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Fate/Collapsing World
- Thread starter Pale Wolf
- Start date
- Crossover
90% chance that she's dead by the end of the year.
Also, just realised. Mentioning Kiana's name in earshot of Theresa would provoke a very interesting reaction out of her, given that Kiana is her goddughter and she has basically no idea where Kiana's been for the last - oh, 4-5 years?
I'll be closing the vote in about 36 hours. Current tally:
[9] The fridge is stocked with Fen's ingredients. He said Shirou can go ahead and use them, though they probably won't be a perfect fit for Shirou's repertoire. Still, Shirou can cook tonight's dinner easily enough, and spend some time with Fen Chao.
[9] Fen Chao says he cooks, so Shirou will let him do the first meal and spend some time getting to know his roommate.
[5] There's a cafeteria down on the first floor. Shirou prefers to cook, but it may be worth seeing how good the cafeteria is, and there should be other classmates in there to introduce himself to.
For dinner, we have a tie between Shirou and Fen cooking. If it's still a tie when we close I guess they're collaborating.
[11] Go into the city to buy groceries. Even if he can make do off Fen's ingredients for a bit, Shirou plans to cook as many of his meals as feasible, and will need his own stock of necessities to do so. Rude as hell to operate off Fen Chao's generosity longer than the minimum necessary. It'll also help him familiarize himself with Soukai City and meet a few of the people he'll be seeing a lot of while he's here.
[8] Go introduce himself to the Resident Assistant. He won't need her help immediately, but it'll be good to meet up with one of the people responsible for the dorm, maybe she'll need a hand with something?
[4] Saint Freya is built on an island, so it has swimming spots. This is summer, so a few students are likely making use of them, both for play and since swimming is a good workout. It'd be another decent opportunity to meet his fellows.
Lead for buying groceries, we'll see if it holds.
Assuming she shows up (she is pretty out of the way in terms of canons), there are several models/stages of honkai corruption she could fit under. If she's early in her infection and hasn't entered cascade, she could have a stigmata implanted and just cheerfully become a Valkyrie as it stabilizes her honkai flow and amps up her resistance - unless the reason for her abnormal power is that she had a natural stigmata in the first place, in which case her resistance is already at the peak of what it will ever be, and has already been overcome, meaning she's fucked and there's no way to prevent her from reaching cascade.
If she's entered cascade, she's gone. The person is still in there, but it's twisting fast, the cases we've seen in this stage may have some level of metastability but that metastability is 'serial killer' - it's not quite clear if the personality dies entirely eventually or if it remains in the twisted state, most of the people hovering between 'zombie' and 'perfectly fine' for any length of time are Herrschers and the other extended 'still retain a self' cascades tend to be mid-bosses and die too soon to tell whether they were gonna go full zombie or not. It's not quite the case that there's no way back, but it's top-secret, cutting-edge research that only a major villain has access to and it's about a year short of having actually reached a workable stage of development, so it's extremely unlikely to be available for her.
So, summing it up: Satsuki would have a honkai infection, and be surviving an unusual length of time before losing herself due to her high resistance. If that resistance is all-natural, then there is a window of opportunity to augment it and save her - the length depends on her resistance and on the source of her infection, so it's a bit hard to predict, but there are a few cases in Guns Girl Z of people surviving infection for a day or two before cascading, so we can pin that as the maximum for 'top 0.1% native honkai tolerance in the situation of a Grand Eruption'. If that resistance was already augmented by a stigmata (whether artificial or inborn), then there's no way to amplify it further, and her fate is inevitable.
And either way, if she's started cascading, there is precisely one treatment that will work for her, which is developed by a shady research organization, in the possession of a major villain, and hasn't actually been formulated yet. It's not yet clear whether that treatment can save a full zombie, but it can definitely pull someone out of cascade. Good luck getting hold of it, though. Or knowing it exists to get a hold of.
[9] The fridge is stocked with Fen's ingredients. He said Shirou can go ahead and use them, though they probably won't be a perfect fit for Shirou's repertoire. Still, Shirou can cook tonight's dinner easily enough, and spend some time with Fen Chao.
[9] Fen Chao says he cooks, so Shirou will let him do the first meal and spend some time getting to know his roommate.
[5] There's a cafeteria down on the first floor. Shirou prefers to cook, but it may be worth seeing how good the cafeteria is, and there should be other classmates in there to introduce himself to.
For dinner, we have a tie between Shirou and Fen cooking. If it's still a tie when we close I guess they're collaborating.
[11] Go into the city to buy groceries. Even if he can make do off Fen's ingredients for a bit, Shirou plans to cook as many of his meals as feasible, and will need his own stock of necessities to do so. Rude as hell to operate off Fen Chao's generosity longer than the minimum necessary. It'll also help him familiarize himself with Soukai City and meet a few of the people he'll be seeing a lot of while he's here.
[8] Go introduce himself to the Resident Assistant. He won't need her help immediately, but it'll be good to meet up with one of the people responsible for the dorm, maybe she'll need a hand with something?
[4] Saint Freya is built on an island, so it has swimming spots. This is summer, so a few students are likely making use of them, both for play and since swimming is a good workout. It'd be another decent opportunity to meet his fellows.
Lead for buying groceries, we'll see if it holds.
Assuming she shows up (she is pretty out of the way in terms of canons), there are several models/stages of honkai corruption she could fit under. If she's early in her infection and hasn't entered cascade, she could have a stigmata implanted and just cheerfully become a Valkyrie as it stabilizes her honkai flow and amps up her resistance - unless the reason for her abnormal power is that she had a natural stigmata in the first place, in which case her resistance is already at the peak of what it will ever be, and has already been overcome, meaning she's fucked and there's no way to prevent her from reaching cascade.
If she's entered cascade, she's gone. The person is still in there, but it's twisting fast, the cases we've seen in this stage may have some level of metastability but that metastability is 'serial killer' - it's not quite clear if the personality dies entirely eventually or if it remains in the twisted state, most of the people hovering between 'zombie' and 'perfectly fine' for any length of time are Herrschers and the other extended 'still retain a self' cascades tend to be mid-bosses and die too soon to tell whether they were gonna go full zombie or not. It's not quite the case that there's no way back, but it's top-secret, cutting-edge research that only a major villain has access to and it's about a year short of having actually reached a workable stage of development, so it's extremely unlikely to be available for her.
So, summing it up: Satsuki would have a honkai infection, and be surviving an unusual length of time before losing herself due to her high resistance. If that resistance is all-natural, then there is a window of opportunity to augment it and save her - the length depends on her resistance and on the source of her infection, so it's a bit hard to predict, but there are a few cases in Guns Girl Z of people surviving infection for a day or two before cascading, so we can pin that as the maximum for 'top 0.1% native honkai tolerance in the situation of a Grand Eruption'. If that resistance was already augmented by a stigmata (whether artificial or inborn), then there's no way to amplify it further, and her fate is inevitable.
