Here it is, the first Log Horizon and Fate Stay Night crossover... wait what.

Chapter 1

Beta: Worldbringer of Joseun

Illya was smiling, a somewhat unnerving thought when her housemates realized what the date was, but it didn't bother her at all. She had come to terms with her short lifespan ages ago.

It was a year after the grail war had ended. Shirou, Rin, and Sakura had ended up living through it all. Illya didn't remember how, nor did she want to. It was a miracle that they lived through it, and she didn't want to waste time expecting a miracle.

After the war had ended, they had all tried to go about their normal lives. The key word being try. They didn't completely return to their usual lives, in fact, they could say that their lives ended up better.

Sakura left the Matou home and began living with Shirou and herself. Zouken was killed alongside Shinji so there was no one left in that old mansion anyway. Illya didn't really remember how they died, but she didn't particularly care for those side characters.

Speaking of Rin, she had continued playing the role of an honor student and moved in with them too. Most likely because she wanted to reconnect with her sister… that, and be with Shirou.

Shirou, on the other hand, had vouched to stay at home and take care of Illya and Sakura. He had forsaken his Ideals when he declared that he would let thousands die to save Sakura. He now worked in the nearby Copenhagen, owned by Hotaruzuka Otoko, an old high school classmate of Taiga,

"Illya," Shirou voiced out within the dining room, "Why did you call us?"

Ah right.

She had gotten distracted with her thoughts of the past…

"Rin, your flight is in a week, right?" Illya asked.

"Yeah that's right, midget. What about it?" She asked curiously.

Finding it within herself, Illya ignored the midget comment and continued, "You all have been busy lately, so I've been hoping that we could spend some time together!"

Well, other than when they're in the bedroom. Both Sakura and Rin really didn't know how to shut up. The walls weren't thick enough to block that out.

"Didn't we go on a picnic last week though?" Shirou asked, scratching his head at the request.

"Sakura was the one who planned the outing." Illya reminded them, "I want to plan what we'll do next!"

"That sounds fair, Illya-chan," Sakura concluded, "What is it that you want to do?"

Don't mess this up Illya…

With a somewhat nervous intake of air, an oddity that all the tenants noticed, she spoke. "I wanted all of us to play a game together… A computer game."

"Eh?"

Most of them widened their eyes, which was not unwarranted. Shirou had only bare surface knowledge on how to use a computer, having spent a majority of his youth to become an ally of justice.

Sakura had never seen one before in her lifetime, her entire household was like a void of fun and games. By Zelretch, Rin didn't know how to use any piece of electronics even if she was given years to learn!

They still remembered when they had a TV.

Had being the keyword.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Sakura nervously asked, sending a not so subtle glance to her sister. Said sister didn't miss the action and pouted with a frown, "None of us really know how to play computer games."

"Understatement of the century right there, Sakura…" Rin muttered, more annoyed at herself than her sister.

"I know that, Sakura…" Illya murmured, embarrassment slowly growing within her. However, she did not back down and pushed forward, "… but it's something I want to do! Rin is going away on a flight, Shirou is too busy at Copenhagen, and even you're too busy studying for a teaching degree!"

Rin definitely had a flight to the Clock Tower was due a few days from now. She had managed to earn a scholarship to learn under the Lord El-Melloi II, which was a great achievement by itself. While the man was not a notable magus in the traditional sense, his pupils always seemed to end up making names for themselves.

That last bit, however, was actually the surprise of the century. Sakura had announced it a few months ago. Wanting to teach children, particularly those in elementary school, was an odd choice considering how her life went until the Grail War happened. Then again, her naturally caring and motherly disposition would be great for kids.

"We can all play tomorrow!" Illya exclaimed, "There's an internet cafe nearby with the game installed! We can make your characters today and we can start playing tomorrow!"

Both Rin and Sakura still looked somewhat uneasy. Shirou though, had the picture-perfect face of resignation. "Okay let's do it," He said, dragging two curious looks from the sisters. He shrugged in response, "It'll just be for this week, right?"

"Yes!" Illya cheered. She could not describe the smile she had on her face, mostly because she couldn't see it. "Wait here, I'll grab the laptop!"

As Illya scurried away to her room, Shirou sighed as the looks that Rin and Sakura were sending him grew more unnerving.

He sent them wry stares. "Let's just humor her. Even if we don't have much fun, we can at least say that we got to spend more time with her."

Rin sighed and sucked in her teeth. "Fine… I owe that midget anyway."

None of them wanted to admit the real reason they were humoring her… It hurt too much to do so. They lived with Illya for so long that it was hard to imagine a life without her.

They didn't want to acknowledge the fact that her body was destroying itself. They didn't want to acknowledge that she would disappear. They didn't want to acknowledge that she would–

"I'm back!" Illya shouted, a somewhat high maintenance laptop in her hands. None of them had any idea how she managed to obtain such a thing, but they thought it was best to not even question it. "I already opened up Elder Tale! Let's make your characters!"

With a collective sigh, they walked around the table and sat next to Illya, who couldn't help the smile that grew on her face. They assumed Elder Tale was the name of the game, but they had no idea what kind of game it was.

Speculation was all they can give.

"So, who's going to go first?" Rin asked, not looking too particularly thrilled.

Illya smirked mischievously, "I choose Onii-chan!"

"Me?!"

Illya's quick and repetitive nods all but commanded Shirou to follow her bidding. He took the seat next to Illya, but that changed when Illya jumped onto his lap with the laptop. In response, Rin wasn't annoyed as she would have been had it been during the Grail War.

Why would she be? His heart already belonged to both her and Sakura so there was no need to be angry.

It didn't help the pout on Rin's face though.

"So… how does this work?" Shirou asked, placing his hand on the mouse pad and clicked on things randomly, openly being confused on the constant changing facial and physical changes happening on the 'man' standing in the center of the screen.

Illya giggled at his clueless clicking. "First you need to decide on a character class that you'll enjoy. Over at the top right is where you can choose the classes. Since Onii-chan uses swords, I recommend the swashbuckler! That class has lots of dual wielders last time I checked."

Secretly, Illya applauded herself for the clever choice.

"Well, if you say so," Shirou muttered, not really caring overall for what he was going to pick, he was humoring her after all. "I assume the next one is the one below this… Race?"

"I don't see how running a marathon is related to a computer game," Rin blurted out.

