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registry
(296)
Iri's storehouse
Mirror of Kibisis
Reopening
Persimmon cooking
Rider, bicycle, and the jealous Sakura
The King's clothes are a swimsuit (waterfront king: prologue)
Saber lately
Afternoon light
The battle of today's menu
Sakura-san lately
Fuji-nee's persimmon feast
Towards the "splash"
That past is already
Caster's shopping (hobby edition)
Quo Vadis
Lancer
Lancer's Heaven I
Lancer's Heaven II
Lancer's Heaven III
Wabi-sabi-tsumami
Horn (definitely)
Horn (no echo)
Matou residents
After coming back
Return of the wise man
The big three female Servants' super-battle
Sea of memories
Bridge of eternity - right
Warrior's knowledge
Murder at the Twin Mansion
Spearman at work (flower shop edition)
Her holiday villa
For your forgetful self
Murder at the empty mansion
Caster's delivery
Illya strikes back!
Rider and the sandwich
The light on the way home
Great problem at the archery club
How about a training camp?
Crest fever
Sakura and deluxe lunchbox
Sisters' lunch
Educational guidance
The student council chairman is still going strong.
Let's go for lunch!
Fuji-nee's teacher form
Cat-tiger family rampage
Rin and Mitsuzuri on campus
On the verge of a dream
Plushie
Potato sorrow
Marron pie temptation
Rider, reading, and the jealous Sakura
Light-hearted promise
A guest from 5 years back
The trap of high-class ingredients
Sugar candy teatime
This is not Heaven.
Rider's errand, no return
Cleaning alone
Cleaning with everyone
Caster's shopping (good wife edition)
Mimic Tohsaka Lvl 1
Mimic Tohsaka Lvl 2
Mimic Tohsaka Lvl 3
Familiar kid
Angel and a diamond
Visitor
Suspicious pair
Makidera and Rin's pendant
Loitering on the way, main road
Towards the cultural festival
Caster's cooking practice
Dowsing housing
100 views of corpses
Respecting the countless servants
Iron and the second button
Gorgon's cellar
Selected for the King
Pool tickets and a threatening letter
What kind of wedding?
Sakura's memories
Autumn, sky, and a golden taste
Because I groom it twice a week
Mitsuzuri visits
Rin and high tech
Three girls one day
Killing and a fancy bear
Persistent cooking Caster
Successor
Bridge on an ordinary night - left
Two detectives
Mitsuzuri's revival
Himuro Kane's inquiry
Smuggling, fishing boat, round-the-world trip
Rin's magic lesson
Invisible servant
Sakura, Mitsuzuri, and the archery club
Mitsuzuri Minori
Snake princess in the evening sun
Lunch with the track-and-field club
Day of the festival
Praying Fuji-nee
Rider investigates
Adventures of Himuro Kane
A samurai and a wild flower
Dragon trance military history (??)
Pool and the Mystic Eyes seal
Penguin-shaped shaved ice machine
Level up?
Tohsaka exploration party
The secret to finger pressure massage is devotion.
Dreaming cooking Caster
Gossip between the two
Anachro-analog Rin
Border
Adventures around the maid
Sakura and Caster, united edition
Shin-chan and the sea
Blue Panther vs. Black Panther
Big trouble! The ancient legend of the resurrected supreme king inscribed in stone
Big pursuit! Two teachers, an elf, and an apprentice
Flip-flop 2
Flip-flop 3
School maid
On the way home
Crosswords and shogi problems
Training camp, approval
Justice and the kitten
That night: ghost stories
Curse collector
National treasure
A cat, a priest, and a stubborn teacher
Rin at the temple
monster
Ath nGabla
Final night
Good night
Hero of the bath
Sisters' crisis
The future is now
Airmail
Emiya massage
Quartet overture
Stray tiger
Dead Bridge (I)
Dead Bridge (II)
The things that suit Rider
In London
Peace and quiet (I)
Peace and quiet (II)
Peace and quiet (III)
Peace and quiet (1)
Peace and quiet (2)
Peace and quiet (3)
Ritual window
Kagetsu Tohya
Awakening (fake)
Awakening (not yet)
Silver thread
Decisive battle
Temple guardian
End of the four nights
Cruel teacher
One last drink
Execution appreciated
Those that give and take
The shore where he stayed
Choice sake - proof of the wild
Streets at night (patrol)
Streets at night (battle)
Haunted mansion
Tohsaka's advice
Haunted night
Good night - Illya
Good night - winter
No trespassing
Ghost Gossip
Ghost Gossip Glamorous
Hotel Einzbern
Memory
Twilight castle
Not yet
Reopening
A moment in the morning
Rin comes back
Wish.
