Chapter 22: Possessive (II)

After taking a few turns in the corridor, Haruki took a cut to the stairs. Rin didn't need the infirmary's help, neither did he want to stay there.

“Hayashi.”

He bumped into Shinji, who happened to be coming down the rooftop. His wide eyes fell on Haruki’s hand joined with Rin’s. Rin yanked her hand from Hayashi’s grasp and gave a forced smile.

“Matou-kun, would you please move?”

“Move, Seaweed,” Hayashi ordered, acting like a typical bully.

Shinji swallowed the hatred down his throat. With Rin present, he couldn’t summon Rider. Although he wasn’t fully assured, a competitive magus like Tohsaka had high chances of participating in the Holy Grail War.

‘I have to wait until Rider’s Noble Phantasm is ready.’

Shinji looked down on others, but he also was a coward by nature, especially in front of Tohsaka who was a genius in magecraft.

Shinji proudly walked down the stairs and bumped his shoulder with Haruki, only to feel like he crashed into an immovable wall.

Haruki smirked and imposed his leg in Shinji’s way. Shinji tumbled down the stairs and smashed his nose into the concrete.

“Later, Seaweed.”

Rin watched the bullying with a blank look. She herself was somewhat of a bully, but Haruki took it to a different level.

“It’s plain harassment,” Rin whispered.

Haruki chuckled to himself. It seemed both sisters had a habit of thinking out loud.

“I don’t know about that,” Haruki said and observed the crimson magic circle drawn on the wall. It had numerous serpents housed inside an octagon with strange letters drawn on both the inside and outside of the magic circle.

Rin placed her hand over the magic circle and analyzed its structure. “It’s a bounded field.”

“Indeed,” Medea said as she emerged from the shadows. “A dangerous magecraft made with a servant’s blood.” Medea held her chin. “Master, it’ll become troublesome later. Shall I dismantle it?”

“Don’t bother. I’ll take care of Shinji today.”

If Saber’s summoning goes right, even Zouken would be dead before midnight. Freeing Sakura and taking Rider took priority, then he will take a look into the Ryuudou Temple.

Haruki slumped against the wall. “Back to our topic. You don’t know anything that happened to Sakura?”

Rin slumped beside him, her eyes peering at the sky. “I haven’t really talked to her for years…”

The usual greeting they shared now and then didn’t qualify as a proper conversation.

“Sakura is going through so much at this moment, and only you can help her.”

“Explain.”

Haruki shook his head. “Ask her yourself.”

“You are… annoying, you know?”

“Yup, but I care about Sakura, and Sakura loves you.”

Rin couldn’t comprehend how a high schooler like herself could dwell on these topics so naturally. She had trouble saying more than 'hello' and 'goodbye' to her sister. Yet, he talked about love and stuff so freely.

“You said something about Lesser Grail. Sakura knows about that too?”

“She doesn’t. And don’t bring it up before her.”

She flinched from his cold eyes. “Okay…”

“Good. You can return now.”

“Huh?”

“Caster, escort her to the class.”

“Understood, Master.”

“Waaaaaait.”

She had more questions, some were related to him, some to his mother’s background. Her protests had no results on Medea. Haruki’s servant pushed Rin out of the door before locking it shut.

Rin slammed the door in anger. “Jerk. Stupid. Idiot. Numbskull.”

She spouted curses as she left for the class.

Haruki chuckled for an odd moment until a blue window silenced him for good.

[Rin Tohsaka is added to the 'Potential Partners' list.]

‘You want me to conquer both sisters?’

"I am showing you the way. Whether you walk it or not, depends on you."

The prospect of having the sisters in each of his arms tempted him. Just a bit. He immediately checked the genius mage’s status.

Rin Tohsaka: A descendant and inheritor of the Tohsaka family.

-Current status — Thinking of a way to approach Sakura.

-Relationship Status — 21/100

-Species — Human

-Age — 17

-Gender — Female

-Height, Weight — 159cm/47kg

-Alignment — Lawful Neutral

-Parameters

Strength: 3 (F)

Endurance: 3 (F)

Agility: 3 (F)

Magical energy: 20 (D)

Luck: 11 (E)

-Authorities

None

-Noble Phantasm

None

-Skills

Sorcery Trait: Conversion [A]

Info: This trait increases the effectiveness of storing magical energy in objects.

Sorcery Trait: Reinforcement [B]

Info: This trait increases the effectiveness of reinforcement magic.

Sorcery Element: Earth [D]

Info: One of the five natural elements, gives easier access to Earth Magecraft spells.

Note: This element is currently sealed.

Sorcery Element: Wind [B]

Info: One of the five natural elements, gives easier access to Wind Magecraft spells.

Sorcery Element: Water [D]

Info: One of the five natural elements, gives easier access to Water Magecraft spells.

Sorcery Element: Fire [A]

Info: One of the five natural elements, gives easier access to Fire Magecraft spells.

Martial Arts [D]

Info: Acquired from immense practice in hand-to-hand combat.

Despite having lower overall stats, she was stacked with skills. She didn’t have any mana control skill, meaning either it was exclusive to him or Rin was unskilled. The former had more chances of being true as even Medea didn’t have the mana flow control.

‘She is strong.’

Unless he managed to close the distance, she would one-up him with her Gandr magic and reinforcement magic. It’ll be a tough fight for sure, which made him grin foolishly.

Medea threw a strange glance at him. “I don’t understand you sometimes...”

“What?”

“Why are you being nosy with Rin Tohsaka?” she said as she folded her arms on her waist and looked away.

Haruki blinked his eyes. She seemed to be discontent about this as though his talk with Rin made her jealous.

‘That’s kinda cute.’

Haruki smiled and patted the ground. “Come over.”

Medea didn’t ignore his orders. With a sigh, she approached and sat beside him. She still didn’t say a thing and began creating tools to create his mystic code. She could feel his gaze full of curiosity… and warmth on her, but she continued her work, despite a thin blush on her face.