Beta read by Shigiya, Darklord331 and special to Gamecrusher55
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-Fuyuki-
With the sound of cicadas chirping in the background, with the sky growing dark with the coming of nightfall, Shirou found himself confronted with a scenario that brought a sense of pressure weirdly enough when confronting a person he hoped to meet soon.
"So let me get this straight, you summoned a Servant by pure accident and now you have plans to participate in the Holy Grail War?"
Seated in his living room with the TV turned on in the background even though no one was paying any attention to it, a certain blonde-haired woman couldn't help but summarize what he had told her about everything that had happened since they parted ways. It hadn't been that long, yet from what she heard, it certainly sounded like a lot had happened.
"I am. Do you oppose it?"
The chances of him ignoring this Holy Grail War neared zero, a path he couldn't himself take knowing full well the kind of outcome it may lead to along with an understanding of the dangers the people in Fuyuki possibly dealt with.
"Of course, I oppose it!" She slapped her hand hard against the table, making him flinch slightly at her sudden outburst, though he kept his stance on the matter. "Do you have any idea what a Holy Grail War is in the first place? It's a—no, don't answer, I'll do it for you. It's a free-for-all royal battle where all seven Masters wind up killing one another until a single Master and Servant is left. And even that is considered a rare case scenario given what happened during the previous ones where there hasn't been a winner since it first started. This is a serious matter, Sherou!"
"She-who?" Sakura's voice sounded from the kitchen, the tone slightly breaking the built-up tension between them.
"That's just how she calls me… for some reason."
"..."
Returning to the topic at hand, the boy couldn't say much to Luvia's words, only able to sit back and let her vent as much as she wanted to about his decision. Having fully known the kind of reaction most would have upon discovering that he would continue participating in this war, given his only reason for continuing as a Master in the first place had nothing to do with a particular wish of any kind. Only prioritizing everyone's safety and making sure that the events of the past wouldn't occur once more.
"You don't have to worry about me, Luvia. I know what I am doing." Unfortunately for him, his attempt at calming the blonde drilled-haired magus brought little to no result, only making her more exasperated as she sighed deeply before massaging her temples. "Is it really that hard to believe I can do it?"
As he asked the question, Sakura walked back from the kitchen now holding a small tray filled with ceramic cups of tea — serving one to Luvia's large bodyguard who initially was hesitant but broke down after a second before accepting. It showed a side of Clown that he had never seen; at some point, he even thought that the man was secretly a human-looking golem that Luvia had followed her around.
"It's not that I don't believe in you, you are vastly underestimating the kind of people usually found in such events. I wouldn't approach any one of them without a plan of escape even if it's just to have a simple conversation."
"Well you are drinking tea with me, I don't see you planning an escape route right now."
"Don't try to act coy with me, I'm not in the mood for your jests. Besides, you are far too nice to hurt a fair maiden like me!"
His face turned blank at those words, "I don't know if I would call someone who suplex me more times than I can count in a matter of days a fair maiden." His back still felt the phantom pain of the aftermath of their little spars, even if a long time had passed, his body remembered the sensation as clear as day.
"Oh my, and who exactly was the one stubbornly getting up and rushing up to me despite having failed to gain the upper hand for hours? If I didn't know better, I would have suspected you quite enjoyed being thrown around by me, Sherou." She didn't show it, but he knew a teasing smile was hidden behind that paper fan. The crescent shape of her eyes and the amused glint only proved that.
"—!" He was pushed out of his thoughts by the sight of a cup of tea being placed rather close to his face swiftly, the content nearly spilling onto his clothes though fortunately it didn't. "A-Ah, thanks, Sakura. You didn't have to do it."
It became apparent to him again just how quiet and different the girl acted around those other than himself. Though she was shy and a person with few words around him, she still conversed openly on many occasions and did so energetically. Now, it felt different, her previous energy was now gone, left with what resembled the same emotionless face he hadn't seen for a long time.
"It's nothing…" Sakura whispered before not uttering another word and took a seat near Rider who was behind him this entire time.