Sisters' summer (apple)
Sisters' summer (lemon)
Medical medicine
A siblings' game
Waterfront king
Heaven's dress
(31)
unlimited blade works
heaven's feel
Caren I
Caren II
Caren III
Caren IV
Caren V
Caren (?)
Spider ladder
Spiral ladder
Reverse Moon
Holy Grail
Heaven's Feel Backnight 1 (church)
Heaven's Feel Backnight 2 (rooftop)
Heaven's Feel Backnight 3 (Dialogue Möbiuslink)
Heaven's Feel Backnight 3 (out on the town)
Heaven's Feel Backnight 3 (love)
Heaven's Feel Backnight 4 (Endless)
Heaven's Feel Backnight 5 (Void)
Heaven's Feel Backnight 6 (arm)
Heaven's Feel Backnight 6 (church)
Heaven's Feel Backnight 7 (Cradle Hollow)
Chaldea
Accel/Zero Order
Unlimited raise/dead
Let's Tell a Tale of World Salvation
2 - Tips and Chips
The breakfast stuff is done, and while I’m making sure the oily frying pans are sparkling clean, everyone’s relaxing after the meal and playing cards in the living room behind me.
They’ve probably been at it for an hour already.
At first, both Saber and Rider were just learning the rules and it was pretty quiet… But now, far from that, the atmosphere has become completely different.
Rider reaches for the card on the right.
Rider reaches for the card on the left.
Rider draws the one on the left, as if it was only natural.
TAIGA: Gah, she saw right through me!? How, why, by what means!?
There isn’t much to it.
Minor details aside, they’re playing Old Maid. Whenever Fuji-nee makes a face like that, the game definitely isn’t going her way.
TAIGA: Geez, Rider-san’s really just too good. It must be mind reading, no, you must have a partner! For instance, you there, housekeeper! Why are you spending an endless 30 minutes washing that frying pan!?
Fuji-nee points her finger towards the kitchen.
However, Rider’s sitting with her back towards me.
If anything, I could be helping Fuji-nee cheat by watching Rider’s hand.
▓▓▓▓▓▓: Yeah, whatever. Stop with the boring talk and enjoy the game. If you keep losing until the end and become the Grand Loser, you could just retreat back to the Fujimura Group.
*squeak* *squeak* I’m rubbing the underside of the pan.
TAIGA: G, guuuuuuuuh…! Grrr. You’re almost my younger brother, what are you saying? No way I’ll be defeated. I’ll keep going until victory is mine! It’s still a game of chance, play it a hundred times and the wins and losses got to even out!
A howl echoes in the distance.
...Compare this and this, repeat a hundred times to determine whichever one is greater, what kind of game is that?
That is, in a game that balances both luck and skill, you can’t judge skill with just one or even ten rounds.
Skill is something that will be revealed over a long period of time, not a single match.
That said, Fuji-nee’s line of thought will destroy her.
Playing a hundred rounds won’t result in a tie, it’ll just make their respective abilities painfully clear.
Well, she seems to be an expert at deceiving herself with something like “I… Let’s see, I guess about three more times would be enough.”
Well, in any case…
Fuji-nee, her face as easy to read as ever, has another card drawn by a very apologetic-looking Sakura, sitting to her side. Needless to say, the game ends with Fuji-nee in the last place.
TAIGA: S-S-Something’s fishy! Could Sakura-chan be a psychic, too? That’s awful, why’d you hide it until now!?
Now that’s just funny.
SAKURA: ...Ahaha. Um, Fujimura-sensei, how about we try something else, instead of Old Maid?
TAIGA: …...For example?
SAKURA: Umm--
She’s probably trying to come up with something where revealing your hand through facial expressions doesn’t matter as much.
Bluff and President are the first ones out.
That said, after a nervous breakdown, going feral and messing up the whole place, the remaining difficulty is explaining the rules to the other two.
SAKURA: Umm… How about Blackjack?
TAIGA: Oh? Very well, I accept your challenge.
SABER: And how do you play that?
Sakura proceeds to explain the rules while pretty much just playing with Fuji-nee.
There are fewer hands than in poker, and the game itself is just a slow accumulation of points, almost like a sword fight.
Even letting your emotions show shouldn’t make you lose, but…
TAIGA: Kyaaah, I’m going bust, going bust! T-This is the gambling bankruptcy stuff that people talk about, isn’t it…!?
Well, it’s true that Blackjack isn’t a great choice for people who don’t know when to stop.
...Alright then.
The Blackjack round started with the score being reset to zero, yet the result is even more prominent than with Old Maid.
SABER: Ace of Spades -- I mean, Blackjack.
That’s right.
Fuji-nee, her hand full of face cards, and Rider, making use of her own intelligence, both have managed to hold on. But in the end, Saber emerged victorious.
