21. Chapter 21

*1 Day later*

"Shirou, can I ask you a question?" Saber suddenly asked.

Right now she and Shirou were in the dojo and they had just finished their training for the morning. Since the war had yet to end they both wanted to keep sharp their fighting skills.

"Sure, what is it?" Shirou asked as he cleaned the sweat off his face with a towel. The last 2 days' training suddenly got more intense and right now he was drenched in sweat.

"How did you improved this much during these last days?" Saber asked as she carefully watched Shirou.

"What do you mean?" Shirou asked as he turned around to watch Saber.

"Shirou, be serious." Saber said with a serious tone. "Yesterday during our training I was never able to land a hit on you, and today I managed to hit you only 10 times. The majority of the times I was always very close, but you somehow managed to parry all my attacks just in time... you have improved drastically."

"Shouldn't you be happy that I have improved this much so rapidly?" He asked her.

"I am of course. As your teacher, I could not be happier, but I could not help but note that you have suddenly changed... your fighting style? I mean, before you didn't actually have one since you always projected different kinds of swords, but now you are using the same weapons and way of fighting of that man... why?"

"...To say the truth I remained fascinated with Archer's fighting style, and since I have both seen him fighting and his weapons I can replicate his style with no problem. You said it yourself that he was a man with a lot of fighting experience, and you were right."

"...I see now, thank you for answering me." Saber said after a moment with a nod.

"You're welcome, see you later at lunch Saber." Shirou then said before he turned and went to the exit door of the dojo.

Saber watched Shirou going away, and as soon Shirou opened the door of the dojo Saber saw Caster, who was smiling.

"Have you finished with your training Shirou?" Caster asked.

"Yes, I just finished, but before we start with our magic lesson may I go in the bathroom to clean myself?"

"Sure, take your time." Caster said with a nod and a smile before Shirou surpassed her and started to walk toward the house.

Saber now was still in the dojo and she was staring at Caster, who was watching Shirou walking away, and as she did a shiver went down her spine.

Right now Caster was watching Shirou entering back into the home, but as she did she now had a completely emotionless expression. The smile she wore until a moment before had completely disappeared, as if it never existed.

The way the woman was watching Shirou genuinely gave Saber goosebumps. She was both a king and knight, she had fought hundreds of men alone and she had slain hundreds of horrible monsters without any kind of hesitation... but somehow Caster unsettled her.

She right now had no idea of what the witch was thinking, and the way she had started to act in the last days had started to make her suspicious.

Not in the sense that she feared that Caster may be plotting something against her or Shirou, her instinct told her there was no danger, but she just had almost no idea what had caused Caster's sudden change toward Shirou.

Almost.

As she watched Caster Saber recalled the events of the day where Berserker and Archer died, the day where the war should have ended.

She recalled how the night before those events Shirou suddenly woke up and felt unrested, as if something extremely wrong just happened, or was about to happen. Saber could sense the feeling Shirou felt at the time, it was some kind of warning that told him something was about to end, so she deduced the war would have ended the next day. She was somehow wrong in the end.

She recalled the way Shirou described Archer as a strange man and how she herself said the two of them had similar physique as swordsmen.

She recalled how immediately after Archer revealed his weapons Shirou gave her the absolute order to remain there and block Caster from doing anything until he told her otherwise.

She recalled the way the man fought Berserker, especially the way he created all those Noble Phantasm that did not belong to him, in a similar way Shirou could.

She recalled what Shirou then told to her after he had defeated the Servant, the man was someone coming from the future that was there just to kill him, she could tell that he had spoken the truth.

And now she was thinking on how Shirou had perfectly copied the man fighting style, a fighting style that somehow almost put him on her level, as if that fighting style had been always his.

Shirou said that since he had seen the man's weapons and the way he fought he was able to copy it, but there was an incongruity, Shirou could copy weapons, not fighting styles that belonged to 'other' people.

As his servants, Saber always knew that Shirou was not telling her everything.

She herself told him that if he ever wanted to talk about it he could come to her, she could tell that he had no intention or even the interest of thinking about the man he had fought, but this fact was non-other than a hint.

Saber could tell that from the night Shirou had fought Archer he had somehow matured and improved in more senses. She could see that he had grown, Shirou has always been more mature than his actual age, but somehow he had become more intense after his fight with the man.

The fact that from that night Caster changed as well was another hint.

