Fate/Zero:Act 3 Part 1
162:26:39
Fuyuki city, Shinto―
The housing district at the East of the Miongawa is a new town reclaimed from a once empty wasteland; it is different from the history the Miyama town originally has, but it is being refined in a large-scale redevelopment project from the government to build a modern business district over the ancient site.
The buildings in the area planned as a business district are only 40% complete, but the maintenance of the park and shopping mall in front of the station is already done; the future plans are already done for the Shinto district to be clean and mineral, pompous and with no individuality. The city hall is also being moved piece by piece to Shinto, revived with modern iron, glass and mortar, stealing all central municipal functions from Miyama.
It is already crowded even during holidays. In the middle of the crowd going back and forth, cowering from the northern wind, Emiya Kiritsugu disappeared, colorless and odorless without attracting any attention.
His shirt and coat worn for a long time and his lack of baggage give him a slacking appearance that wouldn't make you think of someone who has immigrated. As a matter of fact, he has been like that since he walked in the country up to Shinto in Fuyuki, but Japan still remains his native country. Being used to coming and going, he still felt better in this country.
With a complex feeling, Kiritsugu looked down on the cigarette paper package he had just bought from a vending machine.
It's been 9 years he has stopped smoking. He hasn't been able to find his favorite brand in the far land of the Einsberns, but that was mainly in regard for the mother and child. Just as he came down at the Fuyuki station, prepared for battle, he had thrown a coin in the vending machine out of habit.
Since he has bought a disposable lighter from a convenience store to get back the sensation, he breaks open the cigarette pack. The white of the row of filters is dazzling.
He put one in his mouth and lit it. As if there was a blank of 10 years, he was able to redo the movements naturally. The aroma flowing into his lungs, he got used to the taste as if he had been doing it just the day before.
"..."
Kiritsugu looks at the transformed scenery, completely different from the one he vividly remembers in his heart.
He visited Fuyuki in reconnaissance under cover three years earlier, but the face of Shinto has completely changed since then. This isn't unexpected, but this is beyond what he imagined. He needs to confirm the neighborhood again.
Despite the slight difficulty from the transformation of the area, Kiritsugu reached the hotel he wanted.
The lobby and the front have been arranged, but the interior is a fairly cheap business hotel. Families or wanderers, this hotel is a good harbor for quite a wide genre of users.
Acting as if he knew the place, Kiritsugu walks through the lobby up to the elevator, up to the seventh floor. This is where his faithful subordinate has been for three days, in room 73.
In the world of magi, his relation with Hisau Maiya would be that of a pupil and a teacher.
But to Kiritsugu who saw magecraft as a mere tool he has acquired knowledge in, and not as the object of his quest, there wasn't a single sense of master and pupil. What he has taught to Maiya is merely a "way to fight". This too is only for the purpose of counting her as a "tool". This is from a time when he went through countless desperate battles for an utopia that could never be fulfilled, when he didn't know about the existence of the Grail.
Hence his connection to Maiya is older than the one with Irisviel. Having fought at his side, Maiya knows of the blood-stained side of Kiritsugu that his wife has never seen.
As he knocked at a pre-arranged rhythm on the door of room 73, the door opened immediately as if he had been expected. Skipping unnecessary greetings with a mere glance at each other, Kiritsugu enters the room and closes the door.
Maiya has already been involved for a while. After Kiritsugu retreated, she has arranged the preparations for the Grail War according to the instructions given by Kiritsugu from oversea, and has been busy returning to the Einsbern castle many times.
Handsome, fair-skinned, she was a beauty who used neither eye-liner nor lipstick. Her long eyes and her gaze seem to be always scrutinizing suspiciously, but she deliberately leaves an impression of indifference. Her jet black, straight hair like silk, catch the glance of many men, but her cold, sharp look definitely makes any lady-killer give up.
Anyway, they have known each other for over 10 years. She was still a young girl when they met, but since she isn't a child anymore, she sharpened her sagacity as a characteristic; when with that type of beauty, normal people tire easily, but Kiritsugu was the opposite. She is a woman who constantly saw the reality, and could sometime give out an accurate judgment, more merciless than Kiritsugu. With her, Kiritsugu didn't have to be ashamed of his foul plays or detest his cruelty. This could put him to some sort of rest.
"The Tōsaka mansion moved last night."
Maiya started by jumping straight to the point.
"Please watch the records of it. Also, all the equipment has arrived."
"Understood. First, the situation."
Nodding, Maiya switches the decoder of the unpacked television.
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