As for Luvia, she sat in front of him on the other side of the table, her hands crossed, the blue dress looked as elegant as ever.
One other thing he did notice was how his guests had their attention focused on a particular individual behind him, both Luvia and the bodyguard… more specifically the latter barely broke his gaze away from Rider. Whether it was out of uncertainty, weariness, or any other kind of emotion, he couldn't tell exactly with how well he maintained that poker face of his, but at least there wasn't any hostile intent.
At least he hoped so.
"Anyways, I am not the same as I was before. My skills and mastery over the use of my firearms and combat, in general, have improved. This on top of getting enough firsthand experience hunting these chimera monsters roaming around Fuyuki — surely that must mean something to you."
"How far have you come when it comes to Magecraft?" She asked with a squinted gaze. "Last I remember, you only knew the basics. I sent you my little sister's notebook with other basic spells any rookie can learn with enough practice… have you mastered any?"
"I can project bullets now!"
He didn't fail to notice the eye twitching, but honestly, that was the truth. Regardless of how hard he tried to learn and put into practice everything he was given, there was never any progress or so little that it didn't matter. Making it clear that it wasn't something he would see the result of in a matter of months of practice, not even a little bit…
"That tells me all that I need to know, and yet before even having summoned a Servant you already went and faced a literal Enforcer of all people. I did tell you that being a Magus is to walk alongside death but this isn't what I meant exactly! You are just being suicidal!"
Once again, the only reaction he could show was an uneasy and awkward laugh while scratching the back of his head.
"Hey, that was completely out of my control," he tried to justify his past actions with a defensive tone. "She was the one who was going after my friend when the latter stumbled upon a battle between her and a chimera monster. She tried to go after her, and I had to make a decision back then."
"We have the means to erase memories of those not involved with our world. Granted, not everyone will take that option and some may take a more permanent approach, but people like her are professionals. Hah… I can't stay mad at you since I know what you'll say to me next; you couldn't have known that."
Seeking to calm her troubled mind, the girl lifted her cup and took a sip of the tea. Her eyes widened in surprise as the flavor delighted her taste buds. "Wow, this tea is amazing. So, you decided to step in when the enforcer was about to erase her memories and then regretted it, right?"
"Well, you see, like you said, I didn't know Bazett was going to erase her memories. I thought she was going to... end her life, and I just took the shot." People who worked for the Clocktower and served as the main force to track down sealing-designated individuals or handle any kind of cleanup duties acted as a sort of sword of the organization, which held a lot of infamy. So, he still believed it wasn't his fault that he thought Bazett would take the more bloody path than just erasing Ayako's memories.
"I'm still alive, and that's what counts, right? I doubt you came all this way just to ask me about everything that happened." Wanting to change the subject of the conversation, he quickly decided to bring up another topic, which wasn't exactly the best attempt as Luvia just looked at him with squinted eyes.
"I have said this before, and I'll say it again, you truly are one of the weirdest lucky people I have ever met. I would have commended you for trying your chance against any Enforcer, but against her? It was just asking for a quick death."
The way the blonde spoke about the older woman made him raise an eyebrow. "Did you actually meet her before?"
"Bazett Fraga McRemitz, no we never did. I just did some digging around," Luvia answered swiftly, arousing some suspicion within his mind about whether or not she was hiding something. "She is rather well-known among those involved in my line of work. Specifically, she is a sealing designation enforcer, she wasn't sent here to deal with the chimera outbreak in particular, her duties only require her to hunt down and capture a particular Magus the Clocktower is interested in. Countless of her prior missions have resulted in a perfect record, with little to no targets who managed to escape."
The way Luvia spoke about Bazett sure made her sound far more grandiose than he seen from her. "She sounds quite dangerous."