And either way, if she's started cascading, there is precisely one treatment that will work for her, which is developed by a shady research organization, in the possession of a major villain, and hasn't actually been formulated yet. It's not yet clear whether that treatment can save a full zombie, but it can definitely pull someone out of cascade. Good luck getting hold of it, though. Or knowing it exists to get a hold of.
ckk185
Crazy Bunny Girl Scientist
- Location
- Port city
Tbf the gas is a derivitive of Cecilia Shariac's antibodies. Schikisal does have samples and they have successfully deployed the serum once later on in the main story.
oh right, it's held by two deeply unethical organizations
@Pale Wolf I changed my vote:
My original vote was: [X]There's a cafeteria down on the first floor. Shirou prefers to cook, but it may be worth seeing how good the cafeteria is, and there should be other classmates in there to introduce himself to.
My current vote is:
[X] The fridge is stocked with Fen's ingredients. He said Shirou can go ahead and use them, though they probably won't be a perfect fit for Shirou's repertoire. Still, Shirou can cook tonight's dinner easily enough, and spend some time with Fen Chao.
[X] Go introduce himself to the Resident Assistant. He won't need her help immediately, but it'll be good to meet up with one of the people responsible for the dorm, maybe she'll need a hand with something?
My original vote was: [X]There's a cafeteria down on the first floor. Shirou prefers to cook, but it may be worth seeing how good the cafeteria is, and there should be other classmates in there to introduce himself to.
My current vote is:
[X] The fridge is stocked with Fen's ingredients. He said Shirou can go ahead and use them, though they probably won't be a perfect fit for Shirou's repertoire. Still, Shirou can cook tonight's dinner easily enough, and spend some time with Fen Chao.
[X] Go introduce himself to the Resident Assistant. He won't need her help immediately, but it'll be good to meet up with one of the people responsible for the dorm, maybe she'll need a hand with something?
Last edited:
Revlid
blob of bugs
- Location
- England
"I don't understand it. How could Subject S have survived this long without our treatments? By any reasonable estimate, her level of honkai infection should have- yes, Riesbyfe? What is it?"
"Her bloodwork's back from the lab, ma'am. There's no doubt about it. She's comic relief."
"...I should have known."
Isn't it sad Sachin? Especially as your friendly jackhammer obsession might Not be around in this world.
And the vote is closed. The final count:
[11] Fen Chao says he cooks, so Shirou will let him do the first meal and spend some time getting to know his roommate.
[9] The fridge is stocked with Fen's ingredients. He said Shirou can go ahead and use them, though they probably won't be a perfect fit for Shirou's repertoire. Still, Shirou can cook tonight's dinner easily enough, and spend some time with Fen Chao.
[4] There's a cafeteria down on the first floor. Shirou prefers to cook, but it may be worth seeing how good the cafeteria is, and there should be other classmates in there to introduce himself to.
For dinner, Fen Chao cooking has a two-vote lead. Normally that would mean Fen Chao cooks, but two of those votes have clearly expressed a preference for collaboration upthread (Scia, Beowolf), so I hope they won't mind if I discount their votes and reduce it to a tie, to have the roommates collaborate on dinner.
[10] Go into the city to buy groceries. Even if he can make do off Fen's ingredients for a bit, Shirou plans to cook as many of his meals as feasible, and will need his own stock of necessities to do so. Rude as hell to operate off Fen Chao's generosity longer than the minimum necessary. It'll also help him familiarize himself with Soukai City and meet a few of the people he'll be seeing a lot of while he's here.
[9] Go introduce himself to the Resident Assistant. He won't need her help immediately, but it'll be good to meet up with one of the people responsible for the dorm, maybe she'll need a hand with something?
[3] Saint Freya is built on an island, so it has swimming spots. This is summer, so a few students are likely making use of them, both for play and since swimming is a good workout. It'd be another decent opportunity to meet his fellows.
And groceries maintains its lead, so shopping it'll be.
[11] Fen Chao says he cooks, so Shirou will let him do the first meal and spend some time getting to know his roommate.
[9] The fridge is stocked with Fen's ingredients. He said Shirou can go ahead and use them, though they probably won't be a perfect fit for Shirou's repertoire. Still, Shirou can cook tonight's dinner easily enough, and spend some time with Fen Chao.
[4] There's a cafeteria down on the first floor. Shirou prefers to cook, but it may be worth seeing how good the cafeteria is, and there should be other classmates in there to introduce himself to.
For dinner, Fen Chao cooking has a two-vote lead. Normally that would mean Fen Chao cooks, but two of those votes have clearly expressed a preference for collaboration upthread (Scia, Beowolf), so I hope they won't mind if I discount their votes and reduce it to a tie, to have the roommates collaborate on dinner.
[10] Go into the city to buy groceries. Even if he can make do off Fen's ingredients for a bit, Shirou plans to cook as many of his meals as feasible, and will need his own stock of necessities to do so. Rude as hell to operate off Fen Chao's generosity longer than the minimum necessary. It'll also help him familiarize himself with Soukai City and meet a few of the people he'll be seeing a lot of while he's here.
[9] Go introduce himself to the Resident Assistant. He won't need her help immediately, but it'll be good to meet up with one of the people responsible for the dorm, maybe she'll need a hand with something?
[3] Saint Freya is built on an island, so it has swimming spots. This is summer, so a few students are likely making use of them, both for play and since swimming is a good workout. It'd be another decent opportunity to meet his fellows.
And groceries maintains its lead, so shopping it'll be.
Yes, thank you. Did someone change their vote? I actively looked at the tally before voting, and it said Shirou cooking was at 10 and Fen Chao was at 9, which is the reason why I voted for Fen, to tie it up for the collaboration.
These two understand.
There was a changed vote and a new vote after yours, so it fluctuated around a bit. Worked out, though.
There was a changed vote and a new vote after yours, so it fluctuated around a bit. Worked out, though.
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
My picks came in last on both. 
Sena Kumo
The Tenth Wandering Cloud
- Location
- Portugal
It's nice. I have one complaint though.
WHY WASN'T MAMAMIYA AT THE KITCHEN AS WELL?!?!?!?
Oh, I know.
It was because if he was there he would be the focus from there on. Shirou may be the younger him, but he still hasn't reached his full potencial of GAR.
Is EMIYA even there though?
Sena Kumo
The Tenth Wandering Cloud
- Location
- Portugal
In the anime? Yes.
Chapter 5: Round One
~~~I========>
[O] Fen Chao says he cooks, so Shirou will let him do the first meal and spend some time getting to know his roommate.
[O]The fridge is stocked with Fen's ingredients. He said Shirou can go ahead and use them, though they probably won't be a perfect fit for Shirou's repertoire. Still, Shirou can cook tonight's dinner easily enough, and spend some time with Fen Chao.
[O]Go into the city to buy groceries. Even if he can make do off Fen's ingredients for a bit, Shirou plans to cook as many of his meals as feasible, and will need his own stock of necessities to do so. Rude as hell to operate off Fen Chao's generosity longer than the minimum necessary. It'll also help him familiarize himself with Soukai City and meet a few of the people he'll be seeing a lot of while he's here.
