Girl, Girl, Girl / Girl, Eggplant, Girl

"Though I wanted to say that, there are still things I can't put into words. Sorry, I think I said something strange, didn't I? Hehe."

"Looks like I have to go back now. See you tomorrow, then. Remember to bring the photos." Yuihama waved at the boy amid the fluorescent glow.

"Mm, see you tomorrow." Shirou nodded in agreement.

The fluorescent glow around the girl grew brighter and brighter, and a Magic Circle of white light appeared around her, enveloping her within it.

Watching the girl vanish into the white light, the boy reached out and picked up the two sheets of photos. Besides the earlier group shot, they had taken several smaller, strange pictures. The girl's editing was way too exaggerated—not only were there pink blush marks, but her eyes had been enlarged to the size of ping-pong balls. As for him, the beautifying effect had turned his face vampire-white.

"As expected... this is really weird." Shirou chuckled as he complained, slipping the two sheets of photos into his pocket.

"Ah!" Shirou suddenly remembered a serious problem. Now that he was alone in the male-only area, how was he supposed to get out?

Girls, Girls, Girls

As soon as lunch break began the next day, Shirou went straight to the Service Club with Yuihama. Yukino was already waiting there.

"Yahallo~! Yukino." Yuihama waved at the girl.

"Good afternoon." Yukino put down her book and nodded, then stood up to make tea for them.

Yukino handed the freshly brewed hot tea to the boy.

"Thank you." Shirou accepted the cup with both hands.

"Then explain it to me. What exactly happened yesterday?" Yukino Yukinoshita asked with a smile.

"What happened?" The boy, under her gaze, looked somewhat confused.

Too many things had happened yesterday. Did she mean the battle with the Soul Eater?

Or did she mean last night, when Komachi had refused to study properly and secretly played on her phone, so he had gone over to confiscate it, only to find chat logs full of things like, "Brother is so great, Komachi absolutely has to get into International High School, then go to school with Brother every day"?

And because he had seen those messages, Komachi had gotten so embarrassed that they were now in a Cold War called, "Brother, you're not allowed in my room anymore!"?

Ah! Could she mean the time he got trapped inside the photo booth yesterday? Had it already been exposed? He had clearly reinforced his leg muscles with maximum magical energy, lowered his head, and sprinted out at a speed beyond that of an Olympic sprinter.

"Although I don't know how many things you've been hiding from me, I don't care. What I'm asking now is, why didn't you summon me and instead drag Yuihama into this?" Yukino looked down at the boy and asked coldly.

"Oh, that. I tried, you know. But I couldn't find your Servant in the Saber-class section." Shirou explained, sweating.

"So yesterday, you really did intend to summon me, but I didn't appear in the Support list?" Yukino asked with a frown.

"Yes. And this monster was difficult to deal with too. It was practically like it had unlimited evasion, and it was terrifyingly fast. If it had escaped outside and gone on a rampage, that would have been bad. I had no choice but to summon Yuihama." Shirou explained.

Hearing her name, Yuihama happily leaned over and said, "Right! Right! Then I got to show off! My Suzuka Gozen was super cool! It was completely different from the game screen, like a 3D movie! Yukino, I really wish you could've seen it."

"Yuihama, calm down. Considering what you ran into, it's amazing you can still be this happy." Yukino gestured for the dango-haired girl to sit down.

"Because Yukino and Shirou were there! When the three of us are together, I feel safe no matter where we are." Yuihama said with a sweet smile, still gesturing wildly even after sitting down. "Yukino, listen to me. When I waved my hand, hundreds of golden swords flew all over the sky! Then they went swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, raining down!"

"No, Yuihama. With your powers of expression, I probably can't understand." Yukino said with a light laugh.

"Eh? How could this be? It would've been great if we'd recorded it." Yuihama said regretfully.

"Yuihama, even if you're proud of it, you can't casually tell other people about this." Yukino reminded her.