"Don't even get me started on her clan. Granted, you don't have to worry about them anytime soon with how secretive and detached they are from all matters related to the association. I guess she went easy on you, not opting to use her trump cards or anything permanent really…"
Her comment made Shirou raise an eyebrow. "Do you mean her fists?" As far as he recalled, whether it was against him or against the Chimera monster, her only weapons of choice were her own two hands wrapped in some kind of gloves, which he highly suspected to be mystic codes of some kind or reinforced given they never got damaged. A single punch from her easily turned cement into powder or his bullets into shards of molten metal.
His comment earned a dry stare from Luvia and Sakura, both girls sharing the same look of exasperation, which he had no idea where it came from.
"What? I didn't say anything weird. Those things hurt. Even my largest sniper-caliber round shattered against her fists."
"Then you are lucky that she went easy on you."
"So that is why you were in such a bad state back then, senpai." Honestly, it was kind of weird talking about magecraft and his interactions with those of the supernatural world so casually in front of Sakura without needing to act ignorant about such things.
After getting her away from Zouken, he wanted her to experience a normal life as much as possible without being involved with such things. But given how unbothered she looked right now, there was little to no point in continuing this act.
The redhead had no plans to address or even explain why he continued to act ignorant, as he was certain that it would create awkwardness between them if he did so. It was best to go past that point and just not look back.
"Regardless, my point is that I managed to survive against her, even teamed up with Bazett to take down a rather troublesome monster, and now survived an encounter with an enemy Servant. So, I would like to think that I do have an idea of what I'm truly dealing with and can handle myself, thank you very much."
It was at that moment that his mind managed to catch up to what he'd just said, but it was already too late. Luvia's eyes grew larger with pure shock within them, "You encountered an enemy Servant!?"
"Are you okay, senpai!?"
Their reaction sure was far more powerful than he expected, the two girls instead had horrified looks on their faces and reacted with a loud uproar. Before even realizing it, Shirou found himself being grabbed by his collar and forced near Luvia's face, her eyes glaring back at him.
"You didn't think that was the first thing you needed to inform me about in the first place!?"
"Y-You're c-choking me!" Just how powerful was her grip!? "I-It was just a small interaction that barely lasted a few mi-minutes. Rider and I both escaped the area and returned to find you in front of my house!"
Other than the obvious difficulty breathing, his face slightly flushed at the proximity of their faces, close enough that he could feel her breath on his skin. Though her actions were fueled by frustration, he couldn't help but find his mind wandering in that direction for a brief moment and wanted to bash it against a wall.
Weirdly enough, while in the middle of trying to calm his racing heart to a normal level, he could already feel a rather chilling sensation creeping behind his back. Unable to even turn his head around, he figured it was most likely Clown sending him a death glare, being so close to her mistress given how protective the bodyguard was of her.
"Tell me, Emiya Shirou... do you honestly have a death wish?" Luvia asked.
The red-headed boy hesitated before shaking his head and looking her straight in the eyes.
"I'm not even threatening you or asking you a trick question, but I'm genuinely asking you this. The Holy Grail War is not something you can just change or control the outcome of without paying a severe price for it. Like it or not, people will die and there will be casualties, which may include innocent people. I will sound very harsh, but I'm saying this for your own well-being: you do not have the authority nor the power to make any significant difference. A third-rate Magus can only do so much, regardless of whether you have a Servant or not."
"I know, but I'll still try."
If the threat of death and his small battle against Caster didn't change his mind, her words did very little to change his stance on the matter.
"You… you little… hah… you must have seen the outcome of dealing with a Servant, how dangerous one can be, and the battle between two such entities. Now, imagine if this became a battle royale with more than two individuals fighting at the same time; it would be chaotic and destructive. Seeing how you came back with little to no injuries along with Rider over here, would I be mistaken to assume that the one that got summoned happens to be... a Caster perhaps?"
Shirou was stunned, his eyes widened at the accurate guess of the blonde woman who managed to pinpoint who it was.
"Judging by your reaction, I'll take that as a yes," she said, her expression turning serious as she seemed to brainstorm something. But she didn't wait for his following words and continued, answering before he could ask how she could have guessed it.
