By the time Mayuri flew back to the Tohsaka Residence through the night, Tokiomi Tohsaka was already waiting for her on the drawing room sofa.
The black tea in the pot was still hot.
His blue eyes turned toward her the very second she climbed through the window, his face still wearing that aristocratic calm.
Mayuri set the plastic bag and cola bottle on the carpet beside the coffee table, then sat on the opposite sofa.
She began her report.
When she reached the part about challenging the King of Conquerors, Mayuri chose her words carefully.
"The King of Conquerors said some things at the banquet that rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't like him, so I challenged him to a fight tomorrow."
Tokiomi Tohsaka lifted his teacup and took a sip.
"Not much of a problem."
There wasn't a trace of worry in his voice.
The complete annihilation of Assassin tonight was unfortunate, but it had also been expected.
The truly useful gain was that they had now seen the King of Conquerors' trump card.
Ionioi Hetairoi, the summoning of an army of Servants in the form of a Reality Marble.
It sounded frightening, but judging by Caster's abilities, not a single individual in that army could break through the Astral Dress's passive defenses.
However many of them gathered together, the result would be the same.
"He is only the King of Conquerors. We already know his trump card, and you happen to counter him, Caster."
Tokiomi Tohsaka set down his teacup and lightly tapped its rim with a finger.
"Fight to your heart's content tomorrow. Just take care not to reveal the Sword of Blazing Flame. That is our last resort against Saber."
Mayuri nodded.
Tokiomi Tohsaka didn't ask any further questions.
Kirei Kotomine had already clarified the night's events through their communication device.
Before being destroyed, Kirei's Assassin doubles had transmitted complete recordings of the sights and sounds. He knew all about how Caster had defended the King of Knights and challenged the King of Conquerors.
But when relaying the events, Kirei Kotomine had deliberately concealed the fact that Caster had stood up for Saber.
What Kirei had said was, "Caster and the King of Conquerors disagreed over their ideals of kingship, so they agreed to fight tomorrow."
He hadn't lied, merely omitted the crucial part.
Nor did Tokiomi Tohsaka have any reason to suspect his own pupil.
The next day.
The sky over Fuyuki City was gloomy. Lead-gray clouds hung low, blocking out the sunlight and leaving only a layer of pale light.
Mayuri wasn't in a particularly good mood today.
There were quite a few reasons.
The more she thought about her memories of getting drunk last night, the more embarrassed she felt.
Images of her Astral Dress and wings being exposed in front of everyone popped into her head every few minutes, tormenting her.
There was also the matter of challenging the King of Conquerors. Looking back on it sober, she didn't regret it, but it really had been a little impulsive.
She wanted to go out for a walk.
Tokiomi Tohsaka didn't stop her.
The fight wasn't until tonight. Letting Caster take the morning to recover on her own was fine.
Dressed in casual clothes, Mayuri left through the residence's side gate and slowly followed the path along the hillside.
Her reduced presence was still active, so she didn't have to worry about being spotted by ordinary people or familiars.
After walking for about twenty minutes, Mayuri looked up and realized she had already reached halfway up the hill.
The outline of a building showed through the trees ahead: a spire, a cross, and stained-glass windows.
A church.
Mayuri stopped and looked at it for a while.
I suppose I'm still using an angel identity right now.
My Spirit Origin information says Cherub. Will walking up to a church trigger something weird?
Whatever. Who cares?
In my previous life, I think Grandma dragged me to church a few times in elementary school, but I never went inside one again after that.
Since I've made it here today, I might as well take a look inside.
Mayuri continued up the mountain path.
As she approached the church's front entrance, she noticed someone standing beside the steps.
An elderly man.
He wore a black priest's cassock, with a silver cross hanging over his chest.
His hair was graying, and his face held a measure of kindness, but his posture was far too straight for someone his age.
Mayuri thought for two seconds.
Risei Kotomine.
Right.
I think this is the only church in Fuyuki. He's the overseer of this Holy Grail War, and he usually lives here.
Keeping her reduced presence active, Mayuri walked to within about two meters of the old man before deactivating the skill.
"Hello, Mr. Risei."
Risei Kotomine stiffened.
Any other priest would have tensed up too if a living person suddenly appeared within two meters of him.
His right hand had even found the hilt of a Black Key inside his sleeve.
Then he got a clear look at the visitor.
Long, pale champagne-blond hair.
Magenta eyes.
A girl's face too exquisite to seem real.
He recognized her.
The being who had descended when the summoning ritual was completed in the Tohsaka Family's underground workshop that night.
A pillar of white light, four unfurled wings, and Spirit Origin fluctuations so pure that even space had resonated with them.
Tokiomi Tohsaka's Servant, Caster.
And also-the Lord's angel.
