I placed the tea cups in front of Rin, Luvia, Miyu, and Illya before sitting at the table in the reconstructed Ryuudou temple, my training grounds.
I had expected this talk for a long time now. I even prepared myself for the eventuality that, one day, I would be exposed to the girls.
But this is not how I expected it to happen.
I did not expect such a coincidence where both the Ainsworth cards and Angra Mainyu cards would exist in the same Mirror World.
And yet, here we are.
Rin sighed and took the tea, sipping it to calm herself while Luvia continued staring at me with a strange look and a blush on her face.
....Now that I think about it, Rin also has a similar blush on her face. What's the deal with them? Why are they embarrassed like that?
Surprisingly, it was Miyu who spoke up first.
Hesitating for a bit, she spoke up softly.
"Do you....know about....?"
"The Ainsworth? Yes. And, I know what you are thinking as well. Unfortunately, I am not him."
I smiled gently at the girl who looked rather down at my words before patting her on the head.
"However, I do know of him and you, thanks to the Class Card. And, if you want, I can try asking Zelretch to bring him here."
I made sure not to use words like 'world' or 'brother' or anything else that would clearly inform the others of what we were speaking of.
Miyu's secrets are her own, and the choice to share them is hers alone. Even though I know her situation and her brother is my counterpart, I have no right to make those choices for her.
Her downcast expressions turned a bit brighter at my promise to talk to Zelretch, but the others did not seem to like the vague way we spoke.
"Shero? How do you even know the Grandmaster? And why do you have class cards as well? Can you explain what exactly is going on?"
"Yeah! Starting with why you never told us you were involved with the supernatural!!"
Luvia's calm professionalism and Rin's frantic worry reminded me of the many lives that my counterparts led with them as their partners.
No matter the universe, these two never truly change.
With a sigh, I decided to come clean. At least, as much as I could without destroying their minds with multiversal theories, Kaleidoscopic existences, and far more complicated subjects.
"Well, just like you, I too am tasked with retrieving the Class Cards from Kuoh by Zelretch. As for how I know him, did you two seriously forget who my father is?"
That shut the girls up as they started to make theories of their own in their minds, just like I wanted.
When I first learned that Kiritsugu was still a boogeyman in this world, just like his other incarnations, except on a much grander scale, I really did not know what to do with that information.
Or the fact that his organization is called Dead Apostles. A name that nearly made my instincts flare with fight or flight response before I read up on them in the books that Zelretch gave me.
Somehow, it feels like this one is most definitely Zelretch's fault since there is no way that naming is just a coincidence.
Rin shook her head and turned to me seriously.
"Emiya-Kun, I saw the Class Card that you used back there, or what it was before you somehow destroyed it. That was the Archer Class Card, yes?"
I nodded my head, knowing where she was going with this.
"That should be impossible, because we have the Archer Class Card."
I took out the dagger and accessed the storage space, taking out the Class Cards and placing them on the table.
"Look at them and tell me what you see."
Rin and Luvia took out the Saber and Caster cards they had while Miyu handed over her own Lancer card, placing them against Angra Mainyu's Lancer, Assassin, and Caster cards.
The Ainsworth cards had bronze backgrounds and golden accents, with the figure depicted in them looking regal and noble.
However, the Angra Mainyu cards had a crimson hue to the background with silver accents and a rather sinister tint to the figures depicted on them.
Not to mention how my cards felt a bit more dangerous than the Ainsworth cards.
"This...how?"
"Another set...? But this doesn't feel artificial."
Rin nodded at Luvia's words.
"This thing, it feels more like a sacred gear than a simple artifact like the ones we have. As if they were not made by human hands."
I nodded at the girl's deduction. As expected of the most talented magi in many realities that I've seen.
"As you can see, the cards I collect are different than the ones you were tasked to collect. That is why I chose not to tell you girls about my awareness of the supernatural. Because I felt this method of us doing our own thing separately was far more efficient."