"I had other classes as my following guesses, but since you reacted to Caster first, then I became lucky. If it were an Archer, Saber, or even a Lancer, their innate skill advantage would have made this fight rather tricky. If it were an Assassin, then you would be dead in the worst-case scenario. And finally, a Berserker would have caused far too much commotion, and I would have noticed such a battle going on — Caster seemed more appropriate. Did you learn anything about Caster?"
"She is dangerous," this time, it was Rider who finally spoke up and answered the woman's question before him. "A powerful Magus, familiar with many different fields of magecraft including gravity manipulation, mass familiar summoning, and minor time manipulation."
"Seriously? That does narrow down the list somewhat, but honestly, no particular name truly stands out… I'll have to keep that in mind. How did you manage to escape?"
"Oi, you're making it sound like there's no chance that Rider can go up against a Caster," Shirou interjected, a small frown appearing on his face as she mentioned that.
"Oh, forgive me, I do not mean anything like that. But you must understand, if you two were to be present inside a Caster's domain, that puts you at a very large disadvantage. Even a Saber would prefer to avoid that kind of outcome. I am not underestimating your Servant, but I also would not like you to underestimate the enemy Servant."
And so the night went on, with both Shirou and Rider giving a detailed account of everything that happened. Luvia listened carefully, taking notes, while Sakura also listened attentively without saying a word the entire time. Their contrasting reactions were quite evident, with Luvia focused on the details of the battle while Sakura worried about his well-being.
As for Bazett, she was placed in one of the many empty rooms to rest. Still unconscious from her encounter with Caster.
Without even realizing it, another two hours went by, and the table was now covered with multiple empty cups and plates. The group had shared dinner together which he made rather quickly, an outcome that brought a more relaxed atmosphere within the room.
"I see. Well, there's nothing much we can do now other than prepare. It still doesn't make sense that Servants were summoned so early on in the war. I don't know if this is an anomaly or a matter that should be shared with the Church, but I will handle it on my end. We also need to address you being a Master in this war, have you spoken to the mediator and announced your participation? Since you are quite new and lacking in information, it is a good way to gather some Intel."
"Eh, mediator?"
He had no idea who or what she was talking about.
{Break}
-Homurahara High School-
(The next day)
"You've gotten yourself into more trouble, haven't you?"
It hadn't even been half a day, yet Shirou found himself confronted by a visibly irritated Ayako. The brown-haired girl, now dressed in her archery uniform, had a noticeable band around her arm signifying that she was not just a simple member of the club anymore, but was now the captain.
"Congratulations on becoming captain, Ayako." She truly deserved it with how much effort the girl invested in archery, truly dedicated to becoming the best.
"Why thank you~! Though it was mostly the others who forced the role upon me even though I'm not the best." She locked eyes with him when saying that, the same competitive fire burning as brightly as before within. Enough to make him chuckle uncomfortably and look away, preferring to go past it for now. "Anyways, spill it, what superhero adventure did our local magician get himself involved with this week?"
"Ayako!" She sure had a loud voice when speaking about such a sensitive topic, enough for him to quickly push his hands against her mouth and hastily look around. Thankfully Rin wasn't nearby, as these two were hanging around together more often. "Don't say it out loud! If the wrong person ends up hearing this then we'll be in a lot of tro—ouch!?"
In an instant, a sharp pain spread across his hand, quickly removed his hand only to find the faint outline of a bite mark on his palm. Unable to show anything else on his face than disbelief, he looked back at the girl who just pouted in return with a slight reddening on her cheeks.
"I didn't know I was dealing with a child…"
"You forced me to do it! I couldn't breathe!" With a weak answer, she then proceeded to lightly slap his back. "Oh stop looking at me like that, you got thick skin given you're still alive after falling down from above a dozen-floor building with only some broken bones."
His eyes twitched again at how brazenly she was discussing the subject without any fear. "Do you want me to get white hair because of you?"
"I'm pretty sure you'll be the one responsible for that with the type of stuff you end up doing. Without letting me help out, might I add?"