Everyone who lived in the home could tell that something happened between Shirou and Caster, Saber never talked to her but she was sure that Caster had discovered what really happened that night.

A week ago Saber could describe Shirou and Caster as two people who were close enough you could think they were very close friends, but now it seemed that Caster had become a bit too attached to him, if not overprotective. Whenever Shirou needed help or was doing something she was always there, ready to help him at any time.

Saber had already reached a conclusion on the events of that night and why Caster acted the way she did, she was more than sure that the servant Shirou fought was non-other than his future self.

The two of them had the same physique, same unique power, and now even the same fighting style and weapons. If Shirou could copy the fighting style of servants in a matter of days right now he could be able to recreate hers since that had been training for a month, but he could not, that was just another proof of her theory.

When Shirou fought the man it probably happened something that gave him a part of his knowledge and experiences, and right now Shirou was capable of fighting in the same way the man could.

Yesterday was the first time Shirou fought with that style, Saber was more than surprised when Shirou successfully parried all of her blows when it was her turn to attack, it was something that never happened before. In fact, she was so concentrated to understand the secret behind 'his' new technique that she didn't realize until the end of the training that she was not able to hit him once during the spar. In fact today she was more serious than usual, and yet she was not able to hit Shirou constantly like usual.

Shirou himself admitted that the man was someone full of experience, and she could tell that the 'fighting style' he was using had been created with the idea of giving him the chance of fighting someone of her level, who was faster and stronger than him. Saber didn't know for how many years the future version of Shirou developed said style, but she could see its result.

Saber then snapped out of her thought when she saw Caster disappearing from the front of the dojo.

'...Oh well, now I'm hungry.' She then thought as her stomach started to rumble.

"So Shirou, today as well you have just to keep visualizing your inner world." Caster calmly said as she sat at her little table. Since Shirou had interacted with Archer, who Shirou said had managed to unlock his Reality Marble, he now had some of the basics ideas for the foundation of his Reality Marble. He was still very far away from unlocking it, but at least he now had the idea from where to start to build his world.

"Ok." Shirou simply said before he sat on the ground and started to meditate.

Since he had fought with Archer some pieces of information about his Reality Marble had been implanted in his mind, he was more than excited at the idea of unlocking his inner world even knowing that it would take at least 10 years to do it, but with someone like Caster helping him he was sure that he could unlock it in at least 5 years.

As Shirou was meditating Caster was enjoying a nice cup of tea and she was preparing some special set of cards.

There was not much to teach him now, he knew all the basic fundaments he had to know to use his unique magic. Yea, Shirou still didn't know many things about the world of magic, but she would teach him about the rest in the future, for now, Shirou had the priority to concentrate on his way more useful inner world.

At one point while she watched the meditating Shirou Caster for one moment closed her eyes, she herself had seen for a brief moment the Reality Marble of Archer, and the more she thought about it the more her heart ached.

The image of that deserted world had now been implanted in her mind and would never go away, that world should have represented what and who Archer was, but the only thing she could see was a giant graveyard.

That inner world spoke volumes about Archer, it spoke volumes of what he had done and it spoke volumes about what he had become: A killing machine. All the swords that she could see were not just the weapons that Archer used to kill with, but they were also the tombs for the people he had killed during all of his existence as a Counter Guardian.

It hurt her very soul when she thought about it. Archer's fate was incredibly ironic, he started his journey with the desire to save everyone, and somehow he ended in a position where he had to sacrifice countless innocents just to make sure that a greater number of innocents would not die as well.

As she thought about the man and his fate Caster grimaced, she could not even think of seeing Shirou taking his same road, she was sure that her heart would not be able to withstand it.

She opened her eyes and returned to watch Shirou who was still meditating, she smiled at the sight.

There was no need for her to think about what would happen to Shirou if he took Archer's road, it would never happen. Archer had been abandoned and betrayed by everyone, maybe even from her other self, but she would be different and will change fate itself if necessary. She will stay with him and make sure that he will not forget for what and who he was fighting for.

Anyway, other than the Archer incident who had taken her focus in the last days she now had to think about the war. Technically it was over, out of the 7 servants only 6 had been summoned and 3 of them were dead while the rest were on her side. So, why the war was not over?

Shirou informed her that before he left Archer to die the man had adverted him that the Holy Grail War had some kind of twist at the end, and since he was not talking about the corruption he was hinting at something else.