"Not that kind of race, Rin! Race means that it's the species you're going to play as!" Illya scolded, "There are a lot of races in Elder Tale. They all have their own specializations, like Elves doing better in archery or magecraft while Dwarfs are more for physical tanking or heavy fighters."

"What about that cat looking thing?" Rin asked, peeking over Shirou's right shoulder while Sakura did the same for the left shoulder.

"That race is Werecat, basically a bipedal cat," Illya said.

"Really? Looks weird though…" Rin muttered, which made Illya snort in response.

"If any of the Werecat players heard you, they'd be lynching you at a stake. There are some guilds that only allow Werecat players." Illya snobbishly explained.

"I'll lynch you at a stake you little–"

"What's a guild?" Sakura asked, thankfully interrupting her sister by pulling on her cheek,

"It's like an organization of players," Illya explained, "Many players can gather and work together under a guild towards a common goal."

"For instance?" Rin prompted.

"For example, DDD is the name of a guild that deals with monsters in dungeons. Another would be The Rodrick Firm who help sell items in the game, like a little economy. Think of it like the Clock Tower, Atlas Academy, and the Wandering Sea."

Rin nodded with some understanding, although finding confusion on how a game would have an economy.

Thankfully, Shirou had gone the generic route and picked Human for simplicity's sake. Illya took the reigns from there, customizing the character until it looked exactly like how Shirou did in real life… to a frightening degree…

"We made sure to lock the doors at night, right?" Rin muttered to Sakura, who nodded in response with a similarly concerned face as well, but what they didn't know was that there was a peeping hole Illya had made with a screw.

"Illya, why are you making it look like me?" Shirou asked,

"You guys aren't used to navigating an online world," Illya explained, "So this will make it easier for us to find each other when we log in! MMORPG's are often flooded with players so it'll be hard to find each other."

They could see the logic in that statement and nodded in understanding. Shirou still had a question, "What's an MMORPG?" he asked.

"It stands for 'Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game'," Illya cheerfully explained, "Its a large scale game that has players from all over the world!"

"The world?" Shirou muttered, "Wouldn't that overload the servers though if there are that many people?"

Illya blinked, "I'm surprised you know what a server is…"

"It came up in a test," Rin responded for him, to which he nodded in confirmation.

Illya held back a chuckle, "That's true, that's mainly why most MMORPG's split their servers for every country. We're going to play on the Japanese server."

"I see…" Shirou muttered, noticing how Illya smiled. For whatever reason she was smiling, he didn't actually care what it could be. As long as she was happy, that was all that mattered.

"… Just going to name the character… and that's done!" Illya exclaimed, sending rapid types on the screen until a new blank page appeared. No one was sure what she did, but at least she was fast at whatever it was.

Illya, on the other hand, was just glad that 'EMIYA' was an available name.

"Rin, it's your turn! Pick a Class and a Race and I'll make it quick!"

"Saber Class."

"That's not one of the classes Rin!"

"But it's still a class, right?" Rin complained before muttering minor curses and complaints, "Fine then, Caster class?"

Illya gave Rin a long, cold, hard stare before turning back to the laptop, "… I'll just make you a Sorcerer class. What Race are you going to choose?"

"… I don't like the way you're glaring at me midget–"

"Nee-san."

"Fine, fine! Pick the Race that helps me with magic, are you happy now Sakura?"

With a happy nod from Sakura, Illya clicked on Rin's race with a slightly evil smirk.

Illya had chosen the Ritian Race. At first glance, it was apparent that it had one of the highest affinities with magic, but it's obscenely low HP stat would make Rin die more often than not early on. Illya was definitely going to enjoy screwing with her tomorrow.

"Hey midget, you got my appearance wrong," Rin complained, "Do I look like I have tattoos on my face to you– Hey! Why is my chest size that small!?"

Despite her inexperience with technology, her eyes narrowed on what Illya was doing to her 'character'. Rin had an odd focus towards things like that. Illya thought it was some kind of complex when compared to her… 'little' sister.

At least Rin can still grow some, Illya was older than all of them but she was the shortest and thus treated younger than them. It wasn't fair, damn it.

Shirou sighed at her, "Illya…"

The girl pouted and made sure that Rin's breast size wasn't as flat as a board, "You guys are no fun sometimes." She complained, "I can't remove those tattoos, Rin. The Ritian's have those on as a racial trait, but I can change the tattoo's appearance if you want."

"Anything that's not hideous on my face," Rin said, eyes tracking as Illya went through all the preset choices– "That one! The tattoo number thirty-something."

"Thirty-three?" Illya asked, widening her eyes slowly as she saw the light indigo tattoo expand out from under her eyes, making them look like war markings. It was honestly somewhat fitting for a fiery tsundere like Rin.

After Illya inwardly sighed in relief that she didn't say that last comment out loud. She saved and named the character 'T0hsaka'. Tohsaka wasn't available for some reason, so Illya replaced the 'o' in her name with a zero.

"Sakura, it's your turn now!"

"Hmm… Let's see," The purple haired beauty muttered, "I don't think I'll enjoy fighting very much…"

Fighting was the last thing on her mind after all, even after a year had passed since the war ended. She didn't want anything to ever remind her of it.

"That's okay, Sakura!" Illya said, "There are a few classes that focus on healing allies so they'll be perfect for you." She opened up the class list, "There's the Cleric, Druid, and Kannagi. Each of them have their own unique perks so choose wisely! If you want me to explain what those perks are, just ask me!"

"I don't think a description will be needed…" Sakura muttered as she rubbed her chin, "How about the one with a cute plant on it?"

"The Druid class. This class is pretty good at healing over a long period of time." Illya informed, clicking on the plant icon seeing as it was the only one with that description. "Next is Race. I'd say choose one that's more magically inclined like Rin."

"I suppose it would be boring if I chose the same Race as Nee-san, wouldn't it?" Sakura jested lightly, "Is there another one that's good at magic?"

"There's the Foxtail race, it gives you fox ears and a tail. It's cute, but there are some long-term negatives that most players don't like." Illya mentioned.

"It'll be fine though, Illya-chan," Sakura reminded, "We're only going to be playing for a few days, not a whole year."

Sakura wished she could take back those words when she noticed Illya momentarily wobble her lips. Luckily the white-haired girl ignored it in favor of making Sakura's character look like her. She ran into problems with the additional appendages, but in her opinion, it made Sakura cuter.

It was too bad that the real Sakura didn't have a fluffy tail.