"Again with that," he sighed, covering his eyes in exasperation. "I'm not bringing out along with me at any point given you will most likely end up being in more danger. You can't even use magecraft."
"Oh come on, I can help you out in other ways," she insisted, grabbing his hand and looking over curiously. "You know, for someone who is using firearms often, you don't have calluses covering your palms like I thought. Besides that, my brother showed me this weird comic he's reading about some super superhero stuff, the main character has a sidekick and informer who keeps talking and feeding him valuable information. Think about it, it'll be awesome!"
Strange that Rider hadn't mentioned anything the entire time nor made a comment about this conversation. He knew she was having fun watching him struggle to keep Ayako away from trouble.
"My answer is still no." The upcoming war involving other Masters and Servants made things extremely dangerous as they were, even if Ayako got involved in the least possible way it still potentially put her life at risk.
Seeing the boy remain undeterred from his initial beliefs, she had no other choice but to leave it for now. "Tch, well, it was worth a try. So tell me, who or what did you fight yesterday?"
"I am half the mind to ask you how you know that, but I am also too afraid to ask." It hadn't even been a minute since he arrived in the students' council room to have his lunch, yet he knew he was about to get bombarded with questions by the overeager brunette.
"Well, it's not hard to notice when you act differently than usual, and I also read the news about some kind of gas pipeline explosion in the main part of Fuyuki. I just connected the dots together and got suspicious. It was only after seeing some scratches on your face and arms that I knew you were involved in this," Ayako said, her expression serious and concerned.
"Are you a detective or something? If you're that gifted, you should have chosen to join a different club than archery. Clearly, you're more suited for one than the other," Shirou remarked, before ultimately shaking his head. "Anyway, it wasn't anything drastic like you might think. I would just advise you to stay in your house and don't leave for any reason, okay?"
"So you were behind it!" she exclaimed out loud. "Was it a monster or another of those mages? Now, I just got to know the details!"
He sighed, knowing this was going to be a long day.
{Break}
"What's going on?" On the other side of the building, a bespectacled student with long gray hair, Kane Himuro, gazed at her friend with a weirdly stare, a tanned-skinned girl with short dark hair leaning against the wall and looking in the opposite direction. Her actions were suspicious enough to arouse curiosity. "Don't tell me you're trying to challenge Ayako to another stupid race or something because you're jealous she's hanging out with Tohsaka a lot more lately."
Kaede Makidera nearly jumped in her spot but composed herself just in time. "Shhhh! It has nothing to do with that, Kane. Can't you see? She's at it again," she said, pointing at Ayako, who kept talking to Shirou as they walked down the hallway. "This is the fourth time this week she has gone up to him after being done with her club activities. Something suspicious is going on between them!" The student added, leading her friend to roll her eyes.
"You are overthinking this. In that case, it isn't our business to meddle with." Yet, despite Kane saying those words, she still went up against the wall and peeked around the corner with a curious gaze. "But I must admit, this is quite a rare sight for Ayako, of all people. She's been hanging around with him more frequently lately. I didn't even know they were that close to begin with. Kinda strange I must say. Do you know him?" Kane asked, to which her friend lightly nodded.
"Emiya Shirou? Kind of. He is rather well-known around the school for helping people out by fixing their damaged equipment. Just a few days ago, the track club was having some issues with our door locks not closing all the way and the hinges were nearly falling off. One of the members called Emiya for assistance and in a matter of minutes, he fixed everything and asked for nothing in return before leaving. It was then I learned he would do so for every club and class within the school, earning him the title 'janitor.'"
"Oh, I was mostly thinking about his involvement with the student council, but yes, I have heard of that part. Yet, why is Ayako hanging out with him?"
"Isn't it obvious? She is interested in that boy!" Kaede insisted, a large grin showing on her face as she pulled out her phone to snap a couple of pictures. "I'm not one to gossip, but this is something I can't help but capture. I'll tease her with these later on! Though I do find him a bit suspicious."