What could still happen at the end now that all the enemy servants had been defeated? Was the man being truthful or he had lied to Shirou? Well, since Shirou took the man's words she had no reason to doubt about it, but still, what did he mean by that?

For what he had to be careful? The Church and the Clocktower? Maybe they will send hundreds of their best agents to see what was happening right now or to interfere with the war? Perhaps some monsters like a Dead Apostle Ancestor would show up?

As she thought Caster started to mix up the tarot cards.

Some weeks ago thanks to Shirou she had come to discover this fun and harmless way to divine the future. These cards were associated with the Kabbalah and other pseudo mystic traditions, they were used in cartomancy as some kind of divination tools for fortune-telling. At her times to have an idea of what was about to happen some kind of sacrifices like animal or human was required to please the gods and have a precise divination by reading the liver or intestine of the sacrifice, other methods consisted in trowing to the ground some animal bone, but they were incredibly vague, if not too vague, with their divination and it was a bit boring.

Anyway, there were many ways to read these cards, but since she had just started to use them she would just use the easiest methods.

She took and lit a candle with which she would purify each individual card, after she did she mixed them once again she spread them in front of her where she could only see their backs.

She took three random cards and put them in front of herself, the method of the lecture she was using right now was very simple: each card from the first to the third spoke about the person's past, present, and future.

She turned the cards and saw: The cards of the Devil, The Stars, and the Lovers.

'...Huh, that's better than what I was expecting.' Caster thought as she watched the cards she had just used to divine herself.

The cards had many different meanings, so the real ability of the cartomancer was in interpreting them.

So, the first was the Devil, it symbolizes evil or danger. Immorality, degeneration, wickedness, and various vices are also associated with this card, also pure evil in general. In some rare cases, it can refer to unbridled passion and in other cases it can refer to the end of a dangerous situation...

'Bullseye.' Caster thought bitterly as she watched the card. She was a bit surprised when she realized that this card had perfectly described her past and her actions. After a moment she shook her head and she turned to watch the middle card that represented her present.

The second card was the Stars, and this card was undoubtedly positive. It meant that the person must be optimistic because the stars are with them and they are emanating their beneficial influences. They are in favor of the heavens and the stars light their way for a bright future. It also represented the fertility of ideas and favorable circumstances. The stars do not necessarily indicate material success in a specific action, rather they tell us that we will find joy, a good mood, that we will be satisfied and happy. Everything was set up for the best for their happiness.

As Caster watched the card a radiant smile appeared on her face, she was more than sure that the appearance of this benevolent card was solely because of Shirou. After that, she watched the final card that represented her future.

'The Lovers, huh...' Caster thought as she watched the final card.

The cards of the Lovers was quite simple: It represented love.

Some meanings of the lovers' card could be the desire for a true love relationship, physical attraction that turns into spiritual attraction, positive temptations.

As she thought about it Caster was a bit surprised that this was not the first card that she took, other meanings of the said card were too much love that is oppressive, non-positive union, separation and breakup, negative temptations, up to infidelity. It described almost perfectly her relationship with Jason, but why it was the last one she took?

Now this was the last card she has took and it was representing her future, it represented what will happen to her.

Caster took the card and she observed it for a while, she found it a bit strange, even if now her body was around the age of thirty she, in reality, was over 70 years old. She was far too old to fall in love, and her past experiences about said subject surely did not help.

She closed her eyes and shook her head a bit, it seemed that these cards were not as precise as she thought, or maybe she had made some mistake in the process of the divination.

After a moment she opened her eyes and turned to watch Shirou, she had to see if the tarot cards would be right about him and his future.

Caster then kept watching Shirou and after a moment she smiled. Seeing Shirou's serious and yet cute expression as he meditated calmed her in a way that could not be described, just knowing that he was near her relaxed her and made her tranquil. As she watched him she realized that it was the first time ever that she had ever grown this attached to someone. Well, he was a special person for her, in fact, it was almost like she had fallen-

...

...

...

Caster slowly lowered her eyes and she silently watched the card in her hand, after she did she turned her attention to Shirou once again. After doing this action a number of times her eyes started to widen and at one point she suddenly froze... could it be?

No, it could not be possible. She saw Shirou just as the boy she had to take care of, that was it. She did care deeply for him, but her level of affection had already reached her limit... right?