"Wouldn't you want to tap that, Shirou?" Rin teased, shoving her elbow into him slightly. The man in question struggled to keep himself from blushing at her teasing. In truth, he felt no attraction to the 3d-object on the screen, he preferred real people like Rin and Sakura.

Illya typed in the name 'S4KUR4', because the common name Sakura had already been taken.

"Name the character and… done!" Illya proclaimed with raised arms. She leaned back and let out a loud sigh at her accomplishment.

This was great! They would gather tomorrow, they would play Elder Tale… and they would make memories!

Illya's joy quickly turned into a yawn, which Sakura was no stranger in noticing. She turned to face the wall clock. "It's gotten pretty late, Illya. You need to rest."

Illya pouted, she did not like being treated as a child, granted her body was the same as a child's and required the same care a child body would, but she was nineteen in mentality. It was just degrading!

"Fine~…" Illya muttered as she hopped off Shirou's lap and made her way to her bedroom. She poked her head out of the doorway with a minor glare, "Don't forget about tomorrow!"

She retreated quickly back to her room, which left the others to stare at the doorway she had left by.

It was unfair. Someone like Illya deserved so much more than to die… There were only a few days left until she died. They wanted to curse the Einzberns for doing this to Illya without caring. It was heinous, disgusting, and… so magus-like that it hurt to admit.

Shirou winced as he rubbed his left arm,

"Senpai?"

"Is the arm acting up again?" Rin asked worriedly.

Shirou shook his head, "Not really, it just twitched. The Shroud of Martin is keeping it in place."

While both Rin and Sakura didn't really believe him, they merely nodded and made their way to the bedroom. They didn't want to think about Shirou's own limited time as much as Illya's limited time. Thinking about one of them dying hurt, however thinking about both of them dying was worse.

They didn't know how they were going to deal with Illya's death once it happens or Shirou's, however, one thing was for certain on their minds. They were going to make sure that Illya enjoyed tomorrow.

There was no doubt in their minds.

When everyone went to bed, Illya remained in her own room. Normally she'd be sleeping with Shirou (not in that way), but she was too excited.

She opened up Elder Tale with her laptop and moved her character out of the Ninetail Dominion. Fuyuki was located in Kyushu, which in Elder Tale translated to the player city Nakasu, within the Ninetail Dominion. Elder Tale's landscape mimicked the real world, the only difference being the size being halved overall.

Illya didn't like Nakasu. It was just… too gloomy there. Everyone seemed so serious all the time, always thinking about how to get the best time in raids, obtaining rare or legendary items, the best leveling strategy, the best build for their characters.

She got enough of that attitude from the Einzberns.

That, and Nakasu wasn't a very 'new player friendly' starting town.

She wanted it to be a fun and heart-warming experience for them all. So once her character was in Akihabara, the city that had more players simply playing for fun rather than bigger goals, she logged out and started to do the same for the other's characters.

Normally she'd want them to experience the tutorial for themselves, but then they'd be in Formosa, which was the starting area for all beginner players once they made their accounts. It would take an hour or two to complete the tutorial, after that they would be moved into the player city Nakasu. She really didn't like that city.

So instead, Illya opted to complete the tutorials for them.

It was a perfect idea! They'd be relying on her for everything. They wouldn't leave her while in the game – not that they'd know how to even control a character because MMO's have a lot of buttons to press – so that meant she could baby them all the way. Not the other way around!

She could imagine it now! Shirou asking where to buy weapons! Rin killing herself with a slime! Sakura healing while she still had full health! Rin killing herself to a wolf– The scenarios she imagined were all so funnily bad that she laughed at them.

Silently laughed. Illya didn't want to wake them up at all.

She wouldn't touch their class skill trees at all, they could make their own decisions about that themselves.

They'd thank her for it later, there was no doubt in her mind about that.

The scolding she would get from staying up all night playing Elder Tale would totally be worth the effort.

The rustling of grass.

Falling of leaves.

The sound of gravel grinding beneath his feet.

Shirou opened his eyes suddenly and gazed at the world around him. The sun was high in the sky, obscured ever so slightly by the clouds. There even were ruined buildings covered in moss around him.

Where in the world was he?

He didn't know, wherever he was it looked like a small clearing. He had never even left his bed even when Sakura and Rin had crawled in–

"Damn it! Where the hell am I?!"

Rin!

Shirou turned to the ruined building where he heard her voice and took off in a sprint.

"Rin!" He shouted as he entered the building, but frowned in confusion when he didn't see anyone nearby. He gazed towards a stairwell and took off towards it.

Once he reached the top, he was greeted by the familiar sight of Rin's common twin tails, although they seemed slightly longer than before. She was wearing the same clothes he was wearing, although they seemed more tailored for the female body, showing just a bit of her hips off.

"Rin? Is that you?" He asked, slightly unsure.

Rin, or at least who he assumed was Rin, turned around and gave him the most relieved sigh she had seen her give since the grail war, "Shirou! I thought I was the only one here…" She muttered in relief.

She was definitely Rin, Shirou had no doubt about it anymore.

However, her relief slowly disappeared when she stared at him in confusion. "Where's Sakura?"

Shirou shook his head as he slowly walked up towards her, "I don't know, I only woke up here a less than a minute ago. She might be nearby." He answered.

"Then there's no time to waste you idiot!" She shouted furiously, although Shirou could sense the worry in her tone. Rin swerved pass him and took off down the stairs he had climbed up.

Shirou let out a soft sigh of resignation as he made to follow her.

"Sakura! Are you here?!" Rin shouted outside, running out the building and off into the small clearing. She stumbled a few times for some reason, most likely nearly tripping on a few rocks. "Can you hear me?!"

"Nee-san?"

Rin spun towards the source of the voice in relief, "Sakura! You're okay– Geh?!"

Shirou had caught up to Rin. Before he could ask what was wrong, he blinked at the sight before him.

"Sakura… Are you alright?" Shirou asked, slowly approaching Sakura with a worried expression. "You don't feel anything… off?"

Sakura herself was confused and took step towards him, "What are you talking about Senpai…?"

Suddenly, Sakura jumped slightly as something brushed against her feet.

It was a tail.

A fluffy fox tail.

"Kyaa–!"

"Sakura! Wait a minute hold still!"

While Rin was trying to keep Sakura from moving, it didn't do much seeing as the poor girl was panicking from the sudden new appendage. Shirou himself was more focused on the fact that in addition to the fluffy fox tail she had, there was a pair of fox ears atop her head in addition to her normal ears, twitching and flexing randomly.