~~~I========>
Saint Freya had an on-campus convenience store, and quite a lot of useful things, including straight-up meals, could be purchased there. But in terms of groceries, convenience stores were never that good, so Shirou opted to stroll across the bridge and into the northwestern edge of Soukai City itself, seeking ingredients.
He and his roommate had decided to collaborate on cooking dinner so that neither of them had to work too hard. Fen Chao cooked Chinese, though, and didn't have quite the same ingredients Shirou's Japanese-style cooking relied on, so Shirou was off to stock up after having asked the distractingly pretty boy where to find the best grocery store or produce market nearby.
He hadn't actually known, though. Apparently Fen Chao used the internet to order ingredients delivered to the dormitory and didn't scout the local shops, so Shirou was using the time-honoured technique of asking the housewives he passed on the street for recommendations. Shirou had invited the boy to come with, but apparently he didn't really like going out in general.
... 'Boy'. Shirou shook his head, attempting to chase out errant thoughts. Fen Chao was older than him, at eighteen. He was just small-framed and pretty-faced enough that Shirou's brain was having trouble accepting that he was both male and older. He really needed to work on his brain, his discipline was lacking.
Either way, he'd made it to the grocery store in question, a pretty sizeable non-chain establishment with a large sign proclaiming it to be Saehrimnir. Shirou had a pretty broad knowledge of myth, but he'd had to look it up on his cellphone to remember that was the name of the eternally-resurrecting boar that provided the meat for the feasts of Valhalla. They were not at all subtle about their target clientele.
They weren't at all short of the mark they claimed for themselves, either. The selection was broad, Shirou was pretty sure the only basic ingredients he hadn't spotted while filling his cart had been things you'd get at a specialty shop. You could cook nearly anything from this grocery store alone, it was pretty well set up to service the multinational coterie of professionals and students that worked for Schicksal, and the prices weren't too bad, either.
Which was good, since Shirou was stocking the basics for an entire Japanese kitchen right now - Fen Chao's Chinese cooking didn't really use the exact same ingredients as Shirou's did, so he was just collecting his own set of basics, in addition to his contribution to tonight's dinner. As part of his attendance in Saint Freya, Shirou got an allowance for meals, so he didn't need to dig into his own savings, but it was still good to be frugal. Saint Freya could use the money if he didn't need it, after all.
Soon enough, he was done loading up - he'd had to limit his ambitions since he'd need to carry everything back - and lining up at the cash. The line wasn't that long, and the cashier was alarmingly smooth and efficient at processing the purchases, so it was a short time before he was face-to-face with the cashier, handing over his Saint Freya meal card to pay for it all.
The cashier - a small-framed girl of around sixteen, with a slender build, elegantly ladylike features, and long dark hair tied into low-resting twintails - paused as her slim fingers took the card, and looked up at Shirou with a curious expression. "Oh hey, are you the new student that was coming in this semester?" The girl hummed a musical note, and a strange, floral scent filled his nose for a moment, before it vanished.
Blinking and rubbing at his nose, Shirou cast a glance around for the source of the smell - nothing seemed like it - before turning back to her and nodding. "Er... yes, I'm Emiya Shirou. I didn't realize I was expected quite so widely." He doubted there'd been a general announcement across the city, obviously she'd heard from somewhere.
The girl grinned as she handed his card back, her movements graceful and feminine in a way that left Shirou feeling a little self-conscious. "Sorry to say you aren't, Emiya. I'm the class rep's roommate, so I knew she was giving the intro to someone today. I'm a Valkyrie trainee too, this is a summer job," she winked.
"Ah, I see," Shirou nodded awkwardly, taking his card back and trying not to take too much notice of the slender hand he was taking it from. "That makes sense."
The girl turned to start slipping his purchases into bags. "My name's Seomin, and I thiiiink I'm gonna be your rival."
Wow, that was a quick decision. "... any chance for us to get along, instead?" He wasn't really that competitive by nature, he just wanted the group as a whole to succeed.
"Hey, it doesn't have to be an unfriendly rivalry," she pointed out, while her hands were occuppied with neatly adding a daikon radish to a bag, with motions sure and graceful enough it almost looked like a dance. "You felt my ping a minute ago, I saw you reacting. Means you've got high honkai sensitivity, like I do. And that means my niche is getting nosed in on," she stuck out her tongue, handing over the bags.
"Uh... sorry?"
Seomin waved it off. "Relax, relax, I'm not offended, I'm teasing." She glanced behind him, at the next people in line. "Anyway, it's not really slow enough today for me to give you the rundown, so when you have your physical, ask the doc to look into your sensitivity, tell her that Seomin's pretty sure you're a sensor-type. See ya later!"
She turned to the next customer, leaving a somewhat bemused Shirou to set up the bags for comfortable carry, and proceed on out of the grocery store. Certainly energetic. It was strange to imagine Fu Hua sharing a room with someone so intensely different from the calm, dignified young woman.
Though they may actually fit one another better than the surface image, Shirou realized as he walked back to the academy, bags dangling in his hands. Fu Hua's grace and dignity were different from Tohsaka's - more like a perfect knight than a lady. But Seomin did give off a bit of an air of refinement, underneath the bubbly attitude. She didn't feel like a minimum-wage grocery clerk, even if she was working it, it felt like she was some kind of wealthy ojou-sama. Like Tohsaka, and more in Tohsaka's way than Fu Hua was. Fu Hua gave off a similar impression, Seomin's attitude just felt more approachable, while Fu Hua's unimpeachable dignity left her standing out and leaving people (well, Shirou) feeling a bit like a clod around her.
Neither of them really fit the background. But Shirou sort of felt like they fit the same background. When he pictured Fu Hua, Seomin, and Tohsaka at a high-society ball in generically-elegant gowns and with wineglasses in hand, the image felt right. Though his traitorous brain couldn't decide whether to put Fu Hua in a gown or a tuxedo. That aside, though, yeah, he could picture them as roommates now.
In fact, it occurred to him that like Fu Hua, Seomin had never offered a surname. Best not to ask, it could be one of those complicated situations Fu Hua had warned him about. Or it might not be, but it was better to err on the side of not bringing up unpleasant issues.
~~~I========>
The kitchen in St Freya apartments was well-outfitted, but it wasn't exactly spacious. There was enough space for two people to work, but only in the most technical sense - two people squeezed next to each other with enough counter space to work at, or tending to something on the stove. There wasn't space for really moving around.
Shirou and Fen Chao had turned it into some kind of coordinated dance, announcing when they would need to move to a different position and moving to allow one another the space to get there. It was still a bit awkward, Shirou was new to the kitchen and neither of them had the practiced experience of moving around one another that made this sort of thing really come together - with Sakura, they didn't even need to actually say anything, she and Shirou would simply move with and around one another as a natural function. It'd be some time before Shirou was nearly that used to Fen Chao or this kitchen.
"Left burner," Fen Chao announced, setting the knife down on his cutting board, next to the cubes of sweet potato he'd just finished chopping.
"Got it," Shirou acknowledged, moving aside a little from where he was busying himself with the heavy-duty pot resting on one of the stove's right-side burners. "Go."
