"Missing? What?"
At the Fujimura house, things had gotten noisy because Scarface had not picked the boy up at school.
"Miss, that's what the school told me when I went. They checked the cameras at the gate—Broly left on his own."
Scarface looked a bit wronged.
In Japan, elementary school kids usually go home by themselves, so when they dismiss the students, Fukayori No. 1 Elementary will not hold back any particular child.
Because of that, when Scarface arrived at the usual time with the early-dismissal notice in hand, he was told the boy was no longer at school.
He had failed to pick him up and the boy had gone missing, while a child‑kidnapping murderer was still on the loose in Fuyuki. That was enough to make Taiga Fujimura, just back from school herself, explode.
"Didn't the school call and tell you to go early?"
Taiga grabbed Scarface by the collar, looking as if she wanted to tear him apart.
"I…"
He did not know how to answer. He had simply figured the kid would be safe at school until normal time.
"Taiga, let him go. There was some business in the group this afternoon, and I sent him on an errand for me."
Just as Taiga was about to start swinging, Raiga Fujimura spoke up to cover for Scarface.
"Grandpa…"
"I know you're worried, but don't panic. Panic does no good when something happens, and blaming people doesn't help either. What matters most right now is how to fix it."
Raiga spoke to his granddaughter calmly.
"So what do we do?"
Taiga asked.
"There are cameras on the roads around the school. With the Fujimura Group's connections, we can get that footage. First thing is to pull the surrounding street cameras and find the boy's trail after he left campus."
"Then hurry up!"
"I've already sent people. According to the footage so far, he jumped the fare and got on a train to Fuyuki West Station."
"Eh?"
Taiga stared. Raiga, meanwhile, wore a look that said, "That's your grandpa's skill," as he modeled staying calm under pressure.
"And after that?"
"If you were me, what would you do?"
"I'd go find Broly."
"And if there were no more cameras?"
"I'd go look myself."
"Wrong. One person's strength is limited. You have to mobilize the Fujimura Group to search. And it's not just about finding the boy. Right now the biggest danger to children in Fuyuki is that serial kidnapper and murderer. We have to look for his trail at the same time, and also use our connections to talk to the police so they'll help search as well."
Raiga's step‑by‑step description of how to handle the emergency left Taiga a bit stunned.
Seeing that look on his granddaughter's face, the old man was satisfied and went on.
"That's something ordinary people can't do. For them, when someone goes missing, they can't even file a case until forty‑eight hours later, and even then they rarely get results.
"But the Fujimura Group is different. We can send our own people to look, and we can reach out through certain connections so the police will help.
"So, Taiga, now you understand how important it is to have a power base?"
Taiga: "…"
"Grandpa, you've got a point. I do kind of see the benefits of having a force behind you now. But that's not really the priority at the moment, is it? I just want to know: have you found Broly or not?"
"Not yet. But there should be news soon."
"So that's a no. I'm going out to look for him too…"
"Fujimura sis, can we eat now?"
While Taiga was asking where the boy had last been seen, Broly dropped out of the sky into the back yard. Spotting people inside, and seeing that no one had noticed him land, he walked up and asked his big‑sister‑wife.
"Who can think about eating right now? We're—eh?!"
Taiga cut herself off and, along with everyone else, turned to stare at Broly, who had suddenly appeared outside.
"You're back?"
Scarface blurted out.
"Yeah, I'm back."
Broly nodded.
"Where have you been, you little brat? When I heard you'd gone missing, I was worried sick!"
Taiga rushed over, hugged him, and asked.
"I went with my deskmate wife from school to look for her other deskmate friend. She even treated me to takoyaki on the way.
"And in the end, she gave me her share too. That takoyaki stuff is really good…"
Thinking back on his after‑school adventure, Broly answered Taiga's question. But in his telling, the taste of takoyaki and the ways to add condiments were the only details worth describing; anything he considered unimportant was simply glossed over.
"If you go out with friends, you have to tell an adult, okay? Otherwise you make people worry."
Seeing him back safe, Taiga relaxed, but still gave him a lecture.
"Okay. Got it."
Broly took it to heart and nodded obediently.
"As long as you remember. Big sister will take you to get dinner."
Rubbing his head, she led him toward the big dining hall.
"Boss, then…"
"Call everyone back. No more running around."
Raiga waved a hand. Broly's disappearance had been an accident, but at least it had shown his granddaughter the usefulness of having subordinates and influence. And the boy's safe return was the best outcome; no need to waste effort tracking him down.
….
"Was this guy hit by a semi?"
The missing kids had been found and taken home, but the police still had to stay to handle the suspected culprit's body. The officers on scene frowned at the young man's corpse, embedded in shattered crates with almost no intact flesh in his abdomen.
They had seen plenty of death scenes, but this one was absurd. They could not even guess what had done that to him.
"However it happened, he's almost certainly our prime suspect—the one who's been breaking into homes, kidnapping kids, and murdering them in Fuyuki.
"Get clear photos of his face. We'll need to identify him back at the station and see if we can find hard evidence."
The inspector in charge gave his orders, then realized none of his men were answering.
"Why so quiet back there?"
He turned—and saw his subordinates hanging in the air, tentacles wrapped around their necks as they struggled and failed to break free.
"M–monsters?"
The inspector's eyes bulged. He backed up two steps and found his way blocked by that horribly mangled corpse.
"Let my men go."
He could only draw his pistol, aiming at the things strangling his officers, hoping to intimidate them into loosening their grip.
