"So... why is she sitting at our dinner table?" Haru grumbled.
"She...? Haru, that's no way to talk about Rias. It's rude!" His mother, Miki, scolded him gently.
"It's fine, Auntie," Rias said sweetly. "Haru's always like this. I'm used to it."
Then, as if it were nothing, she added, "But maybe he should try being nicer. Otherwise, he'll never make friends. At school, I'm the only one who bothers talking to him."
Miki jumped on that, launching into a lecture. "You need to make friends, Haru. Join some activities, get along with your classmates..."
Haru endured it with growing impatience, while Rias smirked at his discomfort.
'Childhood friends,' he thought. 'Only people who don't have one actually want one.'
'Like how people with sisters rarely turn out to be sis-cons.'
In short: distance makes things better.
Someone who knew every embarrassing moment from your childhood like wetting the bed and you're supposed to like her?
"Yeah, right. No thanks," he muttered inwardly.
Kamizuki Rias was seven, born the same day as Haru in the same hospital. Their parents were neighbors and coworkers. They'd grown up together, shared kindergarten, elementary school, even the same baby formula.
Some might envy that kind of bond. Haru saw it as a curse.
Even with his older mind, her childish tricks often got the better of him. It was humiliating.
But it wasn't his fault. Rias had the ultimate backup: his mom and hers too!
Out of their four parents, only half a person sided with Haru, his dad. But since he was whipped, he barely counted.
Haru was well-behaved, smart, and great at kendo, but Rias was the spoiled one. 'Unfair! Gender discrimination in this modern age. I should sue!'
But it didn't matter.
"Okay... so?" Haru said when his mom finally paused.
"Oh, right," Miki replied, as if she'd forgotten. "Rias's staying with us for a while."
"What?" Haru blurted out. "Why?"
"Her parents got sent to Fuyuki City for work," Miki explained. "Things are messy there, so the police needed them."
Both sets of parents were cops, though Miki had quit after Haru was born to raise the kids. Police trips were normal, so Rias didn't mind.
But Haru had a sinking feeling.
Fuyuki?
'I hope nothing bad happens,' he thought, a sense of dread creeping in.
—--------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Mom, is something wrong?" he asked later, noticing her distraction.
Miki blinked, then smiled. "No, why do you ask?"
"Because you didn't scold me for leaving food," he thought, eyeing the green peppers in his bowl. She'd normally nag him to finish them.
'What's going on here?' he wondered.
After dinner, Haru finished quietly and headed upstairs for a bath. Soaking in the tub, he tried to piece things together.
The bathroom door swung open. "Mom, I've told you a million times, can you respect my privacy? I'm seven years old now—"
"Seven years old, and?" Rias asked, tilting her head innocently, a bath cap on.
"..."
Haru grabbed a towel, wrapped it around his waist, and sighed dramatically. "Is there no privacy in this house?"
"What are you whining about?" Miki called from outside, phone in hand. "Aren't you mature? Help Rias with her bath. I'm busy."
"It's been a year since we last bathed together, hasn't it?" Rias said, hopping into the tub and claiming half.
"You've always been weird, Haru," she added. "Going on about boys and girls being different. What does that even mean?"
He sank into the water, leaving just his head out. "I thought you'd get it by now, but you're denser than I thought. You'll understand when you're older."
They'd shared baths and beds before, but Haru had set boundaries early to avoid weird feelings. Rias, though, seemed clueless.
After a quick wash, he hurried out. On his way to his room, he spotted Miki in the corner, anxiously talking on the phone.
He crept closer without alerting her. "...Still no sign of them?" she said. "Nothing at all?"
"...No, just pieces of their clothes," came his dad's voice.
"What's the plan?" Miki pressed. "If we don't send more people, it might be too late!"
"Miki, calm down and listen. They're calling off the search."
"What?" She gasped, then whispered, "Why? There's still a chance! Are we just leaving them? What about Rias?"