The long-haired boy spun around Shirou's position, settling in at his side with a spatula to give his frying noodles an inspection. With a look of satisfaction on his face, he reached past Shirou to pick up the small bowl he'd mixed the sauces in.
Shirou froze, far more conscious than he really wanted to be of the light body next to him. It had been way easier with Sakura, they'd started cooking together before he was really aware of her as a woman, so once he started noticing, he'd had habits and instincts to fall back on and didn't need to pay enough attention for things to get awkward. Fen Chao was not a woman, but between the waist-length hair, the light build, and the soft features, it was something of a challenge to keep the older boy outside that mental category anyway.
Thankfully, it didn't take too long for Fen Chao to pull back, pouring the sauces over the thick noodles and stirring them with the spatula. "It should be about a minute from here."
Hearing silence from the pot, Shirou switched off the burner and dipped the spoon into the deep-frying oil to pull out the last few pieces of tempura-battered sweetfish, setting them on the rack to drain. "All right, the tempura's ready." Shirou slid out of the kitchen to give Fen Chao the space to finish up, looking over the noodles as he did.
Thick yellow noodles stir-fried with bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots, and some fresh ginger, coated in a mixture of oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sherry. Shirou would confess to not having the highest opinion of Chinese cooking, but it looked pretty enticing, and smelled even better. He might have to overturn that opinion by the time classes started, at this rate, Fen Chao was good.
He'd make an excellent w- Shirou slapped himself in the face with an audible cracking sound to cut off the inappropriate thought. He was going to have to recalibrate all of his 'not creeping on Sakura' disciplinary habits, it seemed they had just completely shut off once it wasn't literally Sakura.
Though it would really help if Fen Chao wore more concealing clothing at home. It would be entirely inappropriate to ask him to cover up in his own home, and he wouldn't ask for it - this was Shirou's problem, not Fen Chao's. But it would help.
While Shirou had been wrestling his mind onto appropriate channels, Fen Chao must have finished, since he was dishing out the noodles onto their plates. That didn't take long, and the small boy slipped out of the kitchen once he was done, making space to let Shirou enter and add the tempura to the plates, alongside a lemon wedge for seasoning-to-taste. With that set up, Shirou picked up the plates and carried them to the table.
Taking a seat and a quick "Itadakimasu", and the meal began. The savoury, lightly-sauced noodles and vegetables tasted as good as expected, but Shirou wasn't beaten. The noodles were pretty simple fare. Shirou's tempura - the fluffy golden batter cooked to his exacting standards, and the sweet flavour of the lightly-salted ayu within - was far beyond it, and he could see his victory taking shape as Fen Chao closed his eyes to savour the taste.
The boy won Shirou's approval, though. Shirou had prepared a tentsuyu sauce for the tempura earlier, and Fen Chao hadn't fallen for the trap sitting next to his plate. Good tempura only needed a bit of lemon, not the sauce. Fen Chao had proven his palate, trying the sauce, but quickly realizing it was entirely unnecessary.
Shirou had secured his lead, and he was confident. But he still had to be on guard. Fen Chao still had the dessert, another quick and simple recipe to even out the workload. If Shirou's lead wasn't strong enough, he could still lose.
The meal proceeded mostly in silence other than compliments to the chefs - it was good food and there was no urgently pressing business they needed to discuss, so they could focus their attention on it. Soon enough, it was but a delicious memory, and Shirou placed down his chopsticks. Normally he would do dishes, but Fen Chao was going to be in the kitchen soon, and it'd be best to allow him space to work.
They could talk now, though, and Shirou took the opportunity. "There was a pretty good grocery store not too far from the lake, Saehrimnir. It's an easy walk, if you want ingredients. Ordering them must get expensive."
Fen Chao gave a quick, sharp shake of the head, reddish-brown hair fluttering in the motion. "I... really don't like being out in the city. I can afford it."
Shirou had more or less expected this - it had, in fact, been the actual topic that had caught his concern and attention. He'd just needed Fen Chao to bring it up directly so that he could touch on it without being intrusive. "Is there a problem with the city? Anything I should worry about?"
"... no. Just with me." Fen Chao stood, heading back into the kitchen to work on his dessert. He didn't elaborate, and Shirou didn't really think he could or should press further. No way to do it without being hurtful.
So, he'd change topic entirely. After a reasonable wait while emotions cooled and the frying oil heated back up, Shirou spoke again. "I hope it's not intrusive having a roommate. You seemed to be enjoying having the place to yourself."
Fen Chao looked back at him, cheeks slightly flushed. "Ah, no, it's-! It's okay. I'm used to sharing space, I think the last couple of years is the first time I've had a room to myself. It should-" He shook his head again. "No, it'll be fine. It will."
Shirou eyed the boy, a little dubious. That had sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than a dry recitation of facts. Fen's cheeks reddened in direct proportion to the amount of time Shirou silently stared at him - must not be great with attention, before too long he whipped his head around and turned his attention more wholly on his cooking.
... well, if he said it was fine, Shirou would have to take him at his word. Hopefully he could minimize the discomfort while Fen Chao got used to cohabiting again.
After a short silence, Fen Chao spoke up again. "What sort of time do you head to sleep? I'm a night owl, but I can turn the volume down after hours."
"Usually around ten." It was a bit later than he'd like, but it gave him a good chunk of time after dinner to socialize, wrangle tigers, and study or train.
Fen Chao eyed Shirou with an expression of faint horror on his face.
Shirou looked back, his own expression one of dawning horror to match it. God, when did Fen sleep if ten o'clock was getting that kind of reaction?
Fen Chao brought a hand up to cover his mouth and coughed into it, returning to his potatoes. "Got it, I'll put everything on mute around then."
"I'll try to wake up quietly," Shirou offered. If he went to sleep especially late, he'd probably still be sleeping when Shirou got up. Best to let him rest. Shirou wasn't a huge noisemaker anyway, so it wouldn't be that difficult.
Fen Chao sent a smile his way. "Thanks. Oh, and don't worry about waking me up for class once they start. We just have to keep up our grades, there are no attendance requirements. Except for missions and exams, obviously."
Shirou could feel his brain stalling. His nature as a proper, upright human being was making it difficult to process what was apparently the prettiest juvenile delinquent in Japan. "Uh..."
"Don't worry." The smile faded as he turned to pull the cooking dessert out of the deep fryer and set to work on something else in a frying pan. "My grades are doing fine, I can keep up A-rank." ... this pretty delinquent boy was an A-rank Valkyrie? Shirou's brain was having even more trouble processing that. "Trying to adhere to the attendance schedule would put me in worse condition and drop my performance, actually."
Shirou eyed the boy dubiously. He wasn't entirely - or even vaguely - convinced, but frankly, if Fen Chao could hold A-rank, he was a radically superiour Valkyrie to even what Shirou knew was his maximum potential, and he must have something workable going on. Shirou didn't know enough about the boy or the curriculum to butt into that right now. He made a mental note to keep an eye on that, though. There were a lot of oddities with the older boy, and Shirou wasn't yet sure what were actual problems and what were just his own prejudice. Shirou tended to be a boring, by-the-rules type of man, but he was mature enough to understand that the rules of society were generalities, and did not actually guarantee the best path to happiness for everyone. So he'd need to learn the circumstances before he shoved his well-meaning nose in.