"How so?" This time, a third member popped out of nowhere behind Kane. Another girl with short brown hair similar to Ayako's but generally more rounded facial features questioned, having joined the duo in peeking at the two students before freezing in her tracks. "Woah…"
"I know right? You probably won't believe me, but this Emiya apparently hangs out with other girls quite a bit. I saw him once with Rin, and they seemed to know each other rather well."
"It could have just been a regular conversation after bumping into one another," Kane argued, not finding this particularly suspicious given that it wasn't unusual for him to talk to another girl, let alone Tohsaka Rin.
"She's beautiful…" Yukika on the other hand seemed to be in a completely different world than her friend, visibly entranced by the sight before her.
"Eh, Ayako looks normal to me… are you okay?" The others were taken aback by their friend's words, looking at her with clear confusion given it was quite an odd thing to say since she already met the archery club's captain prior in the past.
"Never mind that! Coming back to what you said, Kane, there is more to this story! A while ago, after I got curious and wanted to see for myself if I was truly mistaken, I followed him a bit to verify if I was wrong or not."
"You stalked him… are you for real?"
Her friend couldn't believe their ears as they looked at their friend. Believing that the track club member was perhaps getting a bit too involved in this matter for her own good and others. Showing concern on their faces, Kaede immediately shook her head, trying to brush off that claim in a hurry.
"No, no, no! I wasn't stalking him by any means. We just happened to be using a similar path and to pass the time, I just decided to observe him from a distance out of boredom without showing myself."
"That is stalking, you idiot!!"
"Pft, details details… just let me finish!"
Regardless of how she tried to word it, the accusatory eyes didn't relent. Both Kand and Yukika who returned to her senses shook their heads in unison, though they were still willing to listen to her due to pure curiosity.
"So you see, out of pure chance, I just happened to find Emiya walking down the road, probably heading back to his house, but this time he was with another girl! And it wasn't something like small talk or even friends catching up kind of deal. He was literally grabbing her hand and leading her somewhere!" She showed another picture, this one having Shirou and Sakura shown within the photo, with the former obviously leading her while the latter looked kind of flabbergasted.
The previously held opinions from the bespectacled girl's mind instantly vanished as multiple stories formed in her head while Yukika chuckled in amusement at the shown reaction occasionally returning her attention back to Shirou and getting lost once more.
"I don't remember seeing this person before, maybe she's from another school…"
"And I bet my left foot that there are other girls involved with him that I just didn't end up seeing."
Kane now couldn't help but look back at the innocent-looking redhead down the hallway with a far different look in her eyes.
"Don't tell me he is some kind of playboy. It doesn't fit his image at all! And if Rin is involved, imagine the kind of face Shinji will make along with the other boys!"
"They'll be devastated. Rin is their crush after all. The image of their perfect idol being with someone else would crush them and a ton of them might even become hostile towards Emiya. Hehehehe, the mere thought of them holding hands and pulling one another for a passionate ki—"
"—The thought of me doing what?"
"—!?"
This time, a fourth voice spoke out from behind the trio. They froze in their spots for a brief moment, fearing they had been found out by a teacher. But Kaede, strangely enough, quickly looked back and sighed in relief when noticing it was just Rin having a rather strained smile on her face.
"Oh, Rin! Don't mind us. We are just watching these two lovebirds hang out and discussing how many girls this guy has ensnared," she said jokingly but with a hint of seriousness, enough for Rin to notice it and join their activity by peeking around the corner as well. Their behavior now getting noticed by most of the passing students.
"Those two are together again," Rin whispered, having a complicated expression on her face at the sight presented before her.
"That's what we said! Look, I have some other things to show you about him as well!"
Following what she had done before, she presented the same pictures of Shirou with Sakura, purposefully choosing not to show the twin-tailed girl or anything else with her in the picture. The more Rin looked at the picture, the bigger her frown became. Enough for even Kane to wonder just what was going on inside the twin-tailed girl's head to have such a drastic change on her face.
