Night

"I'll find a way to repay you for saving my life," Bazett said before leaving. "If I were on duty, I'd have no choice but to report this to the Clock Tower. But I still have a score to settle with Kirei Kotomine. I'll go back and prepare."

Kuzuki Souichirou's position was just as clear. "Nothing else matters to me. If you can help Caster, I'll help you."

After seeing them off, Shirou Emiya planned to go out and buy some ingredients.

"Isn't the fridge already overflowing with ingredients and seasonings?" Rin Tohsaka asked from behind the door, smiling sweetly. "It's cold outside. Come back in and sit down, dar~ling."

Her deliberately gentle tone didn't make Shirou feel warm. It only made him awkward, and his gaze drifted to the side.

"Sorry. I forgot."

The foot Shirou had set outside the door quietly retreated. The wooden door slid shut.

Back in the living room, Saber was eating seaweed rice crackers. When she saw them return, she closed the novel on the table and gave Shirou a faint smile.

It was a clear smile, like a spring of water. It would have been even better if the atmosphere weren't so awkward.

"Um, I'll go prepare the ingredients for dinner."

Shirou started toward the kitchen, only to find a white-haired figure already there. Wearing an apron with his back to everyone, Archer covered his eyes with one hand pressed to his forehead while gripping a kitchen knife tightly in the other.

"Archer didn't want to come back, so I used a Command Spell to make him," Rin said. She had taken her seat again. "Imagine being so reluctant to come back to your own home. An disobedient Servant like that really does need training. Maybe I should make him kill himself, like