Shirou shook his head. "Anyway, how do you want to divide chores? Any preferences?"
Fen Chao shrugged, stirring the sauce in the frying pan. "I don't mind doing all of it. Pick your favourites and I'll take care of the rest, I spend most of my time in the room anyway."
The idea of leaving all the work to someone else was so repulsive to Shirou that he almost shuddered. "I can take groceries, garbage, and laundry. Share the cooking, and whoever doesn't cook does the dishes."
The long-haired boy nodded. "All right. I'll do cleaning then." Roughly an equal workload, assuming Shirou was reasonably conscientious about not making a horrid mess (he was), and Shirou had taken the chores that involved going outside the room.
He wasn't sure if it was good to do it - Fen Chao was clearly loathe to leave, and the chores that needed him outside were one of the few ways that Shirou was sure he got out of the room other than whatever time he actually got himself up and out for class. He absolutely should get out of the room. But it also clearly distressed him - he had already been paying delivery surcharges in lieu of grocery shopping - so for now Shirou would take it off his hands. He'd like to lure Fen Chao out into the sunlight where the rest of humanity was, but until he understood the circumstances, he shouldn't act towards that. Until he actually knew better, he would be kind in the way Fen Chao wanted, rather than the way he perhaps needed.
"And dessert's done!" Fen Chao proclaimed, carrying a plate of candied sweet potatoes and a bowl of cold water towards the dining table. "Golden-silk style, it's hot, so dip it in the water before you eat it."
Shirou looked on the plate with an assessing eye. It certainly looked good. The sweet potatoes were fried and crispy on the outside, a beautiful golden colour, and covered in gleaming, fresh-off-the-stove caramel. Shirou was a relentless gourmand, so he knew of it - a Shandong dessert, North Chinese cuisine. Most of what found international popularity was South Chinese, so it wasn't that easily-found outside China itself. He'd never actually had it before.
Shirou picked up his chopsticks and picked up one of the pieces of potato, watching as the reason for the dish's name revealed itself - pulling a piece from the mass drew the caramel out into amber strings that rapidly hardened in the air if the temperature and timing had been managed correctly, and it had. A few more pieces and the plate would look like it was covered in a crystallized spiderweb of caramel.
"Do you know what a 'sensor type' is? I met Seomin at the grocery store, she said I was one." Fen Chao wasn't in the same class - he was Class VIII rather than Class V - but the Valkyrie student number was low enough Shirou assumed that people mostly knew each other. So he could just say the name and expect it to be recognized.
"Who...?" Fen Chao queried with his head cocked, proving Shirou wrong immediately. After a moment he blinked and shook his head. "Oh, right! Her." There was something about his tone that caught Shirou's ear. He didn't exactly spit out the 'her', but he didn't sound all that fond.
"Yes, do you not get along? You didn't seem too happy to hear the name." Shirou continued drawing his piece of potato out, the caramel extending further and further, and his foreboding growing right alongside the strings of caramel. With absolutely perfect consistency and temperature, the finest cooks in China could have the caramel hold together and pull out a three-meter string. Shirou didn't plan to get up and test the full limits of it, but he was at half a meter and still going. His victory was in grave danger.
"Mm. We used to fight over dumb things. It was three years ago, we've changed a lot since then, but we haven't really tried to make friends or anything. Just bad memories, I don't really know anything about what she's like now." Fen Chao dipped a piece of potato into the bowl of water, cooling it and solidifying the caramel, and popped it into his mouth.
Shirou nodded, dipping his own dessert into the water - he'd basically reached the limit of his arm's length without breaking the caramel strings, so it was time to actually taste it. "Yeah, I guess things change." It was sort of the opposite between him and Shinji. He'd counted the other boy as a real friend, but he'd learned there were things about him he knew nothing of when he'd realized he was hitting Sakura. Someone with those things about him wasn't someone Shirou wanted to be friends with, but the good times and the things Shirou had wanted to befriend in him hadn't gone away. Things changed as everyone grew up, and a year was a long time, but not everything changed, and the past, good and bad, didn't disappear, even if it wasn't going to repeat.
And with the philosophy having run out and the food cooling below mouth-scorching temperatures, it was time for Shirou to take a bite, and accept his defeat. Sure enough, the flavour was perfect. The slight crunchiness and the softness within, the sweetness of the caramel and the potato itself... He'd lost.
Allowing Fen Chao two dishes had been a mistake. And he'd let himself become overconfident. So sure of victory that it had eluded him. Next time, he would have to surpass himself. Bring forth the fullest potential of his skills and his labour, and push his cooking to its very limit. He had let himself shamefully plateau, he could see that now.
Shirou's next few steps are pretty set. He's going to while away the rest of the evening settling in and looking around, and then he's going to go to sleep at a decent hour like some kind of weirdo, wake up in the morning, and go to his physical. There isn't really much decision-making here.
So instead, the vote will be on what interlude we have. Shirou left Fuyuki behind for now, but it hasn't stopped moving. Let's take a look at what's going on back home, and vote for who you'd like to take a peek at.
[ ] The House of Emiya is absent the 'Emiya' part, but he was never really alone in that place. Taiga and Sakura don't sleep there, but they're very much part of the household and still have the habit of cooking and eating their meals there, odd as it may be to meet up in someone else's house entirely for that.
[ ] The House of Tohsaka never revolved around Shirou, but it certainly paid attention to him. Rin misses him a bit, but she's got her own things going on, and honestly, she's never bored. She'd kinda like to be bored, honestly.
[ ] The House of Matou, on the other hand, has many of its own concerns, but has never really been able to ignore Shirou. For better or worse, both its son and its adopted daughter have been drawn towards him - a recipe for trouble, when two people with many issues already between them find themselves wanting the same thing.
[ ] The House of Kaslana has only met Shirou recently, and its youngest daughter is wandering the world, unlikely to remain in Fuyuki for all that long. The house may be more of a tent, to be honest. But by coincidence, they met, and the girl's lonely road brought her into contact with Shirou. It wasn't a fateful meeting, nor was it one rich in meaning, but it was a fun one. She doesn't expect to see him again, but she enjoyed it while she had it.
~~~I========>
[O] Fen Chao says he cooks, so Shirou will let him do the first meal and spend some time getting to know his roommate.
[O]The fridge is stocked with Fen's ingredients. He said Shirou can go ahead and use them, though they probably won't be a perfect fit for Shirou's repertoire. Still, Shirou can cook tonight's dinner easily enough, and spend some time with Fen Chao.
[O]Go into the city to buy groceries. Even if he can make do off Fen's ingredients for a bit, Shirou plans to cook as many of his meals as feasible, and will need his own stock of necessities to do so. Rude as hell to operate off Fen Chao's generosity longer than the minimum necessary. It'll also help him familiarize himself with Soukai City and meet a few of the people he'll be seeing a lot of while he's here.
