To love a sword

Chapter 30: Risa Part 2

Beta read by FabledLife, Shigiya and Paragon of Awesomeness.

The next part of the bonus storyline will be back in the next chapter. Also I'll be putting it at the bottom of the chapter instead to avoid confusion.

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-Sainan-

Sixteen years had passed since his unexpected arrival in this world — a stretch of time that, though largely uneventful, had proven oddly fulfilling. For a man who once carried the burden of being a Counter Guardian for so long that time itself had no meaning, it was a strange shift in the nature of his existence, a far cry from the endless battlefields he was sent to. Yet, he had learned to accept it, if only for the time being.

He often wondered how it had happened. A mistake on Alaya’s part? Unlikely. Perhaps something went awry during his final summoning. The thought lingered like a thorn in his mind, but even that explanation lacked substance. Maybe it was the work of the Greater Grail — falling into the wrong hands, tampered with beyond recognition. But then, why him? He had disappeared, hadn’t he? 

His spiritual core was destroyed by the end of the Grail War, making it impossible for him to continue existing. Still, he was able to remain behind for long enough for his arm to get grafted onto the boy.

These musings always led him back to one thought: Rin. Could it have been her doing? If anyone had the sheer stubbornness needed to perform such a ridiculous feat, and for his sake at that, it would certainly be her. Yet, despite her brilliance and tenacity, she just didn’t have the means — not for something like this. And even if she did, why would she send him here of all places?

Another possibility whispered at the edges of his mind, one that unsettled him in its ambiguity. Could someone — or something — from this world have pulled him here?

The lack of answers had been gnawing at him ever since he was aware of his circumstances, but he had long since resigned himself to the mystery. He couldn’t change what had happened, nor did he see any way he could uncover the truth. All he could do was live this life, day by day. And, to his surprise, he found himself enjoying it — genuinely so.

Here, he had been given everything he ever dreamed of having since becoming a Counter Guardian. A loving family who had taken him in after finding him in an alleyway and saved him from getting eaten by a dog, siblings with their unique quirks that can be funny but frustrating at times, and even people he could genuinely think of as friends, even if some of them tended to be more laid-back than him, while others were exceptionally stubborn. It was a normal, peaceful life, free of his duties even if it felt like an illusion.

Risa was the one who embodied that free-spirited aspect the most out of all the people he was close to, and one of the few people he interacted with often, almost on a daily basis. Despite her perverted nature, he found himself enjoying their moments of levity far more often than not, and his conversations with her had a way of making the time just slip by. For all her antics, she was mature enough when it mattered and was one of the few who behaved like her usual self around Rito.

Overall, she was a simple student who had nothing to do with any of the matters related to aliens in the least. 

‘So why…' 

Why had she of all people been targeted?

Woosh!

The figure on the rooftop moved with unnatural speed, leaping into the air to evade the storm of blades. Each sword struck the spot where they had stood less than a second before, embedding themselves into the concrete with devastating force, leaving cracks and dust in their wake.