"Nee-san! What's going on?! Why do I have a tail?! Where are we?!"

"Calm down Sakura!" Shirou decided to intervene, raising his arms and grabbing her shoulders in comfort, "We're just as confused as you, but panicking isn't going to get us anywhere."

Sakura held a hand to her chest and took a few momentary breaths to calm down. She sent Shirou a thankful gaze but snapped towards Rin in confusion soon after.

"Nee-san? Since when did you get a tattoo?"

"A what?!" Rin rubbed her face to try to feel for it, "I can't feel it! Where's a mirror when we need one?!" She gazed at her forearm for the first time and widened her eyes, "M-My crest?! Where's my family crest?! Why are these weird tattoos here instead damn it?!"

Shirou grabbed Rin's shoulder this time. Now Rin was panicking too! "Calm down Rin! It's not the end of the world–"

"It might as well be the end of the world!" She exclaimed while pointing all around her. "Look around you! The buildings look like they've been ruined for decades! I can't perform my magecraft as well as before without my crest! Don't tell me Gaia finally snapped and killed off humanity!"

"While that might be true, we can't think rationally unless we calmly think about the situation." Shirou chided. "I also doubt that Gaia has the power to do that while Alaya is here."

Assuming Alaya was still here.

While Rin looked like she still had something to say, she calmed down while looking balefully at their surroundings. "This is too much… who in the world would have the ability to pull something like this off? The only one I know of is either Zelretch or the Blue. I haven't been contacted by the old troll yet and I haven't been near him long enough to be subjected to his pranking tendencies."

Sakura tilted her head in thought, "Maybe the Blue sent us forward in time?"

"The same situation, the Blue doesn't know us well enough to willingly do this…" Rin muttered, "It's also even more implausible actually. She doesn't have the ability to add body parts on you either."

Upon being reminded of her extra appendages, Sakura gave the tail an experimental swish, "It feels weird, but not unnatural. I didn't notice it until it brushed up my leg."

"Even when an additional body part is added, you should still be struggling to manipulate it…" Rin muttered, "Damn it! None of this makes any sense! The only one normal around here is Shirou! He doesn't have any new body parts or tattoos–" Rin widened her eyes, "Quick Sakura, take off his pants! His size might have changed!"

"RIN!"

"NEE-SAN!"

"It's a valid concern! You want to check it out too, Sakura!"

Sakura at least had the decency to blush at the insinuation but remained stalwart against her sisters' wishes.

Rin huffed at the reaction, "Fine, I'll do it myself!"

Shirou blinked once before leaping back and raising his arms in defense, "Rin, wait a moment– stop!"

"Just sit still and– woah!"

Luckily, Shirou leapt forward and caught Rin before she had a painful fall. The rocks in the clearing would make great seats but not so good cushions for impact. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah… fine. It's weird though. Like I'm trying to step too short and end up too far."

"What?" Shirou didn't understand whatsoever, much to Rin's displeasure.

"Nee-san," Sakura called with a raised hand, "Were you always the same height as Senpai?"

It took a few moments for her insinuation to register, but when it did both Shirou and Rin stood and checked each other out. They had perfect eye level view of each other.

"This is… odd," Shirou admitted,

"So not only do I have tattoos, but I've grown taller." Rin muttered, "I have mixed feelings about this…"

Sakura chuckled, "At least you can say that you're truly the elder sister now, Nee-san."

It was true. She was taller than Sakura now, for some reason.

Rin smiled in response, "I guess you're right about that…" Her eyes narrowed and took a clear glance at Sakura. "You know what…? You look like that Foxtail race that the midget talked about…"

Shirou and Sakura widened their eyes, the thought of that only now just occurring to them.

"Are we in the bodies of the characters that Illya made?" Shirou hypothesized.

"That doesn't even make sense!" Rin exclaimed, refuting her own observation. "That was from a game! A non-magic game that has no possible way to alter reality to this degree. It's just a coincidence!"

"Nee-san, you have the same tattoos on your face as the character did."

"Coincidence! Shirou possibly has the same body as before!"

"Possibly?" Shirou asked.

"We still didn't check your third leg."

"NEE-SAN!"

"Fine fine, I'll check his body out later," Rin muttered. She gazed around the clearing, "Still though, this is one big clearing. You could fit a lot of people here."

"I guess so…" Shirou trailed off, staring off into the distance. He was actually staring down the only path out of the clearing which Sakura and Rin acknowledged. "We still have a problem though."

"And what's that?" Rin asked,

"Illya."

Within a few seconds Rin was smacking her face hard. "Shit! We were literally just talking about her! Damn it, maybe she's also here! Illya–!"

A hand grabbing Rin's shoulder and pulling her back interrupted her.

"Get back! Something is coming!"

Shirou's sudden cry made Rin stumble back as he stepped towards the clearing exit, raising both his hands and called upon his Prana. He traced his favored Kanshou and Bakuya in order to face the coming threat.

Sakura hid behind both Shirou and Rin, having no proper magic spells to speak of without the aid of a corrupted Grail. Rin held her hand out in her signature Gandr pose, ready to unleash the curse upon whoever Shirou was staring at, despite the fact that her magic crest was absent.

From the exit of the clearing, a being in heavy armor entered, stumbling towards them with visible effort. Its gender was ambiguous and the helmet didn't tell much other than exemplifying the blood red glowing eyes. In its hands was a single giant axe with golden highlights being dragged along its side.

The helmet shook as a puff of steam exhaled from it.

Shirou gritted his teeth and got prepared to face the overbearing and large foe–

"… Onii-chan?"

–only to stumble slightly at the voice that such a large foe possessed.

Wait a minute, Onii-chan?

Shirou widened his eyes and slightly lowered the married blades.

"Illya?"

The hulking monstrosity nodded, taking steps closer before stumbling and falling on its face. Steam exited the helmet once more alongside a sigh.

"… A little help? Onii-chan?"

Once they had confirmed that it was Illya within the huge suit of armor, they set her up against the wall. They were within the nearest abandoned building, which happened to be where Shirou found Rin. After they had learned that people could enter from the exit of the clearing, they left for a more secluded area so that they wouldn't be interrupted.

"Is that really you, midget?" Rin asked, tapping on the armor slightly.

"Yes Rin, it's me. I'm surprised you can use magic in this world Shirou."

"How can you even move in that armor…?" Rin muttered while ignoring the other comment, only to widen her eyes and smack her fist, "Did your body change in size too?"