"Yeah, Yuihama. When you're chatting with the people in class, remember not to let it slip. Otherwise, they'll laugh at you and think you're an idiot." Shirou added.

He had the feeling that if there were a red Magic Wand and a white alien creature involved, this girl would be easily tricked into joining them.

"Of course I know that! What do you two take me for? I'm not a child!" Yuihama complained, looking at them unhappily.

"As for the issue of being unable to summon me, I made some new discoveries while gathering information." As Yukino spoke, she took out a notebook and flipped open to the notes she had written inside.

"Based on information provided by one of my friends, our current state of possession-summoning is similar to the Pseudo-Servants that appeared in the game, though it differs in that we can freely release the possession.

"Still, it can generally serve as a reference. The key should be compatibility. For a Servant to possess a human, she needs to find someone very similar to her. Body type, age, personality, and capacity all seem to matter. So the reason I didn't appear in the Saber-class Support list may be because I don't match the compatibility requirements of any Saber-class Servant."

Yukino Yukinoshita was explaining the results of her research from the night before, but the classroom had fallen into an eerie silence.

"..."

"..."

"What is it?" Seeing that neither of them had reacted for a long time, Yukino looked up at the stunned Shirou and Yuihama and frowned.

"Why have you two suddenly gone quiet? And can you explain why you're both wearing expressions that say, 'Unbelievable, you actually have friends?' Is this a provocation? It is a provocation, isn't it?" Yukino asked with a chilly smile.

"No... Ahaha! I never expected that you actually had other friends, Yukino." Yuihama laughed as she begged for mercy.

"Hey, Yuihama, that's going too far. Everyone has friends outside school." Shirou scolded Yuihama, then turned to the black-haired girl and asked, "No offense intended. I just want to confirm something. The friend you mentioned isn't an 'imaginary friend,' like an 'air guitar,' is it?"

Yukino flushed red with anger. "She's an online friend! What's wrong with friends from a game chat group?"

"What? So that's how it is. Haha." Yuihama suddenly understood, letting out a long breath before laughing in relief.

"Yukino, the internet is complicated these days. You shouldn't take friends there too seriously. After all, you don't know whether the person on the other side is male or female, or even whether they're human." Shirou advised. His younger sister might not be good at studying, but she had high emotional intelligence. In this regard, perhaps the girl before him was the one who needed to be more careful.

"Hehe, so you really do want to pick a fight?" Yukino asked, smiling frostily at the boy and girl.

At that moment, there was a knock on the door, and a pink-haired girl arrived.

"Good afternoon, Yukino-senpai! Yuihama-senpai! And... Shirou-senpai." Mash politely greeted them as she opened the Service Club door from outside and poked her head in, though her eyes were somewhat resentful when she looked at the boy.

"Oh! Mash-chan, come in, come in." Seeing her pink-haired junior, Yuihama happily rose from her seat, ran over, and pulled the girl into the classroom.

"..." Mash carefully observed Yuihama-senpai's warmly smiling face. The terrifying female who had abandoned her yesterday and forbidden her from following almost seemed like a fake.

Which side was fake? Which side was real? Mash could no longer make sense of it at all.

I've lived in a snow mountain with nothing but snow for over ten years since birth. I'm just a kind and simple country girl from the mountains who's new here, so could you city people please stop playing so many tricks? Wouldn't a little more sincerity be nice?

"Mash, sit down first." Yukino spoke up, rising to make tea for the girl.

"Excuse me." Mash obediently agreed and found a seat.

"Mash, please explain the situation here. After all, there's still a lot Yuihama doesn't know." Shirou said.

"I understand. Then I'll explain the circumstances to Yuihama-senpai first."

Mash nodded, adjusted her posture, and sat properly. Facing Yuihama, who was smiling at her, she repeated everything Da Vinci had told Shirou and Yukino a few days ago.