She turned to watch the cards and once again her attention had been captured by the Stars. Not only this card was a sign of good luck, but it had a beneficial influence on surrounding cards and the situations to which they were related... oh gods.

Caster turned her attention back to Shirou and at that moment she started to remember every moment she had passed with him from when she had first arrived here. She started to remember every conversation they had, every lesson and training session, every cooking lesson, and she started to realize how they got closer each time.

She then started to remember how devastated she was after she discovered what had happened to his alternate self who she thought to be his future self, she remembered how scared she was at the idea of Shirou hating her and wanting to kill her, she remembered how the night after those events she had captured Shirou to have him all for herself, she remembered the words she spoke to him, she remembered how closely she hugged him, she remembered how she felt calm with him, and she remembered the oath she did to herself to not let him go and to stay at his side.

After some very long seconds, Caster soundly slapped her forehead.

"Caster? Did something happened?" Shirou asked as he immediately snapped out of his meditation. The sudden sound had surprised him and when she opened his eyes he saw that Caster had a surprised expression as she watched him.

"What? No, no, it's nothing. Don't worry, just keep meditating." Caster calmly told him as she made the gesture to turn back while she turned her attention on the card.

"Oh, Ok." Shirou simply said before he turned back to meditate.

As Shirou started to meditate Caster was now massaging her left temple while frowning and thought: '...Wait, really? When did it happen? How did it happen? What should I do? No, wait a damn minute, how did I not even realize it until now?!'

In those moments she started to ask herself so many questions that after a while Caster shook her head and stopped thinking. If she had to think it about she had to do it alone and not with Shirou near her.

To distract herself in the meantime Caster took the cards and started to purify them again, then after spreading them she took 3 Cards with the intention of seeing what Shirou's future had in store for him... more specifically, if he too had the Lovers cards for his future.

After she took and saw the three cards Caster didn't know how to react, the cards that were now in front of her were: The Tower, The Magician, and The Death.

Caster observed the last card for a while and after some moments she started to interpret them.

The Tower usually represented punished pride, but with Shirou's case, she would just see the image and what it represented. The image of the tower struck by lightning that sets it on fire and destroys it was present on the card. The reference is to the Tower of Babel, a symbol of the pride and the pride of man who wanted to rise up to compete with the divine, who was demolished by God himself. The card also depicts two men falling into the void following the collapse of the tower.

It was clear that this card spoke about the punishment for all the participants of the war that had the intention to obtain an object that could grant any wish, this card also represented the disaster that happened after the destruction of the grail that destroyed a big part of the city and killed over 500 people, Shirou included.

Caster then turned her attention to the next card, which was The Magician, and she smiled a bit.

The magician is a figure that represents activity. In fact, the magician is the one who is the architect of his own luck, who is enterprising, who acts, and who obtains results. It was undoubtedly a positive card, in fact, it represents the one who has skills and intelligence, uses them, and thanks to his merits he achieves results.

It represents action, ability, resourcefulness, merit, results. It was a perfect card to describe Shirou.

After that Caster turned to watch the last card and she didn't know if she had to celebrate at the moment since Shirou was near her.

The Death symbolizes a phase of what is the cycle of life, a traumatic phase that precedes a new birth. Such a frightening figure does not, therefore, take for granted that death is a bearer of misfortune, in fact, its meaning is mainly that of change, of closing a cycle and consequent renewal. Death means the end of the current situation, perhaps in a traumatic way, and a new situation that follows. Death can also be about the end of a negative cycle...

Caster was more than sure that this card represented that Shirou will start a new life after the war, and she could not be happier for him. With the end of the war and the elimination of all the founding families that had created the Grail Caster was sure that sooner or later Shirou would be able to make peace with himself and keep going with his life, he will be able to leave behind all the terrible events that happened to him until now.

She turned to watch Shirou and smiled, if her feeling for him were way stronger and deeper than she had first imagined it didn't matter now, the only thing that did was that he would have a stable future where he would not condemn himself... and maybe she had to stay closer to him than she first imagined, just to be sure of it.

*Some hours later*

"I always knew that it would have happened." Sakura muttered as her feminine intuition screamed for imminent danger. It was not the time for lunch so everyone was in the living room.

"What do you mean Sakura?" Rider asked with her usual monotone voice as she turned her attention from the Tv to Sakura.