"Too? Did you change size Rin? You look the same size to me,"

"I'm as tall as Shirou now, actually." Rin claimed. She didn't hide the silent glee in that claim.

A few moments of silence passed before the hulking giant – Illya – raised both her hands and smacked her armored forehead "Ah! I forgot to change your height settings!"

"My height what?"

"When I made your character… I forgot to change the height so you were the same size as Shirou!" Illya exclaimed, but soon after she sighed, "Well, at least you're not a male."

"You have the body of a guy under that armor?" Rin said, "Huh… How does it feel to have a third leg?"

"Nee-san!"

"It's weird," Illya replied, "It keeps rubbing against my thigh… I hate it."

"How did you find us Illya?" Shirou asked in hopes of turning the conversation away from… third legs.

Illya shifted against the wall to a better resting position, "I woke up and found myself where I left my character in the game – which was the guild hall. I got worried and thought you guys were in this world too, so I went to the starting area where I left you all."

"Left us?" Rin muttered, suspicion in her tone. "What do you mean by that?"

Illya awkwardly coughed, "I… didn't really sleep much last night. I played a bit of Elder Tale and moved all your characters to this place. I didn't like where you all would spawn so I chose this location."

"Was there something wrong with the other place?" Sakura asked.

"Too gloomy. It wasn't going to be fun playing there at all."

So she just wanted to make the play experience better for them? Rin could accept that, thankfully.

Shirou sighed as he sat against the wall, "That makes sense… So we really are in the bodies of the characters we made then?" There was something weird about his body, but he couldn't pinpoint what.

Rin frowned and shuddered, "No! I refuse to believe it! This is nothing but a coincidence!"

"Actually yes, that should be true," Illya said, "Before making my way to the starting area I saw other players like me who were just as confused as we are too."

"Other players?" Shirou questioned, "There are other people?"

"Yes, Onii-chan," Illya said, which gave Shirou an odd amount of discomfort from Berserker sized Illya. "It seems that there are others who are in Akihabara with us. They have the bodies of several Races in Elder Tale and wore the same items and cosmetics that were available in the game. Even the city we're in is basically the same as within the game."

"Rin, I don't think we can deny this any longer," Shirou said with a sigh.

"B-but… There's no way a game can do this…" Rin tried to reason even as her whole conception of the world as a magus was shattered around her.

"We can work out the specifics about this later," Shirou said as he rubbed Rin's shoulder in comfort, "All we know is that we're in a world that is extremely similar to this 'Elder Tale' game that Illya wanted us to play."

"Then why does Illya look like a huge brute?! Weren't we supposed to all look alike?"

"Rin, I made this character long before we planned to play together," Illya explained, "I've been using this character for at least a year. Whenever you guys weren't home, I'd be playing Elder Tale to pass the time. I spent a long time grinding in here, you know? I was going to make a new character when we entered the internet cafe."

Shirou's eyes took a dangerous tint as he locked onto something she said, "Grinding?"

Rin snapped from her panic and set an incredulous stare Illya's way, "Aren't you a bit too young to be doing that, midget?"

Although it did give her an idea for her next night with Shirou, whenever that was.

"NOT THAT!" Illya screeched in embarrassment, "Grinding, in MMORPG's, means to constantly kill monsters in order to gain either items, gold, or experience!"

"Monsters…?" Sakura muttered, a thought crossing her mind, "There are monsters here?"

"Yeah," Illya responded, "Almost every zone in Elder Tale has them, why?"

"If the players are here as you said Illya," Sakura continued, "Then would it be reasonable to assume that the monsters are here too?"

Illya opened her mouth but fell silent…

"… MMORPG's are filled with monsters for players to kill," Illya started, "This means that once players get too strong for those monsters, there will be stronger monsters for them to face. The cycle repeats until players cannot beat a monster without help from a well-coordinated party – or guild."

"The point?" Rin asked, feeling impatient.

"It means that in comparison to the average level one player – which all of you are – those monsters would be like trying to fight Berserker without servants to help," Illya said.

"… Are they really that hard to defeat?" Shirou asked as he stared at her in thought.

"Yes, they are." Illya confirmed, "I'm only level sixty-eight. The last time I checked, the maximum level possible in this game was ninety. If I face a monster with a level similar to mine then it would initially be hard to fight, but with the way I built my character… I can probably take care of that similar leveled monster, just barely…"

She raised the giant axe with no effort, a stark contrast to when she was dragging it around. "However if we're talking about the raid bosses – monsters that usually require entire coordinated guilds to have even a slight chance at victory – those monsters would most likely take us out with ease."

Silence followed, which Illya noticed. "Don't worry, those monsters rarely leave the dungeons that they live in. We should be fine… Maybe."

"Maybe? What do you mean by maybe?" Rin complained.

"Well…" Illya trailed off, "Yesterday we made our characters right? The day after that was supposed to be the release of a new expansion. Expansions are released in MMORPG's when the gameplay starts to get boring to the player base. These releases add more content to explore, like new areas or skills to learn. The Novasphere Pioneers is the name of the upcoming– I mean current expansion."

"So that means that once this… Novasphere Pioneers expansion came out, we were all thrown into this game world," Rin concluded but for some reason was unsatisfied with the explanation she came up with, "The events line up… but why, and how?"

"How should I know?!" Illya blurted out, the stress of the situation finally reaching her, "I just wanted to play a game with you guys and then suddenly we're here! More importantly, we have more pressing matters to deal with than how we got here, Rin."

"What are those matters?" Sakura added,

"Food, shelter, and information." Illya replied, "Otherwise, how will we be able to survive in this world? We need to secure a base of operations first."

"Illya," Shirou added in haste, "Do you know anywhere we can rest?"

The hulking mass of armor hummed in thought, "Well… There is the local inn, but that will be filled to the brim with people who don't own player homes. We could camp out here for tonight."

"Out here?" Rin repeated incredulously, "This place is out in the open! What if monsters come and get us or something!?"

"That won't happen," Illya reassured, "The starting area of Elder Tale is a safe zone, meaning no fights or monster encounters are allowed to happen in this area."

"How are you so sure that the monsters will still behave as before?" Shirou asked, "What if some monsters behave differently than when in the game?"

"I guess the Novasphere Pioneer expansion could have changed monster behavior to that degree… but I guarantee we'll be safe here Onii-chan," She said, "I saw it before I made my way here. Two players tried to have a fight and the Royal Guard system triggered. If that system still works, then in conjuncture safe zones should still work."