Girl, Eggplant, Girl

The girl had been a test-tube baby raised by Chaldea, with Magecraft aptitude as the priority, at the expense of her physical lifespan.

She had lived in an isolation chamber for fourteen years. In truth, she had only spent two years outside Chaldea, in contact with the outside world, and even then she had been busy fighting to save humanity. Though she had always studied and read, deep inside, she possessed the purity of a child.

Because of the experiment that forcibly fused her with a Servant, the girl's already short lifespan had deteriorated further. At most, she could only live until eighteen.

Then, when the explosion occurred, she had been on the brink of death. The Servant within her saved her, allowing her to survive as a Sub-Servant. Yet her fusion with the Servant had not stopped the deterioration of her cells.

The girl had been destined to die. Or rather, from the very beginning, she had been born to sacrifice herself at some critical moment.

At the Temple of Time, the girl had raised her shield and stood alone at the front, blocking Goetia's Noble Phantasm for the senpai she admired...

After hearing Mash's account, Yuihama froze for a moment, then asked quietly, "So the story in this game... is all something Mash personally went through?"

"Yes, about ninety percent of it is real. Also, the owner of a certain shop was made prettier." Mash said honestly.

"Waaah... Mash, what a good girl, such a good girl..." Yuihama suddenly stood up and pulled Mash into a hug. She stroked her junior's head, while tears continuously rolled down her own face.

"Yuihama-senpai?" Mash said blankly, suddenly being hugged.

"Hey, hey, Yuihama, why are you hugging a junior and crying? You're the senpai here." Shirou said helplessly. Still, it was not as if he could not understand how she felt. Perhaps this was the dango-haired girl's way of showing kindness.

"Because... because when I think of Mash-chan, going through all those things, trembling but still raising her shield in front of monsters, even knowing she would die but still standing at the front... She's such a fragile girl, and all she wanted was to live like an ordinary person, but she couldn't..." Yuihama held Mash, stroking the girl's head while tears fell from her eyes.

The dango-haired girl spoke incoherently, as though she were doing everything she could to bear some of the girl's hardship for her.

"Mash-chan, from today onward, think of me as your elder sister! I'll definitely do everything I can to help you, so you don't have to worry about anything." Yuihama hugged the pink-haired girl tightly and spoke seriously.

"Yuihama-senpai... I'm actually very happy with my life now." Held in the girl's embrace, Mash also reached out to hug this gentle older sister. Her heart felt warm as she smiled softly.

The two girls remained hugging for a long time, unwilling to part.

"Mash! Shirou! Yukino!" Yuihama suddenly shouted.

"Yes?" The three of them answered, startled.

Yuihama cast aside her usual playfulness. Though tears still lingered at the corners of her eyes, her gaze was utterly serious as she spoke each word distinctly. "We absolutely, absolutely have to help Mash save Chaldea! Then let her reunite with Gudako-chan and all her companions at Chaldea!"

Hearing Yuihama's words, Shirou paused. That's right. She's always been such a gentle girl.

Shirou smiled softly, then replied firmly.

"Of course!"

Yukino brushed back her hair and spoke calmly and sincerely.

"Mm... Since we agreed to help, anything less than the most perfect outcome would not suit my style."

"Thank you! I knew you were the best, Yukino~!" Yuihama happily pounced on her, rubbing her face against the black-haired girl's.

"Don't hug me. Isn't it hot?" Yukino said, somewhat embarrassed.

"Thank you! I love all of my senpai the most!" Gathering her courage, Mash also spread her arms and pounced on them.

"Honestly! I said it's hot!" Yukino sounded like a cat pretending to dislike affection.

The three girls hugged each other intimately, rubbing their cheeks together like true sisters.

Seeing the three girls getting along so well, Shirou smiled in relief.

He felt there could be nothing better than this, though the yuri energy was perhaps a little too high—and there were three of them together.

"Senpai..." Mash held her flushed red face and took a deep breath to calm herself.

