Kiritsugu Emiya relaxed in the living room of his house, watching TV with his wife and enjoying this quiet night that they rarely get due to the nature of their 'work'.
Irisviel leaned happily into her husband, smiling contentedly.
"Looks like Shirou and Illya are growing up really well, even with our absence."
"Hm. I hear good things from their teachers. Even Taiga has nothing but praise for Illya."
Irisviel's smile grew wider at those words.
"I guess he took after her mother more than her father then. Right?"
Kiritsugu gave her a wry look.
"I will have you know, I was a pretty good student in my youth. Natalia would have smacked me silly if I wasn't."
Irisviel's gaze softened at the mention of her mother-in-law's name.
"You want to visit her grave?"
Kiritsugu shook his head at those words.
"Not this time. We have limited time here before we have to investigate that lead in Tokyo."
"Hm. It wouldn't hurt to see her before we go."
Kiritsugu remained silent at her words, making his wife frown a bit.
"Don't tell me you still blame yourself for her passing? even after all these years?"
"...."
"Kiritsugu, she had cancer. There was nothing you could have done."
"....We could have used-"
Irisviel placed her finger on his lips with a serious look.
"Don't even think about it, Kiritsugu. That thing was sealed away within the Einzbern family's vault for a reason. The healing it provides comes at a price to anyone who is not its rightful wielder. Remember that incident ten years ago?"
Kiritsugu fell silent at those words as his wife continued speaking.
"Not to mention what the Pendragons will do if they know that one of their most precious missing relics is in our hands."
Remembering that morally bankrupt and hypocritical family, Irisviel could not help but sneer, something that felt wrong considering her gentle personality.
"Those people who take more after the Witch than the King will kill anyone and anything that stands in their way without caring about the consequences."
Then, her tone softened.
"Even then, we did try to risk it all, but Natalia rejected it, remember? She even stopped that Valkyrie you brought in by calling in that favor the Norse owe you for healing her."
Kiritsugu hugged his wife closer and sighed.
"Yeah. She was stubborn like that. She always wanted to go out on her terms. I guess she got her wish in the end."
The couple fell silent, losing themselves in their thoughts, when their senses picked up a familiar swell in magic.
The shadows in the room spiked, alerting Sella and Liz, who were sitting nearby. Yet, the 'maids' did nothing and simply sat up straighter.
The moment the shadows dispersed, a figure wearing black tactical gear and a skull mask materialized.
Kiritsugu did not even look away from the TV before speaking.
"Maiya. It is not like you to come in unannounced."
The woman took off her mask, revealing a woman with dark green hair and brown eyes.
She bowed towards Kiritsugu and Irisviel.
"Forgive me for the intrusion, Kiritsugu-sama-"
"None of that! Maiya. I've told you many times to just call us by our names, right?"
Maiya did not even flinch when the hyperactive and kind Homonculus dragged her to the couch and forced her to sit down, having long grown used to the actions of her mistress.
"I can't be that disrespectful to my masters, Irisviel-sama."
"Mou! I told you to call me Irisviel."
Maiya ignored Irisviel with practiced ease and instead turned to Kiritsugu.
"As for why I am here, I sent some people to look into the lead in Tokyo while the rest of us went to scout out the town for anything that looked amiss, and we found this."
Maiya pushed a file towards Kiritsugu and Irisviel, who looked into it, only for their eyes to widen in surprise as pictures showed their children sitting together with the Tohsaka heir and Edelfelt heir in the Ryuudou Temple, along with the girl that Luvia Edelfelt took in. They even had Asia and Isse with them.
"Huh. I thought those two were still at the Clock Tower? And when was the Ryuudou temple reconstructed?"
Maiya nodded at Irisviel's question.
"They should have been. But for some reason, they were assigned a confidential mission in this town. One that our contacts in the Clock Tower were unable to find out the details of. As for the temple, it would seem someone recently bought the rights to the place and renovated it."
Kiritsugu nodded his head at her words, even though he felt a bit suspicious about the temple's situation.
Flagging it in his mind to investigate later, he focused back on the file.
"That's fine. It's extremely hard to pry into things that Zelretch has a vested interest in. Besides, even with his eccentric personality, he is someone who is firmly on the side of humanity, so there is no need to worry about whatever mission those girls were assigned. And Asia matters?"
Maya handed out another file, which the couple read through with interest.
"Her story mostly checks out. As for the details that she omitted, it seems that she was originally a holy maiden in the Vatican before being excommunicated because she healed a devil. We also suspect that she might have been contacted by the Fallen Angels before they mysteriously disappeared from the town, which might indicate why she came to Kuoh in the first place."