"Royal Guard system?" Rin asked, "What is that?"

"It's like a system created by the developers of Elder Tale to stop all acts of aggression from players by summoning golems in armor to fight them. These golems are strong and I don't think I can deal with them with my current level… or at all."

Shirou sighed and nodded. He gazed at the sky and frowned, "It's getting dark… Illya, do you have anything to provide warmth and bedding for the night?"

"I have two consumable sleeping bags and a campfire in my inventory."

"Why would you need a sleeping bag that you can eat?"

Illya at this point was too tired to correct Rin and simply opened up a bag and dragged out two sleeping bags. The bag that was opened was only as big an average waist bag. The sleeping bags were thrice as large.

This caused Rin to jump back with surprise in her eyes. "Midget! Where did those come from!?"

"Hmm? My inventory, where else?"

Rin blinked and frowned. "I thought you had it somewhere in your armor, but it came out of your tiny bag! Is it some kind of pocket dimension?"

Illya blinked and held up her tiny bag, "In the game, this is called a Magic Bag. It's given to every player after completing a specific quest… but now that you mention it, I wonder how deep we can go into it?"

"Having something like that would be handy in surviving in this world, but we shouldn't experiment with something like that for today," Sakura commented, not mentioning how risky that would be… Although, they were all magi. A little experimentation should be fine right?

Sakura shook that thought away. She turned to the sleeping bags and rolled them open. "We should start going to sleep. How shall we have the arrangements?"

"I vote to sleep with Onii-chan!"

Collectively, they stared at Illya's huge armored form. Both Rin and Sakura sent each other a quick glance and a nod,

"Sakura and I will be sharing, you can go ahead and sleep with him midget," Rin said quickly.

Shirou sighed, those two really did not want to sleep with Illya in her giant form.

"By the way," Sakura added, "Any suggestions as to what we should have for dinner?"

Shirou blinked at the question. However, after some thought he immediately frowned, "There are no cooking utensils around… that means… I can't cook…"

While a frustrated and pouting Shirou was a rare sight, Illya smiled, "Don't worry, there's a cooking mechanic in the game. As long as you have the right ingredients and recipe, you can make it."

"… It's like you can do literally anything in this game can't you…?" Rin muttered.

While Shirou didn't seem on board with the idea of auto-completed food, they agreed that eating it for tonight would be the best idea.

Illya seemingly tapped in the air, before anyone could ask what she was doing, a puff of smoke covered their vision. From where the smoke originated was a whole cooked chicken. Since Illya mentioned that she had the ingredients, then did that make this process purely transmutative in nature?

Shirou involuntarily sniffed and frowned. He did not smell anything coming from it, in fact, it smelled almost like nothing. Reluctantly, Shirou ripped out a piece of chicken and waited for the others to do the same.

Illya grinned,"Itadakimasu~!"

And collectively, everyone bit into the chicken.

Without hesitation, Rin stood up with rage in her eyes and raised her arm–

"IT TASTES LIKE SHIT!"

–only to fling the chicken piece off into the horizon.

Normally, Shirou would be abhorred at the treatment of food… but at that moment… Shirou was not eating food. Something that tasted like something his step-father would have made deserved no right to call itself food.

This wasn't food he was eating, it was trash.

Rin, bless her soul, grabbed the entirety of the chicken and chucked it off into the horizon with a surprising display of strength, alongside the wing that she had grabbed originally.

Illya didn't even stop her. Instead, she threw the thing with just as much force as Rin had if not more due to her giant armored body.

"WHY WAS IT SO BAD!?" Illya screamed, "Onii-chan! Cook us something!"

"No.. utensils…" He muttered out as he dropped the trash onto the ground. It was an abomination in his eyes with no redemption.

Illya opened her bag and dragged out a bonfire, quickly using two stones to light it on fire. "We have a campfire! I have some meat in my inventory, just roast it or something!"

Shirou was all too eager to comply. He picked up random sticks and set it above the fire.

"Sakura, do you want to… help?" He asked, but trailed off once he saw how Sakura was too busy grinding the chicken she had under her heel.

It was best that she let out her stress. Shirou would normally be joining her in righteous fury, but Rin and Illya had thrown the rest of the abomination off into the distance, and the old piece that he dropped was picked up by Rin and flung away too.

Shirou turned back to Illya, who dragged out several sausages from her magic bag. He wasn't going to ask how she had sausages, he wanted to barbecue the meat above some fire, now.

He stabbed the sausages with the stick and set it above the fire–

"WHAT THE–?!" Rin screamed in absolute horror, "NOO!"

–only to rear his hand back in horror as the sausage had turned into a black paste.

All they could do was stare.

They had no secure information on this world, only Illya had some information but it had a high chance to be outdated, which is dangerous. They had no lodgings; the inns were no doubt full by now. The world around them was potentially dangerous to their health. To top it all off, they weren't allowed to cook anything.

He wasn't allowed or able to cook not a single thing.

… It was official.

While Illya, Rin, and Sakura were lamenting the lack of valid food, Shirou stared with half-dead eyes off out the ruined building window off into the sky.

Surprisingly, Shirou found that he hated this world.

"Senpai… I think it would be best that we sleep." Sakura concluded, staring at the blackened paste.

He nodded in response, "We'll talk more about our situation in the morning…"

"… Maybe the raw sausages taste good–" Rin muttered, which prompted Sakura to quickly smack her sister before she made a mistake. Those sausages smelled like chicken, Rin could have gotten poisoned with salmonella… possibly. Could never be too sure, especially since they didn't know where it came from.

Food aside, he had to deal with sleeping alongside Illya's huge armored form, within a sleeping bag that's around half her size. Illya sense his worry and sent him a wry smile.

"Don't worry Onii-chan," Illya said, opening up her magic bag again, "This form is getting annoying to move in, so I'll be changing it now."

"Changing– Wait you can change appearances?" Rin muttered, still sullen from the lack of appropriate dinner. "Why didn't you do that earlier?"

Illya nodded in response, "I didn't change earlier because I was too worried about you guys. We also got lost in the conversation so I didn't remember…" Illya beamed as she took out a rather exotic looking blue potion bottle. "Here it is! All I have to do is drink this and we'll be good to go Onii-chan!"

Illya unequipped her armor, revealing a white-haired male with two wolfish ears in chain mail. This was presumably Illya's male form, so no one made any comment.

Illya popped the cap of the bottle off and in one sitting, dumped the entirety of the potion down her throat.

