Now that Rin and Saber were both in comfortable positions, they begin to chat, unaware of Shirou’s presence with them in the tub. At the moment, he was treading water near Rin’s foot, as only her toes peeked out from the warm sudsy water. As he did this, Saber begins, saying “How long have you been friends with Shirou?”

Rin scratches her chin while wiggling her toes, causing small ripples in the water to assault Shirou, as she says “Well, we were never all that close. We’ve gone to the same school for a while, but he never really wanted to associate with me. I didn’t really understand why, so I never bothered with him either...”

Upon hearing that, Shirou wonders why he even avoided Rin in the first place, thinking that it was probably for some dumb reason or another. But he silently hopes that it didn’t hurt her feelings since that was the last thing he wanted to do to someone else.

Saber taps her chin after hearing Rin’s statement, before saying “Shirou always seemed like the type to really focus in on one thing at a time. I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it...”

Rin nods, but then says “Even still, it wouldn’t have hurt to say hi to me in the hallway once in a while...” After saying this, she pauses for a moment, before adding “Now that I think about it, one of his buddies wasn’t a fan of me, so maybe that was why Shirou never went to chat with me...”

When thinking on that, Shirou had to admit that constantly hearing Issei, the ‘buddy’ in question, say all those negative things about Rin could have colored his perception of her. He wanted to believe that he’d see beyond petty gossip and insults, but it seemed like he still had a lot to mature about.

Saber nods in response, before saying “A friend’s gossip can be an effective thing indeed, Rin. How have you both gotten along since the war began?”

Rin thinks for a moment, before saying “It’s actually been pretty pleasant. I wish he wasn’t so dense about certain things, but that same denseness also allowed him to accept all this mage and holy grail stuff in stride.”

Saber lightly giggles while saying “Shirou may have a highly noble soul, but he is incredibly thick headed about certain things...”

Upon hearing this, Shirou wonders just how inaccurate he was at reading situations and people’s intentions. If it was this bad, then maybe he should work on fixing that for the future. But while he reflected on their harsh words, Rin kicked her leg slightly while starting to laugh at Saber’s blunt statement, causing Shirou to fly through the air along with a few drops of water. And when Shirou finally lands, he notices that he was now on a highly smooth and slippery landscape, making him wonder where exactly he ended up. But when looking forward, he sees Rin’s immense face, making him realize that he was right on top of her own stomach.

While he was located here, Rin deeply exhales, causing her stomach to flatten slightly as air escaped from her lungs. Because of this, the warm bath water slowly encroached around Shirou’s position, as if he was standing on a rapidly shrinking island. As this happened, Rin descended more in-depth into the water, wanting to only leave her head above for the moment, forcing Shirou to tread yet again. Once Rin changed her position, she sighs and says “Joking aside, how are you supposed to tell a guy who’s denser than anything that you...” She pauses for a moment, before blushing and adding, saying “kinda like him...?”

Shirou’s eyes widen upon hearing this, never realizing that Rin harbored any feelings for him, always thinking that they were just friends. It wasn’t like he didn’t harbor similar feelings; it was just that he always assumed that Rin wasn’t interested in him or something. But upon further reflection, Shirou assumed that it was due to his apparent ‘denseness’.

Upon hearing that, Saber smiles sweetly while saying “Oh Rin... I might not be the best person for love advice, but I’ve always lived by a mantra of honesty. It might not be comfortable at first, but speaking to Shirou seriously about your feelings would be what I’d suggest.”

Rin lifts her knees and buries her head between them nervously, causing water to splash all around Shirou before she quietly says “I don’t know Saber... What if he doesn’t feel the same way? How am I supposed to interact with him if that happens?”

Saber taps her chin, before saying “Well, how about waiting a little while? Maybe just spending more time together as friends could help. We’ll both be here, at least until he returns to his normal size, so you have time...”

Rin nods, before saying “I guess we can try to hang out a bit more first...” But then she sighs again and adds, saying “Either way, we should try to make some plans for going forward, Saber. I’d like to get some kind of teamwork idea before the other masters realize that we’re a pair now...”

Saber nods back while saying “I agree. Shall we leave the bath now?”

Rin agrees, slowly standing after that, forcing Shirou to flail about frantically while water rushed past him. By the time she had stood up, she starts to leave the bath, lifting her foot in such a way so that it brought Shirou along for the ride. And while he was on top of Rin’s foot, she starts to dry off, buffering her soaked body with a warm towel. Once she finishes, she starts walking toward her set of clothing, causing Shirou to roll straight between her 2nd and 3rd toes. As she walked, she slips on a pair of black short shorts and a dark red T-shirt, before shuffling her feet into a pair of fluffy slippers.

Due to this, Shirou was routinely battered by Rin’s post-bath toes, as they roughly mashed into him. While that was happening, she and Saber begin walking back to the study, causing Shirou to be unknowingly crushed underfoot. Each time Rin’s slipper-clad foot collided with the floor, Shirou’s body was pressed deeper into her soft and slightly moist toe flesh, where Rin herself was utterly unaware of his situation.