I will not deny that I felt a bit guilty when their eyes flashed with a hurt look when I spoke about efficiency and keeping them in the dark about me. But it does not matter anymore.
Not to mention how they, too, hid things from me. In fact, the only reason I tolerate all of this in the first place is that I care about them.
The girls fell silent as they contemplated my words before Rin finally spoke up again.
"But, why did the Grandmaster not tell us about this?'
"Because I asked him not to say anything, as I said, I wanted to make this as efficient as possible-"
"Why?"
Illya's soft question silenced me completely as a suffocating tension built up between us.
"Why did you do something like this? Why are you doing something so dangerous on your own?"
"Why didn't you tell me anything about it?"
"I thought you would not keep any secrets from me?"
I scooted over a little bit and hugged her gently.
"Illya. Let me ask you something. Do you really think I was not aware of Ruby's existence from the very moment it floated into your life?"
That made her stiffen a little bit in my arms, while said Kaleidostick somehow managed to give me a shocked look even without a face.
'Must be somekind of emotion transmission magecraft.'
"I could see her from the very day it chose to follow you around. And, I also know about what kind of things you were doing with it."
"....How long?"
I smiled wryly at her question.
"That night, at Kuoh High's track. Where you met up with Rin, behind my back."
I gave a light, playful glare at Rin at those words, making the teenager sweat buckets while Luvia grinned at her rival's discomfort.
Illya's hold on me tightened a bit as she refused to meet my eyes.
"I...I did not mean to hide it from you-"
"I know, Illya. I know that you did not mean to hide anything from me, but did so anyway because you thought it was the right thing to do. Because you did not want to worry me, Sella, Liz, mom and Dad."
"And, I trusted your judgement. That is why I did not expose you, even though I felt very worried about the things you were doing."
I felt my smile become something worse.
"After all, I know better than anyone the weight of secrets and the failures of not being able to trust anyone."
I took a deep breath and spoke seriously.
"That is why I want you to trust me. Trust me when I say that I had very good reasons to keep this secret. Even now, there are many things that you do not know about me, about our family. And, I hope you will never find out about these secrets in your lifetime."
"Because some things are better left forgotten."
Illya remained silent at my words as the eveyrone looke at us with a strange look.
However, the tension in the room was destroyed instantly when the door was flung open with force.
"Wow! When did you find the time to hire people and fix up the temple, Shishou-geh!"
"Issei-san! You shouldn't barge into someone's place without announcing yourself-Oh my!"
Issei Hyoudou, the idiotic, perveted Sacred Gear wielder, stared with a stupefied expression on his face at the scene he stumbled into while Asia, who probably followed him here after I texted him to meet me, stared at the scene with a curious look.
Issei looked at Rin and Luvia, glacing at their bodies for a bit, (which really dissapointed me, but hey, at least he is not focusing solely on them and is instead taking in the area, so at least my training is working) then looking at Miyu and Illya who was still clinging to me, before finally looking me in the eye.
"....Shishou, you do know it is a crime to go after minors, right? Also, what happened to your hair and skin tone?"
He shut up instantly when multiple copies of a certain shinai materialized behind me.
"You were saying?"
"...Nothing."
"...Emiya-kun, who is this?"
Issei brightened up at Rin's question before blatantly materializing his sacred gear.
"Issei Hyoudou, second-year student at Kuoh High and student of Shishou! Oh, also, the wielder of Boosted Gear. Say something, partner!"
"....You are a real idiot, you know that, right? Who just shows their Sacred Gear without even considering if the person in front of them is aware of the supernatural."
I felt a creepy smile form on my face while a vein throbbed on my forehead.
"Good point, Ddraig. I guess we will have to beat that stupidity out of him, huh?"
"....Mercy?"
The only response the boy got was the widening of my grin.
As for Asia, she was already seeking refuge behind a bewildered Luvia who was still trying to understand what the hell was going on, just like Rin.
'Really, when will my life stop throwing curve balls to my face like this?'
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Author Notes:
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