(Shirou's pov)

Sella came downstairs after checking on Illya.

"How is she?" I asked.

"Other than a fever, nothing seems to be wrong with her. There's nothing for you to worry about."

"That's good to hear. I hope she'll get better soon." I genuinely was relieved hearing that.

"We will keep her under observation for today, so why don't you head on over to school, Shirou. You too, Sakura... Where are the dishes?" Sella asked, confused. The only dishes that were on the table were her portion of breakfast. We couldn't really wait for her any longer since we had school. Leysritt could but was too hungry, though.

"Oh, we've already washed them, and the pots... and the pans as well. The leftovers from breakfast areii left on that huge plate in the fridge. We also left something for you on the table and-"

Hearing everything that Sakura and I had done, Sella was ready to explode for stealing all of her work, but I had an ace up my sleeve.

"Sakura wanted to help you, seeing how hard-working and wonderful of a maid you are... Is something wrong? Did you want to say something?" I asked Sella, whose words were stuck in her throat. She had a soft spot for Sakura but not for me for some reason.

"I see... that's alright then, but please consider my position. As a head maid, it's my job to take care of the house, but I... appreciate the gesture." 

The last part was said with a slight blush that didn't go unnoticed by me, which was shown by my smirk, which annoyed Sella greatly.

To hide her embarrassment, she resolved to violence, but it was expertly avoided by me, to her annoyance. Although it was fun to mess with Sella, nothing beats teasing Rin. She has by far the best reactions, but as I was thinking about it, I could feel someone pinching my waist. I turned my head to notice Sakura, who was 'gently' smiling at me.

"I don't know why, but I feel like you are thinking of something rude."

What a scary intuition. I didn't think of something rude per se, but it would probably annoy Sakura, knowing that I was thinking about Rin and how I like teasing her more than Sakura. Is it rude to think about other girls while she is next to me? It's not like we have that kind of relationship.
Thankfully I had the perfect way to pacify this murderous little kohai of mine.

"The only thing on my mind was that I really enjoyed your cooking today, and I would like to have Sella's portion for myself, so yeah, it can be considered rude. Sorry."

My roundabout compliment caused Sakura's mood to improve, and she let go of my waist, which started to hurt.

She is easy to please... or am I just good at handling her?

Before Sella could lash out at me, I decided to finally go to school with Sakura.

---

School was over, and I had some time to think about some things in the tea ceremony club. Today no one was there, but I'm allowed to use it to help them with preparing tea sometimes. Normally I would use the Archery club to relax or go to the roof, but since there are no people here at the moment and they have tea that I can use, so I decided to use this place.

I had placed the Saber card on the table. I don't know why, but it helps me feel relaxed. Also, I have a strange urge to start making food now. 

Strange.

Now, what should I do?

I took the card that I wasn't supposed to, and because of me, Miyu's and Illya's firepower decreased. It means that I will need to help them out more often than not. Not that I didn't plan to. I need to prepare myself, though.

First is the fight with Assassin and then Berserker. After that, I'll plan accordingly.

For Assassin-

I couldn't finish my thought process as the door to the club was opened by someone.

"Excuse me... Eh!!? Emiya-Kun!?"

(3rd's pov)

Rin was dazed the whole day because she was thinking about Archer. She was trying to solve the puzzle without having all the pieces. It didn't go unnoticed by her classmates, so they recommended going to the tea ceremony club to relax. They forgot to mention, however, that today the club was not operating.

Rin, not having any reason to refuse, accepted their proposal.

'I wouldn't normally do something like going to the club as it would be a waste of time that I could use more productive, but the whole Archer situation is not leaving my head, so maybe some tea would help me clear my mind. I can't reject free tea, after all. I didn't have any good tea since I got here, and it's not because I can't use an electronic teapot.

...

Why is almost everything electronic in this country!!! Do teapots really need to be powered by electricity, and why does it have so many options!? I tried to boil water once, and the water was cold!

'No... calm down, Rin. You have enough stress for today, and more will certainly come with today's card capture, so while I can, I'll finally enjoy tea while I'll try to sort out my thoughts.'

Rin's mind slightly improved thinking about the tea. Her stay in London made her appreciate this hot drink, and she even learned to make it quite well herself. If it wasn't for these damn electronics...

But now she will be able to taste it once again. The tea ceremony club should use traditional equipment to make tea, so even if she was to be asked to make it herself, she would manage.

"Excuse me... Eh!!? Emiya-Kun!?"

As soon as she opened the door, she was welcomed by the image of her classmate/crush relaxing with a cup of tea while sitting in seiza at the table. Seeing him alone in this room was shocking enough, but what was the most surprising was what was on the table.

The Saber card.

Shirou, however, looked calm as if he didn't try to think of any kind of explanation he could give Rin. His poker face was unmatched, and he continued enjoying his tea.

"Tohsaka, what are you doing here? I don't remember you being part of this club." Shirou asked, trying to buy himself some time.

"Some classmates recommended coming here to relax since there was a lot on my mind lately, and I decided to try it out. What about you?" Rin was observing Shirou very carefully and his surroundings as well. She was suspicious of him, and it didn't help that he was sharing Archer's hair color, his height, his voice, and his build...

The more she thought, the more it made sense, but Shirou's calm demeanor was telling her that he wasn't stressed by her seeing the card, and if it was Archer, he would at least show signs of panic as his identity would be at stake. That was what kept Archer and Shirou as separate people in Rin's mind... for now.