~~~I========>
Saint Freya had an on-campus convenience store, and quite a lot of useful things, including straight-up meals, could be purchased there. But in terms of groceries, convenience stores were never that good, so Shirou opted to stroll across the bridge and into the northwestern edge of Soukai City itself, seeking ingredients.
He and his roommate had decided to collaborate on cooking dinner so that neither of them had to work too hard. Fen Chao cooked Chinese, though, and didn't have quite the same ingredients Shirou's Japanese-style cooking relied on, so Shirou was off to stock up after having asked the distractingly pretty boy where to find the best grocery store or produce market nearby.
He hadn't actually known, though. Apparently Fen Chao used the internet to order ingredients delivered to the dormitory and didn't scout the local shops, so Shirou was using the time-honoured technique of asking the housewives he passed on the street for recommendations. Shirou had invited the boy to come with, but apparently he didn't really like going out in general.
... 'Boy'. Shirou shook his head, attempting to chase out errant thoughts. Fen Chao was older than him, at eighteen. He was just small-framed and pretty-faced enough that Shirou's brain was having trouble accepting that he was both male and older. He really needed to work on his brain, his discipline was lacking.
Either way, he'd made it to the grocery store in question, a pretty sizeable non-chain establishment with a large sign proclaiming it to be Saehrimnir. Shirou had a pretty broad knowledge of myth, but he'd had to look it up on his cellphone to remember that was the name of the eternally-resurrecting boar that provided the meat for the feasts of Valhalla. They were not at all subtle about their target clientele.
They weren't at all short of the mark they claimed for themselves, either. The selection was broad, Shirou was pretty sure the only basic ingredients he hadn't spotted while filling his cart had been things you'd get at a specialty shop. You could cook nearly anything from this grocery store alone, it was pretty well set up to service the multinational coterie of professionals and students that worked for Schicksal, and the prices weren't too bad, either.
Which was good, since Shirou was stocking the basics for an entire Japanese kitchen right now - Fen Chao's Chinese cooking didn't really use the exact same ingredients as Shirou's did, so he was just collecting his own set of basics, in addition to his contribution to tonight's dinner. As part of his attendance in Saint Freya, Shirou got an allowance for meals, so he didn't need to dig into his own savings, but it was still good to be frugal. Saint Freya could use the money if he didn't need it, after all.
Soon enough, he was done loading up - he'd had to limit his ambitions since he'd need to carry everything back - and lining up at the cash. The line wasn't that long, and the cashier was alarmingly smooth and efficient at processing the purchases, so it was a short time before he was face-to-face with the cashier, handing over his Saint Freya meal card to pay for it all.
The cashier - a small-framed girl of around sixteen, with a slender build, elegantly ladylike features, and long dark hair tied into low-resting twintails - paused as her slim fingers took the card, and looked up at Shirou with a curious expression. "Oh hey, are you the new student that was coming in this semester?" The girl hummed a musical note, and a strange, floral scent filled his nose for a moment, before it vanished.
Blinking and rubbing at his nose, Shirou cast a glance around for the source of the smell - nothing seemed like it - before turning back to her and nodding. "Er... yes, I'm Emiya Shirou. I didn't realize I was expected quite so widely." He doubted there'd been a general announcement across the city, obviously she'd heard from somewhere.
The girl grinned as she handed his card back, her movements graceful and feminine in a way that left Shirou feeling a little self-conscious. "Sorry to say you aren't, Emiya. I'm the class rep's roommate, so I knew she was giving the intro to someone today. I'm a Valkyrie trainee too, this is a summer job," she winked.
"Ah, I see," Shirou nodded awkwardly, taking his card back and trying not to take too much notice of the slender hand he was taking it from. "That makes sense."
The girl turned to start slipping his purchases into bags. "My name's Seomin, and I thiiiink I'm gonna be your rival."
Wow, that was a quick decision. "... any chance for us to get along, instead?" He wasn't really that competitive by nature, he just wanted the group as a whole to succeed.
"Hey, it doesn't have to be an unfriendly rivalry," she pointed out, while her hands were occuppied with neatly adding a daikon radish to a bag, with motions sure and graceful enough it almost looked like a dance. "You felt my ping a minute ago, I saw you reacting. Means you've got high honkai sensitivity, like I do. And that means my niche is getting nosed in on," she stuck out her tongue, handing over the bags.
"Uh... sorry?"
Seomin waved it off. "Relax, relax, I'm not offended, I'm teasing." She glanced behind him, at the next people in line. "Anyway, it's not really slow enough today for me to give you the rundown, so when you have your physical, ask the doc to look into your sensitivity, tell her that Seomin's pretty sure you're a sensor-type. See ya later!"
She turned to the next customer, leaving a somewhat bemused Shirou to set up the bags for comfortable carry, and proceed on out of the grocery store. Certainly energetic. It was strange to imagine Fu Hua sharing a room with someone so intensely different from the calm, dignified young woman.
Though they may actually fit one another better than the surface image, Shirou realized as he walked back to the academy, bags dangling in his hands. Fu Hua's grace and dignity were different from Tohsaka's - more like a perfect knight than a lady. But Seomin did give off a bit of an air of refinement, underneath the bubbly attitude. She didn't feel like a minimum-wage grocery clerk, even if she was working it, it felt like she was some kind of wealthy ojou-sama. Like Tohsaka, and more in Tohsaka's way than Fu Hua was. Fu Hua gave off a similar impression, Seomin's attitude just felt more approachable, while Fu Hua's unimpeachable dignity left her standing out and leaving people (well, Shirou) feeling a bit like a clod around her.
Neither of them really fit the background. But Shirou sort of felt like they fit the same background. When he pictured Fu Hua, Seomin, and Tohsaka at a high-society ball in generically-elegant gowns and with wineglasses in hand, the image felt right. Though his traitorous brain couldn't decide whether to put Fu Hua in a gown or a tuxedo. That aside, though, yeah, he could picture them as roommates now.
In fact, it occurred to him that like Fu Hua, Seomin had never offered a surname. Best not to ask, it could be one of those complicated situations Fu Hua had warned him about. Or it might not be, but it was better to err on the side of not bringing up unpleasant issues.
~~~I========>
The kitchen in St Freya apartments was well-outfitted, but it wasn't exactly spacious. There was enough space for two people to work, but only in the most technical sense - two people squeezed next to each other with enough counter space to work at, or tending to something on the stove. There wasn't space for really moving around.
Shirou and Fen Chao had turned it into some kind of coordinated dance, announcing when they would need to move to a different position and moving to allow one another the space to get there. It was still a bit awkward, Shirou was new to the kitchen and neither of them had the practiced experience of moving around one another that made this sort of thing really come together - with Sakura, they didn't even need to actually say anything, she and Shirou would simply move with and around one another as a natural function. It'd be some time before Shirou was nearly that used to Fen Chao or this kitchen.
"Left burner," Fen Chao announced, setting the knife down on his cutting board, next to the cubes of sweet potato he'd just finished chopping.