"What do you mean what I mean? Just look at her." She said in a low voice as she turned to watch Caster who was helping Shirou at making lunch.

"...I cannot see what you are hinting, literally, could you give me more details?" Rider told her as she tapped her fake sunglasses.

"Just look how she is acting! During the last two days Caster was incredibly strange, she had been silently following Senpai almost everywhere and she acts normal only around him! Then I saw how some moments ago they touched each other hands for error and none of them paid any attention to it, but since then Caster is acting strange! Look!" Sakura said as she turned to watch Caster.

Caster, almost as if she had been enchanted, was now watching Shirou's face while he was busy cutting some vegetables, as she did her ears twitched.

"...I see, so, what is your conclusion?"

"She, well..." Sakura started to say before she started to bite her thumb. "Tch. What should I do now? Do I really have a chance against her? She not only is a beautiful woman, but she has experience for sure! How should I act from now on?" Sakura then started to mutter with a low voice.

"..." Rider observed Sakura strange reaction for a moment and then turned her attention back to the TV where she kept hearing the morning news. If Sakura suspicious were true she could only be sorry for her. She just knew that it was better to stay silent and ignore the subject, before it attracted the witch's attention.

In the meantime, Saber had heard the little conversation between Sakura and Rider and she was now watching Shirou and Caster. She was not an expert about the subject, but as his Servant and friend she had to be supportive, so the only thing she could do was to bid her Master good luck.

Thanks to their connection Shirou felt that Saber was thinking something about him, he turned around just to see her giving him a thumb up with a confident smile, he realized that she was probably very hungry since they trained a lot that morning, so she wanted to make sure he cooked a lot, so he smiled and gave her a thumb up as well.

After he did, he didn't noticed Sakura slamming her face on the table.

It was now afternoon, Caster was in her room and she was thinking intensely. She had been walking back and forth in her little room for almost 2 hours as she kept thinking about her feelings for Shirou, and from time to time she used her crystal ball to observe him and watch what he was doing.

The more she thought about it the more she realized that she had truly fallen in love with him. The strangely warm feeling that filled Caster's chest every time she thought about him overshadowed all the other emotions that she usually felt.

As she already said in the past all the time she had spent with Shirou had been the best time of her life... and she could also say that Shirou had been the nicest person that she had ever met, so she was not surprised she had fallen for him.

As she thought about the subject she had realized that this had been the first time ever that she had truly fallen in love with someone. In life she had married different men, the first had been Jason since she had been forced to love him because of the gods, but after he betrayed and left her she had no other place to go, so she started to go around and seduce different powerful men. Unfortunately, she had never been lucky enough to live a stable life until around the very end of her life, when one of her sons managed to become a king.

'So, now that I have realized that I love him... what should I do?' Caster thought a bit perplexed.

Caster now had no idea of what to do. Yes, she was a master in seducing and manipulating men, but this time her feeling was the true thing... they were sincere and honest, she could not use her usual tactics. As much she was able in manipulating men in giving her everything she had no idea of how to act or what to do in a real relationship, she was a complete beginner in what could be defined as true love. The only people that in life she had truly ever loved were her sons and daughters, but that was a different kind of love, and not even her relationship with them had been very good.

She also had not to forget the fact that Shirou saw her as a friend or/and a big sister. Maybe for him, she was someone who was way closer and more intimate than that, but he surely did not see her as a romantic interest since by this time standards he was far too young for her, and he had yet to reach the adult age.

What should she do now? How should she act? Should she just tell him about her feelings? Maybe it was better to talk about it after the war? How would he react to the news? Would he found it strange? Would he understand her? ...Would he accept her feelings?

The more answers she tried to find the more question started to come up, so at one point she decided that it was time to relax a little.

She got out of her room and went into the living room, she wanted to make herself a cup of tea, but when she entered the room she saw Shirou who was already preparing some tea.

"Oh hi Caster, do you want something?" Shirou said after he turned around.

"Well, I've come here to make some tea for myself..." Caster said as she carefully watched Shirou.

"Don't worry, I'll make a cup for you too, another pair of minutes and it will be ready."

"Thanks." Caster simply said before she went in sitting at the table.

As she was there Caster watched Shirou as he prepared the tea for the two of them, she watched his every movement while she thought of what she had to do next.