Risei Kotomine released the Black Key's hilt and turned to face Mayuri.
In that second, his posture shifted from wariness to the bearing appropriate before a divine messenger. His back straightened further, his chin tucked in a little, and a natural respect entered his eyes.
"O angel of God. May I ask what brings you here?"
Mayuri scratched the back of her head.
"Nothing, nothing. I just had too much time on my hands, so I came out for a walk and some fresh air."
She waved a hand, her movements so casual that she hardly resembled someone reverently addressed as an angel of God.
"Also, Mr. Risei, you don't have to address me so formally. Just call me Caster."
Risei Kotomine fell silent for a beat, then nodded slightly.
"If that is your wish, then I shall comply."
The old man paused, a trace of hesitation appearing on his face, as though he was wondering whether to say what came next.
"Actually, there happens to be something I would like your help with. Would you be willing?"
Mayuri leaned against the stone pillar by the church entrance and slipped both hands into her hoodie pockets.
"Let me hear it first. If it's not too much trouble, I can help. If it's too much, forget it."
Risei Kotomine took a deep breath.
"The matter I wish to ask your help with concerns my son, Kirei."
The old man's voice was still a little unsteady when he spoke Kirei's name.
"Ever since his wife passed away, he seems to have fallen into some sort of... confusion. Especially lately, he has been growing increasingly abnormal."
Risei Kotomine's gaze fell on the bare ginkgo tree in the churchyard.
"I would like to ask you to offer my son a little guidance. To lead him back onto a normal path."
After hearing him out, Mayuri was silent for three seconds.
Then she spoke.
"Your son, Kirei Kotomine, huh."
Her tone was as flat as if she were saying the weather was all right today.
"Then there's no saving him. He should kill himself sooner rather than later."
The air outside the church fell silent at once.
Looking at the blond girl before him, Risei Kotomine had a thought he had never imagined having in his entire life.
Is she really an angel?
But the four wings at her descent that day, the Spirit Origin fluctuations, and the holy radiance that had made all of space resonate were no illusion.
Risei Kotomine suppressed the emotions surging up inside him and spoke in the steadiest tone he could manage.
"...May I ask why you say that?"
Mayuri straightened up from the stone pillar.
"Your son is already beyond saving. Even destroying himself would count as ridding the public of a menace."
"If he keeps falling any further, I'm afraid he'll start wreaking havoc on other people."
Risei Kotomine's face tightened.
He was Kirei's father.
He had noticed that something was wrong with his son earlier than anyone else.
The abnormal attention he paid to others' suffering, the grief that failed to come at the funeral, and the awkwardness of desperately imitating normal people's emotions while always seeming to be acting.
He knew all of it. As a father, he had simply never been willing to acknowledge it openly.
Now, this angel had stated that conclusion directly to his face.
"Is what you say true... Is my son truly beyond saving now?"
The old man's voice sounded as though it had been forced out from somewhere deep within.
"It seems I can only do it myself..."
Mayuri looked at him.
There was reluctance there, and sorrow, along with a suppressed ruthlessness.
Even someone as poor at reading expressions as Mayuri could see the weight of a father preparing to end his own son's life.
She thought it over again.
"Wait. I have one last idea, though I don't know if it'll still work now."
Risei Kotomine raised his head.
"Have your son become a chef."
Mayuri spoke.
"The kind who specializes in spicy, numbing dishes."
Clear confusion appeared on Risei Kotomine's face.
"If he can devote himself wholeheartedly to that path, he might just barely be able to go on living as a normal person."
Mayuri was very serious when she said this.
She wasn't talking nonsense.
In the Fate series' spin-offs, Kirei Kotomine's obsession with extremely spicy mapo tofu counted as one of his few hobbies that could still be considered "normal."
If that obsession were directed toward becoming a chef, in theory, he might actually find a way forward.
After hearing her out, Risei Kotomine also calmed down somewhat from his earlier state of preparing to kill his own son.
He bowed deeply to Mayuri.
"Thank you for your guidance. I will do everything in my power to guide my son back onto the path of a normal person."
Mayuri was about to turn and leave when an image suddenly flashed through her mind.
Silver hair, a sharp tongue, a nun's habit.
Kirei Kotomine seems to have a daughter, too.
Her name is Caren Ortensia.
In the original setting, Kirei had abandoned her after her mother's death, and she had been raised by the Church, living a rather miserable life.
"One more thing, Mr. Risei."
Mayuri looked back.
"As far as I know, your son has a daughter too, doesn't he? You'd better bring her back, or her future won't be very good."
Risei Kotomine's pupils shifted slightly.
The angel even knows about my granddaughter?
No, of course an angel would know.
Angels can see what mortals cannot. They can see where fate is heading.
"Thank you for the reminder. I will bring my granddaughter back as soon as possible."