"Got it," Shirou acknowledged, moving aside a little from where he was busying himself with the heavy-duty pot resting on one of the stove's right-side burners. "Go."
The long-haired boy spun around Shirou's position, settling in at his side with a spatula to give his frying noodles an inspection. With a look of satisfaction on his face, he reached past Shirou to pick up the small bowl he'd mixed the sauces in.
Shirou froze, far more conscious than he really wanted to be of the light body next to him. It had been way easier with Sakura, they'd started cooking together before he was really aware of her as a woman, so once he started noticing, he'd had habits and instincts to fall back on and didn't need to pay enough attention for things to get awkward. Fen Chao was not a woman, but between the waist-length hair, the light build, and the soft features, it was something of a challenge to keep the older boy outside that mental category anyway.
Thankfully, it didn't take too long for Fen Chao to pull back, pouring the sauces over the thick noodles and stirring them with the spatula. "It should be about a minute from here."
Hearing silence from the pot, Shirou switched off the burner and dipped the spoon into the deep-frying oil to pull out the last few pieces of tempura-battered sweetfish, setting them on the rack to drain. "All right, the tempura's ready." Shirou slid out of the kitchen to give Fen Chao the space to finish up, looking over the noodles as he did.
Thick yellow noodles stir-fried with bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots, and some fresh ginger, coated in a mixture of oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sherry. Shirou would confess to not having the highest opinion of Chinese cooking, but it looked pretty enticing, and smelled even better. He might have to overturn that opinion by the time classes started, at this rate, Fen Chao was good.
He'd make an excellent w- Shirou slapped himself in the face with an audible cracking sound to cut off the inappropriate thought. He was going to have to recalibrate all of his 'not creeping on Sakura' disciplinary habits, it seemed they had just completely shut off once it wasn't literally Sakura.
Though it would really help if Fen Chao wore more concealing clothing at home. It would be entirely inappropriate to ask him to cover up in his own home, and he wouldn't ask for it - this was Shirou's problem, not Fen Chao's. But it would help.
While Shirou had been wrestling his mind onto appropriate channels, Fen Chao must have finished, since he was dishing out the noodles onto their plates. That didn't take long, and the small boy slipped out of the kitchen once he was done, making space to let Shirou enter and add the tempura to the plates, alongside a lemon wedge for seasoning-to-taste. With that set up, Shirou picked up the plates and carried them to the table.
Taking a seat and a quick "Itadakimasu", and the meal began. The savoury, lightly-sauced noodles and vegetables tasted as good as expected, but Shirou wasn't beaten. The noodles were pretty simple fare. Shirou's tempura - the fluffy golden batter cooked to his exacting standards, and the sweet flavour of the lightly-salted ayu within - was far beyond it, and he could see his victory taking shape as Fen Chao closed his eyes to savour the taste.
The boy won Shirou's approval, though. Shirou had prepared a tentsuyu sauce for the tempura earlier, and Fen Chao hadn't fallen for the trap sitting next to his plate. Good tempura only needed a bit of lemon, not the sauce. Fen Chao had proven his palate, trying the sauce, but quickly realizing it was entirely unnecessary.
Shirou had secured his lead, and he was confident. But he still had to be on guard. Fen Chao still had the dessert, another quick and simple recipe to even out the workload. If Shirou's lead wasn't strong enough, he could still lose.
The meal proceeded mostly in silence other than compliments to the chefs - it was good food and there was no urgently pressing business they needed to discuss, so they could focus their attention on it. Soon enough, it was but a delicious memory, and Shirou placed down his chopsticks. Normally he would do dishes, but Fen Chao was going to be in the kitchen soon, and it'd be best to allow him space to work.
They could talk now, though, and Shirou took the opportunity. "There was a pretty good grocery store not too far from the lake, Saehrimnir. It's an easy walk, if you want ingredients. Ordering them must get expensive."
Fen Chao gave a quick, sharp shake of the head, reddish-brown hair fluttering in the motion. "I... really don't like being out in the city. I can afford it."
Shirou had more or less expected this - it had, in fact, been the actual topic that had caught his concern and attention. He'd just needed Fen Chao to bring it up directly so that he could touch on it without being intrusive. "Is there a problem with the city? Anything I should worry about?"
"... no. Just with me." Fen Chao stood, heading back into the kitchen to work on his dessert. He didn't elaborate, and Shirou didn't really think he could or should press further. No way to do it without being hurtful.
So, he'd change topic entirely. After a reasonable wait while emotions cooled and the frying oil heated back up, Shirou spoke again. "I hope it's not intrusive having a roommate. You seemed to be enjoying having the place to yourself."
Fen Chao looked back at him, cheeks slightly flushed. "Ah, no, it's-! It's okay. I'm used to sharing space, I think the last couple of years is the first time I've had a room to myself. It should-" He shook his head again. "No, it'll be fine. It will."
Shirou eyed the boy, a little dubious. That had sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than a dry recitation of facts. Fen's cheeks reddened in direct proportion to the amount of time Shirou silently stared at him - must not be great with attention, before too long he whipped his head around and turned his attention more wholly on his cooking.
... well, if he said it was fine, Shirou would have to take him at his word. Hopefully he could minimize the discomfort while Fen Chao got used to cohabiting again.
After a short silence, Fen Chao spoke up again. "What sort of time do you head to sleep? I'm a night owl, but I can turn the volume down after hours."
"Usually around ten." It was a bit later than he'd like, but it gave him a good chunk of time after dinner to socialize, wrangle tigers, and study or train.
Fen Chao eyed Shirou with an expression of faint horror on his face.
Shirou looked back, his own expression one of dawning horror to match it. God, when did Fen sleep if ten o'clock was getting that kind of reaction?
Fen Chao brought a hand up to cover his mouth and coughed into it, returning to his potatoes. "Got it, I'll put everything on mute around then."
"I'll try to wake up quietly," Shirou offered. If he went to sleep especially late, he'd probably still be sleeping when Shirou got up. Best to let him rest. Shirou wasn't a huge noisemaker anyway, so it wouldn't be that difficult.
Fen Chao sent a smile his way. "Thanks. Oh, and don't worry about waking me up for class once they start. We just have to keep up our grades, there are no attendance requirements. Except for missions and exams, obviously."
Shirou could feel his brain stalling. His nature as a proper, upright human being was making it difficult to process what was apparently the prettiest juvenile delinquent in Japan. "Uh..."
"Don't worry." The smile faded as he turned to pull the cooking dessert out of the deep fryer and set to work on something else in a frying pan. "My grades are doing fine, I can keep up A-rank." ... this pretty delinquent boy was an A-rank Valkyrie? Shirou's brain was having even more trouble processing that. "Trying to adhere to the attendance schedule would put me in worse condition and drop my performance, actually."
Shirou eyed the boy dubiously. He wasn't entirely - or even vaguely - convinced, but frankly, if Fen Chao could hold A-rank, he was a radically superiour Valkyrie to even what Shirou knew was his maximum potential, and he must have something workable going on. Shirou didn't know enough about the boy or the curriculum to butt into that right now. He made a mental note to keep an eye on that, though. There were a lot of oddities with the older boy, and Shirou wasn't yet sure what were actual problems and what were just his own prejudice. Shirou tended to be a boring, by-the-rules type of man, but he was mature enough to understand that the rules of society were generalities, and did not actually guarantee the best path to happiness for everyone. So he'd need to learn the circumstances before he shoved his well-meaning nose in.
