Chapter 89

The thin curtain could not block the first rays of morning sunlight, which were glaring to those accustomed to the darkness. The girl lying quietly in bed blinked as if her eyelids were scorched, then slowly opened a narrow slit.

The unfamiliar ceiling, though most ceilings lack special decoration and look similar, the girl could discern subtle differences, perhaps due to her extensive experience of traveling.

This was an ordinary household. Based on the simple design and soft colors, the girl made this judgment. Compared to the monotonous white of hospitals and the lavish decorations of hotels, the girl was more familiar with the style of residential homes. In fact, the number of homes she had lived in far exceeded the number of times most people moved in their lifetime, but this was not because she had parents who liked to move.

She could not remember her parents' faces or names, and the girl did not even know her own name. It was because she had no place that could be called 'home' that she frequently 'borrowed' the houses of various residents.

Moving her gaze from the ordinary ceiling-mounted fluorescent light, she saw an air conditioner hanging in the corner of the wall. It was neither cold nor hot this season, the most comfortable temperature, so there was no need to waste energy by turning it on. Below the air conditioner was a blank wall, unlike most girls' rooms which were decorated with various things.

Unlike a girl's room. Although the girl rarely paid attention to things outside her duties, she was still a woman and would usually subconsciously choose a girl's room to stay in temporarily. Finding herself in a room that looked like a boy's, she felt a bit curious.

Continuing to move her gaze downward, she saw a student's essential desk... Wait!

A boy's room? There was actually a boy sleeping on the desk, as if he had fallen asleep during class!

With a whoosh, the girl suddenly sat up in bed, throwing the blanket to the floor. She remembered, the severe injuries and lack of sufficient magic to heal herself. The girl remembered!

Where was this place? The enemy's lair? The small body landed lightly on the ground, and the boy who seemed used to her had not yet woken up. The girl was certainly not foolish enough to loudly wake him. She stood quietly on the carpet for a while, feeling the softness and warmth under her feet, then reached her right hand behind her!

Gone?! The cloak was missing! The girl then remembered to check her body. Looking down in a panic, she saw that she was wearing a set of sportswear that was obviously too large.

The girl hurriedly took two steps back, and without any visible movement, the large black cloak that had been draped over her suddenly appeared in her hand.

"Phew..."

After trying and finding that her body had not been tampered with and her abilities were still intact, the girl let out a sigh of relief. It was only then, after calming down, that she noticed another presence in the room.

"Are you awake?"

"You!"

A tall man in white leaned against the wall by the door and asked. How could she not have noticed him? The girl was surprised and didn't know what to say.

"Let's get acquainted. I'm Lancer."

The man pointed to himself. He was Zhao Yun, who had descended as a Lancer class servant to participate in this Holy Grail War. The boy sleeping on the desk was naturally his Master, Sakai Yūji.

"And you? Caster? Assassin? Or..."

Unless a Heroic Spirit reveals their true name, even their Master cannot know their class. Zhao Yun's guess was based on the girl's physique. At only twelve or thirteen years old, it was hard to associate her with a class like Berserker.

"Saber!"

With a swish, the girl pulled a weapon longer than her height from her cloak, as if by magic. Zhao Yun recognized it as a type of weapon known in the East as a nodachi. Although the name contains the character for 'sword,' users often refer to it as a sword. This matched the girl's self-proclaimed class, Saber, the sword-wielding Heroic Spirit.

"Ugh..."

The girl's voice finally woke the boy sleeping on the desk. Yūji straightened up, stretching his body which had gone numb from an uncomfortable position. Then he turned his head and saw a small figure holding a long sword facing off against Zhao Yun.

"Wow! You, you, don't fight!"

Seeing two non-humans about to engage in combat upon waking, the boy was brave enough not to run away. He seemed to think this bravery was not enough, so he pushed the chair back with his buttocks and tried to rush over to stop them. In his haste, he forgot the numbness he had felt earlier. After standing up, his legs, which had not yet stretched out, felt as if they were filled with lead. Sixteen-year-old Sakai Yūji fell straight between the girl and Zhao Yun, making a small thud on the carpet.

"Idiot."

The boy's comical performance inadvertently made the girl lose her fighting spirit, especially since Yūji had just woken up. Now, the girl could clearly feel the connection maintained by the Command Spells between her and him.

"Ouch, ouch, hey, you're awake? Uh, uh, um."

Rubbing his red nose, which had kissed the carpet, Yūji looked at the girl who had put away her weapon, tears in his eyes. After stammering for a while, he realized he didn't even know the girl's name.

"What's your name, oh! Sorry, sorry."

Zhao Yun had just reminded him yesterday to keep the Heroic Spirit's true name secret, and after a night's sleep, he almost forgot. Yūji thought he must still be half-asleep; he wasn't that forgetful.

"Names are just labels, you can call me whatever you want."

This sounded quite carefree, but to Zhao Yun, it sounded like an excuse to avoid revealing her true name to a third party, especially another Heroic Spirit.

That's true, even if they were Heroic Spirits of the same Master, what difference did it make? The girl had just become Yūji's servant after being a masterless Heroic Spirit. Before that, she must have had other Masters.

"The aunt seems to have started doing housework, I'll go help. You two can chat."

Confused, the girl and Yūji watched Zhao Yun leave on his own. If he had known that the girl had no intention of keeping secrets, he would probably have been both amused and exasperated.

"Uh... you, Saber?"

"Hmm?"

Perhaps out of stubbornness, Yūji was always uncomfortable calling Heroic Spirits by their classes, which lacked a sense of reality.

"Isn't it more convenient to know your name? If you don't mind, I'm Sakai Yūji. I'll keep your true name a secret from others."

"Annoying! I don't even have a name, how many times do I have to say it! If you must call me something, call me 'Zetsumei Zan,' the name of my nodachi."

Saying this, the girl turned her head away, looking quite impatient.

Yūji did not doubt the girl's claim of having no name. After all, Heroic Spirits were special beings, different from ordinary people like him with families and parents. Anything was possible. But to call the girl by the name of a sword seemed too impolite.

"Zetsumei Zan? That doesn't sound like a person's name... Shana, Shana! The pronunciation is similar, I'll call you Shana!"

It sounded nice, right? Simple to pronounce and fitting for the girl's spirited appearance, the boy was pleased with his cleverness.

"Annoying, annoying, annoying! Do whatever you like!"

The girl, no, now she should be called Shana.

Shana seemed unable to tolerate the boy's enthusiasm and turned her entire body away. Her long, black hair, reaching her calves, swept across the boy's dazed face like a mysterious veil.