Yukika hummed, "Now that I think about it. Didn't he used to hang out constantly with Shinji and that other guy, Issei, as well?"
Rin nodded her head, "I don't know the full details, I rarely see him around those two at all lately, especially Shinji. I heard there was some kind of falling out between them, but not that surprising given how disgusting the seaweed-haired guy is… a total creep."
"Well, everyone already knows how overly in love he was with you, Rin. Couldn't go a single day without hearing about him confessing his love for you or attempting to flirt with you at any given opportunity. I was this close to punching him in the face when he tried to do the same with me a while ago."
As Kaede continued to speak about her prior interaction with Sakura's brother, Rin continued to focus on the two individuals down the hallway. She knew perfectly well that it wasn't her business to pry into Ayako's or even Emiya's private life, but despite that, she couldn't help herself from growing somewhat suspicious of the man.
Especially after she had gotten particularly eyebrow-raising news from Kotomine involving areas where Luvia was last spotted… which just happened to be near a certain someone's house. This conversation opened the floodgates to numerous instances of strange recollection with him regularly getting covered in wounds and being more and more absent during certain days in the past.
'And in that picture, where was he taking Sakura? It wasn't anywhere near her house, and that road resembled the same one on the other side of town.' Perhaps it was due to the lack of sleep from her duties and desire to practice her magecraft lately, or perhaps it was the multiple headaches she experienced after dealing with a certain someone who had just arrived in Fuyuki recently and had been grating her nerves just from her presence — but Rin started to question just what was going on with Shirou lately. 'Wait a minute. I remember the day he got injured was around the same time Kirei called me about the Chimera attacks.'
Before her physical senses fully returned, her mind had already made the connection and she instinctively took a step back. Was she overanalyzing the situation and seeing connections where there were none? She had known the boy for years and never once sensed anything out of the ordinary from him or even the faintest trace of Magical Energy.
But still, it was kind of suspicious about why and how he got injured at that time in particular. This coupled with the fact that she met Sakura a few days ago at the park, which just happened to be near the street shown in the picture by Kaede and once again nowhere near the Matou manor.
She needed to have a closer look at this matter, not only as a way to relieve her concerns that Sakura was perhaps in some kind of trouble. As soon as she thought that, the words the latter mentioned to her at the park resurfaced and made her mood sour a tiny bit. Right, she also needed to check the matter as the second owner of Fuyuki, given this was her duty, so it made sense.
"Just what are you hiding, Emiya." She whispered, walking away after noticing they kept attracting more attention from the nearby students.
"Hey, wait, Rin! There is a new antique store that opened near the school. Want to check it out together? It's been a while since we hung out!" Kaede immediately rushed to her side, quickly followed by Kane who was also getting uncomfortable from the attention.
This left only Yukika behind who hadn't moved from her spot, looking around in confusion at the lack of any kind of reaction from both her friends and even the passing students, she only made a single remark.
"Why didn't anyone say anything about that beautiful blindfolded woman behind Emiya? Is there some kind of cosplay party going on?" Even with a blindfold covering her eyes, she was struck by her beauty the moment she saw her. The clothing she wore accentuated her figure, causing a prominent blush to spread across her cheeks.
Even now she kept trying to figure out just who it was in the first place. Given no one was reacting to her presence and not even Ayako was bothered to talk to her… perhaps it was a teacher? No that didn't make sense…
"Ah…" her thoughts came to a halt as the same individual turned her head around. Even with the blindfold on, Yuyika knew she was staring straight at her. "Maybe it's a see-through material."
Feeling awkward and slightly rude at her action, she just put on a gentle smile and waved at her as a form of greeting.
Her actions only earned a slight head tilt from the purple-haired woman. Slowly but surely raising her own arm and waving back at her.
"Yukika, what are you doing? We should hurry back to class!"
"A-Ah! Yes, I was just saying hi to the beautiful lady over there! Do you recognize her, Kaede?"
"Do you need glasses like Kane? That's Ayako!"
"Eh?"
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.
.