Kiritsugu and Irisviel tensed at those words as the smile fell away from the woman's face.
"....Is it that guy again?"
Maiya shook her head.
"Unlikely. Ciel already went back to the Vatican and interrogated some of the priests responsible for this whole debacle. It would seem that this incident is not caused by that Stray Devil."
"I see. Then, I guess there is no trouble with officially adopting Asia, right?"
At Irisviel's words, Kiritsugu just sighed while Maya showed a rarely seen amused look before taking out another file.
"Already done, my lady."
"Ooh! You really work fast! Maiya"
Suddenly, Irisviel grinned as she continued looking at the photo of her children and their friends in the Ryuudou temple.
"I'll have to find the time to invite those two girls home for some fun and pull in that Hyoudou kid for Asia-chan."
Maiya felt a swell of pity for the girls at those words, while Kiritsugu simply sighed.
"Iri. Don't play your usual games with them. Remember the last time you tried to set up Shirou with someone from his school? Also, at least wait until Asia gets comfortable with all of this before you spring this kind of stuff on her."
Irisviel pouted at those words.
"I really thought that Mitsuzuri girl was the one. But I never imagined Shirou would shift schools in the second year. I had such high hopes for them."
'Well, I don't think there is any girl in this world that can get through the black hole-level density of your son, madam.'
Maiya could not help but think so, having seen the boy ever since he was first adopted into this family.
Then, Maiya took out another file, this one containing information on the recent mysterious activities happening in Kuoh during their absence. Information gathered by their agents, who are always present in the town and disguised as ordinary people.
"This is the list of the anomalous events that have happened while we were gone. Strangely enough, there has been a spike in the deaths of Stray Devils as well as unknown conflicts and spell usage in the town that we were unable to track down, including a large-scale attack magic that reeks of holy energy."
This time, Kiritsugu and Irisviel tensed up.
"The Church?"
"No, my lady. I don't think it is the church since our spies did not inform us of any such activity. I think we are dealing with a rogue element with an Excalibur fragment. One of those that was recently stolen."
Kiritsugu sat up straight as he went through the data, frowning heavily.
"Any information on who is the source of these anomalies?"
"That's the thing, Kiritsugu-sama. We simply don't know. We have tried everything we can."
"Divination magic leads to nowhere since it feels like this entire town has been hidden from such methods. Spies are useless since even the owners of this town know nothing of what is happening. Active tracking has proven to be useless as well, since whatever is causing these anomalies knows how to hide its tracks very well. And, we know for a fact that it is not the devils since the patrol units and surveillance units that the Leviathan and Lucifer leave in this town have our informants in them, keeping us updated."
"Hm."
Kiritsugu and Irisviel went through the details in the file for a bit before sighing collectively at how little data their people managed to find.
"I guess we will let this be for now. We've got bigger things to worry about anyway."
Tapping on the file full of reports from the team that was sent to Tokyo, Kiritsugu stared seriously at Miaya.
"How confident are you that those bastards are there?"
"About ninety percent. We have traced through a variety of means, even hiring a few Yokai. And all leads point to Tokyo."
She took a deep breath as her fists clenched in a rare display of anger.
"We are very confident that the Nihon Revival Institute has its most important branch in Tokyo. We do not know if it is the headquarters, but its loss should still be felt dearly by them, given what we believe it houses."
Irisviel placed her palm on Maiya's shoulder in support, something that the Japanese woman appreciated.
Kiritsugu took a deep breath before speaking.
"Very well. Get the others ready. When we find their hidey hole, we will wipe them out, roots and all. As for the blade that they recently stole from the Owari-Tokugawa family, if we can, we will destroy that evil blade. If we can't, we will seal it away."
"...What about the Owari-Tokugawa? Or the Shinto, for that matter? Will they tolerate something like that?"
Kiritsugu's eyes gleamed at those words.
"They will have to. I will not allow anything that can harm my family to remain in this world. Especially...."
He fell silent as Irisviel's expressions darkened with sadness and anger.
"....Anyways. Tell the others to prepare. We move out in a few days."
Maiya bowed and disappeared into the shadows again as Sella and Liz silently supported their 'master' to the master bedroom, knowing that her mind is always affected severely when this particular issue is involved, leaving Kiritsugu to brood, his mood thoroughly ruined.
'Damned cult. I will eliminate you before you even learn of the existence of my son.'
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Maiya Hisau: (Click here for image)
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Author Notes:
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