Fujino and began to turn away, walking away from this place.

But when he mentioned the Earth, he could feel something happening to it, even for a split second. Because Rei has an affinity for Earth from Yggdrasil, he could sense that Gaia is definitely going to try something.

But for now, he's not going to do anything and will just regroup with Rin.

"I see... Thank you for your cooperation," Fujino lifted her kimono again toward Rei and then began to disappear from the place.

Fujino said previously that her task is to watch over Rei, so she's definitely going to be back sooner or later.

"And that's what happened. Fujino is going to be back soon," Rei finished telling Rin his story.

"Fujino? I've never heard of a Heroic Spirit with that kind of name before..." Rin muttered, trying to remember where the name Fujino Asagami came from.

Well, Fujino Asagami isn't really a Heroic Spirit because, like Emiya Shirou and Kiritsugu, she's just a Counter Guardian from the current era, not from the past.

"Well, that doesn't really matter. What about the student you saved before? Did you give him any protection or something so that if Lancer finds out he's still alive, he'll be protected?"

"....." But Rin just remained silent, not answering Rei's question at all.

"...." Seeing Rin's expression, Rei sighed because he had already guessed that this would happen, just like in the anime.

"Don't look at me like that!... I just forgot about that because I was too busy looking for you," Rin tried to make an excuse for her actions.

Rei then stood up from the sofa then walked over to Rin and effortlessly lifted her into a princess carry.

"You know where his home is, right?"

"Yeah, I know. I'll show you the way." Rin then held onto Rei's clothes tightly so she wouldn't fall.

Since Sakura is already asleep, they didn't need to worry about telling her and could jump out the window immediately.

Rei while carrying Rin quickly jumped across many houses toward Emiya residence.

"Hmm, looks like your friend managed to summon a Servant," Rei said to Rin when he sensed mana moving toward where Shirou is.

"What?? Damn, what is he doing getting involved in this kind of stuff! He's not even a Magi!" Rin looked annoyed when she heard that one of her schoolmates getting involved in this war.

"Can you go faster, Rei?"

"Sure, but hold on tight."

After that, Rin immediately used both arms to hug Rei's neck tightly, and Rei moved even faster toward the sound of the battle he can hear.

Not long after, Rei landed silently on the roof of the Emiya residence, unnoticed by the two Servants who were fighting.

"Is that Saber!?" Rin exclaimed when she saw the blonde girl, who appeared to be holding something while battling Lancer.

Their fight is so intense with Saber eventually pushing Lancer back due to her superior status.

"This is really bad for me," Lancer muttered, still wounded from his previous encounter with Rei.

"Hey, how about we just call it a tie? I'm kinda hurt from my last fight, so we can continue this tomorrow?" Lancer asked Saber while gripping his spear tightly.

"I refuse. I will defeat you right here and now Lancer" Saber instantly replied firmly.

"Heh, thought so," Lancer smirked, and his spear began to emit a red aura, just as it had when he tried to use it against Rei earlier.

Seeing this, Saber immediately took a defensive stance while gripping her sword tightly.

"I'll rip out your heart!!" Lancer shouted, then dashed forward with incredible speed while unleashing the aura from his spear.

"GAE BOLG!"

"So that's Lancer's Noble Phantasm that he was going to use on you earlier?" Rin asked me as she watched everything happen.

"Yes, that's his Noble Phantasm, Gae Bolg. It's supposedly can't be avoided, but..." Rei says while continuing to watch where Lancer is attacking Saber.

"What do you mean?" Rin looks confused, but when she sees Saber get hit by the unavoidable attack but only her shoulder get injured, "Hah... What's going on? Isn't that attack supposed to be unavoidable??"

"Well... It's because Lancer's luck is really low and Saber's luck is really, really high or something like that..." Rei explains, then jumps down from the roof.

After landing, he stops concealing his presence, allowing everyone here to see them.

"Hey Lancer, we meet again!" Rei says while putting Rin down and greeting Lancer.

The moment Lancer hears that voice, he instantly knows who it is. "Foreigner? Do you need something from me?" Lancer asks Rei.

Meanwhile, Saber noticing the man feels her sword Excalibur reacting to him and begin to tremble slightly.

"What's going on?" Saber murmurs as the sword in her hand seems to want to break free from her grip.

"Emiya, what are you doing?" Rin immediately rushes to Shirou.

"Tohsaka?" Shirou looks confused when he sees Rin suddenly appear.

Meanwhile, Saber, seeing Rin approach her Master, prepares to move and attack.

But then she feels something very heavy pressing down on her. "Ughhh!?"

"Just stay there, Saber, and don't do anything stupid," Rei swiftly threatens Saber.

Seeing this, Lancer decides to retreat and leaps onto the roof. "Heh, looks like I'm done here. See you later, Foreigner, and little girl who summoned him."

Lancer then disappears from the scene; after all, he's still injured, and his Noble Phantasm failed to kill Saber, leaving him with no other choice but to leave.

"Why did you summon a Servant like this, Emiya!?" Rin scolded Shirou once again.

"What do you mean??" But Shirou had no idea what she is talking about.

"Eh?" Seeing Shirou's genuinely confused expression, Rin realized that this might all be a misunderstanding.

Saber then stood up, keeping her gaze fixed on Rei without lowering her guard even slightly.

"Who are you? You're not a Servant in this war, and Lancer called you a Foreigner??" Saber asked Rei cautiously.

"Hello, Saber, or King Arthur Pendragon... No, Artoria Pendragon. You can call me Rei."

The moment she heard her true name spoken by this man, she instantly pointed her sword at him. "How do you know my name!"

"Well..." Rei pointed to her sword, which is shrouded in wind, and then snapped his fingers.

Immediately, the wind covering Excalibur disappeared, revealing the golden blade and blue hilt of the sword.

"That's Excalibur!? So she really is King Arthur?" Rin exclaimed in shock when she saw the sword.

"What are you doing!!" Saber quickly enveloped her sword in wind again, making it vanish from sight.

"I'm just testing something, you don't need to worry," Rei responded with a smile.

What he is testing is whether he can replicate Excalibur using his Reality Manipulation ability or not, and it worked perfectly. The moment he saw Excalibur, he could instantly recreate it using his power.

Saber is still glaring at Rei while Rin doesn't know what's going to happen if King Arthur attacks Rei. I mean, she's kind of curious too about how strong Saber is.

But the most important part is, "King Arthur is female?" Rin murmured to herself.

Rei just keep smiling, eager to test something with Excalibur and comparing this world Excalibur with his world Excalibur~.

But then, "Ummm... Can someone explain to me what's going on?" Shirou raised his hand and asked us...