The morning had not been kind to them. Upon awakening, the immediate response Shirou had was to move to the kitchen… only to receive a cruel reminder when he woke up to the ruined structure surrounding them.

While he himself had no problem awakening, Sakura and Rin on the other hand listlessly dragged themselves out of their shared sleeping bag.

He supposed that it was justified that both Sakura and Rin were being sloths. They didn't have the stomach for watching Illya's huge body be broken down bone by bone, flesh reshaping itself and molding down into a teenage body size and shape.

It was horrific, made all the more disturbing when Illya happily crawled into their shared sleeping bag without worry despite the screams and squeals of pain that ensued during the transformation. There weren't even any marks or stitches, it was like her body was transmuted into a teenage form.

Rin wasn't even given time to comment on the absurdity. She surely would have if she noticed how 'endowed' she had made her character look.

Illya did always act older than she looked. She actually looked older than everyone else now, maybe a little over 19 years of age.

"Illya, are you up?" Shirou asked, poking the lump in their shared sleeping bag. "You're our only guide right now so we need you awake."

The Einzbern poked her head out of the sleeping bag and frowned, two additional ears on her head flopping downwards. "Fine Onii-chan, just let me reequip my armor…"

"I… don't think that will still fit you… midget." Rin strained to speak. She really needed her morning coffee, because she totally forgot that Illya wasn't a midget any longer. However, a squirt of sudden water snapped her from her drowsy reverie. "What the hell?!"

Illya, still in her chain mail which thankfully covered her assets, smirked as she held a flask of water in her hands. "Ha! Serves you right, Rin!"

Rin growled and raised her arm to shoot a Gandr, but luckily Sakura burst from her reverie and stopped her. Shirou sighed and shook his head with a soft smile at their antics. "Just go get changed Illya."

Illya shrugged, "Fine~" She raised her finger and tapped randomly in the air again.

A flash of light and Illya's armor appeared on her. Surprisingly, it was form fitting. The helmet wasn't as threatening as before and revealed her face, however, her armor had suddenly decided to show some skin on her belly.

Luckily her chain mail covered it up properly.

"Damn it, stupid female armor stereotypes…" Illya muttered in frustration. However, at the silence in the air, she turned to face both Rin and Shirou, who wore a somewhat confused expression.

"… What?" Illya asked.

"How did you summon that from nowhere, midget?" Rin asked, "Before it was from that magic bag… actually, you tapped the air a few times, is it some kind of spatial magecraft?"

Illya blinked and waited for a second before she slammed a palm on her helmet, "I forgot! You guys don't know how to navigate the new menu system!"

"Menu system?" Sakura asked, a curious tilt of her head following after. "How do we access this system?"

Illya crossed her arms and contemplated, "I don't fully know… you just have to call on it, I think? Just try think of a hexagon with your class symbol on it."

Shirou did just that. He widened his eyes as a green and yellow hexagon appeared, expanding into other options around him. Momentarily he was disorientated, but he regained his balance quickly enough to avoid falling over.

Rin wasn't so lucky. She fell over in shock, obviously expecting nothing to happen. Sakura chuckled nervously and helped her sister up.

"So this is the Menu…" Shirou muttered. He remembered Illya used her fingers to navigate so he did the same, tapping on random windows that opened up into more windows with information. However, most of which he had no idea as to what they meant.

It was at this time, Shirou mildly wished he knew more about the game that Illya loved. "This is surprisingly helpful." He muttered out loud.

"I know right?!" Illya supplied, but frowned afterward, "Too bad the battle system isn't that well laid out… or that the log out button works."

If the log out button did work, then returning would've been easy.

"… By the way midget," Rin asked, having recovered from her stumble, "What race are you in this world? Another Foxtail like Sakura?"

"No, I'm apart of the Wolf fang race." Illya said, "We have strong physical prowess apparently. Maybe it was because this race was engineered magically to fight wars?"

"So a complete inverse to the magical boost of a Foxtail…" Rin muttered as she set aside the grim thought that Illya provided. She idly scrolled around her menu. "Oh? These must be the skills we have… Racial skills and Class Skills."

"You should only have one Class and Racial skill at level one, Rin." Illya added, "You should also have skill points that you can use to unlock more skills, but spend them wisely because you won't be getting them back unless you pay a vendor several million to re-spec your character."

"I don't know what a re-spec is but whatever."

Rin scrolled through the options that she could use, only to frown. "Midget, you're wrong about the only one Class skill thing. I have five here."

"WHAT?!"

Illya shouted, running up to Rin and narrowing her eyes, "What are they?!"

"Calm down midget! There's Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth affinity!" Rin shouted in haste, "There's also one below it that says Energy manipulation."

"Energy Manipulation is the standard skill all Sorcerers start with," Illya started, "From there you're supposed to pick which element to start with and proceed onward… How in the world did you have all of them?"

"I don't know," Rin shrugged, "Maybe because I'm an Average One?"

"That doesn't even make any…" Illya muttered, "Wait, it does actually."

An Average One, in contrast to its name, is far from average. Only a mage with an elemental affinity for all five basic elements can be gifted the title of Average One. The Ether element could have also translated into the Energy Manipulation that all Sorcerers had.

She could literally learn every spell if she wanted to. That was broken.

"Is it possible that Nee-san's elemental affinity affected the skills that she learned?" Sakura hypothesized with a frown.

Illya nodded slowly, "Maybe… but if that's true, then maybe we all have skills that we shouldn't have. Quickly check your skills."

Shirou and Sakura complied then proceeded to do just that.

"I have a Racial skill that says passive on it and one Class skill called Heal." Sakura said, however her face quickly formed into a frown, "I have a passive skill named 'Imaginary Elements'… I suppose that this wasn't meant to be here."

"What does it do?" Rin asked, searching her menu as she spoke. She was most likely looking at all the spells.

"It says that it gives all my summons an indefinite duration and some sentience," Sakura said, "In addition, it gives me bonus damage and healing against spiritual beings."

"That's broken!" Illya exclaimed, momentarily stopping her scroll through her skills. "Druid summons aren't that strong but they have amazing support effects."

Illya remembered a Raid she went on a few months ago. A druid had used a summon to call a giant tree of life. It had been able to heal everyone around it at a great rate. If Sakura's skill helped summon that tree, they would spend less mana on healing and more on buffing. In addition, if the sentience function did something, maybe the tree would be able to move or attack.

It was broken, plain and simple, and that wasn't even taking into regard the other druid summons that exist for purely offense or defense.

