"Father Kotomine, I-I'm here to borrow money."
How humiliating!
"Borrow money?" Kirei Kotomine straightened the items in the shop.
"Though it is not my place to say so, what does it say about a person when they borrow money from a convenience store clerk? Or is this what they call the unpredictability of humanity? How delightful. Delightful though it may be... unfortunately, there is nothing I can do about this. Since ancient times, money has flowed from customers into shops, never the reverse. Just as time cannot flow backward, neither can money. Money is something customers are supposed to give me. This is a truth of the universe."
"So you just don't have any money..." Shirou turned and left.
He couldn't talk to this guy. Time to slip away.
"Wait, that Servant."
Kirei Kotomine looked Shirou over, then suddenly smiled.
"Delightful. Truly delightful. You exude an aura that brings me great joy. Borrowing money is not impossible. No, not borrowing money—if you were to sell me something, I might be able to give you money."
Shirou immediately grew wary. "I won't sell myself. What do you want?"
"Your soul."
At that point, even Hakuno could not accept such a humiliating condition. "Fine, don't lend us anything! Stop talking so much!"
"Is that so? What a shame." Kirei returned to his work, looking deeply disappointed.
After leaving the convenience store and taking a roundabout route, they returned to where they had started.
They still had not borrowed any money.
Since escaping the Domain, they had spent nearly a day at it, yet the money they had saved was not even enough for a single coin.
Perhaps Tohsaka Rin still held a grudge over him blowing up the hostile program at the start, so she had raised the price. Otherwise, he might