"There is pressure from above," his dad replied. "They want us out of it. The missing kids will be filed as trafficking and the officers will be listed as killed in action."
"Have they lost their minds?" Miki demanded, furious and confused. "Why would they do this?"
Haru slipped back to his room. He knew why. The Holy Grail War was too secret. The Church and Mage's Association wouldn't let it leak..
And the missing officers? He could guess who: Rias's parents.
"Uncle Kamizuki!" Haru slammed his fist against the door, shaking with rage.
The Kamizukis had treated him like their own son, and he saw them as family. But now...
"What can I do? I'm powerless..."
What could a seven year old do?
"Wait, there's still a chance," he thought, determination flaring in his eyes.
"If they were looking into the missing kids, they probably ran into Caster and his Master, Ryuunosuke Uryuu. Those two don't hide bodies, but since no corpses were found..."
'They might still be alive! But if they were, where?'
Haru pieced it together: the Hyatt Hotel was gone, but Caster wasn't dead. That meant he and Ryuunosuke were in the sewers, snatching and killing kids.
"There might be a way..."
If they'd met Caster, they'd be dead. No bodies meant they'd likely faced Ryuunosuke instead.
"They might have escaped and are hiding," he reasoned.
The Grail War involved magi summoning Servants–heroes from history turned into spirits.
Ryuunosuke wasn't a real magus, just a twisted killer who'd lucked into being a Master. He'd summoned Caster Gilles de Rais, a murderer from French history.
Servants were unstoppable, but Ryuunosuke? He was human, sick but mortal.
'StarGate, how can I get stronger, fast?' Haru asked mentally.
He wanted to handle this alone. The mystical world was too dangerous for his family.
Best case, he'd find them before Rias noticed anything.
[After analysis,] the StarGate replied, [the best option for you is a weapon, like a low-recoil mini handgun.]
'A gun? That could work. Let's do it.'
[Apologies, but StarGate doesn't offer weapon exchanges.]
'...Then what can you offer?]
[Spatial powers for searching and rescuing. Enhancement magic to boost strength at the cost of life force. Mystic Eyes…]
Haru waited this time. Sure enough: [Unfortunately, none of those are available.]
A vein throbbed in his forehead. 'Then what the hell can you do?'
[Equivalent exchange and world travel. The first trades your 'price' for equal value. The second lets you visit other worlds.]
His eyes widened. 'World travel? Perfect! I'll train in another world, get stronger, and come back.'
He paused. 'Are there any catches?'
[None, but when you return, three days will have passed here.]
'Three days?' Haru winced. 'In three days, the Grail War could be over, and they'd be gone!'
He couldn't recall every detail, but he knew Emiya Kiritsugu's assassinations made this war short.
Three days could change everything.
'Is there really no other option?' he wondered.
Rias and Haru's mother walked in then , cutting off his thoughts.
"Rias gets scared alone," Miki said with a smile. "Share the bed tonight."
Haru squinted. His mom looked fine, but she'd put on makeup, likely to hide red eyes.
"If Haru whines about boys and girls," she added, "he can sleep on the floor."
Watching her close the door with a grin, Haru sighed. "Am I really your son?"
They both took the bed, though not without a small fight over space. Embarrassingly, he lost.
Late that night, Haru slipped out of bed, glanced at Rin, and asked, 'StarGate, any way to get power right now?'
He could wait. The Kamizukis couldn't.
[Equivalent exchange: you get what you pay for.]
'Money or my lifespan?' he hesitated.
[We don't take cash, and lifespan isn't valid. You can offer life force, but yours is too weak to qualify.]
Haru had no words. At seven, he was frail, his life force was nothing. Fairy tales had misled him about trading souls or years. Souls made sense, but lifespan? Devils lived too long for that.
'Is there really nothing I can do?' Frustration burned inside.
Was he supposed to watch his family die?
[There is one thing you can offer.]
His eyes lit up. "What is it?"
[Your future.]