(A few hours later)
Finally, the day came to an end with the last ring echoing across the school grounds, signaling the end of their day. With many of the students now opting to go to cram school or hang out with their friends for a bit, Shirou on the other hand, walked out of the gate without any plans for the day other than returning to his house and seeing how Bazett was doing. He was pretty certain that the Enforcer must have recovered by now from her prior state, hopefully.
As for what happened today, he was getting increasingly worried about Ayako's stubborn nature and insistence on helping him out with matters relating to the supernatural world. He had no plans on getting her involved in any way, shape, or form or even folding at her consistent proposals to take on any kind of role. But a part of him knew that she wouldn't give up so easily; the girl was as stubborn as a mule.
'Master, are you familiar with other mages in your school?' Rider asked out of nowhere, a question that took him a few seconds to process given his mind was somewhere else completely.
"O-oh… it's only Rin as far as I know. You can maybe count Shinji given he is Zouken's grandchild."
'Are you sure that's all of them?'
Huh? That was a strange question, he couldn't verify it completely but other than Rin, he never discovered anyone else. Even his father mentioned how Fuyuki didn't really house any notable magi family other than the Matou and Tohsakas. As for the teachers, there was even less of a chance for one of them to be a Magus in disguise since most of them worked for decades in that establishment.
A standard Magus would never waste their time doing such a thing, teaching high school students.
"Did you sense the presence of a Magus?"
Still, he wasn't so quick to dismiss this question. Open to any kind of possibility, it was beat he didn't let his bias or prior knowledge make him blind to Rider's words and warnings.
'No, but I believe someone saw me in my spiritual form.'
He stopped in his tracks, a cold sweat breaking out at those words. "Wait, what—"
"...—tch out!"
So invested in his thoughts, he barely had the time to register these words before something heavy impacted his head, making him lose his balance before falling to the ground.
"Oof!" With his face meeting the ground with a thud, Shirou groaned in pain and quickly checked whether he had broken something or not.
"Oh no, are you okay?"
A worried voice spoke out from behind, the sound of hastened footsteps drawing closer to his ears. But the most noticeable aspect was the fact that this woman sounded really familiar. Opening his eyes, he found the ground cluttered with a variety of groceries and toiletries, with half of them having gotten spoiled and ruined by the dirt.
Still, he turned his head upwards and had his eyes widened.
"You…"
A face that was, in his prior meeting, hidden behind a large hood. Leaving only the lower half with some strands of hair visible. But now, from his angle, he managed to get a complete look at her face and felt a strange feeling he couldn't put into words. Not exactly similar to the one he had when meeting Rider for the first time, this one much more foreign and faint.
Outside of his reaction, the girl held a similar look of surprise.
"Oh, I-I remember you! You're the cafe boy who made all of those yummy sweets," she said with slight hesitation.
"..."
That… that wasn't what he thought he'd be called in his life before.
"Eh… you can call me Shirou Emiya. And thank you for the compliment… I guess?" This wasn't the best moment to feel strangely proud that his cooking made such an impression on a stranger!
"R-Right, I didn't mean to sound rude! It just said it outloud without me realizing," she answered, looking a bit guilty from dropping her items on his head by accident. Surveying his surroundings, the redhead noticed that there was no bridge or elevated structure above him. This only added to his confusion about why someone would toss a grocery bag high into the air. "Sorry about that, I-I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings!"
"I-It's fine. I'm not hurt. Here, let me help miss…" he drawled at the end, unsure whether she ever mentioned her name before or not.
"A-Ah, my name is Gray."
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The next 5 chapters of Snafu, and my other Fate fics (Fate Coiling Sword with 3 chapters, A Fake Familiar Reborn with 3 chapters, Steel Eyed Faker soon to be 3 chapters, Hound having 3 and To love a sword having 4 chapters) are already available on my P@treon. With 4 more Broly chapters at /NimtheWriter. Also, I post commissioned arts on each story, already posted a few on an Archer's Promise, Broly and Snafu.