Shirou shook his head. "Anyway, how do you want to divide chores? Any preferences?"
Fen Chao shrugged, stirring the sauce in the frying pan. "I don't mind doing all of it. Pick your favourites and I'll take care of the rest, I spend most of my time in the room anyway."
The idea of leaving all the work to someone else was so repulsive to Shirou that he almost shuddered. "I can take groceries, garbage, and laundry. Share the cooking, and whoever doesn't cook does the dishes."
The long-haired boy nodded. "All right. I'll do cleaning then." Roughly an equal workload, assuming Shirou was reasonably conscientious about not making a horrid mess (he was), and Shirou had taken the chores that involved going outside the room.
He wasn't sure if it was good to do it - Fen Chao was clearly loathe to leave, and the chores that needed him outside were one of the few ways that Shirou was sure he got out of the room other than whatever time he actually got himself up and out for class. He absolutely should get out of the room. But it also clearly distressed him - he had already been paying delivery surcharges in lieu of grocery shopping - so for now Shirou would take it off his hands. He'd like to lure Fen Chao out into the sunlight where the rest of humanity was, but until he understood the circumstances, he shouldn't act towards that. Until he actually knew better, he would be kind in the way Fen Chao wanted, rather than the way he perhaps needed.
"And dessert's done!" Fen Chao proclaimed, carrying a plate of candied sweet potatoes and a bowl of cold water towards the dining table. "Golden-silk style, it's hot, so dip it in the water before you eat it."
Shirou looked on the plate with an assessing eye. It certainly looked good. The sweet potatoes were fried and crispy on the outside, a beautiful golden colour, and covered in gleaming, fresh-off-the-stove caramel. Shirou was a relentless gourmand, so he knew of it - a Shandong dessert, North Chinese cuisine. Most of what found international popularity was South Chinese, so it wasn't that easily-found outside China itself. He'd never actually had it before.
Shirou picked up his chopsticks and picked up one of the pieces of potato, watching as the reason for the dish's name revealed itself - pulling a piece from the mass drew the caramel out into amber strings that rapidly hardened in the air if the temperature and timing had been managed correctly, and it had. A few more pieces and the plate would look like it was covered in a crystallized spiderweb of caramel.
"Do you know what a 'sensor type' is? I met Seomin at the grocery store, she said I was one." Fen Chao wasn't in the same class - he was Class VIII rather than Class V - but the Valkyrie student number was low enough Shirou assumed that people mostly knew each other. So he could just say the name and expect it to be recognized.
"Who...?" Fen Chao queried with his head cocked, proving Shirou wrong immediately. After a moment he blinked and shook his head. "Oh, right! Her." There was something about his tone that caught Shirou's ear. He didn't exactly spit out the 'her', but he didn't sound all that fond.
"Yes, do you not get along? You didn't seem too happy to hear the name." Shirou continued drawing his piece of potato out, the caramel extending further and further, and his foreboding growing right alongside the strings of caramel. With absolutely perfect consistency and temperature, the finest cooks in China could have the caramel hold together and pull out a three-meter string. Shirou didn't plan to get up and test the full limits of it, but he was at half a meter and still going. His victory was in grave danger.
"Mm. We used to fight over dumb things. It was three years ago, we've changed a lot since then, but we haven't really tried to make friends or anything. Just bad memories, I don't really know anything about what she's like now." Fen Chao dipped a piece of potato into the bowl of water, cooling it and solidifying the caramel, and popped it into his mouth.
Shirou nodded, dipping his own dessert into the water - he'd basically reached the limit of his arm's length without breaking the caramel strings, so it was time to actually taste it. "Yeah, I guess things change." It was sort of the opposite between him and Shinji. He'd counted the other boy as a real friend, but he'd learned there were things about him he knew nothing of when he'd realized he was hitting Sakura. Someone with those things about him wasn't someone Shirou wanted to be friends with, but the good times and the things Shirou had wanted to befriend in him hadn't gone away. Things changed as everyone grew up, and a year was a long time, but not everything changed, and the past, good and bad, didn't disappear, even if it wasn't going to repeat.
And with the philosophy having run out and the food cooling below mouth-scorching temperatures, it was time for Shirou to take a bite, and accept his defeat. Sure enough, the flavour was perfect. The slight crunchiness and the softness within, the sweetness of the caramel and the potato itself... He'd lost.
Allowing Fen Chao two dishes had been a mistake. And he'd let himself become overconfident. So sure of victory that it had eluded him. Next time, he would have to surpass himself. Bring forth the fullest potential of his skills and his labour, and push his cooking to its very limit. He had let himself shamefully plateau, he could see that now.
Shirou's next few steps are pretty set. He's going to while away the rest of the evening settling in and looking around, and then he's going to go to sleep at a decent hour like some kind of weirdo, wake up in the morning, and go to his physical. There isn't really much decision-making here.
So instead, the vote will be on what interlude we have. Shirou left Fuyuki behind for now, but it hasn't stopped moving. Let's take a look at what's going on back home, and vote for who you'd like to take a peek at.
[ ] The House of Emiya is absent the 'Emiya' part, but he was never really alone in that place. Taiga and Sakura don't sleep there, but they're very much part of the household and still have the habit of cooking and eating their meals there, odd as it may be to meet up in someone else's house entirely for that.
[ ] The House of Tohsaka never revolved around Shirou, but it certainly paid attention to him. Rin misses him a bit, but she's got her own things going on, and honestly, she's never bored. She'd kinda like to be bored, honestly.
[ ] The House of Matou, on the other hand, has many of its own concerns, but has never really been able to ignore Shirou. For better or worse, both its son and its adopted daughter have been drawn towards him - a recipe for trouble, when two people with many issues already between them find themselves wanting the same thing.
[ ] The House of Kaslana has only met Shirou recently, and its youngest daughter is wandering the world, unlikely to remain in Fuyuki for all that long. The house may be more of a tent, to be honest. But by coincidence, they met, and the girl's lonely road brought her into contact with Shirou. It wasn't a fateful meeting, nor was it one rich in meaning, but it was a fun one. She doesn't expect to see him again, but she enjoyed it while she had it.
~~~I========>
- Location
- Southampton, Great Britain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] The House of Emiya is absent the 'Emiya' part, but he was never really alone in that place. Taiga and Sakura don't sleep there, but they're very much part of the household and still have the habit of cooking and eating their meals there, odd as it may be to meet up in someone else's house entirely for that.
*Only a Gown or Tuxedo* Shirou. Bruh. Come on.
- Location
- At the end of the world
[X] The House of Tohsaka never revolved around Shirou, but it certainly paid attention to him. Rin misses him a bit, but she's got her own things going on, and honestly, she's never bored. She'd kinda like to be bored, honestly.