Illya shook off her stupor and focused once more on her own skill tree. She soon furrowed her brow as she read through it. "Everything seems to be in order… All my Race and Class skills are here– No wait, I have a new skill here!"

"What is it?" Rin asked, getting a tad bit interested.

Illya opened her mouth but then frowned afterward. "It can only be used by someone of the magic classes… damn, if I was a sorcerer or an enchanter then I could have used this skill."

"What's it called?" Sakura asked despite the fact that she sensed Illya's discomfort.

"Wishcraft."

The silence that followed was deafening.

It was the Einzbern's personalized magic, a spell that once activated, allowed skipping the process of a spell and proceed directly to the output. Completing miracles with only magic power as an input source for it, there were no other needed components…

… and it was locked due to the fact that she had chosen the Guardian class.

In a way, Illya could say she was relieved, but she was also disappointed. Wishcraft could have been a way to return home. Unfortunately, there was no way to change class after one had surpassed level thirty in Elder Tale.

It was truly unfortunate.

"… What about you Shirou?" Rin interjected with a sigh. "Anything out of place?"

Shirou let out a deep breath. "Yeah… Separated from all the rest is my Tracing ability, and above it is Unlimited Blade Works."

"… Can you use it?" Sakura asked worriedly. "Can you use Unlimited Blade Works?"

He shook his head, "No, I can't. It says that I have insufficient mana."

Illya nodded slowly, having gotten over the lack of her family magecraft. "Onii-chan, could you trace a sword and keep an eye on your mana?"

He nodded and traced Kanshou. "My mana decreased by ten."

"So tracing uses up ten points of mana…" Illya muttered in disbelief, "You regenerate one mana roughly every ten seconds. Add it to the total hundred and thirty mana of the Swashbuckler Class at level one…"

"What about a regular sword?" Rin inquired. "That should be a lot cheaper right?"

Shirou obliged and traced a standard run of the mill short sword. "It costed a single point."

"So you can only trace about a dozen Noble Phantasms and above a hundred regular swords." Rin concluded with a frown. "Huh… It's like you're at the start again, Shirou."

He could only nod at that. "This… is not that great." Shirou concluded.

In the previous world – or should he say real world? – he was able to trace almost double that amount, which made him a big threat in the eyes of the Mages Association.

"On the contrary Onii-chan, it's great!" Illya said, which surprised Shirou, "There are items in this game that can help you regenerate some mana every second, so you can use your swords practically forever if you manage your mana well enough–"

Illya blinked and then frowned. "That… would actually drag unwanted attention."

"It would?" Rin asked, "Aren't there a lot of weird skills? This one here says it creates a tornado of ice."

"That's a skill programmed into the game, not one that's appeared out of the blue like Shirou's tracing." Illya argued, "If players found out you had those skills, they'd harass you two to find out how you did it."

"Wouldn't they be too busy trying to find a way out of this world like us?" Sakura asked, to which Illya sighed.

"Don't underestimate the jealousy of a gamer. Most of them are salty and would probably endanger us all just to spite you." Granted Illya didn't know if they would at all, the possible threat of permanent death and all. In theory, they could respawn, but there was no way in hell she was going to let anyone she cared about try it.

Secretly Illya wanted to scream out to the world about the injustice that had just happened. All her friends had extra broken skills! She had one too– but it was damn locked! It was unfair!

Illya blinked as she came to a realization and smacked her fist, "Wait, keep an eye on your menus!"

They did as she asked and widened their eyes at the notification.

"[Illyasviel] wants to be your friend…?" Sakura muttered, "Aren't we already friends though, Illya-chan?"

"Not in the eyes of the game," Illya answered, "If we need to contact each other, we'll need to use this in order to do so. It's also convenient, like a tracking spell."

"I see…" Shirou nodded at that, seeing the value of such a feature. However, after he had accepted the request and silence enveloped the building, he spoke. "What do we do now? Any suggestions?"

Illya nodded, "First thing is first. While I know you can fight Onii-chan, I need to relearn how to use all my skills. Both Sakura and Rin need to learn how to use their class skills too. We'll be doing that out in the training grounds – especially Rin!"

"Why are you singling me out!?"

"You have five affinities to train up! I don't want to see you screw up somehow!"

Rin snorted, "As if I would ever screw up." Ignoring the time she summoned Archer in a separate room, killed the school's pet rabbit – creating a need to replace it with an automaton, and destroyed their TV. "Besides, I can still use Gandr… which is weird because my crest is missing."

"How much mana does that use Nee-san?" Sakura asked.

Rin conjured and shot a Gandr into the ground. "Hmm… two points of mana." She shot another, although this time it left a mark on the floor. "Five points for a Finn shot. I wonder if I can use my gem magecraft here…?"

"Wander about that later!" Illya scolded, "We need to train up your affinities!"

Rin snorted, "I have Gandr, I'll be fine~"

Shirou shook his head, "No, Illya's right. You and Sakura need to learn how to fight in this world. Gandr and Finn shot will attract unwanted attention."

Rin clicked her tongue, "Fine, but what about Shirou? He needs to learn how to use his skills too."

"Onii-chan can just trace a Noble Phantasm and be done with it,"

"What about dragging attention?" Sakura asked.

"Just trace a normal looking sword you can find in the marketplace then," Illya replied, "He looks like a newbie, so using a low-level sword should suit him just fine."

She had a point there. At least he could disguise his 'magic' as a simple sword.

"What should I do in the meantime then?" Shirou asked. He had nothing else to do actually. Maybe practice alongside them?

Illya shrugged, "I don't know, maybe familiarize yourself with Akihabara? It would be a good idea to do that. I've been playing here for so long that I have a mental map of this place."

Shirou nodded and walked away, "Got it! Take care, you guys!"

"Bye bye Onii-chan!"

"Have a safe trip, Senpai!"

"Bring me a souvenir, Shirou!"

He didn't really have any money but he could still try. Shirou just hoped that the girls could get along while he wasn't with them… right?

He ignored the smug laughter than Rin had when Illya tripped because of her new height.

A/N: As you can see, I basically skipped explaining what happened to the Holy Grail War. It's not the main focus, so I did that.

Sue me.

Also, this is mainly an info dump, but like any smart person, you'd try to gather information from the closest reliable source. I.E. Illya.

Welcome 'Worldbringer of Joseun' as the mainstay beta of this particular fic, or in short Matt.

A/N 2: Fixed some errors that we both missed.