Aside from Gudako-senpai, this was the first time she had embraced girls around her own age so intimately. And there were two great beauties at that, one on each side. It was just a little exciting.

"Ahem. Shirou-senpai, there's actually one more matter I have to tell you about." Mash coughed twice and looked seriously at the boy. "Regarding your eyes yesterday, I think it's necessary to have Da Vinci examine them."

"Ah, you don't really need to worry about that. Look, they've completely recovered now." Shirou said.

"Yes, Shirou, it would be better to get them checked anyway."

Yukino also looked over with concern. Though she said nothing, her eyes said everything.

"All right, then. I'll leave it to you, Mash." Shirou had no choice but to agree.

"Yes, Senpai. I'll connect you to Da Vinci right away." Mash said as she operated her phone.

A noblewoman dressed in lavish clothing, who looked somewhat like the Mona Lisa, appeared in the holographic projection.

"Hello, everyone. Oh my, you've gained another companion. As expected of you, Shirou. Even among the Servants I know, your ability to gather companions is exceptional."

"Uwah, I somehow find this person kind of annoying." At first glance, Yuihama turned and whispered into the black-haired girl's ear.

"Agreed." Yukino nodded.

"Da Vinci, please examine Senpai's eyes. He overused his Magic Eyes in the last battle, and I'm worried there may be aftereffects."

"Magic Eyes, huh? Can you use them now? Just look this way. I'll have someone use equipment to test and analyze the data." Da Vinci said.

"I understand. These are my Magic Eyes. Based on their characteristics, I call them the Mystic Eyes of Analysis." Shirou nodded and activated his amber, gemstone-colored Magic Eyes.

Whenever he used his Magic Eyes, he received excessive amounts of unnecessary information, placing a certain burden on his brain and vision.

If he used them on things like machines or furniture, it was not much of an issue.

But when the target of his analysis was a Phantasmal Beast, the burden on his eyes became much greater. The last time, when he used them to analyze the mutated Chimera, he had consumed a great deal of magical energy, and when he projected a Noble Phantasm, that phenomenon of crossing through time and space had occurred as well.

The boy opened his amber, gemstone-colored Magic Eyes. When he fixed his gaze on the holographic projection, the structure and principles of Chaldea's machines within his sight automatically began to be analyzed, transforming into knowledge that poured into his mind.

The tool used to observe this world, the Near Future Observation Lens - Sheba...

The blue sphere connected to Sheba, the pseudo-Earth environment model, Chaldeas...

The Imaginary Number Observation Machine, PaperMoon...

Meanwhile, Da Vinci on the other side used Chaldea's technology to examine Shirou, quickly reaching a conclusion.

"Analysis? This observes the past of another world and can analyze the data that constructs it. It can practically be called 'reproduction,' can't it? Can such a cheating ability really appear in a human?" Da Vinci muttered as she looked at the data. Even the universal genius froze for a moment, clicking her tongue in amazement.

"Da Vinci, what's wrong? Is there something wrong with Shirou-senpai's eyes?" Mash asked anxiously, clutching her clothes in both hands.

"Don't worry, Mash. There's no problem. His condition is excellent. Rather, the observational data is simply too far beyond common sense. I think that in battle, as long as he doesn't try to project a 'complete' divine construct, there should be no issue. Shirou, from now on, try to control your Magic Eyes and reduce the degree of analysis. Even if it means downgrading the Noble Phantasm, you should still be able to project it, right?" Da Vinci suggested as she studied the data.

"Mm, I understand. Thank you, Da Vinci." Shirou nodded.

"Oh, right! I just happened to finish this today. Take a look—I'll install one for you all later." Da Vinci clapped her hands and pulled out something resembling a tablet from the table.

"Hello, everyone~!" The computer screen lit up, and a miniature person ran out from inside, waving in their direction. Looking closer, it was a miniature Da Vinci. She seemed much younger too, perhaps like an elementary school student in the lower grades.