After a pair of minutes of waiting Shirou gave her a cup of tea and sat in front of Caster. Caster thanked him and started to drink from her cup, but as soon she did Shirou started to speak.

"I see that you are thoughtful, what are you thinking?" Shirou calmly asked her. Since she had entered Caster had been strangely quiet, maybe she was still thinking about Archer and had some questions to ask.

"Before coming here I was thinking about what I should do after the war... but at one point I've realized that I found something I never thought I'd find." Caster said vaguely. She needed some kind of advice and Shirou was there, who could help her better than him? She had not forgotten how dense he was, and she was sure that he would not even realize that she was speaking about him if she said that she had fallen in love with someone close to her.

"I suppose that it's a special thing for you."

"...Yes, it's so special that you have no idea," Caster said as she intently watched him in the eyes. "so special that I would do anything to obtain it." She continued before being surprised by her own words.

"Oh, I see." Shirou said before he sipped some tea. He could both see and feel that Caster has found something very important, the intensity of her words was a clear sign of it.

"Yes, but you see, now I have no idea of how to act. I would like to obtain said thing, but I think that if I do something wrong I may ruin... everything."

"Hmmm, do you need any advice or you just need to talk about it?"

"...I just need some kind of advice, really." Caster said before sighing.

"...Well, since I don't precisely know what you are talking about or what you want to do, I can only advise you to follow your heart... I mean, just do what you really desire Caster. You have just to make sure that no matter what will happen after you do it, you do not have to regret your actions."

"...Depending on the contest and the person this advice can be quite terrible, you know?" Caster said after a very long moment as she watched him.

"I know, but you're not that type of person Caster." Shirou said calmly. Caster could try to convince herself to be a bad person as much as she wanted, but he had seen her true colors many times.

"..." Caster said nothing and lowered her eyes to watch her cup. She could sense that Shirou was being honest, he really thought that she was not really a bad person...

At that moment she took a deep breath and took that advice to her heart, she simply did not have to regret her actions.

"Tell me Shirou, what do you think of me?"

"Why do you ask?" Shirou asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"...I just wanted to know what was your view on me." Caster said as she looked at her side.

"You're the person I trust the most Caster, you don't have to doubt yourself." Shirou said as he observed Caster watching her cup. Was Caster still thinking about how her other self had betrayed Archer? Or she was thinking about her past and the things she did?

After a long minute of silence Caster called him.

"...Shirou."

"Yes?"

"I love you." Caster said as she watched him in the eyes.

As she said it her heart started to beat incredibly fast... goddammit, and she was supposed to be a woman who could not fell in love.

"...What did you say?" Shirou asked after a long moment. Did he just hear things wrong?

"C'mon Shirou, you heard me well, I said that I love you." Caster said she got a bit embarrassed.

"...Eh?"

"What? Did you expect some kind of long and detailed confession on how and why I fell in love with you? Maybe you expected me to do it as we watched a beautiful scenery? Or maybe you expected it after a bloody final battle as we held each other in the arms? I'm not a teenager Shirou, I'm far too old for that." Caster said as she fidgeted a little.

"..." Shirou was watching Caster in complete silence with a very surprised expression... could it be that the thing she said she really wanted... was him?

"I know that it is sudden for you, and I neither want nor expect you to give me an answer... I just wanted to tell you how I felt about you." Caster said with a little smile.

"..." Shirou kept watching Caster in complete silence for a minute straight.

"...*Sigh*Ok, I know I just said you didn't have to tell me anything, but say something dammit, or this moment will just become awkward." Caster said as she started to get a bit frustrated.

"...Why me?" Shirou asked genuinely confused. What did Caster see special in him?

"Ooooh c'mon Shirou, you're ruining this moment, why you ask me this question?" Caster asked as she watched him deadpanned before she sipped some tea. "You know how much you mean to me. As I said before, you are something I never thought could exist for me... and also you should know very well that you are the best thing that has ever happened to me... but I don't think you've got an idea of how much you did for me, right?"

"...Are you sure about it?" Shirou then asked. Could it be that Caster just like Sakura fell in love with him just because he was the first one to treat her well? Maybe it was just a temporary crush.

"Shirou, I've been through many relationships, but none of them were... sincere. I was used by a man who I was forced to love, so once I became free I decided to use others the same way that man had used me. I never thought even once that I could ever love someone, and yet this morning I have realized that you stole my heart away... maybe from the first day I met you."

