Snake in Worm's Clothing 2 (Patreon)

Snake in Worm’s Clothing 2 - or ‘This feels familiar, and yet Shinji does get some Ws against Zouken’ (Fateverse, Shinji!SI)

I could tell Touko was not fully sold on my deal.

I mean, that thoughtful look, the intense silence, the fact she was giving me a bit of a glare a while ago for mentioning her sister would have done without hesitation and… yeah, I am not sure I had fucked up this negotiation or not.

The brunette had us brought inside her business, her office still having a lingering smell of smoke that was deeply instilled from her constant habit of taking a cigarette and getting her stress under check.

Sakura was happily sipping from a cup of water that the woman offered her, becoming a source of cuteness and clear weakness to someone like Touko, who was known to prefer female companionship to male one.

“From Fuyuki City to… here, in Tokyo. I am surprised you were able to plan that far ahead, boy.”

I shrugged. “The trains are quite efficient here in Japan,” I stated quietly, having no reason to appear nervous despite this woman being a terrifying entity if pissed off the right way.

“Yet you want to leave the country to avoid Zouken. I understand why you would do that by what secrets you revealed of the Matou Family but… you are asking for a lot.”

I leaned back on my comfy seat, giving Touko a frown. “My apologies for sounding too forward with this, Aozaki-san, but what I am asking is that you grant us two tickets to London without fearing retribution by any normal airline at the expense of me granting you info and proof that could be sold at a higher price.”

“If there’s anyone interested to buy such a secret,” Touko rebuked, aiming her attention to the dead Crest Worms. “The Tohsaka are clearly uninterested by such a topic, the Einzbern are isolated. No one in the Clock Tower harbors enough resentment to pay a hefty price for these valuable items.”

I gritted my teeth at that and… I closed my eyes. “How many months?”

…

“What?”

“How many months do I have to work as your underpaid minion to get enough of a favor to get this request granted?”

Touko’s eyes widened a bit and I felt Sakura’s hand reach out for mine. She was catching up just now to what I just said and I kept my focus aimed only at Touko. The woman looked impressed and… she blinked.

“Three months.”

“Deal.”

She raised a surprised brow. “You are not going to haggle for less?”

“Three months seem reasonable. Plus, Sakura needs a bit of a break from all this moving around. And I know you would protect her now that we are in your case.”

“Only her?” Touko pointed out, drawing attention to my focus. “I have heard of protective siblings, but you seem to be ignoring your own wellbeing for her sake.”

“Shinji-nii?” Sakura’s own questioning voice had me tense up a bit.

“I know he will focus on her. She is the one that will unofficially inherit. I was born to a line of Magus that have long depleted most of their magical might. What I have is latent potential that nothing short of a magical nuke can fully unlock and… yeah, it’s less on me being expendable and Sakura being too much of a high target for Zouken.”

I turned to glance at Sakura and offered a smile. “Worry not, I am not doing anything silly.”

Sakura didn’t seem fully accepting of these words’ genuineness but she smiled back nonetheless.

“Well, if that’s the case, then I see no issue doing that deal, Shinji-san.”

There were no Geas involved, but I could tell Touko didn’t need one to get me to do shit for her. I needed her, and I was in no position to demand a binding contract. With that done, the woman led us to where our room was. It would be a single room, with a single bed but, considering how young we were, sharing that didn’t seem bad.

The issue would then be with sharing the single bathroom beside the room.

Once we got our stuff settled, we were taken to her front door and told what to do. Sakura would help with the secretary duty, and I would be cleaning around the place. The entire Garan No Dou was dusty as fuck, a clear sign that Touko had not put an effort in having that dealt with. I couldn’t complain since it counted as a chore for the month and it wasn’t like I was inexperienced in cleaning.

Touko would check on us from time to time, but with no clients coming today, Sakura was pretty much sitting all the time and yet cheering me up for doing a good job. A meager praise, but one that came from my new sister. I was more than welcoming of this despite the grueling task itself.

I still pushed through with this effort, making sure to not leave anything untouched and avoid causing issues with any delicate spots all around. It wasn’t the great escape I had planned, but maybe this was for the best as Zouken was still looking for us, and it wouldn’t be surprising for him to think we already left the country at this point.

The only gripe, however, was if someone else got on our tracks and decided to outright forsake the chance of us leaving Japan. That would be… embarrassingly troublesome.

—-------d-d-d-d—------

Tohsaka Rin was in a bit of a pickle.

Some may think that a girl her age should not be working herself so much, but the fact that her little sister had suddenly vanished as her supposed new ‘big brother’ kidnapped her from the Matou household was enough to put her on the edge.

The news had struck through Zouken Matou himself, the man demanding ‘assistance’ in catching the kidnapper and the kidnapped from her father and… ‘demanding compensation’ for that loss.

Much to her surprise, Tohsaka Tokiomi’s response was quite simple and yet so impactful.

“No.”

The latter request had to be refused as it felt silly that the Tohsaka had to pay for a mishap caused by someone of the Matou family towards the Matou family itself was preposterous. However, Rin was quite upset that they couldn’t just go and take Sakura.

“She is no longer a Tohsaka. If we were to claim her once again, Zouken would have good reasons to cause us issues.”

It hurts! This made sense and yet not, it was all about protecting the family but- But Sakura had to be frightened because of what happened. She could only dread what was going on, and even her usually ‘calm mother’ was now pacing from time to time, lost in her thoughts as she seemed demoralized at the idea of what happened to Sakura.

Rin herself knew that something had to be done but… the real shock came when she ended up visiting the church and she confessed to Father Risei of this troubled thought of her.

“Oh, I see. Your father didn’t tell you, right?” Risei remarked. “Well, I told him that the young Matou approached me with items meant to keep away any dangerous beings and… I think his grandfather is like that.”

“W-Wait, you are saying that-”

“Shinji-kun didn’t kidnap anyone. I would rather say that he knew that keeping Fuyuki would hurt Sakura, so he fled with her to protect her.”

“And dad knows this?” Rin inquired, stunned by this turn of events. “Is this why he is so-”

“Careful? Yes. Tokiomi is a prideful man, but not an idiot. He can tell anyone else that Zouken is trouble. Plus, I have given a try to reach out to the boy and I think I will soon find him so we can contact him.”

“...Can you tell me too if you do? I want to know how Sakura is doing?”

Risei smiled kindly. “I will do, young lady, and… a word of advice.”

“Yes?” Rin hummed, curious to know what the elderly priest had to say.

“You may still find the Matou boy to be a bit suspicious. He has inherited a shifty appearance from his father but… his actions speak louder than what assumptions could come out- he had planned to leave on his own before Sakura was adopted and I think he adapted the plans to save her too from any trouble.”

That made sense to her and… while she didn’t like being told how to not judge someone, Rin still found it to be a good enough advice to nod at. Once back home, she went back to her room and spent the remainder of the day studying and then joining her parents for dinner. It was so quiet now that Sakura was no longer around and… she missed her.

As she went to sleep, Rin had one last thought to pray upon before resting.

Sakura… I hope you are happy wherever you are.