Eventually, the two girls enter the study, with Shirou still underfoot...

By the time Rin makes it to the study with Saber, Shirou was deeply lodged between her 2nd and 3rd toes, as they rhythmically rubbed again him during the whole walk. But now that Rin was in the study, she sits down and begins scrunching her toes, unintentionally smothering Shirou in the process. Now that she was seated, she says “First things first Saber; what are your combat preferences?”

Saber scratches her chin, before saying “I’d rather fight my foe honorably, one on one. If you would please not interfere while I battle against other servants then I’d be most appreciative...”

Rin smiles in response while saying “That works for me, Saber! I’ll watch your back and keep any other pesky mages away.” After saying this, Rin starts to tap her foot, brutally crushing Shirou under her long and unyielding toes. As she does this, she sighs and says “So, are you sold on relaxing baths? I feel great right now...”

Saber stretches after hearing this, causing her slippers to fall off before suddenly reaching with her toes to pull them back while saying “I’ve never thought much of the practice beyond for just remaining clean, but that was a nice experience...” After saying this, Saber begins to grab at the ends of her slippers with her toes, before erratically flailing them around. And if Shirou could have viewed this, he probably would have found Saber’s absent-minded action to be cute, but he was preoccupied with being Rin’s personal toe toy.

Following that, Rin and Saber continue to discuss the details of their battle plans, while Shirou was chaotically battered by Rin’s long and slender toes. The discussion lasts for almost an hour, proving to be quite interesting for Shirou, as even Saber unintentionally joins in on the fun. At one point, Rin tosses off her slipper, leaving Shirou inside of it while roughly squeezing her toes against one of the table legs. But at the same time, Saber started to become a bit restless, so she dragged her feet under the table, removing her own slippers soon after.

And when Shirou looks forward, he sees Saber’s massive toes staring down at him, and they looked like they were raring to have a play session with him. So he braces himself as Saber plants her foot onto the discarded slipper, pinning him under her 3rd toe as a result. Her toe was able to effortlessly dominate the tiny mage, casually rolling him back and forth, as she and Rin continued to finalize their battle strategy.

After that, Saber begins to curl her toes, scooping Shirou up and squeezing him against the slightly moist joints of the toe. Her toe regularly mashes into Shirou with high intensity, while he tries in vain to escape, only causing Saber to scrunch and curl her toes harder. She continues to unknowingly abuse Shirou, keeping him between her toes for minutes at a time, barely giving him a chance to breathe properly.

Eventually, though, Shirou manages to slip away while Saber brings her foot back to her own show as if her foot was satisfied by the brief but passionate session. But Shirou didn’t have long to rest, as Rin’s foot was just about to return, as she plants it on him roughly. Upon doing this though, she starts to grind her foot back and forth, while saying “It feels like a pebble fell into my slipper...”

After hearing this, Saber says “Speaking of that Rin; I think I noticed that too... I must have been playing with it without realizing it...”

Rin starts to drag the mystery object toward her toes, before vigorously squeezing Shirou between them, while saying “It does feel rather nice to play with... But the strangest thing is that it feels oddly familiar to me...” She becomes silent for a moment before her eyes widen as she says “Wait, that’s not a pebble! I think that’s Shirou...”

And after saying this, Rin bends down and reaches toward her toes, plucking Shirou from between them before dropping him on her palm. When he looks back up at her, he sees that her face looked fairly annoyed and suspicious, as she says “How’d you get in there, Shirou? I just got out of the shower, so I hope you didn’t try anything naughty...”

Shirou backs away nervously, before saying “Of course not! Back when Saber entered the bathroom, the wind from the door sent me flying into your slipper! I’d been stuck in it ever since...” This wasn’t the truth, but trying to describe how he joined Rin for her shower wouldn’t be a smart idea, so he hopes that it will work.

Upon hearing that, Rin scratches her head, before saying “So you’re saying that you just stayed in my slipper the whole time...?” Shirou nods nervously, but then Rin sighs to herself, before saying “You know what? With your current situation, you don’t have much control over what happens to you. Let’s just move on...”

Shirou was surprised that Rin was so willing to just let that go, making him wonder if it had to do with her apparent liking for him. But right after that, Saber speaks up and says “Shirou! I’m sorry I caused you trouble... I wasn’t aware that you were in the bathroom when I entered it...”

Rin shrugs and says “I could have warned you too, Saber. Let’s just not worry about it, since Shirou looks in to be in a somewhat decent condition...”

Following that, Rin goes to help Shirou clean himself off again since he had to contend with her and Saber’s overly curious toes. And once he got cleaned off again, the three of them continue to spend time together, as Shirou’s condition remains the way it was.

Eventually, 3 weeks pass as only a few masters and servants were left in the Holy Grail War, leaving Rin Saber, and Shirou to plan out the final few days of the conflict...