"..."

"Yea, I know what are you thinking: How could you fell in love with me without even realizing it? I can just say that is your fault. You're so dense that you've made me dense as well." Caster said with a smile, amused by the idea. "I should've realized how much I cared about you after I spent for almost 2 months entire nights watching you sleeping, and yet I did not, so it's obvious that you passed me some of your density." She continued. Until now she just saw Shirou as a simple boy or a little brother, she didn't expect to catch some feelings for him.

"...Well, I... I mean..." Shirou started to say.

"You don't have to say anything, as I said before you don't have to give me an answer." She then sipped the tea and continued. "Yes, I know that you may have some doubts about it and you could also find it strange since by this time standards our age difference is big... but I'm sincere, really." She said with a smile as she watched him.

"..." Shirou said nothing and just looked down to watch his cup as his ears started to turn red.

"Oh well, I've said everything I wanted to say." Caster calmly said as he watched his cute expression before she finished her tea. "Thank you for the tea Shirou, see you later." Caster said before she got up and started to walk toward the door.

As she got up Caster felt a sensation of satisfaction that she didn't felt for a long time. Shirou had helped her until that very moment, and for this reason she just wanted him to know how much he did for her.

But before she could reach the door, or even make two steps, she suddenly got stopped when Shirou grasped her right wrist. Caster was more than surprised by this sudden action and she turned her head to watch Shirou.

Shirou now was on the table, but right now on his face there was a very embarrassed expression... and he was blushing a lot. Caster could not help but find him incredibly cute.

"..." Shirou just watched Caster as he breathed heavily, it was clear that he was very agitated. In fact, he now didn't know what to think, when Caster said that she loved him his heart skipped a beat... and he was incredibly happy.

"Shirou?"

"...If... if what you said is true, you cannot just... you know, ignore the matter like this... as if it was nothing." Shirou said as he looked at his side to not watch Caster in the face, he was far too embarrassed to watch her in the eyes. For some reason when she got up he suddenly had an urge to stop her and he wanted to... tell her something?

Caster said nothing, but an incredibly sly and amused smile appeared on her face after a moment.

"...Caster?" Shirou said as he noted her smiling.

"Oh my, is there something you need to tell me Shirou?" Caster asked as she turned around to face him.

"N-No, it's that..." Shirou said as he let go of Caster's wrist.

"That what?" Caster asked as she leaned toward him. "Could it be that you may have realized something as well?"

"No, I- w-well..." Shirou said as he got down from the table. He had no idea of what to say or to do, right now he could not think straight and his heart was beating incredibly fast.

"Hmmm, I've got an idea. Why don't you come to my room one of these nights when you're free? This way we will be able to speak about this subject calmly, just like last time... What do you say?"

"...ok." Shirou simply said after a moment.

"It's a date then." Caster said satisfied. "Well, see you later, Shirou." Caster said with a smile before she got out of the room.

After she got out of the room Caster could not help but giggle a little bit, it seemed that from now on teasing Shirou will be more easy and way more fun than usual... and things may have to take a very interesting turn, something she had not expected.

After Caster got out of the room Shirou sat down in his place, he finished his tea and stayed there in complete silence for a couple of minutes to calm down... just, what was about to happen?

It was now evening and it was almost time for Shirou to go on patrol with Saber.

After Archer warned him about an unexpected event at the end of war both Shirou and Saber the day before had decided that they would have gone on patrol every single night while Caster's familiars observed the city all day long in search of clues.

They had no idea of what kind of danger was hiding in the city, or outside of it, so they had to discover it before anything could happen. Yesterday they had patrolled Miyama, so today they decided that they would go to patrol Shinto. Caster to help them also made a copy of herself follow Shirou and Saber in case something happened, this way she could support them if needed. If not, in the meantime her copy would fly in the sky and help them to patrol the city as well.

Right now Caster was walking in the dark corridors of the Emiya residence as she was headed toward the living-room, where Shirou and Saber waited for her.

Outside right now was pitch dark, the only source of light was the light poles outside that barely gave enough light, but thanks to her servant sense she could easily walk in the corridors without any problem.

After a while she reached the living room where she could see the lights being turned on, she opened the door and entered the living room where she saw both Saber and Shirou who was looking at a map on the table.

Both of them turned to watch her, after a moment they nodded to greet her and turned their attention back to the map of Fuyuki.