"How can this be…"
Before he could fire, a shocked, disbelieving voice sounded behind the sea demon.
"This place is dangerous."
Ignoring the inspector's warning, a bizarre figure in blue robes strode into the bar.
His bulging eyes made people think of a goldfish, but he passed right by the sea demon without challenge.
"Ryunosuke Uryu, my Master… I didn't expect you to die before me."
Gilles de Rais, Bluebeard, looked down at the corpse with clear sorrow. A Master who had shared his language and his love of "art" now lay before him, reduced to a lifeless body.
"Still, you died in such an artistic way. You must have sacrificed yourself in the name of art."
Since the sea demons were not attacking him, and this man had walked in and started talking to the corpse, the inspector realized what he was.
"You're with this kidnapper and killer. And these monsters—you control them, don't you?"
He swung the pistol toward the robed man.
"Call them off and let my colleagues go, or I'll shoot."
Some of the officers were already rolling their eyes back. He had to act.
"Oh?"
Bluebeard looked down at the officer who barely came up to his chest.
"Do you not know you shouldn't interrupt a man when he's mourning his dead?"
He reached his hand toward the man's head, then stopped short, just holding it in front of him.
"But you don't look like you have any sense of art. I'll forgive you."
Muttering an incantation under his breath, Gilles ignored the inspector's shouts.
"I told you to make those things let my men go! Did you hear me?"
"Dark Sacrifice—Sea Demon Summoning."
The magic circle formed. The casting material was the inspector himself.
"What is this—what did you do to me?"
Pain erupted from within, and the man's face twisted.
Before he could pull the trigger, a sea demon burst out of his body.
He died, and the monster that had emerged from him devoured what was left.
"Ryunosuke Uryu, the gods are unjust, forcing such a great human artist to leave the stage early.
"But no matter. You still have me.
"I, Gilles de Rais, swear that I will drive from this stage we call the world the agent of the gods' will who sent you off early—and in the exact same way."
He thrust his hand into the chest of one of the officers hanging from the tentacles and ripped out a beating heart.
Chanting again, he crushed the heart. The blood, carrying the dead man's resentment, spread under the effect of the spell, pointing in a single direction.
….
"Fog? No… This is magecraft."
Through Assassin's eyes, Kirei Kotomine, waiting on standby at the Fuyuki Church, spotted Caster marching with a pack of sea demons.
The man still had no intention of concealing the supernatural. Worse, he was parading down the streets with an even bigger pack of familiars.
Any ordinary person along the way was killed without a word and used as summoning material.
"What a lunatic."
As he went to inform Tokiomi of Caster's movement, Kirei also ordered his Assassins to knock out any bystanders on the path and drag them out of sight.
It was not out of any desire to save lives; he simply did not want Caster's army to keep growing.
"What? Caster's summoned a whole horde of big familiars and is marching them down the street?"
The news made Tokiomi feel his blood pressure spike. As head of the foremost magus family in Fuyuki, he had the obligation and responsibility to preserve secrecy.
And Caster, swaggering through the city with a mob of familiars, was trampling his bottom line as a magus.
At this point, could the Holy Grail ritual still be called a secret ceremony? Why not hang a loudspeaker on the man and broadcast it to the world?
"Is Caster's Master insane? Letting his Servant do this—does he not fear every other Servant turning on him?"
"With respect, teacher, that pair has been insane from the start of this war."
"Oh, right. Almost forgot. So what's their target? Whipping up a commotion like this—do they just want to make themselves targets?"
"Based on their route, Caster and his familiars are heading for Saber's new base. For some reason, Caster has been fixated on Saber. Should we intervene?"
After laying out Caster's apparent goal, Kirei asked for instructions.
"They're going for Saber? Then there's no need to stop them. Let that mad Caster pair act as a probing stone and test Saber's strength.
"Of course, keep having Assassin clear the civilians along their path. If too many people die, it'll be hard to cover up afterward."
Tokiomi did not try to block Caster, just assigned his student the task of making the cleanup easier and limiting the civilian death toll.
….
Led by the blood of resentment, Gilles de Rais advanced unimpeded toward Fuyuki's old district, thanks to Assassin's quiet efforts in clearing the route of innocents.
"Kiritsugu!"
At their new safe house, Artoria felt the disturbance in the air and rushed inside, where she saw her Master, Kiritsugu Emiya, had also noticed the abnormal magic.
He had already assembled a submachine gun. Seeing Saber, he turned to Maiya, who was still injured but mobile.
"Protect Irisviel. Saber and I are going out to meet them."
Under the moonlit sky, fog rolled along the street, clouds covering the moon. When the moonlight broke through again, Caster and his army of sea demons appeared at the end of the road—far more than had attacked the Einzbern castle.
"Villain, how many innocents have you slaughtered this time?!"
Seeing the vast horde of familiars, Artoria's only emotion was rage. She might not be of this era or this land, but her knightly ideals made her furious at such evil deeds.
"Oh my, what a coincidence, to be reunited with my beautiful holy maiden here of all places. Fate must be guiding you back to my side.
"But alas, holy maiden, I have not come for you tonight. I have come for revenge!"
"Eh?!"
Both Artoria in the street and Kiritsugu on the roof with his rifle let out cries of surprise.
"My Master, Ryunosuke Uryu, a great human artist, was butchered in some nameless bar.
"My magecraft has guided my army of vengeance to its quarry. Step aside, holy maiden. There is no role for you in tonight's performance."