29 Hotel Go Boom

The Masters and Servants have dispersed from the wharf. Some are making future plans, while others are out having fun.

Along the mountain pass, a car is zooming along in the 90s.

"Shouldn't we have hired a professional driver?" Saber asks.

"No, that would be boring! I mean, dangerous! What if the enemy attacks us?" Irisviel says.

"Well, that's true," Saber says.

Swerving the car around the corner, Irisviel asks, "What are your thoughts about what happened tonight?"

"I'm honoured to be granted the chance to face off against some of history's greatest heroes. Lancer's curse aside, I believe the most problematic Servants are Archer and Caster. As much hate to admit it, winning against the two of them will be exceedingly difficult," Saber says.

"Have faith in your Master. I believe Kiritsugu can carry us through the War," Irisviel says.

"As a knight, I don't think I'll ever be able to approve of his methods," Saber says as Irisviel nearly flips the car over the guardrail, "... Perhaps I should drive."

"No! I'm having fun!"

At the same time in the Hyatt hotel, the fire alarm has been set off.

"Eh? What's going on?" Satsuki asks.

"The fire alarm. But it's strange. I don't feel a fire anywhere," Theresa says, coving her ears.

"If there's no fire then it's probably a false alarm," Huang Luan bites down on a cookie while moving through channels on the TV.

"I'll ask if Kazuma or Konata know anything," Theresa says.

Teriri: "The fire alarm in the hotel just went off. Is this anything we should be careful about?"

Great Teacher Onizuka: "Shouldn't you be leaving the hotel then?"

Retired Loli Sovereign: "It doesn't seem like there really is a fire, so it's probably a false alarm. Why bother evacuating if we're just gonna come back anyway?"

Sacchin: "Konata, Kazuma, do you two know anything?"

But there isn't a response.

Lightning Archpriestess: "Strange, those two are usually pretty quick when it comes to this kind of thing. They do like to show off after all, and this is the only place they can show their stuff."

Witch of the Void: "Looking at the list of group members, their names aren't greyed out, so they should be online."

Yokai Supreme Commander: "Maybe they fell asleep with the Chat Group open. I'm not sure about the lass, but Kazuma has been here since early morning, so it wouldn't surprise me if he fell asleep."

On the other side of the Chat Group, Kazuma and Konata are silently watching the conversation from their respective worlds. Having previously come to an agreement to not say anything about the current predicament Huang Luan and the others are currently in. The two youths are very curious about how they'll deal with the upcoming matter.

Mr Fool: "What about the Emperor of Man? Doesn't he also know about this?"

Black Star: "You weren't here for this, but he got muted over something trivial again. Moreover, with the way he gets treated by Huang Luan, do you really think he'll willingly give advice to her?"

Mr Fool: "Good point. And he probably wouldn't say anything to Theresa or Satsuki either, since they're with her right now."

On this matter, Huang Luan does actually think there is something of significance going on. She doesn't believe that Konata and Kazuma aren't watching the chat right now. With this in mind, coupled with their silence, her first conclusion is, that something is going to happen. In fact, she doesn't need to use logical reasoning to figure this to be the case. Huang Luan had long felt something was off, the intuition of the Justiciar is not to be underestimated. She's known about the prying eyes of Kiritsugu's assistant from the neighbouring highrise ever since her arrival. She also noticed Kiritsugu himself, snooping around the hotel. Although she isn't entirely sure of what he was doing, Huang Luan has no intention of saying anything to her two companions. Simply put, she just wants to find out what's going to happen and has no intention of calling out Kazuma and Konata or looking into Kiritsugu's actions.

'Amuse me,' Huang Luan smiles.

Meanwhile, outside of the hotel, the staff are going around making sure all the guests have evacuated.

"Lord Archibald! Lord Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald! Are you present?"

"Yes. That's me. Don't worry," Kiritsugu says, to the confusion of the hotel employee, "Both Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald and his wife, Sola-Ui, have evacuated," Kiritsugu continues, using magecraft to hypnotise the employee.

"I see. Yes, that's fine," the employee crosses out Kayneth's name and walks away, "Miss Apocalypse! Are Miss Theresa Apocalypse and Satsuki Yumizuka present!"

Walking through the crowd, Kiritsugu calls Maiya, "Everything is ready on my end. And you?"

"All green on Kayneth's end. The target hasn't moved. But there's one problem," Maiya says.

"What's wrong?"

"Caster's group is also in the hotel."

"And what are they doing?" Kiritsugu asks.

"Caster made eye contact with me. If my lip-reading is seeing this right, she says, "do it," what should we do?"

Kiritsugu lights a cigarette and blows out a puff of smoke, "Then let's give her what she wants. It was unexpected to find that Kayneth and Caster's group are in the same hotel, but if we're lucky we can kill two birds with one stone."

*Boom*

With the press of a few buttons, Kiritsugu blows the foundation of the hotel. At the sound of the explosion, Kiritsugu turns his back and walks away. Taking out his phone a quickly calls Maiya.

"Maiya."

"There's a problem."

"What?" Kiritsugu pauses as a bad feeling swells in his heart

"The original target never moved, but the debris is floating up. And if I'm seeing this right, a single room is floating in the air," Maiya says.

Turning around, Kiritsugu is met with the strange sight of the debris floating upwards instead of falling as the silhouette of a single hotel room can vaguely be seen through the smoke.

"This definitely isn't the work of El-Melloi. Most likely the handiwork of Caster. With Caster as a variable, it'll be difficult to confirm the status of Lancer and his Master. If Caster doesn't interfere, the 150-metre fall should have gotten him. Nonetheless, retreat."

But Kiritsugu doesn't get a response and instead hears gunshots coming from the other side.

From the highrise where Maiya was previously spying on the hotel, Kirei Kotomine can be seen looking at the destroyed Hyatt Hotel while Maiya is hiding behind a pillar.

"To blow up the entire building… I can't believe a mage would do that. Rather, I suppose you are a master at outsmarting mages. And this floating rubble, blatantly exposing our side to the public, a mage from the Clocktower wouldn't do something like this, even if it was an attempt to save himself. The one calling herself Caster I suppose."

"Kotomine Kirei…" Maiya mutters.

"I don't believe we've met," Kirei says slightly turning his head back, "Or do you have a reason that you'd know me already? In that case, I can guess who you are."

Maiya clicks her tongue as Kirei continues, "Don't make me do all the talking, woman. One word will suffice. Where is the man who should have been here instead of you?"

Kirei throws a dead bat with a camera tied to its leg towards Maiya as she leaves her cover and shoots at Kirei. But after a couple of shots, the gun is knocked out of her hand by a thrown knife causing Maiya to roll and take cover once more as Kirei slowly walks towards her.

"Not bad. You seem to have training," Kirei says, fitting black keys between each of his fingers.

Hidden from view, Kiritsugu approaches and is ready to throw out a smoke canister. But before he can do so, he's stopped by the sound of a young girl screaming.

"Aaaaaaah! Lulu! I'll get you for this!"

With her high pitched scream, Theresa comes crashing into the ground between Maiya and Kirei.

"Cough, agh, in what world is throwing someone the best one to move…" Theresa mutters as she looks around to figure out the situation. "Just what did she throw me into… Ahem, pleasant evening to you all."