"Just like you, I wanted to relax for a bit, and since today the tea ceremony club was closed, and I'm allowed to use it, I decided to use it, but I won't say no to a company." As he said that, he stood up and started preparing tea for Rin. Somehow this action felt familiar, but it wasn't the first time he had experienced this feeling, and he knew that it wouldn't help to overthink this at the moment, so he focused on making the tea to the best of his ability.

Shortly after he was done, Shirou made his way to Rin and placed a cup of tea in front of Rin.

"Here you go."

"Thank you, Emiya-Kun."

For a while, Rin enjoyed her tea in silence, and for some reason, Shirou stood next to her, but what was even stranger was that it felt natural for both of them.

"I'm really surprised by how well-made it is. What brand is it?" Rin said with a small smile as she smelled and tasted the drink.

"I don't really know to be honest. I'm not well-versed in tea making, so I took the ones that looked nice. You would need to ask club members for details."

"I... see." Rin was dumbfounded. How could someone prepare tea this good while not knowing which kind of tea he made? Different types of tea need different water temperatures and tea-to-water ratios to draw their full potential, so to speak, and Shirou just picked whatever caught his eye and prepared it perfectly.

Rin decided to change the topic of their conversation to not think about it. At the same time, she went to the main topic of her curiosity.

"Emiya-Kun, I couldn't help but notice an unusual card laying on the table. Where did you get it?"

Hearing the question Shirou went back to his place at the table, and as he was reaching for his bag to get something he answered Rin but his tone seemed colder.

"I hoped that you didn't find Trace of it on the table and pretended not to see anything but since you asked I have no other choice."

Rin seeing his hand reaching inside the bag, brought her own hand near her pocket where she was hiding gems for an emergency. She was ready to defend herself but at the same time, she couldn't believe that Shirou would attack her. Years of training made her ready for any occasion. Although reluctantly she was prepared to fight, even if it was her crush, a person stupid enough to do a high jump for hours knowing that he would fail every time. It didn't mean that she was willing to get killed by him, though.

Suddenly Shirou slammed on the table, making Rin jump back quickly, but her vigilance vanished as soon as she heard Shirou and looked at the table.

Seven cards were lying on the table, and some of them looked familiar. Scarily familiar. These were seven Servant cards, but something didn't add up. How could Shirou, possibly Archer, have all of the cards when she and Luvia are in possession of 3 of the cards already, and Archer has one? Meaning that there should be 4 cards in total, but in front of her, there are 7, a complete set. All of her questions were answered by Shirou shortly after.

"It's pretty embarrassing, but I'm creating a card game as a hobby. It's still in the early stages, but I plan to have these 7 cards, class cards as I call them, represent historical figures. I still don't know how one would play it. I already designed the cards, though. What do you think? In my opinion, they are pretty well made."

Thankfully the school uniform was long-sleeved, which allowed him to use projection magecraft while his hand was in the bag. While normally Rin would be able to notice magic circuits flaring up when Shirou used magecraft, but thanks to his uniform, the only place where circuits could be seen was Shirou's hand which was hidden in the bag.

This whole procedure was able to throw off Rin's suspicion of Shirou, but at the same time, she felt as if the world was playing some kind of joke on her. Just to be sure, though, she asked Shirou to check on them. If they, by any chance, were real Servant cards, she would be able to tell by inspecting them closely, and Shirou agreed.

On closer inspection, the cards were indeed just ordinary cards that looked just like Servant cards, and now she was sure that the world was playing a joke on her. If she didn't know better, then she would have thought that her teacher was the reason for that, but he is currently in London, so it was impossible.

Her thoughts were broken by Shirou.

"I keep it a secret from everyone, so for now, let it be a secret between the two of us, okay?"

At that moment, Rin's heart was pierced by the arrow, and her mood improved dramatically.

'A secret between Emiya-Kun and me...'

She was simply in a daze, but she couldn't show him her real emotions, so she acted haughty to cover her embarrassment.

"N-normally, I wouldn't do something like this, but since you asked me..." 

Even if what she said didn't make much sense, Shirou just smiled and thanked her, making her even more flustered.

"Thanks, Tohsaka. As a thank you, I'll make a bento box for you tomorrow. We can even eat together if you want."

'Rin, this is your chance! Just say yes!' That is what Rin was thinking, but the words that came out were completely different. "Hmph, and why should I agree?" She crossed her arms and turned her head away.

'Nooooo! Why did I say that!!!?'

"If you agree, I'll let you decide the meal."

"I-if you really insist t-then I don't have a choice..." Although Rin tried to sound dignified and tried to make it look as if she was doing Shirou a favor, her nervousness was slipping away.

"Then it's decided. Now if you excuse me I have some things to do. If you want more tea, I left some in the tea cup over there. I'll see you tomorrow."

Shirou left the club room, leaving Rin alone in the room.

"Why can't I be honest with myself... but at least I'm going to eat Emiya-Kun's cooking."

(Shirou's pov)

That was a rollercoaster of emotions if I've ever experienced one. If Rin wasn't so vigilant, I wouldn't be able to pull it off. Using projection to create cards that looked like Servant cards was challenging, and doing it in secret even more so. In my hurry, I couldn't make them well enough for them to last long in this world. In fact, they had already vanished.

Thankfully I also created a Saber card and swapped it with the real one when otherwise Rin would have noticed the difference in quality.

It was fun messing with her, though, even if I was playing with fire. I should return home, though, and check on Illya. She probably already feels better, but I'm not taking maybes if it comes to the health of my little sister. Should I make her favorite dish today?

Then I realized, I didn't ask Rin what she wanted to eat tomorrow. I'll need to improvise. I hope that she'll be satisfied with the standard bento box.

And so I went home.

---

END

Discord server: https://discord.gg/HB2DweuG4J