Rin continued to glower at Satoshi as he spewed his last words. Had she not been fond of more elegant words, she'd say this man was full of shit.
However, she heard the invitation to Kiyoshi and Rider and a feeling of unease began claw its way into her stomach. Something was wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what...
“See, he's not ignoring me, he even invited me to his family meeting", Kiyoshi said with a smile on his face.
Then, he continued, his face turning slightly more serious.
"Look, Aunty Rin, I understand you not trusting him after he threatened mummy and your servant, but he was just bluffing, he said so himself. He's my brother, Aunty Rin, I don't think he'd kill a good person. He might have threatened Archer but he'd never actually go through with it.”
Then, he walked up to her and gave her a hug.
“OK, Aunty Rin, I'm going to find Aunty Rider and then go up to meet Tsukasa-nee, Satoshi and the rest. See you later, OK?” he said, smiling.
She hardly responded, still lost in her thoughts as she was. She gave Kiyoshi a tight squeeze and absently nodded as the boy ran off.
And Rin quickly regretted letting him do so as the pieces all came together.
"Sakura" had had nothing but praise for Satoshi, had been reverent and defensive of him. Everyone that she remembered and knew that came from his world acted rather differently than normal. His so called family followed Lin's orders almost blindly (the Irishman didn't seem to be an actual family member or a Servant). They were exclusionary and rude to almost everyone except their own. All those from Satoshi's world seemed to follow his ideals at least to some extent, even if it contradicted beliefs they held in most other timelines. Satoshi, in spite of his denial, clearly regarded himself as a saint, and so did others from his world.
Lin had brought through a trunk that may well have a weapon inside.
Family meeting.
Cult meeting. She couldn't be for sure, and it probably sounded a bit silly, but...
One thing was for certain, however. Cult or no cult, all of Toshi's allies would be in one room with a concealed weapon in a trunk.
And Kiyoshi and Rider were going up there.
....Oh God. She almost jumped at the gentle rub to her shoulders.
"You okay?"
Rin found herself trembling a bit again, her skin noticeably pale as she turned to face her lover. She took his hands into her own and gave them a squeeze, as much for her own comfort as anything.
"We have to tell Forest about all this." She looked towards the stairs. "I really don't like the idea of what's in that trunk..."
***
Lancer grabbed Ruby and held the stick tight. He scowled at her then looked at Millie before giving Ruby a good shake. "Listen, you try anything funny and I'll make you regret it."
"I don't think you'd be smart enough to notice if I did~" the stick replied, giving him a naughty wiggle.
Mille glared at Ruby. "Be glad I don't have much prana right now, or you'd be in several pieces on the floor."
"With those stick arms?~ I don't think you could manage it."
The magus grabbed her own forearm. Her arms were noticeably toned, even if not excessively muscular. "Try me sometime."
Then he looked at Millie and asked, "You up for this, Lass?"
Then he headed to the door, holding Ruby with his supernatural strength so she couldn't easily escape.
Mille nodded, sparks nearly erupting from her pupils she was so determined. "I may be low on prana, but I can still hold my own in a fight. My some of my training was physical as well as in magecraft. I'm not a master or anything, but I can provide you some back up."
She pointed at Ruby. "And if we have to, I can always use the stick over there. If not to change into a magical girl, at least beat people over the head if nothing else."
"Oh, such mindless brutality~ You two really are well matched~"
Had Mille been the one holding Ruby, she would have slammed her into the wall. As it was...
"Let's go."
She followed Lancer closely, not sure what was lay ahead but still somehow... excited.
***
Tom gave Rider another nod of acknowledgement. Brushing over her thoughts, he found himself somewhat amused that she thought he wasn't fond of her. Mistrust her and Jack? Yes. Was unhappy that she and Jack had practically ignored him? Yes. Hate her? No. Either way though, it didn't concern him greatly.
With a smile, Forest took Tom's hand and advised him mentally, It maybe crowded up there. If it gets to be too much, let me know. She was amused by his annoyance of being ignored, as if he was some giant cat. Which, considering how he likes his ears rubbed, that's not too far off, she thought to herself.
She looked at Jack and Rider. "Well, follow me I guess."
Then she began up the stairs, mentally preparing herself for whatever shit had hit the fan in the last hour or so.
He smiled back at her.
No need to worry for me in that regard. I am quite good at filtering out the thoughts of others at this point. Otherwise I likely would have gone mad the moment I entered the Nexus. With that, after Forest was done addressing the others, Tom followed Forest up the stairs, his hand still entwined with hers, not quite certain what he would find when they reached the top.