Caster watched Shirou for a moment, despite her little confession that afternoon and her teasing during dinner Shirou was now completely calm and he was not embarrassed by being in the same room as her, it was time to be serious after all.

"Have you decided your patrol route?" She asked.

"Yes." Saber immediately answered.

"But we need you to send some of your familiars in this zones." Shirou continued as he tapped on the map.

Caster got closer to the table where Shirou was and saw on the map a dotted road, she guessed it was the route they were gonna take. Other than that she saw 5 circled zones, one of which included the church. Probably they have decided to not go around the zone just to not rise any kind of suspect.

After that Caster concentrated for a moment and started to move some of the familiars that were already in the zone and send others to take their place.

"Done." She said after a moment.

"Good. Other than that have do we need something else?" Saber asked as she turned to Shirou.

"If Caster has already deployed her copy we are good to go." Shirou said before he turned to watch Caster. "Caster?"

Caster snapped her fingers and a copy of herself appeared behind her, which a moment later disappeared.

"Be careful, and good luck." Caster said.

"We will, thank you." Shirou simply responded before both he and Saber got up at the same time and walked towards the exit.

After a pair of minutes, Shirou and Saber were walking toward Shinto. Both of them already had their guard up, ready to react at any time to any surprise attack.

They had no idea of what to expect, since this was the Holy Grail War the only thing that could threaten servants were other servants or monsters like Dead Apostles Ancestors.

There was no good reason for a monster of that caliber to interfere with the war, but they had no idea of what could threaten them at the moment. All the servants were either dead or on their side, and the other thing that could create some problems would be the Grail itself, but for now, it didn't have the power to do anything and Caster was already working on it to destroy it.

They had no idea on the identity of the enemy, if there was any.

Maybe the thing that was soon to happen was an event that could not be stopped no matter what, but until then they will still patrol the city just to be sure that nothing could threaten it.

*2 Hours Later*

"So, how are things going with Caster?" Saber suddenly asked.

"...W-Why do you ask?" Shirou asked caught off guard. They had been walking in complete silence for almost 2 hours and then Saber suddenly asked him this question.

"I've noted that the two of you suddenly got closer in the past days, and today at dinner she kept teasing you about something, did something happen?" Saber said as she recalled a Shirou who was constantly blushing during dinner and Caster who kept smiling amused as she watched him.

"Ehmm, kinda." Shirou calmly said as he looked away from Saber and looked in an alleyway. He could not lie to Saber, but he didn't have to admit or say anything about what had happened between them.

"Shirou, no matter what happens, you will always have my benediction." Saber said solemnly with a serious tone.

"...What?"

"Shirou, remember that I'm your servant, I know everything about you." Saber said as she looked toward some trees.

"It... It sounds creepy if you say it in that way." Shirou said as he recalled the fact that Saber could feel all his emotions.

"So, do you want some advice?"

"Some advice?" Shirou asked.

"I've facked to be a man for all my life, so I too have my fair share of stories and experiences with maidens."

"Huh, how did they turned out?" Shirou asked curiously.

"Well, since I could not get too intimate with them since, you know, I've just limited myself to court them when my knights were present, just to show them how a good knight should act. That until Guinevere arrived, but by that time I've become so good with stealing maidens hearts that it simply took a delightful look."

"... , some advices would not hurt." Shirou said as he blushed a bit while we watched some cars passing in the distance. He had no experience in the matter, some advice could not hurt, right?

"Of course Shirou, I'm your teacher, I will pass all my knowledge to you." Saber said with a genuine smile, amused by Shirou's reaction.

"I don't know how to thank you, Saber." Shirou said smiling. "Do you want me to do something for yo-"

"Home-made cookies with vanilla and chocolate with some sprinkles on top." Saber said immediately. "...Oh, sorry, habit." More than habit it had been Caster's fault that kept spoiling her from time to time.

"No problem Saber, I'll make you all the cookies you want." Shirou said smiling as he turned to watch Saber.

"I always knew that you were the perfect master for me." Saber said smiling as she turned to watch Shirou.

After a moment their smiles turned into frowns and they turned around to face their new enemy, who now was at their back.

"And I always knew that you would have returned to me, Saber." A blond man with crimson eyes said aloud while he was under a distant light pole. "But you sure liked to make me wait before coming to me, huh?" He asked with a smile.