It’s frighteningly addictive. Have a score higher than your opponent and you’ll definitely win the round, crazed instinct tells you.
...Gradually, the rules shifted, but basically, Saber ended up facing the other three as the dealer.
...However.
In a fight with Saber, the Great Dragon, all three of them had a weakness.
I guess Sakura and Rider are two of a kind, they both have essentially zero luck. They keep drawing inferior cards, and never quite get enough points to be competitive.
TAIGA: Wahh! I went over 21 again!
It goes without saying that Fuji-nee draws too many cards and destroys herself before she gets a chance to participate.
And yet, come to think of it, she is the only one to sometimes win against Saber.
▓▓▓▓▓▓: ...She’s up against naturally high luck after all…
And then there’s her wild nature.
Just like a battle between a dragon and a tiger.
TAIGA: Feh… Let’s up the stakes then, Saber-chan! You and me, one-on-one! Total after ten games, the loser gives up dinner’s main dish. What do you say?
SABER: ...Hm. You sure went all out, Taiga. In other words, the person that loses will have to remain hungry, constantly searching for food, is that it?
TAIGA: That’s right. Hehehe, I wonder if it isn’t too much risk for Saber-chan? So, are you brave enough to accept this challenge?
SABER: ...Hm. The certainty of an after-meal game victory has already been sealed in my heart, yet… --Very well. For a challenge of this caliber, I will start playing seriously. My deepest apologises, but the one going on an empty stomach will be you, Taiga.
Saber smiles with confidence.
TAIGA: Huh!? You mean you’ve been taking it easy until now!?
SABER: Well, if I did not, I would have burned a lot of calories.
But the thing is…
No matter who wins, I will likely have to bear the damage.
Whichever one will be gaining weight, and whichever losing, it’s inevitable that the one being starved will eventually revolt. In the end, it will simply come down to one more main dish portion for dinner. As the household treasurer, I will not permit such an outcome.
▓▓▓▓▓▓: Alright, that’s it for dangerous games. Tea is ready, it’s time for a break.
Tea and tea cakes in hand, I make my way through.
Feeling the strength of Saber’s assault, Fuji-nee reluctantly stepped down. Thankfully, Saber promptly withdrew, as well.
▓▓▓▓▓▓: So, did Saber dominate the game after all?
SAKURA: Yes… Obliterated without a trace of competition.
We chat while sipping tea.
Wait… Why is everyone but Saber ignoring the teacakes?
▓▓▓▓▓▓: Hm? What’s wrong?
SAKURA: Err, to the victor go the spoils.
SABER: I don’t buy that excuse, Sakura. And it was Taiga who started gambling to begin with.
▓▓▓▓▓▓: …...Huh. So it wasn’t just at the end, she was gambling from the start?
RIDER: Yes. She said it will make a difference in the fighting spirit, that it isn’t a true game if you don’t wager something valuable.
▓▓▓▓▓▓: ...Fuji-nee.
As I glance to my side, she is lying down with her back towards me, totally innocent.
▓▓▓▓▓▓: By the power of a landlord, I declare gambling illegal. It’s communal property, and you aren’t allowed to privatize it. However--
I stop her as she leaps up in joy.
▓▓▓▓▓▓: In order to teach you a lesson, you’re being kicked out for saying stupid things.
TAIGA: H-How could you say that, ▓▓▓▓▓▓! Big Sis did not raise a child to be like this!
▓▓▓▓▓▓: Oh, be quiet. Some teacher you are, coercing people into gambling. Have some regret for your actions.
TAIGA: Waahh, ▓▓▓▓▓▓, you idiot!
Fuji-nee is stomping her feet like a child.
▓▓▓▓▓▓: That’s enough. If you need something in your mouth, have some tea or whatnot and leave already.
To reinforce my point, I take a teacake and put it in front of Saber.
▓▓▓▓▓▓: Also, I don’t care about the details, but a promise is a promise. Fuji-nee’s dessert is now Saber’s. ...And if this happens again, make sure to put the brakes on Fuji-nee at that time.
SABER: R-Right, I will watch out from now on. I apologize, I got carried away by gambling without realizing it.
Saber reflects on monopolizing the supply of confectioneries. I wonder if she did regain her calm.
TAIGA: Naive, too naive! Fujimura Raiga pampers Illya-chan like you could not imagine, ▓▓▓▓▓▓! Saber-chan is also at fault! There were other people caught gambling as well! Yep, and that’s why I get a rice cracker.
Munch, munch, down goes the cracker.
▓▓▓▓▓▓: ………………
It’s another common outrageous spectacle, but I did establish a new fact today.
In a gambling game of a hundred rounds, it takes merely ten for Saber to establish herself as a master.